Chapter 16 - To the rescue
To the rescue
Dusk approached the smoldering mark which held the remains of where Princess Celestia had once stood, he took the remaining ashes in his hooves and looked at them with huge, expressionless eyes as his lip trembled and his eyes began to sprout tears, then the chaos began. The screams began to be heard all over the great hall, screams of terror, of astonishment, of desperation, as all the ponies finally began to react in horror at seeing the terror before them, they all saw the dark mare, that everypony believed was only a legend in foal's stories, appear before them and destroy their beloved princess. No pony had been able to react, they had all been astonished or simply paralyzed in fear, but now that everything was over, the town hall had become smaller from all the chaos that began to emerge inside it, with ponies running and screaming everywhere.
In the midst of all that chaos, five mares quickly approached Dusk, who had been astonished and horrified as all the others. However, after seeing the lavender unicorn shed tears for his now dead teacher, they all had immediately rushed to him, putting aside their fear, anger and bewilderment just to go up to the colt they had met a few days ago, simply because despite all the swirl of emotions they felt, none of them could stand to see him in that state.
"DUSK!!" The five mares shouted in unison, worried, approaching to Dusk.
Dusk listened to the mares and felt their hooves touching him, but he remained in the same state, with an expressionless gaze staring at the ashes as tears streamed from his eyes non-stop.
"E-Everything will be fine, Dusk." Rarity said, stroking Dusk's face as she attempted for him to stare at her, trying to hide her own fear to comfort that colt so special for her.
Meanwhile Pinkie Pie embraced him while Fluttershy and Applejack also put their hooves his back to try to comfort him. Rainbow Dash on the other hand bit her lip, wishing to act as close to Dusk as her friends, but unable to do so because of her personality and that everypony would see her hugging a colt, an excessively feminine act she felt that she couldn’t afford. So she decided to simply stand by his side, although given the state in which the ponies of the hall were acting, no pony would have paid any attention.
"So... what do we do now?" Rainbow Dash asked, trying to appear calm but deep down just as frightened as the others, even more so as she glanced at the ashes held by Dusk in his hooves.
"Ra-Rainbow Dash..." A pale green pegasus said suddenly. It was Helia, a companion of the Rainbow Dash's weather patrol, who came up to her captain with a nervous smile and fear in her eyes. "This... this is a joke, right? It's another prank, l-like the one you did to me the other day, with the shadows and all that..." The pegasus finished talking, grabbing desperately to Rainbow Dash and bringing her face closer while she continued to smile nervously. "Tell me this is all a joke!"
Rainbow Dash stared helplessly at Helia as she began to lose her courage and began to catch the fear of her companion.
"I-I'm sorry... this is not a joke..." Rainbow Dash said with a worried look.
"Hehe..." Helia laughed nervously before falling faint and joining other mares in the room who had fainted in fear.
After seeing her companion fall into despair, Rainbow Dash and the other four mares looked around again, seeing as half of the ponies ran from side to side while the others either fainted or approached desperately to the Mayor and the royal guards trying to get some help, help that they did not have since both the Mayor and the guards had no idea what to do or who to turn to in such a catastrophe. The only pony that could solve such a disaster had been incinerated in front of their eyes, now nopony knew who to turn to. It was becoming so much worse that the strength that the five mares had gathered up to go and attend to Dusk was weakening little by little, and their emotions began to catch the fear that reigned in the hall.
Meanwhile, Dusk sat still holding the ashes with an inert look, watching the other ponies pass in front of him but not really focus on them, feeling the warm hooves of the mares around him but paying no attention to them, listening to all the voices around him but without any of the voices were retained or processed by his brain really, no conversation except one.
"W-What did she say?" Dusk suddenly said, looking to his side, startling the five mares at his side. "What did she say!?" Dusk asked again looking at Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash was surprised at Dusk's sudden question and answered.
"Helia... She thought this was another prank... like the one we did her the other day." Rainbow Dash replied in a worried voice.
Dusk heard those words, and his eyes slowly began to come back to life as the gears of his brain spun again.
"Those shadows... she thought it was another joke because the shadows were similar to the shadows I made... The shadows were alike!" Said Dusk realizing that great detail. "What if she's right!? What if... What if everything was an illusion!?"
Dusk's heart started to beat rapidly as his mind began to fit the pieces of the puzzle. Dusk had overlooked it, but all that power of Nightmare Moon they had witnessed, the huge dark clouds, the flames, the lightning and thunder, all had been made while they were surrounded by those shadows! But what if that great power of disappearance, materialization, and intangibility had been just that... Shadows!? A mere illusion!! Like his prank with Rainbow Dash, everything could have been an illusion, a very powerful and credible illusion, something very complex to do, but possible for a pony as powerful as Nightmare Moon. But if all that power displayed by Nightmare Moon had been an illusion, what had really happened to the princess?
Then Dusk looked at his hooves again and saw the ash he held. Now that he was thinking logically, that was a ridiculously small amount to be the ashes left by the huge body of Princess Celestia, plus the way she had been 'incinerated', no one could actually see it, everypony just saw a huge flash surrounded by flames, a flash that was well known by Dusk every time he…
"She didn't destroy her..." Dusk whispered as his deductions reached port and a small smile formed on his lips as he discovered a hint of hope. "She teleported her!! That means she must be alive!!"
Dusk lifted his head quickly and stood up, causing the five mares to be startled again by his sudden change of mood.
"But where did she take her?" Dusk said thinking aloud, trying to think where Nightmare Moon might have taken the princess. The first option was the moon, but that was a silly choice, it was illogical that Nightmare Moon had returned to the moon with Celestia, she had just escaped from there, and if Dusk was sure of something it was that wherever the princess was, Nightmare Moon would be there as well, she needed the princess for something, otherwise she would not have done all that to make them believe she had destroyed the princess, no, Nightmare Moon and Princess Celestia should be together somewhere, but where? She had lived a thousand years ago, everything in Equestria had changed over a thousand years, even the kingdom's capital....
It was then that Dusk opened his eyes in surprise to realize that there could only be one place of real importance for Nightmare Moon, the capital of the ancient kingdom, the home of her enemy, the place where she destroyed Princess Luna and where Princess Celestia defeated her; that location was right near Ponyville!
Dusk started to feel dizzy because of the speed with which his brain was working, all those emotions and discoveries were taking their toll, giving him a headache, what he needed now was to rest for a second, but there was no time for that, as time went on the situation could only get worse, the destiny of all Equestria was hanging by a thread and he could not waste time.
Dusk saw the royal guards among the hustle of ponies and approached them, after pushing his way through the crowd, because many ponies had tried to seek a response from the guards. Once he was in front of them, Dusk looked at them seriously and spoke to them.
"Listen, you must make all these ponies calm down, I think the princess is fine, we must find her." Dusk said to one of the guards. "We must form a search team and-"
"YOU!" Interrupted one of the guards, looking at Dusk with hatred. "You're the very last pony to give orders here after what you did! How dare you!"
The guard then pushed him as the other ponies around them began to pressure to try to approach, helping to push and take Dusk out of there.
Dusk looked frustrated at the guard and all the ponies in the room, but he couldn't blame the town ponies or the guards, they were all terrified and they showed it in different ways, with anger, with cries, with tears... with the state in which the ponies were, no one would hear what Dusk had to say. Besides what the guard had said was true, just a few moments ago he had shouted at the most beloved pony and maximum authority figure of Equestria, if it had not been for the appearance of Nightmare Moon, he probably would have been lynched at that time, so hoping for any pony would help him or even hear him would be impossible, but even though Dusk had everything against him, he needed to act, even if it was necessary for him to go alone to find the princess.
With that thought in mind, Dusk ran up to the front door of the great hall, opened it and galloped at full speed through the streets of Ponyville, totally focused on what he had to do, paying no attention to what he had left behind or to the screams of mares that were heard in the distance.
Soon after, Dusk saw that the library windows were lit, then he remembered that Spike must have been there after he yelled at him, then his heart pounded in pain. If he was right, this challenge would be the most difficult he would face in his life, facing a mighty legendary mare to rescue the princess was a crazy challenge! A challenge which he didn't know if he would come back from, so he decided that at least he should make peace and say goodbye to his little brother before any eventuality, so Dusk stopped his gallop, concentrated his magic and while he saw the door of the library in the distance, he teleported there.
As soon as Dusk appeared in front of the library door, he opened it and entered. Once inside Dusk could not help feeling a slight shiver of disgust at seeing the mess that had been left in the library after the party of Pinkie Pie, Dusk immediately felt the urgency of getting to order and clean that important temple of knowledge, but he knew he had more important things to do. Dusk walked a few steps to the staircase, thinking maybe Spike would be on the second floor, but he stopped when he heard crying coming from under one of the tables in the hall, Dusk went there and crouched to see what was.
"Spike?" Dusk asked as he saw his little brother hiding under the table, curled up against himself, with tears in his eyes, holding the photograph they had taken together with Princess Celestia long ago.
"Dusk?" Spike said surprised to see his brother there, with no effect of the 'special fruit punch' he had drunk. Then the dragon burst into tears and lunged to embrace Dusk's hooves. "Please, don't hate me, I... I'm really sorry! I'll do anything! Just... *sniff* just don't leave me alone..." Spike sincerely cried, embracing Dusk's hooves, begging his forgiveness.
Seeing the little dragon like that, Dusk got worked up and had to close his eyes to avoid crying too. He was still resentful of Spike for being a loose lips, what Spike had done hadn’t been right, but he also had to be self-critical with himself, he had finally expelled all those repressed feelings of pain and sadness he had felt, now with the calmer head he realized that he couldn’t blame his little brother for his problems, he could've handled the situation much better and clarified everything from the beginning with the five mares, but he hadn't done so because of his small personal traumas, and again, all of that was his fault, not Spike's.
"It's not your fault, Spike." Dusk said crouching to lift Spike's head. "This was all my fault, I could have avoided all this if I had talked to the girls earlier, forgive me for yelling at you like that."
"I... I'll make it up to you... I promise." Spike continued to cry. "Just forgive me, I... I don't want to stop being your brother..."
"Nonsense, you'll never stop being my little brother." Dusk said, suppressing his own tears at the moment because even if it cost him, he couldn’t get sentimental at the moment; after all Dusk didn't want Spike to remember him crying if something bad happened.
"Listen..." Dusk added looking at Spike once he calmed down a bit. "Something bad happened in the Town Hall after you left, I... there is something important that I must do now and... I need you to stay here in the library, with the doors closed until I return, I want you to hide and wait for my return, I…"
Dusk was silent for a second without knowing how to finish the sentence, he wanted to say goodbye to his brother before any eventuality, but more importantly, he realized that he did not want to worry or upset him more than he already was, so he finally couldn't express what he really felt or wanted to say.
"I... I'll be fine, I'll be back soon." Dusk finished talking, rising and putting on a sad farewell smile.
Spike saw his brother's sad expression and it startled and frightened him, and as soon as Dusk took a step toward the door, he stopped him.
"Dusk... I... I'll go anywhere with you!" Spike said worried, not understanding anything his brother was saying but worried after hearing his speech and seeing his sad expression.
Suddenly the library door opened, showing five colorful mares in the doorway.
"Here you are!" Rainbow Dash said in annoyance, approaching Dusk and taking him by the shoulders. "Don't abandon us again, you hear me!"
Dusk was totally stunned and confused by the appearance of the five familiar mares.
"Ra... Rainbow Dash?" Dusk asked, still incredulous to see that the five mares, who he thought were furious with him, stood before him, looking at him with concern.
"Of course it's me, who else?" Rainbow Dash replied annoyed. "You ran out of the great hall, we all chased and yelled at you even though you didn't seem to hear us, finally when I was about to catch you, you teleported and left us alone without any explanation!"
Dusk was surprised as he listened to what Rainbow Dash was saying, had they followed him? But why? After everything that had happened back there... It was then that Dusk just realized that when he had been devastated in the great hall after the events with the princess, he had felt someone hugging him and talking to him, however in his mental state he had not paid any attention to that, but now he realized that they had been the ones who, unlike all the other ponies in the great hall, had rushed to his aid at once and had tried to console him.
As soon as Dusk realized that, he stepped back a couple of steps, totally nervous.
"Why did you follow me...? Why did you try and comfort me? A-After learning what I did to you..." Dusk asked totally nervous.
The five mares looked at each other and blushed slightly, lowering their eyes. They had acted instinctively at first, but the truth was that each of them had already thought about what happened to Dusk and each one of them had come to the same conclusion.
"Well... we heard what ya said to the princess..." Applejack said somewhat embarrassed. "About how ya had no friends, but that ya wanted to have 'em. About how ya met... five wonderful ponies... and that ya jus' didn't know how ta express yer emotions. Ah'... Ah' think it was the sincerest thing Ah've heard ya say so far."
"And not only we hear that, but everypony in the great hall!" Pinkie Pie said smiling. "I would die of shame screaming something like that in front of everypony, but it was something tender, of course, then you ruined everything by shouting at the princess..."
Hearing that, Dusk was embarrassed and turned completely red, he didn't know what was more embarrassing, realizing that the whole town had heard him express his emotions or remembering how silly and inconsiderate he was to shout at the princess.
"Maybe... it was also our fault for not knowing you better." Fluttershy said timidly. "And not understanding that you had all that accumulated grief and rage."
"Yes, I knew you weren't a bad pony, now we all know that it was just that you didn't know how to express yourself, we understand that, darling." Rarity staring at Dusk. "But that doesn't mean that what you did was good."
"That's right, you still owe us an apology! You'll have to do something big for us to forgive you." Rainbow Dash said, crossing her legs.
Dusk stared at the five smiling mares and felt a great relief in his heart, although he still didn't understand why, after all, according to his personal experience, even friends abandon you if you cheat and betray them, just as it had happened to him in the past, but then... Why were these mares so understanding? Was it because they were not yet officially his friends since he still did not ask them? Or did they have another notion of friendship? Or maybe... His own notion of friendship was wrong and... a friend does forgive you after a mistake? Whatever it was, the first thing was to apologize, so Dusk bowed to apologize in front of them all.
"I'm really sorry about-" Dusk said distressed, before being interrupted by Rainbow Dash.
"Sh-sh-sh-sh! Stop there! I told you that you would apologize properly, not here or now, you'll not get out of it so easily, besides there is something much more important that you must tell us..." Rainbow Dash said, raising her hooves to get Dusk to stop. "While you didn’t seem to notice us, we heard all your chatter in the great hall after the chaos, tell us why you left the great hall at full speed? And who did you mean by 'she must be alive'? Did you mean...? "
"Yeah... I think the princess is still alive." Dusk said seriously.
"The princess is alive!?" The mares said surprised in unison.
"The princess was dead!?" Spike asked confused.
Dusk turned to look at Spike's shocked face, striking his face for being so dumb to forget that Spike was still there, to which he had decided not to frighten him by telling him the truth, but now that Spike already knew the worst of the situation, Dusk decided that if Spike was going to find out it would be best for him to do it himself. That was how Dusk quickly explained in a flash to Spike what had happened in the great hall, when he was unjustifiably angry with the princess, the appearance of Nightmare Moon and what she had done to the princess... It was at that point that Dusk also explained to them: the mares and Spike, why he believed the princess was still alive and where he thought where could she and Nightmare Moon be hiding.
"The old castle!?" The five mares said after they finished listening to what Dusk told them.
"That's right, I can't think of another place where Nightmare Moon could've taken the princess, even more knowing that it's near here." Dusk replied.
"B-But that's deep in the Everfree forest..." Fluttershy said fearfully.
"I know, although I don't know specifically which way to go." Dusk said thinking aloud, looking at the books in the library. "I think there must be some book with a map that shows the way."
"Ya don't need a map, Ah' know how ta get there." Applejack said approaching. "If that's where ya wanna to go, Ah'll guide ya."
"I also know where it is." Rainbow Dash said, stepping forward. "And I'll go too."
"Me too." Rarity said imitating the gesture of the Pegasus.
"And me." Pinkie Pie said, also approaching Dusk with a smile.
"And... and me." Fluttershy said shyly, also approaching.
Dusk set out to stop them and to tell them that if a guide to show the way was enough, it wasn't necessary that they all guide him, nevertheless before speaking he was interrupted by his little brother.
"I-I'll... I'll go too..." Spike said shaking, approaching Dusk.
The little dragon had been horrified after hearing all that had transpired in the Town Hall, and now he felt even more guilty after knowing that Dusk had also been angry with the princess, so he felt that it was his responsibility to accompany Dusk, although his determination couldn't stop the little dragon from trembling to hear that his brother would go confront such an evil and powerful mare.
Dusk looked at his little dragon brother, who looked at him filled with determination, and saw his legs tremble.
"No way, you're staying here, it's too dangerous, besides... I need someone to clean up the mess that Pinkie Pie's party left." Dusk said with a sad smile making up an excuse for his little brother not to accompany him.
Spike started to argue but he was interrupted by Dusk.
"Please, Spike. Trust me, everything will be fine." Dusk said looking affectionately at his brother, hoping he would understand his feelings.
Spike looked at his brother and saw that Dusk almost implored him with a look to stay, Dusk just wanted to protect him and he understood, but he didn't want to leave his brother alone, even more so in the face of a mission as dangerous as that. Spike's thoughts and feelings fought with each other, not knowing what to do.
"Okay..." Spike finally answered sadly, deciding to listen and relent to his brother, because he had already ruined things once that night, he had no morals to go against what Dusk asked now. "After all, I'll probably just become a nuisance... But... just promise you'll come back."
"I promise." Dusk said smiling and turning, then he saw the mares, the five ponies who had offered to guide him to the road that led to the old castle. He had to tell them that he only needed one guide, but he could no longer engage in more arguments and keep wasting his time, he had already lost too much time! So he just decided to accept what the mares offered him, after all five guides were better than none.
"Okay, let's go." Dusk said, opening the door to the library.
The six ponies came out of the library and began their gallop towards the Everfree Forest, as Spike watched them running from the doorway, with his teeth and claws clenched tightly, wishing with all his might that everything would turn out well and that they all would soon return together and to laugh together again.
The path to the Everfree forest was silent, each of the ponies were focused on their own thoughts, remembering what they had just experienced that night or how terrifying the place they were going would be, but everypony with a firm conviction knew that they had to go into dark forest to find the castle and save the princess, all in the hope that they would succeed.
"Here it is." Applejack said once the six ponies arrived at the entrance to the Everfree forest. "If ya follow this path ya can reach the ruins of the ol' castle."
Dusk paused, as did the mares, and stared at the infamous Everfree forest, now he understood the rumors he had heard and realized how silly he was to confuse the peaceful grove Fluttershy lived in with the terrifying Everfree forest. This was a thick, leafy forest, dark and dingy, with tall trees whose branches almost completely obscured the sky, woody vines and thorns surrounding the road, even the sounds heard in the distance were different from those heard in other woods, there was a great variety of grunts, howls and hisses, probably of the great and varied number of monsters that inhabited that forest, even more, even Dusk could feel that here the magic vibration was different from what could be felt anywhere else in Equestria.
"It's a terrifying place." Rarity said, swallowing.
"That's right, ponies say even the clouds move on their own here." Added Rainbow Dash, looking up at the sky, somewhat incredulous at how ridiculous that sounded, ready to frighten a few of her friends but regretting it after a little breeze crossed her neck and gave her a shiver.
The six ponies stood on the road looking at the entrance to the forest, all looking scared where the road was lost in the darkness of the forest.
"Well, here's where we say farewell." Dusk said after taking a breath, knowing that despite the fear he should continue, then he turned to face the five mares. "Thanks for guiding me here, I really appreciate it."
The five mares looked at each other and looked at Dusk.
"What're you talkin' 'bout?" Applejack said somewhat annoyed. "We're goin' with ya, what didn't ya hear when we told ya in the library?"
Dusk was surprised at that comment, he had understood that they would guide him to the road that led to the castle, he never thought they meant to go with him to the castle.
"WHAT!? No! Definitely not!" Dusk said quickly, nervously, shaking his head in denial. "It's too dangerous, and I don't even know if I'm right, I don't want you risking yourselves on my fault."
"We don't care about that, we'll go with you anyway." Pinkie Pie said smiling.
"We are all in this together." Rarity said, smiling too.
"If we're all together it will be less dangerous." Fluttershy said with a shy smile.
"We're going with you if you like it or not! You hear me, know-it-all!" Rainbow Dash said seriously.
Dusk looked in surprise at the five mares as his heart filled with joy at such words of companionship, they were still supporting him in spite of the danger that lay ahead, just as they didn’t abandon him after the misunderstanding in the Town Hall, they wanted to be with him at all costs, they wanted to protect him! And now he understood, they were really forging a powerful bond of union with him, and that was something Dusk had not felt in a very, very long time. However with the joy of knowing that these mares would never leave him, Dusk felt a great fear of losing those newborn feelings, he felt that he wanted to protect that bond at all costs, Protect them at all costs! Just as he felt about Spike, but he knew the mares would not be easy to convince as his little brother, so if he wanted to protect them he must do something, something for which he could even be hated for later.
As the five mares gazed at Dusk, he turned and walked over to a small shrub containing some sort of dandelion, similar to cotton. Then Dusk took little pieces of a dandelion and placed it in both ears, before the confused look of the mares.
"Why're you covering your ears!? Don't you want to hear us?!" Rainbow Dash said annoyed.
"Please forgive me, I don't want you to be hurt, I just want you to understand that I need to go alone." Dusk said looking at the mares in sadness, he wanted to tell them the truth and express what he truly felt, but he had barely begun to recognize those forgotten feelings, he wasn't sure how to express it yet, nor was he sure if they would understand what he felt, he just hoped they would forgive him for what he was about to do.
"Dusk, you don't have to do this alone." Applejack looked worriedly at Dusk. "That's what friend-" Applejack did not finish speaking as a noise beside her interrupted her.
As soon as Applejack turned to see what the noise was, she saw that it had been Rainbow Dash, which for some reason had stopped flying and had fallen to the ground, seemingly asleep. Then Applejack looked at her other side and saw that Rarity and Fluttershy were also resting on the ground, sound asleep.
"It's... it's true... you shouldn't ..." Pinkie Pie said as her eyes closed, before falling asleep too.
Applejack looked worried to her friends, not understanding what was happening, while the wind around her seemed to become warm and cozy, and music of reeds seemed to sound in the air, a soft, gentle, hypnotizing melody that incited sleep. Applejack's eyes began to closed in spite of her efforts as she slowly fell asleep, she looked everywhere without understanding what this atmosphere was or where that soft, spellbinding music came from, then she looked up and realized that Dusk's horn glowed softly.
"Dusk...!" Applejack said with much effort, trying not to fall asleep.
"It's for your own good, I must do this alone." Dusk said as his horn shimmered more intensely.
Applejack's eyelids grew heavier, she could barely keep her eyes open, but with one last effort she took a couple of steps forward to approach Dusk.
"Dusk..." Applejack murmured as she approached, then she wrapped her front hooves around Dusk's neck. "Idiot..." Applejack said still holding Dusk's neck, before falling soundly asleep.
"I just want to protect you." Dusk said sadly once he saw that they were all asleep.
As soon as Applejack fell asleep, Dusk stopped using the sleep spell that had worked and with his same magic took the plugs that had been put in himself to avoid falling asleep to the spell, that magic was high level but something simple to achieve for the princess's personal student. As soon as he had used it, three of the mares had fallen fast asleep, only the two earth ponies had resisted, a logical thing since it was known that earth ponies were more resistant to magic than the other races, however, Dusk was surprised by the great strength that Applejack had, that mare had resisted enormously his powerful magic.
"You really are a strong mare." Dusk said tenderly, ready to unclasping Applejack's hooves that still held him.
Dusk tried to gently pull on Applejack's hooves, then used a little more force and then, even more, but to his surprise, there was no difference, Dusk could not separate her united hooves nor get her to let go of him, although she remained deep sleep. Dusk thought of using teleportation to get her off, but that would be dangerous since it could wake them all in the attempt, nor could he make many sudden movements to get her out of him, since that would be dangerous for the orange mare. Not knowing what to do, Dusk lowered his head and saw Applejack's face, who with the way she had grabbed him, she had been extremely close to Dusk's face. It was there that Dusk couldn't help thinking about that accidental kiss he'd had with the country mare.
"What am I thinking about that at a time like this!?" Dusk thought blushing.
Finally Dusk decided that there was no other way but to take Applejack with him since he couldn't get her off him, and if he lost more time there the other ponies could wake up, so he gently levitated Applejack's body, turning it as she kept her hooves firmly tied to Dusk's neck like a necklace, and laid her on his back. Once Dusk made sure she was stable on his back, he gave one last look at the four mares that slept peacefully there.
"At least I'll know you four are safe." Dusk said softly before turning and galloping, finally entering the dark Everfree forest, only with something on his mind, wishing with all his might to be right and his teacher to be alive, hidden deep in that terrifying place.
"BWAHAHA! What did you think of my performance? Now we can live in silence here, after all, nopony will look for you BECAUSE THEY ALL THINK YOU ARE DEAD! BWAHAHA!" Nightmare Moon laughed heartily, looking hatefully at her prisoner.
In the midst of a shattered and forgotten hall of the old castle, deep in the Everfree forest, was Nightmare Moon laughing triumphantly for her return to Equestria after being held prisoner for a thousand years. Beside her stood another pony of similar proportions but opposite colors: Princess Celestia, without her royal ornaments or her crown, seated, looking at her captor as dark clouds surrounded her horn, neck, and legs.
"You do not know how much I missed this place..." Nightmare Moon said, looking around at the destroyed walls and roof of the castle. "I see you enjoyed leaving and forgetting our home."
"I... I needed to get away from here." Celestia answered sadly, not lifting her head. "There were too many painful memories..."
"So you hated remembering your sister?" Nightmare Moon said, staring at Celestia while laughing sarcastically.
"No, I hate remembering my past, I... hate myself, who I was and what I did. I hated myself for not being strong and wise enough to be able to save my sister." Celestia replied sadly. "That's why I left this castle."
Nightmare Moon stopped smiling, she did not answer or look at Celestia. A few seconds passed until the dark mare used her magic to force Celestia to rise and follow her as she walked through the huge, shattered hall.
"Do you recognize this room?" Nightmare Moon said after a while, inviting her to look around.
The magic of Nightmare Moon forced Celestia to look up. The eyes of the princess showed some anguish after recognizing the place.
"Yes..." Celestia replied sadly, lowering her head again.
"In this room was where that forgotten and despised princess of the night died, and the greatest and unmatched pony in all history was born, The Mighty Nightmare Moon!" Nightmare Moon said proudly, opening her wings. "That night must have been the beginning of my reign! No one could match my power, not even you! And I would have done it... if you had not used those accursed elements." At that point Nightmare Moon stopped smiling wickedly and again looked with hatred at Celestia.
"But that's a mistake I won't make again." Nightmare Moon added, pausing at what appeared to be some kind of altar, a high stone structure with a sphere in its center and five stone spheres around it. "Here they are, the elements of harmony." Nightmare Moon said with an evil smile looking at the stone spheres. "It was irresponsible of you to abandon such a powerful weapon in such a now decrepit place, but that neglect of yours will be the reason for my greatest triumph, now I will use this ancient magic to become invincible!"
Then Nightmare Moon used her magic on the elements to activate their power. Before the contact of the magic, the spheres began to shine slowly, to the satisfaction of the dark mare, who began to smile as the elements began to react. Then, suddenly, the stone spheres began to tremble and to throw lightning bolts, to the complete surprise of Nightmare Moon, who was even more surprised when the lightning bolts became larger and hit her chest hard, causing her to fall.
Nightmare Moon rose slowly with an expression of pain, that had been totally unexpected, her surprise was greater when she looked up and saw that the elements had stopped shining and they had remained exactly as they were before she used her magic on them.
"What's this!? WHY DON'T THEY WORK!?" Nightmare Moon screamed furiously, looking at Celestia.
The alicorn princess sat still, staring sadly at the floor, saying nothing. Nightmare Moon came up and took her tightly by the neck.
"You used some kind of spell to prevent anypony using dark magic from taking them, didn't you?" Nightmare Moon asked tightening around Celestia's neck and releasing a part of the shadow that covered the princess's horn, just the tip, so she could only use a small portion of her enormous alicorn magic. "Come on, use your magic on them! Move them off the pedestal!"
Once Nightmare Moon released Celestia's neck, the white alicorn looked sadly at Nightmare Moon and then she looked to the elements of harmony, then the tip of her horn shined as she used her magic to connect with the elements, which began to shine as they had done when Nightmare Moon used her magic, however to the surprise of the dark mare, the same thing happened, the elements began to tremble and release lightning bolts until they released a large beam that struck Celestia's chest, pushed her away from Nightmare Moon and making her fall.
Nightmare Moon was totally surprised by what she saw, she could understand that the elements didn't react to her dark magic, but why didn't they react to Celestia's light magic? She had felt the magic of Celestia and it was not a trick, she had tried to connect with the elements causing them to shine, just as she knew it should be done, but they still did not work.
"Why don't they work!?" Nightmare Moon asked again, using her magic to appear in front of where Celestia had fallen.
The princess kept her head down, apparently, unwilling to get up.
"The elements of harmony are a very ancient magic, they respond to the feelings and desires of those who want or need to occupy them." Celestia said sadly. "The feelings of sisterhood, friendship, and love that we had, me and my sister, allowed us to use them to defeat evil on several occasions. But after the appearance of the darkness that you call Nightmare Moon, I had to use them to exile you to the moon, everything to protect the ponies, but that was something that I never forgave myself... After that I could never again use the elements of harmony, my guilt prevented me from feeling the necessary feelings and the mental harmony required to even move them, that day I lost the bonds of sisterhood, friendship, and love that allowed me to use them... "
Nightmare Moon listened attentively to what the princess said to her, when Celestia finished speaking, for a second Nightmare Moon stopped showing her permanent look of hatred, showing a softer expression, while her eyes were no longer as sharp and looked like a normal mare's eyes. This did not go unnoticed by Celestia, who recognized those eyes immediately, and made a small hope born in her heart.
"I know that you plan to destroy me in due time, perhaps with that, I can pay for my sins." Princess Celestia said to Nightmare Moon with a pleading look. "But if I had one last wish, I just wish I could talk to my sister one last time."
That remark made Nightmare Moon's eyes shine sadly, her expression softening even more, but that only lasted a second, for Nightmare Moon suddenly closed her eyes tightly in pain, and when she reopened her eyes they had returned to being the usual, terrible and sharp eyes that looked with hatred at everything and everyone.
"You should know..." Nightmare Moon said turning her back on Celestia. "Your sister is dead."
After saying those words, Nightmare Moon began to walk towards the center of the room again, while her shadows dragged Celestia after her.
"Well, it matters not that I can’t use the elements of harmony." Nightmare Moon said, turning her eyes back to the stone altar. "I am still the mightiest mare in all of Equestria, and that will be enough to-"
Suddenly Nightmare Moon stopped talking and quickly turned her head towards the door of the room, beyond which she could see the extensive Everfree forest. Something had caught her attention.
Nightmare Moon had left several pieces of her magic through the forest to be alerted of any intrusion in the area, after all, it never hurt to be cautious, she couldn't leave anything unattended, and it was one of those magic bits she left that had alerted her to somepony in the forest. Nightmare Moon then concentrated as a dark cloud formed before her, a dark cloud that slowly became clear until it showed an image, one of the paths that passed through the forest and headed for the old castle, on that road she could see a pony, a purple unicorn that carried an orange mare on his back.
"Dusk..." Princess Celestia whispered, who could not help but see the image Nightmare Moon was seeing.
"Oh, yes, the little colt who broke your heart!" Nightmare Moon said with a wicked smile, looking at Celestia. "If I'm not mistaken, he's your student, correct? It seems that he is headed here, who knows, maybe he wants to keep yelling and cursing at you. Hahaha!"
Nightmare Moon's gaze remained seeing the image of the colt.
"Yes... I must admit he's very interesting..." Nightmare Moon said, opening her eyes with interest. "If he is your personal student, he must be a powerful unicorn, and even better, he shares my hatred for you... Maybe I will invite him to join my ranks." Nightmare Moon said, licking her lips as if savoring something delectable.
Nightmare Moon's personality, even one could say that her entire existence, was a representation of a radical personality, feelings carried to the extreme in her heart: excessive wrath, excessive sadness, excessive desires... And it was those desires that for a moment took her to see Dusk with other eyes, eyes of unbridled passion... However, if there was something that borderline personality enjoyed even more than a possible passionate desire, it was to see the suffering of her greatest enemy, to see her full of fear and anger. It was then that Nightmare Moon suddenly put on a devilish smile and a terrifying look.
"But if he’s foolish enough to come here, I might just have to finish him off, or better yet! I'll make him suffer until he begs for mercy! Hmhmhm!" Nightmare Moon added sinisterly.
"Don't you dare!" Celestia said, looking for the first time that night with fury at Nightmare Moon. "You promised not to hurt them!"
Nightmare Moon turned to look upon Celestia, gazing at her with an evil smile, she enjoyed seeing Celestia lose her temper, so she thought how much she would enjoy seeing the pain in Celestia while she tortured that pony right in front of her, but that was a luxury that couldn't be given, for the truth was that Nightmare Moon had used much of her power to free herself from her lunar prison, and another big portion was used to keep Celestia prisoner, magic that did not require so much concentration and power since the princess had surrendered without resistance and remained willingly, but Nightmare Moon knew that Celestia was an alicorn of great power, and if the princess began to struggle and to try break free, that would complicate things greatly, so for now Nightmare Moon would play along, at least until she could recover all her strength and finally get rid of the princess of the sun.
"Of course I won't harm him... I promised..." Nightmare Moon responded with an malicious grin. "But I never said anything about frightening or intimidating him."
Then Nightmare Moon concentrated her magic and a large dark cloud, similar to the one that formed her mane, formed in front of her and sped out of the castle, towards Dusk Shine.
It had been awhile since Dusk Shine had entered the Everfree forest, just following the road the mares had indicated, still carrying Applejack, who was still asleep on his back.
The more Dusk advanced through the forest, the more terrifying the place seemed to become. With each broken branch, every distant howl or noise of the wind, Dusk was put in a state of alert, looking everywhere, as if waiting to be attacked at any moment. He remembered the stories he had heard about the Everfree forest, of ponies being devoured by ferocious and wild creatures, or some ponies who entered and lost their sanity after being lost in there, so many stories that at the time seemed exaggerated, but now that he's experiencing it in the flesh, he felt that this and many worse things really could be possible, even more at that moment, when a mighty and villainous mare was hiding there.
Suddenly, amidst so much darkness, a colorful vision caught Dusk's attention, near a bush, at the edge of the road, was a beautiful flower, of bright and clear colors, with petals of different hues, something really beautiful that seemed out of place in that dark and gloomy forest, for that same reason, it stood out even more. Dusk approached the flower and smiled when he recognized it, it was a flower called 'rainbow shine', he knew it because this was Princess Celestia's favorite flower, a well-kept secret since the princess had never shown favoritism towards a particular flower, and it would prove to be a mistake toward a flower as exotic and scarce as this, which only grew in the Everfree forest, since if this was public knowledge, this flower probably would have gone extinct, since all the ponies of Equestria would overexploit them to give them to the princess. So to prevent this, only the royal gardener and a couple of guards knew about it, since once a month the princess ordered that they bring a pair of those flowers to put next to her throne, as her only company, something that Dusk had obviously discovered on his own given the amount of time spent with the princess.
Dusk cut the flower with his magic and levitated it in front of him, he knew how much the princess admired this flower, so it would be a good gesture to give it to her as the first gesture of forgiveness once he had rescued her, because Dusk knew that even if everything went well and in some miraculous way could rescue the princess safe and sound, he still had to beg for the princess's forgiveness, he had acted horribly with her, and he needed to make amends.
"A small gift may not amend all the things I said." Dusk said thinking aloud and fading the flower, transporting it to a safe place until it was time to hand it to the princess. "But I know that she'd like this beautiful flower." Dusk finished saying, thinking that that flower would also be the symbol of his hope, a symbol of Dusk's firm belief that everything would turn out well and that the princess was indeed alive somewhere.
After that, Dusk looked back at the road and advanced, however, he couldn't even take two steps as he felt a strong grip on his neck that hung him by surprise.
"Dusk, ya idiot!" Applejack suddenly said, waking and choking Dusk for a few seconds before releasing him.
Once Applejack released Dusk, she jumped down from Dusk's back, while Dusk touched his neck, trying to breathe normally, for although Applejack had not squeezed heavily, it had been enough to make him breathless.
"Cough! Cough! I... I see you've woken up, cough!" Dusk said once he caught his breath.
Applejack just looked annoyed at Dusk, not answering that obvious question.
"Why'd ya use yer magic ta put us ta sleep!?" The orange mare finally asked, still looking angry at Dusk.
Dusk was silent for a moment before answering, head down, looking at the ground.
"I... I need to do this alone." Dusk said repeating what he had said before using his sleeping spell.
"Why!? Why'd ya have this eagerness ta do everythang on yer own!?" Applejack asked insistently.
Dusk again remained silent, not knowing how to express his feelings or being sure of wanting to actually do it. Applejack waited a while for the answer, remembering what she and her friends had talked about in the library when they confronted Dusk. She understood that Dusk had trouble showing what he felt, but that couldn't go on forever, so she approached Dusk to talk more closely.
"Listen, it seems like you keep a lot of secrets inside you, so much so that it's even hard for you to tell the truth when it's needed." Applejack said looking seriously at Dusk. "I won't force ya to talk, but it would be good for ya to start trustin' others, and the foundation of trust is the truth." Applejack said before putting one of her hooves on Dusk. "Do ya trust me?"
Dusk stared at Applejack, he knew how to respond, he was sure that he trusted her, after all, she was the most honest mare he knew, it was impossible not to trust her, however, the way Applejack asked him that question, the way she had stood in front of him and how she touched him, reminded him exactly of his first friendship, a mare who had also approached Dusk at the time, had touched him affectionately and asked the same question.
"I...I don't know." Dusk responded very nervously, involuntarily remembering his painful past again.
Applejack looked disappointed with Dusk, but she correctly interpreted it wasn't that Dusk didn't trust her, but he just couldn’t express it properly, so with a snort of resignation, she would have to keep waiting until the truth came out voluntarily from Dusk's lips.
"Ya really are a headache." Applejack said looking at Dusk a little worried, but without wanting to continue pressing him. "So... What say we at least go back fer the others? They must've woken up by now."
"I don't think that's the best decision." Dusk said turning around and looking at the road again. "We're already deep in the forest, and we can't continue wasting more time, the longer we take, the more time Nightmare Moon has to get what she needs from the princess."
Then Dusk started walking again, not looking at Applejack since he didn't want her to see him hesitating, because in truth he was questioning himself whether leaving the other mares behind was best choice.
"Suit yerself, 'though I keep insisting that we go back for 'um." Applejack said, rushing to reach Dusk and walk beside him, believing that what Dusk just said was just an excuse not to return, but she decided it would not be right to leave Dusk alone.
So they both walked silently for a while, until Dusk paused when he saw that the road was divided in two.
"One leads ta the castle and the other leads back ta Ponyville." Applejack said approaching, seeing the confusion of Dusk. "Which is good if'n we want ta go back an' meet the others."
"Which of the two roads leads to the castle?" Dusk asked.
"The one on the right." Applejack replied without hesitation.
Then Dusk took the path to the right and continued walking next to Applejack, while he noticed that she looked at him sideways without a word.
"How'd ya know Ah' told ya the truth?" Applejack finally asked as they kept walking. "Maybe Ah' fooled ya in ta going back to the beginning with the others, Ah' mean..." Then Applejack looked mischievously at Dusk. "Why trust me?"
Dusk kept walking somewhat embarrassed, realizing Applejack's point. He didn't like others playing with his mind and guiding him toward an obvious answer, but he had to admit that Applejack had left him in evidence of something he had done instinctively, he didn't even question if Applejack had in fact lied! However, why hadn't he questioned something so obvious?
Dusk was about to respond when a great snort was heard near them, causing both ponies to startle and remain on alert. Both ponies looked back at the same time and saw a huge black bull, with bright, devilish eyes, it looked at them not far from there. Immediately the bull gave another deafening snort and threw himself into a charge toward the ponies.
"RUN!!!" Applejack shouted starting to run along with Dusk, completely frightened. As any good country pony, she knew many animals, great big bulls among them, nevertheless she had never seen a bull as huge and frightening as the one that chased them, so she only thought to run.
Dusk ran next to Applejack, giving his all since the mare ran very fast, but the adrenaline of the moment allowed him to match the pace of the mare. While they did, all they heard was the bull's snort, which approached them like a huge freight train.
The unicorn thought of using his teleportation spell as he did when he fled from Applejack's cousins, so he turned for a second to see how far back was the huge beast following them before using his magic, however, when turning he saw that the bull was almost on top of them, so the only thing Dusk thought and did was to take Applejack by a hoof and pull her with himself out of the road, while the bull by the inertia of its onslaught followed along. As they left the road, both ponies rolled downhill because the road was slightly elevated. Once they stopped rolling, both stood up quickly as they heard that the bull was also beginning to descend towards them.
"Quick! We gotta go!" Dusk said in a frightened voice, pushing Applejack to keep straight, into the forest.
So they continued to run with all their might as they felt the snorts approaching more and more, until they went out to an esplanade where there were no trees, therefore they could see better thanks to the light of the full moon, after which they followed running just a little more.
"Woah!" Applejack shouted, stopping short, grabbing Dusk to stop running too, just in time.
Stopped by Applejack, Dusk realized that he had been so focused on running that he had not realized that there was no further road ahead, just a huge cliff from which the mare had fortunately saved him from falling off.
Both ponies looked sideways, not knowing where to go until they looked back and saw that the huge bull had also come out of the trees, stopping its rampage a short distance away, just staring at them. Now that the light of the moon allowed them to see better, they could see that the bull, if it could be called that, it wasn't like any beast they had seen before, it was of a dark blue color, faceless, with two huge, bright white eyes while its fur seemed to change color in certain parts of its body. Then the bull gave another huge snort and got in position to begin his final charge towards the ponies since they had reached a dead end.
"He's going to gore us!" Dusk said in fear, watching the huge beast prepare to ram.
"Maybe... we should jump off the cliff, so perhaps there is a minimum chance of survival." Applejack said fearfully, glancing at the huge cliff that stretched behind them.
The ponies could not agree because at that moment the huge bull began its wild rush towards them.
As the beast approached, Dusk discovered that there was one last escape, if he used teleportation at the last second to disappear and reappear just when the bull attacked them, they could be saved and incidentally make the bull fall off the cliff. It was extremely risky, but it was their only salvation.
The fearful face that both ponies showed as the bull continued its charge toward them, was only increasing, at least until Applejack suddenly ceased being frightened and made a face of curiosity as if she had seen something interesting.
"As soon as it gets closer I'll use my magic to teleport us." Dusk said very nervously.
"No need." Applejack said, as soon as Dusk turned to see her, to his amazement she no longer looked as terrified as she had been an instant ago. "Jus' stay here, nothin'll happen."
"What do you mean!?" Dusk asked afraid, as he heard that the bull was almost in front of them.
Applejack turned to look at Dusk.
"Do you trust me?" Applejack said with a smile. The beast continued its charge toward them.
"Yes!" Dusk finally said, still afraid to hear the snorting of the bull closer and closer.
"Why?" Applejack asked quietly, still watching him.
"Because..." Dusk answered, listening to the snorts almost in front of them, so he turned to see the beast approaching.
It was then that Dusk had a very important revelation, in the dialogue he and Applejack had about trust when she awoke, the important thing had not been whether he trusted her or not, he knew he did, what really mattered was knowing WHY he trusted Applejack, and that was just the answer to the whole problem he was facing now.
"I trust you because I know you would never lie to me or intend to cause harm, because I know you always tell the truth, because you're the most honest pony I know!" Dusk said as he reassured himself and looked straight ahead at the dark bull approaching them, just as Applejack did. He didn’t know how they would come out unscathed, but he knew something, that he could always rely on the honesty of Applejack, and that was all he needed.
The bull arrived with his final onslaught, at full speed, in front of the ponies, while they continued to stare at it without blinking or moving. And in that final onslaught, it was that the bull followed long, turning into smoke, traversing them, and disappearing behind them like a fleeting fumarole.
Both Dusk and Applejack began to breathe again, agitated, after having held their breath due to the tension of the moment, then both looked at each other and began to laugh nervously, laughter that was becoming more joyful as the seconds passed.
"Ah' knew it wasn't real!" Applejack said smiling.
"How did you know it wasn't real!?" Dusk asked in amazement, smiling in relief.
"Look there." Applejack said, pointing to the path the huge bull had been running. "There are no hoofprints, it's impossible for a huge beast to leave no trace in its path, so Ah thought it couldn't be real, Ah' didn't realize it before, but now that we're in a brighter place Ah' could see it."
Dusk looked at the ground and marveled at the mare's brilliant deduction.
"That was very clever." Dusk said smiling. "It would've been easier if you had simply told me to look at the ground to see the prints." Dusk finished saying, thinking that the bull would have been much easier to face if she had told him about the footprints instead of asking if he trusted her.
"Well, you said you didn't know if you trusted me." Applejack said smiling. "Now you know you can trust me! You know it because you know me and you know I'll always be honest with you." Applejack finished with a wink.
Dusk blushed, not only at how cute Applejack looked with that gesture but also how embarrassed he was that he'd not sincerely told her that he trusted her before.
"Maybe now you can tell me the truth, why you want to go and rescue the princess by yourself." Applejack looked at Dusk warmly.
Dusk swallowed, he remembered that when he had cast the sleep spell, he didn't want to tell the truth to her face, because he didn't know how to express it or knew if they would understand it, but that was something he wouldn't have to worry about, Applejack had more than proven that he can trust her, and if he wanted her to trust him in the future, he had to tell the truth, even though it was hard to tell, after all, as she had said, the truth was the foundation for trust.
"I... I want to rescue the princess because I feel responsible, I screamed at her in anger and blamed her for my misfortunes, so I think it must be me and only me who rescues her." Dusk said starting to tell the truth. "But it's not just that, I... I don't want you to go with me, because the truth is I don't know if I can do it, and I don't want anything bad to happen to you five because of me, I... I really feel that I want to protect you and the others!"
Dusk paused before continuing.
"A long time ago I had a friend, on who I thought I could trust, but..." Dusk again fell silent for a second, since remembering all that and saying it out loud was something very complicated for him. "But everything went wrong, she ended up lying and deceiving me, she never really wanted to be my friend... and overtime I realized that every new pony I knew that approached me just wanted to approach the princess, no one was sincere with me, that's why I stopped believing in others..." At this point Dusk looked at Applejack affectionately. "But then I met you five, and little by little we were forging a bond that I don't want to break, these feelings that I feel... are something I don't want to lose, that's why I did what I did. I want to protect you five no matter what."
"Wow... First, ya couldn't tell the truth an' now you're brutally honest, ya gotta find some middle ground, ya know." Applejack said, pretending to giggle, which made Dusk blush.
The truth was that Applejack had said that joke to break up the mood that had been generated a little, because while Dusk spoke she had listened carefully to each word, watching as Dusk finally opened his heart and was sincere with her, and the more she listened to him, her heart began to beat faster. Seeing Dusk so vulnerable, being so honest with her, only with her! Exposing his traumas and relying entirely on her, made the mare inadvertently begin to see Dusk with dreamy eyes. So when Dusk finished speaking, she quickly said that bad joke so that Dusk wouldn’t realize that she had been staring at him with dreamy eyes and with her cheeks blushed.
"But ya didn't have to do any o' that." Applejack added, trying to get back to the subject of why he had knocked them out. "Didn't ya think that we feel the same way as you an' that we also want ta protect ya?"
"I... I'm sorry." Dusk finally apologized.
"An' what do ya say now? Are we going ta look fer the others?" Applejack asked a little more cheerfully.
"We can't, there's no time to lose, mainly now that I know I'm right." Dusk said seriously, looking at Applejack. "Did you see how that bull faded? I don't think I've heard of any creature like this before, and no matter how strange the Everfree Forest is, I don't think such a creature exists. As you said, the bull wasn't real, it was just a huge bull-shaped shadow that chased us without any provocation, going straight for us, trying to scare us. I wouldn't believe that anypony could have such extraordinary magic to manipulate shadows mixed with such a powerful illusion, unless I hadn't seen somepony using it tonight, Nightmare Moon! She has that ability and is using it against us! And if she's trying to keep us away, it means that she must actually be here, concealing something, and if so, my theory of the princess still being alive is more valid!"
"But I don't know how much longer Nightmare Moon will keep the princess alive." Dusk added quickly, looking at Applejack with a more worried look. "That's why we need to continue, we can't go back."
"Okay, I get it." Applejack finally said, regretting not being able to return to her friends.
"Plus, we have another problem now." Applejack added, looking at the forest. "Ah' don't know where we are, so we'll have ta go inta the woods ta find the way."
"Then, let's hurry." Dusk said, trotting as Applejack caught up with him, and together they were starting to leave the esplanade and back into the shadows of the terrifying forest.
As they advanced, a clear mist began to appear, becoming denser every second, gradually covering the Everfree forest, bringing with it the chilling sense of fear.
# End of Chapter 16
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Was that mare sunset and if not will we see that mate dusk talked about appear in the story
a 100k and you'e finally in the Everfree Forest. Interesting chapter nice to see NMM is into Dusk, no big surprise there, and we see more of his past. Looking forward to see what comes next
8446331
the name of that mare will remain a mystery for some time xD but yes, she will appear at some point in story =D
thanks for commenting :)
8446544
I'm glad you like it :) soon more chapters ;D
thanks for commenting :)
At this point all i see is an anime a nerdy socially awkward guy, a harem, he's strong but gets his ass kicked, and always the awkward situations with girls. Tottal anime, not saying its a bad thing just a formula i recognize. Hopefully i'll get a moment of badass that i want out of the guy but with that formula doesnt look like i'll be seeing it soon.
8449103
well, yes, I guess you can recognize a certain formula in history given that there are 5 girls behind the same colt, but each one has its own feelings and ways of expressing them, just like Dusk, everything will develop as the story progresses. I guess sometimes there are certain cliche situations, but I do my best to make the story not become a whole cliche and surprise the reader (despite the fact that the story follows the series' canon) :3 , you'll have to wait to see how this whole problem with Nightmare Moon is resolved to see what happens and how the story unfolds =D
thanks for commenting :)
8449622
Well basically every story has been told a hundrend times before but its little twist in the stories that make it its own thing its why we can stand for so many spy, and hero movies. I really do like this story and it does have its moments in where i didn't see somthing coming just was pointing out the template you are using not trying to be a smart ass or tell you how to write. Cant wait to see more good stuff from you.
Such a "Do you trust me?" situation fits better than the original situation. I mean sure, I believe she said that in the original test too, but this seemed more natural than the whole letting go schtick. The original test was a bit strange compared to this, so I think it was a good solution.
8973733
Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked the idea I had about what could happen with Applejack :)
& thanks for comment ;)
Quick question, do you plan on doing something with Moondancer and her relation with Dusk?
9081820
=P sorry, I can't say which characters will appear in the future, we'll have to wait to find out =D
I ship rarity and dusk the most. I thought hellia was gonna ask if she could go on vacation.
11051343
So it's difficult to choose only one haha
yeah, Dusk and Rarity make a nice couple
But the other girls also have their good moments
thanks for comment
8973733
I have a agree, this was so much more natural then what they did in the show. Your a great storyteller, I really love the story so far
11379362
I'm glad you like my story 
thank you so much
This is a key concept for our hero.
Okay, girls, let’s teach this %*@& the meaning of friendship. The hard way.
(80’s catch phrase logic)
I wasn’t sure he would do this, but I think it’s much more dramatic this way.