Dusk

If you have not read the story Dawn, go read it now. You will be lost

Dusk sat in silence as an old, silver-haired stallion looked through the pages of the test he had just taken. After many minutes of the only sounds being the rustling of papers, the stallion set down Dusk’s test.

“Well?” Dusk asked nervously. “How’d I do?”

“Well, I will admit,” he said in a formal manner, putting his hooves together on his desk. “You scored quite well. Astounding, really. Where were you studying before you came here?”

“Well, that’s the thing,” he admitted. “I’ve never studied anywhere before.”

The stallion chuckled. “Sure. The Northwood Monastery is one of the most prestigious and exclusive in the entire Unicorn Kingdom. You mean to tell me that you’ve never studied anywhere before, and you passed the entrance exam with flying colors?”

“Yeah, well, I read a lot. I just guess I retain knowledge really well.”

The stallion smiled faintly. “Well, whatever you did to become smart, it’s worked.” He extended a hoof over the desk to Dusk. “Welcome to the monastery.”

Dusk shook the leader’s hoof in response. “Thank you so much, sir.”

“Always an honor to let in such a talented young stallion.” He pulled out a small key and a note. “This is the key to your room, number 190. Some white, inductee-level robes will be there. If they do not fit, come and see me and I can get that sorted out. In the letter is a list of some rules and things to know about the monastery, along with your mentor.”

“Mentor?” he asked, taking the key and note.

“Yes. When being inducted into the monastery, each new recruit gets a full-fledged member to help guide them through their studies to help them succeed.”

“Okay. Thank you,” he said, walking out of the office and into the halls.

Ponies of nearly every age and color were walking through the halls. He saw robes of white, brown, and blue on their bodies. They were carrying saddlebags full of books, quills, ink, scrolls, and scurrying about, everypony going to their own locations. Realizing the triple digit rooms were on the second floor, he found the stairs and walked up. The upper floor hallways were much less crowded than the lower ones.

After looking at all the doors, he finally found it. Room 190. He unlocked the door and walked in.

Room 190 was small and plain. A well-made bed sat right to the left of the doorway, its side resting into the wall. Cut into the back wall was a window, with pale teal curtains rested on the ends of the window. A small desk was situated in the corner, next to the window. It wasn’t much, but it looked like it was going to be perfect for everything he would need.

Now, he focused on the nicely folded robes sitting on top of the bed. A few stacks of clean, pure white robes were there. Taking off his own clothes, he tried them on. They were a little big, but they would work. Now for the letter. The first page or so was just lots of legal talk; rules, regulations, expectations, the normal junk. The last part was about the entrance process.

Entrance into the Northwoods Monastery is broken down into a few distinct processes:

Step 1 – Study of Ponykind: Subjects studied will include history, language, and philosophy.

Step 2 – Study of Sciences: Sciences studied will include anatomy, mathematics, engineering, and general sciences.

Step 3 – Silence of Contemplation: Recruits will be expected to choose one specific topic to independently study and contemplate on. No speaking is permitted during this time period to allow the mind to work efficiently without any distractions.

Each step will last thirty days. Post steps 1 and 2, an examination will be given to test the knowledge learned over the past month. Projects finished after step 3 will be graded by the monastic leader or a high-ranking senior member. Only when all three steps have been finished will a pony be inducted into the monastery as a full member.

Dusk, your mentor for the induction process will be Dawn. She lives in room 109. Your first meeting shall be tomorrow, December Eighth at seven P.M.

Dusk chuckled. His mentor’s name was Dawn? Dawn and Dusk…it seemed almost as it the leader was trying to set them up. But his mentor was probably much older; he was at the average age for an inductee, and anypony mentoring him must be much older.

As Dusk put the letter down, he could feel his eyelids grow heavy almost instantly. He just realized that he had been up since “I-Haven’t-Gotten-Up-This-Early-Since-I-Lived-With-Earth-Ponies” o’clock, and had spent most of the day taking a test.

Dusk slipped into the bed. It wasn’t overly comfortable, but the covers were warm, and the mattress soft enough to sleep in, at least. He closed his eyes, and before he knew it, darkness enveloped him.

***

The library of the monastery was larger than Dusk could ever have imagined. Just imagining just how much knowledge was contained within the walls gave him a headache. At least a hundred towering shelves held books and scrolls on every subject from fiction to trigonometry and everything between. He grabbed a book on Earth Pony society to compare notes and sat down at an empty table facing the door so he could see when Dawn walked in.

There was a bang at the door, which probably meant somepony wasn’t looking where they were going. It opened, and a mare walked in, probably the same one who hit the door.

Dusk’s eyes widened as she walked in. She had a pale yellow coat that was pleasing to look at, with a mass of somewhat messy blue-green hair on her head. The robes covering her thin body were brown, which meant she was just a normal member of the monastery. She obviously was the one who ran into the door, as she was holding her forehead and squeezing her eyes shut. After looking around for a few seconds, she walked over and sat across from him, on the other end of the small table.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

The mare began to pant heavily, almost as though she sprinted all the way to the library. “I’m fine,” she said.

He studied her with a judgmental eye. Was he supposed to know her? “I’m sorry, but who are you?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said, pushing some hair out of her eyes, “I’m Dawn, and you’re who I’m mentoring, no?”

“Yes,” he said confusedly, “I was just expecting somepony more…”

“Somepony more…?”

“Well, somepony older.”

“Older?” she asked. “What do you mean?”

Dusk’s first impressions of her began to change. She really didn’t have a clue, did she?

“Well, you’re my age, right?” He couldn’t believe she had never noticed her age compared to everypony else. “Well, most of the ponies that join monasteries begin at our age. It’s just so surreal that you’re already to the point where you’re to the point of mentoring when normally, you’d just be joining.”

“Oh. Really?”

“Yeah. How come you joined so early?”

She bit her lip. “I’d rather not say.”

“Oh, I see.” A secretive pony...Maybe she was worth it. “Well anyways, my name’s Dusk. It’s nice to meet you, Miss Dawn.”

“Nice to meet you, Dusk. As you already know, I’m Dawn.” Dawn smiled. “Well, let’s get to work now!”

Dusk smiled. Maybe working with this pony wouldn’t be that bad. “Let’s.”

***

It looked almost as though Dawn spilled her whole bottle of red ink of Dusk’s essay Reasons for pony enslavement in the pre-modern era. She probably wrote more on the paper than Dusk had!

“Don’t worry,” Dawn spoke up as she saw Dusk grimacing at his essay. “The content’s still very good. They aren’t as tough on the silence essay, but it’s still pretty tough. Besides, if I grade you to a higher point of perfection, you’ll be super-duper perfect!”

Her enthusiasm was warming during the abnormally long winter they were having. And, sure enough, he looked at the end, where she wrote Nice job, Dusk! Looking very good! ☺ after the last paragraph. Dusk had decided that either this mare was trying to drop hints about her feelings for him, or she was just an outstandingly nice pony.

Time to find out which.

“Say, Dawn?” he asked, practically epileptic with adrenaline.

“Yes?” she asked innocently.

“We’ve known each other what now, a month? Two?”

“Two months and twelve days,” she corrected. It definitely was Dusk’s former assessment of her.

“Well, over these months, I’d say we’ve become pretty close friends, would you not?”

“Yes, I guess I would.” She looked at him worriedly. “Why?”

Dusk breathed a shaky sigh and inhaled deeply. It was now or never. “Dawn, I don’t know the best way to say this, so I’m going to be quite frank with it. I love you.”

Color immediately rushed to Dawn’s face as she heard this. Her eyes started to encompass most of her face.

“What do you say, Dawn? Do you love me back?”

Dawn’s ears flopped down to the side of her head as she rubbed her neck in nervousness. “Well, I…Sort of…”

This was his ticket. Now just to go with it.

“Sort of?” he asked in a defeated tone. “What do you mean ‘sort of’?”

He could see Dawn was starting to become uncomfortable. “Well, I’ve never really been in love before, and, gosh, this is all just so new, and I just…I…”

Before she could finish her thought, she levitated her materials into her bag and threw them hastily on her back. “I have to go,” she said in a hurried tone.

“What?” Dusk asked. “Why?”

Too late. Dawn was already out of earshot, shoving ponies out of the way as she sprinted to the door, slamming into it. That pony really needs to watch where she’s going. was the only thing that could cross his mind.

Instead of critiquing her door observation skills, Dusk simply sighed and put his own materials into his saddlebags.

“Tonight,” he whispered to himself. “I’ll give her the day to collect her thoughts, then talk to her tonight.”

Looking at the door, he shook his head. “I just hope I didn’t screw this one up.”

***

“Dawn?” Dusk asked meekly, knocking on door 109. “Are you there?”

The door slowly swung open by magic, but nopony stood in the doorway. Instead, Dawn stared longingly out the window. She was levitating a mostly-empty bottle of wine while sobbing lightly.

“Dawn? Are you okay?”

The only reply he got was the bottle being levitated toward him. He took a mouthful of the wine, figuring it was meant for him.

“Dawn,” he pleaded, walking next to her at the window, “Just please, say something. I’m…kind of worried about you. Are you okay?”

She whipped her head a few times to get some stray hair out of her face. Obviously, she was the reason the bottle was mostly empty. “I don’t know…” she drunkenly replied. “I guess I just, well, I reeeally liked you and didn’t *hic* know what to say.” She started smiling foolishly and rubbing against him, digging her horn into his neck.

“Okay, Little Miss Drunkie,” he joked, pushing her away. “I can tell this is your first relationship, is it not?”

Dawn’s face became flushed, mixing with her lack of sobriety. “Oh. It sort of is, I guess. Is…is it your first, too?”

He thought this over a minute. “Yes,” he lied, using some of Soprano’s talents.

The end of his sentence was met with a sloppily performed kiss from Dawn. Dusk had to admit; even though she was drunk and inexperienced, he felt himself falling in love with her through the kiss.

***

Dusk banged on Dawn’s door excitedly. “Dawn!” he yelled. “Dawn!”

He heard groaning behind the door. Maybe telling her at 5 in the morning wasn’t the best move, but this news was too good to pass up.

“Dusk,” she moaned, “The bloody sun isn’t even up yet. What could be so important now?” It was obvious that she had just woken up; she was still wearing her nightgown and rubbing her eyes, which were hardly opened from sleep.

He shoved a small packet of papers into her face. “I did it! I’m now officially into the monastery!”

Dawn suddenly perked up. Her ears became vertical in excitement. “Really? That’s amazing!”

Dusk jumped at Dawn, knocking her down to the ground, and kissing her on the mouth. The sudden jump startled her, causing the papers to fly all around the room majestically.

“What was that for?” she asked, smiling.

Dusk got off of her and sat down, laughing. “I don’t know. Guess I’m just pretty excited.”

She sat up and scotched closer to him. “I’ve got some more good news, too. I’m going to be promoted to a senior member soon!”

“Wow!” he exclaimed. It was funny, really; now his girlfriend outranked him.

“So, Dawn?” he asked, putting his foreleg around her shoulder.

“Hm?” she asked, cuddling closer.

“That story you told me about your life you came here, with the Changelings and all? Is that true?”

She nodded, the pain obviously still fresh in her mind.

“Well, I’ve started wondering. Have you…ever gone back to where you grew up? Gone back to try and mend broken bonds?”

She shook her head gently, tears starting to form in her eyes. “I can’t.”

“You can’t? What do you mean ‘you can’t’?”

“Well, I’m sort of one of the most notorious criminals they’ve ever seen.”

That certainly was a lot of words to say “I’m not welcome”.

“Why do you ask?” she asked confusedly.

“Oh. Well, no reason,” he lied.

***

“Okay,” Dusk said to stop Dawn from kissing him. “I probably should be going now. If I wait any longer, I’ll have to end up sleeping on the side of the road.”

“Don’t go!” she cutely begged. “Stay just a little while longer!”

“I’m sorry,” he said, smiling, “But I’ve got to go. Besides,” his whispered, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

“Come on, just a little while longer?” she pleaded.

“Hey, if I want this report to be stunning enough to get me a senior position, I need to do some first-hoof research.”

“What’s all this fascination with the relations between Unicorns and Earth Ponies?” she asked, smiling.

“No reason,” he lied again. “It’s just that if Equestria wants to exist with all three kinds of ponies, we need to make sure everypony will cooperate. Somepony’s got to find a way to make us work together.”

She kissed him on the forehead. “Okay. I’ll be waiting here for you to return. Write when you get to the Earth Ponies, okay?”

“Okay,” he promised, standing up. “And you’ll put up with me when I get back and want to talk all about my travels?”

“I promise,” she said through a laugh. “You have the map of Equestria?”

“Shoot!” he exclaimed. “Where’d I put it?”

His question was met with a folded up piece of paper flying into his face. “I take it you had it, then?” he asked.

She rolled her eyes mischievously and poked her front hoof into the ground. “Maybe.”

“Okay,” he replied, putting the map into his saddlebags.

Dawn followed him, and they walked to the small, dirt path leading to the village the monastery was built outside of. “I’ll miss you,” she said.

“I promise I’ll come back soon,” he assured her. He started walking down the path, admiring the tiny grapevines overgrowing the sides of the road, bright green in the spring sunlight. As pretty as the vines were, Dusk’s mind was somewhere else while he pulled out the map of Equestria.

The map was large, covering the territory of all three former pony tribes. A circle in the corner of the map was accompanied with the words “Somewhere here”. He pulled out a quill and circled a town in the former lands of the Unicorn Tribe.

***

Dusk inhaled a deep sigh of courage as he walked into the small village. It was just as he remembered it. Even though it hadn’t been that long in reality, he felt as if it had been many lifetimes.

He found the house he was looking for. It remained completely unchanged. Mustering up some courage, he walked up to the door and knocked on it.

Oh, no, his mind raced. This was a terrible move. I should just turn around and go. I just need to-

The door swung open quietly, and a mare stood in the doorway.

“Dusk?” she asked.

“Oh…Hi, Soprano.” I should absolutely not have done this.

Soprano smiled and walked out, silently shutting the door behind her. “Gosh, it has to have been a few years since I’ve last seen you. What brings you back?”

Dusk rubbed his neck in nervousness. “Oh, well, I was just on a journey, and well, this was on the way, so…”

She cut him off with a hoof to the mouth. “You’re so cute when you’re nervous. If you’re here to seek my forgiveness, you have it.”

Dusk just stood there, wondering if he heard her right. “You…forgive me? After all I did? I broke your heart and just left you. You gave me your necklace to remember you, and in all honesty, I was hoping you’d forget me. I never deserved somepony like you.”

“Two things,” she said, smiling. “First, I always told myself that I didn’t deserve you. You’re smart, handsome, funny, and charming.”

Dusk blushed. “No, I didn’t deserve you. You’re talented, nice, and pretty. I was just a deadbeat stallion running from nopony but himself.”

She giggled. “Also, the second thing. I couldn’t just forget you so easily.”

“Yeah,” he laughed, “I know. It was sort of a silly dream.”

“Nothing is a silly dream, you said it yourself,” she joked. “Besides, that's the second thing. You did leave me something to remember you by.”

“Oh, what?” he laughed. “The clothes you threw off me the night before I left?”

“No, silly. Your son.”