Rise of the Element Gang, Book 1: The Adventure Begins

by Power of Six


Chapter 8: Getting To Know You

Chapter 8: Getting To Know You

“Twilight, I'm back!” Dusk announced, stepping back into the library a good few minutes later. She was sitting at a desk, though Spike was absent.

“Hey, Dusk.” she greeted. “You were gone quite a while. You didn't have any trouble, did you?”

“No, not at all. I’m sorry for not being back sooner, but Rarity invited me to stay for tea and it seemed rude to pass up the invitation.”

“It’s okay, I told you that you could take as long as you needed.” she reminded him. “I told you it would be alright.”

“Yes, you did. Thanks for being understanding.”

“No problem. Now, do you want to help me sort through these old books?” She gestured to the pile in the corner.

“Certainly.” I said, heading over to them with Twilight. There was still no sign of my fellow assistant. “Where’s Spike? Is he asleep upstairs?”

“Actually he’s gone to Rarity’s.” she explained. “I gave him some time off, so he went there to see if there was anything he could help her with." She whispered conspiratorially to him. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he has kind of a crush on her.”

“I did notice.” I told her, levitating a book from the topmost pile. “A Classic Study on Weather Control, that’s for the science section. But, yes, I saw from yesterday. It is rather…obvious.”

“I know, but don’t say anything about it.” she said, bringing a book down herself. “I think he views it as a secret. Hm, another edition on The History of Equestria. Looks old.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t say a word.” he promised, sorting away another book. “There are quite a lot of them, aren’t there?”

“Well, it’s a good thing we’re both working together to sort them.” Twilight gave me an encouraging look. “We’ll have it done in no time. Besides, we might find something really interesting, like an ancient study of magic or science journals. Can you imagine what could turn up? We might find spells that have been lost for years, long lost magic and records!”

“Those would be quite a remarkable find, I agree with you there.” I conceded, smiling at how excited she was about it. I couldn’t help but feel a little excited too.

“Really? You’re intrigued by this too?” She sounded surprised that I was.

“Of course.” I affirmed, sorting another book. “Reading is one of my favorite pastimes as is learning about anything that takes my interest. It’s why I have my cutie mark.”

“I suppose it’s kind of obvious, when you put it like that.” she agreed. “Well, that’s great, Dusk. Spike does help me with my studies, but I think he gets bored with all of the studying at times. I enjoy reading and learning too. It seems we’ll get along better than I first thought.”

“Yes, I suppose we will.” I said, still smiling. “I’ll keep an eye out for any good stuff.”

We remained in silence for a while, but a comfortable one at least. The quiet was only ever broken when we remarked on a book that we had found, perhaps an obscure title or an old edition of a more recently updated book. The latter wouldn’t be much use in the library practically, though we could probably sell it to collectors of old texts.

I had to admit that I was enjoying myself immensely. My apologies had been successful, my new-found friends had forgiven me and now, I was spending time with the unicorn I’d always hoped to speak to. This was certainly turning out better than yesterday, I could say that much.

“Wow! Look at this!” I turned to Twilight, who showed me her discovery. “A first edition of Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone! There are barely any left!”

“First edition?” I carefully examined the book, checking the date it was published. “You’re right, it is! This is a great find, especially for such a great series of books. Hold on.” I placed on the adventure section with great care.

“Do you read them, Dusk?” she asked excitedly.

“Of course, who doesn’t read Daring Do?” I found a smile coming to my face again. “I’ve read every single one, I’m currently re-reading the whole series.”

“So am I! A fellow fan!” Twilight seemed ecstatic at the idea. “Which one did you think was best? I felt that Griffon’s Goblet was even better than the first.”

“That was okay," I noted, very pleased that we shared a passion, “except for, I think, the Griffon Guardian that replaced Ahuitzotl as the villain. Why bring in a new one, if we already have such a good one?”

“To be fair though, we never see her again anyway.” Twilight pointed out, returning to the sorting pile. “Besides, he got a lot of time in Ahuitzotl’s Revenge for his own diabolical plans.”

“Oh, that was a brilliant read. I really thought she was doomed in that one.” I admitted.

“I know, so did I! I liked the one with…”

We continued on with our sorting, all the while discussing the Daring Do series. It seemed that, like me, Twilight had always wanted somepony to talk about her own ideas on the series. Now she had, she seemed to be thoroughly enjoying every minute of it, as did I. I had never imagined that I would get along so well with her, how much we thought alike about this particular subject. She’d actually let me go off on a rant about a plot line in the fourth book, Everfree Emerald, involving Daring Do’s father, that had almost nothing to do with the rest of the story and never went anywhere, only to discover that she thought the exact same thing about too. We’d laughed for a while after that.

We finished sorting through the rest of the books about half an hour later. There were some science journals that might be worth looking at, an ancient book of magic and a few more first editions, but most of them were too outdated to be sorted into the shelves. Spike arrived back at roughly the same time.

“Hey, you guys managed to sort all of those books out!” he exclaimed. “Good, I wasn't looking forward to that.”

“Oh, we had great fun sorting them all out, right, Dusk?” Her grin grew wider as I nodded in agreement. “See, Spike? Sorry you had to miss out.”

“Yeah, I know. I am too.” Spike said in a mock forlorn voice. “Next time, I have the opportunity the handle a bunch of old, dusty books, I’ll be sure not to miss out on it.”

“Don’t worry.” I assured, playing along. “I’ll be sure you're the first to know, so you can help out as soon as possible.”

We all burst out laughing at that.

“Well, after that,” Twilight announced, “I think we need some lunch. Spike, would you make us some dandelion sandwiches please?”

“Sure thing, Twilight. Come on, Dusk, you can give me a hoof with them.”

“Alright. Don’t worry, Twilight, I don’t mind.” I assured her as she was about to say something. “I’ll just make my own.”

She nodded as I followed Spike into the kitchen. I was second assistant after all. I liked to feel I was pulling my own weight around here, so that meant helping Spike on occasion. Besides, I rather liked the dragon.

As I pulled out some bread and dandelions, along with a little mayonnaise, and set about making a lunch for myself, Spike struck up a conversation:

“So, Dusk, Rarity told me you were at hers for tea.” he started casually, slicing some bread up.

“That’s correct, yes.” I confirmed. “She was very kind to offer that I stay for a bit. Though it isn’t the first time I had tea with her.”

“I see.” His tone was mistrustful, suspicious. “So…what did you guys talk about?”

“Um…all sorts really.” I told him, wondering about his sudden hostility. “The town, her business, a little about my studies, same stuff we talked about with her last visit. Her family comes from Hoofdale, you know.”

“I do know, she told me.” he said firmly. “She thinks you’re very charming, polite even.”

“Of course she does.” From realizing the way he said that, I found out why he was acting like this. With that, I actually smiled as I found it to be a bit amusing. “Okay, I get it now. You think I’m going after Rarity, aren’t you?”

“Okay, that’s it!” He rounded on me, waving the butter knife at me. “Alright, you don’t play games with me. What are you up to with Rarity?”

“Whoa!” I backed off a little. “Put the knife down!” Then, it hit me. Twilight had said before and I'd seen it myself yesterday. “Spike, you’ve got the wrong idea. I don’t want to be with Rarity like that.”

“You don’t?” He lowered the dull knife.

“While I admit that she is…attractive and it would appear like that as we aren’t related by blood, I can assure I’m not interested in her in that sense. For one thing, we’re cousins. That’s like going on a date with your own sister. Blech! We just had tea together and chatted, that was it.”

“Oh…right.” He looked rather embarrassed with himself now. “Sorry about that, I shouldn’t have just assumed like that. It's just that…well…” He beckoned me closer. I knew where this was going, but I complied.

“I have a crush on Rarity.” the dragon whispered. “You can’t tell anypony I told you that.”

“Don’t worry, Spike, I can keep a secret.” I promised with full honesty. “Besides, I can get a good word in for ya with her. I am her cousin after all.”

“Really?” he smiled when I nodded to show him I would. “Gee, thanks.” He put on the final touches, as did I, and placed the sandwich on a plate. “You’re a good guy, Dusk.”

“I try Spike. Besides, we are both assistants to Twilight.” I reminded him. “I like to think we have a certain respect for each other.”

“Hey, yeah you’re right. It could be like a brotherhood or fellowship thing.” He gestured with his claw. “Spike and Dusk: Fellowship of the Library.”

“Hm, catchy.” I chuckled. “Come on, let’s eat.”

“Yeah.” he said before he asked “So…Rarity’s actually been to Canterlot?”

“Of course. Her family came around for a visit, that was sometime after I met Shield and the others.” I said to him. “Though, if I knew you were gonna have a crush on her, I would’ve brought her to the library back at Canterlot so you could meet her earlier years ago.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, you could’ve helped me with Leon. Back in Canterlot, he thought of himself as a ladies man. No matter what, any beautiful mare who would catch his eye he would try to get a date with in an instant. Of course, Rarity would reject him and would only be annoyed by all his attempts.”

“Well, then I’ll make sure he remembers one thing,” he said with a glare, “Rarity is mine.”

I chuckled again as Spike walked boldly out with the sandwich, like a parody of a proud soldier off to a Party War.

After a pleasant lunch, our trio returned to our library work. Twilight continued with her studies, while me and Spike did whatever duties she assigned us. Since Spike had done most of the chores in the morning, I didn’t end up doing a whole lot, just fetching the occasional book or being otherwise immersed in one myself.

I occasionally did something with Spike, such as when we took out the trash or went out to buy more food for the kitchen. Other than that, the dragon would just talk to me while we were on break. I let him do most of the talking as the dragon told me about aspects of his life, what it was like being a dragon and all the things he’d done as Twilight’s assistant. Including a few funny stories.

“…so then this pony with a green coat, head high and full of himself, he gets the book that Twilight needs for her studies.” he was telling me, trying to refrain from sniggering. “She tries to reason with him, but he just refuses to hoof it over. Let me tell you, he wasn’t exactly polite about it. So…” He descended into little fits of giggles.

“Go on, what happened?” I could feel laughter rising in my own chest, mainly because of Spike and also because I had a good idea of which pony he was talking about.

“So then…she completely loses it and, with a flash of magic she…she turned his head into a fish bowl!” The two of us fell about laughing at that, me barely being able to contain myself at the thought of it.

“Yeah, I think I know which guy you mean.” I said in-between sniggers. “He did the same with me, didn’t even apologies. I’m glad he got his comeuppance.”

“Me too.” he agreed, wiping a tear from his eye. “He sure kept quiet after that, I can tell you that.”

“Excuse me, can you two keep it down? I’m trying to concentrate.” Twilight looked up from the book she was reading, looking rather ticked off.

“Sorry, Twilight.” I felt a little ashamed now. “We'll try not to disturb you.”

“It’s okay, Dusk, just…try to be a little quieter.”

“Of course. Come on, Spike, let’s get back to work.” I suggested.

“Spoilsport.” Spike said, though he winked at me when he did, which I returned.

We continued our work for another few hours until the sun began to lower in the sky. Spike gave a big yawn, almost falling asleep on the book he was carrying. I took it from him gently and shelved it. Twilight noticed this and sat up from her desk.

“I think it’s time we all got some sleep.” She turned to me, led Spike off. “Will you be alright getting home, Dusk?”

“I’ll be fine. Goodnight, Twilight, Spike. Sleep well.”

“You too, Dusk. You were great today, I enjoyed talking to you.” She gave me another smile. “See you in the morning.”

Placing on my saddlebag, I closed the door and began to happily trot my way home. Once I got there, I put the bag in the corner, got myself ready for bed, and climbed in, already feeling drowsy. Though I was a little depressed that the guys weren’t here. I’ve been with them so long, I’ve gotten used to having their sleep habits around the house. But I was still happy that we could all enjoy being in this town. Shield is now working with Rainbow Dash to join the Wonderbolts, Leon was now living with Fluttershy, Dog was back in his home town and reunited with his childhood friend Applejack, and I had a great day.

I’d done it. I’d actually done a good effort at his job. Not only that, but I’d hit it off well with Twilight, made friends with Spike, and made amends with the others too. They’d all been so great, reminds me when I first met the guys.

I had my doubts. I understood why Rarity was being nice to me, but why were the rest of the girls treating me like a friend when they had barely known me, when I’d only arrived a two days ago? Even though Pinkie had said otherwise, the idea that they were just being nice and friendly to me because he was new came back to me.

But I shrugged it off, remembering that I was the same with Shield and the guys. I thought they were being nice to me because I was like a boss to them, but really they actually did want to my friends, they enjoyed spending time with me and cared about me. The same was with the girls. They all came looking for me because they were worried about me, not because I was new. They all just wanted to be my friends. And I was happy to have them. Though, me and the guys still had to thank them for saving Equestria.

So, as I wrapped myself up in my covers and rested my head, I decided to call the guys in the morning so we could plan out for how we’re gonna thank them. Though I would also focus on remaining to work in the library, what I had come here to do. I had smoothed things over with them all, so I could now be at peace knowing they would remember that I was good in some sense.

Basically, this was the start of mine and the guys’ new life here in Ponyville: Shield would focusing on his dream, Leon would be helping out with Fluttershy with her animals, Dog would be working at Sweet Apple Acres, and I would just stay in the library and work. Just like old times.


Power of Six: Okay, dudes. Before we continue on, what you’re about to read next is from the point of view of an unknown character. As such, until they are revealed, they will be marked “??” You’ll be seeing much of this throughout the series as the story progresses. Thought this might give a little more suspense to it. Now this next part will reveal an unknown threat that has been hiding all this time, waiting for the right moment to strike. And, to my little more sensitive viewers, I’m sorry that this might be a little too scary or creepy for your taste, but this is supposed to be the “mysterious introduction" of what is about to cross paths with the heroes. Anyway, enjoy!


?? view

Away from Ponyville, in the dark and dangerous depths of the Everfree Forest, all kinds of creatures stirred. The deadly, the normal, and the downright bizzaro. But all of them, no matter how big, steered away from a cave, deep within the trees. Animals that ventured there never returned.

For it was where I resided. I was something far worse than anything they would imagine. I had dug into the rock to make this cave with winding and twisting tunnels, ensuring whoever ventured there would be surely lost…and wind up as my next dinner.

No animal ever saw anything like me. All they knew was that I was large, fearsome, cunning and very hungry. Right now, I was putting the final stages of a long plan into effect. My eyes, to some who call the gaze evil, scanned over the latest letter, addressed to…Celestia from the one my enemy called “Twilight Sparkle”. Yes, the time was close now.

Using the magic I had stored up from thousands of years of waiting and the creatures I ate, I had been intercepting the letters between the Princess and her protégé. So much disgusting sentiment about the “magic of friendship.” It made me sick just reading such rubbish. But not for much longer. The wait would be worth it. Winter would soon be here.

Too long had those vile princesses resided over Equestria, ever since they wiped out my kind when they rose up against my master. But now, it was almost ready. I will continue to watch, to wait, making sure nothing would interfere with the final plan. It would be…glorious.

“Ssssoon.” I quietly hissed, waiting alone in the dark I always lurked in. “Sssoon.”