“-and that was the third time the CMCs glued themselves to a building with tree sap,” Twilight said as she continued recounting the Cutie Mark Crusaders prior exploits to Moonwhisper. “Thankfully nothing caught fire that time, and nopony was hurt aside from a few ponies who got hit with flying bass, but it could have been a lot worse.”
“I…see,” Moonwhisper replied slowly. “I wasn’t aware that their prior exploits were quite so…dramatic.”
Before Twilight could say anything else, there was a brief knock on the library door before Starlight Glimmer trotted in, followed by a supremely uncomfortable-looking Sugar Belle and a somewhat perplexed Big Macintosh. “Hi, I hope we’re not interrupting anything,” Starlight said. “Apparently Sugar Belle has something that she needs to talk with Moonwhisper about.”
“Moonwhisper?” Twilight asked as she turned to Moonwhisper himself, who shrugged in apparent confusion.
“Is there something I can help you with, Miss—pardon me, Missus Sugar Belle? Congratulations to both of you, by the way,” Moonwhisper said.
“Thank you,” Sugar Belle said as Big Macintosh happily nodded his head. “These past few days have been incredible, until this morning…” Big Mcintosh sudden looked very alarmed as Sugar Belle levitated a letter from her saddlebags. “When this arrived in the mail. From my parents.” While Big Mcintosh appeared visibly relieved that the issue wasn’t because of something he had inadvertently done, Starlight Glimmer blanched at Sugar Belle’s mention of her parents.
“You never talked about it much, but I remember you said once that your parents were the reason you came to the village in the first place,” Starlight said.
Moonwhisper, meanwhile, seemed less concerned and more exasperated by this revelation. It increasingly seemed to him that he had somehow become Ponyville’s go to pony for whenever somepony needed to work out some parental issues. “Mrs. Belle, I can refer you to excellent therapist if you have some issues that you need to talk through, regardless of what you may have heard I’m really not the best option for that sort of thing.”
“I know, but it’s not just my relationship with them, it’s…they’re both big fans of your father.” Sugar Belle blurted, prompting shocked reactions from everypony present.
“Oh dear Celestia, so your parents are some of those,” Moonwhisper groaned in disgust. “Unicorn supremacists are almost universally fixated on the concept of nobility, so having an actual member of the Council of Stars spew their nonsense delights them to no end. I’ve had a few encounters with ones who were under the mistaken impression that I shared Penumbral Dusk’s position on the subject. They usually went scurrying back under the rocks they crawled out from under when I threatened to make their views public knowledge.” Moonwhisper allowed himself a brief, self-satisfied smirk before turning back to Sugar Belle. “I’m guessing they’re not especially happy with your choice of husband.”
“I don’t think they even know I’m married yet,” Sugar Belle replied with a hint of bitterness. “Their letter makes it sound like they just heard I moved to Ponyville. I can’t even imagine how they’re going to react when they find about me and Big Mac.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell me about any of this?” Big Macintosh asked. “I mean, if your family—”
“They’re not my family!” Sugar Belle said firmly before quickly softening. “You, and your sisters and Granny Smith, you’re my family. My friends from my old village, they’re my family. My aunt, and even cousin Cream Cheese Frosting, they’re my family. My parents are just a couple of ponies who happened to raise me. Barely.”
“Well, in the event that your parents do show up in Ponyville, how do you plan to handle the situation?” Moonwhisper asked. “If you’re still not sure, then I’d say your first step would be to decide if you want to treat this as a guard problem or a friendship problem. Conveniently enough, regardless as to how you want to approach the issue, the ponies best equipped to help you are both right here.”
“I don’t really know,” Sugar Belle admitted. “I had decided I was through with them years ago when I left home. I’ve never really thought about what would happen if I saw them again.”
“Well, since you came to me for my advice I may as well tell you what I can. Nopony but you can decide if you can or even should forgive your parents, but that is something that you’ll need to figure out sooner or later, preferably before your parents show up in Ponyville. Once you know how you want to treat the problem, then figuring things out from there should be much simpler.” Moonwhisper paused for a moment and glanced over at Big Macintosh before continuing. “As an added suggestion, you may want to confer on the subject with your new family. The final decision may be yours, but that doesn’t mean you can’t ask for help. Speaking from experience, having somepony by your side can make dealing with things like this much easier.”
*********
Sugar Belle and Big Macintosh only stayed for a few more minutes before departing for home to have a conversation with the rest of the Apple family. Starlight soon followed suit, leaving Moonwhisper alone with Twilight once again.
“I’ve been thinking about something you said to Sugar Belle,” Twilight began after a few moments of silence had ticked by. “About how its up to her to decide whether or not to forgive her parents.”
“I realize that that sort of thing is usually more your area of expertise, but in my experience, forgiveness isn’t really something that you can force,” Moonwhisper replied. “Besides, I don’t really think parental issues like that are a thing an outside can really even attempt to judge without a thorough understanding of everything that happened. And, to be honest, that’s not exactly something you can cover over a simple visit.”
“You’re speaking from experience, aren’t you?” Twilight asked, to which Moonwhisper nodded. “That’s actually what I really wanted to talk to you about. I realize that this can’t be an easy thing to even think about for you, and I’ll understand if you don’t want to talk about it, but have you ever considered the possibility of—”
“No,” Moonwhisper replied flatly before letting out a sigh. “Well, that’s not entirely accurate. I have considered whether I could, and…no. Maybe, if it had just been me, if I had been the only one Penumbral Dusk tormented, and if he actually was truly repentant, then maybe, possibility, I could conceivably could forgive him for what he did to me. But, what I cannot forgive, what I will never forgive, is what he did to my mother.” As Moonwhisper took several deep breaths to calm himself, Twilight wrapped her wing around him and pulled him clone. “Thank you. As you said yourself, its not a subject that’s easy for me to contemplate. That said, I doubt very much that my stance is ever going to be tested, given that it would first necessitate Penumbral Dusk to actually show some modicum of remorse for his actions. I’d say the odds of that happening are about as likely as Cozy Glow somehow escaping Tartarus and then joining forces with Queen Chrysalis.”