“Nice shot tin man!” Rainbowdash admitted to the skilled toss, making the metal horseshoe ring as it spun around the little metal stake in the ground. “Now watch the master!” the cyan mare boasted. The shoe flew through the air and landed with a dull thud, landing on the pike but not ringing aloud. Applejack looked smugly at Red as he casually slipped her a pair of shiny gold bits.
“Good toss, but isn’t goal to actually hit pike?” the Russian metal man complained doing his best to maintain a sportsman like tone.
“Yeh, that’s how it’s supposed to be played but if it lands round’ the pike it counts as one point rather than two.
“This game is very different than the one Zero-Seven explained.” Red paused almost suspiciously internally debating which side was lying to him, the pony or the sniper. The frustration finally got to him and he whined sarcastically “I have idea, let’s play Russian roulette, that way even if I lose I still win.”
“What’s Russian,” Rainbowdash tried to ask but was cut off mid question.
“Never mind it is bad idea. Besides I only have one revolver and it is gift, I would not soil it with pointless immature game.” Red withdrew the idea he came up with. The game was interrupted when Winona began barking and running as if someone or rather somepony just walked up to the front gate of Sweet Apple Acers. Fluttershy who had been watching the game, Rainbow, Applejack, and Red turned their heads to see who the visitor was. Red had pulled out a deck of cards trying to start new game when he recognized who had stopped by. Over by the gate Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie had come by to tell the rest of the group about the letter Twilight had received earlier that day. Rarity and Pinkie where already with Twilight on account that they were already in town, while Dash, Shy, AJ and Red where all over at the farm and recently finished helping with cleanup of a sector of the orchard. Red raised his bronze hands in the air, waving at the three friends. Twilight, and the other two had just made it to the large tree where Dash and AJ where still taking shots at horseshoe as Red sat at the table doing card tricks.
“Hello Twilight, how is things?” Red opened the conversation as he made a card levitate in the palm of his hand.
“Not good I’m afraid; the Princesses have just summoned me to Canterlot to discuss a matter of some significance. Apparently Luna found something that needs all of us to attend to right away.” Twilight said matter of fact-ly, all the while Pinkie was mesmerized by the playing cards dancing around and through Red’s metal hands. The deck shot card by card from his left hand to his right then beck to his left, leaping at least two feet through the air between hands. Red’s focus on the cards intensified as an ace of spades began to spin mid-air between two halves of the deck. As the card began to spin faster, Fluttershy and Applejack turned their attention to the playing card. Rainbowdash landed also mezmorized by the trick, Twilight and Rarity found themselves distracted from what they originally came to the farm to do in favor of the strange card trick. The ace became unstable in its spinning Red bit his lip trying to contain the irregular spinning, if he could sweat he would have several beads forming on his forehead. Then the deck of cards popped flinging the small rectangular game pieces all over the table. Five out of six of the ponies there were still astonished with the trick though it failed. Twilight blinked shaking her head brushing off the simple and stupid antics.
“It’s not that impressive, I could do that too.” She scoffed the card trick.
“Yes but you are unicorn, you have magic. I do not have any actual magic influence. Everything you just saw was illusion, trick of eyes.” Red smirked reaching for his bucket helmet, still scratched with a few dents from bullets. “I can also pull rabbit from hat.” The metal man confidently reached his arm elbow deep into the shallow helmet, poking around for a few seconds before smiling having found something fuzzy. He went to pull it up, taken back at the weight of the animal he had grabbed. When the grasped animal was finally visible Red was dumbfounded when he saw Pinkie giggling and smiling, half sticking out of the headgear. Red let go of the party pony’s mane and she climbed the rest of the way out of the helmet, then too her place back next to Twilight with a big toothy smile.
“Ok, I’m not sure which one of you did that one but, I’m not even going to try to question it.” Rainbowdash tried to explain what just happened to her-self. Her wings drooped halfway to the ground, one ear flopped over as the strained her thoughts trying to come to terms with the shenanigan.
“Don’t look at me I was going for rabbit.” Red raised his hands as if surrendering any involvement with the strange feat.
“Ooh, let me try!” Pinkie took the helmet, sat down, and rested the hat in the crook of her foreleg plunging her free hoof into the green headgear she found nothing, then placed the hat on the ground and literally began to crawl into it like a tunnel. Eventually the only evidence of Pinkie actually being present was her frilly pink tail jutting out of the opening. She began tossing things out of the seemingly bottomless pit of a helmet. From the hat sprung a harmonica, trumpet, guitar, film spinning video camera, a bowler hat, TT-33 handgun, and a pair of binoculars. Red snapped his attention to the pistol, reaching around his holster to find the pistol had indeed been removed, confused he reclaimed it and slid it back in its place. Eventually the pink mare emerged with a toothless baby alligator biting her ear. “Oh there you are gummy!” the pink mare laughed out loud as the pet the reptile dully nibbled on her ear.
“Let me see that.” Red took back his helmet, reached in and on his second attempt he actually pulled out a rabbit, Angel to be exact. Who proceeded to take the helmet from Red’s hand and hit him with it, and then hopped over to Fluttershy. Twilight face-hoofed feeling her IQ dropping by the second, Rainbowdash was lying down on the ground rubbing her temples trying to relive the headache she had gotten from trying to make sense of what was going on. Applejack’s hat was slid halfway down her face trying not to think about the confusing scene before her. The rest of the group just stared blankly before Twilight broke the silence.
“Please, just, no. Look long story short I got a letter from the princess, I need you guys to come with me.” Twilight rushed the words before any more laws of physics could be assaulted.
“Sounds fun, don’t worry about anything here, I can pitch in to keep things running smooth.” Red reassured his friends.
“Actually, Princess Luna asked for you to come with us.” Twilight clarified. The little metal parts of Red’s face contorted into a look of suspicion. However trying not to make his conspiring mind publicly known he disguised his expression as one of surprise.
“Alright, so everyone meet at the train station in approximately one hour, and I’ll tell the Princesses we are on our way.” Twilight set the time knowing some of her friends would have a few things to pack.
Everypony went their separate ways; Applejack towards her house, Rainbowdash flew in the direction of her cloud house. Red followed Fluttershy having not established a determined living space for him yet he remained with the first pony to accept the strange mechanical man as a person before an object. When the two made it back to the cottage Fluttershy went to her room to collect the few things she would need for the trip. Red had gone to his temporary room, grabbing his back pack he knocked over his mosin nagant, he stopped gathering his things for a moment and picked up the rifle. Taking care to keep the barrel pointed up and not in the direction of anybody he opened the bolt to check that the weapon was as he left it, empty. He placed the rifle back in the closet out of reach, not that anyone else could operate it; he just felt safer knowing it was out of reach of everypony who couldn’t fly. Red turned back to his bag, that suspicious look returning to his eye, he grabbed a key unlocked a drawer on a desk and slid it open. Inside where several magazines and loose rounds for his handgun, he grabbed a few mags and placed them into his bag. He looked up on the closet shelf tempted to take with him the PPSh-41 he had been given when he was first built. Red quickly rejected the idea of bringing along the automatic, he figured it would be too big for the bag and would raise too many questions if he carried it out of the bag. He double checked the bag making sure he had his tool kit and at least one canister of joint oil, a roll of duct tape and his cloth hat. He also packed a few snacks and books knowing somepony would get hungry and at least one would get bored.
Red and Fluttershy where the last two to reach the train station, to their surprise the load of luggage was a lot smaller than they expected, they had thought for sure Rarity would have at least twice the bags she had actually brought. Each of the group of seven boarded the train, taking their seats they each got comfortable. Red had always carried his pistol with him regardless of where he went, and in this world it mattered even less due to the fact that nopony even knew what a handgun was; so nopony questioned him when he started taking apart the TT-33 and began cleaning it. He didn’t strip the pistol down to its frame, only enough to get the barrel and mag well cleared of any foreign substance. The train had started moving when Rainbow had gotten into another Dareing Do book, she sneezed. Red looked up and addressed the sneeze.
“Bless you.” He commented then had a double take at the book in Dash’s hooves. He turned his head sideways to get a better viewing angle. “What book is that?”
“Dareing Do and the sapphire stone.” Dash answered excitedly.
“That character looks familiar. Could you describe her?” Red questioned.
“Well, she’s an adventurer, an archeologist, she looks for treasures that have been lost many years ago then she brings them back to a museum, or puts them in her personal collection. She charges into trouble head first and comes out swinging.” Dash almost sounded as if she practiced this speech beforehand.
“I mean like the personality.” Red clarified.
“Oh, well she’s brave, she has no quit and escapes from countless traps. Sometimes she can be a bit thoughtless and has a habit of going it alone, but for the most part she knows what to do.” Rainbow continued.
“Funny, she reminds me of an American I had to escort out of Germany. His name was Dr. Jones.” Red trailed off, Dash listening with her full attention. The uncanny similarities even captured the attention of Twilight. The three continued to compare and contrast as the train bound for Canterlot sped into the night.