Chapter 11:

Dusk's Exploration

Meanwhile, Dusk was taking a stroll through his kingdom when he spotted a herd of deer grazing in the meadows. Wanting to get a closer look, Dusk quietly walked up to them, as quietly as he can be, at least until he stumbled upon a rock. Alerted, the Deers raised their heads, thinking there might be a predator around, and started running off in fright.

"Hey, wait, come back!" Dusk shouted out, chasing after them.

At a geyser field in the Dragon Graveyard, Aria and Pharynx, who are now adult Alicorns too, arrived at a nearby ledge and looked around the place. Pharynx was holding two sticks in his mouth while Aria looked around and complained about the place.

"Eeeew, this place is even creepier since the Diamond Dogs ran off." Aria complained. She really didn't want to be there. And since Stone Heart wasn't around, she decided to complain.

"Oooh, sheesh," Pharynx groaned in annoyance from his sisters' complaint as he hopped off the ledge. They had a job to do, and Pharynx wanted to do it right now.

"I'm not scared okay?" Aria scoffed as a nearby geyser went off, causing the mare to leap down in fright.

Pharynx approaches a geyser and places the two sticks down.

"I just don't know why we have to be here, that's all. If Ocellus was so 'Special', why does she need us?...I never even had a chance!" Aria complained in jealousy as a geyser went off behind her, causing the Outsider to scream in fright and run over to Pharynx while covering her eyes.

Pharynx sighed and rolled his eyes in annoyance, seeing his older sister act like a big foal rather than an adult Alicorn. Then the geyser went off, lighting up the sticks on fire.

"That's it," Pharynx smiled, picking up his flaming stick.

"Now come on. Dusk has begun his exploration task. We better move quickly," Pharynx said as he begins to head out but then stopped to see Aria looking over the geyser.

When Aria was close enough, the geyser went off and blew hot steam in her face.

"Ah! Fire!" Aria cackled with a crazed and burned look on her face.

And the two Outsiders race off out of the Graveyard to proceed with the plan.

Meanwhile, in the tall grass, Pinkie was holding up her poofy tail and looking around as Rainbow stealthily emerges from the grass looking around too until she looked and saw Pinkies' tail and yelped as the two ducked back down in the grass.

Applejack and Fluttershy appeared from the grass looking around before heading to the grass on the other side. The two ponies scurried around in the grass until they approaches a tree where Rarity and Rainbow Dash appeared and tried to look less obvious as they looked around and dived into the grass before approaching another tree.

The Mane 5 looked around while switching positions in the tree before heading off again.

The Mane 5 split up and hid in different places.

Applejack and Pinkie were hiding behind some rocks, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy hid in a cloud, and Rarity was hiding in a log.

"This is Gem Alpha calling friends. What're your positions?" Rarity asked with her hoof acting like a walkie-talkie.

"Awesome Colors here with Monarch Butterfly, we have nothing so far in our position, Gem Alpha." Rainbow Dash replied with Fluttershy nodding in agreement.

"Uh, Applejack and I are standing upright, my head is turning slightly to the left, my tail still poofy." Pinkie replied with a smile while Applejack just looked at her with a bored look on her face.

"Why do I bother?" Rarity muttered as she starts to look around and spotted the target.

In Rarity's view, Dusk was walking on his own and continuing his exploration.

"Ah-ha." Rarity smiled before heading inside the log.

Dusk was walking along taking in the wonderful sight of the world around him until he spotted some Pronghorns running in front of him. Seeing those animals run, Dusk decided to join them and ran to catch up with them, despite the fact that Pronghorns are very fast runners. But Dusk liked to challenge himself.

The Mane 5 were still looking around for Dusk until they looked ahead and saw the herd of Pronghorns stampeding towards them, causing the five mares to scream and duck out of the way as the Pronghorns ran around them.

"This must be where the Deer and the Antelope play!" Applejack commented as they watch the Pronghorns running off.

But when they turned around, the Mane 5 screamed for standing in front of them is Dusk and he doesn't seem to be happy to find his five aunts here. Seeing that they'd been spotted, Rarity giggled nervously while Applejack, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie smiled nervously.

"Rarity? What are you and the others doing here?!" Dusk demanded.

"Why darling, we were just on our way shopping. Thought some nice decorations for the Castle like throw pillows and little potpourri," Rarity tried to explain, trying to convince her nephew.

"Oh, yeah. The castle could sure use some potpourri alright!" Rainbow said, playing along while Pinkie Pie was nodding her head up and down in agreement.

"Hold on, my mother sent you, didn't she?! After she promised to let me do this on my own, she lied!" Dusk said, knowing the real reason why his aunts are here. He was hurt by the fact that even though he was now a young adult, his mother still saw and treated him like a foal.

"Okay, yes, your mother did send us, but she didn't lie, Dusk," Applejack said with honesty in her voice.

"She just didn't want you to get hurt," Fluttershy said next, trying to reason with Dusk.

"No, I just should've known she would never give me a real chance," Dusk said in disagreement as he then jumped over the Mane 5 and started running away, "I'll have to do this on my own…away from this kingdom!" He declared.

"Hey, wait, Dusk! Come back!" Rarity called out as she and the others ran after him into the tall grass.

"Come back here!" Pinkie shouted.

"Dusk!" Applejack shouted next.

"Dusk, come back!" Rainbow shouted.

The Mane 5 ran through the tall grass to find Dusk but seeing that he was right out of their sight, they stopped, seeing there is no way to find him.

"Oh, no! He's gone again!" Rarity said with worry.

"Somepony's gotta get a beeper for him!" Rainbow commented.

"Come on, we gotta find him before he gets any more trouble!" Applejack said as they continued searching for Dusk.

Meanwhile, Dusk continued running until he was sure that his aunts were not following him and stopped, catching his breath. Dusk looked back with a sad look, he couldn't believe that his mother would break her own promise to him. So Dusk continues on trying to get away from his home as far as he possibly can.

But Dusk was unaware that Pharynx and Aria were watching him from the distance. Seeing the Alicorn Prince by himself, Aria and Pharynx knew that is their signal.

"Let's Light Fire!" Aria declared as she and Pharynx ran down the hill, ready to spread some fire.

Pharynx was running while cackling evilly and lowering his flaming stick close to the tall grass, catching them on fire.

Aria, on the other hoof, ran to another hill cackling and setting the area on fire, being totally unaware that she was forming a ring of fire and trapping herself.

"Roasty Toasty Prince! Roasty Toasty Prince!" Aria sang as she tossed her flaming stick away and started jumping around like an excited little filly.

But then she stopped when she smelled something hot and burning.

"Hey, is it hot here or is that just me?" Aria asked, wondering where the heat and smell is coming from.

Of course, it didn't take long for her to find the answer when she quickly realized she is surrounded by…

"FIRE!" Aria yelled as she jumped out of the ring of fire and landed on the ground away from it.

Aria chuckled in victory, seeing how she has managed to escape without burning, and smiled.

But her victory was short-lived when Pharynx grabbed her by the shoulder and the two Alicorns headed out of the way to avoid being spotted while letting the fire spread across the area.