//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Feeling Pinkie Keen // Story: Rise of the Element Gang, Book 2: Friendship Adventures // by Power of Six //------------------------------// Chapter 5: Feeling Pinkie Keen “So, let me get this straight.” I was saying, lifting books down to Spike. “Pinkie had the ability to predict the future by way of random specific bodily vibrations?” “Pretty much.” the dragon affirmed. “It really is incredible! She predicted something was gonna fall twice, then a frog fell on Twilight’s face and she fell into a ditch! Then she predicts that Twilight’ll get dirty and she did! She’s getting herself cleaned up right now.” “I see…” my mind processed this information as I passed down more books. “How does she feel about it?” “Well, you know Twilight. If she can’t explain it, she can’t believe it.” I hoisted the books that were piled up. “Well, better get these outside, thanks for the help, Dusk.” “Thanks for the update. Here, I’ll get the door.” I pushed it open with some force as the dragon scampered off with the books, running past the pink pony we were just discussing. “Oh, hello, Pinkie. Is Twilight with you?” “Sort of…she’s a little behind things at the minute.” she said, pointing at the door, which had swung to reveal a flattened Twilight on the other side. “Oh, my gosh! Twilight!” I helped her up to her hooves, feeling mortified. “I’m so sorry! I…I-I didn’t realize that you were…well…” “It’s okay, I’m fine, Dusk…and thank you.” She looked at Pinkie, rubbing her head. “You said that combo meant ‘beautiful rainbow’.” “Oh, no, no, no, no, no. You’re thinking of an ear flop, then knee twitch, then eye flutter. This was an ear flop, then eye flutter, then knee twitch. That usually means ‘look out for opening doors’.” “Combo? Twitching?” I asked, starting to get a good guess on what was going on. “Is this the uh…Pinkie sense that I’ve been hearing about?” “Oh, you know? Isn’t the whole thing ridiculous? I mean…it doesn’t make any sense, it’s im-possible!” “I suppose…maybe…” I thought on how to answer this for a bit. “Perhaps…not entirely…” “Oh, Dusk, don’t tell me you’ve gotten caught up in this nonsense too.” she said desperately. “How can you possibly believe this?” “Well…when me and Shield first met Pinkie, she started twitching in the tail. We moved and, seconds later, a piano hit the spot where we’d been standing. I’d heard someponies discussing it, so I just acted on a hunch.” “Ooh, I get those! That usually means that you shouldn’t have the hay fries today. Or was it the grass muffins? Hm…” “O…kay.” I shook my head. “Anyway, maybe there’s some truth to this. That’s all I’m saying.” “Not you too! I thought you’d be on my side! I don’t believe this…” “You don’t believe because you don’t understand." Pinkie countered, hitting the nail on the head. “Hmm…” She tapped her hoof to her chin. “I know that look. What are you planning?” I asked her. “Dusk, Pinkie, down to the basement. I know just how to settle this.” She bolted off, I following unsurely and Pinkie bouncing along behind. Within a few minutes, we had Pinkie hooked up to a neural scanner, a machine that detected the precise electrical signals that the brain sent to the thousands of nerves that controlled bodily functions. Science didn’t intrigue me as much as other things did, not all aspects of it anyway. But I still consider myself as somewhat of one of science. “This is some pretty high tech equipment.” I remarked from the console I was placed at. “I only use the best.” Twilight replied, plugging in a wire. “So, why am I still here then?” “Dusk…” “I know, I know. I was kidding. I know that you appreciate my assistance in any way.” “Exactly. This library wouldn’t be the same without you.” she said sincerely. “Keep telling yourself that.” I replied with a smile, returning my attention to the console. “Okay, sensors at optimum focus, power outputs are normal, brain activity is being recorded and transmitted. All systems are go. If Pinkie so much as sneezes, this thing will pick it up in a second.” “Excellent. Now, when you get another twitch, we’ll have all kinds of scientific information.” she said to our subject. “Okey-dokey-mokey!” “Let’s see what makes Pinkie tick.” I murmured, feeling anticipation growing. Seconds passed, that dissolved into minutes. We had expected results soon and, while I could be patient when I needed to, mine was wearing thin and I was getting bored. Twilight was also growing increasingly annoyed at the lack of results. Pinkie supposedly had no control over them, but Twilight refused to believe anything that she couldn’t explain. There was one near twitch, but it turned out to be nothing. Then, there was a spike in her chemical signals, but this just turned out to be her stomach growling. After this, Twilight lost her temper. “Ugh!! You know what?” She yanked out the cable for the main receptor, causing the machine to lose power. “Just forget it. I don’t need to know if this is real or not. I don’t need to understand it. I don’t even care!” Hurrying away from my console, I matched her pace to keep up. “Twilight, please, calm down.” I placated as we walked back upstairs. “Don’t tell me to be calm! I am calm!” she snapped back. “I know you like to understand any aspect of everything but…maybe this is something we can’t explain. Like my magic, we can’t explain why I can do my puppetry, I just can.” “But, Dusk, you can control that and we can actually gather data and research on it, but this…” She growled angrily. “This is so frustrating…” “It is, I suppose…but don’t go trying to catch smoke.” I advised simply as we reached the door. As we did, Pinkie made strange gibbering noises and began to twitch again. Despite what Twilight had said, I watched her. Ear flop, eye flutter, knee twitch…that combo meant… “Look out!” I shoved her away from the door and felt a sharp pain all over my body as I was slammed against the wall by it, my hat and body flattened. “Oh, there you are, Twilight. Hey, Pinkie. Where’s Dusk?” The door swung back and I landed on the floor in a heap, my flat hat floating to rest on my head. “Dusk? What were you doing back there?” “Ow…” “Dusk! Did you two plan this?” Twilight helped me up as I shook my head off and righted my hat. “Plan what?” a bewildered Spike asked. “Ugh! This is ridiculous! This can’t be happening! This makes no sense! I have to figure this out.” “But how?” I asked, when my head stopped hurting. “We’ve tried scientific equipment, unless you want to try tailing her and documenting what she does as she goes about her day, then draw a conclusion from the results.” “You know…that’s not a bad idea.” She beamed at me. “You see, Dusk? If you weren’t here, we wouldn’t have great ideas like the ones you come up with. Come on, let’s go!” “But…but I…” Sincerely regretting what I had just said, I followed her reluctantly, as she grabbed her note-book, a pencil, a pair of binoculars and an explorer’s hat, kind of like the one that Daring Do would wear. Leaving Spike to watch the library, we set off on the trail of “Pinkius Piecus” to see what we could learn. We ended up following her disguised as a bush, shifting along whenever she changed position in the town. I felt utterly ridiculous doing this, wearing crude camouflage on my hat, but I knew there was no arguing with Twilight. “Remind me, why am I here?” I whispered to her as I noted down a nose itch. “Three reasons: one: you’re my second assistant, two: you’re as avid an investigator and scientist as I am, and three: I believe you’re the only pony who isn’t completely convinced by this whole ‘Pinkie Sense’ nonsense. I mean, this was your idea.” “If you say so.” I murmured, seeing how I was as knowledgeable in science as she was and preparing to note down again. “What’s she doing now?” “A-ha! That makes no sense. See?” She gave me the binoculars, where I saw her hiding and cowering. “She’s hiding like something's about to fall out of the sky, but a twitchy tail means that something's about to fall from the sky, not an itchy nose.” “That is fairly conclusive…wait, I’m getting something.” I heard a buzzing and saw a yellow and black mass swarm towards us. “Move!” Without waiting for her permission, I pushed her out of the bush and into another one, just as the swarm of bees passed over where we had been hiding seconds before. If we had stayed in that bush… “Phew…that was close.” “Um…Dusk? You can, er…get off me now.” I looked to see I was lying on top of Twilight. Both of us blushing heavily, I scurried off and let her get up. “Let’s, er…get back to the investigation.” “Of course.” Silently moving along, more out of awkwardness than anything else, we followed our quarry onwards. We tracked her next to Sweet Apple Acres, where we took cover next to the barn behind a stack of hay. Still feeling wary of danger, I stood ready to take more notes on Pinkie’s behavior. “Status update?” I requested. “Smelling a flower.” she reported. “Inconclusive information, normal activity.” I noted down. “Indeed…wait. I’m getting something. Ear flop…eye flutter…knee twitch.” “Uh-oh. That’s the doors opening combo.” My eyes flickered to the nearby barn door. “Dusk, please don’t tell me that you’re starting to believe this nonsense.” she begged. “We need to be objective.” “Okay…let's see then.” Not wanting to let her down, I went and stood next to the door. I waited, but, to my relief, nothing happened. “There we go then, it seems you’re right.” “You see?” she smiled at me as I walked away from the door. “I keep telling you, this business is nothing but a load of…” But what exactly it was a load of, I didn't hear. At that moment, the ground vanished beneath my hooves and claws and I tumbled down a flight of stairs, crashing into a pile of apples at the bottom and scattering them everywhere. Aware that the pounding in my head was getting worse, I picked myself up to see the smiling faces of my farm pony friends as they set down some more apples in two more piles nearby. “Dusk! Ya came to visit our new apple cellar. How nice.” “Hey, AJ. Hey, Dog. Sorry to drop in on you like this.” They chuckled as I dusted myself off and rearranged their apples. “This is a good apple cellar, if I ever saw one…which I haven’t.” “Glad ya think so. Next time though, watch the first step.” Dog said. “Dusk! Are you alright?” Twilight called down. “I’m fine, don’t worry! Slight bruising, that’s all!” “That’s a relief… Quick, Pinkie’s on the move again!” “No rest for the wicked.” I murmured, then louder: “Coming! See you around, Applejack. You too, Dog.” “Have a good one, Dusk.” Hurrying out of the dark, I soon caught up with Twilight again, as we got back on Pinkie’s trail. As much as I wanted to be a source of support to Twilight at this time, I thought it was high time that she tried to face facts. Those facts pointed to the conclusion that, somehow, Pinkie could predict random events with random twitches. My aching head was proof of that. But she was absolutely determined to prove Pinkie and everypony else wrong and it was impossible arguing with her once her mind was set on something. So, sitting behind a park bench, I took notes when instructed on the activity of Pinkius Piecus. “Are you sure you’re fine, Dusk? You took a nasty fall. I know this was your idea, but I could get Spike to fill in, if you want.” Concern was ebbing in her voice, so much that I blushed a little. “Don’t worry about me. anything in the name of science.” I replied lightly. “I stay committed if I need to.” “Okay… Thanks for sticking with me.” She peered through her binoculars again. “Right. take this down: twitchy tail.” “‘Twitchy tai…’ that one was…things falling!” My eyes darted skyward, looking for any sign of…well, anything. “Dusk, calm down, you’re overreacting.” Twilight said reassuringly, but it wasn’t enough for me. “No, I’m not!” I saw something whizz downwards towards Twilight. Before she could say anything, I pushed her out of the way, having just enough time to move myself. We then watched as a plant pot, an anvil, a cart full of hay, and a piano all fell in sequence on our observation point. I looked up to see, with some surprise, that same removals van that had almost hit me and Shield with their load when we first arrived with the same crew in operation. Somepony should do an official enquiry into that company, that was just plain dangerous. We both looked at each other, utterly bewildered at what had just happened. Before either of us could say anything, we heard Pinkie talking nearby. “Oh, letting Twilight and Dusk secretly follow me all day without me knowing.” “You mean you knew all along?” Twilight strode over angrily, me following warily, my eyes flicking towards the sky. “Why didn’t you tell us?” “Silly, that would’ve spoiled the secret.” At that sentence, Pinkie wasn’t the only one that was twitching. It looked like poor Twilight, her mind unable to cope with all the non-sensual things that had been happening today, was about to blow a fuse. Concerned for her safety, and my own, I asked Pinkie about her tail, if it was still twitching. “All done, clear skies from here on in, as far as I can tell. Hu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu!” Her whole body suddenly shook violently. “Whoa! What was that one?” I asked. “Dunno. Never gotten any like it before, but whatever that shudder's about, it’s a doozy!” For the first time since I’d met her, Pinkie sounded scared. “Something you never expect to happen is gonna happen!” She had another bout of shuddering. “And it’s gonna happen… At Froggy Bottom Bog!” “That’s where Fluttershy and Leon were headed!” Dog realized with a gasp. “From what I’ve read, the Bog isn’t the most hospitable of environments.” I murmured. “Is there any indication that Fluttershy and Leon may be in danger?” “Uh, I’m not sure.” Pinkie said, still sounding fearful. “We’d better go and make sure they’re okay.” With that, Applejack and Dog lead the way to the bog, followed by me, Pinkie, and, surprisingly, Twilight. She ran beside me, matching my speed and looking determined. “So, does Pinkie have you convinced?” I asked her. “Of course not!” I directed her hard gaze to Pinkie. “I just want to be there to see the look on Pinkie’s face when we find out nothing’s wrong.” “Okey-dokey!” she replied cheerfully as we hurried into the trees. We continued to gallop at a rapid pace for a few more minutes, then slowed as we neared where the Bog was situated. I became aware of every sound, every squeak and crack that could possibly be a threat. My anxiety was also centered around Fluttershy. Gentle and timid, if something did happen to her, I doubted she would be able to cope on her own, even with Leon protecting her. Just this once, I sincerely hoped that Twilight was right and Pinkie was wrong. “You feelin’ alright?” Applejack asked. “Yes…just trying not to think about what’s happened to Fluttershy and Leon…what might have happened.” “Same here.” she said, looking grim. “Ya said ya read about the Bog, didn’t ya?” “I have. Its inhabitants are mostly frogs, some that have grown to the size of small houses. But…from what I’ve read, there's some nastier creatures lurking in here too…I just hope we don’t meet any of them.” “Me too. We just find her and Leon, check on them, and get out. Good plan?” “Couldn’t have thought of a better one myself. Plus, we can find them in the quickest way possible.” As we neared the swamp, I thought positively about our lost friends and conjured up a puppets of them, which flew off of their own accord. “Oh…fergot about that. Lucky ya came along.” She then shouted to the others: “Come on, everypony, follow those puppets!” Picking up speed again, I replaced Applejack and Dog at the head of the pack. The buzz of a dragonfly met my ears, the unpleasant smell of the bog reached my nostrils, making me grimace. Bubbles of gas grew on the surface, bursting with disgusting squelches. Mangrove trees grew with their roots in the murky water, leaving mysteries as to what lurked in the murky depths beneath. Hurrying as fast as we could, I saw my puppets had halted over two forms on a nearby rock, green frogs hopping around it. They faded away, but I knew who it was and felt warm calm spread through me. It was Fluttershy and Leon! They were okay! “Fluttershy! Leon! Thank Celestia, you’re okay!” “Of course." Fluttershy and Leon looked unsurely around at us all, but nopony gave them an explanation. “I’m so glad everything’s alright!” Pinkie had her bright smile back. “Sorry, I know it’s not nice to gloat, but…HA-HA!” Twilight's shout of triumph made me jump in surprise. “I told you there was nothing to worry about and I was right. Pinkie Pie said whatever she was shuddering about was a…” She halted to cough, “doozy, and…” She coughed again, “and the only…” Another cough, “…doozy here is how right I am!” As she spoke, I became aware that the smell of the swamp was getting stronger, far more repulsive, and downright toxic. I looked around for the cause of this happening, followed everypony’s gaze to something above…and what I saw made my stomach contract. A long, orange, scaly neck had risen out of the murky water behind Twilight. Seconds later, it was followed by a second. Then a third. Then a fourth. At the top of these necks, the heads had sharp wicked chins, a fierce mane of red spines, piercing green eyes and pointed teeth, as they towered over us as high as the clouds above. Twilight still hadn't noticed it, was still gloating. “…no point in believing in anything you can't see for yourself.” she was saying. She had to know. “Speaking of seeing and believing…check behind you.” I warned, feeling terrified. She turned, her eyes widening. “I see it…but I don’t believe it!” The heads gave a loud, simultaneous roar that shook my ears. “Is that a hydra?!” Pinkie asked in disbelief. “It is...at least, I think so.” Despite the situation, I was still a little curious. “I mean, it’s quite amazing one is here but…I thought they were supposed to have eight heads. This one has half that…” “Who cares how many heads it’s got? RUN!” Snapping myself out of it, I took Dog’s excellent course of action to heart and ran as fast as my legs and arms would let me, though Twilight had to drag Pinkie along, who was frozen in terror. The very ground beneath them shook, as the hydra pursued them hungrily. I jumped from path to rock to root to rock, trying to put as much distance between me and this monster as possible. Just one bite of its poisonous fangs and that would be it. The hydra’s heads tried to snap up my friends, narrowly missing them and only sinking their fangs into boulders or trees. One of them went for me, just as I ducked between a clump of thick trees, making it bang it’s head on the ground. It had brute force, but the beast lacked finesse. We just had to stay ahead of it. A dead end! And I was falling behind. Legs aching, lungs burning, I pushed myself to keep up…and felt my claw become stuck in a deep bit of mud. I tried to yank it out, but it was too sticky. I whipped my head around. It was coming! Had…to get…free. “Coming, Dusk!" Twilight was hurrying back, but she wouldn’t make it in time. I whipped my head around, looking for something to fend it off. I spotted a boulder. My one chance…concentrating, I levitated it out of the swamp, then flung it at the head that swooped down to eat me. Hearing a satisfactory crack, I gave my efforts to wrench myself out of the mud, with Twilight’s added strength. “Good work. Up the hill, come on!” “Higher ground, good thinking!" Not even daring to look back, I galloped alongside Twilight, hurrying up the steep hill. Barely even acknowledging that Pinkie was still shaking, I kept going while Dog shoved her along as the hill began to level out. If we could make it to the border of the swamp, the hydra wouldn’t dare to follow us out. We kept running, we could make it… …my heart sank when they reached another obstacle in the form of a very high gorge with nothing but the water or the rocks to break our fall. Stone plinths that looked like they could support our weight gave them a way across…if we could reach them. “Ugh, he’ll be up here in no time.” The hydra was beginning to follow us up the hill. “Quick! One at a time, cross!” “Right. Fluttershy, Leon, you go!” I commanded. Leon made it over and waited for Fluttershy. “Okay… A hop, skip and a…jump!” She leaped across, making good progress. Pinkie almost shook herself off the cliff, but I caught her just in time. I whipped my head back. The hydra was steadily making up for lost ground. It was too close, it would reach us before we made it across. “It’s too close! I’ll distract him, you guys, go!” Twilight told us as Applejack, Dog, and Pinkie jumped across, but I paused mid-jump. I looked at her and across the canyon. I was scared, scared of dying, but also scared for her. What mattered more to me: my own safety…or hers? In the end, the decision was easy, despite my crippling fear. I couldn’t just leave her here. I’d never be able to live with myself if anything happened to her. I turned and ran in front of Twilight, bowing my head to the monster. “Dusk, what are you doing?” “What does it look like I’m doing?” I glanced back at her. “This is my job, not yours. You go, quickly. I can distract him.” “Dusk, no! I’m not leaving you!” “Twilight, please, go! At least if I’m eaten, you’ll still have Spike. Please, just go! I’ll be fine.” I gazed imploringly at her. I didn’t want to see her get hurt. She gave in. “Fine…but you’d better not let me down.” She turned to run, and I turned to fight, swallowing my fear as best I could. My mind spinning like a dynamo, I began to formulate strategies. I then transformed and took the skies. My magic wasn’t powerful enough to hurt it. My fire blast wouldn’t be much effective either. I couldn’t run or fly past it without being bit, there was no room. Had to think…despite how many heads they had, hydra weren’t the most cunning of predators. I doubted it will have seen this before… I made some color puppet to test my theory, Pegasus ponies, one for each head. We all then went in at once and one of the heads tried to snap at one of the puppets, to no avail. Naturally, it didn’t work. I commanded them to swoop, dive, and dodge in every direction with, keeping it guessing and snapping until… “Ha!” I grinned when I saw it had tied its necks up in a knot, just as I planned. Satisfied, I then try to go in for a landing, but one of the heads managed to chin-butt me to the ground and bruised my wing so I couldn’t fly. I then transformed back, got up and turned to make my escape until I saw somepony still on my side. “Twilight, I told you to run!” “Technically, you can’t tell me to do anything. Besides, I couldn’t leave you to face that thing…alone…I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself.” “Twilight… I…” I heard a roar getting close. “Jump!” We leaped over the head that snapped at us, landing on the neck. “Come on, time to…” I stopped in horror. That last attack had hit a chunk of rock that created a domino effect on the other plinths. The gap that it left was too wide to jump, there was no way for them to get across now. “T-T-T-Twilight! D-D-D-Dusk! You have to jump!” Pinkie was still twitching. Could this be the doozy? That me and Twilight would…no, not that. “We’ll never make it!” “You’ll both be fine!” “We will not!" “It’s your only h-hope!” Another roar sounded. The hydra was coming. “You have to take a leap of faith!” Twilight looked back at the hydra, then to Pinkie, then to me. She gazed desperately at me, as if hoping for me to tell her none of this was really happening. I wanted that too…but it was…we only had one option. She seemed to read my mind before I spoke. “Are you crazy? We’d never make it!” “Nothing important can be achieved without risk.” I said. “We have to try. It’s either we fall to our deaths or we’re hydra lunch.” “Dusk…we can’t… I can’t…” “Yes, we can.” I held out my claw to her. “Let’s take the leap. Together. Trust me.” She stared at it for a while, then at me. Finally, returning a somewhat confident smile, she grabbed it. Feeling a twinge that had nothing to do with fear of the hydra, we took a running start, galloped forward, and then jumped with all of our might, as the hydra gave us extra air from hitting the rock we jumped from. The plinth was close…we might make it… We fell short. We both screamed as we plummeted towards the swamp. Towards a large gas bubble that was forming below. Yes, this might work! If we could stick the landing...we hit it…the bubble popped, propelling us up, up, up. Then down, then bounce, bounce, and one smack into a cliffside. Shaking our heads clear, we reveled in our victory, the others cheering in relief that we’d made it across. We had made it! Against all odds, we’d escaped certain death! “Dusk, we did it!” She positively beamed at me and hugged me. “I told you we would.” I murmured quietly. “Yes, you did.” We held our gaze for a few moments, then remembered I was still holding her hooves and she was still holding my claws. We abruptly let go, blushing furiously. “I knew you could both do it!" Pinkie grabbed us both in a one-armed hug. “I don’t know how it happened,” Twilight began happily, “coincidence, dumb luck, or what, but you said there’d be a doozy here at Froggy Bottom Bog and I’d say we just had ourselves one heck of a doozy. I mean, that hydra…” She was cut off as Pinkie violently shuddered again. I felt my stomach churn. “Pinkie?” she asked unsurely “That wasn’t it.” I felt like I had just hit the rock face again. “You mean…there’s still something going to happen?” I asked timidly. “Yep. The hydra wasn’t the doozy.” We heard a raspberry being blown as the hydra slunk off back to its murky home, deprived of dinner. Ignoring it, I continued to listen to Pinkie, hoping it wasn’t going to come around again. “I’m still getting the shudders.” She shuddered like a milkshake once more. “You see? There it is again. Whatever the doozy was at Froggy Bottom Bog, my Pinkie Sense says it still hasn’t happened.” “Huh? But I—WHAT?!” She sounded like she was about to lose what was left of her common sense. “The hydra wasn’t the doozy? How could it not be the doozy?! What could be doozier than that?!” “Dunno, but it just wasn’t it.” Twilight, unable to keep it in any longer, levitated into the air and spontaneously combusted, literally bursting into flames with rage. I reminded myself to never ever get on her bad side. Then, singed and smoking, a resigned look grew on her features. “Ooh…I give up…” “Give what up, Twi?” I asked, as he helped her up, flinching from residual heat. “The fight.” She sighed, gazing up at me with a lost look. “I can’t fight it anymore. I don’t under-stand how, why, or what, but Pinkie sense somehow…makes sense. I don’t see how it does, but it just does. Just because I don’t understand doesn’t mean it’s not true.” “Y-y-you mean you b-b-b-believe?" Her shuddering seemed to have increased exponentially. “Yep, I guess I do.” Before I could say anything, several things happened at once. Pinkie’s shuddering reach a kind of climax. In rapid sequence, she bounced up, hit the floor, expanded, bounced again, hit the ground, landed on her hooves...and stopped. No further shuddering. It just…finished. “That was it! That’s the doozy!” She grinned again. I was at first confused, but I quickly figured it out. “Twilight believing…was the doozy?” “Exactly, Mr. Psychic Pony. That was the doozy. Oh! And, oh, what a doozy of a doozy it was!” Without another word on the matter, she pranced off back to the town, singing a cheery tune. We all looked around at each other, utterly bewildered and promptly followed her back. I couldn’t help but smile to myself. Spike was never going to believe this… Trotting back to the library after a rest at home, I opened the door to see an odd sight. Spike was running off upstairs with a roll of parchment, while Pinkie and Twilight stood at the center of the room, wearing rainbow-colored umbrella hats. “Dusk, you’re back! I’ve just finished my report to the Princess.” She smiled at me, gesturing to her hat. “What do you think of my new look?” “It suits you.” I chuckled. “Pinkie’s tail twitching?” “Yep, what else can I do?” She approached me, still smiling. “I never got the chance to thank you, Dusk.” “Me? For what?” “In the swamp, it was you who gave me the courage to take that leap. If it wasn’t for you, I don’t think I could have done it.” “I’m, er…I’m sure you would have…I mean, er…” I felt rather flustered now. "I mean, we did…have a hydra on our tail…pretty big incentive to jump, I’d say…” “Maybe, but still, you helped a lot. You can be really brave sometimes you know. Thank you.” She gave me a gentle embrace, which I was more than happy to return. “Now, me and Pinkie are heading out. You want to come?” “I’ll pass thank you. Have a nice time. I’ll keep an eye on things with Spike.” “I trust you both. Oh, and one more thing.” I looked back at her at the door. “Thank you for the lilacs. they were lovely.” “Heh…no problem.” She gave me one last, warm smile, before leaving with Pinkie. As I watched her go, I thought of all that had transpired today. When Twilight took my claw, I’d felt something like electricity shoot up my arm from the contact. What did that mean? And the flowers too…she’d liked them, but did she see it as a romantic gesture or as a favor from a friend? If the former, did she think I liked her…like that? If I did, of course, did she mind? I decided to try and figure it out later. For now, I needed a rest. I looked up curiously at the sky. What would fall now? I saw Spike at the window, about to send off Twilight’s report…and something slammed into the balcony beside me. “What the… Princess Celestia?” It was indeed the Bringer of the Day. She personally took the letter, heard my voice and smiled down at me. “Hello, there, Dusk.” she greeted happily. “I hope you don’t mind me dropping by. I like the hat, it becomes you nicely.” “Thank you, Princess.” I replied, tipping to her. “And don’t worry. I know the feeling.” I said, thinking back earlier on. “Indeed.” she smiled. “I look forward to reading this. Farewell, for now.” With that, she flew off back into the sky back towards Canterlot city. Me and Spike exchanged confused looks with one another at this random appearance…then fell about laughing. It was certainly never a dull moment in Ponyville that much could be guaranteed.