A Two Pony Trick

Chapters

Blackout
Sinking
My New Face
Introductions
Arguing With Myself
The Doctor
Diagnosis
Change For the Better
Art and Murder
Changing Subjects and Hobbies
Return
Good Riddance
Dusk's Story
Dawn's Story
Poly's Story
Expectations
Revelations
Hatred and Corruption
Exploration
A Pheonix Rises
Cataclysm
A War Revived
Unfortunate Beginnings Call For Unfortunate Ends
Reunion

Blackout

"Dusk! Oh Dusk! You are going to be late!" The soft voice emanating from the white mare below carried surprisingly well as a small pony beaming with excitement rushed down the stairs at the call of his mother's voice. Today was his first day at a new elementary school. His family had just moved in from the country because of a new job his mother had been offered. The school year was already halfway over sadly and that meant that he would not be able to have as much time to meet new ponies but he was determined to make it count. This year, he would make something of himself!

"Mama! Mama! Is it time to go?!? Huh? Is it, is it?!?", said Dusk Star as he bounced up and down with a fervor that seemed to build up energy rather than burn it. His mother's deep red eyes smiled warmly at him and she finally followed with a gentle nod that called for him to release all pent up excitement. "YAAAAAY!!!!!" The loud bursts coming from such a little pony seemed almost unreal to Morning Star and she quietly chuckled to herself as she led her son to the door. The school was not far away, in fact it was just a couple of doors down, so they arrived rather quickly and his mother looked at him with her eyes half closed in a way that shows both support and comfort. "You be good now and play nicely with the other ponies, OK?", her voice soothed his tensed body and he calmed down enough to nod in agreement before tensing up again with excitement. Morning knew her son well and knew that nothing would calm her boy down now, he had too many fond memories of his old friends and she knew he was eager to fill the void with new ones.

She had began her return to home when the shrill ring of the bell made her jump and she gave a little shriek. She collected herself and returned to her normal pace as she walked out of the classroom. A couple of fillies in the corner began to laugh loudly at her. "Now children, come on, she was only startled a bit it wasn't funny. Anyways, we have a new student today and I'm sure he is ever excited to see you!", the teacher pointed to the young colt. "We already know. We had to listen to him scream all morning!", said a voice from the same corner where the laughter had come from before. "Now Goody Good you be nice.", the teacher proclaimed with a certain firmness in her voice that commanded respect without having a threatening tone. She turned her attention to the grey colt that stood by her side with a mature patience, "Tell us what your name is honey..." Dusk, who was still embarrassed slightly by the comments from Goody Good, said in a voice that was just a notch lower than the voice he was using earlier, "My name is Dusk Star and I can't wait to be your friend!" From the same corner that seemed to be spawning problems for everypony came a hushed whispering followed a round of laughter. It was that laughter that comes from making fun of others. The teacher struggled to regain control of her class and the laughter spread. Dusk's heart sank quickly. 'Great, now I look like an idiot.' He knew the fun was poked at him but he tried his best to ignore it as he was directed to the only empty seat in class. The seat in the corner, right next to Goody Good and all of her friends.

The teacher began to scold the fillies harshly as this was the third time they had caused an outburst. Goody Good and her friends lowered their heads in shame and joined together in a chorus of apologies. The act was very convincing Dusk noted to himself. Then the teacher turned and the whole group targeted him and stuck their tongues out, make obscene faces, and whispered insults and jests. In an attempt to ignore the ridicule he turned his head to the other side and hoped to see a face who wished to help him. Instead, most didn't even notice the jests and those who did were either indifferent or quietly chuckling to themselves as Goody Good and the other ponies continued their "merriment". Dusk lowered his head periodically throughout the day as the chuckles grew in volume and the insults became more direct, until finally his head was rested upon his desk. All optimism and excitement that had built up before had been long since gone and now he only wished that he could go home. The bell ring and he rose with the excitement of believing that his prayer had been answered, at least until he realized it was the bell telling everypony that it was time for recess. All of the young colts and fillies rose up and rushed outside in mad dash, cheering the whole way, and often bumping against each other. Dusk watched as ponies rushed past him and saw how each acted and took instant mental note. He had always noticed small details and he could always put 2 and 2 together, some had even called him a genius for his age because of this. A colt and filly with a white body and red manes stayed as closely as possible as they moved (he guessed they where twins as both had the same foreign accent and never did anything separately), a large brown colt moved slowly as some other ponies traveled around him (judging by his stature and limp, Dusk guessed he was an athlete and had recently wounded himself judging by the bruise near his back left hoof), then he saw a young purple filly sitting in her desk holding all limbs close as to not be touched (by the way her head was held high and her green mane braided with eccentric patterns, he figured she came from a prestigious background and simply wanted to avoid contact with others). Before he could study the next pony he felt a heavy push on his left side and as he tumbled he caught a glimpse of Goody Good giggling with her friends. Then one of the ponies who were rushing for the playground tripped over his head with enough momentum that for a few moments his vision was blurred, then he blacked out.

Sinking

"Dusk. Dusk! DUSK!!!"

His eyelids slipped open and light spilled into the cracks. "DUSK! WAKE UP!" Dusk shot up and his eyes opened as wide as they could. Other than dizziness and a powerful pain centered on the back of his head he felt alright, just wobbly. Most the class surrounded him and his mother was right next to him calling his name still and asking if he was alright. He couldn't remember what happened past the bell ringing, all memories past that point only arrived in quick blurs and flashes, and even then he could remember nothing important. As Dusk regained his thought process his mother called to him again. "Dusk! Answer me! Are you OK?", the usual calm that flooded over him whenever she spoke to him was not there this time and her panicked voice actually scared him more than the incident did. "I'm OK mom...", his face lowered and his head shifted in circles as nausea set it. "I think it is best if you take him home and let him rest," his teacher suggested, "he doesn't look so good." Morning took Dusk and place him on her back, "I think you're right." She moved with a shaky grace, a product of trying to appear brave to her son when in reality she was beyond terrified. Dusk noticed it in the quivering of her voice and the way her knees buckled with each step. Well, he thought with a depressed undertone, 'I certainly made an impression.'

He rested for the whole day but each hour or so his headache would spike and his mother would bring in some medicinal herbs that helped ease the pain and the resting would continue. Being that he was stuck with bed rest the only thing he could do was review his day and look for a cause as to what had happened. He could never think of much at a time, his thoughts were plagued by the jeers and malicious mocking of everypony inside of Goody Good's group of friends. Even his sleep was plagued by their scornful remarks, every time he fell asleep he awoke moments later because of a nightmare where the whole class stood over him laughing in distorted tones while he was laying on the floor. After hours of working through short periods of rest, reliving his horrible dreams, and combing his memory for evidence he remembered who had tripped him, or he thought he did. Goody Good was there and he was sure she did it, there was no proof of course, but he was 120% sure that it was her! He just didn't know why though and that was what troubled him the most...

The next day he would set his plan into motion, even if it meant giving up looking for anypony who would still want to be his friend after the embarrassment he had endured earlier. Until then, however, he needed his rest and hope the nightmares did not return. His mother woke him up gently the next morning. Her comforting smile reassured him with the promise of a better day and so far his mother had never been wrong. He hoped it would stay like that.

That day and all days past that he insisted on walking to school himself in hopes that his mother would never find out about the endless torment he received during the day, he was already a topic of ridicule and having ones "mommy" guard him would only worsen it. That being a given, he never told her of the ridicule that he faced as to avoid an intervention with his teacher which would only make the mockery subliminal and much sharper in comparison to what he dealt with now.

Every morning he would arrive early and carefully observe behaviors and actions of each and every filly and colt, especially Goody Good. Some of them would only act kindly to one set of friends and act unbelievably shy along with the next group, this angered him deep inside. Rage bubbled silently as he came to the notion that everypony in the room with him was a liar in their own way and any kindness would be false. Goody Good was an exception however. She was always a snobbish drama queen and had a powerful knack for avoiding trouble, she never changed. This especially stirred his young anger, but the feelings would always cool and turn to a depression as it was impossible to change any of it. Even still he studied everypony and eventually the anger of being lied to was transformed into the depression of not being told the truth.

Each day would be the same; wake up, ditch hope, go to school, learn about everypony, be ridiculed, do school work while being ridiculed, go to recess and be ridiculed, go back to class, be ridiculed, then rush home and put a cheerful face on as though nothing happened, then go to bed and suffer the same nightmare every night. He knew his mother was suspicious of something but he denied all accusations anyway and the topic would change afterwards. Sometimes it was as if she knew he was lying but only played along in order not to offend his efforts. The first week finally came to a close and he had learned about as much as he could during that time. His efforts had been wasted in trying to find out why Goody Good seemed to hate him, and the patient biding only left him feeling more depressed than he had in his whole life. Finally in desperation and as an act of defeat he just told himself that she hated him and that was that. As time passed he also began to believe everypony else hated him as well. When the weekend arrived he still had no friends and he spent the time indulging in memories of brighter days, back when he played with his friends in the country.

Times had changed and he felt he had changed as well.

My New Face

The first weekend passed and he reveled in the solace of its empty days. Finally there was no school, no teasing, and no Goody Good. Unfortunately, there were no new friends either. Monday morning brought a new dread that weekend, as Dusk remembered his first day there and the excitement that once had coursed his veins. Entering the classroom the next morning he found the change of opinions ironic. At this point the only thing coursing his veins was a hope that Goody Good was at home, sick. His quiet stride carried him to his desk where he waited a bit for the others to show up, his teacher was still writing on the board as she always did when he first arrived. She turned around and was slightly shocked to see Dusk there early again, then again most of the shock had died a couple of days ago when she noticed it was just routine. "You scared me Dusk, ha ha. Are you alright? You seem much more quiet than I thought you would be the first time I met you." Her question pried deeper than he was comfortable with, even if she didn't mean it. "I'm OK, I'm always this quiet." His lie stung his conscience; he secretly hated himself for turning into the liar he despised. Students arrived shortly after and his week began once again. Days passed and the torment had slowed down compared to what it had used to be (young fillies weren't smart enough to come up with new methods of torment on a consistent basis apparently).

The relief was short lived as the next week one of Goody Good's friends noticed that he always came early. "Hey everybody! Look! Dusk must have a crush on Ms. Green! That must be why he comes in early every morning!" This angered him even more than normal (perhaps to stay in scale with the absurd accusation) and he felt an upwelling deep inside of him until it finally erupted. Forcing his hooves downward he raised himself from his desk and yelled at the top of his lungs, "Leave me alone!". Or he at least tried to as the sudden movement broke his balance and he fell face down on the floor and his words came out muffled. Suddenly laughter erupted around him; colts and fillies alike broke out laughing all around him. For a moment he even caught the Ms. Green stifling a giggle as she strode over with a half sincere face. The nightmares flooded his memory once again, there he lay on the ground breaking out in tears and the wretched cackles of the others wrapped around him. That day he refused to accept anymore of it. "WHY DON'T ANY OF YOU LEAVE ME ALONE!", and with tears streaming down his face he broke into a dead gallop before anypony could respond. By the time he made it past the door the only one still laughing was Goody Good.

A couple of hours had passed since he had originally left and he had spent the whole time crying. There was an abandoned house that was on the opposite side of town and he sat in the heart of it crying. His tears pooled after a while and he looked into his reflection.
"You look pitiful! You're such an idiot! Why in the hay didn't you just tough it out!", he screamed at the reflection.

This was nothing new, he often arrived at home and headed for the bathroom to stare at the mirror and wonder why he was hated. Often he would begin to talk to it after a while as long as his mother was still at work but he had recently learned to fear the act. Lately he had begun to notice things that made his skin crawl, things like the pony in the mirror winking, nodding, or occasionally speaking. When he had first heard the reflection say, "Everything will be alright," his heart had nearly stopped and that was the last he had done it for a couple of days now. At this point, however, anypony's presence would seem comforting, even somepony with his own face.
"Why do they hate me! What was it I ever did to them?"
He stared at the dark face in the pool and waited. "Will you be my friend?", he asked. Nothing, he stared at his own face for a bit before he had noticed something even more mortifying than a reflection speaking. It was gone, his reflection was nowhere to be seen in the pool.
"What?!?! What is going on!?!?!" He threw his hoof down into the puddle of tears and tossed it around until there was nothing left. Fear gripped him and his world began to spin. "No! Everything is fine, nothing is wrong, I'll be fine!", the delusional words rattled in his head as he got up and began to explore the condemned home. Floorboards were ripped up in some areas and hoofprints were left in the layer of dust that blanketed the empty home. Finally he found what he was looking for.

A mirror hung against the wall and the cracks in it produced at least five more doppelgangers as he approached. Peering deep into their faces he strained to find a single difference, but found none. Dusk sat down and bowed his head in relief, he was beginning to feel tired and hungry now. Guilt burned a hole in his heart as he realized the magnitude of what he had done earlier that day, everypony must be worried sick trying to find him. Dusk raised his head to the mirror and, with all the bravery he could muster, opened his eyes. In the mirror was a face just like his but now there was only one, the cracks did nothing to separate his image. Curiosity overwhelmed his fear, he stared into the mirror and began investigating once again. The pony staring back at him seemed off, he knew something was not right, something was out of place. Then he remembered that his were red like his mother's while the one staring back had orange eyes. He mustered his courage for a moment then finally spoke.
"Hello?"

...

"Hello Dusk..."

Introductions

"Hello Dusk."

Dusk shot back for a moment but overall stood his ground. The pony in the mirror began to move on its own yet never took its eyes off of him. "W-W-Who are y-you?" The quiver was not out of fear but surprise, it was not often mirrors respond after all. "My name is Dawn Star. I am a part of you that was buried long ago." Dusk raised an eyebrow in confusion. Sirens in the distance echoed. The police ponies where on the search for somepony and odds were it was Dusk they were searching for. "What do you mean you are a part of me?" Dusk began to move back from the mirror and over to a nearby window in order to see what the commotion was about. He wiped away some of the dust on the window pane and peered outside to see some ponies with red and blue vests and sirens on their backs talking to ponies as they passed by. He knew he would have to go home soon; the fact that he ran away in the first place weighed on his conscience as it was and there was no need to prolong his disappearance. "Oh, no! I have to go!" Dusk turned back to Dawn but he was no longer in the mirror...

"Listen you may think that I'm only a reflection but understand this, I am more real than you think." Suddenly Dawn rose right up in the glass and began to move around in the reflection shown in the glass. "I've been inside of your head Dusk, trust me I know what has been going on and I'm here to say that I can help." Dawn appeared to draw nearer from inside of the glass. "I-I don't know what you mean..." Now Dusk was becoming slightly more fearful, none of this made any sense and he wanted to return home more than anything. "Oh come now, Dusk. Please don't leave," Dawn watched as Dusk began to move down the hall ", I'm sure that you have not forgotten what Goody Good and the others have done." Dawn sunk back down in the glass and out of sight to appear in a different pane of glass closer to Dusk who was still trying to slip away. "I'm also sure that you want some sort of revenge." Dawn folded his forelegs and leaned against the window sill inside of the reflection. There was a look in his eye that embodied a sense of temptation. Dusk seemed to be taken with the offer for a moment but he shook his head for a moment and regained his thought process. "NO!!" Dusk stomped his hoof down. "I refuse! I don't want anypony else to get hurt! Never again!" Dawn seemed a bit disappointed with his response at first but then came forward with a new offer. "What about if I help you to ignore Goody Good and her insults? Anytime things get hard for you I can take over and I promise nopony will get hurt while I'm in control." Dusk looked back out the window; the officer was there still but he was preparing to leave. Dusk looked to his reflection and held a hoof up against the glass.
"Deal."

Dawn reached his own hoof forward and when it made contact on the opposite side there was a short burst of energy at where their hooves met. Dawn was gone and Dusk's regular reflection took up residence in his stead. 'I won't let you down boss.' The whisper had Dawn's voice and came from inside of his own head.

Dusk hurried out the back door of the house and came out of an alleyway. There was something nice about the abandoned house and he didn't feel like sharing its location with anypony just yet. He moved right up to the officer and tugged on his tail. The large stallion turned around and softened the expression on his face. "Why hello son," the officer lowered himself to near Dusk's height ", your name wouldn't happen to be Dusk Star would it?" Dusk looked at the corner of the picture that stuck out of a pocket on the officer's vest. The only part he could see was what looked like the roof of his house back in the country. "Yes sir, I am. Is it OK if I have that picture back? It means a lot to me." The stallion glanced down to his pocket and pulled the picture out and handed it to the little colt. "Certainly. We best be getting you home now, I'm sure your mother is worried about you."

As he and the officer walked back across town the sky darkened slightly and drops of rain fell to the ground on occasion. Dusk had his head down low as they walked. He watched the cobbled steps that stretched across become darker and darker until the rain finally turned them a heavy grey that nearly matched the color of his coat. "Come on son, let's hurry and get you out of this rain." The stallion quickened his pace and the young colt sped up to match his sprint.

With in a few minutes they arrived and by then the sprinkling had evolved into a full downpour. Dusk shook the water out of his mane and tapped his hoof against the door. The frantic clapping of hoofsteps grew nearer to the door until finally Morning Star threw the door open. "DUSK!!!" She grabbed the colt roughly and drew him right to her chest. "Dusk I missed you so much! Where the hey did you go? What is wrong with you? Why in the hey did you run off? Oh, thank you officer, thank you so much!" With each question her embrace grew tighter until Dusk could hardly breathe. 'Help!', thought Dusk. Dawn only giggled a little bit before responding, 'Sorry man. This one is on you.' The officer bowed slightly then left and Morning shut the door. "Let's get you dried off then you can tell me what the hay you thought you thought you were doing! Running off like that, honestly, do yo have any idea how much you scared me?" Morning then started up the stairs to go get towels. Dusk stared at the picture the officer had while she was gone. He was correct with his earlier assumptions in that it was a picture from back when they lived in the country. It was a picture of him and all of his friends in their front yard, everypony had looked so happy back then.
'Don't worry, Dusk...

You are no longer alone.'

Arguing With Myself

Morning Star was gathering towels to bring down to her now soaked son. 'Does he even know how scared I was? He has to, I've raised him to think about things beforehand, but why in Equestria would he run off? Could it be that something more serious has been going on? Oh, Morning... you'll never get anywhere asking yourself questions. I'm going to have to ask him directly.' She put the last towel on her back and began her balancing act down the stairs. "Dusk, I want to talk." Dusk knew what was about to happen, he knew he would have to pay for what he had done and was ready to accept the consequences. Morning began to throw the large towels over the shivering colt that lay on the couch and helped to dry him off. His eyes were glazed with pain and regret, the compassion that was built into her heart from when she was a filly began to leak out. There was no way she could punish him. She still wanted answers however. "Dusk, what made you run? Why would you scare me like that?", she said with her voice cracking near the last words. Dusk could see she was on the verge of tears. She had never done anything wrong to anypony for as long as he could remember and bringing her to cry would only cement his sin in his eyes for eternity. "I ran because... I ran because I was afraid. I was afraid the laughter would continue, everyday I have to listen to it and I couldn't take it anymore.", said Dusk, now on the verge of crying himself. Flashes of his nightmares transformed into the abstract realities that he faced earlier this morning. He grew afraid once again. "What do you mean the laughter?" Morning was becoming fearful for her son, she knew that ever since they had moved he had changed but there was something else about him that she feared.

"I don't want to talk about it..." Dusk lowered his head and began to pull a towel over his head. Morning had been passive for too long, "No Dusk, you are going to tell me what is going on and you are not going to beat around the bush this time!", she pulled down the towel that was over his head. Dusk was afraid, the nightmare still ran freely through his head and now his mother had grown angry. That had never happened before. Ever.
'I can't do this! I can't do this! It's too much!'
'Dusk! Let me take over!'
'I can't do this! I can't do this!'
'Dusk, are you listening? Dusk?'
Dawn prepared himself. This would be the first time he would have a body and the anticipation made him anxious to get out and assist Dusk with his problem.
'Showtime.'

Dusk was being haunted by the memories that circled his broken mind; suddenly, there was a release. Nightmares, memories, and new fears seemed to dispel and Dusk opened his eyes. He was in his house but everything was opposite of where it used to be. Everything was empty. He felt relief. Suddenly a booming voice shook whatever dimension he was in, the voice belonged to Dawn. "Listen up lady! Dusk has had enough problems today and he doesn't need you to poke at sore wounds!" Dusk ran to a mirror that was on a wall, as he ran he felt no weight. It was as if he had no body and once he reached the mirror his suspicions were confirmed. Looking through the window of a mirror he could see exactly what Dawn saw. Dawn was staring down Morning and the look in her eyes was a look of pure shock, a look of fear even. "Dusk! How dare you talk to me like that! What has gotten into you!" Her voice was quivering and unsure. Dusk had never acted up before, let alone so often in one day! "My name is not Dusk! It's Dawn, and you should get it right next time!" Morning began to back up, the colt that she had loved all her life was suddenly changing both in behavior and physically. His mane was becoming ragged and losing its order, his eyes hardened and filled with hate. Worst of all, his red eyes that she took such pride in passing on had changed to a morbid orange. "What are you looking at!?", Dawn moved his forward in a display of power.

The view in the mirror moved aggressively towards Morning's face and Dusk decided enough was enough. "How dare you!", Dusk shouted at the mirror, "You said nopony would get hurt!" Dawn had apparently heard him because he turned his head to the side and to Morning it looked as if he was yelling at the couch, "But Dusk! She was hurting you... I was protecting you..." Dawn's voice had a hint of fear and if there was fear, there was reason behind it. Dusk thought for a quick moment before responding, "I didn't need protecting!" This time Dawn turned his head in the opposite direction and Dusk's words spilled out of his mouth. Dusk thought again,'the barrier is weakening..' Dawn turned his head again, "But, you said you couldn't handle it!" His head shifted again, "I don't care! I never gave you permission!" The argument continued and the Dusk's/Dawn's head kept tossing and rage began to grow. Morning was terrified, the rain outside added to the tension and the feeling in the air was not a safe one. Thunder cracked. Something bad was going to happen and soon. Dusk screamed, "You are done! I'm taking back control and you are not coming back!" Dusk through himself at the mirror and he found himself in a void, floating in blackness. Finally weight returned in his hooves and moved up his body. A flash brought him back to reality, back to the cold, and back to his house. His mother was repulsed by his presence, she was truly afraid. "D-D-Dawn? D-D-Dusk?" Dusk leap forward and attempted to hug Morning but she flinched at this movement and tried to move away from him. "Mom? Mom? I am so sorry! That wasn't me! I promise I am so sorry!" His voice was broken, tears burst from his eyes, he kept moving toward her hoping for his offering to be returned.

Morning was against a wall, no where to run, she kept expecting an aggressive movement. None came, her son embraced her and buried his teary face into her chest. "Mom, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." Morning didn't know what to expect but her motherly instinct broke out of the face of fear that hid it and, hesitantly, she returned the embrace.
"Dusk, we are going to have to have another talk..."

The Doctor

Dusk was recovering roughly from his incident, Morning had gone off to go talk to somepony and he was starting to drift to sleep. All of his energy had been drained from the experience; it felt like he had ran for miles. Confusion, defiance, anger, fatigue. They were all emotions that would accurately describe how he felt at the moment, but there would be no reason to bother with trying to validate their place right now. Right now he needed rest, moreover he needed to speak with Dawn.

Dawn was there he was sitting on the couch that he had woke up on when they had switched places earlier. Dusk made the first point of the argument. "This wasn't what we agreed on..." Dawn acted like he was sorry but his face had a hint of smugness, like everything had gone as planned. "I'm sorry but you were in no condition to do anything, I had to take over!" His voice was sincere but there was still something about his face. Dawn didn't buy the excuse, "That's not what I'm talking about, you said that nopony would get hurt as long as you were in control and the very first thing you did was try and attack my mom!" Dawn feigned offense with that statement. Dusk now knew for sure that Dawn was one of the worst actors he had ever seen, but he kept it a secret. It may help him detect future lies if he played things off correctly. "I never tried to attack her!" Dusk had already premeditated a lie from him and was quick to respond."Then why was she so afraid of you? So afraid of me?" Dawn's expression admitted defeat but he never broke eye contact until he mad a shifting glance at the mirror. Dusk finally knew what he was plotting and turned for the mirror before Dawn could look back, but Dawn reacted faster.

Both of them ran for the mirror as fast as they could but to Dusk's dismay, it was hard to run when he had no weight. Dawn was used to this situation and made his way to the mirror with great speed. As he passed Dusk something tripped his leg and, because there was no weight to stop him, he flew forward. Dusk quickly remembered that the laws of this location were drastically different than the conscious world and fixed his error by grabbing onto the tail of the flying pony. This turned out to also be a mistake as he had no weight either and was catapulted across the room along with Dawn. They sped toward the mirror together but Dawn was still ahead and he slipped through...

The pony asleep on the couch woke up abruptly and instantly became alert. "Am I free?" He looked down at his hoof. They were not his. Dawn smiled, "It seems I am..." Then words that were not his own began to spill out of his mouth. "You get back in there right now Dawn!" The hoof that he was not looking at began to move on its own and pointed back at Dawn's borrowed face.
"Dang it Dusk! How the hay did you get out!?!", he smacked the hoof down by using the one he had control of.
"Now I know your an idiot! I was holding on to your tail!", the hoof Dusk controlled shook of the pain before lashing out at the opposite arm.
"Well, go back! I want to be in control! You have already lived your whole life in control!", his hoof now socked its opposite.

With that, Dusk knew that when he let Dawn in that morning he had made the biggest mistake of his life. One that would if he ever was given the chance, he would correct. At that point their back-and-forth war of insults and punches reached a peak and Dusk declared in a flat, serious tone, "If it's the last thing I ever do I will get rid of you..." Dawn punched himself in the face and both screamed.
"OW!"
"Aaahh! That hurt!"

Morning stood outside the door of her home talking to the doctor who was said to help with all kinds of mental and stress related conditions. "Ms. Star I assure you that whatever is wrong, I can help you." A muffled scream of pain came from inside the house followed by another. Morning opened the door in a frenzy and both she and the doctor were greeted by Dusk/Dawn rolling across the floor, screaming, with a black eye. Morning ran to them, "Stop it! What are you doing?" The colt on the ground stopped rolling when he felt a change in the air and he looked up. "He He, hi mom...", then his voice changed, "Hi lady." His body was bruised and cut and one eye was swollen and blue with a slightly visible orange iris, the other red. The doctor stared at the situation with very little to go on, Morning had only said that Dusk was changing in an extreme manner. "You know what? Give me a sec, I may need to go get something from my office...", and with that the doctor turned and left.

Minutes later Dusk sat on the chair and and the doctor sat across him. His clipboard was held at the ready for when the need for notes was required. The doctor began the session, "So Dusk, how are you feeling?" Dusk thought for a moment. To be honest the straightjacket pinched in some areas but other than that it felt cozy, Dawn would complain about it often though.
"See what you got me into Dusk? Now they think I'm crazy, are you listening to me Dusk? THEY THINK I'M CRAZY!"

The doctor sighed and began taking notes. This was going to be a long session.

Diagnosis

"Dawn, I would like you to tell me about yourself. Who are you, where did you come from?" The doctor's eyes shifted from left to right as he took in the detail of both sides of the pony sitting in front of him. Dawn rolled his eye and began, "You see when one mental process and another mental process love each other very much...". "Dawn, please. I need to know the truth.", said the doctor midway through Dawn's sarcasm. "Sorry doc, but you aren't going to get the truth out of him.", Dusk explained. Dawn turned their head sharply to Dusk's side, "I said I was going to protect you and that was what I was doing." Their head turned once again, "And I said that you wouldn't hurt anypony and you agreed." The doctor sighed once again, this was the fourth time they had broken out into an argument since their session began. He turned back in his seat and began to dig for information from Morning. "What was it that started the first shift?" Morning thought back, "It started when I asked him what he meant when he said everypony laughed at him. He wouldn't answer so I had to get stern, after that he changed." "Seems like you may have scared him. Let's try something new, you may not like it though..."

Dusk and Dawn were still fighting when Morning cut in. "Dusk Orion Star! You stop that fighting right now!" Morning had never yelled on purpose before and she didn't like it. "Now you listen to me young colt! Tell this nice stallion what is going on and you better do so in detail!" Her face contorted in anger yet in her mind she was whispering her apologies to Dusk. 'I am so sorry Dusk, please forgive me...'

Dawn perked up and took a defensive stance. Morning stood her ground but the quivered on the inside, she did not know how far Dawn would actually go if he got angry. For a moment Dusk found himself trapped. Beginning to remember what he tried hard to forget shook him up emotionally and Dawn felt his grip on the body loosen. Dawn made an offensive push, "Hey, back off! He is trying to forget it lady!" Pen ran across paper and the doctor took careful notice as the side housing Dusk began to shake in fear and begin to drift off. He was beginning to disconnect, he was weakening. "Thank you Morning, that will be all." Morning changed her face once again but this time it was to worry. "Oh, Dusk I am so sorry..." The doctor put the pen to the side of his head and began to tap rhythmically while he drifted deep in thought. 'What if it was more than just simply getting in trouble or being yelled at?'

A piece of paper was placed in front of both front hooves and each was given a pencil. Their straightjacket was undone on the promise that there would be no fighting for the next little while. Dawn could see that the paper was a sort of test, a very intense one at that. The print on it was incredibly small and packed in tightly, every so often there was a space for an answer but other than that it was filled top to bottom. He flipped the page and discovered it was front to back as well. Dawn blurted out with aggravation, "Wait, what the hay is this?" Dusk turned the head, "It's a test, stupid." Dusk stared at the sheet closely, "Oh, right." The doctor primed his timer, "You may begin now."

Dawn looked at the left hoof in front of him, "Crap, I'm right-hooved..." Dusk ignored it and began writing shakily. Sadly for him, he was left-hooved. One pencil began to move furiously while the other was at a more average pace. The doctor waited with great patience as he waited for one of them to come across the special questions he had placed into the test. The test was a modified IQ test where some questions from a psych evaluation test were added at evenly spaced intervals. If all turned out well he would see Dusk falter at those questions and begin to drift off as he had before.

Dusk was moving at a high speed, even with writing using the wrong hoof. Finally the doctor got the results he waited for; Dusk suddenly stopped on one question and filled it in roughly before moving on. Dusk was maintaining a high speed even after the sudden stop, but now he was slower than before. After numerous stops he was writing slower than Dawn was and Dawn was still getting used to writing with a left hoof. Dusk started to lose steam before finally seeming to disappear. Dawn looked back at the limp side of his body before it began to animate once again.

"Sweet! I have control again!" His smile beamed with these words before a hint of dark intent took place. Suddenly he fell backward into his seat and lurched forward again. "Hey Dawn, you dropped your guard."
'Dang it Dusk...'

"Don't worry. I have control again." The doctor gathered the tests and began to look them over. "Good, good. Why don't you go get some rest, I have some business to discuss with your mother." Dusk stood up and began to stumble but was able to maintain his stability as he began the balancing act to his bed. He was getting used to the "Shifting Sickness" as he liked to call it, but it didn't mean he necessarily liked it.

"So what did you find out?", said Morning with a curious worry. The doctor was quick to reply, "Dusk seems to be showing what looks like a personality disorder but it is not like one I have witnessed before, Dusk is fully aware of Dawn and visa versa. Most patients aren't even aware there is a second, so the fact that they go as far as to have conversations means that it is highly unlikely that multi-personality is his problem. As for the tests... Morning your son is an absolute genius. He cleared half of these without a single mistake in the time it takes me to complete the full test. He really is incredible, you should be proud of him." Morning blushed slightly, she was used to receiving on both her and her son's account but she was always modest about it. "As for Dawn, he is a complete idiot. But he does show extremely high levels in the questions dealing in emotion and persuasion so be careful around him. It is possible he could get you to believe in anything he wants if the opportunity arises." The cautionary advice was cold and rigid to make sure there would be no misinterpretation on the subject.

As the doctor walked out of the home he stopped to pass some last minute information that had slipped his mind somehow. "Morning, before I forget, Dusk doesn't just fade away with bad memories. Any form of built up stress or sudden shock will do the trick, try to ease him into situations gently." Morning took note of the words in hope that they would help everypony pass through the ordeal. "Wait, if this isn't multi-personality what is it? Are you sure this will work doctor?"

...

He started to turn back, "To be honest... I have no idea...", and with a grin he was off.

Change For the Better

Days passed since the evaluation, Morning had spent most off it working on easing Dusk into everyday tasks so she could get used to the practice. Her voice finally became the gentle instrument that it had been once before. Ever since Dawn had come and moved her comfort zones she had been trying to get it back once again. Dusk began to feel more at ease once the fear in her voice left and it began to soothe him once again. She still feared Dawn however and would often stumble over words when his name was mentioned. She knew that something was not right about him and she worried for Dusk's safety. Today was the day she would have to remove the safety net, however, and let Dusk return to school. Anticipation manifested as lightning in the air. "Dusk, remember to turn in all of your work today." Dusk nodded and made his way out the door. Today would be the first official day of dealing with two minds. Today they both faced the world.

Dusk walked the cobblestone steps to the school and the sharp clop made by each step brought him closer to the building. He had left home early once again in order to get back into the old routine that had been established before his retreat. He stood at the entrance and peered in, Ms. Green was writing on the chalkboard again. 'Dawn, remember what I had said before. If anypony gets hurt at all then you are going to get locked up for a whole week.' Through experimentation, Dusk had found that Dawn could not stand solitary confinement at all. The problem was that this technique only worked as long as Dusk was in control of his emotions, if Dusk was even remotely mad at Dawn then Dawn would be able to break the barrier and take over. When this happened, Dusk would have to wait until he either calmed down or Dawn dropped his guard.

Dusk walked calmly into the class and sat down at his desk, Ms. Green was writing on the blackboard at the front. Every time he showed up early she was there; he was glad that that had not changed. She turned and saw Dusk, "Dusk! It's nice to see you again! How have you been?" Dusk smiled slightly, although he still had bad memories of the class it was nice to see that at least one person missed him. "I've been OK but there are some things that I think you may need to see first." He got out of the desk and walked over to her before grabbing some papers out of his saddle and passing them along. She looked through the homework quickly before finally coming to a doctor's note. Dusk lowered his head, half in embarrassment and half in anticipation as he awaited her reaction. Her face became grim as she looked over the note. "Oh, Dusk... I am so sorry..."

Dusk raised his head, he would have to get over it sometime or later and he would not stand to mope about for the rest of his life, "It's alright. Did I miss anything important while I was gone?" She motioned to the seat that Goody Good had occupied, "Goody Good has transferred to a different school and somepony else should be transferring in today." Dusk suddenly straightened up and with barely contained excitement his thoughts spilled out of his mouth. "Goody Good is gone! Really!" Ms. Green was startled by his enthusiasm at first but quickly remembered why he had taken leave. "Yes Dusk, she is gone now. The new student will be sitting next to you in Goody Good's old seat. Maybe you two could become friends..."

Today was starting off better than he had hoped, everything was going well and getting better. He was half expecting something to turn his life upside down at this point but things were going too well for him to care, he was feeling happy again. Dawn could feel this, 'If things do turn out badly, I'm always here.'
'Ya, I know Dawn, I know, but don't forget our agreement.'

The school bell rang and all of the students waited in their desks. The desk next to Dusk was still empty and he was disappointed to say the least. The burst of energy that he had first felt when he had first arrived in town was revived. The enthusiasm to have a new friend, the new hope, all of it was revived. Class began, there would be no reason to wait for the missing student. "OK class, from this week on we will have a section of class completely devoted to trying new things to help all of you earn your cutie mark." The sound of hooves meeting stone sped towards the school building, the whole class turned with curiosity. "WAITWAITWAITWAITWAITWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!", a young, white earth pony with a sky blue mane ran into class. In the rush she tripped over herself and rolled to the front of class, right next to Ms. Green. "Ow..." The class broke into laughter with the exception of Dusk who stared in total disbelief.
'Oh my gosh, is she alright?
'HAHAHAHA! Hey Dusk, how come your introduction wasn't as interesting as hers?'
'Shut up Dawn, why don't you get a heart for once?'
'Can I have yours?'
'No, now shut up and pipe down. You aren't getting out.'

Even as the laughter continued Dusk examined her face looking for signs of pain, looking for a chance to lend a friendly hand. Instead she rubbed the back of her head and began to laugh herself. This confused Dusk, how is it she was able to laugh even as she became the laughing stock of the whole class. "Are you OK deary?" "Yes, I'm fine.", she chuckled to herself, even as she stood up she was still smiling.

It was a cute smile.

"Why don't you introduce yourself to the class?" The filly stood up and dusted herself off. "Ummm, oh yeah. My name is Poly, Poly Graff." She was still laughing to herself.

It was a cute laugh.

"OK, your seat is over by Dusk, he is the grey unicorn there." She began to prance forward excitedly, "OK."

It was a very cute walk.

She stumbled a bit on the way there. It looked as though she was a natural klutz.

It was a cute stumble though.

She sat down and smiled right at Dusk, "Hi, My name is Poly." Dusk stammered over his words, "H-Hi, I'm Dusk. P-Pleased to m-meet you." His cheeks became warm and full of life, he was blushing. She cocked her head, the way he was stuttering was funny.

It was a cute way of speaking actually.

She began to blush herself and they both turned their heads to the front of the class and straightened up as though nothing had happened.

'She blushed back... Oh crap! I've embarrassed her! I didn't want to do that! Oh no, she'll think I'm a jerk!'

'Quit your whining Dusk, she blushed because she likes you.'

'Dawn, I seriously doubt that is it.'

'Look, I know that you may think that you are some major genius, but I know emotion.'

'And why should I trust you?'

'I already told you, I know emotion. She likes you, but be careful. If you get too deep you may get hurt.' Dawn's tone turned serious, 'It may be best if you stay away from her.' Dusk cut off his communication with Dawn, he preferred to live in hope when he could.

...

'She still blushed back...'

Art and Murder

"Today class, we are going to discuss painting and the arts. This is a very popular field when it comes to some ponies finding their cutie marks." Ms. Green continued her instructions and most the class listened. While some had positively no interest in the subject and fully believed that art was not the road to their cutie mark, some just couldn't focus. 'Hey Dusk! *snap snap snap* Dusk! Come on, focus! You might learn something! Come on Dusk, I need you to listen!' Dusk sat up in his seat and started to sputter words in surprise, "What, who, huh? Oh, Dawn would you shut up!" ... The silence in the room seemed hurt his ears more than Dawn's commands. Ms. Green was slightly on edge, the note had said that Dusk was good at suppressing Dawn but she had never seen the signs of anything being awry. She knew she would have to tread over thin ice, she needed to protect Dusk's secret from the others. Judging the tone of the note as well, she needed to protect the class from Dawn. "Dusk, are you going to be alright? Do you need to step out and deal with things?" Dusk slumped back into his desk and whispered, "No, it's alright." Class continued as it had, occasionally the stray looks from other classmates would burn into the back of Dusk's head.

Poly looked at Dusk and asked sincerely, "Are you alright?" Dusk shivered when her words reached him, he knew that the truth would scare her away from him but he couldn't just lie about it. He refused to lie, lying would only hurt others.
"Of course I'm alright." He gave a weak smile to back it up. 'Wow, I am such an idiot...'

Poly's gaze tightened on him, "You're lying." Dusk gulped and his heart sank, truth be told, he was slightly relieved that someone had called his bluff. "What do you mean?" Her gaze turned into a scowl and he felt an invisible pressure weigh against him. "You're still lying. I don't know how but I've always been able to tell if someone is lying or not." Her gaze lightened slightly and he felt like he could breathe again, "OK, yes I was lying."

She smiled happily. "Good!" Her expression showed pure joy, "Wait, what, huh?" Dusk had no clue what was going on, he was sure that she would have been mad. "All I wanted was for you to tell the truth silly. You can tell me what is wrong later, right now we should probably listen." Her smile grew and Dusk felt warm again, he just nodded then faced the front again. He was sure he was blushing.

There was a group of easels at the front of the class and some cups with paint in them, everypony was supposed to group up and Dusk saw a window of opportunity and made his move. "Ummm, Poly? Would you like to partner up?" She grinned like she always did and nodded excitedly. "You can get the easel and I'll grab the paints.", and with that she got up and started to prance forward to grab the paints. 'Hey Dusk, you don't listen well do you? I specifically told you to stay away from her.' Dusk was now grabbing the easel and balancing it on his back, 'What harm is it doing for me to try and talk to her?' Dawn was getting mad now, he was growing stronger, if Dusk didn't watch his emotions then Dawn would get out. 'Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale...' Dusk continued his calming thoughts and focused on trying to avoid a stressful build up of emotion. His eyes were closed and he was moving carefully along the path he had used when he originally walked along to get to front when something changed. Somepony screamed "Uh oh..." and there was a thud followed by a splashing noise.

Dusk opened his eyes a split second before he stepped on a paint spill and was thrown up into the air by his own movement. The easel and canvas on his back landed in the paint first and Dusk began his descent. Down on the ground he could see Poly laying in the paint covered in the many colors that she had grabbed. 'She's a klutz alright...' He fell and landed on top of Poly whose bow acted as a large cushion. "Ow... Oh no, I am so sorry!", Dusk started his apologies early in hopes that she would forgive him but she only laughed a little and said, "Why would you need to apologize? It was my fault." As they stood up it came to Dusk's knowledge that everypony in the room, save Ms. Green, was laughing at them.
'Oh no, they're laughing again!'
'You see, I told you that she would cause problems. I told you not to trust her.'
'But you said that she liked me...'
'I also said that you should be careful, now give up this silly notion of yours before she does some serious damage.'

'I... I guess you're right.' In that moment of self doubt the barrier began to break down, Dusk began to fade and Dawn was waking up. His eyes began to change hue, from the deep red of his mother into the dark and foreboding orange that those who were closest to him learned to fear. A feeling began to wash over Dusk, it was a familiar one that he tried his best to avoid, it was as if he were falling asleep in a black ocean. Then, a light rose over the ocean, the light was blinding yet it brought comfort just like the sun. He heard three voices echo across the ocean, two were very familiar yet the third was entirely new.

"Come on silly. There is no reason to hide, just shrug it off." The first voice came from Poly. She was smiling at him when he opened his eyes. She was brushing paint off of both of them with no avail. It resulted in the paint smearing all over both of them and making an entirely new mess. "Oops, I didn't mean to do that..." Her voice and face were sincere, but smiling, Dusk knew she must have been the light that woke him up. He knew he could trust her.

The second voice was a dark one, it belonged to Dawn. 'I refuse to let you live now of all times, I've already worked to hard!' Dusk became afraid, terrified even, by this message, but he knew that it was not directed at him. Dawn was speaking to somepony else.

The third voice scared him the most. It was fearful, young, and begging for mercy. 'Please don't! Please let me live!' Sobs were heard then finally silence. Vast, empty silence. whoever was begging for mercy was no longer there. Dawn had silenced him permanently. 'Good riddance.'

Poly stared at the pony next to her. His face was twisted as if he had witnessed a horror beyond imagination, he was beginning to tear up, his face had become pale. Her nature told her to try and make him laugh but she knew better, he needed real comfort, not just some cheap giggle. Whatever had just happened was really affecting him.
"Are you OK Dusk?"

...

"Ya, I'm perfectly fine."

...

'False.' She didn't need to be able to detect lies to know that.

Changing Subjects and Hobbies

Art class continued and many not-so-wonderful "masterpieces" were born. On the other half, however, a couple did find this to be something they were natural at, were born to do even. Those who did found a cutie mark on their flank. Vivid colors detailed the canvases, perfect brushwork became a sight to see, smiles grew. Poly had no such luck though. She rushed perfection and the wet paints would mix on the canvas, the brush strokes would smear, or she would drop another cup of paint. Both she and Dusk were still covered in paint from the earlier incident and had opted out of washing off in order to have more time to work. Dusk sat back and watch the eager filly practically throw herself across the canvas in attempts to reach sections that were out of reach. "Whoa!", Poly uttered before falling again. Dusk help her up quickly and chuckled with her only after he was sure that she was OK.

"Well, it's obvious I'm no good, huh?" She smiled warmly and awaited his response. "Positively horrible." He smiled back, it hurt to tell the truth but it was obvious she would hurt him if he didn't. "Here you go.", she chirped as she handed over the brush that she had not used, "It's your turn now." Dusk thanked her and accepted the brush. Although he would be painting he wouldn't bother putting his full attention into it. He just left his hooves to do his work while he pondered what had happened earlier. 'Dawn, you answer me right now. What the hay happened back there?' Inside of Dusk's mind he saw a pony walk forward out of the darkness. 'Whatever do you mean Dusk?', his eyes hardened to a glare with the statement. 'There was somepony else here, you killed him. I heard him beg for mercy and I heard you give a threat before he disappeared. Now cut the act, I want answers.' Dawn circled Dusk and began what felt like what would become a monologue.

'Fine you want answers? I'll give you some.' Dusk really hoped this wouldn't become a monologue. 'I told you to stay away from Poly, she would become a danger to both of us. Yet you ignored me and now we have a new problem. There are more of us now.' Dusk was confused, 'What do you mean there are more of us now? What are you talking about?' Dawn stopped or a moment and stared at Dusk through the corner of his eye. 'Nothing, nothing. You know what? You can continue with all of your frolicking and whatever else you do to take up your time, just be careful.' His expression lightened, 'So what are you doing now? You know, back out in the world.'

'WHAT THE HAY ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!!! YOU SAID YOU WOULD TELL ME THE TRUTH!!! DON'T JUST CHANGE THE SUBJECT!!!' The hairs on Dusk's back stood on end, he was frustrated with Dawn's lies and changes in moods. 'You heard me, what are you doing in the real world? By the way, I would calm down if I were you...' Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. Within moments Dusk was back in control, 'Why did you remind me? You could've escaped at any time while I was enraged.' Dawn began to walk back into the darkness, back into Dusk's deepest sections of his mind, 'Because right now you need to go back into the world and learn what you can. Oh, and before I forget. If you find a talent that you are good at, don't stop there. Once you figure out how to work a craft just move on.' With that, Dawn was gone.

'The nerve of him...' Dusk returned to the world outside of his mind and saw that everypony had fallen silent. He looked around and saw that everypony was staring wide eyed at both Dusk and his canvas. When Dusk saw what he had done subconsciously his reaction became theirs. On his canvas was a beautiful landscape with elevations and drops, flowing grasslands, small ponies playing in the distance, and it all looked so real. It was shocking to say the least. He put his brush down and stepped back. "Did I do this?", asked Dusk who was in more disbelief then everypony else. Poly nodded excitedly and congratulated him on his wondrous work, Ms. Green gave him books on art and asked if he would study them, many of his classmates came forward and asked how he did it. He had no clue, but from that day on anytime he drew something it turned out spectacular. The entire week that the class worked on art nopony came up with something better than what he had painted. Oddly enough, he never got his cutie mark either.

...

Even if it meant he followed Dawn's advice, he would move onto the next skill.

...

Something deep inside of him felt like learning more.

Return

After 5 days the weekend came, the difference between this weekend and the first he had spent in this place was drastic. Now he had a friend, now he had something to do, but now he had an enemy worse than Goody Good as well. Dusk had grown to distrust Dawn ever since he had their discussion in art class, Dusk was afraid that their discussion had made Dawn hide deep in his mind. To cement Dusk's fears, there had been no communication from Dawn for a while. Dawn hated being trapped in Dusk's mind more than anything, yet it felt almost as Dawn never left or did anything. It was like he was waiting.

"Dusk honey, you need to eat your grass before it gets mold." Dusk snapped back to reality, "What, oh, right." Morning looked down at her son and silently hoped he was alright. "Is something wrong Dusk?" Dusk sighed and spilled his mind out to her, Poly had trained him not to lie within the first few days of him knowing her. "It's Dawn," Morning froze mid-bite, "I haven't heard from him but I know he is there." Morning finished chewing and offered her advice, "Maybe it's for the best, you've said that he had been starting to scare you as well. Right?" The fork clattered gently as Dusk put it down, "That's it though, he scares me more now than ever because I have no clue what he is doing. Plus," Morning waited eagerly for the next bit of his message, "He has been changing."

Morning gulped the mouthful of food that she had, "H-How so?" Dusk began to think back, "He was never this secluded or violent. He's becoming more and more unpredictable. I'm starting to fear that he may be plotting something." Morning stood up, her plate still had a lot of food, "I think I'm done, what about you?" Truth be told, their conversation had killed Dusk's appetite. "I'll take the plates." Balancing two, mostly full plates on top of one's head is no easy task but he was able to make it to the kitchen and place them on the counter. "Oh, and Dusk honey! I invited Poly and her mom over so you two can play while we talk." Dusk's cheeks warmed again and he forgot about the depressing conversation that they had earlier. "OK.", he had to answer plainly, he didn't want to sound too excited.

*Knock Knock Knock* Dusk ran to the door and opened it, on the other side was a little white pony and a taller grey pony. "Why hello Dusk, is your mother home?" Morning stepped around a corner and moved down the hall, "Hello Fona, it's nice to see you again." Dusk was confused for a bit until he remembered that all four of them had bumped into each other at the market and first met each other. "Dusk, why don't you show Poly around town while we talk?" Dusk nodded and Poly pranced to Dusk's side as he walked out the door. "So what do you want to see?" Dusk looked at Poly and hoped that the answer would mean that they could walk together for a while. "Why don't we check out the whole town!" Perfect.

Dusk walked her by all the stores, the food markets, restaurants, and many of the various buildings around town, occasionally they would stop to play at a park or open area. The whole tour didn't take long, their town wasn't big to begin with. "...And there you have it.", said Dusk proudly as though he had helped a lost filly find her way home. "Wow, this place is really cool huh?" Dusk turned to see what she was talking about. He had mixed emotions about the place, there was no denying that, but curiosity still grabbed at him. "Ya, I've been here once before. It wasn't a pleasant experience." Poly lowered her head, "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't know..." Dusk cut in before she could finish, "It's alright... If you want to wait here that is alright. But I'm going to go in... There is something I need to see." Dusk trotted up the steps and disappeared through a hole in the front wall. Poly looked around nervously, she hated being alone. More specifically she hated being abandoned and with that she ran after him.

Dusk walked up the staircase and avoided the upturned steps and loose planks of wood. "Wait for me!" He turned and saw Poly running in after him. "Watch out for the first few steps, they are the loosest." She didn't care for his warning and just walked up each step without a single slip, fall, or tumble of any sort. Finally, she made it to the top with Dusk. "What do you take me for? A klutz?", she said with a smile and joking tone. Immediately she tripped over her own hoof and rolled across the room before smashing into the opposite wall. "Yes." Dusk walked over to help her up but stopped when he looked into a doorway on the other side of the room. It was the the bathroom where he had originally met Dawn, the mirror hung up still in the same place it was, the same cracks thrown across its surface. Poly was already up and she moved right next to him in order to see what he saw. "It's just a silly mirror... right?"

Dusk quivered for a moment, there had been a shift inside of his mind. Dawn was stirring, there was no doubt, but something was different. He was stronger. Dusk put on a calm mask and tried to hide his fear from Poly, "Ya, it's just a mirror." Poly became stern, "You're lying Dusk." He gulped and struggled to keep his hold on reality, Dawn was getting closer to his conscious mind, "OK, that mirror is where I met someone a while ago, someone who I hate very much." Poly was stepping back from Dusk, she was afraid. His mane was becoming ragged, his tail short, his eyes dark. "How did you meet someone through a mirror?", her voice cracked as Dusk strained himself and arched his back during his "transformation."

...

"Please Dawn, NO!!!"

...

"Hello, Poly. I think I can answer your questions." The pony in front of her was definitely not Dusk, he had his body but he gave off a threatening aura.

...

"Who are you?"

...

"Dawn Star, not that it really matters. You best be leaving now."

Good Riddance

Dawn's back arched like a cat before coming to a rest; he set his eyes on Poly and began to walk over to her as nonchalantly as possible. "What's the matter Poly, don't you find this hilarious?" Poly was still backing up, making her way over to the staircase as quickly as possible without raising suspicion. "W-W-Why would I find this h-hilarious?" Dawn's mouth widened to a twisted smile that stretched across his mouth, "Because, your very best, bestest, bestiest friend in the whole world had a secret that he wouldn't share with you. He knows how much you like him but he still didn't tell you about me. Isn't that sad? He doesn't trust you." The words hit Poly like arrows but she felt just fine internally, she knew he was lying. Poly was near the stairs now, she was ready to make her escape when suddenly a voice broke the hardness of the air. "Poly wait! Don't go, I have him under control." She looked up and saw Dawn straining as if he were trying to hold himself back, "Dusk? Is that you?"

"Ya... Poly... I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, I didn't want you to be afraid..." His voice changed again, "Dusk! How the hay are you still here? Back off! It's my turn to have your body! You shouldn't be here!"
"Wrong, you took over but you forgot to kick me out moron. I allowed you to assume your own appearance but I'm still in control in the end."

Poly ended her gradual retreat, "Dusk, what is going on?" Dusk/Dawn's face turned melancholy. "*Sigh* OK, a while back there was a pony in class named Goody Good, she was retched, mean, and oppressive. She and all of her friends would tease me and push me around constantly. Then one day, I snapped." Poly had pity in her eyes, she began to move toward Dusk/Dawn instead of away. "Dusk... that's horrible... I'm so sorry." Dawn came through again, "...And after you snapped you came here, saw the mirror, and met me. We get it. The point is Poly, Dusk made a deal with me. Whenever he became stressed I could come to the surface to protect him." Poly was confused, "Then why where you able to come out now?" Dawn smiled, "Because right now, you are a potential danger. I refuse to let you near Dusk for his own safety." Poly froze in place then lowered her head and looked back up at Dawn. She gave Dawn a glare that even sent a chill through his heart, fear was a feeling he had only felt a couple times before. "You're lying."

Dawn grew nervous with her statement, he tried to back up but Dusk held him in place. "I don't know what your talking about..." Poly drew closer and closer and it seemed that Dawn was too afraid to make eye contact. "DAWN!!! What does she mean you're lying? Why are you saying that Poly is a danger to me? ANSWER ME!!!" Dawn grew aggressive in that brief moment, he had a window of opportunity and he needed to turn the tables on this conversation. "You slipped up Dusk!" Dawn fed off of Dusk's rage and grew strong enough to throw Dusk back into his subconscious. "Poly! Run!", Dusk screamed before his presence faded away. Poly stood bravely even though the pony in front of her had control. She didn't know what to expect from him, but she had to be strong if she wanted Dusk back.

"You are ruining my plans Poly, I've worked too hard for you to mess everything up now." Poly gazed at him, unsure of what was next. "Surely, you are a bit curious about what I have planned, right?" He started to walk in circles around her. His movements were fluid, just like the way a snake would move; twisting his torso at turns, swiveling on occasion, bending in abnormal ways. It all seemed so unworldly to her and frightened her even more. "Y-y-yes, I do want to know..." He stopped in front of her and stared her down, whatever fear that she had placed in his heart earlier was gone. He began to laugh, "Well too bad. If I told you everything then that would spoil the fun wouldn't it? Life is too fun to be ruined by knowing what will happen! So I guess you'll just have to wait and see."

Poly had to stay brave, any fear would cause her to falter. She had to get him to lie, if she did she could exploit his weaknesses...
"Dusk is gone and there is nothing you can do to save him!"
'That was easier than I thought...'
"You're lying again." Her gaze hardened and Dawn lost his diplomatic footing.
"W-w-what are you talking about? He's gone! I've already told you this."

"I know that somewhere deep down Dusk is still there! I refuse to let you keep him locked down! Dusk is a good, kind-hearted pony who would never hurt anypony else! You do not belong to have his body!" Her words were forceful yet hollow, she was hoping that he would be intimidated by her tone. "And what are you going to do about it little girl?", Dawn asked, trying to hide his fear. There was something about her, something that made him lose power. She knew it too, that was why she kept pushing her luck.

Poly leap forward and embraced Dawn in an incredibly tight hug, "Dusk, I know you're in there. I know you can overcome this, please answer me." Her warmth and affection melted Dawn's control, Dusk was loosening.

Amidst a stormy black sea of shadows Dusk heard her voice once more, it came to him as a sun rising over the horizon. Just like last time. The dark sea seemed to part around Dusk and burnt up wherever the sun touched. Dawn was making his retreat, he was trying to go back into the recesses of Dusk's mind once again. 'Not this time.' Dawn focused as much as he possibly could into keeping Dawn away and slowly he began to push Dawn out of his mind. Poly kept hugging Dusk and now that Dusk was in control he began to hug back. With a bright flash of light Dusk felt a large energy seem to drain from his body and his horn began to glow.

Poly stepped back and Dusk's horn began to give off bright sparks, Dusk aimed his horn towards the mirror and focused the magic towards it. Dawn was gone.

It had been almost an hour after they had left and both Morning and Fona were becoming worried. A knock at the door caused both of them to jump. Morning opened the door to find Poly supporting Dusk as his head swayed. It was obvious he was about to pass out so Morning rushed him to his room. When she came back she asked Poly what had happened. "We went to this abandoned house and then Dusk started to act weird, he changed. He turned into somepony named Dawn and then Dusk's horn glowed and he passed out." Morning grew skittish, although the story seemed to be condensed it confirmed her fears. "Fona, I'm afraid to say this, but it may be best if Poly doesn't see Dusk for a while." Poly began to cry, "No! I can help him!" Fona grabbed Poly and began to walk out the door, "I think you may be right..." Poly kept screaming and wiggling around in Fona's arms until she broke free.

Poly rushed up the stairs and into Dusk's room where he was asleep on his bed. "Dusk please wake up! Dusk! Tell them that he is gone please!" Dusk's eyes cracked slightly and he saw Poly crying over his face. "Poly..." Fona grabbed Poly once again, "Young lady! You let him rest! Now come on, you need to forget about him. He's dangerous."
"No he's not! I know he's not!" Poly was still crying, it wasn't fair that her only friend was considered a danger, it just wasn't fair. Dusk tried to get up but Morning put him back down, "No Poly! Poly! One day we'll see each other again! I promise!"

...

He was telling the truth.

...

Somewhere in the darkness of The Other Side

'You can't hide forever Dusk, one day, we'll see each other again,

...

I promise...'

Dusk's Story

Dusk was lonely, there was no doubt about it. Ever since Poly was transferred to a different school he had been alone. He would often become so lonely that he would find himself searching for Dawn within the catacombs of his own mind, even though he knew better. He knew Dawn was gone. The problem was most of Dusk's memories from when Dawn was around had been ripped apart, everything was a blur. He felt cheated, like a month or so of his life had been ripped away. Tattered memories were everywhere, mocking him, he just couldn't piece them together. He remembered specific things but nothing altogether. He remembered Goody Good, he remembered Dawn, he remembered how much his mother feared Dawn, he remembered a dark ocean, he remembered a large house, he remembered blinding lights, and he remembered Poly Most of all, he remembered a promise. Everything outside of that was nearly gone, everything inside of those barriers was just blurry. Except for the memories with Poly.

He woke up earlier in the mornings now, even earlier than his own mother. The irony of the thought would occasionally bring a smile to his face, but often he would sit at his window and stare at the sunrise. They were never as beautiful as the sunrises over the dark seas in his memories but they would do for now. In his melancholy he would pick up his paintbrushes and take to a canvas. He would paint his memories, both the blurred and clear. Painting became a key for him, a key to a door that was closed after Dawn left. Questions arose constantly but some haunted him more than his memories. Where were his memories, why did Dawn's sudden disappearance rob him of them, why could he only remember Poly?

After Dawn had left Morning found herself worrying for her son more than when he was there. He was coming to the age where unicorns would begin to learn to use their magic yet he detested the thought. He found doing things by hoof was easier so she never questioned the subject twice. Morning had talked to many local doctors about his amnesia and depression. None knew what to say after she had mentioned the situation with Dawn and just told her it was a phase he was going through. Their "advice aggravated her, it was like they refused to try and cure what they could not understand.

For Dusk, his classes continued. Even with amnesia he stayed leagues ahead of the class because of his learning capacity. Every week they began a new trade to test for cutie mark compatibility and Dusk found each new subject to be something he excelled at. Painting, music, math, writing, science, gardening, baking, cooking, all of it was conquered within minutes. Many would ask to be his partner but he found that they only looked for the fame in being his partner. Once, someone had asked to be his partner so they could steal his work. Dusk had snapped at him as well and destroyed the bird house that he had built. The event caused him to be sent home and the class to fear him from that day on.

Time marched on and the weeks turned to months and months to years. Yet the weeks felt like months and the months like years. Every time he looked back at his flank he would compare it to others. Even as he continued his studies he had no cutie mark. By the time he had entered middle school everypony else had their cutie mark, he was still a blank flank. He became introverted and hardly ever spoke to anypony, not even Morning. This fact became a way of life for him and Morning eventually came to accept it, though she still wished he would speak to her. She knew Dusk had too much on his mind anyways, if he were to start talking he would break down. There was so much he had to say but couldn't, there was even more that he could not remember. Memories of Poly faded and when Dusk woke up in the mornings to paint or write he had no inspiration. His muse was nearly dead.

Dusk had odd jobs all around and became quite famous because of his many talents. Middle school was rough nonetheless, many ponies saw him as a loser or tried to use him for their own personal gain. The comfort of solace made him a target to those who did not know him and he would often lash out because of it. He had been suspended many times because of this but he never let his grades drop and he was always a gentlecolt to all mares, even if they were the ones to offend him. This hit him the hardest and he began a practice that he had ended a long time ago. He began to speak to the mirrors again.

In his darkest hours he would go speak to the mirrors trying to find a friendly face. He would get glimpses of memories when he would and he used that as an excuse anytime he questioned why he did it. He would remember Dawn and the company he would provide. He would even remember the promise that Dawn had made, to always protect him. Always. Somewhere deep down, Dusk wanted Dawn back. He wanted a wall to keep him safe no matter what the cost was. Near the end of his middle school years Dusk finally gave in to his temptations. He needed to find Dawn, he just needed to.

Dusk spent nights writing down memories when they came, they were usually just small snippets of descriptions though. In the mornings, he would paint what he had written down in the last night. After a week all of the pieces came together, he had painted a scene from many years ago. A scene that he knew had happened but he did not remember it entirely. The painting showed a decrepit house and in the upstairs of that house was a mirror. A single broken mirror.

He moved at night, he didn't want to be caught. If Morning caught him she would learn about his attempt to get Dawn back. There was no way she could know about this, not until the time was right. The house stood over him with all the spectacle and awe of a tower. Glass littered the grass and all of the windows except for the lower front windows had been broken. He was bigger now and fitting through the hole in the wall was no option so he attempted the door. It was locked and must have been for a while because rust encased it and formed a shell around the joints. Dusk circled to the back and crawled through a broken window, avoiding the shards of glass that looked as though they had been broken outward. He moved up the steps, eager to discover what was there. Eager to discover what he had forgotten.

Dust swirled as he strode across the floor, his formed over sets that had been made many years ago. Those sets where much smaller and looked familiar but it all eluded him once again. The mirror was where he had half remembered it, but it looked altered. There were more cracks and many pieces had fallen off. With each step Dusk's heartbeat pounded more and more violently, he stopped when he was as close as he dared.

...

"Dawn? Are you there?"

...

"It's been a long time Dusk. A very long time."

...

"Welcome home."

Dawn's Story

Warmth, love, acceptance... all of these feelings were unwelcome. Poly squeezed and her tight embrace became inescapable, then Dusk began to take control and he returned the favor. It was too much, retreat was the only solution. Dawn burst across the maze of Dusk's mind. To him it was a never ending labyrinth that he had been forced to live in for too long. Deeper and deeper into the labyrinth he ran trying to get away, but the sun was rising over the horizon still. Its light burned, its warmth irritated, the whole sun was a menace. Poly was a menace.

Suddenly, it seemed as though some great and powerful force was ripping him upwards. Dawn hooved at the ground and tried to grab onto anything he could but there was no success. He was heaved high into the air and as he continued his flight he was exposed to more and more sun. He burst into flames and began to burn away, he had to escape even if all of his carefully laid plans where to be thrown away for the time being at least. He tapped into Dusk's magical wellspring, the source of magic that resides in a unicorn, and focused it around himself to create a capsule. He hoped that Dusk would notice the magical build up and try to dispel it. He did.

The landing was rough, the pain numbed him. The pain... numbed him... He though about this for a little bit before he came to the fully realize what it meant. His plan was working, it was moving along splendidly. Until he discovered himself inside of a mirror that is. He gazed through the "window" and into the opposite world, Poly was dragging Dusk down the steps and out to safety. Dawn would have to cut his loses for now. He got what he needed and with it, it would only be a matter of time before Dusk was back. All he had to do was wait.

Alone, so alone. Dawn waited in the void, he knew that Dusk would be back soon enough. Dawn found that there was no more of a labyrinth to wander anymore, just a house. He felt sad that he had misjudged the previously retched place. He missed it, all he could do here was walk through the windows and the single mirror in the house and that was no fun. Then he remembered something. Actually, he remembered a lot of somethings. He had Dusk's memories, a byproduct of tapping into his magical wellspring. Dawn reviewed each memory meticulously and learned what he could from them. If he were to make it back out into the world he would need to know how to act. Not knowing how to act and cover up secrets had already caused him to slip out bits of his plan already and contributed greatly to him becoming imprisoned. He needed to learn how to blend in better. He needed to learn how to become Dusk.

Months passed. Isolation was beginning to crack Dawn, he had already gone through the memories twice plus the first time he had actually experienced it. He was becoming bored of it. Day by Day he would go over the same things again and again. One day he snapped and in a fit began to dash around the full house, burning off excess steam. He had focused so long on Dusk that he was starting to forget the most important things of all. He was starting to forget his carefully constructed plan, he was forgetting his origins, his goals. He was forgetting who he was. Then he somehow tripped in the reflection and crashed into the barrier, shattering the glass window he ran through. The back window was broken open now, he stared for a moment. He had broken the window... his plan was coming back to him.

He started to go over the memories with a new fervor. Anytime he began to lose track of what he was doing he would go and smash a new window and be reminded of his ultimate goal. Time was no longer a problem, he knew that Dusk would be back once the urge to have his memories back became strong enough. Plus he needed more time to mature, he needed to find an alias that would make it seem as though he had changed. Over time he did change even if he didn't notice. Dawn became patient, gentler, and more accepting. He also became more cunning.

Years. He had been there for nearly 6 years since he had been left there. Dawn had taken up meditation 2 years ago and eventually found it redundant. There was no point in focusing on thoughts that he had experienced for years. He became infuriated, he couldn't wait anymore. He lost his patience only for a moment and he punched the barrier in the mirror and it shattered slightly. He stopped himself before he completely destroyed his window into the world. Patience, he just needed to wait...

There was movement downstairs, after all of these years somepony was coming and he knew who it was.
"Dawn? are you there?"

...

"It's been a long time Dusk. A very long time."

...

"Welcome home."

Dusk touched his hoof to the glass as waited for the gesture to be returned. 'It's nearly been six years now," Dawn though to himself, "Let's see how much you have grown." Dawn touched his hoof the the opposite side of the glass and there was a flash. He felt free again, he felt great. 'Dawn, I would like my memories back. It took me a while but I figured you have them.' Enlightenment was something Dusk had hoped for ever since he had lost his memories and finally he felt it. Then he remembered some crucial details that made his excitement die down for a moment. 'Dawn, if I ever catch you acting out or trying to hurt anypony then I will banish you again.' Dawn responded respectfully, 'Don't worry Dusk, I've changed.' Dusk felt this too, it did feel as though he had changed. He didn't know if it was for the better though...

'So Dusk, why don't you fill me in on what I missed...'

...

'I need your help again, Dawn. Just don't fail me this time.'

...

'Don't worry Dusk, I'm done failing.'

Poly's Story

Tears flowed down Poly's face, she had stopped her crying after arriving home but the sadness was something that stained worse than tears. Dusk had been her only friend she had ever really had, everypony else would lie to her when she accused them of lying. Dusk was the only one who respected her in that aspect and for that she had grown closer to him than anypony else. Plus when she would have her "klutzy" tendencies nopony would lend a hoof, they would just laugh. It never bothered her but it meant the world to her when Dusk would help her out. It meant more than the world to her at some points.

Since their family had just moved in they still hadn't officially gotten a house of any sort, they had been staying in a hotel. Because of this Fona was able to make it so Poly would go to a different school than Dusk just by going to a different area of town. Fona didn't want to do this to Poly, but she had to look over her daughter's safety before all else. If what had been said was true, then Dawn was a violent, unpredictable villain who would endanger Poly. Poly didn't wholly blame her, Dawn was a danger but she knew he was gone. She couldn't understand why nopony would believe her and she could never lie... Why wouldn't anypony believe her?...

Poly was to finish elementary school across town from where Dusk was, it was sad to see how close he was yet so far away. Her mother was very strict about travel for a while, especially when her sister and her friends would come over for parties. Poly loved her aunt very much, she was the closest thing to a friend she had now that Dusk was "off limits." Whenever her aunt would come over they would have a great time and Poly would be able to tell her all of her problems and her aunt would give advice that not only cheered herself up but inspired her to go help others to smile. Her aunt would teach her so much about how to be happy and not worry about how others saw you. The odd thing about this was whenever Poly would ask her how she knew so much, her aunt would become serious and tell her it did not matter. Poly did not mind however, she had her own demons she had to face and her aunt knew it all too well. She was one of them.

On the day Poly was born there was a great shift in political power and her father disagreed with the new reign. His hatred for the new reign was so strong that he refused to live in the land of which the political giants would topple their comrades and he left without saying a single word to Fona or anypony else. Poly had never known her father and had asked Fona to tell her about him but her mother became agitated by thinking of him, she never brought the subject up again. Poly had asked her aunt if she knew her father at all and her aunt became very depressed with the subject. The discussion following explained how her aunt was one of the ponies who scared her father out of the land and brought in the new leadership. She would often apologize to Poly for this but Poly never blamed her for her actions. She knew that what had to be done, had to be done.

During one of her aunt's visits she wanted to ask her if she knew why everypony was afraid of Dawn and Dusk. When she had asked her mother she had said it was because of his birthday which only confused Poly. Her aunt told her not to worry and to never ask that again. Poly didn't disobey and both of them continued their merriment. The question still would linger though. What was so important about Dusk's birthday, other than his birth of course.

She was one of the "late bloomers" when it came to getting her cutie mark. She got hers in the last year of elementary school. Two students where arguing over personal possessions and Poly had overheard their brouhaha. She stepped in and called out the liar who then confessed his theft, shortly afterward more ponies came forward asking that she help settle disagreements. Poly was reluctant at first but quickly began to see herself as a vigilante, the defender of truth and justice. She felt so great that her ability to uncover lies was finally being appreciated, normally everypony would get mad at her but there was such a following that they just came to admit to the thefts. Suddenly there was a small twinkle of light on her flank and she turned to discover a red shield on her left and a green shield on her right.

Everypony was amazed by her cutie mark, theirs were more than often just run of the mill ones but hers was REALLY special. For one: she had two cutie marks technically, and secondly: they reacted to other ponies. If somepony told a lie then her left shield would glow a bright red and display the "confessor's" falsity. When the truth was told, her right would glow green and the truth was confirmed. She found that this only happened when she wanted it to happen so she would not be glowing constantly in a conversation. With this mark she vowed to go out and end the pain caused by lying, but first she wanted to go home and show it off.

Her mother was proud of her daughter and the stance she took with the world. She knew that she would be able to do great things as long as she kept reaching for her goals... Then it all turned on her. Poly began to ask questions that where previously off limits and most answers were met with a red glow. Poly's enthusiasm began to fade the more she asked for answers she would never receive. Eventually she just cut off the conversation and walked, crestfallen, over to her room. She decided that maybe it was better to live in ignorance, she wanted to be able to trust her mother again but knew that was impossible. Fona came in to talk to Poly but Poly refused her offer, an attempt to avoid more deception. Her mother promised that she would tell the truth with one condition. Poly sat up and eagerly awaited the restriction. She would have to wait until she was older and she had met Dusk again.

Poly was shocked for a moment by the fact that her mother had mentioned Dusk but agreed without asking another question. Finally there was hope for her to she her friend once again, but it had been so long. She feared what their separation had done to him yet awaited seeing him again. The truth was, she would see him often, from afar. He always wore a different uniform and was doing a different job each time she did. She would watch him work with and she would take notice of his behavior. He was still polite as ever but now he was silent and seemed depressed. She never saw him speak to anypony for more than a couple words. She wanted to help him so much, she needed to help him. But she waited, nonetheless.

Middle school would end soon and she would be going to the only high school in town. This excited her because she would finally get to meet Dusk again. She awaited the first day with so much enthusiasm that she tripped getting out of bed and fell down the stairs. It was nothing new by then, her body had become immune to bruising and most pain so she simply got up. She hurried to the school and in turn forgot to grab her bag. After an embarrassing backtrack she made her way to the building with her bag on her back. It was large and made from stone and mortar, the size of it looked like it would hold about 300 students and she knew that one of those students was Dusk.
As she headed to her class she heard a familiar, yet different, voice from behind her.

"Hi, Poly... You look... nice." Shyness tinted his tonality.

...

"DUSK!!!" Her hug was lightning fast and unexpected, but never unwelcomed. Dusk returned it.

...

'The sun is back again...', Dawn thought and he sank back into the shadows of Dusk's mind.

Expectations

The summer that Dusk had spent with Dawn had changed his opinions and had convinced him that giving Dawn control on occasion would help his case. So whenever Dusk felt threatened he would assess the situation before acting, if danger was immanent he would pass over the control. This was one of those moments. 'Good luck Dawn, oh and don't get me in trouble. Remember, defensive measures only.' The bulky hoof was nearing his face rapidly, 'Understood.' Dawn leaned back and avoided the hoof by an inch. When the brute realized he had missed he made a right hook to make up for the testosterone build up. Dawn entered a full state of awareness with that moment, this was going to turn into a real fight. 'Dawn, defensive, remember.' Dawn ducked below the swing and swiftly leaped from his seat to the side as a second punch was thrown downward and connected with an empty desk. "You runt! Now you're gonna get it!" The class around both of them was starting to rise up and chant. "Fight! Fight! Fight!"

'In a direct confrontation we are dead, you know that don't you?', asked Dusk as the cronies started to join their leader one by one. 'Not if I can have my body.' Dusk shook his head, 'No Dawn, just focus on not getting hit. We aren't fighting an offensive war.' Dawn dodged a swing, 'We aren't fighting a war at all Dusk, that means there are no rules.' Suddenly the leader threw a straight jab towards Dawn, there would be no dodging this one. 'Fine, you get five seconds.' Dusk's horn glowed for a moment, his hair ruffled up and finally his eyes turned to an even deeper tint of orange. He threw up his left hoof and hit the jab out of trajectory, then he let his left arm rest on the altered arm before throwing it up the length of the bully's arm and right into his throat. "AAAAHHHK!", the leader began to wheeze and the group cringed, "Get him." Dusk took his body back and all of Dawn's strength was drawn out of him. A crony to his left and right took advantage of the situation and grabbed each arm and lifted him up. "Any last words?" Dusk was still silent, speaking was still an awkward act for him especially when faced with danger. Suddenly a door flew open and a masculine voice boomed over the chanting and screaming, "What is going on here? I demand that this break up now!" The chanting broke up almost immediately and the sea of ponies parted, fear caked the air. Whoever this pony was he obviously commanded respect or received it naturally. A large red stallion walked in with a slight limp, "Bulk Elson! What is it you started this time?" The cronies dropped Dusk and tried to escape into the crowds but were stopped when the red stallion boomed, "And don't think you two are getting away either, I want the three of you to report to the office now." Bulk began to try and reason with the stallion, "Mr. Apple! Please don't send us! We'll get kick off the hoofball team and..." "Bulk, I don't want to hear it. Now go." The three colts made their way out of the classroom with their heads held low, then the stallion started to move toward Dusk. 'Deny everything...' 'Shut up Dawn.'

"The stallion leaned down next to Dusk and helped him up, "If they or anypony else give you any more problems then you come find me, OK?" Dusk could only nod, this pony was HUGE. No wonder everypony respected/feared him. After the whole class calmed down and order was restored Mr. Apple decided that he could leave, "Now the rest of you behave, I don't know why but your teacher is taking longer than normal but I have to be going now." Once he left the whole class broke into conversations both small and large. Many where about Dusk.
"What was with him? Did he look different for a bit to you?"
"He took down Bulk! Can you believe it?"
"What the hay is a freshman doing in here?"
"I bet that twerp thinks he is better than us!"
"He is way too quiet, where did he come from?"
"Stay away from him, he may be dangerous."
"Finally someone stood up to Bulk, I hate that jerk..."
"What! He's still a blank flank!"

'Dusk! We are heroes!' Dusk sat down in his desk and put his head down, 'Or villains.' He was taking in every single conversation he could, it wasn't like he was trying to. That was just how his mind worked. 'I wonder how Poly is doing.'

Poly arrived at her class and sat down, Dusk was still on her mind. 'Why is it I have hardly known him for years and yet I'm so obsessed over him? What is going on?' Poly sat in her desk and some more ponies came by and surrounded her. "Poly! It's so good to see you again; summer felt like forever, huh?" A blue pegasus with a red and white mane sat closest to her and both of them hugged promptly, "Shiny!" After Poly had gotten her cutie mark she and ponies started to come to her for help, she ended up making friends with many of them and collecting a few favors. Ursa Shine, or Shiny as Poly liked to call her, was one of those who Poly helped and became her friend. In fact, Ursa became Poly's best friend. "So what new has happened?" Poly was glad somepony asked, even more so because it had been Shiny, "I finally saw him today, like in person! Not from a distance." Shiny's expression grew bored, "You don't mean...", she started cautiously.

"Yes, I saw Dusk!" "*sigh* Poly... you need to give it up. You were his friend for a grand total of a couple weeks, I seriously doubt he is worth holding on to. There is no need to devote your life to him, you need to move on." Poly strained against the weight of her friend's words, "Perhaps your right... There's just something about him that I can't ignore, it's like I'm constantly being drawn to him..." Shiny grinned and squinted slightly so her face evolved to a more mischievous scene, "Well that's different! At first it sounded like you were a stalker but now it seems like you have a crush!" Poly's face instantly burned red and she threw her hooves out to cover her friend's mouth, "*Quiet!*", she whispered, "*I don't think it's something like that, but...*" She removed her hooves and started to look into space, "It might not be so bad if it were like that." Suddenly there was a large commotion coming from down the hall and one pony ran off to get the hall monitor. Shiny perked up, "A fight! A fight! Sweet! Imma go check it out!" Poly reached out to the pegasus but her wings helped her to make a break, "Wait! Shiny stop!"

The pegasus made it into the classroom in 5 seconds flat, the fight was in the AP Senior English classroom. The ponies surrounding the fight were WAY too tall, especially considering Ursa was only a freshman still, so she had to float in order to see the fight. She only saw about 5 seconds but those 5 seconds where enough to steal her heart. There she saw a small unicorn about the size of a freshman in a tussle with one of the hoofball players (the quarterflank to be exact). Time slowed for her and her heart pumped faster than her wings were flapping, to her she saw a handsome unicorn glowing with a powerful aura (she liked power). The way his mane was all ruffled up and his beautiful, dark orange eyes made him look like the bad boy she always dreamt of. Then he lunged out with a counter offensive combo that only experienced fighters could pull off in time. Suddenly something pulled her tail and she was forced to land, "Shiny! Get a hold of yourself, the hall monitor is coming and class has already started!" Ursa swore that for a moment her eyes had rolled back in her head and her irises where giant hearts so she shook herself back into control, "Oh right.." As they walked back to the classroom Poly began to lecture Ursa on her bad behavior or something along those lines, Ursa wasn't necessarily listening.
"I hope you running out of class was worth what you saw!"

...

"Oh, it was...", said Ursa dreamily, "It was."

Revelations

"*So what did you see?*", whispered Poly as the teacher continued his lecturing. Most of the students where hard at work trying to write down notes but Ursa and Poly were in the back so they could talk as much as they wanted. "*What do you mean? And weren't you the one who got mad at me for ditching class? Why are you the one talking now?*" Poly was thrown back a bit by this, she wasn't used to being challenged by anypony else, except Shiny, but it would still shock her. Shiny smiled smugly, she knew just how to turn a situation around on Poly and did so often. "*Never mind that... So, what did you see?*" Poly's attempt to change subjects was frail but acceptable by Shiny's standards. "*I saw a colt, a REALLY cute one too!*" Poly smiled for her friend's sake, she knew that her friend had incredibly high standards when it came to who she liked. It wasn't often she mentioned anypony significant. "*So what did he look like? I won't say anything until you're done, I promise.*"

The teacher was continuing his speech, though on occasion he would glance back and give a stern gaze at Ursa and Poly. They never seemed to catch the hint though... "*He was in the middle of a fight with the hoofball quarterflank and he was winning! It was so amazing, a single freshman taking on a bunch of seniors!*" The sound of wind whistling neared until a piece of chalk shot right between Poly and Shiny's faces. It's impact against the wall caused dust to plume upward and both of the ponies straightened up and faced forward; they were too afraid to even blink. "Much better," the teacher chuckled, "Now as I was saying..." Shiny picked up her pencil and began to scribble some sort of macabre doodle of a pony. Poly cocked her head to the side and stared as the picture came into clarity and Shiny began to write, 'This is what he looks like." Poly looked at the dark mass that was smeared graphite and lack of art skill (no wonder her cutie mark was a red, white, and blue arrow pointing up and not some sort of art supply). 'Guess I'll have to wait until later...'

*RIIIIIING* The bell struck and ponies rushed from their seats into the halls. Shiny stood on top of Poly's back flapping her wings so her weight was not felt on Poly. This was her favorite mode of transportation for whatever reason and Poly never seemed to mind. Shiny raised her hoof above her eyes and began to squint as the sea of ponies ebbed and flowed with each individual's specific schedule. A grey horn stuck out of the crowd and what seemed to be the same color scheme of a mane was visible in the chaos of the movements of high school. Shiny knew he was a freshman, she had asked around and a pony who roughly fit her descriptions (not her pictures though) was confirmed as a freshman so eventually they would have a class together. "TARGET SIGHTED CAPTAIN. AWAITING ORDERS." The chaos was so enveloping that shouting only barely got the message to Poly and she decided not to respond. Next up for both of them was gym so she turned toward the building and set her path. Up above, Shiny saw the unicorn roughly in the crowd as he turned in their direction. 'YES! Please o please o pleeeease be going to gym!'

The chaos of the passing period enveloped Dusk almost completely, he even found himself jumping above the surface in hopes of getting a breath of air. Normal ponies found this to be a hassle but Dusk found it... calming. There was something about the way the chaos of the "ultimate machine" that just cradled him and helped him to calm down. Gym class was next for Dusk, he really didn't have a say in the matter because it was not something he could necessarily skip due to academic success. Normally he would loathe the class but now that Dawn was back, and more willing to work with Dusk, he could use that to his advantage. 'Are you sure about this Dusk? Isn't that considered cheating?' Dusk knew better than cheat but gym was just way too boring to him. 'Dawn, you know I'm more academic than anything. Besides, I thought you wanted me to focus on my studies a bit more. I figured I could do that while you do the class, after all you're always saying that you want out.' Dawn hesitantly agreed, he would have to be careful. If his cover was blown now it would be one of the worst things possible. The deadline was getting tediously close. Too close.

The changing rooms were even worse than the hallways. For whatever reason, putting on clothes just became awkward for everypony, regardless of whether they wore clothes or not. Some ponies would even take advantage of the awkward state many were in and antagonize them at the very moment they were at their weakest. Dusk listened to the screams of embarrassment as a group of "predators" mocked their "prey". The back area of the room was more empty than most so Dusk used this to find solitude and change. 'Hey Dawn? If I let you take control, would you be willing to help those guys who are being teased?' Dawn had to walk thin ice now, he had to find a way out, 'Sorry Dusk, but I'm here for you. Plus if you all of a sudden acted up then somepony might think something was up.' Dusk felt horrible now, he used to be the one who was teased (and still was) but he couldn't help them out. He just didn't know how, 'Oh, right. Anyways, it may be best if we switch off now while nopony else is looking.' His horn began to glow dimly and a familiar force of magic washed over him and it began to change his physical features. Dawn stretched and his bones and joints squeaked, "I really ought to get out more often..."

The changing room emptied and Dawn walked out and into the crowd of all the ponies in the class. "OK everypony, boys line up here and girls here. It should all be even so all of you should have a partner, if I find leftovers then obviously one of you messed up." The coach's voice echoed in through the gym and he waited for a nod of approval from everypony. "Sir? It's Blue Bird. He's absent today so there will be one extra girl." The coach sat back and thought for a moment, "Okay, ummm you two," he pointed at Ursa and Poly, "You two can group up into three. Now I'll count all of you off, when I'm done go find your partner." As he started from 1 and moved on the groups of colts and mares began to thin and Dawn began to feel an odd attraction in the air. Fate was being rewritten again, he could feel it on occasion and he knew what it meant. There would be no changing back to Dusk, there were too many witnesses. He was going to need to live this one through and tread carefully. "You're a 13", said the gym teacher before turning to the Poly and Ursa pairing, "and you're a 13."
"*I can't believe it! Poly! That's the colt I was talking about! He's the one from earlier!*" Her heart began to pump and rushed to a point where it nearly stopped. Her face grew pale, then red as a bright blush filled her expression. "I wonder what his name is?"

Poly began to move without telling hooves to go. She would have been frozen solid out of pure fear in normal circumstances but for whatever reason it felt like she was moving against her will. Her eyes sharpened to a razor-sharp scowl and she began to move at a more aggressive speed. "Dawn..." Ursa looked over at her friend, she looked mad. Poly never got mad, "Poly, are you OK? What do you mean 'dawn'?" Poly broke into a full charge and looked like she was ready to punch Dawn, beat him into oblivion even. Her face began to twist with rage; understandable due to the circumstances. After all, she was staring the one who was responsible for separating her from her only friend all those years ago. It was time for payback.

"Hello Poly." Dawn was trying to act cool even under pressure as Poly neared him with an obvious intent to do harm.

...

"Shut up Dawn." And with that she punched him right in the gut.

Hatred and Corruption

"OOOF!" The hit compacted his ribs for a moment before they took shape and the hoof retreated. "Poly! What are you doing?!?!" Ursa had witnessed her friend hit another pony, now she had no clue what to think. Not to mention the pony she hit was the boy that she had mentioned that she had a crush on... "Dawn! What the hay are you doing here?" Poly took a step back from the collapsed Dawn and awaited his explanation. The few classmates who had witnessed the event and where too shocked to bother reporting the incident and secretly waited, hoping the action would continue. "Poly, let me explain," gasped Dawn as air filled his lungs once more, "Dusk and I have made peace." Poly's flank glowed green, this had just turned into an active 'PolyGraff' session.

"Go on..." Students who had not noticed the initial punch then notice the glow and their attention was swallowed whole. "Dusk is no good with physical matters so I offered to take over for him so he could study", the glow persisted, ", I swear I've been working for his best interests!" Ursa switched her focus between Poly and Dawn, "WaitwaitwaitwaitwaitWait WAIT!!!! What the hay is going on here?" Her crush was no longer a good guy and turned out to be an old enemy of Poly's, Dusk was apparently cohorts with him, Poly was ticked off enough to bring the willpower to throw a blow, and none of it made sense. "I'm sorry Shiny, but this matter goes way over your head. I know you think that just because you think you will be the first pony in space that means nothing is above your head but you are wrong. It is best if you let me handle this."

"Poly, please tell me what is going on! I can help! I don't care if it's over my head, I can still help." Poly turned completely away from Dawn as he attempted to pull himself up and placed her attention on Shiny, "No Ursa, you can't." Poly never called her Ursa, "And why not?" Poly drew threateningly towards Ursa, "I. Said. You. Can't. Help. Now. Leave."

Tears welled up behind Ursa's eyes; she wasn't sad, she hadn't been hurt physically, but the sudden flow of events was too confusing. Her friend had changed in the blink of an eye and now everything was changing faster than ever. "Perhaps... perhaps you're right. I guess you and your friend need to figure things out..." She began to back away and turn her head, as long as Poly was going to keep changing she didn't want to be anywhere near her. She wasn't the friend she remembered. She left the gym and let the tears flow freely, "I'll prove to you that I can help..."

The 'PolyGraff' session continued and the questions became more personal in hopes of catching a hole in Dawn's story. "Where is Dusk?"
"He's inside right now."
"What did you do after you disappeared?"
"I changed myself, I vowed I would not make anymore mistakes."
"What are you planning?"
"I just want to help Dusk learn as much as he can."

Green, green, green, all of the answers where coming up green. Poly couldn't take anymore of this, she knew there was no way Dawn would ever change. She hadn't known him long before he was sent away (a couple minutes to be exact) but the way everypony acted around him told her there was something not right about him. "One last thing." Dawn silently sighed, the years he had spent training his mind to go against what he knew worked well. He had twisted his answers so slightly that they slipped Poly's test, "OK, what is it?" Poly grabbed him by the collarbones and drew him right up to her face and she stared him down, "Let. Dusk. Out. Now." Her eyes were furious and erratic, the blue tint they once had was darkening. 'Oh no. I've been out to long.' Dawn grinded his teeth, "I can't."

The coach NOW noticed the silence, most of the class had stopped whatever they were doing to watch the famous 'PolyGraff' test in action. "Hey, all of you get back to work! Hey what is going on?" The words echoed in Poly's head, 'I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't. Is that all you can think of?' Poly retracted her hoof and prepared to make a second punch. "YOU LIE!!!" Her hoof shot forward and Dawn took the hit right in his jaw. 'Dusk, where ever you are, you best get back soon.' The crowd watched in horror for a moment before finally deciding to react.

Ursa returned with a large red stallion and not a moment too soon. Poly looked like she was going berserk as she pummeled Dawn and a crowd was gathering around trying to pry her away. Her eyes looked bloodshot and she was muttering garbled masses of words. "Oh my gosh... what is happening..." Poly was looking pale and the mutterings continued, she was growing more and more energetic, fighting off every single pony who tried to separate her from Dawn until the red stallion ripped her away and recruited help to hold her down. 'I need to get back soon, my plan is working too well.' Poly was still screaming, "You lie you lie, you lie, you lie!" Each time she yelled this her own mark glowed redder and redder.
She was lying.

...

There was nearly no color left in her, she had been drained grey.

Exploration

Shortly after Dusk and Dawn switched in the locker room

Dusk returned to the opposite realm once again. He had not stayed for long and he often only caught glimpses whenever he did because he was busy fighting off Dawn on most occasions. Now that they were on good terms, however, he had time to relax and let Dawn off of the leash. The original agreement was for Dawn to do his gym class while he studied, but...
The chance to explore was to tempting.

He was still in the reverse living room that he had seen those many years ago when he and Dawn had initially switched. He had stepped through a metaphorical mirror, like how Dawn traveled through mirrors, and was now on the inside of his own mind. Everything was blanketed in a dreamlike "fuzz" that accompanies all dreams. Looking around the room he found it empty except for a couch and the mirror on the wall which he traveled through. Then he saw the door.

His front door looked like it always did but now there was a aura of mystery about it. In the real world he would open it up and there would be the town all around him, but now things where different. He figured as long as there was a dream like feeling then he would have the ability to affect it with his thoughts. Dusk sat on the couch and thought for a moment as he thought of a place he wanted to go to, ponies he wanted to meet, adventures he would want to have. There were so many that he just couldn't decide, until he remembered the picture.

Those many years ago when he had first met Dawn he was escorted home by a police pony who had identified him with a picture that Morning had provided. It was a picture of him and his friends, some of the only friends he had ever had, in front of his old house. Times were so much more simple back then and he missed the smiling faces, thrilling adventures, and the memories that had nested in his heart for so long. He opened the door and wind blew across his face. It was a soft, country wind.

Small ponies ran all around, laughing and playing furiously. One of them was a grey one with the same color mane as his own. "Dusk! Come on, your it!" The grey pony responded, "OK, TAG!!!" He lunged forward and rolled before tapping a brown colt on his back. This wasn't a dream as Dusk had originally thought, this was a memory. He distinctly remembered this day as he watched it unfold right before his eyes, this was the day he would move away from his old house and into town. Dusk looked back at the couch and the house, 'Of course, when we left all that we left was a mirror and a couch. I was thinking about the photo the time that Dawn and I had our fight! Come to think of it, how come I never noticed this in the first place?' A familiar and cheerful voice broke up the chorus of laughter, its soothing qualities where now lost in the era that Dusk currently lived in. Everytime he heard this voice now it was tired and worn with stress but always kind. It was his mom, Morning.

"OK everypony! Gather up now so I can take your picture." The little colts gathered and posed in front of the house. "WHEAT!!!", they said as the camera flashed and the photo popped out. "Bye Dusk! We have to go now. Good luck!" The children scattered, each heading in the direction of their own home. "OK, guys. I'll miss you all!" Dusk's smile slowly disappeared and his eyes became crestfallen. Morning handed the photo to Dusk and lowered her voice to try and console the now troubled colt. "Now, now Dusk. When we move to Ponyville I'm sure that you'll meet lots of new friends. So lift your chin!" He had believed her that day. He watched as a loading van arrived and both of them piled into the vehicle and were taken off into the distance. Something caught his eye though... a dark house in the distance that looked as though he had seen it before. It scared him.

Dusk shut the door and closed his eyes, there was something that he wanted to test. His father, he had never known his father. The very day that Dusk was born his father had died and that part of his life was ripped away from him forever. He had no actual memory of his father or his birth but if he could just see his father that would be enough for him. The floorboards felt odd under his hooves and the air seemed to flow endlessly, like a massive hurricane all around him. Suddenly it all stopped and he opened his eyes. The colors of his walls had changed and the building itself looked as though it had been altered. It was the home they had in Canterlot before they had moved out to the country, it was where he was born. Upstairs he heard crying, the crying of a young child. Closing in on the source of the noise he finally found the room and walked through the doorway.

His mother was in a bed and she was holding a figure wrapped in a purple cloth. "He looks just like you.", said Morning sweetly to a black unicorn in a purple black suit of armor. "I'm sure he'll be as sweet as you though, Morning." Dusk looked at the unicorn and began to tear up slightly. This man... was his father? "Dad?" His voice made no impact on the colt, this was only a memory and thus it could not be rewritten. Sirens blared in the distance and the morning light was drained away, morning instantly turned to night. "What is going on? Is it happening again?" Morning began to look fearful and pulled the child close to her chest to protect him. "Night, is it happening again?" Night Star stood tall and closed his eyes, before looking out the window. "I'm sorry Morning. I'm so sorry but you know what those sirens mean. Princess Luna has called me to arms and I need to answer." He walked over to the bedside next to Morning and placed his hoof on the child, "Dusk, you grow up and work hard. I know you will make us all proud." He kissed the child on the forehead before turning to Morning and kissing her. "I'll be back, I promise." He left silently and the child began to cry. Morning tried to console him by rocking him to and fro, "Now now, calm down. He'll be back", she said as she looked at the doorway that he had just exited, "He'll be back..."

Dusk followed Night down the stairs and watched as his father left for the last time. Night had acted bravely when Morning was in the room but Dusk now saw that he was shaking furiously. Any iron will he had was shattered and his true feelings spilled out. "Discord, I swear you will pay for making me miss this." Dusk stopped as his father strode past him and opened the door, night turned to morning once more.
Discord... That name... It was so... Familiar.

Before Night shut the door, Dusk could see in the distance a dark house that projected itself out of the scenery. It was the same house he had seen when he had went to see the photo. He couldn't help it, he had to find out what was so special. Why was it following him. It was there in his last memory and seemed to haunt him still. He left the house and ran for the dark figure in the distance while his younger self cried in the distance. As he neared, decrepit shingles and shattered glass came into view, this house was nothing new to see. The path to it had never changed, it was the same path no matter where he went. It seemed as though Dusk had been here too many times now yet he was still drawn to it.
He stood on the doorsteps leading up to the building. It stared back and practically asked, "Why haven't you come sooner?"

...

It was the house he had met Dawn in.

A Pheonix Rises

Make a tab with this link to listen to as you read...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBqtkcZu8AQ

The front door looked like it was still in very bad condition yet, when Dusk pushed, it opened without so much as a creak. Dust flew past him as the drafts in the house funneled out of the door. The floorboards where silent and air stagnant, this place almost seemed... peaceful. As soon as he thought that floor boards ripped themselves upward, the air whirred violently, and a horrid noise roared a greeting to him. Dusk jumped back with this shock and he gulped as he decided his next course of action. 'I'm already here, there's no place for cowardice at such a time as now.' He pressed forward with determination in his eyes, "You don't scare me... I know something is up with this place and I'm here to find out." His false roars of courage echoed in the building and the floorboards began to settle, as did the wind and the awful noise. He walked carefully, for whatever reason this place was dangerous and was getting smarter. It wasn't as if the house were alive though, it could better be described as though it was just automatically reacting to his presence, as if someone wanted him to stay out. There was only one person who would want that however...

'Maybe Dawn hasn't changed after all, I should have never trusted him.' The room had returned to the way it was before but there was still a dangerous aura in the air, the house was waiting for opportunities to end Dusk's advancement. Looking around the room he saw the staircase that led to the upstairs where the mirror was. Dusk began to imagine the secrets held there, the truths he had long waited for but never knew existed. The house sensed his knowledge and tried to shut him off. The stairs began to rot and crumble and the floorboards starting at the wall behind him started to raise. The house was going to trap him.

'Not this time!' Dusk ran forward and tried to climb the falling construct. Rotting wood and rusted nails gave some support as he ran up the falling wreckage. He put as much power as he could into his back legs and pushed off with a single swift thrust, the ledge where the next floor started was in reach but his reaction time was what mattered the most. He threw his front hooves forward and grasped for anything to grab as they began to slide back with him. "I'm not going to make it..." Time slowed in the split second that he slid backwards and he heard a voice as the adrenaline took full effects, "You better not be giving up..." His horn glowed momentarily and his body felt another shift, the outstretched hooves in front of him began to turn a white tint. One hoof raised and dramatically crashed downward, shattering the floor and creating grips out of the upturned tiles. He felt himself begin to rise as the arms that were his own, yet altered, mustered the strength to lift himself up.

He pulled the rest of his body forward and away from the ledge just as the floorboards cut the opening off. Dusk started to pant and rest himself on his knees, "Who are you?" The white in his coat left and his own natural grey tinted it once again. This time the voice came from behind, "One who was lost long ago." There was a pony with the same colored coat as his was, they shared the same face and the voice was eerily familiar. Then the light switched on in Dusk's head and he remembered, "But you were killed..."

In the outside world

"Poly! Poly! Snap out of it! What is wrong with you? Answer me!" Fona Graff was helping hold down Poly as she strained and screamed in the chair. They had to tie her down to restrict her freedoms, something was not right. They were back home after a very difficult and embarrassing police procession, the red stallion had volunteered to help carry her home while due to the fact that she would not stop struggling. The only ones in the house now where 2 police ponies, a doctor, Dawn, the red stallion, Ursa Shine, Fona, and Poly of course. Fona backed away as her daughter screamed some blatant lies and ill based threats. "I don't know what's wrong," she cried, "She has NEVER lied and she has always been kinder than anypony I have ever met before!" Tears ran down her face and she began to turn red with emotion. The stallion spoke up, "I think I may know what's going on. I've seen it before, and in order to fix I'm going to need to go but I'll be back as soon as I can." He started for the door and focused on the mission at hand, he had to help this poor filly and her mother. Something great was about to happen and he knew it. "Godspeed, and please hurry!" Ursa came close to Poly as she struggled and screamed, "Poly... what went wrong? I don't understand."

Dawn was being wrapped up by the doctor in the back as gauze and ointments were applied to his cuts and sores. Fona had not paid much attention to him and only knew him as the boy that Poly beat up, his face brought no memories. It had been a long time since she had originally met Dusk and now he looked like Dawn instead and was severely bruised at that. Dusk's mother had been informed that her son was being held in the Graff residence until matters could be cleared up, she had been instructed to come as quickly as they could so the matter could be taken care of. 'The time is nearly at hand now. Dusk, you better come back soon...' Hoofsteps echoed as a galloping pony ran into the house, "Dusk! What happe..." Silence sustained and she began to back up into a corner, "That's not Dusk..."

The officers looked at her quizzically and asked what she meant. "The school said that was Dusk, or did we make a mistake?" Morning's thoughts swam wildly and she dared not answer, the grey colt staring at her had been long since gone yet he stared her right in the eyes. The officer spoke up though at the tense air broke, "It sounds like he is back." He was referencing the sounds of a trampede as thundered down the streets and a large group burst right through the front door. . The stallion had returned with 6 fillies and a dragon who had to duck to fit through the doorway. The 7 visitors each bore a royal crest that is only appointed to those who directly serve the princesses. An orange pony spoke up, "Sorry for being late y'all, my brother here got me as soon as he could and the rest had to be teleported in from Canterlot." Another member of the group began to speak, "I don't understand, how is this happening again? I could've swore that we put an end to this awhile back..." The purple unicorn circled Poly as her coat drained into deeper shades of grey and she continued to mutter lies and threats. There was a pink filly who stared lovingly at Poly before moving over to Fona and embracing her, "Inkie, you need to tell me everything you know. You never forget a thing so right now you are the only one who can possibly help us. I need you to tell me EVERYTHING." Fona smiled for a moment and responded quietly, "It's been a long time since anypony has ever called me that Pinkie... I just wish that you could have visited on better circumstances..."
Dawn stared with fear at the six ponies who stood at the entrance of the house. There were no exits now.

...

'Dusk... you had better learn what you can now. I'm going to need you to.'

Cataclysm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USW5adqt5Oo

The reverse side

A halo of magical aura surrounded the white pony, his presence had a purifying effect. Dusk felt his thoughts align, he felt clarity after so many years of confusion. The chaos that lived inside of him melted only slightly and the personage in front of him began to speak, "I am the Evening Star who guides those who are lost. I am here to assist you, my master." He bent his front legs in and entered a humble bow. "I'm afraid I don't understand..." Dusk broke in, "The clarity of your aura can only do so much, I'm afraid I still require explanation." The colt stood up and agreed, "Of course. You never formally met me, I am a part of you who was 'killed' so many years ago, I never entirely died though."

Memory surged within Dusk's mind and it felt as though pieces of his past were uncovered and unleashed. Dusk spoke quickly as though he was eager to show what he knew, "You were the voice that I heard those many years ago! The one that Dawn killed!" Evening nodded, "I had waited many years for a chance to begin to heal again then finally one came. After you had banished him, I remained in hiding and sought to mature myself just as he did by drawing off of your emotions."

Dusk was still confused, though the aura of purification washed over him gently. It felt almost like Poly's presence. "How can I know if I can trust you? Where did you come from?" The white pony nodded, "On this day, I was born as was Dawn and yourself.", he pointed out the window and Dusk saw that they where still in the memory of the day he was born. The fields where in turmoil now as the roads turned to soap and nature turned to all sorts of edible manifestations. Cotton candy dotted the sky and chocolate splattered the fragments of what was left of the windows, the sun would set and the moon would rise and vise versa every few minutes. Maelstroms of fire danced across the sky and death filled the air. "What is going on?" Dusk walked to the window and stared, a part of him thought this was a great place to live, a place of unpredictability. A place of chaos.

"This is the Reign of Discord, a short era in which the lands where thrown into chaos by an evil being. You were born at the very height of his reign and thus you felt its effects. You unfortunately absorbed much of the chaos in the air and your mind nurtured the feelings that came with it. Hatred, anger, violence, depression, sadness, revenge, chaos, all of it planted as a single shard into your mind. That seed would live in you until it was nourished. It became Dawn. He arrived to you when you felt the most out of place did he not? He was there because your emotions fed him."

The truth was liberating as well as hard to grasp, "There is no way... that can't be." Dusk stared at the ground and he remembered the triggers that set off Dawn, the occasions when he felt his strongest and the times he could break free. Dusk looked back up, "If this is true then what of you? Who are you and how come you only appear now!?"

"Love, forgiveness, happiness, confidence, courage, humility. These are all that I am. The chaos that you absorbed meant there would have to be an order to compare it to. The turmoil in your soul had made it a difficult task to flourish and grow. When Dawn was closest to you I could not grow, he cut off those streams of emotions before I could experience them and then he came for me when I fell ill of starvation. Before then, however, I was only a seed feeding off of your emotions up until you moved, then you changed. Dawn came to life before I did and he took advantage of his position to choke me off, until..."

Dusk stopped him. "Until Poly."

"Correct, you met Poly and the emotions you felt: hope, love, happiness, they all became a shining sun that downed his darkness and I could stand over Dawn. But I was still in my infancy..." Dawn's advice and guidance began to make sense now, it was all a clever way of cutting off emotion and communication. He had slowly been suffocating Dusk from the inside. And now he almost felt dead.

"No wonder Dawn wanted me away from Poly..." The white unicorn shook his head, "No, he wanted you away from her for a much greater reason. Both you and her share the same birthday but your era separates you." He looked out the window again as did Dusk and a shock wave of light washed over the land and cleansed everything on the face of the earth. "The Reign of Harmony. A split second in which the Elements of Harmony reacted with each other and blessed the lands with peace. Poly, by whatever luck, was born at this exact moment. She became your compliment, your reversed polarity. Whatever chaos that lived inside of you was negated while you where nearest to her and I was able to flourish. Dawn developed a hate for her immediately, he could feel her effects. He knew she would ruin his plans." Dusk looked back at Evening, "Plans? What plans?" Evening's eyes grew narrow and serious, "His escape." Dusk grew worried and looked to his partner, "Then we must get back."

Dusk threw his hoof into a window and cleared the shards away before jumping. He fell weightlessly to the ground and made off for the mirror back to the real world. "NO STOP!!! THAT IS WHAT HE WANTS!!!", Evening screamed, but it was too late. Dusk was too far away to hear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqLHgodkIPk&feature=youtu.be

The Graff Residence

The dragon looked at the police officers and his low voice carefully commanded them, "You are no longer needed here, this is now official business of the royal court." The two officers looked at each other then at the dragon, "We see no reason to argue." The presence of a dragon obviously had an effect on them. The doctor finished applying medication and gauze to Dawn, "Then I shall be off as well, I have no need here either." Ursa ran up to the teal pegasus with the chromatic mane, "Mom! What are you doing here? What is going on?" Ursa winced and the doctor left one last command before leaving. "Try to keep her still. The last thing we need is for her to strain herself. Rainbow Shine moved to her daughter's side and raised one wing over her to keep her close. The purple unicorn looked at both of them, "So Rainbow, this is your daughter." She nodded, "Yep Twilight, this is my little Ursa."

Macintosh's sister, Applejack, looked at them sternly. "Look y'all, I understand that this is a pleasant meeting and all but don't forget what we are here for. Just look at this young'in, she's obviously been affected by Discord in some way or a 'nother now focus." Pinkie Pie was listening intently to Inkie as she repeated any information that may be helpful. "Pinkie Pie, there is no reason to ask we already know what's wrong with your niece now suit up." Pinkie cut her conversation with her sister short, "Sorry Rarity, I'm... I'm just a little bit worried. I think this may go beyond Discord's lingering presence. My Pinkie sense is telling me we may not be in for an easy job." Ursa looked at her mother, "Wait, suit up?"

"Ursa, I need you and Ms. Star here to go to that wall there and wait." Rainbow turned away from her daughter and straightened her posture. Twilight's horn glowed and each of the ponies began to glow as necklaces manifested themselves around their necks (with the exception of Twilight who now bore a tiara). Dawn began to creep back and away from the event, 'No, I need more time.'

As orbs of light flashed and tension built in the air Dawn snuck around the corner and into the hall. There was a chromatic explosion lit up the main room and for a split second, gravity seemed to focus into a tight ball at Poly's position. Lightning and fire swirled through the air though it singed nopony who was struck. Poly's grey colors were washed with the colors of the lights and she began to return to normal once again. Her head spun, the room danced, she struggled to move and eventually found herself tied up.

"Wha... What's going on?" Pinkie and Fona rushed forward and untied her before nearly crushing her under the combined force of both of their hugs. "Where am I? Aunt Pinkie? What are you doing here? Is there a party or something?" Pinkie stepped back and prepared to celebrate, "Not yet, but when I'm done with this place..." A pegasus who had remained quiet the entire time and seemed to be forgotten by most spoke up and broke into the conversation. "WAIT! I mean... wait... We still don't know what caused this, Discord can't be back... Can he?"

Twilight looked to the dragon, "Fluttershy is right. Spike, I need you to send word to the princess and have them investigate the statue of Discord. He shouldn't be free yet but he should not be underestimated." The dragon pulled out a quill and paper, "Roger." He turned to the side and held up the fresh scroll before incinerating it and leaving a magical trail of smoke. Morning and Ursa were still in the corner as everything unfolded, Ursa looked around. "Hey Dusk is gone..." Morning grew wide eyed and scanned the room, "Oh no, she's right..."

Applejack looked at her, "He was just here a second ago, do you think he was involved?" Morning nodded and explained the incidences with Dawn from years ago. Tension built in the house, something disastrous was preparing itself.

Dawn was upstairs hiding in a closet. 'Oh, the indignity of it all... They just had to block off every single exit and Dusk just had to disappear now of all times. Hoofsteps up the stairs made him freeze as the whole building was being patted down for his whereabouts. 'Drat, I've been out too long and now all of this is happening. I'll have to time this well...'

Twilight came to a closet in a bedroom upstairs, she had been following a wavelength of chaos that she had notice when she had entered the home. She reached her hoof out and cautiously opened the door. Dawn flew out of the closet and knocked her down before rushing for the stairs. Everypony became alert and began to shout for someone to catch him. At the last steps he jumped forward as far as he could, the doorway was right there and if he could make it through then he would be free, but something came in through his peripheral vision.

Poly tackled him mid-air and flattened him against the wall, she was trying her best to keep her emotions in control, this was no time to enter a fury again. Dawn's strength felt like it was being sapped at the points where Poly made contact with him. "Get off of me!!!", he screamed as he began to thrash about, but it was too late. Everypony else had him surrounded and moved him into the middle of the room. There was no escape now. 'Dusk, if there is a time to arrive. Now would be it.'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhWUnSRmWFg&feature=related

"What are you planning?" Rainbow Shine put one hoof forward aggressively and entered a pouncing stance on the off chance it was required. The jig was up, Dawn decided to come out with it all, Dusk was nearing and nobody could stop him once he arrived. He looked to Twilight and began, "Well being that you are a well off unicorn and well versed in magic I'm sure you understand what the 'wellspring' is." Twilight didn't dare break eye contact and hesitantly replied, "It's essentially a unicorn's magical storehouse. The more knowledge a unicorn has the larger it becomes, the more refined the knowledge the more refined the magic." Dawn sat down then lay on his side across the floor, "Exactly, now you should also know what happens when a unicorn doesn't use their magic for extended periods of time." Twilight frowned, "The wellspring compresses itself into a compact form of magic so that it can start to fill up once again." Dawn smiled widely, "Exactly, but what happens when the compressed magic nears the point of overflowing?" Morning was the first to respond this time, "Oh no!" Dawn laughed evilly at her reaction, "Precisely!!! Since it has already been compacted it can't be compacted anymore! So it begins to leak..."

"I'm afraid I don't follow..." Twilight knew what Morning had explained about Dawn but she knew nothing of Dusk so Morning had to elaborate. "Dusk never uses magic! Not even his telekinesis! Plus he has become certified in so many trades that his wellspring must be miles wide by now! and if what Dawn says is true..." Dawn awaited her response, he grew excited with her worry, "Yes!? Yes!? Yes!? Come on, say it Morning, just say it!!!" She looked up, "Then Dawn has access to the most compressed form of magic in a near infinite supply and its just overflowing by now, Dusk wouldn't be able to control it even if he knew how." Dawn stood up and began to laugh, the orange in his eyes began to split their colors. The whites turned yellow and his pupils red, "And that means, I have enough magical power to manifest myself and make off with his whole wellspring."
a

Dusk was still in the reverse trying to make it back to the gateway mirror. Running weightlessly across a large field is no easy task and often results in falling and rolling, but finally the house was in sight. The skies were no longer peaceful and Dusk was no longer focused on his memory. The grass dissolved beneath his feet and a black ocean began to appear, rising out of the floor. Dawn was growing stronger and Dusk knew it. Normally he would fall into the dark sea but this time it felt as though Dawn wasn't trying to drown Dusk out; he was giving Dusk a path. "I don't know what you are planning Dawn, but I won't let you get away with it..." Evening forced his way through the thick waters, his head would occasionally dip beneath a wave as it worked its way around Dusk and towards him. "Dusk, don't!!! It's what he wants!" The house melted away but the mirror still lingered on, this was it. He slipped through the mirror and took his body once again. Evening saw the tip of his tail slip into the mirror. "NOOOO!".

Everypony watched as Dawn's bruises and cuts healed and his form began to change, the harshness in his eyes melted away and a kindhearted face replaced his dark grin. "Wait, what's going on?", he saw that there was a group of ponies surrounding him and he was laying on the floor, he stood up and shook the dust off of himself. Morning looked at him carefully, as did Poly, "Dusk? Is it really you?" Dusk blinked and cocked his head to the side, "Of, course. Who would I be?" He felt a shock wave rocket through him, then another. Applejack tackled Morning as the floorboards ripped up all around Dusk. The pulses began to cause his body to writhe and twist rhythmically. It felt as though a booming heartbeat began to pummel his body, then a voice echoed through the room and the lights flickered. "Me. Mwuhahahahaha!"

He began to float into the air and his horn glowed and began to pulse along with the heartbeat. "What is going on?!?", yelled Rainbow to Twilight. She shook her head and gazed wide eyed at the scene unfolding before them all, "I'm not sure, I've never scene anything like this before..." Poly watched in horror as the light grew brighter and Dusk's screams became more pained, "Dusk..." Then the lights in the room shattered but Dusk's horn now glowed so brightly that the difference was unnoticed. Then a massive flash and a bang shook the room and blinded everypony for several seconds. "What happened? Where is everypony? Somebody start a roll call." Fourteen voices cried out.

"Good, everypony is accounted for... Wait... Us six, Spike, Macintosh, Poly, Fona... There is one more voice..." The blindness passed and everypony focused on the new comer. Twilight saw him for who he really was before anypony else could. He put off a wavelength of evil and his magic was darker than most but was not unfamiliar, they had fought him before. "No, it can't be..."

"Use the Elements of Harmony now!" Twilight snapped to attention and began to relay a powerful magic as the other 5 joined her. The colors where bright and vivid just as when they had purified Poly, but now it was in a much greater magnitude, it was strong enough to turn anything to stone... or destroy it and reduce it to ash. The lights shot forward in a hyper concentrated aurora and traced their path to the target with a brilliance rarely seen. Then, they stopped.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUzHPKbKf4Q&feature=youtu.be

A malicious claw was held out and the lights simple stopped as though they had hit a wall, a voice dark and proud rang out with a chuckle, "You silly little foals. The Elements of Harmony only work on that which is corrupted and evil. " The claw closed as the beam of light came to its end and there was a small explosion in his palm. He pointed the paw of a lion towards Spike and the unicorn named Rarity, "Since my body was born from a pure magic there is nothing your Elements can do to harm me. On the off chance that you think of something however..." Lifting the thumb on his hand he formed the shape of a gun and tapped into the magical reserve that he "borrowed" from Dusk. "Pew." The air compressed and a Spike and the unicorn were thrown back and into the wall where they fell to they ground. Both had been knocked unconscious and a crater was left in the wall where they impacted.

He laughed evilly and began to repeat the process as each and everypony attempted to run away. The bodies collapsed as they crashed into the walls and he began to laugh darkly, "HAHAHAHA! Don't you see that running away is pointless? I will find you but there is no need to worry... I won't kill you just yet." Then he turned to the only pony standing, Dusk stared horrifically at the monstrosity who stood over him, "Who are you?" The monster stooped down on one knee and stared him in the face. "Oh... You don't remember me? Huh..."

He covered his face with his arms then revealed his new face, it was Dusk's father. "Just to let you know Dusk... Your father's death...", he grinned darkly and his teeth were revealed to be filed down into fangs. Dusk blinked and his father's face turned back into the creature who was there before, "...Was nothing near painless. HahahahahaHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Dusk threw his hoof up and tried to get the best hit he could in but the lion's paw stopped it.

"There is no way you could ever beat me, especially now. I destroy lands for the sake of entertainment, I commit genocide against those who stand in my way, I haunt the innocent and drive them to insanity..." He twisted Dusk's hoof and Dusk squealed in pain. "I tear natural laws apart because I can, I turn night to day, air to fire, earth to dust, ponies into shells of their former self, and you DARE TRY TO CHALLENGE ME!!!" He lifted up Dusk and began to twirl before releasing him and slamming him into the ground.

Dusk couldn't hold onto his consciousness for long, "You still haven't answered me... Who are you?"

...

"I am chaos and I AM DISCORD!!!!!"

Dusk began to shake in fear as his breaths became shallow and Discord cackled with delight.

...

A War Revived

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJpDwnxJF18&feature=related

Flames licked the floorboards as Dusk's eyes fluttered and he fought the urge to disappear.
"No."
This word floated through the air and echoed in the house. "Hahahaha, no? No what? Are you saying that I'm not Discord?" Dusk ignored the pain and began to move shakily as he rose, "No." Discord crossed his arms and stared down at the trembling figure, "You really ought to articulate better if you ever want somepony to take your foolish little outbursts more seriously."

Dusk took a deep breath in and focused all of his anger into his voice, "I REFUSE TO LET YOU DECIDE OUR FATES!!!" Dusk's horn glowed violently and with one last scream he shot forward faster than the eye could follow and slammed right into Discord. The behemoth doubled over as the unstoppable force met the unmovable object and the age old answer was answered as Discord's feet began to slip and they lost their traction. Dusk drove forward until the two collided with the wall. Dusk was still moving forward but the wall held them still long enough for Discord to catch his bearings before they began to break through. Cracks formed at the point were the two were pressed before a section of the wall broke clear.

Bricks, dust, and Discord were flung out into the streets of Ponyville as well as among the crowd of passerbys who had gathered when lights and the sounds of screams ruptured the peace of the town a little while earlier. The denizens of the town screamed and ran in whatever they they could escape, in this aspect they reminded Discord of cockroaches before they were crushed... Discord stood slowly as he held his abdomen with his paw, "Clever little brat, but of course you didn't do it alone. Did he Evening." Dusk's silhouette was highlighted by the glow of the flames that flickered inside the house through the hole in the wall. His eyes glowed with a heavenly quality and his coat had turned a luminescent white. "He was never alone Discord and you knew it."

...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=umpX_4BrTqo

Inside the house Spike's eyes shook as he forced himself to wake up. Rarity lay unconscious in his arms, he had managed to save her from the brunt of Discord's attack at least. He put her to the side gently as he produced a quill and parchment from his flames. Watching the burning ichor that consumed the floor move towards the rest of their group, he hastily scribbled a note before igniting it with his own breath. He quickly moved to the edge of the flames and began to move the helpless members of his circle of friends before they came in contact with the mini inferno. From outside he could hear the screams of a panicky crowd and the unmistakable crackle of some intense magical energy gathering.

...

Discord pulled his fist back before dashing forward and slamming it into the ground where Evening stood a split second before. The cobblestone path erupted beneath the fist as each stone in a linear path became loosed from its mortar prison and flew through the air. Evening reared back to his hind hooves and slammed them down, the magic flowing through his body reinforced the blow just as Discord's did and their seismic warpaths collided. Evening moved as a blur of light as he did earlier and made it past the shock wave and into striking distance of Discord. In between the swings of hooves, the parries, and the near misses Discord found time to chat.

"Interesting concept you are applying here," Discord parried a hit and sidesteps as a follow up hit enters the fray, "Most unicorns teleport by focusing their positive magic at a separate point and allowing all the negative charges in their body to instantaneously combine, but you're just creating a path of energy to let you gain momentum." Discord clapped his hands and the stones that formed the street formed into claws that grasped onto Evening before he could move. "But I do have one question..." Discord pointed his hand at his prey and formed the shape of a gun before firing. Evening sent a pulse out of his body and the same wavelengths of Harmony that resonated in Poly turned his stone captors to dust before he dashed to a secondary point to avoid the attack. "And what is that?" Discord loosened his stance and scanned for where his little pest disappeared to, "Where did you get all of this magic? Last I checked, I emptied Dusk's wellspring." Evening's voice echoed in the darkening air, "I saved a little after I returned. Why?" A shadow shot from behind a house and towards Discord. The demon tensed all of his muscles and released with a roar so unmatched that all it was touched by was thrown upward. Evening stopped an inch from Discord's face and harmlessly floated there, "The keywords are 'a little'..." Evening attempted to move away but he was stuck in place, unable to command his own movements. Discord grabbed onto Evening's horn and pulled back.

A pale white aura streamed from Evening's head and into Discord's palm, Evening could feel his presence weakening as his magic was drained and Dusk was forced into control once again. His body turned grey and his his eyes rolled back before hiding behind his eyelids. Evening passed Dusk in his mind as they switched, 'I'm sorry Dusk, I tried...' Dusk nodded back, 'I know...' When Dusk opened his own eyes once again he saw Discord reeling back with a fist tightly clenched. "Good night, you little cretin."

The hit was quick and violent, most of it was directed downward so when Dusk hit the ground he felt ribs grind on the stone. He continued to skip along the ground as he was driven towards the fountain in the center of town. Dusk was already weak to begin with so every bounce only made it worse. Discord stared down at him and watched his chest rise and fall. "Just give up already, you have no hope of ever defeating me." Dusk struggled to wake himself but his fatigue was winning. Discord snarled disapprovingly and bent over to grab onto Dusk's mane, "Now look here boy, I work very hard to ensure that my chaos is of the highest quality and I won't just stand here and allow you to ruin it..." Dusk couldn't hold on to consciousness much longer and it was blatantly clear. "... Especially when we are only inches away from my very birthplace."

Dusk's eyes shot open and Discord chuckled, "I knew that would get your attention..."

Ponyville was ablaze from the fight that had taken place moments before, the buildings were crumbling into piles of fresh cut wood and doves would fly out of the rubble. The citizens of the town were ruining aimlessly in a mad panic, each hoped to somehow escape the nightmare but none knew how. The sky had turned a blood red, the moon looked as though it were about to intercept the sun. Discord smiled, "Though I'm sure that the Ponyville Public School System hardly teaches about the life cycle of a draconequus. You see, only one is ever alive at a time and when it dies it is reborn much like a phoenix." Dusk continued to struggle as he fought for the right to remain awake, "So?" Discord flicked him on the nose, "Don't interrupt... If the fact that only one is ever alive at a time isn't special enough, a newly reborn draconequus gathers the energy of the emotions of the inhabitants that live in the land and becomes the embodiment of it so to speak."

The synapses connected and Dusk understood what this rant was about. "So when you were reborn, you absorbed the chaos in the land..." Discord dropped Dusk in the fountain, the waves began to freeze slowly and Dusk found it impossible to move. Discord nodded. The ice began to drag Dusk beneath the frosty surface so Dusk quickened the pace of his questions, "Then what could cause the chaos needed to create you?" The blackening sky behind Discord rustled with the movement of two quickly advancing shapes. Discord closed his eyes dreamily as if the sweetest memory of his entire life, "In my past life I may have killed the high king." The ice began to grow along Dusk's neck, he had time for only one question. "And who was the high king?" The sun rose like a beacon though the sky and the moon followed until crossed over to form an eclipse. A strong voice tore through the growing night, "He killed our father." Discord's eyes constricted as they shot open and his mighty form shook, "It's about time you joined the party."

...

"Luna... Celestia."
His voice wavered slightly.

...

Unfortunate Beginnings Call For Unfortunate Ends

Discord strained as he turned to face his visitors. Their arrival was going just as he had planned but nonetheless he knew he had to enter a new state of mind. The "baby" games that he had been playing with Evening before were to go out the window. Lethality was now a factor in his attacks, not just destruction. "My my Luna... look how much you have grown since we last met. You are starting to take on some of your sister's royal magnificence." Discord walked and spoke at the same time, if their meeting was to go exactly as he had planned for then position would be critical.

Luna began to strafe slowly as she counteracted Discord's positioning as did Celestia. Their subtle dance ended when the two princesses formed a triangle with the fountain and took a rigid stance so that Discord wouldn't escape from the center so easily. "Let thine tongue be stilled Discord. Though thy predecessor, Fury, was the one who ended father, I shall still hold thee accountable for thy crimes against Equestria that were committed in thy wake," started Luna, "furthermore, by the power invested in my, I condemn thee to judgement without trial."

Discord floated to his side and stretched out before resting his head on his arm. "And what, pray tell, is this judgement of yours. I can't wait to hear the verdict..." Dusk's face was still being drawn under and by the time Discord asked his question, the helpless grey colt felt the icy embrace of his new prison close around his snout; even with this unfortunate circumstance, however, Luna's answer was still heard.
"Death."

The word itself chilled Dusk more so than the ice, he was so close to it after all. For Discord, however, the word was emptier than his dark heart. "Hohohoho, THAT IS RICH!!! You? Of all ponies wants to condemn be to death for crimes that I have committed against Equestria? Don't make me laugh Luna..."
"Or should I say Nightmare Moon?"

Discord was practically laughing so hard that the last insult could have easily been misheard, but Luna and Celestia both received what had been said. The younger sister winced at the name but Celestia came to her aid, "Enough Discord. Just as you are not to be judged by the crimes of the draconequus before you, as proclaimed by the Phoenix act, Luna is immune from the punishment for a life that lies behind her." Discord stopped snickering long enough to land on the ground and straighten himself out. "Well then, you may use whatever excuse you can to protect that weak little criminal of yours if it makes sleeping at night any easier. But both of you know that you are skirting around with politics with this one." Luna grew increasingly detached as she lowered her head in shame, this was the sign Discord needed to know that he was making headway.

"Now Luna, answer me honestly..." Discord started to walk towards the crestfallen figure with open arms. "You must surely feel the lingering presence, hmmm? I know that somewhere deep down, Nightmare Moon still rests within your soul and you can feel her urges... Can't you?" Discord continued to draw closer to Luna and Celestia began to fear what he was planning.

"Not another step Discord." Celestia opened her colossal wings and the shadow of her embrace fell upon the draconequus; he stopped briefly but only to address her. "And what are you going to do about it Celestia? What do you expect to accomplish without the Elements of Harmony?" Celestia froze for a moment, honestly she knew that she couldn't do anything but in order to keep Discord from having the upper hand she had to act as though she were still in control. "I won't be needing them this time Discord..." Discord raised an eyebrow, "A blatant lie if there ever was one, but I will call your bluff nonetheless." The fire in the Graff household suddenly raged and roared with a heat the caused Luna to snap out of her daze. When she turned around, the inferno had swallowed the whole house and turned everything to ash. Moments later the support beams lost their hold and collapsed, bringing the house down and over the occupants inside.

Luna's will to fight had been revived with the loss of innocent lives, though fear still lived in her heart. She turned to face the monster who had done this but was not prepared fully. When he came into view it was too late, Discord's claw rested on her horn and she felt chaos wash through her body. Her colors became muted and her will crushed. Discord had turned her.

Celestia watched in terror as her sister was lost before her own eyes. "No..." Celestia stared wide eyed as her sister stumbled from side to side as her body twisted and stretched. Discord laughed and moved to Luna's side. "Oh yes. I'm sure you remember how your sister was oh so long ago? I know she remembers you, don't your deary?" When the alicorn beside him stopped her transformation she slowly raised her head and the light of the eclipse fell upon her dark face.
"I know her well enough..." With that Nightmare Moon charged for Celestia with Discord following close behind her dark warpath.

Dusk couldn't tell what was going on, his was starting to spin because of the lack of air. There was a small hole that allowed air to move through but he couldn't breathe in as fully as he needed to. The shadow of the eclipse over him slowly became darker as the sun seemingly disappeared from the sky. Time was running out for him as the air he had continued to thin. 'This is it,' he thought to himself, 'I should have figured that I wouldn't even come close to hero material.' For the third time that day he felt like he was going to black out, when suddenly the ice near his face began to shatter and a shadow was moving fervently over the surface.

Spike was clawing at the surface of the ice with all his might. From what Dusk could see he was painted with burns and ash marks, nothing more than a flesh wound to a dragon. Celestia had Discord and Nightmare Moon distracted so he figured now was the only window he would get. "I can't get you all the way out, there isn't enough time for that." Dusk's face was now exposed so breathing and communication was possible. "Don't worry about it, do what you have to do." Spike suddenly ran and disappeared from Dusk's sight; Dusk figured they must be making their way back. Soon after he watched as flashes of light filled up the areas of town he couldn't see directly, then he heard a loud cry.

Celestia grimaced and cradled her injured wing close to her body. One of them had gotten of a lucky shot and she had been forced to crash land at a dead end. The silhouettes of Discord and Nightmare closed in on their quarry slowly, the outlines of their faces were twisted smiles bent on revenge. Celestia watched as they moved closer and closer only to stop and loom over the fallen ruler. Discord began to speak but the twisted smile on his face never changed, "You know Celestia, all I wanted as a child was a friend. You find yourself so high and mighty now because you think that you can forgive my past life for his actions but you never did forgive me those many years ago. At least you never showed it." Nightmare Moon just sat there and stared with a vengeful smile still plastered across her face. Celestia looked back from her former sister and to her father's murderer. "That's because I never forgave either of you monsters." Discord chuckled.
"Such fine last words from someone so powerful." Discord raised his hand and filled it magical energy...

...

And Celestia laid her head to rest as the hand began to come down. She was at peace.

...

Reunion

"Dusk! How have you been?" Poly glistened with excitement and her enthusiasm reached out to Dusk in turn. As much as it could at least, "I've been fine, thanks." Poly's flank glowed green, he was telling the truth somehow. Poly could have sworn he was constantly depressed. Dusk honed in on the source of the glow and stared quizzically. "That's... new..." Poly looked back and realized that Dusk did not know what her cutie mark was. "Oh, I completely forgot. This is my cutie mark, it turns out I'm a living lie detector!" Dusk smiled, "I always knew that...", his voice still reflected how shy he was really feeling. He had never spoken so much for so long in such a long time. It was nice to feel accepted again.

Dusk began to lower his head again, he remembered the status of his own cutie mark. Poly was not as receptive as he was and had not noticed Dusk's flank yet, possibly because it had not glowed. "What about your cutie mark? I'm really curious to see what you have!" Dusk blushed and moved away a bit. "I, um... well..." Poly was still too excited to notice the signs of fear in Dusk's behavior. "I bet you got some sort of scholar mark, or astronomy, or art, or...", as she continued her delusions of grandeur Dusk began to feel as though he had failed to live up to her expectations. 'Dusk come on, if you black out now her opinion of you will turn for the worse.' Dawn's voice was weak but meaningful, Dusk had learned to trust Dawn a bit more than he had before. 'Right, thanks for the heads up.' Dawn breathed a silent sigh of relief, the truth was he could not allow himself to come to the surface near Poly. She knew too much.

"Um, Poly..." Poly ended her speaking for a moment and awaited Dusk's response patiently. She smiled and awaited the response even if Dusk wasn't excited to share it. Dusk sighed and turned to show his blank flank, the embarrassment almost burned. Poly stopped smiling for a moment. The very thought was one of the saddest things she could think of, a blank flank in high school. 'Poly, it doesn't matter if he is blank or not. You know him as a person and that is all that matters.' She smiled again, now reassured by her own thoughts, and began cheerfully, "Oh Dusk, it doesn't matter anyways. Cutie marks aren't all that special anyways. I know that you are way better than most ponies anyways! So don't worry about it." Dusk smiled and raised his head, that was the nicest thing he had heard in a long time. The bell rang and the students began to move laterally across the halls. Poly gave one last hug to Dusk and Dusk hesitantly returned the embrace. He didn't want to be creepy or anything, but... he had to admit that her mane smelled heavenly.

They split in order to go to their respective classes and the pain of separation hit Dusk on a small scale. It had been a long time since he had seen Poly and the familiar face was so welcoming that he felt like he could reach out a bit more. He almost felt like answering a question in class, but then the thought of social interaction became to much and he decided that keeping his conversations to Poly would be best. Dawn analyzed the situation carefully, he had just joined Dusk once again and he would prefer if he wasn't kicked out. 'Wow, Poly... It had been a while hasn't it?', Dawn pointed out feigning sincerity. Dusk took it as a sincere question, he had tried to read for signs of anger but he found none. 'Ya, it has been a while hasn't it. I really do hope that you have changed Dawn, I don't want you hurting her again. Promise me that you will be on your best behavior.' Dawn was glad he was able to produce the effect that he was sincere and he hoped to keep it that way, for now he would just have to avoid Poly. 'Don't worry Dusk, I've changed... a lot.'

Poly felt a horrible melancholy as the bell rang, she had just found her long lost friend and a measly bell was tearing them apart again. For the moment at least, that thought kept her going yet she felt an emptiness in her heart. She had finally met her friend from long ago, a friend she had refused to forget about for years, yet she felt as though there was no bond between them. There was a space between them and she felt it widen as she realized that she knew nothing of her old friend. She didn't even know that he still didn't have a cutie mark, she didn't find out how Morning was doing, and she didn't know why she registered Dusk saying he was alright as the truth. She had seen him around many times before and she knew something was not right. Maybe she had lost interest in him, maybe... maybe they had grown apart. Yet, there was an inexplicable attraction between them both. It was like their destinies were intertwined... 'Nah, that's just silly', she thought to herself and she moved on into her class.

Dusk went to his first class and sat down. He was in AP Senior English and was clearly dwarfed by all of his non-freshman classmates. "Oh look, a runt of the litter." One pony who was particularly brawny moved over with his cronies over to the desk Dusk sat in. "I don't know how you got into this class, after all you obviously can't read." Dusk tilted his head to the side and observed the face of this offensive pony and his posse. "Look my name is right there...", the large one said as he tapped his hoof on the desk. Dusk looked down and saw no name, he kicked his mind into a hyper sensitive state and prepared for the worst. Bullying was nothing new so it hardly fazed him as he watched the hoof move upwards towards his face in slow motion. The only difference between now and then was that he used to accept it... now he had a secret weapon.
'Dawn?'

...

"Gladly." Red eyes turned to orange in a split second and a sadistic grin stretched across his face.