> Symphony of Life
>  by CrackedInkWell
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 1st Movement
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

There was a knock on Color’s door that interrupted his painting what was outside of his window. At first he was annoyed due to the late summer’s heat and being interrupted from his creative flow. His head turned, the unicorn lit up his horn to unlock the door. There in the doorway was somepony who turned his annoyed mood into a pleasant one.

“Harmonic, how are you?” he asked.

The alicorn smiled, “You do know what day it is right?”

“Yeah I know, I know, it’s your birthday. Now don’t worry, I have your present ready.”

“Aw Color, you do know you don-”

“Too late, I already did. Now, aren’t ya going to come in?”

The Prince stepped inside the apartment, closing the door behind him, he went up to his consort and nuzzled him.

“I like the painting,” he said.

The artist shrugged, “It’s not quite done yet. Just need to touch up on the sky over here. So is there any reason you’re here?”

“Hmm… Not really. I just got done doing a few errands for mom for tonight and I’m done with them. So with nothing to do for the next hour or so, I thought, perhaps, I might come by for a wee bit.”

Color smiled, “Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten the time. I know about the whole party thing. So is there anypony in particular that’s coming?”

“Other than our parents?” Color nodded. “Well, Twilight and her friends are coming over. Cadence said that she might make it but not Shining because he got his hooves tied as it is. Now who else? Oh! And my music teacher is coming too.”

“Octavia?”

“Yeah.”

“And what about her wife?”

“Couldn’t make it this time. She said that she’s in Manehattan right now doing a gig; which is kinda disappointing though, those two are fun to talk to.”

“Agreed. And how you’ve been doing lately?”

“Oh nothing other than the usual.”

“Let me guess, pop music is doing poorly, movies are trying to come up with something original, Lightning Quill come out with an another book, and Prince Blueblood has dumped another mare again?”

Harmonic nodded. Color rolled his eyes: “I wonder what that guy’s problem is?”

“Maybe I need to tell him sometime that it’s okay for him to come out of the closet any century now.”

Color immediately busted out laughing with Harmonic following right behind him.

“Right on!” Color said giving him a brohoof.

_*_

In the back of the ballroom, there was a banner that read: “Happy 21st Birthday Prince Harmonic!” All around the room were the guests, a few members of the Royal Family, all of the Elements of Harmony, and some of the most talented musicians that played a newly discovered type of music. Something discovered by the Prince of Inspiration by accident while on a trip to Manehattan once. A kind of music that was so new, that they invented a word that describes the wild yet catchy melodies that come from the top of these musicians’ heads who improvised on a melody. A kind of music called Jazz.

In this party, ponies talked amongst each other out of earshot of the Royal couple. This wasn’t much of a surprise considering the gossip of Harmonic and Color in the time that they’ve dated. Rumors amongst Canterlot’s upper class were as colorful as the artist the Prince himself was dating. As of any other rumors, some were true, some were not, and then there was some that leaves one wondering.

For instance, there was a question that floated around since the previous year, the question of will the two make the ultimate commitment since they’re so close.

But for the moment, Harmonic and Color were enjoying themselves at the party. While the Prince was using his violin to join in with the band, Color had been talking with his father, Golden Cash.

“Just wait until after he blows out the candles, then you go ahead,” his father said.

“B-But what if he says 'no'?”

“So what? You two have been good to each other for this long, you’ve gotten to know one another and you enjoy just being with him right?”

Color nodded.

“Look, I know how it is. And believe me; I was nervous when I asked your mother too. And like her, he may not say 'yes' right away, but I can see in him that seems to be unlikely right?”

“I… I suppose so.”

“Just remember, do so only when you’re ready. Got it?”

Color nodded.

About fifteen minutes later, the cake in the shape of a violin with twenty-one candles wheeled into the room by the hyperactively mad pink mare.

One song later, Pinkie said to Harmonic: “Wait! You gotta make a wish first.”

At first, Harmonic hesitated, looking down at the cake, he was impressed in the work that went into it for a moment. On a square block of frosting was a replica of his Trotivarius made entirely out of cake and rich frosting on a stand. On the block with twenty-one lit candles were the words, “Happy Birthday Harmonic.”

The Prince didn’t have to think about what kind of wish to make. He closed his eyes for a moment and blew out the candles.

While the cake was getting cut, Color went over to the alicorn, trying his best to hide his nervousness.

“Um, H-Harmonic?” Color asked.

“Hm? Oh! Hey Color, look, can I talk to you for a moment?”

“Uh, sure I guess.”

To Color’s surprise and catching everypony within sight, the Prince sat down on his hunches, “Sit with me, please.” 

Around the room, there was the rising sound of “Ooh!”

“Shut up,” Harmonic deadpanned. Color sat down in front of him. “Color, look… We’ve been with each other for – what? Four years right?”

Color nodded.

“And during that time since we’ve been paired up and all, we’ve spent some time together to get to know each other on our good days, bad days, and days that were painful to sit though right?”

“Yeah…”

“So… Because we’ve been seeing each other for so long, despite a few fights here and there, and somewhat degree of troubled pasts – Oh! And the fact your younger sis is a wee bit crazy, uh no offence.”

Color chuckled, “None taken.”

“The point is, that despite all of the bad days we had while being together, we’ve managed to work things out and being honest with each other that in the end, we forgive so we can move on right?”

“Harmonic, what are you trying to say here?”

“I’m getting to that. You see lately, I’ve been thinking. That no matter what life throws at us, we’ve always found a way to make us laugh in the end. That we’ve inspired one another and being with you is something that I look forward to.”

Color blushed, “Ha, oh please, you’re too kind.”

“To me Color, out of all the ponies that I’ve ever known, I want to be by your side because, well, to me you are happiness in the flesh. You were always there when I needed you the most, even if you didn’t want to but your mind knows that it was needed. This is why I want to ask you a tiny little question to ya.”

“W-Wait! Are you asking what I think you’re asking?”

The only response Harmonic made was that his horn glowed and with a ‘pop!’ a golden ring was right in front of Color.

“Color Spectrum, would you please marry me?”

Color blinked a few times, and then, his surprise gave way into laughter. Hard Laughter. Harmonic was mortified, did he do it wrong?

“Ha-ha-hahahaha-ha! Oh this is way too funny! Ha-ha! S-Sorry! I’m r-really am! Ha-ha-ha! T-Th-This is too m-much of a c-coincidence!”

“Huh?”

Color’s horn glowed, and out of his suit pocket, a small box wrapped in wrapping paper levitated over to the prince and urged him to open it. Curious, the alicorn took the box into his own aura and unwrapped the present. When he opened the box, his eyes widen: “You’ve got to be joking!” He said, being stunned for a moment to see a ring in the box.

It took one look at each other before both of them collapsed to the ground with laughter, dropping their rings along with them. The guests in the room started to laugh along side them for the funny coincidence that had been unfolded before them.

The two of them eventually caught their breaths and sat back on their hunches, Harmonic took hold of his ring and Color with the box.

“Okay, okay!” Color said after getting his steady speech back. “Let's just do this again.” He cleared his throat, “Prince Harmonic, will you be mad enough to marry me?”

“Hmm…That depends,” Harmonic said with a smirk, “Will you?”

_*_

“Would that be all you’d be needing this evening?” the waiter asked.

“I think this’ll be fine,” Color said. The waiter bowed and left the private dining room, leaving the engaged couple, the two Princesses and a Banker.

“Well Color, we’re all here,” Golden Cash said, picking up his cup of white wine. “So what should we talk about?”

“Well,” Harmonic began, “I think it’s best if we get straight to the point.”

“And that being?” Luna inquired.

“We need help,” the Prince explained, “Now that we’re engaged, so naturally we would need to plan out the whole wedding.”

“Of course,” Celestia nodded, “But what’s the problem?”

“It’s all too much,” Color said, “I had no idea that there was so much to think about! Like where to have the wedding, who should serve the food, what clothes to wear, there’s just so many details to consider.”

“And that’s nothing close to planning the uh… honeymoon,” Harmonic blushed, but continued, “I mean, neither of us could settle down where to go. We’ve got the entire world in our hooves to choose from. Yet there’s just so many places to consider with all it’s pro’s and cons that we don’t know that we’ll be able to come to it by the time we plan out the wedding.”

“So I guess...” Color started.

“If it’s possible...” Harmonic added.

“Could you guys help us plan the honeymoon?” they both asked in unison.

All three parents blinked, “Huh,” the Banker spoke out his thoughts, “This is new.”

“What is your reason in choosing us?” Celestia asked, picking up some of her pasta with her fork.

“We figured that if we could take care of the wedding while somepony worked on the honeymoon,” Harmonic explained, “That way, we’d both would focus on one thing, with some ponies to help us while someone else would work on where we’ll go, so that we can divide the workloads.”

“In other words,” Luna said, cutting her crapes, “While you two figure out the details of your wedding, we would figure out where you’re going after the wedding, correct?”

“That’s pretty much the idea,” Color nodded.

The Night Princess thought for a moment, “You know, I believe that is both an excellent and amusing idea. Yes… In fact, before I continue, have either of you figured out what your wedding is going to be like?”

They shook their heads.

“Sister, Golden Cash, how about we have some fun with this.”

“How so Your Grace?” Color’s father asks.

“How about we do plan out their honeymoon while they plan the actual wedding, but, we keep it a secret from the other. Just so it’ll be a surprise once it’s revealed.”

“I… I kinda like the idea,” Harmonic admitted.

“Yeah,” the Artist tilted his head to the side, “I’m rather curious in what you three might come up with.”

Celestia and Golden Cash agreed. For the rest of their dinner, each of them asked some questions to the other to develop some kind of idea of what to do. In the coming months, however, those ideas evolved into a plan.

_*_


Eventually, both Harmonic and Color agreed on a particular theme. It was inspired on the season that it was to be taken place, Autumn. Harmonic agreed that he’ll work with Pinkie with a party set up, Rainbow for the entertainment, and Fluttershy with ideas for the music; while Color worked with Applejack to oversee the food, Rarity for designs on clothing and Twilight to help organize invitations, schedule and security (considering the last time a Royal wedding was held).

It was decided, for safety reasons, that the event should be private so it would be easier to take care in case something went wrong.

Then in early October, the sun rose on that day long awaited. The preparations were ready and waiting to go, along with the ponies that ran last moment errands for the upcoming ceremony and after party.

On that morning in two different parts of the capital, two nervous stallions were waiting in their homes.

_*_

“I know everything’s going to be fine dad,” Color said with his dad and Rarity in his apartment. The reason why Rarity was there at all was because she wanted to make sure that the suit she tailored for the unicorn was absolutely perfect.

“And yet you’re sweating,” Golden pointed out. “Color, what’s wrong really?”

“Is it about the future darling?” Rarity asked as she snipped at a loose thread. Color looked at her in surprise.

“How did-”

“Color dear, this isn’t the first time I’ve made any clothing for either bride or groom. And most of the time, they start second-guessing themselves if they really want to spend the rest of one’s life with.”

“Well… I would be lying if I said no.”

Golden chuckled, “Son, this isn’t that uncommon as you think. Trust me; I was married once too you know.”

“Yeah, but…” Color trailed off. “But this time this is completely different.”

“How so dear?” Rarity asked as she reviewed her work for the last time.

“Look, it’s not that I don’t love ‘em or anything. Heck, that’s why we’re getting hitched anyway; I really do love him and all. It’s just that with him, well – I’m just worried.”

It didn’t take long for the other two ponies to figure out what he’s talking about. “It’s about Harmonic never dying isn’t it?” his father asked.

_*_

“How did you two deal with it?” Harmonic asked as he was looking out the window of his room. Behind him were Princess Cadence and her husband Shining. Cadence asked what he was talking about.

“You both know that Cadence will far outlive you right?” he asked Shining.

“Yeah, we know,” The Prince of the Crystal Empire replied, straightening out his sash.

“So how do you deal with the fact that you’ll watch the one you love grow old and one day dies, whereas you’ll only grow a little taller in all that time and that’s it? Cadence, how do you deal with something like that?”

Cadence put a hoof to her muzzle in thought. “You know, even before the whole changeling fiasco, I thought about the exact same thing.”

“Same here,” Shining said, “Even when we were dating, I didn’t exactly want to talk to her about it at first. Look, we get it, it’s something that nopony wants to even think about.”

“I don’t think we’ve even talked about it until, what? The month before we got married wasn’t it?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Anyway, I went to Auntie Celestia about this, that I’m in love with this handsome stallion, but I know that I’ll end up losing him in the end.”

“What’d she say?” Harmonic asked.

“She told me that yes; there will come a point where my Shining will be getting old while I stayed like this for a very long time. That if I do in fact, love him, why should it matter how old he’ll get? There will be complications later on, and one day, he’ll no longer be with me anymore. But it’s okay, I learned that the one you love is truly precious to you, and that you should spend each day with them while you still can.” At this point, Cadence gave her husband a quick kiss.

“A bit of advice though,” Shining added, “I think Color is probably as worried about this as you are. So it’ll be best to talk about this sooner rather than later.”

Harmonic nodded. He looked at the clock on the fireplace mantel, it read 10:49. Taking a deep breath, he turned to the couple, “I… I think I’m ready.”

_*_

In a part of the royal gardens, there is a place where there’s a grove, in this grove where the trees had its leaves turned into reds, yellows, browns, pale greens and gold were ponies that have gathered there for a very special occasion.

Sitting in the chairs on one side was some of Color’s family and a few friends, in the other were the Elements and the royal family. And standing up were some of the guards who stood at attention, as well as Princess Celestia.

Behind the crowd were a few musicians or a hoofful of journalists; amongst them was Octavia with her cello at the ready. She can see her wife’s mane in front of her, Vinyl sat there, waiting for the ceremony to start.

A Guard came up and nodded at the musicians to begin. Now getting everypony’s attention, the first ones to come down the aisle were the Prince being led by Luna. Even for a Prince, his suit was surprisingly modest. Over a white shirt with a scarlet tie, the alicorn had on a suit of white with the sleeves, pockets, and even coattails had on the image of the Autumn red leaves. Not to say that it was plainly obvious that Harmonic was trying to keep as calm as possible, though his nervousness still showed from his shaking front hooves and the sweat going down the back of his neck.

“Um… Auntie,” the Prince whispered, “A-Are you sure that I haven’t fallen asleep?”

The Princess of the Night giggled, “I assure you Harmonic, that you are truly awake and alert.” She whispered back, “You’re not too nervous, aren’t you?”

“Answer me this, am I really making the right decision here? Will Color be happy if we go through with this?”

“Of course, thy union with Color will strengthen from here on out. Being married shouldn’t be the end of one’s relationship, but the beginning of something new. For the only way for thy love to be enriched is to work together as one. Which I have complete faith in both of you will accomplish.”

When they reached Celestia, Luna took her place beside her and watched as Color came up to them with his father, followed by his little sister, Sugar Sweet, carrying a pillow of the rings on her back. Harmonic couldn’t help but give a relieved smile that his husband-to-be hooves were shaking as well. In an odd way, it showed that the Artist was as nervous as he was, but he too has the courage to go through it with him.

Color Spectrum, like the Prince, had on a golden vest that was over his white shirt and orange tie. The suit was also like Harmonic’s in that being that it was also white, but the leaves on his were aged orange.

After giving a nod, Golden Cash left his son in front of Harmonic and took his seat.

The couple looked at each other, both of them trying to figure out what to say to the other, but in a moment like this, the only thing Color could come up with was: “Hey.”

Harmonic nodded, “Afternoon.”

“You look great.”

“Likewise,” the Prince smiled, “So then,” he lifted a wing, pointing at the Sun Princess. “Shall we?”

With a simple nod, Color and Harmonic approached Celestia side by side. 

The Princess of the Day cleared her throat, “Fellow friends, family members and acquaintances,” Celestia began. “We have gathered here today to witness the marriage of my son, Prince Harmonic Trotivari Everfree, and his dear companion Color Spectrum. I don’t believe there’s even a word, or a phrase to express my pride and astonishment in what Harmonic has done within the past five years since his adoption. I and my sister have seen him turned from a frighten colt, to bloom into the gentlecolt you see today. And the fact that he is here to be wed to the pony that he would had thought to be unreachable is now becoming a reality. For Harmonic it is the realization of the hopes and dreams of ponies that have long sought for long ago, to be given the same opportunity that marriage can provide, to the pony who you care deeply about, no matter the gender.

“We are also here for Color Spectrum, who with his patience, wisdom, and kindness have made our son the stallion we know today. He has been his greatest teacher where he taught him the lesson of accepting one’s self, and that there’s no shame in being authentic before the world. Color has given my son the happiness that Harmonic was long denied, and showed him that even he can be loved.

“So, with all that in mind, if there is any reason why these two should not be wed, speak now, or forever hold your peace.”

Celestia waited for a moment. There were a few creaks from the chairs as well as the rustle of leaves in the gentle breeze, and nothing else. The Sun Princess instructed the exchanging of rings. 

When that was done, she said to them: “Color Spectrum, do you take my son, Prince Harmonic Trotivari Everfree to be your lawful wedded spouse: to willingly give him comfort when there is pain; to give love when there is fear; to give him happiness when there is misery; to give your life, to protect his; to give your voice, to hear his; to give your mind, to understand his; and to be give your body, to him?”

“As long as I live, I do.”

She then turned towards her adopted son, “And do you take Color Spectrum also to be your lawful wedded spouse: to willingly give him comfort when there is pain; to give love when there is fear; to give him happiness when there is misery; to give your life, to protect his; to give your voice, to hear his; to give your mind, to understand his; and to be give your body, to him?”

“I forever will.”

Celestia smiled, she and her sister opened her wings in all their glory. “By the powers invested by myself, my sister and the Kingdom of Equestria, I hereby pronounce you, husband and stallion.” She and her sister folded their wings. “The two of you may kiss.”

And with that, the couple leaned in for a kiss. There were cheers and applause, and Celestia shed a tear.

“Sister, art thou crying?” Luna asked.

“No,” Celestia lied. “It’s… Oh, how did Shining Armor best put it?”

“Liquid pride?”

“Ah yes. It’s just a little liquid pride getting out.”

_*_

The newlyweds couldn’t ask for a better afterparty. There was never a dull moment as far as they saw. Pinkie went out of her way to make sure every single pony there was having a good time. Rainbow’s favor she asked the Wonderbolts for have been made into a reality when they made their entrance. Applejack’s catered food was delicious. Rarity did a good job with her work on the clothes that both fitted and suited the grooms well. Twilight invited the right ponies and got one activity going after the next. And Fluttershy had chosen well for the pieces of music to set the right moods where it has to be.

At one point, Twilight instructed for a traditional slow dance for the couple. The Prince called out for his violin to be brought out. When this was done, Harmonic took the violin in his aura along with the bow. Instead of putting it under his chin and playing the Trotivarius by hoof as he usually did, he started to play it with his magic alone.

Harmonic bowed first, and then Color, they stood on their hind legs and took hold of each other with their front legs, and they began to dance. At first, the violin played a rhythm of a waltz, but thanks to his education from Twilight, he combined another spell to make the solo violin sound like the entire string section from an orchestra and a solo piano.

“Always playing from the heart huh?” Color asked.

The alicorn chuckled a little: “Of course. And you do realize how clichéd that sounded right?”	

“What? A cliché is called a cliché because it’s always true, no matter how many times you get tired of hearing it.”

“I suppose so.”

“Besides, this is perfect anyway.”

“Agreed,” Harmonic smiled, the two of them didn’t say anything else. They just danced to take at the moment.

_*_

By late afternoon, the party winded down. They already had some lunch along with the cake. Presents for the newlyweds were already given out. All that was left were the couple as well as a few guards.

“What a day,” Color sighed. But then he looked around the garden. “Hold on… Where’s dad?”

Harmonic looked around the garden as well, “And where’d the Princess gone to?”

What the couple didn’t notice was that there was one Guard who was looking at a watch, he looked up to a few other guards and gave a nod. Then four guards quietly went up behind the couple, and with one swift movement, they blindfolded them.

“Hey!” they yelled out.

“Our apologies,” said a Guard, “By Princess Celestia’s orders, we’re to blindfold the both of you to take you two to a specific location.”

“Why?” Color asked.

“Her Highness said it was a surprise, now come on you two, let’s go.”

Despite their protests, they were lead out of the gardens and they were loaded onto a carriage.

“You know what to do,” the Guard said, and with that, they were moving.

Of course, they tried to lift the blindfold off of them, but they found that no matter how hard they tried, using magic or otherwise, the blindfolds would not come off. Harmonic figured that they might be enchanted.

Several minutes passed by, and they noticed that during that time, they did not hear a single pony else other than their driver. Whatever Celestia was planning, she obviously made it out of her way to make sure they stay in the dark.

Then the carriage stopped, they heard new voices that lead them out of the carriage and lead them towards who-knows-where. Then they stopped.

The next thing they knew, their blindfolds came off, and after blinking a few times to adjust to the light, they saw that they were at the train station. Before them (from left to right) they saw Color’s father, Twilight, Shining, Cadence, Luna and Celestia with her horn aglow, holding the blindfolds in her aura.

“Okay,” Color said completely confused. “Why we here and why all of you looking at us like that?”

“You’re going on a little trip,” Twilight said smiling. At this point, they took notice of the locomotive that was connected to four cars. The layout of the train seemed to be made out of carefully casted iron and painted in red and gold. On the second to last car, there seemed to be a kind of catwalk that goes around it.

And then there was the locomotive itself, the machine coincided with the paint scheme as the cars, but this machine had either large jewels or crystals that stood out in certain places. All of which was connected to a wire that linked to the other cars.

“Do you know what this is?” Celestia asked. The couple shook their heads. “This is the very train that Cadence and Shining Armor rode while they were on their honeymoon. And this will be the train that you, along with a few guards and staff, will be riding in for the next week.”

Both the Prince and the Artist looked at each other then back at the Princess.

“Going where?” Harmonic asked.

“You two will be stopping at a few places,” Luna said.

“But where?”

Cadence grinned, “You’ll see.”

“Well, thanks for the train I guess.” Color said, “But don’t you’d think we should get packin-”

“Son, that’s already taken care of,” his father said.

The newlyweds blinked. “What?” they both asked.

Shining nodded, “We’ve thought up of everything, and we’ve already got all the things you’ll need in there. So there’s no need to pack, everything from your violin to your paintbrushes is all in there waiting for you. All you’d need to do now is to get on board.”

Cadence nodded, “Trust us when we say this, that it has – everything.” She giggled a little bit while blushing. “Am I right Twilight?”

Twilight blushed and quickly nodded. “Of course. This train has, from the locomotive downwards: the guards and servants barracks car; the dining car; your personal car; and there’s the lounge car in the back. Oh, and don’t worry about the noise, I’ve already put a sound proof spell in each of the cars. And although the train has been installed with new springs, it does tend to shake from time to time, so expect that.”

“So, honeymoon by train?” Color asked, “Okay, I never expected that.”

“And this train is waiting for you two just get on, and we shall tell the engineer to start your trip,” Luna said, still not letting down her smile.

The couple looked at each other, Color let out a hoof towards Harmonic. “After you, Your Highness.”

The Prince smiled as he touched his hoof, “Oh no. You first, Your Highness.”

_*_

When they boarded the train and waved their goodbyes, Luna gave the order to set the train in motion. The very first thing they did as soon as they were on was to check out their private cars.

Inside the car, they found that the very first thing they saw was a bed big enough for both of them in the center of the spacious room. Towards the engine behind a door was a bathroom complete with a sink, toilet, and bathtub with a showerhead. Towards the back, was a closet where they found their clothes, beside the closet was built in drawers that had their personal belongings. Unlike many trains that they’ve road on, they found that the room had hardwood floors, an electric heater, a few nightstands with lamps glued onto them beside the bed, a few small paintings that Color painted in frames, and Harmonic’s violin case on a shelf with a net to prevent it from falling off.

“Nice room,” Color nodded with approval.

“Okay, I admit, this is kinda cool.”

Color snorted, “Kinda? Seriously, besides Cadence and Shining, how many ponies you know had their honeymoon on a train like this?”

“Don’t know,” Harmonic said as he opened the top drawer going downward. He added: “And they weren’t kidding either, this place has got everything. Now what’s in here? Whoa! What’s all this?” Harmonic levitated the note amongst the drawer’s containments. “Is that the right amount of zero’s?” he asked.

“Hey let me see,” Color went over and saw the drawer full of bits. Eyes widen, he looked over to the note. “Well, thank you dad,” he said as he turned his attention towards the bed. Trotting over, he flopped onto the red blanket that covered it. Color moaned, “Oh I can just go to sleep on this thing right now.”

Harmonic smiled, “Yeah, remind me to come and jo-” the Prince stop dead what he was about to say when he opened the last drawer on the very bottom. His eyes widen, cheeks blushed madly and his wings sprung wide open.

Color turned at the sound of the “pomf” sound towards his husband. “Hey, you alright?” he asked as he got off the bed. He went over back to him and peeked over what he was looking at.

“Now what’s in… whoa.” Color also had his eyes widen and blushed furiously. The newlyweds looked at each other, then back to the drawer.

“Um… Are these…?” Color asked.

“Color, I swear to you, none of them are mine. In fact, and I don’t even know what half of this stuff is.”

“What this say?” the artist’s horn glowed and picked up a little pink note from inside the drawer. It simply read:



Have fun boys. 
– Cadence.



“Is this supposed to be a joke?” the flustered alicorn asked.

“I don’t think so. And I think she went completely overboard with this stuff. I mean, that one looks like it has the size and thickness of one of my legs!”

“Forget that this one has barbs! I mean seriously, is this supposed to be used for torture or something?”

“And are these…?” Color’s horn lit up to get a closer look at one of the bottles. “They are! And what does this one say? 'Strawberry scented?' Okay why would you have it smell like strawberries when you’re putting it on-”

There was a knock on the door. Quickly, the two of them slammed the drawer shut and threw the bottle under the bed. The door opened up to a mare in a uniform.

“Oh sorry, are you two doing-”

“NOTHING!!” the couple screamed out. The mare jumped a little but kept her composure. 

“Okay… So anyway, my name is Server, Server Tray. I’m one of the staff on this train. I was just here to tell Your Majesties that dinner will be served in the dining car at 5:30. Also, is there anything you need?”

The stallions shook their heads, eyes still wide and dilated as they tried to keep themselves from blushing.

“If you need us for anything, just push the button over there, it’ll buzz us if you need something. And the one over there is for emergencies when you need the Guards, okay?”

“Yeah. Makes sense,” Color said.

“Oh and one more thing, if you don’t want anypony barging in, just make sure your curtains are drawn and your door locked. Enjoy your trip, Sires.” She bowed and left, closing the door behind her.

“Harmonic? Let’s just promise each other never to mention this ever again.”

“Right ahead of ya.”

_*_

Filled with curiosity, the two newlyweds decided to ask everypony on the train where they were going. To speed up time, they split up. While Color started at the head of the locomotive, Harmonic started from the leisure car. Both of them spent quite some time trying to interview, as well as pry open as to where exactly they were headed towards.

As the sun began to fall below the horizon, the Harmonic entered the dining car. He scanned over the car which had a small mixture of Guards and staff until he caught sight of his husband. Judging by the slouch, the Violinist could assume that he didn’t have any luck either.

“So, anything?” Color asked.

“Absolutely, nothing,” the Prince took a seat across from the Artist. “All I know is we’re headed west, and that’s pretty much it.”

“Where do ya suppose we’re going anyway?”

Harmonic shrugged, “Don’t know. I’m trying to think back for some kind of clue.”

“Same here. Do you suppose we’re heading to Applewood?”

“Why? I’ve already been there. The only thing there are movies, producers, good actors, horrible actors, producers, weirdoes, more producers, and Whinnyland,” here the alicorn shuttered, “That was a weird day.”

Color chuckled, “I know, I remember you talking all about it while being in the fetal position.”

“Shut up,” Harmonic deadpanned.

“Excuse me, Sirs,” One of the three waiters said to them. “Can I get you anything for this evening?”

“Sure,” said Harmonic, “Spaghetti sounds good to me, you? Yeah. Okay, some spaghetti, huckleberry soda-”

“I’ll have cherry,” Color interrupted.

“And as a side or dessert, maybe you can give us a clue as to where we’re going.”

“No can do Sir,” the waiter said, “The food, however, that I can get you. I’ll be back.” With that, he left the two to talk to the chef behind the open bar.

With a defeated sigh, the alicorn rested his front hooves over his eyes.

“You alright?” Color asked.

“Yeah. It’s just it’s been a long day.”

“I know, and we’ve been married for a few hours now.” Color fell silent for a minute until he spoke up again. “Hey Harmonic, since we are married, I think we need to talk about something.”

“What?”

“The future.”

Harmonic looked up from his hooves. “Hm? What about it?”

“Be honest with me when I ask this since alicorns are born immortal, aren’t you afraid of what happens when I die?”

“Oh Color-”

“Aren’t you?” He saw his husband’s ears folded back, looking down, he nodded. “Harmonic, look. It’s okay to be scared. I’m scared too – well, really scared. You see, I’m scared that in the end, I might end up hurting you.”

“Hurting me?”

“Yeah. Since we love each other and all, I can’t help but wonder how you’ll take it when I’m no longer around anymore. Don’t get me wrong, losing somepony like one or both of our parents is one thing, but what about losing the one you’ll easily give your life to?”

Harmonic sat there in silence for a moment. “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know.”

“Harmonic, look when that day does come, you will need to move on.”

“No!”

“Not right now of course. But later, when I’m no longer around. I’m just thinking about the future here. All I want is to be sure that you’ll be happy in the long run. Okay?”

“….Okay.” the Prince said softly.

“It won’t be easy. Nothing is when you think about it. But just because it’s hard, doesn’t mean it can’t be done. We’ll have to work together. And hey, we might as well enjoy what we have when still had it, right?”

Harmonic reached over and nuzzled his husband, “Thanks, I needed that.”

_*_

When Color awoke the next morning, he was made aware that both of his front hooves were still wrapped around his love. Smiling, he lightly kissed one of his ears, which made them twitch.

“Morning,” he said. Harmonic showed signs of waking up.

“Huh? Oh. Morning.” For a moment, Harmonic didn’t move. That was until he sniffed, and sniffed again. Then suddenly he sat right up.

“You smell that?” he asked.

Color sniffed the air, “Is that, sea salt?” By now, they noticed that the train wasn’t moving. Harmonic got out of the bed and went to a window. After drawing the curtains, his eyes widen.

“Hey Color, come here.”

He did, he got up and looked out the window as well.

“I’m a seeing a beach?” Harmonic asks.

“Yep.”

“And it’s completely empty.”

“Yep.”

They went to the door to get a good look outside. They confirm their inner most suspicions that the train had stopped some time ago. All up and down the shoreline, they didn’t see any other sign of civilization except for the tracks through the forest of palms. In front of them, the golden sun had broken through the horizon over the gentle waves. In a way, it was if they were looking at one of those old exploration paintings where sailors hop onto uncharted land for the first time. From the clear waters that hit the light brown sand to the millions of sea shells that dotted the shore, the couple, as far as they could see, were looking at paradise itself. 

Then they heard a sound in the direction of the leisure car, it was Serving Tray.

“Oh, good morning Your Highness’,” she said as she respectively bowed. “I figure that you're both wondering where we are.” They both nodded, “Please follow me to the leisure car, everything will be explained.”

Inside the leisure car had a tiny library, a phonograph, a few comfy chairs and sofas, a projector for movies along with a screen that’s attached to the ceiling, some movie reels and records. Serving went over to the phonograph where there was a record already placed on. She cranked it until it starts to move, then placed the needle on it. The newlyweds then heard a familiar voice, it was Celestia’s.

“Good morning my son and my son-in-law. 

“At this point of the trip, I can imagine you're both wondering where you are and where you’re going. Although I won’t tell you where you’ll go next, I can tell you, however, that at this moment that this record is playing, you should be in the Bahamares. 

“Yes! You hear me right, the Bahamares. And you might be wondering why there are no crowds around. That’s because this slice of land was a gift after settling a local dispute that almost turned violent. Anyway, until dinnertime, this whole beach is yours for the day. And what you two decide to do are completely up to you both, as long as you board the train on time of course. 

“Oh! And before I forget, you two might be wondering how did you get from Equestria to an island. That’s because this train you’re on can teleport from certain parts of the world. That means you two will find yourselves in a different part of the world every day. But I still won’t tell you where you’re going next. So for now, enjoy.”

_*_

On the first day, they swam and relaxed underneath the palms of the Bahamares. On the second, they spent the day at the Louvre museum in Paris, Prance. The third day they found themselves with a Zebra tribe on the plains of Zebraca. Fourth they learn (miserably) to ski down the Alps. On the Fifth they were treated to a tea ceremony with the monks of Coltbet. The sixth, Harmonic played his violin at the Sydneigh opera house.

And then, on the seventh day, the couple awakes to the capital the Kingdom of Great Britmare. While the two were walking near the river that ran through the center of the city, Harmonic asked: “Color, can I get your opinion on something?”

“Sure.”

The alicorn took in a deep breath. “Over the past few days when you brought up the subject about the future- wait! Hear me out! I was thinking not so much about the distant future, but rather the near future.”

“Near future?”

“Yeah. And I’ve been playing with an idea, but I want to hear your thoughts on the subject. Color, what would think about starting a family?”

Color seemed to be taken aback. “Whoa whoa whoa there! I know we just got hitched and all, but don’t you think that's a little too soon?”

“What do ya mean?”

“Don’t get me wrong here, but don’t you think early twenties is a little too early for raising any foals?”

“Well, how old is reasonable?”

“I don’t know… Twenty-six? Twenty-seven maybe? As of now, I’m sorry Harmonic, I don’t know if I would make a good dad here.”

“Hey, you’ve got nothin’ to feel sorry about. And to be brutally honest with ya, I don’t exactly feel ready either. But in maybe a few years down the road, I think I might be. And also, I think you’ll be a great dad.”

“Really?” Color asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You’re a good listener and give some sound advice. You’ve proven that you can be gentle or stern when you needed to be. And you’ve shown that you can care for another pony, so why not?”

“I… I don’t know. I just don’t feel ready here.”

Harmonic nodded, “Alright. Thanks for telling me.”

“And speaking of near futures, what are we going to tell the 'Princess of Love' when we get back?”

“Simple. We tell her to keep her snout as far away from our private lives as possible and never give so much as a suggestion to them. Subtle or otherwise.”
> 2nd Movement
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Just a little bit more yellow over here and... all done kiddo.” Color said as his paintbrush touched up on Princess Flurry Heart’s first portrait for her eighth birthday. To Color’s surprise, the young alicorn was able to hold still in one place.

The eight-year-old jumped off the chair she was sitting in for almost an hour to walk up to finally see the painting. There she saw herself on a freshly painted canvas. The portrait had the right colors from her light pink coat to her purple and aqua blue mane and tail. Her uncle even got the right shade of blue for her eyes and even the pink tips on her wings.

“I love it!” she squeaked. “Thank you uncle Color!” She hugged one of her uncle’s fore legs. Color smiled in satisfaction from the compliment. His niece looked at the portrait again, only this time, her smile dropped.

“Is something wrong?” Color asked.

“No, you did a really good job, it’s just…” Flurry trailed off, her uncle looked at the portrait again and realized what she was looking at.

“Still want a cutie mark Flur?”

She nodded, “It’s not fair. I should have already gotten one by now. I mean, everypony I know already has one; even Thunder Struck has gotten him, and he’s a year younger than me! So how come I didn’t get one?”

“Now now, it takes time.”

“I know that everypony always keep saying it to me. Even mom and dad keep saying that.”

“We keep saying that because it’s true. You want to know how you’ll get a cutie mark.”

“How?”

“The trick isn’t so much as looking for it or finding out what you’re good at. Oh no. The trick is to find something that you’d actually enjoy doing, something that you have to be passionate about. Wouldn’t you believe me that when I got my cutie mark that I was a terrible painter?”

“You were!?”

Color chuckled, “To tell ya the truth, my early work was so bad that I threw them away because I was so embarrassed by them. But do you know why I kept painting? I did so not because I was a natural master at it, but because it was something I liked doing, even if I wasn’t good from the start.”

“But you did get good.”

“That’s true,” Color nodded. “When I got mine, I undertook myself to find out what I can do with what I liked. I tried some things. Sometimes they worked, other times I ended up throwing them away. Eventually I learned more as time went on. The same I suppose will happen to you when you’ll get your cutie mark.”

Flurry Heart thought for a moment, then she asked: “Uncle Color, how did Uncle Harmonic get his cutie mark?”

“Oh? Harmonic? Well, from what he told me, he’d got it when he was very young; at around the age of four I think.”

“He was four when he got his!?”

“Hey, who’s telling the story here?”

“Okay fine,” Flurry pouted.

“Anyway, he said that at the time, his dad was testing out a few of his violins that he’d recently finished. He said he liked the sound that those violins made so much that he took one of them behind his dad’s back, picked up a bow and started playing. He said that he doesn’t remember how well he played on his very first try, but he told me that he remembers his dad’s reaction. He thought his dad would be mad at him, but he wasn’t. Actually, he was transfixed when he was playing. And suddenly his dad told him to stop playing because something just appeared on his flank. And sure enough, there it was. He saw his cutie mark.”

“What about cutie marks now?” This time the question came from Princess Cadence who just walked into the room. “Oh my! Color, it’s beautiful.”

“Why thank you kindly.”

“Flurry dear, can you please run along, I want to talk with Uncle Color for a moment.”

“Okay mom,” and with that, she trotted out of the room to run off and do whatever fillies do these days.

“Thank you so much for coming out to the Crystal Empire for this,” Cadence said while stepping forward to the painting.

“Hey we’re family aren’t we?”

“True,” Cadence nodded, “How’s Harmonic doing?”

“Well, both of us are trying to keep ourselves busy.” Color said, “And being married for four years we try to keep ourselves and each other occupied. Harm writing his sonata, my paintings, and us trying to keep each other sane.”

“I see,” Cadence said nodding, “So tell me, are you two planning on having foals of your own?”

Color was taken aback, “W-What do you mean?”

“I mean that are you two ever going to start a family? Look, I know you weren’t exactly inviting to the idea four years ago. But what about now? Are you going to do anything about it?”

“I… Well… I don’t know really. My husband has been thinking about it lately, but me? I’m not sure.”

“Not sure on what?”

Color looked right into Cadence’s eyes and asked: “Do you think I would make a good dad?”

Cadence put a hoof to her chin, “I think so. You, your husband and Flurry seemed to get along fine.”

“Well yeah, but that’s because we don’t exactly see each other every single day. I mean sure, most of the time she can be nice and all, but that doesn’t mean she’s always an angel all the time is she?”

Cadence giggled, “Oh trust me, there have been days when she was anything but. Yet I think you and Harmonic would make great fathers. I mean, look at the facts, as far as I know: you two listen to each other; when either of you are right, you tell each other you’re right; when either of you are wrong, you tell each other you’re wrong, even if it’s something neither of you want to hear. Your both concern for the others well being. And even if you have your bad days, you still worked them out anyway. So really, why do you think you wouldn’t make such a good dad?”

“Because, even if we do have a foal to take care of, I don’t know if either of us knows what we’re doing.”

“Ha. Neither did Shining and I, but that didn’t stop us.”

“Yeah. So what made you two to have Flur anyway?”

“Well… I think it was because we just felt that we were ready. Now does that mean that we knew what we were in for? Probably not. I can tell you, Color, is that you become a good parent because you learn from past mistakes and promise that you’ll get better at it. Now I may not exactly be the perfect parent, then again, nopony really is. You can only become a good one if you try.”

_*_

Nopony wants to be away from home for the holidays, especially if that holiday was Hearths Warming; and especially when that Hearths Warming was spent inside of a suite at the Golden Horseshoe Hotel in Vanhoover.

The violinist and the artist were caught (along with the entire city) in an ice storm for the past two days that slowed everypony down. And since today was one of those holidays that most stores are closed where they sold basic necessities, it made things a little more difficult for everyone.

But that didn’t stop a few ponies going into the streets. There might have been a few reasons why these ponies and carriage drivers were still out, but for one, he knew exactly the reason why he was out.

The reason why Harmonic was out in the streets with the bitter wind in his face was that he was trying to cool down from an argument. An argument with his husband over the stress and circumstances of why they were at this particular city at this particular time, to begin with; it was an argument over the opening of an art gallery from a few days prior. A gallery that held his husband’s paintings where they thought that they can just drop by say their hellos, and be back home in Canterlot on time.

It was a plan that would have worked out smoothly, if it wasn’t for a storm that dumped a few rocks into their mechanical plans. First it was a delay, and then an inaccurate forecast, then the weather team staged a protest (something about the team not getting enough vacation time), then they were forced to stay one night after another, then the worries of their families not seeing them for the holidays kicked in, and then the argument on whose fault it was that everything went wrong.

“Worst. Hearths Warming. Ever.” Harmonic muttered through his teeth. Of course, he knew better that he had days that were far worse than these last few days. He’d been through torture and starvation, but when one gets angry, it’s rather difficult to use one's reason and logic correctly.

All he needed was to calm down, something to take his mind off of to collect his thoughts. Of course, he’s going to have to apologize for the things he said, but at the moment, he didn’t feel like forgiving him just yet.

With the wind flapping his heavy cloak as well as the scarf that’s wrapped around his head, the alicorn walked through the icy streets; trying his best to ignore everyone and everything.

However, the curious side of him made him stop for a moment. He wasn’t quite sure at first, for a second there, he thought he heard something. It seemed to him that he heard something coming from an alleyway.

It was the whimper that confirmed what he heard. Somepony was crying. Harmonic cautiously stepped out of the wind and into the frosty alley where the crying was getting louder.

“H-Hello?”

Other than the crying, there was no response. He followed the sound and pinpointed that it was coming from a few soaked cardboard boxes.

“Hello?”

“G-G-Go a-a-a-aw-way,” said a voice that came from one particular box. Harmonic lit up his horn to lift the sideways lid open to peek inside. He had to blink and do a second take at what he was seeing because, for a brief moment, he thought he saw the colt with a string instrument was himself.

There inside the cold soaked box was a young earth pony colt with no cutie mark. The blue coated, red mane and the tail colt was holding onto a viola close to his shivering body. A viola which it and the colt had frost that covered them, as well as the bow laying beside him. On the colt’s cheeks were the trails of tears that in some places have turned into trails of ice.

“L-Leave m-m-me al-l-lone,” the colt said.

Harmonic was taken aback by this. And sadly realized that he’d seen this before, from the night that his parents died that he slept alone in the snow. His horn aglow, he lifted the colt out of the box despite his protests along with his instrument. Putting his scarf around the shivering foal, he made a gallop a few blocks down to one of the few places that were never closed, a hospital.

“Somepony! Get a doctor!” Harmonic cried out when he burst into the hospital doors with the foal in his aura.

About an hour later, Color trotted into the hospital asking if anypony knew where his husband was. Eventually he found him in one of the waiting rooms; still wearing his cloak with a string instrument in his hooves. Harmonic looked in surprise, “What are you doing here?”

“Ha. Funny, I was gonna ask you the same thing,” Color took a seat next to Harmonic. “I was just getting some ice when I was told that you were at the hospital, so I panicked and came over here. But you look fine to me, so why are you here?”

“Well, to make a long story short, I found a little colt in an alleyway that was almost dying of hypothermia. He was all by himself, crying, and had nothing to keep him warm at all. So I brought him here.”

Color didn’t say anything for a while. But eventually, he asked: “Where did the violin come from?”

“Viola,” Harmonic corrected him. “It’s a viola. I can tell because it’s a little bigger than a violin,” he shrugs and smirks, “and it has the label inside that says it’s a viola.”

Looking at the instrument again, Color didn’t have to be an expert to say that the viola was in really bad condition. It was missing a string and it looked like it was glued back together at some point. It didn’t take a genius to tell the couple that the owner had to be extremely poor.

There was another moment of silence for the couple. The only sounds they heard was the intercom playing a loop of carols, hoofsteps from doctors, nurses and patients going to and fro while talking about something.

“Harm,” Color broke the silence, “About what happened, look, I’m sorry I said that.”

“No, I should be the one apologizing.” Harmonic leaned over and gave his love a quick kiss. “You on the other hoof are always forgiven. I should be one apologizing here. I’m sorry for snapping at you like that, I should’ve known better.”

“Hey, it’s Hearths Warming, and we’re not exactly where we’re supposed to be, anypony would be stressed out. I was just foolish about taking it out on you like that. You had every right to be angry at me.”

Harmonic shook his head, “I wouldn’t say that. Anger is a very dangerous beast you know.” 

There was the sound of someone clearing their throat, and they looked up to see a doctor. “Excuse me for interrupting your Majesties,” she said, “The little colt you brought in should be fine by now. He just needs some time to get his body temperature back to normal, but I recommend that he stays here overnight to see if everything is fine. But tell me, where have you found him?”

Harmonic told the story to the Doctor about how he came across the colt. “I see,” she said, “The poor fellow must have been out there for quite some time. Probably by a few hours or so. Tell me, did you learn what the boy’s name is?”

The alicorn told her that he’d didn’t ask, he just acted, “He’s still awake, perhaps we should go over and ask him,” the doctor said as she led them down the stale green and white hallways.

When the door to where the little colt was resting in opened, they found him at the bed closest to the window, watching the snow dancing furiously outside. The colt turned his head to them when the door opened.

“Hey there,” Harmonic said, instead of replying, the colt turned back towards the window.

The three of them stepped into the room, approaching the bed, Harmonic asked: “I know I didn’t ask this to begin with, but what’s your name?”

“Script,” he said, “And why did you save me?”

The two princes and the doctor were taken aback at the question. But Script continued, “I mean, you had no reason for bringing me in here anyway.”

“You were dying. Isn’t that a reason?” Harmonic asked. Script didn’t say anything. Harmonic asked: “Do you know who I am?”

The colt looked at him, “Um, I think. Maybe… Okay, I don’t know.” Harmonic lit up his horn to take off the cloak off and him and unfolded his wings.

“How about now?” The alicorn asked.

Script’s eyes widen, “Wait! You’re that Prince guy! The one with the violin.”

“Hm… Yep.”

“And you,” Script pointed at Color, “I’ve seen your face hanging up before. Uh, Color, wasn’t it?” Color nodded. Script looked back at the alicorn. “Hm… You know, I always thought you might be taller in real life.”

Both Harmonic and Color laughed. “J-Just give me a few years kid,” Harmonic said, calming down from his laughter. “But in all seriousness though, why were you in a cardboard box anyway? I recall that there are a few shelters around this city, so why not go to them?”

“Well…” Script trailed off, both Color and Harmonic could tell that something was clearly bothering him. They saw his ears folded back and his eyes never made contact with any of them.

“Something tragic happened didn’t it?” Color asked.

Script seemed surprised, “How did-”

“I’ve seen that look before. And trust us, we know what tragedy looks like on ponies.”

“….It’s dad,” Script admitted at last. “Dad is… he’s… g-gone.” Tears filled his eye once more. And with that, their worst suspicions were confirmed.

_*_

“His name is Script Freeverse,” said Vanhoover’s Sheriff. Harmonic had already set forth an investigation over who Script was and his background. The Sheriff was at the suite, reporting his findings. 

“He’s nine years of age and has no cutie mark as of yet. He and his father lived in poverty for the previous seven years. His education is very basic, nothing above elementary level but has been reported missing by the school about a month ago. Let’s see… Has been charged with minor theft, mostly food. Even though he lived in an abandoned building with his father, the colt has been spotted sleeping in several other places such as a playground or in the library’s basement once.

“His mother has been incarcerated at the White Spruce Penitentiary for selling illegal medications, robbery, four accounts of foal neglect and resisting arrest. His father on the other hoof, he couldn’t hold down a job and forced himself to leave Script by himself on several occasions. Other than neglect, there seems to be no report of foal abuse as far as we know.”

“What about the dad?” Color asked, “What happened to him?”

“We found him at the building, freshly dead. From what we can tell, he died of an overdose of antidepressants. And as of now, Script is an orphan.”

“But wait,” Harmonic chimed in, “What about the mother? I know you said she’s in jail, but she’s still alive isn’t she?”

“She had already disowned him years ago.” The Sheriff said coldly. “As soon as he recovers, we’ll take him over to the orphanage. Oh, and Your Grace,” he turned to Harmonic and gave a respectable bow, “Consider yourself as a hero, you ended up saving that kid’s life. So will there be anything else Sires?”

The couple shook their heads and the Sheriff excused himself.

“So, your thoughts?” Harmonic asked.

“I kinda feel sorry for the kid.” Color said, “I mean sheesh! I haven’t heard a pony’s life story this sad since-”

“Mine?” Harmonic interrupted.

“Well, yeah. I mean, I think he’d probably had it worse than either of us.”

This caught Harmonic completely off guard. “Worse? What do ya mean by worse?”

“I mean think about it, even when my mother and your parents died, at least we knew they loved us right?”

Harmonic nodded.

“But for this colt, being disowned by even one of your parents has to be downright heart breaking don’t you think?”

“Oh… You have a point there.”

“What about you?”

Harmonic sat in thought, “Let me be really honest with you here. When I saw him freezing in that box, it reminded me how I felt on the night mom and dad died. Which I did exactly as this kid did, I tried killing myself by freezing in the snow because I thought that nothing in life would ever get better. But things did get better for me because I can die a million times and still come back; for I learned that night that I couldn’t die. And yet for that kid, he’s still mortal, he could have died never knowing if his life would get better.”

“So you really felt for him have ya?”

Color’s husband nodded, “Color, can I ask you something and promise me to hear me out.”

“Of course.”

“Color, since Script is now an official orphan, what would you think of maybe, well… Should we adopt him?”

“WHAT?!”

“Wait! Just hear me out! Look, I know we’ve just met this kid, but maybe we can actually help him.”

“Sure, by somepony more qualified than us. Harmonic, we don’t know very much about this kid.”

“And your point?”

“What if we adopt someone who turns out to be a very bad pony? And even if he isn’t, how do we know we can take care of him?”

“I’ve heard a wise pony who once said to me: ‘that the greatest gift in life is to be able to care for another pony, no matter what issues they have. But the first step to show that you love them is to show that you do care.’ Now, who was it that said that?”

Color went silent for a moment.

“Oh, that’s just playin’ dirty.”

_*_

There was a knock on the door while Script was eating breakfast. He looked up to see the princes in the doorway. “You two again?” Script asked.

They nodded, “We wanna come by to see if you’re alright,” Harmonic said.

“Yeah, I’m alright I guess,” Script said apathetically, “Just having some breakfast.”

“We can see that. Look, we’ve actually come by to give you a late Hearths Warming present.”

This got the colt’s attention, “A present? For me? What is it?”

“That depends,” Color said. 

Script tilts his head to the side. “What does that mean?” he asked.

“First of all,” Harmonic chimed in, “can ya tell us a little bit about you? I mean, we didn’t hear much from yesterday.”

“Am I in trouble?” The couple tried their best to withhold their laughter.

“N-No. Not really.” Color said, “Actually we’re kind of curious. I mean, all we know is a name but not the pony. So, won’t you tell us who you are?”

Script paused from eating his cereal. “It’s not really a happy story.” 

Harmonic lifted an eyebrow, “Try me,” he said.

“Um. Alright,” and thus, Script began saying, “I’m nine years old, and I’ve never been outside of the city before. Like ever. I was born here in Vanhoover, probably in this hospital somewhere. My mom isn’t what you’d might call a good pony. It’s not like she spanks me or anything, it’s just that she wasn’t there for me or dad. I can’t even remember what she even looks like. So all that I know about her came from dad.

“My dad isn’t really a bad pony. He’s not at all. It’s just that he can get uh, what’s that word? Forgetful? Uh yeah! That’s it! He can get forgetful at times. It’s not his fault; he says that he has a short memory that’s all. And sometimes he would get sad so he would take something. But when he does, I had to leave the house.”

“Why?” Color asked.

“Well – you see, the things he takes at times, it changes him. It’s not like he turns bad, but not good either, it’s just when he changes, I don’t want to be around him. So I leave the house for a few hours – maybe more.”

“Okay, so do you go to school?” Harmonic asked.

“Well, sometimes. You see, when your family isn’t exactly normal, you tend not to go to school that often.”

“Why not?”

“Because ponies will start poking their snouts in, asking questions about dad and all. And it’s also why I don’t have any real friends either. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t like school. Actually, there’s something other than the food that I do like.”

“What’s that?” Color asked.

“Well, once a month, our teacher Kind Word would make us write a little story where one of us starts and another keeps it going. I love doing that! Just as much as we read something in class. Most foals hate it but I like it.”

Color and Harmonic looked at each other for a moment before turning their attention back towards Script. “Okay, that’s good. But what about the viola?”

Script blinked, “The what now?”

Harmonic rolled his eyes, “The violin that’s a little bit bigger?”

“Oh! That, I found that in a trashcan months ago. It was already in pieces and nopony wanted it, so I took it. I was able to find some glue and put the thing back together again. I also knew a guy who plays the violin so I took it over to him for tuning. And I’ve played on that thing, just making up songs as I go.”

“Oh? And how are you on it?” Harmonic asked.

“Um… I don’t know. I think I’m okay I guess, but at least I get some bits to eat... You know, I wish I was like you two.”

“How’s that?” they both asked in unison.

“Well, more like you really,” he pointed at Harmonic. “I know you were adopted, but at least you get to eat something every day. And you get to sleep in a big bed with all the books you want because you don’t need to buy a library card to get books. And you get to go anywhere in the world. And-”

“Stop,” Harmonic said firmly, “Just stop, right, there. Do you really think that I was always like this?”

“Well, you’re an alicorn. So, of course, you would.”

There was a moment of silence amongst the three of them. “What if I told you that I wasn’t always that lucky?” the alicorn asked.

“Huh? You mean you weren’t?”

Harmonic shook his head. “Script, can I tell you a story?”

“It’s not a happy story too, isn’t it?”

“Well, yeah, but it does have a happy ending.”

“Fine,” Script sighed.

“Well, I-”

“No! Not like that!”

Harmonic blinked, “Huh?”

“You didn’t start right,” the colt complained, “You always start a story with ‘once upon a time’.”

The two stallions rolled their eyes. So Harmonic started again, “Alright. Once upon a time in the icy north, there was once a forest of spruce, willows, maples and pines. And in this forest, there laid a town called Cremona. A place where it rained for three months and snows for the rest of the year. But in this town, there lived a musical instrument maker and his wife. There have been many instrument makers in that town before mind you, but this one was special. You see, he specialized in making violins, whose sound is so pure, so sharp, and so well pronounced, that ponies throughout the world, even Equestria, wanted one of his instruments.

“But for a long while, the maker and his wife wished for a foal of their own. Someone who can pass their craft down to, who would love the sounds that the father had carved out. And one day, that wish came true. For one day in the rainy season of late summer, the wife gave birth to an alicorn.”

“So the alicorn in this story is you?” Script asked and Harmonic nodded.

“Yes. That little foal was me. But as I was saying, the two of them loved their son with all of their hearts, but at the same time, they were frightened.”

“Frighten? Over what? Shouldn’t they be glad that they have an alicorn as their kid? That’s like, winning the lottery or something.”

“Not quite so.”

“Huh?”

“You see, in that town, they all thought that alicorns were nothing but a myth. As they saw it, alicorns were tricksters that were meant to frighten foals like you from getting yourself killed, like staying away from rivers if you can’t swim or wandering in the forest alone. Things like that. But the thing was, nopony there really believe that alicorns exist at all because they’ve never seen one before.

“But when they did see the alicorn in the maker’s shop, they were frightened. So the first thing they did was to make their children afraid as well.

“From that day onward, the foals of the town would pick on the young alicorn while the adults ignored what their children did to him. They called him terrible names, they pulled on his wings, try to tear out his mane and tail, and beat him until it became hard to walk.

“But no matter how bad things got for him, he was able to turn to his parents for they were the only kind ponies that he’d ever known. They bound up his wounds, whispered kind words in his ears and played sweet music until he’d calmed down. They were so kind, that the maker had him test out his instruments, where the colt got his cutie mark.

“The maker wanted to show his son that he and his wife loved him so much, that he’d worked day and night for months to make for his son the perfect violin. On his son’s fifth birthday, he gave his son the violin and told him that he could have sold it, which would make them very, very rich. But he didn’t because he wanted his son to have that violin to remind him that no matter what anypony says, he will always be his masterpiece.

“But then, one night, something really sad happened. And I think it was around your age when it happened. On a cold night while playing with the family cat, a fire broke out in the family’s workshop and home. The colt called out for help for his parents to put the flames out, but even they couldn’t extinguish them. His father told his son to take his violin and get out of the house, so he did. But once outside, he saw his mother and father burn right before him and the town.

“Immediately, the town blamed the alicorn for starting the fire. So what could he do? He ran. With the violin on his back, he ran away from the town crying. He ran until his hooves couldn’t take it anymore. So he collapsed to the ground and cried in the snow. He didn’t care if he would freeze there, he didn’t want to live much longer.”

“But, what happened?” Script asked with his eyes filled with curiosity, “Did he freeze?”

“Actually, no. Much to his surprise, even though he felt being really, really, really cold, he didn’t die at all. In fact, it was the day that he’d learn that he couldn’t die. Or at least, not truly, for he could die in any way, but each time, he would wake up in a different place. Having no idea how he got there at all.

“Anyway, one day, the colt was founded by a caravan of gypsies who took pity on him. But the colt was so afraid of them that he put on a cloak over his wings. And for ten long years, he traveled from place to place to place with them. All the while, he tried his best to make sure his pair of wings were kept a secret from them.

“But all wasn’t exactly well with him though, during those years, he would at times be discovered by a village and they would go after him. Each time when they captured him, they would do horrible things to him, so horrible that if I told you, you’d get nightmares for years.”

Script gulped at the last statement.

“And during those years, he found out that he was different from everypony in another way. But it was because of this also, that gave the mobs another reason to go after him. You see, he’d found out that he secretly liked colts more than fillies. And it was also because of this, the alicorn was always afraid of everyone he’d ever come in contact with. This means he couldn’t go to anyone to teach him how to read, or write, or even tell them why he’s always sad.

“But I did say that this story had a happy ending, didn’t I? Well, those gypsies came into a particular city called Canterlot. While he was trying to get some money for food, he accidently lets his cloak come undone for eveypony to see his wings. At first, he was terrified of letting those ponies seeing them, but then it turned into confusion when those ponies were treating him with real kindness.

“And so, he was taken to Celestia and Luna, where they took him under their wings. They found the means so that he can read, write and to learn more about the violin than he’d ever thought possible. They taught him that there’s no shame in liking a particular gender or another, as long as you love them. And one day, that alicorn met the love of his life.” Here, Harmonic gave his husband a nuzzle, “And even though his love had problems, he’d managed to work them out with him as he did with his. So he’d married him, and they were blessed with happiness. But that was not the end of the story.”

“It’s not?” Script asked.

“Not quite. Tell me Script, if we could grant you one wish that would make you happy, what would it be?”

Script put a hoof under his chin and thought awhile. Finally, he said, “I wish that I would have a family that cares about me, that would make sure that I would have something to eat, a place to sleep, somepony who I can tell them what happened to me today and listens. I wish that I would have a family that would make me happy.”

Harmonic turned to his husband, “Well Color, what’d ya think?”

“He does seem like a nice kid…” Color trailed off. “I, I guess we can.”

“Can what?” Script asked. His answer came when Harmonic opened his wings and his horn glowed to make some pieces of paper appear.

“So you wish it, so shall it be,” said the alicorn as he levitated the paper over to him. “Script, do you want us to adopt you?”

Script let his spoon fall into the bowl. “You- what?”

“Do you want us to be your family?” Color asked, taking a few steps forward.

Script picked up the papers and saw that they were, indeed, adoption papers. “I don’t know,” he said, “Wouldn’t it be weird though? I mean, I never had two dads before. Heck, I don’t know anyone in my class who has two dads.”

“And what’s wrong with weird?” Color asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well…” Script trailed off, “I don’t know. I just had only one dad around. With two? I... I guess it might be okay, just promise me that I get to have my own room though, ‘kay?”

The couple looked at each other, “I think we can arrange that can we?” Harmonic asked.

“Of course we can. And you know what Harm; I think I might wanna try this out after all.”
> 3rd Movement
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So how big is your family anyway?” Script asked. By now, the new family was making their way towards Canterlot by train.

“Well, on my side there’s my Dad and my two sisters, Sugar Sweet and Home Finder.” Color responded. “There’s also Grandma Taffy, Uncle Bergen and Aunt Spotlight. Plus all the kids and one on the way from Home Finder, I think I have about twelve if you include me.”

“For me, there’s my mother Celestia and Aunt Luna, there’s also what I to call my three half-siblings, Blueblood, Cadence, and Twilight. Neither Twilight nor Blueblood is married, but Cadence is with her husband, Shining Armor. And those two have a daughter, Flur. So on my side of the family, that makes… Eight, including me.”

“So hold on,” Script said, being deep in thought. “If you were adopted by the princesses that you call one of them mom, and you two adopted me, wouldn’t that mean that Celestia and Luna are now both of my great-great-great-great-great-grandmas or something?”

Both of the princes couldn’t hold in their laughter.

“Okay! That was funny!” Harmonic said smiling, “B-But in all seriousness, don’t ever ask them their age.”

“Why?”

“Trust me, I tried that once, and I can just tell you that neither of them wasn’t happy about it. And besides, it turns out that asking somepony’s age is actually very rude.”

Script raised an eyebrow, “Why?” he asked, “Ponies asked me how old I am all the time and I don’t get mad at it.”

“Hm. I guess that’s because you’re still young. But maybe the older you’d get, the more that question seems annoying.” Color answered, Script nodded and looked out the window.

“You seemed very good at explaining things.” Script acknowledged, “So if you are now both my dads, what am I going to call ya? I mean, I can’t call both of you dad, it might get confusing.”

Color turned to Harmonic, “He’s right actually, we’d need to think what we should be called. Hey, how about you’ll be called dad and me pops.”

Harmonic raised an eyebrow, “Pops? Really?”

“Well, why not? I don't mind being called pops. My dad used to call my grandpa ‘pops’ all the time you know.”

“Yeah, but that’s because your grandpa used to make soda from scratch.”

“Can I just call you ‘Pa’?” Script asked. 

“Hmm… I guess that’ll work,” Color said with a smile.

When the train stopped outside of Canterlot’s train station, they were greeted with a couple of pegasi guards with a carriage for the princes. There was some confusion when they saw the foal.

“He’s with us.” Color said to the guards.

In no time, they flew over inside the castle grounds being saluted by both the Solar and Lunar guards. Once again, there was confusion amongst them when the colt stepped out. Script hid in-between his fathers, trying to keep out of view of the prying eyes.

“Ah, there you two are.” Script looked up ahead to find the great sun Diarch herself. “We were so worried since we haven’t heard a…” Celestia trailed off as she looked down between the two. “….And who’s this?”

“A surprise,” Harmonic said, “Are Cadence and Shining still here?”

“No. They’ve gone back to the empire yesterday.”

“Could you have someone get the rest of the family together for dinner tonight?”

“But whatever for?”

“Trust us,” Color smiled. “It’s a family issue, something I think the rest of the family should hear.” He turned to Harmonic, “I’ll take Script to get my family. While you get Twilight and Blueblood.”

Harmonic shuttered: “Fine, I’ll go find Twilight first.”

“Excuse me,” Celestia interjected. “Am I missing something here?”

“You’ll see,” The couple said cryptically as they and the foal walked pass her; Celestia, however, raised an eyebrow, “My son and son-in-law, what are you two up to?”

_*_

“So what have you two been doing in the past few days?” Sugar Sweet asked. When she isn’t smothering Script to death along with the lines of, “Aren’t you the cutest thing?” She along with her older sister and Dad were questioning to Color.

“Yeah, last time I’ve heard, you two were stuck in Vanhoover for days, and now you’ve come back with a kid?” Home Finder asked while lying down on a couch, visibly pregnant. Her glasses drooped nearly over the edge of her snout; her yellow main was tied up in a bun while her tail lay messily on the couch. On her flank was a house as her cutie mark.

“We’ll talk about it over dinner at the castle.” Color reinsured them, “But in the meantime, I thought I should bring Script by to introduce him to you.”

“Color,” Golden Cash said, “May I have a word with you alone?”

Nodding, he told his sister and his adopted son to wait; Golden led his son over to the next room.

“Color, what’s this really about? Who is that colt?”

“I told you, we’ll tell you-”

“Now,” his father said firmly, “You tell me right now who that kid is.”

“There’s no way I’m going to win this is there?”

His father shook his head. Sighing in defeat, he whispered the secret to him.

“Really?!” Golden was taken back in surprise, “Since when?”

“The day after Hearths Warming. Look, I and Harmonic will tell you everything, but for now, I think he should get to know you guys.”

“But son, are you two absolutely sure about this? Raising foals is a tremendous responsibility, and as a father who raised the three of you, I should know.”

“Yeah, we’re ready,” Color ended it with an uneasy smile. His father wasn’t buying it. Sighing, Color added, “Okay, Harmonic believes we’re ready. But for me… I don’t know, but I think we can do it. Script has gone through a lot already, but he’s a good kid dad.”

“Color, you haven’t told me why. Why did you two adopt him really?”

Color looked his dad in the eye and said, “Because no foal should feel neglected: that’s what happened to him. His mom abandons him and his dad when he was like two. And his dad hardly noticed he was even there. He’s spent his nine years of life trying to survive, just like Harmonic had. But unlike him, Script wasn’t loved by anypony, and nearly died because of it. Dad, even if Script doesn’t see it, he needs somepony to give him the family that he never had the chance to have. That is the reason why.”

Golden went silent for a moment, closing his eyes; he nodded his head a few times, “Good. That’s exactly what I wanted to hear from you. And don’t worry; I won’t spoil the surprise to your sisters just yet.”

“Would you stop hugging me?!” Script’s voice pierced through the air.

“I can’t help it,” Sugar Sweet replied. “You’re just so adorable.”

“Maybe I should take Script somewhere else,” Color thought out-loud.

_*_

“Doesn’t that get annoying after a while?” Script asked. Color and his son were walking toward the Copper Pot Café, and along the way, ponies respectively bowed to Color as they passed by.

“I admit it does get old really fast after a while. But then again, there are some perks for being married to a royal.”

“Like what?” Color looked up to see they’re at the café.

“Watch this,” he told Script as they entered. They first saw a waiter at a podium.

“Excuse me-” was all Color said when he the waiter interrupted.

“Right this way Your Grace.” The waiter led them to an open table. “The usual sir?”

“Kinda, can you make two hot chocolates this time?”

“Of course, on the house.” 

As the waiter walked away, Script turned to his new Pa and asked: “On the house? You mean you get your meals for free?”

“That’s the funny thing about being part of the royal family, everywhere you go, ponies want to give you things for free.”

“Free! So if ponies knew you guys adopted me, I can go to any store in Equestria and they can give me whatever I want for nothing!”

“Hey, be careful about using that. You don’t want to be as spoiled as Blueblood.”

“Blueblood?”

“Okay, try to imagine- Oh thank you,” the waiter put the cups of hot chocolate on the table. “Try to think back to the most selfish, spoiled, greediest, self-centered, unbelievably rotten, most arrogant ponies that you’ve ever met, forget them! Blueblood is the embodiment of everything wrong with Equestrian Royalty.”

Script blinked, “I don’t know what ‘embodiment’ means, but I take it that he’s not really a good pony.”

Color snorted, “That’s actually a very kind way of putting it. I mean, he may look like prince charming, but the stallion has been spoiled with everything you could think of since he was born. He thinks that he’s born above nearly everypony else all because he’s ‘entitled’ to everything. Believe me, I don’t think either me or Harmonic want you to end up like that.”

Script sat in thought for a moment, taking a sip from his cup. “You know what Pa, maybe I don’t wanna be a Prince.” 

“Hm? How so?”

“I never really saw myself as a prince like you guys, I just wanna play like a normal foal.”

Color chuckled, “No need to worry about that, besides, you’re too young to even be crowned a Prince anyway.”

“And I still don’t have my cutie mark.” Script pointed out, taking another sip from his hot chocolate.

Later on, as they exited out the café, Script spotted a pile of snow on the street, with his new dad walking away, he grinned mischievously when he got an idea. He knelt down to the pile of snow and quickly made a snowball. With the cold ball in his hoof, he yelled, “Hey dad! Think fast!” and threw it at the back of his head.

The snowball hit its target, Color turned around with a cross look on his face. Script was quickly thinking that this was a bad idea until his Pa’s horn lit up, grabbing some nearby snow and forming it into a ball in his aura.

“Oh,” Color said with a wicked grin, “Of course you know, this means war!”

_*_

“Good news, Twilight is coming and… What happened to you?” Harmonic asked when he got a good look at his husband. Color’s coat and mane were dripping wet with melting snow. Script, who was as dry as a hot day in Appaloosa, stood right next to him trying to look innocent.

“Snowball fight,” Color said, lifting a hoof he pointed at the colt. “He won.”

“Okay... how about you go and dry yourself off. I’m going to show his new room before we go to dinner.”

“Yeah, agreed,” Color nodded. He excused himself going into another hallway. Script followed his dad through the castle.

They reached a pair of the double doors that was one of the many guest rooms, in which Harmonic opened them with is magic. The colt rushed into the room, it was very simple and plain compared to the other rooms in the castle. There was a bed big enough somepony five times his size to sleep on. There was a fireplace made up of tiles. Outside of two arch windows, he could see Canterlot down below and a view of the Equestrian landscape. Script opened the two other doors in the room, one was a closet, and the other was a bathroom.

“I know it’s not much at the moment,” Harmonic said as he entered the room. “This place hasn’t been used very much you see. But you can add things in here if you-”

“It’s huge,” Script said, “This room is just as big as my house! And this time I have a bed!” Script leaped onto the bed and began bouncing on it.

“As I was saying,” Harmonic continued, giving a half smile. “You can add things to this room, all you’d need to do is ask. If you wanted a bookcase with books, you’ll get it. If you wanted something to hang on the walls or change the color, ask away.”

“Can I have some toys to play with?!” Script asked, still bouncing away on the bed. “I didn’t have many toys to play with in Vanhoover. So can I, can I!?”

“Um… What kind of toys?”

“Well, I want…” Script stopped bouncing. He put a hoof over his chin, “Yeah, what do I want anyway? Now I can ask for any toy I can ever want, but what do I ask for? Um, how about a toy train, one with tracks that puff out smoke?”

“You mean steam?”

“Huh?”

“Trains puff out steam, not smoke. You know that hot misty stuff that comes out of pots when something’s cooking? That’s steam.”

“Um... okay, I’ll have that.”

“If I were you, I’d think about a list of things you’d probably want for your room so we know what to get.”

Script nodded, “Okay. By the way, where is your room?”

“Mine?”

“Well, you and Pa’s.”

“Oh, just down the hall and go to your left. And you’ll know if you found the rooms by our cutie marks.”

“Rooms? You mean that you two don’t share the room?”

“Well, yes and no. We both have our own rooms, yes. But we’re right next door to each other, in case either of us needs something.”

“Wait… so you’re saying that you don’t share the same room.... even though you’re married?”

“Don’t get me wrong, we actually do from time to time. It’s not like we don’t… uh… visit each other now and then. But you see, as artists, we also need a bit of space, as well as some time to meditate on our arts as well.”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense.”

When seven o’clock came rolling in, Celestia, Luna, Blueblood, and Twilight walked into the private dining room to find both the princes at the table along with the colt sitting between them.

“Hello, who’s this?” Twilight asked.

“That’s what I like to know,” Celestia chimed in, taking her usual seat at the table. Blueblood ignored the new guest at the table and took his seat. Luna on the other hoof went straight for the foal.

“Awe! Thou art adorable!” The Princess of the Night said with a squee. Script wrapped his forehooves around Harmonic.

“Pardon me Your Majesties,” they looked up to a Lunar guard at the door. “Prince Color’s family has arrived, shall I send them in?”

“Please do,” Color said, nodding at the guard. A while later, Color’s father and two sisters walked into the room. The three of them respectfully bowed before they took their seats.

“So, brother, aren’t you going to tell us who Script is?” Home Finder asked.

“Why yes of course,” Color said, “I think this is a cause for a celebration.”

“Why?” Twilight asked.

Both Harmonic and Color looked at each other, having a look in their eyes that asks, ‘you want to tell them first?’

“I’ll tell them,” Harmonic said, “I’m sure all of you will immediately have a million questions when I say this. So are you all ready? On your mark, get set, Script is our adopted son, go!”

There were exactly ten seconds of silence in that room. Celestia, Luna, and Home Finder had their eyes wide opened. Blueblood, Twilight and Sugar Sweet gawked. The only one in the room that didn’t look surprised was Golden Cash.

“So… When did this happen?” Twilight asked.

“The day after Hearths Warming,” Harmonic answered.

“In Vanhoover?” Luna asked.

The couple nodded.

“Where did you find him? At an orphanage?”

“No,” this time, it was Script who spoke up. “He actually saved me,” He pointed at Harmonic.

“I’m sure we like to hear this,” Celestia said. “Would the three of you please explain a few things for us?”

And so, the three of them told their story. Color began the story of their string of bad luck in Vanhoover. Harmonic described how he found Script in a soaked cardboard box freezing to death. So he took him to the hospital where they began putting the pieces together. Script described what happened that morning after when they officially adopted him.

Interestingly enough, despite the intrigue they had in all of their eyes, nopony in the room had interrupted them besides the occasional question.

“But you haven’t answered the question of why?” Blueblood pointed out. “As noble as that sounds, what would have made you adopt a commoner into this family anyway?”

“For the same reasons as to why my mother and my aunt had adopted me. That is if you can remember it.” Harmonic answered back.

“My nephew,” Luna said, “This is perhaps the kindest thing that both of you have ever done. Although, either of you could have at least told us this sooner. You do know that you could have sent a letter to us?”

“Yes, we know,” Color said. “But we’d figure that we might surprise all of you. And besides, if Canterlot knew beforehoof, we fear that the paparazzi might overwhelm him.”

Celestia nodded, “That seems to make sense.” She turned to Script, “You must be an extremely lucky little colt, and perhaps you might make a good Prince one day.”

“Um, Princess-”

“Just Celestia young one.”

“I don’t know if I want to be a Prince when I grow up.”

This got a reaction out them. “What?!” everypony (except for Color) asked at once.

“Look, living in a castle is really cool and all. But I don’t know if I want to be a Prince here. I mean, I still don’t have my cutie mark yet. And besides, I don’t know if I’ll be good at telling ponies what to do.”

“Sounds good to me,” Blueblood muttered to himself.

Celestia hummed in thought, “Very well, we’ll wait until you’re at least seventeen and we’ll see where things go from there.”

“To tell you the truth,” Sugar Sweet said. “I’m a little bit jealous that you get to have a very adorable colt of your own.”

“Oh I certainly agree with you,” Luna said smiling.

“Say, Luna, can I ask you something?” Script asked Luna told him to ask away. “What should I call you and Celestia?”

“What do you mean child?”

“If you’re Harmonic’s aunt and Celestia is his mom, could I call Celestia grandma and your great-grand aunt or something?”

Luna and Celestia’s eyes widen, “Only in private,” they both said at once.

“So can we start eating?” Script asked. “I’m kinda hungry here.”

_*_

It was in the spring when Script Everfree had come home from a very bad day at school. For him, anything that could have gone wrong has gone wrong: and for Script, he just wanted the day to end. And on a day like this, he would go to the greenhouse where he could be left alone. In a way, it was a good hiding spot, for very few ponies had ever come in there other than the gardeners.

At that moment, he was trying to hide from everypony because of what happened to him at school. He didn’t want anyone, even his fathers, to see the bruises or the black eye from earlier.

“Script? Are you in here?”

Script’s ears perked up, it wasn’t his Dad’s nor his Pa’s voice. It was a voice from an older stallion. Before he could move, he found himself face to face with a bat pony from Luna’s guards.

He’s been found.

“There you are,” he said. “Your fathers are worried sick about…” He trailed off when he saw the bruises and the black eye. “Dear Luna, what happened to you?”

“Please don’t tell!” Script said quickly.

“Are you hurt? Who did this to you?”

Script stayed silent for a moment.

“Did you get these at school?”

“No,” Script lied. And the older stallion saw through it and frowned.

“Seriously, what happened?” the guard asked.

Script looked around the greenhouse to check if they’re alone. “Look mister…?”

“Bow. Cross Bow.”

“Look, Mr. Bow, I don’t want my dads to be mad at me.”

“How so?”

“Well… Just promise me that you won’t tell them.”

Cross Bow nodded.

“Ya see I’m having a really bad day here. First, it started with me getting up late, and then I realized that I’ve forgotten my lunch, and then there was…”

“What?”

“Him,” Script said through his teeth. “That stuck-up Wound Spring. He started it!”

“So what did he do? Did he call you blank flank?”

“Worse. He called my idea for a story stupid. And right in front of the teacher too! I know Pa said that I should just ignore somepony who says something mean and all, but he doesn’t know Spring! I-I just got so mad that I just punched him in the snout as hard as I could.”

“Oh I see, you didn’t want your fathers to know because you threw the first punch.”

“Yeah. And what was I supposed to do anyway? Just let him keep talking to me like that and have the teacher do nothing?”

The aged stallion put a hoof to his chin. “Tell me something, do you know the meaning of being mature?”

Script raised an eyebrow, “You mean being a stallion? Well… being tough and not being afraid of anything?”

Bow shook his head, “I used to think that too, but as it turns out, that’s not what being mature is about.”

“It isn’t?”

“As I’ve learned it, being mature means showing restraint and not to be quick to anger. To only fight back when there’s no other alternative. Plus, like it or not, you’d need to learn to take responsibility, even when it’s your fault.”

“But I would get into trouble.”

“True. But believe me, I think your fathers would be more impressed of you saying you were the cause then saying that somepony else did it. Take it from me from personal experience, a brave pony is one who admits that what they did or said was wrong.”

“So are you going to tell them?”

“Hmm… Nope. You are.” Picking him up from the scruff of his neck with his mouth, Cross Bow carried the colt all the way to his fathers. Of course, along the way, Script tried persuading him to let him go, but years of doing his job meant he carried out what he was meant to do.

A few stairs climbing and navigating through many hallways later, Script was taken to the castle’s music room where his dad was rehearsing. Harmonic’s first violin sonata has been in the works for almost over half a year, and now he’s been working with Octavia to accommodate him on the piano part for the past two weeks.

Cross Bow knocked on the door to the music room where the music came to a stop. The door opened up, Color stood in the doorway.

“Script!” Color exclaimed in shock when he saw the bruises. Harmonic turned and saw his son’s black eye. He immediately put the violin down on the piano. Of course, the very first question they asked what happened and who did this to him.

“It’s…” Script hesitated; turning to the guard he found his face to be unreadable. In the guard’s eyes, however, seemed to encourage him to tell them the truth.

Sighing, he turned back to his fathers, “Promise me you won’t get mad?”

“From those bruises, I’ll try keeping it at a minimum,” Harmonic said with a groan, which made Script gulped.

“It’s my fault. I got myself in a fight at school with Wound Spring.” His parents seemed shocked. Script quickly added, “He made me mad so I punched him,” looking to the ground, not wanting to see their father’s disappointments.

“Script, I thought we’d already talked about this.” Color said. There was disappointment in his voice, but there was no anger as Script expected.

“I thought so too,” Harmonic nodded. “Just how did it start?”

“You know that assignment we have to do? Write and draw a story by the end of the month? Our teacher went around asking if we’d come up with any ideas. I told her mine and Spring called my idea stupid. He said that it sounded boring but I don’t think it is so… I punched him right in the mouth.”

Harmonic raised an eyebrow, “What’s the story about?”

“Well, I was thinking of writing about a filly, which is around my age, who always wears a bandage over her eyes.”

“Is she blind?”

Script shook his head. “No. She can see, she can see as well as you and me. And you know dad, when I was telling my teacher, Spring said right there it was stupid before I could tell her what it’s really about.”

“Okay then, why does this filly have bandages over her eyes when she’s not blind?”

“Well, she has a kind of power, that if she looks at you in the eyes, she can see everything about you. Your memories; your dreams; hopes; fears; your deepest, darkest secrets; everything! And it’s because of that, she always gets into trouble with everypony.”

“Is that all?”

“Well… I haven’t thought up the rest yet. But it sounded good if only the teacher heard it.”

Harmonic signaled Color over to him into a corner of the room. The two of them spoke softly to each other for a minute or two until they both went back to their son.

“First of all,” Color said. “We’re actually proud of you for admitting to us and yourself what you did was wrong. And we can see what drove you to this. However, you must be punished for getting into a fight.”

Script gulped, but Color continued. “We both agree that little idea for a story does sound good. So good in fact, that we’ve decided that it’ll be your punishment. You will go to your room and write out this story. Besides meals, bathroom breaks, going to school or bedtime, you will not be allowed out of your room until you finish that story. Which means no playtime, no friends, oh and no reading until you finish.”

“But- But that’ll take forever!” Script whined.

“Then start working on it. The sooner you finish, the sooner your punishment will be over.”

“But-”

“No buts. One of us will talk with Spring’s parents later. But for now, go to your room.” Harmonic said, lighting up his horn, he teleported their son to his room.

“Hey Bow,” Harmonic said to the Lunar Guard. “Thanks for finding him.”

“You’re very much welcomed, Your Highnesses.” Bow said with a bow of respect. Before he could leave, Harmonic called out, “Just a moment Cross.”

“Sir?”

“Since you’re here anyway and I haven’t gotten the chance to talk to either of you two for a while, how are you?”

“I’m doing fine sir.”

“And Steel?”

“He’ll be retiring in a few months, and so am I sir. We’re thinkin’ of going to Filliedelphia to be with family.”

“That sounds reasonable,” Color remarked.

“Thank you, sir. Will there be anything else?”

Both Princes told him no and had him excused. Harmonic picked his violin up, “So Mrs. Octavia, where were we?”

_*_

During Script’s grounding, his toys and books were taken away, leaving him nothing but paper, a few pencils, and a sharpener. At first, he was somewhat angry towards his fathers because he’s getting punished, to begin with. But after calming down and realizing that running away isn’t an option since he’s surrounded by guards, he had to start writing the story.

But the thing was in Script’s case, up until that point, he’d never took the time to write a story before. Of course, for Script, it was his only way out of his room. So once he’d calmed down, he began to write.

Not to say that for the colt, he’d made countless mistakes, one atrocity after another to the Equestrian language being put onto paper. There were punctuation errors made, capitalization and paragraph errors shortly followed. Confusing marks with each stroke of his pencil was composed. Yet in Script’s mind, the ideas came clearly as the air he breathed. He wrote on the conversations he could almost hear in his head down as quickly as he could. Tried his hardest to capture what he saw in his mind’s eye, the same way that he would pretend and put it on paper.

On some days, he would struggle to think what someone should say or what’s going to happen next. Sometimes it would take minutes or hours, yet he’d figured it out in the end. There were times when he would get so invested in his story that he’d get annoyed at anypony who interrupted him: even if it was some pony telling him it was dinner time.

About a week and four days later, the door to Script’s room opened with the colt holding the manuscript in his mouth. He marched over to his fathers’ rooms with a determined look in his eye. Knocking first on Harmonic’s door, he heard his dad’s violin stop playing, followed by his hoofsteps.

As soon as the door opened up, Script put the story on the ground. “There! It’s finished. Can I have my stuff back now?”

He saw his dad blink, then to Script’s confusion, his dad (still had frozen wide eyes) leaned to the side but still looked at him.

“Dad? What are you doing? I said the story’s done,” Script asked.

“Have you looked into a mirror lately?”

“Huh?”

Harmonic smiled, picking up his son and his story, he trotted over to his husband’s room, after knocking, he allowed himself in. “Hey Color, you busy?”

“No, why?”

“Take a look at this.” Color looked up from his work and saw his son, still in his husband’s aura. “Well, I’ll be! Let me grab a mirror.”

“What are you talking about?” Script asked, “Have I gotten something on me?”

“Indeed you have.” Color found a mirror and held it up to Script, in the mirror; he saw something on his flank.

“So what? It’s just my…” Script took a double take at the mirror and then to his flanks. There on his blue coat, he saw a white quill and a red inkwell.

“MY CUTIE MARK!! I FINALLY GOT MY CUTIE MARK!!” their son shouted with pure joy.

On that night, Script celebrated with his fathers, his grandmother and great aunt, some red velvet ice cream and a gypsy tune on his dad’s violin.
> 4th Movement
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Script was around the age of thirteen, the Princes had a conversation that nopony wanted to talk about. The kind of conversation where in public is considered taboo with dirty looks and embarrassment. A conversation that questions what should be kept quiet versus what should be told.

It all started when their son came back home from middle school with a few questions on his mind. Questions that have been floating around in his head since his health class had brought it up a few days ago.

A conversation in the maze where Script asked his fathers out for the sake of privacy because of the uncertainty of what was to come; a conversation that started with one simple question.

“Dad, Pa, what’s clop?” As soon as he spoken those four words, his fathers immediately stopped walking.

“Pardon?” Color asked.

“Clop, what is it?” Script questioned again. The couple looked at each other, both blushing and giving each other a look. A kind of look that says that neither of them has exactly been looking forward to has arrived.

“Script,” Harmonic said gently. “Just, where did you hear that word from?”

“From some of my classmates at school, all from what we’re learning in our health class we’re doing for the week. All I can pick up on is that some of them had already tried it and it felt really good. But I still don’t know what they’re talking about or what they did what. I don’t remember it being ever brought up in class and I’m certainly not going to ask the teacher about it. My friends either don’t know or won’t talk about it. So do either of you know?”

“Would you give us a moment and stay right here?” Color asked as he pushed his husband to a turn in the maze. Once when they were out of earshot of their son, Harmonic turned to his husband.

“Now what?” Harmonic asked.

“You’re asking me? I don’t know what to do either since I’ve never done this before.”

“Then again, it’s not really teaching him the birds and the bees here; he’s learning that at school.”

“I know that. But he’s asking that’s… well…” Color cleared his throat, “private, shall we put it.”

“So what do we do? We both know that he’s going to figure out one way or another.”

They both stood in silence for a moment. Color closed his eyes and nodded, “I’ll do it,” he said.

“Are you sure?”

“Somepony has to do it. So I’ll try.”

The two of them went back to a sitting Script. “Son,” Color began. “This is going to be one of the hardest and certainly the most awkward conversations that I’ll probably ever have in my life. So if I pause or something like that, just keep in mind that it’s not easy for me to talk about this, however, it has to be done. With that, how about we cut a deal here: if you tell me what you know about sex, I’ll try what I can to (within reason) fill in the details.”

Script recalled from memory the past few days from his health class. From diagrams to the development of pregnancy, and even describing what he was told was going to happen to both genders when they or are reaching puberty.

When that was done, Color nodded. “Okay, good. Um… Script listen, clopping is something that is done by both genders, not just colts, and it’s actually natural. Everypony will in their lifetime, and if time will tell, you will as well. Clopping, you see, it tricks your,” Color cleared his throat. “Equipment (let’s put it as that) into the illusion you’re having intercourse without doing it with anypony. For personal reasons, I won’t describe how you’d do it since Earth Ponies, Pegasi, Unicorns and yes, even Alicorns have their own techniques when it comes to this. All I can say is… use your hoof.”

“Okay?” Script said with a raised eyebrow.

“But keep listening, when the time does come, you must keep in mind a few things. First of all, if you do this, make sure you do it in private. Preferably behind closed doors and drawn curtains. Oh! And be sure that nopony’s around. Got it?”

Script nodded.

“And second, when you get done, you will make somewhat of a mess, so be sure that you clean up after yourself with something that won’t leave stains.”

“Clean up what?” Script asked innocently.

Both of their fathers blushed furiously, “Trust me,” Color said. “You’ll know.”

“Um… Okay? Thanks, I guess. Oh, and can I ask you both one more question? It’s something we’re going to learn tomorrow and I want to hear it from you two first.”

His fathers nodded.

“Tomorrow we’re gonna talk about the attractions that ponies are drawn to. You know like colts like fillies, fillies like fillies – things like that. So what I’m wondering is, how do I know what I’m going to like? Do you know what I’m talking about?”	

“You mean how would you know what you’re attracted to?” Harmonic asked and Script nodded.

“It takes some time,” Harmonic said. “But eventually you’ll figure out by what kind of ponies that you notice the most. Script, neither of us wouldn’t care if you like fillies, colts, both or maybe none of them. What we care though, is to make sure that in the long run, you figure out what makes you happy. If it be with somepony or just by yourself. What you find out liking is something you’d need to figure out for yourself. Okay?”

“Okay, dad. Thanks. And Pa, thanks for explaining that for me.” And with that, Script made his way out of the maze.

When their son was out of sight, both stallions let out a long breath and relaxed their shoulders. With the Princes still behind, they both slowly made their way too. “Hey,” Harmonic said, giving his husband a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’m actually proud of ya. You did that pretty maturely and given him what needs to be given without saying too much. You handled that very well.”

“Ha. Thanks. You did well yourself too. Kinda makes me wish you were around at his age. Oh early adolescence, that was a weird time.”

“Yeah. Imagine what it was like for me as well.” Here, Harmonic shuttered. “Those were some dark times. But no matter, that was the past. As of now, we have each other, and our colt is growing up.”

“That’s an understatement,” Color muttered.

“Oh get your mind out of the gutter will you.”

_*_

By the time Script came back to the castle, he arrived much, much later then he wanted to be. He hoped as he made his way through the darkened hallways that nopony would notice. He’d expect that everypony would either be in bed or still be occupied with Luna’s night court to be seen out this late. Secretly praying to the whole universe that neither of his dads would notice that he left home without telling them; given the party, his high school buddies talked him into.

Then he finally got to the double doors of his room, carefully turning the handles so not to make any sound and quietly stepped into his darkened room.

He stepped over to the lamp on the nightstand in the dark, trying to feel for the switch. As soon as light flooded the room, Script jumped back in shock to the pony that was on the bed.

“GAH! O-Oh, hey dad!”

Harmonic said nothing. Looking cross, sitting on the edge of the bed, he had his violin in his hooves. With one hoof, he plucked the lower string of the violin.

“Uh, I-I-I… Sorry, didn’t see you there.”

There was another pluck of the string.

“So… What are ya doing here?”

“You do realize what time it is right?” Harmonic said softly but in a low voice. Script took a quick glimpse at the clock.

“One forty-six?”

Harmonic plucked the string again. “Yes. So where’ve you been between dinner yesterday and now, Mr. ‘I’m-going-to-take-a-bit-of-a-walk-so-I’ll-be-right-back?’”

“W-Well… Uh…” Script looked into his dad’s eyes. He can see the gears turning in his head, trying to calculate what kind of punishment that was going to be in store for him.

“Go on. Speak up. You, sir, have school in the morning, so get to it. Where have you been?” There was another pluck on the string.

“Out.”

“We noticed that. But care to explain where exactly?”

“W-Well… I…” Script’s eyes shifted back and forth. “I-I can’t.”

Harmonic raised an eyebrow. “You can’t tell me where you’ve been?”

His son nodded.

“Why?” he asked. “Is it because of the punishment I’m thinking up for you?”

“It’sjustIdon’twanthertoget-” Script said quickly but stopped himself with a hoof over his mouth.

“Sorry, I didn’t get that, did you just said, ‘her’?” His dad asked. Reluctantly, he nodded.

Harmonic put down his violin on the bed. “Okay, now you’ve got me curious. Who is she?”

“Dad, please, I don’t want her to get into trouble too. It’s the first time that I was able to really talk to her.”

“From the way you’re making yourself sound, it seems you did a little more than just talk, am I right? Now you tell me my young stallion, what exactly happened?”

Script sat next to his dad, “Well, you know that class that prepares us for real jobs when we get out of high school right? Where we go to someplace to gain work experience for a trimester? Well, over the past month, there’s this mare at the library. Page Turner, who has the same class but is from a different school. I didn’t talk to her at first since she’s just so… pretty.” He said the last word quietly.

“And?” His father urged him on.

“W-Well, ya see, I was just too shy to go up to her without making myself looking like an idiot. But I wanted to talk to her, so I got my friends to help me out. Well, they caught word that Page is going to some birthday party at her cousin’s place. Which was tonight, and I know that I told you and Pa that I’ll be going for a walk because I honestly didn’t think it would take that long. So I got there with my friends there and they helped me introduce me to her. We started talking for a while. Well, I can’t be sure how long we talked. She was so funny when she told about herself. And I found her interesting in what she had to say as she did with me. We talked about our schools, the teachers we liked and hated; what subjects we’re studying and all of that. We talked of books, of favorite stories, debating if “Lord of the Horseshoes” trilogy or “The Great Grazeby” was a better story. Dad, we were just so caught up in talking that we’d forgot that there was a party going on. And then we…”

“Yes?” Harmonic asked, still hasn’t put down his eyebrow as his son was speaking.

“Um… She gave me my first real kiss.”

There was a moment of silence between the two of them. Then his father asked, “Is that all that happened?”

“Huh?”

“You two didn’t…”

Realizing what his father meant, Script’s face turned bright red, “DAD! NO! Nonononononono! Dad, I swear it to both of my grandma and aunt that nothing happened! We just make out and that’s it!”

Giving a relieved sigh, Harmonic got up from the bed, taking his violin in his aura. “I’ll take your word for it. So then what happened really?”

“W-Well, we just made out with each other for a while when I realized what time it was, I told her ‘Sorry, I have to go’ and left. Dad, please don’t be mad at me, I want to see her again.”

His dad hummed in thought, making his way to the door. “I’ll let you off the hook for this one time, on one condition.” He turned to his son, “Unless you can bring Page Turner over for dinner, you’ll be grounded for the next three months, understood?”

His son nodded.

“Good, now go to sleep Script, your Pa would want to hear about this too.” And with that, Harmonic left the room, closing the door behind him.

Hours later, Script waited outside of the castle gates, pacing back and forth for that one particular pony. Getting increasingly worried as one minute ticked to the next.

“Come on, where is she?” He muttered to himself.

“She’s to your right.” Script turned to the sound of the voice, and sure enough, there she was. Smiling at him, still wearing her glasses over her light green eyes that perfectly matched her mane that was tied in a ponytail; the pegasus was nearly slender in form with her darker green coat and an open book as her cutie mark.

“Page! Thank you so much for coming.”

“Hey, you seemed to be a nice guy, so why wouldn’t I? And besides, to meet with your dads, I’m really curious what they’re really like up close. Not to say both of my parents are extremely jealous.”

Script smirked, “For me it’s just another day. Now come on, it’s almost dinner time.” Script lead Page into the castle, through the familiar maze of hallways and rooms until they reached the private dining room. There they found the two Princesses and the two princes at the table.

Page Turner, for her part, respectively bowed low to them. “Good evening Your Majesties,” she said.

“I agree,” Luna said, “tonight is indeed an excellent night to wake up to. And just whom might you be?”

“My name is Page Turner.”

“Oh, so you’re the one that our son is getting in trouble over,” Harmonic said.

Page blinked, “Trouble?”

“From what I’ve heard,” Color joined in, “he came home at nearly two o’clock in the morning on a school night. But depending on you, he might be in deep trouble. Now care to sit down?”

“Script, what’s really going on?” Page asked as she took a seat across Harmonic.

“They want to know if their son is telling the truth,” Celestia told her. “They want to see if what Script told of last night matches up with yours.”

“So please tell us,” Color piped up. “What happened last night?”

Page gave an audible gulp, “Um, at the party?”

“It’s a good start. And don’t worry, you yourself are not in trouble here.”

“Well... beforehoof I only knew Script at the library, for the same class except he goes to a different school then I go to. Up until then, I only knew him as some shy guy who didn’t say much around me. Anyway, oh thank you.” The last remark was to Script, giving her a bowl of soup. “Anyway, I got a letter in the mail from one of his friends, saying that he liked me and wanted to talk to me, except he was too shy.”

Here she giggled, “I found it a little bit adorable if I do say so myself. And since my last coltfriend broke up with me almost a month ago, I thought ‘why not’ and send back a reply that I’ll talk to him. Now the problem was that I had to go to my cousin’s birthday party where she turned eighteen and couldn’t miss it. So I wrote that he could meet me there.”

“A birthday party that lasts past midnight?” Harmonic asked.

“Hey, I didn’t know it’ll go on for so long. And neither did he, as I remember it, Script told me that he just wanted to drop by to see me. Guess he ended up staying longer than he thought. Sorry about that.” The last sentence was towards Script.

With a dismissive hoof, Script told her, “Eh, you’re fine.”

“Anyway, we spend most of the time on the back porch on that bench swing, talking away. I guess we both lost complete track of time. ‘Course he started out shy, but once he’d open up a little – well, we just couldn’t stop talking. He told me that he likes to write and that I’m very good at research and editing. We talked about our parents, my mom and you guys… You know, come to think of it, we’ve talked about a lot of things at that party. And I wasn’t bored at all. He listens to me as well as he gave his insights on things, not to mention that we both laughed at our jokes. He just seems so sweet that, without thinking, I gave him a kiss.”

The table went quiet. “I didn’t know he ever kissed anypony before,” Page added. “I quickly apologized to him, but I guess that didn’t matter, to tell you the truth Your Majesties… he kissed me back.” Both fathers and elder alicorns noticed that both Page and Script looked away from each other, blushing.

“Is Script somepony you might want to see again?” Luna asked. 

Page glanced over to Script, “Well… I guess so.”

Script’s ears perked up, “Really?” he asked.

“I don’t see why not. You seemed to be a nice guy.”

“And you seemed to be a nice mar-” Script quickly put a hoof over his mouth. Page giggled.

“Script,” Color called over to his son’s attention. “I think that for just this once, we’ll let you off the hook. However, you’d need to be honest about where you’re going next time.” The Artist turned to the mare, “So Page, tell us about yourself.”

“Well, I’m living with my mom while dad’s in Cloudsdale. He mostly goes back and forth from here to Cloudsdale for business mostly, so we don’t see him much. My mom lives here as a cook for an elementary school, serving out food to the kids there. As for me, I go to Moonrise High School where my favorite subject is Equestrian. Well, Equestrian literature to be exact, where I hope I might become a teacher someday.”

“How is your family financially?” Harmonic asked.

“We’re around the middle class, just trying to get by. I mean, dad does help a lot each month, but mom’s trying to make enough to live off of.”

“And what does your dad do?”

“He’s a sales pony. He goes into Cloudsdale because he’s the only one in the little company he’s in that’s a pegasus – that, and it's close somewhat to here.”

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” Celestia asked.

“No, I’m an only child Majesty. And before I forget, is it true that Princess Twilight is writing a book?”

“I don’t believe I recall anything from Twilight. Even if she was, I think she might have written something to us about it. Why do you ask?”

“Because Princess Twilight is rather a kind of role model to me, she has been since I was a little filly. So I tried to find out what I could about her. Learning bits and pieces of her life’s story. How a little filly who once struggled with magic, in the beginning, became a Princess in the end. And it was her that got me interested in reading.”

Celestia smiled, “It’s always good to hear that my former student can be such an inspiration to so many ponies like you.”

Script’s eyes opened up and his ears stood straight up, “Hey Page, what if I can get to meet my Aunt Twilight?”

“REALLY!?” Page caught herself becoming too excited. Clearing her throat, she reinstated: “Sorry, I mean, you would do that?”

“Well, yeah. Of course, she might be somewhere in Equestria since she goes to a lot of places more often, but I think I can send in a letter so you two can talk.”

A squee, a hug, and high pitch “thank you” later, she let go and simply said, “Thank you Script.”

_*_

It wasn’t unusual to see Prince Harmonic with an orchestra. Nor was it uncommon to have him play some classical music, written by him or otherwise.

But what made these particular rehearsals rare was that for the first time, Harmonic would not be taking the lead or have a solo part. Instead, he would be performing side by side with the other ponies in the violin section.

The conductor for the Royal Equestrian Orchestra had been for the past hour rehearsing the five pieces of music. A movement from two sonatas; a waltz; a concerto; and the premiere of the Prince’s first piano with orchestra piece.

During the past two months of rehearsals, it was no secret that the Prince’s husband, Prince Color was getting sicker and sicker. This was noted when the artist was releasing less and fewer paintings to the public.

What the Artist was sick from was open to gossip. In fact, nopony outside of Canterlot castle knew what he was suffering. That was until a few days before the concert that Color came with his husband to rehearsals. The orchestra saw that Color seemed to be much paler, and not to say, much weaker. So weak, that it took the help of a few guards plus his husband to even walk into the theater. At one point during one of the sonatas, Color was coughing so much that some say that they saw blood. They saw Harmonic abandoning the orchestra to take Color out of the theater.

Now it was the day before the concert, where they were practicing Harmonic’s piece when suddenly Script came bursting through the doors.

“DAD!” he yelled. “DAD COME QUICK! IT’S PA! HE’S DYING!” There was a silence that followed after Script’s bad news that echo off the walls.

Just as sudden as Harmonic’s son’s arrival, so did the Prince got up from his seat and rushed out of the theater. Taking his violin with him, he flew out of the front doors and headed straight to the castle. Meanwhile, his son followed close by from a chariot being pulled by a couple of Pegasi Guards.

Harmonic didn’t bother going through the front doors, instead, he headed for his husband’s balcony. He quickly opened the doors, hoping that Color was still alive.

He was. There on the bed, with canvas being held up on a stand, his husband was putting a few more strokes of paint with his magic. Color looked up at his husband and smiled. “Glad you came.”

“Color, is it true? Please tell me you’re not dying, are you?”

Color sighed, “Sorry Harm, I’m-” here, color coughed for a moment. “Sorry about that. But yes. I don’t think I’ll last long,” he wheezed.

Harmonic went up close to his bedside. “Color, please stay, Just- Just stay with me a little longer. Script is coming here as we speak.”

“I know, I told him to get you,” Color went quiet, he turned towards the painting, “What do ya think?” he quietly asked.

Harmonic turned to the painting. It was a portrait of the three of them. Harmonic stood on the left, putting a hoof on Script, now a full-grown stallion sitting down and a wing around Color. But as Harmonic noticed, the painting was unfinished. Color in the painting was only painted half way, and Script was mostly a drawing.



“It’s not finished,” Harmonic noted.

“Of course it’s not,” Color said, “That’s the whole point of my last painting. You are whole because you have nothing but time to develop such colors. I on the other hoof am left unfinished because I died at the age of thirty-eight and could have done more if I lived longer,” here Color coughed for a moment, Harmonic held his hoof. 

“And as for Script, I left it as a sketch on purpose because of the potential he has of both of his future and his fiancée. Consider it to be my unfinished masterpiece that’s meant to be left unfinished.”

“Always the sentimental one aren’t ya?”

“What? Sometimes art is about being sentimental.”

The double doors to Color’s room opened to a panting Script. Color smiled at him, “Script, come here.”

Their son obeyed. Color could see that their son tried to look stern given the situation, but in his eyes told a different story.

“Hey Script, don’t do this to yourself. I know that you must be sad inside, but it’s okay though-”

“Don’t try sugarcoating this Pa.” Script said, a tear going down his cheek. “The three of us know that this will be the last time seeing you again.”

“True. And I guess you’re right, this isn’t the time to sugarcoat this. But Script, I want to say that we’re proud of you. I’m proud of you. We’ve watched you grow up into a wonderful stallion that Page is lucky enough to be your special somepony. I’m proud that you’ve decided on your own path as a writer. And I’m still with your decision not to hold a royal position, just so you can be with Page and her dream of being a teacher. Although... you as well as your dad must learn not to cry... at least, not alone; when I’m gone... your dad is going to need you as much... as you need him. Grief is something that should never be... traveled alone. Just remember Script, I’m proud of you... and that I love you son.”

Color turned to Harmonic, but before he could speak, he once again coughed, spitting a little blood all the while. Harmonic grabbed a rag to wipe off the blood.

“Thanks. Harmonic, listen... I know very well that out of all the ponies that has ever harmed you... I’m the one causing you the most pain.”

“Color no! Don’t say that, don’t even think that. The years of what we shared, have been the happiest that I could remember. I never once regretted marrying you at all. Because in a way, you saved me, I once thought that nopony would ever be mad enough to fall in love with a freak like me.”

“Because to me... you never were a freak, you Harmonic are the kindest pony that I’ve ever met. With you... I’ve seen the world several times over. Help kickstart my art to legendary status... You were there when times were bad... and you were there when it was good. Not to mention that you’ve... introduced Script to me. I never regretted marrying you either... since you show me what it is to be happy... But now I’m afraid that when I go, I might cause you to forget that happiness you gave. Harmonic... listen to me... when I go... you and Script must move on. That doesn’t mean to forget all about me… I’m saying that there’s somepony out there... that needs that happiness that you’ve given me. For you... when the time is right... please find somepony that makes you as… as happy that I had. I don’t want your sadness be permanent... I want you to be happy... I always wanted that from you.”

“I’m going to miss you so much,” Harmonic said, now starting to tear up himself. Color lifted a hoof to his face, wiping away the tears.

“I know. I think I will too... But you sir, have a lot of healing to do. And speaking from one artist to another... while some of us may die, our art... our good art, will remain forever in the minds of ponies. I have hundreds of paintings and... sketches throughout the world, each and every one of them I... poured myself into. That’s where you’ll always find me... As long as my art is still around... I will never die.” Color coughed once again, “You know Harm, I’ve always imagined dying to be like this. Slow, difficult to breathe... and getting weaker as time goes on.”

“At least you can die in peace.”

Color nodded. “Harmonic, I have one last request from you. Take your violin... and lull me to sleep. Play me your piano music that I’ve... never gotten the chance to hear. Please... play me your lullaby.”

“Of course Color. For old time's’ sake.”

Putting the violin under his chin and lighting up his horn, he played out the orchestrated lullaby. Color closed his eyes, smiling, he listens to the sounds of the piano and the orchestra plays that familiar lullaby. As the music played, Script watched his Pa’s chest moving slower and slower. Looking up to his dad, he tried his hardest to keep playing while trying to withhold his emotions back. Not to say that there was a struggle after the tears began to flow.

By the time Harmonic opened his eyes, Color whispered: “Applaud now. The symphony is over.” 

Then he went still.

“Pa?” Script asked, but there was no response. “Pa? Can you hear me...? Pa?” Script looked up to his dad, in his eyes, they both knew.

Prince Color Spectrum Everfree was gone.

_*_

If one lived in Canterlot, they may know that the city does, in fact, have a cemetery. At least, not above ground – since the capital was built on the side of a mountain, the citizens there have over the centuries built catacombs out of the caves and abandoned mines to bury their dead.

If one lived in Canterlot, and has relatives in the capital and dies or asked to be buried there, they may end up being there. Celestia had made it possible that if one wished to end up there, rich or poor, they can do so.

But when it comes to a death in the royal family, there is a special section in the catacombs that’s dedicated itself to the tombs of past princess and princes, along with their spouses/beloved consorts who were buried. The section is fenced off by a large cast iron fence and gate. Through the gate, at the very back of the large room of tombs, were two statues looking towards the gate. One pegasus stallion, and one unicorn mare, both carved in the finest white marble.

It was in this section, lit by lanterns and torches that the burial of Prince Color was taken place. It was here that the royal family, Color’s family, a hoofful of diplomats, his fans, his critics, and nearly everypony who knew Color was crowded in the catacombs to wish him farewell. As a tradition, everypony, even the guards’ armor, wore black.

In front of the casket, ready to settle in the city of the dead, stood Harmonic, Script, and the four Princesses. Off to the side were the undertakers, who waited patiently until every single pony had left to place the casket in its’ final resting place.

Harmonic stood there motionless; staring only at the casket, not making any other move other than blinking. For a very long time, he’d been like this. In fact, nopony knew how long he’d been standing like that. Even the Princesses had found him like this when they first arrived.

Eventually, Script had enough, walking slowly away from the coffin, he looked down at the two statues in the very back.

“Aunt Luna?” He asked quietly. Luna turned to him.

“Hum?”

“Those statues in the back, who were they? I’ve never seen anything like them before.”

Luna turned to what Script was looking at. “Oh.” She said, walking away from the coffin, she spread a wing over him, leaned her neck down to whisper: “Those statues,” she pointed a wing towards the bottom of the stone sentinels, “those bases are not bases at all. They’re tombs.”

“For whom?”

“Script, they were our parents.”

Script was stunned into silence for a moment, “I’m sorry.”

“It is fine child, Cel and I know exactly what you’re feeling right now. For let me tell you a secret. In our lifetimes, we have lost many spouses, consorts, and, would you believe this, our children.”

“What?”

“It’s true. Both mine and Celestia have buried our own children over the centuries. All of them, at one point in their lives, died in the end because none of them were born an alicorn. Princess Cadence is extremely lucky that her foal was born an alicorn, so she may never know the heartache.”

“But, how do you deal with something like that? That with everyone you loved ends up dying in the end?”

“Well, when one grieves, we all know that we cannot turn back the clock, so we have the choice to either standstill or move forward. You will miss your father, there’s no way around it. But one cannot just look back if they’re able to move forward. While death can be tragic, it is by no means, the end of the world. For when one ends, another shall begin.”

“Maybe you can tell dad that, that is when he’s ready to listen.”

Time passed, one by one, each and everypony left the grave site, leaving only Harmonic and the undertakers.

To the undertakers’ surprise, the prince had at last moved. His horn glowed, summoning his violin and bow by his side. He took it in his hooves, and played for his husband for one last time.

_*_

For three years, Harmonic’s violin, the world’s most perfect, most famous Trotivarius masterpiece was silent. So did his music in that regard. Harmonic still went about with his duties as a Prince, but with his own compositions, there was absolutely nothing.

Knowing his father, Script knew that he was miserable. Three years after his Pa died, Harmonic was rarely happy about anything. Not at his wedding, not even with the birth of his daughter. He was now concern for his father’s well being.

One evening, Script went back to his old home. Taking the advice from his wife, he went up to the castle to have a talk with his father.

He went up to his father’s door and knocked on it. It opened to his father at the fireplace. 

“Evening son,” he said, “Is there a reason why you’re here?”

“Dad, I need to have a talk with ya.”

“About?” Harmonic asked, picking up a poker, prodding at the burning pieces of wood.

“Mainly about you. Dad, I’m getting really concern for you. You’re never happy. Ever since Pa’s passing, you have hardly been seen outside of doing your duties.”

“What do you expect me to do?” he questioned, putting the cast iron stick back in its place. “What do you expect for me to do, when the love of my life is gone forever?”

“Dad, you move on. Remember how Pa used to paint after he gets done with one painting, does he just stop painting?”

“Well, no-”

“No, he moves onto another painting. Dad, you can’t just live in the past, you won’t be happy again by moping over something that has happened. Pa himself said that you should move on, so why don’t you?”

“Why? Because Color was the only pony that I’ve ever met who truly made me happy. I’ve never run into another pony like him.”

Script sighed, “Have you ever thought that maybe that there might be ponies like him out there? Look, I know you’re going to say ‘but there’s nopony out there for me who’s like Color.’ But let me give you something that Pa has once told me.”

“And what’s that?”

“‘You can try at anything, and fail a thousand times, but the true failure is when you stopped trying.’”

“So what do you want me to do? Huh?”

“Try again,” his son deadpanned.

“With whom?”

Script shrugged, “Dad, I truly don’t know. But you’ll never know unless you try. Maybe a Guard or something. But dad, I want you to be happy again. And don’t do this for me, do it for Pa. He would want this.”

There was a silence for a solid minute. Sighing, Harmonic said, “For your pa’s sake, I’ll try.”

_*_

Two weeks later, Harmonic was in his room once again, this time, instead of eating with the Princesses, as usual, he had a table set up for two.

There was a knock on the door, Harmonic opened it with his magic, and sure enough, the pony he’d been expecting had arrived.

The pegasus guard trotted in, after giving a salute, he asked, “You sent for me sir?”

“I have. Take off your helmet and have a seat.”

Obeying, the guard took off his helmet, revealing his charcoal black coat and a white main. He sat down at the table, placing the helmet next to his plate.

“What is your name?” Harmonic asked.

“Mountain Wings sir.”

“There’s no need to call me sir, for now, you do know, of course, why you're one of the few who volunteered right?”

“Well,” Mountain blushed a little. “I do. I’m aware that you’re looking for a somepony to have a date with. I volunteered because, well, I’m the only gay guy in my regiment. And I’ve been feeling, well, somewhat lonely lately since my last breakup.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Not at all si- pardon me, Harmonic, I came here hoping for something better to happen in my life.”

“So do I. Now then, shall we have some dinner?” And who knows, maybe he could be the one to have my love again. Harmonic thought.





Two Years Later...