The Reattempt and the second chance

Most ponies thought being cross eyed was a bad thing, a disability, a handicap, but Derpy knew better. She saw better, at least, she saw more. With both eyes, Derpy saw happiness, and felt happy from them, but only one eye offered stability, with the other dimension seeming to teeter upon a rocky cliff edge. One night, Derpy was the happiest, a grand party happening in both worlds in the same place. She was still wide awake, despite the hours of the night, fueled by sugar and orchestral music. In one version, a pink mare took command of the band, while in another, a colt of the same shade slowly lurked outside, eyes darting around, tripping on petty fallen objects. Derpy trotted over to the colt who sat alone, head tilted back trying to spot something in the darkness, his eyes wide and pupils dilated. Derpy whimpered, the very action seeming out of place.

"Bubble?" she called out, but he didn't seem to notice. Panicking, Derpy began jumping up and down, trying to remember how to switch worlds, just like the mare who was now getting verbally reprimanded taught her, but in her flustered state she couldn't remember how. Her head was in reality but her feet were stuck in the other. Derpy heard sparks and hoped she succeeded, calling out once more to the colt who was following his tired, slightly drunken friends to the carriages.

Still, no such luck.

Day break was a rude, invasive awakening to Bubble's first day as a real earth pony. He crawled out of bed, careful not to trip, but still crashing into a wall. He regained his posture and blinked, moving his eyes around, almost amazed at how everything looked when he had to use them independently for the first time in a long time. Although, he wondered why Elusive was so obsessed with the surface value of everything when it seemed severely limited.

Bubble headed downstairs after dunking his head in a sink-ful of cold water to the flour filled atmosphere of Mrs. and Mr. Cake. As always, their good morning rivaled the sugar permanently entrenched in the air. Bubble found it strange that they were using an old mixer they threw out months ago, and that the display counter they had put in had gone missing. Bubble shook the thoughts away, jumping on the bottom stair, hearing the familiar creak above the bakery's commotion signaling each day's start.

"Would you be a dear and go to town square for us?" asked Mrs. Cake.

"Uh sure." Bubble agreed. "What for?"

"We're just so busy." started Mr. Cake.

"And in thirty minutes The Mayor is announcing which pony prepares what at the Town Square." explained Mrs. Cake.

"I doubt we'll get picked for catering over Sweet Apple Acres since not very many ponies know of your killer cupcakes yet-" Bubble flinched."-but we want you to go just to be safe." finished Mr. Cake.

"You don't mind do you?"asked Mrs. Cake. "Maybe we'll get picked for something else in the Summer Sun Celebration!"

Bubble stood there for a moment, gawking.

"Bubble?"

"Oh, sorry. Of course!" Bubble shook his head again, completely lost."I was still half asleep."

"Tsk, tsk." scolded Mr. Cake. "Sleeping on the job could end up in charcoal cakes and, trust me, those are never popular with Ponyville."

Bubble nodded, laughing a bit. "I understand." He headed to the door, his mind slightly numb. "I'll be on my way."

"You know where it is right?" asked Mrs. Cake. "Feel free to explore the town!"

"Make some friends!" added Mr. Cake.

Bubble scoffed once he was outside. He was friends with every pony. Now? He lingered on the front porch, noticing how empty the streets felt in comparison to what he had become used to. He remembered this moment from less than a year ago when he was actually intimidated by this amount of people. Never having been near this many people in the riveting business of petriculture, Bubble used his talent of parties that eventually brought him closer to every pony. It was going to be strange having to act like he didn't know any pony.

He took in a breath rehearsing how he would act around the other ponies, what he would say, how he would ask them their names all over again. It was wasted time however, because something that Bubble should have seen out of the corner of his eye plucked him out of reality before Bubble's hooves had a chance to hit the ground.

Dusk Shine was pacing again, his hoof steps echoing off the many walls of the library. Thorn was hanging off the edge of a ladder, going through books, each one earning the title of "nope" before ending up in an ever growing pile of "nope" books. the young dragon was sure that the lavender unicorn was busy thinking, but darting eyes that sometimes found their way to the dragon made her think he was just growing impatient.

Thorn grumbled to herself, making a grab for the last book on the shelf when Dusk beat her to it with a sudden burst of magic.

"Aha!" he shouted, trotting by the foot of the ladder to catch Thorn who had lost her balance and then to the podium where the book was set and the unicorn began furiously flipping through the pages with Thorn looking over his flopping ears. There was another 'aha!' moment when Dusk found a page with the title "Solar Stallion" speed reading through it while Thorn casually sounded out the first few lines. In another moment, Dusk was back to the shelves, looking for something that was not revealed to the air by means of his usual verbal muttering. The dragon remained on Dusk's back, looking around to see if there was a snack she might have left behind but another 'aha!' and a gallop back to the podium nearly knocked Thorn off her balance a second time.

Dusk was still looking over the other book when Thorn took this opportunity to jump on to secure ground. "You know," she started, "You're probably just overreacting, Dusk." She looked around for the glint of a gen she swore she saw when she was on the ladder. "Even if this Solar Stallion escapes from the sun or whatever, why would he mad at Lunario. He still promotes the Summer Sun Celebration. "

Dusk paused, looking up from the book stand. "Prince Lunario respects his brother, and I'm sure he misses him dearly, but the Prince of the Sun threatened to steal away the light before he ever became the Solar Stallion. All the recordings have stated that." Dusk sighed when Thorn rolled her eyes. "I'm saying I don't think anypony. could reason with that kind of pony."

Thorn kept on. "I'm just saying, it's not as if Lunario-"

"Prince Lunario."

"It's not like Prince Lunario dragged the name of the Sun through the mud. It's more like he regrets it."

Dusk gasped, wide eyed in shock at the words. "The prince does not regret anything! Especially his own brother!"

Thorn grumbled. "I didn't say he regretted his brother. I meant as actions, as in what happened." Dusk turned back to his book, refusing to listen anymore. "Whatever." the dragon said to herself.

The sun was still high in the sky when the pair set foot on the dirt roads of Ponyville, the unicorn still grumbling over the Prince's sudden letter appointing him to look over the Summer Sun Celebration preparations. Thorn especially gloated over the last command. Dusk flattened his ear against his head trying to block out the words as Thorn once again repeated them.

"Make some friends!"

Dusk shook his head. No, he thought. Nothing will ever depend on me making friends. "What's first on the list?"

"Catering at Sweet Apple Acres." stated Thorn, matter of factly. "But you should at least try to say hello to somepony."

Dusk growled, but Thorn kept at it. "Look! There's another unicorn."

Dusk timidly walked over to the unicorn in question, a turquoise colt with an instrument of some sort as a cutie mark. Before a word could climb out of Dusk's throat, the other unicorn ignored him, as Dusk had interpreted it, and went on towards a tan earth pony with candy for a cutie mark.

Thorn shrugged, almost sorry for Dusk. "Better luck next time."

Dusk laughed weakly, head low and fuming.

A small red headed earth pony was on his way to breaking his apple tree climbing record when the tree was met with a violent kick, knocking every apple and everypony off its branches. Fortunately, the earth pony's record was only a couple of feet high, so he wasn't hurt, but he complained loudly.

"Aw, shuddup, Apple Bud. Ah told you not ta climb on the trees 'millions a times." An orange colt, much bigger than his younger brother headed over to the wagon, pouring the apples in when he added, " 'Specially not while Ah'm working."

"But, Applejack!"

"What did Ah say?"

Applejack hooked himself to the now overloaded wagon and started heading back to the barn while Apple Bud collected any falling apples behind him, 'himphing' occasionally only to earn a glare from his brother. Once inside, Applejack slammed the door a little too loudly, alerting the entire barn of his presence. There were a bunch of calls for help from the kitchen. Only Apple Bud answered, jumping on a counter to get verbally reprimanded for his dirty hooves. Applejack slowly made his way feeling gloomy as ever. The kitchen was jammed pack, every inch of space filled with earth ponies and apple cutie marks baking tons of apple flavored goodies. The only space was where Apple Bud had jumped up and was now getting dirt cleaned off it. Before anypony remembered to notice whom they had called Applejack slipped out, meeting his older sister on the way.

"There's a unicorn outside." she stated on her way to the kitchen, her words slightly slurred by a pail of milk in her mouth.

"Alright, Ah'll deal with 'em." Applejack said to himself.

Just outside the fence of the fence to the main orchard was a the pony in question, a lavender colt craning his neck around like apples trees of this height were an intimidating army while a miniaturized lizard with matching scales chewed on a blue rock. The orange earth colt only got two steps closer when the unicorn jumped, fully realizing how short he was in comparison the towering work horse. The unicorn stared for a moment. There was something... off about the earth pony.

Applejack tapped his hoof, growing impatient. "Well?"

"You're gray." The unicorn sputtered, the lizard creature slapping him on the backside of his head.

The earth pony choked, preparing to buck this guy in the head repeatedly. "You care to run that by me again, hoity toity?"

The unicorn backed up a million steps, the lizard looking like it was about to fall. He yelped, putting a hoof over his mouth like a primped up prissy pony. "I'm sorry! I wasn't thinking." He straightened up, still a full five inches shorter. "I'm Dusk Shine, here to check on the-"

"Can it, hoity." snapped Applejack. "Food's fine. Now get."

Dusk gawked like an idiot. "Huh?"

Applejack reared on his hind legs, his forelegs kicking the air. "Get on out, hoity!"

Dusk ran out as fast as pony could with no muscle on him, the lizard thing shrieking as it held on to his tail. Applejack stood there, watching him bump into a couple ponies gathering apples and then the post of the sign on his way down the road. He turned around when lavender had vanished from his sights to meet the steely eyes of his older sister. Being the mare of few words she was, she only gave her little brother a few moments to dig out the trace of disappointment in her gaze before turning back to the barn, her brother following, looking out for a mirror, eventually settling on the window. He glared at reflection, making sure his coat was still orange, his mane; blond. Applejack huffed. This workhorse was definitely not gray. He may not be clean, but he wasn't colorless.

It wasn't until they reached town square that Dusk came to a screeching halt. Mad at himself and even madder at every thing else he proceeded to stomp his hooves, screaming at the air, frustrated with the sudden change from solitude in the Canterlot library with an almost apathetic dragon to the scrutinizing glares of half a million ponies. When he had regained enough sense to breathe deep and look around after Thorn had administered a seemingly highly needed whack to the head, many ponies started to hurry along, rushing back and forth away from the pony having a temper tantrum.

"I just can't handle it around so many ponies!" Dusk admitted, his lungs still tied up.

"Alright then." Thorn tapped her chin, having anticipated this. "We'll split up. I'll check up on decorations, you take care of music then we'll meet up at the library. We'll get this over with faster that way." Thorn cracked a sly grin at the brooding unicorn. "Think you can handle it by yourself?"

Dusk looked up to the sky, ignoring the dragon's question. "What about the weather? There's clouds everywhere!"

Thorn checked the list. "Weather is handled by a pegsus named Rainbow Blitz."

"Well I'm not wasting any time looking for him." Dusk started towards the park, which he assumed was the clearing closer to the forest that wasn't choked by as many trees. "See ya later."

Thorn waved goodbye as she started walking in the opposite direction.

At first, Dusk was ready to lecture himself on not drawing a map inside his head before venturing out for the park, but the sound of the carefully orchestrated sounds originating from small birds made it clear to him that he was trotting in the right direction. When Dusk was close enough to see a yellow pegasus leading the group, one of the birds started belching out a tune of his own, the notes sticking out like a sore thumb in what was otherwise a beautiful piece of music. Dusk watched from afar, the yellow pegasus proceeding to halt the chirping and correct the bird as politely as the colt could. The whole scene was like watching a stream of water trying to flow down a path of rocks without the water actually touching the rocks. Dusk shine came closer, using this moment to introduce, this time watching the words that formed on his tongue like a hawk.

"And a one two-"

"Hello!"

The pegasus shrieked, or squeaked while trying to squeak and fell to the ground when his wings froze.

Dusk gasped. "Oh, I'm sorry. Are you hurt?"

The pegasus stood up, steadily watching the unicorn.

Dusk tried to smile reassuringly. "That was a beautiful song. Anyways, my name is Dusk Shine and have been appointed by Prince Lunario to oversee the Summer Sun Celebration preparations."

The pegasus scratched the ground once or twice, remaining silent.

"What's your name?" Dusk asked.

Now the pegasus looked uncomfortable. His hoof planted himself on the ground and he looked away trying to sound it out.

"I'm sorry." Dusk's ears flattened, anxiety rising up."Didn't quite catch that." Something was off about this pony too, but not in the same was as the earth pony. The pegasus seemed... familiar, despite being a colt that had never laid eyes on each other until a few moments ago. Dusk shook it off, determined not to let first impressions sway him off course again.

The pegasus squinted his eyes at Dusk's hooves, making the unicorn wonder if there was something on them.

"My name is...Butterscotch..." The pegasus mumbled.

"Could you repeat that?"

"Butterscotch..."

"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you."

What came out of the pegasus' throat next was nothing short of the bastard child between a whine and a screech.

Dusk laughed uneasily. "Alright then. I could tell the music was coming just fine. I'll let you get back to your birds."

The pegasus nodded slightly. It wasn't until Dusk was at the far edge of the park that the song had started up again.

Thorn ran into Dusk on the way from town hall, her spiky head jabbing the unicorn in the side.

"Ow!" Dusk winced.

"Ah! Sorry!" Thorn apologized as Dusk levitated her onto his back.

"Well, you didn't cut anything. How were the decorations?" Dusk asked, still assessing his side.

"He was dreamy..." Thorn drifted off.

Dusk tried to bore a hole through the dragon's forehead with his eyes.

"What?"

"I asked about the decorations, not the decorator."

"Oh, they were good too." Thorn commented, checking on the skies. "Looks like that Blitz pony finally cleared up the clouds!"

"Took him long enough." Dusk took the dragon's word for it, trotting towards the library at a more relaxed pace when he told Thorn to check off music along with weather.

"Still scared about the Solar Stallion?" Thorn asked mindlessly.

Dusk gasped, this time galloping at his top speed, Thorn digging her claws into the unicorn to keep from falling, this time the colt impervious to the pain. "I forgot! I have to warn Prince Lunario!"

They burst into the library, reeking of cleaning supplies. Dusk allowed himself only a moment to cringe before snapping back to attention, Thorn jumping onto the firm wooden doors in exchange for the jumpy horse ride.

"Thorn, take a letter!"

"No."

Dusk was stunned. This wasn't the first time the dragon would rather sleep in the sunlight or raid the fridge of gems instead of climb onto the tippy top of ladders in the search of books and scrolls but each time she did, Dusk was in his stride, mentally charging horn first into whatever topic it was that seemed to be burned into his mind. Each time, the dragon purposely constructed a brick wall for the unicorn to crash into.

"I don't think the Prince has to be warned." Thorn explained, filling in the silence that was rolling out from Dusk's open mouth. "Just relax for a while. This is Lunario's brother we're talking about, not some royal member exiled and scratched out of history in place of myths and legends."

Dusk glared, looking away to the window, the sun already exchanging greetings with the horizon. "Fine." he muttered. A cat nap was what he needed after a tantalizing day.

Thorn petted him on the head. "Good, pony." She jumped up the stairs to the second level to scout out her nap time spot, ultimately deciding to drag the one on the lone bed to the floor until Dusk came up with one much more fitted for a dragon that could drowned in a blanket for a full grown pony.

"Wake me up okay?"

A long 'sure' came out of the pile of the blanket Dusk gave her and pillows that he realized was probably swiped from the bed. Dusk laughed lightly, levitating one of the many away from the now unsuspecting baby knowing he'd have to wake her up. The shadows growing longer over all of Equestria measured the worry festering in Dusk's stomach. His intuition wasn't the best, but something told him that night would bring forth terrible events.