Red Dawn Rises

A week passed since that day, every pony forgot about what happened. Red was at Flutter shy’s cottage, she left to go the market trusting he would be fine on his own. He sat peacefully on the couch waiting for her to come home. He started dozing off, and before he could fall asleep there was a loud knock on the door and the fear jolted him awake. He got up and went to answer it. When the door opened he saw Twilight standing there.

       “Oh hey Red is Flutter shy here?”

       “No sorry…she went to the market.”

       “Oh okay. Why didn’t you go with her?”

       “I have a cold, not really feeling well.” He answered right before he sneezed.

       “I’m sorry to hear that.”

       “Yeah, did you need something?”

       “Well I was going to ask Flutter shy but I guess I could ask you.”

       “Ask what?”

       “Well, Apple jack was going on a camping trip with her sister and she invited us to go along with her.”

       “Real-“ Red sneezed than sniffed.

       “Really?”

       “Yeah.”

       “Hmm…okay I’ll ask mommy when she gets back.”

       “Alright than, see you later”

       “Bye.” He replied right before he sneezed again. He closed the door and went back to sitting on the couch. When he got back up he started dozing off again and this time fully fell asleep. He started dreaming, he saw himself and all the others in the forest. They were all happy but his view started shifting. He was seeing through the eyes of a beast. It started moving forward and suddenly one of the ponies sitting in the circle screamed as it saw it, and suddenly more beast started moving out of the tree line, they were all timber wolfs and there were about 20 of them they surrounded the others, and suddenly the one he was controlling jumped up and attempted to pounce, but before it could hit the pony Red woke up. He looked up and saw Flutter shy standing there.

       “Good morning.” She said with a smile. Red yawned.

       “I don’t see what’s so good about it.”

       “Come on cheer up. Here I brought you something to help your cold.”

       “More medicine?”

       “Nope something better.”

       “good…that stuff was terrible. Didn’t taste like apples at all.” He continued. Flutter shy pulled a small bottle out of her bag and handed it to him.

       “What’s this?”

       “Orange juice. The doctor said it has a vitamin in it that can help cure a cold.” Red opened the bottle and started drinking it. In a minute flat he finished the bottle.

       “…I don’t think it worked-“ He was interrupted by his own hiccup. Flutter shy giggled.

       “Well it did something.” She smiled. She reached into her bag and pulled out another bottle and handed it to him.

       “Just keep drinking them, they’ll do something eventually.” She told him. Red tried opening the second bottle but his hiccup almost made him drop it.

       “…Mommy, I forgot to tell you something.”

       “What is it?”

       “Twilight came by today and she asked if we wanted to go camping with her and the others.”

       “Really?”

       “Yeah, can we go?”

       “…Hmm. Well I guess we could. We don’t have much to do.” Red smiled and opened the bottle. Flutter shy started heading upstairs.

       “Oh Red, if you want to go, you’re going to have to start packing everything you want to take.” She shouted from the second floor.

       “Okay!’ he shouted back. He go up and went upstairs to. Two hours later, they finished packing everything, and just in time. There was a knock on the door, Red flew down the steps and raced to the door. When he opened it he saw Rainbow dash.

       “Oh hey Red. Where’s Flutter shy?”

       “Upstairs packing.”

       “Oh, guess you two did remember about the trip. Any way, you two ready?”

       “Yup!” Red said cheerfully. After that he raced back up the stairs.

       “Mom.”

       “Yes?”

       “Rainbow dash is here.”

       “Really? What does she need?”

       “She’s wondering if were ready to go.”

       “Yup, Ready.” She said as she packed away that last few things. Afterwards Red puffed out his wings and flew back down stairs.

       “Oh…I forgot you had wings.” Rainbow dash said with little amazement as she laid on the couch. Red Smiled at her then folded his wings up. Flutter shy came down the stairs and handed him his saddle bags.

       “You two ready?” She asked as she got up. Flutter shy nodded her head.

       “Alright let’s go!” She yelled as she flew off. Flutter shy and Red followed her out the door. She closed the door behind her and started walking.

       “Hey mom?”

       “Yes Red?”

       “Why can’t we fly with her?”

       “Do you want to?” Red smiled and unfolded his wings.

       “Alright lets fly then.” She crouched down to allow him 5o climb onto her back. But Red jumped up and started hovering. Flutter shy giggled and stood back up. She then jumped up and started flapping her wings. Red hovered towards her and the two started flying towards Sweet apple acres. When they saw the others they flew downwards and landed.

       “Alright were all here, let’s get going.” She said happily as she began walking. The others followed her. Red started falling behind flutter shy but was joined by the crusaders.

       “Hey Reed!” Scootaloo shouted joyfully.

       “Oh, hey”

       “Where’ve you been? It’s been a week since we last saw you” Apple bloom asked.

       “I had a cold for a wh-while.” He sneezed.

       “Still have it.”

       “Oh, sorry to here.”Apple bloom replied with a sad tone.

       “Twilight said the same thing, But I’m fine. It’s just some sneezing and some coughing. Nothing bad.”

       “Shouldn’t you be staying home if you’re sick?” Sweetie belle interrupted.

       “Why? There’s nothing to do. All I do is sit around doing no-“He was interrupted by another sneeze.

       “Nothing. Besides, I wanted to spend time with my friends, I barely see any of you anymore.” The others smiled knowing that he still likes them.

       “Hey! Ya’ll ‘r slowing down!” Apple jack yelled from a distance. The four just now noticed and rushed over to rejoin the group. Five hours later, when the sun started going down they stopped in an open area.

       “Alright every pony. We’ll stay here for the night.” Apple jack announced.

       “Rainbow, why don’t you and Scootaloo go find some things to set up the campfire. The rest of ya’ll can start set’n up” Rainbow dash and Sooctaloo rushed off into the forest, and the others started unpacking their tents. Rarity pulled something out of her bag and placed it on the ground, and in an instant it turned into a large house like tent. The others were setting up their stuff the old fashion way. When they were all done Rainbow dash and Scootaloo returned. One of them was holding a few rocks while the other was carrying branches.

       “About time ya’ll got back. It’s start’n to get cold out here.”

       “You know it takes time to dive into a river to get damp rocks ya know.”

       “For us maybe, for you it would only take about a second.” Twilight interrupted.

       “Yeah yeah, whatever.” She replied sarcastically. The two then went over to the middle of the opening and placed everything perfectly. When they were finished the others joined them.

       “Spike would you kindly light the fire?” Twilight asked politely.

       “Sure thing.” He replied. As he got up red sneezed and a ball of fire shot out of his mouth lighting the dry branches. The others looked at him with amazement.

       “…What? I have a cold.”

       “I didn’t know you could do that.” Flutter shy told him.

       “Do what?”

       “That. How you lit the fire.”

       “Oh, I thought Spike lit it-“ He was about to sneeze again, it built up for a minute, than when he released it the campfire went up in a giant column of fire. The others flew off their seats while Red was just sitting their unimpressed and whipping the snot off his nose.

       “Sorry.” He said out loud.  Spike sat back down and the others got back in their seats.

       “Alright, time for camp fire stories.” Rainbow dash said happily.

       “Is that really the beast idea, considering there are young fillies here?” Twilight argued.

       “Come on, their just stories.”

       “Still.”

       “Hey Scootaloo, are you scared of camp fire stories?”

       “No way, like I’d be scared of a few lame stories.

       “Fine.” Twilight graoned.

       “Alright, this is the story, of the headless horse!” Rainbow dash paused as Red raised his hoof.

       “What?”

       “What’s so scary about a headless horse?”

       “What’s so- Kid it’s a pony…with no head!”

       “So?”

       “So-it’s scarier than the…uh…scarier than the dark.”

       “It can’t be that scary.”

       “You right it isn’t. It’s A LOT scarier.”

       “Prove it.”

       “Prove- how do I prove it?!”

       “I don’t know, find a headless pony.” The others started laughing, but Rainbow Dash wasn’t amused.

       “Okay, how do you suppose I do that?” Red shrugged his shoulders than sneezed loudly and shot out a small wave of fire which disappeared into embers.

       “You know what, I think we can go without stories”

       “What?! No way, it isn’t a camping trip without them!”

       “Rainbow, shush!” Red whispered.

       “What?”

       “I heard them.”

       “Heard who-?”

       “Uh, mom I’ll uh…I’ll be right back, there were a few birds over there and uh…yeah be right back.” Red ended as he ran into the brush. Flutter shy was confused about what just happened. She tried figuring out what he was talking about, but got distracted and started talking with the others. While they were laughing and having fun there was a loud howl that sounded close.

       “What was that?!” Flutter shy panicked and started looking in every direction.

       “That sounded like-“

       “Timber wolf!” Spike yelled as he saw the wooden beast appear out of the shadowy canopy. All the others started screaming and panicking as 3 others appeared. One of them slowly approached them, and when it was close enough I ducked down and leaped forward in an attempt to pounce Rarity. As she screamed the others heard a colt yelling from nearby. And in a blink of an eye he appeared and tackled the Timber wolf to the ground.

       “Red!” they all cheered. Red struggled to keep the timber wolf pinned down. And as it attempted to break free it lifted its paw and slashed him across his eye. He yelled in his pain but tried to ignore it. And using all of his strength, he tossed the beast into the air and flew into it at a high speed and shattered it into pieces. He landed a second later and at random he looked into the air and caught one of the falling sticks with his mouth.

       “Red!’ Flutter shy yelled with fear.

       “Hey mom.” He said with a muffled voice.

       “Look out!” Red turned around just in time to see one of the other beasts charging at him. With a sudden reaction he flipped backwards and landed on his front to legs and with his hind legs in front of him. When it got close he extended his front legs and his hind ones hit it and knocked it’s head off. It broke into pieces and he landed on the ground hind legs first the front legs. He spat the stick out of his mouth than smiled smugly. And without him noticing the two timber wolfs started reassembling them self’s and fusing to form one larger timber wolf.

       “Red!” Flutter shy shouted again. He turned around and in an instant he was tackled and pined to the ground. The timber wolf snapped at him as he attempted to get up. And once more with the rest of his strength he kicked the beast flying and it hit the other two. Every pony started cheering.

       “Red, that was awesome!” Rainbow dash yelled as she approached him.

       “Yeah, it was nothing.”

       “Red what happened to you?” Apple bloom asked.

       “Long story, turns out I can change how old I am.”

       “Where’d you go” Twilight asked.

       “I heard one of them out in the forest, turns out it was a decoy.”

       “How’d you know about the attack?”

       “I had a dream about it.”

       “Than why didn’t you tell us about it?!” Rainbow dash yelled in anger.

       “I…don’t know actually. Something just told me not to.”

       “Uh, I’d hate to brake it to ya’ll but we ain’t done yet.”

       “What do you mean-…oh…not good.” Red mumbled as he saw the four timber wolfs reassemble into one colossal wooden beast. The others hid behind him as it approached.

       “Um…nice puppy?” He said with a nerves smile. It roared at him, it’s foul breath caused him along with the others to start choking.

       “Bleh! Sweet queen of Canterlot that ree-ree…” He was about to sneeze and like with the camp fire he held it in for a minute than finally sneezed. And when he did the colossal wooden beast busted into flames.

       “…Oops.”  Red whispered. The wolf started howling in pain and running around attempting to put out the fire. But by then time it was out it was nothing more than a pile of ash.

       “…double oops.” He said to himself.

       “…so…any of ya’ll think we should get goin?” They all silently agreed. The packed up all their stuff than started walking home.