Little Redd: the Lost Concept of Peace

Chapter Eighteen

Heavy Relations, Part Four

... Wow...

Redd couldn't believe that Scootaloo was still hungry.  She watched hear tear into a jalapeno sub, taking a few sips of her nearly empty Monster from her previous meal.  Hawk was surprised as well, as he had seen them dining through the window, but he didn't say anything.  In the small amount of time that Redd had spent with him, she could already find a label for several points to his personality, although she had to admit that it was unique.  The sun played across his bronze mane, making it difficult to ignore.  His eyes were hardly blue, the color of a midnight sky.  His jaw was narrower than most stallions, but he still had that definition.  The entire time she studied him, he stared out the window, undoubtedly at the rocket about to be launched into the air.  Redd turned as little Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle lit the fuse, the launch pad suspending the rocket about a foot in the air.

"Cutie Mark Crusaders Rocket Scientists!  Woo!" they cheered, high-hoofing as the fuse met it's end.

BOOM!

The rocket exploded before it could move at all, singing the three fillies, who were still in mid-cheer.

"... Or not..." Apple Bloom groaned, toppling back into the grass before her mane, now free of her ponytail, fell over her shoulders.  She gasped as her ribbon slowly fluttered to the ground, eaten through the middle and blackened.

"Mah bow!  It's ruined!"

She scrambled to pick up the pieces, one end of it aflame.  Her lower lip trembled as she got them together.  Scootaloo got back into a standing position and walked over to her.

"Relax, Apple Bloom.  We can get you another."

Inside, Scootaloo gave a start, her attention turning to the CMC's situation.

"I remember that... " she said, swallowing another hunk of jalapenos, Italian herb bread, and cheese.

Apple Bloom scrambled to her hooves and wiped her eyes, taking the burnt pieces of ribbon in her teeth.

"Ah'll be back later."

She ran towards Sweet Apple Acres, her mane bouncing across her shoulders.

Redd turned back to the table, and once again focused on Hawk's features.

"So, the hay're we here if we aren't gonna talk?" Eagle asked.

Hawk snapped out of his reverie, and locked eyes with Redd for a moment before scowling at his brother.

"Don't rush them."

He turned back to Redd.

"So, what do you know about me?"

Startled at the question, she mentally thrashed her thoughts straight again.

"Well, I... "

She cleared her throat.

"One of the first things I picked up on with you is that you're competitive, particularly against him," she said gesturing towards Eagle Eye.

"Another thing I saw is that you're... uh... "

She flushed, glancing away for a moment.

"... Handsome, and a bit humorous."

He suppressed a grin, and looked up as Bon Bon came back with his food.  Redd frowned, realizing that she hadn't noticed him order anything.

"Dandelion quesadilla with extra jalapenos, and our legendary caesar salad," she said, sliding the quesadilla to Hawk and the salad to Eagle.

Hawk Eye couldn't help but notice Redd's brows shoot up.

"What's up?  Besides those, I mean," he didn't bother laughing at his joke, no matter how intentional the atrocity of it's existance was.  Silence extended a moment longer.

"Laaaaaaame," he added silently.

Redd looked at him from behind her mane, a grin slowly spreading across her face before she laughed, Hawk suppressing another smile.  She sat up, and attempted to look at him with a straight face.  The corner of her mouth wouldn't stop twitching, and it was beginning to bug her.

"Nothing, it's just that I didn't know that you liked dandelions."

Eagle Eye scoffed.

"If they're offered, he'll hardly eat anything else."

Hawk looked around nervously, pawing the spot in the table between his helmet and his quesadilla.

"Okay, this is starting to get a little awkward... " Scootaloo noted.

Eagle nudged his brother with an elbow, and gave him a smirk.

"Come on, bro.  Open up a bit."

Hawk nudged him back, and cleared his throat.

"I'm pretty sure you know this, but my name is Hawk Eye.  I run the Forage Protection Squad, a large group of various ponies tasked with the protection of things like lumberjacking crews, large inter-city shipments, etcetera.  Apparently, the Captain approved of my average performance and sent me here, as your personal bodyguard."

"He asked to be here," Eagle Eye cut in with a snicker as Hawk's hoof connected with his side, the black stallion's expression untouched.

Another disgusted grunt came from Scootaloo as she smacked her face into the table.

Striding along beside Redd, Hawk opened the door for her as they left Cafe Du Mane.  The sun had nearly set, and an autumn chill attacked from the breeze.  Scootaloo came out behind Hawk, closely followed by Eagle as they witnessed Celestia's work dip below the clouds.  After a moment of aimless walking, Hawk turned to her.

"I know this's a touchy subject for most mares, but exactly how old are you?"

Redd snorted, her mouth twitching again.

"I don't mind.  I'm twenty-one, twenty-two in December."

He grinned.

"Ooh, somepony's got a birthday coming up.  What're you planning on doing?"

Redd frowned.  She hadn't considered her birthday.

"Well, I usually don't celebrate it.  Never really came to mind until now."

Her mother leaned over, and planted a kiss just below Redd's horn.

"Happy fifth, my little angel.  I love you."

"... really huge one, right in the ballroom."

Redd came back into reality a few seconds too late as the last words of Hawk's sentence found her ears.

"I'm sorry, what?  I, uh... "

"Tuned out?"

The corner of his mouth was lifted.  Again.  He never stopped smirking.  Except it wasn't an overconfident smirk, just the way he laughed within himself.

"... Well, yeah."

This time he let the grin spread.

"Relax.  Happens to me plenty.  I was talking about the party.  Maybe Princess Sparkle can arrange something for you, and we can bring all of our friends and family.  Throw it in the ballroom."

Redd's jaw dropped, and her eyes began flitting between him and where she was walking.

"I-- I don't know if that would be necessary, I mean, it's a simple matter of being a nuisance."

He laughed.

"Believe me, Celestia wouldn't care.  I'm not so sure about Luna though.  She'd probably get her attire in a wad worrying about the Hearth's Warming decorations."

Redd shot him a long look, and once he realized he was being watched, he smirked again.

"What's up?"

"You two bring the princesses into everything," she said, gesturing to Eagle Eye.  He trailed along behind his brother, idly exchanging chatter about sports with Scootaloo, who was living up to her career in Aeroball.  Hawk Eye looked down.

"Sorry.  We've been in somewhat of a life-long fight over which princesses are better, and when Princess Sparkle joined the family, that sparked the argument all over again."

He met her eyes again.

"But it wouldn't be that bad of an idea, to see about throwing your own personal gala in the castle."

She flushed, and nudged him.

"Well, when you put it that way... "

Her playfulness was replaced with a questioning look as he frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"We're getting dangerously close to the Everfree."

Looking back to the road, they were still a few fields away from the treeline.

"We're still pretty far."

He shook his head, his eyes losing that spark he had before.

"I've seen some terrible things happen, Redd.  Timber wolves are particularly active around sundown.  To be honest, we shouldn't go any closer."

She frowned.

"I... I'm staying with my godmother right now.  She lives about a mile past the treeline."

His features hardened, suddenly serious as he stopped walking.

"Then I'm going to have to insist that you stay with us for the night," he stated plainly, gesturing towards his brother.  Eagle's eyes snapped to the back of his brother's head.

"Wait, what?"

He came up beside Hawk, and whispered something in his ear, which twitched in agitation.  Hawk shoved his brother away and turned his attention back to Redd before being cut off in the middle of speaking.

"At least have a hoof-wrestle to make it fair."

Hawk sighed, and, rolling his dark eyes, turned to Eagle.

"Fine.  If I win, she stays with us.  If you win, we pay her way into an inn."

Eagle looked off to the side for a second before meeting his brother's eyes again.

"I was actually thinking that if you won, we'd let her stay, if I won, she'd stay with her godmoth--"

"She is not walking through the Everfree.  That's final."

"I appreciate the concern... "

The two of them turned to Redd.

"... but I can survive a moonlight walk through the woods.  Believe me."

Hawk's eyes moved to the various bandages wrapped around her, those on her hooves lightly stained red.

"I'm not going to leave your side 'til you're safe."

This earned a dark look and a facehoof from Scootaloo, who turned back towards Ponyville.

"I'm going back for a drink."

Eagle's attention snapped in her direction.

"Actually, I think I could use one of those too.  Mind if I join you?"

Scootaloo shrugged as Eagle fell into step beside her, getting back into their previous conversation.  Redd stood wide-eyed and flushed, Hawk's gaze solemnly reading her through her eyes.

She stepped into the forest, Hawk Eye on high-alert beside her.  His ear twitched, and he suddenly entered a protective battle-ready stance in front of her, only to relax and let her by a moment later.

He really takes his job seriously, she thought, her eyes moving to his legs.

They kept going like this for a while, and Hawk Eye's humor began to slowly return.  If at any point however, he detected danger, he would enter that same position, between the foe and Redd and ready to beat the living dung out of it.  Soon, they pressed through one last wall of underbrush as Zecora's home presented itself to them.

"I'd be careful if I were you."

The two of them jumped, and Hawk reflexively attacked.  He relaxed, however, when he realized that he was about to hit a tree.  His jaw dropped, and be backed down from it for a second.

"She's on a hair-trigger, that one," Jakkyl continued, gesturing to Redd with a brow.

That's... a first, he thought, making a conscious effort to close his mouth.

Redd was somewhat surprised as well.  If anything, she figured Estavon would've said something like "Ooh, what have we got here?  Second base tonight man, second base!"

Uh...

"H-hullo, Jakkyl."

"Good evening, Redd.  You two should get indoors.  It's getting somewhat brisk out here."

Hawk slowly nodded, dumbfounded at the tree giving him advice on how cold it was outside.  He shook it off.

Come on Hawk, you've seen weirder, he thought to himself, turning back towards Redd.

"He's right.  Let's get you inside."

He marched forward, Redd following a step behind him, until they reached Zecora's door.  Which was promptly opened by the herbalist, a worried look across her face.  She immediately engulfed Redd into a hug.

"I was worried, for it was dark.  I feared the timber wolves, or perhaps a land shark."

She drug Redd inside, but Hawk Eye remained in the wind.

"Goodnight, Redd," he said, bowing.

When he stood back up, he met the disapproving gaze of the zebra.

"You shall not venture through these trees alone.  In the morning your corpse will be all but bone.  Come in."

His eyes widened, shying under her stare.

"I... can't ma'am.  I must return to Canterlot as soon as possible.  Goodnight... ?"

"Zecora.  Be careful."

"Yes ma'am," he said, turning back into the night.

Zecora shut the door with a sigh, and began to brew Redd's tea.  She looked at her daughter, who had begun to re-wrap her legs and the few bandages on her torso that had come loose.

Zecora stepped through the underbrush, saddlebags catching on a briar, before entering a clearing.  A wyvern sat in the center, it's shoulders' bronze scales quickly rising and falling with every heavy breath.  It's ear twitched, registering the shuffling foliage, before it looked over it's shoulder and gazed straight at her.  It was exhausted, it's dark blue eyes riddled with defeat.  It wasn't hurt, not physically.  But Zecora could feel that it was emotionally broken.

That he was emotionally broken.

Zecora watched him a moment longer, and he never moved.  Eventually his breathing slowed down to his normal pace, and she stepped forward. He didn't react, aside from following her eyes. He could feel her studying him, taking in every detail. His ears sat where any normal pony's would, flat against his head in submission, and the moonlight played across his scales beautifully. He had thin claws at the ends of his hands and feet, and a long, scaly tail interrupted at the tip with a jet black puff of fur was tucked around his side. His head was smaller and more petite than his Draconic cousins', and again roughly resembled a pony's structure. His fangs jutted out from his upper lip, continuing about half an inch below his jaw before ending in a sharp point. His mane hung in his eyes, the same color as his tail hair. His underbelly too, was blacker than the night sky, his leathery wings tense at his sides. Altogether, he was at the adult stage in his life, his height only surpassing the average pony's by an inch or two. Eventually Zecora got close enough to gently place a hoof on his muzzle, a relaxed breath sending steam out of his nose. "Everything will be alright. There is nothing left to fear tonight." His shoulders sagged, and he closed his eyes. "Now," Zecora continued softly. "Who are you?" And just like the dragons, his wyvern tongue held no trouble with Equine words.

"Hawk Eye... "