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...