Relentless Boundaries

The truck approached the mountain and I killed the engine and hoped out of the truck. Luna followed suit and did the same, I loaded my guns and looked to the mountain and whistled “that’s some steep ass shit” I muttered. “We do not understand, how is this mountain ‘shit’” Luna asked, confused by my choice of words, “it uhh means it’ll be a pain in the ass to walk up all that way” I told her and she still had a confused look “wouldn’t it be painful to your legs?” she asked and I chuckled “whatever”.

I began to trek up the mountain and looked to Luna who was flying, hmm well she was a unicorn so I suppose that she had magic… Luna caught me starring at her and looked at her body “should I stay low to the ground?” she asked and I shook my head. “Don’t suppose that you can do magic tricks?” I asked and she looked at me with her head cocked to one side “why do you ask?” she asked me. “Okay just stay with me on this one, why don’t you just teleport us to the top of the mountain?” I suggested and she looked up and it was like a light bulb just turned on in her head. “We apologize but we cannot do that trick but perhaps if you were to ride us than we could fly to the top of the mountain” she suggested and for some reason I didn’t really like that idea all that much.

“Alright let’s give it a try” I said and she flew down beside me and couched lower to allow me to get onto her. I got this strange feeling in my gut as she lifted off and we flew towards the peak of the mountain, “this won’t end well” I muttered and she turned back to me “why not?” she asked and I looked towards where she was flying “shouldn’t you be looking to where you’re flying?” I asked and she looked forward again “ohh sorry we apologize” she said and I nodded “don’t sweat it” I muttered as I leaned my head into her mane and let out a groan of displeasure. “Is something wrong?” she asked and I nodded “yeah, somehow I know that I’m going to be shot again” I groaned just imagining the pain “perhaps we can help you so you don’t become shot” she offered but I chuckled. “I don’t know if your sister would approve” I chuckled and she laughed as well, “she doesn’t” Luna laughed and I couldn’t help but to picture her face when Luna flew off to help me.

“Thanks for coming along” I told her and she nodded “thank you for allowing us to come with you” she replied and I chuckled “well I couldn’t really refuse I mean you’d have had me arrested” I chuckled. She turned to me “we lied, we really couldn’t have had you arrested. We didn’t have any solid evidence and simply knowing him wouldn’t have held up well as an argument to have you arrested” she informed me and I chuckled, “well thanks anyway, it’s kind of fun having you along” I told her and she blushed.

Suddenly a dragon roared and lept off the side of the cliff and down towards us, “dodge him” I ordered but she simply turned direction and flew back down towards the ground, “he’s too large, we wouldn’t be able to do it without some risks” she informed me and I shrugged as the dragon blew out fire towards us, I tugged her head to one side “this way” I ordered and she shifted her direction and the flames missed us. “Trixie shall have her revenge” Trixie cackled and I turned back and shook my head in disappointment, so much talent yet so little confidence. We swooped past the ground and flew towards the forest, “no” I ordered and Luna looked back to me “dragon breath fire, fir burn trees” I said quickly and she nodded “then what?” she asked frantically.

I looked to the Ford Bronco and came up with a plan. “The truck” I yelled and she flew towards the truck and stopped just a few feet from the truck. I hoped off her back and we both lept into the truck, starting the truck and slamming it into reverse I drove us away from the infuriated dragon. Spinning the steering wheel I forced the truck into a reverse 180 and slammed it into second gear. The dragon was close behind us, “driving for dummies, when the truck begins to get really loud press release the gas pedal and press the pedal clutch pedal and shift this stick into a bigger number, if it gets quieter release the gas and press the farthest pedal to the left and put the stick into a smaller number, and uhh the pedal in the middle is to stop the truck” I informed her and she nodded.

“Why are you telling us this?” she asked and I looked her in the eyes and said calmly “you drive”. She gasped “we can’t drive it’s… this machine isn’t meant for” she began but I hoped out of the driver seat and set her in the driver seat, “drive” I ordered and she gave me a frightened look. “Please we do not think that we can” she began but I put my hand to her mouth “I believe in you” I told her and her eyes grew wide, “you… believe in us?” she asked. I nodded “yeah I trust you” I informed her, boosting her confidence further. She slammed on the gas pedal and I fell back, “quick learner” I told her and kicked the box cap off the back off the truck. It flew away in the wind and I felt Luna roughly switch the truck into 4th gear, “there isn’t any more gears” she gasped, “don’t worry it doesn’t need anymore” I told her and unslung the .577 double barrel.

I popped open the gun and check the load, both shells were loaded and ready to go off, I slammed the gun shut and looked to the dragon which quickly approached, Trixie cackled hysterically “burn them” she ordered and the dragon let out a breath of flames. “Turn left” I ordered and Luna swiveled the steering wheel, “jeez she was good” I thought outloud as the truck dodged the flames.

I lined up a shot with the dragon and pulled the back trigger, firing the left barrel letting out a terrifyingly tremendous KA-BOOM. The dragon screeched in pain as the round tore a large hole in its left shoulder, I let off the right barrel which resulted in another thunderous KA-BOOM, the gunshot seemed to echo on forever, or maybe my ears were just ringing from the guns thunderous shot, the dragon howled out in pain as the round struck him in the lower stomach area.

The dragon disregarded the pain and continued flying, I popped open the rifle and ejected the 2 shells and loaded 2 fresh ones. I took quick aim and slammed off both barrels in quick unison. The dragon once again howled out in pain as his thick leathery underside was unable to stop the terrifying rounds. Blood poured out of his wounds but he somehow kept flying, I ejected the spent shells and loaded new ones. I took close aim and fired off both barrels simultaneously, which kicked me back and I staggered a little. But both rounds struck center mass, the .577 T-Rex rounds ripped through his chest and past his ribcage, the rounds ripped his lungs and one of the rounds must have struck his heart because he instantly began to fall lifelessly, which resulted in a shriek from Trixie.

“Stop the truck” I ordered and Luna slammed on the brakes and I fell back onto the console of the truck as she stalled it. “We apologize, we don’t know how to stop a truck” Luna apologized and I gave her a wink “yah did pretty good for a first timer” I told her and she blushed as I stood up and hoped out of the truck and helped Luna out of the driver seat. Trixie let out a shriek and shot a blast of magic towards us, Luna reacted quickly and created a magical barrier around us and Trixie’s blast slammed into the barrier harmlessly. I snarled as Luna deactivated her shield spell and I charged towards Trixie who shot another blast at me but I rolled to one side and continued to charge at her.

At about 10 yards she decided to change tactics and tried to grab me with her magical aurora but true to Twilight’s word the coat somehow negated Trixie’s spell and she was unable to grab me. I tackled her to the ground in a similar fashion that football players do to quarterbacks, when she hit the ground she let out a cry of pain and I quickly rolled off her and got into a defensive stance as she lept back onto all fours.

She brushed her hair to one side and snickered “do you really think you can defeat the great and powerful Trixie?” she asked mockingly, I chuckled and charged forward she tried to leap out of the way and almost succeeded but I caught her with my right arm and threw her to the ground with tremendous force, which knocked the wind out of her. I looked to Luna and nodded and she cast her magical spell we had talked about during the truck ride.

Trixie quickly stepped up and gasped for air, “you think… you have beaten The great and powerful” she began but I cut her off “enough with the nicknames, shows over time to pack up” I told her and she let out a feminine snarl and shot magical energy blast. The energy blast struck it’s mark, center mass in the chest, it would have probably hurt like hell, had the target been me. Her magical blast struck the mirror image of my reflection that Luna had cast with her magic and Trixie gasped as soon as she realized what had just happened and turned around to face me.

I charged forward and she tried to muster enough strength to emit another blast but I knocked her to the ground, quickly unsheathing the Bowie knife I brought it to her throat. She whimpered in fear as her eyes widened and I gave her the coldest look I had ever given anyone, “please don’t kill me” she pleaded and I scoffed “WHY THE FUCK NOT YOU KILLED GRANNY SMITH” I roared and she flinched at my tremendous outbreak. “Please it was your friend not me” she desperately tried to explain, “you could have stopped him” I snarled and she whimpered “please he captured me and forced me to do… unspeakable things” she cried as tears rolled down her face. “Yeah but it was okay to rape me?” I scowled and she sniffled “no worse than that… he forced me to gut and skin ponies… please don’t kill me” she sobbed. I released the tension in my arm and slowly brought the knife away from her throat somehow I kind of believed her, even though what she had done was wrong Ricardo probably was looking for a partner and figured a horny wizard was the perfect one.

I got off from over top of her and placed the Bowie back in its sheath and let her rise up. “Go… and if I see you again… I’ll kill you” I threatened but it was more of a friendly threat for some reason, maybe because I felt sympathy for her, I really don’t know. She put one of her hoofs to her temple and tapped it against her skull then pointed towards me “Trixie shall return” she laughed then a cloud of smoke appeared in front of me and when it dissolved Trixie was running away. Luna lowered her horn and began to charge a magical blast, I pushed her horn away from Trixie “What?” she asked confused, “she’s still young” I told her and looked to the forest. Somehow I knew that Ricardo was in there waiting for me.

I looked to Luna and nodded “we shall wait here until you return” she informed me, almost reading my thoughts “and if I don’t return raze the forest to the ground because Ricardo won’t stop at just me” I ordered her and she nodded. And I walked into the dark forest and continued to walk, somehow it was like something was pulling me towards something.

I entered a small clearing in the forest and looked around, the dirt was dry and all life in this part of the forest was dead, there was only the dirt. Ricardo walked out from the other side of the clearing. “Death isn’t it beautiful” he asked in a calm voice, “no” I replied bluntly and gripped my SKS tightly, “why not?” he asked and I looked him in his eyes “because you’ve brought it upon this world like a plague” I snarled. He snickered “everything dies. Whether it be the trees, the plants, the animals of this world, even you and I will die at some point” he informed me. “But it should be natural not by you forcefulness” I argued and he laughed “have you gone soft on me? Don’t you remember all the animals you’ve killed?” he asked, “that’s different” I scowled. “How? Explain to me how it’s different, by my count you murdered lions, cheetahs, leopards even elephants” he countered. “I… was different” I stuttered, “and now you come to this world and think it’ll all just go away? Have you even told that Applejack chick what you did?” he asked, “no, it’s the past” I argued weakly.

He looked around and held his arms out wide like her was soaking in life from the air, “my friend this world is just like ours: governments, economy and people that know no boundaries, just like you and I” he laughed and I snarled “I’m nothing like you”, “no, what about that lion family you murdered once, how you said kill them all we’ll get more for all the pelts” he laughed bringing up painful memories. “You see even if you’ve tried to change, you’re still the same old poacher you used to be and nothing you can do will change that” he told me as he turned and unslung his Woodmaster 750.

“The finality of today will determine the outcome of tomorrow, if you win you will live on trying to change who you once were but you will be unable to cope with the fact that you were once just as evil as I am, in the end you will die forever fighting with yourself and you will have changed nothing. If I live then I will move on, knowing full well what has happened and live peacefully in the mountains, living out my days remembering our times together” he informed me with a touch of sadness, he was obviously recalling our childhood. “Then why not leave all this behind and live peacefully?” I suggested but he chuckled “I can only do that once I have cut off all the loose ends, you, the princesses and those six ponies, they all know about my atrocities, once they die then it’ll finally be over” he explained. “Why not just give up” I tried but again he denied my offer “you think after all of this they’d simply let me walk, no… Ron, you’re my oldest… and only friend, I’m sorry for everything that’s come between us… remember that friends can become enemies just as fast as enemies become one’s ally… Ron let’s die not fighting as enemies but as friends” he laughed insanely as he drew his scoped rifle up.

I rolled to the side and quickly lept behind a tree as a volley of rounds ripped through the air behind me. I lept out and unslung the elephant gun and triggered both barrels but he was fast and was already out of the way before the rounds flew past him, I reloaded the final 2 shots and slung the gun across my back and ran towards the forest as Ricardo fired a trio of rounds into the tree I had just been behind. I lept into some grass and unslung my SKS and leaned it up against a tree and crawled through the grass towards another tree as Ricardo ran into the forest. “I know you’re here, show yourself” he hissed and led his way with his rifled. He saw my SKS and fired another trio of rounds into the tree, how many rounds did he have… maybe he reloaded his bullets. He started to reload and I charged across the small distance between us and tackled him to the ground, he scrunched his legs up between us and kicked me off of his body.

I landed on my back but flipped myself up as he staggered up, trying to reload I charged him again, he tried to swing his rifle stock at me but I grabbed the fore grip of the rifle and swung the barrel towards his legs and flipped him onto his back. He landed with an ‘Oomph’ and crawled back to his feet and tried with great frustration to load his rifle, I spun kicked his rifle out of his hands and the force of the kick knocked the scope of its mounts and the rifle and scope separated. He lept at me with a war cry but I sidestepped then charged him and drove my fist into his gut and he double over and fell to his knees “what would you ever need CQC training for right?” I taunted and he snarled and got back to his feet.

He laughed as he swung my Bowie knife back and forth, I looked to my leg sheath and saw that it was no longer in its holster. He charged at me and I tried to backpedal away from the slash but he caught me at the top of my right shoulder and brought it downwards in a long arc, the cut wasn’t deep but it stun.

“Don’t worry Ron I help you” said a dopey voice and suddenly a crack of lightning sounded and lightning was conducted by my knife and surged through Ricardo’s body and he fell to the ground. I looked up to see the cross eyes Pegasus known as Derpy flying on a thunder cloud. She flew down to the earth gracefully and fluttered her wing that used to be broken. “Derpy what are you doing here?” I asked a little worried for the young mares well-being “oh well I heard that some person named Ron was going to try and stop the murderer so I decided that it had to be you so I came to help you” she informed with a wide smile.

I sighed there was just no getting past the helpfulness of Derpy. “Well thanks Derpy I” I began but was cut off as a rifle shot sounded and blood exploded from Derpy’s body. I grabbed her body and shielded it as I lept to the ground and another round flew overhead. He blood soaked my coat and mixed with my blood I rolled off her body and lept up and charged at Ricardo as he triggered another round at me, the round tore through my lower stomach but didn’t even faze me, he tried to take another shot but realized his rifle had jammed “shoulda bought an SKS” I roared and he turned and ran into the forest, dropping his rifle onto the ground.

He lept up into a tree and began to climb it, I looked back to see my SKS leaning up against a tree then figured I’d just shoot him out of the tree with the elephant gun. I lept into the tree and pursued him up the tree. He began to climb sideways and I began to climb faster, I reached the spot where I had last seen him and unslung the elephant gun and peered around the corner.

Ricardo kicked the gun from my hands and it toppled to a tree branch below, he began to swing my Bowie knife at me violently and I unsheathed my K-bar knife. He flipped the knife in a revers position so he could get a better stab action with it, I followed suit. He approached me slowly and suddenly lashed out jumping through the air and trying to stab me. I fell onto my back and lifted my legs to catch his body, I caught his knife wielding hand by the wrist and twisted it, he yelped and dropped the Bowie knife, which fell down the tree and tumbled to the ground 70 yards below. He grabbed my knife wielding hand by my wrist and smashed my arm against the tree branch, I lost my grip on the knife as my nerve endings seared with pain and it too fell towards the ground.

I coiled my legs and kicked him off my body, he fell down and caught himself on the branch below us, I lept down and grabbed the elephant gun and leveled it at him. He simply laughed as he kicked the gun and I lost my aim on his body, this gun wasn’t meant to be used this close. I tried to bring the gun back on target but he used a more forceful kick and sent the gun out of my hands, it clacked as it fell to the ground. He charged at me and I countered his charge with a low tackle to the knees, we both lost balance and fell downwards.

I tried to catch myself on the branch below but just bounced of it painfully, I continued to bounce of tree branches for 50 yards until finally I got a hold on a branch, I had been lucky that the branches were so close together or I would’ve most likely broken several bones, Ricardo fell past me and I lept down carefully.

Once I hit the ground I rushed to my SKS rifle and spun around to find Ricardo who was nowhere to be seen. I slid up against a tree and slowed my breathing, my heart rate lowered and I peeked out to see Ricardo walking calmly in the clearing, I spun of the tree and tried to get a nice clean shot but it was as if Ricardo already had a shot lined up and three .308 rounds ripped through my body, 2 ripped through my lower gut and 1 ripped through my left leg and I fell to the ground and rolled to cover. “I’ve always been better than you Ron, admit it… you’re dead meat just rotting” he laughed and I lept up and placed a shot center mass of his chest and he staggered back. “That rifle’s weak” he taunted and I placed another round into his chest, again he simply staggered back. I gripped the rifle tightly and let off a trio of rounds, 2 rounds slammed into his chest and the 3rd rammed into his left shoulder, blood now soaked his cloths.

“My turn” he laughed and without any hesitation shot a burst of rounds into my body, I counted 3 rounds that tore through my chest, hopefully not hitting anything vital. I fell back into the grass and rolled, my breathing didn’t seem raspy so he hadn’t hit my lungs. “Come on Ron time to end this” he laughed and I lept up and let of 3 quick shots which ripped through his chest he fell onto his back and staggered up as I laid back down into the grass and crawled along as Ricardo pounded the dirt with several .308 rounds. I crawled probably about 20 yards as Ricardo continuously fired rounds off wildly. I leaned up against the tree, blood was trailed along the ground and I knew I didn’t have much time. “Ha gotcha” Ricardo sneered and I froze, “well sorry Ron but it looks like Equestria’s mine he laughed, a voice played through my head “don’t move” and I looked around but couldn’t see anyone. A shot rang out and I flinched, expecting the round to punch through the trees but it didn’t and I heard a sneer come from Ricardo as I heard his loud footsteps walk away from me, “thought you could sneak up on me did you?” he laughed.

“Now” the voice in my heard ordered, it was Luna’s voice and I spun off the tree and looked to Ricardo who was standing over the body of a hologram image of me. “Ricardo over here” I taunted and he froze. “Shit” he muttered, “it’s over” I told him and he snickered “it isn’t over until one of us is dead”. “Fine but I ain’t one to kill a man to his back so I say we duel” I suggested and he laughed “what like a pistol duel? We don’t got no pistols” he sneered and I walked closer to him “10 step draw, you know the deal” I suggested and he nodded and I placed my back up against his, “Today’s enemies” I began, “tomorrow’s friends” he continued.

“From life… to death… die as friends… not enemies” we both chanted together and stepped away from each other, 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1… “Ron?” Ricardo asked, “Ricardo” I replied and I swear I could see him smile, even if I wasn’t looking I knew he was smiling, that same fuckin smug smile he always had. “Goodbye Ron” he said apologetically, “goodbye Ricardo” I replied back. We both spun but I was a fraction of a second faster and fired off both rounds left in my gun, seemingly simultaneously.

The 7.62x39mm rounds ripped through his body and knocked him onto the ground. I heard him hack and saw blood come out of his mouth. He pushed himself back so he was leaning up against a tree and I dropped my SKS rifle and walked over and sat beside him. He pulled out a Cuban cigar and placed it in his mouth, he attempted to lite it with his zippo but dropped the zippo onto the ground. I leaned over and picked it up and lit his cigar for him. He coughed as he inhaled the cigar foolishly. I saw a lone tear trickle down his face and I shared the tear, for everyone… every-pony that had been lost in this senseless battle. “Beautiful isn’t it” he whispered and within moments passed on and his cigar fell out of his mouth. I leaned over and closed his eyes and placed my hand on my chest which was bleeding heavily, I stood u and staggered over to my SKS rifle and picked it up, looking at it. This was my rifle, my instrument of vengeance, the rifle that had stopped the menace of Equestria and this was its final battle. I collapsed onto the ground as fatigue washed over me.

I held the rifle to my chest as I let the cool air sooth my body as I looked into the sky I saw Luna fly overhead, though I would’ve liked my final image to be of Applejack I didn’t mind it being the princess, she was kind of cute as well but my heart belonged to Applejack, strange that earlier I had said about how it was too weird and now my last thoughts were going to be of her. “Funny how things play out” I whispered to myself as I heard voices in the distance. “Sorry AJ, but I think this is what I had in mind when I said… I’d make everything right” and with that final message I closed my eyes and let the blackness of death over take my body.