My Little Pony: Friendship is Bothersome

"Hey Dusk, guess what we learned in Canterlot today?" Scootaloo said with a chirpiness to her voice. Rainbow Dash had decided to spend some time with Dusk in the Library, for reasons known only to her. The orange filly didn't question Dash's intentions, and truth be told, she'd taken a shining to the Librarian lately. To her, Dusk was the second coolest pony in all of Equestria.

"That could be any number of things, kid. Why don't you just tell me?" he said, flicking his wrist. A dozen books flew like birds around him and took their rightful places on the bookshelves.

"We learned about Discord the dracone... the drago... dryad-."

"Draconequus?" Dusk offered. Scootaloo smiled.

"That's the one!" she replied, pointing a hoof at the older pony. Dusk raised a brow and pulled out a book from the second floor bookcase.

"So who's Discord?" Rainbow Dash asked, looking to Scootaloo.

"Discord's the spirit of chaos and disharmony. Apparently my friends and I displayed disharmony during the explanation when we argued about who was right." she explained.

"Discord is more than that. The Draconequus race used to be the dominant species on this world before the cataclysmic event that brought ponies to the surface occurred. Discord was the last of his kind and he ruled the ponies like a puppet master rules the stage." Dusk said, showing the two of them a book on the subject of Draconequus.

"That's him!" Scootaloo said, pointing to an image of Discord.

"Discord was defeated by the Princesses Celestia and Luna before the events of Nightmare moon. The sisters were the previous hosts of the Elements of Harmony before us. Rumour has it that Discord wasn't killed, but in fact turned to stone, the same stone that you undoubtedly saw in the Garden of the Royal Palace." Dusk said, leaning over Scootaloo with a scary grin on his face. Scootaloo curled up on herself.

"Y-you mean... We actually saw the r-r-real Discord?" she asked. Dusk looked to Rainbow Dash who had an amused smile on her face.

"Only Celestia knows, but she doesn't like talking about it. Some believe it was because she used to love Discord, and that she plans to release him sometime soon. After all, love makes ponies do crazy things. And a thousand plus years without the one she loves... I'd be locking your bedroom doors at night if I were you." he put on a deep and dark voice, laughing evilly as Scootaloo screamed and ran upstairs to Dusk's room, slamming it shut behind her.

Dusk and Dash both burst out laughing. The former taking a seat on the couch beside the latter.

"You really shouldn't scare her like that. She's got enough problems at home as it is." Dash commented. Dusk looked up at his room and sighed.

"Yeah, but it seems I'll be paying for that with my room tonight." he said, looking down to Dash. She smiled at him and huddled up to him.

"You know, If you want to use that cloud walking spell again, you could stay with me tonight. I'd be happy to share my bed with you. Ive done it before and it was awesome to say the least." she teased, tracing her fingers over his chest. Dusk smiled and leaned in to kiss her.

"DUSK! YOU GOTTA COME WITH ITS AN EMERGENCY I REALLY NEED YOUR HELP!!!" A frantic Pinkie Pie burst through the entrance to the Library, huffing and puffing like crazy.

"This is what you constitute as an emergency?" Dusk asked, his eye twitching slightly. Pinkie just nodded, looking as worried as if her pet, Gummy had keeled over. "You need a taste tester for your newest cupcake recipe?" he asked for confirmation, which the pink mare gave in the form of a cheerful hug. She believed the question doubled as an agreement from him to do it.

"Thank you thank you thank you THANK YOU!" she exclaimed, cutting off Dusk's circulatory system.

Pinkie...choking... not breathing!" Dusk managed to let out, allowing the pink mare to know that she had to release him. With a frustrated sigh, Dusk looked at the cupcakes. He'd just had breakfast, and he was far from hungry. But Pinkie wouldn't care about that sort of thing.

"What's the recipe?" he asked out of mild curiosity. Pinkie shifted slightly.

"Let's hope you never find out." she said, somewhat wearily. Dusk was almost compelled to press the issue, but he figured that tasting them would give him some hint. He picked up a cupcake and examined it thoroughly.

Interesting food dye colour. Looks like blood." he commented, taking a bite.

"Yes... food dye. That's what it is." Pinkie commented as she watched Dusk mull over the taste of the cupcake.

"Why are there different cutie mark icings on the cupcakes?" he asked.

"So I knew who was who." she replied.

"Huh?"

"Nothing!" Dusk got the sense that Pinkie was being uncharacteristically secretive about this recipe. Her nervousness didn't seem to fit the bill either. And the taste... it wasn't very pleasant.

"I'm sorry, Pinkie, but there's just something about these cupcakes that doesn't sit right with me. They taste kinda... meaty... Perfect if you were to serve Gryphons, but..." Dusk paused for a moment. No... Surely she wouldn't. Could Pinkie have made these from actual ponies?

"Exactly how was this an emergency, Pinkie? You never asked me to taste test your goods before." Dusk said. After he'd said it, he couldn't help but notice the unmistakable double entendre he'd made in regards to her 'goods'. The real Dusk Shine truly was back, and badder than ever.

Pinkie sighed and pulled a frying pan out of nowhere. Before Dusk could ask about it, she hit him over the head with it and he was knocked unconscious.

The next morning bore strange outcomes in regards to Ponyville's landscapes. Clouds were made of cotton Candy and rained chocolate milk. Fluttershy's animals looked like they'd been the offspring of their original species and a giraffe. A certain pink pony wearing a propeller cap and bore spiraling eyes fiddled with her lips as she did a Pinkie and hovered around town, seemingly in her own little world.

"Great, first Dusk doesn't show up last night and now this!" Rainbow Dash groaned, still sore about being stood up by him. Applejack and Fluttershy were standing under a tree with her while the chocolate rain fell, turning the grass brown.

"Look on the bright side, sugarcube; It cant get any worse than this." Applejack said, trying to cheer her up. Almost immediately afterward, a giant apple landed on her head, flattening her stetson.

"AJ, that's the kind of statement I'd have expected to come from Pinkie Pie's mouth. You should have known better." Dash growled.

"Yeah..." AJ replied with a defeated sigh.

"Where is Dusk anyway? Wouldn't he love the chance to test some new fail-safe spell or something?" Fluttershy asked, looking around for any sign of the lavender stallion.

"Ah'll betcha his books have come to life and are flying around sortin' themselves in the wrong order." she mused. That earned a laugh from the others.

"His problems are really small compared to ours, huh?" Dash asked, looking at the chaos beyond their tree.

"Oh, look. It's Barb with Trixie." Fluttershy pointed out.

"There's a shocker." Dash muttered. The two beings in question approached the three mares hiding under the apple tree.

"Girls, we have a problem; Princess Celestia has called for Dusk and the Elements of Harmony to head over to Canterlot immediately." Barb said between exhausted breaths.

"The worst part is that we can't find Master or Pinkie Pie. Nopony's heard from them since Master went to taste test for her." Trixie added, looking around in the hopes of finding either one of the two. Now everypony, plus dragon, looked worried.

"Where's Rarity?" Fluttershy asked.

"Getting ready to go to Canterlot. We thought we should tell her first because she'd take longer to prepare than the rest of us." Barb replied.

"Good call." Dash said, getting ready to take flight.

"We can't afford to wait around for Dusk and Pinkie. We should go and find out what Celestia knows about this, and then come back so we can tell Dusk. Hopefully, he'll turn up by then, Pinkie too." she said, lunging into the air.

"Rainbow Dash is right. We gotta get movin'. Barb, Trixie, ya'll come with us. Might need to put your trainin' with Dusk to good use." Applejack said.

"Actually, I should stay here." said Barb. "That way if Dusk does come back while you're there, I can let you know through a letter." she said, looking to Trixie for understanding. The pale blue unicorn nodded and kissed her partner on the cheek.

"Take the letter from Princess Celestia to let the guys at the Train station know that your passage is essential. They shouldn't charge for a summons from the Princess." Barb said, handing Trixie Celestia's letter.

"Thank you, my love."

Dusk felt a heavy lump on his head as he began to wake from his slumber. The last few moments before he fell unconscious were lost to him as he strained his eyes to stay open. A light shone on his face, hurting his eyes to no end.

"What in the name of..." he began before realizing that he was tied to a metal bench.

"Finally awake, I see. Boy you slept for ages. It's already tomorrow morning." a voice said in the darkness beyond the light. To Dusk, it sounded like Pinkie's voice, but the words weren't hers.

"Pinkie, is that you?" he asked. There was a moment's silence before she replied.

"Yes... and no. I'm what you might call an extension of the pinkie that you know. Or rather, the Pinkie that you know is an extension of myself. My own little 'Mare-Do-Well' so to speak." she replied. Dusk was speechless. Pinkie, being the curious type, spoke up. "Something wrong, Dusk?" she asked.

"You're actually forming a coherent sentence and making sense. Why does that scare me?" he asked. Pinkie would have fallen on the ground would the gesture not have been clouded by the shadows.

"And here I was hoping torture and amputation would be the first thing to scare you. That's a shame." she replied. Dusk did not like the sound of those words and tried to remove himself from the spot. "Don't bother trying to use magic either. I injected a drug into the base of your horn that cuts off the flow of magic to it. You're about as good as an Earth Pony for the time being." she stated. Dusk felt that she war right about the horn, but Pinkie had obviously forgotten about his hands. Unlike other Unicorns, Dusk was born with the unique ability to channel magic to any part of his body. His horn was just there for racial verification. He could use his magic whenever and wherever he wanted, but he decided to play this out a little.

"So, can I expect to be one of those cupcakes you made me try? Which taste like shit, by the way. Needs more sweetener." he said.

"Thanks for the tip." Pinkie said glumly. "No, I'm not going to make you into a Cupcake, Dusk... Well actually, that all depends on you." she added, stepping into the light for Dusk to see. The stallion was impressed to say the least. The change in her mane and tail style made the world of difference to how he saw her. "You see, I was diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder. It occurred when Rainbow Dash did her first fucking Sonic Rainboom. The sight split my personality in two. I just happen to best resemble my older self, though I have much darker tendencies than before. I wasn't what you'd call happy." she explained.

"Ah, well that makes two of us!" Dusk said with a hint of glee in his voice.

"What?" Pinkie asked somewhat cautiously.

"Well, that is to say that my personality was... severed from my mind... locked away and left to view my body and heartless mind do stuff the boring way." Dusk replied, grinning at the Pink mare.

"What are you babbling about?!" She demanded.

"Turn off the light and see for yourself."

"Princess, Celestia, we're here as requested." Rainbow Dash said as she and the others entered the Throne room. Princess Celestia turned around, unsure as to how she would react after seeing Dusk for the first time since...

"Thank you all for coming... Where's Dusk?" she asked, somewhat disappointed.

"He's been missing as of yesterday, as has Pinkie Pie." Trixie replied. "I've come in Dusk's place."

Celestia drew a single conclusion from Dusk's absence. And that conclusion was that Discord had taken him hostage, as well as Pinkie Pie. Of course, Pinkie would have been a great playmate for Discord, since their personalities... clicked, but Dusk would have been taken as leverage against her and Luna.

"Very well... There's no easy way to say it, so I'll just tell you what's happening throughout Equestria; Discord has broken free of his stone prison and is on the loose again. furthermore, I believe he's taken Dusk and Pinkie Pie hostage. How and when, I cannot say." she said. As the ponies present gasped in unison, a chuckle echoed throughout the walls in the room.

"While I find it flattering that you'd find me so devious as to kidnap your precious student/dominator, I'm proud to present you with a great big negative buzzing noise." the voice of Discord chimed in, followed by the sound he'd described.

"Discord! You give Dusk back this instant!" Celestia shouted into the room.

"And Pinkie Pie." Fluttershy added. All they received was another chuckle from Discord.

"I already told you, I have nothing to do with their absence. If I didn't know better, I'd hazard a guess as to say that those two knew about my return and cowered in fear. Quite a shame really. Pinkie Pie was my favorite of the bunch and I was looking forward to a divertissement with the great Dusk Shine. Oh well, I guess I'll have to make do with you." he replied, flashing into existence within the glass windows.

Pinkie stepped closer, becoming unusually wary of Dusk's presence. It was strange. Nopony had rattled her simply by relating to her before. All of them simply begged for their lives, but Dusk was transparently different from the others. Different did not suit Pinkie, not this Pinkie anyway. With a tug on the little chain, the light shining in Dusk's face disappeared and a powerful glow emanated from the Stallion's Irises.

"What is this?!" Pinkie demanded, stepping back out of reach. All she received was an amused chuckle from the Lavender Stallion.

"Surprise!" he said before closing his eyes. Now even Pinkie was blinded by the darkness. "You know, it's so good to see that I'm not the only abnormal pony in Ponyville, let alone Equestria. How about you, Pinkie Pie?" Dusk asked, his voice darkening.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!!!" Pinkie screamed at him. She wanted to lunge at him out of fear, but the sudden appearance of those eyes right in front of her caused her to trip back. She knew the layout of her workspace and realized the corner of a workbench was waiting to greet the back of her skull. She was about to die. Something grabbed her from the small of her back and behind her neck and pulled her up. She felt the warmth of another body against hers and saw those eyes staring down at her, and somehow the whiteness of his teeth even glowed. Dusk Shine could really grin like a Cheshire Cat.

"What would you like to be called, if not by your common name? Perhaps your birthright, would suit. Am I right, Pinkamena?" Dusk asked. The chill that Pinkamena felt was unlike anything she'd ever felt before. She suddenly realized that it was the chill of the metal bench. Before she realized what had happened, she was where Dusk had been not a minute ago. The light blinded her as Dusk flicked it on. All of a sudden, the glow had disappeared from his eyes. "In case you're wondering, The Dusk you initially met when I came to Ponyville, was not the Dusk I am today. You, Pinkamena, as well as the others have brought me back to my old self. Only unlike you, I plan to show the world I'm not the monster Princess Celestia believed me to be." he said, leaning in to Pinkamena's face.

"So that's where we're different? I want to kill and you don't?!" Pinkamena demanded. Dusk brushed a strand of her long pink mane aside.

"That is the difference between us, yes. But I figure we can channel these desires of yours. What do you like aside from killing?" Dusk asked.

"Stuff you could never bring yourself to say." Pinkamena replied with a victorious grin. Dusk just returned that grin and switched the light off once more. Pinkamena felt a hand slide behind the small of her back and another just above it. She then felt Dusk's body connect with hers once more like before and the table she was on began to tilt back to a horizontal position.

"Try me."