Crimson Chaos

by Phobetor_Necros

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Violence, Human, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 5578

What will Equestria do when something so violent moves in right next door?

Faced with a powerful new neighbor, how will Equestria react to something so inherently violent? You get to decide!

A different take on comment driven stories. You'll take command of the reactions of the creatures of Equestria as they encounter a mysterious being that has just made the Castle of the Two Sisters its home.

Set after the series finale, so spoilers ahead!

Published 2019-09-16 11:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2021-03-07 20:22:02 UTC

Arrival

A portal opens in front of a ruined castle in a forest. A creature that walks on two legs steps out of it as it closes behind him. "This should be fun," he says, "Wonder if that Shadow Pony story is true?" He confidently strides into the castle, disappearing into its depths.

On the eve of the Festival of the Two Sisters, which used to be the Summer Sun Celebration, Twilight makes her rounds in the world of dreams. After several years of ruling, she's gotten used to quelling the fears of her subjects and even those of other creatures within her borders, managing to get a routine going that doesn't leave her exhausted in the morning. However, tonight was different. As she was winding down and getting ready to wake up, a white orb appears in front of her, flashing red. Confused, as this orb seemed different from every other dream orb that float about this world, she reaches out to touch it and enter whatever dream it may be.

After a flash of light, she opens her eyes to see that she's in front of the ruins of the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. Everything looks normal, except for the fact that the sun, which sits at high noon at the moment, starts moving on its own, quickly changing from day to night. Under the moonlight, Twilight watches as the castle changes from its ruined state back into its original state. At first, she watches it in awe & then horror strikes her as she realizes that even though it was brought back to its former glory, it's also been drenched in blood. She surveys the area, looking for any other disturbing signs, but finds none.

Another flash of light and Twilight finds herself in the throne room of the castle. The room seems split between the ruins and the bloody reconstruction. On her left, with the lunar throne, the castle is complete, but fresh blood drips and runs from the ceiling and walls and pools onto the floor, covering it completely and soaking her left hooves. Sitting upon the lunar throne is a humanoid silhouette, pure white with a blue aura gently surrounding it and glowing, blue eyes. At its side leans a large, two-handed broadsword with an elaborate golden handguard. The handle is dark red with a golden point, and the guard bears two red gems and several small wing designs. The bright, white-silver blade has two curved points at the base, four smaller points along its length as it tapers towards the tip, and diamond-like red markings in its center. The figure's right hand rests on its hilt, while his left hand is outstretched in what appears to be a gesture of friendship as a thin line appears on its face in a smile.

On her right, with the solar throne, is the ruins she has known since the first day she went to Ponyville. On it sits an identical silhouette, but this one is pitch black, with a red aura and eyes, and sporting a toothy, carnivorous grin. Its left hand grips onto a black sword with a crude, irregular appearance, appearing to have been carved from stone (or perhaps busted up metal). It has a long, broad blade with several scratches on it and a blocky handguard marked with an inverted red pentacle. Its right hand clutches at an orb of crackling dark energy. Horrified at the sights before her, Twilight tries to escape the dream, but is unable to. Before confusion can set in, the black silhouette jerks its head to look at her. Their eyes meet as it outstretches its right hand and blasts her with dark magic.

Twilight wakes up with a start, screaming for a split second. Gallus, a griffon who acts as her personal guard and a former student of friendship of hers, comes in. "Is everything alright, Princess?" he asks.

Twilight calms herself down before answering, "Yes, I'm fine, Gallus. Return to your post." Gallus bows before exiting the room, leaving Twilight to wonder 'What was all of that?' She ponders this for a moment, remembering her few days at Canterlot High with Sunset and her alternate friends, before realizing that she probably doesn't have time today, it being a festival and all. Maybe it was just a bad dream, but if so, why couldn't she leave it? Many questions bounced in her head as she raised the sun that morning and prepared for the Festival.

The Festival itself went off without a hitch, but even though Twilight was a gracious and level headed host in public, she always found herself thinking back on that "dream." She eventually remembered that Celestia once told her that she had a vision of Tirek before he returned, which kicked off the series off events that led her and the other princesses to give up their magic to Twilight. Maybe this was the same, but unlike the vision of Tirek, which was a straightforward, "an ancient evil returns," this vision seemed more cryptic. It spoke of a great castle reborn, but desecrated and two human figures. How could humans be in Equestria? They turn to ponies once they cross the mirror from their world to ours. Plus, from what she's read from Sunset's updates, the only way they can use magic is by acquiring Equestian magic that seeps into their world. Though, she did read that once there was a time loop that Sunset was stuck in, which might explain how the castle is rebuilt. Who could say that someone hasn't figured out how to cross between world with their original bodies? Although, if that's the case, would they spell disaster, considering the amount of blood they'd cover the castle with? Then she remembers that the throne room was split. Would half of the castle be rebuilt and bloodied by the seemingly nice human and the other half stay ruined by the dark magic wielding human? She wondered 'What do I do?'

Author's Note

Welcome to my first story! Since this is a comment driven story, I'll be editing the tags to suit the changing narrative of the story accordingly. I may even need to change the rating to Mature, if it comes down to it. I'll try to upload new chapters monthly, at the very least, if I can help it. The criteria for what happens next will be majority rule or first suggested, if there happens to be a tie. Hope you all enjoy my take on Human in Equestria!

Sword designs are Heaven's Gate & Anarchy from the Epic Battle Fantasy franchise. All rights to those designs go to Matt Roszak.

Will the creature find the Shadow Pony in the ruins?(The one from Castle Mane-ia, not Stygian)

What will Twilight do with this bombardment of information?

The Castle

Twilight decided to tell her friends about her vision the next time she sees them. Luckily, the Council of Friendship was set to convene tomorrow at noon. Thus, with that handled, she enjoyed the rest of the festival without worry. The next day, after her morning briefings and dealing with minor noble complaints, her friends arrived as they always did every moon.

"Hey, Twilight! Hey, Spike!" said Pinkie as she hopped in, "I managed to get Pound and Pumpkin to babysit Little Cheese for me today."

"Afternoon, darlings," Rarity said as she trotted in, "The festival yesterday was oh, so fun, Pinkie Pie. You really outdid yourself there."

"Wish we could've been there," Rainbow says as she flies in, with her wife, Applejack, walking alongside her.

"Yeah, but you know how busy it can get down on the farm," continues Applejack.

Then, a portal appears, where Fluttershy and Discord exit as it closes behind them. "How's everypony doing?" asks Fluttershy. Everyone responds positively to the question, except Twilight.

"What's wrong, Princess? Have a bad dream or something?" asks Discord. Twilight sighs and begins explaining the vision she had to the Council. All of them become clearly disturbed at the insinuations of the vision.

"Oh my, that sounds terrifying," says Fluttershy, "It makes me shudder to think how many creatures it would take to cover the castle like that."

"Why didn't you tell me this yesterday, Twilight?" asks Spike.

"I didn't want to worry you and ruin the festival for you, Spike," responds Twilight, "And honestly, I didn't know what to think of it myself and I'm still struggling to figure out what it means."

"Well if it's evil, we'll just take it out like we always do," boasted Rainbow Dash.

"Quite," said Rarity, "if we nip this in the bud, we won't have to worry about it later."

"Yup!" responded Applejack, "I may be getting old, but I can still hogtie a baddie as well as I used to."

"Oh!" exclaimed Pinkie, "And if the Castle is still restored, we can celebrate its own return!"

"Looks like we're all in agreement," said Twilight, "Spike, stay here in case anything happens."

"Yes, ma'am!" Spike saluted.

"And I'll man the fort back at the animal sanctuary," Discord said, donning a military uniform, making Fluttershy giggle.

"Okay, dear," responded Fluttershy, "keep the animals safe and fed while I'm gone." With that, Discord portals out.

"Alright, let's go, girls," Twilight said as she charged her teleportation spell.

...

"Darling, is everything alright?" asked Rarity.

Twilight looked shocked at the fact her spell failed. "I can't teleport to the castle," she said.

"Why not?!" yelled Rainbow.

"I don't know," responded Twilight, "Hang on, let me try..,"

*POP*

"Here we are!" Twilight exclaimed, teleporting them to the rope bridge right before the castle.

Crossing the bridge, they came upon a restored castle. "Whoa," said Rainbow in awe of the structure, "So, this is where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna lived a thousand years ago?"

"Yes," responded Twilight, currently searching the area with her magic, "I saw this version of the castle back when the Plunderseeds were becoming a problem."

"What are you doing, Twilight?" asked Applejack.

"Searching for- AH HA!" exclaimed Twilight, blasting magic at a spot, where two runic rings, one green and one yellow, that surround the castle rise up for inspection, "-these."

"What are they?" asks Fluttershy.

"These are magic circles meant to bind spells to locations. The green one holds powerful temporal magic, which is why the castle is back. That yellow one is what was preventing me from teleporting here. It seems like nopony can teleport into or out of the ring, but..." she continues as she teleports to the front double doors, "it doesn't seem like it'll restrict us that much."

Everypony walked into the foyer, where they see that the Treehouse of Harmony still stands, somewhat crumbling the surrounding walls with its foliage. "Well, it doesn't look like the castle will be 100% back, not if the Treehouse has anything to say about it," said Rainbow as she flies ahead and goes behind the tree, "Uhh, girls. You might want to come see this."

The girls quickly catch up, seeing what Rainbow has spotted. Behind the Treehouse is a strange symbol. It consisted of seven right triangles with notches in the right angle corners set in such a way that it looked like a star with a heptagon center. A broken circle surrounded the notches, but not the points, and strange runes were drawn within the circle between the points. The symbol was obviously drawn in blood. Twilight tried to identify what this symbol meant or what magic it held, but to no avail. Each time, she would get mixed signals, ranging from a harmless parlor trick to a world ending cataclysm. Something didn't want the truth of this symbol to be found out.

"Alright girls," Twilight said, "Split up and search for clues."

Most of the search came up fruitless. Team AppleDash noticed that a suit of armor had gone missing, while Twilight and Rarity found a bed in the room of the tallest tower was recently slept in and messy. "Ugh," Rarity scoffs as she makes the bed, "whoever this human is, they should at least make their bed in the morning."

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Pinkie?!" Twilight shouted, teleporting her and Rarity to Pinkie and Fluttershy, "What's wrong?!"

"What monster would do this to a poor, defenseless organ!" Pinkie wailed.

The organ room was where the most disturbances were. The organ had been dismantled and rebuilt into crude worktables. One of them having the missing armor on it, but with noticeable pieces missing. Two circles, a long strip, and a stubby strip had been cut out of the armor.

After calming Pinkie Pie down. The search parties convened in the throne room.

"Something's definitely living here, girls," concluded Twilight.

"But where is it?" asked Fluttershy.

"I don't know. Guess we'll just have to wait for-" Twilight started, but was then interrupted by a deafening roar that shook the castle.

"What in Equestria was that?!" yelled Rarity.

Twilight, looking worried just says, "Reginald..."

"Who?" asks Rainbow.

"The only dragon that lives in the Everfree Forest, and he sounds angry..." responded Twilight.

"Should we go help him?" asks Fluttershy.

"Reginald is a difficult case. He's an independent dragon who doesn't even acknowledge Ember as the Dragon Lord. I tried to show him the Magic of Friendship before, but he only seems concerned with sleeping with his hoard. He might attack us if we approach" laments Twilight.

"So, what do you suggest we do, Twilight? Just leave him to have his temper tantrum?" asked Applejack.

Twilight ponders the options set before her...

Reginald

Twilight comes to a decision, saying as she teleports them outside, "Come on, girls! We've got a dragon to visit!"

The girls follow her lead outside the magic circles as she teleports them again, this time to the entrance of a cave deep in the Everfree. Sounds of conflict, angry shouts, and crazed laughter echo from deep within.

"Alright!" exclaims Rainbow Dash, "Time for some action!"

She flies in with the rest of the girls hot on her hooves until she stops to witness the source of the sounds. Before them, Reginald swipes at a fireball bouncing off the walls, angrily cursing it as it slams into him again and again. The fireball laughs as it lands on his back and seems to start exploding repeatedly before Reginald grabs it and throws it against a wall, eliciting a pained yell as the fire dies somewhat around the being it was covering.

Landing on his feet, a human man stands, his skin as pale as Canterlot High's Rarity, his hair short and snow white, and the irises of his eyes blood red. He wears white boots, pants, and a long, hooded coat. His hood remains down, the left sleeve torn off, and the zipper open, revealing his torso. He also wear some stylized wireless headphones, the white headband bent to make it look like he has a set of cat ears. The only parts of it that aren't white are the red earmuffs and the symbol on the side. The symbol being a dual colored 5-point star, cut in halves from the lower left point to the upper right indent, the upper left half being black and the lower right half being red. 3 long gashes bleed freely along his torso, staining his coat and pants. His face also has lacerations, covering about a quarter of his face in flowing blood as it also spills from his mouth. His eyes are wide and wild, eyeing his target as he smiles maliciously, though Twilight takes note that they aren't carnivorous teeth... yet...

"It is a human..." Twilight says under her breath.

Reginald is in a similar, if not worse, state. The green dragon also spills blood from his mouth as some of his teeth have been chipped, broken, or are gone. His wings, which just used to be damaged enough to be unable to fly, are now nothing more than spindly bones clutching on to remnants of the membrane that was scorched off. Many of his scales have been singed, while several spots on his body where the human impacted have been stripped of scales, leaving blistering skin behind. The huge spot on his back where the human was exploding being especially terrible as bloody blisters pop and stain his scales with fluids.

The two adversaries stand off against each other as the human ignites himself again. The killer intent is so palpable and the tension so thick, that Pinkie cuts a doughnut out of it and stress eats it. Twilight quickly realizes that if nopony intervenes in this fight, it will ultimately end in someone dying.

Mustering her resolve, she activates her Royal Canterlot Voice and shouts, "ENOUGH!"

The two turn to her, Reginald annoyed and the human curious, his wild eyes softening. The human then smiles at the girls and gives a two-fingered salute before falling through the floor and escaping.

"How did he do that?!" Rainbow exclaims.

Reginald looks back only to see no one there anymore and in a rage he breathes as much fire as he can on the spot where the human once stood. Twilight creates a barrier to protect herself and the girls from the flames until he stops. Then he looks to the girls.

"What do you ponies want? I've already told you that I don't need your friendship, so why are you here?" he asks.

"Oh you're so hurt. Let me bandage you up," offers Fluttershy.

" I don't need your pity, either, pony! Just leave me to sleep with my hoard!" he snaps at Fluttershy.

"Well, you don't need to be so rude," Rarity scolds as Applejack comforts Fluttershy.

"Please, Reginald. We came here to see if you were alright. Can you tell us anything about that human?" Twilight pleads.

"Hmm... I guess I can tell you all that I know, but after I answer your questions, I want you all out of my cave. Now what are your questions?" asks Reginald.

Author's Note

Time for questioning! Please post how ever many questions you think the girls will ask Reggie about.

Research

"We've no leads on Crimson Al, so I think we should go back to Canterlot for now. I'm worried about his advanced pyromancy and this 'project' he's working on, " Twilight says, "Maybe we can find something at the Canterlot Library."

"Yes, that does sound like a better course of action than trying to track him through the Everfree," Rarity responds, "Though, I've never heard of diamonds being useful in any kind of magic before..."

"Alright, but first, a quick stop at the castle. We'll probably need more than the Canterlot Library for this," Twilight says as she teleports everyone to the throne room of Canterlot Castle.

"That was quick," Spike quips as he stands from his chair next to Twilight's throne, "So, did you get them?"

"Not quite. We've learned a little about one human, but we're still not sure if there's another and this one seems dangerous. Also, Spike, I need you to take a letter," Twilight explains.

"Haven't heard those words in quite awhile," Spike responds while taking out some parchment and a quill.

Meanwhile, in the Crystal Empire, Princess Cadance sat on her throne listening to two nobles complaining about property issues. She had grown taller, matching Celestia and Twilight's height, and her mane flowed freely now, indicating her ascension to a true Alicorn. Her husband, Shining Armor, sat to her right, in full general armor with his mane sporting streaks of gray. Despite his middle age, he still possessed an air of authority over the proceedings. To Cadance's left sat her daughter, Flurry Heart, all grown up, matching her mother's height as an adult and her mane has grown long, but still has her signature curls at the ends. She wore her crystal regalia and also listened to the proceedings to learn how to manage a state like her mother and aunt have. Suddenly, a wisp of smoke trails into the room and bursts into green flame in front of Cadance, revealing a letter, which Cadance opens up and reads.

"What is it, mother?" Flurry asks.

"It's from Princess Twilight," Cadance responds, "She wants help with some research into... pyromancy strong enough to burn dragon scales and magical uses for diamonds?" She gawked at the apparent absurdity before continuing. "She believes Canterlot Library won't be enough to find her answers and is requesting us to search our library. What do you think, Shining?"

"Twilight always has her reasons. It seems important if she's asking for help from us, but our schedule is booked for today..." Shining responds.

"I can do it," says Flurry.

"You sure you can? Our library is quite large," warns Cadance as she levitates the letter towards her daughter.

"Well, I did learn a few things from Auntie," Flurry states as she takes the letter and stands, "I'm sure it'll be fine. I'll be back before you know it."

"Alright, sweetie. We're counting on you," says Cadance.

Flurry strides out of the throne room as the nobles resume their bickering. Once she knows she's out of earshot, she lets out a heavy sigh. "Finally something to get me away from those idiotic nobles..." says Flurry as she opens up and reads the letter. "Hmm... Never heard of either of these before. Wonder why Auntie wants to know about them."

Many hours later and the Canterlot Library is covered in strewn books. Looking up pyromancy and any kind of use for diamonds other than decoration, the girls were not able to find anything. It was simply unheard of in Equestrian history for fire to be able to burn a dragon and diamonds had no business in magic. Even Zebrican potions never used diamonds.

"Twi, it's getting mighty late, so we'll be heading off now," said Applejack.

"Alright, girls. Thanks for the help," responded Twilight as she put the books back in their proper places while her friends shuffled out the doors. 'What do I do now?' she pondered as she also left the library to prepare to set the sun.

An hour train ride later, the girls exit the train, chatting cheerfully with each other when they hear the sound of ponies galloping towards them. They look a see the Cake twins as well as Sugar Belle, seemingly in a panic. "What's wrong?" asks Applejack, obviously worried.

"The children are missing!" exclaims Sugar Belle.

"What?!" screams Pinkie.

"We took our eyes off them for a minute to deal with some rowdy customers..." Pumpkin started.

"...And when we came back, Little Cheese and Big Sugar were gone." Pound finished.

"We already have all our friends helping us search for them." explains Sugar Belle.

"Well, what are we waiting for, let's go find them!" Rainbow exclaims, flying out of the train station.

They quickly meet up with Sandbar and his friends, minus Gallus. "They aren't anywhere around town." he says, disappointingly.

Then, they all go to the Friendship school to talk with Starlight and her faculty. "They haven't snuck into the school or the castle." She states, with her faculty shaking their heads behind her, Applebloom looking especially worried for the well being of her nephew.

Finally, the large group make their way to the farm, seeing Big Mac with Luster Dawn and her group of friends. "Nope" he says simply, head low to the ground.

"Where could they have gone?" Fluttershy asks.

"Do you two have any idea? Surely you must've heard something..." Luster Dawn asks the twins.

The twins calm down and start thinking before Pumpkin says, "I actually did overhear them talking about the Tree of Harmony before they disappeared."

"Sis, you don't think they actually..." Pound says as the two turn to the side. Everyone follows their gaze toward the Everfree Forest as Twilight sets the sun and raises the moon.

"Cheese! It's dark already," Big Sugar stated as he and Little Cheese wandered through the forest, "We should go back."

"Yeah..." Little Cheese said hesitantly, "About that."

"We're lost, aren't we?" Sugar deadpanned.

"Hehehe..." Cheese said sheepishly.

Big Sugar grabbed Little Cheese by the shoulders, shaking her violently with tears in his eyes, yelling, "How are we supposed to get home?!"

Little Cheese endured the shaking for a few seconds before escaping his grasp, going, "Relax, Sugar. We'll get out of here eventually. We just have to find someone who knows their way around here, like Granny Zecora."

"And who else would be out here in the forest after dark?" Sugar asked.

"I don't know, but I think I see the light of a campfire over there," Cheese says, pointing to a faint light through the trees. "Let's go check it out." She starts hopping over towards the light.

"Don't you think that's suspiciously convenient?" Sugar asks, following her.

Sure enough, looking through the brush into a clearing was a roaring campfire. Sitting by it was a biped dressed all in white and covered with blood. In his right hand, he hold a light grey sword with a broad, rounded blade with brown leather wrapping around the bottom of the blade and the relatively thin hilt. The tip of the blade rested on the end of a log that was stuck in the ground to make a support on the other side of the fire, while the flats of the blade faced up and down, making a makeshift cooking pan over the fire. On the blade was a slab of meat being cooked. The biped raised his left hand as it started to glow red, causing the meat to glow red as well as he levitated it and flipped it over, causing the meat to sizzle as the other side started to cook. All the while, it sang softly, mostly in a foreign language, revealing its masculinity to them.

"We are maverick kyuusai nante iranai
Donna rifujin osoou tomo
Kateba ii dake no hanashi darou
Kakehiki to sainou ga muhai izanau
Umare naoshita inochi de tanoshimu sa
Jibun dake wa jibun shinjiteru"

After watching this, Little Cheese went, "Let's go say hi," starting to walk over before being pulled back into the brush by Big Sugar.

"Are you crazy?!" he said in a hushed tone, "That guy's covered in blood and cooking meat! If we go out there, we could be next on the menu!"

Little Cheese pondered the options of whether to reveal themselves or not.

Author's Note

I've decided to update twice a month now, due to the lack of support for the story. Hopefully this will make it easier to entice new readers to join in on the fun.

Also, so many things to decide on! What will they all do?!

In the Everfree

"It'll be fine, Sugar," said Little Cheese, escaping from Big Sugar's grip, "after all, friends are just strangers we haven't met yet, right?"

"I guess so..." replied Sugar.

"Then let's go say 'hi'," said Cheese as she bounced out into the clearing with Sugar trailing behind, "Hi!"

The creature looked over at them, removed the headphones that were covering his ears, and said, "Konbanwa, Little Cheese! Big Sugar!"

"How does it know our names?!" panicked Sugar.

"Well, we are relatives of the former Elements of Harmony. Maybe he's heard of us," Cheese replied bouncing up toward the campfire and sitting down. Sugar cautiously came up and sat with her. The creature smiled at them, then continued to focus on his cooking, which smelled nauseating to the kids. While Sugar looked genuinely sick at the scent, Cheese fought through her stomach turning to ask, "What's your name?"

"Crimson Al," the creature replied, using levitation to check the state of his food.

Cheese squealed with glee at the thought of meeting a new friend before saying, "I have so many questions to ask you!"

Sugar, who had settled his stomach by now, told Cheese, "Remember to ask the important ones first..."

"Right," replied Cheese before clearing her throat. "Do you know the way back to Ponyville?" Al shakes his head. "Do you live in the forest like Granny Zecora?" He nods his head. "Could we stay the night with you?" He pauses before nodding his head again. "See, Sugar? I told you it was gonna be alright."

Sugar eyed the meat suspiciously and asked, "What are you cooking, there?"

Then, Cheese added, "And on top of that, why are you covered in blood? How did you get those nasty gashes on your chest? Where do you live? Also, your headphones are adorable."

Al just held up one finger before checking the meat again and deeming it cooked to satisfaction. He then levitated it into his mouth, chomping down on it and letting it hang out while he withdraws the sword, sticks it into the ground, and casts a spell over the fire. The fire then morphs to forms images, the first shows a humanoid, with sword in hand and cat ears, in front of a castle going into a forest, it then morphs into an image of that humanoid fighting a dragon and getting slashed by its claws. The next image shows the humanoid hobbling away before being confronted by two manticores and as they lunge, the image cuts to the end of the fight, where the humanoid stand triumphant over the manticores before bringing his blade down upon them as the final image shows the humanoid cooking.

"So, it's manticore?" asked Sugar, to which Al nodded as he levitated the log his sword was previously resting on over the fire to his side.

"Wow," Cheese said in awe, "can you do anything else with the fire?" Al pondered for a bit before snapping his fingers & raising both his hands around the fire, pouring magic into it while idly chewing on the meat hanging from his mouth. The flames roared to life before splitting in the middle, forming a circle. Inside the circle, they could see a section of the Canterlot throne room with Princess Twilight and Friendship Ambassador Spike sitting in their respective thrones.

"So, what are you gonna do about him?" asked Spike.

"Simple, Spike," Twilight responded, "I'll just visit him in his dreams tonight and-" she stops with a concerned look on her face and starts looking around.

"Something wrong?"

"I just felt some unusual magic enter the room," Twilight responds and at that moment, Crimson Al stops the magic, shutting off the image and the fire dies down to its original state.

Author's Note

Sorry to say, that due to life changes & the coronavirus, I'm shutting down this pet project of mine. I just don't have the time I used to anymore to continue this story, but this is what I was able to pump out in the year of writing this. Thank you to all who read & supported this.

Questioning

"Who was that human?" Twilight asked Reginald.

"That 'human,' as you call it, introduced himself as 'Crimson Al,'" Reginald responded.

"When did he get here?" Rainbow asked.

"I don't know how long he's been in the Everfree, if that's what you're asking, but he came into my cave and woke me up about an hour ago."

"What for?" Applejack followed up.

Reginald scoffed, "That fool had the gall to demand all the diamonds from my hoard. After I denied him, he stayed and proceeded to ask again every 9 minutes. After an hour of his persistent pestering, I decided to force him out and I would've done it if you ponies hadn't interferred!"

"Now, don't you lie to me! That Al feller was burning and blistering you up a storm and he was bloodied to all heck. It was obvious that you weren't trying to force him out, you were trying to kill him!" Applejack reprimanded.

Reginald glared daggers at Applejack. "If that's what it takes to get intruders out of my cave, then so be it."

The stare down lasted a good 10 seconds before Rarity decided to end it. "Okay, let's get back on subject, darlings," she said, "Why did Mr. Al need diamonds?"

Reginald backed down and answered, "I don't know. When I asked him, all he said was that he needed them for 'an important project.'"

"Do you know where he went?" Fluttershy asked.

"How should I know?" Reginald retorted, "But if he ever comes back, I will kill him. Anything else?"

"Do you know what his favorite kind of cake is?" Pinkie responded.

After a few seconds of confusion, Reginald deadpanned, "Get out," and went back to his hoard and curled up on top of it.

The girls promptly exited the cave and Applejack asked, "What now, Twi?"

Twilight thought. They had learned a couple of things about this "Crimson Al," but the most troubling was the fact that his magical fire could burn through dragon scales. Baby dragon scales could be singed black, but that was the farthest extent normal fire could do, as the scales could stand up to the heat of lava.

The more pressing matter was finding Crimson Al. They had no leads and he didn't even leave a trail behind. What could they do?

Author's Note

Hi, guys! I'm thinking of stepping up my update rate from once a month to twice a month. Do you guys think I should do it?