Dusk Shine in pursuit of Happiness II

by bigsnusnu

Chapter 12 - Discovering new feelings

Discovering New Feelings

In the royal dining room of Canterlot Castle, for the first time in days the three princesses had gathered for breakfast together. With all the preparations Cadance had to make prior to her big day, she had little time left to share that moment of the day with her two aunts. For her part, Luna had done her best to leave her room as little as possible. Apparently, Sunset Shimmer's arrival at the castle made Luna want to avoid meeting her. But luckily that morning, Cadance had gone to breakfast without her new student.

"Princess, do you want more coffee?" Sweet Caramel asked, as always, attentive to serve her beloved princess.

"Yes... And make it double." Luna growled, obviously in a bad mood.

After so many days blaming herself for exposing Dusk Shine to the danger of altering his own mind, Luna had finally accepted that she should stop blaming herself and finally personally apologize to Dusk. That night, in the world of dreams, Luna had paced repeatedly in front of the door that led to Dusk's dreams. She knew that she had promised herself to stop invading Dusk's dreams, but she thought it might be necessary to make an exception to apologize. However, that impulse to enter Dusk's dreams was instantly diluted when she saw and felt how Dusk's dream door changed to a red color and a soft heat emanated from it.

Spending years touring the world of dreams had given Luna the experience of recognizing when a dream was affected by a strong emotion. This was how Luna recognized when someone had a nightmare, as certain doors of dreams became dark and cold. And on the contrary, when the doors of dreams presented those characteristics that she saw in Dusk's door, it was the opposite. That meant that pony must be having a 'too' satisfying dream, most likely with some fantasy that set its heart on fire.

That had made Luna abandon the idea of ​​visiting Dusk's dreams and she felt extremely upset after finishing her vigil and going down to breakfast with her sister.

"That shameless stallion... I'm sure he was having some fantasy with one of his friends!" Luna thought annoyed, as she took the third cup of coffee that Sweet Caramel served her. Without realizing that deep down, what bothered her wasn’t that Dusk had fantasies, but that those fantasies weren't about HER.

"What's wrong, Auntie? It’s not good to frown on such a beautiful morning." Cadance said, noticing immediately that Luna was in a bad mood. "Where’s that beautiful smile of yours?!" Cadance smiled lovingly, making a face for her aunt to smile too.

"I am a princess. I can be in a bad mood if I want to." Luna growled back.

"Well, I am a princess too. So, I guess it's okay to ask." Cadance politely replied back.

"Ugh... It was easier when there were just two princesses." Luna grumbled.

"Well now there are three of us, Auntie." Cadance corrected.

"Why does she keep calling me Auntie?" Luna thought, deciding to surrender to the loving smile of her new 'niece'. "I know my sister said that she said it as a way of affection. But I'm starting to think that she really thinks she's our niece…"

"You were in a bad mood because somepony did something that you didn't like. And now you feel uncomfortable with something… Is there anything I can help you with to brighten up your morning?" Cadance asked, staring at her Auntie Luna and noticing the change in her emotions.

"That is another thing that worries me. That ability she has to feel the emotions of others... Sister, what are you hiding? Does 'she' know?" Luna thought, ignoring Cadance and looking across the table. Her older sister was quietly enjoying a cup of tea and, as always, undeterred by anything.

At that moment, Luna and the others present came out of their thoughts when they heard the doors open. Entering the dining room, Raven Inkwell, Princess Celestia's aide, appeared, carrying a pile of papers with her magic.

"Princess, I have spoken with the advisers, and we have found a solution to this grave threat to the kingdom." Raven said, running up to the Princess of the Sun and showing her one of the papers that were ready to be scattered throughout the kingdom. "What do you think?"

Slowly lowering her cup of tea, Celestia took the paper her assistant handed her to find out what 'great' threat she was talking about. As she did so, Celestia saw that the paper was a poster showing the silhouette of an unknown mare with the question symbol inside it. And under that drawing was written: 'Gabby Gums, Enemy of the State'.

"Um... I think it's a bit of an exaggeration, Raven." Celestia said with an awkward little smile.

All that fuss that Raven Inkwell was creating was due to the fact that the previous day, a copy of a crude newspaper called 'The Foal Free Press' had come to her. In which a photograph of Princess Celestia had been published, caught red-hoofed eating a huge strawberry cake.

"Obviously that photo is faked, I would never eat a strawberry cake alone." Celestia said calmly. She was obviously lying, since both the other two princesses and the twin maids present there knew perfectly well that she always ate cakes secretly. For her part, Celestia cared little that such a photograph of her had been published, but it amused her to see how upset Raven and the other ponies in the palace were with that photograph. "By the way, have you already found out where that newspaper came from?" Celestia asked, anticipating where it might have originated. There was only one pony very close to her could have taken that photograph without her noticing.

"Yes, Princess. We still haven't found out who this 'Gabby Gums' is. But apparently this comes from a Ponyville school newspaper." Raven replied. At which, Celestia smiled mischievously and simply continued sipping her tea. She would have to think hard about a revenge prank for this little joke Dusk decided to spring.

Seeing that her princess seemed not to take the photography business seriously, Raven took the posters and gave up on the idea of hunting down the infamous 'Gabby Gums'. Then she thought about leaving, so that the princesses could continue having their breakfast quietly. However, there was another topic that Raven had discovered that the princess might care about, but she couldn't find the right way to say it to Her Highness without upsetting her.

"Wait, why am I hesitating? It's Princess Celestia I'm talking about. She’s never surprised about anything!" Raven thought, determined to tell the princess what she had discovered.

"Princess, while we were investigating the provenance of that newspaper, our agent in Ponyville reported something to us regarding your student, Dusk Shine." Raven reported in a calmer tone. She held out the latest issue of Ponyville's controversial 'The Foal Free Press' newspaper. "Apparently Dusk Shine got married."

"PFFFTTT!!" It was heard loudly in the dining room as the three princesses spat out the tea and coffee they were drinking. A scene that surprised both Raven and the maids, who never expected their splendid royal highnesses to be so shocked that they would react in such a way unworthy of their class.

Seeing that she had lost all decorum, Celestia quickly composed herself and returned to the same pose and serene look that she normally had.

"Ahem! Uh… could I please see that paper?" Celestia asked calmly, pretending that nothing had happened.

Then Raven gave Celestia the newspaper, which featured a photo of Dusk Shine and Applejack together on the cover, and next to it, a copy of their marriage certificate. The headline of the news read: 'Dusk Shine and Applejack, a married couple living in sin.'

"This... This can't be possible..." Celestia said stunned, reading the article quickly.

"I know!" Raven said, perfectly understanding that the princess was upset that such rumors of her student were circulating. "Surely it’s false news from that journalist, who-"

"How come he didn't invite me to the wedding!?" Celestia interrupted, saying what was truly bothering her. To Raven's amazement.

Every two or three days, Celestia took time to watch Dusk with her magic telescope and thus find out all the details that happened in his busy but entertaining love life. For Celestia, it was like watching her favorite TV show. But now, she realized that she had missed a valuable 'episode' of her favorite series and she deeply regretted not having seen it. Oh, how she wished she could have been there to see her adorable student take the first strides into adulthood…and maybe whisper into his ear about when she should be expecting some grandfoals.

Meanwhile on the other side of the table, Cadance was having a slightly different attitude after hearing the news. After wiping the tea she had spit out from her mouth, and recomposing her elegant image, she now covered her face with her hoof, as if she still didn’t believe what she had heard.

"I told Dusk's friends to take turns being his marefriend. Not for them to take turns marrying him!" Cadance thought worriedly. Thinking that perhaps she had underestimated how unpredictable and intense the love intentions of Dusk's friends could be.

Cadance's thoughts were suddenly distracted as she sensed that someone was slowly falling into a pit of sadness. She looked to her side and saw that her Aunty Luna was the only one of the three princesses who hadn’t recovered after the shock of the news. She still had her mouth open and a look of astonishment, while the coffee fell from her still open mouth.

The news that Dusk was now married had perplexed the Princess of the Night. She already felt bad about herself knowing that Dusk's friends had declared their feelings to him and that it was very possible that Dusk at some point wanted to go out and be a coltfriend of one of them. But getting married was something else! That inevitably left Dusk out of her reach, and that made a deep despair fill her heart, as she understood that she had lost forever the only stallion she had felt anything for... the only colt that perhaps she could have come to love.

"T-This is not normal for Dusk." Cadance said quickly, taking the newspaper from Celestia and glancing at Luna, not wanting her aunt to slip back into depression as she felt she was already doing. "It’s impossible for the Dusk we know to marry without telling us, or his family! There definitely must be something else behind it! Maybe he did it to help a friend, or to cover up something." Cadance quickly added, always glancing at Luna to see how she reacted.

"Y-You're right… Yes! You're right! The Dusk Shine I know is not so irresponsible as to do something like that for no reason." Luna said quickly to regain her confidence, approaching Cadance and taking her by the shoulders. "That's the truth! He must have a reason for doing this crazy thing! Right? Right?!?" Luna added, shaking Cadance, as if she knew the truth.

"Y-Yes, you're right. But the best thing is if we confirm it." Cadance said as she was shaken, happy to see that she had kept her aunt from getting depressed. "In fact, just today I was planning to send somepony to meet up with Dusk's friends. He’ll be able to clarify for us if this is all just a misunderstanding."

"Yes! Yes! Send it!" Luna excitedly agreed, wanting to know as soon as possible if Dusk was really married or not, hoping with all her might that he wasn't. Then suddenly Luna realized she had lost her composure, coughed to calm herself, and pulled away from Cadance. "Ahem… y-yes… I think it's for the best. These rumors can affect my sister if they aren’t handled properly." Luna tried to feint disinterest.

Then Luna turned around and quickly withdrew, embarrassed that everyone had seen her little outburst. Celestia stared at the door through which her sister had retired.

"Goodness me. Luna did seem worried about Dusk's wedding." Celestia said, narrowing her eyes with a serious look of suspicion. "I guess it also bothered her that she wasn't invited to the wedding... I didn't know she liked weddings too!" Celestia chimed, calmly drinking her tea again. While Cadance, the twin maids, and Raven Inkwell stared at Celestia and rolled their eyes. It seemed as though Celestia was probably the only pony in the castle who still didn’t realize how Luna felt for Dusk.

---

"This is too much!" Dusk huffed in annoyance as he walked through the streets of Ponyviile.

For the past couple of days, the entire town had been revolutionized by the school newspaper from the little school in Ponyville. Normally, it was just a mundane school paper that was run under the school foals to teach them about printing and journalism. However, all that had changed with the arrival of the mysterious 'Gabby Gums'. A new journalist who had somehow been intruding into the private lives of the town ponies, publishing scandalous news about everyone, such as that the mayor was dyeing her mane, or that Big Mac was still sleeping with an old rag doll. And of course, neither Dusk nor his friends had been spared from that, with news such as that Pinkie Pie was a crazy party mare, or that Rainbow Dash was secretly going to the Ponyville spa. It was all technically true, but the gossipy nature of the news had annoyed all of the mares.

The townfolk tried to ignore the scandalous paper that portrayed the secrets and habits of others, but the gossip was just too tantalizing for any of them to ignore. Thus, the paper became an overnight hit.

Dusk had thought that the culminating point of the mysterious journalist's impudence had been the publication of the photo of Princess Celestia eating cake. A photo that Dusk had kept secret for years to use in the future for a prank, but that somehow had reached Gabby Gums' hooves. Still, nothing prepared Dusk for what would come as a headline in that morning's newspaper. Now, he was on the cover with Applejack, where a false and scandalous story that Dusk and Applejack had secretly loved each other for more than a year and that their marriage was false and they lived in sin had been published.

"This newspaper is out of control... Is there no one in this town who doesn't like gossip!?" Dusk muttered after finishing the paper and realizing that it was also the fault of the town ponies that it had so many readers. "Cheerilee protects the identity of that Gabby Gums too much..." Dusk growled, remembering that the day before, he and his friends had tried to convince the schoolteacher to stop the foals from printing the newspaper. However, she had refused, saying that journalism should be free and that she couldn’t interfere. Besides, she apparently secretly enjoyed gossip a lot, and Gabby Gums had been smart enough not to post a story about her so she wouldn't get mad cancel it.

Unable to convince Cheerilee to cancel the newspaper, Dusk and his friends had made it a goal to meet that day and search for the identity of the mysterious Gabby Gums. However, before Dusk reached the meeting point, he was surprised to see a large gathering of ponies in the middle of the town square. Specifically, there were many 'mares' gathered around somepony as they laughed flirtatiously.

"What’s going on?” the colt asked to himself, thinking that maybe the mares were gossiping about his ‘sinful’ marriage with Applejack.

"Psst! Hey, Dusk!" A voice suddenly said not far from Dusk. Then the lavender colt turned around and saw that behind a tree, someone was calling him.

When approaching the tree, Dusk could recognize Caramel, who was next to Lucky Clover, Thunderlane and Bulk Biceps. Precisely the stallions that had helped him to carry the carriage on the day of the Grand Galloping Gala, and with whom he had begun an intermittent but fun friendship.

"Hi guys, how are you?" Dusk delightfully greeted the stallions.

"Hey Dusk, you... Do you know that dumb pretty boy?" Caramel asked, pointing to where the group of mares that Dusk had seen a moment ago was.

Dusk looked over and finally saw what all the fuss was about. There, surrounded by mares, was a young pegasus, a palace guard, wearing his characteristic golden armor. The young stallion, unlike most of the other guards, had orange fur. In addition, since he wasn’t wearing his helmet, Dusk could clearly see his bright blue mane and a smile like that of a runway model. He was smiling gallantly at all the mares who were gawking at him.

"I don't know him, but he appears to be a palace guard." Dusk said with a raised eyebrow, partially understanding why the stallions had called that guard 'pretty boy', but not understanding why they had said it so disparagingly.

"Hmpf! What does that dude think he’s doing smiling at all of our mares!” Caramel said as he glared at the stallion.

"Uh… 'Your' mares?" Dusk asked, raising an eyebrow and smiling mockingly.

"W-Well, not my mares specifically. B-But he’s getting all the attention!" Caramel said blushing. "If that pretty boy wasn't here, we'd be chatting with all those pretty mares."

"Hmm, I don’t know. I think you’re popular enough with mares." Lucky Clover said with a small mocking smile and gestured to the side.

When they turned around, they all saw that two old mares were just passing by, walking very slowly due to their age. And as soon as they saw Caramel, they both winked and smiled flirtatiously at him. Caramel shivered with fear as it appeared that the twisted wish Discord had granted him back when had taken over Ponyville still had some lingering effects.

"Well, they may not be 'our' mares. But they’re definitely 'your' mares." Thunderlane got back to the topic at hoof and pointed next to the new stallion.

Looking again towards the guard with more care, Dusk was surprised to see that Pinkie Pie was among the mares that surrounded him and was laughing coquettishly. Dusk felt a heavy pit in his stomach when he saw one of his dear friends hanging out with that…stallion. But he quickly closed his eyes and tried to push away that unpleasant feeling.

"A little while ago your friend Spike was here with us. And seeing how gallant that guard was with the mares, he ran to go with Rarity and prevent the two from meeting." Thunderlane said, looking seriously at Dusk. "Maybe you should do the same with your friends... Or maybe that doesn't worry you anymore, since I heard you're dating Applejack."

"You’re dating Applejack!?" Bulk Biceps, Lucky Clover and Caramel said in astonishment. Then the three of them had murderous looks of jealousy at Dusk. Especially Caramel, who seemed to have horrible luck in love.

Without paying attention to the murderous looks from his friends, Dusk just stared at Pinkie Pie and that guard, unable to shake off what Thunderlane had told him.

"Pinkie Pie is just chatting with him. That's not a bad thing…" Dusk said with a nervous smile, trying to sound disinterested. However, then he looked back to where his friend was and an annoying feeling made him impossible to believe his own words. "I-I think I'll go talk to her… Not that I'm worried! I-It's just that I have to talk something important with her…" Dusk said with a nervous look, moving away from the stallions and approaching where the guard and his new groupies were.

Just when Dusk came to where the mares were gathered, he was surprised to hear that they all gave a moan of disappointment, and little by little they all began to retreat, continuing to give one last flirtatious smile to the guard before leaving. That left the guard alone with one lone mare, Pinkie Pie.

"H-Hi Pinkie. How are you?" Dusk said with a nervous smile, without him knowing why he felt so nervous to see his friend chatting with another stallion.

"Hi Dusk! I was just chatting to Flash Sentry about whether he knew you from somewhere. Since he’s a palace guard." Pinkie Pie greeted Dusk as if nothing was wrong while also revealing the name of the stallion.

"Uh ... No, I don't have the pleasure." Dusk said, extending a hoof to Flash to greet him. "My name is Dusk Shine." He added with a polite smile. However, to his surprise, Flash didn't even react. In fact, the orange stallion pretended not to hear him and just looked away.

"Oopsie! You’ll have to forgive him. Flash is a bit shy." Pinkie Pie said, winking at Dusk. Something that of course Dusk didn’t believe, since until a few seconds ago, he had perfectly seen how that such 'Flash' was flirting with a dozen mares at the same time.

"Sure… Uh… Anyway, Pinkie Pie, where are the other girls? I know it's early, but we said we would meet to find out the true identity of that gossip, Gabby Gums." Dusk said, pretending to ignore the guard just as he had done to him.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I’m a little busy right now." Pinkie Pie said with a sad look. "I have to throw a welcome party for Flash Sentry."

"Oh... I see..." Dusk said sadly, looking askance at Flash and feeling that he was getting annoyed with him for no reason. "Then maybe I could help you." He added hastily, feeling that for some reason he didn’t want his friend to spend so much time alone with that stallion.

"Sorry, but we don't need your help." Flash finally said to the lavender stallion with a sneering look. Then he quickly changed his expression and smiled happily, hugging Pinkie Pie so tightly that their cheeks came together, which made the mare blush slightly. "I don't need your help, because I have Equestria's number one party pony with me!"

Then Flash detached himself from the hug and lovingly pushed Pinkie to continue on their way.

"S-Sorry, Dusk. I promise when I'm done putting together the party, we'll get on with the Gabby Gums thing." Pinkie Pie said with a nervous smile. Then she went on her way with Flash towards Sugarcube Corner.

Meanwhile, Dusk simply stood there motionless, feeling a strange discomfort that he had felt a few times before. A feeling that he refused to recognize and that little by little was opening up space in his heart.

"YAY!!" Dusk's guy friends suddenly shouted, throwing confetti at him and blowing trumpets. It was the same ‘celebration’ that they gave Caramel whenever he got rejected and it broke Dusk away from his serious introspective.

"We thought you were the heartthrob of the town, but now we know even you can be rejected, hahaha." Lucky Clover teased Dusk.

"I-I haven't been rejected!" Dusk retorted, red with embarrassment. "P-Pinkie is just a friend, and… and it's okay if she has other stallion friends."

"Yeah, sure. Tell that to the vein on your forehead when pretty boy ignored you and hugged Pinkie, haha." Caramel laughed, enjoying that this time he wasn't the center of that ‘celebration of rejection’.

Seeing that the stallions continued to mock him, Dusk pursed his lips in frustration and withdrew. As he walked, he couldn't stop thinking about how wrong those stallions were.

"Those four think I'm jealous, but I'm not!" Dusk thought as he walked. "Still, there is something I don't like about that Flash Sentry. I feel like he's someone suspicious…"

After getting back to the library, Dusk sat in the main room, took all the Gabby Gums articles that had appeared in the school newspaper and began to read them again. He tried to find some subtle clue as to who the mysterious author could be, but he couldn’t find anything. No matter how hard Dusk tried, he couldn't concentrate. He had made the decision to investigate on his own, since Pinkie Pie hadn't wanted to help him. However, the only thing Dusk could think about was how at that very moment his dear and affectionate friend was throwing a party with that unsympathetic and suspicious Flash Sentry.

"Huff... This is useless." Dusk sighed in defeat. Glancing up at the clock, he noticed that an hour had pasted with him not making any leeway in the investigation.

Knowing that he wouldn’t achieve anything if he kept thinking about Pinkie Pie, Dusk decided to visit one of his other friends. Fluttershy was the perfect option, since he knew that the shy mare wouldn’t take so easily to some random stallion visiting from out of town.

Dusk quickly got up and headed towards the small grove where his friend's cottage was. All without even realizing that his movements were guided by simple and childish jealousy.

The stallion finally reached the house of the yellow pegasus, where he knocked on the door several times, without anyone coming out to open it. After a while, Dusk resigned himself and began his way back to town, however he stopped when he heard the beautiful song of Fluttershy's birds not far from there. Thus, Dusk made his way through some bushes until he was finally able to find his friend, who was leading her choir of birds. But his relief lasted only a second, when he saw that next to Fluttershy was the pony he least wanted to see that day: Flash Sentry.

"It's a wonderful choir, Miss Fluttershy." Flash said, clapping his hooves. The shy pegasus blushed and looked away at the compliment.

Right at that moment, the birds heard the noise coming from the bushes as Dusk approached. Then the birds got scared and flew away. For their part, Fluttershy and Flash turned and looked where the noise was coming from, Flash putting himself in a defensive position, until he saw Dusk come out of the bushes and gave a fleeting annoyed look.

"You’re lucky that you let yourself be seen. One more second and I would have lunged to attack you." Flash Sentry said seriously, threatening Dusk with his hoof. Then he turned around and gently took Fluttershy's hoof. "This place is too close to the dangerous Everfree Forest. But it doesn't matter, because that's what this knight in shining armor is for, to protect this beautiful damsel."

After those words, Fluttershy blushed deeply and couldn't help but laugh nervously at Flash's gallantry. Meanwhile, Dusk's annoyance, which he thought would disappear when he went there, rose higher than ever, making him unable to stop looking angrily at the orange stallion.

"Enough of that false gallantry! What are you doing here? I thought you would be with Pinkie Pie." Dusk accused. Meanwhile, Flash simply looked away, pretending that Dusk wasn’t there. "Stop ignoring me!" Dusk added, annoyed to see that that nasty stallion didn't even look at him.

"Sorry, I don't like talking to stallions. They’re too temperamental." Flash said, waving his hoof disdainfully at Dusk. "I prefer to chat with mares. They’re much more interesting, and it’s always a delight to hear their sweet voice." Flash added, winking flirtatiously at Fluttershy, making her smile and blush again.

Before Dusk could say anything else, Flash Sentry spread his wings and took off quickly from there. Leaving Fluttershy and Dusk alone.

"What was that stallion doing here?" Dusk asked without realizing that he was no longer even hiding the fact that the presence of Flash bothered him.

"Flash Sentry? He came to deliver me a letter from the Princess." Fluttershy said, a bit surprised to see that Dusk seemed to be annoyed. She showed him the letter that Flash had given her. "Apparently Princess Cadance wants my bird choir to sing at her wedding."

"Oh... I see..." Dusk said, sighing in relief to see that Flash hadn't come there just to flirt with Fluttershy. "So that's why you were showing him your bird chorus." Dusk added, thinking that his friend had only been kind to Flash, it wasn't that she really wanted to spend time with Flash.

"Hmm... Actually, I was the one who invited him to listen to the choir." Fluttershy smiled and slightly blushed. "He was very nice, so I invited him. And he was very happy to be able to listen to my cute little birds." Fluttershy added, smiling fondly as she remembered how attentive Flash Sentry had been to her.

Hearing that and seeing that Fluttershy smiled and blushed at the memory of Flash, Dusk couldn't help but feel more irritated than he already was, seeing that Fluttershy had never acted like that with any stallion. None except him!

"Why does she act like this? That clumsy Flash did nothing but be nice to her… Did he say he would protect her? How dare him! I’m the one who will always protect Fluttershy!" Dusk thought, remembering that the situation in which he had seen Fluttershy and Flash, had been very similar to how he had met Fluttershy, vowing to protect her by thinking that she was in danger. Then Dusk widened his eyes in surprise when he realized how worked up he was getting. "Why am I thinking about that!? I… I'm not jealous of that stallion! I'm not!" Dusk thought with determination.

Seeing that his feelings were causing him to lose his normal reasoning, Dusk quickly said goodbye to Fluttershy and left. Mentally repeating himself over and over that he wasn’t jealous about Flash, but only suspicious of him, sure that that stallion was hiding something.

"What is a palace guard doing here? Spending so much time in Ponyville… It doesn't make sense… He's definitely hiding something!" Dusk thought as he walked away.

While as Dusk walked away, Fluttershy stayed still with a very confused look.

"What was that all about?" Fluttershy thought, watching Dusk walk away with his brow furrowed. "Maybe… Could it be that he was jealous?" She then realized, surprised at the crazy but valid theory.

Stepping out of the grove surrounding Fluttershy's cottage, Dusk quickly reached open ground. With his mind calmer, Dusk began to think about what he should do now, whether to continue investigating the mystery of Gabby Gums or to find out more about that annoying and suspicious palace guard. The latter was gaining a place in Dusk's head as his heart formed a whirlwind of emotions within him.

To Dusk's surprise, he was quickly pulled out of his thoughts when two strong breezes flew by very close to him, tousling him completely. After shaking his head due to the surprising gust of wind, Dusk looked up and was stunned.

Right in front of Dusk, Rainbow Dash and Flash Sentry had flown by. Apparently, they were both having some kind of race and neither had realized that they had flown too close to Dusk when they took a nosedive. Now both pegasi were flying high again, taking several turns in the air with Rainbow Dash in the lead, closely followed by Flash Sentry.

Dusk quickly went from surprise to anger when he saw that annoying guard was now with another of his dear friends. And the worst thing is that Rainbow Dash had a big smile as she flew fast and competed with that orange pegasus. That made Dusk even more bitter.

Finally Rainbow Dash noticed that Dusk was watching her from the ground, she signaled to Flash Sentry, and they both rushed down, both landing flawlessly right in front of Dusk.

"Wow… Huff… I have to admit it. You may definitely be the fastest pegasus I have ever met." Flash Sentry grinned, catching his breath after flying in a race alongside the blue pegasus.

"Heh! Was there ever any doubt?" Rainbow Dash said with a proud smile, blushing slightly at being flattered by the handsome orange pegasus. "But, you’re not too shabby yourself.”

"Ahem!" Dusk coughed after seeing that although both pegasus landed in front of him, they were still not paying attention to him. "Do you mind if I interrupt…? Why were you two flying together!?"

"Flash came to deliver a letter from Princess Cadance." Rainbow Dash said nonchalantly. "We got to talking, one thing led to another, and he challenged me to a race. "

"We would have invited you, but… you know, I guess there are a couple of things you're missing to be able to compete against us." Flash said suddenly, looking mockingly at Dusk as he proudly displayed his wings. "Although maybe you could compete with us if you use your butterfly wings." Flash laughed. A comment that made Dusk turn red with embarrassment.

"Pfft! Hahaha! You know about that?" Rainbow Dash laughed, surprised that Flash knew about the time Dusk used magic to fly with magic wings.

"Are you kidding? I was in the front line!" Flash Sentry regaled, ignoring Dusk again and focusing his gaze only on the blue pegasus. "On that day of the Cloudsdale competition, I accompanied Princess Celestia as her guard. That's when I saw our cute fairy flying." Flash added, glancing at Dusk and smiled mockingly. "By the way, that sonic rainboom you did was incredible!"

"You saw that too!? Yeah, well, I am pretty awesome, what did you expect?" Rainbow Dash said, blushing with mock modesty. So immersed in the praise of Flash, that she hadn't been noticed that Dusk was getting more and more red with anger.

"I don't-" Dusk began.

"Another race!" Flash said, interrupting Dusk as soon as he spoke. "Three, two, one, go!" Flash yelled quickly, spreading his wings and taking off swiftly.

As competitive as ever, Rainbow Dash didn't wait a second. She just smiled and took off just like Flash Sentry, going after him and enjoying racing against another speed-loving pegasus. For his part, Dusk was once again left alone on the ground, looking with enormous courage towards the sky, seeing how his friend ignored him and flew away with that annoying stallion.

"I'm not jealous ... I'm not jealous ..." Dusk Shine muttered irritably. Gritting his teeth and repeating to himself that what he felt wasn’t jealousy. Something that was becoming increasingly difficult to deny.

"That stallion is up to something… Why is he meeting only my friends!? Perhaps… does he want to steal them from me!?" Dusk thought, without realizing that jealousy was taking over his thoughts.

After seeing that Rainbow Dash and Flash got lost on the horizon, Dusk lowered his head and took a deep breath. He thought about how irritating it had been to see his friends share with Flash Sentry. It was then that Dusk opened his eyes wide when he discovered something extremely important. No matter how much Flash tried to grab the attention of his friends, there was still one mare who would never trade him for Flash. Then Dusk turned around and decided to go to that mare's house: his marefriend's house.

Dusk Shine walked calmly and safely towards Sweet Apple Acres, unable to stop thinking about Flash and how all his friends seemed to like him. However, when he was halfway there, all that tranquility that Dusk had felt disappeared when he saw that in the distance a small orange trail that flew quickly through the sky and landed right at Sweet Apple Acres.

Immediately recognizing the wake left by Flash's flight, Dusk stopped walking and started running towards his marefriend's house. Once there, just as he arrived in front of the door of Applejack's house, he stopped when he heard that everyone inside the house burst into laughter.

Dusk slowly opened the door and looked inside the house. There she saw that Granny Smith, Big Mac, Applejack, and Flash Sentry were gathered. The latter, being the center of attention, sitting in the main chair, while everyone was still chuckling from a joke he had just told.

"Okay, okay, here's another one..." Flash said, starting to tell a new joke. "I once took a honeycomb and a jackass into a brothel, and the madam asked me-" At that moment, Flash stopped talking when he saw that Dusk had entered the house. Then the pegasus stopped smiling and gave an annoyed look.

Seeing that Flash stopped talking, everyone looked where he was looking, and were surprised to see that Dusk was there, since no one had heard him enter. And to Dusk's surprise, Big Mac also put on an annoyed look upon seeing him there.

"Well, I already did what I had to do. I think I go away." Flash said as he stood up.

"It's a shame you're leaving." Big Mac said, stretching his hoof and tightly clasping Flash's hoof as a show of masculine affection between stallions. "It was brief, but it was nice meeting you."

"Same here, Big M." Flash smiled, gripping Big Mac's hoof just as hard and proving that the affection was mutual.

"Are you serious!? How many minutes has this stallion been here and already gets along better with my marefriend's family than me!? Dusk thought irritably.

"I thought you didn't like talking to other stallions." Dusk muttered just as Flash passed him to leave.

"I already told you, I don't like talking to temperamental stallions. Especially with jealous colts." Flash said with a grin before leaving. Which irritated Dusk even more.

Like Flash, Big Mac also retired from the kitchen, while Granny Smith also did it after greeting Dusk. Leaving Dusk and Applejack alone.

"Are you alright, sugarcube? You look a little upset there.” Applejack asked her coltfriend with a small smile. Dusk, however, was having a hard time containing his jealousy and frustration.

"That... That Flash Sentry... You shouldn’t be hanging out with him." He grumbled.

"Why? Do you know him or something? He didn’t…hurt you, did he?" Applejack asked with a bit of concern.

"Well… not that he did something wrong to me. B-But he's suspicious!" Dusk nervously explained, realizing his logical mind that he actually had no argument to support what he had just said. "That stallion was surrounded by mares, and then he left with Pinkie Pie, and... and then he heard Fluttershy's chorus of birds and said he would protect her, and... and... well... he had a race with Rainbow Dash too, and..." Dusk said, slowly turning red with embarrassment as he realized that he was angry but that he couldn’t rationally explain 'why' he was angry.

Seeing Dusk becoming entangled in his speech without getting anywhere, Applejack stared at her coltfriend for several seconds until she finally understood what was happening.

"Dusk, are you jealous?" Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No! I'm not jealous! He’s suspicious! I'll prove it!" Dusk retorted, red with shame as in his head he finally accepted the possibility that he could be 'a little' jealous. However, his pride prevented him from admitting that he felt such a childish feeling.

Then the stallion left the house with a huff. It didn't matter what others said, even if it was his own marefriend… He wasn't jealous!

Just at that moment, not far from there, Dusk was distracted when he saw that Scootaloo was riding her scooter, carrying Apple Bloom in her cart with a pile of newspapers and a camera. Only then did Dusk remember the problem he had started with that day, before the unexpected and annoying appearance of Flash Sentry. Dusk still had to find out the identity of Gabby Gums.

Dusk hurried to follow the fillies without being seen. He hoped that maybe the Crusaders had some clue as to who the mysterious Gabby Gums was. But mostly, he thought that this would be a good opportunity to stop thinking about Flash, even for just a little bit.

After running at full speed, due to how fast Scootaloo was riding her scooter, Dusk was surprised to see that they reached the Carousel Boutique. Upon arrival, Dusk knew immediately that Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were hiding something, as they didn’t enter through the front door, but rather met Sweetie Belle through the back door of the boutique.

Dusk began to approach slowly, wanting to hear what the three fillies were talking about. However, all his detective spirit disappeared when he passed by the window of the boutique and observed from the corner of his eye that Rarity was chatting with someone: none other than Flash Sentry again. This immediately caught the lavender colt’s full attention, forgetting about the whole Gabby Gums thing, and again focusing on that irritating and suspicious stallion.

Wasting no time, Dusk turned around and entered the front door of the house. There, Rarity and Flash looked at him in surprise from his abrupt entrance. The two of them had been chatting amiably while Spike, who hadn't looked away even with Dusk's entrance, kept looking at Flash Sentry with angry eyes.

"Hey, could you stop following me? You’re acting like a stalker." Flash said, looking at Dusk with an annoyed look.

"I’m not the one who is following you, you’re the one who’s following me!" Dusk accused. "It can't be that you're just meeting my friends by coincidence! You’re planning something! Admit it!" Dusk added angrily. He no longer cred if Spike or Rarity saw how upset he was, he simply wanted to face that annoying guard.

"I met with your friends because those were the orders of the princess." Flash said, showing Dusk some letters he had. "They’re the invitations to her marriage."

"Well…, if you only came to deliver the invitations, you’re missing something very important... Where is my invitation!?" Dusk asked with suspicious, not buying that delivering the letters were his only motivation.

At Dusk's angry gaze, Flash didn’t flinch and simply stared at him with a serious gaze.

"Oh, that’s right! I almost forgot, I still haven't given you your invitation." Flash said feigning surprise before approaching Dusk to give his invitation. However, at the last second Flash simply showed him his empty hoof and put on a mocking smile. "Sorry, I don't have your invitation. I only had in my possession the five invitations for your friends. The other two I gave to the mailmare so that she can deliver them to you later. One for you, and one for that grumpy dragon on the corner." Flash added, pointing his hoof at Spike. Who for his part, only growled more after being pointed out.

"Good..." Dusk muttered, trying not to growl after that mocking gesture from Flash. “Well, if you've already delivered the invitations, then it's time to go. I suppose a guard of your caliber has a lot to do at the castle." Dusk added, putting on a fake smile as he gestured towards the door of the house.

"Huff... I guess you're right." Flash sighed, turning to take Rarity's hoof and kiss it gallantly goodbye. Something that made Rarity blush and both Dusk and Spike clenched their teeth. Then Flash walked to the door and started to leave. "Although on second thought, I have a couple of days off... Maybe I'll stay a couple of days here. After all, I think there’s very good company in Ponyville." Flash added, glancing at Dusk and grinning. The stallion subtly bumped his shoulder against Dusk as he passed him.

Before he left though, Flash whispered something under his breath that only Dusk could hear. “Maybe that marefriend of yours will finally end up deciding to hook up with a real stallion.”

Rage boiled in the lavender colt’s heart when he heard the pegasus make such an awful comment. There was a strong urge welling up inside Dusk to bolt right out that door and beat Flash to a pulp until he took back what he said. However, before he could act upon such a desire, his mind stopped him from doing so. The memory of him punching Hoity Toity over a misunderstanding involving Rarity and her past flashed in his brain and forced Dusk to calm himself down. He promised himself that he never again act so impulsively and violently like that. Even if Dusk thought that Flash deserved it.

"What was that all about?" Rarity asked the lavender stallion as he stared daggers at the door. Dusk had finished calming down and turned back to the fashionista to answer her question.

"What was that? I'll tell you what that was! That cynical pegasus only came here to flirt with you!" Spike suddenly exclaimed just before Dusk spoke. "He would smile at you, look for excuses to touch you, and only feign interest to get closer to you. And even though I was here before he arrived, he just ignored me and challenged me the entire time without you noticing!" The little dragon listed on. Dusk was flabbergasted, since those had been almost exactly the same words that he would have wanted to say to answer Rarity.

"T-That's right, that pony is very suspicious. I'm sure he's up to something." Dusk added, approaching Spike, both of them looking seriously at Rarity. Who for her part, only opened her eyes in surprise, and looked confused at both of the boys.

"You're…jealous?" Rarity asked with a small surprised smile while looking at them.

"I-I'm not jealous!" Spike yelled, red with embarrassment. Then he puffed out his cheeks in frustration and ran out of Rarity's house.

As Dusk watched as his little brother walked away in embarrassment, Rarity approached Dusk and whispered in his ear.

"I wasn't talking to Spike, dear." Rarity said, with a small smile.

"What!? I-I'm not jealous!" Dusk yelled, immediately realizing what the mare was inferring to.

Seeing Rarity's funny smile upon seeing his attitude, Dusk got frustrated with himself for being so embarrassed and left Rarity's house annoyance. Dusk managed to take a few steps, until suddenly he stopped when he realized something.

"I… did I act the same as Spike?" Dusk thought out loud after realizing his own past actions. Then he remembered how his little brother had acted, and even to him it had been obvious that Spike had been jealous. But he... he had reacted the same way without realizing it. "I... I'm really jealous..." Dusk whispered in surprise, finally acknowledging and accepting the annoying feeling that had been generated in his heart when he saw his friends having fun with another stallion that was flirting with them.

After discovering his own feelings, Dusk looked up and saw his little brother walking away furiously in the direction of the library. Then Dusk narrowed his eyes and walked the other way to…anywhere else! The only thing Dusk was clear about was that he couldn't follow Spike. He couldn't afford to follow in his footsteps and remain as frustrated and jealous as his brother. No, he wouldn’t be like him. He needed to do anything else to show that he could stop being jealous.

Suddenly Dusk's walk came to an end after a few steps. Just as he turned a corner, something very fast and heavy crashed into him and made him fall.

"Ouch! That hurt…" Apple Bloom said, who, along with the other two Crusaders, had collided with Dusk for going too fast on Scootaloo's scooter.

"Hnng! You three need to be more careful next time." Dusk said rubbing his head as he stood up.

Seeing that the three fillies were still somewhat dizzy after colliding with him, Dusk crouched down and helped them up. At least, until he saw that after the crash, a dozen photos of Flash, Dusk and their friends, were scattered on the ground. Then Dusk bent down to take some papers that had been scattered on the ground and read a text in which it was titled: 'Flash Sentry, a heartthrob vs Dusk Shine, the most jealous stallion in Equestria'.

"What's this!?" Dusk said in outrage when he saw the photos and text. Apparently, this was a draft of a new article for the school newspaper. Where they showed that Flash had managed to make all the mares in town fall in love, and that he had become jealous and had challenged Flash to a duel. "Wait... Are you three Gabby Gums!?" Dusk realized and glared down at the fillies. He couldn’t believe that the true identity of that dirty journalist that exaggerated stories and uncovered secrets of other ponies were actually the little sisters of his friends.

"Oops..." Was the only thing Sweetie Belle could think of to say while looking sadly at Dusk.

"Wait! Please just let us explain all of this, Dusk!" Scootaloo said quickly, who was hurt to see that Dusk was giving her a mad and disappointed look.

After that, the three fillies told Dusk Shine how it all started and how they had become Gabby Gums. Apparently, they had joined the school newspaper to try to get their journalism cutie marks. However, what wasn’t expected is that they had just changed the editor-in-chief and now the newspaper was in Diamond Tiara hooves. She had demanded juicy news from them that would really get everyone's attention. The Cutie Mark Crusaders began to publish rumors under the pseudonym Gabby Gums, and with the correct photographs, they were able to exaggerate some rumors so that everyone would be interested in reading. However, the rumors escalated, Diamond Tiara demanded more of them, and things got out of control. The Crusaders really wanted to stop publishing those rumors, but Diamond Tiara had them threatened with embarrassing photographs of them, so they were stuck in a corner.

"Seriously, that filly has problems... Where did she learn to extort others at such a young age!?" Dusk sighed, scratching his head after hearing the whole story. He thought about what he could do to help the fillies out of their jam.

The easiest thing would be to talk to Cheerilee and tell her that the star editor of her newspaper was extorting her journalists. But Dusk also thought that there was an important lesson that everyone could learn, and for that, before accusing Diamond Tiara, Dusk needed to make everyone learn that false rumors weren’t good for anyone.

"I have an idea. Tomorrow you’ll publish two editions." Dusk explained his plan. "In one, you’ll publish the false story of me challenging Flash to a duel out of jealousy. And in the other, you’ll publish a story in which you’ll explain everything and apologize to all the ponies you offended."

"Uh…? But no pony will want to read the newspaper with our apology. Everyone will prefer to read the newspaper with the gossip." Sweetie Belle said fearfully.

"I know. That’s why we’ll not only put the letter with your apologies in the second edition. We’ll also have real news. A real interview that shows that facts and true journalism can be more interesting than gossip." Dusk said with a small smile. "I'll give you an exclusive interview, giving you all the ins and outs of how me and my friends defeated Nightmare Moon and Discord."

Hearing that, the three fillies widened their excited eyes. Everyone in town knew about the story of how Dusk Shine and their sisters had defeated Nightmare Moon and Discord, but none of the six told many details about it. They only told small parts of the whole story, since the six main ponies thought that there were things that should be left only between them. But if the three fillies managed to tell the full story in the newspaper, it could definitely be that they would triumph and that the ponies would rather know that than just read rumors and gossip.

"It's a bit late, so I'll give you the interview first thing in the morning." Dusk said, looking towards the horizon and seeing that the sun had finished setting. The fillies smiled and they all gathered around him to hug him, both as a way of saying thank you for helping them and to say sorry for what they did.

With that promise between him and the Crusaders, Dusk was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that he had managed to solve a problem. However, upon reaching the library, that relief faded as he remembered that he still had another big problem to solve.

As soon as Dusk got to the library, he saw that Spike was walking in circles, growling and muttering to himself as he repeated over and over again that he wasn’t jealous, and that Flash was a meddler who wanted to take away his beautiful Rarity.

Just at that moment, someone knocked on the library door and Dusk had to turn around and open it.

"Hi Dusk! Here, these letters are for you." Derpy cheered and got out two envelopes that we’re no doubt the wedding invitations for Dusk and Spike. "Flash Sentry asked me to give you these to you while he went to deliver the other invitations to Rainbow Dash and the others. He said he didn't like chatting with stallions." Derpy added, and then blushing a little. "Flash is very handsome, don't you think?"

"Even you, Derpy?" Dusk muttered, taking the invitations from the ditzy, but lovable mailmare.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Derpy exclaimed when she realized what she said. “I didn’t mean to say that you weren’t handsome, Dusk! I-I mean, you are…in a smart sort of way. Like how smart stallions can be attractive, like you and Doctor Hooves…I mean!....” The gray Pegasus was red with embarrassment the more she spoke. “I….gotta go! Bye Dusk!”

After Derpy quickly flew away, Dusk brushed aside what she told him and was back to thinking about Flash. Then he narrowed his eyes as his mind returned to a whirlwind from all the negative thoughts that appeared against Flash Sentry.

"He came here to deliver the invitations, but now he says he’ll stay in town for a couple more days… That's suspicious! He's definitely up to something! Especially after what he whispered to me!" Dusk thought. "It's not jealousy... well, maybe it’s a little bit, but I really think he's up to something! But there's no way to find out... Just like Derpy said, that fool pretends he doesn't like talking to stallions, so he can only talk to mares and flirt with them... There's no way I can go up to him and find out what he's up to..."

In that instant, a crazy and brilliant idea occurred to Dusk, one that filled him with shame. Then he struck his face and looked up with a look full of determination.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures...." Dusk said with a dark look, finding a way to approach Flash without suspicion, and thus discover what he was up to. "Back to the lab!"

---

It was a new day in Ponyville, and Flash Sentry had risen as soon as the sun rose, ready to make the most of that free time he had from his guard duties. Although that was only half true, since in reality, he was in Ponyville because he had been assigned a mission. But that mission was so simple and enjoyable that it was practically a vacation! After all, who wouldn't enjoy the mission to woo five beautiful mares?

Flash strolled leisurely through town, greeting all the early rising mares who were getting up to open their businesses, and waving back flirtatiously. So Flash continued, gallantly greeting all the mares he saw on the road, and ignoring the few stallions he saw, until he suddenly stopped when he saw a mare he hadn’t seen before... A beautiful mare that had escaped his radar? Flash believed he had met most of the pretty mares in town the day before, and being such a small town, he had no trouble remembering all the attractive mares he had greeted. Hence his disbelief at seeing that young mare standing in the middle of the street, almost as if she had been waiting for him.

For a moment, Flash narrowed his eyes to take a closer look at that pretty mare who also was staring at him. There was something awfully familiar about how the mare looked aside from her pretty face and attractive body, but he couldn’t put his hoof on it. However, after taking a closer look at the color of her fur and mane, Flash slowly began to realize why this mare looked so familiar to him.

For her part, the mare that was standing in front of Flash, had a nervous look while smiling uncomfortably, hoping that Flash didn’t suspect her. After all, Flash clearly had reason to be suspicious, given that this mare wasn’t really a mare, but was Dusk Shine himself in disguise.

"He's obviously suspicious… I can't believe I thought this would be a good idea!" 'Twilight Sparkle' thought, Dusk's female alter ego, as she remembered what she had done the night before...

In the days after Dusk and his friends switched sex from the mysterious blue flower of the Everfree forest, called 'Poison Joke', he took several samples and took them to his little secret laboratory. Together with Zecora, he had discovered that the real effect of that flower wasn’t specifically a genderbending effect, but that it produced random effects according to what whoever touched it valued the most, hence its name 'poison joke'. In the case of Dusk and his friends, they had been arguing about stallions and mares, and as a consequence, by valuing their own gender, the flower had changed their gender. However, after experimenting a bit with poor Spike, Dusk had discovered that the effects were variable. Such as Spike burping bubbles instead of fire after being affected by the 'poison joke'.

The other thing that Dusk had discovered was that once the flower plays its 'joke' on a pony, it’s more likely that this effect will become a trend if that someone touches the flower again. This was how he and Zecora catalyzed a potion that could replicate the initial effects of the flower. However, it wasn’t recommended to use it, since the more the flower effect was used, the side effects tended to be more difficult to erase. Still, Dusk took a chance, and decided to use the effect of the strange flower on himself once more.

"I was studying the effects of the 'poison joke' for my thesis 'Kingdom mage'… Who would have thought that I would use it to try to fool an annoying guard?" 'Twilight' thought nervously after remembering her goal: to try to unmask Flash Sentry.

"Hello... Uh... I... Do I know you?" Flash Sentry finally said after carefully inspecting Twilight Sparkle head to tail.

"I-I don't think so, hehe..." Twilight replied, trying in vain not to sound nervous.

"You look like a stallion I know..." Flash said, walking in circles around Twilight. "Tell me... do you know a pony named Dusk Shine?"

"D-D-Dusk Shine? N-No... I don't know him." Twilight answered, sweating very nervous, while in her mind she screamed: 'He found out! He found out!'

"Well, it's weird that you don't know him. After all, you two are both very similar..." Flash said, standing in front of Twilight and narrowing his eyes. "You both have the same fur color, the same eye color, the same mane color, and even the same cutie mark!"

"O-Oh… Yeah… You mean 'THAT' Dusk Shine… hehe." Twilight responded, feeling like she was sinking and that her disguise was slowly being exposed. "W-We’re siblings! Yeah, that’s it… he’s my twin brother. T-That's why we’re so similar. A-And my cutie mark has five twinkles around while his cutie mark has…seven! Hehe..."

For several seconds, Flash didn't say anything. He kept silently staring at Twilight penetratingly as she couldn't stop sweating from how nervous she was. Thinking that Flash would expose her and make everyone in town make fun of 'her' for disguising herself as a mare. Then Flash finally opened his mouth to speak but was suddenly interrupted by a scream not far from there.

"T-Twilight Sparkle!?" Bulk Biceps shouted. The burly stallion had been walking absent-mindedly when he looked up and suddenly found the image of Twilight, the mare with whom he had fallen in love since he had seen her months ago.

After his initial scream, and turning red as he could, Bulk Biceps quickly turned around and ran from there. A scene so strange that it served for Flash and Twilight to break the tense moment they had had, leaving both ponies looking confused at Bulk Biceps as he ran away.

"I know that stallion... He was in the carriage parking at the Grand Galloping Gala." Flash Sentry said with a thoughtful look. He remembered that he had overheard Bulk Biceps and his friends chatting about a beautiful mare he was in love with. "Wait… you were that beauty that stallion talked about so much!?"

"Uh?" Twilight stuttered, not understanding what Flash was talking about. But then she quickly understood that this was her chance to upgrade her cover. "Yeah… Yes! That's me, hehe… A-Apparently there are one or two stallions after me, hehe…" Twilight added quickly, feeling a bit dizzy as she heard herself talk about other stallions having a crush on her.

"Hmm..." Flash hummed, narrowing his eyes again in a thoughtful gaze. Until finally he shrugged and sighed. "Huff… I guess I'm being more paranoid than I should. After all, it’s impossible for a stallion… Anyway, it doesn't matter." Flash went on while scratching his head. A gesture that finally made Twilight sigh in relief, realizing that her disguise was working.

"We’re here!" A childish voice suddenly screamed. "We’re ready! Will you tell us how you defeated Nightmare Moon and Discord? "

Twilight turned around when she recognized the voice and saw Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo running towards her. However, when they noticed that the one who was looking at them wasn’t Dusk Shine, but a mare identical to him that they had seen months ago; the three fillies stopped in their tracks in front of the purple mare.

"What happened? Why do you look like this?" Sweetie Belle asked, recalling with disgust the time her sister and her friends had been transformed into stallions.

At the confused gaze of the fillies, Twilight froze and glanced at Flash. The guard was then giving her another suspicious look.

"Y-You already know me, girls. I'm Twilight Sparkle, Dusk Shine's sister, remember? hehe… Uh… M-Maybe you didn't recognize me because I changed my manestyle, haha." Twilight said quickly, glaring at the three fillies to get them to play along. Then the three fillies looked at each other, and quickly understood that Dusk was trying to hide something, for some reason.

"Oooohhh... yeah... sure, Twilight..." They said in unison, widening their eyes and pretending in a very bad way that it had all been a mistake. The fillies and Twilight smiled nervously at Flash in the hopes that he was buying the charade.

"What were these fillies referring to when they asked you about how you defeated Nightmare Moon and Discord? I thought Dusk's friends had defeated them, and that Dusk Shine had something to do with it, not you." Flash Sentry said, raising an eyebrow.

In that instant, Twilight opened her eyes to realize that Flash, like most of the ponies in the kingdom, didn’t know all the details of the defeat of Nightmare Moon and Discord. After all, not even Celestia herself talked about Nightmare Moon to prevent the Canterlot ponies from talking about Nightmare Moon's nexus with Luna. And the same happened with Discord, since only his friends had gone to the award ceramony in Canterlot after Discord was petrified again. That made Twilight smile internally, since those information gaps could serve just at this precise moment to help her on her cover and that Flash would definitely stop suspecting her true identity.

"Of course, it was me, and these fillies know it! That’s why they want to interview me." Twilight said, acting more relaxed so Flash would believe her story. "Dusk always wants to take the credit, but the truth is that I was, along with Dusk's friends, who saved the kingdom with the power of friendship!"

After that, Twilight made up a quick story in which she, Spike and 'her brother' Dusk, had arrived in Ponyville and had met the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. She then basically told the whole true story, only with the inclusion of a fake twin brother. And as soon as she told the stories of Nightmare Moon and Discord, Twilight put 'her brother' aside and told how really 'she' and her friends had been the ones who defeated those two terrible beings of evil.

While Twilight told the story, the Cutie Mark Crusaders wrote everything in detail. They knew that the parts in which 'Twilight' appeared were a lie, but that all the rest was true. And if Dusk wanted to tell the story that way, who were they to deny him?

For his part, Flash also listened carefully to the entire Twilight story. At first, he didn’t quite believe the story. But as Twilight progressed in her story, Flash put his suspicions aside and was surprised to learn several details of the defeat of Nightmare Moon and Discord that he didn’t know. They were so well explained that they gave greater credibility to the identity of Twilight

"And that’s how I secretly helped defeat those monsters, but I let Dusk and his friends get the credit. After all, I don't like fame. And I prefer that my brother takes the glory. After all, he’s the student of Princess Celestia." Twilight added with a proud smile after she finished telling her story.

"Wow... that's a story!" Scootaloo said in surprise after hearing details that she would never have imagined.

"Yeah! With this story this good, ponies will definitely stop reading only gossip!" Apple Bloom said excitedly. "We’ve got everything ready, now we just have to print the story in the newspaper. Come on Crusaders! To the printing room!"

The three fillies then quickly hopped on the scooter and drove to school, knowing they only had a few minutes to add the story before the morning edition of the newspaper went to print.

"It's weird… How come no one knows that YOU are actually the heroine who saved Equestria?" Flash asked, unable to stop looking at Twilight suspiciously. "And where’s Dusk Shine right now?”

Twilight simply grinned nervously, internally wishing that the dumb stallion would just drop it.

"Ahem!" Someone behind Twilight and Flash suddenly coughed. They both turned and saw that Bulk Biceps had appeared there again, only this time, with a bouquet of roses. "T-These… These flowers are for you… T-Twilight." The stallion said nervously and sweating hard. He then gave Twilight the bouquet of roses. Who for her part, received them with a puzzled look, not knowing how to react to such an unexpected situation.

Not far from there behind a bush, Twilight could see Bulk Biceps' friends: Caramel, Lucky Clover and Thunderlane. The three were supporting their comrade from afar to see how he triumphed in his declaration of love, or on the contrary, running to support him in their own joyous way if he was rejected.

Another who managed to see the stallions hidden behind the bush was Flash Sentry. Who narrowed his eyes in annoyance when he saw those stallions. In just a second, all suspicions he'd had of Twilight disappeared, and his stallion-competing spirit flared. To Flash, these stallions knew nothing of gallantry or conquering mares. And for some fun, he might as well show them how a mare’s heart should be stolen away.

"I want to vomit... " Twilight thought, finally coming out of her perplexity. Bulk Biceps was her friend and she hated that she would now have to break the noble stallion’s heart with rejection.

What made the situation even worse was the fact that all of this was taking place in the middle of the street, where ponies who had been walking by were now standing by to watch. If Twilight rejected Bulk Biceps right there, the poor white pegasus could make a fool of himself in front of everyone. However, she couldn't let that misunderstanding continue to grow.

"Bulk Biceps, listen, I…" Twilight said slowly, trying to hide her discomfort. She had no experience in rejecting somepony asking her out.

"Easy, Twilight, I'll take care of it." Flash Sentry said suddenly, putting a hoof on Twilight's back and standing very close beside her. The guard gave his arrogant smile at Bulk Biceps and spoke out loud for all to hear. "Listen big guy, the best thing is for you to go. Obviously, this lady is so considerate that she can't find the right words to reject you without hurting you. I can see it in her eyes. Don't worry, one day you’ll find a mare that is more in line with your….standard. But you gotta stop looking so high. Pretty mares like her deserve attractive stallions.” Flash added, smiling kindly after 'his advice', casually pointing at himself as he talked about 'more attractive stallions'.

Several mares who were around watching the scene and who had fallen in love by Flash the day before couldn't help but nod at his words. It was obvious that poor Bulk Biceps really didn't stand a chance if he was competing with such an attractive stallion like Flash Sentry. For his part, the sensitive Bulk Biceps sadly lowered his head and turned red with embarrassment, knowing that what Flash was saying was true. Bulk knew that Twilight was too cute a mare, that she would probably reject him, but still, he had decided to take a risk and get closer to her.

"Thank you, they’re very pretty flowers. A beautiful romantic gesture worthy of a gentlecolt." Twilight Sparkle said suddenly, shaking off the hoof that Flash had on her back, approaching Bulk Biceps, and smiling lovingly at him. Everypony, especially Bulk and Flash, were flabbergasted at the unexpected turn of events. Then Twilight turned to look at Flash. "Sorry, I don't like cocky guys." She said to the stallion with an upturned nose. “They usually act so high and mighty to make for what they’re lacking…” down there”, if you catch my drift.”

At Twilight's words, Flash froze. No mare had ever called him cocky. In fact, no mare had ever rejected him before. Then, Flash looked around and saw how most of the mares that had been watching began to murmur among themselves, laughing a little at the purple mare’s remark.

"Are they laughing at me!?" Flash thought as he felt the sting coming from the wound to his pride. He, one of the most handsome stallions in Canterlot… had been rejected?!

In that instant, Flash looked back at Twilight and she smiled victoriously, knowing that she had given that pesky stallion what he deserved.

"That’s what happens when you act all high and mighty, you dumb pretty boy." Twilight smiled before turning to leave. After publicly humiliating Flash, all those feelings of jealousy that had led her to disguise herself to investigate more about Flash, disappeared. Finally, Dusk's jealousy calmed down as she had her little revenge. "Now... I have another problem to solve..." Twilight thought with a nervous smile. Bulk Biceps hadn’t stopped looking at her after she had accepted the flowers he had given her.

"I knew it! You’re not Twilight Sparkle. There is no Twilight Sparkle! You’re not a mare, because no mare would ever reject me!" Flash yelled furiously. With his pride so hurt, Flash recalled all the suspicions he had had since meeting Twilight that morning. It was then that his pride led him to the logical answer to try to justify what happened: Twilight rejected me, but no mare ever rejects me. Therefore, Twilight is not a mare! She’s Dusk Shine in disguise!" Then Flash approached Twilight while she froze to see that Flash's fury had led him to discover the truth.

"You thought you managed to fool me, but you didn't." Flash continued speaking, smiling victoriously as he circled a terrified Twilight. "I admit that it’s a good disguise. I guess you used a spell to alter your height and change your voice. Did you use makeup to fix your face? Did you wear a wig for your mane? Or maybe it's all just magic? I wouldn't doubt it, after all, you’re Princess Celestia's student." Flash added, stopping just as he walked behind Twilight. "However, there’s something you can’t change. Something that no magic can change, and that… is this!" Flash yelled victoriously, raising Twilight's hind leg and staring at her groin.

In that instant, it was as if time was frozen. Both Twilight and Flash froze, as neither expected what happened. Twilight's brain switched off when she saw that someone had dared to take a closer look at her groin and private parts. For his part, Flash's brain was also disconnected for a second while his victorious smile had instantly vanished when he saw that what he expected to find wasn’t there. Instead, he was left seeing something that immediately collapsed his thesis of that Twilight wasn't a mare. Flash Sentry got a nice long look at Twilight Sparkle’s mare bits.

"I-I… I don't…" Flash finally reacted, redder with embarrassment than he had ever been in his life.

"Dear Celestia! Did he just…!?"

"He's a pervert..."

Flash began to hear that the ponies around him, especially the mares, quickly began to judge him and glaring at him.

"How dare you!" Smoke poured from Bulk Biceps nostrils as he gave Flash Sentry a deathly glare.

"N-No… Wait! This is just a huge misunderstanding! I…” Flash Sentry said nervously, immediately taking a step back when he saw the furious gaze of the huge white pegasus. A gaze so blinded by anger that Flash Sentry immediately understood that he couldn't reason with him, and that if he didn't do something, he would be beaten to death by those enormous muscles. "I… I'm sorry! I'm really sorry!" Flash yelled regretfully as he turned tail to run away. He was so scared that he even forgot to fly and ran as fast as his four hooves could carry him. Bulk Biceps immediately chased after him like a brave bull chasing its prey.

Oblivious to everything that was happening, Twilight still seemed stunned by what had happened. A strange feeling of discomfort, annoyance, shame, and even relief, seeing that her perfect disguise hadn’t been exposed, made Twilight still not know how to react to what happened.

"Psst! Hey, Dusk. Over Here." A familiar voice suddenly whispered, pulling Twilight out of her thoughts. She turned around and saw that not far from there in an alley was Applejack, who was gesturing for her to come over to where she was.

Twilight took advantage of all the present confusion to move without anyone seeing her and go to the alley from where she was called. Upon arrival, Twilight was glad to see that her five friends were there smiling warmly at her.

"It’s good to see you safe and sound, darling. However, you better get back to normal soon. I don't trust Bulk Biceps’ libido control much." Rarity said with a little giggle.

"I don’t know, I think he should stay that way a little longer. It would be fun to see Dusk on a date with B.B." Rainbow Dash laughed, imagining the situation.

"It's not funny..." Twilight said with an embarrassed look. "I never thought that Bulk..." In that instant, Twilight froze as she realized something extremely important. "Wait a second, how do you know I'm Dusk!?"

"Well, it's pretty obvious if you think about it. I mean, you’re identical, only you’re a mare." Pinkie Pie smiled. "Anypony could make that guess. But they don’t come to that conclusion since they think there isn’t any magic out there that can turn a stallion into mare.

"But we know that it’s not impossible." Fluttershy continued, which only served to confuse Dusk even more.

"When you erased our memories and then brought them back, the memories of things we didn't remember also came back. Like the time we turned into stallions." Applejack said, understanding that 'Twilight' still didn't understand. "We hadn't paid attention to it, but seeing you transformed into a mare jogged those memories in our noggins!”

"That... That’s amazing." Twilight said in awe. She never thought that returning the memories to her friends would effectively return ALL their memories.

"We also remembered what you told us that time to get us out of Discord's spell." Fluttershy mentioned with a cute blush. “You have…quite the way with words.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, not sure what Fluttershy was referring to. It was then that she blushed at the memory... When Dusk pulled his friends out of Discord's trance, he kissed them and gave each one a speech about what he loved about them, so that their feelings were strong enough to break Discord's spell.

"I-I thought you didn't remember…" Twilight mumbled with her own embarrassed blush.

"That is why we remain so faithfully in love with you." Rarity smiled. "We know that our feelings are reciprocal. So you don't have to be jealous of any stallion." Rarity added, laughing as she remembered how jealous Dusk had been the day before.

"I-I wasn't…" Twilight tried to argue. Until she realized that she was lying to herself again and lowered her head in resignation. "Okay, I admit it… I was jealous…"

“Dusk, you gotta stop worrying so much.” Dash said as she went to the lavender mare’s side and hugged a wing across her back. “It’ll take a lot more than some cheesy gestures from some pretty boy like Flash Sentry to make us get rid of the feelings we have for you!”

“She right, sugarcube.” Applejack said, going to Twilight’s other side and giving her a loving nuzzle. “Our bond is stronger than a triple braided lasso!” Any small remaining bits of Jealousy that existed in Twilight instantly disappeared at her marefriend’s sweet words.

"Okay, now that we fix that, let's get down to business... Pinkie Pie cheered and gave Twilight a faux look of thought. “Should we have to worry if the stallion we love doesn’t have his stallion fun bits down there? I mean, I don’t normally swing that way. But I think I’d be willing to experiment for our Duskie!”

"Ha-Ha, very funny..." Twilight said with a tired look, while her friends laughed and began to chat about going to the spa for a day of beauty with the new mare of the group...

An hour later, Twilight Sparkle had finally disappeared, and Dusk Shine was back again.

Among the things that Dusk had discovered while investigating the 'poison joke' flower, it was that taking a bath with Zecora's potion was much more effective than drinking it, since apparently, the pollen of the flower acted on the skin. Thus, instead of taking the potion that Dusk and his friends had drunk before, waiting for the effects to manifest after a night's sleep; now Dusk was able to remove the effects of the potion in a matter of minutes.

"I need to record all this data that I got from using the 'poison joke' for the second time. As I told Zecora, if I used it for a few minutes, the side effects wouldn’t show up." Dusk said to himself while he started to write a report in the main hall. Of course, it would probably be easier to talk with the zebra face-to-face about how to efficiently write the report. "I haven't seen Zecora in a long time... " Dusk thought suddenly, remembering that he had wanted to visit his second teacher for a long time, but that he had been very distracted with Discord, and then, with his new marefriend. "I’ll definitely go see her tomorrow, without fail. No more distractions!

'KNOCK-KNOCK' Someone knocking on the library door brought Dusk out of his thoughts. Then Dusk went to answer the door and smiled when he saw that it was his marefriend.

"Applejack, is something wrong? I thought you had to go back to the farm." Dusk said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, well... I just remembered that I had to ask you a question." Applejack replied. The country mare was blushing fiercely and looked away shyly before looking back at him again. "Dusk... Would you like us to spend tonight together?"

At Applejack's question, Dusk opened his eyes in surprise, turning red and wondering if he had misheard. Without realizing that fate had several surprises in store for him that night and the next day. Surprises that would even affect the future of Equestria.

---

In Canterlot, Celestia was finishing listening to the last hearings of the day. After having a long and boring hearing on oat duty rates, Celestia was almost glad to finish the hearings. And it was an 'almost', since the Princess of the Sun knew that after the hearings, she had to read and sign a lot of documents and royal decrees that were pending and that they always accumulated that day of the month.

"Yaaawn... Good afternoon sister." Luna yawned, entering the great hall just after Celestia said goodbye the last ponies from the last audience. Luna always arrived at that time in the great hall after waking up from her nap to start her work as soon as the sun goes down. "Are you going to rest or have a snack with me before the sun goes down?"

"I’m afraid not. Remember that today we must review and sign all the pending paperwork that we have left." Celestia replied with a tired little smile. A smile that contrasted perfectly with Luna's bored look. If both sisters had something in common, it was that they both hated the paperwork that came with being a princess.

Sweet Creme and Sweet Caramel appeared, carrying several trays of small snacks for their princesses to enjoy before continuing to work.

"Hmm... I guess a little snack wouldn't be bad before I go back to work." Celestia said with a thoughtful look, without taking her eyes off an appetizing strawberry shortcake that was on the tray carried by her dear and attentive personal maid.

"Auntie Celestia, sorry to interrupt you, but I think there is still something pending." Cadance said suddenly, appearing from the side of the great hall. "There is still one more pending hearing." Cadance added, glancing toward the front door of the great room.

The great doors of the great hall opened and none other than Sunset Shimmer entered and walked up to Celestia. Who for her part, only raised an eyebrow and glanced at Cadance, not knowing what her beloved niece was planning with her new student. Luna gave a much different look of shock before looking away when she thought of something that she didn’t like to remember. However, none of those reactions compared to the one that the maid twins had. Both of the mares looked to Sunset with horror and anger before they both slowly backed away to behind the princesses’ throne.

"Thank you for accepting me in such an unexpected way, Princess Celestia." Sunset said seriously. As it was now, she always reluctantly followed what Cadance asked of her, even if it made no sense for her. But in the same way, she made an effort to fulfill what her new teacher asked of her. "I… there is something important that I would like to discuss with you. A misunderstanding that happened several years ago here in the castle, and that… I would like to clarify."

Hearing Sunset talking about a misunderstanding that occurred years ago involving Princess Celestia, both Sweet Creme and Sweet Caramel peeked a bit more from behind the throne. Both were silently praying that Sunset wouldn't betray them and talk about 'that' that hurt them so much.

"Once, when I was a filly, Dusk Shine invited me to play at the palace. On that occasion, an incident occurred with her crown…" Sunset began. The twins gritted their teeth and glared at Sunset.

"She won't… She wouldn't! She promised!" Sweet Creme whispered.

"Doesn't she even care about her promises!?" Sweet Caramel muttered, glaring at Sunset.

The twins adored their work, and they adored being with the princesses, reaching the level of idolizing them. For years, they had given their all to satisfy Princess Celestia, and later Princess Luna. Neither of them envisioned a life without their beloved princesses. However, in their lifetime of perfect service, there was a dark stain. A small mistake they had made as fillies that had haunted them their entire lives. At the beginning, they thought that their mistake was stealing the crown, but it was not, their biggest mistake was trusting Sunset and falling into her trap. Because of her, their grandfather Kibitz had to resign. And now, years later, Sunset wanted to do the same with them.

At that moment, Sweet Caramel looked to her sister, who barely contained her tears, knowing their future as royal maids was over. Then Sweet Caramel looked back at Sunset, and a great fury blinded her. For years she had feared the return of the cruel unicorn, and now she was ruining not only her life, but also that of her beloved sister.

"That afternoon, together with the twins Sweet Creme and Sweet Caramel, we went to her room..." Sunset Shimmer continued speaking. "Then they started to play with her crown and-"

"ENOUGH!" Sweet Caramel yelled furiously and shot a beam of magic at Sunset. The mare easily deflected the blast with her own magic as if it was just an annoying spec of dust. "How much more do we have to endure your cruelty!? Because of you, our grandpa was expelled. Because of you, my sister and I have been tormented for years! We did what you asked us to do! We stay away from Dusk Shine! We never got close to him again! We ended our friendship with him even if we didn’t want to! Now leave us alone!" Sweet Caramel yelled. Blinded by anger to protect her sister, the maid barreled furiously to ram Sunset Shimmer.

Sunset's surprise quickly faded, and she put on an arrogant smile when she saw the mare charging at her. Her twisted side came to the fore, and she was amused to see a rival who wasn’t on her level challenge her.

Surprised like everyone else with what was happening, Celestia opened her mouth to stop the fight. Yet just as she was about to do so, Cadance touched her side. Feeling her touch, Celestia looked at her niece, who only looked at her seriously. Then the mare nodded and simply stood silently to watch, understanding that apparently her niece had a reason to let this continue.

"I’ll never let you intimidate me or my sister again!" Sweet Caramel proclaimed and shot magic bolts that Sunset effortlessly deflected with her magic. She was so angry that she completely forgot that the princesses were watching her attack someone.

"Well, this was amusing at first. But it's starting to bore me." Sunset said at last. The unicorn blocked the last blast from the maid and bounced it back to hit Sweet Caramel and caused her to fall to the floor. "You should be more careful with the rivals you choose." Sunset added, putting a hoof on Sweet Caramel's chest so she wouldn't get up.

Seeing that her sister beaten and on the floor, Sweet Crème banished all of her fear. Sweet Caramel had always been the bolder sister, while Sweet Creme was always more shy. But upon seeing her sister being threatened, Sweet Creme charged as well and shot a magic bolt that appeared to be much stronger than her sister’s.

Just before the bolt hit Sunset, she dodged with a jump and narrowed her eyes as she saw the other maid attacking her.

"Two against one? How quaint. But you’re still not a challenge." Sunset smiled, putting herself on guard. She missed the thrill of being in a magical duel. She had missed it dearly ever since she started her “love lessons” with Cadance.

After confirming that her sister was okay, Sweet Creme helped Sweet Caramel to her hooves. Then they both glared at Sunset, lit up their horns and ran towards Sunset to attack her. For her part, Sunset lit up her own horn, ready to give those two mares who dared to challenge her what they deserved. However, while waiting for the twins' attack, Sunset looked up at the throne and saw Cadance looking at her with a serious look. She hadn't stopped the fight or said anything to her, nor did she show any expression. It was as if she was simply waiting for something.

"They were the ones who attacked me… What do you expect from me!?" Sunset thought angrily when she saw Cadance's gaze. Despite that, on the inside, Sunset knew what Cadance expected of her. With so many lessons in empathy and kindness she'd had, it was obvious to Sunset what Cadance expected of her. However, the big question was whether those lessons could finally overcome the great pride that the mare felt.

At that moment, Sweet Creme and Sweet Caramel lit up their horns to jointly attack Sunset. While Sunset had doubt in her face. Not out of fear that the twins were stronger than her, but out of doubt if she was really willing to put her pride aside. And finally, with enormous effort, the latter option triumphed in Sunset's redeemed heart.

Faced with the twins' attack, at the last moment, Sunset simply closed her eyes and waited for the blast to strike her without making any attempts to defend herself. Fortunately, a fleeting but sturdy magic barrier appeared just as the twins' powerful combined beam was about to hit her. As fleeting as that magical barrier appeared, it vanished, much to Sunset's surprise. However, what that barrier didn’t stop, was Sweet Caramel and Sweet Creme, who had run towards Sunset to attack her, and after believing that their lightning had hit her, they pounced on her and threw her back against the floor.

"Why?! Why do you hate us so much?! What have we done to you?!" Sweet Creme yelled with tears in her eyes.

"Enough." Celestia finally said and stood up.

Hearing the princess's voice, both twins looked at her, and finally woke up from their blind moment of anger. Both of them had fearful glances when they realized that they had been carried away by their emotions and had made a tremendous uproar in front of the princesses. Then the twins looked back at Sunset and slowly crawled off her. For her part, Sunset slowly got up and looked towards Celestia, noticing that a slight golden aura was fading from her horn, which made her realize that it was she who protected her with her magic barrier.

"I believe that this is all just a big misunderstanding." Celestia said, looking kindly at the maids and then Sunset Shimmer. "Isn’t it?"

"Yes, you’re absolutely right. This is just a huge misunderstanding… One that I caused." Sunset replied with a worried look. She hated having to accept that she was wrong, but that was why she had come here. Cadance had convinced her to tell the truth, thus taking the burden of guilt off the twin maids. "That time your crown was stolen, neither Kibitz nor the twins were to blame... I was the one who hid it and tricked the twins into thinking they were the culprits."

Sweet Creme and Sweet Caramel widened their eyes in surprise. They thought Sunset had come to extort from them again. They never thought that Sunset would decide to take all the blame for what happened to the crown... That wasn’t the Sunset Shimmer they knew and feared for years!

"Is what Sunset Shimmer saying true?" Celestia asked, looking at the twins.

Both twins looked away, not sure how to respond. Sunset had tricked them into hiding the crown, but it was also true that they were both royal maids, and even if they had been just fillies, they shouldn't have let Sunset into the princess's room, or played with something so valuable like the royal crown.

"What Sunset says is true... But we ... are also to blame for the robbery." Sweet Caramel said, looking with deep regret at the Princess of the Sun.

"If we had told the truth, our grandpa Kibitz would still be working at the palace!" Sweet Creme cried, feeling relief and sadness at finally revealing the guilt that had eaten at her for so many years.

Celestia looked back at Sunset, who returned her gaze. Then the alicorn understood that Sunset knew the truth about Kibitz, guessing that she had surely used it for her convenience. For her part, seeing Celestia's gaze, Sunset understood that she had discovered the truth, and now she hoped that she would say it herself.

"Your grandfather didn't quit because of you. The Archmage knew that Kibitz would retire, and I… used it to deceive you two." Sunset said looking away, feeling more and more uncomfortable seeing the mistakes of her past. Memories of that moment flooded into her mind, from when she hid the crown of the twins to incriminate them, until when she deceived them and made them believe that because of them, the princess had fired their uncle.

At first, Sunset felt compelled to admit her deceptions at Cadance's request, but now, she was venting herself on her own, feeling worse and worse about herself. This is how, without realizing it, Sunset slowly began to empathize with the twins, and to feel the fear and guilt that they must have felt all those years.

For their part, the twins were shocked when they realized that the guilt they had felt for years had been unjustified and that it had just been another one of Sunset Shimmer's deceptions.

"I... I..." Sunset finally stuttered, feeling a strange pressure on her chest. A feeling she hadn't felt very often: guilt and regret. "I-I'm really sorry..." Sunset added, looking at the twins as she had never seen them before, with a sad and regretful look after experiencing that emotional release.

The twins initially stared at Sunset with deep resentment. However, after seeing her that way, with a look that showed that she had lost all her strength, arrogance and pride, which characterized her so much; it made the twins confused, again not knowing how to react to that unheard of and surprising new attitude from Sunset.

"That Kibitz... All of this could have been fixed years ago if he weren't so proud." Celestia said with a tired look. The old butler must have been so tough and strict not to tell his granddaughters that he would retire, so that they would learn the lesson of not stealing. "And all of this was because you believed you had stolen this silly crown." Celestia added, taking off her crown and looking at it for what it was, a mere piece of metal.

"P-Princess, you... Aren't you upset with us?" Sweet Creme asked fearfully. Thinking that despite everything, her princess had various reasons to be angry with them.

"I guess I’m a little upset." Celestia said, looking seriously at the twins. Who trembled at that look. However, instantly, Celestia changed her gaze and looked at them tenderly with a sweet smile. "It bothers me that I didn't see those pretty fillies playing with my crown."

Celestia levitated her crown and placed it on Sweet Creme's head, leaving the blue-mane mare gaping. Meanwhile Luna, who had been listening carefully to everything, realized what her older sister wanted to do. The lunar alicorn did the same with her crown and levitated it on the other twin, who made the same shocked face as her sister.

"I guess once or twice a month we can leave Sweet Creme and Sweet Caramel in charge, to be princesses for a couple of hours. That is, if they want to play with our crowns so much" Celestia lightly giggled as she made her way out of the room.

"Yes, I guess that's okay. After all, the crowns look lovely on their heads." Luna added with a smile, walking behind her sister. They both left the great hall, while the twin maids were still in shock by the tender and surprising gesture of kindness from their princesses.

"We... we don’t deserve to serve such noble ponies as they..." Sweet Creme and Sweet Caramel thought at the same time in complete ecstasy. The pair looked at each other and saw how magnificent they looked with the crowns.

"Ahem! Yeah… I think there is another reason why my aunts decided to leave you as 'surrogate princesses' for a couple of hours…" Cadance said suddenly, breaking the twins' illusion.

The pair turned around and saw that Raven Inkwell had entered through the other door of the great hall, carrying a huge pile of documents that had to be read and stamped. Only then, Sweet Creme and Sweet Caramel's faces were shocked again, realizing that they had been fooled for the umpteenth time. The princesses hadn’t not only left them as surrogate princesses only as a gesture of kindness, but also to escape their tedious tasks, since that day they had many pending documents to review.

The twin maids lowered their heads in disappointment, realizing that sometimes their princesses could be as tricky as any other pony. At the other end of the hall, Cadance and Sunset Shimmer were leaving as well.

"Sunset, I'm really proud of how you acted." Cadance said to her student after they left the great hall. "Tell me... how do you feel now?"

"I'm not sure." Sunset replied with a confused look as she kept walking. "That empathy thing sucks. Thinking about how the twins had felt after I cheated on them made me feel distressed, and bad about myself." Sunset added, stopping and turning to look at Cadance. "It felt bad at first, but now... I feel a little better about myself.” The unicorn felt as though she shed a weight, admitting her guilt after so many years.

Seeing how Sunset's expressions had softened as the days passed and she learned more about love, Cadance couldn't help but beam at her student's serene smile. Then both mares were distracted when they saw that Shining Armor, Cadance's fiancé, approached them with a young palace guard, who Sunset managed to remember was named Flash Sentry. Figuring that Shining Armor must be there to speak privately with his future wife, Sunset said goodbye to Cadance and left.

"I hope I didn’t interrupt you, your majesty. But I just got back from my mission to Ponyville, and I wanted to give you my report immediately." Flash Sentry saluted Cadance militarily as he held up a small batch of sheets for his report.

"I didn't expect you to come back so soon… Were you really able to accomplish… your mission, in just two days?" Cadance asked, without giving details of Flash's 'secret mission', as it was something Shining Armor was still unaware of.

"I'm sorry Princess. That’s precisely what I have come to talk to you about. I renounce my mission." Flash said seriously, leaving Cadance and Shining surprised, as it wasn’t normal for a palace guard to give up a mission that a princess had given him. "I must resign because my soul has finally found its other half, and I’ll swear that from now on my heart will only be for the one I love. An unconditional love for which I’ll fight, even from a distance."

"What are you talking about?" Shining Armor asked.

"Wait... did you fall in love!?" Cadance asked in surprise, understanding what the guard was referring to with his bombastic speech.

"Exactly! I finally fell for a mare that stole my heart. A mare that I knew VERY intimately." Flash said, slightly blushed as he remembered his mistake in Ponyville when he lifted Twilight Sparkle's leg. An image that had been burned into his mind. "Twilight Sparkle, the only mare who was able to reject me and resist my charms. I swear by Celestia's sun that my heart will be hers." Flash exclaimed like a poet.

"Twilight Sparkle?" Cadance asked, surprised that an unknown mare from Ponyville was able to woo the kingdom's most gallant palace guard in just one day.

"That's right… And I must say, Captain. How did I never find out that you had such an impetuous and beautiful sister?" Flash said, giving the report to Shining Armor as well as a newspaper, in which a mare was photographed.

Both Shining Armor and Cadance leaned in to get a better look at the newspaper, where it was titled: 'Twilight Sparkle, the heroine who saved Equestria.' As they did so, they both saw in detail the photo of the mare that had stolen Flash's heart. A mare with lavender fur, blue mane with pink and purple streaks, purple eyes, and a cutie mark that they would both recognize anywhere. The pair almost exploded with laughter, barely able to suppress it at the last moment when they recognized that 'mare', because it was obvious who she was. However, how was it that Dusk Shine had achieved that!?

"Captain, I… I don't want to be indiscreet. But with your permission, I wish you would one day tell me more about your younger sister." Flash said, gawked with love, at Shining Armor.

"Uh… Ahem! Y-Yeah… I think it's something I could do…" Shining Armor said, trying to sound as serious as possible, even though inwardly he was dying of laughter. “M-Maybe after you’ve had a few drinks with me.”

Satisfied with that answer, Flash Sentry saluted his captain and the princess and withdrew with a bright smile. The stallion swore to himself that he would improve as a stallion, so that one day he could conquer the elusive and daring Twilight Sparkle.

After Flash Sentry was far enough away, Cadance and Shining looked at each other and both burst into laughter.

"I’ll definitely have to ask Dusk how he managed to fool Flash." Cadance said, after wiping away a few tears of laughter. "Dusk is lucky that this newspaper didn’t reach Auntie Celestia. He would surely die of embarrassment if he knew that a photo of him 'in this state' almost began to circulate all over Canterlot."

"Yeah... I suppose he would die of embarrassment..." Shining Armor whispered with a thoughtful look. He then glanced once again at the photograph in the newspaper of his brother's female alter ego...

Night had fallen on all of Canterlot. And while most of the ponies slept in the castle, a hooded figure evaded the few guards in the castle corridors and secretly encountered another pony, waiting patiently in the outer courtyards of the castle.

"You're late... It better be something good that you made me come so late at night." Said the pony that had been waiting hidden outside the castle. It was none other than Nosey News, the obtrusive reporter of the newspaper 'The Canterlot Sun'. The reporter who had been about to expose the scoop on the wedding of Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, but she was later ridiculed after the princess herself admitted to everyone her engagement and made all her research useless.

"Sorry. It wasn’t easy to sneak around the castle without the guards seeing me." The hooded figure whispered. They took off their hood and revealed that they were Raven Inkwell, Princess Celestia's faithful aide. "Tell me, is it true that you’re interested in Captain Shining Armor's family? Especially his younger brother."

"Yes, in the past I wanted to investigate this Dusk Shine, since it seems that he’s linked in some way with the fall of Nightmare Moon and the appearance of Princess Luna." The reporter replied. Her boss had insisted that she not continue investigating that scoop, but she was determined to see it through.

"Well, if that's the case, maybe this interests you." Raven Inkwell said, giving the reporter a small newspaper from Ponyville.

As soon as Nosey News picked up the paper, saw the photo, and read the headline, she smiled excitedly. She had finally discovered the piece of the puzzle that she had sought so much, to the long-awaited news that would finally make her a star reporter.

End of chapter 12

Author's Note:

Many thanks to 'Scribe of the Nightwings' for his help

**ARTISTS 'CONTRIBUTIONS**
Dusk Shine II Chapt. 12 - DenDoctor

Many thanks to DenDoctor for his drawing

Comments

[Greenhorn]

"Yeah... I suppose he would die of embarrassment..." Shining Armor whispered with a thoughtful look. He then glanced once again at the photograph in the newspaper of his brother's female alter ego...

Shining: This would definitely go into Family Album. At least, my younger 'sister' won't have to worry about Nightmare Night costume.

[Darth_krayt]

Dusk Shine stop switching your gender Dusk Shine mind (kill Flash Sentry kill Flash Sentry) my mind kill Flash Sentry kill flash Sentry ) I'm going to be honest my least favorite part about the story is the gender switching but keep up the good work

[Doctor_Den]

I wonder what was the reaction of Dusk's parents when they find out that their son got married and did not invite them to the wedding?

It seems that the Flash of this universe will only find his wife if someone opens a portal for him to another universe where there is a normal Twilight Sparkle :D

P.S. After all, the Cutie Mark Crusaders really screwed up with the release of the truthful article. how could knowing the real story after Dusk's interview manage to print the Twilight myth?

P.P.S. Did I mention that my favorite scene was between Sunset and the maid sisters?

[BrawnyBold]

My thoughts on this chapter:
- Yes! I get to see the princesses’ reaction to Dusk’s marriage! Also, I now feel bad for Luna.
- I do hope the Gabby Gum thing gets resolved with the CMC not getting hated as much as from the show and Diamond Tiara gets a well-deserved punishment. I really hated Ponyville Confidential.
- I guess some of the Ponyville mares simp for royal guards.
- I thought we got through with Dusk’s jealous thing when he went to Appleloosa?
- I feel bad for Dusk as he still doesn’t get the well-deserved credit he gets from the Nightmare Moon and Discord incidents.
- (After Flash checked ‘Twilight’s privates) Whoa Flash, that was so over the top, even if you were sort of on the mark.
- I’m glad that Sunset resolved things with the maid twins. Although I felt bad that the twins now have to do paperwork. Looks like they’ll no longer put the Royal Sisters on a high pedestal now.
- Oh boy, we have another Prince Blueblood incident.
What is it with guys fawning over girls who rejects them?!

[cornholio4]

"Goodness me. Luna did seem worried about Dusk's wedding." Celestia said, narrowing her eyes with a serious look of suspicion. "I guess it also bothered her that she wasn't invited to the wedding... I didn't know she liked weddings too!" Celestia chimed, calmly drinking her tea again.

How are you not getting it Celestia?

[spectre203]

Weird why do I feel like celestia stalking her own student creepy and use that for her entertainment only to panic that she wasn't even invited to the "wedding".

Luna seems angry that she wasn't the one having those "saucy dreams" with her out of reach lover only to find out that specific lover is already wed to somepony else but manage to perk up believing that it's some sort of excuse that her love only partake in this "wedding" as a charade.

Oh cadance never underestimated the wackyness of ponyville and it's denizens however learning that she has a "sister-in-law" I'm pretty sure she gonna have good time learning how did this happen.

Never really like flash sentry even in the show to me he just there because he there just glad that arrogant stallion got chase out of ponyville for his assumption of "crossdressing". But still it felt like I've seen this scenario before from white chicks movie. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p25lrLKb7F0&t=4s

Glad that sunset is having spotlight and character development but my curiosty is still with the enigmatic character it still have little clues of who he/she is.

Oh dusk is gonna have "sexy time" with applejack or just there for a sleepover. Who knows!?.

Inkwell being an informant for a paparazzi didn't expect that at all but it seems that dusk gonna have unwanted accompany soon.

[GreatDragonLord]

files.everypony.ru/smiles/3f/b6/ab354c.png So, well, let's go.
1) I probably would have woken up all the neighbors in the student block with my laughter if I wasn't alone at the moment. Celestia with her maternal instinct; Cadence, disappointed in her own ideas; and Luna, not catching up, which is not even close to the "race" for the heart of Dusk yet.
2) In the situation with the Flash Sentry, I am completely on the side of the local stallions. Of course, it all depends on the peculiarities of the mentality, but still, I will explain my position (attention! on the basis of my opinion, the image of my fellow citizens!): some cute "handsome" comes to the city and begins to seduce all the girls indiscriminately. Firstly, our girls, for the most part, would not allow themselves to be touched so easily (and Flash has exactly that attention of a sexual nature); we need to achieve, grow in relationships in order to get the right to show such signs of attention, that is, more publicly. Secondly, guys wouldn't let this guy run after every skirt. In some cities, in places where middle-class people live, there are gopnik, consisting mainly of "those who have served time in places not so remote" (if some expressions are unclear, write, I will explain), bachelors and boys who want to seem cool. So, if such a "handsome man" would appear in the area, acting in such a dissolute manner, most likely in the near future, the "bratva" would provide him with an unplanned lesson in morality and morality (there are two different words here), possibly with the use of force.
3) Cadence's behavior is understandable, but it doesn't make it any more acceptable. Encouragement of a dissolute lifestyle at the level of the ruler (the moral component of society immediately goes into negative) and interference in the personal life of another being (and, unlike Celestia, directly) do not paint her image at all. On the one hand, it is clear that she wishes her pupil only the best, however, the family (which, in fact, she is not yet) should not directly interfere in other people's relationships if they do not threaten the life of a family member. In any case, the emotional stress received by Dusk during Flash's stay in Ponyville could have a bad effect on relations with all his "friends", throwing them into the friend zone for a long time. (my personal opinion) If Dusk Shine would have behaved like a man and stood up to protect his girlfriends from this, I'm not afraid of this word, a Faggot (a direct verbal expression of his intentions in a poisonous form does not give him another characteristic), then I would be happy to help him. Yes, after that, perhaps, all the girls will look at him askance, not talk to him, however, after analyzing the situation, they will come to understand that they were just going to be used for their own satisfaction by some stallion. Fortunately, in the end, Flash got what he deserved, however, I still stick to the simple option of hammering the correct behavior model into the idiot's head.

However, now Dask will have to pay for the choice of the method of confrontation.

From the last scene, I almost woke up half of the dorm again. However, it seems to me that it lacks another actor who was in close proximity to the princess and her captain.files.everypony.ru/smiles/82/6f/9ec859.png

files.everypony.ru/smiles/ba/df/893132.png - Yeah.... I didn't expect betrayal from Raven.

Damn it! I couldn't squeeze out thousands of words in a few months when writing my own fan fiction, but as soon as I was hooked on some topic in the work, I immediately opened up and rolled out a tirade, half the volume of what I wrote in my own story. What's wrong with me?! * Whimper*files.everypony.ru/smiles/da/96/8540a8.png

[GreatDragonLord]

11123955

Oh dusk is gonna have "sexy time" with applejack or just there for a sleepover. Who knows!?.

files.everypony.ru/smiles/ec/2b/71f554.png - If Applejack does this, then one of the rules will be violated for her, since she directly hinted to Dusk about her desire to "get closer"

Never really like flash sentry even in the show to me he just there because he there just glad that arrogant stallion got chase out of ponyville for his assumption of "crossdressing". But still it felt like I've seen this scenario before from white chicks movie. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p25lrLKb7F0&t=4s

In my comment, I also spoke about this. I am very pleased to realize that I am not the only one who thinks this way.files.everypony.ru/smiles/ea/0a/7d207e.png

[bigsnusnu]

11123550
we'll have to wait to know the true intentions of Shining Armor
thanks for comment

[bigsnusnu]

11123598
haha well, we'll have to wait to see if it was Twilight's last appearance
Anyway, I'm glad you liked the chapter
thanks for comment

[bigsnusnu]

11123762
We'll have to wait to know if the CMC article will have repercussions or not
And about Sunset, I'm glad you liked that scene. I wasn't sure to put it, but I'm glad
finally, thanks for commenting

[bigsnusnu]

11123791
Yeahs, we had already seen a bit of 'jealous Dusk' in Appleloosa. But now he faces it differently, he realizes it and manages to get over it :) but who knows, jealousy can always reappear
Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter
thanks for commenting

[bigsnusnu]

11123862
haha yes, it's a very strange thing that Celestia doesn't realize about Luna's love. I guess subconsciously she thinks it's impossible for Dusk to be Luna's love

[bigsnusnu]

11123955
I'm glad you liked the chapter
about Sunset, yeah, it was the right thing that she also had her space, like Dusk, she's a character that also has to be developed
about Inkwell, it was a complete surprise. We'll have to see why she would have done that
finally, thanks for commenting

[bigsnusnu]

11124254
I hope you liked the chapter
About Cadance, I think you're right, hopefully at some point she understands that she should be less overprotective with Dusk.
About Dusk, only time will tell if he acted well or not with Flash I mean, Flash was a threat, but it's also true that Dusk began to act jealous. So, what would have happened if Dusk had been too jealous and Flash hadn't been a threat? who knows.
And about Raven, well, we'll have to wait to see why she did that, it's very suspicious
ps: good luck with your fanfic it's hard to write, but sometimes you have to force yourself to write
thanks for comment

[Chaos Goddess]

Do it Dusk! Embrace the gender swap and build yourself a ‘reverse harem’!! #BulkIsBae teeheehee

[bigsnusnu]

11124858
hahaha it would be a very strange plot twist, but fun haha

[FictionPony21]

Hahaha ! This chapter has been too good to be true! Seriously you do phenomenal, the greatest.

I loved Flash's punishment at the end, he always seemed like an annoying character and quite cretinous, I think it's good that you put him as a fool in love with Dusk or rather Twilight.

I like Luna more and more, her fantastic character development, in the series it always seemed to me that they did not focus on her as much as I would have liked.

It would be great if you also made the comics (such as canon and non-canon) part of the story, I'm not saying all of them, just the most important ones, to further develop Dusk's relationship with each character.

You're doing great, keep it up!

[bigsnusnu]

11125642
I'm glad you liked the chapter
I'm glad you like how I treat Luna's character she'll have her special moments in the story
About the comics, I've already put some elements from the comics, like the comic with Celestia's transformation into Golden Feather and well, there will be more elements in the future
Finally, thanks for commenting

[Sonicfury01]

CAN'T WAIT FOR LYRA TO PUBLISH A NEW CHAPTER FOR HER COMIC!

What would be the female alter ego of Flash Sentry?... I mean Imagine Dusk Shine x Female thing.... Or will it be Twilight Sparkle x Flash Sentry in the comic? Ahh! I wish I could read Lyra's Comics!

[spectre203]

11127341
R63 flash sentry is called flare warden

[bigsnusnu]

11127341
haha yeah, Lyra comics have become famous in the kingdom. We'll see if Lyra comes up with more 'daring' ideas for her comic haha

[GreatDragonLord]

camo.fimfiction.net/kEqdnCNkFc8JSSxz4TGPs9TTWXK85ddGDPvXBiR37Gc?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffiles.everypony.ru%2Fsmiles%2Fec%2F2b%2F71f554.png I was sitting, thinking something about changelings (I recently read a fan fiction in which Applejack turned out to be the queen), I remembered about your work and for some reason a variant of the plot development with Chrysalis came to mind (a reference to another fan fiction, but these are trifles), in general: Chrysalis pretends to be a Cadence and disrupts the royal wedding, at which, by chance, it turns out that Dusk is breaking off the plans of the short-sighted queen, after which, the latter, admiring the strength of spirit and beauty of her rival , starts thinking like this (the song is in Russian, because I don't know if there is a translation of it. But I found subtitles) *rewind to 0:59*:The song is herecamo.fimfiction.net/dlqEbpjT_WUI_1PxIS2g01khTv399cNCPArhuAJZ9eA?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffiles.everypony.ru%2Fsmiles%2Fea%2F0a%2F7d207e.png
I have no purpose to offend anyone. I apologize in advance
A small question, maybe you know why the pictures are not shown from the very beginning? They seem to be under a spoiler and, until you click on it, the image will not appear.

[bigsnusnu]

11131425
yeah, anything can happen with Chrysalis, she's an interesting character, and well, we'll see what happens when she shows up if she shows up haha
And about the images you attach, I don't know why they appear as a spoiler

[Darth_krayt]

11131771
I got a serious question since dust was Twilight at the time sad she and her stop nightmare Moon not Dusk Shine won't that caused some problems in the future won't some ponies believe that Dusk Shine is a fraud the false hero at that time

[bigsnusnu]

11133736
we'll have to wait to see if the news has repercussions or not

[MLPMekarm]

(sets up a betting table) ok folks. place your bets at how long it'll take princess 'sun butt' to find out what happened to dusk in the news paper. and no i don't mean at the end of this chapter. the news paper that shining and cady are reading.

[PuzzleMaster98]

"PFFFTTT!!" It was heard loudly in the dining room as the three princesses spat out the tea and coffee they were drinking. A scene that surprised both Raven and the maids, who never expected their splendid royal highnesses to be so shocked that they would react in such a way unworthy of their class.

AHAHAHAHAAH!!!!! Yes!!

[DavisSentoV5]

I'm not even upset anymore that I'm a month late... I just accepted that I'm just meant to read MLP stories super late.... Anyways, I was dying from shock & laughter after what Flash did with what he did with poor Twilight (Dusk) and that dummy idiot is even in love now!

[DavisSentoV5]

11134094
3 days

[MLPMekarm]

11148143
got it.

[bigsnusnu]

11148141
haha yeah, as I always say, the important thing is that you could read it haha
I'm glad you liked the chapter and the appearance of Flash and 'Twilight' haha
very soon the next chapter it's almost ready
thanks for commenting

[Silentwoodfire]

"Sorry, I don't like talking to stallions. They’re too temperamental." Flash said, waving his hoof disdainfully at Dusk. "I prefer to chat with mares.

Don't let Captain Armor hear you say that...

[bigsnusnu]

11188034
Shining Armor would definitely have A LOT to say if he had seen everything that happened in Ponyville with Flash Sentry haha
thanks for comment

[Silentwoodfire]

Way to rewrite history and keep yourself out of it.

[Xalok]

That it it has gone for to long without being said but here goes Celestia needs glasses, for she is blind

I was going to say something along the line of wishing that Flash got turn into a flower or something do to how self centered be seen but what dusk pull of beat it

Raven Inkwell and Shining Armor are going to be a major pain in the ass

[bigsnusnu]

11208366
haha yes, it's an unknown how Celestia will react when she finds out about Luna's love
and about Shining Armor, yes, apparently his relationship with Dusk is worse than we imagined

[Super Ponyman]

"Desperate times call for desperate measures...." Dusk said with a dark look, finding a way to approach Flash without suspicion, and thus discover what he was up to. "Back to the lab!"

Dusk, No. do not do this to yourself.

[Sappfirix]

11188155

Shining Armor would have killed Flash Sentry if he knew what he did to "Twilight".
Question: When will he find out? And will he know at all?

[bigsnusnu]

11521592
I think Shining already knows what Dusk, or rather, 'Twilight' did haha but he'll wait for the right moment to tell Dusk haha

[Reily]

I wanna beat Flash Sentry's stupid skull in! How dare he.

First he's a womanizing , I mean marizing jerk. Next he performs a genital inspection on Twilight! I mean Dusk.

I love your writing author and this series is fun but Flash really grinds my gears.

[bigsnusnu]

11576757
I'm glad you like my story
and yes, Flash Sentry exaggerated a bit in his behavior hahaha we'll see if he improves the next time we see him
thanks for comment

[f0st3r21]

To the Captain of the Royal Guard, 1st Division , Canterlot Castle:

Attached are copies from a complete dossier of harassment claims and one claim of molestation with multiple witness statements for each incident against a one Flash Sentry on and off duty.

-Mayor Mare, Ivory Scroll, Ponyville
***
Shining Armor: …
***
Dear Princess Celestia,

Why~!? What did I do?

-Dusk Shine
***
Celestia: That’s for being Gabby Gums.