A Wish for Hearth's Warming

by CrackedInkWell

2nd Movement

Before the Princess of the Sun could say anything further, Harmonic’s father quickly went around his son saying in alarm, “Get behind me!” Crescendo held up his fore legs and lit up his horn as if trying to shield him from the rest of the party.

“Dad,” Harmonic whipped away his tears, “what are you doing?”

“Harmonic, run,” he snapped his head to his child, “They’re alicorns in this room!”

“What are you going on- oh…”the Prince quickly realized what he meant by that statement. He placed a hoof on his father’s foreleg, “Dad, calm down, I promise, it’s safe.” His father gave him a puzzled look, “Maybe I should introduce you to everypony.”

“You mean you know these strangers?”

The Violinist rolled his eyes, “Dad,” he gestured over to the tall white alicorn. “This here is Princess Celestia Everfree, co-ruler of Equestria… and… my uh…”

Crescendo raised an eyebrow, “Your what?”

“I’m his adopted mother,” Celestia stepped in, offering a hoof to the yellow unicorn.

The bearded stallion, however, only blinked, “Princess? Adopted mother?” He turned back to his son, “What’s going on here?”

“You mean,” Harmonic sniffed, “You really don’t know?”

“Enough riddles, what is going on?”

The alicorn Prince took a deep breath, “Dad, what’s the last thing you remember before coming here?”

With confusion, Crescendo adjusted his glasses, “We were getting ready for bed when you shouted ‘fire.’ Your mother and I came down to the workshop to find the place on fire and filled with smoke. We were trying to put out the flames while I told you to get out of the house with your violin. But there was so much smoke that I couldn’t see, then suddenly you pulled me into this room… Why are you staring at me like that?”

“Dad,” Harmonic placed both hooves on his shoulder, “This might be hard to take in but… truth is… you’re dead.”

His father scoffed, “No I’m not. Look, I’m still breathing, I can still feel things, so clearly, I’m not dead.”

“Technically, your Dad’s right,” both father and son looked up at the Draconequus floating above him, giving the Prince’s dad quite a scare. “You, quiet down for a moment,” Crescendo found that his mouth was zipped shut. “Just to be clear, he’s not really dead.”

“Wait-a-second,” Twilight step forward, “What do you mean, he’s not dead? He has been just that for almost fifty years.”

“Hhum!?” Crescendo muffled in exclamation while trying to pull the zipper off his mouth.

The Princess of Friendship added, “And isn’t this against the laws of nature to do something like this?”

“Not if you find a loophole,” Discord clarified, downing himself in a graduation gown, complete with a hat and tassel, and holding a clipboard in his paw. “According to the laws of nature, those in the afterlife can never return to the land of the living under any circumstances. This is true. But, what if a certain wish like bring someone back from the dead or meeting a historical figure, never died at all? What if the pony in question was time displaced temporarily.”

“I don’t follow,” Book Mark said.

The mitch-match creature sighed, “In order for this particular wish to work, Harmonica’s father-”

“It’s Harmonic,” the Prince corrected him.

“Whatever,” he waved it off, “For this wish to work, the pony he wants to see, like his Dad, has to be taken out right before he dies. So in other words, you’ve just stalled your father’s inedible death by a whole day. This way, when he goes back, history won’t change because he’ll be dead by the time he gets back.”

A strong sense of dread stiffened the bearded stallion. Discord went up to his face, “So for you, it means that you’re in the future, and your kid just spared you from the flames for the next…” He looked at his watch, “Twenty-three hours and fifty-four minutes. So spend your time wisely.” At this, Discord unzipped the yellow stallion’s mouth.

Wide-eyed, Harmonic’s father turned to his son, “This is the future? Wait, how old are you now?”

“Forty-six,” he told him, “I know, I may not look that old, but that’s my true age.”

“Give me a moment…” the stallion closed his eyes, putting his front hooves on the side of his head. “Forty-six minus seven is…” he opened his eyes, whispering the answer, “thirty-nine years? Harmonic, are you telling me that I have been dead to you for…”

“Thirty-nine years,” the Violinist nodded, “Yeah, I had missed you so much in all that time.”

Crescendo’s jaw dropped, “Dear Goddesses… I get to be spared for an extra day in the future, only to go back to the fire in the end?”

“Dad,” Harmonic trotted up to his stunned father, “all that matters right now is that I’m going to make sure that you’ll at least die knowing that everything for me has turned out well. And that your name will never be forgotten from the legacy you left behind. Oh, dad, I have so much to share with you in this short time, the family that I have made, and how so much has changed for the better. So, if it’s not too much to ask of you, could we spend your last few hours with family, my family?”

Crescendo looked around the room, taking in of all the ponies in the room. He was surrounded by four alicorns, several couples, a late teenager, a little filly, and his son. “Thirty-nine years? I’ve died to miss all of this?” His father looked at him in the eye and said, “As long as I’m still alive, I will spend my final moments with you, and to get to know this new family of yours.”

Harmonic hugged him one more, “Thank you, dad. I still have plenty of ponies that I need you to meet.”

“By all means,” Crescendo smiled, “Show me the children!”

“Gladly,” Harmonic turned to his grandchild, “Cloudy, come here.” The Pegasus filly flew over to him, landing on his grandpa’s back, “Dad, this is Cloud View; she’s your great-grandchild.”

“Great-grandchild!” the father said in surprise, “I’ve been gone that long? Wow, now I really feel old.” He picked the blue Pegasus up with both of his hooves, “Hello there little one, how old are you?”

“I’m five years old,” she told him.

He smiled, “Such a pretty one too. So who are your parents, tinny lady?”

“They’re over there,” Cloud View pointed over to her parents.

Putting her down, the bearded unicorn trotted over to them, “And who are you two?”

Cloud’s dad reached a hoof, “Call me Script, and this is my wife, Page Turner.”

Crescendo warmly shook his outstretched hoof, “A pleasure to meet you, besides, what do you two do for work?”

“I’m a writer and she teaches at a local school here in Canterlot.”

“Canterlot? Is that where we are?”

Page nodded, “Yes sir, Equestria’s capital.”

“Oh my, I’m really far from home,” Harmonic’s father commented, “So which one of you is my son’s child?”

Script frowned, “Neither of us actually. In truth, dad adopted me.”

“Really?” the yellow stallion turned back to his son, “Harmonic, can I ask you a personal question?” His colt told him that he can. “Why did you adopt? Had you in all these years trying to bare children of your-”

“Uh, dad,” Harmonic’s ears folded back. “I uh… I can’t.”

Crescendo blinked, “Pardon? You can’t what?”

“Dad, I… I can’t have… children.”

His father’s eyes widen, “Oh…” he said gloomily, “Oh Harmonic… I had no idea that you were infertile.”

“What?”

“Forgive me, I honestly didn’t know,” the blond unicorn gave him a sympathetic look, “It must be really embarrassing for you. I’m sorry; I promise I won’t ever bring it up again.”

Harmonic was about to object to tell him the truth about the real reason why he’d adopted Script, a thought came to him. Since his father had been picked out of a time when Cermona was still backward in its view of the world, he wondered if it really was a good idea to tell him the truth.

He shook his head, “Uh, thanks dad, here, let me introduce you to the rest of the family.”

His father yawned, “Fine, fine. But I still want to go to bed though.”

“Um… e-excuse me,” the two stallions turned to the green Earth Pony that just spoken up. “Mr. Trotivari, isn’t it?”

“Oh!” Harmonic flew over to his fiancé’s side. “Dad, this here is Whole Note, Cellist for the Royal Equestrian Orchestra. And he’s the current owner of one of your red cellos.”

Crescendo blinked, “My red instruments survived for this long?”

Note nodded, “It’s uh… a-an honor to m-meet you,” he said, holding up a hoof for him to shake.

Harmonic’s father took the hoof shake, “Ah, there’s no need to feel so nervous around me lad. I just make instruments for a living. So how are you related to my son? A friend of his I suppose?”

The Cellist took a quick glance at the Alicorn Prince. It only took a look in Harmonic’s eyes that pleaded him not to tell him just yet that made him say, “I’m his… best friend – the c-closest that he has.”

“I see,” the yellow stallion nodded, turning his attention to the five other alicorns in the room. “Also ladies, I’m sorry about my behavior earlier. Outside of my son, I’ve never seen others like him before. And I guess those ledges about you may have contributed to my conduct.”

“We are not offended,” Luna told him, “Harmonic did mention about how we’re portrayed in your homeland. Yet we’re surprised that you didn’t know who we are.”

Crescendo chuckled, “I live in the Icy North, surrounded by a tick forest, trust me, Cermona is the last place on the planet to know what’s going on in the outside world. But who are all of you again?”

“You can call me Luna,” the midnight Princess said, “This here is Celestia my older sister, Princess Cadence who currently runs the reestablished Crystal Empire-”

“Crystal Empire?” Harmonic’s father drew closer to the pink alicorn. “You mean that myth about Sombra the Terrible was true?”

“Was,” Cadence corrected him, gesturing a wing to her child, “This here is my daughter Flurry Heart.”

“A pleasure ma’am,” he bowed to the respectively.

“And this,” Luna concluded, “Is Princess Twilight Sparkle, who currently dwells in Ponyville, which is not too far from here.”

“Nice to meet you finally,” Twilight offered a hoof shake to the bearded stallion.

“And I think you’re all forgetting someone,” Crescendo turned around to face the Draconequus. “Good evening, name’s Discord, ex-Lord of Chaos and Disorder, and since you’re new, I thought I should give you a proper greeting.” He said as he whipped out of existence a blue cannon aiming at the stallion’s face.

“What is-” was as far as Harmonic’s father got before Discord pulled the rope on the old party cannon.

_*_

“You know Harmonic,” Crescendo told him as he got the remaining shred of sticky confetti out of his mane. “I don’t think I like that Discord fellow very much.”

His alicorn son chuckled, “Neither do I, he’s always been too unpredictable, even after he was reformed.”

“So what is he to your family anyway?”

“A friend of my mother- adopted mother,” Harmonic quickly corrected himself. “Sorry, I’ve been in this place for so long that-”

“You’re used to it?” His dad asked. “In all honesty, I’m amazed that you ended up here of all places. I mean, Cermona wasn’t always kind to you as I recall. I still remember you coming home in tears after those brats had done nothing but beat you. I’ve always said that you’d deserved better, yet I couldn’t imagine you would live here,” he guested to the luxurious hallway of the palace, “and you’ve made yourself as a Prince too!”

“As well as a Violinist,” Harmonic pointed out.

The two of them became silent for a moment before his dad inquired, “I’ve noticed something interesting when you were introducing your family and friends. Never once have you shown me your wife,” the Prince stopped, stiffing up at what his father was going to as he asked, “So where is she anyway? Is she even here in this castle?”

Harmonic took a deep breath, “Dad, my uh… spouse, the one that helped raised Script, has passed on.”

“Oh,” his father’s ears folded back, “I’m truly sorry about that.”

He shook his head, “Don’t be. That was years ago, and I’ve made a promise that I would move on. So what I guess I’m trying to say is that… I’m engaged.”

Both eyebrows on Crescendo’s face went up. With a smile, he said, “Oh good! Perhaps I can still meet with this mysterious new wife-to-be?”

“Well…” Harmonic shifted hooves, “How about tomorrow?”

The yellow unicorn yawned, “Sounds good to me. I’m rather curious as to see who this lucky mare is.”

Nodding, the Violinist continued showed him to his room. As he opened the doors, he tells him, “Sorry about the mess dad, with Hearth’s Warming and the concert tomorrow, I just had my hooves tied.”

“Hearth’s Warming? What is that? I think it was brought up several times but nopony explained to me what it is.”

“It’s a holiday here in Equestria. The big day itself starts tomorrow morning,” as the Prince said this, he trotted over to his bed, lighting up his horn to pick up the loose wrapping paper and unfolding the covers. “It centers around friends and family coming together, exchanging gifts, putting on a pageant that tells this country’s beginnings.”

When Harmonic didn’t hear his father’s reply, he turned around to find that his dad was by the coffee table, where his open violin case was resting on. Crescendo was holding up his violin in his aura, examining the instrument with nostalgia.

“Dad?” Harmonic stepped over to him.

“I remember carving this,” he said, “I’m surprised that after all this time of nearly forty years, and you still carrying this around.”

His alicorn son frowned, “Of course I still carried it around with me… It’s… It’s the only thing I had left from you.” This got his father’s attention, “After the… fire, I was chased out of town; they thought that I was the one who burned down our home. For ten years, I traveled with a Caravan of Gypsies, hiding my wings in all that time, playing the violin so I wouldn’t go hungry. Ponies here say that I’m good playing it, yet what many don’t understand was that I didn’t become a Violinist for the sake of entertainment. Dad, in those ten years, it was really… a fight for life.”

Crescendo’s jaw dropped, looking in the reflection of his masterpiece, he muttered. “It’s all my fault.”

“Dad?”

“Oh my boy, I did this,” his father hid his face in his hooves, “If only I had listened to your mother about selling this violin when it was made, none of this wouldn’t happen. We could have moved away from that Goddesses forsaken village and gone to a friendlier place. You would have been happier and we wouldn’t have to burn.” His body shook before his son heard him sob. “Oh Goddesses,” he croaked, “What have I done?”

Harmonic took the violin, placing it back in its case before hugging his father tightly, “Dad. Dad, listen to me,” the alicorn tells him, “Those first ten years were rough on me. I had suffered from hunger to being treated like excrement whenever a village found out that I’m an alicorn. But, hear me out, as harsh as it was, don’t you think for a moment that nothing good came out of it. Dad, even after all of that, I was able to come to Equestria where I was treated with real kindness and understanding that you would approve of. It was because of my suffering, that I became a better, open-minded pony that vows that he would do everything in his power to make sure that nopony would ever go through what I had experienced.

“Dad, I had learned how to read and write, learn new techniques on the violin, learn about new ponies, how to fall in love openly, raise an orphaned colt to become a wonderful stallion and learn how to forgive those that had harmed me. Yet above all, it’s because I have witnessed Ponykind at its worst, that I was able to see it at its best and hold it close like the violin you gave me.

“Don’t ever think that I’ve never once cursed you or mom after you’d died. I sincerely love you both, and I forever will. It’s because of the selfless love that you gave me your greatest masterpiece is, to me, your greatest legacy.”

His father took a moment to dry his eyes, “Harmonic, your mother would have been proud of the stallion that you have become. Just as I am now,” he added with a smile.

“Thank you, Dad, but I suppose it’s starting to get late.” Harmonic opened a wing towards his bed, “Here, you take my bed while I sleep on the couch.”

“Oh no, you don’t have to Harmonic. I’m in your home, and I shouldn’t be the one to-”

“Dad, I insist,” his son interrupted, “You’re the one who isn’t going to be around by tomorrow night, so it’s best that you get the best of life while you still have it.”

“But I shouldn’t kick you out of your bed simply because of me.”

The Prince shook his head, “You don’t have to worry about me. Trust me, there were times where I had to sleep on the ground in the middle of nowhere, I don’t think me spending the night on the couch isn’t going to hurt me.”

Seeing that this argument was pointless, and he was too tired to do so, he accepted the opulent bed he was offered.

Once the lights in the room were dimmed and flickered out, Harmonic rested his head on a pillow and a blanket over his sides.

Not a few minutes after he closed his eyes, he heard the springs on the bed squeaked, followed by a beat of hoofsteps. “Dad, what are you-”

His father kissed him on the forehead, something that hasn’t happened to him since he was as a colt. “Goodnight Harmonic,” Crescendo whispered, “May your dreams be filled with lovely music.”

For the son, he fought hard not to shed any more tears from such emotional nostalgia because it was the same thing that the alicorn remembered his parents tells him every night before he went to sleep – and to hear it for the first time in decades, brought so much of his early years that he’d nearly forgotten.

Yet, as his father climbed into his bed, Harmonic the full-grown stallion, couldn’t help but complete his childhood nightly ritual by muttering, “Goodnight Dad, let the night sing you to sleep too.”

_*_

“HEY YOU GUYS WAKE UP!” a filly’s voice shattered the tranquility of the morning. Not to say that it didn’t startle grandpa Harmonic and great-grandpa Crescendo right out of their beds. Both stallions screamed as they fell onto the floor.

“Augh! What is it?” the yellow stallion asked in alarm, trying to find his glasses.

“IT’S HEARTH'S WARMING!” Cloudy squealed loudly, “Come on! Let’s go open our presents!” So with that, the little Pegasus flew out the door, no doubt to wake up anypony else who was enjoying the morning.

Harmonic’s father rubbed his eyes, “What time is it anyway?”

“Six-thirty,” the alicorn answered, glancing at the clock in the dim light of the room.

“It’s way too early to do anything at this hour,” the instrument maker crawled back into the bed. “Wake me up until that crazy granddaughter of yours is restrained somewhere.”

His son chuckled, “Knowing her, she’s just excited about today is all. It is her favorite holiday.”

“She could keep it,” Crescendo groaned, “Wouldn’t it hurt her if some of us waited for an extra half-hour or so?”

Harmonic yawned, “Come on dad, let’s just get up and enjoy the day as it comes. Besides, after we open our presents, we always have a big breakfast with all the coffee and pancakes you can choke down.”

“Ugh, fine,” his father grunted, “But at least let me wash up first, and get out of these night clothes.”

His son pointed to the bathroom that was attached. Several minutes later, Crescendo walked out, his nightgown and cap folded up in his aura. Although, as drowsy as he was, Harmonic had to blink a few times at his father, since this was one of those rare moments where the Instrument Maker was without his work apron. Yet, he did saw old stallion’s cutie mark, a chisel carving out the face of a violin, which displayed his passion in making his now famous instruments that bared the name Trotivari.

“I’m all ready,” he said as he placed his night clothes on his son’s bed. “So I’ll just wait for you so we can satisfy my great-granddaughter in whatever she wants.”

It wasn’t too long until both father and son returned to the Music Room where everypony was present, all except for Whole Note’s family. Harmonic asked where the remaining ponies were.

“They’re being slow,” Cloudy said, savaging underneath the tree for any sign of a present that has her name on it. “Can’t we just open these without them?”

“Cloudy,” Script said picking her up, “You know the rules, Nopony can open any presents until everyone is here.”

“It’s a stupid rule,” the filly pouted.

“Now child,” Crescendo stepped in, “You listen to your father when he’s teaching you manners. There’s no need to be rude about waiting for everyone.”

“Sorry for the holdup,” a new voice was heard, ponies in the Music Room turned to find the three remaining ponies walking in. Green Hoof also added, “Book wanted to fix her mane a bit before we came.”

“Oh, it’s quite alright," Celestia said as she took her stalking off the fireplace that was filled with several other things. “Now that everypony’s here, we can now open our presents.”

“Finally!” Discord popped his head out of the tree, “Come on Cloudy, let’s open these things.”

Ripped wrapping paper, cards, ribbons, and string flew in every direction like the scattering of a flock of birds. This was followed by lids being tossed aside as each pony started to open their gifts.

At some point in the storm of gifts, the Cellist came up and sat next to Harmonic with a box wrapped in his mouth. The alicorn, under the watchful eyes of his father, took the present in his aura.

“It t-took me a while to get th-this,” the green stallion stuttered. While his fiancé took care to open his gift, he’d acknowledged to Crescendo that, “I uh… sorry that nopony got you anything.”

He shook his head, “I don’t think it would be a good idea to get me something that I won’t be enjoyed for long. I’m just watching everypony here.”

Harmonic opened the box to find a book that was hoof stitched together. He opened up to find that it was all sheet music which contains duets for Violin and Cello. “You’ve rewritten some of my music?”

“More like rearrangements,” Note rubbed the back of his neck, “It took a while to get them all sound right.”

Crescendo leaned over his son’s shoulder, getting a better view of the musical scores, “I didn’t know you composed,” he commented.

“I used to,” Harmonic clarified, “But I somewhat stopped since my first spouse died.”

“Speaking of which, I’m still waiting to meet your new wife-to-be,” his father pointed out.

“Wife?” the Earth Pony raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, I’m still expecting to know who this mare is like, so when do I expect to see her?”

“Uh, Harmonic,” Whole Note nudged him, “can I speak with you for a second?”

After the Prince excused himself from his dad, he followed the Cellist down the hall and into another room that was way out of earshot from anypony. “So, I guess you haven’t told him about us?” Whole Note inquired.

“Well… not really,” Harmonic confessed, “In truth, I’m not sure now in how to break it to him.”

“He’s only got until tonight to live. When do you’d expect to come out to him?”

“I…” the Violinist sighed, “I don’t know. He’s been picked out in a moment in time where Cermona wasn’t as enlightened, and I have no clue in what he’ll do if he finds out that I’m going to marry a stallion.”

“You’re afraid of his rejection, right?” Harmonic nodded, so his fiancé continued, “But how do you know? Maybe you’re blowing this out of per-pur-(blugh!) perorations? I mean, what if he’s more opened minded then you give him credit for?”

“What if he isn’t? It’s one thing that he and mom loved me despite the fact that I have a horn and a pair of wings, but what about him knowing that I’m gay? Trust me, I’ve been in many places like Cremona that have done awful things to me because of a rumor that I happen to like this particular guy or other. Heck, there’s a reason why I didn’t even come out to Equestria before I met Color.”

“Harm, I get it,” Note placed a hoof on his back, “You’re scared of your dad lear-learning the truth to only treat you like scum. And trust me; it wasn’t easy for me to come out to my parents either. I was terrified of how they’ll think of me. You know w-what? Maybe, your dad will outright reject you, probably disowning you too. But remember, you’ve got us, my parents, Script and his wife, the P-Pr-Princesses, and me to back you up. Harmonic, I promise you that no matter what he would say or do, I’ll be up front to defend you.”

The Prince smiled, “Maybe I should let you put on some armor and knight you beforehoof so you can come to me in distress.”

“What? Doing something like in those cheesy romance novels?” Note rolled his eyes, “We’re not talking about fairy tells here Harm, this is real life.”

“My, my,” Harmonic gave his fiancé a quick kiss on the lips, “You’ve just become boring all of a sudden.”

“But in all seriousness though, sooner or later, your dad is going to need to know that th-there’s no ‘wife’ here. Only a husband.”

“I suppose,” the alicorn thought, putting a hoof under his chin, “But how am I going to break it to him?”

Note shrugged, “I guess whenever you feel like you’re ready. Maybe you c-could tell him over breakfast when we’re all together in one place. “

“Tell me what?” both stallions jumped with a third voice entered the conversation; they quickly found it was Harmonic’s father that stuck his head through the door.

“Oh, uh…” the Prince shifted his eyes, “do you uh… n-need something?”

“I was just going to tell you that the white Princess said it was time for breakfast.” He explained, “That, and that Discord fellow just left, saying something about a kazoo. So what were you two talking about?”

Whole Note glanced over at his fiancé, who at this point was starting to sweat, “Um…” the alicorn started, “P-Perhaps I’d tell you over breakfast?”

Crescendo raised an eyebrow, “Harmonic, is something that matter?”

“No,” he lied, “Everything’s fine.”

But his father hadn’t lowered his suspicious look, “Alright, I’ll just go with everyone else.” And with that, the unicorn left.

The two grooms-to-be waited until the Instrument Maker’s hoofsteps faded away before Harmonic sighed in relief. “I have to do it.”

“You sure?” Note inquired, “You know you don’t have-”

“But you’re right; he does deserve to know too. Yet, I for one don’t think that I’m at all prepared for something like this.”

The Earth Pony leaned his neck up against Harmonic’s, nuzzling him while whispering, “You’ve helped me before, r-remember? P-Perhaps it’s my turn now.”

“Thanks, I just hope I can handle it.”

_*_

Even before the Prince set hoof in the familiar private dining room, the doorway to it might as well have been the edge of the world. Beyond its mundane gilded doors, wrapped around in the garlands, wreaths, and the frost collected on the windows surrounding an elongated table was the whole family being served the nearby waiters. For Harmonic, seeing his father sitting down next to his adopted family, the wheat colored unicorn present was the very point of no return. He knows exactly the question he’s going to ask that will open up uncountable possibilities of what is about to happen.

“Uh-hem,” his thoughts were interrupted when his mint fiancé cleared his throat. Turning to him, Note’s hoof was offered to him, and with a look that says, ‘Since we’re a couple, might as well make it known.’

Harmonic hesitated for a moment, looking between his beloved’s hoof and his father who just noticed them, he took a deep breath and held Note’s hoof as they walked in. Crescendo’s head tilted to the side in confusion but said nothing.

The couple sat took the remaining seats, and they were immediately asked what they wanted to drink along with what they wanted. Once they ordered, they turn their attention to the conversation that was taken place.

“You know what this reminds me of?” Harmonic’s father asked, holding a fork over the already cut crapes beneath. “These are like how my grandmother used to make them: crispy on the edges, light in the middle, and they even got the berry sauce right!”

“Did you eat crepes very often?” Note’s mother asked.

“Ha! Are you kidding? The only time she used to make this, was if something special was going on like a holiday or a wedd- Oh! That’s right,” Crescendo turned to his alicorn son. “I’ve nearly forgotten, Harmonic, aren’t you going to tell me about your new bride?"

The table went quiet, “Bride?” Cloud View asked what was on nearly everypony’s mind.

“Um, yes, my son is going to get married soon isn’t he?”

This time, Green Hoof spoke up, “Well yes Mr. Trotivari but-”

“I mean, this is supposed to be a holiday isn’t it?” the yellow unicorn interrupted before looking around the table. “Why are you all looking at me like that?”

“Hold on,” Twilight piped up, “You mean, you don’t know?”

“That I don’t know what?” the father raised an eyebrow, “He said he’s going to show me his soon-to-be spouse.”

“Pardon me, Crescendo,” Princess Celestia stated, “I do believe there’s been some sort of misunderstanding.”

“What’s there to misunderstand?” he questioned. “I was told that my colt is going to get married and suddenly all of you are looking at me as if a second horn just popped out of my head.” This time, the father of the Prince turned his attention to his son, pausing for a moment to see something that he was a little too familiar with.

Harmonic was showing him something that he’d have seen when he saw him grow up. His hooves were shaking, sweat was trickling down from his head like an overflowing pot, and his pupils shrank to near pinpricks.

His son was afraid, which gave Crescendo Trotivari every reason to be concerned over, “Harmonic?” he asked with caution, “My boy, what’s wrong?”

“Y-You still love me, d-do you?”

This took the Instrument Maker completely by surprise. “What sort of question is that?”

The alicorn Prince took a quick gulp of his drink before continuing. “But, I’m… still, your son, no matter what, right?”

His father, now filled with worry, put a hoof on his back, “Harmonic, what brought this up? Of I do. To me, you’re still the special colt that grew up in my workshop. You’re the one that I’ve labored that violin for you because of how precious you are to me. Son, even when you’ve grown up, you’re still in my eyes a Trotivari, even if you did get adopted by a foreign Royal. But tell me what bothers you? You can tell me anything.”

Harmonic looked up, “Anything?”

His father nodded.

“Would you promise, that you wouldn’t be too shocked if I told you, or angry?”

“I promise.”

The Prince of Inspiration gulped, with his eyes, he pleaded for everyone in the room to please stay with him when this firework goes off.

“Dad,” he said softly, “What if I told you… that… I am getting married to somepony, but it’s not who you think it is?” His father tilted his head. The Prince continued, “What if further, that it was because of this, that in those ten terrible years that I had been alone, it was another reason for harsh, angry mobs to come at me other then I’m an alicorn? Suppose that it was because of this, that for a long time, I thought myself as a monster, a freak to everypony, that it took years, and my first special somepony to help me realize that I wasn’t alone? What if I told you, that I happen to love a pony that flies in the face of every tradition that you know, would you still love me to accept that this is who I am? Would you even still see me as your child even?”

“I believe that I still would,” Crescendo said, rubbing his back, like how he used to calm him down as a colt. “And I don’t think that considering what has happened, being in the future, given a chance to meet my, older, son, with all the strange things that have happened, I don’t think there’s anything you could do or say to me to make me stop loving you.”

“You’re sure about that?”

His father nodded, “Now tell me, who is it?”

“Dad,” Harmonic took a deep breath, “You’ve already met my special somepony,” he confessed, “and that one that I’m going to wed is…”

“Me,” Whole Note said, placing a hoof over his fiancé’s.

Crescendo stopped massaging his son’s back and froze. He looked around, examine each face before turning back to his son, “This isn’t a joke… is it?”

The alicorn shook his head.

His father paused once more, “You’re serious,” he said, “You’re… actually, honestly going to do this?”

The couple nodded.

Sitting straight up, Harmonic saw his dad’s expression, which was the most terrifying of all. He didn’t have the look of acceptance, nor anger, nor fear, or disgust. If anything, it was blank. His glasses drooped on the edge of his muzzle, eyes open and mouth closed. For a solid minute, there wasn’t a sound in the room, not even any of the Princesses disturbed the stillness of the moment.

Then, the unicorn got up, and without a word, starting walking towards the door.

“Dad?” Harmonic called out, but his father kept walking. “Dad,” still nothing, “W-Where’re you going? Dad?” His father’s horn lit up, upturning the handle. He called out once more, but the son’s pleas fall upon deaf ears as Crescendo opened the door and without a slam, he closed the door behind him.