Unexpected Love Life of Dusk Shine: Resurrected

by kman123

Lesson 3A: Honesty and Kindess

Dusk appeared before the forest, standing on the boarder between it and Ponyville. “Okay, here I go. From what the guide, the Elements of Harmony are located inside the Everfree Forest…p-piece of cake.” He walked lightly into the forest, shivering a bit. “A-alright, I-I should be by the opening grove of the Everfree Forest! Now that I’m here, I have to find the elements and stop Nightmare Moon, but where the hell is the castle.” Right in front of the young fae were four crossroads; since there were no signs, he didn’t know which way to go. Suddenly, he heard thumping sounds coming twelve feet from the left. He followed the sounds; his heart racing as beads of sweat fell from his brow. After he got close, he discovered the sounds were coming from pale young man with black hair and dark bags under his eyes; in his hands, he was hammering a straw doll onto a tree, impaling it through the heart with iron nails, which the young fae found pretty peculiar; however, what else was peculiar about the boy was that, in his mouth, he was chewing on the same nails he was using.

The young man stopped, taking notice of Dusk as he turned his attention to him. “Uh, hi, c-could you tell me how to get to the Castle of the Two Goddesses, please?” asked Dusk, slightly intimidated by the strange boy. The boy smiled sinisterly; he answered the fae’s question: “Sure; all you have to do is go straight back to the crossroads and head straight through the center; you’ll have to cross through a cliff, and riven, but once you do, you’ll be there in about…an hour.” He trailed a little, talking while he chewed on the iron nails.

“T-thanks for the help!” Dusk grimace, backing away and sprinting until he was back at the crossroad; he had enough of the creepiness and prayed to whatever god was out there that he wouldn’t run into anything bizarre and disturbing until he made it to the castle.

---

He walked straight through the center of the crossroads. “O-okay, now that that’s over I can resume finding the Elements of Harmony and stop Nightmare Moon. But, first, I need to find a way down this cliff. Regardless, there’s no time for distractions,” groaned Dusk, unaware that he was being watched by a pair of glowing slatted eyes. Suddenly, Dusk slipped and lost his footing, causing him to fall off the cliff. “Woah!” screamed Dusk, grabbing hold of the ledge, his under-trained and lanky body unable to lift himself up. “So stupid!! How could I end up like this?! If I can’t get out of here, this place will become my grave!” hollered Dusk; placing a foot on another ledge below, he attempted to give himself the leverage upwards; suddenly, the ledge under his foot broke, making him dangle by his one hand. He growled, furiously, trying to hold on as best as he could; unbeknownst to him, the ledge under his hand broke, as well, but before he fell to his death, Dusk felt something gripping at his hand. “Well, well, would you look at that? Looks like the cavalry arrived just in time!” looking up, Dusk was flabbergasted to see a familiar face, letting out an “Eh?” as a droplet of sweat formed on his temple. “Applejack?!” dusk exclaimed, surprised to see the cowgirl hovering above him.

“You’re lucky Ah’m as good as Ah am to track runaway farm animals,” Dusk felt insulted; he shouted, “Are you comparing me to a pig?” Applejack snickered, “Hmm, Ah was thinkin’ more on somethin’ smaller; like a chicken.” “Never mind that! You have to help me up, please, “Dusk begged; now, with a serious expression, Applejack replied, “That’s easier said than done. This ledge is gonna crumble any second now; it would be easier to pull you up, but if I do that, then we’ll both end up in the bottom of this mountain. And staying like this ain’t gonna help, either.” She explained, pointing out every scenario there was. Dusk looked at Applejack with dismay, shouting at her, “There’s gotta be another way we can solve this!”

Applejack paused for a moment; then, she finally spoke. “Ah see only one way to get us out of this mess…but Ah have to let you go,” she stated, closing her eyes as she focused. Eyes widened; Dusk couldn’t believe what he was hearing, he only knew the cowgirl for just a short period of time, but didn’t believe she was capable of something so drastic. “Are you crazy!? That doesn’t make any sense?!” he whimpered, too afraid of his imminent death to comply, knowing full well that if they continued holding on, then both of them will die, but if he lets go, then he will die. How could he make such a choice? “Dusk, do ya trust me? Listen! You’re goin’ to be fine. We’re both going to be just fine. It all comes down to one thing…” said Applejack, having the purest and most trustworthy look in her beautiful, emerald eyes that Dusk had ever seen. Looking at each other, it was like they were staring into each other's souls.

“Those eyes…so beautiful,” he whispered; finally, he released his grip, slowly, descending down the cliff as a sudden feeling of calmness swept across his body. Now, all that awaited for him was the solid ground and the blissful kiss of death, herself. Suddenly, he stopped, but obviously not on the ground. His eyes shot open, seeing Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy catching him in mid-air. “Oh my god, I’m alive” Dash and Fluttershy were at the bottom, so Applejack knew it the whole time. I can’t believe I doubted her,” Dusk smiled, sighing contently as the two harpy girls gently placed him on the solid ground.

---

Later that night, Dusk met up with the rest of the girls and as they walked in a silence that went way passed awkward, Dusk knew he had to say something to Applejack. Walking up to the cowgirl, Dusk rubbed the back of his head and blushed. “Umm...back at the cliff,” he tried to explain, not used to giving others thanks for his rescue.

“Yeah, what?” asked AJ, a curious look crossed her freckled face.

“I-I just wanted to say...thanks for saving me, and all.” His face was red and flushed with a large amount of embarrassment. “The way you told me to trust you when you were about to let go, I thought you were crazy, but seeing that you knew what you were doing, I shouldn't have doubted you.”

“I-it's nothin' to worry about, partner.” AJ's hat was now covering her eyes as she walked a bit slowly, hiding the red coloring her cheeks. “I-it's not I was worried about ya, or anythin', y-you were just hangin' there, and Ah thought it be the right thing ta save ya.” So, they' all kept on walking, ready for whatever else would come their way. Then, Dusk finally spoke to break the silence, “So, none of you have ever entered the Everfree Forest?”

“Ugh, heavens no! Just look at it—it's dreadful and it isn't natural at all. They all say it does not work the same as the rest of the world,” chimed Rarity, puffing up her hair a bit, which had a bit of flash. “I wish I had brought my hairspray or perhaps a giant hat. Yes, I have the perfect camouflage print sunhat at home.”

“Not really what I was asking, Rarity,” Dusk rolled his eyes, turning his attention to the others. “This is the creepiest place I've ever seen; what I'm asking is what makes these woods so unnatural? Why do the animals around here are so aggressive? Why does the weather around here contrast to that outside?”

“Nobody knows?!” teased Dash, with a spooky and playful tone. “You know why? Because anyone that's come here have...never...come...out!” she grinned wide and deviously at the end of the sentence.

“Well, that's absurd. There has to be a logical explanation for all this abnormality. High mana concentration, the magical creatures, the bizarre weather...I need to investigate all this further, if I get the chance to do so,” huffed Dusk, unafraid of Rainbow's tale, which caused her to pout a bit.

---

While the group continued walking, Dash kept boasting on how she had saved Dusk's life, much to his discontent. Just then, a might roar, like a lion's, was echoed throughout the forest. “A manticore!” cried Dusk; the group stopped dead in their tracks and awaited for the beast to come.

Author's Note:

Hey, everyone, this is Kman123, here, bringing you another exciting chapter of "ULLODS: Resurrected". Sorry if I kept you' all waiting, I was getting ready for Halloween. Now, if you're aware of this, I changed the purpose of the Everfree Forest, just a little; instead of the usual, real-world antics within like clouds moving on their own and animals eating each other, it's going to be more like "Bizarre weather occurs within and the animals, along with the mythical ones, act more aggressive than the ones outside the forest" kind of deal. Also, as a special Halloween treat, I brought a special cameo appearance of Soichi--the bizarre kid--as a tribute to Itou Junji, one of the greatest horror manga writers to ever live.

Comments

[Moongaze14]

Nice to see the scene with AJ.

[sakuralovelight]

Sorry for buging you but I was woundering if you know when you might be posting the next chaptter???