Scarlet

by Skijarama

Love

Lens looked on in wide-eyed shock as the giant scorpion tore Silent Edge to literal pieces. Limbs went flying in a shower of gore and viscera as Silent’s wings laid on the ground, having been ripped off already. The pegasus’ screams devolved into agonized whimpers, then pathetic gurgles, before his head fell to the wet, grassy ground with a deafening thump.

Lens couldn’t help but shudder and tear his eyes away from the gruesome scene, his stomach churning. Silent had been a monster, yes, and Lens couldn’t say that the world wasn’t better off without him in it, but to die in such a horrifying manner… and for it to be done by the hooves of a mere child.

Lens timidly glanced back to the scene, and the scorpion was gone. Primrose the earth pony filly had returned, her face hidden by her long, blood-soaked mane. Her head was tilted up as if to look at the sky, allowing rivulets of crimson to run down her body and stain the grass at her hooves. She didn’t move. She just stood there, silent as the grave.

Lens swallowed heavily. “...Prim?” he called out in a weak voice.

Primrose slowly turned to face him. Her eyes were cold and empty as if all of the life and emotion had left her body. Her chin and lower jaw were stained with even more of Silent’s spilled blood, making her look almost like a zombie from some macabre painting. Then, with slow, jerky steps, she began to trudge for the barrier.

Lens shrank back, his heart going wild against his ribs. “Prim, hey… s-stay back…” he stammered out. The vacant, hollow look in the blood-stained foal’s eyes was enough to trigger a deep-seated fight or flight response. Without thinking about it, his horn flared with light, and the barrier solidified just before Prim would have passed through it.

She paused at the edge of the light, her eyes widening. “...Lens?” she breathed out in empty confusion.

Lens wilted at that, his heart flooding with regret. He looked down, his ears lowering. “I… a-are you in there, Primrose?” he asked after a moment, trying to keep the fearful stammer out of his voice. He lifted his eyes to look into hers, silently pleading with her.

Primrose stared back at him for several seconds before looking down at her hooves. The color slowly drained from her face, and she let out a mortified gasp. The light slowly began to come back into her eyes as they misted over. She reached a hoof up to cover her mouth, stifling a horrified sob.

She looked back up to Lens, tears rolling freely down her cheeks. “Lens… I… I-I’m s-so sorry… I didn’t… I w-wasn’t trying to… I just… I c-couldn’t stop…” she babbled out in a trembling voice. She reached out and touched her hoof to the barrier, sniffling. “P-please let me in… please…”

Lens eyed her for a few seconds, his own heart withering at the sight. With a quiet sigh, he dropped the barrier to let her approach. She looked up as it dispersed before dragging herself over to be at his side, her eyes slowly lowering to look at Scarlet’s body.

He lifted a foreleg and guided her into a tight hug against his side, resting his chin on her head to impart as much comfort as he could. “It’s okay,” he whispered, closing his eyes. “It’s okay now. It’s over. He’s gone.”

Primrose sniffled. “I… I k-killed him,” she choked out, her entire body trembling. “I… I w-wasn’t supposed to kill him… I never wanted to kill anyone… B-but I just couldn’t stop myself. I just… I was s-so angry, and...”

“Sshh,” Lens shushed her as she babbled on and on. “Shh, shh. It’s okay. It’s alright. I’ve got you.”

Primrose finally leaned against him and returned the hug, burying her face into his chest fur and openly sobbing. Lens did what he could to soothe and comfort her, but in truth, he wasn’t faring much better than the poor, broken child in his hooves. His eyes fell on Scarlet once again, heart clenching in his chest.

“You are forgiven, Scarlet,” Lens thought to himself, closing his eyes. “We forgive you. For everything. I just hope you were able to forgive yourself in the end…”

The two stayed like that for what felt like an eternity. The storm clouds that had gathered overhead slowly began to clear away, as if the Five―or whatever force constituted as godly, Lens supposed―had decided there had been enough pain for one night. Not a single drop of rain fell on that mountain valley, and soon, the pale glow of the full moon returned in all its glory. A chilly breeze washed over them, making Lens shudder even as he used his body to shield Primrose from the cold.

His ears perked up to the sound of hooves approaching through the grass. He looked up, finding Flurry Heart drawing closer. The alicorn’s eyes were set on Scarlet’s body, a deeply sympathetic frown on her face. “...I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner,” she whispered quietly once she was close enough.

“Don’t be sorry,” Lens dismissed in an equally hushed tone with a slow shake of his head. “Your people had to take priority over a bunch of strangers. I don’t fault you for that…”

“Had I come sooner,” Flurry insisted adamantly, “maybe I could have done something to save her, but… as it is…” her horn lit up with a golden light. Lens and Primrose watched as Scarlet’s body lit up to match, and he held his breath. Primrose, on the other hoof, did not seem to be optimistic.

Flurry’s eyes widened. “...She’s alive,” she muttered in awe.

Lens blinked in surprise, his heart steadily beating harder against his chest as a newfound hope sprung into life within him. “She is?” he asked, leaning forward slightly. “Can you save her? I’ve done everything I can, but…”

Flurry frowned as she took in Scarlet’s injuries. After a moment, she sighed and shook her head. “I’m so, so sorry, but… no. I can’t. She’s too far gone. My healing spells are powerful, but there is a limit to what I can heal. Her body has suffered excessive internal and external trauma, not to mention the blood loss. Plus, I’ve used most of my power healing changelings inside… I just don’t have enough energy left to heal injuries this severe.”

Lens hope died with the next beat of his heart. He looked down at Scarlet, his head feeling heavy with longing. “So… she’s lost…?” he breathed out, holding Primrose even closer.

Flurry closed her eyes. “...I wish there was more I could do. I owe it to all of you… for bringing us the lamp, for protecting my home…”

Lens sighed and looked away. His composure was starting to crack and break down. His vision was fogging over with tears, and his voice was beginning to tremble with emotion. “...It’s fine,” he mumbled in defeat. “Don’t blame yourself… she can die knowing she gave her all for what she believed in… I… I kn-know she’ll find peace…”

Suddenly, Primrose tore away from his grasp. Lens blinked and turned to see her propping her hooves on Scarlet’s body, her eyes glowing green as she channeled magic. She looked imploringly up to Flurry. “Please, can’t you just try?!” she asked in desperation.

Flurry blinked, leaning back. “I… Primrose, I… I don’t want to give you false hope,” she said reluctantly.

Primrose shook her head wildly in defiance. “There has to be something we can do! She can’t die like this, I won’t let her!”

Lens sighed, looking down. As much as he wanted to side with Primrose on this, he knew already it was a losing battle. Flurry was exhausted, and Scarlet was too far gone. He timidly lifted a hoof and reached out to grab Primrose’s shoulder. “Prim… please, don’t-”

Primrose spun and smacked his hoof away. “NO! I’m not l-letting this be the end!” she screamed at him. She wiped a hoof over her misting eyes. “She’s given ev-everything for us! W-we can’t just sit here a-and let her die! We have to try something! Anything!”

Lens sighed and withdrew his hoof. He opened his mouth to say something; to try and console her, to try and convince her it wasn’t possible, but he just couldn’t find the words. He couldn’t stand to shatter her heart like that, not after everything she had already been through tonight, but at the same time, he couldn’t bring himself to lie and say that they could pull it off.

He was caught in a trap. It was either break her heart by telling her it was impossible, or let her heart be broken in a whole different way by telling her a comforting lie mere moments before it would be disproven… A conundrum no parental figure should ever have to face.

“Scarlet raised our foal for years,” Lens noted with a quiet sigh. “If she could speak, I wonder what she’d do about this…”

Primrose’s ears slowly lowered when Lens didn’t say anything. She gave a frustrated shout before spinning back around to Flurry. “I don’t care if we fail!” she said desperately. “But we gotta try! I owe her that much, at least!”

Flurry looked down, closing her eyes. For a short while, she didn’t say a word. Then she opened her eyes and gave a thoughtful hum. “Actually… there might be a way,” she whispered.

Lens stared at her in bewilderment. “Huh?”

Flurry rose to her hooves and stepped around Scarlet’s body until she was next to him. “I’m exhausted, yes, but… maybe, if you two lend me your magic, I can pull her back from the brink.”

Primrose gasped. “You can do that?!”

Flurry nodded. “I can, although I've never done it for something like this. I need to make it perfectly clear to you, right here and now, that this might not work. If we do this, you will be very drained for a while, and there is a good chance that even if I can bring her back from the brink, her injuries may still claim her in the end. You need to be ready for that possibility. Do you understand?”

Primrose nodded without hesitation. “Yes, I am! What do I need to do?”

Flurry smiled at the foal’s eagerness before turning to Lens. “What about you? I’ll need every scrap of power I can get if this is going to work.”

Lens reached up to adjust his glasses, only to find that they were not there. He grimaced and set his hoof down. “...Scarlet Frost is the most important mare in my life. She gave everything up to save us,” he whispered quietly, closing his eyes. “I love her. More than anypony else, I love her with all my heart. She means the world to me… if giving up some of my magic means saving her life, then consider it done. Take as much as you need.”

Flurry reached out to place her hoof over his chest. “I’m glad to hear it… focus on that, both of you. Think about how much she means to you, everything about her that you find endearing, or likable. Use those feelings and draw on everything you have… and we might just save her.”

Lens nodded and did as he was told, casting his mind back. He thought of the day he had first met Scarlet, how he had been instantly stricken by her fiery personality and imposing beauty. He thought of how she had slowly but surely warmed up to him as he regaled her with story after story, trivial fact after trivial fact about the world around them. He recalled how she had brought him with her on patrol one night after an especially bloody battle, before bringing him to a stop by the side of a pond.

He remembered how she had told him how much she was tired of all the fighting, and how deeply she had come to care for him. He remembered how his heart had soared at the admission of affection, and how it had hammered in his chest when they had fallen into the grass by the water’s edge, entangled in each other’s hooves.

He remembered how much he had missed her when they were separated. He remembered wondering every so often if she would ever come and see him. He remembered the day she had turned up on his doorstep and everything that had happened after: Hearing about his daughter, Crystal Clear, as well as experiencing the attack on his home, Primrose’s nearly-fatal injury, their time on the Apple family’s farm, the dance under the moon in Newcanter, her face looking down on his...

Through it all, cracked and broken as she sometimes became, there was never any doubt that the fiery, passionate mare he had fallen so heavily in love with was still in there. She was still in there and fighting with ferocity unbound behind those amethyst eyes to protect the ones she loved, to keep them happy and safe.

“I love you, Scarlet,” he thought to himself when he heard Flurry’s horn lighting with magic. “Please… come back to us. We still have a quiet life to live…”

He felt a tug on his magic. For a moment, he instinctively went to resist, but soon relaxed, allowing the power to flow out of him without restraint.

“...And Primrose needs a mother.”

Author's Note:

To Be Concluded...

Comments

[The Voice in the Water]

Ooof. Lets hope Flurry can stabilize her enough for her to pull through.

[hehelover]

I still wonder why the rulers of the nation wanted the lamp. Am I missing something here?

[Skijarama]

10133668
It's really simple. A family of intelligent changelings, something that has been unheard of in centuries, was in possession of a lamp made of arcane crystals that has magical properties. Due to the intense reputation that changelings have as being monsters and demons with barely anything resembling intelligence, the fact that there were any discovered, and in possession of such an unusual artifact, aroused a great many red flags. Intelligent changelings on their own were enough to deeply disturb the councils. The lamp in their possession only added to that alarm.

In short: The councils believed Prim's family to be a potentially enormous threat if left to their own devices, and the lamp was seen as similarly threatening due to it being in their possession. they wanted it so they could study it and probably seal it away so as to mitigate the perceived threat they believed it posed.

[JMP]

At the very least Scarlet deserves a chance for everyone to say goodbye properly.

[Speckle]

10133678
What will happen now, though? The lamp is in Flurry's possession and the Mane 6 might very well be coming back into the world...which has now devolved into this.

I'm also curious: why did Silent Edge go to such extremes over one little girl and her lamp? The Council said it themselves, he didn't need to kill anyone she was with to extract her, so why do it in the first place? Pride's likely a factor, it's been brought up before, but that doesn't explain the innocents dead.

[Skijarama]

10133752
Plainly put, he is a psychopath. His pride in his work was more or less all he had after the war, which left a very serious strain on what little mental health he had. The sudden death of his adoptive father and the council denying him what he had been promised due to his actions all broke down his commitment to doing things with a moral compass.

So when he found Primrose in Stonethrow after she got away the first time, that was when his pride and the indignation of a mere child escaping him began to flare up and consume everything else. He had no patience for doing things properly, merely wanting to finish his hunt and take the position he believed was rightfully his.

[Speckle]

10133771
Yikes

[harts fire]

i have had a feeling for the last few chapters that Primrose would be the one to kill Silent Edge but dang that is dead.
a awesome chapter.

[Quiznak]

Yay! Love the chapter!