//------------------------------// // 4 - The Challenge // Story: The First Twilight // by darkforce95 //------------------------------// "TWILIGHT SPARKLE!! You have failed in the task that was set out for you! Everything was spelled out, it was supposed to be easy! Instead you have doomed all of Equestria because of your selfishness!" Twilight heard the door down to the basement close shut awaking her from her nightmare. It was still the early morning hours, it reminded her of her excitement for her first winter wrap-up and how early she was up for that. Okay, so even my dreams want to add pressure.... Still no big deal, just because he hasn't adjusted to civilian life yet doesn't mean he CAN'T adjust. Right? She quickly shuffled her way out of bed. Maybe I can convince him while he's still tired and groggy this morning! I gotta hurry... "Good morning, sleepy head." she called downstairs, hoping not to wake Spike in the process. "A good morn to thee- I mean, Good morning Twilight Sparkle." he answered back as she came down the steps. "I didn't mean to wake you up so early." "Oh, it's okay. I had questions to ask you anyway and they're kinda weighing on my mind tonight." she replied hurriedly. Star Dusk turned his head away from her and started stretching. "Perhaps it can wait until-" "No no, it really can't. You ever have a question you need answered and it rolls around your head all night and-" "Twilight Sparkle-" "-you can't get to sleep until you figure it out or-" "Twilight Sparkle-" "-find the answer yourself or-" Dusk turned around and grasped her shoulders making her jump for a moment. He looked up at the ceiling averting his eyes purposefully from her. "What I was going to say is that it could wait until you've made yourself decent." Twilight blinked for a moment before looking down at her attire. Her purple, star laden pajamas looked decent enough. Oh wait, maybe since he's from the past the 'nightgown' look is not very becoming. Suddenly she felt a chill in her legs and she looked further down. Her face became very warm as she realized she must have kicked her pants off under the heat of her comforter. She quickly ran upstairs and searched her bed for the missing article of clothing. Thank Celestia I at least was wearing underwear tonight. Although it doesn't make it any less embarrassing. She thought as she slipped the lower part of her pajamas back on. She stopped to take a breath before facing him again. But before she could muster her courage back up, she heard the front door open and close. She spun around and ran downstairs. To her dismay, Dusk had already left for wherever he had decided to do his morning training. Beautiful, Twilight, the perfect way to start the day... Well, might as well get started on the things for today. She levitated her checklist for the day over to her. "First thing.... has been postponed." she said to her self passing over the item marked 'have conversation with Star Dusk'. "Alright next thing, finish re-reading History of the Guard.... not really in the mood for that right now. After that.... I have nothing on this list I could do until Rainbow Dash comes by to pick up Star Dusk." They had agreed on rotating who would be showing him the magic that is friendship. Rainbow Dash hurriedly called first so as to 'Do a final evaluation to see if he's safe'. Of course no one bought into that reason. Ohhhh, what the in the world can I do until 8 AM? Her eyes wandered the books in her library, many of whom she'd read multiple times. Her eyes fell on a older leather bound volume. She pulled it out and read the title Legends and Lore: The Best of Myths, Parables, and Fables. She stared at the cover for a couple moments before opening to the table of contents. "There it is, The Tasks and Trials of Starshine Dust." She stared at the entry for a long while before closing up the book. "Let me finish one reading task before the other. If I get to know what makes him who he is, maybe I could convince him to change." There was a tap at the door and Twilight looked up from the last page of History of the Guard. "Hold on a minute!" she called to the door before finishing the last page. "I always enjoy histories more than I intend to." Closing the book, she went to answer the door. There stood a rainbow haired girl in short running shorts and a light blue tank top crossing her arms. "So, is he ready?" she asked bluntly. "Huh, who are you talking about Rainbow?" asked Twilight still lost in the world of history. "Who am I- Star Dusk? Remember? I was supposed to take him today for 'friendship training' or whatever." "Oh right, he stepped out earlier this morning.... B-But maybe he came back while I was busy with some studying. Give me a second." "You let him out on his own? What if he gets lost?" "I gave him a map, Rainbow. He's also not that stupid as to go somewhere with out any kind of direction." Twilight turned from the door. "Spike! Has Star Dusk come back yet?" "He came back?" came the reply from atop a ladder where the young boy was organizing books. Twilight's heart had sunk. She was really hoping that he had returned while she was distracted. This just meant he was still out there. "Great, that means I gotta go find him, doesn't it?" said Rainbow clearly displeased. "Well, I let him go out. So I'll help you find him." "Thanks, Twilight." Twilight followed Rainbow Dash as she searched the nearly the whole of the town with neither hair nor hide of the young knight. "Wait a second Rainbow," said Twilight now putting in her input "We're going about this the wrong way. He said last night that he was going to train this morning." "For what?" "His... job. You know, he is a guard after all...." she replied recalling Princess Celestia's assignment for her. "Anyway, he'll need plenty of room. So maybe the park?" "I don't see him!" called down Rainbow Dash after doing a fly over of the park while Twilight walked. "I think this will be the one time that staying on the ground had benefits!" Twilight called to her search partner pointing towards a tree the Dusk was sitting in the branches of. As both girls walked over to the tree, he leaned back until he was hanging upside down and returned back to his sitting position. "What the heck are you doing?" asked Rainbow laughing. "Oh Good... Morn... ing Rainbow Dash... and hello..." "Hello again Star Dusk." Twilight assisted. The memories of the early morning incident flooded her mind and she felt her face flush again. "I'm sorry for this morning." "There was... no issue.... from me.... I just thought.... you were not.... showing that... purposefully." Twilight felt the burning sensation in her cheeks spread to her ears. He doesn't have to make it sound like he 'enjoyed the view'! Calm down Twilight, he probably meant nothing lascivious by it. "What happened this morning?" asked an unknowing Rainbow Dash. "NOTHING!" Twilight responded instinctively causing Rainbow to jump back and stare at her friend cautiously. "Okay..... Anyway, why are you hanging from the tree when you can do sit ups on the ground?" rephrased Rainbow to Dusk. "Full range... of motion... for a more... all over... exercise. You work... the abdominal muscles... and your... lower back. Especially if... you descend slowly." "That's cool! Does it help for flight speed?" "Rainbow, he's in the middle of something. And he doesn't have any wings, how could he know if it makes you faster?" pointed out Twilight, the redness in her face fading. "Nearly.... complete.... just a moment." he countered finishing with his set of fifty. Once he came down from the branch safely, he answered: "It helps less with speed and more with precision and agility, being able to hold your wings in certain positions. Although that can be done more effectively with reverse wing push ups since that targets those specific muscles." "How do you know anything about flying with wings?" asked Twilight confused. "I spent some time training with the winged ones." "You gotta show me some exercises! I'm trying to do this thing called the sonic rainboom on command but so far no dice." "What do die have to do with flying?" "Come on dude, you need some more field training." Twilight was left behind by the two chatting about some slang and flying. It looks like this won't be too hard. Just the training is the problem. she thought to herself walking back. After five days, the girls got together at Twilight's place to discuss what they had done with Star Dusk that week. Twilight had tried to learn about the time in which he came from. The Tasks and Trials of Starshine Dust didn't really clear anything up but Twilight hadn't had the time to ask him about the stories to get his take on them. "And then," Pinkie continued, "he said... giggle he said.... 'What does the punch have to do with you being pleased?' It was classic!" "It looks like his field study didn't get him very far did it?" commented Rarity. "He had asked what was the purpose of the jewels on the collar of the new piece I was making, distraction or were they just for extra protection." "Well, it's to be expected I guess. He missed over one thousand years of development." pointed out Twilight. "Well, did he learn anything this week?" The girls all looked at each other blankly. "Hey, just like the Princess told you Twilight. You can't rush these things." stated Rainbow in defense. "True, true. You girls all spent more time with him this week than I did. Can you tell me more about him?" "A course we can, he... well, he.... he's good at harvestin' apples!" started Applejack "Come now Applejack, surely he must have said something to you about himself." Rarity put in. "Now that I think about it," Fluttershy interuptted, "all he really did was ask about me, the area, and how he could help me." "Yeah, same here." agreed Applejack. "Hey, what about you Twi'? He's living with you." "In all honesty, between his morning workouts and the work he did for you girls, all he does when he gets back is shower and pass out. He's usually gone by the time I wake up so... yeah. I should really know less than you all." "Okay then Twilight," proposed Rainbow Dash, "It's your turn to watch over him tomorrow. You gotta at least get some kind of information from him." "Yeah, it feels strange not knowing anything about him." agreed Fluttershy. "You can't really start being friends until you know a little about that person!" chimed Pinkie. "Okay, Okay! I got it, I'll see if I can get him to open up tomorrow after his workout." "Twilight! You should wake up now! Vinyl Scratch is back in town and I'm pretty sure you don't wanna be woken up by the music from next door." "T-Thanks, Spike. Vinyl's music is fine... to somebody I guess, just not so... yawn early in the morning." Twilight replied groggily and slowly getting up out of bed. "Well I got to go pick up Star Dusk from the park." She went over to her dresser to start her day. As soon as she was finished dressing came, like clock work, a vibration that shook all the walls of the library. Twilight rolled her eyes as she heard Vinyl call over the din: "AWWW YEAH!!! GOOD MORNING PONYVILLE!!" Suddenly the basement door slammed loudly open and Star Dusk was there wearing his pajamas and a look of shock on his face. "Great Scott!! What in the name of Aether and Elysian is going on?!?!" cried out Star Dusk before crumpling on the ground holding his head in pain. "Oh, Star Dusk! I didn't know you were still here!" Twilight said running up to him. "I'm sorry! If I knew you were going to stay behind I would have warned you about Vinyl's alarm clock." "That is- That's supposed to be an alarm to wake up to?" he replied as winced in pain, though this one seemed less than the first bout. "Well, yeah... If you knew Vinyl you wouldn't be surprised." The music died down as it seemed that Octavia came in to scold Vinyl over the volume, again, as she could hear the usual one sided chastising from next door. "Anyway, what are you doing here so late? I would have thought you were at the park doing your morning exercises.... gasp Are you thinking of giving that up in favor of just living out your life here in Ponyville?" Twilight forcefully surmised. "What? No, no... just a recovery day. You can't work out all the time, you'll end up hurting yourself." he replied getting up and rubbing his head. "I don't recall meeting any 'Vinyls' yet." "She just got back from a concert tour yesterday." Said Spike organizing the chaos that Twilight had left out the night before. "Although you have met Octavia, her roommate. Or at least Rarity said you did." pointed out Twilight. "Yes, she was a decent enough person. Although, truth be told, I did not speak with her much. We were just delivering the repairs to her concert attire." Silence fell on the three and the only noise was from Spike cleaning up. After some time Twilight spoke up. "Would you like to have some breakfast?" "Yes, please. I'll go prepare myself for the day if you will take care of that." "Not a problem!" Star Dusk disappeared back into his room while Twilight prepared breakfast. "So, what are our plans for today?" Star Dusk said having finished the breakfast. "Well, I was thinking about just talking. I really don't know anything about you other than the old tales. Soooo, yeah other than that I don't have much planned." "My history really isn't anything worth noting..." "You were... well, are... a hero of myth!" She countered grabbing her copy of Legends and Lore. "The Princesses felt very strongly about propagating stories of your heroic adventures! If they thought it was worth noting, then it must be important, or at the very least amazing!" "I assume they give me far too much credit. I'm just a humble servant and guard to Princess Luna, nothing worthwhile." Twilight was beginning to get irritated with his 'humble' nature. "But, the stories-" "Most likely just tall tales by Princess Luna." "But you can control the physical elements just like-" "Every old wives tale has basis in fact, it does not mean-" "Have you even read the stories?" "I... may have glanced at the book..." he was beginning to evade her glance. "Did... You... Read... It?" she asked moving the book forward as she spoke until she pushed it in his face. He quickly got up and moved away. "I didn't read it okay?! I was busy getting ready for this move, so many things had changed I needed to be ready for anything that may be unfamiliar!" He clearly was uncomfortable with all the questions. What Twilight couldn't fathom was why. Especially since he seemed so willing to answer any of her questions when they were riding the train. Humility is one thing, this seems to be a deliberate avoidance of the past. And it didn't seem like the Princesses had any kind of gag order on him surrounding his past. "I-...You-... But-..." Twilight stopped herself from chastising him further. She took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm sorry Star Dusk, I didn't mean to belittle everything else you've accomplished in such a short period of time." There was an long and very awkward silence. Neither of them moved nor looked at the other. Apparently I still need to work on friendship just as much as he does... Wait a minute.... "So, hey..." she broke the silence turning back toward him. "What have you learned about friendship since you arrived here?" " 'Tis a difficult... I mean it's really hard to put my finger on." he began slowly turning to face her again. "I haven't really seen anything that screams to me 'That's what friendship is!' Almost makes me wish I was just being a guard again." "Ha! At least you had some acquaintances when you came here! When I was first sent here, the Princess basically dropped me off and said 'Make friends, bye!' Not the easiest thing to do." "You didn't even want to make friends that day anyway." pointed out Spike having gone to organize things again during that uncomfortable silence. "Haha, you can stop helping Spike!" called back Twilight. "Seriously? There was a time that you didn't want to make friends?" Asked Star Dusk incredulously. "Yeah, well that was... wait... you're doing it to me too?" "Doing what?" "Doing that thing where you ask more questions about the people you're with than revealing anything about yourself." "How am I going to get to know you all otherwi-.... oh." A realization seemed to come to him. "I think I see what you were talking about before. About why you wanted to know more about my history." "Yeah, it's really hard on someone trying to be your friend if you don't extend the same courtesy you asked for." "Well then. I guess I have a letter to write to Princess Luna." he said moving out towards the library proper. Twilight quickly reported between Star Dusk and the door. "Nuh-uh. Not until you put what you learned into practice! Your supposed to learn what friendship is about not just study it." "I'm not gonna run into full discourse about my history." he said plainly. "Then don't. Not like you have to write a detailed report about it to the princess or anything..." said Twilight averting her eyes in an effort to guilt him. He continued to stare at her until he sighed in defeat. "I won't be able to tell you everything that's happened." "The Princesses haven't placed any kind of gag order have they?" she responded suspiciously. "When we get there, you'll see what I mean..." Twilight moved out of the way to go sit down and levitated the other chair closer to her. Star sat down, closed his eyes and leaned back into the chair. "Where do I begin?" "We'll start easy, what was with the mission that got you trapped in stone?" "I wasn't trapped in stone. Discord doesn't do those kinds of things." "So Discord was involved..." Star Dusk moved on to explain that his mission to that area, like hers, was more exploratory. Although they knew of the presence of people that existed there, what turned out to be the changelings, there was no information on them. He was sent, according to Princess Celestia, as a two-fold punishment against him and political ploy against her though neither he nor Twilight could fathom for what reason. Celestia had only discovered what had happened after Discord was pushing his way into Equestria. Star Dusk theorized, due to meeting him on the way to changeling territory, that he ruled over them in chaos for so long that it must have cause their evolution from regular people, magicians, and seraph, into the changelings they knew in order to deal with the constantly changing surroundings. And their constant unhappiness with the surroundings caused the new diet of love and kindness. Discord in turn must have gotten bored with the newly evolved creatures and set his sights on Equestria. "Okay, that explains a lot of things... except one." "Which is?" "You said Discord didn't imprison you in stone." She recalled Discord himself stating something to that effect as well in their first encounter. "But when we found you-" "A misunderstanding, one that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna made as well. That's the full reason why they had encased him in stone." He corrected. "Okay, and that explains why Discord seemed to strike a negative cord with Celestia as well... because of what he did to you. But if he didn't trap you in the stone, then what did he do?" "He sent me to the... well what was the future from that point." Twilight was taken aback by that point. "He did what?!" "Created a statue that would replace me at the point in the future that the riddle would come true." he explained. "A temporal chaos if you will." he finished with a smirk. Twilight was thoroughly confused. Sure, Discord can raise chaos based in time. But this is far beyond what I thought his powers could reach to... "According to him it was an act of mercy." "WHAT?!?" Now Twilight was really lost. This sounded nothing like the Discord she had defeated barely a year prior. "Well, I was very much aware of what kind of unhappiness he was reigning on the people of the area. So I challenged him in combat. I was not about to allow his chaos to reign in Equestria." Twilight was now engrossed in the story: "Oh this is rich. You are challenging me?" Discord said with a scoff. "Prepare thyself villain! You shan't threaten Equestria with thy foul magicks!" Came the serious response of the knight as he charged toward the creature. Discord laughed and turned the path Star Dusk ran upon into soapy water causing the warrior to slip and fall face first. "Hahahaha. Oh this will be a riot! I'm having fun in this new land already!" Star Dusk slowly rose shaking his head. Finding a slight grip on the land that was below him, he stomped down on the floor causing it to rise up beneath him. Once it reached it's zenith he used the upward momentum to leap from it toward Discord. His blow would have landed were it not for Discord placing a cotton candy cloud in front of himself and Star Dusk found himself stuck in the sugary confection. "Come now Star Dusk, it doesn't look like you're having any fun..." taunted Discord. "THIS IS NOT A GAME!" Star Dusk yelled back while freeing himself from the sweet trap. Unfortunately, he could not control his fall and ended up falling right on some rocks, scathing him. Discord took notice. "Okay, it's no fun if you go hurting yourself. Let go and have some fun! That's the way to deal with me!" Discord offered. Star Dusk brought up the water near by and threw it at Discord soaking him. "Now you're getting it!" he cheered. Star Dusk followed it up with a blast of cold air freezing the dripping draconequus. "Thou art correct. This was entertaining." quipped the knight turning away. "Oh, are we done playing? I thought we were just getting warmed up!" Star Dusk whirled around to see using an inhuman sized tongue to lick off the now grape colored ice. "Thanks for the popsicle it was delicious." Star Dusk grit his teeth once more and charged the beast. Discord countered with a snowball rolling on the ground toward the young lad. As it moved forward it, inexplicably, picked up mass and speed. Instead of getting out of the way, Star Dusk took the rolling obstacle head on. The ball crushed him to the ground and dragged him across some more stones once leaving the path. "No no no no no! This is not what I wanted! I wanted something fun! Not... well, this!" A quick snap of his fingers and a statue in the likeness of the boy was created as Star Dusk rose up slowly once more. "I want chaos, not pain. That's just.... ridiculously foolish on your part." "Have... Have at thee..." Star Dusk said weakly. "Consider this a mercy, especially considering all the wounds you have were all your doing." He snapped his fingers once more and there was a blinding flash of light before coming to rest on the ground again. Pain racked his body and he began spitting words at Discord for what Star Dusk had perceived to be his faults. "He's hurt!" called a girl's voice from the side... "Actually, it's quite embarrassing now that I think about it. He was absolutely right. Well, except for the whole chaos is fun thing. But I was the cause of all my injuries once you found me. I only pieced together everything once I was in the Canterlot library." Twilight was dumbstruck. That sounded just like the myths about Starshine Dust. Well all except the part where he loses. She thought. "Hold on though, you said that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had mistaken the fact that you had been encased in stone. But they acted as though you had died... and now that I think about it.... There were a couple of lunar eclipses in the meanwhile before the 1000 year drought of those. So how-" "Stop right there." Said Star Dusk raising his hand in protest. Twilight blinked at the abrupt interruption of her train of thought. "Think about what you're doing." "I'm... trying to rationalize problems in the story? I think?" "More than that, you are trying to make sense of how a being of chaos should work or act. Granted, without some order you can't tell the difference between that and chaos but you can't really make sense of chaos. You're gonna end up talking yourself in circles." Twilight rubbed her head. She was still trying to spin the story to make some sense. But as Star Dusk mentioned, it was near impossible. Like trying to make sense of some of Pinkie Pie's rants or where they come from. "Okay... but the Princesses are not part of chaos, they are very rational. In fact, Princess Celestia abhorred Discord. Why would they have made the mistake you were dead if there was the statue there with the riddle?" "You never lost someone close to you have you? You don't act rationally when you see something like that. Additionally, who was the one who created the statue? Discord could have put the riddle there later." "Guh... Discord hurts my head. I thought his riddles were logical enough." "Probably the only part of him that is that way." After Twilight settled her mind again, she decide to move further back. "What about the mission before that?" "Just being the personal guard to Princess Luna. Didn't get to see much outside of Canterlot." "That's funny... Well, what about that mission you went on with the Princesses' parents? It was real important apparently." Star Dusk closed his eyes to try and recall. "You came back really injured she said. Barely hanging on?" "I... don't recall such an event." he said opening his eyes. "Are you sure you heard her correctly?" "Yes, she was very clear. You had come back changed and... oh." " 'Oh'? 'Oh' what?" "She said you had asked for some event to be erased from your memory. Maybe that's why your not recalling anything. Sorry I asked." Star Dusk still looked pensive. "This could be that mental block I warned you about. But I really want to tell you as much as I can. Just give me a moment more." "Star Dusk, if you wanted it erased there might be a perfectly good reason for-" Suddenly the knight hunched forward in pain and his hands shot to his head. "Are you okay?" Twilight asked worriedly. "Nnngh... Okay, that pain feels familiar. I must have really wanted.... to block it out. I thought I started to recall the event, but as I did-" He once again held his head in pain. "Don't try to remember anymore. I don't need you hurting yourself to satisfy my curiosity." A deep silence pervaded the air as the hero recovered from the obviously heavy pain. "I feel a bit sick..." he said getting up heading in the direction of the bathroom. Wow... I wonder who's decision it was to put such a heavy lock on those memories? If it was Star Dusk, what was it that he wanted to not remember it THAT badly. And if it was the Princess, what was the need of having the pain reaction to the point of sickness... Sounds of the toilet flushing came from the bathroom and Star Dusk came wandering back in the room. "If it's all the same to you, I'm going to leave that memory alone for a while." "Yes, that's fine. We can even stop here for now if you like. No need to chance getting the same reaction from another memory." "Thank you Twilight Sparkle." He slowly sat back down in the chair and took a couple of deep breaths before continuing. "Is there anything I can help you with today? After all, I couldn't answer much of your questions and you've been kind enough to let me stay in your home." "You have a letter to write first. Then we can worry about what you can do today." Reassured the young girl. "Yes..." He replied taking a couple more deep breaths. "Spike!" called Twilight. "Can you take a note for Star Dusk? He's not feeling too well." "That's not necissary." he countered. "It's fine, I do it all the time for Twilight anyway. Even when she's feeling fine." pointed out Spike entering the room with quill and parchment in hand. "Then I'll leave it to you." Dear Princess Luna, I learned today that friendship cannot be a one way street. It's fine to want to know all about your friends. But if you don't let them know more about you, you can't really know each other well enough to call yourselves friends. From this point on, I will try to get to know everyone here and also let them get to know me as well. Your humble servant, Star Dusk