This was it.
Shining was in his armor, helping Red tidy up for the Gala. Today was the day, and right now, it is about a few minutes before Celestia reveals him as part of the introduction to this years Gala.
Red was visibly shaking, looking on with a blank face, Nightmare Moon whispering in his head a plan of some sorts, but he pushed her away.
He never noticed how much power he had in his mind ever since he got off the drugs, maybe the drugs were to also lessen the control over his mind to make way for the soul shard to take over?
He swallows a ball of spit.
"Shining."
"Yeah?" Shining says as they both can hear talking outside their door, noble talk specifically, and the sounds of their shoes. Shining was currently working on his collar.
"Im... Unprepared and scared. I wish it was not like this." Red turns his head away. There were too many factors. Celestia announced there being a special time allocated for a 'special pony'. He shook, afraid of the social event.
"Dont worry, Red. Even if it does not work as planned, I bet some will still accept you." Shining gives an assuring face, but Red could tell it was fake. Even Shining had his doubts, and he is a confident stallion, more confident than Red could ever be in this situation.
But he's not a thousand year old alicorn who would stick out like a sore thumb in some place like this.
He slides his tongue across his teeth, feeling them sort of lightly jab at the tender muscle. It recedes back to its idle position.
Shining was now looking Red over, for the third time, and unfortunately for Red, the wait has ended. Shining just adjusts Red's tie, tightening it and making it harder for Red to swallow or breath.
"Too tight?" Shining notices his friends uncomfortable face, Red shallowly nodding. He loosens up the tie, giving Red somewhat of an ability to breath normally. It was tight enough to stay firmly on him, and loose enough not to kill him in the process.\
He is looked over quickly by Shining, before the unicorn smiles, nodding.
"You look spiffy!" he exclaims, patting Red on the neck to avoid touching the suit. His muscles became a wall which Shining's hoof made contact, much to his pleasant surprise, the unicorn smiling.
Red looks at his silver cuffs, the moonlight going inside his room and reflecting off of them. He looks over to the nightstand in his room, floating over the fedora to put it on. It slides on, giving a classy look to Red.
"Alright, Im going to go clear the hallway, stay here." Shining walks to the door, opening it up and closing it.
He could hear Shining talking to the guards to clear the halls to make way for Red.
Meanwhile, inside the dim room, Red finally begins to hear his master speaking.
"So, you are nervous? About this, of all things? An embarassment." she spits out, Red physically hanging his head and walking around his room gloomily.
"It'll never work, my dear, dear knight. It wont, nopony likes you or ever will. But this should help you. Afterall, without anypony to disturb you while you plan our righteous attack on Celestia, things will go swimmingly." she laughs in his head, her laughs echoing as her essence seems to come out in small puffs from his right ear.
The mist was cold and humid, making Red shiver as his face is that one of submission. To him, it was all true. He shakes his head slowly with a distant face of dejection. His mouth open, it was almost as if he was on something, unresponsive to the world around him, like an old pony trying to remember what he was going to say.
"Dont be sad, it'll be all over soon, and then maybe in months time, you will get me back again, and we will be rulers of this land, side by side." she caressed him in his head, with a hoof across his cheek. He blushes hotly, looking at his hooves only to see drops of blood in the darkness hitting a puddle.
His room becomes that of Celestia's room, night turns to day, Red's armor stand becomes Celestias bleeding dead body. The door warps into that of a splintered mess. His hooves turn to the metal hooves of power that he possess with his armor. He blinks, shaking as the hallucination all begins to collapse.
"Red?" Shining says to him in the real world, Red shaking his head, snapping out of the trance.
"You okay, buddy?" the guard captain asks, wrapping a leg barely around Red's neck. It was as if he was hanging off Red almost, but luckily for Red, that was not the case.
"Yes, I am alright, my friend. What is it that you want to talk to me about?" Shining points to the hallway, indicating it is cleared. A guard peeks in, bring his head back out slowly.
"Alright, Red, this is going to be a big moment. I just hope that everything goes right for you, because we both know that it would be better for you to get out of the walls of the palace and out there. There are many things that I want to show you and it would be better if the ponies around accept you, in a way. You know what I mean?" Red looks down at his friend as he talks, nodding shallowly. Shining just smiles, taking his leg and walking out.
Shining just stops, beckoning Red over with his head, continuing on. Red is hesitant to lift a hoof, but he does so anyway, and before he knows it, he is tailing Shining.
Along the way, he notices two guards escorting them. One is Rose Melody, the other an orange pegasus. They walk in step, looking ahead as they approach the main area where Red will pop out when being introduced.
"You will be put in a room and escorted to the area so that when the time comes, you will be ready to walk out. Just act cool, dont talk, dont do anything before Celestia is done talking. Then you can go out and try to meet some ponies." Shining looks back at Red as he talks, turning his head towards the orange pegasus.
"I'll have Flash Sentry following you around and making sure you dont do something stupid. Rose Melody will also follow you but at a distance. Just be careful with the nobles, they can be aggravating." Red nods to himself, Shining's head turning back to look ahead.
"Will I be able to go back to my room if I want?" Shining looks over his shoulder, the unicorn nodding.
"Ofcourse. Just dont leave too early, try your hardest to get to know ponies. If you make friends with a noble, if that would even be possible, then you should be fine. Also, watch out for Prince Blueblood." Yet again, the unicorn turns his head, the back of his helmet looking back at Red. The alicorn raises an eyebrow.
"Why?"
"He usually has a clique of cronies surrounding him and if you ever get involved with him, there'll be trouble."
"He's the unicorn with the blond mane, blue eyes, compass rose for a cutiemark, white coat. Avoid him if you can." The quiet, subtle sound of talking and even the odd sound of laughing can be heard as they approach their destination. A bead of sweat goes down along Red's neck.
"Gotta give it to you on this one, you aren't shying away from this one. You were always the one who was not comfortable around ponies, weren't you?" Nightmare Moon sarcastically teased Red from inside his head, Red's face becoming one of concern as he sighs.
Rose looks over her shoulder to look at Red, but he catches her just in time, giving a nervous smile. She gives one of reassurance to him.
"Come on, Red. It'll be fine, I believe in you." Her cheerfulness washes over him, almost intoxicating him with it. He shakes his head as he continues to walk.
Within a minute, they stop at a door, Shining using his magic to peek in. By this time, the talking, clinking of glasses, and laughing could be heard just behind the wall. Somehow, the suit and tie seemed to have gotten tighter, and Red decides to take off the fedora, opening up a pocket dimension, to the surprise of Flash Sentry and Rose Melody, and putting it in there.
It floats in the infinite space, just within hoof reach. After he's done, it closes up. He looks at Shining just as he winks and turns his head towards Red.
"She's gonna call you up, Red. You ready?" Celestia's voice can be heard as everypony in the party hall go quiet. His focus shifts back to Shining's smiling face, who nods and peeks back out again.
"Just walk up there to Celestia and stay beside her. Stay quiet. Flash Sentry and Rose Melody will accompany you afterwards." Shining Armor reminds Red.
Right there, Red Dusk knew something will fuck up. Or atleast might. He never knows exactly, but his gut was saying that Nightmare Moon was right, there will be no chance in the world that he will be able to save himself of the highly judgemental nobles. They dont see a pony, but rather a pony with some information they can gossip and manipulate to further themselves.
Hell, if he does make a friend with a noble, it'll probably be to manipulate him. As he thinks, Shining pats him.
"You're up." he looks at Red straight in the eyes. The alicorn gives a pleading face to Shining, but the unicorn just shakes his head, pointing his horn slightly in the direction outside the door. Even Celestia, who was peeking into the door was giving an encouraging smile. At this point, her voice was more defined in his hearing.
"He's a bit shy. Come on out." she says with a chuckle, few snickers coming from the crowd.
Finally, Red puts one hoof ahead the other, and then the other, and by then, he slowly walked past the door.
He comes into full view of the crowd, and the reaction, although relatively quiet, speaks volumes.
A glass is dropped, shattering on the floor.
Light gasps are heard.
Whispers are heard.
The clip-clops of hooves stepping back from Red Dusk are heard.
Scoffs and frowning, annoyed faces are seen amongst the crowd.
"See? I told you so." a familiar face is heard in the crowd, from one spoken of before. Prince Blueblood, who gave an evil smirk as he laughs quietly to himself. Red hangs his head abit low while Celestia keeps looking at him as he walks beside her.
"May I introduce to you, Red Dusk." Celestia says, bowing her head shallowly. No claps are heard, just angry stares.
"I thought he was dead." a female noble says, Celestia shaking her head.
"Far from it, I ... Dealt ... with him five hundred years ago and in a last ditch effort to stop him from caving in Canterlot, I encased him in crystal but forgot about him until a few days ago." Celestia explains, getting some feedback from the crowd.
"Your Majesty, may I say that that is the stupidest decision you have ever made?" a male says.
"Burn him instead."
"He is a murderer, thief and mentally ill monster. Why are you letting him roam free?"
Celestia looks around with a blank face, she expected it. But when she looks over at Red, his eyelids are halfway down, head hung down and ears pinned to his sides. This set off something in her, looking back across the crowd to see some nobles whispering and laughing.
She saw Twilight and her friends, who looked on with amazement. It was a cold, depressing display. She shifts her focus back to the crowd.
"I would rather you no---"
"Your Majesty, I told you this would fail. My comrade is right, he is a criminal, a monster. Why even bother try to reform him? He is obviously just shedding crocodile tears. Look at the ass." Prince Blueblood cut her off, many nobles snorting and laughing, mocking Red Dusk.
Celestia looks over again to see a tear stream along Red's cheek. Her wing goes around his chest, bringing him close as her face twists into that of anger, looking at the crowd.
"ENOUGH!" her voice booms, and all talking stops. Very few ponies see an angry Celestia in their lifetimes, and when they do, it is almost out of character for her. Its surprising, yet hard hitting.
"I WILL NOT TOLERATE SUCH BIGOTRY AND BEHAVIOR FROM MY OWN SUBJECTS! Especially all of you! Nobles? You all are just a disgruntled rabble of entitled brats given everything in their lives." The crowd is hit again with her heated words.
"My patience runs thin and even I, of all ponies, do not know how I am even remotely patient with you all. But this? This is embarrassing. Look at him, he only wants a friend, maybe two. He's nervous, and you all thought he was just a stone cold killer? No! Far from it."
"But how exactly do you know that?" Blueblood walks away from the crowd. A sniffle is heard from Red and Celestia wraps her wing around him tighter.
"I have evidence, case in point, he himself being here. It is true he deals with mental issues, but his actions were attributed to brainwashing. If I made you kill against your will and people mocked you for it, even if you didnt even mean to do so, would you be a happy camper? No, ofcourse not."
"But he has freewill, does he not?"
"His ability to have freewill was impaired, Blueblood. He was not in control of himself entirely. Many factors went into his inability to fully divert from his orders."
And then silence. It was awkward, the entire situation was. Celestia had said enough, maybe she should make an information pamphlet regarding this so ponies are not so confused. Within minutes, the crowd begins to distribute itself all over the room, and talking resumes, but many eyes keep watch on Red.
Blueblood especially, with his smug look on his face. Before Rarity comes up to him, talking. They both have a small conversation, walking away.
Meanwhile, Red Dusk shakes his head almost drunkenly. To Celestia, this was almost a crime, but it was expected.
"Aw, dont cry, Red Dusk. They are just bullies, and besides, they aren't like you."
"Ofcourse, they have some dignity and pride, I do not." Red counters, snorting.
"Im nothing."
"Dont say that!" Celestia whispers to him, rolling her eyes.
"Look, I want this to work, but for this entire thing to work, what with reformation and all the other things, I need commitment from your side, particularly from here." She pokes the area in between his two front legs, indicating the heart.
"My...Heart?"
"Yes, indeed. I hate to see a strong stallion such as yourself be whittled down by ponies like these. Now go on, try to salvage it." she prods him with a wing, his head looking at her with a begging face. Her magic just slides him forward.
His step is awkward and unconfident as he goes into the crowd. The sound of armor can be heard as Flash comes up next to him.
"You okay?"
"Im fine, thank you." Red semi-sternly says as they walk into the crowd, ponies moving out of the way. Mocking remarks can be heard and he even feels jabbed by a cane. He looks around him, to see nopony with a cane.
"I told you!" Nightmare Moon cackles in his head, adding to his depressing situation. He looks side to side, before he just stops by a white unicorn with a monocle, moustache and suit. The unicorn is escorted by another, particularly tall female unicorn.
Both seem to be rather docile towards him, even seeming to look at him with awe as they notice him. He looks away, before the male speaks.
"You alright there?" Red slightly turns his head to peek at him, the unicorn tilting his head.
"I...Uhm. Yes." The unicorn blinks as Red wheels around. He was a giant to this pony, and it showed how nervous the unicorn was. But his female escort actually seemed delighted to be face to face with him, oddly enough.
"So, you are Red Dusk, not some fake, correct?" the female speaks in a Prench accent, Red's wings fluttering.
"Aye." Red nods, the unicorn nodding shallowly for a minute.
"I am Fleur De Lis, I am a model. You might see me in the Playcolt magazine." She winks, a weird feeling of awkwardness washing over Red. Flash just snickers as the pony looks absolutely flustered at her statement. She, too, chuckles.
"Well, I am Fancy Pants, nice to be of acquaintance Red Dusk." he outreaches his leg for Red to shake, which he does awkwardly by locking his hoof around Fancy's hoof and shaking.
"Why are you not scared of me?" Red asks, looking side to side. Some where looking at him, and he could see Twilight and Celestia observing him aswell. Their mouths were moving. Some where taking explicit interest in Red talking with Fancy.
"Because, Celestia's word is best, atleast I believe so. Fancy is scared but he's got a pair." Fleur says, Fancy's cheeks turning a bright hue of Red as both of the tall equines chuckle.
Flash Sentry was laughing it up behind Red, but Rose was looking on with a raised eyebrow, rolling her eyes.
"So, what do you do as a model, exactly?"
"Take photograph shoots for Playcolt, they put it in a magazine or on a cover of a magazine, and stallions essentially have the obligation to drool over my fine body unless ofcourse, they are homosexual or asexual." she grins, Red just looking at her and shrugging.
"Interesting. What of you, Fancy Pants?" He looks at the small unicorn, who pulls back his collar with magic nervously.
"I run an electronics company, Fancy Electronics. We make computers and other electronic goods." Fancy smiles at this one while Fleur just rolls her eyes. The unicorn uses his magic to pull out a business card, handing it to Red, who reads it and opens up his pocket dimension once more, pushing it in there for the card to float in space like the fedora.
Unsurprisingly, the two unicorns and the nobles around them see this with surprised looks.
"Both of your jobs are rather different, I guess, but why are you being escorted by a female?" Fleur just snorts while Fancy blushes, again.
"Yes, Fancy, please explain." Fleur De Lis teases.
Fancy sighs, "We are friends.".
"Typical." Red says with a blank face. His stomach, however, was unamused with his constant conversation, it seemed, the growl being heard by the two nobles.
"You seem hungry. The refreshments are over there." Fancy points to a table with some ponies there, with alcohol, punch, and some other refreshments on the table.
"If you desire to meet me, I live at Warsaw Avenue, 4560, Fifth floor." Fancy adds with a proud look on his face. Red just responds to this with a smile and shallow nod.
"Same street, different apartment. 4563, Sixth floor. Meet me." Fleur bats her eyelashes at a flustered Red, who just waves with a grin. They both wave with charming grins aswell, Red walking away.
"That was... Surprisingly easy." Red comments as they walk away, they being him and Flash Sentry. Flash nods in his peripheral vision.
"Yeah, Fancy Pants is really respective of Princess Celestia. Actually, I think the two are friends."
"I would not be surprised, he and Fleur seem rather nice. Now, about Fleur, she seemed to be getting a bit... Close..." Flash just snickers at this, a magical slap shutting him up.
"Stop snickering!"
"She wants you man, plain and simple. Wouldn't blame the ladies though, you got a good body. Stop for a minute." Flash asks Red, to which he comply's. The pegasus moves around Red, pointing at his legs.
"Toned legs almost carved out of stone."
He points at the neck.
"Defined and muscular neck. Short and fine coat and forgive me if I say this, but rather 'cute' posture when in situations it seems." Red's ears pin to the sides of his head as he looks at Flash.
"I am not cute!" he growls, Flash just snickering.
"I was just joking. Mares like a strong, confident, yet emotional stallion such as yourself. You were actually shedding a few tears up there legitimately, right?"
"Ofcourse, why would I lie? Now comeon, I---" he turns his head around to walk before being blocked by a fleshy and warm object. He looks down to see it is a grinning Applejack in a green dress. Red steps back, an eyebrow raised.
"Howdy there Dusk!"
"Hiiii..." Red draws out the I a bit, referring to how awkward the situation was.
"You sure look hungry, I tell yah what. What about Ah lead you to my stand?" Her eyes sparkle with oppurtunity, and Red just looks at Flash. He just shrugs.
"Lead the way, Honesty." Red says unamused, only to feel his leg wrapped around by another leg. He tugs only to be tugged upon as Applejack drags Red over, sliding on his hind legs, towards the outside.
Quite frankly, he has this extremely confused face as he's dragged to the cart by a rather desperate looking apple farmer.
He stops being dragged infront of a car loaded with goodies, ranging from apples, to apple friters, to apple cider and some sauce too.
Her face behind the cart communicates desperation, as her eye twitches. He quickly looks back down at the goodies, a nervous need for speed in picking his poison for tonight, lest he be trampled by a crazy mare.
"I... Uhhmm... This thing." he points at the applefritter, and her desperate twitch evaporates off her face.
"An applefritter.
"And these two apples." Red points at a green apple and a dark red, rather juicy looking one.
"4 bits please." Applejacks face was full of smiles as Red pulled open his pocket dimension, pulling out a small bag of bits and counting four. He lays it on the counter for her to take, and he takes the two apples and the fritter.
"You okay, Applejack?" Red asks with an eyebrow raised, which she just shakes with a nervous grin.
"Ofcourse Ah am! Just fewer sales then I thought there would be." she mutters at the end, the alicorn shaking his head and biting into the apple fritter.
"Mmmm..."
"This is... Nicely done." he says as he chews more, looking at an enthusiastic Applejack who just continues to grin almost madly.
As he finishes chewing, he nods at her, with no response back, and goes on his way. As he goes along a garden path, obviously with the eyes of nobles trained on him, he could see a somewhat distressed Rarity and Blueblood, who ofcourse notices him and seems to be looking for trouble.
He ofcourse begins to avoid him, but Prince gravitates towards the alicorn, before he's right up next to him, Rarity looking up and waving with a nervous grin.
"So? Big day, hm?" Blueblood teases to a Red with an un-amused face, which inside was readying a ball of spit.
"What do you want, Blueblood?" Red's head twitched to look at Rarity for half a second. The smug prince just smiles, looking over at Flash Sentry.
"You are a peasant, and even then, you are provided an escort. Pitiful times we live in, you should be hanged for your crimes."
"I doubt the gallows would support my weight."
"What was that, Red Dusk? Or should I say, Red Fu- GAH!" Blueblood's face is hit with a loogie the size of a griffins claw, a yelp erupting from Rarity as Blueblood's face stays still for a second.
"Did you just spit on me, you heathen?!"
"Aye. I go now." Red says with a smile, walking away from a fuming Blueblood who uses Rarity's dress as a hankerchief while she's looking away.
She only notices the wet spot a minute later, yucking out over it and tagging along reluctantly with Blueblood.
Meanwhile, Red was in a hallway, which would ultimately lead to another entrance to the ball.
He grumbles as he eats an apple, grumbling mostly about Flash's little quip. Actually, Flash seemed to be nowhere near Red.
He looks around, an eyebrow raised. It was like losing a child yet far less dire. He shrugs, going on his way, considering Flash IS a responsible adult, right? He thinks to himself, chuckling.
He continues to walk down the hallway, coming up to a door that lead into the ball room, but there was something different.
There was this weird, fast paced music being played except for the classical music played before.
He looks at where the band used to be, only to see a Pinkie Pie jumping all over the place and another weird box that was emitting sound.
Red could only watch, amused yet in awe of how much energy this little pony had. However, he was ignorant to the fact that Applejack entered the ballroom with a cake on a cart.
"Okay, all yah high class ponies! Heres a high~" the word coming after high was inaudible to him, just as he takes another bite of his apple. Crunchy, he thinks, "~apple cake for all your, hoity-toity taste buds.".
The tall cake wobbled on the cart, hypnotizing. A door opening and clicking shut could be heard behind him, as the couple, Rarity and Blueblood, come in behind Red.
"STAGE DIIVE!" is heard, but Red foolishly ignores it.
"Why hello, Miss Rarity." Red smiles to her. But her expression of distress does not change as she greets him back. In the background, a hard object falling down could be heard.
"Hello, Red Dusk." she says in a low, yet obviously angry voice. He just shrugs, his head turning around.
Just as both Blueblood and Rarity scream.
He looks up, only to see a cake flying towards him. His first thought seemed to be...
Is that the apple farmer's cake?
In an instant, his vision becomes a mixture of orange, green, some tiny bits of red and some white, all darkened. He groans, realizing his mistake for thinking so trivially, but there is no use crying over spilled milk, as Nightmare Moon always used to say to him, so his tongue goes to work.
He begins to back up, hearing Rarity growl around him as he waltzes around.
"You sir, are the most uncharming prince I have ever met! Because the only thing royal about you is that you are a ROYAL PAIN!" she screams, Red's tongue clearing the area which it could reach on his face. His magic does the work on the eyes.
"E-Ewww! Stay back! I just had myself groomed!" his eyes are given vision back, just as he backs up into a pillar by a statue and sees the Prince cowering against the door, clean. However, Rarity is filthy, covered in rather delicious icing and cake.
"Afraid to get DIRTY?!" she yells, shaking her self off of the icing and making a weird sound while she is at it. Blueblood, however, tries to get away from her, only slipping away from the door and failing at stopping himself from running backwards on his two hind legs towards... The statue of Celestia.
He falls down hard on it, and somehow, manages to make the foundation crack and begin falling. Red's eyes widen, before a flash of cyan goes under the statue, lifting it up. It was Rainbow Dash!
"YES!" she cheers, and Red feels the need to cheer aswell, such an achievement for the litt-
"Whoa... Whoahoaha!" the pegasus struggles to balance the statue on her back. As she does this, 'Celestia' 's tail hits one of the pillars.
And they all begin to fall down, all to end at Red's pillar.
A reflex goes off in Red's mind as the muscles in his legs tense up and he speeds off by some nobles, the sound of his pillar falling over aswell behind him, getting away from there. Some nobles look at him, and where he was, and where he is now.
From there, he saw the absolute pile of destruction around a quite relieved, yet embarrassed Rainbow Dash, the statue laying in parts around her. A hallucination flashes through his mind, the alicorn shaking his head to push it away.
He also notices Celestia and Twilight come in from the door Applejack used to get inside, both shocked at the destruction brought upon the party. He see's Twilight's lips moving, and for a second, everything is quiet, save for a piece of stone falling down the pile of rubble.
Ofcourse, Red did think, how could this get any worse? Its now been proven how absolutely fragile the interior foundations for objects like statues and other things were and he got caked in, well, cake, and almost crushed.
So, how could things get any worse, Red thought as he stood by a particular, golden looking door that lead to the gardens outside.
Things could get much, much worse.
A low rumble is heard behind Red. Everyone's heads snap towards him and the door. Red looks at the door, quickly putting his right ear to it.
It sounded like a bunch of birds, monkeys, and other animals.
"What the--"
The door swings open, slapping Red's entire body and launching him a few feet infront of the door. He stirs, lifting his head up to look at the door...
Only to hear the words: "You're...going to LOVE ME!"
As well as get trampled by kangaroos, masses of bunnies, a few cats, even a deer?
The sounds of nobles screaming is the first thing that comes back to Red's returning hearing after nearly blacking out from a deer hoof hitting him in the face. He puts up a hoof to his face, only to see dark blood on it and feel swelling. He shakes his head groggily, only to feel magic take over the upper half of his body and drag him.
He looks up to see a blurry Rose Melody straining to pull him using magic.
"Oof! Your heavy!"
"Rose Me-l-l-l--"
"Melody! We're getting outta here, big guy!"
And at the moment, a noble running by while looking behind him hits Red, hard, in the face with a hoof, only, he was wearing steel horsehoes for some reason.
Ofcourse, he noticed this a second before it hit him and caused him to black out.