The Tail of Red Ridge Wood Chapter 4

In the hallowed halls of Red Ridge Castle, Captain Maynard DeNoms and a phalanx of the foot guard marched towards the throne room. Along their path, more and more soldiers formed ranks behind him, swelling the numbers already backing him.

Inside the throne room, King Platinum and Queen Annabelle were having a hushed conversation under the coloured light of the sun streaming in through the stained glass windows. Their personal guard, plainclothes and armoured, stood at intervals throughout the room. From the depths of the castle, a thunderous rumble was heard, followed by an earthshattering crash as the massive oaken doors at the end of the hall shivered. All words were hushed, and all guards prepared to draw weapons.

With a mighty bang, the two huge slabs of wood fell from their housings and collapsed to the floor, scattering dust and debris everywhere. Some Guards drew swords that flashed in the sunlight, while others drew longbows, their trained eyes scanning the dust for targets. Emerging from the smoke was a single unicorn stallion.

“Honey! I’m hoooooome!” Maynard cackled viciously as he strode into the room, his dark red mane and blood red armour dulled by the dust.

“Captain DeNoms. How… pleasant… to see you here. Tell me, why are you here? Especially after breaking down my fancy door.” Platinum sat straight faced, almost as if carved in stone, as his queen stifled a giggle.

“Why, my dear king, I thought it would be obvious. I’m here,” He grinned maliciously, his horn growing longer and sharper, holes developing in his legs and neck. “To overthrow you.” King Blaze Corvoclaw the sixteenth hissed as he revealed himself to the monarchs, his insect wings flicking as his true self came to light.

Behind the changeling alicorn, every single pony who had joined him underwent the same transformation, into a red carapaced changeling with buzzing wings and golden eyes.

“So. Who first?” The changeling hovered about two inches off the ground, stirring up the lighter layer of dustthat had settled. The guards around the room locked eyes with the alicorn, slowly edging towards the thrones to form a wall between the invader and the monarchs. Then without warning, the changeling began to laugh; a sick, howling mockery of what laughter is, but a laugh nonetheless. Then, once it had subsided, the king began to perform the most cliché of villainous acts. He began to monologue.

“Oh, it was too easy. Infiltrating your camp, and your captain of the guard no less. He put up quite the valiant struggle, but, alas, t’was all for naught. Now he serves me as a drone.” A changeling with a slightly redder carapace looked away, almost as if in shame. The alicorn ignored it and moved on.

“And your oh so loyal alchemist, oh yes, you should’ve listened to him. He was right from the get go, and now sits languishing in a cocoon because of your inability to decide on a decisive course of action. He is even now being stripped of his personality, of his individuality, and will soon be the latest drone in my ranks.” He smirked at the King and Queen, smug on their thrones. “But I’m not done yet. Not by a long shot."

“Where do you think all those colonials I brought in went? The gallows? No, that would be a waste of valuable ponies. No, I gave them an option. Live or die. I never told them how they lived, but they knew they would die if they said die. I made that exquisitely clear. I needed to build an army, and you gave me the tools I needed. Now all that’s left is to remove you from power. A simple enough task.” The changeling was so busy revelling in his glory that he failed to notice the ash grey hooves sneaking up the sides of the thrones to touch the monarchs’ shoulders.

“And what now, Blaze? We still sit in power, and nothing has been done about this yet.” King Platinum smirked, his face smug as he felt the familiar tingling of a spell build on his houlder.

“What now? What NOW?! I TURN RED RIDHGE INTO MY NEW HIVE, AND I SHALL CONQUER THE CONTINENT! MUAH-HAHAHAHAHA!” The laughter petered out significantly quicker than last time. “Erm… after that, everything’s a bit… er…fuzzy…” The Alicorn sighed. “I really didn’t think this through.”

“Good. Let’s keep it that way.” With a gray flash and a small flurry of blue, the two monarchs vanished from their thrones, teleported away by their hoofmaidens.

Blaze, on the other hoof, heard the spell execute, and turned in time to see Platinum wink at him. He…no… buck. Not only did he outnumber the forces arrayed against him, he had had his opponent right in front of him. But instead of ending the game before it even started, he had let his opponent escape… and so the game began. He was beyond angry, beyond furious. He was livid.

The inarticulate scream of rage that left his mouth was akin to a sonic grenade, blowing out windows and eardrums alike. His horde suffered the most, with their sensitive ears oozing green, viscous blood. The guards, on the other hoof, faired little better. Their helmets kept the worst out, but the sheer pitch blew out a few ears as rich, red life fluids flowed down their necks under their gear. Finally he stopped, panting hard as he fought to stay on his hooves, his body devouring the oxygen faster than he could supply it. With as much dignity as he could muster, he turned to his cross-eyed, debilitated army.

“Well? What are you waiting for? FIND THEM!” The gathered changelings scattered almost instantly, the few who could hear wanting to keep their ears intact. They scurried about, heading to each corner of the castle, to find the missing monarchs.

Meanwhile, the royal guards teleported each other out, and to various choke points where they could better meet the changeling invaders. All across the castle, changeling met blade, arrow, fire and steel as the last few un-turned guards began their final stand.

In the depths of the castle, a dark orange limb riddled with craters burst from its green cocoon. It was quickly followed by an equally dark grey body, the former alchemist gasping for breath as his still changing form collapsed onto the cold stone floor. He got up slowly, shakily, on unfamiliar hooves.

“That bastard… I’ll make him pay…” With a violent green shimmer, he disguised himself as he had been. He hacked and coughed, a brown phlegm ejecting from his throat and spattering on the ground as the pony groaned. He felt a buzzing in his head as he walked towards the stairs.

He really didn’t get far though. 2 changelings popped out of nowhere and hissed at him, their wings splayed out threateningly as the alchemist approached. Their teeth dripped thick yellow droplets of venom, each drop enough to kill an earthpony.

He didn’t even look at them. He didn’t say anything to them. He simply reared up and slammed his hooves into the ground. The last things to go through the changelings’ heads were 3 inches in diameter, 2 meters long, and travelling 400 meters per second. Their limp bodies dangled from the spikes now impaled on the ceiling.

The stallion moved on up the stairs, heading for his old lab for a very special piece of equipment. He wasn’t even distracted by the battles raging around him, so intent he was on reaching his objective. He stopped once, to swat a pouncing changeling out of the air with a club made of stone. The insect pony dropped like a sack of debris, its head marred by the large dent in its skull. At last, he came upon the door to his lab, slamming it behind him as he set to work.

Meanwhile, despite being outnumbered ten to one, the guardsponies of Red Ridge held their ground surprisingly well against the oncoming swarm. Chokepoints became meat grinders as halls became choked with the carcasses of changelings and the occasional guard. But soon, their weapons began to turn against them. Quivers ran dry and the archers scrounged among the dead to keep up the fire. Swords began to dull quickly and replacements were sought but not found. Slowly but surely, the defenders were pushed back until they all ended up in the same corridor. There, they met the swarm head on. Fang met blade, shield met carapace, and hooves crushed everything underneath. The last few defenders resigned themselves to their fate as they were pushed against the wall and surrounded. This was the end.

King Corvoclaw the sixteenth grinned with glee as he personally beheaded the remaining 10 guards who had been brought before him. He turned and walked up to Platinum’s throne, grinning sadistically as he traced the sapphires and emeralds in the obsidian piece. With a sickening shatter that made even his most hardened lieutenant flinch, he brought it down. The black volcanic glass shattered as if it were crystal, the jewels inlaid in it scattering across the ground.

       “It is done… I. Have. Won.” Blaze Corvoclaw the Sixteenth, new monarch of Red Ridge Wood, threw his head back and laughed as the sun set, the sky blood red where Celestia’s light touched the horizon.