A Tale of Dusk

Chapter 6:

Shining Armor shivered with a premonition of doom and quickly layered several more barrier spells against the thick, nearly opaque one he’d put up upon first entering the room, making the room all but impregnable to any mortal force as the current Captain of the Royal Guard poured them both another glass of brandy, a beer-glass’s worth at that, while the sounds of battle echoed on the other side of the armoured door and Shining’s own barrier spells. Taken altogether, the mundane defences, the pre-existing wards and Shining’s barrier spells made a barricade that was strong enough to stop a full-grown dragon mid-charge.

It would only be a matter of time, however, before those defences fell. The Royal Guards were losing, again, and without any real hope of holding their ground against the invader, but they were buying valuable time for the two ponies in this room to discuss their next steps. Shining only hoped their sacrifices would not be in vain.

“Captain Sunbeam, are you absolutely sure about this? Princess Celestia only recently mentioned I was one of several ponies on the ‘short list’ for the job, and you’re hardly at the age for retirement …” The young stallion’s words died off as the middle-aged earth-pony before him shook his head, a sad smile playing across Sunbeam’s broad, scarred face.

“Forgive my bluntness, but I’m tired, Shining. Tired of keeping a population of idiots and fools safe from bandits, cultists, the agents of enemy nations and worse, all the while getting called a fascist for it by the very ponies I protect. I am worn to the bone by the stress of being the leader of five hundred of the army’s most talented and skilled soldiers that are kept cooped up in a castle to protect two immortal, almost all-powerful beings from anyone or thing dumb enough to attempt to attack them …” Sunbeam’s smile faded slightly as the screams on the other side of the door became higher-pitched, tinged with desperation and horror. “And quite frankly, I’m tired of the pointlessness of it all. The Princesses are immortal, nigh-invulnerable beings who wield cosmic power on a scale even the greatest sorcerers and magi of our age can barely comprehend, let alone reproduce, and for all the good the Royal Guard does in and around Canterlot, we’re basically a harem with a fetish-y dress-code and a strict work-out regime, here to take the edge off Celestia’s insatiable sex-drive when all the pomp and ceremony gets stripped away.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I love my job, I love defending our country and I certainly have few regrets about the … paperwork … but I’m pushing into my mid-thirties, Shining. I do not want to still be here twenty years from now as an old, embittered war-horse, weighed down by all the medals on my chest, with no family waiting for me when I go home, having to watch as hungry young officers circle me and bicker over who’ll get my position after I kick the bucket or listening to my immortal lover entertain herself with half a dozen younger stallions because I’m too old to give her a royal rear-end a proper rogering.” Sunbeam continued, taking a swig of his whiskey like it was a beer, and Shining winced and took a cautious sip of his own glass, the burn of the alcohol sliding down his throat a distraction from the words spilling out of his commanding officer’s mouth … and the awful truths that Shining himself had contemplated over many sleepless nights. “I’ve found myself two lovely mares who want a steady, solid stallion in their lives, and they already have a few children from previous spring-partners who are quite fond of me already, and the entire family is more than happy to take me into their lives as a father, and a husband. I’ve already started the process of stepping down officially as the Captain of the Royal Guard, which will take at least a year if not longer, and since I am being honest with you, both Celestia and I consider you to be our best possible pick for my replacement.”

“I’m … honoured, Captain, but I’m not entirely certain I am the right pick. There’s others who have seniority, who have a breadth of experience that I lack. Won’t my getting cherry-picked for the job cause issues?”

“Make no mistake, before I take my leave I will be ensuring those most likely to cause trouble over your elevation will find themselves reassigned to posts befitting their … station … long before your step into my shoes, and believe me the sort of officers who’d hold a grudge because of your new position will have earned their punishment. I do not tolerate anything but the best in my officer-corps, and if they feel the need to cause trouble because they got passed over, then perhaps the fools should have worked harder to be worthy of advancing up the ranks rather than expecting it to come to them by dint of family connections or ‘tenure’.”

“And as for experience, you’ll have my staff to assist you in the regard, and they will beat you into shape sooner rather than later.” The older stallion’s smile turned warmer once more even as the door behind them bounced in its frame, shuddering against the impact of heavy blows, the outer-most layers of Shining Armor’s shield barriers beginning to splinter under the assault. “It is your integrity and moral compass, not your experience in a command position that is needed for the role. Shining, you know that the army must always be held to a higher standard of ethics than any other force in Equestria, and the Royal Guard above all other units must remain a beacon of honour, respectability and decency, for we are the hand of Princess Celestia herself, for good or ill. The other candidates may fit from a military or political view-point, but you offer all that and more. Please, accept the position when it is offered to you, it would make me feel so much relief to know I am passing the mantle onto a worthy successor.”

The door trembled and rocked in its frame, the individual planks of wood shuddering against one another and the outer-most barrier spells, layered nearly a foot thick, disintegrated with a musical tinkle, while the remainder of Shining’s barrier spells shuddering and developing dozens of tiny spider web-like fractures that expanded with each blow to the door. They were running out of time …

“I … am still overwhelmed by all of this, sir, but if both you and Princess Celestia believe I have what it takes, I am prepared to accept … on the condition I am allowed to spend the next year shoulder-deep with your staff.” Shining hoped what he was saying, and the sweat that beaded his brow as the sounds of the chaos on the other side of the door intensified and the door-frame began to detach from the wall weren’t taken the wrong way by Sunbeam.

“Wanting to make the transition a smooth one for everyone involved?” Sunbeam’s face cracked into a broad grin, the veteran honestly pleased. “I was going to suggest that, actually. If I take you on as a new member of my staff, it will seem far more natural to the rank and file when you assume command when I retire, and I’ve little doubt you’ll be a welcome addition to the team at the very least.”

“That, and I want to be completely, one hundred percent sure that I am the stallion for this job. There will be no point if I fall apart under the pressure a few months into things.” Shining Armor pointed out, extending a hand towards his superior. “Equestria would be in a very dark place if I end up cowering under my desk from the stress right when the Princesses and the People need the Royal Guard to be at their best.”

“Well said … Captain.” Sunbeam remarked, taking and shaking Shining’s hand firmly, before both stallions were knocked flying by the door, which had finally given way under the rain of blows from the other side and crashed through Shining’s spells with a sound somewhere between a banshee’s scream and a truckload of glass being sucked through a jet-engine, the mangled, iron-bound door spinning through the air to slam into the thick oak table the two stallions had been sitting at, and a few heartbeats later, in charged Princess Cadence, lathered in sweat and foam with her mane, clothing and wings in a terrible state of disarray … and a good two-score Royal Guards lying on the floor behind her, slumped over furniture or, in the case of Private third class Flash Sentry, somehow embedded in a solid marble wall until only his bared ass and legs were visible. His tail was merely a small cluster of orange hairs clinging to a short, stumpy tail, and even that hung limply in defeat …

Cadence’s eyes locked onto Shining, her gaze lovingly trailing over his legs, his body, his arms … and the hand that was still locked in a firm handshake with Captain Sunbeam.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Cadence screamed in despair, loud enough to make the windows rattle in their frames and roll the poor unfortunate guards closest to her a few paces away.

“Check and … and mate.” Shining grunted, still stunned but coherent enough to slap the smallest, densest barrier-spell he could manage around himself and Captain Sunbeam as Cadence charged at them, plastering herself, her very excited self as Shining discovered to his dismay, across the surface of the barrier-spell while the ear-piercing sounds of automated alarms blared belated in the distance.

Now if only he could stay conscious long enough to keep the barrier up until Princess Celestia came to rescue them … and Shining began to laugh hysterically as he realized just how right Captain Sunbeam was about the veteran’s reasons for stepping down from the most prestigious position in the Equestrian Army.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dusk considered himself many things: Mage, scholar, scientist, the prized student of a literal divinity and a general all-round good pony.

But apparently he was also the kind of dimwit who’d forget that he’d given Spine all of their money this morning so she could have a ‘day on the town’, such as Ponyville could offer at least, and then be stuck try to find her as the day rolled on and the hole in his belly grew larger and more demanding.

Certainly, a tracking spell would suffice, but that felt an awful lot like spying on Spine, and he was trying to get a feel for the town and its’ inhabitants without constantly falling back on his magic … and the way the local police officer … a single officer for the entire town … had read Dusk the riot act about using magic had convinced Dusk that maybe relying too much upon his magic in a mostly earth-pony town was a recipe for disaster.

And despite arguing that teleportation and flying via magic were not recognized by Equestrian law as crimes, Dusk had found himself nearly handcuffed anyways by the irate, flustered police officer who seemed very keen on taking Dusk Shine to a cell that she had repeatedly described as ‘cosy’ and ‘private’ before Mayor Mare, on her way back to the local government offices after her lunch break, had interceded and all but dragged the blubbering Officer Rulebook away, promising Dusk the ‘mistake’ would not be repeated.

Aaaaaaand terrific. It looks like the earth ponies here are as bigoted towards unicorns who use their magic as the unicorns of Canterlot are towards earth ponies who can’t use magic. Or she was going to chain me to the wall and make me her ‘prisoner of love’. Sweet Faust as my witness, the first thing I am going to do after figuring out how I changed my gender all those years ago is turn every idiot who has come after my dick into a stallion and see how they like being sexually harassed every five minutes by random, cock-starved strangers!

After nearly two hours of searching Ponyville and dodging the increasingly irritated packs of mares who refused to take ‘No!’ for an answer, and then getting racially profiled and shouted at by Officer Rulebook when he kept poking holes in her plans to incarcerate him for acts of ‘magical displays’, Dusk was nearly ready to throw his resolve to the wind and just throw a sending spell to Spine and ask her to meet up with him so he could buy some Faust-damned breakfast, his stomach growling loudly at him to just hurry up and get on with it, when an orange hand clapped him on the shoulder.

“Well hey there! Ya must be the newcomer from Canterlot!” A mare’s voice boomed in his ear, and Dusk cringed, readying himself for another round of “I am not the raincloud that is going to end your dry-spell.” arguments, as the grip, impressively strong, pulled him around to face the speaker.

Standing before a rickety-looking cart loaded with dozens of crates and barrels was an orange-coated mare with a thick band of darker orange freckles across her face and a much more scattered collection coming down her neck and shoulders, with smiling green eyes, a thick, braided mane of straw-blonde hair and a stetson hat perched ontop of that, with the mare’s long braid brought over her shoulder to hang down her front, the braid long enough that it hung down to her belt … and Dusk found himself struggling to keep his eyes at an appropriate level, considering the mare wore a pair of ripped jeans that looked like they’d seen better days about a decade ago, and barely held the mare’s muscular legs and ass in-check, and the rest of her wasn’t that far behind in the physical fitness department. He could even tell where the freckles kept on going below her belly-button, thanks to the fact that the mare only wore a loose off-white sleeveless shirt that looked to be about five sizes too small and a thread-bare plaid shirt whose bottom corners were tied around her middle due to a number of missing buttons preventing it being closed up any other way.

If there wasn’t a pair of breasts the size of my head trying to burst out of that old shirt she’s squeezed into, I would be wondering if I was just talking to a cute gym-junkie stallion! Not that that ass leaves a scrap of space in those jeans to hide any junk … EYES UP, DUSK, EYES UP! CODE RED!

“Aaaaaah … yes, I’m Dusk Shine, it is a ple … it is good to meet you.” Dusk stammered awkwardly, cursing himself for being so easily distracted after all the shit he had to deal with this morning, and found his hand grasped and pumped so hard in a hand-shake that the unicorn wondered if the mare had dislocated his shoulder.

“Ain’t no need to be formal, Dusk, ‘specially not in Ponyville. The name’s Applejack, an’ word ‘round town is you’re here to help Cherilee with the school? You a teacher of some sort?” The muscular pin-up of a mare asked, finally releasing Dusk’s hand with a broad, friendly grin on her face.

“Something like that. There’d been reports that the Ponyville school was under-funded and the students were at risk, but I would have never expected anything quite like what we found.” Dusk explained, rubbing his should with one hand, and flexing the one Applejack had just shaken into submission to restore feeling to the extremity. “As soon as I can find my assistant, I’m going to send a letter to the Princess about what we’ve found here and see to it Cherilee and the students get their fair share of equipment.”

“The Princess herself? No foolin’? So the paper’s right then?” The young unicorn’s face must have shown his dismay, because Applejack took a step back, reached up to the seat of her wagon and pulled out a paper before handing it to Dusk.

ARCH-MAGE SEEKS LOVE IN QUIET COUNTRY TOWN! Shocking scandal that will rock the foundations of Canterlot! The entire front page read, with the bottom of the page crammed with page-numbers where so-called ‘experts’ had written opinion pieces and ‘scoop’ articles.

“Oh dear sweet Lady Faust’s left arse-cheek.” Dusk groaned, opening up to the second page where a ‘highly-stationed source’ claimed the ‘infamous, uncatchable bachelor’ had snuck away to the ‘quiet, sleepy village’ to pursue a romantic liaison with an here-to-fore unknown mare, taking his draconic bodyguard with him and leaving dozens of lovers heartbroken in Canterlot. “One day, I will find a way to legally set fire to the editors of these shitty newspapers every time they green-light slander like this.”

The third and fourth pages were no better, with the entire third page taken up with an editorial rant about how the ‘infamous heart-breaker’ had gone too far, and needed to be brought back to Canterlot to fulfil his duties as … “A stud for the common good of the country? In your dreams, Prim Hemline. Looks like I need to make sure the restraining orders aren’t about to lapse when I get back to Canterlot … what next?” The fourth page held even more outrageous slander, claiming that Dusk and Celestia were having a lover’s tiff and Dusk had fled to Ponyville to be escape his lover’s grasp.

“Ah’m takin’ it that the paper is nothin’ but hot air?” Applejack asked, her tone and expression a melding of curiosity and barely-repressed mirth at Dusk’s reaction.

“Hot air isn’t the term I’d use to describe it, but there’s a lady present.” Dusk countered, rolling the paper up and handing it back to the mare with a wry smile on his face. “Thank you for the loan of the paper, miss. As soon as I can track down my assistant, I’ll buy a copy for myself and give the articles a proper reading over breakfast.”

“Yah ain’t had no breakfast? But it’s damn near ten in the mornin’!” The farm-mare spluttered, blonde eyebrows almost merging with that thick, gorgeous mane of BEHAVE, DUSK!

“Yes, well unfortunately I gave all our money to my assistant so she could have a day on the town, and I didn’t realize it would take so long to get things sorted with Cherilee.” Dusk explained, trying to step away from the pin-up of a mare and seek out Spine, and their money, and get some food in his belly and some distance from those HUUUUGE TIDDI-FAUST DAMN IT, SUBCONSCIOUS! You are not helping!

“Well, at least ‘ave an apple or three! Won’t do for some fancy big-wig stallion t’pass out ‘cause his blood-sugar got too low.” Applejack snorted, reaching behind her and, with an under-arm throw, hurled a massive red apple at Dusk, who grabbed it before it slammed into his chest. “On the house, ‘course.”

“Uhm, thank you.” Dusk mumbled, feeling the sting in his palms all too keenly from the mare’s throw and deciding he’d rather not risk offending this ‘Applejack’ by refusing her gift, and any potential strings that might come attached, took a bite into the fruit, expecting the same dry, tart flesh that was the common fare from Canterlot’s heavily-preserved stocks, and instead moaned in delight and surprise as pure ambrosia flowed across his tongue, the apple’s flesh crisp and sweet and the juice was absolutely divine.

“Heh … reckon ah’ve got another repeat customer on mah hands.” Applejack smirked, and Dusk found himself nodding thoughtlessly in agreement. Come hell or high-water and hang the cost, when Spine and I head back to Canterlot next year, I am getting our fruits and vegetables shipped direct from this mare’s farm. I am never willingly eating mana-preserved food ever again!

“Mmm-hmmmm!” Dusk moaned happily, enjoying every bite as he worked the apple to its core, everything melting away but for the sweet taste and delightful crunch of the apple-flesh. “Hmm, definitely going to bring Spine back here and get her to try some of these. And pay you back for this apple.”

“Like ah said, it’s on the house, Dusk. Can’t very well have a new pony come into town and not show ‘em some good ol’ fashioned Apple-Clan hospitality.”

Dusk froze at the words ‘Apple-Clan’, remembering all too well his teacher’s grumbling about ‘ass-backwards apples’ when dealing with the infamous clan that held a stranglehold on Equestria’s agriculture. Celestia herself thought twice about tangling with that family, if only because there were so damn many of them scattered all over the country, and the entire Clan was so loyal to its family-members that upsetting a prominent member of the Clan could result in nation-wide problems. Faust help him if this mare decided to take issue with Dusk’s gender or race, or worse still, decided to come onto him and Dusk’s rejection wasn’t taken well!

Panic, that old, familiar companion, began to bubble up inside of Dusk as he imagined the Apple clan spurning the Summer Sun Festival out of spite for his rejection of one of their own, of nation-wide shortages of fruits, vegetables and other edibles the Clan was famous for as they wrangled with Celestia over stud-rights to Dusk … and of being frog-marched through a cathedral full of angry earth ponies towards an orange-coated mare with straw-coloured hair in a bridal veil, thigh-high cowboy boots, and nothing else.

And what is that infernal whistling noise?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Applejack wasn’t entirely certain what she’d said to cause such a reaction, but the unicorn in-front of her had turned paler than milk under his coat, then flushed a deep red that almost rivalled her brother’s natural colour. Afraid she’d given such an important pony an apple that might have had some sort of defect, or that this ‘Dusk’ character might have swallowed a chunk of apple and had it go down the wrong pipe, Applejack took a step forward to offer some sort of aid and put a hand on the stallion’s shoulder to steady him.

Several things happened at once. Applejack’s concern was momentarily over-ridden by the strange warmth she felt flow through the skin of her palm and up her arm at the contact, like a warm, pleasant afternoon sun. Dusk’s eyes shot open, his pupils tiny pin-pricks almost lost amidst the white of his eyes, and he tried to take a step back.

“HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY AYYYYYYYYYYYY-JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!”

“Awwww fu-!” was all Applejack could begin to say before a familiar, and frustrating, blur of blue and chromatic rainbow colours slammed into her from behind, propelling Applejack forwards with inescapable force and ramming her into the panicking Unicorn with the full force of the reckless pegasus’s dive, the whole tangle of ponies going down with a collective yell, and Applejack found herself lying ontop of Dusk, her pegasus friend lying across Applejack’s lower back and legs despite the sheer momentum involved in her crash landing not sending Rainbow Crash skidding off into the distance … but something felt … off.

It was when Rainbow lifted her head and asked who had turned off the sun in a muffled voice that Applejack realized what that something was, staring at her plaid shirt that was now wrapped around her friend’s head, and the farm-mare slowly, painfully craned her head back down to look at the stallion pinned underneath her. The stallion who was currently getting a face-full of Apple Goods, with Applejack’s hand-me-down undershirt riding up around her shoulders, and the upper half of Dusk’s head, now turning a brilliant red, was barely visible between the tangle of her shirt and her breasts.

“Mmmmrph!”

“Oh lawdy, NO!”

“I can’t see, what’s going on?”