Redshift

by Prince Redshift

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Sad, Romance, Comedy
Length: 1413

Sometimes, there is nothing to fear. Sometimes, you just need to reach out. Sometimes, we run out of

Sometimes, there is nothing to fear. Sometimes, you just need to reach out to others. Sometimes, we run out of short description room.

An anti-social, millenniums old Alicorn who was born invisible tries to make it through the first days of visibility in his long, long life. So what happens when someone sees him for the first time in history? Will he freak out, accept it, or do something else?

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-05-31 05:34:02 UTC

Light

Author's Note: Redshift was a very lonely pony for two reasons: one, he had high-functioning Aspergers Syndrome (which doesn't have a name in Equestria), and two, he was born invisible - he could never turn off his magic. However, that doesn't mean that he couldn't turn off his magic - he just had yet to find a way.

One might expect that he died at birth, a foal without a protective mother or father to feed, protect, and shelter him... But through pure luck, he had managed to survive foal and colthood without anypony - or anythings' - help. How he did it, not even he himself knew. Perhaps he fed off of the newly formed grass below him, or perhaps he fed off of his own magic... I would continue on, but the world of if's is a vast and incomprehensible reality. To ponder what could have happened would be to draw you away from this tale, to draw the veil of sleep upon you. Be assured that I do not want to do that. You yearn for a full and filling story, which you will be able to draw upon for years or decades to come [or you're just reading this to pass the time]. So give you I shall.

The burning light of the Elements of Harmony burned into Nightmare Moon, and withdrew a reborn Princess Luna, who promptly fell to the ground.

Later...

Red looked on as Celestia nuzzled up to her newly regained sister for the first time in a millennium, and started to shake with anger.

"Am I destined to forever be a coward, or shall I finally overcome this accurst fear?! Celestia regains her sister, these ponies fight off one of the most powerful beings alive, and I can't even hold a simple conversation with somepony! Why, oh why, can't I just make myself visible for once!?"

Luna started to weep, and Celestia held her closer.

"Yes, cry tears of joy! For today, you have found a family… Something that I've never had."

Red looked on in envy as the pair nuzzled together. Eventually, they stepped apart so that Celestia could deal with the rest of the matter at hoof.

As 'Tia stepped away though, Pinkie Pie started crying... and then suddenly stopped, grew a smile, and yelled out, "You know what this calls for? A party!"

"Oh sweet mother of me," Red thought, "Is that pony bipolar?"

Twilight and her friends hiked back across the bridge with the happy afterimage of Celestia holding her sister Luna for the first time in a millennium in their heads. Having just defeated Nightmare Moon, the six were quite the happy school of ponies, until Twilight Sparkle started talking.

"Oh, hey girls, did any of you know that the four stars that helped Nightmare Moon escape from the moon were-"

"What's that o'er there?!" Applejack interrupted.

"What?" Twilight asked, looking in the direction that Applejack had pointed to.

"Hmm, must'ah been nothin'." Applejack said after a few seconds.

As they trekked on, Twilight continued to look in the direction that Applejack had pointed in, while the others started to amiably talk to each other. The conversation continued, until they exited the Everfree Forest, upon which Fluttershy and Rarity split from the group and started towards the former's house. In a few minutes, Applejack split off as well and started towards her ranch, and when the remaining friends entered the town, Rainbow Dash said her goodbyes and flew off towards Cloudsdale.

A minute passed.

"Pinkie… do I seem weird to you?"

"Why would you ask that, silly filly?" Pinkie chuckled.

"It's just that, everypony doesn't seem to like my topics of discussion. Every time that I start to talk to anypony else, I always seem to mess up somehow…," Twilight frowned.

"Twi, you just have to let them-"

"Get used to me?" Twilight intercepted, "I admit, I've only known each of you for a while, but still! Aren't friends supposed to help each other solve their problems, not just ignore them, and make them feel bad?"

Pinkie stared at Twilight wide-eyed, surprised at her question.

"But Twi, Applejack and the rest of us weren't trying to make you feel bad! It's just that you talk about some really silly stuff sometimes - stuff that none of us know anything about!" Pinkie laughed, starting to bounce along again.

"... Oh… I guess I should look into things that everyone would enjoy…"

"That's the spirit! Now you go march your rump-" Twilight blushed. "- back into your house, and start doing whatever it is you do!"

"Pinkie, I've already told y-"

"No, no! You've got important work to do! Get back to your tree-house-"

"It's a li-" Twilight started to interrupt, but Pinkie continued talking over her.

"- and find something that all of us would like to talk about! That's an order, Private Sparkle!" Pinkie grinned.

"Agh, fine Pinkie! I'll go find something!"

"I was already going to do it anyway…" Twilight thought.

"Good girl!"

Twilight frowned and trotted back to her library-slash-tree-house, wondering what it would take to finally be able to understand social, auditory interactions.

Red sat down on the hilltop and watched as Luna raised the Moon, while scratching one of his secondary horns, which he had accidentally made while trying to expand on his magical power.

"... Let's not dwell on that... incident, me," Red thought to himself.

Every night, for his entire life, he had stared in happiness at the rising moon, listening to its beautiful lullaby as it rose. Many times over had he fallen asleep to the sweet lyrics of the light that danced off of that beautiful lunar landscape, and many times over had he watched Luna soar over the twilight scenery, but tonight was different. He could see that Luna was struggling, giving it her all... But it wasn't enough to raise the Equestrian satellite.

*

Looking across the grasslands that lie below Canterlot, Luna wished that someone would watch her for once. Every night she would dance in the dusks falling light, raising the moon while her sister set the sun, and wonder if anypony ever watched the moonrise. However, tonight, after nearly one thousand years of isolation on the Moon, Luna found that she did not have the strength to raise her love into the sky. She struggled to pull that last ounce of magic out of herself, but even alicorns have their limits.

She ceased the magical flow and laid down, wondering how she would be able to explain this to her sister.

But then...

It happened.

*

Looking upon Luna's downtrodden face, Red had no clue as to why he felt such an urge - a need - to help her, but he decided to take a risk. Seeing Luna on the ground, sobbing, no one to lend a hoof but he to her... It did something to him. She had also finally come back to a home, one that now shunned her because of past decisions that were the byproduct of a controlled mind, he decided to show her his magic for the first time in nearly ten millenniums. And due to this decision...

~

The grieving alicorn's face inverted into a smile that would remain in Red's mind for the rest of his life.

The sky was awash with every color in existence, draining into an orb that floated in front of Princess Luna's face. At first, she felt overcome with grief: the last time that she had seen something like this was the day that her parents had left this reality. But soon, she was laughing, crying, and stomping her hooves in glee.

The orb had formed into a moving image of her childhood: the day that she found the evil butterfly that 'Tia teleported to the Moon (the first time either had used magic); the time that she learned how to fly, and was begged by a pouting 'Tia to 'teach her too, darnit!'; and many other scenes, some of which she had forgotten.

Eventually, the orb started to dim. Not wanting the moment to end as the orb began to shrink, she said, "Wait! Whoever's there, please come out! Please!"

*

"Oh no...," thought Red, "She wants to meet me... should I- No! I can't! It would be too dangerous! Yes, too dangerous!"

*

Wait as she might, Luna would find no friendly face in the rising Moon's light that night.