//------------------------------// // Chapter 36 - The Curse of Pinkie Pie // Story: Dusk Shine in pursuit of Happiness // by bigsnusnu //------------------------------// The curse of Pinkie Pie "Dusk... Dusk..." A distant voice was heard. "Hmm?" Dusk muttered, slowly opening his eyes and rubbing his head, with a clear look of confusion. "Are you alright!? I'm glad you woke up, I was already getting scared." The voice said, this time becoming clearer for Dusk, confirming the identity of the owner of the voice by opening his eyes completely and seeing his pink friend. "Pinkie Pie? What happened? Where...?" Dusk asked, confused, realizing he was in the basement of the library, then quickly remembering everything that happened: why he was there and what he was doing with Pinkie there. "Wait, what happened!?" Dusk added, still confused, trying to remember the last thing he did before falling seemingly asleep. "I'm not sure." Pinkie Pie replied, relieved that Dusk woke up but still worried about what she had just seen. "We were leaning with each other in conversation when suddenly you fell out faint, and your horn began to shine and sparkle." "What?" Dusk said incredulously, making a confused face. "Why do I pass out..." Then Dusk fell silent and remained silent with a thoughtful face until he suddenly opened his eyes wide with surprise. Instantly Dusk used his magic and brought up a book in front of him, which Pinkie Pie immediately recognized was the book she had found on Dusk's bed when she lay beside him. Then Dusk quickly searched for the page with the spell he had used the night before. "It must have been this!" Dusk said with a worried look. "As I told you, yesterday I used this spell, it's called 'Mental Relaxation Spell', it only works for unicorns, and it's supposed to make the magic be channeled into the horn automatically when the mind is very tired or very stressed, making the horn shine and one falls instantly into a dream to avoid any unnecessary stress. " Dusk said reading the description of the spell and remembering how the night before he had read that spell and had fallen asleep instantly. "Stress?" Pinkie Pie repeated in a worried whisper, remembering that she had actually read that description when she took the book, but Dusk himself had told her not to worry about it. "Hmm… It only lasts twelve hours, but now that I think about it, yesterday I went to bed late precisely because I couldn't fall asleep. I guess I was still under the last effects of the spell, surely it has some minutes of effectiveness left." Dusk added, looking at the clock on the wall. "I don’t understand, I thought that with that tickle war we had had, I had stopped being so tense. I... Hmm... Wait! We were sitting, and you... You asked me something...? I can't remember..." Pinkie Pie looked at Dusk with a look of surprise and fright but quickly ducked her gaze so that Dusk didn't see her. Then she closed her eyes with concern and sighed to calm down and think a second before speaking. "I… I'll tell you, but first, I want to ask you a question." Pinkie Pie said, trying to smile as she always did, although you could still tell she was somewhat nervous. "Do you remember that when we fell here, I asked you if you... if you liked mares?" "What-!? Again with that!?" Dusk responded by blushing, unconsciously shrinking a little, as if trying to hide his large complex, having a lavender-colored coat and being told he was feminine. "I know you like mares, it's just that I was wondering... Why haven't you done anything with us? With your friends... I mean, you are a colt that is constantly surrounded by mares, but it seems that... you have no interest in us... as mares." Pinkie Pie asked a little blushing, curiously looking more serious than normal. At the words of Pinkie Pie, Dusk opened his eyes, totally surprised, then he blushed slowly and lowered his head so as not to see Pinkie Pie in the eyes. "I-It's not that I don't find them attractive..." Dusk said, looking down and smiling unconsciously. "Every time I hear your laughter, I feel as if my day is brightening, and all my worries are gone... Or when Rarity passes by my side, and I feel her soft aroma that wakes me up... or I see Fluttershy's beautiful aquamarine eyes... Applejack’s firm flanks … I know it’s not like a gentleman to say those words but to me… you’re all the most beautiful mares I’ve ever met, and I can't help thinking about certain things sometimes when I’m with all of you…" Pinkie Pie listened attentively to Dusk's words and felt her heart racing as she heard such words... But her eyes widened in surprise when she saw that a small spark jumped from Dusk's horn. "It's not that I don't think of you as mares, but I keep thinking of you as my friends!" Dusk said, changing his smile for a look of fright, while not realizing his horn began to throw more sparks. "You are all my friends, and if I... And if I-!" At that precise moment, Pinkie Pie jumped in front of Dusk and gently touched the tip of his left ear, just as Dusk's horn began to glow, and it seemed that the spell that Dusk had done to himself last night would once again have an effect. However, as soon as Pinkie Pie touched Dusk’s 'weak spot', he calmed down immediately and lowered his head with a totally relaxed look and his tongue out. "That was close... This has to be exactly what happened when I asked if he wanted to be my coltfriend." Pinkie Pie thought with a thoughtful look as she kept stroking Dusk's ear with her hooves. "It wasn't necessary for him to finish what he was going to say, I know exactly what he was thinking..." Pinkie saw the fear in Dusk's eyes and saw that it wasn't just any fear, it was the fear of losing something dear. But what could she risk losing if Dusk fell in love with one of her friends? There was only one answer, just that, to lose that friendship, that the one he fell in love with ceased to be her friend. That might sound banal and silly, but Pinkie quickly understood that it wasn't that simple, and even she didn't have the answer since she hadn't fallen in love either. So, if she became Dusk's girlfriend... Would her relationship change? Would they stop being friends to become something else? That couldn't be assured, but what was certain was that it implied something different, something unknown. And for someone as recent in the world of friendship as Dusk Shine was, stopping as soon as he had a friend to turn her into something unknown was what really scared the young colt. "Dusk's feelings may not be ready for that yet. Even if I think about it, even I am a little afraid to take that leap! And for Dusk, who has just discovered friendship and still doesn't understand love... It's as if he had barely learned to walk and now asked him to run a marathon..." Pinkie Pie thought, biting her lip when she thought she understood Dusk's feelings better. "If I force him to make a decision about love, it can be a double-edged sword, as it just happened, where he just got stressed... If I ask him again, he could refuse, maybe just run away, or even worse, accepting just to not hurt me or because you are not sure what you feel, but as long as Dusk no longer clarifies your own feelings, asking about love will only hurt you." "D-Did something bad happen? You've been very thoughtful." Dusk asked slowly, becoming despondent after Pinkie Pie stopped stroking her weak point while still thinking. "It's nothing, don't worry." Pinkie Pie replied with her usual smile. "By the way, what were we talking about...? Oh! I asked you about what you told me before falling asleep." Dusk asked, looking at Pinkie with a smile as if the spell had partially acted and again he had forgotten the last few seconds of conversation before stressing out. "Oh, yes. Well… Hmm… I think I prefer not to repeat it, at least for now." Pinkie Pie replied with a slightly sad smile, thinking that it was best for Dusk to have no more worries than he already had. At Pinkie Pie's answer, Dusk opened his mouth to complain, but Pinkie Pie anticipated that. "I won't tell you what I told you, but I will tell you what you murmured in your sleep." Pinkie Pie added. "What!? I... Did I say something while I was passed out?" Dusk asked a little worried. "Yes. You said several names." Pinkie Pie said, putting on glasses that Dusk usually wore while in teacher mode, and making Dusk sit on a chair while she sat on another in front of him. "I'm not a psychologist, but I think the names you said are related to your state of stress." Pinkie Pie added, adjusting her glasses and pretending to write in a notebook. "What names did i say?" Dusk asked a little scared, believing he already knew the answer. "You murmured the name of the princess." Pinkie Pie said, making a pensive face. "You also mentioned the name Shining Armor... And also Hoity Toity." Dusk looked surprised at Pinkie Pie and then lowered his head with a sad smile. All that he was stressed about seemed crazy, but after what happened with the spell and passing out, and then Pinkie Pie named him precisely those names... All that was irrefutable evidence! "Gosh... it seems you're right, it seems that I am a little stressed. After all, just yesterday, I dreamed of them all." Dusk said with a frown. "Who is Shining Armor? I think I've heard that name before." Pinkie Pie asked. "He's my older brother." Dusk responded even with his head down. "And why would it stress you to think about him?" Pinkie Pie asked, looking closely at Dusk. "I don't know... I mean, unlike Spike, with Shining... well, it's more complicated. He is Mr. Perfection, and I... I only seem invisible when he is close..." Dusk replied, feeling honest without realizing it. "Inferiority complex..." Pinkie Pie murmured as she wrote down in her notebook, like every good psychologist. "I don't have an inferiority complex! Hmm… well, maybe a little, but I've never had insomnia for what I feel for my brother. I think that has nothing to do with what's happening to me now." Dusk said quickly, becoming defensive. "Why do you think you named Princess Celestia?" Pinkie Pie said, looking at her notebook as if she hadn't heard Dusk's last comment. "Uh? I-I... I don't know either..." Dusk replied, looking up to see Pinkie, who just stared at him like a statue. "Maybe it's... because I'm afraid to let her down. That is, when she asked me to study the magic of friendship, I thought I could make a great study about how friendship worked and how it influenced ponies and magic. But... lately, I feel that my studies are not progressing and that I can't make a first-class report as I expected. Now I only send her letters telling anecdotes, and I am afraid to think that I can disappoint her... "Fear of failure..." Pinkie Pie muttered again as she rewrote in her notebook. "I… I don't have… Hmm… well…" Dusk muttered in response, not daring to totally deny what her friend was saying. "What about Hoity Toity?" Pinkie Pie asked, adjusting her glasses again. "Do you feel guilty for hitting him for no reason?" "Uh? No, well, yes. Yes, I am sorry for hitting him..." Dusk said, looking up and ducking again. "But..." Pinkie Pie added, guessing there was something else that worried Dusk. "I think... I think what worries me is something else..." Dusk said, trying to look at Pinkie Pie but looking away. "The truth is that it scares me to be changing. Before coming to Ponyville, I would never have hit someone, I only dedicated myself to studies, but since I arrived here, I feel that I have changed in many ways... and the breaking point was when I Hoity Toity. I had never acted like that, without thinking, nor had I felt so much blind rage..." "Fear of change, denial phase..." Pinkie Pie said as she wrote again in her notebook. "Huff... I guess so... you're right. Wow, you're a good psychologist! Who have thought it!?" Dusk said with a small smile of relief, realizing that he had said many things without realizing it. "So what is the verdict? How can I stop thinking about all that?" Dusk added, trying to see the diagnosis Pinkie Pie had written in his notebook while he spoke. "I don't know, I just drew a kitten." Pinkie Pie said with a smile while showing Dusk the notebook, where instead of words, Dusk discovered that Pinkie had only been drawing a bad drawing of a fat cat. "Really?" Dusk said, annoyed. "Well, a good psychologist just listens and lets the patient vent his problems. Many times all that is needed is to talk about your problems." Pinkie Pie said, again adjusting her glasses while speaking more seriously. "Besides, yours isn't that hard to solve." "What do you mean?" Dusk asked. "About your brother, it is normal to feel a little intimidated by the success he has, but instead of seeing his virtues, you should see your own and realize that you are special in many other things. About the princess, I'm almost certain that she has never told you that she is disappointed in you, they are only your own pointless fears; what you should do is stop demanding so much, because I am sure that the princess is proud of you and what you do. Hoity Toity, well, it's normal for you to feel angry at a pony that you thought had hurt your friend. It's normal to defend a friend! If you've never felt this way, it's because you've never had friends to treasure and that you realize that you are not the same pony who first came to Ponyville, but changing is not bad, it is often the best; you are changing, but only because you are becoming a better pony. " After Pinkie finished her long speech, she took off her glasses and stared at Dusk with a big smile, while Dusk just stared at her with huge eyes, totally amazed at the deep analysis she made about all his worries, and in just a few seconds. "Well? I'm good, right?" Pinkie Pie added arrogantly while smiling. "I-I think you're right..." Dusk said, coming back to himself while he kept chewing on every word of what Pinkie Pie had said, realizing that every word Pinkie said was right. "I think I always knew, but as I never talked about it with anyone..." "It's not good to keep problems to yourself, remember that that's why you have friends." Pinkie Pie smiled. "But I still don't understand it... That is, the problems I have with my brother, or my insecurity with being a student of the princess, I have had them for years, and I have also felt this way about changing since I arrived in Ponyville." Dusk said with a look of doubt. "Why did this stress me right now?" "Hmm… well, surely everything accumulated, and everything exploded with the blow you gave to Hoity Toity and with the last kiss." Pinkie Pie said, thinking. "The kiss?" Dusk asked. Pinkie Pie quickly opened her eyes and realized her mistake. She had been hiding something from Dusk, something she wasn't sure whether to tell him or not, but since she had already done so, she thought it would be best to tell Dusk. "Yes... what happened is that you not only named the princess, your brother, and Hoity Toity while you were passed out." Pinkie Pie said slowly. "In the end, you also said... Applejack... Pinkie Pie... Fluttershy... Rarity, and then you woke up." "I... Did I name all of you? Why? You don't stress me out, at least I don’t think so." Dusk said, confused, frowning as he looked at the floor, thinking of an answer he couldn't see. "Don't you see!? It's the order in which we kissed you! You have doubts about what you feel!" Pinkie Pie thought with a sad look as Dusk didn't see her. Pinkie Pie hadn't wanted to say that to Dusk because it was something that hurt. Dusk was changing in many ways, and that included what he felt for them, but as he had already discovered, as long as he didn't realize what he really wanted and felt, the only thing she and her friends would achieve if they necessarily approached Dusk, would be stressing him out and hurting him. "You know, it's probably about having a best friend." Pinkie Pie finally said with a small forced smile after seeing that Dusk seemed to have a headache after thinking so much about why it would stress him to think about his friends. "Do you remember that I told you that in the experiment, I would find out who you preferred? Surely you were also stressed by that, you know, by knowing who you preferred… as your best friend." "Do you think that not knowing who my best friend is stressing me out?" Repeated Dusk unconvinced. "Hmm... Maybe you're right... But how can I solve that?" "Well, I think the best thing you can do is- Ohhh!" Pinkie Pie replied until she was interrupted by herself when she began to shake. "My pinkie sense! Something is going to hit you!" "What? Again with that!?" Dusk asked a little annoyed since they had been all that time without any of those supposed Pinkie Pie attacks, so much so that Dusk had almost forgotten that that was the initial reason why they were there in the basement. When Pinkie Pie stopped shaking, Dusk looked at her strangely, then remembered that despite her disbelief, every time Pinkie had had that tremor, something finally hit him anyway. So, while still firm in his belief that these were just crazy coincidences, Dusk looked in all directions and waited for several seconds before speaking. "See? I told you, nothing happened." Dusk said with a superb smile. "Be careful. You must take my pinkie sense more seriously." Pinkie Pie replied, looking everywhere, waiting for her prophecy to be fulfilled. "Enough, I… No, you know, I think it's better to get out of here." Dusk said after realizing that after all, it was not necessary to continue in the basement, after all, he had not even managed to study the capricious supposed sixth sense of his friend. Then both ponies began to climb the stairs to climb to the first floor. "Be careful with the door." Pinkie Pie said, warning Dusk as he approached the door. "Nothing will happen." Dusk said with a smile, knowing that no one would open on the other side since Spike didn't know that place, and also the footsteps of his brother, Rarity and Applejack had long since been silent, which meant that they had already left the library. SLAM!! A loud bang slammed Dusk's face right when he was about to open the door. "Oh! Sorry, I didn't know there was someone inside." Lyra said sorry, after realizing she had hit Dusk. "Ouch! You... Why are you here? And how do you know about that secret door!?" Dusk shouted, confused, and angry. It was then that Dusk saw that Lyra was not alone, but with a small group of mares behind her, all looking closely at Dusk. "This is our secret room, I discovered it the other day. We used it as a reading club." Lyra replied with a smile. "What do you…? At that moment, Lyra fell silent when she saw that Dusk was not alone, but with Pinkie Pie. Then she looked down and saw that all the instruments that were normally stacked in that room were now all discovered in the center. "Dusk and Pinkie Pie... alone in a room... with lots of weird instruments..." Lyra murmured as she blushed, and her imagination flew at full speed. "Yes! I already have the idea for the next chapter of my fic! The 'Forbidden Love' reading is canceled today!" Then Lyra turned around and ran swiftly out of the library, then the other mares who accompanied her saw Dusk and Pinkie Pie, blushed and ran after Lyra, hoping to see how she drew live her next romantic story. "What the heck just happened?" Dusk asked without understanding why Lyra had appeared and had run away. "Surely she was talking about her comic, you should read it, it's very good." Pinkie Pie said, finally leaving for the first floor. "Although if you don't like erotic stories, you may not like it." "Erotic stories? Why would I read something like that?" Dusk asked confused, following Pinkie Pie Pinkie Pie opened her mouth to answer, about to tell Dusk that the protagonist of that story was an alternate version of himself, but finally decided not to stress Dusk anymore, at least for a while. "The best thing is that you read it yourself, hehe." Pinkie Pie smiled as she opened the library door. "Well, I think it's also time for me to leave, it was a very fun morning!" "Yes it was, it also helped me learn more about myself, Dr. Pinkie," Dusk said, smiling. "I'm just sorry I couldn't do the same for you." "What do you mean?" Pinkie asked. "Your pinkie sense." Dusk replied. "You remember I said I would investigate it, but finally, I couldn't draw any conclusions since it never appeared when you had the polygraph. I was hoping to show you that everything is just a coincidence." "Do you still think they are just coincidences?" Pinkie Pie asked with a somewhat sad look. "Well, yes... although my nose doesn't want to admit it, hehe." Dusk responded by touching his sore nose. "You already know that I am a logical pony. Therefore it is difficult for me to believe in something supernatural. Even so, I must admit that I would like to believe that it is true. If it were, it would be a great gift." "... More than a gift... it's a curse..." Pinkie Pie muttered, looking down for a second. "Did you say something?" Dusk asked immediately. "Nothing!" Pinkie responded immediately, raising her head and smiling as usual. "I'm leaving now, see you!" She added before jumping and running as she always did. "That was strange..." Dusk muttered with a thoughtful face. "I couldn't hear what Pinkie said, but I am sure of something. For a second, her gaze was not the same as always." With that last thing in mind, Dusk turned to re-enter the library, but then stopped and looked back. He had promised himself that he would pay more attention to the true feelings of his friends so that the disaster of what happened with Fluttershy and Rarity would not happen again. Now Dusk wasn't sure, but if there was a small chance of worrying about his friend Pinkie Pie, then Dusk must do something about it. Dusk had checked something in the basement, what was the use of having Pinkie Pie under a microscope waiting for her pinkie sense to manifest itself. She had told him herself, all that show of her supposed sixth sense was happening without warning, and if, as Dusk thought, all that was just one of her friend's crazy things, she would definitely never react while Dusk was investigating her. This was the reason why Dusk now watched Pinkie secretly as she toured the town quietly. The last thing Pinkie had murmured had been enough for Dusk to make the decision to sneak up on her friend since if there was anything about that 'pinkie sense' that worried Pinkie Pie, he needed to know. In addition, he had told her that he would investigate that supposed magic that Pinkie had to predict things, and Dusk was not someone who could half-do a research task, so he decided that he would not give up until he found even a small clue to help him show Pinkie Pie that the pinkie sense was just a fantasy of hers. "She said this was the day her pinkie sense overloaded, so it's only a matter of time until it happens..." Dusk thought as he followed Pinkie Pie closely. "Besides, with my disguise skills, nopony will suspect what I'm doing." He added in his mind with pride. The sophisticated Dusk's disguise he was so proud of was just a box, a simple box with a pair of holes to see outward. Something simple but effective to be able to follow someone throughout the city. And that would have worked perfectly if Dusk was doing a chase in Canterlot or in some big city, but in Ponyville, where there were few ponies on the streets and the streets were normally clean, definitely a solitary box called attention, especially when that mysterious box suddenly grew legs and ran at full speed, all because sometimes Dusk had to run to keep track of the fast Pinkie Pie. On the other hand, Pinkie Pie seemed simply to be walking through the streets of the town as she always did, jumping from one place to another without any apparent direction, with her head in the clouds while smiling at everyone, but that was not at all true, since internally Pinkie was thinking about many things while she seemed to be distracted. One of the things that Pinkie Pie thought while jumping through the town was to think about how lucky she had been that day for not having had as many triggers of her pinkie sense as it had happened before since it was really exhausting for her to have so many different signs in a single day. The other thing that went through Pinkie Pie's head was about what she had discovered about Dusk, since discovering that Dusk could get so stressed out with so many accumulated feelings, and that finally the indecision of how to feel with her friends was the drop that overflowed the glass, made Pinkie Pie feel guilty with herself, with a mixture of annoyance and sadness at what she had to face. And finally, the third thing that went through Pinkie Pie's mind was to think of a way to solve once and for all that problem that Dusk felt, well, although she helped Dusk realize that the doubts he felt about the princess, his brother, and the blow that he gave to Hoity Toity, they were only in his head, Pinkie could not do the same with the doubts that Dusk felt with his friends, because that was not in his head, it was something real, a problem that was in the Dusk’s heart, and that was more complex to solve, and for more and more than Pinkie thought, it only came to one solution, a solution she couldn't reach alone, and that is why she was now looking for her friends. "I was the one who started this..." Pinkie Pie thought as she remembered how she had deliberately kissed Dusk that day that her friends wanted to agree to get away from Dusk when they realized they were all in love with him. "After that, we all fight our way to fall in love with Dusk without realizing that it would stress his heart. His heart had barely opened up to friendship, and we began to force him to accept love immediately! We had to be more cautious... I should have been more cautious!" It was so that between jumps, Pinkie Pie finally got to where she knew one of her friends would be; to Ponyville Park, where Rarity was next to Spike, both lying on a tablecloth, having what appeared to be a pleasant picnic. "It is a pity that the others have not been able to come to the picnic," Spike said, blushing as he smiled and looked heartily at Rarity. "Yes, it's a real shame. Although I still think it's strange that Dusk said he would be busy in the library but wasn't there when we arrived." Rarity replied, sighing. "And that the princess wrote a letter to Applejack... Doesn't it seem strange to you?" "N-Not at all! Hehehe." Spike laughed nervously as he remembered what he had to do to achieve that moment alone with his beloved lover. A moment earlier, Applejack and Rarity had arrived at the library to help Dusk with his supposed extra work; however, both they and Spike were surprised not to see him there, something Spike greatly appreciated, believing that his brother had hidden to support him in his plan to have an appointment with Rarity. However, although Dusk was no longer a problem, the next obstacle at the picnic was Applejack, so on the way to the park, the dragon mentally struggled to achieve an infallible plan. He suddenly let out a flare and pretended that a princess letter had arrived for Applejack, asking for help with a recipe for an apple pie. The plan was brilliant, in Spike's opinion. As for Rarity, it was a very strange thing to believe that the princess sent something like that, but she could not distrust the word her dear and innocent Spikey-Wikey. For her part, Applejack, the walking lie detector, raised an eyebrow high with a look of utter disbelief as she realized that Spike believed she was so dumb as to believe in such an obvious lie. However, Applejack finally just sighed and pretended to believe such an absurd lie, after all, what Spike really wanted was seen leagues away, and Applejack finally thought it would not be bad to help the little casanova this time. "Don't get nervous, you've already done the hardest thing, now you just have to make her fall with your charms!" Spike thought nervously as he sat on the tablecloth next to Rarity, speaking to himself to give courage while weighing the fact of being on a true date with his beloved. Spike kept looking at Rarity, but as soon as she looked at him, he immediately averted his eyes, unable to look such a beautiful mare in the eyes and think that he really was on a romantic date with her. Not sure what to do, Spike began to look around, where, like them, there were many couples in love enjoying a pleasant afternoon eating in the park. Many couples hugged, lying together, or feeding each other playfully. "What's wrong with me! I have to do something!" Spike thought shouting at himself, deciding to imitate those couples who had more experience than him. Then Spike moved his body slowly to get closer to Rarity's body, then he took one of the cherries that were inside the basket that Rarity had put together for the picnic, and offered it to Rarity with a trembling claw. "S-Say ah..." Spike said, stuttering, red with shame as he held the cherry near Rarity's mouth. Rarity looked curiously at Spike about the way he offered food, but he didn't hesitate for a second and brought his mouth to the cherry and ate a bite with a smile, thinking about how cute his beloved Spikey-wikey was. "As cute as always, my sweet Spike." Rarity said with a smile. "But tell me, why are you so nervous?" "Uh…? W-Well… is that I… I'm not sure how a… a good coltfriend should act." Spike said, blushing, rubbing his claws while he was nervous at most. "Hm? Coltfriend? Who?" Rarity asked without understanding what the little dragon meant. "PSSST!" Suddenly a noise was heard in front of Rarity. Then the mare looked up while Spike seemed not to notice the noise due to how nervous he was. Then it was that Rarity saw that behind a tree, Pinkie Pie peeked out, who seemed to beckon Rarity to come over there. "Hm... Wait for me a second dear Spike, I'll be right back." Rarity said, smiling as she stood up and approached her pink friend. "What's is it, Pinkie? Why do you call me in secret?" Rarity asked once he got behind the tree. "Oh, I just didn't want to ruin your date." Pinkie Pie said while looking at Spike sitting on the tablecloth, whispering that Spike wouldn't listen. "Which date?" Rarity asked, still not understanding, until she saw Pinkie aiming at Spike. "Ha-ha, very funny." Rarity added with a slightly annoyed look. "It's just that Spike told me he would go on a date with you, even that you were dating now." Pinkie Pie commented as she put on a thoughtful face when she remembered that morning, all while Rarity opened her eyes as wide as they could go, and her mouth fell open. "And he also said that you had reached third base." "WHAT!?" Rarity shouted in shock at what she had just heard. "I'm not sure, but I think Spike started acting a little weird after the kiss you gave him in the fashion show." Pinkie Pie said, thinking, with as good a memory as ever. "T-The kiss?" Rarity repeated, confused, still shocked by what she had just heard Spike had said. With that last word in mind, Rarity began to unite loose ends and thought she understood better what was happening. "It was just a kiss on the cheek... but it wasn't the first... And yes..." Rarity began to murmur as she thought, speaking more with herself than with Pinkie Pie. "Oh, Celestia... I think I understand. My poor and innocent Spike thinks I became his girlfriend because of that kiss." Rarity added after a while, holding her head worried as she thought she understood what happened. Then Rarity raised her head and looked at Pinkie Pie. "Thanks for letting me know, Pinkie. This misunderstanding could have been even more serious if you hadn't let me know." Rarity said gratefully. "You're welcome! Although I didn't really come to talk about it." Pinkie Pie said, moving from a smile to worry. "I actually came to talk about Dusk." "Did something bad happen with Dusk!?" Rarity asked worriedly since she had been surprised that she had not seen Dusk all day. "Hmm... Something like that..." Pinkie Pie replied, pursing her lip. So, Pinkie Pie gave Rarity a quick summary of what happened with Dusk that morning. About how Dusk had self-bewitched because he couldn't sleep because of all the worries he had, and how Pinkie had discovered that one of those concerns was precisely not knowing how to feel about his friends in the romantic realm. Still, Pinkie Pie decided to skip the part in which she proposed to Dusk to be her coltfriend since that could lead to Rarity's jealousy coming up, and that was the last thing Pinkie Pie wanted at that moment. "It can't be... He used a spell like that!?" Rarity asked worriedly, making a face of fear and then of sadness. "I... I didn't know that giving Dusk a kiss would stress him out..." "I don't think it was the kiss. There were many things that accumulated in Dusk. Probably the kisses we gave him were just the tip of the iceberg. The thing that seemed to stress him most was knowing that he was changing his feelings." Pinkie Pie also said with a somewhat sad look. "I'm sure Dusk feels something for us, something that is becoming more than friendship, but-" "We must not force it." Rarity said seriously, interrupting Pinkie, to her surprise. "I want Dusk to feel the same as I feel for him. And the way he answered that kiss... I'm sure that was the test! But the only thing that would hurt me more than Dusk not loving me would be to see him hurt because of me." Pinkie Pie listened in amazement to what Rarity said, and finally smiled with bliss when she realized that her doubts had been unjustified, since on the way there, what worried Pinkie the most was that her friends didn't think like her, but now she realized that despite what they both felt for Dusk, they both thought and felt the same, which made the pink mare's heart happy. "It must be Dusk who takes the next step, isn't it?" Rarity said, thinking she understood where Pinkie Pie was coming from. "I think it's for the best." Pinkie Pie replied with a smile. Then he saw that Rarity unconsciously lifted a hoof and touched her lips with a thoughtful look. "What will you do when you see Dusk? You know, after the kiss." Pinkie Pie added, reading the unicorn's mind. "I don't know... When you kissed him, nothing changed. I would love to tell you how special it was for me, but... as we just said, maybe it's best to wait for him to tell me something." Rarity replied with a thoughtful face, then looking at Pinkie Pie with a defiant smile. "This will only be a pause until Dusk recovers. I will continue in the race and wait patiently until I discover that ours is more than just friendship." Faced with Rarity's challenge, Pinkie only smiled in the same way as Rarity, accepting that what she said was true and that she had not given up on Dusk either. "Well, I'm leaving. I must tell the other girls the same." Pinkie Pie smiled with her natural smile and withdrew quickly. Then Rarity turned and sighed with concern to see that she still had another big problem to solve, Spike's, who was still waiting for her sitting there in the park thinking that this was a date. While Rarity returned with Spike, a wild box appeared from behind a bench and approached the tree where Rarity and Pinkie Pie had been chatting. "What the heck was that?" Dusk thought worried, not understanding what had just happened. After following Pinkie Pie to the park, Dusk stopped behind a bench and waited there to continue watching Pinkie study her friend's pinkie sense; however, Dusk finally put aside her study for a moment to see that for some reason Rarity approached Pinkie Pie and they both started talking with very worried looks. Dusk at that distance could not hear anything, much less because both mares only seemed to whisper so that Spike didn’t listen to their conversation, in addition, it was impossible to get closer since a box moving in the middle of a park was too noticeable, so he could only wait there until Pinkie moved, but with the growing doubt of wanting to know what his friends were talking about that worried them so much. Finally, Pinkie Pie had moved, and Dusk quickly approached the tree, following in the footsteps of the pink mare, but her chase stopped when she heard that Rarity was talking with her little brother. "Spike, we have to talk." Rarity said, looking at Spike with a mixture of seriousness and concern. "I think... you've confused things a bit..." "What things?" Spike asked, fearing something bad would happen when he saw Rarity's countenance. "Listen, Spike, you... Do you think we're dating just... because of that kiss?" Rarity asked worriedly, choosing her words carefully, since she wanted to solve that problem, if possible, without hurting Spike. "Uh!? W-Well... no... or maybe yes..." Spike replied, blushing nervously. "It… it was three kisses... and once I heard that if someone came to third base with a girl, it is because they are both dating..." "Spike, the third base is not... well, more important! Those kisses were only signs of affection, that doesn't force you to have to be my coltfriend." Rarity said with a weak smile, believing that Spike had proclaimed himself her coltfriend because he believed it was his obligation, not because he really wanted to be her coltfriend. "Now, please, I would like you to tell all the ponies to those who told you that you were my coltfriend that you made a mistake." Rarity added more serious, determined that this misunderstanding would not grow. Spike looked at Rarity and lowered his head sadly. Deep down he knew that he and Rarity were not dating, but he believed that after reaching 'third base' with her, it would be a matter of time. And now that she told him all that, it was as if she was breaking up with him, but why? He hadn't done anything wrong, everything at the picnic had worked out well until Rarity had retired for a few minutes... "Now, the rumors of having reached third base will only worsen my already stained reputation..." Rarity muttered to herself as she thought out how to deal with it since she had decided that her innocent Spike shouldn't know certain things unless that Dusk decided to explain them to them, so it would have to be herself who denied that false rumor. "That's it! That's why she's breaking up with me!" Spike thought upon hearing Rarity's murmur, believing he realized the grave mistake he had made. "Rarity was annoyed that I said we had reached third base, Dusk warned me not to tell anyone! And I didn't! I just told Pinkie Pie on her way to breakfast... and Bulk Biceps was passing by over there... and Berryshine... and Cloud Kicker... and the boy who handed out the newspaper..." Spike began to remember, slowly realizing that maybe, just maybe, he had told more ponies than he knew about his 'love affair' with Rarity... Rarity stopped thinking about the problems she would have, noting that Spike had his head down with a sad look, although what the dragon felt most at that moment was guilt rather than grief, due to misunderstanding Rarity's words and think they were breaking with him for talking about his supposed intimacy. "Oh... my dear Spike." Rarity said tenderly, approaching Spike and giving him a little kiss on his nose, which made the dragon forget all his sorrows immediately. "A kiss is just a show of affection that is given. It's normal that you and Dusk don't show affection like that, but we mares are more open with our emotions, that's why I show you my love like that, but I don't want you to think that a simple kiss forces you to be my coltfriend. You are very special to me, and you always will be." Rarity added, hugging Spike, while the dragon blushed and swore to do everything possible to recover Rarity's love and for her to forgive him, and thus to be her coltfriend 'again'. While the unicorn and the dragon ended their embrace, a box behind a tree was still at a fair distance to reach to hear all that conversation. There was Dusk, still hidden, who saw the whole scene through the holes he made to the box, and heard every word, except for Rarity's murmurs. "She kissed Spike!?" Dusk thought confused, thinking that it was most likely that they were referring to simple kisses on the cheek. However, Dusk's doubts grew when he saw that Rarity approached and kissed Spike when he saw him so sad. An innocent kiss on the nose, but since Dusk only saw the back of Spike and Rarity from the front, Dusk was not sure he knew where Rarity kissed Spike. At that moment, Dusk began repeating word by word what Rarity said to Spike, that a kiss was just a sign of affection and that Spike should understand that they were just friends. "...a kiss will mean what you want it to mean..." Dusk repeated in his mind, remembering what Pinkie Pie had answered when he asked him about the kiss he had given him that morning of the Summer Sun Celebration. "They are just showing me their affection? Just... it's just a friendship kiss... Isn't it special for them? I... I guess I'm not used to friendship with mares... That means I don't have to worry that everything remains the same between Rarity and me... we're just friends... just... friends." Dusk finished thinking, thinking that he must feel relieved because he should not worry about Rarity's kiss or any of the other kisses his friends gave them in the past. However, no matter how much Dusk thought, He must be relieved, all he could feel, and he couldn't understand why he felt that was a disappointment. After staying a few seconds looking at nothing with a sad look, Dusk shook his head to clear himself and take away those feelings that he didn't understand why he felt. "Stop thinking of unnecessary things. For a minute, I forgot my true mission!" Dusk muttered, thinking out loud, putting a more determined look. And that was how that mysterious box again came out lavender-colored hooves underneath, and it began to move in a very subtle way towards Pinkie Pie. Fortunately for Dusk, although he had stayed in the park for quite some time listening to Rarity and Spike's conversation, he managed to find Pinkie Pie, who was a few blocks from the park, this time chatting with Applejack. Dusk approached in his box costume and stopped at a safe distance to keep watching until Pinkie Pie had one of her famous pinkie senses. However, Dusk again had to put aside his investigation when he saw that while Pinkie Pie spoke with Applejack, the latter maintained the same look of concern that he had seen Rarity when she spoke with Pinkie Pie. "What are they talking about? What does Pinkie Pie tell everyone that worries them so much?" Dusk muttered, also worrying that something bad was happening to her friends. It was then that Dusk began to sneak up on her friends, all while all the ponies that walked there saw with surprise how that strange box was slowly moving through the middle of the street. "...I think you're right." Dusk could hear Applejack saying, once he got close enough. "If things are like that, I agree with what Rarity said." "Do they agree with what?" Dusk thought, regretting hearing only the end of what Applejack said. "Yes, it is best to wait, at least for a while." Pinkie Pie said seriously. "That way Dusk-" At that moment, Pinkie Pie could not continue talking because she began to tremble suddenly, to the surprise of Applejack and Dusk. Meanwhile, Dusk quickly understood that this was precisely what he had been waiting for all afternoon, and began to write down everything he saw in Pinkie Pie at that moment. "Trembling body, rapid blinking, tail turning to the right without control..." Pinkie Pie muttered after trembling, going over all the symptoms she had just felt. "That means... Something or someone is in danger of getting seriously hurt!" Pinkie Pie shouted, scared. "Danger of getting hurt?" Applejack repeated somewhat confused. Despite not understanding what was happening, Applejack immediately began to look in all directions; however, it seemed that there was nothing out of place nearby, more than a box in the middle of the street. Then Applejack looked up and saw that just then, a carriage carried by pegasus dropped a piano, which would fall just above that box in the street. Thinking that this box could have something important, Applejack took out her rope and quickly threw one end of it to launch that box and move it from there, something that required more effort than Applejack thought since the box was heavier than she thought. In this way, Applejack managed to remove that box from the road just before the piano fell there and was shattered by the impact. "Oh no! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Derpy said quickly, who was one of the pegasuses who had been helping to transport that carriage with the cargo. Frightened to see that near where the piano had fallen, were Pinkie Pie and Applejack. "Don't worry, nopony got hurt- Dusk?" Applejack said, smiling, but then surprised to see that from the box she had moved with her rope, Dusk's head came out, with a dazed look after Applejack's rapid movement. Immediately Applejack and Pinkie Pie approached Dusk while a stocky colt rebuked Derpy for throwing away his valuable cargo. "Dusk, you should be more careful. Can you imagine if that had fallen on you? You would be hurt or worse, I mean, we are not in a cartoon." Pinkie said with a fake scolding look at Dusk. "That's not my fault... How could I know that a piano would fall from the sky!?" Dusk claimed after shaking his head to focus his dizzy look. "What were you doing in that box?" Applejack asked, confused. "He was following me." Pinkie Pie replied with a pouty face. "You knew I was following you!?" Dusk asked in amazement and annoyance. "Nope. I only saw that a strange box was following me, I didn't know it was you." Pinkie Pie said, pointing it and then puckering her lip in disappointment. "How boring, all this time I thought it was a magic box that followed me... I was even thinking of adopting it as a pet." "Why were you following Pinkie Pie?" Applejack asked, still trying to understand what was happening. "It's nothing important, I just wanted to finish my research," Dusk replied, finally coming out of the remains of the box that still surrounded his body. "As the research in the laboratory dind’t pay off, I thought it would be best to learn about the pinkie sense in its natural habitat." "Are you trying to understand how the pinkie sense of Pinkie Pie works? Pfft!" Applejack mocked a little. Then she pointed to nothing and looked at Pinkie Pie. "Look, Pinkie! A parasprite!" "Oh, no!" Pinkie Pie shouted scared, ducking and covering her head with a hoof while looking crazy in all directions looking for something invisible. "You see it?" Applejack said, looking at Dusk and looking at Pinkie Pie. "What is a parasprite?" Dusk asked, confused. "Nopony knows, it seems like it's something she invented." Applejack replied with a shrug. "The point is that you can't understand Pinkie Pie, you'll go crazy if you try." "So, you don't believe in the pinkie sense, either?" Dusk said, opening his eyes wide, hoping he had finally found someone rational like Applejack, who understood that this was crazy. "Oh, no. The pinkie sense is something different. It is definitely real." Applejack replied, smiling, before Dusk's face of disbelief. Seeing that look in Dusk, Applejack knew what his friend thought. "Nopony knows how it works, but in this town, we have all learned to trust Pinkie Pie's strange pinkie sense. I mean, if I hadn't listened to her, that piano would have crushed you." Dusk opened his mouth to argue with Applejack about the inconsistancy in believing in certain things that Pinkie said and not in other things, in addition to telling her that everything could be explained and that Pinkie Pie could simply have seen that the carriage went with the loose load, however Dusk regretted speaking when he realized that he and Pinkie Pie had been looking to one side and Applejack to the other, so Applejack had managed to see the carriage flying in that direction, and not he and Pinkie Pie, so that showed that Pinkie Pie had not been able to know in advance that the carriage would pass through there, which made Dusk put a doubtful look while a small, minimal, possibility opened in his mind to accept that indeed that of the pinkie sense really existed, after of everything, she just saved him from being badly injured. "Hey! There's no parasprit- Ohhh...!" Pinkie Pie said, annoyed to realize that Applejack had tricked her after verifying that there was no parasprite nearby. However, she could not finish speaking because of another sudden tremor in his pinkie sense. After finishing the tremor and the signs of her pinkie sense, Pinkie Pie stood still like a statue, with a lost look and her mouth open, as if something had scared her. "I-Is something wrong happening?" Dusk asked, worried about seeing Pinkie Pie with that face. "Uh? N-No! Nothing bad! Hehe." Pinkie Pie said with a nervous smile, quickly changing her worried expression. "That was a pinkie sign, right? What sign was that?" Applejack asked, with a slight concern. "It's... it's the same sign as before, someone is in danger of getting hurt." Pinkie Pie said, trying to hide her nerves with a bad smile. "B-By the way, where are the other girls?" "Uh? Well, Rarity and Spike should still be in the park." Applejack replied, remembering. "Rainbow Dash traveled to Cloudsdale, and Fluttershy thought he was going to change homes to frogs in the Froggy Bottom swamp." As soon as Applejack finished saying Froggy Bottom, Pinkie Pie turned around and started running, right in that direction. Instantly, Applejack and Dusk Shine looked at each other and then started running in the same direction. Pinkie Pie had said nothing, but both ponies understood what was happening if Pinkie Pie was running in that direction it was because she feared that Fluttershy would be hurt what her pinkie sense foreshadowed. "How strange..." Dusk thought as he ran. "Shaking body, fast blinking, tail turning to the right without control. That was the signal I saw when Pinkie Pie guessed that a piano would fall on me, and now, the signal was identical, but... I'm sure her tail turned to the left and not right... Weren't the signs supposed to be very specific?" Dusk kept thinking while running to help Fluttershy if necessary, even though he still didn't believe in the pinkie sense. "Fluttershy! Fluttershy!" Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Dusk Shine shouted. The three in search of their shy friend. The three friends had arrived at full speed to the Froggy Bottom swamp, a smelly swamp with large mudflats that remained on the outskirts of the Everfree forest, and was almost as terrifying. Once there, the three had started screaming for their friend, hoping she was well. "I know this is ridiculous after all, Pinkie Pie's pinkie sense is a fraud, it's just coincidences! But... it doesn't hurt to follow the game, just... just in case." Dusk thought, trying to reason his fears while that spark of disbelief regarding the pinkie sense was getting bigger and bigger. "There she is!" Applejack shouted when he saw in the distance the characteristic pink mane and yellow fur of his dear friend. Everyone immediately ran to where Fluttershy was, who seemed to be saying goodbye to some little frogs that were on the rocks. "Oh! Hi. What is everyone doing here?" Fluttershy asked happily, but confused, seeing his friends there. Without answering the greeting, Pinkie Pie approached Fluttershy and lifted her mane, then her tail, and her legs one by one, carefully examining the yellow pegasus. "Are you alright!? Nothing bad happened to you!?" Pinkie Pie asked, showing that she was scared. "N-No, everything is fine," Fluttershy replied, a little surprised by Pinkie Pie's behavior. "The forest pond was very overcrowded, so I took these little friends to have their new home here," Fluttershy added, stroking a frog he had taken there. "Aha! See? Fluttershy isn't hurt, that means your pinkie sense failed!" Dusk said with a triumphant smile, finally finding a test that belied what Pinkie Pie had supposedly predicted. Still, Dusk had breathed in relief when he saw that Fluttershy as well. "Fluttershy is fine... then it means Rainbow Dash, Rarity or Spike..." Pinkie Pie muttered, speaking to herself. Just then, Pinkie's sense of pinkie returned, and the pink mare repeated the same tremor she had felt last time. As it happened, Dusk again noticed that Pinkie Pie's tail had turned left again instead of right. "No. It will happen here!" Pinkie Pie repeated, still talking to herself, looking down at the floor with a worried look. Suddenly the ground under their hooves began to shake, which caused the four ponies to come together, frightened at that tremor, but more than by the tremor, seeing how the mud pool they were standing on began to rise, and so everyone discovered that this was not an earthquake. The eyes of each of the ponies were stunned to see how a huge neck with a head with giant snake features stood at a huge height and stared with a dangerous look. Of all that, the most amazing thing was that while everyone saw the same thing, their eyes were fixed on the head of the beast that had just emerged from the quagmire, each pony was looking at a different head... There were four heads! A huge beast of the size of an adult dragon, with only one body, but with four long necks and four monstrous heads. "A hydra..." Dusk murmured, barely speaking out of the beast's amazement before him. Then Dusk moved his neck to approach Fluttershy, without taking his eyes off the hydra. "Fluttershy... What should we do?" Dusk asked, hoping his friend might know how to deal with that huge beast. GROOWWWL!! Roared the hydra, ready to attack. "Run!" Fluttershy shouted at the same time, knowing that that territorial beast would attack without hesitation. Whether it was the cry of Fluttershy or the hydra, there was only one option, and the four ponies quickly began to run for their lives, all while the huge and slow beast followed them, still close due to the great reach of their necks, throwing bites at the legs of the ponies while by some miracle they managed to evade those bites while still fleeing. "Here!" Dusk shouted at his friends to follow him, running down a slope so that the beast would have a harder time reaching them. "Waaaah!" Pinkie Pie shouted as she had another of her attacks due to the pinkie sense. "Y-You have to run awayyy..." Pinkie Pie said between tremors. "I know it!" Dusk shouted, pushing Pinkie Pie with his head, who couldn't run due to the tremors of her pinkie sense. Uphill, everyone's eyes widened in fear when they saw that there was a great ravine, one that they could not cross in any way by jumping. GROOWWWL!! The hydra roared again, getting closer and closer as it climbed steadily up the hill, knowing that its prey had no escape. "As if this was going to stop me!" Dusk shouted defiantly, illuminating his horn while concentrating his magic. This was not the first time that Dusk could not continue advancing because the road was cut by a ravine, nor for his friends, since when they went to the dragon raid, they had been in a similar dilemma, although not before such a ravine big. But that didn't matter, and it wasn't the same situation either, so without warning his friends, Dusk set out to use his best spell, the magic of teleportation. With a great flash, Dusk used his magic when the hydra was already a few steps away, achieving his goal of teleporting with his friends on the other side of the ravine. "Phew...! That was close!" Dusk said, sighing with relief, seeing that apparently, his spell had worked well; however, he was interrupted by a scream. "Pinkie Pie!" Applejack shouted as he looked across the ravine. Instantly Dusk looked up and saw that only he, Applejack, and Fluttershy were there. Then Dusk looked to the other side of the ravine, where they had been only moments ago, and saw that Pinkie Pie stood there, shivering in her pinkie sense as the hydra just got to where she was. Dusk didn't even have time to think, he just acted on instinct. He immediately returned to the other side of the ravine with his magic and concentrated with all his magic on his horn as he hugged Pinkie to stop shaking, and teleported away from there just when the hydra was about to close one of their mouths on Pinkie Pie. POOOF!! With a big burst, Dusk reappeared on the other side of the ravine where Fluttershy and Applejack were already, but this time hugging Pinkie Pie. "Huff... Huff... That... that was dangerous." Dusk said exhausted, full of adrenaline for having acted so quickly in the face of such danger, still holding Pinkie Pie, who had finally stopped shaking from her pinkie sense. "The first time the teleportation didn't work for Pinkie because she was shaking. It's my fault... I must be more skilled in order to use teleportation even if someone is on the move." Dusk thought, sighing gratefully because everyone was safe. "Thank you!" Pinkie Pie said with a big smile, still hugging Dusk, to show her appreciation for saving her. "I guess having a pinkie sense also has its bad side. I mean, you almost couldn't move because of all those tremors you had." Dusk said with a small smile after Pinkie Pie stopped hugging him. "That's the least bad, believe me." Pinkie Pie said with a smile. It was then that Pinkie Pie again had another tremor, another of her pinkie signals. Exactly the same one he had previously: shaking body, rapid blinking, and tail turning to the right without control. After that signal, everyone looked scared to the other side of the ravine, where the hydra was still, growling furiously at having lost their prey, but no matter how much they saw, there was no way that the hydra could cross, so they passed from scared to confused looks. However, the one that followed with a scared look, or rather panic, was Pinkie Pie, who just stared at the ground in fear. "What do we do now?" Dusk asked, looking worried at Pinkie Pie. "Uh?" Pinkie Pie responded by blinking several times as she realized that her friends had seen her scared, so she tried to put on a smile that was unconvincing. "Are you asking me what to do... me?" "Sure! That signal you said meant something, or someone is in danger of getting hurt, isn't it?" Dusk said, staring at Pinkie Pie, then putting on a small smile. "I know I said I didn't believe in your pinkie sense, but I'll eat my words. With what just happened, all my skepticism definitely died." As soon as Dusk uttered those last words, Pinkie Pie's body trembled again, but in a different way, as if a shiver had run from her tail to her head, all at the surprised look of the other three ponies. "What was that?" Dusk asked, seeing that the tremor had been different from all the other trembling of pinkie sense that he had seen Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie remained a second without responding, looking down at the floor with a look of amazement, and then, without warning, launched herself to hug Dusk tightly. "It’s gone!" Pinkie Pie whispered as she hugged Dusk with all her strength. Dusk, for his part, froze at the sudden and strong hug Pinkie Pie was giving him. The way she was hugging him was strange, as if more than a hug, she was clinging to him so as not to let him go. Although Dusk didn't see Pinkie Pie's face and found that the hug was too strong, Dusk finally lifted his hoof and hugged Pinkie Pie, even though he wasn't sure why he did it. Meanwhile, Dusk’s other two friends, who were standing behind him, had also been surprised to see Pinkie Pie hugging Dusk so suddenly, but what most amazed them and left them somewhat scared, was to see the expression on Pinkie's face, a face that Dusk could not see. After a few seconds, Pinkie Pie noticed that Applejack and Fluttershy were watching her, so she quickly looked down and separated from Dusk. "I-I'm glad it's all over... hehe." Pinkie Pie said with a forced smile, a smile that she knew she couldn't keep up so much, so she quickly looked down so the others wouldn't see her face. "I-I forgot that I had to do something with Gummy. I must go!" And with that short farewell, Pinkie Pie turned around and started running back to town at full speed, leaving her three friends with confused looks, not understanding why so much trouble. "What just happened?" Dusk asked with a small smile, turning to see his friends, thinking that this was just another normal behavior of Pinkie Pie, however, he froze to see that his friends had more than confused looks, even with some concern. "Didn't you see her face?" Fluttershy asked, looking worriedly at Dusk. "I've never seen Pinkie Pie like that..." Applejack added with a thoughtful look. "Her face was... Scared? Relieved? I'm not sure... As if she was about to..." Applejack said about to say the word 'cry,' but when she thought of Pinkie Pie, the only thing that came to Applejack's mind was her huge smile... Was she sure of what she saw? "We should go after her." Fluttershy said, worried. "No." Dusk said immediately. "Please leave this to me." He added, running to try to reach his pink friend. Again his friends had realized something he had missed, which made him feel guilty. He hadn't seen Pinkie Pie's face, but he had felt that something was not right, now it was his responsibility to find out what worried his friend. Dusk ran at full speed, checking that he was following the footsteps left by Pinkie Pie because of the mud they had stepped on, and although these were disappearing as the mud dried up, it was enough to prove that Pinkie Pie had actually run back to town. "Mrs. Cake! Is Pinkie Pie here?" Dusk said once he arrived in town, thinking that Pinkie had headed there. "Yes, she came just a moment ago." Mrs. Cake replied, a little surprised to see how agitated Dusk was. "I was organizing some things, but I heard when she arrived and quickly went up to her room." Dusk barely heard that, turned around, and climbed the stairs, leaving a very confused Mrs. Cake. "Pinkie... are you here?" Dusk said, knocking on the door of his friend's room, surprised to see that it was open, so he finally pushed it gently and entered the room. Upon entering the room, Dusk saw the room as he had seen it the last time he entered there, the time he met Pinkie Pie. Everything was a disaster, a room with a bed in the middle and a lot of balloons and streamers everywhere; however, something missing was essential, the owner of that room, which seemed not to be there. "How strange... she's not here..." Dusk muttered, confused, walking in the room, and wondering where his friend could have gone. "Maybe she, Aaaahh...!" Dusk shouted when suddenly, a trap door opened on the floor, and Dusk fell through it. Unlike the secret room of the library, the room in which Dusk fell was much smaller and seemed to be on the mezzanine of Pinkie Pie's room and kitchen, so it was not very tall, which saved Dusk from falling too hard against the floor. As soon as Dusk opened his eyes after the fall, he was surprised at what he saw. The small room only had the well-known Pinkie Pie party cannon on one side, and a large file cabinet on the other side, while much of the walls and ceiling of the room were marked with several chalk lines, hundreds of them marking all the walls in lines of four with a fifth line crossing them, like what a prisoner would do in a jail when counting the days. However, although only those marks caused enough to be surprised, what really shocked Dusk was to see Pinkie Pie, who was sitting in the middle of the room and had turned to see someone had fallen there, so Dusk could see Pinkie Pie in the eyes, and finally see something she never thought she saw. Pinkie Pie was crying. Noticing that the noise had been Dusk and now he was staring at her with a look of fear, Pinkie Pie immediately turned so that Dusk didn’t see her like that, and began to dry her tears with her hoof. "W-What are you doing here..." Pinkie Pie said still without turning around, wishing with all her might that Dusk hadn't seen her like that. "I... I came to see if you were okay..." Dusk stuttered, still shocked by what he had just seen. Then he shook his head to clarify his ideas. "Pinkie Pie... were you... crying?" "... ... No..." Pinkie Pie whispered, keeping her back to Dusk. But then, understanding that lying would only make everything worse and that Dusk had already discovered her ugly secret, so finally, she decided to admit the truth. "... Yes... It's... I just couldn't stand it." "What thing could you not stand?" Dusk asked, confused. "Were you afraid that the hydra almost attacked you? I... I'm sorry, it was my fault for not doing my spell correctly..." Dusk added distressed. "It's not that. It's my pinkie sense." Pinkie Pie replied sadly, deciding to be totally honest with Dusk. After all, he had been with her that morning. "You mean the signal you felt that said someone would get hurt?" Dusk said, remembering. "That was not that signal. My tail turned to the left, not to the right." Pinkie Pie said slowly as Dusk was surprised to realize that he had been right to notice that little detail. "When that signal ends with my tail turning right, it is that something or someone will get hurt... But if that same signal ends with my tail turning left, it means that... something or someone... will die." Hearing that, a chill ran down Dusk's back, and it was then that Dusk began to get an idea of ​​why Pinkie Pie had reacted as she did. "Do you remember when we left the library, and you said that my pinkie sense could be called a gift? Many may think that, but not me. For me, it's more like a curse." Pinkie Pie said, lowering her head while her voice was heard very slowly. "It only happens once a month when my pinkie sense goes crazy, and most of the time, nothing bad happens. But when those signs come that someone will get hurt, or worse yet! That someone will die... I... I just can't resist it... " Dusk opened his eyes wide, believing he finally understood what Pinkie Pie had felt at that moment that she had that last pinkie sign. "You... you were desperate." Dusk said slowly after assembling the puzzle of what happened. "When you felt that signal, you threw yourself to look for Fluttershy. You were scared, no, desperate when you felt that someone close to you could die, but you didn't say anything, you didn't want to tell us anything so as not to scare us... Then we escaped from the hydra, and you thought it was all over, but then you felt it again, and that's when I said ‘my skepticism was dead’, and it was only then that you felt it was all over. That was the face Applejack, and Fluttershy saw... a mixture of despair, of relief, of fear... " "It was too much..." Pinkie Pie added, breathing hard to avoid crying again. "There were many things that I felt. Believing that I could lose them and then discovering that pinkie signal only meant that you would believe me... It was as if at one stroke, all my fears vanished. It was so sudden that my heart just endured it. " "That's why you couldn't stand and wanted to cry," Dusk added, ending with one mystery and entering another. "But why didn't you cry there with the girls and me?" "I can't..." Pinkie Pie said, still sadly in her voice. "No one can see me like that. I... Everyone is looking for me to make their day! Everyone always wants to see a smile on my face. Every time someone is sad or angry, they know they have nothing to fear because I will be there with a big smile to make your day... They... They can't see me cry!" Pinkie Pie added almost in a shout in her broken voice, while she sat down without turning to look at Dusk. Dusk was silent for a few seconds, understanding that Pinkie Pie was delicate and that she had to go slowly in the conversation so that she could speak herself, without any pressure. It was then that Dusk was surprised at a sudden thought and began to see again the walls and all the marks that were there, finally reaching a disturbing conclusion. "Every chalk line... Does it represent every time you've cried here?" Dusk asked, looking at the walls with a sad look. Pinkie Pie didn't answer anything but finally nodded after a while. "I don't want anyone to be disappointed in me. I don't want anyone to see me cry like that, that's why I come to cry in this room." Pinkie Pie whispered. "When I finally get all that grief out of my system, I leave here with a smile and go back to the same as always. All the sadness stays here, in those marks on the wall." A short silence followed after Pinkie Pie spoke, where Dusk was thinking with a sad look. It was then that Dusk's horn shone, and the silence of the room was broken by a 'Poof!' of magic. Hearing that sound, Pinkie Pie finally turned to see Dusk and what was happening, still keeping her eyes bright for crying so recently. Then Pinkie Pie looked confused to see that Dusk had made a chalk eraser appear with his magic. The chalk eraser approached, levitating near the walls, and began to erase the chalk marks that were there. "Dusk! What are you doing?" Pinkie Pie asked, standing up scared, thinking that Dusk erased those marks without even understanding their meaning, because for her they were important, they were a metaphor that her sadness would only be locked in that room and that she would never leave. "I need this room!" "No." Dusk replied, taking advantage of the fact that Pinkie Pie had stood up to approach him and give her a warm hug, before the surprised look of his friend. "We all want to see Pinkie Pie happy, but we all understand that you can't always be happy. Being friends means sharing the good and the bad in life." "But the girls-" Pinkie Pie began to reply before being interrupted. "You don't want to worry about others, you want to keep your image so you can always help others with their problems, I understand." Dusk said, hugging Pinkie Pie harder and putting a hoof on her mane to stay closer. "But I don't want you to shut yourself up to cry anymore. I'll be your secret room! I'll be there when you feel bad when you want to cry. I don't want you to ever make a mark on a wall and cry alone. You will be the smile that will make a whole town happy! But when that task is very difficult to bear, I will be there to hug you while you cry!" At Dusk's words, Pinkie Pie's eyes began to glow as they dampened again. "Yes..." It was the only thing Pinkie Pie answered before pressing her face more on Dusk's warm and soft fur as her tears fell and she felt a peace and relief she didn't feel in years, a peace she could only feel when she hugged and take refuge in the embrace of that tender colt... They both held each other like this for a long time, just listening to each other's breath and feeling the comforting warmth of the one they hugged. "You know, you say your pinkie sense is a curse, but it may not be so." Dusk said after feeling that Pinkie Pie was calmer, but without breaking the hug. "If it weren't for your warnings, the situation would have been very tragic, but it wasn't like that, you were there to prevent that from happening. That is definitely a good thing!" "... I guess..." Pinkie Pie replied with a sad look, without raising her head. Finally, both ponies let go of their hug and looked at each other for a few seconds in silence, both with small but sincere smiles that everything was fine. Then both ponies left that secret room together, and Pinkie Pie accompanied Dusk to the door of her room, where they both said goodbye with the conviction that thanks to that little moment, their trust and friendship had become much stronger. As Dusk left Sugracube Corner, he began to think more about what had just happened, and mainly, what he had just felt. "A hug can be that powerful, yet so different... Only today, I was in hugs of thanks, relief, and comfort... All are very different and make me feel different feelings..." Dusk thought as he walked, remembering everything he lived through with Pinkie Pie that day, but then another related idea crossed his mind. "I... I have also kissed, but... Have I felt something different in each one?" Dusk thought, remembering the accidental kiss to Applejack, the surprise kisses of Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, and the long kiss that occurred with Rarity... But although all the kisses were different, in different circumstances, and with different mares, no matter how much Dusk tried to remember, the only thing he could think about was that even though each kiss felt physically different, the heat in his belly and his heartbeat throbbing was the same... "Wait a second!" Dusk suddenly said, stopping suddenly in the street. While the emotional part of Dusk's brain was still trying to solve the mysteries of friendship and love, the logical part of his brain kicked him when he realized that by thinking of sensitivities, he had missed a very important detail in all that talk he and Pinkie Pie had had about pinkie sense. "How did Pinkie Pie know that this sign meant that something or someone will die?" Dusk thought with a worried look as he turned his head to look at Sugarcube Corner. And so Dusk stayed for a few seconds until he finally shook his head and walked back to the library. "I think I'll ask another day, there were enough emotions for one day..." While Dusk was on his way home, Pinkie Pie saw him walking away from the window of her room, with a small smirk. "'Not everyone has a dark past' That is what I told Dusk this morning..." Pinkie Pie thought as she remembered what she had said to Dusk in the library when they woke up together. "I wish that was true..." "It's the second time I feel that signal..." Pinkie Pie whispered with a sad look. "That time... I couldn't get there on time..." Pinkie whispered as a tear fell down her cheek, and she remembered herself as a child, dressing in mourning and attending a sad ceremony. # End of chapter 36