The Red Dusk

by Barony

Chapter 9 - Melody

As the two stallions played on the computer, a set of eyes looks on from the shadows.

They are ignorant of whoever is spectating them, a shy, yet formerly powerful and willful mare.

She adjusted her black tiara on her head as she watched the two, Red giving small chuckles as he typed on the computer, doing something.

"Oooo...Whats--"

"No no no!" Shining stammered, the alicorn turning his head half to the right with a raised eyebrow and, quite frankly, a hilarious looking frown that had a little 'bump' in the line as it traveled not even a quarter way down his muzzle.

Luckily, she forgot her silver hoofguards when she went out to watch, to observe Red.

To her, it was a matter of just seeing how he acted. How he is, how he acts now. Five centuries may not be as long as the time she sat doing nothing on the moon, half of those years being without a companion, but it is still a very long time. Did he truly change?

Now, while she does have experience with him as her previous self, it was not like now. Now, he feels more dark and foreboding, and it was strange seeing him in this way. She did not feel as much of a connection as she did before.

Before, he was like her. Both of them had a dying hatred for Celestia, atleast it seemed. One was summoned into such a state of mind and the other was possessed to keep that attitude for way longer than she should have had, the attitude one would have if they were to have, say, a tantrum.

While she could reveal herself and converse, she felt a resistance against doing so. It would probably make out an awkward situation, regarding the fact that she just appears from the darkness, especially since they are focused on the 'computer'.

Yes, something was abound to happen with the particular alicorn, the only alicorn male right now, and he happens to be synthetic. Made of forbidden magics and spells that all mix to create something of an abomination that just somehow came out as a rather good looking alicorn, that is on the outside.

Considering this fact, she could not help but feel that he is unworthy of any trust. His glare reflected that of a sort of dead emptiness, a disturbing apathetic moral code that just didn't exist, almost.

His height, imposing and authoritarian, perfected to create an atmosphere around his victims, to lull them into submission from sheer looks alone.

His jaws were lined with tall,carnivorous teeth, ready to rip and tear, the true jawline of one who defines terror.

She shakes her head, closing her eyes. She must not delude herself, she thinks to herself as she realizes the teeth seemed to almost detract from how big she thought they were.

Odd, she thought to herself as she gave a glance to the side

Celestia has talked with her, describing plans of reeducation and reform that will help him, transform him into something that he was not right now.

"If everything goes right, he'll be reformed within no time. You know how converts are the most fanatic, you know that saying, Luna?" Celestia's voice echoed in her mind, the vision of the meeting slightly foggy in her mind with an unsure looking Luna to the side.

"Oh, sister." Luna shakes her head, her knowing that Celestia was being too optimistic. Her bigger sister always seemed to look on the brighter side of things, ironically enough when you say it like that.

Luna chuckles to herself, before instantly realizing her mistake as Shining's head jerks over into the darkness Luna was in.

"Anypony there?" Red looks over too, Shining calling out into the darkness. Luna backsteps, lucky that Red's night vision was being impeded by the bright, glowing computer screen.

Luna's blood drains from her face and sinks into nothingness in her hooves, a cold breeze making her almost shiver, jittery. What would they say about her stalking them?

"Do not worry, friend. I am sure it is nothing. Come on now, let me... Oh shit." Red gives a dismayed face while his face center-aligns itself with the computer screen, both beginning to indistinctly talk yet again, albeit with some looks into the darkness.

Luna breathes a sigh of relief, looking back over at Red to see him looking back. Her head goes back in an instant, and this time, Red notices. He gets up, the sounds of his hooves stepping down dramatic to Luna's ears.

As he gets to the door frame, he looks side to side.

Nothing.

---

Red looks out from the observation deck of the palace tower, now that he felt confident that nopony would see him in the shade.

The hot sunlight just stopped right infront of his forehooves, baking the bricks further that the light lay on. His mane slightly blows in the breeze that came in.

The sky was a perfect, beautiful blue, with no clouds in sight. While Red could see the sky, he could not effectively see what was around him, him being in, ofcourse, the shade!

Beside him, there was a highly decorated telescope with gold engravings mixed in with colors such as royal purple and some other degrees of purple. To him, it looked rather attractive, but tacky.

He looks back out to look at what he can look at, noticing the guard that was assigned to guard him. She was a unicorn mare, a white one with a black and red mane and tail. Her eyes were green and happy looking. She had a blank face on, and seemed to not complain about being assigned to him.

By no means did Red discount the fact in his inspection of her that she was actually quite beautiful, especially in the gold armor, but nonetheless, she was a normal pony, and he also put this into mind that she's probably disgusted with him as much as the others.

So, he looks into the sky, before shaking his head. He could hear the shuffling of armor near him, from Rose, as he stands up to go into the light.

As he does, he hears Rose coming up from behind him, her armor giving herself away, her stopping to his right to look up at him.

"What are you doing?" she asks, the alicorn moving his neck to look over at her, an eyebrow raised.

"Getting into the light to see much more than just towers and the sky." He knew her name, having been told that by Celestia, but he preferred not to refer to her by her name right now. She looks away to face ahead, uneasy.

Meanwhile, Red took this time to look around, seeing the city for the first time in a hundred years.

From his place on the tower, he could see the roofs of apartments, houses, shops, theaters and much more. He could see ponies walking through the streets, some with carts, others were standing in the streets, talking or doing something.

There were pegasi in the sky, but at a level where they would barely see Red; they were at a lower altitude then the observation deck.

Red looks in awe at the clean looking city, most walls, if not all, being coated in a clean white paint. The roofs varied between defined darks to some orange clay colors

It was at this point that he notices Rose Melody has moved too, to get a better view of her own city. She has a smile on her face, and to this, Red yet again raises an eyebrow, but with a smile.

"Enjoying the view, I see?" he asks, the unicorn jumping as she is surprised by him. He rolls his eyes, chuckling as she looks up at him, looking to the side with a disturbed face. To him, she was tiny, but she seemed to hold up, regaining her composure as she looks up at him, him looking back at her.

"Y-Yes, I see this everyday."

"Mm... Where do you live?" he asks, looking back out into the city. Melody, giving a side glare at him, speculated for a second, before turning her head away, her face twisting about to think.

The unicorn reluctantly points over, with a hoof, to a place in the city with a few apartment buildings, one of them having a blue coat of paint and two others having a sort of varied degree of red between both of them.

"The blue one, over there. Fifth floor." she says nonchalantly, the alicorn smiling. The apartments looked rather clean, most of them however. One of the 'white' ones seemed to be a little seedier, alittle dingier and awkward. Maybe it was all the little boxes on the windows and maybe it was not maintained properly.

"It looks nice. Do you like your home of Canterlot?" Red asks, no response from Rose. She seems hesitant to start conversation with him, so he nudges her with a hoof.

"There is no need to be hesitant. What would I do with that information, what, steal your worldly possessions and pilfer your coin?" he asks, still receiving a weirded out stare from Rose.

"Thats a possibility." she responds sarcastically, Red giving a small chuckle, along with her doing so, though nervously.

"I beg to differ, I am a dignified individual, Rose Melody."

"True, you have been described as rather polite before you go all Alien on them."

"Alien? Movie?"

"Its a movie about these ponies in a station in space having to deal with some weird, pony like thing with a large head and acidic blood, and... Ah nevermind." Obviously, Rose ignored him asking about a movie

"Why pay no mind? It sounds interesting"

"Eh. Its just stupid."

"Sounds horrifying, though."

"Really? I mean, it is, but to you."

"Ofcourse. I am a pony too and that means that I also have fears. I'll admit, I have been scared by... some things before, like alien things, like a manticore or... insects, actually!"

"Seriously?" she tilts her head at him, the sides of her helmet folding in on themselves as the neck bends. He nods, grinning with his teeth out to be seen. It was unnerving to see him like that, but she decided to not be afraid.

"The buzzing noise the accursed pests make, especially when they are right next to my ear, is horrifyingly annoying and prods me to freeze up or swat at the devils. The fact that they can crawl into your apparel and still carry a bite that can paralyze you or just that section of the body is not... attractive to think about." Red explains, a frown on his face. Almost conveniently, a fly buzzs right next to Red, and he takes a step back from it to give it some space to fly around in.

It buzzes back over to him, this time being swatted at by a hoof. Rose looks at Red as deals with the fly before it goes and runs off, the alicorn blushing in embarrassment, ears pinned to his head.

To this, the guard could not help but chuckle, failing to stifle it, much to the dismay of the stallion. He groans as she chuckles harder.

"Oh shut up." Red rolls his eyes, "They are annoying little pests, I'd rather not have them around me being so distracting.". He pronounces his point with a light stomp of his hoof. Rose was not intimidated, still snickering.

"I never would have thought that a legend like you would be afraid of a fly!" Rose says, barely getting it out as the snickering comes back yet again.

"I am not afraid of all flying insects! Im just afraid of the ones that sting." he says quietly at the end, looking away with a dark blush.

"Then why not leave flies be?" she asks, her eyebrow rising as her mouth curves into a smug smile. Red grumbles.

"Too annoying to be allowed to exist."

"Homicidal tendencies?" she bounces up her eyebrows with her smug look.

He still grumbles, humoring her. She snickers at his continued grumbling, the conversation having taken a pause as they look back out over the city, only to look back down on the open parts of the palace, the courtyards.

Guards went back and forth around, some were posted at places near doors or gates to various buildings within the quite large place of power, a fortification to be exact.

Red's wings seem to flutter by his barrels sides as he feels the urge to fly about, but by special instruction, he cannot leave the castle grounds.

Although, what good would the Gala do? He thought to himself, rolling his eyes. Hopefully, everything will go right, somewhat, and he'll get to have his freedom to do what he wants, or do what he has been ordered to do by somepony.

He swept the thought from his mind, looking down at Rose who now had a nice, slight smile on her face. It was charming, to say the least, from Red's perspective, almost like a confident teen ready to once and for all enter the world of adulthood, or rather to enter what they have seen as a prestigious goal in life, a military position in his experience.

Ah, yes, the memories. He remembered the cults, ah yes. Good memories that were to be locked up forever in his mind as a reminder of the good side of his 'heyday'.

The sun was beginning to take a toll, however, as he felt the heat increasing in intensity, the inactivity finally making him notice the apparent temperature of the day, a warm ninety to eighty five degrees as told by his comrade, Shining Armor.

He saw no reason to stay out here for any further time, and one such as himself does not appreciate having sweaty and hot wing pits and the stink of sweat in general. His bare hooves moved him to the door, Rose looking back after him.

"I'm going inside."

"Alright." she says, looking back out. Red opens the door to the inside of the tower, giving a last look through the transparent glass of the door to see Rose once again, before descending the steps at the other side of the room.

As the sound of hooves dies off, the unicorn looks at the doorway to the stairs, before looking back a minutes later.

Rose sighs in relief, half smiling to herself.

Author's Note:

Rose Melody is an OC of a friend of mine. Gotta love 'er!