"Your Highness" one of Celestias guard ponies called out. "We caught this Pegasus shoplifting. He tried to get away, but we had no trouble catching him. What do you want us to do with him?" The guard pony asked.
He dragged forward a young pegasus, who looked like he was halfway through his teen years. He was a dark red, had a scraggly mane and tail that looked like he hadn't bothered to comb. Ever. He was half starved, and still had yet to get his cutie mark. It wasn't common, but sometimes a pony would go his whole life with getting his cutie mark.
One of the guards had taken pity on him, and leaned forward to whisper in his ear: "Don't worry, the Princesses are very kind, you'll probably get through this with only a short community service. Just tell her the truth, okay?" Her words were reassuring, but the young pegasus was terrified.
Celestia smiled kindly, "What's your name, little one?" she asked. Her voice was sweet and gentle, he didn't feel as scared as he was before.
"I-I don't have a name." he said. "But my father called me 'Brat', if that's any help."
Celestia was taken back, "Brat? But why would he ever call you that? Surely, you must have a name." The red pegasus shook his head.
"No, my father never gave me a name. He hated me, and did everything to make my life a living hell." His eyes were watery. "Are you going to punish me for stealing? I was really really hungry, and..." his voice trailed off. His eyes were watery, tears started to trail down his cheeks.
"Guards" Celestia said. "You may go. See to it that this colt is given a nice room, with a hot meal."
The guards left, Celestia got down from her throne, and strode over to the now sobbing little pegasus. She put a wing around him, comforting him. "It's okay, little one. You can stay here. My sister needs some company while I'm away, and maybe you could do that for me, hmm? Would you like that?"
The red pegasus looked up at her. His eyes were puffy and red. "Th-thank y-you, your hi-highness." was all he could say. He got shakily to his hooves. Celestia levitated the sausage he had stolen over to him, and instructed a page to reimburse the butcher the pegasus had stolen from. Celestia looked at his left wing. It was bent at an odd angle. She also noticed that he was blind in one eye.
"What happened to your wing?" she asked.
He looked at his wing, and answered: "My father was a unicorn with a talent for blacksmithing. In one of his abusive rages, he broke my wing with one of his larger hammers, when I was a little colt. I ran away shortly afterwards, and my wing never healed properly. I can't fly because of that. It's why your guards had such an easy time catching me." That and he also had a limp.
Celestia was afraid to ask about the eye. "I have physicians that can fix that wing, if you want."
The red pegasus replied "No thanks. It doesn't bother me at all, and I'm used to living without the ability to fly." The two strode down the hall. A pair of unicorn servants were standing around waiting for them.
Celestia said: "Feather Dust, Spit Shine, please see to it that this young pony here is cleaned up nicely, my sister will meet him shortly, and I want him to look nice for her. Give him a nice tux or something like that too. And you," Celestia turned to the pegasus "I must bid you farewell now, I have an appointment in the Goblin Kingdom about a new trade agreement, and I believe it will take several months. Farewell." And with that, she was gone in a flash of light.
*Splash*. The pegasus was sitting in the middle of a tub of hot water. Steam was rising, and he was freaking out about the heat. Feather Dust was levitating a bucket of hot water, and dumped it into the tub.
"Oh, quit complaining, kiddo. It's just water, and it isn't that hot!" Spit Shine started scrubbing the pegasus with a scrub brush, and dumped some soap into the pegasus' mane, a little getting into his eyes. He freaked. "Oh, quit being such a foal, you!" Spit Shine teased, using her magic to get the soap out of his eyes, then splashing some water on them to get any remaining soap out. Scrub scrub scrub.
His bath finished, he hopped out of the massive tub that rivaled the tub at the Lotus Sisters spa in Ponyville. Feather Dust dried him with a blow drier, while Spit Shine brushed his mane and tail. Brushy brushy brushy.
*Prick* "YEOW! Dammit, watch the needle." The pegasus was being fitted for a nice outfit for meeting Luna, the younger Princess, who usually stayed in the Canterlot Royal Library, studying some ‘Princesses Eyes Only’ documents written by Equestrias famous mad scientist, Tesla Zap, or reading the latest novel that was all the rage. He was lead down to the Royal Library in the castle.
"Princess Luna is in here. Don't worry, she knows your description. Ask the librarian were she is. Good luck." The massive door closed with a heavy thud. The pegasus walked through the library, heads turned, those who noticed how he was crippled gave a sympathetic nod, or something like.
There was a large desk. That had to be were the librarian was. A young white, stallion was seated at a computer, tapping away at the keyboard. "Umm, hi? Are you the librarian?" The stallion said nothing, just pointed a forehoof at the plaque on the counter. The pegasus looked at it, but he couldn't read. "Umm, sorry, but I can't rea-" He didn't even finish with what he was saying.
The Unicorn Stallion interrupted him, saying: "You can't read? Well, then what are you doing in the largest Library in Equestria? Did you even go to school?"
The pegasus was taken back. "N-No sir, I didn't. I can barely count. Umm, I'm looking for Princess Luna, Celestia said that-" He was interrupted again. "Oh, are you the little pegasus that I heard about? The one Celestia took off the streets?" The pegasus nodded. "Well, sorry if I seemed rude, earlier, you should've told me sooner. The Princess is right this way!"
Shelves. Hundreds of them stretching dozens of feet high, with thousands of books each, stretching for what seemed forever. It was no wonder that the Canterlot Royal Library was the largest in Equestria, nay, the whole world, with at least one copy, if not two, of every book ever published, every scroll ever written, and even a new section for every movie ever produced and record/CD published, ever. The library was even enchanted to be much, much bigger on the inside. It didn't take long, though, to find Princess Luna. But in the epic vastness of the library, it felt like forever.
"Your Highness, there is someone here to see you." No response.
Luna was way too engaged in her book to look up. The pegasus leaned around the corner to get a good look, and saw the most beatiful pony he had ever seen. She was bigger than he was, but then again, most adult ponies were. She had wings and a horn, was a deep, deep blue, with a purple splotch with a white moon for a cutie mark, her mane and tail were a wavy blue with scintillating stars, and she had a small, black, tiara, and a necklace thing with her cutie mark on it. The librarian, who had introduced himself as Star Strike, and claimed to be a descendant of Star Swirl the Bearded, trotted over to Luna, and leaned over to whisper in her ear.
"Forgive me, your Highness, for disturbing you, but the little pegasus, he doesn't have a name, is here. Pegasus was still dazzled by Luna’s beauty. She looked at him. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of blue.
Princess Luna looked at Pegasus. The first thing that drew her attention was that he was blind in one eye, like, it was just pure white. The other eye, was as red as the rest of him, as was his now freshly combed mane and tail. He was handsome, in a scrawny 'count half your ribs and oh yeah your wing looks like it got busted and didn't heal properly sort of way'. Luna then noticed that he was a blank-flank.
"Oh, hello. As you have probably guessed, I am Princess Luna. But I prefer to just be called Luna, even though everypony insists on calling me Princess." Pegasus was only half listening to what she was saying, the rest of him was enjoying her lovely, lovely voice. All he really got was that she wanted to just be called Luna.
"Wha-whatever you say, Luna." He had fallen head over heels for her the moment he saw her. Her beauty was overwhelming, her presence was magnificent. He thanked celestia that he got to be a companion for her. All he was, was a common street pony, and a crippled one at that. A small part of his mind said that he didn't have a chance with her. He said fuck you to that small part of his mind, and listened to the rest of his mind, which said that he should take it easy, and let fate attend to itself. Wait. Was she inviting him to dine with her?!
"Wait, umm, Luna? Are, are you inviting me to dine with you?"
"Why, yes. Yes I am. It’ll also be a good time to give you a name." She studied him closely, observing how he fidgeted uncomfortably. "Is there anything that you would prefer to eat?"
Pegasus thought for a moment. "Whatever would be convenient, I guess. I'm just hungry right now, that's all." He pawed at the ground out of nervousness.
Luna smiled. "I'll tell that to the cooks right away. Star Strike, have one of the guards, or servants, whichever you find first, show this pegasus to his new room. If it's not to his liking, I will personally adjust it to his liking."
The trek to his new room took about as long as searching the library for Luna. He finally arrived at his new room, the guard that was leading him got the door, and Pegasus stepped in and sweet celestia, it was fucking HUGE! It seemed to be as big as the library! He stepped out, got a look out the window and, it was built at the top of one of the Castles turrets. He didn't know geometry or architecture, but even a dumbass could tell that the room was bigger, way bigger, on the inside. The entire damned castle was bigger on the inside.
"Is the room to your liking, kiddo?" He recognized that voice. Looking at the guard, he recognized her as the one who had reassured him when he first met Princess Celestia.
"I-I love it! Could I, erm, get your name please?" The guard smiled.
"My name is Fire Shield. Lieutenant Fire Shield. Her Highness Celestia met with me before she left, and assigned me to you. She then put a warrant out for you fathers arrest. Just let me know if you are going to leave the castle for any reason, and I will accompany you. Alright?" She certainly was friendly for a guard.
He thought for a moment. Then he remembered. She was the guard who had captured him when he was stealing from the butchers shop. "Got it." He was about to start exploring his new room, when his new personal body guard added "Sorry about tackling you earlier, I was just doing my job in catching thieves, ya know?"
Pegasus looked over at Fire Shield. "It's okay, I understand." He hopped up onto his new bed. It was the most comfortable thing ever. He was about to drift off, when he asked Fire Shield to wake him for dinner time. He thought he heard her reply, but he drifted off quickly, and didn't catch what she said.
"HEY KID! WAKE UP!!" Pegasus awoke with a start, and found himself staring a very aggravated Fire Shield in the face. "Shit man, you sleep harder than my son Golden Hoof and that's saying something." Pegasus looked at her.
"You have a kid?"
"Yeah, I do. That's why Her Highness Celestia assigned me to you. Thought I'd understand you better. It's dinner time, I've gotta walk you down to the main dining hall. You ever drink? Y'know, mead? Brandy? Those are two favorites of Her Highness Luna."
Pegasus thought for a moment. Sometimes he had stolen a bottle of alcohol, and he preferred straight rum, sake, and champagne, and those were what he asked about.
"Well, kid, we have rum, but the cooks use it for their cooking. Sake is typically not in the castle, neither of the princesses like it, and we ran out of champagne last night, when Her Highness Luna was celebrating her birthday." Fire Shield chuckled at the memory of Luna's party, particularly the one where she got hammered big time. "I'll try to pry a bottle of rum from the cooks, but if I can't get it for you, you'll have to settle for whatever the Princess offers you." And with that, Fire Shield was off.
Spit Shine and Feather Dust rushed in to tidy the bedroom. Neither of them spoke, but Spit Shine levitated up a pair of comforters for the bed, one of them gold, and the other one blue. Pegasus chose the gold one. He took a peek in the fridge, and was amazed by what he saw; fresh manchego cheese, the sausage he had stolen had been placed inside. Fire Shield poked her head into his room.
"Well, c'mon! We haven't got all day." Pegasus hurried after her.
True to her word, Fire Shield had procured some rum for him. A unicorn stallion in a butlers outfit was standing next to Pegasus, levitating a bottle of said rum, while a unicorn mare in a french maid uniform was standing beside Luna with a bottle of white wine.
"Ahh, it's you. So good of you to join us. Please, be seated."
Luna was sitting in a large, blue, heavily decorated chair. Pegasus looked at his chair. It was red, with some ornate carvings. The butler pulled it out for him to be seated, then pushed it back in once Pegasus sat down. Several cooks walked in, carrying a large silver platter. They sat it down, and lifted the lid off of it. "Bon apatite" said the chef. What Pegasus saw amazed him. A large roasted pig, with an apple stuffed in its mouth, several apples surrounding it, then a ring of daffodils and daisies, finely garnished flowers of a variety that he didn't recognize. One of the cooks cut into the thigh, and served Luna a heaping slice. Luna promptly thanked him. Then, he leaned over to Pegasus.
"Sir, which slice would you like?" Pegasus thought for a bit.
"Erm, I'll take a thigh piece, also, please."
The other thigh was placed before him, along with several daisies and daffodils, and the garnished flowers and a couple of apples. It was glorious, he didn't know where to begin. He looked over at Luna (which he loved doing). She had started with the apples, so he did the same. An amazing explosion of flavor. He finished the apples, and started on the flowers. Those were also amazing. He tried the rum. It was the most amazing tasting rum, ever. The pork thigh was great, too.
"You like the pork? It's a human recipe." said Luna. "Well, you probably have never heard of the humans. They are a race from another world. It's really hard to describe them, and my sister isn't too fond of them. Says they resort to violence too much, but she has some working in the kitchen, and another is acting as a 'military advisor', whatever that means. Heh, I really should know. When I returned from the moon after a thousand years, she put me in charge of the military to keep me preoccupied. Got her angry when I had the guard force out a Diamond Dog mining group after they ponynapped, damn, what was her name, element of generosity, Rarity! That was it, Rarity! Sheesh, remove a potential threat, and Celly goes ballistic! Got upset at General McCalister, too! He's the military adviser I told you about." Luna went on and on.
Pegasus didn't mind, she had a lovely voice that he could just listen to for days on end. Luna mostly focused on the humans, and after dinner introduced him to the cooks, the guards and General McCalistor, and a platoon of soldiers from the British SAS and the Israeli Defense Force, and a small group of humans who were working with the pegasus guard, who were 'Green Berets' (Pegasus didn’t know what that meant, but it was obviously important sounding). Luna then gave him a tour of the rest of the castle. He focused less on what she was saying, and more on her perfect voice. Then, finally, she gave him a name. She named him,
Red Bolt.
Sleep. Sleep was one of the things that red bolt loved to do, when he wasn't scrounging and stealing his meals. He'd spent time in an orphanage, but there, he didn't have a name. Life there was the same as life with his horrible father, except at the orphanage, he wasn't beaten randomly. Here at the castle, it was like a whole new world, different from the cold, cruel streets of the notorious red light district of Canterlot, where he grew up. Here, it was warm, he had been here for only a week, and he loved it. Meals whenever he rang, Luna, dear sweet Luna, was there, Fire Shield commented on how she couldn't count his ribs anymore. Red Bolt's limp was still there, he couldn't fly, he was blind in one eye, but he was learning to read, and that was good. Also, he was still a blank flank. But life was now good, and even though he was the son of a prostitute, he was living a good life now in Canterlot Castle, so what was there to complain about? Save for not yet having Luna as a marefriend.
And his dreams. Most of the time, he would dream about life on the streets again. Those dreams were fine, nothing terrifying. He did very well; except for not really getting enough to eat and other times, like this time, they would be terrifying nightmares were he would be back at his father’s home, revisiting the abuse. This time, it was about how he lost an eye.
Just on an abusive whim, his father, he never knew his name, decided to play with a hot fire poker. He was jabbing at Red's face, and jabbed him in the eye. Red screamed, and bolted awake, and started crying, again. He did that a lot. He knew he was safe at the castle, but his terrifying dreams just wouldn't leave him alone. Princess Luna had been taking a nightly stroll through the castle when she heard his screams. His door swung open, and she found him curled in a fetal position, sobbing. Luna hopped up onto his bed, and spoke to him.
"Red, are you okay?" Luna asked.
"No. I-I've been having these horrible dreams. Well, I've had them forever, I love to sleep, but I fear the dreams that I'll have whenever I close my eyes. I just wish that I could sleep peacefully. This time I was remembering when my father blinded me in one eye, and I-" Luna cut him off in mid sentence.
"He did WHAT?!" Luna was more horrified than anything else. "How could he? You are how old? How long ago was this?"
Red Bolt tried to remember, but he had no concept of days or months. He never knew how old he was, because his father would obviously never tell him. But he knew the seasons, and answered with, "About seven winters ago, I guess. I don't know how old I am, just like, when I arrived here, I couldn't read." He hiccupped. Luna nuzzled him comfortingly.
"I need to read your mind; I promise it will not hurt..." She delved gently into his mind. Her presence felt wonderful and, embarrassingly… arousing. Luna could tell this, because she blushed a bit at the thoughts that suddenly entered his mind, and he blushed too, when he realized that she noticed.
Luna poked around, and found the location of his father’s home. Red didn't know what Luna was looking for, but when she left his mind, he saw a dark, determined expression on her face. "I must go now, but" she cast a spell. "rest peacefully. I'll see you in the morning." And with that, she left.
Princess Luna jumped up onto the railing of the balcony. She thought back to her new friend that she had comforted after he had awakened screaming in the middle of the night. She had used her magic, and with it discerned two things: the location of his abusive fathers’ home, and how old Red Bolt was.
‘Damn,’ she thought to herself. ‘The poor kid is only fifteen.’
She thought about the father, and how she was going to bring justice down upon him. Luna was feeling affection for Red Bolt, and she wanted to protect him, just as her sister would protect her. Luna flew over the buildings, scanning for Reds father.
This was the red light district, were he lived. A pair of stallions were walking out of a bar, and solicited a prostitute. The bright lights of a casino made the area seem like day. Luna saw a rundown shack, and remembered from Reds memories, that this one was it. She went into a shallow dive, angling her wings to slow her descent. She landed in the back yard. It was dismal, grass was non-existent, the fence was rotted, and in the only fresh post was a family of wood-peckers.
Luna trotted silently across the frozen ground. Snowflakes started to fall, and as she sat on the porch, mentally reviewing what she was planning on doing, the ground was a foot deep in snow. No subtlety, no sneakiness. Being sneaky was for criminals and cowards. Luna was a princess, she wouldn't get prosecuted, and this wasn't murder, this was vigilante justice, and the stallion in that house was a foal beater, no one would care.
Luna thought about how he had broken Red Bolts wing, had blinded him in one eye with a red hot fire poker, and broke his hip, which never healed properly. Luna casted a spell and the door exploded in a shower of half rotted splinters. Then an angry shout came from the kitchen.
"Who da fuck do you think you are barging into my home?!?" A large, red unicorn stallion stormed into view, coming face to face with a very livid looking princess Luna.
"IT IS I, PRINCESS LUNA!! I AM HERE TO EXACT JUSTICE FOR YOUR CRIMES!!" She was using the Royal Canterlot voice.
Reds father was quivering before her, but he gathered his composure, and said, quite boldly to Luna’s face, "YOU DON'T SCARE ME, YOU STUPID WHORE!!!"
Luna was furious, how dare he call her such an insulting name. "I WAS CONSIDERING LETTING YOU LIVE, BUT NOW I SEE THAT YOU ARE A PATHETIC STAIN THAT NEEDS TO BE REMOVED!"
Luna saw in the reflection of a smudged mirror behind Red Bolts father, a fire poker levitating behind her, ready to impale itself in the back of her head. She dodged out of the way just in time, nearly getting hit. It sliced off a lock of her mane. The poker clipped the blacksmiths ear, and imbedded itself in the wall behind him.
"Clever" said Luna "but not clever enough..." Luna launched a concussion wave from her horn, and watched as it smashed Reds father through a wall. The unicorn got up, shaking debris from his body, and threw chunks of plaster, wood, and electrical wiring that was still hot at Luna. Luna launched a shielding spell, knocking the projectiles away, shattering a chunk of wood, leaving semi large splinters. Luna magically removed the wood chunk, and used it to blind the bastard who was throwing shrapnel at her in the eye, the same one that Red was blind in.
"That ones for your sons EYE YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!!!" Princess Luna hollered. As the splinter made contact, the blacksmith yelled in pain, and stumbled into a podium with a large vase. The vase landed on his horn, and shattered.
He couldn't get up. Luna walked over to him, and telekinetically grabbed him. She held him still as she forced her way into his mind. This time, Luna’s presence wasn't soothing; she could see the blacksmith squirm in pain as she delved into his deepest, darkest memories. Luna learned that Reds fathers’ name was Iron Hammer, learned that Red came to live with him after a prostitute named Sunshine Daisy had gotten pregnant from Iron Hammer, and dropped Red off after he was old enough to be weaned.
Luna saw Irons family die from some strange illness that he was immune to and that had driven him insane. If he hadn't been so cruel to Red Bolt, Luna would've felt sorry for him. As it happens, he didn't deserve her pity. But, Luna graced him by putting him to sleep before she ended him. And she did it quickly, and quietly. Anyone watching (Fire Shield was watching) would've seen Iron Hammer just simply stop breathing, and turn into a pile of dust. Luna turned around to find herself staring into the face of Fire Shield, Reds personal guard, and friend.
"I saw everything, was all that shouting necessary, your highness?"
"Yes, yes it was. I wanted to give him a chance to beg for forgiveness. If he had, I would've been gentler with him when I invaded his mind, and would've erased his insanity, and made him realize all the pain he had inflicted on Red. As it so happens, well, maybe I should've done all that in the first place. I was just so, so, enraged by what he had done to Red Bolt. Red is just a kid, I was so horrified by what he had to endure.”
“Tell Red what I have done here." Luna left the house, with Fire Shield right behind her. As soon as the pair left, Fire Shield took flight. As she flew off into the distance, Luna turned around, and set the house on fire.
The red light district was the worst place Luna had ever been. Luna had convinced Celestia, back when Equestria was on the verge of a recession, which was shortly after Luna had returned two years ago, to let the red light district stay, and just tax the hell out of the casinos, bars, and very erotic nightclubs. This had definitely turned things around, and fixed the economy. Now the red light district was simply a smudge on Canterlot, and largely overlooked by everypony, save for those looking for a night on the town.
Luna was wary of the "looks" she was getting, and felt like she needed a very long hot shower with extra, extra, soap. She took off, and was glad to leave the district behind. It was starting to get light out, and by the time Luna returned to the castle, the early morning cleaners had gotten any mess from the night cleaned up and had the place spick and span when Luna greeted the guards, which were being rotated, the pair of tired looking stallions returning to their quarters, and a fresh pair getting to their post. Luna was tired. She had discovered that one of the chunks of wood that had been thrown at her had left a nasty gash in her right for-leg, and she didn't know any healing spells.
The time she had spent a thousand years ago learning spells, she had spent learning combat spells. Her time on the moon was spent stockpiling magic for when she would return and try getting revenge. Being cured from her evil by the elements of harmony took away all of the darkest, most vile and evil spells, but still left her with huge amounts of stocked up magic, she was still by far the most powerful of the alicorn sisters, but her sister was the wisest. That and Luna’s brash pig headedness, and bit of a temper made her someone you did not want to piss off, considering that she could beat her sister in a fight every time. But she was also gentle now, and typically gave no one any reason to fear her, once you got to know her. She was also very tired at the moment. What Luna needed was a big cup of coffee.
~X~
Red Bolt didn't want to wake up. He was having a wonderful dream about Princess Luna. Suddenly, the wonderful smell of his favorite breakfast, bacon, fried till it was crunchy, eggs, poached with cheese on them, coffee, with a generous helping of cream, and a nice, juicy, orange, without the seeds. He abandoned his dream, and forced himself out of bed, and sluggishly went over to his breakfast.
After breakfast and a long shower, he was wide awake and ready to take on the day. He wandered down the hall. His reading lessons didn't start until way later, so he decided to explore the first thing that caught his eye outside. And what he found was very, very puzzling. It must've been made by the humans; no pony had ever built something like this, as far as he knew.
There was an extremely long road with a pair of white stripes running down the middle. Lights all along the outsides flashing in a pattern, visible even in the broad daylight. Lots of structures in a nice, tidy row, with stacks of metal barrels outside some of them, moved out of the way so as not to pose a tripping hazard. A large, wheeled vehicle moved quickly across the road. It was tan, with a black, thin object on top. The one thing that stood out the most was this monstrous looking thing. It was massive, looking like a cross between a bat and a boomerang. It was pure black, and moved silently into position. Then its belly opened, and a vehicle loaded large, finned objects into the belly, no, its mouth, they had to be feeding the monster. Its mouth closed, the vehicle moved out of the way, and the, thing, it wasn't a monster, no living thing could move without moving its legs, and the things legs had wheels on the ends.
But the most disturbing thing about it was it MADE NO SOUND as it moved along the road, and started flying. It was frighteningly silent. IF its silence and odd beauty weren't scary enough, three more of them followed. As they lifted off, the legs raised up into the body. A voice shocked him back into reality.
"Scary, but beautiful, aren't they?" He turned to find the source of the voice. It was Fire Shield. She was holding a cup of coffee in one hoof, and looked kind of funny walking with just the other three.
"The humans call them 'Spirits'. Ask me, and I can't think of a better name. Strange, though that they are sending them out right now. Usually, they send them out at night, when they are dammed impossible to see." Red Bolt couldn't agree more.
"They named this place 'Harmony Air Base'. They let us guards look around, provided we don't get to nosy. How about I introduce you to my friend Timothy?" Fire Shield said. Red just nodded, he was still too scared by the sight of the "Spirits", as they were called.
He was about to try and say something, but he saw something that really spooked him. He hadn't thought it possible, but there was a vehicle that was bigger than even the spirits. And unlike the spirits, this thing was freakin' ugly. It had a long body, longer than the spirits, the wings were at the top, and angled slightly downwards, with engines hanging under them. The tail was pointed on the ends, and the two fins on the side were also angled slightly downwards.
"F-F-Fire Shield, what is that?" Red asked, pointing a hoof at the machine.
"Oh, that? That’s a Stratofortress. Real scary. Oh hey look, it's Timothy." Fire Shield trotted over to him, and Red Bolt followed, glancing over his shoulder at the Stratofortress one last time.
Timothy was tall, and muscled. His clothing was grease stained, but other than that, he looked like any other human male. Except his hair was red, not the typical brown that he had seen from the other humans.
"So you must be Red Bolt, am I right?" He asked.
He extended a hand, Red remembered from his first encounter with the humans, and placed a hoof in it to shake. Tim's grip was firm, but not uncomfortable.
"I heard a bit about you…sorry about how you were raised. I never knew my father. He died when I was a little kid, so my mom raised me all by herself." Tim seemed to go on and on.
Red understood about how he had a hard time getting by, but in comparison to how Red Bolt lived, Tim had it easy. He seemed like a nice guy. Then, Fire Shield shot him a question.
"So, how did you humans get here in the first place?" The base commander had walked up to the trio just as Fire Shield had asked.The commander was shorter than Timothy, but still looked intimidating. He was dark skinned, and was puffing on a cigar. He looked over at Tim.
"Timothy, I need the engines on that BUFF checked out. If the spirits can't take out that dragon, then we are going to need some heavy firepower. After you have checked the engines, I need the Spooky's weapons loaded, the engines tuned up, and the flaps adjusted. Damn thing hasn't been flying right after the storm last month."
"Sir, yes sir." Timothy responded. He turned to the others: "See you guys later." And with that, he was off.
The commander took the seat that had been occupied. “So you want to know how we found your world, I take it? Well, I have the answer to that question, but its more something that needs to be seen, as well. Come with me." Fire Shield and Red Bolt followed. "The names Commander Doland, by the way. And you are?" Doland asked.
"I'm Lieutenant Fire Shield, and this is my friend, Red Bolt. He's new here, and a little frightened." Said Fire Shield. Red looked around, saw a large, noisy flying machine, with an engine on the top, lower itself onto a stone square with a large circle painted on it. Several humans jumped out of the sides, and lined up as a sergeant walked back and forth in front of them, yelling something.
The group of them entered a room with a line of chairs, and a screen at the front. Fire Shield seated herself in a chair that had been specially designed for ponies. The pony chairs, because of how much smaller ponies were to humans, had been placed in the front to make it easier to see the screen. Commander Doland started speaking.
"Now, I'll do my best to explain, but I feel like this footage will do a better job at showing you what happened that allowed us humans to access your world. But before I begin, let me tell you what a nuclear bomb is. A nuclear bomb is a device that had been designed to destroy targets as large as cities. In the past, military strategists thought about, and planned, scenarios were the weapons would be used for softening up enemy strongholds for an attack. This was before we learned about all the radiation that is released from using one. My country, the United States of America, currently has the largest stockpile. Last year, we had been experimenting with some of them in a large, lifeless desert, using several imitation cities to see what effect the use of a concentrated nuclear attack would have. Scientists had been theorizing that all there would be would be a large amount of radiation that wouldn't dissipate for at least a hundred, if not two hundred years.” He paused, taking a long draw off his cigar before he continued.
“They were so wrong. None of their scientific expertise prepared them for the result. The force of the blasts, and the radiation itself, in such a concentrated amount had ripped a whole in the very fabric of space. All the radiation had dissipated immediately, and we were left with this hole that could only be seen from the front, and accessed from the front. Now, I need to show you the video so that you can get the idea."
The lights dimmed, and a projector started up. A man was giving a count down "THREE... TWO... ONE..." KA-FUCKING-BOOOOOOM!! Large mushroom clouds bloomed across an imitation city. How the humans could create such weapons, how such weapons were even possible, was beyond Red Bolt. He looked over at Fire Shield, and her jaw was nearly on the floor. Such powerful weapons could have only been created by the gods. Should only be possessed by the gods. The flashes and clouds had vanished, and the city that had been built for the tests was gone. In its place was a field of glass from where the sand had been hit by temperatures hotter than the sun. Weapons of the gods indeed. In the center of it all was a shimmering rip, a rip that seemed to span from horizon to horizon, waving in a non-existent wind, fluttering like a flag in a moderate breeze.
The man who had been giving the countdown said "Sweet Jesus Mary and Joseph, what is THAT?" and with that, the footage had ended. Fire Shield was the first to speak.
"And, after that, you decided to travel through?"
"Yes, Lieutenant Fire Shield, we sent some soldiers in special environment suits that we were experimenting with. The suits worked better than expected, and thankfully, this world was not at all hostile to us. And that's how we got here."
~X~
Red Bolt finally left the base. It was lunch time, and his stomach wasn't agreeing with the MRE he had eaten. He was wearing a set of saddlebags made out of a tough material that had a camo-print, that had been given to him. Fire Shield was still shocked by the video. She wasn't really horrified, though she couldn't understand why the humans would create weapons of such a magnitude, but she was still frightened by the weapons, and the aftermath of the testing. Behind them, the four spirits that had taken off had returned to base. The only noise they made was the bump of the wheels hitting the runway, and the screech as the brakes locked, slowing them down quickly.
The trip back to the castle didn't take very long, and when Red Bolt arrived, his first stop was the bathroom. The MRE's definitely didn't agree with him. He staggered back out after he had finished throwing up, and skipped lunch, going right back to bed.
~X~
Princess Luna had finished Speaking with the mayor of Neihpon, who was having problems with elk mercenaries from the Elklands. Luna had just had Commander Doland send a squadron of bombers to hit the nearby military ports of the Elklands, and other close by military targets to stop the attacks. She jumped down from the throne, and went to the Canterlot Library, were she thought Red Bolt would be getting his reading lessons from Spit Shine and Feather Dust. Instead, she found the two servants sitting alone at the table, one of them resting her head on her hoof, the other tapping impatiently.
"Hello, Spit Shine, Feather Dust. Where's Red Bolt?"
"Red Bolt isn't here, he is two hours late, and if I am forced to wait any longer-" Spit Shine was cut off when Red Bolt finally showed up. He was disheveled looking, and appeared to have been sick.
"Hey, sorry guys, I wasn't feeling that great, so I took a nap. Guess I overslept." Red Bolt walked over to were Spit Shine and Feather Dust were sitting, and sat down between them.
"Not feeling well? What happened?" Asked Luna
"Well, I went over to Harmony Base, because I had nothing else to do, and my lessons wouldn't start until a couple hours after lunch, Fire Shield joined me, I saw some things there that were really, really scary. Two different machines. One type called a 'spirit', and the other called a strato whatever. They were huge, like, bigger than this little part of the library. I also learned about how the humans got here. Afterwards, Commander Doland shared an MRE with me, and that's why I'm not feeling good, it didn't settle well with me." Red continued going into detail, asking what a spooky was, having heard about it from the Commander.
He was about to start asking about the dragon that the spirits had been sent after, when Feather Dust interrupted with "Red Bolt, darling, don't you think that we should be getting on with your lessons?"
"Can we skip lessons today? I'm still not feeling well. The reason I came over in the first place was to apologize for being late. Oh crap, not again. Where is the nearest bathroom?" Red quickly put a hoof over his mouth. Luna, Feather Dust, and Spit Shine all pointed in the same direction. Red galloped as fast as his lame leg would allow.
Luna went after him to make sure he was okay, after Luna sent for her own personal physician.
Red Bolt was in total misery by the time the physician, Steady Pulse, had arrived, mostly just groaning in the discomfort and indignity of his predicament. Steady Pulse was a middle aged unicorn mare, light grey with a dark green mane and tail, with the figure of someone who had recently given birth. Red was lying down on one of the beds in the medical wing of the castle, medical equipment of obvious human origin, smaller, and more advanced than anything the Equestrians could produce, but lacking in magic and beauty worked into design, chosen for efficiency. Steady looked over to Luna, and said
"Don't worry, your highness, I'm sure that all your friend is experiencing is a case of food poisoning. I'll be sure to remind him that human food doesn't always settle with us, and to check to see if any other pony is eating it before eating it himself, okay?" Luna nodded, and then left to wait outside.
Doctor Steady Pulse went over to Red's bedside, checked his temperature, scanned his digestive system with her magic, took blood, gave him a physical, and checked his crippled wing (determining that it was in such bad shape, that it would be beyond her abilities to fix it beyond making it look better, but he would never, ever, fly in his life.) It was, indeed, food poisoning. A simple issue to fix that would require a laughably easy spell, and the contents of his stomach pumped. He would still feel like crap for a couple of days, but that was the price he would pay for eating a foreign food, especially one with so many artificial ingredients. It was any wonder the humans didn't go extinct from so many unnatural foods.
Red Bolt awoke to the sound of the door being opened, and a young dark blue stallion with a white mane and tail, named Nurse Healthy Temp walked in, delivering Red's breakfast.
"Good morning, Red Bolt! Doctor Steady Pulse says that you can be released after she gives you a quick checkup. I hear that you ate some human food. Bad move kid. Most of the things they eat doesn't sit well with us, but I hear it goes both ways. Check first next time, got it?" Red Bolt nodded enthusiastically.
He plowed through his breakfast a bit faster than the nurse wanted, but soon, the doctor stepped in, checked him over, and gave him his release. But before he left, Steady Pulse informed him that she wanted to fix his wing up. He could use it, somewhat, but it was too damaged for sustained flight. He could glide a short distance, but that was it.
He hopped out of the bed he had been sleeping in, and stumbled. He was still weak from the treatments. Doctor Steady Pulse asked if he wanted a wheel chair, but Red said no. He managed to keep from stumbling as he left to go back to his room.
