Dusk - 10th of Solarus ‘15 EoH - Evening

The train compartment Derpy and I had shared had been swapped out for a cozy corner booth in a large ballroom. Half the ballroom had been set up in the manner of a dinner, complete with red faux leather bench seats and marble patterned tables. I’d never attended a Pinkie Party before, but I’d always heard she was very creative with themes. That certainly held true in this case.

I personally couldn’t put a hoof on an exact name, but this decor scheme looked like the Reneighsance and the 5160’s had a kid. The dinner half of the party was set with a full buffet line, which while held in steel containers, contained nothing but traditional festival foods prepared in the old styles with the old methods. Banners were hung up, which in the olden times would have barred the crests of noble houses attending the feasts, here they depicted popular bands.

The music playing was ancient Equestrian songs played on 60’s instruments, and the dance floor’s constant clattering of hooves was muted by large folding screens which had sound dampening panels on one side, and Reneighsance artwork on the other.

It was a rather nice blend. I’d decorate my house like this if I could.

While the setting of our conversation had changed drastically, Derpy and I were still quite happily carrying along with the same conversation. I wasn’t quite sure that she and I could have a proper relationship, but she was easily the most fun-to-converse-with pony I’d been delighted to talk to in a long long time. If only because Lily liked to ramble about her crappy home life while Derpy made mundane objects into epic rambles.

After her epic ramble about muffins, I had to ask for an explanation on why she loved them so much and had been told, “Uh, I’d better talk about my foalhood first. For context.”

“Really?” I asked raising an eyebrow. “You dont have a short answer?”

“Well, yes…” She admitted with an embarrassed grin. “But I’d rather tell you the whole thing because the short version makes me sound like a silly filly.”

“But… you are a silly filly.” I pointed out, “Not to say that is a bad thing!”

Derpy nodded, “I know. But the muffin thing is sort of important.”

“Okay, now I have to know.” I said after a moment’s hesitation. “How is your muffin obsession important?”

She swished her tail, took a breath, and I braced for the ramble.

“I don’t know who my real parents are,” Derpy started, making me cringe instantly. “Oh no! It’s perfectly okay! I just mean that I have an adoptive mother, and she’s the nicest person ever. See, when I was a really really young filly I got very lost. I was so young that all I can remember is I was playing with my doll and a toy spaceship one minute, and the next minute I was completely lost.

“How lost? Well the villagers who found me spent a whole decade looking for my parents, or even where I’d come from, but couldn’t find a single clue. My mom couldn’t have her own children because a jerk stabbed her a long time ago and things never healed right. So the village who found me sort of gave me to her to raise.

“Mom wasn’t too sure how to care for me, because well, different species are different, but she tried her hardest to do everything right. The important thing here is how hard she tried to feed me. I was getting sick eating just what she did, even after we used spells to let me do things her species could.

“Realizing that I couldn’t just eat meat for much longer, mom went to a nearby city and did some favors for a few people until a baker was willing to teach her how to make some other foods. Er, mom’s a carnivore, so all her recipes are meat based. Which is fine because they are pretty good, even if I usually preferred the side dishes.”

“Hold on, back up,” I said holding up a hoof politely. “You were raised by a carnivore? What kind?”

“Uh, that’s not important right now,” Derpy said quickly. “I’ll tell you later if I trust you enough okay?”

“Why is it such a big deal?” I asked, curiosity brewing.

“Because it can really change what a pony thinks about me, and I don’t like it coloring how ponies think of me because they always get the wrong impression.” Derpy replied mechanically, like she said it a lot.

I nodded politely, I wasn’t going to push her on the issue. Even if I probably wouldn’t have that problem. “So… Thank goodness pegasi can eat fish, right?”

“Oh that wasn’t an issue!” Derpy said with a smile. “Mom’s a pretty good sorcery and had a mild transformation spell… Uh… Short explanation, it grants an aspect of one creature to another, but with no physical change. It’s limited and can’t do much, but can’t be dispelled. So if I ever happened to get hit by say, a Disjunction spell, I won’t change back into a herbivore that can also eat one type of meat.”

“Ah, your mom expected you to become a carnivore, but the spell made you an omnivore?” I asked.

“Yeah… It’s a pretty crude spell… But being permanent was very important, given the circumstances.” Derpy replied, “Anyways, mom learned one recipe before the guards ran her out of town… Racial issues made things difficult for her.

“That recipe was a very basic muffin recipe. Mom didn’t like the thought of me eating the same thing every day to stay healthy and live a bland life, aside from dishes we shared. So she actually spent a lot of her free time making up her own variants on that one muffin recipe. She even went out of her way to get special ingredients and got hurt pretty bad one time when she wanted to surprise me with a special recipe for my birthday.”

She sighed in a sad sort of fondness. It was a complex emotion, you could tell she was still sad her mother had been hurt, while still angry at whoever did it, but extremely grateful for the gift just by the look in her eyes.

“Muffins remind me of home and how much mom loves me.” Derpy finished. “I’m not homesick, I could go see her whenever I want too, but daily reminders of home are nice.”

Her eyes lit up suddenly, and seconds before I could think to ask a question she blurted, “Oh! What’s your family like? Or you know, your foalhood.”

Oh god… This would be hard. I bit my lip as I thought a way to talk about it without having to explain exactly what I was. Because you know, that probably killed my chances with my first crush…

“Er- Well… my mom’s pretty nice too.” I started. “She’s pretty absent minded though, and cares very little about things aside from creating her own little worlds.”

“Oh! She’s an author?” Derpy asked cocking her head slightly, “I write too!”

“Yeah that’s a way you could put it.” I chuckled, “She doesn't tell stories though, just makes worlds for others to do their own things in. Used to be pretty popular but well, not exactly in the limelight anymore. I’m from a pretty old family, most of them are pretty much all but forgotten.

“Except for my uncle, well great great uncle. But he’s the black sheep so I can’t really count him as family… Oh…”

My face fell a bit as I realized that I was in Discord’s boat now. There was no was in hell my family would believe I was the same person. I wouldn’t be welcomed back home… My brother aside, I did enjoy my remaining family.

“I uh… I’m sort of a black sheep now too…” I admitted, wanting to at least be honest. “So if we do get together, you won't really she my folks much unless I can patch things up. Maybe I can… But it will definitely take time. Though I have been wanting to start my own life… Maybe I should just take the chance and use it.”

Derpy got up from her seat and walked to my side of the table, wrapping her forelegs around me in a brief but loving hug.

“I’m sorry… You love them a lot, don’t you?” She asked in a soothing and sympathetic tone.

God damn that tone struck a chord with me.

“Yeah… Except my brother. We’ve been fighting for longer than you’d believe.” I informed as Derpy went back to her seat.

She frowned, “Why? I’ve always wondered what having siblings would be like. Everypony I know with them get along great with their brothers or sisters… Or at least are indifferent to one another.”

I rolled my lips nervously, “Well… He and I have a very fundamental philosophical conflict regarding others, and how to treat them. He’s a monster, but also a really good actor… I’m the only one of my family who knows what’s behind his mask… If it were possible, I’d have him in therapy or an institution… Because I know for a fact he’s hurt others for kicks… But well… No one believed me.”

“That’s horrible!” Derpy exclaimed then her ears twitched worriedly, “He… he didn’t well… Kill anypony, did he?”

I managed to prevent myself from wincing at her question. Technically, he’d killed everyone who ever lived. Life is a finite thing after all, it has to end, thus putting the act of dying within his Domain rather than in my old one. But let’s not have her know or worry about that...

“It’s fine,” I interrupted quickly, “I always put things right in the end. Everyone he hurt got a happy ending, it was rule of mine. But… Well recently our conflict got violent… And I don’t think my family will let me live with them anymore. That’s honestly where events left off before I met you today, so I don't’ have much more to say on it.”

“How violent?” Derpy asked worriedly, “He’s not going to try to hurt you now is he?”

“No. He got what he wanted out of it.” I answered firmly. “Trust me, I know him really well. I’m out of his life, that’s what he wanted. He won’t spend a moment of thought on me unless I somehow can further a new goal of his. As for how violent...”

I sighed and ran a hoof through my mane as I hurriedly tried to think of a way to say it without scaring Derpy off.

“You know what, never mind.” Derpy said gently laying a hoof on the arm I had on the table, “As long as you're safe, I won't press the issue. Also this is a sorta-date, right? Let’s talk about happy things!”

I gave her a genuine smile. The mare with highly empathetic with others pain. Tally one point in her favor!

“Thanks! How about hobbies?” I suggested, “You mentioned you write, what sort of stories do you write? Or is it academic writing?”

She gave me a shy smile, “Well… I write a lot of things. I work as a postmare, so I have a lot of time while flying my rout to think and pretend and stuff… I like short stories, and your mom and I probably share a love of making fantasy worlds, but I generally use mine. Oh! I might be getting published soon!”

Derpy reached into her saddlebags which lay on the seat beside her, and took out a pair of leather bound journals. “The top one is an adventure story, kind of like Daring Doo, except the treasure is a gizmo that makes water, and it’s set in the remains of a world devastated by a terrible war, but is still pretty cool because it has jetpacks!”

“That sounds like it might be good.” I said with an impressed nod. Science fiction wasn’t my thing, but I could respect anypony with the imagination to write technological replacements for magic that made sense. “What’s the other one?”

“Huh?” Derpy asked with a little surprised expression then blushed, “Oh, I took them both out. Silly me! That one is just my notes about the setting. So I can reference things while writing. I was gonna write ether on the train or in the hotel today.”

“I’d probably need to do that to if I were an author. I can have a memory like a sieve sometim-” I stopped mid sentence, eyes widening as I spotted Lily, David, and Jade at a table some ways behind Derpy.

“Like right now, when I totally forget that some friends of mine would definitely also be at this party.” I finished excitedly.

Derpy frowned slightly. “If you want to stop our kinda-date you don’t need to make an excuse.”

My face contorted into a frown faster than I thought possible, “No! I mean, I’m having a lot of fun with you. It’s just that they probably think I’m dead, and I’m not exaggerating… It’s related to the fight I was talking about…”

“Geeze! How bad did it get?” Derpy asked in horror.

“Well… My best friend thinks I’m dead.” I repeated.

“That’s bad.” Derpy said, ears drooping.

“And I know it’s a horrible dating protocol, but I need to go let them know I’m okay.” I said giving her hoof a gentle squeeze, “I promise I’ll be back in a few minutes… They are good people and deserve to know I’m alright. It’s been over a week since I saw them last, and I was looking for them when an adorable pegasus distracted me.”

Derpy’s eyes took on an apologetic look for long enough for me to understand she was okay with me leaving for a bit, but then her gaze turned mischievous, “She’s not cuter than me is she?”

“I am literally certain that physics prevents somepony from being cuter than you.” I informed honestly. “I’ll be right back! Ten, fifteen minutes tops. I’ll tell them I’m on a date, I’m sure they’ll understand.”

“I thought this was a kinda-date.” Derpy said coyly.

“Yeah well… I like you now. So let’s call it a normal date.” I decided.

I decided to get up and say hi before the gray mare’s delighted squee and grin gave me a heart attack.

“Am I seriously that good looking to you?” I asked with a slow shake of my head.

“Yes… But you also put up with my rambling. That’s rare!” She admitted happily, “Go on. I’ll wait! The salads are tasty and I don’t like to eat while I talk.”

Derpy - 10th of Solarus ‘15 EoH - Evening

I sighed to myself as Dusk trotted off to greet her friends. I knew she’d promised to come back but I personally didn’t expect her too. It wasn’t anything she said or did, it was just how this story normally played out. But at least as I kept sitting here I felt that there was a chance she would come back.

That was a new feeling. I liked it.

I was about to get up and get myself one of those nummy looking Panzanella bowls when White slipped into Dusk’s spot with a sorry look on her face, “I’m sorry… You guys looked so cute together too…”

“Oh, no, she’s just saying hi to some friends.” I said, doing my best to remain my normal cheery self.

“Derpy… Don’t do this to yourself again…” White sighed.

“I’m not.” I insisted, turning over my shoulder to look for Dusk and spotting the white mare just as she was bear hugged by a white and yellow girly-colt. “Hehe! That colt is adorable!”

“Uh, Derpy, close one eye, that’s a mare… Also clearly a girlfriend… I’m sorry.” White repeated sadly.

I squinted closer at what was definitely a happy reunion. The fifty meters or so was pushing my vision’s limits a bit, but not too much. The other two, a reddish brown unicorn stallion and a red pegasus mare, gave Dusk a warm hug after their friend stopped his shoulder-dislocating-for-sure hug. I nodded to myself, that did look like a reunion between friends who thought one of their friends was dead.

I shook my head, “No, that’s a colt. Eye shape, nose, ear pointies… Probably a twin with a female twin.”

“Coltfriend then.” White corrected, trusting me at my word, “Look, I’m sorry I pushed you into this. Let’s just forget it an-”

“No.” I said shaking my head. “She said that she had been in Ponyville looking for those specific ponies because they thought she was dead after a fight with her brother just over a week ago. The hugs add up. I’d hug you like that if I thought you had been dead.”

“You hug me like that for bringing you snacks.” White pointed out.

“Sure, but-”

“Hold it,” White exclaimed raising an eyebrow in alarm, “just processed that! She got into a fight with a family member so bad that her friends think she was dead? Derpy, no! That’s such a huge red flag!”

I nodded in agreement, “Yes. She has a bad relationship with her brother. You know how good I am at reading ponies, White. She was telling the truth when she said she loves her parents and when she said her brother is a monster. I believe her. She’s a good person trying to do the right thing, but got in trouble instead of succeeding.”

“Yeah, sure.” White said quickly. “But that just means she has a crazy violent sibling who might hurt you to get at her if he tried to bucking murder her!”

I gave White a little smile. I’d be fine. I’ve handled worse than a bad pony easily enough.

After a few moments of giving me a concerned look White facehooved, “Right… the timberwolves.”

“Mhm.” I giggled.

If vision problems magic couldn't correct didn't instantly disqualify me from the Guard and military, I'd have been happy to serve. Though I do think I enjoy being a postmare more than I would standing around in armor on a hot day.

“Okay, so maybe you can handle a pony, but it’s still dumb to put yourself in danger!” White objected.

I shook my head, “Not for a good cause.”

“What cause?” White exclaimed-asked, holding her hooves up in an ‘I don’t believe this’ gesture.

“Dusk has just been disowned.” I said seriously. “Everypony needs somepony to help them through losing their family… Especially if their family is still alive.”

“Oh… okay.” White sighed, pursing her lips in defeat. She knew there was no talking me out of doing everything I could to cheer somepony up.

“If Dusk comes back after saying hi to her friends, then I’ll be here for as long as she needs me.” I decided. “If that happens to be a whole lifetime, then that will be awesome! If it’s just for a few months until she’s over losing her family, then I may have lost a few months of potential dates but at least somepony had someone to get them through a rough spot in their life. It’s win-win.”

White nodded slowly, “Okay… And if this blows up like you and Dash I’ll be here for you, but well… I’m going to wind up telling you ‘I told you so.’ I can just feel it.”

I smiled happily at her words. Twenty three failed relationships and dates and White had been behind them all one hundred percent so far. It was a good oman!

Or was the word ‘omen’?

Owin? No that sounded wrong. Ocera? No that wasn’t even the right category of thing!

Omnom? No that was also wrong! Mabey-

“Equis to Derpy, terminate the brain bunny trial and re-enter the atmosphere.” White said, clicking her hooves together to get my attention.

I blinked uncrossed my eyes, and giggle-blushed, “Hehe, sorry!”

“Last protest.” White said bluntly, “Are you sure that after just half a date you two will work out?”

I shook my head, “No, of course not. But I am sure she needs somepony to be there for her, and I’m happy to do that… I hope I can be more to her, but only time will tell.”

“Alright, as long as you know what you're sticking your hooves into.” White sighed. “I’m going to go back to lurking.”

“I’ll tell you how the rest of the evening went tomorrow, okay?” I asked happily.

She nodded. “You do that. I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

A few moments after White left I remembered the Panzanella and grabbed myself one from the buffet. A few bites into the not-as-tasty-as-it-appears salad I decided to write a bit to pass time until Dusk came back.

Opening my journal, I pulled a pencil from my bag with my wing, gripped it in hoof, and started to write where I had left off:

The Sierra Madre was believed nothing more than a Mojave legend, a fabled City of Gold, where fortune could be found. Then the Courier returned from the East, insisting myth was reality, and holding a backpack full of gold to prove it. If he could make it with that bullet riddled head of his, so could we.

Mistakes thus made, we began to plan our journey.

Dusk - 10th of Solarus ‘15 EoH - Evening

I quickly crossed the floor to my friend’s table. I had to make sure they were completely okay. The pegasus mare was obviously a shape changed Jade, Azur Lily was easy to identify, but I didn’t recognize the stallion. If David had bought the farm in the final battle I don’t think I could forgive myself that failure.

Sure, I had used them as bait, but I had done it as safely as I could, and had paradises of afterlives waiting for them if the safety net had failed. But then I died and lost my powers. Meaning they had faced Chrysalis's alone… And without my safety net…

“That bad, eh?” The reddish brown Stallion asked Jade as I got within hearing range.

“Yes. Let’s not talk about any more political junk, please.” Jade asked, “I think I might literally puke…”

Lily nodded slowly. “Ja, I heard equestrian politics has that same effect on other nation’s diplomats.”

Sensing the perfect entry I conjured a silver lighter and a cigarette, blinked myself invisible, walked to a spot where I’d be seen, and turned visible again as I lit the lighter. “Yeah Equestrian politics can be pretty lethal to the faint of heart. Poor bastar-”

Lily’s tackle-like bearhug rammed the cigarette into my mouth!

“Dusk! I knew you weren't dead!” Lily exclaimed happily, hugging surprisingly hard for his little body.

“You look good for someone who exploded.” The stallion said before giving me a hug along with Jade as Lily let go.

Spitting the cigarette out I intoned. “Meh, I walked it off. No offense but you are… Whom?”

“David.” The stallion grunted raising an eyebrow. “How do you not just recognize me, don’t you see souls or something?”

Shit, was that a thing I could still do? Well there wasn’t a need to go into that at the moment…. He did sound like David, but-

“How the hay are you a pony?” I asked raising an eyebrow back.

“I copied the shape changing powers from changelings and gave them to him so he could be a pony and not deal with racist jerks.” Lily informed in a proud tone.

David nodded. “I’ve almost gotten the hang of switching between the two bodies… Good to know you’re alright… And well, guess this sort of proves you really aren't a mortal.”

Jade smiled. “I told you so… Though the priestess did say gods could die.”

“We can.” I admitted, “and I should have, but I got very lucky. Speaking of luck, how did you pull it off?”

Jade nodded to David, “I confused her with telepathy and he shot her in the face with Boomstick.”

“Wait… that worked?” I asked doing a bit of a double take.

“Yeah, she tried to jump between bodies but that just made the whole thing go up like a pile of roman candles.” David replied. “Personally, I thought she would go off like a nuke. The battle was lost at that point so I figured well… You know. Glad it didn’t kill us all.”

“Was ein- er. Wait a minute,” Lily said frowning, “if you didn’t think the gun would do it, why did you get the smith to make it for David? Und what was your plan?”

“I just wanted you to have a weapon to keep you safe for the journey.” I answered. “Also, uh… Well hindsight is twenty-twenty and all… It seems pretty stupid now but after making my father see that Chrysalis was a real problem, like, for us, due to throwing the system out of balance, he’d tell me to kill her and the I was going to just well, kill her. But it looks like that wouldn’t have panned out.”

David gave me a deadpan stare. “You don’t say.” He said after a few long moments.

“I’m sure it seemed like it would work before exploding.” Jade said with an amused giggle.

“Well, yes… It did.” I grunted.

Lily shook her head, “Well, it all worked out in the end didn’t it?”

I looked over at everyone. Jade nodded and leaned to rest her head on David’s shoul-

“You guys hooked up?” I asked in surprise.

David nodded, shyly scratching the back of his head with a hoof. “Eh, well… Sort of… Starting to anyways.”

“You know it’s funny, but I got side tracked looking for you guys today because I ran into this cute mare and came here on a date with her.” I chuckled.

“Wait, you completely forgot you were looking for us?” Jade asked, a bit upset.

I nodded and cleared my throat, “Yeah… Sorry. I’m my defense, she’s literally cute enough to distract a god.”

“She has you there.” David said to Jade with a playful grin.

Jade sighed and shook her head. “I’m glad you’re still alive, Dusk. Thanks for helping us get away from Chrysalis.”

“No problem. Happy to help.” I quipped, “not very happy to explode though.”

“About that,” Lily asked, “Would you like to have a drink?”

I mulled the thought over in my head for a few moments. I did tell Derpy I’d be back… Eh, I could keep it to just one. “Well, I did tell her I’d be back, but I can do one with you now and another five later! Where are you guys staying?” I asked as I sat down next to Lily in their booth.

“Right now, with Princess Twilight in her castle at Ponyville.” Jade replied. “But that’s temporary… I hope.”

To my credit, I only spent half an hour and two drinks with them before remembering my promise and excusing myself. Friends, there’s nothing quite like them.

As I slipped back into my original seat in front of the floofy maned pegasus who was busily scribbling in one of her books, I gently cleared my throat. “I’m back! Sorry that took a bit longer than I expected.”

Derpy tipped her head up then looked back down, then up again and smiled happily, “Yay! You’re back!”

I nodded. “I am. So, where were-”

“Well, actually,” Derpy interrupted, “I wanted to know where you live. Or at least a place I can find you… You know for future fun!”

Her face fell a little as see added, “and well, also because you’re sad your family disowned you so you can’t go back home… I want to make sure you have a place to stay.”

I bit my lip worriedly. Technically I could just go back to the realm I’d awoken in, but I couldn’t directly say that and I didn’t want to lie to-

Derpy nodded sadly. “I thought you didn’t… I’m sorry.”

I couldn’t let her be all sad like that! “Uh, well, actually I do know an old temple that I could-”

“Old temple?” Derpy asked in shock, “I uh… er… This sort of goes against my normal dating ideas but- Would you please stay with me? At least until you can find your own place? I have a spare room.”

I pursed my lips in thought. I didn’t have to impose on-

“It wouldn’t be a problem! And I don’t mean you can just stay with me forever… Well, maybe I’ll want you too one day. I really mean you can stay for a week or two, enough time to get an apartment or a room, and a job too if you need one. There’s plenty of places to stay and work in Ponyville.” Derpy elaborated.

Ah! So she was just doing that famous Equestrian hospitality thing. I could live with that.

“Well… My friends are living in Ponyville now… Yeah, all right. It’s a deal!” I said giving her a smile. “Thanks for the generosity.”

“I can’t let somepony stay in an old temple somewhere when I have a guest bedroom.” Derpy said, closing her book with a wingtip. “Okay… I think I’d just finished, I’ll tell you about my writing when you get up. Do you have any hobbies?”

I nodded, resolving to not take advantage of Derpy’s good nature and actually get an apartment in Ponyville first chance I could. If she and I went anywhere, it would be nice to have a place to invite her over too after all.

“Yeah,” I replied, “I collect and repair antiques.”

No need to mention that most of my collection were relics of dead civilizations…

“Oh cool!” Derpy exclaimed, breaking out into a huge grin. “What’s the coolest thing you have?”

Dammit. This was going to be a long evening of picking the proper word choices… At least things were going great so far!