The Colours of Dusk

by Gallifrey

Pegasus Undercover

"Alright, sounds like a plan! Catch ya later, Berry!"

Rainbow Blitz walked out of Sugar Cube Corner feeling considerably better than when he had entered. Of course, this was a normal side effect of Berry's infectiously gleeful nature. Yes, it had been fun. Yes, it had been chaotic. And yes, it had been confusing. Smiling, he snapped open his wings and swept powerfully into the sky, kicking up a cloud of dust in his wake. Blood coursed through his veins, fuelling his straining flight muscles. Blissfully, he closed his eyes as the wind roared over his powder blue wings. Nothing else mattered now. He was flying, and that meant he was home. He was free. He was liberated. He was soaring. He was–

WHAM!

–Crashing into another pony. Blitz couldn't see who it was, but he heard a very surprised squeal of terror upon collision. The ball of confused ponies spiralled down like a galaxy's twisting arms to the ground, which thankfully wasn't all that far. Unfortunately, instead of ground to land upon, it was a pond.
With an almighty splash, the duo found themselves submerged in icy cold water. Blitz was the first to surface, spitting out a mouthful of reedy water, anger painting his face. Whoever had just crashed into him was about to pay. This was not cool. Eyes sweeping his surroundings, he saw a lily pad that was wobbling. A pony surfaced from underneath it, looking dazed and confused.

"Butterscotch?!" said Blitz, his anger dispelling as fast as it had arrived. The yellow stallion shook his mane, sending water and bits of lily pad everywhere.

"Blitz, I– oh no! My library books! Whe–Where are they?" he cried, looking frantically around him.

"Books? I, uh, is that them over there?" he asked, pointing to a small blue something on the bank of the water and mercifully not in the water.

"Oh thank goodness!" sighed Butterscotch, paddling across the water to retrieve them. "I don't want to even want to think what Dusk might do if I dropped his books in water. This bag's ruined though," he said sadly, looking at the rips in the canvas. "I'm sorry for colliding into you, Blitz, I was just so eager to get home."

"I'm sorry for breaking your bag," mumbled Blitz. "It's also kinda my fault for crashing into you, I wasn't really looking where I was going."

Butterscotch was quietly stunned. Blitz rarely ever apologised for his actions, whether he was in the wrong or no.

"I-It's alright," said Butterscotch softly. "Neither of us was hurt, that's what counts." He took stock of his surroundings, and then looked back at Blitz, his normally spiky and impressive mane and tail looking like a wilted willow. "We're not far from my house. Come, you can dry off there. If-If you want..."

After a short and soggy walk, the bedraggled stallions found themselves in front of Butterscotch's secluded country home. The yellow pony did his best to shake the water off himself before entering for obvious reasons, however, Rainbow Blitz didn't seem to take this into consideration and simply trotted inside, scattering animals everywhere and leaving small puddles in his wake. Inwardly wincing, Butterscotch followed him and flitted upstairs to fetch his careless friend a towel. The poor pegasus came back down into his living room, and to his horror found Blitz sitting on his sofa, no doubt getting it all wet and pondy.

"Ah, thanks 'Scotch," said Blitz as his friend exasperatedly threw the towel over his head and began drying his mane, face and shoulders. While Blitz's vision was impeded, Butterscotch tactfully nodded to his animal friends who were hiding in the corners and he motioned to the trail of water. Silently and efficiently, the assortment of mammals and birds soaked up the excess water with cloths, sponges and mops. The stallion smiled gratefully at them and wordlessly promised them an extra treat for their help.

"I'll let you dry yourself now," said Butterscotch awkwardly, having accomplished what he'd intended.

"Good call. Don't really fancy you drying off my wings or my junk to be honest, even if I am that sexy" said Blitz slyly, knowing it would fluster Butterscotch. He stuck his tongue out at the crimson faced pegasus as he took the towel. "By the way, could I have a drink? Like OJ or something? I can't get the taste of weeds outta my mouth."

Butterscotch nodded weakly and sped to his kitchen, highly embarrassed. Blitz grinned evilly at having mentally traumatised his friend. He leaned forwards to have a look at the books Butterscotch had borrowed. He casually flicked through one of them and then looked at the cover, brows furrowed.

"Hey, 'Scotch!" he called over the tinkling of glasses from the kitchen. "What the hay is feng shoes?"

No answer.

"Oh come on, Butter," he groaned. "I wasn't that bad. It's not as if it's like that time Berry full on kissed you at Applejack's last birthday party." Blitz grinned at the hilarious memory. "Boy, was he smashed."

"I guess not," said a voice on the lower limits of hearing.

"So, what's feng shoes?" he repeated.

"Uh, it's feng shui," came a tiny voice.

"Oh." A few seconds of silence. "Well what the hell is it?"

Butterscotch came trotting in, carrying a tray of drinks on his rump. He sat himself opposite Blitz and took a nimble sip of his drink.

"It's traditionally about the balance and flow of 'energy' in the home," explained Butterscotch, happy that Blitz was taking an interest. "It's a common practise in the Far East of Equestria, and it's a nice hobby to have."

"Sounds like a load of crap to me," said Blitz bluntly, and Butterscotch's face fell like a stone.

"I-I don't believe in it myself..." said the pegasus, looking at his hooves, "b-but there's no harm in it, is there?"

"I guess not," said Blitz, gulping down his drink in one. "Ah, that's the good stuff."

A tiny packet of inspiration burst into Butterscotch's head and an idea struck him. He wondered whether to ask Blitz. He considered the stallion thoughtfully, staring at his bright magenta eyes, that were currently centred on his glass as he tried to extract the last few drops from the glass with his tongue like an aardvark in an anthill.

No, no. It's stupid. Why would he want to? He's not into that sort of stuff. At least, it seems like it.

"What's eating you?" asked Blitz with mild concern, for Butterscotch's face resembled one of constipation right then.

"Oh," he said, snapping back to the real world. "I was just... um– if you're not busy or... er–"

"Spit it out, man." Butterscotch started trembling. "Look, you can always talk to me when something's bugging you," said Blitz kindly, his expression softening like butter in the sun. "I'm not the Element of Loyalty for nothing ya know."

"I was just wondering... if you'd like to..."

Blitz began to wonder just where this statement was headed. Was Butterscotch about to declare his undying love for him? He fervently hoped not.

"Wondering if you'd like to help me do some feng shui?" Butterscotch asked hopefully.

Blitz was so relieved, he didn't even think twice before answering:

"Yes, Butterscotch, I'd love to."

"Oh Blitz, thank you!" said the overjoyed pony. "I didn't think you'd want to!"

Despair filled Blitz as he realised just what he'd accidentally signed up for.

Oh, honeysuckle.

There was a gentle knocking at Dusk's lab door.

"Enter," he called stoically.

The merry bubbling of many distinctly coloured and labelled flasks and test tubes obscured Dusk's hearing and vision of his visitor's approach. He examined a small cotton bud in his hoof and pulled a rack of test tubes closer to him. It was quite unconnected to the brightly coloured liquids around him.

"Aha! Yes, this just might work!" he whispered with triumph, making a note in his lab book.

"Hello," said Dawn pleasantly, "it's a bit of a maze to find you in here!"

She found Dusk sat down, hunched over a desk like an old arthritic stallion. He turned around at Dawn's greeting.

"Ah, hello! Nice to see you down here. What's it like in the outside world?"

"It's gone half eight."

"Goodness, I really need to put a clock in here..."

"This is all very impressive, what does it all do?" she asked, pointing to the dozens of sciencey looking concoctions.

"Uh, wouldn't like to say," he said swiftly. "Work in progress you know?"

"I can't help but feel it isn't really necessary," she said, idly tapping one of the flasks with a hoof.

Dusk gave her a look of surprise, then a sly grin crept across his features.

"You're a clever one," he said as he routed in a drawer for some safety goggles. "Three years I've lived here, and no-one has questioned them."

"You mean they actually serve no purpose?!" she asked, snapping a pair of goggles over her eyes. "Goodness, I thought they looked a bit overzealous but–"

"No. But Celestia always advised me to set something like this up, so that if anypony came to see me, like a friend for example, my work looks a lot more impressive than it actually is. Showmanship she called it. Can't say I'm a fan for the purposes she told me to use it for, but it provides a pleasant enough environment for me to work in."

"I guess that's all fair," said Dawn. "So what are you actually doing down here?" She looked at the small test tubes Dusk had set on a stand in front of him. "Is that all?" she said, disappointment lacing her voice.

"See?!" said Dusk. "That's why all these bubbly flasks are necessary. And besides, as unimpressive as it may appear, I'm on the verge of perfecting my hypothesis!"

Dawn looked at the humble test tubes in front of her. They were empty. Looking sceptically around his desk, she saw a box of sea salt, a bottle of washing up liquid and another of rubbing alcohol.

"You are doing science, right? Not topping yourself off?"

"Yes!" said Dusk indignantly. "I think these may help to precipitate DNA!"

"But we already know how to–"

"Maybe so," said Dusk, waving an idle hoof. "But, is it accessible to the everyday pony?"

"Of course not! You need a powerful centrifuge for a start if I recall."

Dusk nodded in agreement. "But what if we only wanted to see the DNA itself?"

Dawn merely looked bemused. Being the curious mare she was, she could fully see why he was doing it.

"Celestia charged me with a task of helping science become more accessible to the population in an interesting fashion. So, with just a few home ingredients, I'm about to find out if I'm right."

Without further ado, Dusk picked up the cotton bud and jammed it into his mouth, rubbing it against his cheeks. Dawn watched with wide eyes as he threw the bud into a tube.

"There, Dusk Shine DNA, check!"

He opened the bottle of detergent.

"That to break–"

"Break down the cell membranes, yeah," said Dawn.

"Add a little salt and alcohol–"

"To precipitate the DNA."

"And, voilà," sighed Dusk, slightly grated at being interrupted, but pleased nonetheless at the successful outcome of his experiment. "It worked!" he said happily, scribbling in his lab book. "The Princess will be ever so pleased with this."

Dawn picked up the test tube, and observed the thin, white tendrils that were suspended delicately in the liquid like the most fragile of whispers. Indeed, it was a whisper. The whisper of life itself. She found it a very sobering thought that everything that made up the pony standing in front of her was encoded in those fragile strands of gloop.

"That's what I want to inspire in every filly and colt across the country," said Dusk, noticing the awe on Dawn's face. "To help inspire a whole generation."

"You'll certainly do that," she said softly. "Well done!"

"Thanks. What time did you say it was again?"

"Just gone half eight."

Dusk straightened his back, eliciting a series of loud cracks like a firecracker, making Dawn wince.

"Let's head on back up," said Dusk, groaning as he stretched his stiff muscles. He trotted around the room, switching off the Bunsen burners.

"Um, Dusk?" asked Dawn.

"Hmmm?"

"Would it be alright if you could give me a tour of the town tomorrow? I'd love to have a look around."

"Of course! It's not a huge town, but there's a few interesting places here and there."

Dawn said her thanks and followed him back upstairs to surface back into the world outside, both ponies feeling a slight, crackling undercurrent of intellectual rivalry.

"Do you think if I hang like this, I'll pass for a hanging basket?"

Blitz looked up at Bubble Berry, who was suspended from the corner of Rose Luck's flower shop by his hooves, swaying gently in the breeze. He was tired and more than a little irritable after being trapped at Butterscotch's for the majority of the evening doing feng shoes with him. Blitz opened his mouth to tell Berry to shut up but was interrupted.

"Or!" he said, bounding over to a bench and whipping out a newspaper, scaring the elderly couple who were sat there. "Should I put holes in this and stare at 'em?"

Before Blitz could even form a thought to begin to answer, Berry was off again, suggesting another ludicrous idea to 'spy' but 'not spy' on Dusk and Dawn. Rainbow shook his head and decided that enrolling Berry to help might have been a bad idea.

"Berry," said Blitz wearily, closing his eyes and taking a sip of Star Buck's delicious coffee.

"And then if I shimmy down here with a pair of binoculars–"

"Look," muttered Blitz darkly. I'll shimmy down you in a minute if you don't shut the hell up. Whatever shimmy means."

Blitz opened his eyes and spat his coffee out. Berry was covered head to hoof in very tight black latex.

"Uhh, Berry, what the fuck is that?"

"Why, it's a ninja suit silly! For super sneaking!"

Blitz tried to look away, but found his eyes drawn inexorably back to Berry, it was very... tight on his body.

"You know... that suit leaves nothing to the imagination."

"Oh Blitzy, you're so funny," said Berry, bouncing off again.

With a groan, Blitz looked up to the clock tower over the town hall. He had no idea when Dusk might be about in town, but it was almost lunch time. Couldn't be long now, surely. He threw his empty cup into a bin and began tapping a hoof impatiently, his eyes scanning around restlessly. Where were they?! Blitz hated standing around at the best of times, and having spent all morning doing just that with no results had only worsened his mood. Something heavy collided with him, from above of all directions. Blitz' knees buckled and he fell to the ground with a yelp of surprise. It turned out the object that had hit him smelled of candy floss and was giggling.

Who else?

"I found them!" Berry whispered excitedly, still on top of Blitz.. "Follow me!"

With a leap that knocked the wind out of the pegasus, Berry sprinted off, leaving a dusty Rainbow Blitz behind to hurry after him.

Dusk Shine was stood by the front door, his eyes drooping in sheer tedium. The familiar clitter clatter of Spike coming down the stairs roused Dusk from his near stupor.

"What in Celestia's name is she doing up there?" asked Dusk incredulously.

"Getting ready, bro," said Spike. "Don't you know anything about mares?"

"Why is she taking so long?"

"I refer you to my previous statement," he replied, and then scurrying off to the kitchen.

Dusk watched the pendulum of the clock in the entrance hall, his eyes following the hypnotic chronological metronome, feeling his soul drain into the the abysses of time.

Are mares always like this?

For how long he was stood there, not even he knew, but eventually, Dawn came down the stairs flashing him a smile, looking as normal as always, a saddlebag slung over her back.

"But you don't look any different!" exclaimed Dusk's mouth before his brain could stop it.

"Huh?"

"Spike said you were getting ready..."

"Sorry! I must've got carried away reading my book, for um," she glanced at the clock, "twenty minutes."

Dusk's eyes narrowed momentarily, then began chuckling.

"You remind me of me," he said, opening the door for her. "The number of times I've been late to events because of getting lost in a book." Dusk flipped the 'open' sign of the library to 'closed.' See ya, Spike!"

Spike gave a distracted farewell as the door shut behind them. Scrambling to the freezer, the little dragon hauled out a huge tub of strawberry ice cream. Today was going to be a good day.

"So what do you wanna see first?" asked Dusk as they walked in tandem down a narrow cobbled street. The tall wooden houses leaning over them, casting them in cool shade.

"I dunno," said Dawn, feeling a little like a filly in a candy shop. They emerged at the end of the street into bright sunlight. Before them lay a sprawling green field, surrounded by many trees. Ponies of all ages were scattered like confetti across the grass, some on a morning stroll, some playing hoofball, and some simply sitting and admiring the view. The duo crossed the road and Dawn noticed that they were impeded by a river that the road they were on was straddling. Looking up and down, there was only two bridges that they could see, each roughly equidistant. On the left, an old, wooden and rickety bridge, on the right, an elegant bridge, made of finely cut stone arced gracefully over the lazy river like a dolphin.

"Yeah, the town could only afford to renovate one of them this year," said Dusk apologetically.

"Oh."

"Come," said Dusk, leading the way to the new bridge and into the park.

"Good morning Mr Kindle!"

"Ah, nice to see you out and about Mrs Smith, how's Applejack doing?"

"Hello Melody, I like your new mane cut!"

As they walked around, Dusk habitually greeted the ponies who they passed.

"It's odd," said Dawn, as Dusk bade greetings to an elderly stallion he had to considerably raise his voice for. "Celestia said you were a bit of a recluse."

"Aha, she would," said Dusk. "And it was completely true when I was under her study, working for hours and hours on end, day in, day out. I never made friends you know, they didn't seem worth it." Dawn raised an eyebrow, but remained silent. "I've made a few friends since I came here, and although I still am cooped up in the library a lot, as I'm sure Blitz will tell you, I make a point of being neighbourly around town."

"I see. So you're like a friendly recluse?"

Dusk laughed openly at this as they walked down a gentle bank to the old bridge at the other side of the park.

"Friendly recluse. I love it!"

They came to the bridge, which lay under the boughs of a tall, and more impressive pine tree. Dawn looked dubious that it would hold their weight. In fact, she was dubious that it should even be supporting its own weight. The old and weather-worn wood had cracked and splintered over the years. The elements had warped its shape, making it sag and dip down in the middle, looking less like a graceful dolphin and more like a soggy paperback.

"Look, I know I am a little husky, being a librarian and all, but we're not gonna break the bridge, 'kay?" said Dusk amiably, trotting forward onto the bridge, evoking a loud groan from it.

Dawn watched him go, observing his figure.

"You're not fat," she decided, which was the truth. If Dusk was as big as he was claiming, she couldn't see it.

From the bushes, Dusk thought he heard a rustle and a yelp, but he dismissed it.

"Thanks," he said, pausing at the centre of the bridge. He picked up two pine cones with his magic, and handed one to Dawn.

"What's this for?" she asked, cautiously joining him as the bridge gave another loud creek.

"Poohsticks," he said, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I beg your pardon," said Dawn, trying to suppress a giggle, and failing miserably.

"Poohsticks," said Dusk. Incomprehension was still painted across her face, along with a wide smile. "Don't tell me you've never played poohsticks before!"

Dawn merely shook her head, her bangs swinging left and right across her face like silky curtains.

"Nope! And poohsticks. Is it really called that?"

"I'll teach you then. It's not hard. And yes it is. Stop giggling, you're making me laugh too!"

Dawn had to hold onto the bridge to support herself and Dusk joined in with her. Eventually, he cleared his throat.

"The rules are easy. We both drop our sticks, or in this case cones, into the water, run to the other side, and whoever's cone is first to appear on the other side is the winner! Simple."

"This is a game?" asked Dawn, doubtful that this could be classed under 'fun' of any description.

"Yeah, Celestia and I used to play it when I was a colt. She said it was invented nearly a century ago by some author, I forget the name."

Dawn felt slightly more enthusiastic. If it was good enough for a princess of the Sun, it was good enough for her.

"Oh, well, while we're here, might as well have a go."

Dusk counted down from three and they dropped their pine cones, resulting in a synchronous 'plop'. They rushed over and waited. And waited. And waited...

"Where are they?" asked Dawn.

"I-I don't know," said Dusk with a constrained voice. "I've read a book on poohsticks before and it never mentioned anything like this. This isn't supposed to happen." Dawn noticed that a bead of sweat was running down his face.

Silence flowed out from around them, dispelled only by the quacking of the ducks on the water. Dusk knelt down and leaned over the bridge to have a look at where the pine cones might have got to.

"Be careful," said Dawn, seeing as Dusk was now on his belly, leaning over.

"I am, I–"

Berry, who had two pine cones in his mouth and was currently hanging onto the bridge from the underside swung his face up to Dusk like a jack in the box.

"Hey Duskie!" he yelled.

Dusk fell into the river.