Dox walks down the empty hallways of Canterlot. The moonlight shining through the windows while the torches on the walls light his way through the castle. His hoof steps echoed into the lonely and quiet hallway. The thumping of his hoofs corresponds to the thumping in his head. Dox's head aching for something now gone, a feeling he didn't know was there but was now gone. Without even realizing it he had begun to actually feel love for his parents.
He tries to shake it off, but the thumping keeps tapping in the back of his mind. One word keeps repeating itself in his head. One simple word everyone knows and repeats when they lose someone.
"Gone… gone… She's not coming back," Dox whispers, tears rolling down his cheeks. The aching wasn't just for his mom, but his dad. He barely knew her and yet her loving emotions were now gone from his head and left their own hole in his heart.
"What's wrong with me?" Dox asks, sniffing as he rubs the tears away. "I'm a changeling, we don't feel emotions for others. We feed off of them," Dox asks himself in confusion as to why his heart hurts from the loss of his adopted parents.
"Every living creature has a heart to love, some hid it better than others," a calming voice drifts from behind him. He stops and turns to see Luna standing behind glowing a light purple with a kind smile on her face. "Even changelings have a heart buried deep inside of them, why else would they need love?" Luna asks.
"But it still feels wrong," Dox responds. "Everything in me says I shouldn't be feeling this, and yet I am," Dox says, looking down at the fire mark on his chest.
"You are a very special changeling, Dox," Luna says, stepping closer to him before placing a hoof on his shoulder. Dox looks up at her. His mouth opening to talk, but Luna beats him to it. "We know very little about where you came from or what you are, but of what we know is that the race you came from was a particularly resilient race,"
"Your talking about the dragon land changelings?" Dox asks, tilting his head to the side.
"That I am," Luna nods. "The little we know about them is they survived out in the dragon lands for hundreds of years after the first time the changeling tried to attack Equestria a few hundread years ago, back before even Queen Chrysalis. We don't know why they were there, but they ended up wiped out by the dragons," Luna says, her voice leading to a but. "But one little egg somehow ended up here in the castle the same day they were wiped out," Luna says, smiling down at Dox.
"Is there a purpose to the story?" Dox asks. Luna sighs with a hint of disappointment.
"I'm trying to say that the universe wanted you alive," Luna says, pulling her hoof away. "No matter how much pain you feel I know you'll survive it, because the universe saved you once. Now you must show it why it saved you," Luna says. Dox looks down at the ground in thought about the new and old information. He looks up to speak, but Luna had already disappeared.
"What?" Dox looks around for Luna to no avail. He sighs before his eyes drift to the doorway leading to his mother's classroom. The light was stroangly on when it wasn't before. Dox slowly walks over to the door and peaks into the room. He looks around to see no one in the room, just the flickering candles hanging on the walls.
He steps into the room and looks over at the empty desk pulled up all the way so Blood Moon could stand up. Dox uses his magic to lower the desk, but stops when he notices a sticky note on the bottom. He grabs it with his hoof before lowering the desk to his level. The note had been there quite sometime and was losing it's stickiness. The writing on it was fading and smudge, but he could barely make out the writing that Acid had once writen on it.
"Dear Bat Pony, I heard you complaining about your desk so I made it adjustable. Hope that helps. From you friendly Mechanical Enginer, Acid Flask," Dox reads as tears form back into his eyes. He wips them away before placing the note onto the desk.
He starts using his magic to clean up the desk as he pulls a box close to him. He starts packing stuff into the box. Almost all of it is just paper, folders, pencils, pens, and scrolls. The occasional book ends up in there too. Dox opens the draw under the desk and pulls out the ungodly amount of pencils, pens, and other little trinkets that got forgotten inside. He pulls it out more to find a little lether book with a buckle keeping it shut.
Dox tilts his head to the side, his ears flopping with his head as he pulls the book out of the drawer and places it onto the desk. He unbukels it and opens it up to the first page. His eyes widen as he reads the first few words in the book. "Midnight Sprint's Persinal Journal," Midnight Sprint is crossed out and is replaced with Blood Moon writen on top. A little note in the bottom left reads, "With lots of love, dad." Dox's eyes tear up again as his heart races. Against his best thoughts he randomly opens up to a page.
(Rewind)
"I can't believe I'm doing this," Moon sighs, her heart jumping into her throat as she looks herself up and down in the mirror in the bathroom. "I'm going on a date with Acid Flask," She says, almost not beaileving her own words.
"You do love him right?" a raspy voice calls out from the hallway. Moon opens the door to see her father standing there with a little smile. He was just barely shorter then her.
"Of cource," Moon replies with a bit of hurt in her voice. "It's just…" She trails off, looking down at the ground as the memories flood into her head. "I don't want it to go south like the last time I tried dating someone," She says, shivering a bit. "I would rather have him as a best friend then not a pony in my life at all," Her dad sighs before he wraps his arm around her neck and nuzzels her cheek back up.
"I know that feeling all too well," he says staring off to the other wall. "I don't want you to hang on that feeling like I did," He wispears kindly. "You need all the love you can get. You deserve love,"
"You do to," Moon replies, pulling away to look at her father.
He chuckles before responding, "It's way too late for me, but you are still very young," He gently places his hoof on her cheek. Moon wraps her hoof around his while looking down at it. "You deserve any amount of love from him, as long as you love him too,"
"And he doesn't turn out to be a social manipulator," Moon jokes. The two chukel as they lower there hooves back to the ground.
"Just remember I'll alwase love you Midnight,"
"Dad," Moon replies with a cheekie smile.
"Ops, sorry," He says, scratching the back of his head. "I love you Moon," Moon smiles before hugging him. "Now go get him," He says, pulling away. Moon nods before walking past him. He fallows her and watches as she leaves the apartment. He smiles to himself before turning and heading for his bedroom.
(Time Skip)
"Great," She sighs, standing out side of The Sparkling Night restaurant. "He's either late or ghosting me," She sighs as she looks around for the little red unicorn zebra. She taps her hoof impasently while bitting her lower lip.
"I'm here!"
"AH!" Moon flinches, looking down at Acid, who had just teleported next to her. He was breathing heavily while sweat ran down his forehead.
"Sorry I'm late," Acid grunts as he closes his eyes. "Got destracted," He winces in pain.
"You ok?" Moon asks, awkwardly hovering her hoof near his head in conteplation if to touch him.
"Ya," He grunts as he shakes his head. "Teleportaion of any kind can cause me to get a migraine," Acid says as he rubs his temple with his hoof. "It'll be gone in a few minutes," He explains, squinting up at her with a small smile. Moon smiles down at him while lowering her hoof. He was dressed in a regular black tux with a little black bow around his neck, but with no pants.
"You look good," Moon says, a little blush forming on her face as the two walk into the restaurant.
"You look cute in that dress," Acid says, causing Moon's face to flinch a bit as a memory resurfaces into her head.
"You can call me anything but cute please," She calmly explains as they wait their turn.
"Can I ask why?" Acid asks, looking up at her.
"Maybe latter, ok," Moon says, trying to push the image of her mom out of her head.
"In that cause you look beautiful then," Acid replies with a big smile. This causes Moon's face to turn bright red.
"Thanks," She smiles down at Acid. Acid closes his eyes as his smile grows bigger before turning as they walk up to the counter.
"Good Evening," The waiter says with a big smile as she collects a couple of menus.
"Hello," Acid smiles up at her.
"Hello Mr. Flask. Same spot as normal?" She asks, stepping from around the counter.
"Yep," Acid nodes.
"Fallow me then," She says before turning around and walking into the seating area of the restaurant. Acid and Moon fallow her as Moon looks down at Acid with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.
"Mr?" She asks.
"Oh," Acid blushes a bit in embarsment. "Ya, my parents came here so often that they ended up having a special spot. Our entire family are kind of regulars here," Acid explains as they walk out onto the porch over looking the rest of Equestria.
"Makes sense," Moon replies as the two sit down across from eachother next to the balcony. Sitting in the center of the table is a glowing lantern.
"Want anything to drink while you decide?" The mare asks, handing them the menus.
"Root Beer would be nice," Acid says before opening the menue.
"Lemonade please," Moon replies. The mare nods before walking back into the building.
Moon turns back and looks out at the rolling planes of Eqrustria. A few forests break up the long green grass glowing in the night light. In the center of the plans is a small town glowing brightly with light. Moon chokes on air as both good and bad memories come back to her head. She is taken out of her own head when Acid asks, "Isn't it beautiful?"
"Ya," Moon replies with a little smile before looking up at the night sky. The stars shin and dance across the sky. Her eyes widean a bit as a shooting star crosses the purple night sky before vanishing. "I hope this turns out well," Moon thinks turning back to the menu before her.
She opens it up before looking down at Acid, who was looking through the options. Her heat skips a beat. Her stomach feels tangled up just looking at the pure happiness on his face. Her heart races at the mear sight of the little unicorn in a dapper suit. She didn't want to look away from the cute little unicorn, but she worried she'd look bad if she stared. So she went back to reading her menu. Her heart still pounding in her chest.
"I just wish this goes well," She wispears under her breath as she destracts herself with the menu.
"You ok Moon?" Acid asks, looking up at her slightly red face.
"Ya," She replies, not looking away from the menu. "You got any suggestions on what's good?" Moon asks, looking down at Acid.
"My parent's always said the spaghetti was good," Acid replies.
"Spaghetti is good everywere," Moon replies with an eyeroll.
"That's… that's very true actually," Acid replies, scracthing his chin before going back to the menu. Moon looks over her menu down at Acid happaly looking threw the menu. She sighs, a smile forming on her face.
"Hey, small Flask," Moon says, putting the menu down. Acid puts his down and looks up at her with a smile.
"Ya?"
"I…" The words catch in her throat for a moment before taking a breath and spiting them out. "I love ya you little cutie," Moon says, trying her best attempt to be romanitc.
"Ha…" Acid covers his mouth as he blushes.
"Did you just lagh?" Moon asks, pulling back in confusion and a bit of saddness in her voice.
"Sorry…" Acid says, controling his chuckle. "How about you try and not do that again."
"I was just trying to be romantic," Moon responds, scratching the back of her neck.
"You don't have to try," Acid says, placing a hoof on hers. She flinches a bit, looking down at his hoof on hers. She looks back at him, who is smiling up at her. A smile slowly forms on her face as she sighs.
She places her other hoof ontop of his before saying, "Thanks," Acid smiles up at her as she smiles back down. Moon looks back at the table as an idea forms in her head. She quickly but gently wraps her hoof around the back of his head before kissing him on the lips.
Acid's eyes widen as his face turns bright red. Moon's heart pounds into her chest as she shuts her eyes hard. Before Moon can pull away, Acid wraps an arm around her head and pulls her in. Moon sighs as she pushes into him.
(Time Skip)
"Wow," Dox says, skiping through a few pages with a big blush on his face. Dox sighs as he closes the book with a few tears running down his cheeks. He takes a deep breath before sighing and going back to putting his mom's stuff away. He closes the boxes before levitating them and walking out of the room.
(Time skip)
"Midnight! I'm home!" Dox yells out as he enters the house with the boxes fallowing behind him.
"Brother!" Midnight yells, running out from the kitchen and running at full force towards him. Dox smiles, placing the boxes down and siting down on the ground. Midnight jumps up and wraps her arms around his neck.
"Hello," Dox says, hugging her back. "How was…" He pauses as he smells burnt food.
"Uuuuhhh…." Midnight says, looking up at him. Dox stands up and walks to the kitchen to see the oven belowing smoke.
"Midnight?" Dox asks as she slowly walks up to him with her ears down against her head. Dox looks down at her slunking up to him. Dox sighs before pulling her into a hug. "Thanks," Midnight's eyes light up as her ears peark up before she hugs back. "How about you help me cook?" Dox asks.
"Really?!" Midnight asks.
"Yes," Dox smiles.
"Ya!" Midnight hops over to the oven with Dox fallowing her.
"Clean up what ever you burnt and I'll be back in a bit," Dox says, turning back around as her rembers the box's he left at the door.
(Time Skip)
Dox gently places the box's down in the attic and starts to head down before stoping. He turns around and looks at the diary sitting on top of the box. Dox looks at the ground and sighs before using his magic and pulling it towards him. He grabs it with his hoof and presses it close to his chest before walking back down the stairs.
He closes the door behind him and turns down the hallway towrds his mother and father's bedroom. Gently pushing the door open with his head, he walks into the empty and quit room as the candels come on.
Dox stops and looks at the bed were his mother and father's indents can still be seen from when they had slept together for the last time. He sighs, a tear rolling down his cheek as he walks over to the bed side table. He pulls the drawer out and places the diary into it before closing it.
"DOX!" Midnight yells in distress.
"What did you do!" Dox yells back, his eyes wideaning as he rushes off and out of the bedroom. He slids to a halt before his eyes widean. The kitchen was cleaned and the water boiling on the stove with mac and cheese sitting on the counter ready to be added. Midnight is pushing the step ladder over to the oven before realizing Dox had entered the room.
"I need some help with the pot," Midnight says, stoping and looking over at him with a pleading look. Dox sighs, relieved he didn't have to grab the fire extigisher, again.
"Of cource you little blood sucker," Dox walks over to Midnight as she smiles. She hops up onto the stool and leans against the counter with Dox walking up next to her.
(Time Skip)
"Is dad going to be alright?" Midnight asks as Dox tucks her into bed.
Dox sighs before reponding, "I don't know sis. I really don't,"
"That's alright," Midnight smiles. "I've still got you," Her eyes beaming with love that spreads to Dox, causing him to smile uncontrollably.
"Thanks," Dox says, turning around and walking to the door. Midnight sits up a bit and opens her mouth to ask, but stops before laying back down. "You want somthing?" Dox asks, turning around. She shakes her head before flipping to face the wall on her side. Dox shrugs before turning off the candle light and closing the door.
He heads into his parent's room and walks immediately towards the bed side table. He pulls out the diary and flops onto the bed before flipping to the first page of the diary.
"Dear new diary, I can't believe I'm still continuing this stuiped thing," Dox reads, laghing to himself. "But I think it's been good for me to vent to something other then too my dad,"
Dox reads on as the sun rises. The light shining in as he continues to read. His smile changing but never fading for to long. He tooses and turns, flipping though the pages of his mother's life. Finding new stuff he never knew about her like, "Mom's from Ponyville!" Dox says, sitting up as he rereads the line again. He also learns old stuff his dad had told him.
The night came again with out Dox realizing it untill Midnight came in, seeing him sleeping with the book open on the bed. Midnight smiles and walks up to him before pulling the covers over him and leaveing.