Dusk Fire

Chapters

Dusk Fire
Aftermath
The Date
Flashback
Preparations
Explanations
Romantic Conflictions
Encounter
End of the Line
"What a splendid scheme...."
Revenge

Dusk Fire

Chapter 1 - Dusk Fire

"Buck this shit," Dusk Fire said, "If I wanted to do another five years of bucking school, I would have said so."

Dusk Fire walked through the Manehattan High entrance gates, noticing several mares staring at him. He was a tall, well-built stallion with a deep blue coat, like the night sky. His mane, fitting his last name, was a firey red with yellow highlights. Try as he may, he couldn't brush it straight, so it stuck out at crazy angles, making it look like his head was on fire. He had a rather sharp horn, honed from years of offensive magic training that his mother disapproved of. But these features weren't what caught the mares' eyes. Dusk Fire's best feature was his eyes, a deep ruby red that burned in dim light. His eyes could probably melt the heart of any mare, if he tried real hard, but that's not what he used them for.

All around him, Dusk could see posh ponies wearing expensive accessories, glittery saddle bags, and many mares had makeup on. He could see no reason for it; even the colts looked glamorous. All Dusk needed was his trusty white saddle bag, the same one he had since grade five. He couldn't afford a new one, but he felt like he didn't need one. it did the job, and that's all he asked of it.

His parents had a small, yet stable, income, and he lived in rather squalid conditions. His father earned enough to put food on the table, but it took many years of saving to enrol Dusk in the local high school. He was grateful to his parents for this, their generosity rubbing off on him. Dusk never had a taste for the luxuries of life, preferring simple clothing when he went to formal occasions, and simple food when he ate. It was not in Dusk's nature to be envious. Instead of feeling jealous when he saw rich ponies walk by, he felt anger. Anger at the fact that they could bitch and whine about their little problems, when his father could barely put food on the table.

"What are you looking at?" Dusk heard one of the mares say.

"Him. He looks cute. Like, coltish cute." the mare's friend replied,.

Dusk assumed they were talking about him. His looks had attracted the attention of a few, yet not many, mares in the last years of primary school; all of them shallow, popular mares, however. A few stallions, but not many, had said they would kill to have looks as 'good' as his, however all Dusk would have killed for was a little privacy from the prying eyes of a few shallow mares.

"I hope to god this isn't going to be like year 7....," Dusk muttered to himself.

He walked up the path to the school doors where the headmaster was standing.

"Dusk Fire, I presume?" the headmaster inquired.

"Yes, sir," Dusk said, shaking the headmaster's hoof.

"Welcome to Manehattan High School. I am the headmaster, and I will be watching your every move. Do not make me angry, Dusk Fire, or you will be in serious trouble," the headmaster stated.

"Do you say this to every new pony who walks through these doors, sir?" Dusk replied, coolly.

"Yes, I guess I do," the headmaster replied.

Dusk gave him a small smile and continued on his way. Walking down the halls, Dusk extracted his school guide from his saddle bag.

"Hmmm. Locker 3 - F," Dusk mumbled, looking at the guide.

He looked around before spying a large red 'F' on the corner of one of the halls. Dusk headed down the hall, noticing the numbers on the lockers decreased from the start of the hall. He came to the end of the passage and found his locker. Removing the small key from his saddle bag, Dusk opened his locker and started placing books into it. He looked at his guide, noting his first class, and packed the according books into his saddle bag. Another mare walked past him, her eyes staring at his body as she giggled bashfully. He slammed his locker door, frightening her. She quickly trotted on as Dusk locked his locker and dropped the key into his saddle bag.

Dusk opened the door to his next class and walked inside. The room was teeming with chatter and gossip, multiple voices trying to out-compete each other. Luckily no one noticed Dusk as he closed the door and took a seat at the back of the class. He took his books from his saddle bag and placed them on his desk, along with a pen. A ball of paper hit him on the side of the head. He looked up and saw a pink mare smiling at him from the other side of the room. He gave her a fake smile and picked up the piece of paper, unscrunching it.

'Hey, my name is Petal. You look pretty nice, maybe we could have lunch sometime? Talk to me after class ;)'

He rolled his eyes and stuffed the paper into his saddle bag as the teacher walked into the classroom.

"QUIET, EVERYPONY!" the teacher shouted. "My name is Professor Brunswick, and I will be your English teacher for this year," Professor Brunswick explained, writing his name on the board. "Today we will learn about poetic devices and their use in the written and spoken language,"

Dusk opened his book and clicked his pen as the professor wrote on the board. Dusk quickly scribbled the notes, predicting what the professor was going to write. Dusk knew all about poetic devices, he aced English all through primary, as had many of the students in the classes he had sat in. He sat back and listened as Brunswick rambled on about alliteration and metaphors, some ponies in the class, knowing what the teacher was talking about, yawned, others couldn't stay awake. Dusk slowly drifted off to sleep...

"You told me you were gonna give me your lunch money, twerp," a voice said.

"I - I don't h - have any m - money though," another, younger voice replied.

"Well maybe you shoulda thought about that before showing your face!" the other voice exclaimed.

"Get off me!" the younger voice squealed.

Dusk awoke with a start, kicking his table. Brunswick stopped talking about poetic devices and stared at Dusk quizzically.

"Everything all right, Mr Fire?" he inquired.

"Yes, sir," Dusk replied, "I just got something caught on my hoof."

"Well perhaps you should be writing, instead of worrying about your hooves, Mr Fire," Brunswick scolded.

Dusk nodded and hastily copied what was on the board. He didn't need to, of course, and neither did anypony else in this class. Their year seven books were full of the same stuff, Dusk just wanted to stay out of trouble on his first day. First impressions count, his mother always told him. The notes on the board were written in cursive, a script Dusk always had trouble with. He read what he could and then copied down what he understood. His actual understanding of this topic was better than the description the professor had on the board, but Dusk didn't care. He just wanted to look like he was working.

The professor continued to ramble on about metaphors and such, as Dusk rested his cheek on his hoof. The lesson simply wasn't going fast enough. The clock on the wall said it was only 9:24. There was no way it had only been 24 minutes. That mare, Petal was going to see him after class, too. Dusk just wanted the lesson to end. Not so he could see Petal, but so he could get out of this stifling room.

The professor rambled on and on and on. The repetitive nature of his speech boring every pony in the room. A yawn was heard from the back, another pony at the front let out a snore. Dusk was no better, his concentration wavering, his eyes slowly closed. He quickly opened them again, not wanting to fall asleep again. Dusk sat up and looked at the clock. 9:47.

"Shit, I fell asleep again," Dusk thought to himself.

Looking at the board, Dusk could see no changes. Brunswick was obviously so enthralled in his own speech that he didn't notice half the class had fallen asleep. There was still 23 minutes until the end of the lesson, Dusk didn't know how much more of this he could take. He lightly banged his hoof on the table and looked out the window. The sun was shining brightly, and the sky was an almost mystical blue, the clouds like puffs of smoke. It was so much more alluring than Brunswick's lecture on poetic devices.

The bell rang, signalling the end of the lesson. Ponies around him started to pack up as the professor wrote homework requirements on the board. Dusk awoke from his day dream, copied the notes into his school diary, and placed his books into his saddle bag. He stood up and walked out the door, passing Petal on his way. She put a hoof in his way, stopping him.

"Where are you going?" she asked. "I thought you were gonna meet me here after class."

"Oh, sorry, I forgot about that," Dusk lied. "The lesson was so interesting and all." He gave a weak smile.

"You're funny!" Petal stated, giggling.

"So what was it that you wanted again?" Dusk inquired.

"You," Petal answered, cheekily.

Dusk's face went a shade redder. Even though many mares had shown an interest in him, it still caught him off guard. Dusk cleared his throat.

"Uhm, what did you want to do then?" he inquired.

"Dunno, maybe we could have lunch or something? I know this cute little cafe down on 2nd street," Petal replied.

"I guess I'll meet you there on Saturday. Does 12:00 PM sound good to you?" Dusk asked.

"It's a date," Petal replied, with a cheeky smile.

"What did I get myself into this time?" Dusk thought to himself as he walked on. "I don't even know this girl, and I'm going to have lunch with her. God, sometimes I can be too polite."

He fished his schedule out of his bag and gave it a once-over. His next class was magic. Anticipating the exciting world of spells and potions, Dusk hastened his step.

He arrived at the lesson a few minutes early and, looking around, saw he was one of the only colts in the class. There were two other colts standing outside the door, talking to each other. Both were equally lanky, and one of them had an unnatural amount of freckles. The mares, on the other hand, were fairly good looking, but from the way they held themselves, he knew they were no different than any other mare he had seen so far. Dusk knew this lesson was going to be horrible, as a few of the mares looked at him. Dusk's good mood disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, and his smile fell from his face.

The door to classroom opened and a rather short pony beckoned the students inside.

"Welcome, welcome," the small unicorn said. "Please, take a seat. There will be no need to write this lesson, you just have to listen."

Dusk sighed in relief. He had so many books filled with notes on the subject, he was beginning to think he should just bring those to school.

"Alright, class. My name is Professor Short. I will be your magic teacher for this year," the professor said.

"Will we be performing any spells today, sir?" one of the students asked.

"Yes. Today we will learn how to move objects," Short answered.

Dusk smiled. He spent so much time on magic in his early years that he had mastered levitation spells when he was a young colt.

"Now, concentrate on the item in front of you, and imagine it floating into the air," Short explained.

Around Dusk, the small class struggled with this simple spell. A few of the mares managed to levitate their books, but neither of the colts could even lift a pencil. Dusk gave a devilish smile as a ruby glow appeared around his horn. Another ruby aurora materialized around Dusk's desk as it rose into the air. He smiled as he heard the floating books drop from the air as the other students gawked at his advanced feat. He slowly let the desk come back down.

"What is your name?" Short inquired.

"Dusk Fire, sir," Dusk replied.

"How is it that you can levitate objects of that size?" Short asked. "Manehattan primary had no magical classes."

"I practiced in my spare time, sir," Dusk replied, with a smirk. "It's really not that hard to read books on magic."

"Not only is he cute, but he is good with magic," one of the mares whispered.

Dusk's pride suddenly disappeared, and he struggled to hold onto his smile. These damn mares were driving him crazy, he'd hoped that they wouldn't get to him so badly, but it seems he was mistaken.

"Well, Mr. Fire," Short said. "Maybe you should show us more of your magical abilities."

"I'd rather not, sir," Dusk replied.

"Oh come one, Mr. Fire. Surely it isn't that bad," Short replied.

Dusk's smile dropped. "I said no, sir," Dusk growled through gritted teeth.

"Okay then, Mr. Fire. We shall continue the lesson as planned," Short said, gulping nervously.

Dusk leaned back in his chair as the class' attention slowly shifted from him to the teacher. Dusk decided he would just sit this one out. He had mastered levitation spells ages ago, and he had no intention of being told how to cast them. He also did not want to draw any more attention to himself from the mares in the class. Levitating that desk had been a mistake. Dusk closed his eyes and returned to his dream.

"Get off me!" the younger voice squealed.

The source of squeals was revealed to be a dark red pegasus. A large earth pony had lifted him off the ground and was in the process of punching him. The vision suddenly turned ruby red as flames seemed to materialize around the edge of it. An older, deeper, voice screamed in anger.

A bright flash washed out the vision and there was a loud bang.

As the vision cleared, scorch marks could be seen on the walls around the two ponies.

The vision suddenly progressed forward and seemed to zoom in on the red pegasus.

Dark blue hooves reached out from the vision and picked up the pegasus.

Dusk awoke with a start.

Had that been him, attacking that earth pony? The vision seemed awfully familiar, as did the dark red pegasus. But it seemed like it was such an long time ago, as if it was almost another life.

Dusk looked around the room to see everyone staring at him. He looked down and noticed he had kicked his desk over when he had woken up.

"Is everything alright, Mr Fire?" Short inquired.

"Y- yes, sir. Everything is fine. I just..." Dusk trailed off. It suddenly dawned on him that he was remembering a pivotal point in his life. His visions were of the day he got his cutie mark.

"Mr Fire?" Short asked again.

"Huh? Oh, I just dozed off, sir. I had an... odd... dream," Dusk answered.

"Perhaps you should try to stay awake, Mr Fire," Short said.

"Yes, sir," Dusk answered.

Dusk levitated his desk back into place and looked at it, mulling over what he had just witnessed. He knew for a fact that his visions were about his cutie mark. It happened back in grade 3, in Manehattan primary.

"Well maybe you should stop being so good at it, then," a red pegasus remarked.

"Shut up, Jet," Dusk replied.

" It's not my fault you're so good at magic. Most of the other ponies here don't even know what the word means," Jet said.

"Well, i'd appreciate it if you didn't tell other ponies about it. They're already afraid of me," Dusk stated.

"Alright, Dusk. I'm sorry," Jet replied, looking legitimately apologetic.

"It's alright. I'm gonna go buy something for the cafeteria. You want anything?" Dusk offered.

"A chocolate biscuit would be nice," Jet replied.

Dusk nodded and headed off to the cafeteria.

The line was rather short when Dusk got there, and it only took him a few seconds to pick up some biscuits and a bottle of strawberry milk. He paid the cash-lady his week's allowance, and walked back to where he left Jet.

"You told me you were gonna give me your lunch money, twerp," a voice said.

"I - I don't h - have any m - money though," another, younger voice replied.

"Well maybe you shoulda thought about that before showing your face!" the other voice exclaimed.

"Get off me!" the younger voice squealed.

Dusk recognised the younger voice to be Jet's.

He turned the corner to find a huge earth pony punching Jet in the face, stomach, and chest. Blood had started to flow from Jet's nose and he was in great pain.

His vision blurred, and the biscuits and milk dropped to the ground as his levitation spell failed.

Flames appeared around the edge of his vision as he let out a almighty roar.

A bright white flash engulfed the trio, accompanied by a loud bang.

As Dusk's vision cleared, he noticed scorch marks on the walls around him. The large earth pony was lying in a corner, beaten and scarred, his coat singed. Jet lay off to Dusk's left, and he ran towards him. Dusk lifted him up with his hooves and placed him over his back and ran as fast as he could to the nurse's office.

Dusk had never used magic like that before. He had never even felt rage like that before. The adrenaline excited him, but at the same time, it scared him. His heart beat at a hundred beats per second as he ran Jet to the school nurse.

He ran through the doors of the nurse's office, and laid Jet on one of the beds.

"What is the meaning of this, young man?" the nurse inquired, angrily.

"Myfriendwasjustbeatenupbyabull-" Dusk began, before being cut off.

"Slow down, one word at a time," the nurse said.

Dusk took three deep breaths and said, "My friend was just beaten up by a bully. I used my magic to stop him, but I don't know if my friend was hurt more. Please, you have to help him!" Dusk said, on the verge of tears.

The nurse nodded her understanding and began to look over Jet's wounds as Dusk began to cry.

Dusk cried for Jet, but he also cried for himself. He had promised his parents he wouldn't explode like this, and this time, he had hurt his only friend. Dusk didn't know what Jet would say. He'd probably hate him for it. Dusk tried to help, he tried to protect his friend, but all he ended up doing was hurting him more.

"Luckily, your friend here is going to be okay. It looks like he would have suffered a great deal more if you hadn't intervened. I think you loyalty just saved his life," the nurse explained.

At that moment, A bright flash appeared on Dusk's flank. A small flame in front of two swords appeared on his flank, creating a coat of arms. Dusk had finally gotten his cutie mark.

"What does it mean?" Dusk asked.

"That looks like a mark of loyalty," the nurse explained. "You have this mark because you saved your friend's life. Without you, that bully would have nearly beaten him to death."

Dusk cried once more as the nurse put a hoof on his shoulder. He had just saved his friend's life.

Because Jet was a pegasus, he had porous bones. They were easy to break, so what the bully thought was a rough-up, was really a pummeling for Jet. He had to go the hospital because of the injuries. The bully had broken most of Jet's ribs, and had shattered his jaw and collar bone. Jet had to eat from a tube for six weeks. All because this earth pony wanted Jet's lunch money.

A tear dropped from Dusk's cheek as he remembered his friend. Jet was the only pony that had ever been there for him. And he had moved away halfway through year seven.

When he heard about Jet being transferred to Las Pegasus, Dusk felt betrayed. They had spent so much time together, had shared every moment together, Dusk had even saved his life. And now Jet had to move away? It made going to high school so much harder for him. It had been almost ten months since Dusk had last seen him. Jet hadn't written a single letter to him, either. It may have been ten months, but it felt like an eternity.

Dusk spent the rest of the lesson in sorrow. All he wanted to do was be back with Jet. He felt ashamed that he had forgotten about him so quickly, too. He hung his head in disgrace as another tear splashed onto his desk. He thought about all the memories he had made with Jet. He had been suspended for six weeks because of his outburst, and he spent every day of those six weeks beside Jet's hospital bed.

The bell rang, signalling the end of class.

"No homework for you today, students," Short said.

There was a unanimous sigh of relief from the other students as they filed out of the class.

Dusk walked out last, his heart still fixed on the only friend he had ever had, when he bumped into a huge white earth pony.

"Watch it, newbie!" the white pony retorted.

His friend turned around, and seeing Dusk's depressed nature, decided to mess with him.

"Are you crying? Shit, look, Beam, he's bucking crying!" the second pony exclaimed.

"Stop crying, you baby!" Beam chimed in.

Dusk looked up, glared at them, and said, "Why don't you two buck off and leave me alone."

"Oooooo!" Beam said. "Look, Shots, the big pony wants us to buck off."

"Why don't we show him what happens to ponies who give us lip?" Shots replied.

By this time, there was a rather large congregation of ponies watching the scene unfold.

A murmur rose from the crowd.

"Those are the school bullies," one pony whispered.

"He's gonna die!" another pony exclaimed.

Beam and Shots slowly moved in on Dusk, cracking their necks and preparing to beat him up.

Dusk's horn glowed a ruby red as he braced himself.

Beam shot forward and took a swing at Dusk, his hoof connecting with Dusk's jaw. Dusk reeled and retaliated with a burst of fire magic, burning the coat on Beam's chest.

"AH!" Beam screamed.

Shots came in from the side and Dusk only just escaped another right hook. Beam ran in after Shots and took two swings at Dusk, both narrowly missing Dusk's head. Dusk shot off another bolt of fire, slamming into Beam's already wounded chest. Shots came in once more and tackled Dusk to the ground. He began to punch Dusk in the face over and over again, and was reeling for a knockout when Dusk suddenly teleported on top of Shots.

"Shit, I can't believe that worked," Dusk murmured.

Dusk spun around as Beam's hoof connected with Dusk's muzzle, causing a spray of blood to fly. Dusk took a step back, braced himself and released a beam of fire magic that pinned Beam to the wall, burning into his flesh. His screams of pain almost pleased Dusk, and he lost focus on his surroundings. Shots took another swing at Dusk, knocking him flat. Beam slumped against the wall, unconscious.

"YOU MOTHERBUCKING SON OF A BITCH!" Shots screamed as he lay into Dusk.

Dusk's vision began to blur as hoof after hoof slammed into his face and body. He conjured up the last of his energy and released a powerful offensive spell that blasted Shots off of him and into the wall opposite Beam. Shots' coat was smoking, and Dusk once again fired a beam of fire magic into his attacker's chest, pinning him to the wall. Shots screamed in agony as the flames engulfed his wounds, eating into his flesh. Dusk relented, ceasing the fire beam as Shots lost consciousness.

Dusk leaned against the wall as his stomach evacuated his breakfast. He was sore all over from the bully's beatings. He looked up and saw everypony looking at him with stunned expressions on their faces. Apparently no one had ever beaten these two. His vision slowly darkened as he saw the headmaster push through the crowd. His voice seemed distant as Dusk slowly drifted into unconsciousness.

Author's Note

This is the first chapter of my new fic, so if it isn't up to scratch, or you want to point out some errors, please do so. I'd love some constructive criticism. But please don't be insulting, I want CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, not insults.

Please note:
Some of the ideas for this fiction came from other fics I read. E.g. the cutie mark is based on Cerulean's mark from "Tears in the Snow". I give full credit to him for this idea, for without his fic, I doubt I would have come up with a mark at all.

Aftermath

Chapter 2 - Aftermath

Dusk awoke in his bed, his body throbbing in pain.

"Ugggggh. Wh-what happened," Dusk wondered.

He sat up, his body protesting, and ripped the covers off. His body was wrapped in bandages and his head screamed in pain. His breath was short and raspy. Dusk flopped back into his bed.

"Honey? Are you awake?" Dusk's mother called from the hallway. "How are you feeling honey?" his mother cooed as she entered the room.

Dusk's mother was a tall mare with a dark blue coat, the same shade as Dusk's. Her mane, however, was a deep green which flowed like water. Her eyes were also the same colour green and could hold a gaze a mile away.

"What happened, mum?" Dusk asked.

"You got into a fight. According to the headmaster, you used your magic very offensively in effort to protect yourself from two bullies," Dusk's mum explained. "They have both been suspended for the rest of the week, but you have to go back on Friday."

Dusk groaned. Beat up and suspended on the first day. How was he going to face the ponies at school on Friday? What would they think of him?

"Mum? Could I have a drink of water?" Dusk asked.

Dusk's mum nodded and went into the kitchen, leaving Dusk to his thoughts.

"The last thing I remember was throwing up and passing out," Dusk thought. "I must have used up all my magic, my head really hurts."

Dusk's mum came back into the room and levitated the glass to Dusk's muzzle. He drank deeply, savouring the soothing feeling as the cool water went down his throat.

"Better?" his mum asked.

"Better," Dusk affirmed.

"I'll let you get some rest, Dusk," Dusk's mum said. "I love you, honey."

"I love you too, mum," Dusk replied, before closing his eyes and going back to sleep.

Dusk spent the rest of the week in his bed, his mother tending to his needs. The first few days were horrible. He spent most of Tuesday sleeping, only getting up to go to the toilet. Despite this fact, his body still protested his every move, his head throbbing, like someone was crushing his skull.

Wednesday brought some relief from the headache, the throbbing going down, making it easier for Dusk to sleep. His injuries no longer protested with such sharp pains. His movements now answered with dull aches.

Thursday was significantly better. Dusk's mother removed his bandages to reveal a few dark bruises where he had been punched. Dusk's mother's healing spells had been quite effective, the aches now almost gone. Dusk's head no longer throbbed and he could finally move around the house.

Dusk had made a speedy recovery, and he was able to move without pain by Friday. As he packed his lunch that morning, Dusk wondered what the ponies at school would do when he walked in the gates. Would they ridicule him? Would other bullies have a go at him? Would they be scared of him? Dusk wanted them to stop staring, but he didn't want them to be scared of him.

"Mum? Can't I just stay home today as well?" Dusk pleaded.

"No, Dusk. You have to go to school today, the headmaster needs to speak to you about what happened on Monday," Dusk's mother replied.

Dusk groaned and finished packing his lunch. He said goodbye to his mother as he clamped the bag between his teeth and walked out the front door.

As Dusk walked down his street, he practiced a confident stance. If he walked into the school gates looking triumphant, maybe they wouldn't be so scared of him.

Dusk turned the corner and saw the large brass gates of Manehattan High. He exhaled and began to walk toward them, holding his head high, and puffing his chest out.

He could hear the chatter coming from the school grounds. It got louder as he moved toward the school gates.

He entered the gates, his confident stance in place.

Ponies stopped to look at him as he strode triumphantly through the gates.

"That's him. The one who bucked up Beam and Shots," Dusk heard a pony say.

"Shit, what are they gonna do?" Dusk thought.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a pink pony running towards him. Dusk stopped as the pony came to a halt in front of him.

"Petal?" Dusk asked.

"Dusk! Oh I'm so glad you're okay!" Petal exclaimed. "Everyone thought you were gonna be expelled."

"What? I guess they wanted me gone, then," Dusk said, down-heartedly.

"NO! They wanted you to stay!" Petal exclaimed. "How could you think that they wanted you gone after you beat the buck out of the school bullies?"

"Yeah bro!" Dusk heard a pony say.

Dusk heard another pony cheer. Another one started clapping. Pretty soon there were several ponies around him applauding him, and cheering his name. This was not what Dusk expected.

"What the buck is all this for?" Dusk asked Petal.

"They're cheering for you, silly," Petal replied. "Beam and Shots terrorized the ponies at school, and you just showed everyone that they aren't invincible."

"This is like something out of a book," Dusk thought. "This shit doesn't happen in real life, does it?"

Petal grabbed Dusk's hoof and dragged him along behind her.

"Come on! We have math!" Petal exclaimed with a smile.

"Ugh, buck that," Dusk replied. 'I hate math, I'm no good at it!"

"Oh come on, you couldn't be that bad," Petal said.

"Trust me when I say this, Petal, I suck at mathematics," Dusk stated.

Petal dismissed his comment with a wave of her hoof and an eye roll. She walked on, dragging Dusk behind her. Dusk yanked his hoof from her grip and continued to reluctantly follow her to their math class.

The hallways were teeming with ponies excited for the weekend, the air buzzing with gossip of what had happened during the week. It still felt like Tuesday for Dusk, the school halls still new and un-explored, the class rooms still intriguing. Dusk had no idea where Petal was taking him, he had left his school map at home that morning and suddenly realised that he was dependent on it. Alongside this realisation, Dusk remembered he had to talk to the headmaster.

"Petal? I need to go to the headmaster's office," Dusk said. "Do you think you could show me the way?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," Petal replied, her smile faltering. She suddenly realised Dusk wouldn't be in class that morning.

Petal turned around and led Dusk down a different set of halls, almost too quickly for him to remember. At least he would be getting out of math that morning. Petal stopped in front of a wooden door with 'Headmaster' stenciled upon in gold. Petal gave Dusk a quick hug and trotted off to class.

Dusk knocked on the door and heard the headmaster call from within.

"Come in!" the headmaster called.

Dusk opened the door and walked inside.

"Ah, Mr. Fire. Please, take a seat," the headmaster said as Dusk closed the door behind him and crossed the room. "Tell me about what happened on Monday, Dusk."

"Well, it's all a little fuzzy, sir," Dusk said. "I remember walking out of Magic class and straight into these two earth ponies. They started harassing me, calling me names and what not. Then they started walking towards me. One of them lunged at me and I had to protect myself. It's all blurry after that, sir, it happened so fast."

"So, you're telling me that these two earth ponies attacked you, and you defended yourself?" the headmaster asked.

"Yes, sir," Dusk replied. "That's what I remember, at least, sir."

"Mr. Fire, I can see that you are telling the truth. The two earth ponies you encountered on Monday were two of this school's most notorious bullies. They have been involved in many incidents since their enrollment at this school. Although I do not approve of your use of violence, I believe your actions were more or less justified. I have, however suspended you because of the injuries that you inflicted on the two bullies," the headmaster explained.

"I thought as much, sir," Dusk replied.

"If these two harass you again, do not engage them, come to me and I will deal with them accordingly. Because it was your first day, I am letting you off with a warning. If this happens again, however, I will not be so forgiving," the headmaster stated.

"Yes, sir, I understand, sir," Dusk replied.

"Now, I believe you have math?" the headmaster asked.

"Yes, sir," Dusk replied. "I left my school map at home this morning, sir. Do you have another copy I could borrow?"

The headmaster nodded and reached into his drawer and pulled out a map for Dusk. Dusk accepted the map gratefully, uttering his thanks, and left the room.

Dusk arrived at the door to his maths class halfway through the lesson. He stood there for a few seconds before taking a deep breath. Reluctantly, he knocked on the door and waited for the teacher to let him in.

The door opened and a rather tall earth pony stood before him. In a deep voice, he spoke, "Good morning. Who are you, and why in Equestria are you so late?"

"Sorry, sir. My name is Dusk Fire and I was at a re-entry meeting with the headmaster," Dusk replied.

"Ah, so you must be the infamous Mr. Fire," the math teacher stated bluntly. "I am Mr. Roston. Welcome to mathematics."

Dusk pushed passed Roston and found his way to the vacant desk next to Petal. Dusk sat down, not really wanting to be here, next to Petal, or even in the class for that matter, but Petal was his only friend so far and Dusk just had to deal with that, even if he didn't like her that much.

"Now then, back to simultaneous equations," Mr. Roston said.

"Ahhh buck," Dusk thought. 'I wish Jet was here. He always helped me with this stuff. I can't even multiply anything other than 2, 5, or 10."

Dusk leaned over to Petal and prodded her lightly.

"What?" Petal whispered.

"Do you know how to do this stuff?" Dusk whispered back.

"No, what about you?' Petal replied.

"I've never been good at math, I can't even do the whole multiplication table,' Dusk answered.

"Mr. Fire," Roston said, raising his voice. "Is there something wrong?"

"Ah, no, sir. I was just asking Petal if she understood this stuff, sir," Dusk answered.

"Well, instead of asking your classmates, who, I must say, can't complete most of these equations anyway, you should ask me. The teacher," Roston scolded.

"Yes, sir," Dusk replied.

Dusk looked over to Petal, who looked visibly shocked. It was quite obvious that she had never been so openly insulted before; by a teacher nonetheless. Dusk felt sorry for her. He didn't mean to get her in trouble, and now she was feeling just as hurt as he was. Dusk face-hoofed. How could he have been so stupid?

The class ended a half hour later. Half an hour of Dusk feebly trying to grasp the concept of simultaneous equations. It was hard enough for him to do one equation, but two at once?

Dusk walked out of the door first, eager to escape the dreary atmosphere of the maths classroom. He stood beside the door waiting for Petal while the rest of the class filed out.

Petal came out last, still looking rather upset. She looked at Dusk and smiled a little.

"Hey. Sorry about that, Petal," Dusk said.

"Naw, that's alright. I'm just not used to teachers insulting me, that's all," Petal replied with a giggle.

Dusk and Petal walked down the hallway together, making idle conversation.

"I can't wait for our date on Saturday!" Petal exclaimed.

"Me neither," Dusk said, sarcastically.

"Don't look so glum, it'll be fun!" Petal said, trying to cheer Dusk up.

"Well, we'll see how it goes then," Dusk said. "I have to get to class, I'll see you later."

They parted ways, Petal going to her dance class and Dusk heading to his magic class. Dusk sighed in disappointment. Magic class was going to be hell, those mares were going to stare at him even more now that he had gotten into that fight. the only time mares didn't stare at him was when he was with Petal. At least that was one good thing about having her around.

Turning the corner, Dusk's prediction came true. The mares waiting in front of the classroom gawked at him. They had plenty to gawk about.

"Why are you staring at me?" Dusk growled.

One of the mares looked away, frightened.

Another said, "What, you don't like being looked at, sexy?"

Dusk tensed up. His gave an angry scowl and took two steps towards the mare that had spoken. The others watched in awe, and fear.

"I don't like being looked at, because I don't like you," Dusk growled, just loud enough for the other mares to hear. "Take your damn eyes off of me. I don't need your admiration, nor do I want it. Leave. Me. ALONE."

The mare's cheeky smile dropped and she stepped backwards, looking shocked. Dusk expected her to cry and run away, but she did the opposite. Her shocked face turned to one of bitter anger and she reeled to slap him. Dusk swiftly blocked her hoof, surprised at his speed, and scowled at her.

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you," Dusk said, through gritted teeth.

Dusk knocked her hoof to the ground and made to punch her. She quickly backed off, now fearing him. Dusk wouldn't hit her, he only raised his hoof to scare her. He looked at the other mares that had surrounded him. They backed off as he looked each of them in the eye, his piercing gaze intimidating them.

Dusk retreated to the other side of the hallway, smiling inside at his small victory over the mares. He had power over them, but how was he going to use that power?

Dusk's secret smile faded as he had realised what he had just done. His anger had once again pushed him to do something he deemed unspeakable.

"Buck," Dusk muttered under his breath.

Professor Short opened the classroom door and everyone filed in, Dusk trailing behind. He took a seat at the back of the class, and slumped back into his chair. Evidently, Short had moved on from simple levitation to telekinesis. 'It is one thing to know how to move objects up and down, but one must know how to manipulate them as well.' Dusk remembered this quote from one of the magic tomes he had in his room.

The students in the class had seemed to improve, and the mare he had confronted seemed to be doing the best. Dusk stared at her from the back of the class, sorry for how he had treated her. She was a deep lavender unicorn with a deep purple mane with magenta streaks running through it. It was cut rather short, but was still thoroughly groomed. Her cutie mark was a small book with magical streaks exploding from the pages. She successfully levitated her book, opened it, and flicked trough the pages. Dusk wanted to show off to her for some reason. He levitated a piece of paper from Professor Short's desk and moved it into the middle of the class. He began to fold it into a swan, something his mother had taught him to do when he was in primary school. He finished the swan and gently placed it on the lavender unicorn's desk. She turned in her place, looking at him quizzically. First this colt threatens her, then he makes her a gift? Dusk gave her a small smile as she looked at him. She turned around, looking back to the front of the class. Dusk's smile dropped.

"Because that was going to work," Dusk thought, sarcastically.

"A fantastic display of telekinesis by Mr. Fire over there!" Short exclaimed, giving Dusk a small clap.

The rest of the class played out like the first day, ponies trying and failing to do spells, Dusk just sitting back, watching them. As he sat there, Dusk thought about how he would apologize to the unicorn he had threatened. She was quite good looking, and was certainly talented in magic. She certainly didn't deserve to be treated the way Dusk had treated her.

Lost in his thoughts, Dusk barely noticed the passage of time. The class was over as soon as it had begun, and Dusk was barely prepared to face the mare he had threatened only an hour ago.

Dusk was one of the first ponies to exit the classroom and, as he did with Petal, he stood beside the door waiting for the unicorn to come out.

She walked past him on her way out, and Dusk cleared his throat. She turned towards Dusk, looking frightened and angry at the same time.

"What do you want?" she asked, bitterly.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry," Dusk replied. "I shouldn't have done that to you. I just don't like being flirted with. Could we start over? My name is Dusk, what's yours?"

The mare just stood there, her mouth agape. She was obviously shocked, but at what? Was she shocked that Dusk could think he could make up so easily? Or was she shocked that he had actually said sorry?

The latter seemed to be true, as the unicorn said, "Well, Dusk, my name is Velvet. I accept your apology."

Dusk sighed in relief. "I thought you were going to slap me. I wouldn't have stopped you, I deserve it," Dusk said.

Velvet offered no argument. She simply smiled and tapped her hoof on his cheek. She turned around and walked off, leaving Dusk in a state of relief.

"Thank god she accepted my apology," Dusk thought.

It was first break and Dusk headed towards the cafeteria, his stomach growling. He walked through the double doors of the cafeteria and was instantly met with a dilemma. Where to sit? All of the tables were full, and he didn't really belong to any group. Petal was his only friend, and he couldn't see her anywhere. Dusk began to walk down one of the aisles, looking for a place to sit. Luckily for Dusk, everyone was too enthralled in eating their morning tea to be interested in him. He reached the end of the first aisle and began to walk up the second. He heard a voice calling his name. Dusk turned around and saw Petal waving at him from a table at the end of the aisle. He sighed in relief, then quickly retracted said sigh when he saw several mares sitting with Petal. Dusk wasn't exactly shocked, of course she'd have other friends, Dusk was just daunted at having to entertain the interests of several other ponies.

He quickly trotted down the aisle towards Petal and took the seat she had saved for him. There were three mares and a colt at the table, another earth pony, like Petal, a unicorn, and two pegasi, who looked nearly identical, apart from the colour of their eyes.

"So this is the stallion you keep telling us about," the unicorn said. "I was starting to think you had made him up. My name is Crystal, it's a pleasure to meet you, Dusk."

"The pleasure is mine, Crystal," Dusk said, extending a hoof.

She giggled and blushed at his gentlemanly nature, and shook his hoof.

The earth pony took his turn and spoke in a southern drawl, "Mighty fine of you ta join us, Dusk. The name's Monroe, but the girls 'ere call me Roe."

"You seem ta be pretty far from 'ome, mate," Dusk said, in his best rural accent. "You sound like ya'd be from Ponyville or somethin'."

Roe chuckled and said, "True that, Dusk. Mah parents moved 'ere from Ponyville a couple o' years back. Mah dad got 'imself a big city job an' we had to move up 'ere."

"Good on 'im, then. I reckon the bits are comin' in now?" Dusk asked.

"Sure are. Dad's gone and bought mah little brother a bloody swing set an' all. Somethin' we couldn't afford out in the country."

"Well, it's been a damn pleasure meetin' ya, Roe," Dusk said as he extended his hoof. Roe took it and gave it a firm shake.

This left the the pegasus twins. "So, who may you be?" Dusk asked the two pegasi.

"I'm Feather, and this is Fleur," the pegasus with blue eyes said.

"It's nice to meet you, Dusk. Petal talks very highly of you," Fleur, the green eyed pegasus, said.

"She does?" Dusk inquired, looking at Petal, who couldn't wipe an embarrassed smile off of her face.

"Yeah, she says you're really handsome!" Feather said, flapping her wings in excitement.

"We can see now that she was telling the truth," Crystal said, with a small smile.

Dusk chuckled, lightly kicking Petal under the table.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Dusk," Fleur said.

"Yeah!" Feather said, now flapping her wings rather fast.

"Calm down, Feather, you know what mum said about overreacting," Fleur said.

"Oh, that's right," Feather said, folding her wings by her side.

"It's been a pleasure, meeting you all," Dusk said, giving an honest smile.

"That wasn't so bad," Dusk thought. "They don't bite, and they don't seem to be full of shit."

Dusk now looked for his lunch bag, which he had placed in his locker that morning, after going to the headmaster's office.

"I seem to have forgotten my lunch," Dusk said, getting up. "I'll be right back."

Dusk used his magic to teleport to his locker, leaving the five ponies sitting at the table in awe. Dusk suddenly remembered he had forgotten his locker key. He quickly looked around, making sure no one was looking, and picked the lock using his magic.

"I knew that one would come in handy," Dusk thought as he opened the door and grabbed his lunch. He quickly closed the door and locked it again using his magic. He then promptly teleported back to Petal and her friends.

"You simply must teach me how to do that," Crystal said.

"Petal didn't tell us you were good wit' magic," Roe said.

"Please, it's really nothing. If I had to bloody run out to my locker, lunch'd be over before I got back," Dusk said, laughing.

He sat down and pulled an apple out of his lunch bag, and took a bite. The apple was sweet, and it satiated his hunger with it's crispy goodness.

Dusk stared off into the distance, lost in his own world, contemplating many things. This was a regular lunchtime activity for Dusk, he had always cherished these moments that he had to himself. To become lost in his own thoughts. He thought about what had brought him here. What had happened on Monday, what was going to happen on Saturday. He wasn't a great fan of mares like Petal, but he was grateful that he had met her. It was hard dealing with Jet's departure. Petal was a welcome reprieve from the gaping hole in his heart that his best friend had left. She wasn't the best choice, but she was definitely better than nothing. That, and she had other friends. A rather regal looking light blue unicorn with a beautifully styled light yellow mane with red highlights. A dark brown cow-colt of an earth pony, who Dusk had likened to quickly. The colt was more down to earth than any of the other ponies around here, and Dusk could appreciate that. Then there was the overly enthusiastic Feather, who seemed to flap her wings at anything exciting. Finally, Fleur, the calm twin sister of Feather. These ponies where an interesting bunch, and Dusk didn't know what to make of them so far. The only thing he was certain about at the moment was that they weren't like any other ponies around here, and Dusk could respect that.

Author's Note

I'm sorry this took so long to come out. I had exam block (finals week), and most of my attention was focused on that. Chapter 3 should be out sooner than Chapter 2. If you like the fic, I'd appreciate it if you clicked that follow button on my profile :D
Thanks for being patient, guys!

The Date

Chapter 3 - The Date

It was Saturday morning. Dusk had woken up a few minutes earlier than usual. He trotted downstairs into the kitchen and prepared his breakfast.

"Crunchy Oats. Quite possibly the best breakfast cereal on the bucking planet," Dusk thought as he levitated the box out of the pantry. He poured himself a bowl and began to eat.

While he munched on his cereal, Dusk contemplated how he should go about this date. Should he wear something, like a vest? There were many ponies around Manehattan that wore vests and hats. Perhaps that was too fancy? Dusk was only a teenager, after all. Perhaps he should get Petal a gift? No, they were just friends, there was no need for that, was there?

Dusk finished his cereal, his mind swimming with many questions about his current dilemma.

"Maybe I should ask dad about this?" Dusk thought.

Almost as if Dusk's father had read his son's thoughts, Dusk's dad trotted down the stairs, alert as ever. This would have been odd for anypony other than Dusk. His dad had served in the guard before he married Dusk's mum and settled down in Manehattan.

"Good morning, Dusk," Dusk's dad said.

"Morning dad," Dusk replied.

Dusk's dad was a large, light grey unicorn with ruby red eyes. He always looked critical, unless he was laughing. He hardly ever smiled, but Dusk knew that was because of what he had seen and done. His mane was the same colour as Dusk's, but his father had managed to conquer it. His mane was cut short, reminiscent of his days as a guard. His tail, however, was as unkempt as Dusk's. He had a large scar down the left side of his chest, a reminder of what he had given to keep Equestria safe.

"Are you ready for our training session today, son?" Dusk's dad asked.

"Uhm, I can't today, dad. I'm going to have lunch with a mare from my school," Dusk replied.

Dusk's dad looked genuinely shocked.

"A mare from school, eh? Is my little soldier finally growing up?" Dusk's dad asked, laughing.

"Shut up, dad, you sound like mum," Dusk replied, grinning broadly.

"Well, I'll let you spend some time with your mare friend today, but don't assume that I'll let you off training so easily next time," Dusk's dad said, grinning.

"Thanks, dad. You know I look forward to training," Dusk replied.

"I know, son, I look forward to it too," Dusk's dad said.

"I'm gonna go get ready," Dusk said, trotting up the stairs to his room.

"But it's only eight o'clock!" Dusk's dad called after him.

"I know, I wanna pick some stuff up from the market!" Dusk called back.

Dusk trotted down Mane street, looking in the store windows, trying to pass some time, and also trying to answer some of the many questions he had. It was now 10:00 am, and Dusk was anxious to get this date over with. They weren't really his thing. In fact, social interactions on the whole were awkward for him, the very fact that Dusk had friends was odd. Having so much experience with bullies, Dusk found it hard to trust many ponies, it was more or less easy to begin a friendship, but complete trust was an issue. It always had been. It was probably going to be a while before Dusk felt he could confide many secrets with anypony. Almost hypocritically, Dusk felt that he could trust Petal and her friends. He didn't know why this was the case. Dusk's dad had told him to trust his instincts. They could save his life one day.

Dusk suddenly had a brilliant idea. He had tried to make friends after Jet left, but when he told them about how he earned his cutie mark, and how that magical outburst could very well have killed Jet, they often turned their backs on Dusk, fearful that he may accidentally kill them in an act of 'loyalty'. This was the perfect test for Petal. If she truly was a good friend, she wouldn't turn her back on him if he told her that story.

But then again, Petal obviously had feelings for him. Love is blind, they say, and maybe she wouldn't even notice that Jet could have been killed. Either way, it was worth a shot and it was the only way Dusk could prove if she a mare worth keeping.

Something shining in the window of a store caught Dusk's eye. A small smile appeared on his face as he walked into the store.

Dusk turned down 2nd street and spied the 'cute cafe' Petal had mentioned on Monday. 'Dandelions and Driftwood' was printed in large letters above the door of the little cafe.

"Interesting name for a cafe," Dusk thought.

Dusk walked down the street towards the cafe. He was ten minutes early, enough time to get a table for two.

He entered the main door of the cafe and waited at the counter in front. A brown, glum looking, mare walked up to the counter.

"Welcome to Dandelions and Driftwood," she said in a rather drab tone.

"I'd like to get a table for two, thanks," Dusk said.

"Inside or outside, sir?" the mare questioned.

"Uhm, outside is fine, thanks," Dusk replied.

"Right this way, sir," the mare said, grabbing two menus and leading Dusk to a table outside.

"Thankyou," Dusk said.

Dusk sat at the table and pretended to read the menu while he waited for Petal. The menu items were high quality, and very expensive. Dusk wasn't sure if he could afford any of this, he only had about 30 bits on him. At least the drinks were cheap; lemonade was only 2 bits. Dusk went through the menu, and found the lunch section. It was full of gourmet dishes that any high class pony would eat. They were all too expensive for Dusk though. His budget now at 28 bits, 26 if he ordered another drink, Dusk looked through the lunch items for the cheapest, and simplest, dish. He spied a dandelion salad with an apple vinaigrette for only 12 bits. His order made up, Dusk closed the menu and placed it down on the table.

As he placed the menu on the table, he spied Petal trotting down the other end of 2nd street. Dusk smiled a little. He hadn't even known her for that long, but she still seemed to brighten up his day. This was certainly something Dusk wouldn't have expected from an average mare.

Petal saw him waiting at the table and instantly blushed.

"Hey, Dusk!" she called out. "I hope I'm not late!"

"Haha, no, you're right on time," Dusk replied, smiling.

Petal sat down across from him, and began making idle chat.

"How are you, Dusk?" she asked.

"Not bad, kinda hungry though," Dusk replied.

Petal giggled and said, "I know what I'm gonna order, I've been here so many times, what about you?"

"I looked through the menu while I waited for you. I was ten minutes early," Dusk replied, smiling.

He called the waiter over.

"What would you like to order, sir, ma'am?" the waiter asked.

"I'll have the dandelion salad with apple vinaigrette, and a lemonade," Dusk said.

"I'll have the poppy seed and daisy sandwich, with apple juice, thanks," Petal said.

"Certainly, allow me to take your menus," the waiter said, scribbling down their orders.

"Dandelion salad?" Petal asked, a quizzical expression on her face.

"Eh, my dad always told me to eat healthy, that, and I can't afford anything else," Dusk said shamefully.

"Oh, I would have thought you were a little richer, living in Manehattan and all," Petal said.

"Yeah, well, my dad has a crappy desk job. He was honourably discharged from the guard due to injuries, and was placed here with a two bit job," Dusk said. "We earn enough to live by, and my dad gave me 50 bits to spend today. I don't want to spend it all, though."

"Alright then," Petal said, an understanding look on her face.

It didn't seem like she minded, but Dusk wasn't so sure. She was a Manehattanite at heart, Dusk was more down to earth.

"So, tell me about yourself, Petal," Dusk said.

"There really isn't much to tell, to be honest. I was born and raised here, went to the primary school in east Manehattan. I'm not really that interesting," Petal said, a hint of sadness in her tone.

"You don't have to be interesting, you know," Dusk said, a warm smile on his face.

That seemed to perk Petal up a bit. She smiled, and blushed a little.

"What about you," Petal asked. "You said your dad was in the guard once, what was that like?"

"I don't know really. He was discharged before I was born. He settled down in Manehattan with my mum after that, and they had me," Dusk said. "He still keeps up a military style training regime, though. I started training with him when I was about 8, I think."

"Is it hard, the training?" Petal asked.

"Eh, you get used to it. Usually I'm either reading or training. Dad says I should keep my fitness levels up and stay healthy," Dusk said. "You're actually chewing into one of my training sessions at the moment. You should feel flattered."

Petal giggled and said with a cheeky smile, "Oh, trust me, I do."

Dusk was put off a little by the flirtatious comment, but put on a weak smile anyway.

"What do you do in your spare time?" Dusk asked.

"Not much, really. If I'm not hanging out with my friends, I'm usually just sleeping," Petal replied.

"Sounds fun," Dusk said sarcastically.

The waiter returned with their meals, interrupting their chat. He placed the food on the table, alongside the drinks.

"Thanks, mate," Dusk said, and tipped him.

Dusk drank some of his lemonade while he watched Petal eat her sandwich. It was interesting, watching an earth pony eat a sandwich. She picked it up in her hooves and took a bite, some of the filling falling out onto the plate. Petal was a beautiful rose pink mare, with a pastel green mane. She had rose pink highlights running through her mane and tail, both of which were masterfully styled. She had light emerald eyes that shined in the sunlight. She was quite good looking, and Dusk felt slightly attracted to her.

"What?" Petal asked, noticing Dusk watching her.

"Oh, I've just never seen an earth pony eat a sandwich before," Dusk said, smiling a little.

Petal giggled and returned to her sandwich while dusk levitated a piece of salad to his mouth. The flavour was amazing. The vinaigrette complemented the salad perfectly, and it drove Dusk's tastebuds insane.

"This is possibly the best tasting salad on this planet," Dusk said.

"They make good food here," Petal replied.

"Amen to that," Dusk said, returning to his salad.

He attempted to pace himself, wanting the experience to last forever, but all good things must come to an end and Dusk had soon finished the salad and was left with half a glass of lemonade. He finished the lemonade as Petal finished her sandwich.

"They sure do make great food here. I don't think I've eaten something so tasty," Dusk said.

"This is one of the better cafes around Manehattan, I eat here a lot," Petal said.

The waiter returned a final time and took their empty dishes.

"Would you like the desert menu, sir, ma'am?" he inquired.

"I'll give it a miss, thanks," Dusk said.

"Me too," Petal said.

"I'll bring the bill out," the waiter said.

"Who's paying?" Dusk asked, anxious. He could only just afford his own meal.

"We'll split it. You said yourself that you can barely afford your meal," Petal said, smiling.

The waiter returned with the bill and placed it on the table.

"You can pay at the counter," he said, and went to serve another table.

Dusk looked at the bill. 55 bits. Not too bad, but Dusk couldn't afford it.

"It's 55 bits. I have 30, I'll pay for that," Dusk said.

"You don't have to," Petal said.

"I know, but I want to," Dusk said, smiling.

Petal gave him 25 bits and Dusk took the bill to the counter and paid the cashier. He walked back to the table.

"Now what?" Dusk asked.

"Well..." Petal said. "You could walk me home."

"Righto, you direct," Dusk said, smiling.

Dusk and Petal walked side by side down Hay street, talking about stuff. Nothing specific, really, just, stuff.

"Hey, you said your dad gave you 50 bits to spend today, but when you paid the bill, you said you only had 30," Petal said suddenly.

"Yeah, I bought something down on Mane street before lunch. It's nothing important," Dusk replied.

"Oh, what'd you buy?" Petal asked.

"Just a little brooch. It's really nothing," Dusk said.

"Oh, alright then," Petal said, knowing that pressing him would get her nowhere. "On another topic, how did you get your cutie mark?"

"My cutie mark? I'd rather not tell you," Dusk said.

"Oh, come on, tell me!" Petal said, smiling.

Dusk suddenly remembered the plan he had cooked up that morning, and said, "Alright then, if you really want to know,"

"I got it back in primary school. I had this friend who was new to the school. I saw him getting bullied and rescued him and we became friends after that. We talked for a bit and then I left him on his own while I went to the cafeteria. When I got back, he was being pummelled by a huge earth pony. In my rage, I released an explosive magical burst, knocking the bully flat and sending my friend flying. I did quite a bit of damage to the building we were in, too." Dusk explained. "I rushed my friend to the school nurse, and the nurse told me that if it wasn't for me, my friend probably would have died. After the nurse said that, I got my cutie mark. The irony is, my magical outburst was probably more likely to kill him than that bully."

This last addition caused Petal to recoil a little in fear. Dusk suddenly became scared himself. Was she gonna leave him here, knowing that his magic could kill her?

"That's amazing. Your friend must be one lucky pony," Petal said. "Could your magic really have killed him?"

"Yeah, my dad told me that that kind of spell had a 10% target survival rate. Luckily both the bully and my friend survived," Dusk replied.

Petal's display of fear seemed to have no repercussions, as she said, "Well, at least I know you can protect your friends."

Dusk was almost shocked, but he had expected it from her.

"When I told that story to other ponies, they just turned their backs on me, and never talked to me again," Dusk said.

"Really? Sure it might be a little confronting, but really?" Petal asked.

"Yeah. You're the first pony who hasn't run off," Dusk said. "Thank you."

Petal smiled warmly and said, "You're my friend, Dusk. Friends don't leave each other behind."

Dusk hugged her. He almost ran into her as he did so. Petal squirmed for a second, but then surrendered, hugging him back.

"You have no idea how long it's been since someone has said anything like that to me," Dusk said, almost crying.

Petal had absolutely no idea what to say to this. She just hugged him. She had fantasized about this ever since she first laid eyes on him, and she tried to make it last as long as possible.

Dusk suddenly stopped hugging her and looked away.

"I'm really sorry. God, I've only known you for two days, and I'm already hugging you. This must be really awkward, I'm so sorry," Dusk apologised, not making eye contact.

Petal just stood there, mildly confused at Dusk's sudden mood swing.

"It's not that bad. I've wanted to hug you since I first saw you," Petal said, giggling.

Wrong move. Dusk just turned his head even more, not in the mood to be flirted with.

"Come one," Dusk mumbled, and began walking again.

They walked the rest of the way to her house in silence, Dusk looking straight ahead, Petal only talking when she needed to direct Dusk.

They arrived in front of Petal's house, a large cottage in the richer side of the suburbs. Petal opened the front gate and was about to walk through when Dusk stopped her.

"Petal, wait. I-" Dusk began.

"No, don't apologise, Dusk," Petal cut him off. "I shouldn't have said that back there, you obviously really meant what you said, I shouldn't have taken it so lightly."

Dusk opened his mouth, thought for a bit, and then closed it. He then levitated a small golden clasp out of his bit pouch. It was a small hair clip, in the shape of a daisy. He levitated it up to Petal's mane and slid it in snugly.

"Thanks," Dusk said, staring at nothing in particular. "Thanks for being my friend."

He then turned and walked back the way he had came, leaving Petal standing at the gate, wondering if he would ever want to speak to her again.

Author's Note

Third chapter now, people seem to be liking this. I guess I should ask you guys to go like my Facebook page :)
Hit that like button guys, I really appreciate the feedback!
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Flashback

Chapter 4 - Flashback

As Dusk walked down the street, he thought back to when Jet told him he had to leave. The time that his best friend, the only pony he ever trusted, tore him apart.

It was a Monday morning, and Dusk was sitting by himself in the school cafeteria; He hadn't seen Jet all day.

"Where are you, Jet?" Dusk wondered, as he ate his biscuit.

A red pegasus entered the cafeteria, and Dusk immediately recognised his friend, Jet.

"Hey, Jet!" Dusk called from across the cafeteria.

Jet looked particularly down today. In fact, Dusk had never seen Jet this sad, before. He was always smiling, laughing, joking, brightening up Dusk's day.

"Hey, Jet. What's wrong? You're never this down," Dusk inquired.

"H-hey, Dusk. I-I h-h-," Jet began.

"Hey, it's okay," Dusk reassured, placing a hoof on Jet's shoulder.

"I have to m-m-move to Las Pegasus," Jet said finally.

Jet stared into space for a second, the statement floating in the air before him. He then suddenly buried his face into Dusk's chest, and cried.

Dusk wrapped Jet into a tight hug, holding his friend close. He was angry, and he was sad, and he was confused. How could Jet be leaving? They had only just met. Given that it was one and a half years ago, it seemed like it was yesterday.

Dusk waited for Jet to calm down before asking, "You're leaving?"

"I wish... I didn't... have to." Jet replied, between sobs. "But the orphanage... it's filled to capacity, and the manager hates me."

"So... this is goodbye?" Dusk asked.

"I was given... a week's notice," Jet replied.

"Well, then we make this a week to remember," Dusk said. "You used to talk about this filly you met in Cloudsdale. Rainbow Dash, was it? She was like your fillyfriend or something."

"She wasn't my fillyfriend, Dusk. I miss her, though," Jet replied.

"I think my dad knows a few pegasi from his old unit. I could ask if he could find someone to contact Dash," Dusk proposed.

"I'd like that, Dusk. I'd like that a lot," Jet replied, smiling.

They walked to their classes like any normal day. Dusk said goodbye to Jet, and began pondering how to make Jet's final week here a great one.

"Hey, dad," Dusk said.

Dusk's dad looked up from the book he was reading and said, "What is it, Dusk?"

"Do you know any pegasi who live in Cloudsdale?" Dusk asked.

"Yeah, I think I do. Why do you ask?" Dusk's father replied.

"My friend, Jet, is moving to Las Pegasus on Sunday and I wanted to get one his old friends down here," Dusk said. "I want his last week here to be memorable."

"Sure, what's the friend's name?" Dusk's father asked.

"Rainbow Dash, I think," Dusk replied.

"Rainbow Dash... I think one of the guys in my old unit had a daughter by that name. I'll send him a letter," Dusk's father said.

"Thanks, dad!" Dusk shouted, hugging his dad tightly.

"Anything for my little trooper," Dusk's dad said, patting Dusk on the head.

The following day, Dusk greeted Jet with a huge smile.

"What?" Jest asked. "What could you possibly be smiling about at a time like this?"

"Well, it's just that my dad said he could get Dash out here this week!" Dusk exclaimed.

"Oh..." Jet said, too stunned for words.

Dusk laughed as he watched Jet trying to comprehend what his friend had just done for him. This could possibly have been the biggest favour anypony had ever done for Jet. It was so shocking, the words escaped him.

"You don't have to say anything, Jet. I did it for you, and I expect nothing in return," Dusk said, placing a hoof on his friend's shoulder once again.

Jet closed his mouth, and his eyes began to water.

"Don't cry on me again, Jet," Dusk joked.

This made Jet smile, and he let a tear roll down his muzzle before wiping his eyes.

"This is probably the biggest favour anypony has ever done for me. I don't know how to thank you, Dusk," Jet said.

"You know I'd do anything for you, Jet. You're my friend. And friends don't leave friends behind," Dusk said, smiling warmly.

Dusk snapped out of his flashback, the words ringing in his ears. That's where he had heard the phrase before.

"But I broke that promise. I left him behind. I couldn't stop him from leaving," Dusk mumbled.

"You can be adopted, right, Jet?" Dusk asked.

"Yeah, I guess," Jet answered. "I'm not sure how long the paperwork takes though."

"There has to be somepony around here that wants to adopt you," Dusk said, optimistically.

"No, Dusk, there isn't. I've looked," Jet said, sadly.

"What about Dash's family? Surely she'd get her parents to adopt you," Dusk said.

"I was thrown out of Cloudsdale, Dusk. Even if Dash's parents adopted me, I wouldn't be able to live with them," Jet said, looking at the ground.

"Well, what about my parents?" Dusk said. "They'd adopt you."

"I couldn't ask you to do that, Dusk. Your dad can barely afford three ponies. I'd just send you into poverty," Jet said.

"But..." Dusk trailed off.

What Jet said was true, and no matter how optimistic Dusk could be, he knew that deep in his heart, his parents couldn't afford to adopt Jet.

"I don't know what to do," Dusk said. "That's all I can think of."

"You don't have to adopt me, Dusk. You don't have to find anypony to adopt me, either," Jet said. "What you've done for me over the last one and a half years has been more than anypony has ever done for me. If anypony here is in debt, it's me."

"If only my parents had more money, then you wouldn't have to leave me here," Dusk said, beginning to cry.

"I wish that too, Dusk. But sometimes, stuff just doesn't work out the way it should," Jet said.

It was now Jet's turn be comforting, as Dusk suddenly broke down and cried uncontrollably. How could Jet leave at a tie like this? How could he be sent away? Why did this have to happen? Dusk collapsed into Jet and cried into his coat like a little filly. Jet was the only person to ever have seen Dusk like this. Dusk had never cried in the short time Jet had known him.

"You can't leave!" Dusk shouted. "You just can't! We haven't even graduated yet!"

Jet just hugged his friend tighter. Dusk could fell him beginning to shake, and he could hear him sob. They were being torn apart by a flawed system.

They stood there, in each other's embrace, weeping. Luckily they were in a secluded place. If anyone saw them, they may question what they were doing, and possibly bully them. No onlooker could possibly hope to understand the depth of their friendship. They couldn't possibly understand what they meant to each other.

Dusk again awoke from his flashback, tears rolling down his muzzle as he remembered how he had felt on that day. Jet was the only pony that had ever been there for him. The only pony who accepted him for who he was. The only pony who didn't care about Dusk's history.

Dusk walked home by himself that afternoon. He didn't really know why he did. But he took the opportunity to look for a gift for Jet. He walked through the markets and looked at some of the various trinkets that were on display.

Something shiny caught Dusk's eye. Lying in a wooden box with a red velvet lining, was a small golden medallion.

"Excuse me, sir," Dusk asked the shopkeeper. "Am I allowed to pick this up?"

"Certainly, young sir," the shopkeeper said.

Dusk levitated the medallion out of the small box, and rotated it, looking it over. It was a smooth, polished medallion, with no markings on it whatsoever. Dusk spied a small button on the side of the medallion. Pushing it in with his magic, the medallion flipped open to reveal a compass. Engraved on the inside of the lid was a small phrase.

"Not all who wander, are lost," Dusk mumbled, reading the engraving. "How much is this, sir?"

"For you... 10 bits," the shopkeeper said.

"Really?" Dusk asked.

"Really," the shopkeeper said, smiling.

Dusk pulled 10 bits from his bit pouch, it was his entire month's allowance. He gave the money to the shopkeeper, who placed the compass in the wooden box, and gave it to Dusk.

"Thank you so much, sir!" Dusk exclaimed, before trotting home, happily.

Dusk burst through the front door, startling his mother.

"Don't do that, Dusk!" she scolded.

"Sorry, mum," Dusk said closing the door. "I got a present for Jet! Do you have any ribbons?"

"I think I do. Would you like me to put a bow on it?" Dusk's mother replied.

"Yeah!" Dusk said, enthusiastically.

"Alright then, Dusk. Wait here," Dusk's mother said, chuckling.

Dusk trotted to the table and placed the wooden box on the table. His mum came back into the room with three different colours of ribbons.

"Red, green, or blue?" Dusk's mother asked.

"Red. It's Jet's favourite colour!" Dusk replied.

Dusk's mother smiled as she used her magic to tie a ribbon around the box. When she was done, Dusk levitated the box into the air and scrutinized the bow.

"It's perfect!" Dusk said enthusiastically. "Thanks mum."

Dusk placed the box on the table again and hugged his mother. Then he started crying.

"What's wrong, sugarcube?" Dusk's mother asked.

"Jet's leaving at the end of the week!" Dusk wailed. "The orphanage kicked him out!"

"Oh, Dusk. I'm so sorry," Dusk's mother cooed, while stroking Dusk's mane.

"I don't want him to go!" Dusk said, his voice muffled in his mother's coat.

"I know, sweetie. I know," Dusk's mother cooed again.

Dusk cried and hugged his mother for a long time. He just it all out. He cried until he could cry no more, and kept his hooves wrapped around his mother long after.

It was later that night when Dusk had decided to ask his father about Rainbow Dash. He walked down the stairs into the living room and saw his father reading a book.

"Dad?" Dusk asked.

"What is it, son?" Dusk's father replied, looking up from his book.

"Is Rainbow Dash gonna be able to come?" Dusk asked.

"Yes she is, Dusk," his father replied, smiling. "Her father replied to my letter today. He says she'll be able to come out by tomorrow. She'll arrive with her mother, Rainbowshine, and they'll leave on Saturday."

"YES!" Dusk shouted. "Thanks, dad! Jet's gonna love this!"

Dusk quickly hugged his father and galloped up the stairs to his bedroom.

Dusk Fire knocked on Rainbow's motel room door and waited. Her mother answered.

"You must be Dusk Fire," Rainbowshine said with a smile. "Hold on a tic, I'll get Dash."

Rainbowshine walked back into the motel room and called for Rainbow Dash, who appeared from her room a few seconds later, looking rather tired. She walked to the door and yawned.

"Rainbow Dash, this Is Dusk Fire," Rainbowshine said.

"Hey, Dusk," Dash said.

Dusk stood there for a second, staring at Dash. She was an average looking pegasus with a cyan coat. Except for one thing. Her unkempt mane was all the colours of the rainbow. Dusk had never seen any pegasus quite like her.

"H-hello," Dusk said, extending a hoof, awkwardly.

Rainbow Dash shook it while rubbing her left eye. It was quite obvious that she had just woken up.

"Mrs. Dash, would it be okay if I talked to your daughter in private for a bit?" Dusk asked.

"Sure," Rainbowshine said, smiling.

"Thanks," Dusk replied.

Rainbow Dash yawned and walked out the door, her mother closing it behind her.

"So what did ya wanna talk about?" Dash asked.

"Well, my friend is leaving at the end of the week. His orphanage is kicking him out and I wanted to make his last day special. He always talked about you, so I wanted to see if you could come out here and make his day," Dusk replied.

"And who, exactly, is the friend of yours?" Dash asked flatly.

"Oh, right," Dusk said. "His name is Jet Stream."

All evidence of tiredness was suddenly gone from her eyes when Rainbow Dash heard 'Jet Stream'.

"Did you say Jet Stream?" Dash asked.

"Yeah, he's my best friend. He talked about you all the time when we first met. He really misses you," Dusk replied.

"Why didn't you say so? Oh my gosh!" Dash said, playfully punching Dusk in the shoulder. "I haven't seen him in, like, ages!"

"Well, I want you to come to school with me tomorrow. I'm gonna give him a gift, and then I'll call for you," Dusk explained. "You'll come out from around the corner of the building and say hi, I guess."

"I can't believe I'm gonna see him after all this time," Dash said, staring off into the distance. "I thought I'd never see him again."

"I'll pick you up from here at 6 tomorrow and I'll walk you to the school," Dusk said.

"Yup, yup," Dash said, not really listening. "6 AM, sure."

"So it's a plan?" Dusk asked.

"Yeah, sure. Gosh, Jet, I thought you were gone. You didn't even say goodbye..." Dash trailed off. "I'll see you tomorrow, Dusk."

"Great. Its Jet's last day tomorrow, I want it to be really special," Dusk said.

Rainbow Dash placed her hoof on Dusk's shoulder and said, "You have no idea how much I've missed him, Dusk. Thankyou for this."

Dusk smiled and Rainbow Dash took her hoof off of Dusk's shoulder, suddenly embarrassed at her show of intimacy. She uttered thanks once more and retreated into her motel room, leaving Dusk to prepare the next day's events.

It was Friday morning, one day before Jet had to leave, and Dusk had left him in their spot on the edge of the school playing fields. Jet stood there, wondering where Dusk could have gone to, when a small crack sounded next to him. Jet turned to see Dusk, who had materialised out of thin air. It seemed he had recently mastered his teleportation spell.

"Sorry I'm late, Jet. I had to go get your gift," Dusk said.

"A gift?" Jet asked.

"Yeah," Dusk replied.

Dusk levitated the small wooden box out from his saddle bag, and placed it in Jet's hooves. Jet untied the bow on the box, and opened it. He picked up the compass in his hooves and stared at it.

"What's this?" Jet asked.

"Press that button there," Dusk said.

Jet pressed the small button and the lid flipped open, revealing the compass and message inside.

"It's so you can find me again," Dusk said.

Jet looked up from the compass, tears in his eyes.

"Thanks, Dusk," Jet said. "I'll cherish this for the rest of my life."

"I know you will," Dusk said.

Jet looked at the compass again, the golden surface gleaming, almost glowing. It was the most thoughtful gift anypony had ever given Jet, and he would never let it go. A tear rolled down his muzzle and splashed onto the glass interior of the compass. Jet closed the lid and placed the compass back in the box.

"Now, that's not all," Dusk said.

"That's not all?" Jet asked.

"Remember when I asked my dad if he could get Rainbow Dash out here?" Dusk asked.

"Yeah," Jet said.

"Well, she's here!" Dusk shouted, signalling Rainbow Dash to come out from her hiding place.

Dash strode around the corner and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Jet. Dusk had said he'd be here, but she didn't really think he was telling the truth.

Jet saw Rainbow Dash and froze up. It had been one and a half years since he had last seen her. Dusk had said he'd get her out here, but it seemed impossible. Any trace of doubt was now gone from his mind.

Jet and Dash stood like statues, for a few minutes. They just stared at each other. Both were in disbelief. Both thought they had lost each other.

Then Dash broke her stare and ran full tilt into Jet, tackling him to the ground. She had gotten much stronger since they had last seen each other. She buried her muzzle into Jet's chest, and he could feel her wet tears dampen his coat.

Jet put his hooves around her and hugged her tight.

Dash looked up, her eyes glistening from her tears. She then kissed him on the cheek.

"This isn't the Rainbow Dash I knew in Cloudsdale," Jet remarked. "I thought you didn't like girly stuff like kisses."

"Shut up," Rainbow Dash snapped. "I was gonna kiss you if you won that race, but they took you away before I could. They didn't even let me say goodbye. I've been waiting one and a half years to do that."

Dusk looked upon the scene in awe. He had never seen such an act performed by ponies so young. Seeing them like this brought a tear to his eye. Jet was happy, and that was what Dusk had wanted. Jet deserved to be happy on his last day.

"Uh, Jet?" Dusk asked. "I didn't think this would happen. Should I go?"

Jet and Rainbow Dash said in unison, "It doesn't matter, so long as I'm with Je-sh."

The final word was a mash up of their names. It was almost a metaphor for their friendship.

Dusk left Rainbow Dash and Jet entwined and went to sit on a nearby bench. As he sat down, he suddenly realised that he was jealous of Jet. Dusk was too young to grasp the full concept of love, as was the same for many ponies his age, but he knew love when he saw it. Dusk had witnessed his parents express their love in much the same way, with oft kisses, tender hugs, and affectionate mumbles. Where many ponies Dusk's age would have been grossed out at this, Dusk was more or less curious. The concept of love was intriguing. It was like a new book, waiting for it's first pages to be turned. Dusk had tasted friendship, and seeing they way Rainbow Dash and Jet looked at each other, Dusk felt he wanted more. He was too young to understand these feelings though, and they only managed to confuse and frighten him. Dusk pushed these thoughts out of his head, and focused on the fact that he had accomplished his mission. Jet was happy.

Dusk left Jet and Rainbow Dash on their own for the rest of the day. Jet showed Dash around the school, and her unique mane and boyish attitude caught many curious looks from the ponies in the school.

Dusk caught up with Jet and Dash at the end of the day, both of them having enjoyed their time together, with Dusk growing ever more jealous.

"Jet, can I tell you something?" Dusk asked.

"Yeah. What is it?" Jet replied.

"Well, I did all of this for you, and seeing how happy Rainbow Dash makes you, made me jealous," Dusk said. "You have a very special friend in her, and I don't have anything close. I'm not saying that you're not a great friend, I'm just jealous of the relationship you have with Rainbow Dash. I feel really bad about it though, because I know I shouldn't be jealous of your happiness."

"It's alright, Dusk," Jet said. "I can see why you'd be jealous. I'm not offended."

"You aren't?" Dusk said, surprised.

"No. I'm not," Jet said.

"Thanks for understanding, Jet," Dusk said.

Jet just smiled and the two walked Dash back to her motel room together.

Dusk walked Jet back to the orphanage as the sun set in the distance, casting amber light on the path ahead of them. They said nothing, not wanting to prolong the hurting that accompanied their final stroll together. They walked in silence, the sun throwing the sky into a mosaic of ambers, reds, purples, and pinks.

They arrived at the orphanage as the street lights began to turn on.

"I guess this is goodbye, then," Jet said.

"Yeah," Dusk replied.

"Today has been the best day of my life, Dusk," Jet said. "All because of you. Thankyou so, so much."

Dusk smiled and said, "You would've done the same."

"You know it," Jet said.

Jet walked up to the orphanage doors and placed his hoof on the handle. He pause for a second.

"Dusk, I was broken after they threw me out of Cloudsdale," Jet began. "If it wasn't for your kindness and understanding, I don't think I would ever have gotten over it. You saved my life twice that day, one and a half years ago. You saved me from that bully. But you also saved me from myself. You have been the best friend an estranged pegasus like me could ask for, and for that, I am forever in your debt. I will never forget you, Dusk."

Dusk stood there for a few seconds, letting the words sink in before saying, "Arrivederci, Jet Stream."

"What was that?" Jet asked.

"It means, 'Until we meet again'," Dusk replied.

"Arrivederci, Dusk Fire," Jet said, and entered the orphanage, leaving Dusk by himself on the steps.

Author's Note

This chapter is a bit of a collab with one of my friends, Kruziiksilmiin, who is currently writing his own fic centered around Jet Stream. I'd like to thank him for his support and input, and he is a really great mate. Go read what he's got here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/106413/the-life-of-jet-stream and give it a like! Show this guy support, he's really epic!

Preparations

Chapter 5 - Preparations

Dusk walked through the streets of Manehattan, the sun's rays dying around him. He had been walking for hours with no direction, purposefully losing himself in the bustling city. His hooves hurt from walking, his muzzle was wet from crying, his heart broken from his flashback. He felt broken, defeated. He continued to walk, tiring himself, hoping that he would pass out on the pavement. All of his carefully built walls had been torn down. Every effort to keep the outside world away, failed. He had built these walls, constructed these defences, strengthened them over years of hardship. The years he had spent alone, without Jet. And they had fallen faster than he could have imagined. A combination of Petal's flirtatious comments, and the flashbacks of his time with Jet, left Dusk's heart open to the world's evil.

He had built these wall against shallow ponies like her. They were there to protect him. He hated shallow ponies with a passion, a glorious, fiery passion. Once upon a time this wasn't the case. He had had a crush on a mare in grade six, he loved her with all of his heart. She was shallow, though. Preferring to go for ponies who looked like stallions. Dusk was a late bloomer, and still looked like very foalish until the end of grade seven. His crush had told him to get lost, that he wasn't what she was looking for. He wasn't good looking, he wasn't nice. Everything she said was a lie, but it stung Dusk. Before she had done this, she had used him. She took what he offered, his undying loyalty, and abused it. Used it to get what she wanted. It was that day that he built another wall. One to keep out shallow mares. He wouldn't risk having his heartstrings plucked by a pony who didn't deserve his love. He was afraid of what mares like that could do to him. He met that fear with rage, and portrayed it as hate.

Yet still he walked on. Still he stood standing. Some part of him not willing to give up because of one measly comment and an event that had long since passed. He had come this far, why give up now? Dusk had been depressed before, he knew what it felt like. He knew that he could not hope to beat it by living in his past, by reminiscing about times of yore. Jet was really the only pony in Equestria who truly understood him. He had left, leaving Dusk in the dark once more. Jet was Dusk's guiding light, and he needed him more than he ever thought. Before Jet, Dusk had been avoided by every single pony in the school. He thought he would never have a friend. That was why Jet was so special. Because Jet didn't care about what Dusk had done, he saw him for who he was.

He wiped the tears from his eyes and broke into a gallop. He galloped down the streets of Manehattan, a scowl of determination plastered on his face. He would not give in to the darkness that festered in his heart. He could not, for it would be the death of him.

As he galloped, he thought of nothing but what lay ahead of him. How he was going to deal with Petal on Monday. What he would say. She had flirted with him, and he had overreacted. She was innocent, but Dusk still felt hurt that she could not take him seriously. It was not enough, however, to warrant his wrath. She had done nothing but misinterpret his actions. Why should he be angry at that? Maybe it was because, at that moment, he had let his walls down for her, and she had stabbed him in the heart. What reason would she have for doing that, though? She did not know him well. It was like letting a baby play with a house of cards; something was bound to go wrong.

He decided he would explain to her what had happened. She deserved that. He couldn't let her worry about something so trivial.

Dusk got home at around 6:30, hooves and body aching and damp from sweat. His mother yelled in surprise as Dusk came through the door.

"Dusk, where were you!" Dusk's mother yelled. "I hope you didn't do anything wrong with that mare you met."

"Mum, I'm only 13, do you really think I'd do anything like that?" Dusk said.

"I know you wouldn't, Dusk. But a mother has to worry," Dusk's mother replied.

"I'm going to go wash up, I smell like a pig," Dusk said.

"You should probably do that, you look like you've been swimming," Dusk's mother replied, a little disgusted.

Dusk walked into the kitchen a while later. He levitated an apple from the fruit bowl on the table, not particularly peckish. He then walked to the basement, where he found his father doing hoof-stand pushups.

"The one thing I don't get," Dusk said, taking a bite from his apple, "Is if we don't have much money, how do we have all this equipment?"

Dusk surveyed the room he had become so familiar with. On one wall were different exercise machines, out dated by a few years, but still functional. On the other wall was an assortment of weapons Dusk's father had collected over the years. Alongside these weapons was his father's guard armour, a large gash running down the left side of the chest plate. Whatever had given Dusk's father his scar had cut right through the metal of his chest plate.

Dusk's father flipped over onto his back and jumped onto his hooves in one quick motion.

"When I was discharged, my boss gave me one million bits as cut off pay," Dusk's father said. "I spent about a quarter of it on the equipment here, the house, and your schooling. the rest of it is in a safety deposit box in Canterlot."

"I guess that makes sense," Dusk said, finishing his apple.

"So then, why are you so late, Dusk?" his father asked. "You didn't go and, well, you know."

Dusk looked at his father blankly and said, "Dad, do you really think I would do that?"

"True. You're not that kind of pony," Dusk's father replied. "So, if that's not the case, what is?"

"There were some... complications at the end of the date," Dusk said. "Some stuff she said to me triggered memories of Jet. I just lost myself in the city while I let the memories flow."

"Oh, Dusk. I know how you feel," Dusk's father said. "I lost many of my friends in the Pony-Griffon Wars. I have some horrific memories of those times."

"You never really told me how you got your scar," Dusk said, turning his attention to the armour displayed on the wall.

"I guess you're old enough to hear that story," Dusk's father said.

Dusk's father levitated two seats into the middle of the room and beckoned Dusk to take one.

"Take a seat, Dusk, and I'll tell you about how I got my scar," Dusk's father said.

"We'll have to cut through here, sir," Gravity said.

"Through the forest? You've gotta be kidding me, Gravity," Clipper said.

Gravity and Clipper were two grey earth ponies, both built, both toting arm blades, and both wearing the earth pony issue elite armour.

"Gravity has a good eye, Clipper. That forest will let us flank the griffon's position," Dusk's father said.

"Flames is right, guys. Let's go," Dasher said. "I'll get my pegasi into the air and scout ahead, Flames."

"Roger that, Dasher," Flame said, as Dasher called Tornado and Blitz into the air.

Tornado and Blitz were heavily built pegasi, wearing pegasus issue elite armour. They were armed with hoof blades that were concealed behind their vambraces. These weapons were favoured by pegasi because of their speed. Both Tornado and Blitz were sky blue pegasi, with white manes. These where not their natural colours, though. They were camouflage dyes.

Dasher, however, was a little bit different. He was sky blue, like Tornado and Blitz, but this was his natural colour. His mane, however, was distinct. It was every colour of the rainbow, and would not dye like mono-colour or bi-colour manes. Dasher had to resort to other means of concealing his unique appearance. He was also wearing standard elite pegasus armour and toted the hoof blades.

Dusk's father was one of two unicorns in the unit. The other unicorn was a dark green, wearing the unicorn issue elite armour. He had two crossbows strapped to his back. Dusk's father stood beside him, wearing his unicorn captain's armour. He had a crossbow strapped to his back, and had dual pegasus hoof blades.

"What's the plan, Flames?" Sparks asked.

"We wait until we have more intel," Flames replied.

"So we just sit on our flanks and wait for Dasher to get back?" Clipper asked.

"Eeyup," Flames replied.

"I hope Boulder is gonna be okay," Gravity said. "He took quite a hit in the last engagement."

"He'll be fine, he took that fall for Night," Sparks said. "Besides, Boulder's an earth pony, they heal fast."

The unit was down two ponies, a unicorn and an earth pony, but they were too far in to pull out. 7 elite guards were sufficient for the operation Flames' unit was carrying out. The unit's previous engagement had seen Night ambushed by four griffons. He had sustained heavy injuries by the time Boulder had smashed through two of them. The other two overpowered Boulder and where at his throat when Dasher came from above and stabbed the two griffons in their necks. Night and Boulder had been carried out by pegasus carriage.

Dasher, Tornado, and Blitz flew back to the group. They landed hard, panting.

"We've got trouble," Dasher said.

"What do you mean by trouble?" Flames asked.

"Griffons. They saw us, they're coming this way," Dasher replied.

At that moment, a griffon let out a shriek, landed on Clipper, and began to tear at his face. Another griffon flew out from the the treeline and took a swipe at Sparks with his claws. Gravity went into action, using his arm blade to knock the griffon off of Clipper. The griffon landed hard on it's back and attempted to scramble into an attack position. Gravity reared his arm blade and impaled the griffon through the jaw, into its head. The second griffon attacking Sparks made several flurried swipes before backing off to prepare itself. Sparks used the small amount of time to stun the griffon, pull out his crossbow, and out a bolt through the griffon's skull.

Ten more griffons leaped from the trees, breaking off and attacking each pony. Four of the griffons surrounded Dasher and began to close in on him. Dasher looked unarmed, his hoof blades retracted and concealed behind his vambraces. One of the griffons leaped at Dasher's throat, and Dasher flew into action. He ducked out of the way and brought his hoof up into the griffon's abdomen, activating his hoof blade. The blade sprang forth from it's casing, and speared through the griffon. The blade retracted as another griffon went at Dasher. Dasher went prone and swept the griffon of of its legs. The griffon fell flat onto its stomach, and Dasher flipped onto his feet. He activated his hoof blades and cartwheeled over the griffon, impaling him. Dasher followed the cartwheel through and slashed down the front of the third griffon, slicing its face and throat open, a spray of blood covering Dasher's face. the crimson spray disoriented him for a second and the final griffon leaped upon him, pinning him to the ground. Dasher punched the griffon in the face, knocking it off his chest. Dasher rolled onto the griffon and stabbed it multiple times in the chest before finally cutting its throat, more blood covering Dasher's coat. Dasher looked up from his final kill to see Flames slide under the legs of his attacker, flip onto his hooves, and buck the griffon into Clipper's readied arm blade. Clipper flipped the arm blade around and slashed at the griffon attacking him. The griffon blocked his attacks and stabbed its claws into Clipper's abdomen. A face of excruciating pain appeared on Clipper's face as the griffon tore his guts out and discarded them. Clipper fell forward, and the griffon tore his throat open for good measure. A smile of satisfaction appeared on its face for a second, but was wiped clean as Flames jumped onto the griffon's shoulders and broke its neck with a single twist of his thighs. Six of the ten griffons now lay dead, alongside Clipper.

Gravity's griffon leaped onto him and grabbed his head. The griffon applied a huge amount of pressure to Gravity's temples and crushed his skull, blood and greymatter spraying in different directions, spattering the griffon's face. The griffon leaped from Gravity onto Sparks' back and tore a huge gash down his back. Sparks screamed in pain as the griffon tore at his back muscles. The other griffon attacking Sparks swiped at his face, and tore a part of Sparks' muzzle off, along with an eye. Flames leaped onto the griffon and stabbed it in the temple using his hoof blade. He pulled out his crossbow as the griffon fell and planted a bolt in between the eyes of the griffon mounted on Sparks' back. Sparks fell to the ground, his breath shallow as Flames ran to assist Blitz and Dasher. Tornado lay in several pieces, torn to shreds by the griffon that had attacked him. Dasher and Blitz now fought in tandem against the final two griffons.

Flames saw that one of the two griffons was larger than the rest. He was quite obviously the leader of the pack. Blitz and Dasher spun in a quick motion, both of their blades contacting the griffons. Blitz's blade sliced through his griffon's throat like soft butter, spraying blood in every direction. The griffon leader saw this and screamed in rage. It kicked Dasher into a nearby tree, winding him, and grabbed Blitz by the throat. It squeezed Blitz's throat, its sharpened claws slicing through Blitz's neck. His head came off, spraying the griffon in blood.

The griffon let Blitz's body drop and it turned its attention to Dasher, who was slumped against a tree, dazed. The griffon closed in on Dasher, taking its time, savouring the moment. Flames snapped out of his shocked trance and leaped into action once more. He ran for the griffon, who turned at the last second, swiping upwards. The middle claw of the griffon cut straight through Flames' hardened armour, cutting into his coat. The blow knocked Flames onto his back, blood seeping from the gash. The griffon, knowing Flames couldn't retaliate, closed in on him slowly.

A smile appeared on its beak as it took its time to savour its kill, completely forgetting about Dasher.

The griffon raised his claw, reeling for his final blow.

Flames put his hoof up in a defensive position, waiting for the killing blow.

It never came.

Instead of a sharp pain, a warm spray contacted Flames' hoof.

He looked over his hoof, and saw Dasher's hoof blade sticking through the griffon's chest. Dasher threw the griffon to the side and offered Flames a hoof.

Flames grabbed Dasher's hoof and hauled himself to his feet. He then rushed over the Sparks.

Sparks had stopped breathing.

Flames checked his pulse.

Nothing.

"BUCK!" Flames screamed, punching the ground.

Flames looked around, the severity of the situation finally dawning on him. Every pony in his unit lay in pieces around him. Dasher was the only one intact.

"Oh buck..." Flames trailed off.

Dasher put a hoof on Flames' shoulder.

"Come on, we have to get out of here before more griffons arrive," Dasher said.

"We can't just leave them here," Flames said.

"We can't do anything about it," Dasher said. "We're too far behind griffon lines to get a pegasus lift."

"We can't leave Sparks here..." Flames said.

"You have a very special somepony back home, Flames," Dasher said. "Don't you think Sparks would want you to get back to her safely?"

Flames didn't reply.

"Come on, we're getting out of here," Dasher said as he grasped Flames under the arms and took flight.

"We arrived at the forward outpost an hour later," Dusk's father said. "The ponies in my unit were found a day later. They were buried in the Canterlot memorial."

Dusk looked shocked. It was the first time his father had ever openly talked about what happened during his service. He had no idea of the horrors his father had faced. Compared to his problems, Dusk felt pathetic for feeling down about Jet. At least Jet was alive. At least Dusk assumed he was. Dusk heard a small sob come from across from him. He looked up and saw his father weeping into his hoof. Dusk got up and hugged his dad. He had never seen him like this. His dad was the strongest, most impenetrable pony he had ever known. Yet here he was, the same pony, reduced to tears.

Dusk extended his hoof, held it there, then withdrew it. Should he hug his dad? Should he just sit there? With friends it was easy, but this was Dusk's father. Dusk legitimately no idea what to do.

"Sparks was my best friend," Dusk's father suddenly said. "I just left him there. Left him to die."

"Dad..." Dusk trailed off.

"Dasher saved my life. I owe him that. But sometimes I wish it had been me who was left behind, not Sparks," Dusk's father said.

"Dad, it wasn't your fault," Dusk said. "I'm sure you did all you could to save Sparks. If you hadn't killed those two griffons, Sparks would have been in more pain."

"I guess I know that, Dusk." his father said. "I just feel as though I failed him."

"I know how it feels, dad," Dusk consoled. "Every time I think about Jet, I think of what I could have done differently. Sometimes it's just better to step back from the line of fire. Take a breath."

"You're right, son," Dusk's father said. "It's in the past. There's nothing I can do but let his memory live on."

"He was a hero, dad. You all were," Dusk said.

"Were we, Dusk?" his father asked. "So many ponies and griffons died in that war. How could murderers like me be heroes?"

"It was the price to pay for peace, dad," Dusk said. "You killed those griffons so that ponies like me could live without ever having to know the horrors you faced. I respect you dad, for what you did. Even if it wasn't moral, you did what you had to do to protect the ones you loved, and there is nothing more valiant that that."

"I may have killed to save my loved ones, but so did the griffons. They fought for that reason, too," Dusk's father said. "If I am a hero for murder, then they should be as well. You should always respect your enemy, Dusk. If you can't respect those you fight, you cannot respect those you love."

"Dad..." Dusk trailed off, again.

"Dasher retired a few years later, when the war ended," Dusk's father said. "I wrote him letters during that time. In one of them I wrote, 'Dasher, you know as well as I do that I miss the guard's life. But when I hold my son in my hooves, I know I've made the right choice'."

Dusk didn't say a thing. His father had given up the only life he knew just for his son.

"I thought you were discharged for the wound," Dusk said.

"That was the reason they discharged me," Dusk's father said. "But I left early. I couldn't go back into the field, knowing what those griffons had done. I was most at risk of seeking revenge. I couldn't command a unit anymore. I, and the guard council, was worried that I would endanger the lives of my fellow soldiers to seek revenge."

Dusk's father levitated a small box over from the wall and opened it. Inside were nine ID tags. One from each pony in his unit. Six of them had K.I.A engraved into them.

"Night didn't survive the griffon attack, he died in hospital," Dusk's father said. "You know what happened to the others."

"Brazen Gravity, Stone Clipper, Mossy Boulder, Midnight Sparks, Dawn Flames, Amber Night, Cloud Dasher, Fire Blitz, Sky Tornado," Dusk read aloud.

He picked up his dad's ID tag, the one that had 'Dawn Flames' stamped into it. He looked at it for a second. It was a small piece of metal, with his dad's name, date of birth, and unit number stamped into it. Dusk placed it back into the box.

"This is a part of my history that I never want you to live through, Dusk," his father said, closing the box. "I train you in here for self defence, and as a way of helping you stay fit."

"I know that, dad," Dusk said.

"Promise me, Dusk, that whatever happens, you will never join the royal guard," Dusk's father said. "You should never have to see the horrors I have witnessed."

"I promise, dad," Dusk said.

"Good," Dusk's father said. "Now then, I can smell dinner."

Author's Note

I found this song on youtube. It reminds me of Jet's departure.

Line of Fire - Junip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWo4f4sZs9A

Explanations

Chapter 6 - Explanations

Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday had flown past Dusk as if they were the Wonderbolts. Try as he may, Dusk couldn't find Petal on Monday or Tuesday. Her friends also seemed to avoid him. Dusk had no idea why, he had done nothing wrong to her. At least, he hoped he hadn't. She may just be like the rest of the mares at this damn school, shallow and unforgiving, but that didn't mean she deserved to be hurt. His father had told him to respect his enemies, and that no matter how much you hate someone, you should always treat them with respect and mercy.

But Dusk didn't hate Petal at all. She was the first mare to have the guts to talk to him, apart from Lavender, and he respected that. Every other mare would stare or mutter as Dusk walked by, never wanting to speak up, or tell him their feelings. It was a sign to him that they were shallow. Petal had seen him and talked to him in a second, she had more guts than any of the other mares at this school. To Dusk's knowledge, at least. Compared to the other mares, it was the gutsiest thing he had seen a mare do.

Lost in his own thoughts, wandering down the halls early in the morning, Dusk didn't notice the pink mare in front of him. He bumped into her, causing them both to yell in fright. The pink mare Dusk had run into was Petal.

"Where were you yesterday, and the day before?" Dusk asked.

"I was here," Petal said.

"Then why the buck were you avoiding me?" Dusk said, frustrated.

"I'm sorry, Dusk," Petal said. "It's just, after what happened on Saturday, I thought you didn't want to know me anymore. I told my friends not to bother you, as well. I just thought you wanted some time to yourself."

"That's awfully thoughtful, Petal," Dusk said. "But don't you think I would have told you if I needed some time? It was our first date, Petal. First dates are always shit."

"I guess you're right, Dusk," Petal said. "I wanted to say sorry for what I said on Saturday."

"Why should you be sorry about that?" Dusk said. "You barely know me, how could you have possibly known that flirting could have hurt me?"

"I guess I didn't," Petal said. "But I didn't take you seriously, I didn't think."

"Neither did I, Petal," Dusk said. "We barely know eachother and I've already told you things I would only tell my closest friends. Speaking of friends, where are yours?"

"Well, Roe and Crystal usually arrive together just before first session, but Fleur and Feather are here before 8:00," Petal said.

"So where are Fleur and Feather?" Dusk asked. "Surely they'd be walking around with you."

"Well, you see, they got expelled," Petal said.

"What?" Dusk asked, surprised.

"Well, Fleur and Feather have always been a bit, off the rails," Petal explained. "They played truant, they got into some bad stuff, they did drugs sometimes."

"Really? You wouldn't have guessed," Dusk said, genuinely surprised.

"Yeah, well," Petal said. "We never told anyone because they were our friends, we just thought they'd drop it. But someone gave the headmaster an anonymous tip. He investigated, found de-coloured rainbow in their lockers, and expelled them."

"And you're not cracked up about it?" Dusk asked.

"Not really," Petal said. "When you greeted them on Friday, they behaved so politely that I thought they were somepony else. I've never seen them that nice."

"Well, shit," Dusk said.

Dusk scanned her face. She wasn't lying. He then noticed she was still wearing the pin he had given her.

"Hey, you're still wearing that pin," Dusk said.

"Of course. Do you really think I'd throw it away?" Petal said.

"I guess I didn't give that one much thought," Dusk said with an embarrassed chuckle.

"Dusk, what do you think of me?" Petal asked suddenly.

"Are we really going into this?" Dusk said with a sigh.

"I'm sorry," Petal said.

"Stop being so apologetic, Petal," Dusk said. "The only reason why I went on that date with you was because I thought you had guts."

"What?" Petal asked.

Dusk let out a sigh and said, "Petal. I hate shallow mares. Every single bucking one of them here looks at me like I'm some kind of god. I bucking hate it. In fact, I've though about cutting my face just to get them to stop staring at me like that. The thing that gets me, though, is not their stares, but the fact that they mumble and giggle as I go past, as if they're too nervous to tell me how they feel. As if they think they're not worthy of me. The truth is, I don't give two shits what you look like, so long as you care about me for who I am. Petal, you were the first mare here to actually say something. The first bucking mare to have shown some guts. That's why I went out with you. And that's why I like you. Truth be told, I probably don't like you as much as you like me. I like you as a friend, but I won't deny that you are rather attractive. So please, I bucking beg you, don't act like the other mares, all sheepish and shit, because that's not what I like in a mare. And that's not the reason I took a chance with you."

Petal looked stunned. She thought about what Dusk had said, but could find nothing to answer with. She searched his face for some indication that this was a joke. Did he really just say he took a chance for her? That she was attractive? This had to be a joke. He had to be lying. She looked into his eyes, his piercing ruby eyes, and she knew he wasn't lying.

"What are y'all doin' over there?" a country voice asked from behind the two.

"Look at her face, he must have told her he doesn't like her," a more regal voice chimed in.

Dusk spun around and saw Monroe and Crystal standing behind him, hoof in hoof. Were they? Surely not?

"Are you two, good friends?" Dusk asked.

"What's it to ya?" Monroe asked back.

"Well, I don't mind, personally, it's just first Fleur and Feather get expelled, and now you two are going steady and I've just made up with Petal. This is too much change for one day," Dusk said.

"If you must know, we are not 'going steady'," Crystal said. "Roe was just being a gentleman."

Monroe nodded and said, "I was just leading her down the hall to her class, as I do every morning."

Monroe took a look at Petal, and a sudden flash of anger passed across his face. He dropped Crystal's hoof and walked over to Dusk.

"What the buck did ya say to 'er," Monroe said.

"I just told her how I felt, that's all," Dusk replied.

"Look at 'er, Dusk. It looks you've gone an' slapped 'er," Monroe said, trying not to raise his voice.

Dusk turned around and looked at Petal. She really did look as if she had been slapped. Her face was bright red, and she had a look of shock and confusion on her face. Her mouth was slightly agape, and she looked absolutely stunned. Crystal walked up to her side and waved a hoof in front of Petal's face, trying to snap her out of whatever trance she was stuck in.

"What, exactly, did ya say, Dusk?" Monroe asked, obviously angry now.

"Look, mate, calm the buck down for a sec," Dusk said. "I just said that she was the gutsiest mare I had seen in this school, and that I liked her a little. That's all. I swear to Celestia that I didn't insult her!"

Monroe's scowl dropped from his face as he searched Dusk's eyes for signs of deceit. He could see none.

"I can spot a liar a hundred yards away, Dusk, and I can tell ya, you ain't no liar," Monroe said. "It seems ta me that you reciprocated some o' 'er love, and that went and stunned 'er. Sorry for takin' it the wrong way, Dusk."

"That's fine, Roe," Dusk said. "What do you mean by 'reciprocated love'?"

"Well, Dusk, she fancies ya quite a bit," Monroe said. "The way she talked about ya last week, I think it was quite bleedin' obvious."

"Well, I know she likes me, but does she really love me?" Dusk asked. "That seems a little quick for somepony she just met."

"She's a little foolish, that one," Monroe said. "Has 'er 'ead in the clouds most o' the time. But she's a keeper, Dusk. Even if ya don't love 'er, treat 'er well."

"I will," Dusk replied. "I just overreacted on Saturday, and I wanted to apologise and give her an explanation. I didn't know that'd put her in a bloody coma."

Monroe gave a hearty laugh at Dusk's comment. Crystal shot him a glance that said 'Shut up, you fool'. Crystal turned back to Petal to see that Monroe's laughter had knocked her out of her trance. Petal looked over at Monroe, then to Crystal, and finally, Dusk. Then she just turned around, walked down the hallway, and disappeared into the mares' toilets. Crystal and Dusk stared at eachother while Monroe continued to die of laughter.

"I should probably go," Dusk said, starting down the hall.

"I'll see you at lunch, Dusk," Crystal called after him. She then turned her attention to Monroe and yelled, "Stop laughing you idiot! Ponies are starting to stare!"

As Dusk walked to his first class, Pony Studies, he thought about how Petal had reacted to his confession. Monroe had said that she fancied him, so it would be logical for her to be surprised if he said he liked her.

"Assuming she has a crush on me," Dusk thought.

But her reaction was completely out of left field. He had explained himself, told her he liked her a bit, and apologised for overreacting. Somehow, something he had said had stunned her. If she had a crush on him, then saying he liked her could have been the root cause, but it was still a little bit of an overreaction. Dusk was so lost in thought, trying to decode Petal's actions, that he didn't notice Lavender in front of him. For the second time this morning, he bumped into a mare.

"Ouch, watch it, asshole!" Lavender exclaimed.

"Shit, sorry," Dusk said, surprised at her response.

Lavender turned, a look of anger on her face. She saw that it was Dusk who had bumped into her flank, and she immediately dropped her angry look.

"Great," Dusk thought.

"Sorry, about that," Lavender said. "A lot of stallions have been 'accidentally' bumping into my flank."

"So how am I any different?" Dusk questioned.

"Well... uh..." Lavender said, caught off guard.

"That's what I thought. Look, I gotta go, I'm late for class," Dusk said.

"Wait!" Lavender exclaimed, before Dusk could move. "Would you like to meet up sometime?"

"Geez, I dunno, Lavender," Dusk said.

"Oh come on, Dusk," Lavender pleaded. "Pegasus Pier, tonight at 8. It'll be fun!"

"Lavender," Dusk said. "You know as well as I do that this wouldn't work. I yelled at you, and I only apologised because I felt bad and it was the right thing to do. Why are you so interested in me?"

"Dusk, why are you playing hard to get?" Lavender said. "Live a little, Dusk. Come on, meet me at the pier tonight, I promise you won't regret it."

Dusk sighed and shook his head. He knew this was a bad idea but he agreed anyway, saying, "Alright. I'll see you at the pier tonight. But if it doesn't work between us, I won't do this again."

"Oh thank you, Dusk!" Lavender exclaimed, smiling.

Dusk sighed and continued on down the hall. Lavender truly was rather pathetic. She was the shallowest mare Dusk had ever spoken to. Which wasn't saying much, considering Dusk almost never spoke to shallow mares. Dusk put her out of his mind and turned his thoughts once more to Petal. Compared to Lavender, Petal was almost an angel. In fact, compared to how much he liked Lavender, Dusk was in love with Petal. She was just a friend, but even still, Dusk found that he thought of Petal as more than a friend. He apologised to Lavender because his dad had always told him to be polite to mares. Dusk had done the wrong thing by losing his cool, so it was by default that he apologised. That was all. Petal, however, was a different case. Dusk apologised and gave an explanation, mainly because he felt it was the right thing to do, but also because he genuinely liked her.

"Buck, it's moving so fast," Dusk thought. "She's apparently 'in love' with me, and I'm starting to fancy her. This is going too fast, I need to step back a bit. I don't want to get her hopes up."

Dusk walked to class, thoughts of Petal racing through his head. Try as he may, he could not push her out of his mind. Her reaction was so out of left field that Dusk couldn't stop thinking about her. He was still thinking about her when he arrived in front of the Pony Studies classroom.

Petal was in Dusk's class, but he couldn't see her. So instead of talking to her, as he had planned to, he stood away from the group congregating in front of the classroom door.

The door opened, and the class filed in, Petal still nowhere to be seen. Dusk took his place at the end of the middle row, saving a seat for Petal. Dusk was exceptionally good at Pony Studies, and Petal sat next to him so he could help her, among other reasons.

The class began, and Dusk listened intently to Miss Wing. Pony Studies in primary school had been a favourite of Dusk's, but it had never been as in depth or as interesting as the high school equivalent. This was one of the few subjects that Dusk had actually learned anything from.

Today's subject matter was the kingdoms of old, in the early days if Celestia's rule. The class had progressed through this subject and was now on the tale of Nightmare Moon.

"According to the estimated dates of archaeologists around Equestria, Princess Luna was imprisoned on the moon roughly 993 years ago," Miss Wing explained. "If we go by those estimates, Nightmare Moon will escape from her imprisonment in 2011. This is just an old mare's tale though, a piece of olden-time literature that was passed down through generations of ponies."

"Miss, are you implying that the story is just a story?" Dusk inquired.

"Yes, Dusk," Miss Wing answered. "I doubt that this story is true, it describes events so old that it is entirely possible that through countless re-tellings, this story was majorly altered."

"But if the Princess can raise the sun, surely she could trap her sister on the moon," Dusk said. "If Celestia has magic that powerful, I think this story could be technically feasible."

"That is an interesting point of view, Dusk," Miss Wing said. "The elements of this story have been debated many times over, every pony has a different opinion on it. We may never know if this story is true or not."

"At least not until 2011," Dusk said, smiling.

Miss Wing laughed at Dusk's comment as Petal entered the classroom. Miss Wing looked at Petal and asked her where she had been. Petal said she had been in the nurse's office. Miss Wing told Petal to take a seat.

Dusk waved at Petal, who looked over. Petal's eyes were red, it was quite obvious that she had been crying. She looked away from Dusk and took a seat at the back of the class. Dusk thought this was odd, but given the circumstances, he paid no attention to her behaviour. He turned his attention back to the teacher and listened intently for the rest of the lesson.

It was 7:30 PM and Dusk was sitting in his room, thinking about how Petal had acted that day. They hadn't spoken at all since that morning, she didn't show up at their lunch table, and she didn't sit next to him in the classes they shared. She was still avoiding him. But why? Had Dusk really hurt her? Or did she just need time to her self? Dusk was beginning to worry. He had never intended to hurt her.

"I've got that thing with Lavender tonight, too," Dusk thought, looking at the clock.

Dusk stowed his thoughts of Petal and got up from his bed. He left his room, said goodbye to his mother and father, and left for Pegasus Pier.

It was about a half hour walk, and it gave Dusk some time to think about what he was going to say to Lavender. She obviously wanted him. Probably for things Dusk didn't want to think about. He simply wasn't interested.

"I'll give her tonight," Dusk thought. "I guess I'll have to let her down gently."

Dusk sighed. He hated to do this to her. Even if he didn't have any feelings for her, he still felt like an asshole for doing it.

Dusk arrived at the pier three minutes early. It was quiet that night, not many ponies came out during the week. Dusk wondered if Lavender knew that.

Pegasus Pier was like any other pier in the city. Boats were moored along the shore line and at the far end of the pier, fisher ponies were sitting on the edges, doing some night fishing. Fishing was more of a sport in Equestria, ponies don't eat meat, so these fisher ponies were probably practicing for a tournament. The pier was divided into sections. It went far out into the water, perpendicular to the shore, and every section of the pier was divided by a gazebo. There were three, one at the start, one in the middle, and one at the end. The middle gazebo gave way to horizontal branches of the pier that ran parallel to the shore. At either end of these branches was a gazebo. The whole pier was a large cross.

The night was cool, and the water was calm, Dusk walked down the pier to the far gazebo, listening to the distant crash of waves on the western cliffs, and the steady lapping of water at the pier supports. He stopped at the far gazebo and leaned over the edge, listening to the creaking of the few boats moored there. Lavender had chosen a rather romantic place for a first date.

"If she keeps choosing places like this, maybe I might go on another date with her," Dusk thought.

Dusk head hoof steps behind him. He turned to see Lavender entering the cover of the gazebo, the light casting alluring shadows on her, exaggerating her features. She had a small amount of makeup on, and her modestly cut mane had been curled. Try as he may, Dusk couldn't stop him self from feeling aroused at her appearance. Dusk coughed awkwardly as he felt blood rushing to his cheeks. Lavender had obviously noticed the change in colour, because she gave a small cheeky smile.

"I see somepony likes what he sees," Lavender said.

"Good evening to you too, Lavender," Dusk said.

Dusk decided he'd let the flirting slide for tonight. It was obvious that Lavender was going to lay it on thick, and Dusk thought he might as well enjoy tonight as much as possible.

"I didn't think you'd be here," Lavender said.

"I didn't think you'd 'dress up'," Dusk replied.

Lavender giggled and said in an enticing voice, "Well, if this is going to be our only date, I might as well make it memorable,"

"You're doing a very good job of it," Dusk said, smiling.

This kind of attention didn't seem to bad. It wasn't as bad as Dusk originally thought it would have been. It was almost fun, in fact.

"I noticed you were rather good at magic," Dusk said.

"Me? Good? Come off it, Dusk, you're just saying that," Lavender said.

"Compared to the others in the class, you're pretty spectacular," Dusk said.

"What about you, Mr. Magical Prodigy? You're the best in class, Mr. Short doesn't even care if you do the spells or not!" Lavender said.

"Eh, I'm about as good as any Canterlot unicorn. It just seems special here because Manehattan is mostly an earth pony city. They don't have a very strong magic program," Dusk said. "My dad taught me most of what I know. He used to live in Canterlot."

"Ooo, a pony with a fancy father," Lavender said. "If he's from Canterlot, why are you out here, in Manehattan?"

"He was discharged from the royal guard, sent out here," Dusk said.

"Father from the royal guard, eh?" Lavender said. "Now I know where you get your skills from."

Lavender smiled and looked into Dusk's eyes dreamily.

"You should teach me some of your spells," Lavender whispered.

Dusk coughed awkwardly again and began to blush. This wasn't the most comfortable thing on Equestria, but Dusk decided to roll with it.

"Maybe I will, maybe I won't," Dusk replied.

"Am I really doing this?" Dusk thought. "Am I really going for a shallow mare? The last time I did this, the bitch crushed my heart. I should be careful here, I don't want that to happen again."

"Something on your mind?" Lavender inquired, playfully.

"Just thinking about what spells I could teach you," Dusk lied.

Dusk walked out from under the gazebo, beckoning Lavender, who willingly followed. Dusk stood in the open and shot a red magic bolt into the air. It shot high into the night sky and exploded, sending red sparks flying in a star shaped pattern. Lavender squealed in amazement.

"How did you do that?" she asked.

"It's easy, just think of a shape, and fire it into the air," Dusk said.

Lavender closed her eyes and concentrated. She strained and a light blue aura appeared around her horn. A small spark shot out of her horn, flew about a few inches into the air, and exploded into a tiny star.

"Close!" Dusk said. "Keep trying."

Lavender repeated the process multiple times, each time shooting a bigger spark higher into the air until she finally shot off a bolt that exploded into a beautiful lavender star, high in the air.

"Yes!" Lavender exclaimed. "I did it!"

Dusk walked back into the gazebo, with Lavender following behind. Dusk walked to the far end of the gazebo and leaned against the railing. He looked out at the stars and the water. Lavender stood beside him.

"What're you thinking about?" she asked.

"Have you ever wondered how the moon comes out if Princess Luna is imprisoned on it?" Dusk asked.

"Celestia does it, I think," Lavender replied.

"It must take some skill to raise the sun and the moon," Dusk said.

"She is the princess," Lavender said.

"True," Dusk replied.

Dusk turned around and looked at Lavender. She looked back at him. They stared into eachother's eyes for what seemed like an eternity. The moonlight caught Lavender's face, making it glow. Her eyes seemed to shine like stars and for a moment, Dusk felt as if everything around him was gone. Lavender took a step forward, smiling seductively, as Dusk stood stunned by her almost unearthly beauty. Dusk's heart began to race as Lavender took another step toward him.

"Close your eyes," she whispered.

Dusk closed his eyes and Lavender kissed him.

Lavender leaned in on Dusk, her soft lips pressed against his. She smelled of flowers, and her intoxicating aroma overwhelmed Dusk's senses. He felt her place a hoof on his shoulder, and he replied by placing a hoof on her neck. Dusk forgot who and where he was for a moment, his entire brain shut down from the shock of suddenly being kissed, and rom the pleasure that accompanied the action. He pressed his lips against Lavender's and ran his hoof through her mane. It was incredibly soft, and Dusk couldn't stop stroking it.

The world melted away as time slowly came to a standstill. Lavender and Dusk remained lip-locked for what seemed like hours; their hearts racing, their breath shallow. Dusk had never experienced anything like this before. Slowly but surely, Dusk regained cognitive power, and he gently pulled away from Lavender, and opened his eyes. They stood there, looking at eachother, both blushing heavily.

"By Celestia, you're a natural," Lavender said, exhaling.

"I..." Dusk trailed off.

It had suddenly dawned on him. He had just kissed a mare. And one who he thought was shallow, nonetheless. Dusk stood for a second, stunned at what he had just done. He had broken one his biggest rules. But it didn't feel bad. Not as bad as Dusk thought it would. If anything, it felt exhilarating. He had broken one of his core rules, gone against one his largest morals, and so far, nothing bad had happened. It still felt wrong though. Deep down, Dusk knew he had done something wrong. He didn't know what, all he knew is that it felt wrong, somehow.

"Is something wrong?" Lavender asked, almost reading Dusk's thoughts.

"I - I don't actually know," Dusk replied. "I broke one of the biggest rules I had ever set myself. Never buck around with a shallow mare. It's only a rule because the last time I did, she broke my heart. It feels wrong, breaking that rule, but at the same time, it feels right."

"You think I'm shallow?" Lavender asked.

"I used to," Dusk answered. "I'm not so sure anymore. Please don't be offended, I'm very judgmental!"

"I guess my actions haven't been very deep, have they?" Lavender said, smiling awkwardly.

"Well, it doesn't matter," Dusk said. "This was fun."

"I told you it would be," Lavender said, he smile turning from awkward to cheeky once more.

"We should do this again," Dusk said.

"Definitely," Lavender replied.

"Come on," Dusk said, placing a hoof over Lavender's shoulders. "I'll walk you home."

Romantic Conflictions

Chapter 6 - Romantic Conflictions

Dusk walked into school the next day with a smile plastered on his muzzle and a bounce in his trot. He spied Petal going through her locker at the other end of the hall and he hurried down to her.

"Hey, Petal," Dusk said.

Petal jumped at the sound of his voice.

"Oh, hi, Dusk," she replied.

"How are you today?" Dusk inquired, wondering whether she had gotten over Saturday's events yet.

"I'm fine, Dusk," Petal replied. "What about you?"

"I'm good," Dusk said. "But I know you're not fine. Talk to me, what's wrong?"

"There's nothing wrong, Dusk," Petal replied.

"Come on, Petal. I know you're troubled, look at you! Your mane is frizzled, and your tail isn't combed. Your eyes are bloodshot, and you look like you've been crying," Dusk said. "What's wrong, Petal?"

Petal sniffed, and Dusk could see tears reach her eyes. His already fading smile dropped from his face as he took a step forward and place a hoof on her shoulder. Petal placed a hoof over her eyes and sobbed quietly. Dusk moved closer and wrapped her in a comforting embrace, stroking her back, soothing her as she broke down and sobbed uncontrollably into his shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay. It's okay," Dusk reassured.

Petal felt Dusk's firm embrace, and squeezed him as hard as she could, not wanting to let go as she spilled her tears onto his coat.

Dusk and Petal stood entwined for a few minutes, Dusk cooing, trying to reassure Petal as she cried.

After a while, Petal regained control of her emotions and mumbled something into Dusk's shoulder.

Dusk pulled away from her and asked, "What did you say?"

Petal mumbled something under her breath.

"Speak up, Petal," Dusk said, although he knew he may not want to hear what she was saying.

"I said," Petal began. "I l-l-love you."

"Oh, Petal," Dusk said, sighing.

Tears rolled from Petal's eyes as she continued, "But I know you don't love me. And I know you don't want me to be your special somepony, and I know I hurt you on Saturday. I'm sorry, Dusk, I'm a waste of time. I'm not confident at all. I'm just a silly, lovestruck, mare who doesn't deserve your attention. And I know no matter how much I love you, you'll never love me. I know it's all so soon. We barely know eachother, and I know that if you loved me, this would be moving too fast, so I know this must be a shock to you and I know that-"

"That's enough," Dusk said, cutting Petal off. "That's enough."

Petal quickly shut her mouth and looked down.

Dusk placed a hoof under Petal's chin and moved her muzzle up, so they were looking eye to eye. Petal's gaze darted to the side.

"Petal, I know you have feelings for me, Monroe told me about it, but I know how hard this is for you. Unrequited love is the worst kind of love, and though we may never be a couple, I want you to know that I'll always be here for you. I'll be your shoulder to cry on. I can't promise that I'll ever be anything more, and I can't say that I love you, because I would be lying. But I won't just leave you because I don't love you. I had a crush on a mare back in year 6. She rejected me and sent me into a spiral of depression. I don't want that to happen to you. You don't deserve that."

A tear rolled down Petal's cheek.

"Look at me," Dusk said.

Petal squeezed her eyelids shut, dispelling any tears, and then re-opened them, and stared into Dusk's eyes.

"Petal," Dusk said. "I may not love you, but I do like you a lot. You're a beautiful mare, with an amazing personality, and I think one day, you'll find a stallion who loves you as much as you love them. But that stallion probably won't be me."

"I know," Petal said.

"I'm sorry for this, Petal. I don't want to reject you, but I don't want to give you false hope," Dusk replied.

"It's okay," Petal said. "I was expecting worse."

Dusk wrapped Petal in another tight embrace and held her for a minute, before letting go and saying goodbye. He then walked down the hallway, shaking his head.

"Dear Celestia, I hated saying that," Dusk thought. "I felt like I was crushing her dreams. I just hope she understands."

Dusk continued down the hallway a short while before he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Hey, Dusk," the voice said.

Dusk turned around and saw Lavender standing there, smiling. She had taken off the makeup she had been wearing the previous night, but her hair was still curled.

"Oh, hey, Lavender," Dusk replied.

"What was that, back there?" Lavender questioned.

"Petal?" Dusk asked. "That was nothing."

"You sure?" Lavender prodded. "It didn't look like nothing."

"That mare, Petal, has a crush on me," Dusk explained. "I told her that I liked her a lot, but I didn't love her. I hated having to do that."

"That's a shame," Lavender said. "She looks like such a nice pony, too."

"Yeah, well, I'm just not sure about her. I mean, she seemed cool and all, but lately she's just been distant and sheepish. I hate sheepish mares, but I also don't like flirtatious mares, either," Dusk said.

"What about me?" Lavender asked. "I'm flirtatious."

"You're not too bad. Besides, you're a lot gutsier than Petal," Dusk said.

Lavender giggled and tapped Dusk on the chest.

"Well, you're a lot cooler than any stallion I've ever known," Lavender said, smiling.

"Glad to know," Dusk replied, smiling contentedly.

"Hey, last night you said we should go out again," Lavender began. "How does Saturday sound to you?"

"Hmmm, maybe. I'll have to check what I've got to do," Dusk replied. "Lunch or dinner?"

"Dinner sounds more romantic," Lavender replied, smiling alluringly.

"I'll see what's on," Dusk said. "But if there isn't anything on, sure, I'd love to have dinner with you. By the way, isn't it the colt's job to ask a mare out, not the other way 'round?"

"Oh, shut up," Lavender said, playfully. "You should feel special that anypony's asking you out!"

Dusk dismissed her comment with a wave of his hoof and said, "Come off it, I'm not that unpopular!"

"Well then, Mister Popular, why don't you ask me out next time?" Lavender said.

"Will do, ma'am," Dusk replied.

Lavender giggled and playfully punched Dusk in the shoulder.

Dusk continued down the hall, Lavender now walking beside him, the two sharing friendly banter and joking like good friends.

It was now lunch time, and Lavender sat across from Dusk at a small cafeteria table.

"I can't believe Dumbbell did that in Phys Ed!" Lavender exclaimed.

"Yeah. Dear Celestia, he's such an idiot," Dusk replied, laughing.

Earlier that morning, during second session, an earth pony named Dumbbell had managed to knock himself out with a basketball. The class was playing basketball, and Dumbbell went to shoot. He threw the ball a little too hard, and it rebounded off the ring, and smacked him in the face, knocking him flat.

"What the buck did he think he was doing?" Lavender said, giggling.

"Bucked if I know," Dusk replied. "He probably thought he was gonna get an epic three-pointer or something."

"My god, what a bucking idiot," Lavender said, shaking her head.

As Lavender finished her sentence, a loud voice called out over the cafeteria.

"OI! WHERE THE BUCK IS DUSK FIRE!" the voice yelled.

Dusk recognised the voice.

"Shots, bucking great," he said.

"What does he want?" Lavender asked.

"I don't know, probably a rematch," Dusk said, snickering.

Lavender giggled and said, "Like he could beat you."

The voice called out again, this time it locked almost everyone in fear. No one wanted to move, for fear of being beaten up.

Dusk sighed and stood up.

"I'm right bucking here, mate," He said. "What the buck do you want?"

"I want a bucking rematch, asshole!" Shots yelled in reply.

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Dusk said, confidently.

"Buck you!" Shots yelled.

Dusk looked at Lavender and whispered, "Get the headmaster, I'll stall these idiots."

Lavender got up and quickly scooted out the door, evading Shots' line of sight.

"So then, asshole, why you wanna rematch?" Dusk asked, sarcastically. "I thought you'd be smarter than to piss of the stallion that bucked you up!"

"You used magic! That's not fair!" Shots yelled.

"Yeah, what's fair about two big earth ponies beating up a single unicorn?" Dusk yelled in reply.

"Go buck yourself!" Shots yelled.

Dusk shook his head and said, "Is that really all you have?"

Shots yelled in fury and began to cross the room, flipping a table, sending food and cutlery flying. Dusk tensed and got into a defensive position.

Shots got closer.

Dusk squinted and grinned.

Shots rushed at Dusk, preparing to knock him flat.

Dusk shot him with a paralyzing bolt and slid underneath Shots, flipping up behind him.

Shots staggered forward and turned. He threw another punch at Dusk, who deflected it and returned the gesture by punching Shots square in the face.

Shots staggered back and rushed at Dusk who jumped into the air and dove over Shots' back, landing behind him. Shots ran full tilt into a table.

Dusk turned to see Shots wiping several kinds of food of off his face and coat.

"You're gonna get it now," he growled.

Dusk only grinned and tensed up once more.

Shots rushed Dusk once again, and Dusk flipped around and kicked him in the face. The kick stopped Shots in his tracks who grasped at his face, screaming in agony.

"Come on, Shots," Dusk said. "You're making this too easy!"

Shots landed a wild punch on the side of Dusk's head, sending him flying into a table.

Shots shook his head vigorously and turned on Dusk. He grinned devilishly as he walked towards Dusk's limp body.

"I'm gonna enjoy this," he muttered.

"SHOTS!" an authoritative voice yelled. "STOP RIGHT THERE!"

Lavender had returned with the headmaster, both of whom where now running towards Dusk and Shots.

Lavender slipped on some spilled soup and skidded past Dusk. She got up and ran to his side.

The headmaster walked up to Shots deftly, his horn glowing.

"Get to my office," he growled. "NOW!"

"Buck you," Shots said as he walked out of the cafeteria.

The headmaster stayed and tried to calm the now riled students as Petal, Monroe, Crystal, and Lavender stood around Dusk's limp body.

"Is he gone be okay?" Monroe asked no one in particular.

"I don't know," Petal said, stunned.

"I'm sure he's fine. He dealt with Shots so professionally, I'm sure he could take a punch like that," Lavender said, a tinge of uncertainty in her voice.

"Dear Celestia, he's such a fool!" Crystal said.

"Now be nice, Crys," Monroe said. "I ain't never seen a pony move like that in mah life. And to think a week ago he was brawlin' like an amateur."

"Maybe he was ready for this," Lavender said. "I mean, Shots did give him plenty of warning."

Petal bent down and placed one of Dusk's hooves over her shoulder, and attempted to pick him up. She stopped mid crouch, and said, "Well, isn't anypony gonna help me?"

Monroe, Crystal, and Lavender all bent down and help Petal pick Dusk up. They then carried him out of the cafeteria to the nurse's office.

Dusk groaned and sat up. The right side of his head hurt like all hell, and his left cheek was slightly wet. Dusk was the only one in the room.

Dusk sat up and touched the right side of head, quickly hissing at the sharp pain the contact brought.

"Oh right, Shots," Dusk mumbled as he remembered what had happened earlier.

His hoof then went to the damp patch on his cheek. He wiped it and brought his hoof in front of his eyes. On his hoof was a smudge of pink lipstick, the same kind Petal had been wearing.

"Did she kiss me?" Dusk thought.

His look of confusion slowly faded, and he smiled a little as he wiped his cheek with a tissue.

Dusk stood up, and took a few seconds to gain his bearings. He walked out into the hall and looked left, then right. There was no one in the halls. Dusk ducked back into the office and looked at the clock. It was 12:43.

"About fifteen minutes until the end of third period," Dusk thought.

He walked back over to the bed and sat down, his head still throbbing.

"At least I missed math today. English is next, though. I guess it isn't that bad," Dusk thought.

Dusk sighed. He had almost showed Shots up. Almost. If he hadn't let his guard down, he would have been conscious when the headmaster got to the cafeteria. On the bright side, his father's training had paid off. Dusk had dodged Shots' attacks perfectly, all except for the last one. Dusk slammed his hoof down on the bed and swore. He should have seen that one coming. And now he was in the nurse's office with a possible concussion because of his fuck up.

The nurse entered the room and looked at Dusk.

"Oh, you're finally up," she said. "Your friends carried you in here from the cafeteria and stayed with you until they had to go to class. They were all very worried."

"How bad is it?" Dusk asked.

"How bad is what?" the nurse replied

"The wound," Dusk said, angrily pointing at the bandages.

"Oh. It's nothing serious, you'll just bruise up. Thankfully you didn't get a concussion," the nurse answered.

Dusk's eyes rolled into his head and he let out a groan as he flopped back onto the bed.

"Buck my life," he said to the ceiling. "Why did I even try to be smart, I should have just run."

The nurse walked into the storeroom and began taking inventory as Dusk lay on the bed, waiting for class to get out.

A few minutes after the bell rang, Lavender appeared at the door, and found Dusk lying on the sick bed, his hooves behind his head, his hind hooves tapping to an inaudible beat.

"Dusk?" Lavender said, quietly.

Dusk opened one eye and looked at her, a smile suddenly appearing on his face. He opened his other eye and sat up, beaming at her.

"I've been waiting for you," Dusk said.

"Well I was thinking about you all through class," Lavender said, walking over and sitting down on the end of the bed.

"Because of how stupid I was during first break?" Dusk asked.

"Yes, and because I was worried. I've seen bigger ponies take knocks like that and go down hard," Lavender said.

"The nurse said I don't have a concussion," Dusk said.

"I know, she told us," Lavender replied.

"Us?" Dusk asked.

"Petal, Monroe, Crystal and I," Lavender answered. "I'm assuming they're your other friends?"

"Yeah. They're good friends," Dusk said.

"Well Petal is obviously a very good friend," Lavender said.

"Why do you say that?" Dusk asked, already knowing the answer.

"Well, as we were going to leave, she turned around, ran to you, and kissed you on the cheek," Lavender said.

"So that's what the lipstick was from," Dusk said, feigning sudden realisation.

"I guess she does love you," Lavender said, looking a little down-trodden.

"Yeah. I'm really not sure what I'm gonna do about her. I like her too, but..." Dusk trailed off.

"Well, it's your life, I'm not gonna judge on whether you pick me, her, or somepony else entirely. I'm just glad you're okay," Lavender said, honestly, as she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

Dusk's face went a slight shade redder as Lavender pulled away. Petal appeared in the doorway, just as Lavender sat up straight again.

"Are you okay now, Dusk?" Petal asked.

"Better now that you're here," Dusk said, with a smile. "Now that you're both here."

Petal smiled and sat down at the head of the bed as Dusk sat up and shuffled down to make room for her. As she sat down, Monroe and Crystal arrived, holding hooves. Dusk looked at them quizzically.

"Holding hooves?" Dusk asked.

Crystal blushed furiously and Monroe coughed nervously as they dropped each other's hooves, looking away.

"We weren't doin' nothin' of the sort!" Monroe said.

Dusk tapped his snout, smiling slyly, and turned back to Petal, who pulled him into a tight hug.

"I was so worried about you!" she exclaimed. "Don't do that again!"

Dusk's moment of shock quickly wore off and he freed his hooves from her grasp and returned the hug.

"I'm sorry, Petal. I wasn't thinking properly," Dusk replied.

"Damn right you weren't!" Monroe said. "Coulda gotten yourself killed!"

Dusk turned his head towards him as best he could and replied, "Killed? Come off it, Roe, I had him!"

"Sure, you had 'im all right, right until 'e smacked ya upside the head!" Monroe exclaimed. "But nonetheless, I'm glad you're okay."

"As am I," Crystal said, her face slowly returning to its natural colour.

Dusk sighed, and turned his head back to a natural position as Petal continued to hug him tightly. He set his chin down on her shoulder and stared at the wall, waiting for her to let go.

"So then, what exactly happened after I passed out?" Dusk asked the wall.

"Well, the headmaster has done something with Shots," Lavender replied. "I heard he was expelled, but you'd have to check."

"Yeah, ah heard the same thing," Monroe chimed in.

"Great," Dusk said. "Uh, you guys wouldn't mind leaving Petal and I alone for a bit? I just need to talk to her in private."

Lavender nodded and stood up, walking outside to join Crystal and Monroe, and closed the door.

Petal released Dusk and looked at him, knowing what he was going to ask.

"Petal, why did you kiss me?" Dusk asked her.

"Because..." Petal trails off. "I don't know, actually. I just kind of, did."

"Why'd you wait until I was unconscious?" Dusk asked, smiling a little.

Petal opened her mouth but closed it again, unsure of how to answer Dusk's question.

"What I'm trying to say, Petal, is that I like you enough to kiss you whilst I'm conscious," Dusk said.

Petal blushes furiously and her eyes dart around the room and over Dusk's face. She splutters a bit before sighing and staring at him.

"Don't lie to me, Dusk," she said.

"I'm not lying, Petal," Dusk said, sincerely. "You're a beautiful mare, and I think you deserve so much better than me."

"But..." Petal begins, but is cut off by Dusk.

"Petal. Look, I know I said I didn't love you. I know I said that I may never love you, and I know I hurt you when I said that," Dusk begins, sighing. "Lavender and I went on a date last night. We kissed and it worked out quite well," Dusk continues, putting his hooves on Petal's shoulders. "I want to get to know your side of the story. Why don't you meet me at Caf-Hay after school and we can talk over milkshakes?"

Petal nods "Okay. I have a lot to tell you,"

"And I can't wait to hear it. I'm kind of lost in the dark here, and I think that your explanations could really help me understand where you are coming from. I've been in your position before, but everypony is different." Dusk smiles as he says this before getting up. "I'll see you after school"

Petal is left sitting on the bed in stunned silence as Dusk leaves the room, heading to his next class.

Author's Note

Sorry for the wait, guys. I've been stuck in school doing work and I've been stolen away from doing what I love. Thanks for being patient. I'm almost on holidays, and I'll be writing a lot more during that time.

I just had to fix a major continuity error there, sorry about that.

Encounter

Chapter 8 - Encounter

Petal sat across from Dusk at Caf-Hay, their milkshakes, untouched and sitting between them, dripped with condensation. Dusk re-positioned himself in his straw chair, receiving a tired protest from the chair in reply. Petal opened her mouth but closed it again, unsure of how to begin.

"From the top, Petal. What drew you to me in the first place?" Dusk asked in the softest voice he could manage.

Petal thought for a bit, searching Dusk's fire red eyes for some sort of excuse to get out of there. She was so embarrassed, sitting here in front of, possibly, the biggest crush she'd ever had. She scanned his trim, lightly muscled body, blushing a little as her eyes roamed his features. They were in no way 'chiseled', but he was still extremely good looking. He had a slightly bemused look on his face, one that fit the air that he held about him. His mane, tangled and unruly, was the same color as a raging fire; it almost gave the illusion that his head was ablaze. The combination of a fiery red and yellow streaked mane atop a midnight blue coat was enough to get Petal to blush. She had never come across a stallion that had this sort of body, yet had, to her knowledge, never used it to attract mares. His personality was that of a pony who was almost disinterested in mares. She briefly wondered if he was gay.... She shook those thoughts out of her head before opening her mouth, her cheeks almost as red as Dusk's eyes.

"What attracted me to you in the first place was your looks. You're an extremely handsome pony, Dusk..." Petal began, receiving a light blush from Dusk. "As I sort of.... stared... at you from across the classroom, I noticed you didn't care much for your school work. I kinda like badcolts..... That's what attracted me in the first place, your body and your attitude."

Dusk simply smirked at this before reaching for his milkshake and taking a sip. He scrutinized her, his eyes quickly scanning her body and face before beckoning her to continue. At this point, he had no interest in her body. He was here to talk, and he wasn't about to abuse her misguided love for his own purposes.

Petal nodded, beginning again. "On that first date, I thought you were perfect. You were everything I could have asked for, kind, caring, polite, funny... After what I did... what I said that day... I thought you wouldn't want to talk to me anymore. That's why I avoided you. I thought I had hurt you so bad that I couldn't even face you myself," Petal turns away, her assumptions, as incorrect as they were, still hurting. "I know you said you simply overreacted... but I was still scared that you were hurt."

Dusk nodded, listening silently.

"That's really about it... That's all I can think of right now," Petal muttered, unsure if that was a sufficient story for Dusk.

"You know, Petal... You're an interesting mare," Dusk finally utters, after sipping his shake. "That's what I like about you. You're in no way my type of mare, but you're certainly better than most. That's why you're my friend. That's why I'm still talking to you."

Petal looks up at him, her eyes sparkling in the afternoon light. "Really?"

Dusk rolls his eyes. "Duh. You think I'd make that up?"

Petal giggled and reached over the table, taking a hold of Dusk's hoof and gently squeezing it. "I'm glad you still talk to me."

Dusk smiles, putting his other hoof over hers. "You said it yourself, friends don't leave friends behind."

It was Saturday night, and Dusk was trotting towards the restaurant he and Lavender had agreed on. He was wearing a white dress shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his 'elbows' and over this he wore a black waistcoat. His dad had given him a large amount of bits for the night, and the small bag that contained them was now levitated in front of Dusk, caught in his red aura. As he trotted, Petal's words echoed through his mind. She was quite obviously attracted to him, and it was very obvious that she loved him. He sighed as he thought about this. He had already told her he wasn't interested; already broken her heart. He kicked a small rock, mildly disappointed that these thoughts hovered over him like a black cloud. Especially on a night as beautiful as this. He sometimes wondered how the night could be this beautiful if princess Luna was no longer a part of the Canterlot Royalty. She had been banished long ago, and many ponies, those that still believed the tale, thought she would never come back. He chuckled at his minor distraction and picked up his pace. He was already late is it was; he couldn't afford to be thinking of a banished princess when Lavender was waiting for him in a crowded restaurant.

He soon arrived, entering the crowded area with a semi-professional air about him. He scanned the room for Lavender, but continued moving as if he had a place to go. He spots her quickly, playing with a fork as she waited for him. He skirted around the room, keeping out of her line of sight, until he was behind her. Then he walked up to her, the chatter of ponies masking his hoofsteps. Snickering silently, Dusk puts his hooves over Lavender's eyes. She squeals in fright, struggling a little before the familiar smell of his mane wafted past her nostrils. Once she realized who it was, Lavender giggled and uttered a greeting. Satisfied with his 'work', Dusk takes his seat across from her and flashes a brilliant smile.

"Evening, dear Lavender," Dusk said in a posh, Manehattan accent. This received a giggle and a light blush from Lavender, who promptly replied.

"I'm good, Dusk. Very good..." She trailed off, an almost sinister look in her eyes, as if she had something else on her mind. Dusk picked up on this, and became instinctively wary of her, but hid it from her quite well. "So..... what did you want to do after dinner, Dusky?" Lavender continued.

"Perhaps we should have dinner before discussing anything else, first," Dusk replied, his mind clicking over as he realized what she was up to.

Lavender opened her mouth to say more, but quickly closed it before nodding her agreement and began perusing the menu.

Dusk quickly skimmed the menu, picking out what he wanted before looking up again, watching as Lavender made her decision. She was wearing a rather alluring dress this evening. It was short and very motile, the fabric seeming to slide over her body with no problems, fluttering in the slightest breeze. It was a dark purple, slightly darker than her coat, and sported gold trims. Coupled with this dress, Lavender wore small, diamond shaped earrings which sparkled in the restaurant light. Her mane was styled a little more elaborately than it was on their first date; some extra sparkles and curls here and there. Over all, this style fit her figure quite well. It was a very 'Lavender' outfit, in Dusk's opinion.

Dusk caught himself blushing as he stared at her and quickly looked away, embarrassed at his mild arousal. Lavender looked up after he looked away. Noticing his blush, she giggled a little before asking him if anything was wrong.

"I'm fine, Lavender," Dusk replied, a pony across the room catching his eye. He watched the stallion intently for a while, observing his movements for absolutely no reason at all until the waiter arrived at the table and took his and Lavender's orders. After that, Dusk lost interest in the pony and simply slumped back into his chair, waiting for his meal to come.

"What's wrong, Dusk? You seem.... off, tonight," Lavender said, curious about his attitude.

"I've just got a lot of shit on my plate at the moment, Lavender," Dusk replies, dismissing her inquiry with a wave of his hoof.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Lavender asked, mildly irked at his almost rude gesture.

"It's not something you would enjoy talking about, Lav," Dusk stated.

"I'm guessing it's got to do with Petal, then?" Lavender replied.

Dusk nods before folding his hooves as their meals are set down in front of them. Dusk begins eating before Lavender can start a conversation, more intent on eating and getting out of this noisy, crowded venue than striking conversation with a beautiful mare.

Dusk had ordered a relatively small meal, and therefore he finished it quickly. He moved to his drink, a lemonade, as per usual, and sipped it while he watched Lavender eat her meal. He watched her cut, chew, and swallow, all in her petite, Manehattanite style. He sighed quietly, rolling his eyes a little. Posh ponies had always gotten to him; even those he was attracted to.

As soon as Lavender finished her meal, Dusk stood up and quickly payed the bill before heading back to the table to retrieve Lavender. She looped his hoof through his elbow as the two quickly left the restaurant and entered the quiet, late night streets of Manehattan.

The air outside was cooler, and the combination of this and sudden wave of silence made Dusk relax greatly, his body loosening up as he slowly trotted along with Lavender, who sighed and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Did you enjoy your meal?" Lavender asked, still slightly surprised at how rude he had been in the restaurant.

"Yeah, it was good," Dusk replied, not interested in his meal in the slightest.

"You seem really off tonight, Dusk," Lavender said, a small tone of seductiveness now slipping into her voice. "I know it's about Petal, so I know you don't want to talk about it, but maybe I can do something to make you feel better...."

"Like what?" Dusk asked, curious, yet wary, of her intentions.

"I'll show you..." Lavender replied, taking him by the hoof into the shadows of an alley.

Once there, and once hidden, Lavender pushed Dusk against the wall and began kissing him passionately. Dusk accepted the kiss, putting one hoof on her waist as the other supported her head. The musky aroma of her perfume intoxicating him as she slipped her tongue into his mouth and began swirling it around his tongue. Dusk gasped through his nose, the hoof on Lavender's waist clenching slightly. Lavender moaned softly and she let her hooves explore his body; running over his chest, midriff, and waist. Dusk followed her lead, a rookie at this sort of thing, wrestling his tongue with hers as he leaned back against the wall, the combination of Lavender's touch, her smell, and her soft moans arousing him.

Lavender eventually broke the kiss and stared lovingly into his eye before crouching down. Dusk followed her with his eyes, looking down at her in confusion. Her hoof gently touched his crotch and she began caressing his stalionhood. Dusk stood there, stunned, now knowing why she had such a peculiar gleam in her eyes tonight. Lavender continued stroking, making Dusk more and more erect. Dusk's heart raced and his breath came in heavy gasps as he stood there, completely paralyzed out of confusion and fright. He knew what she was going to do, but he was too embarrassed to say anything.

Her tongue gently began licking the underside of his length, and Dusk closed his eyes, unable to do anything more as Lavender's soft lip wrapped around his tip. At this point, Dusk finally regained motor control and he pulled away from her, pushing her roughly onto her back as he dropped down onto all fours. He glared at her, his face as red as his eyes.

"What was that for?" Lavender asked, slightly irked.

"What the hay do you think you're doing?" Dusk asked, angrily.

"I was gonna... you know...." Lavender replied, slightly frightened.

"No. I will not let you do that," Dusk stated.

"Come on, Dusk. Everypony does it and loves it. Give it a try," Lavender replied, attempting to push him back into the wall.

Dusk roughly pushed her away. "We're in year 8 for buck sake!" Dusk exclaimed.

"So? It's just a blowjob, it's not like I'm putting it inside me or anything," Lavender said.

"No no no.... I can't do this. I have standards, Lavender, I'm not gonna buck around like this. Don't ever talk to me again," Dusk stated before trotting off angrily.

"What?" Lavender called after him, confused. "You're just ending it like that?"

"Yes!" Dusk shouted back at her as he turned out of the alleyway and teleported home with in a flash of red light, leaving Lavender standing in the alley, shocked at his reaction.

Dusk arrived home and entered quietly. His parents were still up and as he came in, his father came up to him.

"How was the date?" he asked.

"Absolute shit, dad. The meal was crap, and Lavender tried to give me a blowjob," Dusk answered, still fuming at her.

"Did you let her?" Dusk's father replied, slightly shocked.

"No. I didn't want that from her. I'm too young, she's too young, and this was our second date for Celestia's sake," Dusk replied.

Dusk's father gave a small smile before ruffling his mane. "At least you know what's up, Dusk. I'm proud of your maturity."

"Thanks, dad," Dusk replied, halfheartedly. "I'm gonna go to bed, Dad. Good night."

"Night, Dusk," his father replied. "Sleep tight."

"I will," Dusk replied as he trotted off to his room.

Dusk entered his room and closed the door, using his magic to take off his clothes before he lay down on his bed, sighing. He shook his head, clearing it. How could Lavender have thought such an act was appropriate. She could have at least asked him first. Either way, he would have said no. He was too young to be fooling around like that, and he had no intention of doing it until he had found the right mare. Dusk sighed, defeated. Lavender obviously wasn't going to be that mare. He knew she never was; she just wasn't the kind of mare he could easily respect. It was all hormones. After all, he was at that age when hormones start coursing through a stallion's veins like a volatile drug. It was only natural for some part of him to want a mare like her. He shook his head again.

"She's just not for me. I have standards. I have morals," Dusk muttered to himself, ashamed that he had not seen her intentions sooner, and ashamed that he had reacted in such a rude manner.

Dusk sighed once more, the events of that night harrowing him. He had never experienced such a thing, and he was, deep down, extremely scared of it. Where would it have lead if he had let his body go? Dusk had no way of knowing. All he wanted to do was sleep. So he shook his head violently, to clear it, and rested his head on the pillow. He closed his eyes and curled up into a frightened ball as he fell asleep.

End of the Line

Author's Note

Sorry about the length of this one. It's really just a stop gap chapter to segue into what I have in store for Dusk's later years. I decided it would be best to get into those sooner than later because that is where the bulk of my ideas are stemming from and the bulk of the story should be.

Sit tight, because more will come soon!

End of the Line

Chapter 9 - End of the Line

When Dusk returned to school the following week, he distanced himself from other ponies; mares in particular. He got the same bullshit stares he always got, ones that ended in him huffing and trotting past the 'offender' while staring at his hooves in mild frustration. It was different this time, however. All he felt was pure, unadulterated rage at the ponies around him. He trotted around, visibly angry, and many of the stares he received were from wary and mildly afraid ponies. Walking through crowds was easy, considering many parted for him when they saw the obvious fire in his eyes as he walked along with rage in his step and a scowl on his face.

It was late on a Thursday, and Dusk was sitting in Math class, struggling with some linear functions. He growled and slammed his desk with his hoof.

"Buck Math...." Dusk growled.

"What was that, Mr. Fire?" Mr. Roston asked.

"I said buck Math, sir. It's a shit subject and it's absolutely useless!" Dusk retorted, his rage clear in his voice.

Roston came down to Dusk's desk and looked at the scrawls and failed equations written in Dusk's exercise book. "Get up," Roston said sharply.

Dusk did as he was instructed, pushing his chair out and standing up in one swift action, his forehooves still settled on the table as he stared straight ahead.

"Come up to the front," Roston said as he trotted to the black board, Dusk soon tailing as ponies watched him intently.

"This," Roston began, addressing the class, "is an example of a failure. A stallion who cannot and will not try or succeed at anything in his life. He resorts to vulgarities to express his rage. The stallion stan-"

Roston was cut off by a blood-curdling roar from Dusk. He grabbed the back of Roston's head and pushed it down, slamming it into the desk, breaking his nose and spraying blood onto the pens and paper laying there. Dusk pulled Roston up, who had yelled in pain and was now clutching his bleeding nose, and stared into his eyes before smashing the side of his head into the black board, splitting the side of Roston's head open like a busted seam and putting a large dent in the board. Dusk laid into him, holding the scruff of his neck as he punched up into Roston's gut again and again, roaring with each punch.

Pulling back, Dusk grabbed Roston's collar and punched him in the face over and over, each punch emphasized by a word. "I. AM. NOT. A. FAILURE!!!!!"

By the time he was finished, the students were cowering in fear as Dusk stood over the bruised, battered, and bleeding body of his Mathematics teacher. Dusk took one look at Petal before using his hoof to violently sweep everything off the teacher's desk and storming out the classroom door.

Dusk soon found himself in the Principal's office, his parents sitting either side of him as the Principal looked at him with disappointment and Mr. Roston stared him down with obvious contempt. Dusk tensed, throwing Roston a rage-filled glare which consequently made the Math teacher flinch in fear.

"Do you want to get into more trouble?" Dusk's father asked as he laid a hoof on his son's shoulder.

"The only reason why this cunt isn't dead yet is because I want him to be afraid of me...." Dusk replied through gritted teeth.

"Calm down, Dusk. There's no need for this," His father replied.

Dusk simply huffed and sat back in his seat as the principal began speaking.

"Dusk Fire, what you did this afternoon was extremely unacceptable. Not only did you break the rules and values of this school, but you also broke the law. You, young colt, are very lucky that I have decided to handle this affair internally and not notify the police. And you are also lucky that Mr. Roston has decided against pressing charges against you and your family. As for the consequences of these actions, you will be promptly expelled from this school at the end of the week. You have tomorrow to say goodbye to your friends before you leave. I wish you the very best of luck in your future endeavours, Dusk," The principal stated clearly and surely, as if he had rehearsed it.

Dusk's parents simply nodded their understanding while Dusk kicked his chair out from underneath him and left the room.

Petal was in tears when Dusk told her what happened. Monroe stood indifferent before him, only uttering how he deserved it after what he had done. Crystal was nowhere to be found. According to Monroe. she was scared to death of Dusk now.

"Yeah. Petal saw what happened, and I'm sure you heard about it," Dusk stated after having finished recounting the events of Thursday. "Fucker deserved it, but I'm still being expelled, apparently..."

"You bloody well deserved, ya bloody wanka," Monroe replied.

"Yeah, fuck you too," Dusk replied, venom dripping from his words. "Anyway, I'm outta here. And I ain't fucking writing. I'm sick of this shithole full of slutty mares, bullies, and asshole teachers."

At that, Dusk stood up from the canteen bench they had been sitting at and left as unceremoniously as he had left the principal's office the day before. Petal chased him out as Dusk made his way to the doors, intent on heading home early, considering he had nothing left to do at the place. Staying for his last class was as useless as staying for the first three, considering he would learn the same crap at his next school.

"Dusk! Don't go yet!" Petal called out as she hurried up to him, tears streaking down her pink cheeks.

"I'm going. I haven't got a damned choice," Dusk replied coldly, not even turning to face her.

"Dusk.... all I ask is that you stay in touch..." Petal pleaded as she slowed her trots.

"I'll do what I can. Don't expect anything," Dusk replied as he finally left.

Dusk had been expelled from all but one school in Manehattan. The only school left was the most prestigious, and expensive, school in the city: The Grey Mare College of Excellence. This school had one of the best sporting and academic ratings in the country, surpassed only by those in Canterlot.

"You better not fuck this one up, Dusk," His father replied while they were eating dinner that night.

"This is the most expensive school we've sent you to, and it's the only option we have left. After this, you'll have to get a job. We simply won't have enough money to send you to another school," Dusk's mother chimed in, extremely resentful of her son's actions the previous day.

"Yeah yeah.... I know what it's all about. Just let me eat my bloody dinner...." Dusk replied softly.

"DAMMIT DUSK!" His father yelled, slamming his hoof into the table and causing Dusk's mother to jump in fright. "This is the twelfth time you've been expelled from a school! You need to get your fucking act together!"

"Look, I was fucking pissed off at what Lavender tried to do, and then Mr. Roston just had to ridicule me in front of the whole fucking class. WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE?!" Dusk yelled back, stabbing his fork into the table.

"Calm down, both of you!" Dusk's mother's voice uttered, rising over the clamour.

Dusk sits back in a huff, no longer interested in his food. He received his father's abuse, taking it all in as he ranted and raved about the importance of education and how he should be more careful with his emotions and all the bullshit Dusk had heard before. Once his father had finished, he stood up and went to his room, closing the door softly and laying down on his bed as tears began to flow from his face. He had snapped again. For the twelfth time. Twelve different schools, every one of them had kicked him out for similar reasons and because of similar events. Dusk sobbed quietly as sleep began to take him, his regret and anger at himself overwhelming him and pouring out in the form of tears.

"What a splendid scheme...."

Author's Note

****WARNING****

This chapter contains sexually explicit material near the end of the chapter. It is mildly essential to Dusk's story, so reading it is recommended, but it is not mandatory. You continue to read at your own discretion.

"What a splendid scheme...."

Chapter 10 - "What a splendid scheme...."

It was near the end of year ten and a now seventeen year old Dusk trotted the halls of the Grey Mare College, kicking a small ball of paper. He sighed as he kicked it a little too hard and sent it further than he had anticipated. As he trotted over to kick it again, a harrowingly familiar voice rang out from behind him.

"Hey Dusk! Wait up you sexy thing," The voice called, followed with hoof steps.

Dusk stopped, a flash of anger crossing his face before he turned. Standing before him was a sly looking mare, a year older than him, and stunningly beautiful. She was tall, slim, and had the figure of a princess. Her mane and tail, both styled at the most expensive salon in the district, was a rose red with rose pink highlights. With eyes were as ruby red as Dusk's, burning with the same fervour and passion as his, and a dark teal coat, she was by far the most stunning mare in the whole school. Her name was Rose Burn, and she was every bit a thorn in Dusk's side as her name alluded.

"What's up, Dusky?" Rose asked, smiling slyly, as she usually did.

"Not much, I'm just spending my spare period trotting around the halls. Considering I board here, I haven't really got much else to do last period on a Wednesday," Dusk explained, keeping his temperament under close watch.

"So, if you're not doing anything, perhaps I could join you?" Rose asked.

Dusk sighed, rolling his eyes. Rose had chased him since he had arrived at this god forsaken school. Rejection or not, Dusk had never been able to shake her, no matter how many times he said no. At this stage, it was simply best to go along with the ride, after all she was harmless.

"Yeah, why not. I'd like some company anyway," Dusk said as Rose's smile grew.

Dusk turned and resumed his path through the hall and then out to the courtyard lockers, all the while feeling Rose's gaze burning into his back. He shivered, her very presence giving him goosebumps. The thing was, he had absolutely no idea why it did; it just always had.

"So, Dusky-Wusky, how was your day?" Rose inquired, using her pet name for her fantasy coltfriend.

"It was..... okay," Dusk replied, gritting his teeth.

Rose trotted in front of him, stopping his trot as she put her hooves on his cheeks, locking her eyes with his. "Why don't you tell me about it...."

Dusk suppressed a scowl and simply let her do her thing. "I went to social studies and magic class, and I was bored to death in both of them, good enough?"

"Oh Dusky....." She sighed, looking away for a second. "Tell me, why do you always say no when I ask you out?"

Dusk closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his nostrils flaring. "I get this vibe from you, Rose. One that I don't like. You're simply not my type."

She giggles. "Oh Dusky-Wusky, stop playing hard to get! I know you want me..."

Dusk pulls away from her grip. "Look, Rose, I said no. If you really want me, you'll just have to come get me."

"Be careful what you wish for, Dusky," Rose replied, a devious grin growing on her face.

Dusk simply shook his head and turned the other way, intent on leaving her there. However, Rose simply followed, giving him a playful slap on the flank as she came up beside him. Dusk ignored the slap, staring straight ahead as he trotted on.

"You and I have a date with destiny, Dusky. Don't you forget that," Rose said as she kissed his cheek and trotted off. "I'll see you soon...."

It was late afternoon that day, and Dusk and Dusty were doing laps of the local park. Dusty was Dusk's best friend, and for good reason too. He was a down to earth stallion, who barely cared for the 'pleasantries' of Manehattanite life. He was about Dusk's height, and had a slightly lighter coat than he. His two-tone mane, cut short and styled into a spiky mohawk, was a darkish green and a dull yellow. With freckles, deep blue eyes, and a goatee to match his mane, Dusty had gained instant favour with Dusk as soon as the two had met.

They spent most of their time exercising in the local park, mostly sparring, but also doing laps and other aerobic conditioning. They were both extremely fit, and they strove to keep it that way.

The two sat on a bench in the park, Dusty spraying water over his head while Dusk took a long drink, drying his mane with a towel he had brought.

"Bro, you'll never believe what happened this arvo," Dusk began, slowing and controlling his breathing.

"Let me guess, Rose?" Dusty replied, still panting.

"Yup. She comes up to me, as per usual, and tries to start another bloody conversation, and then she says that her and I have a date with destiny," Dusk explained, shaking his head. "Any idea what the hell she's talking about?"

"Nup. Although she has been known to do some rather... drastic things to ponies she feels threatened by. She likes being the most popular pony in school. I'd be careful if I were you," Dusty replied, his breath slowly coming under control.

Dusk nodded, using his magic to wipe the sweat from his body. "Will do.... but why would she feel threatened by me?"

Dusty chuckled, using his wings to help dry himself off as he drank what was left in his water bottle. "I dunno, but you really need a plan to handle her, coz she's not gonna stop until she gets what she wants."

Dusk sighed, packing his things into his saddlebags. "God, you have no idea...."

"And here I was thinking that being chased by mares was fun," Dusty joked, also beginning to pack up.

"Maybe for you it is. It's just too much trouble for me," Dusk replied.

"You sure you're not gay? You haven't had a marefriend since you got here, and you haven't even considered any of the mares here," Dusty stated.

"And I haven't considered any of the stallions, either," Dusk retorted, giving Dusty a sideways look.

Dusty chuckled, getting Dusk's point. "You don't like the ponies bred by this generation, then?"

"Bingo!" Dusk replied. "Ain't nothing good about them, so far as I can see."

"Then maybe you should look deeper. There are plenty of ponies around here that are different from the norm, and are much better than it," Dusty said. "Look around the front of the cafeteria, or the magic wing or the library. You're bound to find somepony who's not only good looking, but has a personality that shines like a gem. That's where I found Violet."

"True.... Violet certainly is a gem..." Dusk replied, pondering Dusty's suggestion.

"Why don't you take a look tomorrow? Anyway, I should get going before I'm late for dinner," Dusty said, before getting up. "Catch ya round, Dusk."

"Yeah, you too," Dusk replied as he watched his friend trot out of the park.

Dusk returned to his boarding room at the school later than evening. The sky had darkened to a deep blue, the same colour as his coat. He made himself some dinner before putting on some Ponese music to meditate to.

Dusk had taken to meditation recently to cleanse his body of the anger and frustration he felt on a daily basis. He sat in the middle of the room, the music wafting into his ears as he closed his eyes. His horn glowed a bright red and a magical aura surrounded him, slowly lifting him above the ground. His body relaxed, and his muscles de-tensed, his mind clearing itself of its troubles, and the frown on his face slowly disappearing. Letting out a long sigh, Dusk gently touched the floor once more and got up and went to his desk, his mind now clear.

"I've got to work on this damn Math assignment...." Dusk huffed, sitting at his desk. "Might as well leave the music on, it'll keep me calm....."

He began work on his assignment with the aid of his meditation music. With the aid of the music, Dusk managed to finish relatively quickly, which cleared up the rest of his night.

"Hm, it really does help, that music.... perhaps I outta go to bed now, considering I haven't got anything better to do," Dusk pondered, his voice soft and calm. This was a side of him only he had seen and, at least so he thought, would only be seen by him.

With that, Dusk turned out the light and turned the music down low before retiring for the night.

Dusk trotted through the cafeteria the next day, searching for a table with reclusive looking mares. He had decided to take Dusty's advice and see what sort of ponies there really were at this school. He trotted slowly through the tight aisles, levitating a lunch tray above him as a form of 'disguise'. To the untrained eye, he was simply looking for a place to sit.

After a few minutes of searching, he found a table with three mares sitting at it, all three who looked rather nerdy, discussing some form of magical spell. Dusk smiled. Finally, a few mares who seemed slightly interested in academics. He placed his tray at one of the vacant seats and sat down, much to the surprise of the three mares, one of whom blushed furiously and looked away.

"G'day, ladies. What're you doing there?" Dusk asked, genuinely curious in what they were discussing.

"It's none of your business, s-sir," one of the mares replied, a unicorn with a light blue coat and a slightly frizzled black mane.

"I'm offended, miss. I was simply inquiring as to what you were doing at this lonely little table of yours," Dusk said, frowning a little.

One of the mares, pink in colour, leaned into the black-maned one and whispered something to her. "Alright then.... you can join us," the blue unicorn replied.

With a bright smile, Dusk scooted closer to the group, stopping next to the single pony on his side of the table. "My name is Dusk, what's yours?"

"I'm Vivette," the blue unicorn replied. "This is Signet," Vivette added, indicating the yellow mare who had shied away from Dusk.

"And I'm Opal," the pink mare stated, smiling at Dusk.

"It's certainly a pleasure to meet you all. Know, I noticed you were discussing something magical?" Dusk said, after shaking Vivette and Opal's hooves, Signet having seemed to nervous and shy to even look at him.

"Yeah. We were trying to figure out how the transformation spell worked," Vivette replied, indicating the open spell book sitting between the three.

"What, you mean this one?" Dusk asked, his horn glowing red as he turned the book into a glass.

Signet's eyes grew wide and she let out a gasp of amazement. "H-How did you do that? We've been trying for ages!"

"It's simple, really. All you have to do is concentrate on what you want the object to be, and then imagine your object turning into that object," Dusk explained as best he could. "You try," He finished, turning the glass back into a book.

Signet took her turn first, closing her eyes as her horn glowed purple. She strained a little, but soon enough the book turned into a quill. She opened one eye to see if her spell worked, and then opened the other one with a squee as she clapped her hooves together in excitement. "I did it! I did it!"

Dusk chuckled and watched as the other two ponies took their turns to transform the book into something of their choice. As they finished, Vivette smiled at Dusk and bade her thanks whilst Signet pulled a small piece of paper out of her saddlebag. She turned it into a rose and floated it over to Dusk. "Thank you, Dusk," Signet said with a small smile.

Dusk blushed lightly, taking the rose from her magical aura. "Wow... thank you, Signet... I don't know what to say..."

Opal looked at him, giggling quietly. "She likes you...."

"I've never seen her warm up to a pony so quickly.... especially a stallion," Vivette said.

"He likes magic, I like magic, therefore I like him," Signet replied, smiling cutely.

Dusk chuckled as he looked at the rose. Its petals where the same pink as Signet's aura. He smiled, the gesture touching him greatly. He was suddenly broken out of his thoughts as the school bell rang, signalling the beginning of third period. Signet, Vivette, and Opal all stood up and said goodbye to Dusk, their smiles bright as they trotted off towards their next class. Dusk smiled a little as he got up. Dusty was right; not everypony in the school was as bad as he thought.

Dusk stood up from the table and went to his next class, Math. Thank god he had finished that assignment. It was due today and, as much as he hated doing it in the first place, Dusk didn't like handing in assessment late.

The door was still closed when Dusk arrived at his Math class. Standing outside were the ponies in the class, along with Rose, who had made it her mission to brag about how the two were together. Spying him, Rose smiled and dragged him over to her friends, kissing his cheek and leaning on him, much to Dusk's annoyance.

"Say hello to Dusky Wusky, gals," Rose said, smiling.

They promptly said hello, giggling mockingly. As Dusk's mood quickly dropped. He pushed her away from him, growling.

"You, don't touch me. And you," Dusk turned to Rose's friends. "We are not together."

"Come on, Dusky. We all know you love the attention," Rose said, smiling slyly as she trotted into the class, the door having opened seconds before. Rose's friends giggled at him as they followed her inside, leaving Dusk standing in the doorway, angry and slightly confused.

About halfway through the class, the teacher decided to collect assignments from each student. Dusk sat in his seat, mildly nervous while Rose Burn and co sat next to, and around, his desk, giggling and conversing about the stallion seated in between them. Dusk had had enough, and the added tension of having to hand his assignment in sent him over the edge.

"ENOUGH!" Dusk roared as he stood up, slamming his hooves onto his desk. "I've had enough of your malicious comments and rumour spreading, Rose," Dusk growled at the stunned mare beneath him. "Here's the assignment, sir," Dusk stated, tossing his assignment to the teacher. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to be excused to get away from this abuse." The teacher simply nodded in reply, letting Dusk stride out of the room.

It had been the same crap over and over since Dusk had met Rose. Every class he had with her was the same. She sat next to him, either whispering provocative or sexual things into his ear when none of her friends were in the class, or spreading lies about their 'relationship' to her friends when they were in class. Either way, Dusk could never get away from it. The teachers knew about it, and if Dusk needed to leave, the teacher would usually let him.

Enraged thoughts of Rose circled through Dusk's head as he trotted hastily back to his room. He needed to meditate. Urgently. Otherwise god only knew what he would do if he heard Rose say one more thing about how she did this with him, or how they did that in the bedroom. He was broken out of this haze as he heard a familiar voice squeal in fear and sadness. Dusk stopped in his tracks. The squeal was familiar. Again it sounded out and Dusk's ears pricked as he recognised it. Signet was quite obviously in trouble. Dusk trotted to the next junction in the corridors and peeked around the corner. Pressed into the far corner of the dead-end hallway was Signet, her small frame crouched beneath a rather large stallion, her body pressed as far back into the lockers lining the wall as possible. He could see distress written on her yellow muzzle, even from this distance.

"I told you to suck it, you whore!" the stallion shouted as Signet squirmed beneath him.

Dusk's brow furrowed and he stepped into the corridor. He began slowly trotting down it, keeping himself quiet as he watched the scene unfold.

"Are you gonna fucking suck it or am I gonna make you?" the stallion questioned as Signet shook her head.

Dusk cringed as he slapped her, and quickened his pace until he was halfway down the hall. At this point, the stallion had grabbed the back of Signet's head and had begun to pry it away from the wall.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Dusk called out.

The stallion jumped a little and turned to face Dusk. "Just keep walking, loser."

"Oh I'll keep walking alright," Dusk said as he trotted towards the stallion.

"Get lost, dipshit, or the mare gets it!" the stallion shouted.

Dusk didn't break pace, and was soon standing in front of the stallion. "I'm in a bad mood, asshole, so I'll give you a chance to leave her alone before I smash your fucking face in."

"Fucking try me," the stallion replied, spitting at Dusk's hooves.

With that, Dusk punched him in the side of the head before grabbing him and ramming him into the bank of lockers behind the stallion. Dusk roared, letting out all of his frustration and anger at Rose and this perverted fuck out as he punched the stallion in the face over and over and over again, bloodying and bruising his face, and severely denting the lockers behind him.

Once the stallion's face looked like a slab of raw meat, Dusk let him slide down the bank of lockers, a trail of blood following his descent. Dusk stood there, panting, as Signet slowly stood up.

"Th-Thank you, D-Dusk...." Signet whispered before galloping out of the hallway, leaving Dusk standing in the hallway.

"Dusk, you brutally assault another student today. What do you have to say for yourself?" the principal stated, clearly quite angry at Dusk.

"I saved a filly from being raped, asswipe, you should be fucking commending me, not yelling at me!" Dusk retorted.

"Oh really now? No filly has come forward about this, and your victim denies these allegations completely," the principal replied.

"Of course he fucking denied them! He's a fucking rapist, Mr. Steel!" Dusk shouted, quite angry at the principal's stupidity. "Look, call Signet, from my grade, to the office. She was the mare who I saved. She'll confirm my story."

Principal Steel sighed, rolling his eyes as he trotted to the intercom and pressed the button. He cleared his throat before calling Signet to the office. Dusk and Principal Steel stared each other down while they waited for Signet to arrive, both stallions extremely angry at one another.

Soon after she was called to the office, Signet tapped on the door and opened it a little. "You wanted to see me sir?" Signet asked shyly.

"Yes, come in," Principal Steel replied, waving her inside.

Signet opened the door carefully and trotted inside before closing the door quietly. When she turned around and saw Dusk sitting in the chair in front of her, her ears perked up and she cracked a small smile. "Dusk?" she asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Ms. Signet, Dusk here has assaulted a fellow student and he alleges that he did it to save you from being raped. Is that correct?" Steel asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Y-Yes, sir.... Dusk found me cornered by a stallion, I don't know what his name was, and he saved me...." Signet replied quietly. "Please don't punish Dusk... If it wasn't for him, that stallion would have......" she gulps at the end of the sentence, the mere thought of what he might have done to her shocking the poor unicorn to the core.

"So, Dusk, it looks like your little story checks out.... You can leave now, I will handle the rest of this matter," Steel stated.

Dusk stood up, still not happy that he had been treated so harshly. "Thank you, sir. Come on Signet, I'll take you back to class."

"Okay, Dusk," Signet replied, her shy smile returning.

Dusk and Signet trotted back to class, Dusk's hoof wrapped around Signet's shoulders protectively. "Did you know him?" Dusk asked.

"No.... all I know is that he was in the hoofball team...." Signet replied, looking away.

"Fuckin'...... Those bastards think they're on top of the fucking world, don't they?" Dusk asked the air.

"They really do..." Signet answered, surprised to find somepony other than her friends that shared her opinion. "I didn't think anypony other than me and my friends thought that..."

Dusk chuckled. "Trust me, there are heaps of ponies who absolutely hate the hoofball team."

Signet nuzzled him. "I'm glad you think so, Dusk..."

He chuckles again, nuzzling her back as they came within range of her classroom. Dusk took his hoof from around her shoulders and opened the door for her, letting her walk inside.

"Stay safe for me, Signet," Dusk whispered as she passed him.

Signet smiled at him as she walked inside, before taking her seat and watching Dusk close the door and trot off.

"I need to fucking meditate before I put another pony in hospital," Dusk said to himself as he trotted to his room. "That was too close for comfort..."

Dusk came to his door quickly and tried the handle. "Shit.... I left my keys in my bag..." Dusk swiped at the air in frustration before looking side to side to ensure he was alone, and then picking the lock with his magic. Once inside, Dusk hurriedly closed the door and locked it behind him before putting on his meditation music and sitting in the centre of his room. As the record spun on his player, Dusk inhaled and exhaled calmly, his body de-stressing and de-tensing. Dusk floated in rhythm to the soft music as his mind cleared and his frown faded once more, his body finally coming to a peaceful state.

As he touched the ground once more and he turned the music off, he looked at the clock. It had only seemed like seconds, but he had been meditating for a good half an hour. He quickly hurried out the door, locking it with magic behind him, and galloped to his Math class, which was currently emptying. Dusk pushed past the ponies who were filing out and packed his saddle bags.

"Where were you, Dusk?" the teacher asked.

"I beat up a stallion who was sexually assaulting a mare and then I went to the office and then I meditated for half an hour, sir," Dusk said quickly as he tossed his saddle bags on.

"Interesting..... well, you didn't miss much, we were just addressing specific questions students had about the assignment," the teacher replied.

"Righto... I should go, sir," Dusk said.

The teacher simply nodded, letting Dusk leave the room, understanding the importance of his meditation sessions.

Dusk had stayed outside, still exercising long after Dusty had left for home. It was dark by the time Dusk decided to pack up and return to his room for a shower. Trotting through the empty, dimly lit, outside corridors, Dusk felt a presence following him, watching him. The fur on the nape of his neck stood on end, and he became extremely alert as he unlocked his door and entered, closing the door behind him quickly and locking it securely. Inside he felt much safer, but there was still an inkling at the back of his mind as he dropped his bag in the corner and went into the bathroom to take a shower.

Dusk took his time in the shower, savouring the feeling of warm water running over his body and soaking his mane. He eventually stepped out of the shower and dried himself off. He balled the towel up and tossed it next to the bag full of stuff to be taken to the laundry.

He whistled as he stepped out of the bathroom, smiling happily.

Until he saw Rose Burn laying on his bed.

"How the fuck did you get in here?" Dusk asked angrily, his whistling stopped, and his smile quite obviously gone.

"I made a copy of the keys you left in class," Rose replied smugly, the copy she had made dangling from a little keyring in her hoof.

"You..... you can't do that!" Dusk said, turning to face her front on.

"Oh but I already have, Dusky...." Rose replied as she sat up, an almost sultry look in her eyes.

Before Dusk could say anything, Rose got up from his bed and ensnared him in her magic. "Oh Dusky Dusky Dusky..... I've liked you for a very long time now, but you keep rejecting me...."

Unable to reply, Dusk's eyes simply follow Rose as she trots around him, his body now floating a good foot in the air.

"You see, I always get what I want. And what I want, is you," Rose said with an evil smirk. "You simply keep rejecting me, Dusk. But no longer. Tonight, I will have you, whether you like it or not." After saying this, Rose frees Dusk's mouth, letting him speak.

"You're the only pony in two years who has expressed their desire to sleep with me," Dusk said calmly. "But why me? There are plenty of other stallions who are far better looking than I, and much more talented."

"You're right, I guess...." Rose replied, stopping to think. "But I want you. It's no matter, at one point, chasing you was fun, but now it's a chore. So I'm gonna get what I want, and then rid myself of you."

Dusk growled at her, his hatred for her only growing. "What a splendid scheme....." Dusk said through gritted teeth. How could this mare think she could just take what she pleased and have no consequences? Dusk fumed, struggling as much as he could while Rose giggled, levitated him onto the bed.

Rose's magic pinned Dusk to the bed as she slowly crawled up his body, kissing him passionately while Dusk attempted to squirm. This only made Rose giggle as a hoof ran down his side to his crotch. Because of Rose's magic, Dusk couldn't close his eyes, and so all he could do was stare into Rose's as she took a hold of him. Flinching, tears stung the back of his eyes as Dusk wondered why anypony would do something so evil, and to someone like him. He was a nobody in this school and he still couldn't believe a mare would be so driven as to pin him down and rape him.

Rose wiped the tear from Dusk's eye as her hoof began to gently caress his flaccid member. Dusk tried as hard as he could to close his eyes, to let all of this fade to black, but he simply couldn't. Rose began kissing him once again as her hoof slowly made him harder and harder; her soft coat arousing Dusk's body, but not his mind.

As soon as she deemed he was hard enough, Rose slid down Dusk's body and stared at his erect stallionhood. "Gosh, Dusky..... I never knew a stallion could get so hard," She quipped, a devious smirk plastered on her face.

Dusk simply growled in reply as Rose licked all the way up from his base to his tip, where her soft lips enclosed. Her tongue swirled around his tip, coating it with her saliva. She looked up at Dusk as she gently swallowed some of his length, pushing the tip into her mouth. Delight shone evidently in her eyes as she did this, more so at the look of agony and frustration in Dusk's eyes than the taste or feel of his penis.

Continuing to suck, Rose's mouth surrounded Dusk's length, her tongue licking and wrapping itself around his shaft, her lips squeezing gently on his length. She was definitely a pro, but Dusk had no interest in that. His squirming had only made Rose increase the power on her spell, and her want to cause him as much agony as possible.

After what was an agonising eternity for Dusk, Rose slowly pulled away, gasping for air as she gently stroked his saliva coated length.

"I think we're both ready for something more....." Rose said with a smirk as she moved up his body, positioning herself over his tip.

Instantly knowing what was up, Dusk's eyes filled with panic and he struggled intensely, Rose's spell nearly failing against his writhing.

Rose scowled at him. "Stop writhing like an eel! It will make this so much easier for both of us!"

While she was distracted with yelling at him, Dusk managed to break out of her spell, which had weakened significantly under the duress of his struggles, and the distraction of Rose's frustration. Using his hind hooves, Dusk slipped out from under Rose and kicked her off him, sending her flying into the opposite wall. Before she could react with magic, Dusk enveloped her in his own paralysis spell, levitating her halfway up the wall to look down into his rage filled eyes.

"Why?" Dusk asked in a shaky voice as he stared up at the mare who had attempted to rape him.

She stared down at him, disdain and a mild shred of fear in her voice and eyes. "Because I felt like it. It's what I do. I hurt ponies. It's fun watching their hearts crumble as I submit them to agony and pain."

Dusk sighed as he slowly set her down. "I should turn you in. I should scream and shout and beat you up. But I'm not going to."

A look of mild surprise was written on Rose's face as Dusk released his magical grasp on her. She trotted up to him, meeting his gaze. "Why? After what I did, surely you'd want to do that..."

"Because it's what you want me to do. You want me to hurt you. I'll bet you released that spell so I could free myself and exact my revenge. Then you'd have ample opportunity and evidence to get me expelled," Dusk explained, working through the unnatural events that had occurred only moments before.

Rose looked at him, dumbfounded and at a loss for words. "Dusk.... you..... I...."

Dusk looked back with equal surprise, his statement only a meager guess at her intentions. It was at this point, when he had let his guard down, that Rose struck once more, hitting him with a paralysing bolt of magic, knocking him back onto the bed. With a smirk, she clambered on top of him once more, and without warning she pushed his length inside of her, gasping as she did so. Dusk let out a low roar, displaying his mixed emotions. The feeling was enraging, the fact that she was so determined to do this to him, and yet, as her tight walls gently pulsated around his length, he felt a strange sense of pleasure. This lasted only momentarily as he fought to push her off as she began using her hind legs to move herself up and down on his member.

Rose let out yelps and yips and moans and squeaks as she rode the stallion below her, who fought endlessly to shake off the mare that sat atop him. Tears began to flow from Dusk's eyes as this cruel mare stole his virginity from him; in his panic and frustration he had all but forgotten the skills his father had taught him, and the spells he had taught himself.

Rose's delicate folds teased the base of Dusk's member, her nectar spilling out onto his crotch as she rode him like a wild horse. Dusk squeezed his eyes shut, tears leaking from the corners as he felt a large wetness well up inside Rose before hearing her scream in pleasure as she came. The combination of riding him, and seeing him cry had driven her over the edge.

As Rose rode him, Dusk finally managed to get his words together. He stares up at her, tears glistening in his eyes, his voice weaker than it had ever been.

"Wh-Wh-Why.....?" He asked softly.

The softness of Dusk's voice took Rose by surprise, and she stopped her movements for a moment to catch her breath and reply.

"Because I like seeing ponies in pain, Dusk. It turns me on," Rose explained, grinning as she resumed her up and down thrusts.

As Rose continued, Dusk could feel a pressure building up in his loins. He struggled to keep it from building, straining against his body's urge to ejaculate, but to no avail. Somehow Rose felt this, and she pulled off just before Dusk climaxed with a shout of shame and disgrace, his warm, white seed squirting high into the air, landing on Rose. Grinning down at him, Rose wrapped her lips around Dusk's dripping member and cleaned it off.

"What a good colt," Rose commented after relinquishing Dusk's member from her mouth.

Dusk simply lay there, unable to react out of shock, shame, and emotional pain. He began sobbing anew; his virginity, something he valued dearly, had been stolen by a mare who had no interest in love or compassion. Rose wiped her brow, which was beaded with sweat and cum, and smiled down at her prey. She used her magic to clean herself off before standing up.

"Thanks for the ride, Dusky..." Rose says as she leaves the room, smiling satisfactorily at the sobbing heap that lay on the bed.

Revenge

Chapter 11 - Revenge

Dusk woke the next day, a determined scowl on his face. He changed the sheets, took a shower, and then sat down at his desk. He unlocked one the drawers and pulled out a small ornate box. Setting it on the desk and opening it, Dusk revealed several components of a hidden blade. It was his own design, based on what he'd seen in his father's workshop. Dusk laid the components out on his desk and began working on them.

He worked with such concentration and zealous fervor, that it was only at sun down that Dusk finally completed his weapon. It fit his hoof perfectly, and the blade extended and retracted without a sound. The blade itself was made out of a complex metal compound that allowed the blade to stay sharp and strong much longer than any traditional blade. At full extension, the blade was longer than a dagger, yet shorter than a sword. It was the perfect length to be concealable and act as a stand alone weapon in open combat. There was, however, one problem. It was obvious to the naked eye that it was on his hoof. Sure, he could simply cast an invisibility spell on it, but if somepony was to touch his hoof where the weapon was, they would feel it. What Dusk needed was a chameleon spell. However, he had no idea if one even existed, or where to find the tome if it did. He would have to make it himself. Dusk growled in exasperation; he was good at magic, but he wasn't that good. He had no idea how to make spells, and it would take him months, if not years to learn how to create basic spells; a chameleon spell was sure as shit not basic.

As he packed away his things, Dusk heard a light tap on the door. He locked the drawer, assuming it was only the wind, when he heard another few. He stood up and waited for a second, listening intently. As he slowly trotted towards the door, he heard another few taps ring out.

"Who is it?" Dusk asked in a low, yet audible, voice.

"It's me..." a small, sheepish voice replied from the other side.

"Who's 'me'?" Dusk asked, a smile forming on his face as he recognised Signet's voice.

"Signet..." she replied. "Can I come in?"

Dusk opened the door for her and let her inside. She was carrying a small stack of papers which she set down on his desk as Dusk closed the door. Signet retreated to a corner of the room, near the door, as she looked around.

"That's..... that's your homework for today..." Signet said.

"Thanks," Dusk replied with a smile, looking through it quickly. "Come over here," he said, with a sideways glance at the small yellow mare.

Signet hesitated for a moment before trotting up to him. She yipped in surprise as Dusk put a hoof around her slim waist and pulled her close.

"Do you have feelings for me, Signet?" Dusk asked, not making eye contact.

Signet blushed furiously. "N-No.... I think of you as a good friend, th-though..." she replied.

Dusk let out a sigh of relief. "Thank god for that...."

"Wh-Why?" Signet asked softly.

"Because I don't like breaking hearts," Dusk answered simply, before giving her a friendly squeeze.

"Oh..." Signet said, calming down quite a bit.

He let her go and trotted to the door. "You can go now, if you want," Dusk said as he opened it.

"Thank you..." Signet replied softly before leaving the room.

Dusk watched her leave before closing the door and flopping onto the bed. He sank into the mattress as he ran revenge scenarios through his mind. One of the stood out, and it brought a wicked smile to Dusk's muzzle. He got up and quickly left the room to find Rose.

It was a cool evening, and the afternoon sun shone orange and red like the flame that occupied Dusk's heart. He trotted through the hallways, heading straight to the nurse's office. He came to the door and tried the handle. He found it locked and, as he did with his door yesterday, Dusk looked side to side to ensure he was alone before picking the lock and heading inside. Closing the door behind him, Dusk quickly scanned the room, looking for the drug he wanted. Schools didn't typically stock the kind of 'medicine' he was looking for, but he wanted to look anyway. He searched for about an hour before he found it. Locked away at the back of a small fridge in the back of the storage room was a half full ampoule of PCP. Dusk smirked, partly because his plan was coming together, and partly because of his insane luck. This drug was originally used as an anesthetic, but its use was discontinued because of its hallucinogenic effects. It was probably one of the most dangerous hallucinogens around. The only question to ask was, unless the nurse was a junkie, what on earth was an ampoule of PCP doing in a school; especially one that was dated quite recently. Dusk simply shrugged and drew about 10 ml of the stuff into a hypodermic needle before leaving and heading back to his room.

Once he returned to his room, Dusk tossed the syringe into his fridge before preparing his dinner. He wished he had somepony to have dinner with. After what Rose did, he felt very isolated. He wished Signet would return so he could talk to her. He sighed as he stuck a meal into the microwave and pressed the button, letting it go. He stood, watching the food spin around and around and around behind the glass, tears dripping from his chin.

"I never thought I'd be raped...." Dusk whispered softly. "I didn't even know it was possible for a stallion to be raped."

The microwave beeped, wrenching Dusk from his thoughts. He pulled the meal from the microwave and set it down on the table, tossing a fork next to it before sitting down and beginning to eat slowly. It was 2006; Dusk had to be very careful about how he transferred this drug into Rose's possession. He mulled over his plan as he ate his dinner, thoughts and considerations, coupled with variables and limitations, flicked through his mind quickly as he examined almost every possible route of approach until he found the one that would work. He smiled again as he finished his dinner and his plan, before tossing the container into the bin and the fork into the sink and heading into the shower.

Waking with a devious smile the next morning, Dusk made himself breakfast before leaving his room and heading into town. It was a mild Saturday morning; the perfect condition for a stroll. He passed many ponies that morning as he trotted out his angst and stress, building up his confidence for what he would do on the following Monday. He had it all figured out; he would find Rose and slip the syringe into her saddlebag. When they were walking into their next classroom, he would trip her. Hopefully this would make her saddlebags spill their contents, allowing the teacher to see the syringe. The best revenge was a passive one. He would get her expelled, probably arrested, and the only way she could link his motive to it was if she admitted she had raped him. It was a catch 22. She would get in serious trouble either way. Dusk chuckled evilly.

"This is perfect," he mused to himself under his breath.

Caught up in his thoughts, Dusk didn't see the sapphire blue mare bump into him. In his defense, she was hidden behind a stack of books, which went flying when she fell over. Dusk blushed in embarrassment as he helped her up and picked up her books with his magic.

"So sorry about that. I wasn't loo-" Dusk stopped mid sentence as he got a good look at the mare before him. She was slender pegasus, with an average height, and a subtly athletic build. She wore a red jacket, open at the front, and had red bangles around her upper fore hooves. He mane, a darker blue than her coat, was medium length and was tied with a pony tail in the back, and she had tied several locks of mane together that fell down to her shoulders, framing either side of her face. Her tail was two toned; predominately blue, like her mane, with light blue highlights. Her eyes were a deep, sapphire blue, that seemed to sparkle subtly in the sunlight. Dusk felt his face grow red hot as he stared at this mare, who was desperately trying not to make eye contact with him. She seemed to shrink away from him, as if she was bracing herself for a verbal or physical assault. It wasn't until he noticed this that his senses returned to him and he realised she had been apologizing very quietly and timidly.

"I'm so sorry, sir. I didn't see you... I'm sorry, really I am," the mare said.

"It's okay. I wasn't looking," Dusk replied. "Look, let me buy you a coffee or something."

The mare stopped her apologies and slowly moved her eyes to look at him. "Y-You're not gonna yell at me?"

"No..... why on earth would I do that?" Dusk asked, slightly confused.

The mare began to relax slowly, taking a few deep, shaky breaths. "I'm just.... used to it," she explained. "Thanks for picking my books up."

"I did what any pony would do," Dusk said, noticing the way her eyes seemed to sparkle more as she grew more comfortable.

"You'd be surprised at the amount of ponies who don't care," she replied with a small smile.

Dusk returned the smile. "Come on, there's a cafe just around the corner. We can talk there."

The mare turned and followed him as he began to trot towards the cafe. "My name is Sapphire, by the way. Sapphire Starlight."

'How fitting...' Dusk thought as he fell back to walk abreast with her. "I'm Dusk Fire. It's a pleasure to meet you, Sapphire."

She smiled sweetly, seeming to cheer up a little. It didn't take long for the two to arrive at the cafe. Dusk held the door open for Sapphire, and let her choose a table. She picked a booth near the corner of the room, and set her books down in the space between her and the wall. Dusk ordered them both cappuccinos before sitting down opposite her.

Sapphire seemed to shrink into the soft cushions of the booth, crossing her arms as if she were warming herself on a cold winter night. She gave him an awkward smile, and it gave the impression that she hadn't smiled genuinely for a long time, and had subsequently forgotten how to do so. A small seed of pity entered Dusk's heart. He got the sense that this mare had been through quite a bit, and was bottling up a lot of problems. She was very introverted, but it wasn't like Signet, who simply had trouble with social situations.

"So, what are all the books for?" Dusk inquired.

"I'm running an errand for the library at my school. They needed more copies of some of their textbooks," Sapphire explained.

"Oh? What school do you go to, anyway?" Dusk asked.

"The... ah... the Grey Mare College," she replied softly.

"Huh. I go there to. I'm surprised I hadn't noticed you before," Dusk said, trying to think of some place he may have seen this mare.

"Well, that's because I only just transferred here three months ago. And I spend most of my time in the library or with my coltfriend, anyway," Sapphire replied.

Dusk did well to hide the pang of jealousy he felt at the word 'coltfriend'. Before he could say anything in reply, the waitress arrived with their coffees, setting them down in front of either pony. Dusk said thank you before taking a sip of the bitter, yet silky smooth coffee. Sapphire did the same, giving Dusk a small smile after she put her mug down.

"Thanks for this," Sapphire said after taking another sip.

"No problem," Dusk replied, before drinking a substantial amount of his own coffee. "I felt it was only the right thing to do. You looked like you needed a coffee, anyway."

"I really did..." Sapphire replied with a small sigh.

"Sapphire?" a loud voice suddenly called out from the doorway.

Dusk turned to find the source of the voice, noticing how pale Sapphire went at the sound of it. Standing in the doorway was a large pegasus, wearing the team jacket of the school's hoofball team. The hulking grey pony stared straight at Sapphire, and trotted purposefully towards her.

"Who's this loser?" the pegasus asked.

"Strike, please... he's just being nice..." Sapphire whimpered in reply.

Strike grabbed Sapphire's upper fore hoof and hauled her up. Dusk made to stand up in her defense, but she gave him a look which said 'leave it'. Fighting against the urge to help her, Dusk sat back down, quivering in anger.

"Stay away from my mare, loser," Strike said, before dragging Sapphire out of the cafe with him.

Dusk watched them go, before turning around and slumping into his seat. He quickly finished his coffee before grabbing the books Sapphire had left behind and leaving the cafe.

Dusk delivered the books to the library that Monday before preparing himself for what he would do to Rose. They had math together in third period that day, so that was when he would strike. Quickly packing his bags, Dusk headed off to his first lesson, english. He glided through the halls, concealing his torment with his usual face of mild anger, heading towards his english classroom. Once there, Dusk entered and took his seat, pulling out his books and pens and slumped back in his chair, ready to write down whatever needed to be written. The truth was, he had absolutely no interest in the current subject. Instead, his mind hovered around the idea of getting Rose in deep trouble. If she would go so far to do a deed that would scar him for the rest of his life, he might as well return the favour.

The lesson seemed to crawl past as the teacher talked about the book they were reading and discussed their final assignment. Dusk was barely listening, twirling a pencil in his hoof, and it was with a sigh of relief as Dusk stepped out of the classroom at the end of the lesson.

"That lesson had gone for way longer than it should have," Dusk mumbled as he headed to his next class, magic.

He arrived a little bit late, and received a stare or two from the other ponies as he took his seat. He wasn't phased, it was common for ponies to stare at a late student. He took his seat quickly and opened his book, hastily copying down the notes that were already on the board.

"Finally, something to keep me a little more than occupied..." Dusk mused as he studied the notes on the board.

They were learning a new spell that day, a healing spell. Several ponies had heard of this spell, but had not performed it yet; Dusk was one of these ponies. He sat back and listened to the teacher explain the basics behind healing spells; how it speeds up cellular reproduction in order to regrow anything from skin to whole limbs and organs. The one thing that made a healing spell stand out, and fairly difficult to perform, was that it required a part of the caster's life force in order to perform. It was the instilled essence of life, passed on and magnified by the spell, that created the healing effect. It was theoretically possible to revive somepony from the dead with a healing spell, however in practice it usually resulted in the caster's death, due to the massive amount of life force that was needed to cast such a spell.

"If anyone could revive a pony from the dead with a healing spell, it would be one of the princesses," the professor explained. "That's how much energy it requires to perform such a feat."

Dusk raised a brow in interest. He didn't realize that a healing spell could bring someone back from the abyss of death. He raised his hoof, a question suddenly planted in his mind.

"Yes, Dusk?" the professor asked, noticing Dusk's hoof.

"Is it possible to train or condition oneself to perform a revival?" Dusk asked.

The professor thought for a second. "Theoretically, yes. Although I have no idea how long it would take for a pony to condition themselves to such an extent."

Dusk put his hoof down, satisfied with the answer he had received. At this, the professor began to instruct the class in how to perform the spell by pulling out an orange and putting a large gash in it with a knife.

"Now, a healing spell works on all organic material that can be considered alive, or if it is dead, in a reasonable condition to ensure a successful revival. For example, you would not be able to revive a cow by casting a healing spell on a piece of steak. Because this healing spell works on all organic material, its power extends to plants as well as animals. Therefore, you will be able to 'heal' this orange," the professor explained, much to Dusk's, and many other student's amazement. It came as a surprise that a healing spell could fix an orange. The professor's explanation was logical, but it seemed that the entire class had simply assumed the spell only extended to animals. "I can see that this comes as quite a surprise to many of you," the professor said with a smile. "Now, who wants to heal my dearest little orange first?"

Dusk left the classroom with a small smile on his face. He had learned something new that lesson, and it came with quite a joyful feeling. He headed towards the canteen and spent about fifteen minutes waiting in line for his food, before finding Signet, Vivette, and Opal's table. Signet gave him a small smile as he sat down next to her.

"G'day, gals," Dusk said in a more Ausstralian accent than usual.

"What's up, Dusk?" Vivette replied with a soft smile.

"Not much, honestly..." Dusk said, poking his food.

"Eh, it's a Monday," Vivette replied before yawning.

Before Dusk could answer, Signet gave him a small nuzzle to get his attention. Looking down, Dusk saw a small paper swan laying in Signet's hooves.

"Do you think he'll like it?" Signet asked quietly.

"Think who will like it?" Dusk asked, admiring the perfectly crafted swan.

"Dusty... he's in my art class and I think he's amazing," Signet replied.

Dusk chuckled softly. "I think he'll love it," he replied, knowing that Dusty would.

"You really think so?" Signet asked, a hopeful look in her eyes.

"I've been his friend for two years. I know he'll love it," Dusk replied with a confident smile.

Signet let out a small squeal of joy before tucking away her creation. Dusk looked up to see Opal giggling at him.

"I am still shocked at how quickly Signet has warmed up to you," Opal explained.

"Really?" Dusk asked, mildly surprised.

"Yeah. She usually hates stallions, considering the amount of shit she cops from them," Vivette chimed in.

"Shit?" Dusk asked.

"According to what Signet told us, you've already seen a prime example of it," Opal said sadly.

"She doesn't tell anyone?" Dusk asked, looking down at Signet before wrapping a hoof around her protectively.

"I'm afraid they'll hurt me more..." Signet replied softly, tears glistening in her eyes. It was obvious that she wasn't comfortable with this topic, and it only served to make Dusk pity her more as he gently squeezed her.

"I think I know how you feel," Dusk mumbled under his breath, his mind wandering to the events of last Thursday night.

He rubbed Signet's shoulders just as ponies started moving to their next class. Dusk stared at his untouched tray of food for a little while. The warmth of Signet by his side, and the tray of food in front of him made him feel odd. He suddenly got up and grabbed his bags, picking up the tray and tossing it in the bin as he trotted away from the table and towards his math class.

He spied Rose as he trotted down the hallway. Readying the syringe, he quickened his pace and came up behind her, quickly and quietly removing her handkerchief from her bag and loosely wrapping the syringe in it. He then planted the handkerchief and syringe in her saddlebag all while she was none the wiser. He quickly moved in front of her as they reached the classroom doorway. As they moved inside, Dusk stuck his hoof out discreetly, causing Rose to fall over, face planting on the floor. The contents of her bags spilled out, and the handkerchief unfolded under the weight of the syringe, which rolled out across the floor, coming to a rest against the teacher's hooves.

"What is this?" the teacher asked, picking up the syringe and looking at it. "Rose Burn, the principal's daughter, with drugs? Dear oh dear...."

Dusk smiled internally as he took his seat.

"Come with me, Rose," the teacher said, grabbing her by the hoof and hauling her up. "You might as well take your books; you probably won't be needing them."

The teacher took Rose out of the classroom, leaving the class to stare at the doorway in a haze of surprise and confusion. Doing well to blend in, Dusk put on a face of mock surprise, but his insides were trembling with excitement. His plan had worked, and if all went well, Rose wouldn't be setting hoof into this school ever again.

"Finally, something to put that bitch in her place," a stallion said from the back of the crowd.

Several ponies turned to look at him. "What on earth do you mean?" one asked.

"She traumatized me. Taunted and teased me whenever she saw me, and now she's been caught with drugs," the stallion explained. "I hope she gets expelled."

"We'd be better off for it," a mare said in concurrence.

"Little bitch was hopped up on the power of being the principal's daughter," Dusk added, much to the approval of several other ponies.

The room suddenly exploded into chatter as everyone began to feel it was acceptable to publicly air their opinions on Rose. Much to Dusk's surprise, it seemed that she had caused a lot of pain and made a lot of enemies. He suddenly felt a lot less guilty about what he had just done. Not only had he obtained his revenge, he seemed to have indirectly made a few lives easier with the orchestration of her removal. He smiled softly and deviously. Perhaps this could become a profession? Removing ponies to make the lives of others easier. Dusk stored the thought away for future contemplation and returned to his internal gloating over this personal victory.