//------------------------------// // Meet the Rest // Story: Between Sun and Moon // by BloodWolveNL //------------------------------// She had been talking to me, I didn't hear a lot of it. I was lost in thought, as usual. She was saying something about a book she had read, I did want to listen to what she had to say but I had more important things in my head. Why did I feel that stuff? Why didn't I want it? What to do with it? How am I able to keep her from finding out? Why was her mane so pretty? I wanted to scold myself from trailing off to that again when I got this weird feeling, I knew what it was immediately. I didn't like it at all. There was a knock on the door, Twilight opened and there 'it' was. I had always disliked her, whatever happened she always emitted negative emotions. Fear, awkwardness, and the resented feeling of shame. Even if good things would happen to her, a negative feeling would soon follow. I didn't like being around her. "Oh, hi Fluttershy, come in!" Twilight said to the yellow pegasus, she emitted good feelings, up to the moment she saw me, a stranger inside. Fluttershy, I said to myself, remembering the name. Don't misunderstand me, I don't hate her, nor do I think she is evil or something like that. I don't judge good and evil, simply because good to one is evil to another and vice versa. I could very well remember Discord and even though he brought chaos and misery, I liked being around him. The joy he emitted when he was playing tricks was something that I really appreciated. I chuckled, remembering the amount of hunger my presence gave him, spreading joy to a pink pony that lived somewhere around here. I liked being around that pony too, she was always happy. I struggled to recall her name. Remembering the cotton candy clouds brought back positive memories. I remember feeling 'content' about being able to change something about the 'real' world for once. I looked at the yellow ball of fear staring at me from behind her bangs. I had been wanting to read her thoughts, find out why she felt like that. Just being near her made me uncomfortable, so I had decided to refrain from doing so. If I had found out why, I could have helped her now. It's quite a shame, I thought resentful. I heard a squeak from the pony in front of me. Twilight was pushing her along the floor, towards me. "Don't be shy, he is a new friend of mine." Twilight stated, in a vain attempt at encouraging the pegasus. At least I thought that would happen, pleasantly shocked when I felt some fear fade away. Apparently those assertiveness training Twilight was giving her had effect after all. Or maybe the fact I was announced as a friend reassured her. 'Friend', I said to myself, that is a good thing, right? "I'm, I'm F-Fluttershy." I heard her say, feeling more shy as fearful. Good progress in my opinion. "Hey Fluttershy, I am..." Crap... I suck at names, not only forgetting the names of Twilights friends, that I actually saw quite often, I had just forgot my own. The realisation I made it up today didn't really comfort me. I heard a cute laugh as I saw Twilight giggle at me. "His name is Dusk." She said, winking at me. I wanted to kill the butterflies in my stomach, but knew Fluttershy wouldn't really appreciate me doing so. "Yeah, heheh, nice to meet you." I scratched my neck as I was trying to stop feeling ashamed about what had just happened. It felt like Fluttershy and me had been staring at the floor in front of us for ages, I started wishing I had bangs like her to hide behind, as Twilight broke the silence. "So, what brings you here today?" "Oh, yes, I just wanted to tell you Owlowiscious is doing fine, his neck isn't that stiff anymore, I will bring him back next week.... If that's not a problem, that is." Not sure why she felt uncomfortable about that last part. I liked the owl, he didn't feel a lot of emotions, and he looked rather silly when he couldn't turn his neck anymore. I suspect a burnout. I heard them say something, I was submerged in thought again. I should stop doing that, I thought as I felt 4 eyes stare at me. "Oh, err, sorry. I wasn't really paying attention." I smiled sheepishly. The girls were giggling, why it was cute I can't tell. And before I realised, I was guided out of the library. --------------- The sun was bright and warm. The ground felt rather smooth under my hooves and I smelled a cacophony of every smell available, from fresh pie to cart of manure. My senses were overpowered by how vivid it all felt compared to entering a pony. I actually like this, I thought, feeling a smile creep on my face. "You are getting the official town tour!" I heard Twilight shout eagerly, drawing gazes from the town-folk. As we walked through Ponyville, exchanging greetings with ponies I vaguely remember seeing before, I felt 'content' again, maybe even towards happy. Twilight turned around in an attempt to get the silent pony to say anything. Fluttershy had just been following us along the road. I felt a surge of energy going through me. Immediately afterwards, I had the strange feeling that I was being watched. I looked to a stand selling vegetables of some sort, instead of expecting the vendor to be staring at me, I saw that it were the vegetables themselves staring at me. I wanted to facehoof when I reminded myself that that was actually impossible. My brain got kicked out of my skull as a tornado started rambling my eardrums to shreds. "I haven't seen you here before, what's your name? I'm Pinkie Pie!! I bake cupcakes at Sugarcube Corner and give the most super duper awesome fun parties, I could give you one if you want!" The pounding on my ears stopped and for the first time since I saw the pair of eyes in the stand the pink pony was actually in one spot for more as a second. "Err... Sure?" I said to the humongous smile that was way closer as what normal personal space allowed. "Yes! It's going to be awesome, you won't regret choosing Pink Party Inc. for your personal welcome party Dusk!" She yelled in ecstasy, pulling us all in a group hug. I would have liked being pushed against Twilight like this if I wouldn't be struggling not to choke. As she bolted off, I made a realisation. "How did she know my name?" I said to everypony around, including myself. "She's just being Pinkie Pie, don't try to explain it." Twilight stated as if it was nothing special. Wondering if I might have grown my name as a cutie mark on my flank, I saw I was guided towards a big and very bright building. I knew what it was and who lived there, and I was wondering how a dress would look on me. Rather silly, I suppose. ------------ Twilight knocked on the door. It flew open by magic and we were called in. What I saw was a white unicorn, very busy with a piece of brown cloth, and an orange earth pony watching her work. Judging from the tone of both Twilight and Fluttershy, it wasn't common to find her in the boutique. "Applejack, what are you doing here?" Ah yes, Applejack, now for the white one. Something with an R... I had to note that the white unicorn looked very pretty. Not as pretty as Twilight of course, but I could see very well that she took a lot of time every morning to look as good as possible. AJ, on the other hand looked like she had never really seen a comb. There was something that drew my attention, she was missing something. I couldn't put my hoof on it. She also felt less excited as most other ponies I had met. Her mindset was kind of neutral, I preferred it over the unicorn's. Her emotions were swaying all over the place, from happy to irritated in the blink of an eye. "Oh, I am so very sorry Twilight, Applejack here asked me to fix her hat." That answered my question fairly easily... She turned to Applejack with a stern look on her face, floating the fixed hat towards her. "I still don't see why you like this old rag so much, as my friend you deserve to get the finest fashion available. Oh you would look absolutely fabulous with one of my latest spring hats, why don't you try one on for me!" Applejack, not prepared to wear anything remotely fabulous shrugged. Then proceeded to casually fling her hat back on her head. "Ah just find it really comfy, y'all shouldn't worry about having fancy hats." Both ponies turned to look at the three of us. "Oh I am so sorry sir, I didn't see you coming in, can I be of your assistance?" I looked over my shoulder to see the pony she was talking to, but couldn't see him. "Oh no, Rarity, he's with me." Oh, she was talking about me. "Ah yes, of course. My name is Rarity, nice to meet you." A friendly smile as she walked towards me, radiating confidence. "Well, nice to meet you too Rarity, I'm Dusk." I proceeded to nod at Applejack. "Ah'm Applejack, pleasure." And a slight nod in return. "I must say your coat looks absolutely extraordinary." Kind of off-put by this remark of the unicorn, all I could do was make a confused sound. "Those colours, I have never seen anything quite like it. If you don't mind me asking, is it all natural?" Good question actually. My body was made by Twilight's spell, for as far as I know. Is that considered natural? "Um, yeah, I guess so?" "It's simply divine," (she apparently missed or ignored my hesitation) "so special! It would open up so many new colour patterns to use in my line of suits." I sent a desperate look towards Twilight, hoping she could silence her. Being looked at was also a thing I didn't like that much. She just smiled and nodded. Dammit... "Would you mind me making you a suit, I could make you look absolutely stunning." The hopeful twinkle in her eyes, I could feel some sort of nervousness in her too. As if she was afraid to get a no. And apart from that, how bad could it be? I mean, maybe I would look as stunning as she said. Maybe Twilight would think that too. Not that again... "Ehm, sure, I mean. It would be an honour to wear one of your creations." Maybe a bit of over-stroking of one's ego? The hopeful twinkle turned into one of utter focus. She started running tape measures all over me, not sure if some privacy had been broken, I suddenly heard a chuckle in the corner. "Y'all startin' to look like some kind of mummy." "Oh haha Applejack, refrain from being childish, will you." I felt hostility, deeper as this single incident, but not as deep as hate. They are too different not to cause friction I figured. "Ah should be headin' back to the farm anyway, trees not gunna buck 'emselves. Big Mac could use the help." "Bye." 4 voices chimed back at Applejack, causing some grins. "Btw. See y'all at Pinkie's party t'night. Any idea why she's throwin' it?" "New guy in town." Twilight replied, nodding at me. Goodbyes were exchanged once again, and the farm pony left the building, taking the faint smell of hay and sweat with her. "So, where are you from actually?" Rarity asked me, done with the measuring apparently. I didn't know what to say, tell the truth or make up some story about where I came from. "It's quite a long story, actually. I think I will tell it later tonight, instead of 5 separate times." Happy about how I just bought some more time, I wondered why Fluttershy and Applejack hadn't asked. Pinkie simply didn't have time to ask... Or she had somehow figured out, she knew my name too. I should ask her about my past sometime. Wondering if that made any sense, Fluttershy broke the silence. "I-I'm sorry but I really have to go back." She murmured something about her animals, and alone at home, and she shuffled towards the door. "See you tonight, Fluttershy." I waved at her, she replied something inaudible and the purple-maned mares said their goodbyes too. Sitting, we were looking at rarity work. She was drawing suits on pieces of paper. They all looked great to me, but somehow she threw them all away. Apparently I don't know fashion. A short while later, Twilight broke the silence. "Rarity, I think we should be heading off too, it's almost dinner time." "Ah, yes, I still have a lot of work to do, see you both tonight." Scribbling on a piece of paper, she didn't look up as we left the boutique. "Your friends are weird." Crap... Di-did I just say that out loud! Instead of an angry Twilight, as I had expected, I heard her giggle. "Yeah, they can be quite weird sometimes, but it's what makes them great." Why is that smile so pretty? Brain, shut up. "So, shall we grab something to eat?" "Sure!" I wasn't really hungry, but I didn't really mind. Maybe it would mean some time alone with Twilight. SHUT UP BRAIN!!! -------------------- So close. Almost at the library. Now I'm being introduced to an excited pegasus with an ego big enough to have its own train seat. The confidence poured out of the rainbow coloured pegasus as she told me about herself. That same radiating confidence felt good, though her story hurt my ears. "...and Pinkie told me you were Dusk, am I right?." "Yeah, that's me." "She told me not to ask about your past, something with you telling at the party, what's with that?" Her look of confusion must have matched mine. How could Pinkie know? "It's quite a long story, otherwise I had to keep repeating it." "But! Pinkie asked me to get some stuff, so I should be on my way again!" After exchanging goodbyes, she flew off. Taking the one-sided conversation with her. Twilight and I proceeded to enter the library, but something felt odd. I sensed emotions again, happy ones, expecting ones and excited ones. But what worried me most, was how pressuring it felt. Like there was a big crowd nearby. I was trying to put the puzzle together as Twilight guided me into the dark library...