Opportunity of a Lifetime

by Lyn_Prayre

Rating: teen
Tags: Comedy, Romance
Length: 128288

A pegasus Ponyville in the hopes of a new life, but his past catches up with him...

A stallion leaves for the town of Ponyville so he can apply for a new job, but an incident renders him unable to do so. He turns to somepony to help give him a second chance, but what happens when his problems catch up with him…

Cover art by Soapie-Solar (Not a commission)

Edit: Edited chapters will be marked with an asterisk.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-12-12 19:49:11 UTC

Prologue*

Prologue*

Author's Note: Opportunity of a Lifetime is slowly being edited chapter by chapter. The story won't change, but there will be a different writing style.

Prologue

The sun is shining and the birds are chirping in the beautiful city of Manehatten. The town is bustling with activity with the local townsponies walking across the city streets, with each and every one of its residents doing something friendly and productive in the city. At least, that is what it was like in the richer parts of the city.

Then there was Old Manehattan, where jobs were fewer, crimes were common and residents were more aggressive. This is the part of the city where the poorer members of Manehatten stay, the slums, if you will. Inside these slums was a younger stallion by the name of Dusk Shard. He is currently living inside one of the many cheaper apartments that scatter the area. He had migrated from the town of Las Pegasus about two weeks ago, in the hopes of getting a job from the multiple openings listed in the 'Equestria Daily'. But in the time it took him to move all the way from town to town, most of these openings were already filled. The only opening left was available for him was for the Manehatten Postal and well...

“Ah, so there is an opening at the Manehatten Postal in here; the very same role I applied for last week. I pity the pony who fills that new role, I really do..."

He ended up quitting early, since the work conditions at the post office were just horrible. Not wanting to dwell on his previous work, he continues to read through the newspaper, when an ad captures his attention.

“Hmm, so there is an opening as a waiter at the Spinning Fork. Interesting.”

He continued to read the information that was provided below the header. The more he read, the more happy he had gotten. All of the information about the job seemed to fit perfectly into his preferences. There was one detail however, that halted any drive to work at this restaurant.

"So it's in Cloudsdale."

Dusk shudders as he recalls his past in the cloud city. He couldn't go back there, he had far too many unpleasant memories of that town for him to go back there. He shook these thoughts away from his mind as he brings his attention back to the paper in front of him. He skims through page after page of job applications, none of which turning up with anything good, until he saw a small header for a suitable job on the very last page.

Weather Control

We are seeking pegasi capable of weather control.

Needed for general weather maintenance.

Needs excellent communication skills.

Contact Mayor Mare in Ponyville Town Hall

Mon-Fri 9:30am - 4:30pm

Dusk couldn't help but to give the article a curious look, since this job seems to be almost tailored to his specialties, but he had to travel all the way to Ponyville to possibly get said job. He remembers seeing a few other openings for Ponyville, but this one in particular piqued his interests.

"So... this is one of the few times I've ever seen an opening for a weather pony, but why does it have to be all the way at Ponyville?" He takes a furtive glance out of the window of his apartment, and sees the gray, drab surroundings around him. He then takes a look inside his own apartment, and sees the things he had come to expect. Bland, white walls, a stained cream carpet, and very few furnishings. He had to admit, he kind of hated the apartment he rented. The thought of leaving Manehatten became tempting...

He then remembered his current predicament, he was in a new city, with no job, and only enough bits to last him for a few more weeks.

'Ugh, I need time to think.'

He walked into the bathroom (which was as boring as the rest of the apartment) and turns on the shower, making sure the water was sufficiently warm before entering. From there, he washed his dark blue coat, and short brown mane and tail with the appropriate toiletries, until he thought he was clean. He grabbed a towel with his hooves, and started to dry himself. He took a quick look into a mirror, and could see his topaz-like eyes looking back at him. They then slide to his cutie mark, which was a shield with two red horizontal line laying on top of an otherwise yellow shield.

When he had finished drying himself, he made the decision to leave Manehatten, and travel to Ponyville. He seemed to take it in his stride, as he took to packing everything he had into a pair of saddlebags. Fortunately for him, he traveled light.

Taking everything of his out of the apartment, he walked out of the room, and gave no second thoughts to staying in the town. He had already considered his options, 'Stay, and hope I may get a new job within a month, or move, and travel to a small town with multiple other opportunities.' and he almost immediately decided on the latter, since the city life seemed to be doing nothing for him.

'This could be the opportunity of a lifetime.'

Chapter 2: The Meet Up

Chapter 2: The Meet Up

Dusk has been expecting the arrival of Fluttershy and her friends for about an hour now. Before, while walking in the Everfree Forest, he was excited about the prospect of meeting the locals of Ponyville. Dusk had always been one, to try and make friends with any new pony that he would meet. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t really have any friends to call his own.

During his short stint as a delivery pony for the Manehatten Postal Services, he was always ignored, a background pony. In the eyes of everyone else, he seemed like just another co-worker. Whenever Dusk tried to start up a conversation with another worker, they would always think of an excuse to stop the conversation. Some of the most used were:

“I need to go deliver this package.”

“I have to go to the meeting.”

“I’m too busy to talk right now.”

He honestly hated his job. The only reason why he continued to work there as long as he did, is because he needed the job. The only person in Manehatten who he could consider a friend was Sunset Flora.

His life in Cloudsdale wasn’t much better, but he decided to keep those, unpleasant memories suppressed.

He couldn’t dwell on his past for any longer though. Despite the bad memories, he was still quite excited about the prospect of possibly of making new friends.

About ten minutes later, Fluttershy and a lavender mare entered the area where he was staying.

Dusk was the first to speak up, “Hello Fluttershy, I presume that she is your friend.”

“Oh yes, she is one of very best friends that I could ask for.” responds the quiet pegasus.

“That’s nice, so would your friend like to introduce herself?”

“Certainly Dusk, my name is Twilight Sparkle...”

The lavender unicorn has a straightened dark purple mane, complemented by a pink and purple stripe on the right side of her mane and tail. Her cutie mark consists of a purple, 6 pointed star which was surrounded by five smaller white stars. It doesn’t really show what her special talent is.

“...I run the Ponyville Library downtown. I was sent by Princess Celestia to learn abou-”

“The Princess sent you here herself?!” interrupted a shocked Dusk.

“Yes she did. She told me to stay here so I could study about friendship. I am actually her student”

Dusk felt a slight *boom* inside his head. All he could do is stare at her in amazement.

“W-w-wow.”

“It isn’t really that big a deal.”

Dusk just kept on staring at Twilight.

When Twilight and Fluttershy finally broke Dusk’s hypnotized stare, they started socialising.

“...and that’s when Fluttershy used the “Stare” on the cockatrice, while she was turning into stone.”

“Remind me to never get on Shy’s bad side.” says the surprised Dusk.

So after another 20 minutes, both Twilight and Fluttershy had to leave the hospital. Twilight had to go back to her library and Fluttershy had to feed her animals.

“So Fluttershy, do you mind if you could come back to the hospital tomorrow, I need to know how to get to places` in Ponyville.”

“That will be fine Dusk. See-ya later.”

“Bye.”

A couple of hours later, two mares walked into the area where Dusk was staying and greeted him.

One of these mares was a farmer earth pony. She has an orange coat and and a blond mane and tail, which are both tied of at the end. She has three apples as her cutie mark, which probably means that her talent involves all things apple-related. She speaks with a southern accent. She gave Dusk a vigorous hoofshake on his uninjured hoof, she was very strong.

“Howdy, Dusk. Mah name is Applejack.”

“H-h-h-e-ello-o-o A-a-appl-le-e-e-ja-a-ck.” Dusk’s stutter was caused by the hoofshake.

“Now Applejack, that’s no way to treat an injured patient.” the other mare said in a haughty tone.

“No, no, its perfectly fine.” reassures Dusk. (Who couldn’t move his left forehoof)

The other guest, was an alabaster unicorn with a styled, purple mane and tail. Her mane was curled at the end in such a way, that it makes her look like a member of the upper-class. Her tail, curls all the way from start to finish, it appears that she likes to always look her very best. Her cutie mark consists of three diamonds, which most likely means that she is skilled with the use of rare jewellery. In fact, she was the polar opposite of Applejack.

“Alright, if you insist. Anyway, my name is Rarity.”

“Pleased to meet you Rarity. My name is Dusk.”

“You see Applejack, you don’t need to be rough when you greet new ponies.” Says the prideful unicorn.

“Well, excuse me, little miss perfect. Just ‘cause you act frou-frou all of tha’ time, doesn’t mean ah have to.” debates the farm pony.

“Well you don’t need to act like a brute whenever you meet someone.”

“Uhh... Girls-”

“Ah’ can welcome someone, any way ah’ want, thank you very much.” Says an annoyed Applejack.

“If by welcoming, you mean injuring.”

It was apparent that a heated argument, about how to greet a new pony, has started, and that Dusk was in the middle of it.

‘Why does this have to happen to me’

Five minutes later, peace broke out. Rarity left the hospital in a huff, and left Applejack in the room with Dusk.

“I’m mighty sorry about what happened with Rarity. Sometimes she can just be as stubborn as a mule.”

‘Thank Celestia, that Rarity didn’t hear Applejack compare her to a mule. Horrible things would of happened.’

“That’s OK. I thought that your greeting was just fine, even though I couldn’t feel my foreleg for a minute.” complained Dusk.

“Well, sorry about that. We both came 'ere because of Fluttershy. She told us what happened and we just wanted ta' see how you were holding up. Ah’ need ta’ go back to the Sweet Apple Acres now. We are in the middle of Applebuck Season, and ah’ shouldn’t waste any more time.”

“Good bye then Applejack.”

“See-ya later Dusk.”

Around 3 hours later, a cyan pegasus walked into the area where he was staying.

“Hey, Dusk. Fluttershy told me about what happened and asked if I could give you something.”

The mare gave him a small pouch of 30 bits. ‘Why would she just give me free bits?’

The pegasus that Dusk was talking to had a mane/tail with all of the colors of the rainbow, which was something that Dusk had never seen before. Her body was toned, as if it was meant for agility. Her cutie mark was a rainbow lightning bolt coming out of a cloud and it was obvious that her special talent was speed.

“Shy said that these bits can be used, in case you need them in Ponyville.” She sticks her hoof out, “I’m Rainbow Dash.”

He brohoofs her, “Name’s Dusk.”

She points at his cast, “How long are you grounded for?”

“Three weeks.”

“Three we-eks?!” (Hah, voice crack)

“At least I can take this cumbersome cast of in two weeks.” Says a hopeful Dusk.

“At the very least. When the manticore attacked you, why didn’t you try to fly away?” Asks a curious Dash.

“I did try. As I was about to take off, the manticore hit my wing, which injured it?”

“Ouch. I need to go now since I give you the package, bye.”

“Bye.”

As Dusk began to relax after meeting Rainbow, he saw a pink streak enter the room. Upon further examination, he actually saw a hyperactive, pink pony.

“HELLO DUSKY. My name is Pinkie Pie and noticed that you are the new pony in Ponyville, even if you arrived in town injured and carried by Fluttershy, *loud gasp* which reminds me. You know what we need a PARTY! But not just a normal party, we need a ‘Welcome-to-Ponyville-even-if-you-arrived-injured party!’ We will need things such as cake and pinatas and punch and...”

This pink pony, which he identified as Pinkie Pie, was speaking rather quickly for most ponies to comprehend. Her mane and tail actually looked like cotton candy, because they were a darker shade of pink and immensely frizzy. Her cutie mark consists of three balloons, seems about right. Dusk basically ignored most of what Pinkie was saying.

“...and muffins and the Party Cannon. Don’t you think it will be great Dusky?”

As soon as the onslaught of words finished, some confetti appeared out of nowhere.

“Huh what? I guess that will be fine.”

“GREAT, I’ll start organising the party now.”

Pinkie then ran out of the hospital to get started.

“She is certainly... something” says an exasperated Dusk to himself.

~The Next Day~

The time where Dusk gets to leave the hospital was approching. Fluttershy, kept her promise and came to the hospital as he was going to leave.

“Um... If you don’t mind me asking, do you need a place to stay once you leave the hospital.”

“Not really, with the bits that you gave me, I’ll be able to rent a hotel while I’m in Ponyville. Thanks for the bits by the way.” says a thankful Dusk.

“But, they will only be enough for one or two days. You will have to leave the hotel and stay on the street. We can’t have that.”

“...I didn't think of that.”

“But if you need to, you could stay in my house, if you don’t mind.” offers Fluttershy with a faint blush.

“No. I have already intruded into your life for long enough. I can’t stay in your house.”

“But-but Dusk, where would you go then?”

“That... is a good point.”

Chapter 3: The Weather Team

Chapter 3: The Weather Team

It was finally time for Dusk to leave he hospital, much to his relief. He wants Fluttershy to follow him, as he needs to know how to get to back to her cottage, and he also needs to know how to get Mayor’s office, to ask about the weather job. He walks through the hospital’s double doors, with a cast on his left wing. While his other cuts and bruises are healing quite nicely, he was forced to keep his left wing fully stretched for two weeks. He had to make sure he didn’t walk near anyone on his left, or else he would hit them with the rather hard cast.

As he looks at the town of Ponyville, he notices that it is a lot more peaceful than Manehatten. Replacing the towering skyscrapers and dull buildings of Manehatten, were rustic houses, merchant stands and the beauty of the land. There were quite a few landmarks which stood out from the rest of the town.

About one kilometre west of the hospital were many acres of apple trees. Dusk presumes that this was the Sweet Apple Acres farm that Applejack worked at. If he looks close enough, than he could see the farmhouse in the distance.

Another thing that stood out in the town was the grand tree in the distance, which has been converted into Twilight’s library and home. Despite the size of the library, there was no doubt in Dusk’s mind that fewer ponies visited it.

Quite close to the library was the Sugarcube Corner. The architecture was nothing that he had ever seen before, it looked like a gingerbread house with a giant cupcake sticking out of the middle of the roof. He would be willing to bet that a few fillies would have taken a bite out of it at some stage.

Finally, there was the Carousel Boutique. Its design look more upper-class than the rest of the town (as things are with Rarity) and it was two stories tall. The bottom floor was looked a bit like a carousel, (What’s up with that?) was most likely her work shop or her display area.

Dusk finishes his quick look at the town and asks Fluttershy something.

“Fluttershy, do you know where the Mayor’s office is?”

“Yes, she should be in the Town Hall in the centre of town, I’ll show you where it is.”

“So Fluttershy,” inquires Dusk, “How do I get back to your house later?”

“If you take the path to the Everfree Forest...

‘...?!’

“...you will see a small bridge to the right of the path, my house is past the bridge. It is near the outskirts of the Forest.”

“Alright, thanks for that. I’ll probably be able to take it from here. See-ya Fluttershy.” He waves his hoof.

“Bye Dusk.”

Dusk sees the town hall and he starts to think. The whole reason why he came to Ponyville in the first place, is to get a job as a weather pony. Unfortunately, with his crippled wing, getting a job that requires flying would be impossible. Also, another pony could get his job before him while still injured. He will try to make sure that he gets the job despite being injured and stop other applicants from joining. He would then start working when he could use his wings again. The perfect plan.

When Dusk tries to enter the Hall, he is stopped by the doorframe. It seems that everytime he attempts to go through, his fully stretched left wing, rather comically, hits the door frame preventing entry. After numerous failed attempts, he tries to side step through the door, but realizes that this would be even harder. The length of his body is about twice the width of the doorframe, which makes entry even harder. For another attempt, he first gets his wing through the door, then rotates his body so that the wing ends up on the other side of the doorframe, which lets him walk through into the hall.

‘Three epic minutes, of intense door-puzzle solving’

As he walks in, he sees a young, unicorn receptionist and greets her.

“Good Morning, miss.”

“Hello, what business do you have here?”

“I’m here to see the Mayor about the weather pony job opening.”

She doesn’t even try to stop her chuckling after hearing that. “I’m sorry sir,” said the amused mare, “but I think you are a bit, crippled, to become a weather pegasus.” She points at his left wing.

“That is one of the main reasons why I’m here.”

“Alright then... her office is on the second door of the right hallway, and good luck.” She says in a sarcastic tone.

“Yeah, thanks.”

As he is about to enter Mayor Mare’s office, he faces another problem.

'A smaller doorframe?!'

After using a bit more effort to squeeze through, Dusk makes it through the accursed door and meets Mayor Mare. She is a tan-brown, earth pony with a scroll as her cutie mark. She looks to be middle aged, as she has a greyed mane/tail, but has the physique of a younger pony. She wears two pieces of clothing: a pair of reading glasses, and a collar with a green, fuzzy, bowtie ...thing? (You just can’t explain it.)

She speaks first, “Ahh, the injured, pegasus stallion is looking for work I see? My receptionist told me using a communication spell about why you came here.”

“Yes Mayor, as you may well know, I want to fill the role as weather pony, but my wing is injured, So I ask a request. Can you give me the job as weather pony despite my injury? I’ll be sure to start work as soon as I can.”

“Hmm...” She appears to be deep in thought, “I thought this would be a simple ‘do you agree to the terms’ and ‘sign this please’. Since this hasn’t actually happened before, I’ll give you a chance. I can only tell you what you have to do if you pledge your commitment to the job. Deal?”

“Deal!”

After asking around town, (and going through those two doors again *shudder*) Dusk found out where the boss of the weather team usually is, at the end of a day’s work. He ended up in Ponyville Park looking for a particular low hanging cloud when a darkish tan, stallion pegasus landed next to him.

“Hey, what happened to your wing?” asked the unknown stallion.

“Let’s just say, an incident with a manticore, and a bad time to start flying.”

“Ouch, that would kind of hurt.”

“Yeah, you could say that. My name is Dusk.”

“Name’s Zephyr.”

Zephyr has a spiked, royal blue mane and tail and light green eyes. He is slightly taller than Dusk and he also looks to be the same age as Dusk. He has a very intriguing cutie mark. It looks like a thick wavy blue arrow, with two small lines on the top and bottom of the arrow.

“Why are you just looking up at clouds near Ponyville Park?” asks Zephyr.

“I heard the the boss of the weather team is supposed to be here somewhere. I need to talk to her.”

“She should be here, I’ll just go get her.”

Zephyr flies into the air to find the weather pony, whom he finds almost almost immediately.

“Wake up Dash, someone needs to talk to you.”

‘Rainbow is the boss, this may be easier than I thought.’

She wakes up and groggily asks, “Where is this pony anyway?”

“I’m down here Dash!” shouts the crippled pegasus.

“What is so important that you had to wake me up to tell me?”

“I want to take the weather pony job.”

Rainbow gives me a quizzical look and then points her hoof at his injured wing.

“Yes, I already know about that, but i need to ask you something. Can you give me the job now? Once I can fly again, I’ll be sure to start working as soon as possible.”

“Ugh, shouldn’t you ask the Mayor about this?” questions Rainbow.

“Yeah, she told me that you can choose to do it.”

“Really?” Rainbow Dash thinks hard about what she should do. On one hoof, she has an understaffed team and he needs the job. On the other hoof, she barely knows him. After a minute of thinking, she comes up with an answer.

“I’m sorry Dusk, but I don’t know you enough to just, let you have the job. You’ll have to prove yourself when you can fly again.”

“Oh... OK.” says the dejected Dusk. He walks away with his head low and curses himself for the injury. That was until Zeph decides to fly near Dusk.

“Tough break huh?”

“You could say that.” says a deadpanned Dusk.

“You know that the only ponies in the weather team are just Rainbow and myself.”

“Really, I thought that it would of been at least 5 in a team.”

“I wish there were 5 in a team. When Ditzy Doo left the weather team so she could work as a mail pony, we were pretty devastated. She always did a lot of the work, it made things a lot easier and she always gave us free muffins.” say the disappointed Zeph.

“So it sounds like you two need to do double the work.”

“Yep. I think that Rainbow really needs the help, so a bit of gentle persuasion could give you the job. Do you want to hear the plan?”

“I’m listening...”

Chapter 4: The Forgotten Memory

Chapter 4: The Forgotten Memory

As Dusk listens to Zephyr’s plan, his face changes from curiosity, to smugness, then to shock and finally to a very satisfied look.

“So, do you understand what you need to do?” asks Zephyr.

“Perfectly. I will probably start the first part of the plan tomorrow morning, when you get the day off.”

“That would probably be the best time Dusk. Thanks for the help.”

“No problem.”

Later that evening, Dusk decides to call it a day and to go back to Fluttershy’s house. In the distance, he can see the outskirts of the Everfree Forest. He shudders, vowing to never go back in there again unless absolutely necessary.

He follows the pathway that she told him about, and he eventually finds the house that she was talking about. There are all sorts of animals near the house such as bunnies, squirrels, deer, chickens and numerous species of birds. There are a lot of areas for the various animals to stay in as well. There were bird houses on trees, small animal houses around the house and the chicken coop for... chickens. The house itself looked like it was part of nature. There were the obvious foundations of a normal house, but the roof consisted of leaves and various plants. It somewhat reminded him of Twilight’s tree house.

As Dusk walks over to the door, he notices different reactions from the animals. The bunnies maliciously stare at him, the birds and smaller animals look scared and the larger animals were curious about why he would be here.

He knocks on the door.

*knock knock knock*

He hears hoofsteps approaching the door. As the door opens, he sees Fluttershy holding a carrot in her teeth.

“Evening Shy. Why have you got a carrot in your mouth?”

She moves away and gives a bunny the carrot, who starts devouring the poor, helpless vegetable.

She starts talking, “The carrot was to feed Angel Bunny, so how was your day?”

“It was fine. I didn’t get the job, but I am working with someone that will help get me the job.”

She smiles (D’AWWW) and happily says “Oh, that’s great. I hope that they will help you with your job.”

“Thanks Shy.”

Dusk sits on Fluttershy’s couch while having idle chatter with her.

“When I was walking through the Everfree Forest.” recalls Dusk,  “I came across this beautiful patch of blue flowers. I would of picked some up, but I remember hearing a warning about them. They were called Poison Joke or something”

He saw Fluttershy’s face look up in recognition.

“What’s up Shy?” he asks in a questioning tone.

“My friends and I have actually been affected by Poison Joke.”

“Really? What did the plant give you?”

Fluttershy looks away, “I don’t want to talk about it.” she quietly responds.

“If you are going to bring it up, then you should know that I’ll be curious about it.”

She stays defiant.

“But if you don’t want to talk about it, then I wont press the issue.”

“Thanks Dusk.”

“No problem.”

There is a deafening silence, until Dusk decides to bring up another topic.

“So Fluttershy, what job do you do in Ponyville? I mean, Twilight is a librarian, Applejack is a farmer but I don’t really know what you do for a living.”

“Uhh... I’m like a vet in Ponyville. I take care of all the wild animals, and any injured pets that anyone has.”

“Do you like to do tha- *hit*”

Interrupting him was Angel, who threw a half eaten carrot at him. He seems angry about something. Dusk looked curiously at Fluttershy, who was scolding the bunny. Angel hops back into his little animal hole.

“Oh no Dusk. I’m sorry about that.” says the devastated Fluttershy, “Angel Bunny doesn’t like when someone else is in the house.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it. I’ve had a lot worse.” ‘A lot, lot worse.’

Fluttershy is busy in the kitchen making dinner for Dusk and herself.

“Hey Shy? What are you making?”

“I can’t tell you until its ready.”

“When will it be ready?”

“Soon.”

“Fluttershy, you are impossible.” Dusk says in a harsh tone. Much harsher than he intended,

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t know, I’m- eep.” She is on the verge on crying.

He tries to comfort her, “Uhhh... d-don’t cry Shy,” he was suddenly filled with grief and regret. “I c-can’t handle it w-when...” Dusk suddenly falls onto the floor, shaking uncontrollably, in a semi-conscious state.

Chapter 5: Betrayal

Chapter 5: Betrayal

(5 Years Ago)

Dusk was sitting in class, at the Cloudsdale Flight School, with his best friend, Blizzard Burst. Blizzard had a white coat and a stocky figure. His has a ruffled, light blue mane and has dark green eyes. His cutie mark was a large snowflake, backed up by several smaller snowflakes. He was also one of the most popular students in the school. He was admired from nearly everypony in the school and he knew that. Dusk counted himself lucky that they met when they were only five years old.

It was nearly the end of the day, the last lesson was was English.

“Hey Dusk,” whispered Blizzard, “what is your report about?”

Dusk shows him his page. “It is about ‘why homework should be banned from school’.” said Dusk.

“I did mine about ‘why jobs should be more accessible to students’.” Responded Blizzard

“I’m pretty much done, I just need to write on more paragraph and I’ll be-”

“Excuse me students.” The teacher grabbed the classes attention.

“Since there is only one minute left for today, I’ll need to collect everyone’s work. I’ll hand them out in tomorrow’s lesson so you can finish it.”

The teacher walked around the classroom, collecting the student’s work as he does so. He arranged them into a neat pile and placed them on his desk. He turned back to the class, as the bell rung, he lets the students leave.

“Have a nice day.”

Dusk and Blizzard go back to their lockers, which were right next to each other. When they both grab their saddlebags, Dusk noticed that a girl was hugging Blizzard.

“Hey Cloudie.” Said Dusk.

“Hiya Dusk.” Responded Cloud Charger.

Cloud Charger was Blizzard’s marefriend. She has a bright orange coat, with a naturally curly, crimson mane. She has blue eyes and a storm cloud cutie mark. She was also one of Dusk’s oldest friends and has been in a relationship with Blizzard for a week.

“Hi Cloud,  how have you been?” asked Blizzard.

“Not bad, I got a ton of homework from our Maths teacher but other than that, I’ve been fine.”

“That’s good.”

Dusk and Blizzard were both sitting in their dorm. They have both been room-mates since they were allowed to have their own dorms. Dusk was making dinner, because both of them knew that he was the better cook. The last time Blizzard cooked, he tried to heat up hayfries and failed miserably.  He somehow made the oven catch everything on fire and he nearly burnt down the dorm.

Dusk cooked a simple vegetable soup and decided to start a conversation.

“So how are things going with Cloudie?” asked Dusk.

“Pretty good. It’s too bad though that she isn’t in our class.”

“You miss her hugs that much?”

“A bit. She does tend to be a bit clingy.” Stated Blizzard

“Yeah, I know. She’s like that.”

The next day, Dusk woke up and realized that Blizzard left the dorm before him, which was strange. Dusk checked the time and sure enough, it said 6:02 AM. Blizzard is never awake until after 7:00 AM.

He decided to try and find where Blizzard went, because this was awfully suspicious of him. He walked onto the school grounds, which were luckily open at 6AM every day. He knew the faces of every student who woke up early. Normally only himself and 8 other students were awake at this time.

After thirty minutes of searching, he couldn’t find Blizzard anywhere. He decided to walk back to his locker so he could prepare for the day’s lessons. When he approached the hallway, with his locker, he saw a large crowd of ponies in the area. They were making a lot of noise, but they weren't really saying anything distinguishable.

He moved through the crowd and he saw that they were surrounding Blizzard and Cloud. Dusk had no idea what happened. He saw Blizzard, who look satisfied, prideful and slightly angry. He was towering over Cloud Charger, who was badly beaten. She had a black eye, multiple scratches and cuts, bruises all over her body and a lot of blood dripping out of her body. She sat on her haunches, crying her eyes out and pleading with Blizzard Burst.

“I-I-I’m s-sorry Bliz-z-zard.” She said in between sobs, “I d-didn’t-”

“Shut up, you ugly mule,” he said with malice, “I know that you cheated on me.”

“B-B-But I d-didn’t, E-Emerald is l-lying t-to you.”

Dusk could not believe what he was seeing. Blizzard brutally beat down Cloud just because of a rumor that he heard. He wanted to step in, but he just couldn’t.

“That is wrong and you know it Cloud Charger! Emerald Star would never lie to me.”

Dusk knew that Emerald had a massive crush on Blizzard, and that she hated Cloud just because she was going out with Blizzard.

Cloud looked at the crowd. She saw a lot of Blizzard’s ‘friends’ among the crowd, but one face caught her attention, Dusk's.

He saw that she was staring at him with the saddest face that he had ever seen. He could tell that she wanted him to help her, but he was too shocked and scared to interfere. Dusk then saw the worst thing that he would ever see.

His best friend landing a final punch to his oldest friend.

He could only watch on in tears as he saw Cloud’s head hitting the ground.

(Current Time)

He awoke from the floor of Fluttershy’s house in tears. Nearby, he could only see her curled up in a ball crying. He moved to where she was and was trying to comfort her, while still upset.

“F-Fluttershy, it’s a-all good now. S-Stop crying please.”

She looked up, with tears down her face, “Dusk, I’m so s-sorry, I was so w-worried about you.”

“It is OK, now. Can I explain what I think j-just happened.”

“O-OK, Dusk.”

Chapter 6: Explanation and Realization

Chapter 6: Explanation and Realization

Dusk sits on the couch trying to think of a reason, to comprehend what had just happened. Sitting next to him is Fluttershy, who had calmed down considerably.

Dusk tries to explain the situation. “Shy, when I was on the ground, I think I was reliving a repressed memory of mine. I think that when you started crying, it acted as a trigger for that particular memory.”

Fluttershy soon began to feel guilty again. “But, why do you think t-that my crying triggered the memory?”

“I don’t really know. I think that when you cried, I reminded me of the look on Cloud’s face when she just stared at me.” Dusk then puts his hoof on his forehead. “I still remembered that, after five years.”

Fluttershy starts looking at Dusk inquisitively, not knowing what he was talking about. Dusk realizes this, and starts to tell her about the memory.

“Well, it started at the Cloudsdale Flight School, when my former best friend, Blizzard Burst and I were writing reports...”

As he finishes explaining the story, he noticed how she was on the verge of crying again. He tries to lighten the mood before things became too bad.

“You don’t really need to worry about it Shy. My memory has already caused enough pain. No point of continuing that.” Dusk continues, “Also, weren’t you making dinner before?”

Fluttershy snaps out of her gloomy state when she remembers about her meal. “Oh, Dusk. Thanks for reminding me.” She walks back into the kitchen, and starts chopping up a carrot.

While she was distracted, Dusk could only think about something bothering him.

‘Whenever someone starts crying, I always have to somehow make them feel better for themselves. When Shy started crying, it caused the repressed memory to come back. What if there are other triggers, for other memories.’

“Dinner’s ready~” says a cheerful Fluttershy.

“Sweet. I hope that its good, considering that I had a mental breakdown, when you didn’t tell me what it was before.”

Awkward silence. Fluttershy did not look impressed.

‘Maybe went a bit far with that.’

“Eh-heh-heh, that wasn’t supposed to be mean or anything, I just thought that it would be funny to- please don’t kill me.” Says a cowering Dusk.

She chuckles to herself, “I would never do anything like that to you Dusk. Anyway, lets forget about that, dinner’s ready.”

He sits himself on the on a chair, near the table, waiting for whatever Fluttershy has made. She serves up a salad, to the dismay of Dusk. It consisted of lettuce, baby tomatoes, chopped carrots and sliced cucumbers. It looked like it was topped of with a simple ranch dressing.

“Thanks for making this Shy.” Says a slightly disappointed Dusk.

“That’s OK. I hope you like it”

Dusk grabs a fork, and fails. ‘How the hay are you supposed to grab these things.’ He death-stares his hooves and tries again. He notices that Fluttershy appears to have no problem with the usage of forks. ‘She even makes eating a salad look graceful.’

He grabs the fork with two hooves and manages to pick up a baby tomato, and a lettuce leaf. He puts them into his mouth and eats it. He then looks up, with dilated pupils, which grabs the attention of Fluttershy.

“Oh no, did I make it badly, didn’t you like it. I’m sorry, I’m sor-”

“Shy, this is the best bucking salad that I have ever eaten! How the hay do you make it so good?”

“Um... well, you first need to get the vegetables then-”

Dusk ignores the answer and puts his head down, and starts eating the salad, ignoring the fork. (OM NOM NOM etc)

At the end of dinner, Fluttershy only had one bowl of salad, but Dusk had four bowls and he finished them before Fluttershy even had half of hers. It showed too, Dusk’s side of the table was a mess, with various vegetables scattered all over the table. He cleaned it up, just as Fluttershy finished.

Luna’s moon high in the sky when they had finished. Because of today’s incident, time seemed to pass quickly. Both Dusk and Fluttershy needed to have a bath, especially Dusk.

“Hey Shy? Do you mind if I could have a bath, I don’t really want to smell like a salad for the rest of the night.”

“Oh, sure. I’ll probably have a bath after you, and then go to bed.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Dusk makes his way into the bathroom, now used to moving through doors, and starts filling up the bathtub. While he waits, he notices the amount of washing products this she owns. He had no idea what most of them were, he could see shampoos, conditioners, soaps but that is all he could recognise. Back when he used to live in his apartment in Manehatten, all he used was shampoo, and bar soap.

He stops filling the bath at about halfway. He uses his hoof to test the water temperature...

“Perfect temperature, every time.” He says to himself.

Dusk has an uncanny ability to get the water temperature of any bath, to his preferred heat, first time,every time. He doesn’t really know why this is important, but it’s convenient. He steps in the bath, slowly, as he doesn’t want to get his left wing cast wet. Dusk then quickly cleans himself up, so that Fluttershy doesn’t have to wait long for him to finish.

Three minutes later, Dusk gets out of the bath, and quickly dries himself with a towel. He tells Fluttershy that the bath is free and starts to search for a spare mattress. He searches all the usual spots, such as cupboards, closets, laundry room, but finds nothing. Then he realizes something.

‘She would of probably set up the spare in her own room.’

He climbs up the staircase to her room, (with difficulty, because his cast drastically removes any room for movement) and is surprised to see that there was no mattress in her room either. On her bed, he sees a book called A Mare’s Paradise. Upon further examination of the cover, he notices it is a romance novel.

‘Why would Shy be reading a romance novel?’

Dusk is standing behind the closed door of the bathroom, where he presumed that Fluttershy was still washing herself. He needed to stand close to the door so she could hear him, but also still have her privacy.

“Err, Fluttershy, do you know...”

Meanwhile, halfway across town, Pinkie started to uncontrollably twitch.

“Uh oh, ear flop, eye flutter, knee twitch.” Warns the pink pony.

“Huh, what’s up Pinkie?” asks a cyan mare.

“The roof, silly. If there was no roof that was-”

The other mare silences Pinkie by putting her hoof in front of her. “Shouldn’t we finish what we started?” she asks in a seductive tone.

“Oh yeah, Dashie.”

“...you know where the spare mattre- *crunch* OW!”

Dusk is interuppted when Fluttershy accidentally smashes the door onto his face.

“Oh dear,” worries Fluttershy. “I’m sorry Dusk, I didn’t know you were there.”

“It’s nothing to worry about, anyway, do you know where the spare mattress is?”

“Umm, I don’t have a spare mattress...” she starts to blush.

‘Damn it, I should of asked before’

“...b-but D-Dusk,” she starts to stutter and blush harder, “I d-do have e-enough room t-to s-s-share my-”

“Sorry Shy, but you have been hospitable enough for me already. I will sleep on the couch tonight because I have intruded into your life far too much already.”

“B-b-but you c-could-”

Dusk interrupts again, “I don’t want to hear it, you can sleep on your bed.”

Fluttershy, defeated, could only say “OK.” before walking up the stairs.

“Good night, Shy.”

“Night, Dusk. *sigh*” she says quietly.

‘Why was Shy so upset when I told her that she could sleep in her bed?’

Dusk has been laying down on the couch for twenty minutes, without falling asleep. He has to sleep on his right side, because of his cast. He finds this to be a quite uncomfortable position. He starts to think.

‘Shy has been really kind to me in the past few days. First of all, she saves me from the manticore, then she helps me when I got out of hospital, and now she has been very homely towards me, even what I relived the memory. She reminds me of Cloud Charger, except a bit quieter. *blush* She is also very beautiful. She isn’t like Rarity, who strives to be a majestic beauty at all time, she is just naturally beautiful. *bigger blush* She is also quite cute a lot of the time. It is hard to believe that she stared down a manticore by herself. Even her little squeak is adorable. *massive blush*

I think have a crush on her.’

Chapter 8: Pinkamena's Party

Chapter 8: Pinkamena’s Party

After the lunch break, Applejack and Dusk continue working on the farm. Last the hours of work, Dusk had bucked eighteen trees, leaving the total at 42 bucked trees for the day. Applejack invites Dusk inside the farmhouse, so he could get paid. He saw that Big Mac was inside, and was eating an apple pie. Applejack grabs a bit pouch, and starts working out today’s pay.

“So Dusk, with the amount of trees that you bucked, Ah’ll have to give yah 105 bits.” She gives him a pouch with all the bits, which he happily accepts.

“Thanks for that Applejack, this is worth three days’ pay, of my old job.”

“Really? Well you deserved it. You helped us ah lot around the farm, and did an excellent job on your very first day.”

“No problem. How many trees did you buck today?”

“Over 110 trees.”

Dusk’s jaw dropped, “S-seriously?!”

“Uh-huh, Big Mac can buck more trees than me though. He usually bucks around 140-160 trees.”

He looked at her with a bewildered look, “You’re kidding me right?”

“Nnnope.” Responds a certain stallion that walks into the room.

‘But, how? That is nearly four times the amount of trees that I bucked, and I truly exerted myself today.’

Big Mac continues, “So I heard that Dusk had bucked 42 trees on his first day. Not bad for city folk.”

“But it isn’t even close to what you or Applejack can do.”

“Keep in mind that we have been farming for our whole lives.” Reminds Big Mac.

“Dusk, we have had many workers here that were stronger than you. Even so, they could maybe buck 20-30 trees, at best. It shows that your skill and determination can outweigh any strength issues.” Compliments Applejack.

This raised his mood considerably, “Was I really that good?”

“Eeyup. Even Caramel, who has worked here for over two years, can only buck 50-60 trees.”

“Well, at least I’m not being swamped by farming veterans now.”

“Yup, Dusk. Anyway, ah think you should leave tah get ready for tonight.”

“OK, thanks bye.” Says Dusk as he walks out of the farm. He then facehoofs himself. ‘I should have asked what was happening tonight.’

Dusk was walking back to Fluttershy’s, curious about what was actually happening tonight. As he walked along the path, he overheard two mares talking about something near a bench.

“…that Pinkie is planning a party.”

“Really, what for?”

“I don’t really know, but I heard that DJ PON-3 will be there.”

‘It must be some party, if she’s coming.’

As Dusk ponders what Applejack meant before, with whatever was happening tonight, he has an idea.

“Maybe Twilight knows what is happening. She is usually organized about these sort of things.” He thinks out loud. He starts to walk to the library.

“Uhh, mommy, why was that injured pegasus talking to himself? Is he crazy?” asks a young unicorn filly.

“I don’t know, muffin. I really don’t know.”

About twenty minutes later, he arrives at the library and knocks on the door.

*knock knock knock*

No response.

*knock knock knock*

“Ugh, who could that be?” complains what sounds like a young colt.

The door opens, revealing to Dusk who, or what, it really is. He saw what looked like… a purple lizard?

“Who are you?” groggily asks the creature. “I’ve never seen you before.”

“And I’ve never seen a purple lizard before.” Retorts Dusk.

“I’m not a lizard; I’m a baby dragon and Twilight’s number 1 assistant”

A single “Hoo.” Comes from inside the library.

“Shut up, Owlicious.” Retaliates the dragon.

The dragon has purple scales, around most of his body, with smaller, pale green scales going down the front of his body. There are thick, green scales, which go down from the top of his head, to the tip of his tail. He has green dragon eyes, and is standing on his two hind legs.

“So, why did you have to wake me up?”

“I have to talk to Twilight about something.”

“Sorry, but Twilight has left for one of Pinkie’s parties. She left me here, again. Uh, why are you just staring at the door?”

Dusk had stopped listening, when the dragon mentioned “Pinkie’s parties”. He remembered something.

(After seeing Mayor Mare)

As Dusk walked to Ponyville Park, he was ambushed by Pinkie, who hid in a bush, and she started talking to him.

“Oh hiya Dusk, I came here to talk about…”

Dusk had learnt how to block out noises that he didn’t want to hear. He didn’t really feel like listening to Pinkie’s chatter.

“…and I invited everyone to come as well. Did you get all that?” asked Pinkie/

“I think I did.” Answered Dusk.

“Okie-Dokie-Lokie” She happily said, as she started bouncing to wherever that pink pony went.

‘If Twilight is there now, than that probably means that everyone else is as well, and they are waiting for me, because the party is celebrating my arrival!’

“Hello.” The dragon waves his hand to Dusk’s face. “Are you still there?”

“Quick,” This surprised the dragon, “do you know where she went?”

“To Sugarcube Corner, I think.”

Dusk ran for the bakery, as fast as his hoofs would let him.

The dragon walks back into the library, confused at what just happened. “Why was he staring at the door for a minute?”

A minute later, Dusk opened the door to the bakery. He saw about half of the town inside, as well as tables filled with various baked goods, a number of different party games, and a set of turntables. The ponies that were there each has different looks, none of them good. He saw faces of boredom, frustration, sadness and grief.

Pinkie walks up to Dusk, with a bit less ‘poof’ in her mane. “Why weren’t you here Dusk?” Asks the sad Pinkie. “We have been waiting for you for 35 minutes.” Her mane starts slowly straightening and he sees Rainbow cringe.

“Don’t you like my parties?” She looks like she would start crying, it is a truly heart-breaking sight. Dusk tries to improve her mood.

“I’m sorry Pinkie, but I didn’t know about the party until too late.”

It didn’t work. “But Dusk,” a few tears fall and her mane is completely straight, “I told you about it near the park, REMEMBER. You just ignored me didn’t you.” Her tone became more hostile, as the rest of the group start becoming even sadder. Rainbow looked like she wanted to kill Dusk.

He decided to just tell the truth. “Yes, Pinkie, I did ignore you, but I regret doing that now. I should have listened to what you were saying, I’m sorry.” Dusk looked down to the ground, being reminded an old memory of his.

Pinkie hugged him, her mane slowly regaining its poof. “It’s OK Dusk, we all make mistakes sometimes.” Dusk feels a few teardrops fall onto his coat, but he lets Pinkie hug him. He starts to feel depressed about what had just happened. He hears her quietly say “I forgive you.”

Pinkie eventually got herself off Dusk, her mane back to its normal style.

“OK everypony, LETS GET THIS PARTY STARTED!” She announced.

Vinyl Scratch took this as her queue to start the music, and the room was filled with loud music from her latest album. Some of the party guests were playing various party games with Pinkie Pie, others were eating the various foods laid out across the tables. There were some who were dancing to DJ PON-3’s music. (Twilight’s dancing was horrible at best) Basically everypony was having a good time. All except for Dusk, the guest of honor.

He was sitting in a chair with his head down, thinking about an old, repressed memory of his. He remembered how Rainbow was acting before, and decided to call her over.

“Rainbow, could you come over here?”

“Is this about before?”

“Yes.”

“*sigh* in a second.” She stops dancing to the music and flies to Dusk’s side.

Dusk begins, “Dash, when Pinkie was upset before, you seemed like you knew something about her. You were quite upset about it, and not just because you are her marefriend. What do you know about her, when she’s like that.”

“Well, might as well tell you now.”

Rainbow explained to Dusk about Pinkamena Diane Pie, she told him about her experience with Pinkamena and what had happened to her. Apparently, the situation was quite similar to this one, with Pinkie thinking that no-one liked her parties anymore. Dash never wanted to see her like that again, as she was always loyal to her friends.

After hearing how it affected Rainbow, Dusk decides to tell her why it has affected him as well.

~7 years ago~

It was Dusk’s first year in the Cloudsdale Flight School, he was 13 years old at the time. He walked through the halls of the school grounds, nervous about his move up from the Cloudsdale Beginners Flight School. His basking, was interrupted by the school bell. His first and second lessons would be Maths and Physics.

-Later-

The lessons were boring, to say the least, and he was relieved to hear the recess bell. He sat in the courtyard eating his daisy sandwich (eating lunch for recess, what a rebel), but he heard what sounded like a mare crying. Without thinking, he ran into the hallway to see an orange coated mare being bullied by a bunch of stallions. They bullied her for being too weak, too clumsy etc so Dusk decided to step in and stop the verbal onslaught.

“Hey, stop teasing the mare you bullies.” Dusk didn’t realize how weak he sounded at the time.

“Heh, guys, the little pipsqueak thinks he can stand up to us.” Jeered one of the stallions

His friends just smirk at Dusk.

“Well, what are you gonna do about it then?” asked another bully. They slowly walked closer toward Dusk, who was tiny compared to them.

“Um… Well? I don’t know.” Weakly replied Dusk

“I think I know what you can do,” says the leader. “Boys, lets show him what happens when someone messes with us.”

Both Dusk, and the mare (who would later become his friend) knew what was going to happen. She started to cry, but Dusk had other ideas.

“What are you waiting for, RUN!” He shouted in desperation.

She ran away crying, as she ran while Dusk was being beaten by the group of stallions.

“So I remained loyal to her, knowing of the consequences. But when I had upset Pinkie, it showed that I was no better than those bullies. If I had only listened to her, this wouldn’t have happened. It is everything that I stand against”

“So that would explain why you were upset, but why did you still help her?”

“Needed to redeem myself for the actions that led to this.”

“So do you think that we should rejoin the party?” asked Rainbow, “I’m sure Pinkie would appreciate it.”

“Lead the way.”

Chapter 9: A Small Problem

Chapter 9: A Small Problem

It was late into the night when Pinkie’s Welcoming Party had finished. Despite a bad start, everypony had a really fun time, as is the case with Pinkie’s parties. Dusk and Fluttershy start to walk back to her house.

“That was some party.” Says Dusk.

“Yeah, it was fun.”

“Are all of Pinkie’s parties this good?”

“Oh yes, she loves having them all of the time, especially when someone new is in Ponyville.”

Dusk and Fluttershy had both reached her house, and were still talking to each other.

“...and when DJ PON-3 turned the music up, everypony started dancing. That was fun to do.” Says Fluttershy.

“I thought that I would easily be the worst dancer there, but Twilight’s dance was hilarious to watch. She is just terrible.”

“Heh, you should of seen her, on her birthday. She was even worse then.”

“Yeah, I’d like to see that.” Says the humored Dusk.

“I’m going to wash up now.”

“OK, then Shy.”

Dusk sits on the couch, waiting for Fluttershy to finish in the bath. He thinks about what he should do tomorrow.

‘Maybe tomorrow, I should find Zeph and tell him the bad news about Rainbow. I think I should try and find him during my lunch break, as that would be the easiest time to find him.’

He decides to grab an apple from the pantry, so he looks inside and is surprised by what he sees.

‘Fluttershy has a lot of juice boxes.’

Inside, there were around thirty individual juice boxes. Below them, were about 10-15 bags of animal food. There were all different sorts of feed, with one or two bags labeled as ‘Chicken Food’ and other bags labeled as ‘Bird Seed’ or ‘Squirrel Feed’ among other things. One bag caught Dusk’s attention; it was labeled ‘For Angel Bunny’. Upon further examination, he saw that is was filled with carrots, which makes him laugh.

Below the juice boxes and carrots, were some simple foods, such as fruits, vegetables and herbs/spices. He wondered how Fluttershy could make a meal out of any of this. He grabbed an apple and sits back on the couch.  He took a single bite, and immediately knew that is was from the Sweet Apple Acres.

‘How are their apples better than any other apples I’ve tried?’

Fluttershy had gotten out of the bathroom, after about ten minutes, and Dusk had to ask a question that has been bugging him.

“Shy, why do you have so many Fruit Juice boxes?” inquires Dusk.

“Um… I like juice boxes.” She innocently answers.

“OK then. Anyway Fluttershy, I have earned 105 bits at work today, and I think you should get a bit of my pay, for letting me stay here.” He gives her 12 bits.

She refuses, “I think you should keep the bits, I don’t really need them that much.”

“Nonsense, you have shown me generosity and kindness, so I think you deserve something back.” Reasons Dusk.

“No, you should keep them for yourself, you earned them so you should have them.”

“OK, fine, I’ll keep them. I’m going to have a bath now, if that’s alright.”

“That's OK”

Dusk had sat himself in the bath after filling it up. (Perfect temperature again) He was still wondering why Fluttershy needs so many washing products. He picks up a small bottle and takes a look at it.

“What is this? ‘Calming Sensations’.” He opens the bottle, and pours a droplet of the stuff on his hoof. He takes a sniff, and smells a slight indescribable fragrance.

“WHAT THE HAY IS THIS STUFF?!”

After giving up, trying to figure out what the mysterious product is, he quickly finishes washing himself and steps out of the bath. He dries himself off and walks into the living room. He sees Fluttershy drinking a fruit juice box (He couldn't help, but to let out a small aww) and starts talking to her.

“Do you know how cute you look when you drink that?”

“Umm, no…” She starts to blush, “I didn’t t-think that y-you thought it was c-cute.”

“Well, I do.” Dusk starts to blush as well, “Pretty much anything you do is cute.”

Fluttershy gets even more red, “You really think s-so?”

“Yeah, I d-do,” Dusk begins to stutter, “F-Fluttershy, d-do y-y-you…”

‘C’mon Dusk just say it. Do you want to go on a date with me? Just ten simple words. You set yourself up for this, so do it.’

“…w-want t-t-to…” The nervousness finally got to him. “… n-nevermind.” Dusk sighs in defeat.

“What w-were you going t-to say?” asks Fluttershy, the blush still on her face.

“Don’t worry about it Shy.”

Dusk was sleeping on the couch again. He had stopped Fluttershy from taking the couch just so he could have the bed, he was frustrated at himself for not asking Fluttershy out.

“Argh, it’s just a few words. Do you want to go on a date with me, you can say it now, but you can’t say it in front of Shy.” He thought he heard a quick inhale of breath, and looked up at the stairs. Nothing. He decides to try and go back to sleep.

Dusk had woken up early, as per usual, and wanted to write a note. He got a scroll and a quill, and started to write:

Dear Fluttershy,

I have gone to Sweet Apple Acres for work. I have also left 42 bits on the table, 30 bits for the money I owed you before, and the other 12 bits, because you deserve it.

Dusk.

He left the note and bits, on the table in the living room.

As he walked out of the door, he faced the Everfree Forest, remembering his saddlebag of stuff back at the campsite. He decides to forget about the bag, as something probably would have taken it by now.

He arrives at the farm and is greeted by Big Mac again.

“Mornin’ Dusk”

“Hey Big Mac.”

“I’ll need you to help me with something else today, I’ll need you to help me plow the fields, because Applejack and Caramel are going to do the applebucking for today.” Explains Big Mac.

“That’ll be fine. Just show me what I’m supposed to do.” Says Dusk.

“I’ll show you after I wake up my sisters. I still have twenty minutes to kill.”

“So were you at the party yesterday?” asks Dusk.

“Nnnope, I was still working on the farm, but Applejack told me what happened with you and Pinkie.”

“Uh huh, I’m not really that proud about that. I didn’t really mean to get her upset, I never thought that she could be the sort of person who could get upset like that.”

“Eeyup, me neither. I think it’s time to wake the girls now, follow me.”

Big Mac led Dusk into the farmhouse, and woke up his sisters. They all had a simple breakfast of oatmeal with apple slices and started to work. Big Mac gave Dusk what looked like a harness, similar to the one that he was wearing.

“You have to put this onto your neck if you want to plow.”

Dusk was intrigued by the design of the object. “How do you put it on? I don’t see any sort of straps to loosen it?”

“Eeyup, you’re supposed to push your head through the middle of the harness.”

He tries to put the thing on, but ultimately fails. “Big Mac, a little help here?”

Big Mac helps push down the harness onto Dusk’s neck, which fits comfortably.

“These things suck to put on, but it actually feels quite comfortable, once it’s on.” Comments Dusk.

“Eeyup, now come here.” He signals Dusk to stand in front of an unused plow

Big Mac grabs the ropes of the plow, and ties them onto Dusk’s harness. ‘Ahh, so that is what these metal things are for.’

“Dusk, I need you drag the plow down the fields, like this.” He starts to move the plow forwards across the dirt, which digs up the dirt.

After seeing what he was supposed to do, Dusk began to move the plow, very, very slowly. He made little progress, because once again, he didn’t have much strength. Big Mac saw this, but let it slide, for now.

After ten minutes of plowing, Dusk saw the amount of distance he had covered with the plow. Unfortunately, he had only moved the plow, 35 meters from his starting point. Big Mac decides to step in.

“Err, Dusk. I think that I may give you an easier job. You are struggling a bit with the plow.”

“I think that would be a good idea.” Agrees Dusk.

Big Mac removes the ropes from Dusks harness and Dusk pulls it off, which was much easier than putting it on. The red stallion walks into the shed, then pulls out a small bag of seeds. He gives them to Dusk.

“I need you to follow me while I’m plowing and throw some seeds into the ground when it’s plowed.” He throws a small group of seeds into the ground which I plowed.

“Should be easy enough, I mean, how hard can it be.”

‘This job is easy.’

It is lunch break at the Sweet Apple Acres and Dusk decides to ask Big Mac something.

“Big Mac, do you mind if I could quickly leave, so I can do something important?”

“Eeyup, just be quick OK.”

“You got it.”

Dusk runs out of the farmhouse and into town, as he looks for Rainbow Dash or Zephyr.

About five minutes later, he finds Rainbow Dash sleeping on a cloud. (If that is considered work, then I want in)

“Hey, WAKE UP Rainbow.” He yells up at her.

She stirs, and begins to grumble. Who would want-

“Rainbow, I need you for a second.”

She looks down to see Dusk trying to get her attention, “What do you want?”

“Where is Zeph?” asks Dusk.

“Over there doing tricks.” She points her hoof at the pegasus.

*facehoof* ‘How could I have missed him?’

“OK thanks Rainbow.”

“Yeah whatever.” She responds, as she begins to sleep once again.

“Hey Zeph.” Calls Dusk.

He stops practicing his routine and faces Dusk, “Hi, Dusk. What do you need?”

“I need to tell you about Rainbow, I think you should stop trying to-“

“What a second,” his voice became aggressive, “Why don’t you think I could be in a relationship with her.”

“Pinkie Pie.” Replies Dusk.

“What?”

“Rainbow is already in a relationship with Pinkie Pie.”

“…” Zephyr was shocked, to say the least.

“I found out yesterday, Applejack told me during work, and Rainbow told me during the party.”

“How did I not know about that?”

“You probably didn’t ask.” Humors Dusk.

“…maybe I should of asked.”

“Yep. So are you still going to help me, despite things not going your way?”

“Of course I am. Even if it didn’t go as planned, you still did your part of the deal.” Answers Zeph.

“Sweet, thanks for helping me.”

“No problem, bye Dusk.”

“Bye.”

Zephyr flies away, wanting to do his part of the deal. Dusk was quite happy with himself.

‘That went better that I expected.’

Chapter 10: Rainbow's Road to Success

Chapter 10: Rainbow’s Road to Success

Dusk returns to Sweet Apple Acres, just as Big Mac was getting ready to start plowing. He grabs the seeds from nearby and waits for Big Mac to continue plowing. The red stallion is curious about something.

“Dusk, why did you need to leave the farm before?”

“I needed to talk to a friend of mine. I need his help, if I want to get a job as a weather pony.” Answers Dusk. “It is why I came to Ponyville.”

“So if you don’t get the job, will you move out of Ponyville?” questions Big Mac.

“I don’t think so. I’ve already made a few friends here, I will still have a job here, at the Sweet Apple Acres and I’m happy here.”

“Eeyup, that’s good to hear Dusk.”

Work finishes for Dusk, and he is inside the farmhouse awaiting his pay for the day. Big Mac gives Dusk a small pile of bits.

“Because the work today was easy, but important. I have decided to give you 35 bits for your work today.”

“Seems fair. Throwing seeds in dirt is definitely a lot easier than applebucking.”

“Eeyup, good luck with your weather job Dusk.”

“Thanks, I hope I get it.”

“Eeyup.”

Later that day, Dusk walks to the Ponyville Library, wanting to borrow some books, to pass the time. He knocks on the door.

*knock knock*

“Door’s open.” he hears the young dragon say.

Dusk opens the door to the library and sees something which seems a bit strange, the dragon has a moustache. He recognizes Dusk from last night.

“What are you doing here again?”

“I want to borrow a few books, to pass the time.”

“Wait, could you repeat that?” Asks the dragon.

“I want to borrow a few books.” Repeats Dusk.

The dragon was shocked, his jaw drops and he starts running up the stairs of the library, calling Twilight.

“Twilight, Twilight, I need you to come down here!” yells the dragon.

“Spike! Why did you have to interrupt my studies? What could be so important?”

‘So the dragon’s name is Spike. That’ll save a bit of trouble. Also, why does he have a 'stache?’

“Somepony wants to borrow a book.” Answers Spike.

Dusk hears a door suddenly opening, and hitting the wall with a big slam. Twilight walks down the stairs, excited about something. “Dusk, do you actually want to borrow a book?” asks the surprised unicorn.

“Pretty much, why is that such a big deal?”

“The last time someone borrowed a book, was 7 months ago.”

‘I already knew that the library wouldn’t be used that much, but come on, 7 months?!’

“Are you serious Twilight?” asks Dusk in a skeptical tone.

“Completely,” She levitates a book his library records over to Dusk. “You’ll see that the last book that was borrowed is called ‘Cutie Marks for Dummies’. The Cutie Mark Crusaders borrowed it.”

“Err, Twilight, it says that Rarity borrowed it.” States Dusk.

“Yeah I know, but those 3 fillies asked her to borrow it.”

“Wait, who are the Cutie Mark Crusaders?”

“Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, they are all hunting for their cutie marks, and usually do reckless things in order to get them.”

“Sounds like they cause a lot of damage.”

“You don’t know the half of it.” Answers an annoyed Twilight, remembering the failed talent show, “So aren’t you supposed to be borrowing a book?”

“Yeah, let me take a look around.”

After 10 minutes, Dusk iss still deciding what books to borrow. When it comes to selecting things, Dusk is usually very picky. This can range from all sorts of things, like food, music, or in this case, books.

“Hey Twi,” Dusk begins to smirk, “Do you have any of the ‘Twilight’ books?”

“Nope, destroyed them with fire.”

“Good mare, I can’t stand the fillies who like those books.”

“They give literature a bad name.” Says Twilight.

“Agreed.”

About 30 minutes later, Dusk leaves the library with one book. It is a thick book called “Past Sins”. It is supposed to be about Nightmare Moon being resurrected, but as a foal. There is a quote under the title which just says “What else can you be when the world can only see a monster”. It seems like a sad story, but Dusk likes to read the occasional sad book once in a while.

Dusk starts to walk back to Fluttershy’s, as per usual, but was interrupted by Rainbow. She had flown in front of Dusk, wanting to tell him something.

“Hey Dusk, I’ve been looking for you for ages.” She says.

“Why were-“

“I just need to tell you, that Zeph has persuaded me, to let you join the weather team.”

Dusk’s face lit up, “*gasp* THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! You have NO idea how happy I am.” Yells Dusk. His eyes are widening, his smile is growing and has his head up high.

“I hope that you are as good as Zeph said you are.”

“I won’t let you down Rainbow.” Proudly says Dusk.

She flies away, and Dusk  is celebrating on the ground. He is ecstatic.

‘Things have really gone up for me, in Ponyville.’

~~~~~

Author’s Note: An obvious homage to “Past Sins” by Pen Stroke. A great fanfic, but long. If any of you want to read it, make sure you have a free day, and marathon it. It's 179,000 words long.

Chapter 11: The Reading of the Book

Author’s Note: If you are interested in reading Past Sins, be prepared for spoilers. I will clear show you when the spoilers begin and end.

Chapter 11: The Reading of the Book

Dusk enters Fluttershy’s home, in high spirits and it shows. He has a smile plastered onto his face, and he has his head held high.  Fluttershy notices his good mood, and wants to know why he is so happy.

“Hi Dusk.”

“Hey Shy.”

“You seem happy today, what happened?” She asks.

“Rainbow gave me the weather job.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widen, “That’s great Dusk.” She happily responds.

“I know right, I didn’t think I would get the job, if I’m honest.”

“Congratulations Dusk. Also, I’ll need to go to the Carousel Boutique soon.”

"Why do you need to go?"

Her face starts to redden, "I need her help planning something."

About 20 minutes later, Fluttershy left for Rarity’s, leaving Dusk alone in her house. He decides to get out the book that he borrowed from Twilight. He opens the book and looks at the contents, there are over 500 pages.

‘This is going to be a great read.’

(Spoilers end here)

-Ten Minutes Later-

“Ughh, the Prelude is important, but boring.” Dusk complains to no one in particular.

He finishes the Prelude rather quickly, luckily for him. He pretty much skimmed over the pages, so he could get to the better parts, much quicker. He will read the book, until Fluttershy gets back, so he decides to go into the cupboard to grab a few snacks, in case he gets hungry.

He grabs an apple, a carrot from Angel’s bag and a fruit box. He wonders why Fluttershy only has apple juice boxes but forgets about that when he starts reading the book again.

After reading the first four pages of Chapter 1, he realizes something.

‘The unicorn had left her saddlebags in the Everfree Forest after her little… incident. Sounds a lot like my encounter with the manticore, about 4 days ago. I have done a lot in a few days.’

-Page 25 of 553 / 7 Minutes later-

“D’AAAAAAAWWWWW.” Is the only thing that Dusk could say.  He is reading the part where the unicorn meets the filly Nightmare Moon for the first time. He was thanking Celestia, that the story didn’t have any pictures, because if there were, than Dusk would have had a double heart-attack, caused by an ad’awwableness overload. (That is still a word, don’t think that I have forgotten.)

One thing that Dusk was happy about, is that Chapter 1 is a lot better than the Prelude.

-Page 48 of 553 / 19 Minutes later-

“Nyx why? Why do you have to be so cute?!”

Dusk has finish reading the part where the librarian’s friend was trying to calm down Nyx, who had thought that the librarian had hated her. It was heart retching for Dusk, to say the least.

-Page 76 of 553 / 23 Minutes later-

Dusk gets hit by a scrunched up piece of paper. He looks around to see what could have caused this, and sees Angel Bunny on the ground, who is frowning at Dusk.  He points toward the carrot, tapping his foot, but Dusk had other ideas.

“No, Angel, this carrot is for me, when I’m hungry. Wait until Fluttershy gets home.”

He would have none of that, so the bunny grabs the carrot and hops back to his room, much to Dusk’s dismay. So he heads back to his book and starts reading again.

-Page 77 of 553 / 50 Seconds later-

“Golden Crown you mule, if you were a non-fiction character, than I would shove that crown, so far up your ass that you would be coughing up plastic.” Curses Dusk. “If someone ever did the same thing to Fluttershy… unforeseen consequences.”

Dusk hears a very small gulp coming from the direction of Angel’s room. He ignores that and continues reading.

-180 of 553- / 1 Hour, 25 Minutes later-

“Like a boss…”

(Spoilers end here)

As soon as he finishes that particular page, Fluttershy enters the house with a saddlebag full of items, which grabs Dusk’s curiosity.

“Hey Shy.”

“Hi Dusk.”

“What do you have in those bags of yours?”

“Umm… not much, just some things.”

“Do you mind if I could take a look?”

“In a sec.”

Fluttershy has only a few items in her bags. She has bought a few vegetables, a dress from Rarity’s and some more fruit boxes. (?!) Since it was night time, Fluttershy has started making vegetable soup for dinner. Dusk is wondering why she had bought the dress.

“Why did you buy the dress Shy?” asks Dusk.

She lightly blushes, “Uhh… it is part of what I’ve planned.”

“Oh really, what are you planning?”

“I t-tell you later.” Says the blushing Fluttershy.

“OK then. I won’t intrude anymore. Anyway, while I was reading, I had grabbed a carrot to eat later, but Angel just stole the carrot, even after I told him not to. What’s up with that?”

“Oh… um, sorry Dusk, but I told Angel Bunny that the carrots in the bag are all for him to eat. I must have forgotten to tell you about that.”

“That’s alright. I just thought that it would be alright to eat them.” Concedes Dusk.

Fluttershy has finished making the soup, and is preparing the soup for the two to eat.  She gives Dusk and herself a bowl of soup, and a soup spoon. They are once again eating at the table, and Dusk is once again, struggling with the usage of the spoon. But for some reason, Fluttershy isn’t.

‘How the heck does Fluttershy use the spoon so easily?’

He looks over at Fluttershy, to see if there is a special trick to using a spoon, and nothing. He just decides to give up on the spoon.

“Fluttershy, do you mind if I could drink the soup? I have no idea how you are supposed to use these spoons.”

“Uhh, yeah, that’ll be alright.”

“Sweet.”

So Dusk picks up the bowl, making sure not to spill anything, and starts to drink the soup.  His eyes dilating after tasting the wonderful concoction.

“Shy, why do all of your meals taste freaking delicious? “

“I… I don’t know.”

Dusk has to resist the urge to wolf the soup down, like he had done with the salad. He slowly drinks the soup and doesn’t cause any mess on the table like he had done last time. When he finishes his meal, he sees that Fluttershy was staring at him with a humored look on her face.

“What is so funny Shy?”

She points at his nose, which has some soup on it. Dusk lightly chuckles, and wipes it off. He fills the bowl up with more soup and finishes it just as Fluttershy finishes her first bowl. Dusk already had  enough, as soup is a lot more filling than the salad from 2 nights ago.

Dusk and Fluttershy have both gotten washed up, and went to their individual beds, with Dusk once again taking the couch, despite secretly wanting to ask if he could share the bed with her. So Dusk is lying down on the couch, thinking about his situation with Fluttershy.

‘I want to ask her out, but I just can’t say it. Maybe I could do something to set the mood, and then I could ask her for a date then. But how would I do that? I don’t know anything about that sort of thing. I would need to ask somepony who is a bit of a romantic sort. I wonder who could… Rarity.’

Chapter 12: FOREVER!

Chapter 12: FOREVER!

Dusk wakes up on the couch in Fluttershy’s. He leaves for Sweet Apple Acres quite early in the morning, without leaving a note for Fluttershy. He presumes that she now knows why he leaves so early. He sees Big Mac working on the farm, as per usual, and greets him.

“Hey, Mac.”

“Hello Dusk.”

“What do you think I’ll need to do today?” Inquires Dusk.

“Applebucking with Applejack.”

“Easy enough.”

So later, Big Mac wakes up the family, and the jobs soon begin at the farm. Dusk is pacing his kicks, as he doesn’t want to over-exert himself. He knows that if he just bucked at a comfortable pace, than he would still complete as many trees as he did, a couple of days ago.

He can buck the apple trees a lot better, than his first attempts. He uses the correct technique, and he also adds a bit more power to the kicks. Applejack is still a much better farmer, but Dusk is getting better.

By the end of the day, Dusk had bucked a total of 48 trees, which is 6 better than his previous best. Applejack gives Dusk 120 bits, and then he leaves the farm to go to the Carousel Boutique. He needs to ask Rarity about his situation with Fluttershy. He also need to know how he could do something romantic for her, as he isn’t the sort of pony who knows about this sort of thing.

As he walks towards her Boutique, he notices that Twilight’s Library, the Sugarcube Corner and the Carousel Boutique are all very close to each other. He doesn’t know why he only just realizes this now.

Anyway, he gets to Rarity’s, and opens the door, since the store is still open. Inside, he sees a pony, but not the one he is looking for. He can see a white coated filly behind the counter. She is a small unicorn without her cutie mark. Her mane and tail are both curly, and consists of two colors, pink and a lightened pink.

“Um, I’m looking for Rarity.” States Dusk in an unsure tone.

“Sorry, but my sister is upstairs making a dress for somepony. I don’t think it would be a good idea to disturb her.”

“Hmm... OK. Well I really need to talk to her about something important miss...”

“My name’s Sweetie Belle.”

‘Ah, one of the so called Cutie Mark Crusaders, she doesn’t really look like the sort to start trouble.’

“So Sweetie Belle, I need her help for something important. It’s sort of personal.” he tells the filly.

“I guess that might be OK. Does she know you?”

“Yeah. I just need her for about 5 minutes.”

“Hmm, OK I’ll show ou where she is.”

Sweetie Belle shows Dusk where Rarity’s room is and her door is shut. He knocks on her door.

*knock kno-*

“SWEETIE, I TOLD YOU TO STAY AT THE COUNTER FOR AN HOUR, WHY AR-” Yells Rarity from behind the door.

“Hey relax Rarity, it’s just Dusk.” He interrupts.

“Oh, uhh... Sorry Dusk, I’m just a bit stressed out at the moment. This dress has taken forever to make.”

“That’s OK. Anyway I have a small problem. I think you are the only one that can help me with this predicament.”

“Well, unfortunately my hooves are a bit full at the moment...”

‘Oh damn it’

“...so if you want me to make a suit, then you’ll have to wait a few days.”

“I’m not here for clothing, I’m here for something else.” This surprises Rarity, but it also makes her slightly relieved.

Dusk continues, “I need you to promise not to tell anypony though.”

She starts doing motions with her forehoofs, “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

‘What. The. Hay.’

“What was that?” Inquires Dusk.

“It’s a Pinkie Pie promise. If I break a Pinkie Pie promise, it is supposed to be the best way to ruin a friendship-”

“FOREVER!” Interrupts Pinkie, scaring the hay out of Dusk. She came out of a box full of fabrics.

“How did you do that? Were you just waiting for Rarity to say that or something?” Dusk asks the crazy pink mare.

“I’m Pinkie Pie. Enough said.” She begins to hop away from Rarity’s Boutique, and Dusk starts to tell Rarity his secret.

“So, after that little interruption, I need you’re help. You see... I, have a c-crush on Fluttershy.” Dusk hears a gasp from Rarity, “I can’t really tell her this though, s-so I need your help. What can be used as a romantic gesture towards Fluttershy?”

Rarity remembers what happened yesterday with Fluttershy, and based of what she told Rarity, it seemed that Dusk wasn’t really interested in her. ‘This may make thing a lot easier for Fluttershy’ Rarity thinks.

“Dusk, the thing is, that Fluttershy actually likes...” She stops midway through her sentence.

Rarity could see Pinkie in the mirror of her vanity, which was behind Dusk. Pinkie is mouthing the words “FOREVER!” to Rarity.

“...uhh, that Fluttershy would probably like it if you gave her a bouquet of flowers, sometime tomorrow afternoon. Also, make her feel special, I think that would be important for her.”

“How would you do that?” Asks Dusk.

“Complimenting her would be a good idea, but don’t do it too much, or she could get suspicious. Also, when you tell her that you like her, make sure that it is at the right time.”

“OK, Rarity. Thank you for the help.”

“That’s alright Dusk.”

When Dusk arrives at Fluttershy’s, she greeted him.

“Hello, Dusk.”

“Hey, Shy.”

There is an awkward silence, and Dusk is looking away to try and hide the blush on his face. Fluttershy breaks the silence.

“So how was work Dusk?”

“It was fine, I earned a good amount of bit today, I was payed 120 bits.”

“That’s nice Dusk.”

Another awkward silence.

Chapter 14: ...Wow

Author’s Notes: I have used Fluttershy’s gala dress as the inspiration for the one she is wearing in this chapter. I will also try my best at describing it, but I’ll ultimately, fail. Damn my lousy descriptions. If you need to see what I based it off, click here.

Edit: This chapter will be subject to change.

Chapter 14: ...Wow

Dusk knows that Fluttershy is a beautiful mare, but he never expected anything like this. He was amazed. She is wearing the dress that she bought from Rarity’s a couple of days ago. The dress is long enough to elegantly fall down her flanks and hind legs, almost concealing her cutie mark. The color of the dress seen to be that same shade as her eyes, and this emphasizes her beauty. The dress itself, includes Rarity’s flair, that she adds into any piece of clothing. She somehow made a simple green dress, and somehow, vastly improved the design. Dusk couldn’t really say what she did though, but he knows that it made a difference.

Fluttershy was also wearing a light make-up, such as eye shadow, blush etc. Enough to somehow make her look even better than before, but little enough to still be able to see her true self.

“...wow, S-Shy, you l-look simply b-beautiful tonight.” Dusk says, while blushing like mad.

“Oh... uhh... t-thank you D-Dusk.”

“I... I got you s-something.” Dusk gives her the bouquet of roses, which she happily accepts. She gave him a sweet smile.

“Thank y-you for the f-flowers Dusk. Umm, w-why don’t we b-both come inside s-s-so we can have some d-dinner together.” She stutters out.

“Alright Shy, l-lead the way.”

‘Did she just say dinner together?’

Fluttershy and Dusk walk towards the table. He notices how it seems a bit different, the plates and cutlery are of a better quality. The meals have already been made, she has made an improved vegetable soup, with salad on the side. On the middle of the table, there is a single candle, which illuminates the room. The area seems to have a certain... feel to it.

“Fluttershy, you seemed to have put a lot of effort into dinner tonight.” Comments Dusk, as he sits on his chair.

“...Thank you Dusk.” She puts the roses into a nearby vase, in the kitchen. “I... I really wanted to make tonight special.”

‘Any night with you is special.’

“Well, I think t-that it will be special.” He starts blushing again, “Shy, I also g-got you a se-second gift.”

Dusk gives her the golden necklace, and as soon as she saw it, her eyes grew to the size of saucers. She is truly grateful that she receives the jewellery.

“OH! Thank you for the gift Dusk!”

She gives Dusk a massive hug, which surprises him. He is in heaven. 10 seconds later, Fluttershy lets go, and both of them have massive blushes on their faces.

“I... uh, I’m glad t-that you like it.”

They both start eating the dinner that she prepared. Dusk was eating his soup and salad with the proper utensils. He is slightly disappointed with himself.

‘Why did I not make myself look better. I wouldn’t of known if Shy was dressed up as much as she it today, but still. If I maybe bought a suit from Rarity, than I would be a lot more presentable, instead of just wearing nothing.’

He continues to eat his soup, with the spoon. He didn’t want to just drink it like a pig, in front of Fluttershy, so he just lives with the fact, that he will have to use his silver cutlery for now.

Both Dusk and Fluttershy have nearly finished their dinner. Dusk remembers a tip of advice from Rarity,  the one about complimenting the other and all that. He tries her advice out...

“Fluttershy, h-have I ever t-told you, that you are the most kindest pony t-that I have ever met?” Dusk begins to get nervous.

“R-Really? D-do you r-really think that?” Asks the flustered Fluttershy.

“Yeah I really do...”

‘You have the momentum Dusk, keep on going.’

“...also, you are the m-most beautiful mare in a-all of Equestria.”

“D-Dusk, I... I am-”

“And you are t-the m-most wonderful pony, t-that I’ve e-ever met.” Both of them were blushing like mad.

“...”

“Fluttershy...”

‘Come on, you can do it this time.’

“...would you like to-”

Dusk is interrupted, when Fluttershy tells him to stop with her hoof, which confuses him. She edges closer towards him, and gives him a small kiss on his lips, before turning away from him, turning a deep red. "Yes, I would Dusk."

Chapter 15: For Her

Chapter 15: For Her

Dusk was shocked. He definitely wasn’t expecting that as an 'answer', but he likes it, a lot. He gives her a sincere smile, and pulls her into a tight embrace. She feels soft, and he smells the aroma of beautiful flowers and nature. He whispers into her ear.

“Thank you Fluttershy.”

Dusk and Fluttershy hold each other for another 30 seconds until he lets go. He has never been happier in his life. Despite losing his job, being grounded and having to relive many of his repressed memories, nothing compares to how he is feeling right now. She gives Dusk a more passionate kiss, which Dusk is expecting. He lets her take control, as he wraps his forelegs around her.

She breaks the kiss, signalling him to go into her room. Dusk happily follows...

---------- (Author’s Quick Note: No, nothing like that happened.)

After cuddling with each other on the bed, Fluttershy gave Dusk a kind smile, while Dusk has a sincere but concerned look on his face. He truly looks like he could start randomly crying at any moment.

“What’s wrong Dusk.”

“*sigh* Not much Shy. Do you mind if I could go outside for a few minutes. I just need time to think about something.”

“...Don’t stay out there for too long Dusk. I-I don’t want you to get a cold.”

“Don’t worry that pretty little head of yours Shy, I'll just be a couple of minutes.”

Dusk walks into the kitchen, and grabs two roses, a red one and a pink one. He walks outside of her house, and he lets his tears flow as he looks at the red rose...

-One Month after the Cloud/Blizzard incident-

Dusk was sitting in the funeral home with a heavy heart. He was carried a single item on him, a red rose. He just could not accept how Cloudie could just give up like she did, and throw it all away.

Back when Cloud Charger was still in hospital, Dusk would check up on her everyday to make sure that she was alright. A lot of students in the school, thought that they were dating, with the amount of time they spent together, but she was more like family to Dusk. He was her older brother and she was his little sister.

While Cloudie was in hospital, she would often cry when she thought that Dusk was out of earshot, but he tends to here these things. He knew that she still loved Blizzard, despite what had happened before.

When she was able to leave the hospital two weeks ago, she was not any happier. She didn’t get over the fact that Blizzard left her and did what he did to her. When Dusk heard the news of her hanging herself in her room, he knew why, which made him even more upset.

Dusk was trying to keep his composure during the funeral, he only saw two ponies that he recognised, her parents, and they where both heavily crying. Most of the others that came were also teary eyed.

Everypony was starting to do their speeches, and could barely finish because they would start breaking down. Then it was Dusk’s turn to do his speech, so he stepped out onto the front and started.

“Cloudie was a very special mare for me. She was my friend for as long as I could remember. She was like a little sister to me.” Dusk could feel tears coming, and he held them back, “She was one of the best friends that I could ask for. I hope t-that...” Dusk started to cry, but he would still remain composed. “...she will w-will watch over all of us.”

Dusk then put his rose on the casket.

-Present Time-

Dusk is holding the red rose in his hoof, and holds it up to the moon.

“Cloudie, I hope that you can look after Fluttershy from wherever you are.” He lifts the pink rose. “Make sure that nothing bad, ever befalls her.” He throws the red rose in the nearby stream and walks back into Fluttershy’s bedroom. She is asleep on her bed, which Dusk thinks is ad’awwable.

He gets into the bed, and gives her a light kiss on the forehead and falls asleep next to her.

Dusk wakes up early in the morning, like he usually does. He sees that Fluttershy is still sleeping so he quietly get out of the bed. He knows that he couldn’t go back to the Sweet Apple Acres for work today, so he stays in her home. He decides to cook her something for breakfast, since she has already made dinner for him three times.

He starts making an omelette for her. Unfortunately, he doesn’t really know where any of the ingredients are in the house. Dusk sees Angel hopping in the direction of Fluttershy’s room, and he gets an idea.

“Hey Angel, come here. I need your help.” Says Dusk

He looks at Dusk, then hops away.

“I need your help to find something.”

He is ignored, again.

“I’m trying to make breakfast for Fluttershy.”

Angel instantly turns around as soon as he heard that. He hops over to where Dusk is working, eager to help.

‘Gee, at least I know how to get Angel to listen next time.’

“I need you to get me a pan, 2 eggs, cheese and some basil...”

Dusk is putting the finishing touches on her breakfast. He has made a simple cheese omelette and he asks Angel to do one more thing.

“Could you wake Fluttershy up for me?”

The animal does a quick nod, and jumps up the stairs to her room. About 3 minutes later, Fluttershy walks down the stairs with Angel on her back. (D’AAAWWWW)

“Fluttershy, I made breakfast for you. ”He gives her the plate with the omelette on it.

She is suprised, and thankful at the same time. “Aww, thank you Dusk.” She gives him the most adorable smile he has seen in a while.

He blushes a bit, “No problem Shy.”

“I thought you would be at work by now Dusk.” States Fluttershy.

“Eh heh heh yeah,” Dusk responds sheepishly, “Long story.”

Chapter 16: The Apology

Chapter 16: The Apology

Dusk explains what happened at Sweet Apple Acres. Fluttershy doesn’t really know if she should be happy or not.

“I think that I took it I bit too far, if I’m honest Shy, because now I have no job, and no money. But I do have you as a marefriend.” He blushes and gently smiles. “It was definitely worth it.”

Fluttershy blushes slightly, but still tells Dusk what she thinks, “Um... I still think you should apologize to Applejack. I’m sure that she would appreciate it.”

“I think I’ll do that later, during the lunch break. I’ll just stay home with you for most of the day.”

Both Dusk and Fluttershy have nearly finished their respective omelettes. Fluttershy dicides to bring up something.

“After breakfast, I need to go outside and feed the animals. I hope you don’t mind Dusk.”

“I’ve got no problem with that. As a matter of fact, do you mind if I could help you with your job? I’m sort of curious to see how it works.”

“...If you want to.” She answers shyly.

They both start to walk outside, with Fluttershy walking close to Dusk. He had his uninjured right wing over the pegasus mare.

“Shy, I think I have one more week until I can take this cast off, and another week after that until I can fly again. A lot has happened to me in the past week.” Remembers Dusk.

“That’s good Dusk, I’m sure that you’d like to take it off. It looks quite uncomfortable.”

“Nah, not really. I’m used to it now, I think that I’ve forgotten about it, with the amount of tasks that I’ve done.”

The two arrive in the area with the animals in it. Fluttershy gives Dusk a light sack labelled ‘Bird Seed’.

“Dusk, can you put some of the bird seed into any of the bird houses, that you can reach without flying.”

“Easy enough, I just need to know how much seed.”

“I’ll show you.”

She walks over to a nearby bird house and starts pouring the seed into a little aluminium bowl. She completely fills the bowl up.

“Just fill each bowl up. If you need more seed, than go inside the house and grab some more.”

He does a playful salute, “Yes ma’am.”

He starts filling up the various bowls while Fluttershy feeds the bigger animals. The creatures that live near Fluttershy’s, are now becoming more friendly with Dusk. This makes his job a lot more easier, than it would of been a few days ago.

While Dusk is filling another bird house bowl, he thinks that he can see Applejack and Big Mac in the distance, walking towards Fluttershy’s house.

“Hey Shy, is that Applejack and Macintosh in the distance?” Asks Dusk.

“I think so, but why would they come here? I haven’t really planned anything.”

“I don’t know why they are coming, but it does save me from walking to the farm to apologize.”

About two minutes later, Applejack and Big Mac arrived at her house, Applejack looks quite annoyed as she starts to talk.

“Ah’m sorry Dusk for getting angry at ya.” She hastily apologizes.

Big Mac glares at his sister and nudges her, she continues “Ah should of let ya leave work earlier because you had something important on.”

Big Mac had an annoyed look on his face, he taps his hoof on the ground twice, Applejack death-stares him, but he is unfazed as he taps the ground again. “We’d be happy if ya return to work tomorrow.” Dusk could tell that she is lying, but he accepts the apology.

Big Mac has a smug look on his face.

Dusk begins to speak, “Applejack, I’m sorry that I raged at you. I apologize of I may have scared you in anyway. I should have told you this earlier so the argument wouldn’t of happened.” Dusk responded truthfully.

Big Mac starts talking, “Well thank you Dusk. I expect you to meet me at the farm at the same time as before.”

“Thank you, but I think that I’ll arrive a bit later than usual.”

“Why is that?” Ask Big Mac

Dusk puts his wing on Fluttershy, with a big grin on his face.

Applejack’s jaw drops, and Big Mac gives a small grin. “I knew that you could do it Dusk.”

“Thanks for that Macintosh.”

“We’ll be going back to the farm now, you coming Big Mac?”

“Eeyup.”

Both Dusk and Fluttershy are feeding again, and he thought that he could hear AJ and Big Mac arguing in the distance.

“Ah still don’t...... too aggressive... wouldn’t listen.”

“Don’t care... in my opinion... good worker.”

“Won’t work with... don’t trust-”

“That’s fine... I’m letting him... with me, whether you... or not.”

Dusk heard Applejack’s silence, and laughs as he pours more seed.

Dusk is finishing up his job, but then Pinkie slams face-first into the ground. Dusk looks up to see what she could of fallen from, but can't find anything. He looks back at Pinkie, who is right in Dusk's face, which scares him.

“HI, DUSK!”

“Celestia damn Pinkie, don’t scare me like that. Why are you here?” Questions Dusk.

'And how did you survive that fall without a scratch?'

“To ask you if you want to go to a nightclub with me and Zephy.”

“Well, I suppose I could, wait a sec.”

He walks to where Fluttershy is working, “Hey Shy, you mind if I could go to the local nightclub, with Pinkie and Zephyr.”

“Not at all Dusk.”

“Sweet, thanks Shy.” He gives her a hug and a quick kiss, which makes her blush.

He goes back to Pinkie, “Yeah I can go.”

“Yay, didja know that DJ PON-3 will be there?”

“No, when are we going?”

“Right now!” She starts to drag Dusk to the destination with ease. He tried to resist, but he isn’t strong enough.

“Err... Pinkie, if Zeph is going to be there, then why isn’t he with you?”

“That is because he is already there but he doesn’t even know that we are coming to make his night even funner.”

‘How does she know that he is there?’

Chapter 17: Night at the Nightclub

Chapter 17: Night at the Nightclub

Pinkie is dragging Dusk to the nightclub, which Dusk really enjoys. He doesn’t really know why.

“So, Pinkie, what is the name of the place we are going to?”

“Only the best club in Ponyville, Party United. You know that I helped with their development?”

‘Why does that not surprise me?’

About ten minutes, Pinkie and Dusk arrive at the club. The line to the establishment is quite long, and most of the ponies lined up were stallion and mares, just old enough to be allowed entry. There were two buff stallions at the entry, who would only let anypony of legal age enter.

“Pinkie, with the line this long, it will take us at least twenty minutes, just to get in.” Stress’s Dusk.

“Must be a quiet day today. Anyway, I know this super easy way to quickly get inside.”

“As long as it’s legal.”

Pinkie walks up to the two bouncers. One of them has a white coat with a short black mane, and the other has a light brown coat with a lemon yellow mane. Both of them have suits which covers most of their body, and they also have dark tinted sunglasses.  They are big, but they don’t compare to Big Mac. They also look as serious as buck.

Pinkie was up to the white coated stallion, “Oh Hai Sunny.”

“Hey Pinkie, what can I do for you and your coltfriend.”

“He’s not my coltfriend silly, I like Dashie, remember. Anyway, me and Dusky would like to enter.”

The one called Sunny accepts, “Yeah that’s fine Pinkie. Hey Pleasantry, let these two in.” He says with a happy, deep voice.

“Sure thing, you two have fun.” He responds in a similar tone.

“Thanks you guys.” Pinkie cheerfully answers.

“Wait, how come those two can go in like that, while we all have to stay in line?” Complains some random mare in the line.

“They’re VIPs, so shut up and wait your turn.” Pleasantry says in a deathly tone.

“Err, Pinkie, I don’t really think that their names suit their job.”

“That’s what you think, *gasp* I think that’s Zephy over there.” She point to his direction, and Dusk cannot comprehend how she could have seen him. He could barely recognize his features, as he is mostly obscured by other ponies in front of him.

“How the hay did you-“ Dusk is interrupted, when Pinkie begins to drag him towards Zephyr’s direction.

Ten seconds later, Pinkie stops dragging Dusk, as they were in front of Zephyr.

“Hai Zephy.”

“Pinkie, I’ve told you not to call me that name.” says the annoyed ‘Zephy’.

“But Zephy, why don’t you like me calling you by that name?” Pinkie asks.

“I just don’t like it, I only like being called that by somepony I love.”

“I think that policy of yours, is going to have to change then, Zephy.”

Zephyr glares at Dusk, “You know how much I hate you right now, Dusk?

“You know you love it.”

Inside the walls of Party United, it is mental. DJ PON-3 is in the middle of her gig, at least one hundred ponies were dancing (in one way or another) to her music. It is quieter near the bar, with the bartender serving various alcoholic beverages, such as beers, vodkas, martinis, whiskey and other various spirits. Luckily, there are very few drunks in the bar, and they are having a great time, without ruining it for others.

Near the side of the club, were a few tables, where patrons could basically socialize and do whatever they please. This is where Dusk, Zephyr and Pinkie were seated. Zephyr has only had one or two alcoholic apple ciders, while Pinkie had already downed four or five vodkas. Despite the amount of alcohol she’s consumed, she is still being her normal bubbly self. Dusk is the most sober of the job, as he had only drank one bottle of lemonade. He knew that he is of legal drinking age, but has never been the sort to drink.

“…and that is when the giant cupcake took over Equestria, or so he thought. That is when I came in with the party cannon, and gave him such a fun party, that he blew up, and I saved all of Equestria.”

“Pinkie, that has got to be the most random story I have ever heard.” Comments Zephyr.

“Oh really? Have you ever heard any of my stories Zephy?” Asks Dusk.

“Stop. Calling. Me.  Zephy.”

“What are you gonna do about it, Zephy?” Dusk says in a challenging tone.

*punch* “Ow.”

“See what happens.” Zephyr smugly responds.

Dusk is rubbing his right foreleg. “Totally worth it.”

After an hour, the DJ’s gig is nearly finished, there has been one drunk stallion, who had been thrown out by Sunny and Pleasantly, (Dusk still couldn’t get over the irony of their names) but the club is still as loud and fast-paced as before.

Zephyr has had one more drink, his speech is slightly slurred, while Pinkie had downed her 12th vodka. Dusk had no idea where she had the money to buy all of the drinks for herself, Dusk and Zephyr, and what baffles him more, is her alcohol tolerance. She is still acting completely normal. Dusk still hasn’t touched an alcoholic beverage.

“Hey Zephy, I challenge you to a drinking contest. Whoever loses has to pay for the drinks.”

“Challenge Acshepted Pinkie!” Slurs Zephyr.

‘Zephy is screwed…’

“Hey Dusky, could you do us a favor?” asks Pinkie

“What is it?”

“I need you to go and get us 10 whiskey shots.” Money randomly appears out of nowhere, with a bit of confetti of course. “Here is the exact price of the shots.”

Dusk had to go back before, because he needed ten more shots. Dusk hopes that he doesn’t need to do it again, because he just can’t be stuffed.

So far, they both have had 7 shots each. Pinkie started to look a bit woozy, but otherwise, she is fine. For Zephyr, it is a different story, he is completely wasted. He has no hoof-eye co-ordination, (unless he is trying to drink another shot) he speech in heavily slurred, he looks like a mess etc.

Pinkie finishes her 8th shot without problem, but as Zeph tries to drink his 8th shot, Dusk steps in.

“Okay, okay time out Zeph, Pinkie is the winner.” He was worried for their health.

“But, Duuusk, I’m not done yet.” Slurs Zephyr

“Yes you are Zeph.”

“Yay! Don’t you worry Zephy, I’ll still pay for the drinks.” Assures Pinkie.

“Thank ya Pinkie. You’re the best.”

‘How come Zeph doesn’t rage at Pinkie when she calls him Zephy, possible because I just say it to spite him…’

“Hey Dusky,” says Pinkie, interrupting his thought. “We still have another 5 five shots to drink. I think that-“

“Oh no, Pinkie." He held up his hooves to show he didn't want any, "I will not be having a shot.”

“But, but Dusk, you should just try it to see if you’ll like it.”

“I said no before, I’ll say no again.” Stubbornly refuses Dusk.

Pinkie’s mane loses a tiny bit of puff, which Dusk notices. “I just want you to at least try it once Dusk. I won’t make you have anymore.” She dejectedly says.

Dusk, felt a bit bad for Pinkie. “OK, fine Pinkie, I’ll just try a little bit, and we’ll see what will happen from there.”

Her mane is back to full puffiness. “Great! Enjoy Dusk.”

She slides the shot glass across the table, without spilling a drop. Dusk grabs the glass with his hoof and brings it up to his mouth.

‘What’s the worst that could happen?’

Chapter 18: The Best Night Ever

Chapter 18: The Best Night Ever

“Oh Celestia, my head.” Zephyr has a massive, hangover caused headache. A good way to describe the pain, is if you remove his head, then hit it repeatedly with a sledgehammer, then play a game of soccer/hoofball with it and finally let a hydra ‘play’ with it for 15 minutes. That is what it feels like.

He opens his eyes, rubbing his forehead, and is shocked after seeing the chaos around him. First of all, he is in a bed, next to the sleeping Pinkie Pie.

‘Please don’t tell me I did what I think I did with Pinkie. Rainbow would murder me, if she is merciful.’

He also sees another sleeping mare, who is on the floor. She is a pegasus, who is wearing a blue and pale-yellow stunt suit which covers most of her yellow coat. She also has a very fiery mane and tail, the colors of her mane/tail, consists of orange and a lighter orange. It is of medium length and is slightly ruffled. It looks good on her. Zephyr then realizes who this mare is.

“Holy buck, Spitfire, the Captain of the Wonderbolts is sleeping in the same room as me?!” Zephyr excitedly says to himself. Luckily, he didn’t wake either of the mares up.

Zephyr couldn’t see anything else unusual in the room, but that is quite strange, because the room is absolutely spotless. There is no evidence of what could have happened last night, and that raises another question.

‘Where the hay am I?’

The only thing that is different about the room, is a scroll stuck on the door. On the front, there are two words, ‘For Zephy’.

He opens then note and starts reading…

Dear Zephyr,

If you are wondering where you are, you are in a local Ponyville Hotel. I saw the carnage of what happened last night and I could tell that you had a great night. Also, make sure that you talk to me when you have the chance to. I may be able to tell you anything that you don’t know. Also, I told Rainbow about how you would be having the day off for various reasons, she seemed fine about it.

Also, be prepared for what you see when you go into the bathroom. You’ll be surprised. Make sure you drink plenty of water and maybe take a pain-killer to stop that headache of yours. And be prepared to vomit in the toilet, I’m sure that Twilight will kill you if you vomit anywhere else. (Ha, now I’ve got you thinking about your head-ache and nausea. Are you feelin’ it Zephy?)

Dusk.

P.S. Payback is a mule, isn’t it?

P.S.S. The toilet is to the right of the bedroom you’re in.

‘Oh thanks a lot Dusk, now I need to puke…’

After a quick ‘trip’ to the toilet, he steps out of the room and sees the living area, which is also completely spotless, which is strange. If he was so drunk, that he forgot everything that happened last night, than why is there no mess inside the house.  He isn’t even this careful when he is sober. He looks up at the clock, 1:15PM.

‘Thank Celestia that Dusk already told Dash about last night, I would have been in big trouble is she didn’t know.’

He walks into the bathroom, so he can get some pain-killers and is shocked by what, or more likely, who he sees. He sees a shaking Twilight on the ground, who is surrounded by a legion of cleaning supplies. She is conscious, but complete unaware of her surroundings. Her normally neat mane and tail, are unkempt and she is curled into a ball. She is stroking her mane stressfully and is muttering something.

“…it was so unorganized, so much work, will never get done, need to send letter to the Princess soon, have to do it, can’t make…”

Zephyr has had enough of seeing Twilight like this, so he starts shaking her.

“Twilight, snap out of it what’s wrong? That shaking is painful for my head.”

She gets out of her hypnotic state and death-stares at Zephyr, “Never again.” You know how some ponies are cute when they’re angry? Well Twilight doesn’t fall into that category.

“What happened to you Twilight?”

“I had to clean up the hotel room, so you wouldn’t have had to pay the hotel owners for the damages.” She answers bluntly.

“That’s it? It couldn’t have been that bad.” Zephyr calmly responds.

“There was graffiti all over the walls, every single window was removed and a wall was destroyed. “ Thanks a lot Zephyr Verve for the kind support.” She answers harshly.

‘Well that explains the clean rooms.’

“Wow Twilight, I’m sorry for all the cleaning that you had to do. How do you even repair a destroyed wall in the first place?”

“A lot of magic. I’ll just brush my mane and tail and I’ll leave.” She tries to use her magic to pick up the brush, but fails. She tries again with much more effort and lifts the brush up for a second or two, before it drops again. She falls onto her haunches with a sad look on her face, which Zephyr spots.

“What’s wrong Twilight?”

She falls onto the floor and starts crying heavily, “I’m… I’m… so useless. I can’t even lift up a stupid brush. I jus-“ She is interrupted when Zephyr puts his hoof in front of her face to silence her.

“Twilight, you are not useless. You cleaned up what probably a war-zone all by yourself. You helped us when you didn’t even need to. You somehow-“

Zephyr is stopped when Twilight hugs him and starts crying on the back of his neck. He feels tears slowly falling down his back as he returns her hug. “It’s OK Twilight, just let it all out.”

About ten minutes later, Zephyr feels Twilight releasing her hug. She looks a lot better than she did before, despite her messy mane and slightly bloodshot eyes. Zephyr sees a light blush on her face.

“Thank you Zephyr. I really needed that.”

“It’s no problem Twi, I’m sorry that you had to do all of that.”

“That is alright, I think that Dusk had something to do with it as well. I wouldn’t want to see you get in trouble from the hotel. Also you mind if you could brush my mane and tail, I can’t do it myself.”

“You sure? I’m not that good with this sort of thing.” States Zephyr.

“Yeah I’m sure.”

Zephyr grabs the nearby brush and starts to carefully brush Twilight’s mane. He is thankful that her mane is straight, and not styled like Rarity’s. Zephyr doesn’t see from his view, that Twilight has a huge blush on her face.

Zephyr finishes Twilight’s mane and tail in about five minutes. It is back to its normal, straightened style. He grabs a few pain-killers from the bathroom cabinet and a glass of water. He swallows the pills using the water and then asks Twilight something.

“Twi, do you mind if you could stay here for a few minutes, I’m trying to piece together what happened last night, and I may need your help in the matter.”

“Alright then Zephyr.”

Zephyr walks back into the hotel bedroom and begins to shake Pinkie in an attempt to wake her up.

“Wake up Pinkie, I need you to-“

“Hi!”

“WHAA! *slam* Buck.”

Pinkie’s quick and energetic greeting shocked him and he fell onto something suspiciously soft.

“Hey, watch were you land.” Says the third mare.

Zephyr turns around and sees that he landed on top of Spitfire. She looks hungover, and Zephyr says the first thing that enters his mind.

“The toilet is that way,” He points his hoof to the aforementioned door, “And there are painkillers in the bathroom.”

The Wonderbolt utters a single “Thanks.” As she runs into the toilet. Twilight is relieved that she doesn’t have to clean any more mess in the hotel.

“Pinkie, do you remember what happened last night?” Asks Zephyr. He intends to find out if he did what he is hoping he didn’t do to Pinkie.

“Of course I do Zephy, I only had twenty drinks.” Zephyr’s left eye twitches.

‘How the hay?!’

Zephyr continues, “So Pinkie, did we or did we not do the dirty deed last night.”

“I think so.”

Zephyr is mortified and Twilight looks disappointed at him, while Spitfire is still taking some painkillers in the bathroom.

Pinkie continues, “If it is what I think you meant, than yes, we did make the hotel dirtier. How could you remove all of Zephy’s graffiti artwork Twilight?” Pinkie shoots an accusing glare at the unicorn.

Zephyr facehoofs, “*sigh* No Pinkie, I meant to say, did you and I do any… undercover work in bed last night?”

“Of course we did Zephy.” She happily answers.

‘Oh no, Rainbow will kill-‘

“Spitty joined us as well.”

“Oh please tell me that we didn’t do it.” Says Spitfire who walks into the room.

“We did! We were playing Go Fish under the blankets last night. We needed to use so many glowsticks, just to see what cards we had.”

Zephyr annoyingly sighs, and decides to be direct about the matter.

“Pinkie, did you or Spitfire have sex with me last night?”

Twilight gasps with horror, Spitfire looks at Zephyr with disgust, and Pinkie just slaps him across the face. “Of course we didn’t Zephyr, what sort of mares do you take us for?!” Pinkie aggressively answers. “I have my Dashie, and I wouldn’t cheat on her like that?!”

“Oh, um… sorry girls, I just really needed to know, also, why were you sleeping next to me in the bed?”

“Well duh, because there was room.”

“I won’t even look into that. So Pinkie, I need to know what you remembered from last night.”

“Okie dokie lokie.”

‘Thank Celestia that she already forgotten about what I said a second or two ago.’

`

Point of View:  Pinkie Pie

Time: An hour after the Drinking Contest / 11:00PM Yesterday

Both Dusk and Pinkie left the club, 30 minutes ago, each for different reasons. Dusk had left so he could be with Fluttershy at her house, and Pinkie Pie has temporarily gone back to the Sugarcube Corner so she could make some special cupcakes for the two, to celebrate their newfound friendship. Spitfire and Zephyr were happy with staying in the club.

She had decided to add a special ingredient for this particular batch of cupcakes. The only other time she had used this, is with Rainbow Dash a couple of days ago. She put the unbaked cupcakes in the oven and she was excitedly waiting for the finished product, even more excited than with any other batch…

-10 Minutes Later-

The cupcakes were finished! She took them out and put them on a plate, and she noticed that the baked goods had all of the colors of the rainbow on it. She shrugged it off as a side-effect of her secret ingredient.

She puts the plate on her back, not bothering to get a saddlebag. She started to hop towards the hotel where Zephyr told her that they would be staying. The cupcakes never fell to the ground for some reason.

When she arrived at the hotel, she requested to go to the hotel room where Zephyr and Spitfire would be, but the stallion receptionist refused her entry.

“I’m sorry ma’am but it’s a privacy thing. We can’t just let random guests barge into other people’s hotel rooms whenever they want.” He calmly explained to the pink mare.

“Oh yeah?” Challenged Pinkie. “NOTE PAD! COME OUT HERE!”

She heard a gruff stallion’s voice in the distance, “For the last time Pinkie, its Notting Padisson. So, are you here to borrow a hotel room?”

Note Pad is a fairly normal size stallion with an aqua colored coat. He has a short, spiked green mane and he is wearing a black vest, which he never leaves home without. His cutie mark is a scroll with a quill near it.

“Nah, need to get into somepony else’s room.”

“Yeah sure, what room?”

“106.”

“Can be done, want to the let the usual five be exempt as well?” Asked the stallion.

“Yeah, but add one more onto the list, a stallion named Dusk.”

“Can do.”

-2 minutes later-

Pinkie steps into the room where Zephyr and Spitfire were staying and is astounded by what she saw. There was a mess, all over the floor, mainly consisting of blank scrolls, paint and breakfast cereals. The two drunken ponies were painting ‘art’ on the walls with spray paint.

“Wow you guys, looks like you’ve had fun.” Pinkie commented.

“Eeeeeeeyep, he-he.” Zephyr drunkenly imitated. “Isn’t it great?”

“YEAH, IT’S AWESOME! I brought some special cupcakes for you guys. Dashie says that they are to die for.”

“Yay, give me and ‘Zephy the Grand Master Artist’ one.”

“Okie dokie lokie, here you go.”

She gave the two a cupcake each, and Zephyr took the first bite. His face turned into a look of confusion, then to a look of immense happiness.

“Oh mah Gawdesses, SOO GOOOOD! What is in it Pinkie, You gotta tell me.” Requested Zephyr.

“Sweetened Rainbow Powder, straight from Cloudsdale.”

“This stuff’s good Pinks.” Complimented Spitfire.

“Aww, it’s nothing.” Pinkie got an idea, “You mind if I could make some art?”

“Sure Pinkie.”

“YAY! Just let me get the party cannon…”

Point of View: Zephyr

Present Time / 1:43PM

“…and that is how I blew a hole in the room. Sorry Twi. Anyway-“

Zephyr stops Pinkie, “I don’t really need to listen anymore. I got all I needed from you. So Spits and I somehow met and became friends, and then we trashed the room.” He could see Twilight cringe, “So Pinkie came in a little bit later, but it doesn’t really explain everything. When did Twilight come in? Who told her, and what about Spitfire? What happened with her?”

“I think I’ll be able to answer those last two questions, as I remember a bit of what happened in the club, if that helps.” Answers Spitfire.

Point of View: Spitfire

Time: Before Dusk + Pinkie left the club / 10:15PM Yesterday

Spitfire was walking through Party United, while slightly drunk. She had heard that it is one of the best places to spend a night at, and they were right. She was enjoying it a lot more here than in any other club. In her hoof, was a rather strong spirit, but she had forgotten the name of it. While walking through the bar, she saw three ponies sitting on a table, two pegasus stallions and a earth pony mare. By the looks of it, the pink mare and the non-injured stallion were having a drinking contest, and the mare was winning by a lot.

When the uninjured stallion tried to take another drink, the injured one interrupted and stopped the match. She then saw the pink mare talk to the dark blue stallion who then took a small sip of the alcohol before putting it back on the table. The two left the table with the four remaining shots, leaving the drunken stallion temporarily alone. Spitfire approached him to see what was up.

“So I see that you lost that little contest of yours.” Stated the Wonderbolt.

“Yeah I did, you know that she had 12 vodkas before and 8 shots now, and she’s just a bit woozy.”

Spitfire was shocked, “Are you kidding? No wonder she beat you. I’ve never heard of anypony ever drinking that much in my life, and I’ve been to a lot of bars.”

“Pinkie’s sort of impossible like that. You’re Spitfire right, the captain of the Wonderbolts.”

“Yeah pretty much.”

“My name’s Zephyr.”

-15 Minutes Later-

Both Spitfire and Zephyr were acting like a drunken couple. Spitfire had the rest of her spirits before, and she underestimated the potency of the drink, so she was feeling it as much as Zephyr.

Pinkie and Dusk were back in the group, after getting a refund for their drinks. While normally not allowed, Pinkie explained to the barman about the contest and how she made Dusk buy too many. (It also helped that she is a special kind of VIP)

“So I see that Zephy got himself a drinking buddy.” Commented Dusk.

“Don’t call me Zephy, and yeah, she’s an awesome buddy. The very best.” Says the drunken stallion.

“Yeah, Zeph and I will be stayin’ at the hotel down the road, room 106.”

“Wow, didn’t expect you to tell us where you were staying tonight.” Dusk admitted.

“Well why would that be a bad thing Dusky?” Pinkie asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I won’t even bother answering.  I’ll be going back to Fluttershy’s, because I want to spend the night with her again.” He started to walk out of the nightclub.

“OK, have fun Dusky, *loud gasp* you know what would be a good idea?” Pinkie looked at Zephyr and Spitfire. “If I made you two a super special surprise to commemorate your newfound friendship.”

“That a great idea Pinkie!” Said Spitfire

Point of View: Zephyr

Present Time / 1:56PM

“I completely forgot what happened after that. What was I thinking?” Finishes Spitfire.

“Trust me, I’m asking myself that as well.” Assures Zephyr. “At least it sort of answers a little bit of what happened. Basically, from what I know: drinking contest, drinking buddy, invited to hotel, trashed hotel, Pinkie Pie joined in. But what’s up with Twilight, I mean, how did she get pulled into this.”

“I’ll tell you if you think it will help…”

Point of view: Twilight Sparkle

Time: 1:30AM

Twilight was woken up by a frantic knocking on the door. She groggily gets out of the bed and asked herself, “Who would want to see me at this hour?!”

She slowly stumbled her way down the stairs, and the knocking was becoming even more frequent. She opens the wooden door, to then be ambushed by Dusk and an onslaught of words.

“Oh thank Celestia you came, well I thinkthatPinkieZephyrandSpitfire-“

“Stop talking so fast Dusk, slow down.” Grumbles Twilight, rubbing her eyes.

“OK… Well I need your help with something, Pinkie, Zephyr and Spitfire will be in a lot of trouble unless you and I help fix this mess. They might all have to pay tens of thousands of bits to cover the damage.” Panicked Dusk.

This woke Twilight up. “What did they do?”

“Let’s just say that there is a massive hole in a hotel wall.”

-5 minutes later-

The two reached the hotel where Pinkie, Zephyr and Spitfire were staying. Luckily, Dusk knew where they would be because Spitfire told Pinkie and himself, before they left the club. Twilight thought it was weird that there was still a receptionist at the hotel, at 1:35AM.

“I need to be inside room 106 again.” Said Dusk.

“Sure you can Dusk, but I need to know the name of that mare, to see if I can let her in.”

“Wait a second, I think that it is rude that you need to know-“Twilight aggressively responded before she was interrupted by Dusk.

“Her name’s Twilight Sparkle.”

“Yep, her name is on Pinkie’s list. You two can go in.”

-A minute later-

Twilight was curious about something, “Why did he allow us to get in her room, and why did he need to know my name?”

“I’m not too sure myself; you could probably ask Pinkie if you wanted to know.” The two are in front of room 106, and Dusk began to talk again. “Now we are going to clean up this mess.” He turns the doorknob and begins to open the door.

“How hard could… it… be.” Twilight saw the room in question, and was both shocked and horrified when she realized what she had gotten herself into. The first things that caught her eyes was the gaping hole in the room and the immense amount of graffiti on the walls. Besides that, she saw other excessively messy and stupid things:

Quick Author’s Note: It will be a list rather than a long paragraph, to make things easier.

-Various knifes lodged into the walls, which was designed to sort of look like the outline of a sideward earth pony.

-An excessive amount of crushed breakfast cereal on the ground.

-Hoof shaped mud prints on the ceiling.

-A small campfire which somehow didn’t light anything else on fire.

-Kitchen utensils, EVERYWHERE!

-A pancake the size of a filly.

-A marble sculpture of a diamond dog.

-A giant boulder. (Which Twilight recognized as ‘Tom’.)

-Fluff from a shredded lounge.

-A Shredded lounge.

-Other unmentioned things.

And this was just the living room/kitchen. There was also the bathroom, toilet and bedroom, where Zephyr, Pinkie and Spitfire were sleeping. Dusk and Twilight both agreed that waking any of them up would make things a lot more difficult, because of the possibility of them still being drunk. (Or in one case, Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.)

Point of View: Zephyr

Present Time / 2:10PM

“For some reason, I couldn’t remember what happened from there. All I can remember is when Zephyr ‘woke’ me up.” Twilight blushes but looks saddened, while looking at the ground. “Maybe, I got a bit so stressed out while cleaning, that I forgot what happened.”

Zephyr looks at Twilight, “Well, you and I could go see Dusk to try to find the missing piece of the puzzle.”

Twilight blushes a bit harder, “I… I think that might be a good idea Zephyr.”

Zephyr could see Pinkie whispering to Spitfire about something, and the Wonderbolt gave Pinkie a small nod. He decides that he wouldn’t look into it.

“Twilight, I think that we should find Dusk now.”

“Y-Yeah, let’s go.” The unicorn nervously responds.

The two left the hotel room, while Pinkie and Spitfire stay for a bit longer.

Zephyr and Twilight were both walking towards Fluttershy’s house, which is confusing Twilight.

“Why are we walking to Fluttershy’s if we are trying to find Dusk?” She asks.

“Dusk lives with Fluttershy for two reasons, he doesn’t own a house in Ponyville, and he and Fluttershy are in a relationship.”

The last part of the sentence surprises Twilight. “I didn’t know that Shy is smitten now. She’s needed a good stallion in her life, how long?”

“Three days.”

“So that’s why I didn’t know.”

When they finished talking, they saw that they were near her house. Zephyr approaches the door and knocks.

*knock knock*

Fluttershy hears the knocking and opens the door. “Oh, hello Twilight and Zephyr. What can I do for you?”

Zephyr begins, “We are looking for Dusk, because we need to talk to him about something that happened last night, it’s sort of important.”

“…Sorry, but Dusk is at work right now, I’m sure that he’ll be back here in a few hours.”

“OK Fluttershy, thanks for telling us.” Says Twilight.

“No problem Twilight.”

The two walk towards  Sweet Apple Acres, where Dusk is working. Unfortunately, they couldn’t find him in the large apple farm, so they decide to ask Applejack, who is nearby.

“Hello Applejack.” Greets Twilight.

“Hey Twi, who’s that stallion over there? Is he your coltfriend or somethin’?”

Zephyr and Twilight could both fell their faces heat up.

“My name’s Zephyr and I’m just a friend of Twilight’s. Also, we need to know where Dusk is, it’s kind of important.”

Applejack looks a bit pissed off, “Ah think that idiot’s working with mah brother, somewhere around there.” She points at the general direction of his location.

Zephyr is curious about her aggression towards Dusk. “Why don’t you like Dusk, Applejack?”

“Long story.”

About 5 minutes later, Zephyr and Twilight had found Dusk, bucking some apple trees with Big Mac. It takes Dusk multiple kicks to knock down all of the apples, but it only takes one quick buck for Big Mac to knock down all of his apples.

“Hello Dusk.” Greets Zephyr

“Hey Zephy-“

“Stop calling me that.”

“No. So, I see that you are awake now, and that Twilight is finally out of her broken down state.”

“I have Zeph to thank for that.” Twilight lightly blushes and looks away. Dusk notices her redish hue.

“So, I gather that you need me for something.” Inquires Dusk.

“Yeah, you see, I’ve almost figured out what happened yesterday, but something seems a little off. So can you tell me all that you remembered from last night?” Asks Zephyr.

“Easy enough, I remembered everything that I did last night.”

“Wait, how? Why aren’t you affected by the alcohol consumed last night?”

“When I had that shot last night, I had a sip, and hated the taste so I stopped drinking it.” Explains Dusk

“You’re boring Dusk.”

“Yeah I know, so anyway, you wanted to know what happened last night…”

Point Of View: Dusk

Time:  10:40PM Yesterday

Dusk had left the club about ten minutes ago and was spending time with Fluttershy. While they snuggled in Fluttershy’s bed, Dusk accidentally found out that she was extremely ticklish on the side of her body. He had a sly look on his face, and Fluttershy was curious why.

“Dusk, why do you have that look- *cute as hay squeak*”

Dusk interrupted her and pinned her to the bed, and started talking to her with an exaggerated evil tone, “Bwa-ha-ha, I have you now Fluttershy, now it is time for…” He pauses for emphasis, “Tickle Torture.” He starts the tickle her sides and she starts helplessly laughing as she tries to escape Dusk’s trap.

While unsuccessfully trying to push Dusk off, she brushed her forehoof up the inside of Dusk’s foreleg, which caused him to impulsively pull the particular leg back. Fluttershy saw this, and went for Dusk’s sensitive spots. He lost the upper hoof and became a laughing wreck as he fell victim to her constant tickling. He swore that he heard her say, “Payback Dusky.”

-2 Hours Later-

Dusk woke up in the middle of the night, and felt that Fluttershy was hugging him in her sleep, like a plush toy. He couldn’t dwell on the ad’awwableness of the situation, as he had one thing on his mind.

‘Need to get to Zephyr’s and Spitfire’s hotel room.’

Dusk has something very similar to the ‘Pinkie Sense’. If he thinks of something out of the ordinary, which tells him to go somewhere, then it usually means that something bad is going to happen, or has already happened. It also means that he needs to try and stop the situation from becoming a lot worse.

A good example is when Cloud was harassed by bullies on the first day of school. Dusk instinctive told him to go to that particular area, because something bad was about to happen. He stepped in, and soon became friends with Cloud, at the price of a couple of bad bruises. Another example is the Cloud/Blizzard incident, Dusk thought about Blizzard being very suspicious about something, but he didn’t do anything to stop the unfortunate incident and she eventually committed suicide. Dusk had always listened to his unlucky 6th sense ever since.

He carefully got out of Fluttershy’s hug, without waking her up. He snuck out of the house without causing any ruckus and ran to the hotel where they would be staying.

When he arrived, he went straight for the hotel receptionist and said, “I need to get inside room 106.”

“Ahh, Pinkie’s room…”

‘What?! I thought it was Zephyr's room.’

“…I need to know your name first.” He continued

“Erm, Dusk. But I have to-“

“You’re on the list, you can go inside now.”

“Umm, thanks I guess.” Answers the confused Dusk.

As he entered the hotel room, he knew his instincts were correct but he didn’t know what this dump is supposed to mean. He checks the bedroom hoping that no-one would be dead or something, and sees Pinkie, Zephyr and Spitfire peacefully sleeping.

‘What is Pinkie doing inside the hotel room? [*ding* dirty thought] Zephyr you lucky bastard, got yourself a bit of a threesome have you? Rainbow will kill him though, doesn’t matter had sex. [*ding* another dirty thought] But what if she joined in? I’m sure that Pinkie would call it a ‘friendship party’ or something. [*ding* dirty mental picture]’

“…oh goddesses, curse my dirty mind and its dirty mental images.” Dusk felt his right uninjured wing rise, “No, wingboner, stay down.” He prevents his wing from fully rising, and puts it comfortably to his side.

He begins to think normally again, and realizes what he is supposed to do.

‘Oh! I’m supposed to clean up these damages before they have to pay for them. The amount they would have to pay is immense. What would probably happen if I don’t help, is that Pinkie and Zephyr (maybe even Spitfire.) become bankrupt and will have to live on the streets or something like that.’

He looks at the broken wall.

‘I might need Twilight’s help with this.’

-40 Minutes Later- (No need to write Twilight’s part again, is there.)

Dusk had begun to pick up all of the rubbish on the floor, while Twilight started doing the jobs that only she could fix, such as the wall. While charging spell, Dusk could see sweat dripping down her coat, which he just assumed was because the spell in question was very powerful.

After 5 minutes of picking up an ungodly amount of rubbish, Twilight had charged the spell and casted it. Dusk was amazed, the wall was literally repairing itself. He watched as the wall slowly reformed into its original state.

“What did you just do Twilight?!”

“I just *pant* made the wall *pant* go back in time and *cough* it reversed into its *sniff* original state.”

“Is there seriously anything that can’t be achieved with magic?” Dusk picks up a wrapped chocolate bar her found on the floor and throws it to Twilight. “Eat this to get some of your energy back. Also, you may want to wash yourself up, I’ll continue with the jobs that I can do while you rest.”

-2 Hours Later-

Dusk had nearly finished his part, whereas Twilight had completely done all the things that Dusk couldn’t. (e.g. The removal of the marble diamond dog + Tom, erasing graffiti, reverse timing the couch, removing holes in the wall caused by knives)

As Dusk went to check up on Twilight, he was shocked. She was curled up into a ball, shaking and stoking her tail. She was obviously stressed. Dusk tries to snap her out of her state while remaining quiet enough not to wake the drunken three up.

“Twilight wake up.” He begins to shake her, “Wake up.” He persists for a minute, but she would get out of her state. He tries to lift her up, but is too weak to do anything. He gives up and picks up a nearby mop.

‘She’ll snap out of it. Right?'

-30 Minutes Later-

Dusk had made that place absolutely spotless, he was amazed at how much Twilight and himself have accomplished. (After using about 30 garbage bags) Before he left, he quickly wrote a note in such a way that it would annoy Zephyr.

He went back to Fluttershy’s, and silently got himself back into the bed, wrapping his forelegs around the mare he liked, no… loved.

Point Of View: Zephyr

Present Time / 3:05PM

Zephyr could only do one thing after hearing this, he punches Dusk’s foreleg, making it numb.

“Hey?! What was that for?” Questions Dusk

“Making me want to vomit after I read the note.”

Dusk grins evilly, “Then everything went as expected then.”

The group hears Applejack yelling in the distance. “Dusk, get your flank back to work! You’re on thin ice, your leaving if you don’t do your job!”

Dusk yells back, “I’m just quickly helping some of my friends with an issue of theirs, and I think that you would do the same thing as me in the same situation, while you’re working as well, you hypocrite!”

No response.

Dusk quickly turns back to the pair, “Well that shut her up.” He quickly says.

Dusk continues his verbal warfare against the farm-mare. “So if you have any problems with me, which I’m sure you do, tell Big Mac about it, I dare ya!”

No response again.

“I… I didn’t think that Applejack would be so mean.” Says the saddened Twilight.

“Honestly, I barely got my job back, no thanks to that mu-, no thanks to Applejack. I don’t want to berate her too much, since I still have my job, and I’m sure that Twi wouldn’t appreciate me calling one of her best friends the M-word.”

“I think you’re right there Dusk.” Says Zephyr, showing Twilight’s reaction to Dusk.

She was sitting on her haunches, clearly upset with Applejack. Zephyr rushes to her side to comfort her. Dusk just decides to not make the situation worse, and continued bucking the trees.

“Are you OK Twi?” Asks the concerned Zephyr.

“Yeah, I just never expected that any of my friends would ever act like that to somepony else.”

“I don’t think you need to worry about it. I reckon that Dusk has gone through much, much worse.” States Zephyr.

They hear Dusk in the distance, “Worse than you can imagine. This is actually one of the more funner confrontations.” (Yes, I know that funner isn’t a word.)

Zephyr just comforted Twilight for the next ten minutes, making sure that she doesn’t break down again.

“Hey Zephy, I need you over here for a second.” Calls Dusk, who is a small distance away. Zephyr walks over to where the dark blue stallion is working.

“I think that you and Twilight like each other.” He says in a knowing tone.

“Uhh, how did you know?”

“I didn’t really, you called my bluff and admitted it to me, even though it is obvious that Twilight likes you.”

“Smart move, but how’d know about Twi?” Inquires Zephyr

“Come on, she blushes every time you get near her. It may have not been as obvious for you. It was the same story for me and Fluttershy.” Admits Dusk.

“How do you think I should ask her out?”

“You only became friends with her a few hours ago, and now you want to ask her out?” He comments skeptically. “ Perfectly understandable. So, I’m no Rarity, but I know the bare basics about this sort of thing. Maybe, before you leave the farm, you should ask her for dinner or something, and you could also buy a bouquet of flowers for her or something like that.”

“Hmm, seems like good advice. Thanks for that Dusk.”

“No problem Zephy.”

Zephyr’s right eye twitches, “And here I was thinking that you would help me without calling me that stupid nickname.”

“Problem?”

Dusk watches on, as Zephyr walks up to Twilight, with Dusk’s advice fresh in his mind.

Edit: This was such a fun chapter that many months ago.

Chapter 19: Untrustworthy

Chapter 19: Untrustworthy

Dusk watches Zephyr from a small distance. Just far enough so he wouldn’t hear what they are saying, but close enough to read their body language. As Zephyr walks up to Twilight, he seems nervous, but a lot less nervous than Fluttershy or Dusk in a similar situation. Zephyr begins talking, and he’s red, Big Mac levels of red, enough said. While he is talking, he could see Twilight slowly blushing more and more while Zephyr talks.

As soon as he finishes his little speech, Twilight hugs him and they both start walking towards the town, side by side. Dusk was happy at himself for helping bring the two together, and then his happiness went away when Applejack walks up to Dusk.

“Ah thought ah told ya, to get back to work Dusk, not to lean on some tree and just stare at the new couple.”

“Heh, well I didn’t think that watching my best friend ask a mare out is such a crime.” He responds sarcastically. “If that’s the case, then maybe I should just ignore Fluttershy so I can buck a few more apple trees at night.”

“Oh har-de-hah-hah, you’re so funny. Don’t forget, that you are close to losing your job yet again Dusk. I’m sure that Rainbow wouldn’t want to hear that ‘Dusk was aggressive and rude towards work colleagues and he was fired twice from his last job’.”

‘Don’t want to start another verbal war with Applejack, even if I want to.’

Dusk sucks in his pride, “OK fine Applejack, I’ll keep bucking the trees, arguing wastes time anyway.”

“Good point, Dusk.” She walks away, leaving Dusk to do his job in peace.

‘Only two more weeks of this, and then I’m free.’

Dusk, Applejack and Big Mac were all inside the farm house, and tensions are high with Dusk and Applejack. Big Mac didn’t really seem to care about the problem, and coolly explains Dusk’s day at the farm.

“Dusk completed 32 apple trees today sis, so give him 80 bits for the day.”

“Hmm, seems ah bit lighter than your bit count ah couple of days ago, Dusky.” She says in a passive aggressive tone of voice.

“Heh, funny that. I don’t think that I was in the mood to work today.” He rudely answers.

“Yup, wonder why.”

Dusk left the farm, quite frustrated, but with a bag fall of bits. As he walks back to Fluttershy’s, he sees Zephyr and Twilight talking to each other. He could see her holding an assortment of flowers, which Dusk doesn’t even bother trying to name. The two stallions quickly look at the other while they walk. Zephyr giving Dusk a quick smile, to thank him for the help, while Dusk acknowledges with a curt nod.

A little bit later, he arrives at Fluttershy’s home. He’s is not in the happiest of moods, as he has a frown on his face, and walked at a much slower pace than usual, with his head facing the ground. Fluttershy notices his bad mood, and tries to find out what Dusk is frustrated about.

“Um… are you OK Dusk, you seem upset about something.”

“I’ve had better days; Applejack is starting to grate on my nerves. Ever since that argument a couple of days ago, we have been at each other’s throats. I was hoping that she would be over this whole thing when we apologized yesterday. I know that she wasn’t honest with her apology, but I was hoping that the tension would be gone by then.” He lets out an exasperated sigh, “I wish I knew how to stop this nonsense.” Dusk says hopelessly.

Fluttershy suddenly gets an idea, of how she can stop this feud with her friend and her lover. “Uh… Dusk, what if I talk to Applejack… to try and be more friendly towards you…”

“You know what Shy, I think that is a good idea.” Compliments Dusk. “Maybe it will quiet things down a bit.”

“…Thanks Dusk, I’ll go to see Applejack in a few minutes.”

“Wait a second, you don’t need to go so soon. There is no need to inconvenience yourself, so you can make my life a little bit easier.” Says Dusk.

“I don’t mind at all Dusk. It would be easier for me to do it now anyway.” She tells him.

“Alright, if you insist.” Gives up Dusk.

Fluttershy has a long, thin green scarf wrapped around her neck. There is nothing fancy on the scarf, as it is completely plain. The couple gave each other a quick hug and kiss, as Fluttershy left for the apple farm.

“Make sure that you come back soon, Shy. ‘Dusky the Master Chef’ will be making dinner tonight.” He announces in a ridiculous tone.

Fluttershy give Dusk a weird look, and shakes her head at the playful stallion that she loves. (The only thing that is missing is the facehoof.)

“I’ll probably be back in an hour, Dusk.”

“Alright, see you later Shy-Shy.”

“Shy-Shy?” She asks, with an intrigued look.

“Shy-Shy, your new pet name, until I can think of a better one.” Explains Dusk.

“Umm… OK then, bye Dusk.”

“Bye.”

About fourty minutes later, Dusk has started making some vegetable soup for his marefriend when she gets back. Once again, he ‘persuaded’ Angel to help him, by saying that it is supposed to be for Fluttershy. Dusk is wondering why Angel has a much larger intelligence that most of Fluttershy’s other animals, but he’s not complaining, as it makes things a hay of a lot easier.

“I need you to get a carrot, some corn, a tomato, some celery, a potato, an onion and some salt.” Asks Dusk to his little assistant. Angel does a mock salute, and grabs the requested item out of the cupboard. He gives them to Dusk, who starts to chop the carrot on a cutting board. After about a minute, he moves the chopped carrot out of his way, and gives a few pieces to Angel to eat.

“OK now Angel, I need you to find a saucepan and fill-“

‘Need to find Fluttershy, NOW!’

“Oh no... not her, anything, but her.”

Chapter 20: Dusk's Rage

Chapter 20: Dusk’s Rage

Dusk begins to stress out, knowing that Fluttershy is in danger. He knows that he had to find her before anything bad happens to her, because Dusk’s 6th sense is always right. Every time his sense went off, and he didn’t do anything about it, then something bad would happen. Either immediately, or eventually, but it is usually both.

He needs to leave the house, but before that, he had to talk to Angel quickly.

“Angel, I need to go out for a bit, so I need you to put all of the vegetable that we didn’t use back in the cupboard. If you do that, then you can have all of the carrot that I chopped up.” When Dusk finishes, Angel hops towards the various foods and packs them up.

Dusk, satisfied that Angel won’t be following him, ran out of the house, and towards the Sweet Apple Acres. He notices that Celestia’s sun is just about to fall below the horizon, and that Luna’s moon is slowly rising in the sky.

He frantically knocks at the door of the farmhouse, praying that Fluttershy is still safe inside. When Applejack opens the door, Dusk quickly asks, “Is Fluttershy there?”

“Ah’m sorry Dusk, but she left to go to Ponyville about 20 minutes ago.”

“Celestia damn it, thanks for telling me Applejack!” He yells. He runs toward the direction of the town, as fast as he could go. He is running faster than usual, because of his ‘Level 2 Anger’.

“Ah think that stallion has finally gone mad.” Applejack says to herself.

As Dusk runs towards the town, he starts to wonder where he should look. He thinks for a little bit.

‘Where would Shy be right now. All of the shops are closed now, and nopony is outside right now. Just a small group of stallions that I can see. Everypony would be inside now because-’

Dusk then gets an idea where Fluttershy could be. [cue music]

‘Of course, she would be at one of her friend houses. But why would she want to stay at a friend’s if she told me that she was back home soon. Well, I guess the first stop is at the Carousel Boutique.' He runs towards Rarity’s home and frantically knocks on the door.

Rarity answers the door and begins to speak. “I’m sorry sir but the Carousel Boutique is clos- Dusk? Well hello-”

“Is Fluttershy inside?” He hastily asks.

“No, why would-” Rarity stops her sentence when she sees Dusk running away from her house.

‘Oh no, where could she be? Maybe she’s at Twilight’s place’

By the time Dusk arrives at the door of the library, the sun had disappeared with the moon taking its place. It is quite dark now. He quickly knocks on the door, and Twilight eventually answers.

“Oh hey Dusk, talk about deja vu-”

“Is Fluttershy inside your house?”

“No, why would she be?”

Dusk doesn’t answer the question, as he has run away from her house, like he had done with Rarity. He thinks of where else she could of gone.

‘So I’ve already checked Applejack’s, Rarity’s and Twilight’s house, but there is still Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. I can’t really check at Rainbow’s house, because I would need to fly, so the last place is the Sugarcube Corner...’

He runs towards the bakery, and starts to feel fatigued. It seems that the small adrenaline rush has finally worn off, and he is now feeling the effects from running everywhere. He walks up to the door, and gives a weak knock. The door opens almost a second later, but Dusk isn’t shocked by the sudden opening. He is too stressed out to care. The pink pony who opened the door starts speaking.

“Oh, hiya Dusky, are you here to try out my new super special-”

Dusk puts his hoof in front of her, to silence her and starts talking, “Is Fluttershy inside with you?”

“Of course not Dusky...” Dusk turns around to leave.

“...but she came here before so she could buy some cupcakes and then go home, and even though the shop was closed when she came here, I let her in anyway and gave her the cupcakes for free. *GASP* Don’t tell Mr or Mrs Cake that I did that, or that might come out of my pay, Pinkie Pie promise?”

Dusk left the store saying, “Thanks for the info Pinkie.”

As Dusk walks on the street, Pinkie approaches him. “You didn’t Pinkie Pie promise.”

“I don’t have the time.”

“I won’t let you go until you Pinkie Pie promise.

Anger levels rising... “Just let me go Pinkie,” His voice begins to get louder. “It is really important.”

“Still need to promise.” Bugs Pinkie.

Dusk lets out a frustrated yell, and begins to rub his temples.

‘She not going to let me go, is she. Well, I need to remember what Shy told me about the Pinkie Pie promise.’

“Cross my heart and hope to fly... uhm... stick a cupcake in my eye.” He doesn’t bother doing the motions.

“OK good Dusky, see ya later.”

“Finally.”

“Maybe I don’t need to worry about Fluttershy, she could of just gone home by now, and maybe the 6th sense was wrong. Yeah, that’s probably it.” Dusk says to nopony in particular.

As he gets onto the path towards her house, he hears a loud, earpiecing scream from the lake... a loud , earpiercing scream, which Dusk recognises as Fluttershy.

He runs as fast as he can towards the nearby lake, and is shocked at what he sees...

Point of View: Fluttershy

“Come on baby, me and my friends just want a bit of fun.” Says the largest stallion.

Fluttershy is too scared to respond. She is near the edge of the lake, and she is surrounded by four unknown stallions. There are two pegasi and two earth ponies, who had approached her while she was walking back home with the cupcakes. All four stallions each held a knife in their holsters.

“Um... no thank you. I... I just w-want to go back home... if you d-don’t mind that is...” She responds timidly.

“Oh, but we do mind, we wouldn’t like you to leave so soon without getting a nice buck from me and my friends.” Says the leader of the group. They slowly get closer to the frightened mare.

“Oh... um... you can’t. C-Can you just l-let me go home... please.” Fluttershy begins to cry

“No can do toots, let get her boys.” Says their leader. They are almost an forearms length away.

Fluttershy tries to fly away, but her wings won’t budge, she is too scared to move. One of the stallions viciously grab her, and then they all hear a loud yell, from nearby. Fluttershy and the stallions look at the enraged Dusk. The iris’s of his eyes were glowing red, and there was a very unsettling aura emanating from him.

Point of View: Dusk

‘So, increased heart beat, slowed time and urge to kill. Level 4 Anger, I haven’t felt like this in a long time.’

“YOU WILL NOT TOUCH FLUTTERSHY! I WILL BUCKING KILL YOU!” Yells Dusk.

He begins to charge at the group of stallions with uncontrolled rage, knowing that they are armed with knives. The smallest earth pony of the group takes out his knife and prepares to attack. Dusk is still charging at the first stallion, who starts swinging his knife at Dusk’s head. Time slows down for Dusk, as he sees that the weapon is about 10 centimetres away from his face, so he puts his head low enough to completely avoid the knife and makes contact with the stallion. He staggers backwards and drops his knife, and as he tries to pick it up, he get bucked in the face with a sickening crack and falls onto the ground unconscious.

The leader of the group sends the two pegasi to deal with Dusk, who both get out their weapons and fly into the air. They dive onto Dusk, cutting him with their knives at each successful pass. Dusk curses himself for not being able to fly, but counts himself lucky that he can’t feel the pain. On the fifth pass, the smaller pegasus flies too low, and Dusk stands on his hindlegs and punches him in the face, knocking him onto the ground. As he tries to fly, Dusk grabs his wing, and snaps it, and he howls in pain.

Dusk simply says “That howl is annoying.” when he bucks the second stallion into unconsciousness.

The large pegasus lands on the ground, obviously getting impatient of his former strategy. He stands on his hing legs, (with assistance from his wings) and gets into a fighting stance. Dusk charges at the stallion, but gets knocked over, when he gets punched in the face. He get back up and charges again, with similar results. He starts to feel a small pain from his small wounds, but ignores them. He charges for a third time, but as the large stallion readies himself for a third punch, Dusk sidesteps, and knocks him over with the massive cast on his wing, which is quite hard. Dusk bucks the stallion in the face, but he winds Dusk by hitting him in the gut. The stallion grabs the knife from the ground, and readies himself for the kill, when Dusk quickly kicked his hind leg, distracting the stallion, and he bucked the surprised stallion in the face, finally knocking him out.

The leader is the only conscious gang member, and he has his knife in his mouth. Dusk charges at the stallion, but is stopped when the earth pony sidesteps and forces his knife into Dusk’s side. Dusk yells in pain, as the knife sticks into his body. It stops Dusk’s adrenaline filled frenzy, as he now feels the immense pain of his knife wounds and bruises. He falls onto the ground, succumbing to the pain. His vision is slowly becoming darker, his breath is ragged and he was in immense pain.

‘I’m sorry Fluttershy...’

The leader walks away and approaches Fluttershy, who could just yell “DUSK!” before crying even harder than before.

‘...can’t die now, must save her.’

Dusk slowly forces himself up, with is head throbbing, his breath weak and he was staggering on the ground. The last stallion pushes Fluttershy on the ground, while Dusk picks up a dropped knife. He hobbles towards the stallion with the knife.

Dusk uses the last of his energy to stand on his hindlegs, with the knife held in his two forehooves. He yells at the stallion, who turns around with his eyes dilating. Dusk forces the knife into his back, and they both fall on the ground.

Fluttershy runs over to Dusk and gives him a big hug, while crying on his shoulder. The semi conscious Dusk feels the tears fall down his back, and says to her.

“I need *ragged breath* you to take me to *ragged breath* the hospital.” [stop music]

Edit: I really love the choice in music for this chapter.

Chapter 21: The Long Walk

Author’s Note: Yes I know it’s a short chapter...

Chapter 21: The Long Walk

Fluttershy slowly helps Dusk get back on his hooves, as he painfully climbs onto Fluttershy’s back. When he gets on, he quietly tells her something.

“Shy... I need... you... to walk.. if you run... it’ll... be... too painful.”

“OK Dusk, I-I’ll try to be careful.”

Dusk notices that Fluttershy was quietly crying which didn’t surprise Dusk too much. The only thing he could do, without causing even more pain, is to gently stroke her soft pink mane.

'Of course she would be upset right now, she was about to get...raped (As much as I hate to say it) by a group of stallions, and she watched as I was beaten, bruised and stabbed to protect her. Now she has to carry me to the hospital because I can’t walk without falling to the ground.’

Dusk decides to talk to her about something, knowing of the pain it’ll cause him.

“Shy, why’d... you go to... the Sugarcube... Corner?”

She is surprised that Dusk had asked her that. “Umm... I went there because I wanted to buy you some cupcakes, to surprise you, and to make you a little happier.”

“Why would... I... need a gift... if I... have you... by my side...” Dusk lets out what vaguely sounds like a chuckle. “That was... *coughing fit* so cheezy.”

Despite the situation, Dusk still tries to make her happier. It’s part of his nature, to try and make things less sad for Fluttershy.

“I-I think that you should stop talking Dusk... I think that it’s making you worse.”

He doesn’t respond, and just starts lightly stroking her mane again.

The pain is getting much worse for Dusk. The cuts on his back, still have blood dripping from them, and were stinging Dusk. All of the bruises that he had earned in the fight against the large pegasus, began to really hurt, in the areas affected but his knife wound was by far, his most painful wound. The knife is still in his side, as both Dusk and Fluttershy knew that removing the knife now would make him die of blood loss. The knife itself, is cutting into more and more of his  muscle, and a small trickle of blood would fall down his coat. His breathing had become shaky and ragged once again.

He and Fluttershy were about 10 minutes from the hospital, and unfortunately for the two, nopony could help them, as they were all in their houses in the centre of town, sleeping under the cold light of Luna’s moon. Fluttershy couldn’t ask for any help, because it would of wasted too much time.

Dusk’s vision began to darken again, he could see growing black dots, which are starting to cloud his vision and it was getting harder for him to stay awake. He needed to tell her about his condition, before he fell unconscious.

“S-S-Shy, I-I... t-think that *extremely ragged breath* I-I... need a s-small... rest.” Fluttershy feels Dusk going limp on her back, and she begins to tear up.

“No... NO DUSK, PLEASE WAKE UP!” She screams at the unconscious stallion on her back.

She runs in pure desperation towards the nearby Ponyville hospital, with tears running down her face. She didn't want him to die, especially not after all he has done for her.

---------- (About one hour later)

Point of View: Fluttershy

Fluttershy was sitting, alone, in the hospital waiting room, waiting for anypony to tell her Dusk’s condition. She couldn’t cry anymore, as she had used up all of her tears. She looks like a wreck, her mane is ruffled and messy, her eyes were quite bloodshot, from crying earlier, and she had bags under her eyes, from lack of sleep. There is also a very noticeable amount of blood across the sides of her body.

She waits long into the night...

Chapter 22: Recovery

Chapter 22: Recovery

Dusk wakes up in a white sterile room. The room is illuminated by bright rays of Celestia sun, beaming through the window. He looks around the room, and sees that Fluttershy is asleep on one of the hospital beds, and she looks like a wreck. Dusk decides to wake her up, and finds it much easier to talk.

“Can you wake up Fluttershy, I uhh... I’m starting to feel better.”

Fluttershy slowly opens her eyes and looks at Dusk. She begins to tear up and she gives Dusk a big hug.

“I-I thought that you were going to die Dusk, I-I-I don’t know what I w-would of done-” Cries Fluttershy.

“Don’t worry about Fluttershy.” He returns her hug, and continues talking. “I’m completely fine now, you don’t need to worry anymore. I will always be there for you.”

The couple hold their embrace, knowing of what could of happened to Dusk. They remain silent.

Fluttershy has calmed down, and has released her hold on Dusk, while he looks at his injuries. There is a large wrap-around bandage where his stab wound is, and several small bandages on his smaller cut. The bruises on his face, and body are mainly untouched. He sees that he is attached to a blood bag, which replaced any blood he lost during the conflict, and the walk to the hospital. He looks at his casted wing, and remembers that he can remove it in about 4 days.

“Are you OK now Shy?”

“Um... yes, I think that I’m OK now Dusk. Thank you... for saving me.”

“That’s OK Shy. I would never let that happen to anypony, especially not you.”

“That’s nice Dusk.” She gives Dusk a caring nuzzle, which makes him blush. “I love you Dusk.”

“Love you too Fluttershy”

“Well I love you more Dusk.”

‘Oh crap, *imaginary facehoof*  I think I know what’s going to happen. Need to finish this before it goes on for way too long.’

“Nuh-uh, I love you more Shy Shy.”

“No Dusk, I love you even more.”

Dusk then pulls her closer, and gives her a loving kiss on the lips, and she lets out a small squeak in surprise. (D’AAAWWWW) He pulls himself away.

“I think that I won that Shy Shy. You should never try to-”

Fluttershy interrupts Dusk by pushing herself onto him, and passionatly kissing him in the lips. Dusk’s eyes widen, when he feels her tongue going into his mouth. She has full control. After a few seconds, she stops her kiss, leaving a very flustered Dusk in her wake.

“Uh... umm... wow Shy, I wasn’t expecting that. I can only say one thing that describes my feelings right now-”

*pomf*

‘HORRIBLE TIME TO POP UP, YOU STUPID WINGBONER!’

Fluttershy looks at Dusk with a surprised, but humoured look on her face, while Dusk is in full panic mode.

“Oh Celestia, damn my right wing. Fluttershy, I swear, that isn’t what I was about to say, it just coincidentally appeared while I was talking.” Dusk quickly blurts out. “Sorry Shy Shy, I didn’t mean to be so vulgar.”

“I don’t really mind Dusk, I know that it was an accident.” Reassures Fluttershy.

“It was, but I don’t-”

Fluttershy given Dusk another passionate kiss, once again taking him by surprise. He could hear a *pomf* from Fluttershy, as he tried to regain control as she slid her tongue in his mouth for the second time...

Both Dusk and Fluttershy are in a loving embrace on the hospital bed, while continuously kissing each other.

“Ah, so I see that Dusk is awake now, although not in the way I imagined.” Says the nurse in the doorway.

The couple were shocked by the new guest, and have quickly regained composure after the sudden interruption. Dusk began to laugh quite nervously, while Fluttershy hid her head behind her pink mane, while still blushing.

“Eh heh heh, you might of came in at the wrong time Nurse Redheart.” Says Dusk.

“Meh, I’ve seen worse. I actually heard a couple having sex in one of the hospital rooms. The worst part, is that the room was fully crowded, and the only thing that part that prevented prying eyes from looking inside, was the curtain. It didn’t help that they were quite loud as well.”

[*Ding* cue dirty mental image.]

‘I have really got to stop thinking of this crap.’

“I think we should start up a different subject now. So how long do you think I’ll have to be here for?”

“For another 30 minutes. Luckily for you, none of your wounds hit anything important in your body. We just needed to put some blood back into you, because you were close to dying. Your marefriend waited in the hospital for you to wake up, since she got here.”

“Did you really Shy?” Asks Dusk.

“Umm... yes, I didn’t want to ever leave your side Dusk.”

“Aww... Thanks Shy.” Dusk pulls her into a soft embrace.

Dusk is allowed to leave the hospital now, and he gladly does so. He is walking with Fluttershy towards her home, but then Dusk remembers something important.

“Oh damn it, I’m supposed to be at work today. Applejack is gonna kill me.” Panics Dusk.

“What if I tell her that you can’t make it today, because of a few injuries?”

“...A great idea Fluttershy. Just make sure that you come back this time.” Dusk lets off a saddened sigh. “I don’t want to lose you.”

She gives him a light nuzzle, “Don’t worry Dusk. I’ll make sure to come straight back.”

“Thanks Shy.”

Chapter 23: How'd You Talk Me Into This?

Chapter 23: How’d You Talk Me Into This?

As the couple walk in the direction of Fluttershy’s home, she begins to tell Dusk something.

“Dusk, I’m going to go to Applejack’s now, so I can tell her about why you aren’t at work today.”

“Wait a second, are you going to tell her about that unfortunate little incident last night?” Dusk asks.

Fluttershy hesitates for a few moments before answering. “I... won’t tell them about what happened. I think it would worry them too much, and I wouldn’t want to do that.”

“That is a pretty good reason not to tell them. Alright, See you later Fluttershy.”

“Bye Dusk.”

Dusk arrives at her house, and waits for her to get home. He remembers the book that he had borrowed from Twilight, and turns straight to the bookmarked page.

Quick Author’s Note:You readers probably forgot about the Past Sins part in C11, well it returns. (Unfortunately?)

-181 of 553-

“How uncanny, Nyx beat the four older and bigger stallions all by herself. Deja vu? Sort of like when I knocked-out those 4 bloody idiots who were trying to force themselves on Shy. I hope, for their sakes, that they had left Ponyville a long time ago.” Dusk states to no-one in particular. He continues reading...

-195 of 553- 16 minutes later

*facehoof* ‘No Nyx, you silly filly, (I’m sounding a bit like Pinkie right now...) don’t show them your wings, that could have horrible consequences.’

Dusk has always hated it in books, if the character willingly does something very stupid or embarrassing. It always make him cringe at their failure.

-208 of 553-  13 minutes later

“No Celestia you idiot, do not listen to Spell Nexus. He is only going to make things bucked up for Nyx, use your 100 million year old head to figure out that he is screwing with you.” Says the frustrated Dusk, at the book.

-Meanwhile in Canterlot-

Both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were attending court, to listen to their subjects requests. Just as Celestia dismissed a disappointed red unicorn, she feels a few sharp pains in her head. She puts her hoof up onto her forehead in pain.

“Sister, why is thou in pain?” Asks Luna, in her iconic regal tone.

“I... don’t know my dear sister, but it feels like one of my subjects doubts my rule a ruler of Equestria.” She admits.

“I’m sure that unicorn will be happier again, sister.”

“No, no Luna, not disappointed, but distrustful...”

-Back in Ponyville-

“You need to get your act together Celestia. I hope that the actual Princess, is less oblivious about these sort of things.”

-224 of 553- 19 minutes later

“CELESTIA YOU MULE, you can’t just away Nyx like that, she is not Nightmare Moon you freaking idiot...”

-Canterlot-

The sun princess feels more sharp pains in her head, which are much more painful than before. She lets out a moan of pain.

“Sister, what is wrong with thou?” Asks the dark blue alicorn.

“It hurts, it really hurts. Luna, I think that I’ll retreat to my room for a bit, I need you to be out there while I’m gone.” Says the strained Princess Celestia

-Ponyville-

“That isn’t right, that’s unjust. You know what book?” He picks up the bookmark and slides it into the open page. He slams the book and says “Rage quit.” Dusk’s eyes were watery, but the floodgates didn’t open.

‘It’s just something in my eyes... I hope.’

About five minutes later, Fluttershy enters her house with a saddlebag full of apple based foods.

“Hello Dusk.”

“Hi Fluttershy, how’d it go with Applejack?” Asks Dusk.

“It went fine, I think that she has changed a bit, after my talk to her yesterday.”

Dusk is surprised by the result. He didn’t think that Applejack would change her negative opinion against him.

Dusk give Fluttershy a quick hug. “You're the best, Shy.”

She starts to blush a little, “Um, it was nothing Dusk.”

“Could I ask you something Dusk?”

“What is it Shy.”

“I was talking to Rarity a couple of days ago while you were at work, and she told me that she needed to find a stallion, so she could create a few more design for her shop.” She explains

“Uh huh, I fail to understand what you ask of me.” Says Dusk, in a deadpan tone.

“So I’m wondering, why don’t you come to her boutique, so she could try a few designs on you, if you don’t mind that is.”

Dusk’s answer immediately pops up in his head.

“No Shy, I don’t feel like being a living mannequin, why can’t she ask Big Mac?” Asks Dusk

“She has, but he said that he is too busy at the farm.”

“Caramel?”

“Same reason.”

“Doctor Whooves?”

“He says that he is too busy. He always seems to leave town for the strangest of reasons.”

Dusk tries to think of another possible candidate for Rarity, but can’t think of anymore stallions that live in Ponyville.

‘Why is there a massive difference of the ratio of mares to stallions. [\Ding* dirty thought] Big Mac gets all the mares, nudge nudge.*’

“Well, I might be the only candidate available, but I still won’t go. I feel a bit uncomfortable being worked on like that.”

Fluttershy does an excessively sad/adorable face. She has a small sad pout, her eyes are widened and she looks like she is about to cry. It puts Rarity to shame.

“Can you pwease go Dusky?” She says in a seemingly upset tone.

“Nope, I still don’t want to go Shy Shy. That’s not going to work.” He says defiantly.

She steps it up a notch. She makes her bottom lip tremble, and she lets off a small tear.

“Pwetty Pwease Dusky?”

Dusk is unfazed, “Shy, trust me, I’m not going to work. There is no way I’m going to the Boutique.”

Dusk and Fluttershy both arrive at the Carousel Boutique. Fluttershy is more cheery than usual, while Dusk is slightly annoyed at the situation.

“Fluttershy, how the hay, did you talk me into this?”

“I don’t know, I’m just good like that.” She answers in a strangely assertive tone.

As the two walk into the store, they are greeted by the fashionista. “Oh hello Fluttershy and Dusk what can I do for you today?”

Fluttershy begins to speak, “You know how you needed a stallion to help you with your designs, well I convinced Dusk to help you.”

“*gasp* Oh my Celestia Dusk, thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you. You won’t regret this Dusk.” Rarity is giddy with excitement.

“I probably will regret this...”

Rarity had brought both Dusk and Fluttershy into the room where she designs her various clothing. She brought Dusk up into the centre of the room, and started measuring him. She decides to start up a conversation to make things a little less quiet.

“So, Fluttershy, what is it like with Dusk living in your home?”

“Oh it’s wonderful, he is so good to me. I don’t think I deserve somepony like him.” She responds.

“Trust me Shy, you are the sweetest pony that I have ever met.”

“Aww, thanks Dusk.”

Rarity gasps for the second time in 10 minutes. “So are both of you in a relationship now?” She excitedly asks.

“Is it really that obvious? That’s not really a bad thing you know.” Confirms Dusk.

“Now I’m going to have to be even more careful than usual. I don’t want to hurt her coltfriend too much.” Worries Rarity.

“Wait a second, so you weren’t going to be as careful before, and now, because Fluttershy is my marefriend, you will be more careful. I don’t know if I should be relieved, or worried.”

“I’ve finished the measurements Dusk,” She magics a sewing needle, thread and some black fabric, “Now it is time for me to start sewing.”

Rarity begins her work on Dusk, who is worried about the needle being so close to him. “Oh no, I hate needles. Rarity, I really hope that you are careful with- AGHH, that hurts.” Dusk was pricked by the needle.

“Oh sorry Dusk. I’m used to working with mares, and I forgot that stallions have a slightly different physique.”

“Huzzah for me. I’m looking forward to more pin pricks...”

Rarity has finished half of Dusk’s suit, and he isn’t really enjoying the experience that much. He has been pricked more times than he cares to count and he hates constantly standing in the same spot.

“Dusk, I’ve wanted to bring this up before, but why do you have new injuries on the side of your body, and your back?”

Both Dusk and Fluttershy are look up, worried about if they should tell her what happened. Dusk looks at Fluttershy and looks at her with a frown that asks ‘Should I tell her?’ The yellow mare thinks about it for a bit, and shakes her head.

“Uhm.. Rarity, we’d rather not tell you, it’s a personal matter.” Answers Dusk

“Oh... OK Dusk. I’ll respect your word. At least they won’t affect the suit too much, and I can work around your wing.”

“Thank you Rarity.” Sincerely thanks Dusk.

About an hour later, Dusk’s suit was nearing its completion. In Dusk’s eyes, Rarity has just made him a simple black tuxedo, with a white shirt underneath and a black tie.

“Now Fluttershy darling, I need you to exit the room for a little bit, until I call you back inside.”

“Umm... OK, but why, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“It’s a surprise. I’m sure that you’ll love it.”

“OK Rarity, I’ll get out the room now.”

Rarity waits until Fluttershy exits the room until she tells Dusk her plan.

“Dusk, I’m going to quickly finish your suit, and then appropriately style you mane, so when Fluttershy enters the room, you can show her how fabulous you look.”

“Um, sure Rarity, but why?”

“You should sometimes make yourself look more presentable towards her. I’m sure that she’ll be amazed.”

“OK, if you say so.”

Rarity quickly finishes the suit then makes Dusk follow her to her vanity. She pulls out her rather large make up box.

“Whoa Rarity, I don’t want to wear any make up crap.”

Rarity facehoofs Dusk, “Of course I’m not going to use my products. I just need to get the brush out.”

She magics the brush, and starts to brush Dusk’s mane, as it begins to straighten.

About a minute later, his short mane is straightened. He looks in the mirror.

“Hmm, not bad Rarity, so should we call in Fluttershy?”

“Nearly.” She brings an unknown bottle of something towards Dusk and sprays.

“That’s a good smell Rarity, what is it?”

“Well, this particular bottle of aftershave is called-”

Dusk silences her, “That’s all I need to know, send Shy in.”

“OK Dusk, I’ll get her.”

She walks out of her room, to get the mare in question.

Dusk hears Rarity from behind the door, “So Fluttershy, I would like you to meet the new and improved...” She opens the doors. “...Dusk!”

Fluttershy eyes seem to brighten at the sight of him. She is amazed at Dusk’s new look.

“Wow... Dusk, you look stunning.” Says the somewhat shocked Fluttershy.

“Um... Thanks.”

Chapter 24: Let Me Tell You A Story

Author’s Note: The story here was Zephyr's idea.

Chapter 24: Let Me Tell You A Story

Dusk takes a look at his new suit, trying to find out what is so good about it. In his opinion, it looks like a normal tuxedo. He couldn’t really see what is so great about it, but he couldn’t argue with results, Fluttershy loves his new look.

“So Rarity, it seems that you did a pretty good job, because Shy can’t seem to take her eyes off me.”

“That’s no problem Dusk. I’d like to use you as a helper again sometime, for my new designs.”

‘Again?!’

“Rarity, I would like to politely refuse. I don’t think that I would be able to handle over 2 hours of standing still, and getting pricked over and over again.” He bluntly replies.

Dusk could see her disappointment in her face, “Alright then Dusk, I guess I’ll have to try and get Big Mac to the Boutique. I would love the opportunity to work with that sexy hunk of a stallion.” Rarity swoons.

‘I’ll say it again, Big Mac gets all the mares.’

“So, how much will this suit cost Rarity?” Asks Dusk.

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that Dusk, free of charge.”

Dusk gives Rarity a sceptical look, “And what is the catch?”

“Just think of it as a present for your relationship with Fluttershy, and for being a volunteer for me.”

He is surprised by Rarity’s generosity. “OK then, if that is what you really want.”

Dusk walks over to where Fluttershy is standing. She is still staring at the spot where she first saw the suited Dusk and her jaw is dropped, rather comically.

“Uhm... Shy, I have a feeling that you really like this suit.” He assumes.

Fluttershy snap out of her daze, “Oh yes Dusk. It looks... nice.”

He gives her a nice smile, “Thanks Shy.”

He turns to Rarity “See ya Rarity, thanks for the suit.”

“No problem Dusk.”

Dusk and Fluttershy were both walking along the path towards her home. Fluttershy still loves Dusk in his suit, but she isn’t in the state of shock that she was, while at Rarity’s.

“Dusk, I umm... think that you should keep that suit on... that is if you don’t mind.”

“Yeah, that’ll be fine, it is actually quite comfortable, to be honest.”

‘Maybe those constant measurements aren’t such a bad thing.’

“Thank you Dusk.”

“No prob Shy. I think that I should-”

“HEEEEY DUSK!” Interrupts somepony from the sky.

Dusk looks up, and sees Zephyr flying down towards the direction of the couple. He pulls up, just before he touches the ground.

“Wow, that was a dramatic entrance.” States Dusk with a slight surprised look on his face.

“Yeah I know. Rainbow has been teaching me a few stunts that she knows.”

Dusk looks unimpressed, “And I presume that simple trick was taught to you from Dash.”

“Of course not Dusk, almost every pegasi can do this. So what with the suit?” Asks Zephyr.

“Long story.” Dusk looks at Fluttershy, “Why don’t you go back Shy, I’ll be talking to Zephy for a bit.”

“Alright Dusk, bye.”

“See ya later Shy.” Dusk waves his hoof.

“Sooo, the suit?

“Fluttershy somehow persuaded me to go to Rarity’s so she could try out a few of her new designs. Apparently, I was the only one available at the time, since she asked every other stallion and all of them refused.”

“Really? I don’t remember her asking me. I would of said yes, if you asked.”

‘Oh my Celestia, how could I forget to mention Zephy to Fluttershy before I went. I’m such an idiot.’

“So she made me this suit, and let me keep it free of charge.” Finishes Dusk.

“And what did you need to do, to let her give it to you?” Zephyr’s eyes expand, “Don’t tell me you did what I think you did to her.”

*Ding* Dirty image

“WHAT?! NO!” Panics Dusk. “She just let me keep it!”

‘Thanks a lot Zephy, now I can’t stop imagining her and I doing the dirty deed. GTBO you dirty image!’ (Get The Buck Out)

“Don’t worry about Dusk, I’m just messing with ya.”

“Ha ha Zephy, so-”

“Stop calling me Zephy!”

Dusk lets off a small laugh, before continuing, “So aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

Zephyr shrugs, “I’ve got it handled.” He looks up at a moving cloud, and shouts, “HEY RAINBOW, CAN I STOP FOR A BIT, I WANNA TALK TO DUSK!”

Rainbow’s head pops out of the cloud. “YEAH THAT’S FINE ZEPH, WE’VE FINISHED ANYWAY, SO YOU CAN HAVE THE DAY OFF!”

“OK THANKS RAINBOW!” he turns to Dusk, “Easy as that.”

“Lucky you. Anyway, what is your relationship like with Twilight?” Inquires Dusk.

“It’s going great. You should of seen what happened last night...” Zephyr has a massive grin on his face.

“I’m curious.”

Point of View: Zephyr

Zephyr and Twilight were having a nice romantic dinner, at a restaurant near Twilight’s home. They were sitting outside under the beauty of Luna’s night sky. They had both nearly finished their respective meals, Zephyr had ordered a simple spaghetti while Twilight had bought a salad. It was their first date, after Zephyr asked her out on the apple farm.

“So, Zephy, d-do you think that you could come back to my house later?” Nervously asks the purple unicorn.

“I reckon that I can Twi, what for?”

“It’s a surprise Zephy. You’ll have to find out when we get there.” She coyly answers.

“Well, before I go back to your place, could you follow me for a short while? It’s not the end of our date yet.” Says Zephyr.

“OK Zephy, lead the way.”

-10 Minutes Later-

Zephyr had led Twilight to a secluded field about half a kilometre away from the town. This little clearing had an assortment of multicolored flowers, scattered around the grassy earth. The area was illuminated by the cold light of Luna’s moon, which was high in the night sky. It was a simply beautiful sight.

As Twilight steps onto the field, her eyes widen, and she has a massive smile on her face. “Wow, Zeph, I have read about places like this in my books, but I never thought that I would see anything like it.”

“Well, sometimes I go out here to think about things. You are the only other pony that I’ve shown this place to.”

Twilight then has a seductive tone in her voice. “So nopony knows of this place? Well...  that means that we are all alone here...”

Zephyr picks up on what Twilight is saying, “...And we can do whatever-”

Twilight interrupts Zephyr, as she pulls him into an embrace and starts kissing him, lustfully. He is surprised by this, but returns the gesture...

Point of View: Dusk

“...And then Twilight and I spent the night in that beautiful clearing.”

Dusk adds two and two, “So let me guess, you two had sex in the hidden area.”

Zephyr nervously laughs, “Yeah pretty much. Just to set the scene, she was commenting about how I am such a good strong stallion, while I bucked her. She enjoyed it when I was in control.”

[*ding* dirty image] “Oh my Celestia Zephyr, did you really have to tell me that much?! Now I won’t be able to get that mental image out of my head, you bastard. Is this for me calling you Zephy all the time?”

“Yep, mission accomplished.” He smugly smiles at me.

‘Why did I become friends with him again?’

Chapter 25: The Unexpected Date

Chapter 25: The Unexpected Date

Dusk had left for Fluttershy’s house, after that rather revealing story from Zephyr. He told Dusk, that he would, ‘surprise’ Twilight later that day, which brought a shudder from the dark blue stallion. He decided that he wouldn’t want to find out, and so he left the area, leaving Zephyr to do whatever he was going to do with Twilight.

As he walks along the pathway, he recognises the spot where Dusk and Fluttershy had their incident with the four stallions. There were still a few stains of blood, where there was conflict, Dusk presumes that most of it is his. The 4 stallions that were unconscious on the ground, were no longer there. He looks at the general area, with a worried look, as he thinks of what could of happened to her. He didn’t like to dwell on the subject.

He walks away, and moves towards the direction of Fluttershy’s house.

He opens the door of Fluttershy’s home, and sees that she is making a few daisy sandwiches for herself.

“Good afternoon Shy, you making lunch for yourself?”

“Hello Dusk, and yes. I’m just making a few sandwiches. Do you want one Dusk?”

“Yes please.”

Fluttershy makes a second daisy sandwich for Dusk, and gives it to him on a plate. He picks it up and starts eating, but then gets an idea.

“So Fluttershy, since I am *om nom nom* still in my suit, I’m thinking. Maybe *nom nom* I could take you out for dinner, at a restaurant somewhere in Ponyville.”

Fluttershy gives him a cute smile, “I’d like that Dusk.”

“So I’m planning on having dinner at the restaurant near Twilight’s place. It seems like a good place to go to... mainly because it is the only restaurant, that I know of.”

“Umm... OK Dusk, what time are you thinking?” Asks Fluttershy.

Dusk looks up at the nearby clock, which reads 1:17 PM, “Maybe we could get there at 6PM, if you are comfortable with that time, that is.”

“I think that’s a good time, Dusk.”

Dusk asks Fluttershy something, “You mind if I could have a bath now? It would save a lot of time later tonight.”

She simple says, “Go ahead, I don’t mind.”

Dusk, starts filling the bath, and once again, it is at the perfect temperature for him. He removes his suit, and puts it on the nearby table. He grabs what he thinks is the soap and starts to wash himself. (He still doesn’t know what most of the washing products are for.) He is secretly hoping that they don’t spend too much money, since he only has the 80 bits that he earned yesterday at the farm.

When he finishes washing his mane and coat, he steps out of the bath and drains the water. He puts the suit back on, and steps out of the bathroom. When he enters the lougue room, he expected to see Fluttershy, but she wasn’t there.

“Shy! Shy, where are you?”

Dusk hears a quiet response from upstairs. “I’m still here Dusk, I went into my room before, and I’m getting ready for tonight. I don’t want you to come into my room Dusk, that is... unless you want to.”

“What no, I wouldn’t do that, if somepony wants their privacy, I should let the have it.”

“Thank you Dusk.” Finishes Fluttershy.

He is looking forward to seeing Fluttershy when she gets out of her room. If she looks anything like she did during their dinner together, than he would be amazed.

Quick Author’s Note: I won’t bother trying to explain the dress, since it has been gathered that I cannot do so.

Fluttershy has finally stepped out of her room, and walks into the area where Dusk is sitting. His jaw drops when he sees her. She was wearing the most exquisite dress that he had ever seen in his life. She is also wearing a light make up, which looks similar to what she did during the dinner

“F-Fluttershy, has anypony ever t-told you that you look... amazing.” Stammers Dusk

“Only you Dusk.” She answers with a small blush.

“Where did you get that dress from?”

“Um... well all of my friend and I were going to the Grand Galloping Gala in Cantelot. It’s a long story, so you don’t need to listen to it.”

Dusk looks up at the clock, 4:23PM. “Yeah go for it Shy Shy, we both have time to kill...”

----------

“... and it turned out to be our worst night ever, for all of us.”

Dusk wasn’t expecting any of that to happen at one of the most prestigious events in Equestria. He definitely did not expect her to rage the way she described it to him.

“That would suck, Shy. I bet your glad that it’s over now.”

“But I still feel bad about those poor animals though Dusk.”

He shrugs, “I’m sure that they don’t remember what happened Shy.” He reassures.

“I hope not.” She looks at the clock, 5:13PM. “Umm... do you think we should go now, even if we are a bit early.”

“Yep.”

----------

After about 30 minutes of walking, the couple have made it to the restaurant. It looked pretty classy, it is the sort of place where Rarity would like to eat. They had gotten inside and picked themselves a table.

They were both looking at the menus for what they would order, until they were interrupted by a familiar stallion’s voice.

“Hey Dusk.”

He looks up from his menu, and recognises the stallion straight away. “Oh hi Zeph,” He looks at the purple unicorn following him. “Did you bring Twilight out here for a date?”

“Yeah, I see that you did the same with Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy begins to talk, “Hello Twi.”

“Hi Fluttershy.” She responds.

“So it seems that we both brought our dates to the same restaurant at the same time. How convenient.” States Zephyr.

Dusk and the two mares have a confused look on their faces, “Why’s that Zephy?” Asks Twilight.

“Well we can make it into a double date.” Answers Zephyr.

‘This is either going to end well, or really, really badly...’

Chapter 26: The Dirty Couple

Chapter 26: The Dirty Couple

The two couples have moved to a larger table, so there would be more room for the four. Dusk had been feeling uneasy about this whole situation, as he knows what Zephyr’s and Twilight’s relationship is like. He thinks back to what Zephyr told him about his ‘surprise’ for Twilight...

[dirty image] ‘Why did Zephyr have to tell me what he did before. Now all I can think of is Twilight saying harder Zephy, harder.’ [dirtier mental image]

Dusk shudders and puts his forehoof onto his head, which Fluttershy notices, and is immediately concerned about.

“What’s wrong Dusk, are you hurt?” Asks Fluttershy.

“Nah I’m perfectly fine Shy, I’m just thinking about something.” Reassures Dusk.

“Um... could you tell me about it... if you don’t mind that is?”

Dusk’s eyes dilate and he quickly yells one word, “NO!”

This startles Fluttershy, and grabs both Zephyr’s and Twilight’s attention. The three stare at Dusk curiously, and he lets off a nervous laugh.

“Uh... you guys don’t need to worry about that, I may have just over-reacted a bit.” Defends Dusk.

“A bit? I’m pretty sure that the whole restaurant heard you.” States Zephyr.

“It’s nothing really.”

The waiter has arrived at their table, waiting for their order. “So what are you getting?” He has a scroll and a quill ready.

Twilight is the first to speak up, “Can I have the salad?”

Zephyr speaks up next, “I’ll be getting the spaghetti.”

“I... I’ll have the same as Twilight.” Says the timid pegasus.

“I want to order the ravioli.” States Dusk.

The waiter pony writes down the order on the scroll, and walks into the kitchen area of the restaurant. Meanwhile, a few table lengths away, the two couples on are talking to each other about various things.

“How long have you and Dusk been in a relationship?” Twilight asks Fluttershy.

“Um... I don’t know, with everything that has happened recently...”

“4 days, this is the fourth day of our relationship.” Answers Dusk

‘They have been 4 massive days as well.’

“It’s only our second day.” Says Twilight.

“And its been quite eventful, in one way or another.” Adds Zephyr, they both give each other seductive looks, while Dusk is trying not to think about what Zeph told him before...

He fails. [dirty image]

His left eye twitches, as he thinks about what will, and has happened with the two.

Zephyr whispers in Dusk’s ear, “So... have you gotten lucky with Fluttershy yet?”

Dusk becomes pale, and answers, “No, of course not, I think it’s too damn intrusive. It’s not that I don’t believe in doing that sort of thing, it’s just that I choose not to do it.”

Zephyr smirks at him, “You’re missing out Dusk.”

“I’m a bit more of a hugger anyway.” He states.

“What are you two talking about?” Asks Twilight, who had become interested in their quiet conversation.

Dusk quickly responds, “Uh, nothing Twilight, why do you ask?”

“It’s just that you look a bit pale right now so-”

“Really, I didn’t know that.” Lies Dusk. He gives Zephyr a small death stare.

Their meals arrive soon after and the four resume their conversations, Dusk is talking to Zephyr again.

“So Zeph, I don’t know why I’m asking this, what was the ‘surprise’ that you showed Twilight?”

“Oh that, I gave her something that she really wanted,"

[Dirty image]

Zephyr continues “I bought her a few gifts before I arrived at her house. I got her chocolates, flowers and a necklace, she loved them.”

“Oh, so you only bought her a few presents... I thought that you may have bucked her or something.” Says Dusk, in a surprised matter.

“Nah not yet, that’ll be happening later.” He says.

[very dirty image]

Dusk continues talking, despite the images in his dirty mind. “Why do you casually talk about that sort of thing, do you think that she would like you talking to me about that sort of thing?”

“I don’t think she cares.”

They both look at Twilight and Fluttershy who are in their own conversation. Twilight is talking quietly to Fluttershy about something, and when she finishes talking, Fluttershy goes pale, but she has her wings erect.

Dusk talks to Zephyr again, in an exasperated tone. “No, I don’t think that Twi cares about what you say...”

‘I don’t think that I can see Twilight in the same way again.’

The four have nearly finished their dinners, and Dusk is in a conversation with Fluttershy.

“I-I didn’t know that Twilight is so... so sexual.” Says Fluttershy.

“You’re telling me. Every time Zeph says something, I always think that it has something to do with him and Twilight doing... something to each other.”

“Yeah... I think that I have to agree with you.”

They both look at the other couple, and listen to their conversation.

“Zephy, do you think that I should tell Princess Celestia about... us.” Asks Twilight.

“Why shouldn’t you? What is the worst that she would do?”

“She might disagree about this whole thing, what if she-”

Zephyr interrupts her, “And why would she disagree with our relationship Twilight? It’s not like I have done anything bad to you, and you’re happy with this whole thing. She wouldn’t be mad, she’d be happy for you.”

“But how should I tell her? I can’t just write her a random letter that says that I’m in a relationship.”

Zephyr chuckles to himself, “You worry too much Twilight, all you need to do is to write it in one of those friendship reports of yours.”

“I suppose that would be the easiest thing to do Zephy.”

The two stop listening to Zephyr and Twilight and Fluttershy begins to speak nervously.

“Maybe when w-we get home later tonight, we could... um... do... you know.”

Dusk understands what she means, and is quite surprised. “Why do you ask Fluttershy?”

“Well, Twilight and Zephyr do it, and they seem to like it. I heard that stallions seem to like doing this sort of thing, and I want you to more happy with me.”

“Fluttershy, I can tell that you feel uncomfortable about this whole thing, and I know why you want to do this, but I wouldn’t do anything like that, unless you really wanted to. Also, this may sound very soppy and cheesy, but whenever I’m with you, I’m the happiest stallion in Equestria. You don’t need to do anything that you feel uncomfortable with.”

She gives him a small kiss, “Thank you Dusk.”

Everypony had finished their dinners, and Dusk and Zephyr were going to pay for the meals at the counter. They were talking while they were waiting.

“So Fluttershy told me something earlier that disturbed me. She asked if I wanted to do the dirty deed with her when I got home, but the thing is, that she was uncomfortable about that sort of thing, and I refused when I found out. I think that maybe the next time we do things like this, you two could maybe be a bit more... private about your bedroom adventures.” Says Dusk.

Zephyr feels a bit guilty after Dusk told him this. “Oh hay, I’m sorry Dusk, maybe I could talk to Twilight about doing that. Sorry if I caused any problems Dusk.”

Dusk nods at Zephyr, “That’s OK, just don’t do it again please.”

“Got it.”

When they reach the counter, they both pay 25 bits each, to cover the cost of the meal. Dusk is thankful that he spent a lot less than he thought he would, as he was expecting this place to charge a lot more.

The two couples leave the restaurant, and say their good byes. Dusk and Fluttershy walk along the path towards her home.

Chapter 27: Curiosity of the Apple

Chapter 27: Curiosity of the Apple

“Well... that date was interesting, to say the least.” Says Dusk.

“They made me feel... uncomfortable. I didn’t think that Twilight is like that.” She quietly says.

“Well, being in a relationship can bring out the best or worst in ponies. Trust me, I know this for a fact.” Dusk remembers back to the Blizzard/Cloudie incident a few years ago.

The two were silent for the rest of the walk home. The unique sound of crickets fills the air, as the disturbed couple walk.

About 10 minutes later, Dusk breaks the silence by asking Fluttershy a question, brought up by his curiosity.

“So Fluttershy, Zephyr and I saw you and Twilight discussing something, and at one point, you went pale, and your wings were fully erect. Why was that?”

“Um...” She begins to get nervous, “I... I don’t think that you’ll want to hear it Dusk.”

“Try me.”

“She told me about her 1st date.” She begins to cringe at the thought.

“Ahh, yes, Zephyr told me about that already. I presume that she didn’t leave out the more private details.” He says.

“...How did you know?” Questions Fluttershy.

“You wouldn’t of had a wingboner if she didn’t tell you.”

“Was it that obvious?”

“Yes.”

The two had both made it back to the house at a late hour. They had not bothered washing up, as they were still clean after the accidental double date. They had gotten themselves out of their suit/dress and began to look like their normal selves again. Dusk looks at the time on the clock, 7:52PM.

“Shy, I think that it is a bit early to call it a night, you have anything that we could do?” Asks Dusk.

“We could watch a movie together, if you’d like to.”

“You know what Shy, I reckon that might be a good idea. Will you set it up in the bedroom, or the lounge room?”

“In the bedroom.”

“Good choice Shy.”

For the next hour, Fluttershy and Dusk had been ‘watching’ the movie. Fluttershy had decided to put on a comedy movie, but they were barely even watching it. They were both in each others forelegs and passionately kissing the other.

When the movie ended, they decided to call it an early night, so they both put the TV away, and both got into her bed. They both fall asleep a few minutes later.

Dusk awakes from his slumber, at an early hour, as per usual. He gets out of the bed, and stretches his forelegs and rubs his eye. Despite his tendency to wake up at an early hour, he is not a morning pony. He exits the house, while yawning, so he can go to work at the Sweet Apple Acres.

He walks along the pathway to the apple farm, for 15 minutes, when he sees Big Mac outside, getting ready for today’s work.

“Hey Big Mac.”

“Hello Dusk, good to see ya back at work again.” He approaches Dusk, and looks at the bandage wrapped around his body. “How did you get that?” He asks.

‘Oh crap, I don’t want to tell anypony about how I got my injury, because they’ll worry about me, and then try to find out why I got it. I don’t want to tell them why, if Fluttershy is still uncomfortable about the whole ordeal. I guess I’ll have to lie.'

“I was running a few days ago, and then I tripped, onto something sharp, and that gave me a rather nasty cut.” Lies Dusk.

Big Mac looks sceptical, as he doesn’t believe what Dusk told him. “I’m the older brother of the Element of Honesty. I can tell that you are lying Dusk. What really happened to you?”

Dusk sighs, knowing that he is going to have to tell him what really happened. “OK you got me, but you need to make sure that you don’t tell anypony.” The red stallion nods. “I was in a fight, against four other stallions, and I was stabbed in the side of my body.” He points to the exact spot, and continues. “All of the other cuts on my back were also because of that fight.”

Big Mac looks concerned, “Why the hay did you get into a fight against four armed stallion?!”

“Only Fluttershy and I know. She doesn’t want me to tell anypony as of yet, and I feel the same way.”

“...OK then Dusk, I understand. Anyway, you will be working with Applejack today. She is now comfortable with you, after Miss Fluttershy told her about you.”

“Sweet, thanks Macintosh.”

Big Mac has woken everypony up, as he usually does, and they had started working. Dusk joins up with Applejack, who is bucking the apples off the trees.

“Heya Applejack.”

“Howdy Dusk,” She looks at the bandage, wrapped around the middle of his body. “How did ya injure yourself?” She asks in a worried tone.

Dusk decides to try and use the same lie that he did with Big Mac, hoping for better results. “I was running to Fluttershy’s house a few days ago, but I tripped over, and I fell on something quite sharp.”

Applejack slowly shakes her head, “Dusk, ya know that ya can’t lie to me. How did ya really get injured?”

Dusk sighs in defeat, for the second time that day, “I was in a fight with a group of armed stallions, and while I was fighting, I got stabbed on the side.”

Applejack looks shocked, “Why in tarnation did ya pick ah fight with these stallions?!”

“It’s a long story, I’d rather not tell anypony at the moment.”

“Ya really need tah tell me Dusk. I don’t want you to run into any stupid fights.”

“You don’t need to worry about me Applejack, I’ll be fine.” Desperately says Dusk, who is hoping that Applejack doesn’t look anymore into this.

“Ah worry about ya Dusk. First your wing, and now this. Ya really need tah tell me what happened.”

‘I’m going to have to tell her, aren’t I. I’m sorry Fluttershy.’

“Fine, I’ll tell you.” Applejack has a satisfied look on her face. “I have this 6th sense that tells me if anypony I know is in serious trouble, and it told me that she was...” The farm mare, has a concerned look.

Dusk continued, “So I was looking for her, and I visited your place, as well as all of her friends place, but she wasn’t at any of the homes, so I walked back home, and I found Shy surrounded by a group of four stallions, and from what I heard, they wanted to rape her...” Applejack was horrified with what she was hearing, and she started to feel bad for making Dusk tell her this.

“...so I stepped in, in a massive rage, before they could do anything to her, and knocked out three of the four stallions. But as I tried to take out the last one, he stabbed me in the side of my body. When he approached Fluttershy, I surprised him and I ended up possibly killing him. She took me to the hospital, and as it turns out, I nearly died of blood loss. Does that answer your question?” He finishes aggressively.

Applejack is in tears after hearing all that she did. “Ah-ah didn’t think that *sniff* anypony could be so-so-so horrible. I wouldn’t like to-to think of wha-what would of happened to poor Fl-Fluttershy if you weren’t there. It-it-it’s just...” Applejack begins to break down, distraught about what almost happened to Fluttershy. The best thing that Dusk could do, is to try and comfort her.

‘This is why I didn’t want to tell anypony.’

Chapter 28: Misunderstanding

Chapter 28: Misunderstanding

Applejack is on the ground, crying after what she had heard from Dusk. He tries to comfort her when...

“DUSK, WHAT THE BUCK HAVE YOU DONE TO MY SISTER!” Yells a certain enraged red stallion, who is also much more bigger and stronger than Dusk.

The dark blue stallion looks at Applejack, who looks up with tears in her eyes, and then back at Big Mac. Even though he is about 25 metres away from the two, he could see that he is ready to kill.

Dusk gets very nervous, “Uh, you see, I did not intend for Applejack to get upset, it’s just that- PLEASE DON’T KILL ME!”

Big Mac starts charging at Dusk, who is paralyzed with fear. He has faced a manticore before, he has been attacked by four stallions with knives, but none of them compare to the fear that he is feeling right now.

As the large stallion gets closer, Dusk quickly thinks. ‘I hope that this will be quick and painless.’ He shuts his eyes, when he is about 10 metres away.

Applejack can see what is about to happen, and yells “STOP BIG MAC!”

He attempts to stop as soon as he hears her desperate plead, but he is going to fast, and he is too close. He hits Dusk at a slower pace, but he is still knocked onto the ground, hard.

Dusk feels sore, all over his body. The he is very sore on the front of his body, as this is where Big Mac had collided with him, and the side of his body has many scratches, from when he slid on the ground after the impact. One thing that worries him though, is that he landed on the same area where he was stabbed. He is hoping that it won’t start bleeding again. Applejack rushes over to where Dusk landed, feeling terrible about what happened.

“Oh mah Celestia, ah’m so sorry Dusk.” She starts to get more upset. “Ah didn’t know that was gonna happen. Ah’m sorry, ah’m sorry, ah-”

“Don’t worry about it Applejack... I’m fine, just a little winded and scratched. I’ve... had worse.” Assures Dusk.

Big Mac, who had calmed down a bit, walks up to Applejack. “Why did you want me to stop? Dusk was the one who made you cry, so why do you so easily forgive him?”

“Because it was mah own fault tah begin with. Ah forced him tah tell me why he got into ah fight with the 4 stallions, so he told me everything that happened, and ah broke down.”

They both hear Dusk weakly contribute. “Yep, that is *cough cough* basically what happened.”

Big Mac walks up to the still downed Dusk. “I’m mighty sorry about what happened Dusk. I guess, that my judgement was clouded from what I assumed had happened.”  He holds out his hoof towards Dusk. “Do you forgive me?”

Dusk looks at Big Mac’s hoof, and grabs it. “Of course, I’ve done the same thing for Shy.” He gets pulled up onto his hooves by Big Mac. He staggers a little bit, before regaining control of his legs. “I think that I’ll sit out of work, for a few hours, as I’m sure I’ll be useless in my state anyway.”

“Dusk, ah need ya tah come inside for a bit, ah need tah fix ya up.” Says Applejack. Her mood had improved considerably after the incident with Big Mac and Dusk.

“Alright lead the way.” They both went inside, leaving Big Mac outside, to continue bucking the trees.

Applejack had led Dusk to the first aid kit near their kitchen. She pulls out something which confuses Dusk, a bottle of clear liquid, and a cloth. She wets the cloth with the mysterious liquid.

“So Dusk, ah need ya tah sit over there for me.”

Dusk does what she asks of him, while Applejack starts to rub the wet cloth on his wounds. Dusk feels a massive stinging sensation. “AGH! I wasn’t expecting that! What the hay is this stuff?”

“Dusk, it’s cleaning alcohol.” She looks unimpressed.

“What is it for?”

“To clean the scratches, so they don’t get infected.”

*mental facehoof*

After about ten minutes of utter pain, every single wound had been cleaned, and there were small bandages all over his right side. He is sitting outside, waiting until he is fit enough to buck apple trees again.

He is still hurt, from Big Mac’s impact, and even more so from the clear liquid of immense pain. He could go back to work at anytime, but he knows that he is too weal to be able to do anything. Dusk looks at his body, and sees his injured wing, a bandage wrapped around the middle of his body, and about 10 smaller ones, on his back and side.

‘I’m like Equestria’s very own living punching bag.’

“Hey Applejack, come here.” Calls Dusk.

She approaches the injured pegasus after bucking another tree. “Yeah, what is it.”

Dusk gets closer to Applejack, and whispers, “Do not tell anypony else what I said before, you got it.”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” promises Applejack, who is doing the motions of the Pinkie Pie Promise.

“Thanks. I think I’ll be able to get back to work after lunch.”

After eating a lunch consisting of two ‘Pink Mare’ apples, Dusk has started to buck the trees again. He couldn’t kick at the same strength or speed though, because if he kicked too hard, his would feel a very sharp pain where he was stabbed. He still felt sore from Big Mac charge earlier on, and the front of his body is very tender.

Dusk’s technique helped him knock more apples off the tree, but progress is very slow. He could see Big Mac, Applejack and Caramel knocking the apples down with ease, while he is stuggling to finish his fifth tree for the day.

By the end of the day, Dusk had only finished eight trees. Both Big Mac and Applejack were inside with Dusk.

“So ya only bucked eight trees today, so normally, that would be 20 bits, but ah think ya deserve compensation for what happened earlier today, so ya get 170 bits for today.” Applejack finishes, and gives Dusk his pay for the day.

Dusk sees Big Mac pawing the ground. “I’m sorry about that Dusk.”

He just shrugs, “Don’t worry about it Macintosh. You did what you had to do.”

He begins to walk out of the farmhouse, waving his hoof at the two, as he walks along the main path to Fluttershy’s.

After walking for about two minutes, he sees a small group of mares and stallions near Ponyville. He didn’t recognise any of them, but he could hear them laughing, even from a distance. Dusk walks closer to the small crowd, to see what is so funny. After some fidgeting, he saw what everypony in the crowd is laughing at...

‘...those bastards.’

Chapter 29: Dusk's Controlled Rage

Chapter 29: Dusk’s Controlled Rage

Dusk was disgusted by what he sees. There were a group of five mares and two stallions harassing a gray coated pegasus. She is on the ground, with various letters scattered everywhere, and he notices that some of them have been ripped in half. She is taking the full force of the verbal assault.

“Ha, Derpy Hooves strikes again.” Maliciously teases one of the mares.

“Maybe you need to get your eyes fixed, Derpy.”

“Shut up just SHUT UP!” She yells back at them. Dusk could easily tell that she was very upset at the group, but he decides that he didn’t need to unnecessarily rush in to something that he didn’t understand.

“Aww, is itty bitty Doo Doo mad.” She picks an intact letter. “Well you’re about to get madder.” She rips up the letter into tiny shreds.

“NO!” She begins to tear up.

“You must be a terrible mailmare is you can’t deliver all these letters.” She shows the gray pegasus all of the letters that the group has torn up. “It makes me think, maybe your as bad a mailmare as you are a parent. I don’t think that poor Dinky-”

“NO STOP!” She cries

Dusk couldn’t handle it anymore. It went against his morals, to see somepony being mentally abused like that.

“I don’t think that you should-” The stallion is stopped by an infuriated Dusk.

“What the buck is wrong with all you ponies?” He metaphorically asks in a quiet, but very threatening tone. “You’re making this pegasus’s life living hay, for your own sickening sense humour.”

A few of the ponies in the group look unsettled, but all of the other are somewhat smug. “Ha, this is coming from somepony, with enough bandages on them to supply the hospital for a year.” Taunts the bigger stallion.

Dusk is getting more frustrated at the small group, “This isn’t about me, it’s about her. How low could you go, to insult her as a mailmare and as a mother.” Four of the ponies look guilty for what they had done, but two of the mares and the large stallion still kept their smug facade.

‘I reckon that those three will be a problem, whereas the rest of them probably just thought that this was funny at the time, but now realize what they are really doing.’

“All of you are acting like little foals.” He says in an aggravated tone. “You should-”

One of the mares interrupts Dusk, “I think that you are taking things too seriously, we are just having a bit of fun with Ditzy.”

Dusk gives her a sceptical look. “Oh yeah? You called her a bad mailmare and mother, you tore up the letters that she is supposed to deliver and she is crying because of you. ARE YOU BUCKING KIDDING ME?!” Dusk decides to stop trying to guilt trip the last three of the group, and started to use intimidation tactics, as is the case with Level 3 Anger.

“YOU SEE THAT SOMEPONY HAS CRASHED, AND THE FIRST THING THAT YOU DO IS TO ABUSE HER, AND RIP UP HER LIVELIHOOD!” He could see them start to waver, so he makes himself look bigger than he actually is, and stands at an aggressive posture, while threateningly moving closer to them.

“YOU SHOULD BE BUCKING ASHAMED OF YOURSELF, get out of my sight.” He finishes in a deathly tone. This scares the remaining three enough, and they run away.

Dusk calms down, and walks up to the mailmare, who had stopped crying and starts looking at him. something that shocks Dusk are her yellow eyes. One eye is looking at Dusk while the other is looking in another direction, but other than that she looks pretty normal. She has a medium blond mane, and bubbles for a cutie mark.

“So are you alright?” Dusk asks her.

“Yes, thank you for helping me with them Mr...”

“Dusk, my name’s Dusk.”

They had both picked up all of the intact letters that were on the ground, and Dusk had agreed to meet her at the post office later, to explain what happened to her boss, about the ripped letters.

“So, Ditzy, how did you crash in the first place?” Asks Dusk, who is curious about the subject.

“I was flying around, and because of these eyes of mine, I couldn’t see the tree in front of me, and I crashed into it. Sadly, some ponies like to make fun of me, but I have never had anypony rip up the letters, or call me a bad mother.”

“That was a very low blow for them to say that.” He says dejectedly

“Why did you help me before Dusk?” She asks

“Instinct. It’s part of my nature to try and help anypony who is upset... unless I don’t like them.”

“So do you know how to get to the Post Office?”

“Yeah, so I need to get there in 30 minutes.”

“Yep.”

Dusk began walking towards town, and decides to get buy himself something to eat, before he arrives at the Post Office. He walks towards the markets near the center of the town and checks out the various wares of all of the food vendors that are still open.

After five minutes, he finds something that he would like to eat, in the carrot stall.

"Hello miss, can I buy some carrot cake?" He asks the mare, who is running the stall.

"Certainly, that'll be 4 bits."

The store owner had a cream colored coat, and a long, curly orange mane and tail. She has green eyes and a bunch of carrots as her cutie mark. He gives her the required bits, and starts to eat the cake on the way to the Post Office.

'I hope that I can help Ditzy with her predicament.'

Chapter 30: The Boss

Chapter 30: The Boss

Dusk finishes his carrot cake and walks up to Ditzy, who is waiting outside the building of the Post Office. The mail mare looks very panicked, and stressed out. She is pacing around at anxiously. Dusk could easily tell that she didn’t want to do this.

“What’s wrong Ditzy? Why are you so worked up about this? I’m sure that he’ll understand once we’ve told him what happened to you.” Dusk say confidently.

“Well that’s the problem, you see, I’ve done some really stupid things while working here, and I think  that she is getting sick of it. She is a great boss, but my constant mistakes make things hard for her, and this will make things worse for her. Every time I report a mistake of mine to her, I can see, that she is getting closer and closer to letting me go, but I need this job to support my little Dinky, and if I don’t-” Dusk stops her from finishing.

“Ditzy, don’t work yourself up too much. If she is a good boss, than she won’t fire you for something that you couldn’t help. You’ll be fine.”

“I really hope so Dusk.”

The wall-eyed pegasus walks into her work area in the Post Office, while Dusk follows her. She walks up to a blue coated, pegasus mare, who has her fuchsia colored mane, tied up into a bun.

Ditzy nervously walks up to the mare, “Hello Mail Call.”

“Good afternoon Ditzy, what’s wrong? You seem unhappy about something.” Says the concerned mare.

“I’m sorry Mail, but I couldn’t deliver all of the mail today. I had a few problems along the way.”

The mare known as Post sighs. She looks disappointed, “Ditzy, you know how sad I get, when I know that somepony won’t be getting their mail. I know that you are the fastest mail pony on the team, but you need to stop screwing up deliveries.”

“I know Mail, but it wasn’t my fault this time. I was flying, and a tree was in my blind spot and I crashed right into it. Then some hecklers came and made fun of me, but they were also ripping up some of my letters...”

When Mail heard that last bit, she was deep in thought, thinking about what she should do with her.

Ditzy continues her explanation, “Dusk then stopped them, and he helped me pick up the untorn letters, and then I delivered the rest of the letters.”

“Who is Dusk?” Asks the confused mare.

“I’m Dusk, and yes, I did stand up for Ditzy.” He confirms. “There were 5 mares and 2 stallions who were insulting her, and tearing up the letters, just to upset her. I yelled at them, and they all ran away.”

“...It sounds like you’re telling the truth Ditzy, but if you excuse me, I’ll need to go into my office for a bit. I need to think about what will happen to her.” She walks away, leaving Dusk and Ditzy in the work area. None of her colleagues were present, as they had all left for home.

There is a deafening silence in the building, and Dusk is thinking of something he can say, to break the silence. He then remembers something that Zephyr had told him when they first met.

“So Ditz, I heard from a friend of mine, that you left your original job as a weather pony a month ago. Why?” He asks curiously.

“I felt uncomfortable with the job. Sure the pay was better, and the work was easier, but I have never felt comfortable with the job for some reason. I like doing this job, and the pay is good enough for me to give Dinky a good life.”

“Did you know, that I have taken your spot as weather pony?” Asks Dusk.

Ditzy looks at his injured wing, and sceptically looks at him.

Dusk looks at his wing as well, “When I recover, I’ll be working for Rainbow. Also, Zeph told me that he likes the muffins that you brought to work.”

Ditzy chuckles, “He always did eat the more of them than Rainbow and I.”

They hear Mail’s voice from her office, “Dusk, I need to speak to you for a second.”

Dusk and Ditzy give each other a confused look, as he walks to the office.

He enters her office, and she is sitting on the chair behind the desk. “Dusk, I would like you to sit down for a second.”

He does so, and she continues, “So I understand that she was getting harassed while doing her job, but I don’t understand why she couldn’t of just picked up the rest of the cards and flown away. What were they saying?”

Dusk begins to answer truthfully. “I wasn’t in the area when it first started, but when I arrived, they kept on saying that she was a bad mail mare and mother. She was crying at one point.”

She just nods, and writes something on her nearby scroll, “Why do you think she should keep the job?”

“To support her, and her little daughter. It’s not like she did anything wrong.” Debates Dusk.

“But why should she get let off so easily, just because she is a single parent. That isn’t fair on the other workers.”

Dusk falters for a little bit, “But she’s only been working here for a month. I’m sure that if you give her more time, she’ll improve and make things better for you.”

“True, true.” She write down something on the scroll and says, “You can go now.”

Dusk and Ditzy were waiting for Mail Call to tell them what will happen, for 10 minutes, until she walked out of her office to tell her the results.

“So Ditzy, I was originally going to let you go, but after I called Dusk into the office, he convinced me to let you work for longer.” Ditzy is elated with the results. “I expect to see you, the same time tomorrow.”

She began to talk excitedly, “Oh my Celestia, thank you Mail! And thank you Dusk for helping me!”

She gives him a tight hug, and a quick kiss, and starts to blush, whereas Dusk looks like he’s seen a ghost. He is pale, and has stopped moving.

‘Oh CRAP, she likes me, but I’m already in love with Fluttershy. Ditzy is going to hate me for telling her this...’

Chapter 31: Bigamy, and Other Jokes

Chapter 31: Bigamy, and Other Jokes

“Ditzy, did you just kiss me?” Asks Dusk in a half shocked, half disturbed tone.

“Um... I don’t know what came over me before, but yes, I did. I think that I like you Dusk.” She heavily blushes.

Dusk starts to get nervous, and he is not looking forward to tell her what he needs to tell her, especially after the way she showed me her affection. It’s not a good situation for Dusk, who is thinking of possible bad endings.

‘Dusk stammers “But-but I’m already in a relationship with Fluttershy.” Ditzy then bursts into tears and flies away, yelling “I hate you, GO AWAY”. She then commits suicide leaving Dinky as an orphan.’

‘He begins to explain, “Sadly, I can’t be in a relationship with you, as I-” He is interrupted when Ditzy jumps of him, and passionately kisses him, and he is too weak too push her off. He hears crying from nearby, which he finds out to be Fluttershy. He sputters out, “Fluttershy, this is not what it-” but he can’t finish, as Ditzy kisses him even harder than before, while tightening her embrace. Dusk later finds out that Fluttershy is too devastated to ever leave the cottage and could never trust another stallion again.’

“Why am I such a pessimist?” He quietly asks himself.

He composes himself for the inevitable, as Ditzy waits for him to talk. To him, it’s felt like minutes since she confessed, but in reality, it’s only been a few seconds.

Dusk begins to speak in an apologetic tone, “Ditzy, I’m sorry, but I’m already in a relationship with Fluttershy. I love her, and I always will.”

The mail mare looks saddened after hearing all of that. She then starts to feel bad for kissing him, while he is still in a relationship. “I sorry Dusk, for invading your personal space like that. I don’t know what came over me. I didn’t know that you were with Fluttershy.”

Dusk shrugs, “I forgive you. Even though you did make me feel uncomfortable, I wouldn’t hate you for it. You couldn’t of known. Friends?” He holds out his hoof in from of her.

She shakes his hoof and her mood improves. “Friends. This whole relationship thing could still work out though, have you ever heard of bigamy?” She asks in a playful tone.

“Yeah, like that is ever gonna work. I could imagine... I walk to Fluttershy’s home, with you next to me and I’ll say to her, ‘Hey Shy, I brought home a mare which I met only an hour ago, now your going to have to share’.” He says in a sarcastic manner.

“I don’t think that’ll end too well Dusk.” States Ditzy

“I agree.”

“I’ll be going to Carrot Top’s now. I’m sure that my little muffin is waiting for me.”

“Alright then Ditzy, see you later.”

“Bye Dusk.”

They both move towards their intended destinations, on a much more positive note.

After a short walk, Dusk has gone back to Fluttershy’s house. He walks inside, and finds Fluttershy making herself some green tea. He sees that Angel is also helping her in the kitchen, and he is getting the green tea leaves for Fluttershy.

“Good evening Shy.” Greets Dusk.

“Hello Dusk, where were you before? Normally you’d be home about an hour ago, and I was a bit worried that something happened to you.”

“Well... the thing is, something did happen today. You know that wall-eyed mail mare?” He asks.

“You mean Ditzy Doo, she’s really nice.” Comments Fluttershy.

“Well, here’s the thing, I was walking back to yours, when I saw her being hassled by a small group of ponies that I couldn’t recognise. So I defended her and they got sick of verbally abusing her and walked away...”

“Dusk, was the last part really that easy for you? I’ve seen what you tend to do.” Says the sceptical Fluttershy.

“I might rephrase what I said before.” He says in a slight nervous tone. “I actually raged at the group, and I scared them away. Anyway, because of those idiots, her job was on the line, so she needed my help to convince her boss to let her keep her job, which was successful, by the way.” He smiles smugly and continues, “And then after all that, I went home, and started talking to you about today, like I am right now.” Dusk decides not to tell her about what happened when they both left the Post Office.

Fluttershy lets off an annoyed sigh. “A lot of ponies like to make fun of Ditzy, I wish they would stop.”

“Yeah I know, right.”

Fluttershy has finished making herself the tea, with the help of Angel, and started to drink it, but she then wanted to ask Dusk something.

“Dusk, do you want me to make you some tea, if you want me to, that is?”

He stops to think of his answer, “I... think... yeah, can I try some green tea, there is a first for everything I guess.”

Fluttershy gets the green tea leaves again, and prepares Dusk’s tea. She is thankful that she still has a fair amount of boiled water in her kettle, as she begins to make the healthy concoction.

About three minutes later, she had finished making the tea, and gave the cup to Dusk, who sniffs the drink.

‘...It seems that I don’t really like the smell of green tea, but I might as well try it to see why it is so popular.”

Dusk takes a small drink of the tea, and puts the cup back on the table. “I don’t really like the tea too much Shy, but I’ll drink the rest of it, so I don’t waste it.”

“I was hoping that you’d like it, that’s unfortunate.” She says dejectedly.

Dusk sculls the rest of the tea, so he wouldn’t need to constantly drink something he doesn’t like. Rarity would of fainted, if she saw how he finished his tea.

‘I don’t see what’s so good about tea.’

It is pretty standard affair for the rest of the night. They both had dinner together ‘Pasta for the win’, they washed up, and they both went to bed.

As they slowly drift off to sleep, in each other's embrace, Dusk asks Fluttershy something that he had been meaning to ask her for a while. “Fluttershy, do you mind if I come along, the next time you and your friends have a get together?”

“I think I could do that, but why though? Wouldn’t you get bored of us?” She asks.

“I could, but I think that I could know more about your friends, and vice versa. I’m pretty good friends with all of them anyway.” Explains Dusk.

“OK then Dusky.” She yawns, which he finds excessively cute. “Good night.”

“Night Shy.”

They both fall asleep in her bed, while still lovingly holding each other.

Chapter 32: Dusk the Matchmaker

Chapter 32: Dusk the Matchmaker

Dusk wakes up early in the morning as per usual, and gets out of the bed, without disturbing Fluttershy. He walks towards the bathroom, and starts to take off all of the bandages on his back, and on the side of his body. All of the smaller cuts have healed perfectly, as expected. He threw all of them in the nearby bin, and he looks at the mirror. There is almost no evidence of the scratches that were once there, besides a few scabs where some of the wounds were. He kept the bandage around his side though, for two reasons:

1- Better to be safe, than sorry and...

2- He likes the look for some reason. Maybe a pride thing?

Dusk like it that all of the bandages are off now. He was sick of constantly seeing the small spots of the medical fabric all over his body, as it made him look utterly ridiculous. (Speaking of which, he also wanted the cast off. Even though he is used to doing things with the cast on, it makes him feel uncomfortable, when the occasional pony stares at it.)

Dusk walks out of Fluttershy’s, and goes in the direction of the apple farm, for the day of work ahead.

He sees Big Mac, preparing for the day of work, as per usual. Dusk looks up at the sky, and sees that Celestia’s sun is just about to creep over the horizon, and to give light to all of Equestria.

“Heya Big Mac.”

“Hello Dusk, I reckon that you’ll be working with me today with the apple bucking.”

“Alright then Mac.” Dusk then thinks of something, that he wants to ask Big Mac. “Sooo... Big Macintosh, I’ve wondered something for a while, after noticing something about the town a few days ago. I’ve seen how many more mares there are in Ponyville, than stallions, and I’ve been wondering, how many times has a mare asked you out on a date?”

Big Mac was surprised with Dusk’s question, and he began to blush. Dusk could see the slightly different shade of red in Big Mac’s face, and he patiently waits for an answer.

“Eeyup.”

Dusk facehoofs, at Big Mac’s choice of answer. “Yes?! That doesn’t answer anything! It also makes no sense whatsoever. So from what little information I have gotten for that inspirational and informative word, it seems that you have been asked out before. Am I right?”

“Eeyup.”

“I knew it, so that means that mares have asked you before, but you’re still single, right?” Dusk is on a roll, and he was rivalling Pinkie in terms of how fast he is talking, and also by how much he is talking.

“*sigh* Eeyup.”

“Excellent, not in the you not having a marefriend bit...sorry, but in the time for me to get you one bit.” He says excitedly.

“...What?”

“Oh Celestia, I’m sounding a bit like Rarity right now. Anyways, I was thinking maybe setting you and a mare that I think is suitable on a-”

“Dusk, stop.” Interrupts Big Mac, which grabs Dusk’s attention. “I have been asked out by about ten different mares, and I’ve said no to all of them. Do you know why Dusk?”

Dusk thinks about this for a little bit, until he gives up. “No Macintosh, I don’t know.”

“It’s because I like Cheerilee, not any of the other mares.” He says in an annoyed tone.

‘So that’s why he kept saying no to the other mares. It’s so obvious.’

“Who’s Cheerilee?” Asks Dusk.

“A teacher who works at the nearby school.”

[Dirty image time D:]

‘You’ve been a very bad student Big Mac. I think that you’ll have to stay here after school and get... punished...'

Enough said.

“Mac, maybe I could try and get Cheerilee on a date with you. I’ve already gotten Zephyr and Twilight to be in a relationship, and I reckon I can do it again with you two.” Says Dusk, with an air of confidence.

“Alright then Dusk. I trust you, as a friend, to do the right thing for me.”

“Thanks Big Mac. I’ll start after work.”

Big Mac had woken up his sisters, and everypony had started doing their various jobs around the farm. Big Mac and Dusk were talking while they were applebucking. Dusk continues to talk about Macintosh’s longing for Cheerilee.

“...So does Applebloom go to her class?” Asks Dusk.

“Eeyup.”

“So maybe you could pick your sister up, and use it as an excuse to get closer to Cheerilee.

“...That doesn’t really sound like such a bad idea Dusk. I think that it could work.” Approves Big Mac.

“Remember, that you can’t just rush into things here. If you do things too quickly, you could scare her away, which is the opposite of what you want.”

“Eeyup.”

“Just take things nice and slow. The only reason I got Zephyr and Twilight on a date so easily, is because they bonded beforehoof. Just make sure that you become friends first. You got that?”

“Eeyup.”

---------- (Much Later)

Dusk is inside the farm house, waiting for his pay for the day. Applejack walks into the room with a sack of bits, and begins to get some bits out.

“So Dusk, Big Mac told me that ya bucked 43 trees for today, before he left ta pick up Applebloom. So that leaves ya with 107 bits for today.” She give him the bits, which he accepts.

“Thanks Applejack. You know, I’ve never been introduced to Applebloom.” States Dusk.

Applejack looks surprised, “Really? Well maybe ah can introduce both of ya tomorrow before work.”

“I’d like that.” Says Dusk. “I heard she part of something called the Cutie Mark Crusaders, what’s that about?”

“Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo are all trying tah find their cutie marks, so they like tah try and do things that’ll give them their cutie marks. They often end up breaking things.”

“I can imagine. Did you know that I don’t even know what my special talent is?”

“Are ya serious Dusk?”

“Yeah, completely serious. I got it when I got into a fight on my first day at the Cloudsdale Flight School. I don’t really know what the shield signifies though.” Says the disappointed Dusk.

“Were there any parts of the fight, which could of been ah clue tah what it means?”

“None.” He answers. “Just out of curiousity, how old are the three fillies?”

“They’re all eight.”

“Well, they might not get their marks for a long time, because I was 13 when I got mine.”

Applejack’s jaw drops after hearing the final bit. She had never heard of a pony getting their mark so late in their lives and she knows that Dusk isn’t lying, being the Element of Honesty. Dusk finds Applejack's reaction amusing.

‘Cutie marks are over-rated anyway.’

Chapter 34: I'd Rather Read Past Sins

Chapter 34: I’d Prefer Reading ‘Past Sins’

Dusk could see that Carrot Top is now a small, orange dot, on the dirt pathway leading to town. As he turns around and walks back into his marefriend’s cottage, he looks at Fluttershy as he walks inside. She seems proud at Dusk, which he assumes is because of what Carrot Top had thanked Dusk for before.

She pulled him into a tight, loving hug, and says “Thank you Dusk, for what you did for Ditzy.” Her tone of voice exuded happiness, as she released her quick embrace.

“It is no problem Shy, I just did what I had to do.” He says in a humble manner as he moves towards the nearby couch.

“I really like that about you Dusk. You tend to help ponies out of your own goodwill, and I love that trait of yours.” She compliments kindly. She gives Dusk a smile, which would cause some ponies to have cuteness induced heart attacks.

“I don’t help the ponies I don’t like.” He says in an annoyed tone, deflecting the positive reinforcement. Dusk always was terrible at receiving compliments, mainly because of his pessimism. He really hated that part of his personality.

“But I still think that it’s good that you still help anypony who might be in trouble.” She reassures, with a quiet tone.

“I guess it is, Shy.”

Dusk has noticed the smell of something cooking in the kitchen, which intrigued him, as Fluttershy was still reading her romance novel. The scent of the unknown food, mainly consisted of tomato, onion and various herbs, and it smelt delicious.

“Hey Fluttershy,” The yellow coated mare looks up at Dusk. “What are you making in the kitchen? I don’t see you or Angel making something on the stove, but I can still smell something cooking. What is it?” Questions Dusk, completely aware that it was probably going to be something rather obvious, which would make him look like an idiot.

“I’m um… making vegetable in the slow cooker near the kettle. It’ll be ready in about an hour.” When Fluttershy finishes talking, she points her hoof in the direction of the cooker. Dusk facehoofs himself.

‘Damn it, why am I so stupid. I knew that this was going to happen anyway, but I still hate it.’

Dusk asks another question, “So when did you make it? It must have been soon after I left.” He mentions.

“I put it in the slow cooker at about 11:00AM, so we could have it together at 7:00PM.” She finishes kind heartedly. She really likes it when we both have dinner together.

‘It takes 8 hours to cook?! It seems a bit excessive.’

Quick Author’s Note: It’s not excessive.

The slow cooker let off a few subtle *dings* meaning that it has finished cooking. Fluttershy leaves her book on the couch, while it was still open, and walks towards the kitchen. Dusk sees the open book, and his curiosity leads him to the open novel. He sits on the soft couch, picks up the book and begins to read from where Fluttershy had gotten about.

{No clopping bits, it is rated teen for a reason.}

‘Hmm… this looks interesting, it seems a mare named Dancer and a stallion named Red have finished having a date, and he has brought her back to her house. She invites him inside, for some coffee. [Activate Dirty Mind] Just coffee? Really? I have a feeling that she’ll want a bit more than that… Might as well keep reading then…’

‘…loved the date… was wonderful, how dull is this, just hurry-… Oh here we go, it seems that she wants to give Red a present in her room. I can just imagine, as they both walk into the room, Dancer will say something like “Oh Red, my present for you, is my body, please treat it with care.” And they’ll have sex.  Okay, so in the book, they both walk into her room. So… *nervous laugh* she take her dress off, and is only wearing some… uh… erotic clothing…’

Dusk was still reading the book, with his mouth wide open, and his right wing fully erect.

‘What the hay does she read?! I really should of expected this, but this is just… ugh.’

She walks to the nearby table, carrying a bowlful of hot, vegetable casserole, and places it on the table. Dusk decides to ignore what he had read on the book, as he didn’t really like to think about the extremely descriptive piece of literature that he’s read. He tries to fold his erect right wing back into its normal position, but he is a tad too late, as Fluttershy had seen the raised appendage while she put the second bowl on the table.

She heavily blushes, “Why is-is your wing out Dusk?

‘Celestia damn my bucking luck, because I’m in trouble right now.‘

Dusk quickly tries to think of a good answer, and he fails. “I don’t know why it’s out Shy, I-I just feel like a stretch right now.”

‘Well done Dusk, *slow imaginary clapping* that was the best excuse ever.’

Fluttershy is unconvinced, and she continues to press the issue, “I’m sorry Dusk, but I just want to know why you have a wingboner… that is if you don’t mind me asking…” She quietly finishes.

Dusk bites his lower lip, knowing that he’ll have to tell her. He is quite embarrassed about the answer. “While you were preparing dinner, I took a quick look at your open novel, and the next thing I read is those two having sex with each other, which caused my wing to uh… stretch out.”

Fluttershy gasps when Dusk had finished talking, and the first thought that crossed Dusk’s mind is ‘I am stuffed.’ She begins to speak in a disappointed tone, “Uhm… Dusk, I wish you didn’t tell me that, because I haven’t got up to that bit yet.” Dusk feels a pang of guilt, as Fluttershy timidly finished, “But I don’t mind too much.”

Dusk rubs the back of his short mane, and begins to apologize to her, “I’m sorry Shy, I didn’t realize that you weren’t up to that bit yet. I should have said Spoiler Alert or something like that, before I told you.”

“It’s not too bad, it will only take a few minutes to get to that part anyway.” Reassures Fluttershy. Dusk felt a lot less guilty after hearing that.

“I guess that is a good thing Shy. Also, remind me to never read one of your books again, I’d rather not read about the fictional sexual archives, of Red and Dancer.”

Dusk and Fluttershy were both sitting on the table, eating the exquisite casserole that she made. Dusk is thankful  that he figured out how to use spoons/knives/forks, as this made eating the meal a lot easier, and a lot, lot cleaner. The two were engaged in small talk.

Dusk asks her a question, “I’ve been wondering, how do you think that Ditzy Doo made her eyes go weird like that?” He forgot to ask Ditzy the question, yesterday.

Fluttershy begins to think of an answer, until she says, “I think that it was an accident from when she was younger.”

Dusk slowly shakes his head. “Ahh, tis a pity. I hope that it wasn’t anything too painful for her.” Pities Dusk.

“I hope not.” Agrees Fluttershy.

“…”

“…”

Dusk breaks the silence, “Now a completely different subject, somepony told me that Big Mac is planning on asking out Cheerilee.” He says in a gossipy way. “Make sure that you keep it a secret though, they told me not to tell anypony.”

“Cross my heart, and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Promises Fluttershy, while doing all the motions of the Pinkie Pie Promise. She continues talking after making the promise, “Rarity would be disappointed though.”

“Yeah, she would.” Agrees Dusk. He is thinking back to what Rarity told him a few days ago.

‘I would love to work with that sexy hunk of a stallion…’

Dusk shudders.

It was getting late around the town of Ponyville, as Luna’s moon floats high across the sky. Both Dusk and Fluttershy had gotten themselves washed, and have nearly gotten themselves into bed, until Dusk thinks about something.

“Shy, have I ever had a normal day in Ponyville?” He asks the yellow pegasus.

“What do you mean?”

“Think about it for a bit, something different happens to me every day. In 11 days, I’ve been to hospital... twice, I’ve had a mental breakdown, I went of one of Pinkie’s parties, we’ve been on two dates, I stopped bad things from happening to you and Ditzy, I’ve gone to a nightclub and I’ve been charged at by Big Mac. As a matter of fact, I’ve actually had three ‘normal’ days.” Answers Dusk. He realizes how much he has done in such a small time period.

Fluttershy is surprised with all that’s happened to Dusk. “W-wow, that’s a lot. When did Big Mac charge at you?” She timidly asks, as she doesn’t know what happened yesterday. “Are you hurt?”

Dusk waves a dismissive hoof, “Don’t worry about Shy. I forgot about it ages ago.”

“Okay then Dusk, good night,”

“Night Shy.”

They give each other a quick kiss on the lips before they both fall asleep.

Chapter 35: Plans

Chapter 35: Plans

It is early in the morning, when Dusk wakes up, as per usual.  He carefully pulls himself out of bed, feeling a lot more tired than usual. He starts rubbing his eyes with his hoof, trying and failing to get rid of his sleeplessness. As he stretches, he hears the satisfying *crack* of his bones, which pleases him. He walks down the stairway of the house, and out of the door, so he could get to work.

He is thankful that it is such a short walk to get to the apple farm, as long walks during the night/early morning made him feel uneasy. He didn’t like to admit that he was a bit scared of the dark. He also like the small distance between the two places, because it is quite convenient. He would hate it if he had to walk through the town just to get to the farm, as it would waste too much of his time.

He approaches the farm, and can see that Big Mac is preparing for the day of work, as he always does.

Dusk yells at him from a distance. “Hey Big Mac!” He waves his hoof in the air.

Big Mac returns the welcoming gesture, “Hello Dusk, How have you been?” Asks the towering, red stallion.

“I’ve been alright, but I’ve found out yesterday, that I should never read any of Fluttershy’s books, ever.”

The farm stallion is now quite curious, “So what types of book does she read?”

“Romance.” Dusk quickly answers.

Big Mac looks slightly disappointed with Dusk, “Now Dusk, there is nothing wrong with a good, ol’ fashion romance novel.” He lectures.

“No, no, no, you don’t understand. She reads the excessively detailed ones.” Big Mac is quite surprised with her preferred choice of books. “Think of them, as sex on paper.”

“Oh… I wasn’t expecting Fluttershy to like those sorts of books…”

Dusk is apple bucking with Applejack near the farm house, and he is doing a bit better than usual. He has bucked a total of 25 trees before the lunch break, which are about five trees better than usual. (It still doesn’t come close to Applejack or Big Mac though.) Dusk is inside the house eating a few apples, when Applejack walks up to Dusk.

“Ah don’t think that you’ll need tah go tah work tomorrow Dusk,” Says Applejack. “Me and my friends are organizing something, and you’re allowed to come with us, if ya want.”

Dusk is quite confused, as he has no idea as to what is going on. “Wait a second, what’s happening tomorrow?”

“We are going tah have a meet up, and we’ve agreed tah let you and Zephyr come as well, because you two are in ah relationship with Fluttershy and Twi.” Explains Applejack.

“Alright then, I’m free. What time, and where?”

“11:30AM, at the Sugarcube Corner.”

Dusk gets back to work at the farm. He can tell that his hindlegs have gotten stronger, from his work on the farm. After he bucks his 36th tree, he looks out at the orchard, and marvels at the amount of trees that the Apple family owns.

‘How the hay does Big Mac, Applejack and Caramel buck this many trees, during the Applebucking Season? There are just so many trees.’

He could see trees as far as his eyes could see, and only a quarter of the trees have been bucked. They also do it without the use of magic, every single year.

It takes about 10-20 bucks, for Dusk to knock all of the apples off a tree. As he kicked his 37th tree, he stops midway, and picks up an apple. He begins to examine the apple, to see if there are any bruises on the red fruit. Unsurprisingly, there were no bruises.

‘I don’t understand why there are no bruises on these apples. Shouldn’t apples bruise when they hit the ground from that height? What the hay is up with that?’

Dusk had bucked 48 trees for the day, and has earned 120 bits for the day. He walks towards the Sugarcube Corner, as he intends to spend some of his bits on a snack for himself. As Dusk walks closer to the store, he examines the unique decoration, and sees that there are a few bite marks on the candy canes near the corner of the store.

He walks inside the colorful store, and looks at the vast amount of baked goods inside the store. He didn’t see all of this food the last time he arrived at Sugarcube Corner, because Pinkie converted it to a party area. He notices that neither Pinkie Pie or Mr/Mrs Cake are in the room, and that unsettles Dusk a little bit. He sees a batch of cookies with a chocolate flavored base and white chocolate chips. He reads the price card.

1 cookie = 2 bits

3 cookies = 5 bits

10 cookies = 15 bits

He decides to buy only one cookie, so he approaches the counter, and sees a small bell, and it has a small note under it. ‘Ring for Assistance’

He rings the bell, and Pinkie pops up from behind the counter, surprising Dusk. “Hiya Dusk, are you coming here for lunch, tomorrow with the girls, (and Zephy) because it is going to be super fun with all of my friends here for lunch, especially with Dashie *wink*. So are you gonna come Dusky?”

“Yeah, I’m coming here tomorrow with Fluttershy. (I need to tell her when I get back to the house.)” Confirms Dusk.

Pinkie now has an impossibly large smile on her face, after hearing the good news. “GREAT, it’s going to be so good tomorrow with all of my friends here. There are going to be cupcakes, and cookies, and chocolate, and-“

Dusk interrupts Pinkie by talking, “Yeah that’s good, but I came here so I could buy a cookie.” He points his hoof to what type of cookie he would like.

Pinkie grabs it from the display, puts it into a small paper bag and gives it to Dusk in one second. “That’ll be two bits.”

Dusk grabs the bits from his money pouch, and gives it to Pinkie. He grabs the cookie, and begins to eats the baked item. After his first bite, he realizes that it is the best cookie that he has ever eaten. It is the perfect ratio between crunchiness and softness and the flavor is heavenly. He quickly finishes the cookie while still in the store, and approaches the counter, where Pinkie is still standing.

“Pinkie, those cookies are so good, actually, they are better than good, THEY'RE BUCKING LEGENDARY! Anyway, I would like to buy 30 cookies.” Says Dusk.

“Okie dokie lokie.” She runs into the kitchen, puts ten fresh cookies in three different paper bags and gives it to Dusk in five seconds. “That’ll be 45 bits.”

Dusk gives her the required bits and gives them to her. “Thanks Pinkie.”

“No problem, See ya Dusky.” She waves her hoof with an impossible speed.

“Bye Pinkie.”

‘How does Pinkie do that so quickly?’

Chapter 36: Movie Night

Chapter 36: Movie Night

Dusk walks back to Fluttershy’s, carrying three paper bags full of cookies in his mouth. He walks along the dirt path at a slightly faster pace than usual, as he is eager to eat more of the cookies that he has bought.

He sees Fluttershy’s home a few minutes later, and he walks inside. He sees her reading one of her romance books. *shudder* Dusk puts the paper bags in the nearby table, as Fluttershy greets him.

“Hello Dusk.”

“Hey Shy, do you want a cookie from the Sugarcube Corner?” Asks Dusk. He pulls out one of the cookies with his hoof.

“Um... Okay, I’ll have one Dusk.” She answers.

Dusk gives her the cookie he is holding, and walks back to the bags where the rest of them lay. He pulls another one out of the package, and starts to quickly consume the baked item. As soon as he finishes his first cookie, he pulls out another, and finishes it quickly. The same thing applies for the 3rd, 4th and 5th cookie, until he stops eating them.

His throat is too... groggy for him to eat anymore. He gets the same feeling when he eats a slice of strong mud cake. He looks around the area where he was eating, and is relieved to only see a few crumbs drop onto the floor. For some reason, any time Dusk eats anything which drops a lot of crumbs, he seems to always leave much less crumbs than a normal pony.

He moves the cookies into the cupboard for later, when Fluttershy begins to talk. “Thanks for the cookie Dusk. They tasted... nice.” She gives him a heart warming smile.

“That’s no problem Shy, but you should really thank Pinkie. She was the one who made them.” Deflects Dusk.

“Oh... Okay then. How many did you buy?” She asks.

“I bought 30 of them, but there are now 24 in the pantry, because you had one, and I’ve had five.” He answers.

‘That makes sound a bit selfish...’

“So Fluttershy, Applejack told me about what you girls are doing tomorrow at the Sugarcube Corner, and I would like to know, if you would like me to go with you, if that’s possible.”

Fluttershy looks happier, when he tells her that he is going. “That’s great Dusk. I was going to ask you later tonight, but now I don’t have to.”

Dusk felt happy that she wanted him to go, and a little bit smug. “So I presume that it’s a yes.” It wasn’t a question, and more of a statement.

“Of course you can Dusk.”

“Thanks Shy.”

Fluttershy has made a simple dinner for both Dusk and herself. She made a toasted sandwich, with sliced tomatoes, a few daisies and melted colby cheese. It is quick to make, and it tastes quite delicious. They both sit at the table, and eat the sandwiches over a plate.

Dusk starts to speak, “So, there is only two more days until I can take my cast off, and another week until I can fly again. That’s pretty good news, because I’m sick of being grounded all the time.” Complains Dusk, “I want to be able to take to the skies again.”

“It’s not that bad down here... I prefer being on the ground, to look after my little animal friends.” Reassures Fluttershy.

“But I still wish that I could fly, It would make things a lot easier for me.”

Dusk and Fluttershy have both finished their dinner, and gotten washed up. They were both in bed, ‘watching’ one of her movies. Neither of them knew what the movie was about, because they had spent most of the night in each other’s embrace, and feeling the loving warmth emanating from the other. They stepped it up a bit, later in the movie, as they started to kiss. Dusk could feel his face getting hot, and that his pulse is quickening, but he longed for the warm sensation of Fluttershy’s soft lips...

Quick Author’s Note: ...and they didn’t take it further than that.

Dusk awakes from his slumber, in the darkness of the early morning, as is usually the case. He feels a lot more tired than usual, his eyes are droopy, he is constantly yawning, and he isn’t thinking straight. His head says that he just needs to pull himself out of bed, for him to wake up, but his body says that the bed is really comfortable, and he should stay in it for a tiny bit longer.

He looks to his side, and sees that Fluttershy is still sleeping. She is holding the blanket close to her body, and he can hear her quietly breathing, she seems peaceful. He tries to pull himself out of the bed, but he can’t be bothered getting out of the bed as of yet.

‘Just a few more minutes, and then I’ll *yawn* get out of bed...’

The next thing that he realizes, is that there is light outside, and he is still in the bed.

‘Wait a second, something is amiss, why am I still in bed, when the sun is out? What the hay is going on?!’

Dusk has always been the sort of pony to wake up earlier than everypony else, even if he doesn’t need to, so waking up during the day is a rare thing for him. He notices that Fluttershy isn’t in the bed anymore, so he gets himself out of the bed and slowly walks himself out of her room. When he walks into the lounge room, he notices that Fluttershy isn’t there. So he checks all of the other rooms in the house to try and find her.

He couldn’t find her in any of the rooms, so he decides to use his back-up plan.

“Where are you Fluttershy?” Yells Dusk. He knows that he has a loud voice, so she should be able to hear him from anywhere near the house.

He hears a very quiet response from Fluttershy, “Um... I’m outside Dusk.”

Dusk walks out of the house and finds Fluttershy outside, surrounded by an assortment of animals. Most of them gave him a weird look when he steps out of the door, but they have become used to Dusk, so they ignore him and focus on Fluttershy.

“Wow, somepony is popular.” Mentions Dusk.

“Um... Thanks Dusk, I’ll get back inside when I’ve finished with my animal friends.”

“Take your time.”

-20 Minutes Later-

Fluttershy walks inside her house, feeling happier after her time with the animals. Dusk had made Fluttershy and himself some breakfast, while she was still outside. He made a simple breakfast toast with melted cheese on top.

“Aww, thanks Dusk.”

“No problem, it’s pretty easy to make.”

Dusk and Fluttershy were getting prepared for lunch at the Sugarcube Corner. Fluttershy is brushing her mane, while Dusk is looking in Fluttershy’s vanity, to see if there is any mane gel for him to use. He can’t seem to find any though, perhaps she doesn’t have any.

“Hey Shy, do you have any mane gel that I can use?” Asks Dusk.

“I don’t have any Dusk... I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it then, I didn’t expect you to have any anyway, because I don’t think that mares would even need mane gel.”

“That’s true. So are you ready to leave? I just need a few more minutes, and then I’ll be ready to go.” Says Fluttershy.

“Yeah, I’m ready.”

‘A meet up organised at Pinkie’s place, this will be... interesting.’

Chapter 37: Rarity's Dismay

Chapter 37: Rarity’s Dismay

Dusk and Fluttershy arrive at Sugarcube Corner slightly ahead of schedule.  As soon as Dusk steps inside, he is overwhelmed by the smell of sweet smelling baked goods.  Pinkie Pie is still making a batch of cupcakes in the kitchen, while Rainbow was ‘helping’ by eating a few of the cupcakes from her last batch.

Dusk greets the rainbow maned pegasus. “Hey there Rainbow, I saw you eating those cupcakes before.”

“Uhh yeah, that’s because Pinkie is using me as a taste tester.” Says Rainbow.

Dusk facehoofs, “Are you kidding me, a taste tester? Why would she need a taste tester.”

He hears a loud gasp from inside the kitchen, and then Pinkie pops out of nowhere, and lectures him, “Of course you need a taste tester Dusky, you need a taste tester to make sure that the food tastes yummy and that everypony else will like it as well. If there was no taste tester, than you could make a really yucky batch and then nopony would’t like you anymore. Even worse is if you give something yucky to either of the princesses, they could put you in a dungeon, or send you to the moon, or send you to the moon and put you in a dungeon too.”

“…”

“I think that I’ve made my point.” Huffs Pinkie, as she walks back near the stove in.

As she leaves the room, he looks at Rainbow, and shakes his head. “*sigh* Remind me to never question anything involving Pinkie Pie.”

She seems humored after watching watching Pinkie’s little lecture. “I gotcha, she was the same with me, when I question her obsession with cupcakes.” She looks at his injured wing. “So how long until you can fly again?”

“Eight days, I can take this cast off tomorrow, but I’ll still need time to be able to fly again. But I’m sure that I’ll be able to go to work by then.”

“Ok then Dusk.”

Dusk had left the kitchen, to see that nearly everypony had arrived at the Sugarcube Corner while he was talking to Rainbow Dash. He sees that Applejack, Twilight and Zephyr were all in a conversation with Fluttershy in the main room. He notices that Rarity seems to be a little bit late, as it is 11:42AM on the nearby clock. Zephyr looks up at Dusk while the rest of the girls were busy in another one of their conversations.

“Hey Dusk.” Greets Zephyr.

“Hello Zeph, how have you been?”

“I’ve been pretty good, things have been going well with Twilight and me, and the Princess approves of our relationship. Life is good right now.”

Dusk felt that something is amiss “Wait a second, I already know that Twilight is Princess Celestia’s protégé, but how did you two tell her about your relationship? I’m sure that the Princess doesn’t have the time to visit you two in the library.”

“Of course not, it’s just that she wrote about us, in one of her weekly friendship reports, and she used Spike to send the letter to her.”

Dusk looks confused, and tries to understand the situation. “But why would she make Spike give the letter to her? If I remember correctly, than he is just a baby dragon.”

“I know he is, and I know you are not going to believe me when I say this, but he actually burns it with his flame, and it somehow sends the letter straight to the Princess. He also burps back letters sent from the Princess.”

“…I don’t even pretend to understand the logic behind any of this, so I’ll just blame it on magic.” Says the puzzled Dusk.

“I gave up trying to understand that a long time ago.”

Rarity finally arrives at the bakery, at 11:45AM, which is fifteen minutes later than the scheduled time. As soon as she greets the girls in the main room, Pinkie Pie pops out of nowhere again, and begins to yell. “So everypony is here? BECAUSE IT’S PARTY TIME!” And when she finishes, a small explosion of confetti appears out of nowhere, and some dance music begins to play from an unknown source. Dusk notices that the nearby table is filled with an assortment of baked goods, which weren’t there a minute ago.

‘I thought that this would be a simple meet up, not one of Pinkie’s parties. I’m not complaining though, I love it.’

Pinkie had lined everypony up for the piñata, before any of the party guests could realize what is happening. Dusk is fourth in line, with Twilight, Fluttershy and Rainbow in front of him. Rarity, Applejack and Zephyr were all behind him, while Pinkie Pie was putting the blindfold on Twilight. He turns around and starts to talk to Rarity.

“So why were you late?”

She sighs in slight frustration. “Sweetie Belle decided to have one of her Cutie Mark Crusader meet ups in the Boutique, thirty minutes before I had to leave. They caused quite a mess before I got them to go someplace else, so I had to clean up before I left. After I cleaned up, I realized that my mane and tail were a mess, so I needed time to be able to fix them up before I left.”

*mental facehoof* Dusk isn’t really shocked with Rarity’s decision, more so disappointed. “Did you really need to spend so much time on your mane and tail?”

“But of course. I always need to look my very best, all the time, or I could become the laughing stock of the fashion world, and that would be THE, WORST, POSSIBLE, THING!” She mock faints onto a nearby couch that she somehow magicked into the room. Before Dusk could facehoof, Pinkie turns him around to face the battered piñata, puts a blindfold on him, and gives him a medium length wooden pole.

Just as he is about to swing, he hears the door of the bakery open, and he can hear an unknown mare’s voice. “Thank Celestia that I found all of you, there are a pack of diamond dogs in town, demanding that they want Rarity, and they threatened to destroy the town if they don’t.”

He hears another mare’s voice, “The horror, the horror!”

The other mare continues. “The rest of the town, have locked themselves up in their homes, but we need you to convince them to leave the town before they cause any damage.”

Dusk pulls his blindfold off and takes a look at Rarity, and she looks mortified, and extremely scared of what is happening. The rest of her friends give Rarity a reassuring look, in the attempt to comfort her.

“Who or what are diamond dogs?” Asks Dusk.

Twilight begins to explain the situation to Dusk. “Diamond dogs, are canines that live in underground caves that are full of gems. They tend to have an obsession with gems, but they don’t know where they can find them. They ponynapped Rarity once and forced her to find and dig out gems, since unicorns possess magic that can help them find these gems.”

“That’s harsh, but do you think that they’ve come back, so they could enslave her again?”

“Probably, so that’s why we are going to make sure that doesn’t happen again, right girls?”

“Right!” Yells her other four friends with vigor.

Twilight turns to Rarity, “Don’t worry Rarity, we will all help you. If they want to get you, then they have to get past all of us first.”

Chapter 38: Never Again

Chapter 38: Dusk’s Determination

Twilight had led the group to the town square, where the diamonds dogs were waiting. They were in a hideous condition. Their gray fur had many splotches of mud and dirt on them, some of the dogs had scratches and grazes around their body, and they REEKED. (Maybe this is what the always looked/smelled like.)  They seemed to look a bit like a pony, if you count out their paws, their increased bulk and their sharp teeth.

There were no less than twelve dogs in the area, and Dusk is preparing himself just in case they begin to get aggressive. Luckily, he decided to hold the thick, wooden, pinata whacker, that was given to him during the party, with his hooves.

As soon as the dogs set their eyes on Rarity, Twilight asks them a question.

“Why do you need to see Rarity?” She questions, with a noticeable amount of venom.

“We want the unicorn, so we can get more gems for our stockpile.” Aggressively answers the leader (?) of the pack, who is slightly bigger than the rest of the dogs.

“We'll never let ya lay ah paw on Rarity, ya hear me!” Yells Applejack.

“Yeah. What’s the worst you can do?” Asks Rainbow in a challenging tone.

“We’ll take ALL of the ponies that live here, and put them down into the mines!” Loudly retorts their leader.

“Oh yeah, well-"

[*ding ding ding* Brilliant Idea Time]

“WAIT, I HAVE AN IDEA!” Booms Dusk, who is under the effects of what he calls ‘Determination Mode’. It is similar to Level 2 Rage, except that he is still thinking straight, and is filled with the euphoric feeling of inner strength. He feels faster, stronger and more durable, while feeling much smarter than usual. He

The leader of the diamond dogs, crosses his forelegs, (arms?) “I’m waiting...”

“Well, what if we could come into an agreement that would benefits both you and Ponyville?” Negotiates Dusk.

After saying this, their leader signals the rest of the pack into a small group, and they begin to have a discussion about what they should do next. Meanwhile, Twilight calls Dusk over with a slightly pissed, but thankful look.

“I don’t know what the hay you are planning Dusk, but I think it’s working. I don’t want us to get into a fight with them.” Approves Twilight.

“I know what you mean. I’ve been in way too many fights in my life, to want to be in another.”

“Just try to get them out of town, we all know what it’s like to become one of their slaves.” She sadly concludes, not wishing to remember that unpleasant memory.

“I’ll get them out, in one way or another.”

The pack of dogs finally finished discussing with each other, and one of the smaller dogs started talking with a higher pitch of voice than their leader. “We will agree to negotiate, what are your terms?”

“Well, instead of enslaving everypony, why don’t you just let them work instead?” Asks Dusk.

The leader looks a bit confused, and starts to talk. “But isn’t that the same thing?”

“Sort of, but instead of you forcing them to mine, maybe you could hire them to mine the gems for you willingly, and put the gems that they find into your stockpile.”

They all seem impressed with the prospect of ‘work’. “I am happy so far, tell us more.”

‘They are becoming putty in my hooves...’

“So while the workers work in the mine, you could improve the environment for both the dogs and ponies working inside, and this could start a good alliance with the diamond dogs and the ponies of Equestria.”

All of the dogs seemed to agree with the idea of a peaceful alliance, they were all visibly beaming at the prospect.

Dusk continues, “But there is always the prospect of the pay for these workers.”

The mood across the pack went down considerably, “What?! This was never part of what you were saying?!” Aggressively yells the leader.

Dusk facehoofs the pack, “Well what did you expect, nopony would willingly work in the mines without some sort of pay, and since you don’t use bits, then maybe the workers could get a small fraction of the gems mined-”

“NO! This deal is off.” The alpha dog slowly approaches Dusk. “Dogs, we shall enslave all of the town, starting with-”

“WAIT A SECOND!” This stuns the pack of dogs, as Dusk continues. “I had a back up plan, in case you disagreed with our first terms.”

The leader looks like he could grab Dusk at any moment, but he calms down to hear him out. “...what is it?”

“Well...” Dusk quickly puts the pinata whacker in his mouth and...

*CRACK*

The alpha dog is now unconscious on the ground, after a particularly hard strike from Dusk, who is ready for the oncoming battle. “That... was my back up plan.”

The remaining eleven dogs charged at Dusk, and he heard one of them yell, “Get as many ponies as you can!”

Dusk could see the overwhelming number of dogs charging at him, but he felt slightly relieved that they only attacked from one side. He started swinging his pole in the air, as the dogs stopped in their tracks, not wanting to get his by the same pole that their leader was hit by. They stepped backwards, as Dusk stepped forwards, and they were caught unaware, when Rainbow dive bombed one of the dogs on the leftmost side. Dusk saw the opportunity to strike at the buffeted dog, and the pole hit with a sickening *CRACK*.

While the rest of the dogs were checking the skies for the cyan dive bomber, Dusk took this opportunity, to rally the rest of the ponies.

“Come on girls! (And Zephyr) This is the best time to drive these dogs out of town, I need your help!”

“Gotcha Dusk.” Responds Applejack.

“For Ponyville!” Yells Twilight.

“Let's do this.” Zephyr says confidently.

Fluttershy squeaks as she shies away from the battle, along with Rarity, while Pinkie Pie quickly leaves the area, yelling. “Be right back, got to go for a second, need to get something.” And with that, she rushes back to the Sugarcube Corner.

The dogs finally realise what is happening, and split up into three different groups. Dusk had to take on three dogs, who he had managed to keep a safe distance away because of his pole. Every time he tried to hit them, they would step back, but when they tried to hit him, he would defend with a strike to the gut.

Elsewhere, Applejack and Raindow Dash were working together, to take out the group of four who decided to move towards Rarity and Fluttershy. They were the defensive wall, which kept the two non-fighters safe. Rainbow would act as the distractor, and she would dive at the dogs to stun them, while Applejack bucked them out of submission. The farm mare had recieved a few scratches, but had already put one of the dogs out of commission.

Meanwhile, Twilight and Zephyr were having problems of their own. Twilight had put a constant shielding spell on both of them, but even though Zephyr was defending Twilight with his life, he couldn’t push them back, as he isn’t as good a fighter, as Dusk. (Despite him being bigger than the normally weak, Dusk.) The dogs kept on getting closer and closer the the purple unicorn, until the battle was interrupted by a loud voice.

“I’M BACK EVERYPONY!” Yells a familiar mare’s voice. All of the ponies and the dogs stop in their tracks, to see that Pinkie Pie had come back, holding a pink megaphone near her mouth in one hoof, and a... large pink cannon, that she happens to own, pointed and the dog which is closest to Twilight. Every single pony and dog had their jaws dropped, after seeing what the pink party pony had brought. Pinkie begins to talk/yell “SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!”

*BOOOOOOM*

The cannon had hit it’s intended target and knocked the targeted dog out with something Dusk like to call ‘Death by balloon fire’. The dog is somehow unconscious because of the balloons. (Everypony just thought of it as Pinkie Pie logic.) The biggest canine (which wasn’t knocked out), sees that they are fighting a losing battle, so he yells “GO UNDER!”. All of the dogs dug their way underground. Dusk dropped his pole after a battle well fought.

All of the mares, as well as Zephyr, were in a panicky state, while Dusk was contempt with the ‘victory’.

“What are all of you worried about? Haven’t we won?” Dusk could feel the ground shaking slightly.

Applejack starts to quickly speak, “Dusk, grab the pole, and move away from where the ground is shaking, it’s safer where we are.”

He feels the ground shaking quite violently so he grabs the pole and starts to run towards the group of ponies, until a diamond dogs pops out of the ground, about a metre away from the dark blue stallion, the dog grabs Dusk legs, and drags him towards the hole. Dusk yells in surprise, and he hit the head of the assailant with the pole, making the dog lose his grip, as Dusk sprints away. He digs underground again.

Dusk begins to yell, as he feels vibrations from all around the area. “Run away everypony, and don’t stop moving! Rainbow, Fluttershy and Zeph, fly up in the air!”

Every non-pegasus begins to run around in random directions, narrowly avoiding where the dogs had popped up. Rainbow Dash and Zephyr had both made it into the air, but Dusk sees that Fluttershy hasn’t taken to the air yet.

“Fluttershy, YOU NEED TO FLY!” Yells Dusk. The yellow pegasus couldn’t move, her wings are locked up because she is too scared to do anything. A diamond dog pops up right under her and grabs her. Dusk quickly remembers something...

[FLASHBACK]

Dusk saw when the stallions surrounded Fluttershy, he watched the whole thing unfold. He was silently hoping that this was all a misunderstanding, but he knew this wasn’t the case. He was too afraid of the knives that they were carrying, to want to intervene.

“...C-Can you just l-let me go home... please.” When Fluttershy began to cry, he could feel himself starting to lose control. Dark thoughts entered his mind, mainly thoughts of what they wanted to do to Fluttershy.

“No can do toots, let get her boys.” Dusk had lost all control of his actions. He didn’t care for his well being anymore, he just knew that he had to protect Fluttershy, whatever the cost. His eyes started glowing red, and he let out a battlecry...

[PRESENT TIME]

Time seems to slow considerably around Dusk. His eyes are glowing red, as he watches the dog very slowly pull Fluttershy into the hole that he dug. He grabs the pole, and runs towards the two, as the rest of the group watches in horror. The closer Dusk gets to Fluttershy, the faster the world seems to move. He feels somewhat at peace.

The diamond dog panics as he sees the enraged stallion charge towards him, so he pulls Fluttershy at a much faster pace. Dusk sprints even faster at the two.

Fluttershy tries to resist the diamond dog’s hold, but she is too scared, and too weak to make much of a difference. They are very close to the hole. Dusk readies his pole up for the upcoming strike.

The dog was about to dig underground with Fluttershy, when Dusk was within striking distance. As Dusk swings his pole at the dog’s still exposed head, he utters, “Never again.”

*KEEERRRAACK*

Fluttershy feel the dog’s grip around her legs loosen, and she looks at Dusk. He looks at her with glowing red eyes, but with a relieved smile. The other group of ponies gain enough confidence to step closer to the two.

Dusk’s smile falters, as soon as he feel more vibrations from under him. He sees the rest of the group approach Dusk, while prepared for the continuation of the battle.

Zephyr quickly turns towards Dusk and says, “Don’t worry, we’ve got your back this time.”

Dusk, who is feeling the effects of his tranquil rage, only says one word.

“Thanks.”

Chapter 39: The Protector of Ponyville

Chapter 39: The Protector of Ponyville

Dusk feels at peace with all of his friends helping him, in his time of need. Even in his strengthened, and more intelligent state, he knew that it would be a rather stupid idea to try and defeat six diamond dogs on his own. Even though he is in his rage state, and the town is under attack from a pack of diamond dogs, he feels... happy.

He snaps out of his tranquil state, when he feels the ground violently shake underneath him. He knew that he only had a few seconds, until the dogs would burst up from underground.

“EVERYPONY SCATTER!” He yells out to his group of friends. All the pegasi (besides Dusk) take to the air, while the earth ponies, and unicorns run in random directions. He begins to run in a random direction when one of the diamond dogs pops up in front of him, right where Pinkie was a few seconds ago.

“Oh buck...”

He trips over the dog and falls onto the ground, leaving a very disoriented diamond dog in his wake. Dusk’s eyes turn back into it’s usual yellow colour, and he loses his ‘rage state’. The dog that he tripped over, digs into the ground and Dusk breathes a sigh of relief. His relief is gone, once he sees what his happening around him.

All of the diamond dogs have been praying on all of the earthbound ponies while they run. Everypony, luckily, has been quick enough to avoid the canines grasp. Dusk sees a big weakness in the diamond dogs plan. After they lunge at somepony, they leave themselves vulnerable for a few seconds, before they dig back underground.

The ground underneath him starts to shake again, interrupting his train of thought. He runs away in a random direction to avoid the incoming attack, while still watching what will happen behind him.

The attacking canine pops up right behind Dusk, and he lets out a surprised yell. The dog manages to give Dusk a small scratch from his claw before digging back underground again. Dusk confirms his suspicions, the dogs seem to need about 5 seconds, until they can dig underground again.

He decides to call two of the airborne pegasi, while he has the time. “Hey Zeph and Rainbow, I need you over here for a second.”

The two swiftly fly to Dusk’s position, as he explains his plan to them. “Okay, I’ve noticed that after these diamond dogs emerge from the ground and swipe at us, they need about 5 seconds to go back underground, so what I want you to do, is to dive-bomb at them while they’re digging. This should be enough for somepony to give them a swift buck to unconsciousness. You got that?”

“Loud and clear Dusk.” Answers Rainbow Dash. She salutes as she flys up into the air.

“Yep, I got it.” Says Zephyr, who also begins to gain altitude.

Dusk looks around the area once more, Rarity had scarcely avoid a grapple, and had escaped from her canine attacker. Nopony felt any shaking from underneath them, and there were no dogs trying to pull the group into the mines. There was silence around the battle area.

‘They must be planning something.’

He feels shaking underneath his hooves, and so he starts running away, and yells out, “Rainbow, Zeph, one dog incoming!”

“Gotcha Dusk.” The two pegasi fly lower to the ground, preparing for their surprise attack.

The earthbound pegasus could still feel the shaking underneath him, despite there only being one dog attacking. Maybe he was following Dusk, while underground or something. As soon as the shaking gets unbelievably violent, he sprints, just before the diamond dog comes out of the ground.

The dog misses his swipe, and begins to dig underground again, until he is first hit by a light attack from Rainbow, stunning the canine, and then a full dive-bomb by Zephyr, which staggers the dog. Dusk finishes, by...

*CRACK*

...bucking him in the chest. Even in his usual weak form, he still broke a few of the diamond dog's ribs, but he is still on his feet. Dusk moves in for the-

*BOOOOOM*

Dusk sees a torrent of balloons rush past his face and watches as they hit their intended target, knocking out the injured diamond dog. He hears what sounds like Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash celebrating the hit, from a short distance away. He looks around, to see if there is any more traces of the remaining diamond dogs.

He could see Applejack running away from more of the tremors in the ground, and Zephyr was ready to dive-bomb the incoming assailant. The diamond dog pops out, but doesn’t try to attack Applejack as she flees, while Zephyr is still charging at the dog.

Dusk see the ground around the ‘vulnerable’ diamond dog rumble, and it wasn’t even digging back underground. Then Dusk realizes...

“ZEPH STOP, IT’S A TRAP!”

He is distracted by Dusk, but is also still flying towards the dog. Dusk looks away when he sees the diamond dog readying a punch...

*CRACK*

Zephyr lets out a bloodcurdling scream of pain, as he falls onto the ground, with his hooves on his chest. The remaining four diamond dogs have emerged, surrounding the spot where Zephyr lay. They appeared to be celebrating over their ‘catch’ of Zephyr, who began to bleed in a few places. Dusk could hear a collective sound of gasps from all of the other ponies, and he sees Twilight crying.

“NO, ZEPH!” She yells out from nearby. She wanted to teleport Zephyr and herself back to the hospital, but she can’t do that while the diamond dogs are still in contact with the broken pegasus.

They begin to dig their way underground, while holding their pony prize. They were ecstatic with their succuss, and couldn’t wait until-

“Sonic Rain-nuke Detected.”

Every single pony and dog, stopped what they were doing, as they were trying to find the source of the slightly mechanical sounding mare, who said that. Pinkie seems to be the only one who knows what is happening, and she whispers to Twilight

“Get Zephy out of here, while you have the chance.”

Twilight then sees that Zephyr was no longer being held by the dogs, and teleports both him, and herself to the hospital. Pinkie Pie gets out her megaphone, and shouts...

“RUN AWAY FROM THE DIAMOND DOGS EVERYPONY!”

And all of the ponies did so without question. They ran to a safe distance away, and they see an unknown object flying towards where the diamond dogs are still standing. Dusk thought that this mysterious object is a comet. Pinkie has an excited look on her face, and Rainbow Dash was confused about something.

“Pinkie, what is a Sonic Rain-nuke?”

“Oh you’ll see Dashie, I’m sure that you’re gonna love it.”

There was silence around the group, as they waited to see what would happen.

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...”

They hear a diamond dog in the distance, “Boss, what the heck is tha-”

*ka-BOOOOM*

A big multi-coloured explosion appeared where the pack of diamond dogs once stood. There was a mushroom cloud coloured with all of the colours of the rainbow, and the group could still feel the explosion from 300 metres away. Everypony’s jaw dropped, as they admired the spectacular sight right in front of their eyes. It was also backed up by a sonic rainboom, which slowly rippled through the air.

Unfortunately, the explosion did damage the town hall quite a bit, but they were lucky that the explosion did minimal damage to the nearby houses, with only a few windows shattered. The hall, wasn’t in the best of conditions though, with most of it’s left side walls being destroyed. It would take about 10-20 thousand bits to fix up.

None of the group cared about the damages at the moment, as they had to all go see Twilight and Zephyr in the nearby hospital.

All except for one, who had stayed behind to wallow in his regret. He punches the ground repeatedly in his grief.

‘Dusk, you bucking idiot, you should have opened your big mouth. Zephyr is now in the hospital, with his upset marefriend because of you. You are so bloody stupid.’

Chapter 40: Support

Chapter 40: Support

Point of View: Fluttershy

The five girls were running/flying towards the nearby Ponyville Hospital to see if Zephyr is alright. They who badly he got hit, and they were hoping, for Twilight’s sake, that he can make a full recovery. A few of them had scratches on their bodies, after the fight with the diamond dogs. Applejack was hit the most, with a lot of cuts and bruises along her side.

Fluttershy hadn’t fared so well either. When the diamond dog tried (and failed, *yay*) to drag her into the hole, he was also putting his claws into her in his panic, and a fair amount of blood trickled out to the wound. Also, a lot of her right hindleg, and flank were grazed, from when she was dragged across the ground.

All of the others seems fine though, baring only a few light scuffs. (With an execption to Zephyr of course) They could see the hospital in the distance...

“What do you mean that we can’t see Zeph!” Aggravatingly yells Rainbow.

“For the last time Miss Dash, our patient is still being operated on. It wouldn’t be wise to just burst into the operating room while he is still being worked on.” Responds the doctor.

“Yeah, but... but-”

“Stop it Dash, there is nothin’ we can do about it.” Interrupts Applejack.

“...” The brash pegasus has no response.

“The best thing that we can do, is ta make sure that Twi is okay. Ah’m sure that she isn’t taking this whole thing too well.”

Rainbow concedes defeat. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

The orange coated doctor then starts directing them to a room deeper in the hospital, “Your other friend is in the room at the end of the hall, but she is a bit distraught at the moment.

“Alright, thanks.” Says the farm mare, “Let’s go everypony.”

The group of five all walk down the long corridor, to where Twilight is. Applejack moves closer to Fluttershy, and starts to whisper into her ear.

“Dontcha think that he looks ah bit like Caramel?”

Fluttershy looks behind at the unicorn doctor. He has an orange coat, and a medium length brown mane/tail, just like Caramel. His build is also pretty simular. The only differences that Fluttershy can see, is that the doctor is a unicorn rather than an earth pony, and his cutie mark is a heart monitor, compared to Caramel’s three horseshoe mark.

“Yeah, just a little bit.”

The five reach the door to the room, and quietly open it. They all immediately spot Twilight, and are saddened by what they see. She is crying heavily, on one of the couches near the centre of the room. She didn’t hear any of the mares enter the room.

Fluttershy begins to nervously speak, “Um.. uh... Are-are you okay Twilight?”

The bawling unicorn looks up at the timid pegasus with bloodshot eyes. Tears were streaming down her face. “I’m alright *sniff* Fluttershy, I-I just don’t want to lose Zephy. H-He has been s-so good to me, and-and I should of protected him, a-a-and...” She starts to break down, “...this w-was all m-m-my fault, because I *sniff* brought h-him with m-me and-and-”

“Twilight, it not ya fault, ya couldn’t of known.”

“Bu-but now he’s here and th-they are operating o-on him, and I don’t want him to d-die.” she blubbers out before going back into the fetal position that she was in before.

“Ah’m sure that he will get back on his feet, before ya know it Twi.” Supports Applejack.

“Y-you really think that?”

“Ah’m positive.”

Twilight looks up at her group of friends, with a small smile, happy with all of the support her friends have given her. They all give her a group hug, to soothe Twilight...

It is working.

Point of View: Dusk

Dusk had walked back to Fluttershy’s knowing that she would still be in the Hospital with her friends. He is still blaming himself for what happened to Zephyr in the fight, and he wouldn’t be able to look his friend in the eyes if he was in the Hospital. He knew that he would need to visit Zeph eventually, but not right now. It just didn’t feel right.

Dusk grabs a blank pieces of paper, and a quill/inkwell. He writes a quick note on the paper, before he puts the writing equipment away and leaves the house.

Dear Fluttershy,

I won’t be home until much later tonight. I need to think.

Dusk.

Chapter 41: Failure

Chapter 41: Failure

Dusk walks out of Fluttershy’s home, feeling slightly better. He felt better knowing that she would know why he wouldn’t be at her house. He looks up at the sky, and could see the sun is still quite high in the sky. Judging by the position of Celestia’s Sun, he can see that it is just past noon.

He wants to go with the girls to the hospital, and he wants to see if Zephyr is going to be okay, but he couldn’t muster the courage to do so. He couldn’t see either Zeph or Twilight right now. He wouldn’t be able to handle the guilt if he saw Zephyr, and he could imagine the distress that Twilight is under right now. He saw how devastated she was when she saw Zeph slump onto the ground.

Dusk looks around the path, to see if there is anypony in the area. When he confirms that he is alone, he does the only thing that pops into his mind…

“AGGRRRHHH! WHY AM I SUCH A BUCKING FAILURE!” He forcefully bucks a nearby tree in frustration, which hurts his back hooves. “Why do I have to be so bad at keeping my friends safe?! First Cloudie, then Fluttershy and now Zeph! Why, *buck* WHY, *buck* WHY!” He bucks the tree a fourth time, which hurts his hooves, badly…

Just as intended.

He hobbles into town, (mainly because of the outburst before) and sees that some of the local residents have exited their homes. Some of the town’s houses were still occupied by ponies too paranoid to step out of their homes. When everypony in town saw him, they began to celebrate his victory.

“Hooray for the ‘Protector of Ponyville’!”

“Thank you so much for protecting the town!”

“WOOOOO!!!”

Dusk looks up at the group, feeling no better about the whole ordeal of his. He asks a question to the gathering crowd in a confused tone.

“What’s going on here?”

A mint-green unicorn starts to speak for the group, “We’re thanking you for driving away those diamond dogs. We could have been in a lot of strife if you hadn’t beaten them.”

Dusk couldn’t accept the compliment. “Yeah, but I couldn’t protect my friends. One of them is in the hospital thanks to me.” Says Dusk, in a dark manner. He punches the ground with his forehoof, which brought a bit of dust into the air. He stares at the ground with an ashamed look

She pities Dusk, “Aww, I’m sorry, I didn’t know that, but I’m sure that he’ll be okay-“

“But what if he isn’t okay!? If I didn’t open my fat mouth, than he wouldn’t be in the hospital in the first place. I’m useless, a complete buck of a friend-”

“No, you’re not, I saw the battle from my house, and you couldn’t have stopped what happened to your friend. It wasn’t your fault.” Says a brown coated stallion.

‘Hmm… He raises a good point, they would of gotten him even if I didn’t distract him… Wait no. What am I saying, Zeph might have still beaten those diamond dogs if he was focused on them.’

“I suppose that you could be right.” Concedes Dusk. He walks away from the group feeling a little bit better about the situation.

He walks across the town, still in a regretful mood. He is constantly receiving praise from the passing townsfolk, and he fakes happiness and appreciation to keep them happy. He is still uncomfortable with visiting Zephyr in the hospital, because he still feels utterly horrible about causing his injury.

‘I really hope that the girls are helping Twilight deal with this, because if I decided go to the hospital and she was still broken down… I don’t think I would be able to deal with it.’

He hears a middle aged mare’s voice in the distance. “DUSK! DUSK! YOU NEED TO COME BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!”

He turns around and sees Mayor Mare running in the distance. He watches as she slowly closes the distance between the two and he could see that she is quite angry at him. She catches up to him (although he wasn’t running anywhere in the first place) and glares daggers at him.

“You are going to have to fix this.”

Dusk returns her near death-threat tone, with his own dark, yet sarcastic tone. “Fix what? My friend’s injuries, or my psychological scars?”

“No, you are going to help the workers fix the town hall.”

“WHAT?! Bu-bu-but I don’t know anything about carpentry and repair.” He shockingly says.

“If you don’t help, then I am pinning the bill on you, ‘Protector of Ponyville’.”

‘Oh you son of a…’

Dusk had been taken to the site of the town hall. Repair-work has already begun at the damages hall with a group of six workers already fixing the large building. The Mayor leaves the area with a warning.

“If I hear that you have left the job, than you’ll be paying for all of this.”

‘Well, might as well meet my new friends…’

Dusk walks up to a maroon coated stallion. He, along with the other five workers, are wearing hard hats and high visibility vests. This earth pony in particular has a short and messy, light brown mane and tail with a cutie mark of a crane. He, along with all of the other workers, seemed to have a much stockier build than Dusk. The worker is grabbing a box of nails from the nearby table.

Dusk starts to speak. “Umm, hello. The Mayor says that I’m supposed to be helping you guys with the repair of the building… because she thinks that I damaged the hall myself…”

The worker has turned around, and sees who is talking. “You mean with that nuke?”

Dusk is intrigued with his knowledge, “Wait, how did you know about that?”

“Well, when a bomb goes off in town, we are bound to know about it sooner or later. And also, you could probably see the explosion all the way from the outskirts of the Everfree Forest…”

*Mental facehoof*

“…Wait a second. Let me take a look at you.” He begins to look at Dusk, trying to find something that the dark blue pegasus is unsure about.

About a minute later, the maroon stallion stops looking at Dusk, and faces his work-mates. “Hey guys! I think that we get to work with the Protector of Ponyville!”

After a collective “What?!” They stop whatever work that they were doing and fly/walk over to Dusk.

‘Gee, I’ve gotten famous.’

“…Because I had to.” Answers Dusk.

“So did you use the bomb?” Asks one of the Pegasi workers.

“Technically no, but one of my friends used it. She had no other choice.” He swiftly answers.

“You are a lot smaller than I imagined.” Says the maroon worker.

“Yeah yeah, don’t remind me.”

“Apparently, something happened to your friend.”

This comment hit Dusk like a brick wall. He had forgotten about his internal conflict about Zeph, until one of the workers asked him that question.

“…I don’t want to talk about it; I think that we… should get back to work.” He downtroddedly walks over to the nearby hammer, and grabs it with his mouth. He hears another one of the pegasi workers quietly talking to the maroon stallion.

“Nice going Crane, I wanted to talk to him a bit more, but then you had to go and hit a nerve of his.” He says in a sarcastic tone.

‘Oh, you have no idea how right you are…’

It was about 7:30PM before they decided to call it a night. The Town Hall repair progress was going well, with most of the foundations, and smaller problems taken care of. The Mayor walked up to the group of workers, and thanked them for their efforts. She then walked up to Dusk…

“So Dusk, tell me, do you think you should still be at the construction site tomorrow, since it hasn’t been finished yet?” Asks Mayor Mare.

“I’ll tell you if you’ll allow me to speak freely…” She nods, “Okay good. Now I say there is no bucking way I should be back at the site tomorrow. I’m terrible at this job. Also, I’ll need the day off tomorrow so I can finally remove this cast. If I could make a suggestion, then I should go back to work at the farm, since I am a much better worker there than I am as a builder, and that would also increase efficiency there as well, meaning that there would be more apples to sell, and this would then boost the economy of the town.” Argues Dusk.

“That is a fair point Dusk, I suppose that you could go back to working at the apple farm, since you seem to work better there…” Concedes the Mayor.

“Alright, thank you.”

The two begin to walk in opposite directions, she went towards the middle of the town, while Dusk went nowhere in particular. As he walked away from the site, he saw the worker known as Crane approach him.

“Dusk, I’m sorry before for bringing up your friend.” Apologizes Crane.

“Don’t worry about it too much. You couldn’t have known that this would happen.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. Could you tell me what happened, to make you so reclusive about the subject?”

He thinks about this for a few moment before he decides. “Sure, I’ll tell you…”

So Dusk tells Crane about everything that happened to Zeph in the fight earlier today. He mentions the injury, how the girls went to the hospital to go see him, his emotional trauma, EVERYTHING.

“Wow, no wonder you were upset at the time.” Remarks Crane.

“Yeah, no kidding.”

“I reckon that you should go see him in the hospital, because I’m sure that he wouldn't hate you for what you did. You had good intentions. If you don’t visit him, I’m sure that he’ll be saddened that you didn’t visit him in the hospital.”

“B-But, what if he doesn’t forgive me.” Says Dusk.

“Well, if you don’t find out, then you’ll never know. I bet all of my bits, that he will appreciate you visiting him…” Argues Crane.

‘I’m starting to agree with him a bit.’

“Cowards will leave their friends behind. Real stallions will face up to their fears.” Motivates the maroon worker.

“…”

“If you don’t see him, than you don’t deserve him as a friend. You have faced up to a pack of diamond dogs, so I’m sure that you can visit your friend in the hospital.”

Dusk finally gets the spark of motivation that he needed. “You know what, you’re right. I’d be an idiot not to visit him. Thanks for the help Crane.”

“That’s no problem Dusk.”

Dusk turns around, and begins to walk to the hospital…

Chapter 42: The Apology

Chapter 42: The Apology

Luna’s moon flies over the land of Equestria, shining it’s white light at all of the ponies that resides in the peaceful land. Under the euphoria of light is Dusk, who is walking in the direction of the hospital. He is much more optimistic about what he will expect there, and he is walking along at a quickened pace. He can see the building in the distance.

As he approaches the hospital, he begins to get nervous. He starts thinking of all of the bad things that could go wrong as he walks in...

‘As he enters the hospital, he asks the nearby receptionist to Zephyr’s area and he does so. As he enters, he could see that Twilight was still quite upset about the whole ordeal, and Zephyr is quite pissed off at the dark blue stallion. “What the hay were you thinking Dusk!? I had that diamond dog right in my sights, and then you had to go and distract me. That was so bucking stupid of you Dusk.” Dusk begins to stammer, “I-I’m sorry Z-Zeph, I didn’t mean-” “Bull crap Dusk, that’s a lie and you know it. Get the hay out, before I make you go out.” Murderously says Zephyr.’

‘As he enters the room, he could see that Twilight was bawling in a corner, while Zephyr was lying in the bed with a slowed heart beep. *beep............beep etc* The hospitalised pegasus starts to speak weakly. “D-Dusk... I don’t... think... I’ll make it...” Dusk begins to panic, “DOC? WE NEED A DOCTOR IN HERE ASAP!” Zephyr speaks again, “...t-thank you... for everything...” He closes his eyes, and both Twilight and Dusk hear an ear piercing *BEEEEEEE-* Dusk begins to tear up. “No no no, Zeph, you can’t die in me. I can’t lose another friend, Zeph... ZEPH!” He breaks down at the loss of another close friend...’

“I should really stop being such a downer. He should be fine... at least I hope that he’ll be fine.”

Dusk walks up to the nearby counter, and sees an orange coated unicorn with a medium sized, brown mane/tail. He is wearing a doctor’s outfit, and he has a heart monitor as his cutie mark.

‘Is it just me, or does he look a bit like Caramel?’

Dusk begins talking, “Uh, hello, I’m here to see my friend Zephyr Verve. Could you possibly show me where his room is?”

“Before I let you in there, I need you to make sure that you don’t upset the mare in there. A group of her friends visited earlier, and calmed her down a bit, but she is still quite saddened by the injury of her friend.”

Dusk knows that he is talking about Twilight, and the girls. He is quite happy that the group helped her when she needed it. “Alright, I got it. So could you tell me the room he’s in?”

“Room 126. Take a left at the end of the corridor and walk to the end of the second hallway. You’ll see it on the left side.”

“Okay, thanks Doc.”

He walks towards the location of his friends room. He saw that some of the occupied hospital rooms have their lights off, probably because the patients inside wanted to gets some sleep, considering that it is dark outside. He turns to the left at the end of the corridor, and could see Zeph’s room in the distance. His light is on, which is a good thing for Dusk, as he didn’t want to wake them up if they were asleep. He knocks on the door of room 126,

*knock knock*

He hears Twilight speak from behind the door. “Hello... who is it?” She seems sad, but a lot more calmer than he thought she would be.

“It’s Dusk, do you mind it I uh... could see Zeph?”

She opens the door for Dusk, “Sure, he’s in the hospital bed.” Says Twilight. It is obvious to Dusk, that she had been crying recently, as her eyes were slightly bloodshot (only slightly) and there were a few tear stains on her face. She had also received a couple of light scuffs in the fight that happened earlier that day.

As Dusk enters, he sees his friend on the hospital bed, reading one of Twilight’s books. He seems really engrossed in the novel he is reading, and upon closer examination, it seems to be ‘Daring Do and the Last Crusade’. He is in much better condition than his pessimistic thoughts said he would be.

Dusk 1 - Pessimism 0

“Umm... hey Zeph...”

Zephyr, looks at Dusk, and smiles at him, “Oh hi Dusk.”

Dusk looks at the ground, and starts pawing at it with his left forehoof. “Zephyr, I’m sorry for injuring you. I’m such an idiot, I shouldn't have distracted you, that was so bucking stupid of me.”

Zephyr starts to shake his head, “Dusk, what am I gonna do with you? Don’t worry about it, it was all in good intentions.”

Dusk 2 - Pessimism 0

“Really, you’re not mad at me, even though I am the reason why you’re in hospital?”

Zephyr facehoofs, “I thought you knew enough about me now to realize that I wouldn't get mad at you, unless you deliberately hurt me. Was I mad when you told me about Rainbow and Pinkie?” Question Zephyr.

“...No, I guess not.”

“Exactly! You should stop worrying so much Dusk.”

“Yeah, I suppose that you’re right. So... what’s your injury?” Asks Dusk.

“Two cracked ribs, and they hurt like a mule, even with painkillers.”

“Ouch, isn’t that about a month or two recovery?”

“Yep, can’t work or do anything too hard until I’ve recovered.”

[Dirty Thoughts] Dusk now has a smirk on his face, as he walks up to Zephyr’s left ear and whispers.

“That means a month or two of no strenuous exercise... if you know what I mean.”

“Huh?” He thinks about what Dusk told him for a few moments before realising what he meant. His eyes go wide and he yells, “You bastard.”

‘Heh.’

Chapter 43: Planning the Experiment

Chapter 43: Planning the Experiment

Dusk, Zephyr and Twilight spent the next few hours talking, laughing and enjoying each other’s company. They had all forgotten about their physical/mental woes as they conversed. Zephyr only briefly remembered his pain, when Nurse Redheart had given Zephyr some more of the pain killers. It was 10:35PM when Dusk decided to leave, so he could get back to Fluttershy’s, but before he could, Twilight requests something of him.

“Dusk, do you mind if you could be part of an experiment I’m starting in a few days?” Asks Twilight.

He seems intrigued by the prospect, “An experiment? What are you testing?”

“I’m trying to figure out some of the special and somewhat magical things that I’ve seen pegasi do.” Explains Twilight.

He gives her a confused, yet bewildered look, "Magical things? Where are you getting at here?"

“Well, I’m trying to figure out if there is some sort of hidden magic held within all pegasi.”

“Hmm, and what would you be testing for? I’m sure you may know this already, but you can’t just base it on opinion.”

“Of course I know this Dusk, that is why I’ll be testing you, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy for something that I’ve noticed about all of you. You have that state, where your eyes go red and your physical ability increases, while-“

“I call it Level 4 Rage.” Interrupts Dusk.

“And why can’t I be involved?” Asks Zephyr.

She sighs in annoyance, “Because I haven’t found anything special about you that is worth testing… although I can think of one thing which comes close…” She gives him the 'bedroom eyes'.

‘I don’t really wanna know.’

“But I can only think of three valid things that can be tested, Dusk’s ‘Rage Mode’, Rainbow’s ability to do a Sonic Rainboom, and Fluttershy has the Stare. I’m going to test if they all have a magical connection, and if so, then I might extend the experiment.”

Dusk is really liking this idea, “Alright Twi, I’ll do it. When do you want me to arrive?”

“Two days, in the library, at about 4PM.”

Dusk had waved goodbye at the couple and left the hospital, intent on getting back to Fluttershy’s. He has completely forgotten his regret, of what happened earlier today, and he has a small spring on his step as he walks back to her home.

He walks through the town, and couldn’t help but feel that he is walking through a ghost town. Nopony else was walking out on the streets, and the lights of the nearby houses are off. The only thing he could hear, were his own hoofsteps as he walks through the streets. There isn’t even any cricket calls, or bird songs echoing throughout the town.

‘Note to self, don’t walk through Ponyville at night.’

As he neared the outskirts of town, he could hear a very light throbbing coming from the south of town. He tried to see where the noise is coming from, but he couldn’t see anything. He walks backwards, to see if he could find the noise emitter. After walking back a few hundred metres, he could see what is making the noises, the familiar nightclub known as Party United.

‘So, Ponyville isn’t a ghost town anymore.’

He walks out of the area with the new piece of useless information in his mind. He walks down the pathway to Fluttershy’s, occasionally looking behind in paranoia. He felt... uncomfortable to be walking, alone, in the middle of the night.

He breathes a sigh of relief, when he sees the cottage in the distance, which is illuminated by the moonlight.

He opens the door to Fluttershy’s home, and immediately wonders...

‘Does nopony lock their doors in Ponyville? I have never seen a single locked door in my time here.’

He forgets his observation, and steps inside. It is pitch black inside the house, and he presumes that this is because Fluttershy had gone to sleep. He begins to slowly move towards the staircase, using his sense of touch to manoeuvre around any obstacles. His eyes adjust to the darkness, and he could see faint lines where the furniture is supposed to be. He silently walks through the cottage, and up her staircase.

As he enters her room, he could see his marefriend’s sleeping form, under the covers. He could see a lot easier in this room, because the moonlight is seeping into the room through the open curtains. She was quietly breathing in her sleep, and he saw her body slow expand and descend with every slow breath. It looks like she is trying to hold something in her sleep. Dusk quietly d’awws at Fluttershy, until he decides to slip into the other side of the bed.

He looks at her, and give her a light hug, and he whispers, “I love you, Fluttershy.”

He dozes of moments later, tired after a quite eventful day. He hasn’t felt so relieved to feel the comfort of a warm bed, for a long time...

Chapter 44: Downpour

Chapter 44: Downpour

It is very early in the morning when Dusk wakes up. It is still quite dark outside, and he is the only pony in Ponyville, who is awake at this time. (Besides Big Mac.) He begins to smile, once he realizes what’s going to happen today.

He has a lot of things to smile about. He has Fluttershy as his marefriend, and all of his friends that live nearby. He has also cemented himself a proper job, and he has now become somewhat prestigious around town. All of those things are worth being happy about, but he has a new thing to add to the list.

The removal of his wing cast. ‘Huzzah’

He is surprised how he coped so well with the loss of his wing. He had completely forgotten about it for the two weeks, and he had gotten used to being earthbound, but he still yearned to take to the skies. At least he is now one step closer...

He had gotten himself out of the bed, and stretches himself until he feels a pleasing *crack*. “Ugghhh, that feels so good.” He says with immense satisfaction. He walks down the staircase, and into the lounge room, where he sees the thick book that he borrowed from the library. He had to return it in about two weeks, but he is quite willing to return it early. Ever since he read the last bit, he had been unwilling to continue the book.

He ignores the unfinished book, and walks into the kitchen, to cook both of them some breakfast. He looks into the pantry, and could see enough ingredients for him to make himself a simple toasted sandwich. (And about 3 months worth of juice boxes.) He turns on the gas stove to 160C and places a pan on the heating stove top.

He grabs two slices of bread, a block of mozzarella cheese, and some daisies. (Everything tastes better with daisies) He slices the cheese into many thin strips, and adds them onto a slice of bread. He then gets a fair helping of the flowers and adds a fair amount of them on top of the sliced cheese, and he lastly adds a few more slices of mozzarella on top. He adds the second slice of bread on top and puts the finished sandwich into the pan, and waits for it to cook.

He hears faint noises coming from the bedroom upstairs. ‘It seems that Fluttershy has woken up now.’

While he waits for her to come down, he grabs a nearby spatula, and flips the sandwich over to the other side. The bread which was underneath, has lightly toasted into a golden colour, and he could see the cheese starting to melt inside.

He sees her slowly walking down the staircase, lightly rubbing her eyes, and she somehow made even that look adorable.

“Good morning Shy.” Greets Dusk, while he waves his hoof.

“H-Hello Dusk, what are you making?”

“I’m making both of us some toasted daisy and cheese sandwiches for breakfast, if you want one.”

“I would like to have one... if you don’t mind that is...”

Fluttershy is sitting on the lounge eating the toasted sandwich that Dusk gave her. He started a conversation while he waited for his breakfast to toast.

“I’ll be going to the hospital today Shy.”

She gasps and immediately panics, “Oh no, oh no, oh no! What’s wrong Dusk? Are you hurt?”

“Nah it’s nothing like that, I just need to go to the hospital...” His voice begins to get more excited, “...so they can finally remove my cast. Quite happy about that.” Remarks Dusk.

“Oh, that good Dusk... when are you going, if I may ask?”

“At about 8:30, why?”

“Well um... do you mind if I could go with you?” Asks Fluttershy.

“Yeah sure, I don’t see why not.”

She doesn’t answer, but she give Dusk a nice smile, to show her appreciation. (And he has a triple HHHNNNNNGGGG attack from the levels of ad’awableness.)

---------- {1 hour and 40 minutes later}

The close couple were both walking towards the hospital, and this was Dusk’s fourth time visiting in two weeks. (And only his second time without any fresh injuries. *Achievement Unlocked*) They were both near the middle of town, and Dusk saw that Rainbow was starting to ready clouds over the town.

She saw the two walking through the town, and she had began to worry for them, since she is scheduled to begin a heavy rainfall very soon. (Even though she is struggling to finish on time, since she is working on her own.) She flew down to ground-level and approaches the two.

“What are you two doing out here? You need to get inside soon, because I’m scheduled to start a heavy downpour in a few minutes.”

‘Damn it, I forgotten about the rain forecast today.’

“Umm... Thanks for telling us, but we need to get to the hospital... so I guess that we’ll need to walk through the rain.” Says Fluttershy.

[Idea!]

“Wait a second Rainbow, why don’t you delay the rain for a little bit, just so we can get to the hospital?”

“Sorry Dusk, but I can’t delay the weather, since I’m already a little bit behind right now.”

“Oh okay then Dash, I guess you should get to your job then. I’ll be flying in a week.” Says Dusk.

“Alright thanks for telling me, seeya Shy, seeya Dusk.”

“Seeya Dash.”

“Good bye Rainbow.”

‘We may have a bit of problem right now...’

They were still about 10 minutes away from the hospital, when they both felt the rain begin to fall from the skies. At first, it was only a few droplets of water, but it soon became a small shower. The intensity of the rain is increasing. Dusk handled the rain really well, since he preferred cold and rainy days over any other weather, but he knew that most ponies, including Fluttershy, didn’t like the rain at all.

He looks over at Fluttershy, and could see that she was starting to get quite a bit wet. The rain had affected her mane/tail quite a bit, because it seems that the rain had... loosened her style a little bit. [Quick Author’s Note: Desription Skills: -5 points.] He felt that he needed to call her new style, ‘Wet Mane Fluttershy’ for some reason. Nevertheless, she did look unhappy to be rained on.

Dusk wrap his right wing over Fluttershy, to help shelter her from the downpour. She realizes what he is doing, and looks at Dusk, who gives back with a caring face. She begins to blush heavily.

“Um.. uh... Y-you don’t really need t-to do this for me Dusk.” Stutters Fluttershy.

He doesn’t retract his wing, and he explains, “It’s no problem Shy, I saw how unhappy you were when you were in the rain, and I don’t mind the rain myself. I don’t want you to be unhappy Shy.”

She shuffles closer to him as she thinks of an answer. “I... um... well... thank you Dusk.”

She leans on his body, while he wraps his wind around her. They both look at each other with loving eyes, and they passionately kiss in the rain...

Chapter 45: Removal

Chapter 45: Removal

A heavy downpour if rain, fell over the town, and Dusk and Fluttershy were the only two residents who were still outside. They were still side by side, as he kept his wing over her, to prevent the rain from pouring down on her. (Well... that was their excuse) Both of them were blushing as they moved towards the hospital, which is still about five minutes away.

Dusk is getting drenched with rain. Every single part of his body was affected by the rain, and he couldn’t see as well, since his short mane had gone straight, which prevented him from seeing anything above sky level. He looks at Fluttershy, who is visibly less wet than Dusk, but still quite soaked by the rain.

The dark blue stallion is quite a lot happier than usual, and not just because of what happened a few minutes ago. He absolutely loves the rain, and so he didn’t mind getting wet at all, he actually preferred it. He felt Fluttershy lean on him ever so slightly. He could see that she is smiling into the distance, and he swore that he felt his heart melt.

He smiles in pure bliss, as he wonders about how he is so lucky to have a mare like her, with such beauty, such compassion, such kindness.

‘I don’t deserve her, I’ve lived too much of a horrible life for her to even know me, let alone love me. But she has done wonders for me. She just makes me fell... content with my life.’

As they approach the front door, Fluttershy begins to worry about something. She hesitates as she approaches the sliding doors of the building, and she turns to Dusk.

“I really don’t think that we should go i-inside, because I-I don’t think that they would like it if we came in... like this.” She wipes a forehoof on her wet body and lets the water drip off said hoof. Dusk understands what she is implying.

“Yeah, I get the picture Flutters, we are both sopping wet, (especially me) and I don’t really think that they’d like, it if we just uh... left an enormous water trail inside.” Says Dusk in a somewhat sarcastic tone.

“Um... yeah... that wouldn’t be um... very nice if we did that.”

[IDEA!]

“I’ve got it covered.”

Dusk looks inside the hospital area, and is thankful when he sees one of the hospital’s nurses walking through the nearby corridor. She has a light pink coat, with a pink and white mane tied into a ponytail. ‘I wonder why they call it a ‘ponytail’. It would make much more sense to call it a tail mane style, or something like that.’ She is quite chubbier than most of the other mares that he’s seen in Ponyville. She has a white cross with hearts surrounding it as her cutie mark, and she wears a nurse’s cap.

She is unoccupied. ‘Perfect...’

“Hey excuse me? I need some towels over here.” Crudely says Dusk.

She turns around and looks at him, confusedly. “Need some towels?”

“Yeah, I need towels. As it turns out, walking through the rain gets you quite wet.” He says bluntly.

“Um... sure then. I’ll get some.” She walks off, slightly confused as to why she is doing this.

Dusk looks away, and back at his soaked marefriend, “Crude tactics, they work.”

Fluttershy looks away slowly facehoofing, and shaking her head. He saw that she is smiling in a humoured way.

When both Dusk and Fluttershy had both dried themselves, (thanks to Nurse Sweethooves) and had stepped inside the hospital, causing no mess to the hospital, much to the satisfaction of Fluttershy. They had both gone their separate ways, she had gone to Room 126, while Dusk had walks towards the receptionist at the nearby counter.

“Uh... hullo. I’m here to speak to you about my appointment with Nurse Redheart, with the removal of this cast on my wing.”

“Ah yes, she told me that she was to expect you here, Dusk. I’ll tell her to meet you here in a second.”

‘Must be a slow work day, if she remembers about my cast removal.’

The receptionist flips through a few of the folders in the nearby medical cabinet. As soon as she finds the surprisingly small medical folder, she contacts the nurse using her unicorn magic. (Magic, how does it work?)

“Just sit in the waiting room for a few minutes, Nurse Redheart will be with you in a few minutes.”

“Alright.”

Dusk has been sitting in the waiting room for five minutes, waiting for the nurse to get him. There are several grey chairs attached to the walls of the room, and he sees numerous outdated fashion magazines on the table in the centre of the room.

The nurse enters the area where he is sitting and calls for Dusk to follow her to one of the rooms in the hospital. He willingly obliges, as he gets off the chair and follows...

Point of View: Fluttershy

Fluttershy is walking down one of the hospital hallways, looking for Room 126, where Twilight and Zephyr were staying. As she walks, she finds 126 in the distance. She approaches, and knocks on the door.

*knock knock knock*

She waits for a few seconds, until Twilight opens the door of the room. “Hello Fluttershy, what are you doing here?” Asks Twilight in a pleasantly surprised tone.

“I um... came here to see if you are okay.” She answers quietly.

“Don’t worry too much Fluttershy, I’m a lot better than I was yesterday.”

“Oh that’s good Twilight. Well I-”

“Why don’t you stay for a bit Shy.”

“...Okay.”

As she steps inside the room, she sees Zephyr laying on the hospital bed, in a bit of pain. The painkillers that the hospital gave him were starting to wear off again, and he is starting to feel tightness in his chest again. Fluttershy looks him sympatheticly, before talking to him.

“Hello Zephyr, I hope that you feel okay.” Says Fluttershy.

“I feel a lot better than I did yesterday. I’ll still be in quite a bit of pain for about a month, but I’ll still be fine.”

“Oh... uhm... well, good luck with the injury.”

“Thanks Fluttershy, at least I can still spend time with Twilight over there.” He points his forehoof, over to where she is standing, which makes her blush a little bit.

“U-um... thanks Zephy.”

Fluttershy, Zephyr and Twilight were engaging in light conversation with each other. Twilight took it upon herself, to remind Fluttershy about the experiment she is organising. She had brought up other issues, such as the well-being of the town, but she is currently asking about their friends.

“So Fluttershy, do you know how all of our friends handled the attack?”

“Um... no. (Sorry) I only know about Rarity. She... she locked herself up at the Carousel Boutique after we visited you. She d-didn’t want to come out, in case the diamond dogs went for her again.”

Zephyr is the first to speak up. “Really? She did that?”

Twilight starts worrying, “Oh no, oh no, oh no. Do you remember what happened the last time she locked herself up in her Boutique?”

“Yes, that was-”

“Wait a sec, what happened the last time this happened?” Asks Zephyr.

Twilight starts to explain what happened, to her coltfriend. “When she was captured by the diamond dogs, about a year and a half ago, she became fearful of the dogs. So she locked herself in her house, and stayed there for two weeks, until she ran out of food.”

“For two weeks?! That seems a-”

*knock knock*

They all look at the door, after hearing the knocking. Twilight approaches the door, asking herself “Who else could it be?”

She opens the door, and looks at a familiar dark blue pegasus, but he appears to be missing something. He has a smug smile, as he begins to speak.

“Hello Zeph, Fluttershy, and Twilight. They have finally removed my cast.” He flares his wings as proof of what he just said.

“No wonder something seems off, Dusk, but I think you suit being injured, since you seem to get injured every second day.” Remarks Zephyr, in a slightly trolly way.

“Hah, says the one who can’t work, in both ways, for six weeks, because of injury.” Retorts Dusk. He is grinning evilly after the comeback.

“Dusk, I swear, sometimes, you are the epitome of annoyance.”

“Sucks to be you right now, Zeph.”

Chapter 46: Locked Out

Chapter 46: Locked Out

After Dusk had finished ‘introducing’ himself, they group had begun to converse again. Twilight had brought up the subject of Rarity again. When Dusk heard about what Rarity did after the attack, he sighed. He could understand why she did it, but it didn’t make him any less disappointed with her.

“I think that we should leave soon, because I think that we should try to get her out of the Boutique.”

He sees that both Twilight and Fluttershy seem slightly apprehensive about the task. “I don’t think we’d be able to do this Dusk, we tried everything we could to get her out last time, and none of them worked.” States Twilight.

“Oh trust me, I can be a very persuasive stallion sometimes...”

“But I don’t think you’ll be able to convince her to come out anytime soon, she’s really stubborn.” Says Twilight.

“And I’m not?”

Twilight sighs in annoyance, and admits defeat. “You’re going to go, no matter what I say, aren’t you.”

“Yep.”

“Well I might as well go then...” She looks at Zephyr, “...if you don’t mind me leaving you here.”

Zephyr does the equivalent of a shrug, while still lying down. “I don’t mind.”

“Well, then I’ll go with you, Dusk.” Confirms Twilight.

“And um... I’m coming too...” Says Fluttershy

‘Easiest persuasion attempt ever.’

They had waited for an hour, when the rain is due to stop, before they left. The group of three were currently standing in front of the Carousel Boutique, which looks a lot more different than usual. All of the window were boarded up from the inside, with large strips of plywood, and she had locked the doors of the Boutique. ‘So the residents of Ponyville do have locks, but rarely use them.’

Twilight and Fluttershy are looking at each other with worried glances, while Dusk is thinking of ways that they could try to get Rarity out. He had completely disregarded any thoughts of breaking his way inside, so he was trying to think of ways that could bring her out of the shop. He knew that he could yell loud enough to get her to hear him, even from behind the wooden planks.

He begins to yell, “HELLO! COULD YOU COME OUT OF THE BOUTIQUE, RARITY?!”

There is a deafening silence in the area around Dusk, as Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity and probably half of the town heard something even louder than the ‘Royal Canterlot Voice’ which everypony heard at the most recent Nightmare Night. Dusk saw the the windows of the Boutique were shaking slightly after his loud speech. (Which shall now be known as Dusk’s Royal Speech. [DRS])

After one minute, the owner of the Boutique responded through one of the blocked windows of the shop. “No, I’m not going outside. What if the diamond dogs come back. What if they want to abduct me again. What if they want us to work in those filthy mines again.” Dusk could barely hear what she is saying, her voice doesn’t have the same loudness, as Dusk’s Royal Speech.

“THE DIAMOND DOGS WON’T BE COMING BACK, THEY’RE GONE NOW!”

“But how do you know? You don’t know if they’ll come back Dusk.”

He looks away from the shop, and swears something long and vulgar to himself quietly. Unfortunately, his quiet, isn’t exactly quiet in everypony’s elses ears, and the other two mares heard everything that he said. Twilight is looking at Dusk, with disgust while Fluttershy is intrigued with Dusk’s vast knowledge of profanities. (It had something to with Princess Celestia, diamond dogs, and many choice words in between.)

He turns to the mares, unaware that they heard everything he just said, and plainly says, “Well, I’m outta ideas, she’s way too paranoid for me to help her. How about you two?”

They shook their head, confirming Dusk’s fear. He began to quickly brainstorm ideas in his head, to try and get Rarity out of her shop. He is barely 20 seconds in when a gets an [IDEA!].

‘Hmm... maybe that won’t be such a good idea, last resort maybe?’

He pushes his newest idea right into the deepest recesses of his mind while he thinks of new tactics. As he thinks, he slowly gets a small influx of [IDEAS!!!] into his head. He starts throwing out his ideas to the two mares, as he seeks approval to use them.

“I have an idea, what if we bring in one of her fashion icons, to tell her to get out?”

Twilight immediately answers, “We can’t do that Dusk, it would be too hard, and it would take too much time.”

“Well, what about either Princess Celestia or Princess Luna instead. Aren’t you Celestia’s student?”

“Well yes, but no, we can’t do that. I’m sure that she has too much on her plate at the moment, to persuade Rarity to get out of her home.”

‘Damn, that was probably my best strategy, beside the... other plan.’

Dusk continues to brainstorm, “What about a gift? We could try to coax her out of the house with a gift for her.”

Fluttershy begins to speak up, “Um... I’m sorry Dusk, but we tried that last time... and it didn’t really work.”

Twilight then gets an excellent idea. “What if we sent Spike over here to get her?”

Dusk is confused what is important about Spike, in a situation like this. “What would that be good for?”

“Well, I know for a fact that he would do anything for her, because he lik-”

“FOREVER!!!” Say somepony from above. Dusk looks up, and sees that Pinkie Pie is staring down at Twilight, with menacing eyes. She appeared to be popping out from a... cloud. (But she’s an earth pony, what the hay...) Twilight looks up at the pink pony, who was slowly moving back inside the clouds.

“...um, maybe we shouldn’t do that. Safety reasons.”

‘No need to say more Twilight. Especially with Pinkie watching.’

“Well, I’m out of ideas.” Concedes Dusk.

“Me too.” Agrees Twilight.

“...” Fluttershy doesn’t say anything.

The three try to think of an idea which would bring her out of her home, but alas, after 10 minutes, they couldn’t think of anything that would work.

Twilight starts speaking, “Maybe we could come back here tomorrow, when we have some ideas.”

‘Time to use my last resort. Buck my life.’

“Wait a second Twilight, I have the perfect plan to get Rarity out of the house. I reckon that it is guaranteed to work.” He says in a slightly worried fashion.

“Really? What are you going to do?” Asks Twilight.

“Insult her line of work. It was nice knowing you girls.” He gives a mock salute, as he walks closer to the boarded-up Boutique. Fluttershy and Twilight are both confused by what he meant just before.

“RARITY, IF I COULD GET YOUR ATTENTION AGAIN!”

“*sigh* What is it Dusk?”

“I THINK THAT THE NEXT FASHION TREND SHOULD BE ALL-OUT LYCRA!” He says in a know-all way.

“...WHAT?!”

“YOU HEARD ME, LYCRA; SUITS OF THE STUFF. WORN BY EVERYPONY IN CANTERLOT, FILLYDELPHIA, MANEHATTEN, STALLIONGRAD AND GOOD OL’ PONYVILLE!” [Music]

He hears a shriek of terror, disgust and immense hatred from inside the Boutique. “YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS!”

“OH BUT I AM, I’M THE ONE WHO IS CHANGING EVERYTHING IN FASHION!”

Dusk hears angry yelling from Rarity, but he couldn’t make out any of the words she is saying. ‘Dusk, why you so crazy.’

“I ALSO TOLD THEM TO SWITCH TO THICK WORKBOOTS FOR THE NEXT SEASON OF FOOTWEAR. I CONVINCED HOITY TOITY TO DO THAT!” ‘Thank you newspaper article, for showing me about his fashion... something or other.’

He could hear heavy shockwaves emanating from the unicorn’s shop.

“AND NEW MANE STYLES TOO, MOHAWKS FOR THE STALLIONS, SHORT AND STRAIGHT FOR THE MARES!”

He could hear multiple locks unlocking, at the front door. ‘I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm...’

“MAYBE I SHOULD ALSO INTRODUCE TRACKSUITS FOR EVERYPONY AS WELL. IMAGINE... Oh crap...”

Rarity has finally opened the front door, and looks at Dusk with immense desire to kill him, for the sake of fashion. He saw that she is using her horn to lift something. Upon closer inspection, he sees about 2000 sewing pins, and 20 sharpened gemstones of various sizes. They were all aimed at Dusk.

“You’re mine now.” She menacingly says to him.

‘Many regrets.’

“Oh no... oh dear, somepony help me!” He runs away from the ‘demon’ mare, as she unleashes her first volley of needles, where Dusk stood moments ago. She starts to make chase...

Chapter 47: Pins and Needles

Chapter 47: Pins and Needles

Dusk is running away from the alabaster unicorn/monster/demon-mare that is chasing him with intense fury in her eyes. He is genuinely scared for his life, as Rarity keeps on unleashing barrage, after barrage of needles at him. (All dodged) He is frightened of the thin, but wickedly sharp needles that she is levitating, but he is truly fearful of the power of the gemstones she possesses. They have been tapered, into a horrifically long spike. He knew her reaction was going to be bad, but not this bad.

He looks behind him, and could see another group of needles being shot at him, and so he quickly dodges to the left, narrowly avoiding said needles. He scans the area, for any sign of Fluttershy, and Twilight, but curses when he couldn’t see them anywhere. It seems that he has run in a different direction to his friends.

He runs through the relatively empty town, continuously dodging every single little needle thrown at him. He is hopelessly running away hoping that she will exhaust, before he does. He sees something up ahead, which is a small relief to see…

‘The town centre, this is good to see. If I can get out of the commercial area, then maybe I can lose her in the maze of the residential area.’

As he looks behind, to see how close she had gotten, he gasps in panic. She has gotten uncomfortably close, and she launches another volley of needles at the stallion. He tries to dodge in time, but fails, as he feels every single needle pierce through his skin. He lets out a loud cry of pain, as he feels the sewing needles enter his right hindleg.

“Gotcha.” Rarity says evilly.

He sees one of the sharpened gemstone fly right past his face, and causes a rather sizable chip into one of the nearby concrete walls. He looks at Rarity with horror, as she readies another volley of needles directed at him.

‘This wasn’t meant to turn out this way, this was meant to something that she could be angry about now, but something to forgive and forget after a few minutes…’

He sprints towards the residential area of the town, while skillfully avoiding every lob of needles that is thrown at him. He could feel himself starting to feel the effects of his panic, low stamina, and the attack on his leg.  Dusk is starting to feel quite exhausted as he reached the district of houses, and he knew that he needs to rest soon, or else his legs would give out. He uses the Dusk Royal Voice as he ran…

“TWILIGHT, FLUTTERSHY, YOU NEED TO STOP RARITY, SHE’S IN THE RESIDENTUAL DISTR- *AGGHHH, BUCKING CRAP!*”

He felt the pain of another barrage of needles hitting his right hindleg again. He could see small streams of blood, trickling down his wounds, where he has been hit. He could see Rarity slow getting closer to Dusk, who started to feel a light paralyzing effect on his affected hindleg.  He sees her face for the first time during the fight.

She is a twisted shadow of her normal self. Her normally beautified and painstakingly maintained mane and tail are a mess (For her standards). There were many loose stands of her mane sticking out, and it has messily over curled at the ends of the purple mane. She has also somehow dulled in colour, her coat has become a shade of grey. None of those things scared Dusk though, what scared him are her eyes. When he looks into her eyes, there seemed to be an unexplainable empty void deep inside. This scares him immensely.

His head shakes, as he regains control of his actions. He realizes how close the possessed Rarity had gotten to him. He dodges the next hail of needles, and runs towards the housing area, before realizing something as he ran.

‘These needles aren’t meant to kill me, but are only meant to slow me down, so she could get an easier shot with those impalers…’

Point of View: Fluttershy

Both Fluttershy, and Twilight were running in the direction that they saw Dusk and Rarity running. They thought that the two both heard something from the centre of town and were going to investigate, when they hear…

“TWILIGHT, FLUTTERSHY, YOU NEED TO STOP RARITY, SHE’S IN THE RESIDENTUAL DISTR- AGGHHH, BUCKING CRAP!”

They cast worried glances at each other, as they flew/ran towards the housing area of Ponyville. They could tell that Dusk is hurt, so they start looking for both him and Rarity, to try and figure out what is going on.

They both run towards the houses…

Point of View: Dusk (A few minutes later)

“Rarity… you don’t need to do this, I was lying about everything before…”

Dusk has been hit a few too many times from her needles, and he couldn’t move properly. Two of his legs felt numb, and he is reduced to nothing more than a slow limp. He sees her menacingly walk towards his immobilized form, with an evil smile on her face. He starts to stress out, because he still hasn’t regained full control of his legs. He looks at his wings, and realizes that they are his only way of escape.

‘This is going to hurt…’

He begins to beat is wings in the attempt to fly, and he tries to ignore the pain, and stiffness in his left wing. He focuses on flying away from the possessed mare, who is still advancing on him. He his left wing wanting to give out, from the stresses of flying, but he wouldn’t stop. He sees that she is readying one of the gemstones for an attack…

He feels himself go airborne, just as the gemstone goes flying towards his old position. His left wing felt like it is continuously being hit by a sledge hammer. The more he flew, the more his vision starts to fade away, since it took all of the energy and willpower to stay in the air. Dark black spots slowly fill his line of sight, as he flies. He needs to land.

He sees a safe area above him, which is high enough for him to be a safe distance away from any of her attacks. It is the roof of a two story house. He uses his last bit of energy to fly up to the roof, and his vision is blackening at a worrying rate. He could feel himself about to faint, after flying with his badly damaged wing for little over 30 seconds. He throws himself onto the rooftop, narrowly avoiding the next hail of needles.

He faints as he lands…

Dusk awakes on the rooftop, a few minutes later, feeling like utter crap. His left wing feels like it’s burning, and his right hindleg, and left foreleg, stung, because of the multiple needle wounds. Luckily for him, he could move those limbs again. He is sitting in the middle of the roof, and it was mostly flat, and it protected him from all of Rarity’s attacks on him. Since he is in a safe area, he decided that it would be the best time to remove the needles, which were lodged into his body.

As he pulls the first needle out of his foreleg with his teeth, he receives a massive jolt of pain, which he feels across his whole body. He suppresses a yell of pain, as he pulls the first needle out of his skin. He begins to start pulling out the next needle, when he sees just how many needles have hit him.

‘Holy Luna in Canterlot, I have gotten twelve needles stuck in my foreleg.’

He suppresses many more yells of pain, as he quickly pulls out the next six needles which were stuck inside. As he pulls the seventh needle out, he hears some laughter from ground level. The next thing he notices, were about 300 needles being levitated above the roof, and they were now forming a straight line across the roof. He realizes what is about to happen.

‘Oh, buck my life, she’s going to sweep the roof with those needles, which will hit me…’

He panics as he sees this, as he couldn’t fly away from the trap. He looks around at the side of the roof without the needles, trying to find if there is anything on the ground which will help him. He finds absolutely nothing. He swears to himself.

He steps back a few metres, and runs towards the edge of the roof, while the needles starts to fly in his general direction. He jumps off the roof…

Chapter 48: Fear

Chapter 48: Fear

Time felt slow for Dusk, as he slowly fell towards the ground, from two stories up. He looks up, to see the needles slowly flying through the air, barely missing his falling body. He could see the raindrops fall from the rainclouds in the sky, as the scheduled second rainfall begins. He prepares himself for a hard landing…

*CRUNCH*

Dusk prevents yelling out in pain as his legs buckle from land on his hooves. He collapses from the pain, and lies on the ground, unable to move. He knows that he isn’t injured from the fall, because he couldn’t feel any sharp pains in any parts of his body. All he could feel, is a painful stinging sensation on his hooves, his left fore-leg and his right hind-leg. There were fresh scratches and scrapes on the sore parts of his body. (If you count out his left wing, which is excessively pained.)

He wills himself to stand back up, just in case Rarity started to hunt for him. He needs to buy some time so Fluttershy and Twilight could catch up to him, and to stop this madness. The rain starts to pelt down again, and he realized that he could call Rainbow, who would still be working up in the clouds...

“Rainbow... *cough cough* ahem, RAINBOW, I NEED YOU DOWN HERE!”

It is no good, the rainbow maned pegasus can’t hear Dusk from above the clouds, and he is too weak to be able to use the power of the Dusk Royal Speech. His normal voice doesn’t have the piercing power of the DRS. He begins to limp away from where he landed...

The pouring rain did not help things for Dusk. Every little drop of water made things harder for him, as they made his scratches sting even worse than before. It is getting harder for him to continue limping. All he wants to do, is to collapse onto the ground, and recover, but he knows that this would be a very, very bad idea.

‘Damn it, I hope that those two can find Rarity, before she-’ “AAAAHH!”

He yells out in pain, as he feels hundreds of needles hit him from behind. He falls onto the ground, in utter pain...

(3 minutes before the 2nd collapse)

Point of View: Fluttershy

“...RAINBOW, I NEED YOU DOWN HERE!”

“...was that Dusk?” Asks Fluttershy, despite already knowing the answer.

“I think so, he sounds like he’s nearby, lets go Fluttershy.”

“Um... okay.”

Twilight runs in the direction where they heard him yell, while Fluttershy trails in the air. Fluttershy then sees somepony in the far distance, somepony whitish-gray. (And slightly purple) The yellow pegasus tells Twilight about who she thinks she saw.

“Twilight, I... I think I saw Rarity.”

“Really, well I suppose you have a better vantage point than me, tell me what way she’s going.”

“Well um... she’s still going straight, along this road.”

“Okay thanks.”

Twilight had quickened her speed to try and catch up to the fashionista, but to no avail. She still relied on Fluttershy to direct her. Fluttershy sees her friend going to the right, through one of the streets.

“She going right at about um... 400 metres...”

(Present Time)

Point of View: Dusk

Dusk begins to hyperventilate, as Rarity begins to get closer to him. The rain, had somehow made Rarity look even more demented, than she did before. She wore a very creepy smile on her face, as she casts a spell on Dusk. At first, he doesn’t know what had happened to him, but as he tries to stand up and run, he sees that his legs are all magically bound to the ground, rendering them useless.

He is completely under Rarity’s mercy.

She levitates fifteen needles, and a couple of her sharpened gemstone, as she walks even closer to Dusk’s unmoving form. He could feel himself start to tear up, from fear, as he tries to talk her out of this.

“R-R-Rarity, I’m s-sorry for *sniff* w-what I said b-b-before, I was kidding b-before, I-I swear.”

She coolly talks back to him, “But Dusk, I must stop you, so you’ll never do this to fashion. It’s nothing personal.”

She brings 3 of the needles onto his back, before slamming into his body, with a single fore-hoof. Dusk yells out in pain, which the darkened alabaster unicorn enjoys. It is one of the worst pains that Dusk has ever felt. He looks up at his assailant, in fear, as he tries another vain attempt to stop this torture.

“P-Please, s-stop Rarity, this i-i-isn’t you.”

“Your point Dusk? Do you think that I really- What’s happening to me?!”

She has been magically lifted into the air, from a familiar purple unicorn nearby. Twilight lifts Rarity closer to herself, and casts another spell on top of the levitation spell. Dusk watched it tear stained awe, as the twisted, grey demon-mare, turns back into the normal, alabaster Rarity.

Point of View: Rarity

As Twilight gets her out of her levitational field, she looks at Twilight and Fluttershy with confusion. She remembers getting yelled at by Dusk, while she was in her Boutique, and now she is outside, in the cold, shivering rain. It will ruin her mane.

“Twilight, Fluttershy darling, shouldn’t we talk inside, where the rain isn’t ruining our manes? (Especially mine.)”

Twilight doesn’t respond, as she looks at her with disgust, while Fluttershy is on the verge of crying, as she looks at something behind Rarity. The dress maker is genuinely confused, as to what is going on.

“Why are you looking at me like that Twilight?”

“Ask Dusk. I’m sure that he’ll know all about what happened, Rarity.” She has a hint of malice in her voice.

She turns around, to see Dusk on the ground. She dramatically gasps in horror. He has numerous sewing needles stuck in his body, (Mainly in his hind-legs) and many scuffs, and scratches around legs and hooves. He looks at her with immense fear.

“Oh my gosh Dusk, what happened to you? Why don’t I help you get back on your hooves?”

She moves closer to Dusk, to help pull him up to a standing position, when he frantically suffles back from her, as if it was his life on the line.

“NO! Get away from me!”

Chapter 49: Trauma

Chapter 49: Trauma

“NO! Get away from me!”

“Wait Dusk, what’s wrong?”

“I s-said get away!”

Rarity could see the immense fear in his eyes, as he frantically shuffles further away from her. His aggressiveness is obviously put on, as his voice wavered, and he is hyperventilating again. Her eyes widen, as she realizes why he is so scared of her.

‘Oh no, please don’t tell me that I did this to Dusk, I wouldn’t do that to him. But why else would he cower from me?’

She turns to Twilight, who is looking at Rarity with anger. She asks, “Why is Dusk cowering from me?”

“You don’t know?!”

“I swear, I don’t know what happened to him. All I remember is Dusk yelling at me while I was in the boutique.”

“Really?” She sounds skeptical, “You don’t remember bounding him to the ground, and forcing needles into him?”

This hurt to hear, “Oh my word, did I… did I really do this to him?” She is shocked that she did something so cruel to him.

“Of course you did! Fluttershy and I saw it with our own eyes! What were you thinking?!”

“I don’t know Twilight, I just don’t know.” She begins to stress out, “Oh my gosh, what else did I do to him?”

I dunno Rarity, why don’t you ask… him…”

They have both look at the direction where Dusk is, or was. He has seemingly vanished.

----------

Perspective: Dusk

‘She’s trying to find me, I can tell. Oh Celestia, I hope that she doesn’t find me.’

He had run away from the group, as soon as he regained movement of his legs. He has silently ran to the outskirts of town, while trying to get away from Rarity. He is overly paranoid, as he constantly checks behind him, just in case she followed him, and he has been sticking to the shadows of the town, to make sure she would not find him. He knows that his dark colour scheme would help him with this task, as well as the grayness of the rain.

The sewing needles were causing him a lot of pain as he ran. Every step he takes, pains him…

----------

Perspective: Rarity

Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy, had all split up, to try and find Dusk. The yellow Pegasus has taken to the air, and is looking for him, from above, while Twilight has decided to look around near the centre of town. The alabaster unicorn has decided to search near the houses in the area.

She complained at first, as she didn’t want to get herself too wet in the rain, but after a little bit of persuasion from Twilight, she agreed to help. She felt bad for doing what she did to him, and she intended to try and make it up to him.

She is quite upset that her mane has been ruined by the rain, but she knows it’s for a greater cause.

‘I suppose it could be worse, I could be walking through a dirt path. Argh, curse it, my beautiful hooves are getting grubby. How can Applejack put up with this? This is disgust-‘

Her train of thought stops, when she thinks she sees something move in the shadows of the houses. She instinctively asks, “Dusk? Is that you?” No response, and no more movement. She walks in the direction that she saw… whatever she saw go.

----------

Perspective: Dusk

‘Why can’t she just leave me alone? *sniff* I’m so scared, so vulnerable…’

He had barely made it out of the area, without being seen by Rarity. The more he ran away, the more the sharp pain of the dreaded needles would hurt. Before he could try to remove them himself, he had to make sure that she wasn’t following him. He hates to admit it, but he is crying again, not only from the pain, but also from the trauma, and fear in his mind. The stress of the feared mare looking for him, has him on the verge of breakdown.

As he moves, he notices that he is about 100 metres until he reaches the outside of town. He could see the river in the distance, and an area with a lot of trees. He knows that this would probably be the best spot to hide. This helps him calm down a little bit. He runs to the next spot…

----------

Perspective: Fluttershy

She has been looking for Dusk from high above the town for about fifteen minutes now. Despite her vantage point, she hadn’t been able to locate him, since he had been staying in the shadows for most of the time.

She has seen Rarity quite a few times (mainly because of her white coat) near the housing area, and she has seen Twilight in the empty marketplace a few times.

The rain is still pouring down, and so all of the town’s residents were staying in their individual houses, completely oblivious to the commotion outside. The noise from the rain also blocked most of the yelling from the other resident’s ears. (If you exclude the DRS of course)

She knew that she couldn’t keep airborne for too long, since the rain will force her to ground soon. She gave the area one last check, to see if she could find him, but to no avail. She controls her descent, and lands in the area where Twilight is checking. Her friend is too pre-occupied with her task, to notice the landing.

“Um... Twilight?”

This gains her attention, as she turns around, and greets the pegasus, “Oh hello Fluttershy. Did you find Dusk around town anywhere?” She asks.

“No, I didn’t… sorry.”

“Well we can’t give up now, could you try to get back up into the air, and look around this area for him?”

“Sorry... Twilight, but I can’t... my wings are too wet, and I can’t fly until they’re more dry. Sorry...”

“You need to stop apologizing Fluttershy.” She says sternly.

“...” She opens her mouth to apologize again, but decides against it.

“So what are you going to do now?”

“Well um... I’ll go home now... I don’t really want to slow you down.”

“Fluttershy, trust me, you do not slow me down, you are a much bigger help than you think Shy. We appreciate all of the help that you do for us. Don’t forget that."

“...Thank you Twilight.”

“It’s no problem. So did you know where we should look?”

“No...”

----------

Perspective: Dusk

Relief...

Dusk felt relief when he entered the small forest around the nearby river. The ground is mainly mud now because of the rain, but he didn’t care. He knows for a fact, that his pursuer wouldn’t step in the mud, no matter what.

He feels safe.

He looks at his right forehoof, with worry, as he knows about what is about to happen. He grabs the most exposed needle, which was lodged into him, and yanks it out, causing an unspeakable amount of pain. He yells out from the sharp pain, before examining the sewing needle which he had pulled out.

About three thirds of the needle is stained in his blood, coating the needle in a crimson red colour. Even when a raindrop falls on the needle, the blood doesn’t wash off, it seems to be a part of the needle. This creeps him out slightly, but he ignores it, and begins to pull out the second needle stuck in him...

----------

Perspective: Rarity

She has been looking around the area where she thought that Dusk was, for a few minutes, but with no luck. It’s like he just disappeared. She begins to walk back to her Boutique when...

“AGHH...”

She heard a faint yell coming from near the outside of town. She immediately recognises the voice as Dusk’s, but she ignores it, blaming her imagination for the sound. She knows that she hasn’t been herself today, so she decided that listen to her mind would be a bad idea. A second yell cancels out her theory, as she begins to run towards the outskirts of town.

As she she passes the edge of town, she notices the amount of mud that is on the ground. The long grassy field is a mud trap for the unprepared, and it can cause a pony quite a lot of mess to cross. She doesn’t want this.

‘I don’t want to put my lavish hooves in this filthy mud! This goes against all of my codes of...’

She hears a third yell from inside the small forest in the area. ‘But then again, I suppose I could alway go to the spa later, I guess this is much more important anyway.’

She steps into the mud, and then recoils back in fear, and horror. She could see her right fore-hoof, caked in the horrible, brown mud. She lift the violated hoof into the air, and looks at it with a mixture of disgust, and fear. She remembers her about her task, and hesitantly steps in the the muddy field.

‘It’s just like a mud bath at the spa, it’s just like a mud bath, it’s just like...’

----------

Perspective: Dusk

“GAH! BUCK!”

Dusk had pulled out the final needle out of his fore-hoof, much to his pained relief. Said hoof was stinging like hay, since he had removed the bloody needles from him body, but he knows that this is for the best. If the wound ended up scabbing around the needle...

He chose not to think about it, as his looks back to his flank. He cringes when he sees the amount of wounds had hit him there, as stresses when he realises that he can’t reach any of those needles. He silently swears to himself. He decides to just sit there for a little bit, until he believes that she had stopped looking for him. As soon as he felt safe, he would then run to the hospital, where he would get proper treatment for his wounds.

“Dusk? Are you there- AH! There you are, I’ve been looking for you.”

‘It’s not fair, it’s just not fair!’

Chapter 50: Needlework

Chapter 50: Needlework

‘It’s not fair, it’s just not fair.’

He watches in fear, as she steps into the area he originally thought was safe. She is walking closer to him, and so he starts to step back, to keep a safe enough distance between the two. He wants to turn tail, and flee, but he couldn’t. He has to make sure that he keeps eye-contact with the mare, just in case.

She kept walking towards him, and starts talking to him with an apologetic tone, “Dusk, I’m so sorry for what I’ve done to you... could you... maybe let me take a look at you?”

“N-n-no, j-just leave m-me...”

-FLASH FORWARD-

He is immobilized to the spot in panic, as she walks up to him. She wasn’t walking with any signs of malice, or anything like that. In fact, she seems concerned for his well being. She stands right next to him,`and gives him a sad look.

“Dusk, could you show me your hurt fore-leg? I... I’ll try to stop the pain...”

He doesn’t listen... at first, but then he looked at her properly. She is in quite a horrible state, with her coat and mane/tail affected by the mud. It would be horrible for Applejack’s standards, let alone Rarity’s. He knows that this would of been hard for her to do, she looked pitiful.

He lets down his guard, as he extends his fore-leg, “*sigh* Here you go Rarity, I’m sorry for making you go through this.”

“That’s okay Dusk, but remember this...”

He yells in pure agony, as a horrifically sharp pain courses through this fore-leg, and slams the appendage onto the ground. He sees a sharpened purple gemstone has pierced through his leg, and has lodged into the ground. He cries tears of pain, and horror.

“I don’t forgive you, and I never have.”

She wears a creepy smile, when she levitates another four gemstones in front of her. She launches three gemstones to each of his other legs, and because Dusk is frozen in shock, and fear, they all made contact. The impales pierce through all of his legs, cutting through skin, muscle, and bone like tissue paper, and painfully keeps him to the ground. He wails from the pain.

He sees Rarity, raising the final gemstone above his head. He casts one final glance at her, before she launches her last impales. She makes her final attack on Dusk...

-PRESENT TIME-

He yells as he reverts back to the present time. Rarity stops moving towards Dusk, when she hears his pained yell. She is worried for him.

“What’s wrong Dusk, why’d you yell like that?”

“...” He gives her a fearful look, before he turns around, and runs away.

“Wait, come back!”

Dusk is running deeper and deeper into the forest, knowing that Rarity would be chasing him. It is easy for him to manoeuvre through the underlay, since the sudden adrenaline rush made him forget about his pain, and that he is naturally agile on the ground, and in the air. (But he isn’t fast, he’s actually quite slow)

He hadn’t noticed how close Rarity actually is to him, because he never looked behind him. The next thing he realizes, is that he is feeling a familiar, yet unknown force around him. Then it hit him.

‘Oh no, oh buck! She’s levitating me towards her...’

-FLASH FORWARD-

“Gotcha” She says evilly.

“...” Dusk ignores her, as he tries to resist the magical force which holds him. He is thrashing around, or trying to at least, since the levitational field prevented all movement. She brought Dusk close to her, and she whispers into his ear.

“You are going to be a part of a little... experimentation, back at the Boutique. You could help improve the fashion industry.”

“H-H-How?”

“Oh, you’ll see when you get there...”

“...”

Rarity teleports both herself and Dusk to the 2nd floor of her boutique, her ‘Inspiration Room’. Dusk is panicking again, as Rarity clears out one of her nearby tables, and lays Dusk on it. She casts a spell onto Dusk, which bounds his legs to the table, as she looks around the room for something.

He uses this small amount of time, to try to negotiate is way out of this. “R-Rarity, you don’t n-need to do this t-to me. What w-would you achieve by d-doing... whatever you’re going t-to do?”

“Oh you have no idea, Dusk...” He sees a small glimmer of her horn shine, before she continues looking for what she wants. “...and I'll just cast a spell which will silence you for a few hours, can’t have you distracting me while I work, can I?”

“Huh?” Is what he would of said, if he could talk. His eyes go wide, when he realises that he couldn’t open his mouth, or emit any vocal noise. He looks at her pleadingly, which is unnoticed by the sickly disturbed unicorn.

“Ah yes, I’ve found it.” She pulls out a small scalpel from the nearby drawer, which causes immense emotional stress to Dusk. If he could scream, he would. She menacingly walks closer to him, while holding the surgeon’s tool with her body. He is trying to remove himself from the magic binds that held him. He is pulling himself in random directions, in a vain attempt to escape.

“Oh this simply won’t do... we can’t have you like that.”

She walks back to the drawer where she got the scalpel from, and pulls out a full syringe, filled with a bright yellow liquid. She holds this with her magic, as well as the cutting tool, as she moves back to Dusk. He couldn’t stop looking at the syringe, as he tries to ‘break’ the magic. Rarity held the needle near his fore-hoof, but is hesitant to jab it in. He would simply not stop moving.

She moves in front of Dusk’s face, and punches him hard, stopping all movement. She uses the lapse to eject him with the unknown syringe.

He passes out...

-PRESENT TIME-

Rarity has levitated Dusk over to where she stood. He would be thrashing, but all movement was stopped from the magic field. She brought him close to her, and she strokes her hoof across his face. She looks downtrodden. Despite his fear of her, he couldn’t help but to feel sorry for her, he could tell that she is guilty for everything that has happened today.

“Dusk... words cannot describe how horrible I feel right now. I, do not deserve sympathy from you for what I have done, and I do not expect any... I hope that we can forget about this whole ordeal one day...” Dusk listens to everything she says. “I just want you to do something for me... I need you to relax for a moment. I can feel you trying to move inside the magic field, but you have to be relaxed, for what I need to do, okay.”

Seeing that he had no choice in the matter, he tries his best to loosen up. He could see Rarity’s satisfied look, as she readies another spell of hers. “Sorry Dusk, this may hurt a little bit.”

“...” He is still worried that she would do something horrible to him, but he decided that it would be best to comply for now. She seems more normal than she was half an hour ago.

He starts to feel a second magical force surround his body, more concentrated around the back of his body. Suddenly, he feels a hideously sharp pain all around his body, he lets out a pained scream.

Rarity is looking extremely apologetic, when Dusk looks at her with a pain expression, “I’m so sorry Dusk, but it needed to be done.” She levitates every single blood stained needle in front of him, to show him what she did. He nods in recognition. He sees himself being lowered back towards the ground, before feeling the magic field release around him. When the field dissipates, he collapses to the ground in pain. She rushes over to his side.

“Oh no Dusk, are you okay? Are you hurt?”

He starts to talk about a completely different subject. “Heh, every part of my head is yelling at me, to get away from you, but my instinct says differently. It’s not like I can move, anyway. *sigh* When I look at you, it makes my fear of you seem stupid, and childish... Oh, and I’ll be fine in a minute or two.”

She seems slightly relieved. “That’s good to hear Dusk... could you tell me what I did to you. I need to know.”

“You mean you don’t know?”

“...No.”

“Well...”

Dusk finishes telling her what she did to him, and he becoming less fearful of her. He couldn’t see any signs of malice from her reactions, and she took it quite hard. By the time he finished, he could stand on his hooves again, but he chose not to run away. She seems... upset about the whole ordeal, and walking away would be completely against his morals.

“H-How could I d-do something like that? How could I-I lose control like I did? I... I just don’t know anymore...”

“You don’t need to act like that... It wasn’t your fault. You said it yourself; you couldn’t remember what happened, so I doubt that you had any conscious control of your actions.”

“B-But I shouldn’t have acted like t-that in the first place. I’m a emotional mess, a-“

She is interrupted, when Dusk puts his fore-hoof on her shoulder, and silences her with his own version of ‘The Stare’. Not as good as the original, but it did its job.

“Rarity, you have to believe me when I tell you this, but it was MY fault, I shouldn’t have used such dirty tactic to get you out of the Boutique. You couldn’t have done anything about it.”

“Well... I suppose so...”

“I will leave here a happy stallion, if you realise that it wasn’t your fault.”

“...” She doesn’t answer, but she does something which surprises him. She pull him into a tight hug. It’s not a loving hug... it’s more like a ‘thank you’ hug.

“You acted from emotion, something that I shouldn't have toyed with. I still fear you, but I forgive you for what you did."

Chapter 52: Chaos, It's a Beautiful Thing

Chapter 52: Chaos, It’s A Beautiful Thing

Perspective: Dusk

(a few minutes later)

“I’m sorry Rarity, but we’re going to have to leave early, since Dusk need to get washed up before he goes back to Shy’s, and I’m sure that he wouldn’t want to go to your place.”

She seems saddened, but she understands why Twilight is saying this. “Okay then Twilight, I’ll just go back to the Boutique, and remove all of those blasted things that I put up. I’m afraid that I was thinking right.”

“Heh, you’re telling me.” Says Dusk in an accidentally sarcastic manner. He intended it to be a small joke, but it came out as an insult.

“That wasn’t necessary Dusk.” Says Rarity. She is hurt.

“Um... sorry, that came out wrong, it's a bad habit.”

“I hope so... okay, goodbye Twilight, goodbye Dusk.”

“Bye Rarity.” Responds Twilight

Dusk waves a single hoof, without saying a word, before he feels an unknown magical force surround him. The next thing he realizes, is that he is in the interior of Twilight’s treehouse. He also felt a little bit warmer than he was a second ago.

“Okay, here we are Dusk... oh wow, I didn’t know how wet we both are. SPIKE!”

“...” There is no response.

“Twi, what do you need the dragon-”

“SPIKE!” She yells in a startling loud voice. It isn’t as loud as the DRS, but he is standing right next to her. It is deafening.

“Damn it Twilight, why did you have to be so loud?!” He can still hear the ringing in his ears.

“Oh no, *facehoof* sorry Dusk.”

*iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii* is the only thing that the battered dark blue pegasus heard. He hasn’t recovered from the deafening yell.

“What did you say!?” Yells Dusk. He couldn’t even hear his own words.

“I said I’m sorry!”

*iiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnggggg*

Spike is walking down the stairs at this time. He is rubbing his eyes, and is obvious to the chaos down below.

“Can you hear me!” Asks Twilight

Spike starts to groggily “Ughh, what’s going on down-”

“WHAT?! Speak louder Twilight!” Interrupts Dusk

“I SAID-!? Oh hey Spike, why didn’t-”

“WHAT?!”

[Discord could sense the chaos in that dreaded Twilight Sparkle’s home. Since those blasted Elements of Harmony imprisoned him back into stone, he could only find entertainment in what he could sense throughout Equestria, and it is so boring. Seeing such chaos, while being quite tame, warmed all three of his hearts...]

“Didn’t you clean the library like I said to?” Inquires Twilight.

Meanwhile, a certain muddy, and sore pegasus has regained his hearing. Unfortunately, he has also gotten quite a sharp headache.

“Ow... my head...” Complains Dusk.

“...aw crap, I knew I forgot something.” Dejectedly says the small purple dragon.

Twilight gasps in horror, when Spike finishs his sentence. “What. Did. You. Just. Say?!”

“Oh no...” Spike and Dusk simultaneously say.

---------- (Three horrible minutes later...)

“...and that’s why you should never say words like that.”

“*sigh* Okay Twilight...” He says in defeat.

“...Ow, this really hurts...” He has his hoof on his forehead, in pain. The throbbing pain of his head has intensified after being forced to listen to Twilight’s lecture about swearing.

Twilight could see that something was bothering Dusk. “What’s wrong Dusk?” She seems concerned.

“I have a headache. You’re yelling caused it, and your lecture worsened it.”

“Oh sorry Dusk, just wait a few moments, I’ll fix your headache.” She starts preparing a spell.

“Please do.”

She casts some sort of continuous spell on him, and he feels the effects of the spell instantly. The pain in his head slowly dissipated. About half a minute later, the pain was gone, and he was back to his normal pain-free self. (If you count out the pains from about half an hour ago.)

Dusk could only say one thing in response to the spell. “Wow, is there anything that you can’t do with magic? You could probably go back in time with your skills with magic for Luna’s sake.”

She looks up in both recognition, and remembrance. “I have.”

‘What?!’

“Would you like to see a picture of the future version of me, which is really the past version of me since I’m a  few months older than future me, and so that would mean-“

“Get to the point.” He didn’t understand what she was saying, nor did he care.

“Oh, well here it is.” She levitates a picture frame which hung on the wall.

Inside the picture frame, contains a completely different version of the Twilight he knows. Her normally straightened mane stuck up into the air. It sort of reminded Dusk of his own mane style, if he spiked it up. She also wore a white headband around her head, and she sported an eye patch. If he looked close enough, he could see a small scar on the right side of her face. She was wearing a black full body sneaking suit, which was torn in a few places. For some reason, only one thing went through his mind as he examined the picture.

‘Damn... she’s hot.’ *pomf* “Ow...”

His wings agree with his thoughts, deciding that this is an opportune time to pop up. (Which also hurt his injured wing.) He looks at his fully stretched wings with horror, and then turns to Twilight, who is blushing. Dusk begins to panic.

“Um... damn it, uh... this isn’t what it looks like Twilight...” He thought that he could hear a deep and evil laughter from outside. He chose to ignore this. “... I swear.”

Needless to say, she knows what was going on. “Uh huh, and so you just randomly have a wing boner whenever you see a picture of somepony.” She is smiling in a smug way, and her ego was getting stroked.

“Uh... sure.”

“...” She didn’t need to say anything, before Dusk fessed up.

“...Please don’t tell Fluttershy about this... It was a one off, and I would never, ever cheat on her. And also, you... uh... look... um...” He didn’t want to say what he thought best describes the picture.

“I guessing you like the look?” She asks.

“Yeah, pretty much... it’s actually make you look really hot. I’m sure that Zeph would love it if you showed him.”

“Really? I thought that I looked ridiculous. I just kept the image for the memory of what happened that week. So anyway... wait, why did I bring you here?” She has obviously forgotten, from all that has been going on.

“To clean me or something.”

Her eyes suddenly go wide, and she looks at the floor of her home. There is mud, and water everywhere, which was mainly caused by Dusk.

“*sigh* Look at the floor.” Says Twilight.

He looks at said floor, and feels a pang of guilt. “Uh... sorry about that Twi. I guess I should get cleaned up, and then I’ll do the floors as well.”

“Nonsense, I won’t let you clean the floors after all you’ve been through.” Insists Twilight.

“No seriously, it doesn’t matter.”

“Don’t worry about it Dusk... SPIKE, I NEED YOUR HELP!” Yells out Twilight. (Not as loudly as before.)

‘Well, that’s one way to clean the floors.’

Chapter 53: The Cold

Chapter 53: The Cold

Twilight had shown Dusk where the bathroom is, before walking towards where Spike is. He has started has started to fill up the bath, before noticing a light scent of lavender in the room.

‘I find it quite clichéd that this room smells of lavender, and that she has a purple coat. Maybe it’s a higher power.’

He then turn to the various washing products that she owns. His right eye twitches when he sees that she owns just as many products as Fluttershy does, and he still couldn’t recognise what any of them are for. (Besides the shampoo and soap/body wash) When he gave up trying to figure out what the bottles of... whatever were, he sees that the bath is filled with warm water. He puts a hoof in the water for a test and unsurprisingly, it is the perfect temperature.

He steps into the bath, and immediately grabs the bodywash. He then hastily washes off all of the dirt and mud of his body...

‘These soap companies should really make a stallions body wash.’

---------- (5 Minutes Later)

Dusk had steps out of the bathroom, feeling cleaner than he has ever felt in a long time. (Since it’s felt like that he has been this dirty for ages.) As he walks out, he could see that Twilight had a fairly damp, light purple towel being levitated by her magic. ‘Of course it’s purple.’ She was still drying herself with said towel. Spike on the other hand, had a mop out, and he was cleaning up the mess caused by Dusk and Twilight. One thing popped into his head when he saw this.

“Twilight, why’d you make Spike mop up?”

“Well we couldn’t clean up in the condition that we were in, we would have only made it worse.”

“Point taken, but I could have done it after I washed up.”

‘Wait, why am I offering to help?’

“No need. Spike was supposed to clean up the library after Rarity and I agreed to let him help in the Boutique. We had a deal.”

Dusk is confused as to why Spike would want to want to willingly work with Rarity at the Boutique. “Why would he do this?”

“He has a massive crush on Rarity.”

Dusk’s jaw drops. DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNN! (Let the shipping fics commence) Quick Author’s Note: Gripping stuff. What a twist!

---------- (After recovering from the shock) [slightly exaggerated]

“So Twilight, instead of me having to walk through the rain in order to get back to Shy’s, why don’t you just teleport me back, like you did just before?”

She shakes her head. “Sorry Dusk, but I can’t. I can only teleport somepony a certain distance, and Fluttershy’s is just too far for me. You’ll need to walk the rest of the way.”

He shrugs... somehow. “Meh, I like the rain. Just as long as I don’t stay in it for too long. Could you teleport me now?”

“You sure?”

“Ayep.”

He felt a familiar, and sensational magic surround him. Before he felt a chilling, wet feeling the very next second. The freezing gusts chills Dusk in each and every fiber of his body. He is outside.

He recognizes the area, as the outskirts of the town. He is standing on the start of the pathway to both Fluttershy’s home, and the Everfree Forest. He begins to trudge down the freezing path. He hated the heavy gusts of wind; they made it unbearable cold to be outside, even for pegasi, who are naturally resistant to the effects of weather. It is about a fifteen minute walk to Fluttershy’s residency.

‘Curse the natural magics that causes this wind. It’s too cold...’

---------- (10 minutes later)

The winds and rain had not let up, and they were taking it’s effects on Dusk. His walking is slowed, and he is uncontrollably shivering.

‘Why didn’t I say at Twilight’s until the storm is over? Why am I such an idiot!?’

He has never felt so cold in his life. He has to squint, just so he could see where he is heading, without the rain going in his eyes. All that he wanted to do is to huddle into a ball, to try and hold the little heat that he has left, but he knows that this is a very bad idea.

The only thing that he can do, is to continue walking...

---------- (A few minutes later)

Dusk is fighting a losing battle against the weather. The wind and the rain blew fiercely against him, and impeded his progress. He is now a lot weaker on his hooves, and he felt light headed. He could no longer walk properly, being reduced to a limp, and he still hasn’t seen Fluttershy’s home yet.

Suddenly, luck finally a`goes his way again. The wind has stopped, and because he could stop shielding his eyes, he could see the cottage in the distance. He does an imaginary hoof pump, before limping as fast as his legs would let him limp. He has the look of utter determination as he eyes the door of his marefriend’s home. He forgets about the rain and the cold, as he steels himself towards the house...

He gets to the front door, and stumbles inside the house. He looks up to see Fluttershy in a room, filled with various animals which reside near her house. Fluttershy could see the shivering and the pain that he is in, and she instantly recognised what is wrong with him.

“Hello Shy...” He says in a pained way, although he isn’t aware of said pain.

“Oh no Dusk... not again...” She looks at him with an extremely saddened expression. “I don’t want you to have to suffer again Dusk.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” He didn't understand what she meant.

“Hypothermia.”

Chapter 54: Hypothermia

Chapter 54: Hypothermia

‘Hypothermia?’ Dusk starts to feel a lot colder than usual. In fact, he is freezing; colder than he has ever felt in his life.

“Oh dear... oh no. Dusk, I need you to follow me so I can dry you, before you get even worse.” She has reverted out of her normally shy state, and became a bit more assertive.

Before he had the chance to nod, she has run over to the bathroom. Dusk is slowly limping behind since the cold has numbed his body to such an extent, that two of his legs are almost rendered useless. He also hasn’t stopped shivering ever since he walked inside her house.

He limps into the room where Fluttershy had run into. He saw that she held a few towels in her hooves, and he got the basic idea of what is about to happen.

“Dusk, I need you to just stand still for a few moments, okay. This should help with the cold.” He could hear the sorrow in her voice, he hated to see her like this.

He gives her the go ahead, and she begins to hastily, yet carefully dry Dusk. “T-Thanks Shy, I really appreciate it.”

---------- (Two minutes later)

She has finished drying Dusk’s wet coat, but unfortunately for him, he felt no warmer, he is still as freezing as he was before. The burden of the cold has not left his body. As soon as Fluttershy had put the towels aside, she tells him to follow her to the bedroom... which he did, and she asks him if he could lay down in the bed. He gets into the bed, and Fluttershy pulls the blanket over his body

“So I s-suppose that this m-may help with the hypothermia.” States Dusk.

“Um yes, we need to slowly increase your core body temperature, and this tends to be a good way to do this.” She is no longer the shy... Shy that he is used to, “I’ll go boil up some tea, since that will help you warm up easier.”

‘...I don’t like tea.’

“That’ll be good Shy.” Answers Dusk.

*imaginary facehoof* ‘I suppose the tea will help though...’

“Okay Dusk. I hate to leave you alone like this, but I’ll only be a few minutes.”

He nods. before she walks out of the room. Since her bedroom is upstairs, he can’t see, nor tell what she is doing.

He starts to feel quite hot under the bed, hotter than he has felt in a long time. In the minute that he has been under the blankets for, he has already broken sweat, and yet he is still uncontrollably shivering. It is somewhat contradictory. He pushes the blanket to one side of the bed, so he could lay uncovered by the excessively hot blanket. Before long, the room around him starts to get quite chilly, and the cold catches up to him. The feeling is quite similar to a moderate fever.

Just then, Fluttershy steps into the room, holding the handle of a cup of tea with her teeth. (Quick Note: Don’t ask how that’s possible without spillage.) She looks at Dusk, before looking surprised, then worried. She runs over to Dusk, (while putting the cup on the bedside table) and pulls the blanket over him again. He didn't resist.

“I know it feels hot under there, but you have to stay under there. The longer you stay under there for, the closer you get to your normal body temperature.” Says Fluttershy.

“Oh... sorry about that.”

“It's fine Dusk. So why don’t you drink some of your tea?” She asks.

He doesn’t respond, choosing to grab the handle of the cup with his teeth instead. He places it into his hooves, and takes a look at the liquid; it is an orange-ish brown colour, and faintly warm to the touch. It doesn’t take an expert to know that this is a lot less warm than it should be. He takes a drink of the warm concoction anyway, and it still tastes as foul as it did the first time he tried tea. He absolutely hated the after taste.

“Ugh, I don’t u-understand how ponies could l-like tea.” Nor could he understand why is it warm, rather than hot. He chose not to look into it. “I honestly think it tastes disgusting.”

“Then why did you say that you wanted some?”

“Because I-I’m an idiot. I’ll still have the r-rest though, since it’s supposed to make me feel a-a bit better.”

And he does so, much to the disgust of his tastes. Since the tea was lukewarm, he drank the rest of the tea in less than 10 seconds. (Flat.) As soon as he places the empty cup back onto the bedside table, Fluttershy asks him a somewhat awkward question.

“So uhm... Dusk,” He could see her blushing. She is no longer the somewhat assertive Shy that she was a few moments ago. No, she has reverted back to her shy, timid self. “One of the ways that is supposed to help with hypothermia... is...”

‘Do I like where this is going?’

“...um, if we lay down under the blankets... and make full body to body contact. It’s... supposed to help with the cold.”

‘Wow... um... this is a bit of a step up for the relationship...’

(Quick Note: This is actually an effective way of treating hypothermia)

Chapter 55: A Step Up

Chapter 55: A Step Up

They both see each other blushing intensely, but they were oblivious to the fact that they were blushing themselves. They are both thinking about the same subject, but they are both having different thoughts about the subject. Fluttershy is blushing, because of the thought of keeping in full-body contact for a long period of time. Dusk, on the other hoof, is thinking a bit deeper than that.

‘Oh holy Celestia and Luna in Canterlot, this is so awkward. Sure I’m comfortable with both of us sleeping in the same bed, (NOTHING SEXUAL!) but for her to offer up that option, despite there being other ways to fix the problem? Hmm... I suppose I have no problem with that, as long as she doesn’t feel uncomfortable with it, like she did last time...’ (Remember Chapter 27?)

He is so deep into his thought that he had forgotten about the fact that it had gotten quite hot from where he lay. They both met each other’s gaze, before she looks away in embarrassment and hides under her mane.

The situation is beyond awkward.

Fluttershy has chosen this as an opportune time to speak again. “So Dusk, um... do you feel comfortable if I could do that?”

A small grin spreads across his face. “...Yeah, I’m okay with that.” He casually answers, completely wiping any awkward feeling between the two. He has completely forgotten the original reason why she wanted to do this. (Hypothermia) He knows that she didn’t feel uncomfortable with this, since she was the one who offered it, despite her most likely being aware of other solutions.

She elegantly gets onto the bed, ‘How can she do it so gracefully?’ and lays under the blankets. She moves up to Dusk’s position, and pulls him into a hug, also making full contact with a majority of her body. Dusk lets out a silent “D’aaww...” and he felt his heart rate increase significantly. She feels quite warm, compared to his cold body.

“Shy, I’m not complaining or anything, but you know that you could of chosen other methods to deal with this problem.” States Dusk.

“I’d prefer it this way...” He then hugs her back.

‘I love my life.’

The two pegasi had been laying in an embrace for little over ten minutes, and the longer they spent together, the more and more close they felt towards each other. They both liked it like this.

Dusk starts to speak, “This isn’t even about the hypothermia anymore is it, I’ve pretty much forgotten about it now.”

“It wasn’t too bad... it was only light to moderate in severity. It could have been a lot worse if I hadn’t treated it though.” All of the worry in her voice from twenty minutes ago, has disappeared.

“Yeah, it could have been worse I suppose. Thanks for treating me Shy, I really appreciate it.” He never was the most sincere type of pony.

“It’s no problem Dusk. You don’t need to thank me.” Says Fluttershy.

“There is no need for you to be so humble Shy, but on the other hoof...” His voice becomes slightly more devious, “I'd to thank you for your *ahem* current treatment.” He felt the need to emphasize the final two words.

She doesn’t seem to spot the little hint that he put at the end. “Thank you Dusk, that’s good to hear.” She moves head head a little closer to Dusk’s, “And it’s better to hear that you like my treatment.” ...Let me rephrase that. She did spot Dusk’s hint, and she responded in a somewhat risque tone. She gives him a light kiss on the lips, which makes his face turn beet red.

He is too infatuated to speak, and he couldn’t think straight. The room seemed to be a lot hotter for him, all of a sudden. (Yes, even with the added heat) He snaps out of his daze, as soon as Fluttershy starts to speak to him.

“I’m guessing you liked that?” She asks in a coy way, while also giving him the ‘bedroom eyes’.

“...I did...” It is like the two had swapped personalities. Dusk has now become the shy one, and Fluttershy had gained a substantial amount of confidence in herself.

‘She has always been the one to take the initiative with things like this...’

He has regained some of his composure and starts to speak again, “So Shy, *somewhat nervous chuckle* I've noticed that you seem a lot more assertive; more confident, so to speak."

“Do you like it?”

“Yes.” Is the only thing he says, before kissing her back, with much more intensity, which she happily returns. They are both in pure ecstasy as they both continue the kiss. Dusk could feel his whole body shiver in delight as they embraced.

They are forced to end the kiss a few moments later, since they both needed to catch a small breath. He could see that she has a light red blush, and that she wanted more of him. He felt likewise.

“Dusk, do you think that we should take it a bit further than this?” ‘The initiative again...’

“Do you mean like...”

“Yes, I do...”

Dusk has a quick flashback in his head, as he remembers back to when they had finished the unexpected double date.

“Maybe when w-we get home later tonight, we could... um... do... you know.”

‘Back then, she seemed reluctant to do anything of the sort, and she only offered it because Zeph and Twi were talking about it so publicly. But now it’s different...’

“Are you sure I should do this?” Asks Dusk. “With the hypothermia and all...”

“You stopped shaking about ten minutes ago, you should be fine now.”

“...”

“...”

“Do you know how much I love you Shy?”

“Can you show me?” She has a hint of want in her voice.

“Yes... yes I can...”

Chapter 56: They Know Too Much

Chapter 56: They Know Too Much

‘That was amazing!’

Dusk and Fluttershy both exit the bedroom some minutes after their little... endeavours, and walk down the staircase to where she had left her animals. Dusk was counting himself lucky that none of them ended up going upstairs, while they were doing the deed. He didn’t really need Angel to start hating him, especially since that rabbit no longer objects to his presence here.

“H-How are you so good with your hooves Dusk? They were magical...” She dreamily finishes her last sentence.

“Heh, I love the fact that you don’t mention anything else that was ‘magical’, that hurt.” The excessive amount of sarcasm in his voice is astounding.

“Um... well... everything else was really, really good as well... but I won’t be able forget the way you used your hooves for a long time.”

‘Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Am I a bad lover and she’s just trying not to make me seem bad, or am I just a living deity with my hooves?’ He looks at his fore-hooves, ‘Then again, I did some pretty amazing things with these.’

They both then realize that they were talking, right in front of the animals. Normally, this wouldn’t have been a problem in Dusk’s opinion, but he could see that they were ALL staring at them, mainly him. Not only that, but they all seem to be looking at him with some kind of expression. A lot of the smaller animals were looking at him with disgust, slight aggression. Some even seemed disturbed with... something.

On the other hoof, most of the rabbits were giving Fluttershy looks of approval, and the white rabbit known as Angel, gave Dusk a grin of satisfaction.

“Um... Shy, how much do these animals of yours know? They are giving us, mainly me, weird looks.”

“I... don’t... know... how could they know?”

‘Who’d have thought that her animals were so perverted. *shudder* How could they know about this?.. [\Ding* REVELATION!... of sorts] Wait a second, since they were all downstairs before, they may have heard what happened upstairs, and somehow recognised it as... uh... yeah.... I don’t know if I show feel disturbed, humoured or somewhat proud of these animals of hers. Speaking of which...*’

“I don’t rightly know.” ‘What a lie.’ “Shy, are these all your pets?” He wonders why he had never asked her this question, in the two weeks he has stayed there for.

“Only Angel Bunny over here.” She picks up the mischievous rabbit with her hooves. “All of my other animal friends live in the forest normally, but as you can see...” She signals him to the window, which he then looks out of. To quickly summarize what he sees, when it rains, it pours. “It’s too wet for them to be outside in this kind of weather, and so I brought most of my smaller animal friends in here for shelter. It wouldn’t be good for them to be outside right now.”

‘You have no idea how true that is.’

He looks at Angel, who was back on the ground, and he changes his perspective of the white rabbit. He seems to respect Dusk for... wait? He respects him more for having sex with his owner?!

Perspective: Angel Bunny

He is proud of Fluttershy, for taking that next step in the relationship. He could tell from her coltfriend’s personality and actions, that she would be the pony to take it to the next level. He could say that he felt comforted by the fact that a stallion like him has been her. Sure, he was a bit of an imbecile half of the time, but he heard things about him, from some of the other animals that reside in the area.

He knows about when he nearly died to save Fluttershy from those thugs, and there were stories about the attack in the town just yesterday. A lot of them were exaggerated in some way, but they are all consistent. After all that he has done for Fluttershy, he has come to like the idiot. He had to restrict himself from hitting all of the animals who are bitter about what he has done to his owner. It’s not such a big deal really...

Perspective: Dusk

‘I swear, that pet of hers is more intelligent than he looks...’

He stops looking at the staring animals after his final thought, and looks outside again. “It’s hard to believe that I was stupid enough to want to walk through this. Maybe I could write something I learnt about this experience in one of Twilight’s friendship letters. Could you imagine?”

Dear Princess Celestia,

I have only recently learnt that walking during a heavy storm is NOT a good idea. I was close to freezing to death.

Anyway, what I have learnt about friendship, is that you should always believe that your most trusted friends would never leave your side, even after you were one of the reasons that they are temporarily crippled.

Blizzard was an exception!

Your faithful subject,

Dusk Shard

“I don’t think that the princess would be happy with a report like that.” Finishes Dusk.

She facehoofs, “You have a very strange sense of humour Dusk.”

“That I do Shy.”

The remainder of the day had flown by. After getting Fluttershy and himself some lunch, she properly introduced him to the animals, who treated him coldly, until Angel and the other rabbits somehow changed most of their opinions of him. He admitted that he felt a bit fidgety being around so many animals, even if they were smaller than him.

At about 4pm, the rain had finally cleared, and the animals had left her home for the forest. He saw Rainbow up in the sky, and called her down using ‘Dusk’s Royal Speech.’ The three conversed, with Fluttershy and himself talking about what happened with Rarity. She laughed at the end of the story, since Dusk had explained it in such a way that it wouldn’t cause conflict with the group. He had purposely ‘forgotten’ to mention the hypothermia to her, as well as what happened afterwards. She ended up leaving the cottage 15 minutes later.

Not much else had happened that night. She had made a very simple dinner, before they both washed up... together. [SURPRISINGLY NOTHING SEXUAL] That was quite a good bonding time for both of them.

They finally decided to call it a night, and they both entered the bedroom to get some well earned sleep...

“G’night Shy.” He gives her a hug

“Night, Dusk.” She lightly kisses his forehead, sending pleasant shivers to the rest of his body.

‘D’aww...’

Chapter 57: Dusk the Shipper

Chapter 57: Dusk the Shipper

The cold face of Princess Luna’s majestic creation slowly creeps towards the horizon, waiting for the warm of Celestia’s sun to perform its duty. A dark blue stallion watches as the celestial object in the sky falls towards the west of the Equestrian skyline. He felt the need to just appreciate the complex magics that everypony took for granted.

He finishes his moon gazing, and quietly walks down the staircase. His hooves only emitted the faintest of noises as he steps down the wooden stairs. He walks through the living area of her cottage, and out of the house, to the dark surroundings of the outside. The dark before dawn always unnerved him, mainly contributed to his sight fear of the dark.

‘Sometimes, I wish I could harness fire, if only to use it as some sort of light source. Damn it, this walk does not get any more fun the more you do it... Bored...’

After another dull and uneventful walk to the farm, he could see Big Mac pacing around an area of the farm, obviously worried about something. He hadn’t even prepared the farm for the upcoming day of work. (The horror, the HORROR!) He wonders to himself as to what could be up with his big lug of a friend, to get him so worked up.

He didn’t need to think for long, as the giant red stallion lumbers over to his position. “Dusk, I’ve been waiting for you to come to work yesterday, because I need your help.” He had never seen Big Mac so frazzled before. (Although the most emotion he had ever seen for the farmer is when he found out who he liked.)

“Why do you need my help? Is it important?” There is genuine worry in his voice, since when does a stallion like Macintosh need help...

“It’s about Cheerilee, I... uh... may have told her of my feelings...”

“...what, uhm... when did you tell her?” This can still be saved.

“When you first told me of your plans.”

[Four days ago]

“So maybe you could pick your sister up, and use it as an excuse to get closer to Cheerilee.

“...That doesn’t really sound like such a bad idea Dusk. I think that it could work.” Approves Big Mac.

“Remember, that you can’t just rush into things here. If you do things too quickly, you could scare her away, which is the opposite of what you want.”

“Eeyup.”

“Just take things nice and slow. The only reason I got Zephyr and Twilight on a date so easily, is because they bonded beforehoof. Just make sure that you become friends first. You got that?”

[Present]

‘Damn it, I should have been much more intricate with my plan. But how can you make the words don’t rush into things, easier to comprehend...’

Big Mac continued to speak, “I reminded her of the Hearts and Hooves incident that happened nearly a year ago, and how my feelings for her have built upon that day.”

Dusk’s bewildered look gives the farmer the signal to start explaining...

---------- (One explanation of the CMC’s attempt to ship Cheerilee and himself later...)

“A love potion you say.” Dusk’s face lights up as he gets an [IDEA!].

“No Dusk, don’t. That... was not a pleasant time.” He looks away with a pained expression.

“But won’t it bring you two-”

“I said no!” He raises his voice as he finishes, intimidating Dusk. The dark blue pegasus notices how much bigger the red Apple is, compared to himself.

“...I’ll just shut up now...”

The two remained silent for the next minute, because Big Mac couldn’t think of anything he could say, and Dusk is too ashamed with his own rashness to speak. The pegasus could see the sun appear on the horizon, signifying the crack of dawn.

“Maybe you should wake up your sisters now.” He says shyly.

“Eeyup.” And with that, Big Mac had walked back to the farmhouse to go and wake up the rest of his family. He notices that he has heard of the so called ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’ on quite a few occasions, but he has only met one of the fillies. (Sweetie Belle) He told himself to seek out the other two whenever he gets the chance.

Remembering that Big Mac had neglected to set up the equipment the day of work, he decided to finish what the farmer never started... (Or at least try to)

---------- (15-20 minutes later)

Dusk had given up on his act of goodwill about 10 minutes ago, since he had absolutely no idea where and what Applejack and Big Mac had planned for today. Instead, he was silently thinking to himself, trying to figure out a way to save the horrible situation that the Apple stallion has put himself in. He sighs, cursing his friend for letting his emotions get the better of him. It is facehoof worthy. (Speaking of which...)

*facehoof* ‘Why Big Mac? Why?’

After he finishes his facehoof, he could see Applejack, Big Mac and a small, yellow filly, walk out of the farm house. What first caught his attention about the filly is the oversized pink bow that she wore in her red mane. Upon closer examination, he could see that she hasn’t received her cutie mark as of yet; a ‘blank flank’ so to speak. He deduced that this is Applebloom, one of the ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders.’

‘If only there was a group like that for me, I was about 5-7 years overdue for Celestia’s sake.'

Applebloom has waved goodbye to her two older siblings as she walks along the main route into town, most likely to meet up with the rest of the CMC... or something. (Wait, what does a filly like her do in town, just after the crack of dawn?!) As he watches her walk away from the orchard, he hears a certain mare’s voice, with a familiar country twang.

“Ah heard about wha’ happened with you an’ Rarity.” She says in a calm demeanor.

“...” He seems unfazed about her knowledge of yesterday’s events.

“Ah reckon tha’ it was ah mighty fine shame for her to do tha’ to you.” Her former calmness is replaced with aggression. “Ah made sure tha’ ah gave her ah piece of my mind.”

“How did you find out?” This garners more attention from the stallion.

“She told me, she told all of us.”

He is now quite curious about this, “Why did she tell all of you, and who is ‘us’?

“She told Rainbow, Pinkie, and mahself,  since we didn’t know about this incident and ah’m sorry sugarcube, but we all Pinkie promised not to say why.”

Applejack could see Pinkie standing near the empty buckets, eyeing the two very suspiciously. She grabs an apple out of the buckets, and slowly chews on it, without keeping her eyes off the two. Dusk couldn’t see her, since his back was faced towards the pink, party mare.

Eager to change the subject, Applejack speaks again. “Mah brother told me tha’ he needed your help with somethin’, so you are gonna be workin’ with him today.”

He does a mock salute and says, “Yes ma’am.” Any hint of seriousness in his voice has been abolished

*sigh* “Get out of here Dusk, git!” She shoos him from his former position, and he starts to walk over to Big Macintosh’s position.

He could see that the red giant is setting up the farm’s equipment for the day of work. He is currently moving a plow over to a field which has seen much better days. (Or maybe that is how it is supposed to look...? I don’t have an eye for farming.) Dusk waited until the farmer had placed the plow down before speaking.

“So, Applejack said that you needed help with something.”

“Eeyup, I need your help with Cheerilee, like I told you before. I never got the chance to tell you the rest of what happened.” The normally calm stallion, is calm, as per usual. “I told her of my feelings, and she..."

Perspective: Big Mac [Soon after C32: Dusk the Matchmaker]

“I’m really sorry Big Mac, but I don’t really want to be in a relationship with anypony. It’s a long story.” She truly sounded apologetic, almost reluctant to tell him this.

“I have time.” His tone of voice and expression carry none of the emotion that he truly felt. He kept up the stoic facade.

“I just... can’t Mac. I know that we have been friends for a while now, especially after that ‘Hearts and Hooves Day’ incident.” They both shared small laughter... they caused so much destruction that day, and yet they don’t even remember half of it. She continued, “But I’m not ready for a relationship right now. I have to admit, I do feel something for you and me...”

‘Us?’

“...But I can’t do this. It’s a personal reason, that I’d rather not bring up right now. Nopony in town knows about it.” Her expression made her seem a lot older than she really is.

He knew that it was a good time to leave. “Oh... okay then. Well I guess this is goodbye for now.”

“Wait.” This stopped him in his tracks, and she moved to the doorway that he was about to exit. She brings a forehoof down his right cheek, “I know that this must hurt right now Mac, but do you think we could still be friends?”

The answer was obvious to him, “Eeyup.”

Perspective: Dusk [Present Time]

“I see... “ Dusk didn’t expect that, to say the least.

“I don’t want you to be too hard on her, but could you just persuade her to let me take her on one date?”

‘Well he has rejected numerous mares in the town, just for this one mare that he likes... there is only one possible answer to this.’

“I guess I’ll be making a trip to the teachers office.”

Chapter 58: Crossing The Line

Chapter 58: Crossing The Line

Dusk is walking through one on the main streets of Ponyville, looking for the local school. Before he left the orchard, he had asked Big Mac if he could give him directions to the school building from Sweet Apple Acres. He smiles as he sees the light red building in the distance, just a few hundred metres away from the main area of the town.

He had chosen to leave the farm early, so he would still have the drive and motivation to say what he is about to say to the teacher. He knows that she would need to arrive at the schoolhouse early, to better plan what she would choose to do for the day. One thing that he had neglected to consider though, is the time that she would arrive at. At the current moment, it is about 7:00am, and he thinks that class would start at around 8:30am - 9:00am.

He only just realizes this, when he could only see a few to the town’s residents setting up their individual markets. He could see the orange mane of Carrot Top setting up shop in the middle of the marketplace.

He could also make out Ditzy ‘Derpy’ Doo in the distance, carrying a heavy looking saddlebag, filled with letters and packages alike.

Other than the market ponies, and Ditzy, there is nopony else in the town. ‘Well, I hope that I get lucky then.’ He walks up the the closed school door, and knocks.

…

…

…

“Who is it?” ‘Thank Celestia. She’s here.’

“My name’s Dusk, I came here so I could talk to you about Big Mac.” He shows the slightest bit of sympathy in his voice, not only for his red friend, but also for Cheerilee. He knows that she seems to share the same feelings for Mac, but will not go any further than that, for some unknown reason. He intends to find out why.

The door opens for Dusk, and he lets himself into the building. Inside, there are twelve different desks for the students of her class. Each desk is surprisingly clean... if you count out the one with drawings of Rainbow Dash on it. ‘Somepony has a fan.’

Cheerilee has sat down behind her own desk, which had two separate piles of papers on them. The larger pile consisted of unmarked tests that the school fillies, and colts have completed. The smaller pile consists of marked tests.

The mare in question looks a tad stressed out about something. Her two tone pink mane is a little bit messier than it should be, and she has small bags under her green eyes. He could see that she didn’t get a good night’s rest. He couldn’t see her cutie mark from his angle. (And he wouldn’t randomly look over the desk to take a quick glimpse of her flank...)

She asks the first question, “Is this going to be about if Big Mac and I?”

He nods, “Of course. Now I cannot say I know everything about him, but I’ve seen what he was like an hour ago. He really likes you; he has turned down numerous mares just so he could be with you instead.” He needed to get his point across for his plan to work.

This didn’t do anything good to her composure, she has a saddened look on the face. “I know... I know all that he has done to be with me, and I respect that but I...” She stops talking midway through her sentence.

“But I what?” He waits expectantly.

“But I... I... just can’t.” She didn’t want to talk about this particular subject anymore.

‘This is getting nowhere.’

*annoyed sigh* “Okay then, how ‘bout we talk about a slightly different subject now. What do you consider him as? Associate? Friend? Acquaintance? Companion?”

“Well... we have been friends for quite a while now, and I’ll admit that we have gotten quite close to each other. As much as I want this to happen, I just can’t. I know that it hurts him...” Her mood darkens, and he knew that the only obstacle that he’ll need to cross, is her reluctance. If only she would tell him what happened.

Two familiar words enter his mind at this moment, two important words. ‘Repressed Memory.’

‘Should I do this to her?’

“So let me ask you this, do you want to hurt Big Mac’s feelings, because you are doing a great job so far.” As much as he hated to become a cruel pony, he felt that he had to, so he could get the point across.

“No! I... I don’t...”

‘I’m so, so sorry Cheerilee.’

“You told me yourself, you want this to happen, and yet you still refuse.” He was going on the total offensive, but he changes his tone with his last question. “Now, tell me what stopping

you from being with Big Mac.”

She didn’t answer his question, since she has her head in her hooves in tears. She is reliving the very moments of her cursed memories. Dusk is angry at himself for forcing her to do this, but he had to put aside his self-loathing and try and calm her down. His bottom lip was trembling, and he wasn’t too far from a breakdown himself. He hated to cause somepony pain like this...

All he could do, is to stroke a hoof down her back in the vain attempt to cease the calamity. “Please forgive me Cheerilee, I didn’t want this to happen.”

---------- (Three minutes later)

She had gained enough composure to be able to think straight again. She is a wreck... and so is Dusk. He had completely shattered one of the ‘rules’ in his moral code, and there was no other option for him, except to be angry with himself. Cheerilee hasn’t stopped crying, much to his dismay. While the intensity of her breakdown isn’t as horrible as it was a few minutes ago, it’s still pretty bad.

He felt that he needed to find out what he had started to make her get like this, since she reacted even worse than he did when he relived his memory at Fluttershy’s cottage.

“Do you think that you could tell me what happened in the memory?” He quietly asks.

“...yes.”

He couldn’t help but to feel bad for her, since she now needed to recall the memory that made her break down like this. “You don’t need to tell me, if you don’t want to.” He almost didn’t want to hear what happened to her. Almost.

“I-I know, but I have to do this.” She wipes away any stray tears before starting. “I used to be married to a wonderful pegasus. His name was Blitzkrieg; he was a Germane high-ranking royal guard. He was quiet, but he was also really affectionate to me.” She manages a small smile before continuing.

“He was wonderful, if he was forced to go away on an assignment, he would send me back a letter with a gift for every week he was away.” Her smile turns back into a look of sadness, “But on the second week of one of his assignments, nothing ever came. No present, no note, just nothing.”

Dusk felt like he knew what was going to happen. There were three different scenarios in his head, and none of them were good. He felt guilty for making her remember this, since he knew how much the memory of Cloudie and Blizzard had hurt him.

“Naturally, I was worried about what could have happened to him, and so I waited another week. There was n-nothing that week either, or the week after. Then, a few days later, somepony knocked on the door of my home. It was an guard who often went on assignments with B-Blitz. H-He said that that m-my Blitzy, was k-killed by a pack of wolves...” She starts to tear up, as she remembers that very moment of her life.

Before he could offer some kind of help for her, he is slapped across the side of the face by the teacher. She is bucking mad at him, “Why did you do it Dusk?! Why did you make me relive the worst moment of my life? What was the point?!”

“...I ...don’t even know anymore.” He is having a guilt trip of a lifetime. He just wanted to curl up into a ball and die. “I... didn’t know that Blitzkrieg is the reason you refused to be with Macintosh.” He could feel his willpower shatter into a million different pieces.

“He isn’t the main reason, it’s what happened afterwards.”

‘Afterwards...’ He didn’t want to hear anymore of this memory, but he has already gone too far to stop.

“...I was pregnant.”

“WHAT?!” He went pale after hearing that. He had the feeling of lightheadedness, before collapsing to the ground in an unconscious heap.

He wakes up on the floor of the school building, forgetting how he had gotten there in the first place. He drags himself off the floor, and onto his hooves, which catches the attention of Cheerilee, who had calmed down considerably than she was a few moments ago. (?) He notices the tissue box on her desk, and the amount of tissues in the nearby bin.

“Oh thank Celestia that you’re alright now Dusk, I was really worried about you.” She has a relieved smile on her muzzle.

“...?” His confused expression says everything.

“You fainted after I told you about... my pregnancy. You’ve were unconscious for about 10 minutes.” She is still a bit edgy about the subject of her pregnancy, but he didn’t want to get her any more upset than she was before.

He starts to talk about something a little bit less depressive than he did before. “I didn’t know that you had a foal Cheerilee. How old is he/she?”

Her renewed, happy demeanor turns back into her former state, as she looks straight down to the ground. Dusk instantly worries, but is also confused why she became sad after such a simple question.

“What wrong? Are you okay?”

“Dusk... I’ve never had a foal... I had a miscarriage during the pregnancy.”

‘...you poor mare.’

Author’s Note: I feel terrible for writing this chapter.

Chapter 59: The Apple vs The Protector

Chapter 59: The Apple vs The Protector

He didn’t know what to say. He never thought he would see the day where he would find somepony with such a harsh experience. He hated this knowledge of her past, and he regretted ever asking her about it.

He cringes in shame when he looks at her. She shed no tears, but she is the most depressed that she has ever been in a very long time. It would be psychological torture for a mare if they had a miscarriage, and even more so, if their husband and father of the foal was killed beforehand. He couldn’t imagine the pain that she must be feeling.

Dusk feels that it is a good time to apologize to the school teacher. “Cheerilee, I’m sorry that I made you go through all that. I truly regret what I have done to you, and I hope that you could forgive me for what I have done.” His voice sounds of pure sadness and regret, as he apologizes to her. He is trying his hardest to put his thoughts into words. “I am truly ashamed of my actions and... ugh, I’m just repeating myself now. I think you understand what I’m trying to say though.”

She nods once. “I understand. Now you should know why I don’t want to be in a relationship with Big Macintosh.”

“But of course. I would probably be the same if something horrific happened to Fluttershy.” And he knew he would. There would be too many bad memories for him to pursue another relationship, if he ever wanted to.

“Often, when I see a couple and a stallion with their foals, I think back to what happened to me. Scars never heal, and this also applies to the emotional kind. I have never forgotten about what happened, even if I did end up ‘repressing’ the memories.” She starts to perk up, because she starts to smile. “And to answer your original question, yes, I will ask Big Mac of Hearts and Hooves Day.”

“What question?” He couldn’t recall himself ever asking a question that could be answered like that.

“Knowing Big Mac, he asked you to see if you could convince me to go on a date with him.” She is startlingly accurate.

“How’d you-”

“I stayed around him for long enough to learn what he is like. He can be quite predictable at times, and he is quite shy at times.”

Dusk’s eyes shoot up, after figuring out what she meant before. “So... you are going to ask him out during Hearts and Hooves Day.” (In three weeks time)

“Yes, I am, but make sure that you don’t tell him about my plans. It’s supposed to be a s” She stresses the final point, just as a precaution.

“Got’cha Cheerilee.” The mood in the room has lifted considerably. It is a nice change. “Do you think that you’ll be alright, considering that your students will be arriving in about an hour?” He didn’t want her to randomly breakdown during the class.

“Yes, I’ll be fine. I just... need a few minutes to myself now. Could you make sure that you don’t tell Mac about what happened with Blitzkrieg and I. I’ll tell him when I’m ready.”

“Yeah, I understand.” He is good at keeping other ponies secrets, so she had no need to be worried. He gives her a wave goodbye as he leaves, and she does so in kind.

Dusk is walking in the marketplaces of Ponyville, browsing the various wares of the set up stores. He only browsed around in the food section of the marketplace, because he never got the chance to eat breakfast at the Sweet Apple Acres like he normally does.

He met Carrot Top, as her carrot based stall, but he didn't buy anything from there. He doesn’t really feel like carrot based goods at the current moment. He passes through numerous food stands, with no intention of buying any of the food. He then passes a stand which makes both the stall owner, and the dark blue stallion double take.

Quick Note: Zeph is gonna hate me for this.

“Dusk, wha’ are ya’ doin’ out here?! Ya’ should be workin’ at the farm, not stuffin’ around in the markets.” Needless to say, she is quite annoyed by the fact that he wasn’t applebucking back at Sweet Apple Acres. If only she knew... ‘Time to bend the truth a little bit.’

“Uh... I came here because Big Mac said that I could take a quick break for the job, and since I didn’t eat any breakfast, I came here so I could get something to eat.” He technically isn’t lying, so he knows that Applejack couldn’t pin him with her skills as the Element of Honesty.

“Hmm... seems kinda fishy to me, but ah can see that ya tellin’ the truth.” She concedes.

‘Thank Celestia, I don’t want to tell her that I went and saw Cheeri-’

“But ah would like tah’ know why ya’ didn’t eat at the orchard.” She says accusingly, putting Dusk on the spot. [4 Psyche Locks appear]

[Play Music]

-Dusk’s Secret-

“Well uh... he said that there was no food there for me to eat.” He is starting to feel the heat.

“OBJECTION!” She points her left forehoof at Dusk. “Ah happen to know tha’ there is plenty of food for you tah eat at the farm. Why, ah could prove it you right now.” She sounds extremely confident in herself.

“You... you can? Well then, show me.” He says with a hint of challenge in his voice.

“TAKE THAT!” She hoofs a red apple from her stand to him. “Wha’ is this Dusk?”

“It’s an... apple?” He didn’t know if this was meant to be a trick question.

“Eeyep, and all of these apples on mah stand came from the farm, therefore, there was food ya’ could’ve eaten at the farm, since we grow em’ all.”

‘Oh... right...’ [*SHATTER* 3 Psyche Locks remaining]

“So...” Applejack forces her hooves down on her stand, making an audible *slam* noise. “Why did ya leave the farm?”

‘Thinking, thinking, damn it think...’

“Applebloom.” Says Dusk.

“Wha?”

“When I first arrived at the farm, I saw Applebloom run out of the orchard, and towards the town at around 6:50am. It was after Mac woke you two up, and when you exited your house. Anyway, when I saw her run towards Ponyville, I was confused as to why she needed to go to the town so early. And so to pique my curiosity, I chose to follow her, just to make sure that nothing bad would happen to her.”

Applejack had no response to his explanation, but she could feel that something is off. She wore a serious expression as she tries to find the contradiction in his explanation...

“So wha’ you’re sayin’, is that you left the farm tah’ make sure that mah’ sister was safe.”

“Yeah, pretty much.” He says nonchalantly.

“Well ah’d be proud of ya... if tha’ were true! Ah know tha’ ya couldn’t have been watchin’ mah’ sister.”

“W-w-w-WHAT!” He yells is surprise. ‘How does she know?!’

“Applebloom, could ya come over here for a sec?”

“I’mma comin’ sis.” Replies the yellow coated filly nearby. ‘Oh no. How did I not see her before?’

Applejack asks her a simple question. “When you ran off tah town this mornin’, did ya see Dusk at any point?”

“Who’s Dusk?” Applebloom has never been introduced to Dusk before, ergo she did not know that he is standing right next to her.

Applejack points at Dusk, and the Cutie Mark Crusader starts to speak again. “Oh! Oh... I never saw the ‘Protector of Ponyville’ while ah was in town. Sorry.” She speaks in a similar way to Applejack, only cuter.

This gives Applejack some ammunition that she could use against Dusk. “Well Dusk, if you were followin’ her, then why didn’t she see ya?”

“Because I was too far away for her to see me. I followed her, just so I could see what she was doing in Ponyville at the crack of dawn.” It is a convincing lie.

She still didn’t believe him though. “OBJECTION! *slam* Okay then Dusk, tell me, what was she doing in Ponyville?”

‘...I don’t know what she did, but this whole situation may depend on this decision...’

“Applebloom was setting up the apple stand early, so that you didn’t need to do as much work when you came to set it up. It was an act of goodwill on her part.” ‘Total guess.’

“...”

“...”

“...You are right Dusk, [Spirit reduced to 80%] ah told Applebloom tah set up the apple stand on her own this time, since she’s getting closer and closer to marehood. Ah thought that she was mature enough to do this on her own for the first time, and she is!” She sounds extremely proud of her younger sister. “But this isn’t about her...”

“Aww.” Complains Applebloom.

“...this is about trying to figure out what Dusk really did.” He could see the determination in her eyes.

‘She’s not gonna give up, is she...’

“So Dusk, do ya’ think tha’ you could repeat your explanation for me again?”

“Um... sure... ‘When I first arrived at the farm, I saw Applebloom run out of the orchard, and towards the town at around 6:50am. It was after Mac woke you two up, and when you exited your house. Anyway, when I saw her run towards Ponyville, I was confused as to why she needed to go to the town so early. And so to pique my curiosity, I chose to follow her, just to make sure that nothing bad would happen to her.’”

“HOLD IT! Could you better explain what ya’ saw when we left the house?”

“Sure, I don’t see why not.” ‘What is she planning?’

Dusk begins his updated explanation. “When you three exited the farm house, I saw Applebloom excitedly run out first, and you walked out second. Big Mac came out about a few moments later. Anyway, when I saw her run towards-”

(Stop Music)

“OBJECTION! There is ah contro- contri- con-, lie in your statement. You said tha’ you followed Applebloom when she ran out of the farm, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Tha’ must mean tha’ one of your statements is ah lie! (Change Music)

You see, you said that you followed Applebloom out of the farm so you could watch her, but at the same time, ya’ told Big Mac that you needed tah’ have a break as well. That’s impossible.”

“OBJECTION!” Yells out Dusk, “Not impossible. You see, when Applebloom was about to leave the orchard, Big Mac told me to leave the farm so I could do something for him. And so before doing the task that Big Mac wanted me to do, I decided to follow Applebloom to ‘pique my curiousity’ like I said before.”

She shakes her head, “Ah’m mighty sorry Dusk, but ah’m afraid that you dug yourself in an even deeper hole than before.”

‘Oh no...’ (Change Music)

“You said tha’ Big Mac came out of the house ah few moments after me and Applebloom, and that alone proves that you lied, since Applebloom had already left when Big Mac came out of the house. So-”

“OBJECTION! D-Do you have any proof that Applebloom had left before I talked to Big Mac?” Dusk began to get really nervous.

“Ah was there, and ah know for ah fact that she was gone before Macintosh left the farmhouse.” She says defiantly.

“OBJECTION! I need proof, not memories.”

“OBJECTION! Ah am proof. Remember, ah am the Element of Honesty. Ah’m ah terrible liar, and do ah look like ah’m lying right now?”

“...No...”

“And even if you did talk tah’ Big Mac before she left, you wouldn’t have caught up to her, you two would’ve talked for too long, and she’d be long gone by then. So tell me... which statement was ah lie?"

*SHATTER SHATTER* 1 Psyche Lock Remaining

Dusk is now starting to get quite stressed, and he is a lot more pissed off than he was before. “Okay fine, you want the truth, you’re gonna get it. (Cue Music) I completely lied about following Applebloom, and the only reason why I knew about her setting the stand, is because I guessed; I took a wild stab in the dark. Anyway, I did talk to Big Mac, but not about taking a break, or wanting to leave so I could eat breakfast. I cannot tell you the reason why he sent me into town.”

“HOLD IT! *slam and point* Tell me the reason he sent you into town!”

“I can’t! It’s a rather-”

“OBJECTION! He is mah brother, and ah need to know about-”

“HOLD IT! Why is this important? Why do you need to know what your brother wants me to do?” He is hoping that she doesn’t have a good reason.

“...Because I need to know!” She is starting to get desperate.

“No you don’t.” [Spirit Reduced to 45%]

‘Can’t you just let it go Applejack?’

“Yes ah do Dusk, and ah have proof to show you, proof that will force you to tell me his reasons.” She didn’t sound too sure of herself, but she still spoke with vigor.

“Okay, then. What is it that you need to show me?” He is actually quite curious to see what she will come up with.

“TAKE THAT!” She hoofs him a second red apple.

“Why are you giving me another apple?” Now he was truly confused as to what she is planning.

“It’s not the apple ah’m tryin’ to show ya’.. it’s... it’s...”

“Do you even know why you are showing me this?”

“...No.” Spirit Reduced to 15%

They both remain quiet for a few moments, before she starts to speak to Dusk again. “Ah have nothin’ Dusk. Ah give up, you win.” [Spirit Reduced to 0% - Psyche Locks disappear]

“Good, I have to admit that you put up a pretty good fight. You nearly convinced me to tell you everything, and that be wouldn’t good for him.” He truly enjoyed himself.

“You were pretty good too, and ah didn’t expect ya’ tah’ beat me.” She is no longer feeling annoyed by the fact that Dusk wouldn’t tell her anything. In fact, she actually seems seems slightly relieved.

“Speaking of which, why did we randomly yell out the words ‘objection’, ‘take that’, and ‘hold it’?”

“...Ah ...don’t know Dusk.”

Authors Note: In case you didn’t notice, that chapter was inspired by the Ace Attorney series.

Chapter 60: For Nothing

Chapter 60: For Nothing

Dusk has made his way back to the apple farm, with the last two incidents still fresh in his mind. He could see Big Macintosh applebucking a tree from about 100 metres away from where the blue pegasus is walking. The muscular red earth pony, is bucking with much less skill than usual, since it took him more than one buck to knock down the apples from the apple tree. Macintosh seems to be a tad uneasy, since he has put the fate of him and his love interest in the hooves of a friend.

Unfortunately, Dusk has become the bringer of bad news. He told her about her reluctance to start a relationship, and all of the other stuff that Big Mac already knows about. Dusk didn’t tell the farmer about her repressed memory or what she is planned for Hearts and Hooves Day, though. It is very important for Dusk to keep these two things a secret from everypony, especially Big Mac.

Needless to say, Macintosh is disappointed with the results, but he couldn’t blame Dusk for the failure. His pained facial expression says it all. The two decide to not worry about the stallion’s love woes for now, and opted to get on with their jobs. The apples weren't going to buck themselves...

It is 3:35pm when the two decide to call it a day. They had bucked a total of 153 trees, with Dusk contributing to 38 of said trees. The speed at which Big Mac could clear a tree still astounds the pegasus, especially since the Apple farmer had bucked about triple the amount of trees than Dusk has.

Big Mac has made his way to the farm’s bit box, and he started counting the bits required for Dusk’s pay. (He earned 95 bits)  As he does this, his youngest sister runs into the farmhouse excitedly, and she is followed by Applejack, who wore a massive grin on her muzzle.

“You look happy.” Comments Dusk.

“Ah sure am Dusk, tha’ was some of the best sales we’ve had in months. We sold out ‘bout two hours before we were supposed to.” She grabs a smaller box of bits and places them on the table. The box itself is a plain and wooden in design, with a couple of hinges attached. "Ah mighty good.haul if ah could say so mahself." She is addressing both Big Macintosh and Dusk.

"And we also saw Dusk before, but ah didn't understand why mah sister and the Protector of Ponyville were yelling objection at eachother." Adds Applebloom, which gives Applejack the look of remembrance.

"That reminds me... Big Mac, *slams table with forehooves* why did ya' send Dusk to town before?" (Cue Music) [1 Psyche Lock appears]

“Well... uh...” Big Mac is hesitant to answer the question.

“OBJECTION!” Dusk points a forehoof at Applejack, “I thought that I told you to let this subject go.” He has raised his voice up to a considerable level.

“No ya’ didn’t Dusk, you told me that it isn’t important for me to know what you did in Ponyville this mornin’, but you never told me anything about not askin’ Big Mac mahself.”

‘Damn, she’s right.’

“HOLD IT! *slams table* You know what I meant before Appleja-”

[*SHATTER* All Psyche Locks Unlocked] (In an underwhelming way)

“I... I sent Dusk into town so he could try to convince Cheerilee to go on a date with me.” He rushes the words out, showing his nerves under his stoic stance. (Stop Music)

‘So the whole argument at the markets... was for nothing?!’

Applejack’s smug grin from before, is intensified after hearing that he has a crush on Cheerilee. "Ah didn't know tha' you fancied somepony Big Mac." Teases Applejack.

"Ah knew it." Claims the younger sister. "We all knew tha' you and Miss Cheerilee would get all lovey-dovey someday, especially after the love potion incident.” She is positively beaming right now.

“We?” Asks both Applejack and Dusk. Big Mac didn’t really seem to care though.

“Me, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.” Answers the yellow filly.

“Uh huh, but the thing is, Big Mac and Cheerilee aren’t actually going out." ‘At the moment...’ "Cheerilee said no to the relationship, but she wouldn’t give reasons why.” Dusk hoped that nopony else would get the chance to find out about the school teacher’s past.

"Well... thanks for tryin' Dusk. Ah'm sure that Big Mac appreciates it."

"Eeyup."

Dusk had received his bits for the days work at the farm. (plus 25 extra bits from Big Macintosh for his help with Cheerilee) He begins his walk back to Fluttershy's cottage, with the niggling feeling that he is forgetting something about today.

As he walks along the path to his marefriend's home, he could see a small yellow speck in the distance. He walks closer to the growing yellow dot before realizing that it is Fluttershy. The two pegasi could help but smile as they both recognize each other in the distance. As Dusk moves closer to her, she gives him a hug, which instantly makes his heart flutter. He could feel a blush coming on.

You see, Dusk has always considered hugging to be his preferred method of romantic physical contact. He couldn’t explain why he likes it so much, he just does. It just feels... right, to him.

“Hello Shy. What’s with the hug?” He calmly asks.

“Oh... um.. I did it because I thought that you’d like it...” She releases her hold, falling back onto her four hooves. “...And I think that you did, I felt your heart beat quicken.”

“Eh heh heh... you did?” He felt slightly embarrassed, “And I did like the hug Fluttershy, especially after the stressful day that I had today. Thanks.”

She waves it off, “It’s no problem Dusk... I like it too, you know.”

“Yeah, I know you do Shy. Anyway, completely different subject, where are you going?” She doesn’t usually leave the cottage, without Dusk somehow knowing.

“Oh, right, um... we're both supposed to be at Twilight’s house, so she could try a few experiments on us. It’s supposed to be important.”

‘The Experiment, how did I forget about that?.’

“Well if that’s the case then, shall we go?”

Chapter 61: EEG

Chapter 61: EEG

“So remind me what Twilight hopes to achieve in her little experiment. I’m a little fuzzy on the details.” Admits Dusk, while silently cursing his bad memory.

“Well, um... she wants to test if we (pegasi) had some sort of... what are the best words for this... unique hidden magic.”

Something in Dusk’s brain clicks, as he starts to recall about his time in Zephyr’s hospital room  two days ago. This is when he still accused himself of causing Zephyr’s accident with the diamond dogs. “Ah yes. Didn’t she say that she would run tests on Rainbow’s ‘Sonic Rainboom’, your ‘Stare’ and my ‘Red-Eye’?” (Which is a much better name than ‘Rage Face’)

She nods, confirming his question. “Yeah... I think that is what she said to me. She seemed really excited about the experiment when she spoke to me about it.”

‘Heh, that is just like Twilight to get a thrill out of doing experiments, like the adorable little nerd she is... there really needs to be a better word to describe her personality...’

“Only she would enjoy these sort of things...” He says with a deadpan tone of voice. “I wonder how she’s going to test us though. I don’t know if she is going to do something simple, or something really... uh... messed up...”

Fluttershy waves a dismissive hoof at Dusk, “Oh no, she wouldn’t do anything like that. I’m sure of it...”

‘That’s reassuring.’

-In Twilight’s Library-

“...And just so you two know, I’ll be getting your brains scanned.”

“WHAT?!” Many mental images flash through Dusk’s mind, and a lot of them involve scalpels in some way. He turns to Fluttershy, “I thought that you said nothing like this would happen.” He say exasperatedly.

“...me neither...”

Twilight then sees things from Dusk’s (and maybe Fluttershy’s) point of view. “Oh no, oh no no no, you don’t understand. Well be doing the tests with an electroencephalograph.” She could somehow pronounce the last word flawlessly.

“A... what?”

“An electroencephalograph: it is a machine that measure the voltage fluctuations that occur from the ionic currents of the pony brain. My machine measures the frequency of five different types of waves in our brains: Alpha, Beta, Theta, Delta, and Epsilon. Basically, the Alpha wave shows how relaxed-”

*SHATTER + CRASH* The sound could be heard across the whole house, interrupting Twilight, and startling the other two.

“What was that Twilight?” Asks Dusk with a worried tone.

“Um... I don’t know, but it came from upstairs.” She trots towards the staircase, signalling for Dusk and Fluttershy to follow. Dusk curiously follows, with Fluttershy trailing behind the two, as they all walk up the stairs.

When the three walk into Twilight’s room / study area, they are surprised to see multiple glass shards scattering the ground, and a relatively unscathed, but stressed cyan pegasus on the wooden floor. Dusk could see that Twilight’s right eye is twitching, and her mouth is agape. He also thought that he saw her eyes glow white for half a second.

When Rainbow Dash makes eye contact with the purple unicorn, she starts to feel uncomfortable. “Uh... Twi, I have a perfectly good reason for this, you see-”

“She crashed through the window.” Interrupts Spike, who is also in the room.

“What!” Rainbow points a fore-hoof at the small purple dragon, “He lies!”

Spike shakes his head in disapproval, before he begins to walk towards the stairs with a full bag of jewels in his claws. “This is what you get for replacing my gems with plastic replicas Rainbow Dash.” He throws an amethyst into the air, and eats it as it falls. “Karma, it sucks... have fun.” He walks down the stairs and leaves Rainbow to her fate.

“Wait Spike, could you come back here for a second?” Asks Twilight.

They all hear a sigh of annoyance, before he walks back up the stairs into her room. “Yeah Twilight?”

“Could you clean up the glass shards that a certain pegasus...” She gives Rainbow a death glare before continuing. “...has scattered around the room? If you do this, than I will not only give you a small bag of gems as a reward, but I will also see if I could organise for you to go and work with Rarity tomorrow.”

The young dragon perks up after hearing the ‘Rarity’ part, and says, “I’ll do it.” He starts to pick up the shards with his claws, while Twilight asks Rainbow something.

“How in Equestria did you smash through the window of my house?”

She has gotten quite sheepish at this point. “Well Twi... I was trying out a few new flying stunts, but as I was beginning one of my more complex tricks, there was an unexpected gust of wind, and I was caught in a stall. So I needed to do a nosedive so I could fly properly again, but I was a bit too close to the ground, and I may have accidentally crashed through your window.”

Something about this seems a bit iffy to Dusk, “Wait a sec, so you’re saying that you couldn’t have hovered in the air, instead of nosediving. That’s a pretty terrible mistake from the ‘Best Flier in Equestria’.

This hurts her ego, as she starts to speak with slight aggression, “Hey, I only nose-dived, because it’s like, 20% cooler than simply hovering.”

“Right...” He is still quite sceptical, but he didn’t feel like pursuing it any further.

Twilight chooses this as a prime time to remind the three pegasi why they are here in the first place. “So now since everypony is here, I’ll need you to follow me so I can start-”

“Hey wait a second.” Interrupts Rainbow, who is hovering in the air like she normally does. “What’s happening, why do we all have to follow you?”

She facehoofs, before speaking, “For the experiment, you know, the one I told you about two days ago.” She sounds a lot more frustrated than she did a few seconds ago.

The cyan mare ponders this for a second, putting her forehoof up to her chin, “Well... uh you sort of did, but you know what I’m like, you should have reminded me.”

“It’s not my responsibility for me to remind you about things like this. Also, I told you about the experiment three more times during that day.”

“Really?” The look of guilt spreads across her face. “Oh, I’m sorry Twi, I didn’t mean to forget about that, but I still arrived on time at least.”

“Yeah, I suppose that you’re right, apology accepted. Now let’s start this experiment.” He could see her eyes sparkle as she directs her three test subjects (victims?) down the staircase...

Twilight has brought Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Dusk down to the basement of her library. Everypony in the group could safely say, that he didn’t expect anything like this. There are a vast number of machines of no discernible use, placed in various spots in the room, and since it is under the tree itself, some of the larger roots from above are wrapping around some the said machines. There are also numerous test tubes in the area, filled with different kinds of chemicals. Almost every single mixture is a different colour, and the even the consistency of the liquid differs.

The air in the room feels musty, and somewhat stale, since they are in an underground room, and there is almost no possible way to get fresh air into the room. (If you count out the door to the basement. The room itself, like the other two main rooms in her library, is huge. There is plenty of room for Twilight to do her experiments with and therefore, a lot of room for the unicorn to store her side projects, while she sets up the main experiment. He noted the blackboard, which contains a single algebraic formula... which fills the whole area of the board.

‘...no comment.’

He could see that Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash have engaged in their own conversation, and Twilight is near some sort of machine right in the middle of the room. She held a quill and parchment with her magic, and she is talking to herself.

“Is the EEG filled with paper?” She looks up at the giant, bulging roll of paper which stuck out of the main part of the machine. She ticks the check box, “Check. So are the calibrations in working order...?” She fiddles around with the various buttons on the machine. Dusk was bored at this point, and so he decides to look at some of the other experiments that she had put aside. He is truly that bored...

---------- (Four minutes later)

Twilight has finished all of the preparations for the test, and has called everypony over to her position near the machine. She added a few more items onto the machine: a small hollow domed object which looks like it need to be placed on a pony’s head, and a bigger machine with hoof clamps and a few knobs and valves. The smaller parts were attached to the main mechanism with red, blue and green wires.

Twilight has begun to speak of her goals for today, and what she is planning. “Okay girls, (and Dusk) Do you know what the point of this experiment is?” The three pegasi nod in unison, which allows Twilight to continue talking. “Good. I’m not the first pony to test for the magical properties in non-unicorns, and it has been confirmed that there is magic inside all three of the lesser pony species. (Alicorns are considered to be a higher class)”

This is news for the test subjects, as they all react to the new information. Dusk and Rainbow silently mouth the word ‘What’, while Fluttershy asks Twilight a question regarding the matter. “Why are we considered magical, when we can’t do any of the things that unicorns do?”

“That’s a good question Fluttershy. You see, unicorns have conscious control of our magic, since our race is capable of such things, but both of the other races also contain dormant magic; magic that naturally occurs when you do something tailored to your race. I’ll give you an example. First, I need all of you to stretch your wings.”

Two of the three pegasi stretch out their wings to it’s maximum length. Dusk couldn’t do this, because his left wing hasn’t recovered from it’s injury. After she takes a quick glance at the wings, she continues to explain. "Normally, with wings this small, it would be impossible for any of you to take flight, but because of the natural dormant magic that you are born with, it enhances your wings so you are able to fly with them. This theory was proved by Starswirl the Bearded, as he tested what would happen if you took the magic away."

Dusk went slightly pale after hearing that. "He-he could just take away a pegasi's flying... just like that?"

"It's only temporary, he didn't remove the magic, he just temporarily stopped the magic from doing anything. It's a very difficult spell, and I haven't learnt it." Dusk looks at his fellow pegasi, and could see that Rainbow was showing signs of distress, and Fluttershy was biting her lower lip.

"So let us begin the experiment." Says Twilight, who has walked next to the unknown contraption in the centre of the room. “This machine measures the Alpha, Beta, Delta, Theta and Epsilon brain waves. The results that come from the machine will be used to measure a pony’s concentration, relaxation, stress, drowsiness, emotional state and most importantly, magic. It is a relatively simple test, since the pony getting tested on just needs to wear that on their head for five minutes.” She points a forehoof at the dome shaped object, which draws the attention of the pegasi to the ‘hat’. Rainbow shows her disapproval.

“Five minutes?! We need to wear that thing for five minutes?! Couldn’t you just reduce the time with your magic or something?” It is apparent that Rainbow doesn’t know much about a unicorn’s magic.

“Don’t complain, it used to take over thirty minutes before a conclusive result was achieved using one of these, and since you’re so eager to try it out, you’ll be going first.”

“What, no way Sparkle, you can’t make me.” She is hovering in the air, with her forelegs crossed across her chest.

“It’s a good way to compare your skills to both Fluttershy and Dusk, and I can levitate you and force to the testing area, unless you go there yourself.”

The cyan mare took a few moments to think about her answer, before she spoke. “Alright fine, could you set it up for me?” She didn’t sound like she wanted to do this.

“With pleasure.”

Twilight brings her over to the hoofclamps, and places her two forearms the steel holders. They snap shut, holding Rainbow Dash onto the machine. Twilight pulls a few knobs and a couple of buttons. The main machine starts up, so Twilight places the scanner onto Rainbow’s head, (with the strap of course) and waits for the test to finish.

---------- (One test later)

The machine that Twilight stood near starts to make a lot more noise, and the clamps release Rainbow from it’s grasp. “Okay, you can take the helmet of now. The machine has stopped the scan.”

“Oh, finally.” She quickly removes the helmet, and starts to hover again, “It’s just so restrictive in that thing.”

“Uh huh.” Twilight paid no attention to what her friend has just said, since she is preoccupied by the paper that the machine was printing out. The paper has five different groups of lines, and all of the lines seem to rise and fall at different intervals. He has absolutely no idea what any of these lines meant. He and Fluttershy were trying to get a closer look at the results as it prints.

When the machine stops printing, Twilight told Rainbow to go see her results, but she also told Dusk and Fluttershy to get out of earshot. So the couple converse while they wait for Twilight to finish.

Dusk asks Fluttershy a question that has been bugging him about this experiment. “You know how Twi is going to test out if the Rainboom, your Stare, and my Red-Eye?”

“Yes?”

“I can understand how she will test the Sonic Rainboom, but how will she test our abilities. You see, my Red-Eye usually appears if I am a horrible mood, and it’s a life or death situation, and your Stare only happens when... when...” He doesn’t actually know how she can trigger it and is at a loss for words.

“I... don’t really know when it happens either. I think it happens when somepony is in danger, of if Angel is being a bad bunny.”

“Oh, about that, I never thanked you properly for saving me in the Everfree Forest.”

“You did though Dusk, you told me about how much you appreciated how I saved you.”

“But I’m not satisfied with that, I feel that I should have said a lot more to you that day.” Back when he was first at the hospital, his apology was curt and rushed. He has never been one for sincerity, but he felt that he could have put a lot more effort into it, considering that she saved his life. “You went into the Everfree Forest, during the night, just to save my life. You risked your life with a manticore, just to save me. You could have flown away and leave me to my fate, but instead, you chose to save a complete stranger, not knowing who they are or what they are like.” The apology is expressing what he truly felt about that day.

“Not only did you save me from the manticore, but you also saved me from homelessness. I was just a random stallion you found in the Everfree, and you decided to take under your wing, so to speak. I... don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t so kind to me, and I’m grateful for everything you have shown me. Thank you for all that you have done for me Fluttershy, it means a lot to me.” He starts to feel slightly teary eyed, but he holds his resolve quite easily. His life truly has improved for the better, ever since she has been a part of his life. (If you count out the constant fighting he somehow gets into)

Fluttershy is thinking of the proper words to say to Dusk. She couldn’t just say that is was no problem to him, since he did his best to thank her properly, and it would be rude to be curt about her respond. The words she seeks were right on the tip of her tongue, but she doesn’t know what they are.

“That was really... nice. Thank you Dusk, you’ve made my life better as well, I never thought that I’d be in a relationship with somepony who cares about me so much. I feel happy when I’m around you, and I hope that nothing can ever separate us.”

His could only nod in response, but he has gotten his point across. No more needed to be said, since that would ruin the moment. The two stood there, with Dusk looking into her beautiful blue eyes, and Fluttershy looking into his matured topaz eyes. Nothing could break the bond between-

“I am not emotionally unstable Twilight, your machine is broken!”

...Almost nothing. Rainbow’s outburst at Twilight has gained the attention of both Dusk and Fluttershy, breaking the connection that they had set up. Rainbow was giving both the machine, and Twilight dirty looks. (Mainly the machine) Twilight looks extremely annoyed with her cyan friend, and tries to explain her theory behind this.

“Ugh, I told you already, the EEG is an accurate device, but I think-”

“It is wrong Twi, this thing is faulty.” She is still as stubborn as ever, as she tries to drive her point across.

“It’s not, and I have a perfectly logical solution for that. If you look at these results, compared to a standard pegasus mare, the theta waves are higher than the average, and the theta waves increase if you are drowsy or having an emotional experience of sorts. But during the testing, you may remember that you felt uncomfortable using the EEG, and this may have increased the frequency of the Theta brain waves.” Twilight is oblivious to the fact that Dusk and Fluttershy were now listening to their ‘conversation’.

“But besides from that, your other brain waves seem to make sense. Your Beta waves are higher than average, but mainly because you were more stressed when you were on the machine.” Rainbow Dash looks relieved with Twilight’s explanation of the matter. She lets the librarian continue with the results. “Your Alpha waves are about normal, since you seem to be relaxed at the moment, and your Delta waves are pretty standard as well, since you need to be asleep for this to increase in frequency. One thing I am astonished about are your Epsilon brain waves. I didn’t expect this, you have the highest magical properties that I have ever seen in a pegasi. In fact, based on these results, I’d say that you are one of the best fliers in Equestria.”

Rainbow’s jaw drops, and the three pegasi remain in a stunned silence. Twilight was the only one who wasn’t shocked by the news, (since she was the pony who discovered it) and was curiously eyeing the three. Fluttershy seems to be the least stunned, since her jaw isn’t dropped like it is for the other two. After the discovery sinks into Rainbow’s head, she starts to get a tad arrogant.

“Heh, was there ever any doubt. This proves it, I’m the best flier in all of Equestria. I can’t want to tell Pinkie about this.” She has a very smug grin on her muzzle.

“Getting a bit conceited there, don’t you think?” Dusk has always hated it when somepony gets over-confident in themselves. Blizzard used to be the same, back when he was still best mates with Dusk, back before he changed...

“And don’t forget, I said one of the best fliers, not the best. Also, I have never tested a Wonderbolt before, so I don’t know if you even come close to their flying abilities.” Twilight had felt the need to point that out, since she has an eye for detail.

“Eh, close enough.” She shrugs, and dismisses the two comments. “So let’s see how Dusk compares to me, I wanna see.”

“Hey wait a second Rainbow, this isn’t a competition, this is important scientific-”

“Challenge accepted.” Dusk says with a competitive grin.

Twilight facehoofs after Dusk’s acceptance, and mumbles to herself. “Oh sweet Celestia, these pegasi (besides Fluttershy) are idiots. Idiots I say...”

Dusk has now been hooked up to the EEG, and was currently in the process of getting his head scanned. The cold metal of the hoofclamps, were surprisingly smug around his forearms. They still kept him in his place, but they felt loose, and didn’t chafe in the slightest. Wearing the headpiece on the other hoof, feels slightly embarrassing. It looks like somepony took a colander from the kitchen, and attached random coloured lights and buttons onto it. It is firmly held on Dusk’s head with a black elastic strap, and like the hoofclamps, it is unexpectedly comfortable. The main machine only emitted a quiet, dull hum as the tests wore on.

Dusk struck up a conversation with the purple unicorn, “So, how are you going to figure out if this experiment is successful or not. I expect that you have figured out what will make the your theory work.”

“Of course I have. It is a relatively simple experiment, but there are some complications, since I need all of you to perform your unique special abilities. Rainbow will be easy to test on, but the ways that I could use to get you and Fluttershy to perform your powers are... intrusive to say the least. I’ll discuss it later.”

‘Hmm, I wonder, could she just simply let me cue my Red-Eye whenever I need it, or even let Shy have full control of her Stare?’ “But this doesn’t really answer the question. How will you prove your predictions?”

“Easy, I will get you all to do your abilities, and then use the EEG to test for any changes. If the Epsilon waves make a noticeable increase for all of you, than there might be a magical connection and I'll need to continue the experiment with other pegasi, to see if the results were a coincidence or not.” Dusk was thankful for the fact that she made the explanation somewhat easy to understand. “The only way this experiment can fail, is if any of the special abilities make no difference to the Epsilon chart. This will mean that there was no magic involved and therefore, that would mean that there would be no magical connection.”

He takes it in pretty easily. “Seems simple enough to me, but I’m willing to bet that today’s experiment will be a failure. At least one of our powers will be non-magical.”

“I am inclined to disagree with you. I don’t understand how it would be possible to do your feats of skill without some kind of magic involved. How would the Rainboom be possible without magic? How could the Stare frighten any living organism, no matter what the size? How does Red-Eye not only make your eyes glow, but also make you a stronger stallion?” The questions all went in her favor, and Dusk did not know how he could answer them. Instead, he went for another option.

“Ten bits says that this experiment will fail.” Challenges Dusk, who tries to hold his right forehoof for a hoofshake, before realizing that they were still clamped to the machine. Twilight contemplates if she wants to take the bet.

A moment later, she makes her decision. “You’re on.”

A few moments later, the machine stops humming and begins to make strange loud noises and Dusk's clamps go loose . Twilight immediately recognises what this sound is and she told Dusk to take the EEG/colander thing off of his head. Before she draws the attention of other friends, she asks him a quick question. "Do you want me to share the results with the rest of the group?"

He shrugs, "Sure, I'm in competition with Rainbow anyway."

"Okay... you've asked for it..." She knows that he will lose his little competition with her rainbow maned friend, but didn’t want to tell him. He shouldn’t have been so hasty...

Twilight has called over the two pegasi mares, so they could both see Dusk’s results in the test. Fluttershy was curious as to what might be going on in her coltfriend’s head, and Rainbow was just there so she could bask in victory when he inevitably loses to her. Twilight has received all of the results that the EEG has printed out, and started to explain to everypony what they meant.

“Okay, I will start off with the frequency of the Epsilon waves, since I reckon that both Rainbow and Dusk are eager to see this first...”

“You’re going down Dusk.” Confidently says Rainbow.

“Oh really?” Retorts Dusk. He already knows that he is going to lose, but he still wants to keep the confident facade.

Twilight grabs the results, and lays them on the nearby table. “I am quite surprised, and impressed with these results Dusk. You have a high frequency of Epsilon waves than the average for a pegasi. You are quite a good flier.”

He did not expect this. “B-But how is that even possible? I’m a slower than most of the other pegasi that I know, and I’m not aware of anything I’m skilled at when it comes to flying.”

Rainbow steps in to explain why he might be so good with flight “Hey, wait a second Dusk. To be skilled at flying, you don’t need to be a fast flier. (even though it helps) You also need to be agile, be able to fly long distances, have good technique, and be able to perform tough aerial manoeuvres.”

“Hmm, I never considered it like that.”

“But despite this Dusk, you still have a lower skill level than Rainbow, considerably so.” Says Twilight, which elicits two different responses.

“OH YEAH!” Rainbow hoofpumps in the air

“Oh no...”

“I told you, I told you that I’d beat you, but you had to challenge me didn’t you. The winner is me.” (etc)

Dusk, who was willing to stop Rainbow’s onslaught, asks Twilight a question. “So what do the other results say?”

“Twilight looks back at his results page, and starts to explain what the patterns mean. “So your Beta waves are about the same as Rainbow’s levels, which perplexes me since the only ways that Beta waves increase in frequency include stress, alertness, arousal, and concentration. And by what I’ve seen, none of these things have happened to you.”

‘If only you knew Twilight. I wish that Rainbow didn’t ruin that moment between Shy and I.’

“So anyway, your Alpha and Delta waves are normal, but I am quite worried about your Theta waves. While it is lower than Rainbow’s botched results, it shouldn’t really be this high. The frequency of Theta waves only increase, if you are dreaming in your sleep, (which is impossible right now), if your general behavior is changing, or if you are having or had emotional experiences recently. I’m worried about you.” She spoke with much concern in her voice.

“You shouldn’t worry about it Twi, I just had a few personal issues that I’ve dealt with.” He didn’t want anypony to know about what happened with him or Cheerilee earlier this morning. It was a rather emotional experience for the two of them, and he promised her that he wouldn’t say anything about it.

“Dusk... are you sure that you are okay?” Asks Fluttershy, who sounds sad, but it also seems like she expected this, after all that he has been through while living in town. “You can tell me about it... but if you don’t want to, that’s fine...”

“I cannot tell any of you what happened. I promised to her that I would keep it a secret, and I won’t tell any of you what it is. It’s not that I don’t trust you girls or anything, I’d trust all of you with my life, (especially Fluttershy) but I cannot, and will not tell you what I’ve found out. It’s something you don’t simply forget about, and I wont be able to look at her in the same light, ever again.” He seems to have slight discoloured, as he now has a light greyish tinge on his dark blue coat. He looks dead serious about what he has just said, and so the three mares knew that it would be best, if they left it at that.

There was silence among the group, and none of them knew what they could say to improve the mood in the room. Twilight is the first to speak, “So, Fluttershy, do you want me to hook you up to the EEG, so we can finish up in here?”

“Um... okay then...”

Twilight prepares the EEG for the last control test, since she needs to recalibrate the machine after every test. It doesn’t take her too much time, since she has gotten quite used to the workings of the machine. It takes less than a minute, before she asks Fluttershy to get into position.

The yellow-coated pegasus puts the machine’s headpiece on, and puts her hoof in the open clamps, like Twilight showed her to. The unicorn presses the big green button on the EEG, and the clamps snap shut, eliciting a startled “Eep!” out of shock. Dusk chuckles in amusement, because he nearly had the same sort of reaction when that happened to him. The machine emits a quiet hum once again, and the lights on the headpiece start flashing in a multi coloured spectrum, as they should.

Rainbow asks Dusk an important question involving his work, “So how do you think your wing is holding up? It getting harder and harder for me to deal with the weather, ever since Zephyr was crippled in that fight. There is only so much I can do on my own, so when will you be able to fly again?”

“Uh, I’ll be able to fly properly, in about a weeks time. But it could be longer than that, because when I was being chased by Rarity, I needed to take flight to get away.” He turns to his left wing, and grimaces at it. “It may cause problems later on though, because it felt like I was tearing my own wing off when I was flying. I’m sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Dismisses Rainbow,  “It’s not like I can’t handle or anything, but it just takes longer than usual, which interrupts with my schedules.”

“You don’t really seem to be the type of pony who plans things out, Rainbow.” He simply could not imagine her following some sort of plan with how her day went. She’s almost the polar opposite of the excessively organised Twilight Sparkle.

“Well I need my naps at precisely the right moments, or else my day gets worse, and with Zephyr gone, it’s hard to stick to these times.”

“Equestrian world problems.” Summarises Dusk. “I never thought that I would meet somepony, who organises times for napping.”

“Well, I need to rest after work, and after training as well, so that’s why I need to regularly nap every day, or I’ll just burn myself out.” She now seems a little bit less lazy in his eyes. He hadn’t considered the reasons why she tends to do this as frequently as she does. Part of him still knows that her laziness has a part in her habits though.

There is a brief silence in their casual talk, and the only sounds are the other conversation at the other side of the room, and the near silent hum of the EEG, which is still occupied by Fluttershy.

Dusk is trying to think of another subject he could talk to Rainbow about, but she beats him to it.

“So what is it like living with Shy? How have things been with her?”

“Um...” He hesitates with his answer, because the first thing that he remembers is what happened after he recovered from his hypothermia. That was one of his better memories, but not the type to share with the rest of his friends. (Zephyr on the other hoof...) He honestly answers her question.

“Well, things have been great between us, and she's made my life a lot better than it was three weeks ago. In the weeks that I have been here for, we've sort of built some kind of special connection with each other." 'Especially since that incident with that group of thugs. That stab wound of mine is going to leave quite a scar once it finishes healing.' He didn't like to remember that incident too much, it always makes him think about what they would have done to her, if he wasn't there.

He continues to talk, "Even though it has only been about two weeks so far, I believe this whole relationship is something special. It's just that feeling, if you know what I mean, it just feels right."

"I know what you mean, and I trust you." She points an accusing hoof at him, "But if you ever upset her, you're gonna get it. I've been her friend ever since Flight School, and if I ever find out that you do something to her...” She did not need to say any more, since he already knows what she meant.

“I would never do anything like that to her, and you know it.”

“Just checkin’.”

Once the machine started to make those weird loud noises again, it drew Dusk and Rainbow Dash back to the machine. Fluttershy and Twilight were talking about something quietly, and out of the other two’s earshot, and so they couldn’t hear what they were saying. The yellow pegasus nods in response to one of Twilight’s questions and the unicorn begins to address the other two.

“Fluttershy is allowing me to share her results with you two, just to let you know.”

“Okay then.” Responds Dusk.

“Just wait for a few moments until the machine finishes printing.” She walks back to the printing side of the EEG, and waits for it to finish, with the other three expectantly waiting for the results. Twilight grabs the results with her levitational magics and brings them onto the table, where she kept Dusk's and Rainbow's rolled up readings.

She lays the newest results flat on the table and examines them, but her expression saddens a little bit, when she takes a look at one of the readings. She seems apprehensive to read out this result, but she has no choice in the matter, since they were all waiting for her to read out what the readings meant.

"I'm sorry Fluttershy, but these are the lowest Epsilon waves that I have ever seen in a pegasi. I am afraid that your capabilities with flight are quite low. I'm sorry about that."

Dusk could see his partner visibly deflate after hearing this. She looks down at the ground, and starts to speak, "That's... unfortunate to hear... At least it isn't too hard for me to take, since I already know that I'm a bad flier."

Rainbow felt the need to intervene her self hating "Hey wait a second Shy, you can't say that. Who was the pony who brought us over the 800 wingpower to bring the water from Ponyville to Cloudsdale?"

"Um, I guess I was, b-but it wasn't-"

"Who was the pony who caught up to me while I was corrupted by Discord, while dragging the rest of the girls in that hot air balloon?"

"...It was me." Some of her self doubt has been replaced with an air of confidence..

Dusk thinks of a perfect example to add on to this, "Who was the special mare who flew me back to the hospital, after saving my life from a manticore, despite not knowing who I was?"

The yellow coated pegasus finally brightens up, and the clouds of uncertainty that surrounded her have gone away now. “Thank you for telling me this, I... I guess that I didn’t realize what I can really do, even if I’m not as good a flier as the rest of you.”

Twilight felt the need to add her own tidbit into the discussion. “May I add, that you have a tendency to fly better when you seem to get a bit desperate, or when you need to. Why do you think that your wingpower doubled, when you helped the group summon the hurricane? You’re a much better flier than your results say, so don’t be discouraged.”

“Okay then, that’s good to hear.”

Twilight continues with her elaboration with the rest of the results. "Almost everything else on the chart seems to be about normal, which is good, but what I find astonishing, is that your Beta waves are at the same levels as Dusk's, which is quite strange to see. They can only increase if you are stressed, concentrating, aroused or if you are alert. How is this possible?

"I um... don't know..." There is a light blush on her face as she turns to Dusk for a few moments. Both of them knew the reason why these results were achieved.

The purple coated mare ponders how this could've been achieved in all three of the results. "Hmm, I may need to re-calibrate the EEG later, but we have now finished the control tests So for the next, and possibly last part of the test, I'll need all three of you to do your unique abilities (at separate times of course) and get back to the EEG as soon as possible."

Dusk saw a few flaws in the design of the experiment. "But how will you measure our levels of magic, if we're not doing it during the scanning? I doubt that RD could do a Rainboom while strapped onto the machine, no matter how skilled she is."

She dismisses any of his worries, "I've considered that. You see, when a unicorn performs some kind of magic, they leave behind traces of the magics, which intensifies the Epsilon waves that flow through the brain. Theoretically, this should be the same for both pegasi and earth ponies.”

“Theoretically?” Asks Dusk in a why didn’t you confirm this (?!) tone of voice. He didn’t like the fact that she had no reliable source to based this part of the experiment on.

“This is the first test of its kind Dusk, nopony has ever experimented this sort of thing before, so of course there will a couple of loose ends. I can’t fix that.”

He realizes that she’s right about everything she has just said. “You have a good point there Sparkle.” ‘Note to self, questioning Twilight’s methods is pointless.’ He stopped talking, so he could hear the rest of what Twilight had to say.

“So now to start off the next part of this experiment,” She turns to Rainbow, and she looks at her purple friend inquisitively, “I’ll need you to perform a Sonic Rainboom for me.”

The cyan mare’s face lights up, and her grin grows larger, and larger. “Oh sweet, you really want me to do that? I’ll be back in 10 seconds flat.” She starts to fly out of the basement, and out of the door until Twilight intervenes.

"Make sure that you do it in a safe area, away from the town. Do you remember how many windows were shattered that day?"

Rainbow Dash slowly flies back down the staircase, rubbing the back of her head with her right forehoof. "Yeah, I remember that Twi, that sucked to clean. I guess I'll be a bit longer than I thought." She flies out of the room now, and Twilight signals for him and his partner to follow.

"Dusk, you really need to see her do this, it's amazing."

Twilight, Fluttershy and Dusk are all standing outside of the library waiting for Rainbow to do... whatever it is that she is supposed to do. The two mares are anticipating what is about to happen, since they already knew what is going to happen, but the stallion had no idea what to expect.

He tried to find out what was about to happen, but they both politely refused to tell him what will happen, saying that it'll ruin the experience. So instead of pressing on, he tried to find where she is in the sky. He hadn't even bothered trying to find her by using her coat colour, since the cyan colour of her coat blends in with the clear skies. So instead, he tried finding her uniquely coloured mane and tail.

He uses his keen eye to scan across the Equestrian skyline for her rainbow mane, and he thinks that he saw a small speck of assorted colours near the edge of town.  He looks around that area to try and confirm her location, but she seems to have disappeared.

He asks Fluttershy if she has seen  her friend somewhere around where he is signalling, and she instinctively apologizes. "Sorry Dusk, I haven't found her yet, but she will be starting it soon."

"And speaking of which, she's doing it now." Says Twilight, pointing her hoof in the direction where the pegasi was supposedly doing her trick.

Dusk squints as he tries to find anything out of the ordinary in the clear skies, and sure enough, he sees Rainbow Dash plummeting... no... accelerating to the ground at a very fast speed. He could almost see the white corona of wind surrounding her.

'Wait a second, I'm not imagining it, I can actually see the wind as it passes around her form. She is flying at impossible speeds.'

Dusk could only watch as she gains more and more speed, while falling rapidly towards the hard ground. He is silently praying to Celestia and Luna, that she wouldn't lose control, and smash into the ground. By the look on the two other mares faces, nothing bad seems to be happening to Rainbow Dash, and this relieves him a little bit.

Only a little bit though. 15 Seconds

The walls of wind that surround the Pegasus were still growing in length and they are starting to become a more solid white. She still had enough time to pull up safely, and do... whatever she is supposed to do.

8 Seconds

He is panicking now, she was now past the safe altitude for somepony flying so fast towards the ground. She may be able to pull up in time...

5 Seconds

"No! Pull up, pull up!" Dusk yells out to deaf ears

2 Seconds

KA-BOOM!

“...Oh holy Luna in Canterlot... that was THE BEST THING EVER!”

Dusk could only watch in awe, as the disk of rainbow coloured awesomeness, spreads across the skies of Equestria. (There is no better word to describe it) It is like a gigantic sonic boom, which flew through the air, and is coloured with all the colours of a rainbow. It is simply epic to watch. And to top it all off, there is a long rainbow trail which is somehow being made by the pegasus' impossible speeds. He is quite surprised by the fact, that she rebounded off the Rainboom itself, which is a lot better than the alternative.

"I knew that you'd like it." Twilight says to the awestruck stallion. She isn't as amazed with the trick as Dusk is, but she is still quite impressed with the trick itself.

Rainbow Dash is speeding back to Twilight's tree house, while still leaving behind a rainbow trail. Despite the considerable distance between the two, he could see the ecstatic grin on her muzzle; it is close to rivaling Pinkie's excessive level of smile.

She lands a few moments later slightly out of breath, but she still has the euphoric grin from before. Dusk starts to express his opinion of the trick

"Rainbow, that was bloody amazing. How is that even possible?" A giant, multi coloured, sonic boom, caused by flying at fast speeds, seems scientifically impossible in his books.

Her response is a simple shrug, “Dunno, magic maybe?”

“Well lets find out.” Twilight starts to bring the group back to the library to continue the experiment.

---------- (One EEG test later)

The clamps around Rainbow's forehooves release, allowing it's wearer to be free of the machine. She wasn't as stressed with the restrictive feeling of the EEG and so this wouldn't interfere with the results of the test. Twilight is waiting near the main part of the electroencephalograph, so she grabs the results, when the machine finishes printing. For some strange reason, the EEG, seems to be making a lot more noise than it should be, and it seems that Twilight has noticed this as well, since she is staring at the machine with the look of confusion.

The machine then goes down to a very low hum, as it prints out the results of the test. Twilight’s jaw drops as she scans the lines that are getting printed out, on the paper. She mutters a few words to herself.

“But- but... this is impossible.” She says in disbelief. When the paper finally finishes printing, she rips it off, and lays it down onto the table where all the other rolled up results lay.

Before she is given the chance to speak, Dusk first speaks out about the erratic line at the bottom of the paper. “What going on here? Why does the bottom line just go from the top to bottom and back to the top so quickly?”

“That’s what I was about to explain. This line, shows the Epsilon waves which were scanned during the test, and I have never seen anything like this. You actually maxed out the machine for the first two minutes that you were scanned for, before slowly dropping back to the recordable range... but this is nearly impossible. There are very few spells that I can do which can max out the machine, and they are quite advanced. How is this possible?”

The ‘impossible’ pegasus flashes Twilight with an arrogant smirk, “Well, I am the best flier in Equestria.”

Normally, Dusk would berate Rainbow Dash for being overly arrogant, and cocky, but there was a more worrying thought in his mind. “Is it dangerous for these Epsilon brain waves to be this violent?”

Twilight shakes her head twice, “The Epsilon waves are harmless to a pony’s brain, only being more of a magical indicator rather than anything else.”

‘Well, that’s the second time I’ve been concerned for RD’s health in about 10 minutes. I really gotta stop worrying so much.’

“But nevertheless, I never even imagined a pegasi getting such high results in this sort of test. But anyway, I need to continue now.” She quickly skims through the paper, “The Beta, Theta and Delta waes look about normal, and the Alpha waves are only a little but more frequent than usual. The rest of the experiment can now continue, since my theory is still intact."  she pauses, looking at both Fluttershy and Dusk with a worried expression, before she starts to quietly speak to  her rainbow named friend. "For the next part of the test, I would prefer it if you could leave the library, since the next part of the test may get a bit hard for both of them." Luckily for her, the nearby couple did not hear a word of what she just said.

She nods in acceptance, "You got it Twi, I think is about time for me to make a surprise visit to the Sugarcube Corner anyway." She starts to fly up the staircase while giving a simple wave to the ponies who remained in the basement. "See ya later."

The remaining three wave her good-bye, before  Twilight starts to explain the specifics of the next part of the experiment.

"Okay, so normally, I would ask you to do your unique abilities that you possess, but as you may know, they tend to 'activate' in a fight or flight situation. So normally, this would prevent me from continuing the test, but I have recently figured out a spell that may help with the activation of these abilities.”

“Wait, so can you just... give me Red-Eye with a little bit of magic?” Asks Dusk.

“Not exactly. This advanced spell of mine can tap into a pony’s memories, if the pony in question allows it. It also makes the owner of the memory relive that specific moment in their life again, and it's like they are experiencing it for the first time."

This shocks both of the pegasi in the  room. Dusk is especially surprised by this, since he didn't know that Twilight had such magic prowess. Fluttershy speaks up about something she was worried about. "D-Does it hurt...?" She asks  shyly.

"It's harmless enough, just as long as you don't give me access to the wrong memories, since the emotions you inhibit in the memory will be transferred to the real world."

"Oh... that's um... good... I guess..." She doesn't seem entirely happy with the answer.

Dusk, on the other hoof... "Wow, that's actually pretty impressive."

“But very advanced as well, and very few unicorns have the ability to learn something like this.” She then goes back to the topic of the experiment. “So I reckon I’ll first use this on Fluttershy, since it will be a little bit easier to do for her, than it will be for Dusk.”

Not wanting to have a say in the matter Fluttershy quietly agrees to the plan, “Um... sure... that’s fine...” She looks nervous about the idea of Twilight entering her mind. She just seems a little bit more fragile than usual.

Twilight notices this, “Are you sure you want me to do this Fluttershy, I wont do it if it makes you feel too uncomfortable.”

“...I just don’t want you to go through all of my memories.”

“You can prevent me from accessing as many memories as you want. I'm just looking for the memory of when you stood up to that dragon on top of that mountain, about two years ago. If I only played a small portion of the memory, and stopped it at the right time, than I would be able to get you to do the Stare. So are you fine with that?”

The yellow pegasus remains quiet for a few seconds, before she gives her answer. “Yes T-Twilight... please be careful in there...”

She clops her forehooves together is satisfaction. “Excellent, now all that you need to do, is to keep your eyes shut while I cast the spell. You can open them as soon as I tell you to, alright.”

The shy mare nods, and closes her eyes for Twilight’s spell. The unicorn begins to charge up her horn, for a few seconds, before cringing in concentration as she tries to harness enough magic for the spell. The purple aura around her horn becomes a more solid colour for every second that she charges it up for. Then suddenly, the charging abruptly stops, but the solid purple aura doesn't disappear from her horn, still pulsating around the appendage. Twilight then places her horn on Fluttershy’s forehead, and the magic that was built up on her horn, flows into her friend’s mind. Fluttershy shivers for a few seconds,  from a cold chill that has spread across  her whole body. Twilight has removed her horn from on top of the pegasus’ head, and starts to speak.

“You can open your eyes now.”

“Um... okay then.” She opens her light blue eyes, and starts to scan the area around her. It is as if she is only seeing this area for the first time, and is carefully examining every detail of the room. She seems to be looking for something that isn’t even there. “This feels so... uhm... foreign. Is it supposed to feel so weird?”

Twilight looks unfazed by this question, since she thinks that she knows what her friend is talking about. “Does it feel like you are seeing things inside your own mind, despite still being able to see everything around you?” It sounds like she has experienced this sort of thing before, since she seems pretty sure of her presumption.

“Umm... yes, that is exactly what it feels like. Is that a bad thing?” She timidly asks.

“No that's a good thing, it has worked perfectly. That means that it is safe to get you to access these memories.”

“That’s good to hear... do you know which memory you’re looking for?” She doesn't want her friend to know about her other memories, especially the rather more... private memories, like the rather saucy one from yesterday.

“The dragon memory if I’m correct. Just give me a few seconds, and I’ll be able to find it.” The tip of Twilight’s horn starts to emit a dim light, and there is no trace of effort on her face, since it seems like a rather simple spell.

Dusk is eager to satisfy his curiosity about this spell. “So Fluttershy, what does the spell even feel like with it being inside your head?”

“It’s hard to explain... I can still see everything around me, but it also feels like I can see a giant darkened room inside my head and Twilight is walking through it. Every time she passes through one of the doors in my mind, I can feel which memory it belongs to." She seems somewhat unsatisfied with her explanation, since it didn't really explain what it truly felt like.

"Can't really say I was expecting something like that happening. But I will admit, it did look pretty awesome when Twilight transferred her magical energy to you. (In a somewhat dark and twisted way.)"

"Well thank you Dusk, I aim to please." Says Twilight, whom is still casting her continuous spell. "And speaking of which, I think that this may be the memory that I seek."

She could see the memory of the encounter play inside her head and so she confirms Twilight's assumption. "Yes, this is it."

"Well then, are you ready?"

"Y-Yes, I'm ready."

---------- (Two Years Ago) Quick Note: This is from the Dragonshy episode.

Perspective: Fluttershy

“...It’s time to stop wasting time. I’m going in.” Rainbow says impatiently, before rushing into the dragon’s lair. Twilight yells out “No!” in desparation, to try and stop the pegasus, but she was to late.

Rainbow charges at the dragon, and shouts “Get out!”, while giving it a bucking kick on the tip of it’s nose. The rest of her friends gasp in horror, as they await the beast’s reaction. It recoils it’s head back before he lightly sneezes in surprise, blowing a small puff of smoke onto the pegasi which sends her back a few metres, before going slightly derp eyed.

It was then, when the dragon finally snaps back into attention, that it saw the assailant. He gives her a death glare as he starts to snarl loudly, and bares his wickedly sharp teeth in rage. She backs away as the head of the dragon gets closer to her. “Eh heh, sorry.” Apologizes the somewhat pitiful looking Rainbow Dash.

The dragon doesn’t listen to her apology, and roars at her with such force that she bowls through all of her friends, temporally stunning them all. All except for Fluttershy, who was hiding behind a large stone outcropping near the edge of the mountain. She wanted to fly away from the mountain, but she saw how long the drop was and so her wings locked up, preventing her to fly. So instead, she stood in a fetal position, with her head near the ground, and her forelegs over the top of her head, like she was bracing for something. She was paralyzed in fear, and she couldn’t really do anything to help her friends, who were all in mortal danger.

She could feel the ground violently shake when the dragon smashes his clawed fist onto the rocky surface in anger. She could hear the hoofsteps of her five friends, as they all scattered to try and get away from the towering dragon. Sadly, all five of the ponies were unsuccessful after the dragon hits them all with a bellowing gust of smoke.

Fluttershy felt the rock shake when her five friends all collide onto the outcropping. She cringes when she imagines the pain of what all of her friends must be feeling. She wasn't aware of the massive crack that is forming on her rocky hiding spot until it was too late.

The rock breaks off its foundation and falls to the side, revealing the location of the yellow Pegasus to not only her friends, but the dragon as well. She looks up at the dragon, who is giving her an angry look, and then down at her friends, who were  all lying on the ground in intense pain. Her expression is a mix between shock, sadness and fear. She look up at the dragon again, and then back at the girls, when she felt something snap in her head. She starts to feel an intense anger against the dragon, as she slowly reverts from the shy pony that everypony expected her to be, into a very different individual.

“How dare you...”

---------- (Present Time)

Perspective: Dusk

“How dare you!”

Twilight has ended the memory of that incident at that point, and the results were as she expected, but there were a few hitches in her plan. Firstly, she was using the Stare on Dusk and secondly, she seems to think that she is still facing the dragon.

Dusk has cowered a little bit under the power of the Stare, and this was a new foreign experience for him. He never thought that he would ever be as scared of his marefriend than he is right now.

She starts to walk up to Dusk in a threatening manner. "Now listen here mister. Just because you happen to be my coltfriend, it doesn't mean you get to be a big bully." Dusk tries to scoot away in fear, but she has gotten uncomfortably to him, and is Staring him down, rendering him useless to do anything. He could see a raging inferno inside her rage filled eyes. The stallion was getting closer and closer to having a small mental breakdown, since not only is his shy partner yelling at him, but she is truly frightening him.

“Now Dusk, I swear, if you dare hurt my-” She stops yelling mid sentence, and she puts her hoof onto her forehead. Her posture becomes a lot less hostile as she come to grips to what she has just done. She looks at her frightened coltfriend, and dies a little bit inside when she sees how scared he was of her. The irises of his topaz coloured eyes have shrunken, and she could she that he is slowly moving away from her. (He is only a little bit less scared than he was in that little incident with Rarity)

“Oh no... Dusk, I-I’m so sorry. I d-didn’t mean to lose control like that. I-I-I just  thought that you did something b-bad to all of my friends. I'm really sorry..."

“*sad sigh* There is no need to apologize Fluttershy, it wasn’t your fault. I should have expected the Stare to happen, and prepared accordingly, but instead I took the brunt of it.” He couldn’t blame Fluttershy for acting the way she did. She had no control over what she would do, and she targeted Dusk over Twilight purely based on chance. “But if I have one thing to say to you, never exploit that Stare of yours, it takes intimidation to a whole new level.”

“Trust me... I wont, I have no control over it anyway. Do you- Do you want a hug?”

“That... will be good.”

They both move in and give each other a gentle hug, which helps the two make up. Fluttershy could still sense some signs of sadness from the stallion, since his ears were still flat, and his usual snug hold is somewhat lacking, but she knew that he needed this. Both of them hear an “Aawww” from Twilight Sparkle. The two release their hold, and both felt a little bit more perked up than they were before.

"Thank you Shy. I needed that."

"That's okay Dusk, it's the least of what I could do."

"So shall we start the test?" He asks Twilight, who is patiently waiting for the two to finish.

She nods once, "Of course, but first I'll need to do something quickly before I start." Twilight then does a quick flash with her horn, and waits for the results of said spell. Then suddenly, a purple aura which was inside Fluttershy's head is pulled out, and goes back into the unicorn's horn. It looked a Twilight shivers a little bit, as her magic spreads across her body.

"Oh wow, I will never get sick of that feeling." Mutters Twilight to nopony in particular, before explaining what she did to the other two, “I just needed to remove all of my magic that I put inside her body since not only would it mess with the test results, but also because it is  my magical energy, and I don't like leaving my energies inside another ponies body."

"I'm amazed that you can even do something like that. Must be nice." Says Dusk.

"It's a good feeling knowing that I'm this proficient with. I think that it is about time to continue with the experiment, wouldn't you agree Fluttershy?"

"Oh yes, of course."

---------- (Halfway through Fluttershy's EEG scan)

Dusk waits for the testing of his marefriend to finish so he could finally do his part of the experiment. She is still attached to the metal clamps of the machine, and is wearing the ridiculous looking head piece/scanner/colander with lights. Twilight walks away from the machine and asks Dusk if he could follow her for a few moments. He does so, and begins to follow the unicorn

Once they were out of Fluttershy’s earshot, she asks him a simple question, “Do you want Fluttershy to leave when I do your part of the experiment?”

He gives her the look of both curiosity, and confusion. “What? Why would you want me to do that?”

She tells him of the risks that may occur with the experiment. “You saw what happened to Fluttershy when I stopped the memory, she lashed out at you in a very threatening manner. It may be even worse with your Red-Eye, since you say that it is only caused by an immense amount of rage.” She is only doing this for the safety of her two friends.

“Twilight, you don’t need to worry about Fluttershy, since I have the perfect memory in mind for this test. You see, when we were fighting against those diamond dogs, one of those bastards happened to grab onto Shy.” His face darkens and he goes silent, as he recalls that moment in his life. It was horrible, knowing that he was only a few seconds away from losing the mare he dearly loved. “It was then that I got my Red-Eye, but it felt different, it felt... tranquil. I want you to stop the memory straight after I hit the diamond dog which was holding Shy. I may get a bit emotional when it happens, but it is still the best time for you to stop the memory. You need to trust me on this.”

Twilight is pondering the possible alternatives in her head, but she couldn’t think of any better solutions that she could use, and Dusk’s plan did sound good... “Are you completely 100% sure that Fluttershy will be safe?” She asks with a tone of authority.

“Yes I am Twilight.” He responds confidently.

“Good.” She begins to walk back towards the main part of the EEG, when it starts to emit familiar loud noises. The clamps snap back open,  releasing Fluttershy from it’s hold, and the machine starts to slowly print out the results for its latest test.

Fluttershy removes herself from the machine and walks up to Dusk, before asking him a curious question. “What were you talking to Twilight about while I was connected to the machine?”

“She asked me if I wanted you to leave the library when she is doing my part of the experiment. She was worried that I would react in the same way that you did when you got back into reality, and I understand her concern. I told her that it was nothing to worry about though.”

She starts to bite her bottom lip in nervousness, “A-Are you sure that is a good idea? I-I trust you, b-but I sort of Stared at you... and you just looked so scared and I...” She trails off, speaking more and more quietly to a point where he couldn’t hear her anymore.

He waits until she finishes, before telling her of his reasons. “Shy, you know that I would have considered the safety of both Twilight and yourself before making my decision. You’ll be fine, I promise.” He holds a forehoof up to his chest, in a sign of oath.

“Thank you, Dusk.”

“There’s no need to thank me Shy,” He lightly kisses her on the lips, “You are my marefriend, and we should be entitled to each other’s trust.” He turns away from her, and starts to walk back towards the machine, partly because it has finished printing, but mainly to hide his slight blush.

Twilight lays down the results on the table, like she has done for the past four sets, and starts to explain what Fluttershy’s readings say. “Well, I’ll start off with the most important part of these results. And from what I can gather from this, my theory is still correct. The Epsilon waves are a bit more frequent than they were beforehand, and this means that the Stare has magical properties. This small amount of magic is what probably causes any pony or creature to falter under it’s influence.” Dusk nervously chuckles for a few seconds before letting her continue. “It also appears that you have quite a high level of concentration while you are doing the Stare, but other than that, there seems to be no other traits to the Stare."

"Um... Twilight, why is it important for us to know  about the traits of our abilities?" Asks Dusk.

"It isn't, I just thought that you two might be curious to know about this sort of thing. I know I am." Explains Twilight.

"Okay then, I'm just checking. So shall we finally finish this experiment?"

Twilight has begun to charge up her spell again, but Dusk couldn't watch her charge it up, because he was told to shut his eyes until  the spell has been completed. One thing that Twilight has neglected to tell him, is when she will actually cast the spell. So he waits for some kind of physical or internal reaction that will tell him that the spell has been cast.

A few moments later, he felt Twilight’s horn make contact with his forehead, then suddenly,he felt a chilling aura force itself right inside his mind. It was so cold that it forced a shiver out of him. But as quickly as the cold appeared, it simply disappears a second later. He is thankful that the process didn’t hurt, like he expected it to.

“You can open your eyes Dusk.”

He does what she says and opens his eyes. As soon as he does so, he finally realizes why it was so hard for Fluttershy to explain this experience. It is startling to say the least. It was like he is seeing things in two very different perspectives, since his eyes are focused on the surroundings in the underground room, but his mind is imagining something extraordinary.

Inside his mind is a pitch black room, which despite its dark colour, is somehow illuminated with a black light, making everything visible inside. The whole room seems to very slowly waver, adding to the mystery of the unknown room which is in his mind. There are also numerous doors on the walls of the room, and he could see a bright white light shining through through the edges of the door. Every single door has a different amount of key holes on them. But other than the strange illuminated darkness, and the doors with the key holes, there seemed to be nothing else in the dark and somewhat bland room.

But upon closer inspection, there actually is somepony inside the room. Twilight is standing near the edge of the room, near where Dusk's mind seems to have placed him. He expected her to be similar to a black silhouette and be nearly impossible to see, but she is actually quite visible in the darkness of the room. It looks like she is illuminated in sunlight, despite the fact that the only ‘light source’ seems to be the mysterious dark light, and the white light which shines its way through the edges of the doors.

After he finishes looking around his mind, he goes back into reality (?) and begins to speaks to Fluttershy. “Oh wow, you were right Shy, this does feel weird. Honestly, I’m starting to question which Twilight is the real Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight looks slightly irritated at the stallion, “Ugh, I think you should know which one is the real me. You’re not an idiot.” Dusk didn’t listen to what she had to say, since he was distracted by the fact that both Twilights’ were talking at the same time. He is easily distracted sometimes.

Twilight sighs annoyingly, before casting a spell, which causes a hideously bright flash to appear in the room in Dusk’s head, attempting to blind his second perspective. The results are almost instantaneous, with Dusk yelling out in a started fashion, before glaring daggers at the unicorn. Fluttershy couldn’t help but to quietly laugh at the display.

Twilight now begins to explain things for Dusk, “Now, the way this works, is that you can allow me to access certain memories of your choosing. Just think of the memory you want me to enter, and I should be able to access them from there.”

“It’s that easy?”

“It is, you’ll be able to see the results for yourself if you do it now.” She waits for him to do so.

He thinks back to the time where he needed to rescue Fluttershy from that diamond dog, and sure enough, something happens in the room in his mind. One of the doors begins to shine much more brightly than the other doors, clearly illuminating the memory to Twilight. She begins to trot towards the correct door, all the while casting a continuous speck of light with her horn.

‘Maybe this is the spell that Twilight was casting before while she moved around in Fluttershy’s memories.’

She approaches the door, and asks Dusk a question. “Is this the memory?” After she asks this, a small glimpse of the memory within plays within Dusk’s mind; it was when he was charging at the would-be ponynapper.

“Yes this is it, so what am I supposed to do now?” He is actually hoping for something difficult, so it didn’t feel like Twilight is holding his hoof the entire time.

He is disappointed with the response. “Imagine you are opening the door with your mind, and it should open by itself."

"You really like to keep things simple, don't you Twilight." Dusk says in an exasperated tone.

"It is better this way."

With their brief conversation finished, Dusk starts to imagine himself opening the door and surely enough, the door begins to unlock. The  three key holes start to fade away, before eventually disappearing. Twilight takes this as her queue to open the door an step inside. As she steps inside, the whole room starts to disappear in a large abyss of white, as she begins the memory sequence...

-------- (Two Days Ago) Quick Note: This is written differently from the chapter that this comes from.

“Fluttershy, you need to FLY!” Desperately yells out Dusk to the grounded pegasus. He could see that she was immensely scared of what was going on around her, and her wings were locked up preventing her from flying. Dusk could only watch in horror as a diamond dog digs out of the ground, and grabs her legs, as he starts to dig back underground again.

It was then, when Dusk’s eyes begin to glow red, and time begins to slow around him. He could see that everypony else in the area was too distracted, and too far from her to even come close to saving her, and so he began to charge at the canine who has grabbed Fluttershy.

The diamond dog panics as he watches Dusk get closer and closer to him, and steps up the digging. The injured stallion has become more enraged than he has ever felt before, and his grip on the weapon he holds increases. Fluttershy had hardly put up any resistance against her assailant, and she looks so pitiful in it’s grasp.

Dusk is only a few metres away from the diamond dog, who was about to dig back underground while holding Fluttershy in it’s paws. But as it looks up, it saw the weapon in it’s mid-swing...

“Never again.”

*KEEERRRAACK*

He watches as the grip around Fluttershy loosens and gives her a relived smile as she looks into his glowing red eyes...

---------- (Present Time)

Everything goes white once again in Dusk’s mind, and he is back in Twilight’s library. But this feels quite strange in Dusk’s perspective. It seems like he had just rescued Fluttershy from that diamond dog, and then just teleports back into some room in Twilight’s home. He still has his Red-Eye, but it softens as soon as he sees that Fluttershy is not only in the same room as he is, but she is also safe.

“A-are you okay?” Asks Fluttershy nervously..

He had no immediate answer to her question. He just approaches her and gives her a tight hug, “Yes... at least I think so...”

She is confused about the way that Dusk was acting. Twilight could see that Fluttershy wanted answers, and so she whispers them into her ear. “Dusk relived the moment when he saved you from the diamond dog who grabbed you.” Fluttershy silently acknowledges her friend, and starts to gently rub his back with one of her forehooves, so she could comfort him.

He begins to cry on her shoulder, holding Fluttershy a little bit more tightly. “I-I was so close to losing you Fluttershy... so-so damn close...” He wipes off a few of his newly formed tears. “I-I d-don’t know what I’d do if I-I lost you too...” Images of Cloudie play through his mind, which made him feel even more upset. He begins to moan in emotive pain, letting out years of suffering that he has held back in his life. His tears start falling down Fluttershy’s coat, as he continues to bawl.

“Shh shh shh Dusk, it will be alright, just let it all out.” Soothes Fluttershy, while stroking the back of his mane. He cries for not only Fluttershy, but for all of his other ponies that he has affected; Zephyr, Cheerilee, Cloud Charger...

It took him a few minutes, but with the help of both Fluttershy and Twilight, he was able to calm down. He still let out the occasional tear, since he was still upset about everything that happened before, but he is in control of most of his emotions now. He didn't like digging up his old memories, since he knew that a lot of the older ones were quite an unpleasant experience for him. He had not wanted anypony in Ponyville to ever see him like this, he had hoped that he would be able to leave his horrible past behind him. Fate could be so cruel sometimes.

He still somehow kept his Red-Eye, despite all of this. He was no longer enraged or angry at anything and he had no clue why it hasn’t gone away yet. He looked for some answers from Twilight, but she couldn’t give him anymore than an educated guess. He is glad that Fluttershy was able to help Dusk through this breakdown of his, he probably would’ve gotten even worse if it wasn’t for her nurturing. He knows that he probably would have blamed himself for this whole mess, even if he had little to do with it in the first place. She is still staying by his side, as he exits his depressive state.

“Thanks for helping me through that phase of mine Fluttershy. *sniff*” He affectionately nuzzles her, eliciting a blush from her. Despite the fact that they have advanced so far in the relationship, it was still easy for the two to bring a blush to each other, mainly since they have only been together for about two weeks. It’s felt like much more than that though, especially for Dusk.

He rubs the back of his mane, and sheepishly smiles, as he continues, “Oh, and sorry for getting so many tear stains on your back.” He flicks off a tear which started to fall down his cheek. “Um... my bad.”

“Dusk, you know that I don’t care about that sort of thing. I’m just glad to see that you are alright now.” Her tone of voice almost sounded motherly.

“Couldn’t have done it without your help Fluttershy, but lets change the subject now. Twilight, could you start my testing while my Red-Eye is still active, the fate of ten bits rests on these test results.” Dusk felt a lot more happier than usually, since he is experiencing a ‘high’ after having to live with an emotional time in his life.

“Okay Dusk, I’ll set it up for you. So do you think that you are fine now?” She still seems concerned for him. It’s not everyday that you see somepony break down like he did.

“Yes, I’m good Twilight. I’ll be fine.”

Twilight then remembers something she nearly forgot to do. "I'll need to remove any traces of my magic from your body before we continue." She seems a little bit less energetic than usual, but he could understand why she was like this. She casts her spell, which causes a flash to appear on the tip of her horn. Dusk could then fell something move inside he head, before completely disappearing altogether. The mysterious room inside his head has completely disappeared, the small chill that had spread through his body is now gone, and he could see the solid purple aura transfer back into Twilight’s horn.

The next thing he saw not only made his jaw drop, but it also left his quite speechless for more than a few moments. Fluttershy is also quite surprised by this, but not as shell shocked as Dusk is. Twilight has no idea what was going on with the two, and so naturally, she asks them. “Um... Fluttershy? Dusk? Why are you looking at me so funny, what’s wrong?”

Dusk was the first of the two to ‘speak’. “Twi... how? But you- but I thought... what?!” He couldn’t form the words he needed to speak properly.

Fluttershy could form the words though. “Um... Twilight, you have Dusk’s Red-Eye.”

The unicorn didn’t believe Fluttershy, dismissing what she thought was a bad joke. “Oh come on, how can I have Dusk’s Red-Eye, you can still see on his eyes right now. So-”

“Twilight, you have my Red-Eye, trust me on this.” He was able to form the words together, and tell her about her new trait.

“...Oh dear, this must be why the magical energy felt so weird... I think that my magic may have mixed with your ability, and given it to me as well, meaning that we are both sharing the same Red-Eye. If you could give me a few minutes, I’ll try to isolate the anomaly, and transfer back into your mind. You never know, I may be able to improve it in some way.” She made it sound like she has experienced this sort of thing before.

“Well this would be a good time to start the test then, don’t you think?”

“Yes it is.”

The dull hum of the EEG is the only noise which reverberates through the room as Dusk gets his head scanned by the machine. Other than that, it is dead quiet, since Twilight was trying to get rid of her Red-Eye, and nopony seemed eager to talk, since the stallion’s breakdown is still in their minds. Dusk is trying to think of a good conversation starter so he could try to lighten the mood in the room, but his mind came up with nothing. He was hoping that Fluttershy would start talking about something that was on her mind, but to his disappointment, she is having the same trouble that he is. His Red-Eye finally disappears during the middle of the testing, but it seems that Twilight still has glowing red eyes. They don’t suit her,

Dusk thinks about the Red-Eye, and it’s value now. In his opinion, it seems to have lost some of it’s wow factor, since he has already used it three times in two weeks, and now somepony else has it as well. He feels slightly uncomfortable with the fact that Twilight has unintentionally taken some of his power, but he knows that it couldn’t be helped.

He then thinks about what has happen to him in Ponyville while he has been here. He has had quite a few close calls with death while he has been here, and the longer he stays, the more that seems to happen in the town. He thinks back to every big incident that has involved him in some way: The Everfree injury, when he need to fight off those six stallions, the fight against the diamond dogs, and when Rarity went crazy. He notes that he has seen more violence in to weeks, than most ponies will ever experience in their lifetimes. He quickly contemplates leaving the town, since it seemed too unsafe for him to stay here. All these events have been to close to one another to be a coincidence. But when he thinks about it further, he realizes something.

All of these incidents (besides the last one) were not of his control. He just played a big part in these event after they already started. Making contact with the manticore was rather unlucky of him, but that is all it was, luck. Also, that incident with Fluttershy and those stallions who... wanted to... (He had never really gotten over seeing that) was another coincidental encounter in his life. And finally, the big fight against the diamond dogs wasn’t planned either. They just showed up completely out of the blue, demanding for Rarity. He was told that it had something to do with another confrontation with them two years ago.

So all of the problems that have involved him have all just been a coincidence, and he took the brunt of the problems. Some may call him a victim of circumstance, but personally, he thinks a better name for himself is ‘Equestria’s Little Punching Bag’.

His train of thought breaks as the clamps release his forearms and the EEG begins to make loud noises once again. He removes the head piece, and puts is back down onto the machine. Twilight waits for the results to finish printing so she could see if she would be able to continue this research of hers.

Dusk, who is also quite eager to see the results asks Twilight something. “Twi, do you mind if you could skip all of the other readings, and just focus on my magical properties. I don’t really need to know about that sort of thing anyway.”

Twilight grabs the printed results with her mouth, and moves them onto the table with all of the other rolled up results on them. “Okay Dusk, I can do that.” She then starts to look at the results, and her face turns into the look of disappointment. “According to this, there is absolutely nothing magical about your Red-Eye. It is completely non-magical, which would explain why I can’t find the anomaly in my magic. I guess that the experiment is a failure... and I now owe Dusk 10 bits.”

He doesn’t care about the bet anymore, “Hooray, yay and all, but what do you mean when you say that you can’t find the anomaly?”

“It is hiding somewhere in the middle of the magical energy that I retrieved from you before the test. I could find it eventually, but it would be like finding a needle in a haystack. But I have an idea on how I can both rid it from my magic, and give it back to you at the same time.”

He looks a little bit wary of what she may do. “Interesting...”

She explains the details of what she plans on doing. “It will be similar to the last spell I used on you, but instead, I’ll be moving my magic into your body to try and find your Red-Eye. I’ll stop giving you my magic as soon as I see some kind of physical reaction from you, and that is why I’ll need you to keep your eyes open. As soon as your eyes go red, I’ll stop the spell, but I wont be able to get my energies back or else I would have to do this spell again. So basically, the longer I cast the spell for, the better you’ll be at flying but I’ll be more weak with my magic as a substitute.”

Dusk’s eyes go wide in surprise. “W-Wh-W-What?! But I don’t want to take your magical abilities away from you, even if it is a fraction of your power.”

“You don’t need to worry about it, I have an excessive amount of power anyway, and it would be the equivalent of ripping out a few pages out of a thousand page book, and they would be only the blank pages as well. I also want to get rid of this Red-Eye as soon as possible. It feels so... foreign.” She doesn’t seem to look comfortable using Dusk’s unique power.

“Alright, I understand. So when will we start?” Asks Dusk

“Right now if you want to.”

He thinks about his answer for a few seconds. “Okay Twilight, what do I do?”

“Keep your eyes open while I continue casting the spell. It’s the only way to tell if the Red-Eye is finally back into your system.”

He nods in response, and waits for the unicorn to begin her spell. Unlike her last spell, she doesn’t place her horn on his forehead, and starts to cast it from a small distance. A small and wavy beam of translucent purple energy slowly exits her horn, and enters Dusk’s head, which gives him a very slight cooling feeling. The longer the spell wore on for, the stronger he began to feel. Twilight watches him with concentrated eyes, looking for any signs of his iris changing colour, but there was no change after the first minute.

See was only using the magical energy that she retrieved from Dusk after just before he was put in the EEG, so she knows that he would only get a small part of her magic at the most. Then she sees it, she sees his eyes quickly flash red before gong back to it’s normal topaz colour. She stops the spell, and tells him that “The Red-Eye is back to where it belongs now.”

He appreciatively smiles. “Thanks Twilight. I think that I might go now, as long as Fluttershy wants to leave as well.”

The yellow pegasus shakes her head, “Sorry Dusk, but you can go ahead of me, since I’ll be helping Twilight pack up her machine.”

The unicorn objects, “You don’t need to stay here to help me Fluttershy, I’ll be fine on my own.”

“Don’t worry about me Twilight, you look like you’ll need help packing the machine away. I’ll be fine.”

“Alright then Fluttershy, if you insist...”

Dusk chuckle to himself, before he start to walk up the staircase the the main room of the library. He turns back to the two mares and simply says, “Goodbye girls.” As he exits.

Author’s Note: I tried to make the ‘brain scan’ thing as realistic as possible in the MLP world. A few of the methods or results may be incorrect or intentionally modified. (Such as length of time, epsilon waves etc) Also, the design of the EEG come from the episode ‘Feeling Pinkie Keen’.

Chapter 62: Pinprick

Chapter 62: Pinprick

Dusk steps into the main room of the library, which is inhabited by a small purple dragon, who is carrying a grayish blue bucket filled with glass shards. He walks up to the bin in the kitchen, and pours all of the shards into the disposal unit. Neither of the two acknowledges each other's presence, since Spike's back was turned against the stallion, and Dusk didn't think that it was that important to talk to the dragon. It looks like Spike had something important to do anyway.

He opens the door to outside, and leaves the library without Fluttershy. As he steps out of the hollowed out tree, he starts to wonder  what he might be able to do before he walk back to the cottage. He thinks about getting something to eat from the Sugarcube Corner, but he remembers the bag of cookies that he bought just the other day. He then wonders how he forgot about them so easily, he never forgets about food that tastes so good.

He notices the amount of ponies which were out of their homes, which is a startling difference to the amount from yesterday. Unfortunately for him, there was nopony besides of his friends that were outside when he was chased by the deranged fashionista. (That has gotta be one of the worst words of the Equestrian language. The word is so cringe worthy to say.) He was a tad annoyed by the fact that not even one pony was outside at the time, and nopony bothered to look out of their windows to investigate the noise that they were making. Maybe the wind and rain blocked out any of the noise.

He finds a very familiar pony in the main part of town. He sees Ditzy Doo walking around with a little unicorn filly that he has never seen before. She has a similarly styled mane to his wall eyed friend, with a slightly messy blond mane. The filly has a light purple coat, with a small shade of gray mixed in. He could see that she hasn't earn't her cutie mark, as of yet. He felt that he knew her in some way, but he just couldn't put his hoof on it, but he knows that he has never seen the filly before.

Ditzy sees him as well, and greets him first, "Hiya Dusk, how have you been?" She asks enthusiastically.

'I haven't been too good, I just cried for the first time in years and I  remembered all of the ponies that I hurt in my life.'

He knows that he would never say something so sadistic to her, despite his mind toying with the idea. "I have been alright. How about you?"

She starts to smile in a cheerful manner, "I've been good... great actually. Ever since you helped me with the boss, her opinion of me has gotten a lot better. I haven't messed up a single day since you fixed things up between me and her. Also, I can't believe this happened but-" She is interrupted when the little filly starts tapping her on her body, to try and grab the mare's attention.

"Uh... who is this stallion mummy? I've never seen him before."

"Haven't I introduced him to you Dinky?" It is a rhetorical question, "He is my friend Dusk and-”

“Wait a second, I think I’ve seen him somewhere before.” The light purple filly thinks back to when she could have possibly seen him. “Isn’t he that weird stallion who yelled out something crazy as we walked past?”

‘Wait what?’ He begins to feel confused, offended, and shocked at the same time. He looks at the filly known as Dinky with an intrigued impression, before looking back up it Ditzy, who is looking at Dusk with the same expression. They both look back at Dinky again responding in two different ways.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Responds Ditzy.

"Weird, crazy stallion?" Asks Dusk, while trying to convey the proper emotions to summarize this situation.

The filly tries to drive her point across, "Yeah, he just yelled out something really random, as we walked past him about a week or two ago." She seems quite certain that this supposed moment has actually happened in the past. The two pegasi tries to think of a time where this could've happen, buck they both drew up mental blanks. They shrug it off, much to the disdain of the filly, and start to talk about another subject.

"So Ditzy, This must be Dinky, the daughter of yours that you mentioned." Recalls Dusk, remembering her mentioning Dinky a few times. "She's a cute filly.”

"Aww, thanks Dusk.” Thanks Dinky in a ridiculously cute way. (D’aaawwwwwww...) She is beaming at the complement, and this made Dusk chuckle.

“That’s no problem- wait a second...” Dusk remembers something that happened just before he left Ditzy at the post office about a week ago. She kissed him, meaning that she still likes him in that sort of way, but she is the mother of Dinky, which means that there is obviously a father figure of some kind.

‘But if there was already a stallion in her life, than would this classify as cheating? No, I couldn’t imagine Ditzy every cheating on anypony, ever. She isn’t seem like that kind of pony, isn’t she..?'

"Ditzy, who is Dinky's father?" He asks suspiciously, before a rather disturbing thought enters his mind.

'Oh Celestia, what if she no longer has a  husband/coltfriend, what if he broke up with her, or he died like Blitzkrieg did in Cheerilee's case.' His eyes go wider as he goes into the more sadistic possibilities. 'But what if she never actually had a coltfriend to begin with? One night stand gone wrong? Unfaithful partner?'

"I don't know her father," Dusk could feel his willpower begin to break. "But that is because I conceived Dinky via IVF." Dusk breathes out a sigh of relief, before he asks her about a few of the specifics of her decision.

"But why did you choose to conceive so early in your life, weren't you ever with a stallion before?" Asks Dusk.

"Yes, before I had Dinky, I had a coltfriend. He name was Doctor Whooves, and he was wonderful, a little bit eccentric, but still a great guy. He used to take me on all sorts of adventures, to places I never thought could be imagined." Dusk's head that starts thinking of dirty thoughts.

'Is this supposed to be a sexual innuendo of sorts?'

"But unfortunately, he needed to leave me in town, since something important had come up, and it would've been too dangerous for me. Sadly, he needed to 'cease this relationship' as he said it, he told me that it was too dangerous for me to be intimate with him, but despite the urge to come with him, there was no point in arguing with him.”

This answer intrigues Dusk greatly, since she knew it was dangerous, and yet she wanted to go with him. Dinky seems to know what her mother was talking about, since she doesn’t really seem shocked about this development. It was as if she has already been told about this beforehand. “So if it was so dangerous to go with him, why did you want to still be with him?”

Her eyes seem to glisten in memory, “I’m sorry, but he told me to keep one of the main reasons a secret, but lets just say that we travelled to places that I never thought would have existed, and he is just a special, caring pony. It is really hard to say why it feels so good to be around him, he just has that feeling about him..."

As she finishes, Dusk nods in acceptance of what she was saying. "Alright, I get you now, but does Doctor Whooves have anything to do whith your big decision to get an IVF at an early age?"

She shakes her head, and explains her reasons.,"It has always been my dream to raise a foal of my own, and believe me, I did try to get into another relationship, but I couldn't. Ponyville has quite a low ratio of stallions to mares, and the few stallions that I had a liking to were either in a relationship, or weren't interested. I remember that Big Mac was the most polite about this, even letting me take him on a date just to see how things would work out." She sighs in defeat, "Sadly, he didn't feel comfortable going on another date, but it was really sweet of him to see if things would work out."

Dusk's respect of Big Macintosh rose significantly, and he felt that this was enough information that he needed to get out of her. "So do you know what ended up happening to the good Doctor?"

"Well he fixed the time rift and returned back to see me for a few days, before going on another adventure of his, usually for weeks at a time. We are still good friends, but I rarely ever get to see him. He is still in Ponyville if you want to meet him."

Dusk has an estranged look as he asks, "Time... rift..?"

"There's no need to worry about that, it is too hard to explain anyway." Concludes Ditzy, opening up the opportunity for Dusk to change the subject.

“...Alright then?” He is still quite confused about what she was talking about, but he moves on.”A-Anyway, you were mentioning something, before Dinky interrupted you." Remembers Dusk.

"Oh did I?... I-I'm sorry..." Innocently apologizes the filly, which ends up tugging upon Dusk's heartstrings.

Ditzy begins to lovingly nuzzle her daughter, "You don't need to apologize my little muffin." The filly slowly begins to perk up again under her mother's contact. This warms Dusk to his very soul, as he watches the heartwarming display.

As soon the the two finish, the wall eyed mare starts to speak to Dusk again. “So you know the group of ponies that were harassing me?” It is a question that need not be answered, as he allows her to continue. “Well most of the ponies in the group actually went up to me and apologized to me. Although it wasn’t the whole group, it was a good feeling nonetheless.”

"Well that was awfully nice of them, if you count out the bast-" He stops in the middle of the swear, since he is in the presence of a foal. He could see her glaring at him, which ends up scaring him a little bit. “Uh... eheheh... if you count out the bad ponies that refused to do such a thing.” He cringes at his childish rewording. It was just so horrible, so degrading to say.

‘Damn it, why do I have to be around somepony so innocent. It is like the little filly has never heard a swear in her life.’

The mare loses her piercing glare as she continues the conversation, “The few that didn’t apologize to me harass me enough as it is, and that is why it felt so much better that everypony else went and apologized to me. It is like a mini victory."

"I think I know what you mean Ditzy, but if you don't mind, I'll need to be going now, we'll catch up on a later date, okay."

She nods in acceptance, "Alright then, we need to get back home before it gets dark anyway. See you later." The two began to walk towards the direction of their household, until Dusk stops them

"Wait a second Ditzy, I need to ask you something before you go." The mare turns around, and Dusk whispers into her ear, "Do you still like me?"

This question makes the mare blush intensely, as she begins to get more flustered. Neither of her eyes were looking at the stallion as she spoke, "Um... uh... well, I.. don't like you in that way anymore..." Her face scrunches up as she finishes.

Dusk easily picks up on all of this. "Oh Celestia this is good, you are doing the blush, the flustering and the scrunchy face. All I can say is, you are a terrible liar Ditzy."

"I'm I?  Well that's a shame got to go BYE!" She embarrassingly fires out before trying to fly out of the vicinity of the stallion. She then snaps back into reality and she remembers that Dinky was watching the whole ordeal between the two. She wanted to leave the area as fast ae she could, but she wouldn't leave her daughter like this. She needs to improvise...

"Uh mummy, are you feeling okay? You are acting really funny." It is at this moment, when Ditzy figures out what she should do to escape.

"Dinky, do you want me to fly you back home again?" She was getting her wings primed and ready for flight.

The filly begins to brighten as her smile grows and her eyes begin to sparkle. She wanted this, "Yes please!"

There is a smug grin on her muzzle as her daughter climbs on her back. Dinky grabs around the lower part of her mother's neck, as Ditzy readies herself. "Goodbye Dusk." There is still a visible blush on her face, but she focuses on the flight ahead." We are flying in five, four..."

Dusk is quite amused by the display that the two were doing. He could see the enthusiastic look of increasing anticipation on the filly's face, and  the mother's  embarrassed, yet determined look.

"...Three, two, one...and we are go." She says the last part as she takes to the air. And then suddenly, she  launches herself into the air, and starts to fly at impressive speeds.

"Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-" Yells out Dinky in childish glee. This made Dusk laugh and "D'awwww-" at the same time. As soon as Ditzy disappears from the skyline, Dusk starts to walk back to Fluttershy's.

Dusk is mindlessly walking through the middle of town, slowly making his way back to Fluttershy's residence. He thought about all the time that he has been living with her for, and he remembers that he had moved with her as soon as he 'entered' the town. He hates the fact that he moved in with somepony not just in the beginning, but before then. It is actually somewhat hypocritical of him, since he wanted the moving in stage to happen at least one month after they were in a relationship.

And speaking of which, this whole relationship has been a tad quick for his liking. Not only has he moved in almost immediately, but he slept on the same bed as her at the very first day. Not only that, but he actually had sex two weeks into this commitment, but strangely, this didn't make him feel like an exploitative pony.

Despite the fact that he has only been in a relationship for two weeks, it has felt like so much more than that. So much has happened to him since he has been in town, although a lot of the things that have been rather detrimental. Maybe he has brought bad luck to the town and it’s residents. But anyway, this week has felt like it has gone for so much longer than two weeks for Dusk. He has done more in a week, than most ponies should do- “AGH! What the buck?!”

He could feel a ferociously sharp pain on his right forehoof. Contrary to popular belief, the hard bottom of hooves are not impervious to pain, since there are still nerves there. He checks what in Equestria could have possibly cause such a pain. He gasps in utter fear, as he retracts from these very familiar objects. He began to uncontrollably hyperventilate, and look on with the look of petrification.

He could not stop staring at the bloodied needles in the ground. He is overwhelmed by indescribable fear, and is immobilized to the spot. The few ponies in the vicinity couldn't help him, since the mares were all in a group and walking away from him, blissfully unaware of the stallion in the area. He falls down onto his huanches, and just continues to stare at the needles.

"Oh my word, what's wrong?" Worryingly asks a mare who is walking up behind him. He really wanted to turn around and look at her, but he isn't able to. His new fear kept him rooted to the spot.

"Dusk? Are you okay?" She asks him, while levitating the needles away from the ground with a light blue aura. With no object to fearfully look at, he diverts his attention to the mare behind him. He immediately recognizes who the mare is.

It is Rarity, who has a saddened look. She knows why Dusk was acting the way he was before, and starts to remember the events from yesterday's unfortunate incident. She truly felt bad for the stallion, and she hates knowing that somepony actually feared her. She doesn't notice his growing look of fear until it was too late however. She didn't figure out the connection that Dusk was forming.

All he could see is Rarity holding a multitude of needles with her magic...

Chapter 63: Misunderstanding

Chapter 63: Misunderstanding

Fight or flight.

This is the only thing that he could think of while he scooted away from the mare of his fears. He could not believe that she would come back to finish the deed, he thought that they both fixed things up after yesterday’s debacle.  Apparently he was wrong though...

He does a quick scan of area around him to search if there is something nearby that he could use. He tried to find literally anything that he could use as a defensive measure. The closest usable thing he could see is a restaurant sign. (belonging to closed restaurant, somepony forgot to return it inside...)  There is a blackboard on the sign revealing all of the cliched soup of the day things you usually see on these signs written on a blackboard, which would've  been great for him... but it is too far to be of any use. He is wondering why Rarity hasn't already thrown a volley of needles at him, but he isn't really complaining.

"Dusk, I-I need to talk to you for a moment... okay...” Requests the alabaster unicorn with the tone of sadness.

She didn’t specify the topic so Dusk briefly ‘hesitates’ with his answer, as he looks for any possible escape route. But unluckily for him, the two were in the middle of a large open area with no tight, narrow passages to slip into. He temporarily stops his search, as he decides to say something. “W-What about?” He asks with the slight twinge of fear.

“About yesterday’s events.”

He completely stops any plans of escape as he hears about this. He thought logically for a second, ‘Why would she talk about this if she wanted to harm me?’ He sits up, and curiously looks into her sapphire blue eyes as he beckons her to, “Continue...”

She frowning regretfully, as she explains. “I’m so sorry about yesterday, I just don’t know what came over me. Everything was such a blur that day, and I lacked self control. And now from the few minutes I have seen you for, I can already tell that you are scared around me; you fear me, and that hurts, it really hurts.”

He could see her grim, sullen look as she finishes, and he understood her words, but he had not let down his guard for a second. He is curious about something that she said just before. "Let me ask you something, why do you think I'm still scared of you?"

She didn't even need time to think of her answer. "Well, uh... firstly, you seem to be looking around the area quite frequently. Secondly, you look tensed up, as if you are readying yourself for a fight.” She grimaces as she says this. “And just to prove my point...”

She launches every single needle she held straight down to the ground, between herself and Dusk. He looks at the needles with horror, and then he looks back up at Rarity with the same look, before trying to run away from the mare. She already knew that he would do this, and so she had already cast a levitational spell on the stallion, holding him in place. After struggling, in the magical field and getting nowhere, he just gives up and waits for her to do whatever she is planning. He just didn’t have it in him anymore.

"I’m sorry that I had to do that Dusk. I know that you are scared of these needles, but I didn’t bring them here for this reason.” She expected him to listen to what she had to say. Since he had no choice, he does so. “It is all a big misunderstanding. Remember when I threw all of these needles at you yesterday? Well I need to pick all of them up, since there have been some ponies who have entered the Boutique, complaining about stepping on these sewing needles. And since I'm the only tailor in town, they made the connection of where they came from. I've been picking these up for the past half hour, and I'm nearly finished."

"That's... good... I guess..." He did hear what the mare had to say, but he wasn’t really focusing on her, he had his eye on the needles in front of him. He has never felt so scared of an object like this in his lifetime. He could see visions of painful death playing in his mind. He heard a pained sigh from Rarity as she levitates the needles away from Dusk, and puts them back in a small, clear circular container As soon as she does so, Dusk started to feel more safe around her. Actually, 'more safe' is a bit of an understatement, he felt completely fine around the mare that he may no longer fear.

Rarity then questions his actions, since he is now acting differently around her. "Dusk, are you feeling alright, because you seem to be acting very strangly right now."

He chose to tell her as it is. "As a matter of fact, I feel quite good right now, which is quite weird of me. I know what I'm like, if I fear something, then I panic at the sight of it, and I start to imagine horrible things involving the fear in question, and myself. And one thing that I can say with confidence, is that I'm not afraid right now. I'm not even scared by the fact that you are still holding me in a levitational field, and that you could possibly do anything to me." He then realizes what may have gotten him so worked up before, but before he could speak, the levitation spell dissipates and he lands on the ground.

Secretly thankful that she didn't have to levitate him for any longer, she expresses her happiness of the matter. "Well that's good to hear Dusk, I'm glad to hear that you are not as terrified of me anymore. In fact, I don't think you were ever scared of me, I believe that you are actually more scared of the needles that I used."

Dusk looks a little bit annoyed of what she said. “I was going to say that first, since this seems like a pretty accurate assumption, but I personally believe that I will never be the same around you again. I believe that I will still be quite wary around you in the future, since one does not simply forget such a horrific experience. I forgive you and all, and I still think that you’re a nice mare, but memories like that do not go away. Just remember that, okay Rarity."

She slowly nods, obviously not fully satisfied with what he said. She knew why he had said this though. "Yes, I know Dusk. So I'm guessing that borrowing you for the Boutique is put of the question?"

This got a small smirk from the stallion. "Most definitely, yes. I don't think I want to be going in there anytime soon." Says Dusk

"Tis a pity." She complains in a very non-serious tone. She could see Fluttershy among the group of ponies in the centre of the town. She is about two hundred metres from where the two were, and Rarity then remembers to tell Dusk something that has been bugging her throughout the day. "Dusk, I need to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"Would it be possible for you to smile around her more? She told at the spa, that me that you never seem to be happy around her.” Says the tailor.

“What? Why would she say that?” He doesn’t really seem to recall any moment where he wasn’t happy to be around Shy. (If you count out the incidents involving her)

“I’ve noticed that you don’t seem to show that many positive emotions, and that you always seem to be frustrated about something, even when you aren’t. You need to be more emotive around her because she like it when you’re happy, you are just not showing it to her.”

He thought back to the moments where he may have felt truly joyous around Fluttershy. There were quite a lot of good moments that have happened between the two, but something that disturbs him is that Rarity was right. He has almost never shown any real signs of happiness, despite him feeling quite good on the inside. Sadly, he isn’t very good at showing any real positive emotions.

He dejectedly looks back at Rarity "I think I know what you mean. I'll try my best to be more emotive.”

Rarity looks back at Fluttershy, who looks like she is about to say something. She tells Dusk something while her best friend was still out of earshot. "One last thing, while we were both in the spa, Fluttershy told me something else. She kept on telling about how much of a nice stallion you are, and how she likes spending time with you. I approve of this relationship, because I’ve noticed that she now seems that little bit more happier now.”

“Really? She really said that?” Asks the stallion, hoping tat he had heard correctly.

“But of course.” She say, confirming Dusk’s suspicions. She now focuses on Fluttershy as she greets her shy friend. “Good evening Fluttershy, I was just talking to Dusk about the unfortunate incident yesterday."

"Did you? Umm.. well.. did it go well?" Asks Fluttershy with an air of uncertainty, as she thought of the bad things that could've  happened between the two.

"Surprisingly so in fact." She says with a hint of pride. "Dusk and I have finally made up after yesterday's events."

Dusk continues where she left off. "As it turns out, I don't have an immense fear of Rarity. While this is all well and good, it turns out that I have developed a new fear of needles. Go me..." He finishes in an annoyed, yet sarcastic tone. It could have been worse for him, he considers it lucky that he is afraid of an inanimate object rather than the mare who owns them, since he considers her a good pony to be around. He isn't sure if he should consider her as an acquaintance, or a friend.

Fluttershy is nonetheless pleased with the results of their reconciliation, as she expresses her happiness to the two. "But that is great news you two. I'm  so glad to see that both of you are comfortable, and friendly around each other again." Her happy smile is contagious, as Dusk starts to cheer up again.

"Well, it does feel good knowing that I can stay around Rarity without having to recoil in fear." Says the relieved sounding stallion.

"And it's quite good to know that somepony I know is no longer scared of me." Adds in alabastr unicorn. “It’s actually quite a relieving feeling.”

“Heh, you can say that again.”

It took a few more minutes before Dusk and Fluttershy decided to leave the clothing designer to return back home. Dusk considered it quite lucky that he didn’t find anymore needles lodged into the ground. He didn’t know how he would react if he actually did find a needle, but based on what has happened to him throughout the day, he doesn’t think that it would end too well. He knows that he could be quite unpredictable at times.

As the two walked back, he tried to follow Rarity’s advice, and try to show more positive emotions, but he is somewhat unsuccessful. Sadly, despite his best attempts, he did not find any possible time where he could genuinely smile without it being forced. He thought that a forced smile would be a bad idea, because firstly, it was easy to tell whenever somepony forced a smile, and secondly, it doesn’t really convey the right emotions as a normal one. He would possibly work on it later.

He is currently in Fluttershy’s cottage, and he felt something he had never expected to feel so early in the evening, exhaustion. It isn’t the physical type of exhaustion, when somepony does a strenuous amount of exercise. No, it was more of the mental type. He has gone through quite a considerable amount of phychological pain throughout the day, and it has been quite overwhelming for him.

He looks out of a nearby window, and he could still see that it was light outside, but since it was still winter, he knew that it would get dark very quickly. The sun is slowly approaching the edge of the horizon, soon to be overtaken by Luna’s very own celestial being. He is surprised with the total lack of snow which fell on the town of Ponyville, considering that it was in the middle of Winter, but he knew that snow was coming soon. It is unusual for him to feel sleepy at such an early time, but at the moment, he doesn’t really care too much. He knows that Fluttershy is still outside of her cottage, feeding all of the animals which took up residence near her home. He had offered to help her out with her animals, but she had simply denied his request, saying that she doesn’t really need the help. Now normally, he would object and still offer some assistance, but he didn’t have the motivation to object.

‘I feel so useless right now... I wish I was able to do something productive.'

He then saw Angel aimlessly moving across the living area. He had quite a bored look as he slowly moved towards the nearby kitchen. An idea then hits Dusk.

'Wait a second, I suppose I can help out Shy by feeding Angel. Although it may pale in comparison to what she is doing right now, I could... go and... Damn it.'

As it turns out, the pet rabbit wasn't actually moving around aimlessly like he thought at first. As it turns out, Angel was actually moving towards the kitchen because Fluttershy had already set up a small ceramic bowl filled with various vegetables for Angel. (mainly carrots) There were small strips of lettuce, and chopped up carrots inside, which is backed up by cherry tomatoes and other vegetables you'd normally see in a salad. All of the food in the bowl looks surprisingly fresh. It is a rather simple salad, but quite a well done salad for an animal. It is like he is treated like part of her family.

With no other discernable use the he could think of, Dusk decides to have a quick bath so he could try to reinvigorate himself, and escape from the lulls of sleep. He wanted to at least be able to enjoy dinner with his marefriend before he went to sleep.

Dusk had quickly finished washing himself in the bath and he felt a lot more awake than he was before, just as intended. Fluttershy had just gotten back inside the house, carrying an empty bag of food on her back. She looks slightly dirty after spending all that time with her animals, but she told Dusk that she would first make some dinner for the two, before having the shower that she needs. The stallion discreetly celebrated when she told him that she was going to be making a pizza.

The two conversed about various different subjects while the mare prepared the meal for the two to enjoy. When Dusk offered to help, Fluttershy let him join her in the medium sized kitchen of her. She gave him a ‘chef’s knife’ and three moderate sized tomatoes, as she told him to chop them up into thin slices. He pulled out a chopping board, and got a firm grip on the knife handle with his forehooves, as he began to slice the first tomato into thin slices. He could see that Fluttershy had a lot more different types of ingredients on her part of the kitchen bench, as well as a pre-prepared pizza base on the side. Dusk continues to do the job that he was allocated when he started to go a little bit dreary eyed.

It was then, during the middle of the last tomato when Dusk had to stop when he noticed that the sharpened blade of the cutting tool had ended up right over his other unprotected forehoof. He had stopped the blade mere centimetres over the top of his right forehoof, as he safely places the large blade onto the side of the bench. His eyes were starting to blur up, and so he begins to rubs his eyes in the attempt to ward of his exhaustion. He then remembers what had nearly caused the accident in the first place. During the slicing of the tomato, he had lost his concentration and attention due to his craving for sleep, and he was paying absolutely no attention as to what he was doing.

He tells Fluttershy this, and despite her disappointed reaction, she starts to direct him upstairs to the large bed that the two slept in. Dusk is saddened to see that the sun hasn’t even fully disappeared as she moves him onto the bed. (He hates going to sleep this early) She gives him a kiss good-night as she shuts the blinds, and quietly exits the now occupied room. Dusk fell into the clutches of sleep almost immediately after.

It was a long day...

Chapter 64: Normal

Chapter 64: Normal

Several days have passed in the town of Ponyville as the residents of the town continued to live our their daily lives. One of these residents was Dusk, who is walking through the middle of the town, with the intention of returning back to Fluttershy’s cottage. He wore a simple black scarf that he had bought from Rarity, so he could keep a little bit warmer in the snowy environment. Apparently, stallions wearing scarves was in fashion. He was sceptical of this apparent fact, but he trusted her enough to believe her word. Also, he is now slightly more wary of the cold since he was afraid of getting hypothermia again, it wasn’t a pleasant experience for him...

He is slightly dirtier than the rest of the town, with his coat stained with dirt and a little bit of sweat after a hard day of work. Rarity had wanted to have him get washed up inside her Boutique, but he had refused, saying that he didn’t feel comfortable with doing so. He could always wash himself up at Shy's home anyway.

He is quite happy that it isn't blowing a chilling wind outside, or else it would have been unbearable for him to be out here. It actually feels quite pleasant for him, with the cold of the snow lightly brushing on his body with only the slightest of natural breezes to assist in the subtle movement of the snow particles. It is a truly beautiful day.

Dusk looks up at the whiteish grey sky, and he could see multiple wings high up in the clouds. Rainbow had told him the other day that she needed to get some assistance from the Cloudsdale weather team to help with the snow production for the next few days. As he looks up at the sky, he wistfully talks up to the pegasi in the sky, "It is only a matter of time before I'll be back up there. Just you wait..."

He primes his wings, as if he is planning to take flight, but he felt a dull pain in his right wing. He sighs in defeat as he folds his wings back into its most comfortable position. As he looks back at ground level, he could see three fillies having a snowball fight. The yellow one he vaguely remembers as Applebloom, and the white unicorn he could easily recognise as Sweetie Belle. But the orange coated pegasi filly is unknown to him. She has a similar mane style to Rainbow Dash's, with the speedy sort of look about it. (If you count out the fact that it isn't multi coloured) He could see that she appears to have no cutie mark, and so he presumes that she is the final member of the infamous ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’. They seem to be enjoying themselves.

As he walks past them, he heard Applebloom dejectedly say, “Ah thought snow fightin’ would be our special talent for sure.”

He could barely make out a second filly’s voice. “Oh well, looks like we need to try para-gliding next...”

Dusk stops moving as he hears the last part, and he turns his head around to estrangedly stare at the three. He silently mouths the word "What?" as he watches them run off to their next 'activity'.

(Yes, I know estrangedly isn't technically a word)

Dusk is in high spirits as he walks towards Fluttershy’s cottage, and he knew why. For some unknown reason, he always seems to feel happier when it is raining or snowing outside. Even with the worries of hypothermia bearing in his mind, there is still a bit of a spring in his step. Although the scarf he wore provided some warmth, it would be useless if the wind increased.

He was surprised by the lack of animals which were outside of the cottage. Although it was lightly snowing, he would of thought that there would still be a large amount of the creatures doing whatever animals do. There were only a few species of birds and a couple of rabbits frolicking around in the snow. He assumes that vast majority of the absent animals were inside the cottage with Fluttershy.

When he opens the door and steps inside, he is surprised when he could only see Fluttershy and Angel in the home. He could see that she is wearing two pairs of green socks on her hooves, and for some unknown reason, it makes her seem a loot more adorable than she usually is. She is reading another one of her novels, which seems to be a lot less adult than the last novel he happened to stumble upon.

She lowers her book as she speaks, “Hello Dusk, how was it at the farm?”

“It was pretty hard work, with the snow and all. It doesn’t make it easy to applebuck, that’s for sure.” He says exasperatedly. “It was probably one of the hardest work days I’ve had in a while.”

She seems concerned, “Oh, well that’s not good, I hope that it’s easier for you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, me too.” He says with doubt, since it is scheduled to snow for the next few days.

This sort of thing almost became routine for the two now. Neither of them minded too much, since the past weeks have been quite eventful, and it caused an immense amount of stress for both of them. Their lives were reverting back into normalcy again, and they wanted it like this. They were able to go on a third date a day ago, and there weren't any surprises in store for them, no horrific incident which made things abysmal, it was just a normal romantic date, and both of them had a good time. The pace of their relationship has slowed, but they didn't care in the slightest.

Now back to the two's conversation, Fluttershy begins to tell Dusk about her plans with one of her friends. "So Dusk, in about fifteen minutes, I'll be going to be watching Rainbow’s training with Pinkie Pie. Do you mind if I could go?” She asks.

“I don’t care, it’s your decision.” Dusk nonchalantly says. “I shouldn’t control what you can, and cannot do.”

"Oh, good, I just wanted to make sure that it wouldn't inconvenience you in some way." There is a slight pause, as if she expected him to say something. Receiving no answer, she continues to speak. "I'll be gone for a about an hour and a half, but you can come with me if you want."

Hearing this, he starts to consider if he should go or not. Although aerial stunts isn't really his thing, he is kind of curious as to what the rainbow maned pegasus could do. She did do the impossible a few days ago... "Hmm, I might go,  but... I don't know, I'll decide in a second." There is a nagging feeling that he should be doing something else instead, but he didn’t know what it was.

But then he realizes what he was trying to remember, he wanted to visit Zephyr in the hospital. He had been meaning to do so for a while, but he couldn't remember to do so. He tells Fluttershy of his decision, "I don't think that I'll go with you, I have few things to do."

She looks at him curiously, "Really? What are you going to do?" Asks Fluttershy.

"I'm going to visit Zephyr to check up on him, and then I might see if I could get a check up on my right wing. I just need to make sure that my recovery is going alright." Finishes Dusk, after explaining most of his future plans for the day.

"Well I hope that it goes alright then Dusk. When are you going to go?"

"Right now actually, while I can still be bothered moving." He could see a look of slight annoyance on Fluttershy. (And yet she could make it seem so cute) "Eh heh, I may have worded that badly, but I'll still need to leave early though. visiting hours will be stopped soon."

'At least I think they are.'

"Oh, okay then. Goodbye Dusk." She stands to give Dusk a hug, which he promptly returns. They closely held eachother for several seconds, with Dusk lovingly nuzzling her. After a few more seconds, Dusk and Fluttershy let go with smiles on their muzzles. Just as Dusk was about to leave the house, Fluttershy leaves a final comment.

"I like your scarf. It looks good on you." Comments Fluttershy, eliciting a satisfied grin from Dusk.

'Maybe Rarity's advice wasn't so bad after all.'

Not being one to leave it at that, Dusk says a compliment of his own, "Thanks for that, I like your socks as well, they look really cute on you."

"Thank you Dusk." She says with a bright smile. She seems to like his compliment as much as Dusk liked his. Leaving it at that, Dusk steps out of the house giving a wave good bye to Fluttershy. He turns around as he starts to make the walk to the hospital...

It took him twenty minutes for him to walk to the hospital that he is so familiar with. The snow had stopped falling, but the thick, grey cloud still covers the town. There is still a light cover of snow on the ground, and it is still cold outside, but it wasn’t uncomfortably so. As he approaches the front of the hospital, he could see somepony pushing an injured, fuchsia out of the building with a wheelchair. Her left hindleg is in a leg cast, which prevented any movement of her leg.

He walks past her, and steps into the main area of the hospital. This room has a colour palette of white, white, and more white as he looks at the finely sterilized, and clean area. The doctor that sort of looked like Caramel is standing behind the main desk of the waiting area, but he is stopped by a familiar face. “Oh no, he’s back. Okay Dusk, what have you done this time?” Sarcastically asks Nurse Redheart.

"Getting a bit unprofessional, don't you think?" He questions in a challenging tone. "And no, nothing has been recently injured, which is actually quite a change from the norm."

The nurse chuckles at this, "At least it gave us more to do. Anyway, what is your reason for being here?"

"Well I came here so I could visit my friend, whom is still being treated here. Do you know when this hospital's visiting hours are?" He wished that he was smart enough to find out the visiting hours the last time he was here.

She didn’t even need to think of an answer, “They are from 8am until 10pm every day. We are a lot more lenient with the visiting times compared to other towns, since Ponyville has considerably less injuries than any other town in Equestria. So because of this, we can keep track of any problems that come up quicker than with any other town, meaning we can afford to let other ponies visit family and friends for longer.”

“...the more you know.” Dusk manages to say after hearing this surprising fact. “Well, I think I’ll be going now.” He says as he turns to the hospital rooms.

“Alright then, looks like it’s back to work then...” The nurse says, as she walks away from the hospital regular. They both give a quick wave, before they both leave each other to their own devices.

Dusk starts to walk through the ground floor hospital rooms, looking for a specific room in general. He believes that the room number was somewhere in the 120s, but he wasn’t actually sure which room belonged to his friend. He is passing room 114 on his left side, and he notices how few of the rooms were actually occupied by ponies. He had only seen about four of the rooms actually occupied. With that in mind, he continues to look up at the white numbered signs which hung from the ceiling.

120... 122... 124... 126..?

He approaches Room 126, and he could see that the room in question was occupied by somepony. Who it is he did not know though, since the curtain of the window was closed. There is no possible way to identify the inhabitant of the room, but Dusk decides to knock anyway. (Mainly because there were no more occupied areas which was in the 120-129 section) He knocks on the door, and asks if anypony is in there. As he finishes his sentence, he gets a response in the form of a question.

“Dusk, is that you?” The stallion asks with a familiar medium pitched voice. It is definitely Zephyr’s voice, and it seems that his friend recognises Dusk’s as well.

“Yeah, it’s me Zeph. Do you mind if I could step in the room? I just wanna see how you are doing.” Says the dark blue stallion.

“You can come in if you want.” Invites the crippled pegasus, who seems happier that he was visiting again. Dusk opens the door to the hospital room and steps inside.

He could see his tan friend laying on the white hospital bed, with a Daring Do book on the nearby bedside table. Zephyr had to shift his body around on the bed, so he could look at Dusk. What surprises the grounded pegasus, is that Zeph seems to be in a lot less pain then he originally assumed that he would be in. While there was still the grimace of pain, it shows Dusk that he felt a lot better than he was when he was first injured.

That, or he had just been given painkillers.

But he looks a lot better than he was the last time he was here. He could tell that Zephyr would make a good recovery.

Zephyr then interrupts Dusk’s thought when he see something on his neck. “Nice scarf.” He says with a mocking tone.

“How did I know you were going to say that?” Asks Dusk in the response to the mockery.

“You don’t usually see stallions wearing scarves.” Notes the crippled stallion.

“Good point Zephyr...”

Chapter 65: Flight

(I left Zephyr to write the dialogue between C64 and C65 in his fic ‘Memories of Zephyr’. Here's the link)

Edit: I will be putting Zeph's chapter in OoaL soon.

Chapter 65: Flight

Dusk had finished talking to Zephyr, and had left the hospital, feeling like he knew a little bit too much about his friend’s private life. He didn’t think that Zephyr would find a way to still have sex with broken ribs, even with painkillers. He doesn’t know much about medicine, but he still knew that painkillers wouldn’t have taken away all of the pain. However, he could say that he expected Zephyr to do something like this. He seems to be that sort of pony anyway.

Trying to get the thoughts of Zephyr and Twilight out of his mind, he begins to walk back towards the main room of the hospital, to try and set up an appointment with somepony who could tell him how his wings were holding up. He recalls that he planned to do something after he had done all this, but he couldn’t remember what it was.

‘Mental note to self, make more mental notes.’

He walks the rest of the way trying to remember what he had planned. He completely forgotten about everything that had to do with it. He didn’t know if it was important, nor did he know where and when he was supposed to do it. He thinks that it may have something to do with the Hospital, but he wasn’t too sure...

After asking for an appointment with one of the doctors, he sat in the empty waiting room, and thought about what task could have slipped his mind. He didn’t have long to think however, since he was called up almost immediately to see the Caramel unicorn lookalike doctor. (That has got to be his fanon name.) He half cursed, and half thanked his luck, since it takes so much longer to book an appointment at a place like Manehatten.

So he steps inside the room that the doctor directed him to. Since Dusk had requested a check up on his injured wing, there were a few pieces of equipment that were set up, and ready to use. Dusk told him about why he had come, explaining about how he had tried to fly, (leaving out anything involving the incident with Rarity) about his lack of wing stretching, and lastly, about how his wing still hurt when spread out. Thinking of it as nothing to worry about, the doctor starts doing his planned tests.

It took them about twenty minutes to do all of the required tests to his wing. As it turns out, his wing wasn’t in disrepair, but it was recovering at a slower rate. Apparently, by this point of the recovery, he should be able to fly for short stints before the pain emerged. He told Dusk that he should be back at full strength in about another four to five days, which was three days over the original recovery time. He explained to him that the stress of the early flight, as well as the lack of doing the mandatory wing stretches had slowed the recovery process of his muscles. While it was disheartening news, he took it in his stride as he left the hospital. He still cursed his memory when he couldn’t figure out what the final task of the day was.

He chose to stop thinking about this unknown task, and to just have a normal walk back to Fluttershy's. It would come back to him eventually... right?

It was starting to get late by the time that Dusk had gotten back to Fluttershy's. The sky had been cleared of all of its cloud cover, and so Dusk could see that the sun was setting. It looked to be about 5:30 to 6:00pm. Inside the house, Fluttershy appeared to be making a some soup in a moderately sized cooking pot. It has only just been put on the heat, and it seems that she was too distracted by the meal to notice Dusk.

Not wanting to startle her, Dusk quietly greets his marefriend, “Hello Fluttershy.” He says with a subtle smile on his muzzle.

She looks up at him, and starts to drift closer to him. “Good evening Dusk." She pauses as she lightly kisses  him on the cheek, which causes him to blush. "So how is your wing? Did the check up go well?"

"I-It went well." He is still in a flustered state, which made proper speech a little bit harder. "M-My right wing is recovering at a slower pace, but otherwise, it is still okay."

"Well that's still good news." Her usual hesistant voice became more sultry. She gave him the 'bedroom eyes' as she spoke, "Because I am hoping that we could try something new tonight, if you are up to it."

‘Well this is all a bit sudden but...win.’

“I’d like that Shy, but don’t you think that you should take the soup off the heat? We wouldn’t want the house to burn down or anything.” He says with a hint of sarcasm.

Hearing this, she walks back into the kitchen, and moves the still cold pot of soup onto an unheated stove top. "Well it looks like that won't be a problem now." She says expectantly.

"Well then... shall we?"

The two were both on the top of her bed, in the middle of deep, passionate kiss. Dusk could feel himself losing control, under Fluttershy’s forceful influence. They were both in pure bliss, as they held their kiss until they were finally forced to let each other go to breathe. Both of them were breathing heavily as Dusk comments on her in between quieting breaths. “Fluttershy, I had... I had no idea you could be so aggressive. I’m impressed.”

'I hardly ever see her like this, it is like she is a new Fluttershy; more confident.'

"Me neither, but I kind of like the feeling." Admits Fluttershy, who is still breathing heavily after their passionate, loving embrace.

"Yeah me too." He says challengingly, before giving her a kiss of his own to hee, which startles her. She adds a bit more force onto the kiss, which Dusk happily accepts. He is caught off guard when he feels Fluttershy's tongue feel its way through his mouth. He instinctively freezes from the feelings of pleasure that overwhelm him; he is completely under her influence. She continues this with very little resistance from the stallion, until she needed to stop for breath.

Fluttershy could tell that something seemed off about Dusk. She immediately assumes the worse, as she timidly asks, “A-Are you okay Dusk? Oh dear, I shouldn’t have done that. I won’t do that anymore if you don’t want me to okay...” She sounds regretful, but there is also a hint of disappointment in her voice.

“W-Wait a sec.” He says, while waving both of his forehooves to try and stop Fluttershy, “I like it, but it just took me by surprise and I sort of froze up. You’ve got nothing to worry about Shy, I kind of like it when you are this forward, but I reckon I can still teach you a few new moves.”

Her worried gazed turns back into a more seductive look, “How interesting, would you care to show me?”

‘The confident Shy is back again, that’s good...’

After some time, the two had finished their rather enjoyable moment, and had started to revert back into their more ‘normal’ lives. They both had their dinner together, (the soup was delicious) washed up, and did their usual things before they went to sleep. They had both decided to go to bed a little bit earlier than usual, since their past ‘activities’ had tired them out. They embraced for the last time of the day, before they fell into a deep slumber.

(Three days later)

“I believe that it is time.”

Dusk is standing outside of Fluttershy’s cottage, looking up at the clear, dark skies of Ponyville. He isn’t focusing on anything in particular, but he was trying to get a feel of his surroundings. There is a light breeze blowing north of the cottage, slowly making its way towards Ponyville. It is also a little bit chilly outside, but he knew that the weather ponies needed to do this to prepare for another snowy day. The conditions, if you count out the chill, were perfect for him.

He closes his eyes as he breathes in the clear night air, which turns into the look of determination as he breathes back out. He primes his wings as he starts a progressively faster run down the wide dirt trail near the house. When he gathers enough speed, he jumps up into the air, and starts to flap his wings to gain more air. He could feel himself start to speed through the air, as he feels the euphoric feeling of flight course throughout his body. He could do nothing else, but to smile ecstatically. His gift of flight, which has be gone for so long, is finally back, and he absolutely loves it. He is now quite a distance from the cottage, and all he could do is laugh in utter joy.

‘My flight, it is back, and it feels so good!’

Chapter 66: Of White Lies

Chapter 66: Of White Lies

It had taken the ecstatic dark blue stallion a single minute of flight to reach the town’s prestigious apple farm. Near the farmhouse, he could see the big, red figure of Big Macintosh, pulling what looked like to be a wagon full of wooden baskets. In the attempt to divert the stallion’s attention to the sky, Dusk yells out to Big Macintosh from a distance.

“Hey Big Mac! Look, I can fly again!” He loudly exclaims, while rapidly approaching the farmhouse.

This grabs the attention of the stallion, who looks at the pegasus with a look of surprise, he could see the (almost) unnaturally large smile on Dusk’s face, even from a distance. Keeping his natural composure, he simply says, "Eeyep." In acknowledgment.

Dusk then started to hover about one pony length away from the farmer. Even though his wing began to hurt from the exertion, he just sucks up the pain and continues to hover in the air. He had to calm himself down a little bit, as he starts to talk to the Apple about his planned job. "It is pretty awesome to be able to fly again, but that reminds of something. You see the main reason why I wanted to go to Ponyville is because of the open weather job. Naturally, I applied, and somehow got the job, and I think you can see where  I'm going with this."

The farmer stands unmoving, betraying no emotion, and maintaining complete neutrality. His only response, is the infamous "Eeyep."

Hearing this, he continues. "But since my wing hasn't truly recovered as of yet, I'll probably still be working here for the next couple of days." He hesitates as he prepares to ask of him a favour. "Also, do you mind if I could leave the farm when it begins to snow? I need to go see Rainbow Dash so I can talk to her about the weather job."

He nods in approval. "That's fine Dusk."

"Sweet." He lowers himself down to the ground, since the pain in his wing grew rapidly. (Screw sucking up the pain)  His expression changes into a more focused, more confident look, as he follows the other stallion, waiting for instructions...

Everypony in the farmhouse has been woken up, and the planned areas of the farm were all set up for the hard day of work ahead. Applejack had found out about Dusk's flight and briefly congratulated him, before she went off to do her plans. He hadn't told her about how he was going to temporarily ditch his job on the farm, in favour of another, and he planned to keep it that way. While he considered the mare to be a good enough friend, (or acquaintance?) the two never seemed to see eye to eye on matters, especially work. He know that things a lot better between the two, but he didn’t want to risk telling her. Much to his relief, he was working with Big Mac anyway, which made things a lot easier for him.

As he was prepping himself up for the very first apple tree, he could see snow falling overhead, meaning that Rainbow Dash and the small weather group from Cloudsdale were up in the clouds, creating the snow for town below. Seeing this, Dusk tests out if his wing has recovered by flaring it out, and giving it a few practise flaps. Happy by the fact that there is no pain, he launches himself up into the air, and flies up towards the clouds. Needless to say, he enjoyed the quick flight.

He flies around the thick, gray cloud cover, and immediately finds both Rainbow Dash, and the temporary weather team creating more snow for the town. He overhears a discussion of two of the Cloudsdale workers as he slowly hovers towards Rainbow.

"...and it's supposed to control the weather all by itself."

"Are you kidding?" Asks one of the mare workers, "Magic can't do anything like weather as well as us pegasi can. It's just unnatural. Could you imagine how weird it would be if the weather changed without pegasi control?"

The stallion voices his opinion, "Well... honestly, I wouldn't find it that strange..."

The mare's left eye begins twitching, "Are you kidding me?! *sigh* You are lucky that you're hot."

Dusk had stopped his initial plan of finding Rainbow, just to see how this conversation would play out. That is stopped however, when he heard somepony call him from behind.

"Dusk! Hey Dusk! I didn't know you could fly again." Yells a mare with a familiar tomcolt-ish tone.

He turns around, and sees Rainbow Dash hovering in front of him. She seems annoyed about something, but he had no idea why. "Oh, hey Rainbow. I have been-"

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?! Do you know how hard it has been to produce this weather all by my own? I was forced to get the weather team from Cloudsdale to create the snow. Cloudsdale!” She is really pissed off at the stunned stallion.

“But-”

“My life is over!” This outburst had gained the attention of the rest of the weather team, who had stopped their snow making to listen to this. “I’ll never be accepted into the Wonderbolts, I will just be the pegasus who can't create a simple snow."

"Wha-?"

She continues her dramatic rant, "It's just a stupid snow, and I can't even make one. It is all you're fault Dusk, if you hadn't gone and-"

"Enough." He interrupts, while giving her a dark look. "Your argument is just ridiculous. It makes no sense. Firstly, how would the famous Wonderbolts know about some random pegasi in Ponyville failing to create a sufficient snowy day?"

Her answer is almost instant, "They'll be rumours of my failure, and since they actually know me personally, they'll end up finding out about this."

Dusk grins smugly as he readies up another argument, "Ahh, but that brings up another point, why would the Wonderbolts know you?" It is starting to fall into place for Dusk.

"Well, I did save their lives during the last Young Flyers Competition in Cloudsdale." There were a few whoops from the weather team, which is ignored by both Rainbow Dash and Dusk. "Where are you going with this?"

"You'll find out soon enough. You see, not only did you win the competition, you saved there lives as well. If they lost interest in you over a bloody weather incident, I'd go up to Spitfire herself and give her a slap across the face. Seriously, I would." He hates it when ponies judge others by a single action, he loathes it.

"...Well this whole weather thing could've been prevented if you came earlier." Her argument may have not been well thought out, but it didn't stop Dusk's growing anger. All of his facial features seemed to get more dark as the argument continues.

“Are you bucking kidding me? You are still blaming me for all of this, because you assume that I have fully recovered and was just too lazy to help you. My wing hasn’t even fully healed up yet, and hovering in the air has actually started to hurt it again. I’ve only just gotten my flight back, and the initial euphoric feeling of it is now gone because of you. Thanks a lot Rainbow Dash.” He voices oozes with menace as he finishes.

The cyan mare’s willpower begins to falter under his dark gaze, his eyes seem to almost look lifeless on the inside. “Okay, okay then Dusk, I’m sorry okay.”

‘Well that’s probably the best possible apology I can get from her, especially when she’s like this.’

“Well then, I’m glad that could be absolved.” He says with little satisfaction in his voice, still bitter about the mare’s false accusation. He lands down onto the cloud, and starts to speak again, with most of the venom out of his voice “But while I occasionally enjoy being in the middle of a pointless argument with somepony, that isn’t why I’m here. I already told you that my wing is still recovering, and by the looks of it, it will be fully recovered in about two days or so. And so in preparation for the new job, could you give a quick tutorial about the intricacies of weather control?”

“...”

“..?” Dusk had no idea why she refused to answer his question, and yet, he thought it would be a bad idea to ask why.

“Damn it Zephyr! Why do you have to lie to me?!” She angrily yells out at nopony in particular. This gains the attention of the workers who had gone back to work.

Rainbow thought that she owed Dusk an explanation for her random outburst. She had told him about how Zephyr went up to tell her about Dusk and all that, but this is all old news for Dusk. He already knew about this though, mainly because he planned it in the first place. However, one thing he is quite curious about, is what exactly did he tell her.

The cyan mare starts to tell him "So what Zephyr told me is that you were one of the best fliers in your old job. I don't remember everything he told me, but by the sounds of it, he completely lied about your skills as a weather pony."

He felt his self confidence take a hit, "Hold on for a sec, he may have lied about me and my expertise with weather control, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I won't be skilled with it. If you teach me how to do some of the more complex things before my wing forces me to stop, it would be appreciated."

"Well..." She took some time to think about her answer. it would be a good idea to train him before his wing had fully recovered, since it would save a lot of time in the long run. But on the flip side, it could be a potential disaster waiting to happen, and she couldn't really be bothered doing it anyway. After some deliberation, she makes her decision, "Buck it, I'm sure the rest of the weather team can produce the snow, follow me Dusk.”

“Wait a second.” He says while holding a hoof out to try and stop Rainbow. She stops mid-flight and waits for an explanation. “I need to check my injured wing, just to see if it is ready for flight again.” He doubted it, since his wing started hurting about three minutes ago, but he may as well give it a try anyway. He flaps his wings, and winces when he feels a sharp pain in his injured wing. He silently curses himself, before asking, “Where do you want me to go?

“Up onto that cloud over there.” She points her hoof over to a moderately sized cloud, which is (thankfully) close to their position. “You ready?”

‘Well, buck me. I’m going to regret this.’

“Lets go.” He says as he launches himself into the air. He had to suppress a pained grimace as he followed Rainbow Dash up onto the first cloud...

They were finishing up on the third and final cloud for the day. Dusk had been taught how to properly and efficiently buck away a cloud. He had also learnt how to create a simple storm, and he had just been shown how to make snow with the clouds. They were now flying back to the main cloud again, where the rest of the weather team were situated.

Dusk is lagging behind Rainbow, since his pained wing forced him to a slow glide. He needed to glide so he wouldn’t lock up his wing and start falling clumsily towards the ground. He could feel his right wing growing more stiff as the trip wore on. Deciding that it is too risky for pride to influence his decision, he finally decides to call Rainbow Dash for assistance.

"H-Hey Rainbow, I need some help here... I think- I think I may lock up soon."

The rainbow maned pegasus turns around with a strangely happy look, "Finally, I was waiting for you to say something like this. You shouldn't over exert yourself like this. If your wing starts to hurt, you should tell me, I’m here to help you know.”

She starts to fly towards him, when he starts asking his next question. “Wait, you know?”

Rainbow had slowed down enough for her to be side to side with Dusk, “Of course I know, you look like you are in a lot of pain, but I wanted to see if you would tell me first. I’m disappointed that you didn’t tell me.” She starts to fly below the (barely) airborne stallion. “Dusk, sit down on my back so I can fly you back to the farm. You look like you are about to lock up at any second.”

He does just so, lowering himself mid-flight onto Rainbow Dash’s back, letting her fly him back to his destination. He relaxes his wings as gets flown across the snowy Equestrian skyline by the weather mare...

“You’re heavier than you look Dusk.”

“Thanks.”

Chapter 67: Treatment

Chapter 67: Treatment

Rainbow Dash had quickly flown Dusk back down onto the ground near the middle of the farmstead. After commenting on his weight once more, she flies off to continue to do her part of the weather duties. He could see a light covering of snow across the farm, which made the farm seem a lot more tranquil than he has ever seen it. The snow gave the trees a light white hue, giving off a certain beauty that you wouldn’t see on a normal day. It made the slow walk back to the farm house that little bit more peaceful.

It had almost made him forget that his wing still felt uncomfortably stiff. It took him a considerable amount of effort to put the wing back in its original spot.

‘Well I have just learnt something today, I should *never** overexert myself for foolish pride, like a bloody idiot. I’m smarter than that.*’

If he counts out this annoying tidbit, than he could safely say that he rather enjoyed the short walk back to the main part of the farm. He could see area where Big Macintosh and Applejack were working. They both seem to be applebucking their individual portions of the farm, with the red stallion bucking and collecting the fallen apples faster than his younger sister. He walks across the farm over to where Big Mac is working and briefly greets the farmer, as he prepares to applebuck his first tree.

As his hind legs make contact with the thick apple tree, he feels a sharp pain in his right wing. Even though it hurt, it was brief enough for him to ignore. However, he feels the pain again as he bucks the tree for the second time. Sighing in annoyance, he calls Big Mac over to tell him about this problem. When the big stallion walks over to where Dusk is working, he starts to hear Dusk's reasoning for calling him over. He hears about the stiff wing, how Rainbow had to fly him down to ground level, and lastly, he is told about the strange pain that he feels when he applebucks.

Big Mac then thinks of an idea after hearing the last part, "Could you stretch out your right wing for me?"

Dusk, apprehensive about doing what the farmer wanted him to do just moves it around a little bit. He feels a moderate amount of pain as he shifts the wing around. He relaxes it again, and just tells the farmer that it's, "Not possible, Big Mac."

Hearing the answer that he expected to hear, Big Mac says to Dusk, "You should go home Dusk. Let your wings recover."

"Wait a second, what does a bad wing have to do with performing an action, which doesn't require wings? I don't see reason to go home over something as irrelevant as my wing" Says Dusk, stating a flaw in the farmer's logic.

"Well, you said that your wing hurt when you bucked the tree. I think that's reason enough." Responds Big Mac, leaving a stunned Dusk in his wake. He wasn't stunned at the farmer, but more so at himself for being such a complete and utter clot.

'I should have seen that coming, that was rather stupid of me to do something like that. Although, in my defense, that really seems to be the norm for me today.'

He submits to the apple farmer, after seeing his reasoning for wanting Dusk to leave the farm for the day. He says his good byes to the stallion and starts to walk away from the Sweet Apple Acres in the direction of Fluttershy's cottage. He looks over at his (possibly) injured right wing, and cringes when he sees the horrible state that it is in. While the feathers on the particular wing were almost excessively ruffled and messed up, he was more shocked at the wing itself. His right wing looked crooked and just wrong, despite the fact that it was folded into its most painless position.

He thought that it would be best is he could go see Fluttershy to see if she knew somepony who could fix his wing. He needs a small reconditioning of the wing to be able to fix the damage that he caused to it. He knows that it isn't injured, and this is treatable, but he needs to do it soon, or else his wing could become injured again. (knowing his luck) His brisk walk turns into a quick trot with this information in his mind.

He steps into his marefriend's cottage, in a more stressed out and frazzled mood than he was before. His mood plummets even further when he sees a certain mare sitting on the lounge. He could see Rarity conversing with Fluttershy over a cup of tea, and while he knows that this is friendly enough, he could feel a migraine coming along. But, his (lessening) fear had to wait, since the matter at hand is a lot more important at the moment.

Despite this, a surprised Fluttershy is the first one to speak, “Oh Dusk, I-I didn’t know that you would be back so early today. I just invited Rarity over-”

She is stopped when Dusk speaks over her, “Sorry for interrupting Fluttershy, but I needed to come back because of a bit of an emergency. You seem, I finally gained the ability to fly again, but-”

“Egads, what happened to your wing?” Rarity melodramatically asks the stallion, interrupting him at the same time. Her sapphire eyes were practically glued to his damaged wing.

Fluttershy looks worryingly at Dusk, “W-What’s wrong with Dusk’s-” She catches a glimpse of the mangled wing, and is immediately saddened by the sight of it. “Oh... that doesn’t look too good...”

Dusk mentally swears at himself (again) for stuffing up his wing, before asking, “Is it really that bad?” The two nods from the mares confirms his growing fears. “Okay then, that is a bad thing, but I’m sure that it is still quite fixable. So despite what my wing actually looks like, I don’t think that my wing is injured in anyway, but if I leave it like this without treatment, than it may as well be. And so, it leads me to this question, (which I think you two are more than capable of answering.) do either of you two know anypony that can properly massage my wing?”

“Massage?” Asks Rarity confusedly, “How would a simple massage help with your wing?”

He starts to explain his reasoning, “Well, the way I see it, the bones and muscles in my wing are quite pained right now, and massages are supposed to soothe this sort of thing. I think you can see where I am going with this.”

"I... don't think it's supposed to work like that Dusk." Says Rarity. "They are supposed to relax the pony, not to fix you up." She seems a little bit hesitant about something.

"Well, its still worth a shot. And anyway, what else can I do? If I return to the hospital, (yet again) they'll probably wrap my wing into another cast for a week, and let's just say that I don't want that to happen again. I still think that this solution might be worth a shot, even if it doesn't work." He really wants to get his point across to the two mare, since he doesn't have much to lose anyway. (Except for his flight...)

After a few seconds, Fluttershy puts in some of her own input. "Well... um... I was going to recommend Aloe and Lotus to help you... but they haven't learnt how to massage wings, and their pegasi specialist is away for a few days for family reasons. Sorry..." The yellow coated pegasus actually sounds regretful as she tells him this.

Dusk hears this in her voice, and instinctively tries to comfort her. "Why are you apologizing Fluttershy? You haven't done anything wrong by saying that, it just means that I'll have to look harder." He then turns towards Rarity, and continues, "Speaking of which, I haven't asked you if you know of anypony that can help with my wing. So... do you know anypony who can help with my wing?" He asks, intentionally repeating himself.

"Well yes, I do know a mare who happens to be good at massaging wings... but I don't think you would like her too much." She is being intentionally vague to the stallion.

"Well then, who is it?" asks Dusk hesitantly. He had a feeling that he wouldn't like the answer too much.

"It's... me."

A tense silence fills the room as Rarity and Fluttershy await Dusk’s response. They were hoping that he would say something positive, to see if he had gotten over his fear.  “...Well, *sigh* I guess I have no other choice then...”

Rarity gives a small smile towards Dusk, thankful that he at least trusts her enough to let her do this. "That's good. I'll start the massage in 15 minutes from now. Fluttershy, do you know of any places that you would be comfortable for Dusk to lay down on?"

It took her no time to think of a response, "Well, you can use the bed if you want to."

"Ah good, that should be adequate space to massage his wing on." Rarity says in satisfaction. Her eye contact with Fluttershy starts to drift, as she tries to remember the location of said bed. "Fluttershy, isn't your bed inside the bedroom upstairs?"

"Um, yes it is. Why do you ask?"

"No reason, just wanted to see if I remembered." Answers Rarity.

Dusk had decided to add in to the conversation with a question of his own. "So Rarity, where did you pick up the skills to massage wings?" He asks curiously.

"Well... I have happened to be with a few stallions in my life, and one of them happened to teach me a few things about this sort of thing. He was a pegasi as well, so I did end up getting a lot of practice on him, but alas, things didn't work out between us." She seems completely unfazed by this.

"A pity."

"I can't guarantee that this plan of yours will work,  but I'll try my best."

Dusk, Rarity, and Fluttershy all begin to walk up the staircase, up towards the main bedroom of the cottage. Dusk had insisted that Fluttershy should come along, “Or else I may instinctively spasm in fear.” When they had all gotten inside, Rarity had instructed Dusk to lay down on the bad, ('Yeah, this doesn't sound sexual in the slightest.') and to extend his right wing. Naturally, he objects to this...

"But I can't just stretch out a near crippled wing without it hurting in some way, shape or form."Complains the dark blue stallion.

Rarity just sighs in annoyance as she hears the whines of the 'Protector of Ponyville'. "Well then, you're just going to have to live with the pain then." She didn't even bother trying to hide the bittersweet tone in her voice.

"Great..."

Dusk turns his head around, and looks worryingly at his right wing. He knew that some intense pain is about to occur, and he hated knowing this. He begins to very slowly extend his wing, and is pleasantly surprised when he doesn't actually feel any pain in the wing. But when he had gotten it out to a half stretch, his eyes shoot up, and he yells out loudly in pain.

Fluttershy is the first (and only) one to worry, "Oh no, oh dear, what happened Dusk?"

"Ugh, it's like all of the pain that was missing at first just accumulated into one, and struck me when I least expected it." A thought crosses his mind, and he realizes something. "No wait, that is exactly what it felt like." He says in a deadpan tone to nopony in particular.

[IDEA]

"Well, I hope that won't happen again Dusk, that looked like it hurt." Says Fluttershy.

Suddenly, Dusk's expression grows much more darker, as his head starts to pump in adrenaline. “Well it’s going to hurt a lot more in a second...”

“Wait, wha-”

*CRACK* “AGHHH!” He had snapped his wing out to full stretch, causing an immense amount of stress to the appendage. (Not the best of ideas that he has ever had, but it got the intended result)

"Oh my gosh, oh no, are you okay Dusk?" Fluttershy asks in a panicked state.

"...No..." He painfully responds. He doesn't see the grimace on the other mare's face, as she remains in a stunned silence. "Theoretically... should be no broken bones..." He hadn't bothered using the correct grammar, and he didn't care.

"I-Is there anything I could do to help?" Asks Fluttershy.

"Yes, get Rarity to start the massage." Answers Dusk, whom is feeling a bit better than before.

This snaps the unicorn out of her stunned state, as she prepares her hooves for the massage. "Oh yes, that is a good idea. I'll try to be careful."

She reaches in towards the stretched wing to start the treatment. Her delicate hooves make contact with the stallion's near crippled wing, and she begins the massage...

'This actually feels sort of good.'

Suddenly, a minute after Rarity had started the treatment, a bolt of electricity from Dusk's body strikes Rarity's left forehoof, causing her to jump back in suprise, and slight pain. She shakes her hoof around to try and lessen the pain, until her eyes look upon something that both Dusk, and Fluttershy were staring at.

All three of them could see electricity pulsing around both of Dusk's wings for some unknown reason. The thin crooked lines of energy would just travel around his wing at seemingly random directions, moving along at impossible speeds. Dusk's next seven words describes the whole situation.

"What the buck is going on here?"

Chapter 69: Of The Night

Chapter 69: Of The Night

"So, unless I heard you wrong, Princess Luna will be coming here."

"Yes," Confirms Rarity, "You heard correctly Dusk."

"Sweet." A great big smile is plastered onto his muzzle, and his tone of voice became one of an excited fancolt. "I can't believe that Princess Luna is going to see me." He does a very unstallion like squee in delight.

"I'm eager to meet Luna as well, since I'm probably the only one in town who hasn't met her yet. Actually no, I'm positively thrilled to be able to meet her myself." She says with hints of anticipation and joy in her voice. "She came to Ponyville in the last Nightmare Night, in case you were wondering."

"Well, that answered most of my questions. Just... why didn't you visit her when she was there?" Asks Dusk.

"I had a rather large order from a very influential and famous client, and it just happened to be a day before the Night..."

While both Dusk and Rarity were both distracted by their own conversation, Fluttershy was trying to stop a possible disaster from occurring. She was trying to calm down the crazed and seemingly possessed Twilight Sparkle, who is becoming more and more stressed with every passing second. Her mane and tail had gotten into a messy state as she continued to clean her home. (which was already clean to begin with)

"Uhm, Twilight you don't need to worry about the house, it looks fine the way it is.”

“But that’s the problem!” She yells, bringing her shrunken eyes a few centimetres from Fluttershy’s, which forces the yellow pegasus into a near fetal position, “Everything can’t be ‘fine’ when royalty visits, it has to be absolutely perfect.”

Fluttershy had begun to cower under Twilight’s crazed stare, “I-I’m sorry...” She has started to cry under the unicorn’s influence. She was scared of Twilight, the way that she was staring at her, as well as her yelling at her like that. It frightens her, “I’m r-really, really sorry.”

There was a low growl emanating from the draconic resident in the room, “Twilight, what the hay is your problem.” Aggressively snaps Spike, who had begun to seeth in anger. There were small wisps of smoke escaping through the dragon’s open mouth as her continues, “Why did you do this to Fluttershy, look at what you’ve done to her!”

“Spike, do not-”

“I said look at her.” He retorts, while pointing a claw towards Fluttershy. Twilight turns her gaze over to the yellow pegasus, and immediately starts to regret her past actions. Fluttershy is curled up into a ball on the ground, and everypony in the room could hear her slow, sad cries, despite the fact that her face was obscured by her mane and body. With her is Dusk, who had knelt down to ground level, and us trying to comfort his marefriend as best as he could. She could tell that he was saying something to Fluttershy, but he was too quiet for Twilight to hear him. Even Rarity was giving the unicorn dirty looks. She felt horrible for doing this to Fluttershy. She never thought that she would do something so harsh to anypony, let alone Fluttershy. There was only one thing that she could do that could not only make Fluttershy feel better, but herself as well.

Twilight slowly walks up to the crying pegasus, and kneels down to (the equivalent of) Fluttershy's eye level. Dusk knew what Twilight was about to do, and so he stands up and steps back, to give the two a little more space. "...F-Fluttershy... d-do you mind i-if I c-can talk to you?"

There seems to be no response from Fluttershy, but her pained sobs have now receded. There was a dead silence in the room as Twilight tries again, “Fluttershy?”

“You s-scared me.”

“...” She could think of no cognitive response to her friend’s sudden comment. Fluttershy is looking at the unicorn, but was still in her fetal position. “...I-I didn’t-”

“I-I know you didn’t mean to scare like that, b-but..." She wipes a few tears off her face, which makes Twilight feel even more regretful than  before. "...Y-You... I... P-P-Please don't do that again T-Twilight.  You were... so f-frightening...”

"I'm so sorry, I just know what came over me. I won't do that again to you Fluttershy, I promise." She could feel her composure begin to slip, as her eyes begin to water. "Can you forgive me?"

Fluttershy, despite her tears, warmly smiles at Twilight. "Of c-course Twilight. We all have our good and bad days, a-and I know that you weren't um... normal at the time." She instantly regrets putting it that bluntly, but she still continues, "So y-yes, I forgive you."

Twilight smiles back at her friend, appreciative for the second chance. "Thank you Fluttershy." They both give each other a much needed hug, relieving all of the tension between the mares. There is a collective "D'aaawww." From Rarity and Dusk which drew the attention of the remaining three in the room.

"Jeez, get a room you two." Comments Spike, who is looking at the mare and stallion.

"Spike." Warns Twilight with an authoritative tone.

He looks back at the embarrassed blush that spread across Dusk and Rarity's face, "Worth it."

"Now Twilight, we are going to have to do something about that disaster of a mane. It's a mess darling, we need to fix it at once."

"I don't think I have the time to brush my mane Rarity, such it is just a casual visit." She watches Rarity as she begins to walk towards the staircase. "Where are you going Rarity?"

"To your room of course." Her tone of voice made it seem like the most obvious thing in Equestria. "We must brush that mane and tail back into that simple, yet elegant style of yours."

"Aww, thanks Rarity." She says after her friend's compliment, "But, I still don't have the time to brush my mane right now, I’ll do it later.”

“Nonsense.” She envelops Twilight in a levitational field and brings the mare up the stairs with her. “I don’t care what you say, I refuse to let you see the Princess while looking like that.”

“W-Wait.”

The remaining three in the room just observed as Rarity levitates Twilight up the stairs, and towards the bedroom. None of them did anything to help Twilight in anyway, since the two males were too busy laughing at the purple unicorn’s misfortune. (And Fluttershy was chuckling to this as well.) Twilight shows little to no resistance against her friend’s hold, since she knew that Rarity wouldn't do anything bad to her.

"Poor mare, Rarity is really gonna give it to Twi.” Says Dusk in a slightly humoured tone. “Trust me, I have first hoof experience of what happens when you defy her sense of fashion.”

“Umm... maybe we should go help Twilight.” Quietly suggests Fluttershy, who has now stopped laughing at the unicorn’s expense.

The dragon and the stallion took a few seconds to think of an answer, and in that time, they both came out with the same answer. “No.”

“I think I’ll pass ‘Shy. I’d rather not see Rarity in another one of her frenzies, if you know what I mean.” Dusk shudders at the thought of what Rarity could be doing to Twilight right now. "I think I'd rather wait for the Princess to arrive instead."

"Oh... I see..."

Perspective: Twilight Sparkle

"R-Rarity, seriously, we don't have time to fix my mane. Put me down?!" Twilight was still under the levitational powers of her alabaster friend. She was now starting to get quite angry at Rarity, since she was too stubborn to listen to Twilight's requests. "For Celestia's sakes, just put me down."

"Trust me Twilight, it'll only take a second." She started to search Twilight's vanity for her brush. "You need to look your best when royalty visits."

"Yes, I know Rarity. You've already told me this." She says in a deadpan tone. She is instinctively fidgeting under the pressure of the levitational field, in the vain attempt of getting out of said field. She knew that she could escape with her magic, but it was quite magically draining ability, and was really just a last resort tactic. "And in case you are wondering, my brush is in the bottom draw to the left."

"Really?" Rarity starts to rummage through the drawer with the supposed brush in it, and surely enough, she finds the brush in the correct place. “Thanks Twilight, now, would you mind if you could hold still while I fix up your mane?”

“*sigh* I guess.”

‘It’s not like I have a choice in the matter. I suppose it's just a mane, no need to make a big deal out of it.’

Rarity had released her levitational field from her friend, and set her onto the ground. She then walks up behind Twilight, and starts to run the brush through her tangled mane. Each brush of her mane was done at a fast pace but it was surprisingly painless, considering how bad her mane and tail looked. It requires a certain amount of precision and concentration to do it this well.

That concentration was broken as they both heard hoofsteps walking up the staircase. They could hear Dusk and Fluttershy talk about something, "Fluttershy, I can't believe that you guilt tripped me enough to do this."

"I didn't mean to. It was an accident, I swear." She says defensively.

"If it were anypony else who said that, I wouldn't believe them. I can tell that you aren't lying to me. Anyway, I don't really see the point of 'saving' Twilight, she's probably fine."

Twilight and Rarity just turn to each other, and both mouth "What?" in confusion. Since when did she need to be saved? Eager to find out what they were talking about, they both stare at the stairs and wait.

Seconds later, when the couple walk into the bedroom, Dusk basically sums up the situation in a single sentence, "Huh, so Rarity isn't dooming Twilight with her brush. Who would've thunk it."

Rarity gives Dusk an estranged look "Wait, what?"

"Well, you see you seemed to be in one of those kind of moods where-"

"GOOD AFTERNOON TWILIGHT SPARKLE!" Yells a booming voice from the lower level. "Twilight?" It sounded like a mare's voice.

Twilight and Fluttershy immediately begin to walk down the stairs, signalling for Dusk and Rarity to follow. As he catches up to the two, he asks them, "Who was that?"

"It's Princess Luna, she's here." She says in an enthusiastic tone.

'Thank Celestia that I remembered to soundproof the library from the outside.'

Perspective: Dusk Shard

Both Dusk and Rarity gasp in excitement, "She's here?!" He goes ahead of the other two, and is the first into the main area of the library. The alicorn has a navy blue coloured coat, and both a horn on the top of her head, and large wings on the sides of her body. She, like her sister, has a crown and regalia, but they were specially crafted to suit her body. Her crown was smaller than Celestia's but it was crafted out of pure ebony, and her regalia was made out of the same mineral, but with a silver crescent moon on the front. The moon on there is an exact copy of the crescent moon on her cutie mark, which was a moon on a black backdrop. The shoes that she wore were crafted out of the finest of moonstone. These items have been tailored to fit her smaller, thinner frame. He could see that she was looking directly at him.

"We presume that you are Dusk Shard?" She says in a more calmer, quieter voice.

Dusk kneels towards her in a sign of respect, and says, "Yes, I'm Dusk Shard, Princess. It's an honour to meet you."

The navy blue alicorn nods in response, and gives him a small, genuine smile, "We thank you Dusk, but hast no need to bow to us. Thou can just call-"

She stops mid sentence as she sees another one of her subjects bowing to her. It was an alabaster unicorn, "Good afternoon your Majesty."

Keeping her stoic visage, she welcomes her second subject, "Ahh, the Element of Generosity. Good afternoon to you too Rarity." She sees two more of the Elements enter the room, with Fluttershy bowing to her (and shaking slightly) and Twilight just standing and smiling at the Princess. Seeing that almost everypony still groveling to her, she issues a command with the accidental assistance of the Royal Canterlot Voice, "THOU DOST NOT NEED TO BOW BEFORE US!"

Dusk could feel his ears ringing after the verbal assault on his ear drums 'Wow, something stronger than my Royal Voice. I think I’d know who would win in a Voice fight.'

"Um... Princess," Quietly speaks up Fluttershy, "Remember, you need to-..." She trails off at the end.

"COULD THOU SPEAK LOUDER?"

"I said that you need to be-..."

"PARDON?"

"More quiet." She finally gets out.

She hears what the pegasus had said to her, "LIKE THIS?"

"Lower..."

"What about now?" Luna was really trying.

"Almost"

"Am I low enough?"

Fluttershy smiles at the ruler, "That's fine now Princess."

"Please, just call me Luna." She addresses to not only Fluttershy, but to the rest of the group as well. Dusk had noticed that her old Equestrian speech has stopped, as she starts to speak like a modern era pony.

Perspective: Luna

After all of the introductions had finished, Luna had spoken to Dusk, Fluttershy and Rarity about the electric wings, taking in all of the information that she could get. While she couldn't be completely certain of this answer, she thinks that it may have something to do with magic. In her many years of ruling before the Nightmare Moon incident, she had heard of spells and runes that could do similar things to a pony. She started to try and piece together a connection, and to try and find something to prove her theory.

Supposedly in the early civilisation of Equestria, the pegasi had invented a magical rune which could charge a pegasus' wings in a similar fashion. It was used as a law enforcement tool, since it could both intimidate and stun a pony as well. These were outlawed about a decade after they first appeared though, after cases of deaths caused by said runes, from both victim, and user. Even though we found out that some runes had too much magical energies inside of them, and we could have safely

Also, there are certain spells that can get a magic user to experience the same thing. When Starswirl the Bearded figured out how to time travel, something that was consistent in his reports is that he was always pulsing with electricity for a few seconds after travel. Completely non-lethal electricity, but it was still visible.

‘Oh but that’s it! I believe his supposed lightning wings are actually magical. One thing I can say for certain, is that it that this lightning is caused by some kind of magical energy. (Since natural lightning would most likely kill him) Another thing that I can confirm is that this magical lightning can indeed course around a pony’s body. While that alone doesn't prove anything, this effect can be achieved with different spells. Some advanced spells can give the lightning effect as well, so I know that this magical lightning is possible.

But then there are the problems with proving my theory. Firstly, it is obvious that this lightning cannot be produced from natural energies in Dusk’s body, it can only be produced from an outside magical source, but where? Well, I suppose I could start with Rarity, ask her for more details of the incident.’

She thinks back to when Rarity's perspective of the events, specifically when she was massaging the stallion's wings. Luna looks around for Rarity, but she couldn't find the mare. All she could see is Dusk and Fluttershy talking to each other about... something. After doing a quick check of the area, and not finding the mares, she asks the two a question. (As soon as there was a lull in their conversation.)

"Excuse me, but would either of you be able to tell me where Twilight and Rarity have gone?"

Dusk starts to look around the main room of the library for the mares, but Fluttershy beats him to it. "They are both making tea in the kitchen behind you, Princess."

She nods in response, and turns around to see the mares she was searching for. "Thank you Fluttershy. Also, you do not need to call me Princess or Your Highness if you do not want to. It's too regal for my liking."

"Okay L-Luna. I'll try." She timidly responds.

"Thank you."

'I've never remembered the Element of Kindness being this quiet and shy. I didn't see her that much when she saved me from Nightmare Moon, and while she was quite helpful with my voice during Nightmare Night, she didn't really seem like the quiet type. Maybe I'm missing something here.'

Just as she walks towards the kitchen, she is interrupted by Dusk, who has a question to ask the royal mare, "Excuse me Luna, but if you don't me asking, what were you doing when you were staring out to space before?"

"Thinking about your wings, and what could have caused them." She was well aware of her tendencies to become lost in her own thoughts, but she had forgotten that she wasn't alone this time. "I believe that it attributed to some kind of magical involvement, but I have been yet to prove if my theory is correct or not."

Dusk nods in understanding, “Oh, okay. Well good luck Princess, and I would just like to say how much of an honour it is to meet you.”

She smiles back at him with the slightest of red on her cheeks. “Why thank you. We- I am not used to such compliments from the public.”

Dusk looks at the alicorn with confusion, “Luna, why do you look nervous?”

“Do I really look nervous?” She is genuinely confused as to why she came across that way. “I guess I am just bad at accepting compliments.”

“Ah, okay then, I won’t keep you for any longer then.” And with that, he leaves the dark blue alicorn to let her continue with her original plans.

Seeing that Dusk had left to talk to Fluttershy again, she began to walk up to the mares in the kitchen, who were in deep discussion about... spa days? (It was a rather one-sided talk, with Rarity controlling most of the conversation.) Not wanting to interrupt their possibly important (?) conversation, she just looks around the rather plain kitchen as she waits. The kitchen looks more like an extension of the library, rather than a part of it. The floors were made of white tiles rather than wood, and the walls and ceilings of the three walls were painted in a similarly coloured white. She assumes that this is so the gas stove is much less likely to set the kitchen on fire. Even though the kitchen seems to be an extension on the interior of the library, she could tell that it actually isn’t, since it is still part of the main room, only separated by a medium sized counter. (Which was white on both sides) The kitchen itself contained the main essentials that any kitchen should have, the kettle and stove mentioned before, an oven, a toaster and several drawers filled with various cups, cutlery and cooking items. It had plenty of room for the three inside.

The kettle had started coming up to a boil, which grabs the attention of the two unicorns in the room. As they both turn around to see the boiling kettle, they end up seeing the dark blue alicorn, who was patiently waiting in the room for them to finish. Twilight expresses her surprise as she speaks, “P-Princess, I-I didn’t know you were standing there. How long were you standing there for?”

“Not too long.” She calmly responds. “I just came here so I could ask Rarity a few questions about Dusk's massage, if that's okay."

"Oh, but of course your Highness." Rarity notices the alicorn shift uncomfortably as her sentence finishes, but she pays it no mind as she continues, "So what would like to know Princess?"

'We would like to know why you insist on referring us by our royal title.'

"I would like to know of you used any kind of magic to assist you during the massage." Presses the alicorn, hoping that she could get a useful answer.

Unfortunately, much to the detriment of Luna, she shakes her head, "I'm sorry Princess, but I'm afraid that I didn't use any magic while I was doing the massage."

'Great...'

Not wanting to give up so easily, Princess Luna persists with her questioning, "Are you absolutely sure that you didn't use any magic on him recently?"

“Well...” She recalls the time when she had levitated him using her magic, after she had calmed down after that... incident. “There was this one time that I levitated him for a little bit.”

“Hmm... levitatation, I don’t think that this would be able to do anything to Dusk, in terms of magic. Are you sure that you haven’t done any other kinds of magic on him?" Her calm tone became one of desperation, since she is hoping that the tailor could give her more answers.

All hope of this was stopped when the white unicorn shook her head a second time. “I’m afraid that was the only time I remember ever using any kind of spell on Dusk. Sorry.” Her apology sounded genuine, as if it was all her fault.”

“There is no need to keep apologizing for something you didn’t do.” The alicorn knew she did it out of respect, (and possibly not to anger her) but it was getting too frequent for her liking. “You cannot control how these circumstances play out.”

“*gasp* EUREKA! I have the answer!” Yells out Twilight, who had a very satisfied grin on her muzzle.

“Answered what darling?” Questions Rarity who, along with Princess Luna, was curiously staring at the purple unicorn.

“I think I know why Dusk has these electric wings.” She says excitedly.

‘Yes!’

Luna, who was equally as excited with this discovery says for her to, “TELL US, TWILIGHT SPARKLE!”

She begins to eagerly listen to the... silence in the room, as Twilight and Rarity try to recover their hearing after Luna’s accidental verbal onslaught. Even Dusk and Fluttershy needed a little bit of time to recover their hearing, but with considerably less time. They had diverted their attention to the three mares in the kitchen, where two of them have just started to get their hearing back.

After assessing the damage she had just caused to her subjects, she utters a simple apology. “Um... sorry for that everypony, I got excited. Anyway, Twilight, you were saying...”

“Forgiven. Now, this happened about a week ago when I was testing the magical effects of pegasi wings...”

Twilight tells Luna about the unsuccessful experiment and what ended up happening that day. She briefly tells Luna about the EEG, what she was testing for that day. She then skips ahead to the magic the magic transfusion, "And at the end of the testing, due to certain circumstances, I had to transfer some of my magical energies over to Dusk."

"Ah yes, the Magic Transfusion spell, "I thought only sister and I knew about that spell." Says Luna, who knew a, few ponies who had learnt about the spell, most of which were long dead. "Apparently there was a variation on the spell that was supposed to take away the life energies of a willing individual, and move them onto another individual, to either extend a pony's lifespan, or to cure an incurable sickness."

The three mares (especially the unicorns) look at the Princess with shock and horror, "But, surely such a spell cannot possibly exist." Quietly says Twilight, hoping for it not to be the case.

Luna dismisses their fears, "It was just a rumor from a few millennia ago, we quickly got rid of such lies before they spread to the public."

"Oh that's good to hear." Responds the purple unicorn, thankful that something so horrible is just a made up rumor.

'If only that was the truth. I won't forget the night when we discovered that cult. Their damn leader, I cannot believe she killed all of those ponies for her own personal gain. I enjoyed dragging her to the jail cell. I'm sure she liked those 120 years of isolation.'

She could feel her eyes flash white in anger, just before Twilight finishes her recollection of the past events. "So I transferred a tiny bit of my magic into Dusk's body, and well... that is pretty much it.That's all that I can tell you Princess."

"Ahh okay..." She is quite confident that the magic transferral is probably the cause of Dusk's electric wings. 'Excess magical energies have been known to cause similar things to magic users, with some cases of magical lightning occasionally coursing around the bodies of unicorns, with more stored magic than their bodies can handle. While this is rare for unicorns, this is a first for pegasi.'

Luna then continues to speak, "Well then, lets see if the magic transferral really did cause the supposed lightning wings.” The alicorn had a plan, “Now for the first step. Dusk, do you mind if you could stand still for the moment?”

Dusk then does absolutely nothing as Luna continues. “Okay, good, now for the next step...”

There is a small silence in the room as the other four in the room wait for her to continue. “...So what is the next- *zap* AHH DAMN IT!"

Luna,  who had cast the surprise lightning spell on Dusk, wore a satisfied grin as she faces Dusk. "Sorry that I had to do that to you, but for the second and final step to work, you weren't supposed to know that it was coming." After seeing his annoyed look, she points out something that would probably brighten him up a bit. "And just in case you haven't noticed yet, look at your wings."

Hearing this, he automatically assumes that the experiment was a success. As he looks at his wings, he just says, "Oh sweet merciful Luna..." His stunned expression turn into a look of awe. "Ha hah~ I can't believe it! How did you do that?"

"Well I just shocked you with a simple and relatively harmless lightning spell hoping for some kind of reaction. It was a bit of a stab in the dark really." She admits to him.

"You don't say..." He says in a very uncomfortable tone.

'I'm not sure if I should be worried about her methods or...'

Chapter 70: When You Were Young

Chapter 70: When You Were Young

Princess Luna had to leave the library a few moments after she had started up Dusk's lightning wings. She had said a few words, “As much as I hate going back to the Day Court, I promised my sister that I would be back as soon as possible.” before waving good bye and teleporting back to Canterlot in a flash of dark blue magic. Dusk’s wings had returned back to normal a few seconds after the Princess had gone.

The original excitement and euphoria from the group (especially from Rarity and Dusk) had worn down and was replaced with a strange feeling of satisfaction, possibly attributed to the solving of the now confirmed lightning wings. But with no reason to stay in the home, and Twilight wanting to study about magical lightning, they were soon separated, with Rarity leaving first, “So I can get a head start on a new dress that I am creating.” (While obviously saying her good byes as well.)

Dusk and Fluttershy stayed for just a little bit longer, mainly because of Twilight’s constant questioning about Dusk’s wings. They had planned on leaving earlier, but...

"So what does it feel like when your wings are like that?"

"It's like a faint tingling feeling, mainly inside the wings. There's no other way to explain it."

"Mm hmm, so how faint is it?"

"*sigh* ...Very. I thought you were supposed to be studying about the subject of magical lightning.”

“I am.”

It had been like this for for the past five minutes, with Twilight asking various questions to Dusk about his electric wings. Fluttershy didn't really seem to mind too much though, since she was content to just browse the Romance section of the library. Dusk took a quick glance at that particular section, and he found it rather unsurprising that there were only a small amount of paperback books there. They don’t really seem like the librarian’s kind of thing anyway. Unfortunately, he was forced to pry away from his distraction as Twilight asks even more questions about his wings...

‘Buck me, seriously. Just finish already?!’

“So do you know when the lightning is just about to appear, do you feel anything beforehand?”

“No...”

It had taken the mare another excruciatingly long ten minutes of questioning, the stallion was finally allowed to go back home with Fluttershy. Twilight had let the pegasus borrow one of her own saddle bags to hold her books in. Dusk had not inquired for the names of the books, except for one certain novel.

"Fluttershy, have you ever heard of the book known as ‘Fifty Shades of Gray’?”

“Umm... yes...” She begins to visibly blush, “Rarity owns the book, and she told me it was a great read... so I borrowed it. I... didn’t like it.” She was really red, both embarrassed and flustered at the same time.

“Uh huh, okay. I was just going to ask you if you borrowed it but...” He wanted to ask her one more thing about the book, “So what didn’t you like about it? Was it the overly descriptive and disgusting feelings/emotions, the lack of a proper story, or the use of plot.” He had a faint suave tone on the last word, emphasizing it’s double meaning.

She had heard, and understood everything he had just said, “Um, a little bit of everything that you said really.”

“Thought so."

A small silence pass over the two, as they continue to walk towards the cottage, out of the vicinity of the town. All that could be heard were the softened hoofsteps on the path, and the calls of the birds that inhabit the surrounding area.

"So umm... Fluttershy, I need to answer an important question about our relationship." As soon as he finishes, he could see that Fluttershy is looking at him with question. He had a feeling that this would end badly, but... "We've already gone this far into our relationship. I've moved into your home, (Its not like I had a choice anyway) and we already share the same bed, we've even had sex twice despite only being together for only three weeks. So I have to ask, do you think you should introduce me to your parents?"

She looks downtrodden as she begins to stare at the ground "...no..."

'What?' He was quite intrigued with her answer, he didn't expect a straight up 'no' from her, "Why not?"

"..I'll tell you when we get back." She says miserably, gaze unmoving.

"Um.. okay..." He didn't like this one bit, especially since it made her become this sad so quickly. He wasn't so sure that he wanted to hear what she had to say now, but he knows that he has already gone too far to stop now. He had no choice, but to slowly walk back to the cottage. He takes a quick look back at Fluttershy, and could see her bottom lip quiver for a few seconds.

'Do you want me to feel any worse?'

After five minutes of near silence, the two had made it to the cottage still in a depressive mood. All the feeling; the passion, is now gone, replaced with an awful tension. By no means was this a strain on their  relationship, since they both knew that it was just a harmless question, but Dusk still felt remorseful after what he has done.

With a sigh, and a somber expression, he asks the question he has been dreading, "So Fluttershy, are you ready?"

She sits herself down onto the lounge as she speaks. "Dusk, there is no need to feel so bad about it. You know that it isn't your fault right?" There was a unusually happy tone on her sad visage, and it brought Dusk a bittersweet smile.

"Heh, I know, but its good to have a second pony think so too.” Now that he felt slightly uplifted, he could continue, “So uhh, do you think you could tell me why you don’t want me to see your parents?”

She nods in acceptance as she begins, “Well um... I don’t get along with my parents too well. My parents were... mean to me as a filly...” Her expression turns into a sad frown, as she recalls memories from years ago. “I was a failure to them, and they hated me because of that."

'What?'

"Aren't you being a bit harsh on yourself Fluttershy?" He realises how hypocritical he sounded, but he didn't dwell on that fact. "Why would your parents think that?"

"Because I couldn't fly well." She sees the stallion's jaw drop as she continues her recollection of her past. "My parents were one of the richest and most influential ponies in Cloudsdale, and I was supposedly tarnishing their reputation with my poor flight skills. That is what they told me when I was a filly."

"You can't be serious." He was shocked that somepony could be so selfish, especially to somepony so sweet. He could see her go more deep into depression as she goes on.

"When I kept on failing my flight classes, they beat me as punishment, they neglected me, just because I wasn't strong enough to fly properly. *sigh* Have you ever heard the story of how I got my cutie mark?"

Confused by the strange change in subject, he just says that he hasn't. She explains to him about Rainbow Dash's race and why her friend had raced against the bullies. She had also told him about the fall, and when she had met Rarity for the first time. The mood in the room ended up rising considerably at that point. But the feeling went away as soon as Fluttershy started to tell him when Rainbow had found her, and brought her back up to Cloudsdale...

(Eight Years Ago)

Perspective: Fluttershy

“...I'm glad that I found you Fluttershy, but I have to ask, how did you end up on the ground anyway?”

"Um... I fell."

"What?!"

Fluttershy and her new friend (?) were conversing outside of her parents' manor. (Which amazed the younger, more headstrong Rainbow Dash, because of the sheer size of the home)

But all was not well about hours ago, for the rainbow maned filly. As soon as the euphoria of the Rainboom went away, she could tell something was wrong when she couldn't see Fluttershy in the crowd, but that's a story for another day.

Back in the present time, Rainbow had asked a question that bugged her, "So Fluttershy, how did you end up on the ground anyway?"

She timidly responds, "I-I think either you or those bullies pushed me off the cloud as the race began."

"Really? Oh jeez, I'm sorry Fluttershy?" She felt a great deal of remorse for the yellow pegasus. "Oh gosh, I didn't know, I swear."

"That's okay, Rainbow, you couldn't have known at the time. And... um, thanks for standing up for me." She had never had anypony stand up for her before. She liked the feeling of security.

"Heh, no worries Fluttershy. Well, I think I gotta go now, parents and all. Seeya." She then takes off into the skies of Cloudsdale, leaving the other pegasi before she could even complete a wave. When the rainbow maned mare was only a speck in the distance, Fluttershy had decided that it would be a good idea to go inside the manor.

She had grabbed her house key, (from the unexplainable expanse of inter-dimentional space which everypony seemed to have) and opened the finely crafted, mahogany doors of the house. As she walked inside, she saw the wooden, old-style, upper class furniture that surrounded the main room. She had gotten accustomed to her parents taste in design years ago, but she still hated it. It was so drab; so boring, even for her tastes. The worst part, is that this same style of furniture was scattered across the whole house, and it was horrible.

Another thing she didn't like, was how her parents almost never are her as she walked inside. In fact, half the times they never greeted her. She always used to of excuses why this they did this, and it made herself feel better.'I'm sure that they are doing for us anyway.' She was able to live with all of the abuse, and loneliness with this kind of mindset.

She still loved her parents.

She had walked through the kitchen, passed the guest room, and walked downstairs towards her mother's workshop, where she toiled seemingly without end. She was a famous seamstress in Cloudsdale, who rose to fame after she introduced a new line of fashion to the world, and she still does custom dresses for famous pegasi to this day.

Her mother had the same bodily features as her daughter, with a yellow coat, and a pink mane, but they were both a few shades darker than the younger counterpart. Her eyes had become a dulled yellow colour, which were focused on the incomplete dress on her workbench. Her cutie mark was a needle and thread, which clearly shows that her special talent involves sewing, and things like that. There was a light gray streak in her long, stylized mane, but this was the only sign of aging on the mare's body, since her figure was still as thin and slender as it was in her youth. Needless to say, she aged well. It is clear that Fluttershy received most of her traits from her mother. Everything, except for her personality...

So Fluttershy had walked into her mother's workshop as she did every evening, "Hello mum." She calmly said, waving a hoof towards the mare.

She looked at her daughter, and said, "Good afternoon Fluttershy, I presume that you had a good day at school."

The filly nodded, "Uh... Y-Yeah, I did."

This is usually where their conversation ends, but the seamstress noticed something about Fluttershy that she had never seen before, "Fluttershy, if I may ask, how did you get your cutie mark?"

The filly didn't seem to notice the lack of enthusiasm from her parent, since her family didn't place much importance on such a.thing. "I got it when I helped the animals, which were scared by the rainboom on the ground."

"On the ground you say... so would you kindly tell me, why you were on the ground in the first place?"

"Umm... well..." Fluttershy had just realised what she had said, and how costly it would be for her. "I... fell."

“You... fell?”

The filly knew that this would end badly, “Somepony accidentally pushed me of a cloud and I couldn’t fly back up to Cloudsdale, and I was about to hit the ground when a swarm of butterflies saved me. So while I was down there, I started to-”

“At tut. I’ve heard enough.” Said the mare, with a calm, but cold tone. “So you’re telling me, that you needed a swarm of freaking butterflies to save you rather than fly yourself.”

“B-But-”

“Well that does it Fluttershy. You are a failure; a lost cause; useless. Your father and I have been trying to get you to fly for years. Years Fluttershy, and you know what you have achieved? Nothing. That's what."  She was instilling an immense amount of fear into the filly, and she knew it. "You have no use to us. You tarnish our reputation, especially your father's, since he is known as a racer whose daughter can't even fly.  You may be of my own flesh and blood, but sometimes we need to cut the fat. Get out.”

Fluttershy was weeping now, as she cowers away from her mother, who is towering her. "B-B-But mum-"

The mare grabs a slightly worn belt, with her mouth and whips Fluttershy on the side. "Leave, now!"

She began to cry on the spot, the shock and grief immobilising her to the spot. The pain of it was horrible. It took the mother a second whip to finally get the filly to run out of the house. The mare felt absolutely no remorse, only worrying about the time that was wasted in this encounter. She hated inefficiencies...

(Present Time)

Perspective: Dusk

"...but despite all that, I still love them. I know that they were bad to me, but they are still my parents." Despite her melancholic expression, he could see that she harboured no anger towards her parents.

'I know that you are the Element of Kindness, but come on, seriously?!'

"Fluttershy, I would like you to tell me where they live." He says in a dark tone, feeling an immense hatred inside of him.

"Umm... what for?"

"So I could get them to give you the respect that you deserve," His voice then becomes more crazed, "Or a buck in the face, whatever they deserve..."

"Wait no!"

Author’s Note: Yay, another Dark chapter. [Sarcasm]

At my school, we were visited by a famous Australian artist, who has written a few international award winning books. (His name escapes me) I learnt a few things that would completely change my story synopsis for Opportunity of a Lifetime, Once in a Lifetime, as well as other planned fics.

Also, I’ve been slower with my updates, because I’ve been slightly overloaded with homework, and since I now have 19 new games to play on my PC, and about 6 more on the Xbox. (The Orange Box, Humble Bundle 5 etc) The next chapter may take a bit longer, since I will be beginning another fic.

Chapter 70.5: Help

Chapter 70.5: Help

It took some time before Fluttershy was able to quell Dusk’s anger with her parents. She was relived that she was able to stop him before he did anything rash or unpredictable. Based on experience, she knew that he was quite easy to anger. She loves him, but his Red-Eye scared her. His eyes during that time are like a void, completely removed of all but one emotion; hatred. It is the look of pure hatred, which gaze seems to look at your very soul. As much as she hated to admit it, she feared him whenever he got angry.

She needed to tell him soon.

But now, she need to deal with a slightly more depressive version of him. He seems truly regretful for his aggressive attitude, and apologized to her for ‘my rude misdemeanor’, But she was disappointed when he added that "I'll still find them," At the end.

By then, he had started to dwell on the fact that he had made her remember that ordeal. Even with constant reassurance that everything was alright, he still managed to get himself in an emotional pit of self loathing and worthlessness. Even with support from Fluttershy, he seemingly refused to get out of this state of his. She thought that he was acting like this because he feelings for upsetting her the way he did. But according to him, it went a bit deeper than that...

"...also, I honestly don't see the kinds of qualities you see in me really. Okay, while I can understand why you might have somehow fallen for me back then... it was probably more of a pity thing more than anything else, but-"

"What do you  mean by 'a pity thing?'" She asks in a confused tone.

"Well I know that you wouldn't go out with anypony based on their appearance. (Although that would just give me more questions) You are the kind of pony would look past all of that, and date somepony based on their personality. Now what confuses me, is that you just happened to fall for me, which doesn't make any logical sense in my opinion. Before that rather uh... sudden confession a few weeks ago, you saw me do many stupid, and rather terrible things. I upset one of your friends, had a silly, and rather melodramatic breakdown in your house, and was simply a bit of an arse during that time. I don't deserve you." He seems intent on the destruction of his self worth, but Fluttershy didn't want to hear anymore of it. This isn't the stallion she knows and loves.

He continues his talk about his misgivings... "And you may talk about all of the good things that I did during that rather small amount of time, but I am honestly surprised that we are still together right now. I mean, you've seen me at my worst. You've seen me lash out at the smallest of things. Not only have you seen my Red-Eye, but you have also seen me almost kill somepony because of it. So yeah... that is what I mean by pity thing." His tone was cold, but not aggressively so. He seemed to be targeting himself with his words.

"But you are a good stallion, and you know it Dusk."

"You know I'm not." He says darkly, with his head down.

"You have a good heart. You always seem to put me over yourself in a lot of things. You seem to forget all the good that you have done in the time you've been here. You are nice to everypony you meet, ans my friends all respect for the things you have.done. The town to likes you as well; you are considered a hero. Not only that, but you saved me twice since you've been here. You may be a bit... rough on the outside, but you really are a kind and loving pony." She gives him a small kiss on the cheek as she finishes, "I hope you understand that Dusk."

It took a few seconds before Dusk was able to respond with an audible sigh. Looking up, he could see Fluttershy giving him a small smile, which made him fell a little bit better about himself. "Thanks Fluttershy... you've given me something to think about." He says as he slowly walks towards the nearby door, "I-I just need to step out for a little bit. I need to think about a few things."

He opens the front door, and expects some kind of resistance from Fluttershy, but as he faces her, he could see her solemnly looking back at him. She knew he needed time for himself. He turns back towards the door, and steps outside, before flying off to the sunset...

Author's Note: As I said before, I'll be going on hiatus for a few months. The reason behind this is because I need a rest from Opportunity of a Lifetime. Its becoming a bit of a chore to update, and I hate that. So I will be halting the fic for now. If I work on anything involving OoaL, it will be updating the older chapter. (Since quite a few of. them are just awful) I may begin a new fic during the hiatus.

So... bye for now...

Chapter 71: Needing Time

Previously:

"Fluttershy, I would like you to tell me where they live."

-----

"I honestly don't see the kinds of qualities you see in me really. Okay, so I can understand why you might have somehow fallen for me back then... it was probably more of a pity thing more than anything else."

-----

"But you are a good stallion, and you know it Dusk."

"You know I'm not..."

Chapter 71: Needing Time

He felt alone.

He did not mean to storm of the house the way he did, but what's done is done. He regretted the fact that he went off on a tangent like he did, more so because she didn't do anything wrong to him, and there was no he should have gone off at her for something as stupid as his opinion of himself. He doesn't even know where the sudden aggression came from. It was like a mood swing, but worse, and completely unwarranted. She had only said positive and supportive things to him, as he continued his rant about his worthlessness.

'I guess I'll need to talk to her about it.'

He knew that the night was approaching, but he wanted to stay on the cloud for a little bit longer. He wanted to think about the incident and what he should have done instead. He replayed the whole confrontation in his head, over and over again, and truly thought about what he had done. His mind questioned him about why he had did it, but every answer was simply that he didn't know.

He chose to try and forget about the little incident from a few minutes ago, and see where his mind would take him...

His mind slowly drifted away from reality, and the world around him became a blur; completely unknown to him. The first thought that his mind had thought of, is weeks ago, when he had fought those stallions trying to... violate Fluttershy. He was surprised that she had gotten over as quickly as she did. He knows that he hasn't, he just never showed these hidden emotions. He instinctively felt the spot on his side, where he was stabbed. He was thankful that it had healed up, but he could feel a scar under his coat; an indentation in his skin.

He could clearly recall the memory as if it were yesterday, but something in particular had popped up in his mind, that he hadn’t noticed much before, he may have killed them in his rage. His eyes widened to the size of saucers, at the realization, but he dismissively shook his head the very next second.

‘I-I couldn’t have killed those stallions, the worse I did to one of them was... was... oh dear Luna...’

He remembered fatally stabbing one of them who had approached Fluttershy when he was down. Although he couldn’t remember much further, he could recall doing this, despite the significant blood loss. When he thought about it, he didn’t seem so ashamed of killing him, since it was more of an act of self-defence than anything else, as well for the protection of Fluttershy. He would then pass off the pain he caused to each of the other stallions, thinking that these acts of violence were non-lethal, and that he wasn’t a bad pony.

But then he remembers what he did to one of the pegasi...

As he tries to fly away, Dusk grabs his wing and breaks it with an audible **snap**, causing the stallion to howl in pain.

Hearing this, Dusk simply says “That howl is annoying.” when he bucks the second stallion into unconsciousness.

‘I’m a monster, I am a bloody monster...’

In his mind, there was no justifying this cruel deed. He knew that he could have done something a little less crippling to him, but no, he went for one of the most painful options. It was his Red-Eye that made him think like this. He realized something. While the Red-Eye basically made him stronger physically, this was not the case mentally. While he could still come up with rational thoughts, his judgement was clouded, meaning that he could make terrible, terrible decisions at times.

He then made himself feel even worse when he remembered the diamond dog incident. While he thought a majority of the deaths/injuries were justified, one of them stuck in his mind. Their leader, the one that he killed in cold blood. He tried to rationalize this by remembering that the whole town was in danger because of the dogs, but this failed, when he remembered that all of those diamond dogs probably had some kind of family and friends. He knew how horrible it felt to lose-

You saved lives, you know why you did this. You should go back to Fluttershy's.

'My sixth sense? Why would it act up now? It's not like Fluttershy would be in any kind of- no...'

"Why do I always make bad things happen to Fluttershy. No more..."

He had jumped onto his hooves and then started to fly towards Fluttershy’s home. He had begun to panic, as he flew at a much faster pace with his bad wings than he should be. There was a look of utter determination on his face, which overcame the feeling of fear that slowly washed over him. His eyes were focused on what was ahead, but his mind was thinking of the worst possible things that could happen. The Sixth Sense never lies. If it told him to do something, he learnt that he would damn well do it, and that freaked him out. He was uttering silent prayers under his breath, hoping that Fluttershy would not be hurt when he got back.

Then, after a minute of two of hard flying, he saw her cottage in the distance, which seemed to almost be dead outside. There was a single rabbit, hopping around the side. When he approached the house, he did not slow, and he continued to fly towards the door with his body tensed...

Fluttershy was in the kitchen, creating some new feed for some of her animals. She had a half filled sack on the side, which was intended for all of her plant eating animals to eat. Inside, she had filled the sack with the best food she could get for her animal friends. While she was chopping up one of the ingredients, she felt a light poke on the side. She turns, and sees Angel Bunny holding a carrot towards her with a bored expression. She smiled, and expressed gratitude as she grabbed the carrot, to get ready to-

*CRASH*

‘Oh no, what was that?!’

The two had heard the loud crash from inside, and both of them were immediately filled with feelings of fear. There was an intruder in her house. She instinctively began to do the first thing that came to mind, she hid. She hid inside the pantry, hoping that this intruder wouldn’t find her. She had brought Angel inside as well, to keep him safe from whoever was inside the house. She was shaking in fear, hoping that they could just go away.

Then she heard them yelling, “Fluttershy! Fluttershy, where are you!?” It was Dusk, and there seemed to be desperation in the tone of his voice. Once she knew it was him, Fluttershy exited her hiding spot and started looking for him. She could hear more and more calls from him, which slowly became more sad, more hopeless. He sounded like he was upstairs, and so she quickly walked up the staircase to see him.

When she had reached the top, she could see Dusk’s back faced towards her, and he had called her one more time, before hanging his head down, and smashing the ground with a loud thud.

“...Dusk? A-are you okay?”

He heard the familiar voice behind him, and turned to see Fluttershy looking at him. His frown immediately turned into a big, and relived smile, before he fell onto his haunches. He was extremely relived to see her. “Oh, thank Luna you’re safe Fluttershy.”

She was concerned as to what he meant, “Safe? Why do you say that?”

“Don’t worry about it Shy.” He was smiling, genuinely happy that she was safe. “I... just over-reacted a bit. It was nothing...”

She felt a little bit uncomfortable with the situation, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” He muttered thankful words to himself before saying, "I'm good Shy..."

Author’s Note: Bloody hell, it’s felt like ages since I last updated the chapter. While I may still be on hiatus, I will still be slowly updating the story, as well as rewriting it. By the time that Opportunity of a Lifetime will be finished, the newer version of this will have fully updated.

Also, the order of important story events will have changed slightly. The Dusk-Blizzard-Cloud subplot will be changed, and the main story  will be slightly altered as well. (Less rushed and done in a better order.) Also all the new chapters and the rewritten chapter will be in the past tense. I'll slowly get to the rest.

Chapter 72: Knowledge, or Lack Thereof

Previously:

‘I’m a monster, I am a bloody monster...’

---

You saved lives, you know why you did this.

---

“Oh, thank Luna you’re safe Fluttershy.”

Chapter 72: Knowledge, or Lack Thereof

Fluttershy would watch Dusk for the remainder of the night, carefully observing how he would act. Sadly, she could tell that something was amiss, but she didn’t know what. He was acting like he saw a ghost. He seemed jittery, and would frequently check his surroundings as if he was expecting something to appear. He was a lot less talkative, and any attempt of her to talk to him would quickly return to silence. However, he would almost follow her to every room that she would enter, like how a young colt would follow it’s mother.

She had noticed that his wings seemed a little stressed, and her theory of why, is that he could have flown back to her house as fast as he physically could. With his rather panicked entrance, she would not be surprised if she were right. He had gained a large bruise in the area between his right foreleg and wing, which needed to be bandaged up, since he was lightly bleeding as well. He had told her that he would fix the door when he could, and that he was sorry. He did not say anything else throughout the rest of the night though, and did not provide her with any answers as to what happened. By all rights, she should have been mad at him, not only for rendering her door incapable, and for his dismissive behavior. If she were another mare, she would have already forced the answers out of him, but she couldn’t do that to him. Not now.

There were times where he would stop following her, and look out of a window; searching for something. Every time he would look out, he seemed to calm down ever so slightly. She would ask him what he was looking for, and he would always answer in a vague manner, never telling her what this thing was. However, he had told her something strange when she tried a third time.

“I don’t want to know what I’m looking for, and hope that I will never see it.”

Fluttershy was quite surprised when she heard that, and immediately continued to ask questions related to his response. Sadly, she had gotten nowhere, since Dusk kept on telling her not to worry about it, and that it was all in his head. She was worried about him, it wasn’t like him to be acting like this. His first weeks in Ponyville may have caught up with him, with all of the problems that had arisen since he and her had experienced. Both herself and him had changed throughout the last couple of weeks. She had been venturing out of the town at a significantly lessened rate, and has been staying in her own house for a majority of the day. Also, she had begun to cast a wary eye of ponies she did not recognise.

The changes she saw in Dusk were more internal, per se. As the time passed, his general mood seemed to grow more serious and even somewhat depressive. She knew that he had gained too many bad memories in the time he has spent here, and it was taken an effect on him physically, and mentally. He wasn’t as happy as he normally is, and she knew it. She needed to know what had happened to him when he was gone. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to get anything from him in this state though. She would need to wait until tomorrow (at the earliest) to ask again. She told him that she would be going to bed, and asked if he was coming. He said that he would come up later, and she should just sleep without him for now.

‘What is wrong with me?’

Dusk was sitting in the middle of the lounge room, in the only lit room in the house. He was anxious, his Sixth Sense told him to come here, and he did, but for what? He had expected there to be some kind of intruder inside, since the Sense would always directing to something violent happening to somepony he knows about. Nothing had happened when he barged in, and nothing has happened now either. Maybe he panicked too much, and let the stress overwhelm him. He did not know what was going on in his mind, but he needed to find out. He needed to know why the Sense ‘told’ him to go to Fluttershy’s. There was no reason for him to actually come back...

But then, he remembered something in his calmed state. This wasn’t a violent issue he was dealing  with, it was about the battle in his own mind. He had blown up in front of Fluttershy for no reason hours before, somehow ended up berating himself at the very end. He had thought of himself as useless, and remembered how Fluttershy would seem to object to every bad thing he said about himself. He did not know why he needed to run away though. He may have been too caught in the moment to think any more rationally.

When he was laying on the cloud, he was having a mental problem with himself, before his Sense told him to come back. However, what made no sense, is the fact that he needed to go back to Fluttershy’s home. How would his battle with himself affect Fluttershy?

To answer this, he might need someone smarter to possibly answer these questions for him, since he was coming up with nothing. Knowing this, he was curious to the general nature of his Sense. He didn't know enough about it, and felt that some understanding may make things a lot more clear about his Sense. He looked outside, and saw that it was quite dark now. A bit earlier than when he normally sleeps, but still dark.

Without further notice, he began to fly to the centre of town hoping that somepony would be able to help him, somepony named Twilight Sparkle...

Chapter 1: Dangers of the Everfree*

Chapter 1: Dangers of the Everfree*

Author's Note: Yay, merged C1 and C1.5 into one chapter.

Chapter 1: The Dangers of the Everfree Part 1

'Oh dear Luna, my head.'

He had woken up with a pounding headache, which caused him to cringe in pain. He shifted around in the bed, and tried to get himself into a more comfortable position. He sleepily rolled over to his left side, and he felt an immense pain on his wing, causing him to yell out in pain. Now wide awake, he pulled the blankets off, and saw the unknown room that he was staying in.

“What? How did I get here?”

He was in a relatively simple room, with a single bed, a bedside table with a small lamp on it, and a light blue curtain surrounding one side of the bed. The design choice of the room was questionable, since the walls were painted blue and brown, and the ceiling was painted a dark-ish green colour. When he looked to the right of the bed, he noticed that he had a  full wing cast on his left wing and several smaller bandages all over his body. He was also connected to a blood bag, and I.V., both of which seemed to to be half empty.

'I presume that this is a hospital of some kind.'

On the bedside table, there was a medical clipboard filled with information about him, and why he is here. He couldn't reach over to grab it though, since that was also on the left side of the bed, and would require him to roll back on his injured (?) wing to get it. He couldn't see anypony else in the room, so he calls out to the hallway in the hopes of getting somepony to come in.

“Hello? Is anypony here?”

He sees a young, white coated mare enter the room. "Ah yes, so I see that you have woken up." He could see that she was one of the nurses, since she was wearing the white, uniform headpiece. Her pink mane was tied into a neat bun, and her long tail was untouched. He could see that her cutie mark was a red cross, with small pink hearts in each corner. (Which was coincidentally the exact same design as the symbol on her nurse's hat) Her sky blue eyes were directed towards him as she continued. "Well you seem to have recovered well. You caused quite a ruckus yesterday when you were brought here."

He gave her a confused look, "Really? What happened?"

“A mare flew you to the hospital at about 5pm yesterday. You were losing blood, and had a broken wing, and so we-"

"Wait, did you just say that my wing is broken?" He asks in a shaky tone.

"Yes." She could see him pale for a few moments, "You have been unconscious for about 18 hours, mainly because of blood loss."

Thinking of no good words to say to express his conflicted emotions, he just says, "Well damn." in response.

'I can't believe it. I move to a new town that requires flying, and the very first thing I do is break a wing. Well done Dusk.'

There was a bit of a silence between the nurse and the patient, neither of them knowing of any new topics to talk about. Just as the nurse turned back towards the door, Dusk had thought of a question about his arrival.

"So uh... who was the mare that carried me here?"

She seems to try and remember something, "um... I don't remember her name, but she has come back here just to check up on you. Do you want me to get her for you?"

"Sure." He wanted to see the mare for himself.

She walks out of the hospital room, leaving the stallion alone again. While he waited, he decided to gather his thoughts, as to what must have happened yesterday for him to get like this. He starts to retrace his steps, back to when he was about to leave Manehatten...

(Two Days Ago - 1:30pm )

Before Dusk left for his trip to Ponyville, he needed to see the owner of the apartment that he was renting. He needed to pay him for the week that he had stayed there for. (He honestly believed he would stay for a longer period of time) He already knew the location of the owner's home, since it had been provided just in case something like this would happen. Based on the location of the home, it was just on the outskirts of 'New' Manehatten, since not only were the houses more diverse and colourful, but they were a bit larger as well. The perfect location for a semi-successful pony. Dusk trotted over to his home, and knocked on the wooden door, waiting for the inevitable answer. Sure enough, the door opens, revealing a rather lanky grey stallion. He had a short white mane and tail, and his cutie mark seemed to be a quill on paper.

He stares at Dusk with confusion, asking who he was, and why he was here. Dusk told him that he was the one who recently rented the property, and that he was going to be moving out. The homeowner's response was a simple "What?" Which led to the question of why he needed to leave. After some explaining, Dusk was able to tell him of his current job predicament, and his reasons for leaving.

The owner could understand why he needed to leave, and stopped pressing him for information. He still asked for the weeks pay, as well as a small amount extra for the sudden leave. Dusk was able to pay him the required amount, before leaving the house. He looked at his map, and could see the next marked location on the map. The Hoof and Stone Inn. To get there, he needed to take a train to Vanhoover, and then walk to the inn. From there, he would need to hoof it through the Everfree to finally get to Ponyville. He would have preferred to take the train straight to Ponyville, but he needed to save his bits for the new town.

(One Day Ago - 8:30am)

He had arrived at the Hoof and Stone without a hitch, and slept there for the night. After a freely provided breakfast, he had begun to fly towards the edge of the Everfree Forest, which was about a ten minute flight from the inn. It was a relatively easy flight, since the winds were quite calm from where he was flying. He notices that the winds got stronger the closer he got to the Everfree. It was well known that these forests in particular are more wild than the other forests in Equestria, because the forest governed itself. The animals would always do their own thing without ponies assistance, and the weather wasn't controlled; it would always change at random.

'It's almost supernatural in nature.'

The weather looked fine inside the forest, but he knew it would be a bad idea to fly above the treetops, with the unpredictable weather and all. He began to make his trek into the forests, preparing himself for the long walk ahead.

As he walked, he couldn't help but to just look at the beautiful scenery that surrounded him. The dark green trees give off an eerie feeling, yet they seemed at also give off a serene feeling of peace. The forest almost seemed to glow as well, with the light of the sun seeping through the healthy green foliage, and giving the illusion of a faint green glow enveloping the entire forest. Even if you looked away from the main path, and into the depths of the forest, you could see the darkness of the foreboding forest which brought an air of mystery all around. It was a tranquil place.

The scenery of the forest had taken his attention for the entire trek, and made him almost forget why he was actually walking down the forest in the first place. He remembered seeing the ruins of what looked to be an old abandoned castle, which had become part of the scenery itself. He had to pause, just to look at the ruins of the old castle. When he had continued to walk down the path, he could see what looked like some kind of home. It was made from an old tree, and seemed to glow much brighter than the rest of the forest; too bright to be natural light, most likely some kind of light source. He began to walk towards the home, when-

(Present Time)

'towards the home, when... I woke up here, injured, and apparently carried by some mare. Wait, what happened in between then?'

There was just a giant mental blank in his mind, like somepony just invaded his mind, and ripped out the memory. He tried to remember what had happened between finding the house, and being in hospital, but he had nothing.

His attention had changed, when the nurse returned to the room with a second mare, who seemed to be hiding her face behind her mane.

The nurse began to speak, “So Dusk, I would like to introduce the mare who saved your life.”

To say that he was surprised would be an understatement, "Um... hi. Nice to meet you."

"..." She had said something, but he couldn't hear what.

"Pardon?"

"...hello..." She says quietly, almost at a whisper tone.

'Okay, maybe a bit more than an understatement...'

Dusk was surprised by how timid and shy this mare was. It took her about half a minute for her to nervously tell him her name. Her name was Fluttershy, which Dusk complimented on, to lift her confidence. She would hide behind her long, pink mane as she spoke, still acting nervous around him. Whether this was her personality, or just a one time thing was still unknown to him. While he was 'talking' to her, he noticed how slim, and elegant she looked. In fact, her whole body seemed to have these qualities; her form, her wings, her mane and tail, even her eyes, which were the colour of emerald green. Her cutie mark was simple, consisting of three pink and blue butterflies. It seemed to suit her.

He couldn’t think of anything else that he could say to her, and there was a small silence in the room. Dusk didn’t know what to talk about, and Fluttershy was too shy to say anything. The nurse, whom was still in the room, had attempted to start up a new conversation. “So... Fluttershy, weren’t you going to tell Dusk how he got here?”

“O-Oh yeah, I was, wasn’t I...” She still seemed to be nervous around him, seemingly afraid of him. Dusk was looking curiously at the pegasus, obviously expecting a story. "Okay... I was a-at my home feeding my animals...

(18 hours earlier)

Celestia's sun was shining over the land of Equestria, and directly over the town of Ponyville. Near the outskirts, bordering the Everfree Forest was Fluttershy, who was busy feeding the birds of the forest with her bird seed. They loved the mare, abs she loved them back. They, as as well as all her other animal friends, were like family. She couldn't help but to smile anytime she was around them. She had picked up the bucket of bird seed, when-

AARRRGGHHH!

She heard a stallion yell from inside the Everfree Forest. A few of her birds had flown away, and some of the deer; rabbits; and other land animals were looking at the entrance of the forest. She knew that she was the only one who heard the voice, but she was hesitant to enter the forest. Despite living so close to it, she was still scared of it.

“Maybe I j-just imagined it," She took one more glance at the forest, before turning around. "I should probably jus-“

She stops as she sees a particular white bunny blocking her path, with his forearms crossed, and it has an annoyed expression. As soon as he knew he had her attention, he pointed a paw at the forest. She seemed apprehensive about going in the Everfree, “I-I don’t think-”

Angel shook his head, resorting to unsuccessfully pushing the mare into the forest. “Oh... okay then Angel...” She began to quickly fly towards the entrance of the Everfree, to see what was going on. As she flew under the top of the underbrush, she scanned the main path below her, trying to find anything out of the ordinary. She flew for five minutes, until hitting Zecora’s hut, which was empty. She was a friend of Fluttershy’s; a zebra. She would be considered as a tribal apothecarium in most ponies eyes.

Fluttershy wanted to go inside and to see if Zecora could help, but she heard a faint growl in the distance. A manticore’s growl to the side of the house

She instinctively ran towards the disturbance, and was both shocked, and surprised with what she saw. She saw Zecora, who seems to be in a limp, who stood between an enraged manticore and an unconscious and a bleeding stallion. Zecora’s striped coat was stained with the blood of either the stallion, or her own injury on her left foreleg. Said foreleg was hit by the manticore, and bleeding, making it hard for the zebra to stand properly. Her short black and white mane was flat, different from her usual mohawk-esque style. In her mouth was a flexible tree branch, which see was using as a makeshift whip. Despite the injury, she still stood strong.

She seemed unfazed by the beast; the towering monstrosity that stood over the zebra. It was a dangerous match of a scorpion's stinger and large dragon like wings, attached to a ferocious lion's body.It was almost three times bigger than its opponent  It had its claws out, and its sharp teeth exposed. It emitted a low growl, as the two watched and waited for the next move.

The manticore took the initiative, trying to pounce on zebra, but she deftly dodged, just before another attack, and another from the beast, She was able to dodge out of way of all these attacks, while giving a few strikes of her own. She repeatedly hit the inside of its wing, causing it to roar in pain. This was one of its most sensitive areas, and the zebra knew it.

The manticore had pounced in the zebras direction again, and she had dodged it again, when- *crack* "Ahh!"

She had accidently put too much weight on her injured leg, causing it to buckle and send her into a heap on the ground. She was able to save face, and still look menacingly at the beast in front of her. The manticore was licking its lips in satisfaction, knowing it just earnt two meals.

"Stay away from here, you foul creature, or your head shall be my home's newest feature." Her determined, but rather fruitless threat was unnoticed by the beast, which advanced towards the crippled zebra. The closer it got, the more Zecora's composure slipped and fear took over. The manticore would enjoy this.

"How dare you..." The beast looked up to see an infuriated yellow pegasus.

"How *dare** you!" She yells, as she glowered at the beast. "I can't believe you. You came into the forest, knowing that there was a town nearby, and you go and attack not one but two innocent ponies.*” She had begun to stare down the beast, despite the obvious size difference between the two. She had rooted it to the spot; it was unable to move from fear of the yellow pony. That, was the power of her Stare, which was powerful enough to send creatures hundreds of times her size into a stupor.

“You are a horrible creature, and you should feel ashamed of yourself. *Run, get away from Ponyville, and never come back.***” The manticore, as unlikely as it seemed, had bolted away from the mare, wanting to escape from the pegasus’ presence. All malice toward the manticore was gone, when she begun to fuss over the zebra and the bleeding stallion on the ground. When she asked if Zecora needed help, she dismissed the help, and responded by saying,

"Do not worry about me Fluttershy, for I'll be fine. You must get this pony to the hospital, since he is running out of time."

She was about to argue, but she thought against it, since Zecora only had what looked like a sprained hoof, and a small cut, which was healable, while the stallion was bleeding out on the ground. She quickly ran inside Zecora’s hut, and grabbed a small roll of fabric, to quickly wrap up the bleeding area. She then lifted the stallion into her back, and started to fly towards the hospital...

“…and that is it... I brought you here, and they just patched you up, and umm... you know the rest."

There was a small silence in the room, as Dusk took in the news, “So... you scared away a manticore, that had almost killed your friend and I, just by looking at it?" He was just a little bit skeptical of this supposed Stare.

"Well kind of... but-"

"You say you used the Stare on it?" Questions the nurse, already knowing the answer. Her expression changes into one of worry. "Poor thing, do you think it'll be alright?"

"Wait, what?" The stallion was surprised with her sudden defense of the beast, "Is the Stare really that powerful?"

"Yes, it is." Confirms the nurse, much to his surprise, "It had even stopped a fully grown and enraged dragon from possibly attacking the town, and made it cry as well."

His jaw drops after hearing this, "A dragon."

"Y-Yes... I'm still afraid of d-d-dragons."

Fluttershy had left the hospital, but not without asking if  "I could bring a few of my friends to see you tomorrow."

And he said that "That's fine Fluttershy."

She told him that her friends had already saw him when he was unconscious. She had become a celebrity in Ponyville after yesterday's events for all the wrong reasons, but that was a story for another day.

The nurse was telling Dusk about the details of his injuries. "Okay, so all the cuts covered by the smaller bandages will heal without any problems. However the main bandage which is wrapped across your mid-section may open again. Just, do not apply too much stress for the next two days, and it will recover on its own. Now about your wing...

'Oh dear.'

"You wont be able to fly for three weeks, and you will need to keep the cast on for two of those weeks."

He let the news sink in. He was utterly devastated, although he didn't show it to the mare. He just looks downwards, and says a small, "Oh..." in understanding.

Author's Note: No more Zecora will be edited in. Thinking of rhymes suck. Also, I still don’t know how to do Flutterrages well. I’m better at the more crazed outburst. (e.g. Pinkamena, Crazy Twilight etc)

Chapter 7: Learning to Applebuck

Chapter 7: Learning to Applebuck

Dusk wakes up on Fluttershy’s couch. After an uncomfortable night sleep, he notices that it is still quite dark outside. He looks out the window, and sees that Luna’s moon is lowering, in the night sky, still illuminating the darkness with its cooling light.  To get up at this time, would be torture to most ponies. If anyone woke up at this time, they would try to go back to sleep again.

“Early morning, every morning.” Dusk says to himself. He tends to always wake up before everypony, out of habit, and he loves it. He decides to leave the house early, so he could go to Sweet Apple Acres for various reasons.

Knowing that Fluttershy would probably be asleep, he finds a blank scroll and a pencil to write a note to her.

Dear Fluttershy,

I have gone to Sweet Apple Acres so I can do a few favors that I promised a friend. I’ll might be back here at about 2-4 PM.

Dusk.

After he finishes the note, he starts quietly walking up the staircase. He enters Fluttershy’s room and silently steps over to her bedside table. He notices that Angel is sleeping in a nearby bed, and is thankful that he hasn’t raised an alarm and woken up Fluttershy. He puts the note on the table, and starts blushing as he sees Fluttershy.

She is lying on the left side of her body, holding her blanket despite still being asleep. Her breathing is slow and quiet and she has the look of serenity.

‘She looks adorable when she sleeps as well. How can she make anything she does,cute and adorable?!’

As Dusk leaves Fluttershy’s to go to the apple farm, he remembers the first part of Zephyr’s plan.

(Yesterday)

“I’m listening...” said Dusk

“Well, I have a bit of a crush on Rainbow Dash.” Sheepishly replied Zephyr.

“Really? What does that have to do with me and my job?” asked Dusk.

“I’ll get to that, but I’ll need you to help me first.”

“*sigh* Does it somehow involve you and Rainbow?”

“Yeah. I have worked with her for about half a year now, but I haven’t really learnt about her personality, besides being lazy, loyal and prideful. So what I need for you to try and figure out what she likes.”

“What about her ego being stroked?” questioned Dusk.

“Everypony knows she likes that, and I tried it anyway, failed.”

“If I do this, what will you do then?”

“I’ll tell Rainbow why you should be in the weather team, and try to recruit you.” Zephyr raised his hoof. “Deal?”

“Deal.” Dusk hoofshaked Zeph.

(Present Time)

When Dusk finishes thinking about his plan with Zeph, he had arrived at the farm. Thankfully for him, the farm was a short walk for Shy’s house. Because he woke up so early, he could only see a large, red stallion who had already started bucking apples from trees. Dusk walks up to him.

“Excuse me, but do you know where Applejack is?”

“Eeyup, why do you need her?” He responds in a deep voice.

“I need her so I can ask about getting a temporary job here.”

The red earth pony was taller and much bigger than Dusk. He is much stronger than Dusk, because of his farming life. He has a rough, orange mane and a green half-apple cutie mark. He wears what looks like a harness, of some sort, around his neck.

“I’ll wake Applejack in thirty minutes.” says the unknown stallion.

“My name is Dusk.” He raises his hoof for a hoofshake.

“Name’s Big Mac.” He give Dusk a hearty, but painless hoofshake.

Dusk and Big Mac were both talking while waiting for the sun to rise, which is when Big Mac wakes up Applejack and Applebloom, who is Big Mac’s and Applejack’s younger sister. Dusk had already told Mac about why he was in Ponyville, his failed attempt at becoming a weather pony, and that he was living at Fluttershy’s.

“I’ve almost never seen anyone wake up before me. Do you wake up this early every morning?”

“Eeyup.”

“I envy you, I wish that I could wake up early every morning. That would of let me keep my job at the Manhatten Postal Services.”

‘And let me continue a sad and boring life as well.’

“Eeyup.”

“You like working at the farm?”

“Eeyup, always have, always will.”

Just as Big Mac finished his sentence, Celestia’s sun poked out of the horizon.

“I think that I’ll wake the girls now, and I think that you should come in the farm as well.” Says Big Mac.

“OK, lead the way.”

Big Mac had woken up both Applejack and Applebloom, while Dusk was waiting nearby. He noticed that the house was very rustic in design. The house itself was made out of wood, with wooden walls, wooden floorboards etc. His thought were interrupted by Applejack, when she started to talk to him.

“Hey Dusk.”

“Hi Applejack.”

“Mah brother told me that you wanted tah have a temporary job at the Sweet Apple Acres.” States Applejack.

“Yeah, pretty much.” Confirms Dusk.

“Well then, welcome aboard Dusk.”

“Wait... you just let me have a job, just like that?” questions Dusk.

“Sort of, ah’ heard what had happened tah you from Fluttershy, and then ah’ met you in hospital. Ah’ trust you enough to have a job here.”

“Wow, thanks Applejack.”

Dusk was working as an applebucker with Applejack. She was trying to show him how to properly buck an apple tree.

“So when you buck, try to aim for the centre of the tree, and also try to get the impact as high as your comfortable with.” She shows him an example by effortlessly bucking all of the apples off the tree with strength and finesse. “Then, you just pick up the apples and place them all into the baskets.” Explains Applejack.

“Seems simple enough, I think I’ll have a try.” Dusk walks up to a nearby apple tree and bucks it with some finesse, but low strength. One apple drops, as if taunting him to do a better job.

“Don’t worry about it sugarcube, one of the other workers had trouble with it as well, but he got a lot better. His name is Caramel Apple.” Reassures Applejack. “Also, about your pay, I’ll give you 5 bits for every two trees you buck.”

“Sounds reasonable enough”

About ten minutes later, and Dusk was still stuck on his first tree, whereas Applejack had already finished five trees. Everytime he bucks the tree, only one apple falls out of the tree. Constantly disappointing him. Dusk was getting the technique better and better, but he had no strength in his kicks.

He notices that the tree is mostly finished, so instead of trying to buck all of the apples at once, he unleases a constant barrage of smaller bucks, which slowly drop more and more apples. After 30 seconds of doing this, all of the apples dropped from the tress. He points his hoof at the tree.

“HAH, suck it up you stupid tree, I just bucked you up.”

Applejack was watching Dusk from a distance, smirking at him for his little outburst on the tree.

Dusk, using his new technique, had successfully bucked seven trees in 30 minutes, but there was a problem with this technique, it tires him out too quickly. He started talking to Applejack who was nearby, bucking her 18th tree.

“Applejack, I’m curious about something, are you and Rainbow rivals or something, because Shy told me that you two were really competitive.”

“Pretty much Dusk, has she told you about the Running of the Leaves incident?”

“No, what happened?”

“I challenged Rainbow ta ah race in the annual Running of the Leaves, and wha’ happened, is that we started ta fight unfairly and tried ta sabotage the other runner. At the end, because of this, we forgot about the other racers and came shared last.”

“Ouch, that would of hit hard.”

Dusk was trying to buck his 8th tree, but was starting to run out of energy. His bucks were slower, his aim was off and less apples would fall with each kick. He could see that Applejack was still doing fine with her side of the trees. She had finished her 27th tree, and was hardly breaking a sweat. Dusk uses his last bits of energy on the tree, until all the apples finally drop. He picks up any dropped apples and put them in the baskets.

He walked up to Applejack, “Do you mind if I could have a small rest, I think I’ve burnt myself out.”

“But its only been an hour and ah bit.” She comments.

“It is a lot harder for me, considering any hard working job I’ve done, usually involves my wings.” He looks at his left wing with a disappointed expression.

“That’s ah good point Dusk, why don’t you just sit under ah tree and have ah few apples?” She hands him two apples.

“Thanks for that.”

He sits on his haunches, gingerly eating the apples. He also watches her as she continues applebucking, trying to further increase his technique.

‘By the look of how she bucks, I could improve on a couple of thinks. I could probably stand further back, so I can let my body fully stretch and deliver the most force to the tree. This would improve efficiency, letting me get more apples with less energy usage. I could also slightly push myself with my forelegs, while I buck, to slightly increase the power applied.’

After the 15 minute break, he decides to try out the new technique.

He approaches a trees, and stands a bit further back than usual. He kicks, and completely misses everything, falling into a slump. He could here Applejack laughing in the distance.

“I’M TRYING TO IMPROVE MY TECHNIQUE!” He yelled at Applejack. She shrugs, and starts watching Dusk.

He edges a bit closer, and bucks, barely touching the tree. ‘Still to far out.’

A bit closer, good hit, but not good enough. One apple fell.

Even closer, *kick*... Perfect hit, about ten apples fell from the tree. Dusk felt proud of himself, he may not have the strength to applebuck but he had the technique to. He heard Applejack cheering from a distance. After three more bucks from Dusk, all of the apples dropped from the tree. He places them into the basket and is now determined to buck as many trees as physically possible.

“Lunch break Dusk!” yells Applejack signalling him to follow her.

“Thank Celestia, I’m even more tired than before.” Complains Dusk.

“But you were determined to do your work, you were so confident.” She states.

“Yeah, but two and a half hours of constant bucking, can really exhaust an inexperienced worker, even if I am determined.”

“Even so, you did a great job on the farm, you completely bucked 24 trees, which brings your bit count up to 60 bits.”

Dusk didn’t realize how many trees he cleared. His eyes were wide open, “W-Whoa, I’ve n-never earned that many b-bits in my life.”

“Well you deserve it.” Complements Applejack.

They arrive at the farm house, and start to talk to each other. Dusk is the first of the two to start a conversation.

“So, I have a friend, who has a massive crush on Rainbow, and I;m trying to help him get-”

“Ah’d stop right there sugarcube.” She interrupts.

“What... Why?” implores Dusk.

“Rainbow is already in ah relationship with Pinkie Pie.” answers Applejack.

“Really?”

‘At least that it makes makes my part of Zeph’s plan a whole lot easier. He is going to hate this news’

Chapter 13: Preparation for Tomorrow Night

Chapter 13: Preparation for Tomorrow Night

Dusk and Fluttershy were both blushing both thinking about different things. There was a deafening silence in the room, with both of the ponies being nervous around each other. Dusk is desparatly trying to think of something that he could say to Fluttershy, so they could start a conversation.

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...Uhh, I’ll probably be able to take this cast of my wing, in 17 days.” Says Dusk.

“Really, it has only been that little time? It feels like you have done so much.” States Fluttershy.

“Yeah, I know right.”

“I’m going to make pasta for dinner tonight, if that is alright with you.”

“Yeah that should be fine.”

‘Kudos to me, for ending the silence.’

Dusk decides to have a bath while Fluttershy is still making the pasta. While in the tub, he starts to think of a plan for tomorrow night.

‘First, I’ll wake up early, as usual and leave a note as I leave, saying how I’ll be back by 6PM or something like that. Then after work, I’ll go to a few stores with my hard-earned bits, and buy her a few gifts. Then I get back to her house, give her the gifts in a romantic gesture and ask her out. I hope that it works.’

He continues to wash himself, and is still baffled by the excessive amount of washing products that she has.

‘Maybe it’s a mare thing...’

After quickly drying himself, he sees that the table where they eat, is already set up. Dusk’s meal is in a bowl, waiting to be eaten, while Fluttershy is sitting in her side of the table, patiently  waiting for Dusk to sit at the table.

“Eh heh heh... sorry Shy. How long did I have to make you wait for?” Worries Dusk.

“Not too long Dusk. I’ve only been here for 1-2 minutes at the most.”

“That isn’t too bad then.”

Both Dusk and Fluttershy start to eat, and Dusk encounters the dreaded fork again. This time, he intends to eat the food properly. He first tries to grab the fork with one hoof, like Fluttershy, and drops it.

So he quickly gives up using one hoof and goes back to using 2 hooves. Using this awkward method, he successfully picks up some pasta, and eats it as his reward. For the third time this week, his eyes dilate, as he wonders how anything that Fluttershy makes, is so good.

“How the hay do you make ANYTHING taste good? What is your secret?”

“I uhh... don’t have one.”

“Are you kidding...”

Fluttershy finishes her dinner, and is waiting for Dusk to eat his. Unfortunately for Dusk, he had only eaten about a quarter of his meal. He is trying to use the fork with only one hoof, and he is getting better... slightly. He sees that Fluttershy is patiently waiting for him to finish his meal, but he knows that it will be way into the night before he finishes.

“Fluttershy, you don’t need to sit at the table until I finish. You do know that it’ll be Nightmare Night by the time I’m finished.”

“Umm, but... I need to wait for you to finish, it’s rude to leave the table early.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it, just get yourself washed up. I plan on going straight to bed anyway, because I just want to have an early night, tonight.”

“...OK Dusk. If it’s what you want.”

“I’m positive.”

While Fluttershy is in the bathtub, Dusk began to eat his meal with his fork. It may have been slow progress, but it was something. He is starting to get used to the fork.

About 10 minutes later, Dusk finally finishes his meal, and heads to the couch, so he could get some sleep for the day ahead. He contemplates about why he has been attracted to Fluttershy.

‘When I first saw her in hospital, I thought that she was quite attractive, but that wasn’t really when I started liking her. What is the point of liking a pretty mare, if they act like douchebags. Anyway, I started to see her personality, she is kind-hearted, selfless, caring and all that stuff. I reckon that is when I started to like her. Lastly, when she just started to overload me with unintentional cuteness, I think that is when I started to have a massive crush on her. So... she has: good looks, lovable personality and an excessive level of D’AWW.

She is the perfect mare.’

Dusk left for Sweet Apple Acres, and had already left Fluttershy a note, about how he would be back at 6PM. He once again, met Big Mac early on in the morning, and started working, as soon as he woke the girls up. It became a routine for Dusk.

-Some time later-

It is about 2PM, and Dusk asks Applejack if he could leave work early.

“And why tha’ hay would ah let ya do that?” Asks an annoyed Applejack.

“I need to prepare for something I’ve planned for tonight.”

“Doesn’t really tell me why ah should just let ya leave work whenever ya want.”

“I don’t really want to tell you why I have to leave though. It’s is kind of important to me.”

“Still don’t see why ya could do this important task tomorrow.”

Dusk was starting to get pissed off, his face has a darker expression, he is tensing up and his voice is starting to get louder than usual. He calls this ‘Level 1 Anger’. Basically, he is getting quite frustrated, but is still under control.

“I need to do this tonight, and I need time to prepare.”

“Can’t ya just do this after work?” Applejack is starting to get quite angry.

“I will not have enough time, Applejack. If I get any less time, then I won’t be able to do it.” Aggressively retorts Dusk.

He was truly starting to get angry with the farm mare, he is up to ‘Level 2 Anger’. He becomes faster, stronger and louder than when he is normal. He feels the adrenaline pulsing around his body, but still tends to think with reason. It is a restrained anger of sorts. He didn’t want to get even more angry, because, he becomes unpredictable then.

“Ya can’t just stop in the middle of a job Dusk, that isn’t how it works.” Yells Applejack who is seething with rage.

“I know that isn’t how it works Applejack, let me just finish 2 hours early, so I can do this. You can keep my pay for the day, just let me do this.” Dusk says in an eerily calm voice.

“Ah don’t know what ya need ta do ta leave so early, but ya are not leaving the farm until 4PM. If ya act like this, than no wonder ya don’t have ah proper job!” She yells at Dusk. This grabs the attention of Big Mac and Caramel, who were working with the plows.

This sent Dusk over the edge. In ‘Level 3 Anger’, he becomes a danger as he does the first thing that comes into his head, which can be violent. He stands at a threatening posture, and he tends to put his hoof onto his forehead in an effort to calm down. He has a raging inferno inside his eyes.

He walks right up to Applejack, invading her personal space. “THE ONLY REASON WHY I WANT TWO HOURS OFF, IS SO I CAN PREPARE TO ASK FLUTTERSHY ON A DATE!”

Screams Dusk in a massive rage. He towers over Applejack, who is starting to cower. “I WANT TO JUST GO TO THE SHOPS, SO I CAN BUY HER SOME NICE BUCKING GIFTS, AND MAKE MYSELF LOOK GOOD! IS IT SO DAMN IMPORTANT THAT I SAY HERE AND BUCK SOME STUPID TREES?!”

He bucks a tree for emphasis, which falls onto the ground. The only other pony who has ever knocked down a fully grown tree is Big Mac. “I’m leaving.” Dusk says in a calmed, but angry tone. He simply walks away from the farm. Both Big Mac and Caramel has shocked looks on their faces, while Applejack is looking straight at the ground, with no will to do anything for the rest of the day.

Dusk has calmed down considerably after his little outburst at Applejack. He is walking toward the town, trying to find a good store to buy gifts from. Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t really know what she likes. He sees something that catches his eyes, a flower stand. He decides to buy a bouquet of red and pink roses, which was quite expensive. 30 bits of expensive to be precise.

He notices that he is not exactly the most clean of stallions after his work at the apple farm. He then remembers Fluttershy telling him about how she and Rarity like to go to a spa place in Ponyville. He looks at himself, and sees that he is in need of a wash, a bit more than usual for some reason. He cringes at the thought of being the only stallion at a place which is suited for mares, but he sucks in his pride as he remembers why he has to do this.

He walks into the establishment, and gets bombarded by an overwhelming aroma of bathing products. He received weird looks from the mares inside, and wonders, ‘What have I gotten myself into’.

After a quick bath in the spa, (and after using 25 bits) he stepped back outside, cleaner than he has ever felt in his life. He seriously doubts that anypony besides him, has ever used the stallion baths in that place.

There was still an hour and a half left, before he will go back to Fluttershy’s. He wants to buy a 2nd gift for her, so he searches in the Ponyville Markets.

After an hour of searching, his eyes see a suitable present for her. It is a golden necklace, with a small butterfly charm on the front. It was perfect. He looks the pricetag... 205 bits, which was basically all the money he had left. He knows that he wouldn’t be able to return to the Sweet Apple Acres to work again, and that buying this, would leave him broke for a bit over 2 weeks. Despite this fact, he buys the necklace and then walks back to Fluttershy’s.

At 5:57PM, he arrives back at Fluttershy’s, ready what he is about to say.

*knock knock*

Dusk hears a small squeak from inside the house. (D’AAWWW) Fluttershy opens the door to her house.

His jaw drops.

Chapter 33: His Special Talent

Chapter 33: His Special Talent

Dusk walks away from the apple farm thinking about what he said to Applejack before, about his cutie mark. He has never paid any heed to it, but today is different. After talking about it, with the farm mare, he became quite curious as to what it meant. It just something that he felt, that he should know at this stage of his life. He starts to think back to when he was in the fight with those bullies at the first day of Flight School.

‘So the reason that I went in a fight with those idiots, is because they were harassing Cloudie. That was the day which I got my cutie mark. I doubt that my mark signifies my skill with fighting of getting beat up, so it’ll have to be about something else involving the fight...’

He ponders this for a whole second, until he thinks of an answer.

‘Of course. When I defended Cloudie, (But not myself) that was when my shield appeared, and that probably means that my talent has something to do with protecting ponies. That’s rare. I’ve have never seen a special talent which is based around my personality, rather than a specific task. A pity. Maybe I could try to think back, to see if my guesses are correct.’

Dusk begins to reminisce, while still walking down the pathway to Fluttershy’s.

‘Back when Blizzard and Cloud had the one-sided fight, I felt like I should of stepped in and stopped the fight. That doesn’t really back up my guessing though. But when Fluttershy was about to get molested by those four stallions, I had a simply massive rampage, and saved her, at the cost of nearly killing myself. That still doesn’t back up my point though, as I think that anypony would want to save her, murderous rage or not.’

He thinks of what happened with Ditzy Doo, which confirms his thoughts.

‘When I helped Ditzy when she was getting teased, I chose to, when I could of just walked away and pretend that it never happened, and now that I think about it, I would defend any of my friends, with my life. HA! I have a personality talent...’

Dusk begins to unintentionally yell in an annoyed/amused tone “My cutie mark doesn’t even represent a skill, just my personality! YEAH! I’M USELESS! ”

Dusk sees another mare looking at him with a confused look. She has a light blue coat, and a multi coloured mane and tail, which are dark blue and a very light gray. It kind of looks like toothpaste. She also had a hourglass as her mark.

“Um, why were you yelling?” She asks Dusk.

He nervously chuckles, “I think that... I was uhm... accidentally thinking out loud.”

She shakes her head as she walks away, and he is very embarrassed about what just happened. He blushes, and feels the need to walk away a bit faster than usual.

‘I have really got to stop thinking out loud. It’s the third time that has happened to me in Ponyville.’

Dusk gets to Fluttershy’s and gets himself inside. He sees that Fluttershy is sitting on the lounge, reading her Romance novel. She doesn’t notice Dusk enter, as she is quite distracted by a scene in the book. He notices that her wings are fully erect.

He steps closer to her, without her noticing and asks, “Heya Shy, what are you reading?” Dusk can already tell that she is reading a sexual bit, but he wanted to see her reaction.

It was quite amusing. She quietly yelled when Dusk surprised her, then she slammed her book shut to prevent Dusk from reading it, and then she became a stuttering mess, while she was trying to explain herself. She is quite flustered and she has a massive blush. Dusk found her reactions to be both cute and funny at the same time.

“Um... ah... I was... uhh... I was reading a... part in the book that-”

Dusk interrupts her, “You were reading a quite risque scene in the book. That is probably why you reacted the way you did. Also, you had your wings fully erect, so you were either stretching or aroused.”

Fluttershy looks down towards the ground, ashamed with herself. “I’m sorry Dusk, I just like to read those sort of books.”

“I don’t really care about what books you read Shy. If you like those sort of books, then you can still read them. I’m surprised that you like to read those books though Shy, although-”

Dusk is stopped by somepony knocking on her door.

*tap tap tap*

Fluttershy opens the door, and starts to greet her guest. “Hello Carrot Top, it’s good to see you.”

“Good to see you too Fluttershy. I’m here, because I need to talk to Dusk for a few moments.”

Dusk walks up to the doorway and sees somepony that he remembers seeing yesterday. “Aren’t you that shop owner that sold me the carrot cake?”

“Yes I am, but that’s not what I’m here to discuss. I’m here to thank you for helping Ditzy yesterday.”

Dusk is confused. “That’s no problem... but how do you know what happened yesterday?” Questions Dusk.

“She told me. Ditzy and Dinky live with me in Ponyville, and as soon as she got back to my house, she told me about everything that happened that day.”

“But how did you know where to find me?”

“I don’t know how, but she knows that you are in a relationship with Fluttershy, and so she told me to come here to see you.” Explains Carrot.

Dusk starts to uncomfortably chuckle. “It’s a mystery, to how she knew about Fluttershy and I...” He didn’t want to tell her about the somewhat accidental kiss.

“So I’d like to thank you for stopping those ponies from harassing her, and for helping her keep her job. She would be devastated if she lost her job.”

“It was no problem Carrot, I just did what I had to do.” He modestly states.

“Nonsense. I’ve never seen anypony help her that much. Thanks again Dusk.”

She begins to walk out of the house and Dusk waves his hoof, “See ya later. One more thing, your carrot cake was quite nice.”

“Thanks Dusk, bye.” She walks away from the cottage and goes in the direction of Ponyville.

‘Feeling smug.’

Chapter 51: Forgiven, But Not Forgotten

Chapter 51: Forgiven, But Not Forgotten

Perspective: Rarity

The two are making their way out the forest, after the small confrontation. Dusk has opted to keep a small distance between himself and Rarity, and he is following her from about 20 metres away. When he told her what he would do, she understood why, but it hurt her on the inside. She still hated the fact that she had to walk through the muddy field, but after all they have been through, she didn’t care anymore.

‘It’s not like I should care how I look right now. The rain has completely ruined my marvellous mane, and the mud has already desecrated my poor body. This will simply take me hours to clean... but it was worth it. At least he forgave me before.’

She turns around, and sees Dusk following her from a small distance away. Dusk is in a worse condition, than she is. He has multiple cuts and scratches around his legs, and there are quite a few spots of blood, from where the needles where removed. He is also much muddier than she is, and she feared that he would get an infection if he isn’t treated soon. He is also looking sullen; he is wearing a dark expression, which can only be achieved through years of bad experiences. It is the worst condition that she has ever seen him in. She is concerned.

“Are you okay Dusk?”

“No” He answers in a deepened, depressive tone. He didn’t even look at her.

“What wrong Dusk? Is there anything I can do to help?”

“No.”

“Are you sure Dusk? I just-“

“Damn it Rarity, I don’t want to talk about it, okay?!” Angrily yells out Dusk.

Perspective: Dusk

He couldn’t explain why he is in such a bad mood. He had forgiven her, and she isn’t trying to mercilessly murder him with those impalers. He knows that this isn’t the right thing to do to her, but he couldn’t help it. It’s just that he has the tendency to lash out when he’s in a bad mood.

He then realizes why he is in such a bad mood. He is still scared of her, but he also felt bad at the same time, and he couldn’t figure out what he should do. Whenever he need the answer to a question, but he has no knowledge of how to answer it, he gets annoyed. The difference is that this is a massive issue, and he doesn’t even know how to fix it.

He is having an internal conflict with himself. His head said that he should run as far away as possible, so he could feel safe again, while his heart (so to speak) told him to comfort her, since he could see that she felt horrible for what happened less than an hour ago. His moral side is winning. It has been a few minutes since either of them has talked to each other, and so he took the initiative to apologize.

“...I’m sorry for lashing out at you earlier. I wasn’t really thinking properly, and I was being a real bastard to you, when I shouldn’t have been.”

“Oh... um, that’s okay Dusk, I’m surprised that you don’t hate me, for what I did... to you.”

“That’s no excuse for what I did.”

“Don’t worry about it Dusk, I don’t blame you for what you did. So... um Dusk, could you tell me if anything’s wrong? You look miserable right now...”

“I probably feel as bad as I look...” He stops, and rubs a fore-hoof through his mane, in a stressed manner.

“Damn it, I’m a mess,” He continues. “One minute, I allow myself to approach you, and the next, I yell at you for no reason. What the hay is wrong with me?!” He lets out a yell of frustration.

“Dusk, please...” He could hear the pleading in her voice. “It’s fine, don’t beat yourself up over it. I completely understand. Do you trust me enough to take you back to Twilight, and Fluttershy. They’ve been looking for you.”

His mind kept on telling him to run, but he had decided to stop listening to it by now. He knows better. “Um... okay, lead the way.”

---------- (A little bit later)

Perspective: Twilight Sparkle

She didn’t know why she kept on looking for him anymore. She knows that he isn’t in the area she was looking, but she felt that there was always a small hope that she’d be able to find him around the next bend, or the very next hiding spot. There was always that slim possible chance...

‘Why am I still doing this? I have been looking for him, for little over 30 minutes now, and I haven’t even seen one glance, one vague clue to his location. In case it wasn’t bad enough, it’s been pouring down with rain for the whole time, and I’ve been doing this on my own, for the last 15 minutes now. I’m sure that Spike is worried sick.’

She begins to walk back in the direction of her home, and she had to wipe her wet mane out of her eyes. She felt extremely tired after her fruitless search, and she felt like she had achieved nothing.

She heard somepony behind her. “Twilight! I found Dusk!”

She looks up to find the familiar alabaster unicorn, and the dark-blue ‘Protector of Ponyville’ trailing behind. She immediately brightens up at the sight of the two.

Chapter 68: Unexplained

Chapter 68: Unexplained

"Why have my wings become electric?" He asks in a panicked state, "What has happened to them?!" He gave Rarity an accusing glare, since she touched his wings last.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” Snaps back the alabaster unicorn. “How should I know what this means? I don’t know how to make your wings like that, and even if I did, why would I even need to do this to you?”

Dusk thought about this for a few seconds, but he only drew up blanks, “Point taken. Anyway, do either of you two know how this is possible?” Both Rarity and Fluttershy shook their heads, since neither of them knew what was going on. With this lack of information, he continues, “Alright then, we may need to ask Twilight about it later, but I need to move onto another slightly different topic. Rarity, did the shock hurt?”

"A bit, it felt like a painful electric shot and-"

Dusk had thoughtlessly (and accidentally) cut the mare off mid-sentence "So it inflicts basically a powerful static shock, but the thing is, is that static electricity cannot be seen to the naked eye. The lightning which is coursing through- Wait a sec..."

He looks back down to both of his wings, and notices that not only had the lightning stopped, it had also 'healed' his left wing a little bit. While it is still in a bad state, he could actually move the wing again in a near painless manner. He could actually move the wing up and down a few times without pain. There is a big wide smile on Dusk's muzzle as he finishes.

"Ha hah~ I now absolutely love this lightning thing now. It has actually somewhat cured my ailment by taking away most of pain from my wing.” He says happily.

“Well...” Rarity says with uncertain tone, “It could just be that the electricity was hurting you the whole time, until I went and took it away.”

Fluttershy speaks up as well, “Also, it um... might be because the massage may have even soothed your wing so much that it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

His facial features show a very unconvinced look, “No offense, but those theories sound pretty ridiculous.”

Rarity objects again, “And your ‘healing lightning’ theory doesn’t?”

Realizing that she had a very good point, he tries to think of a suitable comeback. Unable to find one, he just resorts to childish tactics, "Shut up, don't take my awesome lightning wings away from me." He retorts jokingly.

"Hush you, now if you have finished with your theories, I think it is time to continue your massage, wouldn't you agree?"

He had almost forgotten the reason why he was here in the first place. "Oh yeah, uh... so shall we continue?"

The whole wing massage had taken a further twenty minutes, which mainly consisted of socialising, gossip between the two mares, and moans of pleasure from the stallion. (From the entirely non sexual massage, it just felt that good) After it had finished, he had tested the wing, and was pleased when he couldn’t feel any pain coming from it. He is smart enough to know that trying to fly right now would still be a bad idea.

“My wing actually feels surprisingly good now. Thanks for doing that for me.” He says to Rarity, with an appreciative tone.

“That’s no problem Dusk. If you don’t mind me asking, how do you feel around me now; do you still fear me?”

“...I ...don’t know...” He doesn’t actually know the answer to this question, he knows that he still feels a bit uncomfortable around her, but that is the thing, only a bit. He had not only felt comfortable with the mare being in the same house as him, but he actually trusted her enough to let her touch his wings for a period of time. He almost felt ashamed by the fact that he is still somewhat scared around her, especially since she has tried so hard to reconcile with him after... that incident.

‘Maybe I could just let this stupid fear go. I know that she won’t do anything bad to me anymore. It’s the needles that I should be more worried about. Damn it, I thought I got over this fear the last time we met.’

“...I guess not...” Continues Dusk, “Considering that I trusted you enough to let you do this massage and all. I don’t think I’m scared of you anymore.”

He could see some positive reactions from the two mares, with Rarity looking relived by the news, and Fluttershy smiling sweetly at the stallion. It made him feel good inside. “Thank you Dusk. It’s good knowing that you now feel comfortable around me now,”

“Well, that’s no problem Rarity, but I need to say something first.” He hesitates just before he continues, as he finds it difficult to say this. He has never really been good at doing this, “I’m... sorry for making you worry about me, and for fearing you, and all. This may sound a bit lousy, since I’m not so good at apologies, but yeah, I’m sorry for doing that to you.”

The alabaster unicorn seems surprised by the stallion's unexpected apology. "Why, that's no problem at all, but I am afraid that I don't understand why you are apologizing to me. If anything, I should be apologizing to you (again) for attacking you that during that incident."

"There is no need to, since we have already made up for that. I'm just talking about how I have treated you a bit unfairly, even after you have tried to make things better for me. Although this couldn't be helped, I still feel bad for doing this to you. So... well, I'm pretty terrible at ending an apology." There was a slight pause after Dusk had finished, when the two expected him to continue, but he had ended it on that. (Proving that he is indeed, terrible at ending apologies)

Rarity ignores this little problem, as she finishes. "Apology accepted. Now let's never speak of this topic again." She says in a half serious, half joking tone.

Dusk could feel an sudden warmth inside him. It is like a feeling of accomplishment, and contentment. It is like he has accomplished something; he has beaten one of inner demons, and while it is only one, of numerous problems, it still felt good, great even. But even so, he had something else on his mind.

“Now, do either of you mares wanna go with me to Twi’s to ask about my wings?” The two just stare at him in silence. “Well?”

“That was a abrupt change of subject.” Notes Rarity.

“Ayep.”

*knock knock knock*

"Coming~" Says the mare from inside.

After a few seconds, the unicorn opens the door to the guests, and is brightens up as she sees who it was, "Oh, hello girls, (and Dusk) how are you?"

Rarity starts to speak for the group, "We're fine Twilight, mostly. We have got a little bit of a problem on our hooves, and we all think that you might be the mare who can tell us what it is, and to fix it, if possible."

"Hey, wait a sec, I don't want it fixed." Voices the stallion of the group.

Rarity sighs in annoyance, "I still don't see why you want that inside your wings. What do you think of them Fluttershy?"

The shy pegasus, who was content with just listening to this small argument, was put on the spot, "Um... well-" She is cut off by Twilight, whose curiosity has piqued.

"What wrong with his wings?" Asks Twilight.

Dusk decides to be direct about the ‘issue’, “My wings were pulsing with electricity about twenty minutes ago for some inexplicable reason. None of us were able to figure out why my wings started doing this, and so we came to see you, since you are the smartest pony in town, and since you may know what this could mean.”

Hearing this, Twilight puts her hoof up to her chin, as if she was trying to think something, "Lightning wings you say... why haven't you got them right now?"

Dusk explains why, "The effect was temporary, but it was definitely there. The lightning was there for about a minute before it disappeared. We all saw it."

"Yes, we did." Adds in the alabaster unicorn, "I ended up being of the receiving end of such wings, and let's just say, it hurts."

Twilight, while still sceptical about these supposed wings, has no choice but to submit, no matter how logically flawed it sounds. "Okay, I believe you, but honestly, I have absolutely no idea how this is even possible. Could you maybe, uh.. try to get your wings to become electric again?" She needs to observe this phenomenon for herself, not only to figure out the nature of these wings, but to also remove all doubt attributed to the wings.

“Well, I don’t know if that is entirely possible, my wing seemed to electrify after it after Rarity had been making contact with it for a minute, and- hey, hey?! Take that look off your face, it isn’t what it sounds like.” Because of his rather poor choice of words, Dusk could not only see a massive blush on Twilight’s face, but he could also see it on Rarity’s and Fluttershy’s as well, with Rarity’s being by far, the largest.

He tries to fix things up, “All she did is give my wing a massage.” Much to his dismay, (and after another bad choice of words) it didn't seem to do anything to lessen the mares' blushing.

"No wait, what I meant-"

"Just shut up Dusk, you're not helping." Interrupts Rarity. In the attempt to fix this embarrassing situation, she begins to properly explain what happened, "I was at Fluttershy's at the time, when Dusk walked into the house with a bad wing. While I don't know how he mangled his wings, he did ask me and Fluttershy if there was somepony that could massage his wing to fix it up or something..."

Rarity had finished her version of the events and thankfully, with her well chosen words, she has removed all of the embarrassment and awkwardness that Dusk had built up. However, Twilight was still baffled with the nature of his electric wings. ‘Everything is so inconsistent, like how the lightning just 'disappeared' according to Rarity, and how something no stronger than static electricity was even visible in the first place. If the lightning was visible, it should have had enough voltage to kill both Rarity and Dusk. (I’m thankful that this isn't the case, but still...) These supposed 'electric wings' are an impossibility, and yet, I still believe her, despite it all.’

After she had finished "Well, I'm glad you cleared that up Rarity. I almost thought that you three were almost about to *ahem* you know..."

Rarity has a very unamused look, but it wasn't directed at Twilight, "Yes, we so did we, isn’t that right Dusk." She glares at the stallion, still a bit peeved about what he said before.

He seems unfazed by the death stare but he apologizes anyway, “Sorry, it was an accident, it just came out wrong.”

Wanting to get back on topic, Twilight grabs the attention of the three, “But anyway, the thing is that I truly have no idea what could have caused this, I don’t even know if this is dangerous or not. I'm going to have to contact the Princess, see if she knows what's happened to your wings."

There is an apprehensive look on Dusk's face, "Wait, you don't need to contact the Princess just so she can have a look at my wings. I'm too insignificant to burden her."

Twilight was only paying half attention to the stallion, as she had levitated over a quill and parchment, and began to write the note, "Don't worry about it Dusk, I'm sure that the Princess will have enough time to do this for me. And speaking of which, SPIKE!"

Dusk was about to object again, but he decided against it, partly because Twilight has already finished most of the letter, (and damn, is she a fast writer) but also because he really wanted to meet the Princess face to face, and now he has that chance. While Dusk was thinking, Spike had walked down the stairs into the main room of the library. He is holding a brown paper bag

which was filled with sapphires, emeralds, and many other kinds of precious rocks which he seems to use as food.

As he looks up at the group, the dragon makes eye contact with a certain white unicorn in the room, which causes him to freeze up. His usual calm/annoyed/tired expression has turned into a look of nervousness as he keeps staring at the mare of his dreams. “Uh... hello Rarity, um... you look really uh, good today.”

Dusk could feel himself about to facehoof, ‘Real smooth, Spike.’

Being completely oblivious to the terribleness of Spike’s compliment, she happily says, “Why thank you Spike, I’m glad you think that.”

“That’s no problem Rarity.” Rarity’s happy response had made him a little bit more confident around his crush, “Actually, I think that-”

“Ah Spike, you’re here.” Says the purple unicorn, who hadn’t paid attention to Spike’s attempt to start a conversation, since she had been so engrossed in her letter, “I need you to send this letter to the Princess right now. It’s important that this gets to her straight away.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll get to it.” He grumbles as he takes the rolled up parchment.

‘Twilight’s really making it sound a lot more important than it really is.’

Spike holds the note up into the air with his claw, as he uses his unique green flames, to ‘burn’ the note to Princess Celestia. It only took a few seconds for the fire to envelop the note in magical flames, before a purple (and sparkly?) mist from the note speeds away to the castle. When that had finished, Spike went back to trying to start another conversation with Rarity, and Dusk and Fluttershy starting a new one. Twilight on the other hoof, was beginning to pace around a nearby table, as she nervously waits for the inevitable return note.

It only took about two minutes for Spike to burp up the return letter in a burst of green flames. Dusk could see that this parchment in particular was rolled up, and held in place by a red ribbon This in turn, is held together by a smooth circular gold piece, with a horse shoe engraved onto it; Celestia’s royal seal. (Well, what else cold it be?)

Twilight wastes no time in grabbing and opening the letter with her magic. Her eyes dart through the letter at a fast pace as her expression turns from relief, to worry, and then finally to panic. She hastily throws the letter onto the table before her gaze goes in the direction of her purple assistant.

"Spike, I need you to clean as much as you can, right now." She was trying to keep as much composure as possible, just to make sure she didn't let her crazy side come out. "I know that you've done everything that I've wanted you to do, but it is important that you do this for me, alright."

"You've got it sis." Spike would have normally questioned the importance of whatever was on the note, but he noticed Twilight's mane was starting to become a little more disheveled. Sometimes, he worries about his caretaker. He watches as she hurries away, to sort out some of the books on the bookshelves, and was annoyed when he saw her putting the perfectly placed books in the wrong spots. “She’ll calm down.” He mutters to himself

Meanwhile, the remaining three were wondering what had caused Twilight to freak out like this, with Dusk being the first to comment about the situation, “Hmm, I wonder what has gotten into her?”

“Oh dear... What could have make her act like this.” Pities Fluttershy.

Rarity, who had thought of a way to possibly fix this, had levitated the note over. “Well, you know, you could have just grabbed the note yourselves, and read it.”

“Oh no, I couldn’t have possibly done that. I don’t want to read Twilight’s private letters... since well... they are hers and all.” Meekly responds the yellow pegasus.

Dusk just had the irresistible urge to facehoof himself for not thinking of that earlier, “Well then, do you think you can read it out to us.”

“Of course... okay, Dear Twilight Sparkle,

Your news intrigues me, never in my centuries of ruling have I heard of anything as strange as this. These ‘lightning wings’ as you call them don’t seem to sound as dangerous as you make them out to be, but I understand your concern. This isn’t a product of natural pegasi magic. Now normally, I would come and see you myself, but unfortunately, the day court is running a lot longer than usual.

So instead I’ll be sending my sister along, since she is...” Rarity saw no point in continuing to read out the letter, since they all heard what they needed to hear.

‘What?’

Author’s Note: No, the cause of the electric wings is not because of Dusk being some kind of Chosen One or anything like that. In fact, the thing that unknowingly gave him this happened sometime in the second half of the story. Also, I freak hate writing parts with Spike in it. I just don’t know how to do it well.

And just in case you are curious, here is how the rest of the letter continues:

…since she is much better with subjects involving magic and the arcane arts than I am. This is one of the few times that Luna has ever left Canterlot, and this visit will be a private one. She will be teleporting to the library in a few moments, and I hope that she does not catch the public’s attention.

Send my regards to Dusk for me. (We've heard the stories of the 'Protector of Ponyville'.)

Celestia