Sunsets Over a Gala

by TheMessenger

Resolution

Chapter 5: Resolution

Two books sat before the young Alicorn colt. One was the latest installment of a popular adventure series he loved starring a tan Pegasus that oddly reminded him of one of his aunties, the other was a small collection of bedtime stories, complete with illustrations. One he had yet to finish and appeared almost brand new, the other was a tad worn out from the years and he could recite some of the pages by memory.

Solaris had to decide: Which one would be left behind? He turned to the already bulging bag on his bed and frowned. If only he didn't have so many scarves.

Running his hoof gently against its spine, Solaris shoved the picture book into the bag. It was a tight fit. There might not enough room for his dragon-worthy hoard of Wonderbolt memorabilia. He'd be lucky to squeeze in a small figurine.

A knock rang against his door. The boy jumped and dropped the bag.

"Solaris? It's me. May I come in?"

That was his mother's voice. It was musical, warm. How different from the cold speech he had heard earlier.

"Um, yeah, uh, give me a second!" Solaris shoved the bag underneath the massive bed and quickly crumpled a large checklist into a ball and stowed it beneath a pile of plush animal dolls. "Okay, you can come in now," he announced, satisfied with the disposal of evidence.

The door opened halfway and Celestia peeked her head inside. There sat the colt, laying in bed innocently. The princess allowed herself a small smile. Appearances could be deceiving, Celestia knew, and the innocence act rarely worked on a mare as experienced as she was, a mare who knew all of the tricks. Solaris had been sitting far too still, the room was suspiciously clean, his breaths were a little uneven and unsteady, shaky even, and those bright golden eyes, normally so filled with mischief, refused to look into hers.

Celestia's grin faded a little at the last observation.

"May I come in?"

"Y-yeah, sure, go ahead." Solaris hoped his gulp went unnoticed as Celestia approached. Perspiration matted his forehead as the princess's eyes fell to the base of the bed. The colt shut his own.

"What's this?"

With reluctance, Solaris reopened his eyes and found his pack dangling in the air by his mother's golden aura. "Oh, uh, that. Right, um..."

"May I?"

"Huh?" Solaris looked up. Celestia gestured to the bag and waited. "S-s-sure," he stammered. "I-I mean, yeah, I guess."

Slowly, gently, the bag fell open and the items flew out and toward their proper places. A rainbow of colorful scarves, both woolen and silken, made their way back into the princeling's closet. A wrinkled simplistic map of Equestria unfolded itself onto the dresser. The series of smushed chocolate bars flew straight into the small empty waste basket. A scrap piece of paper lingered in the air right in front of Celestia's nose. She unfolded the paper.

Solaris rubbed his hooves together nervously. "Um..."

"Yes?"

"N-nothing, it's nothing."

Excruciating seconds passed as Solaris waited for his mother to finish examining the little loose leaf of paper and undoing all the hard work he had done that last hour. He rubbed his hooves together nervously and found far more interest than he should have with the cubist pattern of his blanket. Even the complex subtext behind impressionistic art proved to be a weak distraction as Solaris continually forced himself to look at the blanket, at his hooves, at the wall plastered with posters and pictures, at anywhere or anything besides the beautiful mare next to him.

Something soft draped itself over the colt's shoulders and Solaris felt something warm against his side as Celestia pulled him closer to her with an angelic wing. Timidly, like one trying to stare directly into the blazing sun, Solaris lifted his head and looked up at the Alicorn that held him. Her smile disappeared as he quickly averted his gaze.

Like an aging autumn leaf, Solaris's note drifted onto the floor. Only two words were visible amid the mess of scribbles, a simple two word phrase that spoke volumes.

"Solaris," Celestia began. "Solaris, please talk to me. Why do you want to leave?"

"I...I don't." The boy sniffed and rubbed his nose furiously. "I don't want to go away."

"And nopony can ever make you." Celestia nuzzled the colt's cheek and wiped away the tear streaks. "What's wrong, Solaris?" she asked quietly, gently pushing his chin up so that the two looked into each other's eyes for the first time that night. "Solaris, please talk to me. It hurts to see you like this."

As the young Alicorn's chin trembled against her hoof, Celestia quickly withdrew and let her son turn away. Before the pain of his rejection could settle in, Solaris moved closer toward the princess, burying his nose into Celestia's coat as he shivered and sniffed. Celestia tightened her embrace and began to run her hoof through the child's hair. She hummed softly as she stroked Solaris's light caramel mane.

"My sunshine, my loving sunshine...when you're not with me, my skies are grey..."

It was a simple lullaby, sung by the princess herself one night some time ago as she rocked her crying babe asleep while her dear husband pretended to be asleep. Solaris snuggled deeper into Celestia's fur. She could feel her chest dampen as the boy shook against it, his sobs muffled but not silenced.

"My sunshine, my loving sunshine...come back and please send these clouds away..."

The trembling grew, the cries became more audible. Celestia winced as Solaris grabbed hold of his mother's sides almost painfully as he tried to push himself even closer. He lifted his head weakly, giving Celestia a perfect view of the tears that cascaded from his eyes and down his cheek and chin. It took a deity's will and strength, strength Celestia did not know she had, not to turn and look away, not to allow her warm loving smile falter and fall, the smile that served as Solaris's support and shelter. It took all that and more to stare back into those pained golden eyes, brimming with tears and distress. The boy ducked his head back down into his mother's chest, right in front of her heart, unaware of just how close he truly was to it.

"My sunshine, my loving sunshine...please, won't you come and play...please be my sunshine, my loving sunshine, please be my sunny day..."

The trembling slowed and the cries grew weaker until all Celestia could hear were soft sniffs. She held her colt close as her hums continued. No more lyrics, no more words, only the simple soothing melody now filled the princeling's room. Slowly, ever so slowly, the music began to grow quiet and fade.

"I'm so sorry," she heard Solaris mutter. Celestia's embrace grew tighter. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry for, my child," the princess whispered softly into Solaris's ear. "You've done no wrong."

"W-what about the Gala?" Solaris's voice shook and threatened to break apart as he looked back up at his mother. "I-I ruined the Gala last night. I-I-"

"Shh." Celestia leaned over and nuzzled the colt's cheek. Was this the entire source of the problem, the cause of all the suffering she saw, the root of the entire day's vexation? Wasn't the mountainous stress that came from dealing with the never satisfied nobility enough? Did the blasted night have to inflict pain upon her child as well? Truly, if there ever was a reason to retire the Grand Galloping Gala, tradition be damned, this was it.

"Don't worry about the Gala," Celestia said, wiping away the the remaining tears. Her smile grew radiant, shining over him like the sun that was her symbol, her sign of hope, his beacon of security. "The Gala is always, always, awful. I told you, your appearance was the highlight of my entire evening. It's alright, there's no need for any more worry."

A haunting chill ran down the princess's spine as Solaris shook his head. His eyes began to water again. "B-but I embarrassed you, Mom. I messed up in front of the entire city, when everypony was watching you. That lady was right, I-I..." The dam broke and the tears flowed freely once more, dousing what warmth she had attempted to kindle.

"Lady?" Celestia inquired, her brows raised in confusion.

"T-the Unicorn in the c-court. S-she was yelling at you because of me, because w-what I did," sobbed Solaris. His shivers returned with a vengeance.

"What are...how did you-"

...a coil of rope fell onto his head...she found no one. The owner of the rope had long since disappeared...

The rope! The princess's gasp sent Solaris into a flinch as if he had been struck. "I'm sorry," she quickly apologized. "Don't worry, I'm not mad, just surprised. So it was you..."

"I-I know you said you were b-busy but I-I wanted to see you. You a-always look so tired after work and I t-thought...I thought...I-I thought..."

"You thought you could help me?" Celestia suggested, tilting her head.

The child nodded. "I wanted t-to surprise y-you a-and cheer you up like Dad does."

"Oh, Solaris..." Celestia moved forward to hold her son, to embrace him once more, this time in appreciation. In the midst of all the grief her heart found room for pride. Her son, so young and yet already so considerate and kind.

Something pushed her back. The fuzzy feeling she had was banished, leaving behind a cold empty space inside. Something in Celestia broke as her boy held her bay, pushing away from her so that a good few inches stood between her and him. Those inches might as well have been leagues.

"B-but I couldn't!" Solaris continued through the tears. "I-I couldn't help, b-because...because it was all my fault."

"Solaris, no-"

"It was my fault that pony yelled at you, because I ruined the Gala," he cried. "It was m-my fault she was yelling at y-you. It w-was my fault you looked so tired and sad. It was my fault...my fault you were crying. I-I made you c-cry!"

Celestia felt her jaw fall. She tried to form words, tried to contradict but it was if her tongue had been glued to the roof of her mouth as Solaris continued.

"S-so maybe...m-maybe if I went away, you wouldn't be s-so sad. I-I don't wanna leave, b-but if staying with y-you will just m-make you cry, m-maybe I should just go away..."

"Solaris!"

Celestia's shout shocked him into silence. His bawl was reduced to hiccups and gulps for air. She rarely raised her voice directly toward her son, no matter how far he tried her patience, but this time it looked like he had gone too far. Bowing his head shamefully, Solaris waited for further punishment, for Celestia to growl angrily as she did with Lady Clout Right and disown him just as the Unicorn had suggested before properly banishing him.

He heard sniffing instead.

Alarmed, Solaris lifted his head just as Celestia had rushed forward, swinging her forelegs around him.

"M-Mom?"

"It's not your fault," Celestia whispered. Her shoulders began to shake, as did her voice. "Don't you dare blame yourself."

"But I-I made you cry. I-I'm making you cry right now."

"Listen to me carefully, Solaris," Celestia said, more pleading than demanding. "When I lost control of myself today, it wasn't because of anything you did. That pony just said some nasty things that made your mother angry and sad."

"But she said those things because I ruined the Gala, because of what I did."

Celestia shook her head. "That pony was wrong. What she said was wrong. What she said about you, how she judged you and said all those awful things about you, all wrong. Solaris, I got mad because of the way that mare and her friends wanted to treat you. You saw me crying because every insult they threw at you, every unfair name, every suggestion of making you anything less than my son, than who you really are, hurt me."

Now Solaris could feel Celestia's tears soak into his coat. "I-I don't get it."

"When someone you love is in danger or in trouble, you feel the need to protect them," the princess explained. She leaned back, wiped her own watering eyes and forced a weak smile. "How would you feel if somepony took me, or your father or perhaps one of our friends far away from you?"

"I think I'd get mad," Solaris answered after only a few seconds of consideration. "I'd try to get you back."

"Ah, but what if you couldn't. What if you couldn't save me?"

The silence was much longer this time around, giving Celestia the opportunity to brush away Solaris's more recent tears. "I-I don't know," he finally admitted. "What do you mean, I couldn't..."

"When that pony said all those things about you, I couldn't do anything. She kept saying this and that about how you...well, you were there. There's no need to repeat any of it." Celestia sighed and rested her head gently against Solaris's shoulder.

"Anyways, I couldn't stop her. I might have told her that there was no discussion and sent her away but, well, I can't control how ponies think. I can't make Lady Clout Right see you the same way I see you and I don't know if I ever can. And that's why I cried, Solaris. I lost control because there was nothing I could do to protect you from those ponies' mean thoughts. I was crying because I was so sick, so angry, so upset with my own helplessness. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't do anything to protect you from their opinions. I couldn't even stop those words from reaching your ears."

The princess shook her head. Her mane hung limply over her face and over Solaris's shoulder. Celestia seemed to age before his very eyes. Her voice carried the same weariness he had heard in court earlier today.

"It's a silly wish, I know, horrible even, to want to make others think a certain way, but you're still so young. I didn't want to see you judged so soon and so harshly, when you're just a foal. They insulted you, called you names, wanted to separate me from you, just because you were yourself? It's not fair," Celestia declared bitterly. "It's just not fair."

"I'm sorry."

"I told you, it's not your fault."

"But if I had behaved, then maybe those ponies wouldn't say those bad things about me," Solaris argued. "If I hadn't ruined the Gala, then all the ponies would have liked me and then you wouldn't have to worry about what they thought. Then you wouldn't be so sad and everything."

"Maybe, but maybe not. Solaris, I..." Celestia took a deep breath. "You're still so young. I didn't want to expose you to the impossibly high expectations ponies have for us. They want, and expect, perfection but everypony's vision of perfection is different. You could have been the emotionless little puppet Clout Right wanted to see and I'm sure somepony would have found a problem."

"Then what can I do?" he asked. Celestia was pleased to find eagerness now dominant in her son's yellow eyes, though the slight swelling beneath his eyes and the redness cutting through the gold served as a reminder of the previous sorrow. "There's gotta be something I can do."

"What can you do?" the princess repeated. "Be yourself."

"Be myself? But-"

"I can't stop ponies from judging you the same way they judge me. I'm sorry Solaris, but one day you will also have to deal with everypony's expectations and the impossible goal of perfection, simply because you are my child. That's the price of being the son of Princess Celestia." The princess chuckled sadly before continuing, "They expect great things from you and one day you will have to face all those ponies but not today. You might be royalty but you are first and foremost a child so, for now, for the time being, ignore what every other pony thinks and live like a child. Be yourself."

As if in emphasis, Celestia retrieved one of Solaris's toys, a velvet dragon, and set it between them. She smiled as she turned back to her son and motioned him closer. He obeyed.

"One day you'll have to grow up," Celestia sighed. "One day Solaris, but not today. I'm not ready to see you all grown up yet, and neither are you. When I see you playing with your father, smiling and laughing, I smile too. I-I..."

"Mom?"

"Don't worry about what all those ponies had to say, alright? You'll have plenty of time to worry in the future. Just let your mother deal with it, okay, honey?" Celestia tightened her hold around Solaris's shoulders. "I shouldn't have cried. Just forget about what you saw today."

"But-"

"Promise me, Solaris. Promise me you won't concern yourself with what the nobles have to say until you're ready. Just let me handle that."

"But-"

"Promise me."

The child grew limp against Celestia's chest as he leaned against it and huffed. "When will I be ready?"

"When you understand what our responsibilities are. That," Celestia interjected, predicting Solaris's next question, "will come with time, age, and study. Don't rush yourself, Solaris, okay?"

The colt sighed. "Then can you promise something too?"

Celestia took a moment to answer. "What is it?" she asked.

"If you don't want me to worry about what those ponies said, then I won't, but can you too?"

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"I mean not worrying," Solaris said, looking up. "I don't care what they think of me, really, I don't. They can say anything they want about me but it won't matter. I just don't want you to be upset. So if you won't care about what they say, I won't care."

The princess turned away. Solaris gulped, worrying that he had said something wrong, something hurtful. He reached out. "I-I mean, if that's alright with-"

"It's fine." Celestia turned back around. She quickly wiped her eyes and rested her head on Solaris's shoulder. The colt shrugged under the weight.

"What did I say about growing up too fast?"

"Huh?"

"Nothing." Celestia lifted her head and shook it. "You're demanding a lot, you know, asking a mother not to worry. Almost unreasonable, even."

Solaris's defiant stare wavered slightly, but he refused to lower his head.

"So be it," she whispered. "We have a deal. No more crying over this unfortunate event."

"No more crying," Solaris agreed, rubbing his nose and sniffing. "No more crying."

The two shared a small smile before both moved forward into a tight embrace. Celestia's feathers blanketed the foal as his own warm wings stretched over her stomach. The Princess lowered her head and left a gentle kiss on Solaris's forehead before sighing.

"Discord? You can come out."

The window curtains were slowly brushed aside, revealing the tittering Draconquus behind. He took an uncertain step forward.

"Your father's been worried," Celestia whispered. "He was wondering why you were acting so strange around him today."

Solaris swallowed at the remembrance of that disastrous afternoon.

"Is there something you'd like to say to him?"

Solaris swallowed again and nodded slowly. He took an uncertain step forward.

"Dad? I-I'm sorry, for running off and shouting at you. I-I wasn't-"

The rest of the apology was lost. Discord, Lord and Master of Chaos, had rushed forward and flung his arms around the boy, holding him close. Celestia smiled as the ancient Draconequus, her old nemesis, held their son tightly while he whispered softly, so softly that she almost missed it, "It's okay, it's okay."

Discord lifted his head and matched Celestia with his own little grin and beckoned to her. The princess squeezed into her husband's arms and rested her head on his chest as her son huddled into hers.

"We're one big messed up family, aren't we Tia?"

Celestia chuckled. She considered making a comment on her sister's absence, perhaps a jest or a play on the word lunacy. She considered, and decided against it, choosing instead to simply kiss Solaris's forehead again, then press her lips against Discord's.

"Yes, I suppose we are," she said, "and I wouldn't have it any other way. What about you, Solaris?"

The colt snuggled closer.

Years would pass and Celestia's words would become true. Solaris would grow up, and accept and don the public image forced upon him. Studies would replace games, much to Discord's chagrin. The childish, prank-loving boy would become a diplomat, an adjudicator, a prince worthy of relation to the Princess of the Sun.

The colt snuggled closer to Celestia, his mother. Not to Princess Celestia, but simply Celestia his mother.

Future Galas would end with insufferable nobles crushing each other to shake his hoof, to sing praises and ignore or forget his first Gala. Lady Clout Right would be there, of course.

The colt snuggled closer.

"That's okay," he whispered. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

The End

Comments

[The Princess Rarity]

OH GOD THIS WAS SO WORTH THE WAIT YOU BROKE ME I'M DEAD *flails and faints*

[TheMessenger]

3901438
I'm glad you enjoyed it. Can't wait for the next chapter of Ray of Sunshine.

[The Princess Rarity]

3901482 squee. Hopefully my motivation will come back around.

[Luna Secret Stallion]

It's over! It's over!? Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

[SCP Pinkamena]

And then suddenly, A tear burst from my eye...
Followed by a thousand others...

[Classy Toad]

The feels contradict each other. I cannot compute. (I keep all emotion out of reading until I reach the end, so I'm so confused...). Staring blankly at the screen for a few minutes... Commence.

[Sinful Pickle]

i was not prepared for these feels

[spaztastick]

So...

Many...

Feels...

I NEED MOAR! GIVE ME MORE MOMLESTIA! I LOVE YOU! WRITE MOAR!

[IsabellaAmoreSirenix]

The feels, oh all the feels... I love how Solaris is characterized; you really captured how a child thinks, and that made the emotions ring all the truer. Now excuse me while I cry in a corner and deal with all these feels.

[Sixpack]

Please dir sir, more?

[TheKitten]

4229255
4065814
3903601
3939770

We should form our little army of feels and Momlestia. We need. More. Momlestia. The feels. Are. Inescapable.
Now excuse me while I take out all my feels on my pillow.
-Some time later-
The feels were too much for the pillow.

Also, good job on the story.

[Sinful Pickle]

4448208 A fantastic idea. Wanna start a group? Wait, no, I think there's already a Momlestia group. Huh.

[TheKitten]

4448339

There is?

I better go join it.

[Sinful Pickle]

4449768 You should.

[TheKitten]

4450361

I forgot.. I'd already joined!

Whoops.

[Evastarfall]

Ugghhhhh me heart cannot take it