A DUSK IN EXILE

Chapters

Prologue
X
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX
XI
XII

Prologue

Deep underneath Castle Equus, Dusk sadly waited out time here while being chained up like a common criminal in a cell of the castle dungeon. There were no windows to keep track of time, but merely the friendly, rhythmic pumping of his heart. The air was foul without any fresh air blowing throughout, but also his cell stank of dried offal and piss, which he has already added to himself over these past weeks or months, however long it has been since the city patrol took him in and left him in the custody of the palace guards.

The reason for his arrest and incarceration was as stupid as anything the goddesses could trump him up with: being a male alicorn, or as they put it, pretending to be an alicorn.

His stomach growled requiring food. How long has it been since he last ate? Dusk surely had no idea. His only remaining hope was that somehow Big Daddy would rescue him. Of course, it was only the faintest of hope, as BD was a gang boss that ruled over the Downs where Dusk grew up in, and who Dusk worked for these past few years. Surely, however, Daddy would work to secure the release of his private mage, right?

Dusk sighed. He had not asked to be this way. He had only been seeking what books in the only library still standing in the hellhole that is Equus Downs, where he discovered an ancient text hidden amongst the shelves, a book that had an unfinished spell in it. Dusk took the text home that day, and after reciting the spell, but then added his own words to complete the spell, he found himself held in supreme and blissful magic for several moments. Upon the spell’s ending, Dusk discovered that he now bore wings. He had been just a normal unicorn before, but now he had become one like the goddesses himself. And a new world of magic was available to him.

A lot of good that was, for as soon as he knew, he had been captured and enslaved by a ring of suppression on his horn, then tossed here in this foul dungeon to await his certain unwanted fate.

A tear fell from his eyes, knowing that he might never see his mother or his friends ever again.

Sometime later, Dusk’s ears pricked forward upon hearing the dungeon door rattling, then open with a squealing creak. Instantly he heard several male voices laughing and joking, meaning that several of the dungeon guards were coming in, no doubt to abuse a prisoner as they were wont to once in a while. He hoped that it wouldn’t be him they sought for agonizingly cruel sport.

He knew better than to hope; he was the only pony here in this part of the dungeon.

Something banged upon the bars of his cell then, a sharp ringing that hurt his ears. “Hey, faggot!” came a sneering voice. “Wake your ass up and stand!”

Dusk flattened his ears, and stood up, mentally preparing for the abuse to happen. An imposing gray unicorn guard was at the cell door and unlocking it, only for Dusk to be lashed with a blast of magic which held him in its grasp tightly, squeezing the breath out of him.

The unicorn stepped aside as four others came into the cell, each holding a rod in their hoofs. Dusk quailed, knowing what those were: cattle prods. He was to be tortured with their electrical jolts on his body. He had endured many bouts with those already, and he attempted to place his mind in a box to prevent himself from feeling such a torture by placing his sanity there. He peered at the gray unicorn sergeant defiantly yet said nothing.

The guard merely smirked and gave a slight nod as the four others surrounded Dusk. Instantly he was hit with the prods, the electrical jolts burning his nerves as all four prods hit at the same time. Another round of jolts hit again, yet Dusk held himself steady, trying to ignore he pain as he stared at the guard sergeant. However, one of the guards then stepped behind Dusk, then jolted him with the prod against his testicles, finally causing Dusk to yelp in pain and desperation. The assault of his body and testicles continued for several long minutes, then paused as the sergeant moved closer to Dusk, who was now openly weeping from the severe pain.

“You know,” the sergeant began to say, holding up Dusk’s muzzle to peer into his eyes with malicious glee, “you should be thankful, slum rat. After all, it could be worse. You could have been a mare, or even yet, a filly. To think of all the fun that we could have been having these past weeks! Even though I still have an urge to see you raped as a stallion and broken with such an act, I must abide by the goddess’ edict.”

“I’ll do it!” said one of the guards, who quickly mounted Dusk. “Just say the command, Sarge!”

Dusk tried to flap his wings feebly in the attempt to dislodge his attacker from his back, yet the guard only tightened his forelegs about Dusk’s barrel and feinted thrusting at his rump. However, Dusk was again hit by two prods, each jolt him at the base of each wing and causing Dusk to give a deep yelp of pure agony.

The sergeant shook his head. “Tempting, private,” he snorted with a lash of his tail. “Still, dismount and continue with his torture for now. He needs to be taught humility. You four have free rein.” And the unicorn sergeant stepped out of the cell with a sigh.

Dusk closed his eyes and steeled himself for the assault he was to receive. Again, all four prods hit him again and again relentlessly. Soon, it wasn’t just his testicles that were jolt, but also his penis as well. All too soon, the excruciating harm he was receiving became too much, and Dusk fell upon his side, no longer able to resist the assaults.

Then, the prods stopped jolting him mercilessly. “Stand the prisoner upright!” the sergeant commanded. Once pushed to stand on his hoofs, Dusk was then splashed with a bucket of cold water, but was again jolted by the four prods, one of which hit him on his star cutie mark. And Dusk again screamed in agony, the yell continuing long after the jolts had stopped.

Again, water was dumped on him, making his shiver in the cold air. “I think that is enough for now, slum rat,” the sergeant remarked. “You must be clean before being presented before the goddesses. Unchain him.”

Dusk felt the cuffs about his fetlocks being opened as he felt another iron collar being close about his neck with a heavy chain attached to it. Dusk hung his head and passively allowed them to lead him from the cell, even letting his useless wings droop forlornly.

Now free from the torturous pain, he recovered his sanity from the box in his mind, only dully acknowledging the trek from the dungeon cells to the throne hall. As they approached the twin tall doors into the hall, the sergeant guard nodded to those guards standing at the doors, and the white pegasus guard there opened one of the doors silently, ignoring Dusk as he was led inside. Once within, the others of his guard retired while the gray sergeant remained, now holding a cattle prod in his hoof.

“Kneel, scum!” he commanded, and pressed down on Dusk’s withers with the prod, only to send a jolt into the alicorn captive.

Dusk winced at the pain, but obeyed and knelt, even touching his useless horn to the carpet of rich crimson. He could feel the electric point of the prod still pressing against him but did not complain.

After a few minutes, a calm and musical voice said wearily, “You may rise, prisoner.”

Dusk struggled but shakily got to his hoofs and defiantly gazed at the pure white alicorn goddess, her pastel rainbow mane waving in a magical breeze, the violet eyes peering down at him with disinterest and mockery.

After a few silent moments of both Dusk and the sun goddess peering at each other, she sighed, then said serenely, “Dusk Shine of the Downs, I hope that you have learned a semblance of humility during your stay.”

Dusk wrinkled his nose and snorted. “I am innocent, Holiness!” he spat. “Keeping me in chains and permitting me to be tortured is not what you stand for, Solaria! You represent warmth and the love of the sun! You are not the visage of evil, and that is what this is: evil!”

She sighed heavily. A slight nod, and Dusk was again jolted by the sergeant’s prod at his cutie mark, making him yelp in sheer pain and causing him to again fall on his side.

“Up with ya, scum!” the sergeant harshly said, using telekinesis to haul Dusk upright once more.

Solaria looked to Dusk with cold disgust masked behind the serenity of her smile. “Be that as it may, Dusk Shine,” she proclaimed wearily, “while my sister has been pleading your case in your stead to me, I must remain firm in my decision. As an unwanted, unwarranted ascension into alicorn status, and being a stallion, a state that is strictly forbidden to all males in Equineland, it has befallen to me to pass judgement upon you, colt.”

In the ensuing silence Dusk once again shouted, “But I am innocent! I am merely a librarian, not a criminal!”

Solaria coldly stared down at Dusk. “Oh?” she mocked. “And how can you account for those ponies whom you have murdered at the direction of your gang leader, hm? So-called Big Daddy has been on our sights now for years, Dusk Shine, foal of the slut Evening Satin. You are hardly any innocent pony. We have a lengthy list of crimes you have been perpetrating for many years since your birth.”

Dusk let his gaze fall, crestfallen He wondered, How much does she know of the things he has done since becoming part of Big Daddy’s family?

“Regardless, Dusk Shine,” Solaria continued with a further sigh. “Even without any additional evidence of your criminal past, you are still guilty of one obvious fact. You are an alicorn, and only mares can be alicorns. If it were up to me, I’d pull those wings off from your body instantly, but the laws of this land prevent me from such, as well as your now innate alicorn magic would work against any physical harm done to you by healing itself. That is one of the more powerful benefits to being an alicorn. All that torture you endured was for nought, as your body knew to heal itself, even with that suppression ring on your horn.”

She paused with another heavy sigh, then looked to her dark sister, whom had been meekly sitting quietly, allowing her solar sister to do the talking. At her sister’s nod, the moon goddess Selene dropped down from her throne and upon her silver-shoed hoofs with a sigh, then lifted a pair of saddlebags and carried them to Dusk.

Placing the saddlebags upon Dusk and then belting them to him, she softly told him, “I tried, Dusk. You might have made a fine lover to me. But my sister’s word is final.” Cinching down the belt about his barrel, she touched her horn to his. “Be well, young stud.” And she returned back to her throne without any further glance to him.

Solaria rolled her eyes at her sister’s actions toward the criminal Dusk, but let it slide. She knew of her younger sister’s fondness for stallions, a fondness that Solaria had once shared, many centuries ago. “Sister,” Solaria said calmly, then pointed her horn at a space away from the throne. Selene also did the same at the very spot her sister had designated. Both sisters then lit their horns, and in parallel fired at the same spot, opening a swirling portal of gray void.

Solaria looked back to Dusk and proclaimed dispassionately, “Dusk Shine, you are sentenced and hereby permanently banished from this universe. May the benevolence of the Tree forgive you for your transgressions.”

“In ya go,” the guard sergeant spoke, then jolting Dusk with the prod at his rump to make Dusk move. Dusk stepped before the portal but paused to peer back at the two sisters while his collar was removed. With a flick of his tail, he sneered at them and said, “Fuck you, Solaria. Fuck you both.”

At that proclamation, he leapt into the portal and disappeared forever from his birth world.

Author's Note

Thus begins the tale of Dusk Shine.

As I noted, this is not the Dusk of many stories on this site, most of them harem stories or porn. I do not write porn but prefer stories with a tale to tell. This was a rather violent beginning and serves to explain many things in upcoming chapters.

Please feel free to comment, but do not troll me at least. If you dislike, then tell me why.
:twilightsmile:

X

Dusk returned his attention back to the problem before him, now that he felt the dreamwalker abruptly depart from his mind. While he might have preferred for Luna to fade away, much like his version, Selene, often did when she was spying in his mind and dreams, Luna’s departure was satisfactory, being that he sensed her leave.

Looking back at what he had to try and deal with, Dusk returned back to normal pony form, thus separating himself from the other thing. He may still be within his mind, but he knew that it wouldn’t be long before he had to try and shield it in the waking world. And he hoped that he could indeed recapture the otherworldly thing. He’d done it once, so he thought that it might be the same now.

As he gathered up his courage and magic, he peered at this creature, still attempting to fathom what exactly it was. It appeared as just an inky black blob that was mostly an amorphous shape without any discernible features. Just a black blob of negative energy floating in space. It seethed and roiled, but otherwise did not move, save to alter its orb shape to either an ovoid, then a teardrop, and again to pear-shaped, only to return once again to an orb.

Dusk blasted the thing with a spell of containment, only to observe the spell harmlessly bounce off the thing’s surface. Damn, he thought. That should have worked! It did last time…

After firing several more spells, he knew that it had become much too powerful for him alone to handle and contain. He was dreading this possibility, but at least he had already figured on this eventuality. It pays to always have a back-up plan, as his old mage teacher told him so many times while Dusk was learning how to become a war mage.

Therefore, he had set it up with Twilight before-hoof in the eventuality that he would need assistance in the case that the creature would escape. The problem he worried about was if she would come to his aid. That was his greatest fear, and also the one thing he hated most, having to depend on others for help.

As he stared at it, the thing began to pulse, only to expand its outer form significantly. Dusk, realizing what was changing, backed away, fleeing quickly to the edge of his memory and attempted to close it off. However, before he could begin to lock it down, he felt the thing trying to break free. forcing against the door to the rest of his mind. Desperate to contain the thing, he slammed the ethereal door, only to be shoved back again before he could start the locking spell. This time proved to Dusk that he was no longer in control, and he had to abandon any further attempts, instead returning to the waking world.

As he came to, he sensed that the thing was barely behind him as he escaped, and by the time he had stood, the thing was now here in the cavern with him, still silently bobbing as if mocking him, daring Dusk to do something drastic.

A creature of the Void, he thought. Surely it had to be dealt with by the magic of the Guardians!

Nevertheless, Dusk again threw more spells at it, which only either bounced away harmlessly, or was absorbed by the black blob. And each spell it took made the creature swell in size. So much, that it was nearly filled the entire back part of the cavern.

* * *

Three others, two princesses and a slender patchwork worm with yellow eyes, peered into the cavern with alarm.

“What is that thing?” she asked. “Discord, do you know what it is?”

He paused, wiping a pair of glasses idly with a cloth, letting his spiked tail sway a bit before answering. “Hm,” he hummed. “Well. It isn’t anything chaotic, dear Celestia. If I were to guess, I’d say the creature was something out of the Void beyond the realm of matter. How in the name of Chaos did your alicorn prince friend ever corral it makes me wonder. That he could so easily send me back to my universe with a mere toss of his hoofs leads me to believe that Prince Dusk is no small mage. That said, I have no idea what to do about it, nor do I have any power to make it go away. If I were to say what best course was, I’d say, RUN! Because, you have no way to defend against something out of the Void. And if it gets loose, it will destroy your world, if not the entire universe.”

Celestia bit her lip, considering how to calmly evacuate Canterlot. “Luna, go tell the captain of the Guard to go start the evacuation of Canterlot. Calmly, but with urgency. Where is Twilight?”

“Not far, Sister,” Luna replied, worry on her brow.

“Find her and tell her to gather her friends, just in case. Go!”

Celestia peered at her old nemesis. “You stay, Discord,” she told him. “You have some knowledge about it, and you may become useful for once, if need be.”

Luna teleported away instantly, while both Celestia and Discord placed a shield spell about the cavern, hoping that would prove enough, although Discord knew that it might only delay the inevitable.

* * *

While he did acknowledge the others beyond the cavern entrance, Dusk had more urgent and pressing issues to deal with. The thing was expanding beyond his ability to hold it, and he hoped that Celestia was smart enough to summon Twilight here. However, even as he thought about it, the blob quickly surged, fully enveloping Dusk within its inky darkness.

Dusk froze, unsure where he was currently. The best he figured, he was now inside the Void creature. Somehow. He had expected to be consumed, eaten for being a creature of positive matter, but the blob merely sucked him inside of itself. He opened his eyes, but could see nothing save empty blackness everywhere. At least, it was warm.

And he could sense. Turning in the direction where the cavern entrance might be, he was able to see both Celestia and Discord just beyond, yet could not see Luna. Even more troubling was the absence of Twilight. She should be here, ready to lend Dusk aid, which he surely could use about now.

Oddly, he could also feel. He had touch for some curious reason, as he was not hanging freely in space, but was apparently standing upright, his hoofs firmly on some kind of flooring. Also, he could breathe. The air was foul, but still contained enough oxygen to keep him from suffocation. As if the creature was keeping Dusk alive. Why, and for what purpose, he lacked knowledge, or idea even.

What was weird to Dusk, was the complete lack of any communication between himself and it. Nevertheless, he was able to sense some form of sentience within the creature. No true sapience, just the most primitive type of sentience, probably operating on the most basic levels of instinct. Perhaps if he tried, he might be able to communicate with it. Couldn’t hurt to try.

Before anything he could attempt, he sensed an overriding need for sustenance. The creature was hungry with a capital H. And it was ready to seek out food, whatever that was. Just as soon as he began to realize the creature’s hunger, it began to swell again and bob, as if preparing to flee.

In that instant, it launched itself forward, easily bursting out from the shielding spell across the entrance. Dusk barely spied Discord shove Celestia aside, only to leap away in the opposite direction as the blob flew past both of them and splat against the crystal wall. Dusk figured that it was not that bright to do that, but he was wrong in that assumption. The blob instantly began to melt into the crystal wall, then started to burrow into the solid crystal wall. It even began to pick up speed as it continued on through, eventually coming to solid granite, where it only increased its speed again and also began feeding on the rock.

Well, that explains much, Dusk thought. It can eat anything.

Dusk quickly formed a command, curious to discover how much sentience this thing had. Eat no pony, he sent.

The Void creature moaned, even shook in response, as if fighting Dusk’s command while it continued to eat its way out of the mountain. Still, Dusk was satisfied. The thing had responded.

The entire experience, while giving Dusk some fear, still left him speechless, yet curious. Just how much this thing was sentient was an open question. Sure, it wasn’t sapient enough to talk, yet did respond to his directive, However, he then was shown a picture in his mind, a question asked but not spoken. He replied by instantly forming a picture of a pony in his mind, and the thing quickly accepted it. At that moment, Dusk sensed something else as he and the thing ate through the rock. It was adapting, altering itself to mimic Dusk’s shape.

Dusk was then left breathless and alarmed. That this thing could change into something else meant that this was truly an awesome creature, but also horrifying.

Just as he was about to begin forming questions to ask it, they had come to the edge of the mountain, then burst through. Dusk felt nothing, yet the destruction he saw through the creature’s perceptions was terrible enough, as the whole part of the mountain gave way, spewing rock and huge boulders outward as they exited. The Void creature ate what it could as it continued onward, flying through the air for what must have been at least a kilometer or more.

Dusk quickly looked back as they flew beyond the mountainside where they had bore through and left a gaping hole. It was then that he heard something else. As he watched, he sensed another horrifying thing: one of the main struts supporting the overhanging part of Canterlot began to shift. Not only did it shift, but also started to collapse, the metal making a terrifying shriek as it buckled under the weight of the structures and castle above.

At that moment, two figures appeared about the edge of Canterlot, both floating close: a white pony, wings flapping in desperation, and a pale brown worm beside it. Both seemed to begin stabilizing that part of Canterlot which was beginning to sag.

That was the scene left in his mind, of Celestia and Discord trying to keep Canterlot from total collapse against the orange glow of the setting sun. Dusk feared what would happen, and wanted badly to lend aid, but trapped as he was within the Void creature, he was left helpless, unable to help save anything. Instead, the creature, now in open space, began to drop downward toward the valley below. Canterlot was soon out of his sight as they fell.

That was when Dusk noticed that the shape of the creature had began assuming a definite form, one not surprising in the least. Since the thing had trapped Dusk within itself, he had been aware that the inky host had been studying him. Now, as they dropped from the mountain, Dusk sensed that it was altering its appearance, becoming somewhat of a caricature of a pony form, sprouting a head and elongating its body, only for legs to extend outward from the body. Four legs swiftly sprouted, then a pair of what he could only assume was representing wings sprung out from its body.

But it didn’t stop there, as four more legs appeared between the initial set of legs, giving it an appearance of a giant black ant with a vaguely pony head, but without a tail.

Dusk used his sight sense that the creature provided, and he saw the forested ground rushing closer. He stiffened himself, expecting to feel it crash into the trees below.. As the trees quickly approached, the tops looking like large green spikes, the creature folded the faux wings, then slowed itself, coming to rest gently amongst the forest of evergreens. Its pony head still was above most of the trees, so Dusk was unable to see the ground, or at least much of it, yet he sensed that the creature was standing on solid ground.

Thinking quickly, Dusk began to draw on his magic to teleport out of the creature. Imagining the forest ground, he cast his spell, only for it to fizzle and die. And the creature about him grew larger then.

Fuck, he thought to himself. It was using his magic to live. Crap, where is she?

The Void creature reached down and bit off an entire tree, only to suck it up into its maw that had appeared then, and it moved onward to another tree, where it copied the first act of consuming a tree. It was beginning to feed on matter, much like a pony would when given a bowl of salad greens, or a bowl of raw hay.

Dusk looked about, desperate to find a way to stop it, but also to flee from his black prison and escape the creature. He struggled to find anything, magic, or even simply trying to burst out of the darkness he was imprisoned within, but to no avail. He was trapped solidly without hope of escape. Still, he knew that the creature was not only chewing up everything it stumbled across, but was also feeding off of Dusk himself.

Then, Dusk sensed something crash into the creature, only to quickly bounce away. After a moment, another crash and bounce off, this time on the opposite side. Then a third time from behind, each in quick succession.

Using his sense, Dusk noted a tiny speck of cyan flying at high velocity towards the black creature, and in the space of a breath, it once more slammed into the creature and flew away.

The creature paused, then projected a question to Dusk. Pony?

Dusk nodded in affirmation. Pony. Do not harm.

The creature sighed. It annoy.

The pegasus crashed into the head of the creature, but instead of merely fleeing, it paused and hovered before the creature, even standing up on hind legs while the forelegs moved in a threatening manner.

You fool, Blitz! Dusk screamed. Go away before you get hurt!

When the creature attempted to swat at it, the cyan pegasus backed away just out of the reach of the creature, yet still acted in a provocative manner at the creature, daring it to attack.

Again, the creature moved toward the hovering pony and tried to swat at it. And again, the pegasus dropped back while continuing to show a threatening manner. Dusk by now understood. Blitz was attempting to draw the Void creature away from the vicinity of Canterlot and away from any populated areas.

Dusk grinned, as it was exactly the thing that Blitz would do. Sure, Blitz lacked any actual ability to cause harm to the Void creature, but he could annoy it. Thinking swiftly, he sent to the creature, Follow.

The creature responded with an unvoiced question, yet trod ponderously toward the pegasus when Dusk did not reply. Soon, after several minutes of movement, Dusk saw that they had left the confines of the forest and had entered into a broad, fertile green valley meadow. The creature paused and moved its head, sensing out this new environment.

“Hey, lunkhead!” the pegasus cried, again slamming into the creature. “Come and get me!”

And the creature edged forward, chasing after the annoying little pony. But Dusk laughed to himself, realizing the ploy, but also noting that the words he had heard was not by a stallion, but a raspy-voiced mare.

Twilight’s version of Blitz, he thought in amusement. Probably the one he spied napping on a cloud the other day in Ponyville.

He then saw a flash of pale purple flying towards them, and he sighed, relieved that the princess was indeed coming to help. She paused to push aside Blitz, then continued to fly at the creature, but instead of attempting to hurt it, she instead flew about the creature, examining it and no doubt calculating just how to approach eliminating its threat.

Another pony? came the creature’s inquiry, and Dusk immediately nodded.

Do not eat, he sent in reply.

It not annoy. Why?

Learn of you, Dusk responded swiftly.

We take, the creature concluded. Feed.

No! Dusk quickly cried. Not feed!

The creature shuddered in annoyance at Dusk’s insistence, yet then extended a faux wing to bat away the newer flying pony. Dusk chuckled when Twilight instantly teleported away as the wing tried to swat at her, only to reappear before its head.

“Dusk!” she cried then. “Are you in there!?”

I’m here! He tried to vocalize, yet she seemed not to hear him. Tentatively, he extend a foreleg out, and discovered that his hoof was beyond the creature’s surface, and he wiggled it, hoping to catch her attention. She saw it apparently, and swiftly darted to the side of the head.

“Dusk?” she again asked. Then Dusk grasped her hoof with his and pulled her within the creature where he was, still unsure about how he had been able to reach out of the creature, yet glad he did..

She had shrieked when Dusk grabbed her, but after a brief moment of fright, she opened her eyes and beheld Dusk, who merely smirked in her direction.

“Welcome to my parlor, said the spider to the fly,” he said mockingly.

She punched him at his withers. “Damn you, Dusk!” she cried. “Stop being the ass for once! And, where are we?”

“Within the creature,” he replied simply. “I was not sure that you’d come, Princess, but I am glad that you did. Are your friends close?”

She nodded, “Close enough,” she replied with a nod.

“Can you feel your friends?” he pressed anxiously.

Again, her nod. “I can sense them, curiously,” she said, then frowned. “But how? They are all outside.”

“I have full sense of things beyond the creature, and even made contact with it,” he explained. “It does have some sentience, and actually some consciousness, enough to communicate back to me. However, this truly is a monster that will devour everything it sees and feels. You must destroy it now, Princess. You have the power to do it. I cannot, as I am not linked to the Guardian’s magic. You are. So, do that hoodoo, that you do, so well, Princess.”

She looked at him with concern. “In here?” she asked

Dusk nodded. “It would be best,” he agreed. “Killing something from within is the easiest solution. I should know, as that was my favorite way to eliminate any rivals and those I was directed to kill for Big Daddy. Made a mess, but it was effective.”

Twilight stared at Dusk in horror. “You really did kill ponies?” she asked in a weak voice.

He shrugged. “I am a paid assassin, Princess,” he stated blandly. “Now, do your thing, Princess before it begins to eat your world.”

She hesitated, peering at Dusk cautiously. “You won’t—” she began to ask, only for him to wave the question aside.

“I’ll be here, Princess,” he told her. “I’ll just be standing aside, and I promise not to interfere.” He grinned. “As lovely as you are to my male lust, I know better than to bother another while they cast magic. Now, Princess, do your Guardian magic thing that I’ve read so much about in your journal!”

With a curt nod, Twilight closed her eyes. Dusk backed away giving her plenty of space, unsure how she did that magic crap thing with the Guardian’s magic. He watched in fascination as she hovered in the air, and he could vaguely sense her reaching out to contact her friends outside. It felt odd, and the space began to feel…different. In just a few heartbeats, she opened her eyes, and Dusk backed away again, astonished by the fact that her eyes were now glowing in pure white light. But that was not all, either, as a sense of such pure magic began to manifest and surround them and the creature, leaving him speechless.

Twilight felt so alive. She had reached out to her friends, and they in turn responded, bonding themselves to her magic. But then she sensed that the Tree’s magic reaching out towards her, that pure magic of harmony which she had used before. Only now it was different. She had heard music while entranced by the Tree’s magic before. This time, she heard an entire orchestra of sounds. And what was once a simple thread of harmony magic was now much more. She sensed a whole lot of magic from differing points, not just her Tree. Even more, she could sense magic flowing from other Trees far from her universe, and each Tree added to the power growing at an exponential rate within her. This was an entirely different type of magic, yet still harmonious in feeling.

The magic of the Guardians, as Dusk puts it.

The magic increased swiftly, enveloping her into a vessel of dire magic. This felt more like an offensive type of magic, and she was soon overfilled in this magic, almost to the breaking point in her mind. The orchestra of sounds had become totally deafening, and she tried to recoil away from the noise that had turned into a shriek that pierced her ears.

And, still more magic added.

Twilight was entirely lost, and she began to scream in agony at the level of magic being poured into her soul. She could hardly endure any more of this, and she gave her being to it, having no more thoughts.

The link stretched and writhed, only to become a rainbow of magic that shot instantly out about the creature. Twilight was barely able to witness the ribbon of magic slice into the inky creature, only to thread into Dusk and out of him, then further outside and up, where it contacted Canterlot and repaired what had been broken, even restoring the mountainside supporting the castle and town.

Then, as quickly as it appeared, the magic ceased, leaving a silence that was deafening. Twilight dropped to the ground and fell on her side, gasping for air at trying to make sense of what she had just experienced. At least she was alive still. Her friends all quickly came and surrounded her, even holding her close as they began to excitedly talk about their individual experiences.

“Is it gone?” Twilight blearily asked, shaking her head to clear herself, yet not the sensation of that pure harmonious magic. Her soul still sang in the feeling of that.

“Yeah, the meanie is gone!” Pinkie replied in a sing-song manner, even dancing about in sheer happiness. “What was that thing, Twilight?”

“Dusk,” she replied with weariness. “Or, rather, what he had inside of him. I’ll explain it later to you all.”

Rainbow stood over Twilight, looking about with curiosity. “Okay, but where is he?” she asked.

Twilight bolted to standing, but nearly fell again when she felt dizzy from such a quick action. She walked slowly about with her head down, yet once she felt better, she raised her head and peered around. “Dusk?” she called out, frowning.

Rainbow instantly took the air in the growing darkness of evening. She looked around at the grassy meadow, even putting a hoof over her eyes as if blocking any light. She soon spied a dark shape in the grass some away, one nearly hidden in the tall grasses.

“There, I think,” she said in her raspy voice, pointing in the direction.

Twilight turned to look, then took to the air herself and flew to the form in the dark. She landed beside the recumbent form of Dusk laying on his side,

Dropping to her belly, she tried to shake Dusk, “Wake up, you silly goose!” she cried.

Dusk, however, remained unmoving.

Twilight grasped him and pulled him close, again shaking him roughly. “Dusk! Dusk!” she shouted, yet he remained unresponsive.

She then looked about in desperation, and upon seeing Rainbow nearby, she yelled at her friend, “Go quickly and bring back Princess Celestia! I’m not sure, but I think that Dusk is seriously injured!”

Rainbow was instantly airborne and darted away towards Canterlot, a trail of rainbow colors behind her.

Twilight hugged Dusk close and rocked, saying his name over and over again while her other friends gathered about in silence.

Applejack tilted her hat back, then said, “Twilight, he might be dead.”

Twilight shook her head roughly. “He can’t!” she cried. “It was Harmony magic! He can’t be dead!” She again stared down at him.

“Please Dusk! Awake and tell me how you lust for me, so I know that you are alive! Please!”

And the night closed in about her and Dusk.

Author's Note

End of Act One.
Act Two starts with the next chapter, with the story taking a turn...

I

Dusk had been sure that when he entered the portal, he’d be surely lost within the anti-universe.

That didn’t happen. Much to his surprise, the transition only lasted barely a heartbeat or two before he tumbled out from the end, landing on a solid floor and a damp carpet that smelled of mildew and animal waste.

The brightness of his new surroundings was too much, and he instinctively closed his eyes to let them adjust to this universe. At least it was warm, the air fresh besides those nasty smells his nose scented upon landing. It was only a moment, and Dusk slowly let his eyes open, although he wasn’t sure if he wanted to, afraid of being again tortured and caged like some feral animal.

His initial reaction to what he saw left him in awe, yet that wasn’t what surprised him the most: he felt and sensed his magic returning slowly, filling him with joy as the purity of such power returned. He wanted to leap up in orgasmic laughter as his spirit became excited to have again the magic he had been drained of and prevented from using these past weeks of incarceration and daily physical abuse.

The suppression ring lay before him on the blood red carpet, its power now useless, the ring itself a dull black. He put a tentative hoof to the edge of the ring and felt it give, as if it could easily shatter.

He looked about his current surroundings then, and his eyes widened with shock. It was a throne hall, just like the one he had fled from only moments ago, yet eerily silent and empty, appearing to have been deserted for a very long time. His gaze took in quite a lot of destruction, the kind of which gave the distinct impression of a battle with wild magic. Scorch marks on walls where old tapestries hung, some soiled and torn, others fading forlornly. All through the hall lay a clear scent of decay and neglect. And another thing pierced his mind: the total absence of sound. Back in his world, the palace had been surrounded by a busy city. Yet here, there was no sound of pony activity, but then he heard a few trills of birds lurking nearby.

Still, that wasn’t the only thing. Behind the pair of empty thrones which bore stains of decay, hung a large banner showing a distinctive scene, one that took him a few moments to absorb: a pair of winged unicorn ponies, one white, the other near black, both at the sides of the banner. The white one was leaping upward, the nose pointing to a many-rayed sun, white the darker one was looking down, its nose pointing to a bright and silvery moon.

His jaw hung with surprise, as it was his world’s standard for Equineland, save that the orientation was offset by ninety degrees. The standard he knew display Solaria over the sun, with Selene under a full, silvery moon on her backside.

A throat clearing behind him was a further shock. Dusk turned away for the banner tapestry, only to see himself peering back at himself. Or rather, what he thought to be himself. The image reflection was certainly off, as it clearly displayed himself as a…mare?

“Who are you, and where did you come from?” the image spoke.

Dusk’s instant reaction was to cower away from the other pony and drop to his chest, then cover her face with his wings. Quivering with fear, he replied, “P-p-please d-don’t hurt me! I-I-I am just a librarian!”

He heard a feminine chuckle, then, “So am I.”

He stopped his shaking calming only slightly, then peeked out from behind his feathers to look at the other with trepidation. “You are?”

His likeness now was much closer and mildly looking down at him with a warm and reassuring grin. The mare nodded.

“I have a big library in my castle,” she said. “Would you like to see it?”

He again closed his eyes and hid behind his wings. Why is she being so nice to me? I’m a male alicorn! Shouldn’t she be hurting me and saying that I am wrong to be an alicorn?

In his silence, she moved and circled about him. “You are a stallion!” she cried. “A male alicorn! How did that happen?”

It took him a few moments to reply uneasily. “I-I, um, finished a spell in an old tome that had been left incomplete. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting this to happen. Honest!”

“So did I!” she cried excitedly. “Oh, you must tell me about it! How did it feel when you ascended? Did your princess come to guide you through the process? Or sing a song? This is just so crazy, to meet another like myself and having gone through it just as I did!”

Very cautiously, Dusk peeked out at the other pony like himself. Her appearance was one of sheer elation by her smile and nervousness as she sat close, a parchment hanging in the air before her with a quill ready to take down notes.

Frowning, Dusk folded his wings and sat up facing his curious doppelganger. “Why are you taking notes?” he asked her. “Are you preparing to turn me in for being a male alicorn?”

She matched his frown. “Why would I do that?” she asked back. “I am so excited to find another just like me, an element of magic from, where exactly?”

Dusk looked away at the carpeted floor for a brief moment, then turned back to her. “Who are you, mare that resembles myself?” he asked her, his forehead furrowing deeper.

She chuckled, then lowered the parchment. “I am Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship,” she replied studiously, then gave him a significant look, inviting him to introduce himself to her.

“I, um, I am Dusk Shine from Equineland,” he responded hesitantly. “You’re a princess? Not a goddess?”

“What?” she asked, taking a double look at him. “Is that what you call an alicorn mare?”

“I—” he began. “Alicorn? Are there more? And why aren’t you sitting on a throne?”

Twilight peered at him, perplexed by this Dusk Shine. He seems to know about alicorns, as he is one himself. And yet, he also appears to be cautious. Even confused.

“There are five alicorns in this world,” she explained, still frowning. “Each of us are mares. Well, four of us actually, the fifth is still very young, not even out of her diapers.”

He sighed heavily. A world of five alicorn mares. Shit, I’m doomed! Looking back again to this Twilight, taking note of her cutie mark being exactly like his, Dust said, “You said something interesting, Lady Twilight. What did you mean by saying ‘element of magic’? Like a mage kind of thing?”

She stared at him for a few minutes before replying. “It seems that you must be from some wildly different universe. Afraid of a mare alicorn, not knowing about the elements. Don’t you have friends, Dusk? And also, I’ve never heard of where you say you’re from! What did you call it, Equineland?”

Nodding slowly, Dusk sighed. “Yeah. My world. I think that somehow, I have found myself in some sort of mirror-verse, but perhaps fractured in a weird way. Yes, I had five close friends Each of us were from the same community and grew up together. Myself and another unicorn, two pegasi, and two norms, one of them absolutely insane and crazy, the other an apple farmer. Each were stallions just like me. I have never heard that term before, though. What about this ‘element of magic’ shit, huh?”

“Ever heard of a thing called the 'Tree of Harmony'?" she asked him, now fully curious. When he shook his head, she continued. “The Tree of Harmony is a crystal tree which supplies the magic of this world, which is fueled by friendship and love. The Tree keeps us ponies safe, but also gives us hope and friendship, yet also keeps the magic flowing.”

“Is that why I sense a flow of magic close?” he asked quickly. “Like a pure vein of a Ley line?”

Her eyes darted to his sharply. “You understand what Ley lines are, huh? Interesting. You are certainly a studied mage, and one who knows much of how magic works.” She took a breath to gather her thoughts. “The Tree has six gems to it. Each gem is a representation of the elements of harmony: generosity, honesty, kindness, laughter and loyalty, each which when combined, becomes the element of magic. By your cutie mark, as mine, we are both the Element of Magic because of our friends as they are elements themselves. It is because of our friendship together that we are strong enough to defeat all enemies that seek to destroy what we have.”

Another deep breath. “Isn’t that what you were?” she asked with a tilt to her head.

Dusk let his head droop, as well as his ears. “No,” he simply replied in a depressed tone. “I’m merely a simple mage who worked for a powerful patron. I have never heard about these six ‘elements’ you are talking about. That entire tale you just spoke about sounds rather wild, like some fairy tale.”

Twilight paused and regarded this stallion in silence. He positively couldn’t be joking, right? With a heavy sigh, she made the parchment rise, then began to write upon it hurriedly. Once she finished her note, she rolled it up in a scroll, then yelled loudly, “Spike!”

“Coming!” replied a weary voice from elsewhere in this quiet and forlorn castle. Soon a small figure, a young juvenile dragon, appeared at the entrance, then stared at both alicorns with uncertainty. “Um, which one are you Twi?” the dragon asked, clawed hands on his hips.

If the dragon was unsure at first, he was totally perplexed when both lavender alicorns looked at him simultaneously. “I am, Spike,” as the other pointed to her. “This is Dusk, from a parallel universe. I need you to send this to Celestia immediately for me.”

The small dragon took the scroll, then breathed green flames on it, causing the document to disappear as smoke.

Dusk shook his head, “Strange,” he remarked, then looked at his counterpart, finding her rather lovely in her manner. How I would love and enjoy mounting her! Again, he shook his head and sighed.

Twilight meantime made the feather quill disappear. “Come along, Dusk,” she said as she stood up. “We should make our way to my castle now. My research here can wait for another time. I am so excited to have you see my world, Dusk.”

“Wait!” Spike cried, hurrying away as he scurried up the staircase.

Twilight meantime had teleported her saddlebags to herself and calmly donned then. Each bags seemed to be heavy with books in them,

Dusk peered back to his bags he still wore. “I can help carry some of those, if you like,” he ventured,

She chuckled, looking at him with a grin. “Oh, I’m used to it,” she airily dismissed. “But thanks anyway, Dusk.”

“Suit yourself, Lady Twilight,” he said, then turned away, ready to depart with her. “I hope that where we are going has some food.”

She giggled. “Just like a stallion to be thinking of his stomach. My brother is like that also.”

Dusk peered at her. “You have a brother?” he asked. “I don’t, nor a sister. It was just me and my mother.”

She gave him a sorrowful glance. “I’m sorry,” she said. He had revealed a little tidbit of himself without asking, and that gave her hope that he might talk more of himself.

Spike returned with a backpack that he wore now, and they stepped out from the ruined castle into the sunlight. Dusk paused to lift his muzzle and bask in the light.

Twilight smiled at this simple gesture, wondering why he seemed so absorbed in reveling in the sunlight. “Do you not have sunlight in your world?” she asked.

Dusk opened an eye to look at her. “Yes,” he replied. “However, it is often paled from the dirty air. I lived in a huge city of fifteen million ponies, which can create a very dirty atmosphere.

Twilight looked at him with awe. “That’s even larger than all of Manehattan!” she cried.

“Your largest city, I presume?” Dusk asked. “Anyway, the entire city surrounded Castle Equus, which I think that this castle must be the counterpart of. I see a forest about this castle, where in my world a vast city was beyond the castle proper.”

Twilight gave a look of total surprise. “That,” she began to say, shocked by what he had just described, being rather incredible. “—That is very interesting. I mean, I cannot imagine that many ponies all dwelling in the same city! You must have come from a vastly different world!”

Dusk was going to say something else but got distracted by Twilight levitating her dragon companion onto her back. Of course, Dusk had to again ogle his mare counterpart, especially the curves of her flank, which he imagines to be so soft and pillowy. Unlike his flanks, which were trim and somewhat bony, even if the flanks of a stallion. He sighed deeply with regret, then looked away.

Just then, the dragon burped loudly, and when Dusk peered at the dragon, Twilight had already opened a scroll, rapidly reading while holding it in her magic. “Celestia wants to meet with you, Dusk Shine,” she eventually announced, folding the scroll up and placing it in her saddlebag. “She said to meet her at my castle in Ponyville, so we should go quickly to reach my castle before she arrives from Canterlot.”

Dusk peered at her with a curious look. “Is it far?” he asked mildly.

Twilight shook her head. “Not if we hurry.”

She began to trot away towards a wood bridge spanning a chasm. Initially, Dusk followed her for a bit, then teleported himself beside her.

“I think that I should probably walk with you, not behind,” he casually remarked. “Even if a wonderful sight.”

Twilight stopped to peer at him for a moment, then blushed and looked away with a small giggle. “Yeah,” she agreed. “I see your point, Dusk,” giggling again. “I did forget that you are a stallion.”

Dusk let it pass, but by the time they reached the suspension bridge, he was distracted by something off to the side of his sight. Curious, he asked with a nod to down in the chasm, “What’s down there?”

“What?” she had stopped to look down where he indicated. “Oh. That’s where the Tree sits. The Tree of Harmony. Why?”

He appeared to be uncomforted, nervously shaking his head. “I spied a white line briefly, like a line of pure magic. Inside this line were many pulses of, well, like bits of a rainbow in it. Now it makes sense, as that is where the magic comes from, as you said before. That Ley line is of course directed to the ruined castle, and I am guessing that the magic is what is keeping the castle from falling apart, although I have no idea why the Tree would keep such a ruined structure secure, yet in such a sad state of repair.”

She looked down into the chasm, but also back to the castle. “The princesses used to rule Equestria from there, over a thousand years in the past,” she explained. “After Celestia and her sister fought when Luna became Nightmare Moon, Celestia abandoned this castle and had Canterlot built, so she could be closer to her banished sister, who was now exiled to the moon.”

Dusk goggled at Twilight as she related the story of long ago. “How strange,” he remarked. “In my world, and I am assuming that your princesses are analogues of my goddesses, they never fought each other. Plus, I need you to explain this ‘Nightmare Moon’ thing, and why was it important enough for one princess to abandon this castle. Where is the other princess then? I am quite confused by your tale.”

“I’ll explain it better while we walk, Dusk,” she said, and teleported across the bridge, then stepped aside, inviting Dusk over to her. Dusk looked at her, then took a step toward the bridge, but instead copied her by teleporting himself across, reappearing beside his counterpart with a smile and a quick twitch of his tail.

She chuckled at him, then turned away and they started to trot down the clear path into the forest beyond. Eventually, she began to reveal the battle of the two sisters to him, and when she finished relating the events of a millennium ago, Dusk shook his head with disbelief.

“With their powers as alicorns, or should I say from my world’s parlance as ‘pegacorns’, your world should have been totally destroyed and lifeless. In my world, as I said before, the goddesses never fought each other. So, your moon goddess turned against her sister, huh? Not surprising. I have often wondered why Solaria continues to permit her sister Selene’s playful and salacious behavior at times. Your princesses seem to have little tolerance for each other.”

“Not really, Dusk. Celestia does love her sister very much. To me, that your princesses continue to rule together and never did fight is remarkable.”

“Perhaps,” he said. “But then again, you must realize that both Solaria and Selene have been ruling my world for about three thousand years or so. That was what motivated Solaria to up and exile me, as she felt I threatened her and her sister by becoming an alicorn.”

“That is so sad, Dusk,” Twilight commented with some regret. “An alicorn’s ascent should be celebrated, not to be discarded like some bit of trash.”

Eventually, both Dusk and his mare counterpart soon reached the edge of the forest, and Dusk saw a lovely little town nearby, with a tall castle standing amidst the town. The surrounding land was empty save a few stands of trees and an odd farm here or there. Not including the castle far off in the distance clinging to a mountainside.

Dusk sighed, the remarked, “Well, I am clearly not in Equineland anymore.”

“This is Equestria,” Twilight announced in a proud tone.

II

Dusk didn’t get much of a look after Twilight introduced her world to him, as she then teleported both Dusk and herself to the stone bridge spanning the small creek that ran close to the town.

“Hurry, Dusk!” she urged him as she stepped onto the bridge. “We must get to my castle before Celestia arrives!”

He peered at her for a moment, his stomach growling for food, yet he calmly stayed with this Twilight Sparkle, keeping his complaints to himself. He’d love to have something, anything to quell his stomach’s needs, yet her urgency took precedence. For now, anyway.

Crossing the bridge led them to the edge of this small town with a castle in it, and Twilight quickly began to trot in that direction. “That must be yours, I take it,” Dusk commented. “How in Faust’s name did you get a castle for yourself?”

She glanced to him with a sheepish grin. “My former library was destroyed by Lord Tirek when we fought,” she told him with a light chuckle. “The Tree—”

“Who is this Lord Tirek?” Dusk interrupted her. “I must be missing a lot of your tale.”

She stopped then and looked at him apologetically. “Oh! I’m sorry, Dusk,” she said with a sigh. “We have so much to talk about, you and I. We need to compare our life stories first, in order to see how much our universes are alike.”

Dusk shook his head. “Nowhere near, Lady Twilight,” he noted. “I didn’t have a castle, nor did my goddesses ever fight as yours did. No great and fabulous city. I never knew about this ‘Tree of Harmony’ shit, didn’t even know that it even existed!”

Her face blushed. “Please, Dusk, if you don’t mind, keep your language, um, less ‘colorful’, okay?”

He sighed. “Yeah, sure, Princess Twilight,” he said wanly. “I am too used to speaking in my universe. I am certainly not as cultured as you seem to be.”

She smiled at him warmly. “That’s okay, Dusk,” she told him. “I guess that, from what I am getting from you, you were raised differently than I was.”

“Yeah,” was all that he said, his eyes staring at the ground. “You could say that alright.”

“We will compare notes soon, Dusk,” she said and sighed. “Come, let us get to my castle now. I will give you something there for your growling stomach.” She chuckled again, then trotted off before Dusk could reply.

He looked up in time to see her tail swinging, and he had to lick his lips at what he glimpsed. He sprung quickly to once more walk astride her, yet he kept his stallion thoughts to himself. In time, he told himself.

Just as they passed by a functioning fountain with a few ponies with some foals sitting or standing about the fountain, Dusk had a very brief glance of a pink blur approaching. He thought sourly, Shit. He put on a fake smile as the blur stopped before him and his analogue double.

Twilight did pause then with reluctance as the excitable mare looked at Dusk with very wide eyes. “Hey, Twi! You didn’t go to the mirror pond, did ya? I’m seeing double!”

Twilight shook her head. “No Pinkie, I didn’t,” she responded. “This is Dusk, from far away.”

Pinkie swung her gaze to Dusk and began to take a deep breath. But Dusk put up a hoof to stop her. “I know you, Berry,” he quickly put in. “We don’t need that tornado of words you are preparing to unleash. I can answer things later, as Twilight and I do have other things to attend at this moment.”

Both mares stared at him, as did the dragon Spike. All three tried to ask on top of each other in a confused mass of words, until Dusk shook his head and sighed. “Look,” he said, and the others stopped then, peering at him.

He continued, choosing his words carefully. “I know about you, lady Pinkie. I have a friend back in my world much like you. His name was Bubble Berry. I am asking you to calm down before you explode with apoplexy, okay? I can talk with you soon, even answer your questions, if you like.” Looking at Twilight, he said further. “Is she one of your friends, these ‘elements’ you mention? I see that your friends may be alike to mine back in my universe, if that is true.”

Spike leaned down to whisper into Twilight’s ear, then quickly dismounted and trotted away, his short dragon tail stiffly held behind him.

Twilight looked at her friend and held a hoof up. “I’ll explain later, Pinkie, at my castle,” she said, then glanced to Dusk. “You have a friend like Pinkie?”

Dusk rolled his eyes. “Dear, yes,” he replied with a sigh of regret. “Every time I feel that the entire weight of Equineland was upon my withers, I could always get a laugh from Berry. He was always so damn funny, even in the darkness of the Downs.”

Pinkie glanced up in the sky. “Okie Doki, Loki! The Princess is coming, I see! I’m going to run now. See ya!” She gave Dusk a wink, then sped away in a cloud of dust.

Dusk sighed, then glanced to Twilight, only for her to stand. “I am sorry, Dusk.”

He shrugged as if it was not a big deal. “Berry is well, Berry. No need to apologize for your friend. I am used to Berry, even if now he is a mare.” He suppressed a lewd grin.

They resumed trotting along, and Dusk took note of the many stares he got while with Twilight. It was only a brief time before they reached her castle, yet before they could enter, a crowd of pony voices cried out with delight, making Twilight glance up.

“She’s here,” Twilight said with a sigh. “I’ll get you an apple to at least stop your stomach growls.” She teleported away, but quickly reappeared with a large red apple.

Dusk took the apple and swiftly ate it in seconds before he could hear the approach of a chariot. He then suddenly stiffened at the pony he saw, and it wasn’t the pair of armored pegasi pulling the chariot, but the regal pony riding it.

“No!” he cried, shaking his head. “No-no-no-no-no!” And he instantly fell onto his chest and again buried his head with his wings, causing Twilight to peer at him in confusion.

By this point, Celestia had already alit from her chariot and approached with a frown. “So, Twilight, where is this other like you?” she asked, only to spy a pony hiding behind feathers.

“I don’t know why he suddenly did that, Celestia,” Twilight said, squinting up to her mentor. “He did that when I met him, saying that I wanted to harm him.”

Celestia walked to Dusk and looked down at the quivering pony, instantly taking note of his alicorn wings and cutie mark. “Dear, I’m not going to harm you,” she gently told him.

Dusk did not reply, but continued to hide under his wings.

“Please, look at me, okay? I promise to not hurt you, colt,” she again said with a curious tilt of her head.

“You already have before,” came Dusk’s muffled answer from behind his wings. “Who do you think banished me here? I’m innocent of any crimes. I never expected to become an alicorn! I am simply a librarian!”

His words gave Celestia pause, as Twilight glanced to the growing crowd of ponies still a distance away. Behind her, the castle door opened, and Starlight peered out at Twilight and Celestia, before noticing Dusk. Starlight gave Twilight a curious frown.

The sun princess said, “Look at me,” in a firmer tone, nearly a commanding one, yet not in the “royal voice” type of command.

Dusk ceased his quivering and sighed heavily. He knew that he must face the one who sent him away from his mother and friends, and he slowly retracted his wings, then sat up reluctantly, tears streaming from his eyes. Yet he did not look to her but kept his eyes downcast.

A tug on his chin forced him to stare into her eyes then. He saw those hard violet eyes staring back, but she was smiling warmly at him, not coldly as Solaria had.

“What is your name, colt?” she asked.

He so wanted to look away, yet she held his gaze. “Dusk,” he hesitantly replied. “Dusk Shine.”

“Why do you fear me, Dusk Shine? Have I harmed you in any way?”

“No,” he said, now letting his eyes fall away. “N-not you in particular, but Solaria did.” He again held her in his gaze. “Solaria is my sun goddess. She looks exactly like you.”

“And why would she do that?”

“B-b-because I became an alicorn, and I was not allowed to, since I am a stallion.”

Celestia’s look darkened then. “Any pony who ascends to become an alicorn should be lauded and welcomed. Even praised. Especially a stallion.”

Dusk shook his head. “Solaria said the only mares were allowed to ascend,” he told her unhappily. “Is that like that here, that I am not to be an alicorn?”

She smiled at him. “Certainly not, Dusk Shine,” she replied with a chuckle. “You have as much right to it as Twilight does, or even Starlight Glimmer. I feel that we should talk about this somewhere else, as I am sure you must have an interesting tale to tell. Just explain to me how you ascended, Dusk Shine.”

He sighed heavily, his thoughts on that day when he ascended. “I was searching for a certain book in the library, where I found an old hoof-written book of spells. Glancing through the book, I discovered a spell that was left incomplete. I brought the book back to my place, and after studying the spell, I recited the spell, then spoke the final words that I composed at that moment to finish the spell. I am good at making spells, as I had been studying them for many years, and had some training before. After casting the spell, I then was wrapped in a golden light of such pure magic, and it took away all of my…feelings. I was encased in such joy and warmth. And when that light faded away, I discovered these wings on me.”

He looked into the princess’s eyes. “Am I going to prison for being an alicorn??”

Chuckling like a mother, Celesia placed a wing about Dusk and hugged him in a maternal manner. “No, dear,” she replied. “But perhaps you should spend time with me while I help you become adjusted to your new form. How well have you adapted to your alicorn magic? Is it difficult or easy?”

Dusk closed his eyes, sensing her willingness to be as his mother might have been if she hadn’t been a prostitute. “Some easy, some I had to think about,” he replied softly, enjoying this comfort by her. “I never did get a chance, however. Before I could become comfortable, I was captured, then thrown into prison and chained up for months by Solaria’s orders, where I was forced to wear a suppression ring. She eventually forced me out of my universe, saying I was a pretender for being an alicorn.”

Celestia sighed, feeling some of his pain. She could hear that he did hide some things behind his explanation, but enough to admit what had happened. It troubled her that her version in his universe could be cruel to this young mage, and she decided that she should help him recover and learn.

Glancing to Twilight, Celestia said, “I’ll take care of him, Twilight. I’ll send you a letter soon to update you when I feel he won’t disrupt your destiny. For now, Luna and I must consider this, and where he might fit in. It really is remarkable, how his cutie mark and what he told us seems to follow your own life.”

“He has spoken of me as a counterpart,” Twilight said with a slight frown. “And yet, there are gaps in his knowledge about the elements, but also he told me that you and Luna never fought, so his Luna never became Nightmare Moon.”

Celestia then looked thoughtful. “Interesting, Twilight,” she said. “Perhaps he isn’t a complete double to you, but a reflection from a world far different than Equestria. Well, we will learn more as Dusk becomes comfortable here.”

Dusk listened to the two alicorns talk while wearing a small grin. If he played his cards correctly, he might even find some place to rule as a god himself here. If not, well…

Celestia hugged him, then released Dusk, pulling her wing away. “Come along, Dusk Shine,” she said as she got to her hoofs. “I will take you to Canterlot, where you may rest and find ease, then tell us more about you and your universe.”

Dubious of his fate now, Dusk stood himself, only to shoot Twilight a look of betrayal, then turned away and followed Celestia. When she sat on the chariot’s seat, he gave her a questioning look. She patted the seat, inviting his to sit with her. Mounting the chariot, then sitting down beside the princess nervously, not too sure if he really should. He undid his saddlebags finally, dropping them on the floor before himself as the pegasi guards began to ascend, pulling the chariot along.

After several minutes during the flight, Celestia asked, “Are you hungry or thirsty? When we get to the palace, I will see your needs and room to stay in.”

Dusk never got a chance to reply, as a strangely wild figure popped into existence and floated by the chariot. Looking like a sinuous snake, with oddly different parts of several creatures and big yellow eyes, it smirked to Dusk. “Well, well,” it said smarmily. “And who do we have here?” lifting Dusk’s chin and leered at him. “A male Twilight, I presume?”

Celestia rolled her eyes. “Discord,” she said, “this isn’t the time for your silliness.”

He shot a glance to her. “Oh, I heard about this one arriving here, and just had to investigate. Quite the curious version of Princess Twilight, I’d say. Don’t you agree?”

Dusk gave the creature a nasty frown and a snort. “Go away, Eris,” he growled darkly.

Discord peered at Dusk with surprise. “Who did you just call me, young alicorn?”

Dusk snorted with displeasure. “Oh, I know all about you, whatever you name yourself here. In my world, you are named Eris, the Empress of Chaos, and I have dealt with you many times, each time to send you packing. I don’t need your bullshit now, so leave, else I will use force to make you disappear.”

“Oh, so touchy, huh?” Discord mocked. “Yes, I do see the resemblance to Twilight Sparkle. And what are you going to do with him, huh, Celestia? Turn him into stone also?”

“Discord, that isn’t funny anymore,” she remarked disdainfully.

“Never was, my dear Princess,” he responded with a snarky chuckle, then looked back to Dusk, only to pull out his eyeballs and placed them in front of dusk. “I’ll be watching you, Stallion Twilight, whatever you are named.”

Dusk slammed Discord’s eye back to him. “I am Dusk Shine, dammit, and if I were you, I’d stay the fuck away from me, jackass!” He then fired a blast of magic at the draconequus. Discord instantly disappeared with a laugh echoing behind, his eyeballs last to disappear mockingly.

Celestia was gazing at Dusk with a slight blush to her white, pristine cheeks. “Well, you do speak colorfully, Dusk Shine,” she remarked lightly.

Dusk kept his gaze away. “Sorry, Princess,” he apologized. “I tend to talk still as if I were in the Downs yet.”

She blinked to him a few times, digesting his apology. “Tell me about this place you mentioned, Dusk,” she said.

But Dusk shook his head roughly. “Not a good place for ponies,” he observed with a heavy sigh. “I was born in Equus Downs, or the ‘Downs’ as us who lived there called it, and to put it succinctly, it was a hellhole. A ghetto, precisely. I grew up there, and that is all I will say.”

The chariot began to descend as she said, “I see that you had a difficult life, Dusk. I will not ask more, but perhaps you might wish to explain more in time. Just try to talk in better language, please?”

Dusk nodded as he was distracted by the elegance of the castle where they were landing, exactly at the front entrance. Oh, it was certainly grand, and he felt a pang of regret for the loss of his world. Brushing back tears, he quietly dismounted the chariot once it was on the ground.

As they approached the entrance, several maids and guards came out. Celestia quickly snapped orders, and then nodded to Dusk. “Follow this maid, Dusk. She will lead you to your rooms. In time, I will summon you, where we may talk again. We will see each other at dinner. Be good, Dusk, and relax. I am not going to punish you, nor imprison you. I promise.”

He sighed, still feeling down as he was now with the counterpart of his sun goddess. Just as if he was still being imprisoned in his world’s Castle Equus. Then he felt a slight touch, where he saw a mature pegasus maid looking at him with a tight smile.

“If young master will follow me,” she said, then turned to start walking to the castle. Dusk began following the maid, which he had to grin at her. Oh, she was quite pretty in her typical maid outfit and slender flanks. She was a darker yellow, almost a sunflower kind of yellow, her wings tucked tight to her sides. He in particular liked her orange mane and tail, both which were wrapped in a bun so smartly.

At the entrance, he spied a professional-looking earth pony mare of off-white and brown mane wearing a pair of glasses and holding what appeared to be a clipboard. She gave Dusk a glance of curiousness but turned away quickly and trailed after Celestia deeper into the castle proper.

Dusk stayed with the maid, who was carrying his saddlebags. After two flights of stairs, she led him to a door in a hallway that ended just after two more doors. He took note of just a single guard at the entry to this hallway, and none after.

She opened the door quickly. “Here is your rooms, young master,” the maid said. “You will be summoned for dinner, which will be precisely at five this afternoon. Enjoy your stay, sir.” She placed his bags inside the door, then turned and trotted away, as if she had other, more important duties to attend to.

Dusk entered the apartment, only to be surprised at the roomy comfort inside. The entire place was richly furnished, plus had multiple rooms throughout from he stood. The overall color scheme was a soothing blue, and he did begin to relax. Leaving his bags where they lay, he began a tour of the apartment. In the bedroom, he found a nice full bed primly made, but what did interest him was the glass double doors on one wall with curtains falling to the carpeted floor. Upon stepping to them and opening one door, he discovered a nice balcony. When he went to the edge, he saw the valley below.

That’s a drop of at least two thousand feet! He grinned. I could use this to launch myself and take up practicing flying! If only I still had Blitz aiding me…

He sighed and turned away, reentering the bedroom, where he saw then a unicorn maid peering at him, his bags held in her magic.

“Hello, sir,” she said, her amber eyes looking at him with curiosity. “I am Ruby. How may I help you? Do you require anything presently? Shall I place these somewhere?”

“You may set those on the bed for now,” he replied with a smile. “I will take care of those myself.” And he ogled the cute young mare, who was probably close to his age. She wore a coat of off-white, with a mane and tail of blue green. Her cutie mark was simple: a pair of red gems, long and slender.

“Very good sir,” and she promptly set his saddlebags on the bed, then looked at him again, as if awaiting further instructions.

He was about to simply dismiss the maid, but then he had a thought. “Tell me, lady Ruby,” he said with a raised eyebrow. “Do you have any cigarettes, or even know where I may find some? I really do need a smoke.”

She wrinkled her forehead in thought. “I do not smoke myself, sir, but I know of where I might get some for you,” she replied. “I know of another mare who does.”

Dusk smiled warmly to her. “If you please, lady Ruby,” he said. “I think that once I relax with a cigarette, I may take a bath afterward. I have been on a very long journey.”

She nodded. “Very good, sir. I will return soon.” She turned away and swiftly departed.

Dusk then continued his tour of his new home, which was nothing else more than a cushioned prison, one without bars. Oh, he discovered a small library of books on shelves, yet he only gave those a cursory glance. However, once he returned to the front room, he soon found a nice decanter bottle made of crystal and containing a dark fluid. Uncorking the top, he sniffed and discovered that it contained a fine wine. He took a glass from a nearby shelf and poured himself a bit of the wine. Replacing the top to the decanter, he took a sip of the wine, which tasted quite fruity and pleasant.

He sat on the couch in the front room and sighed, only to start thinking about his present situation here in this oddly rural universe. He could do so many things here, and if these ponies were rather lax about stuff regarding him, he may just find himself forming that which he had been before. At the very least, he might find some pony with power to employ Dusk as a mage…

Ruby returned with a pack of cigarettes, which she gave him. “Lily said that if you need more, she will get them for you, sir,” the maid said.

“I am without any funds, so tell her to keep a record, which I will repay when able,” Dusk told her as his eyes settled on the cute unicorn mare. “For now, that is all that I need from you, lady Ruby.”

He levitated a candle over, which he lit with a trail of magic, then used it to light his cigarette. He relaxed against the couch back, then began to think. Ruby soon placed a tray by him, wrinkling her nose, then left.

So many mares, he thought. A mare would be very nice to be with and sleep with him.

He sighed and smoked in silence.

Author's Note

My exposition may be lengthy, but the story will start betting...interesting in the next chapter. And you will see Dusk in a light unexpected, unless you've been reading between the lines... :twilightsmile:

III

Celestia was sitting on a cushioned chair at her ornately decorated walnut desk, an open document before her. The words written on the document was concerning, perhaps not to Equestria-at-large, but enough to cause the elder diarch some concern. Luna’s spidery script spoke of her struggles attempting at opening up Dusk Shine’s mind, thus getting a glimpse of his memories and dreams, but ending in failure. Luna goes on to reveal that Dusk’s dreams and memories are sealed behind layers of magical barriers, not merely a single barrier which Luna could easily get around with her ancient arcane magics, but got stymied by numerous layers, each with a single key individual to every layer.

“Impossible to unlock, Dear Sister,” Luna concluded. “I would need to unlock one layer, then come up with another key to unlock the next layer, then repeat for the third layer, so on and so forth. These barriers are deeply rooted in his subconscious, and I feel that it may take months of trying to unlock his memories, and that is if each key remained the same each time that I attempt to breech his mind’s barriers. The crafting of such is something of sheer beauty! Clearly, Dusk has similar abilities to Twilight Sparkle, but I doubt even she could spin such a spell like this. It is just too devious!”

Celestia sipped her tea, considering her younger sister’s words. While it is common for some ponies to place barriers on memories, but both dreams and memories is troubling, to say the least. It indicates a mind that holds secrets, secrets that either bear an evil done to oneself, or perhaps an evil to be spawned upon the environment at a given moment,

She has been pondering such since this Dusk Shine arrived. Oh, he has shown himself to be quite a gentlecolt many times, and even made friends with her nephew Blueblood, but also one of those kinds of stallions with clear lust in their hearts. She has heard that he frequently has made attempts to seduce mares, mainly the servants and maids, which is not surprising, given that he is an alicorn stallion. A true noble stallion might have attempted such seductions in a less roguish manner. Yet it does give her concern about the safety of the mares who work in the castle.

A light tapping sounded at the door to her study, then opened slightly as a helmeted head from one of the guards peeked into the study. “Many pardons, Highness,” the young stallion said, “but you have a visitor, Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

Celestia smiled at the gray guard. “Send her in,” she said warmly, placing aside the document on her desk just as Twilight trotted into the room, the door closing behind her silently.

Celestia smiled at her protégé. “Welcome, my dearest student. I was not expecting you yet am so glad to see you again.”

Twilight gave Celestia a small nod. “Good morning, Celestia. I have been wondering about Dusk,” she stated. “I haven’t heard anything regarding him, from Dusk himself or you, Princess. I am curious as to what is happening with him.”

Celestia kept her smile on her face. “Please, sit, Twilight,” the elder diarch said. “Perhaps you might like a cup of tea?”

At Twilight’s nod as she sat in the chair opposite from Celestia, the diarch levitated a cup and poured some of the tea from her pot, then sent it to Twilight. Replacing the teapot, Celestia then sighed deeply as she looked to the younger alicorn.

“To be honest, Twilight, I am not sure what to make of him.”

Caught taking a sip from her cup, Twilight looked back to her teacher and mentor, “Hm?”

The gentle smile on Celestia hardened. “Dusk has been less than forthcoming about himself,” she admitted. “Despite the questions that Luna and I have asked, all we get are mumbles and nothing of any sense. Certainly, from what we have gathered, Dusk is far from being any noble pony, perhaps more of a commoner unicorn. Yet, we are left with more questions, primarily regarding his appearance here in Equestria.”

Twilight blinked. “What about his dreams?” she asked. “Has Luna tried that herself?”

Celestia smiled, pushing the document before her towards Twilight. “Read this, Twilight.”

Twilight took the paper and rapidly read the report, then looked up to Celestia. “That is rather curious,” she said.

“You see now my dilemma,” the sun princess spoke. “As much as I would gladly help him, I must surely think of my ponies first. Until I am certain that he is no threat, I must assume the worst and act accordingly.”

Twilight replaced the paper onto Celestia’s desk with a sigh. “Is there a way that I can help?” she asked in earnest. “As in, maybe I could get him to say yes or no if I am able to befriend him? We were getting to that point before you came and swept him up from me.”

Celestia smiled in a regrettable manner. “And I apologize for that,” she said. “It was my instinct to quickly assume the worst and take care to prevent any kind of mischief that this Dusk might have caused. I was not sure how to deal with both a stallion alicorn, and also one with your exact looks and cutie mark. I mean, if I hadn’t taken responsibility of your education, who knows where you might have ended up with your talents? I shudder to think what you might have become without my guidance. And with that thought, I can only assume that Dusk is you without any such guidance. This hiding of memories is an indication where he may have done things himself to cause harm, if not some trauma, yet still has the ability to make such a barrier.”

Twilight’s eyes sparkled. “Let me help, Celestia!” she eagerly said. “If I can use my talents of friendship, then perhaps he just might open up to me! And I would be safe with my friends, being elements of harmony should Dusk prove to be a danger to us here in Equestria!”

Celestia frowned. “I thought of that option, and honestly, I am unsure to expose you, of all ponies, to any potential danger. Sure, you and your friends have done many remarkable feats staving off threats to Equestria, but they have been easily identified. Dusk represents a true conundrum in this case.”

“If you let me try, I assure you that I will be safe and take every precautionary measure with Dusk. It may be better in a neutral place instead of here in Canterlot—”

Celestia grinned again. “Like your castle in Ponyville?” she asked and snorted. “Without any of the Royal Guards for protection? That is surely asking for disaster.”

“The guards would be useless if he is as powerful as myself,” Twilight countered, “At least, in my care, I can put up wards so he can be boxed in and kept from causing any potential harm with the powers I and my friends can summon from the Tree. I can use Discord if need be.”

Celestia leaned back in her chair with a thoughtful look. “There is that, I suppose,” she admitted slowly. Taking a further sip of her cooling tea, she sighed. “Let me consider that for a few days, Twilight. I do not want to take any chances with this Dusk until I am positive that he is no true threat to Equestria, being that he is an alicorn, but you do represent an opportunity to discover what it is he is capable of. Say, an option, quite frankly.”

“At least, can I go visit him now?” Twilight asked. “To get a feel if he might be interested in spending some time with me where we could become friends before I try to uncover his intentions.”

“I can allow that, Twilight,” Celestia replied. “But only if you permit me some of my guards to accompany you and stand by while you are with Dusk, just for precautionary measures.”

Twilight nodded. “I feel that such a show of force would be unnecessary, but if it makes you comfortable, then fine, Princess.”

Celestia nodded. “Good,” she said. “Now, what else is there that you have come to me for?”

And for the next hour or so, they talked about things other than Dusk.

* * *

Dusk was very much in bliss, as the mare he was mounted on often moaned or gave small squeals of delight while he pounded himself into her. The pecan-colored young mare with her dark, curly mane had been too easy to seduce, eagerly agreeing to being mounted and mated.

Just another young mare willing to have sex with an alicorn stallion, he thought to himself.

Lily was, by her own admission, from a minor noble unicorn house, and therefore very eager to become friendly with Dusk after she heard about him from some of the servants in the castle. Sure, he may have been from a different world not Equestria (a notion that still left her confused how), yet he was a male alicorn, and clearly available. She quickly introduced herself to him and readily agreed to accompany this prince to his rooms, allowing herself to be seduced by him. She hoped that she might snag him into marrying her, thus aligning her family into royalty as they had been once before millennia ago. Her sire even encouraged Lily to become friendly with this new prince, and her family was certainly hoping to meet him.

Dusk quickened, approaching his climax. This mare was quite a fine mare, so quick to please him physically. He decided to let her play out what her intentions were before he moved on to another mare and rut her.

Ah, to be a playcolt stallion without worries! Such fun.

With a grunt, he hilted himself and began to spill his seed. While waiting to finish, a light tapping at his bedroom door sounded, followed by:

“Sir Dusk? You have another visitor. Princess Twilight wishes to speak with you.”

Dusk frowned, wondering why she was here, and at this very moment when he had Lily with him. Sighing loudly and attempting to ignore Lily’s questioning look, he replied, “Show her to the sitting room, dear Ruby. Tell her that I will be out to meet with her in a few minutes. And see that she is comfortable and has something to drink, if she wishes.”

“Very good, sir!” he heard his maid walk away, then dismounted from Lily with an apologetic grin. “Sorry, sweets,” he said. “I hate to end this fun with you so soon, but I must meet with the princess now. Come back later, say after dinner, where we may pick up at this point. I might even be willing to have you stay the night with me.”

She turned about and kissed Dusk. “I am open to remain with you and sleep in your bed, Prince Dusk,” she said as she straightened her mane and tail before reaching the door. “Anything to please you, Highness.”

Lily stalked out of his bedroom, intent on showing her displeasure to the young princess for interrupting her time with the handsome prince. Indeed, as she swept past Twilight, Lily gave her a scathing glare, only to point her nose up imperiously and depart Dusk’s suite with a scoff of displeasure.

Twilight ignored the mare, giving her not a single thought. She sat on the short divan by the coffee table and peered at the book there. Her grin broadened, instantly recognizing the book bound in a hard cover of purple and having the pink six-sided star on it.

So, he’s been reading up on me and my friends. A few tabs stuck out from the pages, obviously to her that Dusk was marking places in the copy of her diary. Her mind wandered, wondering if he had written a diary himself, if indeed he was her analogue.

Minutes slid by while she waited. In time, the maid came out with a tray bearing a teapot and cup, plus a sugar bowl. “I hope that this will be satisfactory, Princess,” the maid said. “If I recall, you do like chamomile.”

Twilight smiled at the maid. “Perfect,” she said. “By the way, if you don’t mind me asking, what is your opinion of Dusk?”

The maid Ruby paused, considering her words. “Prince Dusk is a wonderful pony, Princess,” she soon replied. “He has been nothing but kind and thoughtful to me.”

Twilight stirred her tea silently for a moment, then asked further, “Has he tried to mount you, or at least seduce you? I understand that he has already quite a notoriety, being a stallion alicorn.”

The maid only chuckled. “I do know of what you mean, Highness,” she said, “But to me, Prince Dusk has been very kind and has never tried anything like that. The mare who just left? She is the one he has been seeing lately.”

“Which explains that look she gave me moments ago,” Twilight added with a nod. “Do you know her name?”

“The mare you are referring to is named Lily Greenmount, of the family Nightshade,” spoke a male voice.

Dusk came out of his bedroom, shaking his head and tossing his newly washed mane before flopping down on the sofa opposite from Twilight onto his side with a sigh, then lit his horn briefly, summoning a glass of wine,

“I wasn’t aware that you were interested in my sex life, Princess,” he remarked after taking a sip of his wine. “Are you jealous that you are not the first to bed me, perhaps?”

Twilight blushed furiously. “NO!” she cried defensively, only to settle back in her place and regain her composure. “It was just idle curiosity is all.”

Dusk smirked. “Are you sure?” he needled her, only to wave the question off with a hoof. “I don’t really care what you or that old nag on the throne thinks. Personally, I still feel betrayed by you, Princess. Now, what is the purpose of your visit?”

Twilight peered sharply at Dusk. “Princess Celestia is not an old nag,” she noted. “She may have lived a long life—”

“Don’t fucking care, Princess,” Dusk snorted, interrupting her. “Monarchs are all the same, regardless of what title they take. They will shit on you the moment you let them. I have little regard for any monarch, and what has happened here to me is that I exchanged one prison for another, save this one has satin sheets and no bars. At least, I don’t get daily tortures as I did before. Not yet anyway.”

Twilight glowered for a few minutes, then sighed, releasing her anger and taking another sip of her tea. He’s angry, she thought to herself then. I need to be careful of what I say. Reflecting of what she had gleaned from that time she first met Dusk, she might have guessed that of him.

“I am sorry, Prince Dusk,” she said. “I truly am. I want us to be friends, and I wish to help you any way I can. I wasn’t expecting Celestia to grab you and take you away before we could start becoming friends.”

“Water under the bridge now,” Dusk said dismissively. “Not to hurry you along, Princess, but it is getting close to dinner. I mean, I’d love to lay here and talk with you all evening. You are quite the feast for my eyes. Yet I do get the feeling that you are a bit of a tight-tail, so what is the purpose of your visit?”

Twilight glared briefly at him, her cheeks blushing furiously. Yet she had to push aside his crude remark. Another sigh, she then asked directly, “Are you any threat to Equestria?”

Dusk burst out laughing, turning onto his back and kicking his hind legs for several minutes. Soon, however, he did calm down again and lay on his side to peer at his female counterpart. Still chuckling, he admitted, “That is the stupidest, silliest thing I have ever heard asked of me! Did she ask you to pose that question to me? Your Ancient One must be desperate for answers, if she sends her prize student to make such an accusation!”

Dusk then drank down his wine in a single gulp, then summoned a whole decanter to refill the glass, only to drink that glass entirely. After a second refill, he relaxed again. “What do you think, Princess?” he countered.

“I have no opinions, Dusk,” she replied evenly. “I came here to ask that, only because you have not spoken much to the princesses, nor has Luna learned anything for your dreams. In fact, Luna was worried because she cannot get a look at your dreams.”

Dusk nodded slowly. “And that is on purpose, Princess,” he replied soberly. “I hate any Faust-damned dreamwalker fucking around in my mind. Your princesses have no right to bugger and search through my mind. Be that as it may, I keep my mind and dreams locked away so as not to let any of such shit-faced dreamwalker come in and find things there she doesn’t need to know. Yeah, I’ve done things I am not proud of, but only to survive the nightmare that is the slums I grew up in. Luna, or my Selene, really does not need to know what I have done at the orders of the boss I worked for. Nor do you, in fact. Just accept my word that I have no intention to harm any pony here in your Equestria. I merely wish to live out my life now. And I certainly have no intention of taking that fucking throne she sits her fat ass on, either. Or even taking it away from you, dear cute tight-tail. Might I ask if you have ever had a stallion yet?”

For the third time, Twilight blushed so damn hard from him. “I care not to reply to that, Dusk,” she replied in an even tone.

Dusk again burst with derisive laughter. “Yeah, I kind of figured you to be not only a tight-tail, but a vir-gee also. Damn, the money you could have demanded from any stallion if you were in my world! Although, I kind of see you as the romance type. You know, flowers and dates on end until you wear down the stallion into signing that marriage contract and then, only then, after the ceremony, you just might let him sniff your behind.”

“Look, I get it, okay?” Dusk went on after taking another long drink of wine. “You’re a mare, and you are the type of mare to not any stallion take you unless you are married to him. Such proper upbringing! Is your family also some old noble house? After all, getting into this ‘School for Gifted Unicorns’ cannot be open to just any unicorn in Equestria, but only those whose family could afford such a thing. And to have this sun monarch as a private tutor? That is certainly rich indeed!”

“Celestia only took me as her student after my magic went wild!” Twilight stated stiffly. “And my love life isn’t your concern, Dusk!”

Dusk smiled wanly. “Yeah, I get it,” he said in a crestfallen voice. “We can be friends and all, but only that.” He sighed and shrugged. “Okay, so now what? Any other thing your princesses want from me, like my soiled soul? My bloodied hoofs? I am but a trained mage that has been paid to eliminate any pony who upset my former boss, a stallion who ran and operated a criminal organization where I grew up, I’ll tell you that much. Just so you understand, Princess, I am not some savior of my world, but rather a pony who did what I must to survive. I am not hero, but just a bad pony who got caught and exiled for my deeds. And these fucked-up wings that I never wanted in the first place. I don’t want anything from anypony save a quiet life now.”

Twilight stared at Dusk for several silent moments. Oddly, despite his crude behavior, she felt that he could be guided into a life better for him. Certainly, it was more because he did have her looks and cutie mark, but also beyond that was a stallion who never had a good life from the little he has admitted. “Do you wish me to help, Dusk?”

“How?” he snorted back.

“We can start by becoming friends, of course,” she replied with a smile. “Perhaps if I were to take you out of this castle and help you from where I now reside in a quieter and less divisive place, you might learn that life isn’t just having to survive, but actually is quite nice if you let it be so.”

“In other words, you wish to teach me to find friends, much like this Starlight Glimmer bit—, um, mare?” he asked her. “From what you wrote, I feel that this Starlight is one I probably won’t like, if I read your actions correctly. She sounds a lot like one bitch I knew. She tried to kill me once, because I interfered into her plans for revenge on my boss.” He fell silent for a moment, reflecting on that time. “I had to kill her.”

Twilight stared back at Dusk with surprise and sadness. “Ponies don’t go killing!” she stated uncertainly. “It is not in our nature—”

“Yours, maybe,” Dusk interrupted carelessly. “I was paid to eliminate her.”

“At least give Starlight a chance, Dusk,” she said after a brief pause to regain herself. “She won’t attempt anything like that now, nor did she ever really try to harm me, merely attempted to stop me from gaining my cutie mark.”

“Meaning that she is one Tartarus-powerful mage,” he noted. “Fuck, I probably could learn more spells just by her alone, let alone what you could teach me.”

“But friends first, Dusk,” Twilight reminded him. “And a bit of language lessons.”

Dusk sneered at her. “This is how I grew up, Princess,” he snorted. “Don’t like, don’t listen. Just another difference between us. Sure, I can try to keep my language decent, but only if I don’t get excited and choose my words before talking. Otherwise, fuck it.”

Twilight blanched, yet said nothing, knowing how he really did need some refinement in his manners and speech.

“Oh, if it will make you happy, Princess, I suppose that we can make an effort to find some neutral ground,” he said. “I won’t promise to turn entirely goody-goody overnight, so you will have to bear with me. I may end up hating it, as I will no doubt be without any rumps to nut while with you and your friends, but perhaps I may get a show out of it. Plus, it gets me away from Sun-butt’s prison.”

“I know that you will get better as a stallion, Dusk,” she said, a slight grin forming on her mouth. “I truly hope that you can become a decent pony. Your old life is gone, and if I can help you find a better life here in my world, then all will be to the good, where you may live out your life without oversight from either Celestia or Luna. In the end, Dusk, you are an alicorn, so you will not have any trouble finding companionship, if the letters I get from my many admirers is any indication. I’d say that you may find more attentions from mares than you may even want in time, once the papers here discover about you and publish your face all over Equestria.”

“So, when will you do this?” he asked her. “I have to know before-hoof, so I can prepare for the move.”

She looked away, thought for a time, then looked back to Dusk. “How about a week from today? That will give both myself and Celestia time to prepare for this transfer.”

“In other words, setting up a Royal Guard encampment there,” he remarked, only to carelessly shrug it off. “Fine by me, I suppose.”

Twilight stood up, but then moved to Dusk. “Listen, Dusk. It probably sounds worse than it will be for you, but I assure you that this will change your outlook on life in general. I understand what you must have gone through before in your life, but I do feel that you are no villain to conquer Equestria and enslave the population, just misguided. If you have the same level of magical powers as me, then you would have already exposed your intentions by now. I am betting that you are not at my level, despite our similarities. You have yet to talk about anything related to the Elements, and I take it that you did not know about such, if I recall our initial talk that day you appeared.”

“And you are going to explain them to me, no doubt,” he said. But his mind was working on how to seduce Twilight while attempting to keep himself from getting an erection with her so close.

She giggled, then backed away, unaware of his thoughts then. “First things first, Dusk. Get you settled in my castle, introduce my friends, then start to make you over as I learn of your magic level. Okay?”

He stood up then. “Go, Princess,” he said. “Before my bladder overflows.”

After Twilight had gone, Ruby appeared again. “Are you ready for dinner?” she asked.

Dusk lit a cigarette. “In a few minutes, Ruby,” he replied and quickly returned back to his bedroom. After a short visit to the little colt’s room, Dusk sat down on his bed and removed a certain book from his saddlebags. It was an illustrated guide to various plants and flowers. Dusk sighed, again thanking Selene for packing this particular book, as it contained something quite dear and special to him. Something he needed now.

Opening the book to its back cover, his horn sparked as it lit, which caused an envelope to appear, pasted to the back cover. Dusk opened the secretive envelope, then extracted a single sheet of paper, which he set aside for now. Digging into the envelope again, he grinned when he found his stash, which he quickly brought out. A one-inch square packet was it, the packet containing a sickly-yellow powder, which he tapped out onto the dresser top. After some swift few strokes, expertly done by him, Dusk then sniffed both lines into his nostrils and sighed with sheer ecstasy from the drug’s effect.

Placing everything back then, Dusk grinned to himself. He was ready for Lily now when she came back. This would be one long night, and he hoped that she was going to enjoy their fun later. He would, certainly. And perhaps he may just impregnate her for the giggles of it.

IV

Clackity-clack, clackity-clack

Clackity-clack, clackity-clack…

Dusk shut his eyes tight, hoping to drown out the tattoo of the passenger car wheels being pulled along the tracks by the train locomotive, a locomotive that he still could bot believe such a primitive thing it was. A simple steam locomotive? Not only that, but one so basic, a 4-4-0, one all elaborately decorated with a heart symbol in the headlight? I would have thought that this world was advanced enough to have an articulated loco, such as a beautiful and great loco, a 4-8-8-4 as in my former world!

He leaned his head against the window, idly watching the passing scenery, which was mostly tunnel walls. Sun-butt had let him go, releasing him into Twilight Sparkle’s care, yet told him she was reluctant to send him back her student. The ancient sun goddess still hoped for Dusk to be forthcoming about his real reason for being here in Equestria.

Dusk smirked. The old nag still did not trust him. She had even sent two of her Royal Guards with him until Princess Twilight took guardianship of him. Both Guards sat with him, one next to him on the bench, the other across from Dusk. The one across was a unicorn stallion of egg-shell white, the other a gray pegasus, whose rank was that of a buck private, while the unicorn had some rank, indicated by the two bronze bars on his armor.

He closed his eyes and relaxed. While he could try to escape from these two guards, that might turn messy. They were mostly but mere show, hardly anything too difficult to overcome with his alicorn magic. They would not be even useful in case of a real threat, based on what he had learned while there back in Canterlot. Even so, they might be competent enough to cause him some relative difficulty in his escape. Best to wait until he could see a way to disappear into this land.

Unbidden, he began to mouth some words of a song he often listened to, a song performed by a band that was usually playing in one of the arcades of Rainbow Lake back in his world. The words did seem fitting.

“Hey, you!” the white guard spoke then. “No spells!”

Dusk looked at the unicorn mildly. Grinning, he said back, “You are a unicorn, and thus know when another unicorn casts a spell. Do you have that sensation currently?”

Dusk received the other’s blank expression. “No,” the guard said. “Still, no spells.”

“Not what I was thinking, good sir,” Dusk snorted.

Turning back to the window, his mind drifted back to that night when he had been captured. The band had been playing the song he still heard in his head, the chorus being something about a city named Paradise with green grasses and pretty mares.

It seemed so fitting currently.

Except that he was merely going from one silken prison to another. Too bad this train was unable to take him somewhere else…

He closed his eyes again, losing himself to the memories of Rainbow Lake. While where he had grown up, Equus Downs, was nothing else but a slum, Rainbow Lake was the entertainment district of Equine City, mere blocks from the Downs. Once Dusk had been old enough, he often wandered the bright lights and neon signs of the arcades, delighting in the irreverence of the district, where one could find every kind of entertainment, or could get anything one desired at all for the right coin. Anything.

In his late teens, Dusk had vended packets of vine on the corners of Rainbow Lake to help him pay for things and give some to his mother. It seemed fitting that he would sell the aphrodisiac, as that had been the real coin of the Downs and easily found. Most anypony did, but in less open of manner. Dusk had his balls to do such; most those who sold such drugs did so discreetly, yet Dusk did have his backup, in the form of a cyan pegasus stallion with multi-colored mane and tail, his longtime friend Blitz. Often, Dusk might also be accompanied by an orange earth pony norm armed with a wicked club in one hoof. And Jake had been no stranger to using such a nasty weapon when needed.

Still the train kept rolling, descending from the mountain on its way to its first stop, Ponyville,

He was so bored. At least, however, he wasn’t being beaten or shocked severely, Not yet, anyway.

Closing his eyes, Dusk sighed from resignation to his current state. He felt mistrusted, as if he were a monstrous villain out to destroy this world, when all he really wished was to be left alone and find a few mares to mount. Allowing his mind to wander some, he soon napped.

The train’s steam whistle woke him in what seemed like mere moments. Dusk peeked out from the window, and saw a station roll into view. The only occupant there on the platform was indeed Twilight, looking at the windows of the passenger cars coming to a halt. Beside Twilight was a smaller figure, one that he dimly recalled when he initially met Twilight Sparkle. It was her dragon companion, which, if Dusk remembered correctly, not just then but through her words in the journal she had published, was named Spike.

Why did she get a dragon, and not himself? Seems so much of an injustice. Plus, she also has a castle!

A heavy snort of impotent derision, he then stood up from the seat along with the two guards. Belting his packs to himself, he paused while the pair prepared themselves. While he waited, he drew out a cigarette, putting it in his mouth where he could light up once off the train.

The officer guard held a clipboard as he looked at Dusk. “You have been granted this by the Princess,” he intoned without emotion. “Don’t fuck it up, else you will end up in jail, that I can guarantee, alicorn Dusk.”

Dusk sneered back at the officer. “Go to hell, asshole.”

The white unicorn guard shrugged without care, then turned away. The other guard nudged Dusk to move, and he soon alit from the train car, then tromped over to the only bench on the platform, where he sat down as the guard and Twilight completed the formal exchange. After lighting his cigarette, Dusk studied his double with a lewd eye, finding her so darn sexy. A quick image flitted through his mind, one pleasing to him, even if he knew deep down that it may never happen.

As Twilight spoke to the guards, which Dusk ignored, he found himself staring at the young drake dragon. It might be nice to have another male to talk to. The dragon peered at Dusk then, its serpentine eyes gazing at Dusk as if measuring him. Dusk merely stared stonily back at the dragon, calmly smoking while wondering what the drake was thinking. Did it fear that Dusk was a danger to it or Twilight? Was it interested in Dusk enough to want to be friends? Or was it merely curious? Dusk had no answer, owing to his lack of being around dragons in general.

Twilight turned to face Dusk, the pair of guards returning to the train as it began to move away from the station. She stared at Dusk, her muzzle wrinkling with disdain. “Could you put that out, Dusk?” she snorted.

He sat on the bench and scowled, “When I am finished, Princess,” he replied casually. “I haven’t had a good time to smoke, and this was perfect. We have no reason to hurry, do we? Or do you have a hot date to go to?”

She glared at him for a moment, then backed away from the smoke without answering him. Dusk smiled at her reaction, but kept his thoughts to himself, Instead, “What now, Princess? Are you now my jailer, so you can pry into my mind also? Will I have bars in my cell, or do I get a silk prison, like I did up there with the old nags?”

Her look back at Dusk was one of sorrow. “You are not in jail, Dusk,” she replied quickly enough. “You have never been in any kind of incarceration. Celestia only thought to keep you for a time to see whether you were a threat to Equestria, for the safety of the ponies here. I feel that you do not represent any threat. I merely wish to soften the hard edges of your personality so that you can find friends here with us.”

Dusk scoffed, “Friends, huh? Friends only have value as tools to use, else they are not friends, but enemies. You truly have no idea what my life was before being exiled here, do you? Just another privileged pony, thinking yourself better than I. Fuck.” He shook his head as he sucked on the cigarette and blew the smoke out of his nostrils.

“I do not think that Dusk Shine!” she fired back with ire. “I want to help you!”

“At what cost to me?” he snarled back. “I don’t need help. I merely wish to live my life, alone if I must. However, I will hang with you, if only to get my eye candy from it.”

She glared back at him, her cheeks turning red, “You don’t make friends saying such things,” she scoffed.

Dusk put out the stub of his cigarette calmly, then stood. “You are merely a female to me,” he stated blandly. “And a cute one at that, despite how much you and I appear alike. Other than that, I have little need to be coached by some mare who to act. Most mares end up under me, which is where they belong, enjoying my tool.”

She shook her head, unbelieving what she heard from him. “Come, Dusk,” she said coldly. “I will take you to my castle now. Just so you understand, I will not be intimidated by your misogyny. You need to rein that in. This is not your world, and you need to stop acting if the world hates you. Now, come along.”

She turned away after levitating her dragon companion onto her back and stepped down from the platform. Dusk smirked, his gaze fully upon her tailed rump. “Yeah, uppity bitch,” he snorted under his breath. “And you loved every word of it.”

Making sure his bags were secured, he trailed after her into the sunlight.

Stepping away from the train platform and into the sunlight, Dusk gazed at the town of Ponyville with disinterest. Well, it certainly isn’t any Paradise city, and hardly any grasses, he thought with disdain. But at least some things are nearly right. I can see some cute mares…

Twilight paused to look back to Dusk. “Welcome to Ponyville, Dusk,” she said. “It is no Canterlot, nor anything like you may have had in your world, but it is a decent place to live in. The ponies here are friendly enough. I will introduce you around soon.”

Dusk smirked, but then looked up at the sky. He instantly noted a fluffy white cloud above apart from the major cloud with a city up there. The city he ignored, gazing at the small cloud with a pony’s tail drooping off the side. A tail that he knew well.

“Why does that not surprise me,” he remarked.

Twilight blinked and peered up when Dusk pointed to the cloud. “Oh,” she chuckled. “Why, Dusk? Something familiar?”

He nodded. “My friend Blitz often took naps on a cloud.”

“I can introduce you…”

He shook his head. “If that one is like Blitz, leave it be. Best not disturb it, else it will turn snippy.” He then shot a look to Twilight. “Perhaps ‘it’ is a mare like you are, I would venture?”

Twilight nodded slowly. “Rainbow Dash is her name, One of my closest friends.”

Dusk looked around the street, then frowned. “I suppose that I should expect to be assaulted by the mare I saw when I first arrived. The one with twenty million questions, yes?”

Twilight gave a short laugh. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I told Pinkie not to bother you until you get settled in. You will meet all of my friends tomorrow.”

He shrugged. “Good. I don’t need to worry that I will get a surprise party. Bubble did that on occasion to me. So, onward to your crazy castle, Princess.”

“It’s not crazy!” she cried defensively.

Dusk swatted a fly away with his tail. “It’s a fucking tree, Princess,” he said mildly. “A crystal tree that happens to resemble more or less like a castle, by my recollection of that day. How in Faust’s name did that happen? I gotta hear that tale.”

She gave Dusk an annoyed glance. “And I will tell you about it later. Right now, just shut up about things, okay? You really are getting on my nerves, Dusk. Just like Discord does when he wants attention.”

“The serpentine slimebag with the mocking tone? Yeah, I already met that asshole.”

Twilight was about to reply when a loud crash happened above Dusk and Twilight, only for a gray pegasus to drop before them. The mare had a yellow mane and appeared disoriented for a moment.

Dusk immediately knelt down to look at the pegasus mare. “Are you okay, miss?”

She rubbed her face with a hoof quickly, then shook her head. “I am fine,” the mare replied in a cute and very feminine voice. “I just don’t know what went wrong. I should have been high enough to avoid the building while looking down at Princess Twilight.” She looked up at Dusk, and her misaligned eyes widened in surprise.

“You look like her!” she squealed.

He glanced back to Twilight, then turned to the mare. “Yes, I do at that. I am Dusk. What is your name?”

She became unsure in her tone. “Ditzy,” she said in a small voice. “But most everypony calls me Derpy.”

Dusk smiled at the mare. “Hell, what do they know, huh?” he said in a friendly voice. “So, Ditzy, are you sure that you are okay now? You are rather cute in your way, and I’d love to get to know more about you. Once I get settled in, perhaps you might come and talk with me some evening. Would that be all right with you?”

The gray mare stood and nodded while she shook off the dust from her wings. Meanwhile, Dusk gathered up the letters and packages which had fallen from her mailbag. Handing those back to the mare, he told her, “There you go, Ditzy. They are certainly not in order, but I am sure that you can fix that yourself. Just try to keep from banging into things from now on. A pegasus should always be more careful where she is at. Blitz always told me to keep my eyes open when in flight.”

Her eyes widened again. “You’re a p-p-prince!” she cried in astonishment.

Dusk sighed heavily, yet grinned at her. “I am an alicorn, yes,” he said in response. “A prince? Hardly. Just me as a winged unicorn.”

Ditzy nodded slowly, then glanced to Twilight, who stood by and not spoke a word yet. Ditzy gave a nod to Twilight, then smiled at Dusk. “Thank you, Dusk. I need to continue with my route. I’ll try to be better at looking where I am going.”

She gathered her mailbag about her neck, then took off with a flutter of her wings.

Dusk continued to smile at the pegasus mare, watching her depart until lost behind a building with a cupcake on the roof.

“You surprised me, Dusk Shine.”

He regained his stance and peered at Twilight. “What?”

She stepped close enough to him where their noses nearly touched. “You are a fake and a liar, all bad and uncaring. Yet you acted so nice to Ditzy, helping her regain herself and giving her back the spilled letters. You just made a friend with her, and you haven’t even been in town for more than a few minutes. No, you may reject it, but you are a prince, an alicorn prince whether or not you like it. Maybe there is hope for you yet.”

She turned and walked onward, leaving Dusk to snort derisively at her. “Fuck being a prince,” he muttered under his breath. “I hate royalty and all that it stands for, vir-gee pussy!” Scowling, he trotted to catch up to Twilight.

“You are wrong, Twiggles,” he said once alongside of her. “A prince is supposed to be noble and snotty, disdaining everything below him. Blueblood is a good example. I simply despise most everything, based on my upbringing. Cute females excepted, of course.”

She stopped and glared at him. “Are you deliberately trying to make me upset, Dusk?” she demanded. “I asked Celestia to give me a chance to make you into a nicer pony. Yet all that I have heard from you is your mean and foul mouth, at least until you helped Ditzy. What, are you hoping to get some from her, is that it? Playing a game to have sex with Ditzy? Really? You are that low as to seduce her right in front of me and Spike?”

Scowling, Dusk shook his head slowly. “You don’t get it, do you, Princess? Life itself is a game, a game to get ahead of the curve and make it your own. You are my jailer, not a friend. What the hell do I care what you think, huh? I got my ass kicked into this stupid world of yours, and I am trying my best to maintain here. I never asked you to quote-unquote reform me. My life has not been all goody-goody four-hoof like yours has been. You have a family. I grew up with a whorse for a mother. You got things handed to you on a gold-plated platter. I fucking starved many nights while my mother was out selling her ass to stallions. Sometimes she even brought them home to have their sex with her. Fuck you, Twilight Sparkle. I don’t give a shit what you think anymore, Prince-ass. Reform me? Fuck you. I’ll die first.”

Dusk stomped away, only to sit by a tree with grass about it, then lit a cigarette and smoked, fuming over her stupid nonsense. Fuck the bitch! Now more than ever, he wished to think of a way to escape and disappear into this world while considering how to get back to his Equineland and resume his life again.

He heard others gathering around him, yet they remained far enough away, talking amongst themselves. Dust glared at the ponies, then looked away and ignored them. Stupid cattle ponies. He snorted out smoke from his nostrils.

“Dusk?” It was Twilight’s voice. “We should take our talk to the castle. Come along. Once you are relaxed, we can continue our discussion then.”

He sneered at her. “Don’t care to air any dirty laundry, Princess? I’m used to it. In my world, everypony knows what everypony says or knows, Privacy is a privilege for royals and nopony else.” He noted that Spike was holding his claws to his head, as if attempting to not hear what was being said.

Her nose wrinkled at the smell of his tobacco, she stood beside him. “Look, Dusk. We obviously have our differences, so can we at least find some common ground here? As in, can you stop being such a jerk? Perhaps I could be a bit forgiving towards you…”

Dusk snorted and took another drag of his cigarette. “I think that you are attracted to me, Twilight,” he said distantly. “I look like you, but I am not you. My dick says that in spades. That is why you wanted me here, isn’t it. I represent what you wished to be, huh? A buck stallion.”

She glared at him for a moment, only to release her anger again. “I’m going to my castle, Dusk Shine. Come along if you wish to be fed. Honestly, I don’t care what you think anymore.” She walked away, pushing through the crowd of ponies.

Dusk watched her go. Yeah, she is attracted to me. She even has her tail up, showing off her goods. A bit of a push, and she’ll be in my bed soon.

Blowing the last puff through his nose, Dusk stood and trailed after his mare analogue under the glare of the warm, life-giving sun.

V

By the time that Dusk reached Twilight’s “castle-that-looks-like-a-tree”, Twilight was nowhere to be seen. Only the dragon Spike was there to welcome Dusk into the castle-tree. Dusk grinned, knowing that he must really have upset her.

As he approached at a trot, Spike gave Dusk a welcoming wave. “Twilight left me to lead you to your room,” he said once Dusk got to the doorway into the castle-thingy. It was just a solitary doorway, not even a proper gate and portcullis entrance like a real castle.

“So, where is Princess?” Dusk asked as he looked about at the imposing crystal tree-like castle.

Spike shrugged. “Dunno,” he replied. “She merely said for me to show you to your room, then did her teleporting thing.”

Dusk grinned down at the purple dragon. “Think that I might have pissed her off?” he asked with a smirk.

Spike stared back to Dusk with his big green serpent eyes. “She did seem upset, Dusk. She was muttering under her breath in a way I haven’t heard her talk before.”

Dusk laughed lightly. “Yeah, I may have pushed her buttons a bit. Good. Twilight seems to be in need of a good kick, just like all nobles do. Come now, Spike, and lead on. I’d like to get some rest and a bath. And can you have lunch brough to my room when it is time? I really am hungry for something.”

As they climbed the stairs to the second floor, where the bedrooms were, Spike made the suggestion that Dusk could join in the game that Spike and some other pony named “Big Mac” played. “You know. Just us guys.”

“What is it?” Dusk asked out of idle curiosity.

“Ogres and Oubliettes,” he replied with a happy squeal. “You know, the role-playing game!”

Dusk wrinkled his nose. “I have no idea what that is, and I don’t play games,” he told the dragon. “I do enough role-playing in real life. Didn’t grow up playing any game, in fact. The only time I played any game was when two of Boss Daddy’s goons and I were bored one day, and we played Ponyopoly™ while BD was in the other room getting his cookie dust—"

Dusk peered down at Spike for a moment, then continued. “We will just say that Boss Daddy was having fun. I really need to think how to say things with you around, Sir Spike the Brave.”

“—And Glorious!” Spike grinned up to Dusk. “So, you read that, huh? What did you think? Wasn’t I a true hero?”

They had reached an unimpressive door that appeared just like any other door in the hallway. “I suppose that you may be called that,” Dusk replied with a condescending chuckle. “Considering that Princess was, well, rather ‘preoccupied’ at the time, being surrounded with a wall of crystals. So, sure, Spike, you did what she asked, to deliver the crystal heart, more or less, from what I read of her journal entry.” He had to chuckle again how the dragon had his chest puffed out proudly. “By the by, Spike, is this so-called castle a pocket universe? It sure seems much larger inside that the way it appears from outside.”

Spike peered up at Dusk with a questioning look. “I have no idea what that means, Dusk,” he replied brightly. “Maybe Twi knows. I don’t.”

“I’ll ask her when I see her next time,” Dusk said with a shrug. “Anyway, where are we?”

Spike pushed past Dusk and opened the door. “Yeah, this is your room, okay? It isn’t much else but a room to sleep in. Kinda small, smaller than Twi’s room or Starlight’s.”

Dusk stepped into the room anyway, looked about, then quickly pulled the window open for some fresh air. “Doable,” he nodded. “Don’t really care one way or another, Spike. A jail cell is a jail cell, even with green curtains. Thank you for leading me here. You may go now.”

After Spike departed, Dusk opened his door again, then briefly lit his horn to mark the door with a sigil representing the letter “D”. The sigil glowed for a moment, then faded and disappeared. He shut the door with a sigh, then undid his saddlebags, dropping them on the floor where he stood. He then lit a cigarette and stepped to the window to peer out.

A dirt lane that wove between buildings was all he saw, the lane having two ponies walking along, neither going in the other’s direction, although the two ponies did nod to each other as they passed. Ponyville, he thought to himself. What a shit town. Fuck, I already miss Canterlot! At least that was a town with some life to it!

He smoked, thinking about various things, but soon turned away. His horn lit, and a bottle arose from his saddlebag, a bottle with a gold liquid inside. Bringing the bottle to the lone table in the room, Dusk sat in the chair, then summoned a small wide glass, to which he poured out some of the gold liquid into. Capping the bottle, he levitated the glass to his mouth and drank, enjoying the burn of the scotch as it slid down his throat. Wine would have been preferable, but plain old scotch would do for a good slug of alcohol.

Fuck, he really did miss his old world. This world hated him…

Well, mostly. That cute gray pegasus mare, however, did seem promising. He hoped to see her again soon. She did appear rather sexy in a strange way, despite her odd eyes. Almost like a bimbo, but not fully one. Ditzy. Yeah, that was her name, and it fit perfectly.

Pouring himself another bit of scotch, he moved his chair to gaze out the window and light a cigarette as he settled to watch the scene below. He could see more from this angle, and in just a few moments he spied a pair of ponies walking together that caught his gaze: one pink, the other gray and wearing glasses. As they passed by the castle without a glance, he saw that they were more likely teenaged mares by the way they were talking about some other ponies, but especially something called “CMCs”, whatever that meant.

He let out a snort from his nose. The gray one he dismissed once she shrilly giggled. The pink one, however, he zeroed in on, noting that in her mane was a tiara that appeared sparkly, as if it had diamonds in it. She would have made a fine addition to his stable back home, and one that would have brought in plenty of coin from her being a young prostitute. He smiled, finding her attractive in a teenaged way. He’d mounted dozens like her before, so perhaps he might meet this one and see if she could be interested in him for a bit of fun…

Fillies and mares are always attracted to an alicorn stallion. Even if they say they aren’t.

Knock, knock.

Dusk frowned at his door. Who was it, he wondered. Somepony is knocking at the door, but not ringing a bell, since he has none. Better get up and see who it is to let them in. Better not be sister Susan, or Uncle Ernie…

Chuckling, Dusk stood, finding the jingle amusing in his head. He flared his horn, opening the door, a grin on his face still. But immediately faded, his jaw dropping nearly to the floor.

No, not Twilight. But just as familiar.

One he should have expected to find. A mare of fuchsia, with dark purple mane having a stripe of aqua color amongst the waves of the mane and tail, and big blue eyes.

He sighed. Damn…

“May I come in?” she asked with a look of concern.

He jumped, then chuckled. “Please do enter, lady,” and gave her a slight bow.

She stepped into his room and glanced about but then looked at Dusk with a tilt to her head, “You are the one that Twilight was bringing here,” she stated with a raised eyebrow.

He nodded. “And I think that I did see you before I was whisked away by old Sun-butt,” he said with a grin. He stepped forward and lifted a hoof to her. “I am Dusk Shine, late from Equineland in my world.”

She giggled and took his hoof into hers. “I am Starlight Glimmer, formerly of Sire’s Hollow,” she introduced herself.

“Glimmer, Glimmer,” he mused, then brightened. “Oh, yeah! The cutie mark thief! Equality mare, right? The mare that ran that town.”

She lowered her head in embarrassment. “Yeah, me,” she said distantly.

Dusk smiled at her, lifting her head with a hoof, “Hey, I didn’t mean to sadden you or make you feel insulted, lady Starlight. I was only reciting what I read in Princess’ journal about you. I see that you are much prettier than what I was thinking when I read that entry. And yeah, you are quite the mare, I see. It makes my heart flutter, seeing you, but not perhaps the way you may be thinking.”

Starlight again tilted her head questioningly. “And what was I thinking, Dusk?”

Still grinning like a colt, Dusk fluttered his wings. “Alicorn,” he said lightly. “Stallion alicorn.”

She tossed her head back and laughed. “Maybe,” she said. “But, if not that, what?”

Still with a grin plastered on his lips, even if put off a bit by her challenging question, Dusk backed away, then turned to face the mirror on the dresser. “Take a look-see, then tell me what you find there.”

Starlight gave him a curious look first, then moved to stand before the large mirror. Herself peered back. “Okay. It is me. So?”

Dusk stood beside Starlight close, then turned and told her quietly, “Oh, and by the way, I really didn’t mean to sound insulting again, Star. You know how it goes: ‘Once a villain, they all see you as a villain, even if you are not now’.” He sighed, then lit his horn, and the mirror changed then, becoming hazy briefly. When it cleared, he said, “Now what do you see?”

“Myself,” she answered in an uncertain tone, then: “Maybe not.” She frowned at her reflection, taking note of small changes in her appearance. Like the small curl of mane on her forehead, one that dropped from her mane yet unmistakably there. And a red scar on her left cheek, small but deep and angry. About her neck was a slender chain, a necklace of gold that bore a pendant in the shape of a four-pointed star, also in gold. And a hardened, tired look, as if having seen much of the bad side of life.

She looked at Dusk. “That is not me,” she stated archly. “Who is that?”

Dusk sighed, still smiling as he gazed at the mare in the mirror with absolute devotion. “She is you,” he said softly. “The you I knew back in my world. Her name was Twinkle Gleam.” He sighed longingly. “My wife.”

Dusk turned away then and went back to the table, where he poured another splash of scotch, which he drank down in a single gulp.

He felt a hoof touch his withers then. “I’m sorry,” Starlight said softly.

Dusk shook his head roughly, and the mirror changed back. “She’s gone now forever,” he said in a choked voice. “We had only been married for a month before I was captured and tortured.” He sighed heavily. Sniffing back tears, he added, “And no, she didn’t run a village of equal ponies, nor steal cutie marks. Instead, she was an assassin in Big Daddy’s employ when we met. I was Big Daddy’s personal mage, and I also killed those who crossed Big Daddy, but with magic, not weapons. And other things he wished me to do.”

Dusk turned to Starlight, tears on the edge of his eyes. “You see, Starlight Glimmer. I’m just as much a villain as you were before Twilight took you and forced you to make friends, or at least that is how I read in her journal. I kind of think that is her purpose in bringing me here, to ‘reform’ me as she did you. I don’t need reforming! I’m no villain! Yet it seems that is how all of these ponies feel that I am here in this world. I’m just a paid mage. I wasn’t trying to conquer the world like this crystal dude Sombra or that centaur Tirek! I was only doing what I could to survive the Downs! And what the fuck is a centaur anyway?”

Sighing, he poured another shot of scotch and downed that. Grinning weakly, he gave Starlight a glance. “I apologize, Starlight. I didn’t mean to vent.”

She hugged him then, her forelegs about his neck. “No need to apologize, Dusk,” she consoled him. “I feel that you have a lot of things to tell. Mostly, you do look like Twilight, but you are certainly not Twilight.”

He chuckled without mirth. “No, that I am not.”

“So then, you were a killer, huh?”

Dusk glanced to Starlight, the looked away again. Lighting a cigarette, he leaned back in his chair. “I guess mostly,” he replied evenly. “I did other things for him, like twisting minds of ponies and shit, beside raping new mares to be placed into his stables. I also pushed vine, which is a euphoric drug that happens to be also an aphrodisiac.”

He again glanced to Starlight. “I suppose that makes me worse than you. All you did was steal cutie marks, then made a time spell that sent Twilight willy-nilly through various alternate universes.”

Starlight waved off his observation and leaned forward to ask in a quiet voice, “Did you use dark magic?”

Dusk nodded. “I was formally trained in dark magic. That is, if you are referring to destructive magic. I am myself not evil. Nor were you, if I read between the lines of Twilight’s journal, just misguided, correct?”

She sighed and nodded. “Misguided,” she repeated. “Yeah, I suppose that I was. I was jealous of how Sunburst was taken away from me.”

“Jealousy also led this Princess Luna to turn evil,” Dusk noted. “And yet, from what Twilight said, this Night Mare Moon never did use any true dark magic but used arcane magic to be destructive.”

Starlight peered at Dusk with surprise. “You saw that too, huh?” she asked with a bit of excitement. “I noted that also. I mean, why if you are so jealous of your sister, enough to try and kill her, but not use dark magic against her? Something wrong in that picture.”

Dusk smiled and chuckled. “You are remarkably so alike to Twinkle,” he observed. “And yet, not. I see so much of her in you, far beyond the look-alike thing. Even so, I hear that little difference in your words. Like Princess has gotten to you, taming you.”

Starlight gave Dusk a look of pique. “I am not tamed,” she gritted. “Just friendlier.”

As if to show him, Starlight smiled, then leaned close to smooth out some of his rufus mane. “You are rather handsome for a killer,” she remarked in a low voice. “In some ways, you do have a look like Twilight, only harder.”

Dusk moved away from her ministrations. “Thanks,” he said gruffly. “My life wasn’t gilded as hers was, nor did I ever get any aid from the goddesses of my world as she did with the two princesses. The keyword of my life was survival growing up in a ghetto.” He took another swallow of scotch.

“Doesn’t sound fun at all.”

He sighed heavily. “Too many memories, and many were bad or cruel. Just life in a big city, a dark and unfriendly city to a young colt.” He then looked sharply at Starlight. “Why are you here?”

She grimaced. “I wanted to meet you, Dusk,”: she answered without pause. “I am curious to know why Twilight has such an interest in you. Especially after you made her so upset earlier.”

Dusk stared at Starlight for several minutes, then soon smiled. “Yeah, sure,” he said. “She sent you, didn’t she? Used you to pick my mind. She and those two old nags in Canterlot are so keenly interested in my mind, as if I am harboring some ticking time bomb, waiting to go off at a given moment.”

Dusk stood up and went to the window, then lit a cigarette. “I know what Twiggles wants. It was so under-hoofed to use you like that, making you to try and seduce me into talking. Fuck her.”

Starlight gazed at Dusk for a moment nervously, her mouth hanging open. “What is it?”

Dusk looked back to Starlight without any expression but gave her a hard stare. “My memory,” he said stiffly. “A single memory that I have locked away in my sub-conscious. Apparently, Luna went digging into my mind while I was asleep and found that memory chained and barred securely. A memory that I do not wish to bring back. Yet, they think that it might be something terrible enough to harm this world, which is why they are so eager to unlock it.”

He took a long drag from his cigarette, then let the smoke out from his nostrils slowly. “Get out, Starlight,” he snarled. “We are done talking.”

Dusk turned back to staring out of the window, completely ignoring the mare, even when she tried to talk again. Soon, she simply departed without further talk, yet very confused by his sudden turn of demeanor.

* * *

Just as the sun was touching the horizon, Dusk heard a knock at his door again. With a sigh, he opened it with a flare of magic from his horn, only to see Spike standing there. “Spike,” he greeted with a nod.

“Dinner is ready,” the young dragon said. “You want it here or at the table with Twi and Starlight?”

Dusk flipped the cigarette out from the window. “With them at the table,” he replied. “May as well go meet the dragoness in her parlor. Lead onward, bud.”

Spike led Dusk downstairs to a large room with a table and chairs, obviously the dining room of the castle. The dragon quickly trotted into the room, but Dusk stood at the entrance for a moment as he noted both Twilight and Starlight there already. Gathering his nerves before stepping into the room. he quickly took his seat at the empty place setting.

Keeping his expression neutral, he greeted, “Ladies.”

Spike placed a plate of hot hay cakes in front of Dusk, then returned to his own chair with a bowl of gems, which he set on his lap and bit into a red gem.

The air in the room seemed chilly, as Dusk refused to look at either mare, even as both Twilight and Starlight glanced to him. Dusk merely ate the cakes without comment.

“What is wrong with you, Dusk?” Twilight finally asked.

Dusk gave her a quick look, then turned back to his meal. “Me? Nothing.”

He munched on a bite for a moment, then added, “That was mean of you to use your friend that way, Princess.” He stuffed another forkful of cake into his mouth.

“What way do you mean, Dusk?” Twilight asked with a frown.

“Using her to make me talk. I mean, let’s be honest here. What the fuck is so interesting to you three princesses about some memory that I keep locked away? Isn’t that why you told Starlight to try and seduce me into revealing it? If you really meant to have her seduce me, make sure that she does the seduction right, so I get my cookie with her. I’d love to get my nut, you know.”

Twilight slammed a hoof on the table in anger. “Dusk Shine, you will cease talking like some foul-mouthed jerk, especially here at the table with Spike nearby. I will not have it!”

Still not looking at Twilight beyond a single glance, Dusk added quietly, “Another thing about this so-called castle, Princess. You really do need to open it and air it out. I am being suffocated with the overpowering scent of estrogen. It is so bad, my balls are about to shrivel.”

Twilight gazed upward with a growl of impotent rage. Snorting back to Dusk, she spat, “Sorry if it doesn’t meet your approval, Prince Dusk.”

“I’m no prince,” he retorted calmly.

“Oh, you have that right, Dusk Shine,” she snapped. “Just some common gutter rat is what you are.”

“I never said I was any better than that, Princess.”

“Stop naming me Princess!” she yelled furiously, again slamming a hoof down.

Dusk still continued to eat, ignoring her. “It is in your title, regardless, Princess,” he then said mildly. “Princess of Friendship, yes? And just how ‘friendly’ can you be? To me?”

“You are just too disgusting, Dusk,” she snorted derisively. “I am of a mind to just kick you out of my castle now.”

“And have to tell Sun-butt that you failed? Hardly, Princess.”

Silence fell about the table as all three ponies ate, while Twilight stared at her stallion analogue with displeasure. After several minutes of complete silence, she looked to Starlight.

“I’m through with him. You get him to talk like a proper stallion.”

Before Starlight could say any reply, Dusk perked his ears. “So, Princess, what is the itinerary for tomorrow? More bickering? Or perhaps we might come to a ceasefire? I probably should meet these friends of yours, at least, even if I feel that I know them from your journal book.”

“If you act like a stallion, then maybe.”

He finally glanced to Twilight with a smirk. “Should I wear a tie?”

“No need. Just be normal and not so foul with your words or actions. Be a good stallion for once in your life, Dusk Shine.”

He shrugged. “I can maybe do that.”

With a sigh, he pushed away his empty plate. “About that which you and your princesses have been trying to get to in me. It is a very painful memory that I wish not to recall. That is why I buried and warded it. However, if it is that important, I may allow Princess Luna to take a peek, as she is a dreamwalker. Afterward, I will need a full day of being alone while I reconstruct the wards again and shut it away back into my sub-conscious. Truthfully, I’d advise not to delve too deep, as it is very bad. Which is why I locked it away. Just give me a day or so to come to any decision. If you want to help me come to an agreement, let Starlight sleep with me tonight. I’m sure that with her help and sex, my decision would come quicker.”

“No!” Twilight cried. “You will not do any sort of thing to her under my roof!”

“I will,” Starlight said calmly. She peered to Twilight. “If it will help you two to stop arguing, then I will lay with Dusk. Besides, Twilight, he and I are both adults, not silly foals. If we decide to have sex, consensual sex, then that is our right. I also find him to be very attractive as a stallion. Oh, and also, did you know that back in his universe I was his wife?”

Twilight sat back in her chair with an open mouth of shock, unable to say anything.

Dusk stood up from his chair, preparing to leave. “Make yourself pretty for me, Starlight,” he said. “Say a couple of hours?”

“I’ll be there, Dusk,” Starlight agreed with a bright smile as she also stood up. She turned to Twilight, who still sat there with a surprised look, “I wonder what kind of a stallion he will be, Twilight. Guess that I will find out later. I’ll tell you about it in the morning.”

Starlight then walked away, only to trot to catch up to Dusk as he departed, where she brushed herself against him seductively.

Twilight sat there for several minutes, her mind working overtime to make sense of these past hours since Dusk got off the train.

Author's Note

Well, well, well...
Dusk is surely showing his true colors, yes? Killer, assassin, rapist, drug pusher, plus probably others.
And what about his "memory" thing? What is so important about that?

Sweet Faust, I do love a mystery!

On a side note, both back in chapter four and this chapter, I made references to two songs. One I am positive that you readers might know immediately, the other might be OG. Also, I did make reference to a movie line in this chapter. See if you can find the line and the movie, yes, besides the songs? I won't do this often, but it helps alleviate some of the darker themes in this tale...

Thus, onward...

VI

It was morning the next day. Dusk, after having his first smoke and a face wash, now stood at the entrance to the dining room, mentally preparing for yet another day of sparring with Princess Twilight.

Damn, he thought to himself. Why does she have to be so fucking hot of a mare, yet so chilly to me?

Steeling himself, Dusk entered the hall and calmly went to sit down at the table. Twilight was already there, an open book before her as well as a small plate with a single doughnut on it.

“Good morning, Princess,” Dusk greeted, hoping to sound cheery. Once seated, Spike ran off, but quickly returned with a bowl, which he sat down before Dusk, then returned to his seat and munched on an opal gem.

Twilight looked up from her book. “Good morning to you Dusk,” she returned the greeting. “Feel better after having slept with my friend Starlight?”

Dusk gave a slight grin, still not looking at Twilight. “Enough to try and find a cease-fire with you,” he said, then began to eat the creamed oat cereal in the bowl. Spike had been kind enough to even put in the bowl a raw egg, just as Dusk had told him to do. Dusk could get his morning protein just from that egg.

“Also, Starlight said she’d be down in a few minutes, if you are wondering.”

“I was, but I am glad you said so.”

As he quickly spooned in the cereal, Dusk said, “I’ve been thinking.”

Twilight placed a bookmark in the place where she was at in the book, closed it, then picked up the doughnut and took a bite. “About?” she asked.

Dusk said nothing for a time as he finished his meal, then pushed the empty bowl aside. “If my locked dreams and memories are of such interest to you and your princesses, perhaps we could come to an arrangement.”

“Are you ready to talk about them?” she asked leaning closer. “I am willing to listen.”

He turned to peer at her. “Maybe,” he replied calmly. “But only if we can make a trade.”

“What kind of trade?” She frowned, wondering what he had in mind.

He shrugged insouciantly. “One that could benefit both you and I.”

She blinked, curious of his proposal. “What could that be, Dusk?” she asked, then pulled back, her eyes widening. “You are not suggesting that I trade away my crown, are you?”

Dusk kept his gaze impassive. “I am not interested in your stupid crown, Twilight Sparkle,” he said. “I want you.”

The room suddenly chilled, and even Spike looked up from his bowl, a half-eaten beryl in his mouth.

“Never!” she cried.

Unruffled, Dusk shrugged. “It’s open for negotiation, of course, Princess. Just think about it. If you and those two old nags feel that my memories are that important, I am sure that some kind of arrangement can be reached between you and I.”

“It is never open for negotiation, Dusk!”

Dusk sighed and continued to stare at his double. “Of course it is, Princess,” he calmly stated. “Everything is always negotiable.”

Her cheeks burning hotly, she gave him a withering look. “Some things are, of course,” she said then, her tone barely keeping calm. “My sanctity isn’t.”

His mouth worked to form words for a moment. Then: “Sure it is, Princess. Isn’t this the reason why you brought me back? To have sex with me? I assure you that once you’ve taken me, you’ll never want another stallion. I am a good lover.”

With her magic, Twilight picked up the plate and threw it at him. “GET OUT OF MY CASTLE!”

Dusk had ducked from the flying plate, but with his own magic, he kept it from shattering. Returning the plate back to the table, he calmly said, “You do not know what you are turning down, Princess. I am not here to make friends, but rather get some from you and Starlight. Oh, and did you know that Starlight is a screamer? Quite the enjoyable fuck.”

Dusk barely avoided the blast of magic from Twilight. Recovering, he smirked. “Is that the best you can do, cutie?” he sneered. “You are going to fuck me, or kill me.”

With a wild scream of anger, she again fired another blast from her horn, having stood up from her chair. Dusk this time easily deflected her blast and chuckled mockingly.

“You do look so cute when angry, hottie!” he laughed.

Steam wafted off her reddened ears. “GET. OUT. OF. MY. CASTLE!”

“Aw, where’s that ‘Princess of Friendship’ shit you seem to call yourself?” he goaded her. “You are clearly not being friendly, even if I was.”

“I WANT YOU OUT!”

Dusk snorted. “Make me.”

Twilight charged at him, clearly upset and snorting in anger. Dusk stood there and calmly flicked a shield to deflect her charge. “We can do this all day, Princess,” he smirked. “Or fuck.”

Gathering herself again and with her nostrils flaring, she cried, “Never!”

Dusk noted that Spike had been smart and disappeared, though he could be close still. Dusk returned to look at Twilight, delighting in her curves with lusty greed. “Well?” he goaded her. “Are you going to stand there and ogle my dick, or what?”

She did not rush at him. Instead, she snorted with derision. “Think that you are the hottest stallion, do you? I am quite sure that you have no real penis to speak of.”

He lifted his head and laughed. “Sure,” he said with further chuckles. “Now you toss insults like a filly. Two can play that game, pussy-licker.”

She slowly shook her head. “I am truly sorry for you, Dusk Shine. You are a sad pony. You lack so much that it is a waste to throw any further insults at you. Leave my castle. I’ll let Celestia know that you are gone, so her Solar Guards can pick you up.”

Dusk shook his head in refusal. “No, Princess,” he said. “Not until I get some from your plot.”

“Will you two quit being foolish foals and talk to one another?”

Twilight’s eyes darted behind Dusk, finding Starlight at the doorway with her ears folded. “He started it!” she cried.

Dusk did not bother to turn to look at Starlight. “I was only doing what you suggested to me last night,” he said calmly. “I offered a deal to Princess. Too bad she was too stuck up like all nobles are and refused my offer, then started screaming at me like sone pony banshee.”

“I did not!” retorted Twilight. “You are being unreasonable!”

“Me? Unreasonable? Hardly, Princess. It is you who are being unreasonable.”

“Stop the insults!” Starlight cried. “Look. I don’t know what started this, but can’t you both work it out in an adult manner?” Her tail stiffly lashing, Starlight continued. “I’m leaving to go spend time with Trixie. She may be arrogant, but at least she is an adult.”

Dusk and Twilight glared at each other in silence until Starlight had left the castle. “So?” Dusk ventured. “Are we going to talk, or just stand here and glare at the other?”

“Get out of my sight,” Twilight gritted. “Rapist.”

Dusk shrugged. “Among other things.”

“You are an ugly pony, and I now hate you.”

He grinned. “What?” he mocked. “Where’s the ‘friendship’ crap, Princess?”

Levitating her chair in the air, she tossed it towards him. Again, Dusk merely deflected it. He made to turn away with a sigh, and Twilight only barely caught a glance of his horn flicker once before he turned his head back and gave it a shake. Twilight found herself plastered against the wall on her backside, her limbs all splayed out. Even her neck felt glued to the crystal wall behind her.

“Let me go, Dusk!”

Instead, he slowly approached the magically bound mare with a smug smirk. “Well, well,” he said. “Don’t you look so pretty and even erotic there, Princess! And, oh, such lovely titties you have! They are truly cute, just underdeveloped. Let me impregnate you so that they can fill with milk, huh? Our foal will need his milk from his mommy.”

“Fuck you, Dusk,” she darkly spat back.

He chuckled. “Wasn’t that the idea before?” he taunted. “You want my cock, Twilight Sparkle. Face it, for a noble, you are a whorse who worships a stallion’s cock. My cock. Perhaps I should just go ahead and cream your pretty face with my cum.”

She silently glared at him, daring him to make any move towards her. However, Dusk shook his head.

“Nah,” he sighed. “It would be a waste of my little squigglies. They’d die from how cold your pussy is, Princess-ass.” He smirked. “At least I finally got you to do what I wanted initially.”

Backing a few steps from her, Dusk cried out, “Spike!”

The young dragon peeked out from the kitchen. “What, Dusk?” he asked, his big green eyes taking in his mother being held on the wall, only for his eyes to grow wide. “Are you going to hurt Twilight?” he asked suspiciously.

Dusk shook his head. “She’s fine, Spike,” he replied carelessly. “I need you to take a letter for me and send it to Sun-butt.”

“Who?”

Dusk rolled his eyes. “Princess fat-ass, Celestia! Spike, grow up.”

Spike glanced to Twilight still hanging against the wall, and she nodded to her assistant. He quickly pulled out a parchment and quill. “Ready, Dusk.”

“After putting in the proper salutations, write that I am prepared to return to Canterlot, where I will accept facing the charge of ‘Assault on a Princess’. Please send your tin soldier guards here ASAP. I will accept no less of a punishment than to be thrown into a dungeon cell with the key thrown away and lost forever, Sign it as ‘Dusk, assassin-mage from Equineland’.”

“Done,” Spike said after a moment. But before he could roll the parchment up, Dusk took the scroll from Spike and rapidly scanned the message, only to correct a few misspellings and reword a sentence, then rolled it up and gave it back to the young dragon.

“Send.”

Spike immediately spat green fire, and the message disappeared.

He peered up to Dusk. “Are you going to let Twi down now?” he asked.

Dusk gave Spike a half grin. “Not quite yet, little one. Oh, don’t worry. Twilight is far from being harmed. She does however look quite cute hanging against the wall. I know that you feel for her; she’s your mommy, yes? I am not going to hurt my dear cute double. I am just going to enjoy her like this for a few moments. Once Sun-butt replies, we shall see what to do with dear Twilight princess.”

Just as Spike was about to reply, he hiccupped out a scroll. Spike grabbed the scroll and offered it to Dusk. “It has your name on it,” the dragon said.

Dusk, still gazing at Twilight, shook his head. “Read it back to me, Spike.”

Spike cleared his throat, then began to speak.

“Dusk? what is going on there? Is Twilight all right? Please, I need to understand what has occurred—"

“Enough,” Dusk growled as he lit his horn again, this time letting off a bright flash to Twilight, who merely glared back to him silently. She blinked from the flash, surprised to find herself still alive and well, even if she was still being held against her will by Dusk’s magic.

Meantime, Dusk now held a picture of Twilight in his hoof. Glancing at the picture with a lusty chuckle, he produced another scroll, to which he attached the picture to, then rolled it up and gave it to Spike. “Send,” he told the dragon.

Dusk smiled to Twilight. “As cute as you are, Princess, you can come down now. You always could have come down anytime you wanted. You have the ability to negate my magic, as we are the same thing, yes?”

Freed from the spell, Twilight dropped onto all four of her legs, her cheeks red with both anger and embarrassment. An instant later, another scroll appeared from Spike.

Just as the dragon was about to look at it, Dusk snatched it away, then burned the newly arrived scroll. “No answer,” he said with a heavy sigh. “I should gather my things and step outside to await my gilded carriage back to my jailer and cell.”

“You set this up!” she accused him with a disdainful flick of her tail.

“Yep,” he replied with a nod. “I let you bring me here just to see if you would have sex with me, as that was how you presented yourself to me the other day. When it didn’t happen, I knew that I could not stay here with you, pining for the non-existent time with you to happen. So, I used you to make Sun-butt came and get me and haul me back to Canterlot. That is how I stroll, Princess. Ponies are there to be used. That friendship bullshit, I will never do. I only know how to use ponies to get what I wish.”

She glared at Dusk for a few moments, then looked away. “I am truly sorry for you, Dusk,” she sadly said. “You must be a very lonely pony. Ugly and evil, yet also lonely and afraid.”

Dusk turned away without a word, then teleported to his room and gathered up his belongings and things, which he stuffed into his packs and strapped them to his barrel. Another teleport took him to the front door of her castle, and he briskly stepped outside, only to plop his rump down and light a cigarette as he waited for his ride back to Canterlot.

Twilight soon came out to stand close to him. “Dusk,” she began, “you don’t have to be this way. We can try to work through your problems.”

Dusk shook his head. “Princess, you are just another brick in my wall, so don’t try to make me feel as if I am hurting you. Now, go away and leave me alone to my fate. I have lost everything that I know, even my self-respect, so get away and forget about me.” He blew out smoke from his nostrils, completely ignoring Twilight.

That is, until he felt the back of his head being smacked by a hoof.

“That was for being such a jerk,” Twilight said, then smacked him again. “And that was for making my Spike afraid for me.” Then another, only with more energy. “And that is for what you did to me!”

“I didn’t harm you!” he cried back to her.

“You could have!” she shouted in return. “How was I supposed to know what you were doing, huh? If you were that bothered about being here in my castle, why didn’t you just say it to me, instead of acting all big and bad? You truly need to grow up, Dusk Shine!”

A large shadow passed overhead, and within a few moments, a large party of ponies settled, as several armored Solar guards came to attention, their spears all leveled at Dusk, while Celestia stately alit from her carriage, peering at both Twilight and Dusk with a frown.

She then asked, “Are you alright, Twilight?”

“I am fine, Princess,” Twilight replied stiffly. “I was never in any danger, according to him.”

Celestia looked to Dusk, then sighed. “Explain this to me, Dusk Shine,” she stated.

He shrugged carelessly. “I wanted to return back to Canterlot,” he replied. “I don’t wish to be here in this, this town. I am obviously not going to get any from Princess, so why hang around? Take me back to your castle and toss me in jail. I’ll gladly go and accept my incarceration. Better there than be stuck somewhere I’m not wanted.”

Celestia straightened herself, fluttering her great wings. “I was afraid of this,” she muttered. “I see now that I must keep both of you separated from each other. I will take care of our guest now, Twilight. Rest assured, he will be punished for what he has done.”

Twilight trotted to her mentor and nuzzled her. “Thank you, Princess Celestia,” she said. “If I had known that he felt this way, I would have never thought to bring him here.”

Celestia hugged her student maternally, then peered at Dusk. “You, young colt,” she said in a firm voice. “You wish to be shackled? Then fine, so be it.” A set of shackles dropped to the ground. “I am sure these fine gentlecolts will be happy to see you in chains.”

Four of the Guards instantly began to place Dusk in those chains without any command from their monarch, then forced Dusk into the carriage.

Dusk sat down and waited, a thin smile on his face. He would have rather remained in Canterlot, where he may have found better entertainment. A dank dungeon would have been preferable to this stupid Castle of Friendship crap, and not be getting any from his double.

Celestia climbed into the carriage and sighed. “You have much to explain, Dusk,” she said. With a curt nod, the carriage began to ascend.

He sighed, looking away. Before too long, he said wistfully, “I do need you to lock me up, Princess. It is for the safety of all of this world, and others. I truly am a bad pony.”

“Well, at least you acknowledge what you are, Dusk Shine,” she said while staring ahead. “But you must talk to me, as I am very disappointed with you, young colt.”

He gave a short laugh. “Disappointed? You should be thanking me, Princess. I will explain once we are back in your castle. And after we talk, you will leave me behind bars and walk away, even throwing away the key to my cell. Perhaps even cementing my jail over.”

Celestia turned and peered at Dusk. Shaking her head, she asked, “By that, what do you mean? I do not understand. You are truly a mystery, colt.”

“Oo, I was thinking that myself, Celestia!” spoke a mocking voice.

“Discord, why must you always be nosy? Dusk is my problem, not yours.”

He chuckled mirthfully. “Well, I was just thinking—”

A black hole opened in the sky, and Discord was sucked into that hole and disappeared.

“Good riddance.”

“What did you do to him, Dusk? That was the Lord of Chaos! You cannot simply make him go away!”

Dusk turned to give Celestia an amused grin. “Oh, that one isn’t harmed,” he replied smugly. “Just like the Chaos Queen in my world, Eris, your Discord is rather annoying to me. I merely sent him back to his realm again, much like I did many times with Eris.”

She gaped in shock at Dusk. “But, how? Even I cannot ‘send Discord away’ like what you did!”

He leaned forward a bit. “I know the trick, dear Princess,” he said lowly, then winked at her. “He won’t be bothering us any time soon.”

The air around the carriage sighed as the alabaster castle neared, sitting there perched on the hillside. After a few moments, Celestia shifted in her seat to look at Dusk. “What are you, colt?”

He looked away at the countryside below them. “A murderer,” he said simply. “A monster, really.” He sighed heavily. “I will explain once we are down there. Until then, I hope that you will consider things to do with me, Your Highness. Killing me would be justice.”

Author's Note

:pinkiegasp:

Huh? What is this? A twist? And I am sure that many of you were thinking that this was just another DuskTwi romance, yes?

Also, I hope that you might have seen my callout to some Floyd guy named Pink :coolphoto:
Alas, Poor Roger...

So, what do you think? Is Dusk a jerk, or something else, perhaps?

Now, to get back to Miss Minutes....

VII

Just as the carriage was about to land before the palace entrance, Celestia lit her horn, then teleported both herself and Dusk straight to the throne hall. Dusk shook his head, pushing away the momentary dizziness of the translocation.

“I will allow you to explain yourself, Dusk Shine,” she said, then walked imperiously up the steps to her throne and sat down, her gaze upon Dusk both harsh, yet without expression.

Dusk watched the princess ascend to her throne with a lusty smirk. What is it about these mares here in this universe that they cannot keep their tails down? In the few days he has been here, he has seen more plot than he had before back in his world.

“First, can I have a smoke?” he asked. “I need a few minutes to gather my thoughts coherently.”

“No,” she stated flatly. “You will not. This is a throne room, not a place to be filled with your foul habit. It is enough that you sully my hall with your presence, assassin pony. Now, speak.”

“Forsooth, we also wish to hear what he hath to tell us, Sister,” spoke the princess of the night as she entered the hall with her head held stiffly and eyed the shackled form of Dusk as she also took the steps to her own throne.

“Well, well, Dreamwalker,” Dusk acknowledged Princess Luna with a nod, “Have you also come to humiliate me as well? Why am I not surprised to be held in judgement by you two mares? Mares who would rather see me burn at a stake than consider me as a gifted stallion, hm? Am I not like your dear Princess Twilight?”

“Thou art but a scoundrel, nothing like Twilight Sparkle, Dusk,” replied Luna with a snort. “She hath saved our land, whilst thou art but a murderer.”

Dusk stood on his four legs as his horn lit briefly, sending his shackles away with a clatter of the chains. “Ah, yes,” he said with a sly grin. “Now I truly see you as you are, Dreamwalker. You remind me of a line from a poem I heard once before. It goes:

“Cold hearted orb, that rules the night / Removes the colors from our sight…””

Luna sneered, and Celestia noted, “My sister is far from being the cold-hearted creature you speak of. She is as warm-hearted as any pony.”

“Except, she wasn’t before, was she?” Dusk fired back. “I seem to recall where Princess Twilight had to battle against the Dreamwalker as a nightmare.”

“’Twas was not me, but a foul demon,” Luna sneered. “We art much better now.”

“Ah, but that was you, Princess Luna,” Dusk countered. “And you made your dear sister suffer all of those long years during your banishment. That, dear Dreamwalker, was quite cold.”

Silence descended upon the throne hall for several minutes, with Dusk peering at both monarchs with a hint of a grin on his lips.

“You know,” he said then, breaking the uncomfortable silence, “it really is too bad that I never met this Night Mare Moon. I would have gladly offered my services to the Empress of the Night. We would have been unconquerable. With her intelligence and me as her weapon, truly nothing could have stopped us. I would have been quite happy to be her servant.”

“You speak boldly of your abilities, yet you have not shown any of them to us, alicorn,” Celestia spoke with her nose wrinkling in distaste. “Regardless, you are to speak of why you are a kind of monster, a threat to be imprisoned.”

He nodded. “True, true. First, a bit of context.” He then sat on his haunches, only to be lifted again to his four hoofs by Celestia’s magic.

“You will stand,” she said in a chilly tone.

Dusk glared at her. “Fine, Princess.” he snorted mockingly. “Fucking monarchs and their stupid rituals.”

Instead, he turned and began to pace back and forth. “You know about the Harmony Trees, yes?”

“Indeed,” Celestia admitted. “My sister and I have wielded such power before.”

He paused to peer up at her. “Protecting your little ponies, no doubt,” he remarked lightly. “That is one purpose they are meant for, of course. But did you know that they have a greater purpose for being?”

“And, what is that?” Luna asked.

“Firstly, are you aware that there are Harmony Trees all throughout the entire multiverse?”

Celestia gave a nod. “The concept of multiple universes is nothing new to me, or my sister,” she said. “Continue.”

He resumed pacing. “Each and every one of these alternate universes have their own version of a Harmony Tree, meant to be as a protector from in-verse threats and maintain the purity of magic in that universe. But, that is just a secondary purpose. The true purpose of the Harmony Trees is to stand as sentinels against that which exist beyond time and reality, things out there that which threaten all of reality and life.”

“Chaos?” Luna asked.

Dusk shook his head, flattening his ears. “Oh, no, no. Much worse, dear Dreamwalker. Chaos, much as your idiot Discord represents, is simply a version of the reverse of Order, existing beside that which is this reality we all dwell within.

“No, what I speak of exists far beyond the limits of our reality. Forces that would devour not just life, but time itself, creating a vast void where all matter ceases to be.” He again paused to look at both alicorn monarchs. “Within me is such a creature.”

The silence in the hall was palpable and oppressive. Dusk let the import of his admission sink in. After a few moments, he again started to pace. “You see, my world, Equineland, lost our Harmony Tree, opening up a breach where such monsters can freely appear. It was during the Mage Clan Wars that began in Solarian Year 2746 when my world lost its guardian Tree.”

“We also had our version of mages warring,” Celestia noted. “Many centuries ago.”

“The year I was born was Solarian Year 4259,” Dusk told them. “Fifteen hundred years without a Harmony Tree is a long time. Even so, the Clan Wars left much of Equineland devastated. Even in my lifetime, huge swaths of land remains entirely unpopulated by any creature or pony save the hardiest, such as dragons or griffons.

“At any rate, the loss of a Harmony Tree is bad for the universe, as it leaves us unprotected. We think, that is, those whom have survived the Clan Wars which were my teachers, that despite the loss of the harmony Tree in our world, that other Harmony Trees may have built some kind of bridge between adjacent universes to cover the loss of one of their own, which is why our universe was not immediately attacked. Even so, one must have found a way into our unprotected universe. One that I have in myself contained and locked away.”

“One of those monsters of which you mention?” Celestia asked, her ears twisting backwards. “If you have it contained, why should that be a problem to us?”

Dusk looked to Luna. “It is there which I have locked away in my memory,” he replied. “You seek to open that memory, and I am telling both of you that to do so will release that horror upon yourselves.” He backed away, then made a face. “I hope that you won’t mind, but I need to drain my bladder.”

Both princesses chuckled, dispelling the tension. Celestia pointed to a doorway to the side. “Go and take care of your need, Dusk,” she said. “When you return, we will discuss this further.”

Dusk hurried to the indicated door and swiftly disappeared. Celestia and Luna gazed at each other, as if not believing what Dusk was telling them. However, before they could talk, Dusk reappeared with a pleased sigh of relief.

“So, young alicorn,” Celestia said as he stood before her. “What else is there in that memory?”

He sighed, folding his ears and switching his tail. “The worst part of my life,” he replied in a low and sorrowful tone. “One that I wish never to remember ever again. Please, do not make me open that memory! I beg you both, leave it be. If not for my sake, but for yours as well!”

“We have fought many monsters over the long yeas, Dusk Shine,” Celestia stated with a sigh. “What is another? We have our Harmony Tree, so if it does appear out of your memory, I am sure it can be defeated.”

“But not one such as I have in me!” he cried. “That one is an extra-versal creature, a thing that takes several Harmony Trees to hold back! It cannot be fought by a single Tree. The easiest way to prevent your world’s end is to kill me and let my death be its prison forever. Please!”

“Perhaps if I slip inside and peek, I might see enough before anything such as Dusk is saying could manifest itself and escape,” Luna suggested to her white sister, slipping out of her usual archaic speech.

“But what you seek isn’t in the surface of my memory, Dreamwalker,” Dusk stated controlling his desperation. “Buried it many years before I encountered the horror, a horror that I found through my many researches of dark magic. I alone must bear this thing. Please, you must not do this! Please!”

“Do you feel that it may be doable, Luna?” Celestia asked. “Sneak in and get a quick look?”

“Forsooth, sister,” the moon princess replied, nodding.

Dusk sighed heavily, knowing that his pleas was falling on deaf ears. “Fine, Princesses,” he relented. “Allow me a day to prepare myself and unlock that particular memory for you. Now, can I have my cigarette?”

Celestia rolled her eyes, then lit her horn. A bookshelf on the far wall with numerous artifacts moved aside, revealing a set of double doors. The doors opened and let in a blast of frigid air. Dusk swiftly made for the doors, where he found himself on a balcony far above the valley below. Creating a shield, he lit a cigarette and smoked, thinking what he might do to curb the thing within from escaping.

Out of curiosity, Dusk probed the space beyond the balcony where he stood, quickly discovering that it had been shielded. It was immediately apparent that the shield was meant to contain, not prevent any assault from without. He snickered. It felt typical of that old whorse sitting on her plot on her throne. Oh, he had no plans of escaping, yet she had cast a spell to keep him from such an attempt. It did give him time to consider what he could do to get her back. Perhaps, after this is done and past, he might sneak into her private rooms for a night visit…

He suddenly felt a compulsion to return back, and he finished his cigarette hurriedly, then allowed himself to go back into the throne hall with the two old nags. Unsurprisingly, the bookcase slid back to its original place, blocking that exit once again. Dusk stepped to stand before the white alicorn princess and waited for her to speak.

Celestia peered down at him for a moment before she spoke. “My sister and I have talked,” she said without any emotion on her face. “We have concluded that you are a skilled pony with your tongue, but it was easily seen that you must be lying to us. We therefore have decided that you will open your mind to us, regardless of your empty threat, Dusk Shine.”

Keeping himself calm before the sun goddess of this universe, he replied, “I see that you seem to believe that I am some colt that has cried ‘Timberwolf’ far too many times. Fine. I accept your decision, Ancient One. However, when it manifests, don’t go blaming me for it. I jeer your stupidity, but also welcome it. Let us get this over with so I might go on and live, even if the world is reduced to an unlivable habitat. I don’t care anymore.”

He looked up and stared at her. “I will need a day to prepare myself and unlock the spells keeping that memory sealed. Will that be satisfactory, Princess?”

“That will be granted, young colt,” she replied magnanimously.

“Here.” Dusk lit his horn. A paper appeared with a quill, and he wrote on the paper, then glided it to Celestia. “I will require these items to make my preparations. A proper mage robe would be nice, but not necessary.”

“These will be provided, Dusk Shine,” Celestia agreed with a nod.

He then looked at Luna, whose green gaze peered at him with keen interest. “You should have remained as the Nightmare, Princess. That one might have been strong enough to fight what I will become, but better if she had made me her servant.”

“The Nightmare would hath belittled and pushed thee away, Dusk,” Luna replied without any change in her expression.

He shrugged. “No longer my concern,” he insouciantly said. “It was mere speculation anyway.”

“Princess Celestia,” he said after a pause. When the white alicorn looked down at him, Dusk went on. “My reluctance to open up my memory was not meant to keep you away, but rather my attempt to keep something else from appearing and causing great harm in your world. However, as I see that you are determined to see what is there. I must be prepared to battle that. I only hope that my abilities are sufficient to prevent it from breaking out. I had fought it once before when it had been weak back in my home world, and that had been a long struggle then. Contain it I did, but it had been close.”

Celestia gave him a terse grin. “We are thankful for your consideration and warning, Dusk,” she said. “However, all we need is a quick peek to see what you are hiding from us. A small look is all that is required. Should this quote-unquote monster you keep talking about be there and start something, we are well-prepared to fight that off, rest assured, colt.”

“Yeah,” he said in defeat, knowing that his warnings fell on both sets of deaf ears. “Still, it might be best if you put me somewhere secure, just in case. Somewhere deep enough to keep it contained.”

Her smile was grim. “I have such a cell for that, Dusk. My guards will take you there. It won’t be a comfortable room or apartment, but will suffice. After my sister takes a look, we shall see then where you may go from there.”

The door opened, and Dusk turned to find several of Celestia’s Solar Guards waiting to escort him away. He glanced to Luna then. “I will be expecting you tomorrow eve, Dreamwalker,” he said with a bow. “Don’t get too frisky with your Lunar Guards now.”

Luna blushed, hardening her gaze down at him. “I doth never ‘play’ with mine Guards, scoundrel.”

He chuckled. “Selene did, every night.”

“I am not thy ‘Selene’!”

Dusk smirked. “No, you are not her, Dreamwalker. Pretty like Selene, but too tight with your tail.”

He spun about and flicked his tail at the two monarchs, then calmly walked to the Guard contingent. “Sirs,” he gave them a bow. “I trust you know where I am to be led?”

The sub-captain grunted. “That we do, colt. If you will follow us.”

Dusk stepped amongst the Guards and began to walk with them, not bothering to look back. He had a big task ahead now. He felt dread, but perhaps some relief that he could seek a way to rid himself of this darkness within his mind.

Author's Note

Poem line is from the poem at the ending of the song "Nights in White Satin" by the Mood Blues, from their "Days of Future Passed" album. Hard for me to imagine that i was eleven years old when that album came out in 1967.

Pleas don't blame me for my horrible attempt to give Luna's speech the way she should. I am too modern in my speaking, and I have little experience of Shakespearian Middle English beyond what I have read. which is rather sparing, I'll admit.

A short chapter, but that is because I have more to this, so I decided to split the chapter into two parts, thus chapter eight will continue the action here with a surprise...

VIII

Without his saddlebags, Dusk silently followed Princess Celestia and an escort of Guards to the lower levels of the castle, after she had teleported to lead him and the Guards. Much of the halls here were populated with servants going about with hurried steps, on some errand or another. The halls themselves were still lit just as brilliantly as the main levels above, but carried a distinctive odor that he knew well from his days in servitude back in his world. An aura of hopeless dreams and such fouled the halls here, yet also still held out a promise that was new to his senses. This was no Castle of Broken Dreams like the castle of the two goddesses back in his world, but rather offered something else: a camaraderie of ponies working together as an army of workers to please their overlords, the princesses and their staffs and guests, along with other ponies who call the Castle home or work. These halls were rather busy with such goings on, yet such activity did not cause Celestia to pause, but instead she was afforded complete passage, even if some of the servants had to press back against walls to permit the princess the freedom to go about her business, whatever it was.

She had not spoken much since coming down here, a place where she truly did not belong, Celestia was completely out of place down here amongst the servants, yet she did not bother to acknowledge the ponies other than a simple nod as she and her group swept past. Dusk, however, rubber-necked throughout the entire journey. These ponies here were much closer to him, even if he really knew none of them. If there was one single thing which held all of these ponies together was the goal of servitude towards the princesses and the castle population above. Dusk grinned to himself. He knew that another part of the lower levels was the hidden, but highly important part of these ponies went on behind closed doors: sex, and plenty of that.

Eventually, all of the servant business was past, and they came to a barren part of the castle, one level below that of the servants. Here were no ponies but a scarce few Guards standing at junctures of hallways. There were hardly any doors which led to rooms where ponies worked, but many of the few doors they passed were mostly storage. And after a short time, their travel brought them to a set of large double doors, a place where only absolute silence pervaded everything. Two Guards stood at the doors, and as Celestia approached, the Guards quickly opened both doors to permit her entrance to what lay beyond.

Dusk paused for a moment when he entered this cavern. The walls everywhere reflected light, and each wall bore reflections of the ponies present in multi-faceted forms. “Wow!” he exclaimed in a wondering tone of voice. “Crystals!”

Celestia chuckled. “Indeed, Dusk Shine,” she agreed. “I must tell you that there is no real dungeon such as you have requested me to hold you in. Even so, these crystal caverns should serve your requirements. The caverns are a relic of a past when ponies were mining for certain kinds of crystals before Canterlot was built.”

The group had paused at a large platform of crystal, beyond which was a crevasse lining the far edge of the platform. A single bridge spanned the crevasse, leading further deeper amongst the crystalline walls, darker passageways which dove far into the mountain. He chuckled at a passing thought.

Celestia turned her head to peer back at Dusk. “Yes?” she asked with a slight frown.

“Just a thought I had,” he replied, his eyes still scanning the entire complex. “In Twilight’s journal, she mentions some pony monarch with a lust for crystals. I was just imagining what that King Sombra would be thinking if he knew about this place.”

Celestia faintly smiled back. “Oh, he knew about these caves, Dusk,” she told him with a flick of her long tail. “He knew perfectly well about this place, which was why he put so much effort into starting a war with Equestria, to conquer it and also delve into these mines once he captured Canterlot. I’d rather not think about it, really, if he had been successful with his attempt. I am quite glad that he failed.”

Dusk nodded sagely. “And yet, you did not remember these here when Chrysalis—"

Celestia laughed lightly. “Oh, I knew about these myself,” she admitted with a smile. “I simply forgot once these caverns were sealed many centuries ago.” Her face darkened slightly. “It took Chrysalis to remind me of them. Even since the changeling invasion, I have made it a priority to keep these caverns secure. Come along, dear.” And she turned about to walk onward.

Several of the pegasi Guards flew over the bridge and landed on the far side, then stood stoically aside while the princess and Dusk crossed the natural crystal bridge. Once all were on the far side, Celestia again took up point, leading Dusk and his Guards deeper into the reaches through the only exit beyond the bridge, a passage which soon came to a split. Celestia confidently took the left branch which was brightly lit with a few torches dotting the walls, the light of which shone from all of the reflective surfaces along the walls.

She paused not far later at an opening, beyond which was a shallow cavern empty of much save a single bench. She nodded at it. “This should do well for what you need when you and Luna dream together, Dusk Shine,” she said. “You will be far from innocent ponies should anything bad occur.”

He stepped into the cavern, his ears both scanning for sounds while his mind expanded with thaumaturgic energy to look for any imperfections. While he might prefer a rocky cavern that can absorb magical energies, a crystal cavern will do for the short exercise between himself and the Dreamwalker princess. After a brief time to explore, Dusk turned about to face Celestia and the guards, only to discover that he had been sealed within the cavern with a shield spell across the entrance.

His ears instantly pricked forward, and Celestia smiled. “There now,” she said with a nod. “Comfy, Dusk? Do be a dear and relax. A meal shall be brough to you later. For now, this is your home. Afterward, we will decide what to do with you. I am leaning to send you off to Zebrica and live in the jungles there. Perhaps you might learn a few things while there, such as some humility. Ta-ta, Dusk!” And the white princess of the sun turned and swept away with a flick of her tail.

Dusk wrinkled his nose and derisively snorted. “Bitch,” he muttered. “Typical of a royal whorse. Go play with your soldier colts, Sun-butt. Hope one of them will knock you up.” He turned away with a flick of his tail and lay upon the bench which stuck out from the smooth crystalline wall. He relaxed as much as he was able, letting his eyes close as he waited to calm so he could prepare himself for the invasion of her sister’s dreamwalking.

Fucking whorses, he thought sourly. Stupid, stupid cunts. Why must they always fuck with him? He told them exactly what was within himself, openly admitting to them that he was a bad pony, that he had killed other ponies, but most importantly, he contained a spirit from beyond that could easily wipe out this civilization. Why couldn’t they just let the creature lie? Why?

Another loud snort. He really needed a smoke, but without his packs, he had left them behind. Calm. Relax. Speak your mantra as you ease your breaths. Soon all will be done and forgiven. But, will they? So much depends on planning, and said plans involve another with whom he must trust, yet fully does not. How he hates having to depend on others. He always can depend on himself, and had before, many, many times.

Dusk knew that the nightmare creature dwelt within himself, yet he was not aware of it just now. He had spent some time to entirely quell the beast, and eventually it had subsided, and now merely waited to be released. He could not afford to allow that to happen. Yet there was another thing that he must depend upon: that of this wild and strange magic here in Twilight’s world, the so-called “magic of Harmony” bullshit. He had never experienced such magic before, so the whole thing was too new and untested by him. Still, he had to rely on another for that, which meant so much left to chance. Never a good option when it came to magic, wild or controlled.

He did start to relax, his breathing slowing after a fashion. And, sometime later, his ears pricked, hearing clearly certain words spoken, even if murmured: “I was never here.”

A soft presence made itself know to Dusk, and he sighed. “I see that you made it. Glad that you came to sit with me, Princess.”

He opened his eyes and peered at Twilight Sparkle. She stared down at him after dropping his packs on the floor, then suddenly smacked the back of his head harshly. “Why must you be such a jerk, Dusk?” she demanded. “Celestia is my teacher and friend, yet you seem to enjoy pushing all of her buttons! It makes me so mad with you every time you do that!”

Dusk winced as he rubbed the back of his head where she had hit him. “Ow!” he cried. “That hurt this time, Twilight! Now I am sure to get a bump from it this time!” He turned to lay on his side and gaze at his analogue. “And to answer your question, I hate mares, especially those in authority over me. She is the analogue of one such mare who had me imprisoned and tortured, only to eventually kick me out of my home world. So, excuse me if I seem to relish taunting her.”

Twilight snorted, then looked about the empty cavern. “Why a crystal cave?” she muttered. “It looks almost the same as the one I freed Cadance from.”

Dusk lit his horn, and a similar bench to the one he lay upon appeared from the opposite wall. “Sit, Twilight,” he told her. “I wish to go over my plans with you. And, by the way, thanks for helping me. You did well earlier to make Sun-butt come as quickly as she did.”

She glared at him for a moment. “I’m not too proud of that, Dusk,” she tartly retorted.

He cracked a slight grin. “I know, I know,” he said. “She is your teacher and all, Princess. Get over it.” He noted the pack laying on the floor nearby, and he quickly rose to grab the packs and sought for his cigarettes. Finding them, he lit one and sighed, letting the smoke fill his lungs with the poison.

“Why must you do that here?” Twilight spoke then. “This cavern probably has just enough air in it—”

Dusk looked up. “Vent,” he said flatly. “Air can circulate. I’ll try not to suffocate you.” He took another drag, then lifted his head to breathe out the smoke, allowing it to curl upward to a small hole near the ceiling, where the smoke was drawn into and disappeared.

“One thing that I learned early on, Twilight,” he said then. “There are two kinds of ponies. Those who use and abuse, and those who are used and abused. I was used and abused until I discovered how to use others myself. I’m a user now. I will never let myself be used and abused by any pony such as your Celestia. Capisce?”

Twilight had lain on the other bench. “I still feel that you are not as truthful as you say, Dusk Shine.” She remarked with a frown. “And, why do you say that you need me again?”

He stared at her for a few brief moments before replying. “Twilight,”: he finally spoke. “You have said it yourself in your journal. You are this world’s Element of Magic, the focus of the Harmony magic here. I must use you to help me fight that which is inside of me. I cannot wield that kind of magic, but you can. I want you to be my failsafe, Twilight, should the worst-case scenario happen. I explained that to you last night. You may consider me a threat to your world, and perhaps I am, should that escape. But having you as back-up, I hope that I may relax enough with the assurance you will aid me in containing it, if not destroying the nightmare. Did I not make that clear?”

She folded her ears. “You did, Dusk,” she relented. “I was just hoping that a better explanation would be forthcoming from you. Are you very sure that this ‘thing’ exists?”

Dusk didn’t reply immediately, as he got up and pulled out his book of plants and flowers, the one which he kept his hidden packet of powder, Extracting the packet from his pocket universe there, he closed the book then, only to look to Twilight.

“As sure as this, Twilight,” he said. “Catch.”

She caught the packet in her magic and drew it to her, inspecting it curiously. “What is this?”

Dusk took another drag of his cigarette. “Many things to me,” he replied calmly. “Courage. Something to let me focus my thoughts. Euphoria, amongst others. I need this, as it is my great sin. I cannot lie, Twilight. I am an addict, and that is my drug of choice. I’ve been addicted to that since I was fourteen. My mother made me addicted to it.”

Her gaze quickly peered to him. “Your mother?”

Dusk nodded. “She told me that this would keep me calm whenever I had a panic attack, which I often did when I was younger. That drug has a few interesting side-effects, none which I will say to you. Just understand that I must have that now. If you wish not to witness me taking it, go stand outside for a time until I call for you again.”

Twilight twisted her ears and frowned. “If it is bad, why do you still take it?” she asked curiously. “Must you really take it? And how do you take it?”

“Do I need it? Yes, Twilight. My body is on edge, so I must take it now. On the other hand, I truly do not need it, as it was made with things that are very, very bad for my body, things that in pure form would instantly kill me. That powder is made from a specific plant, the flower of which is deadly poisonous to ponies.” He lifted the book in his magic. “Trade with you. Look through the book until you find a certain purple flower. That will be the plant which is the source for the powder. You may read about it while I prepare my line.”

Dusk worked quickly and expertly while Twilight read through the book he had given her. He already had the short straw in his nostril, ready to inhale the sickly yellowish powder, when Twilight cried, “I know those! I’ve seen then in the Everfree!”

Dusk sniffed up the line, then set the straw aside as he sat back on the bench with a pleased sigh. “The purple flowers, you mean?” he asked carelessly in a tight voice.

She nodded with excitement, only to turn the book so he could see. “You mean these, don’t you?” she asked.

Dusk nodded. “The drug is manufactured not from the flower itself, but rather the vine from which the flower grows. That is why the drug is simply called ‘vine’. It is easily obtainable where I grew up, as there was an entire industry that grew and manufactured vine, which Big Daddy had as part of his organization, the same organization that I became part of as a member.” He trailed off and looked away with a faraway gaze. “Gone, all gone.”

“What are you feeling now, Dusk?”

He looked blankly to Twilight. “Hard to describe to somepony else,” he said without emotion. “Edgy, but a good edginess. In a few minutes, my nerves will settle, then it will feel like I am riding on a carpet of soft fur through the air. Like I feel weightless, drifting on a soft breeze of warm air.”

She looked at him carelessly lounging on the bench, unsure what to do with Dusk. However, something else caught her eye, and she snorted. “Is that also part of the reaction, Dusk?” she asked with a nod.

“What?” Dusk asked listlessly.

“You are showing a little.”

He shrugged. “Happens when I am in the company of a cute mare.”

Her ears perked. “Any mare, or just me?” she asked calmly, even if her heart began to quicken.

“All,” he said in a faint voice. “I’m a stallion, so get over it.”

She shifted uncomfortably, her gaze still peering at his semi-erection. “Want me to leave?” she asked then.

“Stay with me, Twilight,” he replied forlornly. “I want company. Gives me the chance to ogle such a lovely mare while we talk.”

“Dusk!” she cried, alarmed but also indignant. “You will not—”

“What?” he asked, with folded ears. “I am not going to harm you, I swear. I just wish to look at you and your cute body, Twi. You look so damn fine to me. I still cannot believe just how cute I am as a mare.”

Twilight rolled her eyes then. She really thought about leaving anyway. “Well, I’ll stay here in the castle tonight, then go back in the morning to bring the others here close, should you go monster. Okay?”

“Fine.” He said with a careless wave of a hoof. “If things go bad, please kill me, Twilight. I deserve nothing less than eating that purple flower to poison me and making me die slowly and in pain, just because I came here with a nightmare.”

“I will not, Dusk,” she told him firmly. “I refuse to be your executioner.”

He smiled wanly. “You will, Princess,” he said, then sighed heavily. “I feel so much better now. Tell me, Twilight. Are ponies extinct, but don’t know it yet?”

She frowned. “What kind of question is that?” she demanded.

Dusk shrugged. “Just a random thought is all,” he said. “Sometimes I feel as though life is but a dream, a mad, mad dream from some crazy moon creature.”

Twilight stood up. “I’m leaving, Dusk,” she announced. “I am leaving you to your drug haze and your dick poking out. Honestly, you are something else, Dusk Shine.”

His eyes shifted to peer up at her. “And yet you love me, don’t you, Princess?”

She rolled her eyes again and stomped away.

Only to stop at the entrance and turn back. “Question, Dusk. When you held me against the wall, would you have done what you had threatened to do to me?”

“Possibly, Princess,” he said with a faint grin. “I did elicit the precise look from you, didn’t I?”

“I did think that you were going to. Spike probably thought so also.”

“I considered it, Twilight,” he added. “Yet I need you to be on my side. You do love me, after all, and you love your world, so you went along with me.”

She snorted. “For this time only, Dusk. You are a nasty pony. Ugly, and a real jerk.”

He chuckled without mirth. “Like I said,” he went on, “you love me, and want me for a lover. We will mate, you and I, eventually, Twilight Sparkle. We will have sex many, many times soon after all of this is said and done. Even sleep together. You will enjoy our time together.”

“That will never happen, Dusk Shine!” she stated firmly with a sour snort. “You are a sick pony!”

Grinning, he playfully blew a kiss to her. Twilight growled with disdain, then turned around again, quickly teleporting away.

Dusk thought, Cunt. She know that she loves me, she just doesn’t know it yet. She will soon enough, however. And I will get her pregnant.

He lazed on the bench, allowing himself to drift and enjoy the drug coursing throughout his body without care for anything. And a random thought appeared.

Where in the fuck is Zebrica?

IX

Author's Note

I will give this: a warning that some might feel uncomfortable with the scenes in this chapter. There is a reason why I did add the violence tag, and this chapter makes that a necessity. I am almost prepared to add that odd warning "Dead Dove..." but perhaps it really isn't necessary.
Read onward with caution, or skip it if you feel too uncomfortable... Much of the subject matter will be talked about in a later chapter.

IX

Later, Dusk relaxed on the bench. His belly full, and finding himself without distractions, he soon fell into a semi-dreamlike trance, his mind wandering back years before…

When Dusk had turned fourteen, he had become somewhat reclusive, his attentions mostly upon the books that he could lay hoofs on, studying the magic spells contained within the covers of such books. Mostly, however, the books served to distract him from his mother’s promiscuous acts with stallions that she would bring home.

Dusk was not too fond of her having sex with them so openly.

His mother soon took things in hoof, introducing Dusk to the pleasures of vine, hoping that Dusk would turn to finding the pursuit of the drug a way to get him more active. When she discovered that he preferred to spend his daytime simply tripping on the drug listlessly, she did something else, one that would change his life.

Not too many days later, Dusk had returned home to find his mother with another mare, one hardly older than Dusk himself. His mother introduced the pegasus mare to Dusk, and he and the pegasus mare, whose name was Summer Breeze, soon became friends. Summer stayed with Dusk and his mother, usually sleeping with his mother in her room at night initially. Yet, she soon got closer to Dusk, and not too much longer, moved into Dusk’s bedroom and slept with him, introducing him to a new pleasure: sex.

Dusk was one not to fully explore anything new, and he took to his developing fondness with Summer quickly. He began to enjoy her every chance he got, often mounting her several times each day. He more or less came out of his asocial shell for a time, and both he and the mare were usually either high on vine, or out on some date within the limits of the Downs. Summer never seemed to find Dusk silly or unbearable, despite the fact that she was older than Dusk by a year. Instead, she became both a lover and an older sibling to him.

Dusk couldn’t be any happier.

He still attempted to bury his nose in books, yet Summer’s natural charms distracted him from the books. She was too much fun not to spend all day with her. And the days turned into months as Dusk began to develop something new: love for the yellow mare and her stringy blue mane with silvery streaks in it. And each day brought the pleasures of sex with her to Dusk.

However, there came a time that Summer disappeared suddenly for several days, leaving Dusk alone during that time. Dusk became agitated, and began taking the drug more and more. He also sought Summer everywhere he could, even enlisting his close friend Rainbow Blitz to help find where Summer had strayed to.

During Dusk’s affair with the older pegasus mare, Blitz had felt left out, being shut away from his lavender-coated unicorn pal. Both Blitz and Dusk had grown up together, being friends since both had been young colts. But the pegasus mare had taken Dusk away from Blitz, and while he could feel some delight that his studious unicorn companion was getting laid regularly, it still left Blitz without Dusk’s usual nerdish attitude by his side.

Blitz had become jealous of his friend’s fascination with the mare. And thus, Blitz was loathe to search for the mare, even if his friend was quite agitated over it.

In the following days, Dusk and Blitz became closer than ever before. They returned to doing things together as before, but this time there was some other feelings behind the companionship. There was a sense of togetherness neither had expected. And the two young stallion studs were soon the talk of the Downs, drawing both into a web that they never expected, once Big Daddy took interest in the pair of teenaged colts.

Blitz and Dusk became inseparable. Soon, not only were they best friends. They became lovers, with Blitz sleeping with Dusk…

While his mother had sought to learn where his sexual orientation was, instead she had driven Dusk towards the opposite from which she desired.

* * *

By the end of the second day, Dusk felt prepared to finish this. He had spent enough time to fully open his old buried memories and display them for all to see. Though for the life of him, he still could not figure out why it was so important to the old white nag. He understood the risk involved, even if she did not.

Stupid royal pain in the rump, he snorted to himself. They always think that they can just push ponies around like some giant game of chess.

Putting away the few things he had used to help focus on himself in preparation for this, he sat on his haunches to await on the Dreamwalker princess.

After a time, Luna appeared with a bright and calming smile on her face.

“Art thou prepar’d for our shar’d dreams, young Dusk?” she asked, stepping into the cavern.

He put out the cigarette he had been smoking, then sighed. “As much as I can, Princess,” he replied with a shrug. “I have done one other thing to help you walk through my memories easier, so you don’t go astray. I will manifest as an avatar to lead you though. Will this be acceptable?”

She nodded. “Thy aid will be most welcome, Dusk,” she said, then lay upon the empty bench. “You only need relax, young colt. We will meet in thy mind anon.”

Dusk made himself comfortable on his bench, allowing his mind free rein as he relaxed his muscles. He could not tell how he drifted off into slumber, yet he nonetheless did, even if she was nearby. Still, he did ignore the fact that this version of his goddess Selene was laying on the other bench, within his reach. Instead, he concentrated on getting this silliness over with and putting this at an end so he could move onward with his life here in this crazy version of his world…

Luna soon found herself in Dusk’s mind and dreamscape, which, like so many others, was covered in fog. Although she wanted to start on this, she waited for a time, which soon proved to be best, as an odd thing soon appeared: a disk with a face, the disk in lavender color. A pair of large eyes peered at her from the face, and a toothy grin. But what truly made it odd was that it stood upright on two spaghetti-like legs which ended with what could only be described as some kind of hoof-shoe, Two other limbs were on either side, the limbs not meant to stand upon, but rather to manipulate things. These limbs ended with what appeared to be a kind of white shoe? No, sock? Glove?

“Hiya, Princess!” the thing merrily said. “Glad ta see you made it here. Shall we go?”

“What are you?” Luna asked then, her ears twisting backward.

The disk paused and looked up at her, only to suddenly float up to her eye level. “I’m me, Dreamwalker. Don’t you like my avatar?”

“Nay, young Dusk,” she replied quickly. “’Tis strange, but somewhat curious. Leadest onward, colt.”

She followed the disk creature for a few steps, yet he paused at a point and turned to peer up at her. “I think that this should start off,” he explained. “My most recent memory that I buried here.”

Once he stopped speaking, the ground fog rolled back revealing a curious scene. It was obviously evening, and she stood in what appeared to be a central square that was dominated by a fabulous fountain. She only briefly noted a pair of ponies sitting by the fountain, yet Luna took the time to examine the fountain itself. A gloriously remarkable sculpture it was: a trio of ponies facing outward, each rearing up as if in defense, their forelegs curled as if ready to strike out. Each of the ponies, one each of all three tribes, was incredibly detailed so precisely, they seemed alive. Luna could almost hear the pony sculptures, so exact was the features on each. However, no water sprang from each pony’s mouth, and the basin where water once collected was stained and discolored. Even more shocking to her was that all three ponies had been desecrated and vandalized with numerous obscene graffiti marks, some too horrendous to her very mind. In particular, the pegasus figure bore a phrase that truly made her blush furiously with embarrassment, enough for her to look away in disgust.

She looked down at the two ponies sitting close to the fountain, and what she was made her feel compassion then. It was alicorn Dusk, and he was holding onto another pony that was motionless, and perhaps deceased. Dusk was rocking back and forth, crying and murmuring to his expired companion. This other was light in color and a pegasus, and a sudden flash of lightning revealed the deceased pony as cyan in color with a tail of rainbow colors.

Luna glanced to disk Dusk with a raised eyebrow. “He wasn’t supposed to be in the way,” disk Dusk explained grimly. “But, you know, Blitz was always so impulsive. I never meant to kill him.”

The fog returned again, shrouding that scene. “Come, Dreamwalker,” disk Dusk said brightly. “Shall we move on? We must hurry before, you know.”

Still affected by that what she had just witnessed, Luna silently followed the jauntily skipping disk figure several paces in the thick ground fog until it paused again, and didn’t bother to look back to Luna, but the fog lifted again to reveal a dark street once again at night. Two ponies were seen nearby, and it became quickly clear that they were not friends. One was a teenaged Dusk, before he became alicorn, and he was using his front legs and hoofs to beat at the other whom Luna could not see. Dusk was yelling obscenities at the other, but then pulled back as the one he had been mistreating fell on the sidewalk before him at his hind legs, one Luna was certain she should know, but couldn’t recall the name of. She watched as Dusk turned to walk away, but then planted a kick at the fallen one’s muzzle, then disappeared into the night.

The fog again covered the scene, and disk Dusk moved onward without comment. They trod on several paces, only to pass another scene that the fog revealed, one which the disk did not pause at, but kept moving, What Luna caught was a younger Dusk sitting on the ground with a stallion leaning against a wall over Dusk, making a motion very clear to her. The stallion was using Dusk—

She turned away in disgust. That an adult would do such to a colt was beyond belief.

Luna snorted, bothered by these dark memories, yet she kept her counsel to herself. These were his memories, and it became clear to her why he had locked these away. Such ugliness was beyond her perception of how ponies can be so cruel. Yet that first scene she had seen was curious. What was his motivation for pushing that particular memory amongst all of these other memories? It was clear that he held some importance to that other pegasus.

They moved onward for several paces until the fog again lifted. Here, Luna’s ears suddenly went erect. She had heard something. The scene before them was an abandoned warehouse, and her hearing had picked up a cry from within. Again, the scene appeared to be deserted, but the cry had come from somewhere. And disk Dusk was curiously silent. Indeed, her escort had suddenly disappeared.

There was a chill in the air here, and like the other scenes, this one also was at night. The warehouse looked empty, and had seen some damage taken over the years of disuse. Then, she heard a cry again which sounded as if from within. The cry was unmistakably from pain, and she trotted forward, quickly moving past the outside of the warehouse and through its dilapidated walls. What she saw then gave her pause.

The floor of the warehouse was empty, yet there were ponies within. One stood apart, ignoring the group further away. This lone pony was the same one that Dusk had abused in that earlier scene she witnessed, a mare, she now understands. A gray mare, not unlike that of Twilight Sparkle’s mother.

Luna turned away from that one, as she didn’t seem at any risk, nor was she crying, but seemed disinterested. Luna looked to the others, noting that they were a tight group of stallions in the far corner, and several of the stallions even appeared to be clad in noble’s clothing. Approaching them slowly, she again heard a plea and an anguished cry from within the knot of ponies. Edging close, she then observed something that truly made her stomach turn, chilling her to her very core and bones: a young Dusk, hardly older than four or five, being so brutally used by these stallions—

Luna turned away quickly and began to run out from the warehouse and back into the night. All she could think about was how Dusk was still sane after experiencing all of these tragedies and ugly sexual abuse. It did now fit that he seemed so sarcastic in the way he views others.

As again the fog shrouded everything once more, Luna paused and searched for her odd companion, wondering if she should move onward. Her ears twisted about, seeking anything where it might have gone. And, just as she was about to start off in the direction where she thought they had come, the small disk thing appeared, visibly shaken and appearing to be in some distress.

“We must go now, Dreamwalker!” he told her in adamant terms. “Run!”

He was obviously agitated, and the face on the little disk creature dad seem as if in pain. Even as she began to move onward in the direction the disk pointed, she noted that the creature was beginning to distend, as if trying vainly to hold back something that was attempting to burst through. Her pace quickened, yet before she had gone more than a few steps, disk Dusk cried out desperately, as if in pain:

“You must go, NOW! Run! You cannot help me!”

She saw that by this point, it was no longer a disk, but had become horribly misshapen into something else, something beyond any comprehension. Spikes had appeared, along with tentacles waving about from what had been Dusk’s avatar. He was becoming a vision of something nightmarish, so horrible to her that she was suddenly frozen by the thing that it was becoming.

Even frozen, somewhere in her mind knew what to do: she didn’t bother to run. Instead, she immediately pulled out from Dusk’s mind and back into reality. Turning to peer at Dusk opposite from her, Luna realized that he was indeed fighting off something that he had contained within himself. The pony that he was now twisted and writhed on the bench, his wings extended and flopped about uselessly. He turned upon his backside, legs kicking frenetically as his form was altering into what she had briefly espied in his mind.

Chilled by the sudden transforming thing she was seeing. Luna teleported herself from the cavern.

“SISTER! I NEED YOU HERE!”

She glanced back and was now fully afraid of what she saw…

XI

The day was bright and sunny outside with a hint of Summer on the slight breeze blowing which blew a few wispy clouds high up in the sky. Surely the weatherponies had been hard at work creating such fabulous wisps and streamer clouds, yet only a few. The only other cloud was huge, bearing the great pegasi city of Cloudsdale hovering close to Canterlot, as if acting as protection for the Equestrian capital city.

Lately, the nights in Equestria had been quite beautiful, the moon shining brightly, trying to keep the dreams of ponies safe and lovely.

It was as if both princesses were doing their best to reassure ponies that all was safe again, after the nightmare of that evening barely three weeks prior. The scars of that time still lingered, but only just, and mostly in the minds of those affected. Canterlot had been saved, righted and once again the jewel of Equestria, the structures that had been damaged repaired by the Harmony beam which destroyed the monster that Dusk had brought.

Celestia paced about the hospital waiting room restlessly, still deciding what to say to that pony, Dusk Shine. He had been transported here to this facility, his body broken and barely alive. Just barely alive, she corrected. And since that night, he had been in a coma. And yet, she had received word from the doctors that her presence was requested concerning the alicorn prince. No word what about, simply that she should come and be consulted.

Celestia had brought Twilight with her, as she knew that Twilight would have wanted to accompany the princess. Since that night, Twilight had not returned back to her castle in Ponyville, concerned about Dusk’s health. Celestia frowned, worried at Twilight’s behavior regarding the fallen stallion. Twilight had not been resting well, and there was concern that the entire incident had affected Twilight deeply. Luna had looked into Twilight’s infrequent dreams, but could not sense any anxiety about the creature. Only Dusk was paramount in the younger princess’s dreams, giving Celestia another bout of her own anxiety.

Princess Cadance had come to offer assistance to Celestia, but has since returned back to the Crystal Empire. The only thing that Cadance has spoken of regarding her sister-in-law was that Twilight was displaying a touch of love, yet Cadance knew nothing else beyond that, not being privy regarding Dusk yet, something else that the pink princess of Love should have been told about, which Twilight had failed to do, for some odd reason.

Celestia continued to pace back and forth in the waiting room here in Canterlot Unity Hospital, nervous, yet calm at the same time. She only paused once to study the sign at the door next to the reception desk which led to the interior of the hospital. The sign read:

To all visitors to this facility:

Unicorns: Please refrain from using any magic, unless expressly permitted by staff. Ambient magic might cause unexpected incidents with other patients. Only staff are permitted to use magic in this facility.

Pegasi: Flying in halls are prohibited, as this may cause unduly alarm to staff, leading to disastrous results. Pegasi must walk only, wings kept tight at their sides at all times.

Thank You for your patience and adherence to these rules.

The staff of Canterlot Unity Hospital

Celestia snorted, not sure why such a declaration was needed. Everypony should know these simple rules of behavior. Still, there will be some who may try to do things without regard for other ponies. Things happen…

Twilight, having been curled up on a couch and reading, looked up at the Sun Princess with concern. “Something wrong, Celestia?” she asked.

Celestia, glanced to her student briefly, then smiled. “Nothing at all, Twilight,” she replied gently. “Just thinking is all.”

Twilight nodded and returned back to her book. Celestia resumed pacing the small waiting room.

Moments later, the door to the hospital opened, and a gray stallion wearing a lab coat entered, appearing to be flustered. “Ah, Princess!” he spoke to Celestia. “Many pardons, Highness. A problem came up that required my immediate attention. I hope that you will pardon this?”

Celestia nodded to the doctor graciously. “Indeed, Doctor,” she spoke. “Why have I been summoned, if you could explain.”

“Uh, sure,” he replied with an apologetic bob of his head. “The alicorn patient stallion, if you please. He has awakened. I am sure you would like to speak to him, yes? That was implied when he had been brought in.”

Celestia nodded, noting to her side that Twilight was looking up at both her and the doctor. “I would very much like to see Prince Dusk,” she stated.

She looked to Twilight. “I want to see him first, if you don’t mind, Twilight,” Celestia said. “I have a few things I wish to say to him before you are permitted to visit him, dear. I promise to keep my temper down, if that is your concern, my dear faithful student.”

Twilight flattened her ears, clearly understanding what Celestia said. “Don’t hurt him too much, Princess,” she said. “I’d like a crack at him also.”

Celestia smiled at Twilight. “I’m sure you would.” She then looked to the doctor. “If you please, Doctor,” she said.

He bobbed his head again, then turned and held the door open for the Princess. “If you would follow me, your Highness.”

Celestia trotted into the hallway, then waited until the doctor had joined her a moment after. He then started walking down the hall and began to explain.

“We were not sure if he would make it, Princess. He was barely alive, his body in a sad state with multiple broken bones. We did what we could to stabilize him, of course. Mostly, however, we could only do so much for him, figuring that as an alicorn, he would naturally heal himself.” He glanced to Celestia and sighed. “That has not happened yet, and is cause for concern.”

Celestia paused and peered at the doctor. “Why is that?” she asked.

He grinned sheepishly. “We do not understand ourselves, to be honest,” he replied quickly. “As an alicorn, he should be healing rapidly, yet shows no signs of doing that yet.”

“Odd,” she said, and they resumed walking onward. They then turned down another hall, passing a few nurses pushing various carts along and avoiding a few other doctors, including one group of student doctors being led by a senior physician.

“To say the least, Princess,” he agreed. “He has been under constant observation since being brought in, yet shows no signs of recovery, despite all of our attempts.”

“That truly is concerning, Doctor,” she said with a frown. “He has magic, certainly, or at least magic should be available to him, yes?”

The doctor sighed, and rubbed the back of his head with a hoof. “He has the best available care offered, Princess,” he said uncomfortably. “Yet he has not responded to anything, and that really is remarkable, given what we know regarding alicorn physiology and thaumic abilities. This is one reason why you were summoned, Princess, as we were hoping that perhaps you might understand what is wrong with the patient.”

“Hm,” she said, thinking what kind of reason that was keeping Dusk from healing himself.. Alicorns always can heal themselves with no outside help, as long as they have magic available to them. “How is his horn, Doctor?” she asked, thinking that perhaps his horn may have been damaged.

He grinned. “Allow me to demonstrate, Princess,” he said. “We are here.”

The doctor opened the door, then stepped aside to allow the princess to enter first, then followed her within the private room.

Celestia paused and looked about. The room was spacious enough with only a single bed within, a common hospital-type bed, upon which lay Dusk. He was covered in a single thin blanket, of course, but what truly stood out was all of the various wires and tubes attached to him, from the IV drip to his leg down to the pair of thick tubes which disappeared under the blanket and attached to a pair of machines set on the floor, both containing reservoirs. Another wire was pasted to his chest that went to a machine that displayed a regular heartbeat, the tones evenly spaced with a numerical readout that showed the numbers 72 in red. At the head of the bed stood an O2 tank, a mask hanging from the valve and ready to be used if needed.

Dusk lay out on the bed on his side, his hoofs peeking out from the blanket, his head on a small pillow. He looked to be quite normal, other than the various tubes and wires about him. But it was the odd set of wires that were attached to a ring about his horn that was disturbing to Celestia. The wires led to another rectangular machine which also periodically beeped and showed another display that gave her chills, as the reading was something she had never seen before. The display read simply “0.1”, only to briefly switch to “0.15” before returning once more to the previous reading.

She peered down at the stallion doctor. “But, that’s impossible!” she cried softly. “No unicorn could possible live with that level!”

He shrugged. “He has shown that level of thaumic drawing since arrival, Princess,” he told her. “We did an immediate scan of his horn, yet it appears to be perfectly functional. Here, allow me to demonstrate.”

The doctor brought out a large green gem set in a gold ornate device, which he brought to Dusk’s horn. Holding the gem over the horn, the doctor showed Celestia how the gem was glowing a bright green color. “If the horn was damaged or broken, the gem would show that by the light flickering,” he said. “But, as you see, the glow is steady, thus indicating that his horn is fine. It is my opinion that something is blocking his thaumic drawing. Would you have any clue why this is so, your Highness?”

She shook her head. “Not a single clue, Doctor,” she replied, puzzled by this strange outcome. “Is there anything else wrong, Doctor?”

“Well,” he began and sighed. “Internally, all of his organs seem to be working properly. However, most of his skeleton still remains broken, and he appears to have no control over his muscles or motor activity. We have him on a liquid diet, since he cannot hold down any solid food, even of it was basic grass and not hay or oats. That alone is a cause for alarm, and yet he seems just fine without any solid sustenance. He even shows a good bowel movement and proper urinary discharge. I am at a complete loss why he is this way, Highness.”

She frowned at what the doctor told her. It was just too odd, and in all of her years, she has never seen anything like this. The thaumic levels Dusk has should have left him dead, in fact. No unicorn could possibly stay alive at such low levels of magic, since unicorns are creatures of magic, not just living ponies. And, being an alicorn…

“Hiya, Doc!”

“You are awake, I see,” the doctor spoke, and Dusk nodded.

“How goes it in the clean world?” Dusk asked brightly. “Good?”

The doctor nodded, shifting on his stance and again checking Dusk’s vitals. “You could ask your visitor yourself that, Dusk Shine.”

Dusk’s eyes shifted to peer up at Celestia. “Ah, Princess Snow Goose,” he said with a chuckle. “Have you come to gloat over my condition?”

Celestia tightened her mouth at his words, while the doctor rolled his eyes, not believing what he heard from the patient. “I do not gloat over a fallen hero or enemy, Dusk Shine,” she replied with a snort. “I was summoned once you awoke, and there are a few things I wish to talk about, if you are capable.”

Dusk closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again and sighed. “Well, you do have your wish anyway, Snow Goose,” he said in a weary voice. “I may not be behind any bars, but I am in a prison just the same, only surrounded by tubes and wires and completely immobile, as if shackled.”

“And, who’s to blame for that, Dusk?” she asked crisply.

He glanced to the doctor for a moment, and the doctor suddenly backed away. “I’ll be outside if you need, Princess,” the doctor said, then left the room.

“At least the void beast did not eat any ponies,” Dusk replied in a monotone.

“Praise Faust for that, Dusk,” Celestia remarked. “How did you ever manage to corral that thing in the first place?”

“Luck, I suppose,” he sighed. “Plus, it was small then. While I kept it, the beast must have been feeding on my magic without my knowing. So, how is everything now? Did that Guardian’s shit work okay?”

“The magic of Harmony did return everything back to normal,” she replied tersely. “Including Canterlot.”

“Yeah,” he said with another long sigh. “Sorry about that.”

“If Discord hadn’t been there to aid me, I would never had the strength to hold up the entire city in my magic,” she stated. “As it was, I could hear the screams of my little ponies’ fear while the city was hanging on the side of Cantermount.”

Dusk said nothing, but looked away down at the tiled floor. “Sorry,” he said weakly.

“I don’t know what more to say about that thing, Dusk Shine,” she said with a flick of her tail. “It is gone now. I hope you have nothing more like that in your mind.”

“No, Princess,” he replied forlornly.

“Anyways, my sister did tell me what she saw in your memories, and I do want to hear some explanation regarding those. But, what I feel from those is probably why you are as you are now. No pony should have ever gone through such evil as you did.”

He said nothing for a few moments, then said, “My only regret was to relive such times, Princess. Some things are just too painful to remember.”

She glanced to the thaumic machine. “Do you have any idea why you are not getting any magic, Dusk?”

“Not a single clue, Princess,” he replied, then snorted. “I simply cannot feel any magic. Doc even told me that there is a major Leyline close to this hospital, yet I am not able to sense it.”

Celestia frowned. “That is strange,” she remarked. “Even so, as an alicorn, you should be drawing magic from the air, not just from a Leyline. This world is run on free magic, not only that from the Harmony Tree. Yet, you claim not to feel any, correct?”

Dusk nodded slowly, wishing to be somewhere lese now. “Tell me, Princess,” he said. “Tell me where this place you mentioned about sending me eventually, this Zebrica.”

She lifted her head and chuckled. “Don’t worry, Dusk,” she said. “It was merely a thought to keep you in line, dear. But, if you really want to know, it is to the southeast from here and across the southern Celestial Sea. It is where zebras come from.”

Dusk nodded. “Zebras are okay with me,” he said. “I wouldn’t mind going there. I can even talk in their language, as I was taught to speak in Zebrikaans by a former teacher mage, who had been a zebra back in my world.”

“Interesting,” Celestia noted with a nod. “I take it that you are knowledgeable regarding zebra culture then?”

“Yes,” Dusk replied, nodding. “I do find the mares quite attractive, you know. All but the maharisi.”

“What is that?” Celestia asked curiously, as she had never heard such a term.

Dusk peered at Celestia for a moment, then replied, “The maharisi are a sect of zebra witches and seeresses who speak in riddles and rhymes. Some are even potion makers.”

Celestia paused, thinking. She figured that it might be wise to let Twilight know about his dislike, since Twilight knew of one such zebra mare. “Anyway, I feel that I should leave and let you rest, Dusk,” she said. She then looked at Dusk. “Are you up to seeing Twilight, or would you rather rest?”

“Princess is here?” he asked, raising his head slightly from the small hospital pillow. “Where?”

“In the waiting room.”

He peered up at Celestia. “Bring her, please,” he said. “I need to speak to her now.”

Celestia gave him a curt nod. “She will be along in moments,” she said, backing away to the door, then spun about. “Twilight and I will seek some sort of cause keeping you from magic, Dusk Shine.”

He stared at the door after she left, a slow grin appearing on his face. At least Snow Goose had given him a show. That was one thing he didn’t mind about this sun goddess; she was completely oblivious regarding the display of her marehood, unlike Solaria being such a tight tail. It was just as nice as any younger mare, despite the knowledge of Celestia’s age. One of the benefits of being an alicorn, since alicorns never aged beyond their prime.

A few minutes later, the door to his room opened again, and Twilight entered with a quiet step. Dusk opened his eyes to look at her, his ears flat against his head.

“I’m sure you are ready to hit me again, Princess,” he said in a monotone voice.

“Perhaps,” she said contritely. “Perhaps not. I am only glad that you are still alive, Dusk. How are you feeling?”

He gave her a brief grin. “Want a good answer, or the truth?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

She tilted her head in askance. “Both.”

“Well,” he began, only to pause and cough for a few times. “The good answer is I am alive, much to my surprise, Princess. I was expecting the shit you used to pretty much kill me. But the real truth is, I am simply fucked up, and feel it so painfully. Yeah, yeah, I’m on some kind of saline drip, I know that. I really, really need a cigarette and a few shots of good whiskey, or at least a snort of what little vine I have left. Did you retrieve my bags, Twilight?”

She nodded slowly. “I have them, Dusk,” she said. “Everything is still there, although to be honest, I’m tempted to dispose of that stuff you put up your nose. That is nasty stuff.”

“Yeah,” he said forlornly. “Tell me about it, Princess. Still, it helps me at times to face the world again when I need to. You would not understand, of course. Everything has been given to you, and you have received plenty of love from family and Snow Goose, plus your friends. Me? I had to fight for what I got, and there were days when I had nothing to eat. If it wasn’t for my friend Blitz, I’d have starved. Blitz would swoop down and steal food, which he gave to me, or even bring me some of what he ate with his parents.”

“He sounds like a good friend, Dusk,” Twilight remarked.

Dusk nodded. “He was, until I killed him,” Dusk said in a flat voice.

“Luna told me that she saw you holding somepony in your memory,” she said. “Was that whom you were holding in your forelegs?”

Dusk nodded slowly with a faraway look. “Blitz should not have been there,” he said. “I was preparing to fire at an enemy, thinking that Blitz was far enough away. But when I fired the blast, Blitz got in the way, not knowing that I was already firing my shot.”

He sighed. “My magic killed him instantly, and when I came to terms with that, I vowed never to have another friend again. Acquaintances and accomplices, sure. No friends.”

“I’m sorry for your loss, Dusk,” Twilight said with sincerity in her voice. “But you should not have stopped making friends just because of a silly mistake.”

“You are basing that statement on your world, Princess,” Dusk wearily said. “Mine was so much different.”

“Couldn’t be that different,” she noted.

Dusk sighed, dropping the subject. “How is Starlight?” he asked.

Twilight looked at him. “Fine,” she replied evenly. “Starlight has been asking how you’ve been. She seems anxious to talk to you again.”

He chuckled, only to again cough. “Did she tell you what I said to her, how she was in my world my wife?”

Twilight looked surprised at that. “No, she didn’t,” she replied, shocked at that admission. “It now makes sense why she has been asking about you more lately.”

“Yeah, no doubt,” Dusk said. “I do like your Starlight, but she is somewhat different than my Twinkle. I mean, sure, the sex was good, but the things that Starlight does is very different than my Twinkle. Also, Twinkle is pregnant with our foal, or at least she was when I was imprisoned. A shame that I will never see my foal.”

“I have been trying to find a way for you to return, Dusk,” Twilight said.

“Don’t bother, Twilight,” he said. “I’d only be imprisoned again, if not outright killed.”

“All my friends still want to meet you, Dusk,” Twilight said.

“Please thank them for me, okay?” he said. “And I should be very grateful for your help too, Princess. I was rather afraid that you would not appear, yet you did anyway, despite how I treated you.”

“I still have a few things about that, Dusk. But I do accept your thanks anyway. I still wish us to become friends, despite your stupidity and abuse of me. I am open to give you a second chance, if you want it.”

“Yeah, well,” he began, only to sigh. “Not like I’m going anywhere, right?”

She glanced meaningfully at the machine. “And that is still bothering me after Celestia told me about that,” she said. “I am trying to figure out why you cannot regain magic. It should be impossible, unless you are dead.”

He peered at Twilight and sighed again. “Perhaps I am and I just don’t know it yet.”

She scrunched her face and said, “Dead do not talk, Dusk. You are alive, simple as that. We just have to understand why you are not getting any magic through your horn.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Doesn’t matter anyhow. I’m not going to get up and dance, nor try to seduce you. Princess. Even though I wish it were so.”

She gave him a look, then grinned. “Get better, and I may let you try, Dusk Shine.”

He chuckled. “Oh, when Tartarus freezes, I’m sure,” he remarked in a distant tone.

“You never know,” she teased him. “Still, I want to do some research regarding your loss of magic, so I’ll be around again, if you don’t mind.”

“Oh, I don’t mind at all, Twilight,” he said, trying to move his withers in a shrug and failing. “At least I’ll have something cute to look for. Better than these damn nurses, including that one Nurse Ratchet who keeps attempting to make me move. I swear, mares are supposed to look cute and pretty, but that nurse is one ugly bitch!”

Twilight shook her head. “Still being Dusk, I see,” she remarked with a small chuckle. I think that you need to calm down and try to become a better stallion, Dusk. And clean up your language, please. You may find that ponies may begin to like you.”

“Faust forbid!” he said fatalistically. “That would be a fate worse than death.”

“Aw, come on, Dusk,” she chided. “Can’t be that bad. Try it, and maybe you will find it enjoyable.”

“Doubt it, Princess,” he snorted. “I’ve done quite well on my own, thank you very much.”

She frowned, then sighed. “Anyway, I’m glad that you are alive,” she said. “I was afraid that you did die, after taking that Harmony blast like you did.”

“As I intended, Twilight,” he said. “I hoped that it would indeed kill me. But the damn thing decided that leaving me like this is death enough, I suppose.”

“That is not the way of Harmony, Dusk,” she insisted. “The Tree does not do things like that.”

“Could have fooled me,” he remarked with a sniff. “Anyway, I am glad that you are okay now, Princess. “I suppose that I’d better go back to sleep again before Nurse Ratchet comes back and torture me again. Tell Spike that I miss seeing his snout. He is quite the little dude, and also tell him that I am sorry to have made him upset then regarding you.”

“He is another that has been asking about you, Dusk,” she said. “You see? You do have friends here, even if you act like a moron at times.”

“Will wonders never cease,” he said bitterly.

Twilight huffed, exasperated at his attempts at being difficult. “I am leaving, Dusk,” she said. “Try to relax. I’m going to see what I can do about your condition.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, then sighed. “Don’t stay up too long, Princess. I do not deserve it. Best to just simply remove all of this crap hooked up to me and let me fade away while you go on living your life. And if you are a friend like you claim, you would do that for me.”

She gave him an annoyed glance. “I would never think of doing that, Dusk Shine!” she huffed. “Friends would never kill another.”

“I did.” He looked away. “Good bye, Princess.”

Twilight took a big breath, slowly exhaling to calm herself. She did not truly understand him, yet she is trying to. With a final glance at the thaumic machine, she turned and left the room, fully intent on seeing what can be done for Dusk. She felt something about him, a curiosity that still intrigues her. She also has another feeling for him, yet she really doesn’t want to consider that yet. She cursed him under her breath as she walked away.

And yet, she did harbor a feeling for him. She just doesn’t know if she should.

Author's Note

We now start on Act Two.

Where will this lead? Well, let us say that things will become interesting...

(I am so glad that i am not writing this as an opera. I'd hate to think about composing so many arias, let alone the logistics of such! :rainbowlaugh: )

XII

Despite staying up well into the early morning hours while researching as much as she was able from the Royal Canterlot Archives and Library, only to come up empty, Twilight Sparkle was awake and heading back to the hospital where Dusk was. She wanted to speak to him again, hoping that he knew something that she did not, or missed in their talk yesterday.

Once again, the day was bright and cheerful, yet with her mind elsewhere, she did not acknowledge it. Sending a letter to Spike last night, wondering how he was getting along with Starlight back in Ponyville, had helped alleviate some anxiety, certainly. She really needed to return back to her Castle of Friendship and relax, yet she couldn’t simply leave Dusk hanging as he was currently. It may sound crazy to others, but Twilight wanted Dusk around her.

She did like him, although why she didn’t want others to know. Especially her sister-in-law, Princess Cadance. No, Cadance would see right through Twilight’s emotions, and at this time, Twilight was not ready to admit it that she had feelings for her counterpart, despite his often-grating manners and overall meanness. He would be a real challenge to reform, more than Starlight had been. And that was if he would permit Twilight to try.

Somehow, she doubted that Dusk would ever let himself be reformed. He was too into himself, and with his background that Luna had spoken of, Twilight knew that he was beyond any simple reformation of character. He had grown up with such hate, it would be too hard to change him.

No, it might be easier just to let Dusk be Dusk for now. After him seeing what real friendship could be, perhaps he might turn around eventually, but it would probably take more than a few days or weeks, certainly.

Then there was his quick gravitation to Starlight when he’d been there in Ponyville at the castle. Twilight had been quite eager to see if Starlight might help, but instead she and Dusk had slept together. Or so Starlight bragged, as did Dusk. That thought had rankled Twilight for a time, and she only now understood why. She had been jealous. Oh, sure, she still felt some resentment with the irritating manner that Dusk had treated Twilight herself, yet it had only acted to increase her interest in him. Still, she would let him see how friendship worked, and perhaps he’d calm down and become a better pony. Only then would she permit Dusk to attempt any seduction of her.

It was far from anything she was ready accept, yet she did want to be with him eventually, and perhaps not just friends. He represented something else beyond her experience, something to learn and explore…

Upon entering the waiting room, Twilight spoke to the receptionist and signed in, then sat down and waited, thinking what she would say to Dusk. She expected that it might take some time, yet before she was comfortable in the seat, his doctor came out and called her name. Twilight was instantly up on her hoofs and trotted to the doctor.

“How is he today, Doctor?” she asked as he let her into the hospital corridor.

“Same as yesterday, Princess,” the stallion replied as they began walking. “His vitals are still the same, as is his magic level. His temper, though…” And the doctor sighed.

“Perhaps I could help cheer him,” she said with a reassuring smile. “He is probably just lonely.”

“Maybe,” the doctor cautiously said.

Nothing else was said and at the door, the doctor let Twilight inside. “I’ll be near, Princess,” he said to her. “If needed, that is.”

“Thank you Doctor,” she said, then turned to Dusk laying on the bed, still hooked up with wires and tubes. Dusk seemed to be asleep, as he had yet to acknowledge her presence.

“Dusk?” she asked in a small voice. “Are you awake?”

He slowly opened his eyes and stared at her for a moment. “Princess,” he spoke in a flat tone. “Why have you come?”

She approached the bedside, then glanced at the various machines before returning to look at him with a frown. “I just wanted to tell you that I am searching for an answer to your problem,” she said with a flick of her tail. “How do you feel?”

Dusk closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again, only to not look at Twilight. “I don’t want you here, Princess,” he said, sounding quite forlorn. “Go away. And as far as my horn, don’t bother. Nothing matters anymore.”

“Why is that, Dusk?” she asked, her frown deepening. “Is something wrong?”

Dusk did not reply for a few moments, still not making eye contact with her. Soon, he sighed and spoke. “If you must know, I had a visitor last night after visiting hours, one I was sure to expect. It told me that I am a bad pony, and I was only being kept alive while they figure out what to do with me. But what it told me after that is why I no longer care for anything, Twilight Sparkle. It told me that my world where I am from no longer exists, and that I am marooned here.”

“Who told you this, Dusk?”

“The Guardian,” he replied, still in his flat voice, a tone that spoke of resignation. “What you know as the Harmony Tree. It told me that all of the Guardians agreed to remove my world to prevent any further incursions by the Void creatures.” His voice trailed off for a moment or two before speaking again. “They simply destroyed my world, Twilight. All of the ponies there are…gone. Everything I knew is no longer. My mother, Big Daddy, Twinkle… Dear Faust, she was my wife, and I will never see my foal. All of it, gone.” And he lapsed into silence, closing his eyes.

Twilight blinked as she could hear the pain in his voice. He was broken, unable to reach magic, and now being told that his life was gone…Yeah, she could feel for him.

“But, Dusk, you are alive yet,” she said, trying to cheer him.

He grunted. “If you could call it that, Princess,” he mocked. “And if you were a friend to me, then simply kill me. Right now, here in this sterile room. I have nothing else to live for.”

“As a friend, Dusk, I cannot do as you want me to,” she said with a small snort. “I am the Princess of Friendship, not a killer.”

Dusk sighed, then closed his eyes. “Then we are not friends, Princess,” he said with finality. “Go away. I have no use of you any further. Good bye, Princess.”

Twilight stood there, thinking what she could say to reconcile this. But as the moments passed and the silence grew with Dusk ignoring her, Twilight sighed and turned away to leave. Before she got to the door, she paused and said, “I will fix this, Dusk. I promise.”

“Don’t bother,” he said with resignation. “I’m not worth it.”

“Yes, you are, Dusk,” she retorted and stomped out of the room.

Thinking furiously, she teleported to the castle and spoke to Celestia, informing her of what has transpired overnight. She also told the princess her determination of finding a cure for Dusk’s current state. She then took her leave, and left Canterlot, returning back to Ponyville and her castle via Celestia’s carriage, as it would be quicker than the train. She had a goal in mind, and wanted to reach there as soon as possible.

Once the carriage landed close to her castle, Twilight quickly alit and thanked the two pegasi guards, then sent them back. Turning to go into the castle, Twilight was grasped by Spike, who held her close.

“I’m glad that you are back, Twi,” he said with sincerity. “What now? Some more research?”

She shook her head. “No, Spike,” she told him. “I am only here for a moment to pick up something before I go speak to the Tree.”

He looked up at his sister, his big green eyes full of wonder. “The Tree?” he asked. “Can I come along?”

Twilight rubbed the top of his head with a hoof in a placating manner. “Not this time, Spike,” she said. “I need to discuss things with it regarding Dusk.”

“Oh,” he said, sounding disappointed. “Can you take Starlight with you at least? I’m sure that she would like to go with you.”

“No, Spike,” she told him firmly. “I must do this myself and not be distracted. Now, if you please let me go, I can get what I need and then go to where I must to rescue Dusk.”

The dragon sighed and released her, disappointment clearly in his manner. “At least stay and have something to eat, Twi,” he said as they turned to enter the crystal castle.

“No time for that, Spike,” she replied with a huff. “I’m in a hurry. Dusk’s life may be in danger.”

“What do you mean, Twilight?” asked Starlight, as she looked on with concern when Twilight and Spike entered the castle. “Is something wrong?”

“Other than Dusk not having any magic?” Twilight retorted as she trotted past her friend and starting up the stairs. “And him telling me that he wants to die, even asking me to kill him? What other else could be wrong?”

“Calm down, Twilight!” Starlight cried, struggling to keep up to Twilight’s hurried steps. “Why don’t you tell me what is wrong? Maybe I could help.”

Twilight paused and glanced back to Starlight with a frown. But then, she again started walking onward. “When this is done, I will tell you about it,” she stated with a huff. “I simply have no time to explain it. I must hurry before Dusk…”

Twilight reached her room and went to a case standing by a wall, where she pulled out her crown and set it on her head. With a flick of her tail, she held her head high. “Listen, Starlight,” she said to her friend. “This is very important. Dusk’s life hangs in the balance, and I need to rectify it. And if you want him back so you can have,” and she paused to glance down at Spike, “more fun with him, then let me try to talk some sense to that whom I must speak to. Please understand, Starlight, I’m not trying to be mysterious or silly. I like Dusk, even if he is a stupid stallion and so darn hurtful. He needs guidance, and between both you and I, we might be able to reclaim what he should be. But I cannot if he is dead, so please let me go and attempt to correct it.”

Starlight gave Twilight a long stare, yet soon relented. With reluctance, she yielded and said, “I hope that you know what you are doing, Twilight. For your sake, please be careful. He is not worth your life if something goes wrong.”

“What could go wrong, Starlight?” Twilight shot back with a frown. “I am only going to talk to the Tree of Harmony, that’s all. I wish to speak to it and discover what can be done to help Dusk recover. I’m not going there and simply sit and look at it with a hope that it would tell me what I wish.”

“But, it is in the Everfree!” Starlight cried stubbornly.

Twilight grinned at her friend. “Don’t worry,” she said calmly. “I’ll be flying there. Surely I can handle any threat in the sky. I’ll tell you what, though. When I am finished, I will return and sleep here tonight. Is that acceptable, Starlight?”

The other mare nodded, but only just so. She still had her doubts, yet had to accept that Twilight knew what she was doing. “Like I said, Twilight,” Starlight said. “Please be careful.”

Twilight chuckled and swept a wing over Starlight companionably. “I’ll be back before you know it, Starlight,” she reassured her friend and former antagonist. “I should be back before dinner, so we can all sit down and have a nice meal.”

They left Twilight’s room, and Twilight suddenly teleported herself and Starlight outside of the castle. Extending her wings, Twilight grasped Starlight in a hug, then turned and quickly ascended into the air, flying towards the forest outside of Ponyville. With her mind on what she would talk to the Tree about, Twilight winged her way to that large canyon where the Tree stood.

It was rather swift before she spied the canyon not far from the old abandoned castle that stood forlornly within the forest, broken and left to rot. It had been a quick journey to the Tree this way, as she never had to deal with any threat on the ground, which always made the trek not only hazardous, but took up a lot of time having to dispense with any threat, whether from a manticore or a Timberwolf, or some such. In addition, it was long enough that Twilight came to a firm decision.

Softly landing within the canyon with a sigh, Twilight then trotted to the bend where the Tree was. Here she could sense its warmth and friendly feeling, bathed in the light that was both golden and argent at the same time. It remained silent as she approached, yet she could sense that it was watching her, as once she was close enough, she felt a welcoming sensation.

The tree never moved, yet it was ready to hear why she came to it. Twilight reached a point close to it, then sat on her haunches and stared at the magnificent Tree, a crystal tree of silver, filling the nook which the Tree encompassed. The five branches, each ending with large globes, each bearing a cutie mark of her friends, while a sixth globe was astride the trunk amongst the branches and having her cutie mark, all seemingly reach out towards Twilight, yet remained still. The Tree was not just a plant, but a Presence, and the source of all Harmony in the world.

She waited, knowing that her arrival would be met with a greeting from the Tree. And that greeting soon came.

“Ah, Element Bearer, you are welcomed,” spoke a voice seemingly from everywhere about her. It continued with, “You have been expected, Bearer. What would you like to learn from Us?”

A pony figure appeared from behind the Tree and approached with an unblinking gaze, only to stop a few paces away and stood waiting. Twilight stood and faced the avatar, her face set. “Dusk,” she stated flatly. “What and why did you do what you did to him?”

A moment or two of silence, then: “Who?”

“The other me from a different universe,” she said, her tail quivering.

“Ah, yes,” it said without emotion. “The Bearer that unleased the Void beast here. Do not be concerned with it. We will remove it soon. Once that failed Bearer passes, its essence will be used to recreate a better world.”

“No!” Twilight cried, stomping a hoof. “As long as he lives, he is a pony! You cannot simply allow him to die. That is so wrong!”

Another long silence with the ghostly avatar that appears exactly like Twilight staring back, still unblinking. Soon, it spoke again. “Wrong? That one is wrong. It is not worth your time, forget about that one, Bearer. It has at least some use to Us.”

“Dusk is a pony!” Twilight again cried, becoming upset. “I will not let you simply let him live like this until he just ‘passes away’! He has a life! He isn’t something that you can merely use like a puppet! I demand that you allow him to return back to an active life!”

“Calm yourself, Bearer,” the avatar said without moving its mouth. “It is not worth your worry, nor does it belong here. It is a failure, and needs to be removed. Why are you so passionate about keeping that one alive? It is a threat that cannot be allowed to continue.”

Twilight flared her nostrils and stood firm. “Dusk is no threat to you or any other pony like this!” She tried breathing deeply to calm herself. Once she settled, she spoke again. “Dusk is a life. He can be made better, if you let me. Please, I beg, bring him back. He deserves at least some respect. And he didn’t ‘unleash’ that thing. He had it contained until Princess Luna went looking into his memories.”

Once again, silence fell between Twilight and the tree’s avatar. The silence lengthened for several minutes with the only change being that the avatar’s eyes closed, perhaps communicating, but to whom or what, Twilight wasn’t sure. Until:

“No. Bearer. It has been decided. The failed Bearer will pass. Its life is forfeit.”

Anger grew in Twilight, her nostrils again flaring ominously. “Fine,” she spat, only to remove her tiara from her head and drop it between herself and the avatar. “I quit.”

The avatar looked down at the discarded crown, then back to Twilight. “You are the Bearer of Magic,” it said. “You are not permitted to quit.”

“Try me,” she spat back vehemently. “I will not be a party to another pony’s death.”

The avatar merely stared back for a few moments. “You have feelings for the failed Bearer, yes?” it said. And it closed its eyes again, falling silent once more.

Twilight stood unmoving for a short time before having to once again sit on her haunches as the time lengthened while the avatar kept its eyes closed and spoke no further. She still felt her emotions hot, yet as the minutes passed, she seemed unsure what is transpiring. The avatar was still present, yet it was not talking to her.

The sun had moved perceptively before the avatar opened its eyes again and spoke. “You are adamant to have the failed Bearer live, yes?”

“He deserves to live out his life, yes,” she said, regaining her hoofs and nodding. “I will fight for his life, if need be.”

“So be it,” the avatar intoned without emotion. “If you want it to live, you must bear part of its failure. We have a proposal in that regard, Bearer. Your agreement will allow the failed one to remain alive and live out its existence. If you refuse, the failed one passes away.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” she said with a huff. “However, I will listen to what you are proposing and consider it.”

A root sprang from the ground, and once it broke the surface, a slender branch grew out from the root, only to end with a blue flower, the petals all closed together and intertwined tightly. When the flower was large enough, the Tree spoke.

“This flower will be the key that will allow the failed bearer to return to its universe,” the Tree explained. “However, the flower is not ready to be used. It will only mature once you have done what is needed, Element Bearer Twilight. For the flower to mature, you must cross-pollinate with the failed one and bear its fruit. Only then will the flower bloom, and the gem inside may be plucked and used to recreate a new universe for the failed one to return to. Do you agree to these terms, Element Bearer?”

Twilight’s eyes bugged out with disbelief. “Wait!” she cried, her heart pounding. “Let me get this straight. Are you telling me that in order for Dusk to live again, you want me to — ugh! — have sex with him? And bear his foal?”

“Yes.” The avatar simply stared back at Twilight, still unblinking, patiently awaiting her reply.

Twilight began thinking furiously. It wasn’t about the notion of her and Dusk as lovers. She would have gradually allowed that to perhaps occur. However, this was now being pushed upon her, regardless of her feelings. She was initially wanting to refuse, yet her refusal meant Dusk would die. Trading her sanctity for his life, only to accept having a foal that he may never see nor share in raising, was just too much to fully comprehend, let alone agree.

“May I have some time to think about it?” she asked hopefully. “Like, a day or so?”

“You have all the time you need, Element Bearer, as long as you never depart before giving your answer. We must have your acceptance or denial soon. There is no other option here. Yes, or no.”

Twilight stared at the ground for several moments, considering every option available to her. Yet, the fact remains: she must either have sex with her counterpart, or let him die. And in the end, there truly was no choice. Still, she would not simply lift her tail for him easily. He needed to change before she let him sleep with her. It was months before she would go into heat. which would allow time for him to become a better pony. Time to work on his character. And with help from not just Starlight, but also her friends, and even the princesses, it could be possible.

Twilight sighed and held her head straight, then peered at the ghostly avatar, which was then holding up her crown in its magic, yet still having a blank look. She took the crown in her magic and once again set it upon her head.

“I accept your proposal.”

Author's Note

Well, that happened.