A Never-ending Evening
On a clearing in the woods, on the outskirts of Ponyville on the way to the Everfree forest, you could hear the joyful songs of the birds, different chirps, and trills that broke the silence and delivered a relaxing sound that made ponies remember how pleasant it was to be in nature, away from all the hustle and bustle in town. But the sound of those birds was not one that could be heard on either side, for the sound that was heard was not the normal thing the birds did, singing in disorder and without any specific reason, this time you could hear the birds in sync, all singing together and at the same pace, as if they really were singing a song. This was something the birds rarely did, more in Ponyville, being such a close place to the wild and untamed Everfree forest, yet there was a mare who, with her soft character, had managed to reach the hearts of the animals and had made them do what she asked them, not with training but by showing them her kindness.
On the branches of a small tree, the sweet Fluttershy had gathered most of the birds that lived near her house. These birds stood on different branches and sang in unison a song that the Pegasus had taught them and she herself now lead, moving her hooves from side to side like an orchestra conductor, causing all the birds to follow their movement and rhythm. She had spent the whole morning rehearsing with her birds the different songs she hoped to play for the Summer Sun Celebration since she had little time and hoped that everything would turn out perfect, after all being in charge of music for such an important celebration required her greatest effort.
As Fluttershy continued leading her bird choir, for a moment she lifted her hoof, causing the birds to sing in an extremely sharp tone, breaking the harmony they had till then.
"Huh!? Oh, I'm sorry!" Fluttershy said quickly, lowering her hoof so that the chorus stopped singing that high note. "I don't know what's happening to me today, guess I'm a little distracted ... Let's start from the beginning."
Fluttershy then settled down and moved her hooves again to start the tune from the beginning. This was not the first time Fluttershy had been distracted and had to start from the beginning, for some reason, she had not been able to concentrate at one hundred percent since returning from breakfast with her friends, she was trying to focus on guiding the music, but a lingering thought in her mind wouldn't let her concentrate, the revelation that apparently all her friends were interested in the same colt, Dusk Shine. She had been very surprised to learn that, her friends as well, but it had surprised her to know that they had all done something to get closer to him, unlike her; Applejack had kissed him, Pinkie Pie too, even Rainbow Dash for the first time had hinted at her feelings, which was already a breakthrough, only she and Rarity seemed to have done nothing, and knowing her flirtatious friend, Rarity wouldn't waste time, after all the white unicorn had her beauty and feminine charm to attract the colts, but what did she have? That is, she was not sure how to react if she saw Dusk again, after all, she did not want to fight with her friends, but she felt that she did not want to leave Dusk either, but if she didn’t go away and meet Dusk again, would she dare do anything? That restlessness would not leave her alone.
Suddenly Fluttershy came out of her thoughts and came back to reality seeing that the birds suddenly stopped singing and flew out of the tree they were standing in, flying in all different directions as if something had frightened them.
"What's going on?" Fluttershy asked worriedly, watching as all her birds flew away.
Then Fluttershy heard a noise, it was the strong and fast galloping of someone. She turned and saw that a pony was approaching her, and not any pony, it was Dusk Shine, who was hurrying towards her with a frightened face.
"FLUTTERSHY!!" Dusk shouted as he ran towards the yellow pegasus.
If it had been in another situation, Fluttershy would have been excited to see just the colt she was thinking of had appeared in front of her, as if he had heard to her thoughts, yet she could only get a little frightened and nervous at seeing how frightened Dusk was running.
"Hide me!" Dusk shouted once he reached Fluttershy, running non-stop, only to take the pegasus by a hoof and causing them both to leap past a shrub beside the tree which Fluttershy had been standing by.
As soon as they were hidden behind the bush, Fluttershy looked at Dusk in surprise, not understanding anything, but the unicorn just lifted his other hoof and put it to his mouth for a sign of silence, which Fluttershy did.
After a few seconds, she heard another noise, this time a louder noise, that of a wagon. Passing in front of the bush, not noticing that its prey was hidden, was a wagon carrying Applejack's cousins, all excited about the cart race they had made from Sweet Apple Acres chasing Dusk, although most had already forgotten the reason for the persecution and only had fun while the only one who remained serious, Big Mac, he was still pulling at full speed, trying to catch Dusk. It was so that the wagon sped past and continued its way, leaving only a trail of dust and noise.
Once everything settled again and all was quiet, Dusk Shine breathed again, out of fear, he'd held his breath as the cart passed the bush.
"Phew! That was close..." Dusk sighed, placing a hoof to his chest.
Ever since Dusk had run out of Sweet Apple Acres, all he did was run aimlessly, just running at full speed as he heard the cart behind him. Sometimes he felt the swift cart getting too close to him, so much so that a few times he even had to use his teleportation spell to flee further down the road, but the cart always reached him again, and though he had turned a couple of times to look at his pursuers and he had noticed that all Applejack's cousins laughed cheerfully as if this were all a game, which for a second had made him think that it would be best to stop, only to see the serious and annoyed face of Big Mac again and make him tense and urge himself to keep running from him. It was so unconsciously Dusk had escaped by the same route that he had used to reach Sweet Apple Acres the first time, the path that connected the Apple family farm with Fluttershy's cottage, traversing the grove on the outskirts of the Everfree forest. It was that same unconscious thought that made Dusk do that as soon as he saw Fluttershy, he grabbed her and took her to hide with him, although Pegasus didn't need to hide.
After calming down, while both ponies were still sitting behind the bush, Dusk turned his head to look at Fluttershy and explain everything happened, certainly the mare must've had many questions of all that happened, however as soon as Dusk looked at Fluttershy he realized that the pegasus was totally blushing, without looking at him and covering her mouth with one of her hooves in shyness.
"Huh... is something wrong?" Dusk asked, confused when he saw that Fluttershy was completely red.
Fluttershy looked at Dusk and then looked down at the space between them, not saying a single word as she blushed. Dusk looked down at Fluttershy and saw that he was still holding one of Fluttershy's hooves he had grabbed to make her jump with him and in all that time, without realizing it, he hadn't let go of Fluttershy's soft hoof for even a second. Dusk Shine also blushed and released her immediately, believing that the meek Fluttershy wouldn't be accustomed to having somepony hold her hoof so firmly, this was true, but what Dusk didn't know was that she hadn't blushed because someone had held her hoof, but because 'just Dusk' held her hoof.
"I... I'm sorry, it was an impulse, I didn't realize it." Dusk apologized awkwardly.
"Umm... N-No matter... " Fluttershy said timidly, missing the warmth of Dusk's touch.
After that short dialogue followed a long silence that neither seemed to break, Dusk was still on alert, his body tense and his ears raised up, trying to hear any noise from the surroundings in case Applejack's family continued prowling the place; while Fluttershy remained silent but unwilling to be, because what she really wanted was to take advantage of this opportunity that fate had given her to be alone with Dusk and to talk and get to know him more, however, the extremely timid Fluttershy didn't know what to talk about or how to start a conversation, which caused the poor mare to be anxious, only biting her lip at the powerlessness of not knowing how to act.
"Hmm... Fluttershy, I'm sorry I dragged you in with me," Dusk said, finally breaking the silence. "If you like, you can go, you don't need to hide with me."
Fluttershy looked at Dusk and saw him staring at her, then she looked away in embarrassment and looked down at the ground again. She had been thinking about that colt all morning, and now that she had finally been able to see him, she did not want to stop being with him so easily.
"N-No... I... I'm fine here." Fluttershy said totally blushing, not being able to see Dusk in the eye but happy to get the courage to tell Dusk that she wanted to be with him.
As for Dusk, he unfortunately did not understand the value that the timid pegasus had to take to say those words or understand their true meaning, he only supposed that she was still so frightened and confused with everything that happened that she was even afraid to move.
"Hmm... But Dusk... Why are you hiding?" Fluttershy asked timidly, because she thanked her luck for meeting Dusk, but she still had many questions about what had just happened.
Dusk stopped looking at Fluttershy and peered out the front of the shrub that was hiding them. Dusk wasn't sure if talking too much was safe or not, since Applejack's cousins might still be hanging around and could hear them. The lavender unicorn then turned to look at Fluttershy and saw her innocent cyan blue eyes gazing at him tenderly, making him blush slightly and decide that the least he could do was give an explanation of everything that happened, and he thought that as long as they spoke in a low volume, nopony would probably hear them. This lead to Dusk explaining that he had run away from Applejack's cousins, having to explain all that confusion with the arranged marriage and explain how he had come to Sweet Apple Acres, the stallion also had to explain that before arriving there he was with Rainbow Dash and therefore what happened with Rarity, from question to question Dusk ended up telling Fluttershy everything that had happened to him since he'd left the library that morning.
"... and as you'll see, this is the first moment of relaxation I've had since dawn, haha." Dusk laughed nervously after finishing his story.
"Wow... yeah, it really was a busy morning." Fluttershy smiled, who had listened quietly to Dusk's story, but in her mind, she had many ideas that made her uneasy.
Dusk smiled and was grateful to have meet Fluttershy, for what he was going through at that precise moment was just what he needed, someone to listen to and help him relax, and the quiet Fluttershy was the perfect companion for that after that hectic morning. Then Dusk looked at the sky through the branches of the bush and saw that the sun continued to advance and that despite being comfortable, he had to leave at some point and continue with his labors.
"It's been a while, maybe it's time to go." Dusk said, looking at the butter yellow pegasus, somewhat embarrassed by what he was going to ask. "But just in case... Fluttershy, could you peek out and see if Applejack's cousins really aren't there? I don't want to look out and let them see me, if they are still there."
"Uh... yes, of course." Fluttershy said, sad to hear that Dusk had to go.
After that, Fluttershy got up and stuck her head out of the bush, she looked everywhere and sharpened her ears to see if she heard anything, yet she could not see or hear anyone, just the silent forest that surrounded them.
"So... Do you see anything?" Dusk said nervously, totally blushed, because as soon as Fluttershy had stood and peered through the bush, inadvertently she had left Dusk with the privileged sight of her beautiful flanks, to which Dusk couldn't help blushing upon seeing them, though he quickly turned his gaze away out of shame, since it wasn't gentlecoltly to stare so closely at a mare's flanks.
After Dusk asked, Fluttershy didn't respond, she just bit her lip without knowing what to do. She remembered all that Dusk had told her about what had happened to him that morning, and although Dusk didn’t notice, she did realize that her friends wanted to get closer to the colt and they were! While she was just here alone doing nothing, she did not have the firm character of Applejack, nor the strong temperament of Rainbow Dash, nor the flirtatious style of Rarity, let alone the outgoing personality of Pinkie Pie, she was just an overly shy mare who couldn't make a decision and make her stand out in front of the others, she felt weak, just as she felt that morning when she mentioned that she was the first to meet Dusk and none of her friends appreciated that. But now she had the opportunity to be alone with Dusk, and although she did not like lying, she decided that this time she should be more bold and determined, and follow her feelings.
Fluttershy stopped looking through the bush and was inside it again with Dusk, then blushed looking at the unicorn.
"I... I didn’t see anything..." Fluttershy said shyly, telling the truth before lying. "Bu... But I think I heard them... ma-maybe they're still around..."
"For real?! Wow, what very persistent ponies... I guess I'd better stay here for a while longer with you." Dusk sighed, resigned to the fact that for his own safety he should remain hidden.
"Yes!" Fluttershy said cheerfully, so cheerful that she spread her wings a little and almost jumped with joy, but then realized that she shouldn't be so happy in this situation in front of Dusk, and blushed again before calming down.
Then Fluttershy approached to where she had been sitting and with much effort, while she trembled slightly from nerves, she sat down. Dusk noticed that the mare was nervous but didn't understand why, as she sat next to him exactly where she had been sitting before; however for Fluttershy it was a big step, since before she had been sitting there by chance, but now SHE had decided to sit there, beside a colt, extremely close to each other, and for Fluttershy that had taken a great deal of bravery even though Dusk didn't notice it.
After sitting down, both ponies lifted their ears at the sound of a noise, then raised their heads and saw that a flock of birds of different species flew over them and stood in the branches of the tree that was next to the bush.
"Oh, what joy! They're back!" Fluttershy said cheerfully looking at the birds. Then one by one the birds flew to where Fluttershy was, they circled over their heads singing and returned to their place in the branches of the tree, as a greeting, all while Fluttershy smiled at each bird.
"I know them, they're your birds." Dusk said after having recalled seeing those birds when he helped Fluttershy with her duties the first day he arrived in Ponyville.
"Oh, they're not my birds, they’re all free birds, I only take care of them." Smiled Fluttershy.
"And what are they doing here all together?" Dusk asked.
"I was practicing with them for the musical choir tonight, but when you arrived they became scared and fled." Fluttershy replied, still watching the birds.
"You're in charge of the music for the celebration!?" Dusk asked in surprise.
"That's right." Fluttershy replied blushing a little.
Dusk was surprised by that huge coincidence, not only with Fluttershy but with Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity, all the preparations had been entrusted to the mares with which he intended to form some bond of friendship, and now that he thought about the matter more carefully, the last preparation was the evening of the day before, a feast before the great celebration, and a certain pink mare had told him that she was in charge of Ponyville's parties, so that all seemed to stop being a mere coincidence. For a second Dusk looked up at the sky and felt like a puppet, as if some invisible force were playing with him, although he quickly dismissed the idea, for such absurd things as fate didn't exist. Meanwhile, Fluttershy had been somewhat uneasy, she had seen that Dusk had apparently been interested to know that she was in charge of the music of the Summer Sun Celebration, maybe he would like to hear the music she had prepared, but she wasn’t sure how to ask Dusk, What if he said he wasn't interested? What if he didn't like it...?
"By the way, I'm in charge of supervising the preparations for the celebration." Dusk said suddenly, trying to continue the conversation and forget the silly notions of fate. "Taking advantage of being here, perhaps you could show me what you've prepared for tonight."
That comment excited Fluttershy and dispelled all the doubts she had, though Dusk quickly corrected himself.
"On second thought, maybe that's not such a good idea. Applejack's cousins are still out there and it might draw a lot of attention to watch the birds sing." Dusk added, scratching his head.
That discouragement hit the Pegasus in a second, who returned to look sadly at the ground, scratching the earth with her hoof. Dusk looked at the mare and could not help but think how tender Fluttershy looked, being shy, apparently she wanted to show her music but she did not dare to say it out loud.
"No, you know what? I think it would be good to listen to the choir, I don't think anyone will pay attention to the choir or the bush we are in." Dusk added again, knowing that he was risking his neck by making noise, but being rewarded with the tender smile of Fluttershy who was glad to hear his words, it made Dusk blush.
Then Fluttershy looked at the birds, who could see her behind the bush from above as they stood on the branches of the tree, and she began to move her front hooves gently from side to side as the birds began to sing in unison a soft melody with their trill chirps. This pleasant music surprised Dusk, who didn't expect such a harmonious sound from these birds, all attentive to the movement of pegasi's hooves, each in its own tone, small birds sang the high notes and some of them that were plumper than the rest sang bass, but all in perfect harmony. Dusk was amazed to see the birds while his body finally relaxed completely and gave in to that melody, then he stopped seeing the birds and saw what they saw, Fluttershy, who smiled tenderly as she led her choir, Dusk stared at her, astonished to realize the hard work it had taken her to coordinate the various songs of the birds to form a true musical choir.
For a moment Fluttershy glanced at Dusk and saw that he was watching her closely, which made her heart skip a beat as she blushed, but that also triggered her scenic panic by being the center of attention, which made her nervous and lose the rhythm of music, before which the chorus broke the harmony and was silent as Fluttershy lowered her hooves slowly.
"I'm sorry... I lost the rhythm." Fluttershy apologized in embarrassment.
"What are you talking about? That was amazing! It was a very nice choir, you taught them well, you really surprised me." Dusk said encouraging her while smiling. "And they sing to perfection only by seeing the movement of your hooves?"
"Yes, although I sometimes use a baton, and there are a few melodies they even sing without me guiding them." said Fluttershy timidly, blushing after receiving such flattery from Dusk, the colt that made her heart skip.
And as if the birds had understood what Fluttershy had just said and followed what she wanted from the bottom of her heart, the birds began another melody, one with a softer and more romantic rhythm as they flew over the bush and gently tapped some branches of the tree so that some flower petals fell on both ponies, creating a perfect romantic scene.
All that, the singing of the birds and the falling petals, was so gradual that neither of the ponies realized when everything had started since they had been staring at each other. Fluttershy had never looked into the eyes of another pony for this long, but on that occasion she was mesmerized by the atmosphere and the beautiful eyes that were in front of her, a situation identical to what Dusk felt at that precise moment. They continued to see each other until a petal fell on Fluttershy's nose, then she wrinkled her nose tenderly to fall, then lifted her hoof and smoothed her mane, before continuing to watch Dusk; The gesture so feminine and natural, made Dusk's heart beat hard as his cheeks blushed even more.
"What is this?" Dusk thought nervously as he didn't understand his own emotions. "Why can't I stop looking at her? And now... Is she approaching me? Or am I approaching? Or are we both?" Dusk thought as he felt the distance between their faces slowly growing closer...
"There you are!" said Rainbow Dash suddenly, who out of nowhere stuck her head through the bush.
This sudden appearance immediately cut off all that romantic atmosphere, the birds stopped singing and flew away while Dusk and Fluttershy nearly jumped out from fright before the sudden appearance of Rainbow Dash. The both of them then blushed and looked down, without being able to see into each other's eyes or Rainbow Dash, it was as if they had awakened from a dream, a beautiful dream that neither of them had wanted to end as suddenly as it did.
Rainbow Dash gave a confused look at Dusk, then saw Fluttershy, and saw that both were blushing. The gears in Rainbow Dash's mind began to move quickly to try and understand the situation, had she interrupted something between the two of them? Then Rainbow Dash stared at her friend, who always seemed to have that shy expression.
"Pfff, nah, that's impossible." Rainbow Dash laughed, dismissing immediately the idea that Fluttershy might be doing something with Dusk, that is, both were hidden behind a bush, very close together and everything, something that would have put her on alert if Dusk had been with Rarity, or Pinkie Pie, or even with Applejack, but there was definitely no chance that something had happened between the shy Fluttershy and Dusk.
"Anyway, it seems I scared you, sorry Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash apologized looking at Fluttershy and then looked at Dusk. "You, come with me."
Rainbow Dash then took Dusk in her hooves for the second time in the day and pulled him quickly as she began to fly.
"W-Wait!" Fluttershy shouted at the sight of Rainbow Dash taking Dusk away, though her shyness stopped her and only let out a shriek that was almost a whisper.
That was how the timid pegasus was alone, watching the rainbow trail away, scratching the ground with her hoof wearing an expression of disappointment, wishing that the magical moment she lived with Dusk for a few minutes would have ended differently.
"Hey, Rainbow Dash! Stop! "Shouted Dusk for the umpteenth time, shout that he was finally overheard by Rainbow Dash once she slowed down and stopped next to Dusk at the town entrance.
"What's wrong?" Rainbow Dash asked, stopped flying and stood on the ground.
"What's wrong!?" Dusk repeated annoyed. "This happens to be the second time in one day that you grab me without warning and take me flying from where I was!"
"Well... it's your fault!" Rainbow Dash said annoyed. "I told you to wait for me and then you leave, I had to look for you all around Ponyville until I luckily found Applejack's cousins who told me they lost track of you in the grove near Fluttershy's house, and if it hadn’t been for that chorus of birds I would never have found you."
Dusk heard the pegasus whole speech, which made him seem like the culprit when in reality he was the victim of everything, in addition to everything that the pegasus had just said was missing something essential.
"Well? So why were you looking for me?" Dusk asked, still annoyed, not understanding the eagerness that Rainbow Dash had for finding him.
All of a sudden Rainbow Dash ceased being confident and fell silent, opening her eyes wide and turning a little pale. She had been bothered by Dusk leaving her alone and for missing the opportunity to show him how great she was by clearing the sky, so after discussing with the pegasi of the weather patrol, she had spent the rest of the morning and afternoon of that day looking for Dusk, only focused on looking for him to show off that she was worthy of his admiration, so that now that she was standing in front of him, she realized that she had no compelling reason or even thought of an excuse for Dusk to stay with her.
"I... I... I wanted you to see my stunts!" Rainbow Dash said nervously, saying the first thing that came to her.
"Stunts?" Dusk said confused and annoyed. "I don't have time for that, I have to continue monitoring the preparations for-"
Dusk stopped talking, looking at the sky over the town and seeing that it was full of clouds.
"What happened to the sky!? Just this morning it was clear and now it's all cloudy!" Dusk added totally bewildered.
Then Rainbow Dash turned and looked at the sky too.
"Oh, it can't be! Who will clear the sky!? "Rainbow Dash said theatrically. A very bad performance that would have been discovered by anyone, by anyone but the naive Dusk.
A pale green pegasus was putting the last cloud in its place, and upon seeing Rainbow Dash, she approached her.
"Rainbow Dash, we put all the clouds where you told us." said the green mare as she approached Rainbow Dash.
"W-What are you talking about? Hehe." Rainbow Dash said, giggling nervously and glancing sideways at Dusk. "I said take them away, not bring them back."
"Hmm, no, I'm sure you said-" the green mare replied, but her speech was silenced by Rainbow Dash, who quickly put a hoof in her mouth to silence her.
"Obviously you didn't understand my instructions, but don't worry, you can go, I'll clean this mess." Rainbow Dash said, looking at the green pegasus with a big, fake smile.
The green pegasus scratched her head uncomprehendingly, but since Rainbow Dash was the captain of the weather patrol, she decided not to continue arguing and simply to leave.
As soon as the green pegasus left, Rainbow Dash looked back at Dusk.
"Hehe, these newbies... sometimes they confuse orders, hehe." Rainbow Dash giggled nervously.
"That doesn't matter, the important thing is now what do we do!?" said Dusk nervously, who was still looking at the sky and paid little attention to the argument between Rainbow Dash and the green pegasus. "It's sunset and the sky is still cloudy! You'll have to call the entire weather patrol so they can fix this as fast as possible!"
"Pfff, not necessary." said Rainbow Dash, pretending not to care but rejoicing inside to see that everything was finally coming out as she wanted. "If I wanted, I could clear the sky by myself in ten seconds flat."
Dusk looked at Rainbow Dash, who as always looked extremely confident, nevertheless in his opinion that pride was excessive, to say that she could do all that work completely alone was too much, he couldn't flatter her with false compliments as he had this morning, no, it was time somepony lowered the fumes from her head, besides, Dusk was still annoyed with her for interrupting him when he was with Fluttershy, since for some reason he had felt very comfortable with the timid pegasus; so Dusk couldn't help but be annoyed even more and stare angrily at Rainbow Dash.
"Enough of this! You can't do it, it's impossible! This is work for an entire patrol!" Dusk said angrily. "Put aside your pride, this is not for personal glory, we must clear the sky for the celebration for all the ponies!"
"So you don't believe me!" Rainbow Dash replied, bringing her face closer to Dusk's and looking at him seriously.
"That's right! I'd bet anything that you can't keep up with what you say." Dusk said, standing still and watching Rainbow Dash closely.
"Bet?" Rainbow Dash repeated, ceasing to be serious but without removing her face from Dusks. Then several ideas began to cross the Pegasi's mind, ideas related to Dusk.
"Okay." said Dusk without moving, still annoying, and believing that Rainbow Dash's question had been a challenge. "If you can clear the whole sky in ten seconds, I'll do anything you want."
At Dusk's words, Rainbow Dash's eyes widened and she finally turned away from Dusk and turned around, he hadn't noticed that she was blushing. Then the ideas that had passed briefly through Rainbow Dash's mind became clearer, thoughts that became images in her head, images of fantasies that involved her and Dusk.
"He... will do what I want!" Rainbow Dash thought as her heart beat faster and louder, her cheeks blushed.
Then Rainbow Dash turned to look at Dusk again.
"Okay, it's a bet." Rainbow Dash said, trying to look calm, but still slightly blushed.
Then Rainbow Dash leaned forward, stretched her wings and stood ready to run, or in this case, fly at full speed.
"Get ready to keep your mouth open." Rainbow Dash said excitedly. "When you give me the signal."
Dusk looked at Rainbow Dash, who kept looking up at the sky with an expression of absolute confidence that she could really do that impossible task, then Dusk couldn't help thinking that perhaps it wouldn't be such a good idea to humiliate her and show her the harsh reality that she was not as quick as she thought, however he remembered again that she had interrupted him when he was with Rarity and Fluttershy, and that, for some reason that he didn't understand himself, bothered him, so he simply decided to use the bet on Rainbow Dash as revenge.
"GO!" Shouted Dusk, giving the signal for the pegasus to leave.
As soon as Dusk uttered the words, Rainbow Dash took off at an incredible speed, leaving only a trail of dust on the ground and her characteristic rainbow contrail flying across the sky. Then Dusk looked up, astonished to see the speed with which Pegasus had taken off, he couldn't help but be more surprised to see the clouds over Ponyville fade away as soon as the rainbow trail pass them by, something so fast that one could hardly distinguish that the contrail was really Rainbow Dash and that it was she who, with strong swift kicks, struck the clouds to make them disappear from the sky.
Finally the last clouds disappeared and the rainbow contrail descended to where Dusk was, stopping and showing an excited and extremely exhausted Rainbow Dash.
"I... I told you... ten... seconds..." Rainbow Dash said, breathing heavily as she smiled at the look of utter astonishment on Dusk, who was still looking up at the sky.
Rainbow Dash couldn't stand it any longer and began to laugh as Dusk continued looking towards the sky with his mouth hanging open. That nice laugh was the one that finally brought Dusk back to reality, then he looked down and saw Rainbow Dash. Instantly Dusk realized that he had not really taken the time, but that really didn't matter, it could've been a little more or a little less, the reality was that everything had been extremely fast, Rainbow Dash had scattered dozens of clouds at an astonishing rate, so much so that Dusk, who had even seen the famous Wonderbolts, was seriously beginning to believe that Rainbow Dash could actually be Equestria's fastest pony.
"That... That was amazing!! I've never seen anything like it!" Dusk said sincerely looking excitedly at Rainbow Dash, forgetting that a few moments ago he was annoyed with her and that all that had been to shrink her ego a little. "I... I know in the morning I praised you for how fast you are but... wow! I must admit that now I mean it, you really are awesome."
As Dusk said those words, Rainbow Dash was smiling more and more as her heart filled with joy, this was what she had been looking for! She loved it when other ponies praised her speed, but what that colt did gave it an extra touch, for some reason she enjoyed it much more when she heard those words coming from Dusk Shine, she was very happy that he saw her as an unequaled mare.
"Well?" Dusk finally asked, at the confused look of Rainbow Dash. "A bet's a bet, tell me what you'd like me to do for you?"
Then Rainbow Dash realized that for a second she had forgotten the bet, since what she had chased all afternoon was to receive the praises of Dusk, that bet had been a last minute addition. Then Rainbow Dash blushed and was glad for her good fortune to have that great "free bonus".
"I... er..." Rainbow Dash started nervously, looking at the ground as she blushed and thousands of thoughts passed through her head, then she looked up and saw that Dusk was watching her closely, expectant to know what she would ask. "Don't look at me like that, I still haven't decided! Give me a second!" Rainbow Dash added, totally nervous, blushing even more and turning as she always did so Dusk wouldn't see her like that.
As she turned her back on Dusk, Rainbow Dash put a hoof to her mouth thoughtfully and began to think about what she should ask the colt. Many ideas went through her head, ideas about asking him to do something ridiculous, or to join her in pulling pranks again, or serve her as a personal servant for a day, however, the more she thought, her hidden feelings began to affect her ideas, changing them for: solo walks with Dusk, an invitation to dinner together, some romantic gift... Then the idea of knowing that she could ask anything of Dusk mixed with her hidden feelings led her to have crazy romantic fantasies.
"What on earth am I thinking!!?" Rainbow Dash suddenly thought as she realized that she was totally blushing as she imagined her and Dusk together in bed.
She then quickly dismissed those crazy ideas and focused on something more realistic, something that Dusk could do and that she liked, maybe something Dusk could offer her, something special that he shared with her... and while she thought about it, unconsciously she began to rub her hoof softly on her lips and in her mind ran the memory of breakfast, and she remembered that two of her friends had blatantly kissed Dusk.
Finally, Rainbow Dash lowered her hoof, closed her eyes and turned to face Dusk to tell him what she thought to ask, but she didn't dare ask what she was going to ask staring at Dusk, so she glanced down and looked at the floor.
"I... I think I know what to ask you to do..." Rainbow Dash said nervously, totally blushed, still staring at the floor. "Applejack and Pinkie Pie have kissed you, haven't they? I... I wondered if... if we could-" Rainbow Dash began to stutter nervously, something she didn't like, so she took a breath and lifted her head to finish her order by looking Dusk in the eye. "If we could kiss-"
Rainbow Dash didn't finish speaking when she realized that Dusk wasn't in front of her, in fact, he was nowhere! The pegasus opened her eyes in complete surprise as all the tension that she had felt in her heart disappeared in an instant, leaving her with weak legs, almost causing her to fall. She started looking around for Dusk, but there was no trace of the unicorn. Finally, she looked down and saw a small piece of paper, a letter, right on the spot Dusk had been standing a few moments ago. Rainbow Dash approached, took the letter, opened it as it read:
"Sorry Dashie, I borrowed Dusk, I know it wouldn't bother you.
See you at the party."
Rainbow Dash began to read the letter excitedly, thinking it had been a note from Dusk, but when she finished reading it, her expression quickly changed from surprise then to anger.
"PINKIE PIE!!" shouted Rainbow Dash, crinkling the letter as she suspected that it must have her crazy pink friend and realized only Pinkie could have gotten Dusk so quickly and silently that she hadn't noticed.
Dusk Shine was standing in front of Sugarcube Corner while Pinkie Pie opened the door, and though he had a mare in front of him, Dusk was thinking of another mare, the pegasus he'd left behind.
A few minutes earlier, as soon as Rainbow Dash had turned around to think about what Dusk would have to do to pay the bet, Dusk felt someone touch his back, then he turned and saw with surprise that it was Pinkie Pie, who only smiled and lifted a hoof to his mouth so Dusk wouldn't speak.
"W-What are you doing here?" Dusk asked, whispering, following the instructions not to speak loud Pinkie Pie was telling him, without even knowing why he did it.
"Shh! Come with me, I have a surprise for you." Pinkie Pie also whispered and nodded for Dusk to follow her.
Then Dusk turned and looked back at Rainbow Dash, who was standing with her back to him, shaking her head from side to side as she murmured as if she were arguing with herself.
"Don't worry about Rainbow Dash, I'll leave her a note." Pinkie Pie said in his ear as if she had read Dusk's mind, leaving a letter on the ground where he was standing. "We'll sneak away while she doesn't notice, like a prank!"
Dusk turned to see Pinkie Pie, who smiled, walked a few silent steps away from Rainbow Dash and waited for Dusk to follow, then he turned again and looked at the pegasus. He didn't like leaving without saying goodbye, especially in a way the pegasus might think he was trying to weasel out of their bet, nevertheless, it was Pinkie Pie's words that erased those doubts since apparently, she left a note explaining that Dusk was with her, plus Pinkie Pie said it was a prank, and Dusk knew from experience that Rainbow Dash liked pranks, so the pegasus would probably take it well; in any case, Rainbow Dash had taken him away without a warning when he had been chatting with Rarity and Fluttershy, so she could not complain now that Pinkie Pie was playing this little joke about leaving her talking to herself.
So Dusk turned and followed quickly and silently to Pinkie Pie before Rainbow Dash realized that he was gone, believing that everything would be a little joke to the pegasus and that she would take it in good humor.
They both walked stealthily until they were far enough away, and as they did Pinkie Pie would turn from time to time and checked that Dusk followed her, then she blushed slightly and smiled. Then in town, Pinkie Pie started jumping as she usually did, heading for the bakery without saying a word to Dusk to keep the surprise, something that should have bothered Dusk, to follow someone without knowing where or why, however he had other things on his mind, the further they moved away from Rainbow Dash, Dusk became more and more concerned.
"It's just a joke, I'm not running away from paying the bet, I keep my word." Dusk told himself while Pinkie Pie was still leading him towards Sugarcube Corner, still worried that Rainbow Dash would think he wasn't a pony of his word. "I keep my promises, I keep my promises!" Dusk thought frantically, as he tried to keep away a bad memory of his chasing childhood, one of an unfulfilled promise.
Dusk's mind had been so concentrated, that the unicorn did not even notice when they had reached Sugarcube Corner, only coming back to reality when Pinkie Pie finally opened the door and spoke to him.
"Come in!" Pinkie Pie smiled, waiting for Dusk to enter the bakery with her, without realizing the shadow of fear and concern that Dusk had had on his face a few moments ago.
Dusk was then startled out of his thoughts and obediently went into the bakery, not wanting Pinkie Pie realized his shady memories.
"Welcome to our private party!!" Pinkie Pie said cheerfully once Dusk walked through the door.
Before Pinkie Pie's surprise festive cry, Dusk recalled that Pinkie Pie hadn't given him a welcome party as she so longed for, surely she had asked him to accompany her for that, so Dusk immediately thought that probably Sugarcube Corner would be full of balloons and streamers, just as he'd seen Pinkie Pie decorate her room when she'd hoped to throw a party in her room, however Dusk was surprised to see that the salon of the bakery was as he remembered it, without any ornaments or festive objects.
"A party? But if there's no decorations." Dusk said looking for some hidden balloons, or some loose streamers. It was then that Dusk noticed another detail, of what Pinkie Pie had just said. "Wait... did you say private party?"
Then Dusk turned to see Pinkie Pie, whom he saw, but not as expected. Pinkie Pie was behind Dusk, smiling while pointing him a small cannon that she had at her side.
"W-What are you doing!?" Dusk asked, surprised and frightened to see the small cannon pointing at him.
"I'm going to shoot this cannon, as a final farewell." Pinkie Pie said smiling.
"F-F-Farewell...?" Dusk repeated scared, thinking that the pink mare had gone mad and wanted to shoot him in the face with a cannonball.
"That's right, goodbye Dusk." Pinkie Pie said with a macabre smile, pulling the cannons firing cord.
Just as Pinkie Pie pulled the firing cord, Dusk instinctively covered his face to protect himself from the impact, closed his eyes and waited for the roar of the cannon, however the only thing he heard was a curious sound, like a small horn followed by a funny squeak, at the same time he felt something soft strike his face.
"Weee!" Pinkie Pie cheered as Dusk pulled the hoof from his face and slowly opened his eyes.
Then Dusk saw that what had fired the cannon hadn't been a cannonbal, but balloons and confetti, which had covered him and the salon of the bakery, to the whole room except behind where Dusk had stood, where there was a graceful mark without confetti, a silhouette of him covering his face in fear.
"What is this?" Dusk asked confused, seeing everything around him.
"I told you, it's our private party!" Pinkie Pie said cheerfully. "I didn't have time to decorate, so I used my party canon to decorate at the same time that we made the farewell."
"Farewell for who?" Dusk asked even more confused.
"For the sick Pinkie Pie." Pinkie Pie replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "She's gone and now you'll meet the fun and cheerful Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie Pie finished speaking with a wink.
Dusk looked at Pinkie Pie with a face of utter disbelief as many thoughts raced through his mind. The mare didn't know everything that had frightened Dusk with that cannon, and who the hell had a party cannon!? And where had she gotten it!? And all that fanfare had been just to say goodbye metaphorically to her cold!? Dusk could not help feeling a mixture of fear, anger, confusion, even laughter, all while he followed with all his doubts, but if had learned anything from that mare, it was that to ask something of her would only leave him more confused, so finally Dusk just hung his head resigned, thinking that the best thing would be to imagine that all this was normal.
"So... a private party?" Dusk asked, leaving all his questions aside and trying to start a normal conversation.
"That's right! I always invite all the ponies I know to my parties, in fact the whole town will go to my party on the eve of the celebration! But... this time we'll be alone together." Pinkie Pie said blushing a little and glanced at Dusk, and then she smiled again. "Although I don't know if I'd call it a real party, it's rather a 'pre-party'!"
And there was Pinkie Pie again doing a new type of her crazy! Inventing words! Now Dusk was obliged to ask for that new word.
"And what's a "pre-party'?" Asked Dusk, somewhat tired of knowing that this mare always filled him with confusion.
"It's a training party, for those who haven't gone to parties." Pinkie Pie smiled and stared tenderly at Dusk.
Dusk was surprised at Pinkie Pie's words and couldn't help blushing.
"I... I've been to parties..." Dusk said nervously.
"I don't mean elegant ceremonies like the ones when you lived in Canterlot, I mean real parties with real friends." Pinkie Pie said, smiling kindly.
"How does she know that? How does she know that I have not gone to parties with friends? How come she knows I have no real friends!?" Dusk thought frantically frightened.
"Did you think only you could make deductions about others?" Asked Pinkie Pie, holding a pipe in her mouth and wearing a deerstalker hat on her head, both coming out of nowhere. "You could tell that no one had given me a welcome party, and with all the stories that Spike told me, I can guess that you didn't have many friends growing up, besides Spike, so I guess you haven't been to many parties."
Dusk was still nervous as he breathed heavily and shakily with his head down, he liked to deduce and guess things from others, but he didn't like it done to him, he definitely didn't like being an open book and so easily read! And what if she teased him now for not having any friends!? What if she found out his true mission in Ponyville!? Should he escape?
"Calm down, you shouldn't be ashamed of not having been to a party before." Pinkie Pie said approaching and touching Dusk's face affectionately with her hoof. "That's what 'pre-parties' are for, to practice, and we have to do it fast, since you have friends now you'll have lots of parties!"
Dusk lifted his head quickly and looked into Pinkie Pie's kind eyes.
"That's right! She thinks I already have friends, so she won't make fun of me!" Dusk thought relieved, not realizing what Pinkie Pie meant by telling him that he already had friends.
"Eh... yes, m-maybe it's good to practice partying for... my friends..." Dusk said nervously, still flushed by the embarrassment of being partially discovered by Pinkie Pie, relieved to know that she didn't know the whole truth, and uncomfortable to mention the words 'my friends'.
"OK! Let's get started!" Pinkie Pie said jumping happily, trying to spread her joy to Dusk.
That's how the Dusk Shine's 'pre-party' started. Pinkie Pie began by teaching him to play some of the classic foal's games, such as ring toss, bobbing for apples, and making balloon figures. It all seemed tedious to Dusk, mainly because he thought that he was too old to play these foal's games, nevertheless seeing how serious Pinkie Pie looked, training him, he simply decided to play along with that games, but the more he played those games, his rejection to them diminished, after all he knew many of those games but he had never played them, much less with another pony, so Dusk's inner foal began to appear and began to enjoy those games that he couldn't enjoy in his youth.
While Dusk followed Pinkie Pie's 'training', he remembered that in front of him was the pony in charge of the last preparations that he had to verify that they were ready before the Summer Sun Celebration.
"Speaking of parties..." Dusk said taking off the blindfold that Pinkie Pie had put on him to break a small piñata. "The princess commissioned me to supervise the preparations for the great celebration of tonight, I checked all, I just need to check the eve celebration, I suppose you're in charge of that, but tell me, shouldn't you be preparing the party for the eve celebration instead of doing this 'pre-party'?
"Oh, that, it's ready, it just needs to be the time and the guests arrive." Pinkie Pie replied, who had momentarily forgotten that the piñata was to train Dusk, and jumped to pick up all the candy that had fallen.
"Will it be here then?" Dusk said, looking around and seeing the mess in the room, which looked festive, but it looked a bit messy after all they had done there.
"Of course not, it will be somewhere else, a place made for parties!" Said Pinkie Pie winking at him. "Oh! That reminds me." She added suddenly.
Then Pinkie Pie went to the bakery kitchen and came back with a tray with several cupcakes.
"I'm bringing cupcakes to the Eve party, these are a sample, tell me, would you like to try one?" Pinkie Pie asked, smiling and showing him the tray with the cakes.
"Um... of course, they all look delicious, which one should I take?" Dusk asked, hesitant to see so much variety and not knowing which one he wanted to eat.
"Choose the one you want." Pinkie Pie smiled but glanced at Dusk, anxiously awaiting his choice.
There were five different cupcakes on the tray: one that appeared to be completely strawberry, for its dough and cream rose; Another appeared to be vanilla because of its yellow color, with a light pink frosting above; the third looked like blackberries, with a bluish purple color, with white cream and sparkles sparkling on it; the fourth was covered with a sky-blue bitumen, adorned with colored sprinkles on it; and the last one had an orange dough, with yellow cream on it and a small piece of apple crowning its top. For some reason, Dusk felt a familiar sensation seeing those cupcakes, but unfortunately, his innate clumsiness prevented him from realizing and relating what these cupcakes really represented to five well-known mares.
"Come on! Choose one of five!" Pinkie Pie said anxiously, drawing the tray closer to him. "Look at the pink rose, that's strawberry! That looks very good, why don't you choose that...?" Pinkie Pie added mischievously.
Dusk looked at the pink cupcake and had to admit that it looked delicious, but then he saw the others and his doubts returned.
"I don't know... they all look delicious ..." Dusk said unable to decide. "They're samples, so... couldn't I have them all?"
"You want to have all of them!?" Pinkie Pie asked in surprise. "I don't know, it's not a harem story... or is it?" Pinkie Pie added thoughtfully.
Then Pinkie Pie turned and looked away, toward one of the walls of the bakery.
"Would you really like Dusk to keep all of them?" Pinkie Pie asked as if she was watching and talking to someone else.
"Who are you talking to?" Dusk asked, totally confused, looking where Pinkie Pie looked.
"I'm just talking to the readers." Pinkie Pie said innocently, looking back at Dusk.
"What readers? What are you talking about?" Dusk asked even more confused.
"Well, every good story deserves to be told, so sometimes I like to think I have an audience and that someone somewhere sees and reads our story, that's more fun!" Pinkie Pie replied with a big smile.
Dusk was silent with an expression of total bewilderment, again Pinkie Pie filled him with doubts, and most of all it gave him doubts about whether the mare's personality was just eccentric or definitely crazy.
"What if someone would see me and know what I was thinking? Brrr! That would give me chills." Dusk thought as a nervous chill ran down his back.
"Anyway, I suppose you can have them all." Pinkie Pie said, returning to the main subject and passing the tray of cupcakes to Dusk. "But just for now, you're definitely going to have to pick one before this is over!" Pinkie Pie added seriously.
Dusk decided that there had been enough madness and unanswered questions for a day, so he ignored Pinkie Pie's comment and simply took the tray and started eating the cupcakes, sweetly savoring each one, happy to have gotten them all and to check that they were all delicious.
Dusk finally finished eating the cupcakes, savoring his hooves, where he could still lick the sweet taste the cakes had left him. As he did so, Dusk stared at Pinkie Pie, who whistled cheerfully as she began to sort out the mess.
"Even cleaning she doesn't stop smiling, she really is the happiest pony I know! Anyway, the best thing is that I also help you clean." Dusk thought watching Pinkie Pie whistle as he ran his tongue over his lips savoring the last cupcake he ate. Then, watching Pinkie Pie's lips and he touched his own, Dusk realized a sudden revelation, there was still something very important that he had not asked and that everything happened had been overlooked.
When Pinkie Pie finished cleaning, which she did very quickly, she turned and looked at Dusk, who kept his gaze down as he was totally blushing.
"Hmm? Is something wrong?" Pinkie Pie asked innocently as Dusk blushed.
"Eh... well... I was wondering..." Dusk answered nervously, uncomfortable before what he would ask but knowing that above all he needed to leave no doubts. "Pinkie... this morning... W-Why did you kiss me? You... do you usually say goodbye like that? Or... What does it mean?"
Pinkie Pie stopped smiling for a moment and tried to put on a poker face, though the truth was that the question took her by surprise and she couldn't help but blush a little.
"Well..." Pinkie Pie said with a thoughtful expression as she continued to blush looking down at the floor, then she raised her eyes to see Dusk and looked at Dusk with her usual smile. "The answer to your first question is that I kissed you because I wanted to, I felt I wanted to do it; about if I'm used to so say goodbye in that way to all ponies I know, no, but sometimes I give kisses to my family, oh! and Gummy too! And about what that kiss meant... " Then Pinkie Pie was silent, she stopped having her usual big smile and changed it for a smaller but more tender one while she looked at Dusk a little blushed. "...that kiss will mean whatever you want it to mean."
Dusk listened attentively to Pinkie Pie's answers, and he understood them without problems, although his doubts remained on who or what was Gummy, nevertheless with her last answer Dusk just became more confused.
"What do you mean the kiss means what I want it to mean?" Dusk asked confused.
"It means that if you want it to mean nothing, it will mean nothing." Pinkie Pie replied with her usual smile. "But if you want it to mean something else, then... then we could be more..." Pinkie Pie finished, blushing, looking sideways at the unicorn, and for the first time looking a little shy.
"More what!? Why are mares so complicated!? Why didn't she tell me what the kiss meant to her and that's all!?" Dusk thought, breaking his head unable to understand the hints, as the direct and logical pony he was.
"You still don't understand?" Pinkie Pie asked, reading Dusk's mind, laughing a little to see Dusk's confused face. "To understand what I said, you shouldn’t think it, you must feel it. Look, we'll do a test so that you don't get to think and just say what you feel." Pinkie Pie said excitedly, since she liked the games; and although she could be direct and tell Dusk what she felt directly, she liked to play with the confused Dusk.
"I'll ask you a few quick questions and you'll quickly answer me with the first thing that comes to your mind." Pinkie Pie said cheerfully.
"Uh... okay..." Dusk answered uncertainly.
"Favorite color?"
"Blue."
"Do you believe in superstitions?"
"No."
"Do you like to read?"
"Yes."
"Would you like me to kiss you?"
"Yes."
"Okay." Pinkie Pie replied, finishing the questionnaire.
Dusk was silent as his mind slowly processed what he had just answered at the end.
"Huh!?" Dusk shouted totally blushing, surprised by the last question Pinkie Pie asked, surprised even more by his own response, and couldn't be more surprised by the mare's final statement. "I-I... I answered without thinking..." added Dusk completely nervous.
"Relax, if it's what you want, I'll give it to you." Pinkie Pie said smiling, bringing her face closer to Dusk's. "Close your eyes."
Dusk didn't know how to react to this situation at all, instinctively he pulled his head back to get away from Pinkie Pie's face, but his legs didn't obey him and stayed where they were, finally Dusk closed his eyes as Pinkie Pie had told him, the last thing that he saw was the pink pony approaching his face.
Dusk was confused, he did not understand himself, it wasn't right to just kiss a mare randomly, he shouldn't care about such things, he should be concentrate only on his studies, nothing more! Yet there he was, thinking logically but without his body reacting, with his eyes closed, just feeling his fast heartbeat as his lips trembled with emotion at the memory of that morning's kiss. He didn't know why he just did not turn it down, maybe did he really not want to reject it?
Suddenly Dusk felt the warmth of Pinkie Pie's face and instinctively moved his lips, but all he felt was a heat in the right side of his face and a quick kiss on his cheek. Then Dusk opened his eyes in surprise and saw that Pinkie Pie was smiling at him.
Dusk touched his cheek that Pinkie Pie had kissed and returned the look, totally confused, not knowing what to say or how to feel.
"What's wrong? Did you expect something else?" Pinkie Pie asked, smiling, a little flirtatious.
Then Dusk just blushed and said nothing as he looked at her in surprise.
The truth was that Dusk wasn't sure how he felt about that kiss on the cheek, he had thought Pinkie Pie would kiss him on the lips, just as she had done in the morning, and although he felt that everything had escaped from his hooves and that the whole situation had led him to that unavoidable end, all his body and thoughts had been predisposed to receive a kiss on the lips; However nothing had happened, his mind told him that he had been lucky not to get into more trouble and that he should be thankful for evading a kiss from a mare with whom he had no formal relationship, but in spite of that, for some reason he was distressed and disappointed that nothing had happened.
"Well? You still didn't answer me, did you expect anything else?" Pinkie Pie asked with a gentle look, after Dusk was still in apparent shock without saying anything.
"I-I..." Dusk started, totally blushing, until he was interrupted by a loud noise.
SLAM!
The door of the bakery was suddenly opened, revealing the figure of four mares.
"See! I told you they would be here!" Rarity said annoyed, behind Applejack who apparently had been the one who had kicked the door open.
"Hey girls!" Pinkie Pie said cheerfully, seeing that all her friends were there.
"Don't ‘Hey’ us, why'd you take Dusk without warning?" Rainbow Dash said annoyed.
"I didn't take him with no warning, I left you a note." Pinkie Pie replied quietly.
"But we were into something, you can't just go and kidnap others like that!" Rainbow Dash said more annoyed.
"Hmpf! And you think you have the right to say something like that?" Rarity added, glaring at Rainbow Dash, remembering that morning.
"That was different..." Rainbow Dash said ashamed and averted her gaze.
"Anyway... what were you two doing in here... alone?" Applejack asked looking suspiciously at Pinkie Pie and Dusk.
"Oh! We just had a little training party, a pre-party!" Pinkie Pie replied smiling.
"But... you sent us invitations for the party, and it says it would be in the library, not at Sugarcube Corner..." Fluttershy added timidly.
"Surely she sent us invitations so we would go somewhere else and she could be left alone with Dusk." Rarity added, looking sideways at the pink mare.
Pinkie Pie put on a poker face for a second before smiling again and responding.
"Of course not, it's just that we needed to fix certain things before the Eve party." Pinkie Pie finally replied a little nervous.
Dusk was watching and listening to the whole situation, it seemed like this morning in the breakfast, the whole situation became very tense when they all came together, but he still didn't understand why this had happened, although of course, he thought that maybe that was something friends do so he would never understand, since how could he understand that group of friends if he had no friends, surely this was a typical conversation between friends.
"Wait a second." Dusk added suddenly, realizing that he almost missed what Fluttershy had just said. "What do you mean, having a party at the library?"
"The Eve party! We'll do it in the library!" Pinkie Pie reply excitedly.
"WHAT!? But you said you would do it in a place MADE for parties! A library is no place for parties!" said Dusk somewhat altered.
"Sure they are! They're monotonous and silent rooms. What place needs more entertainment and bustle than a place like that!" said Pinkie Pie cheerfully.
Dusk looked disbelieving at Pinkie Pie, then took a deep breath to continue arguing, yet he just let out the air and bowed his head, repeating to himself that there was no point in arguing with Pinkie Pie.
"She said she had everything ready for the eve party... I just hope Spike didn't allow it." Dusk thought as he looked out the window and saw that the sun was almost completely hidden. "It's still not completely dark, maybe if I hurry I can change everything."
"I'm glad to see all of you, but it's late, I'd better get back to the library." Dusk said, approaching the door.
"I'll go with you!" The five mares said in unison.
"Uh... that's not necessary." Dusk added, surprised and rather uneasy to feel that he was the center of attention.
"Yeah, it's necessary, we're actually late." Pinkie Pie said, checking the time.
"But the Eve party hasn't started yet, right?" asked Dusk.
"Right, but all of us, especially YOU, must arrive earlier." Pinkie Pie said excitedly as the others nodded smiling.
Dusk did not understand what their sudden need was for him to go to the library, but that wasn't important since that was precisely the place where he wanted to go, so he didn't ask. Then Dusk and the five mares left Sugarcube Corner and started walking towards the library, Dusk walking in the center while the five mares surrounded and walked at the same pace.
"And what y'all do at Pinkie Pie's 'pre-party'?" Applejack asked suddenly, walking beside Dusk.
"We played some games, ate some cakes..." Dusk replied quietly.
"Yeah, and Dusk asked me to kiss him." Pinkie Pie added casually as she smiled.
"WHAT!?" exclaimed the other four mares in unison, ceasing to walk.
"N-No... it's not true... well, yes it is... but I have an explanation!" Dusk said quickly, blushed and nervous before the furious eyes of the mares, not wanting to look like a shameless in front of them.
"Relax Dusk, they're just jealous." said Pinkie Pie laughing, and the other four mares blushed, looked away, and walked on.
Dusk, who had also stopped, put on a face of pure confusion before walking again.
"Jealous? Why? Are they jealous because Pinkie Pie made me a party private to me and not to them?" Dusk thought cluelessly, although he had many clues about the feelings that were woven between those five mares and him, his innate naivety and his clumsiness in love prevented him from seeing what was obvious to all.
# End of Chapter 14