Living with the Night

Chapter 6

Fight!

Connor was siting on his bed with his laptop resting on his lap as he was owning in Team Fortress 2 as the sniper. He had just managed to kill a heavy, and a medic as he heard a knock at his door.

“Yeah?” He said looking up from his laptop. His face flushed deep red when he saw Luna wearing the maid outfit from the other day. “Um, Luna why are you wearing that again?” The mare sauntered into his room while swinging her hips and having a grin on her face.

“We know that you like us better like this.” She cooed. Connor gulped as she started to crawl on top of him and levitated his laptop to the side. Connor was frozen as the mare set her weight on top of his mid section and got her face closer to his. “We feel guilty. Here we are living in your home and we have yet to pay our rent.” Connor felt his arms being pinned by the Alicorn’s arms. Despite her size, she was probably as strong as Big Mac.

“Th-that’s not necessary Luna.” He gulped as his face grew redder as he saw the Alicorn’s half lidded eyes.

“Oh we believe it is.” She took both his hands and pressed them against her soft breasts causing her to moan loudly and her tail to curl around his leg. Connor felt himself stiffening as Luna’s hands reached down and started unbuttoning his pants. “And we’ll be sure to pay you back with interest.” The mare pressed her lips against his neck and nibbled lightly. Connor’s eyes rolled back as Luna’s hands wrapped themselves around his shaft.

Connor looked down and saw something that made his pulse skyrocket. Something that filled him with fear. Luna’s fur had vanished and only showed white human skin, her eyes had shifted from blue to green and her hair had turned to jet black. His eyes shrank and tried to move but found his hands pinned by the woman.

“Anna.” He said with enough venom to put down an Ursa Major.

“Oh don’t be like that baby.” She said in a sweet tone. He tried resisting again, but found it futile. “Now let’s have some fun~” The man’s heart was beating so fast that he thought it would imitate a chest-burster and start singing vaudeville. Leaving no alternative, he screamed.

~~~

Once again, the man shot up in a cold sweat and panting heavily. He looked down at his shaking hands and gripped his hair. Oh god, why’d she, of all people, show up?

It was starting out so well too.

Shut up. The man got out of bed and stretched before heading downstairs. He decided that he would make waffles. He got out the fixings for the buttery squares of delight. After he had made a plate for himself he heard a noise coming from the other room and left to investigate. It was a scratching noise coming from the basement door. Must be mice. I’ll have to get Fluttershy over here sometime.

The man returned to the kitchen to see the Princess of the night looming over his waffles with hunger in her eyes. “Hey! Those are mine!” He said in the same tone he used when he was training Nero to not beg for food while he was eating dinner.

“But they smell so good!”

“Then wait a few minutes and I’ll make more.” Luna pouted and crossed her arms. She smirked and made the biggest puppy dog eyes the man had ever seen. Must...resist urge to daww! The man tried to resist the Princess Puppy eyes of cuteness. Fight it! Fight it! Sweat was forming on his brow and was biting his lip.

“Pweese?” She said as she added a quivering lip.

Hurk! That did it!

“Just take it and make the eyes stop it burns!” He groaned.

“Ha-ha, we are victorious!” Luna said as she levitated the plate over and dug into her newly acquired waffles. Connor grumbles as he put more batter into the waffle press.

“Head these words Princess,” He said pointing the spatula at her in a dramatic manor. “Justice will be swift, justice will be painful,” He made his free hand into a fist. “It. Will be. DELICIOUS!” He said as he got his own waffled out of the iron and sat down across from the Alicorn who was munching on her waffled.

Daww. Looks like somepony likes waffles~ He thought in a baby like voice.

Shut up!

Goddamn it Luna! The Princess scores again and he decided to go back to his waffles.

“So, what was your nightmare about?” He looked at the Princess in shock. “We heard you screaming. Again.” She set her fork down and looked at him with seriousness in her eyes.

“Nothing.” He lied as Luna narrowed her eyes.

“I believe the term one would use is, bullshit. You have been woke up nearly every night since we arrived here and we know something is troubling you. Now tell us what is wrong?”

“No offense Princess, but it’s none of your business.” His tone was flat as a wall.

“It is our job to watch over ponies’ dreams while they sleep.”

“Exactly, ‘ponies’ dreams. I’m not a pony.” Luna frowned.

“You know what I mean.” Connor groaned and rubbed his eyes.

“Look Luna, it’s most likely a side effect of the drugs I’m on. I have my last check up today and I don’t have to take it anymore. Problem solved.” Luna noticed that he only ate one of his waffles and threw the other in the freezer. After getting dressed he grabbed his cane and made his way towards the hospital with the disguised Princess in tow. “What are you doing?”

“We have never seen Ponyville’s medical facilities.” Connor shrugged and the two continued towards the hospital. Luna noticed how tired the man looked and sighed as she put a hand on his shoulder.

“What the?” He was cut off as he saw a flash of blue light and he was in front of the hospital in an instant. He looked at Luna who was panting heavily. “You okay?”

“Yes, I’m just not use to teleporting another with me.”

“Well, thanks for the lift. You don’t have to come with me.” Luna crossed her arms and followed him inside. A familiar white furred nurse walked up to them with a smile on her face.

“Morning Connor.” She said with a smile. She noticed the blue mare and raised an eyebrow. “Who’s this?” Before Connor could answer, Luna stepped forwards.

“I’m Azure Star. I’m Connor’s roommate.” Red Heart perked up at the name.

“Oh so this is the mare all the stallions have been going crazy over?” Luna blushed and Red Heart smirked as she looked at Connor. “You sly dog.”

“It’s not like that.” He sighed. “Can we please get these tests over with so I can ditch this thing?” He held up the cane. Red Heart chuckled and led the man towards an examination room where the tan Unicorn stallion was waiting for him. Red Heart took Luna aside.

“Sorry, but you have to wait our here. Patient and doctor confidentiality.”

“I understand. So you know Connor?”

“Yes, I treated him while he was recovering from Tirek’s attack.”

“How bad were his injuries?” Red Heart sighed and lowered her head.

“I can’t give you any details, but” The Nurse bit her lip. “I’ve been a nurse for most of my adult life and I’ve seen a lot of things. When they brought that man in...I couldn’t even tell what I was looking at until Princess Twilight explained what had happened.” Luna only gulped at the words.

“Nurse-”

“Please call me Red Heart. Everyone does.” She smiled.

“You prescribed him pills to help his recovery yes?” The nurse nodded. “Were there meant to be any side effects?” The nurse raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“None that I can think of. Why?”

“Don’t tell Connor I told you this, but he’s been having nightmares. He said it was probably a side effect from the drugs, but I am having my doubts.”

“He’s still having those?”

“You knew?”

“I figured it was from the trauma. We has a psychologist come and check him out, but she said that he was perfectly fine.” Luna scratched her chin as she thought.

“Well, whatever it is, it cannot go ignored. Could you schedule a test on his brain?”

“No problem, but the bill is being covered by the crown.” Luna smiled coyly.

“I’m sure they won’t mind.” Red Heart went into the room and saw that the doctor had finished up with his physical examination. She whispered into the doctor’s ear and he nodded.

“Hang on Mr. Rowe. We just want to do a quick neural scan.”

“What for?”

“To see if there’s any residual trauma. It’ll only take a few minutes.” Connor was lead down the hall to a large MRI like machine that hummed when the doctor turned it on. He stripped and put on one of those god awful hospital gowns that tied up in the back. Seriously, it’s like the person, or pony in this case, specifically designed it so it was a pain in the ass to get on and made the wearer feel awkward. He laid down on the table and saw the machine start moving as a magic laser went over his face a few times before stopping.

He stood back up and dressed himself. “Okay, Mr. Rowe you’re free to go. We’ll get the results in a few days.”

“Thanks doc, for everything.” He shook the stallion’s hand and smiled. He walked out to see Luna chatting with Red Heart. This can’t be good He approached the two giggling mares and crossed his arms. “Hey girls, having ourselves a little chat?”

“Yes, just telling funny stories.” Luna stated. “Are you okay to leave?”

“Yup, clean bill of health!” He said as he raised his hands in victory. He said goodbye to Red Heart and handed her back the cane he had used to get home from the hospital.

“What now?” Luna asked.

“Now? I’m heading to the gym. I’ve been cooped up for three months and I wanna work off the weight I accumulated.”

“That sounds fun.”

“I think Rarity goes to some yoga class there.” The two grabbed their gym clothes and made their way towards the work out center. As Connor stepped in he noted that Dash, Soarin, AJ, Caramel, Thunderlane and Rarity were stretching out. Why AJ went to the gym was a mystery to the man. Her job was excruciating enough. He went into the locker room to change and saw three familiar Pegasus stallions. The same three that loved to give Dash and Shy a hard time.

He paid them no mind as he got changed into a black wife beater and maroon gym shorts with a stripe going down the side. He walked out and was greeted by the two earth ponies. “Hey guys. What brings you here?” AJ glared at Caramel.

“Ah caught this one cheating on his diet. So now he’s paying for it.” Connor had heard that since Caramel and AJ had reached the six month mark in their relationship that the tan stallion had been gorging himself on her families goodies. No pony could blame him, the Apple family were famous for their baked good that the finest cooks in all the Universe couldn’t compete with, except maybe Pinkie Pie.

“Worth it!” Caramel exclaimed. The other two stallions then came over. Three jaws dropped and two sets of wings sprung up like wound spring.

“What?” Soarin turned the man around and he understood. There stood the disguised Princess with her blue mane in a ponytail, donning a sports bra that ended just above her stomach that showed a well defined six pack and a pair of pants that hugged her magnificent legs. Thankfully, Connor’s arousal was easier to hide due to lack of wings and the fact that since he moved into a world who’s society had a female ratio of seventy percent versus the male’s thirty percent, he had developed a technique that had saved him for awkward situations many times. What is this strange technique? Boner Control.

“Connor, could you show me how things work here. I am not well versed in some of the equipment.” Connor gulped and snapped out of the daze.

“Sure no problem.” He looked to his right and saw the three stallions being dragged by their mare friends. Connor lead her over to the weight machine and the two started stretching. The man’s face was burning as he couldn’t help but notice how flexible she was. Her toned muscles shined and he nearly lost it when she bent forward and touched her toes.

Meanwhile across the room, the three stallions were huddled up. With devious thoughts on their minds.

“Okay gents, I’ve got an idea.” Thunder said.

“This should be good.” Caramel said with his voice dripping in sarcasm.

“Hey, unlike your plan with the flower ponies this will actually work.” Soarin arched an eyebrow at the stallion.

“What? Rose, Daisy and Lilly are hot. I thought Connor would go for them.” Caramel shrugged. Thunder pulled his phone out and dialed a number. After a few hushed words he closed the phone and returned to his workout. Five minutes later two Pegasus mares with similar silver colored manes and same light purple coat approached them. They were both wearing skin tight pants that went to their knees and sports bras. The only difference was their mane styles, One was neatly combed and had a bow in her hair, while the other was more on the wild side.

“Morning Flitter, Cloud Chaser.” Thunder smiled. He threw and arm around Soarin. “I’d like you to meet my good friend Soarin. You two might know him.” Both their wings shot up when they saw the Wonderbolt. “I’ll take that as a yes. Anyway, we have a proposition for you.”

“Name it.” Flitter said as she drooled. Thunder gestured over to Connor who was on the bench press, while Luna was chatting with Dash, AJ and Rarity.

“You see Connor is a bit lonely without a partner so we were wondering if you could remedy that for us.”

“What’s in it for us?” Cloud Chaser asked as she crossed her arms.

“Glad you asked. Soarin here has offered to introduce you to any Wonderbolt for your services.”

“I did?” Thunder gave him a small punch in the back. “I mean, yeah sure.” The gears in the mares’ heads started turning.

“So,” Flitter started. “you’re saying that if we rock Connor’s world, then you’ll set us up with any Wonderbolt?”

“Any, except me. I’m taken.” He said pointing to Dash.

“Flitter?” Her sister said getting her attention. “Is today our birthday?”

“No.”

“Well, it should since we just hit the jackpot.” Cloud said as she looked at the man and licked her lips. “I’ve always wondered how he was beneath the sheets.” The two mares accepted the proposal and sauntered their way over to the man while the stallions fist bumped each other.

“Wow, I guess Rarity was wrong about you Thunder.” Soarin said. “You’re not a muscle for brains, skirt chasing, ego maniac.”

“Oh stop. You’re gonna make me blush.” He said with a grin. Across the room the girls were chatting away. Rarity noticed that the blue mare was occasionally looking over at the man and a coy grin grew on her lips.

“So Azure,” Luna turned her head. “how has living with Connor been?”

“Very good. Connor has been a great host and a good friend.” Luna smiled.

“Oh yes, Connor is very charming wouldn’t you say?” Luna gave a small blush, but hid it well.

“I-I suppose.” Dash caught onto Rarity’s plan and smirked.

“Not to bad to look at either.” She looked over to the man who was squatting 130lb. Luna blushed harder as she saw the sweat accumulating on his body.

“H-he seems very fit.” She said as she quickly turned away.

“Oh come now dear, don’t be shy. There’s no shame in looking.” Luna lowered her head.

“He wouldn’t be interested in a mare like me.” She said in a saddened tone.

“Well, ah’ll have to disagree,” AJ interjected. “considering the way he was looking at you the same way Caramel was staring at one of my homemade apple pies.” Luna didn’t really understand the farm pony’s expression but it made her feel warm a fuzzy inside.

“Um, AJ.” Dash tapped her friend on the shoulder and pointed to the man chatting with Flitter and Cloud Chaser. Luna’s ears grew flat and sighed. Connor was on his third set and decided to move on to the bench press. He threw on about 120lb as two mares approached him.

“Hey Connor.” Flitter said in a seductive tone.

“Morning ladies.” He said as he lifted the bar off the stands.

“Need a spotter?”

“Sure.” Flitter got behind the bar and place her hands next to his. Every time he pushed up he could have sworn that his hands brushed against the mare’s breasts but played it off as ignorance. He heard a few groans and looked down to see Cloud Chaser stretching in front of him. The mare spread her legs out and bent backwards making her chest squeeze against her sports bra. Connor blushed at this and tried to focus on his work out.

Connor set the bar down and sat up before taking a hit of water from the bottle he brought with him. He noticed that the two sisters were busy stretching and saw their muscles press against their skin. A firm slap on his back brought him out of the trance.

“Hey buddy,” Soarin said as he and Thunderlane walked up to him. “see something you like?” The man blushed at the words. “What? You have to admit that they’re smoking hot.” Connor froze and slowly turned his head towards Soarin.

“Soarin, I don’t care if you are a celebrity, if you even think about cheating on Dash, then so help me I will drag you out by your tail and beat you senseless.” The Pegasus chuckled.

“Okay, first off, you can’t take me.” His tone was cocky. “Second, I’m talking about for you.” Connor knew where this was going and he face palmed. He was about to tell the stallion off when he saw Luna being approached by a familiar grey Pegasus stallion while she was putting some weights away. He couldn’t make out what was said but could tell that Luna was blowing him off.

What happened next made the man’s blood boil. When Luna turned to put her weights down, the stallion gave her a firm slap on her flank. Like a rusty door hinge, the mare turned her head slowly with a look that could make an Ursa void it’s bowels. Connor rushed to prevent Luna from turning the ass hole into dust, while it would be a sight to see, it would blow her cover. Connor tapped on the stallion’s shoulder and frowned.

“There a problem here Endzone?”

“Hell do you want freak?” He said as he looked at the human.

“It looked like you just slapped my roommates ass.” He cracked his neck and got in his face. “I suggest you leave before she or I decide to put you in your place.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“Just stating a fact. What happens next is in your control.” The man crossed his arms.

“Didn’t know you apes had a sense of humor.” He laughed. “Cause if you think that you can actually take me, then that oversized goat must have knocked something loose when he crushed you.” Connor clenched his fist.

“Yeah I fought with Tirek and lost, at least I wasn’t a little pussy who flew home to mommy with their tail between their legs.”

“You’re nothing but a bipedal monkey!” A crowd had soon gathered around the two arguing males.

“You’re nothing more than a bipedal bitch.” The stallion was gritting his teeth. “You know, I always believed that Pegasi wings looked like eagle wings, but in your case I’m willing to believe that yours came from a chicken.”

“Burn!” Dash yelled. The grey stallion cracked his neck and Connor saw his nostrils flaring.

“You. Me. One on one.” The group gulped at the words.

“Any time. Anywhere.”

“Here and now, in the ring.” He looked over towards Snowflake, who was the manager of the gym and he led them through a set of double doors to show a boxing ring with red ropes around it. Connor went back to his locker and grabbed his padded MMA gloves and his mouth guard. He removed his shirt and came back to the ring to see that a crowd had gathered. Snow was in a referee shirt and had a whistle around his neck.

Connor got in the ring and started stretching. Luna blushed brightly seeing the man’s toned, sweating body. She squinted and saw a large scar going down from his right shoulder, across his chest and ending near his pant line. He threw a few quick jabs in the air and raised his fists. Endzone was a few inches taller than Connor and had more muscle on him.

“Ready?” Snow asked. Both fighter’s nodded. “Fight!” He said as the music Connor selected started playing to get him pumped. Connor jumped back and got ready. He dodged a few heavy hits from the stallion and delivered a few quick jabs to his ribs. The Pegasus jumped back and got in a defensive as Connor bombarded him with fast and precise strikes. The stallion saw his chance and he took it. He dodged Connor’s right hook and slammed his right fist into the man’s face. Connor staggered back a few steps and felt his mouth guard fly out of his mouth.

“That all you got bitch?” Endzone said in a mocking tone. Connor looked up at him with a dark grin. A small bit of blood escaped his mouth as he picked up his mouth guard and put it back in. Connor cracked the vertebrae in his neck and back loud enough to be heard by the audience, making Luna cringe.

“Okay,” The man said with a smile. “let’s dance.” His tone had a hint of bloodlust to it. Connor cracked his knuckles and went on the offensive. He started off with slapping the stallion’s ears, disorientating him briefly while he slammed a strong kick into his ribs. Connor then delivered a series of punches to the stallion’s face. Endzone went back and spat some blood from his mouth. The stallion flared his wings and zoomed towards the man and tackled him before he started beating on his head.

Connor put both his arms in front of his face to protect himself. Connor delivered a quick jab to the stallion’s stomach making him freeze. Connor slipped his legs out from underneath the stallion, leaned back and slammed both feet into his jaw. Connor got to his feet and felt that he had a black eye forming. Connor dodged the stallion’s right hook and blocked it, exposing his ribs.

He started slamming his fist into the stallion’s ribs and threw him against the ropes. The Pegasus grinned and flared his wings, as the roped shot him back into the ring. Connor readied himself and went underneath the stallion as he charged, before slamming his fist into his gut. The man was sure he heard bones crack, making some of the crowd wince. As Connor bit his lip from the pain in his hand he felt a pair of strong arms wrap around him attempt to throw him over the ropes.

Connor extended his hand and grabbed the top rope in mid air. He held on until the last second and felt the wind rush past his face. He adjusted his body so his right leg was sticking out and delivered a kick that could rival Applejack’s. The Pegasus flung back agains the ropes and dropped to the ground. Connor was ready and Snow started counting.

To everyone’s surprise the grey stallion was getting to his hooves and looked madder then ever. “Time to end this.” The man charged forward and the two locked blows. The man caught Endzone’s fists in his palms and the two entered a power struggle. Connor then quickly gripped his opponent’s wrists and slammed his forehead against the stallion’s.

He felt blood coming from his head and he was dizzy. Endzone had the worse of it and staggered back. The human rushed forward delivering a series of kicks and punches to the stallion’s body. Connor paused and saw that the stallion was barely on his hooves.

“Finish him!” The crowd yelled out in a Mortal Kombat like voice. Connor grinned and charged forwards and primed his muscles. Like bullet he shot towards the stallion with his right fist clenched. As he got into proximity he delivered a powerful uppercut to the stallion’s chin that launched him off his hooves and out of the ring. Connor heard the bell ring and he raised his right arm in victory.

“Still think you can take him Soarin?” Thunderlane asked as he looked at the surprised blue stallion. The man got out of the ring and saw the grey stallion being helped up by the other two stallions.

“If you ever want a good beat down Endzone, you know where to find me.”

“You’ll pay for this freak!” He said as he started to limp away.

“Yeah, yeah, keep barking little dog.” Connor walked back into the locker room and let the cold water wash over his sweating body. His adrenaline had worn off and he was just feeling the effects of the fight. Totally worth it. The man got changed back into his street clothes and exited the room to face the cheering crowd. Still got it. He thought as he walked through and found himself outside. He heard some hoof steps and saw a familiar blue mare in front of him.

“You won!” Luna smiled.

“Yeah, no surprise to me.” He said as he started to walk towards home. His black eye was clearly visible and he had a large bruise on his cheek.

“You’re injured.”

“Nothing a little ice can’t fix.” The two then saw three fillies. A yellow earth pony filly with a dark red mane, a white Unicorn with a curly purple mane and tail and the orange Pegasus with a dark purple mane. “Hey girls” He said with a smile.

“Hey Connor.” Sweetie chimed. “Have you seen Pip?”

“No, haven’t seen him in a while. Why?”

“He’s upset.” The man blinked in surprise.

“Over what?” The three looked at one another and had nervous looks on their faces.

“Just Diamond Tiara again.” Scoot stated. Connor had heard enough stories from the CMC to get the gist of the bully’s attitude.

“What’d she say this time?” Hh crossed his arms.

“Just the usual blank flank comments.” Applebloom sighed.

“Then she went on about he’s an orphan.” That lit the fire in the man’s eyes and he gritted his teeth. “But don’t worry,” Scootaloo said. “I took care of it.” Connor noticed some bruising on her right hand.

“Nice. Where are you three off to?”

“To try to get our sky diving Cutie Marks.” The farmer smiled.

“How are-” Connor blinked and stopped himself. “Never mind, I don’t even wanna know. Just be careful.” The three nodded and went off to most likely cause hundreds of bits worth of damage.

“Aren’t those Honesty’s, Loyalty’s and Generosity’s younger sisters?”

“Only the yellow and white ones. Scootaloo just looks at Dash like a big sister.”

“So like you and young Pipsqueak?”

“Yeah.” He said as he opened the door to his home and Nero came bounding out. The dog’s ears wet back and whined as he saw his owner’s bruised face. “Don’t worry boy, just a flesh wound.” He said as he sat down on the couch.

“Where did you learn to fight like that?’ Luna asked as she sat next to him. Connor only grinned.

“When you grow up with three older brothers, you can either A; learn how to fight, or B; get held down and get burped on for the rest of my life. Choice is kind of obvious.”

“What are they like?”

“Hm?”

“Your siblings? What are they like?” Connor sighed.

“My siblings are two sets of twins. My brother Chris and my sister Chloe are two years older than me. Then there’s Cole and Clint, those two are a year above me.” Luna gave a small giggle. “What?”

“All your names begin with C.”

“I noticed.” He deadpanned.

“You said before that they were extremely talented.”

“Oh yeah. Chris is the brains of the family, he got straight A’s all through middle school and High school. I think he became a doctor.”

“All that time?”

“Yup and Chris was a genius. Next is Chloe, she’s the only girl. Her attribute was her looks. Her nick name in High School was ‘Heart-Break-Chloe.’ Though don’t let the pretty face fool you, she’s really smart, not as much as Chris, but she’s up there.”

“She sounds nice.”

“Think of Rarity with human skin and blonde hair. Also throw in Dash’s quick temper and AJ super strength.” Luna gulped. “Yeah, one time she caught her boyfriend kissing another girl and she broke three of his ribs and his collar bone. So it’s not wise to piss her off.”

“Noted. Who’s next?”

“Cole. He was the jock of our family. Name any sport, he can play it. Football, wrestling, track, baseball, etcetera. His nick name was ‘Cole train.’”

“Why?”

“If you had the ball then he’d run right over you. He was the line backer for our high school’s football team all through his years.”

“Sounds like a brute.”

“Kinda, but he’s more of the strong silent type. Like Applejack’s brother.”

“Macintosh is his name?”

“Yup. Just don’t piss him off or he will break you over his knee.”

What is with this family and violence? Luna thought.

“Finally there’s Clint, he’s on the more art side of the spectrum, average grades, he was good on the track team, but quit to perfect his painting and drawing skills. He won the school’s art show three years in a row.” Connor smiled.

“And what about the fighting thing?”

“Oh we’re all trained in self defense. Chris is a black belt in Tai Kwon Do. Chloe knows Judo. Cole can knock you out with one punch and Clint knows Kickboxing.”

“What about you?”

“Mixed Martial Arts or MMA. It’s sort of a fusion of a few different styles.”

“So what about you? What’s your specialty?” The man hung his head and the air grew stale.

“I don’t have one. Anything I did do, they did better.” Luna felt a pulse of guilt go through her body.

“Oh come now, there must be something-”

“There isn’t!” He said frowning. Luna backed off and saw sadness in the man’s eyes.

“Sorry for snapping like that, but it’s the truth. I know it, my parents know it, everybody knows it. I’m the runt of the litter.” Connor hung his head as Luna put a hand on his back. “They also made sure I knew it.” He said in a low tone.

“Pardon?”

“With siblings like mine, you can bet I had a hell of a name to live up to and no matter what I did, I always disappointed them.” He buried his face in his palms. “When I graduated High School, my principal said this and I quote ‘You’ll never be as great as your brothers, but you can sure as hell try.’” Luna put a hand to her mouth in shock.

“What did you do?”

“What I always did, smiled and nodded.” Luna could faintly see a tear form in his eye.

“What about your parents? What did they do?”

“Mom split when I was thirteen and my dad laughed.” Now Luna was pissed.

“How could he be so cruel?”

“Chris and the others were furious though and Chloe gave the prick a tongue lashing the likes I’ve never seen. I’m fairly certain if Cole didn’t hold her back, then she would have broken his legs.” Connor saw the Princess remove her gauntlet and she returned to normal. She draped a wing around his shoulders and rested her head against his chest. He blushed brightly at this.

“Where are they now?”

“Last time I checked, Chris is a doctor. Chloe is a model for some magazine company. Cole is being scouted for several sports teams and I think Clint has some art tour thing going on. Course I haven’t talked to them in about two years.”

“Why?”

“Well, before I got sent here they were very busy and we didn’t talk often. When the portals opened up I sent a letter to my old house and didn’t get a reply back. I still send one every two weeks, but still nothing. It doesn’t even get returned.” Luna nuzzled his chest and sighed.

He smells nice. She quickly shoved that thought aside and cleared her throat.

“We are sure that they are anxious to see you.” Connor gave a nod and winced.

“Sorry, I should have put some ice on this when I got in.” He gestured to his eyes and cheek. He stood up and walked over to the freezer and pulled out one of those blue plastic freezer things meant for lunch boxes.

“Yes, about that.” Luna said as she sat indian style on the couch. “Why did you start that fight?”

“Why do you think? Prick deserved it.”

“Yes, but we could have handled it just fine ourselves.”

“I know. Thats why I stepped in.” Luna raised an eyebrow. “I’m fairly certain that Endzone would be on the surface of the moon right now had I not cleaned his clock.” Luna had to admit that was one of the thousand scenarios that played through her mind after the stallion spanked her. “Your cover would have been blown and I’m certain the gym would no longer be standing.”

“That is,” Luna had no argument so she just sighed. “possible.”

“Thought so. Besides, I wasn’t about to let him get away with treating a friend of mine like that.” He said as he switched the pack from his eye to his cheek. Luna saw that his eye was now swollen shut and she lowered her head in guilt. She took the ice pack away from him. “Hey I was-” He was cut off as he felt a pair of soft lips on his bruised cheek. His injury pulsed as his face grew bright red. Luna broke the embrace and had a blush of her own to match his.

“We thought you deserved a reward.” The man felt a tingling sensation on his face and his vision in his eye returned to normal. He looked at his phone and selected the camera to see that his wounds were healed. “There, our noble night is fully healed.” She chimed.

“So I guess that makes you the damsel in distress.” Luna growled at the words.

Daww, she’s blushing.

Cease thy teasing!

Goddamn it Luna! The man sighed and brought his laptop down and loaded up Team Fortress 2.

“What is that?”

“Computer game.”

“Can we play?” She asked as she summoned a blue laptop with a moon on the top.

“Sure, let me just- SWEET MOTHER TERESA ON THE HOOD OF A MERCEDES BENDZ!” Luna’s desktop was filled with pop-up ads ranging from those annoying ‘You’ve won the Mexican Lottery’ to ‘An Indian Prince wants to meet you.’ “Luna, what the actual fuck happened here?”

“We received a message that we won a prize, we are still waiting for it.” Connor face palmed.

“Luna, do you do any important business on here?”

“Like?”

“Oh you know, sensitive documents that could potentially start a war or military secrets?”

“No, this is strictly for gaming. Why?” Connor walked over to a desk and pulled out a zip drive.

“Hang on, I’ll take care of this.”

“No, I like all the flashing lights.” Connor deadpanned at the Princes.

“Luna, your laptop is infected with a virus. If it were a human or pony, I’d get my gun and shoot it in the face. Twice.” Connor pulled out a pair of wire rim glasses and cracked his knuckles. He plugged the zip drive in and Luna watched him type in several bits of code and watched as a loading bar appeared.

“You wear glasses?”

“Only when I’m working.” He hit the enter key and the loading bar started moving.

“Okay, now we just wait until it scrubs your hard drive clean.”

“What purpose does that serve?”

“It was slowing down your internet connection and if you had any sensitive documents then they’d be copied and sent to god knows where.” A small dinging noise came form the computer. “Aha! Just as I thought, Trojan virus, Spy wear and a whole other assortment of shit.” A day may come when you destroy someone’s laptop, but it is not this day! Go back to the shadow, I hence forth banish you from space and time! He hit the enter key and he imagined the monsters screaming in pain as the anti-virus destroyed them.

Huzzah! We are victorious!

Gah! Did you hear that? A small blush on her face answered that question. He logged on and set Luna up with and account on Steam. Luna decided to go with demo man, but kept getting sniped by the same player resulting in giving the phrase ‘rage quit’ a whole new meaning. Connor decided to quit and start making dinner. Afterwards the man felt the exhaustion take him and head up.

“Good night Luna.”

“Goodnight, it looks like that sniper logged off.”

“Yeah here’s a tip. Stay out of my scope, it’s really boring killing the same person for three hours straight.” He quickly zoomed upstairs as Luna’s eyes glowed with rage and tried to shoot him with a magic blast. “Vengeance is a dish best served cold.” He chuckled as he laid down on his bed. A little while later, Luna got peckish and started looking for some ice cream. She ventured down into the basement and retrieved the carton of dairy delight.

After she had cleaned up, she went up to her room and assumed her night duties. There’s just one problem, she forgot to lock the basement door.