The Dawn Of Dusk Shine

Chapters

Practice
Care
Prêt-à-Porter
Confections
Agápe
Inception
Sunrise
Breakfast
Logistics

Practice

There is a term of art used when talking about ponies in large groups. The term is “herd sense” and it has to do with the fact that ponies-at their very core-are still herd animals. When everything is going right, it is a calm background murmur in a pony’s mind-the herd is happy, the herd is calm, the herd is fine. As long as things keep going fine, there isn’t a problem and ponies will cheerfully go about their day without any issues. They might even spontaneously break out into song and dance (with amazing choreography and everypony knowing the words to the song) if the herd is fine.

The issue comes when the herd isn’t fine, and the problem isn’t something that is immediate and obvious. Theories abound and each has it’s proponents and detractors. Prehistoric ponies developing a sense of a potential yet unseen threat. Natural worries about living in a world that, for the most part, is tiny civilized areas floating on a massive ocean of wild zones. Eris and her chaotic manipulations of everything, even the Sun and the Moon, leaving ponies without a single solid frame of reference to sink their hooves into. Odd events and strange things that always seem to happen around the Element Bearers and Ponyville proper. The Cutie Mark Crusaders and the what next? aspect of their Crusade-and the property damage to follow.

(Applejack had a theory about that-his theory was that the Cutie Mark Crusaders already had their Cutie Marks. They were marks of chaos, confusion, and destruction, and they were invisible. For, the moment the CMC knew that they had their marks, they Crusade would end and they wouldn’t be living up to their Cutie Marks. So, to keep the ontological paradox from happening, the Cutie Marks were invisible, which meant the Crusade kept going and going… After hearing this, Dusk Shine nodded, politely suggested to Applejack that he throw out whatever batch of cider he had been drinking, and started work on Starswirl’s Last Spell. A month later...Ascension.)

In more extreme cases, the herd sense causes ponies to pre-emptively prepare for the worse. The Flower Trio start hunting for safe (and soft) places to faint. Lyra Heartstrings starts buying long-term food items to survive whatever disaster was coming up (and Bon-Bon’s irritated frustration at having a room full of prepper supplies). Butterscotch would find the best place to hide-and you aren’t a Ponyville native if you can’t believe that a yellow-and-pink pegasus can hide anywhere with amazing skill. Bubble Berry preparing for the pre-, disaster, and post-disaster party (with stunning accuracy, somehow tied into the Bubble Sense).

The problem, as Dusk Shine saw it, was simple-it was a sociological one. The pony he had swapped with was in every way his duplicate-except gender. Honestly, he would love to meet this Twilight Sparkle, as she was raving brilliant. Obviously, since she was him. Or he was her. Or whatever the proper tenses were. The issue, the moment that he walked out the door of the library, was that Dusk Shine had assumed simply that the only difference was going to be gender.

Dusk missed that one single domino falling in line…

And, for a brief, breathless moment, everypony noticed that a purple alicorn had left the library. Everypony tensed for that instant of something wrong is happening, as this Ponyville clearly had enough of the same experiences as Dusk Shine’s Ponyville. Then, they started to notice. The squareness of the jawline. The shorter and different hair cut. A different emphasis on certain muscle groups, a different way of moment that was not the movement of a mare, but a stallion. A small one, to be sure, but an alicorn stallion.

A hush radiated out from that door closing for that one moment, and Dusk was seriously debating if he should run back inside and pull up a red flag or just start along his way. Ponies were looking at him, trying to figure out exactly what was going on. The hush was broken as an Earth pony, purple with three happy sunflowers on her flank, came around the corner and ran into Dusk Shine. “Oops, sorry!” she said cheerfully, then looked and said, “Um...Twilight Sparkle?”

“Cheerlee?” Dusk asked. If this was the same pony, but gender-flipped, she was the teacher at the local school and...oh, yes. “Hello, I am Dusk Shine. Not, and I emphasize this, not Twilight Sparkle after a magical accident. For some reason,” and here he blushed a bit and rubbed behind his ear with a hoof, “myself and Twilight Sparkle have swapped places last night. So, until she comes back, I will be helping out with the preparations for the event tomorrow.”

“So, what happened…,” Cheerlee said, looking at Dusk Shine and worrying if she was going to suddenly turn into a stallion.

“I do not think it is an illness or a disease, so I am not contagious. I checked and I am sure of it,” Dusk Shine sighed. “I promise, if I thought I was for a moment, I would not be out here. If I am still here next week, I promise to come by and help with your class.”

Cheerlee blushed herself, and looked shyly away. “Well, okay...but, if you’re sure you’re fine…”

“I am,” Dusk smiled softly. “I promise.”

“Well, um...okay,” Cheerlee said, her voice picking up a bit. “Um, Dusk Shine, right? Do you have any plans for lunch?”

“Well, I am going to see Red Gala...wait a minute, she will not be Red Gala here, right? Applejack has a...brother? Older? His name is…,” Dusk asked, his voice trailing off.

“Big Macintosh!” Cheerlee gasped, embarrassed. Her face broke out in a huge blush and she looked away from him. “Um, yes, that is his name.”

“Well, Twilight Sparkle planned on having lunch with him, but if you wanted to come along…,” Dusk asked, as Cheerlee’s blush grew ever brighter and redder.

“Um, no! No, I’m fine, thank you…next week, in class, right,” Cheerlee blushed and trotted away, looking as if she had been highly embarrassed. Dusk Shine watched for a moment, sighed, and looked around a bit.

I think I could have handled that better, he thought. Of course, Cheerlee and Red Gala have been dancing around a relationship for as long as I have been in town and...if this Cheerlee and Big Macintosh are the same, did I just…

He blushed, and shook his head in confusion. I will have to apologize as soon as I can. I did not want her to get the wrong idea! I mean, me and Red Gala-let alone a stallion version of Red Gala, would be so wrong… Dusk made sure that his saddle bags were on securely, then started to walk toward where Rainbow Blitz...no, he corrected himself, Rainbow Dash, lived.

Behind him, the usual gossip and conversation of Ponyville began again. Except, there was a whisper of a new undertone. A new thing introduced to the usual affairs of Ponyville. Something new. Something interesting.

Something...predatory, in a lustful sort of way…

The first thing that Dusk Shine had learned about weather management, after the Ascension, was that he didn’t really know anything about weather management.

Oh, he had theory up the plothole. Intense curiosity had given him a reason to research and figure out all the details of how weather management had worked. After the Ascension, he had spent long hours dodging tape measure and pins with Elusive, figuring out how theory and practice had met after Starswirl’s spell. And, finally, he had an immense practical resource in the form of Rainbow Blitz, whom was in charge of the weather management for Ponyville. After the Ascension, Rainbow Blitz had become Dusk Shine’s tutor in flying, wing care, and weather management. This was a definite change between the two and how they interacted, and Rainbow Blitz was true to form.

Theory, he could have easily have done without. It was egghead stuff, therefore lame, and therefore not something that an awesome pony like Rainbow Blitz ever needed to know. Theory got in the way of the important things, namely practice and Wonderbolt statistics.

Practice, on the other hand… Rainbow Blitz, if he could be secured for long enough to write down what he knew, he would be a world-class expert on weather management between settled and wild zones. Rainbow Blitz had more experience in dealing with the uncontrolled weather that came off the Everfree Forest than any pony alive. The only possible exception was Butterscotch, whom handled low-lying clouds and fogs as a part of his part-time job (and land tax exemption) with the Weather Bureau. Rainbow Blitz had a whole language of words that he had made up to describe things that were only in advanced textbooks, and the comparison between the theory and the practice got very interesting.

And, according to Rainbow Blitz, you could only really learn how to manage weather by managing weather. In the air. Flying.

For a slightly agoraphobic unicorn-now-alicorn, this was something that really worried Dusk Shine. Fortunately, it only took a few lessons (and a few crashes) for Dusk to realize that flying was actually a pretty cool thing to do, and he was spending more flying time around with Rainbow Blitz.

And, learning some of Rainbow Blitz’s more interesting habits. Like the one that had his magic sweeping outwards, looking for Rainbow Blitz’s signature. He could do the same before his Ascension, but as an alicorn Dusk Shine had greater sensitivity and range to his ability to track. He still had problems finding Butterscotch, whom seemed to have a magical signature as shy and retiring as the pony himself. Bubble Berry was easy to find, if sometimes chaotically all over Ponyville. Applejack...if he was on the farm, he was impossible to find, his signature as much a part of the farm as the soil. Off the farm, he so solid and stable that mountains were harder to find. And, Elusive gave false positives because his clothing and the Carousel Boutique were so integral to him that it spread his signature outwards.

Dusk Shine trotted with careful normalcy, knowing that Rainbow Blitz...Rainbow Dash he thought to himself with a sharp bit of wit...was going to be finding the perfect angle and spot to swoop down and crash into him. He...and probably she was going to deny it, claiming enthusiasm and an inability to stop in enough time when coming to see his friends. Dusk Shine had heard the excuses before, in many creative variations.

Statistics and observed evidence said otherwise.

So, Dusk Shine waited, and he felt a second too late the magical fields of a pony he knew...but, slightly off. Assuming that the consanguinity was close enough, this had to be Rainbow Dash. And she was coming in fast and high, with what he had to assume was a swoop to ensure that the two would tumble down the hill. The probable ending point of this tumble was a huge leaf pile that looked a bit too soft and too neat to be natural.

Dusk Shine could teleport out of the way, but that would be cheating. And, while a colliding Rainbow Blitz and/or Rainbow Dash was not something to be taken lightly, he wasn’t going to cheat in this. So, he waited, patiently...feeling from Rainbow Dash’s general magical aura that she still had surprise on her side. The sound of wind and wings came closer, and Dusk Shine ducked. He hit his belly instantly, and Rainbow Dash was barely able to compensate, clipping the top of Dusk Shine with her hooves. This sent Rainbow Dash into a head-over-tail tumble, and rolled Dusk about half the distance on his flanks.

They didn’t make it to the leaf pile, but Rainbow Dash’s tumble was a near-run thing. The next thing to happen was, of course, the laughter, and Rainbow Dash saying, “That’s a good one, Twilight! Great moves, and…”

Rainbow Dash had finally gotten back up on her hooves, and Dusk Shine used that chance to look at her. You could see the lines in Rainbow Dash that belonged to Blitz, the firm muscle, the tone, the shape and strength of the wings that screamed that Rainbow Dash would be able to outrun anything in the air. Rainbow Blitz was small for a stallion, nearly the size of most mares, and Rainbow Dash was smaller than that...so much so that you’d assume very big foal if it wasn’t for her Cutie Mark. Her mane and tail was longer only in the measurements of precision calipers, kept short for easier care and less wind resistance. And…

And, Dusk Shine realized, both of them were staring at each other for what had to be a minute. When Dusk Shine realized that, Rainbow Dash looked in recognition…

Then, Rainbow Dash fell on the ground, laughing. “Twilight! What did you do to yourself this time? This is a major goof,” she giggled, then laughed even harder. “You made yourself into a stallion! How did you pull that off?”

Dusk Shine sighed and shook his head for a second. “I am not Twilight Sparkle, my name is Dusk Shine. Last night, when I went to bed, every pony that is a mare here was a stallion and vice versa. Even you, Rainbow Dash, were a stallion. And, since I have seemed to have replaced your friend Twilight Sparkle today, I am trying to keep her schedule.”

Rainbow Dash just...looked at him, then broke out in laughter again. “No way, Twilight. You just had another magical goof. I mean, there’s no way any stallion could be as cool as I am,” she laughed, getting onto her hooves.

“Oh, you mean a stallion that can clear the skies of every cloud in ten seconds flat?” Dusk Shine grinned. “Rainbow Blitz is that good, and I expect that you are that good as well.”

“Oh, you ‘expect’, do you?” Rainbow Dash came up to her hooves and smiled. “Well, Dusk Shine...first thing we’re going to do is...wing care!”

Dusk Shine groaned.

Rainbow Dash was taking her time in preening and working on his wings. Almost obsessively so. Which didn’t worry Dusk Shine initially, as he knew that he was still learning a lot about wing care. “Have to keep an eye on the primaries,” Rainbow Dash said, nuzzling her muzzle into his wing. “And, I can tell you haven’t been taking good enough care.”

Dusk Shine gasped softly as Rainbow Dash pulled out a loose feather. It didn’t hurt, but it did feel...odd. “I have been practicing, and going through the books on wing care in the library…,” he said, keeping his wings open as Rainbow Dash got into his right wing again, brushing her flank against his.

“I’m tempted to just sit on you and do a complete cleaning,” Rainbow Dash chuckled. “Like my dad did with me when I was a foal. Trust me, some of the parasites you catch aren’t a joke.” She firmly rooted her muzzle into Dusk Shine’s scapula, and started to nibble on something there. “Nothing there, thought I’d seen something…”

Dusk quickly shied away, and said, “That tickled, and in a...odd way. Anyways, you were going to show me how to handle thermals and pressure differentials today?”

Rainbow Dash paused for a moment, as if she had lost her train of thought. That was something that he had never seen with Rainbow Blitz. Then, with a shake of her head, Rainbow Dash said, “Oh yea, thermals! That’s always fun to teach. We won’t have anything like the whole cloud library incident…”

“That...that was an honest mistake,” Dusk Shine blushed. Rainbow Blitz had offered to show Dusk the superiority of cloud as a bedding material, and set up a nice cloud for him to spend the night in. He had to admit it was comfortable and the view was nice. The problem was...after. Namely, after he had fallen asleep, Dusk Shine’s magic started to pull clouds in, building in the air a library of memories and dreams. So, in the usual half-awake mental state that was Dusk Shine in the morning, he had pulled a cup (made of clouds) of (condensed fog) coffee, starting to find a (solid moisture) scroll when he realized that this wasn’t his library, but clouds very high up in the air.

The panic caused the whole library to shatter, the cloud he had slept on to partially evaporate, and Spines to send a letter to the Prince because Dusk Shine was hiding in a tree, frozen in terror that he had blown up the library.

Clearly, Twilight Sparkle had done the same thing.

Dusk wasn’t sure if he should laugh or cry that his doppelganger was so...predictable like that.

“Anyways, I think I see some good clouds to start from up there,” Rainbow Dash pointed out a bank of clouds just leaving the Everfree. “Let’s get going!”

Once they had gotten into the clouds, the weirdness coming off of Rainbow Dash had just grown weirder.

Rainbow Dash...was listening. To him. Even when Dusk Shine went into detailed explanations as to the weather manual textbook, the only thing that Rainbow Dash did was correct. Not sneer. Not claim superiority over an egghead pegasus author. Dusk Shine had a question, Rainbow Dash had an answer.

And, then, there were the looks. The most obvious incident was when Dusk Shine was about to attempt a major glide off of a serious thermal system. Dusk Shine was getting lined up on the cloud, wings open, tail ready, and “Rainbow Dash?”

Both Rainbows (Dash and Blitz) had emphasized that while he was in training, they needed a spotter pony in the event of an emergency. The spotter pony here was Rainbow Dash, and she had been distracted the entire time. But, this time, Dusk looked over his open wing at Rainbow Dash and it was…

Rainbow Dash was looking. Her eyes were open wide, and were looking over him in detail. Her jaw was dropped, and Dusk could almost count teeth. She had her wings open as well, in a position that he had learned (after reading On Mares and Stallions) was affectionately known as the “wingboner”-full extension of the primaries and secondaries, coverts stretched out as far as it could go, the bend of the wing barely non-existent, and the wings themselves forming a nearly perfect “V” from the barrel of the body.

Okay...what is Rainbow Dash looking at...there is not a single pony around except for… Dusk Shine thought. Then, the realization hit. Helios save us all...she is looking at me. Looking at me like she is attracted to me…

“Rainbow Dash?” Dusk Shine asked again, a little worried. He looked around and saw a cloud that with just a little bit of magic could be pulled over Rainbow Dash, whom hadn’t stopped looking at him. A few tugs, and it was right over Rainbow Dash. Then, a bit of concentration and Dusk Shine squeezed.

The cloud immediately dropped a load of rain right onto Rainbow Dash, whom came out of the rain shower gurgling and looking shocked. Wings folded back into her body, mouth open in surprise this time… “Ugh! Dusk Shine, why did you do that?”

“You were busy ogling me, Rainbow Dash,” Dusk Shine said in reply. “You are supposed to be my spotter pony, and what would have happened if I had fallen?”

Rainbow Dash had the decency to look embarrassed, with a massive blush and her head shying away from looking at him. “I wasn’t...well, yea, I was. It’s that whole...cognitive dissonance thing? You act a lot like Twilight Sparkle, you sort of look like her, but you’re not Twilight Sparkle and you’re cute as a stallion. It’s been hard for me all day to not look. And, I’ve kind of wanted to pony you since I knew you were you.”

Dusk Shine sat on his haunches and considered that statement-not the least of which was that Rainbow Dash had used “cognitive dissonance” correctly. “I...I am not sure what to say. To be honest…,” and here his voice trailed off.

Consider it objectively, Dusk Shine thought, a cold voice of logic speaking in his mind. You have always admired Rainbow Blitz in his physique and athleticism. A mare version of him is in front of you, and even you have to admit that she is attractive in an abstract manner. But, first of all, this is not even your world, and these are not your friends, but Twilight Sparkle’s friends. You may disappear tomorrow, and it would be sub-optimal to leave wrecked friendships in your wake. Second of all...second of all…

Dusk Shine could feel the color running out of his fur. And something warm pushing up against his belly. The little traitor voice of logic continued. Second of all, you look at her and you are tempted, are you not? Even if it is only once, that you return tomorrow...would you push further? Would you push it harder if you could? And, what if you returned home tomorrow-either way you decide-and your decisions coming from there?

Dusk Shine could feel himself growing cold. A new voice, a voice of reason came up. This situation is highly sub-optimal. We...we hold off. Politely. Thank Rainbow Dash for her interest, and figure out a way to say “I will not do anything until I know that this is where I will stay.” I will not put Twilight Sparkle’s friendships in danger just to deal with...a primal itch!

“Equestria to Dusk Shine,” Rainbow Dash said, waving her hoof in front of his face. “Hello, are you okay?”

“Um, yes, I am,” Dusk Shine said. “I think that...we need to give it a bit of time before I can answer you. I think...we need to get back to flying practice, yes! Wings up and out?”

“Sure,” Rainbow Dash replied, looking a bit disappointed.

But, they did resume practice.

Dusk Shine had to wonder if Rainbow Dash knew how hard it was to keep his concentration on the practice.

And a little traitor in his head was reminding him of how hard it was.

“So! What are you up to next?” Rainbow Dash asked, after they had finished flying practice. A quick and somewhat sensually-tinged wing brushing had followed the practice, and the little traitor was growing more...treacherous. But, if his suspicions were right, Rainbow Dash was very interested in an act of treason against Friendship.

“Applejack and the farm,” Dusk Shine replied. He wasn’t going to be an un-indicted co-conspirator in this, but the temptation was so much… “We are getting ready for the Winter Wrap up next year, getting all the supplies ready and in place.”

“So, have you thought about it?” Rainbow Dash asked, making...Dear Helios, she is making sultry eyes at me, Dusk realized.

“About…,” he asked carefully.

“Giving it a try,” Rainbow Dash smiled. “I mean, you’re here, you’re interested…”

Dusk Shine realized, in absolute horror, that he was in full wingboner mode, with some amazing extension. How in Artemis’ name did those wings even get there without me knowing it and oh my I am fully stretched out…

“And,” Rainbow Dash continued, “I’ve got a cloud house that nopony lives near and is very private…,” she trailed off with a sultry brushing of her body against his, nuzzling her cheek to his cheek.

There was an amazing amount of cross-talking conversations in Dusk Shine’s mind right now. Logic was observing Absolutely amazing muscle definition, I can feel it even through the fur and she definitely smells of sweat and honest exercise...

The traitor voice pressing against his inner rear thighs was saying Grab her with your magic, drag her up to her cloud house, and see if you can actually do the practical with all the things you saw in the Pony Sutra with her…

Finally, there was this gurgling thought that gave Dusk Shine wings and a direction in the form of highly sub-optimal! This is not your friend, but the friend of Twilight Sparkle! You need to go help the next friend of Twilight Sparkle, and you need to go NOW. Before you have to explain something in a very interesting Friendship Report to Prince Helios and Twilight Sparkle!

The wings started to flap, and he started to fly as hard as he could away from Rainbow Dash. From behind him, Dusk Shine could hear, laughing, “Hey, you know where I live if you change your mind!”

Dusk Shine flew even faster.

Care

The original plan for Dusk Shine nee Twilight Sparkle was to have lunch with the Apple Family after the barn loading. But, after the...unfortunate incident, Dusk Shine headed back into Ponyville with a stomach full of bile and worry. His brain raced with thoughts, and it was not a good series of thoughts.

Highly sub-optimal! HIGHLY sub-optimal! Applejack...what does this mean...she was more or less ready to...what? Dusk Shine’s thoughts bounced around the inside of his confused skull. She was more or less ready to start a family right there! I hope that when she wakes up, she realized just how bad shocking some pony that has the Royal Canterlotian Voice can be! And, how every single mare is acting like the bad stereotype of what they say stallions are!

Dusk Shine was about halfway to town by now, and by pure luck he was walking towards the market. He could see mares that were...well groomed. Wishing him a good day. Saying hello. Occasionally asking questions about the upcoming events for tomorrow. With a distracted smile and waggle of a wing -- that he kept from becoming a wingboner on the display of attractive and attracted mares that were talking to him -- he kept on walking towards town, his thoughts...distracted. But, the little traitor did pop up to make his own commentary, you do have to admit that she was ready to create a family with you. Marriage and love and and everything else. She was not looking for just one roll in the hay, she was looking to have foals, raise a family, and grow old with you.

“She would be the one that would grow old,” Dusk Shine sighed. “But, she was willing to make that commitment, knowing that I would...probably outlive our grandchildren. My lifestyle as the Element of Magic does not seem to guarantee a long lifespan.”

So, the little traitor asked, why not get started on that whole new Sparkle/Apple line of the clan early? After all, you did seem to be interested in her when she admitted what she felt.

Dusk Shine stopped for a second, sighed. Dragged his wings back down from the partial wingboner position they were in. “Highly, highly sub-optimal,” Dusk Shine sighed under his breath. “My reasoning is flawless. I think. Until we know how and why we are here, being...intimate means that we will hurt somepony in the end. Both me, and the other party involved.”

Dusk Shine continued onto his way into town, and realized that he was walking near the fruit stand the Apples usually set up in the market. Realizing that he needed to confess, Dusk walked up to the stand, only to see the tallest red stallion he had ever seen. Ah, Dusk thought, this must be Big Macintosh.

Big Macintosh looked at Dusk Shine curiously and said, “You must be Dusk Shine. Heard the rumors about ya. Figured you’d be having lunch at the farm.”

“Well…” Dusk Shine said, voice trailing off. “It turns out that, well...you do realize that the whole Royal Canterlotian Voice has a bit of a hair trigger.”

Big Macintosh looked at Dusk Shine, and Dusk felt like he was a tiny scared foal under his eyes. “I promise...your sister is all right. Unconscious, but she was fine when I left. At the very least, she is not trapped in a frozen time bubble until the day before Winter Wrap Up...heh…,” he tried to laugh, but Big Macintosh added a nose flare to the glaring eyes.

“She...well, she was very forward about wanting to get started on creating a new line of the Apple family. I have no idea if I will be staying here or going home or going somewhere else any time soon and if I am not staying I do not want to create a huge and massive problem for anypony that I liked and...I am sorry?” Dusk Shine gushed out in a single rush of words.

“She try anything wrong? Tried to force you?” Big Macintosh asked.

“No, but she did surprise me, which was very...um...surprising?” Dusk Shine sighed.

Big Macintosh thought about this for a minute, looked around, and said, “Other side of the counter, Dusk Shine.”

Nervous, he came around. Big Macintosh lowered his head and said in a soft but clear voice, “You’ve seen what’s been going on around town since this morning?”

“Yes,” Dusk said, just as softly. “I thought…”

“Last time I saw something like this,” Big Macintosh interrupted gently, “was when Mayor Mare was setting up a bachelor's auction as a part of the Summer Sun event last year. Except, right now, it’s worse. They ain’t looking to snag a single stallion, they’re looking to snag a Prince. Heard rumors that Rarity is having a run on her best dresses-the ones that she’s letting other ponies have because she’s saving the best to catch you. They actually saw Rainbow Dash in the spa, getting Fancy. You want some advice?”

Dusk Shine nodded. “Two choices, Dusk. Either hide out in the library until this all blows over, or find somepony special that can serve as cover.”

“Like you and Cheerlee?” Dusk Shine asked, feeling a touch malicious.

Big Macintosh’s glare and nose flare returned hard. “Her and I have to be quiet until we get things settled with our families. It comes out now, she’ll have problems with her work. You understand?”

“Yes, I do,” Dusk Shine sighed. “Sorry to throw your own situation at you that way…”

“We’re working on it,” Big Macintosh grunted. “But, do you see my point?”

“I do,” Dusk Shine admitted. “But, I have responsibilities. The Princes...I am sorry, the Princesses are coming to town tomorrow. How can I hide knowing that I have things I need to get done? And...I will not lie to other ponies about my status. I am a single stallion and I will not lead somepony on to hide that.”

Big Macintosh shook his head and sighed. “Got heart, Dusk. Brain lacking some common sense maybe, but ya got heart. I’ll run some interference for ya, say you’re holding on until the Princesses come. Where you going to next?”

“Fluttershy,” Dusk Shine said. “She has been caring for Owlicious after her...his injuries a few days ago. And, I do not expect the same sort of issues. I do admit, I have seen some of her photos from her modeling career… But, I promise, I will be the very soul of tact and calm with her.”

Big Macintosh nodded. “Never thought otherwise, Dusk. Just...be careful out there.”

“I will,” Dusk Shine nodded in reply. “For myself, and for everypony else.”

Dusk Shine trotted through Ponyville, and was of two minds as his utterly baffling day rolled by. One part admired the scenery, as mares were doing their best to primp and preen and prepare for...what? That lead to the other part of his mind, the strict and analytical one that had been trained by Prince Helios and polished by his sister Gleaming Shield. Considering, analyzing, assessing...hide the emotions until the mission has been completed. You can have the breakdown afterwards, once everything has been completed.

He followed up on that logical analysis. Too soon to try anything, I think. The first mare to ask me out may be the sacrificial lamb to see how I will respond, especially since rumors of Rainbow Dash just asking to pony me have probably already gotten around. Or, maybe not…

“Oh my, my, my,” an oddly familiar voice said. The smell of jasmine and body wash came on both sides of Dusk Shine, as two lovely and muscular Earth pony mares came up close to him. Both were identical in height, body, length of mane and tail. Only their coloration--one pink with a blue mane and tail, the other in reverse--were different, and their big blue eyes soaked in the form of the somewhat ragged-feeling Dusk Shine. They sashayed their flanks, showing off the lotus-blossom Cutie Mark they both shared.

“So, the rumors were true,” an identical voice breathed on the other side of Dusk Shine.

“Twilight Sparkle was always a very attractive mare,” the blue one said.

“But, as a stallion, he is delicious,” the pink one continued, as if they were speaking from the same script.

“Welcome to Ponyville, Dusk Shine,” the blue one whispered into Dusk Shine’s ear.

“I believe you haven’t been to the spa,” the pink one whispered into Dusk Shine’s other ear.

“You would find it...most enjoyable,” they said together, their breath teasing Dusk Shine’s ear. His wings nearly knocked them over, which cause them to break out into a fit of giggling.

“Um...I did miss your names, did I not?” Dusk Shine asked, taking a step back and making them stand in front of him.

“Oh dear, yes you did,” the pink one said. “I am Aloe,” and Aloe bowed to Dusk Shine, a slight dip of her head.

“And, I am Lotus,” the blue one continued, dipping her head in a soft bow.

“Thank you,” Dusk Shine nodded, tried to smile, and realized how he felt. He tried to pull some of his more unmanageable hairs on his mane back into shape, and sighed. “I have been to the spa...well, the one that is back where I come from. It is very nice...and, I suspect you two wish there to be more, right?”

“Very quick thinking,” Aloe said.

“Of course, you look in need of relaxation,” Lotus chimed in.

“Which we can easily provide.”

“And, as an alicorn, your fertility is entirely under your control, if that’s what you fear,” Lotus smiled.

“We have all the accessories needed to make your spa time very enjoyable,” the two said together again, and smiled.

Dusk Shine took a deep breath, and dragged his wings back to the normal resting state hard. It was almost impossible, as the young foal fantasies of two attractive mares (twins, no less!) just...asking him to spend some quality time together.

The little traitor was already stirring. Dusk could feel his enthusiasm already.

Deep breaths...deep breaths...

“Aloe, Lotus...I have too much to do today, and right now my head space is so confused that I would not know what I would be doing if I took you up on your offer. I do thank you for it…”

“Oh dear,” Aloe interrupted gently.

“He’s been wounded by mares,” Lotus sighed in sympathy.

“You can see it in how he responds,” Aloe continued.

“Which means we’ll have to help with those injuries to his soul,” Lotus finished up. The two of them looked at each other, nodded, and looked back at Dusk Shine.

“You have tasks to complete,” Aloe said.

“But, when you are done,” Lotus continued.

The two of them came up, and calmly nuzzled Dusk Shine on opposite cheeks. “Do come and see us, you are welcome any time,” they said in unison, and the two mares walked off towards the spa.

Dusk Shine looked at the departing sisters, and tried not to fall down. For the first time ever...two mares had just come up and asked him to go with them. There were foal-hood fantasies that were less detailed than that.

Other mares were looking at him, deciding if they should be taking the more direct approach, or something a bit more subtle. Dusk Shine looked around, and wondered what would happen next. “Sub-optimal,” he whispered. “I am so abusing teleportation today....”

And, in a flash of magic, Dusk Shine vanished from the middle of Ponyville.

Dusk Shine found his way, after a second teleport to dodge some more groups of mares, on the path towards the boundary line between the Everfree Forest and Ponyville. His brain was working through little details, details that Dusk Shine knew were an effort to distract himself from the emotional turmoil he was feeling. “Not good,” he muttered. “Not even close to optimal. This day is just getting worse and worse.”

“Oh,” a sharp female voice in a Trottingham accent said, sardonically, “I do think your day has just gotten much, much worse. Or, perhaps much better, I’m not so sure…”

Dusk Shine turned to see...a female draconequus. She floated lazily in the air, her right hand of a chicken’s claw stroking a very feminine chin, wings fluttering slightly in the air like leaves, and she smiled a mis-matched smile. “Come now, Dusk Shine, that was a perfect set-up line. After all, if I, Eris, can’t use that line to make your day so much more...shall we say chaotic, what purpose would it have had?”

Dusk Shine watched as she settled onto her mis-matched feet, and started to polish her horns with her hands. “Of course, I don’t have to really do anything today, do I? You’re doing it all for me, just by being you. Your little magical accident means that you bring such lovely, sweet chaos into town.”

Dusk Shine continued to look at Eris, and he couldn’t hold back any longer. He fell to the ground, rolling around a huge bellow of laughter. “Oh my, you….you do not know what Eris really looks like, do you?” Dusk Shine choked between the laughs. “You really do not, do you?”

“Oh? And, why do you think that? Am I not the very zenith, the very epitome of charm and female style?” Eris asked, giving Dusk Shine and offended look.

“Because you over-egged the pudding! You went overboard and got it spectacularly wrong!,” Dusk Shine laughed. He got back onto his hooves and smiled. “This is what Eris really looks like,” and Dusk Shine lit his horn in an illusion of Eris, four inches tall, and somewhat identical, but entirely at odds with the caricature-like, full-sized Eris in front of him.

Eris sighed, and found a zipper pull in her belly button, undoing the body suit that surrounded her. The costume fell away towards the ground in five fluttering segments, revealing a male draconequus of the same mis-matched limbs, but with a beard and a confused expression. “And, now I know something as well, you made a goof with a spell, Twilight Sparkle! Because there is no way that I would look like that!” The little illusionary Eris immediately ran over to the male draconequus, and clutched onto his leg like a lost puppy.

“Ah, and you must be Discord," Dusk Shine said, getting his laughter under control. “I read all of the notes that Twilight Sparkle wrote about you. True to form, it appears. Chaotic and trying to be funny.”

“Moi?” Discord asked rhetorically. He looked down at the illusionary Eris, gave her a good kick, sending her spinning towards the horizon. “Oh, I am funny. And, you, Twitlight Spackle, are hilarious. It’s a really good combination, the gender-change spell and the memory modification to make you think that you’ve always been a stallion. Because, there is no way you could have hopped universes just like that,” Discord said, snapping his fingers at the end.

“Oh, and why do you believe that?” Dusk Shine looked at Discord curiously. “My memories are consistent without flaws or errors, and physical proof triumphs theory. I am from another universe, and why for a being of elemental chaos would that be impossible?”

“Because it is!” Discord snorted, pulling on a sweater vest covered in chalk dust. He yanked a chalkboard covered in equations out from nowhere and started to scribble on it. “The energy levels to penetrate brane shells of nearby localized realities--without the sacrifice of a sentient being to overcome the quantum mediation effect and prevent localized paradoxes--is impossibly high! Oh, and we can’t forget how accurate your targeting is. You could have wound up in another universe where all the ponies you know are hairless, clothes-wearing apes, or hedgehogs, or wolves, or even…” and here Discord shuddered, “more beings of Chaos like me. No, no, no, Twibright Squirtle, clearly something else has happened.”

Discord snapped his goat’s paw fingers and and from...nowhere...rows upon rows of file cabinets came out of the visual horizon, sounding like the rumble of a whole stockyard of freight trains. They stopped in a clash of clattering metal, and Discord reached into one of the file cabinets, pulling out a huge manila file folder with the title of TWILIGHT SPARKLE on the cover. To Dusk’s slight chagrin, someone had drawn a thick moustache and goatee on Twilight’s file photo. And, a small speech bubble saying “Princess Celestia is Worst Pony!” “In comparison, memory modification with a gender-change spell is easily in the realm of a pony’s simple magic. So, you possess the delusion that you’ve merely come from another universe.”

“Ah,” Dusk Shine replied. “But, once again, I can cite physical evidence. My memories are consistent and without holes. The first thing that I would have checked, once I had determined my circumstances, was for memory modification spells. Which, as you know, are very blatant in terms of their magical signatures. And there has been no such attempts there. So...why are you so convinced that world-hopping is impossible? Unless…,” and Dusk Shine smiled slyly, “You cannot travel between other worlds. Your powers are limited to this brane shell and none other.”

Discord looked offended. “What makes you think I don’t just hop over to the universe next door for a spot of tea and mayhem? For, am I not the very personification of chaotic behavior?”

“Your denial of the possibility of my travels. Your lack of knowledge of Eris and her true appearance,” Dusk Shine said. “I promise, I will not tell anypony else of your limitations,” Dusk Shine mock-whispered conspiratorially.

Discord sighed, and shook his head. As he did, the filing cabinets fell over as if they were cardboard cutouts, and Discord looked at Dusk Shine. “I did try to warn you, I did. Oh, and I did warn Fluttershy, so I suspect we’re even.”

Dusk Shine looked at Discord and asked, “What exactly did you say to Fluttershy?”

“Oh, just that you were coming to visit,” Discord replied, polishing his claw on his fur. “And, that you were in the middle of a major delusional cycle that had you thinking you were not Twilight Sparkle, but a rather unstable stallion. It is the truth, and I didn’t make anything up at all. Now, if you’ll excuse me…”

Discord grabbed his tail, and with a single yank, snapped himself up like a rubber band and vanished from sight. As he watched, the small illusionary Eris that Dusk Shine created came running over the horizon, glanced around, waved at Dusk Shine (who waved back), and then flew off to the other horizon, singing as she flew. “I’VE GOT A LOVELY BUNCH OF COCONUTS,” Eris sang off-key, flying away at top speed.

Dusk Shine considered his situation, and said to the air, “Mental note for the future-do not taunt the Happy Fun Chaos Deity. Nothing good ever comes of it.”

As Dusk Shine came trotting up to Fluttershy’s house, something was bothering him--besides the general situation, of course. Considering that Discord had “warned” Fluttershy in his own unique way, Dusk realized that he had to approach things carefully. He made it past the last turn to the house, and realized what was wrong.

It was too quiet. Yes, even for this place.

Butterscotch--and by extension Fluttershy--always had their doors open for the various forest animals and pets they took care of. There was always at least some animals around, from regulars such as Angel, to the occasional visitor. And, by some reason that could only be planning, there was always at least one animal that would take it...poorly if somepony tried to harass or hurt Butterscotch. Usually it was a local bear maul that visited for chiropractic help and occasional paw-cleaning assistance. Most ponies that meant Butterscotch harm stayed far, far away--mostly due to Angel.

Dusk Shine came up to the house and considered the possibilities. The first was that Fluttershy was injured or otherwise not able to come to the door. That possibility was discarded when he made it to the front door, which was locked, and none of Fluttershy’s animal friends were standing guard or looking for help. Angel, for all of her--or his--issues would have already been trying to communicate with Dusk Shine to get Fluttershy some help.

The second possibility was that Fluttershy was out on a call to help somepony else. Dusk Shine discarded that possibility even more quickly, as there was not a single note or other indication that she had to miss Dusk to help somepony else. And, Butterscotch would have left a very long, very apologetic note that would have hemmed and hawed but otherwise would have covered all the details as to what happened. So, out on call was a possibility to be dismissed.

The last possibility...Dusk sighed. “Of course,” he said sadly. “Fluttershy has been warned by Discord that I am ‘merely’ an unstable form of Twilight Sparkle. Assuming she has done some of the things I have done when I was not at my best stability,” here, he shuddered, remembering the Smarty Pants incident, “She is worried I might accidentally turn her into a stallion or a newt or something else.”

Dusk considered his surroundings, and pulled up a mental map of the area. “Fluttershy will want to be close to home, just in case. But, she will need a good area to fly away in as needed. And,” he sighed, “Butterscotch has a signature that is almost impossible to find when he is determined not to be found. I do not expect Fluttershy to be any easier. Oh, well…”

Dusk opened up his wings and found the Sun, came up with a rough estimate of north, and started to fly. He flew in an ever expanding spiral and zeroed in on his first target location. It was a large open field, surrounded by trees and a thick border of underbrush that would be perfect for a very scared pony to hide in. Far enough from the Everfree, so that nothing would be living in it that might eat the scared pony. And, the overall terrain suggested long sight lines to see whatever could scare you from as far away as possible. That meant that escape would be easy and fast for Fluttershy..

Dusk Shine landed, and closed his eyes, his horn lighting as he felt the area with his magic. A few moments later, he reopened his eyes and sighed. Dry hole, he thought to himself. Fluttershy had about as much signature as Butterscotch did when he hid-none at all. Or, more accurately, so diffuse as to be impossible to localize. With a slight cough, Dusk said, “Fluttershy, if you can hear me...my name is Dusk Shine. I appear to have swapped places with your friend Twilight Sparkle, and I am here to find out about my...our owl. Mine was injured when I made a mistake with a spell...and you offered to take care of Owlicious for me.”

He looked around, and listened carefully. One of the bushes rattled slightly, and he smiled. “I must know if he is better, and if you will be ready tomorrow with the bird chorus for the arrival of the Princesses. I would not be bothering you otherwise, Fluttershy,” Dusk said, and turned his head carefully away from the rattling bushes.

The bushes rattled some more. “Gotcha,” he whispered, and his magic swelled, catching something behind the bushes. Lifted in the air by Dusk’s magic field around her flanks, a yellow pegasus mare with three pink butterflies for a Cutie Mark and long flowing pink hair didn’t flail around or do anything...other than try and squeeze her body tightly into a ball. Her body was trembling with the effort to try and make herself smaller, wings collapsed so tightly as to almost seem fused to her body, legs pulled in, her head tilted so that her hair fell across her face. Dusk very carefully set her down on her belly, and sighed. “Fluttershy, I am not Twilight Sparkle after a magical accident…,” he started, then stopped.

Dusk Shine carefully settled onto his stomach, and lowered his head to Fluttershy’s level. “Fluttershy, I am going to talk about a friend of mine. He is the bravest pony I know, because he lives in a world where everything scares him. Even, at times, I think ponies he calls his friends. But, every single day, he leaves his house. He helps out the animal friends that need his help and care. Always willing to listen, and to help out his friends. He is even willing to take the greatest of chances on helping a Chaos being try and reform. And, Fluttershy, if you are anything like my friend Butterscotch, you are one of the bravest ponies I know. Even when you are trembling in fear, you are listening to me. Can you look at me, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy looked up, shyly through the long fall of her mane, and nodded slightly. “Thank you. Will you talk with me?” he asked again, and carefully got back onto his hooves.

“Yes, I think I can,” Fluttershy said softly, and made a soft squeaking sound.

“Is Owlicious all right?”

“Yes,” Fluttershy replied, her voice a little stronger. She got onto her hooves and fluffed her wings.

“Anything I should know about the his carel?”

“Don’t cast magical spells on him for a while,” Fluttershy replied, carefully tossing her hair.

My my, Dusk Shine thought, she is attractive and...no...no bad thoughts….duty calls! “I will not, I promise,” he smiled. “And, how is the bird chorus coming along?”

“Very well,” Fluttershy said, her voice a bit stronger. “We should be ready by tomorrow I think.”

“Thank you,” Dusk said, and realized that Fluttershy was fluffing her chest out at him. “Fluttershy…what are you doing?”

“I’m...doing a mating dance?” Fluttershy said shyly, and hid behind her hair with a squeak.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no! Dusk Shine thought. Not even her! “Fluttershy...why are you doing a mating dance?”

“Because...you’re ...um...quite handsome...I like your wings...and you were willing to talk to me like I was a normal pony,” Fluttershy said, opening up her wings. “Don’t you like me?”

“Well, yes, I do...sort of...I mean I have only just met you. Are you sure you know what you are doing?” Dusk asked, mind racing in the start of panic.

“Oh yes, I want to do everything,” Fluttershy said confidently. “Don’t you?”

“Well, yes, but between the statistical issues and the potential failure points of birth control, you would become pregnant and…,” Dusk continued speaking, as Fluttershy cuddled up to his side.

“Oh, I’ve seen animals being born, and I wouldn’t mind at all carrying our foal,” Fluttershy smiled, and nuzzled Dusk Shine in the cheek.

“Fluttershy, it is entirely possible that I could vanish tomorrow, and if I did it would be not at all realistic for you, me, or for our theoretical foal,” Dusk Shine replied, trying to keep his wings down and his little traitor from interjecting himself into the argument.

“You don’t like me like that?” Fluttershy said, a bit more loudly. Her eyes began to narrow and Dusk knew those warning signs from Butterscotch.

“I do, I do,” Dusk said, realizing how deep the potential hole that he was digging himself into, “But, it would be highly dangerous until we know what is going on…”

“I want you now, Dusk Shine. And, you are GOING TOLOVE ME!!!” Fluttershy bellowed, eyes burning with raw flames of new passion and her wings at full extension.

Dusk Shine did a brilliant thing, possibly the only thing he could.

He immediately took to wing, and flew off as hard as he could in pure terror, yelling, “Sub-optimal! Highly, highly sub-optimal!”

“COME BACK HERE! YOU AND I ARE GOING TO PONY RIGHT NOW!!!” Fluttershy screamed, chasing after Dusk Shine.

Fluttershy couldn’t teleport.

Dusk Shine could.

This turned out to be the deciding factor in escaping the amorous and enraged Fluttershy. The key, Dusk realized later, was probably the third teleport sequence over the river that allowed him to bounce as far away as possible. With an amplification spell, he heard as Fluttershy used her skills to find lost animals to search for him, going in the opposite direction.

Sub-optimal! Dusk thought. He found a good hiding spot, and moaned softly to himself, trying not to cry.

Trying not to scream.

“Even...even a mare like Fluttershy, who was so shy and retiring like Butterscotch, seemed to be infected with the madness of myself being around,” Dusk Shine whispered. “What do I do now?”

Returning to the library didn’t seem to be an option, with the potential number of mares that might be waiting. He could probably use his magic to clear all the mares out...and possibly without injury. Definite red flag day, he thought. I should have listened to Spike.

The little traitor….had a voice of logic attached. Yet, they will all know you are there, will they not? Better to be a moving target, complete your other two tasks, and by then the library will be closed. Justifiably no mares in a closed library that are uninvited.

Dusk paused, and wondered. “Or,” he whispered, “you hope these two tasks will be worth your time.”

Or, perhaps worth both of our time, the little traitor whispered.

Dusk Shine sighed and climbed out of the hidden hole, considering his checklist. Two more names left.

Two outlier data points?

Or two more sources of madness?

Author's Note

Well, I did promise some flank-brushing...

Special thanks to Door Matt for pre-reading and handling editing issues.

Prêt-à-Porter

In this moment, the quantum wave form collapsed and the state of cognitive/noncognitive has become cognitive. The first questions that have gone through your mind (and, you realize, you now have a mind to have the questions go through) are simple.

Who am I?

Where am I?

Where is my digital watch?

Who are you? That, you have no answer for and hope to find one. You definitely suspect that little piece of information is very important and you need to know what it is, soon.

Where are you? That’s another very good question. With cognition has come perception, and there is nothing around you. There are six senses at your disposal (sight, sound, hearing, taste, touch, magic) and there is the absolute absence of anything that impinges upon your senses. This...worries you in a vague, disconnected sort of way. Something tells you that you should be more worried now, more scared, more trying to figure out what happens next.

“Oh,” a voice says, oddly familiar to your ears, but unable to properly place the memory, “on the whole digital watch front... Ponies probably won’t have the technology to make digital watches for...say, forty to fifty years. Less if a few foals get their Cutie Marks in electronic theory and practical application.”

The voice is coming from somewhere off to your left, so your perspective turns...to reveal a being made up of mis-matched body parts sitting in a nice red velvet chair beside you. The being (a draconequus, if your memory is right) is stroking his beard, and considers you. Or, at least the space you’re occupying. “My, my, Dusk Shine, you have gotten yourself into a mess, haven’t you?” he says, smiling.

“But, it would be rude for me to have this conversation without you being able to respond, so…,” and he snaps the fingers of his tiger paw hand, and there is the sudden sensation of form. Wings, legs, hooves, a tail, a horn, a nose, jaw, mouth, lips, and…voice. “My name...is Dusk Shine?”

“Oh dear,” the draconequus says, shaking his head. “Still dealing with the brain not being fully on, are we? Well, let’s get started-my name is Discord, and I’m here because you did your best to treat Fluttershy and her need to procreate with as much respect as possible. I’m helping you to assemble the memories of, oh…” he pulls out a gold pocket watch off a chain in a pocket that seems to appear from nowhere, “the last eighty-two minutes and eleven seconds. By the way, we’re between second eleven and twelve right now-and we’ll be here until we’re done.”

Something about that sounds wrong. Mostly...all of it. “How are we, well, here? And, what have you done with time?” you ask, trotting over to where Discord is.

“Well,” Discord ruminates, leaning back in his chair and interlacing his fingers behind his head. “You were partially right when you said I am limited in my interactions within this brane shell, and none other. I’m limited because those are the rules that I’ve previously agreed with...shall we call it or them “God” for lack of a better term. And, while God may play dice with the Universe, and throw the dice where you can’t see them, He doesn’t change the pips on the dice when He wants to.”

“Because they are the rules.”

“Exactly,” Discord smiles. “The rules for me are simple-only one of Me to a universe, and only one at a time. No sharing between various forms of Me, even when they’re…,” here, Discord shivers, “girl Me’s. And, no mucking about with the walls to reality, and no cheating. It’s not a bad deal-I get to create all the sweet and wonderful chaos here that I want, and another version of Me doesn’t get to come in and make things worse. I mean, there has to be a version of Me out there that just wants the blood and bodies and doesn’t yearn for what I need the most.”

“What do you need the most?” you ask curiously. This is...huge. It is the most you have ever learned about Discord (or Eris, or such) in years, and you wish it was possible to take more than mental notes.

“Isn’t it obvious, my little pony?” Discord smiles cheerfully, “I need an audience. After all, why play a joke if there’s nobody to laugh at it? And, on the whole time front, there are rules for me as well-no playing around with the order of event or causality, my entropic existence is consistent with yours. I may be able to skip between the seconds-but those seconds come for me, still. Anyways,” Discord snaps his fingers and a massive tub of popcorn appears. “Shall we watch the movie of eighty-two minutes of your life?”

He puts the tub of popcorn between him and a padded velvet cushion, perfectly sized for you to sit upon. It takes only a few steps for you to come over to the cushion, settle yourself onto it comfortably, and look at the silver screen in front of you. “Movies, Discord?”

“Oh yes, home movies indeed,” Discord smiles. He takes a scoop of the popcorn and you hesitantly grab one in turn. The popcorn is not too bad-a bit salty for your taste, but not too much.

The sourceless light that had been illuminating this…(Space? Consensual hallucination?)...starts to go down, and the whirring of a film projector begins. Stirring comedic music starts to come from the speakers, and Discord has hit you with another little joke.

After all, have not the last few hours been entirely comedic?

Your escape from Fluttershy took a good part of the afternoon, and rather than deal with hormone-crazed mares...you cheated. A lot.

Two teleportations put you onto the roof of City Hall, where you carefully hid for a few minutes to catch your metaphysical breath. A quick observation shows that--at this distance--Ponyville would look utterly normal if the genders of the ponies you are observing were flipped. Except for...well, except for the fact that some of the mares seem to be organizing into hunting packs. Polyamory in pony relationships is not uncommon, and it seems that a few of the mares are of the following opinion: “let us snag the Prince together, that way we can pile on him with hugs.” This is a disturbing development and one that has both benefits and problems to it.

The benefits are simple, of course. If the mares start to self-herd themselves, it will be easier to avoid the larger groups. They will not be able to hide as easily (you suspect that somepony is just going to start laying out traps at some point) and there is always the possibility of causing internal problems by playing Centipede’s Dilemma with who gets to pony the Prince first.

The disadvantages are obvious as well--you would always be out-numbered (but never overpowered unless there were at least fifteen or more of the more powerful unicorns in town). And, more eyes means that if just one amorous individual sees you...the herds will come. And come after you hard. You might not be able to stop them without hurting them.

The shivering feeling that you have is from the cold wind up here. Not the knowledge that your arrival here is like dropping a seed crystal into a super-saturated solution of lust and somewhat frustrated mares. And, some of the most frustrated...are your nominal “friends”.

You feel a lot of sympathy for Twilight Sparkle right now. Not just because of how her situation might be, but how she must be when she is back here with her friends. Is she just as frustrated...just...not having an outlet? You hope that your friends back home are treating her well-and not spooking the pony out of her.

Time to keep moving. Another teleportation blink, this time to the belltower for the school. You have line of sight to the Carousel Boutique, and -- being the knowledgeable alicorn that you are -- one or two spells that let you view objects at a distance. Activating them, you can see that the door to the Boutique is closed and there is a sign. Big sign, big letters, too...SORRY, OUT OF DRESSES UNTIL AFTER THE FESTIVAL!...in Rarity’s elegant fieldwriting. A few mares shuffle up to the door, then they look at the sign in frustration. One knocks on the door, and you can see Rarity looking happy-if a bit haggard-answer the door. There is clear disappointment in the mutual body language--the mare for not getting the dress, Rarity for not making the sale. The group then leaves, and Rarity closes her door.

You really, really hope that Rarity has her secret entrance in the same place as Elusive.

Two more teleportation blinks, and you are now on the opposite side of the Carousel Boutique, quickly spotting Rarity through the nearest window. She is totalling up her receipts and considering her day today, a pot of tea nearby. It is nostalgic-looking, as you can recall when you first met Elusive and subsequently sharing tea together. A quick, final teleportation blink, and you are at the secret entrance to the Boutique.

Elusive explained why he had a secret entrance to his store, a long time ago. “Because, dear,” he said, measuring you for a costume to wear at the Grand Galloping Gala, “I have some customers that must be discrete. They wish to surprise their loved ones, or they are buying something a touch embarrassing. Something naughty, or erotic, or just they don’t think they can ever look good wearing something. So, to aid them in keeping their secrets, I offer a way to enter and exit without anypony knowing.”

You’re counting bricks, and knock on one specific brick. It sounds oddly hollow, and you can hear a female voice with a unique accent on the other side, “Who is it, darling?”

“Rarity,” you say just loud enough to be heard, “I am Dusk Shine, may I come in?”

A pause, then you can hear, “Just a second, dear.” The secret door opens quickly, and you trot in, the door closing behind you. As you step in, a mare says, “Oh, my, you are Dusk Shine.”

You turn to see the white unicorn mare in front of you. She is definitely pretty in a very fashionable sort of way, well-groomed, with her purple mane at just the perfect length for her muzzle. She is smiling, and leads you in with a polite, “Come, come in, Dusk Shine. Tea?”

The interior of the shop is laid out in the same manner as the one Elusive has-a large central area surrounded by dummies and clothing racks. Unlike the Carousel Boutique back home, this one does not look like an explosion in a fabric factory (as Rainbow Blitz so pithily commented once). It does, however, look like there has been a rush on business. The racks are devoid of dresses, small piles of broken ribbons and bows hide in the corners, and there is a general sense that fashionable parasprites have come through here today.

Rarity uses her magic to close the curtains and smiles at you. “My dear, you look haggard,” she says, picking up her tea pot with her magic and hearing that it is nearly empty. Rarity does look a little worn-out as well--but, happy, as she has evidently been doing a lot of sales today. “Sit, sit, and talk as I make another pot.”

You were almost imagining (dreading?) that you would come in after a few minutes to hear soft music and rose petals leading up the stairs to the bedroom. Candles on the steps, giving off a heady aroma of beeswax and lavender. The door would open and Rarity would be lying in her bed, the room bursting to brim with even more candles. The finest of satin sheets under the most expensive and exclusive lingerie from Prance and…

Stop that!

You drag your wings back into normal form, and the little traitor chuckles as your imagination matches what it has been thinking. Minus the lingerie and the romance...but the emotion was there. And the idea, and the thought…

Stop that, you think. Elusive may play the part when he is dealing with customers, but he exclusively is into mares. At least, nopony will admit otherwise, you have to add as a disclaimer. Rarity is into stallions, and she is probably just as much a flirt as Elusive is. If a bit more...rubenesque…

You shake your head to keep your thoughts in the proper order. You need a new jacket for tomorrow’s festival, and if Rarity cannot provide one...you hope she can make one. The problem, you suspect, is that she is ready to provide Twilight Sparkle with a dress and she might not have a jacket in your size or dealing with wings or…

“Sorry, darling,” Rarity interrupts your thoughts, “I thought I had some of the Earl Grey, but I was out. The shame of it! I do hope that you like blended teas, as I have an absolutely lovely pot of Opus Rouge Rooibos here…” With deft use of her magic field, she pours two delicate cups of bone-white china and puts one of them in front of you. She takes a sip and smiles. “Perfect. You look...distracted, darling. What’s on your mind?”

You look at Rarity, take a sip of the tea, and sigh. It truly is good tea, the raspberry and chocolate blend working superbly, and you can feel the warmth calming your nerves. “I am having deja vu,” you reply and take another sip with Rarity. “I would be in the same place with Elusive, the version of you back where I come from, and probably having the same discussion. But, today...it has been insane. And, now I can sympathize with mares and Prince Bolero…”

“Prince Bolero?” Rarity interrupts gently.

“Prince of Love,” you explain. “My sister, Gleaming Shield, is his wife. Regardless...I was worried that my friends would scream ‘really bad changeling!’ about me, but they have not. However, what is happening to me is worse. Rainbow Dash...she just offered to…,” your voice trails off for a bit.

“Scone?”

“Yes, thank you,” and you nibble on the procured pastry. “Rainbow Dash just offered to pony me right then and there. I admit, I ran like a…,” your voice trails off again.

“I would say in all fairness that ‘scared little mare’ is a very accurate way of putting it,” Rarity said, nibbling on her scone. “Then, if I remember what Twilight told me were her plans for today, you went to Applejack. How did that go?”

“It went well...up until the part where I was too honest,” you say, taking another gulp of the tea. This is really good tea, you are feeling a lot more relaxed and calm about what has been going on. And, Rarity is listening, which makes you feel much better. “I...did not explain myself as well as I should have. My fears, you see...I do not, can not, and will not leave a foal of mine behind if I were to vanish tomorrow. It would be unfair to everypony involved, and…”

“And what, dear?” Rarity asks in a kind, soft voice.

“I remember,” you say, your voice cracking a bit, “is...Cadence, yes?”

“Yes, Cadence is the Princess of Love here,” Rarity nods.

“Was Cadence an orphan?”

“Yes,” Rarity said, and set down her tea cup. “Her parents died when she was very young, then soon after she Ascended...and her Cutie Mark appeared. She lived with Twilight Sparkle’s family, and they would have adopted her if they could, but Princess Celestia…”

“Prince Helios,” you continue with her, “had to weigh politics and the needs of one orphan foal. He...Bolero, was officially a ward of the Throne...always considered my family to be his family, joked that he could not marry Gleaming Shield because that would be incest…”

Until that one night, after a disastrous date with a mare that was ready to become his consort. Until that one night, when Gleaming Shield had just waited for him. You can still remember what Prince Bolero had said, crying into her mane. This...this is what love is, isn’t it?

“He was always so alone,” your voice says, considering. “Even when he was at home, it was like…”

“More tea?”

“Thank you,” you reply, and take another calming sip of tea. “He was always alone. No real family. Nopony that was Mom or Dad, my parents tried to fill in as much as they could, but it was not the same. No pony deserves that, Bolero did not deserve that. I promised myself that any foal of mine would not be a bastard-they would have parents, even if I had to break out of Tartarus to give them at least one.”

Rarity looks at you, and you can just about make out a watery glint in her eyes. “You...are a very, very noble pony, Dusk Shine. And, I don’t mean your title. So many stallions have titles, but you are just noble. Of course, Twilight Sparkle is a very noble pony, and I wish she realized that.”

This is great tea, it is making you feel very relaxed and calm. “From what I can see of her friends, I can fully agree. When they are not chasing me across the fields wanting to mate with me by any means possible.”

“Oh dear,” Rarity sighed, refilling your cup. “Fluttershy is a dear, sweet mare. But when her dam of fears breaks...she washes everything away. So, I assume you are here for an outfit for tomorrow. Fortunately for all of us, I do have several jackets that might fit and are the right color. Shall we try some on?”

You take your cup of tea to the middle of the room, where Rarity starts to take measurements. “Enjoying your tea, darling?”

“Yes, very much so,” you reply, and take another sip. It truly is great tea, and you feel so relaxed and calm, and...sleepy? “Rarity, what did you put in this tea?” you ask, more curious than anything else.

“Oh, just Opus Rouge Rooibos,” she says, carefully catching your fluttering teacup in her magic field. “Well, I did add some of the roots that Zecora recommended whenever I needed help sleeping, in enough quantities to help me fall asleep in a few minutes.”

“Um…,” you feel like there should be something wrong here, but you are too sleepy to make any sense of this. You start to sag to your knees, wanting nothing more than to rest. “Why did you give me those roots? And, why are you not sleepy?”

“Oh, I didn’t have any of the tea, dear. Old trick I learned when I was at some of the most boring parties-shallow fill your cup, appear to sip, and appear to refill when you need to keep some absolute boor from bothering you,” Rarity comments brightly. “And, as to why I gave you the roots...I am Generosity incarnate, darling. I would have no problem sharing you with our friends. Or establishing a polygamous relationship with our fellow Element bearers. Especially Applejack, she is a darling and should dress up more often. I only just want to be first with you, dear.”

“First,” you murmur, your wings fluttering open a bit. “You want to…”

“Oh, not just take you like some rutting pegasus...well, perhaps later, when all the proper forms have been handled,” Rarity smiles, and takes a few more measurements. “I am merely, and efficiently, eliminating all of the hemming and hawing and other arguments that would take days to resolve. We do have only an hour and a half before you meet Pinkie Pie, and who knows what might happen then? Of course, I do have to keep you from getting away until we’re both ready. A call to the Mayor to marry us...we can do a more formal ceremony later. I have this utterly lovely wedding dress...perhaps I should wear it when she gets here. I won’t be the first mare to waddle up to the altar pregnant, but I do agree...we should be a bit more formal about this.”

From one of her cabinets comes a whole lot of soft-looking white rope and a black-and-gold ring that you know is a magic-suppression ring for unicorns. Rarity slips the ring over your horn and carefully lowers your unresisting body to the ground. “I knew that my college-era career as a dominatrix would come in handy at some point,” Rarity giggles as she sorts through the ropes. “Oh, nothing too fancy, dear--I can do some of the most beautiful and elegant shibari rope bondage postures that you have ever seen--but time is short and I would like to get myself properly dressed for when the Mayor makes it over here.”

Rarity moves quickly and starts to wrap you up in some of the most elegant of white cotton ropes, to bind and secure your body. Her technique is nearly perfect, and from how the ropes have been tied, you could remain secured-and unable to escape-from this bondage for hours without your magic. In the process, she brushes up against your body in some very...sensual ways that make your little traitor stand up and salute. Rarity looks at your unresisting body and smiles, saying, “It is bad form for a stallion to deflower a mare prior to the wedding, and I will assume the reverse is the same. Regardless, we will have plenty of time later to enjoy…”

Once she has you firmly tied up, Rarity goes to all the doors of the Boutique and makes sure that they are locked and chained shut. “Wouldn’t want you disturbed during your nap, darling,” she giggles, making sure that your head is laying on a soft pillow. She smiles at your unresisting body, and starts to trot upstairs.

With a whip-popping crackle of the end of the film reel, the movie ends. You sit there, looking at the white-lit screen and then at Discord. “She…,” you say, not sure what else to say.

“I do ask that you forgive her,” Discord says. “She has found every dream she has ever wanted--a good friend, a stallion worthy of the name, a Prince--and she will not let those dreams go without a fight. And, you do have to admit, she did pull together a good plan in a very short period of time.”

“But, what she did…,” you manage to grind out, starting to get angry.

“And, mind you, I would love to see the sweet chaos caused by your angry response,” Discord continues, “Fluttershy would be very unhappy to have to attend Rarity’s funeral, and I would not make her unhappy.”

You have to pause a bit at that statement. “You really do like her,” you say to Discord, and raise an eyebrow. “You would never admit it, but you do.”

“Oh, I’ll admit to it, and I’ll even do so here and now, as there is absolutely nobody here but you and me and my rubber duckie,” and he squeaks a rubber duck that he just pulled from behind his back. “After all, no witnesses and I’ll deny it if anybody asks. But, now we have a very upcoming issue. Namely, we’re between seconds eleven and twelve...and second number twelve is coming up very, very shortly…”

There is this odd, odd mechanical sound...like the drawn out ticking sound of a second hand. “We have only a few moments left, a few shakes--both of the lamb’s tail and of the smallest unit of possible measurement--before the clock strikes twelve and you recover consciousness. You’re recovering much faster and much more completely than Rarity expects. Just remember the following three things…”

“Wait just a second,” you try to interrupt, but Discord shushes you.

“No more time left! First, the magic suppression ring on your horn was made for unicorns, not alicorns. Two, Rarity needs to be forgiven, and once you give her a good scare, forgive her. And, third--and most importantly--Pinkie Pie will be right about everything but one thing, and you’ll know what it is when you hear it,” Discord interrupts, holding up a comically sized stopwatch.

“I just wanted to say…,” you try to interrupt again, but Discord puts one of his fingers on your lips.

“You’re welcome, I know. And, you are one of the best sources of chaos I’ve had in years, so I’ve got to like you a bit,” Discord smiles. “And, in about twenty seconds, you’ll be awake...and in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one...you’ve got your wake-up call.”

Dusk Shine opened up his eyes, and gave his head a good shake. “Sub-optimal,” he muttered. “What might be worse than taunting the Happy Fun Chaos Deity? Having one owe you a favor.”

Around his horn, Dusk could feel the magic-warping and dampening effects of a magical suppression ring. However, he could still feel faint threads of magic, and with a bit of concentration...the ring twisted, and shuddered, but it slowly floated off of his horn entirely. Then it immediately shot up through the air, and Dusk telekinetically caught it before it hit something and alerted somepony nearby. His head turned and the ropes began to glow as he undid the knots and untied himself.

From upstairs, Dusk Shine could softly hear Rarity in her boudoir, singing to herself. It took a few sweaty and tension-filled minutes, but he managed to undo all the ropes. Once freed, he began to coil and replace the ropes in the hiding place that Rarity had taken them from. That done, all that remained was to make a stealthy exit. Dusk turned towards the door, only to hear, “Oh, darling, I hope you’re still resting…,” coming up from the top of the stairs.

Dusk Shine swivelled back, to see Rarity in a heart-stopping dress of white silk and purple lace, a small veil covering her face, her makeup perfectly done… She was beautiful, a ready and willing bride to reach the altar. He had to stop and remember for a second that this mare had drugged him and planned to do…, “Rarity, do you know what you just attempted to do?”

“I…,” Rarity said, looking away and confused. “I thought...that if you saw me, that if you saw me ready, willing, and able and wanting to be with you…,” her eyes welling up with tears. “You were so scared that any pony that wanted you wanted just a simple rutting and a bastard foal.”

“Rarity,” Dusk Shine said forcefully, “you very nearly committed several major crimes. All of them on a Prince of Equestria, which increases the penalties. The sort of crimes that if we were in my world, they would execute you if convicted! You do realize that, do you not?”

Rarity looked at Dusk, and then she broke out in tears. “I know, I know,” she said through her running makeup, “but...I have dreamed of the day when I could marry a Prince. Somebody noble and true and honest, and you are that stallion, Dusk Shine. I was so desperate I didn’t know what I was doing!”

“Rarity!” Dusk nearly yelled, his wings extended to their fullest, making him look bigger than he actually was.. The essence of magic in his voice caused everything in the Boutique to rattle. “You did know what you were doing. Admit to that, at least!”

Rarity lowered her head, dark mascara-ladened tears to drip to the carpet. “I did, and I was wrong. I wanted to make you happy, Dusk Shine. You deserve to be happy, and I wanted to give you that happiness.”

Dusk took a long, deep breath, pulled his wings back down and allowed the magic field to dissipate from his horn. His eyes looked at Rarity, and he sighed. “Rarity, I am very unhappy with you right now. Mostly because I am unhappy with myself. This…,” and he waggled one of his wings at the whole room, somehow including all of Ponyville with the gesture, “this...situation, this circumstance, this...event has had me off-balance all day. I do not know how I should be responding--and, I forgive you for not knowing how to react as well.”

Rarity looked up slightly, and nodded carefully.

“Since I know how delicate that dress has to be,” Dusk Shine said in a tightly controlled voice, “if you could put it carefully away and give me your word that you will be the lady that you dream of for your Prince...I can forgive you.”

Rarity’s eyes lit up, and she nodded again. “I promise you, Dusk Shine, that I will be a perfect lady. Give me a few minutes to put the dress away and I will help you find the perfect jacket.”

As she trotted up the stairs, Dusk had to admire just how...beautiful Rarity was in her dress. Maybe she is right, he thought. I have to seriously consider what my options will be if I am going to be stuck here. And, to get there, I will have to ask the advice of all my friends. However it ends up and however it ends.

Dusk carefully climbed onto Rarity’s fainting couch, and waited. There was the sound of a shower, and a few minutes later Rarity returned to the downstairs floor. She was clean of makeup, and had only done a simple brushing of her mane and tail. Dusk nodded and said, “Shall we find that jacket?”

“It’s more like I already know which jacket would work,” Rarity replied. Her magic field sorted through the few stallion’s jackets she had, and she pulled out a dark purple vest. “It needs to be adjusted for wings, but I can do that.” She held up her note-pad in her magic. “I did honestly take measurements of you, darling. If you come back tomorrow morning, I promise that it will be perfect for you.”

“Thank you,” Dusk smiled. “I will be back tomorrow morning, before the start of the Festival.”

“One second,” Rarity said, and she trotted over to where the secret door was. She looked out through a peephole, checking the alley behind the Boutique, “Clear of mares, and if you want my advice, Sugarcube Corner is more easily reachable by the rooftops than the street.”

“What I have been doing since this afternoon,” Dusk nodded. “I will see you in the morning.”

“And, thank you for being a gentlestallion, Dusk Shine,” Rarity said softly. “Despite what I did.”

“You are welcome,” Dusk Shine smiled a bit, and escaped out the secret door. Rarity closed it behind him, and sighed very softly. She took the vest and walked over to the sewing table, laying out the vest and making some markings in chalk on the jacket.

“Stupid pony,” Rarity muttered to herself. “You almost could have had him, but you tried to reach too far! But…,” she mused, and picked up scissors to make the first cuts. “He did forgive me, so hope is not lost. He can be mine still...”

The sewing machine made a low, soft puttering sound as Rarity started to sew the wingholes for the jacket. “Next time...I will trust my instincts. And, I will be first.”

Dusk Shine dodged a hunting pack of mares as he carefully traveled the streets of Ponyville. He considered his situation, and knew exactly what to do next.

He teleported, and found himself on a rooftop, a few blocks away from Sugarcube Corner. The roof allowed him to sit down and think for a few minutes, which he did.
Sub-optimal, highly sub-optimal! Dusk Shine thought. Rarity was willing to do all that, risk that I might have just...just completely lost my temper with her and demanded justice for a chance with me! And, the idea that we might consider some sort of polygamous relationship that would solve all the problems…

Dusk paused for a moment, and his imagination chose to work with the little traitor for a minute. The idea of having Rainbow Dash happily chase each other through the skies. The concept of hearth and home with Applejack. The warmth of Fluttershy curled up with him on a cold winter’s night. The dream of fashionable Rarity being his guide and confidant in the world of politics and culture that still seemed to elude him. And…

And...the little voice in his head. A tiny little foal’s voice saying his first words.

“Daddy?”

Dusk Shine looked at the sky and found the Sun, checking the time. Two hours or so until nightfall. Highly sub-optimal, he sighed to himself. These sorts of daydreams and fantasies are not what matters. I should finish my tasks, to help out Twilight Sparkle. Complete the last one with Pinkie Pie, then go back to the library and barricade everything that opens to the outside. Hopefully, I can wake up from this...nightmare tomorrow morning. My friends and I have a laugh at the confusion. Hopefully, Twilight Sparkle has not done anything that would require me to explain what happened. And…

“And,” Dusk whispered to himself, “that very enigmatic warning from Discord. ‘Pinkie Pie will be right about everything but one thing, and you’ll know what it is when you hear it.’”

“What does he mean?”

Author's Note

Once again, thanks to Door Matt for his editing and putting up with my lack of a thesaurus.

Just to make it perfectly clear-Discord isn't God. He just plays Bridge with him/her/it every Friday.

Confections

Dusk Shine looked out from his vantage point on the roof, considering his options.

Sugarcube Corner was one of the more prominent buildings in Ponyville, from it’s gingerbread roof to cupcake turret in the center. The smokestacks from the ovens were always burning, as the Cakes worked around the clock to keep Ponyville supplied with baked goods. Clearly, there were ponies getting ready for the festivities tomorrow, as there was a short line from the door. He was happy for that-the Cakes had to put up with whatever version of Bubble Berry was here and that was not an easy thing to do. There was only one real question.

How could he get in without causing a riot?

He immediately dismissed teleportation, as there were quite a few unicorns there. They would be warned before his arrival by the flow of magic and his signature was rather distinct. Not to mention the entrance itself was rather...flashy. A forced entry seemed an equally poor choice-he could hurt somepony in the crush and that was unforgivable. Disguise? Not many stallions in town, unicorn or otherwise. Which was strange to Dusk Shine, because he expected to see a much less skewed ratio on a town that was basically a frontier town on the edge of the Everfree Forest. The Everfree back in his world was one of the most infamous and dangerous wild zones in Equestria, and Ponyville still had that feel of a town still trying to carve out a viable habitable zone.

Could that be why the sex ratio here is so skewed? Dusk Shine considered. The usual ratio-back home-of stallions to mares is about three to two. My Ponyville has a much, much higher ratio-almost the same as here but gender reversed-because Ponyville still is on the frontier. Usually, unattached males move to the frontier, followed by families then unattached females. But, it is the Everfree, and Applejack tells stories of every sort of creature living there, from cocatrices to manticores to lawyers. Even a few dragons and a portal to Tartarus lurk somewhere beyond. Could it be that the ponies here are more able to keep control over the wild zones? Less need for stallions in general because this is a safer world?

Suddenly, he was torn by a huge need to do research. Sociology always seemed to be such a soft science, but hard statistics were never boring. Could Dusk find a reason for the sudden number of mares in Ponyville and in general in statistical analysis? Something in his brain was gripped by a sudden reason to know and he was tempted to give in and find an answer. But, that last, single item on his checklist for the festival preparations was like a weight on his conscience, and Dusk had to fill that last check box.

So, he sat on the roof, and considered again. Everything he could think of that was subtle was out-teleportation and disguise probably wouldn’t work. Force was possible, but the risk of hurting somepony was there and Dusk wasn’t going to hurt anypony if he could help it. He looked through his memory, thinking about what Gleaming Shield would have done in this situation. Sometimes, Gleaming Shield told him once, when you can’t be subtle, you have to be blatant. And, if you have to be blatant, be audacious. Do something so outside the norm that nopony expects it. Be bold, and perhaps a little insane.

He thought about this for a bit, then said, “Well, nopony can say this was a subtle idea.”

There was a magical blink of teleportation, and Dusk Shine vanished from the rooftop.

The line for Sugarcube Corner was moving steadily. The Cakes ran a tight counter, and nopony could say that they were curt, but they did want to help as many ponies as they could. “Here you go,” Cup Cake said, handing off a bag of hoofprint cookies to Time Turner, whom smiled as he trotted out.

“Good afternoon,” Flitter said, shaking her wings a bit to get her saddle bags settled properly, “I’m here for the order of bear claws for the weather team. Are they ready?”

“Few more minutes,” Cup Cake smiled, and nodded. “I’ll call you when they’re ready.”

Flitter sighed, but she moved aside to let the next pony come up to the counter. Caramel came up, bits in his mouth, and smiled around them. “Two honey glazed donuts and a loaf of wheat bread,” he said, putting the bits on the counter.

Cup Cake expertly wrapped up the bread, put the wrapped loaf in a bag, and added two donuts to the top. “Here you go. Sure I can’t interest you in some donut holes?”

“What kind?” Caramel asked, curious.

“Strawberry jam-filled,” Cup Cake replied and pulled out a tray with the donut holes on them. “Only two bits more for a small bag of a half dozen.”

Caramel considered this for a moment, then pulled two more bits out of his saddle bags. “Sure! I can’t turn down strawberry jam-filled donut holes.”

Cup Cake poured the donut holes into a small white bag, carefully set them in the larger bag, and helped Caramel to get the bag settled into his saddle bags. Carmel trotted off happily, and Cup Cake looked over to see the next customer. “Hello, welcome to Sugarcube Corner, how may I help…,” she said, then there was a sharp, strangled noise in her throat as her mane started to lose its shape.

“Oh, hello, Mrs. Cake,” Dusk Shine said, cheerfully. “Is Pinkie Pie in? I really need to talk with her about the Festival preparations for tomorrow.”

The entirety of Sugarcube Corner went as silent as the grave. Everypony was looking at Dusk Shine, and he remembered that this was a part of the plan. He merely found a nearby alley to come out of, trotted calmly over to the line for the counter, and waited behind Caramel. A few moments later, Amethyst Star came up behind him and was so intent on the scroll she was reading she wasn’t even looking at who was in front of her. It was all position and relative motion, and when Dusk Shine took steps in line, she followed. All Dusk Shine had to do was not say anything and let the line carry him in.

Every pony in the room was about to say something...then, Dusk Shine coughed. “Missus Cake?”

Cup Cake looked at him, and tossed her head, throwing her mane back into its proper shape. “Um...oh, yes! Carrot Cake!”

Carrot Cake stuck his head out of the kitchen, and said, “What is it…,” his voice trailing off as he saw Dusk Shine cheerfully waving from the counter.

“Could you be a dear and see if Pinkie Pie will accept guests? Tell her that Dusk Shine is here for the Festival preparations,” Cup Cake said, trying to resume her usual poise of sangfroid.

“S...sure!” Carrot Cake stammered, and vanished behind the kitchen door again.

“Oh, while I am waiting,” Dusk Shine said, sliding three bits across the table with his magic, “May I have a donut? Chocolate glazed, if you have any.”

Cup Cake looked at the money like it was about to explode, then smiled as gently as she could, “On the house, dear.” She slid the money back, and went to get the donut. Dusk looked at the money and gently dropped it in the tip jar. As he waited, Cup Cake came back with a chocolate glazed donut on a plate. “Here you go.”

“Thank you,” Dusk replied, and took the donut in his magic, trotting calmly over to a nearby table, and sitting down. The silence continued...an almost pregnant pause as he nibbled on the donut. From outside, the sound of two mares talking became noticeable, as they walked in.

The two mares, one a unicorn and the other an Earth pony, looked around at the quiet room. The unicorn, white fur with a two-tone blue mane and purple sunglasses, was continuing what sounded like a monologue in her Trottingham-accented voice, “But, Tavi,” the unicorn said, “I’m sure that we can get everything ready for your band…”

“Orchestra,” the dark grey-mained Earth pony corrected insistently in an upper-class Trottingham accent.

“Whatever,” the unicorn said, “we’ll get it set up in plenty of time and I can get my wubs ready and…”

The unicorn looked, and Dusk thought he was making eye contact with the mare. Her horn lit up, and in a blink, she vanished and teleported over to where Dusk Shine was. “Hey, there you are!” the unicorn mare said, as the Earth pony rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Well, yes, here I am now,” Dusk replied.

“Excellent! I happen to be Vinyl Scratch,” the unicorn said, smiling. “But my stage name’s DJ-PON3. I’m one of the acts at the dance floor for the Festival tomorrow! I’m glad to have run into you, ‘cause I was wanting to talk with Twilight Sparkle about getting set up early. Since she’s not here right now, I’m assuming you’re running things?”

“Well,” Dusk nodded in reply, “yes, I am. I am trying to get everything set up properly.”

“Hey,” Vinyl Scratch said, “you sound like a Trottingham native.” Her smile was a wonder to behold. “You don’t hear that accent that often, sound Northern.”

“A lot of places have a North,” Dusk sighed.

“That they do, but anyways, I know my setup is at 9 am, but I’ve got to help Octavia set up her band…”

“My orchestra,” the Earth pony interrupted, trotting over to stand beside Vinyl Scratch.

“Her orchestra,” Vinyl corrected herself, “so, I was wondering if I could be in early at 8 am for my setup?”

Dusk Shine considered this, and pulled out a scroll from Elsewhere. “I do not see a problem with that,” he said. “I will send a note over so they will be ready when you get there.”

“Awesome,” Vinyl replied, and then she smiled. “So, are you up to anything tonight?”

“Not that I know of,” Dusk answered instinctively.

“Well, I can give you a full demo of my music, and after that, we can talk more about plans, and…,” Vinyl started to say.

Octavia immediately bit Vinyl on her ear, and started to drag her out of Sugarcube Corner.

“OW! TAVI!” Vinyl gasped. “Why are you doing this again?”

“You remember what our agreement was for adding partners to our relationship?” Octavia said around Vinyl’s ear, clearly if a bit muffled by the ear in her mouth.

“‘We have to agree on who we’re going to pony before I invite them over to pony,’” Vinyl recited in a bored-if somewhat pained-voice. “Ow, that hurts! But, he’s cute and he’s single and I think you like him, too…”

“Yes, I do, but we had an agreement,” Octavia said, still pulling Vinyl across the floor with Vinyl’s hooves trying to get some purchase to stop..

“I’m sorry I got the order wrong,” Vinyl replied, and tried to get away from Octavia’s firmly clamped teeth. “Can we go and talk about this first before we get outside…”

“No,” Octavia interrupted, and she kicked open the door, “we have this discussion about our agreements first, unless you want to sleep on the couch tonight.”

“No fair,” Vinyl pouted, still resisting as the two of them went out the door and out to the street.

Everypony was watching the couple leave Sugarcube Corner. Then, every single mare turned their heads to look at Dusk Shine. There was a momentary expression of wonder and lust and examination.

And they lept.

They surrounded the table he was sitting at, stacking themselves three, four ponies deep, and started to pelt him with questions.

“Are you single, Prince?”

“Are you up to anything tonight, Dusk Shine?”

“I have this wonderful bottle of wine at home, Dusk Shine!”

“Do you have anypony for the dance tomorrow night, Dusk Shine?”

They started to crowd in, pressing in with their bodies and questions. Dusk looked, his wings starting to extend both in joy and horror as the number mares with questions kept increasing more and more. He wasn’t sure who he should talk about or ask first and he realized that his next option was either teleportation or a riot.

He began to gather the magic he needed to teleport out of there…

WHAM!

The loud crash of something at the counter was enough to be heard over the insistent questions of nearly a dozen mares. It made everypony turn to look, as Cup Cake held in one of her front hooves one of the large rolling pins, one nearly as thick around as her leg. She looked at every single mare starting to harass Dusk Shine and her eyes narrowed.

“You will listen to me,” she said, lifting the rolling pin up. “And you will understand that you are guests in my house. You will not harass my guests, and you will all go back to your tables and show that you are polite and civilized ponies. Because the first one of you that does not show that she is a civilized and polite pony will be thrown out of Sugarcube Corner. If I am feeling kind, you will go out through the door, and not the window. Don’t ask what happens to the second pony that shows that she is not polite and civilized.”

Everypony looked at Cup Cake, and at her rolling pin. One of the mares lifted her front right hoof, as if she was to say something.

WHAM!

Cup Cake slammed the rolling pin on the counter, and just stared at the mare. She lowered her hoof, and started to trot back to her table, looking ashamed. The rest of the mares looked at each other, with embarrased expressions on their faces. One of the mares turned and said, “I’m sorry for harassing you,” and they all went back to their tables and their food. Cup Cake put the rolling pin down on the counter, and went to get another chocolate glazed donut.

She trotted over to Dusk’s table, and put the plate down. “I’m sorry about that, normally my customers are much nicer ponies,” she said, pitching her voice so the entire room could hear it.

“Thank you,” Dusk nodded, and started to nibble on the donut.

“Besides,” she whispered conspiratorially, “I’d ask you out myself if I wasn’t a happy married mare. Just with better style than charging in.”

Dusk nearly choked on his bite of donut, his wings popping partially open in shock. Cup Cake smiled, and said, “Sorry about that.”

“No, no, it is fine,” Dusk smiled as the coughing fit stopped. “I think I should be expecting that kind of reaction.”

“Only if you want it to happen,” Cup Cake replied. “And, when you’re done with your donuts, Pinkie wants to see you in her room.”

“Oh, dear,” he said, swallowing the donuts in three large gulps. He cleaned off his muzzle with a napkin, and looked around. “Main stairs over there?”

“Yep,” Cup Cake smiled. “I’ll clean up, don’t worry about that.”

Dusk nodded, and got up from the table, trotting over to the stairs and up to the second floor.

He tried not to think about all the eyes following him as he went upstairs.

The stairs seemed to lead on forever, but were only a few seconds as Dusk came up to the door. He lifted his hoof to Pinkie Pie’s decorated doorway, and paused for a moment. It wasn’t like Dusk Shine hadn’t had to deal with the party pony before. Admittedly, as a male pony, but this wasn’t why he was hesitating. Bubble Berry was…chaotic - the starkest of contrasts to the organized checklist mind of Dusk Shine. Even Eris remarked that she wasn’t sure exactly how Bubble Berry’s brain worked. The Bubble Sense as well, that ill-defined ability to know when things were about to happen, was something that had drove Dusk to frustration. It took several days for him to realize that the Bubble Sense worked...somehow. One of the newest experiments that he was going to try post-Ascension was another attempt at figuring out how exactly it worked.

Throw in the rumors that had to have reached Pinkie Pie already, and Bubble Berry’s usual over enthusiasm to any problem… Dusk was seriously considering just slipping a note under the door and running for the library.

After all, Dusk thought, it is not like I will encounter Pinkie Pie trying to do anything else that happened today...I hope.

Dusk knocked on the door. No response. He knocked two more times, and on the third knock, the door opened. “Hello?” Dusk asked, slightly nervous at the lack of sounds inside the room. Worried, he carefully opened the door with his hoof, and quietly trotted into the bedroom.

It was a scene of horror.

Somepony had been trying to organize the whole room. While Dusk fully approved of organization and putting everything in it’s place (and having a place for everything), the attempt to impose order upon Pinkie Pie’s room was like somepony trying to juggle pumpkin pie filling. Items were organized...in three different ways on the same shelf, as if somepony was trying to make the ways work out. Dishes were organized by type, then color, then shape. Piles of things in a rough sort of order--books, party supplies, materials--were on the floor and on the table. And, there was the oddest of sounds coming from Pinkie Pie’s bed.

Dusk looked over, and realized he was looking right at Pinkie Pie’s rear-her head was buried so deeply in her pillows that he couldn’t see most of her front end. Her normally bright pink fur was a dull pinkish-grey and her tail was straight and dark pinkish-grey as well. And, he realized exactly what the sound was.

Pinkie Pie was crying. She was crying so much under her pillows that he could even hear it from here, and Dusk knew the signs from when Bubble Berry got seriously depressed. He carefully walked over to the bedside and said, “Pinkie Pie...it is Dusk Shine. Are you okay?”

The head that popped up from under the pillows lacked the manic curls that he had known from Bubble Berry (but was probably even more impressive from the length of hair that Pinkie had), and the eyes were red and raw from crying. Pinkie carefully came off the bed, and her face drew up into a sob. Then, she threw her front hooves over his shoulders and started to cry in tears that seemed to exceed her body weight in water. “I can’t do it Dusky, I can’t!” she said between sobs.

“What can you not do?” Dusk replied, carefully hugging her with his hooves as her tears flowed.

“I can’t be an organized pony! I just can’t! You see? I can’t even make things make sense, and if you’re anything like Twilight Sparkle you’re the most organized pony I know! You’d never like me if I was disorganized and I can’t be organized!” Pinkie cried out, tears running like a river down her cheeks.

Dusk froze in horror and shock. Oh, dear sweet Faust, please tell me she is not trying to impress me… “Pinkie Pie...why would you think I would not like you if you were not who you were?”

Pinkie stopped crying for a moment and sniffled a bit, her nose running from all the tears she cried. “Because...because...because I’m not as organized as anypony else. I mean, I know where everything is, or where it was...but, I’m never going to be the sort of pony that would attract a librarian stallion like you.”

Dusk lowered his head, and shook it in sadness and anger. “Pinkie...if I am like Twilight Sparkle in this way, we are both magical researchers. Do you know what they call disorganized magical researchers?”

“No?” she sniffed.

“There is a very technical term for disorganized magical researchers. They are called statistics, because something goes wrong and somepony has to clean up the mess afterwards. Usually with a squeegee or a dust pan. I do a lot of very high-level magical research and can cast very powerful spells. Disorganization in that respect could mean that they put a sign up beside the Dusk Shine Memorial Crater,” he replied calmly. “It would not be a small crater. And, if I was to fall in love with somepony, I would never want or demand or require them to change who they are to be with me. If they could or did...why was I with them in the first place?”

Pinkie nodded at this, and Dusk continued. “Right now...you realize just how much of a mess my situation is in?”

“I’ve been feeling doozies all day,” Pinkie replied. She found a huge handkerchief and blowed her nose clean of everything that had been coming out of it.

“My entire day today has been a doozie. Between all of our friends, I do not know what I should do other than be responsible and not give into temptation,” he said. “So...I am here to ask about your part of the party preparations.”

Pinkie considered, and he could see the beginnings of color flow back into her fur and mane. “I’d need to get everything set back up again. I have this wonderful plan for an awesome cake to celebrate Celestia and Luna. Doing a dark frosting on a white cake background that would be utterly scrumptious and delicious and tasty!”

“That sounds great,” Dusk nodded.

“It would have this awesome Sun and Moon-style decorations that I’ve been working on and it’s made in such a way that no matter what size of a slice of cake you had, you’d always get about the same amount of Sun and Moon stuff with it,” she continued, her hair beginning to come back into it’s normal curls and tangles.

Dusk continued to nod, and helped Pinkie to clean off her work table to get started on the cake.

“I’ll have all the cakes ready by tomorrow, plenty of time to set up, get the punch made, and all the decorations up,” Pinkie said, starting to pull and lay out cake pans and bowls to mix the cake batter.

“Excellent,” Dusk smiled.

“And, once I’ve gotten all that done, it’ll be perfect practice for our wedding cake,” Pinkie continued, getting her cookbook out.

Dusk was about to compliment her, then his brain hit the last three words in the sentence. “Our...wedding cake?” he asked in a strained voice.

“Well, of course, our wedding cake. Did you think that anypony else was going to bake it? Well, maybe the Cakes, I’d have to ask them to help, but I wouldn’t let anypony else make the cakes. And the other stuff for the party and such!” Pinkie gushed enthusiastically.

“Pinkie, I think we are missing a step here, somewhere,” Dusk said, looking carefully for the door.

“Oh, I know we have to do the whole dating thing, and everything else,” Pinkie continued, starting to pull out cooking utensils. “I promise to do that first. And, Rarity would never forgive us if she didn’t make the dresses and the suits and such for us. Or Applejack doing all the other catering and bringing apples and all that neat food she can make! I mean, unless you want to just marry me myself, and not anypony else as well. I was thinking about all of us Elements together, that would be perfect! Besides,” and here Pinkie Pie nuzzled up to Dusk Shine, just behind his chin and smiled, “I wouldn’t want anypony else but you as my stallion in bed.”

Dusk make a small, tight gurgling sound. His brain had locked up, and even the little traitor wasn’t sure how to respond. His wings, on the other hand, decided that a partial opening was the right decision for now. Pinkie Pie’s smile was a wonder to behold (how can she fit all those teeth in her jaw? Dusk thought to himself) and she got back to work on the cakes.

“Anyways, once I’ve got this cake done, you probably don’t have any plans for tonight. What would you like to do this evening?” Pinkie asked, and turned to look at Dusk Shine.

Dusk was still shocked into silence, and she continued.

“Well, I know you need to get to bed early since you’ve got all the stuff you need to do tomorrow for the Festival and I should get some sleep, as well. I know of this great place for dinner that would be neat to show you and…,” Pinkie continued.

Dusk said, “Pinkie! I have not even agreed to a first date yet, and you are already planning our wedding?”

“Well, I am the most super duper party planner in Ponyville, and this is a big party! I have to get started planning on it early!”

Dusk started to measure relative distances, then said in a rush, “I have got a lot of preparation work to do tomorrow, so I need to get going now. See you tomorrow!”

And he dashed for the open door.

Pinkie Pie got in front of it and closed it before he got there, and Dusk Shine ran into her. The two of them fell into a tangle on the floor together. “Awww! Getting started early on our date?” Pinkie asked cheerfully.

Dusk Shine pulled away immediately and realized what he had to do next. His horn flared, and he vanished as he teleported outside.

Pinkie Pie looked at the space where Dusk Shine used to be and said, “Darn. Playing hard to get…”

Dusk Shine kept teleporting.

It seemed easier that way to get away from the madness.

Six teleportations later, he was in line of sight of the library, hiding on another rooftop. The mare hunting parties were clearly taking a break for dinner, as Dusk watched them begin to filter into the restaurants. Dusk knew that he was getting depressed looking out at a Ponyville that was happy. If he went anywhere near them...it would be a riot.

“Sub-optimal,” he muttered. He sniffed and could feel the beginning of tears. “I just want to go home. Not be the lightning rod of the lust of mares.”

Dusk let his tears flow for a few minutes, then pulled out a handkerchief from Elsewhere and blew his nose. Drying his eyes, he considered relative positions and allowed his horn to flare one more time. This last teleportation was into Twilight Sparkle’s bedroom. No confused mare wondering how she had gotten back home, only one very tired and depressed stallion. He looked around and sat on the bed for a second.

“Um...Dusk?” he heard a voice at the door. Male, dragon, then a knock. “May I come in?”

“Yes, Spike, you can,” Dusk replied, and Spike came in, looking worried.

“Are you all right? You look bad,” Spike asked, carefully looking at Dusk.

“I have had a very bad day. Between what has happened and what is going on with the friends of Twilight Sparkle,” Dusk said, “It has been very, very chaotic and messy. Is the library…,” and here his voice trailed off.

“Cleared of everypony after working hours,” Spike said. “I checked, twice. And made sure every door was locked. Wow, you sound exhausted. I’ll make dinner for you, right now. Hayburgers all right?”

“That would be wonderful, Spike,” Dusk nodded.

Spike smiled, and was about to walk out the door when he paused for a moment. “Ooops,” he said, and then a gout of green flame came out of his mouth. A scroll landed in the hands ready to catch it, and he opened it up. Then, Spike looked at Dusk, then the scroll again.

“What does it say?” Dusk asked.

“I think...well, I think you’d better read it,” Spike said, offering the scroll to Dusk.

Dusk took the scroll in his magic and read the scroll. A soft, strangled sound came from his throat, and he looked at Spike. “I think...we will need more places at the dinner table. My...Shining Armor and Princess Cadance are coming. They wanted to come early, before the Festival started, to see...to see Twilight Sparkle.”

Dusk Shine looked at Spike, and the stress of the whole day hit him at once. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he fainted, colliding onto the floor with a satisfying clump.

Author's Note

Once again, special thanks to Door Matt for editing and keeping an eye on how the story goes.

Agápe

The first sense that came back to Dusk Shine was hearing. The voices sounded oddly familiar, yet they were off somehow. As if the wrong ponies were using the right voices.

“I’m still going for a magical transformation accident,” a stallion’s voice said. “Have you sent a letter to the Princesses yet?”

“I did earlier in the day,” said another, much younger voice. “Celestia told me to keep him out of trouble, and...have you ever tried to keep Twilight Sparkle out of trouble? It was all I could do to get the flags up in time!”

The next sensation was of weight. Something was supporting his body, and it felt like somepony had put him onto his bed...no...Twilight’s bed.. Pretty remarkable nonetheless, considering that he had fallen onto the floor. The very hard, very painful floor...

“Spike definitely has a point,” a mare’s voice replied, thoughtful. “But, then again, we have this pony here, who claims that he’s just from a gender-flipped version of Equestria and he’s the version of Twilight Sparkle there.”

“Same Cutie Mark,” the stallion replied.

A third sensation returned-smell. The oddly same-yet-feminine whiff of the bed he was in. The slightly brassy, metallic scent of a dragon. Two familiar-yet-off smells, one a stallion and one a mare. But, they smelled so like somepony familiar that he wanted to pretend, for a moment, that it was them.

“There is that,” the mare sighed softly. “And...there is something else going on here. I can feel it, and I’d really want to talk to him.”

The words were starting to make some kind of sense, but Dusk couldn’t quite place the words or the context. There was this faint, blooming hope that somehow he had gone back home after…

After I lost consciousness when I read a scroll saying that Shining Armor, the brother of Twilight Sparkle, and Princess Cadence were coming to the library early for the Festival, he remembered. It was just the last thing of this whole Tirek-damned day that just was too much…

There was a blink of the eyelids, and he realized he was seeing again. Were my eyes closed? No, Dusk Shine realized in shock, they were open and I just could not see until now…

“Um...hello?” Dusk said nervously to the two debating ponies (and one defensive dragon) in the room. “I am awake now and I would like to offer my own opinions on what happened.”

The two ponies turned to face him, and he realized just how similar (and different) they were from their counterparts back in his home universe. Shining Armor definitely looked like a masculine version of his sister Gleaming Shield-more defined in terms of his body and muscle mass, square jaw and longer face, but the exact same shield-and-stars Cutie Mark, white fur and short-cut mane. It was Princess Cadence that threw him for the loop, as she was like looking at a distorted Mirror Pool image of Prince Bolero. Somehow, Prince Bolero was able to make pink fur and a three-tone mane look both masculine and cute. He always kept his mane and tail cut about as long as the pictures he’d seen of Twilight Sparkle, and his usual style was soft without being effeminate. Cadence, on the other hoof, was unquestionably feminine and a mare of obvious romance. Her mane and tail were nearly three times as long (and ended in the curl that Bolero always despised whenever his mane grew long enough to curl), and she stood with a mare’s grace and charm. Her Cutie Mark was the same as Bolero’s--a crystal heart surrounded with gold accents--but hers also seemed so...mare-ish.

“Are you alright Twilight?” Shining asked.

Dusk looked at the two of them, and sighed. “As Spike has already told you, I am not Twilight Sparkle. There has been no ‘magical accident’. When I went to bed last night, I had a sister named Gleaming Shield and the stallion I hung out with when I was younger was named Bolero. Standing here in front of me is, from my perspective, their opposites in gender. And, I was hoping that I would wake up back at home, as today has been so very sub-optimal.”

Shining Armor and Princess Cadence looked at each other, and the former sighed. “Look...I’ve got a hard time believing that. After some of the stuff that Twilly’s pulled when she’s played with her magic, having her swap genders and accidentally altering her memories wouldn’t surprise me at all,” he said, sitting on a corner of the bed.

Princess Cadence looked at Dusk and cocked her head slightly. “Do you remember the ladybug song?” she asked, genuinely curious.

Dusk rubbed his muzzle with his hoof and groaned. “Dear Helios, not the ladybug song! That thing is still stuck in my head, even years from foalhood, because every mare in class was singing and dancing it every chance they got!”

“So…” Cadence looked poised to shake her rump.

“I am not dancing that silly song,” Dusk grumbled, and shook his head. “I would ask if Shining Armor could check my memory as well, but my sister was not as good with those kind of analysis spells as I was. You are welcome to try, if you want.”

Shining looked at Dusk, and lowered his horn close to Dusk’s head. His horn glowed with magic, and he said after a minute, “From what I can tell, his memory hasn’t been touched. Checked him over for Changeling magic too, but he’s clean.”

“Changelings,” Dusk said, thinking all of a sudden, “Why did I not think of that! One second!” His horn glowed brightly, and it filled the room with solid color for a few moments. When the glow faded, nothing had changed. “It could not be that easy, could it?” he asked bitterly to the air.

“You thought we were Changelings?” Princess Cadence asked. “Why would you check for that?”

“Because every mare that I ran into today seemed to want to fall in love with me,” Dusk sighed. “Every. Single. One. And, of course, if they succeeded, would not that be a great source of energy to use?”

Shining Armor looked at Dusk, despondent. “Celestia, I knew that Twilight was having a bit of a hard time after the Ascension, but how bad was it for you today?”

“Hunting packs,” Dusk shivered a bit. “And, the Elements of Harmony were more than ready to pony me immediately.”

Shining and Cadence turned to each other. “Shining, may I ask for a few minutes by myself with him?”

“What?” Dusk started to get onto his hooves, looking at the two of them.

“My word that all I want to do is hear about what happened to you today,” Cadence said calmly. “I will stand right here and not move if that would make you feel better.”

“Cady,” Shining started, “if something bad happened to him…”

“Nothing bad like that happened,” Dusk interrupted. “But...I would feel more comfortable talking with Cadence by herself. I promise to tell you what happened today, as well, when we are done.”

Shining looked at the two of them, and sighed with a grump. “I’ll be downstairs if you need me,” and he used his magic to open the door and leave the room, closing it behind him.

Cadence smiled gently and said, “Dusk, if you would start from the beginning and tell me everything that happened, I would love to hear it.”

About twenty minutes later, Shining Armor had finished assigning the guardponies that had come with them to their duties and gave his second in command a Royal Voucher to get them all hotel rooms for the night. Princess Cadence silently opened the door to the library and quietly trotted over to Shining Armor. She coughed to get his attention and looked into his eyes. “Shining Armor,” she said, formally.

Shining looked at Cadence and felt the bottom of his stomach drop out. The last time she had that fixed, bright expression on her face was when she tried to stop the fawning hero-worshipping of her by the Crystal Ponies back home. That had not turned out well, and she had that same expression when she realized just how bad things had gotten. “Cady?” Shining Armor asked gently.

“If you could be a dear,” she said in a too-controlled tone of voice, “I’d like to borrow enough of the guards to gather up the other five Element Bearers. I need a place to meet with them that is large enough and private--I think Mayor Mare’s office is big enough--and I wish to see them within the next half hour. And, make sure to tell the guards that the Bearers’ participation in this discussion is not voluntary.”

“What happened with them and Dusk?” Shining asked, his eyes widening at the expression on her face.

“I think he’ll tell you all about it,” Cadence answered, her voice still tightly controlled. “There is a story there, and one that might have a happy ending. If, of course, the bucking idiots don’t screw things up even more.” The last few words came out in an angry hiss.

Shining Armor realized just how angry Cadence was, and he motioned to one of the guards.

Shining Armor came into the library with his travelling bag on his barrel. “Dusk Shine?” he asked carefully, looking around.

“Over here,” an odd voice replied, and Shining trotted over to where Dusk was working. A dozen magic books were floating in the air, held up by his magic. “After we talked, I started to do research on brane shells and dimensional travel. Twilight Sparkle has a very well-organized and complete magical library. Admittedly, nothing on the library at Canterlot, but I am not even getting hints at what could have happened.” Dusk closed the book he was reading with a loud slam, and looked at Shining. “There are a few very vague hints about a mirror of some kind a thousand years ago, created by King Sombra. Different name from Queen Ember, but I think the same pony. Some references about a Rainbow Bridge ten thousand years ago. But, other than that, nothing. I will probably have to go to the main library in Canterlot and search there.”

Dusk sighed sadly, and looked around. “I...and, I hate to say this, I want to go home. This is not where I belong, my friends are probably worried sick about me, and this is where Twilight Sparkle should be. And...I do not want to be a lightning rod anymore. All day, I was chased and propositioned and...well, one incident that should remain between her and I.”

Dusk turned on the chair and looked at Shining. “I want to give your sister back to you, it is wrong that I...took her?” he sighed.

“How bad was it for you today?” Shining asked, pulling up another chair with his magic.

“I feel a great deal of sympathy for mares now,” Dusk replied. “Especially ones that get propositioned by ponies that are too persistent. I am interested, I am even attracted, but I cannot leave myself in a situation where I might be responsible for a bastard foal. This magic might reverse itself tonight, in a day, in a year, or never. I do not want to take that risk.”

“What about birth control?” Shining considered. “I assume that since you were a unicorn stallion, you got the lecture.”

“The lecture and the spell, spells actually,” Dusk sighed, his right hoof playing with a ball on the table. “I did, back home, a statistical analysis. The procreative power that I possess now...most of the contraceptive spells have a one-in-five to one-in-ten failure rate. And, with the exception of two of them, they cannot be layered. The failure rate of those two spells, layered…” Dusk shrugged, his wings fluttering open for a second in frustration. “And, that assumes that the mare is not wanting to become pregnant as well. And you are the last pony I would have suggest a simple rutting.”

Shining blushed for a second, and answered, “Live with the Princess of Love for a couple of years as her husband and watch her council ponies on their issues. You get a more...pragmatic sense of how to handle some things. And, how much gets ruined because some ponies angst over it so much.”

“A definite possibility,” Dusk conceded. “But, I do not want to break the heart of anypony. The issue becomes...how do I do it without that happening?”

Shining considered that, and scratched his chin with a hoof. “Don’t know about that one, but I think Cadence will have some ideas. Here’s a question for you-do you play RPGs?”

Dusk looked at Shining’s saddle bags and smiled. “Please tell me you have a copy of Obiluletes and Obelisks.”

“Fourth edition,” Shining replied. “How about we get some characters created and run a short adventure. Perfect for getting your mind off of things.”

“Let me see the rule book,” Dusk waved his hoof.

Mayor Mare’s office was near the top of the central tower that was Ponyville’s City Hall. It took up a good third of the top, had a very impressive set of windows, and a very nice desk.

It was behind this very nice desk that Princess Cadence sat, steepling her hooves as she heard the voices come from outside the door and down the spiral staircase that lead up to the offices. A knock on the door, and a yellow pegasus in Guard armor stuck his head in. “Princess, the Elements are here,” he said.

“Thank you, Flash Sentry,” Princess Cadence said, “please show them in and close the door when they’re all in.”

Flash pulled his head out, preceding the arrival of five mares being prodded in by Guard ponies. None bound or forced, but it was Rainbow Dash who was most offended by the nature of the situation. “Hey, you don’t need to keep pushing me,” she said, angrily hissing with every reluctant step.

With all five finally gathered in the centre of the room, Flash closed the door. The first thing they all noticed that there wasn’t a single chair in the room other than the one Princess Cadence was sitting on. After a brief pause, she spoke from behind her steepled hooves. “Ladies, thank you for coming. We have quite a bit to talk about at present.”

“Hey,” Rainbow Dash pivoted to look at Cadence, “Why the rough treatment to bring us here?”

“Because,” Cadence replied, “you five ponies are some of the biggest bucking idiots I have ever dealt with,” and she slammed her hooves into the desk. “Do you realize just how close you came to ruining any chance you would have had with Dusk Shine, let alone breaking several laws in the process? Between pre-planning the whole wedding party, starting multi-generational family planning, chasing him across the meadows like a scared rabbit, offering to pony him like a rutting animal, and drugging him… You should be thankful that he’s just shocked and confused, not angry.”

“I just wanted to have some fun!” Rainbow Dash yelled.

“I...I didn’t mean to scare him like that,” Fluttershy whispered.

“Well, it was going to be a really big party for the wedding that I had planned,” Pinkie Pie commented.

“Ain’t going to deny that I was wanting to see him do the right thing by all of us,” Applejack thundered.

“I wanted to help him deal with all the hemming and confusion he had,” Rarity said in a dignified tone. “Oh, and I wanted to be first, but that’s merely a minor issue.”

“You wanted to be first?!?” Applejack looked at Rarity and yelled. “Some Generosity you are! All of us get sloppy seconds?”

“Sloppy, nothing,” Rarity reared up and looked at Applejack angrily. “He’s still a virgin, you can tell just by how he talks. You were all going to get the better experience after he got over his nerves!”

“Um, she does have a point,” Fluttershy said. “You won’t believe how nervous some of my friends are for their first time.”

“So, we clearly have to make it into a party!” Pinkie Pie cried out.

“Hey, all he has to do is be there and we’ll help handle the rest,” Rainbow Dash smiled.

“Not like how you were going to do it,” Rarity shook her head. “You would have just tossed him at a cloud and had your way with him!”

“Better t’an using pills to get him in the mood,” Applejack snapped, taking up an oddly defensive posture.

“Rarity,” Fluttershy whispered, “that wouldn’t have worked very well, but I do thank you for trying to help after I scared him and everything…”

“Oh, and we got you! Chasing him all over the landscape like you’re any better than the other winged nut!” Rarity yelled at Fluttershy.

“Oh no, that is not fair,” Pinkie Pie yelled, getting up into Rarity’s muzzle.

“SILENCE.”

She didn’t yell. She didn’t raise her voice. She didn’t even do anything, really. But, every single pony in the room stopped talking, turned their heads, and looked at Princess Cadence.

“I am very, very unhappy with all of you,” Princess Cadence said, hammering out each word in a grim voice. “But, you are very, very lucky that Dusk Shine is as forgiving of these kind of mistakes as Twilight Sparkle would be under the circumstances. And, he does think a great deal about you. Princess of Love, remember?”

She looked across as the five mares, and pushed her hooves against the desk, raising herself to her full height. “So, we are going to save the possibility of this relationship. But, I am going to ask this now and once and may Faust help you if you lie to me; because I will have absolutely no mercy if I find out otherwise. If, if, he agrees to it, would you be willing to have a polyamorous relationship with him? Fully agreeing to share him and his love? And, Rarity and Applejack, I know the two of you love each other and are just too bucking stubborn to admit to it. So, here and now-are you willing to share or are you willing to lose if another mare wins?”

The five of them were silent, and looked at each other. The first to raise her front hoof was Applejack. “I got no problem with sharing,” she said. “And...me and Rarity need to talk about this before we go further.”

“I...I can share,” Fluttershy said in a near-whisper. “I think he’ll be nice and treat us all well and everything.”

“I can agree as well,” Rarity nodded. “And, Applejack...our problems are mine, mostly. You are a beautiful mare and I wish we weren’t as angry with each other as we seem to be.”

“I can share,” Pinkie Pie smiled. “After all, a party needs a lot of ponies to make it a happy one.”

Rainbow Dash looked around and made a loud harrumph noise. “Well, I want to make sure he learns to fly well. He needs more practice! But, yea, I’ll share.”

Cadence lowered herself back into her chair. “Good. Now, we’re going to talk about exactly what you’re going to say to him later tonight when you go to apologize. And, you’ll have to practice it first.”

“Here is a strange thing,” Dusk said, looking over the copy of the rule book he had on the table.

After Cadence had left, Spike made dinner for all the ponies that were still there, and Dusk got a chance to look at the rules as the guard ponies got settled into their patrol routines.

“What is it?” Shining Armor asked, pulling out his dice bag and character sheets.

“Mind you, I was never a fan of the fourth edition of Obiluletes and Obelisks. But, as far as I can tell, with the exceptions of the names of the writers, the rules are identical,” Dusk considered. “If you had a copy of the third edition rules, I could tell better.”

“You’re a fan of third edition? Why didn’t I suspect that,” Shining sighed, shaking his head. “The rules made wizards and other magic users more important at higher levels than melee types.”

“It beats the special snowflake syndrome that you get in fourth edition, where everypony has something special they can do every couple of turns,” Dusk retorted. “But, regardless, I have noticed that the exchange between my world and yours is not exact. I mean, I looked in all the books and you do not even have lawyers in the Everfree.”

“Lawyers?” Shining asked.

“Scavenger that lives in forests,” Dusk explained. “It makes a very loud noise whenever anything approaches it, which attracts predators. Other animals do not eat it because the fur and flesh are nearly inedible. They then scavenge the remains of whatever is left.”

“Wow, sounds like lawyers in general,” Shining smiled. “Mind you, we don’t have things like that living in our forests.”

“Nor a lot of the more dangerous things I know about and have to worry about,” Dusk continued. “Which makes me wonder if the mare/stallion ratio here is because the world is well...nicer.”

“We’d need more statistical evidence,” Shining continued. “I do have to ask...what am I like, over there?”

“Gleaming has to put up with a lot of stallions that think they can do her job-and she proves them wrong every single day,” Dusk said after a few seconds to think. “Earned her post on merit, entirely. Prince Helios told me once that he wished he had more mares like her. And, she deeply loves Prince Bolero.”

“Now, that has to be weird,” Shining rubbed his ears with one of his hooves. “Princes of Equestria, not Princesses. What is Prince Helios like?”

Dusk had to think about that for a moment, then he said, “Disciplined. Five thousand years of ruling Equestria, a thousand of it without his brother...I think I was one of the few ponies he ever let his guard down around. I think I learned more from him in the few years I was his student, than most historians ever did. And, a long history it is--from fighting the wars that made Equestria to keeping the peace once there was an Equestria. He never asked anything from anypony that he was not willing to give himself. Or sacrifice.”

I might have been one of the few ponies to have seen an honest smile from him, tears when his brother came back, joy when Prince Bolero was married, Dusk realized to himself. How...lonely...his life has been. There was just him for so very long, raising and lowering the Sun, ruling the land, making the decisions that had to be made. He would never complain, never cry about it, but it was a lonely life and now there are ponies to share it with him.

Dusk shook his head. “Just had a thought about him,” he smiled sadly. “Lonely would be a good way of describing his life at times. No other pony that was as old as he was, until the Return. And, now, there are four alicorns.”

“Wow,” Shining said. “Celestia...well, she’s not quite as hooves-on, it sounds like. But, she does keep things as even as she can. Hey, what happened at our...well...their... wedding? Did you have a king Changeling or something?”

“No, there was only one queen, Queen Chrysalis. She pretended to be you, Gleaming Shield I mean, and everypony thought you were being a bridezilla. Wanting everything to be right in every way,” Dusk sighed. “I did not react well, I thought you were being so very stereotypically mare in how you wanted to get married.”

Shining teased one of his dice with his hoof. “Still...that does throw me and everypony else off a bit. And, our parents?”

“Dad edits the ‘Daring Do’ series. Another point of similarity-the name is the same, but Daring is a pegasus stallion, not a mare,” Dusk said after a moment. “Mom is a researcher and writes history books, and that sounds like it is the same.”

“Oh yes, Dad’s the researcher and Mom’s the editor,” Shining replied. “It’s how they met in the first place, Dad was writing his first book on the history of Stalliongrad and Mom was the editor they assigned to work with him. One thing after another and…”

“Mom waddled up to the altar pregnant,” Dusk finished. “It sounds like the same for both of us. Dad always said that you merely made them move their wedding up faster.”

“Dad says the same thing,” Shining grinned. “With the addition that Mom had gotten the Daring Do editing job-she knew A. K. Yearling before she got a job with the publishing house and Yearling wasn’t going to let anypony but her edit the stories.”

“Dad had the same thing…,” Dusk considered. “He was the only editor that Yearling would work with, something about ‘being the one that got it right’.”

“Spooky,” Shining shook his head. “Think you have an idea of what sort of character you want to play?”

Before Dusk could answer, there was a knock at the door. Shining came over, and looked out. “Yes?”

Dusk could hear something being said, and Shining trotted over. “Dusk, Cadence is back, and she wants to bring some ponies over to talk with you, and apologize. Are you up for it?”

Dusk looked at the gaming books, and sighed. “It has not been the most optimal of days. Let us get this over with.”

The two went to the door for the library and Shining opened it. Outside, just in front of the library, were the rest of the Elements of Harmony and Princess Cadence. They all looked chastised (or as much as Rainbow Dash could look like), and Cadence smiled. “I had a talk with the ladies here,” she said. “They all want to say something to you, Dusk.”

Cadence gave Rainbow Dash a nudge with a wing, who shot her a rude look. Then, she turned to face Dusk, and said, “Yea, look. It was wrong for me to just shock you like that earlier today. I’m sorry and I want to make it up to you tomorrow. Think you can help me with the weather prep for the Wonderbolts show?”

Dusk looked at her in amazement. “Do you think I can help?”

“Damn straight,” Rainbow Dash replied, bemused. “You’ve got the strength to do the job and we can use the help.”

“Then, about eleven in the morning?” Dusk raised an eyebrow curiously.

“Sure, see you then,” Rainbow Dash nodded.

“And, Dusk Shine,” Applejack said, “I’m a’sorry that I spooked you like I did earlier today. ‘Twas wrong of me and it won’t happen again.”

Dusk nodded at Applejack. “I am sorry that I yelled at you, as well.”

“I...I shouldn’t have just tried to leap at you,” Fluttershy said softly, taking a step forward. At a tap of Cadence’s wings, she spoke up a bit more. “I just see so many of my animal friends just resolving their problems that way that I didn’t think when I thought I had a chance with somepony like you.”

“Thank you, Fluttershy,” Dusk said. “And, I am sorry if I might have lead you on in that way.”

“Well, I should say that I was fully in the wrong, Dusk Shine,” Rarity said after Fluttershy took a step back. “It was terrible of me to do what I did, and you will have your jacket ready by tomorrow morning. You’ve demonstrated that you are a very noble and honorable stallion.”

“I will be there early, Rarity,” Dusk considered. “And, you...are a noble mare that deserves the best.”

Rarity blushed, but she nodded and waited. Pinkie Pie took a step up, then a few more, putting her muzzle to Dusk’s muzzle. Then, she said, “I was being really, really silly and I had a really, really bad reaction to the idea that you were here. I’m sorry and I would love to make it up to you with the best cake ever tomorrow. Okay?”

“Okay,” Dusk said, and smiled. “And, everypony, I am sorry for my reaction to what happened. It has been a sub...it has been a bad day for all of us. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.”

Mostly because, Dusk thought, I hope to be safely back home tomorrow, Twilight Sparkle will return, and everypony can look back and laugh on it.

As the Elements left for their homes, Cadence came up and nuzzled Shining Armor. “I know the two of you were talking about gaming tonight, but it’s going to be an early morning for all of us. I’d like to get to bed early.”

Dusk started to yawn. “You are right, it has been a long and very tiring day. I think we should all get some sleep and be ready for an early day tomorrow.”

Spike stuck his head out from the kitchen. “Oh, Dusk, I re-made your bed. Clean sheets for you, fresh from the wash.”

There was a moment’s pause as everypony filled in what wasn’t said-and, the sheets don’t smell like Twilight Sparkle. Dusk shook his head, and said, “Thank you, Spike. Do not stay up too late, either.”

“Aw, I’ll be fine,” Spike smiled. “Don’t need as much sleep as ponies do. But, I will get a good night’s sleep tonight, I promise.”

“Then, I will see you all tomorrow,” Dusk nodded and trotted up to his bedroom.

After Dusk was out of hearing, Shining looked at Cadence and asked, “I assume that the performance was your responsibility?”

Cadence nodded. “They needed to know what the right words were, and I wanted to make sure that they said them. As much to each other as to him. I think…”

Shining nuzzled Cadence’s cheek, just behind her ear. “I think you did great, ladybug. However it ends up, at least they ended as friends. If he dreams tonight, I think Dusk Shine is dreaming of going home. And, I hope he gets what he dreams of.”

“As do I,” Cadence sighed. “But...if he is here for any period of time...I want him to be happy. He feels like the little brother I never had, and however much I’m going to tease him, I still want the best for him.”

“Let’s hope he gets what he wants,” Shining said. “And, if not, let’s hope gets what he needs.”

Dusk Shine pulled the covers over his body and took a sniff of the bed and pillow. He could only faintly smell the scent of Twilight Sparkle on the mattress and pillow. To a dragon like Spike, he suspected, there wasn’t any scent of Twilight Sparkle to be found.

Regardless, he thought, just before the inevitable wave of sleep overtook him. This is a comfortable bed and I need to get some sleep.

Maybe...just maybe, when I wake up...I’ll be home...

To this melancholy thought, Dusk Shine fell asleep.

Author's Note

Once again, thanks to Door Matt and his editing skills.

Inception

Princess Luna dreamed.

For her, the night was her natural home. She did not mind the day (but found it occasionally bothersome and bright), but she bloomed when Celestia lowered her Sun and she raised her Moon. Despite rumors to the contrary, her schedule was not one where she woke up in just enough time to raise the Moon, and slept until she had to lower it again. Her night-life was active, and very, very vigorous.

Just...much of it was spent in her bed.

Princess Luna was one of the few ponies that could walk in dreams. She had high hopes for a few other ponies, but until they could be trained, Luna guarded the Dreaming alone. Fending off monsters that lived in the gaps between the real world and the Dreaming. Helping ponies to find happy dreams, relieving nightmares, and finding new things to discover. And, mapping the empty spaces at the very extent of night’s reach; areas that could be both familiar and alien.

One of those possible consistencies was what she was looking for tonight. Luna had walked in Twilight Sparkle’s dreams, both pre- and post-Ascension. And, to say that they were organized was like saying the sea was salty, or Pinkie Pie was manic. Even her nightmares were organized--missing books, missed deadlines, incomplete check boxes on checklists. Her mind was a field of order, layers upon layers of checklists like ripples of fudge in a brownie with scrolls like folded walnuts. So, all she had to do was find a mind that was like that...but masculine.

It wasn’t as simple as “aim at Ponyville and find the dreaming librarian”. Distances in the Dreaming were never simply linear or constrained by the logic of three dimensions. Time was also mutable. As Luna dove deeper into the Dreaming, the perspective of time growing slower and slower was apparent as she went deeper into memories. Because she could walk there, Luna knew where she was and where she could go from there. It wasn’t anything that could be measured by a ruler or timed by a clock. The process was more...organic than that. Which explained why Luna was so good with the Dreaming. The few times she had brought Celestia here, her mind insisted upon imposing it’s own will, it’s own requirements to other’s dreams.

Luna had learned long ago to flow. To let dreams take their own course, to nudge the wayward strands of thought into coherent considerations. And, the flow had brought her to the first touch of dreams, one that was unknowingly shared. She trotted carefully along cobblestones made of cupcakes and houses made of gingerbread with frosting and candy decorations, to the sound of foal laughter. Luna turned a corner, and was bowled over by two little blurs of foal energy, pink and purple with hummingbird wings. “Come...back...here…,” a familiar voice said, rounding the corner.

Pinkie Pie looked tired, frazzled...and happy. She pranced her way across the cobblestones, and caught the two foals in mid-air, bringing them down to blow on their bellies with giggles. “Dawn Star, Sunrise, silly ponies!” she laughed, and snuggled their giggling, happily squirming bodies to her. Pinkie Pie looked up, and saw Princess Luna and smiled. “Hiya, Princess! Let me guess, I’m dreaming right now, right?”

“Yes, we are,” Luna smiled at Pinkie Pie and looked at the foals in her dream. They were alicorn foals-small horns and the still-active wings ready to fly again. “You have decorated the city well, Pinkie Pie.”

“Well, of course I did!” Pinkie Pie gushed. “Gingerbread is an awesome building material and it’s edible, as well!” She promptly turned her head, and took a large bite out a nearby building, chewed, and comically swallowed the food she had just eaten. “Tasty! White frosting and multi-colored sprinkles!”

Luna smiled, and peeled off another bite from a nearby building. She chewed and swallowed her smaller piece of frosted gingerbread. “Who is the father of the foals, Pinkie Pie?” she asked.

“Why, Dusky, of course!” Pinkie Pie grinned. “I wish he was here, he should be here, but he’ll be here soon enough, I promise!”

Luna nodded at Pinkie’s optimism, and said, “I have to be going, but I hope to return soon.”

“See you soon!” Pinkie waved, and the foals waved as well.

Luna smiled, and she took a turn down a cupcake alleyway between two fudge brownie brick buildings, and trotted onwards. Her next steps ended from confections to carpet, a deep blue pile carpet that seemed to stretch onward forever. Elegant couches and small tables holding vases dotted the new walls, and Luna could hear off in the distance singing. And...just on the bare threshold of perception was another sound. One she couldn’t quite place, but she did hear it. Following the singing, Luna walked the hallway, admiring how it was decorated. If this is the dream of who I think it is, Luna thought, we must commission her immediately to redecorate Canterlot Castle. It is well done, yes, but there are things there that were a thousand years old before the Abeyance. Something done in this century would be nice to look at.

The singing led Luna to a well-appointed room, covered in blue velvet wallpaper, framed by beautiful crystal-pane windows. Pony mannequins surrounded the room, each bearing some form of outfit or dress. In the center was a couch, a crib, and four ponies. Three of them were foals-one asleep in the crib, older twins by a year lying snuggled up to a unicorn mare. She cooed a wordless song to the foal in the crib, rocking it with her magic, and unconsciously curling her legs to snuggle the other foals in closer. The mare didn’t notice Luna until she lifted her head to look around, an elegant blue curl of her main dropping across her face. “Darling,” she smiled, her voice soft. “How may I help you tonight?”

“A pleasure to see you as well, Rarity,” Luna said just as softly. She stepped closer, and noticed that the foals-all three of them-had horns and wings. “Foals with you and Dusk Shine?” Luna smiled.

“Oh, yes,” Rarity beamed, then she blushed. “He is such a noble pony, even when we were in the process of making the foals in the first place. Kind and gentle, and a little…,” here, her voice trailed off.

"Nervous?"

“Very. He didn’t want to hurt me, you see...but, I wanted to be hurt that way, to be the first, to be his first,” Rarity whispered. “To give him the most happy of first times.”

“And, where is Dusk Shine now?” Luna asked, nodding to this response.

“Around, but he will be back,” Rarity said with conviction. “He will be back, because he said he would.”

Rarity’s horn began to glow again and she rocked the cradle with her magic. “I have no doubts in my mind of that. Or fear that he would never return. He will be back.”

Luna bowed her head to Rarity and her conviction. She said, “I have other tasks to perform this night. May I return to see you and your foals again?”

“You are always welcome here, darling,” Rarity smiled, and floated the white-furred alicorn foal out of the crib, snuggling it with her front hooves as the foal played with the curl of her mane. Luna nodded to Rarity, and began to trot down the opposite hallway from where she entered, the sound of her hooves vanishing into the thick, rich carpet.

Luna turned down a hallway, and the consistency of carpet changed into meadow grass, and she could see a house just off to the horizon. The sound she had heard previously was a bit easier to hear, but...Luna couldn’t identify it. The sound was a consistent one, at the very least...and Luna cocked her head to angle her ears in a better position to hear.

Which was why she didn’t see the foal that blind-sided her.

The foal was a pale yellow blur that nailed Luna just behind her front hock, with enough velocity to make her stagger. She turned, and looked for what hit her, and saw the foal on the ground-wings open and twitching, hoof holding the head where he had presumably hit Luna, horn short but stout. Luna smiled at the foal, winced slightly from when she moved at the point of impact, and lifted the foal in her magic. “And, hello,” she said, “who do we have here?”

“‘Na!” the foal said, and smiled a urchin’s smile that could melt even Luna’s heart-and was probably going to melt mare’s hearts when he grew up. The foal tumbled around a bit in Luna’s magic, and tried to get airborne again.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” a soft and breathless voice said, and Luna turned to see a happy and haggard Fluttershy running up the path. “Little Blitz is a bit of a hoof-full, and I’m sorry he hit you.”

“I wasn’t harmed,” Princess Luna said, offering the squirming bundle to Fluttershy, whom hugged the foal in her front hooves. Fluttershy smiled at the foal, and the foal smiled back at her, and she nuzzled his nose with her nose. “A lovely foal,” Luna continued, and looked around the meadow.

“Oh yes,” Fluttershy said softly, “Dusk Shine and I...our first, and hopefully more coming soon. Once we got over our fear, we keep trying and trying and trying…,” it was then that Luna heard something from Fluttershy that she had never heard before. A giggle. An honest-to-Celestia giggle. “We have so much fun trying that it was a shame that we had to stop trying before the foal was born.”

Fluttershy smiled, a tired but contented smile. “We’re dreaming, aren’t we?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yes,” Princess Luna nodded. Never lie, Luna’s first teachers in the Dreaming had told her. Lies are worse than incomplete truths. Another reason why Celestia didn’t do well when she was here in the Dreaming. Celestia would never lie, perish that thought. But prevaricate, mislead, misconstrue, omit, remit, confuse, baffle, and fail to correct a pony’s misconceptions? Celestia would do all of that, cheerfully. Which, in the Dreaming, was like juggling priceless eggs on a unicycle on a tightrope. The tightrope being over a very hungry pit of hydras--and the hydras only being a hair’s thickness away from the tightrope.

That experience was one they would never repeat again.

“It’s a happy dream,” Fluttershy whispered. “I hope that it can come true.”

“As do I,” Luna nodded. “Will Dusk Shine be back anytime soon?”

“Oh yes, he’ll be back soon,” Fluttershy said breathlessly. “We’re going to give it another try again when he gets back. And another try, and another…,” and here Fluttershy broke out into happy giggles again, blowing a raspberry on the foal’s belly. The foal giggled, and cuddled up to his mother.

“I shall return, if my duty permits it tonight,” Luna smiled, and started to head down the meadow path, acknowledging the waves from both mother and son. The disorganized trees of the forest that Fluttershy lived near began to change, becoming more organized, and more like a well-tended orchard. The orchard was of apple trees, and Luna paused for a moment at the point of transition, trying to find the sound again. The sound was a bit clearer now, but still...just beyond the point of comprehension. Luna sighed, and continued down the dirt path, and kept the white-washed fence posts to her sides, as she heard hooves hitting trees.

Luna came across the bend in the road and saw that Applejack was in the process of teaching two foals how to buck apple trees. “Y’need to get yourself braced properly,” Applejack said, clearly in the middle of her lecture. “Front legs in good shape, and back legs up!” She gave the apple tree she was bucking a good double hoof kick, apples raining down like a storm. The foals made cheerful noises as they watched, their smiles bright, their wings cheerfully open, and their horns gleaming in the sunlight. Applejack took another good look at the tree, and said, “Think we’ll go buck another,” and caught a sight of Princess Luna. “Howdy, Princess! Think you got some time t’learn how to buck apples with us?”

“I have a busy night,” Luna replied, “if I have the chance I will return to learn. Your foals?”

“Our foals,” Applejack corrected. “Dusk Shine went into town, getting some books to read to ‘em,” she continued. “Should be back soon, boy likes to get a good walk in every day. Think you can stay around a bit?”

Luna looked up at the sky and considered flow. “If I can make it back soon,” Luna considered, “I shall. Let me not interrupt your lesson.”

Applejack smiled, and lead the foals to another apple tree for further lessons. Luna continued down the path, and realised the ever-present sound was a little easier to catch.. She still could not comprehend it, but she was getting closer to the source. Every hoofstep lead her closer, and the dirt road began to change from dirt into clouds. It was only a few steps away and around a low-hanging cumblus cloud that Luna was now walking entirely on clouds. To her right, she could make out the outlines of Cloudsdale and she could see a large cloud house that was very familiar. There was just the perfect amount of a breeze in the sky, perfect conditions for ideal flying.

Which, clearly, Rainbow Dash was doing. Resting on her back, legs around Rainbow’s body and wings opened up in full, was a foal learning to fly with Rainbow Dash. The pegasus caught sight of Princess Luna and doubled her speed, catching an utterly spectacular gust of wind and landing with absolute style and form. “Wow!” Rainbow Dash gushed, “Did you see that? Perfect form, great landing, and a Princess to watch. You’re a lucky foal, Prism!”

The foal on her back giggled, and cooed into Rainbow Dash’s mane, rubbing her horn into her blue, fuzzy neck. “So, what can I do for you today, Princess?”

“I was just seeing how your dreams were tonight,” Luna said. “I’m surprised that you aren’t flying with the Wonderbolts right now.”

“Oh, I can do that later,” Rainbow Dash smiled. “Got this little squirmer to deal with, and she’s picking up a lot of the tricks she’ll need for later. Dusk’s still a bit too much by the book for teaching, but she’s gonna be an awesome racer when she grows up.”

Luna looked at the small foal with the indigo fur and the technicolor mane, nodding. “Prism does have the lines for it,” Luna agreed. “I was hoping to meet Dusk Shine as well tonight, do you know where he is?”

“Said he’d be back in a bit,” Rainbow nodded. “Went back to town to get some stuff.”

Luna looked at where Ponyville would be, had this not been a dream. There was a solid wall of clouds between her and Ponyville. Big, white fluffy, clouds.

Sinisterly cotton-ball clouds that suggested they were hiding piranha clouds.

Luna knew when dreams held nightmares--and those clouds suggested the unseen one lurking behind them was huge.

“I will catch him along the way back,” Luna smiled and opened up her wings. “Clear skies, Rainbow Dash.”

“See you soon,” Rainbow Dash grinned, and resumed chattering about flight concepts with Prism.

Luna trotted for the clouds, and she stepped carefully around the still-dreaming Spike. From what she could see of his dreams, he had tried to stay up all night reading comic books, and fell asleep in his basket again. His dreams were simple, heroic, direct, and content. Luna smiled, and stepped past them carefully and entered into the clouds.

She now knew what the sound she was hearing was.

It was screaming.

She stepped into a view of Ponyville, her hooves on hard cobblestones at the dead of night without the Moon. The buildings loomed like Gothic castles, and she could see a pony hitting one of the buildings with his hooves, trying to break in. Purple fur, male and an alicorn, the pony was screaming with tears coming down his eyes, “Let me in! Let me in, in the name of Faust, let me in!”

He kept pounding on the door with his hooves and with his magic, but he couldn’t get in. There was the sound of a door opening, and the dreamer’s head turned like a bird of prey sighting a field mouse. With a sharp beat of his wings, the dreamer flew towards the sound, and dove on the door that was just closing...and was hit in the face by the door slamming shut just a moment before he could make it inside. He resumed pounding the door, screaming a wordless cry.

Luna turned to look into the window of the house the dreamer had been trying to get into, and she saw...the dream of Rarity and her foals, that she had just left. The dreamer had been trying to get into that dream. As Luna walked softly across the cobblestones of the street, each lit window had a family--mother and alicorn foals--but no father. She recognized the Elements of Harmony, some of the other ponies from Ponyville, and a few she did not know. And, Luna suspected, she was about to meet that father.

She stepped up behind him, and just as he was about to strike the doors again with both front hooves, she stopped them with her magic.

“CEASE”, Luna bellowed, her Royal Canterlotian Voice causing the windows to rattle and the doors to shake. “I AM HERE TO HELP YOU TONIGHT, DUSK SHINE.”

The dreamer looked up at Princess Luna and Luna felt a sudden surge of affection towards the alicorn stallion. He looked so much like Twilight Sparkle that she had to remind herself that this was not her, but him. “This is what you fear tonight?” she asked, waving a hoof around the entire nightmare he had created.

“It is my nightmare,” Dusk replied, closing his eyes to control the tears. “All those foals...all of them my responsibility, all of them not having a father, not having somepony that is there for them, because I left.”

There was a strangled sob, and Luna pulled a handkerchief out of the dream and gave it to him. He blew his nose and dried his eyes. “I can not give them what they want,” he spoke through the still-flowing tears. “They want...they want a future, and I want to be a part of that future. But, I do not know how I got here, and I could go back at any moment. And, I will not let a foal grow up like Bolero did--without parents.”

Princess Luna nodded, and she looked around. “May I sit, Dusk Shine?”

“Please,” Dusk replied, and sat down himself. Luna joined him, and she considered the pony in front of her.

“Dusk Shine, your loyalty and duty to your offspring does you credit,” Luna said. “I have no doubts in my mind that you would never leave them.”

“But,” Dusk sighed, “this is not where I belong. Twilight Sparkle belongs here and I will not take her place.”

“Have you considered,” Luna said softly, “that perhaps you are here because you need to be here?”

Dusk looked at Luna, confused. “I...I do not understand.”

“You are both inside and outside the problem,” Luna said. “The Elements of Harmony, they have a resonance that you are still connected to. You can feel them still, can’t you? Loyalty, Honesty, Generosity, Kindness, and Laughter. And, of course…”

“Magic, makes it six,” Dusk finished. “We are still...connected. I am still Magic. And, the Elements...they still want to be one, do they not?”

“Still want to be one?” Luna asked, curious.

“I asked Prince Helios once, when he...well, when he banished Prince Artemis to the moon a thousand years ago,” Dusk said, looking embarrassed suddenly. “I am sorry, I should have not brought up the Nightmare Moon-”

“It was a mistake of youth and one that I am thankful I was saved from,” Luna interrupted gently. “You were saying?”

“Well...Prince Helios thought that when he had to use all six of the Elements to stop Nightmare Moon--another similarity there--he felt like they were six points of a cone that wanted to be at one point again,” Dusk replied. “I must ask Princess Celestia if the experience is the same.”

Princess Luna considered this for a moment. The Tree of Harmony pulls on the Elements still, she thought. We must ask Celestia, true--but I must ask her alone. And, his mind! Luna admired the clarity of logic that Dusk Shine still had. Even confused, frustrated, and worried, he is still working through problems, still thinking. Twilight Sparkle, bless Faust’s heart, would be either in a panic or denial right now. Or trying to do experiments of dubious morality.

“Are there other differences?” Luna asked.

“The Most Special Spell, I did some quick research into the history of it. Do you realize that your version of the spell was two hundred years earlier than ours? And, ours has an even chance of what the gender of the foal will be? I suspect,” Dusk Shine began to lecture, “that is one of the major change points that our mutual universes has. I will have to check the history books, if I am here for any longer, to see what the differences are.”

Luna settled into this dream, and listened. However else this night ended, she would learn something new. And, she always loved to discover new things.

Princess Luna woke to see the Sun just starting to creep over the horizon.

She had spent the rest of the night in Dusk Shine’s dream, listening as he talked about his theories and his ideas. Luna had asked questions, Dusk had answered, and the two of them had spent the entire night conversing. It was the first time in a long time--centuries, in fact--that she had met another pony mind that was as brilliant as hers. The only other mind as recent was Twilight Sparkle, which did not surprise her.

What did surprise her was just how intellectually...stimulating that was. Oh, Twilight was just as stimulating, but Luna knew from experience that even suggesting a more physical relationship would have caused Twilight’s brain to seize up. She had grown up with only one Princess, studied under her, learned from her. Even now that she was one herself, Twilight was barely able to see the Princesses as anything less than the very hoofsteps of Faust on Equestria. That she was one now was the cause of no slight amount of cognitive dissonance. Suggesting something as...organic as a physical relationship could have thrown her world view entirely into chaos.

Luna sighed, and lifted her hair brush with her field, brushing out the particularly tight knots and stars in her mane. Dusk Shine, on the other hoof, she thought, he is...still a stallion at heart. One that will not forsake duty, or honor, or obligation. If I can convince him that I am as willing to stand by a mutual duty together…

The brush stopped for a second. Luna shook her head at that thought. Too soon, little pony, she considered to herself. “It is too soon to think of those kinds of plans. If he can go back to his home, I will make sure he can go home,” she said to the walls. “If he cannot...I will help him to build the best of happiness in this world.”

Luna resumed brushing her mane out, then paused again. My sister, on the rear hoof, is complete and she probably has been getting hourly reports on Dusk Shine from town. From her dreams, I know that when she has emotional fantasies, Twilight Sparkle is one of the participants. Currently, the most vigorous and most often participant. And now, there is a version that is the male version of Twilight Sparkle in Ponyville and we are going there today…

The hair brush clattered to the floor. Before it had finished falling, Princess Luna had already teleported out of her bedroom.

To find her sister.

It did not take her long to find Celestia--there was only one place she could have been.

Near her bedroom was a boudoir that had half the walls as mirrors, with the other half granting a wonderful view of the north. Celestia was surrounded by her hoofmaidens, preening and primping and applying makeup and brushing her fur and mane. Dressed and jewelry and accessories floated in either Celestia’s or her hoofmaiden’s fields, waiting to be tried on. Luna knew that Celestia wouldn’t have been less than perfect when she came to the Festival today in Ponyville, but this was different. Luna knew the signs and she knew exactly what Celestia was doing this morning.

She was putting on romantic war paint for the first time in a very long time. Luna came into the boudoir, and decided that the idea of beating around the bush was going to take too much time. “A word with you, sister,” she said firmly, then added, “In private.”

Celestia looked over her shoulder, and considered her sister for a moment. Then, she said, “Let’s take a break. I will ring for you when we’re done.” The hoofmaidens kneeled to the Princess and trotted out of the boudoir; the last one closing the door behind them. Celestia turned to look at her sister, and was about to say something when Luna interrupted with, “Sister, you have missed one thing.”

“What have I missed?” Celestia asked, in a very careful tone of voice.

“This is not Twilight Sparkle, your beloved student, with a phallus,” Luna replied. “The stallion you are about to chase has a name. It is Dusk Shine. He is the honored and well considered student of Prince Helios. He is not your student. I will not let you use what you know about Twilight Sparkle and the points of resonance that the two have to manipulate him. It is unfair to both of you if you do.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you think I know that?”

“I think...we are both lonely in that regards, sister,” Luna replied softly. “I know we are both envious of Cadence in that she has somepony that loves her without reservations or an agenda. And, yes, I will admit that I do find him attractive. And thoughtful. And considerate. And intelligent. That is why I propose a compromise.”

Celestia’s eyebrow raised higher. A whole paragraph was in that eyebrow raise--you’re not the one who usually suggests or proposes a compromise, Luna. There’s a reason why one of the most dangerous weapons in my diplomatic arsenal is “Why don’t we let my sister take a look at it and see what she thinks.” You are not known for your compromises in word or deed--if you wish to do something, you do it. If you wish to speak your mind, you speak it freely and without fear or regrets. How I’ve missed that from you since the Abeyance and remembered how annoying it was with the Return. You want to compromise because you fear he might choose you over me? Or do you fear that he would choose you to escape me? Or...that I am going to make him choose because everything that I’ve read says that he might be the pony of my dreams.

Celestia lowered her eyebrow. “What is your compromise, Luna?”

“We let him decide what he wants,” Luna said without hesitation. “I suspect that Cadence is planning something. If he departs us today or tomorrow, he leaves with a heart that is still capable of love. If he is here to stay, she is priming him to accept a relationship with the Elements of Harmony. And, I suspect, she plans to have us in that relationship, celestial bodies in the orbit of his love.”

Luna delicately took one of the accessories that Celestia had been trying on in her magic and put it down on a table. “Let us go to him as we are. If he cannot love us for that, ‘tis better to know now.”

Celestia considered her sister for a second, then sighed. “You’re right. Give me a few minutes to get...cleaned up?” she pondered the right idea with a hoof under her chin. “I’ll be ready, and we’ll be able to make to the Festival on time.”

Luna nodded. “I will see you shortly, sister.”

As Luna left, the hoofmaidens came in, and she pondered her own words. “Let him choose,” she whispered, sadly. “As long as he chooses me, as well…”

Author's Note

Thank you, Door Matt, and all of the fans of this story.

If there were dating sims in Equestria, harem endings would be a)more common, and b)assembly of the harem is an important win condition.

Sunrise

When Dusk Shine woke up early the next morning, he twitched as his magic turned off the alarm clock. “Still here,” he sighed, looking around the room, and noting that sleep didn’t seem to be a part of the method of returning back to his universe. The bed and pillow still smelled of mare, and the room was still Twilight Sparkle’s. He climbed out of bed, and found the shower. Washing up, Dusk noticed a few shampoos--mostly sample items--for stallions. He tried one out, smiled, and murmured a “Thank you, Spike,” as he washed up.

Cleansed, fur brushed, mane and tail groomed, Dusk Shine came down the stairs to confront the day. Spike emerged from his basket, rubbing his eyes. “I’ve got to stop reading comic books so late,” Spike muttered. “Breakfast...um, Dusk Shine?”

“Yes,” Dusk replied. “I am sorry, Twilight Sparkle is not back yet. But, I have been thinking and I will figure out how to bring her back.”

“Okay...I hope she’s okay over there,” Spike said, walking toward the kitchen.

“My friends are good ponies,” Dusk said, stopping Spike before he could enter. “They will help her, I know it.”

“Like you were helped yesterday?” Spike replied, raising an eyebrow.

Dusk blushed, sighed, and shook his head. “Hopefully better, as yesterday was very sub-optimal. And, with the possible exception of Rainbow Blitz, my friends are gentlestallions.”

Spike thought about this for a moment, and nodded. “I believe you, and think you’re right. Thank you, Dusk.”

Dusk listened to hear the rest of the treehouse beginning to wake up. Assuming that Cadence and Shining Armor were like Gleaming Shield and Bolero...they’d be sleeping in a while longer. Spike began working on breakfast, and Dusk found Twilight’s “start of festival” checklist. “First things first,” Dusk read off the list, “Princess Celestia and Luna need to be here…”

There was a knock at the door, and Dusk tilted his head. “Too early,” he whispered. “Who is knocking so early…”

He trotted over to the door and opened it with his magic. Standing before the door was Rarity and Fluttershy, both looking like they had not slept well. Rarity was carrying something in her magic, and wearing her saddle bags. “Um, Dusk Shine,” Fluttershy spoke first, hiding behind her curls. “I...I just wanted to tell you that the bird chorus is ready,” she whispered, trying to keep her wings in check. “When the Princesses get here, we’ll be ready.”

“And,” Rarity said, stepping carefully in front of Fluttershy, “I spent most of the night getting your jacket ready. If it doesn’t fit right,” and she waggled her hips to show off her saddle bags, “I brought what I would need to make sure it does.”

“Thank you, both,” Dusk said, a bit surprised, as he took the package from Rarity’s magic and opened it up. Inside was a brocaded vest in purple, one shade darker than his fur, that had holes perfect for both his front legs and his wings. Carefully slipping into the jacket with his magic, he settled the jacket onto his frame and buttoned it shut. He moved around a little bit, and said, “It fits...perfectly. Thank you, Rarity.”

“You are very welcome, Dusk Shine,” Rarity smiled. “Let me know if there is anything I can do to help you today.”

Fluttershy gave Rarity a gentle nudge, another pony’s firm hip slam. “Both of us,” Rarity said, realizing what she had done and blushing at her foolishness. “If you need any help today, Fluttershy and I are more than willing to help.”

“Thank you,” Dusk replied, and looked around. “Have either of you eaten yet?”

“Um...yes,” Fluttershy said softly, blushing.

“I did eat breakfast before I left the boutique,” Rarity sighed. “I expect that it will be a long day today.”

“Oh,” Dusk said, considering. “Spike was cooking breakfast for me, and if you were hungry, I would ask if he could make some more…”

Fluttershy squeaked, and Rarity blushed. “Dusk Shine, thank you. I wouldn’t impose upon you, especially after what we both did yesterday. However, if you are willing, we would love to meet you for lunch--all of the Elements, together.”

It was Dusk’s turn to blush and he smiled shyly, “I would be honored, Rarity. I do need to get back to work before the Princesses get here, but I will meet you all for lunch.”

“Thank you,” Fluttershy said in a soft but clear voice, and the two of them left for their other tasks. Dusk Shine closed the door, and took a long, slow deep breath from behind it. Sighing, he trotted towards the kitchen, where he could smell breakfast beginning to cook. Spike was clearly making something delicious, and Dusk knew that today was going to be a long day. That meant that his breakfast had to be very filling.

Half-way to the kitchen, another knock hit the front door.. Dusk sighed, turned around, and trotted back. Opening it with his magic, he was greeted by Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash. “Ah, Dusk Shine,” Applejack started. “Sorry to bother you this early…”

“But, we’ve got to tell you that we’re ready to go for today,” Pinkie Pie interrupted.

“Hey, we are,” Rainbow Dash said, looking around a bit. “I’ve got all the weather teams ready to go, to make this day perfect, we’ll be making sure the cloud cover is right, and everypony is as ready to go as we are.”

“And, my part in the events?” Dusk asked, carefully.

“Ready for you at eleven,” Rainbow Dash nodded. “It’ll be awesome to see you flying with us all.”

Dusk smiled, and felt his stomach rumble. “Thank you for telling me, but I really need to get breakfast now. Would you like to come in…”

Applejack blushed, and interrupted, “We’re fine, sugar cube. Ate before we got here, didn’t we,” as she glared at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash looked embarrassed and nodded, “Yea, we did, and I’m getting something to eat with the team before we go up. We’ll let you get your breakfast.”

Pinkie Pie looked at her friends, and nodded. “Got a lot of cakes to move! I’ll be busy all morning!”

Dusk nodded, and said, “Thank you all, and I will see you all soon. We are meeting for lunch, yes?”

“That we are,” Applejack smiled. “See ya then.”

Dusk smiled, closed the door with his magic, and took a long, deep breath. His stomach rumbled again, and he sighed. “I need to get something to eat, now,” he said softly, and trotted towards the kitchen. Before he could make it more than two body lengths away from the door, there was yet another knock. Dusk shook his head in frustration, and turned around, ready to speak his mind about the interruptions. “This had better be important,” he said, opening the door, “I am missing breakfast and…,” his voice trailed off at the appearance of his latest guests at the door.

Surrounded by the Royal Guard were none other than Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

“Hello, Prince Dusk Shine,” Celestia said calmly, her wings twitching slightly.

Dusk looked at the two Princesses, and felt extremely faint. It wasn’t just the height, or how they looked so alike-yet-different to Prince Helios and Artemis. It wasn’t the fact that they were two of the loveliest mares he had ever met. And, it wasn’t even the fact that they were talking to him. It was the simple fact that the little traitor and his wings decided that now was the perfect time for them fully stand up and salute the Princesses of Equestria.

“Um…,” Dusk tried to think, turning his head as he blushed and realized that his wings were showing for all the world to see exactly what he thought. “Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,” he finally said, dragging his wings down as hard as he could and getting them settled onto his body. “You are early,” he said, feeling just how stupid that comment was. “According to the checklist of Twilight Sparkle, you have another fifteen minutes before you get here.”

“We managed to catch a good tailwind flying here,” Princess Celestia replied, and smiled gently. “May we come in?”

“Oh, oh, yes!” Dusk nodded as his words bounced around his mouth, and he stepped away from the door. “I was in the middle of having breakfast,” he continued, trotting carefully towards the kitchen. “May you join me there?”

“‘Tis a shame,” Luna replied, looking around the library carefully. “We had eaten before we left the castle. Had we known, we would have waited.”

“Dusk Shine,” Celestia said, nodding towards the kitchen. “We can wait a few minutes. Go and eat, we’ll be here when you are done.”

Dusk tried to keep a normal walking pace, but was trapped between the urge to gallop so he could get away from the conflicting emotions and the urge to find a reason why he just had to miss breakfast and speak with the two Princesses.

His stomach growled, and Dusk trotted faster for the kitchen, tripping over his hooves as he went.

Breakfast was eaten in a most incredible haste, as Dusk Shine’s brain churned with conflicting emotions and thoughts.

Are they...attracted to me? Dusk thought, taking another large bite of the pancakes. I know that so many mares are, because of who I am. But, these are the Princesses. After all, they had to have seen so many other, more attractive stallions over the centuries.

They have not seen the student they have raised from a foal to an adult, the little traitor replied, sardonically, the unicorn that saved them from being the Nightmare Moon, the scholar that figured out Starswirl the Long Maned’s Final Spell, the youngest of all the alicorns. And, now, you are a stallion when they were expecting to live forever with a mare. They are just as attracted to you as you are to them.

Dusk’s wings threatened to open up again, and he dragged them back into position. But, this is not where I belong, he thought in reply. It does not matter how much Celestia has such a fine curve of her bow coverts--only better than Rainbow Dash’s because they are larger. Or that Luna has such an engaging smile when she is fascinated by something, much like when Rarity has something that makes her smile when fashion is involved. Or even Pinkie Pie when she is thinking about pastries. Nor does it matter that Luna’s croup is almost as beautiful as Applejack’s. And, while Fluttershy has the more sexy mane, Celestia’s flows so perfectly together…

Dusk paused for a moment, fork holding a bite of pancake in mid-air via his magic. Spike looked at him and said, “Dusk, are you all right?”

Dusk shook his head to clear the thoughts that was filling up behind his eyes and smiled. “I am...just thinking about things.”

“You sure?” Spike asked, eyebrow raised. “Last time I saw Twilight Sparkle get that kind of look in her eyes was when she didn’t get a Friendship Report in and…”

Dusk shook his head again, and smiled tightly. “I promise, Spike, I will not cast another version of ‘Want It, Need It’ on anypony or anything. It is not that kind of problem...I think.”

It is much worse than that, Dusk, he thought to himself with a melancholy anger. You are genuinely attracted to all of them. Even Celestia, despite how it should feel like you were attracted to Prince Helios. But, you cannot act on that feeling, because in exchange for that, Twilight Sparkle cannot come home and…

The fork froze again, and for a minute Dusk Shine did not move. He was barely even breathing, and Spike carefully shook Dusk’s shoulder. “Um, Dusk Shine,” he asked, looking as Dusk’s eyes were wide open.

Suddenly, they closed, and Dusk broke out in a huge smile. “That has to be it,” he said loudly. “It is so simple, I have to wonder why I did not think of it before. Equivalent exchange! That has to be what happened!”

Dusk dashed out of the kitchen, to see Celestia and Luna talking with each other. “Princess Celestia! I figured out the possibility of how Twilight Sparkle and I exchanged places!”

“Dusk Shine, that is wonderful news,” Celestia replied, her wings twitching open even more. “What could have caused the two of you to switch?”

“We had a magical event that caused an equivalent exchange,” Dusk spoke confidently, pacing on the floor. “The only difference between the two of us is gender, and that might have been the positional axis on which the exchange happened. Spike! I need to get a letter off to the Royal Canterlotian Library, we need every book they have on equivalent exchange--we will probably empty out the entire alchemy wing--and if I am right…”

Fwap.

Thump.

Dusk Shine turned, and his eyes widened in horror at what he saw.

The two Princesses were lying on their sides, their wings fully opened and their bodies frozen. They both looked at Dusk Shine with wide, adoring eyes. He took a horrified step back, and asked in a hoarse whisper, “Princess Celestia? Princess Luna?”

Princess Celestia recovered first, and somehow managed to roll onto her legs, and stand back up again. “This is…,” she began to speak, took a deep breath and gathered her wits again. “This is embarrassing. I shouldn’t be thinking thoughts like that.”

“What kind of thoughts?” Dusk asked, carefully.

“The ones that have you stay here,” Princess Luna replied. Her face broke out in a huge blush, and she turned her head away sheepishly. “You are a very handsome stallion, Dusk Shine. ‘Tis been a long time since I have seen one that has appealed to me.”

“Luna,” Celestia chided. “You’ve been attracted before.”

“More often than you have, dear sister,” Luna replied tartly. “My passions are more open than yours, but yours are deeper. And, we both have fallen for Dusk Shine, have we not?”

“Luna,” Celestia blushed again, and shook her head. “That was just...a reflexive response,” she replied, as her wings began to twitch again.

“‘Tia, your wings are telegraphing everything you’re thinking,” Luna replied sardonically, looking at her sister.

“And yours aren’t?” Celestia teased back, looking at Luna.

Dusk Shine fell onto his haunches, wings opened, and his brain stuck. His eyes were wide open and he just...sat there.

Luna sighed, and shook her head. “Yes...and, oh dear,” she stopped her argument with Celestia and waved her hoof in front of Dusk Shine’s eyes. “I think we broke his brain.”

Celestia looked at Dusk and sighed. “Woona, watch the doors for me, because this would make for perfect comedy if it happens the way I think it would.”

Celestia trotted over to Dusk Shine and noted that he still was unresponsive. She sighed, and said, “I am going to enjoy this much more than I should.” With a swift, single motion she stuck the full length of her tongue in Dusk’s ear, and licked.

Dusk’s head rocked with the shock, his wings popping open to full, and he rolled onto his back, looking around in panic. He began to gasp, “What...what...what happened?”, his breaths coming out ragged and sharp.

Celestia shook her head in amusement at the reaction, and sat down a full body’s length away from Dusk. “This happened to Twilight Sparkle on too many occasions,” Celestia said calmly. “She would sometimes have so many thoughts running through her brain that she didn’t know what to think. Mind you, I would have used a bucket of cold water, but that might have damaged the books.”

Dusk shook his head, and started to get his breathing under control. “I...remember Prince Helios doing the same thing with a bucket of water, but he would have never…”

“Needs must as Tirak drives,” Celestia sighed sadly. “Your circumstances and what has happened to you...we are all in the situation of learning what it means. If it means anything other than reminding us that we can love.”

Dusk considered that and sighed. “I…,” Dusk hung his head, and said softly, “I must admit that I am attracted. That I can think of you, and the other Element bearers, that way. I do not know what I can or must do with that knowledge. What if I cannot go home? What if I can go home? What if…”

Celestia slid across the floor enough to put a hoof on Dusk Shine’s muzzle. “Dusk Shine, ‘if’ is one of the most treacherous words in the Equestrian language. Do you respect my opinion?”

Dusk nodded. “Here is my opinion--let it happen. Let love happen if you can stay, let the knowledge that you can love go with you if you can go home. And, know this first and foremost. Whatever else happens, Dusk, I will respect your decisions.”

Dusk nodded again, and took a long, deep breath. “Thank you, Princess Celestia,” he said in a much stronger voice. “And, thank you, Princess Luna. I think...I think we need to get ready for the Festival. And...if I were to stay, I would want to know my friends and mentors better.”

“That’s all I can ask for, Dusk Shine,” Celestia nodded and got back onto her hooves. “Shall we get ready for the Festival?”

“Yes,” Dusk replied. “I will need to brush my mane, but that will take a minute. I will be right back.”

As Dusk trotted off to the bathroom, Celestia looked at Luna and her carefully constructed face of concern fell apart. Luna came up to her sister, sheltering her under her wing, wicking away the tears from her eyes with her magic.

Nopony should have to see their Princesses have to break their own hearts again.

Author's Note

Once again, thank to Door Matt for putting up with my double spaces and my various writing quirks.

Breakfast

In the dream, under Artemis’ Moon, Dusk Shine remembers his Ascension.

His friends.

The Elements of Harmony.

The stars.

Helios leading him upwards and upwards until...he was in the right place. The place in the universe that had been waiting for a young unicorn stallion named “Dusk Shine” was filled by an alicorn stallion named “Prince Dusk Shine”. The return to his friends, the party that followed.

And, a warning.

“Unicorn magic, you know very well,” Prince Helios rumbled, the two having a private meeting before Dusk Shine boarded the train back to Ponyville. “Of all the ponies that have been my students, you have been one of the best.” Dusk Shine smiled and tried not to preen-too much-over that. “But, starting now, you have more to learn, and quite a bit to discover.”

“I understand,” Dusk Shine said. “Between pegasus and Earth pony magic-and there is an Earth pony magic, I know it, I am going to be busy.”

“There is, of course, one more kind of magic you’ll be learning. Alicorn magic.” And it was here that Prince Helios sighed. “And, there is no teacher for you in it, other than yourself.”

That brought everything in the dream to a halt. “But...are you not you going to teach me about being an alicorn?”

“It’s not as simple as that,” Prince Helios replied. “When I Ascended, and gained control of the Sun, I had to befriend the Sun, understand the Sun, and have the Sun understand me. We had to understand what we were thinking, how to communicate, and that some thoughts must always remain thoughts. There were times that I wished I could light the entire Dawn Court on fire and the Sun was more than willing to help...but, I couldn’t do that. And, I had to explain to my new friend why, despite wanting it so much, it couldn’t help me in that way. It’s an experience of learning that I discover something new every day.

“Prince Artemis, every day, learns something through his walking in dreams, of the Moon and the stars. Prince Bolero learns something new, every day, from love and care and concern. But, Dusk Shine, you are the Prince of Magic, not just unicorn magic or pegasus magic or Earth pony magic or Crystal pony magic...all magic. The very magic of the world-of Harmony, of Friendship-is your domain. And, that is why you’re returning to Ponyville. Because, you need the bonds you have made with your friends to help you to find how to communicate with Magic.

“Trust in them. Trust your heart and your feelings for them. And, never, ever, let anypony tell you that you don’t deserve them-especially yourself, my faithful student. Each of them are worth a thousand flattering Court toadies, and you will find your way with them at your side.”

And, the dream ends with Dusk Shine accepting those words, and saying, “I will do my best to learn, every single day.”

Dusk Shine was not a morning pony by nature.

If there was a time-frame that was perfect for Dusk Shine to wake up in, it was just late enough that there was more than enough daylight to properly read, but early enough that you had the whole day open for studying. Light candles when there wasn’t enough Sun to read by, go to bed when the candles burned out, repeat. Stop only when you run out of books or scrolls to read, so that means you have to go and get new scrolls and books to read.

Alas, today was going to be one of those days, where Dusk Shine had to wake up at the “crack” of Dawn. A whole hour after Prince Helios woke up every single morning to raise the Sun, and all because of one thing alone. Today’s long, and involved checklist. Because, if he didn’t get that checklist done, Ponyville wasn’t going to be ready for the Princes’ visit tomorrow. Especially considering that his BSBFF Gleaming Shield was coming as well and Dusk Shine wanted to show off Ponyville at it’s best.

As Dusk Shine rolled out of bed, something about the whole situation bothered him at a fundamental-yet-half-asleep level. The bed seemed shorter today than when he went to bed last night. There was an odd smell to it...like him, perfectly like him, but with an underlay of a slightly more female scent to it. The room seemed a bit smaller, a bit less like his, with things just a touch out of place.

Of course, Dusk Shine’s first thought was prank when he got to the bathroom. He was never one for too many pony grooming products, but he had a few when he needed them. And, they had all been replaced by ones for mares, not stallions. Sighing, he grabbed the shampoo and conditioner in his magic and got washed up. I, he thought, am definitely going to have to have a talk with Rainbow Blitz today. First of all, how did he even get in to shift everything around like how he did? Second, why today, when we are getting ready for the big visit by the Princes? Third...where did he find all this stuff for mares that looks so much like mine?

It was just the style of everything that was really throwing him off. Everything was made up like a mare’s room...but, he could recognize that it was the sort of things that he’d pick out if he was a mare. The hair brush had long, silky hairs in it-the same color as Dusk Shine’s but in a sensible mare’s length. Consideration, empathy, and planning was something that wasn’t expected that often from Rainbow Blitz. Which meant that this particular prank had to have been a team effort. Which meant that a talk with Elusive was coming up. One that didn’t involve Elusive trying to get Dusk Shine to dress “as an important pony of your stature should!”, fluttering around with a tape measure to do measurements for a waistcoat.

Dusk Shine could already feel a bit of a headache coming on.

But, two glorious sounds came from downstairs-the sounds of Spines’ just-a-touch off-key singing and the sound of cooking pancakes. Hm, Dusk Shine considered, putting everything away and heading down the stairs, Spines is singing a bit deeper today than usual. Must be practicing when I am not looking-which is a good thing! She needs more hobbies and she is a growing dragon. And, anyways, it is kind of fun to hear her singing when she thinks nopony is listening, and…

Dusk Shine trotted down the stairs, and rounded the corner to the library’s kitchen. He saw Spines making breakfast, wearing an apron and…

It wasn’t Spines.

Not unless there was going to be another “Spines is having dragon troubles” incident…

For the first thing, the not-Spines’ spines were shorter, blockier, and a bit more square than her regular spines. The compact but more solid build indicated that this wasn’t a female dragon hatching, but a male one. And, the voice alone… “Oh, morning, Twilight,” not-Spines said, “Give me a minute and I’ll have your pancakes ready…”

Here, non-Spines’ voice trailed off, as his head turned to look at Dusk Shine. The skillet dropped to the floor with a clatter and Spines just looked at Dusk Shine. “Twilight, are you all right?” not-Spines asked with careful concern.

Dusk Shine looked around a second, saw no other pony, and said, “I am not sure who you are talking about. Who are you, and what have you done with Spines?”

“First of all,” not-Spines pulled himself up to his full height, “My name is Spike. Second, I live here, and third… Of all the days...Twilight, please tell me you didn’t mess up some experiment in your sleep or something. Not today!”

“If we are giving out names, my name is Dusk Shine, I live here, and who is this ‘Twilight’ you keep talking about?” Dusk Shine replied and started to bristle.

Not-Spines, aka Spike, sighed. “Twilight...you are Twilight Sparkle, right? Remember, we’ve lived here for the last two years, librarian for Ponyville, all that?” Spike asked.

Dusk Shine was about to say something, then paused to think. “Twilight Sparkle...long mane hair in her brush, right?”

“Which is you,” Spike said. “It’s a great joke, by the way. Especially the whole ‘Dusk Shine’ thing, it looks deliberate rather than you having another lab accident or magic accident.”

The gender might have changed, but Spines’...or Spike’s teasing about how quite a few times Dusk Shine’s magic or experiments went a bit awry didn’t seem to have changed at all. “Look,” Dusk Shine said, after a deep breath. “When I went to bed last night, I was in Ponyville, I was in my own bed, I was a stallion, and you were a female dragon named Spines. As far as I am concerned, I am right and something else is wrong and not optimal at all.”

Spike looked at him, and kept from choking on a laugh. “Nope, can’t buy it. You’re just embarrassed about a magic goof.”

Dusk Shine carefully face-hoofed himself and said, “Look, one thing has not changed...may I have some breakfast, please? We will figure out who is right and who is wrong after I have gotten some food.”

“Sure thing,” Spike said, and got to work cooking up more pancakes. He slid a small stack of them in front of Dusk Shine, and Dusk Shine felt a glare building up on his face.

“Why such a small stack of pancakes?” Dusk Shine asked, looking around for the knife and fork.

“Well, we you don’t want to ruin your mareish figure,” Spike teased, and Dusk Shine sighed.

“Not funny,” Dusk Shine grumbled, and glared at Spike.

“No,” Spike replied, looking embarrassed, “It’s not. I’m sorry...um, Dusk Shine, right? I mean, you just seem so much like Twilight Sparkle, except as a stallion…”

Dusk Shine sighed, and felt embarrassed as well. “I am sorry, Spike. I was not expecting anything like this, not at all, when I went to bed last night. It is not fair for me to be taking out my frustration on anypony else. Apology accepted?”

“Sure thing,” Spike said, and made up some more pancakes. “Look, if it isn’t a magical accident or something...what happened?”

“I do not know,” Dusk Shine said honestly, starting to work on the stack of pancakes. “But, I do know that back...home?...I had a whole list of things to do today and I am not sure…,” and here Dusk Shine’s voice trailed off, to be replaced by, “The list!”

Dusk Shine bolted from the kitchen, went upstairs, and Spike could hear drawers being opened and closed and a sudden cry of joy. Dusk Shine returned, an open scroll in his magic, and he was smiling. “Looks like my duplicate is just as much of a list generator as I am. It even has the names of the ponies, and I can guess who is who here. It means I can get things done today and not leave too much of a mess for Twilight Sparkle to clean up when we get this fixed.”

Spike looked and felt a bit of a chill on his scales. “Are you sure about that? I mean...you’re a stallion, and all of Twilight Sparkle’s friends are mares. That’s going to throw everypony off for a loop. Are you sure you don’t want me to put up a red flag?”

“‘Danger, serious magical incident?’” Dusk Shine quoted from the same sheet of “emergency flags” he had set up after the Smarty Pants incident. The flagpole and flags at the library was enchanted with a sympathy spell that would pull up flags on other flagpoles that had been placed around Ponyville. This gave the residents of Ponyville enough warning that something was going wrong with the chief magical researcher and to prepare accordingly. While some more...paranoid members of Ponyville’s civilian population were ready to faint at a moment’s notice if Dusk Shine ever put up a blue flag-let alone a yellow one-the flag system had reduced panicked trampling injuries in Ponyville by 27% over the last year. (Dusk Shine was still working on a way to warn if the Cutie Mark Crusaders were going to do something particularly messy as an ongoing project.) “It is not a red flag sort of thing, Spike. Yellow flag, I think. Maybe blue, but...no, this is more embarrassing than an actual problem. I mean, the only difference is I am just a stallion. My friends will understand and I have got things to do.”

Dusk Shine picked up his plate and put it in the sink, and helped to clean up the table. “Look, Spike, if there is a problem, I promise to come back to the library and get to work on fixing things immediately. But, unless there is a serious problem, you have got a library to run, I have got an event to prepare for, and the Princes are coming to town tomorrow so I need to make sure everything is perfect. I will be back in time for dinner, and I will see you then.”

Dusk Shine finished cleaning up after breakfast, and immediately trotted down to the basement laboratory and office. Spike stood there, spatula in hand, and said, “Princes?”

Author's Note

Heh. Heh. Heh. Heh....

Logistics

“Sub-optimal! Highly, highly sub-optimal!”

This was the muttered train of thought as Dusk Shine trotted back into Ponyville. After getting out of sight of Rainbow Dash, he immediately started to go for hooves over wings. His mind was filled with conflicting thoughts, naughty images, and general confusion after dealing with Rainbow Dash and her...offer.

Hey, you know where I live if you change your mind!

Dusk Shine had to stop and lean against a tree for a second. Thinking very hard, and very deep thoughts.

That was...I mean, I have heard come-ons before, but that is...blatant! I can not even see Rainbow Blitz doing that kind of thing, especially to somepony that is his friend. Could it be the gender difference? The female-to-male ratio is the exact opposite of home, and therefore...therefore what?

Dusk Shine took a long, deep breath, and settled back onto his hooves, trotting towards Ponyville again. The thoughts weren’t going away on their own, even with movement and exercise.

But, the sheer blatancy of the offer! What does it mean, other than that Rainbow Dash is...what? She had to have known how Twilight Sparkle would have responded to that kind of offer. As far as I can tell, it is only our gender that is different, so she had to know the response we had…

“A joke,” Dusk Shine whispered. “Could it be that...oh, my, Rainbow Dash,” he said admiringly. “You were pranking me!”

The little traitor’s voice started to whisper again in his head. Rainbow Blitz is not that good of an actor. You should know, you clean him out early on in every single poker game that you have ever played with him. Could he keep up a role this good for this long? And, if Rainbow Dash is the same, then she was not acting.

“Ah,” Dusk Shine said to the voice in his head. “But, we know just how far Rainbow Blitz will go to pull off a prank.”

You are trying to deny what happened. And, the little traitor’s voice continued, you wanted to do something with her, did you not? Or, why do you feel so oddly about the idea, wings open like they are now?

Dusk Shine looked back and...the full spread wings of a wing boner. He pulled the wings back down angrily, keeping his mind on his situation. “Rainbow Blitz...can be impulsive at times,” he said to the air. “This was just an impulse act on her part, like Rainbow Blitz buying out all the Daring Do books once he discovered he liked the stories.”

The little traitor’s voice had no rebuttal to that statement. Dusk Shine smiled, and started to trot again back to town, when he thought if I was going to be here longer, and I was responsible for being here...I might have taken her up on it.

It wasn’t the voice of the little traitor. It was something...deeper. A voice that stopped him in his tracks.

“Sub-optimal,” Dusk Shine sighed. “This whole day has started out sub-optimal and is getting worse.”

The temptation to just head back to the library, barricade the door, and pull up a red flag had just gone up significantly. That whole concept, that nervousness, that fear was at war with the unfinished checklist. “And,” Dusk Shine said to himself, “it is only one data point out of five friendships. Rainbow Blitz is impulsive and sometimes his mouth works before the brain catches up, out of breath. Assuming the brain can ever find him! Applejack is much more reliable and dependable.”

Dusk Shine smiled, took a deep breath, and started again to trot towards town. After all, he thought, it will be an interesting question to ask, from a sociological standpoint. How would ponies respond to a sudden gender flip in a member of the community? I should be taking notes-or, better yet, I will remember things and write them down first chance I get. Questions to be asked! Studies to be done! Maybe even a paper on the subject!

These thoughts kept Dusk Shine busy as he trotted into town.

Gossip can, in some circumstances, change scenery.

In the case of Dusk Shine, his hour and a half away from Ponyville meant that there was a sudden upswing in ponies getting...fancy. Mares were getting more...polished. Ribbons and flowers in their hair, more serious brushing and grooming done, teeth cleaning to a standard that Colgate would have been shocked to see. Hooves were cleaned, shined, and some of the more ambitious went for shoes. As Dusk Shine trotted through town, he could see the line that was around the block for the local beauty salon. His observations included more detailed cleaning and preparation of various parts of Ponyville, and there was something else he saw-and realized.

Makeup. More ponies were wearing makeup than earlier today-sometimes a big garish, sometimes requiring him to look to see the subtlety of how it was applied. Some of the pegasui were stretching out when they didn’t think he was looking, preparing to dance. Unicorns were getting their horns polished and out of the corner of his eye, he realized that the library had to be doing land-office business today. The line of ponies-almost entirely mares-stretched down the street.

Dush Shine stopped, and took a deep breath. Considered the visual evidence. Wished that he could start making a checklist. But, he could organize one in his mind, and he considered the issues involved. Sudden upsurge in preening and gender-specific mating behavior. I have no evidence of what happened yesterday, but from the time I left the library to now...vector transmission pattern?

He was now very curious as to how the local spa was doing. The question became, why? Why the sudden urge to preen and primp and look proper and attractive by the mares of Ponyville? It wasn’t because of tomorrow, because a lot of the work being done would have been undone by sleep and time. And, the Princes...Princesses?...are not swayed so much by purely physical beauty. They have seen so much of it over the years, in varying degrees. What has caused this sudden upsurge in preening behaviors? It is almost as if they are trying to attract a mate, but the gender ratio of Ponyville has not changed…

Dusk Shine realized what he was thinking about, then face-hoofed himself. (Twenty-two mares saw this, and wondered what he was thinking about, and hoped it might have been them.) The gender ratio has changed very slightly. By one pony-myself. And, I am...dear Helios and Faust. It has changed by a single very high status male that is unattached and single.

Dusk Shine very carefully sighed (ten mares thought it was a romantic sigh and at them), and considered the fastest route to Sweet Apple Acres that used major streets. The widest of the main streets, and...

“Excuse me!” An all-too-familiar voice said, holding up a pile of scrolls in her magic. The harp Cuite Mark proclaimed that this was going to be another headache generator. “Um, Twilight Sparkle? I’ve got some more notes and test results and ideas to work on and I was wondering….”

Dusk Shine took a long, slow deep breath, and smiled his best smile. It looked like he was trying not to wince in pain. “I promise, Harpsie…”

“Lyra,” she corrected.

“Lyra, yes,” Dusk Shine smiled even more painfully. With a careful touch of his magic, Dusk Shine lifted the scrolls out of Lyra's field and put them in his saddle bags. “I promise to take a look at notes when I have finished with all the preparations for the party tomorrow. Thank you.”

And, Dusk Shine felt his horn glow, magic flowing through his body, as he vanished immediately out of sight.

There was a pause as every mare that was in line of sight saw this.

The rumors had been confirmed. The information was correct.

The gossip went up another level…

In three short flashes of magical energy, Dusk Shine had teleported out of town and was on the dirt-and-stone path to Sweet Apple Acres. Dusk Shine was a city stallion, and the idea of liking the country caused him to look at a pony for serious mental issues. Oh, he understood that his food had to come from somewhere, that there were ponies that liked being out in the dirt and the bugs and all the other small annoying things that being outside meant. Dusk Shine didn’t like dirt (it made a mess of books), and bugs meant things that could potentially eat books. Both of which were not wanted around the very important books that were a part of Dusk Shine's life. But, for some reason that Dusk Shine could never adequately explain, Sweet Apple Acres-regular barn replacement raising and all-felt like a second home to him.

Part of it had to be Applejack-for however annoying and occasionally rock-stubborn the stallion could be, Applejack had always stood with him and was willing to listen. Of all the friends that had been changed by this event, Dusk Shine expected that Applejack would remain Applejack-unflappable in the chaos of pony life.

Even if there were plumbing changes.

The post-teleport walk to Sweet Apple Acres was just was Dusk Shine needed. It was quiet, without the threat of an amorous Rainbow Dash or the impending threat of other mares that were going to ask him out, a most unusual state for Dusk Shine. Oh, he had a definite upswing (from zero) after the Ascension-wings and horn in combination seemed to add more sex appeal to single mares. Dusk Shine was still getting used to the idea that he might actually be attractive to mares, and this sudden change in circumstances wasn’t helping with his ego. Which, of course, lead back to questions relating to the dream he had the previous night.

Could that be why this has happened? Dusk Shine considered. My magic is trying to tell me something and it is telling me by throwing me into a situation where my nominal data points are altered, and the alteration is making me consider things and issues in a way that I had not previously and…

“Well, hello there, handsome,” an oddly familiar voice from behind interrupted his thoughts. “What’s a city slicker like you doing this far out?”

Dusk Shine turned, and a mare came out from under the shade of the apple trees. Brown fur, blonde mane and tail, and a stetson were the first thing he noticed. This, the mare version of Applejack, was probably half a head shorter, but very well muscled. Red ribbons tied off her much longer mane and tail into sensible braids, and the hat rested firmly on her head, with an ever so slight cock to it. Her grooming was decent if practical-probably being assisted by Elusive (no, Dusk Shine reminded himself, Rarity) to look good without being assaulted by The Fancy. Same Cutie Mark-three apples-on her flanks. Same "salt of the Earth" appearance that suggested that mountains would fall before she did. Oh, and she was looking at him with a bit of a wicked smile. “So, what brings you around to Sweet Apple Acres?” Applejack asked, and started to trot towards the path.

“Ah, yes,” Dusk Shine shook himself and considered his next words. “My name is Dusk Shine, and I appear to have swapped places with your friend Twilight Sparkle for the day. Since we appear to both have the same schedule of tasks, I am here to help her out, presuming that she is doing the same back in my version of Ponyville.”

Applejack blinked, gave Dusk Shine a considering look, and face-hoofed. “Twilight, you goofed a spell again? Which one was it this time-some weird version of ‘Want It, Need It’? Something else? We gonna have to have Spike send the Princess a letter to get this fixed?”

Dusk Shine sighed in frustration, and let his magic field catch Applejack’s muzzle-just enough to hold her mouth gently shut. “I feel like I should write up a checklist for this,” Dusk Shine sighed. “My name is Dusk Shine. I am not Twilight Sparkle post-magic accident, I am from a version of Ponyville where everypony you know as a mare is a stallion and every stallion you know is a mare. For some unknown reason, I appear to have swapped places with Twilight Sparkle. Whom is probably trying to explain this to my version of Applejack as we speak. Since we appear to have the same checklist for the event tomorrow, I am helping out Twilight Sparkle by working through the checklist of chores she has for tomorrow.” He released the magic hold on Applejack’s muzzle. “Now, what did I just say?”

“T’at you’re...Dusk Shine, from another Ponyville that we’re all swapped around,” Applejack said slowly. “You’re helping out Twilight by doing her checklist. And, I reckon you’re here to help get the barn set up for Winter Wrap Up.”

“Bravo,” Dusk Shine said, smiling. “Yes, I am here to help with the barn setup for Winter Wrap Up next year. Are we ready to get to work?”

“Sure thing,” Applejack said, and she trotted off to where the barn had to be.

Dusk Shine smiled. Finally, he thought, something is going to go right today.

Applejack wasn’t exactly complaining about the barn, but she did have to ask-again-why they had chosen this barn. “Don’t got a problem with giving the barn up,” she said. “But, why this one? Couple of larger barns on the Acres, and might be easier to load all the stuff in there.”

“Because, it is the largest of the barns that is close to town,” Dusk Shine replied, looking over the loading list. “It is not perfect, but by centralizing all the supplies and materials we need, it will make Winter Wrap Up next year much easier to do. You remember all the problems we had last year when we tried to do Winter Wrap Up?”

“I’m assuming we had the same problems,” Applejack sighed. “Stuff scattered all over town, supplies where we didn't need 'em and problems getting 'em back and forth. Still, it’s a risk, ain’t it? Barns have a pretty short half-life around here, if you haven’t noticed. We lose the barn, we lose all the supplies for next year.”

As the trotted closer, they saw that all the large equipment-the plows and carts-had been just recently cleaned, repainted, and lubricated. “Just as if we were going to pull them out tomorrow to use them,” Dusk Shine had told Mayor Mayor, and he was glad to see that they were ready the way they should have been. Barrels of seeds and animal food, racks upon racks of ice skates, organized bundles of bird nest supplies, and a thousand and one other items were waiting as well. Dusk Shine smiled in joy, as it was even labeled in the proper organization and loading order that he (well, technically, Twilight Sparkle) had created for the barn loading.

“I am not worried about that,” Dusk Shine replied, pulling out the loading checklist. “There is a preservation spell that is used on really fragile books and such at the Royal Canterlotian Library. All I had to do was scale it up and add a timer to the spell so it shuts down automatically the day before Winter Wrap Up. Once it has been cast, we could have an invasion of parasprites, loose water tornadoes, and a full buffalo herd stomp through town and nothing in the barn will be disturbed or harmed.”

“Shucks,” Applejack smiled. “Sounds like you were ready for everything this time.”

“And, when am I not?” Dusk Shine said. “Well, more accurately, when is Twilight Sparkle not ready for anything?”

“Y’want the list in alphabetical or chronological order?” Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I am almost scared to ask now,” Dusk Shine replied.

Dusk Shine was justifiably impressed-Twilight Sparkle could really create a load plan. To get all the stuff loaded into the barn would have taken a team of all three pony races-pegasus to fly up with lighter items and rig block and tackle arrays, unicorns for fine manipulation, and Earth ponies for strength and lift. Or, you could get away with just one alicorn and one assistant, which is what Dusk Shine and Applejack were doing. And, at the same time, sharing the similarities-and differences-of their respective Ponyvilles.

“Shelf three, row two,” Dusk Shine said. “That is...small bird feed, yes?”

“Yep,” Applejack replied, as Dusk Shine’s magic field grabbed the bags of bird feed and loaded them carefully onto the shelves. “Y’got your own version of the Cutie Mark Crusaders there, or have those foals finally gotten their Cutie Marks?”

“You-or at least my version of you-came up with the theory that they already had their Cutie Marks, and that they were invisible ones. Believe me, I have looked through the archives and if there is such a thing as an invisible Cutie Mark...they would have had the first,” Dusk Shine noted. He looked around, and said, “Shelf four, row two?”

Applejack was deep in some kind of thought...then, suddenly shook her head and looked around a bit. “Oh, yea...that’s more small bird feed. We go to the larger bird feed in shelf five.”

“I have it,” Dusk Shine replied, and lifted up the next set of bags. “What about Red Gala, or...the name of your brother here?”

“Big Macintosh,” Applejack said, sounding distracted. “Wow...that’s got to be weird. I mean, he’s pretty big as a stallion...how is he as a mare?”

“Huge,” Dusk Shine replied. “Taller and probably stronger than most stallions. Wears her work collar everywhere, I do not think anypony but you has ever seen her with it off.”

“Sounds like Big Mac all right,” Applejack sighed. “Seems weird to me that I’ve got an older sister and a younger brother, and not the reverse.”

“Mine would probably say the same thing,” Dusk Shine replied. He flew over slightly to the next set of shelves. “Shelf seven, row two?”

Applejack had another one of those...pauses, then she shook herself and said, “Small animal biscuits, bag’s over here.”

Dusk Shine grabbed the bags in his magic, and lifted them up. “Got it,” and started to sort them onto the shelf. “And, honestly, what is really starting to throw me off is just how...well, I hate to use the term, but stereotypically mare some of the mares in town are acting now that I showed up. I suspect that Elusive...no, that is Rarity, right?”

A pause, then an audible shaking sound, “Ah, ayep, Rarity...now, that has to be weird, what a stallion version of Rarity would look like. Care to share that detail?”

“Fussy,” Dusk Shine said after a moment. “Very fashion oriented, with an accent that it seemed like he manufactured out of whole cloth. Occasionally able to be fascinated by the most petty of things, but he has been a good friend to us all. However, if he tries to get me into a waistcoat one more time…”

Applejack laughed, a deep, rolling sound from below. “Now, that I gotta see. Rarity has been really insisting that Twilight Sparkle put on the Fancy more often now that she’s a Princess and all. Wonder what she’ll do with you when she gets her hooves on you.”

“That is not the only thing that has worried me,” Dusk Shine admitted. “Oh, shelf eight, row three.”

Another one of those pauses, then Applejack saying, “‘Nother set of small animal biscuits. What does got you worried, sugar plum?”

“I am going to hurt the feelings of somepony, badly,” Dusk Shine admitted, then sighed. “Did you know that Rainbow Dash actually propositioned me after flight exercise today?”

“What did ya say?” Odd tone to Applejack’s voice, Dusk Shine nearly missed it if it wasn’t for the fact that he was looking around for the bags.

“Flew off before I could say something stupid,” Dusk Shine confessed. “It would have been wrong to have...used Twilight Sparkle’s friendship like that? Yes, I do admit that I did enjoy…,” and here, Dusk Shine’s voice trailed off.

A long pause, and then, “Enjoy what, sugar plum?”

“The fantasies,” Dusk Shine admitted. “Ever since I got here, I have been thinking more about, well…”

“Cuddling? Kissing? Hugging?” Applejack asked.

“Yes, very much so,” Dusk Shine said after a moment. “And, I know very much that...having friends here that I can think of that way makes it harder to be responsible.”

“What does responsibility have to do with a roll in the hay?” Applejack asked, an eyebrow raised.

“What happens in about ten months after a roll in the hay,” Dusk Shine added a raised eyebrow to the pot.

“Ah.” The raised eyebrow had a sister rise to the occasion.

“Never a foal of mine to be bastard born, I promised myself. I remember how much trouble Prince Bolero had just being an orphan, let alone a foal without a parent.” Dusk Shine sighed, and took a long, deep breath. “The temptation was there, and…”

Dusk Shine took a long, deep look at Applejack now, and realized that there was this interesting expression on her face. One that made little sense… “Y’wouldn’t abandon somepony that you loved,” Applejack said in wonder. “Y’wouldn’t give up on your friends, ever. T’at why you didn’t take up Rainbow Dash’s offer? If you left...you’d be abandoning us?”

Dusk Shine landed on the floor of the barn, and considered that for a minute. “Yes. I would be abandoning the results of my actions. And, I would never give up on my friends. Or my lovers. Or that special somepony. Ever.”

Applejack’s face broke out in a huge smile and she nuzzled Dusk Shine. His wings immediately sprang to full attention. “That’s probably the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard a stallion say, sugar cube,” Applejack said, looking at him with warm eyes.

Dusk Shine’s brain froze for a moment. Even the little traitor was silent. Then…

From the porch of the house, Granny Smith was working on her knitting. She’d heard the rumors, of course, but it was now a question of if Applejack had picked up the Apple family’s skill at teasing stallions and…

“WHAT?!?” came the very loud voice from the direction of the barn the family had loaned to the town. A very male voice.

Granny Smith smiled and resumed her knitting. Clearly, Applejack was properly blooming.