Family Ties

by NightInk

A Proposal

A happy ending, right? Everyone wants those. But it’s so hard to get there. Especially when you’re in love with a princess from another world. Who happens to be a pony. On the other hand, being able to turn into an alicorn goes a long way towards overcoming those issues with said princess. Then when she’s the Princess of the Night who’s recently been freed from being possessed by the Nightmare, who you killed in order to save both of your worlds, things get really complicated again.

And at this point we weren’t even engaged. Nope, still kind of in an awkward dating phase. Dating is tough when you can’t text, email, or call your other. What we were able to do was alter a magically sustained dragonfire so that it could transfer letters through an itty bitty dimensional portal. Not the sexiest mode of communications, so it was mostly a way of making dinner plans in one of our respective dimensions.
Rarity was good enough to make custom clothes for us so that our wings wouldn’t destroy our clothes, so we were able to comfortably exist as humans comfortably. We didn’t have any problems in public with keeping quiet about Equestria. No one knew at this time, so our lives were as normal as they could be, under the circumstances.

Even with all the things that could have gone wrong, everything was perfect. She was a wonderful woman, both while a pony and a human. She was and is Gamer Luna, so there were never any videogame fights aside from which one was better or should be played at the time. She was outdoorsy, had that cute way of being socially awkward, everything. She was perfect. So, suffice it to say when I decided I was going to propose, I needed help. And so I went to one of my best friends, certainly the best one who was close to both worlds. Death.

I feel like that needs a bit of explaining. See, Ben had been essential in my defeat of Nightmare Moon, and in my coming back to life. After that, I started visiting the Crossroads to talk to him. He was kind of a lonely little guy, and he was really pretty nice, so he needed someone to talk to. So I would visit the Crossroads and sit, do some woodcarving, and talk. He’s an incredible woodworker, and a very good listener. But I didn’t do all the talking. He had a lot of deep, dark thoughts up in his assumedly bony noggin. I’ve never actually seen him without the cowl on.

So, the day I was deciding to do this, I had to go see Death, which I now realize is wonderfully ironic. I appeared through my portal in the usual place: the little clearing where you first find your spiritual self. When I sat down next to him, he was making a cute little wooden squirrel. He reached into the pocket dimension he kept under the bench where his wood and pulled out a piece that was perfect for a mask, which was my favorite kind of carving to work on. But that day I put it down next to me and reached back under. There were, for some reason, pre-prepped rings underneath the bench, so I pulled one of them out and began shaping intricate vines and leaves on the sides of it.

He knew this was weird, and he called me out on it. “Adam, you never turn down a mask. What’s wrong?”

I started on a small leaf and began to think out loud. “So, Luna and I are pretty serious, you know that. Right?” Before he could say anything in response, I kept talking. “Yeah, you know that. And it’s starting to get… well, serious.”

“Redundant much?”

“Shut up. I’m kind of thinking about proposing, though.”

He almost dropped his squirrel and carving knife. “Whaa, buh, whooo-waaaAAAAAAAA?!”

That was the single strangest noise to ever have come out of Deaths black hood. “So, was that a positive or a negative squeal-slash-screech? My gibberish is a little bit rusty.”

“It was a positive!” He went from gibberish to ecstatic so fast it was scary. “Adam, this is amazing! And great!”

“No, it’s terrifying,” I muttered, starting on the little veins in the leaf.

“Why aren’t you as excited about this as I am? You should be bouncing off the metaphorical walls! I mean, since we don’t have walls in this part of the afterlife.”

“Man, I’m not ridiculously excited because this is the single biggest choice I’ll make in my life.” I blew a few shavings off of the ring which was slowly coming along nicely. “I mean, besides crawling through that portal and coming back to life. This is me choosing to spend my several millennia of new life with. And this is even scarier because I’m still not totally used to dimension hopping or thinking about the fact that I have wings, magic, and the ability to change into a pony. I just don’t know how much more change I can take.”

He sighed and put down the squirrel. “All right., I’m gonna ask you something, and you have to answer instinctually, ok? Do you love her?”

“Yup. Even if I think about it the answer is yes.”

“Ok, then why not?”

I looked over the ring in my hand. Practicing woodcarving had made me surprisingly fast. “Because what if she says no? That’s the biggest thing. I don’t know if I could do that.”

“Go for it. If you don’t, you’ll never know. You’ve been dating a long time now, and if it feels right then you have to ask. You just need to do it.”

I was already halfway done with the ring, and it looked fantastic. I kept working as I thought. “So, I need to ask the question I really want to ask?”

“Yup.”

“Can I set you on fire?”

He picked up his carving again. “Nope. Maybe when you die again.”

I clicked my tongue and twitched my head. “Nah, it takes a lot of the risk out of it. I mean, you can’t kill me if I’m dead.”

“Except you were asking my permission, so I wouldn’t have killed you.”

“It’s all semantics.”

“I might if you keep it up.”

“Just carve your squirrel.”

“Well, you have to figure out what you’re going to do with this question.”

I sighed. “I hate it when you’re right. But I don’t know how to do it. Do I do it traditionally, on one knee, or do I think of something that she would specifically love, or do I set you on fire and then put the ring in the glass of water that I use to put you out?”

He sighed again. “You are not using me in your proposal. Call me old fashioned, but I like the whole take her to a romantic restaurant and then a walk and then propose on one knee in an environment that she likes. Of course, I am old.”

“Yes, you are. But your also right. I think that’s a really good idea. She loves Laney’s restaurant, and there’s a hiking trail that she just can’t walk enough times. Her favorite clearing is the perfect place. But I’m going to need help. Do you know someone who is old, or at least old fashioned, who’s smart and is willing to help with something like this? Being alive is not a requirement.”

A low chuckle came out of the hood. “Yeah, I’ll help. Just tell me what you need me to do. Besides get lit on fire.”

…

To clear things up, I am not known for my romantic moves and smoothness. In fact, just the opposite. I made… make bad-slash-crass jokes, I’m a pro mood spoiler, and I do stupid stuff like see if I can get a pencil stuck in the ceiling. Sometimes a pocketknife. In other words, I’m a pretty average guy. But I think I did pretty well with this whole proposal. Obviously, it started with the resturaunt.

We went to Laney’s, the best unknown restaurant ever. We were both human of course, so as not to draw a lot of undue attention to ourselves. We went in, and I started it. Instead of ordering my usual fancy burger, I ordered a slightly classier and ridiculously more expensive fancy cheese steak. Even then she knew me pretty well, so she knew it was weird.

“Honey, why aren’t you getting your usual? You love the burger.” It was surprising how genuinely concerned she seemed to be. I didn’t think I was that predictable, especially considering my behavior in just about every other situation.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just wanted the cheese steak. No big deal.” I just shrugged and took a sip of my water.

“But… But you love the burger. You always get the burger.” I think tears might have been trying to form at that point.

“Yes, but dear, I love anything with cheese. And cheese steak has cheese in it. And steak. Which I also love. Which means once it gets here, I get to sit here with three things I love. Steak, cheese, and you.” I kept myself from saying ‘napkins’ in place of ‘you’, in favor of keeping up some sort of romantic mood. It didn’t work.

“Why are you being romantic and sexy? That’s weird. At least, the romantic part. What’s wrong?”

I sighed. Why was this so difficult? “Luna, there’s nothing wrong. Trust me. If anything, everything is fantastic. Ok?”

She calmed down a bit after that, so I kept doing things the way I usually did so that she wouldn’t panic or think anything was wrong. This was sufficient until we got to the trailhead.

“We’re coming to the trail after a big romantic dinner?”

I held back a suspicious sigh. “Yeah, why not? Walking is good for digestion and everything.”

“We never walk after Laney’s.”

“Luna, do you trust me?”

“Yeees.” She drew the word out like it was a weird hair in her really expensive vegetarian lasagna. They should really make things less expensive when you take the meat out.

“Then go on this walk with me, ok?” I took her hooves in my hands (she flew over in pony form) and looked into her eyes. “Trust me. This is a good walk.” She looked at me, apparently trying to find some clue as to what was going on in my head. Either she realized that she couldn’t or she figured out that my head is not the best place for sensitive people, but she giggled a little and let me lead her down the path.

It was a nice, slow walk. Her favorite clearing was on the path that didn’t have a lot of hills, so it was an easy walk. We walked hand in wing down the path, pointing out little animals and plants. When we got to the clearing, I’d like to think her doubts and insecurities melted away, but all I know for sure is that she gave a positive sounding gasp.

Ben had done really well. There were rose petals scattered all over the clearing, and there were logs of varying height adorned with candles, gently flickering in the dusk. I don’t know where it was coming from, but there was even sweet, cheesy, incredibly romantic violin and piano music. I did all right with the dinner and the plans for the clearing, but the execution was all his. And it was perfect.

“Luna,” I started. “Honey…”

She looked at me with her great big eyes, and this time I was sure they were tearing up. “Yes?”

I took her right wingtip and her left hoof in my hands and spoke from the heart. “I love cheese steak.”

She tilted her head and I felt her hoof twitch. “What?”

“I know, just let me go. I love cheese steak. And I love the burger. But I can’t eat both. I love being a single guy too. I eat over the sink, I play my music however loud I want, do laundry whenever I want. I eat whatever I want too. I mean, chili is always more potent after a few nights in the fridge, and it’s so much better tasting.”

She shook her head sadly. “Adam, I don’t think I’m following your line of thought. I mean, more than usual.”

I nodded too. “Yeah, I know, I’m getting close. I guess my point is, I love you too. I love being as I am, and I love you. The cheese steak and the burger. Your whichever one you think is better. The point is that I can’t eat both, and I can’t be single and with you at the same time.” I pulled a small black box out of my coat pocket and brought myself to one knee and opened it, showing the wooden ring from the Crossroads. “So I’m making my choice. Will you marry me?”

She finally broke down into tears as she understood what I meant. Though I wasn’t sure at the time if she wanted to be the burger or the cheese steak. All that mattered was what she said next.

“Yes!”

Author's Note:

So, clearly I know very little about weddings. Like everything else I do, this is a little knowledge, a lot of goofing off and a lot of winging it. Thanks for your understanding!

Comments

[Backslasherton]

I took her right wingtip and her left hoof in my hands and spoke from the heart. “I love cheese steak.”

I lost it right then.

[Agri_Yob]

being able to turn into an alicorn

Cliché confirmed! Not necessarily a bad thing, but the idea is not something that a majority of readers will go for. Human-turned-alicorn stories aren't usually well-received. Makes it seem like the human was a wimpy little bitch and had to be transformed into an OP alicorn for whatever reason (none are ever good).

I can honestly say that I didn't read any further when I saw that. And the human/Luna ship has been overdone to the point of exhaustion.

[Aunty Furby]

2352848 me to