Dungeon and Crowns
Red Magician's Last Adventure
479 Years post Corona:
His lungs were burning. His of all ponies. For all the talk in stories and history books, they seemed to forget just how unpleasant the life of a hero could be when they started reaching old age. Lungs burning, chest heaving and vision blurring, it wasn't nearly as much fun now a days.
Then there was the fact he had no back up and no means of contacting any form of assistance, which he was -maybe- beginning to think he might need. ‘ I’ll have to work on a spell for that later, some sort of speaking box, orb?’ Red Magician thought, before refocusing on side stepping a blatantly insufficient booby trap in the form of a giant boulder –he’d had to face many of these such annoyances, elementals, golems, guards & booby traps, lots and lots of booby traps- but like all the other traps it failed to even wow him.
Normally the unicorn would just obliterate that sort of nuisance, but whoever was in charge likely had guards and were certain to be powerful in their own right; he’d have to save his energy.
‘Running off alone is beginning to look stupider and stupider, like something I might have done when I was young, back when I didn't need to plan’ he reflected almost morosely. It wasn't a surprise though threatening somepony close to him just to drag him out had been the stupidest thing his would-be enemies could have done. Even if it was all planned, ‘Well if they wish to face my wrath I shall show them my boundless might and come down upon them like a meteor!'
Even if not for his personal motivation, Red Magician had his job, nay his duty, to catch the criminals responsible for all the ghastliness of the last few years. Some small sect of unicorns, quite possibly sponsored by nobility, had been releasing monsters and dangerous arcane objects into the world. Always using proxies, which made tracking them very difficult even for a unicorn of his exceptional abilities!
Seeing yet another attacker approaching, Red Magician summoned forth a three piece magical shield in front of him, but this was no mere shield, It appeared more like three giant and golden mirrors linked together by chains of steel and practically glowing with power. It was the masterful culmination of years of dedicated research, and since it's development had easily become a favoured spell (though as a master of so many, it was hard for Red Magician to ever choose only one favourite).
“Reflector!” He cried triumphantly, diverting the unicorns attack back at him a thousand fold!
Well, normally it would have sent back spell with the added force of a meteor but Red Magician had planned for the unicorn to be bloodied but not broken. His opponent was still barely awake as he placed magical bindings upon the weakened unicorn’s body, extremely tight bindings at that.
“Hear me Foal!” Red Magician yelled using a spell to amplify the power and volume of his voice, a trick he’d picked up as a child when hearing rumour of the Princess’s royal Canterlot voice.
“Down there, take a left then a right and follow the ramp up, you can’t miss it!” the downed unicorn replied hastily through gritted teeth.
Red Magician raised his eyebrows on his now slightly wrinkled face. If this criminal thought all he was after were directions, then he was wrong.
“Oh that is very helpful, thank you” Red Magician replied, so sweet was his tone that he was beginning to get a toothache and his captive was looking both unnerved and rather confused while trying to move his legs against the slowly tightening bonds that entrapped him.
‘Rule number one of interrogation: keep them off balance’ the magician reflected, sitting down on his haunches his red slightly torn cape fluttering -just so- dramatically. The unicorn prisoner looked even more disturbed when a piece of chocolate was telekinetically floated in front of his mouth.
“Go on, it’s important to enjoy the little things in life, while you still can.”
Suffice to say; it was not long before the captured unicorn was spilling everything he knew, which wasn’t much but still better than nothing. The imprisoned unicorn had at least told him how the other unicorns had been able to teleport when he, Red Magician, had been unable to. The little enchanted trinket the magician had helped himself too would be immensely useful. Red Magician proceeded to attach a hastily -but still well written & eloquent- note to his prisoner and teleported him back to Canterlot.
‘A noble's support, eldrich rituals, enchanted objects and even dark magic: what do they even expect to gain from all this? I should have sent word to the Princess.’ Dark magic was one of the few, very few, areas in which he was not exceptionally knowledgeable, ‘then again who wants to step on an Alicorns hooves by asking if she knows dark magic.’
The unicorn slowed his gallop to a trot before stopping entirely, this wasn’t a trap; he’d been in enough to know the signs. No, there was something else. It was an entirely different kind of energy hanging heavily in the air, like smoke from an out of control fire, yet thick, like ink mixed with the stench of decay.
‘This is dark magic; No wonder everypony who uses it goes mad.’ Even if he didn’t know dark magic, he was Red Magician, the greatest sorcerer in all the land and he knew a dangerous magical ritual when he felt it.
And this ritual had to be stopped, “no matter the cost” Red Magician muttered to himself, and then shook his head vigorously, he sounded almost dejected, ‘the absurdity!’
Red Magician lowered his glowing horn; ironically a light shade of blue magic engulfed it. There was no reason to waste the energy on parlour tricks, and so with that last thought he charged down the final corridor.
The gigantic room, or cavern he supposed, was practically smothered in magical energies, and was almost completely covered in strange ritual circles, only some of which he recognised.
More than a dozen unicorns stood stock still, looks of agony on their face, as they all engaged in some archaic ritual, the collective energies were being channelled towards the room's centre, where a unicorn stood bedecked in a shining jewel encrusted crown that sat snugly over her horn. The crown was an almost exact copy of the now ancient royal unicorn crowns of old, except for the addition of shadowy sparkling runes.
It was all terribly cliché, and rather what he'd expected to find, save one small detail; he recognized the crowned traitor.
“You?!” before he could even finish his proclamation or his telekinetic attack, the crown wearing traitor spoke. Her voice seemed to emanate from everywhere and nowhere at once as most of the unicorns surrounding her pivoted to face him with cold unfeeling eye’s that glowed like embers in a dying fire.
“Destroy the traitor!” she commanded. With no further notice the unicorns charged horns awash with magical energies. Red Magician scarcely had a moment to prepare his defences as they struck with force that could have shattered castles! Tragically, for these criminal's their opponent was none other than Red Magician, and he met the unicorns combined “wave” of power with a telekinetic blast of his own.
The unicorns and Red Magician stood in a stalemate, their ethereal energies crashing together with a might roar, the combined energies producing a pillar of blinding lights. But just as Red Magician could feel himself gaining the upper hoof, his opponents altered their spells creating an explosion powerful enough to knock back even the greatest of the Canterlot royal guards, but not Red Magician.
“Do you not know whom you face; I am The Red Magician! I am the greatest mage this land has ever known, second to none! Stand in my way and you shall face a fury incomprehensible!”
With that said, the battle began in earnest, a dozen or more unicorns against him, with an even greater threat waiting in the wings. ‘All bets should be on me,’ he thought as he forced his power beneath his feet, flinging himself into the air, near the roof of the cavern. If there was one thing pegasi had over him, it was air superiority; still, Red Magician liked to think he did all right with the high ground.
Still hovering high, Red Magician could see the other unicorns preparing their individual attacks and he decided to beat them to the metaphorical buck.
“Shining rainbow meteor shower!”
With that mighty proclamation, a vast array of spinning colours exploded from his horn and took off in seemingly random directions. But with his “tracking” spells and various illusionary tricks worked into the attack, nopony but him even knew what the spells were really doing.
With his enemies blinded or dodging for their lives, Red Magician chose to teleport from his lofty position in the sky's, one burst of magic later his hooves were safely on the ground. Without a moment’s pause Red Magician took off, galloping at top speeds towards the ritual circle, or whatever it was, as his light show and the ensuing explosions kept his original attackers preoccupied.
regrettably the chaos and destruction caused by his magnificent spells didn’t last as long as he would have liked, as a massive scythe shaped beam of pure unicorn magic cut him off, and sliced through the stone like a flaming knife through butter, “Fine then, let us finish the opening act”.
Seeing his would be murder on a ledge Red Magician teleported far to the right, arriving just in time to see the other unicorn depart via teleportation. Leaving him right in the way of an oncoming five way attack. Red Magician made to escape via a spell, but the retreating criminal had apparently left a lingering enchantment that neutralized the benefits of on his new trinket, Red Magician was once again completely unable to teleport, ‘great’ he thought conjuring up a barely passable reflector.
Off-course with the Red Magician being barely passable still meant the spell was extremely potent, otherwise he wouldn’t be living up to his reputation!
The cavern shook as much of the original power behind the unicorns' attack was redirected. One was simply diverted so the ensuing explosion did not strike him directly. Unfortunately the second spell shattered through his beloved mirror and was really going to hurt, but the final blast -- also conveniently the most powerful -- was moving straight towards the ritual circle, much to his many opponents dismay, he could only assume, as the world had not yet seen fit to return to normal, shaking and flashing in the most audacious colours.
Not wanting to hang around the possibly collapsing cavern, Red Magician made the only rationale choice and teloported. Thankfully the little field of anti-magic around his new favourite trinket had dissipated, leaving him free too move, though not as quickly as he would have liked.
“You have failed Red Magician; it is over” the crown wearing leader of the traitors spoke, her voice filled with exultation and an extremely annoying self-satisfied tone, which he of course never used.
“And your servants?” he responded still standing, if holding one leg off the ground while his left eye squinted unattractively. Red Magician measured up his opponent, horn glowing. ‘I need to buy more time. I can feel it, I can see it, I just need more time.'
Red Magician did not get the chance to use his readied spell, as he was flung backwards into a cavern wall. Despite the last minute shielding spell, his body was wracked with agony as the attack had seared his flesh and fur, while the stone cracked his bones.
“They still live if only barely and only through my will. You have no comprehension of what you have stood in the way of Red Magician, what you have damaged, but not yet ruined” she said before sending a bolt of light lancing out from her horn to strike his injured leg.
“This is the beginning of a new age, and if you had not been a mud mucking, feather fondling traitor to our kind there could have been a place for you.”
“Why, Pompilus, just why?” his voice coming out far more weakly than he truly wished it to. Finally able to stare at the nightmare in front of him, Pompilus really didn’t seem all the different than she had on the many occasions they had seen each other before.
Her light yellow coat now seemed sleeker and yet sickly. Her once dark blue mane wavered slightly despite there being no breeze. Her horn was larger, pointed, and more threatening. Finally, to top it all off, she wore a crown, so much like the old crowns, locked away in the Canterlot museum, a gem surrounding her horn as she glowed with an alien light.
“It is time for us to begin a new age my old friend. For the good of Equestria, we unicorns must seize power. Even now the disgusting, earth ponies, pegasi and commoners dare to cavort themselves in the court as though our equals, my equals!” She shouted, her voice sounding less equine and more like an angry bird.
“I once thought you like myself Red Magician, but time and time again you have thwarted me, ignored me, stood in my way. But those were merely setbacks, experiments and tests, to gain knowledge of this new magic, the resources to use it properly and do a little damage to the filth. Still, you served a good purpose,” she said. Her tone would have been sweet, if not for fact she barely sounded like a pony at this point. Another lash like a whip of fire stuck against his knees, but he did not fall; no pony would bring him to his knees.
“When monsters and murders were afoot, when magically enchanted items ended up in the wrong hooves you were there to deal with my lowest servants and remind everypony, sans Luna, that they need us to protect them, that we are superior, but rather than aid the cause, you wasted your time writing books and failing at concerts and S--!”
She might have continued, but really bringing that up was like an invitation to attack. She didn't even try to out manoeuvre the spell, but instead allowed it to hit her, looking completely confident until her barrel started bleeding.
He moved forward ready to press the attack when an explosion of magic seemed to spread throughout the entire room, flinging him back against the rocks which was just as painful as it had been the first time.
“Filth! How dare you strike me; I am the one who shall lead the revolution hat shall place unicorns where we have always belonged, above all others! Not even the nights might, will be able to stand against me!” She screeched; her voice soaring octaves with every word as she raged. “But you traitor, wounder of my flesh, you shall be the first to bear witness as I take your place as the most powerful unicorn in the world!”
With that weighty proclamation she stepped forward, seeming to tower over him as her horn glowed, gathering magic at the end of it lightning and fire seemed to ripple off it as it grew.
“I cannot be defeated so easily witch!” Red Magician raised his horn as it glowed with his arcane power, but then, he turned around and bucked her in the jaw sending her head reeling back in shock at a none magical assault.
Quickly spinning around as his opponent tried to regain control of her spell, he gathered as much of his, not insubstantial, power and made ready for his greatest spell yet.
“I repeat, myself, I am the red magician! I have faced the fury of Luna herself and defeated all who have come before me! When you face me you face no normal unicorn! You face the might of Red Magician!”
‘This plan is all or nothing!’ and with steeled resolve, the mage sprung into battle
It had not been an easy battle and while not the longest duel he had ever engaged in, it was certainly the most arduous. Still he had won and now stood in a ruined cavern miles underground, that had recently been a place of dark ritual and twisted plots, as well as a dozen or more now unconscious or dead unicorns. Their leader -gone- consumed by the power of their duel, her cursed crown was all that remained.
He had won if only barely and after recuperating his power he'd written a note and teloported the surviving criminals to Canterlot with a simple -but heavily censored- explanation on the event that had so recently transpired.
Nopony could know what he was doing here, not even Luna. It would take time, and he would have to return to Canterlot soon but Red Magician still needed to place the final binding on the crown before his real work could begin.
Red Magician looked over at the cursed crown, unblemished and undamaged despite the battle's ferocity. Yes, there was still much he needed to do.
After three long days Red Magician had finally returned to Canterlot and been rewarded by Luna herself, who of all things had actually looked pleased to see him. She had been kind enough to respect his privacy on the matter which he used for a short break to recover his energy and then collect his materials and affects from his lab before doing the unthinkable.
Red Magician announced his retirement.
‘It certainly wasn’t my best story.’ He had recounted -most- of what had happened in epic verse as he often did, and for the first time in years nopony had tried to interrupt with snarky comments about performances. He got to glow in the public’s adoration one last time. Before announcing his intent to move himself to his summer home to relax and generally do all those other things retired Pony’s did.
‘I never really expected to retire, not that I am.’
And hopefully when his work here was done he could rest a bit more and maybe do some interviews for the paper or write another biography, but as it stood he had a cursed object to remake, a legacy to create, and secrets to protect, deep in the mountains of his final adventure.
‘Ooh, I hope she’s not to mad at me for working so late’.
Red Magician had left many things behind when he died a legion of fan’s a dozen’s of exciting books and news reports on his various adventures. He had left mourners and perhaps intentionally he had left behind a legacy of heroism, with only one or two -minor- dalliances and foolish decisions on the side.
But perhaps most obviously enduring he had left behind a legend and a mystery one that was to last throughout the ages, “The hidden place unknown to all but me where my greatest accomplishment and studies shall remain hidden for generations to come, protected by my mightiest spells and most brilliant works.”
“My hidden legacy, the Ruby crown of the Red Magician”