The Legend of Brave Rick

by Exelion

Determined to Fight

With a mixture of emotions, Richard walked with the hands on his pockets. Every now and then he would look back in case somepony was following him. what for? He wanted to be alone with his thoughts that were torturing him again. He was wondering if everything he was living was real or just a long dream that had transformed into a nightmare and then turned back to a dream again.

Fight against humans. Was that something he wanted to do? Should he? Could he wield a weapon and murder those he considered friends, relatives, family and so on? And besides, what would happen if the plan doesn’t work out and lose the battle? Would he be called traitor before dying? And if they won, would he return to Earth? How could he live with the guilt, hiding the truth from his family and friends? Or would he live the rest of his life in this fantasy land?

He got to the end of the tunnel, no one would be able to get through the entrance unless somepony like Twilight intervened magically. He remembered how he treated the only one that, so far, he could call a friend. The friend that gave him her trust while everybody else wanted to hurt him, that stood up between group conflicts, that called him an ally, instead of slave or prisoner, and that represented her last hope to try, somehow, to return back to normal, even if normal was just a mere word for them right now.

His body clock was telling him that it was now time to sleep, not knowing if it was night or if there was still sunlight outside. He sat down with his back against the ‘exit’ and slowly began to close his eyes, he didn’t what was coming in the future for him, but he had to be well rested for it.

Aside from the last dreams he had, back home he never had a lucid dream, one that he could control at will and, in the better of cases, he’d remember after waking up, but there he was, standing on a white place, no forms or dimensions to be seen, save for the floor where he was standing on. He was looking at it amazed and doubtful, what was that place supposed to mean?

“Don’t be afraid, you’ll soon be able to do whatever you wish here,” a mysterious voice said.

“Who, or what, are you?” he asked cautious, as he was searching for the source.

Surprised, he saw a star darker than the place up in the air, which dropped down slowly until it was at eye height. Richard approached his hand, almost touching it, but a force repelled him and he stumbled backwards. Fading into existence, Princess Luna made herself present.

“Princess? What are you doing here?”

“We’ve been not introduced properly, I am Princess Luna, co-governor of Equestria and monarch of the night,”

“I’m Richard Senedor and I… I’m… not sure who I am anymore,” he said as he raised both hands to his head.

“Here, before we begin to talk, we should make ourselves comfortable,” Luna said as she laid down on the ground.

Blushing, Richard asked:

“Comfortable?”

“Of course, I don’t know about you, but this is a lucid dream. All that you see here in white is a canvas that you can paint at your desire, try.”

Seeing it that way, Richard raised his hand and a golden glow covered it, he closed his eyes to picture the scene and, without a doubt, shot a magic current that traveled a long distance, and didn’t seem to ever stop.

“Don’t worry Richard, first try never works. Perhaps, if you try again and focus, then maybe…”

She couldn’t finish the sentence when Richard fired a second stronger shot without a warning; it traveled slower, only this time, an explosion occurred in the distance and a shock wave stirred Luna’s mane, which forced her to cover her eyes with her hoof…

Once she opened them, she was surprised as to how a unique landscape was created, Luna and Richard were now on a reef while the waves crashed violently, as some drops made it to the top, delicately touching the princess’ fur and mane. At the same time, a towering sun has risen on the horizon, intensely glowing, but not blinding.

Satisfied with the results, he sat on an indian position, and just admired such scenery that captivated him like the first time he dreamt it.

“This is…wonderful!” Luna exclaimed, fascinated.

“You think?” he asked.

“Of course I do! Only a few of my subjects could create such a marvelous thing so quickly.”

“Well, thanks, even though you’re just an illusion to my disturbed mind, I appreciate it,”

“What? You think I’m an illusion?” Luna said as a wave hit the reef, creating a big water wall before them without getting them wet.

Richard didn’t know what to answer that, making up a nervous face.

“Sometimes, I forget you’re not a pony,” she said giggling.

“What do you mean?” was the only thing he could say.

“One of my powers as the princess of the night, is to enter the dreams of my subjects and help them with their fears and insecurities, from a safe environment like the dreams are.”

His eyes couldn’t believe what he was seeing, as unreal as it was. If Twilight’s intangibility spell was surprising, this was a whole another level, unthinkable and impossible to do in his world.

Surprised, he asked the princess:

“If you are real, what are you doing in my dream?”

“I came to talk about what happened back there,” she said with a serious look.

Richard could only frown as he looked to the floor.

“Listen, I’m no fighting against them, I thought I left that clear, and you are not making me do it,” he said.

“I know,” the princess replied “We talked with each other and we decided that we won’t make you do something you don’t want to,”

“But there’s something I want to know,” she continued “How did you get to us?”

Richard wanted to be careful with what he was going to respond to what questions he was being made. Without delaying, he told her the same he told Twilight at the given time, from the report to Rainbow Dash’s hit, with every detail.

The princess was surprised by the dreams and nightmares he went through to get to her, his determination and most of all, his will, which has not subdued by his military ideals at the time to question his duty as a soldier.

Once he finished telling his story, Luna said:

“I see you’ve gone through a lot to get here, but most important, you did it on your own free will. I was impressed at the part about watching the moon devotedly, makes me feel special and loved.”

Richard, who was expecting a lecture from the princess, was curious about the her statement.

“Special…loved…aren’t you loved in your kingdom?” he asked.

Hearing that, Luna looked down sadly. Richard noticed he shouldn’t have asked that and hurried an excuse.

“S-sorry, I shouldn’t have asked such a personal thing,”

“It’s okay. You have the right to know anyway,”

Once she recovered her composure, she began her tale.

“A long time ago, there was an evil mare that desired the night to last eternally, she was called Nightmare Moon. But when she was about to fulfill her wish, her sister used devices of magic called the Elements of Harmony to banish her for a thousand years on the moon. Once that time was out, with the help of the stars, Nightmare Moon managed to escape from her prison and return to her prime objective, bring along the eternal night. But thanks to Twilight and her friends turned into the Elements of Harmony themselves, they defeated her and turn her to her original form,”

“Nice story and all,” Richard said “But, if you say that she returned to her original form, it means that she was another mare that transformed into her in the first place. So, who was Nightmare Moon?”

Luna looked sadly at the human, she knew he wasn’t stupid, it was in vain to hide the truth from him.

“You’re smarter than you look. Fine, if there’s no other choice…” she said with a loaded sigh “I was Nightmare Moon, happy?”

Sadness invaded her, a knot formed in her throat, she wanted to burst in tears, the memories of how she almost let Nightmare Moon take over her again made her feel guilty and disappointed in herself for almost falling into darkness’ temptation. Shamefacedly, she brought both her hooves to cover her face.

“I know there are still ponies that fear me and don’t trust me as their governor, not to mention that most of them don’t like the night that I create. It leaves a picture of a monster of myself” she said between sobs.

Suddenly, the scenery of the dream changed, sunset was blocked by storm clouds covering the stunning sun as they roared their lightning and thunderbolts, these started to make Richard shake in fear. Knowing that her tears were the ones causing the change, he did the first thing that popped into his mind to help her.

Thunders and lightning ceased when Luna felt how Richard was embracing her, taking her aback.

“W-what are you doing?” she asked.

“Listen, you’re not a monster, you’re one of the most important beings that Equestria has,” said Richard on her shoulder. “You bring night itself, you’re capable of helping your subjects in their dreams. Even if you’ve been on the evil side, you changed, and let out what makes you unique and special.

A hole in the clouds gave pass to a light beam that covered the scenery with its brightness.

“But what about my subjects?”

“If there’s something I know about politics, is that governors are called that way for two reasons, because they know how to play their roles as leaders, and because they have the respect of their subjects. You already have the first one. As for the other, well, if you want them to love you, you must get close to them and co-exist with them. I don’t think I need to remind you that things changed in this millennia that you’ve been absent, even customs, traditions, and your own subjects.

“Thank you Richard,” Luna said as she returned the embrace, after the talk “Sometimes I forget you’re a human after all.”

And so, the filled with doubts and sadness grey clouds vanished, leaving the place as immaculate as it started.

They stayed like this for who knows how long, until Richard slowly broke away from the alicorn, who revealed an inimitable smile.

“Thank you for the words of encouragement. You know? My sister tends to tell me that all the time, but I always thought she did that just to make me feel better. But coming from you… those words are not only true, but also feel more special,”

“You have nothing to thank me for,” Richard said “But, if it isn’t too much to ask, can you show me?

“What do you mean?”

“The night, well I mean, your night.”

“Alright, if you insist.”

Luna made her horn glow and shot a magic current similar to Richard’s, which traveled through the sky and sea, until it crashed against the sun and exploded, making the whole dream change, revealing a clear night, full of shining stars and a wild moon, white and big that lighted on the horizon.

“It’s so beautiful… just as I remembered!” he said marveled.

“Do you think so?”

“Of course I do, it’s as spectacular like the first dream I had after finding Twilight’s report,”

They both stared at the full moon for some moments, until Luna had to break that magical moment.

“Listen, I think I’ve taking enough time from you in your dream, I believe I must take my leave,” said the princess as she stood up “But think of the important decision that you must take. We won’t make you do anything.

“I understand, princess,”

“One more thing, it doesn’t matter what you choose, I think you owe an apology to certain unicorn,”

“You’re right, now that I’ve calmed down, I can’t justify how I treated Twilight, she didn’t deserve it. I’ll talk to her once I wake up.

“Great! Now if you excuse me, I must go, sweet dreams.” Luna said.

She raised her horn and made it glow, making her body turn into blue shiny dust being carried by the sea wind.

Richard stayed put, watching the seascape for a while until he decided to stand up and swipe off the dust from his trousers. Soon after a sound called his attention. He looked backwards and heard the laughter of his military companions, it was a laughter of joy and celebration, along with the clinking of bottles and cups between one another in a toast manner.

Curiosity overcame him and he walked slowly to the recently formed forest where those cheering were taking place, with every step, the voices of his friends were getting more audible, until he stopped in place, once he figured out what they were saying.

“Those ponies were too easy to defeat,” David said.

“Tell me about it! It did take us some time to get to the hideout, but damn, was it worth it,” said another one of his companions.

“Of course it was worth it, now that we’ve captured their leaders and some of those ponies as prisoners, we can continue and conquer the whole territory,” somebody else said as the group started laughing.

“Gentlemen, I don’t mean to interrupt your fun, but has anyone seen Richard anywhere?” Phillip asked.

“I dunno General, he went for a walk some time ago,” David replied.

“Surely he must have a lot to think about, who knows what sort of things the ponies have done to him while he was being held captive, it must have been traumatizing,”

“Traumatizing? Forget about it! Those are ponies you’re talking about,”

“Those ponies did put up a good fight, ever since the beginning they showed themselves as a powerful species, shame that it wasn’t enough to outmatch us,” Philip said as he sipped his wine.

“So? What’s next?” another soldier inquired.

“The books and maps that I’ve been brought are enough to know. There are many more cities beyond the hills, plus there are mineral deposits with all sorts of precious stones, if we exploit them we can bring military personnel, equipment to exploit the mines, we could even move our camp to Ponyville. What’s more, there are rumours of more species other than ponies, like griffons, buffalos and so on,” explained the general as he left his cup on the table.

“But don’t worry, if we’ve already defeated their leaders and taken over their capital, the rest will be a piece of cake. Get some rest everyone, you deserve it.” he concluded as he walked away from the group.

Richard could not believe what he was hearing, he was sure that he was asleep and this was only a dream, but imagining the situation and his partners mock and delight themselves, brought him a feeling of repulsion and disgust, he couldn’t believe that everyone seemed to agree with all of that carnage.

A thought flooded his mind. What happened to the Princesses, to the Elements, to the other ponies… to Twilight? Picturing the scene where each one of the girls were on the floor, lying down on a puddle of blood while the soldier’s boots left crimson marks wherever they went, made him almost vomit those wild berries he lunched on.

Determined, he turned around again and walked to where he was admiring the sunset now turned night by Princess Luna. Stood on the edge of the mountain, looked at the rocks below and the waves that crashed against them, he looked back and looked at the forest where the soldiers were still celebrating. A bit fearful, he brought his foot forward, leaving it dangling in the air while he balanced himself to not fall without warning.

“If I had to choose, I choose… I choose…”

He plunged into the void, from the mountain he created, determined to do what he believed was the best for everybody, but for that, he first needed to wake up and he found no other way rather than killing himself. Gravity was pulling him to the sharp rocks at the bottom as he remembered the talk he had with those colourful ponies that considered him an ally, specially that violet unicorn that called him “hope”.

“Hope… I’m… her hope.” was the last thing he said before smashing to the spiky rocks.

Shuddering and scared, he opened his eyes, waking up in the same spot where he sat down to sleep, he looked around to recognize the place and stood up, stretched his arms, thundered his fingers and neck, and walked back to the hideout.

Rainbow Dash was taking watch from the air, flying in circles around the refuge, she didn’t like to stand still in one place and this was the only way to avoid that. Nothing out of the common she said to herself, just ponies sleeping together, save for Twilight who was still nowhere to be found, her friends tried to talk to her, but they were only rejected without a chance to even say anything.

As she flew, she noticed how a familiar figure peeked his head from one of the tunnels, she quickly dived and landed in front of him.

“Well, well, look who decided to come back,” Rainbow said.

“I haven’t got the time to talk Rainbow, I need to see Twilight now,” Richard said.

“What for? So that you can keep treating her like garbage? I don’t think so,”

“Please Rainbow, I want to apologize. Please let me go to her.”

“Fine, fine, don’t start a scene here. She went through that tunnel,” Rainbow pointed.

Then Richard hugged Rainbow out of the blue, making her to open her eyes even wider.

“Thanks, thanks, thanks!”

“H-hey! You better hurry… before I change my mind!” she said tossing him aside.

Richard started to run and entered said cave that Twilight went into the previous night.

Once a bit after the half of the tunnel, he took a break to catch some air, he didn’t see any signals of Twilight so far, but her kept running into the tunnel, where the only sounds were a drop falling into a puddle of water and Richard’s boot stepping the rocky ground.

“Twilight!” he yelled, expecting a response.

No answer, he tried again.

He stopped running once he almost got at the end of the tunnel, he stood there to talk to her from a distance, in case she didn’t want to see him after what happened.

“Twilight, I know you’re mad and angry, and… and you have every right to be,” he said as he got closer “But I came here to tell you that… Twilight?

Richard noticed there was a different kind of silence, he approached the end of the tunnel just to see there was nopony in there, but something in the wall caught his attention. The same intangibility spell she used to help him recover his bag was still active. He braced himself and went through it.

Once outside, he went looking for her, but without yelling, there was a chance that there still were watch patrols around.

“Twilight? Where are you?” Richard asked, his voice close to a whisper.

“Hey, come on, help me carry her,” a voice said from afar.

Fearing the worst, Richard runs to the place where he thought he heard the voice.

“She sure is heavy, I didn’t know ponies were this heavy,”

“If you want her to be lighter, then come help me and stop blabbing for once.”

Once he got there, Richard sees in terror how a pair of soldiers captured Twilight, he didn’t know if she was dead or alive, there was only one way to find out.

He sneaked through the trees and bushes, picked a rock the size of his fist and waited for the right time to throw it.

“Wait ‘till the general finds out we captured…”

Silenced by the strike on his head, the soldier falls unconscious, while his partner looks around in search of the culprit.

“Who’s there?!” he yelled as he waved his gun.

He felt movement on a nearby bush, so he approaches it and moves it away to uncover what’s behind it, but seeing as there was nothing, he turns around to keep searching, without noticing that Richard placed himself behind him and hit him with a branch which was considerably big.

“Good thing they didn’t wear helmets” Richard said once made sure they were not an annoyance for the moment.

He quickly approached Twilight, who was on the floor, unresponsive.

“Twilight! Twilight!” he called as he checked her in case she had a wound. “Twilight come on, please!” he said trying to wake her up.

He placed his ear where he believed was the heart, luckily it was the right place and he heard her heart beating.

Without wasting time, he carried her on his arms and travelled back to the hideout, crossed through the intangible wall and ran faster than ever to find the rest of the ponies and ask for help. It didn’t matter if his arms or legs were in pain, he’d keep going, he promised so.

The ponies were sleeping peacefully, or as peaceful as it could get for a place like that, until a scream alerted them.

“Help! Need some help here!” Richard yelled.

Exhausted, he knelt waiting for someone to grab Twilight, but until then he held her and stayed with his head down waiting for her to wake up.

The princesses and Elements ran to them quickly, they were frightened to see Twilight, unconscious on Richards’s arms. Celestia enveloped Twilight with her magic and placed gently on the ground.

“We need a doctor here!” Celestia exclaimed, desperate.

Some ponies woke up from the racket and approached to see, terrified because the Element of Magic was passed out on the floor, impotency was the right word to describe those ponies.

Nurse Redheart entered the scene.

“For the love of Celestia, what happened?” she asked.

“I… went searching for her, thought she was at the end of the tunnel but… she got out with one of her spells or something, and when I went for her… a pair of soldiers knocked her out and were planning on taking her hostage… I took them out and I brought her back,”

The ponies exchanged suspicious looks; it was something hard to believe.

“Listen sugarcube, it’s not that we don’t trust you, it’s just that your story is… uh, how to say it…”

“It’s… barely believable, yes that, barely believable” Rarity said taking the words out of Applejack’s mouth.

“Oh you… don’t be so kind to him!” Said Rainbow standing in front of Richard “Truth is, we all think you’re lying.”

“Wait… why would you think I’d lie? Are you thinking I hit Twilight and then came here to ask for help?”

The ponies thought for a moment, but were still uncertain.

“Alright, look, if I wanted to betray you guys, I’d have escaped while Twilight was still unconscious, but no. I brought her here because she needs the first aid!”

“Or maybe you did that to trick us and make the soldiers enter through the door spell while we’re talking to you!” Rainbow accused.

Richard’s eyes opened wide when he found out of that detail.

“The entrance! Somebody must go and close it before they find about it!”

“Princess Celestia, what do you think?” Rainbow asked.

“Please, you must believe me!” Richard begged.

The princess looked at her subjects and Richard, she had to make a decision that would change the course of action, but when she was about to give her verdict, a voice stopped her.

“He’s telling the truth,” Twilight said as she got up with a bandage on her head.

“Wha- really?!” Rainbow said incredulous.

“Yes Rainbow, really. I was sleeping at the end of the tunnel when I heard steps getting closer; I didn’t want to talk to anypony so I went out and ran. When I thought nobody was following me, a soldier was pointing me with his gun until I felt a pain in my head. Last thing I remember was Richard next to me, checking if I was alive and breathing,” she said as she turned to face him,

“Thank you for bringing me back, it’s the bravest thing that somebody has ever done for me ever” she added as she hugged him.

Once they broke the hug, Richard said,

“Listen, I went looking for you because I wanted to apologize about yesterday, I shouldn’t have treated you like I did,”

“No, I’m the one at fault, I shouldn’t have made you do something you didn’t want to do, for a moment I forgot the tough situation you’re going through and, well, pressure took its toll on me,” Twilight corrected.

“I must insist, I was the one that…”

“Oh for the love- We got it, would you just shut up? Get a room!” Rainbow said.

Both of them blushed at the comment, giving away the fact that all was forgiven.

“Oh, one more thing, I thought about it and thanks to certain help,” Richard added as he looked at Luna “I’ve decided I’ll join you in the battlefield,”

The girls smiled and cheered, throwing themselves at Richard in a group hug, all of them except Twilight who was just looking at the scene somewhat happy, her eyes shifted to look at Luna searching for an explanation to that ‘certain help’. But why did she care that much about what Luna did to him?

As Luna noticed Twilight looking at her, the princess approached her and whispered,

“Don’t worry, nothing happened, I’ll tell you later,” she said as she winked at the unicorn “Well I better go close the entrance before we’re discovered, I’ll be right back.” she added with her normal voice, and left the place.

“Very well, now that we’re all gathered, and Twilight’s alright now, it’s time to introduce you somepony very special,” said Celestia as she levitated the big metallic wardrobe from before and put it vertically on the ground “Here he is, one of the best graduates from Equestrian Technical and Magic College in magical engineering, or the ETMC, Iron Wrench PhD.

So, she broke the lock and released the wardrobe from its rusty chain boundaries, opening it, for her surprise, the engineer fell down unconscious in front of the ponies who were surprised.

“Um, princess?” asked Rarity, warning about the state of the pony.

“Oopsie, he’s just playing around,” Celestia said with a giggle as she poked the engineer with a stick.

At first he didn’t react, but soon enough he woke up slowly from the princess’ poking, he sprung to his feet once fully awake.

“Sorry you had to see that, but I told certain princess, to open the box as soon as I got to destination!” Iron Wrench said staring at Celestia.

“And I told you, I wasn’t gonna open it until later, you didn’t have to make such an entrance,” the princess defended.

“But I like making spectacular introductions and you know that!” Iron replied.

The girls were looking strangely at the discussion between the princess and the engineer, it looked like they’ve known each other from before, maybe it was one of those friendship that were outside any royalty.

The discussion seemed to go on forever, it wasn’t until Twilight coughed on purpose that they shut up.

“Excuse me?” she said.

Once she got their attention, the both of them got back to business as it was supposed to.

“I’m sorry for the scene, it’s so nice to see a beloved friend after all these years,” Celestia explained.

“Oh Celestia, the feeling is mutual and even more so when last you came just to ask for a favour,” Iron replied arrogantly.

“Oh please, you know I did it for an emergency and it was the first time I asked you a favour,” Celestia said, whose voice turned from steady to kind and friendly, one that very few occasions was heard.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait… where do you exactly know him from?” Twilight asked.

“The first time I met him was when he visited the castle for an investigation, it was at that moment that I realized how smart he was, he gave me an interview and thanks to that, he passed with a hundred percent,”

“Actually it was ninety-five percent, I did make some mistakes,” Iron corrected.

“You passed with flying colours, which is the important thing, the second time was at the graduation ceremony, and I offered him a job at the castle about technological advances investigation, but he declined,” the Princess said as she looked at Iron.

“I didn’t want to be under the pressure of having a boss judging my work, so I decided to create my own business and give my services to those who hire them, in this case it’s Celestia,” he said pointing to the said pony.

“I’m sorry, services?” Twilight asked incredulous.

“That’s right, ever since your struggle with King Sombra, I was worried that future villains were more dangerous and I asked Iron to forge special armors for each one of you.”

From the metal wardrobe, six armor sets were taken out, each one with different forms and colors.

“I think we’ll start with… Twilight!” Iron exclaimed pointing at the unicorn.

Twilight approached and Iron quickly put her torso armor, leg plates and greaves and helm, her suit was a bit darker than her fur in colour, with golden details in almost all of its extension, the helm let her mane poke out and the openings in the front left uncovered part of her eyes, nose and mouth. The armor covered all of her middle zone up to her cutie mark, leaving her hindquarters and tail uncovered.

“Wow, it’s magnificent, it’s like I’m wearing nothing at all,” Twilight said as she waived her plot around.

Iron blushed at the action, but kept his composure.

“Indeed, all armors were made with a metal alloy, light and resilient altogether, so, who’s next?”

“Me! Memememe! Pick me!” Rainbow rushed at the front.

“Let’s see…”

Iron put the armor on Rainbow the same way he did with Twilight’s, this was a French blue colour, with the same golden details.

Rainbow was admiring her new armor, until she felt somepony touching her wings, angry she raised her guard.

“What are you trying maggot?!”

“Hey, don’t get your pants in a knot! If you let me do my job, I’ll add a special gadget for your wings,” Iron said covering his face.

Rainbow huffed without having much choice.

With a bit more care, Iron lifted some strange parts with his magic, and put them on the pegasus’ wings which were folded to her body. He got closer to give the gadgets a couple hits, putting some gears inside them to work.

“They’re ready. Now, unfold them and marvel yourself.” Iron said with confidence.

Rainbow did so, she unfolded her wings quickly, revealing that they were also covered in a special armor for them the same color of her armor, giving them a special mechanical look to them.

“As you can see, Rainbow’s wings are covered in a thin layer of refined metal, so flexible that’ they adjust to their natural movement without any hindrance as Iron explained, Rainbow played with her wings’ position to check it out-, plus they have an extra function, the ends of the feathers are extremely sharp, so, you can use your wings as swords if you wished to. Swing next to an enemy at full speed, and he’ll surely pay a visit to the hospital, if it isn’t too late for him.

Rainbow was astonished, and with a determined look she took off and did a few stunts to test her new suit, there was almost no difference and she could easily make use of her wing gadgets on the battlefield.

“Okay then, who’s next? Uh..you...Applejack!”

“Alright then,” the farm pony said as she took a step forward.

Iron placed the chest plate and helm in their places, both of them were mandarin orange with white details, her characteristic ponytail from her mane came out from a hole in the back part of the helm.

“So, where the hay are the boots or greaves of this thing?” Applejack asked.

“Oh, they’re right over there,” Iron said pointing to two pairs of grieves.

Applejack approached them, and was surprised at the size of those boots, it wasn’t how tall they were that surprised her, but how wide. There were so many metal parts that gave them a sturdy look, it was a little bit excessive.

“Don’t fear Applejack, they don’t bite,” Iron assured.

Still a bit doubtful, Applejack tried to put on the boots, but these were too heavy and couldn’t move them, she looked at the engineer pointing out the issue with her stare, to which he replied.

“Just put them on without moving them,”

Still confused, she stands in the middle of the boots and places her hooves inside them, fitting perfectly, she tried to move them again but they were too heavy even for her.

“How the hay do you want me to move if these… things… don’t let me!” she said between each pull.

“What? Oh sorry, I forgot, I’ll fix it right away,”

He went closer to Applejack and gave each part two hits, just as he did to Rainbow’s wings, the boots soon started gearing down, which made the parts to accommodate themselves, shrinking in size and adjusting to Applejack’s legs. Once that was done, the boots were just like her friends’, Applejack trotted around to test how they were.

“Okay, so, after those interruptions, let me explain what’s special about these boots,”

“Special?” she repeated.

“Of course, for you see, even though they’re smaller now they still have some extra power, can you stand on two legs?”

“A little while, yeah…”

“Good, see that rock over there?” Iron asked pointing behind him, at the rock where Richard was first tied up to “I want you to stand on your hind legs and give it a good kick,”

Applejack headed to the rock, looked at the engineer again, but he only nodded. So she stood on her hind legs.

“Take this!” she cried.

Applejack’s hooves smashed on the rock, making it tremble, leaving a mark double as deep as her hoof’s size.

Everypony were surprised at the damage done, Rainbow was agape.

“As you can see, Applejack’s boots augment the strength of the hits she deals, the Princess told me you used to work on an apple farm and were used to kick apple trees, so I designed the armor so that you can be stronger in close quarters,” Iron brags.

“It’s amazing,” Applejack could only say.

“And that’s not all, see that little button on the side of your armor? Push it and give the rock another go, in the same spot if you’re so kind,”

Applejack readied again, and pushed the button which makes the gears go. She stood on her hind legs again, cried, and just as her hoof was going to make contact on the rock, compressed air leaked from the apertures on her hoof, expanding rapidly to their original size. Thanks to the momentum she didn’t miss much from her original target, despite the sudden weight gain, making an impact on the rock, only this time, it exploded to the force of impact, obliterated in several pieces.

“No way!” Rainbow exclaimed “It’s too much power!”

Logically, Applejack was astonished and shocked, much like the rock was, she tried to move but the boot was still on its big form.

“Don’t worry,” Iron told her, and the instant next to it, the boot was coming back to its compact size “Let me do some explaining here, that button makes the boots enlarge to their original form, and with it, their strength as you may have noticed, which the reason of their huge weight was. There’s a catch however, the bigger the momentum, the stronger the force of impact, but the longer it takes to shrink back to adaptable size. It’s simple physics, you’ll get the hang of it.

“Alright, who’s… no wait, don’t tell me… Pinkie, I know you’re behind me with both hooves up.” Iron guessed at the pink pony.

“How did you know what I was doing? Are you some sort of psychic? Can you read my mind? Can you see the future? Can you read my palm? No, what am I saying? I’ve got no palm, Richard is the only one here that does and has two! So you can read two fortunes for the price of one! Can you, can you, can you?” Pinkie said before being shut up by Iron’s hoof.

“Celestia did a good work describing you all, though I think she missed by the…” he was interrupted after seeing the signals of the other ponies to stop talking.

“Oh you mean my hair? Don’t worry, it’ll come back to how it was, no reason to be sad anyway!” she said euphorically.

The girls were glad that Pinkie was returning to her usual self, at least in her attitude, it wasn’t known whether her hair will be the same as before or not.

Iron dressed Pinkie in her armor, dark pink colored with white details, her straight and downhearted heart popped out of her helm.

“So? What does it do? What does it do?!” Pinkie asked.

“I’d be glad to show you all of them, but they are hidden and there are so much that it would take me forever to explain all of them in a single stand. Plus, they are a surprise! I’m sure you’ll find them all, like them, and give them plenty of good use,”

“Next! You, the white unicorn!”

“Moi? I’m sorry dear but there’s no way I’m getting my hooves dirty on a battle, and even less display one of your armor sets that have so many functions and no sense of fashion,”

“Rarity… I thought you’d help us,” Twilight said giving her a puppy face.

“Sorry sweetie, I think I overreacted, of course I’ll help you but there’s no way I’m using these barbaric suits,”

“Just as I pictured you, but fear not, this armor was made especially for you,” he said as he gently placed the armor on her body.

Rarity was left with her eyes open and gleaming once she saw the armor, ice grey colored with details matching her mane color, and it had a gloss job that deemed it astonishing, the helm did not mess with her mane and did not overshadow the unicorn’s beauty.

Spike was dumbfounded at the pony, admiring her figure, checking every inch of her sculpted pearl white body.

“So what do you think? Up to your standards?” Iron asked.

“It’s, beautiful…” Spike said letting his thoughts drift, once he noticed, he took both of his claws to his mouth and blushed.

“Spike is right, this armor is beautiful, splendid, magnificent, worthy of a queen marching to the battlefield.” Rarity said as she tried several poses.

“Alright, you keep checking your gear while I see the last one… uh, Fluttershy right?”

The girls looked at each other concerned about their friend, understanding the obliviousness of the engineer about Fluttershy’s delicate moment that she was going through.

“Excuse me, Doctor Iron?” Twilight inquired.

“Please, just call me Iron” he insisted.

“Alright, Iron, Fluttershy is not in conditions to fight in the battle, we appreciate you’ve thought about her and made her a suit,” the Unicorn expressed.

“Oh, what a shame, marvelous creation if I do say so myself, but I won’t push the matter further,” Iron said as he put several green parts in a box, and closed it.

“So where’s my armor?” Spike asked innocently.

Everypony looked at him, each one with a brow raised.

“Surely you must be joking,” Twilight said, hoping that he was indeed.

“What are you talking about? I’m talking a hundred percent serious,”

“Well then you’re crazy, there’s no way I’m letting you go to that dangerous battle!” Twilight exclaimed.

“But Twilight…!”

“But nothing! You stay here with everypony else!” she yelled enraged.

“I want to be useful in some way! Please girls, help me out with this,” Spike begged on his knees.

“Sorry cowboy, I’m with Twi in this one, we can’t let you go,”Applejack said.

“My dear Spiky Wykie, as brave as you are, I will not let you set a foot outside this cave,” Rarity joined.

“The girls got a point Spike, it’s very ugly out there and I don’t think it’ll be the place for a baby dragon,” Rainbow pointed.

The dragon looked at his friends in defeat, he really wanted to help prove his worth and warrior within, in tears of frustration, he turned back and headed for a destination unknown, until the elder dragon’s head made its presence and stopped him.

“Hey there little dragon, why the long face?”

“It’s just… it’s just that I want to be part of this, and my friends don’t let me, I want to be useful,” said Spike as he wiped the tears with his claw.

“If they overprotect you it’s because they love you little one, they just want you to be safe,”

“I know, I know, but I really want to help,”

“That can be arranged, leave it to me,” said the elder.

“Are you serious?” Spike asked in hope.

“I am, we just need to wait until they arrive… huh, what do you know, it looks like we don’t need to wait at all.”

From the other portals, the governors from all over the land made their presence in the cave once more, each one wearing their own battle armor.

“Oh Celestia, our troops are ready, just give us the order and we’ll start to mobilize,” Blue Fire said in his particular formal tone.

“My pegasi and I are ready to dish out some kicking to those humans!” Storm Cloud cheered.

“This will be an unimaginable show, my Fillydelphia warriors are ready for anything,” Silver Boss said.

“My buffalo brethren will run at your side in battle,” said Chief Thunderhooves.

“Celestia, I’ve been able to recruit brave dragons for the cause, but we have a problem; we need a leader, someone that can take us to the battlefield,”

“Not a problem dragon chief, I’m sure somepony will be willing to guide you,” Celestia said.

“Please my monarch; call me by my name, Kantrugajh. And there’s no need to search, I’ve got somebody in mind already for the mission. Come little one, don’t be afraid,” said the elder dragon.

From behind his head, Spike pops out shyly, Celestia did not flinch, the Elements, particularly Twilight, regained their stance.

“Spike… I thought I made myself clear, when I said… you’re not going to the battle!” she screamed angrier than before.

Foreseeing the situation that was going to take place again, Celestia decided to take the word.

“Spike, you are only a baby dragon and I understand the acting on my student’s part towards the situation,” said Celestia while Twilight showed a triumphant grin “But I also know that we’re on a reality that demands us to use every last resource we have available” Twilight changed her expression to one of doubt and fear.

With a knot on her throat, Celestia asked:

“So Spike. Are you sure you want to go to battle to us, to take the risk that it entails?”

The surprise at Celestia’s proposition left everyone shocked, all of their jaws were practically inches from the ground, while the dragon only looked at his governor, determination on his face.

“I am Princess, I want to fight at your side,” Spike said.

“So be it,” she said with her eyes closed, and quickly opened them “Iron, is there any way you can fabricate an armor for Spike?”

The unicorn, surprised by the question, starts to look around in search of an answer, until his watch lies on that metal wardrobe, where he brought the girls’ armors. With a glint in his eye, he brings the wardrobe closer to him with his magic, puts Fluttershy’s armor on the ground and and takes the door and compartments apart, leaving only metal pieces lying around.

“You’re asking for this out of the blue Celestia, but I think I can manage. Spike, come here for a second, I’ll measure you and make something out that fits you,” Iron replied.

Spike walked with the engineer, once he passed by Twilight he noticed that she had her head down, a shadow covered her cold stare, her expression was one of disappointment.

“Twilight… I…” Spike muttered as he tried to explain the situation.

“No… don’t say a word, if you want to go out there and die, just don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Twilight said dryly.

“But Twilight…”

“No. Leave.” she said pointing to the engineer with her hoof without looking at Spike.

Understanding her anger, Spike goes with Iron to start making his armor, after some completely silenced seconds.

“Alright, the battle suits are done, now we need a strategy,” Celestia said to break the silence.

“Wait,” Twilight said as she looked at Richard “Richard? What are you doing?”

The human was looking in front of him with a hand on his chin, without paying much attention to the ponies, thinking until the question took him off his trance.

“What? Sorry, didn’t hear anything you guys said, I was thinking about a strategy,”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, that was my specialty in the army, so listen up,” he said as the Elements, princesses and governors approached, the elder dragon could only lean his head to them “I think I have the way to get to the portal. Did anyone here hear about the saying “divide and conquer”?”

Everyone nodded, except Rainbow.

“Well, the thing is, I was thinking that if we can manage to make the army at the base go fight somewhere else, we’d have more chances of carrying out what Twilight has planned,”

“You mean like bait?” the unicorn asked.

“Exactly,”

“How are we supposed to do that, human?” Luna asked.

“I’m not saying it’ll be easy, but I could trick the general into making him believe that you’ll attack the base and have your armies at the forest, while the rest will go straight to base when the soldiers quantity that where there has dropped.”

“Hang on, hang on, if humans are as tough as they say, how will we split the armed forces to confront them?” Rainbow asked.

“I covered that too. Seeing as most part of the army will fight outside, then I think it’d be fair to deploy most of ours there too, that group might be buffalos, dragons, and ponies from one of the cities, the governors of course leading their own groups. The other part will mostly consist of ponies from the other cities, pegasi, and changelings, led by the Elements, the princesses, the governors that are left and Discord. What do you think?”

Everyone looked at each other, some shared looks of agreement, others however disagreed.

“Sounds like a plan Richard. Does everypony understand what to do?” Celestia asked.

“I do too think it’s a good plan boy,” Silver Boss said “But it’d be better for all governors to share the same front,”

“I agree with Silver,” Storm Cloud said politely “I’d rather prefer to join my fellow governors in the noble mission of saving Equestria together,”

By this point, everyone was confused at Cloudsdale’s mayor attitude, sometimes she was energetic and outgoing, in others, refined and polite, nobody could understand her. Save for the other governors and Princesses who knew exactly the reason to that erratic behavior.

“But if you go to the other front, who will lead your troops?” Richard asked.

“I think Celestia and Luna are qualified enough to lead my troops, I trust them because they saved me several times, do you remember Princess?” Silver said laughing. While Celestia only smiled to those memories.

“As for mine, I think I know the right lady for the job,” said Storm as she looked at certain blue pegasus “Miss Rainbow Dash, would you do me the honor to guide your Pegasi brothers in the battlefield?

The said Pegasus’ eyes widened in surprise, and took one of her hooves to her mouth in excitement.

“Do you… do you really want… me to lead your troops?” Rainbow asked.

“Absolutely dear, you’re qualified to the task I’m leaving on your shoulders and… and,” she muted out for a second “And I hope you get out there and kick those humans outta here!

“I won’t disappoint you mayor,” Rainbow said making the military gesture, Richard smiled when he saw they did have some customs of them.

“So, as a final note, governors will go to the forest outskirts, and the rest to the forest itself. If everyone agrees, then the only thing left is to star to mobilize the troops,” Richard said.

The ponies looked at each other and nodded along, first the governors, then the princesses, and lastly the Elements, ending with Twilight.

“Alright then, everyone’s got their orders, time to move out!” Richard ordered.

Everypony looked at him with a brow raised, once he noticed, Richard scratched his head in shame, for a moment he forgot who he was dealing with.

“Uh I mean, just… nevermind” he sighed.

And so, the leaders left for their portals to bring their soldiers for the final battle.

Meanwhile, it was time to set the plan in motion.

“So if you’re a terrible liar, how will you trick the General in sending his men?” Celestia asked.

“That can be fixed; I’ll call the base pretending I’m enslaved by you and revealing your ‘plan’,”

“You didn’t answer my question,”

“I was getting to that. I need someone to hit me, hard enough to agonize, not enough to knock me out, volunteers?”

“I’ll do it!” Rainbow called getting her friends out of the way and getting closer to Richard.

“Somebody else? No one? Please there’s gotta be someone else, seriously?” Richard said nervous and terrified.

“Don’t be afraid, it’ll be quick, the strike I mean. The pain? Not so much,” the Pegasus said maliciously.

“If that’s how it goes, go ahead, let me warn you though, I’m a little…”

He couldn’t finish because Rainbow flew full speed ahead and hit him in the stomach, as fast as a wink, a drop of water falling into a water puddle, a word lost in the wind.

Richard was static, processing both the pain and what just happened, the only reaction he had was stay with his mouth agape and try to say any word, but the only thing he could make up were pain sounds.

“I hope that’s what you wanted,” Rainbow said satisfied, letting him go and standing up again.

Richard could not stand on his own however, and dropped in front of everybody, Twilight went to help him, at least making certain that he was still alive.

“Are you nuts Rainbow?! You could have killed him!” Twilight yelled angry.

“Relax egghead, I could have, but I restrained, I may have overdone it because I forgot I still had my armor,” Rainbow said laughing.

“Rainbow!” Twilight repeated.

“It’s okay… I’m fine,” Richard said forcefully, coughing saliva “Quick… get my bag.”

Quickly Twilight levitated the bag towards him, he took out his phone and put the speaker on his face, thinking about what would he say to the general once he picks up at the other side.

“Colonial Base, this is General Philip Armander,”

“Phil… help me,” Richard replied, restraining himself from throwing up.

“Rick is that you? Where are you? What happened?”

“I’ve been caught Phil… I’m hurt,”

A shudder traveled through Philip’s body.

“But how did that…?” the general stuttered.

“I’ve been knocked out by surprise… I woke up in a cave and… and…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll send out some help,” Philip said alarmed.

“No… listen… I sneaked through them to tell you…” he coughed “They are preparing themselves… to attack the base… from the North side.

“How do you know that?”

“I’ve been cast the same spell they cast on you for interrogation… I couldn’t resist general… I’m sorry,”

“No, no don’t be sorry, I promise you, when we’re done with those rebel ponies we’ll come looking for you, thanks for warning us. Hang up before they spot you and… don’t do anything stupid until we’ve come for you, understood?”

“Al…right Phil, good luck,” Richard finished hanging the phone quickly.

“This is bad, so bad,” the General said while he pressed a button on his desk, making the whole site to blare by the sound of an emergency siren.

He grabbed the microphone on his desk, turned on the speakers and said:

“Attention, we have a situation in process, all personnel get ready for the expedition, and captains reunite at the operations center to discuss battle strategy,”

He ran out of his tent and to the operation center, losing himself between the running and hustle of the available soldiers.

Back in the cave, Richard was thoughtful as he looked at the phone, he knew that from here on out, there was no turning back.

“Rainbow… mark my words,” Richard said without looking her “Someday, I’ll get back to you, even if it’s the last thing I do,”

“In the next life maybe,” Rainbow replied with a confident laugh.

“Come Richard, let me help you up,” Celestia said.

He leaned against the sun monarch and with his left arm helped himself up with her neck.

“Hey everypony!” a cheerful voice said from behind them all.

Everypony looked back to see Cadence, who was coming from inside a portal.

“Twilight, could you do me a favor and make my portal bigger? I need to bring some carts along,”

“Sure, give me a second,” Twilight said as she made her horn glow and made the portal grow.

Each of the carts had huge boxes in them, some guards from the Crystal Empire took one down and opened it.

“In these boxes there are the special armors for the soldiers, but I don’t think you need these. You look amazing!” Cadence exclaimed.

“Thank you!” the girls said in unison.

“But what’s special about those armors?” Rainbow asked as she held a torso piece which brought her good memories.

“Oh I almost forgot!,” Cadence said “I need to show you the power of these armors, who wants to be a volunteer?”

The Elements looked at a tired Richard, he warned them:

“Oh no, I won’t be your testing guinea pig this time, I’ve got enough pain to endure already,”

“Sissy,” Rainbow whispered..

“I think I know who will be the perfect test subject for this,” Twilight said.

Trapped in a magic bubble, Dr. Hooves and the ponies that helped him attack Richard were laying down looking at the floor, thinking about the situation.

“Hey Doctor,” Twilight said, he just ignored her “Time to pay for what you did, put this armor on and step to the center”

The Doctor looked at the strange armor, but did not hesitate in putting it on and accompanying the unicorn.

Once in the middle, Hooves is surrounded in a circle, and Richard came from behind the crowd, wielding a M14 assault rifle set to manual fire. The Doctor was scared for seeing that unknown weapon to him, he tried to run away but something stopped him, a rectangular purple block engulfed his legs and put him steady in place.

“What’s all this?” he asked terrified.

“Just a little experiment we’re doing, if you stay calm you won’t get hurt,”

“Do you know what will happen if Dinky sees this situation?” he asked distressed.

“Don’t worry,” Luna said “She’s in the Dreamland now and I don’t think she’s waking up soon.”

“Okay Richard, please proceed” Twilight said as she casted a protection barrier for the watchers.

In a swift motion, he pointed at the Doctor with his gun, he tried to escape from that purple block but it was useless, he could only lean his head away and close his eyes, waiting for death.

The gunshot was heard all around the refuge, the ponies looked astonished at the scene, Cadence and Twilight had a satisfied look after seeing the results, a confused Doctor opens his eyes slowly and untruthful, surprised after finding himself unharmed, he looked at Richard’s gun and noticed the bullet cap was on the ground.

“W-what happened?” Hooves asked.

“As you may have noticed, Doctor, the Crystal Empire armors are unique in its kind, they are made with magic that when it fuses with molten iron, they make an armor capable of resisting physical harm better than common armor. Richard, do you mind shooting once more?

“My pleasure,” he said as he shot the Doctor again without giving him time to react.

With the same result, Cadence continued with her explanation.

“As you can see, the armor’s magic made the bullet disintegrate completely after making contact with it, like it didn’t even touch it. The problem is, this magic is limited and is bound to run out after a while, any questions?”

While everypony was surprised because of the explanation, Celestia raised her hoof to ask something.

“Yes Celestia?”

“When did you turn yourself to crystal magic and armory expert?”

“Last night when we were packing the armors,”

“Good. Doctor, I hope this is lesson enough for your previous act. Without much else to do, every royal guard present must come pick up an armor set and change, we’ll go as soon as possible at the battlefield,”

“Yes ma’am!” the guards saluted.

At that moment, the governors made their presence and little by little, their troops started to fill the place.

“So what are you going to do now? You can’t go to the battlefield as a human,” Twilight said a bit worried.

“Well… I thought you could help me with that thing, you know, a spell or something,”Richard said.

“I’m sorry, but there are no disguise spells, not even the princesses have something like it. Stupid, stupid, stupid me for not thinking this through!” Twilight said hitting herself with her hoof “Wait, I’ve got it! Chrysalis can turn you in a pony with her changeling power!

Chrysalis, who was strangely quiet recently, loomed from behind Twilight scaring her.

“What?! I don’t know what’s going through that pony head of yours, but only changelings can have this power,” she said.

“Oh please, can’t you at least try?” Twilight asked.

“One thing is turning us into other beings, but use our magic to transform a third party is something I’ve never tried.”

“It’s never too late to try, besides it’s just one shot. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Gee, I dunno, losing my life is one of them!” Richard jumped in.

“If that’s the only risk, I’ll do it.” Chrysalis said with an evil smile.

She loaded her horn, a small green orb created on its top, which emitted small electric discharges of the same color, he didn’t feel pain, just a huge pressure on the impact zone.

After some seconds, green flames rotated on the floor around Richard, these rose until they covered him completely, and after what seemed an eternity, a small explosion dispelled that green fire, leaving smoke in its place.

“Richard? Are you okay?” Twilight asked.

But there was no answer, the thick smoke couldn’t let her see anything and imagination toyed with the ponies’ minds, even Discord’s, who was thinking about a failure leaving him almost as grotesque as he is.

There was the sound of clumsy walking hooves in the smoke took them all off of their trance, giving away the fact that the spell was a success.

“Richard? Are you feeling alright?” Twilight asked again.

-I think… I think so, I still can’t figure out how to waaaaooww,” he said as he tripped in front of the unicorn and dissipated the smoke.

Twilight laughed at the act, but in fact, the spell was actually successful, as a result, there now was a pale yellow coated unicorn, light brown eyes, medium brown tail and mane with a green stripe and no Cutie Mark.

“Wow! It looks better than I expected! Who did you picture to transform him?” Twilight asked.

“To be honest, nopony, I just used my changeling magic to ensure positive results. I’m surprised he came out a unicorn,” the Queen said thoughtful.

“So now that you’re almost a pony, you need a proper name, got any nicknames?”

“Well, my close friends call me Rick,”

“Rick, that’s a start, but it needs something else…” Twilight thought.

“Something elegant and sophisticated? How about Fancy Rick?” Rarity suggested.

“No not that, something a bit…”

“A bit more partying! Party Rick!” Pinkie said.

“No, something like…”

“…like Ugly Stupid Rick?”Rainbow said.

“Aren’t you satisfied with the blow, that you’re still pestering me?” Richard asked.

“Would you stop fighting already? I’m trying to focus!”

“I think I’ve got the right name for him,” Celestia said “How about you call yourself Brave Rick?

“Brave Rick… Brave Rick! Oh it’s the perfect name! Pick it, pick it!” Twilight said cheerful.

Richard thought for a bit, that name didn’t sound so bad to go to the battlefield.

“Okay then, from here on out, just call me Brave Rick.”

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