//------------------------------//
// Chapter 18 - A Little Turnoff 
// Story: Dusk Shine in pursuit of Happiness 
// by bigsnusnu 
//------------------------------//

A Little Turnoff

Bats were some of the few creatures that ventured into the skies of the Everfree forest once it got dark, as they did that night, flying through the tops of the trees while their shadows were cast down by the light of the moon, shadows that were especially visible that night since the moon was particularly bright. However, on this night, one of those shadows cast down from the treetops wasn't that of a bat, although it might have seemed from afar since it had the same black color and pointed wings of those animals, but this creature had four long legs, a large, ethereal mane, like its tail, besides being much bigger and fearsome than a little bat... It was the dreaded Nightmare Moon, who flew through the forest skies, heading for the old Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.

"Damn! Damn! Damn!!" Nightmare Moon screamed as she flew, furious as ever for almost being defeated by a simple unicorn. "It was my stupid mistake! How did I not realize sooner that my magical energy was exhausted!?"

The dark mare continued to curse herself for her overconfidence until the old castle finally came into view. She flew to the ruined main gate of the castle and landed, even flying was quickly tiring. Nightmare Moon breathed wearily and before continuing to walk she turned to see that neither the unicorn nor anypony else had followed her, something that gave her a little respite, since she regretted admitting that in her present state she could not face anyone. No, she needed to regain her power before she could fight again. Looking forward, the dark mare smiled at the old castle, luckily she still had a powerful reserve of magical energy waiting in there for her, she just had to take it, and now the time had come.

For her part, Celestia sat quietly, with her head held high and her eyes closed, in a state that would at first glance seemed like she was asleep. However, this was quite the opposite. The alicorn princess was meditating, with all her senses on alert, trying to catch any sound, any smell, any magical disturbance that could tell her about the situation that Dusk and Nightmare Moon were in, the two of whom she was deeply concerned with. The first thing Celestia noticed were hoof steps down the hall, followed by the almost insignificant presence of a magical aura, she opened her eyes and looked toward the door, just then appeared her captor, Nightmare Moon. Instantly there were three things that caught Celestia’s attention: first, Nightmare Moon came back differently than when she left, now she had arrived walking, not flying or using her characteristic cloak of dark clouds; second, it was that her magical aura was tiny, which meant that she was very weak; and third and more disturbing, it was the fact that despite having that little amount of magic aura, she maintained a cruel and sadistic smile.

Celestia was overcome with doubts as she saw Nightmare Moon. Why was she so exhausted? Had she faced Dusk? If they had faced each other and she returned, did that mean Dusk was...? A shudder of fear ran down the back of the princess thinking that perhaps Nightmare Moon had broken her promise and had attacked her precious pupil. This was something that Celestia hoped to know before hoof, she hoped that the strong magical connection she had made with Dusk during all those years would tell her if Dusk had suffered any harm, if so she would've felt some magical disturbance, or at least that was what she expected. Celestia wasn’t sure she could feel Dusk in danger if he was, since the magic that Nightmare Moon had used on her prevented her from correctly sense thesurrounding magic, for that reason doubts began to invade her quickly. Then there was that sadistic smile the dark mare wore watching her as she approached... Celestia couldn't doubt it anymore, that look of bloodlust disturbed for the first time that night Celestia's resolution to try and resolve the situation peacefully, if Nightmare Moon put on that murderous look it was because she was ready to kill, and while it was true that she wanted to save Nightmare Moon's soul, she couldn't continue to risk Dusk's life before such a dangerous being that apparently had lost the last trace of the good pony she once was, Celestia would have to take risks and settle everything right then, right there!

When Nightmare Moon had arrived in front of Celestia, the princess alicorn put on a look of determination and prepared to stand up to face the dark mare, nevertheless as soon as she tried, her legs weakened, remained without strength, and made that Celestia fell to the collapsed ground.

"W-What's wrong with me!?" Celestia wondered aloud, surprised by her lack of strength. Recently she had been able to walk without problems, why were her legs so fatigued now?

It was then that Celestia felt the full weight of her body and realized that not only her legs were fatigued, but her entire body felt as if she had been exhausted after running a great marathon.

"You feel tired, don't you?" Nightmare Moon smiled as she held her face close to Celestia's. "I'm sure that the almighty Celestia was aware of my magical exhaustion before going to face her pupil, that's why you did nothing, correct? Always attentive to every detail to everyone around you, however, I wasn't the only one who made that mistake. So absorbed you were trying to persuade me with your cheap speeches or think of a way to save your dear student, that you overlooked the fact that your vital energy was slowly being drained."

Celestia made a great effort to raise her own head to look at Nightmare Moon, with a frightened look.

"Demonic...Magic..." Celestia said with great effort.

"That's right, the forbidden magic. You were always a know-it-all, but you were always so respectful of the rules... Instead, I always wanted to go further, not only have I studied black magic but the darkest magic that exists! That's why I knew you could not recognize a spell like this." Nightmare Moon replied as she pressed one of her hooves to Celestia's chest, below where Celestia had one of those strange shadow shackles she had put her.

Nightmare Moon smiled to see that the shackles of shadow that had put under the Celestia's neck, legs and horn, were no longer totally dark, now they had many bright spots in them shining like stars in the sky, resembling Nightmare Moon's mane.

"Those shadows that surround you not only contain your movements, they also drain your magic and life force slowly, like leeches." Nightmare Moon added, smiling devilishly. "Of course, the disadvantage is that it's a spell that can easily be broken, but it only took a foolish promise for you to make no effort to free yourself."

Celestia put on an expression of terrible regret at hearing Nightmare Moon's speech. She knew that the magic that the dark alicorn used on her was unknown, but she never imagined that it was demonic magic, even dark magic could be used on rare occasions, but this magic was absolutely forbidden because those spells involved stripping magic or life itself from another. Many years before, she and her sister had faced a being that used magic and absorbed the magic of ponies, however, not even that aberrant creature had reached such an extent to absorb the vital essences of someone else, just as Nightmare Moon was doing with her, that only meant one thing, that her thoughts had unfortunately been right and that there was definitely no longer any trace of empathy or kindness in Nightmare Moon, she was willing to kill... She was no longer the mare that Celestia had ever known.

"Now then, let's begin." Nightmare Moon said with a sinister smile, bringing her horn to Celestia's own. The horns of both ponies shone, and the little flashes of light that had accumulated in the shackles of shadow began to climb up Celestia's body, up to her horn, and were slowly moving towards the horn of Nightmare Moon.

"AAHHH!!" Celestia began to scream in pain feeling as if thousands of needles pierced her skin.

"I could do it quickly, but I'll do it slowly, as slowly as I can, to enjoy every cry of pain you have." Nightmare Moon smiled as she felt her magical power slowly recovering.

While both ponies were still under that horrifying spell, Nightmare Moon closed her eyes as her connection with Celestia deepened, not only to absorb her magic and vital essence but also to be able to feed on the fear that she must be feeling before her imminent death. Nightmare Moon again smiled to find those feelings coming from Celestia, and she tasted them as if they were a sweet delicacy; but while she was doing it, she realized that Celestia held other feelings as well: feelings of grief, guilt, sisterhood and... hope?

"How do you still have hope?" Nightmare Moon wondered.

And so Nightmare Moon was sinking deeper into the magical connection, more into Celestia's feelings, to know what it was that Celestia clung to like a vague hope. Then Nightmare Moon opened her eyes and looked to the side, towards the pedestal that contained the elements of harmony.

"What are you hiding from me?" Nightmare Moon said staring at Celestia as she kept absorbing her magic.

Celestia realized that somehow Nightmare Moon was not only absorbing her magic and her life slowly but also certain sensations and feelings that she had, which could be even more dangerous because Celestia still kept a small and distant hope related to the elements and her beloved student, but she couldn't let the dark mare get to guessing it.

The Alicorn princess closed her eyes, clenched her teeth tightly, and kept absolutely silent.

"Have it your way." Nightmare Moon said with a look of contempt, intensifying her spell to cause even more pain for Celestia, causing her to scream in pain again. "I have all night to find out." She added with a sinister smile.





Not much time had passed since Nightmare Moon had fled from Dusk and the mares, all the while Dusk and Rainbow Dash kept cutting through the liana wall that separated them from the others, an exhausting job at that, since those reddish vines were thick and seemed much more resistant than the normal lianas of the forest, besides that lianas also seemed to keep growing despite being cut, however, while Nightmare Moon was moving away, the lianas lost their thickness and resistance, making the work much easier.

"What's up with these lianas?" Rainbow Dash asked, noticing the lianas seeming to shrink.

"They were subjected to a transformation spell, so when the invoker leaves, they’ll return to normal." Dusk said answering what he had already concluded a while ago. "Although I'm really impressed that Nightmare Moon has been able to do all this with lianas... Like all plants, normal lianas have a large percentage of water, they should have been much easier to cut, and it's the first time I've seen this kind of reddish lianas."

While the lianas were shrinking, they had already reached a normal size for a forest liana, however for some reason they kept shrinking, something that surprised Dusk a little.

"Ewww!" Suddenly Dusk and Rainbow Dash heard behind the thin wall of lianas that grew thinner by the second, a feminine and elegant voice that they both knew well.

Dusk gave the last cut to the wall of lianas, crossing it finally so that he could see the four mares which he had been separated: Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Applejack, all sitting with lots of little reddish lianas on them, lianas that in that moment were no broader than a thick thread. Rarity had lit her horn to see better in that dark environment and had a look of displeasure as she looked at the lianas in which she had been captured, while Pinkie Pie smiled and threw the small lianas at the sky as if they were confetti, while Fluttershy and Applejack looked with relief once they saw Dusk Shine and Rainbow Dash appear.

"Look! They're like streamers!" Pinkie Pie said smiling as always, surprised to see how those lianas continued to shrink, so much to become those long thin threads she had on her.

"Are you okay?" Dusk said looking at the others, understanding from Pinkie Pie's smile that at least she was fine.

"Yea, the lianas surrounded us like vines, but they began to shrink into these threads." Applejack answered holding the reddish threads that had once been huge lianas.

"How strange…" Dusk wondered aloud, looking closely at one of the threads while using his arsenal of magical literature to explain what happened. "Definitely the consistency and increased cohesion and strength of a thread is more resistant than that of a liana, that's why the wall was so strong, but where did Nightmare Moon get so much thread?"

"What!? Don't you all realize what they are!?" Rarity said standing up and shaking off all those 'threads' with an expression of disgust. "They're not threads, they're hair!"

Everyone looked at Rarity surprised, then looked at the 'threads' and with a similar chill of disgust everyone shook the reddish hair off themselves.

"Well... that explains it." Dusk said taking off the displeasure of having been touching other ponies hair, amazed at how clever the Mare in the Moon had been, since the resistance of a hair increased to the thickness of a liana was much more resistant than that of a simple liana of the forest, in addition to giving greater flexibility and control to the spell since the hair came from an animal and not from an inert plant, Nightmare Moon was definitely very clever. However, he was still in doubt about where she had gotten so much hair, but that question could wait, after all, there were much more important things to do.

"Are you two okay?" Fluttershy asked suddenly, who as always cared for others and saw how exhausted Dusk looked after arriving.

"Yeah, we're fine, in fact this idiot over here almost defeated that wicked Nightmare Moon." Rainbow Dash said smiling, hitting Dusk's side.

"Nightmare Moon showed up!?" They all asked surprised.

"Yeah!! Dusk threw a lightning bolt at her and she gave it back! It was like Poof! Zap! Ka-pow!" Rainbow Dash responded excitedly. "Girls, you should've seen him, it was great!" Then Rainbow Dash glanced at Dusk and blushed faintly. "He really was pretty cool."

When they heard that, they all saw Dusk, who blushed a little at such praise, and then they saw Rainbow Dash again, then everyone understood. Fortunately, it seemed that Rainbow Dash had forgiven Dusk, something that made them happy, but it gave them a hint of jealousy, especially Rarity and Fluttershy, since they were still the only ones who hadn't spent one-on-one time with Dusk in the forest.

Once Dusk made sure that all the mares weren’t hurt, he got in front of the road and asked them to follow him, they still had a ways to go, and at the end of the road, they would meet a terrible adversary, one which Dusk still didn't know how to face. Maybe if they were lucky, Nightmare Moon would still be weak, so they had to hurry.

The six ponies began to walk again on the road leading to the old castle, all looking around, knowing that if they were not careful at any time they could suffer another unexpected attack, everyone with great fear at facing the unknown in that dark forest, however there was one of them that stood out among all for her fearful personality, it was Fluttershy, who was already easily scared in town or anywhere, but deep in the Everfree forest her fear had risen to astronomical levels, something that she had been able to overcome momentarily since she had told herself that she couldn't let her friends go alone on that dangerous quest, but after the unexpected attacks of Nightmare Moon, each time was harder to control her fears.

Suddenly a leaf inadvertently fell from a tree and gently touched the back of the yellow pegasus.

"WAAAHHH!!" Fluttershy yelled loudly, frightened after the leaf touch her, startling and causing others to jump in terror.

"What's wrong!?" Dusk asked quickly putting himself on guard, looking concerned at Fluttershy.

"Uhh... a leaf fell on me and I got scared..." Fluttershy answered timidly, feeling sorry for having scared others.

Dusk looked with a disbelieving face at the pegasus, then he put on the same annoyed expression that the other mares had on.

"Huff... you'll have to get used to it, that's Fluttershy” Rainbow Dash said to Dusk and continued walking.

"You must control yourself a little more, dear, you startled us." Rarity added, touching Fluttershy softly, trying to be a little more conciliatory.

Fluttershy finally nodded with embarrassment as Dusk sighed in relief that this scream hadn't been anything dangerous, but annoying and restless, making him think that maybe it wasn't a good idea to take such a shy pony to such a dismal place.

While the others resumed their march, Fluttershy was trotting behind them, immersed in her thoughts, blaming herself for her overly shy personality. She really regretted being a nuisance, she didn't want her friends to look at her again with those looks of anger and compassion, especially Dusk, who although didn’t say it, she knew perfectly well that expression he gave was that of being upset with her. Right then and there, she swore to herself that she wouldn't interrupt her friends again unless it was strictly necessary.

To her misfortune, it was just after those thoughts that Fluttershy's ears were on alert, hearing something in the distance. The shy pegasus couldn't boast at having the best and acute hearing, but what she could easily recognize no matter how far away she was, were the cries and lamentations of someone else, and that was exactly what she was hearing at that moment, very far away from there.

Fluttershy prepared to interrupt her friends, then she bit her lip, not sure if she should tell them what she was listening to or not. Just at that moment, Dusk suddenly stopped, Fluttershy hoped that Dusk had also heard the crying in the distance and that everyone could go to the aid of that sad creature who lamented without it being her who was the one who stopped the group again.

"Dusk, is something wrong?" Rarity asked, concerned that Dusk had stopped abruptly.

"I-I'm not sure..." Dusk said with a look of uncertainty and concern. "I... I saw the princess screaming in pain..."

"Huh? What're you talking about?" Rainbow Dash asked without understanding.

"I don't know, it's just that a second ago I felt as though lightning pierced my head, and... for a split second I saw the image of Nightmare Moon torturing the princess..." Dusk answered remembering what he had just felt and seen.

"Could'ive been yer 'magination? Or another illusion?" Applejack asked.

"It definitely wasn't an illusion..." Dusk answered again while trying to reason on his own just what had happened. The princess had always told him that they both shared a special bond, a bond forged by the affection they felt for each other, being both powerful users of magic and having that special bond that went beyond a simple teacher-student relationship, the princess had always told him they were connected and that she would always watch over his safety because she would always know if he was in danger or not, something that Dusk always valued in the emotional sense, but he never took it in the literal sense. But... What if it was true? If that union that they maintained for their affection not only served to alert the princess if Dusk was in danger, but it also worked in the opposite direction and now it was warning him that the princess was in real danger...? All that was a mere hypothesis of course, but that was enough to leave Dusk uneasy.

"I don't know if it was real." Dusk finally said seriously. "But I feel we must hurry."

Dusk then looked towards the road again and started trotting more quickly, followed swiftly by the mares that accompanied him, all but one, the timid Fluttershy, who kept listening to what Dusk said, feeling the great devotion and concern he felt towards the princess, but once they had all started galloping, she turned her gaze to her left, towards the depths of the forest, where she heard someone crying, someone who was not in the direction where the others were going. The shy pegasus's breathing started to shake when she saw her friends go in one direction while her heart told her that she should go help someone else, to whoever was crying with such lament. She wanted to scream at them, but she doesn't want to be a bother, not again, so she only saw her friends go away without noticing her absence.

Dusk and company kept galloping for a good distance, without saying a single word between them, all focused on seeing the path they had to follow to get to the old castle as soon as possible, and so they continued until Dusk saw that they were reaching a part of the road where there were many cobwebs, giant cobwebs, which could only mean just there were probably monstrous spiders nearby.

"Be careful!" Dusk screamed without stopping galloping or stop looking at the road.

Suddenly Dusk's worries came true when everyone stopped suddenly because a giant spider came down the middle of the road and showed its big fangs. All the ponies shouted out of fear and surprise to see that horrid creature.

"Close your eyes!" Dusk shouted quickly, a command that the mares obeyed immediately, just before Dusk increased his magic in his horn and created a huge white flash, a flash that made the giant spider flee immediately, unaccustomed to being exposed to light.

"Are you all alright?" Dusk asked turning around to see the mares after checking that the giant spider had moved completely away.

"Yea... 'though that really scared me." Applejack answered with a small giggle of relief.

"I... I wasn't scared, just surprised." Rainbow Dash answered, embarrassed for having screamed.

"Where's Fluttershy!?" Rarity suddenly asked in worry, seeing that her shy friend wasn't by her side.

It was then that everypony was frozen when they looked around and found that the yellow pegasus was nowhere to be found.

"Did another spider take her!?" Rarity asked totally scared.

"No, I'm sure there was only the one." Dusk responded worriedly, trying to remember. "Fluttershy was coming with us when we started galloping, right?"

"I'm not sure." Rainbow Dash answered also worried, thinking how terrified Fluttershy should be, even more because she was alone.

"Let's head back!" Applejack said, leading the group as they all began galloping as fast as they could to return to the point where they had last seen Fluttershy, hoping to find her on the way back.

Finally, everypony came to where they had halted when Dusk had his vision, and there that any hope they had gave way to despair upon learning that the timid mare was not there either.

"Pinkie, can you use your Pinkie sense to find her?" Dusk asked Pinkie Pie. The pink mare waved her tail, making the sound of an empty can with a pebble inside.

"Sorry, I don’t control my Pinkie sense, it just happens." Pinkie Pie responded, regretting not being able to use her great skill at such a crucial moment.

Dusk bit his lip thinking about the possible actions, he lamented that just when a part of him was screaming that he should help his beloved teacher as soon as possible, Fluttershy would have to be lost, but now the important thing was to find the pegasus as soon as possible, since this place was one of the most dangerous places in all of Equestria.

In the process of analysis of actions to be taken, Dusk first thought with logic, they could not separate since in the process they could all be lost, the best thing was for the others to wait there and he would search alone, but that implied that the search could go on for a long time, he also knew that the mares wouldn't want to wait while their friend could be in danger, and he had already decided not to force them to do what he wanted without their approval, not again; Finally Dusk came to the conclusion that the logical thing was to look for her together.

"We'll split up and look for her." Rarity said before Dusk spoke.

"N-No! If we separated, we could-" Dusk hastened to say, ready to explain his logic, but he was quickly interrupted by his fellow unicorn.

"I know you'll say we should all look for her together." Rarity said, surprising Dusk for having followed his logic so quickly. "But it's Fluttershy who got lost, not another of us. You and I can use magic, Rainbow Dash has her speed, Applejack her strength and Pinkie Pie's innate ridiculousness."

"Hey!" Pinkie Pie quipped, feigning outrage.

"The point is that it's better to risk to losing one of us than Fluttershy." Rarity said looking seriously at Dusk.

Dusk was surprised by Rarity's argument, it was based on her emotions, something totally emotional, but it was also logical, was that possible? Maybe... yes, Dusk’s thinking turned all his reasoning into a mathematical equation, then he realized that what Rarity said made sense if he added another variable to the equation, the 'self-sacrifice' option, something he hadn't taken into account. That is to say that Rarity and the others would be risking themselves in order to find their friend quickly, that logic was something Dusk hadn't thought of, and it was something that Dusk couldn't deny Rarity and the others if they were willing to do.

"Fine." Dusk finally relented looking at the other mares. "You all agree?"

The other three mares nodded without hesitation. Then Dusk approached the edge of the road and took five small branches that were near a tree, along with another wider and bigger branch, then he spun them with his magic until the small branches acquired a small purple glow at one of their ends, then Dusk nailed the big branch vertically in the middle of the road and threw the small branches to the ground, which as soon as they fell to the ground they lined up pointing directly with the bright tip towards the nailed branch.

"This will serve as an improvised compass, the branches will point directly where this other branch is nailed, in other words they will point to where the road is if you get lost." Dusk explained looking at the mares. "But it will only last a few minutes, so as soon as you see that the light of your branch begins to fade out, all of you should immediately return here."

Each of the ponies took a bright twig and put it in their mane.

"If it's very dark, don't take chances." Dusk added as each one got ready to go out of the road to enter the forest in different directions. "Good luck."

After that last bit of encouragement, the five ponies went into the forest to try to find their missing companion.

As soon as they entered the forest, Dusk began to move faster, unlike his compadres since he could illuminate his surroundings more, thanks to his magic.

"Fluttershy!?" Dusk yelled, trying to call the shy pegasus, looking around to catch any sign of her.

It was after several cries that Dusk suddenly stopped when he saw that in front of him there were some broken branches and a pair of hoofprints on the ground next to the mud.

"Someone came through here." The stallion thought, unsure of whether finding a trail in that terrifying forest was something good or bad, but lucky for him the prints looked like pony hooves, giving him hope that they were of the lost pegasus. "But if she really went so deep into the forest, what could be her reason for doing so?" Dusk continued to think awkwardly as he went.

The lavender unicorn kept moving cautiously through the branches and roots of the trees, following the hoofprints, until he stopped when these suddenly disappeared without any other trace. Dusk looked around trying to find another clue to indicate where the owner of those tracks had gone, since they couldn’t just disappear like that, of course, unless it was a pegasus and it had flown, but that would have been careless, since right in that part of the forest there were many lianas and vines between the treetops, so only a very careless or very naive pegasus would try flying there. And that was exactly what Dusk was thinking, looking towards the treetops, when something fell from above, right in front of him.

"Waaahhh!" Fluttershy yelled, falling face down from the treetops, just saving herself from falling face down on the ground because she was totally tied up between the lianas of the forest and they had managed to hold her just before hitting, causing her to be tied upside down with her face almost touching Dusk's.

There was an uncomfortable silence between the two ponies, in which both looked at each other without saying a word, Fluttershy with a look of pity and shame, and Dusk with disbelief.

"Heh... Hi." Dusk finally said, smiling for having found Fluttershy and also for seeing the pegasus in that state, knowing that Fluttershy had been very naive for trying to have flown there, something that a normal pegasus would have known; Therefore, seeing her hanging like this made Dusk very amused.

"Hi." Fluttershy replied timidly, blushing, not knowing what else to say.

"Let me help you." Dusk said, using his magic to cut the lianas that held Fluttershy, holding her between his hooves so she wouldn't fall to the ground. Dusk could not help but smile and blush slightly as he did that, since seeing the shy pegasus so helpless, silent, and blushing, looking at him with big eyes expectantly waiting for him to save her, all that made her look very cute and adorable.

"So you got here, you decided to fly and you were trapped, right?" Dusk asked knowing the answer.

"Yes... the forest was very thick, so I tried to fly... I... I should have looked up before I did it." Fluttershy answered with her characteristic shyness.

Suddenly Dusk's thoughts came out of the bizarre memory of seeing Fluttershy hanging, and he remembered what was really important.

"Wait a second, first off, why are you here!?" Dusk asked worriedly, thinking that maybe she had fallen under some spell of illusion or some creature had driven her out of the road.

"Hmm... well..." Fluttershy answered lowering her head somewhat embarrassed and scratching the ground with her hoof. "I just heard a cry, someone was crying, and I heard it in this direction."

Dusk wore a look of disbelief, he didn't understand what Fluttershy was referring to, was someone or something crying in the middle of the forest? Nopony else had heard anything, and now that they were both there, Dusk didn't hear anything either.

"Are you sure? Maybe it was just the wind." Dusk said.

Fluttershy didn't answer, she just remained silently looking at the ground. The truth was that she also had her doubts about what she had heard, but...

"Come on, we have to meet the others as soon as possible." Dusk added extending a hoof to accompany her back to the road.

"I... I can't…" Fluttershy answered, closing her eyes with sorrow. "I'm not sure what I heard... but if there is someone hurt or needs help, I can't abandon it."

"Fluttershy, it may have been just your imagination." Dusk said looking seriously at Fluttershy, for now that he had found her, he had to return to his priorities, which was rescuing the princess as soon as possible. "Besides, we can't keep waste anymore time, we've already lost a lot by looking for you, the princess is in danger, we must try to save her, we are her only hope!"

Fluttershy looked at Dusk with a strange look, between supplication and confusion, it was a look that Dusk needed time to decipher... it was a look of indecision. Apparently, she was struggling with herself to make a decision, a decision that Dusk was forcing her to take, an indecision that Dusk did not understand since for him the logical and obvious answer was that they should go to save the princess immediately. Then Dusk looked at Fluttershy's deep, confused cyan eyes, and with great effort he tried to put himself in her place: a shy pegasus who couldn't bear to see or hear someone else suffer and went immediately to help them, even if she had to go deep into a dark forest; and now that Dusk was reflecting on that, that mare must have great courage and motivation to face her fear of that forest, the same motivation that had driven her to follow and try to help Dusk even though she was the most shy pony he knew. Once he realized that, it was HIM who had a problem of indecision, continue with his primary mission or help Fluttershy to follow her motivations, and to Dusk's misery, he decided that he couldn't say no to Fluttershy, after all, he couldn't force her to stop helping others or stop being a kind pony.

"Huff... Okay..." Dusk finally said sighing, holding his head with his hoof, bothering himself for not being able to run at that very moment to help the princess. "But who do you want to help? I don't see anyone around here."

"I don't know, I heard the cries coming in this direction but suddenly they left-" the pegasus started answering, unable to finish her sentence when suddenly a cry was heard near where they were, causing both ponies to perk their ears on alert to find where the sound came from.

Dusk heard the crying coming from his right, between the trees, so he pushed aside the weeds with his magic and told Fluttershy to follow him. So they both walked a few steps until they began to hear another sound, the sound of water flowing.

Finally Dusk cleared the last branches of the road until he and Fluttershy realized that they had reached the bank of a river, the river that passed through the middle of Everfree forest; a wide river with a strong flow that would've caught their attention if it hadn't been directed towards a huge creature that was lying on the riverbank, a huge and long purple beast that would have caused a terrible fear if it wasn't for it having a big and somewhat ridiculous orange mane, but what really made that huge creature lose all terrifying impact was the fact that it was crying like a baby, covering its face with its huge claws.

"What the heck is that?" Dusk whispered to Fluttershy, not wanting to alert the giant weeping beast.

"It's a sea serpent." Fluttershy answered, an expert in local wildlife, who without Dusk noticing, was approaching the huge serpent.

"Fluttershy, no!" Dusk shouted in a whisper, thinking that despite that creature was crying, it could be dangerous, after all, a beast is more dangerous when more scared.

"Aww... poor thing." Fluttershy tenderly said aloud so the serpent could hear her, which completely scared Dusk. "Tell me, what happened to you? Did someone hurt you?"

The serpent stopped crying slowly and opened a space between his fingers so that his eyes could see who was talking to him. Then the huge snake opened his mouth, showing large fangs and lowered his head quickly towards Fluttershy.

"FLUTTERSHY!!" Dusk shouted trying to run towards her, thinking that the serpent was going to devour her, all this while Fluttershy didn't move and just smiled tenderly as she watched the huge mouth of the beast coming towards her.

In that split second, Dusk lit his horn ready to cast a spell, although he was sure he wouldn't be able to cast it before the beast ate Fluttershy. However, his horn did nothing, since the head of the huge serpent hadn't fallen on Fluttershy as he had thought, but fell beside her and began to cry again, to Dusk's astonishment, who still didn't understand how such a huge beast could cry like that, like a little baby.

Meanwhile Fluttershy, who understood that the serpent had opened its mouth to cry harder and not devour her, she approached the huge head that had fallen beside her and caressed it tenderly.

"There... there... everything's ok." Fluttershy spoke in a motherly tone, caressing the fin-shaped ears that the serpent had, while it was still crying, covering its face with its hands.

They stayed like that for a while as Dusk continued to watch the big serpent with a look of complete disbelief until the huge sea serpent finally calmed down.

"Feeling better?" Fluttershy asked tenderly, who was now completely wet and with a slightly unpleasant smell due to all the tears that had fallen on her and to have been hugging and caressing that odorous sea creature.

The sea serpent inhaled strongly through his nose a couple of times and looked affectionately at the pegasus that was at his side.

"Yes... thank you very much, sweetheart..." The sea serpent answered, he was a male but he spoke with a feminine tone, what surprised Dusk even more than the simple fact of knowing that that creature could speak.

"Now tell me, what happened to you?" Fluttershy asked affectionately.

"Oh my! I can't tell you, honey." The sea serpent answered, still hiding his face in his hands, but moving his huge and long body as if dancing uncomfortably. "It's all so embarrassing, I'm dying of embarrassment! Just remembering it makes me want to cry again..."

Dusk looked increasingly surprised that scene, every word the serpent said reminded him a little of how Rarity sounded, although more exaggerated, and of course, a chime-like voice fit that elegant and feminine mare perfectly, but didn't fit the masculine tone of that serpent at all, besides the fact that this was a huge and fearsome creature, not a little pony.

"Oh, please, I just want to help you." Fluttershy said in a pleading tone.

"Oh, dear, it's... it's a problem... I don't think a pony like you can help me solve it." The serpent answered, this time covering his face only with one of his hands, it reached to cover him only under the eyes and part of his mouth, while with his other hand he combed his long, orange mane.

"Oh! Well, how about him? Could he help you?" Fluttershy asked pointing to Dusk, making the serpent notice the presence of Dusk for the first time.

The sea serpent stared at Dusk for a few seconds and then brought his head up to face Dusk.

"Oh my... what a handsome unicorn... A total perfect stallion." The sea serpent said as his eyes sparkled, making Dusk shiver for some reason. "You two make a cute and adorable couple together, dear."

Upon hearing that, Fluttershy face turned totally red and began to dig at the ground with her hoof.

"N-No... we're not a couple..." Fluttershy refuted, almost in a whisper as she glanced at Dusk and immediately lowered her eyes blushing even more.

"Oh... so you're single..." The serpent said, again focusing his eyes on Dusk, winking coquettishly at him, which made Dusk tremble again. "YOU are definitely just what I need."

Dusk gulped loudly as he began to sweat and tremble, what he felt wasn't fear, but for some reason, the look of that serpent made him uncomfortable, as if the serpent was stripping him with his eyes, even though he was already naked. The unicorn then looked at Fluttershy, hoping that the pegasus would intercede for him and get him away from this awkward situation, but Fluttershy just stared at him with a big smile, just waiting. It was then that Dusk noticed how wet Fluttershy had been after the serpent's tears had fallen, that definitely should not have been nice, especially with that fishy smell, however she had done it, and with a big smile, just to try making that serpent feel better, what made Dusk think that he should at least try to do the same, he could do no less, even though he felt uncomfortable, he must help someone in need if he could, like Fluttershy.

"Umm... T-Then... W-What's the problem?" Dusk finally asked trying to control his nerves, looking the serpent in the eyes.

"Oh, yes, well... it's... something private... I have... a guy problem..." The serpent began saying, still hiding his face with his hand, approaching a little more to Dusk while he did his best to stay in place. "It's something that only boys have, a girl like her couldn't understand the value and importance of 'that' for us male." The more the serpent talked, the closer he came to Dusk, speaking almost to his ear.

"R-Really?" Dusk said totally nervous, joining the ideas that the serpent was mentioning, already forming an idea of what the serpent might be talking about, after all, what could be the most important thing for a male? Something he couldn't teach a mare...? "You... you're talking about... you know..." Dusk said blushing, unable to mention the word since that part of the male body was something a gentleman should not mention out loud.

"That's right... I have a problem just 'there'... This part of me... is a mess..." The sea serpent said, somewhat embarrassed by what he was about to say, whispering softly and gently into Dusk's ear. "Would you like to see it…? I know you're the one... Just touch it, use your magic 'there'."





"WHAT!!? NO! OF COURSE NOT!" Dusk screamed, totally blushed, almost fuming from his ears how embarrassed he was, the conversation had escalated too much, he wanted to help, but in no way he would put his hooves on 'that' part of the serpent, and what kind of twisted metaphor did 'use your magic there' mean!? If it was what Dusk imagined... NO! They were both boys! He liked mares!

"What's wrong?" Fluttershy asked worriedly, approaching when she saw that Dusk had screamed.

"Looks like he's nervous, I guess I'll have to show it to you, sweetheart." The sea serpent said approaching Fluttershy as Dusk quickly ran to cover Fluttershy's eyes as the serpent removed his hand and finally showed his entire face. "It's my mustache!! I'm so upset that someone cut it..." The serpent said almost crying, finally showing the hairs on his lip, where one side of the mustache seemed to have been ripped off.

While Dusk was still covering Fluttershy's eyes, he saw with complete stupefaction the serpent's mustache while he felt as if a bucket of cold water had fallen on him.

"Heh... Hehe..." Dusk laughed foolishly, falling to the ground, totally relieved that the whole conversation had been about a mustache.

"Is that why you screamed?" Fluttershy said looking at Dusk confused. "You didn't want me to see his mustache?"

"I know it looks ugly, but I didn't think-" The sea serpent said, stopping when he realized something.

"How dirty mind! I know what you were thinking, dirty boy." The serpent added coquettishly touching Dusk's cheeks with his finger, which made the unicorn blush completely.

"It doesn't look so bad." Fluttershy said, who hadn't heard anything of the misunderstanding and now had her eyes fixed on the creature's mustache.

"No, no no!" The serpent said in a tantrum, almost crying again. "It looks horrid! I need to do something! I can't be quiet until this mess is fixed! Your friend is a unicorn, that's why I asked for his help, isn't there a magic spell he can use to help me?"

Meanwhile Dusk, already calmed, heard the words of the serpent, while trying to think of some solution to the problem.

"Listen, could I talk to my companion alone for a moment? Maybe we can find a solution." Dusk said trying to put a kind smile.

The serpent rejoiced at Dusk's words, then winked again, something that gave Dusk chills again, and finally he moved back a bit to give Dusk and Fluttershy space.

"You know, I think he's a serpent too fussy, the most sensible thing would be not to consent to a mere banal whim and to continue with our important mission." Dusk said looking at Fluttershy, who looked at him with a sad look.

"But I know that even if it's just a whim, you won't be satisfied until you help that serpent, after all, your kind soul won't let you, right?" Dusk added, which made Fluttershy look at Dusk with a small smile as she blushed. "So now we need a solution to this problem. I really don't know any hair growth spells, I suppose that spells can exist but I was never interested in finding out anything about something like that. Maybe I could use an amplifying spell, but I don't think that makes the hair grow, maybe that only enlarges the few hairs that are left there, maybe..."

While Dusk was still talking, thinking of ideas to solve the serpent problem, Fluttershy's eyes shone brighter with every second she saw Dusk, while her heart rejoiced.

"Dusk, I... I'm sorry you're taking on so many problems because of me, I'm really sorry..." Fluttershy said, who as always, regretted being a nuisance to others.

Those words brought Dusk out of his thoughts and seeing this mare asking for forgiveness over something so insignificant reminded him that he had done something worse to her and hadn’t apologized properly.

"No, if anypony should ask for an apology, it should be me." Dusk said lowering his head a little. "I knocked both you and the others out without your consent, that was terrible, something I shouldn't have done so abruptly without thinking about how you felt... I wanted to keep all of you safe, but it's no use if I don't value your feelings... You've all been so good to me... but I... I've only hurt you. You... you have every right to hate me and be angry with me... I just hope you can forgive me for what I've done."

"I'm not mad at you." Fluttershy answered, who unlike her friends, hadn't woken up annoyed after Dusk's sleeping spell. "I... I felt sad, I always thought you are a good pony, from the first moment I met you, that's why I understood that you did that just to protect us, but I felt sad for not being good enough that you wanted me to accompany you... If I were stronger and braver maybe you would have wanted me to go with you." Fluttershy finished sadly.

Dusk looked at Fluttershy, and he couldn't help but think that he had actually thought about that many times, how helpless she could be, but it didn't mean she was weak or cowardly, in fact she did have the courage to go into the forest and face her fears, just as she had the courage to run and help someone immediately, in spite of how terrifying this could be, as it happened with the serpent.

"This is a cruel world and only the strongest survive." Dusk suddenly added, remembering something of his past. "That was a phrase that a friend used a lot, she said we should be strong and not show weakness, but now I think... maybe there are many types of strength... and though this world is often cruel, if we were all half as good ponies and worried about others as you are, maybe we could make this world a better place... I want to be a better pony, I would like to have your strength, Fluttershy!"

Hearing that, Fluttershy lowered her head a little so her mane hid her face, which had turned completely red before the tender words of support and affection that Dusk had given her. In doing so, the mare couldn't help but utter a few words that her heart demanded that she scream, but with her timid voice, only a small murmur left her lips.

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" Dusk said, bringing his face close to Fluttershy's. Then the mare raised her face, totally blushed, and opened her mouth to pronounce what she had just said out loud.

"Dusk... I think ... I-I like yo-" Fluttershy said mustering all her courage, but being interrupted unfortunately by a third and unexpected voice.

"There you are, Fluttershy darling!" Rarity yelled surprisingly, who was walking along the riverbank and seen the silhouette of her beloved friend, causing her to run to meet her.

Rarity ran and jumped to embrace Fluttershy, something Fluttershy would have been glad to receive… if it had only been a few seconds later, so that she would have managed to tell Dusk what took all her courage to say. Of course, Fluttershy didn't get mad at her friend because of the interruption, she only blamed herself as she always did, for not having been more determined before the arrival of Rarity.

"How did you get here?" Dusk asked surprised by the appearance of the white unicorn.

"While I was looking for Fluttershy, I got to the edge of the river and then I thought the worst." Rarity answered with some tears in her eyes for the joy of finding her frail friend safe and sound. "I walked down the river in case Fluttershy had fallen into the river and was carried away, that's when I saw you two here."

"Oh! Another pony came to accompany you, tell me, is she your friend?" The sea serpent said suddenly, who had come back seeing that Rarity had arrived with Dusk and Fluttershy.

Rarity turned her head, and her body trembled at the sight of the huge sea serpent in front of them, she didn't know what was the reason for serpent's presence or what he was going to do with them, so only one idea crossed her mind, seeing that Fluttershy was there, perhaps it had been that gigantic and unattractive serpent that had captured Fluttershy and carried her there. Then Rarity without thinking twice quickly stood between the serpent and the other two ponies.

"If you're going to devour us, take me! Just let them go!" Rarity said trembling, but with a look of determination in her eyes.

"Devour ponies!? Oh my..." The sea serpent said scared, then he put a hand to his head dramatically and fainted, falling into the river, which caused him to wake up immediately with the cold water.

"No, no, you're wrong." Fluttershy corrected Rarity quickly, moving closer to her side. "He's no beast, he's just a very friendly and nice sea serpent, he was only asking for our help."

While Rarity listened attentively to Fluttershy's explanation, Dusk couldn't help but see how the tremor in the white mare calmed slowly as she dried her tears. He was amazed at Rarity's quick reaction, that without thinking twice she had been willing to sacrifice herself just to save them, without thinking of herself even though she was clearly terrified, it reminded Dusk that even he himself had not been so quick when he saw that the sea serpent almost ate Fluttershy.

"How amazing are these mares?" Dusk wondered, thinking how great those five mares were that accompanied him. "Compared to them, I'm..." Dusk continued thinking with some sadness.

"Oh, Celestia! What happened to your mustache!?" Rarity asked once the situation subsided, looking at the serpent's face, and pulling Dusk out of his thoughts.

"You see? I told you! I'm a monster! No one should see this horrible face in this state!" The serpent said dramatically, covering his face with a hand.

"Oh, I'm sorry, darling, I didn't mean to offend you, it just surprised me, that's all." Rarity added quickly when she realized that she had sunk her hoof in a sore. "But tell me, what happened to you?" The mare asked, realizing that sea serpent was much more sensitive than he appeared.

"Oh, it was terrible, dear!" The snake responded almost to tears. "Some kind of scary bat pony came flying by and ripped off half of my mustache while I slept, it was horrible!"

Dusk saw the serpent's mane and for the first time he realized that it was the same color as the hairs that Nightmare Moon had used in her enhancer spell to catch them.

"Tell me darling, you're also a unicorn, I know you can use magic, is there any way you can grow my mustache again?" The sea serpent asked to Rarity.

Rarity bit her lip and stared for a second at the serpent's badly cut mustache.

"Of course, darling, leave everything in my hooves." Rarity said with a somewhat nervous smile.

"Hooray!" The serpent shouted with joy.

"Oh! So you do know capillary growth spells?" Dusk said a little surprised, although thinking that he should have noticed before that a fashion pony like Rarity could know that kind of spells.

"Hair growth spell? No, I don't know any." Rarity said a little confused.

That made Dusk more confused, if she didn't know a spell that could regrow the serpent's mustache, then what solution had occurred to her so quickly, since he hadn't thought of anything in all this time.

While Dusk was in thought, Rarity lowered her gaze, biting her lip again and glancing sideways at her fellow unicorn.

"Dusk, darling, could you give Fluttershy and me some privacy, please? You can go ahead and meet with the others, we'll join you in a moment." Rarity said looking at Dusk with a somewhat nervous smile.

Dusk set out to ask why and to refute, but he saw that Rarity was still staring at him with a big, sad smile as if she was begging him to do her that favor. That reminded Dusk that Rarity was the only mare left with whom he had not yet formally apologized, so he wasn't in a position to object to her any favor after having forced her to fall asleep.

"O-okay..." Dusk said reluctantly, unable to get Rarity's gaze out of his mind.

Then Dusk turned around and started to walk away. As he did so, he caught a few words from the mares.

"Rarity! That is not necessary!" Fluttershy said worriedly.

"But don't you see how important it is to him? If it's within my reach, with this I can fix his mustache." Rarity replied.

Stepping slowly into the woods, Dusk was willing to give Rarity the privacy she asked of him, but he wasn't able to leave them completely alone as she had asked, so he only moved a little and stayed behind some trees, waiting for the return of both mares.

"If it's not a hair growth spell, what will she do? Maybe cut the other half to match?" Dusk continued thinking as he awaited the arrival of the mares, still trying to think of a spell that would solve the problem of the serpent.

A few minutes later there was finally a noise among the trees, that put Dusk on alert for someone's arrival. Dusk looked up and saw Fluttershy among the trees, who was surprised to see Dusk there.

"Dusk! What are you still doing here!?" Fluttershy asked worriedly, looking backward out of the corner of her eye.

"I was waiting for you two." Dusk replied. "Where is Rarity?"

"Umm... she's coming after me, but... she wants you to go on ahead... please." Fluttershy said nervously. That put Dusk on alert, all that was giving him a bad feeling, what was it that Rarity had done? Had it been something dangerous?

"Fluttershy, take this." Dusk said looking seriously at Fluttershy, handing her the branch-compass that indicated where was the path, which almost didn't shine anymore. "Go on to the others, they'll be worried about you, I'll wait for Rarity."

Fluttershy looked at Dusk nervously, she wanted to insist that Dusk leave, just as Rarity had told her to tell him if she found him, but Dusk's intense and determined gaze was stronger.

"O-Okay…" Fluttershy said timidly, entering the forest, following the direction indicated by Dusk's magical compass.

As soon as Fluttershy disappeared into the trees, Dusk turned his head after hearing another hoofsteps in the place where Fluttershy had first appeared.

There, walking slowly with her head down, Rarity finally appeared, with an expression of total desolation. As soon as she raised her head, and saw that Dusk was there, she screamed and quickly hid behind a tree.

"What are you doing here!?" Rarity asked almost crying, only letting her head show behind the tree.

"I decided to wait for you." Dusk responded worriedly to see the sad expression that white unicorn had and even more for her reaction to seeing him. "Is something wrong?"

"Please go away..." Rarity said without being able to look Dusk in the eyes, while her lip trembled with fear and grief. "I... I don't want you to see me like this..."

"Like what?" Dusk asked confused since Rarity seemed to be in perfect condition when he saw her walking a few moments ago.

Rarity looked up to see Dusk and then closed her eyes tightly causing little tears to leap from her eyes. She didn't want Dusk to find out that way, she had wanted to avoid him seeing her in 'this' state at all costs. She knew, however, that sooner or later he would see her and that they couldn't keep wasting time, she understood that Dusk wanted to find the princess as soon as possible, so finally Rarity swallowed hard and took a couple of steps so Dusk could see her completely and he could see what had happened.

As soon as Rarity came out of the tree, something she did very slowly, Dusk couldn't tell there was anything out of place on her, except until he managed to see her tail, or rather what was left of it. Just as the mustache of the sea serpent had been, it seemed that Rarity's tail had been cut off abruptly, leaving only the beginning of this, ending in disordered hairs badly cut, nothing had remained of her beautiful and well-kept tail.

"I... I gave him my tail so he would have a new mustache..." Rarity said ashamed, almost on the verge of crying.

"Of course, why didn't I think of that!?" Dusk thought surprised that he hadn't thought of such a simple solution. "She used a simple binding spell to complete the cut mustache with her cut tail."

At that moment, Dusk once again realized that in his logical way of thinking, where everything was formed by equations that concluded results, he had omitted to add the 'sacrifice' factor. It was true that Dusk was also sometimes willing to sacrifice something for the sake of something bigger, but it seemed that Rarity's thought had inculcated it as a priority factor, almost as if she always had as a first option to give something of herself for the good of others, contrary to the thought of the great majority who always left the option of the self-sacrificing as last option.

"And why didn't you want to show me what happened to your tail?" Dusk asked with a small smile to try to boost Rarity's spirits, besides, a cut tail wasn't worth such drama, wasn't it?

"Because it looks horrible!!" Rarity shouted finally crying, which surprised Dusk. "I didn't want anyone to see me like this, especially YOU! I look so ugly... I... sniff! I don't want you to think I'm ugly..." Rarity finished speaking, covering her face while the tears kept falling from her beautiful eyes.

Before that scene, Dusk quickly realized that he couldn't take what Rarity had done as something simple, that is, for him, it was something not important, but for a mare like her who always cared to look good and take care of her appearance, that was much more important. Besides, Dusk didn't have the right to criticize Rarity on anything, she had thought of that solution quickly when it didn't even occur to him, and that happened because she was always ready to give anything to help others or make them feel good, something which he had failed. With all that in mind, Dusk couldn't criticize the white unicorn mare, who was still crying copiously in front of him, feeling miserable because the colt for which she felt something for had seen her as ugly and miserable as she thought she looked.

The more Rarity cried, the more empathy Dusk felt and the more moved he felt from the mare's gesture. As always, he was very reluctant to any emotional act, however, he knew that he needed to comfort Rarity, and his heart dictated that he do it.

Dusk came up to Rarity, he gently grabbed the mare's chin so that she would lift her head and pulled her hooves out of her face, then Dusk stroked her cheek to dry the tears that fell on her.

"Rarity..." Dusk spoke tenderly, making full use of his knowledge of chivalry and for a moment letting his feelings speak for him. "Right now you're more beautiful than ever. What you just did, not only makes you great as a mare, it makes you shine in a radiance that only you can achieve."

At Dusk's words, Rarity stopped crying while her bright eyes focused on Dusk's and her cheeks blushed, realizing that this had probably been the most beautiful thing anyone had ever told her, since she could even feel the sincerity and the true affection in the words that Dusk pronounced.

"Dusk..." Rarity said looking dreamily at the colt.

"I wish I had your altruistic spirit, if I had it, it would have occurred to me to cut my tail, and your tail would be fine." Dusk added, still lamenting at the act Rarity had to do just because he hadn't thought of it. "When I was a little colt, I remember I always shared my things with others... but there was a point where... for some reason, I stopped doing it..."

Rarity was still daydreaming while Dusk was talking, but as soon as she heard Dusk mention about his childhood, it reminded her of something very important, so she got a little more serious, even though she didn't want to ruin this atmosphere, she needed Dusk to confirm something.

"Maybe... did you change when your old friend appeared in your life?" Rarity asked a little worried.

"Eh!?" Dusk replied totally surprised by that question, which made him begin to remember. "I-I think so... b-but how do you know about my old friend?"

"When we were separated by the wall of lianas, I took advantage of asking Pinkie Pie and Applejack to update me on what happened before then." Rarity answered a little embarrassed. "They commented two different but similar stories about you having had a friend and that she had apparently given you bad advice... Later we could hear your conversation with Rainbow Dash, where you mentioned it again with a similar fact. Then, when we came here I asked Fluttershy if you had mentioned something similar to her, which she confirmed."

Dusk lowered his head a little embarrassed, knowing that now all the mares knew something important of his past, something that had marked his childhood and that made him vulnerable, however, he also felt a touch of relief knowing that he had finally relieved part of his tormented past with them, although of course, only a small part...

"Dusk..." Rarity added a little more seriously. "Was she your only friend?"

Dusk responded by nodding his head shyly and slowly.

"But darling... Don't you think someone like that, who gave you all those tips... maybe she wasn't really friends with you...? Maybe she was just... a bad friend..." Rarity said looking at Dusk with a worried look.

At Rarity's words, Dusk's gaze changed as his breathing began to shake.

"Don't say that…" Dusk defended nervously, with a worried look, as if he was having a debate in his mind. "Maybe her advice was not the best, but she was my friend... She was the only one who wanted to be it!"

"Do you want to be my friend?" A mare's voice asked in Dusk's memories, words that he had only heard once in his life, words that his only old friend had told him! Words that... not even those five mares had told him, and probably never would say, Dusk thought, after all, they had so many virtues and he... he had nothing to offer...

"You don't understand, all of you have only heard what I have told you and you've misinterpreted everything..." Dusk added calmly, with a sad expression. "Because of me, she lost everything she had... I took from her what she wanted most... I was the bad friend... I... I'm the bad guy in that story..."

Now Rarity was very confused, however, before she could return to the conversation, Dusk suddenly raised his head and changed his mood completely.

"Enough of bad memories, we can't keep wasting more time." Dusk stated, deciding he couldn't get depressed again about his past, least when he had an important mission that required all his concentration. "We must meet up with the others and go quickly to rescue the princess."

After saying that, Dusk stayed next to Rarity and invited her to continue moving forward. Rarity looked at Dusk for a second and then she finally nodded, deciding that maybe this was not the time for Dusk to open up totally with her and the others, but she would definitely get to the bottom of that mystery at a better time.

That was how both unicorns began to move back through the trees, making their way following the trail that Fluttershy had left behind. While they were doing it, suddenly Dusk stopped, much to Rarity's surprise.

"What's wrong?" Rarity asked worriedly.

Then Dusk turned and looked worried at Rarity.

"I... I still didn't apologize personally with you." Dusk said timidly.

"Huh...? Oh, that! Darling, don't worry, I already forgave you, although you'll have to give me a nice gift to forgive you completely." Rarity said smiling and winking at him. "But that will have to wait, now I'm more worried that the others will see me without my tail instead of remembering how upset I was with you so long ago."

Suddenly Dusk raised his eyebrows at the realization of something obvious, something he could do to fix Rarity's tail, so he lit his horn and concentrated, but in doing so, Rarity quickly put a hoof on the tip of Dusk's horn to prevent him from casting a spell.

"In no way should you cut your own tail to do what I did with the serpent's mustache." Rarity said quickly, reading Dusk's mind and giving him a serious look. "It would also be different texture and color, I prefer it to grow naturally."

At the mention of Rarity's words, Dusk stopped lighting his horn and gave a small smile when he realized that sometimes Rarity was able to read him like a book.

"I just wanted to give you something in exchange for everything you did, and also as an apology for everything that happened." Dusk said with a sad smile. "You say I don't need to apologize, but I must. I was selfish wanting to enter the forest alone, even if my intention was to protect you, I didn't take your thoughts into account, only mine. I've done the opposite of what you do, you give everything you have thinking of others, and I was a selfish foal, that's why I wanted you to forgive me. Also, I would really like to give you something to thank you for what you did, you are always willing to give everything without expecting anything in return..."

"Well... that's not entirely true." Rarity said with a smile. "If I give things for something in return, it's not that I don't receive anything. What I like is to see others happy when they get something they want, that smile they give me is my reward." Then Rarity looked back and saw what was left of her beautiful tail with a sad smile. "Although of course, sometimes the price is a bit high..."

Dusk was downcast again, he was sorry he couldn't give Rarity something to cheer her up, he felt he could do something more for her but he couldn't think a concrete idea and that bothered him, although if he had read Rarity's thoughts, he'd have realized that the words he had just said her had been enough to make Rarity happy, just to hear that Dusk really was repentant and that he really wanted to see her happy, it was enough to cheer her up and forgive him completely.

"If only I had something to give to her... I want to see her smile, just like she does with others..." Dusk was still thinking with any good idea, because in reality, he hadn't taken anything with him to the forest.

"Oh! I know!" Dusk suddenly said surprising Rarity, remembering something he could give to Rarity to thank her for her generosity. Then Dusk's horn shone and before him appeared a colorful and beautiful flower.

"This flower is called a 'rainbow shine', it is Princess Celestia's favorite flower, I thought to give it to her when we meet again." Dusk added, carefully taking the flower between his hooves.

"It's beautiful." Rarity said with wide eyes, seeing the beautiful flower. "It'll be a beautiful gift."

"I want you to have it." Dusk said smiling.

"No... No need, you said it's a gift for the princess!" Rarity said quickly.

"Don't worry... I think this flower is perfect for you, a rare and beautiful flower." Dusk said putting the flower in Rarity's mane while she blushed at that act and for having him so close of her. "Besides, with this nopony will notice your tail, they'll only see the beautiful flower and your pretty face." Dusk finished using all his gallantry.

That was more than Rarity could bear, her face went completely red, so much so that she almost fainted from the emotion, falling fortunately in Dusk's hooves.

"Sorry, I guess that was too corny." Dusk said distressed, thinking that he had exaggerated his speech, not understanding Rarity's feelings, who had been entranced by this romantic gesture and those beautiful words, as if all that at that moment was from a beautiful romantic novel and she was the heroine.

While Dusk held Rarity, she looked with big dreamy eyes into Dusk's beautiful purple eyes. An impulse told her to come closer to him, to embrace him, to take his head, to bring to his lips close and to kiss him, her whole being impelled her to it!

"No... Our first kiss can't be here, in this gloomy forest." Rarity thought, forcing herself to maintain control over herself. "It won't be now... but I'll make sure to make those lips of mine one day..."





"So that's what happened..." Rainbow Dash said scratching her head.

It had been a while since she, Pinkie Pie and Applejack had returned to the road after following Dusk's instructions and not having found Fluttershy, and for their luck, they hadn't waited a long time until the pony they had been looking for appeared behind the trees. Once the four of them met, Fluttershy explained to them why she had gone into the woods, how she had been found by Dusk and Rarity, the problem they had had with the sea serpent, and what Rarity had done to solve that problem.

"Yes..." Fluttershy replied to Rainbow Dash after having finished telling everything. "That's why I'm asking you to please don't look at Rarity's tail when she returns. She made a grand gesture, but she's probably terrified that we all see her tail now."

"Don't worry, we know how worried Rarity is about her looks. We won't say a thing." Applejack said with a conciliatory smile, while Pinkie Pie nodded.

"Yeah... I guess I won't say anything either." Rainbow Dash added with a slight tone of lament. She had already come up with a couple of jokes to tell Rarity, but as Applejack said, her unicorn friend was very sensitive about her looks, and she couldn't make fun of her after she had cut her own tail to help someone else.

Suddenly, a noise came from the trees, accompanied by a shine between the branches, so the four mares knew that it was Dusk and Rarity that had finally arrived, so they prepared themselves psychologically to see Rarity totally devastated, after all, they all knew her very well, surely she would appear downcast, totally dejected, perhaps crying, but nothing prepared them for what they saw.

Finally Dusk appears walking calmly, he was glad to see the other four mares together; and with him indeed was Rarity, but not at all in the state of mind that the other four mares had been expecting, instead Rarity had appeared with a huge smile, giving small jumps of joy, as Pinkie Pie did.

"Great! I see that you’re all safe and sound! That's a relief." Dusk said, meeting with the mares, who didn't pay much attention him and just kept looking at the happy white unicorn.

"Hello girls!" Rarity said, still smiling.

"You... you look happy..." Rainbow Dash said looking at Rarity's face and then quickly glancing at her tail, checking that it actually had been cut. After checking it out, Rainbow Dash turned to see the others and shrugged her shoulders in disbelief, indicating that she didn't understand why Rarity was so happy.

"Oh, what a beautiful flower!" Fluttershy said seeing the flower that Rarity wore in her mane.

"Yes! Isn't it!?" Rarity replied with joy, shaking her head to pose her new ornament. "It's a gift my dear Dusk gave me, you know, as a way of asking for forgiveness."

At that comment, Dusk felt a chill and could have sworn that the other four mares had turned their heads quickly and looked at him with resentment for a second.

"Well, I think it's time we continue, we can't waste anymore time." Dusk said after seeing that everypony was finally reunited.

Then Dusk started running along the road, followed immediately by Rarity, who never stopped smiling and quickly stuck to his side, followed by the other four mares, as they four ran simultaneously thinking the same thing, that perhaps they had forgiven that clueless colt too easily and that if they had only waited longer, maybe they also would've received a cute gift from their beloved Dusk.

# End of Chapter 18