What It's Like To Call This Place Home

RED awoke at what used to be the edge of the Everfree, it was now a large blackened, charred, dot of landscape. He stood, looking around, the cage AJ had been trapped in was still smoking 'I haven't been out too long then.' He started towards town, but stopped when he noticed he wasn't wearing AJ's Stetson. He searched frantically, finding it, at the bottom of a flowing stream, that his fire uncovered. He fished it out, looking it over, it was undamaged. 'Thank god! It survived! Now I just gotta find AJ.' He turned, sprinting towards town "Atlus, is she with you?"

"-...-"

"Atlus?"

"-...rry, the heat from....... ininova..... ausing a good amount of interferen....... is with me.......... the library.-"

"Cool thanks!" RED detonated the ground below his feet, launching him towards the library. After several minutes RED arrived with a loud thud against the tree home "That hurt."

Echo helped him off the ground "Are you alright?"

RED shook the soot off "No, I'm RED."

"Very funny, smart ass. AJ is waiting inside." RED sprinted into the library "Hey, no running in the library!"

"Too late!" RED called as he shut the door on Echo. RED slowed to a stop when he saw AJ, she was sitting in the middle of the floor, with tear stains along her face "AJ, what's the matter?"

"There was a white light, so Twi cast a spell to allow us t' see through th' light, and when we saw th' giant ball of fire, Atlus said that you might've gone terminal. That you mightn't come back..."

RED moved to her side, embracing her in a tight hug "I will always come back." He put the Stetson on her head while adding "I will never let anyone, especially you, down. It'll take a lot more than some cheap excuses for clones of me and the other Spectors, to kill me."

"Cheap excuses?! I used a lot of my magic to create them! How strong could they b-"

"Science yourself, this test has done exactly as it was intended to."

Sombre looked the dragon in the eyes "What, waste my magic?!"

"No. This test was to see if one squad can take him down, at least for a few seconds, and it has."

"So they are not wasted... Brilliant, just brilliant..." Sombre walked out of the room, as Trixie was entering.

"Ah, my love returns, what news do you have?"

Trixie levitated a letter from her hat "I have no clue where's this came from, but it was obviously for one of us."

"How do you know it wasn't just dropped and forgotten?" Anitchka took it in his grip, he noticed it had the Alicorn amulet printed on it. He opened it reading it aloud.

-Dear Anitchka,

-You have caused much chaos in Equestria, which is my job, however I am a peaceful spirit. I cannot stop you however I shall see to your downfall.

-With great irritation, Discord.

As Anitchka read the last line, the letter morphed into a floating mouth, spitting in his face, then it burst into confetti. "I have no clue what that was all about, but when I rule, this 'Discord' will regret that letter."

RED and AJ were walking home together, as the walked they shared stories from their past. Stories of happy times, and sad ones, when they finally arrived at the barn, they were both about to collapse and sleep wherever they landed. They managed to make it halfway from the gate to the two buildings when they heard something fall in the barn. This caused RED's soldier instinct to force him fully awake, he turned to AJ "Get inside."

She began to look a little worried "Why?"

"Just trust me, get inside, tell Mac to wait for me to call."

She had a look of understanding "Alright, but ah had better see ya' either later tonight or tomorrow, okey?"

RED nodded, causing AJ to get inside the farmhouse quickly. RED approached the barn, boosting to turbo while he did so. When he reached the door, he heard a voice whisper to itself "Maybe if I'm still nopony will notice I'm here..."

RED threw the barn door open, he could see nothing. After a minute of looking for any movement, he spotted a large pile of hay shivering, this caused him to raise an eyebrow. "Hey I'm not gonna hurt you, just come out, nice an' easy, okey? If you don't attack me, I won't attack you, okey?"

"How do I know you won't call me a witch and burn me at the stake?"

"Look pal I'm a fucking soldier, who commands fire, and creates explosions from thin air. Plus, I'm fairly certain Twi said that all that shit stopped like four hundred years ago, or somethin'." RED went back to normal.

"Y-you can do what?!" He exclaimed as he stood, showing he was, in actuality, an Alicorn, white coat, with brown splotches, brown horn, sea foam green eyes, and short black mane, the tip of each hare was the same as his eyes. "Wait, you said you were a soldier. Who's army are you aligned with?"

"Princess Celestia. Um... Your not from here are you?"

"Of coarse, but not from this time... Has my Lu- I mean Princess Luna returned?"

RED's shoulders fell, as did his head "Great, now I can't go to sleep with my wife." He looked toward the farmhouse "BIG MAC, COME ON OUT IT'S SAFE!!" RED looked back to the Alicorn "What is your name?"

"Cosmic Plane... Why?"

"Because you obviously know my boss personally, so they should remember who you are." Big Mac arrived at the end of that statement.

"..." Big Mac stared at Cosmic Plane for a few seconds, then turned to RED.

"Can you tell AJ I'll see her in th' mornin', I get to escort this guy all the way to Canterlot, like now."

"Eeyup." Big Mac started walking towards the farmhouse.

"Can you actually fly with those things?"

Cosmic Plane looked at his wings, then nodded to RED.

"Good, follow me." Red detonated the dirt touching his feet, launching himself into the air, as he was moving up he attached lines from his belt to the bottom of his jacket, creating a mini-glider. The Alicorn quickly reached the same hight as RED, as red put enough hot air under his jacket to keep him afloat. "Try to keep up." Red leaned forward, causing him to start gliding quickly in his leaning direction, he made himself stay at a level altitude using a method that constantly creates hot air under his jacket. He looked the the side of him, noticing the Alicorn was watching him curiously. "If you got a question, ask it, I'm not totally unapproachable."

"Well, if its not too much to ask, what are you, and are there more of you?"

"It is a long story, but I am a human, a bipedal species, we do not have a protective coat so we all wear clothes at all times. Technically there are five of us, but only two of us are in our original form, me and the others are technically the entire Equestrian army. Was that so hard to ask?"

"Is your wife also a human?"

"No, she is an earth pony, and the Spectors and I are all men."

"Wait, you said that the five of you are the only members of the Equestrian army! What has happened to the royal guards?!"

"They are still in place, but they don't fight the wars, so that they don't get in our way."

"I don't understand, what do you mean by get in our way?"

"You'll see later."