Chapter 57: Dusk the Shipper

The cold face of Princess Luna’s majestic creation slowly creeps towards the horizon, waiting for the warm of Celestia’s sun to perform its duty. A dark blue stallion watches as the celestial object in the sky falls towards the west of the Equestrian skyline. He felt the need to just appreciate the complex magics that everypony took for granted.

He finishes his moon gazing, and quietly walks down the staircase. His hooves only emitted the faintest of noises as he steps down the wooden stairs. He walks through the living area of her cottage, and out of the house, to the dark surroundings of the outside. The dark before dawn always unnerved him, mainly contributed to his sight fear of the dark.

‘Sometimes, I wish I could harness fire, if only to use it as some sort of light source. Damn it, this walk does not get any more fun the more you do it... Bored...’

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After another dull and uneventful walk to the farm, he could see Big Mac pacing around an area of the farm, obviously worried about something. He hadn’t even prepared the farm for the upcoming day of work. (The horror, the HORROR!) He wonders to himself as to what could be up with his big lug of a friend, to get him so worked up.

He didn’t need to think for long, as the giant red stallion lumbers over to his position. “Dusk, I’ve been waiting for you to come to work yesterday, because I need your help.” He had never seen Big Mac so frazzled before. (Although the most emotion he had ever seen for the farmer is when he found out who he liked.)

“Why do you need my help? Is it important?” There is genuine worry in his voice, since when does a stallion like Macintosh need help...

“It’s about Cheerilee, I... uh... may have told her of my feelings...”

“...what, uhm... when did you tell her?” This can still be saved.

“When you first told me of your plans.”

[Four days ago]

“So maybe you could pick your sister up, and use it as an excuse to get closer to Cheerilee.

“...That doesn’t really sound like such a bad idea Dusk. I think that it could work.” Approves Big Mac.

“Remember, that you can’t just rush into things here. If you do things too quickly, you could scare her away, which is the opposite of what you want.”

“Eeyup.”

“Just take things nice and slow. The only reason I got Zephyr and Twilight on a date so easily, is because they bonded beforehoof. Just make sure that you become friends first. You got that?”

[Present]

‘Damn it, I should have been much more intricate with my plan. But how can you make the words don’t rush into things, easier to comprehend...’

Big Mac continued to speak, “I reminded her of the Hearts and Hooves incident that happened nearly a year ago, and how my feelings for her have built upon that day.”

Dusk’s bewildered look gives the farmer the signal to start explaining...

---------- (One explanation of the CMC’s attempt to ship Cheerilee and himself later...)

“A love potion you say.” Dusk’s face lights up as he gets an [IDEA!].

“No Dusk, don’t. That... was not a pleasant time.” He looks away with a pained expression.

“But won’t it bring you two-”

“I said no!” He raises his voice as he finishes, intimidating Dusk. The dark blue pegasus notices how much bigger the red Apple is, compared to himself.

“...I’ll just shut up now...”

The two remained silent for the next minute, because Big Mac couldn’t think of anything he could say, and Dusk is too ashamed with his own rashness to speak. The pegasus could see the sun appear on the horizon, signifying the crack of dawn.

“Maybe you should wake up your sisters now.” He says shyly.

“Eeyup.” And with that, Big Mac had walked back to the farmhouse to go and wake up the rest of his family. He notices that he has heard of the so called ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’ on quite a few occasions, but he has only met one of the fillies. (Sweetie Belle) He told himself to seek out the other two whenever he gets the chance.

Remembering that Big Mac had neglected to set up the equipment the day of work, he decided to finish what the farmer never started... (Or at least try to)

---------- (15-20 minutes later)

Dusk had given up on his act of goodwill about 10 minutes ago, since he had absolutely no idea where and what Applejack and Big Mac had planned for today. Instead, he was silently thinking to himself, trying to figure out a way to save the horrible situation that the Apple stallion has put himself in. He sighs, cursing his friend for letting his emotions get the better of him. It is facehoof worthy. (Speaking of which...)

*facehoof* ‘Why Big Mac? Why?’

After he finishes his facehoof, he could see Applejack, Big Mac and a small, yellow filly, walk out of the farm house. What first caught his attention about the filly is the oversized pink bow that she wore in her red mane. Upon closer examination, he could see that she hasn’t received her cutie mark as of yet; a ‘blank flank’ so to speak. He deduced that this is Applebloom, one of the ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders.’

‘If only there was a group like that for me, I was about 5-7 years overdue for Celestia’s sake.'

Applebloom has waved goodbye to her two older siblings as she walks along the main route into town, most likely to meet up with the rest of the CMC... or something. (Wait, what does a filly like her do in town, just after the crack of dawn?!) As he watches her walk away from the orchard, he hears a certain mare’s voice, with a familiar country twang.

“Ah heard about wha’ happened with you an’ Rarity.” She says in a calm demeanor.

“...” He seems unfazed about her knowledge of yesterday’s events.

“Ah reckon tha’ it was ah mighty fine shame for her to do tha’ to you.” Her former calmness is replaced with aggression. “Ah made sure tha’ ah gave her ah piece of my mind.”

“How did you find out?” This garners more attention from the stallion.

“She told me, she told all of us.”

He is now quite curious about this, “Why did she tell all of you, and who is ‘us’?

“She told Rainbow, Pinkie, and mahself,  since we didn’t know about this incident and ah’m sorry sugarcube, but we all Pinkie promised not to say why.”

Applejack could see Pinkie standing near the empty buckets, eyeing the two very suspiciously. She grabs an apple out of the buckets, and slowly chews on it, without keeping her eyes off the two. Dusk couldn’t see her, since his back was faced towards the pink, party mare.

Eager to change the subject, Applejack speaks again. “Mah brother told me tha’ he needed your help with somethin’, so you are gonna be workin’ with him today.”

He does a mock salute and says, “Yes ma’am.” Any hint of seriousness in his voice has been abolished

*sigh* “Get out of here Dusk, git!” She shoos him from his former position, and he starts to walk over to Big Macintosh’s position.

He could see that the red giant is setting up the farm’s equipment for the day of work. He is currently moving a plow over to a field which has seen much better days. (Or maybe that is how it is supposed to look...? I don’t have an eye for farming.) Dusk waited until the farmer had placed the plow down before speaking.

“So, Applejack said that you needed help with something.”

“Eeyup, I need your help with Cheerilee, like I told you before. I never got the chance to tell you the rest of what happened.” The normally calm stallion, is calm, as per usual. “I told her of my feelings, and she..."

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Perspective: Big Mac [Soon after C32: Dusk the Matchmaker]

“I’m really sorry Big Mac, but I don’t really want to be in a relationship with anypony. It’s a long story.” She truly sounded apologetic, almost reluctant to tell him this.

“I have time.” His tone of voice and expression carry none of the emotion that he truly felt. He kept up the stoic facade.

“I just... can’t Mac. I know that we have been friends for a while now, especially after that ‘Hearts and Hooves Day’ incident.” They both shared small laughter... they caused so much destruction that day, and yet they don’t even remember half of it. She continued, “But I’m not ready for a relationship right now. I have to admit, I do feel something for you and me...”

‘Us?’

“...But I can’t do this. It’s a personal reason, that I’d rather not bring up right now. Nopony in town knows about it.” Her expression made her seem a lot older than she really is.

He knew that it was a good time to leave. “Oh... okay then. Well I guess this is goodbye for now.”

“Wait.” This stopped him in his tracks, and she moved to the doorway that he was about to exit. She brings a forehoof down his right cheek, “I know that this must hurt right now Mac, but do you think we could still be friends?”

The answer was obvious to him, “Eeyup.”

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Perspective: Dusk [Present Time]

“I see... “ Dusk didn’t expect that, to say the least.

“I don’t want you to be too hard on her, but could you just persuade her to let me take her on one date?”

‘Well he has rejected numerous mares in the town, just for this one mare that he likes... there is only one possible answer to this.’

“I guess I’ll be making a trip to the teachers office.” Next Chapter: Chapter 58: Crossing The Line Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 15 Minutes