Family Begins With You

by Jmaster49

Arc XV Episode II: Casual Conversation

But before they continue their conversation, who would their waitress turn out to be?

“Professor? No waaaay!” the cross-eyed angel herself walked out to them as soon as she caught wind of their presence. “And VP Luna? Oooh! Is this a special occasion?” Derpy interrupted them with a wide smile, staring at them both.

“No.”

“No.”

They spoke together in a tone flatter and dryer than sandpaper. The last thing they needed was a rumor spread around the school.

Thankfully, Derpy responded rather maturely. She stood upright and readied her pen and notepad. “Oh, alright. Sorry for the mixup--what would you guys like?”

“A salad and wine is fine for me,” Luna requested.

Aidon looked over the menu once more, and simply picked the item with the highest number of calories. “The deep-fried bacon sandwich, and a black whipped mocha.”

“Ooh, been a while since we had one of those ordered,” Derpy replied with an excited smile as she took their menus. “I’ll be back in a bit!”

As she left, Luna couldn’t help but shoot a blank stare at Aidon. “...”

Noting how fixated she was upon him, he addressed it, “Erm…something wrong?”

“...I’m simply surprised you would desire something so…hefty, is all.”

“Well, it boils down to dark magic taking up extra stamina from my body,” he explained while flexing his arm, “Even if I don’t use it, the power I was born with still takes a toll on me over time, so I need to consume foods that are high in calories.”

“I see…and what happens if your caloric intake…” Luna muttered while giving a concerned glance towards his bicep, “...gets too low?”

“Nothing pretty,” Aidon replied as he lowered his arm, “But the chances of that happening are highly unlikely as I’m in a much better place now than before. Anyhow…in regards to you…”

Returning to the topic of herself caused Luna to gasp and bite her lip out of surprise. Was it possible that she had hoped the conversation would veer away from it? “Ah! Oh…yes, right…” she started to idly twirl her finger around her ponytail, “Erm…okay. Tia was an all-star student in every area. She participated in all of the clubs and eventually became student body president.”

“I see,” Aidon nodded, listening closely, “Go on."

“And eventually…I found myself in a precarious position,” Luna went on with a frown on her face, “Because I was the younger sister of one of the best honor students at CHS, I felt pressured. Pressured to do just as well as her, but…I couldn’t.”

“Why not? You seem pretty capable to me,” Aidon replied.

While that may have been the case now, Luna needed to give him the whole store from about three decades ago. “Sure--maybe. But back then I simply wasn’t good enough. I was always more interested in art and fortune telling--as well as arcane mysteries of the universe such as tarot cards and palm readings. A nerd essentially. Not to mention…” she folded her arms, then rolled her eyes. “I hated social interaction back then. You’d have better luck trying to get a cat to bark than have me speak to someone else.”

“Oooh…” Aidon could already piece together where Luna’s sentiment was going. Between the way Celestia was praised and how different she was than her older sister…but the shadowman wanted to hear the rest of what she had to say. “So that led to things becoming…awkward for you in school, yes?”

“You have no idea,” Luna sighed, “When I didn’t meet the expectations that everyone had preconceived, I was ostracized for the most part. Which I preferred anyways as an introvert. Unfortunately, Celestia had already gone off to college. So for three whole years, I had to navigate high school on my own.” She rested one of her elbows upon the table, and rested her chin upon her open palm. “...But let me tell you, Aidon. Those three years felt like a thousand.”

“...” Aidon fell silent. “...’Felt like a thousand’? It’s an uncanny parallel…” From what he knew of their Equestrian counterparts, it felt all too familiar.

Before he could respond, Derpy had returned with their orders and set them on the table in front of them. “Salad for Luna, and a bacon sandwich for the professor.” She backed away with a smile, “If you need anything else, let me know!”

“Thank you,” Luna muttered under her breath as she idly grabbed the fork.

“Much appreciated, Ms. Muffins,” Aidon replied as the cross-eyed girl left the scene. What to say next had begun to elude him. How would he approach a delicate subject such as this when he had little to no idea how the school system treated her--all he could do was listen. “So…here’s a question, I’d like to pose: What was your motivation to become the vice principal here at this institution?”

Luna swallowed a bite of her salad and responded. “...To help young minds deal with the same problems that I went through when I was younger. Naturally, no one is to blame for what I experienced, but if I can help those youngsters make it through life without burying themselves under the pain of others…that’d be great.”

“I see…well, if you ask me, you’ve already done a fantastic job at that,” Aidon did his best to uplift her, “Your past…while rough, can no longer harm you. Take solace in your current position, hm?”

Luna chuckled as she continued eating. “Oh…you’re just a bundle of optimism, aren’t you? But I suppose you have a point. I shouldn’t be fretting over what happened a long time ago. I suppose I’ve just…haven’t found the time to be sociable and discuss such a thing with someone other than my sister.”

“...Hm?” Aidon put his sandwich down after taking a bite. Once he finished that morsel, he asked a question to sate his curiosity, “You don’t have any friends to lean on?”

“Ouch, professor,” she replied with a sarcastic eye roll, accompanied with a well-meaning grin, “You make it sound as if I’m a complete shut-in with no hope.”

“Wh--n-no!” he shook his head and tried to clear up his stance with an awkward smile on his face. “That’s not what I meant at all!”

The man’s embarrassed, over-the-top reaction only caused Luna to giggle further. “It’s fine! I’m merely jesting. Though I will admit, it’s a nice change of pace to see someone else stutter their way through a conversation for a change.”

“Yeah…heh…” Aidon adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat.

Once the two were finished eating, Luna placed money on the table and asked, “I’ve got some more time to spend before I have to head home. Want to take a closer look at that telescope? There might be some other…items of interest there…if you don’t mind my presence that is…” she muttered while twirling her finger around her ponytail once more.

Much to her relief, Aidon replied amicably. “Not at all. I’m actually very interested in such topics but have no idea how to approach them. Lead the way, Luna.”

As the two left, someone from one of the nearby tables lowered a menu to peek at the pair. “...He’s going to be a problem to deal with.”