The Red Dusk

by Barony

Chapter 21 - Barn

The apple cart squeaks behind the two ponies, both silent as birds chirp and insects make their own, distinct sounds.

Over them, clouds keep on moving, and the sun is constantly blocked and unblocked, the few seconds of blocked sunlight being a token relief for the two as they keep trotting forward.

They hug the fences to their sides, in a futile attempt for the overhanging branches of some of the trees to cover them from the sun's gaze. The sun did not effect Big Mac as much as his darker colored friend, but nonetheless, the fact that he pulled a large cart with cargo in this situation made sure that he was sweating.

Tis' was his life, rather monotonous apart from slight variations day to day. However, he tried to make the best of it, and Red would be perfect for that.

He was quiet, could be a much needed helping hoof (and horn!) on the farm, and a good guy, that is to Big Mac. He just met him today, so most likely, Big Mac thought to himself, he was just scratching the surface of Red's personality, should it even be his true one.

It could be a farce, many legends speak of him being deceptive, playing with a pony's emotions if he was not looking to actually fight or wanted to get something done without having to clean up his blade or armor later. Maybe Red is manipulating him?

Ofcourse not, the stallion assured himself in his mind. He seems genuinely nice and appears to have good intentions. Besides, why would he manipulate a stupid stallion in a quiet little town? For what reason? To get apples for free, sure, but the alicorn seems not to be that petty. He's far from petty, he's bigger than him.

Speaking of which, Big Mac spots a large, almost perfect looking apple hanging on a branch over the two ponies. The alicorn's eyes and mind alike were wondering, taking in his surroundings, and so the earth pony quickly tapped Red, getting a lucky shot on the moving right foreleg.

"Hm?"

"Get that apple, Red." the hauler said in his gruff voice, pointing his muzzle towards the apple. Red's mouth becomes a curious O shape, his horn dimly lighting up to rip snap the apple off the branch with no effort.

He floats the apple towards the cart, but Big Mac shakes his head.

"Split it." the alicorn blinks, his eyes gliding over to the apple before his magic aura lights up for a second and the apple itself is split. Big Mac looked with wonder as the two apple slices, both rather big for a sliced apple, each almost a regularly sized apple in their own right moves towards Red and himself.

Red held the apple infront of his mouth due to his lack of available hooves to hold it with and no horn. He takes a bite, the apple's meat crunching beneath his molars and releasing its sweet, sweet taste towards his tastebuds.

"That's a good apple if Ah've ever had one. What about you, Red?" Big Mac asks, looking up at Dusk, who took a 'small' bite of the slice.

"Delicious." the tall pony says with a grin. Big Mac would normally be so inclined to genuinely smile at this gesture from any other pony, but Red's teeth put him off immediately. He pushes himself to give an encouraging smile to Red, who takes it and looks forward, devouring his piece and throwing the half of the core to the trees.

The ponies yet again stayed silent. The orchard was huge, added on to by the somewhat small cornfields and carrot fields, the former being what they had to pass twenty minutes into the walk.

The sound of an apple falling from the pile on the cart arouses Red's attention, the alicorn bending his neck around to swipe the red apple up and away from falling in the dirt. Unfortunately, Big Mac did not react, the burgundy stallion blinking as he looked at him.

The alicorn sighs and puts the apple back on the pile of other apples rolling alongside him. Some apples were green, some red. He did not know the exact difference between the apples except the fact that he favored green apples over the reds.

After doing that, he goes back to letting his mind wander, his eyes looking everywhere, place to place. The sky was starting to clear up by this time, slightly. There were still clouds lingering, some grey and still containing water, others white and puffy.

Puddles had begun to disappear already, and the ground, while still rather wet, was starting to have less muddy patches. He did not regret taking off his boots, the feeling of the ground under his naked hooves was delightful, especially when it was nice grass that would caress and rub his hooves.

Despite having gone down to Earth hundreds of times over the course of five hundred years, everything just felt new to him. The sight of all these trees proved to be a heartwarming sight, the smell of fresh air lingering made him smile, and the feeling of the dirt under his hooves accompanied by their clips and clops, Big Mac's hooves, and the songs of birds, all so fresh and delightful.

Yet, he was always so detached from the world around him by the wall of steel that would usually coat his body, shielding it, his face and therefore, his senses to the point of obliviousness, with only the mission taking precedent over beauty when it came to them.

When he was not wearing the set, he barely took notice of his surroundings. He was constantly on task, moving around with purpose, working constantly,with little to no rest.

However, it should not be discounted that rarely, he did get to sit down and rest. He still remembers the one moment when he was in the Griffon territories and sat on the side of a mountain, overlooking the range of mountains that all the eye could see. Ofcourse, this was simply accomplished by his ease at the time, the Griffon Territories were lands where he could be relatively safe from the threats he would face in Equestria.

Bounty hunters, roving patrols of guards, wildlife and the environment itself, even. Back then, storms were not regulated like they seem to do in the present. Roving thunderstorms bore down on villages and tornadoes ripped towns apart and left nothing but debris in their path. Blizzards would freeze ponies to death if they stayed outside too long, and sandstorms killed many by making them lost and eventually slaying them afterwards due to the onset of dehydration.

Equestria was not a friendly place, but as the years went by in his absence, Red could only infer, things got better. Maybe Celestia finally got a weight off her shoulders once he was 'out of the picture', and she could focus on making things better.

"We're here." The alicorn's head jerked, being ripped out of thinking. He looked at his friend, before his eyes wander forward to see an open white gate before him, with an arch and some subtle decorations to make it look good.

As they pass the gate, Red feasted his eyes upon a barn and multiple henhouses inside of pens with other pens inhabited by pigs sitting directly next to them. While much could be said about the highly decorated barn, which was apparently the farmhouse if he was correct. To be sure, however.

"That is your house?" Red asks, and Big Mac only nods. Delightful, Red only thought.

The two continued to walk down the path towards the house, Big Mac still pulling the cart as it squeaked. The path seemed to be alot smoother at this point, and all Red was feeling were stones covered in a finely powdered dirt.

Finally, they arrived by the house, and the hauler detached himself from the cart, moving away from it to stretch himself and do his thing before wheeling around to face his guest.

"Ah've gotta go do somethin' else right now, if yah don't mind. If you want, you can come with me." The stallion asked, pointing back towards another structure, something looking like a less decorated barn in the distance. Dusk looked around his immediate area, and only shook his head, that was for another day.

"Alright, suit yourself, see you around." Big Mac wheeled around again, slowly walking towards the barn, leaving Red right there before finally disappearing after he turned around the corner of the house.

Red snorts, he too wheeling around to look at the house at a different angle, aswell as to better look at the array of pens and coops.

Chickens clucked, pigs snorted and oinked, while a windvane perched upon the house itself squeaked as a slight breeze turns it ever so slightly. Red's haunches slowly make contact with the ground, looking over the small patch of land the house sat upon.

By another gate, which obviously led to Ponyville as he saw the roofs of some houses, a rather new looking well sat there with two buckets neatly stacked on the ground next to it, with another on its side beside them. To his right by the well, there was a vegetable garden, with lettuce, tomatoes, even squash and some potatoes.

His tongue slithers out to slide across the top part of his lips. They were right there, waiting to be picked, particularly looking at the potatoes. Nice little food to have to eat as a snack while in the field, he could make a stew with anything, just using the potatoes as a base ingredient.

Although some combinations were not the best, he did get some really good ones, ones worth his time at the campfire and waiting for his small pot to heat up and boil the food.

As he continued to sit down and take everything in a second time, the sound of talking, two mares to be exact, attracts his attention. It was coming from his left side, right by the farmhouse.

They sounded like...

Two ponies popped out from the corner he watched, both instantly recognized by him to be Twilight Sparkle and Applejack, with her signature hat. He opens his mouth to speak.

"Oh, hi Red Dusk!"

"Hiya there, Red!"

He did not even get the chance to speak, both their heads had practically snapped over to look at him and they said their respective greetings. Either he underestimates other ponies regarding reflexes or he himself has a case of bad reflexes.

"Uhmm..." Applejack approached with a smile on her face. She extended a hoof once she stopped, the alicorn getting up to naively accept it.

Quickly, Red, expecting nothing strong coming from her shaking, felt her fetlock's iron grip clamp down on his hoof. He slightly gasped, before his leg was violently shaken.

"Wow, Ah didn't know you had gotten here or would've gone here in the first place, I would've thought you would go to Ponyville right off the bat! How did you like it? Did yah eat any apples? How were they? Did yah meet Big Mac?" she continued to shake, before finally, Red's senses kicked in and stopped her shaking immediately with an impressive show of strength. She wheezed slightly for a moment, before he lightened the grip - she got the message.

"Yes, I ate some apples and met your brother, Big Macintosh. He's a good stallion, he must be a good brother." The alicorn said, releasing her hoof. Applejack smiled sheepishly with a blush.

"Daw shucks. Yes he is, he's a nice guy, sweetheart too. Glad yah met him, sugarcube, he's perfect for settling you in or working with if you intend to work on the orchard. If yah want to, ofcourse." Twilight moved in from behind the talking cow mare, the unicorn extending a hoof out, albeit with some shaking, for Red.

"Good Morning!" she said, with her hoof still out. His focus shifts over to her, and with a hum, he takes his hoof to shake hers, but with a bit of strength applied to it to make the unicorn wince. He chuckles as he releases his fetlock from her own.

"So, how are both of you?" Red asked, the lavender unicorn looking up at Red finally with a normal face. Applejack only gave a confirming look, saying all that is needed to be said. She was good, obviously.

"Good, how did you sleep?" Twilight asks innocently. He tensed up, but regained his composure quickly, giving a half smile to her.

"Delightfully, the bed was not as small as I would have thought." Applejack snorted with a small snicker. She wagged her hoof at him.

"Yuppers, they don't usually make beds for ponies your size. It's a miracle Twilight goes to yard sales all the time and found it for Fluttershy." Red tilted his head, confused. Twilight chuckles with a blush.

"It's when ponies sell stuff that is taking up space in their house right there at their house. Usually everything is really cheap, and I got the bed for only 30 Bits! It was quite a bargain." she explained to him, the alicorn nodding.

"Interesting, maybe I can visit these 'yard sales' sometime and see what I can get." he said, remembering he left his pouch of bits at Fluttershy's cottage by accident. Twilight giggles.

"I'm sure you'll love them, Red. But, we're getting off topic. How was Fluttershy?"

"Mm, she was hiding under the bed for the first two hours of the morning that I was awake, and so I read her and her animals tales of the Everfree to keep them at ease for the duration of the storm. Primarily, it was not my idea, and I would've rather had them get out from under the bed and stop acting like cowards, but eh. I enjoyed reading to them." Both of them kept smiling, actually really creepily. That was until he said the word 'cowards' that they'd stop smiling.

"Not a big fan of scaredy ponies, huh?" Applejack asked, the alicorn processing it for a second before nodding.

"I mean, tis' only thunder, its not going to hurt you or anything, right?" Applejack and Twilight nod shallowly, but Twilight's smile seemed to go straight. Red recoiled slightly, confused.

"What?"

"You can't hold a pony's fears against them, that's just mean and unfair. It probably means they can't control it nor themselves."

"I realize that, but for thunder, it's illogical. It's something that rarely should hurt you... Atleast in my experience despite the conditions before."

"Don't you have an illogical fear of bees and wasps?" Red recoils, the alicorn bouncing back to tap his chin before sighing and nodding, a giggling Twilight sitting before him. Applejack had been watching the interaction for the last two minutes, and she only shrugged.

"Glad ya'll didn't get into a shouting match or a senseless argument over whatever you two were really talking about. Fear or something? Anyway, don't yah wanna check out the rest of Ponyville, Red?" the stallion's turned to look at Applejack, and yet again, he nods.

"So, where should we go first?"

"Ah say we go to Rarity's house first, she's finished repairing one of Big Mac's harnesses, the cushion got torn." The earth pony pointed over some trees, in the direction of Rarity's house, he could only presume.

"Hm. Well, we are burning daylight." The alicorn says, beginning to walk away. However, a slight tug on his tail arouses his attention to Twilight Sparkle.

"Its only the morning. The day is still young, so we have plenty of time if you really want to stay and talk." he shakes his head.

"Nay, we do not know if the storm will come back, and it would not be very nice if we were caught outside to get wet. Atleast for you..." Twilight stared at him, before shrugging. She looks at Applejack, both giving nods to eachother before overtaking Red and letting him follow them.

Overhead,clouds still blanketed the sky, many grey, many white.

Author's Note:

Awkward chapter!

I am really glad I got this done quick, it could've stopped my operation really fast but nay. Rarity will be a fun character to have Red interact with, especially Sweetie Belle.