Sleep. Sleep was one of the things that red bolt loved to do, when he wasn't scrounging and stealing his meals. He'd spent time in an orphanage, but there, he didn't have a name. Life there was the same as life with his horrible father, except at the orphanage, he wasn't beaten randomly. Here at the castle, it was like a whole new world, different from the cold, cruel streets of the notorious red light district of Canterlot, where he grew up. Here, it was warm, he had been here for only a week, and he loved it. Meals whenever he rang, Luna, dear sweet Luna, was there, Fire Shield commented on how she couldn't count his ribs anymore. Red Bolt's limp was still there, he couldn't fly, he was blind in one eye, but he was learning to read, and that was good. Also, he was still a blank flank. But life was now good, and even though he was the son of a prostitute, he was living a good life now in Canterlot Castle, so what was there to complain about? Save for not yet having Luna as a marefriend.

And his dreams. Most of the time, he would dream about life on the streets again. Those dreams were fine, nothing terrifying. He did very well; except for not really getting enough to eat and other times, like this time, they would be terrifying nightmares were he would be back at his father’s home, revisiting the abuse. This time, it was about how he lost an eye.

Just on an abusive whim, his father, he never knew his name, decided to play with a hot fire poker. He was jabbing at Red's face, and jabbed him in the eye. Red screamed, and bolted awake, and started crying, again. He did that a lot. He knew he was safe at the castle, but his terrifying dreams just wouldn't leave him alone. Princess Luna had been taking a nightly stroll through the castle when she heard his screams. His door swung open, and she found him curled in a fetal position, sobbing. Luna hopped up onto his bed, and spoke to him.

"Red, are you okay?" Luna asked.

"No. I-I've been having these horrible dreams. Well, I've had them forever, I love to sleep, but I fear the dreams that I'll have whenever I close my eyes. I just wish that I could sleep peacefully. This time I was remembering when my father blinded me in one eye, and I-" Luna cut him off in mid sentence.

"He did WHAT?!" Luna was more horrified than anything else. "How could he? You are how old? How long ago was this?"

Red Bolt tried to remember, but he had no concept of days or months. He never knew how old he was, because his father would obviously never tell him. But he knew the seasons, and answered with, "About seven winters ago, I guess. I don't know how old I am, just like, when I arrived here, I couldn't read." He hiccupped. Luna nuzzled him comfortingly.

"I need to read your mind; I promise it will not hurt..." She delved gently into his mind. Her presence felt wonderful and, embarrassingly… arousing. Luna could tell this, because she blushed a bit at the thoughts that suddenly entered his mind, and he blushed too, when he realized that she noticed.

Luna poked around, and found the location of his father’s home. Red didn't know what Luna was looking for, but when she left his mind, he saw a dark, determined expression on her face. "I must go now, but" she cast a spell. "rest peacefully. I'll see you in the morning." And with that, she left.

Princess Luna jumped up onto the railing of the balcony. She thought back to her new friend that she had comforted after he had awakened screaming in the middle of the night. She had used her magic, and with it discerned two things: the location of his abusive fathers’ home, and how old Red Bolt was.

‘Damn,’ she thought to herself. ‘The poor kid is only fifteen.’

She thought about the father, and how she was going to bring justice down upon him. Luna was feeling affection for Red Bolt, and she wanted to protect him, just as her sister would protect her. Luna flew over the buildings, scanning for Reds father.

This was the red light district, were he lived. A pair of stallions were walking out of a bar, and solicited a prostitute. The bright lights of a casino made the area seem like day. Luna saw a rundown shack, and remembered from Reds memories, that this one was it. She went into a shallow dive, angling her wings to slow her descent. She landed in the back yard. It was dismal, grass was non-existent, the fence was rotted, and in the only fresh post was a family of wood-peckers.

Luna trotted silently across the frozen ground. Snowflakes started to fall, and as she sat on the porch, mentally reviewing what she was planning on doing, the ground was a foot deep in snow. No subtlety, no sneakiness. Being sneaky was for criminals and cowards. Luna was a princess, she wouldn't get prosecuted, and this wasn't murder, this was vigilante justice, and the stallion in that house was a foal beater, no one would care.

Luna thought about how he had broken Red Bolts wing, had blinded him in one eye with a red hot fire poker, and broke his hip, which never healed properly. Luna casted a spell and the door exploded in a shower of half rotted splinters. Then an angry shout came from the kitchen.

"Who da fuck do you think you are barging into my home?!?" A large, red unicorn stallion stormed into view, coming face to face with a very livid looking princess Luna.

"IT IS I, PRINCESS LUNA!! I AM HERE TO EXACT JUSTICE FOR YOUR CRIMES!!" She was using the Royal Canterlot voice.

Reds father was quivering before her, but he gathered his composure, and said, quite boldly to Luna’s face, "YOU DON'T SCARE ME, YOU STUPID WHORE!!!"

Luna was furious, how dare he call her such an insulting name. "I WAS CONSIDERING LETTING YOU LIVE, BUT NOW I SEE THAT YOU ARE A PATHETIC STAIN THAT NEEDS TO BE REMOVED!"

Luna saw in the reflection of a smudged mirror behind Red Bolts father, a fire poker levitating behind her, ready to impale itself in the back of her head. She dodged out of the way just in time, nearly getting hit. It sliced off a lock of her mane. The poker clipped the blacksmiths ear, and imbedded itself in the wall behind him.

"Clever" said Luna "but not clever enough..." Luna launched a concussion wave from her horn, and watched as it smashed Reds father through a wall. The unicorn got up, shaking debris from his body, and threw chunks of plaster, wood, and electrical wiring that was still hot at Luna. Luna launched a shielding spell, knocking the projectiles away, shattering a chunk of wood, leaving semi large splinters. Luna magically removed the wood chunk, and used it to blind the bastard who was throwing shrapnel at her in the eye, the same one that Red was blind in.

"That ones for your sons EYE YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!!!" Princess Luna hollered. As the splinter made contact, the blacksmith yelled in pain, and stumbled into a podium with a large vase. The vase landed on his horn, and shattered.

He couldn't get up. Luna walked over to him, and telekinetically grabbed him. She held him still as she forced her way into his mind. This time, Luna’s presence wasn't soothing; she could see the blacksmith squirm in pain as she delved into his deepest, darkest memories. Luna learned that Reds fathers’ name was Iron Hammer, learned that Red came to live with him after a prostitute named Sunshine Daisy had gotten pregnant from Iron Hammer, and dropped Red off after he was old enough to be weaned.

Luna saw Irons family die from some strange illness that he was immune to and that had driven him insane. If he hadn't been so cruel to Red Bolt, Luna would've felt sorry for him. As it happens, he didn't deserve her pity. But, Luna graced him by putting him to sleep before she ended him. And she did it quickly, and quietly. Anyone watching (Fire Shield was watching) would've seen Iron Hammer just simply stop breathing, and turn into a pile of dust. Luna turned around to find herself staring into the face of Fire Shield, Reds personal guard, and friend.

"I saw everything, was all that shouting necessary, your highness?"

"Yes, yes it was. I wanted to give him a chance to beg for forgiveness. If he had, I would've been gentler with him when I invaded his mind, and would've erased his insanity, and made him realize all the pain he had inflicted on Red. As it so happens, well, maybe I should've done all that in the first place. I was just so, so, enraged by what he had done to Red Bolt. Red is just a kid, I was so horrified by what he had to endure.”

“Tell Red what I have done here." Luna left the house, with Fire Shield right behind her. As soon as the pair left, Fire Shield took flight. As she flew off into the distance, Luna turned around, and set the house on fire.

The red light district was the worst place Luna had ever been. Luna had convinced Celestia, back when Equestria was on the verge of a recession, which was shortly after Luna had returned two years ago, to let the red light district stay, and just tax the hell out of the casinos, bars, and very erotic nightclubs. This had definitely turned things around, and fixed the economy. Now the red light district was simply a smudge on Canterlot, and largely overlooked by everypony, save for those looking for a night on the town.

Luna was wary of the "looks" she was getting, and felt like she needed a very long hot shower with extra, extra, soap. She took off, and was glad to leave the district behind. It was starting to get light out, and by the time Luna returned to the castle, the early morning cleaners had gotten any mess from the night cleaned up and had the place spick and span when Luna greeted the guards, which were being rotated, the pair of tired looking stallions returning to their quarters, and a fresh pair getting to their post. Luna was tired. She had discovered that one of the chunks of wood that had been thrown at her had left a nasty gash in her right for-leg, and she didn't know any healing spells.

The time she had spent a thousand years ago learning spells, she had spent learning combat spells. Her time on the moon was spent stockpiling magic for when she would return and try getting revenge. Being cured from her evil by the elements of harmony took away all of the darkest, most vile and evil spells, but still left her with huge amounts of stocked up magic, she was still by far the most powerful of the alicorn sisters, but her sister was the wisest. That and Luna’s brash pig headedness, and bit of a temper made her someone you did not want to piss off, considering that she could beat her sister in a fight every time. But she was also gentle now, and typically gave no one any reason to fear her, once you got to know her. She was also very tired at the moment. What Luna needed was a big cup of coffee.

~X~

Red Bolt didn't want to wake up. He was having a wonderful dream about Princess Luna. Suddenly, the wonderful smell of his favorite breakfast, bacon, fried till it was crunchy, eggs, poached with cheese on them, coffee, with a generous helping of cream, and a nice, juicy, orange, without the seeds. He abandoned his dream, and forced himself out of bed, and sluggishly went over to his breakfast.

After breakfast and a long shower, he was wide awake and ready to take on the day. He wandered down the hall. His reading lessons didn't start until way later, so he decided to explore the first thing that caught his eye outside. And what he found was very, very puzzling. It must've been made by the humans; no pony had ever built something like this, as far as he knew.

There was an extremely long road with a pair of white stripes running down the middle. Lights all along the outsides flashing in a pattern, visible even in the broad daylight. Lots of structures in a nice, tidy row, with stacks of metal barrels outside some of them, moved out of the way so as not to pose a tripping hazard. A large, wheeled vehicle moved quickly across the road. It was tan, with a black, thin object on top. The one thing that stood out the most was this monstrous looking thing. It was massive, looking like a cross between a bat and a boomerang. It was pure black, and moved silently into position. Then its belly opened, and a vehicle loaded large, finned objects into the belly, no, its mouth, they had to be feeding the monster. Its mouth closed, the vehicle moved out of the way, and the, thing, it wasn't a monster, no living thing could move without moving its legs, and the things legs had wheels on the ends.

But the most disturbing thing about it was it MADE NO SOUND as it moved along the road, and started flying. It was frighteningly silent. IF its silence and odd beauty weren't scary enough, three more of them followed. As they lifted off, the legs raised up into the body. A voice shocked him back into reality.

"Scary, but beautiful, aren't they?" He turned to find the source of the voice. It was Fire Shield. She was holding a cup of coffee in one hoof, and looked kind of funny walking with just the other three.

"The humans call them 'Spirits'. Ask me, and I can't think of a better name. Strange, though that they are sending them out right now. Usually, they send them out at night, when they are dammed impossible to see." Red Bolt couldn't agree more.

"They named this place 'Harmony Air Base'. They let us guards look around, provided we don't get to nosy. How about I introduce you to my friend Timothy?" Fire Shield said. Red just nodded, he was still too scared by the sight of the "Spirits", as they were called.

He was about to try and say something, but he saw something that really spooked him. He hadn't thought it possible, but there was a vehicle that was bigger than even the spirits. And unlike the spirits, this thing was freakin' ugly. It had a long body, longer than the spirits, the wings were at the top, and angled slightly downwards, with engines hanging under them. The tail was pointed on the ends, and the two fins on the side were also angled slightly downwards.

"F-F-Fire Shield, what is that?" Red asked, pointing a hoof at the machine.

"Oh, that? That’s a Stratofortress. Real scary. Oh hey look, it's Timothy." Fire Shield trotted over to him, and Red Bolt followed, glancing over his shoulder at the Stratofortress one last time.

Timothy was tall, and muscled. His clothing was grease stained, but other than that, he looked like any other human male. Except his hair was red, not the typical brown that he had seen from the other humans.

"So you must be Red Bolt, am I right?" He asked.

He extended a hand, Red remembered from his first encounter with the humans, and placed a hoof in it to shake. Tim's grip was firm, but not uncomfortable.

"I heard a bit about you…sorry about how you were raised. I never knew my father. He died when I was a little kid, so my mom raised me all by herself." Tim seemed to go on and on.

Red understood about how he had a hard time getting by, but in comparison to how Red Bolt lived, Tim had it easy. He seemed like a nice guy. Then, Fire Shield shot him a question.

"So, how did you humans get here in the first place?" The base commander had walked up to the trio just as Fire Shield had asked.The commander was shorter than Timothy, but still looked intimidating. He was dark skinned, and was puffing on a cigar. He looked over at Tim.

"Timothy, I need the engines on that BUFF checked out. If the spirits can't take out that dragon, then we are going to need some heavy firepower. After you have checked the engines, I need the Spooky's weapons loaded, the engines tuned up, and the flaps adjusted. Damn thing hasn't been flying right after the storm last month."

"Sir, yes sir." Timothy responded. He turned to the others: "See you guys later." And with that, he was off.

The commander took the seat that had been occupied. “So you want to know how we found your world, I take it? Well, I have the answer to that question, but its more something that needs to be seen, as well. Come with me." Fire Shield and Red Bolt followed. "The names Commander Doland, by the way. And you are?" Doland asked.

"I'm Lieutenant Fire Shield, and this is my friend, Red Bolt. He's new here, and a little frightened." Said Fire Shield. Red looked around, saw a large, noisy flying machine, with an engine on the top, lower itself onto a stone square with a large circle painted on it. Several humans jumped out of the sides, and lined up as a sergeant walked back and forth in front of them, yelling something.

The group of them entered a room with a line of chairs, and a screen at the front. Fire Shield seated herself in a chair that had been specially designed for ponies. The pony chairs, because of how much smaller ponies were to humans, had been placed in the front to make it easier to see the screen. Commander Doland started speaking.

"Now, I'll do my best to explain, but I feel like this footage will do a better job at showing you what happened that allowed us humans to access your world. But before I begin, let me tell you what a nuclear bomb is. A nuclear bomb is a device that had been designed to destroy targets as large as cities. In the past, military strategists thought about, and planned, scenarios were the weapons would be used for softening up enemy strongholds for an attack. This was before we learned about all the radiation that is released from using one. My country, the United States of America, currently has the largest stockpile. Last year, we had been experimenting with some of them in a large, lifeless desert, using several imitation cities to see what effect the use of a concentrated nuclear attack would have. Scientists had been theorizing that all there would be would be a large amount of radiation that wouldn't dissipate for at least a hundred, if not two hundred years.” He paused, taking a long draw off his cigar before he continued.

“They were so wrong. None of their scientific expertise prepared them for the result. The force of the blasts, and the radiation itself, in such a concentrated amount had ripped a whole in the very fabric of space. All the radiation had dissipated immediately, and we were left with this hole that could only be seen from the front, and accessed from the front. Now, I need to show you the video so that you can get the idea."

The lights dimmed, and a projector started up. A man was giving a count down "THREE... TWO... ONE..." KA-FUCKING-BOOOOOOM!! Large mushroom clouds bloomed across an imitation city. How the humans could create such weapons, how such weapons were even possible, was beyond Red Bolt. He looked over at Fire Shield, and her jaw was nearly on the floor. Such powerful weapons could have only been created by the gods. Should only be possessed by the gods. The flashes and clouds had vanished, and the city that had been built for the tests was gone. In its place was a field of glass from where the sand had been hit by temperatures hotter than the sun. Weapons of the gods indeed. In the center of it all was a shimmering rip, a rip that seemed to span from horizon to horizon, waving in a non-existent wind, fluttering like a flag in a moderate breeze.

The man who had been giving the countdown said "Sweet Jesus Mary and Joseph, what is THAT?" and with that, the footage had ended. Fire Shield was the first to speak.

"And, after that, you decided to travel through?"

"Yes, Lieutenant Fire Shield, we sent some soldiers in special environment suits that we were experimenting with. The suits worked better than expected, and thankfully, this world was not at all hostile to us. And that's how we got here."

~X~

Red Bolt finally left the base. It was lunch time, and his stomach wasn't agreeing with the MRE he had eaten. He was wearing a set of saddlebags made out of a tough material that had a camo-print, that had been given to him. Fire Shield was still shocked by the video. She wasn't really horrified, though she couldn't understand why the humans would create weapons of such a magnitude, but she was still frightened by the weapons, and the aftermath of the testing. Behind them, the four spirits that had taken off had returned to base. The only noise they made was the bump of the wheels hitting the runway, and the screech as the brakes locked, slowing them down quickly.

The trip back to the castle didn't take very long, and when Red Bolt arrived, his first stop was the bathroom. The MRE's definitely didn't agree with him. He staggered back out after he had finished throwing up, and skipped lunch, going right back to bed.

~X~

Princess Luna had finished Speaking with the mayor of Neihpon, who was having problems with elk mercenaries from the Elklands. Luna had just had Commander Doland send a squadron of bombers to hit the nearby military ports of the Elklands, and other close by military targets to stop the attacks. She jumped down from the throne, and went to the Canterlot Library, were she thought Red Bolt would be getting his reading lessons from Spit Shine and Feather Dust. Instead, she found the two servants sitting alone at the table, one of them resting her head on her hoof, the other tapping impatiently.

"Hello, Spit Shine, Feather Dust. Where's Red Bolt?"

"Red Bolt isn't here, he is two hours late, and if I am forced to wait any longer-" Spit Shine was cut off when Red Bolt finally showed up. He was disheveled looking, and appeared to have been sick.

"Hey, sorry guys, I wasn't feeling that great, so I took a nap. Guess I overslept." Red Bolt walked over to were Spit Shine and Feather Dust were sitting, and sat down between them.

"Not feeling well? What happened?" Asked Luna

"Well, I went over to Harmony Base, because I had nothing else to do, and my lessons wouldn't start until a couple hours after lunch, Fire Shield joined me, I saw some things there that were really, really scary. Two different machines. One type called a 'spirit', and the other called a strato whatever. They were huge, like, bigger than this little part of the library. I also learned about how the humans got here. Afterwards, Commander Doland shared an MRE with me, and that's why I'm not feeling good, it didn't settle well with me." Red continued going into detail, asking what a spooky was, having heard about it from the Commander.

He was about to start asking about the dragon that the spirits had been sent after, when Feather Dust interrupted with "Red Bolt, darling, don't you think that we should be getting on with your lessons?"

"Can we skip lessons today? I'm still not feeling well. The reason I came over in the first place was to apologize for being late. Oh crap, not again. Where is the nearest bathroom?" Red quickly put a hoof over his mouth. Luna, Feather Dust, and Spit Shine all pointed in the same direction. Red galloped as fast as his lame leg would allow.

Luna went after him to make sure he was okay, after Luna sent for her own personal physician.

Red Bolt was in total misery by the time the physician, Steady Pulse, had arrived, mostly just groaning in the discomfort and indignity of his predicament. Steady Pulse was a middle aged unicorn mare, light grey with a dark green mane and tail, with the figure of someone who had recently given birth. Red was lying down on one of the beds in the medical wing of the castle, medical equipment of obvious human origin, smaller, and more advanced than anything the Equestrians could produce, but lacking in magic and beauty worked into design, chosen for efficiency. Steady looked over to Luna, and said

"Don't worry, your highness, I'm sure that all your friend is experiencing is a case of food poisoning. I'll be sure to remind him that human food doesn't always settle with us, and to check to see if any other pony is eating it before eating it himself, okay?" Luna nodded, and then left to wait outside.

Doctor Steady Pulse went over to Red's bedside, checked his temperature, scanned his digestive system with her magic, took blood, gave him a physical, and checked his crippled wing (determining that it was in such bad shape, that it would be beyond her abilities to fix it beyond making it look better, but he would never, ever, fly in his life.) It was, indeed, food poisoning. A simple issue to fix that would require a laughably easy spell, and the contents of his stomach pumped. He would still feel like crap for a couple of days, but that was the price he would pay for eating a foreign food, especially one with so many artificial ingredients. It was any wonder the humans didn't go extinct from so many unnatural foods.

Red Bolt awoke to the sound of the door being opened, and a young dark blue stallion with a white mane and tail, named Nurse Healthy Temp walked in, delivering Red's breakfast.

"Good morning, Red Bolt! Doctor Steady Pulse says that you can be released after she gives you a quick checkup. I hear that you ate some human food. Bad move kid. Most of the things they eat doesn't sit well with us, but I hear it goes both ways. Check first next time, got it?" Red Bolt nodded enthusiastically.

He plowed through his breakfast a bit faster than the nurse wanted, but soon, the doctor stepped in, checked him over, and gave him his release. But before he left, Steady Pulse informed him that she wanted to fix his wing up. He could use it, somewhat, but it was too damaged for sustained flight. He could glide a short distance, but that was it.

He hopped out of the bed he had been sleeping in, and stumbled. He was still weak from the treatments. Doctor Steady Pulse asked if he wanted a wheel chair, but Red said no. He managed to keep from stumbling as he left to go back to his room.