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// Chapter 27 - The second impression 
// Story: Dusk Shine in pursuit of Happiness II 
// by bigsnusnu 
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The second impression

Dusk Shine slowly began to wake up. Before opening his eyes, he unconsciously smiled as he felt a pleasant warmth on him, as well as a sweet aroma. Then the unicorn opened his eyes, but because of the darkness, he had to light his horn to see better. When he did, Dusk couldn't help but smile even wider when he realized why he had woken up with that pleasant feeling of sweetness and warmth. On top of him was his marefriend, Pinkie Pie, hugging him. Sleeping peacefully on him, as if Dusk were her mattress.

Last night, Pinkie Pie had fallen asleep on him. To Dusk, it was something that made that dark night, sleeping in a cold barn, on an uncomfortable bed of hay, improve by a thousand percent.

*KNOCK KNOCK* There was the sound of a hoof hitting the barn door. And a subsequent noise of several padlocks opening.

"Time to wake up," the voice of Igneous Rock, Pinkie Pie's father, said. The barn door started moving.

Dusk turned to see Pinkie Pie's father open the door. And in half a split second he turned around scared to look at Pinkie Pie, who was still sleeping on him. Then Dusk dimmed his horn and hurried to cover himself up to his neck with the sheet, just as Pinkie Pie's father stuck his head through the doorway and looked in his direction.

“Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes,” Pinkie's father said, looking indifferently at Dusk. Who, for his part, only nodded nervously. Pinkie Pie's father would kill him if he found out that his daughter was sleeping in his bed at that precise moment.

Fortunately for Dusk, the barn was too dark for Igneous to notice Dusk's nervousness. So, the rock farmer simply backed off and headed back to his house, not giving Dusk much consideration.

For several seconds, Dusk remained alert, listening to Igneous Rock's hoofsteps moving away. When they finally faded, he sighed with relief.

Lifting the sheets again, Dusk looked at his marefriend and got ready to wake her up. However, Dusk was so touched to see his marefriend's sweet face sleeping so peacefully on him that he chose to carefully slide Pinkie slowly onto the bed, and thus let her sleep, even if it was only for a few more minutes.

After getting up, Dusk looked through the barn door and was surprised by how little light entered from it. That was because it wasn’t dawn yet. So, Dusk quickly understood that on this farm, just like on the Apple farm, they started their daily routine very early.

Out of simple curiosity, Dusk turned to see the rest of the barn and illuminated his horn more brightly. He decided to take the opportunity to better inspect the silo, since he hadn’t been able to get a good look at it the night before.

Little to Dusk's surprise, he saw that the barn mostly had columns of hay and many, many rocks. However, there was a small part of it that was filled with piles of antique objects, such as old paintings, primitive models of sewing machines, broken watches, and very old radios. While skimming, a small and ancient-looking chest caught Dusk's attention. It was at the bottom of all the artifacts and closed with a padlock.

The logical course of action was to not open it, since it was something that didn’t interfere with Dusk, and he knew that well. However, something about the chest made Dusk unable to stop looking at it.

'They can be hiding anywhere on the farm, so you can search anywhere!' That's what Pinkie Pie had said the previous afternoon, when they were looking for the hidden Hearth’s Warming gifts.

“This area IS part of the farm… I guess it wouldn't hurt to look inside a chest,” Dusk reasoned with a mischievous smile. Secretly hoping to find some old book in that space full of antiques.

Dusk was easily able to open the old lock with his magic. Looking inside, he couldn't help but make a disappointed face when he saw that there were only loose papers there. Upon examining them better, Dusk saw that it seemed to be some kind of old property title and a newer one; in addition to other more recent papers, which seemed to be accounts or debts of some kind, since each sheet contained several numbers with the money symbol next to it.

After looking carefully at several of those papers, Dusk's eyes widened in surprise as he understood what the documents were about.

"Hmm... Dusk?" Pinkie Pie muttered from the other end of the barn. She was finally waking up.

Pinkie’s mumbling served as an alert to Dusk, who quickly put the documents back in the chest and padlocked it again before Pinkie Pie saw him snooping around.

"I'm not sure if I should tell Pinkie Pie about what I found..." Dusk thought as he walked to where his marefriend was. Thinking that if he told Pinkie Pie what he found out, his now in-laws might get really angry with him for snooping on things that didn't belong to him.

When Dusk reached her, Pinkie Pie jumped toward his neck and sweetly kissed him on the lips.

"Hehe! Good morning!" Pinkie Pie said after kissing her coltfriend, wearing one of the biggest smiles Dusk had ever seen on her.

"Good morning sleeping beauty... I hope you slept well," Dusk replied, slightly blushing.

"Of course," Pinkie Pie said, also blushing. She embraced Dusk again, feeling as if she didn't want to get rid of her coltfriend's warm coat, which had sheltered her all night.

While Pinkie hugged Dusk, she closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She wanted to stay like this forever. Spending that night with Dusk had erased all doubt from Pinkie’s mind. She wanted to be like this with Dusk... forever.

"Dusk... Do you remember that I told you that I didn't want a gift for Hearth's Warming Eve?" Pinkie Pie asked, continuing to hug Dusk so that she couldn't see him face to face.

"Yeah... You said you wanted me to make a Pinkie Promise instead,” Dusk replied smiling. Then he broke away from Pinkie's embrace and stood in front of her. "~Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye~" Dusk said solemnly, drawing a cross on his chest with his right hoof and then touching his eye with his left hoof. That was the symbol of a ‘Pinkie Promise’. An unbreakable promise that Pinkie Pie and all her friends knew well.

After a short pause, Pinkie Pie lowered her gaze and then looked seriously at Dusk. He had already sworn the oath in advance; now he just had to repeat what Pinkie Pie would tell him.

"I… What I want you to promise…" Pinkie Pie said, speaking slowly and clearly. She knew that what she was going to say would change everything forever. Between herself, Dusk... and her friends.

"I want you to promise that you’ll never stop being my coltfriend..." Pinkie Pie rehearsed in her mind. She opened her mouth to say it aloud, fully aware that she was about to tie Dusk to her forever, and at the same time, she was ending Dusk's future courtships forever.

‘Cling-cling-cling!’ The sound of a bell distracted both ponies.

"What's that?" Dusk asked, confused.

“I-It's Mom's bell. She uses it to call us to breakfast,” Pinkie Pie answered. The sudden interruption had shattered her concentration.

"Oh! Then we better hurry,” Dusk said, walking towards the door. “Let's leave the promise for another time. If I want to improve the image your parents have of me, I shouldn't be late for breakfast, right?"

"Uh... Y-Yeah, you're right, hehe..." Pinkie Pie smiled nervously. Deciding that Dusk was right, and that this important promise would have to wait a little longer.

After leaving the large silo used as a barn, Pinkie Pie went ahead, telling Dusk that she would enter through the back door so that Pinkie's parents wouldn't suspect that the two of them had spent the night before together.

After waiting for Pinkie to go inside, Dusk approached the front door and entered the house. There, he saw that the entire Pie family was already seated, including Pinkie Pie, who had been the last to sit down, just a few seconds ago. As soon as Dusk sat down, he was relieved to see that Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz, Pinkie's parents, continued to look at him with indifference, which reassured him, since it showed that they didn’t suspect that anything happened the night before. The same was the case with Maud, who, as always, was indifferent to everything, concentrating only on her own plate of food. However, Dusk realized that for some reason, Pinkie's other two sisters, Limestone and Marble, were looking at him intensely, their cheeks slightly red.

"Now that I remember, they sleep together in the same room as Pinkie Pie! They must have noticed that Pinkie didn't sleep in her bed last night!" Dusk thought terrified. Meanwhile, as if they had read his mind, both sisters looked at Dusk even more intensely. Their looks said it all... They knew it!

For several seconds, Limestone, Marble, and Dusk stared at each other. With Dusk totally nervous, sweating profusely. Until finally both sisters looked away, annoyed. None of them liked that Pinkie Pie had secretly snuck out to sleep next to that stallion. However, neither of them was a snitch, and they would not anger their parents by ratting out their sister.

"What is this!?" Pinkie's mother's voice suddenly said, immediately after Dusk’s staring contest with Pinkie's sisters.

Turning around, Dusk saw that Pinkie's mother was standing next to him, less than a meter away. Then she raised her hoof and ran it through Dusk's mane, showing what she found to the entire table: a thin but long pink hair. Hair that could only belong to one pony sitting there. A hair that definitely shouldn't be in the mane of a stallion who had supposedly spent the night alone.

Pinkie and her sisters' eyes widened, except for Maud, who remained indifferent. They all saw how Cloudy Quartz stared at Dusk with a murderous look. It made Dusk feel very small, realizing that he was seconds away from his imminent death.

"Dusk is going to die!” the Pie sisters thought at the same time. They both knew that once their mother put on that murderous look, there was no going back.

“Yaawwn… Good morning,” Spike said suddenly, yawning. He was just entering through the front door… wearing a huge pink afro wig!

As if all of this was normal, and without even noticing the tension in the air inside the dining room, Spike rubbed his eyes, and calmly sat down in one of the chairs. Waiting for breakfast, like any normal day. All while everyone's eyes were fixed on him, looking in confusion at the pink wig he was wearing.





“This… This hair…” Pinkie's mother stammered in confusion, looking at the hair that she had taken out of Dusk's mane and at the baby dragon's pink wig, over and over again.

"I-It's a dragon tradition!" Dusk said quickly. He used his mental agility to quickly put aside his own questions and take advantage of this surprising and lucky fact. “I know it's weird, but dragons have a tradition of sleeping in a wig at night, hahaha! Hahaha… heh heh,” Dusk laughed awkwardly. He knew that what he was saying was the stupidest thing that had ever occurred to him, but it was the only thing that could save him at that moment.

"What?" Spike asked confused. Looking sideways at the wig he was wearing and then at Dusk. "I-mmph!" Spike managed to say before Dusk's magic silenced him. For the unicorn, foreseeing that Spike might ruin his alibi, used a subtle spell to prevent Spike from opening his mouth. One subtle enough that his horn didn't light up too much, so as not to attract attention.

Believing that Spike had shut up on his own, Pinkie's mother apologized to Dusk and returned to the kitchen to serve Spike breakfast. Pinkie's father also refocused on his food. Pinkie and her sisters sighed with relief, knowing that Dusk had been saved from their mother’s wrath by a miracle. All while Maud continued to ignore everything, except for her rock soup.

Taking advantage of the fact that Pinkie's parents no longer had their eyes on him, Dusk leaned towards Spike's seat and pulled him closer, so that they were within whispering distance.

“Why did you show up in a pink wig!?” Dusk whispered nervously in Spike's ear.

The baby dragon made an annoyed face and pointed to his mouth, which made Dusk remember that he had to remove his spell so that his little brother could speak again.

“Ptui…! Let me know next time you don't want me to talk!" Spike whispered annoyed. He started breathing normally again. "I wore that wig because Maud told me that it was customary here for guests to sleep in that pink wig."

"Maud told you that?" Dusk asked, surprised.

"Yeah, last night, when she told me to sleep in Pinkie Pie's bed,” Spike answered, still whispering. “She also told me that today at breakfast I should go out the back door and go in the front door for breakfast… Another Pie family tradition, I guess,” Spike added, shrugging.

Dusk widened his eyes in surprise and slowly looked up at Maud. Who, for her part, always kept her gaze indifferent. Calmly eating her rock soup, not paying attention to anything else.

"Maud helped us cover up what happened last night?" Dusk thought, looking incredulously at his girlfriend's older sister.

"You know, I don't know if you've noticed, but Pinkie Pie's sisters don't seem to like you very much,” Spike said, continuing his talk. “Yesterday, Marble and Limestone were arguing in the bedroom with Maud, all because she left the farm at a very young age. They were only able to stop arguing when the three of them agreed that they didn't like you, hahaha,” Spike laughed.

"So you got to know more about Pinkie Pie's sisters yesterday, huh?" Dusk said with a somewhat bitter look. He started to slurp his rock soup. It tasted pretty bland.

“Yeah, they adore me. It was like a little sleepover,” Spike replied, smiling. “Maud doesn't talk much, but Limestone told me about her dream of being the main caretaker of the rock farm, while Marble plans to go to study in a few more years. And I took advantage of the situation to tell them my dream…” Spike continued speaking, greedily eating his rock soup in between sentences. But, at that point, Dusk stopped paying attention to his little brother, since he didn’t want to hear Spike's dream of having a cave full of gems with his 'secret lover', a mare with white fur and purple mane, for the thousandth time.

The entire Pie family finished their breakfast, and this time they waited patiently for Dusk to finish his before getting up. The following tradition of Hearth's Warming Day required everyone to be together. So, Dusk gave his all to finish eating his rock soup quickly, managing not to take as long as the day before and mitigating the pain in his trembling teeth by biting into the hard rocks quickly.

"So, you raise the flag here, too?" Dusk asked Pinkie, rubbing his sore jaw as they walked out of the house.

"Well, rather than raise it, we put it on the highest part of Holder's Boulder,” Pinkie Pie explained gleefully, meeting everyone in front of the large rock that was in front of the family house, where they all stood facing each other.

For several seconds, Pinkie Pie's family remained motionless, and Dusk looked around, not understanding what was happening. Then he looked up at Holder's Boulder and saw that there was no flag there.

"If they don't raise the flag, and the flag isn't up there yet, what are they waiting for?" Dusk thought, confused.

"Oh! Right! I almost forgot that this year it’s my turn to put together the teams,” Pinkie Pie said suddenly, with a surprised look.

"Teams?" Dusk asked even more confused.

Pinkie Pie began to explain to Dusk and Spike that another of the Pie family traditions was to divide into teams to see who could find the hidden flag. Then, the team that found it had the right to place the flag on Holder's Boulder.

“Why does this family keep changing all the traditions!?” Dusk thought nervously. He wished that, for once, Pinkie's family would follow the traditions like everyone else in Equestria did.

“I think… What a great tradition!” Dusk said, putting on a nervous smile. Determined that no matter what he thought, he would give his all so that on this day, Pinkie Pie's family would finally accept him into the family.

"I want to team up with Spike!" The shy Marble said, surprising almost everyone else. She trotted over to Spike and took him by a claw.

"No, I want to be with the little dragon!” Limestone said, annoyed. She grabbed Spike by the other claw.

"Girls, calm down,” Pinkie's father said, walking over to where Spike was standing. Then he looked at Dusk out of the corner of his eye, rolled his eyes, and focused on Spike again. "It's obvious that we all want to be partners with our beloved dragon guest."

While Pinkie's family discussed who would be Spike's partner, the little dragon looked at his brother out of the corner of his eye and saw that Dusk was giving him a jealous look. At that, Spike put on an amused, smug smile. It made him feel proud to see that, for the first time, he was the center of attention and not his big brother.

Finally, the teams were assembled, and most of the ponies were satisfied. The first team was Spike, Marble and Limestone. The second team was Pinkie Pie's mother and father. And finally, the third team was Dusk and Maud. Which left Pinkie out, since she hid the flag and would act as judge.

“I could see it… again. Maud was ignored as much as I was,” Dusk thought as he looked at Maud out of the corner of his eye. He noted that neither Pinkie's sisters nor Pinkie's parents ever named Maud as a possible match for their teams.

While Dusk thought that, Maud obediently approached him and waited for the game to start. Like always, she kept her cold, expressionless gaze. Dusk didn’t give it a second thought. However, someone who did notice that Maud was uncomfortable with being Dusk's partner was Pinkie Pie, who was already used to noticing the very subtle expressions on her big sister's face.

“I know that Maud still doesn't trust Dusk, but I hope that after being a team together, they can improve their relationship,” Pinkie Pie thought a little nervously. She wished with all her being that her coltfriend would get along with her dearest big sister.

After the teams were assembled, Pinkie Pie said “Go!” and the other teams split up, leaving behind Maud and Dusk. Dusk was following behind Maud, who was advancing as fast as a lame turtle.

“It’s good that you take your time to walk. I… I have always admired patient ponies! Hehe..." Dusk said as they walked downward, towards the farm's quarry. He knew that what really mattered that morning was not finding the flag, but taking advantage of his time alone with Maud, so that she would accept him as Pinkie's coltfriend.

As always, Maud didn’t flinch at Dusk's flattery. She simply kept walking, paying no more attention to Dusk than to the ground. That demotivated Dusk a bit, but he quickly pressed his lips together and breathed out through his nose, determined not to give up.

"You know, now that we're at the quarry, could you explain to me a bit more about the different types of rocks?” Dusk asked, trying to smile and knowing that Maud loved to talk about rocks. “I really like rocks a lot,” Dusk added with a nervous grin. He knew he was risking another boring rock talk, like the one they had on the train.

Maud finally stopped and looked at Dusk. She stared at him while Dusk stood his ground, still smiling nervously.

"Fine..." Maud finally said, without changing her expression and continuing on her way.

As they walked through the quarry, Maud slowly gave a deep explanation about each different type of rock present there: tuff, basalt, granite, limestone, marble... Each type of rock explained in great detail by Maud, a list that seemed almost endless; when Maud finished explaining one, she immediately showed Dusk another type and continued with her explanation.

Dusk did everything possible to stay attentive, and he even had to admit that Maud taught him many interesting facts that he didn't previously know about the rocks. However, even though learning geology wasn't as bad as he thought, it was impossible for Dusk to fully concentrate and understand one hundred percent of what Maud was explaining to him. All because Maud's flat, boring voice made whatever she said sound three times as boring as if it were said by any other pony. Despite that, Dusk kept forcing a weak but convincing smile, so that Maud would think he was genuinely interested in all her explanation.

There were times during Maud's talk that Dusk almost fell asleep because of how boring it was. But thanks to luck, the small rocks that protruded from the farm’s ground made him stumble from time to time, which served to keep him awake and remind him to continue feigning interest.

“Now that I think about it… Maud hasn't stumbled once,” Dusk thought after stumbling for the fourth time and waking up from his drowsiness. Looking at Maud’s hooves, he saw that Maud never watched where she was walking. She simply moved forward, looking at the rocks on the quarry walls, searching for another interesting rock to show Dusk.

“…which is shale’s porosity,” Maud continued. She paused for a second to look at Dusk, noticing that he was just staring at her.

"Huh? Oh! Yes, very interesting,” Dusk said quickly, forcing another smile. He’d almost dropped his façade in the midst of being lost in thought.

For several seconds, Maud stared at Dusk. Then she carefully lowered the shale she had taken and laid it carefully on the ground, as if it were a baby.

"Why are you doing that?" Maud asked, raising her head and looking at Dusk. "Why are you lying? It’s obvious that you’re not interested in my talk.”

"Huh!? I…. W-Why do you say that?" Dusk said very nervously. He was surprised to see that Maud had managed to see through his fake smile. So, while Maud looked at him with her indifferent gaze, Dusk lowered his eyes and sighed, realizing that Maud's expressionless eyes were basically the same as those of honest Applejack. She could also recognize a liar, and Dusk had realized that too late. “I… I'm sorry. It's just that I wanted you to have a better image of me..." Dusk said, deciding to come clean with Maud. “Pinkie Pie is someone very important to me, and I know how important it is to her that I get along with her family. Especially with you."

"Hmm... It's better that way,” Maud said, turning back around. That left Dusk with the fleeting impression that Maud had finally smiled. It was very likely that Maud would continue to maintain her expressionless gaze, but for the first time, Dusk felt that he understood Pinkie Pie when she noticed Maud's very subtle mood swings. "That's how we're alike... We're both willing to do whatever it takes to make Pinkie happy,” Maud added, continuing forward.

"W-Wait!" Dusk said quickly, trying to catch up and take advantage of the sincere moment he’d just had with Maud. "It's true that chatting about rocks isn't my forte, but there are things I like about you,” Dusk added, finding a position next to Maud. “I think that despite how you appear, you’re very expressive deep down. You’re sincere, patient, thoughtful, attentive-whoooa!” Right then, Dusk stumbled over another rock and was about to fall. However, this time, Maud caught him and prevented him from falling to the ground.

“You must be more attentive to the road. After all, this is a rock farm. There are a lot of loose rocks,” Maud said, helping Dusk to regain his balance.

"I know, and that's another thing that amazes me about you!" Dusk said, thrilled to finally be able to genuinely compliment Pinkie's older sister. "You’ve walked all this time without paying attention to the road, but you haven’t stumbled at all."

“That's because I know every corner of this farm by heart. I grew up on this farm. I have traveled it millions of times from end to end,” Maud replied, with a fleeting and very subtle sparkle in her eyes, which didn’t go unnoticed by Dusk. “I love every pebble on this farm, so I have to know where every little stone is,” Maud added, looking around at the quarry walls.

After Maud spoke, Dusk was silent for a few seconds. He wanted to ask something, but it was something that might make Maud uncomfortable. However, Dusk finally decided to take advantage of the fact that Maud asked him to be completely honest and ask what was really bothering him.

"If you loved the farm so much... why did you leave it when you were younger?" Dusk asked shyly.

For a second it looked as if Maud's eyes would widen at that question. However, she barely opened them another millimeter. But now that Dusk knew Maud better, he could understand that that question really took her by surprise. However, Maud didn’t answer. She just turned to face forward again and kept walking, leaving Dusk embarrassed and thinking that perhaps he had overstepped his bounds.

"It was for love,” Maud answered suddenly as she walked. "Love to my family."

That answer left Dusk even more confused. He felt that, little by little, he was assembling the pieces of the puzzle of what had happened with Pinkie Pie's family. But he still couldn't see the whole picture.

“Are you sorry that things ended up like this?” Dusk asked. Feeling that instead of delving further into Maud's past, he could better help her if he knew how she felt. "That is, with your parents and sisters always looking at you suspiciously."

"I don't care that Marble and Limestone are still mad at me for leaving the farm,” Maud replied, keeping up her pace. "But I have to admit that I feel a little sad knowing that my parents still don’t forgive me."

At that moment, Dusk remembered what he found in the barn, in that old chest. Dusk immediately started to mentally arrange more pieces of the puzzle and began to have an idea about what must have happened between Maud and her parents.

While Dusk was thinking, Maud looked at Dusk carefully for several seconds.

"You're a better listener than I expected,” Maud said as she walked. “You even managed to make me feel sentimental.”

“She got sentimental!?” Dusk thought with a start, looking carefully at Maud's face. “Her face looked the same to me!” Dusk thought in shock, realizing that he was still light years away from noticing Maud's different moods.

After that talk, Maud seemed to want to stop talking about her family and her past. But even though they didn't continue talking, Dusk definitely felt a lighter atmosphere between him and Maud. So he felt comfortable with the new reigning silence. Thus, both ponies continued to search in silence for the flag that Pinkie hid.

"Wait a minute..." Dusk said suddenly, after he and Maud finished searching the quarry. "At what point did Pinkie Pie get to hide the flag?" Dusk thought aloud. He had spent the whole night with Pinkie Pie, and then, she had had breakfast with everyone before the search started.

Getting Dusk's train of logic, Maud looked up the cliff, just like Dusk. There, from below, they both saw Holder’s Boulder and part of the house. They both came to the same conclusion. Only Pinkie Pie could think of getting everyone away from the house to have time to hide the flag inside the house. After all, who would think of looking there?

Since they both knew Pinkie Pie so well, they both came to the same conclusion. Dusk and Maud began to go up the quarry path, which led back to the house. Once they got back to high ground, Dusk offered to search around the house, while Maud searched inside.

After Maud entered the house, Dusk looked around and picked up some loose boards from the porch, but found nothing. Then Dusk looked towards the enormous Holder's Boulder, which was in front of the house.

“I guess I have to rule out all the options,” Dusk thought. He tried to put himself inside his marefriend's naughty mind and think of all the crazy places she would hide something.

After looking around and making sure no one could see him, Dusk quickly teleported into the air, in front of Holder's Boulder. There, he checked that the flag wasn’t hidden on top of Holder's Boulder. Then Dusk looked down and sighed, thinking that perhaps there was a slight chance that Pinkie hid the flag under the rock.

“Well…Pinkie Pie always does crazy things,” Dusk smiled. Again checking that no one was seeing him, he used his magic to lift Holder's Boulder off the ground. “This… is harder than I thought!” Dusk thought, worried. Noting that he had to use a lot of magic to be able to lift Holder's Boulder. "Pinkie's father said that the rock came from a dragon's nest... Maybe that's why it's so difficult to use magic on it..." Dusk thought, feeling uncomfortable lifting the huge rock. Since the rock had a little magic resistance, he couldn't calculate well how much magic he had to use to pick it up without dropping it.

"Dusk, what are you doing?" Maud asked suddenly, coming out of the house. With a very, very subtly higher pitch of voice. Which, from Dusk's experience, meant almost a cry of fear in Maud.

Dusk was so focused on trying to keep up his magic, and he was so surprised to hear someone's voice behind him, that he immediately stopped using magic, remembering that on the farm it was forbidden.

Unfortunately for him, Dusk was so scared that he completely forgot where the huge rock was levitated when he stopped using his telekinesis on it. And that place… was directly above him.

Dusk raised his head in fear when he saw the great shadow of the huge rock above his head. Then he started to use his magic to levitate it again, but he hesitated for half a second when he remembered that Pinkie's parents forbade him to use magic. And it was that half second of doubt that made Dusk unable to react fast enough. The rock was only inches above his head, and it was going to crush him.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Maud leaped into the air and gave the rock a strong kick just before it fell on Dusk. Then the huge rock fell to the edge of the cliff, where the quarry was below. It wobbled for a second, then fell toward the quarry.

A moment before Maud left the house and surprised Dusk, Pinkie Pie was returning to the house along the quarry path. After cleverly hiding the flag in her own room, Pinkie had gone to see how the various teams were doing. She had found the other two teams, but not the one that interested her the most: Dusk and Maud. That was why she chose to return through the quarry; she hadn’t been there yet.

Pinkie Pie was smiling, as always, but she stopped when she saw a thin shadow appear over her. It was getting darker and darker. She looked up and gasped in terror. The huge Holder's Boulder was falling right in her direction!

"Pinkie!" Dusk yelled in a panic, leaning over the edge to see where Holder's Boulder fell, and terrified to find out that it would fall on Pinkie. He was so scared that he didn't even realize he wasn't the only one calling out Pinkie's name.

Without hesitation, Dusk jumped into the void, in the direction of Holder's Boulder. He felt that someone had also jumped next to him, but there was no time to look to the side, he could only look at the falling rock and Pinkie Pie. Then, as he fell through the air, Dusk's quick mental calculation told him that he would fall a second too late. Thus, he used his magic to teleport.

In just a fraction of a second, Dusk appeared next to Pinkie Pie. And with the inertia of his free fall, Dusk grabbed Pinkie Pie and jumped away from where she was, just before the rock that would have crushed his marefriend hit the ground, after making a curious detour in the air.

A great crash was heard all around after the huge rock fell, releasing a great cloud of dust. Once visibility improved, Dusk saw that he was holding Pinkie Pie. Both of them were a short distance from where the rock crashed, breathing heavily and looking towards the rock that had almost crushed them. Then Dusk looked up and saw that Maud had fallen on Holder's Boulder, almost at the same time that Dusk saved Pinkie. For the first time, Maud had her eyes wide open, gasping for breath as she nearly lost her darling little sister.

At that moment, Dusk's and Maud's eyes met. Then they both relived the moment and understood the entirety of what happened. They had both yelled out Pinkie Pie's name at the same time in fright. They both jumped into the void without hesitation in order to save her. Unlike Dusk, Maud couldn't use magic, so she stretched her body to its limits to deliver a powerful kick, which deflected the rock just before it fell on Pinkie Pie. That was the strange deviation that Dusk noticed in the rock just before it crashed.

It wasn’t necessary for Maud to say anything. For the first time, Dusk perfectly understood Maud's look, which was slowly returning to normal... Maud was forever grateful to Dusk for having saved her greatest treasure: her dear little sister Pinkie Pie. It was the same look that Dusk, who was amazed at Maud's courage, strength, and bravery, to also save Pinkie Pie, was giving.

“WHAT HAPPENED TO HOLDER'S BOULDER!?” Limestone yelled suddenly with a voice filled with anger and shock. She was the self-proclaimed guardian of the important family rock, and it was definitely not supposed to be at the bottom of the cliff.

Along with Limestone, Spike and the rest of the Pie family arrived. They all had heard the tremendous noise that Holder's Boulder made when it fell. There, the rest of the Pie family looked horrified when they saw what had happened.

Not knowing that they almost lost one of their members, the Pie family began to look for the culprits for that disaster. They wanted to immediately punish whoever had dared to drop their most sacred family heirloom.

“I was the one who pushed Holder's Boulder into the quarry,” Maud said quietly, keeping her cool gaze on her family.

"What!?" Dusk said, surprised and scared. "No! That’s-"

"Are you going to deny that I was the one who hit Holder's Boulder and made it fall?" Maud interrupted, before Dusk continued speaking.

"W-Well, that’s technically true, but I-" Dusk said, but he was interrupted by Maud again, who raised a hoof near Dusk's mouth to make him stop talking.

After Maud 'admitted her crime', the entire Pie family launched into criticizing her. With her parents pointing out how irresponsible she was, and Limestone and Marble criticizing her for always wanting attention. Meanwhile, Maud simply stood her ground, her gaze indifferent, claiming nothing, just accepting what she was told.

Dusk stared at Maud in astonishment, realizing that she wanted to sacrifice herself to prevent Dusk from having problems.

"Maud is always like this... she’s capable of sacrificing herself in order to save someone she loves,” Pinkie Pie sniffed, with small tears in her eyes. She was still recovering from the shock of almost being crushed, and watching her family criticize Maud without having heard the whole story was taking a toll on her. "I told you Maud was tender... The tenderest pony in the world,” Pinkie Pie added, looking at Dusk.

While looking at Pinkie Pie, Dusk thought for a long time. For some reason the words Pinkie had just said echoed in his head and he couldn't get them out of his mind. It was then that Dusk opened his eyes with surprise as he had the last piece of the puzzle that was missing, and now he could clearly see what the mystery behind the fight in the past between Maud and her family was.

“No… I already had all the pieces of the puzzle beforehand. It's just… I couldn't see the answer that was in front of my eyes,” Dusk thought surprised. “I couldn't see the answer because I was still under the impression that Maud was an insensitive pony. But I finally understand... Maud is as… no, she’s more empathetic and sensitive than all of us put together! She has never been indifferent to anything or anyone!”

While Dusk had been lost in his thoughts, Pinkie Pie had taken the opportunity to approach Maud and take her side, trying to explain to her angry family that Maud and Dusk had saved her from being crushed to death.

“She just admitted that she was the one who threw Holder's Boulder into the quarry!” Limestone yelled, pointing at Maud and looking at Pinkie. “And if she did save you, it must have been purely by chance. She has never cared about anyone but herself."

"That's not true... Everything she's done, she's done out of love for her family,” Dusk said, speaking softly at first, and then louder, so that everyone could hear him. He knew he was meddling in a complicated family matter, but if Maud and her parents' pride continued to outweigh their forgiveness, they were doomed to destroy their family. So regardless of the consequences, Dusk would take the responsibility of telling everyone the truth that they were hiding from each other.

"Don't talk nonsense! Don't get involved in things you’re not part of! These are family issues!” Limestone retorted, growling in annoyance.

"Well, then it IS something that concerns me... because I'm Pinkie Pie's coltfriend!" Dusk said with a very serious look.

That caused the effect that Dusk was looking for. They all stopped arguing with Maud and stood in stunned silence. Marble and Limestone had already suspected that Dusk could be Pinkie's coltfriend, but for Dusk to say it right then, in front of everyone, left them stunned. However, the ones who were most shocked were Pinkie's parents, who were as still as statues.

"Maud loves this farm with all her heart. I can see it in her eyes,” Dusk said, looking seriously at Limestone. "However, she left the farm because she found out that her parents planned for her to inherit it."

At that moment, Dusk looked at Maud, to see her expression. Which remained indifferent as always. However, from the expression Pinkie put on when she saw Maud, he reasoned that Maud was indeed surprised, which finally confirmed Dusk's theory.

"W-What are you talking about?" Limestone asked confused, looking at Maud, then at her parents, and finally back at Dusk. "My parents are leaving the farm to me. I already saw the title deed."

"Yes, but in the chest that they keep in the barn, there was an old title deed in addition to the new one,” Dusk continued speaking. "Your parents were probably going to leave the farm to Maud, and when she found out, she decided to leave, so you could continue with your dream of being the next main caretaker of the rock farm."

An awkward silence hung in the air. Limestone looked confused at her parents, who simply looked away in embarrassment, which was a silent confirmation of what Dusk was saying. Then Limestone looked at Maud again, and her lip quivered as she realized that she had hated her sister for leaving, and inadvertently caused her to flee.

“You ran away… because of me…?” Limestone whispered weakly, her voice trembling. A great level of guilt fell over her.

"I think you were just one of the reasons Maud had for leaving the farm..." Dusk said, pausing briefly. Knowing that now that he had uncovered the truth, he had to go all the way. "When you were little, you told Maud about your dream of studying, right?" Dusk said, this time looking at Marble. Remembering what Spike had told him that morning.

"H-How do you know that?" the shy Marble Pie asked.

"I can guess that with how traditional everyone is in this town, if magic is frowned upon, studying at a faraway university is as well,” Dusk said, expanding his theory. “Maud probably knew about it, and that's why she decided to be the first Pie to study at a university. That would leave the way free for you when you wanted to study. And she would show your parents and the other traditionalist ponies in town that studying isn't bad."

This took Marble completely by surprise, and she gave Maud a startled look. Then her eyes began to tremble upon seeing her older sister's expression, and understanding that Dusk wasn’t lying. Her eyes glazed over with tears as she understood that she had misjudged Maud for years. Her sister had only wanted to help her.

"I have no proof of this, but knowing Maud as I know her now, surely she decided to leave her beloved farm to help you too, Pinkie,” Dusk said looking at his marefriend tenderly. “Maud is the pony who knows you best, and she probably realized before everyone else that you didn't enjoy your job plowing rocks. She must’ve guessed that your joy would make you want to leave this town one day, but how could you do it? Your parents would never let you... Surely that was the third and last reason for making the decision to leave. She had to be the first to go, so that the disappointment and anger of your parents would fall on her and not on you or your sisters,” Dusk said, while Pinkie Pie was on the verge of tears. This time Dusk looked at all the Pie sisters together. "Maud left the way clear for you... She sacrificed herself, so that her three sisters could fulfill their dreams."

The three younger sisters stared at their older sister in shock. Who, for her part, stared at Dusk, with a bright and somewhat sad look. As always, hiding her true emotions, which this time were relief, but also fear.

“I get it… You didn't want your sisters to find out about your sacrifice. But they needed to know. Otherwise, this beautiful family was just going to destroy itself from the inside,” Dusk said, apologizing to Maud.

"Surely that's also why you rushed to the house yesterday, when you saw that I was coming with Pinkie Pie..." Dusk thought, remembering his arrival at the Pie family's house. "You said you had a coltfriend, only to see your parents' reaction, and for them to be mad at you instead of Pinkie Pie..."

"The pride Maud has in sacrificing herself without others finding out--she must have inherited it from you,” Dusk continued speaking, this time looking at Pinkie's parents, who were surprised to see that Dusk spoke to them so directly. "You must also show your daughter that you have never abandoned her,” Dusk added, using his magic to bring up some papers in front of Maud. He knew it was wrong, but she needed to know the truth.

"What is this?" Maud asked, taking the papers that Dusk left floating in front of her and reading them.

“They’re money deposit receipts,” Dusk said, remembering the papers with numbers that he had seen in the hidden chest in the barn. Then Dusk looked at Pinkie Pie's parents and launched his final theory. "There was never an inheritance from Uncle Fuzzy, was there?" Dusk asked, remembering what Pinkie had told him the day before. That statement surprised Pinkie Pie's parents a lot, which gave Dusk the courage to finish. “You couldn't forgive your daughter for leaving the farm at such a young age. Probably, as your eldest daughter, all your hopes were on her, and she dashed them by leaving. However, you couldn't leave her alone… You’re her parents, and you could never abandon a daughter. That's why you made up the whole thing about Pinkie's uncle's inheritance. It was you who sent Maud money for her studies! Even when you didn't approve of her decision or her abandoning her family values, you continued to help her in secret. Just like you did for Pinkie Pie, when she later decided to go to Ponyville too."

After Dusk's words, Maud stared at her parents carefully, her eyes slightly open. Which was, in Maud's expressions, a face of utter surprise.

For years, Maud believed that her parents had abandoned her to her fate, but secretly, they were always supporting her decision, even though it wasn't the route they had mapped out for Maud since she was little.

Both of Maud's parents and Maud stared, their eyes trembling. The three of them were on the verge of bursting into tears, but they held them back with an effort. Maud had always been the pride of Pinkie's parents, the pony who was most like them both, who always kept her emotions inside, and for that reason, it had hurt them so much when she left the farm.

The three of them wanted to hug each other, but their deep-rooted stoicism prevented them from being affectionate and emotional. However, it wasn’t necessary for the three of them to jump in and hug each other. That was what the emotion made pony was for: Pinkie Pie. She jumped crying with a smile to hug her parents and sisters, shedding tears of joy to discover that Maud had always thought of her sisters, and that their parents always cared for Maud.

While Pinkie cried happily, the rest of her family felt Pinkie's warm hug... How long had it been since the six of them hugged as a family? Then each of Pinkie's sisters and parents pressed their faces into Pinkie's fur.

Dusk didn't need to see the others cry. Although they hid their faces, Dusk could clearly hear the Pie family release their emotions. Finally, they were REALLY together.

After that touching family moment, all of Pinkie's sisters and their parents separated and looked at each other again with their respective looks of indifference, as if nothing had happened. The only one who wasn't ashamed to continue showing her emotions was Pinkie Pie, who wouldn't stop smiling.

As if it was just another day, Pinkie's father asked everyone to move Holder's Boulder up the path, back to where it belonged, and he included Dusk and Spike. That was a great sign for Dusk, who for the first time was being called by Pinkie's father to do something with his family.

Slowly, they all pushed the rock up the sloping path. And although Dusk could have helped more easily with magic, this time he respected the Pie family's tradition of not using magic. It made him feel that the family was more united. Everyone was doing their best to help.

With Holder's Boulder already in place, it was time to place the Equestria flag on top of it. The one who had found the flag was Maud, who guessed that Pinkie would hide it under her bed. However, the eldest of the Pie sisters gave Dusk the honor of placing the flag. That was another clear sign for Dusk that now Maud had also accepted him.

Once the flag was atop Holder's Boulder, they all sang an ancient song together. According to legend, it had been the song that the ancient founders sang to drive away the windigos, creating the Fire of Friendship thousands of years ago.

According to tradition in the Pie family, what would’ve followed was to spend the afternoon continuing the search for the hidden gifts. However, this time it was Pinkie Pie's parents who decided to make an exception and follow the tradition of Dusk and Spike, and that was: Deliver the gifts instead of hiding them! That news filled the little baby dragon with emotion. Who ran to where his suitcase was to deliver his own gifts as well.

"Wow... It's also fun to deliver the gifts instead of looking for them,” Pinkie Pie said smiling. She’d always wanted to wated her parents and sisters open their presents together, and it was finally happening. This was the first time because everyone finding their gifts had never happened before.

"Don’t get used to it. It's just for this year,” Pinkie's father said seriously. His gaze remained indifferent. “We are proud, traditional ponies. Never forget that.”

At that moment, Pinkie's mother saw where Maud was, who for the first time in years was sharing gifts with Marble and Limestone, who were smiling.

“But traditions are never more important than family,” Pinkie's mother whispered, dropping her usual cold gaze and lovingly looking at her gathered daughters.

At that comment, Igneous also glanced at his daughters, and couldn't help but smile fleetingly. He was proud of his traditions, but he had even more pride in his daughters.

Dusk looked around, thinking it was funny that in Pinkie's family, ninety percent of the gifts were related to rocks. Whether they were exotic samples, sculptures, or tools. The only gifts that weren’t rock-related were the one Spike had given him, which was a new book of advanced magic; and the gift he gave Spike, which was the Power Ponies comic he wanted so badly. The same one that Spike was now reading excitedly, lying on the floor.

"Here, Dusk! This is for you!" Pinkie said, approaching Dusk. Giving him a very small gift package. Opening it, Dusk smiled when he saw that it was a small miniature party cannon. Dusk pulled its little rope and some confetti jumped out. “It's your own party cannon!” Pinkie exclaimed excitedly.

"Just what I wanted!" Dusk smiled, blushing. Then he reached to give Pinkie a kiss, however, he instantly felt the intense gaze of Pinkie's parents, which made him instinctively back away in fear.

“You don't have to say it; I can tell by your stares… There's still the matter of being Pinkie's coltfriend!” Dusk thought, scared. He put on a small, nervous smile.

"By the way, I owe you your gift too,” Dusk said, remembering what had happened in the morning, when they both woke up. "Are you still sure you just want a Pinkie Promise as a present?"

"Huh!?" Pinkie Pie said, confused for a second. Then she widened her eyes, as she’d almost forgotten. "Oh... That's right..." Pinkie said, looking away with a nervous smile. Then, for some reason, she glanced sideways at Maud.

"Wait! I almost forgot!" Spike said suddenly, raising his head and jumping up to go to his suitcase. "The girls sent you a present too, Pinkie,” Spike added, handing the pink pony a celebratory card.

Pinkie Pie looked at the card Spike offered her with surprise and took it. It was a very pretty card, signed with pictures of her five friends' cutie marks.

“How did I forget!? I was so focused on my plan with Dusk, and Maud's necklaces, I completely forgot to give the girls a gift!” Pinkie Pie thought, horrified. Then she opened the card and read it to herself:

'We hope you had a nice holiday with Dusk and your family.

This is our gift: letting you spend the holidays alone with Dusk!

We know that months ago you invited all of us to your house to spend the holidays with your family, but we wanted to give you something special, so that you could make the most of your time as a marefriend with Dusk.

Now YOU are Dusk's marefriend, and although it’s sometimes difficult for us to see you two together, we sincerely want both of you to be happy and to be the best duo possible.

A big kiss to both of you! '

"Wow! So, they planned for this to happen. They never had family emergencies to attend to,” Dusk suddenly said. He had walked up behind Pinkie and read the letter too, without her noticing.

"Oh! Y-Yeah… It seems so, hehe…” Pinkie Pie said quickly lowering the letter. With a nervous smile.

While everyone continued to chat pleasantly, the only one who seemed distracted for the rest of the afternoon was Pinkie Pie. She smiled when someone spoke to her, but when she thought no one was looking at her, she had a nervous and thoughtful look.

After the festivities, Pinkie Pie, Spike, and Dusk packed their bags to go to the train station, to catch the last train to Ponyville. After saying goodbye to everyone, Maud accompanied the three of them to the station. She had changed her plans, deciding to stay a few more days now that the problem with her family had been solved.

“It's a relief to know that!” Dusk thought, blissful, after Maud said that she would stay longer. “Pinkie's family didn't talk about the family feud again all afternoon… I was afraid they still had some conflicts of interest, but I guess that hug they gave each other smoothed out all the rough edges.”

“There is still a pending issue in the family,” Maud said suddenly, looking at Dusk just as they arrived at the station, guessing what Dusk was thinking verbatim. "There is still the problem of Pinkie Pie's choice of coltfriend."

At that revelation, Dusk swallowed loudly with a nervous look.

“Relax… We just solved a family problem from years ago… so my parents will wait a bit before wanting to solve another problem,” Maud said with a very subtle grimace, which Dusk guessed was equivalent to a mischievous smile. "So for now, you're safe."

That made Dusk sigh with relief. Then he turned to look at Pinkie and smile at her. However, Pinkie Pie was looking away. It seemed that she hadn't heard any of what Maud had said, since she was lost in her own thoughts.

"Pinkie, are you okay?" Dusk asked, worried.

"Huh!? Oh! Yeah, I'm fine!" Pinkie replied with a big smile. Then she saw the train and picked up her bag. "I'm going to go ahead and find some seats,” Pinkie added smiling, giving Maud a big hug and then winking at Dusk. “We don't want to go separately this time, right? Hehe!" Pinkie laughed, getting on the train with Spike.

“Pinkie Pie was distracted by something?” Dusk thought confused.

“I’ve always liked the rock of this station,” Maud said suddenly, taking Dusk out of his thoughts. She had turned to face the station’s walls.

“Oh… That's ferrous corundum, isn't it? It’s extremely hard,” Dusk said with a thoughtful look. His comment made Maud turn and look at him. “Hehe, you thought I didn't pay attention to your rock talk, didn't you? I really learned a lot from you,” Dusk added, with a proud smile.

“Hmm… Well, you won a point. Now I like you a little more as Pinkie's coltfriend,” Maud said, looking at Dusk. Something that made Dusk smile even more proud. "But you lost a point for not knowing why Pinkie is distracted."

"You noticed, too?" Dusk asked, surprised. Maud had confirmed his suspicion. "Do you know why she was so distracted?"

"I don't know. I may not be very expressive, but sometimes it's harder to understand Pinkie than me... She always hides everything under her smiles,” Maud replied, staring at Dusk. "Now, Pinkie is your marefriend, and it’s your duty to help her when she needs it."

“I… I will, I swear,” Dusk replied, putting on a look full of determination. Then he turned to enter the train, however, he decided to have a few last words with Maud. "I'm sorry for judging you before I met you. Now all I want is to be someone as admirable as you, like when you sacrificed yourself for your sisters."

After Dusk's sentence, Maud slightly diverted her gaze, and for a moment, Dusk thought he saw a small and fleeting smile.

"I know you found out what I did for my sisters, but I wouldn't call it a sacrifice,” Maud said, looking at Dusk. "Rather, it all worked out for the best, thanks to my Maud Sense."

“Your Maud Sense…? Wait, is that like Pinkie Pie's Pinkie Sense!?” Dusk asked, very surprised.

“It runs in the family,” Maud answered, calm as always. "Although instead of guessing things like Pinkie, I get lucky when I choose to do something other than what I want.” Maud looked away as she remembered her past, when she decided to leave her parents' beloved rock farm. “I always believed that I would grow up and die on the family farm, but when I made the decision to leave, life brought me many surprises… By helping Limestone, I gave up my dream of inheriting the farm, but in return I learned many skills that I didn't know: how to cook, write poems and travel. By helping Marble, I decided to be the first Pie to study, and thanks to that I discovered my true calling, with my rocktorate in rock science. By helping Pinkie, I left the farm that was my world, and I discovered a whole new world out there, with so many different rocks that I had never seen before.” With that, Maud turned to face Dusk. "Even yesterday, when I lied for you, saying that I had a coltfriend... Maybe my Maud Sense will help me with that,” Maud added, remembering Mud Briar, a certain stallion she had met at university. Whose name Maud mentioned to her parents only because it was the first stallion name that occurred to her, but now that she was thinking about that stallion, perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to get a little closer to him, to get to know him better.

At that moment, Dusk could have sworn that for a fleeting moment, Maud blushed. But as always, it was hard to tell what Maud might really be feeling.

The train whistle blew, announcing their departure. Then Dusk looked towards the train, but one last time, he turned to see Maud.

"I wonder... did I get you to change your opinion of me?" Dusk asked, looking at Maud with uncertainty. For her part, Maud didn’t reply. She simply searched for something in a pocket of her dress and passed it to Dusk.

Dusk stretched out his hoof and saw that Maud had given him a simple rock. If Dusk had to say it, after being locked in a rock farm for two days, that rock was uglier than several other rocks that were on the farm.

"You and I are alike,” Maud said, looking at Dusk one last time and turning to leave.

"I don't think I'll ever understand her..." Dusk thought with a confused look, turning around to get on the train. “I went from a brother-in-law who hates me to a weird sister-in-law… Well, at least this sister-in-law is less dangerous,” Dusk thought, with a small smile of relief. He stepped on board the train.

"Dusk, one last thing..." Maud said suddenly, just as the train began to move. Then Dusk turned around and saw that Maud was on the side of the station. Then she raised her hoof and hit the huge rock wall, cracking it instantly.

“That…That wall was made of ferrous corundum! The hardest rock there is!” Dusk yelled in his mind, looking at the wall with his mouth open.

"Don't ever make Pinkie Pie cry,” Maud said. Finally glaring at Dusk with a firm and serious look.

Dusk was unable to say anything in response. He just stood there, stunned, with his mouth open, just as the train began to move with him on board, away from the town where his marefriend's family lived. After several seconds, and after losing sight of the station, Dusk swallowed, with a terrified look. Thinking he'd rather get hit by Big Mac than Maud Pie.

After calming down, Dusk reached the car where Spike and Pinkie were. There, his little brother had fallen asleep, and next to him was his suitcase, which was loaded with delicious rocks that Pinkie's family had given him. Although, Spike seemed to still prefer Maud's rock candies, as he had fallen asleep with half a necklace of rock candy in his mouth. Across from Spike, Pinkie Pie was looking out the window with a pensive look, but as soon as she saw that Dusk had arrived, she looked at him and put on a huge smile.

"Pinkie... Is something wrong?" Dusk asked, sitting next to her and remembering that both he and Maud had noticed that Pinkie Pie seemed to be distracted by something.

Pinkie Pie gave a surprised look at her coltfriend's question. For a second, she thought about lying, but after thinking again, she decided to come clean with Dusk. After all, they were coltfriend and marefriend, and they had to tell each other the truth.

“I’ve been thinking… that I’ve been very selfish,” Pinkie said with a sad look. “I forgot to give gifts to my friends, and all because I was only focused on my own happiness. I… I wanted to be alone with you so much that I completely forgot about them.”

Dusk thought for a moment and looked at Pinkie Pie with a small smile.

“We should never forget our friends, but I think it's okay to be a little selfish sometimes. After all, we’re dating,” Dusk said, tenderly taking Pinkie's hoof. "Tell me... would you like us to leave Ponyville and never see our friends again?"

"What!? No! Never!" Pinkie Pie said, scared by the idea.

"You see? You’re not a bad friend. You still think about them,” Dusk said with a big smile.

Upon hearing those words, Pinkie Pie's eyes trembled and she moved to embrace Dusk's torso.

"I love you so much!" Pinkie Pie said as she pressed her face against Dusk's chest.

“You don't know… You don't know what I was about to force you to do!” Pinkie Pie thought with tears in her eyes, as she continued to hug Dusk. Remembering that only a few hours before, when Dusk was going to make a Pinkie Promise, she was about to betray her friends and make Dusk promise that he would only be her coltfriend, only hers! Forever and always.

"Hey, now that I remember, I haven't given you your gift yet,” Dusk said with a smile, caressing his marefriend's mane. "~Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye~" Dusk said, mimicking the Pinkie Promise. Although it took him some effort to draw a cross on his chest, since Pinkie Pie kept hugging him. "Tell me, what do you want me to promise you?" Dusk asked, curious to know. Maybe his marefriend would ask him to give her more hugs and kisses, or perhaps, she would tell him to promise to tell her every day that he loved her.

For several seconds, Pinkie didn't move or say anything. She simply kept hugging Dusk tightly, hiding her face from her coltfriend. Memories of that afternoon flashed through Pinkie's mind, discovering how her sister sacrificed her own dreams for those she loved. Just like her friends did, demonstrating it on the card they had given her.

"I… I want you to promise…" Pinkie finally said, speaking very slowly. "Promise me that... no matter how much I beg... at the end of the month… you'll break up with me."

Dusk's smile disappeared instantly upon hearing that.

"W-What are you talking about?" Dusk asked. He felt a chill and remembered the night Applejack broke up with him. Was Pinkie Pie ending it with him too!? What did he do wrong!? It hadn't even been a month yet!

At that moment, Pinkie Pie stopped hugging Dusk and stared at him. She still had tears in her eyes after making that hard decision.

"Dusk, I love you too much. I… I'm not as strong as Applejack,” Pinkie said, with a look that showed she was about to cry at any moment. “As much as I might want to, I won't be able to end our relationship… Never… Ever! That's why… I want you to promise, that when our month of dating is over… you're going to be the one to break up with me.”

"P-Pinkie..." Dusk said with a scared look.

"Please…" Pinkie begged. She couldn’t contain her crying anymore and lowered her head. “This is the only gift I can give… for my friends.”

Dusk also lowered his head. What Pinkie was asking for was totally different from what he had expected. If Pinkie Pie didn't have the strength to end their relationship, would he have it when the time came? The truth was that at that moment, the only thing Dusk felt for Pinkie was love, and he didn't want that to ever end.

"You promised,” Pinkie Pie said pointedly, looking up and seeing that Dusk was very confused and insecure.

Dusk remembered that he had indeed already made the Pinkie Promise, and he knew well that once it was done, it couldn’t be broken.

“I… I-I promise,” Dusk finally said. He raised his head and tried with all his might to smile, managing to put on a nervous one.

Pinkie Pie also put on a sad smile and once again began to hug Dusk's body tightly.

“Thank you… I know I'm asking a lot of you. I'm really sorry…" Pinkie said. She was sad, but at the same time, there was tranquility--a feeling of a great weight being removed from above. She knew that just like her big sister, she was sacrificing her own happiness so as not to hurt her friends.

For several minutes, neither of the two ponies spoke again. They both just kept holding each other, feeling that they had to slowly digest everything that had just happened. Finally, Pinkie Pie stopped hugging Dusk and looked at him with a sad but very tender smile.

“There’s still a long way to go before our month ends,” Pinkie said, smiling at Dusk to try and lift his spirits.

"Yeah... I guess you're right,” Dusk said sighing, also looking at Pinkie with a sad but tender smile. Then he closed his eyes and gave a faraway look. Realizing that it hadn't been easy for Pinkie to ask him that, and he needed to show strength, for both of them. "I won't think about the future, I'll only think about now,” Dusk added, already smiling normally. Lifting his hoof to caress Pinkie's face.

Pinkie Pie smiled at her coltfriend's sweet touch. Then she nodded and approached Dusk to give him a sweet kiss on the lips.

"Hehe!" Pinkie laughed and blushed after kissing Dusk. All the sadness she had been feeling vanished when she kissed her cute coltfriend. Then Pinkie opened her eyes with surprise when she saw what Dusk had next to his seat. “Wow… where did you get that from?” Dusk turned to see what Pinkie was looking at.

"Oh, this is a gift Maud gave me,” Dusk said with a nervous smile, picking up the rock that Pinkie's sister had given him. "She said we were similar... I guess she thinks I'm also like a rock, hehe..." Dusk laughed nervously.

"Did she say that? So she did accept you!" Pinkie Pie said very excitedly.

"I don't understand..." Dusk said, confused. He examined the ugly stone from all sides, wondering if there was something he hadn't caught sight of, or maybe it was just another crazy Pie family tradition.

"Throw it to the floor,” Pinkie Pie said, smiling. Something in Pinkie’s expression made Dusk feel like she knew something, but he couldn’t put his hoof on what. "Trust me,” Pinkie added, noticing Dusk's confused look.

Thinking it was a bad idea to throw his sister-in-law's gift on the floor, but deciding to trust his marefriend one hundred percent, Dusk threw the stone on the floor. The rock split on impact, and Dusk saw with astonishment that the inside of the rock was shiny, with several beautiful purple crystals inside it.

"That's a-" Pinkie said, having recognized the rock immediately upon seeing it, from her years of experience on the farm.

"It's a geode,” Dusk interrupted. He also recognized the special rock, which looked like any other rock on the outside, but inside it crystallized in a unique and beautiful way.

"If Maud gave you that, it means she saw right through you,” Pinkie Pie said smiling. "Maybe she didn't like you at first, but in the end, she found out how cute and shiny you are on the inside."

"Just like her..." Dusk added, smiling and feeling moved by the beautiful metaphor Maud used to tell him that she accepted him as her sister's coltfriend.

Then Pinkie Pie hugged Dusk again, while he closed his eyes happily. Overall, it was a great trip, and Dusk knew that he would definitely love to meet the exotic and unique Maud Pie again.

End of chapter 27