The night was cold and breezy, the stars giving a faint, pathetic glow to the sky.
Canterlot lay empty and barren, save for few pedestrians and potential troublemakers up to no good, aswell as four particular ponies.
One of them stood tall above the rest, brandishing wings and horn aswell as a saddlebag. The two others were unicorn with another possessing leathery wings and fuzzy ears.
All four wore coats over them, but the three were obviously wearing armor, the sounds of the plates rubbing against eachother obvious in the quiet street, echoing off the brick walls of the apartments and shops.
The one with leathery wings walked a confident gait, leading infront slightly but still with the main group. The two other unicorns, one obviously a male, walked with a normal, usual gait that made them stay completely in line with the large one that was in the middle of the group.
The alicorn had an awkward gait, however, partly in due to a small accident the night before regarding his hoof, which was now bandaged and with a splint to protect the bandages.
As the group rounds a corner in the rather empty street, the sound of talking from the group can be heard.
"So, Red, are you sure you wanna go down to Ponyville?" the female unicorn asks the tall alicorn, Red, who simply nods, barely visible in the darkness of the night, alleviated slightly by the street lamps.
"Ofcourse, I have no place here... Yet. It will be crucial to our goals." The unicorn raises an eyebrow, shaking her head.
"Celestia... And I, in a way, have a plan in integrating me through...Ehhh... Association with public figures I assume?" Red Dusk explains, but ends up questioning himself at the end.
"I don't think Twily and her friends arent too much of public figures by any estimate, maybe Rainbow Dash has a tiny bit of recognition in Ponyville, but I would not count on it." The other unicorn interjects, the alicorn rolling his eyes. The other unicorn just nods.
"Then I guess,Shining Armor, its integration by 'befriending' those who may have atleast a small influence or are slightly known in the village apart from being element holders, essentially integrating via association with important figures. If they see I am getting along with their colleagues, if I am correct, pony psychology will lead them to believe that I am 'good'." Red responds, with Shining Armor rolling his eyes.
"Not going to immediately work like that, Red. Ponies will still see you for who you are... Its not about the ponies you talk with and hang out with..." The alicorn turns his head over to Shining once again, seeing his face slightly, what with light from streetlamps keeping his nightvision from better seeing his face, apart from his dilated eyes.
He looks back over to his other friends, the thestral and the female unicorn. Both looked up at him, the unicorn being Rose Melody with a rather normal look. She raises an eyebrow as he slightly shakes his head and looks at the thestral, Velvet Eclipse.
Ofcourse, he sort of knew Velvet, not so much her partner. Only reason he knows about her is because she was assigned to him during two of his night excursions into Canterlot, most other times being accompanied by either Rose Melody or Shining Armor, theoretically closer friends than Velvet since the alicorn had known the two unicorns for atleast a few weeks and knew a bit more about them, except for this fact.
Both Velvet and Red seemed to bond in a way where Velvet was more lax with what Red could do in her presence. Conversations weren't so awkward, and Velvet even showed Red some areas of the city including a bar in the Griffon immigrant sector in the back parts of the city, hugging the mountain. Not surprisingly, Red wanted to be more associated with Velvet to know her a bit more, but Celestia refused, describing her as "not a good influence at times.".
He scoffed to himself as he thought, for him to see Velvet give a small smile to him, which he bounces back with a stern nod. Her head goes back to looking forward.
Looking forward, Red could see some more pedestrians and even a cart passing through as they began to near the train station. Ofcourse, people realized who he was, and they immediately began to disperse, some murmuring among themselves if they were in groups.
Rather annoyed, the alicorn flashes an angry glare at a group of ponies, who immediately begin to turn tail and run off with wide eyes. He smiles at his work a second after they get out of sight.
From there, the walk seemed bland, at most. Nothing to talk about with his friends who only conversed between themselves about something unimportant, something about like a carpenter or something along those lines, Red just continued to walk, dreaming in his head.
How would Ponyville be like? He asked himself this question. Maybe it'll be like villages of old, with small, slightly dug in houses that are short and semi walled with stones. There would be the occasional tall barn or pole with a thread running to another with lamps or little flags that denote the land division, the fief.
But it could also be like the Canterlot suburbs or the smaller townhouses of Canterlot. Tall, wood supports crisscrossing every which way with spaces filled in with plaster, some concrete, some stones, very varied. He could not really think of what to expect, five hundred years is a long time for cultural building habits to change form, neither was he an architect, that was her Excellency's job.
They cut through an alleyway, but as they did, the entire group compressed to fit into it without sacrificing comfort by trying to walk side by side. However, Red Dusk was the one who got pushed in front, heading into the advance.
As he walks by a trashcan, the sound of two ponies running about can be heard, the alicorn catching a glimpse of two small figures dash behind a trashcan. He saw something bright fall to the ground as he walked forward.
As he got closer, it was the doll of a pony, a unicorn. He looks to his right, only to walk faster in horror. He saw the eyes of two little earth pony fillies, why they were playing late at night was answered quickly by the sight of a door and a window right there that was lit, they were sisters, it seemed by the similarities in color of their coat.
Before he could say anything, they took the doll from under him and ran ahead, to the door. The group passes by it, only for him to notice one of them looking at him. The height of the window was nothing to him, his eyes were level with theirs as they put their hooves on a table to look out.
He sighs, the group spilling back out onto the street as they near the trainstation, indicated by the very loud, low pitched sound of a train's steam horn. The alicorn could only shudder.
"That's gotta be EU-253, to Fillydelphia, or is it Baltimare?" Shining could be heard asking, with a quick, prompt answer.
"Nope, thats for Vanhoover, EU-253 is one of the newer trains, the biggest one yet. I heard its huge." Velvet quickly answers, receiving a look from the others. She raises an eyebrow.
"They call it the 'Bucking Colt', I heard." Rose Melody tossed in, the other nodding in agreement, except Red, ofcourse, who was just mystified by this as they approached a ticket booth. There were people everywhere, some with luggage carts and some not in the lines at all, talking with those in line and some of whichch smoked.
Red still headed the group, being its spearhead, and he was afraid he would have to attempt social interaction as immediately, a ticket booth revealed itself. However, Shining quickly got infront of Red, the unicorn giving a hopeful smile at him as he moved ahead.
"EU-116?" Shining could be heard saying, but the rest was drowned out by the drone of talking and train whistles. He could very obviously feel the eyes on him, eyes of anger, fear, awe. An uncomfortable Red seemed to feel a cool breeze as he realized this, and before he knew it, some things somehow fell out of his pack and shattered.
Looking behind him, at his side, was a small book of his, along with a quill and ink well that shattered, spilling blue ink on the cobblestone. Snickering is heard from his left.
A unicorn beside a line nearby, along with his friends, all of them adolescent colts, chuckled and snickered.
He snorts, his eye twitching as he stares right at them. His horn glows as he squints at their taunting, smug faces, his horn begins to heat up, ready for the...
A hoof is felt patting at Red's shoulder blade, the alicorn shuddering as he see's Shining looking at him sternly.
"You alright?" the unicorn asks, the alicorn looking to the side which attracted the attention of Shining. He looks over, to look back at Red with a comforting face.
"Don't worry, they're just a bunch of punks, don't pay them mind. Now comeon, the train is coming in five minutes."
"Hah! Little Nanny Armor came in to save Big Red. Oh how cute!" a voice from the group of unicorns could be heard, along with laughing. The rest of the group join with him.
"Oh shut up over there, unlike you, Red has some dignity." Shining yelled back, attracting some eyes but mostly with looks of support, even with Red in tow. Red only just looked at them with one leg already up. They all switched their eyes to him after staring at a defiant Shining, sneers on their face before the leader of the small group shakes his head, speaking indistinctly to the rest of his group as they make a hasty retreat.
"Pathetic." Was all that Shining Armor said, the two ponies entering the train station. The crowds all eyed him carefully, many of the crowds moving out of their way. Red was only anxious, he wanted to get out of here now, but the train had to come first.
"Where are our other friends?" Red asks, asking about the rest of his friends. Shining Armor could only respond with pointing to a coffee shop, where he could see the two girls, each one carrying coffee, one with magic and the other with her wing. They see them, and hastily make their way over.
They stop right infront of the two stallions, who look at eachother and could not bear but laugh, but Red only really just chuckled, he could control himself. A bewildered Rose tilted her head, unaware her mouth had some coffee above it.
"What?" Rose asks, furrowed brows pointing at the two stallions. Velvet just took her free wing and begins to rub above Rose's lip with the tip.
"You have a little something there." Rose could only help but blush hotly, looking at the two stallions with an angry expression, both still snickering.
"Why are you looking at us that way?" Shining asked, with Red slightly stopping, tiny chuckles coming out few and far between.
"Well, I'm angry at you for not saying anything for the first few seconds you two douches were laughing at me." Rose bit her lip as both eyebrows pressed down on her eyes.
"We could not resist. I doubt Red has never had a real good laugh in a long long time, right?" Shining responded, with Dusk only eagerly nodding in agreement.
"I could not agree more. The sight of such a show of obliviousness makes me just feel alot better about myself." Red confidently said, Shining obviously proud as he elbows Red's leg lightly and looks up at him with a sly grin along with a shallow nod.
"Hey!" Rose fumed hot steam, her eyes staring daggers into Red's soul, who only laughed alittle harder then last time, before Velvet was obviously sick of it.
"Alright guys, I know we like having some good laughs, but Mr.Ecstasy Trip over here~" she pointed in Red's direction, "~was also more oblivious then lemmings following a leader to jump off a cliff." Red could only snort and look to the side, defeated.
"Curses." he could only mumble, the others laughing harder then before.
As they laugh and converse about various topics, the sound of a particular, high pitched whistle could be heard as a new train comes in, one that is small in comparison to the others but still rather big. It had pink paint on there, and on the side of the boiler read in white letters was "EU-116 - Canterlot - Ponyville".
Red looks over rather quickly, reading words and looking back over at Shining Armor.
"That's my 'train', correct?" Shining nodded, giving Red the ticket before patting him on the knee.
"Hey man, uhmmm..."
"Yes?"
"I'd like to wish you good luck in Ponyville, I'll see you in two months." Shining says dejectedly, with a rather unamused Red in terms of his sadness over his friends emotions as of then. But just as he thinks that, Shining warps his hoof around his neck at the base, and Red could only stiffen up as Shining did his bro hug. It was a foreign feeling, having somepony hug him, he thought as he did so too, wrapping his leg around Shining and patting him while looking at the girls.
They both smiled, with Rose woefully out sizing Velvet in the smile department, the unicorn moving up as Shining let go and looked up at Red. She comes in to hug him, both his legs this time. He blushes hotly, much to the joy of Velvet who laughs.
"Gonna miss you, Red. Good luck!" she says in a hopeful tone as she too lets go. Weird, she was just mad a minute ago, Red could only think, but nonetheless, he nodded at her, unsure of what else to say or do.
Velvet only looked over with a grin, nodding.
"See ya', Red." She said simply. The alicorn felt rather warm inside, and he even felt the want to blow this whole thing and just stay here, but that would be being a jerk to the six mares in Ponyville, especially Fluttershy, and so, he knew he had to go.
He waves to them, all of them waving as well, but Shining making the gesture telling him to move. He nods and he makes a slow trot towards EU-116.
Looking back over his shoulder, he still saw his friends standing and looking at him walk. They saw him look back, and began to feel annoyed, Shining taking wide eyes and doing the same gesture again. Dusk's head snapped forward and his legs immediately began to move, one after the other.
The alicorn turned onto the platform, only to be caught in what one may call a dry sauna. There was steam everywhere, and it felt rather hot.At the other side of the platform, completely opposite of his side, he saw a uniformed earth pony hanging out of a railcar.
"ALL ABOARD! TWO MINUTES!" he hollered, his little blue cap that bounced on his head matching with this blue outfit. Red Dusk began to move towards him.
"Red Dusk!" a feminine voice called from the steamy fog. How the heck did people navigate this place and not fall into the platforms? Its like swimming with your eyes open in a pool of syrup. He looked about, but shaked his head, he needs to go.
Closer did he get over to the announcer, all that was left was a span of a couple of steps that was blocked by a sheet of steam. Little did he know...
"Red Dusk!" the feminine voice, a familiar one, came back, way closer. The alicorn looks to the right only to see another of his kind, Luna. He jerks in place, looking at her. He looks left to right, noone but the guy hanging off the cart. His shouts were indistinct, made so by unknown means, Red noted.
"Princess Luna?" the stallion could only say in a bewildered tone, the princess snorting. She got close, slipping a small bag of what sounded like coins onto his pack.
"For the times in the future where thou requires money, but that is not what We have come for." the lunar alicorn said with a smile, her counterpart just looking at her, worriedly. What does she want? He doesnt know, he just shook in place.
"What have you come here for, your Majesty?" she blushes when he says this, before hugging him. His blood runs cold as she does this, but it begins to flow again as she kept it going for only a second.
"I..." he puts up a hoof, but she puts her own right infront of his face.
"We bid thee good luck in thine travels, Red Dusk. Now go, your 'ride' awaits." she says with a smile on her lips as Red blinks at her, before slightly smiling, awkwardly but enough for Luna to just chuckle behind her silver clad hoof.
He pushes himself to go to the pony at the train cart, just as he yells.
"ALL ABOARD! LAST CALL! LEAVING NOW!" the earth pony yelled, just as Red Dusk runs up.
"Wait, I have my piece of paper!"
"You have your ticket?"
Red nods frantically, and the pony takes his ticket, analyzing it. He goes inside of the car for a second, with a small counter there with an ink well and a small contraption that had a stamp on it, obviously a thing for earth ponies since they have no ability to do telekinesis or use their wings as arms.
As Red waits for the pony to finish, he looks back to still see Luna staring at him. Her smile came back again, barely visible, but it was sincere. He waves over and she waves back, just as the earth pony comes back with the ticket.
"You're alright, get a seat and hold on. Comeon." Red nods, fumbling with the ticket as he got in. Inside, it was environmentally controlled, with lights on and everything. Very few ponies were in the train car, and the few that were here glared at him as he sat down at a seat, putting down his saddlebag. He looked out the window, which was along the platform he used to be on, to see Luna still standing there.
As the train revved up, coughing steam and smoke, Red saw the Princess get enveloped in steam.
She still had those staring eyes, somehow knowing which window he was in, surprising considering the windows were tinted.
He blinked as he put a hoof up to the window, only to see the steam clear to reveal nothing.
His ears pinned themselves to the sides of his head, he was alone now, like five hundred years ago, he thought as he slumped back in his seat.
Atleast he was going to somewhere where he believed he would find friends. Hopefully he is not rejected completely.
The train backed up, and merged in with another track that snaked around the train station terminals. He sighed in relief, but rubbed his forehead, anticipating the pains and troubles of the two months. Many things could go wrong.
But he knew he could not turn back, like before just a few minutes ago. He could not turn back, his friends depended on him to keep going, to do what he has to do.
He looks back at the platform terminal which shrinked ever so much smaller as the train gained speed. The wheels made a distinct, low pitch clicking noise along with a drone. Than, the windows turned dark, they were in a tunnel.
Looking forward, he yawned, fumbling with his saddlebag, taking out a letter, Fluttershy's letter.
Unfolding it, he read it's words again, smiling as he shook his head.
Soon.