A DUSK IN EXILE

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.