A single long story
That day had only started with Dusk and Rainbow Dash leaving the library, but as the day progressed, the group had grown. Now Dusk and Rainbow were joined by Fluttershy, Applejack and Rarity in what had started as just a crazy idea of Dusk to have Fluttershy participate in the Best Flyer’s Competition in Cloudsdale in Rainbow Dash’s place, it had mutated into something far most important. A quest to help Rainbow get back the most precious thing that cruel fate had taken away from her: her ability to fly. After recruiting Rarity in their search and having informed her of all their plans, Dusk and his friends had left Carrousel Boutique to continue their search.
"Now we just need to find a Pinkie Pie, but... that could be easier said than done..." Dusk thought with a look of doubt.
"What are you waiting for!? Shouldn't we be running to Sugarcube Corner!?” Rainbow Dash asked, increasingly anxious, wanting as soon as possible to use the magic of Harmony to fix her wings.
"I don't think she's there. Today was her day off, and yesterday she told me that she would be taking Gummy to the lake for a ‘spiritual’ retreat.” Fluttershy said with a thoughtful face.
"But she told me that she would go with Daisy and the other florists to get rare flowers in the meadows." Rarity said remembering what Pinkie had said to her the day before.
"I heard she would be helping Bulk Biceps load up his exercise equipment." Applejack added confused.
"WHAT!?" Rainbow Dash shouted impatiently, while Dusk kept his thoughtful face.
That was precisely the problem that Dusk had anticipated in looking for Pinkie Pie. The truth was that their pink friend was unpredictable, mainly on her days off. On top of that, she was friends with everyone in town, so she could be doing anything with anyone right now.
"And now what? We could go to Sugarcube Corner and wait for Pinkie Pie to come back, but Rainbow Dash is very anxious, and I don't want to disappoint her. I also want to help her and fix this as soon as possible!" Dusk thought, analyzing other options. "Maybe instead of going for Pinkie, we could go first for the Elements..."
Then Dusk suddenly raised his head with a scared look.
"We have to get to the library!" Dusk said talking more to himself than to his friends, and then suddenly he started running towards the library.
Seeing Dusk run towards the library, the mares looked at each other without understanding, but they quickly did the same as Dusk and followed him.
"Is something wrong?" Rainbow Dash asked once she caught up with Dusk, running beside him.
"Applejack told Scootaloo and the other girls that you were staying with me in the library. Because of that they were going there before Rarity intercepted them." Dusk replied as he kept running. "That means that when we go to look for the Elements in the library, we'll run into the girls!"
When Dusk finished talking, Rainbow Dash looked at him confused for a second, until she realized what Dusk meant by that, and then she started to run faster. If they arrived after the fillies to the library, it would mean that they would meet them. If that happened, they would insist on knowing about her cutie mark, something that Rainbow Dash wanted to avoid telling at all costs, just like Dusk Shine.
While Rainbow Dash sped up to get to the library quickly, she knew it really had very little chance to get there before the three fillies to the library. After all, Scootaloo and her friends had left Carousel Boutique before Dusk and them, plus they had had to explain to Rarity whole situation before departing, which had taken them even longer. Most likely, the fillies would be patiently waiting for them at the library door...
Rainbow Dash’s thoughts stopped when she had to brake suddenly when she turned a corner on the street and saw just who feared, the three fillies, who had their backs turned and had not seen her. Along with Rainbow Dash, Dusk and the other mares also stopped dead and backed away to hide behind the corner of the house they had just passed, just as Scootaloo turned her head when she thought she heard a noise.
"Why are we hiding?" Rarity asked, whispering confused, who only hid because the others were doing so.
Applejack and Fluttershy only shrugged at the fashionista’s question, as they too had done the same, just as they had done at Carousel Boutique, only unconsciously copying what Dusk and Rainbow Dash were doing.
"What are they doing here!?" Rainbow Dash whispered frightened at seeing that the three fillies were in the middle of the street and not in the library as they expected.
Then Dusk and her friends carefully peeked around the corner and saw that Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were listening with a bored face, especially the latter, to Mayor Mare, who seemed to be animatedly telling them a story from her past. Not far from there was the library, which was exactly everyone's destination. It seemed that the fillies had almost reached the library but had been distracted by the Mayor.
"We’re in luck! They haven't reached the library yet!" Rainbow Dash said excitedly.
"We’re not at the library either, and we can't go in front of them... We should turn around and find a surrounding route to the library, so they don't see us." Dusk said thoughtfully, with a hoof on his chin. "As long as the Mayor distracts them enough, there won’t be a problem. Once inside, we'll quickly pick up the Elements of Harmony and go look for Pinkie Pie."
"But where in Equestria could Pinkie Pie be right now?" Fluttershy asked thinking aloud.
"She could be sleeping in her bed or she could be climbing a mountain disguised as a clown... With Pinkie Pie, the possibilities are endless!" Rarity add, covering her face in frustration.
"Ugh...! Pinkie Pie! Pinkie Pie! Pinkie Pie! Where are you!?" Rainbow Dash repeated irritated, only wishing that her crazy friend would appear so she could heal her wings as soon as possible.
“Boo!”
Pinkie Pie's cheery, high-pitched voice suddenly said, appearing so suddenly behind everyone that it made everyone jump. When they all turned around, they saw the familiar energetic, pink pony standing before them with a big smile on her face. She was also wearing black-and-white striped stockings on her forelegs for some reason. “Did you call me?”
"Pinkie Pie! Where were you!? Why did you just appear out of nowhere like that!?" Dusk asked surprised but glad to see his friend.
"Well, you called me. You said my name. And here I am!" Pinkie Pie said with a shrug.
"Hold on, you came here just because you heard us say your name?" Applejack asked confused.
"You say my name three times!" Pinkie Pie said with a huge smile. "Pinkie Pie, Pinkie Pie, Pinkie Pie. You summoned me! And I didn’t have to play charades for you to guess it! Hahaha!" Pinkie added as she laughed out loud on the ground.
Seeing Pinkie Pie laughing out loud, for no reason other than to say that they had said her name three times and that she had appeared in those strange stockings, the other ponies looked at each other with confused glances.
"I…I don't get it. What's so funny? Is this some kind of reference?" Dusk asked confused.
"Hehe ... You wouldn't get it." Pinkie Pie replied, suddenly stopping laughing, just with a small smile, and holding a lollypop in her hoof like it was a cigarette.
"Enough of this crazy stuff!" Rainbow Dash said irritably, then looked uneasily at Dusk. “Alright, we have all six of us! We just need to look for the Elements of Harmony and I'll be healed!"
Dusk was a little surprised to see how anxious Rainbow Dash was, but it was totally understandable given her situation. Then Dusk looked out of the corner of his eye to see the three fillies, who just seemed to be saying goodbye to the Mayor, then he turned turned to his friends again.
"Pinkie Pie, I need you to distract Scootaloo and her friends." Dusk said looking seriously at Pinkie Pie. "Just distract them for a few minutes so we can get around them and get to the library. Once we get the Elements of Harmony, we'll all meet at Sugarcube Corner."
Pinkie Pie looked at Dusk for a second, then looked askance at Rainbow Dash's wings, which had been down and motionless since she saw them the day before. Then her intuition made her understand that what they were asking must be something important.
"Okey-dokey-lokey!" Pinkie Pie said with a determined smile and a salute to the colt to show that she knew the importance of her mission.
Meanwhile, the Cutie Mark Crusaders sighed in relief after the Mayor finally walked away from them.
"Phew... Her story is finally over..." Sweetie Belle said, sighing wearily.
"What the hay! Now everyone wants to tell us their stories of how they got their cutie marks!?" Scootaloo yelled annoyed.
Ever since the three fillies had left Rarity's house, led by Scootaloo, they had sprinted toward the library. The only thing the little pegasus had in mind was finding Rainbow Dash. She was eager to hear the story of her idol's cutie mark, as she was sure it would be the coolest story that could ever exist. However, as soon as they entered the town to cross it, they had run into three different ponies that precisely seemed interested in talking about their cutie marks, and when they were about to reach the library, the same thing happened with Mayor Mare… It was as if fate didn't want Scootaloo to find Rainbow Dash!
"Enough! No more stories! We won't hear any more stories unless it’s from Rainbow Dash." Scootaloo finally added with an irritated look, pointing her scooter towards the library, ready to finally reach her goal, determined that nothing in the world would distract her.
"Howdy howdy!" Pinkie Pie suddenly greeted, appearing right in front of the fillies as they prepared to resume their quest.
"H-Hi Pinkie Pie." Apple Bloom greeted, surprised like her friends by the sudden appearance of the party pony.
"What are you three up to today?" Pinkie Pie asked with a big smile, bringing her face very close to the fillies' faces.
"We were going to the library for Rainbow Dash to tell us how she got her cutie ma-" Sweetie Belle replied, not finishing her sentence since Scootaloo put the hooves in her mouth to shut her up.
The same had happened with the ponies that had been found in the path, when they had told what they were looking for, everyone seemed eager to tell about their own stories of how they got their marks, and now, without realizing it, Sweetie Belle had made the same error.
"Oh... you want to know about cutie marks." Pinkie Pie said with a thoughtful look and then looking at them with a big smile. "Then I'll tell you how I got my cutie mark! It was a winter day, the-"
"Uh… Pinkie Pie, I don't think it's necessary-" Scootaloo interrupted with a pleading look.
"It was the fifth or sixth coldest day in my entire life..." Pinkie Pie continued speaking, as if she hadn't heard Scootaloo. Then the little filly hit her face with her hoof, resigned to having to listen to the Pinkie Pie story, since she knew that keeping Pinkie Pie quiet was almost impossible.
Meanwhile, Dusk and his friends had seen how Pinkie Pie had gone to where the three fillies were and had managed to stop them. Then they were ready to circle around the fillies from a wide distance and get to the library. But when they heard that Pinkie Pie tell how she got her cutie mark, curiosity invaded them causing everyone to perk up their ears from the corner where they were hiding to listen to this important part of their dear friend’s past.
"On that day, like every other day, my sisters and I were collecting rocks at our family's rock farm. My father called us for breakfast and my sisters entered the house, but I didn’t. I was motionless in the field with a strange feeling of sadness and loneliness. Every day working in the farm, without talking, without laughing, just... rocks. Was that all in life? Wasn't there something else? I couldn't stop thinking about it and I thought I was going to go bonkers! Just then, I suddenly heard a loud bang and the sky lit up yellow for a second! I still have no idea what it was, but it made my whole body shudder, as if lightning had hit me, my mane stood on end and my heart beat a thousand times per second. And then I saw it! The most beautiful thing I had ever seen, a large rainbow that crossed the sky... I had never seen one before! At that precise moment as I stared at that rainbow, I felt a joy so intense inside my heart that I began to laugh and smile like I never had before, for no apparent reason, just because of the happy feeling inside me. After the rainbow disappeared after a while, all I wanted was to recreate that moment of joy again. But not just for me, I wanted to share it with my whole family. But how could I? I couldn’t just make another rainbow appear at the drop of a hat. It was then I thought of something else that could create smiles like that. So, I ran out of the farm to find what I needed. Later that day my whole family came looking for me, since I was absent during all day. They were already getting nervous until they heard the noise I was making in one of the silos, so they came in and I yelled 'Surprise!' All that morning I gathered balloons, confetti, cake and streamers to throw a big party for my parents and sisters, all so that they too could smile! As soon as they saw what I had done, they nervously watched what was happening. For a second, I thought that…" At that moment Pinkie Pie stopped smiling when she remembered something, but then she remembered that she was in front of the fillies and she smiled again. "They couldn't believe what they saw! Just when I thought they didn't like it, the smiles finally came to their faces, and we all danced and laughed together as a happy family. That was the feeling I had wanted to share with them! And in that instant I knew it, I didn't want only my family to share that joy, I also wanted to share it with everyone! And it was then that my cutie mark appeared!"
"Wow... Wait, you work on a rock farm?" Apple Bloom asked in surprise, as it was definitely surprising to learn that the happiest pony in the world came from a family doing probably the most boring job in all Equestria.
"I think that made it more beautiful and meaningful." Sweetie Belle said smiling.
"Well then... that story was very cute and all that, but... I think it sounds a bit like mine." Rarity said to her friends, from the corner of the house from where they were hiding.
"Not just yours. If you mean the big noise or momentary optical color blindness, it seems like it's a natural reaction of the body when someone comes to getting its cutie mark… It really is fascinating." Dusk said with a hoof on his chin as he called out the first scopes of a new theory he was formulating.
During that day, Dusk had already heard four detailed stories of obtaining cutie marks, and the four stories had several points in common. Four coincidences could already be considered a mathematical trend, this was something that could be studied further, theorized and created a model. And best of all, there weren't many studies currently that focused on cutie marks as it was considered a childish and impractical subject to study as not even unicorn magic could explain its emergence. This topic was definitely worth studying! And Dusk was already beginning to formulate his first hypothesis.
"Oops! It’s already late! I had to meet up with Dusk and the girls at Sugarcube Corner." Pinkie Pie said suddenly, remembering what Dusk had told her to do after distracting the fillies.
"Rainbow Dash is with Dusk!?" Scootaloo asked quickly, almost in a scream.
"Yes, I think... Uh-oh." Pinkie Pie said, covering her mouth after realizing she had spoken more than necessary.
"All right! Let's go Crusaders!" Scootaloo said quickly while getting back on her scooter. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom hopped on the scooter cart, and the three fillies turned around and sped off in the opposite direction to the library.
"Wait!" Pinkie Pie yelled trying to stop them in vain. Taking a few steps but stopping at the corner when she saw that Scootaloo's scooter had already gone too far.
"They're already gone?" Dusk suddenly asked, appearing from behind some barrels with his friends, which made Pinkie Pie jump in surprise, something that gave everyone much satisfaction, since she always did the same to them.
"Uh!? Are you still here?" Pinkie Pie asked confused.
"Yes, we ended up listening to your story, and when Scootaloo and the others turned around and came this way, we jumped behind the barrels to hide." Rainbow Dash replied looking at the barrels and then looking seriously towards the library. "Now stop talking! We have wings to heal!"
Dusk and his friends quickly entered the library, hoping to have enough time to be able to use the magic of the Elements of Harmony and help Rainbow Dash before the three fillies returned. As soon as everyone entered, Spike, who was in the main hall, was surprised to see Dusk and his friends rushing in there.
"Why are you guys in such a hurry?" Spike asked confused.
"There is no time to explain!" Rainbow Dash replied quickly, not even stopping to look at Spike, just running anxiously towards the stairs as her patience was running rather thin.
"Sorry darling, I think Rainbow Dash is a little anxious." Rarity said waving to Spike, just like the other mares, apologizing for Rainbow Dash's lack of manners.
"What are you waiting for!? Get your flanks up here!" Rainbow Dash yelled annoyed from the second floor.
"Coming!" Dusk yelled in response, then turned to look at Spike. "By the way, if you see Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, or Sweetie Belle, tell them that neither I nor Rainbow Dash are here at the moment."
Then Dusk and the girls went upstairs, leaving Spike scratching his head, not understanding anything that was happening.
"Rainbow Dash, you were very rude to Spike." Rarity said a little annoyed, once she went upstairs and found the cyan pegasus. "I know you're anxious and everything, but you didn't even say hello."
"What…? Oh! I… I'm sorry, I didn't realize it." Rainbow Dash replied, finally coming out of her slight state of despair, realizing her mistake, calming down a bit. "It's… it's just that I can't think of anything else… This has to work! I… I want everything to just go back to normal!"
"Don't worry, everything will be fine." Applejack said in a soft voice, putting a hoof on her friend's shoulder to help calm her down.
"Yes, everything will be fine. Now, move back!" Dusk said taking a serious look and pointing his horn at his bed. "Now, all of you will see my best trick."
At that moment Dusk's magic was activated and a small chest came out from under the bed, which slowly flew until it was floating in front of Dusk.
"That chest... do you keep the Elements of Harmony in there?" Rarity asked confused. "Your greatest trick is to keep them in a chest under your bed?"
"That’s not the trick. Look." Dusk said levitating the chest near the eyes of his friends, so they could see the particularity of that chest. "It has no locks. I enchanted it so that it only opened with a secret phrase."
Then Dusk brought the chest closer to him, levitated it close to his mouth, and whispered a few words. The chest opened, revealing the brilliance of the precious and special gems that represented the Elements of Harmony, with the shapes of the cutie marks of the six ponies present there.
"Not having to rely on a key and a lock is a huge advance for magic. It's a million-bit idea! I’m already thinking about patenting it." Dusk said with his eyes closed, smiling with pride as he levitated the chest close to his friends so they could see the chest, now open. "It's such a difficult code that no one could ever-"
"One is missing." Pinkie Pie suddenly said, interrupting Dusk.
"Uh?" Dusk said confused, thinking he heard wrong.
"An Element of Harmony is missing, yours." Fluttershy replied with a worried look, tilting the chest so Dusk could see it.
Dusk quickly approached the chest and looked at it meticulously from corner to corner. Inside the chest were the necklaces with the Elements of Kindness, Laughter, Honesty, Loyalty and Generosity, but the crown, with the Element of Magic, was missing.
"That’s impossible! No one but me knows the top-secret code to open the chest!" Dusk said terrified, thinking about the horrid possibility of having lost something so valuable. "Maybe some spy or some thief... I should ask Spike if he’s seen anyone suspicious lately!"
Dusk then ran to the stairs and hurried down, terrified at the thought that some powerful unicorn had managed to overcome its magic and breach its supposed invulnerable security system. He still didn't know what terrified him the most, whether he had lost one of the most powerful magical elements in the world or confronted the Princess to tell her that he had lost it.
"Spike! It's an emergency! Have you seen someone suspicious who-" Dusk said, yelling once he went downstairs, but as soon as he turned down the hall to look for Spike in the main hall, Dusk froze when he saw that his little brother was not alone. There were Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, who were as surprised to see Dusk as he was to see them there.
"Sorry I couldn't stop them..." Spike said with a look of pity, after the fillies had entered the library despite Spike insisting that Dusk and the girls were not there.
"Dusk was here! Spike lied to us." Apple Bloom said, looking indignantly at Spike.
"See? I told you, one liar recognizes another liar." Sweetie Belle said stretching out a hoof to press Spike's nose and tease the little dragon.
"Dusk! Have you seen Rainbow Dash!? It's urgent that we see her! We need to ask her something really important!" Scootaloo said approaching Dusk and looking at him with huge pleading eyes, which was repeated by Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, knowing that Dusk was weak to the power of puppy-dog eyes.
"I...I haven't seen her all day, hehe..." Dusk replied looking away nervously.
Just at that moment, noises were heard coming from the second floor, causing the eyes of the three fillies to turn towards the stairs, which in turn caused Dusk to perspire nervously while also looking towards the stairs.
"Come on Crusaders! Maybe it's Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo said anxiously, turning away from Dusk's front to go towards the stairs.
"No! I-It’s probably something else…" Dusk said in vain while the fillies ignored him and went towards the stairs.
There was no way that Dusk could convince the fillies to stay downstairs, he knew better than anyone how stubborn they could be when an idea got into their heads. They would go and find Rainbow Dash, who not only didn't want to tell the story of her cutie mark, but also didn't want little Scootaloo to see her with her crippled wings. It would definitely be a disaster for Rainbow Dash if the fillies found her, she had barely managed to overcome her depression just yesterday by losing her flight, she had told him that she wasn't ready to face Scootaloo yet. He needed to do something! Dusk needed to save Rainbow Dash at any cost, even if it meant sacrificing himself.
"Girls... Would you like to know how I got my cutie mark?" Dusk said somewhat nervously after having made his decision.
The three fillies, who had just stepped on the first step of the ladder to climb, stopped at Dusk's question. That lavender colt had helped them a lot in the past, in fact, if it hadn't been for him and his advice, they would never have met or had the courage to form their small group. The truth was that the three, from different points of view, had admiration for Dusk.
Apple Bloom turned to find out more about her future brother-in-law's past. Sweetie Belle turned to know more about her future boyfriend's past, or her sister's, she hadn’t decided yet. Scootaloo, who was still certain that Rainbow Dash was upstairs, also turned in interest, as she decided it was worth hearing how the second greatest pony she knew got his cutie mark.
"Huh... It's not a story that I really like to tell, but here it goes." Dusk said with a resigned sigh.
"All right! No more cheesy stories!" Scootaloo said excitedly.
"My interest in magic was born the day I went to the Summer Sun Celebration in Canterlot. There, with my own eyes, I saw Princess Celestia rise majestically while her powerful magic invoked the Sun to appear behind the mountains, beginning the new summer. It was the most wonderful thing I had ever seen…" Dusk said remembering with a smile. "From that day on I couldn't stop thinking about magic, so I started reading and studying every magic book I saw, practiced day and night, and although in my first attempts I have to admit that my magic sucked, with time I managed learn to use it correctly, even becoming a little more skillful than others fillies or colts of my age. Seeing my enthusiasm for magic, my parents used all their influences to get me to have an interview to enter the prestigious school of magic in Canterlot."
"I remember that day very well, it was the fifth or sixth coldest day of my entire life… There were dozens or hundreds of young ponies that came from all over the kingdom to try to enter that school. And my turn was almost the last! Thus, the hours passed until I finally entered and stood in front of the evaluators. I was so nervous that I could barely move, I trembled from head to tail non-stop, but then I thought about my family and their support. I couldn't disappoint them, so I concentrated and started using my magic. I was so determined not to miss that opportunity that I used my best spells, spells that hardly a young pony of my age could do, and they all came out perfectly. However, none of the evaluators even made a gesture of approval, they just met, talked to each other and said that they had one last challenge for me, it was then that they brought a huge lilac egg with purple and green dots, a dragon egg."
"Wooow! A dragon! This already got good!" Scootaloo said in amazement, already excited at the mere mention of a dragon in the story.
"I didn't know it then, but that was a trap." Dusk said continuing with his story. "No ordinary adult unicorn, much less a young colt, could open a dragon egg with his magic. What the evaluators really wanted to do was have an excuse for not accepting me. Throughout the day they had already accepted the ponies who would enter the school, only the children of nobles or wealthy families who could otherwise convince the judges, for the rest of the common ponies, to enter that school of elite was a dream, which the same evaluators were in charge of destroying."
"When I saw that egg, I thought that what they were asking me was impossible, but as soon as I touched it, I felt something strange, as if that egg was calling me, as if it wanted me to open it. So I put all my effort into trying to open that egg. But the more I tried, the more I realized how impossible it was, and I began to despair, realizing that everything had been my imagination, that there was no magic link between that egg and me, and so my magic finally stopped working because of how nervous I was. I gave up, with great sorrow in my heart for having disappointed everyone in my family, but then it happened! I heard a loud noise, I saw out the window and for a second I thought I saw the sky a violet color, and then... everything turned white. I don't remember that moment, but my parents told me about it. Suddenly my eyes flashed, and my horn exploded in magic surrounding my body and the hall, my magic went wild, it was more magic than any pony could contain. I began to levitate everything in the room while the evaluators flew through the air. Then the dragon egg exploded, and a huge dragon appeared that broke the entire roof. It was then that my memory returned... I was floating, radiating magic, and a sweet face looked at me while holding me and that explosive magic was diminishing. It was Princess Celestia, who had seen and felt that explosion of magic and had appeared to reassure me and save me. 'Everything will be fine' was what the Princess told me… Or was it another voice?" Dusk said remembering, thinking that it was all so fuzzy that he wasn't sure if the Princess had said that to him or not. "After calming down, I looked around, frightened by the disaster I had caused. The Princess said a few words to reassure me, but I didn't even hear her, I just pushed her and ran to where the egg had been, where now only the remains of the shell remained. Then I began to cry, for few seconds no matter where I was, what I had done or who was beside me, I just thought of that egg and how my magical madness had destroyed. But then Princess Celestia closed in, tenderly placed a hoof on my head, and moved the remains of the shell. It was there that I could see that I had not destroyed the egg, it had only been born, and there was a little purple baby dragon with green scales, looking at me innocently."
"Spike...!" The three fillies said in amazement, turning quickly to see the baby dragon with their mouths open, while Spike blushed slightly.
"After that, with the evaluators speechless out of being so impressed, Princess Celestia herself welcomed me to the magic school, and when I thought I couldn't be happier, she also pointed to my flank, and I saw that my cutie mark had appeared." Dusk said finishing his story, with a sad smile.
"That story is awesome! Although it's also cheesy, but amazing!" Scootaloo said excitedly.
"So… Dusk Shine is like your mom?" Sweetie Belle asked looking at Spike with a mischievous grin, teasing the little dragon a bit as he just pursed his lips in frustration at being bothered.
"There is something I don't understand... Why don't you like to tell that story?" Apple Bloom asked, looking confused at Dusk.
"Well... first, because my cutie mark looks a lot like someone else's..." Dusk replied sighing, remembering the teasing of his older brother. "But mainly because I don't understand what happened... A cutie mark must be a memorable moment, with meaning, where there is some personal self-discovery, but I still don't understand it! That powerful magic, everyone believed it was me, but it wasn't like that, I'm sure it wasn't my magic, that's why I...! I feel like my cutie mark is a hoax…" Dusk added, with a sad look, remembering his magical battle with Trixie and how she had also told him the same thing he thought.
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle noticed Dusk's sadness and looked at each other confused, because Dusk was the first pony to tell them the story of how he got his cutie mark and wasn't smiling with joy like everyone else.
"Great! Now we just need to hear Rainbow Dash’s story!" Scootaloo said with a look of determination, who unlike her friends, had not paid much attention to Dusk's last words, since her mind was already on her next goal. "I wonder what her story will be like be like…!? I can already guess that it was a cold day and that it ends with an explosion and with the colored sky!"
"Oh! I see that you came to the same conclusion as my new theory." Dusk said surprised, after hearing what Scootaloo said. "From what I've heard, it seems like those are common parameters in all the cutie mark stories of all the ponies… It really is amazing! And even more that anyone else has noticed this before."
"Well, not everyone, just the cool ponies." Scootaloo said smiling and throwing some punches into the air to look radical.
"What do you mean?" Dusk asked without understanding.
"That only happens to cool ponies, like you, or my sister, or Fluttershy." Sweetie Belle replied remembering.
"And also my sister and Pinkie Pie." Apple Bloom added smiling. “On the way to the library we heard several other stories, they are all pretty cute, but only in the five of your stories does that explosion and the colored sky happen. That's why we think that only happens when someone cool gets their cutie mark!"
Hearing the fillies, Dusk made a surprised face. Was what the fillies said was true? Then his theory about what the explosion and colors in the sky was something common in all cutie mark was wrong. But then, what was the reason behind the repeated event in all of their stories? Obviously, that it only happened in 'cool ponies' was not valid, since that was a subjective criterion, but then... What other explanation was there in all that...?
"Hey Dusk! How much longer are you going to take!?" Rainbow Dash suddenly shouted, impatiently coming down the stairs to search for Dusk, who had been too late.
As soon as Rainbow Dash went down to the living room, the scene from when Dusk came down was repeated. Both the three fillies like Rainbow Dash stood staring in surprise for a few seconds.
"Rainbow Dash!!" Scootaloo finally yelled, jumping with excitement, running to get closer to her idol. "I spent all day looking for you!"
"R-Really…? Who'd thought, hehe…" Rainbow Dash replied nervously, walking slowly back, trying to keep Scootaloo from seeing her wings.
She was so focused on Scootaloo not seeing her in profile, that as she stepped back, she hit the stair railing and tripped, falling and revealing that her wings were down and in an unusual position for a pegasus.
"Rainbow Dash... Did something happen to your wings?" Scootaloo immediately asked, looking concerned.
"N-No! Nothing happened! Hehe…" Rainbow Dash said quickly, standing up instantly and putting on a nervous smile.
Not knowing what to do, Rainbow Dash looked askance at Dusk Shine, who only looked at her with a sad smile, as if indicating that she could no longer escape and was only telling the truth.
"I... I... ... I had an accident... I don't know what happened to my wings, but... it seems that I ... I can't fly anymore..." Rainbow Dash began to speak sadly, deciding to admit to saying the truth, at the risk of losing Scootaloo’s admiration. But then she remembered something important and her spirits returned. "That doesn't matter anymore! Because right now I'll be the same as before!!" Rainbow Dash added full of energy, looking at Dusk with a look full of determination.
"Oh! It's true!" Dusk said understanding his friend and realizing that he had forgotten something extremely important after telling the story of his cutie mark: The crown with the Element of Magic was missing! "Spike! Someone broke into my room and stole something extremely important! Have you seen anyone suspicious!?"
Spike looked at Dusk confused, but then he remembered something and ran to the kitchen. Then the little dragon returned with the crown of the Element of Magic in his claws.
"You…!? How come you have the crown? How did you flank my security!?" Dusk asked.
"Your security?" Spike asked confused.
"Yes! My secret keyword! The best security spell I ever invented!" Dusk said upset.
"Oh! Well, I knew you had used that spell, so I just thought: What key could my brother come up with…?" Spike said thinking and then looking at Dusk with narrowed eyes. "Seriously Dusk, using the keyword 'Dusk is great' is too silly."
Dusk blushed when he saw that his little brother had deciphered his great secret keyword.
"B-But, why did you want the crown!?" Dusk asked, still blushing.
"I needed to grate cheese." Spike replied with a shrug.
"You...!? WHAT!?" Dusk asked after a long silence, as he was finding it hard to believe that the baby dragon would do something like that.
"I needed to grate cheese." Spike replied again as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "The cheese grater was missing, and the crown shape is perfect for-"
"Were you using one of the most powerful magic items in the world as a cheese grater!?" Dusk yelled almost freaking out, interrupting Spike.
"Enough! Go crazy another time." Rainbow Dash said quickly putting a hoof on Dusk's back. Then she turned and shouted towards the stairs. "Girls, we're ready, come down here!"
After the other mares went down to the main library hall, each put on their necklace with their respective Element of Harmony, including Dusk, who put on the crown that the Princess had modified so that it didn't look like a feminine tiara. Dusk then motioned for Rainbow Dash to stand in the middle while he and his other friends stood in a circle around her, all under the watchful eye of Spike, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo.
"And now what?" Rainbow Dash asked anxiously, looking at Dusk intently, already wanting to return to normal.
"I think I should focus my magic now." Dusk said, who then closed his eyes to focus as much as possible, and then made his horn shine to activate his magic. "I must replicate the same thing we did when we defeated Nightmare Moon."
Dusk envisioned himself in the past, when he was in the old Castle of the Two Sisters. At that time, he was desperate, he had to save himself, the Princess, Equestria, but above all, he had to save his new friends, and now was the same. The only thing Dusk thought was that he should save Rainbow Dash, her dreams, her hopes... As he recalled that, Dusk concentrated more and more his magic... This was going to work! The power of harmony could do it all! As long as he and his friends were together, everything was possible!
"Dusk?" Applejack suddenly asked beside him, causing Dusk to snap out of his thoughts and slightly open one eye as he continued to focus his magic.
Opening his eye, Dusk saw nine pairs of eyes that looked at him with confused faces, and then he opened his eyes totally disappointed. While he had his eyes closed and focused, he'd thought he'd been replicating what had happened in the fight against Nightmare Moon, feeling the same way he had felt back then, so Dusk thought the same thing must be happening, and that when he opened his eyes he would see a whirlwind of magic and the Elements of Harmony connecting to create even greater magic. But nothing had happened, the library lounge was exactly the same, the necklaces of his friends were inert, without generating any magical glow. The only one that had changed was Dusk with his horn, shining in vain trying to invoke a magic it seemed not to react to his wishes.
"What's wrong!? Why is nothing happening!?" Rainbow Dash asked with a slight despair in her voice.
Dusk slowly raised his head and looked at his friend with a scared face. He didn't want to say what he was thinking, Dusk knew he was the one who had given Rainbow Dash hope, and now... he had to face his mistake.
"It’s…It’s not working..." Dusk replied slowly.
Rainbow Dash heard Dusk's words and froze for a few seconds, her face pale. Then she lowered her head and walked slowly to Dusk.
"No..." Rainbow Dash said once stood before Dusk, raising her head and looking at Dusk with a look of desolation, almost about to mourn. "You’re doing something wrong! This can't end like this! You said it would work!"
Rainbow Dash's words were like a stab in the heart for Dusk. The day before she had finally accepted that her wings couldn’t be fixed, a long process of mourning that had ended with Rainbow Dash crying and accepting her new condition, and it was he who had given her new hope that morning! He was extremely dumb and sloppy! Dusk had felt the magic of Harmony, he knew that everything was possible with that magic, but it hadn't occurred to him that he couldn't activate it again, and worst of all, he had been so sure that the magic of Harmony would work that he never stopped to think about how it could affect her friend if it didn't work.
Dusk only lowered his head with a look of pain, feeling horrible guilt, without being able to look at his friend for the guilt he felt. Then Rainbow Dash also looked at the ground as she tried to calm down. She felt so many emotions in that instant: grief, anger, disappointment. But she had already been through that, she wouldn't go into a state of depression again, she wouldn't cry again... She wouldn't cry again!
"Damn it!" Rainbow Dash finally screamed, falling to the floor and hitting the floor with her hoof, breathing heavily as she tried to hold back her tears.
At that moment the entire room was silent. Everyone had been sure that the plan would work, but the only thing they had achieved was that her friend felt bad with herself again. While Dusk still felt the pain of giving his friend false hopes, the other four mares only wanted to jump and hug their friend to comfort her, however they stood still when someone else approached Rainbow Dash.
"Rainbow Dash... This... This isn’t the end of the world." Scootaloo said softly, who carefully approached the cyan pegasus and gently touched her with her hoof.
While still sitting on the floor with her head down, trying to order her thoughts and feelings, Rainbow Dash slowly raised her gaze and saw the little orange pegasus, then dropped her head again.
"I... I didn't want you to see me like this..." Rainbow Dash replied slowly.
"Why not? See you like what?" Scootaloo asked a little confused.
Rainbow Dash looked up again, this time seeing Scootaloo's confused face and then concentrating on the little wings of the orange pegasus.
"I know you admired me as a flyer... That you thought I was the coolest thing there was. I could see your gaze as I flew through town and did my stunts, all while trying to catch up with me on your scooter… But now I've lost everything and now… now I'm just a pony who’s lost her only talent." Rainbow Dash replied with a guilty look. "I'm sorry to disappoint you."
Scootaloo looked at Rainbow Dash in surprise, then looked up for a few seconds while thinking. Maybe the truth wasn't ideal at the time, but she couldn't help but say what she thought.
"Hmm, actually I'm a little disappointed to see you like that." Scootaloo said thoughtfully, while the others were surprised that she would say such a thing to such a vulnerable Rainbow Dash at the time. "But I'm not disappointed to see that you can't fly, I'm disappointed to hear that you already gave up."
At Scootaloo's last words, Rainbow Dash raised her head and looked at the little pegasus with a stunned look.
"It is true that you’re the best flyer I have ever seen, but that is only one of the things that makes you great." Scootaloo continued speaking with a small smile. "You are the bravest pony I know, and the way you speak and act… It seems that you will always achieve anything! That confidence you have in yourself is what I admire most about you! You can't just give up, so what if you can't fly!? Look at me! I saw you fly through the air not because I wanted to fly like you, I know that it could never happen. I saw you because you always want to be the best! And if you can't fly, then you'll be the best at something else, and I'm sure you'll be the coolest at anything else! That's because you are Rainbow Dash, the coolest pony in Equestria!" Scootaloo finished her speech, getting a little emotional as she remembered her own helplessness when she discovered that she would never fly well and how meeting Rainbow Dash had changed her life.
Both pegasi stared at each other for a few seconds, both with their feelings in sync, seeing each other reflected. Rainbow Dash then stood up, sneakily wiping a small tear from her eye.
"All of you! Turn around!" Rainbow Dash ordered looking seriously at Dusk and the others, who had remained motionless looking at the scene of both pegasi. Then everyone immediately looked away.
After all the onlookers obeyed him, Rainbow Dash hugged Scootaloo tightly, to the surprise of the little pegasus.
"Thank you, little sis." Rainbow Dash said softly as she held the tight hug with the little filly. While Scootaloo after the surprise start, just closed her eyes comfortably, blushing while enjoying the warm embrace of her 'big sister'.
Both pegasi stood motionless in the hug for a few seconds, until they realized that many seconds had passed like this, then both opened their eyes and saw that they had all looked at them again, all with loving looks, as if they were seeing the most tender thing of the world.
"I told you not to look!" Rainbow Dash said annoyed, blushing.
"Y-Yeah, enough of the cheesy stuff." Scootaloo added, imitating Rainbow Dash's attitude, looking away.
At that precise moment, from behind her, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked at her with tender looks and big smiles.
"I knew it! You’re all tough on the outside but a softie on the inside." Apple Bloom said, with a big smile after verifying that her friend was not as tough as she appeared.
"If you needed a hug, you just had to say it." Sweetie Belle added, taking the opportunity to mock her friend a little, since she always repeated that she hated hugs and cheesy stuffs.
"N-No, I just… It's just that… I was… Agh! Scootaloo shouted red with embarrassment, trying in vain to find an excuse for her abrupt emotional slip. Then she looked to Rainbow Dash for help, thinking of what to do to put aside that awkward moment, and so it was that Scootaloo remembered that she still had an important task to perform. "Rainbow Dash! I still need to ask you something. That's why we came here, we want to know how you got your cutie mark!"
Scootaloo's question caught Rainbow Dash by surprise. For a moment she had forgotten that there were two reasons why she didn't want to meet the three fillies. It wasn't just to hide the fact that she couldn't fly anymore, it was also because the little fillies wanted to know something about her past that she didn't want to tell.
Rainbow Dash looked worried at Scootaloo, then turned her gaze to her friends, who were also watching her closely after hearing what the little orange pegasus asked her, and while looking at her friends, Rainbow Dash's gaze stopped on one of her friends, it made her gaze turn even more concerned. Then Rainbow Dash looked away again and looked back at Scootalooo, who stood motionless watching her closely, eager to hear about her cutie mark. After Scootaloo's words of encouragement, Rainbow Dash felt that answering what she asked was the least she could do, and although it pained her, she decided she would have to accept her past and finally tell the truth about her cutie mark.
"O-Okay... whatever." Rainbow Dash finally answered, sighing resignedly, sitting on the floor while looking not only at the little fillies, but also at her friends. “It was the fifth or sixth coldest day on my entire life. As you already know from Fluttershy's story, we were both at Flight Camp, just that day some bullies were bothering Fluttershy and I challenged them to a race. I was eager to defend Fluttershy's honor, but once at the starting line, I forgot my initial motivation, and all I thought was that I wanted to beat those two idiots and prove that I was the best flyer. That was how I got into position, only focused on the victory and the flag in front of me that Fluttershy was holding, until she lowered it and the three of us flew at full speed, not caring anything, just with the views in front of the circuit before the attentive gaze of all the other fillies in the camp. The more I flew, the more speed I reached, and with more speed, the more happiness I felt! I had never flown so fast or felt like this, the speed, the adrenaline, absolute freedom! I enjoyed flying at full speed so much that I only got distracted when one of those thugs cheated and pushed me out of the race. It was there that something was born in me, I realized that not only did I want to compete and fly, I… I wanted to win! I threw myself at full speed to catch up to that little cheater, he had a lot of advantage over me, and there was only the last stretch left before winning the race, I needed to get there before him, so I flew down at full speed, wishing victory for at all costs, so I flew like a comet, faster than I had ever flown before but I felt like the wind against me didn't let me go faster, it marked my limit, it was as if my whole body tried to pass through the hole of a needle. But I had to go faster, and I did it! Just as I passed the last mark of the race, I broke the sound barrier and I made a Sonic Rainboom! When I was about to reach the ground I got up, seeing the beautiful and intense cyan color of the sky, without any cloud in it, then I saw behind me and saw how my mane was leaving a rainbow trail behind me. There I learned that the speed and adrenaline was my thing, and my cutie mark appeared while I flew with the biggest smile I ever had... I could never repeat that Sonic Rainboom, but since that day never stop flying or to improve myself, until… until I couldn't fly anymore." Rainbow Dash ended, excitedly recounting the end of her story, until she remembered her reality and that she could no longer do what led her to earn her precious cutie mark.
"Wow... I knew it would be awesome!" Scootaloo said in amazement, looking excitedly at her friends. "I told you! I told you! The best story of all!"
"I don't understand, it's a very nice story." Dusk suddenly said, approaching and noting that, just like when he told his story, unlike his other friends, Rainbow Dash didn't smile at the end of her cute story either. "Why didn't you want to tell your story?"
Rainbow Dash looked worried down at the floor and then looked at Dusk sadly. She opened her mouth to answer but no word came out of her mouth, it seemed that she was still struggling with herself to say something, a detail that Dusk didn't seem to have noticed and that she was not sure whether to reveal it or not, since upon knowing it, both Dusk and her friends would realize how bad a friend she could be.
"Don't you remember? Fluttershy's story?" Rainbow Dash said, finally deciding to tell the truth. "She said that as soon as the race started, the wind pushed her from the cloud and made her fall. But it wasn't the wind… I… I felt like I hit something when that race started, but I was so eager to win that I didn't even stop to see what had hit."
Hearing that, Dusk remembered Fluttershy's story and instantly understood her friend's fear. Then he looked at Fluttershy, who had covered her mouth surprised by that revelation. It seemed that this was the first time she had heard of this.
"After the race, everyone came to praise and congratulate me. Only after a while did I realize that Fluttershy was nowhere to be found." Rainbow Dash said looking at Fluttershy this time, with a look of guilt and pain. "It was then that one of the ponies from the camp told me that you had fallen from a cloud when the race started, and I... I was scared! None of them knew that you weren’t the best flier. Then I flew down at full speed to look for you, but down on land, everything was so vast that it was like finding a needle in a haystack. I spent hours and hours looking for you until I found you when it was almost nightfall."
"I remember... You were so happy to see me that you gave me a big hug." Fluttershy said remembering what happened in the afternoon of that day.
"I wasn't only happy to see you were okay, I was happy to know you were alive!" Rainbow Dash said taking up her story, with her breathing shaking as the guilt that had eaten her away for years finally came to light. "If it hadn't been for those butterflies, I could have made the biggest mistake of my life. I never forgave myself! It was then that you said that you had discovered what you wanted to do in life and that you would tell your parents that you would live there, on the ground. When you told me that, I made a decision, I would never leave you again!"
"You... took my hoof and told me you would go with me..." Fluttershy said slowly, surprised at the new revelations. "I never knew why you made that decision, and I never asked, because deep down... I was grateful that I wouldn’t be alone..."
"From that day on I made a promise... I would never leave a friend alone again." Rainbow Dash said approaching Fluttershy, with a look of pity. "I never wanted to tell you because I was afraid you would hate me... Please... Please don't hate me..." Rainbow Dash added, lowering her gaze, full of fear now that Fluttershy and her other friends knew how selfish and bad friends she could become.
"I... I have nothing to forgive." Fluttershy said putting a hoof on Rainbow Dash's chin to lift her up and look at her with a tender smile. "If you hadn't hit me, I would never have fallen or known my true destiny. If I have to do something, it would be to thank you."
"You don't get it!? You could die because of me! I was so eager to win the race that I dropped my friend! The butterflies that appeared was just luck!" Rainbow Dash said with fear in her voice.
"I don't believe in luck; I believe it was destiny." Fluttershy said smiling tenderly. "I was destined to get my cutie mark that day and take care of defenseless animals, you just… gave me a little push, literally, hehe." Fluttershy said with a small funny smile.
"No... it can't be that you forgive me so easy..." Rainbow Dash said amazed and then looking sadly towards the floor. "I deserve a punishment... I thought that when I left the Flight Camp, left Cloudsdale, and went to live on the ground with you, that would be my punishment, but it wasn’t so... I enjoyed every moment of my life here in Ponyville. If there is a destiny, then it has no justice in it… or perhaps it has, and now this is my punishment…" Rainbow Dash added, looking sadly at her wings. "Yeah... this is a fair punishment."
"No! You are a good friend; you don't deserve punishment." Fluttershy said looking at Rainbow Dash seriously. "You were my first friend and you always accompanied me, if there is someone who has to ask for forgiveness it would be me. I never believed that you were with me only because of the guilt you felt, I never had remorse against you, nor do I have it now."
"It's ironic... everything happens just when tomorrow is ten years since everything happened." Rainbow Dash said, isolating herself in her own sadness, as if she hadn't heard anything Fluttershy said.
"Wait. Did you say ten years tomorrow since that happened?" Dusk asked surprised to hear that.
"Yes, tomorrow is ten years since that race, I remember it because it's the day I got my cutie mark." Fluttershy replied since Rainbow Dash seemed so absorbed in guilt that she would not respond. But then Fluttershy realized something very important. "Rainbow Dash! We got our cutie marks the same day!"
"Uh? Y-Yes, I think so." Rainbow Dash replied ruefully, thinking that she had already noticed that detail in the morning, when she heard when Fluttershy told her story to the three fillies.
"She not the only one... Tomorrow is also ten years since I got my cutie mark..." Dusk said amazed, thinking about the probability that he and two of his friends coincided with that date.
"Me too." Rarity said in amazement.
"And me." Applejack added looking at Rarity and the others.
"Me too! Me too!" Pinkie Pie said jumping with joy.
"What!?" Dusk said stunned. He had already calculated the probability that three ponies out of all the Equestria ponies, who had obtained their cutie mark on the same day, would be in a room together and be friends. It had been a very low probability, almost negligible; but not three ponies, but six! It was an unlikely chance, almost one in ten million.
It was then that Dusk came to mind what the three fillies had commented and the previous theory he had formulated. It had all been wrong, it wasn't that there were common factors in all the cutie marks of all the ponies, it was just that there had been a huge coincidence, a mathematical improbability, that the only six stories that Dusk had heard had all happened the same day. At that moment, another amazing idea came to Dusk's mind.
"Rainbow Dash... What is a Sonic Rainboom?" Dusk asked, breathing hard, anticipating what he thought his friend might answer.
"It... it is when a pegasus flies and breaks the sound barrier." Rainbow Dash replied, still amazed to learn that all her friends shared the same day of obtaining their cutie marks. "It's an old legend, it happens when there is an air blow in the sky when a pegasus flies at high speed, causing a sonic boom, where you can even see all the colors of the rainbow for an instant... Although I doubt that last part, I mean, I did the Sonic Rainboom and I verified that it was not a legend, I remember the explosion, but I never saw a rainbow explode in the sky, the only rainbow I saw was the one in the wake of my mane after do it, although all the other foals in the camp say they did see it."
"We all saw it! That was the explosion we heard! Those were the colors in the sky that we saw!" Dusk said excitedly, as his friends widened their eyes as they understood the meaning of it all and linked their own stories to the Rainbow Dash story. All except Rainbow Dash, who still didn't seem to understand. "You don't get it!? We all hear an explosion at the crucial moment when something changed our lives forever! And not only that. After hearing that explosion, for a second I saw the sky violet, Rarity saw it blue, Fluttershy saw a flash of green, Pinkie Pie saw the sky yellow, and Applejack saw it orange. We all saw the color rainbow of that sonic explosion!"
"B-But I didn't see any color in the sky, I-I don't think that-" Rainbow Dash said stammering. She had always denied telling her story and hated what she had done to Fluttershy when she got her cutie mark, but now Dusk told her it was just the opposite and that it was something much more important than she had thought, and this left her very nervous and confused.
"You also saw a color. I'm almost sure! It's just that you didn't notice!" Dusk said excitedly. "You did the Sonic Rainboom, swooped down, and then soared up into the sky. You said you only saw the intense cyan color of the sky, but it wasn’t the cyan of the sky, it was the cyan of the rainbow color, the missing color of the rainbow! You saw it and flew through it!"
When Dusk finished speaking, Rainbow Dash was speechless with her eyes wide. What Dusk had just said made all the sense in the world, but then that meant… That her Sonic Rainboom wasn't the symbol of her disloyalty as she had believed all her life. If something like fate existed, as Fluttershy said, that moment in her life had marked not only her, but her five dear friends. That race and the Sonic Rainboom that she had achieved, had made her friends earn their cutie marks, one of the things that a pony valued most… She had been the cause! And without any of them realizing until that day, that magic bond that had united them ten years ago, had now brought them all together years later to save Equestria with the power of their friendship, a friendship that they all valued most in the world.
Without realizing it, a tear began to fall down Rainbow Dash's cheek as she slowly assimilated everything they had discovered. And at that instant Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Fluttershy ran to give Rainbow Dash a big, big hug, as much or more excited as their stunned friend was, all laughing and crying with joy at discovering the powerful magical bond that had made them united since childhood.
While Dusk Shine also smiled, shocked, but very happy, to have discovered all that. He wanted to join the girls' hug, but he didn't think it appropriate to join so surprisingly to hug the five mares. But that didn't matter to her friends, because, while his friends were still hugging, Rarity used her magic to pull Dusk to where they were, and then they all hugged Dusk warmly, who was surprised and then only joined the laughter of his friends.
"Yuck! Aren't there enough hugs for a day?" Scootaloo said, making a disgusted face, wanting to appear to be a cool girl.
"Nope! One more!" Apple Bloom said jumping over Scootaloo to hug her lovingly.
Then Sweetie Belle grabbed Spike by the claw and they both joined in Scootaloo's hug.
"E-Enough... Stop…" Scootaloo said totally blushed, moving only a little to reject the hug, because the truth, although she would never accept it, was that that hug from her friends felt very warm and welcoming, and she had also been a little emotional to see her idol Rainbow Dash so emotional. "J-Just for this time..." The orange pegasus added, surrendering to the tender hug of her friends.
After a long time, Dusk and Spike went up to their room. After having laughed and shared a good time with all her friends, finally, as the night approached, they all decided to leave for their homes, while Rainbow Dash, at Scootaloo's request, decided to accompany her for a tour of the town. Which gave Dusk and his brother the opportunity to go to the room to look for some things, since it was temporarily occupied by Rainbow Dash.
"Take note Spike, I think I'll take the opportunity to write a letter to the Princess. I think I have learned a valuable lesson." Dusk said going to the window to watch the sunset while Spike ran to find paper and ink.
"Ready!" Spike said with a hint of pride, since he knew that his brother would send an important letter to the Princess after everything they had lived that afternoon.
"Dear Princess Celestia.
Today I learned something amazing. Everypony everywhere has a special magical connection with their friends, maybe even before they're met them.
If you're feeling lonely and you're still searching for your true friends, just look up in the sky. Who knows? Maybe you and your future best friends are all looking at the same rainbow.
Sincerely yours, your faithful student, Dusk Shine."
Dusk finished dictating, with a big proud smile.
"Gross! When did you get so cheesy?" Spike said confused and a little sickened by his older brother's cloying words.
"What do you know! Just send it. I'm sure the Princess will appreciate the letter." Dusk said blushing a little and getting annoyed.
Dusk knew that this letter was somewhat corny, but he also knew that the Princess had told him not to be so methodical or to give scientific explanations in his letters, to only be more emotional, since not everything had an explanation, and definitely what they had discovered this afternoon it deserved it. Not only they had discovered that he and his friends had obtained their cutie marks on the same day, but they had also revealed that everything seemed to have been caused by something magical, and that same magic had caused them to forge their powerful bond of friendship in the future, and that definitely had no scientific explanation, there was only one word to describe it: Fate.
"Okay! Sent." Spike said after blowing his green fire and that the letter was consumed by it.
Within three seconds of sending the letter, Spike suddenly belched out his green fire again, this time causing a letter to appear from it.
"What does it say?" Dusk asked impatiently, knowing it was a letter from the Princess.
Then Spike opened the letter and read.
"It says... 'Gross! When did you get so cheesy?' Spike said slowly as he stifled his laughter and showed the letter to Dusk, realizing that the Princess had written exactly what he had said after writing the dictation of that cheesy letter.
To the view the letter to verify its contents, Dusk blushed deeply, knowing that it was the usual harmless teasing of his teacher, but still couldn't avoid feeling bashful.
"You two don't know anything about the magic of friendship!" Dusk replied blushing, turning his back on Spike as he laughed and laughed out loud at him.
Then Dusk approached the window again and stared at the sunset while the Sun was almost completely hidden. And while he saw it, his annoyance and embarrassment slowly fading as his ideas and thoughts returned to normal.
"Violet, blue, cyan, green, yellow and orange..." Dusk said, thinking out loud while he remembered the colors that he, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Applejack had seen respectively on the day they discovered their marks cutie. "But a rainbow has seven colors... I wonder if any other pony has seen the color red..."
"Hey, Dusk!" Spike said suddenly, breaking Dusk Shine's train of thought.
"Now what?" Dusk asked suspiciously, thinking that perhaps his brother wanted to continue mocking him.
"With everything that happened since you came to the library, I had forgotten." Spike replied, running to a nearby cabinet, pulling out something small, and approaching Dusk again. "Someone left this at the door the other day, when you suddenly left the other night."
Then Spike passed Dusk a small vial with a yellow liquid in it. Dusk carefully took it in his hoof and turned it to see it in detail, then Dusk widened his eyes when he saw what the label said, it said: 'Potion'.
At that very moment, while the Sun was setting in Ponyville, in a very distant land, another pony also saw the sunset.
"Tomorrow is ten years since I got my cutie mark... Maybe it's time to go back to Equestria." Said a strange mare with a thoughtful look, while belittling an old unicorn that was lying on the ground, the most powerful unicorn that was in those distant lands and that just moments ago had been easily defeated by that powerful young mare, the same mare that had defeated Trixie and so many other formidable masters of magic in foreign lands.
"After all, there is someone I’m eager to see." The mare added, with a disturbing smile as she remembered a very young colt with lavender fur and purple eyes.
# End of chapter 41