Dusk

Dusk inhaled deeply, salty air flowing through his nostrils. He opened his eyes slowly and looked around his room. The bright morning sun shone through the thin, faded blue curtains over his window. Throwing off his covers, he wiped the thin layer of sweat off his body.

"Dusk!" he heard a mare yell from downstairs. "Breakfast!"

He smiled and slid open the white door of weak, weathered wood. He sprinted down the long, narrow hallway to the staircase on the opposite end. Portraits of Dusk, his sister and brother, and their parents hung on the wall of white, flaking paint. After jumping wildly down the stairs, he appeared in the kitchen of the tiny seaside cottage. A mare walked up, levitating a small bowl. She picked up Dusk and put him in a chair, as he was too small to get up himself.

"Morning!" Dusk enthusiastically yelled, pulling her close and kissing her on the cheek.

The mare pat his mane and placed the small bowl of chopped fruit on the table.

"Morning, little brother," she replied, kissing the back of his head.

“Where’s Ken?” he asked.

“He’s working at the bog. He should be back soon.”

“Can we go to the beach today?”

“Sure, but you have to eat your breakfast first.”

Right as Dusk reached his hooves into the bowl, the screen door flew opened and a muddy, dripping stallion walked in.

“Morning, you two!” he yelled.

“Ken!” Dusk yelled, jumping out of his chair and running to hug his filthy brother.

“Hey there, Dusk. How’s it going?”

"Pretty good."

“Kennebec, you are absolutely filthy!” their sister yelled, throwing a towel onto them. “Clean yourself up!”

He levitated Dusk and put him down onto the floor, then started wiping himself off with the towel his sister threw at him.

“Looking better already,” their sister said as Kennebec wiped the water out of his mane.

Her smile was met with a wet towel smacking into her face.

“Hey!” she yelled.

Kennebec chuckled. “Wouldn’t kill you to go work in the bog sometimes, Pequot.”

Pequot flipped her head and caught the towel on her back expertly. “Somepony’s gotta be the lady here.”

“Is this why you always insist on taking a bath after swimming?”

“Hey, saltwater’s bad if you don’t wash it off.” She shook her head disdainfully. “Didn’t you ever listen to mommy or daddy?”

“Whatever.” His voice was indifferent. “Got breakfast ready?”

“In the kitchen.”

“Great, I’m starving.”

“Ken, can we go to the beach today?” Dusk asked.

“Dusk, I told you, after you eat your breakfast.”

“How much?”

“All of it.”

Dusk sighed and looked at his bowl. He didn’t want to eat all his breakfast. Luckily, Kennebec sat down and levitated half the fruit out of Dusk’s bowl and into his own while Pequot wasn’t looking.

Ssh… Kennebec put his hoof up to his mouth and indicated for Dusk to keep quiet about what just happened.

Dusk smiled and started eating.

***

“Pequot, hurry up!” Dusk yelled, pacing the front porch of their house, which overlooked their front lawn.

“I’m coming, you too!” she yelled in response. “Sheesh, give a pony a little time to get ready!”

“How much time could one pony need?” Kennebec asked quietly out of the corner laughed. The two brothers laughed.

“”Maybe the time would go faster if one of you two helped!” she yelled, walking out of the house.

Pequot was nearly overburdened with items. She was wearing a large, floppy hat that sat comically on top of her head. A large umbrella sat on top of three towels on her back.

Laughing at his sister’s expense, Kennebec levitated the umbrella off Pequot’s back and onto his.

“Better?” he asked.

“Somewhat,” she replied, rolling her eyes.

“Come onnnn!” Dusk pleaded. “Look at all the ponies already at the beach!”

Pequot smiled. “All right, antsy-hooves,” she started walking down the stairs leading to the lawn. “Let’s go.”

Dusk ran down after her, skipping every other step, and landed on the grass. He ran onto the path of flattened dirt that ran all around the village of The Bog. Sprinting a few yards, he looked down at the beach.

It was a small, somewhat circular beach filled with ponies. Younger ponies, playing in the shallow water or lumping sand together to make castles, populated the left half of the beach.

Adolescent ponies, about the ages of Pequot and Kennebec, stood on the right side of the beach, which was covered in rocks. Some were wearing thin robes. The ponies were swimming further in the ocean, skipping or throwing rocks, or talking and laughing, enjoying the time with friends.

The older, adult ponies all sat in the middle of the beach, watching the younger ponies enjoy themselves. Many were talking in small groups/

Dusk ran down through the flattened, spiky beach grass to the beach. After making his way to the soft, hot sand, he tackled a red filly sitting in the shallow, salty water.

“Dusk!” she yelled.

“How’d you know it was me?” he asked.

“Who else tackles me like that?”

“Oh.”

Grabbing his hoof, she dragged him out of the water. “Let’s go to the store and see Murphy!” she yelled.

“Okay,” he whispered, blushing.

As they ran through the grass to the road, they passed Pequot and Kennebec.

“Hey, Massasoit!” Pequot beamed at the young foals. “Where are you two lovebirds going?”

“We’re not in love!” Dusk yelled, his face flooding with color.

His siblings laughed softly.

“Okay,” Kennebec laughed, rubbing Dusk’s mane. “Don’t get in any trouble and don’t go past the bog.”

“Bye!” he yelled back at his siblings as he and Massasoit walked up the road.

She bumped Dusk on the shoulder playfully.

“Not in love?” she asked, smiling.

“Oh, well, that…” his face turned as red as the coat of his crush.

“Do you like me?”

Dusk turned away and rubbed the back of his neck in nervousness. “Well…”

“Yes?”

“A little…” he admitted.

Massasoit grabbed Dusk’s head and spun him around. Pulling him in close, she puckered her lips and gave Dusk a big, long kiss.

Though caught off guard at first, Dusk eventually closed his eyes and kissed her back. They stood in the dry dirt for about half a minute, just kissing.

As they finished kissing, Dusk opened his eyes wide.

My first kiss! He happily thought.

Massasoit took a few steps back and looked at the ground, smiling. She was blushing heavily, although it was hard to tell with her coat color.

“I…” she was at a loss for words. “Really like you…”

Dusk smiled widely. “I…I guess I like you too.”

“Will you be my, you know,” she was struggling with every word. “Boyfriend?”

“Only if you’ll be my girlfriend.”

Massasoit smiled and twisted her mane in nervousness.

Dusk ran off the road and to one of the large, flowery bushes that dotted the island. After biting off one of the pastel flowers, he ran back to Massasoit and gently placed behind her ear.

“A hydrangea?” she asked cutely.

“For you,” Dusk replied.

Smiling, she grabbed Dusk’s hoof.

“Let’s go to the store.”

“Our first date.” He smiled in reply.

The two young lovers ran down the road, hoof in hoof.

***

Snow fell gently over The Bog. Small piles of the cold, white water piled on the sides of the roads where ponies had been shoveling. Inside the small cottage that Dusk shared with his siblings, three ponies were sitting on the floor in the living room, covered in thick, heavy blankets to protect themselves from the cold. A long, skinny box sat in the center of their circle.

Pequot levitated the little package and placed it in front of Dusk.

“Happy birthday, Dusk!” she beamed.

“Come on, open it,” Kennebec said, pointing at the package.

Dusk grabbed the top of the box and yanked it off. His eyes grew wide as he looked what was inside.

“Here,” Pequot walked over and reached inside. “Let me put it on you.”

Closing his eyes, Dusk felt his neck being engulfed by a strip of scratchy wool. As he opened his eyes, he looked down. A finely crafted, brown scarf had been wrapped around his neck.

“Cool!” he yelled, feeling the new scarf.

“Hope you like it,” Pequot said, rubbing his mane. “It took me months to knit that for my special little brother.”

“I helped too,” Kennebec piped up. “Had to pull tons of favors to get everything for it. You don’t know how hard it is to get luxuries out here.”

Admiring his new scarf, Dusk’s eyes sparkled. “Can I go show it to Massasoit?”

Kennebec laughed. “You’ve certainly been seeing a lot of her recently.”

Letting out a light chuckle, Pequot looked at her little brother.

“Is there something you aren’t telling us?”

“No!” he yelled defensively. “I li…”

Dusk quickly stopped himself and blushed. “She’s…My best friend.”

Pequot grinned, knowing exactly what was going on. “Sure. Say hello to her parents for me.”

Dusk ran out of the house and jumped onto the road. The cold, frozen ground made a clack noise as his hooves landed on the dirt road. As he ran up the road, he looked around at the winter scene of The Bog.

Winters in The Bog were drastically different from the summers. Instead of vines and beach grass overgrowing the side of the road closest to the ocean, there was just a small mass of brown, wilting plants surrounding the bay.

“Massi?” he yelled at the cottage further up the road.

A small filly walked out and looked down.

“Duskey!” she screamed with excitement, jumping down onto the road.

She extended her neck and pecked Dusk quickly on the cheek.

“Nice scarf! Where’d you get it?” she asked, rubbing his new present.

“Pequot knit for me,” he replied, admiring his scarf.

“It’s cute,” she replied. “Almost as cute as you.”

Dusk blushed, his face turning so hot the snow around him almost melted.

“Do you want us to get married someday?” Massasoit asked.

“Yeah, and we’ll have lots of kids.”

Massasoit was delighted at this. "Does this mean we're married?"

Dusk smiled. "I guess it does."

“Do you want to go and play on the rocks to celebrate?” she asked.

“Are you sure? Pequot says they’re dangerous when there’s water on them.”

“Oh, come on!” she protested. “We’ll go together and be really safe. We’ll be fine.”

“Well, okay…”

Massasoit grabbed his hoof and lead him down the road.

***

“Here we are!” Massasoit exclaimed.

Dusk and his girlfriend looked out at the beach before them. The beach itself was located about 30 feet down. Large, stacked, mostly flat rocks were piled for about a hundred yards.

“Let’s go!” she yelled, jumping onto the rocks. After sliding for a bit, her balance came back and she stood up.

“Are you sure?” Dusk asked. “They look really slippery.”

“Come on, scardey-hooves! They’re fine!” she taunted.

Dusk sighed. He knew he had to be brave for his girlfriend.

“Here goes nothing,” he whispered to himself, jumping onto the rock Massasoit was on.

Dusk opened his eyes to see Massasoit. She was smiling. He slid toward her, and then…past her.

“Duskey!” she yelled.

Preoccupied by looking at Massasoit, Dusk hardly realized he hadn’t stopped. He kept sliding to the edge of the rock and fell off, landing square on his blank flank.

Dusk heard giggling coming from the rock above. When he opened his eyes, he saw Massasoit looking down, laughing at him. Dusk looked away and blushed in embarrassment.

“Come back up, silly!” she yelled at him. After he got back up to the rock, making sure not to jump onto it, Massasoit brushed sand out of his mane.

“Come on. Let’s go further down the beach.”

The young foals moved carefully up the beach. After a few minutes, Massasoit slipped on the rocks.

“Help!” she yelled.

Dusk turned back and saw her hanging from a small crack between two stones.

He chuckled at her. “Okay.” Grabbing the hoof that was trapped, he pulled. Nothing happened.

“It’s stuck.”

Massasoit became impatient. “Dusk, help! My leg hurts!”

“I’m trying!” Fear started to overcome him. He pulled harder and harder, but her hoof wasn’t budging.

Pop!

Massasoit screeched at the top of her lungs. “Owowowowowowowow!”

“What’s wrong?”

Tears started flowing up her face. “I can’t feel my leg!”

Tilting his head toward Massasoit’s leg, he concentrated. His horn sparkled and shot out a few small sparks of light, but his efforts were fruitless.

“Please!” she yelled. “It hurts soooo much!”

As she finished her sentence, a loud riiiiiiiip could be heard.

“Massi?” he yelled. “What’s wrong?”

“MY LEG!” she screamed.

Dusk peered over the edge of the rock.

On the beach was Massasoit, sitting in a pool of red liquid. Her back right leg was completely missing. Horrified, Dusk turned his head slowly to the crack in the rock. Massasoit’s leg was still there.

“MASSI!” he screamed.

“Go get somepony!” she screamed.

Reluctantly, Dusk turned away and ran to the nearest cottage and banged on the door.

“Help!” he yelled at the door.

The door creaked open and Thunder Thighs stepped out.

Thunder Thighs was the fastest pony in the whole village; rumors were she could run around the main road one time around in less than two minutes. Because of her constant running, her back legs were huge and muscular, making her name fitting.

“What is it, Dusk?”

“It’s Massasoit!” he sobbed. “She’s hurt! Follow me!”

By now, half of The Bog had showed up to watch the scene.

Dusk and Thunder ran to the rocks where Massasoit had fallen, although Thunder’s pace was more of a light jog.

“Oh, my gosh!” she yelled. “What happened?”

Dusk choked up. “I…she…leg…rocks…”

Pequot and Kennebec arrived at the rocks. Pequot sprinted to Dusk and scooped him up in a strong hug.

“Are you okay?” she wept. “I heard Massasoit got hurt and that you were here, and I…I panicked.”

“Pequot!” he cried into her mane. “It’s Massasoit! Her leg came off!”

“What?” she exclaimed.

Dusk kept sobbing into his sister’s mane.

Mr. Whitcomb, the pony who owned the cranberry bog, ran over to Massasoit and looked at her leg. The whole scene had turned silent.

He hung his head and closed Massasoit’s eyes.

“She’s dead.”

***

Dusk scotched closer to his sister to warm himself from the cold, winter rain.

Despite the dreary weather, the whole village of The Bog gathered in front of the cottage where Massasoit had lived. A large pit had been dug into the earth. Beside the hole was a large object, wrapped in a white blanket. Overlooking the pit was a thin, wooden cross.

Pequot walked slowly to a stallion, who was propping up a mare that was crying profusely.

“Hope? Penobscot?” Pequot asked meekly.

The stallion looked up. Despite being a large, muscular pony, even his eyes were red and puffy from crying.

“I’m glad you could make it, Pequot.” He rubbed his eyes. “A father should never have to bury his little daughter.”

Pequot reached over and rubbed the mare on the back.

“It’s okay, Hope. I know how it feels to lose somepony close to you.”

She looked over at Pequot, who was smiling lightly.

“T-thank you, P-Pequot.”

The ponies were silent for a few minutes until Penobscot walked up to the blanket. Hope leaned onto Pequot’s shoulder. Both mares were sobbing lightly.

Penobscot’s horn glowed faintly, and the top of the blanket was gently pulled down.

“Let’s go.” Pequot put her foreleg around Dusk and they walked foreword to the blanket.

As he looked down, his eyes watered.

Massasoit’s small body was nestled in the sopping, cold blanket. Raindrops collected in tiny little drops on her face. The small corpse that once had been full of life and energy was now just an empty husk.

“Pequot?” he asked confusedly.

She sniffed and rubbed her nose. “What is it, Dusk?”

“Why are they putting her in the ground?”

“So she can have a final resting place.”

“Why is there a cross above the grave?”

“You see how the two pieces of wood cross each other?”

Dusk nodded.

“Well, the piece going sideways represents our world. Unlike the wood, it goes on forever. The piece going up represents her soul going up to the stars so she can live forever. Putting it in front of her grave makes sure she’ll not only live forever up in the sky,” she tapped Dusk on the forehead. “But in here too.”

“Is that what happened to Mommy and Daddy?”

She nodded.

“Did they love me?”

Pequot nodded again. “Very much.”

“What about you? And Kennebec?”

“Yes. They loved us both very much.”

“Did you love them?”

Pequot could hardly keep herself from crying. “Very, very much.”

They walked away from the grave and back into the crowd. As they got back, Pequot hugged her brother.

“I’m sorry you have to hear this, Dusk.”

Dusk sighed and leaned on his sister, watching as ponies came to see the pony he loved for one last time.

***

Bang bang bang!

Dusk turned over in his sleep. It seemed like just an hour ago that Pequot put him to bed.

Sitting up, he pushed the curtain slightly away and looked outside. It was still dark, so it probably really was only an hour later. Who could be at the front door at this time? Citizens of The Bog hardly went out after dark, let alone visiting other ponies.

Muffled voices came from downstairs. Dusk jumped out of bed and put his ear to the floor.

***

Taking place at the same time

Knocking came from the front door.

“Kennebec, could you get the door? I’m almost done repairing your coat.”

He looked at door strangely. “Who could be knocking at this hour?”

“I don’t know, but somepony’s there. Just get it.”

He mumbled under his breath and opened to the door. Two well-dressed, well-groomed stallions stood at the door.

The pony on the left was older, taller, and plumper. He had a thick, grey goatee circling around his mouth. His thin, wispy hair was slicked back to cover his head.

The pony on the right was much younger, shorter, and slimmer. Although he was clean-shaven and dressed with nice fitting robes, his mane was unkempt and frizzled in the humidity of the ocean. The strangest part about him was that he was an Earth Pony, a sight never before seen in The Bog.

“May we come in?” the older pony asked.

“Why, uh,” Kennebec cleared his throat and composed his mind. “Yes. Please come in.”

The two ponies walked in and wiped their hooves on the floor.

Pequot gently placed Kennebec’s coat on the old, sagging couch and walked to the two ponies that had just entered.

The Earth Pony looked at Pequot and extended his hoof.

“Miss Pequot, I assume?”

He’s cute she thought. She grabbed his hoof and shook it.

“Yes, and you would be?”

“My name is Ager, and this is my associate, Hostes,” he said, pointing at the old Unicorn.

Kennebec walked to Hostes and shook his hoof. “Nice to meet you. I’m Kennebec, Pequot’s sister.”

Hostes looked around the house with a judgmental look, almost as if he was silently critiquing the place.

“Charmed, Mister Kennebec.” His tone was pompous and slightly brash.

“Please, do come and sit down,” Pequot suggested, pointing at the rickety kitchen table.

The four ponies walked to the table and sat down. Kennebec and Pequot sat at one of the table while the two stallions sat down across from them. Hostes looked at his chair, as it creaked when he sat down.

“So, what brings you two to The Bog?” Pequot asked.

Ager pulled a few papers out from his saddlebags. “You two have a little brother named Dusk, correct?” He seemed to be avoiding the question.

“Well…yes, but what does this have to do you being here?”

Ager sighed. “You have heard of the recent tensions between the three pony tribes recently, no?” Pequot and Kennebec seemed to be growing more irked at him avoiding the question.

“No,” Pequot replied.

“I have, somewhat,” Kenbnebec spoke up for the first time.

Ager turned his attention to Kennebec. “Well, recently, the leaders of the tribes have created some new policies to try and bring ponies together so we can try and make one large empire.”

“What does that have to do with us, then?”

Rubbing his neck, Ager looked away.

“Well…One of the programs is allowing small numbers of ponies to be adopted into different tribes. The inter-tribe association has decided that your brother is one of the Unicorns that can be adopted by Earth Ponies and Pegasi, and well…We’re here to take him.”

“What?” Kennebec yelled, slamming his hooves onto the table. Pequot put her forelegs on his shoulders, keeping him restrained.

“You can’t take him!” she protested. “We’re siblings, we’re perfectly capable of taking care of him! If you’re taking him, you have to take us, too!”

Ager shook his head. “It doesn’t work like that. You two have been labeled as Self-Sufficient.”

“We’re Self-Secession?”

Hostes laughed at her ignorance. “Self-Sufficient. It means you two can take care of yourselves, but not anypony else.”

“Listen,” Kennebec interjected. “We can take care of him just fine.”

Pequot leaned over the table, trying to keep Ager and Kennebec apart. “Look, there’s two of us. If we’re both Self-Efficient or whatever you said, our combined efforts can certainly take care of him.”

“I’m sorry,” Ager replied, a tiny bit of remorse in his voice. “It’s just our orders. We’ll give you two a few minutes to spend some time with him, and then we’ll put him up for adoption.”

Ager stood up and bowed his head slightly, and then left to the front porch. Hostes followed him.

***

When he heard the front door close, Dusk picked his ear up off the ground. He was trying to understand what he just heard. Literally. Floors weren’t very good for spying through. All he understood was something about the three pony tribes, Sufficiency (He didn’t know what that meant, but it didn’t sound good, judging by Pequot and Kennebec’s reactions), and that Kennebec was mad at something.

Within a few seconds of the door closing, Dusk heard hooves trotting down the hallway towards his room. Panicking, he jumped into the bed and pulled the covers over his head. Nopony would ever know he wasn’t asleep.

Either his plan wasn’t as solid as he thought or his siblings needed him desperately, for the door to his room quickly slid open and they ran in. He could tell they were both fighting back tears. Pequot wasn’t having much success at it.

“Dusk, pack your bags,” she cried.

“What? Why?”

Pequot turned into the bedspread and began crying.

“Some stallions are here to take you,” Kennebec stepped foreword and said.

“Take me? Take me where?”

“A…” Now even Kennebec was losing the battle against emotions. Dusk didn’t think it was possible for Kennebec, the oldest of three children and such a strong stallion, to cry. “They’re taking you to a new home.”

“A new home?” Dusk began to choke as he grasped the gravity of the situation. “Why?”

Kennebec just shook his head silently. “I don’t know.” He left the room and returned a minute later with his saddlebags, which were much too big for Dusk.

“Put everything you want to have in here. They’re a bit big, but…You’ll grow into them.” He picked up his sister, who was bawling uncontrollably, and walked to the door.

“We’ll be downstairs when you’re ready to go.”

The door closed silently.

Dusk sat down hard on the floor. This couldn’t be happening. A new home? What was wrong with his old one?

He shook the thoughts out of his head.

It’s not permanently he assured himself. I’ll be back here before you can say Cranberries.

He opened the saddlebags in front of him.

But what if it’s forever?

Dusk decided he’d pack with the intent of being gone forever. As Pequot always said, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Looking around his room, only one object stood out to him that he wanted. The scarf that he got for his birthday a few months ago. He threw it around his neck and thought.

Okay, I have the bags from Ken, the scarf from Pequot, now all I need is something from…

His mind began racing, and his body soon followed. Where was it? After tearing up nearly everything in the room, he slapped himself on the forehead and walked to the window. Pushing back the curtains, he saw a small piece of neatly folded paper.

How could I have forgotten where this was? I put it right here so I WOULDN’T forget it.

He grabbed the paper in his mouth and unfolded it onto the bed. Tears filled his eyes as he looked at it.

It was a drawing Massasoit had made.

Since her mother, Hope, had the best knowledge of plants of anypony in The Bog, she was constantly making things out of plants. Soap, cloth…even crayons. When Massasoit wasn’t with Dusk, odds are she was drawing something.

The picture featured a little, bright red filly Unicorn that was supposed to be Massasoit facing a little, light pastel blue colt Unicorn that was meant to be Dusk. Surrounding the two ponies was a huge, deep red heart.

Dusk stared long at the filly in the drawing. He wanted to cry, but he couldn’t. It was almost like so much was being placed on him that his lacrimal glands just flat out quit on him; they had had enough crying for one lifetime, and he hadn’t even gotten his Cutie Mark yet.

He gently folded the picture back up and put it in the saddlebag, then looked around his room for one last time. Nothing else in the room seemed appealing to him. It’d be too much of an emotional burden to take anything else with him.

Dusk’s mind seemed almost to speed time up. Before he could realize it, he had already walked down the hallway and to the stairs for one last time/

The stairs were a much different story. Time slowed as he walked down, each step coming even later than the last.

When he reached the bottom, he looked into the living room. Both Pequot and Kennebec were sitting on the floor, crying into each other’s shoulders.

“Ken? Pequot?” he meekly said to them. “I…I’m ready.”

They both looked up and immediately ran to him.

Kennebec looked into his eyes. “Dusk, don’t forget us. You come back when you’re all grown up, you hear? We’ll all live happily in this little cottage, the way it was supposed to be all along.”

Pequot continued sobbing. “Dusk, please, stay safe, for us. After Mommy and Daddy passed on, you were the only thing we had left in this world. You’re incredibly special to both of us, and we’ll miss you greatly.” Even though she had only said a few words, it took her minutes to get through them. Every word was a new challenge for her to push through.

“Go make us proud,” Kennebec said.

“We love you more than anything else in the whole world,” Pequot sobbed.

“I love both of you, too,” he replied.

Dusk exited the hug and walked to the door. Looking back, he could see they were back to crying with each other. Opening the door, Dusk stepped into the cool air of the spring night.

“Ready to go?” an Earth Pony asked.

Dusk rubbed his eyes. “As much as I’ll ever be.”

The Earth Pony escorted him to a carriage sitting on the road. Two Earth Ponies attached to it started walking down the road.

Dusk looked back at The Bog. A nagging sadness in the back of his mind told him he’d never return.