//------------------------------// // 38 Family // Story: For science // by Znegil //------------------------------// "Wow, I'm so stuffed.", I told Twilight as we slowly walked through Canterlot. "Me too. It was all so tasty." We walked on while I received the typical stares from passing ponies. "Are you nervous about meeting my family?", Twilight asked suddenly. "Not at all. I'm sure they will be really nice, just like all the ponies I met so far." "Okay, then it looks like I'm far more nervous than you. I'm bringing a whole new species as my marefriend. I want them to approve.", she answered nervously. "You are a great mare that I love so much, so your parents must love you and have raised you right. So I'm sure they are great ponies who just want to see you happy. You are happy because we love each other. 'Quod erat demonstrandum' - thus it has been demonstrated, they will love me as well.", I grinned at her. "When you talk like that I want to drag you into a small alley and rip off your clothes.", she said with fire in her eyes. "Rarity would get angry with you for destroying my dresses faster than she can make new ones.", I said laughing and kissed her. We heard some shocked gasps from the crowd around us. It turned to the crowd. "Thank you very much for your attention! We will be at the Gala as well if you want to take pictures!" Twilight laid her hoof on my hand. "Just let them be." "I'm just tired of all the staring and shocked expressions. Everypony is thinking 'How can she be with such a thing' .", I told her. "Because they don't know you're the best thing that happened to me. I don't care about them. They will get used to seeing you like Ponyville did as well." She drew me into a loving hug. "Sorry... I guess I started to feel accepted in Ponyville. Now coming here and being the 'odd thing' again..." "Well ponies in Canterlot are especially snooty at everything that's not like them.", she said. "Let's ignore them and focus on visiting my family, just two more streets and we're there." "Your right, my love. Let's get going." ... The house looked nice and cozy, a lovely garden full of flowers surrounding it. The sweet smell of a nearby bakery lingered in the air. "How much did you tell them about me?", I asked before we entered. "Only that I bring a friend with me.", she answered and smiled sheepishly. "Wow, they're in for quite a surprise." She knocked on the door. "Mom, dad, I'm home!" She opened the door. Inside sitting on a couch, I saw her parents. Her mother, a gray unicorn with a purple and white striped mane and tail. Her father sat next to her. He had a blue coat and a dark blue mane. Their happy expression towards her daughter changed quickly to surprise when they saw me entering the house. They recovered quite fast, and her mother addressed me directly: "Oh hello, so you are the mysterious friends my daughter announced, we read an article about you in the paper a few days ago. I should have guessed it. Twilight always loves to learn and study about new and exciting things. I'm Twilight Velvet. You can call me Velvet to avoid confusion." "My name is Night Light.", her father introduced himself. "Please take a seat." "My name is Stella. I'm so happy to meet the ponies who raised this beautiful and smart mare, I guess it runs in the family.", I said while I sat in an armchair and Twilight in the one next to mine. Velvet laughed. "Oh my, that's to kind of you. I baked fresh chocolate cookies. They are Twilight's favorite, can you eat those?" "I would love to try them.", I replied. A huge plate of cookies levitated to the table in front of us. "Mom, Dad, I have an announcement to make.", Twily said, and her parent's attention shifted to her, while I tried one of the cookies. "You two always tell me I shouldn't forget to look for my special somepony, I'm happy to tell you, I found it." Especially her mother got very excited. "That's fantastic news. I'm so happy for you. When will we get to know him or her?" "She is right here, Stella is my marefriend." The next few seconds had been absolutely silent, apart from the sound of me eating cookies. After some moments they had processed this surprising news, and they both smiled again. Her mother addressed me: "Sorry dear, that was pretty surprising. I can clearly see that my daughter is so happy right now, so we are glad to welcome you as a part of our family. Do you have plans for a wedding yet?" I choked on the remains of a cookie. "Mom!", Twilight shouted. "What? Is it forbidden to ask?", she replied. As I was able to speak again, I responded to her question: "I love your daughter more than anything, and I want to spend the rest of my life with her." I laid my hand on her hoof and kissed her cheek. "But we should probably wait a bit longer since we only know each other for a few days now." Her parents held each other's hooves and gave us a warm smile. "Your brother will be here in about an hour.", Night Light told us. "He has a surprise for you as well... Although I think you have outdone him." "Shining comes as well, that's great news.", Twilight said and was beaming. "We could take this time to learn a bit more about you.", said Velvet. "And I could show you some family pictures while we're talking." "I would love to see those. Twilight is so cute already, I can't wait to see what she looked like as filly or baby." "Oh no...", Twilight mumbled. ... "...and this picture was when she finally succeeded her potty training.", Velvet told me while Twilight tried to hide in her armchair. I felt her embarrassment through our connection, but I had so much fun with Velvet. "Oh honey, you look so proud next to... it." Twilight just mumbled something I couldn't understand. The door flew open, and a white unicorn stallion entered the room, his mane and tail had a mix of two different shades of blue in it. "Hello family! Hi Twily, nice to..." He stopped and looked at me. "Oh, it's the thing from the newspaper.", he continued in a not so happy tone. "She is not a thing, her name is Stella and I have brought her with me.", Twilight clarified. "Whatever. I have a surprise for you.", he continued excitedly. "I have a marefriend. You will meet her when you and me join her for lunch today. I bet you will be even more surprised then." He had a huge smile on his face. Twily drew him into a hug. "That's fantastic news Shiny. I'm so happy for you." After a moment they separated again, and Twilight continued: "But I also have a marefriend now." He looked absolutely flabbergasted. "You... you left your books long enough to meet somepony? Who is it?" She came back to me, and we kissed. "It's Stella, we're a couple and she is the love of my life." His face went blank. It took a few seconds before he spoke again. "Could you come over to me Twily?" Confused my marefriend walked next to him. He leaned close to her and whispered in her ear. I felt so much anger and sadness through our connection, so I guess I was the one least surprised by what happened next. She slapped him so hard you could see a red spot where she hit him. "HOW DARE YOU!" Twilight ran to me and hugged me while she was crying. I softly stroked her back and glared towards her brother. Her parents were shocked, but Velvet recovered first. "What has Shining told you?" "He said he knew a stallion who would fit much better to me than 'this thing'.", Twilight told us crying. I was about to raise my voice when... "SHINING ARMOR!", Night Light screamed loud enough for the whole street to hear. "YOUR SISTER BROUGHT US THE ONE SHE LOVES, AND YOU DARE TO SAY SUCH A THING?!" I never saw a pony this angry before. Shining Armor's ears laid to the side of his head, and he ducked deep, he looked like a kicked dog. Night Light lowered his voice a little bit as he continued. "Stella is a part of our family now, and you shouldn't dare to treat her in a different way than you would treat me! And what would your marefriend say if she heard you're questioning your sister's love, considering who your marefriend is?" Shining's face changed into an expression of pure panic. "No, no. I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Twilight. Excuse me, Stella. But please don't tell her." 'Now that's an interesting reaction.', I thought. I still stroked Twilight's mane. "What do you say, honey? I say we forgive him for what he did. Your brother did something stupid because he doesn't know me yet." Twilight turned around and looked at Shining kneeling before us. "He is still my brother, and I will forgive him this one incredibly cruel thing he did." I kissed Twilight to further calm her down... and to irritate him. "I'm really looking forward meeting your marefriend for lunch now.", I said. "Can we go now?" Shining Armor face changed back to the 'kicked-dog' expression.