//------------------------------// // Chapter 19 - Storm // Story: The Red Dusk // by Barony //------------------------------// The bed creaks as Red rolls over, yawning and smacking his lips, waking up from a loud sound. There was a slight droning sound that is ever so prevalent within his room,which he began to notice as soon as the bed springs stopped creaking under his weight. Looking around the room, he flicks on the light switch. He wondered why she would have a lamp if there was a light here? Maybe because of her isolation? He gets up from the bed, struggling to get just enough space and a comfortable position to stretch his legs and wings, just as thunder erupts outside and the droning sound gets louder. Raising an eyebrow, he straightens up and opens the door. He walks from out of his room, turning off the light inside of the room with his magic as the wood creaks underneath his hooves. Up ahead, Fluttershy's door was slightly open, enough for him to see a good portion of the room from it. He peeks into Fluttershy's room as he passes to not see the butter-colored pegasus sleeping there, surprisingly enough. He looked up at a clock in the room. It read "9:23". He blinked, he did not expect the pegasus to wake up earlier then he had. But he just shook his head, and went downstairs, maybe she is in the living room? The stairs creaked as he went down them, the alicorn looking around the living room to see not one living soul. The living room itself had a nice little fireplace with some pots hanging over it and little stairs for what could be rodents to go up into a hole in the wall and even to a small house. Infact, there were little catwalks in the rafters that led to all sorts of holes within the walls. Along with that, birdhouses were placed around everywhere, with most hanging off the rafters in the ceiling and one behind a cute green cabinet in the corner, with a bird cage in the opposite corner with another set of stairs leading up to it. All the way on the other side of the room, were two more birdhouses, a couch and a comfy seat, aswell as a built in bookshelf, along with a window behind the couch. Suffice to say, Red was impressed, but he had to find Fluttershy, maybe she was inside the kitchen? He walked over to the doorway that led into the kitchen, to see nothing but a refrigerator, a stove, a table, cabinets and drawers galore, along with hooks for pots and pans to hang down. There was other stuff too, but it was of little importance to the scene itself. He looked out one of the windows from inside, to just see a grey sheet just beyond it and small splatters on the window itself. His face twists into that of slight worry, just as thunder cracks outside. He turns around, going back up the stairs to check her room and the bathroom again, maybe he missed something? He snorts, maybe he did. Finishing the small trek upstairs, he peeked into her bedroom again, slowly bringing himself inside with his body pushing the door open. However, the door was extremely light in comparison to Red's weight. What would seem like a slight touch to a regular door made it fly open in a rather bombastic way. It's knob slammed into the wall with a loud thud, with Red sidestepping suddenly to make several loud hoof steps as he attempted to re-balance himself. He does re-balance himself to a state of stiffness, the alicorn breathing in through his nose and sighing. He walks around, looking around at the room in its simple glory. It had another fireplace, above where the other was. Above it was a shelf with some pictures, nothing else. The bed, adorned in a cute orange and pink checkered blanket with a butterfly within each checker. was in the middle of the room, beside a window, a small desk with an overhanging bookshelf and below two rather adorable pictures that hung from black tacks. Ofcourse, the rafters had birdhouses hanging from them and even actual bird nests on them along with a vine growing around one of them. The bed also had a greenish trunk right infront of it with a red rug beneath it, but that was it. He could see nothing else within his immediate overview of the room. He sighed, beginning to wheel around before another lightning bolt sends the sound of thunder throughout the house and the landscape outside. He hears a squeak come from underneath the bed as the thunder goes through, peaking his curiosity. The alicorn walks over directly next to the bed, sitting down on his haunches and bending his neck down, looking underneath the overhanging blanket to see something that looked like a hoof. His eyes go wide and his head abuzz with fearful thoughts. His horn glows as the blanket lifts from its position for him to see, expecting to see a body. Fortunately, it wasn't Fluttershy's dead body, which was just his brain thinking of the worst. Unfortunately, the alicorn had opened the 'flap' so fast that to him, Fluttershy's scared face had seemingly just appeared out of nowhere in his vision, like it just came from oblivion. "EGAD!" he yelled, and Fluttershy only screamed along with him. He falls on his side and the blanket goes back down as Fluttershy flails under the bed. A squirrel and a grey bunny scamper out from under the bed and out the door. The alicorn flips over on his back, looking back at the bed's fabric liner which slightly waved after the movement. "Fluttershy?! Is that you?" the discombobulated alicorn asks, looking over at the bed from his laid down position away from it. "Yes..." the pegasus squeaked, the alicorn shaking his head and inching towards the bed to lift up the blanket, looking inside. All he saw was Fluttershy looking at him wide eyed, an array of little animals, a book and a flashlight with its battery lid off and its batteries strewn about, along with some pillows, aswell as two small blankets made into hammocks of some sort hanging from the framework of the bed. One animal, a white bunny, stood out, standing particularly close to Fluttershy with a carrot in his paws and a frown on his face, with furrowed eyebrows. Red eyed him with confusion, was he trying to be scary? "What are you doing underneath your bed?" he asks, concerned. Fluttershy rubbed the back of her head, straightening up in the bed. He blinks, was it really that big for her or is she just smaller then he remembers from last night? "Im hiding out the storm..." she says, embarrassed. "You are afraid of thunder?" She nods reluctantly, putting up her hooves to cover her eyes and whimpering. Red only rolled his eyes. "Wonderful." he looks to the side, unamused. "This is embarrassing..." she whimpered, the burgundy stallion putting a hoof on the base of his horn, disappointed. "I would think that you would have no fear of thunder considering that you live at the edge of one of the most perilous areas in Equestria." Red said from behind his hoof, his eyes closed and his eyebrows scrunched together. "I know, I just hate the big boom and the scary flash... It's so sudden! It's like... Uhm..." she tapped her chin. She looked to Red, the pegasus hatching an idea. "Knock knock." she shakily said, the burgundy stallion blinking as he did hear of this little 'joke' from Shining Armor himself. "Who goes there?" He rolled along with it, in his own way. Just as Fluttershy is about to say something, a lightning bolt lands right on a tree, both ponies almost becoming deaf. Both plant their heads down onto the wooden floor in surprise. The alicorn was slightly rattled, his head quickly going back up. However, Fluttershy only cried for a bit, the same white bunny patting Fluttershy on the shoulder. She recovers, looking at Red. "That bolt said all that needed to be said." she whimpered, the stallion nodding. "I would not have expected a lightning bolt to hit so close, but then again, we are near the Everfree." he commented, his stomach suddenly growling with hunger. Immediately, he looks down at it, then at Fluttershy. "What have you eaten?" "Emergency granola bars I keep under here. Are you hungry?" she said with a blush as Red nods. One of the squirrels, a chocolate colored one, immediately gets to work, going behind its blue, very soft looking pillow and coming back up with two bars, both rather small. There was a green one, and a brown one. One read peanut better beneath its brandname and the other original. Red simply tugged slightly at the green one, the squirrel immediately letting go and giving a thumbs up with its paws at a nodding Red. "Aw, thank you, Jeremy. That was so nice of you." the squirrel in question put his paws together and outstretched his arms, letting them hang as he gave a smile, with a blush, to Fluttershy. "Cute." was all the stallion had to say as he opened up the granola bar and tossed the small bar into the cavernous domain of his jaws, letting them get to work. The bar stood no chance, being ground into tiny, separate pieces within seconds. All the while, Red hummed with delight. Just as he finished chewing and swallowed, more rolling thunder came about, but it was farther away this time. However, the rain came down harder, just as the sound of thunder went through. "It seems to be getting worse, I wonder it'll go." the stallion said nonchalantly, the pegasus looking to the side glumly. "The radio said that the system will probably stay here for atleast four hours. We've only been up for two." Red Dusk nodded, huffing from his nose. "Well, I guess that it'd be best to stay here with you, just to keep you and your animals company, since there is really nothing I can do around the house . except cook.Anything you have that we can do?" he asked. She nodded, the pegasus bringing up the book that he saw earlier. Red took the book, inspecting it with a raised eyebrow. It was a red, rather new looking, soft cover book. On it read "Tales of the Everfree". He hummed in interest, opening it up. Flipping through the pages, the alicorn nodded. Although he himself knew some tales, many of them a tad bit gruesome, he was in no mood to recollect a story. Yawning, the crimson stallion flipped back to the first page containing the beginning of the first tale. He breathed in, licking his lips while Fluttershy and the animals all got themselves comfy. Confident they were ready, he began. "The Tale of the Talking Tree..."