Episode 10 [Part 1] - Pest Control
A week passed since the incident with Zecora have been resolved. Even though Dusk received a scolding from Applejack for “imprisoning” her in his pouch back then and had to work at Sweet Apple Acres for a few days to make up for it, he was nevertheless pleased of the outcome.
It was a welcome relief to the zebra for she can finally shop for her herbs without the ponies abruptly closing their stores in fear of her presence. As for Dusk and the mares, they made a new friend who was more than willing to aid them when trouble comes.
While it was relatively quiet most of the week, today was an exception for everypony in Ponyville learned that Princess Celestia was planning to visit the town tomorrow.
As expected, everypony was quickly preparing for the visit; decorating the town and preparing food that would appeal to royalty. While Dusk had a good feeling that the Celestia isn’t that formal, he was obvious that the ponies revered her greatly.
Especially Twilight, who was in the library trying to get everything inside cleaned up and organized for her mentor’s visit.
“Oh! Hurry up you two! This place isn't going clean itself.”
“It also didn't mess itself up.”
“True that.”
Dusk and Spike groaned as they were helping move the books back to the sleeves. It didn’t help that she left the books she was reading lying around the main floor.
A lot of books... And it is still in the afternoon.
“Princess Celestia will be here tomorrow!”
Twilight told them as she was levitating a feather duster and was brushing the dust away.
“I thought this was just an unofficial casual visit.” Spike said.
“He’s right.” Dusk agreed with him. “You are just overreacting...”
“Overreacting?! Dusk! There’s nothing casual about a visit from royalty!” Twilight stated, unaware she was proving the stallion right. “I want this place to be spotless, and you and Spike barely made a dent in the clutter!”
“Maybe you should, ugh, start reading them one at a time... Woah!”
Spike was climbing up the shelf ladder, but it wasn’t easy since one of his claws was holding onto a small stack of books. Soon enough, he slipped and fell to the floor as the books rained on him.
“You are okay?” Dusk asked the baby dragon as he got up to him and got the books of him.
“Yeah.” Spike replied as he got back on his feet, but had an opened book on top of his head.
“Everything's got to be perfect.” Twilight stated as approached the two. “No time for fooling around!”
“You know, this would be an awful lot easier if there weren't three of us here getting under each other's feet.”
“He has a point. We can get more done if we focus on our jobs and not bother each other so much.”
Spike told the unicorn, which Dusk agreed with. The two hoped that it should convince her to focus on cleaning and stop interrupting them with her worries of how the visit would go.
“Great idea.” Much to their surprise, the unicorn handed Spike her feather duster. “You clean, me and Dusk will split up to see how everyone else's preparations are coming.”
“Wha...” Dusk was dumbfounded that Twilight misinterpreted what he and Spike actually meant.
“You go check on the Cakes at Sugarcube Corner.” She told the stallion. “I’ll check everypony at the park.”
“Twilight, that is not what we were...”
Dusk tried to explain what they were actually saying, but the unicorn didn’t hear him as she walked out of the library.
“Ahhhh...” Spike groaned in frustration as he has to now clean up the entire library by himself.
“Don’t worry.” Dusk patted him on the head to comfort him. “I’ll quickly check through Sugarcube Corner and come back here to help.”
“I would appreciate that Dusk.” Spike feel a bit better as he watched Dusk quickly leave the library.
As the stallion made his way to the store, Dusk looked at all the decorations and food stands that were set up across the place. He could see that everypony were putting everything they got in making sure that Celestia enjoys her visit to Ponyville.
“With everything how it is, Twilight shouldn’t have anything to worry about.”
He muttered to himself as he finally caught sight of Sugarcube Corner and went inside. As expected, the Cakes were very busy in preparing various kinds of the sweets for Celestia’s visits.
Mr. Cake was identified from his amber coat, orange mane and a trio of carrot cakes as his cutie mark. He also has an orange pattern on his upper muzzle, which was very similar to freckles.
As for Mrs. Cake, her coat was of light cerulean and her mane was striped; one is light crimson while the other was a much lighter version of the former. Her mane was also styled in which it was identical to an ice cream swirl.
“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Cake.” Dusk greeted them. “Is everything going well in here?”
“Ah Dusk.” Mrs. Cake greeted him back before she made a nervous laugh. “Well, that would be the case if...”
She pointed to the many sweets that were lined up on one of the tables. Dusk in turn was startled to see that most of them were already bitten into.
Quickly enough, he soon realized who that was responsible for all that.
“Pinkie Pie...”
“You said my name Dusk?”
The said pony popped out from behind the table with a cupcake in her hoof. After chomping on it, she then turned her attention to one of the cakes and manages to swallow it whole, much to Dusk’s shock.
“Pinkie... You know those are meant for Princess Celestia right?” The stallion stated as he recovered from his shock. “Do you know how much work the Cakes were putting in making these?”
“Of course! With how tasty these sweets are, I say the Cakes are doing a great job!”
Pinkie happily said as she continues to engorge herself on the sweets. Dusk could only facehoof at how his friend was acting. While she means well, it is nevertheless quite difficult to get the party pony to see reason time-to-time.
“Hey Dusk.”
Hearing his name, he turned back to the door and saw it was Twilight.
“I came to check on you. So how is the banquet going?”
“I think we may have a small problem.”
Dusk gestured to the table with the half-eaten sweets, which he soon saw Pinkie chomp into a large cake that was adorned with a crown.
“Scratch that... A big problem...” He sighed out as Pinkie licked the cream off her mouth as the crown landed on the top of her head.
“Pinkie! What are you doing?” As expected, Twilight bolted into the store to confront Pinkie. “Those sweets are supposed to be for the princess!”
“I know. That's why I'm tasting them. Somepony needs to make sure that everything is tasty enough to touch the royal tongue...” Pinkie told her in a formal yet playful manner. “And I, Pinkie Pie, declare that these treats are fit for a king, or a queen, or a princess.”
Just as Pinkie was about to eat another cake while Twilight and Dusk tried to stop her, they heard Fluttershy’s voice from outside.
“Twilight, Dusk, Pinkie, you won't believe...” She skipped into Sugarcube Corner and notice the little situation that the three were in. “Oh, I'm sorry. Uh, am I interrupting?”
“No, not at all. Come on in and make yourself at home.” Pinkie told her as she tried to eat the cake again.
Since Twilight was focused on Fluttershy, she would have gotten away with it. However, she forgot about Dusk, who quickly pulled the cake away from her before she could eat it.
“Anything you need, Fluttershy?” Dusk asked the pegasus before he shook his head Pinkie, who only pouted.
“You won't believe what I found at the edge of the Everfree Forest.” She then turned to a portion of her mane. “Come on out, little guy. It's okay.”
From her mane, a small blue insect with an orb-like body, green eyes and four wings flew out and hovered beside her. Dusk could see it was no ordinary insect as he heard it chirp and purr with its small mouth forming a smile.
The strange insect wasn’t alone however as two more then came out; one was yellow and the other was brown.
“Three?” Fluttershy gasped in surprise.
“They're amazing...” Twilight was apparently taken by their cute appearance and went up for a closer look. “What are they?”
“I'm not sure. I'm also not sure where these other two came from.”
Fluttershy replied as she pointed to the three insects that were now flying above her.
“I'll take one off your hooves.” Twilight soon took hold of the yellow insect that was circling around her and nuzzled it. “I've never seen anything so... adorable.”
Dusk could only chuckle at the scene, which was heard by the unicorn and made her realize what she was doing in front of everypony.
Quickly enough, she regains some of her composure while her cheeks had a noticeable blush. “Besides, it'll be nice to have a companion for Spike so he won't bother me so much while I'm studying.”
“Dusk, do you want the other one?”
“I think I’ll pass.” The stallion politely passed on Fluttershy’s offer. “What about you Pinkie?”
“Ugh! A parasprite? Are you kidding?”
The moment Dusk asked her that question, the party pony stick her tongue out in disgust. Soon enough, she started to walk towards the door with a frown on her face.
“Huh?”
“A para-what?”
“How could you not like...”
Dusk, Twilight and Fluttershy were all taken back by Pinkie’s response. Before they could say anything else, the party pony turned back to them with a hint of seriousness in her eyes.
“Ugh. Now I gotta go find a trombone!”
“What?” Dusk and Twilight said at the same time at what Pinkie said.
“A trombone, you know...” She did an imitation of the playing the instrument before she left Sugarcube Corner.
“Ahhh, typical Pinkie...”
Twilight merely sighed as she knew well how strange and unpredictable that her friend can be. She then gazed upon her a new pet insect with a smile, which purred in return.
“I wonder why Pinkie called it a parasprite?” Dusk muttered to himself since the insect doesn’t appear to be dangerous in anyway.
Then again, he once thought that the blue flowers that were Poison Joke to be harmless and would have stumble into them if not for Utopia’s warning.
Dusk could try to have the Number verify on the so-called parasprite, but he didn’t have his deck with him. From both observations and experience, a Number cannot provide any form of support unless the card itself is in close proximity to the user.
This was the case for despite having Star Seraph Sentry, Twilight didn’t have the card with her when she walked into the patch of Poison Joke a week ago. If she did have the card with her back then, she could have avoided getting affected by the flower.
“I wish I brought my deck with me...”
His best back was for him to wait for Twilight to bring the insect to the library, where he could see if Utopia or even Sentry have anything to say. Then again, he could try to find a book that provide details on the insect by using parasprite as a reference.
With that in mind and seeing that Sugarcube Corner was working hard despite the setback caused by Pinkie, Dusk decided to go back to the library and help Spike like he promised.
Before he could leave the store, he was stopped by Twilight.
“Dusk, where are you going?”
“I’m going back to the library to help Spike. What about you?”
“I’ve have to check on Rarity and the outfits she prepared for the Princess’s visit.” Twilight replied. “I believe Rainbow Dash is there as well.”
“Really?” Dusk found it surprising that somepony like Dash would dress up for the occasion, especially in something fancy.
“You think they would like your new friend?” He referred to the yellow insect that hovered beside the unicorn.
“I’m sure they will. I’ll see you back in the library then.”
Nodding in response, Dusk left Sugarcube Corner and went back to the library.
When he arrived, he saw that the baby dragon manages to organize all the books on the floor into neat piles and was now trying to put them back into the sleeves.
Spike may be a hard worker, but he does have his limits. He was currently taking a break on the stairs and was relieved to see that Dusk really did came back to help out.
Before the two started to clean up the library together, Dusk told Spike about what happened back at Sugarcube Corner. While the baby dragon was interested in meeting this insect, he wondered why Pinkie called it a parasprite.
Knowing that Twilight wanted the library to be as clean as possible, they decided that they should look it up when the Celestia finishes her visit. For now, they have an entire library to clean.
In a matter of hours, they manage to accomplish just that; starting from the main floor to Twilight’s room. Much to Dusk’s surprise, everything inside appeared to sparkling. As much he wanted to question how such a thing was possible, he knew that anything could happen in fantasy world like Equestria.
While Dusk still had some strength left in him despite the ordeal, Spike ended up falling asleep due to exhaustion.
Just as Dusk laid the baby dragon on his bed, he heard the door opening from downstairs and knew Twilight was back.
“I’m home!” She called out as the stallion went downstairs and greeted her.
“Welcome back Twilight. Like what me and Spike did with the place?” He asked.
“Yes! Everything here is perfect!” She replied in happiness. “I’m sure everything will be fine tomorrow.”
“Glad to hear.” Dusk smiled at her. “So, what did Rarity and Rainbow Dash say about your little friend?”
Dusk gestured to the yellow insect that flew out of the unicorn’s mane and was now circling around her.
“Oh, they love it. In fact, they now have one of their own.”
“One of their own? Did Fluttershy went out to find more or something?”
“Well that is the strange thing...” She said. “When I went to Carousel Boutique, I ended up having two more.”
“Really?” Dusk was disturbed to hear that since it gives the notion that the insect was somehow multiplying itself.
“In any case, we should rest up for the Princess’s visit tomorrow. Have good night Dusk.” Twilight then went upstairs to her room while the small insect followed her.
“You too Twilight.” He replied before he made a yawn. With all the cleaning he had to do, he deserves a good night rest.
As he went to bed and closed his eyes, Dusk then heard a voice in his head.
‘Utopia...’
He tiredly thought as she started to fall asleep. Before Dusk finally succumbing to slumber, the Number quietly gave him a warning.
‘Your friend is a fool bringing it here... Prepare yourself tomorrow...’
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8502815
I posted the newest chapter up a few hours ago.
8504039
Hey, how's the next chapter looking?
8532237
I'm been slow with my writing since my recent update, so I didn't make any significant progress with the next chapter. Not only that, I been sick for the last few days. When I get better, I will get back to my writing.
8532903
I feel you dude. I've had this stupid annoying sore throat since last Friday, and it's been preventing me from eating any of the salty chips that I love to eat.
8532903
Hey dude. It's been three weeks by now. Are you feeling any better?
8587537
I has been several weeks now and I've actually made a full recovery about two weeks ago. However, my writing been slow since I was struggling with Writer's Block, which became more apparent when it came to the dueling portion within the chapter. Even now, I been looking up tips on dealing with Writer's Block.
I'm still going to write, but I fear that may not be as frequent with my updates like before. Regarding the deadline, I'm aiming for the December 6.
8588505
I never said anything about a deadline. I just wanted to know if you were feeling better.
8589653
Oh. If that is the case, then I will try to get the next chapter up by the end of the week.
8592802
Is the next chapter ready? You did say it would be by the end of the week after all.
8601831
Unfortunately, my Writer's Block is still getting in the way and the next update will have to be delayed for another few days. If by some sort of luck I can pull through, I may be able to get the chapter up by tomorrow afternoon or evening.
8602285
Kay
8602285
Is the next chapter almost done? If not, what are you having trouble with? Maybe I could help.
8604490
I still working on the chapter I'm afraid. Of all the Writer's Blocks I had in the past, this is the worse one I had yet. I'm currently working on the duel portion, but I'm either having blanks in my head or getting second thoughts how a turn should play out.
With how everything is going right now, there is no point of me of setting up a specific deadline since I'm very likely to miss it anyway. The only thing I could promise is that the full chapter would be out this December.
There is an option though for me to just upload the completed portion of the chapter either today or tomorrow. The work-in-progress portion would be then refitted into an extra chapter to Episode 10, which would be uploaded in the future. It may not be what you would be expecting, but it is at least a decent compromise.
Hallo! This story of yours is quite interesting. I'm a writer myself and I can surely appreciate the work others write. Although, this story needs some editing. I'm not good with explanations but I can tell you that there are many words and phrases that could be changed to make the reader want to read more. Looks like I'm rambling again. Forgive me if I'm being rude and keep up the good work. Can't wait for the next chapter, that is if you're still working on this story.