Aidon hesitated, debating on how much he should state about his homeland. “Well…I didn’t live on the surface. Not sure if I stated this before, but my home was Tartarus to be exact. Those on the surface didn’t quite take kindly to shadowponies such as myself.” He paused, and poured himself another shot and drank it immediately. “Ah…so, I mostly tried to keep to myself.”
“Oh…so there was a bit of a problem regarding tension among races, I take it?” Luna asked with a nervous frown on her face. “I don’t know what to say. We humans have some problems regarding that here, but not the point where one has to shy away from the public entirely…”
“That’s how it was for me--not to mention Tartarus was filled to the brim of pathetic life forms that tried to engorge themselves on the weak,” he explained as he sat down on a chair at the counter. “None of it was fun to sit through. So I rose to the top and became Tartarus' equivalent to an Overlord from Hell once it was all said and done...killing, spearing others with darkness in a vain attempt to protect others who couldn't defend themselves, but it was all for naught." Aidon tilted his head downwards as he lamented his shame, "Even after all I did, I was still cast out and seen as a threat solely for being a product if darkness. In a way, the banishment did me a favor since I could at least practice my dark magic in public and not be feared by all for it. Equestria’s sensibilities and what it considers taboo or not is so…myopic.”
Luna hung her head for a moment. His case was worse than hers and she had only begun to realize it. “He hides his pain from us so that we don’t have to see it. That’s…that’s exactly what I do. I can’t afford to let him stand by idly and suffer.”
“...I agree--it seems as if Equestria was all too eager to cast you aside without considering your side of the story,” she muttered with a hint of guilt in her voice.
“Seems so,” Aidon replied with a shrug. “But what can you do? At the very least, I can say that I enjoy my new life here. At least everyone here is willing to accept my darkness.”
All the sudden--
“Aidon, would you like to go out with me again?”
Luna stood up and placed her hands on the counter to make her statement in a rather dramatic fashion. So dramatic in fact, that it took Aidon a second to realize he wasn’t asleep.
“...Excuse me?” he asked while staring directly at her with widened eyes.
The realization of what she had said started to set in. Luna’s face turned red as she squealed to herself, “...craters!” She then cleared her throat and explained herself. “Ahem…what I meant to say was that I’d like it if the two of us could spend some time together akin to how we spent the other day. Maybe go shopping, grab a bite to eat, play miniature golf…” Once again, her words caught up to her, causing her to stutter as she waved her hands in the air. “A-a-as friends of course! A completely friendly, platonic, non-romantic--”
“...Pfffhhhhhkz…!” Aidon couldn’t help but wheeze to himself as he hid his face behind one of his hands. The man tried desperately not to laugh, but the way Luna awkwardly tried to make her point was too humorous to ignore.
“H-hey!” Luna stuttered as she scrunched her lips together in a pouty manner, “Don’t laugh at me! That’s bad manners, sir!”
“Ugh…my apologies,” Aidon replied as he calmed himself down, now able to look her in the eye, “I don’t mean to laugh. I just find it adorable the way you’re speaking. And humorous as well; do I really intimidate you that much? I’m not really that scary right now. Or at least, I’d hope I wasn’t.”
“Well, I…this is the first time I’ve tried to speak to a guy my age on a personal level since…the eighth grade,” Luna admitted as a dark shadow of shame covered her eyes momentarily. “...So please forgive me. I really do just wish to get to know you better--I have no interest in you romantically.”
That made Aidon breathe a sigh of relief. “Whew--that’s good. I don’t really know about the potential dangers of someone from Equestria settling down with someone from this world and I quite frankly do not want to test that out.”
More specifically, the idea of having a child with someone from this world was something that both intrigued and mentally frightened him. Honestly, who wouldn’t be? Pony and human DNA mixing to create someone with the enhanced capabilities of both would be unstoppable and a force to be reckoned with on any battlefield…
“Oh-ho-ho no!” Luna chuckled while waving her hand, “I wouldn’t imagine something like that. Things are hard enough as it is just dealing with myself--I can’t imagine dealing with somebody else in my life all the time.”
“Tell me about it,” Aidon agreed as he folded his arms, “Regardless, we need to do what we can in order to ensure these kids turn out better than us, yeah?”
“Absolutely. But back to my question--would you be willing to spend some more time with me when I’m free?” Luna asked just as shyly as before.
“Of course, no problem,” Aidon replied with a smile, “I’ve actually been looking into astronomy but I have no idea where to start.”
“Oh! I can help with that!” Luna raised her voice, then promptly lowered it. “Erm…of course--once I introduce you to the substitute that will be working your math classes for you.”
Aidon got back on track--now firmly interested in who this person was. “Ah. That’s right. What’s their name?”
“Parabola. I’ll formally introduce you when school is back in session next week.”
The name inspired confidence in Aidon, but he was skeptical for the moment. “A mathematical term for a symmetrical open plane curve. A name like that gives credence to skill. But we’ll see about that for ourselves.”