Operation: D-Dusk

Chapters

Chapter 1: The Problem with Romance
Chapter 2: Drastic Action
Chapter 3: The Art of Sabotage
Chapter 4: A Change in Plans
Chapter 5: Date Night (Game Time)
Chapter 6: Reversal
Chapter 7: Lesson Learnt

Chapter 1: The Problem with Romance

Author's Note

Final Warning: The following story contains m/m shipping.

This story has been co-written by my talented, Australian friend, Milo Chalks.

Chapter 1: The Problem with Romance

Ridiculously overdramatic and unexplainable situations. That is how Bubbly Berry often found himself. How it happened once was a lucky circumstance. How it happened almost every other day was purely a new form of circumstance only the over-the-top pink stallion could achieve. It had gotten to the point where his five friends took rostered turns in helping Bubble out of these situations. Today, he managed to stick himself to one of Applejack’s trees, completely encased in apple-flavored chewing gum. The only thing not covered in the sticky gum was his head, swinging from side to side and humming a tune. He looked perfectly content on spending the afternoon encased in confectionary.

That was until a voice interrupted his improvised melody. “Berry? What on earth happened to you, darling?” The voice came from a white unicorn with a puzzled look on his face. “And more importantly, why are you covered in gum?”

“Hey Lucy!” the pink stallion happily replied. “Long story short, I was about to head back to work when I noticed that Grandpa Smith had just made some apple-flavored gum. He told me not to touch it until this afternoon, but it was just too tempting not to, so I maybe took several dozen and they were so tasty! But then I started making bubbles and you can probably guess what happened.”

The unicorn sighed as his horn lit up. “So how long have you been stuck here?”

Berry looked around the sky, spying the sun and the shadows around him. “I would probably say… five hours?”

“Five hours?! Well, let’s get you down then. Whose turn is it anyway?” Elusive asked with a tilted head.

“Dusky’s! It would have been Blitzy, but he took over for Dusk two weeks in a row because he was in Canterlot with Solaris, and Blitz said he wouldn’t cover any more of Dusky’s shifts, but he’s in Canterlot again. I saw him leave this morning to go visit Solaris again, but that means that someone else will have to take over to help me out of this tree. By the way, how ADORABLE are Dusky and Solaris, am I right?” Bubble managed to blast out in one breath.

“Alright, well, maybe Applejack will have an idea on how to get you out. I’m going to go find him. I was just going to go see him anyhow.” Elusive replied.

“C’mon Dusk, we miss you.” Elusive mumbled under his breath before going off to find Applejack.

_*_

At this point, Prince Dusk Shine had already lost count on how many happy sighs he’d given on his way home. The surprise date from Solaris was simple, but fantastic all the same. This time it was over a new exhibition at an art gallery that had just opened up, and the Sun Prince wanted him to be there with him. Of course, they did get rather distracted afterward. Well… by “distracted,” Dusk meant that they had gone on long flights, stopped for lunch while giving the owner of the said establishment a heart attack, and ending with Solaris giving his “consort” a very long goodbye kiss. But now, Dusk was happy to just be back home.

The sun was nearly setting above the horizon by the time Dusk had returned to his crystal tree home in the center of town. He noticed that the front door was cracked open. Curious, he peeked his head inside. “Spines! Are you in?” No reply. “Hello? Anypony here?”

“In the throne room!” Rainbow Blitz cried out, his voice bouncing off the shiny crystal walls. Dusk walked in and headed towards the main room of the castle where he found all five of his pony friends, plus a baby dragoness, sitting in their thrones.

“Hey guys,” the lilac alicorn greeted as he closed the door behind him. “What’s going on?”

“Partner,” Applejack spoke up while adjusting his hat. “Take a seat, we all have somethin’ ta talk about.”

Confused, Dusk took his usual place at the round table. Now sitting down, he looked around at his friends, noting that Elusive and Butterscotch looked worried and compassionate, Blitz and Applejack looked annoyed, and Bubble Berry just wore his signature grin. Spines sat in her chair horizontally, not really paying attention.

“Alright, what’s this all about?” Dusk asked, curious about their odd blend of emotions.

“We’re ticked off that you keep going off with Solaris all the time!” Blitz replied bitterly, making a poor effort to not raise his voice. “You’ve missed your ‘get-Bubble-Berry-out-of-his-mental-situations’ shift for the third week in a row! I mean, did you know that Berry was stuck to a tree with bubble gum for five hours? Not to mention that we hardly even see you anymore. The map has gone off twice and you weren’t even here!”

“Now settle down Blitz, dear. We must do this… diplomatically.” Elusive looked back at Blitz provoking a low growl from him.

“Now Dusk, we are happy for you in every sense of the word for finding your special somepony,” Elusive curtly explained. “In truth, however, it is taking time away from your friends. A lot of times, in fact, I am almost certain that you have a permanent room in Canterlot Castle.”

“Yeah, in Solaris’ bed!” Bubble Berry couldn’t resist, giggling and causing a blush to appear on Dusk’s cheeks.

Dusk glared daggers at Berry. “First of all, we haven’t done anything that… intimate yet.”

Blitz softly groaned before passing some bits to Applejack underneath the table. “Just bone already, why don’t you…” he mumbled out of Dusk’s earshot. Applejack’s smirk and Blitz’s scowl spoke volumes.

“Secondly,” he continued, “believe it or not, I understand where you all are coming from. At the same time, however, you guys gotta realize that this is the first serious relationship I’ve ever had. Just because I’m spending time with Solaris doesn’t mean that I’m forgetting about you guys, too.”

“That’s not the point we’re making,” Butterscotch softly spoke up. “It’s not like we have anything against your relationship -- in fact, we’re happy for you -- but when you’re not here for nearly days on end to the point where we’re not sure when you’re coming back… then we might have a little problem.”

“Ah have ta agree with Scotch on this,” Applejack nodded. “It’s not yer relationship that’s makin’ us all worried. It’s the fact that the very guy that makes checklists an’ schedules on everythin’ suddenly finds himself spending a little too much time with his coltfriend rather than his friends.”

“Alright, alright,” Dusk interrupted, clearly annoyed at his friends for ganging up on him. “Well, what do you expect me to say to him? ‘Hey Solaris, my friends miss me, do you think we can make our date tonight because I’m busy pulling a pink stallion out of a tree coated in bubble gum?’”

It was Bubble Bery that spoke up this time. “Oooo, oooo, oooo! I know, I know! Our problem is that Dusky needs to go AAAAAAAAALL the way to Canterlot to be able to see his cutesy-wootsy coltfriend, right?” Everypony nodded. “Weeeeeeell, why don’t we get a big rope, tie it to Ponyville and wrap it around Canterlot, then pull so hard that Ponyville moves right next to Canterlot! Then we won’t have to worry!” A small squeak came out of Bubble Berry as his smile widened to borderline-exorcism levels.

Applejack leaned over to Rainbow. “Remind me again why he’s not shacked up in the wacko basket?”

Everypony around the table smiled and nodded, wondering how much coffee the Cakes had allowed him this morning. Suddenly, Bubble jumped atop the table and shrieked out in joy. “Oh! We’re gonna need a HUGE rope!” With that, all that was left in the place of Bubble Berry was confetti and glitter slowly falling to the ground. All Rainbow Blitz could see was a pink blur and a gust of wind that could probably even beat his wind speed. Before anypony knew it, Berry had left the building.

“Or…” Spines finally spoke up as she moved to sit upright in her chair. “Why not just figure out a workable schedule, Dusk? I mean, the guys are in the right here.”

“What?”

“It only seems fair to take turns whenever Berry is doing Solaris-knows-what and to try and bring him back to reality. You’ve been missing your turn for three weeks in a row now, so why not simply reschedule?”

Dusk frowned. “Spines, do you think I haven’t thought of that already? Of course, I tried that a few weeks ago, but it’s not as simple as you’re making it sound. Solaris does have things he needs to take care of too, only he doesn’t know when he’s gonna be free. He made it very clear that he does want to spend as much time as possible with me when he has his free days. Unfortunately, those free days come at complete random, so who knows if he’ll be free tomorrow or several days from now. If I could somehow look into the future every couple of months or so, it would be of some help, but I’m sorry to say that I don’t exactly have that ability.”

“Says the pony who once time traveled a whole day to warn himself about the impending doom that was about to happen,” Rainbow deadpanned.

“Not talking about that!” Dusk quickly added, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks.

“Well that has to be some way to solve this where you get to spend time with Solaris, and we still get time with our friends,” Elusive replied.

Butterscotch rested his chin on his hoof in deep thought, analyzing the situation that had been presented. On one hoof, they needed Dusk to be around because of Bubble Berry and to take turns with him. However, on the other hoof, Dusk Shine’s coltfriend has an unpredictable schedule that was as spontaneous as Eris popping out of his floorboards for a sleepover. Not only that, but given the time the Prince was putting into seeing Solaris, he clearly liked him enough that he didn’t want to give up on seeing him. “Maybe--”

Unfortunately, whatever suggestion the timid pegasus was about to give was suddenly interrupted by Berry’s cry of “FOUND IT!!!” which made Butterscotch jump to the ceiling, hooking his forelegs around the tree-root chandelier like a frightened cat.

The other ponies in the room quickly snapped their heads around to the door to see Berry struggling to pull a very long and very thick rope. Dusk blinked a few times. “Bubble, where did you get that?”

“Don’t you know?” he asked as he dragged the enormous rope into the room. “I have rope stashed all over Ponyville in case of rope emergencies.”

Rainbow leaned over to Applejack. “I swear, that pony has catacombs under here.” The farmpony chuckled in response.

“Somepony help me tie this around the castle! We are moving to Canterlot!” Bubble Berry shouted.

“Berry, dearest, we aren’t going to move to Canterlot. Come and help us with some ideas.” Elusive replied curtly.

Butterscotch managed to unlatch himself from the ceiling and floated back into his seat. He lowered his head and raised his hoof a little to get their attention. “Maybe--”

“Of course it will have to cater to everypony: Dusk, us, and Solaris. But I have no idea how we can do this,” Elusive interrupted, not noticing the timid stallion.

“Well maybe--”

“Well, why don’t we hurry up!” Blitz started, “I have to get my daily flight in befo--”

Butterscotch couldn’t take it anymore. He jumped up onto the table while glaring angrily at Blitz. “Maybe--!” He hissed loudly, earning everypony’s attention, “we could simply just--”

“GUYS!!!” The whole room was silenced by Dusk’s roar. Everypony turned to him, his hooves over his eyes and breathing deeply. “This is not solving anything! Berry, as much as I appreciate the idea, it simply won’t work. And to be honest, I don’t even know what to do myself. I don’t know how to solve this, I don’t know how to balance our time with Solaris, and I don’t know how to work around his schedule so that it doesn’t interfere with hanging out with you guys! I don’t…” Pausing, he took a shaky breath. “I’m sorry, I really am. I’m tired, it’s been a long day, and… I don’t know what to do.” He looked up at his friends, eyes heavy, and rose from his throne. “I really need to go to bed. Maybe we can work something out… but at the moment, I’m just not seeing how.” With that, the Prince left.

All five ponies plus a dragoness looked at one another. “Great,” Blitz sighed. “Now what?”

“That is a bitterly good question,” Elusive commented. “What is there to do? Our intervention has left us nowhere other than where we’ve started.”

“It’s like we’ve gone walkin’ around in a full circle.” Applejack rubbed his temples. “Dangit, this is hard!”

“Or maybe it isn’t…” Everypony turned to Berry who suddenly went quiet again, as if in thought. “What if this whole thing is very simple from the start?”

Butterscotch sighed in relief. “Oh good. Berry, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

The party pony nodded. “Of course I do, silly! It’s so simple that even Scootaroll could solve it.”

“I suppose so. So, we--”

“WE HAVE TO MAKE THEM BREAK UP!” Berry declared.

For a tense moment, nopony spoke a word, except for the one that they were all thinking: “WHAT?!”

Chapter 2: Drastic Action

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Chapter 3: The Art of Sabotage

Applejack had long ago given up on counting how many calming breaths he had taken before he reached the door of the boutique. He didn’t exactly have an idea of what to expect when Elusive had asked to see him… alone… in a secluded place… away from everypony else. Shaking his head, he rang the doorbell, and a moment later was swiftly pulled inside by a light blue aura.

Elusive quickly closed and locked the door behind him. “Were you followed?”

“Uh… Ah don’t think so…?”

“I need you to be certain.” The tailor peeked behind the curtains of his shop. “Are you sure nopony followed you?”

“It’s jus’ me,” AJ replied. “Lucy, what’s with all the cloak and dagger?”

Satisfied that he didn’t see anypony outside of his shop, the unicorn approached the farmpony. “Before I say anything, I need to ask one very important question: Do you really want Dusk and Solaris to be broken up?”

“Well… Ah guess not, but if it’s the only way to get mah friend back, Ah’ll do it.”

Elusive smiled as he had the farmpony under his hoof. “Look, love is sacred. There are other ways of getting our friend back, so we can all work this out like adults. Bubble Berry is wrong, and you and I can see that. Just us two, you and me AJ. We are smarter and better than that. What’s more…” Elusive gulped a bit before carrying on. “What’s more is, I think we might have something… uh, special going on here. While it’s still too early to be certain of whether or not we should embrace it, everything will be about Dusk if we break him up.”

Applejack’s heart raced into his throat, his chest tightening as he nodded his head furiously. “Lucy, what do y’all propose we do?” he cried.

Elusive quickly threw a hoof over Applejack’s mouth. “Shhh! Keep it down.” He hushed quietly. “Let’s deal with one thing at a time.”

“What do y’all propose we do?” Applejack repeated in a whisper.

“Firstly, what Berry is doing is wrong but for all the right reasons. Yes, we should have our friend back, however, I don’t think that having us breaking them up is the answer. I think that the key to all of this may lie with Solaris. If we could just get close enough to him, he might provide the solution we’ve been looking for. Of course, the rest of the guys will be watching us, so we must get the message across without them knowing it. We’ll have to do some, but not all, of the things they’ll suggest for us to do, and we’ll have to keep damage to a minimum. With Prince Solaris’s help, we could both leave their relationship intact and have Dusk back too. Are you following me?”

“Ah think so. You want us ta speak with Dusk’s coltfriend while makin’ Berry thinks we’re busy destroyin’ it?”

“Precisely,” Elusive nodded. “If we do this carefully and it works, we’ll end up with a win-win.”

“Ah don’t wanna get them in trouble or nothin’ Lucy. Ah wanna help, and Ah like what yer doin’, but Ah don’t want it to seem like they’re in the wrong.” Applejack admitted looking away from Elusive.

“Alright, alright, fine. But what can we do?! If their plan doesn’t work, then maybe we can sort this all out with Dusk, but we need the time.” Elusive thought.

“Why don’t we sabotage the sabotage? Like, we secretly ruin Berry’s plans durin’ the double date, then with the time we gain by ruinin’ their plans, we can sort this all out with Solaris and Dusk. Nopony gets inta trouble, nopony gets hurt, and Dusk’s relationship is saved.” Applejack suggested.

Elusive thought for a moment, his eyes getting wider as he thought more and more about it. He gave Applejack a huge smile, leaping at his friend with his hooves thrown around him in an enormous hug. “Applejack, that is pure genius! Why didn’t I think of it before? Oh, that is perfect! Thank you, Applejack.” Elusive broke their hug to see a tomato-colored face. “Do join me for some tea so we can discuss the details.”

Applejack moved forward with a slight trip, very much excited about this prospect. “Ah’d love to, Elusive.”

“Oh, and one more important item of business,” Elusive said. “Now Applejack, I’m going to ask you something that’s… somewhat embarrassing, but I need you to be honest with me when I ask this.”

Applejack froze. “Uh… s-sure. What is it?”

“Applejack, I’m not going to lie since you are making it fairly damn obvious, but for all intents and purposes to ensure that I haven’t been given the wrong impression…” He took a breath, steeling himself. “Do you have a crush on me?”

His friend stood still for what seemed like an eternity, his mouth moving but no sound came out of it. “A-Ah, um… Ah, uh…” His face was burning, ears drooping back as he rubbed the back of his neck. He finally let out a soft “Yes’m.”

Elusive closed his eyes and nodded. “Okay… okay, I think we can work with this.” He looked up with a smile. “At least it would make our double date proposal to Dusk all the more convincing, right?”

The farmer chuckled. “Y-yeah, Ah guess so.”

“Come, then. Let’s have some tea.”

_*_

“Now, do you remember how we are going to make it a little more interesting for Berry’s plan?” Elusive asked Applejack, walking convincingly close to each other as they made their way to Dusk’s castle.

“We suggest a double date by the lake.” Applejack smiled in content.

“No! That’s where Berry wants us to take them. We need to take them to the top of that scenic hill at Sweet Apple Acres, far away from Bubble’s traps and in your turf.” Elusive smiled and, much to the delight of Applejack, pulled him closer as they approached the entrance to Dusk’s castle. “With a blush like that, lovercolt, we’ll easily convince him.” Elusive giggled as Applejack only blushed harder.

Knock, knock, knock.

The two waited for a minute until the enormous doors opened. “Yes, can I… Oh! Hey guys. What’s up?”

“Howdy Dusk!” Applejack replied, sticking close to the unicorn while rubbing the back of his head. “Are ya busy any?”

“I was just reading about the history of physics, but nothing much besides that.” He raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Can we talk to you?” Elusive asked. “Preferably inside?”

“It’s kinda embarrassin’,” Applejack added. “None of the other guys know about it yet, so we wanna come to ya first.”

Dusk blinked. “Okay…? Come on in then.” He stepped aside and the three of them walked to the throne room. “So, what is it that you guys want to talk to me about?”

“Well, it’s… it’s kinda big. Why don’t you tell him, AJ?” Elusive smiled and rubbed against Applejack.

Applejack stammered a bit before finally managing to bring out the words. “Well… Ah and Elusive… are kinda… well, together.”

Dusk raised an eyebrow, clearly not understanding. “Define 'together’.”

Elusive rolled his eyes. “For the love of… Dusk, we are in love! For goodness sake, you haven’t changed a bit.” He huffed.

Dusk was taken aback as he looked between the two. “Wait… like, really?” Dusk asked, clearly finding difficulty believing them.

Elusive just looked at Dusk in confusion. “Dusk! How can you deny this?” Elusive threw Applejack’s head back and suddenly kissed him like he’d trained for it his whole life.

The lilac alicorn’s jaw slammed to the floor. When the two stallions finally parted lips, they glanced over to their friend. “O-Oh wow… I really didn’t see that coming.”

“Neither did Ah,” Applejack sighed, shaking his head to return to his senses. “A-Anyways, y-yeah. Ah know this is really unexpected for Y'all, but Ah guess Ah can’t exactly blame ya since nopony else really knows about it.”

“How long has this been going on?” Dusk inquired.

Elusive rubbed his foreleg. “We had somewhat of an idea for a while now, but it wasn’t until recently when… certain things came into light.”

“That, and we’re still pretty new to all of this,” Applejack admitted. “So, since yer the only friend we know that has a coltfriend, we were thinkin’ if ya could… uh…”

“Yes…?” the alicorn asked, intrigued.

“Well, we wanted to be able to connect with somepony like us. Applejack and I were hoping that we could maybe have a double date with you and Solaris.” Elusive smiled.

Dusk’s eyes lit up. “That sounds like a fantastic idea guys! This will be great! Solaris is coming over for a dinner date next Friday. Where should we go?”

“Well, we were maybe thinkin’ about goin’ to Sweet Apple Acres.” Applejack smiled, rubbing his face against Elusive’s affectionately. “There’s a nice place where it’s scenic and beautiful. Lucy and I could cook and then some. ‘Sides, come Friday, Grandpa Smith and Apple Buck will be in Appleloosa, so we shouldn’t have any distractions.”

The prince put a hoof to his chin. “You know, we haven’t gone on a picnic for a while ourselves, so I guess that could work. There are so many things we could teach you guys since you’ve just started out. Everything that we’ve learned and all. So yeah, I’ll be glad to help you guys out.”

“You’re the best, Dusk,” said Elusive. “We’re so glad to have somepony like you around.”

“Not a problem. Of course, I need to tell Solaris about this so he at least has an idea of what to expect. And guys,” Dusk smiled at them, “I do hope that your relationship will be just as happy as ours! I’m so oddly excited for this date.”

“Thank ya, Dusk,” Applejack nodded and winked at Elusive. “We’re all lookin’ forward to it.”

Chapter 4: A Change in Plans

Elusive and Applejack bolted into the party cave in a panic, galloping up to Bubble Berry and stopping just behind him, panting. The party pony was drawing up some plans for the day of the attack. He spun around, his usual grin plastered on his face. “My lovercolts! What brings you to the super-secret party cave?”

Elusive nudged Applejack who looked back in confusion for a moment before looking back at the fashion pony in expectation. They both took a long hard look at each other in annoyance before Elusive finally rolled his eyes, returning to Bubble Berry. “Berry, I don’t know how to say this, but Dusk hated the lakeside idea. He wanted to move the date to Sweet Apple Acres on the hilltop, where you can see Ponyville and the orchards. He wanted to see the beautiful sun setting in the background, filling the valleys with oranges and reds.” Elusive let out a happy sigh. “Can’t blame him really.”

For a moment, Berry fell silent. His left eye twitched and his mane started to straighten out one hair at a time. “Is that so…?” he said slowly before pacing around them. “But… but we’ve made plans by the lakeside! With the big splash and them getting wet and… and now! Nonononono! This is bad, this is really, REAAAAAAAALLY bad!” Although his friend was showing clear signs of anxiety, Elusive couldn’t help but inwardly sigh in relief. Suddenly, the pink stallion paused his panicking and sat on his haunches. He reached into his mane and pulled out a metal pot and wooden spoon, tapping the pot and making a low-pitch ringing sound.

Both Applejack and Elusive were confused as the single note continued to ring inside the party cave before Berry sighed in relief. “You know what?” he said as he tossed the ringing bowl and spoon behind him. “I think that, while this is a setback, we can still do this… only now, we need to go back to the drawing board. Yes! We can still do this!”

The white unicorn was practically kicking himself over this, but he didn’t want to give his secret out so he remained still. “Really? Then how, pray tell, are you going to do that now that we’ve moved to a different location?”

“When the going gets tough,” Berry hopped over to his chalkboard, “the bold get creative! You guys said that it’s gonna take place on AJ’s farm, right?” They nodded. “Now, of course, our original splashing idea is gonna have to be scrapped, but there’s still plenty of ways to ruin their date over on the farm. There’s always rotten apples, or ants, or vampire fruit bats, except they’re not around yet…” The party pony put a hoof to his chin, humming in thought. “Never fear, you guys! We will come up with something. Although it’ll take us a while to rethink everything, we will come up with something.”

Elusive’s eyes shrank slightly at all the possible date-ruining ideas running through the Pink commander’s mind. “Okay, good ideas. So, umm… sure you can ruin the date, but how on earth is that going to stop Dusk and Solaris from dating?”

Bubble’s eyes widened greedily at the thought of spilling the beans to his grand plan. “Well, duh silly!” Berry giggled. “I’m gonna pin the catastrophe on one of them! I’ll plant a bunch of terrible things on the OTHER one to make it seem like he wants to hurt the other, they’ll fight, and then they’ll break up! Then we get our Dusky back.”

Elusive’s throat went dry, and even Applejack tensed a bit at the pure evilness of the plan. It seemed that no matter what kind of monkey wrench they tried to throw into his plans, Berry became even more determined than ever to go through such a disastrous plot at the cost of their friend’s happiness. But even at that moment, Elusive didn’t want to give up. He and Applejack would counter this plot by any means necessary.

“Well pardner,” Applejack began, “what exactly do ya want us ta do? We’ve already got Dusk on board with the whole double date thing.”

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about that.” Berry patted his friend’ blond mane. “We’ve still got a few days left before the big date, so you just let your Uncle Berry take care of everything. In the meantime, I suggest you two practice some more on being our undercover couple.”

Just then, Elusive got an idea. “Berry, dear, when you guys do come up with those ideas, could you perhaps tell us about them ahead of time? That way, we would know what we’d be doing once we go on our double date.”

“Sounds fair,” Berry nodded. “After our meetings, I’ll send you guys a secret message about our ideas beforehoof so you can prepare for the sabotaging. After all, the more prepared we are, the sooner we’ll get our Dusky back.”

The unicorn grinned wickedly. “Yes, that would be most helpful indeed.”

Berry paused and gave them a cautious look. Coming right up to Elusive’s face, Berry’s closer eye grey to epic proportions as he shot him a point-blank stare. “You two seem a bit fishy… Of course, it could be because you two are so getting into your characters! Faaaaaaaaaantabulous! But juuuuuuuuust to be sure, I’ll keep an eye on you.”

_*_

“This is bad. This is very very bad Lucy!” Applejack cried through ragged breaths. “That stallion right there is goin’ ta single-hoofedly do something diabolical to our closest friend. Ah kinda thought Dusk and Solaris were pretty darn cute, as well.”

Elusive rolled his eyes as the farmpony rambled on. He leaned onto Applejack and gave him a quick peck on the check. Applejack stopped rambling and blushed.

“An’ now what in tarnation?” Applejack replied, looking over at Elusive and clearly not impressed with his timing.

“Applejack, dearest, it was to get you to shut up. Look, the going has gotten tough. Bubble’s plans are undisputedly diabolical, there’s no doubting that, but we need to do this for Dusk’s sake. Besides… I am, well, rather beginning to enjoy working with you more and more. Once this all blows over, I think we may be able to start over again, seeing as your feelings are clearly in my direction.” Elusive said while looking head, his face not giving too much away. Applejack looked down a bit, thinking hard. Silence fell over the two as the barn came into sight.

“Ah didn’t really think that y’all would be interested in… well, you get the picture.” Applejack looked away from his friend.

“Applejack,” Elusive sighed, looking opposite his friend. “I like who I want to. A pony is a pony. If their personality is ugly, then I wouldn’t so much as a sniff in their romantic direction. You… I don’t know. You are sensible as of late, and your infatuation for me is a little sweet.”

“Ya think I’m sweet?” Applejack looked back at Elusive expectantly.

A cheeky smirk filled Elusive’s face as he trotted slowly over to Applejack. The farmpony slowly backed up, getting smaller and smaller until he was almost on his back as Elusive’s muzzle was mere centimeters from his own. “Just because I look at personality, my fine farmer friend, does not mean that I can’t make a mare out of that sweet little hindquarters.” Elusive backed off and lifted a shivering Applejack back up with his magic. Once he was placed on all fours, the unicorn walked off without him.

“Holy hay those fashionistas have flame.” He whispered to himself as he caught back up.

Elusive craned his neck over as soon as his friend walked back up to his side. “You know,” he began, “I think there’s a way that we can still save Dusk’s relationship.”

Applejack blinked. “Really? How? Ya heard Berry. He’s gonna keep a close eye on us.”

“That’s not quite accurate,” Elusive shook his head with a smirk.

“Huh?”

“Are you sure that’s what he said?” he questioned. “Really think about it. Who exactly did he say he would be watching over?”

The farmer thought back to the party cave, trying to remember what their pink friend had told-- “Hold on a sec. He said that he’d be keepin’ an eye on you now that Ah think about it.”

“Exactly! And that right there is the biggest loophole in his plans. Of course, he’s going to make sure that I don’t sabotage the sabotage, but who would dare to imagine that somepony like yourself would do something so bold?”

“Me?”

The unicorn nodded with enthusiasm. “Yes. Really think about it. You’re the last pony on the face of the planet that would ever do something so sneaky, and that’s the beauty of it! Nopony would ever suspect it, not even--”

“Not even Bubble Berry!” Applejack finished. “Oh, that’s real clever! While he’s eyein’ ya, Ah’ll be the one helpin’ out Dusk.”

“Now you’re getting it.” Elusive patted the farmer on the back. “It’s rather amazing how many problems we can solve when we put our minds to it. We are geniuses at outwitting Berry.”

Applejack chuckled. “Ya really think that about me? Ah mean, it’s weird that you’d consider me a genius and what-not.”

“To be frank with you Applejack, you and your family are very intelligent ponies when you’ve set your mind to it. You could say that it’s another thing that I like about you. It’s a charm to have you as a friend. The way I see it, you could have grown a fifth hoof and I would still give you a fair chance. Besides, I rather do like a challenge when it comes to fashion.” Elusive winked.

“Wow,” the farmer replied with a whistle, “now yer just makin’ me wish Ah would’ve said somethin’ to ya sooner if ya think Ah’m that special.” By now, the two realized that they were a few hoofsteps away from the barn house. “Hey Lucy, Ah just wanna thank ya fer all this and placin’ so much trust in me ta help with Dusk.”

“Oh, the pleasure’s all mine, sweetie. I could never do this without you. Honestly, I don’t know what those other ponies were thinking, siding with Berry. I still love him as a friend, but we have to make him see the light, even though he has good intentions. Alright, let’s go set up our anti-Berry plan.” Elusive smiled, allowing Applejack to open the barn door. He entered, but not without receiving a little smack on his rump from Elusive. The fashion pony giggled, entering after his shocked friend stopped shaking in the doorway.

Chapter 5: Date Night (Game Time)

Friday evening came, and unbeknownst to Dusk Shine, all of his friends were ready. While Berry, Spines, Rainbow Blitz, and Butterscotch remained hidden in the foliage of the trees, the alicorn and his two best friends waited on a nearby hill for the Sun Prince’s arrival. They had already set up a table with various amounts of food they each brought. Dusk kept asking Elusive for the time from his pocket watch, meanwhile, Applejack was trying his best to keep calm. The Prince of Friendship thought both of his friends were somewhat overdressed, being that they were in suits, but he put that thought aside as he looked back to the sky.

“It’s almost seven-thirty.” Dusk tapped his hoof. “You would think he would be here by now, or at least we could see his chariot.”

“Don’t worry, Dusk,” Elusive replied as he closed the lid of his watch and slid it into the vest pocket of his suit. “I’m sure that His Highness is probably planning on a grand entrance.”

The alicorn rolled his eyes. “Please, the only times he does that is when it’s a formal occasion. This, on the other hoof, is a little more casual… Oh, where is he?”

“Maybe he’s been sitting here for the past five minutes wondering why none of you thought to turn around?” A deep, rich voice spoke from behind the three. With a jolt, they spun around to see the Sun Prince chuckling at them.

“Y-Your Grace!” Elusive spoke as he and Applejack bowed. “We didn’t hear you come up.”

“Rise, you two,” said the bearded stallion. When they obeyed, he gave them both a smirk. “Rumor has it that you and Honest Applejack have recently become an item. I would ask if it were true if it wasn’t for our present situation. Oh, and before we continue, may I add that you are looking stunning your coat, Elusive.”

Chuckling nervously, Elusive pulled the Prince’s seat out with his magic. “Thank you… Prince Solaris. I just thought I’d throw something on for the occasion.”

Solaris sat at the table, smiling at Dusk as he rested his head on his hooves, completely ignoring the hummus that he had forelegs sank into. His eyes widened as he realized his situation. With a guilty smile, he used his magic to remove the offending substance from the table.

“So, Elusive…” Solaris beamed at the two ponies sitting opposite one another. “Please, tell me how you two got together.”

Elusive chuckled nervously as he met Solaris’s gaze. “Well… Applejack and I became quite close after I began to help out on the farm. I actually caught him in the act of creating a monologue for me in the orchard one night. It was so sweet that I couldn’t resist.”

Dusk frowned for a moment. “When were you working in the orchard, Elusive? I can’t seem to recall.”

Elusive began to sweat, putting on a large smile and stammering out an answer. “W-Well, it was just the odd hoof with apples high in the trees, mostly while you were in Canterlot. Very untraceable, the guys wouldn’t really know about it so I wouldn’t bother asking them.”

“O… kay?” Dusk raised an eyebrow.

Applejack quickly cut in. “Them apples at the top never come down properly. It’s always good when ya have a unicorn ta help pick them before they rot. The night we got close was amazin’.” Applejack looked to the stars while Elusive shot him a glare.

“We both sat under the stars, Elusive snuggled up to me, and we watched the moon rise over the beautiful landscape. Ah had an amazing, loving pony ta keep me warm through the night.” Applejack smiled, sinking into his seat.

Elusive stared daggers at his date as he smiled nervously. “Hehe, yes, he loves his sentiments, my Applejack.”

Solaris picked up on the awkwardness. “Dusk has also made me aware that you have yet to tell any of your other friends. Though looking at you now, I can say that I completely understand what you are both feeling right now. It’s not easy for ponies like us to let anyone, even your close friends, know about a new relationship.” He glanced over to the other Prince. “Believe me, I know.”

Dusk hummed for a moment. “I… suppose you’re right. I shouldn’t be one to judge. After all, it wasn’t exactly easy for either of us to come out to begin with. Still, I’m impressed that you guys decided to have this double date with us.”

“We’re jus’ not as experienced as Y'all are.” Applejack rubbed his foreleg. “‘Sides, it’s a first fer us in that we’re not exactly sure what we’re doin’.”

“Just think of it as, as Blitz would say, ‘a glorified version of hanging out, but better.”

“In other words,” Solaris picked up a dinner roll, “there’s no need for either of you to be so nervous around us. We like to have a good time just as much as anypony else. So let’s have some fun.” He smiled.

_*_

“This is going so perfectly!” Bubble whispered gleefully behind the bush. He turned to face Butterscotch. “Butter, it’s time to activate stage one! Go tell Blitzy that we’re ready for him!” Bubble Berry ordered.

“Okay… Bubble.” Butterscotch whispered so quietly that even somepony standing next to him could barely hear him.

Staying low at the top of the hill until the picnic was almost out of sight, Butterscotch flew hesitantly towards Rainbow Blitz who stood ready on a large mouse of clouds.

“Rainbow, Bubble says they’re ready for you,” he called out.

“Thanks, Scotch! Head up to the barn to get phase two ready.” Blitz replied. While the yellow pegasus started to make his way to the barn, Rainbow hid carefully as he pushed the ticking time bomb of a storm cloud over towards the hill.

However, what the sabotagers didn’t expect was that both Applejack and Elusive were already prepared for this. As the unicorn spotted the dark cloud heading toward them, he elbowed the apple farmer. “You ready?” he whispered.

Applejack adjusted his hat. “Let’s do this.” He then stretched out his legs. “Golly, Ah’m full,” he announced as he stood up. “Y’know, since it’s gettin’ ta be such a fine night, do ya fellas wanna take a bit of a walk fer a bit? Ah, know a scenic path down yonder.”

Dusk blinked, oblivious to the storm cloud slowly and silently approaching. “But we haven’t gotten to dessert yet.”

“I’m sure it can wait.” Elusive stood up as well. “Why don’t you gentlecolts come along, too? It is a rather nice night.”

“In that case…” Solaris lit up his horn and picked up an entire tray of cake, “I’m taking this with me.” He spied an eye-roll and smirk from his consort. “Come along, Dusk. We’re burning daylight.”

“Coming.” The Prince of Friendship finally got up and followed the three away from the hill.

“What happened?! Where are they all going?” Berry was just about ready to jump out of the bush and go rope them back to the picnic area. Suddenly, a blast of lightning exploded right behind him, causing him to let out a yelp and jump forward. He looked up at the source as Blitz shrugged from atop the cloud.

_*_

“Wow. What a stunning night it is. I must say gents, you have picked the perfect night to do this on.” Prince Solaris smiled, looking across the vast fields of apple trees around them.

“Yes, well, romance can be an art form at times.” Elusive replied, gently nudging Applejack with a smile. The farmpony himself had a slightly dopey smile on his face and the two walked closely side-by-side, much like the royal couple.

Elusive suddenly felt a vibration coming from inside his coat. His eyes widened as he looked over to Applejack.

“If everypony would excuse me for a moment, I need to walkie-tal-- uh, walk over here for a second and tend to something.” Dusk and Solaris looked at each other for a moment before shrugging.

“Alright, but you’ll have to catch up,” Dusk replied.

“Ah’ll stay with Lucy. Y’all have some alone time. We’ll be right with ya.” Applejack added, following Elusive.

So the group parted. Elusive waited for the two stallions to be out of earshot before pulling a bulky walkie-talkie out of his coat.

“WHERE. THE BUCK. ARE YOU?!” yelled a high-pitched voice from the speaker. “You were supposed to keep them there until the storm cloud come! Not only that, but you’re going in the complete opposite direction! Mind telling me where you’re going at least? Over.”

“Y’all take this,” the farmer told him. “Ah ain’t that good at lyin’.”

Elusive thought for a moment before pushing the button. “Bad news, I’m afraid. Solaris suddenly decided to take a detour, taking us all along with him. I hope this doesn’t complicate things.” He said before winking at Applejack.

Silence.

“You’re meant to say over! Over.” Bubble’s voice hissed.

Elusive rolled his eyes. “Sorry, Bubble… Over.”

“Where are you guys going? Over.” Berry inquired.

“Applejack said it’s a little trail that goes by the north-eastern pond. At this rate, it may take a good amount of time to head towards the direction of the barn. Over.”

“Uuuuuuuuugggggggggerahhhhh!!! Over.”

With a triumphant smirk, the unicorn pressed the button. “It is rather disappointing, I know. Maybe we should call this off? Over.”

Silence. For a long minute, there was nothing on the other end before a crackling was finally heard. “No. We’re not giving up that easily. We just have to adapt is all. You guys said you’re heading towards a pond. As in, a body of water? Over.”

Both stallions glanced uneasily at each other. “Indeed,” Elusive replied back. “Why? Over.”

“Okay, new plan. You guys head over there and make sure you keep those two close by the pond until we get over there. I’ll give you new instructions by the time we get there. Over and out.”

Elusive looked confused. “Pardon? Over.”

“It’s Walkie-Talkies for goodbye. Over.”

“Oh, why didn’t you say so? Over.”

“Nevermind, just start heading to the pond. Over and out.” With that, the device fell silent.

“Hmmm, he’ll get suspicious if we don’t head to the pond.”

Applejack smirked. “Well, he didn’t say which pond.”

Elusive looked quizzically at the farmpony. “Applejack, dearest, you live here. Surely you of all ponies know that there is only one body of water on this whole farm. Big as it may be, I hardly understand where you are going with this.”

“Lucy, that righ’ there is where yer wrong. We have a small creek on the west side of the farm for when we let the pigs free.”

“Applejack, you’re a genius!” Elusive shouted, hugging and nuzzling up against his fur for a moment before pulling back. “I could marry you on the spot for that brain of yours!”

Applejack’s eyes widened in panic. “W-What? So soon? Wow Lucy, Ah didn’t think that Ah--”

A blushing Elusive interrupted him with a hoof over his mouth. “It’s a figure of speech,” he coughed into his hoof. “Anyway…” He released Applejack and stepped back. “Alright, show us the way.”

Applejack sheepishly moved forwards in the direction that the other couple had gone off to, a sad look spread across his face. He turned away from Elusive and went off.

Unbeknownst to him, Elusive did catch his sadness. Guilt flooded his chest. Looking down at his hooves, he started to think, then looked back to his face beside him who was hiding his face. Elusive took a look behind and around them, then smiled and started rubbing against Applejack as they walked.

The work pony nearly jumped out of his skin at the first touch. Looking at Elusive in confusion, he was met with a smile and a nod towards the couple ahead. Elusive walked a bit closer to Applejack, nuzzling as they went along. He actually enjoyed the warm feeling and the work pony’s muscles. He smiled as he looked up at Applejack, but then stared at the ground.

“Maybe I do like him? I don’t know… What should I do?”

“Dusk! Prince Solaris! Wait up!” Applejack shouted, making the couple spin around.

The royal stallions paused as the other couple caught up to them. “So where exactly are we headed towards?” the tall alicorn inquired. “I’m afraid I’m not exactly familiar with your farm.”

“Ah know a place,” the farmer said, pointing a hoof. “See that fence there? We’ll follow it ‘til we get to a gate. Through that is a pond that’ll give ya a clear openin’ ta the sky.”

“Sounds good to me,” Dusk shrugged. “You guys can lead. We’ll follow.” He and the Sun Prince allowed them to go ahead before following after them. The lilac alicorn turned to his towering coltfriend. “So, how’s Arty?”

“Keeping himself busy these days,” replied Solaris. “He’s going around defeating nightmares, hunting for monsters in the Everfree, scolding the nobility with his traditional Canterlot voice, hogging all the moonshine… Those sort of things.”

“And… Bluebelle?”

The white alicorn sighed. “She’s at least talking to me. Of course, she’s still not used to our relationship, but I can say in that good faith that she will come to accept us with time. I know her. She can be stubborn when it comes to tradition, but we’re family and I’m sure she’ll come around to it.”

Dusk breathed in the orchard scent for a moment. “In a way, I’m glad you’re here. Now more than ever at least.”

“Oh?” The Sun Prince unfolded a wing and wrapped it around his consort. “Is something troubling you?”

“In a way…” he hesitated. “Yes, I’m facing a problem, only I’m not exactly sure how to phrase it. I guess to put it simply, my friends miss me being their friend.”

The two walked along in silence before Solaris broke it. “I see. I mean, we have been spending a lot of time together. That is tricky. I love you, Dusk Shine, and well… I don’t want to spend any less time with you. Besides, you are too cute when we’re in bed.” Solaris chuckled.

“Shut uuuuup,” Dusk nudged Solaris, smiling and laughing.

Elusive looked behind to see the two laughing. “See that behind us?” he whispered, pulling Applejack closer. “That right there is what we are fighting for, Applejack. Nothing that beautiful should be taken away by somepony else.”

The two ponies in front glanced behind every now and again, smiling at the sight as they brushed closer together.

“Anyways, Dusk,” Solaris began. “If you want to spend more time with your friends, I completely understand. They need time with you as well. In fact, how about this? You stay in Ponyville and be with your friends. No more of these overnight things. Instead, I will clear my schedule in advance, maybe for two weeks or so every couple of months. We will have a lot of unacquitted time together, just you and me. Sure, I will still have things to do here and there, but we will get more time to be with one another. Your friends won’t have to worry about not seeing you.”

Both stallions ahead of the royal couple stopped dead in their tracks and craned their necks around in disbelief. “What?” Dusk inquired. “Is something wrong?”

Applejack and Elusive looked at one another. “We’ve gotta tell ‘em,” the farmer stated.

“Tell us what?” the Solar Prince asked. “For a moment, it seemed as though you two saw Starswirl the Sorceress pop out of a toaster.”

The unicorn scanned around them, making sure that Berry wasn’t around. “Dusk, Solaris, there’s something that the two of you ought to know.”

“You fellas are about ta be bushwhacked,” Applejack stepped in.

Dusk blinked. “What?”

“Sabotaged,” Elusive clarified. “Berry is out there trying to sabotage your relationship with Solaris. He has recruited the guys to help so that you would have more time to be with us.”

The Prince of Friendship’s jaw dropped. “What?!”

“Now before Y'all get mad,” Applejack objected, “he and the guys ain’t doin’ this out of spite. It’s jus’ that since ya’ve been goin’ away to Canterlot so often and considerin’ how many times it be yer turned ta get Berry out of his messes, they were willin’ ta do anythin’ ta get ya back. But now that Solaris brought up that idea…”

“We didn’t want to go through with this,” Elusive added. “We’re trying to double-cross Berry for your sakes. He is going through a plan for you two to get so angry with one another that you’ll break up. But Applejack and I could not allow something like that to happen--”

“Dusk! DUSK! DUSK!!!” The group heard a mare call in the distance.

“Sis?!” Applejack cried out as a desperate-looking Macareina trotted up to their group.

“Ah thought about it, Dusk! Ah thought about us and after that night in th’ barn last week, Ah wanna be with you!”

Every stallion’s jaw dropped at the speed of sound.

“Macarena, did Bubble Berry put you up to this?” Applejack asked, looking up at his big sister.

“Wh-why Ah don know what y’all are talkin’ about.” She mumbled nervously.

The country stallion rolled his eyes. “Sis, Ah’d say you put on a convincin’, yarn, but y’all are lyin’ to th’ Element of Honesty.”

“I have to say, logically I thought that was instantly part of Bubble Berry’s plan, but had I not known, that would have killed me a little inside,” Solaris added, earning a drawn-out awww and a cuddle from his coltfriend. Suddenly, the Sun Prince’s neck straightened and his eyes widened. “Oh… Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho!” He laughed, grinning from ear to ear. “Actually, this is perfect!”

“Huh?” the red mare blinked in confusion. “Yer Highness?”

Solaris was figuratively hopping in place like a child with a new toy. “This is deliciously brilliant!” He turned to the other stallions. “Gentlecolts, I think that now would be the perfect time to pull together a little prank for our pink friend.” His attention returned to the elder Apple siblings. “Madame, how good of an actress are you?”

She shrugged. “Okay, Ah guess?” Her brother smirked.

Solaris then turned to Applejack and Elusive. “And I assume that you two know what Bubble Berry has in store for us?” They nodded. “Excellent!” He rubbed his hooves giddily. “This is really going to be fun!”

Chapter 6: Reversal

Up in the trees of the apple orchard, Bubble Berry peeked through the leaves with a pair of binoculars. He scanned the sea of trees before hopping to another. “Oh, where are they?” he muttered in agitation. “You would think that they would be--”

“Hello, Berry? Over.” Came Elusive’s voice from his walkie-talkie. “I need to speak with you. Over.”

The pink stallion reached over to push the button. “Copy that, what’s up? Over.”

“Something has just happened. Macarena came by and told Dusk that she has feelings for him. Is this part of the plan? Over.”

He sighed in relief. “Yup! What super effective breaking up is going on? Over.”

“Well, Solaris just told him that he should go talk it out with her. They’ve left us and they said that they’re going to the barn.” He let out a sigh before adding. “Over.”

Berry gave a victorious hoofpump in the air. “Yes! Finally, something going right for once! Elusive, is Sunbutt with you? Over.”

“Yes, why? Over.”

“Wait about five minutes before you send him into the barn, too. He’ll be in for quite the surprise. Over.” Just then, he spotted something in the moonlight moving among the trees. Grabbing his binoculars, he peered through to see both Dusk and Macarena walking toward the direction of the barn. “Perfect,” he purred. Just then, a thought came to him. “Come to think of it, make that ten minutes. Over.”

With a skip and a bounce, Berry flung himself from branch to branch, heading towards the red barn. “Don’t worry, Dusky,” he squealed. “We’ll have you back in no time!”

_*_

A couple of minutes and an impossibly-long jump into the upper levels of the storage barn later, Berry slid through an open window where Rainbow, Scotch, and Spines were all waiting. “They’re coming! Is everything ready?”

The dragoness nodded. “All set and ready to go. We’re prepared for every scenario.”

“So, wait,” Butterscotch raised a hoof. “When you said ‘they’ are we talking about Solaris or Macarena?”

“AJ’s sis and Dusk are coming,” Berry answered as he walked over to the edge of the platform down to the romantic trap below. In the center of the storage, barn laid a red-and-pink checkered blanket on a pile of hay, surrounded by lit candles in the shape of a heart. While simple in design, it was the perfect set-up for what was about to come. “Just to be sure…” he turned back to his friends, “is everything on here for the big break up?”

They nodded as they displayed their tools, ranging from rope to sneezing powder, to chilis and buckets of ice water. They heard the barn doors suddenly open below. “Places everypony!” Berry said in a whisper.

While they scattered to their hiding places, the older Apple sister led Prince Dusk Shine further into the barn. “Ah know this is last minute,” she said, “but Ah really need to ask ya for a favor.”

“But right now?” the alicorn inquired. As he stepped through, he paused at the bed of straw laid out in the center of the barn. “Uh… what is this?”

The doors were closed by the scarlet mare behind him. “Dusk,” she said in a smooth drawl, lowering her eyes and walking toward him. “Ah know this is a little… forward, but Ah do hope that ya would please help me with somethin’ Ah wanna… experience.”

Dusk walked backward as the mare continued forward. “Uh… Y-You’re not suggesting that…” She nodded. “B-But I’m in a relationship!”

“So am Ah,” she replied. “Y’know, we’re both more alike than ya think. Ah’m bisexual, too, and mah marefriend encouraged me that Ah should, at least once, go out and experiment with a handsome, compatible, well-endowed stallion like yerself.”

“U-Uh…” The alicorn walked over the candles and tripped into the hay. “I don’t think we should--”

With a hoof, Macarena shushed him. “Now now,” she said softly, “Y'all don’t have ta worry about none of that. Ya just lay back and let me--” Before she could finish her sentence, the barn doors opened once again to a familiar shadow.

“There you are! Have you talked it over with…” Solaris walked into the barn and paused at what he saw. “Uh… Dusk Shine? What are you doing?”

“S-Solaris!” the bookworm cried out. “This isn’t what it--” He was cut off when the mare on top of him kissed him. For one horrifying moment, nopony in the barn made a sound.

“He’s mine now,” Macarena purred.

Silence again. For one tense moment, nopony said a word. Solaris held a look of shock for a very long time. Up in the upper levels, Berry was about to take the victory, until the Solar Prince did something that nopony in the sabotaging party could have predicted.

“Go on…” the Sun Prince said with intrigue.

Solaris slowly trotted over to the pair, giving his coltfriend a kiss. “I wanna watch.” Solaris gave him a wink. Bubble Berry nearly passed out at the sight. His accomplices stood ready with tools, though they weren’t sure what to do.

Next to enter the barn of awkwardness was Applejack and Elusive. They swiftly went over to the haystack and slipped in next to Solaris. “Why don’t we make this interesting, gentlecolts?” Elusive purred, walking over to Dusk and running his hoof down his back while staring at Applejack seductively.

Blitz and Butterscotch gagged and quickly withdrew, swiftly making their way over to their speechless leader. Blitz quickly pulled back a slightly-confused, slightly-interested Spines and covered her eyes.

Meanwhile, Solaris slinked up to Applejack, staring at Dusk and Elusive whilst getting quite comfortable at his sid--

”STOP! EVERYPONY! JUST! STOP…!” thundered a voice that could be heard from the rafters of the barn. Bubble Berry completely lost the ability to speak, so Blitz did it for him. Butterscotch sat at the back of the barn, his hooves tightly squeezed over his eyes while he held a still slightly-curious Spines.

“You leave a couple of gay stallions alone for an HOUR and they decide to get frisky?! What the buck just happened?” Blitz angrily shouted.

Solaris blinked. “What? I find it hot.”

With a scarlet-red face, Butterscotch got up. “I’m going to go over there…” he said awkwardly as he carefully walked out of sight behind a stack of crates.

Dusk craned his neck from underneath Applejack’s sister. “Spines? What are you doing here?”

“Um…” She folded her arms behind her back and smiled sheepishly. “Nothing…”

“Come to think of it,” the Prince of Friendship crawled out from underneath Macareina until he was free, “what are you guys doing here?”

Berry’s veins could almost be seen from how much he was tensing up. “We were… playing poker in the rafters!”

“Poker? In the rafters?” Applejack asked.

“Well, ya know… the air is so nice up here, and the timber…” Berry trailed off.

“Right… the timber.” Dusk began until Solaris stepped forward with a grin.

“You guys wanna join in?” Solaris asked jubilantly.

In the span of a couple of seconds, Butterscotch shuffled the box along to a nearby window and flew off so quickly that it could be considered borderline transportation. Bubble Berry hit the deck, out like a lightbulb. Without Butterscotch to hold her back, Spines stepped out from behind the box and started to walk to the edge of the rafters before being scooped up by Blitz with a cry of ‘NOPE!’ as he dashed off as quickly as his yellow comrade.

The room was filled with cheers and hoof bumps by the four stallions and mare. The stallions wrapped Berry in a blanket and placed him in the spare bedroom in the Apple’s farmhouse. Macarena promised to look after him until he came to. But for the time being, the group had a double date to finish.

_*_

“I must commend your sister,” Solaris told Applejack. “The fact that she was able to think that quickly on her hooves is very impressive. Perhaps I could pull some strings to get her into the theater?”

The farmer snorted. “Nah, Sir, she’s got plenty of things ta worry about than bein’ on stage actin’.” Applejack leaned in close. “An’ between you an’ me, she’s terrible as soon as a stage is involved.” Applejack gave him a smirk.

By now, the group had settled by the creek where Applejack had promised to show them. Stars hung over their heads like flickering candles above the calm water at their hooves. The moon was the only source of light as it cast a cool glow over the clearing. Dusk leaned against the Sun Prince who had a wing over him, while Elusive wrapped a foreleg around Applejack.

“Still,” Elusive said, “I’m rather surprised at how well that actually worked.”

Solaris chuckled. “You’d be amazed at how fast a pony is able to dart out of a room when it looks like things are about to get… personal. Still, you two were great!”

“There is one thing that I do want to ask.” Dusk began, getting their attention. “Are you two actually in love, or was that part of that hair brain Berry’s scheme?”

A strange look came over Elusive, a blend of awkwardness, nervousness, and a large blush. Applejack’s face looked about the same.

“I… well, it started like that. This big lug had an enormous crush on me, though. After a while, he sort of grew on me as well.” Elusive wrapped a hoof around Applejack and gave him a kiss on the cheek, causing Applejack to blush harder. “I don’t know, I guess we will see where we go. Besides, he is a sweetheart.” Elusive winked.

Dusk decided to melt silently at the scene, yet his date wasn’t as discrete. “Pardon my Equestrian, but you two… are bucking… adorable… This is only partly for my personal amusement, but, by royal decree, I order the both of you to kiss each other on the lips before this date ends.”

Exceeding everypony’s expectations, Applejack quickly leaned in and kissed Elusive on the lips. They didn’t part. Dusk looked at Solaris with a concerned expression while the Prince looked on with a stupid grin on his face. Solaris looked back at Dusk and pulled him close, wrapping a hoof around him.

“Ahh, love,” Solaris sighed. “Such a beautiful emotion, and one I hope our friends won’t soon try to tamper with again.”

Dusk chuckled. “After what we did, I doubt that they would try anything like that again.”

“I don’t know…” the white alicorn mused. “Your number one assistant seemed interested.”

Dusk playfully punch the other prince. “Solaris!”

“Oh, tell me I’m wrong,” he teased.

The sound of Applejack clearing his throat caught their attention. “Say, since you two are here, could Ah ask the both of ya somethin’ personal? Ah was hopin’ that maybe you could settle somethin’ once and for all.”

“Oh?” Solaris asked, tilting his head. “And what would that be?”

“Ah know it’s only been a couple months since you two became an item an’ all…” the farmer started. “But, until tonight, Ah wasn’t exactly sure given what Ah’ve heard so… Did, uh… Have you two… you know… done it?”

Dusk Shine was mortified as his coltfriend laughed. “If you mean that we’ve cuddled, then yes, we’re doing it right now. But if you’re talking about more intimate things, then I’m afraid that I have to disappoint you.” He looked down at his lilac coltfriend who had a thick blush over his face. “Uh, Dusk? Are you okay?”

“Yeah…” he nodded, rubbing a hoof over his foreleg. “Sol, would… n-nevermind.”

The Solar Prince paused as he read his consort’s body language. “Dusk Shine?” He craned his neck down. “You have been thinking about this… haven’t you?”

“I-I, uh…”

“Oh, I get it,” Elusive chuckled. “You don’t really know how to ask it, do you?”

“Well… yeah…” Dusk admitted, nearly impersonating Butterscotch’s shyness. “Just… not with you guys around.”

“My Dearest Dusk,” Solaris nuzzled him. “You know that I won’t force you. I can wait as long as you need to be ready. I’ll wait forever if you want me to. Otherwise, if you’re down, as they say, we have a barn for doing it.”

The smaller Prince put his hoof around his coltfriend. “Solaris! M-maybe… Can we?”

“You see?” Elusive smirked. “That wasn’t so hard now, was it?”

Applejack glared daggers at him. “In MAH barn?” Applejack cried. “Y’all can use the storage shed and then SLEEP in the barn on trundles, but y’all ain’t messin’ up my barn with that kind of activity!”

Solaris rolled his eyes. “You’re no fun.”

Elusive was next to be involved. “So, Solaris, being over a century old--”

“Please don’t remind me,” Solaris interrupted, rolling his eyes. “Sorry, go on.” He rested his cheek in his hoof in annoyance.

“How many ponies have you slept with in that time?” Elusive finished. Dusk began to blush again, however, Solaris almost expected the question.

“Well, if we’re being honest regarding my total of… sexual partners… I think I lost count after fifty.”

Everypony’s eyes bulged. “Woah! You were certainly busy, weren’t you?” Elusive exclaimed.

“Excuse me, mister average life span! Fifteen hundred years is a long damn time! And that was before I came out, mind you.”

Applejack gave a low whistle. “Point taken.”

“Y-You know, Solaris,” Dusk spoke up. “M-Maybe after this date is over, there’s always my castle…”

“Do you want to end our date already?” his coltfriend asked.

He looked over to his friends. “Perhaps just a little longer. I don’t think we’re finished with our date yet.”

The tall alicorn hummed. “Fair enough. But, to answer your earlier question,” Solaris winked, “I suppose that I can stay the night. And probably teach you a few things.” Dusk blushed so much that his head turned into a red lantern. He then added with a chuckle, “After all, you don’t get fifty plus satisfied ‘customers’ by just looking at them.”

“Okay, date’s over!” Dusk shouted awkwardly, grabbing Solaris’s hoof and leading him away. “Goodnight guys, I’ll take this thing home now,” Dusk shouted to the other couple before turning back to his date. “This is the last time I let you drink the sugary wine,” he huffed.

Applejack and Elusive blinked, then looked at one another. “So… AJ… what do you want to do now?”

“W-Well, we could walk a bit more… or talk. We could make a fire and have a couple of drinks.” Applejack replied hopefully.

Elusive thought for a moment. “Hmmm, one night we should have a fire in one of these fields to drink and have fun. But for tonight, there is a free barn with nopony in it. Let’s fill it with a hunky stallion and his date.” Elusive fluttered his eyes and brushed against Applejack.

“T-th-that’s good, too… Uh, AH guess.” Applejack stuttered, barely keeping his composure. “Jus’ remember, this is mah first--”

“Come on, lover colt,” Elusive interrupted, leading Applejack away from the creek back to the barn with a wink.

Applejack didn’t hesitate to follow.

Chapter 7: Lesson Learnt

The first thing that Bubble Berry noticed when he woke up was that something was off. He’d woken up in somepony else’s bed that he was sure wasn’t his. This was normal, especially on a Friday. But it wasn’t the nightstand that told him he was already late to work that caused him to feel off. If anything, the thing that he woke up to was his Bubble sense. An itchy right hoof, a chill going down his spine, and his ears trying to take off only meant one thing, and it filled him with an emotion he rarely felt: dread. He knew that he was in trouble. Really, really deep trouble.

Rolling over and flopping onto the floor, the party stallion got up to his hooves and looked out the window to the morning sun. Part of him wanted to believe what he saw last night was a dream. One in which his plan not only failed to get Dusk back but had blown up in his face, apparently tapping into the Sun Prince’s certain… interests that he wasn’t aware of.

Climbing out of the window, he cautiously went down the walls, over the grass, and approached the storage barn doors that were closed shut. No, not just shut. Locked. He went over to one of the windows and peeked inside. He did a double take as he saw somepony laying on a bed of straw, only it wasn’t who he expected. “Applejack…? Elusive…?” The checkered blanket was tangled around the two of them, their hooves over each other as they slept.

Berry blinked. “I have so many questions…” but he shook his head. “Hold on, if they’re here, then where is--” Sniff… sniff sniff. “Is that… HAYSTRIPS!” Looking back towards the house, the sounds and scents of breaking lingering in the air made Bubble race back and straight into the kitchen. “Who is cooking haystr--”

“I told you the smell of breakfast would get him.” Dusk replied nonchalantly. Solaris stood at the kitchen stove cooking breakfast like a seasoned professional, a cup of coffee in his aura. Dusk sat at the table sipping a cup of tea with a book in his hoof, as usual. The title made the pink party pony do a double take.

How to Spice Up Your Sex Life: A Mare’s Guide for Pleasing Your Stallion

“Despite this book being for mares, it’s surprisingly useful.” Dusk aimed at Solaris as his eyes widened more and more at each page turn.

“It’s amazing what ponies write about. I’ve also heard of this thing called ‘fanfiction’. Now that has some weird stuff.” Solaris chuckled as he cracked two eggs at once into the pan. “Especially when it’s from one of my guards… She wrote about a lesbian relationship with Bluebelle and some art-dealing aristocrat in Canterlot. Regal Splendor, I think was her name.”

“AM I MISSING SOMETHING?” Berry yelped.

“I believe he is missing the point,” Solaris said to Dusk in a very matter-of-fact tone.

Dusk put his book down and looked at Bubble Berry in an unimpressed manner. “Bubble Berry, please take a seat. Solaris and I wish to have a bit of a talk with you.”

Berry gulped, hesitantly approaching the table and pulling up a stool, sitting right across from his friend.

“Now before I say anything,” Dusk began, “I want you to know one thing above all else: We’re not entirely mad at you.”

The pink stallion blinked. “What?”

“Just to establish, we already heard about what you tried to pull last night, but at the same time, we also know why you did it. Even so, neither I nor Solaris are mad at you. However…” He narrowed his gaze slightly. “That being said, I am also really shocked and disappointed in you.”

“B-But Dusky--”

“Let me finish,” Dusk cut him off. “Berry. Out of all the ponies out there that don’t want us to be a couple, having you being the head of a sabotaging party was something I never expected. I thought you loved the idea of us being… well, a couple. It hurts to know that my friend can’t stand us being together--”

“But I do want you to be together!” Berry pleaded. “Really, you guys are the most adorkable, lovey-dovey couple that I’ve seen since… well, since ever super forever! And I didn’t want to have you two broken up, but I didn’t have a choice.”

“Excuse me, Berry,” Solaris asked as he craned his neck over. “What kind of eggs do you want with your haystrips?” Berry looked at Solaris like he’d sprouted a second horn, slowly replying with ‘any kind would be fine’. “Alright then.” He returned his attention to the stove but continued. “Also, I want to ask you something, Berry, since we’re here. Was trying to have us broken up your only idea?”

The pink pony paused for a minute. “Well… the guys and I did think of alternatives, only none of us were getting anywhere…”

“And never once did any of you think about asking me to lend a hoof to help resolve this?” commented the Sun Prince. “After all, I’ve already figured out a solution last night. It was only then that Applejack and Elusive told us what was really going on. Speaking of which, can one of you wake up those little lovebirds? Breakfast is nearly ready.”

Berry blinked… and blinked again. “Lovebirds?”

“It’s a long story,” Dusk said as he stood up. “I’ll go try and fetch them, but you will stay here. We’re not finished with you.” He trotted around the table and walked out the back door.

There was a moment of uneasiness in the kitchen with only Berry and Solaris. The white alicorn still had his back turned as he pulled out a multitude of plates and prepared to serve them. “Between you and me,” the tall stallion spoke up, “as much as your good intentions ended up as something rather sinister, there have been some wonderful things to come out of this whole thing.”

“Like what?”

“Well, I personally had fun pulling that glorious prank on you,” he chuckled. “Your reaction was so priceless that I wish my brother were there to see it. Consider it my crowning contribution to modern Equestria. That, and you unintentionally brought another couple together, in more ways than one.” He winked before continuing in a sober tone. “But seriously, you going all dictator-mode on your own friends, including us, were terrible. You became lost in your desire to keep Dusk as your friend, and meanwhile bullied and convinced everypony else into following along. You’re lucky you have friends like Elusive and Applejack to try and pull you back down to Equestria.” Solaris finished placing food on the table just in time for two very groggy stallions and Dusk to walk through the door.

“You have no idea the trouble I went through to get these two off that hay.” Dusk rolled his eyes. Elusive limped up to the chair and grabbed a pillow from the couch to place on the chair, gently lowering himself onto his seat. Applejack sat at the table half-asleep, not being used to waking up so late.

Solaris quickly sent two cups of coffee in their direction before sitting down. Elusive clutched it like it was a lifeline. Applejack, however, had never had coffee before. Taking a sip of the bitter liquid caused his pupils to shrink to pinheads. He immediately dumped half of a tablespoon of sugar into it, gulping the whole thing down in a matter of seconds.

“Look everypony, I am REALLY super-mega Berry sorry for everything I’ve done. I got so caught up in wanting Dusk back that I forgot about everypony else. I’m sorry Lucy and AJ, I really should have listened to you guys. Also, are you dating now?”

Applejack looked over to Elusive who just shrugged. “We’re… working that ouuuuut.” Elusive nearly rested his head in the baked beans on his plate, but luckily Solaris swapped his plate out for a pillow. Using his magic, he set the plate down and plopped a couple more spoonfuls of instant coffee into his mug. Taking a sip from his cup caused Elusive to shoot up and put his breakfast in front of himself again. “It’s alright, Bubble darling. We forgive you.” Elusive finished as he hugged his coffee closer.

The apple farmer, after taking some more coffee into his system, was awake enough to finally make an observation. “Y’know, out of all th’ things Ah heard that ya can do, Yer Highness, Ah didn’t know that you could cook.”

Solaris shrugged. “I have hobbies outside of dating Dusk and being a Prince, as well as having over a thousand years to perfect them.” He turned his attention back to Berry once again, straightening himself in his seat in a regal way. He spoke as if he were a judge talking to a defendant. “Bubble Berry, as much as we appreciate the fact that you are indeed sorry for what you’ve attempted to do, I’m afraid that as a Prince of Equestria, I do have a duty to uphold since you tried to sabotage royalty. So, on behalf of myself and Prince Dusk Shine, we find you guilty of conspiracy against the crown, attempting to purposefully ruin our date, roping your friends into the act, manipulation…” He leaned forward. “...and murder.”

“Wait what?!” Berry objected.

Solaris laughed. “No, no, of course not murder.” He chuckled to the point that he began to imitate jello. “Ah, that never gets old.” He cleared his throat. “Anyways, as a Prince, I find that you should be punished for your deeds. Now, given that you have shown guilt and regret for your actions, I, Prince Solaris Everfree, hereby sentence you…” He smirked. “...to a week of personal guilt over what you did.”

Every gear in the pink pony’s head grinded to a halt. “Wait… that’s it?”

Dusk looked at him quizzically. “Well, yeah. You are our best friend, and you obviously feel terrible for what you did. As long as you never do it again and learned from all of those, then I would be happy to get back to being friends with you.” He smiled.

“Aww, you guys are the greatest.” Berry teared up and dashed over to Dusk to hug him.

Solaris smirked. “Oi, no touching my coltfriend! ...without giving me a hug!” The knot in Berry’s chest was about to break with Solaris’s jokes. Regardless, Berry came up to the Prince and gave him a huge hug.

“So, I do have two more questions.” Berry looked around the table. Elusive was not sufficiently awake by this point. “How are we going to spend time with Dusk? You said that you solved it.”

Dusk smiled at Solaris. “Well, what we’re going to do is I’m going to stay in Ponyville and not go up to Canterlot all the time. I’m going to be with you guys for most of the time, but whenever Solaris gets ahead of his duties, I am either going up there for a couple of weeks or he will visit us for a couple of weeks. Either way, this will be once every couple of months and not every other day. So for the most part, I’m staying in Ponyville.”

Berry, Applejack, and Elusive all celebrated now that everypony was paying attention.

“We got our Dusky back!” Berry went over and hugged Dusk again. “Okay, question two: What’s up with them?” Berry pointed at Elusive and Applejack. Applejack looked up from his spaghetti on toast with a single noodle hanging from his mouth.

“‘What’s up with them’ is a very good choice of words,” Solaris smirked, stabbing a little vegetarian sausage with his fork and wiggling it around in his mouth.

Dusk put his head in his hooves and groaned, Applejack went redder than the strawberry jam on the table, and Elusive smirked in his direction.

“They became a thing shortly after we foiled your plot,” Dusk clarified.

“Hey, has anypony seen Macarena?” Applejack asked. “She went to bed last night, but I haven’t heard from her since.” All he received were blank faces.

“Hey, I went upstairs last night for a drink of water, and I noticed you only have three bedrooms up there. Where does Macareina sleep?” Elusive asked.

“Well yeah, when we made the barn-house attachment, we didn’t have enough room upstairs for four bedrooms, so we made a room at the end of the hallway which is actually… above… the barn… directly…” Applejack gulped. “Y’all don’t think she heard us, do ya?”

Elusive and Applejack looked at each other in horror before bolting up to Macarena’s room. The entire table fell silent.

Finally, Solaris broke the silence. “Wow… and here I thought talking Dusk through all the kinky stuff we did last night was awkward.”