Shades Of Red

Shade awoke and sat up. Today was the day he was to turn in his final draft of a horror novel he'd been working on. He had written another novel a while back called "Twists And Turns". He didn't put his full on on it. Only his initials; RS. Shade looked out the window, wondering if the publishers would go for it. He let out a sigh and headed for the shower.

After the shower, he grabbed his saddle bag and headed out the door. He now stood in the massive streets of Manehattan. After taking in the fresh air, he made his way to the publishing building. He was going to be about two hours early but that's how he liked it. Better early than late was how he thought. On his way he passed the local smoothie shoppe. One of the mares caught his eye. She was a magenta colored mare with a purple mane and tail. He found her immensely beautiful. He decided to go over and say hi. He began to approach the table she was at, but when she looked up at him he casually veered to the right and sat down at a table nearby.

"Stupid." he whispered to himself.

Shade was nervous. He was a tad bit shy but this mare took his breath away. He took in a few breaths before standing up and turning around, nearly bumping heads with the mare.

"Whoa." she said with a giggle. "Sorry 'bout that."

"No, it's..." Shade began. "It's no problem."

"So..." she began. "Did you want to talk to me?"

"What?" asked Shade, getting even more nervous.

"I saw you looking at me." she said.

"Oh... I... uh..." Shade stammered.

The mare let out another giggle. "Aw, you're embarrassed. That's so cute."

She went around to the other side of the table and sat down. Shade sat down in his chair as well.

"So..." he said. "I'm Shade. Red Shade."

The mare smiled. "Magenta."

"Magenta." Shade repeated. "That's a nice name."

"Thank you. So is Shade. It sounds... mysterious."

"Oh, believe me." said Shade. "Nothing mysterious about me."

"What do you do?" asked Magenta.

"I'm a writer." he answered. "I write horror novels."

"Really?" asked Magenta, sounding intrigued. "Publish any?"

"One. Twists And Turns."

"Twists And Turns?" asked Magenta. "I think a friend of mine was reading that once. She liked it."

"I'm glad she enjoyed it. I was actually on my way to publish another one. I was about two hours early anyways, so..."

"So you thought you'd say hi to me, right?" asked Magenta.

"Yeah." said Shade hesitantly.

Magenta took a moment to just smile at him with narrowed eyes, kind of sensually.

"Mind if I read it?"

"Huh?" Shade asked, distracted by her stare.

"Your current novel. May I see it?"

"Uh... sure." said Shade, reaching down.

He picked up his saddle bag and tilted it. A stack of paper slid out. The pages were three hole-punched and held together by rings.

"So, how'd you manage that?" she asked, pointing to the rings.

"I had a friend help with that." Shade answered. "He's a unicorn."

Magenta turned the pages so they were reading the right way and flipped to the beginning. She began to read to herself, most of the words stayed in her head and some escaped her lips. She began skimming throughout the pages, not exactly reading it so much as examining it. She finally closed the "book" and slid it back to Shade.

"What do ya think?" Shade asked.

"Can't wait till it's published." Magenta answered.

Shade slid the rough draft back into his saddle bag and set it down on the ground.

"Thanks." he said. "That means a lot."

Magenta shot him a smile. Just then three fairly large colts approached their table. One was white with a red mane and tail. The second was teal with a white mane. The last one was yellow with a gray mane.

"Hey there, pretty thing." said the white colt.

"Um... hi." answered Magenta. "Can I help you?"

"Oh, you can help us, all right." said the teal colt. "Why don't you come with us?"

"I actually like it right where I am, thank you."

The white colt put a hoof around her neck and pulled her close. "I insist."

"Hey, wait a minute." said Shade, standing up. "She doesn't--"

The yellow colt punched him across the face, knocking him to the ground.

"Stay down, little man." said the yellow colt. "We won't damage her too bad."

"Shade!" yelled Magenta. "Do something!"

Shade tried to get to his hooves when the colt stepped on his back.

"You're not going anywhere."

"Come on." said the white colt, dragging Magenta. "Let's go."

Shade suddenly felt rage built up inside him. He quickly stood up, knocking the colt off. When the colt tried to stand up, Shade kicked him hard in the face, knocking him out. He then took off towards Magenta. He leaped at the teal colt and kneed him in the chest. He then leaped over him, kicking him in the head as he did. Shade then ran at the white colt, who threw Magenta aside. The colt then threw a punch. Shade stepped to the side and kneed him in the chest, knocking him to the ground. He then knelt over him and began punching him across the face over... and over... and over again. Magenta trotted up next to him and placed a hoof on Shade's shoulder. He stopped punching and looked up at her. His face had a few blood splotches on it. Magenta stared him in the eyes and he knew what she was thinking. He looked down at the colt who had blood all under his nose. Shade stood up as the colt scrambled away.

"I'm... sorry." said Shade. "I'm not sure what--"

Magenta quickly leaned in and kissed him on the lips. When she pulled away she smiled.

"Thank you." she said.

"Don't mention it." Shade answered. "Wanna come with me to the publishing building?"

"Of course." she answered. "Besides, you'll be right here to protect me."

The two went back to get Shade's saddle bag and to wipe the blood from his face. They then headed off to publish Shade's novel.