Luna's Daughter

by KayeStar

Family Dinner

"Shiny! Are you ready?"

"I'm coming! I'm---" In his rush, Shining Armor tripped over his packed bags, falling flat on his face. "---ready."

Cadance chuckled as she went over to help him to his hooves. "You don't need to pack so much. We're only staying for one night."

"I want to be prepared! I don't want to forget anything. It's been a long time since we last traveled to Canterlot."

"You're right, but this isn't a public event," Cadance reminded him. "It's an informal party. Family only. I'm relieved. It's nice for all of us to just be together once in a while."

"It sure is. All these years and these royal events still wipe me out. By the way, where is Flurry Heart?"

As if on cue, Flurry trotted in, lugging a set of obviously overfilled saddlebags on her back. She set them on the floor and they landed with a conspicuous thud.

"Flurry, what are you bringing?" Cadance asked suspiciously.

"For once, it's not all for me!" Flurry insisted. "I'm bringing some of the spell books from the castle's library. I'm sure Great-Auntie Luna could use them when the new baby gets older. I can't believe she finally had a foal! I've been waiting forever to not be the baby! Don't you think---"

She cut herself off when she noticed her parents glaring at her with annoyance.

"Sorry. I'm just really excited to meet the baby! There hasn't been a cuter baby since, well, me!" An adorably, annoying giggle followed.

"Flurry," Shining Armor said as he looked through her saddlebags, "we're glad you're excited, but there are a few problems."

"Like? You don't think Auntie Luna will like them?"

"Flurry Heart, first of all, the new filly is a pegasus, not a unicorn," Cadance told her. "Second, she's not a baby. She's bigger than that."

"Oh, so that's why we never heard Auntie Luna was pregnant," Flurry concluded. "Can I still take the spell books?"

"After you almost obliterated the library?" Shining Armor callously reminded her. "No."

"I fixed it! Come on, let me off the hook for that!" Flurry begged. "I spent days making it perfect again!"

"No!" her parents said in unison. Flurry groaned, but placed the saddlebags on her back again and carried them away toward the library.

"I know we shouldn't complain," Shining Armor said to Cadance after Flurry was out of sight. "All things considered, we're getting lucky with her teen years. But I'm starting to miss those months when she was obsessed with "aesthetics", or whatever it's called."

"Look on the bright side," Cadance replied, somewhat deadpan. "Starlight and Sunburst aren't arguing with her to study anymore. I'm sure they love her new eagerness."

---

Luna and Celestia set the table while Sombra worked on dinner. Normally, he or Celestia cooked only in the morning, but since this was strictly a family get-together, it felt more personal to do the cooking himself. Of course, it'd be easier if a certain curious filly wasn't trying to "help", but Sombra didn't want to discourage her after she started opening up to them. It'd been a little over a week since Selene came into the family, and all it took was some patience for her to break out of her shell around ponies who weren't Luna. The castle had yet to become less intimidating for her, but otherwise, she settled in well. Luna decided it was a good time to introduce her to the rest of the royal family, but under a better setting than a surprise visit. The gathering was to be casual, however. No fancy attire was necessary, which was a breath of fresh air to everypony.

Finally getting bored of watching food cook, though much to Sombra's secret relief, Selene tried to help with preparing the table.

"Selene, please keep your body off of the table," Luna firmly told her.

"Sorry, Luna," Selene said as she jumped down. "I wanted to make the cloth straight. It's not straight." Seconds later, she was distracted as she saw Celestia's pet bird flying about in the kitchen. She flapped her wings as hard as she could to try to join the flight, but when she, unsurprisingly, could only hover, she settled for playfully chasing after the bird on hoof.

"I think our pets are the only two family members she got used to right away," Celestia laughed. "Has she asked for one of her own?"

"She insists her "Blankie" is her pet, but she would want a duck if she had a live one," Luna answered.

"She really wants a duck?"

"No," Luna chuckled, "but when she talked about it, she said she wants a pet that waddles like Tiberius and flies like Philomena."

"That does sound like a duck. Will you allow her one?"

Luna glanced at Selene making rather bad cawing sounds to mimic Philomena, who seemed to be having a good time leading her on.

"Perhaps in the future," Luna replied in a deadpan tone. "The very distant future."

"I knew you'd be splendid at this," Celestia teased, chuckling a bit.

A royal guard entered to announce the arrival of Princess Cadance and her family. Sombra and Celestia went out to greet them while Selene, overhearing the announcement, hurried to Luna's side.

"Luna? Who's Cadance?" she whispered.

Luna lied down to be on eye level with Selene. "I told you about Cadance. She is the niece of myself and Celestia."

"I know, but... is she nice?"

"Cadance is very kind, and Prince Shining Armor and Princess Flurry Heart are also pleasant ponies," Luna assured her. "They're looking forward to meeting you. This dinner is for them to get acquainted with you, and for you to do the same."

"But what if they don't like me?"

Luna didn't have a chance to answer her question because Celestia and Sombra walked in with their guests at that very second, one of whom couldn't resist making her arrival known.

"We're here! Where's the baby?!"

Selene squealed and hid in Luna's chest while Flurry's parents scolded her. Luna stood and walked toward her extended family as Selene clung to her leg like it was a lifeline, keeping her face hidden from view.

"We're sorry about that, Aunt Luna," Cadance apologized. "Flurry is going through another phase. We call it Please stop talking!"

"Flurry Heart, you can stop talking?" Snickers sounded from everypony except the talkative teen alicorn, who missed the joke, and the filly still hidden behind Luna's foreleg. The joke was quickly forgotten as everypony turned their attention to the latter. Selene could feel all eyes were on her, and she only held Luna that much more tightly. Luna sat down to use her other hoof to stroke Selena's back a few times, but Selene grabbed that one too and held it to her face.

"All is okay, Selene," Luna spoke soothingly. She gently moved one of her hooves, but Selene wouldn't let go, only shaking her head. Luna used her snout to gesture to Cadance. "Selene, this is our niece, Princess Cadance. She's the princess of love and lives in the Crystal Empire."

Celestia whispered in Cadance's ear. "Lie down as much as you can. If you're on eye level, it calms her. Sombra and I did the same when she first came to the castle."

Cadance nodded and did as Celestia suggested. She held out her hoof to Selene and spoke in a soft voice. "We're so happy we can meet you, Selene." Selene let go of one of Luna's hooves and slowly shook Cadance's. "Aww, you are a sweet filly, aren't you?" That got a smile out of Selene and she relaxed a little. Cadance stood up and Shining Armor decided to go next. Just as his wife did, he lowered himself as much as he could to be on level with Selene.

"Hi there, little filly. I'm Shiny."

"Shiny," Selene softly repeated.

"Shining Armor, but I'll let you call me Shiny if it helps. Want to hear a joke?"

Selene nodded.

"A joke!" Selene did giggle a bit. Everypony else inconspicuously rolled their eyes, but were glad it worked. Now, it was Flurry's turn. She followed what her parents did, lying down and smiling softly, and spoke to Selene in a similarly soft tone.

"Hey. I'm Flurry Heart. Sorry if I scared you." Selene shook her hoof and slowly loosened her grip on Luna's leg, but didn't fully let go. "I was just really excited to meet you. I thought you were a baby, but you are big. Too big to be a baby. I used to be the baby, but now, you're the baby! Well, the too-big-to-be-a-baby baby! Oh, I bought stuff for you in my saddlebags. Do you like books? I brought you books! I got... well, just books. Normal books. Plain, normal, magic-less, boring books! So, if you like those books, you can have the books! Or I'll get you different ones! I'd have to go all the way back home, but I could come back and give them to you, and if you didn't like those---"

"Flurry Heart, I think she'll enjoy the books you brought," Luna interrupted, noticing that the chatter, while friendly, wasn't really helping much.

"Oh. Well, I'm Flurry Heart," Flurry repeated. "I'm so glad I have a cousin!"

With all the introductions done, Sombra resumed cooking while the rest of the family sat around the table. The wait for dinner to finish wasn't long, and Celestia and Luna joined in helping to serve everypony. Still a little shy, Selene sat close to Luna when the latter returned to her seat. Celestia sat between Luna and Sombra while Cadance sat between Shining Armor and Flurry Heart, who was already making easy work of clearing her plate. It was preferred to her constant talking since she had the manners to not speak while eating.

"Where is Twilight?" Celestia asked. "She's not one to miss a chance for us as a family to be together."

"Little Sis came down with the flu at the last minute," Shining Armor explained. "Said she was feeling okay when she woke up, but she got a fever and chills by evening. I was going to stay with her, but she insisted I come. Wouldn't give me a chance to protest."

"Sounds like Twilight," Celestia laughed, giving Luna an amused glance that was returned.

"Who is Twilight? Is she a princess too?" Selene asked.

"Yes," Luna replied with a nod. "Princess Twilight is the princess of friendship, and she lives in Ponyville."

"In the big castle?" Selene's eyes widened.

"Indeed, and she and Celestia helped me find you before I took you to Melodía and Ivory," Luna explained. "Perhaps when we have the time to meet with Melodía and Ivory again, I can introduce you to Twilight."

"Uh... can Twilight---Princess Twilight---come here instead, Luna?" Selene shyly asked, piquing Luna's curiosity. She quickly looked away, not wanting to explain herself, but her shyness seemed to give Luna a hint about why she asked.

"If that will make you comfortable, yes," Luna answered, and she immediately took note of Selene's quick expression of relief.

---

Dinner finished on a good note and, after cleaning the dishes from dinner, the family gathered in one of the many guest rooms. Selene felt a little better than she had when their guests first arrived, though Flurry's constant talking was still grating, to say the least. She had particularly taken a liking to Shining Armor, who was making her giggle with silly stories and pun jokes. Meanwhile, Flurry Heart was telling Celestia about her newest studies with Starlight and Sunburst, which Celestia listened to with genuine interest, as she always appreciated the younger generation becoming educated. Luna and Cadance sat a few feet away from the four of them to speak semi-privately.

"How are you finding motherhood?" Cadance asked with a smile that was too delightful to be purely innocent.

"I truly am happy to have her, but I have many concerns, many doubts, if I am to be honest," Luna admitted. "I wonder if I have made a good choice, if I am truly fit to be her parent."

"You sound like a mother to me!" Cadance exclaimed, giving a small chuckle. "You'd better get used to that."

"I beg your pardon, dear Cadance?" Luna questioned.

"That's what being a parent is! Worrying!"

"Yes, I know of your concerns about Flurry, but---"

Cadance shook her head. "No, no, Aunt Luna! When you're a parent, you worry about every little thing all the time. Not just the big things like their education, but the little things like their bedtime and which foods to let them eat. You worry if you're doing right, if you're doing wrong, and even if you know it's right, you still worry it's wrong."

"That is how I felt when I took back my throne so long ago. It's how I still feel."

"Me too, and so does Aunt Celestia," Cadance reminded her. "But just like we have to be calm and confident for our subjects, you have to be calm and confident for her."

"If I may confide in you, I must admit I feel most nervous when I must discipline her," Luna confessed.

Cadance sighed briefly. "I know the feeling. You never want to do it, but you have to. And she probably needs it more than most fillies and colts."

"What makes you say so?" Luna asked.

"Before you adopted her, did she ever have any structure? Anything steady in her life?"

Luna thought about it. With Selene's biological parents, the answer was an obvious no, at least as far as her father was concerned. She did in the foster home, but she was one of many other children who resided there, disallowing her troubles to be focused on. Not to mention the various times she was rejected for adoption. The closest to structure she probably had was school, but that hadn't been consistent either.

"Very little," Luna finally answered. "You are suggesting she needs more discipline as a result?"

"I'm saying it's even more important with her because of that," Cadance clarified. "Not that she'd know it, but she's probably used to things falling apart. If you don't stay consistent with her, she's never going to know what to expect. And let me tell you, she will test whatever limits you give her. It's what ponies her age do. No matter how much it kills you inside for the moment, you have to go through with what you say. Be reasonable, but if you say you'll let it go once, let it go only once. If you say she's in trouble, carry it out. You get it."

Luna nodded. "I do. Yes, my responsibility of traversing the dream realm has taught me time and again young ponies require patience. I suppose I can only do my best. I just want her to feel safe with me. I do not want her to fear I will give her up."

"You'll grow into it. I promise," Cadance assured her. "And so will she."