Little Redd: the Lost Concept of Peace

Chapter Twelve

Venom

Once Applejack was out of the building, Rainbow Dash soared over to see how she was doing.  She had gotten there as Big Mac performed the rescue breaths and roused Applejack.  She squirmed in the grass, and the pain shooting up her hind legs took her breath away.

"Ah think mah legs're broke."

She coughed again, and raised her head bleary-eyed.

"Where's Apple Bloom?"

Bloom leapt on top of her, burying her muzzle into her older sister's neck.

"Right here, sis."

Applejack lowered her head again, resting it softly against the grass.

"You're safe.  Oh thank god you're safe."

Her eyes closed, and she smiled.

"Thank god you're safe."

"I'm just gonna go back over here," Rainbow Dash said, walking in the direction of the farmhouse for a minute before realizing she'd abandoned Twilight to see if AJ was alright.

"I'm coming, Twi!"

She took flight, and continued helping her friend put out the remains of the barn, the house, and one or two trees.

Redd sat off to the side under an apple tree, watching the reunited family with a sad glint in her eye.  Big Mac walked over and sat beside her.

"'Sup."

Redd kept watching the sisters' embrace, and looked at her mother's bracelet again.

"Just wondering where I'd be if I had a similar outcome."

He didn't really know what she meant, but he didn't bother asking.  She liked that.  He wasn't as nosy as everypony else around here.

"Well, if it warn't fer you, the Apples'd be two short of a basket."

He looked at the fading cracks in Redd's eyes.

"And that basket still ain't full."

Apple Bloom came over and turned to Redd.

"Applejack wants ta talk."

Redd got up and let the little filly lead her over to Applejack.  She wasn't in the best of shape.  Half of her tail was blackened, her Stetson had been eaten at by flames, and she had a terrible burn slashed across her neck and shoulder.  Immediately, Redd was reminded of Gilded Star's fire scar.  Her hind legs didn't look broken, though she was still probably going to be out of farming for awhile.  The red string that usually held her mane together was gone, the blonde strands falling freely over her shoulders.

"I'm sorry."

Surprisingly, Applejack hadn't been the first to speak.  Her confusion showed that much.

"Fer what?"

Redd looked at the fire, mostly gone by now.  Her dark eyes then moved to Applejack's, a heavy guilt laid on her shoulders.

"Yesterday.  When I snapped."

Applejack began to chuckle, but stopped herself with a wince as the prominent burn reminded her that laughing wasn't the best of ideas.

"Now, look here, sugarcube.  You may be ornery.  You may have a temper.  But let me tell ya what you ain't.  Unreliable.  Disloyal.  Cowardly."

Redd backpedaled.

"I-- I don't--"

"And ya definitely ain't thick in the head."

A crowd of fireponies rushed up the trail and dismissed Rainbow Dash and Twilight, who came running over to Applejack.  Twilight had just now gotten a good look at the farmer.

"Holy mother of Celestia.  Are you okay?"

Applejack smiled.

"Ah'm fine, Twi."

Despite her words, a medical team picked her up on a minty colored bed of magic and got her into a cart, which promptly headed towards Ponyville.

"Uh, later y'all, Ah guess!" she called.

When offered transport to Ponyville Hospital, Redd turned it down.

"I'm fine.  Just a few burns."

An autumn breeze blew the smoke away from them, and ruffled her burnt mane.  She looked down, and slowly peeled the battered and singed bandages off of her ankles.  The sight beneath them wasn't the best, but it was better than no treatment at all.  Her legs were scarred and hardly healed, but the gauze was falling apart anyway.  A few of the wounds had reopened, and were leaking dark drops onto the grass.  She got up, smiled at Apple Bloom, and walked back to Zecora's in silence.

When Redd stepped through the door, Zecora had returned from her not-so-mysterious trip with a bag full of Poison Joke, and was bathing in the cure before it could do anything vile.  The zebra gasped.

"Redd, you are burned!  Where did you go before I'd returned?"

Despite the pain lancing up her body from her burns, the corner of Redd's mouth was turned up as she rewrapped the bandaging over her legs, adding a few across the worst of her burns.  The last one she applied went over her left flank to cover her crosshairs, which were slashed through with an irritable patch of skin.

"Nothing big."

Her smile widened as she remembered the relieved look spread across Applejack's face when she'd held her sister.

"Just keeping the peace."

Little Redd trotted along happily, humming and sniffing the Autumn air every time a breeze came along, carrying the leaves with it.  The telltale buzzing of insects was gone, replaced with the smell of pine and that snipped feeling that only the changing of seasons could bring.

"You seem cheerful."

Redd jumped, and glared at Sunset Shimmer, who apparently had just traveled from Dark Equestria.  Her fiery mane hung low as always, reflecting the seven o'clock morning sun.

"Just because you're a thin line doesn't mean everypony else can't enjoy their life."

Sunset rolled her eyes, and an edge of venom traced her voice.

"Whatever, I don't have time for this.  Discord's looking for you."

She faded under the glare of the sun, going back to wherever she came from.

Redd's demeanor lost it's previous spark, and, with a sigh, she followed her cousin into Discord's personal kingdom.

Plundervines exploded out of the city, orcas replaced with impish cherubs, fields fading into random patterns, a hot snow still falling.  As a new addition to Discord's arsenal, Pegasi had become Earth ponies, Unicorns became Pegasi, and Earth ponies became Unicorns.  Unable to cope with their unfamiliar horns, the Earth ponies were accidentally releasing spells with a simple thought.  Unicorns were doing their best to stay on the ground, but the natural need to fly kept overwhelming them and sending them into a crashing situation.  The Pegasi just felt useless.  The only ponies that were unaffected were the Dark Elements of Harmony and the Elements of Discord.

Couldn't have his puppets going AWOL in frustration, could he? Redd thought bitterly.

This place was already getting to her head again.  She came over a hill, went back down, and caught sight of Sunset Shimmer as she joined the rest of the other Elements at the top of the next hill.

"Aaand, the limey's finally here," Scootaloo said somewhat impatiently.

Gilded Star nodded to her, Pound Cake did a little hop, and Shimmer continued to ignore her.

Commander Hoofler's attention snapped in her direction from a map and trusty red pen, and, putting his supplies in his saddlebags, he shuffled a bit closer.  Discord once again impersonated Gilded's previous authority, Commander Ackeman.  She had yet to be born to Spitfire at the moment, but was somewhat famous in Equestrian militia's distant future.  Her voice rang out across the chaotic landscape.

"Lieutenant, you're late."

"Hullo, Discord.  Glad to see you're chipper."

His trademark hyperactive grin spread across his face, his single fang jutting out crookedly.

"Oh, yes.  Because I have the most amazing news!"

Redd cocked her brow, and everypony else but Pound smirked.

"The attack on Equestria is going down Saturday next week!"

Redd's eyes shrunk to pinpricks.

Oh, fuck all kinds of duck.