Author's Note

Continued from previous chapter.

Dinner with Rarity and her family.

Hondo Flanks looked across the table to the young man his daughter Rarity had brought for dinner. When he asked his daughter why she'd brought him over after school with him standing awkwardly in the driveway, she only replied.

"Please daddy? He's very nice, a little shy and awkward but I think he could use a nice family dinner, don't you agree?" She said giving him and Cookie Crumbles her big glittery eyes. Neither Cookie or Hondo could deny those eyes of her's, so with that Brandon Crowe now sat at the far end of the table, he looked from the sets of forks and knives the family had laid out to eat the salad, soup, roast chicken and dumplings, and sides with, truly it felt so odd to the young man who's prior eating etiquette had been limited to extra cheese and stuffed crust pizzas most nights.

Rarity seemed to notice how her new friend seemed almost afraid to touch the short fork over the long one, possbly afraid they'd glare at him for using a salad fork to eat breaded broccoli or something like that. So he was content to just munch rolls without even buttering them. "You know Brandon, the silverware arrangement is mostly for show, you don't have to be afraid to eat with the right or wrong utensil around here, really just so long as you use them at all." Rarity said pouring balsamic vinegar dressing on her garden salad.

"Oh...my bad." He said taking a big fork and spearing a slice of chicken breast so thin and minuscule it was almost fruitless to eat it, Cookie raised an eyebrow at this, being a woman who prefered to see people eat and enjoy her dishes to the fullest.

"Mr....Brandon, please we have more than enough food in this house...eat." She said spooning a bigger slice onto his plate.

"Are you sure it's okay?" He asked looking at the slice of roaat as she smothered it in homemade dumplings and gravy. Cookie was honestly surprised by that statement.

"Hey now is this because Rarity invited you and not us? I assure you that you are more than welcome in our humble abode." She said patting his head softly.

"Yeah, it's almost like I have a big brother like Apple Bloom now!" Sweetie Belle said happily carving rivers in her mashed potatoes and filling them in with gravy.

"No it's not that, it's more...you see in my house and I know this is yours just bear with me on this, everyone is responsible for feeding themselves, sure we may have pizza or take oit together on Friday or Saturday, but any other times, well if it's your own food you paid for, you eat it and only you can eat it." He said as he stuffed his hungry cheeks with dumplings.

"You mean your family doesn't...share food or neals together Brandon?" Hondo asked in surprise, if he heard him correctly, this young man has just dropped a noodle implication that he was practically starving.

"My family believes in the superiority of the individual over the group, that only one can control their own destiny and selective social....awww never mind I shouldn't bore you guys with that." He said licking gravy off his fingers the warm, savory white drippings tasted so delicious.

"So your family doesn't believe in...generosity?" Rarity asked in surprise.

"They are who they are...they can only go so far with ideas like love and generosity." He said looking at his hands, Rarity and Sweetie Belle both seeing an Edward Scissorhands in all but his namesake. The family as a whole realizing why he was so thin, and shy. Cookie placed a hand on the lad's cheek Hondo his shoulders.

"Listen kid, the family business, Carousel Boutique, can always use an extra set of hands around. Hondo told him.

"And you'll always be welcome to stay with my sister and me if you need it okay?" Rarity said twirling her indigo hair at him.

"Thank you, all of you, for everything, especially in this time of the year." Brandon looked at Rarity smiling at her lovingly, "Rarity? Is your heart made of gold? Or is it just that big?" He said blushing and laughing as the rest of her family laughed as well.

"Oh darling, it's a little of column A, and a bit of column B." Rarity said giving a playful wink blowing him a little kiss. The lot of them ate together enjoying the company that the family seemed to be able to give each other. To Brandon, the feelings they seemed to have for each other, from Hondo and Cookie's love as a married couple to the sisterly bond of Sweetie Belle and Rarity as they smiled at each other from across the table, hisheart welled up with a sensation of compassion and understanding, the likes he had never felt before.

"I only hope I'm not impeding on your family life, I just...It'd be the last thing I'd ever want to do to such a great family that's not even my own. Cookie scoffed and added more creamed spinach onto his plate, the perfect blend of heavy cream and the otherwise often undesirable vegetable.

"Oh it's no trouble at all Brandon."

"You under the umbrella of the element of generosity now." Rarity said as auras only visable to her went from the family members to her combining into one.

"What's that mean Rarity?" Brandon asked to lost in the warmth of the generosity aruas to care.

"Ohhhh nothing darling, nothing for you concern yourself with...at least not at this point." She said giggling softly.