Red and Twilight heaved a simultaneous sigh and glanced awkwardly away from one another, not quite sure just what they were to do about their current situation. They'd been stuck in an impromptu pile that left Twilight Sparkle slightly squished, Red feeling more than a bit embarrassed about where his appendages happened to be, and a certain fox like being with a pair of unwilling mattresses. Needless to say the Kitsune was probably getting the most out of the deal there, though in his opinion he was actually being nice and giving these two a nice little moment as a forced couple.
The silence reigned without question in the library, broken only occasionally by a soft squeak from the sleeping spirit atop Red's back and the quiet creaking of the building moving a bit in the light breeze... It was a tree after all, and swaying in the breeze was kind of in its job description, building or no. Red fidgeted a little as he tried to get a bit more comfortable, drawing an soft little sound of embarrassed pleasure from Twilight. A sound the made him go still once again so quickly one would think he got into a staring contest with a cockatrice. Blushing badly enough to darken his already sanguine coat a few shades he opened his mouth to apologize to his fellow pony-mattress, but all that escaped him with a quiet little squeak of shame.
Twilight looked up at him for a moment and sighed. "Its fine... Nothing we can do here... Wish my magic was working, that way I could get us out of here and wipe my memory of this debacle." she said, though with the look on Red's face she immediately regretted her choice of words. He looked almost as if she'd slapped him.
"Look... I know we're not exactly comfortable with one another after our little run in at that first party..." began Red, "But I would at least like to be your friend as much as I am the others'. You mares are wonderful ponies to know, and I'm sad to say I don't know you as well as I know the others... Can we call a truce or something as long as we never talk about... This...?"
A truce was indeed drafted up in a purely mental sense just then, the unspoken terms set, the accord reached, and a cease fire called. Peace between their two kingdoms, much rejoicing, and Sir Robbin's Minstrels mysteriously disappearing during a freak snowstorm in a mountain pass... Best kind of peace that.
Following their mutual agreement silence once more returned to the library for a little while, only to be broken by Twilight as she gave Red a soft poke in the ribs. "So... I'm sure my friends have told you about me..." she said, fishing for a good way to put her thoughts into words without sounding offensive. "But... Well... They didn't tell me much about you, just that you're from some place far away and that the Princesses brought you here for some reason. So... Umm... Can you maybe tell me about your homeland and yourself?"
Red blinked, cocking his head a bit before he shrugged and nodded. "Well aside from giving Fluttershy a run for her shyness just then Twilight, I suppose I can... Give me a minute." he replied after a few moments, then fell into thought as he considered how best to explain just how different Earth was Equestria. He nodded to himself and finally settled on a good explanation.
"Well... For starters my homeland is not a place you can get to easily, so don't go looking for it. The land itself is close enough to Equestria in some places, lots of farm land and small towns that are pretty close nit. I sadly didn't grow up in an area like that. I lived in a city, and cities there are not the shining places they are here. No cities where I'm from are jumbled, sprawling, beasts that just eat up the surrounding land and fill the skies with smog and such. Sure we've got parks and the like, but its not the same."
"Wait wait wait... What do you mean by smog? Pollution and the like should be a non issue with unicorns about..." Twilight interrupted, frowning in scholarly curiosity.
Red sighed a bit before he continued. "Twilight, we don't have unicorns. Its all earth ponies over there basically. Sure there's a few ponies like myself, but we're grounded. The only one's allowed to fly have to go to a school for it and have to have a licence, even then they can only fly when they're told to unless they want to pay for the privilege of private flight... We rely mostly on technology, things that make life easier for ponies. In my opinion though it takes us away from what's really important. After all, when one can pop a premade meal into a microwave oven, who cares at all for working the land to get your own food. Mother Gaia was meant to provide for us, but my people squander her gifts... Oh sorry... That's a tangent there."
Anyways, that's enough about that... Not sure that Celestia... Pardon me, Princess Celestia wants me to talk about this anyways. The ponies where I'm from aren't the nicest sort to those who differ from social norm. I'm a case and point. The main reason the Princesses brought me here was to save me. I was hospitalized because of some ponies deciding they didn't like me too much and voicing their displeasure in a violent physical manner."
Twilight blinked up at him, not quite sure how to respond to all that. She did the only thing she could think to do really and gave him a soft nuzzle before motioning for him to go on. He smiled sadly in response and nodded.
"As for telling you about me... There's not much to tell. I was always quiet, kept mostly to myself, and tried hard not to be noticed. Sadly its the one's who try hard not to be seen that get noticed right off, so I was a pretty constant target for bullies. Main reasons... I was tall, stuck out in a crowd, and I liked some things that other ponies considered for little foals. My family never really cared much, just so long as I wasn't causing trouble for them I was more than welcome to do what I liked. My grandmother was really the only friend I had, she taught me about Gaia and the Circle, as well as herblore, some things about the spirits, and other things. When she passed I turned instead to what she'd taught me and to art... Got to be a decent artist, but I'm not sure I could do that now... Have trouble holding a quill steady enough to draw, let alone write."
At this point Twilight placed a hoof over his mouth and shook her head. She'd heard enough, and for once she didn't want to know any more. She wasn't a foal, she knew he wasn't telling her quite a few things, but that didn't bother her so much. What did bother her was they almost nonchalant way he spoke of his past, almost as if he'd cut his ties with most of it. She supposed that he would have had to really if he could never go home. Not that he wanted to apparently.
Gently pushing her hoof from his lips he sighed and rolled his eyes a bit. "Look... I can understand not wanting to hear it, but I don't need to know what your hoof tastes like" he said with a chuckle and a bit of a shrug. Honestly he was relived she'd stopped him... He had a sense that he was rambling more than was healthy.
It was at this point that they noticed something funny, namely that they weren't on the bed anymore. They were instead atop a cloud and their positions were reversed. "Ok... Look you two," said a voice, one they recognized as the Kitsune's. "I was trying to sleep, so you two could have kept it down, but nooooo, lets keep the kitsune awake. Here you two go, chat all ya want and Imma go make a bed outa that weird pink one. She at least smelled less like a monkey than you there bloody bird horse."
They looked over just in time see the kitsune manage to make a rather obscene gesture at them and disappear suddenly. They were quite alone now, atop some cloud, and the only thing keeping them up there was Red holding tightly to Twilight, who was in turn half strangling him in sudden fear of falling. Damn... What a day.