Chapter 9: A Small Problem

It was late into the night when Pinkie’s Welcoming Party had finished. Despite a bad start, everypony had a really fun time, as is the case with Pinkie’s parties. Dusk and Fluttershy start to walk back to her house.

“That was some party.” Says Dusk.

“Yeah, it was fun.”

“Are all of Pinkie’s parties this good?”

“Oh yes, she loves having them all of the time, especially when someone new is in Ponyville.”

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Dusk and Fluttershy had both reached her house, and were still talking to each other.

“...and when DJ PON-3 turned the music up, everypony started dancing. That was fun to do.” Says Fluttershy.

“I thought that I would easily be the worst dancer there, but Twilight’s dance was hilarious to watch. She is just terrible.”

“Heh, you should of seen her, on her birthday. She was even worse then.”

“Yeah, I’d like to see that.” Says the humored Dusk.

“I’m going to wash up now.”

“OK, then Shy.”

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Dusk sits on the couch, waiting for Fluttershy to finish in the bath. He thinks about what he should do tomorrow.

‘Maybe tomorrow, I should find Zeph and tell him the bad news about Rainbow. I think I should try and find him during my lunch break, as that would be the easiest time to find him.’

He decides to grab an apple from the pantry, so he looks inside and is surprised by what he sees.

‘Fluttershy has a lot of juice boxes.’

Inside, there were around thirty individual juice boxes. Below them, were about 10-15 bags of animal food. There were all different sorts of feed, with one or two bags labeled as ‘Chicken Food’ and other bags labeled as ‘Bird Seed’ or ‘Squirrel Feed’ among other things. One bag caught Dusk’s attention; it was labeled ‘For Angel Bunny’. Upon further examination, he saw that is was filled with carrots, which makes him laugh.

Below the juice boxes and carrots, were some simple foods, such as fruits, vegetables and herbs/spices. He wondered how Fluttershy could make a meal out of any of this. He grabbed an apple and sits back on the couch.  He took a single bite, and immediately knew that is was from the Sweet Apple Acres.

‘How are their apples better than any other apples I’ve tried?’

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Fluttershy had gotten out of the bathroom, after about ten minutes, and Dusk had to ask a question that has been bugging him.

“Shy, why do you have so many Fruit Juice boxes?” inquires Dusk.

“Um… I like juice boxes.” She innocently answers.

“OK then. Anyway Fluttershy, I have earned 105 bits at work today, and I think you should get a bit of my pay, for letting me stay here.” He gives her 12 bits.

She refuses, “I think you should keep the bits, I don’t really need them that much.”

“Nonsense, you have shown me generosity and kindness, so I think you deserve something back.” Reasons Dusk.

“No, you should keep them for yourself, you earned them so you should have them.”

“OK, fine, I’ll keep them. I’m going to have a bath now, if that’s alright.”

“That's OK”

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Dusk had sat himself in the bath after filling it up. (Perfect temperature again) He was still wondering why Fluttershy needs so many washing products. He picks up a small bottle and takes a look at it.

“What is this? ‘Calming Sensations’.” He opens the bottle, and pours a droplet of the stuff on his hoof. He takes a sniff, and smells a slight indescribable fragrance.

“WHAT THE HAY IS THIS STUFF?!”

After giving up, trying to figure out what the mysterious product is, he quickly finishes washing himself and steps out of the bath. He dries himself off and walks into the living room. He sees Fluttershy drinking a fruit juice box (He couldn't help, but to let out a small aww) and starts talking to her.

“Do you know how cute you look when you drink that?”

“Umm, no…” She starts to blush, “I didn’t t-think that y-you thought it was c-cute.”

“Well, I do.” Dusk starts to blush as well, “Pretty much anything you do is cute.”

Fluttershy gets even more red, “You really think s-so?”

“Yeah, I d-do,” Dusk begins to stutter, “F-Fluttershy, d-do y-y-you…”

‘C’mon Dusk just say it. Do you want to go on a date with me? Just ten simple words. You set yourself up for this, so do it.’

“…w-want t-t-to…” The nervousness finally got to him. “… n-nevermind.” Dusk sighs in defeat.

“What w-were you going t-to say?” asks Fluttershy, the blush still on her face.

“Don’t worry about it Shy.”

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Dusk was sleeping on the couch again. He had stopped Fluttershy from taking the couch just so he could have the bed, he was frustrated at himself for not asking Fluttershy out.

“Argh, it’s just a few words. Do you want to go on a date with me, you can say it now, but you can’t say it in front of Shy.” He thought he heard a quick inhale of breath, and looked up at the stairs. Nothing. He decides to try and go back to sleep.

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Dusk had woken up early, as per usual, and wanted to write a note. He got a scroll and a quill, and started to write:

Dear Fluttershy,

I have gone to Sweet Apple Acres for work. I have also left 42 bits on the table, 30 bits for the money I owed you before, and the other 12 bits, because you deserve it.

Dusk.

He left the note and bits, on the table in the living room.

As he walked out of the door, he faced the Everfree Forest, remembering his saddlebag of stuff back at the campsite. He decides to forget about the bag, as something probably would have taken it by now.

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He arrives at the farm and is greeted by Big Mac again.

“Mornin’ Dusk”

“Hey Big Mac.”

“I’ll need you to help me with something else today, I’ll need you to help me plow the fields, because Applejack and Caramel are going to do the applebucking for today.” Explains Big Mac.

“That’ll be fine. Just show me what I’m supposed to do.” Says Dusk.

“I’ll show you after I wake up my sisters. I still have twenty minutes to kill.”

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“So were you at the party yesterday?” asks Dusk.

“Nnnope, I was still working on the farm, but Applejack told me what happened with you and Pinkie.”

“Uh huh, I’m not really that proud about that. I didn’t really mean to get her upset, I never thought that she could be the sort of person who could get upset like that.”

“Eeyup, me neither. I think it’s time to wake the girls now, follow me.”

Big Mac led Dusk into the farmhouse, and woke up his sisters. They all had a simple breakfast of oatmeal with apple slices and started to work. Big Mac gave Dusk what looked like a harness, similar to the one that he was wearing.

“You have to put this onto your neck if you want to plow.”

Dusk was intrigued by the design of the object. “How do you put it on? I don’t see any sort of straps to loosen it?”

“Eeyup, you’re supposed to push your head through the middle of the harness.”

He tries to put the thing on, but ultimately fails. “Big Mac, a little help here?”

Big Mac helps push down the harness onto Dusk’s neck, which fits comfortably.

“These things suck to put on, but it actually feels quite comfortable, once it’s on.” Comments Dusk.

“Eeyup, now come here.” He signals Dusk to stand in front of an unused plow

Big Mac grabs the ropes of the plow, and ties them onto Dusk’s harness. ‘Ahh, so that is what these metal things are for.’

“Dusk, I need you drag the plow down the fields, like this.” He starts to move the plow forwards across the dirt, which digs up the dirt.

After seeing what he was supposed to do, Dusk began to move the plow, very, very slowly. He made little progress, because once again, he didn’t have much strength. Big Mac saw this, but let it slide, for now.

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After ten minutes of plowing, Dusk saw the amount of distance he had covered with the plow. Unfortunately, he had only moved the plow, 35 meters from his starting point. Big Mac decides to step in.

“Err, Dusk. I think that I may give you an easier job. You are struggling a bit with the plow.”

“I think that would be a good idea.” Agrees Dusk.

Big Mac removes the ropes from Dusks harness and Dusk pulls it off, which was much easier than putting it on. The red stallion walks into the shed, then pulls out a small bag of seeds. He gives them to Dusk.

“I need you to follow me while I’m plowing and throw some seeds into the ground when it’s plowed.” He throws a small group of seeds into the ground which I plowed.

“Should be easy enough, I mean, how hard can it be.”

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‘This job is easy.’

It is lunch break at the Sweet Apple Acres and Dusk decides to ask Big Mac something.

“Big Mac, do you mind if I could quickly leave, so I can do something important?”

“Eeyup, just be quick OK.”

“You got it.”

Dusk runs out of the farmhouse and into town, as he looks for Rainbow Dash or Zephyr.

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About five minutes later, he finds Rainbow Dash sleeping on a cloud. (If that is considered work, then I want in)

“Hey, WAKE UP Rainbow.” He yells up at her.

She stirs, and begins to grumble. Who would want-

“Rainbow, I need you for a second.”

She looks down to see Dusk trying to get her attention, “What do you want?”

“Where is Zeph?” asks Dusk.

“Over there doing tricks.” She points her hoof at the pegasus.

*facehoof* ‘How could I have missed him?’

“OK thanks Rainbow.”

“Yeah whatever.” She responds, as she begins to sleep once again.

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“Hey Zeph.” Calls Dusk.

He stops practicing his routine and faces Dusk, “Hi, Dusk. What do you need?”

“I need to tell you about Rainbow, I think you should stop trying to-“

“What a second,” his voice became aggressive, “Why don’t you think I could be in a relationship with her.”

“Pinkie Pie.” Replies Dusk.

“What?”

“Rainbow is already in a relationship with Pinkie Pie.”

“…” Zephyr was shocked, to say the least.

“I found out yesterday, Applejack told me during work, and Rainbow told me during the party.”

“How did I not know about that?”

“You probably didn’t ask.” Humors Dusk.

“…maybe I should of asked.”

“Yep. So are you still going to help me, despite things not going your way?”

“Of course I am. Even if it didn’t go as planned, you still did your part of the deal.” Answers Zeph.

“Sweet, thanks for helping me.”

“No problem, bye Dusk.”

“Bye.”

Zephyr flies away, wanting to do his part of the deal. Dusk was quite happy with himself.

‘That went better that I expected.’ Next Chapter: Chapter 10: Rainbow's Road to Success Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 36 Minutes