> Rubie Red
>  by Rubie_Red
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 1  Caged From Life
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Have you ever been outside and just taken in the brilliance of nature? By that I mean have you ever just watched the waves of the ocean, or seen the petals of flowers dance in the wind? Have you ever just watched parts of nature and think *Wow. That exists in our world, and it makes Equestria seem like a better place to live in.* If you haven't then I can understand. You've lived with nature, probably for your whole life. Even if you're in the city. However...what if, up to this current moment, that you didn't know that anything like that existed? You didn't know about trees, or wind, or flowers, or oceans. What if you didn't know anything like that existed? Would Equestria still be beautiful?"  

Deep in the icy terrain of the Arctic North, an enormous mountain stood tall and high, concealed in a blanket of snow. Near the base of the mountain was a small opening, in this small opening was a stone path, and at the end of this stone path was a curtain. What was behind this curtain? A cage. In this cage was Rubie Red himself. A black bodied stallion. He had a red tail and a light grey mane. There was one thing that made this pony stand out however, and that was his mask. As red as rubies, and strangely, unable to take off. As the sun began to awake from its slumber, a new day began.  All creatures of the land began to get on with their day, except for Rubie Red. Instead of the sunlight, he was awoken by a loud clash from the steel bars of his cage. The loud clash made Rubie glitch up from his slumber, gasping for breath as if he was suffocating in his sleep. Rubie knew he was in the presence of another stallion. He knew this because he could hear a cocky grin that sounded very familiar. Rubie didn't need to look to know who it was. It was the only pony he ever knew, his imprisoner.  A rather large stallion, one with a dull grey body, equipped with steel armour on his chest and hoofs. His back covered by a red coat. A mane and tail as dark as his soul. His teeth set with two sharp, skin tearing fangs. This stallion was filled with evil spirit. This stallion's name was Sombra. 

"Oh, come now Rubie. I would have expected better from you. You're still a stupid child if you're afraid of a bump in the night."  

Sombra said after his grin. Rubie was neither irritated or amused. Instead the masked stallion simply turned away from his imprisoner, laying back on his pile of hay. He had lived with too many insults that he didn't seem to feel any mental damage anymore. Rubie would not dare to say a word to him. When seeing that Rubie was not reacting at all, Sombra decided to try something different. 

"Well, it's merely necessary for you to know that today would be known as your birthday." 

No movement was seen from the caged stallion. Rubie didn't even know what a birthday was. Sombra grinned, preparing to see Rubies reaction. 

"Which means I am going to tell you a little secret, one you should know. I'm going to tell you what happened to your parents." 

It was at this moment, Rubie jumped up. He glared at Sombra. His eyes wide and filled with desire to know. His expression was immensely tense. The stallions breathing began to speed up. Rubie could feel his heart beat in his head and a pain in his chest, as if Sombra himself was clutching Rubies heart tight. This is exactly what Sombra wanted, to find endless opportunities to hurt the masked stallion. Sombra grew a smile, having Rubies attention. 

"Oh? You want to know so badly? You think knowing will redeem you? Do you feel it in your chest? An empty void, causing a vast rift of envy to swarm over you? Well then, here's your answer. Are you ready to know? Are you sure? Very well then. Your parents? Your parents never loved you. They were ashamed of what you were. They handed you to me, and seemed very relieved to be rid of you."

The room was silent. Rubie was silent, and still, as if not even alive. He didn't dare to move, as if one slight movement would break him apart. Suddenly, he collapsed in front of his imprisoner. He was trying his very best not to cry. However, it turned sour. Rubie was trying his best not to vomit from the immense guilt swirling around in his stomach. His nose began to drip as he was desperately holding his emotions inside. He looked like he was about to explode. Rubies entire body was shivering and he was becoming light headed. Suddenly Rubie gasped for breath. HIs head lowered, and he stared at the ground, seeing his own tears drop to the dirty rocks below him. Seeing that Rubie caught his breath, Sombra believed that Rubie would be able to listen at this point. 

"Do you see? Do you understand now, why you are here? I'm protecting you." 

Sombras cocky smile disappeared as he approached closer to the bars of the cage. He was casting a shadow over Rubie as a form of intimidation. 

"There is nothing left out there. No life, Nopony, nothing. I took you here so you were safe, get that through your thick skull".

The mentally crippled stallion did not answer, but Sombra could see that he had accepted that, by watching his tears fall. The silence in the room lasted for a long time until it was broken by the sound of rustling and muffled screams. Rubies ears twitched to the sounds. 
“Ah yes, I almost forgot “ 

Sombra said sounding generous 

“What I have stated is true, we have to survive whatever the cost. Food is scarce around here. You're lucky that I could serve you your scraps of bread and sips of water. Now that It's your birthday, I have a present for you.“ 

The big stallion moved away from the cage before approaching again at the cage door. His horn was glowing and next to him was a big, floating, tied up bag. Rubie found the courage to gently look up at the cage door where Sombra was standing. Using his magic, Sombra opened the door of the cage. A loud high pitch creaking sound was made as the door slowly opened for Sombra. Rubie could of ran out at any second while the door was open. However, he felt that leaving his cage wold be absolutely pointless. He believed that there was nothing out there because he had never seen any proof. The dark masked stallion backed away from the door as the bag floated in front of it. Something was wriggling around inside it. 

“Happy birthday Rubie" 

Sombra stated before throwing the big bag directly at Rubie. The bag bashed Rubie's side, causing him to be thrown off the ground by the powerful throw and hit the cage's rusty bars. He fell to the ground laying next to the huge bag, feeling helpless. 

"Enjoy your present while it lasts, boy." 

Sombra grinned before turning into black smoke and disappearing into thin air. 

*He will be ready to do this. After all he has gone through he will surely be reduced to a mental state like no other. *

Said the voice in Sombras mind. The masked stallion lay still where he had landed, next to the big bag. His ears had dropped, along with his mental stability. His eyes would not stop leaking. He felt mentally crippled and clouded by a thick blanket of sorrow. There was a storm brewing in the masked stallions head. A lethal and incredibly devastating storm. Rubie felt anger building up inside him. He wanted to hurt, he wanted to do bad things. Then a whimper came from the bag. That was Rubies answer. Whatever was in this bag was the cure to his rage. Without a notice, Rubies teeth gripped at the bag and teared it open. Suddenly Rubies anger sunk. Looking down into the bag was something Rubie found very peculiar, something he'd never seen before. It was the face of a mare. A Pegasus. Her eyes were shut and streaming with tears. Rubie took notice of her fur coat. Unlike himself and Sombra, her fur coat was a vibrant light blue. Her mane and tail was bright indigo and her eyes were green, bright, shiny emerald green. The colours and vibrancy made Rubies anger sink down and disappear into nothing. What he was looking at seemed just too innocent.

The mare gently and slowly opened her eyes. Her tears blurred her vision for a few seconds before they focused. She then saw that she was staring straight up at the dark stallion with the blood red mask. She gasped and her breathing could now be heard. She was very nervous at first site and was very uneasy about the mask stallion who was staring right at her. There was a moment of silence. Rubies head began to calm down and soothe at the bright colours. As if there was a heavenly voice in his head singing a lullaby to the angered monster inside his head. After a few seconds the mare spoke. 

"A.....A-Are....a-are y-y-you going t-to hurt m-me...?" 

Rubie shook his head to get out of his trance and quickly shook her head to her question. He then took a few steps back and sat down to give her some space. The mare slowly climbed out of the bag she was brought in. Rubie could see that her movements were quite shaky and slowly. He could tell that she was very scared. The black stallion stayed exactly where he was while he waited patiently for the mare to climb out. When she climbed out she sat on her bag and glanced around the cage, trembling. 

"Where..............where am I....? Wh-where are we......?" 

The mare asked quietly. Before answering her question Rubie slowly approached her. When she saw this she quietly squeaked and backed up a bit 

"S-stop p-p-please!!" 

The stallion did exactly what she said. His face dropped down a little 

"I.......I.........I-I.....I guess your in.........S-Sombras........cage......." 

The mare's face was lost in confusion for a few moments until she completely realized and took in what he had said. 

".........Wh-what...? y..... yo-you.....n-no....w-we can't be........we just can’t........w-we.........I-I......" She could not hold it in. She let out her tears once again, this time sobbing loudly and almost uncontrollable. "WHY ME!! WHY DID I HAVE TO END UP LIKE THIS!! I CAN'T STAY HERE I HAVE A FAMILY!! I HAVE A HOME I HAVE A LIFE OUT THERE IN THE LAND!!!! I WANNA GET OUT I WANNA GET OUT I WANNA GET OUT!!!!" 

The mare covered her face with her hoofs, creating a small puddle of tears. Her screaming words latched into Rubies head. What she had just said was something that Rubie could of never imagined. Something that he thought didn't exist. His eyes widened as he started going through his thoughts and memories. He remembered everything Sombra had told him. Nothing was out there, nopony, nothing, but this breaks everything he has said. He could feel his heart beat in his head. He could feel his head swirling and dizziness swarming over him until suddenly, it was all stopped by the sound of two words. 

"Break it".

Rubie gasped for breath and suddenly looked to where the voice had come from. In front of the masked stallion was a very dark pony. Almost like a complete shadow. The dark pony slowly walked closer to Rubie. The masked stallion stood still, since he knew he had nowhere to go. After a few steps the dark pony suddenly jumped at Rubie, and phased right into his body. Rubie didn't seem to even flinch, however he heard a voice in his head. A voice that said two words. 

"Break It". 

The black stallion found himself staring at the caged door. His anger began to build up once again. The storm was brewing. The monster was growing and the voice was controlling it and putting it in the right direction. As Rubies anger grew he began to growl. The voice in his head got louder. 

"break it break it break it break it breakitbreakitbreakitbreakitBREAKITBREAKITBREAKITBREAKIT NOW!" 

Suddenly Rubie charged straight at the caged door. His mask bashed right on the hinges of the gate. The hinges were damaged but not destroyed. This was his chance, Rubie could do this. Without hesitation and putting his mental pain to use to ignore the physical pain, he repeatedly started bashing the gate with his mask. Each bash was loud and strong. The stallion filled with manifesting determination kept on going and going and going. The stallion went on going for ages. His bashes turned into charges that grew stronger and longer. Rubie could see, the first hinge was off. He was so close to destroying the other one. His sweat fell. He took a deep breath and grinded his teeth. He lined up his charge from the other side of the cage. He let out a grunt before charging as hard as he could, shutting his eyes tight. He felt his skull collide with the rusty metal gate. After his collision, he opened his eyes. For a few seconds, he waited before suddenly, finally, the gate fell. The cage was open and Rubie could now escape into the real world. However, before Rubie could take another step, he felt a strong sense of dizziness and exhaustion come over him. The masked stallion stumbled a little left and right before falling over. However before he could hit the ground, Rubie felt a strong force push him back up slowly to his hoofs. Rubies vision was blurry for a few seconds due to the dizziness however his eyes suddenly focused to see the Pegasus supporting him up. All Rubie could do was smile at her as he caught his breath.  

"You are one crazy stallion......thank you" 

She said quietly. Rubie could feel a wing over his back. 

"Hope......my name is Hope..." 

Rubies smile grew with joy. 

"I-I... I’m Rubie Red..." 

The stallion gently pushed off of Hope on to his own four hoofs and shook his head. His eyes locked on to a rusty metal door. 

"Alright...........................................let’s get out......"

> 2 A New Beginning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Behind the metal door was Rubie's future. It was only a few steps in front of the stallion. Behind the old, rusty door was life, his life.
Rubie took a deep breath, his eyes remained glued to the door as he lifted his hoof up and gave it a hard push. The door was now wide open. Behind the door, to Rubie's surprise, was a vast land of snow, ice and harsh winds. A loud howl soared across the land. Rubie shut his eyes tightly as he was almost blinded by the bright light. It shined on his mask. Rubie could feel the wind pass through his long, grey, scruffy mane. Even though it was cold, the breeze felt so refreshing; blowing away all the pieces of hay stuck in irritating places like the back of his neck and in his mane and tail. It was as if the wind was giving him a refreshing massage, as if the wind was welcoming him to the outside world. After the wind had passed through him, he was able to open his eyes. Standing on the snow in front of him was Hope, smiling. It was a calm smile that gave off an atmosphere of peace. 

"Come on Rubie, let’s go."

Rubie wanted to leave, very badly. However, there seemed to be something that was stopping him. Rubie stood still. His head was looking down at the ground. The red slits in his eyes slowly changed to yellow. 

"I-Is.....what is that......?" 

Hope was confused. What was he talking about she wondered. It took her a few seconds before she then realized that the masked stallion was looking down at the snow. Hope realized, Rubie was talking about the snow. He had never ever seen snow before. Her smile remained visible, giving reassurance to Rubie.

"Hey, it's okay. It's snow. It's quite cold, but it will not hurt you. I promise". 

Rubie was nervous, but Hope's smile sunk into the back of his mind. It gave him comfort and confidence. In that moment, the dark stallion took a deep breath before placing all four of his hoofs in the snow. It did feel cold, but to him, it was a very nice change of feeling under his hoofs. Rubie smiled and looked into the distance. 

"Ok..lets go...I don't know where we are going...but I want to be away from here...I never want to be in a cage again for the rest of my life..." 

The two of them set off into the blizzard. Minutes passed. The minutes turned into hours. The situation started to become rather concerning since the surroundings started to slowly darken. As the snow soared and the winds howled, the two ponies were slowly crossing the wasteland. Hope's eyes were shut tight. She was shivering. Her body was being supported by Rubie, who's mask luckily gave him a little eye protection against the harsh winds and cold snow. The two of them were moving at a very slow pace. It was hard to keep moving forward, as the winds were trying their best to push the two of them back. Eventually, Rubie started to feel drowsy. He had used so much energy, but he didn't want to give up. His head said no, keep going forward, but a swarm of drowsiness was coming over. His eyes slowly thinned. At this moment Rubie heard a voice. It was the same voice that was inside Rubie's head before.

"Rubie, you can't, you can't stop now. You can do this. You have to, not for your sake, but Hope's. Rubie...wake up". 

Suddenly a loud bang was heard in the distance. It was so loud that it woke Rubie up in surprise. Even Hope woke up from it with a scared expression. 

"Wh-What was that loud noise??" 

Rubie asked concerned. Without a single word spoken, Hope flapped her wings and ascended into the air. As she ascended the sight became clearer. After a few seconds she could see a large rainbow ring in the sky. Hope gasped as she felt that they were close to somewhere with Civilization. Then something in the far distance caught her eye. It was a large outline of a structure that she could easily identify. She could see Canterlot. Due to what the pegasus had just escaped from, Hope felt that the best place to head for was Canterlot. She believed that if her and Rubie arrived there, then the princesses could be able to help Rubie, and find Sombra. She had a plan, and she believed that it was going to work

"Rubie!!" 

Hope shouted down at the freezing stallion. 

"We're going the right way!! We just have to go straight on!!" 

Rubies face began to gleam with joy. He smiled brightly up at Hope. Seeing Rubie smile like that made Hope giggle a little. She felt that it was almost too good to be true. Before she could descend a sudden powerful gust of wind caught Hope off guard. The wind caused Hope's body to flip upside down. Hope was no longer being supported by her wings; she began to fall. The pegasus felt another gust of wind that pushed her downwards, making her decent much faster. She screamed before hitting the ground with a loud thud. Rubie rushed over to her. His smile had broken into a look of pure worry.

"Hope!!? Are you okay!??"

He came to her side and gently nuzzled her to see if she was still conscious. A grunt of pain came out from the blue pegasus. She slowly stood up and attempted to spread open her wings. However, she did not succeed. She had broken her left wing. 

"Hope. Let me help you, spread open your right wing and give me your right hoof." 

Hope did exactly what he said, trying her best to ignore the pain. She lifted her right hoof and spread open her right wing. Rubie came to her right side and took her hoof around the back of his neck. The Pegasus whispered. 

"Th...that was w-weird...those gusts of wind…they came out of nowhere…as if...as if...the wind...w-wanted me to st-stop flying..." 

Rubie felt very concerned. He felt that Sombra had something to do with this. However, he shook the feeling off. He knew his main objective was to reach their destination, no matter what. 

"Hope, we are going to get to our destination. You will be okay. I swear on it." 

The mare's head lowered a little and her eyes shut once again. She leaned on Rubie as the two of them slowly made their way to Canterlot.

> 3 Goodnight Red
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the wealthy and dignified land of Canterlot, all mares and stallions, foals and fillies were inside, resting in slumber as the sun slowly fell under the edge of the land. However there was one who was still up. One that was at the top of Canterlot's castle tower, on her front balcony, watching the sun gracefully fall to its resting place for the night. It was Princess Celestia. The sun's edge finally slipped silently below the land. The sky began to darken. The shadows began to swarm the land. The stars began to wake up, one after the other, from their long nap in the day. They twinkled as they were welcomed by another Alicorn. As Celestia looked out to the land, an Alicorn with the body of the night sky, the stars in her mane and tail and a blue moon trapped in her eyes flew to her balcony, landing in front of her. It was Luna, Princess Luna. "Sister, your watch over the land has come to an end today. Allow yourself to rest as I watch over what lurks In the night." Celestia gave a nod and, without a single word, headed straight for her chambers. This was a common routine so she did not have much to say. She didn't seem bothered, in fact she felt rather happy. Today there was not a simple bad deed done. Nothing was stolen. Nopony was hurt, or lost, or upset. Today felt like a perfect day and it was the perfect time to rest Celestia thought.

Princess Luna took Celestia's exact spot and looked up at the night sky. She smiled as she watched the stars, her precious stars, awake and glisten for her. Luna felt welcome into the night under a clear blanket of twinkling lights. She gazed around the land smiling to herself, seeing the stars in the distance awake. However her smile dropped as her attention drew to below her. She looked down in front of the castle doors to see two ponies staggering in her direction. The Alicorn called from the balcony "Halt!! Who are you!? What is your purpose here!?" For a moment there was silence. In that moment Luna could see that one of the ponies was holding on to the other. That pony was grinding his teeth. Suddenly the pony looked up to Luna. It was Rubie Red. His body was covered in bruises. His mane and tail were soaked in mud and his body was slightly shaking, not just from supporting Hope, but from supporting himself. Rubies pupils had changed from yellow to blue. His eyes began to overflow with tears falling down his face. He shouted at Luna at the top of his lungs. 

"HELP!! HELP!!!" 

Then the masked stallion began to feel his energy deplete at an alarmingly fast rate. He let go of Hope, dropping her unconscious body on to the ground. The Alicorn up in the tower gazed at the scene. Her eyes widened in shock seeing Hope's lifeless body. She called out with authority 

"Guards! Go to their aid immediately!"

A wave of relief swarmed over Rubie. His hoofs gave in, making him collapse on to his four legs. His hearing seemed to fade in and out and his sight became blurry. He was able to make out the shapes of multiple stallions in gold armor rush towards him and Hope. After that, he blacked out. As Luna watched the guards take Rubie and Hope into the castle, Celestia suddenly ran back into the room. She seemed worried.

"Sister! Something has ha-"

Before she could finish her sentence Celestia then noticed the two ponies being taken into the castle. Her eyes widened at the sight of Rubie being taken in.

"Sister? Don't worry, they'll be taken care of."

Luna said reassuringly. Celestia continued to glare at the masked stallion.

"It's not that, I can sense something coming from that masked pony. I'm unsure what it is, but it feels dark and powerful. We're going to question this stallion immediately."

Celestia spread open her wings, ready to take off and land outside the front doors. However, Luna stood in front of her sister, blocking her from taking off.

"Sister! We can't yet, didn't you see him unconscious!? He could barely keep his eyes open! Let's just...give him a little time to rest."

Celestia felt uneasy about this, but she did believe that Luna had a point. It would be best for the stallion to be fully conscious when questioning him. Once again, without a word said, Celestia left the room. 

The masked stallion felt as if it was mere seconds before his eyes opened again. His vision was a little blurry but Rubie could definitely tell that he had been moved. The atmosphere was quiet. The sort of quiet that's different to the quiet outside. A sort of quiet that you almost feel deaf in. The room was dark and warm. Rubie looked below him to see that he was laying on a pile of blankets. He knew his call out had worked and now felt safe. Beside him, a couple of meters away was Hope, still unconscious. She was also laying on a pile of blankets. Upon seeing Hope, the dark stallion stood up. He yawned and stretched out his hoofs, and cracked his neck to the left and to the right. Since he felt safe, he decided to let Hope get more rest. Rubie approached the center of the room and looked around the walls, the roof and floor. The colors consisted of pink and white. However they were a little tricky to see in the dark. 

"Wow.....this place is huge....now that I think about it...Hope never really told me what the name of this place was....she just told me what to do when i get here.....just where......just where even am I.......?" 

Rubie asked to himself.

"You are in the most well-known castle in all of Equestria, in the presence of the princess's who control the sun and the moon." 

Rubies ears perked up as his head turned to the voice. In front of him was two Alicorns. Rubie noticed that the one on the right was the same one who answered his call for help. The stallion's slit pupils had now changed to yellow once again. He felt a little nervous upon seeing the two princess's staring down at him. 

"u-uuhhh.....". 

Celestia felt that Rubie was being rude. She didn't want to feel selfish, but to think of a pony who didn't know the princess's that ruled Equestria seemed quite odd. She believed that the dark, dirty stallion was simply trying to mess around, but that just simply wasn't the case. Rubie didn't know what to say. He didn't even know their names. Words didn't want to come out. Luckily Luna spoke out before the masked stallion could. 

"Don't be concerned. you've done nothing wrong. We simply want to ask you a few simple questions." 

These words made Rubie calm down a little. He slowly nodded his head while his pupils slowly faded back to their original red slits. Celestia felt something dark around Rubie. A strange, dark aura swarming around him. This made her feel rather uneasy about Rubies true behavior and purpose. The princess of the sun spoke 

"And leave your friend right where she is. Come with us now." 

Her tone had a slight sense of irritation, but that seem to pass Rubie as he did exactly what she said. The two Alicorns used their magic to open up a secret door which was behind a white wall. They entered with a slow pace. As Rubie entered the room behind them, Celestia used her magic to shut the door and lock the three of them inside. Rubie took a look around. The room was circular, and he counted eight candlestick holders. Luna suddenly closed her eyes, and a moment passed before all the candles suddenly lit up the room with a dreary atmosphere. There was a square rug in the center of the room. The length and width was enough for one pony to sit down on it. 
"Stallion, sit on the rug." 

Celestia commanded. Rubies ears bent back as his pupil slits faded to yellow once again. The dark stallion did what she said and sat on the rug in front of the two Alicorns. Luna took a step forward and sat down. 

"I shall ask you the questions. Firstly, what is your name?".

Rubie took a deep breath, trying to lower the tension building in his stomach. He spoke softly 

"M-my name....Is Rubie Red, a-and my friend out there is Hope" 

Luna slowly nodded in concentration. 

"Very good. Rubie Red, when I first saw you and Hope, you both were stumbling and seemed very weak and dirty. It seemed you two had traveled a long way. Perhaps away from danger. Rubie, tell me, where did you come from? Manehattan? Phillydelphia?" 

The stallion didn't answer. He did not know what those names were. In fact, he didn't even know where he had come from. All Rubie could do was gently lower his head, not knowing how to answer. Luna could see that the masked stallion was having trouble, so she asked another question. 

"Did you come from somewhere that was very isolated?" 

Immediately Rubies ears and head went up. 

"Y-yes, I-it was.....very......very.......isolated" 

He shivered, remembering the cold air roaming around his cage. Luna could definitely tell that this stallion was not from anywhere safe. The dark Alicorn took a deep breath before asking her next question. 

"Rubie...we won't tell anypony, so please be honest with us when I ask you this. Where did you come from?" 

Rubies stomach began to churn up a little bit, but he had enough confidence to say the truth. The dark stallion lowered his head to the ground and shut his eyes. 

"Before I came here........I lived in a cage.........I lived in a cage......in a mountain.....where the cold was eternal......I lived there.....for my whole life.......imprisoned.....and I don't know why...." 

Luna's ears began to twitch a little when hearing that the stallion in front of her had also been imprisoned for years. She leaned in slowly, seeming rather interested. 

"Did you ever try to escape?" 

Rubie raised his head, with his eyes meeting contact with hers. The stallions mask gently shook. 

"No....I didn't....I didn't because...I didn't know there was a reason to escape....I was imprisoned ever since I was a foal......I never even knew there was a real world to escape to........" 

Luna's eyes widened as she quietly gasped. The dark Alicorn slowly leaned back to her original position. She had a solemn look, however, she was trying to hold back a strong feeling of guilt and sorrow in her stomach and chest. Rubie continued 

"He....He......He told me there was nothing out there......nopony.....nothing...." 

Celestia had not been paying much attention until that certain moment. Her ears twitched and she took a step forward. "He? Who's he? Do you know who *he* is?" 

Rubie closed his eyes, concentrating, trying to remember the stallions name. 

"U-uuuhhh.....I-I.....umm....I-I believe......I believe his name.......his name was So-.....S-Sombra-a......I believe....." 

Celestia had frozen. The room went silent. Then, for an unknown reason, she disappeared in a flash of bright light. Rubie heard the door unlock behind him. The candles in the room stayed lit. A few moments passed. These moments were silent. In these moments, Princess Luna looked at the dark stallion, to see that he was looking back. It was at that moment that Luna started to see him break down. His breaths became short gasps for air as if he was about to throw up. His eyes began to flood with tears. Rubie wanted to know what a normal life was, but he felt as if it wasn't going to be possible. Suddenly he felt something on his shoulder. Through all the tears he could see Luna had placed her hoof on his shoulder. 

"Rubie....why do you wear that mask...?" 

The stallion in tears sniffed a few times before replying to Luna. 

"...I-I-I.....I-I d-don't have a-a choice.....S-Sombra made this mask l-latch on to me.....I-I can't take it off........." 

Luna didn't respond. However she was curious about his mask. She gently brushed the left part of his mane behind his shoulder. As she saw the rest of his face she could clearly see that the edges of his mask had sunk into his skin. Luna found this very peculiar and quite interesting at the same time. Her horn glowed with magic as she tried to separate his mask from his skin. However, each attempt failed. Every time Luna tried, it did not just fail, but it felt as if the mask was taking her magic piece by piece. After a few attempts, she then heard a quiet whisper. 

".....*sniff*.......I....I don't want to go back to that cage.......I just........I just want to know what life is...........please......." 

Suddenly the Alicorn hugged Rubie, encasing him in her wings for warmth. 

"Rubie, let me tell you a little story. A long time ago, I too was cursed, and because of it, I was banished to the moon. Being imprisoned for a thousand years. Throughout those years a had motivation, because I knew one day I would be able to come back.........but.......not knowing that there is anything out there.......being convinced that the only place you can live is in a prison.......a fate like that may be a new kind of tragic....Rubie, you will know what life is like. You will be given a house in a small town near Canterlot by the name of Ponyville. I promise."

A few minutes past before the two ponies exited the secret room of the castle. As they both came out Luna shut the door behind her, locking it with her magic. Rubie felt calm and relaxed around Luna. Something about her made him feel safe. However suddenly his tail flicked and his eyes widened a little.

"Hey! Wait a minute! Where's Hope?" 

As the masked stallions head turned left and right, he saw that Hope was no where in his sight. Before Rubie could get anymore worried Luna gave him words of reassurance. 

"Do not worry. I do believe that Celestia guided her back to her house when she left the room. She is quite alright. We have more important things to work on now don't we?" 

The thought dawned in Rubie's head. The thought of actually having a home and a life. It was going to happen. 

"Y-yes you are right. I-I'm gonna get a life a-and a home." 

The dark Alicorn helped him with his sentences. 

"with a fireplace, kitchen and a bed. We have not a moment to lose Rubie. Lets go." 

The dark stallion nodded with excitement. The two of them opened the front doors of the castle into the night, and through the night, Rubie Red felt like a new Rubie Red. Suddenly Luna transported both of them in a flash of light into the town, near where Rubie's new house would stand. They were in a small alleyway. 

"It's best that nopony besides you sees me here. Royalty seen in public is very rare and will cause a lot of attention. Anyway, follow me." 

With that, the princess of the night turned around and headed through the dark alley. Rubie followed behind her, unsure of where the two of them were going. As if he was a child with his mother, Rubie felt uncertain in the dark, but with Luna everything felt safe. As they traveled across a labyrinth of alleys, the masked stallion would look up every now and then, sometimes seeing open windows. Being able to see what was in the outside world while looking from the inside felt amazing to him. A good few minutes passed before all of a sudden the scenery had changed before the stallion's eyes. Him and Luna were now standing in the middle of a street. One that was rather wide and seemed to stretch for an eternity. 

"Rubie. We're here." 

Rubie seemed rather confused. His body swayed back and fourth as his head turned to all the houses. 

"Ummm....really...?" 

All Luna could do was giggle at her new friends confused state. 

"Yes indeed. Right this way." 

Suddenly Rubie heard the knob of a door turn. The masked stallion's ears twitched as he turned his head to the sound. He stopped, and smiled. His eyes had locked on to an arch door which was slowly opening due to Luna's magic. Rubie was staring at his new home. The exterior design was a pale shade of red, almost pink. Next to Rubie's door was two vertical oval windows. Above the front door were more windows. Two square ones above the door and a strange circular window above the oval windows below. The house itself seemed rather comforting. Well, at least more comforting than a pile of hay. Rubies eyes began to water as he turned his head to the dark Alicorn 

"Is this....is this really mine....? Like......all mine....to live in...?" 

Luna nodded, smiling. Suddenly Rubies smile faded as he remembered what Luna told him. About all the important things about life. About friends and also other more boring topics, such as an occupation. 

"Luna......about everything you told me...while we were walking through those alleys....the friends thing.....and everything else....now that I think about it...it really all sounds complicated...." 

Luna seemed rather surprised at his sudden change of mood. She approached the stallion and smiled 

"I know it sounds hard, but I believe anypony can achieve it. Remember, friends are ponies who like being around you. I promise you that it won't be too much trouble. After all, the Princess of Friendship does live in this town." 

The Alicorn's words brightened Rubies mood. 

"hehe, yeah I know. Thank you Luna...really thank you." 

The princess nodded in appreciation. 

"You are most certainly welcome. Now rest Rubie, you have a lot ahead of you." 

With that, the princess of the night magically vanished. The masked stallion smiled as his eyes analysed his new house, along with a new future life. He carefully approached his front door that Luna had kindly left open. As he peeked inside he could see that his interior design was of a deeper red color, giving inside of the house an atmosphere of comfort. The calm atmosphere drew Rubie inside, shutting his front door behind him. It may have been dark, but Rubie felt much safer here. He no longer felt caged. No more shivering to sleep. No more hay. While he was really enjoying the thought, a sudden yawn came over the stallion. A strong sense of drowsiness started to swarm over. Without a moment, Rubie headed for the stairs and headed straight up.

Upon reaching the top of the stairs, Rubie Red found himself staring through the small circular window that he saw from outside. He found it rather peculiar, especially about the fact that a bright moon beam was shining through it like a stage light. The masked stallion decided to take a glance at what was outside the window. He gasped. Out of his window was a perfect view of the full moon. The night sky twinkled with stars as the moon lit up the land. Rubie felt a sense of comfort under the night sky. To the stallion's left was his bedroom. The room itself was quite...well, roomy. The walls were a warm sunrise orange to give a sense of relaxation. Then, finally, Rubie laid his eyes on his resting place for the night. It was a king sized bed. Its mattress was red, his blankets and pillows were royal purple and sparkled like the stars in the sky. The stallion, who was filled with joy, placed a front hoof on his bed just to get a feel of it. It was softer than anything Rubie had ever touched. Suddenly the stallion jumped right in, in between the blankets and the mattress. The feeling of warmth and comfort swarmed over him, making his mind melt in heavenly comfort. 

"Wow.....I can't wait for what's next to come.....I....I ca-....can't.....wait......." 

Rubie could barely keep himself awake in the comfort. A few moments went past before the masked stallion finally fell asleep, in his new home.

> 4 A Sweet Lesson
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the eternal, howling blizzard, where Rubie and his first friend began their journey. From within that cold, cold mountain, there was a big stallion who was glaring at Rubie’s prison. Sombra. His body was stiff and wouldn’t move, as if he was frozen in time. His eyes would not blink, however a purple mist emitted from his eyes. His face seemed to have no emotion, until his head slowly lowered down. As Sombra watched the sediments of dirt gradually scrape across the ground, his jaw clutched tight and his teeth grinded. His head began to shake from anger as he began to growl. His frightening snarls grew louder and louder, and as they did, the purple mist emitting from his eyes grew brighter and longer. However, Sombra suddenly went silent. The purple mist had disappeared from his eyes and the grip of his teeth loosened. His head was still down. Then, Sombra’s face grew a smile, which then turned into a grin, which then turned into a quiet laugh. It looked as if Sombra was happy that his prisoner had escaped, and in a way, he was.

“Rubie, Rubie Red, the stallion who spent his life believing that the outside world never existed. The stallion who lived in a rotten little cage for his whole life. The stallion who would never leave the lost mountain in the everlasting blizzard. Hehehe. I will be coming for you, child, and when I do, you’re going to wish that you stayed as my caged-up pet. You’re going to be responsible for the deaths of all who live in Equestria, so rest in that bed while you still can, because when I come, you won’t be able to sleep for the rest of your life.”

Suddenly Rubie shot up from his bed, gasping for air, as if something had been clutching at his throat. He took a few deep breaths while he looked around the room. There was nothing, besides the warm orange painted walls. As the eyes of the stallion surveyed the room his breaths began to slow down. Rubie leaned back on his pillows and looked down at his blanket.

“I-It’s okay…It’s okay Rubie, h-he’s not here, he’s gone, h-he doesn’t know where you are. I-It’s just in the past, yeah, and there’s no point on dwelling on the bad things that happened…hehe…ok…so, Luna said to me…the first thing I should do is try and make some…u-uuhh…. friends! That’s the word! Hehehe”

With that, Rubie Red rolled out of his bed and landed with his hoofs on the floor. He tilted his neck left and right, which gave out a loud cracking sound. His tail flicked again and again as he stretched out each of his hoofs, all four giving out a cracking sound. 

“She said it would be easy, and she knows this place a lot better than me…but where to start?”

The puzzled stallion went over to his curtains and separated them, allowing a huge burst of light to shine in. Rubie only flinched slightly, it seemed that his mask acted as a sort of light shield. Upon opening the curtains, Rubie could see the town in front of him was absolutely filled with ponies of all kinds. Stallions, mares, fillies, foals, pegasi, earthponies and unicorns. Rubie’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped. He shook his head at the huge quantity of ponies.

“Y-You gotta be kidding me!! Th-That many!? H-How!? Wh-Where do I even star- “

He was interrupted by a loud knocking on his front door. The knocking made Rubie jump a little as his head turned to the direction of the loud noise. 

“There’s someone at the door…? Maybe Celestia told Hope where I live now!”

Rubie got excited as he bolted out of his bedroom, almost slipping while he charged down the stairs. He stopped at the bottom. He heard another set of knocks at his door. This time the knocks came at a faster rate. Before he approached his door, Rubie took a gaze around the first floor. He was impressed with the colours in the night, but the radiance of colours that he saw now made him giggle a little. He peeked over to the left to see his kitchen that he had accidentally missed before. It wasn’t the biggest of spaces for a kitchen, but Rubie seemed to like it. His kitchen had a mosaic styled floor, with variations of blue, purple, indigo, violet and red. Rubie’s head slowly leaned in. He felt rather drawn to the exquisite style. However, another set of knocks brought Rubie out of the trance. He shook his head rapidly as he approached the door at a rather quick rate, feeling a little embarrassed. 

Standing in front of the door, Rubie took a deep breath. He then slowly exhaled as he opened his door, smiling. However, when he looked out, Rubie’s smile disappeared, and was replaced with a look of confusion. There wasn’t anypony at the other side of the door to greet him. 

“What…the”

Rubie’s head leaned out as he surveyed his frontal surroundings. Still nopony to be seen. The dark stallion’s ears dropped as he felt a little sad. His head dropped to the ground, and when it did, his eyes noticed something which made Rubie’s ears perk right up. Resting below him was a box, and in that box, to Rubie’s surprise, was twelve cupcakes with pink icing. The icing on each cake were perfectly identical to the rest of them, as if they were all clones. Despite having this wonderful surprise, all Rubie could do was tilt his head in curiosity, which made his slit pupils turn orange. He didn’t know that they were edible, in fact he had no idea what they even were. The confused stallion lifted his front right hoof and slowly moved it to one of the cupcakes. However, before Rubie could even touch them he saw that a shadow was being cast upon him from behind. The dark stallion quickly turned around, but all he saw was the inside of his house. Rubie began to feel a little bit nervous as he gulped. He slowly turned his head back. Suddenly a pink mare dropped in front of Rubie from above. Her mane and tail had a wild and whacky style and she had a huge smile on her face. Her sudden entrance made Rubie jump back in fear. He slipped when he landed back and accidentally fell. 

“Wh-what??”

Rubie thought to himself

“H-How did she?? How did she even do that??”

The pink mare just giggled to herself at Rubie’s reaction. She spoke in a high, and cheerful voice.

“t’hee hee! that’s an interesting way to greet your new friend! Veerrryyy interesting!”

Rubie was in utter confusion, who was this mare he thought. Before saying another word, he picked himself up and shook his head a little. Despite being confused, hearing the words *new friend* made him feel a faint sense of happiness. 

“N-new friend?? R-r…really??”

The pink mare rapidly nodded her head. It nodded so quickly that her face was in a blur.

“Hihiii of course! I can’t just not welcome somepony new to Ponyville!!”

“H-huh? Wait, how’d you know that I just moved in??”

“Oh silly!! I know everything about everypony in Ponyville, because everypony in Ponyville is my friend, and from this day on that includes you too!!”

On the outside Rubie still looked confused about many things, like her name, and why she didn’t mind his mask, but on the inside Rubie couldn’t help the feeling of joy growing in his heart. It felt a little rushed, but the masked stallion really felt that his life was going to change. For a moment, the pink mare could have sworn that she noticed a tear in Rubie’s eye. Her head tilted to the left.

“Hey, are you ok? What’s that in your eye?”

Suddenly Rubie noticed that a tear was leaking, he quickly wiped it away and giggled sheepishly.

“Y-Yeah of course hehe, it’s just been a while since I’ve seen somepony this nice and generous”

“Wowie!! That’s quite a compliment hihii! You deserve a cupcake!! You can tell they’re from me of course cus they’re pink and so am I!! Oh oh oh!! I haven’t even told you that my name is Pinkamena Diane Pie!! Oh well I guess I just did hihiii, but you can just call me Pinkie Pie! Now eat up!!”

Before Rubie could speak, Pinkie Pie jumped up and shoved one of the cupcakes in to his mouth. At first Rubie’s expression turned very nervous. However, a few moments went passed until his expression changed to a rather curious look. Rubie chewed slowly. Pinkie Pie began to slowly lean in and her smile grew, she really wanted to see his final reaction to her new recipe. Another chew passed, and another, and another. Then, Rubie’s face lit up. The dark stallion slowly exhaled as he took in the remarkable taste of her cupcake, while his slit pupil colour sunk to a dark red. The flavour felt so incredibly delicious to Rubie that he was slightly becoming cross-eyed. Pinkie Pie’s eyes began to sparkle with delight, her face lit up so bright, as if she was going to explode. The dark stallion finally swallowed the delicious cupcake. He let out a satisfying exhale.

“Wow!! That’s heavenly! Wh…What is this legendary flavour??”

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a big load of confetti shot out at his face, making his eyes shut from his natural reaction. When Rubie’s eyes opened however, he could see that Pinkie Pie was pointing a cannon at him. Rubie already felt confused enough, but this just made him stare without knowing what to say. Luckily Pinkie had something to say.

“Do you realize how big of a deal this is!!! You, Rubie Red have officially proven that my new formula is a fantastical success!! The name of the flavour you are oh soooooo desperately wanting to find out is known as Pinkie Promise, and you’re the first one to eat a Pinkie Promise, with Pinkie’s promise that every Pinkie Promise will be as amazing as every other Pinkie Promise!!! Now that’s something I can Pinkie Promise!”

Rubie could at least tell that he had made her happy, which he felt was rather good so far in the whole making friends business. At this moment in time, Rubie started to grow a new feeling. It was a certain churning feeling in his stomach that he had never felt before. Despite it being a churning feeling, Rubie thought that this feeling felt nice. This feeling was completely different to what he felt back in that rotten cage, and it made him think about how much better of a life he would experience. The mask on his face wasn’t enough to stop him from feeling free. Pinkie could see a warm smile growing on Rubie’s face. The stallion spoke confidently.

“I bet…no, I know everypony will adore them. You are one talented chef Pinkie Pie, and I feel real lucky to have met somepony like you, cus well, where I’m from, I didn’t really know that there existed a pony as joyful as you.” 

Rubie may have lied about his origin, but it felt good not to think about where he really came from. It came from Rubie’s heart and he knew it. Pinkie was overjoyed about his comment for her new recipe. She couldn’t stop giggling to herself.

“Hiiiihiihiii!! I’d love to hang around some more but I really really really wanna make more and more and more!!!”

Rubie felt happy to have made her feel even happier. He was about to wish her luck but before he could, something very peculiar happened. Rubie had noticed that everything around him had suddenly frozen. Everypony in the town was completely still. Even the sound of the wind stopped. Rubie’s head turned in every direction rapidly. He felt very concerned. After a few moments passed, Rubie’s head stopped turning, as he began to hear the voice in his head once again, the very same voice that had motivated him before. 

“Rubie, you’ve done well, so far.” 

“H-huh?? It’s you a-again!!”

“However, there is much more to do. I knew that you were about to say goodbye, but I’m here to guide you, so you have the best possible time, and to show you how great friends can really be. Rubie Red, don’t say goodbye just yet, ask her about her new recipe. Trust me, you’ll be happier.”

“Wh-what?? ……O-ok..but….”

“What’s the matter Rubie? Is there something bothering you?”

The stallion looked at the sky, watching the still clouds, as if they were floating pieces of ice.

“Well…I’m just a little uncertain….”

“And what would you be uncertain about Rubie?”

“Just about…who you are…and why you’re helping me…”

“………..”

Rubie looked at the frozen body of Pinkie once again and sighed before speaking to the voice.

“Who…who are you…? Are you in this mask…? Sombra said that this mask had a secret power…..I-Is thi-“

“No, I’m not from your mask, just…think of me as your teacher, or guardian, but if you want to call me by a name, you may call me Hodsaw.”

“Hodsaw…an interesting name”

“I know, I will let you go now”

With that, everything began to move again. Everypony carried on with their daily routine in the background as if nothing had happened at all. Rubie could see that Pinkie Pie was taking her first few steps away from him and, just as Hodsaw had said to Rubie, the masked stallion called out.

“Pinkie! Hey wait!”

The pink mare stopped and turned around with the same smile on her face.

“hmmmmm???”

Rubie approached her at a rather quick pace.

“I-I was just wondering, since…well it was rather fantastic…if I could possibly…. sorta…learn about that recipe…..? I-If I’m aloud to of course…I wouldn’t wanna ruin your secr-” 

Pinkie Pie suddenly interrupted him.

“What are you talking about?? Of course you can come and see!! I’d be absolutely overjoyfuleased!!”

“Umm…over what…?”

“I thought combining two happy words, which were overjoyed and pleased, would equal twice the joy, but I guess it does sound a teeny tiny bit odd.”

Rubie slowly nodded in agreement.

“Anyway!! To Sugar Cube Corner!! Follow me!!”

The pink mare commanded, and so the two of them went off to Sugar Cube corner. Both ponies had a smile of excitement on their face as they trotted. However, as Rubie trotted, he seemed to notice that some certain ponies were giving him looks. Judgmental looks that made Rubie feel rather uncomfortable. The dark stallion was confused at first as to why they were staring. However, he eventually realized that it was to do with the one thing that he had that they did not: a mask. This began to make Rubie feel a little bit down, but then he realized something that was rather odd. Why was it that Pinkie didn’t mind but these ponies were showing signs that they were? Rubie kept pondering on about this question while him and Pinkie Pie finally arrived at Sugar Cube Corner. Pinkie scurried along a little to the front door and opened it up for the newcomer. Out of nowhere, a top hat with a silver ribbon appeared on her head as she put on a posh, English accent.

“Right this way my good sir, thou shall see the super-duper recipe of a Pinkie Promise!”

Her accent made Rubie giggle as he entered. He even played along when he went inside, by bowing and putting on the same accent.

“I thank you, I shan’t wait another moment to see this spectacular creation”

After Rubie lifted his head, the two ponies couldn’t help but just laugh at the other’s acting. While Pinkie laughed, her tail shut the front door. After a few seconds the whacky mare took a deep breath and spoke.

“No more wasting time!! This is where the magic happens!!”   

Then without a second to spare, Pinkie dashed off to the kitchen in a blur. As she did, Rubie regained his breath from laughing. It felt good to laugh at the little things he thought. However, he too didn’t want to waste any time. He followed Pinkie to the kitchen. When Rubie entered the new room, he almost couldn’t believe his eyes. The kitchen was huge. Much bigger than his own. It was filled with cupboards and draws almost everywhere where the eye could see. As Rubie looked right, he could see a rack filled with hanging pans. He then looked to his left and saw a large, pink wooden cupboard. There was a piece of paper attached to the front left door of the cupboard which had the words *THE GOOD STUFF*. Reading these words made Rubie’s excitement build up inside of him. In front of the stallion was a long, horizontal, green, wooden kitchen counter, and he could see that Pinkie was attending to a built-in sink on it. Rubie approached her, while passing a wide, wooden table with a whisk, salt and pepper shakers, and a colourful looking book. When Rubie came to Pinkie Pie’s side, he looked out of the window. He could see the sun, and the sun was shining on his ruby mask. Feeling cheerful and confident, he turned his head to Pinkie and asked. 

“So, Pinkie, where do we start?”

The mare bounced back on to the wooden table and put on a teacher’s hat, which she seemed to pull out from within her mane. 

“Ok class!! Today we shall be learning how to make Pinkie Pie’s Pinkie Promise!! It’s as easy as pie!! Even though it has nothing to do with pie…It’s easy as cupcakes!!”

Rubie was a little confused about the act, but he didn’t want to ruin her moment, so he sat down and listened to what she had to say. 

“Now I know you all already know how bake a cupcake, so tha-“

Pinkie was interrupted by Rubie, who had his hoof up in the air

“What seems to be the matter Rubie?”

“W-Well…It’s just that….I don’t…really know how to bake one…hehe”

“How can you not know!? We learnt how to just last week!!”

“What?? Wh-what are you even talking abou-“

“No excuses! I’ll see you after class for arranging your detention!”

Rubie’s ears lowered a little as he felt a little down. He was hoping that she was still playing out an act. A few moments went before Rubie finally shook off the feeling of guilt and was back to being filled with excitement. He watched as he saw Pinkie trot over to the pink cupboard with the paper note. Rubie noticed that her trotting looked more disciplined and calm than before, just like a teacher. Pinkie opened both the cupboard doors carefully. She gestured her masked student to come closer, and so he did. When Rubie got closer he could see that inside the pink cupboard were rows and rows of big glass jars. They were arranged perfectly, not one single jar was off position. The one thing that Rubie found most interesting was that every jar was filled to the brim with some sort of colourful dust. Maybe a kind of spice, or maybe decorations for the cupcakes. On the top row the jars were filled with pink dust. Below the top row, every jar was filled with red dust. Below that row, every jar was filled with orange dust. Then yellow, then green, then blue, and on the bottom row, every jar was filled with purple dust. The variation of beautiful colours made Rubie gasp with amazement. He could let out just one word.

“...wow”

Pinkie Pie smirked, feeling good about herself.

“Indeed wow, this, my student, is the secret ingredient!! Grinded gems!!”

Rubie’s eyes widened in surprise, out of every kind of ingredient, he was not expecting it to be gems.

“Wait a minute, grinded…gems…? That’s the secret ingredient?”

He asked. The mare took down a jar of red gem dust. She went over to the green counter and set the jar down next to the sink. Pinkie gestured Rubie once again to come closer, and so he did. When he approached, Pinkie Pie then answered his question. 

“Actually, there’s more to it than just simply saying that it is the secret ingredient. Now I will be showing you the process of adding the secret ingredient to a cupcake.”

She went over to her oven and opened the door. Upon opening it, Rubie could smell the heavenly smell of freshly baked cupcakes. His eyes shut as he slowly took in the wonderful smell. After a few seconds, Rubie opened his eyes again to see that Pinkie had set a tray of fresh cupcakes on the counter next to the red jar.

“Now Rubie, watch closely”

The dark stallion nodded as he leaned in a little to watch.

“Before we can do anything, we have to create a space within the cupcake so we can add a filling.”

She took a peculiar looking utensil out from one of her draws. The utensil had a cylinder-shaped handle, and coming out from that handle looked like some kind of long metal end of a spoon. It was as if somepony had taken the end of an ice cream scoop, stretched it long ways and then stuck on half of a rolling pin to it. The mare held the utensil above the cupcake and pushed down into it. She only pushed it down halfway. Pinkie then began twisting the utensil around. Rubie then watched as Pinkie pulled the utensil out, and the center piece of the cupcake along with it. She set the center piece to one side before turning to Rubie, smiling. 

“Now then, the one super-dupertacular thing about grinded gems is that you can use them in just about anything!! I used the grinded gems in the Icing for your cupcakes, but now we’re gonna try and use them in custard for the filling, so if you please, there is some custard ready in a bowl to your left. Pass it over here please.”

Rubie turned to his left and saw that there was indeed a white bowl filled with custard. He was a bit tempted to eat a little of it but he knew that Pinkie was watching him carefully. He shook off the temptation and passed the bowl to her. The pink mare smiled and took the bowl to the wooden table behind her. She then did the same with the jar of red grinded gems. Her masked student went to the wooden table as well, standing next to Pinkie. She took off the lid of the glass jar and then leaned over the table to grab the whisk.

“Rubie, I have a teeny little job for you.”

The stallion could see that Pinkie’s tail was opening a draw to her left. Rubie watched as Pinkie’s tail took out a teaspoon and then placed it on the table near Rubie, before closing the draw again with her tail.

“I want ya to take this teaspoon and put about three teaspoons worth of red gem dust into the custard please.”

Rubie took the teaspoon and carefully dunked it into the jar. He then held the spoon over the white bowl and tipped the dust in. The stallion watched the dust sparkle as it fell into the custard. Rubie repeated these steps twice before finally putting down the teaspoon. Pinkie Pie looked rather pleased with what he had done.

“Excellent work Rubie. That’s a pitch perfect amount right there! I’ll put this stuff away and then we can get to the next part!”

Rubie watched as Pinkie’s mane picked up the glass lid and placed it on the top of the glass jar. As she took the jar back to the cupboard, Rubie smirked a little. He just found Pinkie’s teacher hat funny for some reason. He hid the smirk when he saw Pinkie coming back to the table. She had the whisk in her hoof while she explained to Rubie what was about to happen.

“So far now, the gem dust has just sorta half sunk into the custard, and that ain’t really bringing the flavour out. That means that what we’ve gotta do next is mix up the dust and the custard. To do that we’re gonna use a whisk!! Now watch as this is turned from custard and red dust, to red gem custard!!”

Pinkie began to mix up the custard and the gem dust with the whisk. Rubie watched the gem dust spread out and sink into the custard. He could see bits of red dust pop up on the custard’s surface before being smothered by more custard. Rubie kept watching, smiling at what was happening. Suddenly a big puff of red smoke came out of the white bowl. Rubie shut his eyes tight as he felt a breeze from the puff of red smoke pass him. Then, when he opened his eyes again, he was amazed with what he saw. Inside the bowl was the custard, but the custard was sparkling. However, the sparkles were not white. Instead the custard sparkled red. Pinkie Pie giggled a little to herself, feeling proud with what she had discovered. 

“And that there, Rubie, is red gem custard! Just like custard, but enhanced in sweetness, along with a slightly richer texture. Kinda like cookie dough in a way, but still soft enough to be a filling! Now all we have to do now is add some to the inside of the cupcake and cover it up with icing!”

With that, Pinkie Pie went to the green counter once again, with the white bowl. Rubie followed alongside her. He watched as she took an ice cream scoop and dunked it in the red gem custard. She then held the scoop over the cupcake before turning the scoop over, watching the custard fall into the hole in the center. After all the custard in the scoop had sunk into the cupcake, the pink mare then took what seemed to be a bag full of icing out of a draw and topped the cupcake with a swirl of pink icing. Pinkie then put away the icing bag in the draw again. Rubie’s eyes widened as he saw the final product. Pinkie Pie took a bow.

“And that my student is how you make a red gem custard filled cupcake!!”

Pinkie was trying to keep the disciplined act going, but when she lifted her head again she couldn’t keep it in. She began jumping up and down rapidly.
“T’heeheeeeheheee!!! I hate to brag but I’m so proud of myself!!”

The stallion felt relieved that It was all an act. He chuckled a little at Pinkie’s excitement.

“hehe, I can see why”

“I know right!!?? I never thought I’d be able to act like that for that long!! Though I do think I kinda made a few mistakes here and there, oh but that’s fine!!”

“Oh…I was sort of talking about the cupcake…I mean I know you was supposed to make a Pinkie Promise, but honestly, I think I’m happy that I got to see this instead. Besides, you didn’t Pinkie Promise that you would show me how to make a Pinkie Promise.”

Pinkie froze for a moment, realizing that she hadn't shown him how to make a Pinkie Promise. However she then began to laugh at Rubie’s little tongue twister, which made Rubie smile. He was about to say that It was time to go, however he remembered that he hadn’t done something yet. When Pinkie Pie stopped laughing, Rubie spoke.

“Pinkie…I...I needed to ask something...It’s just something that caught my attention.”  

Pinkie Pie sat down, waiting to hear his question.

“Fire away Rubie! I’m all ears!”

“I…well…on my way here…I noticed quite a few ponies were looking at me in a rather strange way. They looked as if they…didn’t want me here…and…some of them even looked scared…which got me thinking…don’t take this the wrong way or anything but…why aren’t you afraid of me…? Why do you…I mean…I…”

Before Rubie could finish he felt something enter his mouth. He then saw that Pinkie had put the red gem custard cupcake in his mouth. Rubie absolutely loved the taste. As he chewed Pinkie answered his question.

“Hihihiii, don’t be silly Rubie!! I don’t have a reason to be afraid of you! Did you really think that having that mask and those curious eyes were gonna stop you from having friends!? That’s what friends are!! They’re ponies who don’t judge you by how you look, but by who you really are!!”

Pinkie’s words really touched Rubie. He felt his eyes water with joy, but he quickly wiped them so he didn’t feel embarrassed. He then gave a little giggle. 

“heh…hehehe. Thanks Pinkie Pie…you really are a true friend.”

Pinkie also felt touched by what Rubie just said. Rubie felt that It was time to leave. He nodded his head to Pinkie Pie in appreciation.

“Thank you so much for this lesson Pinkie. I have to go now, but I Pinkie Promise that we’ll meet again.”

The pink mare bowed and spoke again with a posh English accent.

“Though shall indeed see you again, and though shall be glad as well!!”

The two ponies both giggled at each other. Rubie gave one last nod before leaving through the front door. When he went out, he looked up to the sky and smiled.

“Thank you, Pinkie Pie. You really have taught me something wonderful today. You’ve taught me one valuable lesson about friendship. One that will show who are your true friends. If you can look past how a pony looks. If you can find somepony who doesn’t judge you for the way you look. If you can find somepony who can see who you are from behind the mask you hide and bring the real you out, then they are a friend worth keeping. They are your true friend.”

> 5 Feeling Home
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rubie had said his goodbyes to his new friend and had decided to just stroll around in Ponyville. Anything could happen he thought. He wandered into the busy streets, just looking left and right at the different shops that past him. The stallion could see that some ponies were still giving certain looks at his face. It was as if Rubie was seeing the exact same scenario when he and Pinkie Pie were heading to Sugar Cube Corner. However, Rubie seemed to find their looks rather helpful. With the lesson that he had just learned, he could see that the ponies who gave him bad looks were not the ones to talk to at first. Rubie was on the look out to see if anyone at all reacted differently to his facial appearance. As Rubie wondered down the streets of Ponyville, his eyes shifted from pony to pony. Rubie Red could either see a look of judgement, or not even a look at all. It didn’t really matter to Rubie if the ponies were ignoring him on purpose or by accident. Things seemed to be getting rather bleak. Rubie started to feel as if there wasn’t much point to this.

“…hmmm”

He quietly muttered. Surprisingly, a voice answered.

“Things, never usually happen straight away you know.”

Rubie’s ears pointed up as he looked to his left and right.

“Rubie, relax, it’s just me.”

“Oh…Hodsaw…sorry…. I ju- “

Passing a stone corner, the dark stallion suddenly noticed a familiar face, with a familiar mane and a familiar tail. It was Hope. She seemed to just be passing down the street, and while she trotted her head turned left and right, analysing each structure as she passed at a slow pace. Perhaps she was looking for Rubie’s home. With that thought in the masked stallion’s head, he grew a facial expression of delight as he rushed over. He called out as he approached the Pegasus.

“Hope!! Hey Hope!!”

Hope’s eyes locked on to the joyful stallion as he rushed towards her. The Pegasus gasped quietly to herself and her eyes widened. Rubie tried to stop himself, skidding a little in front of his friend. As he skidded he shut his eyes so that no dirt flew into them. Rubie felt relieved to see his friend again, but something was wrong. When Rubie’s eyes opened again, Hope had just taken off into the air. She seemed to be flying at quite a hurried pace. Maybe she thought he was a stranger Rubie thought, since she had only seen his face for a day. The stallion shouted again.

“Hope!? It’s me!! Rubie!! Where are you going!?”

Hope didn’t answer. She just kept on flying. It was as if she had a grudge against him. All Rubie could do was watch as Hope eventually flew out of sight, and even after the Pegasus had gone, he just stared at the sky. His eyes then drew to the sun.

“Hope…what did I do…? Was it because I didn’t look for you first thing in the morning…? Is it because you don’t trust me…? Why wouldn’t she…? She’s the one that knows the most about me than any other pony!”

Rubie’s head then lowered, so that his eyes met contact with the ground, his long grey main covering his face. His front hoof stomped the dirt as he let out a grunt of irritation. The stallion felt stiff. It was as if an unknown force of sorrow kept him in place. However, that force suddenly vanished when Rubie heard a mare’s voice. It wasn’t Hope’s voice, it sounded more formal, along with the sound of gently hoofs across the ground. 

“Sir? Excuse me sir. Are you alright? Is something troubling you?”

Hearing the calming voice of a polite mare, Rubie took a deep breath. He lessened the agitated force in his front hoofs that were pressing down on the ground.

“…y-yeah…I’m fine, I’m ok, just something on my mind…” 

Rubie finally found the courage to lift his head up to the mare. The grey mane that covered his mask began to separate and spread out away from the stallion’s eyes, and as they did, Rubie’s sight became clear. The light shined on Rubie’s mask and he could see the mare who’s voice he had heard from underneath his mane. The mare standing in front of him had a white body that seemed very pure and clean, comparable to that of a sacred diamond, along with the eyes of a sapphire stone. Her eye lashes were bold and pure black, which seemed to make them stand out when contrasted with her body as white as snow. Her mane and tail were a shade of bright purple. Not a single strip of hair was a different shade to the other. The structure of the mare’s tail seemed to be in a shape of a spiral. It was as if it was sculpted perfectly. These properties gave off a feel of peace and serenity. 

“Marvellous. Good to see a stallion get up that quickly from something bad. I just saw you looking down as if you’d just lost somepony. I’m Rarity by the way, and I-“

Rarity paused as she noticed something that she thought was quite striking. When Rubie’s mane had cleared away, the sun shone on the red, shiny, sparkly mask. Rarity’s mouth opened a little as her eyes examined every speck of the mask. Many exciting thoughts were stirring in her head. Out of all rare materials she had seen in her life, she could swear that it was made from fire rubies  

“No way!!”

She cried out   
Rubie’s ears shot up in fright before lowering back.

“I…I know…I…I”

Rarity’s face grew a big smile and her eyes began to gently sparkle.

“That!! That mask!! It’s…it’s quite beautiful!!”  

She leaned in very close and began to slowly circle around Rubie, keeping a sharp eye on every sparkle that came off his mask. Rubie stayed silent, he gently pushed his main a little more in front of his face to hide the edges of his mask that sunk into his skin. Rarity was now behind him examining the back of his head.

“Where is it?”

She asked to herself.

“Huh? Wh-where is what?”

Rubie began to feel a little bit nervous, his eyes slightly pulsed with a faint yellow glow, but Rarity was too focused on the back of his head to notice.

“Where’s the strap that holds the mask on your face? I don’t see it.”

The stallion’s eyes had gone completely yellow as his feeling of pressure increased. He knew that it would freak Rarity out if she found out how the mask stayed on, but what could Rubie say. 

“Well?”

Rarity questioned.
The nervous stallion took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

“I-It’s there…it’s just tucked behind my main.”

He opened his eyes, which were back to red, and turned to Rarity.

“The thought of this mane being tucked in by a tight strap, yikes that would be uncomfortable, hehe…” 

Rubie was given a little glare before hearing a giggle come out of the mare’s mouth. The masked stallion felt relieved. Rarity scratched the back of her neck a little, she felt a little awkward about not taking in the simple possibility of the strap being beneath Rubie’s mane.

“O-oh of course. How silly of me to not notice that. Say umm… If you wouldn’t mind, may I see the inside of your mask? Just to see what it’s made of on the inside.”

A churning feeling of nervous pressure began to appear in Rubie’s stomach. He didn’t know what to do, or say. The stallion felt that it would be a little rude to just say no for no reason whatsoever, but he didn’t know what excuse to give. Rubie already felt bad enough lying once. Hodsaw wasn’t helping either, since all there was in Rubie’s head was silence. Out of all the pressure that was building up, Rubie built up the courage to reply, sheepishly.

“U-Umm…n-no I-I mean………I-I’m sorry but I-I gotta go...s-something has just caught my mind and is rather urgent.”

“Oh dear! I’m sorry if I distracted you!”

“No No No it’s fine! It was real nice meeting you, really! My name is Rubie Red by the way!!”

Before Rarity could even lift a hoof to wave goodbye Rubie Red had already turned away and started heading towards a forest at quite a fast pace.  The shadows of the trees casted over Rubie, with the occasional small dots of light shining on his body. The stallions pace went to a calm and relaxing stroll. 

“What was that?”

Hodsaw questioned, with an irritated sound in his voice. The masked stallion froze and lowered his head a little, like a child getting told off by his mother.

“That was very rude of you”

“W-well what was I supposed to…I-I mean…I’m sorry I didn’t…I didn’t know what to do, my head was spinning, I’m sorry…”

“Well…I can understand why you did what you did.”

“………I thought having friends would free me, but if this mask limits me to making friends I…I don’t know…”

The stallion found himself walking into a circle of light, next to a big oak tree. He looked up at the sun. It seemed brighter than ever, almost blinding the masked stallion. The bright light made Rubie’s body greatly contrast to his surroundings, and made his mask shine like a star. His head lowered and Rubie began to gaze at his surroundings. He seemed to be quite deep in the forest, for no matter which direction Rubie turned his head to, all he could see was green grass, strong oak trees and bushes, which its leaves bristled in the calm wind. Rubie felt something next to his front right hoof. He looked down to see a bright pink flower. Rubie watched the petals gently wave in the calm wind. He found this rather interesting. He laid down in front of the flower and continued to watch it. His eyes were locked on to the petals as the flower gently danced in the wind. Rubie began to gently smile.

“heh…you’re quite a special fella, aren’t you? All the way out here, but no others have bloomed near you…but why? You’re so beautiful, so why are you all by yourself? …You’re a brave one.”

Rubie spent a few more seconds watching the flower sway, then stood up. Past the flower, Rubie could see a majestic oak tree. He watched as the branches slowly waved to him, and listened to the wind bristling through the fresh green leaves. The stallion gently approached the bottom of the oak tree, analysing the patterns of the cracks. With his curiosity taking advantage, he pressed his left front hoof on to the wood of the tree. The texture was very jagged and uneven. Such detail and design Rubie thought. He gently pressed the side of his head on to the tree. It felt surprisingly warm, making the stallion press on it a little harder. He took a deep breath and sighed. It held Rubie in place as his eyes felt a little heavy.

“You know Hodsaw…I don’t feel lost…there’s something about this place…I…I feel safe. I feel home, but I don’t understand why, why does this make me feel better? Good lord…I barely even know much about myself do I?”

“Rubie, you’re going to find out, that’s the reason I’m here. Besides, I’ve seen already that you can be a good friend, and I’ve already started to see a certain personality form, and personally, I like it.”

Rubie felt proud of himself, feeling less doubtful of himself and feeling more at home. He fell to the ground next to the flower with a smile as the sun shined its light over him. 
> 6 A New Friend
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back in Ponyville, near the edge of the town, was a large, glorious castle. Its colours consisted of blues and purples which shined in the sun. Every balcony was made of gold and at the top was a giant sculpture of a star. The castle itself was sculpted in a way that gave it the impression of a majestic tree, which was rather fitting for its current location. Within this castle, in the library section, was the princess of friendship: Twilight Sparkle, and her assistant Spike. Today was 
*re-shelving* day, and since the library was so big, it took Twilight and Spike almost the whole day to put every book back where they belonged. Even though Twilight did most of the work, she felt free for Spike to jump in and be of assistance, and so he had. When Spike slid the last book into its resting place, the purple dragon then let out a long exhale before falling back on the ground. Twilight couldn’t help but let out a tiny giggle at Spike’s behaviour. However, Spike suddenly caught sight of Twilight’s little giggle. The purple dragon suddenly leaned up and faced her.

“I know I know, you did most of the work and I should try to do better”

“Aww no Spike, I know that you always do your best. Why do you think you’re my number one assistant? It’s about the motivation you have, and you’re choc full of it.”

“Heh, thanks, still, it took almost the whole day to finish. I really don’t know how you can keep doing this without getting bored. Sure it’s a huge library, but I bet you’ve already re-“

Suddenly Spike clutched his stomach before he burped out a message through a burst of green flames. It didn’t hurt, it happened quite a lot for Spike, but this message was different. Twilight’s eyes widened with curiosity as the message landed on the floor. 

“Oh wow! Talk about perfect timing! Let’s see what it says!”

Twilight said, followed by a small chuckle. Spike took hold of the small scroll and unravelled it, only to see that the very first words he saw read *Hand this to Twilight immediately* . Spike tilted his head in confusion. However, he could tell that it was written in Celestia’s writing, so he carried out her instructions.

“Twilight it’s from Celestia. Must be something important if you yourself have to read it.”

Twilight frowned a little, feeling concerned about what the ink on the paper would inform her of. Her horn started to glow with magic. The letter was encased in a purple ball of magic as it levitated to Twilight’s eye level. The scroll then unravelled itself, revealing the rest of the message. Without hesitation, she began to read out loud.

“Dear Twilight, this message is a potential warning to you, your friends, and the citizens of Ponyville. Last night, a dark stallion with a red mask came to Canterlot in a horrific state. We took him in and questioned him. He told us his name was Rubie Red, which seemed perfectly fine. However, when we asked where he came from, he told us that he had come from far in the north. He had told us that he had spent his whole life in a cage, in the core of a mountain. While he was answering our questions, he told us that he never tried to escape because he never knew that there was an outside world to escape to. However, what’s the most disturbing is that the stallion informed us that he had been imprisoned by King Sombra. I do not know whether to trust the stallion’s story or not. Luna seems convinced, but I need to make sure. Tomorrow I am going to venture off to where Rubie says he came from, to see if he was telling the truth. Only you and Spike know about this, no one else must know. Twilight, I do not know if Rubie is telling the truth. He could be the most innocent stallion in all of Equestria, but, he still has a dark and powerful aura. If that somehow unleashes, catastrophe could occur. I don’t want you to force him to a point of pressure just in case he is lying. Just keep a very sharp eye on him. He could be very dangerous. Remember, his name is Rubie Red, his mane is long and grey. His body is very dark and his tail is pure red. He also wears a ruby mask and his eyes appear to be two red slits with black dots. One last thing, only you and the friends that you trust are the only ones who are allowed to know this. We don’t want to scare anypony that may easily pass the message on. 
From Princess Celestia.” 

Spike had waited patiently for Twilight to finish reading, and when she did he ran up closer to her.

“Imprisoned by King Sombra!? How is that possible!? That CAN’T be possible! You know, after I-…I mean we got rid of him!”

Twilight could do nothing but stare back at the concerned dragon. She was worried about this stallion being loose in Ponyville. 

“I don’t know Spike. I really don’t know, but for now that’s not important, what’s important is finding this stallion”

“R-right of course! Wh-what did he look like again?”

Spike walked to the side of Twilight and hopped on to her back. Headed out of the Library and trotted quickly to her balcony.

“Celestia said that his mane was grey and long, that his body was dark, that his tail was pure red and that he wears a ruby mask.”

“Wait, a ruby mask? Really? To be honest I think that’s a tad ridiculous. Out of anything to put on your face, why something that’s probably the most noticeable colour?”

Twilight looked up in the sky and carefully spread open her wings. Her eyes drew to the sun, which made her eyelids narrow a little. They then shut as she motioned her neck around in a circle, before taking a deep breath.

Spike gently tapped the back of her neck.

“Twilight? Are you ok? I know this is serious, but I’ve never seen you like…this, like, this quiet. Honestly…it’s scary.”

“I am ok, I promise. I just need to think about where to look first…ok I got it, hold on.”

The Alicorn rushed to the ledge and took off, searching for Rubie Red.

Deep in the woods, Rubie laid near the strong oak tree. His eyes were shut, but he was not asleep. He felt his mane and tail sway through the gentle breeze. The sun’s beams kept Rubie’s mask shining bright. The forest was warm, the grass was soft, and the breeze was a sensation. Rubie was about to lay on his side, but he an instant sting came on to his thigh, forcing the stallion to move back on to his stomach. He let out a quiet gasp of pain. Upon looking down at his thigh, all Rubie could see was a group of scars. They were arranged in a way that looked like a rough, untidy circle, some bigger than others. A huff came out of Rubies mouth as he slouched the rest of his body on the grass.

“…stupid scars…I wished they’d go away. They could have been anywhere else on my body, but noooooo~. They had to be in the one place where I can’t relax the way I want.”

He rolled on to his back, making sure that his back thighs were not touching the grass. The stallion gently rubbed his back on the grass until his new position was comfortable enough. Rubie watched as a group of big fluffy clouds swept away from the sun. Every now and then a small cloud drifted either below or above the sun, trying to catch up with their bigger siblings. Rubie reached out with his front left hoof, as if he was trying to touch the sky. He reached out further, gently pushing his left shoulder up as well. Then, his hoof froze in mid-air. As it did, the colour in Rubie’s eye slits faded to orange.

“What’s it like to be up there? What would it be like to see the land from up there? What would it be like to touch the sky and the clouds?  Is it brighter up there? …I don’t think I’ll ever know, but I can dream hehe”

Rubie heard Hodsaw chuckle, as if he was laying beside the masked stallion.

“That you can Rubie, that you can, just like everypony else.”

Hodsaw knew what to say. Making the masked stallion feel like he fitted in was what Rubie wanted. His left hoof fell back down on to his chest. A large, thick cloud began to swarm the sky. The light on Rubie’s mask began to disappear. This cloud seemed to be moving at quite a fast pace, taking over the sky above the stallion in a matter of seconds. Rubie rolled left on to his stomach again, not paying attention to the scars on his thighs which made a sting emit on his left thigh. He grunted, holding the pain inside. However, his grunt abruptly stopped. The pink flower was a few inches away from Rubies eyes. He watched closely. He didn’t know why, but the flower just seemed to intrigue him, like it was a shiny jewel, or a radiant piece of candy that you could just not take your eyes off of. Rubie was so concentrated on the flower that when a single raindrop landed on the petals, he flinched. He then noticed that another raindrop had landed on his nose. He couldn’t really feel it because of his mask. Then another raindrop fell on to the grass, then another, and then another. It didn’t take long before millions of raindrops began to fall in the forest. There was a rapid and constant sound of light percussion from the rain hitting the millions of leaves around Rubie. The stallion’s orange eyes began to glow, as he kept turning his head back and forth. His body began to shiver. He hurriedly got to his hoofs.

“H-Hodsaw!? Wh-what is this!?”

Rubie heard the voice in his head chuckle again.

“Hehehe, relax, it’s just rain. Nothing more than drops of water falling from the sky.”

“Wait, really? That’s what this is?”

The stallion sat back down next to the pink flower. He looked down and shut his eyes. His now wet mane hung over his face. He could feel every ice-cold raindrop tap on his back. The feeling seemed to soothe the marks of where hay had been stuck on the stallion’s body from countless nights of sleeping on a bundle of dried grass. Rubie opened his eyes and held his right hoof out through his hanging mane, and watched as drops of rain fell and dribbled off, landing on the grass. He tried to analyse each drop that landed on his hoof, but the raindrops fell faster than Rubie could count. Giving up on counting the raindrops, the stallion raised his head to the clouds. His grey mane that hung over his face separated and hung behind Rubie’s mask. The sound of the rain landing on his mask sounded like rain landing on glass. The stallion found it rather easy to keep his eyes open as he watched the rather dark and dull clouds release their rain across the land. His slit pupils shifted rapidly, looking from one group of raindrops to another. Rubie stayed quiet. His eyes stayed glued to the sky. Even though it was cold, and cloudy, he still found it beautiful. An icy breeze hit Rubies chest and travelled down his body. It seemed to reach certain places like between his neck and his mane and in between his front and back thighs. This cold touch made Rubie gasp a little, but he didn’t move. It felt refreshing. 

Minutes passed, and more minutes passed, and even more minutes passed. Rubie couldn’t get enough of the rain. It felt like an eternity, just sitting down and looking up, but then he was interrupted by a vast force on his right hip pushing him to the left. Rubie broke out of his trance and jerked his head to the right. The first thing he saw was a bright greyish blue coat pushing on his face. Rubie backed up a bit to get a better look at what was pushing him. In front of him was another stallion, A unicorn stallion. Along with the greyish blue coat, Rubie could also see an orange mane and tail, four dark blue hoofs and green eyes. What Rubie found most curious was his cutiemark. It was a sword in the stone. The point where the sword and the stone collided had yellow sparks surrounding it. Despite it being quite a good looking cutiemark, Rubie had no idea what it even was. He didn’t know what a cutiemark was. 

The other stallion let out a little scream as he also backed up quickly away from Rubie. He seemed to be shaking quite a bit. 
“O-oh goodness! My…my apologies for screaming like that.”

At least he didn’t feel freaked out about my mask Rubie though.

“Hehe, there’s no need to apologies to me. There’s nothing wrong with being scared after all.”

“O-oh right, th-thank you. M-my name is Sh-Sheath Ing-got” 
The wind howled and a flash of lightning lit up the forest. A loud crack of thunder shattered the calm sound of rain. It made Sheath scream and scurry to Rubie, holding him close. He seemed to be very scared of thunder. Rubie on the other hoof rolled his eyes and moved Sheath’s hoof which was on his mouth, back down on to the grass.
“and I’m Rubie Red…pleasure.”
The masked stallion tried to push Sheath off, but he stayed clutched on, like a nail to wood.

“umm…Sheath can you…you know, let go of me?”

Sheath kept holding on tight, his teeth began to chatter. It seemed Sheath was too stressed to listen. Rubie groaned. Perhaps there was a place for shelter, then hopefully he’ll be able to listen he thought. Rubie stood up, carrying Sheath on his back. He was quite a heavy weight, and seemed to not have a single wrinkle. Rubie’s body swayed left and right while his eyes searched for shelter. It took a moment before his eyes locked on to a sort of small cave. It seemed to give off an ominous impression, but Rubie was willing to do anything to get this stallion off his back, literally. The masked stallion looked at Sheath and gestured his head to the cave, along with pointing a hoof to the cave. Sheath took one look at the cave and gave a nervous giggle before rapidly nodding. This made Rubie’s eyes roll again, but at least he had found a solution to get Sheath off.

The masked stallion went at a slow pace to the cave. Quiet grunts emanated from his lips, but their sound was covered up by the weather. A loud crack of thunder could be heard. Out of pure fear and worry Sheath held tight on to Rubie, slightly pulling his mane. This irritated Rubie a little, but it didn’t take long after that until they finally reached the small cave. Without concentrating at all, Rubie flung the frightened stallion off his back and on to the ground.
“Next time…don’t pull on my mane, please.”
After Sheath hit the ground he shook his head to get out of the trance of fear. He looked up at the dark, wet, irritated stallion. He only just realised how annoyed Rubie must had been for Sheath to just latch on to him like a parasite. Sheath took a deep breath and sighed, feeling a little disappointed in himself and slightly embarrassed.

“S-sorry…I’m not usually like this…it’s just that when thunder and lightning comes…I just…my fear goes through the roof!! I’m truly sorry for putting through that much irritation.”

Sheath’s eyes were almost about to water, but Rubie gave a little laugh in response.

“Ehehehehe, alright alright, it’s not like I lost a hoof or anything, come get back up”
Rubie offered a hoof to Sheath. The dull blue stallion smiled up at his masked helper and took the hoof. Rubie pulled him up back on to his four hoofs. Sheath gave a nod of respect to Rubie.

“Thanks kiddo.”

“Pleasure’s all mine”

A flash of lightning struck down close by, lighting up the entrance of the cave. The two stallions looked out. Sheath’s face carried an expression of mild worry, while Rubie just peered into the forest ahead. 

“So now what…?”
Rubie asked

“well…it doesn’t look like this storms gonna clear up soon, not if there aren’t any pegasi to clear it for us”

“well, I don’t mind waiting, I’m a pretty patient stallion”

“Hehe, good to know there are still some good behaved kids in Equestria.”

“h-huh?”

“Oh I don’t mean that, there are plenty of well-behaved kids in Equestria. In fact, my daughter is one of the nicest fillies I’ve ever known”

“Wait, you have a daughter?”

“heh yeah, I know I look a little young, or at least that’s what I’m told, but I’m old enough to be a dad.”

“I see, can you tell me more about your daughter?”

“Oh sure! Her name’s Blue Moon. She turned 14 exactly one week ago actually. Hehe, it was one heck of a party. See she’s super into bowling, so for her birthday it was a no-brainer. Countless stallions and mares and fillies and foals couldn’t help but stare at the vast number of guests attending her party, and every second of it was pure joy. Right down to just talking silly with helium from the party balloons.”

“D’aaw come on you’re making me jealous”

“Hehe alright alright. You know, she wasn’t always called Blue Moon”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Well, she was called Copper Spark…but she didn’t feel as if that name matched who she really was. You see, over the years I saw that she was growing attached to the stars. I caught her stargazing when she should have been asleep every now and then. Heck she even told me that Luna visited her in a dream to give her confidence the night before a test! Then, when she finally got her cutiemark of a blue moon, I knew who she truly was. I tell you, the moment she got her cutiemark, she begged me to change her name, as if she was a prisoner begging for scraps.”

“What? Seriously? Why was she so…well…overly dramatic?”

“Hehe, I could understand why she was. It was the one thing she wanted, she wanted it more than anything in the world and she would stop at nothing to obtain it. Ponies can do very strange things when they desperately want something.”

“and I’m guessing you allowed her to change her name?”

“Of course! Why wouldn’t I? After all, all I want as a father is to make my little girl happy. I’d feel like a horrible dad if I denied my girl her true destiny. She’s her own self with her own goals, and It’s my job as a dad to make her happy throughout.”

“heh…wow, that’s quite some loyalty”

“thanks. Right now she wants to become an astronomer and analyse the stars.”
“Interesting, and do you think that she’ll keep wanting to do this?”  

“Unless her cutiemark was to magically disappear, I’d say definitely.”

Rubie had no idea what Sheath meant by her cutiemark, since he was never taught about them, but he didn’t want to end this conversation abruptly.

“Wow…that’s one heck of a story…actually come to think about it I currently know more about your daughter than I do about you.”

Sheath turned his body a little to Rubie as the masked stallion giggled a little.

“Alright then, I’ll tell you a little about myself. For starters, I live in the Crystal Empire.”

“Huh? The…Crystal Empire?”

“Yeah, that’s right. I’m one of the royal guards, and a blacksmith. I’ve been forging tools for the guards for many years now. I’m surprised I have time to see my family to be honest, knowing how many tools I forge a day, but I manage it. It’s all because Princess Cadance knows how important it is to keep in touch with your loved ones.”

“Wait…Princess Cadance?”

“Wow kid…you’re not that educated with the local places around here, are you?”

“No…not really…apologies, I only just moved to Ponyville”

“Just you? By yourself?”

“Yeah, but don’t let that stop you from telling me about yourself”

“aah but I might as well tell you about Cadance though, I feel that it’s necessary. She’s the one who rules The Crystal Empire. Along with her husband, Shining Armour. Trust me you do not wanna be on the opposite side of the stick with him. He was the one who helped, not with mastering my defences, but mastering my courage to use my defences, and my courage in general. If it weren’t for him I’d still be scared stiff whenever I was on duty and there was a thunderstorm.”

“Oh really now, are you sure about that?”

“Look, I’m confident when it is necessary. I’m a different pony when I’m not on duty.”

“It’s alright It’s alright, I understand… … …by the way, may I ask, why are you afraid of thunderstorms?”

“Oh…well it was quite a long time ago…It was about the time when I was a foal. My dad was a soldier…and one night, while he was asleep I secretly took his sword outside to play with. At that time I really admired my dad, and he really inspired me. I wanted to be just like him. I was playing with his sword outside, just swinging it about, feeling like a soldier, a hero and stuff. There was also a thunderstorm at the time, but I didn’t mind it. I always had thought that the lightning looked cool back then. I was there, playing with the metal sword, but suddenly I stopped when I noticed it was slightly glowing. I…didn’t know at the time that lightning was attracted to metal. I put the sword down and sat on the grass, watching it glow. I thought something amazing was going to happen, something magical. I watched it as it glowed brighter and brighter…and then…and…then…”

Suddenly a huge flash of lightning struck nearby, accompanied by a loud crack of thunder, that sounded like the earth was tearing apart beneath the two ponies. Sheath jumped up, and when he did, the lightning flashed on his body. Rubie could see multiple burns and bruises on Sheath’s chest. It was at that moment Rubie understood why Sheath was afraid of thunderstorm. The petrified stallion began to shake a little, remembering the burns he went through.

“I sorta deserved it…I mean I shouldn’t have taken his sword in the first place…I was just stupid.”

Rubie stepped closer to Sheath and put his hoof on Sheath’s shoulder.

“Sheath, look at me, right in the eyes.”

The stallion did what Rubie said, looking directly into his red pupils.

“If there’s one thing I know, it’s that nopony is perfect, not even Celestia or Luna. The ones who say they are, are the least decent. We all make mistakes, especially when we’re young and we all learn from them. It’s all just a part of growing up. It’s not about who we were, or even who we are now. What’s important is who we’ll become.”

Sheath’s body ceased Its shaking, his eyes looked down a little as if something was on his mind. Seeing that his body had stopped shaking, Rubie put his hoof back on the ground.

“Better?”

Rubie asked

“Better…”

Rubie smiled, mostly because he felt proud of himself for calming Sheath down.

“Heh, besides, it didn’t stop you from becoming a soldier am I right?”

Sheath nodded with a small smile.

“Yeah…I guess you’re right”

Rubie and Sheath both let out a little laugh, but that laugh was interrupted by an ominous sound, coming from deeper inside the cave. It sounded like a low pitch howl of wind. It was slow and echoed in the cave. Both Sheath and Rubie looked deeper into the cave. Sheath seemed a little frightened, but Rubie was curious about the sound. His eyes turned to a warm orange, that glowed faintly in the dark cave. The masked stallion took two slow steps into the cave. Both steps echoed for about 5 seconds before there was just the sound of rain. Rubie leaned his head forward to look further into the cave. Nothing much caught his eye. It just seemed like a long, tube-like tunnel. However, the only thing that caught his eye was a big rock, about 10 meters away. It was about half the size of Sheath. One thing that was peculiar was that Rubie could’ve sworn that he could see his glowing orange eyes reflecting off it, but Rubie just brushed it off. He turned his head back to Sheath.

“well…I don’t see anything down there…just a rock”

Sheath nodded, still looking a little uncomfortable. Then another sound came from down the cave. It sounded like steel scraping on dirt. It echoed in the cave, and when it did Rubie turned his head back round. The *shiny rock* had opened a pair of purple, glowing, intimidating eyes. Rubie and Sheath both backed up a little. Sheath began to shake again. Rubie couldn’t take his eyes off it.

“…Sh-Sheath…wh-what is that?”

He asked, sounding concerned. Before Sheath could answer, the creature lunged towards them, it opened a huge mouth with two large, sharp fangs. Both Rubie and Sheath jumped back as the creature tried to bite them both.

“THAT’S A TITANIUBOA!! A GIANT METAL SNAKE!!”

Sheath screamed.

Rubie looked back and forth at the creature and Sheath. 

“A what!?”

Suddenly Rubie felt something hard and cold wrap around his two back hoofs. Rubie looked down at his hoofs before suddenly being pulled down behind the giant snake, deeper into the cave.

“RUBIE!!!!”

Sheath cried, seeing his friend snatched up by the titaniuboa, hiding him behind the massive creature. It’s cold, metal coils began to wrap around Rubie, right up to his neck. All Rubie could do was pant and stare at the snake while its tongue slithered out, touching Rubie’s cheeks and forehead. Rubie began to sweat with fear. He watched as the snake slowly opened its jaws, ready to devour the stallion whole. The helpless stallion watched as the poisonous acid dribbled from its two large, almost see-through fangs. In a blind panic, Rubie did the only foolish thing he could have thought to do. He bashed his masked forehead on the snakes left fang. Luckily for Rubie, the acid dribbled off his mask and on to the snake’s metal scales. This made the snake shut his mouth. It glared at Rubie. Its eyes filled with anger and rage. It gave a loud, screeching hiss right in Rubie’s face. The masked stallion could feel the coils around him tighten harder and harder. It was squeezing the very air right out of Rubie’s lungs. The stallion found it harder each time to breath, and all while, the snake was just glaring. Rubie couldn’t inhale any more air into his system. His sight began to turn blurry. All he could notice was the glowing purple eyes. With that, his eyes began to slowly shut. Suddenly the snake felt something hit its head. It turned its face to the entrance of the cave, where it could see Sheath throwing rocks at it.

“HEY!! COME ON YOU BIG BRUTE!! I’M RIGHT HERE!!”

The snake began to slither to Sheath, with Rubie still in its coils unconscious. Sheath slowly backed up outside into the harsh storm. He could feel the sharp cold touches of the rain, as if they were bits of hail. Sheath didn’t look afraid. His eyes stayed slim, his head was low and he wasn’t shaking in the freezing rain. The giant snake followed Sheath, like a dog, out into the storm. The snake’s jaws began to slowly open, ready to take Sheath whole. Its jaws grew wider and wider until they were unimaginably wide. It was about to lunge at Sheath, but it noticed something strange. When the snake shut its jaws, it noticed that its body was slightly glowing. Sheath grew a little smile, whispering to himself.

“Yes, yes, come on, just a little longer…”

The snake looked all over its body, seeing its metal scales glow brighter and brighter and brighter.

“I’m sorry Rubie… … …I would be lying if I said this wasn’t gonna hurt…”

Suddenly the snake looked right up into the sky. Its eyes met with a white lightning bolt that struck down right on the creature’s purple, bulging eyes. The snake let out a massive screech that spread all over the forest. When the lightning struck, Rubies eyes shot wide open. He let out a painful scream, as if he was waking up from a nightmare. After the snake screeched, its head feel down to the ground. Its eyes had burned and smoke was escaping from its sockets. Sheath rushed to Rubie who was still trapped in the snake’s coils. His eyes were wide open and his head was bobbing a little in rhythm of his fast and heavy breathing. Sheath put a hoof on Rubie’s cheek.

“Look at me kiddo!”

Rubie did what he said, eyes as wide as possible and panting like a dog.

“I’m gonna get you outta this thing and I’m gonna heal ya, it might sting a little though.”

The masked stallion nodded rapidly, unable to say a word. Sheath climbed on top of the snake’s corpse and began pushing at its coils with all his might. Rubie rolled with the coils as they slowly became unravelled. Halfway through the unravelling Rubie pulled himself out of the metal coils. He popped out and landed on his back, looking up at the sky. His body was stiff and his eyes were almost shut. Sheath came to his side.

“You gonna be fine alright Rubie?”

Rubie nodded slowly. His eyes suddenly widened as he turned his head and threw up on his left. A few coughs came after he had finished vomiting. Sheath just watched, his horn glowing light blue.

“Just hold still, and it’ll all be over soon.”

Sheath closed his eyes and his horn glowed. As his horn glowed, the outline of Rubie’s body glowed light blue. It lasted about ten seconds before fading, and as it disappeared Rubie began to breath normally. He rolled over on to his stomach and shook his head a little.

“I’m ok…I’m ok I’m alright”

Sheath smiled, seeing that his magic payed off. The two stallions looked up. There were a few pegasi above them that were clearing the storm clouds. They didn’t notice the two stallions below however. As the sun began to shine once again, Rubie pushed himself up and lifted his head. Sheath gave his back a little pat. Rubie laughed quietly in response.

“Heh…thanks for the distraction back there…I’m pretty sure I would’ve been that thing’s meal if you hadn’t of done something.”

“No need to thank me Rubie, it’s just a soldier’s job to ensure the protection of others. It’s also the job of a friend.”

Rubie smiled, while letting out a few deep breaths. Sheath had his arm wrapped around Rubie just in case he needed support. The two of them began to move forward, slowly. Sheath looked at his surroundings, while Rubie looked up into the sky.

“Suppose we should head for Ponyville.”
Sheath suggested.

“Wow Sheath…took the words right out of my mouth”

“Anything you need while you get there?”

“A job I guess…”

“Wow, that was the last thing I was expecting you to say.” 

> 7 What Do I Like?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The journey back to Ponyville felt long and tiresome, but Rubie had plenty of trees and flowers to distract him along the way. Sheath was keeping an eye on him, just in case he was going to vomit again. Despite the long journey, there was an atmosphere of comfort, and peace. About halfway back, the sounds of birds tweeting and chirping surrounded the two ponies. Rubie’s ears twitched as he looked up into the trees, trying to spot a bird on a branch, but saw only leaves. Not being able to locate the sources of the tweets, the masked stallion closed his eyes, enjoying the bird’s sweet melodies. Sheath noticed that Rubie’s eyes were shut while the two of them were trotting. Sheath opened his mouth, but no words came out. He felt that it was rude to disturb Rubie’s peace, especially since he was almost dead a few minutes ago. Sheath’s mouth shut. The two stallions stayed silent, enjoying the natural beauty around them as they kept on trotting. 

The two stallions finally came across the edge of the forest. Slowly trotting out from the sea of trees, they were once again greeted by the streets of Ponyville. There was a lower consistency of Ponies out and about now, and the sun was setting behind the trees and houses in the distance. The atmosphere just felt right for the time of day. Rubie and Sheath both gave a sigh of relief, seeing themselves back in civilization. 

“Well Sheath, it felt good and all to have a casual walk in the woods, but I’m just happy to be back in Ponyville”

“Believe me I feel the same way. Seriously though, are you sure you’re ok? It’s not everyday something that chaotic happens”

“I’m pretty sure I’m gonna be just fine. Nothing feels broken and I don’t feel any more sick coming up”

“That’s a relief to hear. It’s been fun hanging around but I-…wait a second, you said you wanted a job, right?”

“Yeah, I guess I did say that. Why?”

“Well, what do you like?”

“Wh-what do I like…?”

“Yeah, what do you like? What are you into?”

“U-uuuhh…”

The masked stallion just stood there with a puzzled expression. Rubie didn’t really know what he liked. He hadn’t had time to think about it. He didn’t just want to say *friends* because to him that felt a little awkward. Before Rubie could come up with an answer, everything around him froze. Luckily Rubie’s voice of guidance, that was in his head, had come to his aid once again.

“Hello again”

“Oh! Hey Hodsaw! You could not have picked a better time to drop in!”

“Hehe, thank you very much. Now then, you seem to be having trouble.”

“Well…it’s just I don’t know what I like. I mean yesterday I was in a cage, just like every other day before that! What am I supposed to say!? I like cages!? Cus I sure don’t!”

“Ok ok Rubie, calm down, this is nothing that should cause you to vomit again…”

“Right right…sorry…”

“So Rubie, I know that you hate cages, or the feeling of being caged. However, what about the opposite of that?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“What about being outside? Being outside where you’re not alone, and where there are endless places to discover, and new things to uncover.”

Rubie began to smile at the sound of Hodsaw’s words.

“Wow. You know what? That does sound good.”

“Well there you have it. You like being outside. You like being with other ponies and you also like natural things, like trees and flowers and ponds.”

“Wow, Hodsaw you make this sound so easy to do…how do you do it?

“hehe, well I have my ways. Let’s just put it at that. Now, shall I resume your scenario?”

Rubie gave a nod, and then everything around him began to flow through time once again. Sheath was standing in front of Rubie, waiting for the stallion to speak up.

“Well…I like…I like being outside.”

The masked stallion turned his head back to the forest, looking up at the trees, seeing the leaves gently dance in the wind.

“I like being around natural beauties, and spending my time out where there’s plenty of space. Nothing that makes me feel…caged. I even like the simplest things nature has created, like trees, and bushes, and ponds, and flowers. I’ll find myself just looking at them, analysing them and just thinking wow, what a masterpiece.”

Sheath tilted his head a little, his ears twitched slightly as he listened to Rubie’s answer. After Rubie had finished speaking, Sheath’s eyes drew down to the ground, as he was in a state of thinking. It took a few seconds before Sheath’s head finally shot up with an idea. 

“I got it!”

Rubie turned his head back swiftly to Sheath.

“Huh!? Got what!?”

“well…it’s a bit of a long shot, but we can try.”

“Try what!? Sheath what are you talking about!?”

“Just follow me, I’ll explain when we get there.”

“O-o…k?”

Sheath began to trot into the town of Ponyville. Rubie stood for a few seconds, wondering what Sheath was thinking. He then thought of a question that he should of asked Sheath a while ago. With that in mind, the stallion took off and caught up with the blue unicorn in front of him.

“Hey Sheath, I gotta ask something.”

“If it’s about my idea, you’re just gonna have to wait.”

“Oh no no. It has nothing to do with that.”

“Oh. Well then ask away.”

Before asking his question, Rubie turned his head back and forth. He could see a few ponies giving him glares once again. Some looked irritated and some looked uncomfortable. 

“What…Sheath does my mask make you feel uncomfortable…?”

“Huh? No, why would it? It’s just a mask, just something that covers your face. It’s not like its anything to worry about. I mean you seem like a nice young lad. Why would there be a need to worry about what’s on the outside?”

“R-Really? But doesn’t it seem…a little weird?”

Sheath tried to contain a little giggle, but failed in doing so.
“Hehe, believe me, you’re nothing compared to the weird I’ve seen.”

“Oh really huh? Do tell.”

“Discord”

“Huh? What?”

“Discord? you know, the lord of chaos?”

“Doesn’t ring a bell.”

“Wow, you may be a nice lad but you really are uneducated.”

“Oh shut up.”

Rubie gave Sheath’s shoulder a playful shove with his hoof, leading both the stallions to laugh. Sheath turned his head to Rubie while they trotted.

“But seriously though. Some of the stuff he does isn’t just crazy, it’s illogical! If you can think of anything that seems impossible, he can definitely make it possible”

“Wait…could he be listening to us right now…?”

Rubie asked, sounding a little nervous.

“Well…I suppose, but I wouldn’t worry about it. He used to be evil, but thanks to Fluttershy, a mare Pegasus that holds the element of kindness, the lord of chaos was reformed and is now on our side, and thank goodness that he is”

“Wow…that sounds like a mythical legend when you think about it.”

“Yeah…I guess it does, but it doesn’t really feel like a legend when both Fluttershy and Discord currently live in Ponyville right now.”

“What!? Seriously!?”

“Hehe, I know It’s hard to wrap your head around it, but it’s the truth.”

“That’s…incredible. The more I learn about Ponyville, the more I love it.”

“heh, you know, apart from my daughter, you’re probably one of the most enthusiastic stallions I know.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment. Also, are we there yet?”

Sheath suddenly stopped and smiled. Him and Rubie were now on the edge of Ponyville on a downhill slope.

“Have a look for yourself”

He then pointed his hoof in front of him. Rubie took one look at the stallion’s hoof before looking to where it pointed. His ears twitched while his eyes took in what he could see. Ahead, Rubie could see a big red barn. However, it wasn’t just any old barn. It seemed to have additional rooms. Maybe some bedrooms and a kitchen perhaps. To the left of the big red barn was endless fields of corn, carrots, lettuce and other vegetables. Rubie could also see that to the right of the barn was probably over a thousand apple trees. From what Rubie could see, it was like staring at a forest that touched the very edge of Equestria. The masked stallion found himself slowly stepping towards the barn, as it attracted him.

“…wow…this place…It’s…It’s beautiful…so vast…and gorgeous…what is this place…?”

“I’d thought you’d ask that. Well this popular farm is known as Sweet Apple Acres. Everyone in the Apple family works on this farm.”

“Wait…y-you want me to…request some form of work there…?”

“Yep, that’s exactly what I want you to do.”

Sheath replied with a smile. However, Rubie’s eyes drew to the ground and his ears fell back. This confused Sheath a little bit, so he patted Rubie’s back and asked

“You alright boy? Thinking it might be too much work for ya on the farm?”

“N-no…It’s just…what if they don’t like me…? What if they don’t want me because they think I look creepy…?”

“Oh come on Rubie. Trust me you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself. If Discord, the Lord of Chaos, can fit into Ponyville, then I’m certain that you can too.”

“hmm…well, when you put it that way…I’ll give it a try”

“That’s the spirit, I’ll be with you, but don’t expect me to do the talking alright?”
“Yeah…alright”

Rubie raised his head back up and took in a deep breath, staring right at the barn. He exhaled slowly, keeping his eyesight on the barn.

“Let’s go..”

He said calmly. He began to trot once again, however, his pace was slower than before. Despite it being slower, Sheath went at the same pace as Rubie. A few minutes went by before the two of them found themselves passing under a bush in the shape of an arch. Rubie’s eyes seemed glued to it for a few seconds. Passing the arch bush, both stallions stopped. Sheath and Rubie saw that the only thing between them and the barn was a small dirt path. Rubie began to breath heavily through his nose. Hearing his breaths, Sheath looked at Rubie.

“You still ok Rubie”

“If I’m being completely honest…my heart is pounding”

“Hehehehe”

“Hey what’s so funny!?”

“You can handle almost being killed by a giant, metal snake but you’re scared to ask for some work?”

“Sh-shut up! …I-I…they’re two different things!”

Sheath laughed for a few seconds before collecting himself again.

“Don’t worry Rubie. Trust me you’re gonna be fine.”

“Right…sooo who do I even talk to?”

“I’d say Granny Smith. She pretty much runs the place. She’s a green mare, quite old, not being rude.”

“Ok…”

“Since we haven’t seen anypony on the fields, I’m guessing that they’re all in the barn.”

“Wait…before we ask…how many ponies are on the farm?”

“Oh? There’s four. There’s Granny Smith that I just mentioned. There’s Big Macintosh, a pretty strong and hardworking stallion. He ain’t much of a talker though. Then there’s Applejack. Also strong and a hardworking mare. She’s probably the best bucker that Equestria has ever seen. She’s also the holder of the element of honesty.”

“Wait wait wait, what do you mean by that? You said something about Fluttershy being the holder for the element of kindness as well, but what does that even mean?”

“Rubie, that’s a question for another day.”

“Right, right…”

“So as I was saying, the last Apple is Applejack’s and Big Mac’s little sister, Applebloom. She helps with what she can, but she seems to have found her place in a little guild with her two other friends, but I won’t blabber on about that. You gotta get up there and do this thing.”

“Ok…ok I got this.”

Rubie began to trot closer and closer to the barn. He passed a few small coops with chickens resting out on the dirt along the way. The masked stallion could feel his heart in his chest and hear it in his head. He was about halfway to the barn, not even realizing that Sheath was not following him. Sheath wanted to see Rubie do it all by himself. Rubie felt nervous and anxious but he found that the chirps from the distant birds in the trees kept him calm. Finally, Rubie found himself in front of the big red doors of the barn. He stared at the red wood, analysing each small crack that showed inside. From what Rubie could see from the cracks, there was a glowing light coming from the left of the barn. This made Rubie know that at least somepony was inside. Without anything else to do, Rubie took a deep breath to mentally prepare himself. He raised his right hoof carefully off the dirt, and gave the big doors three knocks. Silence. Rubie waited at the large doors, waiting for one of those them to creak open. However, everything was quiet. Since it seemed that he was not going to get a response, Rubie lifted his right hoof once again. Before he could knock again however, the left barn door began to slowly creek open. The masked stallion swiftly lowered his hoof as he heard the low creak of the door. Rubie stared at the opening of the door while it was slightly ajar. He couldn’t really see anything, besides the inner wall. However, a pair of grassy green eyes peeked out and made contact with his. This made Rubie jump a little bit, but it was barely noticeable unless you were paying attention. As the door opened even further, Rubie could make out the rest of the mare. Her body was a bright orange. She had a blonde mane with a ponytail, as well as a blonde tail. She also wore a light brown hat. Her head tilted at the sight of the dark, masked stallion, who seemed to look mildly uneasy. She spoke calmly, despite feeling slightly uncomfortable about the stallion’s appearance.

“Uhh…can ah help you with anythang mister?”

With pressure taking over, Rubie almost forgot to respond to the mare.

“…Y-yeah yeah umm…would Granny Smith h-happen to be around by any chance?”

“Oh, sure thang. Just stay put and ah’ll get her for ya.”
The barn door suddenly closed on Rubie, leaving him just looking at the barn doors once again. Rubie turned his head up to the sky as he waited. It was almost twilight, so the sky was a warm shade of orange. Everything felt still, as if time wasn’t even flowing. The warm colours above the stallion brought along a feel of comfort. His behaviour seemed to become less uncomfortable. Once again, the barn door creaked open. However, this time it opened all the way, revealing a green elderly mare that fit the description of Granny Smith. 

“yeess? What can ah help you with young fellow?”

Rubie rubbed his front left hoof in the dirt and scraped his back right hoof a little.

“I uuhh…yeah umm…I…”

“C’mon son, spit it out!”

“W-well…I was just…wondering if…well if I could…possibly find some work to do here…like on the farm…”

Granny Smith’s ears perked up from hearing Rubie’s request. She didn’t think that he would ask for work, mostly because nopony had ever asked before. Everypony who worked on the farm was family, so this was completely new for Granny Smith to think about. The two ponies just stood in front of each other. Granny Smith was trying to think about what to say and eventually came up with a response.

“Well…uuhh…ah have to be honest son, we never really expected anypony to ask for work here really.”

Rubie’s ears began to lower slowly, along with his head.

“Hold on, don’t look so glump boy. Ah never said we couldn’t fix something up for ya…ah’ll have to think about it though. This is a first time we’ve had a pony ask for work here, so ah’ll have to think about how this’ll work. Ah promises that we’ll look into it.”

Rubie nodded, looking a little excited. Granny Smith tilted her head a little to his reaction.

“But…son, are ya sure that ya really wanna work someplace like this? This ain’t just a scratching the surface kinda deal. Sweet Apple Acres is about the hard work that goes into our products. Is real hard work what you want?”

“If it’s hard work on a beautiful place such as this, then yes, it is.”

Rubie’s can-do attitude made Granny Smith smile a little. His voice may have been calm, but Granny Smith could sense the vast motivation laying beneath.

“Very well mister…uhh, sarry but what is yer name?”

“Oh, it’s Rubie. Rubie Red.”

“Ah kay Rubie, tomorrow ah’m gonna need ya to come back to this spot tomorrow at about 5:45am. We’ll decide what you should do from then on. Ah would suggest getting some sleep as soon as possible.”

“Understood, 5:45 am. Thank you so much!”

“You’re sure welcome, by the way, ah got one last question for ya.”

“Hmmm?”

“How are ya at bucking?”

“H-huh..?”

“Ya know, where ya hit a tree with ya two back hooves hard enough for the apples to come dropping down like raindrops?”

“O-oh…well…I don’t really know…”

“Hmm…if ya happen to pass a tree somewhere near where ya live, ya might wanna practice bucking there, but don’t be out for too long ya hear me?”

“I got ya, I’ll see you tomorrow”

Rubie gave a nod with a warm smile. Granny gave a smile back and headed back inside the barn. Rubie stood still for a moment, staring a little downwards. The thought of having a job on this beautiful, gorgeous, truly magnificent farm began to flow through his head. The smile on the stallion’s face grew bigger and wider. He began to giggle a little to himself in excitement.

“I-I’m..I…wow.”

He looked up at Sheath, who was still behind him on the dirt path. Rubie rushed to him, the big smile sticking to his face. Sheath grinned at his smile. He could tell that It was good news. The masked stallion skidded a little on the dirt in front of Sheath.

“Sheath! I think I got it!”

“Hehe, I knew that you could, you’re a brave lad you are.”

“Hehe…thanks, hey do you wanna hang out a little bit more?”

“I’m sorry Rubie, I can’t. I have a train to catch.”

“O-ohh…o-ok. I-I’ll see you again though…right?

“DUUHH!! Of course! I’m not just gonna make a new friend and then never see them again, am I?”

Sheath’s horn began to glow with magic, and in front of the grey stallion, a copper stopwatch appeared. It floated in front of him as he analysed the ticking hands. 9:00pm. 

“Oh gosh! Sorry Rubie but I gotta dash!”

“No no it’s fine, go ahead.”

“Thanks for understanding. I’ll be able to see ya in two days alright? At about lunch time I promise.”

“I got it Sheath. Go on and get that train.”

Sheath nodded at Rubie. The floating stopwatch disappeared in a little flash of light and the glow on Sheath’s horn vanished. He turned around and dashed off back into Ponyville, leaving Rubie on the dirt path by himself with the cool breeze blowing through his mane. The masked stallion’s eyes glued on to Sheath until he went behind a few small buildings in Ponyville. Rubie took one last look at the big red barn that stood in front of him. The site made Rubie smile.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, hehe…gosh I really can’t wait. I really didn’t think I would be aloud work. Ok then, I gotta head back home.” 

With that, the joyful stallion turned back around. With a flick of his tail, he began to trot back home. While he trotted happily back to his house, two mares were leaning on the wooden bar of the top window of the big red barn, watching him. Applejack and Granny Smith. Both mares had mixed emotions about bringing the stallion on to the farm for work. When Rubie was just a dot in the distance, Applejack turned her head to Granny Smith.

“Granny…are ya sure that it’s a good idea to let em work here on the farm? Ah mean, he knows what he’s gettin himself into right?”

“Ah believe he knows. Ah asked him as, clear as day, about it and he said, and ah quote, if it’s hard work on a beautiful place such as this, then yes, ah’ll work here.”

“Aww, that’s kinda sweet of him.”

“M’yea…”

“So, what are ya planning on doing with him?”

“Weeelll…the apples in the acres seem to be at the perfect time to be bucked, so ah think he should come and join you and Big Mac on gathering em all up.”

This made Applejacks stomach churn a little. She felt that a new worker should be given some kind of taster. 

“A-are ya sure that’s a good idea? Granny, it’ll be his first time on Sweet Apple Acres, and ya wanna give him a tiresome job like that!? Ah mean…shouldn’t ya give him some kinda…taster? Like something easier first?” 

“Why in Equestria would I wanna give him something easier first? He either does it or he doesn’t. If he’s gonna work here then he needs to know how to do it the Apple way. Ya give it all ya got and put everything ya got to what ya work for.”

“Ah...s’pose that makes sense…”

“Besides, I could see the determination in him. There was so much ah could practically see it emanate off that red mask of his.”

“Yeah…about that…don’t ya find it weird?”

“What do ya mean dear?”

“About that mask. Why do ya think he wears it?”

“Ah honestly aint sure Applejack.”

“Did ya see his eyes as well? The outer part of them were…black…”

Granny Smith could tell that Applejack felt uncomfortable about letting Rubie work on the farm. She put her green hoof around Applejack’s back and gave it a gentle rub.

“Yes, yes I saw them, but just cus he looks a little different doesn’t mean he’s bad news dear. Just cus somepony looks a little different, or likes to look different, doesn’t make em a bad person. Now am I right or am I Right?”

Applejack gave a little giggle in response. 

“Yeah, you’re right Granny, as usual.”

“Good, now, get some rest. You’re gonna need it for tomorrow?”

“Sure thang.”

With that, Applejack took her hoofs off the wooden bar and headed for her room to catch some sleep. Granny watched as Applejack left, yawning along the way. The green mare’s head turned back to the window. The sky was getting slightly darker. There was still a little bit of light however. There was a calm breeze in the air as Granny leaned out the window. With that, she took her hoofs off the wooden bar of the window and went to catch some sleep.

As the sun slipped beneath the edge of Equestria, Rubie drew closer to his home. The masked stallion felt that he’d had a long day, which was evident by his long yawn. After his massive yawn, Rubie found himself approaching his front door. However, before Rubie decided to head inside to sleep, he noticed a big oak tree behind his house. 

“huh…well Granny did say I should practice, and if she runs Sweet Apple Acres then who am I to disagree?”

He trotted through the gap between the right side of his house and the wooden fence. Approaching the tree slowly, Rubie’s eyes began to analyse each branch, from top to bottom. The tree gave off a quiet rustling sound as the high breeze blew through its leaves. 

“Ok, so buck it with my back hoofs. Oh boy, this is gonna be awkward if somepony sees.”

With that, the stallion turned his backside to the tree. He looked back at it and began to reverse towards it. He stopped when the tree was about 40cm away from his back hoofs.

“So…I guess I push my legs up in the air and just kinda jab. Ok, seems simple enough.”

Rubie turned his head away and focused his eyes on the ground. He shut his eyes, took a deep breath and pushed his back legs up in the air. Before he could buck the tree his front hooves suddenly lost their balance, and the stallion fell face first on the grass.

“O-ooww! …ok it’s ok, just get up and try again.”

Rubie pushed himself up back on to his four hoofs, positioning his rump in line with the tree. This time he backed up closer and his back hooves began to climb up the tree.

“Maybe if I start with my hooves on the tree? Just to make sure I can keep my balance.”

He pushed his back hoofs off the tree lightly. Rubie remembered to keep his balance this time. His back hooves then successfully bucked the tree while Rubie let out a little grunt. The tree gave a little rustle in response. Rubie quickly lowered his back hoofs and looked up. Not a single leaf fell. The stallion’s ears fell back.

“N-not even one?”

Rubie began to feel both worried and irritated. He huffed, trotting away from the tree and sat down, leaning his back on the wall of his house. He stared at the oak tree and sighed, dropping his head a few seconds after.

“What am I gonna do? I really wanna work on that farm, but if I can’t buck a single leaf then I’m doomed.” 

“Who said that bucking was your only option?”

A familiar voice questioned. Rubie didn’t seemed too surprised to hear Hodsaw again.

“What? Hodsaw I don’t understand what you mean.”

“Look at the tree again.”

“What? Why?”

“Just, look”

Rubie lifted his head back up to see the tree. His ears perked back up and he gasped.

“Wh-wha…h-how?”

The masked stallion could see his cage door directly in front of the tree. He understood what Hodsaw wanted him to do. 

“break it”

Rubie whispered to himself. He then stood back up, making sure his face was in line with the tree. He lowered his head and leaned his rump against the wall. He took a deep breath, not taking his eyes off the tree. He didn’t even blink. Suddenly he charged at the tree and bashed it with his mask. He shut his eyes and let out a loud grunt when his head and the tree collided. When Rubie opened his eyes, he was surprised to see that he was surrounded by a circle of leaves. His face grew a big smile, letting out a few giggles.

“W-wow, I did it. I did it!”

Rubie then jumped for joy, still giggling to himself.

“Wow Hodsaw. How did you know that would work!?”

“Sometimes you should use your previous experiences to help you out in a situation, because if you’ve done something before then you feel more comfortable and determined.”

“Well, I guess it worked this time.”

“Indeed, now you should hurry up and get to bed.”

“Yes sir.”

Rubie then rushed off to the front of his house and headed inside for the night.

Two pairs of eyes were watching him from the roof of his house. Twilight and Spike. They had been watching Rubie ever since him and Sheath had left the forest, and from then on, both Twilight and Spike felt very uncertain about Rubie’s behaviour. Spike could see that Twilight was very concentrated on Rubie, up until the last second that he entered his house.

“So, what do you make of this guy? I mean sure he acts a little odd but he hasn’t done anything that could be considered bad.”

Spike questioned. However, he did not receive an answer; Twilight was in a state of deep thought. 

“Shouldn’t we send a message to Applejack about who he is? Celestia’s letter said that we could tell her, didn’t it?”

Spike asked. This time Twilight replied, but she spoke quietly.

“Yes, yes it did…”

Spike seemed rather surprised by Twilight’s current behaviour. He felt that she wasn’t usually like this at all.

“Twilight? Are you sure you’re ok? You’ve been acting like this all day after following the orders to watch over this stallion.”

“Honestly Spike…I don’t feel great about this. I don’t feel happy about keeping an eye on somepony that could possibly be evil.”

“Well, I can understand how It would get a little boring.”

“It’s not that. I just feel bad for him.”

“What? Why?”

“I just feel guilty about the fact that he’s being watched, and that he doesn’t even know it. He seems like a really friendly stallion who wouldn’t even hurt a fly.”

The Alicorn let out a little huff and dropped her head down, staring at the roof tiles.

“Honestly Spike, I’m just as confused as you.”

“But surely Celestia wouldn’t request you to do this without a good reason am I right?”

Spike asked, reassuringly. Twilight then lifted her head to Spike and nodded, giving a little smile.

“Yeah, you’re right Spike. I just have to keep telling myself that.”

“That’s great to hear. Oh yeah, should we tell AJ about him.”

“I don’t think we should, not yet. I heard she has a busy day tomorrow, and I don’t her worrying about it. We’ll watch him though, just in case something unexpected does happen. For now, I think we can leave.”

With that, Spike jumped on to Twilights back and the two of them disappeared in a flash.