An alternate universe where Twilight and the rest of the main six have younger, nearly identical, twin brothers. All of whom are preparing for the Summer Sun celebration before Nightmare Moon oh-so-rudely interrupts.
An alternate universe where Twilight and the rest of the main six have younger, nearly identical, twin brothers. All of whom are preparing for the Summer Sun celebration before Nightmare Moon oh-so-rudely interrupts.
This sudden outburst woke up a young pale purple stallion that was sleeping with his head laying on top of an opened book.
“Twilight, will you keep it down!? I’m trying to sleep!” he yelled out to the mare in the other room, brushing his purple mane with rose streaks out of his face.
“Dusk, how many times have I told you? The library is not for sleeping!” she yelled back.
“Well, excu~se me! I’m not the one who filled their twin brother’s room with so many books that he can’t sleep there!” Dusk’s horn lights up and levitated the book he was using as a pillow and put it in its proper place on a nearby bookshelf.
“Oh please. It’s not that much.” she said, facing Dusk, who just entered the same room as her.
He lowered his head, glared at her, then grinned. “You literally reconstructed my bed out of those books, including the mattress.” He said, pointing an accusing hoof at her. “Do you realise how uncomfortable that is?”
She rolled her eyes and smiled back. “You used to make a small throne out of those books in your bed.”
“Yes, but I still had a mattress and pillows.” he spat back in a voice of mock anger, his head tilted to the side with wide eyes and a wide smile.
They both laughed for a moment. Spike walked up to them, looking at them, with eyes half-closed; expressing agitation, and a present-wrapped box impaled on his tail.
“Hey, Spike. What that?” said Twilight, pointing at the present on Spike’s tail.
Spike’s eyes widened and pulled the present off his tail.
“A present for Moondancer.” he said, holding up the box as it fell apart and a teddy bear fell out onto the floor, a large gash in its side.
His expression turned flat as his eyes were, again, half-closed. “What do you want?”
Twilight jumped a little, realising what she came into the library for.
“Oh! I need you to help me find a book titled ‘Predictions and Prophecies,’ it’s really important. You can help too Dusk.”
They began their search, Twilight levitating books down from high shelves, and Dusk skimming through shelves at eye level, briefly reading the titles of each book’s spine. Spike, however, immediately went for a ladder and went for a shelf on the other side of the room and the first book he picked up was the one he was looking for.
“I found it!” he said to Twilight across the room, who immediately levitated it out of his claws before he could fully comprehend that she had her own telekinetic grasp on it, pulling him down to the floor directly in front of her, face down on the floor, book in hand.
“Aha!” she said, letting every other book she had levitating around her drop onto the floor. Spike looked up and saw the mess Twilight made and gave a sharp exhale as he proceeded to pick up the grounded books.
Twilight flipped through the pages of the book, “Elements of Harmony, Elements of Harmony. Ah! ‘Elements of Harmony. See: Mare in the Moon’?”
Dusk raised an eyebrow at Twilight. “Really? A fairy tale? You interrupted my nap for a fairy tale?”
Twilight slammed the book shut with a loud snap and glared at Dusk. “One: You shouldn’t be sleeping in the library. Two: If I’m right, this could mean the fate of Equestria.”
Dusk shrugged almost indifferently, “Well then, I suppose we should write to Princess Celestia about this.”
“We?”
“Yes. ‘We.’ I’m going to help you research anything more that could be found out about these ‘Elements of Harmony,’ the Mare in the Moon and how they are related.”
Twilight gave a smug smile and craned her neck closer to Dusk’s ear. “You want to get on my teacher’s good side. Don’t you?” she said, moving her eyebrows up and down in a seductive manner.
Dusk suddenly blushed at this, “No! It’s just that- you have a hard time accepting that you’re wrong - and - I - just want to be there to support you when you are.” he blurted.
Twilight didn’t let off her smile. “Alright then. Let’s get to work.”
The twin ponies and dragon went about searching the library for any other records regarding the Elements of Harmony or Nightmare Moon. Once they had culminated enough information to be sufficient by both of the twins’ standards, they sent their proposal to princess Celestia.
“What?!” Twilight and Dusk screamed in unison.
“‘My faithful student Twilight Sparkle. I appreciate you and your brother’s concern, and you know that I trust you completely, but you and your brother must simply stop reading so much into these fairy tales.’” Spike recited what the princess had written in response to their letter warning her of the impending danger of Nightmare Moon.
“‘My dear Twilight and her brother Dusk, There is more to a young pony’s life than studying. Which is why I’m sending you and your brother to supervise the preparations for the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration in this year’s location: Ponyville. Not only will you see that the preparations for this event goes smoothly but hopefully you two will complete an even more important task: making some friends. Your concerned teacher and brother’s crush, Princess Celestia.’” Spike cited a second letter from Celestia while all three of them were riding a flying chariot to their destination. “See Dusk? Even Celestia knows you have a crush on her.”
“Shut up, Spike.” Dusk said as he darkly looks out to the horizon to his left.
Twilight, however, hung her front hooves over the other edge of the chariot scowling, and when Spike finished reading the letter she let her head droop down as far as her neck would allow and relaxed her face to a sad expression.
Spike looked at the both of them and said, “Cheer up you two. Look on the bright side the princess has arranged for the two of you to stay in the library. How’s that sound?”
Twilight perked up after a moment. “That sound good. You know why? Because I’m right. We’ll check on the preparations as fast as possible then go to the library to gather proof of Nightmare Moon’s return.”
“What’s the point?” Dusk said, not breaking his fixation with the horizon.
“Come on now, Dusk.” Twilight said, putting a comforting hoof around his shoulders, bringing him in for a one-forehoof hug. “Just because we were shot down on our first try doesn’t mean we should give up hope now.”
Dusk turned to face his sister and gave her a warming smile. “I guess I’m the one who needs help in accepting being told that I’m wrong. You go into denial, whereas I seem to go straight to depression.”
“Denial? Depression? You make it sound like going through the stages of grief.”
They laughed and touched down in Ponyville.
“So,” Spike began, “What about making friends?”
Twilight and Dusk got out of the chariot. “We’re assigned to oversee preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. The fate of Equestria doesn’t rely on either of us making friends.”
“But Twilight...”
“Enough Spike.” said Dusk, “Let’s split up and get this over with as soon as possible.”
“Sorry to burst your bubble.” Spike said flatly. “But if two or more ponies have been assigned to oversee preparations of events like this, all assigned ponies must be present for the judgment of the preparation.”
Both twins exhale gruffly.
“Fine.” Twilight said. “Come on Dusk.” and they both start walking down a street.
“Come on guys. Can you at least try to make a friend?” Spike said, following them.
A pink mare with a cotton candy-like mane was happily walking down the street in the opposite direction of Twilight and Dusk and stops in front of Spike.
“Go on you two.” Spike said to the twins.
They both scowl at Spike for a moment, then turn their attention to the pink mare.
“Um - Hi.” said Twilight.
The mare said nothing as she stood there for a moment. Then her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and she let out a loud gasp as she jumped up in the air, flailing her limbs like a cartoon character suddenly being startled by something and ran off in a pink blur.
“Welp, mission failed. I’m done here.” said Dusk as he tried to briskly walk back to the chariot.
Spike grabbed a hold of his tail and dragged him in the opposite direction, making Dusk seem to do the moonwalk.
“Come on ‘Mister Emissary.’” Spike said in a flat tone.
Twilight rolled her eyes and followed the moon walking Dusk.
Meanwhile, in another part of Ponyville:
In a building called “Sugarcube Corner” a pink stallion with a bubble gum-like mane was carefully placing decorations on a rather large cake, he was intensely focused on the meticulous and careful placement of-
“BUBBLE BERRY!” the pink mare with the cotton candy mane bursted in through the door, startling the stallion, causing him to drop what he was handling and fall into the cake, transforming it into a pile of mush.
“GUESS WHO I JUST MET TODAY?” the mare continued shouting into the pile of cake mush.
A head popped out of the destroyed cake, covered in bits of cake and icing. A long tongue stuck out of the head’s snout and circled in a counterclockwise direction, licking up the cake bits and icing, revealing Bubble Berry’s face.
“Um,” the stallion said after consuming what had covered his face, putting a thoughtful hoof under his chin.
He casually pointed his hoof at the mare and said, “Princess Celestia?”
“Nope.” she responded.
He returned his hoof to his chin, “Daring Do?”
“Nope.”
“Princess Luna?”
“We haven’t gotten that far into the story yet, silly.”
“Right... I give up Pinkie Pie. Who?”
“Not just one, but TWO new some ponies!”
Bubble Berry’s eyes widened at this news and breathed in a loud, deep breath.
“Oh! My! Celestia! We’ve got to throw a party for them.” he said as he frantically jumped around the room, collecting party supplies hidden throughout, before he appeared in front of Pinkie Pie, grasping at her shoulders with his nose touching her nose. “What kind of ponies did they look like?” he said as fast as he could, yet still say it comprehensively.
It was Pinkie Pie’s turn to put a thoughtful hoof under her chin, “They looked very bookish. So I think we should set up a surprise party in the Golden Oaks Library.”
He let go of his sister. “That sounds like a plan. Let’s get to it.”
Dusk turned himself around and was now cooperating with Spike, walking alongside Twilight.
He sighed, “Alright. Where are we going to next?”
“Sweet Apple Acres.” Spike responded in an uplifting voice.
They all stood at the gate of Sweet Apple Acres.
“Yeehaw!” yelled a voice. All three turned their attention to see where the voice was coming from and saw an orange mare with a yellow mane and tail, wearing a cowboy hat running at near full sprint towards an apple tree surrounded by empty baskets. She suddenly stopped at the base of the tree, turned around and kicked the tree with her hind legs, knocking every apple out of the tree, all of them piling neatly into each of the baskets. She did a sort of curtsy as she showed off her recent accomplishment.
Twilight sighed. “Let’s get this over with.” She dragged herself up to the orange mare, Spike and Dusk following closely. “Good afternoon. My name is Twilight Sparkle-” she was interrupted when the other mare grabbed one of Twilight’s hooves and shook it vigorously with both front of her front hooves.
“Well, howdy-do there Twilight Sparkle. Pleasure to meet ya. Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres. We here like meetin’ new folks and makin’ new friends.” she stopped shaking Twilight’s hoof, leaving it to continue flailing in the air, and turned to Dusk, extending a hoof out to him.
“Ok then. Might as well.” Dusk thought to himself as he took the mare’s hoof and kissed the back of it, the orange mare blushed intensely.
“My name is Dusk Shine, my sister and I are here by order of-” *SMASH!*
A full bucket of apples was suddenly placed onto Dusk’s head with great force, rendering him unconscious. Blood flowing from his mouth and into the dirt.
“DUSK! WHAT THE HAY DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!” Twilight screamed at the orange mare.
Another stallion, looking almost identical to the orange mare, except slightly larger, having broader shoulders and carrying a yoke around his neck, came up to the crime scene and asked, “I heard the commotion. What’s goin on here?”
“This colt here tried to get fresh with me.” the orange mare said as she turned around and lifted her nose up in the air. “Had to teach the boy a lesson.”
“The only thing he’ll be learning is what death feels like!” Twilight retorted.
“Sorry.” said the stallion with a sigh of defeat. “Couldn’t be helped with her.”
“B’sides we’re busy waitin’ for some Canterlot folk to arrive.” said the orange mare, holding her head up high.
“That- would be US.” Twilight said through gritted teeth.
“Beg yer pardon?” the orange mare leveled her head and turned to skeptically face Twilight.
“We came from Canterlot to check on the Summer Sun Celebration’s preparations, and the ‘colt,’ of whom you nearly crushed his head in with a basket of apples, was chosen by Princess Celestia herself to supervise everything, along with myself.” Twilight said flatly.
At this news, both of the orange ponies’ faces turned pale, ice cold sweat started beading down the back of their neck, and their hats casted dark shadows over their faces, hiding their pinprick sized pupils.
“This is worse than the time when you tried to pass of Big Mac as having apple blight, AJ.” he said, almost under his breath.
“Shut up, BJ.” the mare responded. “You were trying to do that too.”
Later...
“Sorry ‘bout earlier. I don’t think I’ve properly introduced myself. My name’s Applejack, and this is my twin brother BJ.” she said now smiling and vigorously shaking Dusk’s hoof.
Dusk had regained consciousness and was now standing upright, (shaking hooves) and holding a bag of ice to his head.
“Thanks,” he said in a monotone voice. “I may have a skull fracture, but at least it didn’t get ugly...”
“Trust me.” said BJ, leaning in towards Dusk. “You ain’t seen ugly yet.”
“...and I don’t think we want to.” said Twilight. “Besides, we’re here to see what you will be serving for the banquet.”
“Sure thing. Care for a sample?”
Twilight gives Dusk a glance. “Sure. Why not?” she said.
Applejack then starts clanging a really loud triangle. “SOUP’S ON, EVERYPONY!” she yelled.
The three Canterlot-ians heard what sounded like rolling thunder after Applejack said “Soup’s on, everypony!” and it was growing louder and louder.
They all turned around and screamed in fear as they saw a stampede of ponies followed by a large cloud of dust coming towards them. They were picked up and set down at a table. Their heads spun for a second before Applejack spoke up again.
“Let me introduce y’all to the Apple Family.”
“That sound great but we’re kind of in a rush...” Twilight said before she was interrupted by Applejack.
“This here is Apple Fritter. Apple Strudel, Apple Pie, Apple Cupcakes...” she went on introducing all of her family members by name and each member placed a plate of food onto the table, until they started stacking it all on top of eachother, creating a pile three heads high.
BJ picked up the introductions halfway through ending with, “... Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom AND...” Applejack and BJ stuffed a green apple in Twilight and Dusk’s mouths as they ended introductions together. “... Granny Smith.”
“Up and at ‘em Granny. We’ve got guests.” said Applejack.
Granny Smith was sleeping in her rocking chair. “Huh? What? Uh - uh - Jimbo! How come you didn’t tell me that soup’s on?” she said getting out of the chair.
“Granny, I thought we agreed never to call me that.” said BJ.
Applejack started to snicker, but when BJ started to scowl at her, she curled her lips between her teeth and, with wide eyes, shifted her eyes from side to side, still trying real hard not to smile.
“Well,” Applejack said. “I’d say that you three are all already part of the family!”
Twilight and Dusk spat out the apples they had in their mouths. Twilight gave a “Bleh” as she got the apple out of her mouth and Dusk just sat down and looked slightly annoyed after he got his apple out of his mouth.
“Ha ha ha.” Twilight laughed nervously. “Well, I can see that the food situation is handled, so we’ll be on our way now.”
“Aww.” said a small yellow filly, named Apple Bloom, with a red mane and bow. “Aren’tcha gonna stay for brunch?”
“Sorry.” she responded. “End of the world and all...”
Apple Bloom gave a pitiful look at Twilight, trying to melt her heart. Twilight looked over at Dusk and Spike. Dusk slowly shook his head with half-open eyes.
Twilight looked back at Apple Bloom, still giving her horribly cute puppy-dog eyes, her heart melted at the sight and she lamented. “Ok. We’ll stay for brunch.”
“Yay!” everyone cheered, except for Dusk, who was looking quite annoyed at his sister for falling to puppy-dog eyes when she herself used them to great effect when they were little and got him in trouble for many-a-things.
“Ugh. My stomach feels like it’s about to explode.” said Twilight as she walked slowly through town with a bulging stomach filled with food.
“How come you didn’t eat as much Dusk?” she asked Dusk wearily, with a tint of irritation.
“Because I probably have a concussion and I shouldn’t be doing strenuous mental activity until I’ve fully recovered.”
“Eating is a strenuous mental activity?” Spike questioned, raising an eyebrow at this.
“It is when you are trying to eat AND stave off several crazy mares who find you very attractive at the same time.”
“Right...” Spike said sarcastically.
Twilight started to gag but managed to suppress it. “So, who’s next on the-” *gag* “-list, Spike?”
“The ponies in charge of weather control are Rainbow Dash and Rainbow Blitz.”
Dusk looks around, up at the sky and sees that the sky is partly cloudy. “Well,” he said, “Looks like those two aren’t doing a good job.”
“I’m surprised you can make such a judgement, considering how you refuse to do any strenuous mental activity.” Is what Twilight would have said if her stomach wasn’t on the verge of exploding or was interrupted by a multi colored streak that collided into her and smashed her into a puddle of mud.
All of a sudden Twilight’s stomach didn’t feel like exploding anymore.
After the spectral blur stopped in the mud puddle, mixed with Twilight’s brunch, three mud covered figures became distinguishable, two pegasi dog piled on top of a unicorn. One of the pegasi was a mare, she lifted herself up and wiped the mud from her eyes as she said in a tomboyish, raspy voice, “I beat you again, Blitz.” then she shook the rest of the mud off of herself, revealing her smooth, rainbow-colored mane.
A more masculine, yet similarly raspy voice, came from the other pegasus, saying, “Nuh-uh, Dash! I beat you this time!” and he shook off the mud on him revealing a similar rainbow mane, but more jagged in style.
“No way! I was obviously in the lead!” she replied.
“No you weren’t.”
“Yeah-huh.”
“Nuh-uh.”
“Yeah-huh~.”
They went back and forth saying “Nuh-uh” and “Yeah-huh” in rapid succession, overlapping each other's response to the point they were saying their responses at the same time with very little delay in between.
Dusk coughed loudly to get the pair’s attention. The two pegasi stopped shouting at each other and looked at Dusk curiously.
“I believe that mare you two ran into may require medical attention.” Dusk said flatly.
The two pegasi looked at the mud-covered unicorn mare that laid on the ground before them, her eyes in a spiral and vomit dripping from her mouth. The two pegasi looked at each other, then at Spike and Dusk with nervous smiles.
Both pegasi quickly went to help Twilight get back up on her hooves.
Twilight was able to stand, but her head was still spinning from the crash and she still had mud all over her.
“Here, let me clean up you up.” the mare said as she bolted off and quickly returned with a cloud over Twilight’s head, she bounced up and down on the cloud, making water pour down hard onto Twilight, who gave a shrill shriek as if she were awakened by this immense downpour.
The mare named Dash looked down at her target from her cloud and saw Twilight sopping wet and giving her a deadly glare that could probably kill a manticore if she didn’t have her mane hiding her eyes.
“Oops. Looks like I overdid it.” Dash said, kind of sheepishly.
The stallion named Blitz looked at Dash. “You want me to handle this?”
“Nah, bro. I got this.” she said, getting down from her cloud, putting a hoof on his chest.
“OK, Dash.” he said backing off a little bit.
“No no, that won’t be necessary.” Twilight said rather grouchily, but before she could move, Dash had already moved the cloud away and started creating a rainbow colored tornado around Twilight.
“This is my very own patented ‘Rain-blow Dry.’” Dash said as she finished up summoning and killing the tornado and gently landing on the ground next to Blitz. “No no. No need to thank me, you’re quite welcome.” she then took a look at her handywork and started to roll over on the floor laughing hard, Blitz and Spike joined in shortly after.
Twilight’s mane and tail was a big fluffy mess and look completely hilarious to all who could see.
Twilight had a deadpan look on her face. “I take it you two are Rainbow Dash and Rainbow Blitz?”
Both pegasus sprang up into a poster character-type pose, facing each other.
“The one-” said Dash.
“-And only.” finished Blitz.
Dash jumped up and hovered in front of Twilight’s face. “Why? You’ve heard of us?”
“I heard you two were supposed to be keeping the sky clear.” responded Twilight.
“Yeah, yeah. Relax babe. That can be done in a jiffy.” said Rainbow Blitz laying back on a cloud next to Dash.
“What he said.” said Rainbow Dash. “It can wait until after we’re done practicing.”
“Practicing? For what?” asked Twilight quizzically.
“The Wonderbolts!” they said in unison, pointing at a poster of the Wonderbolts on a nearby tree.
“They’re gonna perform at the celebration tomorrow and we are going to show them our stuff.” said Rainbow Dash.
“THE Wonderbolts?” Twilight said.
“Yep.” both pegasus said.
Twilight scoffed. “The best fliers in all of equestria would never accept a couple of pegasi that can't keep the sky clear for one day.”
“Hey, just one of us can clear this sky in ten seconds flat.” said Rainbow Blitz.
“Care to prove that tough guy?” Twilight responded, goading him.
“Actually, no. I’m going to be the better pony and let my sister handle that.” he retorted.
“I’d be happy to do so Blitz.” said Rainbow Dash. “If not only to make this pony embarrassed for doubting us, then to protect you from being embarrassed when you can only do this in only 11 seconds, flat.”
“Just shut up and prove this mare wrong, Dash.” Said Blitz slightly glaring at his sister through the corner of his eye.
Rainbow Dash then leaped off the cloud she and Blitz was on, dissipating it, causing Blitz to lose his seat and briefly fall before he recovered and was able to land himself onto the ground gently.
Rainbow Dash then proceeded to zip around the sky, kicking every cloud in sight, making them dissipate.
Ten seconds flat later, Rainbow Dash had finished clearing the sky of clouds. Twilight and Spike stood there, their mouths agape in awe.
“What’d I tell ya? Ten seconds flat. I’d never leave Ponyville hangin’ and neither would Blitz.” said Rainbow Dash.
Blitz walked up beside Twilight as she stared forward with an awestruck look. “Ha. You seem like fun to hang out with. So how does lunch tomorrow sound?” he said raising an eyebrow and giving a smirk at Twilight.
Twilight raised her own eyebrow at this and gave a skeptical look. “We’ll see.”
With that both pegasi flew off, leaving Twilight, Spike, and Dusk alone, the latter of whom had been standing still, stone faced ever since Twilight went through the “Rain-blow Dry.”
“Um... Dusk?” Twilight said, approaching him slowly.
No response, he just stared straight forward, like a statue.
She poked him in the chest softly and he tilted his head quickly and started twitching all over, his eyes were watering and his lips looked like he just ate something extremely sour. He gave an occasional snort for a minute then suddenly burst out laughing uncontrollably and pointed at Twilight’s mane.
Dusk laughed harder at Twilight’s mane than everyone else combined.
“GREAT CELESTIA!” Dusk managed to say, “You have no idea how hard it was for me to not laugh at that! Whoo~.”
Twilight’s eyes were drooping so low they were almost closed when she said, “Great~. If you’re done laughing I’d like to get a move on and finish this list, please.”
“Wait, wait. Where’s a painter pony? I gotta capture this moment.”
Twilight rolled her eyes and groaned loudly as she started walking towards town hall.
Twilight, Dusk and Spike walk through the front doors of town hall.
Spike scribbled an item of his list as he said, “Decorations.” he looked up from the parchment. “Beautiful.” he continued.
“Yes Spike, the decorations are quite stunning.” said Twilight. “We should be able to get to the library in no time.”
“Not the decorations! Her.” Spike said as he pointed to a white unicorn mare with a purple mane. “She’s beautiful. How do I look?”
The other two rolled their eyes and walked up to the mare. Spike stopped Dusk almost immediately before he could do anything.
“You have to be my wingpony!” Spike said to Dusk, discreetly.
“What do I get out of it?” Dusk replied.
“I’ll...” Spike hesitated, desperately looking for something to bribe him with. “I’ll do your chores for a year!”
“You’ll do those anyways (if I neglect them long enough).”
Spike pondered a little bit more then smiled deviously, “Do it or I’ll tell everypony that you still sleep with a silly doll.”
Dusk’s eyes flared and moved so fast that he would have impaled Spike’s head with his horn as he butted heads with him. “YOU LEAVE MISS SMARTYPANTS OUT OF THIS!!!” he nearly screamed.
“Come on. Please?” Spike’s eyes turned big and puppy-dog-like as he asked this.
Dusk sighed and back off from Spike’s face, “Fine. I’ll see what I can do.”
Twilight just rolled her eyes when she heard this and then turned her attention back to the white unicorn mare. “Perfect.” the snow white unicorn said as she levitated a ribbon around a column and tied it into a neat bow. “Sparkles always does the trick. Why Rarity you ARE a talent.”
“Good afternoon.” Twilight said. “My name is Twilight Sparkle.”
“A pleasure to meet you Twilight- AAAH HAHA!” the mare said as she turned around to face Twilight, obviously startled.
“Oh great, not again.” Dusk thought to himself.
“Dear mother of Celestia! What is that THING?!” she continued.
“My mane?” Twilight said. “It’s a long story, but I’m just here to check on the decorations and then we’ll be out of your hair.”
“Oh good heavens! I can’t let you walk around with THAT on your head any longer. And this looks like a two pony job. Elusive!” Rarity called out.
Another pony appeared out of nowhere and stood next to Rarity, if you were to squint you would probably confuse them for each other, even though the other was a stallion.
“You called, dear sister.” the new stallion said. Then he looked at Twilight with a horrified expression. “Whatever you called me here for is going to have to wait. I need to fix this poor mare’s mane and this is going to be a two pony job.”
“That’s what I called you over here for.” Rarity said. “Now quickly, we need to fix this before anypony else can see her.” and she and Elusive started pushing Twilight away.
“Wait. Where are we going? Help!” Twilight said as she was being ponynapped while Spike and Dusk just stood aside and look on.
“You think we should help her?” Dusk asked as he leaned over towards Spike and then realised that Spike was already following them, Rarity specifically, floating in the air with his tail twirling behind him like a propeller.
Dusk gave an exasperated sigh as he slowly followed the four of them.
Later, at the Carousel Boutique, Dusk was sitting at one end of the room, with a bored expression, while Rarity and Elusive were working on fixing Twilight’s mane. And Spike giving Rarity his assistance.
“Excuse me, Miss Rarity, Mister Elusive,” Twilight said, her head covered in a blanket of soap suds. “I really don’t want to be a bother here-”
“Oh nonsense, darling.” Rarity responded, inspecting bottles of conditioner on a tray being held up by a lovestruck Spike. Dusk rolled his eyes at Spike and his eyes and head started drooping.
“Anything to help out a poor mare in need.” Rarity said as she levitated a bottle of conditioner one final time to pass it off to Elusive, who then applied it to Twilight’s mane.
“So tell me, Miss Sparkle; Mister Shine,” Elusive started as he massaged the newly applied conditioner. “Where are you two from?”
Dusk didn’t respond except with a barely audible snore.
“Oh,” Twilight said, “We’ve been sent from Canterlot to check in on the-” she couldn’t complete her sentence before she was spun around in her chair and met with two starstruck faces, inches from her own.
“Canterlot!?” the two ponies said in ecstatic shrieks, which startled Dusk enough to give out a shriek of his own and fell over onto the floor.
Twilight was startled by this but continued to speak, “Yes, my brother and I were sent here by Princess Celestia, my teacher, to check in on the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration.”
Rarity and Elusive gasped as the latter said, “You are the personal protege of Princess Celestia?”
“Y-yeah, I guess.” Twilight responded.
“It’s an honor to meet you.” he said kneeling before her. “You’re almost like a princess yourself.”
Rarity quickly whipped around as Dusk picked himself up and rubbed his eyes and when he saw that Rarity was barely an inch from his face he let out another yelp, “HA-JE-JE-BAH!” and jumped backwards.
“And you’re her brother, right?” she said with stars in her eyes, “Which, by extension, almost makes you a prince.” Her forehooves clasped in front of her.
Dusk said nothing as he stood frozen in mid-flinch, staring wide-eyed in fear at the snow-colored pony in front of him.
Spike broke the silence between the two when he jumped up, put an arm around Dusk’s shoulders, used his other hand to point towards himself with his thumb and said, “Dusk and I are basically brothers, so that also makes me kind of a prince too!”
Rarity blinked, the stars disappearing from her eyes, her forehooves back on the ground. “I’m sorry,” she said, “but, who are you?”
Spike fell to the floor on his side and with tears streaming from his eyes said, “I’m Spike, I’ve been helping you for, like, the past two hours.”
Apparently unphased by the supposed guilt she should have felt from this Rarity and Elusive started treating Twilight and Dusk to a new suit and dress. Dusk was wearing a normal black and white suit with a blue bow tie, and Twilight was wearing a small white dress with red and blue sequins on it and an emerald on her chest.
“Canterlot.” Rarity said, as if reminiscing on her memories. “The glamor, the sophistication. We’ve always dreamed of living there.”
“I can’t wait to hear all about it.” said Elusive, smiling at Rarity.
“We’re going to be best friends you and I.” Rarity said to Twilight and Elusive said to Dusk, both nearly leaning up against who they were talking to.
“Emeralds!?” Rarity said jumping back, looking at the emerald on Twilight’s dress.
“A blue bow tie?!” Elusive mimicked, but with Dusk’s bow tie.
“What was I thinking?” they both said at the same time.
“Let me go get you some rubies!”
“I think a red bow tie would suit you better.”
And both of the white unicorns dash off to another room. At that instant, Twilight and Dusk quickly looked at each other, and seeing the exact same fear they had in the other’s eyes they both knew exactly what the other would say. “Run!” And so they did, quickly picking up Spike from drowning in the pool made of his tears.
Twilight and Dusk pant as they catch their breath from running so far away from Rarity and Elusive. Spike sat on Twilight’s back as they were running, and got off when they were slow enough for him to walk beside the panting ponies. As he walked Spike had his arms crossed and an angry look on his face.
Twilight managed to recover most of her breath but still had to pause for a moment to breath as she spoke, “What’s next... on the list... Spike?”
Spike broke his angered look to take a look at the list. “Music. It’s the last one on the list.”
At that moment they heard birds singing, everyone stopped for a moment and Twilight followed the source of the music. Dusk tried to follow but Spike stood directly in front of him with narrowed eyes, a frown and crossed arms.
“What?” Dusk said.
Spike said nothing for a moment then spoke up, leaning forward as he said in a moderately loud tone, “What the hay, bro! You ruined my first impression with that mare, jerk!”
Dusk’s eye twitched. “Really, those two could have ponynapped us and all you care about is your stupid first impression?!” He walked around Spike to follow where Twilight left. “I would rather not be spending my time helping you with that psycho of a mare, and I would like to avoid her brother too. Besides, I don’t see what the big deal is in having a marefriend. Love can only make ponies stupid and oblivious.” and he peaked over the bush Twilight was behind as well.
“Well,” Spike started softly to where Twilight would not be able to hear, “I guess intelligent ponies like you and Twilight could never fall for that sort of thing, right?” No response. “Dusk?”
Dusk couldn’t hear Spike over the loud thumping of his heart, and even if he could hear he wouldn’t be able to listen because of the loss of feeling other than cold in his extremities, his cheeks and nose felt like they were on fire, and his eyes were bulging so much he felt that they may never close after today.
A pegasus mare with a silk-like pink mane, yellow velvet feathers and a voice that was soft and sweet as honey, at least to Dusk, said “Now, follow me please.” A tree full of various birds started to sing a song together, but one blue jay was horribly off-beat from the rest.
A pegasus stallion with a yellow coat, pink mane, and a voice said, “Oh dear, pardon me everyone. Can we stop for a moment?” and he flew up to the blue jay. “Excuse me sir,” he said softly, “I don’t mean to be rude, but your rhythm was just a teeny-tiny bit off.” The bird seemed to nod in acknowledgement as the stallion flew back down to the ground next to the mare. “OK, now.” the yellow stallion said. “Once more, from the top. One. Two. One two thr-”
“Hello!” Twilight said, startling the yellow ponies and the birds. The birds flew away while the ponies just recoiled at the sound of Twilight’s voice. “Oh my, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten your birds. I just came here to check on the music and it’s sounding wonderful.”
The ponies said nothing as the mare just sat down and kicked the ground a little while the stallion’s eyes darted around before he slowly pushed the other closer to Twilight, without moving from where he stood. The mare’s eyes were wide with terror during the moment she was being pushed and were relaxed, somewhat, when the moment stopped.
Twilight gave an awkward smile before she spoke, “I’m Twilight Sparkle. What’s your name?”
“I’m -” and she said the rest of her sentence incoherently soft.
“I’m sorry, what was that?”
She responded again, even softer.
“Didn’t quite catch that.”
All Twilight could hear was a little squeak for a response. Then Twilight noticed that this mare wasn’t actually looking at her.
“Uh bro?” Spike said to Dusk. “You have been stuck with that silly smile on your face for five minutes... and you’re drooling.”
Dusk snapped at the little dragon, “That’s not true!”
“Oh really?” said a completely different voice. Dusk turned to see that the yellow pegasus stallion was standing almost right next to him. The stallion had his lips pursed and his eyes narrowed. “My sister tends to start to cry whenever ponies stare at her for too long.” he motioned his head to the other pegasus nearby, who was now crying.
“I wasn’t staring!” Dusk said quickly, now nervously staring at the stallion, hoping he would believe him.
Spike walked around the bushes to look at the crying pony and said, “Nice going Dusk.”
When the mare saw Spike, she immediately stopped crying and exclaimed, “Ohmygosh! A baby dragon!” she ran right through Twilight knocking her over to get closer to Spike. “I’ve never seen a baby dragon before! Oh, he’s so cute!” she picked him up in a hug.
“Well, well, well.” Spike said rather smugly.
The mare put the baby dragon down. “Oh my, he talks. That’s amazing. What’s your name?”
“I’m Spike.” he responded.
“Hi Spike, I’m Fluttershy, and that’s my brother Butterscotch.” she pointed a hoof to the yellow stallion currently having a staring contest with Dusk, Dusk currently winning out of fear.
A purple aura surrounded Spike as he was lifted up into the air and placed down on Twilight’s back.
“Well, I can see that everything is handled here, so I guess we’ll be going now, Dusk!”
Dusk broke eye contact with Butterscotch to glance a Twilight, tip-hoofed a couple steps around Butterscotch and zipped off a good ten feet away next to Twilight and started briskly walking away with her, but Fluttershy followed, and, consequently, so did Butterscotch.
“I just can’t believe it, a talking dragon.” said Fluttershy as she followed Twilight, Spike and Dusk. “What do dragons even talk about?”
“Well,” Spike said, “what do you want to know?”
“Absolutely everything.”
Twilight let out a loud groan, and Dusk was silently grinding his teeth at this. Then Dusk jumped a little bit when he noticed Butterscotch giving him a deathly glare as he walked right next to him. There was an awkward silence between the two of them as Spike told Fluttershy his life story, starting from the day he was hatched, and Dusk was trying to avoid eye contact with the threatening stallion.
“So...” Dusk started, “Is there anything you want to know about me?” he asked, smiling nervously at Butterscotch.
“No, I think I’m good.” Butterscotch responded, not breaking his stare.
“Great~.” Dusk groaned, lowering his head and continuing to avoid eye contact.
“... and that’s the story of my whole, entire life. Well, up until today. Do you want to hear about today?” Spike said to Fluttershy, who was following close behind Twilight and Dusk. Twilight holding Spike atop her back and Dusk being closely stalked by Butterscotch.
“Oh, yes please,” Fluttershy responded.
Twilight immediately whirled around and said. “Oh, my. Will you look at that? We’re at the place where Spike, Dusk and I will be staying. How did we get here so fast?” pointing out that they had finally arrived at their next destination. The “Golden Oaks Library”, a hollowed out living tree, with a door, windows, and a balcony nicely designed into the tree. There were no lights on at the moment. “Well, it’s getting late. And Spike is getting tired and needs to get some rest.”
“No, I don’t.”
Twilight bucked Spike off of her, “Aw, wook at him. Poor wittle baby dwagon is so tired he can’t even keep his wittle balwance.”
“Poor thing, you simply must get to bed...” Fluttershy said, stepping closer to Spike.
“Yes, yes. And I’ll take him to bed now.” Twilight said as she stepped in between her and Spike.
“Well, see you later Twilight, Dusk,” Fluttershy said looking at the respective pony when she said their name then started walking away.
“Okbye.” Twilight said as she rushed inside.
“Byee~,” Dusk said, blushing with a dumbstruck look on his face.
Butterscotch stared at Dusk with narrowed eyes.
Dusk quickly realized that Butterscotch was still staring at him, “Seriously! Can I help you?!”
Butterscotch said nothing as he turned away to follow Fluttershy.
Dusk gave out an angry snort as he walked inside the hollow tree.
“Rude much?” Spike said as he stood in the darkness.
“I’m sorry Spike but Dusk and I have to convince the princess that Nightmare Moon is coming and there is not much time left.” Twilight said as she slowly walked in the direction of Spike's voice.
“Yeah, about that.” said Dusk as he too slowly tracked his way towards the sound of Spike’s voice. “I’m starting to think this is a waste of our time. What if it is just an old mare’s tale?”
“You seriously can’t be backing out on me now, Dusk?” said Twilight incredulously.
“Why not? We’re obviously not getting anywhere. Might as well not make a fool of yourself trying to prove something that isn’t real.”
“So, you bail when things get too tough and don’t go your way. Is that right?”
“No. I just know when to quit wasting time chasing after fairy tales.”
Just then the lights turned on in the library, revealing the library to be packed full of ponies, who all yelled in unison, “Surprise!” startling the unicorns and dragon.
Twilight groaned.
“Surprise!” said two identical pink ponies, one a mare and the other a stallion, to Twilight Spike and Dusk.
“Were you surprised?” asked the mare.
“Huh, huh, huh!?” said the stallion.
“Very...” said Twilight through gritted teeth. “Libraries are supposed to be quiet.”
“Pfft. That’s silly.” said the mare. “What kind of party would this be if it were quiet?”
“Boring~.” answered the stallion.
“Well,” Dusk said quickly, interrupting Twilight’s train of thought from saying anything rude. “What’s the occasion?”
“It’s your welcome to Ponyville party.” said the pink mare. “Y’see I saw you two when you first got into town remember?” she continued excitedly.
“And she has never seen you before and if she, nor I, have never seen you before that must mean you’re new!” the stallion said, equally excited.
“‘Cause we know everypony, and I mean everypony, in Ponyville!”
“And if you’re new that means you haven’t met anypony yet-”
“-And if you haven’t met anypony yet that means you don’t have any friends, and if you don’t have any friends you must be lonely and that made me sad.”
“Well, I appreciate the thought.” Dusk said with a genuine smile on his face, while Twilight snuck off to the punch bowl.
The pink mare followed Twilight as she continued to rant about what brought her to set up this party over to the punch bowl.
“...and so I invited everypony in Ponyville!” the pink mare said, ending her rant, as Twilight poured herself a cup of punch and drank a sip of it.
Twilight’s face turned red as tears and sweat rolled down her face and she jumped up, her mane turning to flames, a train whistle could be heard as steam shot out from her ears and she bolted out of the room.
Dusk was standing next to the pink stallion, who was snickering, trying to hold in his near uncontainable laughter.
“Did you do that?” Dusk asked the stallion, pointing a hoof towards the direction Twilight left in.
He held up a bottle labeled “Hot Sauce” in one hoof. “Yep.” he said, continuing to snicker.
“Nice.” Dusk said as he held up a hoof for a hoof-bump and the smiling pink stallion returned the favor. “So, what’s your name?”
The pink stallion put away the bottle of hot sauce and said, “I go by many names, ‘Cobra’, ‘Mr. Sultana Sultana’, but you can call me ‘Bubble Berry Pie’ or ‘Berry’.”
Dusk quirked an eyebrow and tilted his head a little bit. “Ok... ‘Berry’. Nice to meet you. I’m Dusk Shine and the mare you just pranked was my fanatical twin sister Twilight Sparkle.”
“No way! I have a twin sister too! What a coinkidink. And I know four other guys with twin sisters too. We’re all going to have our own pre-party by ourselves for the Summer Sun Celebration, you wanna join us?”
Dusk shrugged. “Sure. Why not?”
Meanwhile, Twilight was laying in bed with her head under the pillow, trying to muffle out the noise of the party going on in the main room.
Suddenly, Spike bursts in, slightly dizzy and with a lampshade on his head. He lifted the lampshade out from obscuring his vision and said loudly and cheerfully, “Come on Twilight their playing ‘pin the tail on the pony’ you should come and join us!”
“No, I will not go play ‘pin the tail on the pony’! This party is a complete waste of time. I’m wasting my time right now trying block out the stupid noises of all these CRAZY ponies when I know that Nightmare Moon is coming and I am not doing a thing about it! And now my stupid twin brother has backed out on me, again, and now I have to do this all on my own!” and she stuffed her head back under her pillow.
Spike’s expression softened into a sad look as he said, “You should really loosen up and follow Dusk’s example Twilight. I heard that he’s going to a private party with some new friends right now. And I was half-expecting you to be making friends first. Besides, even if Nightmare Moon is real and DOES return, it won’t be the end of the world, right?” he said as let the lampshade drop back down over his vision and walked out of the room.
Twilight lifted her head, with the pillow laying on top of it, and repeated most of what Spike said to herself in a mocking tone, then looked out the window at the full moon, paying attention to the ‘mare’ you could see on the face of the moon.
“Maybe Spike’s right,” she said, taking the pillow off of her head. “Maybe it won’t be the end of the world.” and she laid down her head on top of the pillow, letting her ears soak in the sounds of the party going on in the next room.
Just then, stars around the moon glistened brightly and the ‘mare’ in the moon faded away.
Dusk and Bubble Berry walked down the moonlit road to Sugarcube Corner. Berry explained that he and his sister live there with two other ponies, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, who actually own the place, and they are able to pay rent by working for the Cakes.
Upon entering Sugarcube Corner, Dusk immediately recognized all the ponies there, they were the male half of all the other ponies he had met throughout the day: BJ, Rainbow Blitz, Elusive, and Butterscotch.
“‘Ey~! Berry! What took you so long, man? We were thinking of starting the party without you.” said Rainbow Blitz hovering above everyone’s heads, “Who’s this?” he pointed a hoof at Dusk.
“This is Dusk Shine.” Berry said, “He’s our new friend. He also has an older twin sister, which is why I invited him to our party.”
“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you again, Mister Shine.” said Elusive as he came up to give Dusk a hoofshake, who, hesitantly, returned it. “Now we can get to know each other better without being distracted by your sister’s horrible taste in mane style.” he said taking his hoof from the shake and placing his other hoof on his chest, his face showing an obvious grimace.
“Really?” BJ said as he walked up right next to Elusive. “I didn’t think it was that bad.”
“N-Neither did I.” said Butterscotch said meekly, a little ways away from the rest of the group.
“Oh-ho no.” Dusk laughed as he said to BJ. “You should have seen Twilight’s hair after Rainbow Dash messed it up, it was hilarious!”
“Oh yeah!” Blitz said landing next to Dusk, giving him a rough pat on the back. “That was THE most hilarious thing I have seen today.” and Dusk gave him a hoof bump.
Berry then jumped in between Dusk and Blitz, arms around their necks, and said, “Well, you should have seen her face when she took a sip of punch that was spiked with hot sauce. THAT was the most hilarious thing I'VE seen today.” he released Blitz to point a hoof at himself.
Blitz looked at Berry through half opened eyes. “Were you the one who put the hot sauce in there?”
Berry blinked and his eyes shifted from side to side, “Yes.”
Blitz just rolled his eyes and walked away a short distance, “Of course.” he turned around to face the group, and sat down, looking unamused at Berry.
“So~,” Berry said, turning to Dusk. “Which was funnier? Rainbow Dash simply messing up her hair, or me masterfully spiking the punch bowl with hot sauce?”
Dusk was slowly starting to think about how to seriously answer but Blitz interrupted, “Don’t!” he yelled with his eyes shut as if he were in pain. “Don’t answer that. If you do, he’s likely to declare yet another prank war on my sister, that’ll be the third time this week, and it’s only Tuesday.”
“Sounds like just another one of his Tuesdays, to me.” BJ said flatly.
“Yes, quite.” Elusive responded in kind.
Berry scowled at BJ and Elusive briefly before perking up and bounced up and down a little bit. “Well, it seems that everypony knows each other already, so I guess I can skip the introductions. Now, let’s get this party started! BJ!” he pointed to BJ dramatically, “Did you bring the cider?”
BJ smirked. “Eeyup. The best cider available off-season, made by yours truly. My own personal recipe.”
Elusive used his magic to drag a keg of cider into the room and place it on a table, stuck a spigot into it, and poured everypony a cup.
Elusive the cup of cider in his magic. “How long did you manage to hide this from your family this time, BJ?”
“Five weeks.” he said proudly.
Elusive took a sip and raised an eyebrow, giving BJ a skeptical look.
“Ok fine. Two weeks.” BJ looked away, dejectedly.
Dusk was getting along with everypony nicely, but after a couple of drinks Dusk finally noticed that Butterscotch was staring daggers at him, he gave an irritated sigh and came up to Butterscotch.
“Dude, you’ve been staring at me like that every chance you got. What the hay?”
Butterscotch took a swig of his drink. “I don’t like ponies who stare at my sister the same way you did. They’ve always been bad news.”
“And I could say the same about you in my case.”
Butterscotch’s cheeks turned red and he started to butt heads, physically, with Dusk, looking down at him, “I wasn’t staring at your sister!”
Dusk then pushed back Butterscotch with his head, giving himself the higher ground, and said, “I was talking about you staring at me you dumb-plot!” he took a swig of his own drink, “Now that you mention it...” then he went back to butting heads, “Twilight was in my general direction from your perspective, so while I wasn’t lookin’ you were probably taking a good long look at her yourself now weren’t ch’ya!”
Butterscotch took back the high ground, “I already told you, I wasn’t staring at your sister!”
High ground: Dusk, “You denying it only confirms my suspicions!”
Their heads mashed together, faces flushed red, Butterscotch’s wings flared up, and Dusk emanating a purple misty aura, both out of a primal instinct to appear more threatening to the other, Elusive and Rainbow Blitz look on at the display, both looking slightly drowsy.
“Do you think we should stop them?” asked Elusive.
Blitz and Elusive looked at each other, “Nah~!” they said in unison and they chugged down their drinks.
There was a knock at the door.
“Oh, goodie the karaoke machine is here.” Berry said as he opened the door to let the delivery pony in, she had a gray coat and yellow mane, and her eyes were both looking in different directions.
Berry signed for the delivery of the rental karaoke machine and BJ brought it in and set it up.
“Hey, guys!” Berry said, getting everypony’s attention, including Dusk and Butterscotch, “We’ve got the karaoke machine ready, let’s do this thing.”
Reluctantly, Dusk and Butterscotch stopped their head-butting contest and walked over to participate in the karaoke.
“You know what, man?” said Dusk. “I’m sorry about that, let’s just have fun this is a party after all.”
“Yeah, you’re right, let’s put that aside and have fun.”
“Maybe we can become friends later.”
Butterscotch got into Dusk’s face again and said in a low voice, “We’ll never be friends.”
Later that hour Dusk and Butterscotch were jovially singing “Pirate’s Life for me” together, arms around each other’s shoulders.
That was the last thing Dusk remembered before waking up, dazed and groggy.
“So this is what a hangover feels like, huh?” he said to himself. “Never thought that I’d get drunk.” he shook his head, fighting back his headache and feeling of fatigue. “I’m never doing that again.”
He blinked his eyes as blobs of color slowly formed more solid shapes, eventually, he realized that he was in the upstairs bedroom of the Golden Oaks Library.
Dusk trotted downstairs and found his sister reading a book. When he got near the bottom of the staircase, Twilight turned her attention to face him.
“Good afternoon Dusk.” she said.
“Afternoon?” he inquired. “How long was I out?”
“About four years.” she said nonchalantly.
“FOUR YEARS?! What happened?”
“Well, my friends and I defeated Nightmare Moon and saved Equestria a couple more times since then and now I’m an alicorn.” she said as she spread her purple wings.
“AN ALICORN?!”
And that’s the moment when Dusk jumped up from the bed, screaming like a skydiving hamster who's parachute won't open.
A non-alicorn Twilight burst into the room and looked around in a panic, she relaxed a little when she saw Dusk lying awake in bed. “Dusk, you’re awake! What’s wrong?”
Dusk was hyperventilating for a moment before he got himself under control and made sure that he wasn’t in another dream. “Nothing, Twilight. Just a nightmare.” He flinched as a sharp pain rang through his head.
“Having a hangover, aren’t we?” Twilight said dryly as she raised an eyebrow.
Dusk massaged one of his temples with his hoof and chuckled. “How could you tell?”
“During the Summer Sun Celebration I noticed that you were missing, Applejack noticed this too and the fact that her brother was missing from the celebration as well, and she came to the conclusion that he must’ve gotten you drunk with the rest of his friends. Turns out her conclusion was correct.”
Dusk shrugged and gave a small smile as he rubbed the back of his head. “So, what’d I miss?”
“The return of Nightmare Moon.” she said casually, passively rubbing in the fact that he passed over an opportunity to be in on being part of making the claim.
“What?”
They moved to sit at a table, the morning sun seeping through the windows, drinking tea, while Twilight told Dusk about her adventure of defeating Nightmare Moon, finding Princess Luna, and how she made new friends along the way. Both of them laughing at the coincidence that both of their groups of friends had a twin in the others'.
“So, I take it you’re staying here?” Dusk said.
“By order of Princess Celestia,” she said proudly. “I get to continue my studies AND hang out with my new friends at the same time. How great is that?”
Dusk chuckled and gave a light smile, “That is great.”
Twilight took a sip of her tea. “So, Dusk, are you heading back home to Canterlot? I mean, you're not a student of Celestia, so you don't have to go back, and she hasn't given you an order to stay, so you don't have to stay.”
“Well,” he said, staring into his cup of tea. “I think I'm going back. Continue my independent studies.”
Twilight just smiled as she set her cup down. “Well, I'm going to miss you.”
“I'll miss you too, Twilight.” Dusk got up and gave his sister a hug. She returned the hug.
“Come and visit me sometime.”
“I will, but only if mom and dad drag me here.”
She rolled her eyes, and they released each other from their hug, and Dusk headed back to Canterlot.
When Dusk arrived back in Canterlot he immediately headed for his room in his parents’ house, he was extremely tired after that flight in the chariot. But halfway to his bedroom door, there was a knock at the front door. Dusk sighed.
“I’ll get it!” he said as he turned around and proceeded to open the door, and to his surprise, it was Bubble Berry who was at the door.
“Berry? What are you doing here?”
“Dude! You gotta come back to Ponyville with me!” Berry said, nearly screaming as he grasped Dusk’s shoulders.
“Why?” Dusk said, genuinely confused.
“I just found out about something incredible!” he said as he shook Dusk a little.
“What?” Dusk inquired, half interested, half too tired to care.
Berry let go of Dusk and looked around to room to make sure that there wasn’t anypony around to hear what he had to say next.
“I think we’re superheroes!” he said in a hushed tone failing to suppress the obvious tone of excitement in his voice.
Dusk tilted his head to the side and gave an incredulous look.