My Dearest Dusk

by CrackedInkWell

Chapter 22

Four uneasy ponies walked into the living room. Solaris did a good job at keeping the appearance of a calm, level-headed pony, but Dusk could tell that he was very likely mentally preparing himself for a fight.

The father stopped in the middle of the room, put a forehoof between his eyes and his horn, and took a deep breath before turning to the Princes. “So… where do I begin? Hm?” No reply. “Just, where do I even start with something like this? Dusk turning out to be bi is one thing, but then it turns out that the pony you dated has been your teacher since you were little? It just raises too many questions.”

Moon Light put a hoof on her husband’s shoulders. “I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t confused as well. So, maybe we could start at the beginning. Your Highness,” she turned to the Sun Prince, “if it isn’t too much of a personal question to be asking: does this mean that you’re gay or something?”

Solaris nodded. “Yes, Lady Light. Up until today, I had never told Equestria that I was gay. Since you haven’t heard the news, I guess it might come as a shock to the both of you.”

“Well, it’s certainly an eye-opener,” Star commented. “Okay so, how long has this been going on?”

“How long has what been going on?” Dusk inquired.

“I mean how long you have your eye on our son here?” his father clarified. “Is this recent or was it since he was a colt?”

“Oh no,” Solaris told them. “In truth, I didn’t fall in love with your son when I first saw him. I admit, when I first started teaching him, I didn’t see our relationship as anything beyond being his teacher and a close friend. And almost as a second father to him while he was a young teenager. But if you wanted me to pinpoint when I became aware that I fell in love with him, I think it was when he was… what? Nineteen, wasn’t it?” Dusk nodded. “Yes, I think it was around that time when I realized it. But I kept those feelings hidden for quite some time, purely out of the uncertainty in how your son would react if he knew. Looking back now, I should have put a little more trust in him than I had.”

“But what about when you turned him into an alicorn?” Moon questioned. “Was that intentional?”

“No mom,” Dusk took his turn to speak up. “He said in his letters that he never planned to do that to me in the first place.”

“What letters?” both parents asked.

“Oh…” Solaris folded his ears back, “It’s a… It’s a bit of a long story.”

“Your Majesty,” Star Light deadpanned, “I’m a writer. Stories are my profession. So if neither of you would mind, I would like to hear about them.”

And so, both the Prince of the Day and the Prince of Friendship told Dusk’s parents of the events that had unfolded in the past three days. Solaris told them of the letters he wrote every day since his beloved’s nineteenth birthday, all the way up to the incident with his Phoenix sending them all to Spines out of anger. He told them about how he flew all the way to Ponyville to burn the letters before Dusk could read any of them, fearing that their relationship would be damaged if he had.

The lilac alicorn took over, explaining to his parents that his assistant had managed to save a small number of the letters, and how he felt when he read them. His parents, of course, interrogated him into saying exactly what each letter had said. With each letter explained, Dusk saw in his parents slowly putting the pieces together.

Finally, they explained how Dusk gave the elder prince the chance to date him -- though, they left out the fact that Solaris gave Dusk his first kiss. “And mom, dad, I may not wanna call myself his official coltfriend, or even a consort to him yet, but I still want to spend more time with him so that I could at least return what he feels for me.”

His dad nodded. “I see.” He turned to Solaris. “There’s one last thing that’s been bugging me.”

“And that is?” Solaris asked.

“If you really love him so much, why did you constantly send him, along with his friends, into life-threatening danger?”

“Lord Light, do you think that I wouldn’t have sent him and his friends to defend the nation -- if not the world -- from such evils like Eris when she broke out the first time? You are correct that I would never send somepony that I cared for deeply into such perils, but not without knowing fully that there was a guarantee that ponies like him would prevail. Trust me when I say that I would never dare send somepony like him into danger unless he was fully prepared to do everything and anything to keep all he knows and love safe from harm.”

Moon Light put a hoof to her chin. “Dusk, I believe you may return with the others. You too, Hon.”

“What?” her husband asked.

“I think we’re pretty much done here, but I want to tell His Highness one more thing before we’re fully through.”

“I don’t mind,” Solaris said. “I’ll listen to what she has to say.”

Dusk and Star agreed to move back into the dining room. As soon as they were gone, the mother turned to the elder alicorn with a razor sharp look in her eyes. “Understand this,” she said in a serious tone, “I don’t know what my husband thinks of all this, but I for one will allow you to date my little colt. However, as a mother, I don’t care if you can raise the Sun, or that you happen to be one of Equestria’s rulers, or that I’m one of the millions that pay taxes to you. All I want out of my boy is to make sure that he’s happy with the pony he’s with. And if you do so much as hurt him, for whatever reason, I for one will not be afraid to commit treason so that Dusk will be safe.”

“Lady Moon Light,” Solaris looked at her in the eye and say, “even if I ever do such a thing, to hurt somepony who I love so deeply if you see it fit to kill me, I won’t stop you from doing so.”

She nodded, and before the Sun Prince could leave the room, she stopped him. “I do have one more question though,” he turned to her as she continued. “Those letters. If you’ve really been writing to him for so long, but never sent them, then why didn’t you do so, to begin with?”

“Lady Light, when you’ve been alone for as long as I’ve been because of your sexuality, so afraid to come out to anypony to the point that gaining the courage to tell that special somepony that you love them is like walking through a mental minefield, I bet you couldn't help but dream, too.” Solaris turned and started to head towards the dining room. “Now come on, I think we haven’t had dessert yet.”