//------------------------------//
// The Stallion Of Red 
// Story: The Northern Sky 
// by DashTillDawn 
//------------------------------//

We sat around the map table, using it as our conference room. Or rather, Spike and the Elements sat, while Starlight, Midnight and I stood, due to the insufficient number of chairs. Everypony was brainstorming ideas that would help us find this earth pony.
"Whoever this pony is, they must have been around for a long time." Twilight determined.
"Perhaps they're an Apple. That's an ages-old family." Rarity suggested.
"We prefer the term 'traditional.'" Applejack corrected. "But ah'm not sure about them bein' an Apple."
"Maybe Pinkie knows which Apple has been here the longest." Rainbow offered.
"She does know everypony in town." Starlight added.
"That's me!" Pinkie blurted.
"What do you think, Pinkie? Might you know who it could be?" Twilight tried.
"Well, there's a farmer just outside of town named Redington. He's been here for a while, but he doesn't seem to grow old. He's kind of shy, but super-duper nice!" Pinkie recounted.
"That sounds like it could be our pony. Pinkie, I need you to show North and I where Redington lives." Twilight chimed, taking the lead again.
"I was kinda hoping to stay with Starlight this time." I said in a suggestive tone, though it wasn't really a recommendation.
"We need you there to help convince this pony. I plan on leaving Starlight in charge while I'm gone." Twilight explained. Seeing no way around it, I bowed my head in defeat, and said my goodbyes to Starlight. Twilight and Pinkie were waiting for me to catch up at the door. Twilight was too distracted, but Pinkie noticed my saddened expression.
"You look the opposite of happy." She announced. "What's got you in a bad mood?"
"I was just hoping to spend more time with Starlight today, but it didn't work out that way."
"Don't be so glum. We'll be back soon, and until then you've got me to keep you company."
"Ain't that the truth?" I mumbled sarcastically. She didn't get the hint.
"What's your favorite thing to do when you're feeling down?"
"Usually, just being with Starlight is enough to keep me content, but that's not an option." I answered. "Sometimes I'll go flying to take my mind off of things, but that's only when I'm not busy."
"How about telling jokes?" Pinkie offered. "That always cheers me up." As soon as she said this, an old memory came to mind. Before being frozen, my old marefriend and I would tell jokes to help get each other out of a slump.
"No." I stated.
"Jokes don't cheer you up?!" She exclaimed.
"Not anymore."
"What?! That can't be true!" She was having a hard time believing me.
"Look, I don't want to talk about it right now. Can we just keep moving?" I pleaded. All Pinkie did was stare at me in bewilderment. "Please?"
Eventually she figured out that I was serious. Though she looked heartbroken, she respected my wishes. She walked up to Twilight and started giving directions. The princess was too oblivious to take note of the slight shock Pinkie portrayed, though I have to give credit to the pink mare, she did an amazing job hiding the fact that somepony had just shattered her world. I would be expecting her to come back to me for answers at some point in time.
We stepped through the golden castle doors, and began the search for Redington.





Just as Pinkie had said, we found a lonely farm just outside of Ponyville. If I didn't know any better, I would have guessed that Applejack lived here. The only thing that indicated otherwise was that this farm grew all sorts of produce- all except for apples. I could see orchards of citrus fruits, a vineyard, several vegetable gardens. It looked like it must take an army to grow all of this, but there was only one house. 
"Here we are! Red's Ranch!" Pinkie proclaimed.
"Technically, a ranch would be where one raises livestock." Twilight corrected.
"That's just the name, silly!" 
"Yes, well the name is incorrect."
"Whatever it's called, this is the place where we should be able to find Redington, right Pinkie." I interjected.
"You bet!"
"Assuming he's home." Twilight corrected again.
"Then let's hope he's home." I shot, getting impatient. I climbed the two stairs leading up to the front porch, and knocked on the door.
"Just a minute!" A stallion's voice called from somewhere within the house. I glimpsed the blinds in the left window move briefly before the lock clicked.
"Hello?" A burnt orange earth pony greeted me. His mane was dark crimson with grey streaks, and he wore a Stetson similar to the one I always saw Applejack wearing.
"Are you Redington?" I asked, while Pinkie and Twilight trotted up behind me.
"I might be, why?" He shot. Before I could say anything else, Twilight cut in.
"How old are you?" As soon as she asked this, I could see a growing paranoia in his eyes.
"Are you here to do business?" He questioned.
"No, but we need to talk to you." Twilight retorted.
"Look, if you're not here to buy anything, I have not need to talk to you. Good day." He closed the door right in our faces.
"Well that didn't work." Pinkie stated. Twilight knocked again.
"I don't know who you are, or what you want, but I don't want to talk to you." Redington declared from behind the door.
"We need your help. It's urgent." Twilight claimed. The door cracked open, but wouldn't travel any further.
"My help? You must have the wrong pony. I'm just your average farmer."
"We have reason to believe that you're more than that." This made him hesitate.
"You need to leave." He announced. Seeing that we were running out of options, I crept up to the door, and looked over to Twilight. She slowly shook her head, but I knew we couldn't afford to wait much longer. To Redington's surprise, and Twilight's horror, I slammed the entire force of my body into the door. Redington stumbled backwards, and I crashed into the building. The next thing I knew, there was a rock wall in my way. It had risen up from the ground, and blocked my way to Redington. I could hear another door slamming near the back of the house.
"He's making a run for it!" I shouted to Twilight.
"Great! Now you made us look like the bad guys!" Twilight shot, already working her way around the building. I quickly followed behind her. Pinkie just bounced along, taking her time. When we rounded the corner, there stood the farmer, waiting for a fight.
"I stand corrected." I admitted.
"We're not here for a fight." Twilight called to Redington.
"You expect me to believe that, even after he kicked in my door?" He nodded at me.
"That was my hope." She stated.
"We're pressed on time here, Redington. We need your help in order to save Equestria." I blurted.
"First, you break into my home. Then you treat me like a moron. Now I'm just expected to accept that you're the good guys? I don't think so!" He kicked the ground, causing a sizeable chunk of rock to jump into the air. He pointed, and the rock obeyed, flinging itself right where he was pointing- me! I dove to the right, just missing the boulder. One thing was certain: we had the right pony.
"Hi Redington!" Pinkie called, just now catching up with us. Everypony stopped to look at her.
"Pinkie? What are you doing here?" Redington asked.
"We need your help with a top-secret mission." She responded, putting her signature twist on the situation.
"You mean you're with these jerks?" He nodded at me.
"Oh, they're not jerks! These ponies are my friends! We're in a hurry, so they're not thinking things through right now." And thus, Pinkie, of all ponies, managed to insult my intelligence.
"I hope you can forgive them. They're actually really nice." She chimed.
"Well, any friends of Pinkie's should at least get a second chance, I suppose." He said, walking over to me, holding out a hoof. I took it, and he pulled me to my feet.
"Let's start over. My name's Redington, but you can call me Red."
"Northern Sky. Call me North." I toned.
Twilight Sparkle." The princess informed him.
"Pinkie!" Shouted the pink mare.
"So what's this I hear about you needing my help?" Red asked.
"We can tell you all about it back at the castle." Twilight stated.
On the walk back, Twilight paced along beside me, letting Pinkie and Red gain some distance. Once they were out of earshot, she reprimanded me.
"What were you thinking, kicking in his door?!" She exclaimed.
"It certainly got his attention, and that was the goal." I retorted.
"No, the goal was for him to help us. If Pinkie hadn't been there, he probably would've done the exact opposite. He seemed ready to crush you under that rock."
"Wait, let me guess: you're planning on turning this into a lesson about how 'patience and kindness are always the answer,' aren't you."
"N-no." She stammered.
"I'm learning to read you like one of your books." I jived. Struggling for a comeback, she resorted to friendship.
"When did you become so mean?"
I opened my mouth to shoot off some smart response, but I stopped. She was right. I was being mean, but that was only half of what made me freeze. It came to my attention that I wasn't being my usual self. At first I blamed it on being pulled away from Starlight, but now I was having second thoughts. Could the Darkness be subtly controlling my thoughts?
"You're right. I'm sorry." I waited before following up with my own question.
"What color are my eyes right now?"
"What?" She asked, but I could see she was already starting to understand what I was getting at. She looked into my eyes, and I stared back.
"They're still green, why?"
"You asked me why I was being so mean, and I truthfully didn't know. Now I'm starting to wonder if this Darkness is messing around with my head."
"I would imagine that such a thing could be possible, having seen what it's capable of. Should I try my spell? Maybe that'll fix it." She pondered.
"You can try, but something tells me that it won't work."
Her horn lit purple when she cast the spell. She did it successfully, but just as I had predicted, nothing changed.
"Did it work?" She queried.
"Unfortunately, I don't think it did."
"Well there must be something we can do."
"I'm think our best bet is to find this pegasus in Cloudsdale, and stop the Darkness before it has a chance to get stronger. I'd rather not find out what else might be in store for us."
Twilight kicked the dirt in defeat. I put my foreleg over her shoulders in an attempt to comfort her.
"Hey, you've faced worse, and always came out stronger on the other side. We can do this."
"How can things be any worse than this? We're up against an unseen enemy, and we have no way to fight it. What are we supposed to do?"
"In truth, I don't know, but what I do know is that  friendship always prevails, and you're the Princess of Friendship. If anypony can stop this, it'll be you." Saying this seemed to calm her down slightly, though she was a long way from being relaxed.
"Thank you." She flashed me a half-hearted smile. I hugged her a little tighter before letting her go.
"You know," She spoke. "You are a strange pony. Sometimes you're optimistic, and other times you're a total downer. Do you see the glass as half-full, or half-empty?"
"Personally, I conform to fit the needs of the group. When morale is soaring, I'm there to remind everypony that we haven't won yet, and they still need to be on-guard. When we're desperately in need of a beacon of hope, I'll find a way to provide one."
"But how would you normally picture the glass? What do you see when nopony needs you?"
"I don't have a glass. I shattered it."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't let a glass determine my personality. As you said earlier, I can be chipper one moment, and downcast the next. I'm a wildcard- unpredictable, but not anarchic."
"You most certainly are unpredictable." She chuckled. "And very, very strange."
"Guilty as charged."
Though I didn't know it, Starlight had tagged along in the shadows, suspicious of Twilight. She wondered if there was a deeper reason for being separated from me, and now she had an idea of why. She watched our entire conversation, her eyes holding an expression of rage and envy, but also brimming with tears.