Family Ties

by NightInk

A Change In Plans

Nachos help damn near everything. It also helps certain people in different ways. Luna, who eats them every time I make them against her better judgment, gets indigestion and it takes her mind off of all other issues. I tell you this, dear reader, at the risk of my own life. If Luna reads this I will be dead within seconds.

Well, now that we have that nasty business out of the way, nachos help almost everything. Luna, again, was distracted from the issue of the psychotic woman. I took the opportunity to… well, I didn’t do much of anything for a few days. Just was comforting and kept making nachos. Frankly it was good for her to take time out and just relax for a while. When she gets a grumpy tummy she also spends more time being calm and having quiet fun. That being said, she stayed on the couch and played video games for about four days. I was impressed though. She powered through three ‘Legend of Zelda’ games, which even takes me five days. Of course I stop to eat more than she had to stop and use the bathroom.

Really our next bit of fun came a week even after she was feeling better. She was beginning to phase into the typical bride mode and was thinking about caterers and the like. Really I was expecting her to bring up this issue again, but when it happens you never really know what to say right away.

“I think I want to get married in Equestria.”

I kept myself from rolling my eyes, but only just. I leaned backwards in my chair and started trying to grab the chips off the counter and stick a pencil in the ceiling at the same time. “I know.”

She stared blankly at me. There was almost a hint of anger behind her eyes, but really it was closer to frustration. “What?”

I managed to grab the Sweet Maui Onion chips off the counter without tipping the chair, but the pencil took a bad bounce and flew out of my grasp. “Oh, nothing. I was just waiting for you to say that.”

She sighed and put a hoof to her forehead. She used her magic to take my chips away. “Why?”

I grabbed for the chips. “Hey, I need those. Remember when Ta said I looked thin? Or was it Mrs. Cake? It’s because you don’t let me eat. And because I know you. That said, Mrs. Cake and AppleJack are ready to cater for the reception, Tia is willing to be the priestess or whatever you call it. Pinkie can set up balloons and party stuff, Rarity sets up the palace for the wedding itself. RainbowDash has weather and Fluttershy the choir. Kind of the same setup as Shining Armor and Cadence’s wedding, as far as ‘staff’ goes.”

She just sputtered for a second. “H-h-how?”

“I still want those chips. And sweetie, I know you. You love Equestria. And I don’t blame you. It’s a wonderful place, perfect for a wedding. And it smells really nice. I mean, absolutely no pollution really helps it out. Also, you’ve been kind of dropping hints. You’ve taken a couple extra trips there. You’ve spent more time as a pony, even on earth. It’s just little things. Seriously, I’m hungry. Gimme those back.”

She sighed and the chips floated slowly back. “How did you set all of this up? I’m barely an ounce of the way through this planning for Earth, and you did everything for an Equestrian wedding in a week behind my back. Without a list! Just… how, sweetie?”

“Om, nom, nom… huh? Oh, right. I don’t use lists. They get lost. I haven’t lost my noggin yet, though. But just for you, I made a list. This is what was in my head.” I pulled a scrap of paper out of my pocket and tossed it across the table to her. Her face was priceless when she read it. All it said was “Get people to help with stuff.”

She screwed her face up for a little bit, but then she laughed for a second. “This is wonderful. How very groom-ish of you. Here’s the bride’s list of things to do.” I swear that the list that she pulled out was mostly stored in a pocket dimension. The paper just kept coming, and it was filled with things to do. Out of all of them, three things had big, red checkmarks.

I smiled and picked up one end of it. “Well, let me narrow the list down for you.” I turned my own paper over and just wrote, “Do stuff” on it.

She laughed. “Aren’t you oversimplifying just a bit?”

I smiled back at her. “If I am it’s only in the slightest bit. Seriously though, ‘call florist’ and ‘visit florist’ couldn’t just be one item? Along with all these other flowery to do’s?”

“Well, each is something else I have to do. I need to call them, visit, call and visit a couple others, then I need to decide, then I need to figure out what floral patterns we want, compare prices…”

“And that couldn’t be written as ‘flowers’?”

“Nuh-unh.”

I blew a raspberry. “Well, it’s all kind of mute now anyways, right? I mean, we’re going to Equestria, and I’ve got that taken care of. All I need is to say the word and it’s near done.”

She made a face. It wasn’t a good face. “Well, see, I kind of want to be married here too.”

I frowned. “So, we’re back to what I said at breakfast a month ago? Two marriages?” She nodded. “One pony one, one human?” Another nod. “And we have to do all this for the earth wedding now too?” Nod. I wiped my face. “And I still haven’t introduced you to my parents, have I?”

She frowned at that one. “No, you haven’t. And I don’t really understand why. You said you’ve told them about me, why haven’t you introduced us?”

I began rocking in my chair again. “Because the last five fights I can recall having with them are over you. My mom grew up on a farm, and riding horses was only done in a particular few ways. And in none of the ways we’ve redefined the phrase.”

She blushed, turning from a midnight blue to a lighter shade of… call it a midevening blue. “*Ahem* Well, that may be so, but have you told then that I can shape shift into a human?”

“Yeah, they aren’t big on things that break every law of nature and physics as defined by twenty first century humans. I think some tea sounds nice.” I started to busy myself with boiling the water. “I bought chamomile last time I was out. One for you?”

She nodded once. “Yes please. But you aren’t distracting yourself with that forever. Sit back down. We need to figure something else out.”

I prepped the tea, but didn’t sit down while I waited for the water to boil. Instead, I leaned back onto the countertop. “Well, yeah, you need to meet them. I’ll call them sometime and make a dinner date. It’ll be a short flight up to their place. I’ll do that later.”

She smiled a knowing smile and stood, putting a hoof on my arm. “No you don’t. You won’t skip out on this again. Every time we talk about your parents, you put it off and allow it to be forgotten. Call now.”

I groaned and picked up my phone. I hit the first speed dial, put it on speakerphone and set it on the table. I felt a certain amount of déjà vu from the time we called Ashley. The phone rang four times and I had a faint feel of hope. Maybe they weren’t home. No such luck, and on the fifth ring it was answered. “Hello?” Well, at least it was mom. She tried harder to understand, at least.

“Hey, mom, it’s Adam.”

“Hey, punkie. How are you? Are your classes out yet?”

“I’m all right. Yeah, classes are out. They have been since mid-May. How are you and dad doing?”

“We’re just kind of bopping along. Are you coming home for the summer?”

I gave Luna a “See? They still think I’ll break up with you and go back to a normal life” look. “No, mom, I’m not. Actually, I’ve got some exciting news. But I don’t want to tell you guys over the phone. How does dinner Saturday sound? At six o’clock.”

“Well, sure. Do you know which busses you have to take to get close enough for decent cab fare out here?”

“I have wings, mom.”

“Oh, right. You do have those. Well, be careful. I just hope they don’t fall off.”

“They don’t fall off if I run out of magic, number one, and second I don’t run out of magic. It regenerates itself.”

“Oh, right. Well, let us know if something comes up, but we’ll expect you Saturday. Anything we should expect or have special?”

Despite her not being able to see me, I shook my head no. “Nope. Have an extra setting for Luna, though. She’ll be coming with me. We’ll bring something to drink.”

There was a brief second of silence, just long enough to express disapproval. “Ok. Anything else?”

“Nope, that’s it. I’ve got to go now, though. I need to work on something real quick. I’ll talk to you later, or I’ll see you at dinner. Ok?”

“All right. I love you.”

“Yup. Love you too, mom.” The other line clicked off and I stood to take the water of the stove burner. “There. Happy? We’re having dinner with them. All we have to do now is find a nice champagne that I can afford.”

Luna sighed. “Yes, I’m reasonably happy. I just wish you would try harder to make nice with them.”

“If I tried to make nice with them, I would have to break up with you,” I snapped. “And I’d rather be on bad terms with them and with you than the good son and alone.” She looked at me, a little bit hurt. I sighed and set the steaming cups on the table. “I’m sorry, sweetie, but I just don’t like dealing with them and their prejudice against you and Equestria. There’s a reason I don’t talk about or with them often, ok? Let’s just leave it at that.”

She nodded. “I understand. I’m sorry for pushing you so hard. It’s just… you have parents. I just wish you saw how lucky you are.”

I blew some of the steam away from the cup in a sigh. “Yeah, I know. Well, they mean well, but they show it in the wrong way sometimes. But at the same time, I occasionally forget that you didn’t really know your folks.”

Her teacup, which had been floating in a magical aura, slowly drifted down to the table. It set back down on the worn wood with a soft thud. A tear rolled down her cheek and she sighed. I knew that sigh, and it wasn’t any kind of good. “I’ve been thinking about them, you know. Ever since your proposal. I’ve sort of been wishing my father could walk me down the aisle during my wedding.”

I pulled my chair around and sat by her. I put an arm around her and took a sip of my tea, muttering a slight curse as it burned my lips. “Luna, you’ve never told me what happened to them or where they went. You wanna do that now?”

She sighed again and sipped her tea. She didn’t burn her lips, so she took a slightly longer sip than I did. “They had to lock themselves away when I was Nightmare Moon. For Celestia and her friends to use the Elements of Harmony, the Elements had to be magically synthesized. Remember that they weren’t as close as Twilight Sparkle and her friends are. For the proper amount of sufficiently powerful magic to be released, father sealed himself into the sun and mother into the moon. Their magic was powerful enough to make the Elements because they acted purely on love. They did what was best not only for me and Tia, but for all of Equestria. They had always seen their subjects as their friends and family instead of citizens. I think that helped allow the Elements to be formed the way they were. But that’s the past.”

I thought for a moment. “If your mother was in the moon, weren’t you able to see her while you were there?”

She shook her head. “Not exactly. We were banished to the same general place, yes, but we were not together. I could feel her loving presence, nothing more.”

I nodded. “Well. I can’t say I really considered that angle to the story. I’m sorry.”

She wiped her eyes and nodded, forcing a smile. “It’s ok. They acted justly. I just wish I could talk with them again. Even just long enough to thank them.”

Rubbing her shoulder, I nodded and brought her head down to rest on my shoulder. “Yeah. What do you say we leave everything alone for the night. How about just talking about our families? Figure out what we can expect?” I added with a little smile. “I’d like to know more about your parents. They sound like beautiful ponies.”