The Red Dusk

by Barony

Chapter 7 - Good Morning

A silent Red Dusk sits beside his window in his room, looking straight out. His eyes were unblinking, as per the account one could make using the reflection of him on the window if you were Celestia in this case, standing by the open doorway and looking on as he does not notice.

The stallion had his breakfast right beside him and it was a basic meal of bread soaked with olive oil, some oats, and coffee in a large mug. The pony had expressed quite the interest in the chocolate flavored coffee from the kitchens and had obviously got pretty hooked on it.

Celestia had been standing there for the last five minutes, observing Red as he sat there without his knowledge. Luckily, she did not have to worry about alerting him by opening the door up, for it was already slightly open when she got over.

Her mouth twisted in its place as she hears him mumble for the fifth time already. It was almost as if he was speaking to someone, but that someone was not there, or... Not in her vision?

She shakes her head, calling the thought nonsense. The stallion might just be contemplating something and he's talking to himself, she thinks, but one cannot exactly expect what another is thinking. Tilting her head, she also wonders when he is going to drink that coffee of his, which was still steaming but inevitably getting colder and colder.

Just as she thinks about this, the crimson alicorn takes a sip of his coffee, spitting it out into the cup and cursing.

"Fff-Fuck!" he hisses as his tongue rubs along his lips and along the top of his mouth, those places having been burned. Celestia could not do anything but just barely stifle a chuckle. To be honest, his sailor's mouth and little blunder was quite hilarious.

It was hard not to begin speaking with him. Her student and her friends were up and already eating breakfast in the royal dining room, but she was entranced by a Red who was not pressured to do anything he would not normally do because he is around Celestia. However, apart from his little accident, nothing seemed much different in this situation.

Red takes a bite of some bread, mumbling as he chews the soaked piece, all the while moving a coffee mug closer to his mouth to begin blowing on it after he swallows the piece of bread almost whole.

After a few blows, he pulls back and sticks his long tongue into it in a flash...

And in a flash, the short, oddly high pitched scream of agony comes from the alicorn as his concentration is broken and the mug falls from his grasp, only being saved by a quick, desperate save by making a magical bowl, catching both the mug and the coffee itself.

"Ahhhh! Self righteous miscreants. Soon..." Red presumably curses the brewers of the coffee, but the 'soon' part was odd to Celestia.

She did think it odd as she softly laughed, Red turning his head over to her after he finishes his sentence.

His cheeks darken as they blush, a cold sweat appearing on the back of his heads as he gave a nervous face of question, an arched eyebrow a distinct part of it as his iris's shook in their places.

"Celestia?" he asks, the princess jerking in her place as she looks over with a goofy smile, chuckling a bit at Red's face. He only shakes his head in a confused way.

"How long havth you bee--- Fuck!" a curse yet again leaves the stallions mouth as Celestia goes on for another round of laughter, the red pony wiping his face from cheek to cheek with a single hoof in disappointment.

Celestia's laughing dies down as she prepares to answer, only met with a subtle shaking of the head.

"Nevermind. What is your purpose here?"

"I had come to check up on you and maybe ask if you would like to socialize with Twilight Sparkle and her friends? Shining Armor is down there."

Red's attention was grabbed as he takes another slice, dipping it in some olive oil and tossing it into his mouth as if he himself were a trash can with the fancy opening lids.

"Hmm... I am interested. Just give myself a moment for I must recollect the steaming liquid that has so burned me because of the brewers in the kitchens making it too hot." he says in a straight tone of voice, doing just that as he looks over an meticulously uses his 'magic bowl' to pour the coffee into a now separate mug.

Obviously, it it is not the least bit perfect, some drops of the hot, steaming substance dripping onto the carpet, which was promptly ignored by a slightly miffed Red who kept a relatively straight face. Done with his task, the magical aura vaguely resembling a bowl disappears and the plate of bread and mug are surrounded by the red glow of Red Dusk's magic while he lifts himself up to his full height, bowing down only to stretch his legs.

Celestia looks on at him as he approaches her, it being odd to her being at odds with another pony in terms of height. Both were atleast six feet, but Celestia was either one or two inches taller then Red. Red's horn was just as tall as her's, but seemed to be alittle thicker, probably to facilitate some kind of distribution of heat when using a good amount of magic for extended periods of time.

But what did she know? She shakes her head as she gives a smile at him, while also stepping back as he approaches within half a foot of her.

His muzzle just scrunches up while he shakes his head dismissively.

"Are we to go or are we to stand here and not be productive?" Celestia blushes, sheepishly smiling as she wheels around and walks out of the door along with the stallion in tow, or rather right beside her.

There was silence between them, the crimson pony not daring to look at Celestia for an unknown reason and seemingly reluctant to speak. He had a straight face on, his ears perked up to their full height as if he were alert. He was a soldier after all, so it could be muscle memory to keep them up like that all the time.

Meanwhile, Celestia kept darting her eyes around to look at Red, only looking forward to see where she was going. He seemed somewhat confident in his gait and had his neck straight up. Thinking about his neck, she wondered how he even kept his neck up for long periods of time with the helmet on, considering its position.

But it could just be the case that the muscles in his neck are quite developed and he's purposefully sacrificing comfort for protection. Nopony would ever want to lose his or her head, would they?

Celestia's eyes dart out to look out of the windows of the hallways, to look towards the blue sky only to be reminded of the Moon. Did he like to be on the moon, she wonders.

Her head turns to look at Red Dusk, who still looked straight forward in the direction he was going, just as they round a turn.

"Did you like to be on the moon?" the stallion immediately stopped in his tracks, Celestia advancing only two hoofsteps infront of him before stopping and looking back at him, walking closer.

He blinks as she approaches, looking away before turning his head back to her. He opens his mouth, but closes it back up as he thinks more about what to say.

Finally, he begins.

"Yes, I did."

"Is it not a barren wasteland up there?" Celestia inquires, the stallion snorting.

"Does it matter if it is a 'barren wasteland'?" Red rolls his eyes, looking out the windows.

"To me, it was my home for I would sleep there, eat there, live there... Play there."

"Play?"

"Yes, indeed, play. I needed some stimulation outside of being sent down there, and so I usually pranced along the edges of the dusty craters, made, watched the sun set and rise, jump into space without actually being trapped in space."

"That seems like a horrible existence." Celestia tilts her head, the alicorn jerking his head back in surprise, only to bring it back to its place growling. The alabaster offender takes a few steps back, her head recoiled away from the stallion as she did so.

"Oh you may think so, did you not? You had to insult me and the only place I had as a home. Take into mind that I was not always surrounded by loyal subjects that would throw every last one of themselves infront of you to save you from a arrow or bolt, and that I was not not on a lively green ball of floating dirt in space inside of a cute white little 'castle' where I would have access to the finest of dining, total security, and comfortable quarters." Celestia walks back from her position as he continues.

"The moon was my only home, a beautiful, albeit dusty one. The one and only one with a Mare that did show me compassion... Atleast I think She did, but nevertheless, She and the moon will be locked within my heart as sweet memories, and that is why I love the moon." Celestia hummed in interest as he got to the last part. Evidently, he had ended with his explanation on a loose note, making Celestia guess he was not too keen on talking about it too much.

That last part, however, was suspicious. Her locked inside of his heart? Is he referring to something like... No, she thought as she shook her head, denying what she had thought as she uneasily walked after him, only staying two feet from him.

---

Twilight looks on at Red Dusk at the other side of the table as her friends talk with him.

He sat next to Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, who each had their own breakfast dishes, while the three others sat across from him, each with their own dishes aswell.

She had some basic Prench toast right infront of her, delicately sprinkled with some powdered sugar and some syrup. She moved as he came along, but her friends did not mind at all, citing her lack of comfort she had around him.

A cushion was pulled out from under the table next to Twilight, attracting her attention to a fully armored Shining Armor, who had a cup of coffee placed on the table where he would sit and eat.

"Good morning, Twily." he said with a smile, his sister doing likewise, turning her head to focus on cutting a chunk out of the remaining toast.

"Good morning, Shining." she says as she finally cuts the piece from the toast, such piece having some of the syrup dripping down onto the plate as she puts it into her mouth, another drop of syrup falling on the carpet under the table, much to the frustration of Twilight.

"Dermit!" she says with a full mouth, an amused Shining Armor chuckling.

"How did you sleep?" Shining asks, the purple unicorn beside him swallowing the chewed piece of toast.

"Good. The beds here are just as good as they were when I was still here."

"Which was like a year ago, if I am correct?" Shining Armor asks, Twilight nodding.

"Does Mom and Dad know about him?" Twilight motions her head over to a rather interested looking Red, who was now listening to Rainbow Dash about the Sonic Rainboom she made as a little filly. The captain shakes his head, taking a sip of his coffee carefully.

"Nope. They don't, but do you plan on visiting them?"

"Today."

"Alright, you can tell them about Red if you want, just remember to tell them not to say anything. Its imperative we keep his reveal to the public to be through an official event where he is planned to be there, not through rumors which can get warped and make everything alot worse." Shining Armor tells Twilight, who looks at him with a skeptical face.

"Would there not be rumors anyway?" She asks in a skeptical tone, as Shining Armor takes another sip and snorts.

"Well, yeah... But we'll have it to where some may be forced to interact with him. Cadance said that, I'm not sure if its going to work, but heck if I know."

"Ponies will avoid him like the plague and only the bravest ones will even be around him if he were ever in a street." Shining says, looking over at Red, who was acting rather docile right then.

"I would think so. He's..."

"Unnerving?"

"Yeah." both agree with eachother, as Shining shakes his head.

"Sorry for last night, It just felt a little like an insult to him and we cant have things like that to discourage him further. Its probably that we are lucky that your friends have gotten friendly towards him." Shining reflects, taking yet another sip of coffee and smacking his lips.

"Its alright. All of the girls said they were uncomfortable too, but kind of surprised too, though. Applejack talked about him not having had an apple pie or apple fritters at all and said that it was 'unbelievable'." Twilight takes another piece of the toast, chewing it as she looks over at AJ, who had a slight smile on her face as Pinkie Pie told of a party story about some pony knocking over a bowl of punch and him 'dancing as he slid'.

Red just looked on with a raised eye brow, shaking his head as he said something in response after the end of her story.

"I am utterly surprised you are functioning normally... Disregard my last, 'semi-normally' with this constant partying."a few mouths hang open as Shining sharply inhales through his teeth. The other mares look on with confusion after his remark, the stallion looking all around their faces with a confused face of his own.

"Is it what I have voiced or have I done something I did without noticing?"

"He's got some things to iron out." Shining Armor quietly says to Twilights ears, his sister agreeing with him through nodding.

"Yes, he does. What does he usually do?" Shining Armor scrunches up his muzzle, shaking his head.

"Stare out of the window with his meal infront of him, go to the garden, and that's it apart from eating, drinking and sleeping. He has talked with me yesterday, but usually it was him talking about the Gala and what if it doesn't work, yadda yadda yadda." Shining Armor gestures dismissively with a hoof along with a frown.

"I swear, sometimes he just doesn't do anything, just only stare outside into the sky for a period or something. You can actually sneak up to him at his room's doorway if you are quiet enough and just watch him mumble to himself sometimes, which may just point to the fact that he likes to talk to himself a lot, but you never know."

"I've also overheard some of the kitchen staff saying something about putting ant poison in one of the cups of coffee he asks for, while the nobles don't even bother going near his room. The guards all talk about jumping him and kicking his ass when he's not looking."

"Sounds like every pony hates his guts with a passion." Twilight comments, a light hearted chuckle coming from Shining as he keeps a worried face on.

"I'm kind of worried that when he's revealed, the Princess's public opinion will just plummet and that there could be attempts at Red's life once he goes out there. Im also kind of worried about how he looks at Princess Luna. I mean, he just worships and praises her endlessly and calls her 'Her Excellency'. Its really creepy, and plus, we're all just staying away from him, except Princess Celestia and I, who still try to keep a small distance from him as we talk to him." Shining vents, rubbing the back of his head and brushing the mane on his helmet. He sips up the last of his coffee, putting down the mug the last time.

"You know, last night, as I was going after the girls after they left me there, I swore I felt his stare from one of the side hallways and heard him mumbling to himself, almost as if he was cursing in Pony Latin." Twilight looks over at Shining, the white unicorn stallion looking intrigued.

"I'll make a note of that, but I have work to do. I'll see you in the evening." he says as he gets up, pushing the cushion back under the table and walking away.

"Bye." Twilight says, looking after Shining before looking back at Red, who sat there eating the last slices of his meager breakfast. For an alicorn, he didn't eat that much, to the outside observer that is.

The stallion notices Twilight looking at him, which scares her as her head jolts in its place.

"Is something wrong, Twilight Sparkle?" he asks with a straight, monotone voice. She shakes her head to which the pony then looks away, his eyes wandering.

Twilight blows out from her mouth, poking the last remaining chunk of her syrupy breakfast on her plate. She looks back at Red, who was now on his very last slice of bread. Some tiny crumbs did lightly pepper the areas around his lips, as to be expected, but overall, he was rather clean.

It occurred to Twilights mind that if she is to become comfortable around him, or at the very least a little less inclined to leave the room when he's around, she must interact with him. Maybe she'll have the same amount of luck the others had and have some good interaction between eachother, or maybe it'll be awkward and damaging.

The muffled sounds of hoove's making contact with the carpet attracts the thoughtful unicorn's attention, only to see Red Dusk walking away with a plate and mug, off to the kitchen, she would presume. She looks back to her toast, and then the clock, which stated that it was around 9:50 in the morning.

"Twilight, is there somethin' wrong?" Applejack calls out to Twilight with a concerned tone, only for the unicorn to shake her head. A skeptical Applejack squints, turning back around to socialize.

To be honest with herself, the only reason Twilight was not socializing with the others was because she was not exactly next to them, only being 2 cushions away from them.

With little thought, she picks up the plate with the last piece of food on there, and walks over to sit next to Applejack, for the farmer mare to look over at Twilight and begin talking, Twilight doing likewise as she sat down.

Only, she noticed, yet again, the alicorn looking down at her from a hallway with the door open. Asoon as she noticed, he began to walk down the hallway.

Slowly, she floats her piece of toast into her mouth, watching the stallion before he takes a left turn and therefore gets away from her sight. Twilight shakes her head, turning her head back to her friends.

Something fishy was going on.

Author's Note:

Not the best I have made. To be honest, I really need to get my game up. Quality seems to vary among chapters and it may have to do with me trying to squeeze some typing time into days where Im not sure that Im inspired or not.

Anyone have the same problem?

Comments

[Barony]

7235766 Thank you for the support.
Infact...

Here! Have a hug!

[f0st3r21]

"I've also overheard some of the kitchen staff saying something about putting ant poison in one of the cups of coffee he asks for, while the nobles don't even bother going near his room. The guards all talk about jumping him and kicking his ass when he's not looking."

And the Captain of the Guard just let them off the hook? At best, that’s conspiracy to commit murder. As an alicorn, he is technically royal; so there’s possible regicide.