Chapter 6 - The Worryingly Charismatic Knight.

"So describe to me, my guest. How exactly are you feeling here on the surface?"

Two ponies sat on cushions facing eachother inside of a sitting room at the palace. The room was empty apart from them, and was only illuminated by clouded sunlight, with a few dim periods every few minutes as clouds completely pass over the sun.

Sat down were Celestia and Red, Celestia having tea beside her, ofcourse. Red Dusk rubbed his thick, yet short-ish mane with his right fetlock as he thought about what to say.

"Tis' wonderful. I have already made friends with Shining~" he bites his tongue, reminding himself about the morning, about Shining's little frustration. The unicorn seemed to be quite perceptive in retrospect, but it was not time to look back on the past. "~ and my prospects for the future are relatively optimistic. At worst, my ability to make friends at this current state will be useless against a good amount of bad public opinion." he explains his predictions, Celestia blinking as she processes the information.

"Well that is exactly what I intend to fix through my education. I intend to teach you ways of being a more sociable, likeable pony. What we have to do first is see what makes you happy." Red nods shallowly, tapping a hoof on his chin in thought. Meanwhile, Celestia chuckles to herself, remarking that she's sounding like a therapist.

"To begin, I stem a good deal of joy from accomplishing the tasks given to me by my leader. My leader is the one thing that matters, the only thing that matters. My goal is to satisfy my leader, and in doing that, I satisfy myself for I have done a deed that is beneficial to the cause or my leader." Red Dusk said, smiling to himself. Celestia's ears flicker as she nods.

"Mhm, it is apparent that you have the mindset of a devout follower~" she grumbles inaudibly, Red tilting his head in confusion as she continues. "However, your response leads me to believe that you will leave some behind for, in this case, 'mission'. You have been accompanied by allies before, correct?"

"Yes. However, they were more those who fought alongside me, not necessarily friends. She did not allow me to get attached to many of our allies for fear that I will suffer extended mental damage from their inevitable deaths." Celestia's clenched her teeth in disturbance as she looks to the side and then back to Red. He said it with a straight face, almost as if she was completely right. Ofcourse, while that would happen, it wouldnt help not having friends, now would it?

"O-kay?"

"Pardon my disturbing description, Celestia. Please, I would appreciate having the next question now." the stallion sat in wait, staring directly at Celestia. At one point, his mouth had hung open, displaying an array of shining, sharp teeth. As she analyzed him, he cleared his throat, blinking and tilting his head.

"Is something wrong, Celestia?" he asked, hoping for an answer. Instead, she waved him off with a dismissing hoof.

"It is nothing, have you made friends with anypony except Luna, Shining Armor, and I?" Celestia looks on hopefully, the stallion twisting his face as he thought about what to say.

Needless to say, his reaction would have been disappointing to Celestia anyway. With a slight shake of his head, Red had single hoofingly crushed Celestia's hope for something to work on. Her hope was that he would have made atleast a small connection to somepony else.

"No. I have tried conversation with a guard and his reaction was rather discouraging. He looked my way with a look of scorn and fear, and promptly ignored me as he resumed his patrol route, him having stopped at a spot in the gardens which gave me a chance." Red explained with a disturbingly straight face, almost as if he was not affected by it, which disturbed the Princess.

The alabaster alicorn mare made a mental note on his extreme mental discipline, or rather, a facade that is expertly constructed. It is possible that he is canning up many of his frustrations. It had to be a fact, in actuality, for he has obviously gone through such trauma for five hundred years and that all would have taken a toll on his mental health. Did he ever have breakdowns on the surface? On the Moon?

Celestia had to know if she was going to help him adapt and make him more suitable to society, and one of the ways she was going to accomplish that was to help him in keeping a stable mental state. Celestia shook her head at his response after taking a few seconds to process her thoughts.

"Don't be discouraged by those who refuse to properly acknowledge you as another pony when making friends. To make a good friend, you must be persistent in searching for one and making one. From then on, you must keep them and make sure they are comfortable around you. Infact, you should go around with Captain Shining Armor, who could give you a tour of the palace and maybe give you a chance at shadowing him during his duties." Celestia explained, hoping that he would not have a question, however. Despite her wanting to help him now, she knew it would not be a very feasible effort if she did not know him well. Plus, she had to be sure that he trusted her completely, which would be crucial in his education.

Red nodded as she explained and, fortunately for Celestia, did not ask questions at all. She would not have to get deeper into that, not that she would've necessarily minded doing that in normal circumstances, but she needed to know him. Biting her lip, she looked over Red, looking for something to talk about.

Celestia is hit with an idea, aswell as a self inflicted mental slap as she thought it so obvious. His armor. He wore his armor all the time, it seemed, almost as if he was completely attached to it. The level of care that she saw him maintain it with last night could be testament to his connection with the suit.

The stallion sat still, silent as his eyes continued to zap around in their sockets, looking around the room. His ears flicker as he slowly blinks, deep in thought.

"Red Dusk, why do you wear your armor all the time? Do you have a sort of connection with it?" Celestia breaks the silence, a delay between her saying it and him turning his head to meet her eyes being as long as one second as he is ripped from whatever he is thinking by her intrusion. Blinking, he stays silent while staring into the violet eyes of Celestia.

"Yes."

"Yes what?" Celestia asks.

"Yes, I have a connection with my armor. It has saved me countless times from those who had the intention and ability to eliminate me on my missions. I feel protected and safe if I am inside of it and have taken to wearing it around like I do now." The alicorn explains, looking to his right as he thinks of what to say. Celestia, on the otherhand, chooses to look straight at him, waiting patiently.

"This is not my first...version... of armor."

"What do you mean?"

"There were multiple versions of sets of armor that each had varying degrees of protection. This one was my eighth design, after the others all were too lightly armored for my tastes. My helmet, however, was moreso an idea on the spot, but I have stuck with its unconventional design."

"Without this armor, however, I would not be here. Instead, I would probably be a corpse in a field, long rotten away by centuries of decay that and my armor falling apart from the rot of the very straps that keep it together, Her honor tainted and the Crusade an unfortunate loss." Red makes circles in the cockpit with the tip of his metal hoofguard, while Celestia squinted with her eyes, nodding. Before she has anything to say, one of the guards from outside the door to the room steps in.

"Your Majesty, the Element Bearers have arrived." the guard, a female, said in a stout, disciplined voice. As she pulled out from inside, Dusk spied her eyes stare at him for a second before going out of sight, the door closing with a click.

Celestia turns her head back over to Red, smiling. Dusk blinks, having a half smile.

"Would you like to meet them?"

"I would assume that is their objective for coming up here. No need in wasting their precious time, right?"

"Princess Celestia!"

"Twilight Sparkle, my most faithful student! You came." Celestia happily expressed her feelings, approaching Twilight Sparkle who ran over to her mentor with a large smile on her face. The unicorn's friends walked up from the rear, all murmuring to eachother as each one of them held saddlebags full of the bare minimum, Rarity having a bigger one as per a compromise.

"Where's Red Dusk?" Rarity asks with a skeptical face on. The alicorn was nowhere to be seen in the area that was the staircase, which worried the fashionista a tad, if not both her and the apple farmer.

"Yah, where is he?" Applejack ask's Celestia, who turns her head over to Applejack with a smile.

"He said he'll be over after he washes his face. I would not blame him for being nervous." Celestia said, turning her head back to Twilight. Twilight blinks, waiting for something.

"How was your ride over?"

"It wasn't too bad, the train did breakdown though." Twilight made a charming sheepish grin, which made Celestia smile.

"Well, I am glad that you are all safe. How long do you plan to stay here?" Twilight looks over at her friends, Rainbow Dash stopping her fidgeting as she looks back over.

"We voted on two days." the pegasus reminded Twilight, Twilight nodding and turning her head back over to Celestia, while allowing Rainbow to go back to fidgeting or doing whatever she was doing with her luggage.

"How is he, Princess?" Twilight inquires, the monarch's smile going flat.

"He's... Alright, but he is quite interesting. He say's some of the weirdest things with a straight face and its all very strange. Just be careful about what you say to him." Celestia reminds her student, who nods. Twilight opens her mouth to begin speaking, only to be interrupted by the distant sound of metal sliding across metal from a hall to the right of the stairs.

All her friends look over into the passageway, to see two particular ponies walking down it in their respective sets of armor.

"Twily! Its so good to see you!" Shining Armor called out, an excited Twilight jerking her head to the right to meet with his eyes, but only for her focus to stray to the one he traveled with.

Her smile flipped from a smile to a frown. The fully armored, non-helmetted alicorn was taller than she imagined and even more terrifying than she thought before. He walked with an intimidating aura and the sight of his teeth through his grin would be enough to make any pony scream and liquefy into a colored puddle of pony.

"Hm. You have a good looking sister, Shining Armor." the giant says as they get close to the captain's sister. Up this close, everypony steps back from the intimidating figure that was the six foot tall stallion.

"She's really friendly too! If you can make friends with me, Im sure you can most definitely make friends with her, or her friends." Shining looked up at the alicorn, who nodded with a smile, looking over at Twilight while Shining Armor moved closer to her.

"How are you doing, Twily? Its been quite some time, hasn't it?" Twilight shallowly nods, her eyes darting from her brother to the crimson pony, who was eerily spying her with his skeptical eyes. He was looking her over, almost like how a predator would analyze his or her prey, to look for the ones with most meat.

The thought makes her shake in her place, the mare grinning sheepishly and chuckling nervously as she looks back at Shining.

"Yeah! Yeah..." Shining Armor blinks, Twilight turning her head over to the rest of her friends, who were now looking up at Red as he got closer to them, Fluttershy in particular. There was some little conversation between them, Red talking most of the time, although very sparingly and quietly.

"Something wrong, Twilight?" Celestia calls from behind the unicorn mare, who wheels around and shakes her head while biting her lip. The alabaster alicorn studies Twilight skeptically, rolling her eyes and walking over to where Red was.

Disappointment, and Shining felt it too. The guard captain looked at her sister with a disapproving face, before going away to Red.

"Wait! Shining!" Twilight calls out to her brother quietly, who looks at her and then walks back.

"Twilight, I want you to understand that, sure Red is terrifying and he worries me too, but that its a dick move to do what you did. He's in quite a pickle right now and you're giving him that treatment."

"What treatment?"

"The kind that you have when a pony walks in a room and everypony gets real antsy and nervous when they get in. It bothers the pony being inside and in this case, that pony is Red." Shining explains to her little sister, shaking his head as he grumbles a bit while wheeling around to stand by Red.

Twilight scrunched her muzzle and face in thought, looking at the group. She did have to admit that she was acting a bit dickish at that moment, but it was legitimately horrifying to be in the same room as a pony who has killed hundreds, maybe thousands in cold blood for five hundred years.

She mentally slaps herself on the back of the head, pushing herself to atleast fake being sort of comfortable around him. But for right now, she decides to stay outside of the group.

"What do you like better, vanilla or chocolate?" Pinkie asks while bouncing, a typical ear to ear grin on her face. A rather disturbed Red looks on, his head recoiled back like a snakes only to relax for him to speak.

"Chocolate, ofcourse. I adore chocolate." the alicorn answers, tapping his chin to think of something,"Do you have any chocolate by any chance?". Pinkie laughs while the alicorn himself and some of the others chuckle.

"Red Dusk. Ah've been wonderin' if yah like apples." the crimson pony turns his head over to the farmer, nodding his head.

"I appreciate the green ones alot better than the reds." Applejack's face glows as a smile makes its way onto her face. Atleast some ponies are getting along.

"Apple pie?"

"Never had any." Applejack's smile becomes wider as she walks closer.

"Ah'll show yah real food... That is, if Ah ever have any hooves on some spare apple pies." the farmer smugly advertises her products, the alicorn nodding. AJ moves back into the heart of the group while Red scans the group, which was now, if not, happier to be here than before.

"Do you ever wear clothes? That armor looks heavy and uncouth." Rarity, being the fashionista she is, walks up and lifts a leg plate up, looking underneath at the chainmail and through the holes, the black, padded body glove. The alicorn pulls his leg away from her, much to her surprise.

"I feel more secure in here, and I can shine and polish it to look good. However... I am open to the idea of wearing clothing." Rarity's smile indicated that she was in the middle of some fashionable thinking, backing away and placing a hoof on her chin as she looked him over.

"Whats with your teeth?" Rainbow Dash asks a simple question, the stallion opening up his jaws to showcase his teeth. His teeth were coated in saliva and dripped with it as the ponies got a look at it, which was not the best idea.

Applejack's face turned disturbed, Rarity's became that of disgust, Fluttershy backed away in fear, but Pinkie Pie just kept on smiling...

Insanely...

But anyway, Rainbow Dash was struck with awe, unlike the others.

"Thats...So...Cool! How did you get them like that?" the crimson pony blinked, processing the question. He looked down at the cyan pegasus to answer.

"These are part of my anatomy, my skeleton that I have come to this universe with." Rainbow Dash nodded, smiling. Fluttershy was the last one who hadn't asked about anything yet.

"Uhmmm... How do you like animals and uhhh... The Everfree Forest?" to this, Red laughed, slapping himself with a metal clad hoof on the side of his left leg. Wiping a tear from his eye, he approached her and bowed to her position.

"I love the Everfree, and the animals too. Except, ofcourse, the ones that want me dead, then they are my dinner."

"You can eat meat too?!" Rainbow Dash asked, the crimson alicorn nodding with obvious reactions from the others, except Celestia and Shining Armor.

"Infact, the Everfree has been a popular spot for me to live and settle down while Im on Earth for prolonged periods. I lived in a cave near a large grove of poison joke." Fluttershy jerked her head back in surprise, the stallion arching an eyebrow.

"What fool would be in a cave near poison joke?" Fluttershy asked skeptically, the Red pony scrunching his muzzle up and looking away.

"Me. For concealment and security reasons, no sane pony would dare go through poison joke to look for me. The simple unpredictability of the effects can scare off most predators and chasers." Red explains, smiling to himself in confidence. Fluttershy shakes her head as she continues to talk, the talking becoming indistinct to Twilight as she looks around.

Somehow, he hooked Applejack and Rarity within a few minutes of meeting eachother, but she was the one discouraged! It must have been pure luck for him, it must have! He should be hated, not liked! Twilight clenched her teeth as she revokes what she say's in her mind, but more and more, she gets the suspicion that something darker is at the works here.

Legends state that he does know how to deceive and he will use that to further his goals. This could be an example of deception, but at the same time, it could not. She holds a hoof up to her head, only for her to realize thirty minutes passed as she was thinking and her friends were now walking towards the guest bedrooms.

"Thinking will have to wait for later." she mutters as she runs back after her friends who walk slowly out of sight.

The red alicorn, however, looks after her, sensing her suspicion and grumbling to himself in a long forgotten language as he goes a seperate hallway, knowing he has an obstacle.