Dusk and Rune: Shattered Days

The day started out as it normally would. Dusk and Spike would go over the daily checklist of what to prepare for. Quills, ink, extra ink, parchment, and finally, mental stamina. This was a normal day. So far...

"Is that everything?" Dusk asked, looking over the daily supplies.

"Looks like it." Spike answers, checking off everything off the list he had in his claws.

"Good." Dusk smiled in excitement. "Now that we finished the checklist of how to make a checklist, we can work on the checklist for what we're going to do today."

Several hours after starting his daily to-do list, Dusk and Spike were merrily trotting down Ponyville's streets. The daily checklist was even longer than it normally was; usually it only trailed a few feet behind Spike. But today it was a few meters away.

"So how're we doing Spike?" Dusk asked, completely unfazed at the sheer length of the list.

"Well." Spike read off what was accomplished. "We finished our checklist preparations, we returned those chalkboards to Cheerilee, we ordered new quills, scroll, and ink from the stationary shop."

"We do buy a lot don't we?" Dusk asked, now noticing the long checklist. "Go on."

"Cupcakes for the picnic today with the others." Spike commented, joyful over the prospect of treats.

Sugercube Corners was empty off all customers, but waiting on the front counter was a box full of cupcakes, each with a hot pink shade of frosting. Making it to the counter, Dusk rang the bell for the owner Mrs. Cake.

"I'll be with you in a moment dearie." Mrs. Cake or Cup Cake as she let friends call her. Coming out of the back kitchen, Mrs. Cake made her way to the front counter; and when somepony ever gave awards fro best child bearing hips, Mrs. Cake was the winner five years straight. "Oh Dusk, here to pick up your order?"

"Sure are Mrs. Cake." Dusk smiled, using his magic to lift up the box of treats.

"Oh dear you don't have to be so formal." Mrs. Cake smiled softly. "You can just call me Cup Cake."

"I'm sorry Mrs. Cake, but that would be too informal." Dusk apologized with a smile, as he placed more than the necessary amount of bits on the counter. "Thank you for the cupcakes. You know what, here's an extra tip for a job well done."

"Thank you, and enjoy the picnic." Mrs. Cake smiled, but just after Dusk and Spike left the room, she looked at the bits, then back at the door. "Oh, if only he was a little older, or I was a little younger."

"Okay." Dusk asked, back at treehouse and the cupcakes were resting in the kitchen. . "What's next?"

"Well." Spike said, looking over the rolled up mass that was the checklist. "Triple check the checklist, so we don't miss anything when we double check the checklist...check. That's everything."

"Really?" Dusk commented. "We finished everything we needed to do. And it's just barely noon." A sudden realization struck Dusk. "Wait, almost noon? Spike, what's today?

"I think it's Tuesday." Spike answered, only to responded by the shrill shriek of panic that could only come from Dusk in a panic.

"TUESDAY?!" Dusk was now in a panic, his mane somehow was becoming a mess. "How could I be so irresponsible? How could I be such a failure?"

"Bro. It's not a big deal." Spike tried to calm the situation, but Dusk was in one of those moods.

"Not a big deal?! It IS a BIG deal Spike!" Dusk started his rant of responsibilities. "I'm supposed to send letters to Princess Celestia about my studies in friendship every week. Not every other week, not every month; every.single.week."

"So you miss one." Spike commented. "I mean it's not like friendship problems happen here every week."

"But that's not the biggest problem Spike!" Dusk said, running to the nearest window, watching as the Sun was now in the center of the sky. "I have to get a letter to Princess Celestia...or I'll be TARDY!!"

"Tardy?" Spike asked, but quickly wished he hadn't.

"T.A.R.D.Y Spike!" Dusk commented, wrapping himself in the blanket of his bed, like a self pity cocoon. "It means I'm going to be late! I've never been late on an assignment. How could this happen, I'm more organized than this!"

"Maybe you forgot, but there was that whole Eris, Goddess of Chaos that was free yesterday." Spike tried again to calm his friend. "I'm pretty sure Princess Celestia will forgive you for a day or so late."

"I can't take that chance Spike." Dusk continued his rant of self pity. "This is the ruler of Equestria we're talking about, the one who holds my fate in her hooves. What if she doesn't forgive me? What if she thinks I'm not taking my friendship studies seriously? What if he makes me go back to school to prove I've been serious to pass, and what if I don't pass?"

"I really think this is going overboard here Dusk." Spike said, still trying to care but with Dusk's fears becoming more and more ridiculous, it was hard to care.

"But if I fail, it'll get worst." Dusk explained, with Spike no fully facepalming the ridiculousness of Dusk's rant. "She's my teacher Spike, do you know what teachers do to students who fail? They send them back a grade! But she won't send me back a simple grade, oh no, far worse." The life and color all but left Dusk's face at the sheer horror he thought. "She'll send me to Magic Kindergarten!"

"That's just ridiculous Dusk." Spike commented. "The Princess isn't going to send you back to Magic Kindergarten."

"You're right Spike." Dusk seemed to calm down. "I'll just solve a friendship problem before sundown. And I know just who to go to." Before Spike could commented, Dusk galloped out of the room and into the streets of Ponyville; heading for the Everfree Forest.

"And so you come to me?" Rune commented, sitting at the main table in Zecora's hut, sipping tea with Dusk. What was the oddest thing was that Rune was wearing a large piece of tin foil on his head like a hat. "I mean, yes the past several hours have been a bit of an agony. I mean did you know that Pinkie came up with over a fifty ways to use whipped cream, and only five of them involve eating."

"But that's the thing Rune." Dusk said, finishing his tea. "I NEED to solve a friendship problem before sundown, and since you can read minds. eh?"

"I'd love to help Dusk." Rune said, finishing his own tea and rubbing his head. "But I'm still organizing my own thoughts, last thing I need to to add more ponies' thoughts in here. Even Zecora and Midnight went out earlier to get some herbs for my headache."

"Oh...okay." Dusk said a little sorrowful. "Is there anything you can do to help?"

"Well." Rune said, getting up. "I can't read minds, but I can come with you and be an extra pair of eyes. Though, what about Trixie, she's always complaining about one thing or another."

"Yeah well...Trixie moved out." Dusk answered, getting up as well. "After the who Eris thing yesterday, Princess Celestia offered her a job at the School for Gifted Unicorn."

"So she's a teacher?" Rune asked, trotting towards the door.

"More like a teacher's assistant." Dusk answered, following Rune out of the hut. "Won't Zecora be wondering where you are?"

"Actually the funny thing about that." Rune answered. "i sorta got Zecora pregnant."

"WHAT?! But that's a perfect friendship problem!" Dusk leaped with joy, his head hitting the door frame.

"Not really, more of a personal, father problem." Rune stated. "Come on, let's find you a friendship problem."

Just outside of the Everfree, Dusk and Rune arrived t Fluttershy's cottage. It was as quiet as it normally was, except for the sudden loud roar that echoed from the backyard. Sensing both a friend in need of help and a friend in danger, Dusk and Rune galloped at full speed to Fluttershy's backyard. Once they arrived, the two stallions saw Fluttershy fighting her bear Harry. With fierce roars and brandishing his large claws, Harry put up some kind of a fight as Fluttershy quickly flew under the bear's body, up his back and then delivered a hard kick to his back; knocking the bear to the ground.

"Fluttershy?!" Dusk said in disbelief. "How could this happen, I mean of all the time for her to not be afraid of her own tail. She had to fight a bear."

"Well, one down. We can still find a problem in this town somewhere." Rune said, as both stallions walked away, completely unaware of what Fluttershy was actually doing:

After another few hours of failed attempts at helping other ponies; which ranged from helping the Cutie Mark Crusaders, which ended in their tree house being destroyed, then fixed, as well as trying to get Big Mac and Cheerilee to be more public about their relationship, which ended with Big Mac giving them a spine shattering grimace stare. Waiting at a bench in the park, Dusk and Rune were reaching their wits end.

"I can't believe it." Rune commented with a sigh. "Out of all the days for a town who panic over a bunny stampede, you'd think there was one problem to solve."

"We could still talk about Zecora and you." Dusk brought that up again.

"Uhh, hey, it's time for the picnic isn't it." Rune said, dodging the topic.

"Oh my Celestia, the picnic!" Dusk said galloping as fast as her could to the other side of the park, with Rune following.

At the picnic sight, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Spike were already sitting, relaxing, and sharing a few laughs. Their laughs quickly turned to worry when they saw what a mess Dusk looked like. In his rush, Dusk ran through more than a few small dirt and mud puddles, his hooves were covered in filth, his mane was an absolute mess of tangles, and maddening bed hair; and his eyes were looking everywhere in some cross eyed creepy fashion.

"Uh sugarcube?" Applejack asked. "Are you alright?"

"Just great, great, great!" Dusk said in a small bit of a crazed tone.

"He's kinda having a nervous breakdown because he can't think of a friendship problem to solve before sundown." Rune explained.

"He's still on about that?" Spike commented, downing another crystal coated cupcake. "Well i hate to tell you this Dusk, but it's about an hour before sundown."

"WHAT?!" Dusk was now in a full panic. "I need a problem, somepony ANYPONY!! GIVE ME A PROBLEM TO SOLVE!!"

"Yeah I'm gonna go skip you to the punchline on this one." Rune said before sending a letter to Princess Luna. "As much as I'd love to help you start trouble, just to solve it, I'm still recovering from my headache and foreign memories. So I sent our problem to Luna." Before Dusk could even panic even more over Rune's actions, a sudden burst of light exploded in the sky above the ponies. "Well that was fast."

"What did you tell her?" Dusk asked, as if he were a mouse begging to a cat.

"I told her to tell Celestia about your problem." Rune said, only to feel the grip of Dusk's hooves on his shoulders, shaking him in his frustration.

"You did WHAT?!" Dusk was back to panicking and being loud with his freak out. "Do you have ANY idea what you just-"

"DUSK SHINE!" Celestia's voice boomed over the group, silencing Dusk and causing his legs to tremble before giving out. From the light, Princess Celestia appeared and descended upon the group. "It seems my lessons are causing a little bit of stress."

"Stress? Stress? Who said anything about stress? I'm not stressed?" Dusk soon found his words were not convincing the staring monarch. "Please don't send me to Magic Kindergarten. I'll do better."

"Dusk, Dusk, Dusk I'm not going to punish you." Celestia commented, patting Dusk on his shoulder. "You've done beyond my expectations for your studies on friendship. You made such wonderful friends, brought my sister back, and with the power of your friendship, defeated Eris. I feel it is no longer necessary for you to send me weekly reports. Let it be known to you and your friends, that you are to send me friendship reports when you learn something new about friendship, no matter when it occurs."

With that, Celestia smiled and slowly vanish, but not before swiping a cupcake for herself. After her departure, Dusk felt more at peace and relaxed. This was not the end of his lessons, or even some watered down teaching; this was the next step in his studies. To Dusk, this was better than the triple A+s he was accustom to.

"See, everything worked out." Rune commented, patting Dusk on the back. "You even got some good compliments from Celestia on top of it."

"I guess you're right Rune." Dusk said, still a tad tense, but at least capable of sitting and calming down. "Thanks for sending that letter to Luna, I probably would've still been panicking without that."

"Anytime my friend." Rune said, before looking back at the Everfree. "But you enjoy the rest of the picnic, I have something I need to talk with Zecora about."

"Oh, okay. Good luck Rune." Dusk smiled to his friend before letting him depart.

"It seems my impregnation has not escaped their notice." Zecora said, looking over a letter written in Zebra characters. "Look at the letter they wrote us."

"I can't read Zebra you know that." Rune laughed a little, hugging Zecora closely. "But is something going to happen?"

"Is Mommy going to be okay?" Midnight asked, worried about her new mother's fate.

"Everything will be fine." Zecora reassured her family. "When they arrive, I will have to leave with them for a bit of time."

"Who's coming?" Both Rune and Midnight asked.

"The Kusaidia. It is the members of my tribe, whose role is to give support." Zecora explained. "When they come, I will leave until our child is born; your life you should not distort."