Author's Note

It's been too long.

Here we go again, welcome back to Somepony's Disillusion everyone - this chapter has been a roadblock for so long (like 7 months?!), and I've finally done it. I hope you all enjoy & understand the wait.

/)

CHAPTER 3

APPLES & SOUR GRAPES

“Aww… you’re not gonna be joining us today?”

“Fraid’ not… I tried my best to convince her, but Applejack said that she’s gonna need all the help she can.”

“Well, maybe you’d get your cutiemark out of it!”

In a secluded part of the fields of Sweet Apple Acres, the Cutiemark Crusaders treehouse is alight with activity. It’s the second morning since the Ponyville Attack, and while most ponies have remained on edge about what went down between Fluttershy and the mysterious Red Pegasus, the filly trio of the crusaders are still as bright as ever.

“Scootaloo, we tried to get a critter-sitting cutiemark. Remember how that went?”

“Oh yea… Right…”

Apple Bloom steps away from the podium and walks towards past her fellow crusaders, sighing. “I was really hopin’ we could’ve been workin’ together on something else, but y’all know how my big sister can be…”

“C’mon! It’s no big deal! The Cutiemark Crusaders continue their work no matter how many of us are here!”

Sweetie Belle walks up to Apple Bloom, placing a reassuring hoof on her back. “We’ll be okay without you for today Apple Bloom, it’s just going to be for one day.”

“And once you’re done, we can get right back to what we do best!” Scootaloo gleefully adds, hopping into the air and flapping her wings rapidly for a brief moment.

“Thanks, you two…”

The trio pull each other together for a quick hug to reaffirm their bond - before they’re interrupted by the sound of a hoof knocking on the door to the treehouse.

“Must be mah sister… I’ll see y’all later.” Apple Bloom solemnly says, trotting over to the door. She sighs, then shakes her head as she immediately puts on a more excited looking expression. The earth pony pulls open the door, only to be met by the sight of somepony she wasn’t expecting.

“Hi Apple Bloom! Glad to see I’ve made it in time.”

“Twilight..?!”

“Come along with me for a moment, I’ve got a mission for you...” the alicorn says, leaning down to wink at the filly. Star-struck and confused, Apple Bloom follows Twilight down the steps of the treehouse, as the rest of the Cutiemark Crusaders eavesdrop.

“So, you’ll be critter-sitting at Fluttershy’s with your sister today, remember?”

Apple Bloom pouts. “Eeyup…”

“Well, I made some last minute readjustments yesterday - you two are gonna be joined by another pony.”

The filly’s ears perk, huh? That’s… incredibly odd of somepony like Twilight Sparkle to be doing - she loves keeping things like this organised nicely, one look at the Golden Oak Library shelves really say it all. Why suddenly throw in somepony new like this?

As the two of them reach the ground, Apple Bloom asks the first thing on her mind. “Would I… know them?”

Twilight shakes her head. “No, but Applejack does...”

The filly’s mind immediately gets racing! She thinks of every potential pony of it could be - her thoughts mostly comprised of potential family members - before she’s snapped back to reality as the alicorn states:

“…and not in a positive way, either.”

Apple Bloom tilts her head in confusion, as Twilight sighs, sitting down in front of the earth pony filly. “Look, I’ll do my best to explain with this… um…”

Twilight feels a shiver for a moment as she thinks about how she’s going to explain this predicament to the filly, tapping her forehead with a hoof. She can’t outright say the truth and weight of the situation; to tell Apple Bloom about the fact that this pony had been coerced into almost killing one of the Elements of Harmony… it would be too much for her to bear.

The alicorn takes a deep breath.

“This pony I’ve added to today’s roster… made a mistake that he’s very upset that he made, and that mistake is something that upset Applejack too.” she says, solemnly. “He wants to help out today in order to make up for his mistake.”

“Well that sounds fine & dandy… but what’s the issue with mah big sister?”

Twilight thinks back to the day of the attack, how hard Applejack had bucked the Red Pegasus right into the side of that building. At the very least, she had been honest about how she felt - and incredibly understandably so…

“…She really doesn’t like him. So your mission for today is to ensure they don’t get into a scuffle by Applejack provoking him. This isn’t just for his benefit, but it’s for her’s, too. All us grown-ups have been real on edge since what happened a few days ago.”

Apple Bloom thinks for a moment, and then gives a small salute to Twilight. “Mission accepted! I’ll do mah best.”

“I’m sure you’ll do well, Apple Bloom. Me and Spike will be spying on everything from a distance in case things don’t go well, so… make sure Applejack doesn’t notice a suspiciously moving bush as well, alright?” She says with a chuckle.

“Can do!”

“I’ll be on my way now. Keep to the task I’ve given you.” Twilight returns a salute as she suddenly teleports away - conveniently in the nick of time as Applejack is seen approaching. She shakes her head and puts back on a more gleeful face as she immediately gallops over.

“Lil ‘sis! Ready for today?”

“Sure am!”

“C’mon then, we’ve got some critters to keep in check.”

The apple sisters slowly trot away from the Crusader Clubhouse as Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle lean over the railing. The two fillies look at each other as they slowly walk back inside.

“I’m really hoping we get our cutie marks soon… Could you imagine how it’d feel to be all grown up and still a blank flank?!”

“Yea… sure sounds terrible…”

“Well, I hope things go well for Apple Bloom, must be serious if Twilight needs to get involved!”

SOME TIME LATER…

Things did not go well.

What exactly went down at Fluttershy’s cottage? It’s a little hard for Twilight Sparkle to figure out, as she attempts to ease the emotions of the blabbering Red - who’s been stuck crying into Spike’s hug and buried under the comforting warmth of several blankets.

“Look, I’m sure Applejack didn’t mean those things-“

“But she DID! A-And she had full right to say that to me! I-I am a monster, Twilight!”

The alicorn sighs with a sense of exasperation; it was hard enough to find Red after whatever went down between him and Applejack, let alone convince him to come back to the Library.

“You aren’t a monster, Red.”

She had hoped this would work out - let Red have some time with Applejack, and have Apple Bloom with them as a way to ensure Applejack doesn’t get as physical with Red as she did last time. It didn’t work out, of course, but now she’s left pondering what went wrong.

Scenario after scenario flies through her head, playing out every possible outcome. Her hoof taps against her chin, and while she can’t exactly determine what happened yet, Twilight comes to the conclusion that while she may have been able to stop Applejack from giving Red any more blunt force trauma… you can’t exactly defuse the Element of Honesty’s capability to use their words.

And words can hurt somepony just as much, especially when they’re brutally honest about how they feel about you, and especially if you’re somepony who’s made Applejack mad.

Sure sounds like her, alright.

“T-Then explain why everyone- everypony’s been treating me that way!”

“Red, I-“

“Red! C’mon, you’ve shown how much you regret what you did that day and you explained pretty well to me and Twilight how you were forced into doing it, I’m sure Applejack would understand.”

The stallion babbles a little bit, unresponsive.

“And look, if you’ve got the Princess of Friendship on your side, you can resolve any problem with your fellow ponies! And if all else fails, you’ve got your best friend Spike to help you too.”

Red seems to slowly calm down, his tears stopping as he slowly starts to take control of his breathing. Twilight flashes Spike an approving smile, having him around has been a major help here. Something about Spike and Red just seems to click.

Twilight reaches over between the pegasus’ wings to gently rub Red’s back.

“Feeling better now..?”

“A-A little…” Red hiccups, he slowly pulls away from Spike’s grasp and sits up. Wiping his face, he’s clearly still not handling things well - Red’s got an expression that reads like he’s petrified, but he’s persisting regardless.

“I just… well, my d-day didn’t start well either and… that bled into what happened now and….”

“In what way..?” Twilight perks up - he did say that everypony’s been treating him like a monster, which indicates something happened when he left the library that morning, but she hadn’t been there since she had "gone to visit Fluttershy".

“The… weather pegasus. Rainbow Dash? She… stopped me when I left the Library.”

Oh.

Oh no.

Twilight Sparkle’s face changes as she suddenly grasps the full extent of Red’s situation today - Rainbow Dash has known Fluttershy since they were foals, before they got their cutiemarks; they have a lifelong bond, they’re almost like sisters at times. And Red just had to endure both her and Applejack’s wrath... no wonder he’s such a mess.

The alicorn’s mind continues to ponder - Rainbow had been uncharacteristically quiet ever since the day of Red’s incident - the only time she had spoken to her friends had been when they came to visit at the Ponyville hospital, where she remained by Fluttershy’s side nearly the whole time, only ever leaving at closing hours. It’s a stark reminder that the events of that day punctuate hard to those close to Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash is one of the closest to her.

This isn’t going to be something Red can just resolve by saying sorry.

“Care to elaborate?”

“W-Well…”

THAT MORNING…

“Hey sleepy head, wakey wakey!”

Spike is standing over the red pegasus as he attempts to wake him, tapping his foot against the pillows as he ponders on what to do. The dragon reaches over to gently tap his claws against Red’s forehead - avoiding the bandaging.

“Anyone homeeee?”

“Mmhg… 5 more minutes Neutron…”

Red slowly rolls off of the pile of pillows he slept on, his blanket burritoing him in the process as the stallion proceeds to hit the floor and flinches in a panic to get on his hooves.

“I’m up! I’m up!! Gah!!” The red pegasus rolls around the library upstairs as Spike giggles at his turmoil in the blanket roll. Spike quickly goes over to stop Red in his tracks, stepping on a loose part of the blanket to unroll it from the pegasus, grinding the stallion to a halt.

“Careful now ya big dummy, I’d like to avoid having to bandage you some more!” Spike chuckles, as Red simply lets out a sarcastic ‘har har’ in response, slowly getting on his hooves as he yawns. “Look, Red. I left you some food for breakfast, Twilight’s waiting for me outside since we’re gonna be checking up on Fluttershy again, alright?”

The red pegasus nods, as he reaches a forehoof up to cover his yawning mouth again. “Sounds good…”

“I’ll be on my way now, catch you later!” Spike gives a thumbs up and then dashes down the stairs, as the sound of the library door closing is heard shortly afterwards.

Alone in the Golden Oaks Library, Red glances about to see where exactly Spike left the food for him - spotting a sandwich, a glass of water and an apple sitting atop a plate on a nearby table, he goes over it to find a note.

Hey Red! I’m not sure of what you may like to eat yet, so I figured I’d start simple! We haven’t had much time to chat yet about your food preferences given… everything, so I thought this would work for now. Dig in and enjoy!

Your New Best Friend,

Spike

…So much care, Red can’t help but crack a little smile at it. He wasn’t ever treated this nicely back at home. The Creator… it makes him shudder a little as he thinks about it, but the thoughts are pushed to the back recesses of his mind. That was then, he’s moved on, hasn’t he? No need to dwell on the past, he’s got a future to look forward to.

Red picks up the sandwich with his hooves and investigates it a little - he’s never quite seen Equestrian food before, given most of what he had eaten his whole life had been from his world and usually just… spawned in rather than prepared. Sandwiches are kind of a basic food, really, but he’s always thought about the experimental aspect of them, certainly would be fun to try out.

Speaking of, Red pulls the top slice of the sandwich off to investigate its makeup. Admittedly not too far removed visually from what he used to eat, but the daffodils are certainly something new. He raises an eyebrow in curiosity, before remembering - right, he’s a pony, this is the kind of stuff he should probably be eating.

Putting the slice back on, he takes a bite and is surprised.

Holy shit. This is what flavour is?

The stallion messily scarfs down the sandwich real quick after that. He’s been starving for quite some time now, and this is a far cry to the literally flavourless food he’s had his whole life - it had been filling, sure, aesthetically looked nice at times, but not tasty.

He tries to think if he’s ever had something like this, and all that comes up are fuzzy memories from his foalhood. It’s not a part of his life he’s ever remembered well… but something about this sandwich reignites those times in him. It fills in some holes of his memories, but as he slowly starts to recollect…

Hmm… best not to think about right now. Red stops himself from lingering on those thoughts as he proceeds to drown those memories out by chugging the entire water glass. He grabs the apple, glances to the sides (as if anyone would be looking), and then proceeds to absolutely devour it.

Yea. That’s a good start to the day.

Red hums to himself as he trots about the library, grabbing a map of Ponyville that Twilight had left him - thoughtfully, the map even marks the route directly to Fluttershy’s place. How funny that two days prior he had attempted to learn the layout of this humble town from the sky, and yet all he needed was to just be kind and ask for help.

Who would’ve thunk it?

Heading downstairs, the red pegasus tucks the map under his wing and he pushes the door open. With a deep breath and a smile, he feels his confidence grow - maybe today with Applejack won’t be so bad after all—

“YOU!”

Red suddenly finds himself confronted by a very angry looking pegasus mare with a rainbow mane standing in front of the door. She huffs, the stallion feeling all that newfound confidence of his shattered in an instant.

“You’re the pony who hurt my friend. Aren’t you?”

“I-I… W-What do you want from me?!”

“A chat. Pegasus to Pegasus. You’ve got some talkin’ to do, mister!”

The stallion gulps as he feels the regret of his incident crawl back up his spine; immediately he starts to feel light-headed again, his legs unable to keep him upright.

He stops… takes a deep breath…

He can do this.

This isn’t going to be something he can resolve by just saying sorry.

“Yes, I-I’m willing to talk.”

“Good! Because WHAT THE HAY IS WRONG WITH YOU?!”

Red falls back as Rainbow yells at him, the mare standing over the stallion to intimidate him as she huffs once more in pure rage.

“Didn’t T-Twilight explain things to you..? S-She did go to the hospital to visit Fluttershy yesterday after she put me on critter duty!”

“Well I wanna hear it STRAIGHT FROM YOU INSTEAD! Go on. Tell me about it. WHY Fluttershy? WHAT DID SHE DO TO YOU?!”

“N-Nothing. NOTHING!”

“She is LITERALLY the kindest pony in all of Equestria! Do you even KNOW how many creatures here depend on her?!”

Red feels guilt wash over him repeatedly, over and over. He tries his best to remain stoic in the face of such an aggressive confrontation, but the cracks begin to show.

“I-I’m n-not from here! I-I didn’t even live in this dimension until Twilight took me in! I… F-Fluttershy… She didn’t deserve it!”

“And you did anyways, you MONSTER.”

“I’m…!” Hic. The stallion starts to babble as he loses control of his emotions, pushing himself away from being under Rainbow Dash and back into the Golden Oaks Library entrance.

“I-If you don’t wanna listen… T-Then LEAVE ME ALONE!”

Red slams the door shut on Rainbow Dash’s face as he collapses and curls into a ball, loudly sobbing as he relives that day once more. The only response given by the rainbow pegasus is a glare at the door with nopony to receive the visual message. She takes a deep breath and sighs, a sense of self-reflection washes over her as she thinks about her actions.

Fluttershy wouldn’t want me to handle it like this.

Rainbow Dash sits against the door as she looks at the surrounding Ponyville. She ponders to herself - not something she usually does - about Red. He really is no different from being someone like Discord, who caused harm but was able to be reformed and even became friends with Fluttershy.

Sure, Red may have harmed Fluttershy, but from both what Twilight said and the anguish she hears behind the library door…

Rainbow Dash looks back at the door, swallows her pride and knocks with her hoof.

“LEAVE. Me… Alone! please…”

“I’m sorry, Red.”

Things go silent. The air is tense, the sobbing suddenly stops and it’s as if the world itself has gone eerily quiet; if it weren’t for the occasional gentle rustle of the Golden Oak Library’s leaves and the sounds of nature, it would be like everything was frozen.

“W-What are you sorry for..?”

“Look. Fluttershy is… very important to me. She’s important to a lot of us, but she.. was my foalhood friend, I’ve known her for as long as I can remember.”

Rainbow Dash sighs.

“So when I had to carry her, watching her bleed in my grasp, all the way to the Ponyville Hospital, unaware of what was happening… all I knew was I wanted to make whoever was responsible pay.”

Red thinks hard on what Rainbow is saying; slowly it feels like he’s understanding her, putting himself in her position and imagining how he’d react to getting to talk to someone who nearly killed an individual you’ve known your whole life…

“…I don’t know, I just thought it’d be a reason to kick some evil butt! Like when we dealt with the Changelings, or saved the Crystal Empire from King Sombra! I guess I just…”

“…thought it wouldn’t be just somepony who was lost?”

“Yea, something like that.”

The two pegasi sit in silence, time passing.

Slowly, Red stands up, turns to face the door, and pushes it open as Rainbow Dash moves out of the way.

“Look… I-I’ve… got somewhere to be.”

The stallion sighs.

“I just want to help, I don’t want to hurt anyon- anypony. I was manipulated, it feels awful that I was, and, I hope we can restart on better terms.”

Red raises a hoof for a hoof-bump.

“...Friends?”

Rainbow’s neutral expression changes to a smirk as she lightly taps on the top of Red’s hoof to deny the bump.

“Not so fast, dummy. You’ve only gone from enemy number #1 to just a normal pony in my list. We could be friends if you try.”

“Uhmm… I-I would like to..?”

“That’s a deal then! Friend in training, I’ll see you around!” Rainbow Dash immediately zips into the sky before the stallion can get another word in, he gazes awestruck at the sky as he watches her trail of rainbow dissipate.

“…wow she’s really something huh…” Red mumbles to himself, full of conflicting emotions - he doesn’t quite get why he feels like his face is heating up thinking about the rainbow mare, but he’s got a more pressing task at hand. He pulls out the map from under his wing and holds it with his feathers; gaining his bearings, Red turns to follow the route.

The red pegasus gets himself immersed trotting towards his destination, he only ever glances up to see if he’ll spot the marked landmarks on the way. As he does however, he begins to notice the ponies on the streets staring at him as he trots - some are confused, some show concern, some even show fear and turn.

He embarrassedly pulls his wings up to cover his face, causing him to lose grip of the map for a moment before catching it in his mouth. The stallion increases his pace as he feels the populace’s glare pressure him - despite the generosity shown by Twilight and Spike, it’s clear he still doesn’t feel welcome in his new home.

They haven’t forgotten what he did.

Red pushes the thought to the back of his mind - he just needs to show his forgiveness like he has to Twilight and Rainbow; if he can do that, they’ll understand him, surely! But his time hasn’t come yet for that, and the thought of rushing it makes him grimace.

It’s not long before he ends up walking over a small bridge and ends up in front of a homely looking cottage. Standing in front of it however are two earth ponies, and while the filly he doesn’t recognise, he feels a pit in his stomach looking at the orange hatted mare.

She turns to see him.

“...Now what in tarnation do you think you’re doin’ here, Mister?”

There’s a fury in Applejack’s eyes as she locks gaze with Red.

Apple Bloom suddenly remembers the conversation Twilight had with her this morning - this must be the pony that she was talking about, the one that had upset Applejack. She’s hoping it wasn’t too bad, and seeing the fear on the stranger’s face, it’s clear that he feels sorry for whatever he did.

The filly can feel the tension in the area, so she slowly trots forward.

“H-Howdy stranger!” The filly says with as much confidence as she can muster, only for Applejack to push her back, assuming a defensive stance to protect Apple Bloom. But before she can do anything, a purple flash of light occurs and Twilight Sparkle appears nearby.

Surprised by the appearance of the alicorn, Applejack and Red both attempt to get some words in, only for Twilight, in one breath, to stammer out:

“Hiiii you two!! Sorry Applejack I made a quick adjustment to the schedule at the last moment I hope you don’t mind but Red really reaaaaally wants to make up for what he did and he feels very very sorry I hope you understand ok good bye!!”

And just as quick as she appeared, Twilight vanished in another flash of purple.

The stallion and mare look at where she once stood, confused, before the two look at eachother.

“Get a move along, sis. Ah’ll be there in a second.” Applejack motions to her little sister, who nods and heads inside to begin her work. As she does, Applejack slowly follows behind her, and turns to give Red a glare.

“If my little sister weren’t here, Pegasus, you wouldn’t see another sunrise.”

“…Just call me Red, please.”

“Okay ‘Red’. Don’t get any bright ideas of following us in. You’ve made her life worse, don’t need you hurting the animals too.”

“But-”

And the door to the cottage is slammed on Red before he even gets the chance to retort.

He sighs and slumps against the door. He overhears Applejack immediately getting frustrated again; “Oh for.. Pinkie Pie threw a party yesterday for them. Of course! Darnit!”

Red drops his head down and presses his forehooves up to cover his face - he feels disappointed. He knows that everypony would be on edge, but he’s so desperate to show he can do better. He can be better. He doesn’t want to spiral back into his worst thoughts.

Why isn’t anypony letting him show he can do better?

Why isn’t anypony letting him show remorse?

Why…

Knock knock.

Startled and snapped out of his mental spiral, the pegasus glances over at the source of the noise as he sees a bunny standing at a window. It knocks on the glass some more, which piques Red’s curiosity. He lets out a mild ‘huh’ and tilts his head, the bunny returns the head gesture.

The rabbit taps the glass repeatedly, making a push motion onto the window; seems he’s asking to be let out. Red glances inside, and sees Applejack attempting to wrangle some critters as Apple Bloom sweeps some confetti off the floor. He ponders his options for a brief moment…

Slowly, Red pries the window open with his wing feathers. “Here, some fresh air for you then…”

“What’s your name, little guy?” Red rhetorically asks them. He’s a little stunned when the bunny actually proceeds to respond, letting out chitters attempting to answer, only to realise that Red’s not exactly going to understand what he’s saying - Red’s no Fluttershy. So instead, the bunny hops onto the grass and begins to make the motions of playing in the snow…

Red squints at the motions, only to realise the rabbit must be trying to respond to his question.

“...Oh! Snow Angel..?”

The rabbit stands up and wiggles a claw, shaking his head. He lifts one claw. Shakes his head. Lifts a second claw. Nods his head…

“One… no… Two… yes…”

“...Oh! Angel’s your name?”

Angel nods. Red claps his two forehooves together in delight and satisfaction - wow these animals are really cool! Nothing like he would’ve seen before, it almost helps him forget that Applejack isn’t letting him get to interact with the others…

…

He sighs, but before he can ask what the rabbit may want, Angel makes a devious expression at Red and suddenly blasts off running.

“Aw shit… Angel! Get back here!”

Red stumbles onto his hooves as he has to break into chase for the rabbit. The pegasus doesn’t know where Angel’s headed, but he has to get him back to Fluttershy’s Cottage - the fear of what Applejack may do to him if she finds out…

His adrenaline is pumping hard as his anxiousness begins to exaggerate the scenario into one of life-or-death. The constant twists and turns in the Ponyville streets as the rabbit evades Red only make it worse, it seems like Angel is headed somewhere and Red can’t tell where.

How the hell is this rabbit faster than me!?

It’s not long before the pegasus finds himself running off the beaten path and through some bushes. Irritated and scared, he grunts as he calls out for Angel’s name, pushing through them before finding himself at the side of a two story building.

And he finds Angel having perched on the window sill of a room on the ground floor, peering into it.

Red slowly approaches the bunny, so as to not spook him. His curiosity gets the best of him as he hears Angel chittering with a sense of sadness in its tone.

He peers over Angel, looking through the window…

…and sees a certain yellow pegasus with a pink mane laying in a hospital bed.

The red pegasus falls backwards.

He scampers backwards on his hooves.

His wings spread in instinctual fear.

No.

Nononono.

No. No. No. No.

He’s not ready to see her again. No. He isn’t. He can’t. This is too much. This is too much. He can’t. No. No. No. No.

Red spirals. He can’t stop. He’s wracked with the same guilt all over again. Why? Why did he have to listen to the Creator? Why couldn’t he just have abandoned that stupid suicide mission the moment he was teleported here? Why couldn’t he have just done ANYTHING—-

The pegasus feels a tapping on one of his hooves as he’s snapped back to reality.

It’s Angel.

Two and two are put together in Red’s head.

Fluttershy may have a lot of critters under her care, but despite how mischievous he clearly is, Angel… went out of his way to find her again.

Red sighs.

He reaches with his wings and pulls Angel in for a hug. Angel fidgets a little in the grip, attempting to escape, but suddenly loosens upon the words that leave Red’s mouth.

“I-I’m sorry for hurting her, Angel. She didn’t deserve this treatment from me.”

The rabbit seems to hold still for a moment, slowly settling into it. But it doesn’t last long, as Angel hops out of the grasp of the stallion and his stomach noticeably growls.

Angel tugs on one of the stallion’s wing feathers and points back towards the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage. He’s hungry, clearly. So Red stands and nods.

“Let’s get you back home before Applejack finds out you’re missing.”

The rabbit suddenly shoots off, Red just sighs and decides to take the trip back at his own pace. Surely the two apples wouldn’t even care if he was gone from current duties, as long as Angel got back, it’d be all fine.

But he feels a compulsion to go back anyways, try a second time. He really wants to make this work.

Trotting through the streets of Ponyville, he catches sight of a peculiar pair of fillies. An orange pegasus filly going around on a scooter, pulling around a white unicorn who’s sitting in a small wagon. Seems like the unicorn filly is …taking notes?

It’s not long before they stop in front of Red and the little pegasus gleefully waves hello.

“Hi! I’m Scootaloo and this is Sweetie Belle, we’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders and we’re conducting a survey! Want to partake?”

“…Sure?”

“It’s just one question! How did you get your cutiemark?”

…His cutiemark?

Red glances over at his flank. A brown oval with two yellow stripes running along its length, and a grey vertical strip featuring a yellow circle in the center of it, surrounded by the grey.

He remembers from his time in his original universe that it was something that was depicting “Potato OS”? Whatever that means. But he doesn’t know how to answer the fillies; as far as he knows, he’s always had it.

…But the fillies don’t have cutiemarks. It’s… a process to get one? How? His head spins as he tries to make sense of it, encountering more and more blanks in his memories.

Why doesn’t he know?

“Umm. Sir?”

Scootaloo’s voice breaks Red’s trance. Nervously, Red chooses to lie.

“S-Sorry. I think I’d prefer to keep it to myself.”

“That’s okay! What about your special talent?”

“A-Again, I-I’d rather not…”

“Awwh…” Scootaloo drops their head in disappointment. Slowly raising it back up with a pleading expression. “Pleaaaaase?”

Red just silently moves to the side and shakes his head. He doesn’t know how to answer them, so he decides to leave the Cutiemark Crusaders be, continuing down the path to Fluttershy’s cottage again.

“How weird… Most ponies seem happy to talk about their cutiemark!”

“Yea… I don’t wanna get a cutiemark that upsets me…”

The filly duo scooter off, Red continues to question his own existence. Why can’t he remember, why can’t he remember?!

He speeds up into a gallop, he needs his mind off this, to stop thinking about it. It’s not long before he sees Angel in the distance, and Red speeds up to try to catch up.

The cottage comes into view, Angel hops inside through the window. Red skids as he runs over the bridge and ends up slamming into the door.

Falling onto his back and letting out a wince of pain, he attempts to shake himself and stand back up on his hooves, only to collapse onto his belly when he sees Applejack opening the door.

Fear crosses his eyes.

Fury crosses her’s.

“…Red.”

Red gulps, slowly trying to get away from her…

“‘Ah swear on mah Granny Smith, you come here one more time. I’ll make ya forever regret the day you step hoof in Ponyville. I’ll make you regret bein’ born! You irredeemable, horrible monster of a stallion!”

SLAM.

The door is shut tight, and there’s even a locking sound heard.

It’s over.

He’s ruined his chances.

And so he sobs.

“…t-then I ran off and hid, and then you two found me, so…”

“…Wow.” Spike says, stunned.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t have been there to help, Red.”

The dragon looks up at the alicorn. “We were, though? We were—-“ Twilight quickly places a hoof on Spike’s mouth. “Weren’t! We were at the hospital with Fluttershy.” She says, desperately pulling a big wide grin of innocence.

“So why didn’t I see you through the window?”

The air goes still.

“…I didn’t think that one through.”

An emotional spark flies within Red’s head.

“Look, Red, I’m sorry. I lied…”

The tension builds inside him, he starts to shake.

“…Me and Spike didn’t visit her today…”

Red grits his teeth, growing more ticked off by the second…

“…we instead watched from a distance incase we needed to intervene between you and Applejack.”

“Do you still not trust me?!”

Red slams a hoof down in anger, puffing air.

“I appreciate everything you’ve been doing for me, but I am tired of having to go through this same rhythm with EVERY. PONY. I MEET! I feel like I’m constantly treated like a child! I feel like I’m stuck in this fucking loop for years and it’s only been 2 days since I first set hoof in Equestria! Do you trust me to act independently Twilight, or am I just going to be fucking reminded and coddled for the rest of my life because I ALMOST MURDERED SOMEPONY THAT ONE TIME?!”

Red lets out a deep breath and pants a little - a lot of pent up emotion all coming out at once. Twilight and Spike are even more stunned at the outburst, everything feels frozen in place.

After some time passes, Spike breaks the ice.

“…Do you need some water, Red?”

“Yes. My throat hurts now. I’d appreciate it.”

The dragon salutes and immediately bolts to fetch a drink for the pegasus; meanwhile, the Alicorn looks deep in contemplation.

“Twilight, I—“

“You’re right, Red.”

“…About what?”

“I have been a little overprotective of you. I realise it now. I’ve just been afraid of messing things up.”

The alicorn slowly paces around the library.

“I was in a position much like you are at one point, Red. I once went to a dimension that was completely unfamiliar to me, a strange new world I had to get adjusted to while I was there due to… unprecedented circumstances, let’s say.”

The pegasus perks up a little.

“Unlike you however, I had no intention of staying. But what made it difficult is I had to figure out things nearly all on my own… So when you ended up in Equestria for similar reasons and I learnt your tale, I wanted to do for you what I wish I had when I went through that mirror - a guiding hoof, somepony to learn from…”

Twilight glances towards Red with a small smile.

“…a friend.”

“Gee, thanks.” Spike says with a pouty expression as he returns, handing Red a glass of water - who immediately proceeds to start chugging the whole thing.

“Aw Spike, I didn’t mean it like that! We were both in that situation together and very lost, I’m sure you would’ve liked a friend from that world to help you out too.”

With a smirk, Spike gives Twilight some finger-guns and responds “I dunno, I think I nailed down the ‘being a dog’ thing pretty quickly.” Red spits out his water upon hearing that. Twilight and Spike turn to him as Red looks mildly baffled, the pegasus decides to not question it.

“By the way, we have a visitor, Twilight.”

Red turns around to look at the staircase, only to get mildly spooked as he witnesses Applejack once again.

“Howdy, y’all.” She says solemnly, taking her hat off and holding it close. With her looking down at the floor, Applejack seems ashamed.

“Thought I’d stop by to, uh, apologise for my behaviour today. So I’ll get it off mah chest. Red, in all honesty, ah’m sure you could understand why I was so on edge anytime I was around ya. I’d already seen first-hoof the way one of mah friends had her life turned upside down, and ‘ah was afraid it’d happen again.”

Applejack lets out a hic as she clears her throat.

“I-I didn’t wanna see my family hurt, Red. That’s what ‘ah was afraid of. We Apples… family is everythin’ to us. I consider some of mah closest friends to be family. Friends like Fluttershy, ya know?”

She takes a deep breath and sighs.

“‘Ah was worried that despite everything Twilight had said, when you showed up today, you'd come for Apple Bloom to be next. Ironically, it was her that convinced me that I was in the wrong, Red.”

The earth pony puts her hat back on and smiles. “So I figure ‘ah say it with complete honesty - I’m sorry Red for everything I have said today. If we gave Discord of all creatures a second chance, I see why ‘ah couldn’t do the same for ya.” she finishes, tipping her hat to show her newfound respect for the pegasus. “You’re real brave to be doin’ what you are.”

Red had been doing his best to remain stoic, but the facade cracks at that last sentence

“T-Thank you..” He says quietly.

“Now how ‘bout you come along back to Fluttershy’s with me? ‘Ah reckon me and Apple Bloom could use an extra set of hooves.”

The pegasus excitedly leaps into the air and immediately darts towards Applejack for a hug, speaking as fast as he can. “Heck YES I would like to I was so disappointed you shut me out because I actually really really really love animals they are GREAT!!!”

Applejack laughs a little and the two head downstairs to continue their duty. Twilight breathes a sigh of relief as the two leave, glancing over to Spike.

“I’m glad it worked out between them… I’m still having doubts about this whole ‘Princess of Friendship’ ordeal, but we’re doing pretty good with Red.”

“Heck yea we are, I for one am happy to have made a new friend!” Spike says proudly. “First I save the Crystal Empire, and then I get to help set Red down the path of reformation! Better watch out Twilight, they might make me an alicorn soon enough!”

The two giggle playfully; despite everything that they’ve had to deal with the past 2 days with Red and everything about him, it’s a nice calm moment to reaffirm their bond with each other.

“You know, pretty lucky timing for Red - I’ve actually managed to secure him a house to live in Ponyville. I’ll just need to make some final paperwork preparations and we can surprise him tomorrow!”

“Sounds like a plan, I am gonna miss having him around… But if it’s for the better, I’m willing to let go.”

“…Well, it’s likely a good thing we are doing so, considering… y’know.”

“Hah, yea, just wait till they get back and hear about all this!”

“Mmhm! I do wonder how Fluttershy is holding up at least…”

“…I hope they’ve been treating you well here, dear. I know we said it when we came, but we really did come as fast as we could.”

“I know… The doctors and nurses here are very polite.” Fluttershy replied calmly with a smile on her face. Despite everything that’s happened to her and despite how worried her friends have been for her, she couldn’t help but remain positive in the face of such a terrible incident. “They even told me due to how lucky I was with the cut, I’ll be out of here soon! They just have a few final checks to do, hehe. Oh I can’t wait to see my animal friends again…”

“That’s our girl! Oh, we are so proud of you.”

Over in Ponyville Hospital, Fluttershy’s parents have come from Cloudsdale to see how she’s been holding up. They likely would’ve gotten here a little earlier if it wasn’t for a certain disruption back home.

“I just hope my friends aren’t worrying sick about me… Rainbow Dash was with me nearly the entire day yesterday, she never tends to stay that still for so long…”

Mrs Shy smiles, her hoof held against one of Fluttershy’s. “She cares about you a lot, that’s for sure. She’s absolutely wonderful.”

“Judging by your bedside too, she isn’t the only one.” Mr Shy adds on, looking over.

The injured pegasus glances as well - all across her bedside table are ‘Get Well Soon’ cards, balloons and flowers from people all over Ponyville. It’s almost overflowing in how many there are. She can pick out names from a few of the cards she can see inside - Rarity, Lyra & Bon Bon, Muffins, even Mayor Mare had sent a card.

“I’m glad everypony cares so much, even if I prefer to keep to myself…”

“And that’s okay. Because you don’t need to know somepony to recognise how much they matter.”

Mr and Mrs Shy look at each other, and exchange a small nod. “I think us two will be headed back to Cloudsdale now, but before we go, somepony wanted to add to that collection of yours.”

Fluttershy seems to light up…

“…He tried his best for you, I’m sure.” Mrs Shy continues as she places a Get Well Soon card on Fluttershy - causing Fluttershy’s expression to drop a little.

“Have a swift recovery, honey! We can’t wait to see you again!” The two wave their goodbyes and leave the hospital room, trotting down the halls.

Mr Shy seems to be deep in thought as he turns the corner out, and looks over at his wife. “Honey, have you been thinkin’ about that ‘Red’ fellow as well?”

“I have. All the older folks in Cloudsdale have been murmuring about it. They couldn’t believe it.”

“Do you… reckon it’s really them? Bri—“

“Oh! I’ve just realised I forgot my glasses in Fluttershy’s room! Oh what a silly mistake!” Mrs Shy quickly turns and rushes back inside the hospital, mildly embarrassed. Mr Shy’s thought process is interrupted as he sighs with a smile, choosing to wait.

Back inside Fluttershy’s room, the yellow pegasus stared at the card placed on her. She knows who it’s from, she doesn’t even need to open it to know. She just doesn’t know if she wants to read something from him right now.

Slowly, Fluttershy braces for it and slowly opens the card with a wing.

Heyyy sister. Heard u got into some freak accident or something. Real unfortunate man. I’m telling ya. I think it may have helped me find my calling. Surely got it down this—

Fluttershy, mildly frustrated, immediately raises her wing with the card to throw the card in the trash, only to be interrupted by Mrs Shy galloping in. “Sorry dear! I just forgot my glasses!” She quickly comments, grabbing them from the chair and immediately trotting back out.

The pegasus sighs. She knew that Zephyr Breeze would inevitably have sent a card, but she feels a small bit of guilt wash over her at the thought of trashing the card. So instead, she hides it behind the pile of other gifts. Truthfully she had been feeling some stress already from everything, but Fluttershy feels some relief when she thinks about how helpful her friends have been.

She gets herself comfortable in the hospital bed, laying her head to the side as she thinks about getting a good night’s sleep, the window allowing her to watch the sunset.

However, a brown balloon slowly turns, a certain face present on it.

“I must say, Fluttershy, this wasn’t how I was hoping to see you.”

“Oh! H-Hi, Discord…”

From the balloon, he reaches out a paw and snaps his claws, reforming into his normal self - only he’s wearing a nurse outfit. “Are you hurt? Who hurt you? Are you alright? Heart problems? Anxiety? Stress?” Discord holds various medical measuring equipment up to Fluttershy with each word, Fluttershy giggles a little and shakes her head. “I’m okay, Discord. I promise.”

“Well you clearly aren’t! I didn’t get a letter from you recently which meant something happened! So then there I was, reading the paper, and my gosh. The shock, the drama! My best friend Fluttershy was attacked.”

Discord snaps his outfit out of existence and leans his head towards the pegasus.

“Who. Was. It.” He coldly asks, gritting his teeth.

“I-It was a pegasus stallion. T-Twilight’s been telling me all about him because she took him in… She says he feels really really sorry about what he did.”

“My, a villain reformation tale, huh? Oh I’m gonna need to see this. How do we know for sure..?”

“C-Can you promise not to hurt him?” Fluttershy politely asks.

Discord stammers a little. “W-Why, of course! It would be rude to barge in at a time like this. I happily promise that I do no harm.”

Fluttershy nods with a content expression. “Thank you, Discord.”

Discord smiles at her and snaps his claws once more, teleporting outside the hospital, before cracking his knuckles and clasping a fist in his talons.

“Oh, I will do no harm…” He says with a sinister smirk.

THAT NIGHT…

In the darkness of the Golden Oak Library, a certain dragon finds himself unable to get comfortable in his bed. Adjusting his position constantly and grunting as he does so, Spike gives in and sits up, blinking and rubbing his eyes a little.

It’s the middle of the night, the library is quiet as the two ponies sleep soundly. Spike jealously glances over at Red - who’s sleeping on the same floor of the library as he is - but is suddenly struck by a strange visual.

Is it a trick of the light? A shadow on the wall? He can’t tell. Spike feels a slight tingle of fear crawl up his spine, but he gulps and climbs out of his bed quietly. He slowly manoeuvres over to the sleeping pegasus, his best friend, and looks over at his exposed flank.

Red’s cutiemark…

Spike never quite understood what it was - most ponies’ marks tend to be explainable pretty easily, but Red’s cutiemark was more abstract, it was less defined - it was more like a symbol, it wasn’t something that clearly represented a talent.

The dragon sees his suspicion confirmed - it was no weird shadow. Red’s cutiemark is peeling off.

Curiously, Spike glances over at the face of the sleeping pegasus, an intrusive thought crosses the dragon’s mind. Is Red hiding his true cutiemark? Why would he be doing that?

These thoughts plague Spike’s mind, but against all better judgement, Spike gently reaches out with his claws and slowly peels off more of the fake cutiemark that Red’s been wearing - it feels like a sticker.

What the dragon saw underneath was the last thing he ever expected to see on a pony like Red.

Spike quickly reapplies the sticker and immediately rushes back to his bed; the pegasus sleepily adjusts his position and he lets out a snore.

Relieved, Spike curls back into sleep - but he can’t get it out of his head what he saw. It just doesn’t make sense at all, how was it possible?

Is Red… really..?