Moving Forward (Private / Ranger)

[rubynights]

The scenery that winter morning at Whitetail Wood had been perfect. The bright morning sun could be seen shining upon the naked wood of the forest trees, as the green hue of the grass below was muddled by the white snow lying on top. In the beautiful ambiance of the morning scenery, a gray pelted mare woke up softly from inside a small tent.

Ruby had been camping out in the woods for the past few days… and not because the inns in Ponyville had been vacant or anything. It wasn’t as if she didn’t have friends in town that could share a spare bed either. She had been camping out there partly due to her own stubborn pride… that and the fact that she had been sick and tired of the friendly town by now. For weeks, Ruby had been ready to leave for her next adventure. If only the spinal injury she earned inside the Everfree Forest would allow for that. For that time at least, Ruby had little choice but to adventure into the safest of all woods near Ponyville… even if it had only been a mere camping trip.

She gradually crawled from out of the tent, gripping her traveling provisions with her hoof. Dragging it out from her tent, she opened one of its compartments to reveal a carrot she had packed. Ruby began to nibble at the carrot. Even if it wasn’t much, it was all she had to call breakfast for now.

“Horse manure…! That stupid soldier pegasus...” Ruby yelled in the isolated space around her. She had lost the entire treasure hoard from her last journey in that one misadventure. Perhaps if she could somehow keep her belongings safer, she could have afforded a better meal. “Ugh... But he was very sweet…” she mumbled, partly lamenting over the rumors of Corsair's untimely death.

By that time Ruby had finished the carrot. She briefly reentered her tent to put back on her red hood. Dressed once again in her favorite adventuring attire, she hastily began in basic stretching and exercise. She refused to allow a lackluster meal and her sluggishly healing spine slow her down. And besides, it felt as she her spine had been better than ever that moment.

[Ranger]

"Hey!" A voice called out, "You! Stay right where you are!" A galloping pony called, easily recognizable by his cloak and mask, the stallion known as Ranger reached her fairly quickly. "I've been looking for you!" He called out to her face, "You're the culprit who swiped Mr. Breezy, what do you have to say for yourself?" The Earth Pony accused. He was more than prepared in case she decided to draw her dagger, she was rearing for trouble she was.

"Don't try anything, I am in no mood for trouble, I've had more than my fair share recently." He warned, ready to fight if need be. This pony whoever it was, swiped at Mr. Breezy after he offered her shelter at night, then ran away. As head of the Ponyville Militia, it was not something Ranger could let by.

[rubynights]

“Mr. Breezy?” Ruby questioned the masked stallion. She initially had no clue at all who the accusing earth pony had been talking about at all… at least until giving the concept a small bit of thought. “You must mean that pansy pony from the other night. Breezy should really learn to respect a mare’s personal space. It might help him live longer…”

In a brief silence, Ruby began to notice Ranger’s steadfast and combat-ready stance. He appeared more than ready to retaliate, though he didn’t appear particularly hostile to her at all. Frankly, Ruby didn’t care.

“Haha… What are you so worked up for?” she chuckled at the woodspony. Sure Ruby attacked a stallion without a second of thought a few nights ago, but that didn’t mean she would do so now. She had hit a low road that night, but today had been feeling better than ever. “I’m about as much in the mood for trouble as you are stallion. And I really don’t care enough to defend myself right now. So you can take me in if you want…”

Ruby then rested her hooves down upon the grass patch below her… but not before releasing a peculiarly flirtatious giggle. She just couldn't resist the urge to make a stallion feel so awkward and uncomfortable~!

“Hehehe… But please... be a dear and work gently with these hooves of mine~!”

[Ranger]

Unceremoniously, Ranger subdued Ruby Nights, cuffing her forward and back hooves quickly and deftly, and then disarming her of whatever accessories or weapons she had. "You are under arrest by the Ponyville Militia, you will now be escorted to a holding facility in the Ponyville City Hall until your trial, you may remain silent if you wish, but confessing your crime and apologizing will do you a lot better in court." He dragged her to her feet, "Your possessions will be confiscated by the militia until your trial is over, at which point they will either be locked up, or returned to you, pending the outcome of the trial. Now let's go." He said, attaching a chain to the front set of hoof-cuffs, pulling her with him. "Don't try any funny stuff." He warned.

[rubynights]

“Well aren’t you the funniest, most charming stallion I’ve ever met?” Ruby muttered sarcastically toward the woodspony. She took one distasteful look at the chains that had been placed upon her hooves… when she suddenly felt her body being dragged forward by the stallion. “Hey! Watch it over there—I’m going, okay?”

She quickly rose her hooves up to follow his path… as if she had any other option at that moment. Ruby glanced off to the woodspony’s side, attempting to see if there had been any passion or contempt within the stallion at all. His continued silence seemed to prove otherwise.

“So you must be this Ranger pony I’ve heard so much about in town… They call you a hero. I’ve heard of how diligently you work to protect Ponyville from what lies within the forest...” Ruby flattered charmingly to Ranger, wearing a boastful and confident smirk from behind him. But what seemed to be simple small-talk had in actuality been a lot more. “Tell me. Just why do you wear that mask? Are you a coward? Is there a beast that lurks both this forest and your deepest nightmares…? Could that beast be a feral perhaps?”

[Ranger]

"Hardly, considering I've ensured their slow decline and eventual extinction from Equestria." Ranger said, giving a tug on her chains to trip her. "If you think being a jerk is going to help you any, you've got another thing coming. What's your problem anyway? Weren't you the one attacked by those ferals to begin with?"

During the conversation he not once stopped walking, or even looked back at her, he kept his eyes on his target, Ponyville. It was one of the very few time he had to bring in a pony for arrest, and it was sad, at least he thought so. Whoever this pony was, she obviously needed to learn her lesson.

[rubynights]

With Ranger’s tug upon the chain, Ruby’s face fell flat to the ground. She frustratingly spat the dirt from out of her mouth, her grounded hooves still being dragged by Ranger’s ever consistent trot. Ruby’s patience had all been lost by this point. No more flirting. No more flattery. Not even anymore taunts. She would rip the answers apart from his mouth if she had to.

“Yes. That was me,” Ruby spoke with a straight face. Her tone of voice now came off to be totally serious, rather than playful or flirtatious the way it had before. She rose to her hooves and ambitiously followed his path, reaching a closer proximity to the woodspony stallion than she ever had before. Ruby was going to make sure he heard what she had to say. “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, okay? It was stupid and I totally underestimated the dangers within the Everfree Forest!”

In that brief moment, Ruby paused as she lowered her voice.

“…But it was a brave pegasus of whom I had totally misjudged that saved my life that night… And I’m sure you know him. His name was Corsair Razorwing and if I’m correct, you fought alongside him against those ferals,” Ruby interrogated. There had been an absence of tears running below her face. Ruby had been well past grieving stage. What she needed now was a proper explanation. “Corsair is dead now… and there’s something I want to know. Why didn’t you protect him…? Why did I have to lose my friend only to be stuck with you?”

[Ranger]

Ranger laughed, there was no mirth in that laughter, it was robotic, almost mechanical. He stopped walking and turned to Ruby, "Didn't protect him?" He asked, "When we were almost down to the Den Mother, we were suddenly jumped by several of some kind of ferals none of us knew about, they were huge, fast and vicious. Feral Praetorians they call them, Den Mother guardians. Regular Ferals don't have these, only Winter Ferals do. He was gone before any of us even knew what happened." He told, "I tried to reach him, but one of them got me." He lifted his cloak to show her the freshly healed wounds on his body, they were not a pretty sight, but fortunately, "The Canterlot healer did something to speed up the healing, said it won't leave a scar that way. But there's a scar alright." He bopped his noggin with his hoof.

"Trust me, if you want to blame anyone, blame the princess for sending us unprepared. Quite frankly, we thought we'd all die even when we came in there. Didn't matter to any of us as long as we got the Den Mother. When I went to tell the head of the Razorwing family about Corsair, you know what he said?" He paused for a brief moment, as though about to let Ruby answer, but then continued before she could manage, "He said, if you completed the mission, I don't see the problem." Ranger glared, "Do I agree with him? No way, but I don't need a reminder about how dreadful that day was from a filthy criminal with no respect for his fellow ponies. I doubt he'd call someone like you a friend."

[rubynights]

“Even if he wouldn’t… I’ll surely miss him regardless…” Ruby spoke softly to Ranger, expressing her most truly sincere feelings. Her eyes rose up towards the sky in brief introspection. It was not long before she returned her gaze back toward the woodspony.

“…But really? Do I look like a criminal?” Ruby asked as she giggled, returning to her previous, more bubbly state. “Do you seriously think I waltz around swiping other ponies on a daily basis? I may come off as somewhat of a shrew, but do I really look like some sort of deranged killer?” As her laughter subsided, she gave a short pause before continuing her dialogue. “Please… Don’t misjudge me the way I did Corsair. I had gone through a serious emotional breakdown that night… and I let it get the better of me, okay?”