Love, why would you do this?

Author's Note: Thank you guys for all of your support! So I was surprised to learn that not only do some people love my writing, they're willing to beg me for new chapters! I can't quite grasp the idea my writing is any good. I wish I could think that you guys just have low standards but I've read the stuff in your favorites as a test and It's good, so I may have to accept the possibility that I am an okay writer. Ah well. Thanks for all the patience anyhow. No clop this time. Enjoy the chapter!

How dare he? Thought Dusk, storming angrily through Ponyville. Eliciting looks, smirks, giggles, and sometimes completely unrestrained laughter.

How dare he tackle me to the ground, cover me in mud, soak me to the bone, and then ruin my mane with that tornado that probably wasn't allowable by the laws of physics? He thought again, leaving out the obvious flirting as his mind still could not process that that had happened. It could also not process the fact that he had caught himself checking out the rear-ends of multiple stallions that day. Wait, that wasn't a thing that happened, nope, forget that.

In fact, Dusk decided he would forget about the whole incident. Yes, that was the best thing to do. He walked onward towards his next destination Ponyville town hall, to check on the decorations for the summer sun celebrations.

"Alright Spike, we have to take this thing seriously. and that means. No. More. Distractions." Dusk said, punctuating each word with a stomp of his hoof.

Spike saluted from Dusk's back. "Aye, Aye, Cap'n!"

Dusk rolled his eyes and walked through the doors of the town hall to a perfectly decorated stage with ribbons everywhere.

Dusk sighed and looked towards the center of the stage where a white unicorn Stallion with a purple mane stood scrutinizing a ribbon closely. "At least somepony in this town can do their job right!" Exclaimed Dusk.

Dusk continued to trot through an aisle in the center of the hall towards the stage. "Hello?" Dusk called towards the white stallion. The pony in question stopped scrutinizing his ribbon and looked up towards Dusk. "I'm here to check on the decorations for the summer su-" He started before a wail of horror from the white stallion cut him off.

"Your mane!" The white stallion said in obvious, honest, horror. "What in the world happened to your mane darling?" He continued.

"Darling? I-uh. Tornado?" Dusk stumbled, shocked at the outburst from the pony on the stage.

"We simply must get that fixed up! And I won't take no for an answer! Chop-Chop!" He fired the words towards Dusk who was still trying to recover from the original outburst.

"I-um, thanks?" He managed to get out before being enveloped in a magical aura and being floated out of the door of the town hall. Oddly enough only drawing fleeting looks from ponies outside.

Soon enough, Dusk had arrived at a building that reminded him of a giant merry-go-round. Once he saw the sign that read 'Carousel Boutique' hanging above the front door in long, flowing cursive, he realized he was probably not alone in his opinion.

He was whisked inside the house by his mysterious captor and forced to sit in a chair surrounded by all sorts of ominous looking sharp things, and less ominous looking combs and assorted shampoos.

"Now then" Said the mysterious white stallion, levitating a few combs, shampoos, and some of the less ominous looking sharp things around his head. "What are we going to do about your mane?"

"I-uh, is it really that bad?" Dusk asked with a sheepish grin, drawing another horrified look from his captor-turned-stylist.

"Really that bad?!" his captor exclaimed. " Why this may be, the worst thing that has ever happened!"

Dusk looked nonplussed by the mysterious stallions antics. "Right, 'the worst thing'. Whatever you're going to do to me can you just get it done quickly? I have work to do. The princess didn't send me from Canterlot to get my mane styled." He complained, drawing a blank stare from the mysterious stallion in front of him. His magical grip on the objects around him faultered and he dropped a shampoo bottle that hit Dusk on the head with an audible clunk.

"Y-you're from Canterlot?" He began, a look of comprehending horror dawning on his face.

"Uh, yes?" Dusk said, slightly worried for the stallion's sanity.

"Oh-okay. And what is your name, pray tell?" he asked, the look of horror quickly extinguishing and a blank expression resuming on his face.

"Um, my name's Dusk Shine." Dusk said, now very worried for the stallion's well-being.

"The same Dusk Shine who's Princess Celestia's personal protegé?" The stallion asked, his left eyelid twitching slightly.

"Uh, yes, that Dusk Shine." Dusk said, now worried for his own well-being as well as the stallion's.

"Ah-yes. Excuse me a moment please." The stallion said, before quickly trotting out of the room. Dusk wondered if he had said anything wrong before he heard a blood-curdling scream from the room the stallion had entered before he trotted out with a beaming grin plastered across his face.

"No worries Dusk, I am going to make your mane utterly fabulous for you! Free of charge of course." The stallion began, his smile growing wider and wider.

"Fabulous?" Was all Dusk could get out before he was set upon by beauty products and utensils galore.

"Shush! The master is working his magic!" The white unicorn said. "Oh, and I'm Elusive by the way, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too?" Dusk said, looking extremely unsure of himself.

After the most intense makeover Dusk had ever experienced. (Also the only makeover he had experienced) Dusk was whisked out of the chair and into a living room.

"Oh, you look simply fabulouarling! The mares will be falling over each other to get to you!" Elusive said, with a starry-eyed look.

"Heh, yes, mares, of course." Dusk said, feeling slightly uncomfortable all of a sudden for some reason.

"Ah, but I digress. You were here to check on the decorations for the celebration, no?" Elusive asked, rummaging around in a nearby cabinet for some teacups. A kettle was whistling away nearby that Dusk did not remember Elusive putting on the stove.

Elusive levitated the teacups and the kettle over towards a table and started pouring out the scalding hot liquid. "You will join me for tea won't you Dusk?" Elusive asked, a friendly smile on his face.

"I-well, I'm busy, things to see, ponies to do! Wait..." Dusk was pondering the full implications of his grammatical mistake before Elusive cut him off.

"Nonsense!" He exclaimed. "You simply must join me!"

"Uh, okay I guess" Dusk submitted, far too tired to argue with the unicorn.

He sat down at the table and watched Elusive brew the tea. He did it with refinement and poise, holding the teacups perfectly level as he dropped the teabags into them. Dusk was used to the finest tea being brewed for him and Princess Celestia during the customary royal tea-time. He had always suspected that she didn't like it. Her face always seemed to twist into an almost invisible grimace whenever she took a sip. It was also gone too quickly most of the time, and some of the potted plants in the tea room had taken on a brown-tinge for whatever reason.

Elusive had quickly realized that Dusk's train of thought had gone elsewhere and continued to brew the tea, anxious to show off his true talent, instantly knowing how to brew tea for anypony he met.

He snapped Dusk out of his tea-induced trance by waving a hoof in front of his face. "Here you are darling" He said, handing the tea to Dusk.

Dusk took one sip and, to his surprise, found that it was completely tailored to his rather strange tastes. "Three spoons of honey, five sugars, cinnamon, and almost all of the cream! How did you know?" Dusk asked, fascinated by this coincidence.

"Oh, it's a little quirk of mine, I can tell how to brew tea for anypony I meet." Elusive said, shrugging nonchalantly.

Dusk looked amazed by Elusive's talent. "That's simply amazing! How in Equestria do you do that?" He asked, the scientist in him taking hold.

"Oh, it's no big deal, just something I can do." Elusive said, shaking off the questions with a small shrug and moving onto his true purpose. "Now tell me Dusk, is there a mare in your life?" He asked with a malicious grin.

Dusk's blood ran cold and he broke out in a cold sweat. "Uh, thanksfortheteagottagocheckontheotherpreparations!" He said in the course of about a second before rushing out of the door at speeds that would put the Wonderbolts to shame.

Elusive looked at where he used to be sitting with a perplexed look on his face before promptly breaking into a laughing fit.

He wiped a tear away from his eyes. "Oh this is going to be so much fun!" He said, before going into his study to begin his plotting.