• Published 12th Feb 2020
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A Dusk's New Dawn - ThatWritingDragon



A scarred Stallion and a happy world, when you mix them together? you get this story!

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12- Family Instincts


12
Family instincts


Dusk expected to nap for at least half an hour, trek back to his bed soon after and wait for Twilight to guide him to their meeting.

She didn't tell him when the meeting was, so they wouldn't fault him if he arrived a bit late right?

His eyes blinked open slowly and they traced over the hastily made dome in front of him. It was thick and made it rather obvious that it was there in the first place. A rookie mistake but it was hastily made, so he could let himself off the hook for once. He stood up and stretched, a small refreshing smile on his muzzle when he realized that he didn't have a weird dream for once. It was a rather nice surprise.

He was going to roll over but stopped when he felt something- no, someone press against him. His sleepiness was immediately dashed away as he started to rationalize as to just what was next to him, his eyes narrowing as he took in the one who had broken in his barrier.

He blinked, confused at what he was looking at. He ran a quick scanning spell, trying to see if what he saw was real or if it was some kind of illusion but whatever he tried, it still came up positive that what he was seeing was indeed real.

It was... a foal? A rather healthy one at that, with her pristine looking coat, mane and horn. He tilted his head, a bit confused on just what a foal was doing next to him. Was she the one that had broken in? Perhaps a botched teleportation spell had taken her to him?

His mind went a bit dark, perhaps a foal assassin? His eyes narrowed at that thought. That was a possibility but it wouldn’t explain why she hadn't attempted to murder him in his sleep like every reasonable murderer.

He furrowed his brow, a bit insulted when a thought came into mind. Did this child think he wasn't worth killing in his most 'vulnerable' state? Was she that arrogant? Thinking that she could fight him when he was at least awake, such an arrogant foal. He straightened himself and sat on his haunches, his wing instinctively folding against his side but what he saw as his wing was shifted shocked him.

Wings?

He blinked a few more times, a hoof poking the rather large wings that were connected to the foal, trying to see if what he saw was still real. The illusion didn't waver, the wing instead batting at his hoof as the foal shuffled around probably trying to find a comfortable place to sleep.

His brows rose as he stared at his hoof. Well, that definitely wasn't an illusion. Last he knew, illusions didn’t affect the physical world.

Honestly, he shouldn't be surprised anymore. An Alicorn foal? Plausible. Just as plausible as the fact that he was from another world. Dusk couldn’t help but wonder just what the foal had done that was so worthy to be ascended at such a young age. Mentally he made a note to ask Solaris or Artemis' counterparts about that.

He poked her one more time, causing the filly to squirm about. It was quite adorable and made him want to boop the little foal, but if there was a foal then she probably had parents. Parents that'd probably be panicking at the loss of their foal.parents that he'd rather not deal with, given how he was accused on the way to the hospital. No doubt he’d be a possible suspect in the foalnapping.

Dusk's eyes turned to the foal, with the light shade of pink as her coat and the obvious blue streak in her mane, she looked rather familiar. He tilted his head to the side, his focus now fully on the foal as he tried to see just what made her so familiar, perhaps he had seen her parents in passing?

He snorted at that thought. With the sheer number of creatures he had killed during the war it'd be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Welp, not my responsibility. Dusk got on all four hooves but he wondered whether he should leave the foal in the forest or not. Deciding that he wasn't that heartless, he has chosen to search around for her parents. It wasn't like he had anywhere else to go and it was still rather early. More than enough time to go walk around and maybe find the family and do his good deed for the day.

So, summoning one of his scarves from his saddlebags and quickly swaddling the foal in it, the stallion made an effort to make it as comfy as possible before securing it in front of him, the foal's back -there was space for her wings of course- was against his chest fluff while the body was held up by the scarf. Dusk lightly hopped from side to side, trying to see if it would accidentally unclip and after a few more moments of seeing that nothing was wrong began to trot his way to Ponyville.

During the trip, Dusk's ear flicked to the side when he heard the foal babble quietly. She was either waking up due to his movement or going back to sleep. He looked down and nearly had his eye pierced by the alicorn's horn, something he found slightly hilarious as he snorted his amusement towards the baby.

The foal seemed to enjoy that with how she babbled excitedly, hooves raised to reach towards his face and Dusk decided to humour the 'lil foal. What he got caused a small smile to grow on his face when she booped him, the expression growing even wider when his muzzle instinctively scrunched and he sneezed lightly leading to the foal to let out peals of laughter at his expression.

It was rather refreshing, to see something this innocent and he instinctively nuzzled the foal before abruptly pulling his face away half a second later, eyes wide at what he had just done. Giving the foal an awkward smile, he inwardly hoped that his scent wouldn't mix and that the foal wouldn't be uncomfortable.

He didn't even know her parents and it was insulting to the parents to have an unknown pony scent their child. Then there was the fact that foals don't necessarily like a random pony's smell, especially if it doesn't even resemble their family's, so they whine and cry. To say that Dusk would rather not deal with that was an understatement, so he quickly pulled his head as far as he could from the foal in a weak attempt to not be in the blast radius of a crying filly, much less an alicorn one.

He blinked in confusion when nothing happened. If anything, the foal looked as equally confused as she turned towards him, eyes blinking innocently as he hesitantly moved his head closer. Timidly, Dusk poked the side of her head with his muzzle, trying to see if any kind of movement might set her off.

"You're not going to scream right?" He asked the tiny foal, though the answer he got was a confused babble which led him to sigh. Maybe he was just being irrational? It was just a foal after all, what could a little tiny pony do?

(It's never just a foal, it's never just.)

He gritted his teeth and shook his head, ears folding. No! This is different, this world is different. Don't go making random assumptions, don't jump to conclusions and focus on returning a foal to her parents. This was also his good deed for the day. His chance to be a normal helpful member of society. He could absolutely do this!

So with a nod, he hesitantly began to climb a tree. Once the foal didn't show any discomfort, he gradually began to increase the speed of his climbing. Rather than upsetting, the foal seemed rather joyous with how he pulled himself up from branch to branch, the wind hitting their coats and mane seeming to excite the alicorn foal, evidenced with how much she was babbling and swinging her hooves.

Adorable. He’d just met the foal but already he knew that he would murder anyone who tried to harm her and then likely himself because he was sure that he could live with the fact that such an adorable foal harmed or worse.

Well not now. Maybe when he got his citizenship, but he was certainly getting attached. He personally blamed the amount of floof and the pair of adorable eyes that the foal had. There was just something about her that drew him in in a fatherly, platonic way. He felt something press and rub against the bottom of his jaw and his eyes darted down to a quiet and very content looking filly. After a moment’s hesitation, he gripped a branch with one hoof and hesitantly nuzzled back much to the joy of the light pink foal.

After managing to get on the highest branch, he flared his wings and took off to the direction of Ponyville but at a much slower speed, using his wings to glide from branch to branch. He wasn't used to this slow speed, but seeing as the foal was enjoying it, with her face swivelling side to side, eyes wide and looking around in awe he decided to maintain the pace. He could almost cry at such innocence, for a filly to look around not in caution but with wonder.

Dusk shook his head. He was being sentimental again and to a foal no less.

(How pathetic...)

His steady pace slowed as he managed to get into the border between Ponyville and the Everfree forest. His wings slowly guided him to the grassy hills near the edge of town, where the moment his hooves pressed against the blades of grass he began to trot his way to Ponyville, his pace still slow and unhurried.

However, his brows furrowed when the town in the distance seemed to be in such a large commotion. Was something going on? He looked down at the foal then back to Ponyville, a slightly nervous look on his face as he hoped that his assumption was wrong. He'd rather not accidentally be labelled as a foalnapper. That was something he'd rather not have tied to his name. No doubt it was a hard title to drop

The foal didn't mimic his worry, however. If anything his misery seemed to excite the foal as she babbled and waved away, her wings nearly smacking his face but instead settling for thumping against his torso. It didn't hurt, he’d been hit with worse after all, but it did make him panic for the briefest of moments.

As he stood by the entrance of Ponyville, a feeling of dread washed over him when he saw a certain group of ponies wearing royal guard armour running around and clearly making a large ruckus. He stared down at the foal strapped against him and sighed, ears and tail drooping, already knowing that his assumption must be true.

He's going to be in so much trouble and he didn’t even do it deliberately this time!

Author's Note:

More bonding!

Also awww, it seems that beneath all that trauma Dusk is still a doting uncle (Or a possible father... hint hint, nudge nudge).

And um... how long has it been? *Sees that it has nearly been a month* oh dang, my apologies.

school and writer's block is an absolute asshat but atleast i updated?