Family Issues

-Fluttershy's Cottage, Ponyville-

Lucky Dragon gazed up at the building with a sigh, adjusting his cousins suit slung over his shoulder. Junior had insisted he keep it for when he needed it most... against his better judgment.

Lucky skeptically shook his head before noticing that the door he had broken down a mere week ago had been repaired and repainted. The stallion chuckled quietly to himself, only to receive a quick jab to the shoulder.

The kirin whipped around and slammed his jaws shut inches from the police officer's face. The mare reeled back with horror as Lucky pulled away, a grin on his face. "Keep that in mind the next time you try pushing around a kaiju," he sneered, swinging back around and approaching Fluttershy's cottage.

"S-sorry," the officer stammered, a bead of sweat upon her brow.

"It's fine... You're not the first," Lucky replied, swiveling his head to look at the police mare. The stallion snickered at her terrified expression.

-Minutes Later-

Lucky looked down at the bright red door, confusion etched across his face. "Uuh... Open? Sesame?" he said disbelievingly.

The police officer rolled her eyes and tapped a hoof, taking a quick glance at her watch. "Try knocking," she groaned, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, don't you have a donut shop to be at?!" Lucky barked back, lifting a clawed forelimb to the door.

The mare fell silent as the stallion struck the door several times with his hoof (?).

"I'll be right there!" he heard through the door. With that, he watched the door swing open to reveal a disheveled Fluttershy before him, her mane a mess (a result of a bird trying to make a nest of it), and wings drooped. "Lucky!" she exclaimed, her wings lifting to attention.

"Hi," he said, lifting a slightly disgusted lip.

"Sorry," she grimaced, pushing her mane out of her face. "Bird care... C'mon in," she continued, beckoning the stallion inside with a smile. "Thank you, Ma'am," she proceeded to the police mare.

"Mm," she grumbled, turning to her police vehicle.

As soon as she was out of sight, Fluttershy gently closed the door, a soft sigh escaping her throat. Turning to her guest, the muscularly built kirin stallion, she spotted him treading around the living room, his eyes roving over the area and its inhabitants. She watched as Lucky approached a miniature house that hung from the ceiling. The pegasus chuckled as a small red capped woodpecker popped its small head from the circular entrance, momentarily startling the stallion. The woodpecker chirped and blinked its blue eyes at Lucky before retreating to its safe house. Lucky smiled and looked down at a plush sensation against his leg. A small rabbit rubbed its chin on the stallion's leg, a happy smile upon its face.

"Angel," Fluttershy cooed, approaching Lucky to lift the rabbit. The lagomorph hopped into her arms and buried itself in her mane. "Sorry, Lucky... He's not normally this affectionate with guests," she explained.

"Meh... No big deal... I feel like I would remember this little guy anyway? Unless I hit my head too hard," the Alpha Predator replied, a claw to his chin in thought.

"You wouldn't. I had all of the animals go outside while I tended to your injuries," the pegasus mare said, softly stroking Angel's head. "It would seem that Angel doesn't mind you much," she giggled as the bunny hopped to Lucky's downy shoulder.

"ALL... of the animals?" Lucky asked, lifting a brow.

"Yep, hope you don't mind... Oh... I should've told you before now... I'm sorry, Big Guy," the Element of Kindness said with an almost guilty expression.

"No, it's fine. As long as all of the others are like Angel, we shouldn't have any problems," he smiled.

-Moments Later-

As it turned out, all of the other animals were NOT like Angel Bunny... In fact, the bear cub Fluttershy was taking care of nearly keeled over at the sight of Lucky, and instinctually tried to fend off the "intruder" from the house. That issue was quickly put to rest by Fluttershy's "stare." Unfortunately, when Lucky tried to be friendly to her cockatoo and smiled, the darn thing pecked his forehead. The mice scurried to their holes, the hedgehogs to their burrows, and every bird but the stubborn cockatoo and red capped woodpecker rocketed to their houses.

Lucky slumped himself down on the couch, an icepack to his forehead. With a grimace, the stallion lifted it to see the crimson of blood upon the protective cloth covering the pack itself. "Stupid bird," he grumbled, tossing the icepack to the cushion beside him.

Fluttershy lifted the pack and took a seat beside him, a metal tray with a glass kettle and two tea cups of the same style in her hooves. "Sorry about Harley... He's not a very sociable bird most of the time," she told the stallion, with an apologetic grimace pouring a steaming drink into both cups. "One or two sugars?"

"Hmm? I don't know... I don't usually drink anything... Whatever you have, I guess," Lucky acknowledged, shrugging his shoulders as he sat up.

Fluttershy smiled, dropping three small cubes of packed sugar into a glass and handing it to him.

The stallion smiled back, watching the sugar dissolve before taking taking a gulp of tea. Steam rose from his nostrils as he swallowed, his cheeks tinged scarlet.

Fluttershy giggled as Lucky carefully placed his tea upon a coaster, disgust visible upon his face. Her ears then fell flat, mind wandering. "Hey... Uh... Do you mind if I ask you something a bit... personal?" she asked, biting her lip.

Lucky's expression deadpanned as he snapped his head up. "I'd rather save the personal questions until I knew you a little bit better..." At her words, his thoughts shifted to the only thing personal he could think of; his parents. "Not to be rude," he replied softly, his gaze dropping to the coffee table before him.

"It's only about your cutie-"

"I said not now," he barked again, his voice gruff and hostile. The stallion was quick to rise to his hooves, ready to leave the room.

The Element of Kindness recoiled at the words, sadly shifting her view to her lap.

The kaiju convert looked down at the pegasus, his expression softening. Lucky sorrowfully shook his head with a sigh. "I am not overly fond of discussing personal matters... But I apologize for snapping at you. Go ahead with your question," he told Fluttershy, returning to his seat.

-Train to the Crystal Empire-

Blade Dancer looked over at the navy blue unicorn stallion, a sigh escaping her throat. While the guardsmare had grown fond of Xenilla, she was also skeptical about some of his actions. He either didn't care about family, or had a funny way of showing it, for she had heard that the one his friends called Lucky was related to both Junior and Xen. "Don't you think you were a little harsh to your cousin back in court?" Blade Dancer asked, lifting a brow.

A soft sigh escaped the stallion's throat. "You confuse modesty with harshness," Xenilla replied, not taking his eyes off of the desolate wasteland of snow and ice outside. "I merely addressed Mister Dragon's actions... If I hadn't, who would've? He needed to be held accountable."

"You two are related! Why do you continue to push away family, Xen? He just showed up here... He's confused and doesn't know that there are laws even for kaiju now..." Blade Dancer scolded, rising from her seat upon the train and taking a seat across from the unicorn.

"I don't push him away... I get pushed away," Xenilla said. Noticing her skeptical expression, he continued. "You don't think that I ever try to be the brother that Junior would like, do you?" the unicorn asked, an almost depressed expression upon his face. "This world is capable of many things... Do you not think it possesses the ability to change one's ways?"

The pegasus mare felt confused, sympathetic, and irritated all at the same time. She had long realized that Xenilla had that kind of effect on one's emotions. "The way you spoke to your cousin was not very supportive... It was almost like you were trying to make him explode like he did... You say you try to be the brother Junior would like... But Junior is not the one you hurt hours ago... It was your cousin. I don't think you try to be the cousin Lucky would like you to be," she said, taking his hoof in her own.

Xenilla sighed again, dropping his view to her hoof. "We never got along very well. Being the eldest of the three of us by over seven hundred years, Lucky thought he was also responsible for us... And when we got in a fight about the time I nearly killed Junior, I nearly killed him too... I thought that by treating him the way I did in the courthouse, I could prove that he was really not as powerful as he likes to think," the stallion explained.

Blade Dancer lifted a hoof to her face, a worried expression crossing her muzzle. This information that Xenilla shared with her changed her view of the kaiju altogether.

There was a long silence before either pony spoke... And it was Blade Dancer who broke that silence. "Thank you for telling me," she murmured, leaning over the table and putting her arms around his neck in an awkward hug.

-Fluttershy's Cottage, Ponyville-

"So... Your Cutie-Mark... What is it?" Fluttershy asked Lucky, pointing at the stallion's hip.

Lucky looked down, confusion etched across his muzzle at the symbol on his flank. "Hmm... Not sure. But I know I've seen that in certain areas... Oh. I know now. That's supposed to symbolize radiation," he replied, tapping the small yellow symbol encased in blue. "The blue, I think, is supposed to symbolize the color of my spines?"

"Radiation?" the Element of Kindness queried, lifting a brow.

"It's a source of energy... and war... on Terra. It's a poison that eradicates any smaller sources of life in the immediate area that it has struck. Those who survive are usually disease-" the stallion stopped as if he didn't want to dredge up any other bad memories.

"We can stop if you would like?" the pegasus mare said, placing a hoof on his leg.

"It's too late for that. I've already started..." Lucky replied with a forced smile. "Anyway, radiation, which shouldn't come as a surprise, is my main source of energy... Without it... I'll die," he continued.

Fluttershy allowed a worried expression to morph across her face, a hoof to her muzzle.

Noticing this, Lucky shrugged; "I can survive years without it, you don't need to worry." With that, a smile crossed his scarred muzzle.

"Oh, okay," Fluttershy replied with a heavy sigh of relief. Her mind, not for the last time, wandered towards Lucky's court trial, in which he was confronted about the MUTO, as he had called it. The Element of Kindness remembered what he had said about a "they" killing his parents, when she had only seen one. "Lucky, I know that you don't want to talk about your parents... But maybe if you do, it'll take some weight off of your chest," she suggested, readying herself for another outburst.

Lucky only sighed, his gaze falling to the floor. There sat Angel Bunny, eyes wide with curiosity and muscles not moving a millimeter. The stallion smiled slightly, patting the arm of the pink sofa. On cue, the rabbit leapt onto it before proceeding to his mane. "Okay," he said finally. "I'll tell you just this once."

"Yay," Fluttershy whispered, scooting closer to the kirin with inquisitive eyes.

The former kaiju sighed again, his thoughts roving through seemingly ancient memories. "My mother was the protective parent, always trying to push me away from danger. She was comforting, but at times over-protective, but always with me when there was trouble." Lucky paused, looking up as if his memories were above him.

"What about your father?"

"He was that kind of father you can always trust in. My father taught me how to survive, how to fight. Everything. He had a long scar over his right eye and could win a battle with just intimidation. If you thought my roar was loud was loud, you haven't heard anything," he chuckled sadly. "His roar could've shattered boulders." Lucky stopped, lifting a clawed limb to his eye. The stallion's lip shuddered slightly. "Before I lost my family, I hadn't realized how happy I was with them," he sniffled, uncomfortably shifting his position.

Fluttershy sadly looked up at Lucky and lifted a hoof to his cheek, an abrupt feeling sweeping over the pegasus mare... It was a feeling that she rarely experienced, except when she was in the midst of friends and family... This kaiju kirin, who had seemed so rigid and serious or angry, was showing emotion, sorrow and joy... She realized that she had feelings beyond just friendship for the one they called the Alpha Predator... Love.