Author's Note

Chapter has been edited and I added a few more sentences to try and pace the story a bit better.

The Proposal

Twilight Sparkle looked out the window of the moving train that she was currently riding in. The past couple of days were very interesting to say the least. She was recently crowed a Princess of Equestria, saved both Princess Celestia and Luna from the clutches of the Plundervines and now her she is, on this train heading to her next most important part of her life as a Princess yet. Wedding two ponies together for the rest of their lives.

Twilight looked across from her seat on the train to see the couple in question. They both were not the average pony that she would see everyday, in fact they both were the rare breed of bat ponies. Both had the usual signs of being a bat pony, that being instead of feathery wings, their wings were made out of a thin membrane that was very similar to bats and both also had tuff ears. The only thing that she could not confirm about them was if their eyes were slits instead of the oval that ponies had since both of them were wearing sunglasses to protect there eyes from something which most likely was the sun.

The only real major thing that Twilight did not know about the species was the very big size difference between the mare and stallions of the bat ponies. The one that sat across from her was the mare who had a very small petite figure that was about two to three inches shorter that when she was a unicorn. Ashen Skies was her name and as her namesake, her fur had an ashen gray color but her mane and tail was a dark green color which contrasted to her fur color. Her cutie mark was that of the night sky with what looked like snow that covered said sky.

Her Finance, named Lunar Thermal, sat right next to her and the way Twilight would describe him was that of a giant. He was taller than Princess Luna and a little shy of almost to being Celestia's full height. His coat was the usual darken blue color that was a common fur color in the species. His mane and tail was a darken rust color with a bright red streak going through the middle of it. His cutie mark was of sword being hit by a blacksmiths hammer.

Lunar had the biggest smile on his face as Ash was whispering something to him. He suddenly started to burst out laughing which started Twilight a little. Lunar clamed down after a few moments and saw the slight startled expression that the alicorn had. "Sorry Twilight, Ashen said something about you meeting our parents which made me think of something that was really funny".

"No problem," explained Twilight as she noticed Ashen give a light hit on the stomach against her Finance. The stallion gave a fake whimper to indicate that he was 'phased' by the attack.

"Sorry about that Twilight," Ashen started to say "he has the tenancy to laugh at things that are not funny." she gave a light glare towards Lunar who in return started to sweat a lot. Twilight gave a chuckle at the couple's little fight. The Purple alicorn definitely knew who was the more dominant in the relationship of the couple.

Thinking about relationships, Twilight never got to know how these two met in the first place since she was in a hurry on what to do about this whole thing. When they first arrived at her home a few days ago with the request, she was thrilled to finally meet bat ponies for the first time that she said yes to them right on the spot with their proposal. As quickly as Ashen Skies and Lunar Thermal came to her, they also left as soon as she agreed to be the marriage officiant and both of them gave a date on when to meet them back at the train station to head to the site of the wedding. The place was going to be Hollow Shades, the main home for the bat ponies.

Twilight, after a few hours of looking through a few dozen books about weddings, wrote a letter to Princess Luna for assistance. Twilight knew that Luna was very close with the bat ponies as evident with her night guard being completely comprised of them.

A few minutes later after Spike sent the letter, a response came back within five minutes. Luna said in the letter that she was very delighted to hear that she was going to oversee the wedding and would be happy to help her out to. She would also help explain the many details about the ceremony but only in person at Hollow Shades the same day Twilight would arrive.

Spike wanted to come and help Twilight with the wedding but she decided not let him come as she did not want a baby dragon coming into a unknown place with different aspects of life that he was not use too. So she ask Rarity to take care of him while she was away for a couple of days.

And so, Twilight was on the train heading to Hollow Shades for one of the biggest events of her life. And now, she had to ask the most important questions to the couple. "So... how did you two met?" she finally asked after a few moments of silence from her train of thought.

Both the bat ponies looked at her with a confused look before they looked at each other and whispered something to themselves. Ashen looked back at Twilight with a sly grin on her face, "What do you want to know 'Princess'?" she said giving the word princess a more exaggerated meaning.

"Well... I... uh... I just wanted to learn more about you and Lunar before I get to officiant you guys being husband and wife." The purple alicorn responded with a light blush on her face.

Ashen and Lunar gave a slight chuckle to the Princess as they gave her a sly look again. "If you want to know, then Ashen and I have known each other since foalhood. Isn't that right my very lover little Budba," he said while giving his fiancée a light peck on the check.

The ashen gray bat pony had a major blush on her face as Lunar said her nickname. "Lunar, I thought I told you not say that in front of anyone," Ashen explained as she gave a look that would kill him in a matter of seconds. Lunar scooted away from her and look the other way while whistling like he never said Ashen's nickname in front of Twilight.

"Well... I did say that you can say that in front of family so I can forgive you for that," Ashen said after a few moments of Lunar's whistling.

'In front of 'Family'?' Twilight thought thinking that she misheard her. Thinking about it, they have been giving her weird looks throughout the train ride. She had to disregard that thought for now as she had some other questions to ask, "Since you both knew each other since foalhood, how did it evolve from foalhood friendship to love?"

Lunar looked at Twilight and was ready to answer her when Ashen spoke for him, "Well, foals in our society tend to always fall in love with other foals that they made friends with. Almost all the time, when the foals are at teenager age, they will give some hints at wanting to a relationship with one of their closest friends which the one that they want to form a relationship with will always notice."

"Budba's right," Interrupted Lunar as he looked towards Ashen with love in his eyes. "After several years of trying to start a relationship with someone, I finally noticed Ashen's advances towards me and I soon realized that she was going to be my future wife. And in a few months, I asked for her hoof in marriage. Of course, our family was very excited that Ashen and I were going to get married."

There was that strange feeling again that Twilight felt as she wondered to herself about their family. 'Whenever they mention family, they say it in the context of one family and not two? The only reason why they would refer to themselves as one family would be if they were brother and sister.

Twilight knew that having a relationship with a brother and sister was taboo and even illegal but the way Ashen and Lunar were talking about themselves for the past several minutes, it was starting to look like to her that the couple were in fact related to each other. 'And why did they also refer to me as family as well?' Twilight thought as she looked out the window of the train to gather her thoughts more when she realized that the outside world was covered in darkness and not sunlight.

"Wasn't daytime a few minutes ago?" she said with a confused look. The bat pony couple looked at the window that Twilight was looking at before letting out a great sigh of relief.

"Thank Luna! We can finally take these stupid shades off," explained Lunar as he and Ash took off their sunglasses to revel their true eyes to Twilight. The eyes were slits just like a cats, just as Twilight expected them to be, though she could see that both or their eye colors were that of a amethyst. Looking at both of the eyes closely, the purple alicorn could swear that both of their eyes exactly the same shade of amethyst and she could swear that the color matched her own set of eyes.

"In case you were wondering," said Ash "We Thestral's have very sensitive eyesight towards sunlight and the only way that we can be in the sun is with these stupid sunglasses."

Twilight nodded in understanding and it also confirmed her suspicions about the sunglasses but still, she could not let go of the fact about their eyes. It just felt weirdly creepy and strangely familiar to her. "I guess we are getting closer to our destination then," Twilight said after a few moments of silence between them.

"Yup!" Ashen said with a huge grin on her face. "We just can not wait for you to finally meet our Mom and Dad when we finally arrive at our home."

Lunar also had a huge grin and looked at Twilight with great joy thinking of the same thing that Ashen thought of. "It will be a great time, especially during the ceremony." he said while giving his fiancée a sly look which Ashen also gave back, but with a large blush on her face.

Twilight nodded with a smile before it turn into a look of horror at the implication that Ashen just said. "What do you mean by 'Our Mom and Dad' Ashen?"

"It means what it means Twilight," Ashen said.

"Yeah, Mom is finally going to be glad that she is finally going to meet you," Lunar explained which confirmed to Twilight with what she was thinking for the past several minutes from their choice of words and the similarity with the eyes.

She finally asked the question that has been teetering in her mind. "Are you two... Brother and Sister?" The purple alicorn finally said after a few moments of silence.

"Yup!" both the thestrals said at the same time.

Twilight's eyes dilated to being pins. Her mind just drew up blanks upon hearing the confirmation from both of them. She grew up that brother and sister should never get in a relationship and that the penalty of being caught was banishment. That was what her Mother said to her when she was younger.

The blank look that Twilight gave to Ashen and Lunar made them both chuckle. "We know what you are thinking Twilight," said Ashen as she started to lean in towards the shocked alicorn. "Being in a relationship with your own brother is very taboo in your society but in our society, it is very common for brothers and sisters to fall in love."

Lunar nodded in approval with what his sister said. "It's true. Our older brother and sister are also married to each other as well. We Thestrals have a high birthrate which leads to almost everyone having five to seven children with mostly twins in a lot of families. It is very normal for sisters and brothers falling in love and given that fact, it is why we never saw anything wrong with that for the past thousand of years."

Twilight was not expecting how normal being in a relationship with your own brother or sister was to the bat ponies or thestrals as they kept referring to themselves as. She still had a lot to learn about their culture to understand it more. Even stranger still, was that she was referred to family early which was never explained and she needed an answer for it now. "What did you guys mean by me being family?"

Before either of them could explain, the train started to slow down which indicated that they have arrived at their destination. "Were hear!" the brother and sister yelled with enthusiasm as they got off their seats and ran towards to exit of the train.

Twilight still in shock from the revival that she was going to officiant a incest couple and that it was very normal for couples like that to exist in their culture. She still never got an answer to her question and when she finally got her mind out of her stumper, the alicorn finally realized that they were waiting for her and started to walk towards the train exit.

As soon as she got off the train, she could not help let out a small "wow' when she saw how big Hollow Shades was. Almost every building was the exact same structure with it being rectangular and having bright lights coming from the many windows that accompanied the structure. She also noticed how dark it was with the lights from the houses and some light post scattered around giving the proper light to see where she was going. She also noticed how Hollow Shades was also surrounded by very thick and tall trees that completely blocked out the sky giving the town a very naturally feeling about the place which made Twilight enjoyed the place a lot more.

While marveling at the sight of Hollow Shades, Twilight walked face first into something very big and hard. After backing off and looking at what she walked into, she realized that she walked into one of the many thestrals walking around the streets. The thestral was clearly a male with the massive size he had, though he was slightly taller than Twilight and not the giant that was of Lunar. In fact, the stallion looked almost like Lunar Thermal and she could swear that he was his twin. Which was confirmed when alicorn heard the stallion in question come up from behind her saying "There you are Twilight, we were wondering where you were going. I see you met my twin brother, Lunar Thermite."

Twilight nodded to Thermal but she was currently focused on his twin brother at the moment. "You alright Princess?" Thermite said with a concern look on his face.

"Yes... but please call me Twilight," the alicorn said with a slight blush on her face.

Thermite smiled in approval that she was alright. He then turned his attention to his brother "Hey Thermal, got to prepare for your big day so can't chat for long but I will see you at the bachelor party in three days," He said as he spread his wings and flew away from Twilight and his brother.

Twilight looked at him flying away with a large blush on his face. She found him cute, even if she only met him for a few seconds, and never realized how handsome both brothers were.

"Like what you see?" said Ashen into the right ear of Twilight.

The alicorn gave a yelp and a jump as she was startled by Ashen saying that into her ear without knowing she was there. Both Ashen and Lunar laughed at each other for scaring Twilight. "Sorry Twilight, it was just the perfect opportunity to scare you," Ashen said.

"Yeah, plus it looked like you needed it to get out of your 'blanked' look. You walked right pass us when you left the train," explained Lunar as he and Ashen started to walk away from Twilight. "Come on your Highness, we got to get moving and see Mom at our home so you will get to know the family better."

Twilight started to follow them through the town for a few minutes in awkward silence as she still had questions for them regarding about their family but wanted to ask them in the privacy of their home. All three of them walked to one of the many houses that all looked the same. Lunar just opened the door that was right in front of them with Ashen and Twilight following him. "Mom, we're home!" yelled Lunar as he walked into the home.

"I'm in the living room with your uncle and a very special guest!" yelled back a voice that was clearly a mare who Twilight figured was the Mother to the ponies she was following in question.

The place looked nice from the inside with a couple of pictures hanging from the walls with various different thestrals in groups looking at right at her smiling though she could have sworn she saw a pony or two in the pictures as well. She walked into a long hallway that lead towards what looked like the living room with a small fireplace at the end. Lunar was there first starting to make some conversation before stopping when he saw who was in the room.

Ashen and Twilight walked in right after him and the alicorn stop dead in her tracks with Ashen as they both looked at who was in the room. Siting on a small cushion, that was to the left of the fireplace, was a very dark blue thestral mare with a sliver mane and tail and a cutie mark that showed a blood red heart with a set of teeth biting it.

Then there was two others in the room who sat across from the thestral mare both siting on similar cushions. The one directly across from her was none other than Princess Luna. Her majestic wavy blue hair that flowed in the air with no wind blowing it. She had a small cup of what was likely tea and it was held in her magic and she was currently sipping it down her throat. Princess Luna was clearly the pony that made Lunar stop talking earlier as well as making Ashen stop dead in her tracks when she arrived as well.

The one that shocked Twilight the most was the light blue unicorn stallion with a darker blue mane and tail and a cutie mark of which was two crescent moons, one big and one small, facing each other. He was siting right next to Luna with wide eyes at who just arrived at in the room. Twilight knew who that pony was right next to Luna as he was one of the two who raised her since foalhood.

"Dad!?"