> Arrived at Dusk
>  by aliengirlguy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Arrival
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclaimer: I claim nothing of the Harry Potter franchise nor the My Little Pony franchise, as everything is the rightful properties of their owners and affiliates. No infringement was intended, and no money is being made. 

Warning for Fic: Spoilers, OC's (though unimportant and minor), and possible overused equine replacements of common word usages.

ooo ooo ooo

Canterlot is well known for heavy pony traffic. After all, it is the capital of Equestria, and the seat of power for Princess Celestia, the great ruler of all ponydom.

Like all cities, hundreds of faces can come and go and remain virtually unnoticed or uncared for in the scheme of things.

As such, while there is a few, very few mind, beings that could notice if something…unusual happened in the bustling manetropolis, the city was so vast and full that it would be quite hard indeed to find the source of these disturbances.

It was such a disturbance that went undiscovered in an alley between a hat shop and a bakery as the sun was setting on a scheduled overcast day, the Pegusi preparing for the rain of tomorrow.

In the shadows of this nondescript place, a foal was born into this world out of nothingness.

He wasn't so much an infant, by pony standards he was roughly pre-teen years, old enough to run around on his own, but not old enough to leave home yet.

The foal, unlike many of the healthy fed members of Canterlot, was a skinny little thing, with pale silver pelt, wild black mane that fell all over the youngster, and prim little black hooves that clacked softly on the cobble stone, as large emerald green eyes took in his alien surroundings with dumb founded amazement.

He wobbled like a toddler just learning to trot, and it was no mean feat to say that he was rather awkward on his hooves.

When the youth stumbled out of the alley, and beheld the majesty of a late evening Canterlot, with ponies in all manner of fashion strolling sedately, with unicorns levitating shopping behind them, muzzles in the air on a fair few, or the movement out of the corner of his eye that turned out to be shadows of flying ponies, it was safe to say that the foal was quite flummoxed and shocked by his new location, and returned to his alley and sat on his rump to think.

"Well, this is certainly not Surrey anymore," the foal muttered to himself, as he squinted down at his reflection in a calm puddle.

A silvery, finely narrow-muzzled face stared back up at him. He noted that he had a horn on the center of his forehead, with a familiar lightning bolt shaped scar, a darker grey around the edges, coming from the base of his horn and stopping between his eyes.

He tried to remember the events that led him here.

The Dursleys had locked him in his room after the incident with Dobby and the pudding, and then his relatives discovering he wasn't allowed to do magic outside of Hogwarts, thanks to that blasted Ministry warning.

The imprisonment that followed had been inhumane; allowed only once a day to use the bathroom for a few minutes and fed cold cans of old soup once every evening, or to be more accurate, when they remembered to feed him. After close to a month, he had eventually snapped and began clawing at the walls and doors, yelling, pleading to be let out, to no avail. At some point, huddled against the door, his nails broken and bleeding, he had closed his eyes tight and wished desperately with all his might that he was anywhere but there, somewhere far away where he could be free forever. Just him, his magic, and wherever he wanted to go.

Then things had gotten fuzzy around the edges, and Harry figured he might have passed out after that, and that was when he woke up in the alley in a city that was apparently populated by a variety of equines…Harry looked up when he spotted a group of rowdy creatures that were part lion and part eagle laughing and swaying into each other drunkenly as they walked past his spot…and griffins to, how delightful.

Harry groaned into his skinny chest, idly blowing hanks of mane out of his face as he came to the obvious conclusion. So somehow he had been transported here.

The question was: how?

Harry had read about accidental magic while in Hogwarts, how it seemed to respond when a child, and sometimes even an adult, was in emotional and/or physical distress. Perhaps that was what happened? He'd somehow been transported by his magic here, and changed into…he eyed his horn and shifted the appendages on his back -whatever he was at the moment.

The next question was: what did he do now?

Shelter and food were the obvious immediate necessity, but after he settled that, what else was he going to do? Should he try to find a way back? Perhaps ask for some help from someone?

After only a moment of thinking about what he would be leaving behind should he fail to return, or as the case may be, a lack of what he was leaving behind he came to a speedy conclusion. He had no family that he cared to admit to, he had asked Dumbledore to remain in the Wizarding World, and he had been told he had to return to his relatives. The adults of the Wizarding World had not impressed him, much as the muggle world, so he wasn't inclined to trust as easily or be as needy as he might have when he had first found out about being a wizard. He thought that it was different from the muggle one, but the lack of adult intervention or care, even the sheer viciousness of some, Snape being an example of that, trying to save his life or no, and even nearly dying and being forced to kill someone to defend himself! And let's not get him started on all the other near death experiences since. The Dursleys may hate him, but at least they had not outright tried to murder him.

He had friends, true, and he would miss Hermione and Ron, but frankly he had only known them for less than a year, and while they had been through some things together, it wasn't enough to sway him into wanting to return. He would miss them dearly though, they were his first friends, and he would have done nearly anything for them, but he wasn't willing to risk being returned to that muggle hellhole or the near death experience and pedestal-like grandeur that he Wizarding world gave him.

As for his magic, from what he had observed, there appeared to be magic here (at least he assumed it was magic that was levitating those packages following a group of chattering unicorns in fine hats), so perhaps he could continue learning magic, he did have one of those horns after all, and from what he had seen, he could might even fly, if these wings actually worked, so there was no need to miss that sensation either.

Further, here, there were no Dark Lords that had a hankering for his life, at least he assumed so, since he was a new arrival and had yet to make any enemies, and he assumed wherever he was it was very far indeed from where he had been, like possibly alternative reality far. He had read a few fantasy and sci-fi books in the library back in the day while hiding from Dudley that spoke of such fanciful possibilities. He figured that with magic and monsters being real, getting tossed in another dimension was not to much of a stretch for his incredulity meter. 

Granted he knew absolutely nothing about this place or how dire his situation may become, but at least there was no fawning Wizarding World that worshiped him and wrote about him in newspapers and books without knowing him, NO trolls, or cursed brooms, or parasitic murderers out for his blood. No closed and locked doors keeping him captive. Here, he was obviously going to be an unknown. None of these people…horses? Had seen him arrive, so his identity within this new world was a virtual blank slate, a canvas that he could paint himself.

It was perfect.

Harry smiled at his new image in the puddle, wings fluffing happily, and made a vow to assimilate into this new world, and leave the boy known as Harry Potter back in the human world forever.
> Ponyville
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

5 years later…

Dusk was late, very late.

No, Celestia was not being tardy in setting the sun, Dusk was the name of a certain teenage stallion who was galloping for the train station, a heavy saddle bag strapped his flank over a faded creamy white shawl that was tied tightly over his back, trailing down his flanks, the wooden beads of the worn fringe banging against his hind legs in a steady rhythm with his frantic dash for the train.

Behind him, glowing in an aura of silvery light was a bushel load of luggage.

"Rump feathers!" Dusk swore as he heard the last minute whistle just as he careened past several irritated looking ponies towards the platform.

With a flex of magic he levitated himself and his luggage over the crowds heads and landed gracefully, along with his luggage, on the caboose of the candy colored train as it pulled out of the station.

"Close one," the conductor commented, as the brown pelted unicorn with black mutton chops and spiffy conductors uniform took his ticket with an easy flex of magic and tore it to indicate he had boarded, handing it back to Dusk who levitated it back into his charcoal grey saddle bag.

"Thanks," Dusk said, still catching his breath, "I was delayed by a neighbor of mine, nice ol' mare, but she's a bit of a talker."

The conductor chuckled as he led Dusk inside and settled him in a seat, which he took gratefully, "so, I take it your headed out to Ponyville? Bit of a change up for a city pony like yourself."

Dusk settled back more comfortably, not minding a bit of idle chit chat, it was something he had gotten used to over the 5 years that he had been living in Canterlot.

"I'm looking forward to it," Dusk replied idly, levitating a bottle of apple juice from his pack, offering another to the conductor who took it gladly, they both took a swig, before he continued.

"Got folks you're visitin' out that way?"

Dusk shook his head, "I'm afraid all my folk are long gone, I'm setting up a shop in Ponyville, a tea shop"

"Shame to hear that, the folks I mean," the conductor said sympathetically, "I lost my parents in a flash flood on the way home from Manehatten myself. As for that store of yours, that sounds like a fine idea. I've been to Ponyville many a time and as far as I know they have no tea shop, just a café in that respect, as far as selling tea goes."

Dusk nodded.

Eventually the conductor took his leave, thanking him for the chat and the juice to attend to his duties.

Dusk sighed as he leaned back and watched the scenery fly by.

5 years. 5 hard years it had been since Dusk had stumbled out of that alley that he had been reborn into, and left his old identity behind him. He had taken on the name Dusk, after the time of his arrival. It had taken a fair bit of a learning curve to adapt to yet another new world, though to his credit, it had not taken to long, as he was always rather good at adapting to new situations.

Harry had spent time observing the nuances of being a pony. He had learned about the four different types of dominant Equestrian native ponies, such as the Unicorns, Pegusi, Earth Ponies, and Alicorns.

Much to his consternation the alicorns, what he was, were a very rare breed. There was only three mentioned in the entirety of Equestira, all Mares, though one of them had apparently gone bat-shit crazy and had been sentenced to the moon of all things close to a thousand years ago, and all the alicorns were royalty.

Dusk was keen on keeping it just those known alicorns and no other, having had enough of the spot light in his old world, thank you very much, and had stolen the first thing he could, a shawl from a used clothing half-piece bin, when the shop keeper wasn't paying attention, when he had realized quite quickly that he didn't see any other winged unicorns among the general populous. It had also helped that he had hidden out in the Equestria National Library among the oldest, mustiest and little read tomes on History, which proved quite invaluable in learning about his new species.

Of course, being an alicorn wasn't the only thing he learned about. Cutie Marks were another thing Harry learned about quickly. Apparently, when foals reached about 11 or so years of age, they developed cutie marks, permanent natural symbols on their flanks that represented a key identity trait, usually associated with a particular special talent that dictated somepony's place in the world for the rest of their lives.

It reminded him a little of the Wizarding World and their pressure on knowing what you wanted to do at a young age as well, though at least the Wizarding World they usually didn't expect one to start having a general idea until they were 13, but still! It seemed kind of young to figure out something that uniquely defines you and then have that dictate your path in the world.

Dusk himself had been nervous about this cutie mark business, being of the age when ponies should be starting to discover their special talent, but when more and more time past, and he had discovered plenty of special enough skills (some more unique and kept under wraps then others) he had at first thought he might be a bit of a late bloomer, but after he turned 14, he had come to the conclusion that whatever magic had made him Dusk, had perhaps not completely translated over to this world completely, after all humans do not have cutie marks. As a result, even though he was now 17 years old, he was still a blank flank, something that wasn't possible in the world of ponies if you are one.

As a result Dusk kept his flank covered most of the time as a result.

One of those talents that Dusk had found an immediate affinity for was magic. Perhaps because of his year at Hogwarts channeling magic through a wand, channeling it through a horn wasn't to different, it was just intent, and not wand movement, and rarely words, at least for the mundane things. It had been an awkward week or two to train himself from not moving his head in the wand movements he remembered from his human days for things like levitating.

Dusk had been lucky in his first month, to find a hostel that was willing to take him on, first month free, when an old mare named Flower Petal had learned that he was basically homeless and an orphan. She even set him up as an apprentice to a nephew of hers, Brew Bag, who taught him the fine art of tea making. Through those two earth ponies Dusk found a home and a family, and they made sure that he was given a home, an education, and when they realized he had a good dab hoof at it, tea making and gathering, and thus a career when he was old enough. They also made sure he attended a general public school of foals when a truant officer discovered him when he went in for his chamomile tea and found him manning the cash register during a school day.

He was grade assessed and made to attend classes in things like history, math, arts, home economics, and of course magic lessons, mandatory for all unicorns, usually just basic stuff like levitating objects and so on, before unicorns eventually got their cutie marks and their magic usually narrowed to a particular magical purpose associated with their talent. The only class he was not required to attend was gym, much to Dusk's relief (having to remove his shawl was not exactly feasible for him). A school nurse pony had not been pleased with the results of her magical scans (which had not picked up on his Alicorn status for some reason fortunately) when he went in for the annual physical assessment, and he was forbidden from the rigorous class, and put on a strict diet to build up his body weight.

He was still rather small and slight, much to his displeasure. It seemed the effects of the Dursleys treatment of him followed him even now into a new body years later.

Eventually, when he had passed school, a quiet faceless foal among many, who had made strides to be sure he didn't make any friends but still be friendly enough to engage in conversation if put into the situation thus making himself unmemorable, and satisfied with the causal relationships he had with customers and his pseudo family. By the time he had graduated, Brew Bag had declared him a full Tea Master, and had even shed a proud tear gruffly when Dusk had returned From Canterlot Licenses and Registration offices with his license to run his own business.

Dusk had thought long and hard and had finally decided to open his business in Ponyville, attracted by the idea of the quiet simplicity of a small town, especially one that didn't have its own resident Tea Master. Brew Bag had a cousin who ran a small inn there, and would be putting Dusk up for however long it took him to set up shop. He had already been given a loan from the bank and the address to an empty building that sounded perfect for his needs. It was a bit of a fixer upper, according to the information, but that merely made sure that he wouldn't owe as much as he would have had it been pristine. He estimated that if he did decently well, he would pay off the loan in under a year.

And now, here he was, on a train yet again starting another stage of his life, though this time not to a magical school as a speckled little human, but a quiet life of selling tea for affordable prices, exactly as he had hoped for.

Harry levitated the latest Daring Do novel and settled in for a quiet read.

Ooo ooo ooo

The shop he had his eye on was, as he expected, definitely a fixer-upper.

It was a condemned standalone two story, with grim looking faded grey walls, peeling roof tiles and more weeds then lawn at the moment.

It was also a bit further from the center of town then he had been lead to believe, in fact it straddled the edge of town before heading into a place called Sweet Apple Acres, a prosperous farm and apple orchard.

"This will take more work than I thought," he grumbled to himself, as he eyed the dubious foundations.

He nodded to himself, took a step back, and closed his eyes, pointing his horn in the direction of the building, taking a moment to consider what exactly he wanted, before he summoned his magic.

With a blinding flash of silvery light, the condemned building was consumed in a silvery bubble. Dusk grunted as he sat on his rump, and let out a gusty sigh.

The spell he had used was a rather powerful carpentry incantation that restored a building as if it were new again, and had the added benefit of having a one way ticket to the caster's subconscious and would apply alterations according to his wants and needs.

The only drawback to this spell was the immense energy needed to maintain the construction bubble for the next 24 hours. It was usually handled by at least three unicorns, but Dusk had always had a goodly amount of magical reserves, and otherwise would have cost him a pretty bit; he certainly wouldn't be doing anything strenuous for a while, and minor spells was going to be hard to do.

He levitated his things, grunting as he was treated to some of the actual weight, and made his way back into town and to the inn, the Prancing Butterfly, where he was being given lodging for the night until his new place was up to scratch, though it took him quite a while, as he continually had to take rest stops, thanks to the magical drain, but he made it, and Hard Mead was waiting for him. The earth pony's plump silhouette and tan pelt and mane a welcome sight to the weary pony as he collected his key, dragged himself and his things up the stairs and finally collapsed into bed, falling asleep instantly.

Ooo ooo ooo

When Dusk awoke the next morning, he was still rather tired. After getting up, pulling his mane back in a loose pony tail with two smaller ones framing his face, and his tail in its usual black silk bindings at the base, he trotted downstairs for breakfast. A brisk daisy salad sandwich and a bottle of apple juice later, he felt a bit better and decided to go out for a walk and get to know his new surroundings. He kept his things in his room, with the exception of a saddle bag, which he wore slung over his back over top his shawl.

Ponyville was comprised of straw roofed, tan walled buildings with burgundy trim, usually with up to 3 floors and no building was constructed in the same shape, despite the similarity in color and construction material. There were also rather opulent buildings painted beautiful colors and fashioned somewhere between Victorian era architecture, the leaning tower of Pisa, and carnival rides he remembered from picture books from his old world.

They all came together strangely well, despite the difference in architecture. From what he could gather, many of the more successful businesses and organized public spaces, like the town hall for example, were the fancier buildings.

Dusk could also see tall towering tents and pavilions and booths being set up, and realized that in all the excitement of moving, he had forgotten that it was the Summer Sun Celebration. He hadn't realized that it was being celebrated in Ponyville this year.

He wondered if he had enough time to jury rig a stand and sell some of is his tea?

He frowned to himself. 

The construction spell would end early this evening, so he might be able to cobble together something quick for the evening festivities when all the ponies would be staying up to watch Celestia raise the sun, perhaps a table at the town hall then? 

It wouldn't be an impressive stall, he wasn't the artistic sort, but it would at least get his hoof out there, and have the benefit of introducing him to the small town as well. 

Satisfied with his plan, and sure that he had the necessary supplies shrunk in his baggage, though he should perhaps pick up a bit of ribbon later maybe, for decoration, he turned his focus back to his surroundings. 

From what he could tell, Ponyville was also a heavily mixed community, like Canterlot, but was simpler in terms of everyday living. There was less opulent dress, and there didn't appear to be any obvious class divisions like the capital. Everyone was also friendlier, and often gathered in groups to laugh and chatter together. 

He was just perusing a stand being manned by a unicorn selling dried fruit, when a glint of gold caught his eye. Curious, his head turned and beheld one of the Canterlot royal chariots landing nearby being pulled by two rather burly white Pegusi in golden helmets with blue plumes. 

The passenger was a lavender unicorn with purple and magenta mane with what looked like…yes, a baby dragon in her company. 

"Guess you’re not the only new arrival," the seller commented, as he took Dusk's gold piece that he handed him from the pouch around his neck. 

Dusk shrank his purchase and stuffed it inside with his money before giving a polite farewell and continuing. 

He didn't get far though as he was suddenly bowled over by a blur of pink. 

Dusk groaned as he got to his scrambled back onto his hooves, rubbing the back of his head briefly then graciously offered a hoof to help the pink mare that had bashed into him, only to have his hoof ignored as she took one look at him, let out an opened mouthed gasp, leaping into the air and dashed away from him, heading in the direction of the newest arrival, then have the thing repeat itself. 

Dusk lowered his hoof bemusedly, blinking a few times and wondered what he had done to frighten the pink mare with the blue eyes, the other mare looked just as confused. He finally shrugged, figuring she was likely the local town eccentric. He had seen a fair few in his short life after all and went about his business. 

After enjoying the excellent weather and the peaceful bustle of the town, Dusk was convinced that he had made the right choice in moving out to Ponyville. 

Eventually, he wandered out of town towards Sweet Apple Acres, his closest neighbor, and definitely a product source he hoped to utilize for a few of his apple-based ingredients. 

As he passed by the glowing silver bubble that was his magically induced construction site, he noticed the lavender unicorn and her dragon from earlier examining the magical bubble curiously; as he came upon them he heard the dragon commenting. 

"I thought you were in a rush to get to the preparations for the festival done and get to the library? Why are we stopping here?" 

The mare replied, "I am, but I just had to stop by and examine this magic. I've studied it, but I have never been this close to a magical construction bubble before, it's rather impressive, and a little unusual being just one color, they're usually a couple of different ones, signifying the magical signature of each member of the unicorns that created the bubble." 

"Thanks," Dusk said from directly behind them. 

The lavender pony yelped and whirled around. 

"Sorry about that," Dusk apologized, rubbing a hoof on the back of his head, "I seem to be startling ponies a lot today." 

"That's alright, I was just examining this magic, I tend to get a little absorbed sometimes," the lavender pony replied, waving it off. 

"Tell me about it," the dragon grumbled from his perch on the unicorn's back. 

Dusk chuckled as the unicorn shot a look at the dragon who ignored the ponies ire and introduced them. 

"Hi, I'm Spike and this is Twilight Sparkle, were here overseeing the set up for the festival." 

"I thought that chariot you two rode in on was Canterlotian." 

"Have you been to Canterlot?" Twilight asked curiously. 

"I actually just moved here from Canterlot yesterday, that spell," he gestured with a hoof, "is mine, I'm just waiting for the 24-hour period to end before I move in. I'm staying at a local inn for the time being." 

Dusk was confused when Twilight starred at him in utter bafflement. 

"Did…ehhhh…did you just say this is your spell? Just you?" she asked a little faintly, "all by yourself?" 

Dusk blinked, shrugged and nodded. 

"Did you go to Celestia's Academy for Magic?" 

Dusk frowned shaking his head and letting out a soft laugh, "Celestia no! I'm not exactly rolling in bits nor am I from a family of connections, besides, I did pretty well just learning on my own once I got the basics down…are you alright?" Dusk asked the last part in concern when Twilight Sparkle appeared to be choking on something. 

"I'm…I'm fine!" she squeaked, "Well…I best be off, I got things I need to do…for the festival and all…" 

Dusk nodded and barely managed to get out a goodbye before the lavender unicorn was speeding away. 

"Huh, ponies sure are in a hurry in this place, oh well." 

Deciding that maybe he would forgo the visit to the farm for a time, he decided that he would pay a visit to a boutique that one of the venders had mentioned to him that would be able to sell him some ribbon for his tea table. 

Ooo ooo ooo 

The boutique appeared to be empty when he arrived, a foal by the name of Sweetie Bell said that her older sister, Rarity, who ran the store was over at the town hall overseeing the decorations. 

Fortunately, the eager little filly was old enough to sell him some nice blue and gold ribbon and a pristine white table cloth with sparkles in it. 

Pleased with his merchandise, he thanked the young filly and made his way back to the inn where he helped himself to a hardy lunch of deep fried onions and cheese with a side of sweet grass salad and a mug of mead. 

After his lunch, he retrieved the necessary shrunken supplies for his booth and made his way to the town hall. 

A helpful earth pony waved him over to a spot along the left side wall, where a few other vendors were setting up food. 

His spot was next to a golden tan mare with blond mane and a cowpony hat that was setting up what looked like a veritable feast of pastries. 

"Well howdy!" she greeted him, grabbing one of his hooves and shaking it with both her own in a rather strong grip that made him wince, "well it's a plum pleasure to see another new face in town! You must be the new feller that's openin' shop in the spot next door to my land!" 

Dusk managed to retrieve his hoof, and nodded, shaking feeling back into it circumspectly and replied. 

"My name's Dusk, I arrived yesterday, I'll be opening up a tea shop, you must be one of the Sweet Apple Acres Ponies?" 

She nodded, "yep! I'm the one who’s in charge of the whole kebuttle…you need anything from apples, I'm your pony." 

Dusk nodded saying, "actually, I was planning on visiting to see if I could work out a bit of a contract with you. I need a few things for my teas that come from apples and the tree's their grown in." 

"Sure! You come by any time you're ready and I'll whip up a mean brunch like the one we gave that other new pony, here," she unceremoniously stuffed an apple cupcake into his mouth, "on the house!" 

Dusk to a moment to chew and swallow, trying hard not to choke.

When he was able to speak again he choked, "thanks!" 

After that, the two chatted amicably about small things as they both finished setting up. 

Dusk had his canteens and tea kettle ready to percolate once the festivities near sunrise began. 

"Hey, you headin' on over to the library later? Nearly everypony is going to some big shindig put on by Pinkie Pie, and I can assure you that she throws a mean party." 

Dusk checked the time and noticed that his construction spell should be finishing up any minute now. 

"Maybe later, my new home should be ready soon and I want to move my things in and get things settled before I return to pony the tea table for the big event." 

"Well, I suppose one's got to attend to one's homestead, though fair warnin' to you, that Pinkie spread the word around town to make sure that you arrive at the library with one of us, I think she was all set to throw both you and Twilight Sparkle, that other new pony in town, a surprise hoe down. She's most likely goin' to make it happen later, even if you don't show up." 

Dusk grimaced, "I'm not much of a party pony, I tend to prefer doing things quietly." 

"Sounds like you'd get along with Fluttershy, well, if yer sure?" Dusk nodded emphatically, "I'll let Pinky know, just be aware that she might take it as a challenge." 

Dusk sighed but nodded his understanding. 

When the two were finished setting up, they left the town hall, parting ways to attend to their individual plans for the night. 

Ooo ooo ooo

The spell had indeed finished construction by the time that Dusk arrived with his things.

Dusk had to admit, that the spell certainly took a great deal of improvisation from his personal desires and purposes for the building, just as it had been described to him.

The building had been reformed to look like a tea kettle, a tall one with a wide bottom, three stories and a pristine white and engraved with soothing swirls of pale jade. The roof or lid of the place was a dark green that matched Harry's eyes and looked pretty hardy.

The spout of the tea kettle arched over a space for a garden and a trellis ran from the opening of the spout to the ground, waiting for a few climbing vines.

Harry surveyed the spot and had to admit, the exterior was perfect. The grounds just awaited the seeds he would need to plant to start his garden and lawn, and with a few decorations, some furniture and appliances inside, and it would be ready to go.

After he had moved in his things, unpacking and unshrinking the more immediately necessary things and surveying the interior, finding it exactly what he had wanted, he left his new abode and made his way along the star and moonlit paths towards the town hall and began settling up. By the time he was done, some rather well partied and satisfied ponies began trickling in.

Applejack herself looked quite satisfied, and explained that she had drunk a few ponies under the table. Cider though, not mead, since she was manning the food for the night.

"Yep, strongest bladder in town," she chuckled as she related some of the stories from the party, "poor Pinky Pie and Derpy didn't know what hit 'em."

Dusk rolled his eyes as he began dolling out paper cups or mugs for those who paid the extra bits, of tea. He wasn't surprised when he made quite a killing on stomach soothing teas and anti-headache blends, with Twilight Sparkle being of the later. Poor mare looked rather worried about something and rather tired. Apparently she hadn't enjoyed her welcome party it would appear.

Finally, as the minutes counted down, the moment that everypony had been waiting for arrived.

A choir comprised of colorful singing birds began tweeting in concert grandly, being conducted by a butter yellow Pegasus with large turquoise eyes and long concealing pale pink mane and tail that Applejack whispered to him earlier was the pony called Fluttershy that she had mentioned.

A stately earth pony with pale brown hide and varying shades of grey in her short wavy mane and tail, with a cutie mark of a officiates scroll on her flank and golden spectacles on her muzzle took the stage, and a spot light came on, centering on her.

Dusk and the rest of the ponies manning the food tables, hurriedly shut down their tables and went to join the large gathering of ponies, they would return to work after Celestia began the festivities with the raising of the sun.

"Mares and gentle stallions," the official looking mayor began, "as mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun celebration!"

All the ponies cheered.

"In a few moments," the Mayor continued, "the sun will rise on this, the longest day of the years!," more cheering, "and now it's my great pleasure to present the pony that raises the sun and the moon herself each year, the good, the wise, Princess Celestia!"

With a trumpet of horns, and little birds with their tiny feathery chests enlarged, ready for the presentation music, the spot light turned from Mayor and shone on the royal balcony as royal blue curtains pulled aside.

Only…the Princess wasn't there!

There were gasps from the crowds and a horrified, "She's gone!" shrieked a unicorn with rather stunningly coiffed deep purple mane and tail and a pale white pelt.

Frantic whispers began to circulate through the crowd, the mayor tried to calm everypony down.

Then Dusk felt odd, a strange sensation snaked up his spine, up into his skull and right for his horn which suddenly felt oddly cold.

The lights suddenly grew dimmer, and all of a sudden, where Celestia was original supposed to address everypony, a wave of midnight blue and black magic arose, then swirled menacingly and bloomed outwards resolving into the mane and tail of a large dark alicorn with black and palish lavender armor on her flanks, hooves, legs and chest.

Her eyes were large and cold blue ice, her fangs gleamed in the low light.

"Well, hello," the mysterious, and definitely overly magical and dangerous mare addressed the public, "it's been so long since I've seen your precious sun loving faces."

'Well that was not exactly a friendly hello,' Dusk thought to himself wearily.

The further revelation that she was called Nightmare Moon, the infamous mare in the moon that had spawned many a ponytale and one holiday was not good, and neither was her declaration that she would ensure that the sun would never rise again.

Twilight Sparkle seemed aware of her, and when Nightmare Moon disappeared in a hurricane of lightning and dark magic, she ran off, closely followed by a few other ponies.

Dusk himself slipped away in the entire ruckus and galloped in the opposite direction from the group of 6 ponies who were heading for the library.

He had a heavy filling in his gut. If the sun never rose again, then the balance of the world would be thrown askew. Many things depended on sunlight to live and without it; ponies and other creature would eventually starve, if the planet didn't freeze first. he had read enough science fiction in his old world to understand that.

He gritted his teeth as he galloped for all he was worth. He was just one tea seller, but he knew he had to do something, and with a grim determination, he knew what he had to do, he just hoped that he had enough in him to do it.
> The Sun Will Come Out
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 3: The Sun Will Come Out.

Big Macintosh sighed peacefully as he strolled through the orchards of his family's farm.

He loved this time, the peaceful early morning just before sunrise, just him and the apples and the dawn. He often liked to start his day early before Celestia raised the sun so he could enjoy the peace that the early hours brought him before he started on his chores.

"Eeyup," the large pony sighed contentedly.

As he reached the West orchards, he began to notice that the dawn hadn't yet appeared like it usually did this time of year by this time of day when he made his rounds. It was still very dark out, the moon prominent in the sky still.

"That's odd," he mumbled to himself, maybe he had read the time wrong before he left?

Then something even more unusual caught his eye.

It was another pony. He wasn't anyone that Big Macintosh recognized, and he knew everypony in town, including regular visitors.

This pony was small and lean, with a silvered pelt that actually seemed to gleam in the moonlight, and dark mane pulled into a serviceable loose pony tail. Large eyes, greener then an apple leaf stared into the horizon in the exact direction of where Celestia raised the sun each morning.

"Huh," he muttered to himself, wondering what in the hay the pony was doing here.

He was about to call out to the stranger and ask why he was on his lands, when the horn on the unicorn's head began to glow.

It was, at first, a pale silver light, but then it pulsed and grew bigger and bigger, taking on a golden hue. It consumed the pony entirely for a moment, and nearly blinded Big Macintosh as it exploded outwards and upwards, blowing the stallion off his hooves and into a tree with a grunt.

When Big Macintosh got his bearings, the light had dissipated to a soft deep gold aura, like the light of the sun, hovering around the Unicorn who was grunting and panting with extreme effort.

Then another golden light literally dawned over the horizon as the sun, rather raggedly and haphazardly, strained to rise.

Big Macintosh took in the dawn, then the straining golden glowing pony, who was barely keeping his hooves under him, then back and forth. It didn't take him to long to come to the conclusion that, as inconceivable as it was, this lone unicorn was trying to raise the sun!

"Eeyup," he said to himself with a decisive nod, and trotted over to the straining pony.

He didn't need to ask any questions. He could tell that the stranger was in a great deal of distress, and that whatever was going on, he would help him until he was told otherwise. After all, it was indication that something serious was ahoof, or else Celestia would be doing the deed as usual, and would have likely been on the stranger in a hoof beat otherwise.

"Excuse me," he said, keeping his tone his usual calm slow baritone, "can I help you?"

The unicorn opened his eyes and turned two small glowing green suns on the other pony.

"Please…" the stange pony gasped, as he began to fall, "it's to much! I..."

Big Macintosh caught him around the middle and maneuvered the overly warm pony onto his back and began making his careful quick way back to the family stead.

"No one can know," the unicorn said faintly into his ear, "please, no one can know…"

Big Macintosh veered away from the direction of the family home and instead towards the barn where he kept his quarters above the stalls.

After some rather tricky finessing, he got the two of them in his bedroom and gently placed the glowing unicorn onto his bed.

With no other idea of what to do, but remembering the time when Granny had taken care of him when he was sick, Big Macintosh filled a bowl with cool water and using a cloth, he spent hours wiping the sweaty pelt, as the stranger struggled feebly.

When Big Macintosh tried to remove the shawl from the pony to reach his back, it suddenly sprung at him, as if alive, whipping his hoof away with a stern shake of a clothed corner before settling back into place.

Deciding that it was best to leave it alone he continued to care for the unicorn though occasionally he would take a break to check on Granny Smith and Apple Bloom who had returned from the festivities at the town hall and told him everything that happened, and that his sister and some other ponies were venturing into the Everfree Forrest to deal with this Nightmare Moon, who, before now, had just been a figure from old pony's tales. Big Macintosh told the two ponies to remain inside, despite their jubilation that the sun still appeared to be rising despite Nightmare Moon's threats, and they were under the assumption that Celestia was struggling against the evil pony's magic.

Big Macintosh knew differently, and worriedly told them that he would be in his rooms for the day, and quickly retreated, much to their confusion.

"Keep fight'n now, you can beat 'er, just give my sister and her friends' time," he said to the struggling unicorn. He had faith that his sister would see to matters, as she always did. In the meantime, he would continue to protect and help the strange unicorn that seemed to be doing the near impossible to best of his abilities.

Ooo ooo ooo

Nightmare Moon was not pleased.

Her goody four hooves sister was locked tight in her quarters in her castle in Canterlot under a dome of Nightmare Moon's magic and powerless to raise the sun, yet, instead of bowing to her majestic nighttime, a group of ponies had penetrated the Everfree Forrest and were making their way to the Castle of the Two Sisters were the elements of Harmony resided, trying to defy her glorious reign and ignite the elements of Harmony against her, something that was a great deal of an immediate danger to her rule. She contemplated destroying them right away, but she was eager to see those who would dare defy her broken in spirit as she destroyed their only hope in front of them.

Then there was some other ponies, ones that she could not find or see, that had the audacity to try to raise the sun against her wishes! to end her glorious ever night! She was unsure who the perpetrators were, But once she dealt with the 6 mares that sought the Elements in the Everfree Forrest, the more immediate and identifiable threat, she was going to destroy these unicorn upstarts soon following.

Ooo ooo ooo

It seemed ages to Dusk, as he lay struggling with the immense magic it was costing him to raise the sun and fight against the dark menacing magic that was trying to keep it from happening.

Everything burned and hurt, he felt exhausted and tired, but he persevered, he fought and didn't give up despite how every particle of his being was looking to just letting go.

But he couldn't. He had to do this, he had to keep the balance or everything would be screwed. He would keep trying even if it cost him his life.

Some part of him would later bemoan the fact that he had ended up in a world where everything from the weather, to the animals, to the bloody sun, moon and stars were dependent on the whims of ponies, instead of fending for themselves.

How Celestia didn't have a nervous breakdown...Grrrrrr!

Occasionally, his personal hell would be soothed a little by the cool cloth being bathed along his flank and the soothing words of encouragement in his ear. He had no idea who it was, but he was grateful for whatever little respite he could get.

And so it went, for eons it seemed, and then suddenly, the opposing pressure receded, and his hold on the sun was gently lifted, and a kind, calm voice whispered in his mind.

:I don't know who you are, but thank you, the darkness has past, you may let go now and rest:

The voice held a warm soothing quality, and was familiar from the times he had seen her address the people of Canterlot, during his colt days, and the familiar taste of warm intense magic from the first time he had sensed it when he had arrived in Canterlot when he witnessed his first sunrise, disbelievingly so, during his first Summer Sun Celebration in the big city. It seems that Princess Celestia was back in control.

Letting out a relieved sob, he let go of the sun, and groaned as his tense aching muscles seemed to melt in relief.

The world shifted and whirled to reveal a face looking down at him in concern, the face of what he dimly recalled must be the one who had been caring for him this entire time.

"Everything's fine now," Dusk rasped, "Celestia has the sun again."

The stallion nodded, and put away the cloth and then hopped up onto the bed and settled next to the smaller male, gathering him against his side when Dusk began to cry his relief and exhaustion.

"Merlin I thought I was going to die! it hurts so much!"

Big Macintosh had no idea what a Merlin was, but he just held this strange pony whose name he didn't even know. He just held the other in stalwart silence, much as he had the day he held Applejack when she had been a filly and there parents had died.

The silvered pony sighed, leaning into the large side, letting the scent of fresh apples and tilled earth fill his nostrils.

"Sleep then," the stallion soothed, "I"ll be here watchin' over ya."

Dusk sighed, the last of his tears spent, and did just that, though the last thought he had was that he was likely to never do that again.
> Are We Friends?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4: Are We Friends?

It took a few days for Dusk to regain his strength enough to move, let alone stand. The pony that had been looking after him turned out to be the older brother of Applejack named Big Macintosh. He was an often silent stallion, with an easy going, peaceful air about him. He was also a rather largely built, heavily muscled stallion, and from his hidden vantage point from Big Macintosh's window, he was a very strong hard working pony. His apple red coat and choppy orange mane and short working pony tail were distinctive.

The most important feature about his caretaker was that he also kept his word and didn't tell anyone about what had happened, and when Dusk was better and ready to leave, even if things still ached here and there, the stallion even distracted his family by unexpectedly making dinner so he could sneak away unseen.

The dinner idea was a bit of a bust, the resulting kitchen fire however gave him ample time to slip away and back home.

There were no words for how grateful he was to the pony for taking care of him, covering for him, and keeping his bout in sun raising secret, even though it must have raised a whole lot of questions in the poor stallion.

Despite his gratitude though, he concentrated on setting up his business, taking is mind off the near miss with all the fracas with Nightmare Moon, which ended up using some big deal magic called the Elements of Harmony by some of the mares he had seen and meant before, restoring the villain back into Princess Luna, and was ready to open a few days after he had left Sweet Apple Acres.

His grand opening was a stellar success. Many ponies showed up for the offer of one free tea to the first time customer, and after that, they shelled out their bits for his fresh steeped tea and ready to buy bags of tea mixtures.

Many a pony could be seen settling with a good book, either one of their own, one from Twilight Sparkle's library, or one that he had sold or loaned from the book shelves that lined the walls of his store.

He had the sudden thought that Hermione would have been proud of that addition, before he shook away the unwelcome nostalgia.

The outside of his shop, dubbed The Tea Cozy, was soon filled with a riot of herbs, berry bushes, and wild flowers, with black cap vines and blue morning glories spilling from the spout thanks to Mr. Greenhoove's efforts. Ponies enjoyed siting out in the little dining nooks he had decided to add, and chattered with each other, enjoying the scenery and the nice weather.

One of his regulars, Rarity, who was owner of the Carousel Boutique, and one of the heroic mares that bore the elements of harmony, offered to design him table cloths, curtains and other decorations pro-bono, and he gladly accepted and returned her generous offer with free tea for a month for her help. Dusk was not much of an interior designer, and he appreciated the Unicorn's help. She often invited him to her clothing shop afterwards and would have fun grilling him on the latest from Canterlot while trying to dress him in fancy outfits, and she had an amusing war with his shawl which refused to be budged, the slapping match was even more hilarious until he was accidentally clipped on the rump.

Another regular of his was Twilight Sparkle, his fellow Canterlonian, who apparently was staying in town as well taking up permanent residence in the library, and the two would often enjoy quiet discussions on books they had read when she came in for lunch, and they would give each other the inside scoop on some tome or another. The mare did ask him about his magic a time or two, still rather fascinated by his construction spell, especially as many unicorns usually had magic that centered on their particular talents, unless their talent was magic of course, and with Dusk being an obviously talented and focused tea Master, made his unrelated spell work all the more intriguing to her, but Dusk simply didn't want to talk about it, and she eventually caught the hint and dropped the subject thankfully.

He knew his magic was rather powerful, but he hadn't realized just how much until he had been forced to though this Nightmare Moon incident. He wasn't stupid; he knew that a single normal pony shouldn't have been able to raise the sun, no matter how difficult, unless you happened to be Princess Celestia, practical god of ponies everywhere, Or Princess Luna, returned god of the ponies.

From what he understood, Princess Celestia and the newly reformed Princess Luna sent out a proclamation of gratitude to the brave ponies that sought to continue the rising of the sun, whoever they were, which was a heavy relief.

This proclamation meant that they thought he was several someones, which meant his part in all that mess was secure. Apparently, thankfully, everyone speculated that it had been a secret group of ponies, who chose to remain anonymous, that had combined their magic to raise the sun. As groups used to do before the arrival of the two Alicorn sisters. He was eager to let everyone to continue with that assumption.

Sure, he had always been aware he was a little different, and he had always been top of his class in magic, before he had dropped it in favor of focusing on herbology and potions (Snape would have keeled over in shock, Dusk was sure, though better teachers certainly helped). But he had associated that simply with the fact that he had once been a human wizard and while he hadn't been one for long, He figured that maybe his magic had just translated to his pony form a little differently. He honestly had not thought anything about it until he had arrived in Ponyville, and everything that had happened.

He was determined to live his life how he wanted. The last thing he needed was undo attention outside of friendly neighbours and customers here and there. He was sure that if anyone found out that he had as much power as he did, it would draw attention from the royals and the last thing he needed was the equivalent of gods being aware of him. What if they realized he hadn't exactly been born a pony? What if they decided to send him back?

No. He would keep his head down, go about his business and try to put that entire whole raising the sun nonsense behind him.

He had long forgotten the mental address of personal thanks from Princess Celestia, in his relief at his struggle ending.

Ooo ooo ooo

Big Macintosh shifted on his hooves bored, his sister talking up a storm with the local mail pony while her older brother died of boredom in the background, strapped to an apple delivery cart.

It had been two weeks since he had seen the unicorn known as Dusk, the tea seller.

He wondered how the other stallion was doing. He had said he was better before he had left, but he had looked so helpless and strained during the whole hulabaloo with the sun, and afterwards had not been able to move for quite some time and then had promptly dived into the stresses of starting up his business as soon as he was on his hooves.

Was he still being affected by using his magic on the sun? Was he getting enough rest? Enough to eat?

Oh sure, don't get him wrong, he was plenty confused and amazed at what he had witnessed, but the ways of magic were a mystery to him, and the fact that the unicorn had used his powers to help Equestria, even if he was being shifty about it, was something Big Macintosh respected, no matter what strangeness surrounded it all.

After Dusk had left, Big Macintosh had not wanted to intrude on Dusk, after all, he had gotten the impression that the pony was looking to put the whole incident behind him, and so far he had not been back to the farm, instead he had been taking deliveries from his sister.

It was strange, but he found himself thinking more about the other pony as time past. He wondered what Dusk was doing now? It certainly had to be more interesting running a busy tea shop then lugging around apples while his sister talks it up with the locals.

It wasn't that ponies were unkind towards him, and a few did try to engage him in conversation upon occasion, but he had always been a rather silent type, and not given too much jawing. It gave him a rather standoffish and/or stoic aura, and as such, he didn't have many friends.

In fact, the longest he had ever been in contact with a pony with outside of his family had been Dusk. He had to admit, it hadn't been so bad, despite the situation.

As if summoned by Celestia, the object of his thoughts suddenly walked into his vision, coming out of the pastry shop, talking with Mr. and Mrs. Cake for a moment, before he began ambling away in the direction of the stationary store.

Big Macintosh felt a sudden urge to unhitch himself and catch up to the other pony and check to see how he was doing, and in a rare form, he actually gave into the urge.

When Applejack turned around after talking to the postal pony it was to find him gone.

Big Macintosh dodged pony traffic as he tried to catch up with the other pony that appeared to be some distance away already.

He was so determined to catch up to Dusk that he didn't see the milk cart until it was too late.

Ooo ooo ooo

When Big Macintosh regained consciousness in the small Ponyville hospital it was to the sight of two sets of green eyes. The apple green of his sister, and the deep emerald apple leaf of Dusk.

"Tarnation you gave me a fright horse shoe head!" his sister said rather loudly into his headache, making him groan, "what were you thinkin' runnin' into traffic like that?"

Big Macintosh lowered his ears and rubbed his head.

"I'm sure whatever his reasons, he didn't mean anything by it," Dusk added, his soft voice washing over Big Macintosh. Both ponies helped him to recline back on his pillows, Dusk leaning practically on top of him, and his nose filled with the scents of wild flowers, fresh brewed tea and the faintest hint of ozone.

The news they gave him wasn't good. He had damaged his ribs, which meant, with apple bucking season only a few days away, his sister was going to be short a hoof for harvest.

Eventually, Dusk had to go to tend to his shop, and left him and Applejack alone.

"That's a mighty fine friend you have there big brother," his sister mused, causing the larger pony to look at her in surprise, "was practically the first pony on the scene. Used some unicorn medical hocus pocus to heal you up some, though he was unable to help your ribs, and he levitated you himself all the way to the hospital while being carried by some helpful pegusi. He stuck with you since you were brought in, and hasn't left your side until now; he even let Pinky Pie run things for him while he was gone. I think the only reason he left now was because he realized yer alright and he decided to check to make sure that his shop was still standing. I reckon he'll be back soon enough though."

Big Macintosh was silent as he considered that.

Were the two really friends?

When Applejack left to check on the farm, Dusk returned with one of his teas, and after Big Macintosh drank it without complaint, soon was glad when he did, despite the taste, the pain in his ribs disappeared to nearly nothing, he asked the pony, a little muzzy under the effects, "are we friends?"

Dusk was silent for a time as he considered the question, then answered, with a little surprise himself.

"Well, you helped me, despite me being some strange pony that wandered into your fields, and you kept my secret. I…don't know what would have happened to me if you hadn't been there for me…and when I heard the crash, I sort of had a weird feeling that you were in trouble and I felt like I had to help you, no matter what, the same way you helped me, so… I guess…yeah, I think were friends...do you?"

"Eeyup," the large red pony sighed, before he fell asleep, the feel of a small black hoof running absently through his mane the last thing he registered.

Ooo ooo ooo

The following week and a half was interesting.

Dusk had to admit that he had never seen a stampede before, and he had the dubious honor of witnessing one near miss when some stately cow folk went on a stampede due to a snake, that was quickly diverted by Applejack. The second stampede some days later of a bunch of startled rabbits however, gave him mixed feelings between incredulous amusement, and annoyance when the little fuzz balls went for his garden. Fortunately, the snake family that he had talked to in private earlier into leaving the cow folk's grazing lands and asked them to move into his gardens out back away from the customers, proved to be a quick deterrent at his call, and the bunnies soon skedaddled for better pastures.

Soon after that little experience, he went to visit Big Macintosh who was still bedridden by doctor's orders and see how he was recovering. To his further aggravation, he found said stallion struggling to lift some apple filled barrels on the sly, despite the obvious pain it was giving to his injuries.

After giving the pony a good telling off, he dragged the male back to bed using magic by the tips of his ears, cheered on by a rather flustered Granny Smith, an old mare who was the matriarch of the family, who one could swear creaked while she walked and had also been annoyed at her grandson's stubbornness.

Between Granny Smith, the younger sister Apple Bloom and Mac, as he had come to call the red pony, he learned that Applejack was bound and determined to harvest the entire crop of apples on her own. Mac had been trying to sneak out of the house to help her, worried about his sister, who was stubbornly working herself into the ground and causing a whole whack of problems because of it.

Dusk had frankly had enough. He wasn't the sort to interfering into other ponies business, but Mac was his friend, and when he saw that it could interfere with his recovery, because Mac was just that loving an older brother, it made him angry.

He marched up towards the North fields where rather dazed looking Applejack was feebly kicking at the base of an apple tree with baskets strapped to her flanks.

"Applejack!" he hollered, marching up to the pony, causing her to snort awake, "I got a bone to pick with you!"

"Huh?...wha…? Oh, Dusk, you look madder than a hen nesting on a cactus."

Dusk snorted, and began rather loudly to tell her exactly what was making him mad.

"Do you have any idea what your stubborn arsed pride is doing to both the ponies who love and care for you and the town that cares about you?" Dusk had not been pleased to find out she was the reason that those rabbits had eaten vegetable gardens all over the town. Applejack cringed at the harsh tone as Dusk went into a long rant on exactly what her pride had done. When He was done, the pony was sufficiently cowed and huddled up against the tree she had previously been bucking, looking ashamed.

Dusk sighed, his tone gentling, "Look, your brother told me about this family pride thing that's big in your family, and I'm not a pony to be going around interfering, but it's just gotten too far. Will you at least ask your friends to help you? The others…what are you mares nicknamed again? The Mane 6?"

Applejack nodded in defeat and said quietly, "I'm sorry, I…really am sorry, please, I'm…awful tired…can you…?"

Seeing her struggling with the words, the stallion relaxed and nodded and with a flare of his horn he hefted the basket off her back, levitating them behind him as he escorted her back to the family farm and left orders with her sister and grandmother to see her to bed, while he got her friends to help finish the harvesting.

And to be sure that she stayed in bed, he gave granny a small bag of drowsy tea he had originally brought for Mac and made sure to tell granny to make sure that both siblings were given a good hefty dose to ensure the both of them stayed in bed.

He took the matter to Twilight Sparkle, who appeared to be the ring leader of their group, and left her to rally the others. She seemed to be mightily relieved to hear that Applejack had caved in and finally swallowed her pride and asked for help.

Soon everyone was gathered, and under the supervision of Applebloom, who, despite being young, and had yet to be allowed in on any big harvests because of her age and need to still attend school, she had nevertheless grown up on the farm and was able to direct them in the proper methods.

Twilight and Dusk mainly used their magic, with Dusk making sure that he didn't clear out more trees then her to harvest and fill the baskets.

By the end of the harvest, they had managed to gather all the apples and store them away, and had Dusk had to admit, he'd had a lot of fun doing it.
> Meet, Greet, and Thanks.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 5: Meet, Greet, and Thanks.

When Applejack recovered from the exhaustion sickness she had developed from overworking, she had come personally to Dusk's shop with a basket of apple fritters and apple jams as a thank you for getting her head on straight, and invited him over, along with her friends, for dinner.

He accepted, as it was only polite, and when the night of the dinner came, he closed up shop early and levitated a carafe of sweet-grass and apple cinnamon tea, one of his most popular brews, as well as a few bottles of the iced tea version in case some of them weren't partial to the hot stuff.

The first pony he meant along the walk to Sweet Apple acres was, unfortunately, Pinky Pie.

The pinkish pony was rather excitable, as usual, and upon spotting him, he saw the gleam in her eye that he had gotten familiar with in his time in Ponyville.

It was no secret to the citizens of Ponyville that Dusk had managed, miraculously so, to avoid one of Pinky's surprise parties. After a month of her attempting to give him a welcome party, she had gotten craftier.

The mare was far from having her feelings hurt though, she apparently loved a challenge and often told others, when it was mentioned, that she thought he was amazingly fun to practice her sneak attack surprise party techniques on such a challenging pony. She declared, randomly and often to strangers or friends, that victory would eventually be hers and Dusk…well, he continued to skirt her attempts, often muttering "damned pink Slytherin" under his breath.

Though he had to admit, she almost caught him when she sprang out of his mail box…and he was still trying very hard to not try to figure out how she had gotten in there, especially with confetti and a balloon.

"I can assume, since this is Applejack inviting us for dinner as a thank you we can forgo the attempts at partying for the evening?" Dusk ventured, eyes narrowed, "after all, it's only the polite thing, she being the host."

Pinky hummed thoughtfully, she continued to hop along beside him then nodded, though her own eyes narrowed slightly as she added "alright, truce for the night…your good by the way, but social niceties will only get you so far," and with that ominous sort-of threat hanging over his head, she went back to making up some sort of song in her head, and randomly saying cheese and mimes occasionally.

The two of them were soon joined by Rarity, who began fussing over his shawl again, said shawl manipulating its folds in a motion that Dusk got the sense was a distinct flip-off.

It was another well-known fact in Ponyville now that he remained the only pony to ever resist her make-overs, sighting that he was perfectly comfortable with just his shawl which apparently held sentimental value (or so he claimed anyway).

Dusk was just retelling his tale about a festival in Canerlot that he had attended last year, when the next of Applejack's friends zoomed in…literally.

She was a pale blue pony with rough rainbow coloured mane and tail, and definitely had a rough and tumble quality about her. He had seen her a time or two out in the skies dealing with the weather or practicing aerial maneuvers. From what he understood from customer's idles gossip, she was trying to get into the Wonderbolts, an elite team of fliers in the neighboring Cloud City in the East, the pegasus capital.

"So you're the new guy that's been selling all that fancy frufru stuff," she greeted him baldly.

"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity scolded, "Is that anyway to describe a pony that's brought some added class to our quaint little town?"

"Aww, tea is just fancy drinks made of plants soaking in hot water, what's the big deal?" she scoffed.

Dusk raised a fine black eyebrow.

"Well, you certainly are entitled to your opinions," Dusk drawled diplomatically, "though I had heard that you were the best flyer in town…"

"I am," she replied proudly, puffing out her chest proudly.

"I also heard that some of the aerial maneuvers that the Wonderbolts, who are also good fliers I am told, are often practiced for long periods of time, and I have seen you practice from time to time myself, I admit that you remind me of them."

Rainbow perked her ears forward excitedly, "you've seen the Wonderbolts? And you think I fly like them? Really?"

Dusk nodded, musing almost to himself, "though I admit that your aerial practices don't appear to last as long as theirs. It's a shame really, I really enjoy watching them on my breaks, I have a particular interest in flight you see." Though not for the reason any pony would think of course.

Her chest deflated at that, and she said, rather grumpily, "well, I'm still just learning, it takes time to develop enough endurance and wing strength to fly for long periods like them."

Dusk nodded, "yes, one of them told my mentor, Brew Bag that, when she picked up her weekly supply," he hummed, almost whistling.

"Wait," Rainbow halted him mid step, dropping infront of him and asked slowly, "are you saying that you've actually meant a Wonderbolt? In person?"

Dusk hummed, "well, not directly, I was always busy stocking shelves or seeing to the customers, but Sitfire…no Spitfire…I think her name is Spitfire, likes to chat with my mentor a time or two when she picks up the Wonderbolts' supply. They favor this brew that gives them extra energy for longer flights and levels out their metabolisms enough so that they don't run the risk of overeating and gaining weight."

"Hold up," Rainbow halted, and practically invaded Dusk's personal space, a fervent gleam in her eye, "your saying that the Wonderbolts drink some special tea that helps them with their flying? Really?"

Dusk leaned back a little and nodded, an innocent smile on his face.

"Well, alright then, sign me up for the next high tea! I'll have what their having!"

Dusk smirked inwardly, and after hemming and hawing, eventually nodded and reassured her that he had a supply on hand for sale and to come by whenever she wanted to during business hours. He also assured her that since it will be her first time, her first cup was free, so she would be able to try some out.

Rainbow Dash let out a little cheer and swooped up in the sky to do a few maneuvers to work off some energy for dinner.

The last to arrive, while a Pegasus as well, seemed to prefer walking serenely.

He recognized her as Fluttershy. The shy pony had only squeaked nervously, hiding behind her mane when they were introduced for the first time at the harvest.

She was a painfully shy, soft spoken pony that had a flare for animals, apparently she could communicate with a large variety of them, and seeing that he was making her uncomfortable, he had merely given his hellos and backed off calmly, but quickly, giving her space as soon as politeness allowed.

She was the complete and utter opposite of Rainbow Dash, and he noticed that Rainbow Dash had come down from the clouds of hover nearby protectively as soon as she noticed their interaction.

Thankfully, Twilight Sparkle had given him the heads up about her own first meeting with the shy pony and the best way to break the ice.

"Hello again Fluttershy," he greeted first calmly, knowing that she was not going to greet him first.

She squeaked and hid in her hair mumbling incomprehensibly in a manner that Dusk chose to believe was some form of a greeting.

"Well, it's nice to see you to, I hear that you're the best with animals, and I wanted to ask you a question about a friend of mine."

With a few soft hisses a blackish green snake slithered out from his mane, which he had worn down for the evening for this purpose (and made Rarity absolutely gush at how fine he looked) Rarity nearly fainted and Pinky leaned closer, oohing at his pretty scales, which seemed to be the thing to say to bring Rarity out of her near swoon.

"You know darling, the snake actually suits you for some reason," she commented as it slid around his neck casually, "even if it is *shutter* a snake".

"Hey cool!" Rainbow commented, "you just hissed at it! Did you just talk to it in snake?"

The snake and that comment seemed to grab Fluttershy's attention.

"Oh my!" she gasped, nearly bowling over Pinky, and trotted over to hover over the snake around his neck, "he's so cute! And such a rare breed!"

Dusk nodded proudly, he didn't mind revealing that he could talk to snakes, since it was something that he could already do in both worlds but unlike his old world, here it was not uncommon in Equestria that there were ponies who could communicate with other animals.

"Her family was nesting in the grazing grounds of those Cow folks, and were the initial cause of that stampede from a few weeks back. I offered them a place to stay in my garden, and I just wanted to ask you a bit more about their breed, since I hear you're the go to pony for animals to make sure that they are going to have what they need in their new home."

Fluttershy brightened and soon the two of them got to talking, she seemed rather fascinated by his ability to speak snake. Apparently her understanding of snake was a little rusty and the two were soon arranging lessons. While she could understand snake to a certain degree, in a similar manner that she could understand other animals, but she could not speak a lot of the various animal languages in return. Her form of magic, rare for a pegasus, relied more on establishing a near psychic connection with other beings which helped facilitate understanding. She was eager to be able to learn how to actually speak the snake tongue, though he warned her that he was not exactly sure how he did it, but she was willing to try.

They were soon joined by Twilight Sparkle and the conversation turned to a friendly debate on a book the two of them had read, which bored Rainbow Dash who went back to the clouds.

By the time they had all arrived dinner was almost ready and the group greeted a much more refreshed looking Applejack. Harry immediately made a beeline for Mac who had the couch as he was still the injured party, and sat beside the happy stallion.

When dinner was ready, Dusk and the others gorged themselves on a veritable feast and the other ponies chuckled over Dusk's fussing over Big Macintosh, who didn't seem to mind a bit.

When the eating was done, a toast was made by Applejack.

"To the finest friends a pony could ever have…and new ones," she gestured over to Dusk, to his surprise, "who aren't afraid to give a stubborn mare a good verbal kick in the chops when she needs it, thanks, all of you."

"Cheers!" every one called, and clanked their cups of cider together.

After dinner they all retired to the family room where they played a few games. Dusk retired to the veranda and sat on the porch swing and stared up at the beautiful starlit sky contemplatively.

"It's strange," he commented out loud, turning to face Twilight who had come outside as well and sat down beside him.

"What's strange?" she asked curiously.

"That after years of keeping to myself in Canterlot with only my landlady and my mentor as…well, more the closest thing to family a pony could ever have then friends really, and only a little over a month in this town, I now have the very thing I never really considered wanting, let alone having."

Twilight nodded and said sympathetically, "I understand, I wasn't really into friends myself before I came here. I was always so fixated on my studies that I didn't really think having friends was important enough compared to learning all I could about magic. But after everything that happened with Nightmare Moon and the Everfree forest," she turned her head to the window where the two of them could see the others laughing at Pinky's rather accurate depiction of a chicken, wearing a fond smile she finished, "I couldn't imagine my life without them now."

She gave the other pony a comforting pat on the back and got up, "don't worry," she reassured, "you'll get used to this friendship thing, we both will, eventually, just give it time."

The stallion nodded and after another moment of staring up at the stars he got up and rejoined the others inside, sitting beside Mac, giving the concerned stallion a reassuring smile before turning his attention to the game of charades that was attempting to be played.
> Ruffled Feathers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 6: Ruffled Feathers

It was a common factor of Ponyville that Pinky Pie adored Rainbow Dash.

It took a while for Rainbow Dash to eventually warm up to Pinky Pie, but when the two realized that they had a mutual love for good-natured pranks, the two soon became the best customers of Glad Giggles, the owner of Ponyville's joke shop, which resembles a jester's hat and has a sign shaped like a laughing pony's head in cap and bells, complete with an "arrow through the head" prop.

They pranked a wide variety of ponies, with the exception of Fluttershy of course. It is a common conception in Ponyville that she was rather sensitive.

Dusk himself was not completely immune to their attempts, but, like his continual sidestepping of Pinky's parties, he was somehow, much to their frustration at times, able to sense when a prank was in the offing and avoided it smoothly, occasionally some other pony falling victim by accident. Only one school year with the Weasley twins had taught him a few things

Rainbow Dash admired his avoidance skill, and made it her personal mission, along with Pinky who also had a personal mission already in regards to Dusk, but was willing to multi-task, to get him good.

They tried everything. Sneezing powder, whoopie cushions, jumping out of a closet shouting surprise party!...well, the last one was more Pinky's mission then Rainbow's, but she got props for trying anyway.

One day while Dusk was wiping down some tables during a break in pony traffic, He warily came alert when Pinky walked in though his door, the bell jingling merrily and took a seat.

For once she looked the completely opposite of her normally bubbly self.

It disturbed Dusk to see the excitable, slightly insane mare looking so serious and unhappy. It was completely out of character, even her mane looked somewhat deflated.

"Pinky?" he asked in concern, had someone died? Was someone hurt?

"Oh hi Dusk, can I have an Apple iced tea with a squirt of caramel…no two squirts."

Dusk got her order and took a seat across from her.

This was the part of friendship that was still new to him; dealing with a blue pony (metaphorically speaking) that he had recently acknowledged might be a friend, despite their mutual duals. In his days as a human, he hadn't had to deal with this situation with his friends from Hogwarts. They had been too busy dealing with classes and the whole incident with the philosopher stone and the various other things like Voldemort trying to kill him, git classmates, quidditch and Norbert. Before Hogwarts he'd never had a friend before, and after his human days he'd not had any friends to deal with until Ponyville, and his surrogate family were reasonably happy and healthy ponies so he hadn't needed to deal with them being emotionally distraught.

So what was he to do?

He decided finally that the direct approach was best.

"So…what's wrong?"

That seemed to be the ticket as Pinky went off into a long rant about some griffin that was visiting Rainbow Dash, and how mean she was, describing her encounters with them, then finally her conversation with Twilight who seemed to believe that her judgment may be clouded by jealousy.

Dusk considered her words a moment, while Pinky disconsolately drank her ice tea.

"Well, it's possible that Twilight may be right, and that you could be projecting your jealousy onto Gilda…and by the way, I've meant a few Griffins back in Canterlot, and while gruff, they aren't all mean or anything, however, I have to admit that it also sounds like she could be trouble as well."

Dusk frowned, getting up and with a gesture of his head; the two left the shop, Dusk leaving Derpy Hooves, who he had taken on as an employee when she wasn't doing her mail route, in charge.

The streets were bustling as usual, and after a look around, he eventually spotted this Gilda the griffin individual (though it wasn't hard) wandering around, looking bored.

She wasn't a bad specimen for a griffin, and bore the purplish tipped head feathers of the warrior class griffin, the fact that it was just the head feathers though, indicated an apprentice within that class, so relatively young, the same age as Rainbow Dash, though still an adult by pony standards.

He sighed, trouble indeed. While they weren't all bad, apprentice warrior griffins were notoriously rowdy and often spoiling for a fight, having yet to gain a full fledged warrior's restraint and experience. It didn't surprise Dusk at all, given what he knew about Rainbow Dash, that she would get along with a the pegasus pony.

Dusk explained this all to Pinky Pie who looked rather fascinated.

"Wow! How do you know all that?"

Dusk cleared his throat uncomfortably. While his mentor had griffin clients upon occasion, the son of one of his most prestigious clients in Equestria had taken a fancy to Dusk one day when he spotted the stallion dusting shelves when he had accompanied his father on business and stopped in for tea.

The griffin had been tirelessly relentless in his pursuit, but Dusk had not been interested in anypony, male or female, and had been too busy with his studies and duties as an apprentice to care for such things.

Fortunately, the client had to leave Equestria not long after, and Dusk was always careful to make himself scarce during further visits. It is no laughing matter when a Griffin takes a liking to you. They can be ridiculously territorial and possessive. It was because of that incident that Dusk made extra special time to research everything there was to know about griffins.

"The best thing to do," Dusk explained to Pinky, ignoring her question "is to observe her circumspectly without interaction."

"Oooh…were going to spy?" that notion seemed to cheer her up some, so Dusk merely rolled his eyes and replied dryly, "I guess that's one way to put it. I'm sticking around because having a neutral pony present will ensure that what you find out isn't biased by any possible emotions."

So the two observed Gilda and her interactions with Ponyville and he had to say that Pinky was right, the griffin was definitely a brat. She reminded him a bit of Dudley.

Dusk had enough however when the griffin roared at Fluttershy.

He sprang into action and took a defensive stance in front of the upset mare, the ducks she had been guiding had scattered.

He looked the griffin in the eye, and with a deep breath and a bit of magical aide, let out a startling lion-like roar right back.

"Apprentice Warrior!" he growled sternly to the rather shocked griffin, "how dare you enter my protectorate and cause those under my protection grief?" he gestured to the tearful Fluttershy, though the pony in question had stopped crying in the shock of seeing another Pony, who was usually so calm and introspective suddenly roar in the face of a griffin.

Gilda though recognized the choice of words for what it was; she stiffened her plumage, fluffing up in challenge.

"Oh really? You have an impressive roar for a dweeby little pony, and a pretty speech, but that doesn't make you the boss of this territory, just 'cause you know a little something about griffins."

"If you recognize those words then you'll recognize these, Pinky Pie!" he called out to the rather shocked pink pony who had slid in behind him to comfort Fluttershy, "take Fluttershy somewhere else and then when you return, make sure that everyone else is out of the way, and remain, you got it?" his tone was stern, and Pinky didn't bother trying to question the strangely authoritative voice, and did as asked.

Everyone was soon clearing off, sensing trouble.

Twilight Sparkle and Rarity came upon the scene though, both of them having been having a spot of tea in Dusk's shop when the racket had started and came to see what was going on.

The scene they found was a much larger griffin and the slim small silver stallion facing each other beadily with an unusually silent Pinky standing nearby.

The two trotted up to Pinky and asked her what was going on.

She explained what had happened and when she was done, Twilight apologized for doubting her.

"But what is he doing?" Rarity whispered, "if I didn't know better, I would think that the two were about to engage in some sort of primitive brutality of some sort."

Twilight looked suddenly alarmed and she left the girls and trotted, carefully, towards the two angry figures and spoke as calmly and reasonably as she could.

"Whatever is going on, I'm sure that we can reason this out like sensible ponies…"

"That's the thing though," Dusk cut her off seriously, "this isn't a reasonable pony situation, in fact, it isn't a pony situation at all. This is a matter settled like reasonable griffins."

"But you're not a griffin," she tried to persuade, "I know what you're planning to do, but this doesn't have to get violent…"

Dusk stamped his hoof in annoyance.

"Enough," he commanded, "I get what your trying to do, but this has to be done, the griffin way, even if I'm not one. So get out of the way and let me handle this."

Twilight closed her mouth and nodded with a defeated sigh, rejoining the others.

"What was that all about?" Rarity questioned as the two began circling each other, "I've never seen him talk or act so harshly before."

"Twilight? What's going on?" Pinky chipped in, looking worried.

Twilight sighed and explained for those who weren't familiar with griffins information that she had gathered from previous studies during her time in the castle.

"In griffin culture, when one griffin has acted unfavorably in another griffin's territory, the initial accusations are made, and the affronted griffin has the right to challenge them. It's a sort of a status thing. If the interloper wins, he or she proves themselves superior to the other, and thus the loser has no complaints that can be made, if the interloper loses, he or she is proven inferior and thus must follow the command of the defender while in that territory."

"Oh my!" Rarity said horrified.

The three ponies watched in the empty streets as the confrontation heated up.

"So you think your puny pony self can hold up to my superior skills?" Gilda hissed mockingly, "I doubt it. But I'll tell you what, since your just a pony, I'll let this go. You can just turn away now and we can go about our business, or you can continue on with this farce and be torn to shreds, your call skinny hooves."

Dusk ignored the offer and the insult and continued with the formal words.

"You have been found guilty of undesirable behaviors such as thievery, bullying and endangerment of the people of my protectorate, by the honor of griffins, you are being called to task though challenge! Do you agree with your honor intact, or do you disagree and dishonor your blood?"

Seeing that Dusk was indeed serious, Gilda's claws began raking the dirt and she arched her back and replied the ritual words she had been taught since a hatchling.

"By my honor as a griffin and through the honor of blood, whether generations past or to come, and blood to spill between us, I accept your challenge!"

With that, the two of them dived at each other.

"Oh! I can't look!" Rarity moaned, covering her eyes with a hoof dramatically.

Surprisingly, it was over quicker than either of them thought.

A punch from Gilda never landed on the unicorn, instead, the griffin was grabbed and thrown into the air and into buildings and vending stalls over and over again, no matter how she lunged at him.

With each successful dodge and continual throw, Gilda became more and more angry, until she finally soared upwards, very high into the air and then came spiraling down like a spinning bullet.

The girls gasped, holding each other when Dusk remained calm and unmoved, directly within the devastating path.

When the wind of the impeding blow ruffled the tips of his mane, he suddenly stepped aside and Gilda ended up smashing into the ground.

With that, the unicorn won the battle.

Gilda was a little woozy from the impact, but grudgingly accepted her defeat, and was ordered to apologize to the towns people for her attitude, pay for the apple she had stolen (though Dusk offered to pay for the damaged stalls, since he had been the one to throw her into them). She was also commanded to apologize to Fluttershy and help collect all the ducks and heard them to the pond that she had been guiding them to. The piece de-resistance for Pinky was when Gilda was made to admit to her wrong doings to Rainbow Dash when she returned from handling some weather problems just outside the city.

Rainbow Dash had not been pleased, and the two left, with permission from Dusk for Gilda, to have a few words.

Eventually things calmed down and went back to normal.

Rainbow Dash apologized to Pinky Pie for not realizing that Gilda had been so rude to her and so on. Pinky happily accepted her apology but was sad for her friend that after a heated argument, Gilda had left Ponyville and doubted that she would see the griffin ever again.

Pinky threw a party to make everyone feel better, though it had mixed results since it had been in Dusk's kitchen, Dusk of course had been conveniently absent, picking up an order at Sweet Apple Acres and had enjoyed a quiet afternoon and early evening with Mac who had kept him company as the two chatted about the latest rodeo stars.
> Interlude 1: Everfree Forrest and Smoke
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 7: Interlude 1: Everfree Forest.

When the great and powerful Trixie came to town, it was a potential headache that Dusk was careful to avoid altogether.

While her shows were somewhat entertaining, and she used a few tricks that he had yet to see, so he went to a few of them long enough to get a general idea of her magic, which was easily assimilated and added to his own repertoire, her appallingly blowhard attitude and third person talking annoyed the hell out of him, and he was glad that it didn't take him long to glean what few tricks she had in her repertoire. he would give her props for showponyship though.

It was especially irksome when she kept challenging random ponies, and he knew it wouldn't be long until he was somehow dragged into the whole thing, so he did the smart thing and spent a few days camped out in the Everfree forest gathering plants and herbs for his teas, leaving the shop in Derpy's capable hooves.

It was while he was carefully harvesting some Jocky Flowers that he meant a resident of the forest, an odd hermit in a hooded cloak who talked in a rhyming voice.

The two of them encountered each other during his trip at the grove a few times, and in other places, apparently she was after similar plants, and when he didn't react with anything other than curiosity, she lowered her hood, and he meant his first Zebra face to face.

Zebras were a rare sight, even in Canterlot. They came from a far off country outside of Equestria and were rather secret with their practices and culture, and often went to either one of two drastic ways socially: being part with large group, or going it lone wolf style. They were nomadic in nature, and traveled in large caravans, setting up entire towns made entirely of tents.

Poetry was a common practice in the Zebra population. It wasn't uncommon for a Zebra to speak in rhyme, limericks, or some other formal style of poetry. His mentor had told him about a journey for rare tea ingredients once in his younger days outside Equestria in the Zebra lands when he stayed with a zebra for a time who spoke entirely in Haiku.

Zekora, as she introduced herself, had settled in the Everfree forest, intrigued by its mysterious nature when she heard about it during her travels, and had decided to settle their some years back.

He couldn't blame her though, nearly everything else run by ponies, it must seem unusual to another that a place existed outside of control and was a place that took care of itself.

Dusk liked to come to the Everfree when ever he was feeling contemplative or stressed. It was comforting in it's own creepy way.

Unfortunately, the towns ponies who weren't overly used to seeing those outside of other ponies or the monsters that occasionally ran amok, and the fact that she wore the traditional hood and cape with the added addition of her coming out of said mysterious and creepy forest that was often home to many of the more vicious creatures, didn't help her reputation any.

It was things like this that reminded him about the vast cultural differences between large mantropolis' and small rural towns.

He in turn related some of his experiences in pony life, mentioning his mentor and the adventures Brew Bag shared in stories to him, and thus well aware of the fact of what she was, and after the ice was broken, the two of them shared tea and soup in her hut and swapped recipes. In fact he extended his stay an extra day as she taught him a few things about some of the local flora and fauna, giving him tips on the best way to acquire ingredients from the things he had never seen nor heard of before, or otherwise consider risking it in general (the manticore venom had been an interesting afternoon).

Dusk had tried to talk Zecora into coming to the village, but the other was hesitant, given her previous tries, he eventually dropped it, respecting his new friend's choice.

By the time the two parted ways and Dusk arrived back home, it was to find some mild property damage from what appeared to have been a rampaging Ursa Minor of all things, which Twilight had taken care of, and with it, gotten rid of Trixie, much to his relief.

Things yet again returned to normal, and Dusk's secret and his nerves remained undisturbed.

ooo	ooo	ooo

Chapter 8: Smoke.

It was the day that the denizens of Ponyville referred to as the day of the smoke.

Unlike the rather unhappy ponies, though Dusk could understand their fear, as a sleeping dragon that produced that much smoke ran the risk of covering the entirety of Ponyville in smoky clouds and ash for a hundred years or so was something that Dusk thought was rather concerning for them. Though in his opinion it wasn't like Princess Celestia would just let sleeping dragons lie in this instance and would likely deal with the matter before it got quite so far. But in the meanwhile, he was going to take advantage of this rare boon.

The area around where a dragon that old and powerful slept was teeming with rare plants the sprouted in areas fed by the falling ash of dragon snores, and then there was the dragon itself, whose scales, and in some cases mane, facial whiskers and tail tip plum (if it had one) were potent and powerful ingredients in many helpful and rare brews that he could definitely use.

Spike was a dragon to of course, but he was still very young and younger dragons didn't have as powerful ingredients as elder dragons.

Zecora might even part with a few rare ingredients of her own that he had his eye on if he offered her some in trade, if she didn't harvest any herself.

So since the ponies of Ponyville weren't inclined for tea that day, what with worry over impending doom and all, he told Derpy to head home early, pay still assured for the day of course, and closed up shop.

He packed himself a few supplies, mainly harvesting equipment, a large amount of food, and several blankets and sweaters, since he wasn't sure how long he was going to be away, and he understood that it could get pretty cold high up in the mountains.

He was sure that if Princess Celestia was unable to take care of the dragon herself, or her younger sister, she would send a team to handle the matter, and if worse came to worse, he figured he could handle the dragon himself…at least he thought so though he had never faced off against a dragon before, so he wasn't to sure.

It was definitely a pleasant walk, despite the darkening sky from the smoke, and the occasional ground shaking rumble from the snoring that got more obvious the closer he made it to the base of the mountain.

Dusk examined his map, making sure of his approach, then put it back in his saddle bag and taking a cautious look around, he released the magic holding down his shawl and let out his wings, taking a moment to enjoy stretching them.

He so rarely got a chance to fly. The risk of being found out as an alicorn was just too great. He often had to hide away in abandoned buildings or simply hovering within the small confines of his apartment to work on them. If his magic wasn't such a big part of himself and needing to be used, he might have tried to find ways to hide his horn and be a pegasus, but…well, needs must. It was one of the things he regretted about his charade at times.

With a huff of breath, he leaped into the air, laughing at the spectacularly good feeling of stretching his wings and extending his pin feathers and touching nothing but open air. All too soon, it was over and he had to land. He sighed and sadly tucked his wings back under his shawl, reapplying the spell.

His depression quickly faded though when he spotted a small crop of ash berries and smoke thistle.

"Score!" he crowed and trotted over and began harvesting heartily.

Ooo ooo ooo

Applejack groaned as she set the rather literally scared stiff pony's tale down that she had tied around her head.

Poor Fluttershy didn't look any better for the trip around the mountain. She was seriously beginning to think that they shouldn't have brought her along at all.

"Come on Sugar cube, it's just a little ol' mountain, nothin' to it."

The pegasus just squeaked unhappily and tried to hide in her mane.

Yes there were times, especially like this, where she wondered if there wasn't something rather wrong with Fluttershy other than being shy and sensitive.

She pulled out a bottle of apple juice, taking a hefty swig as she pulled out the map to check their progress, only to groan when she realized that they were only a quarter of the way up to the rendezvous point with the others.

"Well that's just swell," she sighed, shoving the map back in her pack and taking a brief breather by sitting on a convenient stone.

A sudden rustle in the bushes behind her had her yelping in surprise and Fluttershy jumping for another bush with a terrified meep.

Out of the bushes popped the familiar silver and black maned head of Dusk.

"Dusk?" she said in surprise, "what in tarnation are you doin' all the way up here?"

The pony blinked at her and held up a bunch of shriveled looking mushrooms with a happy look about him and explained.

"I'm harvesting some rather rare plants and other ingredients that one can only get in conditions like this, I'll be heading further up dragon way to see if I can persuade the fellow up there if I can have a few of his scales or hairs, if he has any."

"Wait," Applejack said disbelievingly, "your actually happy about all this dragon hooha? You are aware that this here dragon is a danger to Ponyville right?"

Dusk waved a hoof dismissively as he walked over to Fluttershy's quivering bush, "of course! But I figured that I could take advantage of obtaining some rather useful ingredients before either Celestia or whatever team of ponies she sends to deal with the dragon sends it packing."

"How useful can some shriveled lookin' plants that only grow in dragon smoke be?" Applejack asked dubiously, taking another swig on her juice.

"Well Dragonshrooms," he wiggled the mushrooms, "are an extremely potent anti-inflammatory," he pulled out a jar, un-shrunk it, and placed the mushrooms inside.

"Anti-what now?" Applejack asked, confused.

Dusk chuckled good naturedly and explained, "anti-inflammatory are compounds that ease pain by reducing inflammation, or swelling. This particular mushroom is excellent for creating a rather potent tea for ponies with arthritis, like Granny Smith for example."

"Well, that does seem mighty useful," Applejack conceded, "you wouldn't by any chance be willing to bargain up a trade for some of that? Ol' Granny could sure use some of that."

Dusk nodded, "it's no problem, I'd be willing to make up a batch free for her if you want, it isn't a popular buy normally in tea shops." Dusk refrained from mentioning that that was because it was horribly expensive to buy, with the combination of the rareness of the plant and the time consuming and difficult preparation to make it viable.

"Well thanks!" she said happily, "though I wouldn't feel right just accepting it without offerin' you something in return, how about a barrel of my first fresh squeezed cider when cider making season starts up?"

Dusk loved fresh apple cider, and it could be useful for his more popular drinks, so he agreed.

That business taken care of,he turned his attentions to Fluttershy.

"She seems more nervous than usual," he commented concernedly to Applejack.

Applejack sighed, "I don't think the mare does well with mountains." She described Fluttershy's behavior since the mess with the dragon had hit, and Dusk was beginning to wonder if it wasn't just the mountain.

He frowned thoughtfully, while Applejack set about pulling Fluttershy from the bushes.

Nodding to himself, he took a blanket from his pack, un-shrunk it, and slowly approached the nervous pony.

"Hello Fluttershy," he greeted her in a soft calm slow voice, settling non-threateningly on his haunches within her eyesight, "you remember me right? Good ol' Dusk?"

"Oh yes, I remember, you have the lovely snake family in your garden and have been teaching me to speak to them."

Dusk had been going once a week to Fluttershy's house to teach her snake, as he promised. It had been slow going, but her natural affinity for animals helped it along immensely.

"Can you show Applejack some of what you learned? She doesn't seem to believe me that one can actually talk to snakes in snake language."

Fluttershy was actually beginning to calm as she began hissing random words in snake, and relaxed further when a blanket was thrown over her head, blocking out the scary world until all she could see was Dusk and Applejack.

"That's good," Dusk complemented eventually, "now you ponies look like you could use a nice cup of tea, how about I brew us up a pot before you head on your way?"

Fluttershy, seeing an opportunity to delay the inevitable encounter with the dragon agreed, and at a look from Dusk, Applejack agreed as well.

Stepping a ways from Fluttershy out of hearing range, Dusk pulled out a pot and filled it with water from a canteen and set it to heating with a boiling water spell.

"Listen sugar cube, thanks for calmin' Fluttershy and all, but we really got to be goin', we got to meet up with the others, and we still got a long way to go yet."

Dusk tsked, "there's always time for a spot of tea, but what I'm brewing is more for Fluttershy then for us…could I have some of your apple juice? It should make the brew more palatable and not affect the smoke moss."

"Smoke moss?" Applejack questioned as she handed over the juice.

Dusk pulled out a vial of some sort of hairy looking greyish sponge like material.

"This is Smoke Moss, it may not look very appetizing," Dusk chuckled at the look on her face, "but it's a really powerful herb that can be used in a lot of useful teas, tinctures and potions. One of its applications," he pulled out a small pouch, "is to increase the calming effects of sedative herbs like this camomile, lemon and ginger root blend that I like to drink before bed. It should help with Fluttershy."

After adding a pinch of the moss, a shake of the pouch and half of the applejuice, when the water came to a boil, he let it steep for five minutes to ensure potency while he cleaned up.

When it was done, he pulled out a solid clay mug that was a little lopsided but otherwise functional with big red letters that said 1# Boss, a gift from Derpy, and handed the finished tea to the pink and butter yellow pony who sniffed it curiously.

"It smells really good, thank you," she complimented Dusk, and after blowing on it a few times, before drinking it.

When she was done, she was already under its effects, and much to Applejack's surprise, the mare practically melted into the ground contentedly and fell asleep.

"Wow, I'll never doubt moss again, that's some heady stuff!" Applejack commented with an impressed whistle.

Dusk nodded and using his magic, making sure the mare was well and comfortably wrapped in the blanket and settled her on his back.

"Since I'm heading up dragon way myself, might as well join you lot," he declared and began heading forward.

Applejack thanked him and the two began the much quicker journey up the mountain then it would have originally taken, though Applejack insisted on taking a turn carrying Fluttershy on her own back from time to time.

The two talked about this and that, and Applejack related some amusingly embarrassing stories about her older brother.

By the time they reached the meeting point, the two were tired, but otherwise relaxed.

When they meant up with the others, Applejack explained her encounter with Dusk. Twilight looked interested in the properties of the plants he had harvested, but in light of the situation, refrained from gushing her brain all over Dusk, who otherwise promised to give her a scroll with notes on the plants he knew of and their properties, plus a few samples to experiment with. He would be able to harvest more anyway after the dragon left. The plants would linger for a few days longer before they starved from lack of nutrients that they derived from dragon smoke.

Fluttershy remained peacefully snoozing while the rest of the Mane 6 and Dusk continued up the mountain. She wasn't awake when the group leaped over gaps that revealed the ground rather far below, nor was she aware of anything when they past the dangerous avalanche zone.

She began to come to when they finally arrived at the mouth of the dragon's lair.

Things became somewhat complicated when Fluttershy, from the sheltering confines of her hair and the blanket, finally admitted to the others that that she was afraid of dragons. The grown up variety anyway.

Despite their attempts as talking her into it, they were unable to convince her to talk to the dragon.

"How about you five try to handle the dragon? I'll stay with Fluttershy," he gestured to a large bolder where he knew she was hiding, "if nothing you lot do is able to convince him to leave, I'll take a shot at it, and if that doesn't work, we better call in Celestia or her sister in to deal with the matter."

The others agreed to the plan.

Dusk settled beside Fluttershy and the mare leaned against his offered side.

"I…I must seem a real coward to you," she said quietly, shame lacing her voice.

"There is nothing wrong with being afraid," he replied, "there are plenty of ponies that would be frightened, and rightly so, considering."

"But nopony has ever had so much depend on them being able to reason with a dragon," she sighed, "they need my skills with other creatures and I've let them down."

Dusk considered how to answer her then seemed to come to a decision and began speaking.

"You remember that I mentioned that I came from Canterlot like Twilight right?"

Fluttershy or the blanket lump that was her head nodded.

"Well, what nopony knows is that I wasn't born in Canterlot, in fact I wasn't even born in Equestria" he seemed to have caught her attention as she peeked out from the blanket curiously.

"I was born in a place that is very far away, I place that I care not to remember its name, and if I can help it, I would never return."

"What…what happened?" Fluttershy asked softly.

"When I was barely a year old a…well, I suppose you would call him a monster, the not so nice variety like some of the kind you have here, a very scary and evil one, came one evening to my parents' home and killed them."

She let out a horrified gasp.

He nodded, though he understood her look, murder was extremely rare amongst ponies, and what rare occurrence happened was usually the result of non-ponies, even then it was not all that common.

"The monster was defeated by the love of my mother who sacrificed herself to protect me, and for a time, there was a certain peace, thanks to her sacrifice. One day, when I was still a foal close to Applebloom and Sweetiebell's age, while I was attending a magic school, the monster, who had not been permanently defeated after all, snuck into my school where he was after two things: a powerful artifact that had the potential to make him even more powerful then he previously was before his fall, and the second was the side benefit of trying to murder me."

Fluttershy had completely emerged from her blanket, and leaned her head against his shawl covered flank.

"You poor thing!" she exclaimed, "Whatever did you do?"

Dusk huffed a breath and said "well, at first I thought one of my teachers was trying to do me in. At the time I thought, like everyone else, that the monster was gone for good. None of us except maybe the headmaster of my school suspected that he had merely just been severely weakened. I won't lie and say that I wasn't afraid, and when the time came for me to face him, I had to do it alone, even my friends were unable to go with me on that last final end of it all. Of course, at the time I still thought it was another one of my teachers, a scary individual in his own right who hated me with a particular passion. When I realized that it was the monster I stood before, I was terrified."

"What did you do?" she asked breathlessly, hanging onto his every word.

"When he attacked me, I realized quickly that when he touched me skin to skin it seemed to hurt him, so I faced him and I won. He was defeated, weaker than he ever had been before, though it nearly killed me doing it."

When he was done, he stared directly into her eyes, "do you know why I did it? Why I really acted?"

"Because he was…he was…trying to ki…kill you?" she stuttered, practically whispering the word kill.

"That was part of it," he conceded, "but the real reason was because I couldn't let him hurt my friends, or anyone else should he get away. I had the determination to hold on because I wanted to save them more then I wanted to save myself."

There was moment of silence, and they could here Rainbow Dash finally becoming frustrated with their failure so far and took a crack at it.

"You did all that for your friends?" she asked him quietly, "even though you were afraid?"

Dusk nodded, "selflessness for the sake of others, in the right situation mind, can be a strength all its own. My mother taught me that."

Suddenly the ground beneath them trembled and a roar filled the air.

The ponies were sent careening in blasts of smoky breath as a rather large red scaled dragon squeezed out of his den and began attacking them.

Dusk jumped on top of the rock and was about to summon his magic but another blast from the dragon blew the top of the bolder that Fluttershy had been hiding behind, and Dusk right along with it.

Fluttershy gasped when she saw Dusk sail up and over the lip of a steep cliff drop.

She acted without thinking and jumped after him and grabbed onto his tail, making the unicorn yelp, but otherwise had the sense not to struggle and helpfully cast a lightening charm on himself as Fluttershy carried him back to the cliff were the rest of her friends lay in a dazed heap before the looming dragon.

Eyes narrowing in anger, she set Dusk carefully down next to them, and all the ponies were treated to the rather stunning sight of Fluttershy boldly telling off a humongous pissed off dragon.

She actually reduced it to tears at one point.

"Wow," Dusk muttered to Twilight, plopping down beside her, still a little shaky on his hooves from the explosion, "now there is an impressive pony."

The others nodded in agreement as they goggled at the sight.

Eventually the contrite dragon did clear out to find a better napping place, though he offered his apologies and some of his shed scales to Dusk, who asked him politely before moving on.

When the others decided to head home, much to everyponies surprise, Fluttershy offered to stay behind to help Dusk harvest the last of the dragon smoke plants and fungi, and the two spent some enjoyable days harvesting and exchanging stories and furthering her lessons in snake tongue. By the time they had returned, she had grown skilled enough to hold actual simple conversations with him entirely in hisses and thought that perhaps, mountains, real and metaphorical, can perhaps be overcome.
> Understandings and Sweet Victory
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 9: Understandings and Sweet Victory.

It was a lovely sunny day and Dusk had decided to use his time off, the one day he was closed a week, to pay a visit to the Everfree forest to get more grasping nettle.

He spent a fair amount of time in the forest, and ended up being delayed a day by the rather magically resistant nettles that had a thing for being grabby. It was a more time consuming and delicate process then he remembered during his trips with Brew Bag, still by the time that he felt he had enough, he decided it would be prudent to head back home to open up shop for the late afternoon rush the next day.

As he was nearing the edge of the forest, he heard a rather tiny and vaguely familiar voice yelling out from behind some bushes.

Curious, he stuck his head though and beheld the rather odd sight of Applejack stranded on a tree branch over a small vine filled gulch.

And she was the size of a small doll.

"What in Celestia happened to you?" Dusk asked the miniaturized pony, who yelped and nearly fell of the branch in surprise.

"Oh Dusk! Thank Equestria! Mind lending a hoof?"

Levitating Applejack from off the branch and onto his saddle bag, he turned his head and frowned down at her as she told her story.

When she was done, he groaned exasperatedly.

"Celestia save me from superstitious ignorance! Applejack, I know this is hard to believe, but Zecora is not some evil enchantress, and she did not curse you…though I have to disagree with Twilight about the subject matter of the Supernatural and curses in general, those do exist, just not in abundance here. Besides, Zecora is a decent sort."

She stamped her little hoof and refused to believe it.

Dusk sighed but agreed to take Applejack to Zecora, just so that they could once and for all clear up the matter.

They soon bumped into the others huddled outside of Zecora's window and when even Twilight looked like she was succumbing to the nonsense, Dusk huffed an irritated breath and boldly stepped up and knocked on Zecora's door.

"Dusk!" the zebra greeted him amicably, "to see you thus, it is good considering all the fuss."

"Yes, the fuss, I take it you recently went into town and had a bit of an encounter with some of the local ponies?" he asked dryly.

"Yes indeed, though from what I understand they did not take heed," directing a gaze to the afflicted ponies behind him.

"You can say that," Dusk replied drolly.

He managed to catch Applejack out of the air with his magic, before she could leap at Zecora's face.

"What did you do with my sister?!" she demanded.

Dusk frowned in some concern. Applebloom was still a little filly and the Everfree was no place for younglings.

"Please tell me she's with you?" he asked her worriedly, and much to his relief, she nodded.

Soon everyone was gathered inside and between Dusk, Zecora and Applebloom who returned with a saddlebag full of herbs from Zecora's tamer gardens, the whole mess was sorted out, including the revelation that Dusk had been visiting Zecora for months now and added his own opinion on the whole idiotic matter.

After he was done lecturing, all the ponies, with the exception of Applebloom, who had actually taken some initiative to get to know Zecora, they apologized, and even spoke to the towns people on Zecora's behalf and introduced her properly to the town, easing the superstitious fears.

Pinky Pie's Welcome and Sorry-We-Thought-You-Were-Evil party was apparently rather helpful as well, though Zecora was somewhat confused by the party hats and streamers, but found she enjoyed cupcakes.

Dusk suggested to the others, and consequently Mare Mayor who was strolling nearby, that perhaps it would be beneficial to have a class open up to teach the ponies of Ponyville about other cultures. The mayor, who had felt distinctly embarrassed on behalf of herself and the rest of the town agreed that it would be a good idea, and even asked Zecora if she would be willing to offer her services as a teacher for anypony interested in learning.

She was hesitant at first, given her reclusive nature with outsiders, but eventually agreed when it was pointed out to her that understanding different cultures would help to lessen anymore misunderstandings and promote a greater unity and acceptance amongst ponies. Twilight herself added a request to her daily correspondence with the princess for her to send ponies and non-ponies from different places to teach in the culture class as well.

Princess Celestia thought it was a grand idea and agreed to send a new representative randomly once in awhile to give a one month lecture, and even furthered the whole thing by making a proclamation that all towns and cities offer similar classes to their residences for free. The fact that it increased peaceful ties and understanding with other beings was added side benefit, particularly during negotiation seasons.

Fluttershy, who was the only one outside of his pseudo family back in Equestria who was aware that he himself was not born in Equestria, asked him if he too would teach a class, since he had said he was from far away.

Dusk polity refused, and reassured her that there was no likelihood that they would ever need to learn about his old home, and that he was satisfied with leaving it behind him. Stating it was very far away, that nopony would be likely to find it. He himself had only managed to come to Equestria by a fluke, but he didn't explain what he meant by that, and Fluttershy didn't push him and accepted his answer.

Ooo ooo ooo

The Parasprite invasion was definitely a time to remember.

When Dusk found one of the little creatures flying round his shop, its cute green eyes staring up at him and chirping friendly, he cursed roundly.

"Parasprites! Just what we need!"

Unfortunately, no one seemed inclined to worry about the cute little balls of fluff and buggy wings, everyone was too busy dealing with the impending informal visit by Princess Celestia.

Cussing a blue streak he began running around town gathering instruments, confusing the hell out of townsponies. To his surprise, Pinky Pie seemed to be doing the exact same thing.

They eyed each across a room, which just happened to belong to Mr. and Mrs. Cake.

"Here for the cymbals?" she asked dead seriously.

His eyes narrowed in determination as he nodded, though to be sure that she was actually after what he was after for the same reasons, this was Pinky after all, he asked.

"You got the Harp?"

"Of course not, everyone knows that a harp is useless for these situations."

Dusk let out a relieved breath, "well, it's a relief that somepony has a sensible head on their shoulders. Alright, let's make this happen and send these spawn of Tartarus back to where they belong."

The two nodded and split up.

It took them the entire day and part of the next to find every single instrument they needed.

By the time that they had strapped their weapons of choice on, the Parasprites, damn their adorable hides, had started eating the town instead of the town's food.

They started a mile out of town, Dusk taking the left half and Pinky taking the right.

"What do you think? "Cloptown Races" or "Circus is Coming to town?" I'm afraid they're the only tunes I know, my one pony band skills is a bit rusty" Dusk asked her.

"Circus seems fitting," Pinky said finally after some thought, "Now as Applejack says, let's roll them out! A one, and a two…"

The two of them took their positions and began to march forward, playing in harmony as the cheery bouncy music filled the air.

Ponies stopped what they were doing (i.e panicking) and stared at the odd sight…well odder for the more reserved Dusk then the reputation earned random Pinky Pie.

Much to everyone's shock, including their friends, the parasprites halted the devastation and fell to the ground and began cheerily bouncing after them in single file.

Fortunately, all they had to do was get the little annoyances into the Everfree forest and the place would take care of the rest from there. Both Pinky Pie and Dusk made a pack not to tell Fluttershy what awaited the little fuzz balls, and Dusk decided not to tell anyone but Zecora that he would be harvesting their little corpses a few days from now. One can make some really useful remedies and potions with the wings. He didn't think anypony would appreciate that piece of knowledge, though he was sure Zecora would be doing the same as him once she was assured they were all dead and came out from her sealed up house.

Dusk thankfully was able to avoid Princess Celestia, who only appeared long enough to inform Twilight Sparkle that she was unable to visit because Phillydelphia was dealing with their own infestation problem.

Dusk and Pinky Pie gave an agreeing nod latter that day amongst themselves to pay a visit to the afflicted city, a place that large would boost the annoying fluff balls' population and pretty soon all of Equestria would be overrun if it wasn't nipped in the bud quickly.

Their friends apologized for not believing them, and for being too distracted to try to listen to them.

When Pinky Pie and Dusk returned a week later after dealing with the infestation, which was being dealt with through a relay of one-pony bands across the country now, siphoning off the cute balls of destruction into different sections of the Everfree Forrest, They were treated to a plate of cupcakes curtsey of Applejack, as they related their story of the rallying of all capable ponies under their banner across Equestria as they ate, Dusk leaning against Macintosh, still a bit tired from their trip.

Pinky, Dusk and others who understood exactly what they were dealing with, received medals of honor from Princess Celestia herself in organizing the entirety of Equestria into the greatest collection of one pony bands in all of Equestrian history against the pests.

Dusk was rather glad that the ceremony was quick and the princess, while grateful, seemed distracted by some looming negotiation crisis with the Sphinx delegation back in Canterlot and didn't look at him to closely.

It made him nervous to be in her presence, worried that she might be able to tell what he was, and what he had been if she paid attention to him for too long.

Since it was a celebration not only in their honor but also a celebration of the defeat of the greatest plague to ponykind, Pinky Pie had managed to finally, successfully, catch Dusk with a party. Though many of the attendees were a little confused by the "welcome to Ponyville" sign that she, even after all this time, carried around with her.

Ah yes, Pinky Pie's victory was sweet, and so was the cupcakes.
> Riddles
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 10: Riddels

After the business with the Parasprites, it was rather quiet in Ponyville.

Zecora started teaching classes about Zebra culture, and enjoyed it so much, she offered a side class on exotic creatures and potion making, which she shared with Dusk as the second most informed next to her.

The day that Zephyr the sphinx rolled into town, was certainly memorable.

He was the teacher of sphinx culture for one of the month long instruction promised by Celestia, and he had been making the rounds around Equestria, like many other cultural representatives.

Dusk, who didn't know anything about sphinxes, and thus decided to attend, met him in his first day of class.

Many ponies had shown up for the class when they had heard about the Sphinx's arrival, curious about the exotic character that had arrived in their little town.

The door to the class sprung open, and in walked a bright blue Sphinx with large golden and darker blue wings and a vaguely humanish face, though in Dusk' opinion it was definitely more catlike then man-like, which relieved him greatly, as it would feel weird to meet something that echoed his past in such a manner.

The teacher was all showy smiles filled with twinkling teeth, and he thought that he might actually remind him of some of the hammy game show hosts from his Aunt Petunia's favorite television shows. He wore an Egyptian style headdress and Rarity, who was sitting behind him, gushed at the gorgeous style, and he wasn't surprised when the Sphinx actually preened and gave her extra marks for her excellent taste.

Twilight Sparkle and Dusk exchanged a glance and rolled their eyes.

"Welcome my fine little ponies to the most auspicious day of your quaint lives! I am Zephyr, or Professor Zephyr, and for one glorious month you shall be getting to know the life changing experience that is…well, me of course. We will cover my childhood, those brief awkward years I suffered, my rise to success, and what it takes to be the amazingness that is Zephyr!"

"Is he serious?" Dusk whispered to Twilight beside him as the man began chatting and writing notes.

Twilight sighed; "I think so" the two shared looks, but gamely pulled out their writing material and began taking notes.

"Now, the most important thing to know about any Sphinx, though I am not just any sphinx mind, is that we love riddles. Being able to exercise the mind and tongue with word play and puzzles are part of what makes me…well, me!" he flashed a devastating fang-filled smile, Rarity swooned, "Admittedly, it can get bit boring, and some rather ghastly sport was made with unfortunate creatures by my less sophisticated brethren to liven things up. I though, saw beyond the primitive ruffians, and sought to better others lives by going forth out into the world and choosing lucky individuals to have the honor of being bestowed with one of my riddles. I have conversed with the greatest of thinkers, royalty, hierarchy, entertainers, why, I even have my own game show."

'And there it is,' Dusk mentally groaned, but wrote the information down.

Ooo ooo ooo

One day, while the gabby teacher was passing the window, regaling everyone with his disco faze and his wild adventures with Disco Shrew, of the Disco Shrew people in the far South, he happened to walk by the window in class and spotted Big Macintosh on his usual deliveries.

"Good gracious! Who is that fine specimen?" he gushed, pointing one claw in the direction of the confectionery shop, Sugar Cube Corner.

Rarity, who happened to be sitting near the window, and was rather partial to the professor, craned her head to see what had caught the male's eye.

"Why whoever do you mean darling?" she asked, trying to spot the somepony that had caught his eye.

"Why that muscly, gorgeously red colored pony with the golden-orange mane!" he pointed again, and after some looking around Rarity spotted the only pony that matched the coloring described and asked, rather faintly, "Why, the only pony I see in that direction with those colorings is…well, Big Macintosh, but surely not?'

"Big Macintosh," he said avidly, and Dusk was disturbed to see a rather unusual light in the sphinx's eye.

Ooo ooo ooo

Big Macintosh had decided that it was fine day to meet his friend Dusk after his culture class.

The two of them often tried to meet a time or two after they were done with their busy schedules which was difficult enough as it was, what with Dusk running the tea shop, gathering ingredients, seeing Zecora, attending classes and teaching a few himself.

Big Macintosh was busy with the farm as well as helping his sister with deliveries. It was rare when the two of them had corresponding times off to spend together, and it had been over a week since they had just simply hung out together.

But this time he had finished his deliveries early, Derpy was managing the tea shop and Dusk wasn't teaching the herbology and potions class this week, Zecora taking it over. That left both of them the entire afternoon and evening after his class with that Sphinx feller.

He was looking forward to seeing his friend again and having their rare time to just themselves. He had to admit that he thought a fair bit about Dusk a lot lately and he had missed their quiet talks and Dusk's laughter and both of them sitting side by side while they told tales, Macintosh about his family and Dusk about his pseudo family back in Canterlot. The stories he regaled about his mentor and said mentor's tales of travels to exotic lands to find rare tea ingredients were always interesting.

Macintosh's tail perked up and his ears turned forward as he spotted the gleam of silver pelt and fluttering shawl amongst a group of ponies. He was just about to trot up to Dusk, the other pony yet to realize that he was there as a surprise when a shadow fell over him and a voice whispered in his ear.

"Well hello there gorgeous."

Big Macintosh yelped, and jumped backwards, looking upwards (a novel experience for the tallest pony in Ponyville) to find, through process of elimination what must be the Sphinx professor.

When Big Macintosh looked towards the group of leaving students he was disappointed to see that Dusk wasn't there anymore and turned back to the Sphinx, waiting to see what the hay the critter wanted.

The Sphinx smiled and leaning forward and gave him a come hither gesture with a fury fingered claw. Reluctantly, Big Macintosh leaned closer and the Sphinx whispered something in his ear.

Big Macintosh reared back, paling under his red pelt and with a gasped, "N-ope!" dashed away as fast as his hooves could take him.

Ooo ooo ooo

Big Macintosh sighed as he used his flank to tip the apple cart tied to his yoke (the one that his gran had given him one Christmas) over the giant storage barrel that they used for pre-sorted apples.

"Hey Big Macintosh, what's got you so out of sorts?" Applejack asked him from where she was carrying a few bushels of her own recently harvested apples, "You look lower than a mudskipper without the skip."

He just shrugged, and chewed on a wheat stalk unhappily.

Applejack had a sudden brain wave.

"It's that Dusk feller isn't it? I haven't seen him around the farm for a while and I know the both of ya have been awful busy lately," she poked him in the side with her hoof, "you miss 'im huh?" though privately she wondered what it was exactly that drove those two's particular friendship, or how it even started really. Dusk was an okay feller, a little introverted, and irritable at times but otherwise friendly enough, but her brother was not exactly the chatty sort and was rather devoted to his work more than socializing.

Still. Dusk had been good to her family, making that tea for granny's joints, talking her straight when she had been too proud to admit she needed help, and even treating her afterwards for exhaustion sickness, and that was not to mention what he did for Fluttershy with that dragon business and helping Pinky Pie with the Parasprites and then those two taking their one pony show and helping out the rest of Equestria. He had also made it possible to further understanding between pony and non-pony folk and made Zecora a town staple.

Dusk was a good friend, even if he preferred his own company a fair amount, and with all he had done for the ponies she cared about, and his obvious care and loyalty for her brother, she knew she had to do something to make sure that the two could have some time together.

"Hey Big Macintosh, why don't you call it a day? I can finish up here, were almost done with the east field anyway an' we still have plenty of time to harvest, why don't you go pay yer friend a visit? I'm sure he's been missin' your big mug."

Big Macintosh perked up a bit out of his funk and before Applejack could say Apple Fritter, he had unhitched himself and was galloping away in a streak of red.

10 minutes of quick hoofing later...

Big Macintosh decided this time to try to catch Dusk during his later afternoon break at the tea shop.

Sure enough, he could see Dusk taking off his smock through the window.

Big Macintosh practically skipped towards the front door and was reaching for the handle when a sudden large blue and gold blur came out of nowhere and barreled into him sending them tumbling across the street and into a secluded tree-lined spot.

"Oh how delightful!" Zephyr crowed, "I was just flying over to that lovely farm of yours to watch you from the bushes for an opportune moment, and look!" he held Macintosh at arm's length, "I spotted you all alone with nothing to do! Oh fate smiles kindly upon us today! Now," he leaned in close suggestively, wagging his eyebrows, "perhaps we can attend to that little matter we discussed earlier?"

Macintosh blanched and, hanging manners, struggled and wiggled like Applejack when she was a foal and bath time was in the offing.

He managed to squirm free and ran away back to the farm and a nice concealing pile of hay that had his name on it.

"Oh the poor boy is overwhelmed with the honor of my presence! Well, I still have a few more weeks left," Zephyr mused to himself, then, spying the tea shop, delightedly decided a little afternoon sip wouldn't go amiss.

Ooo ooo ooo

Big Macintosh was not a pony known for giving up…well, alright he was not a pony much known by others for anything but being a hard worker and the strongest and biggest stallion in Ponyville, but he was also a very stubborn stallion. It was an Apple family trait after all.

When the day of the Running of the Leaves pulled in, Big Macintosh had heard through the town grapevine who were all signing up for the race that year, and according to his youngest sister who had heard it from Sweetiebell who had heard it from Rarity who heard it from Dusk himself during their Monday chats, Dusk was planning to run in the race, having never attended traditional Earth Pony seasonal help before. Apparently in Canterlot it was customary to do such things with magic.

Big Macintosh saw his chance and signed up for the race as well, to the surprise of the family, since he wasn't known for athletics outside of the family reunions.

Happily, when the day of the race began, Pinky Pie and Spike working as co-announcers and his sister and her friend Rainbow Dash displaying their aggressive competitiveness, he was further down the line a few ponies away from Dusk who was talking with Cherry Drop, an Earth Pony who had a hoof on the berry industry in Ponyville. They were so deep in conversation that he didn't hear Big Macintosh call his name or see his waving hoof.

Then the starter pistol went and they were off.

Big Macintosh along with everyone else began to gallop.

He was just about to close in on Dusk who was somewhere in the middle of the pack when a sudden painfully familiar voice called out from behind him.

"You whoooo! Big Reeeeed!"

He turned his head and gasped in fright when he spotted the sphinx with a number attached his head gear gaining on him from behind.

Several ponies blinked when a red blur zip past them, and when the race was over, Big Macintosh, looking less than happy at being the winner, stood on the first place platform with Cheerily, the school teacher, coming in second and Zecora coming in third.

Unfortunately, Dusk had tripped and twisted his hoof during the race and was already at home with an ice pack, or so Cherry Drop informed him when he spotted her gasping for air with the others afterwards

Ooo ooo ooo

Big Macintosh sighed, yawning as he got out of bed, his mane in disarray as the rooster crowed.

Another day, another apple to kick.

Yawning again he plodded outside, stretching and keen to go to the main house for a shower and some of Granny Smith's fine breakfast spread, when he bumped into a large package outside his door.

He frowned, scratching his head and reading the address attached to the side of the package.

It was addressed to him, though there was no return address. Was it that new tiller that cousin Carmel Apple had been promising him?

Well there was only one way to find out.

He began opening the package only for the top to shoot upwards and Zephyr's head sticking up from a nest of package material.

"Surprise! Aren't you just excited? Why anyone would be excited to receive me in the mail!"

His voice cut off when the lid was slammed back down on his head forcefully and followed with a quick hammering of nails.

An hour later, when Derpy was out doing her rounds, she scratched her head as she beheld a package several pony sizes in diameter with a large "return to sender" sticker on the front.

Ooo ooo ooo

After that, the red stallion was besieged by the large arrogant menace more and more readily, apparently just as stubborn as Big Macintosh. Further incidences included escaping the sphinx while attending to business in the little colt's room, bursting through a walk in freezer at a local grocery store, bursting out of a tent at a cotton candy festival, and so on.

What was worse, he became so afraid to leave the house that he started sleeping in the family den on the couch, and took to doing house hold chores instead of field chores.

What's worse, he was unable to see Dusk or even invite him over to keep him company because before he went recluse, Dusk had to leave to deal with a family emergency in Canterlot, his mentor had broken a leg and needed help with his store until the bone mending spell did it's work.

"It just isn't natural," Applejack sighed to Granny Smith and Applebloom in the kitchen while her brother was busy organizing the basement, "he loves workin' in the fields and he plum hates stayin' indoors all day long, what in tarnation is wrong with that stallion?"

"Hard to say," Granny mused while rocking in her kitchen rocker as she kept an eye on her apple chutney, "though I admit that boy is better at makin' pancakes then I gave him credit for."

"But I'm tired of eaten pancakes day in and day out!" Applebloom said stamping her hoof an sticking out her tongue.

Applejack sighed, "I know sugar cube, but we got to be supportive and it wouldn't be polite to leave vittles goin' to waste. We'll just have to tough it out until whatever got his tail in a twist has settled."

Applebloom sighed, "Well, I hope he figures it out soon, a filly my age getting tired of pancakes just aint natural."

The Apple family had tried talking to Macintosh, but the stallion refused to talk about it and with Dusk out of town and the only other option for getting him to spill the beans, they were stuck.

Ooo ooo ooo

Applejack's patience couldn't take it much longer though, and despite her talk of patience and support, there was only so much a pony could take, so she pulled out her strongest lasso, corralled and hog tied her brother and dragged him outside.

"It's fer your own good!" she scolded him, "you need to just stallion up and face whatever has got you in a titter and get some fresh air, so don't return to the house again until the sun sets you hear?"

Her brother was left hogtied outside the entrance to the farm and she returned to work.

Big Macintosh, eyes darting around warily, quickly bit through the rope and when he was free decided that there was only one pony he could turn to now.

Ooo ooo ooo

Twilight Sparkle yawned as she stumbled past Spike who was squirming under the blankets of his basket bed as she made her tired way to the front door.

A round of determined and repetitive knocks had woken her up only a half an hour after Celestia raised the sun and she'd had a late night last night finishing some research.

"Alright, alright!" she groaned as she reached for the door when the knocks grew more frantic.

When she opened it she found her front stoop empty. She frowned blinking the sleep from her eyes. Was Pinky and Dash up early pranking again?

She frowned, looking left and right ready to scold them good when her eyes happened to glance over her largest bush, and saw a pair of apple green eyes staring up at her.

She yelped in surprise, and then yelled again when Big Macintosh of all ponies leaped out of the bushes, barreling into her, and closing the door behind him.

Sometime later when they had gathered themselves and Twilight had managed to sit a rather uncharacteristically upset and desperate brother of one of her best friends in a seat in her kitchen in the back of the library with a bracing mug of cider, she took a few moments to take a sip of her own and began, more calmly and definitely more awake.

"Alright Macintosh, what seems to be the problem?"

The stallion fiddled with his mug for a moment but then sighed and spilled the beans.

"I'm being stalked," he replied.

There was a pregnant silence for a moment while Twilight blinked. She set down her own mug and stood up and said "I have a feeling I'm going to need books for this."

When they were in the center of the library she said "alright, now while your…a great stallion and all, I have to say that you're not exactly the type one would expect to be the target of a stalker."

Macintosh began to pace back and forth in front of her.

"I know I'm not some movie star or nothin' it's not like that, at least I don't think it's like that, but…I need help on this, I'm…I don' know what to do!"

The last came out in a near desperate wail.

"Alright," Twilight said in a reassuring tone, "I can assure you that everything will be fine, we just need to think this out logically, now tell me everything that happened from the beginning."

Twilight was then treated to the most surreal experience yet, as the normally simple spoken quiet stallion let forth a stream of words as he explained everything from the beginning.

"…an he just won't leave me alone! No matter what I do!" he finished, and then took several breaths to catch his wind.

There was silence again as Twilight digested everything before she asked with a frown.

"I still don't understand what is it that he was trying to get you to do?"

Big Macintosh suddenly looked uncomfortable, and leaned towards her and stuttered in a whisper.

"He asked me…he wanted me to…to…"

Twilight leaned forward eagerly until their muzzles were nearly touching.

"…answer a riddle!"

Twilight nearly fell on her face as she groaned.

"That's all? All this fuss because someone asked you a riddle?"

Big Macintosh nodded frantically as he agitatedly rubbed his hooves together.

Twilight was flummoxed and expressed it so.

"I don't understand, it's just a riddle? Why not just answer it and then he will leave you alone?"

Big Macintosh colored and hung his head before he replied, "I'm…I'm not exactly known fer my intellect Miss Twilight, I'm…I'm terrified of things like riddles an' tests and quizzes an' so on, I just..."

Twilight sighed as she realized what the root of the problem is.

"You're afraid that if you get it wrong that people will think you're stupid?"

He nodded his head unhappily.

"I tried everythin' to tell 'im I'm not interested but he just keeps comin' at me more strong-like, I came to you because m'sister says your real smart and well, with Dusk out of town, I had nowhere to turn."

Twilight sighed again and gestured him to follow her to one of the tables she used for research and pulled out a scroll with her magic and unfurled it, "I'm not surprised that you were unable to dissuade him. According to my recent research that I have been doing for the culture class since his arrival, it's in a Sphinx's nature to not give up on a riddle being answered, once they have chosen someone to give it to."

"But why me? Why not someone from his class, or someone more famous-like?"

"Hmmm…" she hummed perusing her scroll until she found what she was looking for and replied, "well, according to my research, Sphinx's are attracted to certain traits or cues that makes them choose who they give the riddle to. Did he mention anything else during your encounters, call you anything or seem obsessed about something related to you?"

Big Macintosh thought for a moment until something occurred to him and he replied.

"He always seemed keen on my pelt."

"Hmmm…" she hummed again and summoned a magazine, flipping the pages until she found what she was looking for.

"I read something about him while reading this magazine he handed out for homework, and in the article it shows a picture of the previous ponies he riddled, here," she turned the magazine towards him and Big Macintosh blinked when he saw all the unfortunate ponies that had been riddled, though why they didn't look unhappy in the pictures was beyond him.

"You see? They all have one thing in common with you, the all have red in either their pelts, manes, tails or eyes. It must be the trait that attracts who professor Zephyr chooses."

"Is their anyway to get the critter to leave me alone?" he asked hopefully.

She shook her head, "I'm sorry Macintosh, but the only way he will leave you alone is if you buck up and answer his riddle."

The stallion sagged despondently on his hooves.

"Listen," she put her things away and approached him, rubbing his back, or what she could reach of it with her hoof, "I think you give yourself to little credit."

He looked at her confusedly.

She smiled at him softly, "remember? I do live in the only library in town, I know what books are borrowed and by who. You may not be a rocket scientist but I know for a fact that you are intelligent, I've seen the things you sign out, and I think you just need to have a little more faith in yourself. Besides, no one is more or less intelligent then the next pony, and even if you get his riddle wrong, you won't be any less for it, alright?"

He perked up a bit and smiled hesitantly.

"So are you going to go out there and show that Sphinx what your made of?" she encouraged boldly, "Or are you going to hide away in your house whinnying for your teddy bear?"

Big Macintosh straightened and snorted determinedly, then nodded at her and puffed out his chest and galloped out of the library, unfortunately after kicking her door down grandly.

Twilight groaned the sounds of Spike's snores undisturbed in the background.

Ooo ooo ooo

Big Macintosh marched determinedly into town and halted when he spotted the large crowd of admiring ponies in front of the school building.

He nodded to himself, and barreled his way through the crowds until he stood in front of the Sphinx and demanded in his usual baritone.

"I reckon I'm a'ready fer that riddle now."

Zephyr brightened and went into paroxysms of pleased chortles, and grabbed the stallion, lifting the pony into the air, whirling him around and around, dancing through the street, much to the shock and amusement of the townsfolk sing songing, "oh I just knew you could not resist! But patience has its awards! They all fall for me in the end!"

He set Big Macintosh up on top of the roof of a startled vegetable seller's stand and cleared his throat.

"Now, I've been saving this one for just the right occasion," he struck a pose as ponies began to gather and intoned, "Different lights make me strange, for each one my size will change."

Big Macintosh's mind began to race as he tried to figure out what the critter was hinting at. He felt nervous all of a sudden. The fear that Twilight had tried to talk him out of threatened to return and he could feel his previous confidence beginning to unravel, as his eyes roved the hushed crowd who were all staring at him breathlessly in anticipation.

He could feel his haunches tense in anticipation of running away again when his eyes caught another pair of green. The green of apple leaves and hide that glowed silver in the sunlight.

Dusk, with a Saddlebag still strapped to his sides from his travels looked up at him and in his eyes Big Macintosh read a calm surety, a confidence in him, in Macintosh.

Big Mac felt the doubts in him begin to recede, as he knew instantly that his friend would not care what he answered, right or wrong, and for the moment it was all that mattered to him. Big Macintosh relaxed, and his eyes still locked on his best friend, and still somewhat lost in his gaze, a thought skittered and he replied.

"The pupil."

There was a collective breath and as one, everypony turned their eyes back to the stunned looking Sphinx.

"That's correct!" he said finally in shock, and then delightedly grabbed the stunned stallion up in his paws and whirled him around again, "that's absolutely right! Congratulations!"

The other ponies cheered, and when it dawned on Macintosh that he had answered correctly, he couldn't help the grin that split his normally stoic face.

"This calls for a party!" Pinky Pie called out, and everyone, including the Sphinx, let out an agreeing cheer and began making a beeline for the pastry shop.

Big Macintosh managed to extract himself from the well-wishers and placed himself behind them at his more normal speed.

"Dusk," he smiled happily down at the smaller male who had some up to walk beside him, their sides brushing.

"I'm sorry that I haven't been there for you lately," Dusk said contritely, "it's been so hectic lately, but I should have tried to make some time to see you despite that these past few weeks. You have no idea how much I missed you."

Big Macintosh and Dusk stopped walking as Dusk suddenly leaned in towards Big Macintosh and rested his head on his shoulder.

Macintosh felt himself suddenly blushing, feeling both awkward and yet strangely pleased, as he wrapped a hoof around the smaller male and held him close.

"I'm sorry to," he replied, "an'…an' I missed you somethin' fierce to."

When Pinky Pie went to see where the guest of honor was, she spotted the two males in their silent moment, and in an unusual move by Pinky, she left the two unbothered, distracting the party guests in his absence.
> Interlude 2: Winner and  Head in the Clouds
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 11: Interlude 2: Winner.

Dusk yawned as he pushed open the shutters on what was proving to be a rather nice late fall morning, just the right amount of nip in the air, and just the right amount of sun.

He knew it wouldn't be long until he, like every rural pony, would be closing up shop for the winter.

Winters didn't last as long in Equestria as they had on Earth, maybe about 3 months or so, it tended to vary significantly especially when compared to his old home world, but the pegusi certainly made up for the smaller time with ridiculous amounts of snow fall, which Is why many ponies didn't venture out as much during the winter.

Dusk, while he was closing up like the others soon for the season, still made deliveries of hot carafes of tea, particularly the medicinal teas, during the off time. It was free of charge, since some of his stalk would go bad by the time opening time rolled around again; it was the same for other businesses as well, though grateful ponies still insisted on giving something back, like a basket of Muffins, or a hoofknit hat and so forth, which purveyors like Dusk gladly accepted.

To celebrate his first winter closing in a few weeks he was going to be hosting a tea party for the town and Pinky Pie was going to be providing the pastries since Mr. and Mrs. Cake would be leaving to visit family during that time.

He was just reaching for the newspaper when he noticed he had a guest sitting primly on his stoop.

"Oh! Opal! My your fur is looking quite lovely this morning…though you do look a bit frazzled," he greeted his usual first guest of the day as the prim and proper white Persian came inside, her snout in the air.

The cat took a stool that he kept for her (the seat a plush blue cashmere stuffed with swan down) in the kitchen while Dusk bustled about to bring her the usual, as well as start brewing for the breakfast wave which would be arriving not to long from now.

"There you go," he said, taking a seat in front of her and levitating a saucer of steaming golden green liquid and a plate with finger sandwiches.

"Catnip and whitefish tea with extra cream and a tuna and gouda sandwich, no crust."

Opal let out a gusty sigh and primly dived into her food, lapping at her tea delicately.

"So…problems at home again?" Dusk asked sympathetically, leaning against the counter as he began cleaning tea cups and travel mugs.

The cat, finishing her food and tea, cleaned her face before she went off into a rant of meows, growls and hisses occasionally making awkward poses to accentuate her plight.

"Well, I'm sure once the latest fashion crisis with Rarity dies down, things will be fine. I think I remember her telling me something about making dresses for her friends for the Galloping Gala, my advice would be to weather it by staying with Fluttershy for a little siesta and pampering, you know how she is."

Opal seemed pleased at that idea and even consented to deliver Fluttershy's order of carrot tea for Angel Bunny.

"As always, good to see you again Opal, have a good day," Dusk said as he escorted the cat to the front door, who nodded at him regally with the paper bag in her mouth and dashed off towards Fluttershy's home.

Ooo ooo ooo

2 weeks later, after Rarity's fashion show, Dusk's Grand Tea Party Spectacular brought nearly every pony in town fit to bursting into his shop. It was so successful; that he actually managed to run short on the supplies he would need to fill his winter orders and another trip to Sweet Apple Acres and the Everfree forest would be in order.

Brew Bag even surprised him with a visit to his official seasonal closing, and told him how proud he was that things had gone so well for him in Ponyville. Though he couldn't stay long, since he was off to gather some rare mineral dust at the mouth of the active Volcano of Clopinieghjaro island.

When it came time to award the most steadfast customer he'd had for his first year of business, a prize that went to the customer that visited his shop the most regularly, the scores tallied from receipts that he kept on file, everyone was surprised when the winner was announced. Opal sauntered regally up to the bemused Dusk as he placed the winner's wreath on her head and a coupon good for a life time supply of the customer's most commonly asked for tea order in her collar, with the final touch of Opal's picture being taken and added to the wall above the VIP seats, the first of what Dusk planned to be a yearly tradition. Derpy just shrugged when he sent her a questioning look during the entire thing.

When other ponies asked why he had chosen the cat, he simply said that Opal held the highest customer visit counts out of anyone in the village, but offered a second prize to Rainbow Dash, his second biggest customer, with a month's supply of her favorite Wonderbolt brew and a free pastry of choice once a week.

Rainbow Dash would later remark that she still couldn't believe that she had been beaten by Rarity's cat of all beings, and said cat actually had the receipts to prove it.

Ooo ooo ooo

Chapter 12: Head in the Clouds.

Dusk was strolling back to town after visiting Macintosh when he came upon the sight of Twilight and Spike on a hill along the short cut he enjoyed through the quieter parts of Ponyville park.

"Hi Twilight," he greeted cheerfully as he walked up to her.

Noticing the happily humming Dusk, she greeted him back, "Hi Dusk, did you just get back from visiting Macintosh?"

He nodded and turned and said hello to Spike and noticed with curiosity that the young dragon was posing regally with a rather heavy rock on his head, leaves wreathed around his neck and leaning on a stick.

"Um…" Dusk eyed the pose and getup with sudden concern, "are you alright Spike?"

"What? Oh…" Spike's voice trailed off as he suddenly blushed realizing what this must look like to some pony that just happens by, "I'm fine; I'm just helping Twilight practice a spell."

Dusk cocked his head curiously, "you mind if I watch?"

"Sure," Twilight answered for the both of them, "but we need to concentrate so you'll have to be real quiet."

Dusk nodded but asked, "Before you begin, if you don't mind me asking, what kind of spell your trying?"

"Oh! Well, it's a really interesting spell! It's a transformation spell that requires the unicorn casting the spell to focus all their magic onto the tastes of the person the spell is being cast upon. I actually got it off of Rarity. She doesn't use it much because she prides herself on being able to tell what looks good on a pony without magic."

"Sounds interesting," Dusk mused and sat on his haunches quietly watching, though neither Spike nor Twilight noticed when his eyes remained somewhat fixed and took on a decidedly odd glaze as he focused on the magic being displayed before him intently.

"Alright Spike," Twilight said, turning her attention back to Spike, "we got to remain focused or this isn't going to work."

Spike nodded and focused as she requested.

Twlight's horn glowed a pale purple and with a bright pop! The leaf writhe around his neck turned into a smart suit with a red tie and another pop! And the stick he was holding turned into a rather swanky cane.

Something out of the corner of both Dusk and Spike's eye caught their attention.

'Well…that's odd…" Dusk mused as he took in the even more random then usual pony slinking from bush to bush nearby.

"Spike!" Twilight scolded, drawing both males back to the matter at hand, "focus! We need to concentrate!"

"Sorry Twilight," he apologized, though frankly Dusk couldn't blame him, Dusk returned his odd unblinking gaze back to the magic at hand as well as Twilight went for the piece de resistance, the rock, which hovered for a moment in the air and then with a poof, turned into a rather handsome top hat.

It didn't last long though when Spike's attention was riveted by the unusual pony at the base of the hill again and the hat fizzled, turning back into a rock and landed on Spike's noggin, leaving the dragon dazed.

Once he was sure Spike wasn't suffering any head damage, Dusk handed the distracted duo some pain relieving tea, and continued on his way, knowing that they were finished and not looking to get involved in whatever Pinky related fracas was about to ensue.

He didn't see Twilight again until the next day when the frazzled pony ordered a relaxing cup of chamomile tea and half a cherry pie, one of Cherry Drop's specialties, and Twilight's "its been one of those week's/day's" favorite order.

After she told him about Pinky Pie, her precognitive body twitches, and the incident with the hydra (all while wearing an umbrella hat on her head, apparently Pinky's tail was twitching at the time) and being proven, somehow, that it was all actually true, Dusk actually surprised her by his seeming acceptance of the ability.

"Gee, with you being from Canterlot and just as rational a pony as me, I would have thought that you would have been more skeptical?" Twilight commented.

Dusk hummed thoughtfully into his own tea as he thought about how to reply.

"Well, it's not all that hard to believe," he replied, "where I was born, there was actually a class taught in divination. I don't know anything about it much, but a friend of mine's older brothers told me that apparently, despite being a crazy fraud most of the time, the professor was rumored to have actually given a real prediction a long time ago, and seers, while rare, actually do exist."

"Really?" Twilight said keenly, she had never heard of a place that had such things before, with the exception of Pinky Pie and Ponyville now of course, "I had no idea that you weren't originally from Canterlot."

Dusk's expression went surprisingly bitter and dark, "trust me in saying that it's not a place that I care to return to."

Twilight swallowed awkwardly at the sudden grim air, only to stare when Dusk suddenly did an about emotional turn and straightened with a smile and asked her if she wanted a pie to go.

Twilight nodded, a little discombobulated by the conversation, and when she returned to her library, she made a mental note to make sure not to ask that pony about his old home before Canterlot, no matter how curious she was about it. She did however pull out a small grey notebook that she kept hidden in a drawer and made a few more notes before shiftily putting it away again.

Ooo ooo ooo

Dusk sighed with contentment as he leaned out of the window in the Cloudsdale Grand Hotel.

Cloudsdale was an impressive city made entirely out of clouds, molded into great Romanesque style coliseums like the kind he remembered from his history books when he was in primary school back on Earth.

While he knew intellectually that clouds were just water particles, Pegasi magic gave them a solidity and permanence, though for anyone unwinged it was just as solid as mist.

Because he was an alicorn, pegusi magic apparently worked for him as well, though he couldn't use that as a reason as to why he could stroll around a place like this without some sort of explanation. Thankfully he had one. His excuse for being able to stroll around Cloudsdale as a unicorn, he claimed, was thanks to a spell he had discovered in the library a few weeks back. which was actually true in a sense that the spell existed, having discovered it in a book at hte library sometime ago, and it finally gave him the excuse to visit Cloudsdale.

He was also here not just for vacation so soon after winter had past, he was here to support his employee, Derpy Hooves, who was competing in some competition that was being held in the Grand Cloudsdale Coliseum.

The Cloudsdale Young Flyers competition featured some of the best fliers from around Equestria, and he was looking forward to watching it, which started the next day in the late morning.

In the meanwhile the day was his oyster and he was looking forward to sightseeing.

Ooo ooo ooo

"Woo wee! I am glad to be out of uniform, my mane stallion!" Shotgun groaned in relief as a golden brown male pegasus threw his chocolate maned head back and gave a little gig.

"Your such a wuss Shotgun," Misty Fly groaned rolling her eyes as she pushed the prancing pony out of her way with a bluish white hoof, her Wonderbolt issue swept back mane blazing white in the sunshine.

"Aw, give him a break Misty, we've all been looking forward to this time off before we go all official again when we pony-sit for the entire day tomorrow," another mare pegasus of fiery oranges and yellows scolded as she came up behind Misty Fly who huffed importantly, sticking her muzzle in the air and commented slyly, "defending your paramour again Rapidfire?"

The orange-yellow pegasus blushed hotly and pushed Misty Fly into a rainbow puddle.

"My hooves!" she wailed, "you heathen! I just had them done! Do you know how hard it is getting a decent hooficure in the corps?!"

Soon the two females were scraping in a cloud of wings, hooves, and vicious teeth.

"So," Another male voice chortled from behind Shotgun, "who started it this time?"

"I have no idea my mane pony! But I say we let the ladies have their fun and us fine stallions spread our wings to the Red Sunset district, what do ya say Soarin?" Shot Gun wagged his eyebrows.

Soarin, a pale blue pony, grimaced, rubbing the back of his navy blue mane, "I don't know Shotgun, I remember the last time I went that way with you. I think your tab is long overdue at a few of those places…and I do remember the duck, duck, chicken episode. Captain Spitfire nearly ate us for breakfast when she had to yank us out of jail."

"Don't be party pooper Soarin, I'm just getting my groove on and I don't want you to harsh my mellow feathers with talk about…ug! Responsibility! At this rate you'll end up being promoted to Captain when Spitfire retires to train recruits next year, and then where will your chance to party ever again be?"

Soarin groaned, "I'm just not in the mood Shotgun, why don't you find Windershins? I think she's back in town."

Shotgun suddenly perked up, "you think? Now that pony can party! I'm off my mane pony and…try to have a little fun yeah?"

Soarin saluted him, and his friend was a streak of brown feathers.

Soarin sighed in relief, ignoring the two still scraping teammates as he too took to the air at a more sedate pace, heading in a more central north direction where Rainbow Gardens lay. As much as he liked hanging out with his fellow Wonderbolts, sometimes he liked to take advantage of time off for a bit of quiet time, some awesome sights, and a large apple pie, all to himself. He licked his lips just thinking about it, and made a little pit stop to a little place he knew of.

Once he got his pie, though turning down the ice cream, he was a Wonderbolt after all, he had to keep his figure, he settled into a nice spot that over looked the Rainbow Gardens, sighing in contentment.

The Rainbow Gardens held a special place in his heart. Many of his most memorable moments had happened here:

When he had been barely out of foal-hood, his mother had brought him here for the first time while visiting family, and he'd been splashing in a small foal pool when he happened to notice a newborn foal was crawling directly for a hole in the clouds where a large amount of caution tape and pylons were set up.

He's acted instinctively, unthinkingly, as he dived after the infant who had fallen through.

The two of them had plummeted, and there had been screams. He was barely old enough to be allowed to hover a few feet off his hooves on his own as it was.

Somehow though, some instinct made him position his little body into a dive and he zoomed straight at the foal and grabbing him by his diaper, he'd flared his wings open and beating with all his strength, the two of them rose into the air. When he felt a warmer draft, he stilled his wings, flaring them open at their widest, and used the warm updraft to lift him back up and towards a nearby waiting cloud and was shortly picked up by some good samaritan ponies that had come after them.

It was then that he realized that his special gift was not just flying but maneuvering through the sky, and with that realization, he got his cutie mark, a golden lightning bolt parting clouds.

The Rainbow Falls had also been where he realized that he preferred stallions to mares.

He'd been rough housing with an old school chum of his, just barely months from graduating Cloudsdale High, and while they had rolled around in a rainbow puddle, he had surprised both his friend and himself, being caught up in the mood, and kissed his friend clear on the lips.

His friend had been nice enough, after he got over the shock of his bold move, and informed him that he was already seeing a fine mare, a unicorn in Canterlot. His first little crush would not be the first or the last he would have, but his first kiss was memorable for its revelation and for showing him how supportive his friends could be, especially when said friend introduced him to a fun loving unicorn brother of said girlfriend, who showed him the ropes of being a Stallionsexual.

This was also where he received his life changing admissions letter from an official Wonderbolts messenger and the news of his acceptance into the Wonderbolts a few years later, it had been the greatest day of his life!

Yes, this park held a lot of fond memories for him.

He was pulled out of memory lane when something came stumbling out of the bushes and tripped over him, landing with an oomph and a curse.

"Dang nabbit!" the pony that had fallen onto his back huffed.

Soarin turned his head to ask him to get off when the words died in his throat.

It was a unicorn, which was mind boggling enough, but what a pony! He had a beautiful shiny silver coat, which made him think of moonbeams and crushed tinsel all rolled into one. His mane had partly come undone from his pragmatic ponytail in a rather fetching disarray of midnight black, like the wing of a raven. Large deep green eyes stared into his own turquoise in apology.

"I'm so sorry!" the unicorn apologized as he managed to clamber off of Soarin who didn't seem to mind when the unicorn stepped on his back hoof by accident, apologizing again.

"I was just sightseeing and I got lost in some sort of cloud grouping and came out here, again I am so sorry…" the unicorn trailed off and looked like he was about to retreat.

"Oh!" Soarin called out, halting the other hastily. He did not want this pony to disappear on him, "um…" he got to his feet and resettled the picnic blanket he had been using, "it's okay really, I just..um…" Soarin rubbed the back of his mane and fervently told himself not to babble, "listen, I have nothing to do and…well, it's surprising seeing a unicorn here, I would love some company and you can tell me how your managing it…you are managing it right? You're not about to fall through any second?!" Soarin babbled.

The unicorn suddenly chuckled, shaking his head and settling down tentatively on the blanket across from him, "it's okay, I'm not likely to lose control of the spell anytime soon since I plan to stay for a few days."

Soarin relaxed a bit and quickly returned to his seat.

There was a moment of awkward silence, both of them rubbing their hooves while Soarin scrambled for something to say, then he spotted his pie basket and dived at it like a drowning pony.

"Hey! I got myself a pie not too long ago, want to help me finish it?"

The unicorn, much to his relief and pleasure looked delighted.

"Thanks! I love pie! Someponies are always on my case to eat more of them, something about needing to gain weight, so I've come to really enjoy the taste and have become a bit of a connoisseur of all the types of pie out there."

"Wow, your lucky, my Captain is always on my case about me eating too much."

"I'm a bit underweight…wait, Captain? Are you part of a military organization or something?"

Soarin fidgeted uncomfortably. Mares, stallions, filly's and colts alike have been known to go fanpony on a Wonderbolt. What if his new acquaintance suddenly did the same?

"Well, I happen to be a…well…"

The unicorn chuckled and supplied, "You a Wonderbolt by any chance?" he asked with a surprising amount of more amusement and less slobber then he would have thought.

"I…er, yeah, my names Soarin by the way."

"Oh! I forgot to introduce myself! Sorry about that! My name's Dusk, pleased to meet you," he held out a hoof and Soarin took it, shaking, though he held onto it longer then would be considered polite. Dusk coughed and gently de-tangled them, tucking his hooves primly under him and turned his gaze to stare out at the majestic view.

'Okay, bad move with the hoof holding, but he's still sticking around, so no damage done,' Soarin mentally congratulated himself, 'Dusk is a nice simple but elegant name for such an attractive…no beautiful…no gorgeous! Yes! Gorgeous pony, and best yet, he doesn't seem at all affected by my fame! Score!'

"So," he said casually, giving him his trade mark dashing smile, smooth and calm as a cucumber while inside he was cartwheeling, "is this your first time to Cloudsdale?"

Dusk turned those amazing eyes back on him and nodded, "I only recently found the spell in a friend's library, I'm here to support another friend and employee of mine in the games tomorrow."

"Then this is your first time at the Rainbow Gardens then?" Soarin exclaimed suddenly getting to his hooves and offering one to Dusk who took it and pulled him up, "then I should give you the grand tour! Our pie will still be waiting when we get back, come on!"

He pulled the bemused unicorn along as he began showing him around.

He smiled smugly when he saw Dusk's awed expression and heard his excited, almost foal-like enthusiasm for his most favorite place in the world.

"The Rainbow Gardens are artistic fountains, geysers and shaped ponds that are a combination of light or sunlight though water droplets and actual pre-made rainbows from the weather factory...and don't be believing any of those rumors about the place that foals like to scare themselves with. The most talented artist in Cloudsdale is awarded the honor every year of putting their touch on the gardens. It's always great to come back and see all the changes." He sighed contentedly, "it's my most favorite place in the whole of Equestria."

When he turned to Dusk, the unicorn was giving him a soft smile and just nodded his head.

The two spent the rest of the day exploring then retiring to the now cooled pie, which was taken care of by a handy spell.

The two of them chatted about friends, family, stories from work, and general chit chat of two ponies getting to know each other.

Soarin was delighted to find out that Dusk enjoyed the stage production of Ponies of the Canterbian just as he had, which both had seen on a field trip to Manehatten as a foals, and had a love of strong cheese in sandwiches.

They differed as well. Dusk liked swimming while Soarin couldn't swim at all, and preferred to keep his hooves above water thank you very much. Dusk liked ice cream while Soarin wasn't all that fond of the frozen concoction. Dusk had teased him without mercy about that, but Soarin defended himself primly by pointing out that brain freeze was nothing to sniff at.

When Princes Luna had long raised the moon, Soarin knew that he needed to return back to the Cloudsdale Wonderbolt base.

He turned to Dusk and feeling himself redden, he asked, "So, need me to give you a lift back to your hotel? I don't mind at all, and well…" he rubbed the back of his head nervously, "Well, I would also like to continue seeing you...I mean meeting you! if you don't mind that is, I had a lot of fun and well…yeah." He mentally cursed his awkward tongue.

Much to his relief Dusk agreed and allowed himself to be lifted upward, held around the middle by Soarin's front and back legs.

'All right Soarin ol'boy, gentlepony thoughts, gentlepony thoughts…while in cold shower…there we go…huh, Dusk wasn't kidding, he really is a featherlight isn't he?' Soarin thought to himself.

The two didn't need to talk as he soared back towards the hotel. To Soarin's even greater delight, Dusk seemed to love flying, unlike many land based ponies, and actually whooped like a rowdy flier on a first time deep dive when Soarin picked up speed and did a few fancy maneuvers he had been saving for some of his shows.

When they landed, Dusk was even more delightfully disheveled and giggling as he practically hopped around him.

"Wow! That was great! Thanks Soarin! I've never experienced pony flight like that before!"

Soarin puffed his chest out proudly as he walked Dusk to his door.

"No problem," he replied.

Then it was really time for them to part ways, Soarin felt a very real reluctance, but knew that Dusk wasn't the type of pony to invite a stallion in on the first day, that is, if Dusk was even inclined his way at all.

Something prodded his side and he realized it was a levitating business card.


Dusk, Tea Master.



Owner, Organizer and Supply specialist, The Tea Cozy.



Outlying west end Ponyville, North of the Everfree Forest.

South-West of Sweet Apple Acres Orchard.


"Wow, you own a tea shop? That's really cool! I knew this old pony that makes the tea for my unit, Spitfire took me once, he had some crazy stories."

"Canterlot? A pony called Brew Bag?" Dusk asked curiously with a grin.

"Hey yeah! You know him?"

The unicorn chuckled, "He was my mentor, still is after a fashion."

"Well, I might just have to stop by at the Tea Cozy someday then. So...I guess this is so long then? You…um," Soarin kicked the fine red velvet carpet with a hoof, "you mind if I write?"

Dusk nodded and said happily, "I would love that Soarin, if you don't mind me writing you in return?"

"Oh! Yeah! Sure…here!" he pulled out his own contact information, the more personal and private one outside of his Wonderbolt identity.

When Soarin was standing outside the hotel some time later, he pocketed Dusk's card and did several happy cartwheels on his way home with more fluttery twirls than usual. He didn't even mind when Captain Spitfire descended on him, nostrils blazing and eyes full of annoyance for him being out way past regulation curfew.

The 200 laps around Cloudsdale were worth it!

Ooo ooo ooo

The competition had definitely been worth the trip and a half as Dusk cheered on the competitors, though he was especially loud for Derpy.

He was proud of his friend when she placed third in the competition. It didn't win any prizes but being in the top three was impressive, and her picture would soon grace his wall of winners at the shop when he returned.

He also had the unusual privilege to witness Rarity, of all ponies, gracefully flying with some rather beautiful, but worryingly flimsy wings (how she had managed those he was interested in learning), while poor Rainbow Dash looked nervous as a rabbit in a thicket of timber wolves, as Mac would say.

Things took a tense turn for the worse when Rarity's finishing move caused her to burn up her wings and send her careening to earth.

Soarin, and two other Wonderbolts he was relieved to see, went after her, but in her panicked state, she accidentally knocked them all out cold with her flailing hooves. Rainbow Dash saved the day before Dusk could take matters into his own hooves by pulling off a legendary maneuver called the sonic Rainboom (and how nopony broke their neck in the force produced by her speed, he attributed to pegusi magic). It was certainly impressive and thankfully saved the day.

Worriedly, Dusk had one of the other audience members kindly offer him a lift and landed in a skid of cloud as he galloped up to Soarin, (He would have gone to Rarity but she was being seen to already by the rest of the Mane 6) who was dazedly shaking his head while the other two Wonderbolts groaned.

"Holy Celestia! that mare has a mean set of hooves," Soarin groaned.

Dusk let out a relieved breath. If Soarin could make dry observations like that, he couldn't be too badly hurt. He immediately joined the medi-ponies that were putting them onto stretchers to take them to the nearest hospital. he knew that he hadn't known Soarin long, but he felt oddly obligated to accompany his new friend to make sure that he was alright.

After casting a look over to Rarity again, who appeared to be fine, being settled into the basket of a hot air balloon with Rainbow Dash and the other girls- Twilight must have found the same spell as he did- with Rainbow Dash being awarded first prize and talking to Princess Celestia, he gave another sigh of relief and turned his concentration on the injured Wonderbolts.

Soarin looked disappointed that Dusk couldn't come with them, since there wasn't much room in the back of the flying ambulance, but Spitfire soon had them herded away, thanking Dusk for his concern, and the other field medi-ponies that were remaining for their help before brusquely herding everyone away. Dusk was told by the medi-ponies to go to rest of the group of land ponies, apparently surmising that he had come with them before flying off.

"Tell Soarin to write and let me know if he's okay!" he called after Captain Spitfire. She paused, nodded then continued on with her business.

"Dusk?!" Twilight gasped, "What are you doing here…? How are you here?!"

Without missing a beat he answered, somewhat truthfully in one regard, "I was in your library a few weeks ago and I read about a spell that makes land ponies able to walk on clouds, Derpy brought me up here with her, I am guessing it's the same for you?"

Twilight blushed in embarrassment nodding, and then seemed to remember the esteemed presence in their midst and coloring further said.

"Dusk, I would like to formally introduce you to Princess Celestia."

He eyed the Princess wearily but bowed, "Your highness," he said formally, as he tried to not fidget at the sudden tension that filled his spine. His wings twitched under his shawl, and he mentally told them to shut it, they stilled.

"We've meant," she replied, "at the awards ceremony for yourself and Pinky Pie after saving Equestria from the parasprite infestation."

"You never told us that the princess was there!" Twilight whispered in Pinky's ear, looking surprised and annoyed at the surprise.

"Really?" she chirped, "I guess I forgot."

The others groaned.

Princess Celestia gave him a considering look, "I must say that I am impressed that you also have the magical strength to both cast and maintain such a rare and powerful spell," she mused curiously.

He shifted on his hooves nervously and replied.

"Well, being a tea master is a lot more hazardous than one gives it credit. A spell like this is helpful for me to gather ingredients for my tea, like the water from pure clouds and ponymade liquid rainbows for example, or using clouds to bridge the gaps on treacherous mountain peaks to gather blue ice shavings."

"I never knew that tea making was such a versatile art," she mused, her eyes narrowing speculatively, though her smile was still kind. 

Fortunately for his nerves the Princess was called away by a guard to talk with the Cloudsdale mayor.

"So was that why you were here? Watchin' the competition?" Applejack asked as they all boarded the balloon, though he didn't get on, as he had his own means of returning and still needed to get his things from the hotel, as well as talk with Derpy who was soaring towards him waving her third place ribbon happily.

"Yes, I was here supporting Derpy, well, I'll see you all later!"

He waved goodbye to the girls, promising visits, and ran up to Derpy to congratulate her.
> Deliverer and Mediator
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 13: Deliverer and Mediator.

Dusk had to say that if anyone were around to ask him, he would say that the most beautiful place to either watch the sunrise, sunset, or stargaze in between would have to be the San Palomino Desert, an area of Equestria that was a two day train ride to Ghastly Gorge and then another few days leisurely hike South West. It was land that was an intermittent conglomeration between desert and grasslands with the occasional rocky outcropping or mountains to variety it up.

These lands were also, and firstly, recognized as the Buffalo Territories.

The Buffalo are a nomadic tribe that lived solely and completely off whatever the land had to offer. They were an amazingly knowledgeable group. It was also the Buffalo that was the reason that Dusk made sure to set aside time for one month out of the year.

Dusk was making his way to visit the Thunderhooves tribe, having stopped a few train stops back to first go on his usual trail of ingredient hunting.

Sagebrush and Cactus juice were excellent tea ingredients, especially in teas for chronic dehydration and fevers and he had run out of his last supplies a long time ago.

He sighed happily as he looked upwards at the stunning blanket of stars that could only be fully appreciated in a wide open place, with little to no cities like this.

"The nights are even more magnificent since Princess Luna's return," he sighed contentedly to himself. He may be wary around royalty, but he could still appreciate their work.

Not too long later, his saddle bags fit to bursting with his latest cache of supplies and camping gear strapped to his back, he was more than grateful to see the flickering campfires and tall tents of the Thunderhooves clan a good brief trot in front of him.

"It'll be nice to enjoy some peace with the tribe," he sighed contentedly; as much as he loved Ponyville and Canterlot, the part of him that had had spent days, even weeks, locked in his cupboard or hiding in shadowy corners as a child liked to return to that quiet once in a while.

As he approached the camp, the scouts came to alert, but when they saw it was Dusk, they relaxed and gestured him on through greeting him amicably.

He found Chief Thunderhooves soon enough, who was sitting in a circle with the majority of the tribe.

By their demeanor though, rather agitated ones, something was up.

Out of the huge hairy backs came a delighted squeal.

"Dusk!"

Dusk was bowled over by a small golden brown streak.

Ooo ooo ooo

Rainbow Dash had been mad a lot that day.

First, she had been rudely awoken, and thus grumpy by some buffalo stampede that turned into a tree-knapping, unintentional dragon-knapping robbery.

Then some buffalo foal with a surprisingly good grasp of gymnastics tricked her and sent her into a cross sign, which definitely made Rainbow Dash even more crossed then her cranium had been.

Then Pinky had shown up out of nowhere, scaring the daylights out of her, and got the both of them discovered by said buffalo.

And then the little gymnastics twerp had shown up after they had been invited back to the tribe's camp, fortunately, the dragon-knapping had been a bit of a misunderstanding and Spike vouched for them, and then she saw the cartwheeling wonder herself againwhich just made her even more annoyed at the reminder of being bested.

To give her credit, the Buffalo foal did apologize for the incident, and after explaining a few things, took them to see the chief, who was awesome by the way, if a little boring of a speaker in the beginning, and now she was mad again on behalf of the Buffalo at the Appleloosians for being so inconsiderate as to plant trees, without asking! All over the Buffalo's sacred stampeding grounds.

She was all set taking the Appleoosians to task, but Spike managed to deflate her gumption somewhat by pointing out that it was the middle of the night and that they should wait until morning before heading out.

Just as they were about to break up the gathering, Little Strong Heart, who had been sitting beside the chief suddenly perked up and with a happy cry of "Duuuusk!" zipped away in a blur.

The others parted and revealed a familiar unicorn to both Rainbow Dash, Pinky Pie and Spike who was being hugged excitedly by the young buffalo.

Rainbow Dash and Spike's mouths dropped open while Pinky perked up and hopped over to the unicorn.

"Ahh….Deliverer!" the Chief greeted, and for such a solemn guy, he surprised Rainbow Dash by trotting over and pulling the smaller pony into a crushing hug, and was passed along the warriors who greeted him jubilantly until he finally was let down in front of his fellow ponies, looking a little ruffled from the experience but otherwise fine.

The others re-gathered into a circle, looking excited.

"Rainbow Dash? Pinky? Spike?" the pony asked in surprise as he casually through a hoof over Little Strong Heart, holding her close as he settled down beside the chief, the others getting comfortable, "what are you three doing here? Are you all alright?"

"What are we doing here? What are you doing here?!" Dash gaped, having recovered some from the shock of the unexpected visitor.

Rainbow Dash noticed that not only did the Buffalo appear to greet him like some long lost relative, rather enthusiastically, but he also wore a feather in his mane, which was actually flowing free for once, including his tail, in an uncharacteristic display of abandon.

The others laughed, to Rainbow's annoyance, Dusk chuckling along before the Chief chose to explain.

"Deliverer has been a part of our tribe for the past 4 years. He returns to us once a month each year to renew his ties with us, gather his medicines, and spend time with his daughter."

"Daughter?!" the three guests gasped.

Dusk chuckled again at their expressions. He wished he had a camera to capture the moment.

"The term for ponies is Celestial Daughter," he told the chief, while the others relaxed at that.

"How did that happen?" Spike asked curiously, "I thought you were from Canterlot like Twilight and me?"

Dusk nodded, "I am, but a year after I became an Apprentice, my master took me with him on one of his ingredient hunts, though one of the milder ones since I was still so young. It was during that visit that I became part of the tribe."

"Ooo! Ooo!" Pinky bounced, waving a hoof in the air, "can you tell us what happened? Pleeeease?" giving Dusk what Rainbow recognized was the patented Pinky Puppy Dog Eyes.

"Oh! Can I tell the story this time Deliverer?" Little Strong Heart pleaded with a similar look.

Dusk gave the youth an indulgent smile and nodded, though he looked a little embarrassed to.

"Well, it's like he said, his teacher brought him to our lands to gather medicines. One day, while his teacher was away, negotiating with our chief for harvesting rights, one of our own warriors, brave and strong, had been out gathering supplies for dinner when she was bitten by a viper," the calf hissed realistically, "she was overwhelmed by the poison and became confused and wandered further and further away from the camp until she stumbled upon another, Dusk's camp."

"The lands had been having a problem with vipers for the past few seasons and several warriors had already lost their lives, including my sire, earlier."

Here, her ears drooped in sadness for the loss and several others did the same.

"My mother was the strongest Buffalo in the land, she fought the venom long enough to help guide Dusk, who had been left behind in his teacher's camp, in helping her to give birth."

Rainbow and the others gasped, Strong Heart nodded seriously, "the venom induced an early birth. Dusk did all he could to help her, but in the end even she could not fight the venom any longer and she died just as he pulled me out of her body."

There was a moment of silence as heads bowed respectively for the fallen warrior before the calf continued her story.

"Dusk knew that he could not leave me alone to get help, just as he couldn't leave mother alone when she stumbled into his camp. I was too vulnerable and back then he hadn't learned enough magic yet to help mother and to protect me after, so Dusk wrapped me in his shawl and took both me and my mother's body back to the tribe."

Then the chief took up the rest of the tale.

"The tribe was camped about a day's journey on hoof from the medicine pony's camp-

"Medicine Pony?" Rainbow Dash interrupted confusedly, "I thought his mentor made tea?"

"It's the same thing among the tribe, a sort of cross between a spiritual adviser, healer, and herbologiest," Dusk explained patiently.

"Oh."

"-anyway as I was saying," he chief continued, "the camp was no small distance, especially for one so young. Being barely out of calf-hood himself. But he made the journey and when he stumbled into camp, dragging our honored dead behind him with his horn and holding a calf strung to his chest, we knew that he was both special and worthy to be one of us. He risked a lot in doing what he did."

Rainbow noticed that Dusk shifted nervously.

"In honor of his selfless act, we gifted him an honorary membership as a tribe member and since he had been the one to bring the calf into the world, and with both her parents gone, as is tradition the one who assists in the birth takes on the title as father or mother, or as you ponies call it, Celestial Father or Mother. We also gave him the tribe name of Deliverer, since he delivered the dead back to be honored, and delivered the newly born into the world.

He was too young to raise a calf though, and it is common among our tribe for the collective whole to look after calves so I took her in while Deliverer comes to see her when he can, though we understand that he can't very often. Medicine work is a sacred practice and we respect the paths he must follow. But he did leave a part of him behind," he gestured to said calf who stuck out her chest proudly, "he named her Strong Heart, after the mother that fought for so long to live to save her calf."

"Wow," Spike said finally, awed, "that's amazing! I had no idea!"

The other ponies nodded in agreement.

"So," Dusk said, much more seriously, turning attention away from his past, "What has happened to bring you lot here, and why is the tribe so agitated?"

Ooo ooo ooo

One long explanation later…

Dusk rubbed his forehead with a hoof as he groaned.

In a year, his peaceful loving retreat had turned into some sort of land war between the tribe and some recently settled pioneer ponies.

"Let me get this straight," he finally said, pacing in the center of the circle, "these Appleoosians built their town and planted an orchard on your land, without even asking for permission, even though they are aware that this is your territory?"

The Buffalo nodded.

"Alright…and from the sounds of it, there has been incidences of Buffalo and Appleoosians having fricative encounters that mainly consisted of making life harder for everyone?"

Again more nods.

"Did anyone think to actually go to Appleosia and explain the situation?"

There was a stunned then awkward silence and slowly heads were shaken.

"I see," Dusk sighed, rubbing the bridge of his muzzle.

"We were planning on going to the Appleoosians tomorrow," Strong Heart supplied quickly, "your pony friends offered to escort me on behalf of the tribe to tell them to take down their apple trees."

Dusk sighed then turned a glare on the buffalo that shifted nervously.

"Let me say this once so that it is clear in your minds before I proceed to tell you what I think about this situation."

He began to pace, "What the Appleoosians have done is a grave matter and they have clear fault in starting this issue by not respecting your property rights, and believe me, when I accompany the other ponies and Strong Heart tomorrow, I will let them know exactly what I think of them. However," he held up a hoof before Rainbow Dash and the others could get riled up, "now that you are aware that I consider them in just as much fault, for starting this in the first place, I can now say that I am…deeply disappointed in you all as well."

The Buffalo sank on their hooves, even the chief at the unicorn's severe tone.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Dash butted in angrily, "what do they have to be ashamed of? It's those Appleoosians fault!"

"I'm not denying that, I just finished saying that actually," Dusk snapped back, though in a calmer tone, "my problem is that instead of trying to educate the Appleoosians on why they are at fault, and explaining the important cultural and livelihood importance of the Sacred Stampeding Grounds, they have instead just demanded they move their likely vital crops and raided and fought with them. Do you remember the incident with Zecora?" Dusk reminded Rainbow, "remember how Ponyville, including yourself, reacted to her all because you didn't understand or know what a Zebra was? This is just the same thing, except the Buffalo are Zecora and the settler ponies are Ponyville."

Rainbow Dash sagged as well, the wind out of her pinfeathers as she nodded in understanding.

"I never thought about it that way before," Spike mused.

"That's because ponies fear or ignore what they don't understand," Pinky chirped up as she pulled another bowl of Buffalo chow out of nowhere and dived right in after delivering that little enlightenment, not the least bit bummed by the conversation.

Dusk nodded, and briefly told the Zecora story to the Buffalo to explain what he was talking about.

When he was done, he turned to present matters once again.

"Not that it excuses them from their fault in the matter, but explaining the problem, calmly and rationally, might have at least helped in resolving the situation and if they still refused to see reason, then extreme measures could have been implemented," Dusk shot the chief a look, "It has also been my experience as one of the tribe that while warriors, you're for the most part peaceful folk, but after I just heard that not only have you been picking fights with the settler ponies but actually attacking a train!" he took a few calming breaths. Strong Heart sank to her stomach, tail between her legs, "the settlers are one thing, but attacking a train, a train full of innocent ponies that have nothing to do with the situation, that could have been hurt, and were hurt!" he gestured to Rainbow Dash, pausing long enough to toss a jar of ointment her way for the bump on her head.

"All of that, for a single tree that would make no difference either way and just rile up the Appleoosians further against you! You even accidentally took a baby dragon! Something this tribe worships! Did any of you even think to check the compartment?"

Dusk took several breaths and continued ranting long into the night. When he was done, it was a subdued and contrite buffalo tribe that finally slunk away to bed, while Dusk huffed and took Strong Heart with him to the tent that they shared during his visits.

"Wow," Rainbow said quietly, even Pinky looked suitably cowed, if for a moment at least, "I didn't do anything wrong and I still feel like I owe him an apology."

"He would make a great school disciplinarian," Pinky agreed, "let's go to bed, I'm tired."

"Yeah, we have an early start tomorrow," Spike agreed, and when they snuggled in under the stars in there sleeping bags that had been thoughtfully lent to them, Spike made a mental note to write Celestia a letter of his own about the entire trip, it certainly was proving to be a doozy of a vacation.

Ooo ooo ooo

Meanwhile in Appleoosa…

The next morning, Applejack was raring to go.

Braeburn, one of her numerous cousins, had offered to guide them deeper into Buffalo country so that they could rescue their friends from the Buffalo. Her cousin was, understandably, not too keen on seeing them, but he was willing to get one over on the varmints that were trying to keep them from their vital livelihoods, so she was not inclined to think of them charitably at the moment.

As they were about to leave the Yawn Stable Inn, right beside the Sheriff's office where they had booked some rooms for the night, the rest of the mane six (2 short) with saddle packs ready to go and Braeburn waiting for them outside, everyponies' determined trot was halted by the sudden sight of a another pony coming up over a hill in the distance, strolling into town with the rising sun at his back.

This figure was followed by 4 others and the odd procession caused every pony out and about to halt what they were doing and watch the spectacle.

4 of the 5 figures were instantly recognizable to the Ponyville ponies plus one dragon, and they galloped up to them, the girls gathering around Rainbow Dash, Pinky Pie, and a dozing Spike on her back who instantly awoke at the commotion, and the surprising presence of a rather irritable and silent Dusk who stood slightly a ways, the leader for the procession with a calf by his side.

Everyone began talking at once.

"What happened?" Fluttershy asked, "Are you all alright?"

"How did you all escape? And what is Dusk doin' here? Did he save ya all?"

And so it went until Dusk himself cleared his throat and the rest of the ponies quieted instantly.

Applejack took advantage of the quiet to ask.

"What in tarnation is going on? And who is that?" She gestured to the little fella that was standing boldly by Dusk's side, little chest sticking out bravely.

"This is my daughter," Dusk introduced, ignoring the shocked exclamations, "her name is Strong Heart, she is here to represent the interests of the Thunderhooves tribe, and indirectly the interests of all the Buffalo herds in general."

He ignored the spluttering and even more confused questions, the silver and black pony's eyes zeroing in on Applejack's cousin.

"You," he demanded, "who's the one in charge around here?"

Her cousin stared gobsmacked at the unicorn, who, Applejack had to admit, was quite a sight with his free flowing mane, and authoritative air.

"Uh, that would be the Sheriff Sir, I'll just go fetch him then," the normally vociferous pony skedaddled quickly to the jailhouse.

"Dusk?" Applejack asked.

"There has been a lot of idiocy in play and apparently I am the one that is going to set things in order when I should be spending time with my daughter, but no! I have to spend the time I should be spending with her fixing up this mess so she doesn't end up either starving or in the middle of a war zone."

The others gasped, but not more questions were answered, just a brusque command to wait.

The Sheriff strode forward and soon enough more and more townsponies were gathering in the center of town to see what was going down.

At the Sheriff's direction, seats were provided for everyone, after all, Appleoosians were not known for leaving a pony standing in the streets during serious discussions, which the Sheriff was smart enough to figure out was going on, and finally invited everyone into the town hall that could fit.

"Well, where to start?" Dusk said finally, as he paced in front of the gathered ponies, "first off, I would like to say that I understand that you all have families to feed and that you have all worked hard to set up a good life for them, and I don't blame you for wanting to protect it, however-"

"Oh no!" Spike whispered to Twilight, whom he had been returned to, in to her ear, "brace yourselves."

And thus the rant of a century was spilled forth upon the majority of Appleoosa, a rant that in the end had many ponies shaking in their seats, fillies an colts crying and otherwise heads hung low in shame.

Finally Braeburn stood up and approached the silent Strong Heart, he bowed low, his hat in his teeth, and said: "we had no idea, we truly...dear sweet Celestia none of us thought that asking was even necessary! We had no idea that our orchards were cutting you all off from your stampeding migration. We shouldn't have just claimed some bit of land without thinking how we would affect some other pony's way of life."

"I agree," the Sheriff said finally as Braeburn retook his seat beside Applejack, who looked just as guilty and horrified as the rest of her kin.

"But the fact of the matter is that we need those orchards to feed our families, if we remove them now then we run the risk of starving to."

There were murmurs of agreement at that.

Strong Heart looked dismayed. It appeared that both parties had stranded themselves into a real tight corner.

"Excuse me," Twilight said, standing up and striding to the front at a nod from Dusk who appeared to be acting as mediator, though his methods of refereeing by calling both sides as collective idiots left much to be desired in her opinion, but seemed to be effective nonetheless, "Braeburn took us to see the orchards yesterday and I couldn't help noticing that there was still plenty of space, couldn't we just move the trees, and open up a path through them?"

"But how?" the Sheriff asked, "it would take too long to dig them all up and move them in time for the buffalo to migrate and we still have to harvest them as well, we would need both all the harvesters as harvesters and as tree movers, and the moving will also likely cause many of the apples to loose from the branches as well. We don't want to lose vital crop either."

"Well, we don't know anything about apple trees, but if you show us what to do, I bet with our help we can help you harvest and move the trees in time for all our needs." Strong Heart piped up.

While some were uncertain, there were still more thoughtful mutters among the ponies that gave the plan some hope then Dusk pitched in with an added suggestion.

"Don't forget that we have 3 unicorns in this town as well, and 2 pegusi," Dusk suggested, "Twilight, Rarity and I can levitate trees into new spots as well, which will cut down on moving time, Rainbow Dash can fly messages back and forward between all the work crews to make sure that the right trees are being moved and planted correctly as well, with Fluttershy's help keeping an eye out for loosened crop and any local animals that might be disturbed by what we are doing and being relocated. Rainbow Dash can even fix the weather to help the harvest along."

There was greater approval at that, especially when the Ponyvillians readily agreed.

At a vote, the rest of the Appleoosians agreed and Rainbow Dash was sent to inform the tribe with Strong Heart delivering the plan to the Chief, and she returned with his agreement to the compromise, and thus everything was a go.

For the next week, the trees were moved aside, animals relocated, crop harvested, and a peace treaty worked out between the two sides, especially when the Chief got his first taste of apple pie and found he rather liked apples indeed.

When the girls finally had to go, Dusk was seeing them off at the train station.

"It's mighty good of you to stick around to help iron things out between my kin folk and your tribe folk," Applejack said, as the other mane 6 nodded.

Dusk waved the thanks of, "I don't mind, I was planning on staying for a bit anyway, and I wanted to make sure my little girl and Flighty Hoof, an elder Buffalo who will also be staying, will be fine, they are staying behind this migration to encourage mutual understanding through cultural exchange."

"I still can't believe Braeburn was the one the town decided to send off to stay with the Buffalo during migration," Twilight commented, "he seemed so gung-ho about Appleloosa, I didn't think he would want to leave home."

"Are you kidding?" Rainbow Dash replied, "Who would pass up an adventure like that? If I didn't have responsibilities back in Ponyville, I might have offered to go myself."

"I've been aching to say this darling," Rarity said, "but you look absolutely gorgeous with your mane and tail down. It's horrendously messy and slightly improper, but you pull it off spectacularly! And I love that feather you're wearing! Why it looks the same shade as your pelt! How lovely!"

"Yes, well…" Dusk coughed and quickly changed the subject and levitated a bunch of letters towards Applejack, " I was wondering if you could do me a favor and mail these for me? Some are for my family back in Canterlot, and a pegasus friend of mine, but some are for Derpy and Big Macintosh."

"Sure sugar cube," Applejack reassured, placing them into her saddlebag.

Finally the train whistle blew and the ladies departed waving goodbye to Dusk.
> The Best Night of My Life
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 14: The Best Night of My Life.

Soarin groaned as he came to a landing.

He could feel the sweat gathered under his Wonderbolt uniform and he was very much looking forward to a long dip in the jacuzzi to soak his aching wings.

"Great Celestia I don't think that I can flap my wings one more moment!" Soarin groaned, dramatically flopping on the change bench next to Misty Fly, who just rolled her eyes and continued brushing her mane.

Suddenly there was a snap! And Soarin yelped as pain shot through his rump.

"Hah ha ha! What's the matter? Not seeing your little sweet heart knocked the endurance out of ya?" laughed Shot Gun as he began to reload his wet towel.

Soarin felt himself color while Misty and the rest of the unit stuck their heads out from around corners and behind locker doors eagerly.

"Well, well!" Misty crooned leaning over him, pinning him against a corner, a disturbing air about his fellows that wafted "juicy rumor, spill now" about them, "our glorious and talented Soarin, the Soarin that is one of the most talented Wonderbolt to grace a cloudfield, the self-proclaimed bachelor pony that is saving himself for that special somepony, has found that special pony," Misty purred, the unit leaned closer, drooling, with eager eyes, "and you didn't think to tell your loyal, honorable second family? The unit that has your back? "

A spot light came out of nowhere as she struck a pose, "why it's simply criminal! We all shared so much over the years!" a hoof pressed against a chest, "Our deepest, darkest shameful secrets!" a violin began to play, a few ponies sobbed dramatically, "why it's absolutely unforgivable to leave your precious comrades out in the cold!" a hoof over her eyes.

"Listen guys," Soarin stuttered, sweating, "it's nothing really…"

"That's not how it sounded in your sleep!" Shot Gun supplied not so helpfully from the sudden inexplicable shadows, "Oh Dusk! You're so beautiful! I can hold you forever!-Muah, muah!- just let me…umf!" Shotguns' pantomiming was halted by the eye goggles that Soarin, who was blushing furiously, was trying to stuff down his throat.

The unit leaned forward eagerly, ready for more dish when the sudden banging of the changing room doors being slammed open froze them all on place.

"What is going on in here?!" demanded the fiery colored pegasus and leader of the Wondebolts.

As if by magic, suddenly everypony was back at their lockers as if nothing had happened, a violin hastily sat upon casually.

Huffing Spitfire ignored Shotgun, who was finishing hacking up the goggles, and barked out.

"Soarin! Up front!" Soarin hastily shucked the last of his uniform and rushed to stand at attention in front of her.

She nodded, whirling around. It didn't need to be said that he should follow.

She took a seat at her desk while Soarin stood at attention in front of her in her private office.

"Soarin," she began, "it is no secret, or at least an open secret anyway, that you are the strongest candidate to replace me as captain of the Wonderbolts when I retire from active touring to teach at the academy."

She pulled out a file with her teeth and laid it on the desk, opening it with a hoof.

"Your record speaks of your genius with both planning and succeeding in flight maneuvers, and certainly a nothing to sneeze at number of flight plans that was even invented and used by yourself and your unit during many of our tours. You personally are well liked by the others, you have had no outstanding demerits, unlike some of your fellows" her nose twitched, "all things considered, you're almost perfect for the part."

Soarin blinked, yes, he had heard it, "Almost sir?" he asked carefully.

She nodded, turning his file around.

"Other than the competition in Cloudsdale, which a few of us ended up being able to attend to anyway as the prize for the civilian winner, including both yourself and I, due to hospitalization, personal appearances at social functions representing the Wonderbolts, and volunteering within the pony community, particularly the ground based communities, are slim to nil."

Soarin rubbed the back of his mane, "well, I'm…uh…" he really had nothing to say on that. Truth of the matter was he wasn't all that fond of the pomp of social functions (i.e High class parties), and he was often busy working on another routine to really have time to do some sort of community volunteer work.

"You need to attend at least one high profile social function and do something, preferably landside, to make you acceptable to the Pegasi council, Princess Celestia, and Myself as well rounded enough to handle the pressures and responsibilities that come with being the face of the most important aerial organization in all of Equestria."

Soarin mentally groaned, but nodded, his wings sagging unhappily.

"Now," she said briskly, pulling out two scrolls, "I have managed to work out an opportunity for you to fulfill the necessary requirements."

Soarin took the scrolls, opening one, startled to find a familiar looking golden ticket inside.

"The Grand Galloping Gala?" Soarin groaned, "Sir, please! I'll do anything else! Please!"

"There is no debating this," she barked, "you will go to Luscious Lock's Boutique in Canterlot, I already booked an appointment for you the morning of the day of the gala to get yourself properly groomed, then you will wear the suit provided for you from Hoity Toity's own personal boutique and you will wear it!" Soarin moaned in despair. He hated suits and groomovers.

"After that, you will arrive at the castle, on time! And join me in representing the Wonderbolts to the best of your abilities, understood?"

Soarin nodded gloomily. He hated upper-class parties more then he hated the previously mentioned items.

"Now onto the second scroll," she huffed, smoothing her twitching eyebrow, 'honestly, you would think I was sending him on a one way trip to Tartarus!' she mentally grumbled, 'it's just a party for Celestia's sake!'

Soarin was already opening the scroll with a weary look on his face.

"This scroll contains what will fulfill the necessary volunteer work, and I know that a month may seem a bit long, but…"

"…are you kidding?!" Soarin exclaimed, startling Spitfire, "this…this is far too short a time!"

"Wh..what? But…" she spluttered.

"You said that I need to get in touch with land ponies right? Well, I think that a month is too short a time to for that, in fact, I would be willing to spend an entire season…no a year! To do just that!" Soarin declared, holding the scroll tightly to him.

"Er..well!" she managed to gather her composure, "I am actually set to teach at the Academy within a year, and there is still your present tour to finish first, but if you feel that strongly about it I can put it off an extra six months…"

"Thank you sir!" he said, cutting her off again, and with a quick salute, practically zoomed out of her office.

When Shotgun and the rest of the unit saw Soarin return, many of them with a minor bet going if he was either receiving a reward or getting reamed out for some infraction or other, neither of them would know for sure however when their ecstatic friend descended like some whirlwind of electric blue and navy, gathering everything from his locker and left in the same manner just as quickly.

"And here he was complaining that he could barely lift his wings," Misty commented befuddled to a neighbor who nodded.

Ooo ooo ooo

Back in Ponyville…

Dusk was just strolling past Rarity's boutique when he was hailed by Pinky Pie who was jumping up and down excitedly, though this time on a trampoline.

Dusk, well used to these sights by now came up and greeted her affability and was spotted by Twilight Sparkle who seemed to be yet again reading some book.

"Hey Dusk, not running the shop today?" Twilight asked.

He shook his head, "no, Derpy and Cherry Drop are refurbishing the dining room so I decided to not argue and just spend a quiet evening out on the town and let the ladies work. They claim I have no sense of style or something," he rolled his eyes.

Twilight tactfully chose not to comment, after all this was the pony that personified the word practicality over glamour. She often wondered how he and Rarity ever got along to have their weekly chats.

"So what are you reading? Another spell book for your studies I suppose?"

Twilight perked and turned the book towards him slightly as he settled down next to her, letting him examine the passage interestingly.

"That's an ambitious spell, it reminds me a bit of that spell you and Spike were working on in the park sometime back, except this one appears to appropriate qualities of a pre-existing object and apply them into a new state. I hope I can be around to see the results."

"You're in luck, I'll be using it for the Grand Galloping Gala this evening," she supplied, "you can observe if you want."

"Thanks!" he grinned and the two returned to the book.

By the time that the rest of the Mane 6 had arrived Twilight was ready to cast her spell.

He took a few steps away, unnoticed by the others, who had greeted him as well earlier, he fixed a focused, un-blinking glazed stare on the purple unicorn who was busy transforming an apple into an extravagant carriage and four mice into, he was amused to note, horses, who ran away when Opal attacked them.

Dusk kept the disturbing similarity to a certain human fairy tale to himself.

When the excitement was over and a couple of the Bronco Brothers, who were neighbors of Rarity, offered to pull the carriage for her, the motor for the transportation was solved. It was no secret that the family of five brothers and one sister of Earth Ponies had a crush on Rarity. It was always amusing to see the six of them scrapping it out over her from time to time; he'd even had to hose them down a time or two outside his shop when she had visited him for tea and the latest talk from the capital.

The ladies were about to disappear into Rarity's shop to prepare for the evening, when he remembered why he had been stopping by.

"Rarity!" he called, before she close the door.

"Yes darling?" she asked him distractedly.

"I know it's a bit last minute, but it honestly slipped my mind, and I was wondering if you could think of anyone who needs one of these." Dusk pulled out a familiar golden ticket from his saddlebag.

"Good gracious!" she gasped, pulling the ticket out of his hoof staring at it to see if her eyes were deceiving her; "this is a ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala!" she gasped.

"Yeah," he rubbed the back of his mane, "I got one in the mail just after that parasprite incident, but with everything, I forgot about it and Derpy actually was the one to find it in the kitchen in my junk mail basket."

"Junk Mail!" and with that screech, she fainted dead away.

He blinked then sighed, taking his ticket back before it could join the unicorn on the ground.

"What's going on?" Rainbow Dash asked as the other girls trotted up to see what all the fuss was about.

"Oh good!" he said relieved, "maybe you can help me, you see I'm looking to see if any of you know of anypony who would want to go. I already asked Derpy, Cherry Drop and Mac, but they all have plans for the evening, though Cherry Drop looked like she was going to cry for some reason."

The girls took one look at the ticket and nearly joined Rarity on the floor.

Rarity suddenly shot upright, a rather terrifying expression on her face, and he expected the theme music from some cheesy horror movie to break out any minute.

Dusk took a few weary steps back, but was halted by unicorn magic and dragged into the shop, the door closing and locking behind him

Ooo ooo ooo

3 hours later…

"It's your own fault you know," Spike commented from the outside driver's seat holding the Bronco Brothers reins as he talked to the figure behind him, "its Rarity, and the most important night ever, did you really think you can escape?"

"It's just some swanky party," grumbled Dusk, "I hate parties."

"Correction," Spike stuck up a talon, "it's thee swanky party. You had no hope my friend; you want another drink of water?"

Dusk sighed and nodded, taking a sip from the offered straw before he griped, "I can see now that it matters a lot to her, but did she really have to hogtie me to the roof?"

"I've never seen Applejack lasso a pony out of a tree before." Spike mused, "But I wouldn't worry about it, just hang around with me and the others and you'll have a blast! I'll show you all the best spots in Canterlot…oh wait, you're from Canterlot already," he rubbed his head and blushed at Dusk's bland look, "well…I'm sure you'll have fun anyway."

Dusk just grumbled, sticking his nose deeper into the folds of the hood of the cloak that Rarity had provided for the trip, and he had refused to let anypony see him after Rarity had struggled for over an hour with his enchanted shawl and had instead worked around it. There was no way he was letting anypony see him in fancy getup. As much as her fashions were beautiful, there was a reason she designed for the Mare market.

She hadn't been too pleased with his struggles but that was just tough hooves, he was going to find the closest closet and hide until this was all over.

Ooo ooo ooo

When they arrived at the castle and one of the amused and sympathetic Bronco brothers managed to untie him from the roof and herded him gently to stand with the girls, pulling the carriage away to join with the others, Dusk wished fervently that he could join them. He bet they would be enjoying good food and lots of poker, the lucky bastards.

He had to admit that the ladies looked quite beautiful in their dresses; he just wished that it was just them that was all decked out.

"Goodness Dusk darling! Haven't you removed the silly old thing yet?" Rarity sighed in exasperation as they joined a procession of other finely dressed stallions and mares going into the main reception hall.

He shook his head stubbornly.

"Come on Dusk, I'm sure that you look plum fine under that there robe or yours, it's Rarity after all," Applejack reassured.

"Exactly," Dusk grumbled under his breath.

"Besides!" chimed in Pinky, putting a hoof around his shoulders, "you'll be seen by the elite of the elite of Equestria who will be watching your every move and judging you with extreme prejudice, you want to take off that cloak so that everyone can see you properly!"

With that little reassurance, the male pony in their midst, if possible, held the cloak closer around him and still some how managed to remain on his hooves.

"Pinky!" Twilight scolded as Pinky giggled and skipped ahead a bit. Twilight leaned forward, "I'm sure it won't be as bad as all that, besides you're a very attractive pony, and reasonably able to hold an intelligent conversation, I'm sure that you'll be fine…"

Dusk relaxed a tad at that, then Twilight finished off with, "…and if your still nervous, you can join me with Princess Celestia, she seemed interested in getting to know you the last time you met."

Dusk tensed again, even unhappier then before.

"Oh for pony's sake! Are you a stallion or a mouse?" Rainbow Dash barked and strolled over in all her finery and with a decisive grab and flourish, yanked the cloak off of the startled pony, "it's just a party and…whoa…"

The cloak dropped from her teeth as the others stared at Dusk who was standing awkwardly before them, unable to hide himself now. In fact, many nearby ponies halted in conversations to stare at him.

"He looks even more fabulous in the castle lights then I imagined, "Rarity gushed into the stunned silence, breaking it as she pranced around him.

Those who were in ear and eye shot were all likely thinking the same thing.

"My gosh," one affluent unicorn whispered to her friend, "who is that gorgeous creature?!"

"I don't know," said friend replied, "but I'm going to find out!"

Suddenly Dusk was surrounded on all sides by Upper crust ponies eyeing him hungrily.

"Wow," Twilight marveled, cheeks actually blushing a bit, much as the other girls and even Spike was, "Rarity, you really should branch out into stallions, you've outdid yourself."

"Haven't I though?" she tossed her head proudly, admiring her work as Dusk tensed, eyes wide and looking for an escape route.

"I'll say," Applejack added, "don't think I've ever seen the fella at the center of so much attention at a function before…ooo there he goes!"

"Gee, I never knew he could jump so high before," Rainbow Dash marveled as she handed the robe to a passing servant pony to be hung up in the cloak room.

"Or run so fast," Fluttershy added, as their friend disappeared in the distance, a stampede of finely dressed ponies chasing after him with metaphorical hearts in their eyes.

"Well then, we should take a page from Dusk and get to spending the best night of our lives!" Twilight said, and with that, all the ponies separated.

Ooo ooo ooo

A few hours later, the leaves of a golden tree in a secluded garden parted to reveal two large green eyes as they stared back and forth at the ground below carefully.

It had taken him the better part of the night for Dusk to shake the admiring crowds, though there had been a few very determined mares and one or two stallions that had been particularly hard to shake.

Looking around again, the coast appearing to be clear, he slid down the trunk and slunk his way in the general direction of where he assumed the exit to be.

Just as he expected, this night was the worst night of his pony life.

He froze when he heard the hunting cry of a finely dressed unicorn, "there he is!"

He groaned and pushed his aching legs, feeling his wings twitch under his finery with the need to fly away.

He was so busy on keeping track of the closing gap between him and his admirers, that he didn't see the pony who had stepped in his path, looking bored.

They both gave surprised shouts as they slammed into each other and upended, tails over hooves into a fountain directly behind them with a tremendous splash.

Ooo ooo ooo

Soarin was bored.

True there had been some brief interesting moments, such as that apple pie; bumping into that pony…Rainbow Dash was it? That had rescued him at Cloudsdale some time back; he had wanted to ask her how she had done that amazing Sonic Rainboom of hers, but his duties as representative kept him from being able to ask her as he was wrangled into photo after photo, and talk after talk with important sponsors and other personages. By the time he had been able to free himself, she was gone, and so was that awesome apple cart.

Then the party took a turn for hilarity when a group of ponies completely, and by accident to be fair, trashed the ballroom.

The party had returned to normal after they had fled, and he soon grew bored again.

He had decided to take a breather from all the snobs and suck ups by taking a walk in the back gardens, when something suddenly slammed into him and sent them into a water fountain.

Soarin spluttered, blinking water out of his eyes.

"Oh no! I'm so sorry!" the crasher said.

Soarin though could not say anything as he took one look at the stunning being standing over him in awe, the curse words dying on his lips.

The stallion was dressed in some sort of full body translucent fitted netting that blended invisibly with his silver pelt, small diamonds strung throughout along his body tapering off at hooves capped in tight booted stockings of silvered silk and diamond beads.

The black mane was worn down and while it was slightly damp with water, looked like some sort of starlit sky with even more diamond beads strong throughout his mane and tail. Princess Luna herself could have not done better in his opinion.

The look was finished with a silver circlet at the base of his horn with a round cut emerald that didn't do his familiar eyes justice.

"Dusk!?" he gasped, as the unicorn helped the stunned and sodden pegasus to his hooves.

"Soarin!" the unicorn exclaimed relieved and threw himself at Soarin happily, who was not displeased at the sudden turn of events.

Then Soarin saw the eager faces of the crowd that suddenly surrounded them, stallions and mares in fancy garments looking like they were about to dive in after them.

Soarin narrowed his eyes, breaking out of his stunned stupor, and wrapped a wet wing around the smaller male possessively, who didn't seem to mind (or didn't notice the possessive air) and the others, noting his proprietary stance looked disappointed and trudged off, some shooting him jealous looks, though thankfully, Dusk seemed blissfully ignorant of the preceding byplay.

"Thank goodness!" the unicorn groaned, head popping out from under his feathers, "you have no idea what I have been through tonight! Come on! Before they change their minds and decided they don't mind me soaked to the hooves after all."

Dusk determinedly pulled the two of them towards the nearest wall and levitated them on top.

"Whoa!" Soarin yelped, flaring his wings in time to balance them and grabbing Dusk when he spotted the steep drop below.

"I hope you don't mind, can you give me lift into the city proper? I can hoof it from there and then you can return to the gala…"

"Are you kidding?" Soarin interrupted, a smile splitting his muzzle, "the night had been a total bust! I've done my bit for the captain, let's get out of here!"

With that, he gathered Dusk to him and jumped off the wall.

Dusk laughed and cheered, as the two did loop-de-loops with Soarin wearing a ridiculously pleased look on his face.

Soon though, as all good things must, it came to an end, and the two landed in the train station.

"Listen, I just want you to know that…well, um," Soarin silently cursed his nervous tongue, and sighed instead asking, "are you going to be alright? Being at the train station on your own?"

"I should be fine, after all I took it to move to Ponyville," Dusk chuckled.

Soarin felt himself blush in embarrassment, mentally calling himself an idiot.

"What I mean to say, is…do you mind if I keep you…er, I mean, keep you company until the train arrives?"

Dusk nodded and the two of them settled onto a bench, Dusk shivered slightly when a gust of wind hit him and Soarin casually put a wing back round Dusk again, who snuggled close and sighed contentedly in the offered warmth.

The two of them shared their stories of the past day and evening, both commiserating on being forced by the strong females in their life to attend the gala against their wills and laughing at Soarin's version of the evening.

"You know," Soarin mused after a moment of content silence, "I thought that this was going to be just some boring shindig, but…you know what? I think this was the best night of my life."

Dusk didn't hear him though, as he had fallen asleep.
> Imbalanced
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 15: Imbalanced.

Dusk knew there was something wrong before anyone else in Equestria realized something was going to happen.

It was like suddenly being aware that there was some sort of odor in the air, something that kept getting stronger and stronger and couldn't make up its mind on what it smelled of, something that smelled neither bad nor good.

It was a distracting, nagging sensation that Dusk couldn't place, but tried valiantly to ignore and get on with the business of living.

But as with all things that seem small and nagging, there usually is reason in the end for said nagging.

ooo ooo ooo

When Mac came to visit Dusk one particular day, he found the pony rambling to himself, pacing back and forth in front of his garden with the shop closed up tight. There was no sign of other ponies, not even Derpy.

"Dusk?" Mac asked him in concern trotting up to the agitated pony. He was alarmed when the pony's horn began sputtering small bursts of magic like a guttering fire and the other stallion's mane was undone and frazzled more them Pinky Pie's.

"Dusk?" he called out carefully.

The pony didn't seem to hear him, eyes riveted off to the North-East and muttering to himself nonsensically.

Rather alarmed now, he carefully herded his friend down the road and towards Twilight Sparkle's. If there was anypony who could understand and help in magical matters, at least he thought this was magical matters, it was her.

Macintosh actually swore out loud when he spotted the closed sign.

"Well, no help for it then," he told himself and easily hefted the dazed Dusk onto his back, who didn't put up much of a fight, but continued to repetitively turn his head in the same direction.

By the time that he had found Twilight, the rest of the town was already realizing that something was up.

"Twilight!" he called, "Miss Sparkle!"

He waded through the ruin that was once Sweet Apple Acre's corn field (grimacing at the confusing destruction), and the enlarged, partially eaten sagging apple tree and the running around giraffe legged furry little animals…okay, he did briefly pause to take this all in, before he continued his dash towards his sister and her friends.

"Macintosh! Thank Celestia! I'm going to need your help with…what in tarnation's wrong with him?!" Applejack exclaimed.

Rarity gasped in dismay as she, Fluttershy, Pinky Pie and Applejack all gathered around Twilight and Macintosh, who had presented his back for the lavender unicorn to access Dusk.

"Poor Dear! Just look at him! He looks simply horrid! And his poor mane!" Rarity crooned.

Twilight listened to Macintosh's story grimly as Spike turned Dusk's head this way and that, trying to open an eyelid, which stayed tightly closed.

"This is not good," Twilight sighed as she stood up after examining the twitching pony, "by the looks of his horn, it's almost like he is reacting to something magically, I've heard that some ponies, though its rare mind you, are sensitive to certain magics, and since his symptoms seem to be happening just as all this strangeness; the animals, weather and plants; it's possible that whatever is affecting everything and blocking my magic to right them is adversely affecting Dusk…oh!"

She trailed off when Spike suddenly belched and a scroll emerged from the green flames, she levitated it and read the contents.

"Come on girls! Celestia needs us right away at the castle," she paused and met Macintosh's worried eyes, "Big Macintosh, I know that you really care about him, but this possible reaction he is having may be important to what's going on, I think we need to take him with us. The Princess might even be able to help him in ways that no other pony can."

He turned his head to look at Dusk, who had now been reduced to a sweating silence, his hooves twitching as his horn took on a gradual greenish hue.

"Big Macintosh," Applejack came up to her brother, laying a hoof on his side, "I need you to stay behind and keep an eye out on the homestead while I'm gone and look after Granny and Applebloom. Chances are whatever hooha is goin' on, may affect the farm even more then here. I need you to defend the homestead, our lively hoods are at stake as well. I promise that he'll be safe with us."

She offered her back, and with a sigh, Big Macintosh bowed his head in assent and miserably secured Dusk to his sisters back, using a lasso to tie him securely.

"All right everypony! Let's go!" Twilight called, rearing, and the Mane 6 dashed away.

Fluttershy, who was running next to Applejack said softly, "you didn't just say that to protect the farm did you?"

Applejack nodded, her face grim "I did it, because whatever's goin' on, I got a bad feelin' and I don't want to drag him into it as well. I got the real jeebies about this, better he's safe and sound watchin' over things then with the seven of us in the thick of it."

Ooo ooo ooo

They arrived to find Princess Celestia pacing back and forth.

They had taken a moment to have one of the guards remove Dusk and take him to the palace medical wing to have him looked at while they found out what was going on. Their friend was not doing well during the short train ride to Canterlot.

Twilight just hoped that whatever was going on could be solved soon before the poor stallion got worse.

Unfortunately for Dusk and the rest of the Mane 6, nobody got a chance, in their distraction with the chaos, they were unable to bring him up to Celestia when she told them about the being known as Discord, the revelation that the Elements of Harmony had been stolen, and Discord's subsequent appearance. In all the activity involving the maze, he was soon pushed to the back of the ponies minds.

Dusk meanwhile was being cared for by a concerned medi-pony By the name of Gauzy, a unicorn with the first aid cross on her whitish pink flank and red mane pulled up in to a serviceable bun, her horn glowing as she finished trying, and failing, to revive the agitated unicorn whose horn had now evolved into a continuous stream of acidic green sparks that were getting darker as she watched.

With no help for it, she knew that the report that the guard had been given by the unicorn Twilight Sparkle to the sentry had been correct. The poor thing was responding to some sort of magic, almost like an allergy, and whatever it was, it was too strong for her to block.

She ran over to the doors and summoned a sentry, asking him to send for either Princess Celestia or Princess Luna, since treating the stallion was beyond even her strong healing capabilities.

When she returned, it was to give a startled scream.

Where she had left her patient, the bed was now a deep charred metal frame, and her patient was nowhere in sight.

Ooo ooo ooo

Discord laughed as he watched the bearers of that pesky Elements of Harmony went their separate ways.

Nothing like a personality altering hedge maze, always does the trick.

"Ah yes! There is nothing like work well done!" he chortled, "I think I'll celebrate with…oh ho!" he crowed, interrupting himself, as every single hair, scale, fur and in-between stood on end.

"How interesting!" he looked down at the physical evidence of his disturbance, "I admit I've never felt THAT before! Well, well! It seems something interesting was added to the pie of creation since I was last in town."

With a snap of his fingers, he popped away, and reappeared in a field just outside of Canterlot.

He looked around for a moment. He didn't spy anything interesting…oh wait! There was something!

He lazily floated over to the silver and black lump that was glowing a deliciously dark and very deadly looking darkish green magic; he considered his best approach.

He conjured a pogo stick and prodded the lump, which twitched, revealing a rather sickly looking pony in obvious distress.

"Well…how completely boring!" he declared with a sigh, continuing to poke it for a few more moments and thoroughly unimpressed when all it did was moan softly. He tossed the stick aside and looked down at his twitching scales which had actually produced tiny little alarms that were blaring loudly.

"Something boring where something interesting should be…hmmm" he contemplated the conundrum, twirling a clawed finger through his goatee and then brightened, "I know! I'll just make him look interesting, maybe a giant monster that is unleashed on Canterlot, and have him eat the princesses! Why it's absolutely brilliant!" he clapped his paws, and turning back to the rather poor excuse for a false emergency, and after a moment of mentally designing his artwork, he directed his power towards the pathetic figure and snapped his fingers.

There was a moment of sudden silence, a rather foreboding silence, but Discord frowned and continued to snap his fingers again, only to be met with nothing.

He frowned, staring at his fingers, snapping them aimlessly, turning the sun on and off, changing the grass into cheese and back again.

"How odd, everything appears to be in order…"

Then he was blown off his feet and sent smacking into the ground, which on later reflection he should have turned into a giant feather pillow.

The pony that had refused to succumb to the magical delights of Discord was now floating in the air before him in a giant ball of dark green energy.

"Well this doesn't bode well," he declared a tad bit nervously and then squeaked as the mysterious pony opened his eyes and solid deep glowing blood red and nothing else stared out at him.

:Well, weeelll!: the pony hissed, in a language that made the snake and dragon part of him shiver. The pony seemed to slither while he floated, which admittedly was an impressive feat as he drew up to Discord, who quickly scrambled to his feet.

:So you're the creature that dared to disrupt the balance are you? How…delightful: he hissed in high tones that raked against his senses.

:I admit, I am grateful for the invitation to come out and play that your oh so delicious magic kindly provided for me since your own appearance in this very odd place, became actuality; I will admit, I had never considered such a place as this existing before when I was once one with myself…or rather, more solid then I once was, and then became Us…: he hissed bemusedly.

Even Discord could not completely figure out what was going on.

:Well, as fun as I'm sure things are out here, and your chaos magic is rather refreshing, unfortunately you see, you have disturbed my vessel," he gestured to himself with a hoof, "I have grown rather attached to him, despite his idealism. He has, though unknowingly, carried me and nurtured me for quite a long time, and Lord Voldemort rewards those who benefit me…mmm…and while my…sense of aesthetics has changed enough to appreciate your…work, I'm afraid you have made the mistake in thinking that you could work this body like the rest of those pathetic equines as some sort of toy- no…wait, I believe the term is ponies? No matter,- I would have been content in keeping my vessel safe and out of your way until things had been handled, but you just had to go and try to harm he who matters the most to me.:

He slithered forward suddenly almost like a striking snake, until he was looming over Discord, :and when someone tries to use what is mine, I'm afraid…I can be a rather possessive Dark Lord…such a shame, I rather enjoy your power, oh well.:

Discord had sensed a darkness a time or two over the centuries of his existence in others, but nothing overtly serious that he couldn't handle if he wanted, though he had already been stone by the time that Princess Luna went to the dark side, and that upstart in he north had barely been worth his interest, though he would credit him a certain style.

He had come across powerful magic that had, for a time, defeated him. But never before had it been from Darkness.

The pony smiled demonically.

Until now that is.

Discord screamed feeling something darker then even he liked crawling up his body and towards his neck. He gathered all his power and managed to pop out of there as quick as he could.

The floating pony frowned at the absent space, "What a perfectly good waste of a dramatic murder…oh well…" he raised a hoof, then paused and said irritated, "how the boy cannot miss thumbs, even after all this time, is beyond me."

With that, he clapped his hooves together as a replacement for a finger snap, and popped away.

When he reappeared, it was to the sight of the pony that would ensure the matter with this Discord character was settled without revealing his, or the boy's, hand…hoof? Whatever!

It was all rather bothersome really, but he would respect the boy's need for obscurity...for now.

Fortunately, it seemed that Twilight Sparkle (the hidden pony grimaced at the name) seemed to have come to some realization in how to deal with Discord, at least proving some of her worth as she made some sort of excited exclamation to a rather sickly looking baby dragon about friendship and the Elements of Harmony.

'Ugh' he mentally grumbled from his disillusioned spot in the shadows of the pony's bedroom, 'how disgustingly sweet, I think I have a toothache…I can see now why this Discord fellow is the way he is if the world is filled with goody-goodies like this. No matter, it seems that I will have to ensure that…ugh…the friendship of magic is restored," Voldemort shuttered, "The things I do for revenge. I'm sure the barmy old coot is hopefully laughing at him from his grave by now.'

He gloomily followed after the galloping unicorn…how his old self could bare to drink the blood of such creatures as these he would never know- and they soon arrived at a rather depressing and chaotic looking place he knew from his vessel's memories was called Sweet Apple Acres.

The sight of the pony he recognized again from said memories known as Big Macintosh acting like some sort of over hyper canine, stirred a wave of foreign horror and rage, the first stirrings from his other half since he had taken over when the imbalanced magic caused their connection to reverse itself, drawing him to the conscious front.

So the boy was more aware then he thought...and he was not pleased.

He grimaced and for a moment, one red eye turned bright emerald green.

'I'll destroy the creature that did this to Mac!' a younger tenor hissed into their shared mind.

'Hush precious,' Lord Voldemort crooned soothing the boy back into his subconscious, 'hush, I'll take care of it, no worries.'

The green eye turned red again and Voldemort turned his attentions back to the ponies.

Much to his amusement, Twilight Sparkle was rolling around with Applejack as she tried to talk some sense into the pony. He could see her laying her horn on the pony in a desperate plea with her magic. It wasn't a bad idea, approaching from the mind, but for the master of the mind magics, Voldemort knew that she needed more focused direction to get what she wanted.

"To easy" he muttered to himself with a yawn and lazily sent a curl of magic to mingle with the magenta magic of the horn, turning it dark briefly, before sinking into the earth pony, no one noticing the addition.

He grunted, satisfied, when the earth pony returned to normal, having seen the…ugh! images of friendship he had focused the unicorn magic towards.

One after another, he followed and repeated his actions with the rest of the bearers of harmony.

There was a slight snafu with the last one, Rainbow Dash, but after adding a little temporary speed to Fluttershy's wings, they managed to trap her and apply the Voldemort assisted pony magic.

Ooo ooo ooo

Voldemort popped away from the ponies that determinedly returned to gather their elements and make their way to the center of town…or at least the approximate center of town, where Discord was reclining on a throne, laughing manically.

Voldemort sighed as he popped in front of Discord, leaning casually on nothingness.

Discord yelped, dropping his cup of chocolate milk.

"You!" he gasped.

"Well you're not that hard to find," Voldemort said dryly, gesturing to the fabulous chaos all around them, and the panicked citizens.

"I have to admit, your work is indeed impressive, and it's a shame that it is going to all come to an end."

"Not if you can't find me!" Discord declared, raising his fingers, but halted at an amused chuckle and a waved hoof as Voldemort reclined back, front legs behind his head.

"Like I would bother to lift my han…hoof to dispose of you…all though I did think about it mind, but then I thought to myself, my other half mind you, and he quite agrees, that you should only be defeated by what you despise the most, a sort of poetic end if you will…and just to let you know, I'm actually doing you a favor right now, since my other-self was quite…mmmm…so delightfully murderous when he saw what you did to his big galoot, in my opinion, Big Galoot is better, but then again, I wasn't there when he was named."

Discord frowned at the other's drawled innuendo and then his eyes widened when Twilight Sparkle called out his name challengingly, by then Voldemort had disappeared and was watching from his perch on a non-cotton candy cloud invisibly as events unfolded. His eyes fixed and unmoving as he whispered to his other-self.

"Pay attention now, as much as I detest the sappy endearment, this magic may prove useful later so pay attention and learn."

Voldemort watched as the Mane 6 used the elements of harmony to turn both Discord into a stone statue and reverse the chaos that had been wrought.

A shame really, since it was all rather exquisite, but oh well…maybe next time. In the meanwhile he would keep an eye on things now that he was properly awake, even if he had to return to his little cozy corner of the boy's mind, for a time.

Who knows, maybe he would make a reappearance a time or to when it looked amusing enough. After all, he was awake now, and he wasn't planning on going anywhere.

Ooo ooo ooo

When the girls went to return to Canterlot to tell Princess Celestia the good news, they found a rather confused looking Dusk wandering along the road to the castle.

The girls were rightly horrified that in the entire ruckus, they had been unable to tell the princess about Dusk.

Dusk, who had a tremendous headache, his scar aching horribly, only remembered getting up to feed the snakes in his garden before things went really foggy.

He was understandably surprised when they told him along the way to the castle what had happened and when they were standing in front of the throne room doors, Dusk told them that he completely understood, forgiving them for not seeing to him earlier, then beat a hasty retreat before he risked being in the presence of royalty.

Macintosh was there to greet him when he came home on the train with an ice pack on his head, and Macintosh didn't let him out of his sight again for days afterwards until Applejack dragged him away muttering about chores.

Dusk remembered nothing of what happened while he had been sick.
> Anniversary
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 16: Anniversary.


During and after the events from episode "Lesson Zero" same night…


Big Macintosh was in a bind.

It was exactly one year ago today that Dusk had first arrived in town.

To his surprise, no other pony seemed to be aware of the date, and at first, he thought perhaps ponies didn't celebrate such things, but then after he asked Granny that morning if one year anniversaries were something important, she had told him that they plum were, and anypony with a lick of sense should remember (then she went off into a ramble about Grandpappy Apple which he ignored). He figured that maybe the other ponies had just forgot. He probably only remembered because the events that lead to their meeting, and the subsequent secret the two of them shared because of it; perhaps just made it more significant for him then it did for other ponies?

This conclusion had not reassured him any, but since Granny said it was important, he better figure something out.

Granny had informed him, after her ramble, that one year anniversaries were celebrated with things like good food, a gift, and sometimes a party.

Big Macintosh did not think that the last option would be appreciated, considering how much Dusk tried to avoid such things as parties, unless he was forced to attend out of politeness, kidnapping, or it was good for business. In fact, the only party he had ever seen him willingly attend was a friends' birthday, like his own last month.

Big Macintosh looked down at the simple, but sturdy chain which held a pocket watch magicked to be near indestructible so he could wear it while he worked. It even had his cutie mark engraved on the cover. His present from Dusk, he remembered how the other had awkwardly blushed and hoped that he would like it.

Big Macintosh had not taken it off since.

Big Macintosh and Pinky Pie, much to Dusk's annoyance, had tried to find out when the pony's birthday was some time ago, but the pony had primly told them that he didn't celebrate his birthday.

Macintosh had not pushed the matter, though Pinky Pie's efforts were most likely still ongoing.

The Anniversary, the first one, was important, and thus he couldn't just let it pass without something memorable, even if it wasn't a party; so he thought that it might be a good idea to work with the first two items: a cake and a present.

Granny graciously offered to make him one of her patented Apple Strudel cakes for his "young stallion friend" though how she knew he meant Dusk in particular, he was uncertain, maybe she remembered it was the anniversary of his first year in Ponyville to?

So food was taken care of, and he decided that hosting it at his place was important, as it was the place the two of them were properly introduced, and it was quieter and more private, which he knew Dusk would appreciate, so he spent the morning cleaning his rooms up and even freshening himself up. When he was done, he grabbed a bucket that was lying nearby and went in search of the second and most important item on his list. The present.

That was where the trouble lay.

No matter where he went, he couldn't seem to find anything right.

Things like a new quill, books, and other practical things he associated with Dusk was something he already had. He wanted it to be something special, something unique to commemorate the occasion.

Apples didn't cut it, he could already get tea ingredients for himself, and things like cloths and jewelry were not in Dusk's tastes as all he did was wear that creepy shawl of his.

He was disconsolately wandering through the park when he saw the most amazing thing in the world while trying to help a rather frazzled Twilight Sparkle with his younger sister and her two friends who were fighting.

The thing they were fighting over was the most beautiful, the most holy thing he had ever seen! It was perfect, and it was all his! His!

The following period of time was rather foggy, and when he and the rest of the townsfolk came too, everyone was understandably a little confused and some, including Macintosh, unable to remember what had happened.

He was also alarmed to note that his time was nearly up, having been spent doing…who knows what, and without a clue what to do he was close to giving up and perhaps sticking with just the cake after all when he spotted something lying on the ground.

It was old and worn and not exactly…well, it wasn't fancy or nothing, but…he was desperate, and desperate stallions were want to do strange things as his pappy once told him when he was just a foal.

He picked it up in his muzzle and galloped away excitedly.

When he returned home, he found that Dusk had already arrived and was busy having tea with Granny, who winked at him as he snuck past the window.

Macintosh quickly looked around and spotted a bright red tool box that his sister used for repair work. He unceremoniously dumped out the tools, dropped the present inside and tied a bit of rope around it in a sloppy bow.

He stored it in his room, relieved to see the cake waiting on the table, and galloped back down to the main house and panting, he sauntered into the kitchen as casually as he could.

Dusk paused in his conversation with Granny as he looked up and blinked when he got a look at Mac.

"Are you alright Mac?" he asked in concern, noting the scuffled looking stallion who looked like he had been in a brawl all day long.

"Oh, um, 'm fine…gopher," he said vaguely, making Dusk raise his brows in disbelief and Granny groan and slap her face with a hoof.

'Well, if the youngin' wasn't going to move things along…' Granny mentally sighed; being the matriarch of the clan was a full-time job at times.

"Dusk dear, perhaps you should take my grandson back to his room, it looks like that…gopher, popped him a good one in the eye," Indeed Macintosh did have a sizable shiner over his right eye.

"Of course!" Dusk said concernedly and patting Big Macintosh on the flank in sympathy, guided the other pony back to his rooms.

When Dusk entered, he was startled by the sight of a simple but rather lovely and tasty looking cake with a single candle in the middle, though it was unlit.

"Oh no! I forgot to light the candle!" Mac groaned as he tried to do just that, but as he was lightening the match, he tripped over the hidden present and accidentally set fire to the curtains...

...It escalated from that point.

Ooo ooo ooo

1 hour later…

The Apple family watched as Rainbow Dash busked the last raincloud over what had once been a burning barn, putting out the last of the flames.

"What in tarnation happened?" Applejack yelled when she came galloping into the yard staring at the ruins of what had once been a mighty fine barn.

Big Macintosh hung his head miserably.

Rainbow Dash flew down with something clutched in her teeth.

"Sorry big guy, I was only able to find one thing that wasn't completely ruined by the fire."

Big Macintosh looked down and realized it was a slightly singed red tool box.

"I…" his voice trailed off, and his lip actually wobbled about, much to his sister's horror, "I just wanted to celebrate m' friend's anniversary…but I ended up makin' things worse an' burned our barn down to boot!"

"Oh Mac…" Dusk sighed, "you didn't have to..."

"But Granny said that anniversaries were important, an…an' I thought it was important."

"Anniversary? What anniversary?" Rainbow Dash asked; only to be smacked upside the head by Granny.

"You youngin's! Always so busy you forget the important things like the anniversary of your friend's arrival into town!"

Macintosh sighed and reached down and nudged the box towards Dusk, "Here, I didn't know what to get ya…but I can't let it pass without given' ya somethin'"

Dusk levitated the box and opened it, staring inside.

"Oh Mac, its perfect" he said softly, and then he turned and surprised Macintosh with a hug.

The other ponies gathered around the box, peeked inside.

"What! But that's- mph!" Dash's exclamation was quickly silenced by Applejack's hoof.

In the box, one loose button eye of a plushie seemed to wink in the moonlight.

> Interlude 3: Two Candles and The Guardian
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 17: Interlude: Two Candles.

The first time that Dusk spent the pony version of Halloween, or Nightmare Night as it was called in this new world, he had dressed up like all the other foals and gone to the parties, tricker-treated, playing games and harmless pranks with his classmates, and listening to the tale of what inspired the holiday, though all this was mainly for the benefit of his old land lady and his mentor who felt he should be a well-rounded pony and get out of the distillery and watching from the shadows once in a while, despite his objections.

Now that he was an adult, he'd had little use for the holiday, and could thankfully put the whole unpleasantness behind him, though he had been vaguely curious to see how Ponyville spent the holiday since he had missed it last year when he'd gone to Canterlot to visit Brew Bag and Flower Petal.

He perhaps shouldn't have been surprised, considering how things seemed to play out in Ponyville from time to time, that Princess Luna, said inspiration for the holiday, showed up and didn't exactly make it easy on herself.

Dusk had fled her presence for the entirely different reason than the others of course.

She was nearly as powerful as her elder sister and another immortal sort-of-deity, he was just as weary of her possibly extracting the truth of him then he was of her elder sister. So as soon as he had seen her chariot come out of the clouds above his head while he had been observing from the shadows as he watched the foals gallivant around, he decided that his curiosity was satisfied enough.

Besides, he had his own personal ritual that he usually attended to this time of year anyway.

Ooo ooo ooo

He was passing by the old town bridge a few hours later, when he noticed the exact person he had been wishing to avoid was walking rather depressed, her head hung low and her night sky mane kind of limp.

He cringed when she spotted him and said in a rather intimidating voice, "I suppose thou shall cower and run away from us as well."

He blinked at the old style of voice and the rather resonant thrumming of his ear drums and remembered that she had been gone for 1000 years. He supposed lexicons and vocal ranges had changed a might since then.

He felt a warring conflict surge up. On the one hoof, she was a magical godlike being that could potentially figure out he was not your average pony and send him back to the human world at worse, or imprison him at best. On the other hoof, she looked so sorely unhappy and defeated that he felt a reluctant compassion form.

Grumbling internally when his conscience won out over his good sense, he sighed and walked over to her.

There was a reason he was sorted into Gryffindor after all.

"I'm not going to run, at least right now, and if it looked like I was going to, it would be for entirely different reasons then because you were Nightmare Moon. I know very well that you were reformed through the Elements of Harmony…though that night isn't one I like to recall."

The Princess looked over, and down (damn his height!) and said slowly, "Thou dost not fear us? Why?"

"There are many things to fear out there," he said frankly, gesturing around him vaguely, "unless you backslide, I don't think your one of them," though he mentally added, 'at least not her personally, just what she might do with her royal powers should you discover me.'

"That…is rational yet depressing." She replied, then she seemed to catch on to something, "why dost thou not dress yourself ridiculously in garments like the rest of the villagers…oh wait, thou must have heard our proclamation and removed it already."

Dusk frowned, "what proclamation?" he asked confusedly.

"That we have cancelled this insulting holiday."

Dusk blinked as visions of crying foals filled his mind and were likely filling the streets right now. He sighed and gestured for her to follow. It looked like he wasn't going to escape anytime soon.

They soon arrived at his shop and he invited the Princess inside and settled her with a cup of tea.

"This is Mint Clover!" she said, surprised, after taking a sip, "we have not tasted this in over a thousand years!"

He nodded, "you can thank my mentor for that, he said it was always a good idea to keep the history of tea in mind, so," he sat down with his own cup, "I take it your reclamation is not going well?"

"How can thee tell?" her voice decidedly dry.

"It's just a guess," he said drolly as she glowered into her cup.

"If thou had not heard our proclamation, then why was thy self not so bedecked?"

Dusk lowered his cup carefully and thought how best to answer. He had already told Fluttershy a bit during her weekly lessons, since she to was avoiding the holiday, so he supposed it wouldn't harm to explain and said quietly.

"Along time ago when I was a very young foal, in the place where I come from, we called Nightmare Night something else, though much of the practice was the same. On that night a great evil came and murdered my parents, my mother right in front of me."

The princess' head shot up in surprise, and then her eyes softened somewhat.

"I do not celebrate because it reminds me that they are gone."

"So you must be happy that Nightmare Night is to be no longer celebrated," she concluded.

Dusk surprised her however by shaking his head and said.

"Actually, I understand, more then you realize why you would think it offensive, but at the same time, the fears and superstitions that went into the holiday somehow became transformed and made into something else. Something where every pony can get together and have fun, play games and pretend to be something else. Foals laugh together and celebrate being foals, while adults get to turn back the clock and dress up and do the same thing, then of course, the most important thing is that one can sit beside what they fear and render it harmless, and that being scary is okay and kind of fun. I always envied others growing up that they can have that kind of perspective." He smiled sadly.

"I…had not thought of it that way," she replied thoughtfully, and for once more normally and quieter.

"Don't mention it Princess, would you like something else?"

The Princess stood and said with a new decisiveness, "that will not be necessary, thou...you have given me enough my subject, goodbye."

And with that she strode out majestically.

He shook his head, cleaning up the cups and decided he would retire early tonight for once. It had been a hectic evening.

Before he went to sleep, he blew the two candles he had burning on his window sill.

"Good night mom, goodnight dad."

Meanwhile, with Twilight Sparkle's help, Luna realized that Dusk had been right about fear and fun, and just how many the children liked the holiday.

She rescinded the proclamation and was actually invited back next year to scare the children again.

After that, she enjoyed the holiday just as much as everyone else…though after the festivities where over, she would drop in on a certain silvered pony and keep him company while he watched two candles melt into her Sister's morning.

ooo	ooo	ooo

Chapter 18: The Guardian

The day that the Flim and Flam Brothers arrived in their automobile juice maker and worked their spiel on the ponies of Ponyville during Cider Season, there was one particular pony, other than the aggrieved Apple family, that was not impressed.

As a brewer, he understood the touch and care that went into making something for others. The hard work, the devotion to just the right mix…yes, he understood Granny Smith exactly when he heard her objections to the machine made cider.

On the other hand, he understood that something just as good could come from a mass production machine. with mass production, a greater amount of product and more affordable prices, able to cater to greater amounts of ponies (as poor Rainbow Dash was demonstrating) could be met.

For Dusk its not to say that it would necessarily be horrible to have a little progress, but there was something disquieting about the machine, a machine that had implications that echoed from the past.

He remembered a world that was choked with exhaust fumes, creating air pollution, industrialization spewing out poisons and uninspired workers going to work in factors, without any sort of motivation outside of a paycheck.

Certainly progress in that world had brought about many positive things, but the people of that world lost themselves in it, and while it was vaguely acknowledged that industrialization had gone down both good and dark paths, humanity became entangled and enamored with their own ingenuity to the point that they forgot to set barriers on themselves, or even be aware that barriers were necessary.

This was something that he was able to look back on in hindsight, especially when he was currently existing in a world completely opposite to that way of life.

Equestria and the rest of this planet meanwhile were unique in that it maintained a sort of old fashioned/contemporary balance without many of the drawbacks of Earth's past. There was a certain amount of industrialized practice, but so slim and minor on the world other then what they produced that it barely made an impact. In fact, much of the inherent identity of the ponies as a collective species depended on the unique talents that are fostered as a result of such an environment and society that depended more on the individual within a group then a group for the greater whole's sake. He often wondered if that was perhaps another reason why he still retained a blank flank, because he was born from a world that had never successfully reached that balance that Equestria managed.

Of course magic being so depended upon to ridiculous degrees, and used as commonly as toothpaste, made him wonder what Earth would have been like had the Wizarding World been more open with its magic.

Dusk was jarred from his musings when he witnessed the formation of a rather, in his opinion anyway, stupid arsed bet being made between the Apple Family and the Flim Flam brothers.

Dusk's previous opinions and concerns washed away. It was one thing to come into town and offer a different view on things, like making apple cider, but it was quite another to potentially take away someone's land and home.

Granted, the Apples shouldn't have gotten carried away and agreed to the bet, but the brothers shouldn't have offered it in the first place.

That was not on. They were being conniving opportunists. Not that there was nothing wrong with opportunists per say, in that he could relate, considering his own situation, but it was the conniving part he had a problem with. At least he wasn't trying to bilk someone else out of their home and livelihood.

Still, he couldn't stop the bet. Things like this carried some weight, especially among ponies that believed heavily in making good on a promise, like Applejack and her family.

He knew them well enough that he couldn't talk them out of this madness, as bitter as that was to swallow however, he could at least make sure that everything was conducted fair and square.

Ooo ooo ooo

The night before the competition to see who would win the rights to Sweet Apple Acres, the two unicorn brothers were sleeping in a tent outside, just beside their Cider Easy Super Squeezy.

Flim happened to open his eyes first, being the lighter sleeper of the two, which was why he was the first to scream, which shortly woke his brother, who soon screamed as well when they beheld the sight before them.

Both of them hugged each other as a black robed figure hovered over them, glowing eyes of green with a film of red. "Sssssooo…" the sinister voice hissed, "you certainly seem to think much of yourselves and your...device," the looming figure cloaked in darkness purred.

There was a streak of thunder behind him, but no cloud in the sky, the figure laughed sinisterly.

"I can appreciate the amusement of taking over long established organizations, but unfortunately, you have chosen the wrong place to try to take over. Know this, Flim Flam- ugh really?- Brothers; I am both higher and mightier than you can ever dream of! And vastly more intelligent. Normally, I would not even be lowering myself to talking to you at all, but alas all my old servants were left behind…ah well."

"Who are you!?" Flim stuttered in fright.

"What are you?!" Flam chattered after.

The voice laughed again, more thunder and lightning.

Voldemort snickered internally. He had to admit that while it was indeed beneath him, especially as it seemed to involve …ugh, helping others as a result, he had sensed his precious being quite disquieted and incensed by the presence of the brothers and their ridiculous machine. A machine that echoed in a past that neither party in this one body was looking to have a return to, despite Voldemort's general disdain for the cavity induced sentiments of this present world. Having this machine in their presence at all, to remind them of Earth, if even a little, had disturbed them both.

And the idiots had gone after the Big Galoot's family, which was an even greater sin as far as his host was concerned.

Plus, and this is Voldemort's especially favorite reason to become involved, it was also amusing and highly pleasurable to see sentient beings cower in fear before the awesome power of the Dark Lord!

To think that his other half was originally planning to give some sort of speech before the competition to these two idiots the next day on fair play!

Sometimes he could just shake his head at the boy's innocence at times.

That was why when his precious went to sleep, he had taken over and decided to pay a little visit. After all, other reasons aside, no matter what they are, they had disturbed and worried his precious unnecessarily, so he was going to teach them a little lesson…sadly without torture though.

Always with the PG ratings in this world (it was much more amusing being out when that delightfully delicious Discord was still around, still dark lords couldn't be choosey when it comes to mayhem when the palate was so skinny in this place).

"I am the guardian of Sweet Apple Acres…nay, the entirety of the Apple Family! Which you have dared to try to swindle out of both business and their home, and as guardian, it is…my pleasure to…hmmm, well, you will know the specifics of your punishment soon enough…"

"Punish…"

"…ment?" the two gasped.

The dark figure chortled, rubbing hooves together.

"However…" the spirit mused, "my protectorates are honorable pe...ponies, and they will not appreciate you being run out of town with unfinished business between you lot and them, so don't bother fleeing in terror, I will just hunt you down and gut you like a fish- without once and for all proving their worth against their competition, though there is no doubt that you will lose, those four legged hayseeds seem to always come out on top some how, I am willing to sway your punishment, but only if you honor my protectorates deal by using your machine only as you have shown the family and the town. If you cheat, if there is even a considering thought towards it, I will find you and show you the power of vindication!"

The brothers nodded hastily, and in a flash of dark green light, the specter disappeared and the brothers were left shivering for the rest of the night.

Ooo ooo ooo

The next day, Dusk and the others helped the rest of the Apple family to compete against the machine, and thanks to…ahem, a little intervention, the competition remained honest and they managed to win the bet, just barely. The machine really was quite efficient, despite all the drawbacks surrounding it, but  a deal was a deal and the brothers were sent packing.

When the last of the cider was sold, Dusk, who had helped Mac on his end of the production, flopped down beside the red pony with a groan, plopping his head on Mac's front hooves looking up at him. His friend gave a tired, but satisfied, "eeyup!" as his head plopped down on top of Dusk's flank with a gusty sigh of contentment.
> Building
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 19: Building.

Birthday's seemed to be catching.

Twilight Sparkle celebrated her birthday in Canterlot and Dusk, through the social necessities of being her friend, was dragged along for the festivities, and was subsequently admittedly amused by the high class garden party that they had all crashed, even if he had been a little squirmy under their considering eyes (he was quite sure he recognized a few of the more zealous ponies from the crowd that had chased him at the Gala) and since there was no Soarin this time to fly him away, or at least alleviate the boredom, thus he spent most of the party hiding up a tree yet again.

It was the second birthday soon after though that lead to some really interesting shenanigans. This birthday happened to be that of the one lone dragon resident of Ponyville.

Dusk had thought long and hard about what to get Spike for his birthday, and after he finally came up with an idea, and after some circumspect research and observation, he made sure to notify Twilight that he would be out of town on the day of Spike's birthday so he could obtain the young dragon his present. He subsequently disappeared for a few days.

Granted, he was a bit delayed in his gift, but he thought that the dragon wouldn't mind, considering what he was planning to bring back.

When he returned though, he found a devastated Ponyville, large chunks of buildings missing, or completely crushed, as if something large had stepped on them. Gardens were mulched, streets were damaged, and there appeared to be a rather large collection of tents where injured and uninjured ponies were bustling about.

It must have been one hell of a birthday he had missed.

A rather bashful Spike told him later on, when Dusk gave him the large fist sized limestone he had meticulously searched for and dug up, munching on it happily, (limestone, according to his research was like the best tasting candy in the world to dragons, and was also annoyingly hard to come by in these parts). He had apparently gone through some rather interesting changes that made puberty seem like a cake walk for everyone else.

During the visit he had noticed the large dragon sized hole in the library wall and made the offer to fix up the damage, much to the dragon and purple unicorn's gratitude.

It was a relatively small thing really, after applying his construction spell to the entirety of a building, something like a damaged wall was not sweat for the young stallion.

By the next day, it was good as new, though the new study nook and bookshelves attached to the repaired wall were an unexpected addition, but Twilight loved the spot and started making it habit to do some of her work there.

It was while Pinky Pie was visiting that she noticed the new edition and asked her friend about it.

Twilight of course gushed about the amazing spell work that Dusk had done, even mentioning that he himself had rebuilt The Tea Cozy.

Pinky Pie was impressed, and that conversation gave her a rather obvious idea.

Ooo ooo ooo

Dusk was somewhat delayed in writing his usual pile of letters to friends and family as he had joined many of the volunteer groups in helping to clean up the town after Spike's little gimme-gimme hormone induced rampage.

He'd help clean up messes, set up tents for ponies that lost some of their homes, and generally was busy making himself useful.

Now that he had some time off for the moment, he had finally decided to catch up on his letters.

The last letter was about to be written was the one to Soarin, which was unfortunately interrupted when there was a knock on the door.

There, standing with big puppy eyes and a balloon for some reason, was Pinky Pie with an equally puppy-eyed Mr. and Mrs. Cake.

After inviting them in for tea, they explained that with all the damage being seen to by construction crews, their shop had yet to be taken care of, and with Mrs. Cake heavily pregnant and due in a few weeks, the two were wondering if Dusk would be willing to cast his construction spell on Sugar Cube Corner.

Dusk, being the friendly sort, and obviously wasn't going to turn down a heavily pregnant mare to boot, agreed.

When the spell was cast, Dusk offered to put the group up for the 24 hours it would take to complete. In the meanwhile he was kept busy with the magazines they had brought preemptively, featuring glossy images of every confectionery under the sun, kitchen interiors and basically anything to help guide the spell that would be reading his intentions throughout the process.

He didn't really have much else to do beyond his letter, but the spell was unusual in that it affected a pony's ability to write, and in some cases even read, thus he was reduced in doing not only complicated magic until the spell was over, but was unable to write his letter so he tried to enjoy the visit and kept Pinky Pie away from his more sensitive ingredients…well, pretty much all his equipment really, but her services as a waitress and hostess were quite good, and the Cakes (which he trusted in his kitchen more) made some delicious pastries to sell in his shop which were a big hit as well, so things all in all turned out well.

By the time that the spell was done, the building was nearly exactly what it had once been (Dusk had also been treated to a photo album of the Cake's time in the store which helped the spell) the only difference was in the coloring here and there and an extra floor with a few rooms. It looked quite splendid really, and the Cakes were particularly enamored of the state of the art enlarged kitchen and the space for the nursery.

Relieved that things were satisfactory, he headed home after their profuse thanks and offers of free cupcakes forever.

He was a bit tired though, and was a bit behind in Granny Smith's special arthritis brew, so he ended up not having enough time to finish his letter to Soarin after all before he collapsed into bed.

Ooo ooo ooo

The next morning, when Dusk was yawningly waving Opal goodbye and fetching his paper, he saw a pony approaching his front stoop.

"Oh Dusk Darling! I'm so glad I caught you!" Rarity chimed in as she changed her path to stand before him.

Dusk invited her inside and offered her some tea, and the two drank and talked about the reason for her early morning visit.

"I happened to stop by Sugar Cube Corner and couldn't help admiring the magnificent job that was done and I was quite impressed! Then Mrs. Cake told me that you did it with a spell all by yourself!"

"Well…" Dusk blushed and rubbed the back of his head, a little embarrassed by the praise, "it's just a construction spell…"

"Oh but darling, it's absolutely divine! That's why I had to come to you. The Bronco Siblings are doing what they can to help me patch up the Carousel Boutique, but everyone is dealing with damages and helping out homeless ponies and the darlings, bless them, are not exactly hoofy with a hammer… and rather easily distracted," she fluffed her mane, "would you be a dear and maybe cast your spell on my shop?"

Rarity was a friend, and when he found out that her parent's house had been damaged as well, and the two were on vacation and thus Sweetiebell was also out of a home, though the two of them were staying with Twilight along with a few other ponies whose homes were damaged, so she at least wasn't in any tent somewhere. But because her home was technically a business and not a signed up as a residential (the construction ponies re-building homes were seeing to purely homes or things like the school and the retirement home) Her home was not likely to be rebuilt for quite a bit.

Dusk agreed, and even offered to put the two up for the time, to relieve Twilight of some of the crowd and to have Rarity on hand during the spell-time so that he could have as much input as possible.

Rarity, being the sound business pony that she was, used the following time not only plying Dusk with the necessary magazines and before-dragon-devastation pictures of the shop, but she moved some of her finished products that had survived the disaster into a side room that Dusk didn't really use nearby the main seating areas and offered her ensemble on display at discount prices…well, his clients were rather tickled by the whole thing, and both racked in a good deal of gold bits during the time the spell was in play.

When he was done, he was more than a bit tired and practically dragged himself home after the final inspection, too tired to even accept Rarity's offer of a nightcap. He didn't even have enough active brain cells to think about his letter to Soarin.

Ooo ooo ooo

Dusk didn't even bother putting his mane and tail in their usual braids the next morning.

There were two more ponies waiting for him with his paper that morning, Cherry Drop and Glad Giggles.

He sighed, too tired to have the sense to refuse.

Ooo ooo ooo

48 hours later…

Harry staggered away from Glad Giggles, a little sore from the large pony's enthusiastic hoof shake.

He had the odd sensation as if gravity were suddenly more aware of him then was comfortable, and he knew that if his wings weren't already secured, they would be dragging along the dirt below.

He didn't even get a chance to unlock his door before Mayor Mare found him.

"Oh Dusk! Glad that I was able to catch you!" the mare came up to him, "I was just wondering…great Celestia! You look horrible! Are you alright?"

Dusk huffed a breath and straightened his spin and tried to seem less bedraggled then he looked.

"Of course Mayor, what can I do for you?"

Mayor was not exactly sure she should be asking him now. The stallion had large bruises under his eyes, with baggage, his mane and tail was undone and frazzled in tangles and both hair and pelt were dull with exhaustion. His normally vibrant green eyes were almost greyish.

"…Perhaps I should come back another time," she said hesitantly.

"Nonsense," Dusk waved off her concern and invited her inside, where they took a seat. Dusk was so tired he didn't even realize he had not offered her any tea as he usually would, "what can I do for you?"

The mare frowned but gamely explained why she was here.

"I have noticed lately the work you have been doing with the construction spell of yours. From what my aides tell me, it is unusual for one unicorn to manage such a spell, but after seeing the results, and with construction ponies still occupied and you being finished with your other construction projects; I was wondering if you might be willing to help me with something?"

"What sort of something?" Dusk asked, though he had inkling as to what it might be.

"Yes, well, for some time I have been looking for ways to make Ponyville more appealing to tourists outside of the odd festival and visit by the Princess. While those things are good, one of my aides mentioned that Ponyville often has to send their athletes out of town for competitions and such. So I thought a stadium would be an excellent way to promote more of a unique identity in Ponyville. The project would also be an excellent way to reassure my constituents and tourists alike that we have a stable enough economy, especially since the recent…er, mishaps we have upon occasion, to host our own teams in our own backyard."

"So it's for both the town's morale and our future?" Dusk summed up, humming thoughtfully. He had to admit, it was a solid idea, and if something new came out of the devastation, that can only be a good thing. He nodded to himself and sucked up every bit of energy he had and meeting the mayor's eyes he said:

"I would love to help, just tell me what to do."

Ooo ooo ooo

Voldemort was not pleased.

Precious was pushing himself, but the boy's sure determination and mule headed stubbornness to help had, surprisingly, unconsciously erected a barrier between Voldemort and their shared body while awake, and when asleep and the boy was more vulnerable, their body was so exhausted that Voldemort could do nothing regardless of his control or not.

He had not been this frustrated since he was human.

He growled in his little mental corner impotently.

Ooo ooo ooo

Big Macintosh was worried, very worried.

He had been busy helping with post-rampage clean up, and harvesting an unexpectedly more fruitful bumper crop in the west field then they had calculated, and thus had not been able to go to Dusk in the ensuing week since his return.

He was grateful when Carmel Apple arrived with his family to help out, finally freeing him to go into town and see his best friend.

He found Dusk sooner then he thought, and what he found was what worried him. The pony was standing on the outskirts of town between Tea Cozy and Ponyville and was talking with Mayor Mare, both of them huddled over what appeared to be blue prints. By his side, lay a small mountain of what like sports magazines.

What worried him was Dusk's look.

He looked like a stiff breeze would topple him over any minute, his hooves were trembling slightly, and his mane and tail looked like a manticore's chew toy, a red flag more then anything that something was wrong, since Dusk was always so well groomed out of practicality.

The mayor, to her credit, did say "are you sure you're up for this? We could wait a few days maybe…"

"No, it's best to get this done now. Think how happy everyone will be? Ponies that are still homeless can even stay there," Dusk cut in.

"But, forgive me if it seems indelicate, you look very unwell, should you be doing something so complex…"

"I'll be fine. We need this more than some bit of discomfort on my part. It will be fine."

Mac had heard enough.

"It will not be fine!" Mac declared, marching up to Dusk, jabbing his snout forward and unceremoniously pushing the mare aside with his rump.

"Mac!" Dusk exclaimed, "That was rude! And I'm fine! This is too important to…"

"No," the stallion cut him off smartly, "yer health is more important then some buildin' or other," Macintosh had been told by Applebloom about the various construction spells that Dusk had been doing.

"I'm fine!"

There was a heated silence, then Mac leaned forward until there muzzles were practically touching and with narrowed eyes and a startling growl, "n-ope."

Suddenly, Dusk swept off his hooves by the red stallion before he could do or say anything and found himself on the ground on his back starring up at the stallion's heaving chest, a hoof on either side of his head and his lower half summerly pinned as Big Macintosh sat on him.

"Mac!" Dusk screeched, "get off!"

"N-ope," the stallion said again with satisfaction, then turned to the rather flabbergasted and madly blushing mayor, "N-ope!" with decided firmness. The mayor nodded, getting the message, and cleared her throat, "Very well, perhaps in a few days I will visit you again Dusk when you've...been cleared by your friend," she hastily exited, leaving Dusk, Mac, and a bunch of magazines alone in the middle of the field.

"Mac!" Dusk growled, still struggling, "why did you send her away? I'm perfectly capable…"

Mac just shook his head and stubbornly remained. Dusk struggled for a bit longer, cursing quite profusely, before his exhaustion soon had him stopping altogether, and he lay gasping, unable to move even if he wanted to.

"See, yer definitely to tired," Mac pointed out, leaning forward and nuzzling Dusk's muzzle in silent apology, then said exasperatedly, "you got to stop bein' so selfless all the time. It's not healthy."

"But…but I…" his voice trailed off, Dusk closed his eyes and sighed in defeat.

Mac shifted their positions until he had Dusk curled close to his side. With an insight that he didn't display to often, he said softly "you don't have to be so self-sacrificing all the time, " he nuzzled an ear, "we all care for you regardless."

There was a relaxed silence for a time and Mac thought that Dusk might have finally fallen asleep, but then the smaller silvered stallion mumbled.

"I'm sorry…and thanks"

Mac nuzzled Dusk's mane, nothing more needing to be said.

Ooo ooo ooo

'Well," Voldemort mused from his mental corner as he felt their body being tucked into Dusk's bed by the red stallion who had carried their body back home after a time then eventually left, 'the big galoot might actually be more useful than I thought. Hmmm…that means I have to tolerate his attentions more than I had been prepared to. Drat.'

Ooo ooo ooo

Dusk ended up sleeping deeply for nearly 48 hours straight.

By the time he had prepared for the day, he felt much better, and distinctly embarrassed by his behavior and that Mac actually had to sit on him. Now that he was on the hindsight end of a few days of rest, he realized just how he needed it.

Mac was right; he had been pushing himself to much.

Still, he was feeling a lot better; perhaps he should visit the field and see if the supplies for the spell were still there. He hoped that no rain had been scheduled while he had been asleep. All those magazines were most likely still in the field where they had left them…

He trotted outside, his mane and tail groomed and retrained in their usual loose braids, his shawl shiny and clean, a good breakfast in his belly, and a saddle bag bumping merrily on his withers.

He was therefore somewhat shocked when he came across a gathering of what must be every unicorn in town in front of the largest construction bubble he had ever seen, though this one was various different colors, giving it an amazing air of beauty. The unicorns were gossiping and laughing while they looked through magazines and various pictures. Earth ponies and a few pegusi not on weather duty were weaving through the throng serving food and drink or new pictures to look at.

Harry made his way over to Twilight and Rarity who were curled up together on what looked like one of Rarity's fainting couches, giggling over a rather worn centerfold that came with their material, the tips of their horns glowing.

"Oh he may have won the 200 metre dash darling, but look at those mutton chops! It's so last season! In my opinion…oh Dusk! Dah-ling!" she called noticing Dusk staring gaped mouthed at the bubble.

She gave a (elegant) grunt as she waved her hoof to gesture him over. The two mares shifted until there was a space beside them, forcing the two females cuddle a bit more together.

Dusk took a seat. There was silence for a moment, then Dusk asked "is…is every unicorn in town here?"

"Indeed!" Rarity replied, "It was ever so thrilling to be asked to help with the stadium! I can assure you that my contribution will make sure that everything will be as fashionable as possible!"

Twilight rolled her eyes and explained "Big Macintosh came to every unicorn in town and asked for our help in building the stadium. He explained how important it was to you and how you were sick…though from what I learned from others in town, I can figure what happened," she threw him a stern look, "magical exhaustion is a serious thing you know, even with somepony with your reserves of magic."

Dusk nodded and said dryly, "Mac made his point already in that quarter."

"Good," she nodded firmly but then softened her tone, "As soon as everyone learned it was something that you were trying to do for Ponyville and that it was important to you, we were all willing to help, though it took me a day or so to teach everyone the spell. Thankfully it wasn't too hard with so many volunteers, though Rarity had to send Sweetiebell back twice," She chuckled, "to young for the spell, but still wanting to help."

Dusk was a bit overcome with that. It wasn't done because the town needed it in and of itself; they had done it because Mac had told them it was important to him. They had done it for him more than themselves.

The mares were kind enough to not bring notice to the few tears that fell from his eyes, and soon talk veered away to more mundane things.

Ooo ooo ooo

Dear Soarin,

Sorry for the long delay in this letter. You would not believe the past week and a half!

I went out to harvest a present for a friend of mine, and when I came back, our town had just had a dragon rampaging through it! Though I suppose you already know, Rainbow Dash said that she spotted you and two others from your unit trying to deal with the dragon. Though you weren't able to do much, though I don't blame you or your teammates any, a full grown dragon on a rampage would give Celestia pause! I hope someone still thanked you for facing up against a dragon of all things!

So if they haven't, thank you.

I learned a lesson this past week when helping others during the big clean up. I learned that while it's good to help, sacrificing so much of one's self is not healthy. It's alright to care about others, but sometimes one can end up worrying those your trying to help when you push it to far. This realization was rather dropped on me, literally. True friends are willing to help you out even when you've been an idiot at times and worry others sick and life is both give and take.

I hope things are going well,

Your friend,

Dusk.
> Pulling into the Station
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 20: Pulling into the Station

Dear Soarin,

It has certainly been an eventful few months, and with spring nearly here, everypony is preparing for the Winter Wrap up which, if you don't know already, is done traditionally Earth Pony style, because it was founded a few hundred years ago by earth ponies and it's a nod to the origins I suppose, unlike Canterlot, which is done with magic.

My celestial daughter, Strong Heart (I told you about her) stayed the winter with me to teach Ponyville about Buffalo culture, which had seen a rise in attendance for classes due to her exoticism, and relation to me. Along with the potions and herbology class that Zecora and I have been sharing, since during winter there isn't much to do landside, its been a busy season.

Some of my friends, the Mane 6, attended to winter festivities in Canterlot this year and seemed to really enjoy the play they put on about Equestria's origin story, which i admit has always been one of my favorites in history class as a colt, and is always fun to see on stage.

I wonder if Windegos are still around?

Meanwhile, this winter has been especially brutal, so I have been making more runs with carafes and packages of tea to ponies in need, particularly our elderly. In fact, it was on the eve of Hearths Warming, that I became stranded at Sweet Apple Acres and Mac and I, my first friend, stayed cozy by the fire while Granny told me about Zap Apple jam, and how her jam founded Ponyville...though considering that was a couple of hundred years ago, leaves me confused, since no pony can live so long, she doesn't seem senile or else I would put it down to relaxing wits, a conundrum I have decided to ignore.

She's a real peach though! I love talking to the old folk and listening to their stories.

I also wanted to thank you for sending me that book on the history of tea in Cloudsdale, it was a fascinating read, and I look forward to applying some of the things I learned from it when I reopen the shop.

Speaking of which, my employee and good friend Derpy Hooves has recently acquired a scholarship to attend Cloudsdale University to work on her Master's Degree in Cartography, with a minor in Muffin Making. I'm so proud of her! She leaves soon after wrap up. Fruit Salad, a cousin of Cherry Drop, just moved into town and she was looking for work. I offered her a position until she finished saving up for her own Fruit Salad café, she's eager to also learn how I incorporate fruit into tea as well.

I hope that you're doing well. I've been keeping track of Wonderbolt performances and I loved your triple synchronized sky swirl with lightning fireworks, the pictures I'm sure haven't done it justice! Though Rainbow Dash took enough of them that a play by play was relatively assured.

Keep well Soarin,

Dusk.

Soarin sighed as he folded the letter and put it carefully in the cedar box that he had been keeping all his letters from Dusk and put it back into his saddle bag along with his folded up uniform, a bag of money, a few papers, and a magically preserved slice of apple pie for the road.

It had taken way longer then he was comfortable with to finally start on his journey.

He hefted his saddle bag onto his back with a jig of his haunch and nodded to himself as he left his apartment in Cloudsdale.

The second requirement he had needed to be filled to become leader of the Wonderbolts, spending time landside in a civilian village doing volunteer work, had hit a snag. While he was originally supposed to head out after his appearance at the Galloping Gala, his replacement, Swish Feather, had broken a wing and a hoof during a practice run. Soarin was unable to go, since every other pony was busy attending to their own routines and duties, so he'd needed to remain until the spring.

Thankfully, the Winter Wrap up had just finished so he had finally been given leave, now that Rapid Feather, Swish Feather's Twin sister had returned from Saddle Arabia and her maternity leave.

It wasn't a moment too soon.

Dusk's letters lately had made greater and greater mention of this mysterious Mac. Some stallion that Dusk claimed was a close friend of his, and the way he talked about him, left no doubt in Soarin's mind that he had competition. Soarin snorted a plume of clouds as his eyes trained on the distant horizon, then turned downward below him and The Departure Gates, situated on the edge of Cloudsdale 12 minutes later.

If some no good earth pony thought he could woo his stallion from under his wing, he had another thing coming!

Soon the ticket master was waving a hoof for his pass, and he handed it over as she examined it.

"Hmmm…Gate 2b, please wait until the departure bell and keep your hooves and wings inside your flight zone at all times."

Soarin took his spot, waiting for the gate to open and the signaling bell to sound.

Then a thought came to him. What if this Mac stallion was somehow better then him?

He ground his teeth at the thought. He was a great flyer and one of the most skilled Wonderbolts in all of Equestria, but the whole point going landside was to prove that he had what it takes to be in touch with other ponies as a leader. His reputation was still well and good, but it wasn't much use to him where he was going…besides, Dusk wasn't impressed by his fame, it was part of why he was so drawn to Dusk in the first place.

The bell signaled and he leaped from the edge and into a tunnel of cloud, keeping his wings tucked until he burst out and into the lower skies, the area that was generally referred to when it was below usual cloud level, but not high enough to support a pegusi city or even a town really. It was also the area that saw the most weather marshaling activity.

Maybe he could join the weather patrol? Did a town as small as Poneyville even have one…wait, he remembered now, the rainboom pony was from there, he remembered Dusk mentioning her in his letters and the weather patrol she ran…perhaps he could…no!

He slapped his muzzle in aggravation as he came into a leisurely downward landing, he was not supposed to be doing anything wing related, unless in case of emergency or requested by the mayor of the town or the leader of the weather patrol. He was supposed to do as landsider's do, all part in bridging the gap, so he had to find something that only Landsider ponies could do. Something that was sure to impress Dusk. Something better than some scrawny farmer pony.

He caught sight of a wind mill the distance and perked up

There it was, Ponyville! He remembered it from his last visit when dealing with the dragon; they had certainly done a good job in fixing everything up. He regretted not being able to see Dusk than, but he had been dealing with his duties at the time and Dusk had been out of town.

He was to report to Mayor Mare (and there is a set your foal up for a job from birth if he ever heard one). She would be providing him with a list of things he was to do for the year he was to be in Ponyville.

The Mayor was a little surprised at his entrance, which was understandable, since he came through her office window in a stunning somersault, with a little pose at the end…and a gust of wind that knocked her papers flying everywhere.

She managed to gather herself and readjusted her mane as the mayor huffed.

"If it wasn't for Fluttershy I would think that all pegusi were grand entrance makers," she grumbled, thinking of a certain rainbow haired mare, "well, take a seat young stallion, we've got a fair bit to go over before I let you loose on my fair town."

Soarin deflated a little and took a seat, in what proved to be a long meeting.

Ooo ooo ooo

Soarin trotted out of town hall with a relieved sigh, a thick list of things he was to try rolled up and currently clutched his teeth.

According to the mayor, the wind mill he had seen earlier was currently empty as the previous occupant was currently in Trottingham attending university. Which left a space for him to stay for the foreseeable future instead of bunking down at the Ponyville Inn or The Prancing Butterfly.

Once he had settled into his new home for a while, opening windows, un-sheeting furniture, and otherwise making it livable, he pulled out his list and set it on the coffee table, a large cup of haymilk at his side as he reviewed it.

For his tenure, he was to report to the various Earth and Unicorn Ponies that was listed and do everything that they asked him to do for the space of 1 week each.

Afterwards, he was to write a report to Spitfire about the things he had done and learned within that time. At the end of his stay, he was to return to Cloudsdale for a final review, and then a decision would be reached, conclusively, if he was to be made captain of the Wonderbolts.

The mayor though had told him to feel free to do anything that caught his fancy when not attending to his mission and was encouraged to have fun.

He gulped as he saw the long list of names and addresses. He had a feeling it would be a long while before he had any of that.

He sighed, as he tacked the list to the wall in the den and slumped down on the couch and sipped his drink.

Now that he had reviewed personal business, there was the more unofficial business he needed to attend to.

He rested his hooves together in thought.

He had purposely left out the news in his letters that he was coming to Ponyville so he could surprise his friend/potential special somepony. He had hoped that he could use some of the time he was here to properly try to woo the other pony, and he had been reasonably confident that he could do it, especially in an environment that Dusk would be comfortable in and thus be more receptive to his advances.

But then there was this Mac character.

A character that Dusk may find more compatible because they were both Landsiders, even if Mac was an Earth Pony and Dusk was a Unicorn. Not that there wasn't anything wrong with that, mixed race couples were fairly common, but some ponies tended to be drawn to other ponies that they could be anywhere 24/7 at any given time. There were very few pegusi/landsider relationships that lead to actual marriage.

What he needed to do was prove that he can be just as good a landsider as he was a flier.

His eyes strayed to the list and a light bulb went off in his head.

"That's it!" he declared to the dust bunnies, "I'll use the list to learn how to be the best landside pony I can be and find something to outshine my competition! And with so many names, I'm sure to find something that is bound to work!"

Now he just needed to attend to the little matter of informing Dusk that he was in town, spend his one day of freedom before he was to start tomorrow to bolster him through the trials ahead, then an early sleep to start nice and early for his first task, which he could feel in his gut that he was going to succeed!

Ooo ooo ooo

"I think I need to get my gut checked," Soarin muttered to himself the next morning, out of ear shot of other ponies.

"…and you must really put your hooves into it!" his handler for the week finished his lecture as he checked the straps that attached another pony to the front of a train.

Husky Tracks was a unicorn pony of a rather hefty, though all muscled, girth with a charcoal and steam white colored mane and a tannish pelt with a red train as a cutie mark. He was head of the Ponyville train station, and the first name that was on the list.

He was currently standing last behind two rows of two ponies, all of them varying shades of greens browns and tans. They had introduced themselves as the Tracks siblings: Buck, Gritty, Whistle who was the oldest and the leader for the train pullers, and the youngest, Iron.

The brothers and one sister made no bones that they weren't exactly confident in their father's plan to have him spend the week helping them haul trains from Ponyville to Wherever.

"Now, train wrangling is serious business," he told Soarin as he marched town the hauler's line, "We usually don't hire lightweights when it comes to how we do things traditionally, and we usually tend to keep things with in the family, but Mayor was an old filly chum of mine from our school days and asked me to lend a hoof in taking on some highflyin' city pony, that being you, and showing him the ropes, and the Track Family are ponies that always see other ponies to their destination, whether it be traveling or fulfilling a duty. So just listen here to my eldest, and you'll survive."

With that, he swatted said son on the rump and they were off with a train whistle and a hearty neigh.

Ooo ooo ooo

"Soarin!" Dusk called out, waving his hoof in front of his muzzle to clear the train steam from the locomotive that had just pulled in, the last train of Soarin's shift on is first day.

Dusk had been delighted to see his winged friend when he had strolled through his tea shop and had run up to the stallion, throwing his front legs around his neck, nearly knocking them both over, much to the amusement of his customers.

The news that his friend was staying for an entire year thrilled him. He had missed Soarin a lot more than he had thought he would, and Dusk had promised to visit his high flying friend at the end of his first day with a big picnic.

The victorious pegasus that he had been expecting though, was currently draped over the back of one of the Tracks siblings.

"Soarin!" he called in concern as he leaped down next to the train pullers and began patting the unconscious winged pony on the cheek.

"To give the little fella credit, he lasted longer than we thought he would," Iron Tracks stated as he was unhitched by the station hooves, and followed the concerned Dusk out of the station, politely offering to carry the stallion for him.

The two talked amicably for the walk and soon the pegasus was settled in bed with a blanket pulled up to his eyes muttering deliriously,

"The wheels on the tracks go round and round…"

"He'll be alright," Iron assured him, "just a little track daze, it happens sometimes. He'll snap out of it in time for pulling tomorrow."

The two ponies soon parted and Dusk stored away the food in the fridge and left a note for Soarin on the table, telling him what happened and that there was food in the fridge for when he got hungry with a promise to meet him again after work.

Ooo ooo ooo

By Track Pulling, Day 4…

Dusk sighed as he settled Soarin on the couch with an ice pack and the latest Count Trotula book (the stallion certainly loved his horror books).

"Soarin, I'm worried about you. It's your forth day and you've been dragged home more times than a bag of groceries, maybe you should ask the station master if there is something else you can do."

"No," Soarin shook his head firmly, then winced and returned the ice pack to his throbbing noggin.

"I was assigned to pull trains, and I will! I'm not a quitter…oww…my head…"

Dusk shook his head and tucked a blanket around Soarin giving an eye roll at his stubborn pout.

Who would have thought the stallion even knew how to pout?

"You know, there is nothing wrong with accepting that you can't do something."

Soarin grimaced, "but I've always been able to accomplish anything I do."

"Have you tried battling an Ursa Major?" Dusk asked.

Soarin snorted, "of course not! That would be suicidal!"

"Alright, and what if you tried to anyway? Do you believe that you would accomplish it?"

"Well…" his voice trailed off and he thoughtfully sank back into the pillow that Dusk had fluffed and put under his head, "but this is my first duty in Ponyville, what would ponies think if I fail?"

"Oh, and you're going to let somepony dictate how you live? How you think about yourself?"

Soarin shifted uncomfortably.

"Look," Dusk sighed finally, getting to his hooves and getting ready to leave, "I don't know if it means anything to you or not, but I won't care if your unable to do something. All one can ask for is for you try your best. I would rather have you failing at something then you hurting yourself, potentially more then you are already. You know, you've really worried me, seeing you barely conscious at the end of each shift."

With a nod, Dusk left, leaving Soarin to think, which he did long into the night.

Ooo ooo ooo

Dear Captain Spitfire,

My first week has been a hectic one.

The ponies landside have been gracious and friendly, and my first handler of my first week exemplifies those qualities.

Regretfully, I was unable to finish my tenure with him for the remainder 3 days pulling trains. I hope you're not disappointed in my first attempt. I put everything that I had into it, but no matter how hard I tried I was unable to keep up with the other pullers without seriously injuring myself.

A good friend of mine has helped me realize an important lesson in that, while its good to strive to achieve everything you start out doing, one must accept that a pony cannot do everything and by trying to do so, you might end up not only harming yourself in the long run, but you worry those who care about you.

My Handler agreed with me, and in fact told me that he had actually been planning on shifting me to something more manageable after seeing me struggle so hard my first 4 days, but because of pushing myself so hard over the past four days, he relieved me to recover. He wrote a report, which should be with this letter as well.

Once I am recovered, I will be starting with my new handler and this time, if it's something that is beyond my capabilities, I won't push to the point of breaking.

Your favorite high-flying minion,

Soarin
> In the Spotlight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 21 In the Spotlight


“No, a bit more of a 5 second hiss, not a 10 second hiss on the end….Ssssss”

“Oh, Like this? Ssss?”

“Um, a little shorter then I was aiming for…”

Dusk frowned at Fluttershy over his tea cup as they both whetted their parched mouths and throats with Dusk's best plum bloom iced tea, Fluttershy's favorite, as speaking snake was hard on the throat when spoken to long.

“What’s the matter Fluttershy? Your long past the point were you struggled with simple two syllable words,” Dusk asked in concern.

Fluttershy mumbled into her tea, but after a bit more coaxing she finally sighed and explained more coherently. “Rarity and I were at our weekly spa treatment, you know, the one that I have the day before our weekly lesson?”

“How can I forget?” Dusk said dryly,” Rarity has been trying to get me to come since we first met,” and for a very specific pair of feathery reasons, he had been able to avoid it so far.

“Yes, well,” Fluttershy cleared her throat, “um, during our time there, Rarity told me about this sudden opportunity that happened to her on the way to the spa. She was wearing one of her latest creations, a really lovely hat, and a very famous pony…or at least I think she’s a famous pony anyway, by the name of Photo Finish? Yes, I think that’s right- anyway, she offered to do a photo shoot of Rarity’s work, she’s ever so excited.”

“Well that’s great!” Dusk said, genuinely pleased for their friend. While he didn’t follow fashion himself, he had heard of Photo Finish when he was in Canterlot, she’d actually done an article on Brew Bag before she had moved into fashion photography, from what Brew Bag told him (this was long before Dusk’s arrival of course) she was very to business in a unique sort of way, though his mentor never said why. “She must be really pleased, this will be good for her, that’s for sure.”

Fluttershy nodded, “yes, I am very happy for her…only the thing is…um, she didn’t have a model, and she wanted somepony who…who was able to show off her cloths well…and she…well…” Fluttershy trailed off, hiding behind her hair.
Dusk cottoned on quickly of course and finished for her “and she asked you, and you said yes but now your not so sure if you can go through with it.”

Fluttershy’s mane nodded.

Dusk set his tea aside and leaned back in his favorite chaise that Fluttershy provided for guests.

“Well, I can see your problem. Your not exactly the first pony I would have asked for something like this,” Dusk finally said, then hastily added, “not that your not good enough to be a model, in fact, your perhaps one of the most beautiful mares I’ve ever met.”
Dusk and Fluttershy both blushed at the compliment, and he cleared his throat and quickly finished, “its just that everypony in town knows that your…shy," putting it lightly, "and even as a favor, modeling in front of a bunch of cameras with all that focus on you… it just doesn’t seem you, truthfully speaking.”

Fluttershy emerged from her hair again and tapped her hooves together nervously, “so if…if you understand, then…then maybe Rarity….” Her voice trailed off as both ponies shook their heads.

No, it was not likely that Rarity would be open to the idea. She was likely gearing her entire ensemble around Fluttershy’s looks, and she had a way of getting carried away when her reputation was on the line sometimes, despite her generous nature.  She would likely begin begging on bended hoof for Fluttershy to continue or have a nervous breakdown, and Fluttershy was to timid normally to say no.

Dusk tapped his hooves together thoughtfully. He needed a suggestion that would put Fluttershy at ease and pacify Rarity.

“How about I come with you? I can help out Rarity with her gowns and be your very own cheering section. If you get nervous, all you have to do is focus on me alright? Just pretend that your showing me dresses in Rarity's shop or something.”

Fluttershy seemed to perk up after that, and agreed. The two of them continued to chat about idle things before ending their lesson for the day.

Ooo		ooo		ooo

It was the day of Rarity and Fluttershy’s big shoot.

Dusk had offered his help and support as he had told Fluttershy he would to Rarity as well, and the slowly more frazzled unicorn fashionista took it with gratitude. All hooves on deck as it were.

In fact, he was due at the Boutique later that afternoon as soon as he was finished his shift at the Tea Cozy.

Fruit Salad was working out well, though she was less available due to her rushing back and forth between work, her part-time studies to prepare for her business license, and rearing three different aged foals all on her own. 

He understood, though he was having less time available for his friends and go ingredient hunting, between the shop and the more complicated brews that required his personal touch as a Tea Master. He was already looking into hiring another hoof for the shop, as it would relieve both Fruit Salad and himself, though he hadn’t found the right pony just yet.

He finally saw to the last customer, Mr. Greenhooves and his weekly clover tea and oatmeal cookie visit, and had finished casting the last spell to clean up the last surface. He was ready to head over to Rarity’s to see how the fitting was going.

He had just walked into the shop and the first thing he spotted was Spike walking around dreamily with several pins sticking out of his torso. it gave him  a sudden odd chill of premonition, though he couldn't place a hoof on what it was.

He wandered over where Twilight and Pinky Pie were also gathered to help out, and sidled up to Twilight, nodding to Fluttershy, who was dressed rather fancily and looking a touch tired and annoyed, which was saying something considering who the mare is, though she relaxed and gave him a little smile when she caught sight of him.

“So,” Dusk addressed Twilight, picking up a random basket of beads with his magic, ready to be useful, “why is Spike wandering around with pins sticking out of his backside?”

“He’s playing pincushion at the moment,” Twilight said dryly, “apparently he has a tough hide.”

Dusk snorted.

“So when is this Photo Finish supposed to arrive?” he asked, just as Rarity finished the last stitch in the hem line. No sooner had he asked, the door banged open and he could practically here the entrance music as the fabulous Photo Finish strutted into the store, her well-dressed assistants by her side.

She snapped her tail and declared, “I, Photo Finish, have arrived” she struck a pose.

Dusk’s eyebrows rose. Huh Brew Bag hadn’t been kidding. 

“Let me just say what an honor this is!” Rarity greeted the mare a little nervously, but still politely.

The pale blue and white maned mare in the black and white dress walked by her, all business and stated “I shall begin!”

An assistant set down a purple suitcase in front of her master…er, boss, and with a flick of one well manicured hoof by the photographer, the thing sprouted into a camera somehow.

Pony technology never ceased to amaze him sometimes.

Fluttershy did not look at all comfortable during the entire thing, though Photo Finish looked rather pleased with those parts of honest unhappiness then her attempts at posing.

Suddenly her head rose from the camera and she frowned.

“We are missing something!” 

Then her eyes suddenly and eerily snapped in the direction of the onlookers and landed on Dusk in particular.

“You!” she addressed authoritatively, “come here a moment.”

She walked all around Dusk for a moment, who only put up with the inspection for Rarity and Fluttershy’s sake, and wondering what exactly the mare wanted in the first place.

Before he could say anything however, she suddenly demanded, “take five steps back.”

Dusk, startled by the command when he had just about to open his muzzle and tell the mare off, did as she asked.

“Hmmm…a little to the right,” Dusk, confused now, found himself doing it.

“Soigne Folio!” Photo suddenly called out, and the mare in the reddish gold suit and up-swept pink mane rushed forward, “I need…mmm….yes! thee sparkles! Photo Finish wants the young stallion to shine as brightly as the mare at his side!”

Suddenly a bowl of glittering powder appeared out of no where and was dumped over his head by the enthusiastic assistant, until everything from his ears to the tips of his tail was glittering with flecks of silver and magenta.

Then the flashes began before Dusk finally cottoned on to what was happening. By the time he did, Photo Finish was already done, collapsing her camera which was picked up by one of the assistants, and sauntered out of the boutique regally.

Dusk coughed, sticking his tongue out enough to see that he was sparkly on the inside as well as the out.
“She barely took any pictures at all,” Twilight commented, frowning.

Rarity, who had recovered, sighed, “perhaps it wasn’t meant to be, she is so high up in the fashion world and…well…maybe it was the headdress? What was I thinking, it just doesn’t suit you darling,” she finished removing the headdress from Fluttershy.

“Nonsense Rarity, your things –cough!-gorgeous, -hack-“ Dusk got out, then gratefully occupied himself with the water that Spike managed to get for him, giving him a sympathetic pat.

Then suddenly Photo Finish reappeared in their midst after only being gone for a few minutes.
“It seems that I, Photo Finish, have found the next stars here in Ponyville,” the mare declared grandly, and Rarity’s countenance brightened considerably.

“Really!?” Rarity breathed.

“Yes, really,” Photo agreed, “and I! Photo Finish am going to help them shine all over Equestria!”

Rarity smiled brightly.

“Tomorrow, a photo shoot in the park!” the glamorous mare declared grandly, then after a brief second to pause for dramatic effect, “I go!” 
All three fashion mares zipped away.

“Did you hear that?” Rarity asked the others excitedly, “I am going to shine all over Equestria!”

Dusk managed to spit out the last of the sparkles into a nearby plant discreetly.

“Oh Rarity, I was so worried that I had ruined everything,” a relieved Fluttershy said, looking happy for her friend.

“Oh never,” Rarity declared, “I knew you would be perfect.” Rarity dismissed, then she turned to Dusk, “and thank you as well! You stepping in like that to assist! I think it really helped to frame my work in an even better light”

Dusk coughed again, “don’t mention it,” he rasped.

While Rarity went to find the perfect outfits for the park shoot, and Dusk was disturbed when she muttered about something from her stallion line, he asked Twilight while the others were distracted in the excitement, “Didn’t what she say strike you as unusual?”

The unicorn frowned for a moment then she nodded, “your right, she said “them” instead of “her” that is odd.”
Dusk agreed, taking a slower drink. 

“Well she does speak with a rather thick accent,  and speaks in the third person, perhaps it’s a quirk of her lexicon?” Twilight shrugged it off, "In my brother's last letter, he mentioned that he was having something of a similar issue with Princess Luna." 

Dusk shrugged as well, figuring that the intelligent mare was likely right, though he couldn’t stop the odd foreboding feeling in his gut.

Ooo		ooo		ooo

The next day…

Dusk grunted as the last tie was tied by Rarity.

“Look, I know your all excited about this shoot, but I really don’t see why I have to be dragged into it!” Dusk grunted irritably.

Both he and Fluttershy were currently encased matching ensembles, though the stones of their outfits matched the colors of their eyes, and Dusk’s shawl had resisted Rarity yet again, and after yet another slapping match, she finally worked the outfit into the look, with just a hint of vindictive delight, a few jewels were added to the shawl.

“Nonsense darling! Photo seemed to like the both of you together on camera, though you weren’t wearing anything of mine at the time, just this silly shawl of yours. This time you will be more a part of the picture then a prop.”

Dusk grumbled but did get down off the fitting platform and stood beside Fluttershy. 

“I’m glad that your doing this with me,” Fluttershy said in aside, “it makes me me feel so much better to have someone with me.”

And there was his reason for agreeing. 

Dusk sighed, and nodded, “yeah, I suppose it’ll be…interesting.”

Fluttershy turned to her other friend and in a happy-for-you-and-actually-mean-it tone she commented “Rarity when you get famous across Equestria, don’t forget us little ponies alright?”

“Never,”  Rarity stated, with a smile and firm conviction. 

That was when Photo Finish arrived on the scene…
…and punctured Rarity’s big chance bubble.

Photo Finish had wanted Fluttershy and Dusk, not the cloths they were wearing.

Dusk had been all set to just hang the entire thing, after all, he was not after fame. He had been famous once, and was not keen on being famous again, and considering his unique, well hidden situation, he was not keen on the lime light potentially reveling that.

Unfortunately for Dusk, Rarity insisted that they not give up this chance, and Dusk still wouldn’t have done it if Fluttershy hadn’t caved under Rarity’s insistence, and looked terrified at where her overly kind nature and lack of confidence combo had taken her at the same time.

Dusk was unfortunately not going to leave poor Fluttershy to the wolves alone and sighed, also tossing his hoof in.

Ooo		ooo		ooo

The one time that Precious finally ended up making some notoriety for himself, despite his motivations, it had to be in the fashion industry.

Voldemort grimaced at their reflection in the mirror, turning this way and that in their Hoity Toity original, which had more frills then he was comfortable with (which was any!). He was, or had been, the most feared Dark Lord in Wizard history!

Dark Lords did not wear frilly pink tops and cashmere sequined pants! This was not dignified!

He looked down at the magazine, a Mare’s Monthly, which, like it’s Witch Weekly counterpart, had the latest gossip and heresy about the usual famous so and so’s, and on the cover in a glossy picture from a previous shoot was the bold worded title:

“Fluttershy and Dusk, the Most Beautiful Mare and Stallion in Equestira, also a couple?”

He had to admit a certain amount of amusement at his Precious’ and that weakling’s horror and embarrassment. He had made a silent bet with himself  to see who would blush the longest. he particularly enjoyed the tick that his host had developed when he stumbled across a fan who gushed at what a cute couple they made and when they planned to make each other official someponies.

While he knew that the boy was not likely to act on feelings of romance with the filly, they were friends after all, but the notion that others think that they can dictate what an with whom his host went with, did annoy Voldemort to no end.

This was his Precious! His very own! And no one was going to push his Precious in a direction that he did not approve of first!
Whether Harry Potter or Dusk, human or pony, the boy was his first! 

Over all, he was more annoyed and bordering on homicidal urges. something needed to be done, and be done soon, and it looked like it was going to be him to handle the matter.

Ooo		ooo		ooo

The following month was the worst of both Fluttershy and Dusk’s life.

Naturally graceful, trembling, vulnerable beauties, the fashion papers claimed. 

Dusk learned the uncomfortable art of gliding down a runway, posing for hours in front of the camera under scorching lights in studios, had the dubious pleasure of drinking, eating, or holding something over and over again as they represented various products.

Their popularity was insane, and the two ponies often huddled together miserably in one of their dressing rooms, rubbing each others hooves and taking what pleasure they could in the quiet moments away from the public.

Dusk was currently alone in his dressing room, Fluttershy doing a set of solo pics at the moment, when he drifted off into a nap, exhausted from moving between the shop, his social life, and modeling.

The only plus side to all this was that he was forced to finally more actively take a hoof in hiring an extra pony and had taken on a rather practical earth pony by the name of Rose who was looking for a little extra work while she was making a name for herself in gardening.

When his head slumped onto the comfortable armrest of the easy lounge he was reclined upon, down for the count and dreaming of a quiet afternoon hopping through a field of camera shooting fluffy bunnies, another individual took advantage of the lowered guard.

“Finally!” Voldemort grumbled, “I thought he would never doze off! Bloody workaholic equine!”

Voldemort staggered a little, none to pleased by the exhausted nature of their body. 

He had given the fools a chance to work everything out, but it seems that there was still stubbornness in the air. 

The boy’s foolish saving people (or ponies in this case) thing, and the weakling's inability to be selfish once in awhile, a lesson that even his host had figured out upon occasion (though he would have preferred if he were more so).

That left it up to Voldemort, who didn’t give a damn about some pony’s sensibilities if it wasn’t to his advantage, and set about to correct the issue.

He ordered out a few hay burgers with cheese and a milkshake (he didn’t really care about his figure frankly, and he rather enjoyed fast food) and sat Fluttershy down when she returned from her shoot, both in his dressing room, casting a quick locking charm and a silencing spell after the food had arrived.

Voldemort gave the mare a brief perusal, and he had to admit that it would be laughingly easy to seduce the poor creature to his whim, or intimidate her to his whim. 

To easy in fact, it would be beyond insulting to even lift a fing… hoof for the effort for one of his caliber.  

So Voldemort tried for the uncommon, anti-Slytherin approach as an opener.

Complete blunt honesty. 

“Your unhappy,” Voldemort declared into the lazy silence.

Fluttershy started, looking at him, then away, hemming and hawing,  “unhappy, about what?”

Voldemort rolled his eyes, he hated dithering. Oh for the days of an upfront Crutacius curse, and its powers of speeding conversations along.

“With this inane modeling business,” he growled, “so am I, and frankly I think that the both of us should stop, right now.”

Fluttershy blinked then said tentatively, “But…but what about Rarity, she seems so happy that we are doing this…I don’t want to disappoint her.”

Voldemort refrained from beaning his own face with a hoof.

He took a few breaths, leaned against the table, keeping firm eye contact with the mare, and drawled, “So let me see if I understand this…friendship business. You do things that make your friends happy, even if you don’t want to do the thing?”

“Well, yes.”

“…and you and Rarity are both friends with each other?”

“Oh of course!”

“I see,” Voldemort tapped a hoof on the table, leaning closer which caused Fluttershy to lean closer and he purred, “so if part of friendship is doing something to make the other per…pony happy when it makes you unhappy, then why should you do it?”

Fluttershy blinked, looking confused, “what?” 

“Well, it seems kind of odd really, but then again I am still new to this whole friendship thing, but if you both are friends equally, why couldn’t she just be disappointed but supportive of your discomfort, even if it would make her unhappy, because it would make you, and consequently by association me, happy? Present happiness and comfort trumps living vicariously through others success in my books, and I am sure it is the same in Rarity's. ”

Voldemort scratched his muzzle thoughtfully, “This whole mutual sacrifice thing seems kind of ridiculous really. If everypony is going around doing things they don’t like because they think the other would be happy, in truth, no one is really being happy in the first place and its all moot. Never really understood that sort of thing.”

“I…well…”Fluttershy stuttered, “well, sometimes sacrifices…umm…”

“I suppose some sacrifice is needed sometimes,“ he conceded grudgingly, “compromise and all that, but in this case…,” He shrugged, then he wore a brief sly look and leaned closer, practically purring in her ear, “if your friend Rarity really realized how unhappy this modeling business was making her friends, she would be even more upset then if you told her no in the first place. because someone like Rarity would be even more dismayed that she had indirectly or otherwise, caused her friends harm.”

Voldemort chortled inwardly when the poor confused pony at last caught on and gasped in horror. 

“I never thought of it that way!” Fluttershy said, “I think…I think I need to talk to Rarity excuse me.”

With that she galloped out of the dressing room and Voldemort called after her retreating pink tail, “I’ll tell Photo Finish that we quit then.”
He took the flick of her tail disappearing around a corner as affirmative.

Ooo 	ooo		ooo

By the end of the week, things were back to normal. Dusk was working in his tea shop again, Fluttershy was back with her animals, and while they occasionally still got the odd fan mail, the two of them returned back to the rest of their lives.

Dusk was still unsure exactly why Fluttershy thanked him for the talk, and even told him about the lesson she learned, combined with mutual communication, was added in their correspondence to the princess on friendship, but just shrugged it off and was plain grateful that the whole mess was over.

> Minion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 22: Minion.


Dusk grunted, sweat beading down his muzzle, muscles aching with effort as he dug in his hooves into the ground.  He growled "oh no you don't your coming out you stubborn little..." he clamped his jaws, and gave one last mighty pull.

Then was sent promptly sailing into the bushes as the root of the Grip Thistle finally loosened its hold. 

Dusk groaned, spitting out the muzzle guard made especially for ponies who had to handle things that were potentially damaging to a vulnerable mouth, and rubbed his jaws. He hated that bloody weed, but the annoying foliage was popular for brews that dealt with headaches, canker sores, vertigo, jaundice, and was popular for hair growth potions.

Unfortunately for Dusk, it had to be harvested without direct magic to be the most effective. 

He shoved the plant into his saddle bag, tossed it over his back, and levitated the rest of the baskets and bags with other, more magic friendly, harvested ingredients.

A solid week in the Everfree Forest to restock his supplies…ah yes, there was nothing better then the peace and quiet of a good ingredient hunt and bringing home a large haul for his reward.

Dusk smiled when he remembered how Soarin had pouted at the mention that he would be away for a week while his employees covered for him, but Dusk had encouraged Soarin that he would likely be to busy dealing with his week on the Apple farm to miss him.

Soarin had growled and grandly promised that it was highly unlikely.

Macintosh when told had not been pleased either,though the Earth Pony was used to his friend disappearing at odd times for undisclosed days at a time to gather ingredients.

Fluttershy had as usual been quite nervous for him. 
Living so close to the forest, she was well aware what sort of horrors the forest held, but he had reassured her that he could handle himself. 

He had regaled to her once during one of their lessons of the story of the time that Brew Bag had dragged him along, during his first few months as his apprentice, to the very heart of a dormant volcano in Saddle Arabia to get a rare ingredient. while it didn't help her blood-pressure any for some reason, he had at least made her forget the dangerousness of his trips into Everfree.

He hummed as he walked through the shadows, casually ducking a grasping vine, whistling as he casually sent a dead tree branch flying onto the noggin of a stalking chimera moments away from pouncing, which cursed and ran off, vowing revenge(which he didn't hear as he was some distance off).

Dusk was nearing a small gorge when he spotted the unusual sight of a hot air balloon, oddly empty of anypony, landing in the Everfree.

Then he had a sudden worrying thought that something could have happened to Cherry Berry, the pink Earth Pony that ran the hot air balloon, she could be lying unconscious in the basket for all he knew.

Resolved to at least check it out, he began galloping in the direction of the landing site, not to far from where he was currently.
He skidded to a halt however when he heard the familiar howls of timber wolves and and a certain familiar yell of terror not to far away.

He skidded to a halt and veered back towards the sounds of distress. He broke out on the edge of a cliff, overlooking the stoney gorge and beheld the sight of Spike of all beings, all alone and being backed into a corner by the wooden canines whose bark was as equally bad as their bite.

He didn’t even pause as he leaped down into the thick of the pack, directly in front of the dragon, and with a blaze of silvery magic blazing from his horn, snaked out in all different directions and ripped up a a few surrounding trees, lifting them into the air and wielding them like so many threatening clubs.

There was a moment of perfect stillness, as two powerful forces regarded each other, before things sped up drastically as the large trees he was wielding began to spin like a top, smacking a devastating trail through the entire foul-breathed pack, sending them into the air in a wave of yelps and the sounds of cracking wood.

When the creatures were swiftly dealt with, he tossed aside the trees, and grabbed Spike with his magic, galloping away with all his might. The last thing they needed was to deal with timber wolves after they had been mulched and dismembered. If that had been the entire pack, they would be in deep trouble when the predators pulled themselves together. 

Dusk didn’t relax until they hit the outskirts of Ponyville and were nearing his shop.

He met Cherry Berry along the way and handed off the rope that he had grabbed on his hasty retreat (as luck having it, stumbling into the roped off balloon along the way, and for whatever reason, grabbed it), who thanked him shortly, giving Spike, who was on his back, a brief annoyed glance before marching her balloon back into town.

Spike remained quiet until they reached his shop, his talons wrapped tightly in Dusk's mane, and they were soon indoors and in the basement where he unceremoniously dumped his supply (having held onto most of it throughout the episode).

Spike slid off his back and looked up at him with big watery green eyes, then unceremoniously wrapped his small arms around one of Dusk's Front legs, burying his face against the soft silvery pelt.

Dusk paused and looked down at the green spiky head, his smaller body was shaking. Harry rested a hoof on the younger’s back comfortingly as the dragon clung to him, mumbling, “you saved me, you saved my life.”

Dusk let him continue to cling to him, after all, being chased through the Everfree Forest by timber wolves would terrify anypony. 

When Spike had manged to collect himself, he asked if he could help Dusk unpack his harvest.

“Oh, well, I suppose,” Dusk replied, grateful for the assist. There was nothing overly sensitive or dangerous within the goods, so he allowed the young dragon to help him unpack and store the materials, patiently explaining the proper process when it looked like Spike was going to botch something up. After all, he couldn’t expect the young dragon to know how to properly store tea ingredients. 

When they were done, he took the young dragon to the kitchens, poured them both a cool cup of iced apple tea (grabbing the marble dust for Spike to put into his) and sat them down at the table and began grilling the young dragon on why he had been all alone in the most dangerous parts of the forest.

He didn’t buy the investigating the empty balloon claim. Judging by Cherry’s annoyance, he was likely somehow involved in the runaway balloon, but Dusk  let it go given the circumstances.

“Let me get this straight,” Dusk said finally once he got the whole story, “your basically on your own this weekend while Twilight studies?”
The young dragon nodded, “though I’m not alone anymore since I’m going to be helping you out now,” he declared happily.

Dusk frowned thoughtfully. Well, he supposed it was a good way to keep the young dragon out of trouble.

“Alright, I suppose an extra hoof around the place can always be of use.”

The Dragon perked up, “oh you wont regret it! I’ll be the best servant you’ve ever had!”

Dusk was confused at the small spurt of foreign pleasure that the word "servant" caused and he hastily shook it away and corrected “no, I mean, you don’t have to be my servant! I just meant that a bit of help is appreciated, you don’t have to spend the entire weekend working for Celestia’s sake!”

Spike frowned now, “but of course I’m your servant, you saved my life.”

Dusk shook his head “no, you don’t have to be my servant for the weekend just because I saved your life, it was the right thing to do, nothing more, I meant just a bit of a helping hoof here and there, maybe a game of Yahtzee or something.”

“Actually I meant for the rest of my days for as long as you live,” Spike corrected helpfully.

“Right well, that either…wait…wait! What?”

“Oh, I forgot about that, its part of my dragon code here,” Spike belched out a crudely drawn card and held it up, “it's part of my code of honor as a noble dragon." he stuck his chest out proudly, "If somepony saves my life I am required to serve them for the rest of their life.”

Dusk slumped back in his seat, his mind whirling as he tried to figure out some sort of way to deal with...this.

He knew about the conventions of honor. Brew Bag had lectured him about this. Honor was an important edict that somepony based their entire perception of life around. While it was likely that this dragon code was something made up by Spike himself and not something that was particular to all dragons (given the...unique presentation of the card) that still didn’t make it any less important to Spike himself. 

He sighed, catching the large puppy dog eyes, no, there  would be no outright refusal here, as much as he was loathed to admit. 

Then Dusk's more sly mentality kicked in as it occurred to him that there maybe a way to appease Spike’s dragon code, but keep him from underhoof most of the time, he wasn’t delusional enough to think that he could escape having a "servant" *shutter* completely.

Again he felt that strange thrill at the notion. He rubbed his forehead, he needed to keep a better eye on what he touched in that forest, it was giving him strange ideas.


Meanwhile in the deepest recesses of Harry’s subconscious... 


Voldemort was pleased!

Finally! After so long! He had a minion! Not just some piddling little friend that belonged to his Precious, though he was sure that  the sentimental boy would consider it more as a friendship *shutter* then anything, but Voldemort saw the servant/master connection there, and he was going to focus on that part. 

Not only that, but this minion was a dragon! Granted he was a relatively young dragon, but still a dragon! Who had connections to royalty! 

Even Voldemort's main soul could not boast of that! Hah!

He rubbed his dark hooves together and cackled.


Back outside Harry’s head…


When he was sure he had mentally sorted out his plan, he addressed Spike seriously. 

“I understand that your code is important to you, so I wont dismiss this notion of you...helping me out, but you must understand that my life has no room for a full time servant, so in this one and only time that i address you as my servant, I’m ordering you to continue as you are, being the best assistant to Twilight, that would be very helpful to me.”

Spike frowned, rubbing the back of his spikes and asked, “how is me continuing to be Twilight’s assistant, and me not doing anything else for you, helping you?”

Good question, but Dusk had a ready reply.

“Well,” he took a sip, “Twilight Sparkle is my friend, and it would make me feel bad if I took away someone so dear to her.”

To give Spike credit, he did look conflicted at the idea, deeply conflicted, and Dusk took advantage of that.

“And lets face it Spike, you love her dearly, she’s practically raised you. You would be miserable, even if you are following your code, and you are my friend to, so I would just be hurting both of you and that would make me feel doubly worse.”

He sat back and took another sip, hiding his smirk when he noticed that he had struck home as the young dragon nodded slowly.

“Well, I don’t want to cause anypony to be upset, and if it would distress you more to have me by your side all the time, then....then that isn’t serving you properly I guess…you really consider me your friend?”

Dusk hummed in his drink and nodded. He supposed he couldn’t blame the question. They didn’t normally hang out after all, but the two did hang out from time to time when they both got dragged into some Mane 6 incident, and with what had recently happened, nopony could walk away from something like that and not form some kind of attachment, code or not.

“Sure,” Dusk agreed.

The dragon gave him a big smile and then insisted “well, I’ll do what you ask, but I still think I should come around once in awhile to help you out, or else it wouldn't be completely fair.”

Dusk grunted, but conceded to the compromise. 

The two of them returned upstairs to find Fruit Salad ponying the cash register, looking bored. It was a quiet afternoon apparently.

Then the door jangled and in staggered Soarin and Mac, leaning against each other, bruised, missing patches of pelt, mussed up manes and tails and covered in bandages, particularly Soarin, who was sporting a hoofcast.

“Hi Dusk,” they both greeted him at the same time raggedly, “welcome back!.” 

"Holy Celestia! What in Tartarus happened?!"
> Apple Tidings, Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


During the time that Dusk was away...


Soarin stared glumly down at his fritter.

His first day heading out to work on a farm, and he starts off this week of enlightenment not only without Dusk to wish him good luck with his morning tea and beautiful warm smile and big gorgeous eyes…anyway, since the pony was currently muzzle deep in some patch of dangerous plant life or something, things just hadn’t been the same.  The Cakes had been out of town taking care of something or other, and Pinky Pie was busy handling Sugar Cube Corner and a sudden rush of party pasty orders for Filthy Ritch, thus there weren’t any fresh apple fritters, leaving him blueberry, the lesser flavour.

As he turned the corner up the long dirt driveway of Sweet Apple Acres after his unsatisfying breakfast, his mood improved at the sight of the picturesque fields of apple trees and lush flattened grass, white picket fence that was bright and freshly painted, guiding him up the drive to the main house where he was to meet with Granny Smith, the Matron of the Apple Family.

From what he understood of them, the Apple Family, only seconded by the Pears, was the most prolific farm ponies in Equestria, having founded Ponyville, had invented zap apple jam, and provided nearly all the apple based supplies in the country. If he remembered correctly, Applejack, the farm pony that ran the main family seat, was also an Element of Harmony, one of these Mane 6 that he had heard so much about from Dusk.

He brushed lingering crumbs off his chest pelt and lifted a hoof to knock on the front door.

Before hoof could touch wood though the door slammed open and into his face, sending him sprawling to the ground, stunned. Before he could even work out the necessary thought patterns to even contemplate putting a leg under him, he was unceremoniously trampled by the exuberant tidal wave of filly energy known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders, capes tied around their necks, screaming and laughing "Cutie Mark Crusaders Candlestick Makers!".

When the little hooligans were long gone on some adventure, Soarin groaned as he wobbled to his hooves, spitting dust from his mouth from their passage, muttering dazed cuss-words to himself.

By the time he had righted himself, he again raised his hoof to knock and managed one thump, when unseen by him  a random pale green hoof smacked into a nearby vase on a window above his head, and suddenly there was a crash! Dirt and colourful pedals flying everywhere, then he knew no more.

Granny Smith stopped be-bopping to her gramophone at the crash and looked over the sighed as her early morning Saturday Night Fever workout had yet again claimed another window sill victim.

"Well, dang nabbit, there goes my prize-winning Snapdragon!"

ooo         ooo         ooo

Soarin groaned as he came to with a pounding headache and an old green wrinkled face staring down at him.

The Pegasus yelped and sat bolt upright, only to groan in pain again as his entire body throbbed in time with his pounding headache.

"Whoa there young feller," the old green mare admonished, "you did yourself in pretty hard there, just sit back and rest a spell."

Soarin lay back down, looking around him considerately. He was in what appeared to be a spare room decorated in bright, homey colours with a fair amount of apple based motifs and doilies, leading Soarin to the conclusion that he must be in the sitting room of the Sweet Apple Acres main house.

Granny explained what to expect for the week while he was occupied with his headache, then she left him for the rest of his first day, he was made to stay prone on the couch and drink foul smelling potions that the mare got from Zecora, the friend that Dusk had made in the woods, with a cold compress over his eyes.

He continued listen to the old mare's gramophone, turned down due to his head, and she sternly insisted that he remain for the night, saying that he could start working in the morning with her grandchildren if he was feeling better, who were currently away and would be arriving later that evening.

Soarin fell asleep eventually in the early evening and completely missed the arrival of the rest of the brood.

Ooo           ooo    ooo

Soarin, Sweet Apple Acres Day Two…

When Soarin awoke the next morning, the sun was just beginning to rise and the golden rays were spilling over the old faded golden-brown shag carpet, across centuries old apple wood, hoof carved furniture, and directly into the eyeballs of one blue Pegasus.

Soarin groaned as a sharp jabbing pain in his aching head, had him falling back onto the mound of cushions that Granny Smith had kindly set out for him.

It was only the light glinting off glass out of the corner of his eye, drew his gaze from under his hoof, to a small bottle with a post it notes that read "Drink Me" in bold black lettering.

The bottle it was attached to was surprisingly warm when he touched it, and after popping the cork and warily sniffing, he could smell the sent of chamomile and ginger. On the side of the bottle, were the words:


"Headache Brew, tea for the soar noggin, drink warm and in its entirety."


Soarin smiled when he saw the logo for The Tea Cozy on the bottle.

He tossed it back and immediately felt the ache and tension begin to melt away. He sighed contentedly. Dusk really could do anything with those teas of his.

Feeling much better, he made his way down from the spare room he had been put in and entered what he assumed to be the kitchen.

He found Granny Smith making hay rashers next to a giant pot of what smelled like hot cider. He took a deep breath of the inviting smell, his hoof moving towards the cheerfully steaming pot until a ladle to the hoof got his attention.

"No peekin'! yer goin' to let the flavour out," Granny scolded, herding Soarin to the kitchen table where the rest of the family was sitting.

Soarin's first look at the eldest Apple Siblings engendered mixed feelings in Soarin.

The first was the one who introduced her self, Applejack. She practically ran the farm single hoofed, and held obvious pride in what she did, as she preceded to jaw his ear off about all the chores that needed doing, more then he thought possible for an apple farm, with a single-minded intensity that strongly reminded him of Spitfire in a training haze, as she was super intense and kind of intimidating, but he found her otherwise likeable, and gave off such an honest air, that it was no wonder she was reputed as the Honesty element of harmony.

The oldest of the brood was where Soarin's real mixed feelings lay.

He knew who Big Macintosh was of course. He was the one that Dusk always talked about in his letters, Dusk's Mac. Soarin couldn't help the wave of jealousy that sprung up automatically when he realized he was sitting across from his romantic rival. He also felt intimidated as well. To put it bluntly, Mac was impressively built, easily the biggest stallion he had ever seen in a towering mass of bright red muscle. It would be so easy to hate him for that, but Mac was also friendly, engaging him in conversation throughout breakfast, asking him all about what it was like to be a Wonderbolt.

He didn't notice the gobsmacked expression of the mares at the table.

Their conversation took them from the table to the fields, and as Soarin was being rigged up to a wagon, he felt a wave of gloom descend on him. He had thought that Mac would be easy to beat for Dusk's affections, but as the day progressed, he found mac to be everything a stallion could want in another. Mac was friendly, handsome, insanely strong, hard working, and clearly loved his family and his work.

Soarin knew he had just as many good qualities of course, but the stallion just seemed so...flawless. Soarin couldn't even pull the mountain of apple barrels that Big Mac had kept loading onto his cart. Big Mac looked barely winded as he pulled his own, while Soarin's flanks were dripping with sweat and his legs trembled.

When they got back by the end of the day, Soarin could barely stand up he was so exhausted. They meant a frowning Applejack who took her brother aside for some sort of business talk. Soarin just helped himself to the Daisey sandwich that Granny Smith handed him silently, a considering look on her face that Soarin was to tired to notice.

After Soarin had stumbld home, gobbled his sandwich, then crawled into bed, groaning with relief as soft pillows engulfed his aching head.

Ooo ooo ooo

Working for the Apples, Day Three…

Soarin knew that there was no way he was going to make it if he tried harvesting apples, and it seemed Big Mac agreed as he was  hitched to the first empty apple cart and he glumly followed behind big Mac as the pony gathered and tossed apples into the cart.

Then, not even before lunch time, insult to injury, the red stallion had to take over when Soarin could no longer pull the cart. The two went back to the main farm stead, and after insisting on helping to unload apples and put away into storage later, Soarin felt his insides burn when Big Mac easily carried huge wooden barrels of the bright red fruit, while Soarin strained with his small basket.

When they were done, Soarin felt to depressed, tired and sore to eat much of the hefty and delicious looking dinner fare. He just grabbed a hunk of bread in his teeth and excused himself politely to go to bed early.

He didn’t notice the thoughtful looking eyes following him as he left.

Soarin slid under the covers of his bed, and, after looking around furtively, pulled out a small framed picture from inside his saddle bag.

It was a recent picture of Soarin and Dusk taken outside the wind mill. The photographer (a thin little colt) had captured the moment just after Dusk had finished laughing from some lame joke that Soarin had said, so his beautiful dark green eyes sparkled, and Soarin…Soarin’s face displayed all the naked adoration. The look was so obvious in his feelings for his friend and secret crush, that he had paid the enterprising little colt a few extra bits to ensure no other copies of the picture was made and destroy the negative for the original.

“Well Dusk, I can sort of see why you would like him more then me, I mean…great Celestia! I was nothing out there in comparison! How can I compete with a pony that could bench press three times my own body weight?”

Soarin gloomily tucked the picture under his pillow and settled in to a troubled sleep.

Ooo  ooo ooo 

Soarin’s third day on the farm was a little different though.

Soarin woke to the slam of hoof on door.

When he opened it a little blurry eyed, he found an unusually frazzled looking Big Mac.

“Quick! I need yer help!”

Soarin blinked in surprise, “Why? What happened?”

He galloped as he followed the hurrying pony outside and headed towards Sweet Apple Acres and to the far side of the barn where the chicken coop was located.

He could immediately see what was wrong. The north facing fence was completely wrecked. It looked like it had been trampled by something large.

There was an obvious trail of chicken foot prints, and they were heading in the direction of…Soarin grimaced, The Everfree Forrest.

“Ah Celestia, your sister is going to pull a nut” Soarin groaned.

“Not if we get those chickens back before she’s back from doing the plumbin’ at the Spa in Ponyville,” Big Mac said grimly, and took off at a steady trot directly towards the fearsome twisted trees and wall of dark shadows.

Soarin sighed, feeling that this might not be a good idea.

Still, maybe the Everfree wasn’t as bad as ponies had made it out to be, I mean, after all, Dusk was in there right now, spending a week gathering ingredients, so…how bad could it be really?

 
> Apple Tidings, Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soarin, being a Pegasus and having spent most of his life in clouds or  other high purchases could readily admit he had never spent a  considerable amount of time hiking by hoof through a forest before, let  alone a mysterious one. 

His first thought when tackling the  mission of the Missing Cluckers, as he liked to call it, was that he  would fly overhead and use his keen superior sight to spot the missing  fowls. Unfortunately, when he had brought it up to Big Mac, the red  stallion had shook his head with a "No-ope," and gestured a hoof along  the line of thick dense foliage in the near distance. 

Sure  enough, once they reached the entrance to the Everfree Forrest, he found  that the trees and other shadier looking plant life nearly blocked out  the sunlight altogether, leaving things in a perpetual grim twilight of  shadows, thus leaving searching by air a useless endeavor.

Soarin  would never readily admit that he pouted a tad those first 15 minutes  into their walk into the sinister woods. Not that it lasted that long  after all, mainly because this was his rival after all, his mothers had  taught him that pouting in front of your rival is just bad form after  all. 

Secondly, there was something about Everfree that...did not  feel right. The longer he was in the foreboding place, the more his  withers shivered with disquiet.

"Hey Big Mac, is it true that  this forest really exists outside of scheduled weather and is filled  with giant eldritch monsters?"

"Ye-ep," Mac intoned seriously.

"Kinda...kinda  weird huh?" Soarin commented as he stuck his head into a bush randomly  only to be suddenly yanked back just in time by the scruff of the neck  by the large red stallion as he nearly lost said head in the jaws of  some carnivorous looking plant camouflaged in the leaves, which then  snapped two twigs together in a 'gosh darn it' sort of way before  slithering off for easier prey.

Mac dropped him and continued calmly searching for the chickens. 

Soarin rubbed his neck with a hoof, "Thanks Big Mac," the blue Pegasus said gratefully. 

"It's alright," Mac said finally, "just be careful."

"Believe me I will be," Soarin agreed, eyeing another rustling bush with deep suspicion. 

The  two searched for several hours and finally got lucky when they spotted a  couple of chickens pecking at the base of a tree that had several  gaping jagged holes looking creepily like a cackling face.

Soarin  and Mac gathered the chickens before they could wander off again,  putting them in the large netted baskets attached to both their backs. 

23  minutes later the two stallions found the next chicken perched on top  of a boulder in the middle of a nest of snakes two pony lengths long and  a worrisome poisonous green.

Fortunately, the nest was in a  small rocky clearing, so he was able to use his wings here to their  benefit. Soarin had never sweated so much while flying in his life as he  did in those tense few minutes trying to not wake the potentially  killer reptiles which were quite large up close and smelled of burnt  things in a worrying way.

The next chicken Big Mac lassoed off  the back of the top of the middle head of a Hydra half submerged in a  bog also having a snooze. Unfortunately for them this time, the chicken  had let loose a large racket over getting roped, and both stallions had  to gallop for their lives for a good hour until they lost the irate  Hydra in a deep prickly thicket.

Unfortunately for the two ponies said thicket was also filled with beautiful bright blue flowers.

"Erus  rof ereht srenog erew ew thguoht I eno esolc a saw tahT wow!" exclaimed  the panting Soarin, grimacing as he yanked a clump of thorns from his  flank.

"Oh...my...Celestia! you, like, you totes make no sense!" Big Mac gasped in a wispy Valley-Mare soprano.

The  two stared at each other, for a beat, both yelping when the chickens on  their back suddenly let out a series of musical belches in a rather  pleasing rendition of Pop Goes the Weasel.

"Ecalp yzarc siht fo tuo teg ot deen eW!"

"This is so not cool, I think we totes need to see Zecora, I think its Poisonous Joke," Big Mac stamped a hoof unhappily.

"Taht s'tahw, ekoJ suonosioP?"

"Come on, I totes know where she hangs, follow me!"

Mac  skipped forward, Soarin gamely following, tense, scratched up, limping  from a spill he had taken when he had tripped over a tree in-route  running from the hydra, and generally wishing for a soft fluffy cloud,  an apple pie, and a certain unicorn cuddled up next to him while  watching the sun set. 

ooo ooo ooo

After a perilous hour's  walk through a leech invested briar, dodging fang filled sink holes,  and that brief detour when Soarin got a chance to have a turn at saving  Big Mac this time when the stallion was being carried off by an amorous  giant winged baboon with Soarin exercising a rather impressive wing  powered right hoof that busted said predator's face and the hero's hoof  in one go, though the subsequent herrnya could be blamed more on Big Mac  as the Pegasus had to catch, then carry, the significantly larger pony  back to the dubious safety of the ground from freefall.

Eventually,  the intrepid Chicken gatherers staggered into Zecora's hut, Mac  carrying Soarin and the chickens on his back, the two of them covered in  blood, mud and leaves with Big Mac piping grimly to the startled Zebra  at the door.

"We totes need your help Zecora."

"Indeed, a  bad day for you two agreed," Zecora said dryly, "Come follow me, the  cure to your ills begins with a shower especially."

ooo ooo ooo

Fortunately  for the Stallions, the Zebra had a cure for the Poisonous Joke flower  that they had stumbled into, and was able to treat some of the more  minor wounds, though Soarin's broken hoof would take longer to heal.  Zecora offered them a small wagon on loan to Mac to carry the chickens  and Soarin back to the farm and personally lead the two tired stallions  along a short, safe, route back to the borderline between the Apple farm  and the Everfree Forrest. 

After the two of them had dropped off  the Chickens for Granny Apple and Apple Bloom, Mac carried Soarin  personally in the direction of home.

ooo ooo ooo

The next  day, Apple Jack had returned and, upon seeing the wincing, sorry looking  stallions, still smarting from their little adventure, had kindly given  the both of them the day off.

The two shared a look and without  further word, the two limped, Big Mac helping Soarin, towards the most  relaxing place they could think of, Dusk's Tea Shop. 

The bell above the door jingled as the red stallion tiredly nosed the door open.

Much  to both stallion's relief and delight, Dusk, whom had returned from his  own adventure in the Everfree woods, and was sitting with Spike at a  table.

“Hi Dusk,” they both greeted him at the same time raggedly, “welcome back!.” 

"Holy Celestia! What in Tartarus happened?!"