Ultimate Equestria

by Leo Pachino

Chapter 013: Dead Pony's Tale (Part 2)

Nitin continued his story, “Korsan was bailed out by his family the next day, only to take him home and give him a sharp piece of their minds. However, what was intended to be a mere aggressive lecture from each member of his family combined, quickly escalated into an ugly sight, resulting in him receiving an eye patch the next day. He was all alone, with only his gadgets and his own thoughts to keep him company.

He no longer was accepted into any school and was banned from joining any family gathering. In retaliation to the sibling’s constant bullying and the family ideology implanted into the core of his twelve-year-old, corrupt soul, Korsan directed his intellect to become as close to a unicorn as mechanically possible. He started by inventing an anti-magic substance that would protect him from any magical attacks.”

“Wait, he invented an anti-magic substance at the age of twelve? How smart was this foal?” The bounty hunter asked.

“Very smart, very creative, very resourceful, but had very low self-esteem and a body filled with rage and hatred; he was a waste of so much potential.” Nitin said.

“So did it work?”

“Not at first. Although the anti-magic functioned right, the substance would wash off of Korsan’s body faster than water. He needed a way of keeping it on him for ages to come, a suit of sorts. However, since he didn’t have the precision of his large hooves to build a proper suit to contain the substance, he built muscle-controlled claws that would give him that precision in his work.

These claws are one of the key features the madpony has. He then went on to build a harness that would have his material flow all around his body. It was a shield in the form of clothing. After many weeks of sweat and tire, Korsan completed his claws and anti-magic harness. He displayed to his family the powers and capabilities his inventions could do, only to be discredited once more.

He knew, deep inside, that unicorns could perform magical feats no mechanical device could possibly match or come close to.”

“He invented anti-magic and claws that would allow a non-unicorn to have the same precision of handling objects as one, yet no credit to his name…” The bounty hunter said, nonchalant. “I would’ve never thought the Madens would be so nutty.”

“He claims that they are right, that unicorns are the best and no work of mind nor machinery can match them. But if you were to ask me, I would say it’s just stubborn pride.”

“…”

“Back to the story… After being rejected by his family once more, the young colt had just about enough of this abuse. He flew away from his home one day, planning on going and living in Manehattan. Over the busy streets of Baltimare, however, something abnormal happened during his flight. It was some sort of unknown light phenomenon in the sky that just came all of a sudden, like lightning or something.

It blinded Korsan and sent him tumbling down into the streets. As if it were some cruel joke, the colt was hit head-on by an armoured bank chariot immediately afterwards. He was taken to the hospital, and found out that his back was broken and would require years to heal. His wings were also broken, but unlike his back, the damage was permanent. He could not fly for the rest of his life.

His family didn’t show up at the hospital to help him after the accident. He was truly abandoned. With a broken back and wings, the only thing he had was his inventions and twisted mind. He started a life of crime. Korsan began with petty theft, simple purse snatches and pick pocketing just to get some resources.”

“How was he able to do it without being caught?”

“Instead of hasty snatch and runs, Korsan used his intellect and silver tongue to get ponies to not notice when he robbed them. Only an hour later would they notice. He used the money to buy food to get by the day and metal to build a support system that would help him to be able to walk properly again. This secondary suit would act as a mechanical toy that Korsan could control with fluid motion.

The new ensemble worked better than he expected, as he found out he could run faster, lift more weight, and react quicker to immediate situations than other ponies of his age, but these upgrades came at a cost. Over the years, his support suit has been slowly forming his spine to go upright, never letting the broken bones inside to properly heal. In the past couple of years, his front hooves have never touched the ground, for he could now simply walk and run with his hind hooves.”

“This pony just seems to get stranger and stranger.” The stallion remarked.

“And he grew even more dangerous at that. In a matter of days, his crimes escalated to grand theft and even created several hostage situations. He used his spoils to buy from the black market and created weapons, from blades, to cannons, to even explosives. This created a vicious cycle that grew too big for Korsan to keep within Baltimare. He wanted to expand.

Using his experiences of his old days playing at the harbour and the use of his latest technologies, Korsan spent a couple of years building a ship, one that could fly and was large enough to be considered a self-sustaining fortress. He worked on it for three years, never allowing himself to sleep for more than three hours nor let any injury delay his work.

Upon completing his revolutionary creation, The Perfection, he gathered up a crew of unicorns to serve as his pirate minions. They took off, thus beginning Korsan’s global campaign of pillaging and plundering any city in sight, whether it be surrounded by land, sea, or sky.”

“He built a ship… that could not only fly, but also doesn’t have to land?”

“For a long time, yes. It doesn’t even run on magic. Its structure is pumped with his anti-magic substance, lining every floorboard of the vessel. This does some, odd, science thing to happen that allows it to fly.”

Twilight was astounded by what the old stallion was saying, having never heard of such a ship, or any large structure of that matter, that was able to fly without magic. Even seeing it firsthoof with her friends several times, Twilight was still in a state of disbelief.

“Impossible…” The bounty hunter thought as well.

“It’s real, I’ve been on that ship long enough to know it top from bottom.” Nitin replied.

“You were a prisoner?”

“No…”

The old unicorn stayed silent for a while, before the stranger figured it out.

“You were a crew member.”

“I was Korsan’s first mate and my daughter was a mechanic. It was odd having to be told around by a pony that was only fifteen at the time, but as the years progressed, I came to terms with it.”

“So that’s why you know so much about him.”

“He told me everything, as if I was a father figure he never had. He’d show me nearly everything he had saw, created, or stolen with a face full of pride and glee.”

“How long did you serve under Korsan? Why did you leave? Was it the guilt of just doing nothing but crimes getting to you?” The bounty hunter, now deeply intrigued, questioned Nitin.

“Easy there lad, ask one question at a time.” Nitin said with an aging gasp.

He took a moment the process the questions asked to him before replying, “I worked for Korsan for about five years until I resigned a couple of years ago. And I didn’t just do nothing but piracy, that was only my job. While me and my crewmembers were with Korsan, his adventurous spirit would take us to new locations and see unimaginable things. I remember when he would sit out on the bow, writing down his discoveries and research throughout all the night.

There was some sort of an innocent side of him that became exposed whenever he encountered something new. He wrote many books, collected so many artifacts, and built so many machines. When I was with him on those adventures, sometimes, I would forget about our crimes and think that we were a family of sorts.

It scares me sometimes. When I remember that gleeful, almost child-like face of his, that there was a savage beast behind it, gnawing its teeth and smacking its lips for my throat.”

“So what made you and your daughter leave?”

“…” The unicorn became quiet and avoided making eye contact with the stranger or anypony of that matter.

“You don’t need to know.” The old pony said.

“But I want to,” The bounty hunter pleaded.

“No, you don’t, it would be too much for a young stallion like yourself.”

“I’m a bounty hunter; I’ve hunted down murderers and absolute maniacs. How bad could it be?”

“How bad can it be?!”

Nitin then turned and gave the stallion a strong glare. The pony’s greying eyes shrunk and his mouth soon curled into snarl, as if holding back an inner demon.

“…I might tell you what happened. But are you sure you want the story?”

The bounty hunter slowly nodded his head, unaware of the true grim that Nitin was about to tell.

The old pony leaned back against the walling, taking a deep sigh.

He muttered, “Several years ago, we were coming up to a small kingdom in the clouds, preparing to attack the main castle and get as much booty as possible. Within moments of hovering right next to the front gates, we attacked. The pegasi were no match, as we merely held them in place with our magic. We stormed the castle and came back in moments, holding as much gold, jewels, and other valuables we could.

At first glance, this was just another successful plunder. That was… until we started to leave with the mountain of loot on our ship. I noticed that Korsan was looking back at the kingdom, observing its buildings, its size, but most importantly, its citizens. He stopped the vessel and turned its port towards the kingdom.

The crew was reasonably confused of his actions at first. However, that all changed when he turned to us and gave the command. He ordered us to fire the cannons into the kingdom… and destroy it.”

The other ponies in the bar gasped. Even the bounty hunter was taken back.

“I couldn’t believe what he was ordering,” Nitin said. “We usually only used the cannons in defense or if a target was being tough. This was an act of terrorism. I, my daughter, and a few other crewmembers could not bring ourselves to do it. Most of the other pirates, the ones that were once in prison for federal crimes, didn’t mind however and followed orders.

They fired into the city, and the screams of stallions, mares, and children soon echoed back to our boat. I was scarred from the horrific scene that I saw unfold before me. Before my senses and soul, thousands of futures and innocent lives were ripped from the planet, shredded apart in violent cannon fire. I was frozen in place, unable to even touch a cannon.

Korsan approached me when he saw I was struggling and asked why I wasn’t attacking. I told him that I couldn’t bring myself to hurt masses of innocent ponies for no reason. He gave me a most terrifying response.”

“What was it?”

“’Pegasi and Earth Ponies are inferior, we must shape the world to what it should be, all unicorns, no more suffering…’”

“You mean to say,”

“Yes, the beliefs of his family had been released from the darkest pits of his mind and out into his true desires! The demonic seeds that had been sowed by fools had budded into a demon! He told me that after this, we would be searching for a way for him to become a unicorn, destroying every non-unicorn that stood in his way.

In a matter of moments, the entire kingdom began to fall down into the abyss below, bringing countless ponies down, trapped within their houses. I was terrified, for I saw a small smile on the captain’s face as he watched the kingdom fall before him…”

A slow stream of tears began to run down the stallion’s cheeks, still staring at the grey pegasus with his watery, yet stern eyes. Twilight and the others were absolutely shocked as their minds visualized the old pony’s words, trying to comprehend pure madness.