> Ronnie
>  by Kalashnikitty
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Lost his way
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia’s sun rose over the sleepy town of Ponyville. Slowly but surely, the residents of the quaint village began their mornings, most with a smile on their face.
Except one.
Ronnie Long had appeared in Equestria about 4 months ago, just walking out of the Everfree Forest, completely confused. The ponies of Ponyville had run at the very sight of him, and the Elements of Harmony assembled to kick some flank!
...That is, until they found the poor human just sitting on the ground, looking forlorn and sad. Fluttershy immediately began to console the man, and in turn he revealed his predicament.
He was a long way from home, had no idea how he showed up in Equestria, and was absolutely terrified.
The other elements took a heavy distrust to the human, ignoring him despite his attempts at friendship, and thus left Fluttershy to help the poor thing with his problems as best she could. He did have an air of strangeness about him, but it was of no concern to the yellow pegasus.
Eventually, he was able to build himself a small shack just inside the Everfree, the forest allowing the edifice to remain within its borders. Fluttershy would visit him every day, bringing news, food and her company. Ronnie enjoyed her presence immensely, and soon he began to visit her as well. The two shared a lonely friendship, with the other ponies and even the other Elements shunning him and not giving him the chance he deserved. Within a month they were talking about sending the guard to deal with him, but none ever took action. He continued his desolate life, with Fluttershy giving him solace.
She was the Element of Kindness, and she wasn’t going to let others’ opinions prevent her from showing the human the kindness he deserved.
And so it went, for three long months.
At the end of the third month, the ponies had noticed that the grass just wasn’t growing the same. Roseluck was having trouble getting her flowers to cooperate, and Applejack’s apples were growing smaller. The trees began to shrivel up, it seemed, and the once pristine green grass turned brown and dead.
The town was in crisis. What caused this death of the flora? Many blamed ‘the creature’, and said that it was all his fault. The small minority believed that they were simply having an off season, but the majority of the town ignored their cries. Efforts to remove Ronnie from the land redoubled, culminating in a lynch mob burning his house and wounding the human, forcing him to move his shack deeper into the forest. The town celebrated the victory over him, happy that the 'menace' was taken care of. 
Another month went by, and the flora remained dead and dying. The townsfolk were baffled. Fluttershy stopped getting daily visits from her human friend, pushed back to only weekly, and then, not at all.
Another month passed.
Opening his eyes, Ronnie was greeted with the sight of the ceiling of his shack. Sitting up, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and yawned. Remembering the thoughts of the prior night, he drew in a heavy breath, and let it out again with the subtlety of a gunshot.
Today was the day.
Today he was going to make sure that the ponies never forgot his name.
Standing up, he walked over to his crude desk, looking at the items which rested upon it.
He had been walking in the Forest to clear his mind when the weapon just fell from the sky. He hadn’t a clue where it came from, and honestly was a bit afraid, but he soon realized that it would be his salvation. A note had come with it, stating “Expect more”. Every day he would take the same walk and find more toys, be it more magazines fully loaded, or even one day a full block of C-4. His nameless benefactor was generous.
In the end, after 2 weeks, he had 2 guns, almost 20 magazines, and a 4 pound block of C-4 with remotely activated blasting caps and a detonator.
He had no idea where they came from, and he didn’t care. He was going to enact his revenge on the ponies of Ponyville.
The final note had come with the last gun, a large .44 Magnum Desert Eagle. It read “Now you can make them pay for what they did to you. -Discord.”
Rubbing the scar on the side of his face, Ronnie remembered when the angry mob had assembled around his shack, demanding justice for what he had ‘done’ to the town. He had a broken glass bottle hurled at him, cutting deep into the flesh of his skin before his shack was set on fire, burning down in a matter of minutes while he made his hasty retreat into the woods. The event had not only left him with physical wounds, but also mental ones. He became more and more focused on his anger, allowing it to feed his newfound hate for the ponies that denied him a chance at a peaceful life. The fractures in his sanity grew, with him becoming obsessive over destroying the ponies, writing numerous hours without pause about the things he would do to them.
They preached Love and Tolerance, but were just as baleful as any human he had met.
Let’s see how that fares against a .44 to the brain.
Breathing out, Ronnie retrieved an apple from his pantry, munching on the fruit as he went over his plans one more time.
Satisfied with his plot, he threw the apple core into the corner and opened his journal for the last time. Writing down a quick entry, he signed it, closed it, and stuffed it into his leather bag. He began packing up his weapons and explosives, preparing to give the town that hated him so a taste of their own medicine. Opening the door to his shack and stepping out, he looked back on it once more. Sighing in disgust, he pulled out his lighter and set fire to the thatch roof that he spent so many hours building. The structure quickly lit up like a pyre, and Ronnie watched the flames, allowing them to stoke his emotion and rejoicing in the fact that most of Ponyville would soon look like that. His dark eyes reflected the flames, and he began to cackle madly, finally doing something with his life in this wretched place.
Setting off down the trail, he left his burning abode behind, and with it, the hopes and dreams of life Equestria.



Three days later...
Princess Celestia was unhappy.
The noble in front of her was angry over the fact that he couldn’t purchase a home that ponies already lived in, without the consent of the owners.
“I beseech you, Your Highness, the peasants that reside there are merely wasting oxygen! Allow me to take their property and convert it into something worthwhile!” The noble whined and complained, stamping a hoof.
“No. Case closed. You may vacate my court.” Celestia said with an air of finality.
“But-”
“Guards! Remove him.”
The guards dragged the screaming noble down the hall and out of sight.
Sighing heavily, Celestia rubbed her temples. Glancing at the time, she cleared her throat.
“We will adjourn for lunch. Let us return in one hour’s time.” She ordered, smacking her gavel.
“Princess, I have some news for you.” A guard said, coming up next to her.
“Yes, my little pony?” She asked, looking at him with tired eyes.
“We haven’t received word from our detachment in Ponyville for nearly three days, and all mail that came from there has ceased. Have you gotten any letters from your student?”
Celestia furrowed her brow. “No, I have not... Something seems afoot here.”
“We can order a pegasi scout to fly over and observe, if you wish.”
“Yes, send a scout. Report to me this evening about the observations, please.”
“Certainly, Your Highness.”
The guard trotted off, and Celestia sighed heavily.
Today was not her day.



Three days prior...
Zecora lay on the ground outside her hut, clinging to life by will alone.
She was leaving her home to visit Ponyville, when a strange bipedal creature came from the woods, pointed a piece of metal at her, and produced a loud thunderclap, to which she fell in agony, a burning sensation in her gut. The creature had used some manner of foul magic to kill her, but she would not let go so easily. Crawling to the door of her hut, she attempted to push it open, only to be met with failure. Sighing in frustration, the zebra gave up, her muscles giving out. She heard footsteps from around the back of her home, and a strange noise before she smelt smoke.
Her eyes widened, realizing that the creature had set fire to her abode. Trying to cry out, she discovered that her voice had left her. Breathing in for the last time, her eyes slowly fluttered closed, but not prior to her seeing the creature begin walking towards Ponyville, laughing. She struggled to remain awake, but against the creeping mortality that made itself known, it was no use.



Two old stallions sat outside a small café, playing the game of kings.
“You know, I think this town is getting boring.” One said.
“I see what you mean. Even with the Elements of Harmony living here, there hasn’t been much excitement for a long time!”
“Exactly! Back in my day, there were monsters all around, always watching you and ready to strike! There was excitement in the old Ponyville. Oh, Check.”
The other stallion looked down at the chessboard, grumbling. Carefully picking up a pawn, he moved it forward one square.
The two went back and forth for several minutes, battling, before one finally claimed checkmate.
“Ha! I win again.”
“Oh, horseapples. So be it then.” The losing stallion handed the other a 5 bit coin, who took it with a smirk.
“Hey, do you see that? It looks like smoke!” One said, pointing to the horizon.
Several nearby ponies had stopped their activities and were looking at the thick column of black smoke lazily emanating from the Everfree forest. It seemed like too much smoke for a campfire or even a bonfire, so the ponies’ concerns were reasonable. To many, the smoke felt like a bad omen, and the dry and dead grass would easily spread a fire. Despite the weather team’s best efforts, the grass had died and no amount of coaxing and cajoling would make it grow green. To many, the smoke was merely adding to a growing list of problems in the town, and it wasn’t even in town. With all of the dying flora and fleeing fauna, it seemed like a plague had set in, and the locals were not pleased.
A small crowd had gathered near the café, joining the ponies already jabbering and pointing at the smoke.
Then, a sharp, distant sound like the echoed beat of a snare drum. The ponies’ faces took on a mask of confusion, wondering what could possibly have made such a sound, and only one. The crowd had grown to about twenty curious, furious, and worried ponies, all pitching in their two bits and giving their opinions of the smoke. The sound returned, closer now, and had taken on a sharp cracking along with a deeper pitch. There were three sounds that time, quick and close together.
Some of the ponies were beginning to become fearful, as the sounds reminded them of fireworks, but no fireworks were seen. About this time, an energetic pink mare came hopping down the road to the group.
“Hey everypony! Whatcha’ doin?” Pinkie Pie inquired, following the crowd’s gaze.
“Lookin’ at that smoke on the horizon! It looks like the Everfree has finally caught fire!” a young mare said.
“Ooooh, you know what fire means! SMORES!” The spastic pink pony jumped into the air, a wild grin alighting her features, before producing a package of marshmallows from...somewhere, and taking off towards the smoke.
The crowd rolled their eyes. Typical Pinkie.
A few of the more worried hoped that she wouldn’t be hurt.



Pinkie Pie was hopping down the trail into the Everfree when she heard them.
Two bang sounds, like her party cannon, from somewhere nearby. Cocking her head and sniffing the air, she smelled a strange, acrid smell that was wafting down to her from up the trail. Curious, she trotted up the trail, hoping to find the source. About a minute later, she turned around a bend in the trail and saw a sight that made her go paler than a ghost on Nightmare Night.
There was a pony laying unmoving, a splotch of red decorating its orange coat in a macabre fashion. Its saddlebags lay on the ground near it, its contents strewn haphazardly about. Over it stood a large bipedal figure that Pinkie recognized as... The Human. In its claw was a strange metal tube with a handle, the end of the tube pointed at the unmoving pony. Pinkie gasped, and the human’s attention snapped to her. Raising the L-shaped metal, he pointed it at Pinkie, who was frozen on the spot by the sight of the pony, and the red that she realized was... Bloo-
KABOOM
Pinkie Pie felt like she had been bucked by Applejack as she hit the ground hard, crying out. It felt as if a pony had driven a red hot knife into her belly and left it there, and she became aware of a warm liquid sensation spreading on her chest. The sound she had heard had been far, far louder than her party cannon, and the result was far less than fun. She heard the human’s feet crunching the dirt and leaves of the trail, growing nearer to her. She could hear his gruff voice in a strange melody.
“...And they’ll allllll pray,  ‘bloodstains, wash away’... "
The pink mare looked up at the towering figure as he rambled to himself, looking down at her with the gleaming metal of his weapon pointed at Pinkie’s head. The large end of the tube looked terrifying from her perspective, and now that she understood the power of it, she was horrified. She couldn’t move to get away, all she could do was watch the human’s claw curl around the curved metal. His face was impassive.
That weapon was not made by pony hooves.
The last thing the party pony ever witnessed was the blinding yellow and red flash of her own demise.



Three days later...
Sky Stream flew high above the clouds over the landscape of Equestria, the skies calm. He had been dispatched from Canterlot to recon and observe the town of Ponyville, about a hour’s worth of flight, and report back to his commander on what he found. He had been briefed on what the situation could be, from Changelings to dragons and worse. Personally, he believed that it was all a big fuss about nothing, that the mail had simply been delayed, or that no one had bothered to write. The guard detachment stationed there was supposed to report in every other day, but they probably had just forgotten to for the past couple days. It’s not like they did much, anyways, and they probably got carried away in their drinking and gambling to send a message. Besides, they would have sent an alarm if something had gone wrong, right?
Sky Stream pondered to himself as he slowly began to descend, the pegasus stallion flapping his wings to avoid losing too much altitude too quickly. Soon, he spied a break in the cloud cover and dove through, looking down on the rolling hills and trees leading up to the town. Looking ahead at the town itself, he could see black pillars of smoke coming from various points within the area. Confused and a might worried, he carried on, growing ever closer. He could smell the smoke now. He saw rubble in the middle of the town, and what looked like the skeletal remains of a tree that had burned down further up the way. But that wasn’t what had him worried the most. As he now flew over the streets of the town, he could see bodies, or at least that’s what he thought they were. Flying lower, he confirmed his suspicions, and resisted the urge to vomit. The streets were adorned with large pools of crimson blood, and the bodies were strewn in the streets. He could see mares, stallions, fillies, even little colts. Who or whatever did this didn’t discriminate. There were even incomplete bits of ponies around the rubble of the town hall, and from the destroyed structure blood ran like a river. Seemed like many had attempted to hide, only to be killed by the collapsing building, or something else. Stream felt sick, bile rising in his throat once more. Forcing it back town and fighting tears in his eyes, he carried on his mission. Searching for the guard barracks, he spied the small rectangular building off to his left. Banking that direction, he felt a heavy weight settle in his stomach.
The guards would have said something, if they weren’t dead...
His suspicions were confirmed by the sight of twenty dead stallions, adorned in golden armor. There was a fair amount of civilians around too, all dead. The guards had died trying to protect the innocent. Stream felt anger rise in him, and alone over the town, he screamed in fury.



Three days prior...
Quiet.
She had to be quiet.
She could still hear them, the screams, the insane laughter, the pleads, everything. The thunder that came from the weapon in the human’s hands, the way pegasi trying to get away merely fell from the sky in correspondence with the deafening reports, how unicorn magic did nothing but make him angrier.
She had just barely managed to get away, and sniffling softly, she curled up closer to herself in the ‘safety’ of her home.
“Bon-Bon, not you....” Lyra murmured quietly, mourning the loss of her marefriend. They had heard the pops and cracks from far away, just like everyone else, and then they had seen him, laughing. A strange metal object had fallen from the weapon in his hand, making a clattering sound as it impacted the rough cobblestone, and he had taken a similar one from his pocket and placed it where the last one had been, before a loud clacking sound came from the weapon. He had then raised, pointed, and fired it at Bon-Bon, who’s head...exploded, not even leaving Lyra a chance to say goodbye. He had tried to get Lyra too, but she was too fast and he missed. She still remembered the sound the projectiles made when they hit near her, the dirt kicking into her body, the feeling of Bon-Bon’s warm blood coursing down her coat. And now she lay huddled under a cabinet in her home, praying to Celestia that she would live.
The booms were louder now, very close, and she could hear the human’s crazed singing as he felled more ponies with each blast.
“...There’s no confetti, no parade, nothing happens in this boring place, but, oh my God, how it all did change...
She heard the steps of the human as it walked in front of her house. They stopped, and she heard a strange ‘click’ sound before she heard the footsteps begin again, walking away from her. Breathing out shakily, she carefully made to stand up, but she stopped when she smelt something very familiar.
Smoke.



Ronnie was running out of ammo.
Frustrated, he searched around his bag for a minute more before cinching it shut and growling. Throwing down the Glock 17 that he had been using previously to dispense justice, he instead grabbed the Desert Eagle from his waistband, pulling it out and making sure it was loaded. He now had a mere 60 or so rounds left, in 8 magazines. Continuing his walk down the road, he was confronted by 4 ponies in golden armor and spears. Guffawing loudly, he laughed at the ponies’ armor and weapons.
“Stop, beast! You will go no further!” one shouted in a loud, commanding voice.
Ronnie leveled his gun at the stallion, who stood tall and confident.
“Watch me, horse.” He said, squeezing the trigger.
The report echoed through the street, felling the guard with a neat hole directly through his plumed helmet, punching out the other side and embedding itself in the dirt. The corpse collapsed in front of the other guards, who stared in shock. Ronnie took advantage of their disbelief to fire three more, all hitting their mark. Three more corpses hit the dirt with holes in their chests and heads, bleeding out on the ground. Shaking his head and laughing, he kicked one of the guards’ legs before walking to the home closest to him and lighting it’s thatch roof on fire. Waiting a moment, he saw three ponies run out of the front door, screaming.
They all fell down with the deafening sound of Ronnie’s Desert Eagle.
He giggled crazily as he carried on along the way, lighting more homes on fire as he went. He heard a bell ring, and looked to the town center.
There.
He could see ponies running to the town hall, expecting sanctuary there.
How wrong they would be.
He laughed once again, before he felt strange words come to his mind. It felt like the hand of Lucifer reached into his head and placed them there.
“Never laughed, never smiled, talked alone for miles and miles and miles.....” He sung the words, despite never hearing them. Oh, how he was laughing and smiling now.
He strolled towards the town center, felling cowering ponies along the way.
Dumb fucks. Just run!
He rolled his eyes, shooting another that just stood there in horror.
This was too easy.



“Settle down, everypony!” Mayor Mare’s voice cut through the ruckus of the terrified ponies gathered in town hall. Fleeing their homes, the building seemed like the safest place to gather to formulate a plan.
“The beast is back! It’s already killed dozens!” Voices filled the air, each giving their own opinion.
“Don’t worry! The town Guard has it under control!” Mayor Mare reassured the populace, but then:
“The creature just killed them with his bangstick! Magic has no effect on him!”
There were about 80 ponies in the town hall, out of about 200 that lived in Ponyville. Dozens had already fallen to Ronnie’s wrath, but some had gotten away or had come to the town hall to try and lock themselves in until reinforcements could arrive.
But no reinforcements were coming. The guard was all dead.
Mayor Mare looked at the frightened ponies around her, and brought in a deep breath.
“EVERYPONY QUIET DOWN!” She shouted, causing the voices to go silent. Sporadic shots still filled the air from afar, each another life taken.
“We need to remain calm. If the guard cannot handle it, then the Elements of Harmony can.”
As if to permeate her point, four ponies burst through the doors.
“We’re here! Where’s the beast? Lemme at em!” Shouted Rainbow Dash, an angry look upon her face.
Mayor Mare was confused. “W-where’s the rest of you?”
Twilight Sparkle spoke up. “Fluttershy has all but vanished, along with Pinkie Pie. We’re all that’s left.”
Mayor Mare’s face darkened. “Can you still use the Elements without the bearers?”
Twilight looked away. “No..”
Mayor Mare was destroyed. Ponyville was doomed.
The shots had tapered off, with only an occasional round being fired. Mayor Mare let in another deep breath, looking at Twilight’s forlorn expression.
“This is the worst thing that has ever happened to Ponyville, yes, but we can persevere!” She stomped her hoof, looking at the remainder of the population.
“We will fig-!” She was cut off by the shattering of a window. Ponies hit the deck left and right, running for cover. But no more shots came. Carefully, they all stood, looking at the object that had been thrown in.
Mayor Mare pushed her way through the crowd to see a strange green plastic-looking block with a small piece of paper and strange red light attached to it. She looked at the paper, which read:
“Love and Tolerance? Bullshit. You all are worse than Hitler.”
Confused, she inspected the rest of the object. Her eyes widened when she read a specific marking.
“BLOCK, DEMOLITION, M4: COMPOSITION C4”
Before she could say anything, the red light winked out.
And she saw no more.



Ronnie flicked the detonator away from himself, picking up his pistol off the ground. The explosion had been astounding, loud, and far bigger than he had thought. 4 pounds of C-4 is not a small amount.
Walking back around the corner he had hidden behind, he saw a few dirty and dazed ponies stumbling away from the ruins, coughing. Taking aim, he pulled the trigger 3 times, killing all three. He heard a groan and turned to see a lavender pony half-buried under rubble looking at him with half lidded eyes.
“You.... Monster...” She said, hate filling her voice.
Ronnie laughed, doubling over and losing it on the ground.
Twilight Sparkle just stared at the monster, hatred growing in her heart and soul.
After his laughing fit was complete, he walked over to where the pony lay. Trying to summon a bit of magic, her horn lit up in a feeble attempt to free herself, but Ronnie clamped his hand over the tip, snuffing out the attempt with his magical resistance. Twilight whimpered.
“You know, I used to want to like you ponies... You all seemed so nice.” He spat the final word with distaste, disgust evident on his features.
“You loved all, and all loved you. But then I show up, and you all decide to abandon your values and just shun me.” Ronnie could feel the emotion spreading into his voice, raw hate pouring from his blackened and tainted heart. More words flowed from within, but they were not his own.
“Oh, what fun is there in making sense?” Ronnie grinned a Cheshire grin, looking at Twilight with eyes that were black as the night.
Her eyes widened and her pupils shrank to pinpricks.
“D-D-Discord........”
Ronnie giggled, no longer in control of his words.
“Yep! It’s good ‘ol me. And y’know, I think this event-” He gestured to the smoldering ruins of the town hall and the rest of the burning town- “Fills the Chaos quota for an  entire millennium.”
Twilight looked at Ronnie with horror. “N-no....”
Ronnie chuckled.
“Goodbye, Twilight Sparkle. It was- No, actually it wasn’t a pleasure. As this human is so fond of saying, ‘Fuck you’.”
Ronnie put the barrel of his weapon in Twilight’s face and pulled the trigger. Twilight’s head snapped back, and the rubble behind was painted with gore. Ronnie lowered his gun, looking around. The rest of the town was slowly catching fire, and it seemed that very few ponies remained. Looking down at the pistol in his hand, he pulled out the magazine. He counted 4 rounds left, plus one in the chamber.
Perfect.
Looking to the sky, the more rational part of his mind fought it’s way to the surface, and the image of a smiling Fluttershy was brought across his subconscious. Closing his eyes, a single tear fell down his face. He began to softly sob, the gun dropping from his fingers.
“O-oh my God... What have I done...” He cried, letting out all his emotions at the moment.
A voice, seemingly carried across the wind, penetrated this thoughts.
”Need not worry, for she had been spared. She was not one to hurt you so.”
Ronnie paused at the voice, remembering it from somewhere.
“Discord?” he asked the air.
”Yes, my friend. I have helped you with your task from afar, but now you must finish it alone.”
Ronnie nodded, knowing what he had to do. Picking the gun back up, he pulled back the slide slightly, viewing the .44 cartridge in the chamber.
”Make peace with your God, little one, for you shall see him soon.”
Ronnie breathed out. Shakily putting the pistol under his chin, he dropped to his knees in front of the corpse of Twilight.
“I’m sorry, Fluttershy.” He said quietly, a solitary tear falling from his eye once more.
Thumbing back the hammer, he placed his finger on the trigger.
“So sorry...”
The last image that went through his head was Fluttershy waving after him the last time he had visited her.
He pulled the trigger, and the blackness that he had grown so accustomed to in the past month rushed to greet him head-on.
A single trigger pull, and Ronnie Long was no more.




Three days later...
Princess Celestia was mortified beyond words.
Ponyville, simply put, had ceased to exist. A strange, bipedal figure had been found dead next to the destroyed town hall, just in front of her personal student’s dead body. The poor unicorn’s head had been split open by some manner of projectile, and gore covered the surrounding area.
Celestia stood, surrounded by guard, looking at the sight with tired, sad eyes. Her ancient eyes wandered to the bipedal corpse just in front of her, who seemed to had met the same fate. However, it looked self-inflicted.
The creature had killed almost everypony in Ponyville, then taken his own life.
What in Faust’s name could have driven something to commit such atrocities?
A tear fell from Celestia’s closed eyes. The few survivors all told a horror story meant only for campfires, and the reconnaissance pegasus had returned shell-shocked beyond reasonable belief. She had flown to Ponyville faster than her own guards, to find the description horrifyingly accurate. More than half the quaint town had burned down in three days, with few structures left standing.
The town was utterly gutted.
Only 3 ponies had survived. A unicorn named Lyra, who escaped into the Everfree, A filly named Applebloom, who had hidden at Sweet Apple Acres, which had remained untouched, and the distraught Element of Kindness, Fluttershy.
The meek pegasus carefully alighted behind Celestia, taking in the surroundings with horror.
“Oh my.......”
She spotted the body in front of Celestia, and immediately began sniffling, before breaking down into all-out sobbing.
A guard looked at Celestia, asking an unspoken question. She nodded slightly, and the pegasus was helped away from the scene. Most of the other bodies had been covered with sheets, and the sheer amount of the dead was staggering.
179. That was the toll so far. And they were still finding bodies.
Celestia closed her eyes once more, trying to think of what possibly could have caused the creature to do something of this magnitude.
She opened her eyes, and with a glow of her horn, opened the cloth bag that lay nearby the corpse. Taking out a leather bound journal and opening to the last page, she came to a realization.
She would find all the answers here.
She informed her guards that she would be departing, and hastily took flight back to the Castle, journal in her saddlebags.
And while she flew somberly, the words she had read repeated themselves in her mind.
”...blood stained the sun red today...”


~End~

> Aftermath
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

2 years after the incident...

Princess Celestia paced in her room, many thoughts running through her head.
For nearly two long years, her guard and staff noticed that she had been oddly detached from everything, to the point of suspending day court and simply addressing issues presented to her via mail. 
Even Princess Luna had noticed that something was wrong, but every time she tried to get Celestia to tell her, she got the cold shoulder.
Princess Luna knew why. 
2 years is a drop in the bucket for the lifespan of an Alicorn.
2 years ago, the town of Ponyville had been utterly destroyed.
By one being. 
Not a dragon or a beast from the mythics, but merely a intelligent creature that was lost in Equestria. 
Celestia hadn’t even received news from her former student when it had shown up, so until that fateful day, she had no idea that there was a being from another plane of existence dwelling near Ponyville. 
When it had attacked the town and killed over 95% of the town’s population, Celestia didn’t know for three days. 
Three. Days.
After she had returned, she locked herself in her room for a week straight, only allowing food into her abode. 
And now, 2 years after, this is where she found herself. 
The creature, which she had since identified as “Ronnie Long”, a human male, had a journal that detailed his day-to-day life for the five or so months that he was in Equestria. 
Some things written inside would have put an evil king like Sombra to shame with their depravity.
Celestia had tried to make sense of the horrifying entries, trying to understand what he was even referring to, to no avail.
And it plagued her mind for two long years.
She stopped, her erethral mane flowing in the nonexistent wind, and once again ran over what she had read shortly before.
The entry she had read earlier contained a list of all the things her little ponies had done to the human, all of which she found astoundingly difficult to believe. How could her ponies drive something from it’s home, and wound it so?
There were specks on that page. Red specks. 
She was almost certain that it was blood.
A knock on the door distracted her from her ministrations. 
Exhaling heavily, she suspected that it was her lunch for the day. Opening it with her magic, she heard the familiar clop of hooves on the floor, but they did not sound like the server that usually brought her meal. Turning around, she saw a yellow pegasus looking up at her, her face partially obscured by her flowing pink mane.
“H-hello Princess...” Fluttershy said.
“Hello, Fluttershy. What brings you to my room this afternoon?” Celestia asked warmly. 
“I need to talk to you, if that’s alright...”
“Certainly. What is it you’d like to discuss?”
Taking a deep breath, Fluttershy said in a small voice, “I need to talk to you about R-Ronnie.”
Celestia was taken aback, for she had told nopony of the creature’s name. 
“How do you know his name?” She asked incredulously.
“B-because he was my friend.” Fluttershy dutifully answered.
Celestia was shocked by this statement. How could this meek pegasus be friends with such a monster?
“You were friends with this monster?!” Celestia yelled, but Fluttershy stood her ground.
“Yes, I was. He wasn’t always as horrible as he was. Before... all that... He was a great friend.”
Celestia couldn’t believe her ears.
“How!?” She asked, astounded.
Fluttershy began to recount the tale of Ronnie, from the first moments up until the last time she had seen him. Celestia listened, her anger slowly fading, replaced by sadness and sorrow. She was appalled at the mindsets of her little ponies, how they could do such terrible things to the human who just wanted to live his life. She listened to Fluttershy’s stories of how the two of them would sit and talk for hours, his dark sense of humor leading to many laughs from Fluttershy. She talked about how he began to voice his resent towards the other ponies of Ponyville, and then she spoke of the last time she saw him. 
“H-he came to my cottage in the middle of the day. He walked up to me, bent down, and gave me a hug. His tears wet my-my mane, and he looked into my eyes and said goodbye. Then, he walked away from me, and I waved after him, a bit confused, I guess. T-that was the last time I ever saw him... alive.”
Celestia was a whirlpool of emotions. She had no idea that the "Ponyville Monster," as the newspapers called it, was even capable of such feats of feeling. She slowly turned away from Fluttershy, looking out a window over the city. Looking at the clock on her wall, she noted that it was about time to lower the sun. Sighing heavily, she made to step out onto her balcony, but not before looking back at Fluttershy. The meek pegasus stood there in silence, looking at the princess with concern and sadness. Celestia beckoned her over with a wing. Fluttershy trotted to her, trepidation in her hoofsteps.
"I will be truthful with you, young Fluttershy. I have been attempting to make sense of the human's-"
"Ronnie's," Fluttershy corrected.
"-Ronnie's journal, which I found on him after we discovered Ponyville's destruction. I... have no clue as to what he was thinking when he wrote his entries. Some of them are nonsensical and deranged, and others are so clearly organized that it's like they weren't written by the same pony. But one thing remains certain, Fluttershy, in the two years that I have analyzed these pages." Celestia turned to look at her.
"He was obsessed with keeping you safe. In some of the final pages, he wrote of his desire to see you unharmed in his attack. Fluttershy, he- he loved you."
The words struck Fluttershy like a sledgehammer. Her eyes widened, pupils shrinking, and she fell back onto her haunches. 
"...why...?" the words came out naught above a whisper.
"Until just now, I was not even aware that you were his friend. I believed this to be a one-sided affair." Celestia continued.
Fluttershy remained silent. Celestia understood.
The two remained unspeaking for many minutes. Finally, Celestia stepped out to her balcony. Firing up her magic, she began the age-old routine of yanking the flaming orb down from the sky. The sunset began, rays of yellow shooting across the horizon, soon joined by crimson red; the sun shifted to a blood-red, beginning to dip before the horizon. 
Ever since that fateful day, the sun had been-for all intents and purposes- stained red. Just as the last line of Ronnie's journal had so eloquently stated. 
The sun fell below the horizon, replaced by the moon and stars. As per usual, Luna's night was breathtaking. Celestia gazed at the sky for a few more moments, before making her way back indoors.
Fluttershy hadn't moved. Celestia carefully came in front of her.
"Fluttershy?" she asked.
Fluttershy made a soft, sorrowful mewl. Celestia's motherly instinct kicked in, and she engulfed the small pegasus in her wings, pulling her close and leaning back to allow herself to wrap both forehooves around the pony. 
Fluttershy broke down into tears. Celestia just let her cry it out.
After a while, only sniffling remained. Celestia released the hug, falling back onto all fours.
"Feeling any better?" she asked.
"Not particularly..." came the reply, "But I at least have some closure, I guess."
"Indeed. Run along now, Fluttershy. It was a pleasure to speak with you." Celestia said warmly. 
"You too."
Fluttershy left. Celestia watched after her for a moment, then turned to her desk, where Ronnie's journal lay open. Walking over to it, she re-read the page.
"Hmm..."
Perhaps she needed closure too.
What better way to assure that something remains unforgotten, but doesn't dwell on one's mind than to write a song? She had done it before, after banishing Luna to the moon.
Levitating over a piece of parchment and a quill, she set the parchment on the desk aside the journal and dipped the quill in ink. At the top of the page, she began to write:
Ronnie
Story starts, Quiet town...


~End(for reals)~