Family Ties

by NightInk

Dinner and A Show

“I can’t find my tie!”

“I put it away! You said you weren’t going to wear it!”

“Well, what else was I going to wear?!”

“You kept saying casual formal!”

“I wear collared shirts often enough, I think adding a tie constitutes a casual formal!”

“Well, check the closet! It didn’t belong next to the powered lemonade!”

“Yes it did! It smelled funny, so it was like a kind of fumigating!”

“I rubbed a bunch of your aftershave on it! It’s fine now!”

“Why the hell didn’t I think of that?”

“I have no answer to that that isn’t insulting to one of us!”

Just so you know, the exclamation points are because we were in other rooms. I don’t get that worked up over my ties. Even when going to my parent’s house to both introduce them to my girlfriend and my fiancé all at once. Though once I thought about it, I probably should have mentioned something about Luna being vegetarian. Meatloaf would not end well.

I stepped out of the bedroom as Luna stepped out of the bathroom, I straightening my tie and Luna adjusting her dress. She was human, for the sake of my parents, and wearing a stunning black and green dress. Usually I wouldn’t think someone could pull off that combination, but she did, and beautifully. She was wearing low black heels and a pair of earrings in the shape of crescent moons. I spread my arms wide and set them gently on her shoulders, pecking her on the cheek. “I’m dressing up too much? You look ready to go to the Grand Galloping Gala! Not that I’m complaining.”

I went for another kiss, but she laughed and playfully pushed me away. “Stop, you’ll smudge my lipstick! And I want to make a good impression! Help them with the getting over my being a pony.”

I laughed and gave her a quick pinch on the rump. “Good impression? Shit, you may very well give my old man a heart attack!”

A little more banter was tossed back and forth, but eventually we were ready to do. I stood in the doorway and waited for her to catch up with me, holding my arm out for her as I did. “And how do you plan to fly there without mussing your hair?”

She smiled and pointed a finger at her head. Her hair glowed purple for a second before fading back into the night black that it was in human form. “Boom. It’ll stay there until I take the spell off, and while retaining its natural looking physics.”

“Nice. You ready to go, then?”

Ten minutes later, after looking through her purse a half dozen times and making sure she was, in fact, ready, she came back and took my arm. “Ready. Are you?”

I ran my hand across my butt. “Wallet, phone, pocketknife. Let’s go.”

It was a short flight to my parent’s house. They only lived just outside Anchorage, in a heavily wooded area away from the city. Luna looked down on it in wonder. “You grew up here?”

I smiled, remembering exploring the woods as a kid. “Yeah, I did. It was a good place to grow up. There was a tree house over there, an impressively large pit there, and a fallen tree that could be made into a shelter to sleep in there,” I answered, pointing to each spot in turn.

She looked around happily as we landed, enjoying the scenery. She loved being outside, hiking, camping and the like. This place was as much a playground to her as it had been to me. We landed closer to the driveway than the house, so we had a short walk to the door. I rapped my knuckles on the spruce trees as I passed them, recalling everything from my childhood. I hadn’t been here in longer than I was used to. I hadn’t come back for spring break this semester, so it had been right about five months since my last visit. A little sad as it may be, I usually came home far more often than that. Before I started dating Luna, I had a very healthy relationship with my parents.

It wasn’t the nicest house in the world, but it was nice all the same. It stood two stories high, the first floor being the garage and a staircase leading to the door on the second floor. I remembered counting those steps every time I went up and down them. From the ground, ten steps to the landing, left turn, and six more steps to the deck. The siding was a cheap grey plastic, off-colored from years of exposure. Getting closer, I realized the steps were too. Off-colored, I mean. The wood, though properly cured, was a dull brown from being in the sun and snow for over twenty years. It was an old looking house, but as I got closer I remembered that I loved it because of that.

We climbed the steps to the door and I rang the bell. I couldn’t help but notice that out of habit I counted the steps again. It wasn’t a big deal, I counted out every staircase I walk, but it stuck out again this time. I heard a dog barking as I hit the button, which threw me off guard. Five months ago, we had no dog. Mom answered the door, pushing a beagle pup away from the door as it opened. Mom is a… interesting woman. She’s relatively short, standing maybe eight inches shorter than me and five shorter than Luna. She never admits that I’m taller, though. Maybe that’s just a mother thing. She has thick black hair, with only a rare few gray hairs pushed back behind her ears. Age had been good to her. Her face was creased with years of smiling and kindness, and she tilted her head upwards as she greeted us informally.

“Hey, Adam. It’s good to see you.” She hugged me first, letting the pup out as she stepped away from the doorframe. “And this must be Luna. It’s… very good to meet you.” They politely shook hands. “Funny, you seem a little… different from what Adam described you as."

Luna smiled kindly. “Yes, my natural form is that of a midnight blue alicorn, a pony with both the wings of a pegasus and the magical horn and acumen of a unicorn. I came this evening as a human to make you feel more comfortable. It’s lovely to meet you, ma’am.”

Mom smiled a little more genuinely. “Please, call me Rebecca. Or Becky, if you like.”

I picked up the excited beagle bouncing around at my feet. It sniffed curiously at my skeleton arm, but didn’t seem to think of it as a threat. “Who’s the new guy, mom?”

Mom scratched him behind his ears. “That’s Porthos. Like the musketeer.”

I rolled my eyes a little bit. “You got that from Enterprise. You watch too much Star Trek.”

Mom laughed and let us in, where dad met us at the door. He’s a little taller than mom, but I’m still taller. He wears round glassed, perched about halfway up his nose. For his height he was thin, a benefit of a high metabolism that he had passed on to me. His hair was abandoning him, but it wasn’t too far gone. It just made his forehead look a bit bigger. What was left was light brown, thinly covering his head. Unfortunately he had given me his hair too. Luckily I could use magic to grow it thicker than what his grew. He had a kind face too, and welcomed Luna in much the same way as mom had, with a hesitant handshake and an semi-informal hello.

“Hey, Luna. It’s wonderful to meet you. I’m Cliff. Adam has told us a lot about you.”

“Though he didn’t mention how beautiful you are,” mom added. “In your… human form.” She realized the slight breach of etiquette as she said it. “Oh, is that a bad thing to say?” she quickly whispered to me.

Luna heard and laughed it off. “Of course not. I know that this is all a bit odd for you and will likely take some time to understand. I hope what Adam has told you about me is as good as he’s told me about you.”

Mom smiled. “Well, he’s only told us you’re a lovely young woman to whom he owes a great deal of happiness.”

I smiled. They were actually getting along splendid so far. Hopefully the night wouldn’t go downhill. I put an arm around Luna and held her far hand. I kissed the top of her head and smiled at mom and dad. “Well, while we’re all getting along, we have some news.”

Both my parents eyed us with a sudden air of suspicion. “We aren’t grandparents, are we?” Dad would be the one to ask that right away.

Luna and I both chuckled. “No, nothing like that,” I laughed. We each held up our hands, showing my folks the engagement bands.

“We’re engaged,” Luna beamed.

The wait for an answer to a proposal may be the longest wait of your life, but the wait for approval from your parents is definitely a close second. You can never really tell what they’ll say about news like that, no matter how well you think you know them. Honestly I was expecting some sort of protest and/or argument about it, but they surprised me again. Rather than trying to tell me off, they both rushed forward, arms wide and faces smiling. They each hugged and kissed us in turn, congratulating us.

“I’m sure that you two will be happy for a long, long time,” mom said.

“You certainly already seem to be,” dad added. “Have you set a date?”

I swear Luna must have been keeping psychic tabs on my thoughts, because as soon as I thought of saying “Tomorrow,” she squeezed my hand tightly. Getting the hint, I just said, “Sometime this summer. The dates aren’t exact yet.”

“Dates?” I have to admit, mom caught that kind of little stuff well.

I nodded, trying to think of a tactful way to word it. “Well, let’s all sit down and we can talk about that.”

We lucked out and mom had thought to make a vegetarian meal. She had spaghetti with meat-less sauce, homemade garlic bread, and a large bowl of buttered string beans. A glass of water and a glass of milk sat next to each setting, and the good silverware was put out. They really went all out for this dinner. I guess they wanted to make a good impression, despite their reservations.

We all sat, mom and dad said their grace, Luna and I whispered quick thanks to the god of this world and the goddesses of Equestria, and we all began to fill our plates. As we began to eat, mom repeated her question. “So, what dates are you thinking of for the wedding?”

“Uh, a couple of days in late July, after the summer heat but before the fall chill. Maybe even early August.”

“And what’s this about multiple dates?”

“Well, we’ll have to get married twice. Once in Equestria and once here on earth. We have everything ready for the Equestrian wedding, I just have to talk to our friends there and give them a date and it’s practically done. Here on earth we have… everything left to do.”

Luna started, like she had just remembered something. “Oh, honey, I got a florist picked out.”

“That’s great. But we do need a date.”

“I like August. What about Sunday the fifth?”

“Ok. We have a date.”

Mom and dad were… surprised, to say the least. “You mean you’re going to go with the first date you think of?”

I nodded and swallowed a mouthful of spaghetti. “Yeah, sure. Why not?”

Mom sighed. “It just doesn’t usually work like that. You have to figure out a date that works for the florists, the caterer of you have one, for your friends, your family, the church and priest, everyone!”

I thoughtfully nodded. “Yup. August fifth sounds good. We’re still far enough out that people have enough time to sort out their schedules. Don’t worry, we have no idea what we’re doing.”

“Well, you are a professional at doing that,” mom admitted a little sourly.

“Oh,yeah,” Luna added, a little spaghetti still in her mouth.

“What has he done without thinking recently?” dad asked, a mischievous glint in his eye.

Luna thought for a second, then answered. “Talked an emotional woman out of shooting up a local bar in a fit of vengeful rage.”

We had discussed it at the apartment, and we had decided to tell my parents about the bar carefully. This wasn’t careful. In the least. But it was all sorts of interesting and funny. Mom instantly started choking on her spaghetti and dad involuntarily spat his milk at me from across the table. I was barely able to get a magical shield up in time to save Luna and I from the airborne beverage. Luna moved quickly and gave my mom a slap on the back, forcing her to cough the pasta up.

“What did he do?” mom asked breathlessly.

I just shrugged. “She was a girl I had gone out with a couple times. I didn’t break it off in the strictest terms when I started dating Luna. Instead I sort of just didn’t ever talk to or see her again. Luna made me call her and offer to buy her a drink and talk it out. Luna came with to apologize too, despite my protests,” I added with a glare at her. “And she went berserk. She pulled a gun on me and started screaming at me, threatening to shoot me. She fired one round into the ceiling and pointed it back at me, still screaming, and I told her that if she shot me she would also hurt innocent people. I told her if she could live with that, she could fire away. I knew she couldn’t live with that, and she gave up the gun. It was no big thing.”

Mom and dad obviously didn’t believe me, but Luna hugged my arm and put her head on my shoulder. “You should be very proud of him. As soon as she pulled the gun he put himself in front of me and spread his arms to block off the rest of the bar a little better. And while he should have called her in the first place, he did try to make amends.”

Their looks of doubt changed into looks of pride. “Well, I can’t say I like the idea of you having a gun pointed at you, or not calling a girl back, but I am immensely proud of you, son,” dad said. He always talked like he was some ancient guy when he was feeling emotional.

“Yes. We raised you well,” mom added.

I just shrugged and laughed, embarrassed. “Well enough. Come on, guys. It was just a matter of convincing her that revenge wasn’t the answer. She’ll get some psychiatric help and be good as new.”

The conversation went around for a little while, but as we ran out of things to talk about and the food was finished or cold, topics started to become more and more oriented towards Equestria and Luna’s forms. Finally, dad asked the question I had been listening for. “So, what do you look like in your other form?”

Luna looked at me, like she was searching for approval. I nodded. She smiled kindly at my dad and posed a counter-question. “Would you like me to show you? It is difficult to explain.”

Mom and dad both nodded, dad a little more uneasily than mom. Luna stood up and took a couple steps into the living room. She spread her wings and focused on her magic. Soon, whisps of indigo magic began to twist around her, enveloping in a familiar cocoon of transformation magic. They stirred up a slight wind as they circled her, just enough to drown out the few sounds of discomfort she made as her bones reformed themselves to fit an equines body. In about thirty seconds, she was fully transformed and standing in front of us again, a full alicorn. She was wearing her best royal getup, her crown, slippers and breastplate. Even as a pony she looked ready to go to the social event of the season. I guess she was really worried about making a good impression on my parents.

Mom and dad were stunned. Their jaws practically rested on the floor as they looked at her. She walked cautiously up to them and held out a slippered hoof. “This is how I normally look,” She said quietly. “This is the form I was born with.”

My parents turned slowly back to me. “And you can do this too?” mom asked.

I nodded and silently got up from the table. I stood where Luna had been and started my own transformation. I felt my bones reknit themselves, each changing to make way for the muscles and organs that also grew and changed. When I was done, I shuddered. I always felt tingly after a change. I shook my golden mane and stretched the green wings on my back. Looking back at my parents, I wondered if I had given them both heart attacks. They were pale as ghosts and totally dumbfounded.

“But how… what… did you…”

I just grinned. “Yeah, this is my pony body. Pretty sweet, right?”

Mom just groaned a little, but dad still had presence of mind enough to moan an answer. “It depends on what you mean by pretty sweet. If you mean defies everything natural, then yeah. Why didn’t you ever show us this before?”

“Because I knew you would do this. I wasn’t exactly sure how you would take the proposal announcement, but I knew how this would go. Shock, some amount of anguish. Maybe a bit of denial.” I focused myself and turned back into a human, with Luna just behind me. We stood in front of my parents, hoping they would say something. When they didn’t, I started talking again. “Well, this is supposed to be a joyous occasion. We’re getting married! Luna, did you bring the champagne?”

“Oh, right!” She quickly reached into her purse and pulled a bottle out, the bottle we had bought earlier in the week. That caught mom and dad off guard too.

“How did she keep a whole bottle in her little purse?” mom asked, looking almost frightened.

Riiight, they didn’t know the properties of magic. “Luna has a small extra pocket dimension inside her purse. She can keep a substantial amount more she can carry in that purse because of it. They’re actually pretty handy little things. A pony in Equestria seems to have mastered them, she can keep a pony sized party cannon just behind her at all times without it ever really being there. She just reaches behind herself and bam. Cannon.”

Mom and dad nodded and let the subject drop. Instead we enjoyed the drink and each other’s company for a little while. Towards the end of the evening, we played simple party games. Charades, I think. And that word game where you describe the words without saying certain other words. Taboo, maybe? Mom and dad won whatever I’m remembering as charades, but Luna and I won Taboo with ease. We didn’t discuss ponies or Equestria any more unless it was prudent to the topic at hand, and tensions seemed to relax. When we finally left, everyone seemed happy. Luna shook hands with both my parents again and thanked them.

“You have a lovely home,” she said. “And you’ve done a fantastic job of raising your son.”

“We’d like to think so,” mom joked. “It was very nice to meet you. I’m so glad Adam found someone as good as you.”

She smiled wide. “Thank you very much.” I thanked my parents and Luna and I flew away, enjoying the nice evening air on our faces. “That went well,” Luna noted happily.”

“They were terrified of you. From the moment they saw you and saw how beautiful you are, a tiny voice nagged them in the back of their minds saying ‘What’s wrong with this picture?’ They didn’t know what would be considered polite, so they played it up in all aspects of the word.” I muttered this half for Luna’s benefit, half for mine.

She tilted her head and looked at me funny. “So, you don’t thing it went well?”

“On the contrary. It went better than I even dreamed it would.”

Comments

[Aunty Furby]

XD what did he think would happen?

[Flaming Silver]

8209741
idk maybe sprout tentacles or something