It was clear that Luna thought Twilight was going overboard with the binders. Surely, she had thought, there was no need for detailed notes on every subject that Twilight had thought to cover. She accepted it as one of her wife’s eccentricities, just as Twilight always accepted hers. And to Twilight’s credit, over the years they had used almost all of them. All except for one.
The binders had become something of a joke to the kids. “Don’t you do that, or I’ll tell Mom! Then you’ll get another binder lecture!” It was, however, no laughing matter when they did come out. When Pterus told his parents that he had his first date coming up, Twilight had dedicated the entirety of the week before it to going over one of the binders she had written years earlier. And to be fair, his sisters did still find this hilarious. Of course, the humor was lost on them when Eventide and Dapple each got the same lecture in turn.
But really, the sisters got off easy. The binders had been made for Pterus, after all. They were updated for the girls, but by that point Twilight and Luna had become much more confident in their parenting. Twilight Dapple actually rarely saw the binders, although there was some speculation that the reason was because Twilight had long since memorized them.
Where do babies come from? Binder. Why do some ponies care that they had two moms? Binder. Introducing a new sibling? Binder. First day at a new school? What to do when staying with out of town relatives? How to behave while attending a royal court meeting? Binders for all of them, and all of them had been used in time. Still, there was one that never was.
Twilight had always been nervous about, well, most things really. She knew how things could go wrong, and so she planned and prepared to put her mind at ease. Really, the binders had always been more for her than they ever had been for her children. So she wasn’t worried about that one question; she had a binder ready for whenever it came up.
But it didn’t. And that made her nervous. ‘He’s still too young to think about it,’ she told herself. ‘When he’s older he’ll want to know.’ But one by one, the rest were taken down from their shelf, and she eventually had to wonder if it was healthy for him to continue ignoring something so important.
“You worry too much, dearest,” Luna assured her once Twilight voiced her concerns. “You know he’s well aware of the circumstances of his life. He also knows we love him very much, and he loves us the same.”
“I know,” Twilight said. She cast a glance towards where the binders sat, collecting dust on a shelf. “But, well… what if he’s afraid to ask?”
Luna smiled and nuzzled against Twilight. “Well, I could hardly blame him. He surely knows another lesson is coming if he does.”
“Luna, I’m serious,” Twilight said as she pulled away.
Luna paused for a moment, before smiling again. “I still think there is nothing to worry about, but if it makes you feel better then we can talk to him about it.”
After all these years, and they were still finding new situations to face together. “I… wouldn’t know what to say.”
Placing her wing on Twilight’s side, Luna gently guided her towards the door. “Not everything needs to be so planned out. Sometimes I think you forget that you don’t need to do these things alone.”
Twilight smiled as she walked along with her wife. “Are you kidding? You’re the only thing that’s kept me grounded all these years.”
They found Pterus in the kitchen, making himself a sandwich. Part of Twilight was relieved that he wasn’t in the middle of something. Part of her wished he was, so they could put off this conversation for another day.
“Just like your mother,” Luna commented upon seeing the sandwich he was making.
Pterus just grinned. “Daffodil and daisy sandwiches are the best. It’s a proven fact.”
Luna gave Twilight a knowing look. Twilight didn’t see the significance.
“Pterus, sweetie,” Twilight began, then realized she had no idea how to phrase the question. She looked to Luna for help.
But before either of the could continue, Pterus began looking between the two of them. No doubt he had taken note of her tone. “Is, uh, something wrong?”
“Nothing at all,” Luna said. Twilight wished she could feel as confident as Luna sounded. “But we were talking, and there’s something your mom wanted to bring up with you. Or rather, something she feels you should have probably brought up with us by now.”
“You’ve… never asked about your real parents,” Twilight finished. She kept up her smile, but the words hurt coming out.
Pterus set aside his sandwich. “Is that what this is about?”
Twilight felt herself growing more nervous, so she started backpedaling to explain why she was bringing it up. “Well, of course, it’s only natural to wonder. And obviously you know that two alicorns didn’t give birth to a bat pony. And there’s –”
“Mom.”
“– your heritage, it’s always important to remember that, and then of course –”
“Mom.”
“– you have to wonder why they aren’t around in the first place, and oh!”
“Mom.”
“Twilight, my love.”
“I didn’t mean to make it sound like they abandoned you, they were really good pon–”
Pterus wrapped his forelegs around Twilight, his hug suddenly cutting off her rambling. “Mom, I already know about my real parents.”
Twilight blinked away her confusion, and turned to Luna. She looked just as confused, so it was clearly not her who told him. “Oh? Did, uh, your grandparents tell you? Or one of your aunts or uncles?”
“No, none of them had to say anything.”
Luna stepped closer to the two and placed a wing on Pterus’s back. “Was it one of the guards, then? I suppose some of the older ones would have reason to want to talk with you about them.”
“No, it wasn’t, well, it wasn’t anyone.” Pterus looked between both his mothers and smiled. “I don’t know who my biological parents are, but that’s okay. I’m sure that they were great ponies, and yeah, maybe I’ve kind of wondered about it a bit. But in the end, it doesn’t really matter. I know who I am: I’m the son of Twilight Sparkle and Luna, and I have the best parents anyone could ever ask for.”
Twilight and Luna first looked to each other, then to Pterus. They each moved to hug him at the same time, and he did his best to get a foreleg around each of them.
“I’ve always known who my real parents are.”