After Dusk

by Nolan_shy

Rating: everyone
Tags: Fluttershy, Tragedy, Slice of Life, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 3254

Fluttershy raises her adopted son, Dusk, until she is too old to take of him.

After a hurricane, Fluttershy recovers a young foal in a basket. After confirming it to have abandoned parents, she raises it as her own. They live their live together, through hardships and all. Each chapter reflects on a part of their life going from adoption, one year old, about the age as the Cutie Mark Crusaders, the age Fluttershy was when she adopted him, as an adult, and finally the last hours of Fluttershy's life. The story covers hardship, joyful moments, and recollections of past events.
This story is inspired by Robert Munsch's Love You Forever

Published 2013-04-12 22:50:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-04-12 22:50:02 UTC

First

My name is Fluttershy, and I'm not the same pony I used to be. I don’t appreciate the time that passes, and I fear what to come. I remember one thing I loved more in my life, more than anything: my son Dusk. If I can remember properly...

Chapter 1
It wasn't a regular week in Ponyville, an odd weather pattern has been occurring. I, Fluttershy, was worried about what would happen to my babies out side in the forest. The great storm that is coming will leave them homeless, so I went over to see Rarity and Rainbow to see how they were preparing and if they could help.

"Rainbow my dear, how will the weather be for the outdoor fashion show I have planned for Up Tight?" Asked Rarity.

"Not too good, you might have had to cancel it if I wasn't so awesome and fast. It looks like the storm of the century to me coming up from the south. Nothing I can't handle though." Said Rainbow Dash. "Oh, hey Fluttershy. What are you doing here?

“Hey guys, I was really scared about what would happen to my poor critters out in the woods during the storm. I was wondering if you could help me make them a shelter?" I asked confidently, the way I always am with my friends.

"Sure thing, Rarity was just asking about the weather. She doesn't want to get her hooves muddy for her new fashion show." Rainbow told me.

"The designer must always look their best when showing their latest line off." Rarity justified.

Later on, Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack, my strongest and most athletic friends, were assembling a home for my animals when the storm came rushing in. Rainbow bursted onto the scene to fight off the storm, but it was futile. The high winds went in bursts and one caught Rainbow off guard and sent her hurling into Apple Jack.

I couldn't take the pressure under the high winds with both of my friends unconscious, so I panicked and cried on the ground. I peaked around for a second and saw a little basket caught on a tree branch. I tried to focus, but all I could hear was my friend Pinkie Pie yelling avalanche.

All of a sudden, a little hoof popped out of the basket: there was a filly inside! All fear was pushed aside; my caring instincts drove me to protect that child as if it were my own. I took it off the branch, and brought the basket away from the high winds and torrential downpour.

It wouldn't take long for rainbow to get back up and fight off the storm to send it back. By that time, I had already locked myself and the basket, with the filly inside, in my hidden shed I use as a safe house during emergencies.

Very soon afterwards, I brought the little fawn over to Sugarcube Corner to see if Pinkie could recognize any pony who may be the parents. She was unable match the little one with any pony. I also got Twilight to use a spell to see what the filly had seen in the last few days, and she learned that the pony had been abandoned by their birth ponies.

"Well we have a foal with no parents to take care of it, any ideas Fluttershy?" Twilight asked.

My heart throbbed to take the foal in, but I was afraid of the challenge and effects it would have on me and it, the small orange Pegasus with a sunset blue mane that will grow up and become a full stallion. "Twilight, I will take it in as my own, and will raise it well." I held the foal up and told him: “I'll always love you, and I will care for you until the day I die.”

Second

Chapter 2
When I arrived back at my cottage, I faced the first two tasks: naming and feeding, and one of which became very repetitive. I called him Dusk because he reminded me of Twilight in the sense that they both seemed to be interested in learning, and he was rather curious compared to the other foals

Dusk was dragging all of my attention away from my other critters, and Angel wasn’t too fond of that. Angel was becoming very grumpy lately, and I couldn’t stand it, but what was I going to do, I didn’t want to hurt any one’s feelings after all.

He would also get into all kinds of trouble around the ranch. He was in the chicken coop scaring all of the chickens just to watch them fly for a few brief moments. He also was very hard to get to bed and stop him from crying.

Pinkie loved to come over and just play around with Dusk, especially since she never had to take any responsibilities. From her experience with Pound Cake and Pumpkin cake, she even started helping Dusk learn to talk.

A year later, Dusk was becoming more energetic, and didn’t like old things we used to do together as much like lullabies. He is also able to speak in full sentence now, as I picked up from where Pinkie had left off. His new ability to speak was bringing to light more of his personality. I now learned that he does for sure remind of Twilight, but a bit of Rainbow Dash too.

“How was your day at school little Dusky?” I asked as he walked in the door from his first day at pony school.

“It was good, I liked math the most though, but none of my friends really did.” He said.

“You’ve already made friends, Oh my, what are their names?

“Frosted Sugar and Smoke Hoof.”

I was amazed since I was unable to make friends on my first day. All of the other fillies at my school were all beginning to attempt to fly, and I was still land locked and very afraid of flight at the time. That all changed when I met Rainbow Dash, many years later, who helped me learn to fly and became one of my friends when no pony wanted to talk to me. I could tell I had a good sociable pony under my wing.

Angel was becoming fonder of Dusk, and they were spending more and more time together each day. Dusk was also learning the way I had with animals a bit from spending a lot of time going for walks in the woods, which he enjoyed as he could run around as much as he wanted. They were becoming routine and he liked to take his friends out to go running around and playing in those woods.

I also took him to meet all of my friends, other than Pinkie because she makes regular check ins, I just never got the real chance to show them since I hangout with them while Dusk is at School. Also, he never remembered the times before school all that well.

I took him over to Rarity’s, and Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo were all there. Dusk didn’t like all of the attention he was getting from the fillies almost a decade older than him, but Sweetie Belle and her friends sure enjoyed his company. Rarity was slightly busy, but a trait of her that could still leave an impression.

I took him over to Twilight’s next, where he first began reading some books that Twilight had been trying to get Spike to read for years.

“Well would you look at that,” Twilight said, “I guess reading is contagious, but not the type I was expecting a young pony to be reading.” “Well hey little guy, what’cha got there?”

“An astronomy book”

“Well why would you pick that type of book?” Twilight asked fishing for answers.

“Because the stars are cool!”

Twilight began talking to me as he continued to read.

“If he were a unicorn, I would get him into magic lessons with that learning enthusiasm.” Twilight told me.

“Yeah, well I got to go bring him over Apple Jack so he could meet the rest of his friends if that’s okay with you” I told Twilight as He was finishing the book.

When we arrived at Apple Jack’s farm, Rainbow Dash was there showing off her new Wonder Bolts uniform while she was doing some tricks. Dusk was amused by the spectacle of a show that Rainbow was putting on. Pinkie Pie was also there, and equally as excited as Dusk to see the amazing tricks.

“Too bad some ponies couldn’t see that show the Rainbow Dash,” Pinkie said as she awkwardly blinked in a certain direction, “Let’s get this Rainbow Dash the wonder Bolt part-ay started!”

This was Dusk’s first party, because I forgot to throw him one on the anniversary I adopted him since I wasn’t sure to throw his birthday on a day that isn’t his birth day. He got the time to have fun as all of the ponies in town came down to celebrate Rainbow Dash as the newest Wonder Bolt.

That night, I told him “I love you” as I always do, but today was the day that he said it back. My heart melted, and I cried a couple tears of joy, my first time crying as a mother because my child touched my heart.

“I’ll love you forever and always take care of you, you know that right? I’ll be right here.” I told him all choked up.

“I know mom, see you in the morning.”

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.

Fourth

Chapter 4

It's unbelievable how fast time flies, he was already the same age as me when I first adopted him. He got a job, moved out, and had many good times making parties for his friends when he wasn't busy. Although one thing had brought him down, and that was the death of Angel, once his beloved friend.

He got a job with an elite group of ponies working for Twilight. Their tasks were to figure out what magic really was, and what it's tie was to friendship. His new job required a lot of dedication, and that meant less visits. Sometimes, I'll go down to the spot we used to sit at to watch the sunset because I missed him. He spent long periods of time in Canterlot at the Royal Institute of Magical Sciences which really brought the visits down.

However, when he did manage to visit, he would be such a great company to me. We would sit down for hours reminiscing about our times we had together, and he struggles we overcame together. Sometimes he would bring a certain special some pony over.

Yeah, my very own Dusk was in love. Her name was Stella. She was beautiful; her long flowing mane was golden, she had green eyes, and had a whit coat of fur. He met her while on a train returning from Canterlot, and was leaving from Manehattan to live in Ponyville. He had met her, and they connected right away, even though she was a unicorn. They both had a mutual interest in magic's properties and what it could do.

When she had first come over when Dusk had brought her, it was quite weird. Let me recap.

"Hey, Fluttershy, Dusk has told me so much about you and how great of a mother you are."

"We'll, uhmm yes. I guess so." I whispered in my high pitch tone like the one I used when I met Twilight. Dusk had never seen me so shy, but it was really weird to meet my son's wife.

"Uh mom, are you okay?" Dusk asked

"I'm fine, but would you look at the time I got to take meal out of the oven." I said as I dashed for the kitchen.

The rest of the night was easy, and I got comfortable and learned so much about them or what I was talking about earlier.

I had thought that Dusk was over the whole craze about his dad, but I was wrong. He went out searching for him, and had not returned for a year. He never had a clue where to start, but still refused to think it was pointless. He gave up, there was no way to trace his dad he was abandoned, and it may have been a single mother and the father never even knew he had a child. The dad phase was officially over, I was sad for him though. I could never have imagined my fillyhood with only one parent.

One time, he had been knocked out of the sky by an unidentified Pegasus and was hospitalized. Stella, my friends, his friends, and I were all there because he had fallen a large distance, a miracle he survived. As he laid in that bed, I would hold his hoofs tight. My friends all brought get well soon related gifts, and Pinkie threw a party to make him feel better. Kind of weird in hein sight that Pinkie was able to throw a party in a hospital.

For the next couple month and a half, stayed by his side for the entire rehabilitation. It was the most important thing I could do as a mother. I cared, cooked, and cleaned for him just like what I used to do with him when he was younger. On one of those nights, I picked him up, as heavy as he became, and rocked him and told him: "I'll always love you, and I will be there until I die; you still are my son after all."

Fifth

Chapter 5
Here we are; the present. Dusk lived his life for many years enjoying it every day. But while he grew older and wiser, I grew sicker and weaker. I soon had to leave my cottage, and joined the rest of my friends in a retirement home so the six of us could still be together no matter how old we got. Dusk began to visit more and more, and each time was even more special. He would cook, clean, and look after me like any son would for their mother.

I currently lay here in this bed, a hospital bed unlike the ones my friends lay down in.

"Hey mom," Dusk began, "how are you doing. I brought your favorite salad over, and I had just the spot we could share it at."

"Oh really? Well why don't we go over there and leave the hospital for a bit." I got up happily, as I know that I am becoming too weak and won't be able to spend quality time with him.

He took me over to the forest where my old cottage was, and he flew me down to the spot where we would watch the sun set over the horizon.

"Do you still remember the first times you brought me here mom?" He asked, and I could here the choking of his voice.

"I do. You used to run around, and I would play with you then we would watch the sun set together."

"I wish," he started crying, "we could go back to those moments before you were near death and relive them."

"Dusk, I understand, but my time here in Equestria is coming to a close. I want you to be there, and remember me but don't feel sad when I pass away."

After watching the sunset, he picked me up, and brought me back to the hospital. He laid me down in my bed and he told me: "I'll always love, and care for you until the day I die."

I gasped as I knew these would be my dying words, "I'll always love you too, son."