My Dearest Dusk

by CrackedInkWell

Chapter 17

The Prince of Friendship was happy. From the bookstore, he and Solaris found fifteen books to be brought back into Ponyville’s library collection. Although Dusk still had some ways to go before recovering the library’s books of stories, poems, histories, and research books, this still felt a step forward for him. After the owner told him that he could have the books for free, his date helped him transport the books over to the ship for safekeeping.

His date… Dusk looked to the side, eyeing the white alicorn that was flying beside him in the night sky. He’d learned more about his best friend tonight than he had in all the years spent as his student. And in the last couple of hours, he’d been treated as if he was something more sacred than the Sun that Solaris had control over. Not only was he practically worshiping the very ground that his hooves walked upon, but he even revealed a few things about himself that Dusk never knew.

As they flew over taxis and tourists, Dusk Shine began to wonder. After the date was over, would his relationship with his old mentor change? Would things go back to normal? ‘Do I even want things to go back to the way they were?’ he thought.

He took another glance at Solaris’s face that was so calm, happy and at peace. ‘He’s shown that he could become something even greater than just a friend,’ Dusk thought. ‘I wonder if this is what it’s like for Harpsy when he’s with Bar Bar. I’ll admit it, this date is rather…’ His mind trailed off as they made a turn to another street. ‘So does this prove it? Could I really feel like that for him? E-Even so, where do we go from-’

His thoughts were interrupted as the Sun Prince slowed down and landed in front of a restaurant that Dusk could see was nearly packed with ponies.

“Is this our next stop?” the lilac Prince asked.

“No,” Solaris admitted, “this is a rather short detour before our actual, last stop.”

The young alicorn looked at the words that were on the windows. “Sweet Tooth’s Cheesecake: Open 24 Hours.” Prince Dusk also noticed some of the ponies inside that were the closest to the windows were now taking notice of them. As he and Prince Solaris went to the entrance, they could see the crowd was growing in number, each pony trying to take a good look at who was entering the restaurant.

Once they were inside, there was a lot of noise going around. Above the music coming from the speakers of some recent pop songs, there was a lot of talking, shouts, and greetings from the customers inside. Many of the ponies that were standing took a moment to bow to the both of them, while those who were sitting down raised their glasses or silverware to them.

Solaris put on his usual warming smile, saying things like, “Hello,” and “Good evening,” and “Thank you very much everypony.” Dusk on the other hoof simply nodded to them.

As they got closer to the register, a teenage stallion was putting bits away into the register. “Just a sec,” he said as the cash register closed, whipping his eyes towards them. “Sorry about that, welcome to Sweet Tooth’s Cheesecake, how may I…” he trailed off once he looked up to find Prince Dusk Shine there, along with a very tall white alicorn. The teenager craned his neck up, “help… you?”

“Good evening,” Solaris nodded, then looked at the chalkboard menu.

“Y-Y-Your Highnesses,” the employee stumbled over his speech, “I-I didn’t know y-you w-were c-c-coming.”

“Neither did I,” Dusk muttered.

“Um,” the teen looked around, “S-Should I get you guys a m-menu o-or-”

“Take out,” the Solar Prince interrupted. “I want to have the triple chocolate cheesecake, no cream but plenty of caramel sauce.” He turned to the younger alicorn. “And what will you have?”

As the pegasus behind the cash register tried to process what was going on, Dusk looked up at the board as well, and spotted a particular item on the menu, “Can I have the Red Velvet, but have it plain, please?”

Snapping at the surreal moment he was having, the teen pressed some buttons on the register. “That’ll be twenty-three bits, Your Highness. So should I-” He was cut off when Solaris plopped a large bag of bits onto the counter.

“You can keep the change,” the Solar Prince told him.

“Um… right,” the employee took the bag of heavy bits behind the counter. “Do you want any forks and napkins with your order?”

_*_

With the slice of cheesecake in his aura, along with a black plastic fork and cheap white napkins, Dusk Shine followed Solaris once more to their last destination of the evening. They moved away from the loud and crowded restaurant and were now in the cool, but empty night air, flying away from the city.

They flew over the inky black waters that the island city was surrounded by. By Solaris’s direction, they were headed toward the only bridge that connected the city to the rest of Equestria. They flew up to one of the bridge’s steel spires that rose above the sea below.

“We’re here,” Solaris announced as they landed on the very top of one that overlooked the city’s skylight. They could easily see their airship still tied to the Mustang Building, as well as a view of the great Manehattan statue that faced the sea.

Dusk also noticed that they found a velvet couch along with a record player on a stand that had a few records leaning on its side. “Did you have somepony set this up?” he wondered aloud.

“Of course,” his date said as he landed next to the couch, that was facing the city. He took a seat on one side of it. “A result of favor I asked the mayor here, and by the look of things, she fulfilled it. Come, sit with me.” He said, patting the other cushion.

Dusk, feeling a little bit timid, sat on the royal red couch next to his date. He also saw Solaris’s aura light up the phonograph, turning the handle until the record started to spin. Using his magic, he also grabbed one of the records to put on the turntable before placing the needle on it. And out of the horn came a slow piano with a descending scale.

“Now, let’s eat,” the elder alicorn said, opening his white cardboard box to reveal the treasure inside. The younger Prince took his example and started to eat as the air had nothing but the soft music that the record was playing.

The two of them sat there in silence. They watched the small movements of the sleepless city morph and change with its lights and ponies that wandered about like a waterfall made of lights. There was strange tranquility of watching a city at a distance, eating good cheesecake on a soft couch while sitting next to the most wonderful pony that Dusk had ever known.

Eventually, Prince Shine broke the stillness. “Solaris, can I ask-”

“Another personal question?” he interrupted but chuckled as he answered. “Again, I don’t mind at all. What’s on your mind?”

“Well…” Dusk thought for a moment before inquiring, “Before you ever met me, were there any… you know, other stallions that you had fallen in love with?”

Solaris nodded. “Not many, but there were a few throughout the centuries that had captured my attention. Even before Artemis turned to Nightterror Nebula, there were a few that I had developed a crush over and even fewer that I had fallen in love with.

“For example, my first love was with a knight. At the time, I was the first to allow both mares and stallions allowed into the Royal Guard. His name was Axe Blade, but when I first developed feelings for him, I kept it hidden since he had his eye on a mare, and I knew that it wouldn’t have worked out.

“Then there was the Archduke that had caught my eye three hundred years after Artie’s banishment. I guess you might know him as Moonstone, Archduke of Fillidelphia?”

“You mean the first Duke of Fillidephia?” Dusk asked in surprise, “I never knew you were in love with him. But, wasn’t he married?”

“In truth,” the white alicorn turned away, ears folding back and a blush on his cheeks. “He and I had an affair for a few years. I don’t believe his wife had ever found out about it, but he broke it off because he got paranoid that we might get caught somehow.

“Several years later I fell in love with a painter, but he didn’t return such feelings to me. Then it was a writer named Haiku Pose. He was also an ambassador so, while we rarely saw each other, we often wrote to each other. I remember that he wrote these passionate letters in his style of poetry. However, he had made me keep a promise that I would burn the letters after I’d read them so nopony would ever find out.

“Then there was a butler that I never told, a composer who committed suicide, and a pony that had blackmailed me until he died.” Solaris turned to Dusk and said, “But when you came along, however, as you might have guessed from what remained of the love letters I never meant to send, my love for you grew with time. And now you’ve performed the miracle of asking me out on a date. For this, my beloved Dusk, I don’t believe there’s any word in Equestrian, or in any other language for that matter, to describe such deep gratitude I have for you giving me this chance.”

“Well… to be honest,” Dusk confessed, looking down at the remains of his dessert. “I uh… I rather enjoyed doing this. This being my first date with the same gender and all, I didn’t find anything that different compared to the other dates I’ve been on except… well… this was just wonderful, plain and simple. I mean, if I ever got the chance to do this again… I uh…”

“Yes?” Solaris asked, his ears perked up, having his full attention at his former student.

“I… would do this again,” he muttered softly, yet his date was able to hear it. For a moment, neither of them spoke, until Dusk spoke up again. “Solaris, can I tell you something very, very personal?”

He nodded.

“Just…” Dusk looked away; trying to hide the blush that he could feel was coming on his face, “don’t ever tell the guys that I said this, alright?”

“Of course, what is it?”

The lilac alicorn took a deep breath and said, “I may have gone on a few dates with a few mares, and yes, even with one or two with Bonnie in the Human World but… I-I…”

“Take your time,” Solaris put a hoof on his beloved’s shoulder.

“I… I’ve never… you know… kissed anypony before.”

There was a pause between the two stallions. The Sun Prince’s eyes went wide while the Prince of Friendship was doing his best to hide his face from him.

“Oh,” the elder said softly. “Dusk, look, I completely understand that-”

“H-However,” Dusk cut him off. “I’ve been thinking. If I’m going to have my first kiss with anypony, it has to be someone that I trust absolutely, correct?”

“Well, of course,” Solaris agreed. “I understand fully that you wouldn’t.”

“So,” Dusk got off the couch to face him, his face was turning bright red, eyes darted in every direction and his ears folded back. “I-I was wondering… I-I mean, just out of curiosity and all. Well, maybe not exactly curiosity but rather an, well… a-an experiment to… uh…”

“Dusk,” Solaris interrupted, “are you asking me what I think you’re asking?”

“I-I mean,” the young Prince stuttered, with sweat running down his forehead, “You don’t have to if you don’t really wanna. I mean sure, it’s clear that you trot that way, but I-I don’t want you to think I’m imposing or-”

“Yes.”

The bookworm blinked, “Yes what?”

Solaris chuckled, “Dusk,” he said getting up from his seat, “it would be an honor and a privilege for me to be your first kiss. It’s really incredible that you are the one who is asking me to.”

“I know.”

The Prince of the Sun slowly walked up to the younger alicorn, bend his neck down to his eye-level, put a hoof under his chin to make him look up to him.

“Uh, S-Solaris,” Dusk said, “w-what do I do?”

“Do?” the white alicorn smiled, “First, tilt your head a little to your right,” he did so, “close your eyes,” Dusk did as he said. “Now, with your permission… may I?”

Dusk gave a small nod, and a moment later, something miraculous happened. For the first time, the very first time, Prince Dusk Shine of Ponyville and Friendship, received a real kiss on his lips. He was aware that his head saw glowing bright red like a neon sign, and his wings couldn’t help but unravel, but at that moment, he didn’t care. It was as if every problem and worry he ever had, they were now melting like ice on a summer’s day. He couldn’t help but enjoy this warmth that the very God of the Sun was giving to him.

For the young Prince, he couldn’t tell if this kiss lasted for a whole eternity or a few seconds. But for Dusk, it didn’t matter now that his mouth was surrendering to this moment. Even when he stuck his tongue in-

Suddenly, Prince Shine stepped back, breaking the kiss out of embarrassment. Gasping, he said, “Solaris! I-I’m so sorry! W-Was that supposed to happen or-” Solaris kissed him again. Answering his question was a slightly aggressive kiss than before. It took a moment for the violet alicorn to get the message, but once he did, he melted once again. Dusk could have sworn that he experienced two things: Solaris’s laughter, and the taste of chocolate and caramel.

This time, it was the Solar Prince who broke the kiss. With a hoof to wipe his mouth, he said, “My, my Dusk, I’m really impressed. Oh, here,” his horn lit up, taking one of the cheap napkins to clean the saliva around the younger Prince’s mouth. “Better… so… did you like it?”

“I… I think I did,” Dusk confessed, “That was… I never thought… wow.”

Solaris laughed, “I think that rather sums it up.” He also took notice that there was no more music playing, looking over at the phonograph, he levitated the other records over to him, and selected a waltz to play.

As soon as the new piece of music was playing, Solaris went up to his beloved with a solemn face, his neck craning high and legs perfectly straight.

“Uh, Solaris?” Dusk was about to ask until his former mentor offered him a hoof.

“Prince Dusk Shine,” he said, “would you honor me with this waltz?”

The younger alicorn didn’t think twice when he put his hoof in his. “It would be my pleasure.”

Soon they were on their hind legs, with Solaris looking down and Dusk looking up. They danced alone on top of the metal spire. The Sun Prince kissed his love on the forehead. “Have I told you lately, that I love you Dusk?”

Dusk laughed. “I think I already know that by now… So, Solaris? Would it be weird to say that I think, I might be falling for you also?”

“Nonsense,” he said, “I wouldn’t mind at all.”

As they continued to dance and the music drew to a crescendo, neither of them noticed the “click” of a camera, nor the flutter of wings.

Comments

[Lord Solaris]

ohhhhhhhh shiiiit who? why?
" Artemis get your battleaxe ready" pulls out an ax a 2 sided on resembling 2 half moons making a full one, one blade a blue moon the other a red
"and ill get my war hammer" pulls out a giant hammer with his cutie mar on either side
srry i got descriptive i like weapons

[Erico]

Kill the Winga-razzi!

[Gentle Hoof]

There it is! ^w^
Also, a sneaky spy!
This play is yet to close, a twist is ahead, so the chase is on!
What will await us in this story of love? Whose to say but the conductor of this song? I merely dance to its tune and I love every step of it~<3

P.S. I am still listening to the waltz that you've provided as I write this, so the thespian in me is having a field day with my fingers >w<

Keep up the great work,
Gentle Hoof

[PrinceCelestia]

omg Gymnopedies No.1-3 I love that piece ! and holy fausticorn this is so good i want it to go on forever!

[Totally_Original]

As they continued to dance and the music drew to a crescendo, neither of them noticed the “click” of a camera, nor the flutter of wings.

Is that foreshadowing?

EDIT: Aw dammit, it isn't.