And here is another chapter! I think I'll be putting out chapters every four to five days, if anyone was wondering.

In addition, I have noticed that many authors put annotations in the beginning notes. Here goes:

"TEXT HERE" indicates standard speech.

'TEXT HERE' indicates thoughts.

Rarity fretted back and forth in one of the many guest rooms in Twilight's quarters. There was still two weeks until the ball and festival and she had no clue on what to do with Twilight and Dusk. Only two obstacles were in her way: the mare with Rising Dusk, and Twilight Sparkle's shyness.

'Step 1,' she thought. 'Identify the competition.' Rarity figured that this one would be pretty easy, all she had to do was ask around about the ponies that worked with Twilight about Dusk.

Rarity was much more concerned about how hard it would be for Twilight to go out on a limb to talk to the grey unicorn. After all, Twilight had a hard time approaching things without a book. Rarity smiled and shook her head, thinking of Twilight's first sleep-over. Even when a tree had fallen through the window, Twilight was still reading. 'I'll have to force them together,' Rarity concluded. 'It won't give Twilight time to prepare by sticking her nose into a book.'

'Now all I have to do is figure out where that Dusk fellow is going to be…'

At that moment, the unicorn known as Rising Dusk, head assistant to Princess Luna herself, was wandering the gardens of Canterlot. On his back there were saddlebags practically bursting with papers. He was, at that moment, heading to the yearly meeting of research departments.

As always, Prince Blueblood was heading the meeting. 'I've always wondered who it was that gave him that position. He has no idea what he's doing after all.' Dusk had never seen eye-to-eye with the prince; it probably hadn't helped when Dusk had given him that sickly sweet smile at the previous royal dinner, where Dusk had set at the head table, forcing Blueblood to sit at another, less regal table. 'It was definitely worth it though.'

'Hopefully, the meeting will be short.'' He snorted at the idea. The last meeting had lasted nearly two days. The only reason that one had ended was because Princess Luna was fed up with the politics and ordered Prince Blueblood to end the meeting so the division heads could get back to their work.

He suddenly had the strangest feeling that he was being watched. He looked around the gardens suspiciously, but saw nopony watching him. He shook his mane, dismissing the thought and continuing to his destination.

Rarity exited her room, still lost in thought about her friend. As she approached the kitchen to get a drink, she ran into Pinkie Pie, who was talking to Spike.

"And that's when I said, 'But I don't even speak Pig Latin!'" Pinkie said laughing. Noticing Rarity, the pink pony smiled widely and bounded around the white unicorn. "Ooo! Ooo! Rarity, I wanted to ask you something!"

Rarity lifted an eyebrow at her energetic friend. "And the question is..?"

"Uh.. Just a second, I forgot," Pinkie said sheepishly. "It was about the festival and ball... Ooo! That's it! I wanted to know if you could spruce up my dress for the ball!"

Rarity gave a soft smile at her friend. "Of course, Pinkie. I can do it now, if you'd like."

"That would be wonderful!"

Twilight was standing at a table in a conference room in the castle. She would be meeting with Prince Blueblood and other of Canterlot's elite in just an hour, determining what direction the magical research division would take for the next year. She really wished that she didn't have to deal with Prince Blueblood and his ilk, but they did provide quite a bit of funding for her department.

She studied the papers in front of her. 'Bigger towers. What in the name of Celestia do they need bigger towers for? Half of the towers they have aren't even used! Why did they even give this one to me! This should be for the construction committee!' She pulled up another paper. 'Oh, it's for astronomy. Seriously? We're at the highest city in Equestria, with tall towers, and they want a bigger tower!'

Twilight groaned and let her head fall to the table. At least her team would be here with her, to explain why all of the inane ideas where, well, inane. A light creak signaled the door opening, to which Twilight didn't even move. If it was an early member of the elite, then they didn't deserve her attention. If it was one of her team, they wouldn't really care.

The clicking of hooves against the hard floor grew louder as the owner of them approached Twilight. When they stopped near her, she twisted her head to see who it was.

'Dusk! What's he doing here so early?' Twilight smiled weakly at him, covering her confusion. "What are you doing here so early? Meetings not for an hour," she said, head still resting on the table.

"I reviewed the papers earlier," the grey unicorn confessed. "I figured if you reaction was anything similar to mine, then you'd need someone to talk to."

"Oh? And how did you react?"

"I didn't say anything for several minutes, staring at the paper. Really? Bigger towers? And what about the aqueduct! We don't need an aqueduct!"

"There's a request for an aqueduct!" Twilight lifted her head and began riffling through the papers. "Do they not realize that we don't construct things like that? Ah, here it is. Oh, they want an aqueduct made out of water." Twilight's head slammed back into the table. "WHO COMES UP WITH THESE THINGS!"

Rarity was studying Pinkie Pie intently. She then turned to the bright yellow dress which she had put on a mannequin in her bedroom. Needles were flying about the rather large room, pinning and threading material with a speed and precision only gained through long years of practice. The yellow gown with numerous frills seemed to be under attack from the needles and thread. Suddenly, the needles flew away from the dress and landed neatly in a small container.

"Pinkie, come over here darling," Rarity called to the energetic mare. Pinkie Pie bounded over to her friend, while tape measures flew to her and the dress. Rarity compared them and sighed. "A little too tight. Thank you, Pinkie."

Pinkie Pie left the room and pounced over to the kitchen, where Spike was making lemonade. "Here, Pinkie, can you try this?" the young dragon asked, holding a full glass out.

Pinkie too it and drank deeply. Her eyes moved about her head as she scrutinized the beverage. Her experience at Sugar Cube Corner let her identify the lemons and the sugar, but she tasted something else. She eyed the dragon suspiciously. "Spike did you do something to the lemonade?"

The dragon's face seemed to be on the verge of exploding with laughter. "I SPIKED IT!" he let out, falling over onto the floor, where he began rolling about laughing.

Pinkie Pie stared at hem rolling on the ground, then to the glass in her hoof, then back to Spike. A smile was beginning to form on her face. She began chuckling, then outright laughing as she too rolled on to the ground.

At this, Rarity entered the kitchen to investigate the commotion. "What's going on here? What is with this raucous behavior?"

"He- he- he-" Pinkie pie stuttered, her laughter taking her voice. She picked herself up, taking a deep breath. "He spiked the lemonade!" At this, she once again fell to the floor laughing.

Rarity stared at the two before chuckling softly. "Well played, Spike. Well played."

And here we go, another chapter gone. No new ponies introduced, but we do have a bit more on Rising Dusk, an OC.

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