• Published 27th Mar 2016
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The Red Dusk - Barony



Red Dusk has finally been released from his prison and is introduced to a new world.

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Chapter 15 - Plans

Celestia looks at a parchment, laid out infront of her, quill in magic.

It slightly dripped, a small pool of ink on a towel. Equestrian characters were masterfully wrote on the parchment, with another parchment nearby, the ink on there drying on Celestia's study desk.

She was almost about to sign her name on there, a letter to be sent to Twilight and her friends. It was a plan to send Red off to Ponyville, for it was obvious Canterlot was not a suitable place for him to reform at that time.

Weeks have passed since the day after the Gala, and apart from Red's eye having healed, nothing remarkable or expressively good has happened.

The fallout from the Gala still loomed, poisoning the populace as Red's travels through Canterlot was met with more ire from the populace, stores closing down at places he frequented, as well as...

Celestia looks over at a small pile of letters, from people in Canterlot, even other cities. Letter writing campaigns, within the span of three weeks. She shakes her head, going back to her letter.

Red's habits seemed to change over time, which was that instead of going around the Equestrian dominated districts of Canterlot, he went over to the Griffon immigrant districts or the Dark Quarter, the Quarter being notorious for having seedy stuff going on in there.

Overall, most of his time was spent in the palace, eating, sleeping, thinking in his room or the gardens, maybe flying around or above the palace.

While wondering about, he took over an old, outside room connected to the palace used formerly to store tools for the gardeners.

He now maintains his armor and weapons over there, even against Celestia's advising not to, considering that sharpening your big scary weapon is not particularly good for public relations with such circumstances that are now.

Celestia only shook her head, looking over her letter.

On it lay a plan. It was a plan of reformation, agreed to by Red himself, which contained orders for Twilight and her friends to choose who will allow him to live with them, how he should live, what they should do during the duration of the proposed two month visit, what he should do, and especially what they should record.

The visit came out of necessity simply because the fact that Canterlot is such a big city, it has its seedy parts and Red is in danger of being dragged into that or having or doing something relating to it.

There is the Equestrian Mafia, a organization which has a firm grasp on Canterlot's underworld and therefore, quite a bit on what happens on the surface.

The group is dangerous and Red could be dragged into it, considering his general naivety of the modern world and whats good and what is not. But one would argue Red would know better.

No, no he does not.

There are also the nobles of Canterlot and the populace of Canterlot in general. Everytime he goes out there, he barely sees any ponies within a six foot radius of him, its miserable. Though Red has said its nice going through empty streets with noone in the shops and pubs along them.

The nobles Fancy Pants and Fleur De Lis, however, have visited Red. Fleur especially was interested with Red, particularly in his ability to fight. Ofcourse, Fancy Pants was dragged into a training session one Thursday and proceeded to get the snot beat out of him, Fleur De Lis likewise but in a lesser sense.

The Princess only smiles, knowing that will be one of Red's first steps in amending his relations with the public. However, the media was still an issue, and with it still in the way, they would make no headway.

At Ponyville, it being a small town with much to do around may be beneficial. Its a homey, peaceful setting for Red to adapt in, and although his home may always be in Canterlot, it might help with his social skills.

He can work on the apple farm with Applejack, hauling apples, doing whatever Applejack does to get the apples in the first place, making whatever they make with the apples.

With Red living on the farm itself, he can experience the hospitality of the modern pony... Well, slightly modern to be completely honest, she's not sure if the Apple's are time travelers from another era of family values. Not only that, but also experience living with a semi-modern filly.

Celestia only blushes with a smile at the thought of the adorable little filly and the imposing giant with the shining sharp teeth being friends. It'd be so adorable, if only she had a camera and that was happening right infront of her!

Plus, he'll learn from Honesty herself the ways of the world, an honest opinion and analyzation of the world from her eyes. It'll be foolproof... But Red might not appreciate being a farmpony all day everyday, it would be a dull routine.

There is Rarity, and Red knows how to sew stuff up, in a way.

Generosity is a good thing to have as a trait, he could capture the hearts and minds of the citizens! Without a weapon, ofcourse, just a helping hoof with a generous offering.

Also, Celestia knows for a fact that Red knew how to utilize gems from the ground in a number of ways, something of which she has an example of. She floats over a piece of armor from the stallion himself, turning it about to look at its layering.

The one layer on the top was smooth, and shiny - gems.

More specifically, magical Everfree Red Topaz, known for its properties to literally absorb magic and completely distribute force should you utilize it correctly like Red has. He seemed to have ground the topaz, however which way he did that, and used a strong adhesive on the bottom, with the gem particles sprinkled on and evened out.

With this knowledge, he would be an immense help to Rarity, and both could become good friends with eachother. That is if Red can deal with Rarity's drama, a reportedly very curious sister that likes to touch things shes not supposed to, and Rarity's obsession of dresses.

Celestia shudders at the thought of Red being dressed up by a Rarity with an evil grin, he would not be happy at the slightest. To save Red the hassle of being recommended to her, which she now plans to do, she mentally gets a permanent marker and scribbles out Rarity's name, just for memory.

Plus, she runs a store, a store she lives in and Red would have to live in. His presence could be a drag on business.

Celestia tapped her chin with the end of her quill, thinking.

Rainbow Dash, she cant trust with Red. Things'll happen, thats for sure.

Pinkie was especially out of the question, Red relayed his opinions of the party pony to her after the day they left and he said she was "disturbing and astoundingly ill.".

Ofcourse, Celestia scolded him, but he was not moved.She's pretty sure both will have a rather aggressive, particularly on Red's side, confrontation at some point.

To help do away with this, Celestia begins to scribble on the bottom of the parchment as follows.

"P.S, watch Pinkie and Red carefully."

She puckered her lip out, nodding. That should be enough, hopefully, for Twilight to interpret what Celestia meant.

Talking about Twilight, Red could stay at her place. Celestia pridefully grins, her student is probably the perfect choice.

For one, Twilight has a direct line of communication with her and with that, he can even do friendship reports! A jittery Celestia rubs her two gold clad hooves, almost dropping the quill onto the letter, however.

Two, Twilight would be a constant source of knowledge for Red, considering her own thirst of knowledge and the fact that she's learning something new. It'll be a crutch for Red, hopefully. If not, living in a library will keep him occupied aswell as informed.

But...Celestia frowns.

Twilight can be an annoying little brat,a feeling coming from her mentor all the way through the mare's childhood. Red might not be so keen to board with Twilight because of that, simply because of interactions before where he has relayed that she seems to "not understand the concept of social cues."

He has no position to speak on that, but its true. She does not seem to take social cues, and more importantly, although Red was one to be precise in his work, he was not to the level of Twilight.

Twilight was hard to please, frustrating to work with unless the both of ponies thought the same. So you would either be really good friends or her husband... Or wife if she is lesbian but that is besides the point, Celestia bashes herself internally, rolling her eyes.

Red, on the other hand, seemed to be more moderate, and with his small amount of patience, a puddle being a term you could use to describe it, his focus would evaporate almost immediately and he would proceed to just quit on Twilight entirely.

Plus, yet again, business would be impeded, Twilight does lead the library and she leases out books to ponies to deal with living costs. To send Red in there would be financial suicide for Twilight, alot of ponies would not be so keen to be so close in contact with Red.

But, to Celestia, the benefits outweight the problems. She begins to move her quill into action to begin writing her recommendation.

She had just finished with writing Twilight before she remembered. She forgot about Fluttershy!

Fluttershy was an elusive little mare, the Princess knew little of her except for her shy, rather sidelined personality, her love for caring for animals. She also knows she is rather gentle and patient, but thats about it.

Celestia thinks for a second, remembering the fact that Fluttershy did not necessarily own a business, and if she did, it's rather low key. She owns a cabin near the Everfree and essentially lives on her own out there with animals, doing all sorts of things---.

The alabaster alicorn proceeds to take off her golden shoe and smacks herself in the forehead.

It was so blatantly obvious. Fluttershy is the ultimate pony for Red to be reformed under, Celestia's voice echoes in her head.

Gentle, patient, and she deals with animals who would otherwise be ripping her face off... Or she just had lots of skin transplants due to aggressive animals and noone has ever brought up such a question, but thats besides the point!

Celestia takes her quill back up, re-inking it and quickly writing Fluttershy in her masterful cursive.

She winces, licking her rather dry lips as she rolls up the parchment, wraps a ribbon on the middle, and puts her badge of authentication onto it.

The alicorn blinks, holding it in her magic, sighing. She hopes this plan works, and should it not, it could mean dire consequences. Anything that can go wrong in this place may have a, at best, moderate effect on Equestria as a whole.

She burns the letter into embers, magical ones linked to Spike through a magical connection.

As the letter fully dematerializes, the glowing remains of the letter swirl around in a cyclone, before in a single column like formation, makes a beeline for Ponyville, going through Celestia's door lock and between the doors and door frame.

It will only be a matter of time until a letter of response comes back. Until then, however...

Celestia peeks over slightly behind her to a platter with a glass cover that protected top of the line strawberry short cake.

She turns around, grinning as she approaches it, the cake's future rather grim.


Twilight sat on her bed, reading a book as the sun began to set in the window right beside her.

She had a little smile as she read it, a book about what makes a steam engine, quite an arbitrary book to be reading considering her business: leasing books to other people and collecting profit on that through late fees and check out fees.

It was just a little something she picked out of one of the many bookshelves in the library, to keep her occupied.

A slight snore beside her elicits a reaction from her, the unicorn's head snapping to look at a napping Spike.

She rolls her eyes, going back to her book. Her eyes scanned each and every line, a notable, smooth-ish movement that can be easily be seen considering a pony's large eyes.

A cup floats from beside her, formerly resting near the window sill. It steamed, fresh coffee inside the coffee. Despite Celestia's immense influence on her as a child, she could not bring herself to drink tea as much as her mentor did. She preferred coffee, nicely brewed coffee.

She sips it, some of the liquid burning her tongue - in the usual place, but she did not mind, she just let the liquid flow through her as she enjoyed the taste.

Enthralled by its taste, the unicorn moves the cup closer to her again to sip, that is until a small commotion is heard beside the bed.

Her head snaps back to Spike, who was choking on something. He grabs his throat his eyes dashing about everywhere.

"Spike!" Twilight alarmingly exclaims, her cup quickly gliding back to its former place by the window sill, some of the coffee spilling on her bed as she dashes into action.

She grabs Spike with her magic,performing a maneuver which effectively pushed the object out of the esophagus, should it be performed correctly using adequate force.

With a few pulls with her magic, the dragon coughs up what was choking him: a letter, from Celestia.

Twilight sighs, remembering the last time the letter had teleported too deep down his throat. She quickly takes it up, waving it about to get some dragon saliva off of it.

Meanwhile, Spike wheezed and coughed, using the bed as a support for his body.

"Why...When...I...Sleep?" Spike waves a fist in the air, coughing as he drags himself to sit down and look at Twilight who seemed to be more focused on the letter, which had Celestia's stamp of authentication.

"Its a letter from Princess Celestia!" Twilight thinks aloud, the baby dragon rolling his eyes: ofcourse it is.

The unicorn unties the ribbon holding the letter together, for it to spring open, the ribbon and badge being thrown over to a small pile of its own. Always hopeful for a letter from Celestia, the grinning pony reads through.

But immediately, her grin becomes a frown. It was a plan in great detail, one that detailed Red coming down to Ponyville. It had goals, schedules, all sorts of things. Twilight puts down the letter, a bead of sweat going down her forehead.

"Are you okay, Twilight?" Spike asks, but she does not answer. Curious, the purple dragon walks over to look at the letter, only to be rather accepting.

"Whoa... Thats kinda cool."

"It is not, Spike. Imagine the implications of this! She's essentially making us into therapists with a crazy pony!"

"I didn't think you thought of Red as a crazy pony." Spike looks at Twilight with a side eye. She nods like its obvious.

"But he is!"

"No he isn't. Celestia knows best, you know that, and its for the best. Canterlot is not a good place for him to reform, infact, it could make him worse and he would be in a better position to do something to alot of ponies or the princesses... Except Princess Luna, but thats beside the point!" Spike went into a small speech, Twilight's skeptical face constantly forming due to her opinions, which were somewhat convinced.

He had a point, if something bad happened and Red went absolutely nuts, Celestia, Cadance, her brother, and millions of ponies are immediately within his crosshairs.

Here in Ponyville, if anything happens, it'd probably be minor and they can effectively deal with Red since they have the Elements of Harmony. Plus, its a great place to learn a few things, relax, and make new friends, provided that the populace of Ponyville are more accepting than that of Canterlot.

Twilight takes back the letter, floating it out of Spike's paws. She reads through it again. There were instructions on keeping pepper spray near them, them being the pony letting him stay at their house, at all times, aswell as a small note at the bottom of the letter.

"P.S, watch Pinkie and Red carefully." it said simply. A very basic command. There was another note, with a scribbled out word whose ink did not drip down to create a curtain of ink.

"I recommend Twilight Fluttershy as the one to take Red Dusk in. She is perfect for the role, I advise you try to get her to do so." Twilight was more than happy not to be recommended for taking in Red, now that she recognizes the word stricken through, but does that also mean Celestia sees Twilight as untrustworthy? She might not know exactly what she feels about Red, really.

Hopefully, Celestia does trust her. Hopefully...

Twilight shakes her head. It was too late for her to get all her friends together. The sun was already halfway to being finished with the sunset, so tomorrow would be the day that she inform her friends.

She picks herself up, opening a drawer from her work desk across her bed area to pull out two thumbtacks. She takes the letter, nailing it to the wall with Spike watching, after which she is done, she wheels around to face Spike.

"We've got a long day tomorrow, Spike... Rest up." the dragon nods, going to his bed and jumping into it. He crawls into a comfortable position, quickly going to sleep, with Twilight watching the full 15 minutes.

Spike knows how to sleep, thats for sure. Twilight chuckles at the though, she herself closing off her window with curtains and turning on a lamp, slipping under her blankets to pick her book back up.

She reads, the thoughts of what could happen tomorrow ricocheting in her mind constantly.

She will have to delay it, tomorrow will begin a long two months.

Author's Note:

Celestia is old school when it comes to her writing utensils, meanwhile, other ponies use more modern forms of writing, such as ball point pens.

At the point where I was writing the lines for Celestia's "IT WAS SO OBVIOUS" moment regarding Fluttershy, I was listening to the Fallout 4 song and it was at the more adventurey sounding part near the end.