The Red-Haired Pirate of Equestria

It was such a wonderful day out in this lush fielded plain of grass. The bountiful sun kindly and warmly hugged the surface of the ground and washed over the grass which danced with the warm breeze.

All in all, it was a perfect day. Perfect to just lie in the sun and relax. Perfect for a child to play around with their friends or families. Perfect… simply perfect.

Though… it was simply just a sad and dying shame… a shame that these plains would be a witness… witness to what might be the darkest day Equestria had ever faced.

The forces of almost all the races on the planet called Equus, Ponies, Dragons, Minotaurs, Griffins, Diamond Dogs, and Zebras have all come together and united to fend against one of the planet’s strongest foes. All family in arms, all scared, all standing together with weapons, magic and armor in either hands, hooves, claws and all but it wouldn’t matter… they were prepared… they had to be prepared.

Over 200,000 soldiers, men and women, stallions and mares, drakes and dragonesses, griffins and griffonesses, all stood together. And in the front of them stood the leaders of all the species.

The Leader of the Griffins, Empress Aura Clover, with a large silver steel halberd in her right talon and wearing a silver colored lightweight iron armor which still allowed her to fly and be protected. Her feathers were almost all white with faded violet ends on every other feather with her main body being almost all brown just as many other Griffins’ feathers were, and her violet eyes brimmed with determination.

The Leader of the Zebras, Shamaness Zeema, held her strong traditional bo staff tightly in her grip as her warrior’s mask rested on her face only revealing her nervous yellow eyes. Her wardrobe consisted of light leather armor which covered most of her body except for parts of her legs and most of her arms which allowed everyone to see her many tribal tattoos and markings for her alchemic and magical achievements.

The Leader of the Minotaurs, King Iron Bull, only dressed in an iron helmet and wielding two large war axes, his bright green eyes shone through the morning as his black fur ruffled through the winds.

The Leader of the Diamond Dogs, Alpha Patch, was standing eagerly to face the one enemy which no other race could even lay a finger on. He wore his iron mail armor and wielded a strong iron sword and an iron shield and on his face wore an eagerly waiting grin.

Finally, the dual Leaders of the Pony races, Princesses Celestia and Luna. Princess Celestia wore her golden solar armor which still allowed her to fly and cast her magic, but also helped to defend her against some of the strongest attacks she’s ever endured as in her right hand she carried the golden steel solar spear known as Midas, and on her left arm rested the supposedly impenetrable shield known simply as Solaris after her father, as she glared at the opposite side of the plains with golden eyed determination and weak hope. To Celestia’s left was her beloved sister of the night and moon, Luna, who wore an armor similar to Celestia’s in all but color and instead of a spear and shield, she held a Lunar Steel Gladius which was called Polara after her mother, as she hesitantly looked to her sister with unsure blue eyes.

“Sister, doth thee know where Pharaoh is?” Luna asked her sister, not seeing the King of the Dragons.

“Heard he took what little remained of his people and fled to the volcanic mountains.” Iron Bull responded, never moving his gaze off the distance of the plains.

“Fuckin’ coward.” Aura Clover scoffed as she rolled her eyes.

“Perhaps it was the best move for him to make, least more of his people die at the stake.” Shamaness Zeema suggested through her native rhyming. “Their numbers are dwindling after all, it’d be foolish to have the demon called.” She remarked.

“Bah, let hairless ape come! We Diamond Dogs show him who true Alphas are!” Alpha Patch boasted.

“Thou are a fool to think that it would ever be so easy.” The Lunar Diarch told the Alpha harshly. “Thou knows what this creature is capable of, yet thou still let thy ego blind thee.”

“Quiet, all of thee!” Celestia suddenly yelled as her eyes stayed trained on the horizon. “He’s here.” She told them, causing them all to snap to attention as they looked directly out into the horizon to see a lone creature walking slowly towards them all, putting every soldier and leader on edge.

Walking out of the horizon was a lone being, standing at 6 feet 6 inches tall with dulled crimsonish colored hair which was long and was slightly slicked back, running down to his nape. You could tell he wasn’t any creature normally seen before as he had no fur, only tanned white skin which showed through his complexion, and on his face you could see a trademark three vertical scars going over his left eye which wasn’t blinded by the wound and instead you could still see his dulled rust crimson eyes which stilled burned with life and emotion, a gift which Princess Celestia was still shocked to see that a demon such as this one, could have emotions. Around his mouth he had what was the stubble and the beginnings of a circle beard and as for his mouth itself, he still wore that trademark and iconic carefree and relaxed grin which was reminiscent of a smile.

His outfit included a sweeping long, sleeveless black cape with a high collar which always covered the creature’s left arm and draped around near his ankles, and under it he wore a simple white shirt which was half-buttoned up and exposed the middle of his chest and upper abs. Additionally, The creature had always been seen wearing pants which were cut below the knee and collected halfway up the shins. Wrapped around the waist of the creature was a long red sash which tied his sword’s sheath to his waist and his footwear consisted of simple brown sandals, with their soles gray-studded, which showed that this creature was no normal being… at least to the people of Equus.

Standing before them all was the greatly feared Red-Haired Demon, also called the One-Armed Demon as he only had one single arm.

This, was Red-Haired Shanks

Placing his hand on the butt of his sword, Gryphon, the man called out to the soldiers and leaders. “I see you’ve come to see me with quite the welcome party, eh?” Shanks chuckled loudly at the waiting army. “C’mon, there’s no need to fight! Let’s forget about all this and go for some beer! Drinks will be on me, so what do you say?” He offered with a smile.

“Hold thy tongue Demon! You shall not leave this battle alive!” The Solar Diarch roared in anger, pointing her spear in Red-Hair’s direction.

Shanks let out a sigh before placing his hand on the hilt of his saber and drawing the abnormally long blade, holding it lazily by his side. “Welp… can’t say I didn’t try.” He muttered with disappointment.

Shanks then took not but a single step forward and suddenly without any type of warning signs nor giving any time to prepare, over half of the amassed army was suddenly rendered unconscious by some type of invisible force that overwhelmed even the most battle hardened of soldiers.

Red-Haired Shanks took twelve more steps towards the leaders without any signs of stopping.

“Our turn!” The Lunar Diarch yelled at Shanks as she and her Solar sister flew into the air and raised their weapons into the sky.

Then channeling all their magic into a large sphere of energy, the Celestial sisters released a combined warcry before shouting “CELESTIAL ECLIPSE” and sending the massive ball of magic towards the Red-Haired Demon.

Shanks stopped his approach, his smile never leaving as he raised his saber above his head and waited as the magical bomb closed the distance. Suddenly, Shanks swung his sword down to the ground… splitting the massive attack in half and destroying the sisters’ attempt to put an end to the Red-Hair’s era, as the man stood back up and once again held Gryphon lazily to his side, before continuing his slow advance and walking towards the rest of the army.

Celestia growled before releasing one final warcry and shouting. “ATTACK!!!!!” As she, Luna, and the rest of the army began to charge towards the slowly advancing and still smiling man.

This would be a final battle to mark both the beginning… and the end. The end of an old era… and beginning of a new one. For five years later… the demon known as Red-Haired Shanks was entombed in a stone prison, never to escape again… or, at least that’s what everyone hoped would be the case.

However…

10,000 Years Later…