My Dearest Dusk

by CrackedInkWell

Chapter 23

While Dusk’s mother was busy having a few words with Solaris, the bookworm Prince returned to the dining room with his father to come across a curious sight.

At the center was the Prince of Love, levitating a scroll with a quill. Beside him were his wife and Spines, both of whom were leaning in to look at the parchment in deep thought.

“No, I don’t think using their cutie marks would work,” Spines commented. “That would pretty much clash with everything.”

“And doing it indoors won’t really work either,” Gleaming added. “Maybe doing it outside would be best, probably at sunset, too. I mean, with the both of them, it would probably make the most sense.”

“What are you three doing?” Star Light inquired, at which point all three snapped their attention away from whatever they were doing. The pink alicorn quickly rolled up the scroll before sitting on it.

“Uh, nothing,” the three of them said at once.

Dusk raised an eyebrow. “What were you writing about?”

“It's…” Crescendo’s eyes looked upward at the ceiling, trying to come up with an explanation, “a little poem I wrote for Gleaming here.”

“Yeah,” his wife joined in the charade, “and we were helping him editing it.”

“Uh-huh,” his assistant nodding, with a hint of embarrassment on her cheeks. “Nothing suspicious here.”

Dusk wasn’t buying what they were saying, and neither was his dad. “Guys,” Star said, “hoof it over. Let’s see it.”

Reluctantly, Crescendo did release the crumpled up scroll over to them. Dusk unrolled it to find what looked like a list. “Purple and white, outdoor setting, three or four layer cake, Spines as… ring bearer? Dad as best stallion… Wait a minute!” Suddenly, all the clues clicked in the violet alicorn’s mind. “Are these plans for a wedding!?”

“Um… maybe?” Spines grinned sheepishly.

Dusk felt the blood rushing to his cheeks. “You guys! We just started to go out. Don’t any of you think that planning something like this is a little too soon?”

“What,” Crescendo shrugged, “it could happen.”

Star Light facehoofed. “They’re not in a hurry to get married. Seriously, what is wrong with you three?”

“We’re just planning ahead dad,” Gleaming stated. “It doesn’t hurt to be a little bit prepared.”

“Oh good Solaris,” Dusk moaned, ducking his head below the table so none of them would see the embarrassment on his face.

“You called?” This was quickly followed by the lilac Prince bumping his head on the table. He, along with the rest of them, turned to find the solar alicorn walking in with the matriarch following behind. “Are you alright Dusk?”

The alicorn in question rubbed the back of his sore head with a hoof. “Ow, I’ll be fine.”

“So what’s been-” Moon Light was about to ask until her husband showed her the scroll. “Is this a wedding list?” she asked and Star nodded.

Solaris turned to his nephew. “A little excited for the wedding, aren’t we?”

Crescendo folded his ears back, “Well, can you blame me? You two have just realized that you have feelings for each other, and it doesn’t hurt to be prepared.”

“We’ve just had our first date last night,” the Sun Prince deadpanned.

“Hey,” Spines piped up, “since we’re all here, should we start dishing out the ice cream now?”

“I suppose,” Moon Light sighed. “Help me with the dishes first.”

_*_

“…. And then Bluebelle says, ‘Oh, so that’s where my sense of humility went.’” There was laughter as soon as Solaris finished the joke. His nephew covered his mouth over the shock humor from his uncle while his wife was on the floor laughing her head off.

Spines turned to Dusk Shine. “Holy cow, your new coltfriend is harsh.”

“Now, now Spines,” the Sun Prince corrected her, “That joke isn’t callous if it happens to be true.”

“Yeah,” Gleaming nodded, “she was a tough pony just to be around. I remember that nopony wanted to go near her with a mile long pole.”

Solaris laughed, putting his glass of vanilla ice cream down on the table. “Oh, I don’t blame any of them really. I mean, try to imagine dealing with her at court on a daily basis.”

As Dusk was chuckling, his father tapped on his shoulder, gesturing to see him in the kitchen. The lilac alicorn told everypony that he would be right back and got up to follow his dad into the other room.

Once in the kitchen, Dusk asked what his father wanted. “I just wanted to talk to you for a moment.”

“Sure,” Dusk said, picking up a spoonful of his ice cream, “about what?”

“It’s about your new… coltfriend. Look, I’m not saying that I’m completely against this. Heck, after listening to what you two had to say back there, at least I’m still willing to give you two a chance. At the same time, however, and I’m not sure what your mother thinks, but I’m a little worried.”

Dusk tilted his head. “How come?”

“Son,” his father said, putting a hoof on his shoulder, “overall, I’m glad that you found somepony that means so much to you. But at the same time, just because he’s a Prince like you, doesn’t excuse the fact that something could go wrong. Now, don’t look at me like that. I’m not saying that it’s inevitable but as a cautious possibility. Dusk, I want you to know that if something does go wrong, and if you feel that you can’t back out of this, please, let us know. We will help you. Both your mother and I have experience with being with some rather bad dates. Just remember that if something does fly south, tell us, or your friends if you have to.

“I’m not saying this to discourage you having this sort of relationship with Solaris, but from a father to son in the romantic field, please, be careful.”

“I know,” Dusk said, gently pushing his dad’s hoof away before trotting over to the cabinet where the glasses were to get a drink of water. “If I remember right, I think you said the exact same thing to Gleaming when you found out she was dating Crescendo.”

“Well, we are parents,” Star said. “We just want what’s best for you kids.”

Dusk looked over to the freezer and asked his dad if he wanted any more ice cream.

He shook his head, “I think I’ve had enough. So, what are you planning after all this is over?”

His son put a hoof to his chin. “Well, I and Spines will be headed home tomorrow morning since I still have a few things that I need to catch up on, like returning a borrowed book to Butterscotch. Although, being Ponyville, who really knows what the town has in mind. But, I can easily predict that as soon as Barry finds out that I’m dating Solaris, he’s going to throw an unapologetically loud party about me finally having a special somepony.”

Star Light chuckled. “I can only imagine. So, does this mean that the three of you will be heading out now?”

“What time is it?”

His father looked at the clock on the kitchen wall, “Past eight-thirty. You know, both you and Gleaming should try to visit us once in a while. We still miss having both of you here.”

Dusk smiled, “I promise, dad.”

_*_

“That went pretty well,” Spines commented from Dusk’s back as he flew towards the palace.

Solaris nodded. “There were some bumpy moments, but overall, it was a success.”

“I’m just glad that nothing’s really changed for them,” the lilac Prince agreed. “I guess when those reporters print our interview all over Equestria tomorrow, everypony will officially know about us. Yet I wonder if this is moving a little too fast for you.”

The elder alicorn shook his head. “Not really. If anything, if it wasn’t for you, I probably wouldn’t have had the courage to come out in the open. While today at court does seem promising, I still wonder how the rest of the country will react to the news.”

“If I have to hazard a guess,” Dusk thought out loud, “most ponies wouldn’t care, others would be excited that you’re really gay, and some will be angry for the same reason. But I think that with time, they’ll realize like I did that your sexuality won’t change the pony that you really are. You’re still the wise ruler that we know and love, no matter what anypony says about you. Nothing changes the fact that you’re still the great Sun Prince of Equestria.”

Solaris smiled. “Why, thank you, my beloved. Although, there’s one thing that I’m still curious about.”

“What’s that?”

“When do you want to go out again? On another date, I mean.”

“Oh…” Dusk blushed at the question while Spines rolled her eyes.

“I’ll let you decide where we’ll go next,” Solaris offered. “Although, I’m wondering what the best time for you might be. I, for one, still have a packed schedule for the next week and a half.”

The bookworm Prince thought it over for a moment, but his assistant spoke up first. “I don’t believe we have anything planned on Thursday two weeks from now. So if either of you is planning on going out, that’s probably a good time to do so.”

Dusk agreed with this realization, and so did the Sun Prince. “That sounds delightful,” Solaris said. “Since it’ll be you planning it, I wonder if you’ll be over thinking about what we’re going to be doing until then.”

“Oh come on,” the younger Prince interjected, “I don’t always do that, you know?”

Both Solaris and Spines were not convinced.

“Uh-huh,” Spines commented, “whatever you say.”

By now, all three of them were by the castle. The elder Prince wished for the both of them good night, along with giving Dusk a little goodbye kiss on the nose.

With his day nearly over, Solaris flew up to his tower, and before he went to bed, he decided that he had one last thing he needs to take care of after he lowered the sun.

Once his daily responsibility was done, he entered his room and went straight towards the cage where a very crossed phoenix had his back against him.

“Philharmonic,” he said, “I know that you’re still angry at me, but I know that you can still hear me when I say… thank you.” His pet turned around in confusion. “Phili, if it wasn’t for you sending all of those letters, I probably have never had the chance to go out on a date with my very special somepony, nor would have I had found the courage to tell the whole world about the real me. So even if you still won’t forgive me, I want you to know that I thank you.”

The Phoenix blinked. “Balk?”

Solaris nodded. “Yes, I really do mean it. That outburst from a few days ago did lead to some good. So I’ll tell you what, tomorrow morning, I’ll get you those Saddle Arabian curry seeds that you like so much as a way of an apology.”

“Chirp!”

Smiling, the solar alicorn put the silk cover over his cage. “For now, let us get some sleep. Good night Phili. I’ll see you in the morning.”