//------------------------------// // Preparations // Story: Red // by FallenFromGlory //------------------------------// Red woke up reluctantly, yawning and stretching. She was not a morning person. If it weren't for the fact that she had to be ready to travel to another world in three days, she would have slept until tomorrow. She was used to packing up and leaving quickly, but this was on a different level entirely. Changing into a set of her normal clothes, a black skirt and a red shirt covered by a black jacket, she slipped her dagger into her boot and walked out the door. She had work to do. Red stopped at several shops along the way, picking up things that she might need, such as needles and thread. Do ponies wear clothes? Better safe than sorry. Another thing she had to pick up was a gun, no matter how much she loved her crossbow. This was going to have to wait until night, with the whole rioting thing happening. This whole war business was getting on her nerves. Why were people fighting each other when there were much more serious threats out there? It made no sense to her. One problem she was going to run into was while stealing from the military would be easy enough, Red didn't think they carried silver bullets. It would be silly, impractical, and a blatant waste. She was confident the ponies could make her more silver bolts if needed, creating munitions might be a bit too much to ask for. She wasn't worried about taking goods to trade for room and board. She was going to be defending their nation from monsters, she was reasonably sure she could ask for those. Not from the general population, mind. Luna had been clear on that, only she and her sister would be aware of her existence. This didn't bother her, she didn't talk much anyways. Lastly, she wanted to pick up a few small game traps. Again, not certain, but ponies were herbivores usually. They might come in handy. After picking up a whetstone that caught her eye, Red went back to her room, trying to avoid the more dangerous parts of town. She had finished packing her clothes and extra equipment, and had now spent the last two days waiting outside a Soviet military camp, watching closely. She had been taking note of everything about the patrols and layout of the camp itself. Luckily, it seemed like they weren't worried about cat burglars. After slipping through a few shadows and hopping a fence, Red made her way over to the quartermaster's tent. Compared to sneaking up on werewolves, this was child's play. After looking over the selection carefully, Red almost squeed over and old Baretta 1935. While not a very high-powered handgun, she was a sucker for the classics. However, she only found one box of .380 ACP, and the only magazine for it was in the gun. That might be a problem. Satisfied with her selection, Red slipped out of the camp just as easily as she got in. On her way back, she was wondering how she was going to get silver bullets, when a black cat with a white tail stopped in the middle of the street almost too far away to see at this time of night. Red started getting concerned, but as she got closer, that familiar feeling returned, alerting her to the presence of a supernatural creature. With the only logical conclusion being the animal in front of her wasn't a cat, she tried speaking to it when she got closer. "Hello there. It would appear you noticed me before I noticed you. Do you have a name?" Red knelt down when she was about ten feet away, trying to get closer to it's eye level. The cat just tilted it's head, and meowed at her, blinking it's yellow eyes. "Ok. Well, if you want to come with me, I am going back to my hotel room." Standing up again, Red kept walking, looking back occasionally to see the cat following her. How strange. When she got back to her room, the cat followed her in, immediately claiming a pillow on her bed. Whatever the cat was, it only seemed to want some company. Maybe Luna could bring it too? What would she do with a cat? It certainly couldn't come with her when she searched for werewolves, it was making her senses go haywire. Stowing her newly acquired handgun and accompanying ammo in her suitcase, she realized making new rounds would be taking up a lot of her free time. 'Good thing I read all those books on metallurgy. Knew those would come in handy.' Looking at the clock, Red saw she only had an our before she left this world for a very long time. Maybe she would come back and see if that whole television thing took off. Personally, she thought it would be just a passing fad. Who would spend all their time in front of a stupid screen? Other thoughts aside, Red reflected on what she was doing. It scared her. Things she didn't know scared her, and another world? Terrifying. Laying down next to the cat, and earning a light protest followed by gentle snoring, Red wondered if she would ever reunite with her acquaintances. She didn't have any friends, but her business often led to meeting people from the same cut as herself. She had a few people she would miss, certainly. It was difficult to find anyone who had lived as long as her, and not many of those few really appreciated what she did. The only one who even tried to help her was Gretel, and after her brother died, she was so overcome with grief... Sighing, Red wondered whatever had possessed he two people that came closest to 'friends' to hunt witches. Realizing she was one to talk, she looked back at the clock, seeing she was still ten minutes away from the prearranged meeting. 'Ah well, close enough.' She reached down and grabbed her suitcase, pulling it up to rest next to her. Grabbing her crossbow and quiver from the stand next to her bed, Red curled up, cradling her favorite weapon, pulling her hood over her eyes, and drifted off to sleep, Meanwhile, in Canterlot, two sisters were in an argument. "I still don't think this is a good idea, Luna. You are bringing a dangerous creature to this world, who has proven to be a much greater threat than anything we have now, and let her run around killing our subjects!" "Celestia, she is a free thinking individual, and is quite reasonable. She will only kill ponies who have been infected and turned into monsters. From what she said, anyone could be a werewolf! Just walking around in broad daylight! She can find them and eliminate them before they get a chance to hurt any more ponies." "I know, sister, but why did you lie to her? That is what I'm worried about." "She will never know. We need her, and I did what I had to." "She'll be angry." "I said she'll never know! Now if you'll excuse me, I should be meeting her soon. You'll like her, she's very... calculating." With a victorious grin, a princess walked out of the throne room, hoping her sister wouldn't be too angry with her. In the nearby town of Ponyville, at an unspecified date, three young fillies were on their way to a boutique. It was getting late, and Rarity would be upset if they didn't get home by sundown. It had been a tiring day of crusading, and all of them were very tired. "Geez Applebloom, what has gotten into you? You were complaining all day about being tired, and now you can't control your energy enough to wait for us!" "I don't know what it is Scootaloo, I can't wait to get to Sweetie's place. We should try for our stargazer cutie marks again tonight!" Sweetie looked over to the young farm pony. "We've done that twice. Besides, it's cloudy. Besides besides, I'm tired. So is Scoots. Maybe another night." "Don't call me Scoots!" Came an indignant shout from next to Sweetie. "But the moon is full tonight! Doesn't that sound cool?" "Bloom, that happens all the time. Like, at least three times a month. Right, Sweetie?" "Something like that." Sweetie yawned, not wanting to argue with her friend right now. "Fine. I'll do it myself. I just want to see the moon, then I'll come to bed. "Uh-huh. Sure. Like that time you came back when you were done seeing Ponyville at night? Or that time you just wanted to catch a firefly? Whatever, I'm tired. If you want to sneak into the Everfree again, go ahead. Just don't get caught please." Scootaloo yawned for the third time since she started her rant, and got a tired grunt from Sweetie. "Fine. You guys are boring at night, you know that? I'll be a good filly this time." "Thank you. Now let's go get some sleep." Sweetie almost nodded off as she reached for the door, only just noticing they were had arrived. In another part of town, Fluttershy was on her way home from visiting her friend Twilight. As much as she loved that mare, when she started talking, she never stopped. It was only after she realized that Fluttershy was standing at the door when she stopped, then apologized for keeping her for so long. Fluttershy didn't mind though. She just hoped that Angel had taken proper care of the other animals while she was away. At this rate, she wouldn't be home 'till almost midnight. If she flew home, she could be there sooner, but as she watched the moon rise over the tree line, Fluttershy couldn't help but gasp at the beauty that Luna had crafted tonight. Perhaps a stroll through the warm evening air would be nice.