After Dusk

by Nolan_shy

Third

Chapter 3
I couldn't believe how time flew by, but Dusk is now a young Pegasus, around the age Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were when I first adopted him. He was surprisingly easy to maintain in the house, and he was less and less difficult to keep out of trouble as he grew older.

A lot has happened in Ponyville since, like Rarity's clothing being sold internationally because of Up Tight, or Rainbow becoming captain of the Wonder Bolts. But most importantly of all, Dusk had gotten his cutie mark.

He was very passionate about his advanced studies, and his cutie mark was three overlapped books. He never thought of them as books, but more like textbooks instead.

In fact, he became more like the stallion Pegasus equivalent of Twilight except he didn't study magic or not make too many friends. He was very organized, hated to be late, and took it very seriously. His Rainbow dash like traits were also showing a bit, because he enjoyed racing and competing with Smoke hoof. But I soon learned that what I thought had been Rainbow traits, were actually more similar to Pinkie Pie. He raced for the fun, and was always optimistic and always there to make his friends happy.

One day, he came in the door moping, and went straight to his room.

"Hey, Dusk, are you okay in there?" I quietly asked as I knocked on his door. I opened it to see him crying on his bed. "What's wrong, you're usually never this sad."

"Mom, what happened to my father? Today some of my friends were talking to me about all of the things they did with their dads, and I felt like I was missing out. So I came straight home because I didn't want to cry in front of the other kids."

I faced a tough question layer out in front of me, but I told him the truth, about it all. "Well, you see, there was this big storm and I saw this basket hanging on a tree. I dashed over to protect it, and I found you inside. So I took you in as if you were my own foal, and that's why you don't have a father."

I saw him break down, right before me. He faced exclusion, being fatherless, and he learned he was adopted. I picked Dusk up, and told him: "I'll always love you, no matter what. Until I die, I will always be right here for you."

He was out of character for an entire month. I thought he became depressed. But finally he came back to a relative normal; it was Dusk but less passion in what he did than before. He even begged Twilight to help him find his original father, but the magic couldn't go back as far. There was nothing to bring him fully to happiness without his father.

I took him down to the woods he used to always play in. I talked to him for a while, and reminded him of all the good times that we had just talking, or spending time out here in the woods. We even had a special spot where he could watch the sunset over a lake just south of Ponyville.

The next step for his happiness was teaching him to fly, but I got Rainbow Dash over to help me with that.

"From the most experienced flier ever, are you ready to get trained?!" Rainbow Dash yelled.

"Yeah!"

The flight lessons continued for a week before he learned to fly. He could care less about being fatherless, or being adopted, he was just happy to at least have friends that could care for him.