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

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
Alas, Poor Roger...

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

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