//------------------------------// // 8: The Relative // Story: A Whole New Responsibility // by Flanagan //------------------------------// “Your wha-“ Suddenly, and much to my disapproval, I was thrown off the bed by a small burst of magic as Luna bolted to her wardrobe, trying to find something to put on. I staggered to my feet, still a bit shocked that she would do something like that. I mean, I knew she was still mad at me, but that’s what we were in bed for in the first place. “Luna, I’m sure that whoever it is outside can wait until morning. Or at least a few minutes, given how fast you c-“ The shirt that once covered my body was suddenly thrown in my face, effectively silencing me for a few seconds. Letting out a low growl of disapproval I removed said shirt from my face, hopefully allowing Luna to see how bemused I was by her action. Unfortunately for me though, she was far too concerned with making herself decent to so much as look at me. Instead, she was fidgeting to slip on the dress I assumed she had been planning on wearing this evening. It used to fit her nicely, but in her haste she’d forgotten that her figure had been changing ever so slightly over the past three months, and now it was evident that she could no longer squeeze into one of her favorite outfits. I smiled to myself a bit as I watched her struggle with the more physical element of pregnancy, well, that and she just looked so damn cute trying to force herself into the thing. “AEDAN!” she cried frantically, derailing my current thought, “answer the door!” “Why do I have to answer it?” I asked shrugging my shoulders, “She’s your niece after all.” “Technically she’s your niece now too,” Luna snapped back quicker than a whip, “and you at least have pants on, just throw on your shirt and-“ “What about what we were doing?” I halfway whined, “We were so close to-“ “Not in the mood Aedan,” Luna interrupted, letting out a loud huff as she threw her dress to the ground, “now answer the door… and put your shirt on!” “Okay fine…” I grunted, throwing my shirt over my head, “We’ll have to continue this afterwards.” “I don’t think so,” Luna replied, looking further into her wardrobe, “I have a job to do and I’m still…” Luna trailed off onto another tangent as I shimmied my shirt around my neck and pulled it across my chest. I didn’t see the big deal as to why I needed to wear a shirt. After all, her sister has seen me completely naked. –Though I’m not exactly sure if she was privy to that fact, especially on account that Celestia had one of those very approving smiles plastered onto her face- Within a few botched and stumbled steps I was at the door, already upset that I’d been cock-blocked by whoever it was at her door, now I had to be polite to her and greet her with a smile. Sure I knew that Luna’s had a niece since a few weeks after I’d gotten here, and I knew that she was ruling some kingdom way up north where all the living things were made out of crystal. However because of a mixture of our rather unique schedule differences I never really met her, but from what I understood she was a pretty pink pony princess who somehow got adopted into the royal family and was thereafter dubbed the princess of love. I laughed to myself a bit as I put my hand on the door, if she was this world’s Cupid maybe she could do a thing or two that would leave both Luna and I a bit happier after the previous events of this evening. “Welcome to our humble abode,” I grumbled, swinging the door open, “you must be…” I was suddenly thrown into a dimwitted trance upon seeing what stood before me. I expected a pony; instead I got a beautiful young woman looking to me with a warm smile. It almost looked to be about Luna’s age, but most resemblances stopped right there. The biggest difference being her warm and welcoming amethyst eyes seemed to ease the tension inside me as well as perfectly compliment her tricolored hair scheme and the pink V-neck shirt and hip hugging capris that gave an all too generous peak at what her parents had given her. “H-hot…” “Uncle AEDAN!” The woman exclaimed practically jumping to embrace me, “it’s wonderful to finally meet you!” “Uh, yeah,” I managed to force out, patting her back, “nice to finally meet you too.” “I can’t believe this took so long for the two of us to become properly introduced, nine months is far too much time without a word,” Cadence beamed letting me go and placing her hands behind her back, “Is my auntie around~?” “Uh, yes of course she is, why wouldn’t she be?” I responded, growing a sly grin at an opportunity for a little vengeance, “she’s just inside,” I stood to the outstretching my arm like a hotel bell hop. “Just go right on in.” With a happy nod of her head into our room, patiently awaiting the shrill cry that would come with Luna’s realization that I’d let someone inside. A few seconds later I heard the unmistakable sound of hoof steps behind me. Given the hour, I knew that my options had been whittled down to only about a dozen options, so I took a chance and choose the most likely individual among that group. “Evening Night Wing.” “How’d you know it was me?” he asked stopping at my side, “do you have special powers now to?” “Only if you think I do,” I shrugged, still waiting for the reaction, “how’s-“ “AEDAN!” a voice suddenly shrieked from within our room suddenly echoed out into the hallways. “I thought I told you not to let anyone inside until I was dressed!” “Sorry dear, must’ve slipped my mind,” I shrugged back, smiling smugly as I folded my arms across my chest and looked back into the room. “What’d she do to you this time?” Night Wing pried, unable to hold back a chuckle. “Well, it wasn’t necessarily all her fault,” I sighed looking down to him, “we got into it about an hour ago.” “You two are fighting?” Night Wing gasped, shaking his head in disbelief, “never thought I’d hear those words coming out of your mouth.” “We’re a couple, it’s to be expected that not everything’ll go peachy.” “But then there’s the part where you kiss and make up, but in your case it’s a lot more than kissing,” Night Wing grinned, nudging my leg. “We were in the middle of that,” I grunted, making the frown on my face fall even lower, “but someone wasn’t doing their job.” “Hey, I have to follow the orders of the Princesses, not the Princess’s beef cake,” he laughed, almost in a mocking tone, “and as if I were going to tell a fine mare like that no.” “Ever the professional I see.” I pinched the bridge of my nose and let out a deep sigh. This world may have been vastly different from the one I was from, but some of the ponies here would’ve been right at home. Night Wing reminded me of over half of the guys I knew back when I served, steady and attentive, but the moment a girl like Cadence walked by they’d be drooling. It actually got me thinking about what they would do when neither Luna nor myself were around them. “Oh you can’t tell me you don’t think she’s hot,” Night Wing uttered, expressing his disbelief with his eyes. “I’d be wrong to think your niece is hot Nighty,” I scoffed, inwardly telling myself not to have naughty thoughts, “besides she’s married to a stallion who, from what I’ve been told, adores her.” “Well from what I head they have an open marriage…” Night Wing grinned, leaning into the opened door, “and she’s your adopted niece, hell I know for a fact you’re smooth enough, I think you could convince her into helping the two of you-“ “I don’t need those thoughts in my head right now!” I roared, putting my fingers in my ears, “not right now!” Night Wing nearly keeled over in laughter. I couldn’t blame him for that, given that I was acting the exact same way I did when my dad decided that I was ready for the infamous ‘birds and bees’ talk. I was only ten at the time, so I think my reaction was acceptable, I’m twenty five now. A quick, sharp jab effectively silenced my tormenter, forcing him to reach for his shoulder in pain. “Celestia have mercy!” he said rubbing his foreleg, “you hit harder than Tartarus.” “Well, apparently in this world I can hit hard enough to snap an apple tree in half,” I retorted, regaining my usual composure, “I checked.” “Then I consider myself fortunate that you didn’t use the full extent of your power on me.” “Consider yourself warned,” I smiled smugly, knowing that he’d never make a comment like that again, less he was willing to risk being thrown out the nearest window. Moments later two figures emerged from the relative darkness of our bedroom. I didn’t really need to look because I already knew who they were, but out of a strange mix of habit and desire I turned around to see two lovely ladies step into the light. It was the first time I’d seen them standing next to one another, so I decided to note the differences myself. The first one was quite obvious, Cadence had a much lighter skin tone than Luna, she wasn’t as pale as Celestia but she sure as hell didn’t look like she got out in the sun that much. The second thing was the hair; it certainly wasn’t as long as Luna’s, stopping close to the center of her back as to stopping right above a perfectly shaped ass like Luna’s did. Their faces were also different, but on account they weren’t technically related I could understand way, Cadence looked younger and had more slender features compared to Luna, but as I had said before, she was still a very attractive young woman. Continuing the comparison, my eyes decided to travel downward to see the other physical differences and there was one that jumped out right away. Cadence was a good cup size larger than Luna, I’d only just now realized that, but in my gawking at the two it seemed that one of them had come to the realizations I had as well, and she sure as hell wanted to point it out. “Well, well, well,” Cadence smiled, folding her arms under her chest, unintentionally pushing her bust out further, “looks like I’m finally taller than you Auntie.” "What? No you’re not!” Luna said turning to face her niece, placing her hand on the top of her head, “I’ve always been-“ Her little speech abruptly fell short when her hand touched the top of Cadence’s forehead, prompting the small grin on her niece’s face to grow larger. Huffing in frustration, Luna once again placed her hand on the top of her head, more than likely believing she had miscalculated. Time and time again she tried, but each time Luna’s hand found the top of Cadence’s forehead, not once yielding the inch or two Luna so desired. After the fifth or sixth attempt and a mixture of frustrated huffs and whines, Cadence finally broke out into an adorable giggle, causing Luna to adorn the cutest pouty face known to man. I swore if the two kept their interaction a second longer I would have gotten diabetes. Fortunately for me it just so happened that the cosmos decided to give me a break at that moment, because Cadence suddenly wrapped Luna up in her arms, forcing out one of Luna’s famous squeaks. It didn’t take too long for Luna to return the embrace, almost as if any malice she had previously had towards her niece was washed away by simple contact. “I’m so happy for you Auntie!” Cadence beamed, squeezing her even tighter, “I can still hardly believe the two of you are expecting.” “T-thank you Cadence,” Luna stuttered, fighting for air in her niece’s vice-like grip, “we are just as… excited as you are.” “Well one of us is excited enough for the both of us,” I muttered under my breath, Night Wing being the only one who heard me. “How did the rest of the country take it?” she asked, letting Luna go, “I still remember how some of the nobles reacted when it was announced that I was marrying a highborn instead of an actual royal.” “They weren’t the most… welcoming of ponies, I’ll just keep it at that,” Luna grimaced, not even bothering to hide the anger in her voice. “Oh, I’m very sorry to hear that,” Cadence replied, her voice taking a turn towards somber, “but at least the ones that matter to you support and love you regardless.” “And that’s all she’ll ever need,” I interjected, finally throwing my two cents into the conversation, “I’m sure you’re tired Cadence, maybe you should get some rest.” “Are you kidding?” Cadence smiled, cocking her eyebrow in my direction, “I just spent two days on a train just so I could congratulate my aunt personally, not to mention the fact that I’ve been craving some Canterlot cuisine lately, I’m not going to bed anytime soon.” “If that’s the case then I mustn’t allow you to starve or wander about the palace without me,” Luna said with a smile as she placed her hand on Cadence’s shoulder, “You can wait for me in the dining hall, and I shall be there momentarily.” “Sounds wonderful,” Cadence smiled, walking up to me for another hug, “Again it’s great to finally meet you.” “Yeah, you too,” I grumbled trying not to watch her walk down the hallway. In just a few quick steps Cadence was out of sight, along with Night Wing, who decided that our recent guest needed an escort. That left Luna and I alone once again, to do whatever we so desired. I looked over to Luna, who’s smiled had surrendered to a rather frustrated look, probably because she was, to the best of her knowledge, the shortest of the princesses. I smiled to myself before letting out a chuckle and walking to her side. It always cheered me up when I saw Luna pouty, she was just too damn cute to deny. However just as I stopped at her side the darker, more smartass-y side of me decided that this was the perfect moment to strike, despite what had transpired between us earlier that evening. “Don’t worry sweetheart,” I said resting my hand on her lower back, “You’ll get bigger.” “Really?” Luna asked with a twinkle of hope in her eyes, “I thought you said that your species stopped growing around the age of-“ “No babe, your boobs’ll get bigger as the baby grows, it’s science,” I chuckled knowing full well what she was actually talking about. Luna was at a total loss for words, the small amount of hope replaced by overwhelming shock in her face. “Why I’d never!” she huffed, taking a quick glance to her chest before looking down the hall Cadence had gone down and sending her fist into my shoulder. “The nerve!” she blustered once more, her face turning red as her arms crossed over her breasts. “Hey by the time the kid comes you’ll be just as large as your niece,” I smiled, rubbing the impact area, “at least when it comes to your knockers.” Luna’s brow furrowed as yet another disgruntled huff erupted from deep within her throat before sending another fist in my direction. This time however I was ready for it, throwing my hand up I caught her attack with little effort. She was shocked, but only for a moment, ripping her hand away from mine before I could squeeze and pull her in. “And to think I almost let you have me,” she mumbled, starting to walk towards the dining hall, “I don’t believe I will give you that second chance after all.” I suddenly found myself questioning whether or not what I had said for the sake of a clever quip was worth it, and after several tense moments of heated debate inside my head I came to a cold, hard conclusion. It wasn’t. Within seconds I was sprinting to catch up with Luna, hoping that I could somehow salvage the situation and bring it back to more provocative terms. I may have many, many good qualities and traits, but at my core I’m still just a man, a man with basic needs. I tried, but I wasn’t able to get to her before she snapped her fingers and vanished in a flash of light. My hand slowly found its usual home pressed against my face as usual, there were some days that I wish Celestia never went over how to use magic as a human with her. But then I realized that if she hadn’t then her oh so important duties as a princess would be rendered inert. Once again there was a sudden change in mood as I started to think with my larger head once again. A deep growl echoed through the halls as I shoved my hands deep into my pockets. “Good going brain, why wouldn’t you bring that up?”” I grumbled, kicking at nonexistent dirt as I made my way to the dining hall. Granted if I knew anything about Luna she would’ve already forgiven me for saying that stupid shit, but I just had to rub it in with letting Cadence in before she was done getting ready and throwing some breast envy as the proverbial cherry on top. I continued onward until I finally found myself standing in front of the dining room hall, where none other than Night Wing was standing guard. However instead of his usual upbeat, talkative self he was silent and slumped over, mumbling under his breath so I couldn’t hear what he had to say. “What you doing out here Night Wing?” I asked looking up to the door, “Weren’t you all gung-ho about ‘protecting’ Cadence fifteen minutes ago?” “Well I was,” he mumbled lowering his head, “but then it happened.” “It?” I asked, cocking my eyebrow for once. “It…” He repeated, letting out a disappointed sigh. “Gonna need to elaborate on the ‘it’ a bit more Night Wing,” I groaned, folding my arms across my chest, “I ain’t exactly Sherlock Holmes you know.” Night Wing’s head tilted ever so slightly to the side as anyone who had no idea what I was talking about would do. “What’s the ‘it’ Nighty?” I grumbled, my hand traveling to my face by sheer instinct alone. “Girl talk…” he grimaced, both at the fact of what he’d just said and that I’d called him ‘Nighty’, “They started having girl talk.” “You abandon ship when two women start talking to one another?” I asked, my eyebrow nearly reaching my hairline, “You’ll never get anywhere if you let that stop-“ “It wasn’t just normal girl talk Aedan,” he shuttered, looking to the door behind him, “they were talking about… well, you know.” “Oh, well that does complicate things,” I said biting my lip, “I remember when I first overheard one of those conversations.” “Why do you think I’m out here?” Night Wing replied, pointing to himself, “I swear I’m not going to sleep well for days.” “Well I’ve been awake for over three days and I’m not letting girl talk stop me,” I said proudly placing my hand on the door, “wish me luck.” “Aedan, DON’T-“ Night Wing’s plea was hushed by the sound of the door closing behind me. I braced for what possibly could have made my stomach turn upside down. However, instead of hearing the gut wrenching details of what women have to deal with I was met with complete silence, that and a single individual sitting at the far side of the dining hall’s table. I didn’t need much time to identify that the individual was Cadence, sitting in front of what I believed to be an empty plate. Sighing in relief, I confidently made my way to her, glad that I didn’t have to endure what Night Wing had to go through. When I got there I pulled up a chair at her right side, since the one opposite of her looked like someone had been sitting in it previously, and I didn’t need to be a detective to deduce who it was. “How’s the food?” I asked looking over a surprisingly clean plate. –I swear each of these princesses has some imperfection they hide miraculously well from the royalty- “Just as I remembered,” she replied with a smile, “I can’t remember the last time I’ve eaten so well.” “Well I could hardly imagine you could eat so well,” I laughed, pointing to the plate in question, “be it your figure and all.” “Aw, you’re such a gentleman,” Cadence responded with a sweet smile, “it’s no wonder I can feel the love she has for you.” “Well right now we’ve… wait, did you say ‘feel’?” “That I did,” she nodded, with a shrug of her shoulders, “I’m the Princess of Love after all.” “Easy to forget that fact if I haven’t met you,” I smirked, leaning back in my chair. “Very true,” Cadence nodded, turning to face me better, “but now that we’ve actually got the time, I would like to get to know you better.” Suddenly and much to my surprise, Cadence turned my chair so I was face to face with her. Smiling warmly and leaning in even closer, resting her elbows on the armrests she placed her head in her hands. “So, tell me about yourself.” “Well I’m sure there isn’t much to tell,” I shrugged desperately not trying to take a quick peek down her V-Neck shirt, “I mean, I’m sure you’ve heard it all from Luna.” “Ha, not exactly,” she giggled, waving a hand passively as she finally sat upright in her chair, making one major distraction go away, “She told me a little bit about her time in your home world, and some of the things you had done, but I’d really like to know you, we are family now, after all.” “I suppose so,” I grumbled, leaning back in my own seat, “well I was born in Kansas City Missouri, signed up for the Marines out of high school, did a few deployments to place called Afghanistan…” I trailed off as my hand descended towards my left leg and with a few quick taps on what was pretending to be my calf I sighed. “Then I got this little souvenir, not long after they sent me back home, there I moved to St. Louis, that’s where I met-“ “Luna,” Cadence finished, “that’s where you met Luna.” “Uh, yeah, that’s where we first met,” I added, I was secretly wondering what the point of this exercise was, but Cadence just continued to look at me, her smile seemingly brightening everything around her. “I take it wasn’t love at first sight?” she asked with a cheeky grin. “Well on account that when we first met she nearly impaled me… no,” I grinned back, forcing another giggle out of her. I couldn’t help but laugh myself, I hadn’t thought back about those first few days in awhile, if only I knew how it would’ve turned out back then. “When did it hit you?” she asked, suddenly changing the tone of our conversation to a more serious one, “when did you finally realize you loved her?” “Well, uh…” I was at a total loss for words, trying to think back I was just constantly reminded of all the little quirks and traits that made me love her, but first realizing it? That was going to be very hard for me to distinguish. I sat there for a good few minutes while Cadence waited patiently for me to answer. Finally, after much internal deliberation I came to one solid conclusion. “Probably the day I was arrested for her.” “Oh, really?” Cadence smiled, her one of her eyebrows rising slightly above the other, “do explain.” “I’d gotten Luna a job at the diner I worked at, it wasn’t much, but if she was going to be there for a bit it would’ve helped pay for her living with me,” I began thinking back to that day, “but there were some guys with a bad reputation, punks really, always harassing the workers, stuff like that. One of the senior waitresses made Luna serve them. They made some bogus orders of explicit sexual nature. Luna didn’t know what they were talking about so I went over to stop them.” I paused to watch my tone. It had been so long since I’d recollected the incident that I’d forgotten how mad it made me. Cadence seemed to be understanding of it, because she just sat quietly and waited for me to continue the story. “I wasn’t able to get them to leave in time, and Luna when Luna showed up, they touched her,” pausing again I felt my fist clinch, I rarely let my anger get the better of me and I sure as hell wasn’t going to let it happen in front of my adopted niece, “the yelp she let out when they touched her, that cry, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I beat the hell out of them.” “Sounds like you were defending her to me,” Cadence said, crossing one leg over the other, “Why would you-“ “It looked like I’d just beat the hell out of four grown men and a minor,” I interrupted, “the cops didn’t want to take any chances.” “I see,” Cadence nodded, “so what happened next?” “What you’d expect,” I replied, “they brought me to the station, asked me a few questions, but when they said Luna would be implicated… I couldn’t let that happen, I didn’t want anything bad to happen to her ever again. So I told the cops that I beat the living hell out of all of them, alone, and that Luna had nothing to do with it.” “You were willing to do that for a girl you’d pretty much just met?” “People do weird things when they care about someone deeply enough,” I shrugged with a smile. “That’s true,” she nodded, “I could only imagine what Shining would do in that situation.” Cadence leaned forward yet again, making me focus on her face even more. I don’t think I’d ever told anyone that little story in that much detail, not even Luna, and I didn’t want this moment ruined by my more primitive instincts. Putting her hands in front of her face Cadence continued on with her questioning. “What made you certain?” she asked, pointing both index fingers at me in unison, “what was it that solidified your feelings for her?” “Well a few days later she kissed me,” I chuckled, twiddling my thumbs, “but I guess when it really hit me was when I went out on a date that she’d set me up on.” “Well, I’ve never heard of that one before.” “Neither have I, well at least not in real life,” I laughed, remembering all those stupid romantic comedies, “the girl literally threw herself on me, but all I could think about was Luna, hell I couldn’t even think about getting the job done, the thought of Luna was just so strong.” “That’s quite the overwhelming thought,” Cadence interjected, smiling politely, “what happened next?” “I found out she was kidnapped,” I said calmly, making Cadence jump in her chair. “How-“ “Long story,” I said before she could make me travel down yet another rabbit hole, “all you really need to know is that I nearly died to save her.” At that moment I lifted up my shirt, showing off my hardened stomach and causing Cadence to turn red from embarrassment. I laughed to myself a bit, it seemed that staying in shape always had its benefits, but I didn’t want her to know that she could wash her laundry on my abs, I wanted to show her the physical evidence of the lengths I would go for Luna. “Here,” I said pointing to a small circular scar on the upper right side of my stomach, “this is where the bullet exited my body; it was a miracle that no vital organs were hit as it went through.” “How did you manage to get that?” Cadence said still trying not to focus on my muscle. “Protecting Luna from what would have been a fatal gunshot wound for her,” I answered tucking my shirt back on so she would stop blushing, “I know it might sound corny, but it was that exact moment that I knew that I loved her, that I would go to the ends of the earth for her, that I would die for her.” “That truly is devotion,” Cadence said looking behind me, “Wouldn’t you say so Auntie?” I froze, either she was just as bad as Celestia when it came to pranks or Luna had just overheard some of the deepest emotional secrets that I’ve kept to myself. I turned slowly and sure enough, Luna was standing there, a sliver tray with the finest china in toe. Her eyes were misty, hands slightly trembling, and a small, genuine, loving smile was on her face. I didn’t waste much time staring, instead I stood up and at that exact moment she place the tray on the table, making the embrace that followed possible. Her hands soon found my jawline and pulled me in for what I thought was one of the best kisses that Luna had ever given, and with all the times we’d kissed that’s saying something. A long minute passed before the two of us parted, but the look on her face remained the same as it did when she was holding the tray. “Why didn’t you ever profess that to me?” She asked pulling me in again, resting my forehead on hers. “Guess I thought I didn’t have to say it,” I shrugged, placing my hands on her hips, “you know how I can be.” We were locked onto one another’s gaze for I don’t know how long until I noticed a figure moving behind Luna. I looked past her for a few brief moments to see Cadence standing there, smiling as warmly as ever, but with an ounce of smugness that hinted at her being raised by Celestia. A small, knowing grin came to my face; she had somehow orchestrated this entire event just so the two of us could remember what we really felt for one another. With a quick nod of my head I sent my appreciation her way, to which she responded with a small wink before snapping her fingers and closing the door behind her, effectively leaving the two of us alone. At first I found it odd when the closing door didn’t echo, but when Luna gained my full attention once more with one of those kisses. I knew exactly where this was going. I gave a firm squeeze to her derriere, prompting an adorable squeak the slowly turned into a hungry growl. Within seconds my shirt was gone, back on the table and Luna was lying on top of me, holding me close around my waist. “I’m going to make sure that you’ll finally be able to get some rest love,” she cooed as the strings that held her dress together magically came undone, “as you said earlier, the night can wait.” “So I guess that means I get my second chance then?” I growled masculinity, helping her slide the dress off just enough to notice that her bra had already come undone. “Well to quote you…” she moaned with half lidded eyes a lip bite, “Oh fuck yes.”