David and Goliath, or the Big Iron on her Hip.
Ponyville was on fire.
From the outskirts of the Everfree, to the bottom of Canterlot Mountain, everything was burnt to the ground. Where there were once beautiful vistas of flowers and green grass, was now vast desert littered with dying or burning weeds. Ponies marched along this dystopian setting; their legs, wings and horns bound in thick, steel shackles. Their faces were downtrodden, the hope of freedom drained from them by the hulking mass of centaur standing over the Princess of Magic, mere meters from the flattened ruins of Ponyville, only left were the foundations of the buildings and smouldering bodies of those stuck in the crossfire of the fierce duel.
Princess Twilight Sparkle weakly raised her head to stare at her victorious adversary… where she should have stood. Yet, there Twilight lay, her body broken, beaten and bleeding. Behind Tirek floated her five friends, pained expressions frozen on their faces, bodies contorted in agony within the bubbles of pure arcane magicks.
Tirek bellowed with laughter and raised his fists in victory, grasping them tight.
“Where is your friendship now, Princess?! Where is the magic you all-so-often preach of? It is GONE! You have failed, Twilight Sparkle,” Tirek taunted her, leaning down to grab her up by the throat, turning to face the five magically-contained element bearers. Twilight’s eyes widened, and panic struck her like a brick across the cheek; her frail body struggling to break free of the massive fingers of the freakishly powerful centaur.
“You will be a slave, like the rest of your weak, inferior species… and to make sure you will not fight back, maybe gather your strength and use those… filthy elements against me…” His free hand, previously held open with the bubbles containing Twilight’s friends above them, quickly balled into a fist. The bubbles, once providing ample room for the ponies to move—were they not paralyzed—shrank, and Twilight’s heart fell into her hooves as her friends began to cry out and scream for help, for Twilight to do something to save them, as their bodies were ever-so-slowly crushed within the bubbles.
“N-NO!” Twilight cried. Their agonized screams of pain and fear soon drowned out all other sound. The little amount of hope that Twilight’s heart once held onto, was dashed away, her will shattered into millions of pieces as those she cared most for, were killed… no, murdered, while she was forced to watch. Her eyes grew hazy and the world grew a few shades darker. The bubbles were soon the size of hoofballs, the image of her smothered, disfigured friends was scorched into her brain, intent on haunting her till she was embraced in death’s cold bosom.
Her struggling grew naught, her eyes unable to leave her friends as Tirek dropped the bubbles to the floor. The glassy arcane magicks shattered, causing the bodies to unfurl into their unnaturally bent and twisted forms fully. Twilight was viciously shoved to the ground beside them, her eyes meeting that of Rarity’s. Somewhere deep in Twilight’s broken heart, she expected to see that glint of life, even for just a moment. The glint of genius, kindness and generosity that once radiated from the windows into her very soul, was gone. It was replaced only by a dull, lifeless stare, a shadow of the former fashionista’s glowing, if a bit snooty personality. Twilight’s eyes brimmed with tears, yet no sound left her muzzle. She screamed, but no sound came. All she could do, was watch, as Tirek basked in his victory over her. He would use her, constantly remind her that she could not beat him. That she not only failed Equestria, but she failed Celestia. Luna. Applejack. Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash… Rarity.
Even when her eyes and throat dried, her cries of mourn never ceased. She had been broken. She knew that only darkness and suffering awaited her future… There was no hope left for her. It died with Applejack, with Pinkie, Flutters, RD, and most importantly, Rarity.
Tirek stood tall, his hoofsteps thundering as he stepped away from the distraught, utterly broken alicorn princess. He had won. It was a long, labourious battle, but he had won it. Victory, indeed, was his. Equestria was his. He would keep the alicorns as his personal slaves; to tend to his every need and desire, reminding them all the while, that they had lost to him. Yet… It wasn’t over. There was still something left for him to destroy, to rid from this world. His thoughts were stopped by the sound of rubber hitting gravel, and the sound of clanking metal and jangling materiel. He turned to face… A Minotaur? He nearly doubled over with laughter as it stood across from him, the size of a dog compared to him, barely reaching the top of his legs. It wore a brown coat, likely made of cow leather, much akin to Tirek’s own hide. It had gray plates of unknown metals covering its angular chest, with one of its thin arms and both legs sporting the same plates, one arm encased in a blocky brick that had a glass panel that glowed a deep amber hue. Its legs ended in dark brown boots, with star-shaped metal pieces at the back of each clanking against the dirt beneath it. A strange metal pipe hung at its hip, with a long wooden block with a metal pipe in it on its back. It had glowing red eyes and a bulbous head, flat face, and an odd antenna sticking up from where its ears should’ve been.
“What puny Minotaur DARES challenge the all-mighty LORD TIREK?” He roared, straightening his stance, his voice blowing back the flaps of the Minotaur’s coat, showing off the golden-brown plates on the silver pipe upon its narrow hip.
“My name matters naught, and I am no Minotaur! What matters, is that I have witnessed your crimes, Tirek, and have judged you unfit to wander this world a moment longer! Accept your fate and surrender or suffer the might of the Courier and her iron!” Came the Minotaur’s reply, her voice booming like thunder. For a moment, Tirek did not move. Then, he laughed, a hearty laugh of fatal arrogance.
“Fool, I will turn you into a bloody pulp! Now, face my wrath, wench!” Tirek fired a dense blast of arcane magicks at the Minotaur. The explosion rocked the very ground beneath them, the cloud of dust spanning wide across the long road from which the being came. When the smoke cleared, Tirek’s rage boiled up and he roared.
Standing unharmed was the ‘Courier,’ one hand grasping the handle on the metal pipe, the other held in front of her chest, hand hovering over the other. A second passed, before a crack like lightning shattered the ambience. Tirek felt a deep burning in his left shoulder, and looked down to find a sucking, bleeding wound, bits of bone poking through the hole. Yet still, he channeled magic into his hands and—
CRACK!
Tirek stumbled, one hand clasping the fresh hole in his gut, the other covering the one in his shoulder. He roared and fired a second blast of magic from his horns. The minotaur moved like a blur, swiftly dodging the blast with only singing to her coat. The silver pipe in her hand bellowed like lightning thrice more, and Tirek fell to his knees, one hand clawing at his bleeding throat, the other attempting to stem the bleeding in his left hoof. Soon, the Courier stood face-to-face with the downed Tirek. His eyes met the end of the silver pipe, the big iron, and he was able to quickly fire off a small beam into the Courier’s chest, causing her to stumble and fall to one knee, giving him the opportunity to begin healing his wounds, beginning with the neck and working his way down, the holes sealing themselves and shooting out the small, flattened bits of copper from the wounds.
His eyes turned to the sky, and his laughter broke the silence yet again. He raised his hands to the skies, the dark clouds twirling around him in a furious cyclone, ready to slam down into this fallible Minotaur.
“Was that all you got?” Tirek’s moment was broken, and his eyes quickly darted back down to the Minotaur, one last time, and he took in the last image his brain would ever be capable of processing.
The silvery barrel of the Courier’s Iron as a single, hand-loaded forty-four hollowpoint left the barrel, and soon left a golfball-sized hole in Tirek’s forehead.
His body slumped down, and his horns crackled and fizzled out, before his entire body exploded, beams of magical energy shooting out and striking the living ponies around the two opponents, those of the fallen simply rising to the sky and forming an elegant rainbow.
Twilight watched in awe as Tirek was no more. The ‘Courier’ slipped the pipe back to her hip and sauntered over to Twilight.
“You look like you need a hand. Come on, let’s get you somewhere safe…” Twilight succumbed to the exhaustion and sadness of the day and she crumpled forward into the arms of the strange bipedal creature.
And so the Courier, who had cheated death in the cemetery outside Goodsprings, cheated death once again, and Equestria was forever changed.
Celestia and Luna were able to rally the remainder of the EUP and Royal Guard and retook Equestria from Tirek cultists and freed Ponykind from the shackles of slavery. The military was restructured, and a proper force was established to defend Equestria from threats, inside and out.
In honour of the fallen elements and their saviour, a statue, depicting Courier Six and her Iron, standing tall above the elements, was erected in the centre of a rebuilt Ponyville, its people saving many days in the year to mourn the deaths of their beloved Elements of Harmony.
Courier Six left Equestria, with a purposeless, broken alicorn tailing behind her, sworn to repay her debt to Courier Six and bring justice to wherever they went.
And so, the Courier's road had come to an end... for now. In the new world of Equestria, fighting continued, blood was spilled, and many lived and died - just as they had in the Mojave Wasteland. Because war... war never changes.
Author's Note
This was fun to write.
As per usual, criticise me in the comments! Tell me what I did right and what I did wrong so I can improve for the writing of my other stories.
