Dusk was slowly walking down the stairs, in a state of exhausted agony. Rune kept him up all night watching the "movie" on that crystal.

"Did I really do all that?" Dusk said to himself quietly. "Did I have sex with almost all of them? Oh Celestia, how can I face them? I need all the mental bleach in Equestria!"

Making it to the kitchen, Dusk saw Spike cooking some pancakes. Trixie was no where to be found and Rune was sitting, eating a muffin.

"Morning..." Dusk groaned. "Where's Trixie?"

Spike turned towards Dusk. "Morning Bro. Trixie quickly ate and ran off before you woke up."

"Ya." Rune laughed. "I've never seen a pony eat that many waffles so quickly."

"Rune." Dusk looked at Rune, still sick from what he watched early that night. "What are you eating?"

Rune lifted the muffin high into the air with his hoof. "Why it's this marvelous thing I just discovered. It's called a MUFFIN!"

"What?" Dusk asked.

"Well I was getting the mail..." Rune began his tale. "And the mail pony, you know the gray pegasus with the crazy eyes, well I didn't know what to have for breakfast. So she suggested a muffin. Of course I didn't know what a muffin was, she looked like she had a heart attack when I said that. She just pulled this blueberry muffin out no where and it was AWESOME! Why didn't anypony tell me these thing existed?"

"Wait, you didn't know what a muffin was?" Dusk asked, now this was ridiculous. What pony has never heard let alone eaten a muffin?

"That reminds me..." Rune said, showing a sprinkle covered muffin to Dusk. "I made one for you."

Dusk looked at the muffin. A sprinkle covered muffin, yeah that's not sketchy at all.

Dusk pushed the muffin away. "Thanks but no thanks, I'm that hungry."

Rune was persistent. "But you must eat it." He then waved his hoof over the muffin. "It has sprinkles. Just eat this one muffin."

"I'm going back to bed." Dusk said, turning his back to Rune and trying to walk away.

Smack.....Thud

Dusk was knocked out again. Rune was over him, eating the sprinkle covered muffin.

"I didn't even drug this one." Rune said taking another bite. "It's like he doesn't trust me."

Meanwhile

Rarity was walking about, looking for inspiration for her next piece. Not finding any, Rarity wondered around. Her mind raced over what happened yesterday.

'What Rune did was inexcusable!' Rarity's mind shouted. 'How dare he use me like that? I never got to be with my Darling.' Feeling sad, Rarity subconsciously walked to the spa. Upon entering, Lotus Blossom ran to the front.

"Welcome how can I- Oh Rarity!" Lotus said. "Your usual?"

Rarity looked up, quickly realized where she was, then simply nodded. The blue earth pony smiled, escorting Rarity down the hall to the first part of "The Usual."

First, the sauna. That didn't help Rarity's mood. Next, the facial......still not helping. But at least her face was silky smooth now. Laying on her custom comfortable pillows while having her horn gently filed still didn't lift her mood. Maybe Lotus was loosing her touch. Gesturing the massage stallion to come over, maybe her favorite full body massage would work. Lotus walked away, preparing the seaweed for Rairty's mud bath. Still no such luck. Rarity was still uninspired and down in the dumps. Soaking her hoofs, you guessed it, did nothing. Rarity is really in a rut.

Rarity made her way out the door. 'I wonder what the others are thinking?' She thought. But it was interrupted by giggling across the room..

Heading over to the source of the giggling. Rarity looked through the doorway, staying out of sight, she saw Fluttershy having her mane shampooed, conditioned and even given a scalp massage. All a while, the pink, spa, earth pony Aloe giggling over Fluttershy. Rarity could make out what Aloe was saying.

"So you want to go out with that librarian stallion?" Aloe asked, rubbing her hoofs through Fluttershy's silky pink mane.

Fluttershy was blushing, her face was almost a new shade of red. "Well....umm...oh..my....yes.."

"So we'll need you to look your best to get him." Aloe smiled. "I hear he's a little stubborn."

Rarity was so engrossed with Fluttershy's treatment, that she didn't notice Lotus walking behind her.

"Uh Rarity?" Lotus asked. Rarity jumped up in surprise and turned towards Lotus. "What were you doing?"

"I...well....I was just looking for you." Rarity made up an excuse. The walking through the doorway.

"Oh....R-rarity?!" Fluttershy said in surprise. Rarity simply walked to the chair next to Fluttershy.

"Lotus, Aloe?" Rarity started. Both the spa pony waited in anticipation. "I'd like the same treatment as Fluttershy." Rarity smiled. Looks like she got some inspiration and her mood has improved. Aloe kept working on Fluttershy while Lotus rushed back and forth to grab the right shampoo and conditioners for Rarity.

After their mane treatment, Rarity and Fluttershy left the spa, fresh as daisies. Or clean laundry......just think of something fresh.

"Ah that feels so much better." Rarity exclaimed, glad to see she was now happier. It's hard to write about a depressing pony.

"That's good." Fluttershy stated. "But why did you want the same treatment that I got? Isn't your usual more effective?"

"Oh but it is Dear." Rarity replied. "But my usual didn't work." Laying her hoofs on Fluttershy's shoulders. "It was your treatment that inspired me."

"Umm....that's good.....I guess." Fluttershy confusingly said.

Before Fluttershy could ask what Rarity meant by "inspiration", a crowd of ponies galloped towards the town square.

"I wonder what's going on?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well let's find out." Rarity exclaimed, practically dragging Fluttershy.

At the town square, Rarity and Fluttershy noticed a large stage, surrounded by everypony in town. Looking through the crowd, Rarity noticed Applejack had her apple stand, Pinkie Pie even had a cupcake stand and they were both selling. I mean almost everypony was buying their treats and confectioneries.

"Applejack? Pinkie?" Rarity called, walking over to them. "Have you any idea what is going on?"

Both AJ and Pinkie shook their heads. "Afraid I don't know." Said AJ. "But who cares, I'm making so many bits that we can get some new farm tools, we might even have enough to get Granny that new hip."

"Well, maybe Trixie is putting on a show?" Rarity suggested.

"Nonsense!" Trixie shouted, walking in on the conversation. "The Great and Powerful Trixie, would have better stage than this. There are no fireworks for Celestia's sake."

Suddenly, loud music began to sound. Looks like the show was starting. Almost on cue, the mares saw Rainbow Dash bolting through the sky, clearing all the clouds around the stage.

"WELCOME EVERYPONY!" Shouted a mysterious yet familiar voice.

Stepping on the stage was a very familiar blue unicorn, using his magic to hold up a mic. "My name is Dawn Rune and welcome to......PONY STARS!!!"

The stage floor launched small fireworks, sparks and loud bangs. Causing the crowd to go wild. The cheers and hoof applause were shaking the ground a little.

'Oh Buck!' The mares thought at once. 'What is that idiot doing now?'

"Now today on Pony Stars." Rune started. "We'll have a series of competitions. Testing your strength, endurance, willpower and intelligence. All to win out grand prize!" Rune's magic then held up what appeared to be two tickets. "It's two tickets to the CANTERLOT ROYAL ALICORN SPA!!!"

The crowd cheered even louder.

"Before we begin." Rune started up again. "Give it up for my two lovely assistants." First pointing off stage. "Give a big round to our musical mixer.....DJ PON-3!"

The crowd cheered towards the blushing, white unicorn with the electric blue spiked mane and awesome purple sunglasses.

"And another hoof." Rune said, pointing at the sky. "To our weather patrol master....Rainbow Dash!"

Again the crowd shook the ground with their applause. Dash did love getting applause and cheered for.

"Now?" Rune began. "Any pony that wants to participate can enter. So who wants to-"

Before he could even finish, there were already four ponies on the stage.

"Well....That was fast..." Rune tried to joke, but it wasn't funny. "So let's hear your name and reason for competing."

First was a gray pegasus with a blonde mane and yellow eyes going i different directions, as well as bubbles for a cutie mark "My name is Derpy and I want to take my special somepony on a date." In the crowd, a brown earth pony with a chestnut mane blushed a little.

"That is so romantic I almost want to cry." Rune joked.

Next was a grey earth pony and a darker gray mane, with a musical note as a cutie mark. "My name is Octavia and I wanted to go on a small vacation with my dear colleague Vinyl." She said, gesturing at the DJ Pon-3.

"That is lovely. Two friend just chilling at a spa." Rune said.

The third was a beige colored earth pony, with a blue and pink mane, with little candy as her cutie mark. "My name is Bon Bon, and I want to have some time with my close friend Lyra." The mint colored unicorn blushing.

"That's so thoughtful." Rune stated. 'Got to love lesbian overtones.' He quickly thought.

The last pony was a pink unicorn, her mane was the same color, with a curved smile as her cutie mark. "My name is....Diana and well....I wanted to have a fun time with everypony." Diana smiled.

"Never seen you i town but you're welcome to compete." Rune replied. 'She's not bad looking, who does she remind me of?............Well not important.'

"So only four contestants?" Rune said disappointed. "That's no fun. So here is the bonus prize. If you win, you have the option to take on your spa trip, your very own........" Pulling on a cord, drawing back a small pair of curtains. "Dusk Shine!" Dusk was tied to a chair, his mouth was gagged with some cloth and his horn had anti-magic seals on it. He was fully awake and looked very pissed off. But he couldn't shout, and the more he struggled, the tighter the ropes got.

"Dusk?!" AJ, Rarity, Fluttershy, Dash, Pinkie and Trixie shouted in confusion.

Without even skipping a beat, all six ponies made it to the stage. All but Fluttershy gave Rune a bit of a glare, Rainbow Dash in particular.

"That's better." Rune said, now satisfied. "We all know who you six are and why you're in the competition, so moving on-"

"Wait a minute!" Dash exclaimed, flying close to Rune. "You said if I helped you set up this stage and keep the weather clear, I'd get Dusk for myself."

"I say a lot of things." Rune replied. Basically, he lied. "On with the show!"

"The first contest..." Rune announced, as a High Striker rose from under the stage.

"Is a test of strength. Each pony will buck the pad here and the metal ball will shoot up. If you get higher than a five as a score, you move on to the next round. If you score under five, you get eliminated, and have to sit in the eliminated seats."

Every pony lined up to the striker. And I only really want to write how one kick ended up so I'll just write the scores. Its not hard to visualize each pony kicking a pad, right?

Bon-Bon - 4

Octavia - 6

Fluttershy - 5

Pinkie Pie- 6

Rarity - 8

Derpy - 8

Rainbow Dash - 7

Applejack - 10

Trixie - 3

Finally Diana stepped up. She positioned herself, angling the shot..........and gently kicked the striker..........BOOM.....in mere instances, the striker was completely disintegrated. Gone, nothing, not even dust or ash remained.

"Did...Did I do something wrong?" Diana worriedly asked.

Rune turned to her. "No no no, in fact that kick was amazing! How did you do that?"

Diana paused for a second. "Uhhhh well old family secret I guess."

"Good enough for me. Moving on." Rune said, looking at his chart. "Okay those who scored under a five are eliminated. So Bon-Bon and Trixie, please take your seats."

"Seats? What seats?" Trixie asked, looking around the stage for seats.

Run pointed to a side of the stage and lo and behold, there were nine seats, each with various muffins, apple products and cupcakes. "I forgot to mention. If you are eliminated, the you have to site there for the remainder of the contest, and not wanting you to go hungry, I provided various treats."

The stage slowly opened up and a giant board and seats with buttons on them came from under the stage. It looked kinda like Jeopardy.

"Now is the contest of intelligence." Rune began. "I will ask a total of eight questions. If you fail to answer any or don't attempt to answer, you get eliminated. For every question you answer correctly, you get a point. Also, you can monopolize the questions if you want, meaning that one pony could answer all eight questions and therefore win the contest."  

"First: Where is the Cervical Rhomboideus muscle?"

"The back of the neck." Pinkamena responded, in control of the body.

"Correct!" Rune responded.

"Second: What is the average speed of a cloud?"

"60-80 miles per hour." Derpy said, to everypony's surprise. She answered faster than Rainbow Dash could.

"Correct!" Rune responded.

"Third: What is the brand of shampoo that Dusk uses for his mane?"

"Stallion Axe!" Rarity shouted.

"Correct!" Rune responded. "But it's kinda creepy that you know that."

"Fourth: What is the average speed of a tornado?"

"110 miles per hour!" Rainbow Dash shouted, making sure to click the button before Derpy.

"Correct!" Rune responded.

"Fifth: What is the maximum height an apple tree can grow to?"

"TRICK QUESTION!" Applejack shouted. "There are dozens of different types. Some are small dwarf trees and others are full size 40 feet or more."

"Correct!" Rune responded.

"Sixth: What is the average lifespan of a rabbit?"

Fluttershy rang the buzzer. "Um.....well...I....um...." She cracked under the pressure, she even knew the answer too.

"I'm sorry but you are out of time." Rune reluctantly said.

"Seventh: How far away is the moon?"

"It is exactly 238,857 miles away." Diana said calmly.

"Correct!" Rune responded.

"Final Question: What am I thinking about right now?"

.......................................................................................................................................................................................

"Okay well I'll assume nopony wants to answer that." Rune answered. "Now as it stands. Octavia and Fluttershy, please report to the 'eliminated' chairs."

Octavia didn't say a word and Fluttershy just looked disappointed in herself, she needs a little more self confidence. The quiz show then lowered itself back into the stage.

"Now comes the willpower challenge." Rune announced. Suddenly, six mirrors rose from the stage in front of the remaining six ponies. "Now each mirror will show you your heart's desire. If you can resist the mirror for......ten minutes, you move onto the last round. But here's the tricky part, if you touch the mirror during those ten minutes, you are eliminated but you also get what is in the mirror."

This was the most difficult challenge, if any pony won this round, they might lose the last round. One the other hoof, if they lost this round, they would walk away with possibly a better prize.

"And Begin!" Rune shouted. Each mirror showed each pony their desires. Truth be told, only the pony looking into the mirror, saw what was in the mirror. They were put into a state of hypnosis, focused solely on the mirror unless they touched it. This will only last ten minutes.

Pinkie immediatly jumped at the mirror, smashing her head against it.

"You're out!" Rune exclaimed. "Really?! Couldn't sit still for like ten seconds?"

"I couldn't help it." Pinkie tried giving an excuse. "There was Duskie covered in-"

Rune put his hoof to her mouth. "I don't want to know. Go sit over there and eat some snacks."

Pinkie just skipped away.

SIX MINUTES IN..........................................................

Rainbow Dash and Applejack grab theirs at the same time.

"You're both out." Rune said. "What did you see?"

"I saw that I was captain of the Wonderbolts!" Dash exclaimed.

"Well I saw my apple products sell like crazy." Applejack stated.

Then they both sat down.

NINE MINUTES IN........................................................

Rarity couldn't take it anymore ans grabbed her mirror.

"You're out." Rune said. "What did you see?"

"You never ask a lady such a personal question." Rarity said, with a small blush across her face. Before Rune could say anything. Rarity sat down with the rest.

TEN MINUTES...........DING DING DING...........ROUND OVER

The mirrors vanished and all that remained were Derpy and Diana.

"Wow!" Rune exclaimed his excitement. "How do you two feel and if you'd like, tell us what you saw."

"Well I was flying in a sea full of muffins!" Derpy said with pride.

"As expected, still quite entertaining." Rune said. "How about you Diana?"

"I..ah....was just spending the day with my special somepony." Diana answered.

"Ah you got your eyes on a mystery pony. Well good on ya." Rune smiled. Diana blushed.

"Now for our final round. This is the endurance challenge." Rune began. "The winner of this round not only gets the two tickets but has the option of bringing their very own Dusk Shine with them."

All the gimmicks from the stage went below the stage. All the rose up were two chairs facing each other.

"I final round is.............a staring contest!" Rune shouted. This announcement met with no applause and confused everypony.

"Why is the last round a staring contest?" Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity asked at the same time.

"Do you have any idea how much this show cost me?" Rune said, putting his hoof on the mic. "I ran out of bits so this was the best I could do."

Diana and Derpy took their seats.

"Now close your eyes." Rune said. "When I say go, you will open them and the winner will be who can stare the longest."

The mares both closed their eyes.

"Ready.........GO!" Rune shouted and the match began. Diana and Derpy Stared deep into each others eyes.

ONE MINUTE IN...........

Both players don't show any sign of giving up but ponies can't their eyes open for too long.

TWO MINUTES IN..........

Derpy shows no sign of giving up. Diana, on the other hoof is staring to sweat, her eyes twitching and squinting.  

THREE MINUTES IN........

And Diana blinked.

"The game is over........" Rune shouted in the mic. "The winner is Derpy!!!"

The crowd roared through the town square, slightly shaking the ground.

Rune walked over to Derpy, patting her on the shoulder. "Derpy, how does it feel to win?" Derpy said nothing. "Derpy? Hello????" Rune said, poking Derpy on the side of the head.

"Muffins?!" Derpy said aloud, as if coming out of a dream.

"Uh Derpy?" Rune asked. "Did you fall asleep?"

"Yea I'm sorry." Derpy blushed. "If I stare too long I fall asleep."

"Well I'm sorry but that means you lose by default." Rune said, patting Derpy in the shoulder.

"The winner is Diana!!!" Rune shouted, correcting himself.

You could feel the applause of the audience with your body more so than your ears. That's how loud they were.

"So Diana?" Rune pointed the mic at Diana. "How does it feel to win?"

Diana started playfully laughing. "It feels excellent." Her voice started to sound more familiar to Rune. Suddenly, Diana's body began to glow slightly, her mane became longer and more translucent, her over all color became a darker blue. Her cutie mark became just a curve smile but became a solid color, turning 90 degrees to the right.

'Oh crap!' Rune said in his head. 'Please don't be her please don't be her.'

And Rune's fear was met, when two wings emerged from Diana's body.

"Yes it is us......your Princess of the Night!" Diana, or more realistically, Princess Luna announced.

Everypony was surprised, nopony more than Rune. Dusk also noticed that his restraints weren't as tight as before, guess Princess Luna showing up distracted Rune long enough for Dusk to scape, which he did.

No pony said a word.

"Now now now." Luna smiled. "we are not here for any particular reason, certain not here to start anything, just wanting to see how everypony was doing."

This surprisingly gave everypony a sense of relief. Most of them still had fear of Nightmare Moon. But the crowd began cheering again. This really helped Luna feel more welcomed.

"This was a really fun contest." Luna smiled again. "We had so much fun."

Looking around the stage, most of the contestants had a blank "What the buck" expression on their faces.

Quickly Dusk approached Luna. "So why are you here in Ponyville?"

"Oh I wanted to discuss something with you Dusk." Luna said. "But let's talk more at your home."

So Princess Luna and Dusk walked back to the library. While the mane six followed close by, all except Trixie.

"Hey?" Trixie shouted to the mane six. "What should I do with him?" Trixie was poking a shocked Rune. His face was pale and his expression was that of severe shock, it was like the expression a small child makes when their parent caught them doing something bad and the child can't explain their way out of it.

"Just leave him." Rarity said.

"No, we should bring him." Pinkie exclaimed.

"Why would we do that? He caused nothing but trouble today." Applejack asked.

"Because since he is the student of Princess Luna, then Luna could punish him and maybe he'll apologize by giving us what we wanted." Pinkie stated.

There was no need of an answer. Rarity and Trixie used their magic to drag Rune, while Applejack and Pinkie Pie pushed him from behind. They eventually made it to the library. There, they saw Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash listening to Dusk and Luna, with their ears against the door.

"What are you two-" Rarity began. Only to be hushed by Rainbow Dash, and then beckoned to listen.

Before they could reach the door, Dusk slowly opened it, so nopony got hit by a door.

"Ah girls." Dusk began. "Oh you grabbed Rune. Thank you. I'm sorry to ask but can you all wait out here? The princess has something she wants to say to Rune and I."

The girls had no objections, and Dusk used his magic to drag the still petrified Rune into the library. Then slowly closing the door. Despite having no vocal objection, they were all curious, so the mares basically went to any available window and door to get a good listen on what was being discussed.

Princess Luna stood in the center of the room. Rune regaining his senses, realized where he was and quickly cowered behind Dusk.

"Oh....hi....m-master..." Rune said in a very cowardly voice, clinging to Dusk as if it were a shield. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Good to see you too young Rune." Luna said. "But we have much to discuss with you." Luna's voiced switched to her royal Canterlot voice.

Rune was terrified. "I'm all ears m-m-master."