//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: Things better left Unsaid  
// Story: A Bitter Heart: The Story of RedTails 
// by RedStar76 
//------------------------------//

                Perspective: Twilight Sparkle
Well, the plan we made didn't work out like we had hoped it would. It was Pinkie's idea to give him small gifts to lift his spirits, we went along with it, but it did equal to none to improve RedTail's mood. At least compared to yesterday he's calmed down a bit. So the six of us decided to regroup and come up with a new plan.
"Guess the little squirt is more down in the dumps then we thought," RainbowDash said. I pondered a bit but I found that really couldn't come up with anything, so I looked at the girls.
"Anypony have any ideas?" I asked. PinkiePie started jumping up and down.
"Oh! Oh! I know! We could... throw him a party!" I looked over to where RedTails was sitting and sighed.
"Somehow, I don't think that would be a good idea. At least not yet," I replied.
"Aww..." Pinkie said lowering her head. AppleJack was the next one to speak up.
"How 'bout I take em over to the farm. It would do em' good to meet another pony his age, like AppleBloom," I pondered at AppleJack's suggestion. It was good idea from a normal point of view, but seeing as how RedTails was pretty resilient to even talking to us, it might not go down so well.
"Maybe, but are there any other ideas?" I asked. We all looked at each other trying to come up with another possible idea. That's when Fluttershy, who I least expected to speak up, actually came up with a great idea.
"Um...maybe we could take him to Canterlot to meet the princesses,"  she winced a little when she ended the sentence. My eyes widened in realization.
"Of course! Why didn't I think of it? Of course the princesses would want to meet him! He did save you after all," I said now noticing a small blush forming on Fluttershy's cheeks. 
"Then I believe it is settled then?" said Rarity.
"Yes, we're going to take RedTails to meet Princess Celestia in Canterlot," I beamed. With our new plan in motion, the girls left soon after. After I told Spike that we were going to take RedTails to go see Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, the rest of the afternoon went on peacefully. Later on, when Spike, RedTails, and I sat down for dinner, I noticed that RedTails was looking down at the floor and seemed upset. As I looked at him, I decided to ask him what was wrong.
"RedTails? Is everything okay?" RedTails ears perked up and he looked at me.
"Hm? Oh, I'm fine Twilight. I guess I'm just... a bit more tired than I thought." Okay, now something was off. At the moment, his attempt at trying to tell me that he's okay is going about as well as AppleJack trying to lie. As much as I wanted to know what was wrong, I wasn't going to press RedTails for anything he didn't want to tell me. After dinner, RedTails said he was going to bed. I just assumed that he was a little tired and his injuries didn't help that at all. Spike and I said goodnight to him and he went upstairs to go to bed. Once he did, Spike cleaned up the dinner table and I also decided that I wanted to read a book for a little while before I went to bed. As looked at the shelves to find something, I noticed that RedTails's old, torn apart, and worn out saddlebag was still sitting on the floor. I decided to bring it upstairs to where he was, but when I picked it up with my magic, a picture fell out of the hole in the bottom. Picking it up, I brought up the picture to face to get a closer look. I saw a little colt standing next an older mare with white coat and pink mane and tail.
"Well, that's definitely RedTails," I said to myself while looking at the picture. "But who is that other pony? Is that his mom?" I wondered out loud. That's when I noticed there was something written in the bottom right corner and read it out loud. "Happy...Birthday?"
"Twilight what are you doing?" I was startled for minute before turning around. I sighed in relief seeing that it was just Spike. "Is that a picture?" he asked pointing to the picture that I was still holding in the air with my magic.
"Yeah, it fell out of RedTails's old bag," I sighed looking at the picture. "Although, it looks like it was taken a long time ago." Spike walked in front of me.
"Can I see it Twilight?" 
"Sure, here you go," I said lowering the picture into Spike's claws.
"Is that his mom in the picture with him? She looks kinda young to me," he said.
"Really?" I said as lifted the picture back up to me to have another look. Upon closer examination, I saw that Spike was right. The mare in the picture did look too young to be RedTails mom and looked closer to his age, but there was a clear difference in their size and the mare was definitely older. "Hmm, you're right Spike. Maybe it's one of his friends." 
"Maybe it's none of your business!" I heard a voice shout from behind me. As soon as I turned my head, a red streak flew by me and hit the picture. Instead of sending the picture flying, the picture was actually yanked back. When I completely turned around, I saw RedTails holding the picture with his tail set a red blaze, and a look of intense anger on his face. "You..." 
"R-RedTails, I'm sorry. I was just picking up your bag to put it upstairs and that picture fell out. You're right, I should have just put it back instead of-" I was cut off when the picture was thrown into my face.
"You can do whatever you want with that stupid picture," he spat angrily at me while turning towards the stairs. "It's not like it means anything to me anymore," RedTails said galloping up the stairs.