Chapter 8: Pinkamena’s Party

After the lunch break, Applejack and Dusk continue working on the farm. Last the hours of work, Dusk had bucked eighteen trees, leaving the total at 42 bucked trees for the day. Applejack invites Dusk inside the farmhouse, so he could get paid. He saw that Big Mac was inside, and was eating an apple pie. Applejack grabs a bit pouch, and starts working out today’s pay.

“So Dusk, with the amount of trees that you bucked, Ah’ll have to give yah 105 bits.” She gives him a pouch with all the bits, which he happily accepts.

“Thanks for that Applejack, this is worth three days’ pay, of my old job.”

“Really? Well you deserved it. You helped us ah lot around the farm, and did an excellent job on your very first day.”

“No problem. How many trees did you buck today?”

“Over 110 trees.”

Dusk’s jaw dropped, “S-seriously?!”

“Uh-huh, Big Mac can buck more trees than me though. He usually bucks around 140-160 trees.”

He looked at her with a bewildered look, “You’re kidding me right?”

“Nnnope.” Responds a certain stallion that walks into the room.

‘But, how? That is nearly four times the amount of trees that I bucked, and I truly exerted myself today.’

Big Mac continues, “So I heard that Dusk had bucked 42 trees on his first day. Not bad for city folk.”

“But it isn’t even close to what you or Applejack can do.”

“Keep in mind that we have been farming for our whole lives.” Reminds Big Mac.

“Dusk, we have had many workers here that were stronger than you. Even so, they could maybe buck 20-30 trees, at best. It shows that your skill and determination can outweigh any strength issues.” Compliments Applejack.

This raised his mood considerably, “Was I really that good?”

“Eeyup. Even Caramel, who has worked here for over two years, can only buck 50-60 trees.”

“Well, at least I’m not being swamped by farming veterans now.”

“Yup, Dusk. Anyway, ah think you should leave tah get ready for tonight.”

“OK, thanks bye.” Says Dusk as he walks out of the farm. He then facehoofs himself. ‘I should have asked what was happening tonight.’

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Dusk was walking back to Fluttershy’s, curious about what was actually happening tonight. As he walked along the path, he overheard two mares talking about something near a bench.

“…that Pinkie is planning a party.”

“Really, what for?”

“I don’t really know, but I heard that DJ PON-3 will be there.”

‘It must be some party, if she’s coming.’

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As Dusk ponders what Applejack meant before, with whatever was happening tonight, he has an idea.

“Maybe Twilight knows what is happening. She is usually organized about these sort of things.” He thinks out loud. He starts to walk to the library.

“Uhh, mommy, why was that injured pegasus talking to himself? Is he crazy?” asks a young unicorn filly.

“I don’t know, muffin. I really don’t know.”

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About twenty minutes later, he arrives at the library and knocks on the door.

*knock knock knock*

No response.

*knock knock knock*

“Ugh, who could that be?” complains what sounds like a young colt.

The door opens, revealing to Dusk who, or what, it really is. He saw what looked like… a purple lizard?

“Who are you?” groggily asks the creature. “I’ve never seen you before.”

“And I’ve never seen a purple lizard before.” Retorts Dusk.

“I’m not a lizard; I’m a baby dragon and Twilight’s number 1 assistant”

A single “Hoo.” Comes from inside the library.

“Shut up, Owlicious.” Retaliates the dragon.

The dragon has purple scales, around most of his body, with smaller, pale green scales going down the front of his body. There are thick, green scales, which go down from the top of his head, to the tip of his tail. He has green dragon eyes, and is standing on his two hind legs.

“So, why did you have to wake me up?”

“I have to talk to Twilight about something.”

“Sorry, but Twilight has left for one of Pinkie’s parties. She left me here, again. Uh, why are you just staring at the door?”

Dusk had stopped listening, when the dragon mentioned “Pinkie’s parties”. He remembered something.

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(After seeing Mayor Mare)

As Dusk walked to Ponyville Park, he was ambushed by Pinkie, who hid in a bush, and she started talking to him.

“Oh hiya Dusk, I came here to talk about…”

Dusk had learnt how to block out noises that he didn’t want to hear. He didn’t really feel like listening to Pinkie’s chatter.

“…and I invited everyone to come as well. Did you get all that?” asked Pinkie/

“I think I did.” Answered Dusk.

“Okie-Dokie-Lokie” She happily said, as she started bouncing to wherever that pink pony went.

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‘If Twilight is there now, than that probably means that everyone else is as well, and they are waiting for me, because the party is celebrating my arrival!’

“Hello.” The dragon waves his hand to Dusk’s face. “Are you still there?”

“Quick,” This surprised the dragon, “do you know where she went?”

“To Sugarcube Corner, I think.”

Dusk ran for the bakery, as fast as his hoofs would let him.

The dragon walks back into the library, confused at what just happened. “Why was he staring at the door for a minute?”

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A minute later, Dusk opened the door to the bakery. He saw about half of the town inside, as well as tables filled with various baked goods, a number of different party games, and a set of turntables. The ponies that were there each has different looks, none of them good. He saw faces of boredom, frustration, sadness and grief.

Pinkie walks up to Dusk, with a bit less ‘poof’ in her mane. “Why weren’t you here Dusk?” Asks the sad Pinkie. “We have been waiting for you for 35 minutes.” Her mane starts slowly straightening and he sees Rainbow cringe.

“Don’t you like my parties?” She looks like she would start crying, it is a truly heart-breaking sight. Dusk tries to improve her mood.

“I’m sorry Pinkie, but I didn’t know about the party until too late.”

It didn’t work. “But Dusk,” a few tears fall and her mane is completely straight, “I told you about it near the park, REMEMBER. You just ignored me didn’t you.” Her tone became more hostile, as the rest of the group start becoming even sadder. Rainbow looked like she wanted to kill Dusk.

He decided to just tell the truth. “Yes, Pinkie, I did ignore you, but I regret doing that now. I should have listened to what you were saying, I’m sorry.” Dusk looked down to the ground, being reminded an old memory of his.

Pinkie hugged him, her mane slowly regaining its poof. “It’s OK Dusk, we all make mistakes sometimes.” Dusk feels a few teardrops fall onto his coat, but he lets Pinkie hug him. He starts to feel depressed about what had just happened. He hears her quietly say “I forgive you.”

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Pinkie eventually got herself off Dusk, her mane back to its normal style.

“OK everypony, LETS GET THIS PARTY STARTED!” She announced.

Vinyl Scratch took this as her queue to start the music, and the room was filled with loud music from her latest album. Some of the party guests were playing various party games with Pinkie Pie, others were eating the various foods laid out across the tables. There were some who were dancing to DJ PON-3’s music. (Twilight’s dancing was horrible at best) Basically everypony was having a good time. All except for Dusk, the guest of honor.

He was sitting in a chair with his head down, thinking about an old, repressed memory of his. He remembered how Rainbow was acting before, and decided to call her over.

“Rainbow, could you come over here?”

“Is this about before?”

“Yes.”

“*sigh* in a second.” She stops dancing to the music and flies to Dusk’s side.

Dusk begins, “Dash, when Pinkie was upset before, you seemed like you knew something about her. You were quite upset about it, and not just because you are her marefriend. What do you know about her, when she’s like that.”

“Well, might as well tell you now.”

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Rainbow explained to Dusk about Pinkamena Diane Pie, she told him about her experience with Pinkamena and what had happened to her. Apparently, the situation was quite similar to this one, with Pinkie thinking that no-one liked her parties anymore. Dash never wanted to see her like that again, as she was always loyal to her friends.

After hearing how it affected Rainbow, Dusk decides to tell her why it has affected him as well.

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~7 years ago~

It was Dusk’s first year in the Cloudsdale Flight School, he was 13 years old at the time. He walked through the halls of the school grounds, nervous about his move up from the Cloudsdale Beginners Flight School. His basking, was interrupted by the school bell. His first and second lessons would be Maths and Physics.

-Later-

The lessons were boring, to say the least, and he was relieved to hear the recess bell. He sat in the courtyard eating his daisy sandwich (eating lunch for recess, what a rebel), but he heard what sounded like a mare crying. Without thinking, he ran into the hallway to see an orange coated mare being bullied by a bunch of stallions. They bullied her for being too weak, too clumsy etc so Dusk decided to step in and stop the verbal onslaught.

“Hey, stop teasing the mare you bullies.” Dusk didn’t realize how weak he sounded at the time.

“Heh, guys, the little pipsqueak thinks he can stand up to us.” Jeered one of the stallions

His friends just smirk at Dusk.

“Well, what are you gonna do about it then?” asked another bully. They slowly walked closer toward Dusk, who was tiny compared to them.

“Um… Well? I don’t know.” Weakly replied Dusk

“I think I know what you can do,” says the leader. “Boys, lets show him what happens when someone messes with us.”

Both Dusk, and the mare (who would later become his friend) knew what was going to happen. She started to cry, but Dusk had other ideas.

“What are you waiting for, RUN!” He shouted in desperation.

She ran away crying, as she ran while Dusk was being beaten by the group of stallions.

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“So I remained loyal to her, knowing of the consequences. But when I had upset Pinkie, it showed that I was no better than those bullies. If I had only listened to her, this wouldn’t have happened. It is everything that I stand against”

“So that would explain why you were upset, but why did you still help her?”

“Needed to redeem myself for the actions that led to this.”

“So do you think that we should rejoin the party?” asked Rainbow, “I’m sure Pinkie would appreciate it.”

“Lead the way.” Next Chapter: Chapter 9: A Small Problem Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 43 Minutes