//------------------------------//
// Au Revoir ma Amie 
// Story: Quete 
// by Comrade Bagel Muffin 
//------------------------------//

Escutcheon sat at the base a tree a hundred hoofs away from the house. He tried to calm his breathing down, his heart and chest were starting to hurt. "Escutcheon?" Dusk took several cautious steps toward him. He heard another set of hoof steps. "Escutcheon, are you okay?" He bobbed his head up and down, while he still tried to control his breathing. "I-I didn't mean to make you upset. I-you've just been living with us for so long, and I thought that you would like to have you things."
"Escutcheon, do you want to be left alone for a bit?" Nebula's voice was firm but full of understanding. Again he bobbed his head up and down. "Alright then. Dusk and I will be back at the house. You can come back when you're ready. Dusk this is something he has to work through alone right now. We'll wait for him back at the house. Dusk come on."
"Escutcheon, I'm sorry." He heard the two of them heading back to the house. He waited there on the ground for several hours. The cool night air helping him to regain his composure. He didn't head back to the house until the moon was beginning to get to it's highest point in the sky. His horn lit up as he walked back to the house in the light of his horn. The two of them were waiting for him at the table.
"I'm sorry I tired can we talk about this tomorrow." he kept his eyes on the floor, he couldn't look them in the eyes, Nebula nodded. "Thanks." He headed in his shared room with Dusk. She followed behind him, the two of them climbed into the bed. "Good night." He pulled the covers over him and Dusk."
"Good-night," Dusk said, pulling up close to him. Nebula nodded and blew out the candle. casting the house into shadows. He lay there in the darkness his eyes closed. He waited till he could be sure that Nebula had gone to sleep. Waited until Dusk's breathing had become rhythmic. He slid out from under the cover, and carefully wiggled his way off of the bed. Being sure not to wake Dusk.
"Don't go." Dusk's voice was barely audible. His blood froze, looking over his shoulder he sighed with relief she was still asleep. "Don't go." He winced his ears flopped back. He wanted to tell her that he wasn't going to go. But even asleep he couldn't lie to her like that.
"I'll be back Dusk. It may be a while, a year or two or three, but I'll come back as fast as I can. I promise. I'll come back." He kept his voice as low as he could. "I promise," he said one last time more for himself than for her. He grabbed his bags, and started putting several of his things back in to them. He was sure not to use his magic. He didn't want her to see him leave, He new if she asked him to stay, if he looked her in the eyes. He'd not be able to say no. The last thing that he grabbed from the shelf was the sapphire, there wasn't any glow, he wasn't surprised. He headed for the door.
"Escutcheon, what are you doing?" He jumped, turning around to see Nebula's silhouetted form move into the houses living space. He eyes shining in the darkness.
"Nebula, I didn't see you sir."
"I noticed, but that didn't answer my question." He walked up to the colt. "Why are up heading for the door in the middle of the night, with you bags packed?" He looked down at Escutcheon. "There is a right way and a wrong way to leave someone that you care about. This is the wrong way."
"If she asks me to stay, if she looks me in the eyes and asks me to stay. I won't be able to say no." He looked up to the bat pony stallion. "Please understand, she asleep, she asked me not to go, and I almost didn't. I almost put this whole plan behind me."
"You promised her three times that you'd be back. Where you lying?" Escutcheon shook his head. "Then I promise you, and I'm not lying either. If you leave like this, and you come back, and you look her in the eyes and ask her to take you back. I promise she won't be able to say yes." Escutcheon gulped. "This way may feel easier, but it isn't the right way. If you wait for the morning, you can say your good-byes and leave the right way. I'll make sure she doesn't keep you here. I'm going to bed you can make your choice." He turned around and headed back to his bed. Leaving the colt at the door. Escutcheon bowed his head, and made his choice.
"Escutcheon?" Dusk rolled over in the bed. She sat up. He wasn't there. She looked to the shelf most of his stuff was gone. "Escutcheon!?" She jumped out of the bed and hurried into the living area. Where Escutcheon was and her father were sitting at the table. His saddle bags already fastened to him.
"Hello Dusk." He looked up to her.
"You're leaving?" He nodded. "Why?"
"I need to go home."
"This could be your home."
Which is why I'll come back, but I need to go home. I need to."
"Please don't go."
"Dusk." Nebula spoke up. "We've all known that this arrangement was going to be temporary." Dusk's ears flopped back against her head. "He helped you get back to me. He reunited us as a family, now he needs to do the same for himself."
"I know but."
"I'll come back I promise. Cross my heart and hope to fly stick a cupcake in my eye." He got down from the table and put a hoof on her shoulder.
"Please don't go. I'm really bad at good byes." She wrapped her front hooves and wings around him in a hug. It was tight for only a second before her grip loosened.
"Please Dusk don't ask me a third time I can't say no to you a third time." He returned the hug. She nuzzled his cheek.
"Please." She stopped herself, and swallowed down the lump in her throat. "I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too." He pulled her tight one last time as his horn lit up.
"Don't go," she whispered as he vanished in a golden flash of light.