//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: Lesson Learnt // Story: Operation: D-Dusk // by CrackedInkWell //------------------------------// The first thing that Bubble Berry noticed when he woke up was that something was off. He’d woken up in somepony else’s bed that he was sure wasn’t his. This was normal, especially on a Friday. But it wasn’t the nightstand that told him he was already late to work that caused him to feel off. If anything, the thing that he woke up to was his Bubble sense. An itchy right hoof, a chill going down his spine, and his ears trying to take off only meant one thing, and it filled him with an emotion he rarely felt: dread. He knew that he was in trouble. Really, really deep trouble. Rolling over and flopping onto the floor, the party stallion got up to his hooves and looked out the window to the morning sun. Part of him wanted to believe what he saw last night was a dream. One in which his plan not only failed to get Dusk back but had blown up in his face, apparently tapping into the Sun Prince’s certain… interests that he wasn’t aware of. Climbing out of the window, he cautiously went down the walls, over the grass, and approached the storage barn doors that were closed shut. No, not just shut. Locked. He went over to one of the windows and peeked inside. He did a double take as he saw somepony laying on a bed of straw, only it wasn’t who he expected. “Applejack…? Elusive…?” The checkered blanket was tangled around the two of them, their hooves over each other as they slept. Berry blinked. “I have so many questions…” but he shook his head. “Hold on, if they’re here, then where is--” Sniff… sniff sniff. “Is that… HAYSTRIPS!” Looking back towards the house, the sounds and scents of breaking lingering in the air made Bubble race back and straight into the kitchen. “Who is cooking haystr--” “I told you the smell of breakfast would get him.” Dusk replied nonchalantly. Solaris stood at the kitchen stove cooking breakfast like a seasoned professional, a cup of coffee in his aura. Dusk sat at the table sipping a cup of tea with a book in his hoof, as usual. The title made the pink party pony do a double take. How to Spice Up Your Sex Life: A Mare’s Guide for Pleasing Your Stallion “Despite this book being for mares, it’s surprisingly useful.” Dusk aimed at Solaris as his eyes widened more and more at each page turn. “It’s amazing what ponies write about. I’ve also heard of this thing called ‘fanfiction’. Now that has some weird stuff.” Solaris chuckled as he cracked two eggs at once into the pan. “Especially when it’s from one of my guards… She wrote about a lesbian relationship with Bluebelle and some art-dealing aristocrat in Canterlot. Regal Splendor, I think was her name.” “AM I MISSING SOMETHING?” Berry yelped. “I believe he is missing the point,” Solaris said to Dusk in a very matter-of-fact tone. Dusk put his book down and looked at Bubble Berry in an unimpressed manner. “Bubble Berry, please take a seat. Solaris and I wish to have a bit of a talk with you.” Berry gulped, hesitantly approaching the table and pulling up a stool, sitting right across from his friend. “Now before I say anything,” Dusk began, “I want you to know one thing above all else: We’re not entirely mad at you.” The pink stallion blinked. “What?” “Just to establish, we already heard about what you tried to pull last night, but at the same time, we also know why you did it. Even so, neither I nor Solaris are mad at you. However…” He narrowed his gaze slightly. “That being said, I am also really shocked and disappointed in you.” “B-But Dusky--” “Let me finish,” Dusk cut him off. “Berry. Out of all the ponies out there that don’t want us to be a couple, having you being the head of a sabotaging party was something I never expected. I thought you loved the idea of us being… well, a couple. It hurts to know that my friend can’t stand us being together--” “But I do want you to be together!” Berry pleaded. “Really, you guys are the most adorkable, lovey-dovey couple that I’ve seen since… well, since ever super forever! And I didn’t want to have you two broken up, but I didn’t have a choice.” “Excuse me, Berry,” Solaris asked as he craned his neck over. “What kind of eggs do you want with your haystrips?” Berry looked at Solaris like he’d sprouted a second horn, slowly replying with ‘any kind would be fine’. “Alright then.” He returned his attention to the stove but continued. “Also, I want to ask you something, Berry, since we’re here. Was trying to have us broken up your only idea?” The pink pony paused for a minute. “Well… the guys and I did think of alternatives, only none of us were getting anywhere…” “And never once did any of you think about asking me to lend a hoof to help resolve this?” commented the Sun Prince. “After all, I’ve already figured out a solution last night. It was only then that Applejack and Elusive told us what was really going on. Speaking of which, can one of you wake up those little lovebirds? Breakfast is nearly ready.” Berry blinked… and blinked again. “Lovebirds?” “It’s a long story,” Dusk said as he stood up. “I’ll go try and fetch them, but you will stay here. We’re not finished with you.” He trotted around the table and walked out the back door. There was a moment of uneasiness in the kitchen with only Berry and Solaris. The white alicorn still had his back turned as he pulled out a multitude of plates and prepared to serve them. “Between you and me,” the tall stallion spoke up, “as much as your good intentions ended up as something rather sinister, there have been some wonderful things to come out of this whole thing.” “Like what?” “Well, I personally had fun pulling that glorious prank on you,” he chuckled. “Your reaction was so priceless that I wish my brother were there to see it. Consider it my crowning contribution to modern Equestria. That, and you unintentionally brought another couple together, in more ways than one.” He winked before continuing in a sober tone. “But seriously, you going all dictator-mode on your own friends, including us, were terrible. You became lost in your desire to keep Dusk as your friend, and meanwhile bullied and convinced everypony else into following along. You’re lucky you have friends like Elusive and Applejack to try and pull you back down to Equestria.” Solaris finished placing food on the table just in time for two very groggy stallions and Dusk to walk through the door. “You have no idea the trouble I went through to get these two off that hay.” Dusk rolled his eyes. Elusive limped up to the chair and grabbed a pillow from the couch to place on the chair, gently lowering himself onto his seat. Applejack sat at the table half-asleep, not being used to waking up so late. Solaris quickly sent two cups of coffee in their direction before sitting down. Elusive clutched it like it was a lifeline. Applejack, however, had never had coffee before. Taking a sip of the bitter liquid caused his pupils to shrink to pinheads. He immediately dumped half of a tablespoon of sugar into it, gulping the whole thing down in a matter of seconds. “Look everypony, I am REALLY super-mega Berry sorry for everything I’ve done. I got so caught up in wanting Dusk back that I forgot about everypony else. I’m sorry Lucy and AJ, I really should have listened to you guys. Also, are you dating now?” Applejack looked over to Elusive who just shrugged. “We’re… working that ouuuuut.” Elusive nearly rested his head in the baked beans on his plate, but luckily Solaris swapped his plate out for a pillow. Using his magic, he set the plate down and plopped a couple more spoonfuls of instant coffee into his mug. Taking a sip from his cup caused Elusive to shoot up and put his breakfast in front of himself again. “It’s alright, Bubble darling. We forgive you.” Elusive finished as he hugged his coffee closer. The apple farmer, after taking some more coffee into his system, was awake enough to finally make an observation. “Y’know, out of all th’ things Ah heard that ya can do, Yer Highness, Ah didn’t know that you could cook.” Solaris shrugged. “I have hobbies outside of dating Dusk and being a Prince, as well as having over a thousand years to perfect them.” He turned his attention back to Berry once again, straightening himself in his seat in a regal way. He spoke as if he were a judge talking to a defendant. “Bubble Berry, as much as we appreciate the fact that you are indeed sorry for what you’ve attempted to do, I’m afraid that as a Prince of Equestria, I do have a duty to uphold since you tried to sabotage royalty. So, on behalf of myself and Prince Dusk Shine, we find you guilty of conspiracy against the crown, attempting to purposefully ruin our date, roping your friends into the act, manipulation…” He leaned forward. “...and murder.” “Wait what?!” Berry objected. Solaris laughed. “No, no, of course not murder.” He chuckled to the point that he began to imitate jello. “Ah, that never gets old.” He cleared his throat. “Anyways, as a Prince, I find that you should be punished for your deeds. Now, given that you have shown guilt and regret for your actions, I, Prince Solaris Everfree, hereby sentence you…” He smirked. “...to a week of personal guilt over what you did.” Every gear in the pink pony’s head grinded to a halt. “Wait… that’s it?” Dusk looked at him quizzically. “Well, yeah. You are our best friend, and you obviously feel terrible for what you did. As long as you never do it again and learned from all of those, then I would be happy to get back to being friends with you.” He smiled. “Aww, you guys are the greatest.” Berry teared up and dashed over to Dusk to hug him. Solaris smirked. “Oi, no touching my coltfriend! ...without giving me a hug!” The knot in Berry’s chest was about to break with Solaris’s jokes. Regardless, Berry came up to the Prince and gave him a huge hug. “So, I do have two more questions.” Berry looked around the table. Elusive was not sufficiently awake by this point. “How are we going to spend time with Dusk? You said that you solved it.” Dusk smiled at Solaris. “Well, what we’re going to do is I’m going to stay in Ponyville and not go up to Canterlot all the time. I’m going to be with you guys for most of the time, but whenever Solaris gets ahead of his duties, I am either going up there for a couple of weeks or he will visit us for a couple of weeks. Either way, this will be once every couple of months and not every other day. So for the most part, I’m staying in Ponyville.” Berry, Applejack, and Elusive all celebrated now that everypony was paying attention. “We got our Dusky back!” Berry went over and hugged Dusk again. “Okay, question two: What’s up with them?” Berry pointed at Elusive and Applejack. Applejack looked up from his spaghetti on toast with a single noodle hanging from his mouth. “‘What’s up with them’ is a very good choice of words,” Solaris smirked, stabbing a little vegetarian sausage with his fork and wiggling it around in his mouth. Dusk put his head in his hooves and groaned, Applejack went redder than the strawberry jam on the table, and Elusive smirked in his direction. “They became a thing shortly after we foiled your plot,” Dusk clarified. “Hey, has anypony seen Macarena?” Applejack asked. “She went to bed last night, but I haven’t heard from her since.” All he received were blank faces. “Hey, I went upstairs last night for a drink of water, and I noticed you only have three bedrooms up there. Where does Macareina sleep?” Elusive asked. “Well yeah, when we made the barn-house attachment, we didn’t have enough room upstairs for four bedrooms, so we made a room at the end of the hallway which is actually… above… the barn… directly…” Applejack gulped. “Y’all don’t think she heard us, do ya?” Elusive and Applejack looked at each other in horror before bolting up to Macarena’s room. The entire table fell silent. Finally, Solaris broke the silence. “Wow… and here I thought talking Dusk through all the kinky stuff we did last night was awkward.”