Chapter 51: Forgiven, But Not Forgotten

Perspective: Rarity

The two are making their way out the forest, after the small confrontation. Dusk has opted to keep a small distance between himself and Rarity, and he is following her from about 20 metres away. When he told her what he would do, she understood why, but it hurt her on the inside. She still hated the fact that she had to walk through the muddy field, but after all they have been through, she didn’t care anymore.

‘It’s not like I should care how I look right now. The rain has completely ruined my marvellous mane, and the mud has already desecrated my poor body. This will simply take me hours to clean... but it was worth it. At least he forgave me before.’

She turns around, and sees Dusk following her from a small distance away. Dusk is in a worse condition, than she is. He has multiple cuts and scratches around his legs, and there are quite a few spots of blood, from where the needles where removed. He is also much muddier than she is, and she feared that he would get an infection if he isn’t treated soon. He is also looking sullen; he is wearing a dark expression, which can only be achieved through years of bad experiences. It is the worst condition that she has ever seen him in. She is concerned.

“Are you okay Dusk?”

“No” He answers in a deepened, depressive tone. He didn’t even look at her.

“What wrong Dusk? Is there anything I can do to help?”

“No.”

“Are you sure Dusk? I just-“

“Damn it Rarity, I don’t want to talk about it, okay?!” Angrily yells out Dusk.

----------

Perspective: Dusk

He couldn’t explain why he is in such a bad mood. He had forgiven her, and she isn’t trying to mercilessly murder him with those impalers. He knows that this isn’t the right thing to do to her, but he couldn’t help it. It’s just that he has the tendency to lash out when he’s in a bad mood.

He then realizes why he is in such a bad mood. He is still scared of her, but he also felt bad at the same time, and he couldn’t figure out what he should do. Whenever he need the answer to a question, but he has no knowledge of how to answer it, he gets annoyed. The difference is that this is a massive issue, and he doesn’t even know how to fix it.

He is having an internal conflict with himself. His head said that he should run as far away as possible, so he could feel safe again, while his heart (so to speak) told him to comfort her, since he could see that she felt horrible for what happened less than an hour ago. His moral side is winning. It has been a few minutes since either of them has talked to each other, and so he took the initiative to apologize.

“...I’m sorry for lashing out at you earlier. I wasn’t really thinking properly, and I was being a real bastard to you, when I shouldn’t have been.”

“Oh... um, that’s okay Dusk, I’m surprised that you don’t hate me, for what I did... to you.”

“That’s no excuse for what I did.”

“Don’t worry about it Dusk, I don’t blame you for what you did. So... um Dusk, could you tell me if anything’s wrong? You look miserable right now...”

“I probably feel as bad as I look...” He stops, and rubs a fore-hoof through his mane, in a stressed manner.

“Damn it, I’m a mess,” He continues. “One minute, I allow myself to approach you, and the next, I yell at you for no reason. What the hay is wrong with me?!” He lets out a yell of frustration.

“Dusk, please...” He could hear the pleading in her voice. “It’s fine, don’t beat yourself up over it. I completely understand. Do you trust me enough to take you back to Twilight, and Fluttershy. They’ve been looking for you.”

His mind kept on telling him to run, but he had decided to stop listening to it by now. He knows better. “Um... okay, lead the way.”

---------- (A little bit later)

Perspective: Twilight Sparkle

She didn’t know why she kept on looking for him anymore. She knows that he isn’t in the area she was looking, but she felt that there was always a small hope that she’d be able to find him around the next bend, or the very next hiding spot. There was always that slim possible chance...

‘Why am I still doing this? I have been looking for him, for little over 30 minutes now, and I haven’t even seen one glance, one vague clue to his location. In case it wasn’t bad enough, it’s been pouring down with rain for the whole time, and I’ve been doing this on my own, for the last 15 minutes now. I’m sure that Spike is worried sick.’

She begins to walk back in the direction of her home, and she had to wipe her wet mane out of her eyes. She felt extremely tired after her fruitless search, and she felt like she had achieved nothing.

She heard somepony behind her. “Twilight! I found Dusk!”

She looks up to find the familiar alabaster unicorn, and the dark-blue ‘Protector of Ponyville’ trailing behind. She immediately brightens up at the sight of the two. Next Chapter: Chapter 52: Chaos, It's a Beautiful Thing Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 43 Minutes