Welcome to Gaia! ::

"It will be alright, sweetheart, I promise! They won't care what family you come from and besides you are NOT like your mother, you may be from her gene pool but you are far from being like her, if you were like her I don't think you will have opened up a pet shop, that doesn't exactly scream 'mass murderer' or 'potential threat to the whole population of the realm' or whatever, I am pretty certain you will be fine" he said as he nuzzled her.

Eternity sighed "I know but there are like three or four ponys that can stand my family and the rest just hate us, besides, look at you, you are on the COUNCIL and are TRYING to help fix what my great grandmother did, do you REALLY want to be mixed in with me? This isn't going to look good at work" she said, deciding to try and give him a way out "believe me, I would understand if you wish to just forget about us."

"Forget...what on earth are you on woman!? You are coming to this family dinner, I am going to proudly show you off and if any of my family have a problem with it I am going to deal with it if the matter arises, you are part of my life now and I am not going to give you up for anything" he said as he licked her cheek.

Eternity sighed "you know, that stubborn streak of yours is terrible"

"I know, but it only comes out when it has to be shown and you are too important to let go" he said as he turned and started to walk out the door "we will walk to the edge of town before I open a portal back to home, I wish to pick up the desert I ordered from that new cake shop that has opened up, the one that has the decorations moving on them, I thought a nice two tier large dark cherry chocolate gateau with family members moving around the different tiers, doing their own thing with each made out of fondant might be nice to add to the table. Though seriously, if my parents have anymore kids or have additions added in like another chef or maid or something then I am going to have to get a three tier cake next time" he said as Eternity caught up with him "though I do have something special for you" he said as he winked at her and carried on walking.

"Something special...for me?" She asked curiously, wondering what that could be.

"You will see" he said as he headed towards the cake shop.

~~~~~~~~~

"Lem!" red called as he was busy putting food on the table and getting the rest of the deserts in the fridge to be chilled and...well, basically doing EVERYTHING, only good thing was the fact he actually didn't have to make ice cream, thanks to Lemonade, any ice cream that was needed she either had or could make it in seconds.

"Yeah, Red, what is it?" Lemonade said, trying to do what she could in the dining room, it was getting there but still little bits and pieces needed to be done.

"Can you please make some chocolate fudge ice cream please? With chunks? There isn't any left, a certain daughter of yours ate the rest of it today.

Lemonade nodded "sure" she said as she ran around grabbing what she needed and started making the ice cream on the kitchen table.

"Though, there is one last place I wish to go to before we head home though, don't worry, it won't take long" he said, deciding to ask her father for her hoof in marriage, he was an old fashioned guy, he believed that if a guy was to propose to the woman he loved he should at least ask for her fathers blessing...though, knowing Raven, she probably will have her two cents added in as well, nothing gets past that woman and to think, he was now going to become part of her family, his whole family was technically, they may accept Eternity but knowing they will be related by marriage to Ravens family may not go down AS well as what he hopes.

Eternity looked at the male curiously "one more place...?" She asked curiously.

"Yes, though I will be leaving you, with the cake, at the entrance of Nightmare Valley alright? Don't worry, it will take no more then ten minutes tops, I just need to talk to someone thats all" he said, deciding that, if he were to propose tonight, he had to at least have her fathers blessing.

"Alright..." she said, not really sure what was going on but whatever, she trusted him with her life, two and a half years they have been dating, if she didn't trust him by now she never would though he was making her horribly curious, he never kept secrets from her before, at least not any secrets that didn't involve the Council.

"Thank you for understanding but it will all be reviled soon, I promise" he said as he licked her cheek and opened the cake shop door and walked over to pick up his order.

~~~~~

"Yes, please and thank you" Red said as he pointed to the side of the bench he wasn't working on and pointed to the bowls and serving dishes and the like that had several different foods, two different sorts of salads, lasagna, Mac and Cheese for Sierra, she had still not grown out of that, and the main course, one roast chicken and one roast lamb all decked out with all the trimmings around it, roast potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy...basically the works. "They need to be taken into the dining room, get Maria to help you if you need it, she is just taking her potion so she will be down in a moment" he said as he turned back to Lemonade "so, hows the ice cream coming?"

"Almost finished, just freezing it now" she said as she placed her hooves around the large bowl and instantly froze it "done" she said as she got up and walked over to the bench and handed it to him "there you go" she said as she looked to her mate "I will help you, Maria can make sure the children are actually getting their butts out of their rooms" she said as she walked towards the food and picked up a bowl and placed it gently on her head as she picked up the other salad bowl and carefully walked on her hind legs into the dining room. Having so many kids she sort of ended up being able to balance on her hind legs as if it was some sort of every day thing, she had to, washing in her front hooves, a dirty bowl or plate also needing to be taken out from the room, a mother had to do what she had to do, this was now just second nature to her.

"Thank you, Lem" Red said as he started on dishing up the ice cream to finish off this dish so he could stick it in the freezer.


Blue looked out of her bedroom door and sighed, she REALLY needed to move out, she needed and wanted peace and quite, she loved her siblings greatly but sometimes living under the same roof with seven other siblings could get rather noisy even if it was just normal banter back and forth. Blue looked at herself in the mirror, having decided to add gently waves to her hair, it wasn't her usual style but it was a special occasion so she decided to do something different with her mane and tail and she liked it but now the right piece of jewelry...

"Blue?" A soft voice sounded at her door, knocking on it before she entered "are you alright honey?" Maria asked as she walked in and over to her, nuzzling her.

"I am fine, Maria, thank you, I am just trying to find the perfect necklace" she said as she opened up her jewelry box and started looking over all her necklaces "and I just have realized I need to pick up new stuff" she said, finding all the necklaces she had boring.

"I think I have the perfect thing" she said as Maria left and then came back moments later with a box in her mouth and placed it on the dressing table "this was my mothers, I was able to save some of her belongings after she was killed and this was one of the things I was able to save" she said as she opened up the box and inside it was a heart shapped sapphire pendant framed by white diamonds on a silver chain. and she just gasped "oh Maria, it is beautiful! But are you sure you want to lend it to me? It is a special piece" she said, gently removing it from the box to have a better look at it.

"I am positive" she said as she took it and placed it around the young girls neck "there you go" she said looking in the mirror "you look beautiful" she said, smiling at her in the mirror.

"Thank you, Maria" she said as she got up and hugged her.

"You are welcome but now, no dawdling, your brother will be here soon" she said as she hugged back and then left the girl to finish up.

"YES! I have finally done it!" Blizzard screamed as Maria knocked on his door "done what?"

"Oh, nothing, come in Maria" he said as he pushed a book under his pillow and got up "is dinner ready?" He asked, having gotten ready half an hour ago.

"Yes, it is, get your brother and lets get down to the dinning room" she said as she turned and left.

"Cad, get your butt down to dinner!" Blizzard called as he walked across the hall and knocked on his brothers door "they will be here soon.

Cad sighed as he got up, he bookmarked his spot in his book and left it on the bedside table, he had JUST gotten up to the best part but no, dinner called "coming!" He said as he walked over to the door, opened it and walked out it, following his sister and brother down the stairs.

Sierra was the last, always the last, she didn't mind though, she was one who enjoyed others company and liked watching others have fun then joining in, she preferred just taking her time and smelling the roses, she didn't mind missing out on things, she didn't mind shopping by herself, she didn't mind spending time alone, that was really all she had ever known, she was a lot better now then what she was but she still preferred doing the things she did when she was sick. She got up off the seat she had next to her window and smiled softly at those playing in the snow just down a little from where her family home was, she always did enjoy watching them, having snowball fights, making snowmen etc, it was so beautiful here that she could never leave.

But for now she did, she turned away from the window and walked over to the door and opened it, looking at herself in her dressing table mirror, making sure everything was perfect before walking down the hall, tailing slowly after her siblings.

"You haven't seen the table have you? I put more food on there before, another salad, some extra roast veggies, some boiled veggies, mashed potato with cheese, broccoli with cheese sauce, minted peas and i think thats it..." he said as a ding went off "oh right, I also have this" he said, opening the oven and pulling out a large seasoned salmon "I try to make sure i cater for everyones tastes, anything we don't want and the leftovers won't fit into the fridge I have decided to take them to the soup kitchen in Solstice, their always wanting food so I will send the rest there" he said, as an owner of a restaurant in Solstice he was always always sending over leftovers, that place practically eats better then what some normal households do.

"Good evening sweetheart" Lemonade said to her daughter as she entered "and nope, all fine, just need to wait now on the guests of honor really, whatever is taking them long though they better hurry, we live in building made of ice, dinner won't stay warm for long even with the magic warming bubble thing that Red placed over the food." Lem looked at Rocky and shook her head "no idea, just that apparently it is someone we know..."

"That doesn't really tell us much" came a chorus of voices as Cad, Blue and Blizzard walked in and then proceed with the jinxing before laughing.

"Then just wait, they will be here soon" she said smiling at them as she walked over and entered the deep freeze and stood, looking at what was in front of her "umm Red, sweetheart, you know I love you, you are a great asset to this family, we would be lost without you blah blah blah but what on earth have you done to this place? We are not feeding the whole of Nightmare and Dream Valley."

Red grinned as he walked over and looked into the fridge, seeing several deserts scattered around that needed to be be set via freezer before being served "this, my dear Lemonade, is half the desert."

"HALF!?" Where is the other half!"

"The fridge of course" he grinned as he walked out and over to the fridge and gestured inside where there were slices, cakes, cookies, strudel, home made custard, whipped cream, fresh chocolate, strawberry and caramel syrups, fancy toffee stuff and who knows what else.

Lemonade had followed and just looked in the fridge, mouth open and was in shock "...I..." she really couldn't say anything but looked over at her mate "I think we may have to dock Reds pay until he learns not to go overboard" she said, joking of course and looked back at the fridge "because this is just overkill, beautiful, all the deserts look so fancy, but overkill" she said as she looked at Red "next time when we say family dinner we mean family dinner to suit about 14 to 16 ponys not 14-16 thousand" she said grinning at him.

"I do my best" he said as he shut the fridge and went back and picked up the salmon and took it into the dinning room.

"It is no wonder he loves his restaurant, he gets to make food for hundreds of ponys a night, he will be in his element" she said as she just slid down the fridge and sat there as Cad went over and shut the freezer "it is a good thing he knows magic, the dishes after tonight are going to be three stories high if they could be stacked."

~~~~~~~~~

Having picked up the cake the two were now standing outside Nightmare Valley "back soon my darling" he said as he kissed her cheek then vanished, landing on the step of the oldest estate in the valley and on the highest of hills, the Stonehearts, his girlfriends parents place, a place he has never gone due to how much 95% of this family had a bad rep but he had to be here. "Mrs Stoneheart, I know you can hear me, you are probably watching me right now, please can you open the door I wish to ask your mate a rather important question" he said as he heard Ravens voice speak out.

"Depends on the question boy, you know my family and your family do not get along, my mother ended up killing your mother and I will do the same to you if you are not careful, I don't want to speak to the likes of you and my darling mate is not exactly wanting to speak to you either so if you care..." Raven shut up as she was interrupted.

"Come in, Tiramisu, the door is open" a males voice said after a few whispers were heard but he couldn't make them out so he just did as the voice said and opened the door and walked in.

As Tira stood there he closed the door and looked around, such a gothic home, he hated being here and yet he couldn't help bit marvel at how beautiful the place was.

"Welcome, please, come this way" he said as Phantom gestured towards the near by parlor on the left, having had to have another conjured up thanks to his mate taking the original as her own personal stalking spot.

Tira followed and walked over and sat down on the nearest seat and watched the other take the seat opposite "good evening sir" he said, a little nervous but a hell of a lot better then had he been asking Raven this question "but I came on behalf of your daughter and I, I love Eternity greatly, she and I have been together for two and a half years now, as I am sure you are well aware, but I wish to make her my wife and so I was wondering if I could have your blessing to marry her".

"NO!!" Came a screech from the other room, obviously Raven had heard "Phantom, if you give your blessing you and I are over! I swear! I do NOT want to marry into his family! I don't care if he loves out daughter or not, no way am I going to be married into that family of his!"

"Darling, I am pretty sure he technically doesn't have family, your mother killed them all remember? He now lives with Jack Frosts daughter..."

"I know who he lives with! That is the other family I don't want to be apart of! Pompus, arrogant fools, think their so damn great because they are on good terms with Wicca and her daughter! Bah! Screw them, screw them all! He is NOT being married into this family and no way in hell are we joining them!" she screamed as she waved her hoof and teleported him onto the front door step "now leave!" She screamed as she walked past the door and headed towards the kitchen to get something to eat.

Phantom ran after his mate but stopped at the door and opened it, looking at the stunned but upset pony "I give you my blessing, I will try and calm Raven down" he said as he shut the door.

Tira grinned and vanished himself off the porch and to the entrance to the Valley and nuzzled her "sorry about that, we can go" he said as he teleported them and the cake into the entrance way of his family home "welcome to my home" he said "I will give you a grand tour later, right now, I think we may be needed" he said as he walked towards the kitchen.

Eternity took a deep breath and let it out "coming" she said as she ran to catch up with him and entered the kitchen together.

"Hi guys" he said, smiling at them all, it had been WAY too long since he last saw his family, his work had been keeping him busy "don't do anything yet, let me put the cake down" he said as he levitated the cake to the table and looked back at the others "now, how has everyone been?" He asked, smiling at those in the kitchen.

"Hi dad" Tira said as he shook his fathers hoof "work is a nightmare" he said as he was nearly knocked over.

"My baby boy!" Lem sad as she cuddled him.

"Hi mom" Tira said as he hugged her back "but you can lets me go" he said as he licked her cheek as she removed herself from him.

"Sorry" said as she walked over to the woman he brought home with him and just eyes her, her gaze a judgmental one "don't get too close Darmani, this one can't be trusted" she said, knowing she had helped them out before but this was different, this was now her home turf and she wasn't so open for her to he trusted. Eternity, in Solstice, she HAD to be nice, Solstice police would of been arresting her in seconds if she hadn't. "Darling, you have met her before, she runs the pet shop in Solstice but, what you may not have known is that she is also Ravens daughter, as in the woman who runs my heard, she just plays nice in Solstice but that's because if she didn't she would be arrested since Wicca watches this family like a hawk."

Tira stood there, whilst he was furious with his mother he also couldn't help but understand he situation so he had to watch his girlfriend be be scrutinized.

"If I remember also" came a voice who was now standing behind Eternity "her grandmother murdered many in Solstice, mass genocide, four of those were Tiras mother, father and two sisters or sat least one sister, the others body was never found" Sierra said as she squeezed past and into the kitchen "her Grandmother, if I remember correctly, took greater joy in murdering Tiras mother, Tiras mother, once being the pony who helped create many of the spells that are used today, helped forge a world where not just one pony ruled using just their types of spells, she had done a lot to help the Magical Realm come to where it is today and she and her family were a great loss to that world."

Blue looked at her sister and blinked "since when did you become a walking history book on Solstice?"

"Have to do something when I am in my room."

Eternity just stood there, taking it all in, she was used to it, always had been, came with being part of the Stoneheart family.

Lemonade looked at Tira "her grandmother destroyed your family and you are wishing to date your familys murders granddaughter? Why?"

"Actually, we have been dating for the past two and a half years...."

Lemonade stood there looking at her son in shock "Two and a half...oh no, Tira! What has that..." she would have said witch but she was interrupted.

"If you finish that sentence we will walk out of here now and you won't see me ever again" he said glaring at his mother, starting to get sick and tired of this, there was only so much he could handle.

"Considering it has been at least two and a half years since we last saw you it wouldn't really matter if you did leave! We have started to become nothing more then a memory anyway, when is the next visit, Tira? In five years? Ten? When Lady Wicca comes and tells us you are now dead!? You come home with the Granddaughter of the woman who murdered your family and caused massive genocide on the rest of the magical realm and said murderer has a daughter who has HAPPILY killed other ponys whilst living here and yet want to be with her DAUGHTER!? Forget it, Tira, I will NEVER allow her to be included in this family and if you had any brains you would cut ties with her now before it is too late!" She said as she pushed past those who were standing in her way and walked out to the main room and headed to the library and shut the door behind her.

Blue had gotten up from where she was sitting and walked over to Tira, if anyone had been his best friend in this family it was her, she was, of course, the one who found him anyway and asked if he could be accepted into this family "Tira?" Blue said softly as Tira had watched his mother leave and turned to face her, tears welling up in his eyes "it will be alright, Tira, I promise" she said as she sad down next to him and nuzzled him "come with me" she said as she kissed his cheek "please? It will make you feel better, I promise" she said as she looked to the rest of her family "can you please give us a moment?" She said as she looked at Eternity and the rest of her family. "I promise, we won't be long" she said as she looked at Tira who now had two lone tears falling down his cheeks and Blue just wiped them away "shhh, Tira, it will be alright" she said as she lead him out of the kitchen and away upstairs, leading him to her bedroom where, when he was growing up, spent many a night if he just wanted company or was afraid of a nightmare he may have had, he always ended up in her bed and right now that is where she knew he wanted to be most of all.

"Are you...are you taking me up to your bed?" He asked softly as his sister nodded "yes, because right now, you need a comfort of home you haven't had in a long while" she said as she reached the top of the stairs and walked down to her room and opened the door and gestured him inside "come, get on my bed" she said smiling softly at him, for the next few moments he was hers so watching him walk in and get on her bed she closed the door and went and joined him, snuggling up close to him and just held him as he started to cry.

Eternity looked at Darmani and took a deep breath and let it out before starting to speak "I am sorry for coming here, I knew I shouldn't but Tira insisted that you all would be understanding but I guess Tira was wrong" she said as she rushed on "please, do not worry, I don't blame his mother, she has a right to be upset, she never sees her son and when she does she brings home the granddaughter of the one who murdered his whole family and the fact of the matter is, I am also the daughter of a murderer, it can't be easy on his mother. But please, before I go, can I just say two more things? 1) I promise you, my mother didn't even know I was dating Tira, my father did but my mother...you know my mother, if there is one pony she would never want me with it is Tira, in her opinion, he should of died along with his family, my mother knew, one day, if he survived, he would be where he is now, given who his mother was, he was only destined to become a member of the council, in Arcadia, they have even been trying to recruit him for their council, meaning, that if he took the job, he would be working in one of the main cities of the Magical Realm, the pay rise would be fantastic but it would also mean spending more time away from this family and so he has declined the offer several times but they are a persistant bunch as they sill wont take no for an answer.

I love Tira, he is one of the sweetest and kindest ponys I could have ever met, he has told me a lot about you guys, how much fun he had growing up, being part of such a wonderful family and a family that has taught him how to be a great man, he has wisdom well beyond his years and not just any pony can have that, it takes a special sort and that is where I come in. One day as I was in my store some thugs came in and destroied the place, apparently they had heard of my family history, realized that they could now get their own back for what my Grandmother did and I was just helpless, I couldn't do anything and anything I could have done I wouldn't have wanted to as my first and foremost concern was the animals, when ponys come and pick up their new pet they don't want traumatized animals which is why I ended up taking a rather large beating.

For you see, I had a few kittens out that were not feeling well and I had been trying to get them right again but these guys were set on harming them next after trashing my shop but I couldn't let that happen so I ended up using my body as a shield, I covered them whilst I ended up being beaten to a pulp hoping that they would just end up leaving once it was all over but before they could Tira had heard there was some comotion happening in some street and was sent to investigate and found me. Anyway, long story short, he ended up saving my business, myself and most importantly, the animals, they were captured and taken away and Tira ended up helping me get back on my feet, helping me take care of the animals and spent time when he could making sure that I was alright.

I couldn't have gotten my shop back or the animals under control without him and he wouldn't of been that way without your help and love and teaching him to be a good man, not just leave someone in trouble and let someone else help out but to do the heavy stuff himself and one thing lead to another, I took him out for a bite to eat as a thank you and we actually hit it off. Tira never judged me, he never took my family into consideration when he asked me out for a proper date, he accepted my family was a part of me but they were not me, I am my own pony and whilst my talent is black magic I never use it and when I do I use it only when I REALLY need to and that is the only thing I got off my mother. I don't like how most of my family is but they are family, love them or hate them, in the end, even if you did hate them, there will always be a small part of yourself that loves them no matter how much you wish that were not true.

As for 2) I, as I said, am not my family, I had a good grandfather, my grandmother was mated was to handsome, good wizard, as I am sure you know, well, no matter how many children Phantom and Raven have they will, more then likely, always get at least one child who is good, I am one of those children, there is only two others like me,, my sister Essence and my big brother Dante, none of us like harming another, we are all for the greater good, we have followed in our Grandfathers genes. So as much as I know it is hard to believe, we don't like what our mother does but we can't stop her as you know.

so, I apologize for upsetting this family, I will leave, tell Tira when you see him that I will meet up with him tomorrow at our usual meeting place, I am sorry for making a mess of tonight but it was nice, at least, to see the family Tira loves so much" she said as she turned to leave, deciding to leave by the front door, only polite to do so.

Eternity smiled softly at Sherbet, doing as Darmani said stayed "hi, you must be Sherbet" she said, this family was so new to her, she never knew what love was, sure her parents loved her and her siblings but this was different, there was a different warmth in the air unlike within her family but then, when you have siblings who like to bring dead ponys home they have killed and skin them by hand by the fire it doesn't exactly make for a rather warm atmosphere in any sense.

Lemonade had settled down on the couch and had started rereading one of her fave fiction books as the knock was heard "Has she gone?" She called to her mate, not intending on coming out unless she had.

"Jack, darling, come on!" Frostbite called to her mate, she shouldn't of just opened the door but she was sure he daughter wouldn't mind this once."

"Coming" he called as he ran up to his mate "sorry" he said as he nuzzled her "so, lets go see this new girlfriend shall we? And you have no idea who it is?" She asked curiously when Jack shook his head.

"Nope, I may help the council out but that grandson of ours, even when we sit down for lunch together and it is a good time to open up, won't even say anything to me and I am too busy to stalk him so I have no clue."

Frostbite giggled "you know, you suck at finding stuff out, no wonder Lady Wicca doesn't rely on you for information gathering" she teased her mate.

Jack shut the door and poked his tongue out at his mate "not my fault! That grandson of ours is rather resourceful when it comes to magic, even if I did follow him he probably will have used some spell so no one would be able to track him" he said as he started to walk towards the kitchen where he heard voices.

"Good point" she said as she she looked around the room and saw Darmani at the library door and sighed "something tells me our daughter has gone and locked herself up in the library again, only time she does that is when she is upset" she said with a sigh as she headed over to Darmani.

"Hi, Darmani" Frostbite said as she smiled at him "what happened this time?" She asked as she sat down.

"Go have a look at your grandsons new girlfriend and tell me there is something I shouldn't be upset about!" Lemonade called through the door.

Frostbite sighed "is his new girlfriend really that bad?" Frostbite asked, looking at Darmani.

Jack reached the kitchen and smiled at everyone "hi guys" he said as he looked over at the new pony that was standing in the kitchen and grinned "oh wow, so you are the love of his life, this will not make your mother happy at all" Jack grinned, feeling like a child whos birthdays had all come at once. If anything upset Raven he was more then happy to sit back and watch the fireworks, it was immature but hey, Raven is a thorn in many of the residents sides in Solstice, if not the magical realm in general, if anyone can make Raven angry then he is more then welcome to let them as long as he got to watch the show.

Eternity turned and frowned at Jack "Sir, please, don't say that, my mother will probably disown me once she finds out, I am amazed she hasn't by now, my father can't really keep his mouth shut around her, he either opens it voluntarily or my mother makes him."

"Don't worry, secret is safe with us" he said as he walked over to red and licked his cheek "hi handsome" he said as he grinned at him.

Red blushed "stop that, Jack" he said as he gently nudged him.

Winter entered the most impolite way possible, opened a portal straight into the middle of the main room and walked through and closed it behind him, it was his sisters place, wouldn't be the first time he did it, she should be used to it by now.

"Get rid of her and we will talk, till then I am not leaving this room" she said as she went back to reading her book.

Frostbite sighed, whatever was she going to do with her daughter? "Come on sweetheart, open up."

Winter was about to head into the kitchen when he noticed Darmani and his mother around the door to the library "I see my sister is still doing this" he said softly to himself as he walked over and smiled at Darmani and whispered in his ear "leave me alone with her for five minutes, I will get her to open the door and talk to you" he said as he nuzzled his mother "good evening mother" he said softly "leave me with her" he said as his mother nodded and left, if anyone can get through to his sister it was him.

Eternity smiled "your brother, as I said, he has told me so much about this family and shown me photos" she said as she pointed each of the siblings out by name "and the live in help is Red, real name undisclosed, no one knows that except for Sir Jack and Maria who, I might add, is the maid/lycanthrope who resides here" she said as she had a glass of water placed down in front of her.

"Thought this may help at least till we get onto the better stuff" he said he backed away.

"Thank you, red' she said as she took a sip and looked at Sherbet "your brother speaks nothing but great things about you all, he loves this family greatly, he just wishes he was able to come home more often".

winter sat down by the door and whilst his voice was not that great he could still hold a note and started singing his sisters favorite lullaby, a song she couldn't resist no matter how upset she was.

Lemonade sat there, ignoring it for a moment or two but gave up, grumbling to herself she hated the fact her brother ALWAYS knew how to get to her "go away Winter!" She said as she went back to ignoring him.

Winter sang a little louder, her part was coming up and he knew she could never resist taking over that part.

Lemonade sat there, listening, not joining in but after a while she couldn't help it, as soon as her brother started singing what was her part she started singing along.

Winter grinned, finishing off the song together he knocked on the door "come on Lemmy, open up for me please? It is only me I promise" he said as he heard her get off, walk over and open up the door "fine, come in" she said as he walked in and she closed it.

"Now, care to tell me what's wrong?" He said as he nuzzled his sister, walked over to the chair by the fire and sat down on it "you know you can tell me anything."

Lemonade walked back to where she was sitting and begun.

"Your brother is working on a defense system for Solstice, it is all hush hush so that is all he told me but it is taking up a lot of his time and whatever time he has off he has been spending it with me, easier that way since it may only be two or three hours before he is called back into work. I have told him to go home but he won't, would rather be on site in case they call him back in before his break time is up, it isn't that practical but I do promise to try and get him to come home but given how stubborn he can be it won't be easy" she said with a sigh, hat guy could e the most pig headed pony in the whole world and yet it was something she loved about him.

"Though, and I am not sure if it is true or not, but when I have gone to pick him up at the council chambers I have heard snippets about how it is almost finished and what not so maybe you will get to see him more often soon" she said, not wishing to promise anything but if what she heard was true then yes, this family will regain their son and brother back. "And I wish I could promise I try my best to not make him work hard but this is Tira, he doesn't know anything BUT how to work hard but thankfully if this is almost over then you won't need to worry about missing out on a brother or him working himself to an early grave" she said as she took another sip of water.

"So you won't come out of this library because your son is dating Raven's daughter? You are being practically EXACTLY like how father was to you when you told him you loved Darmani, our father nearly froze your mate to death? You were a teenager, you had fallen in love with an adult male, the only difference now is that you are packing a tantrum because you cant freeze her like our father did to Darmani. Our father was not going to let you date Darmani because of the obvious, you were a teen and he was an adult, it wasn't allowed but in this case you are upset at the fact that two consulting adults are dating each other but one is the daughter of Raven, basically, put yourself in Tira's place and you pretty much get the same situation just in this case it is two adults not a teen and an adult and one is the bitchy ones daughter? Mature, Lemonade, REALLY mature, I thought you would have learnt what father did was wrong and not do the same thing."

"But that WAS different, I WAS a teen, I SHOULDN'T of been allowed with Darmani but you could of put that down to stupidity not a conscious choice like Tira has made!..."

"But regardless of that, did that stop you? Did you want to break up with him until you were an adult?"

"...no..." she said softly.

"Exactly! But you also KNEW Darmani, you knew what he was like, you knew that he wasn't a horrible pony, you knew that he wasn't going to take advantage of you etc and that is because our parents taught you right, they taught us to be good judges of character, even at a young age, we knew the signs of tricksters and murderers and just plain horrible ponys from a mile off, our father made sure we did and you and Darmani have done the same with Tira, you have taught him well, he seems the good in others, he sees what others may not see for themselves and that is great parenting. Tira and Eternity are in love, Tira sees him for what she is and that is a sweet, kind hearted, gentle pony who is not Raven, she hasn't taken after Raven at all, you know her from Solstice, she runs an animal shop, that isn't some secret black market cover, it is just a normal shop that sells animals and animal care products to people, someone who cares that much about animals isn't going to put them in danger just to have black market traders come through and try not to have them kill the animals.

If she truly was dealing in anything dodgy for Raven she wouldn't of picked an animal shop, she would of gone for something more on the backstreets where the dodgy people hang out, not do it in the open where the cops will get suspicious, you know that will never work, she is Raven's daughter, being straight out in the public like that already warrants the cops to watch her so why would she play black market in broad day light? Come on sis, you know it makes no logical sense. Please, come out and just talk to her."

Lemonade REALLY hated to admit it but he had a point, several of them, but she still wasn't going to trust that woman..."no, sorry, but I am not going to."

Winter sighed "fine, but I am sending Darmani in" he said as he turned to leave and opened the door "Darmani, your turn" he said as he walked past him "seriously, that woman takes after our father in being stubborn, I swear" he said as he started to head to the kitchen.

Cadbury didn't move, he never was one for company unless it was family, always the shy one, he just stayed where he was and watched, half hidden a little behind his his brother who was sitting there watching his sister interact with their brothers girlfriend.

Sierra walked over and smiled at the new comer "hi, I apologize for saying what I did before but it wasn't anything against you it was just stating fact" she said, always having to be the practical one.

Eternity smiled at them "no, I am fine, I can wait for dinner, thank you anyway" she said as she giggled "yes, the forward one of the family if I am not mistaken" she said as she smiled at Rocky "thank you but it isn't just me keeping him away it is mostly work" she said as she turned to Sierra "I know, I guess I just accept what is as is, I mean, I am Raven's daughter, can't hide that, her history is my history. I can't get away with it, but no matter how many times you think people won't judge you because of it, because you are trying to be better then what Raven's mother has shown the Magical Realm and the fact that she hasn't done much better then her mother then that means that we are all tarnished by the same brush, horrible, but it can't be helped" she said with a sigh as she sat there and blinked as Winter walked in "W...Winter?"

"Eternity!? THAT...YOU are my nephews girlfriend!?"

Blue and Tira walked in after their uncle "er...so you two know each other? And I take it it isn't because you picked up a kitten from her shop?" Blue asked curiously.

"Yes, we do, she and I...well...we dated, ages ago, I never told her who I was, it would have been easy for her to find out if I was out there, doing things in Solstice and what not but I stuck to myself, I didn't go out, when I did it was to get food or materials or to see Lady Coven about something and that is it, I started heading out a little more often when she and I got together but she didn't know who I was because our father doesn't announce it to the world that he has four children and a mate, if we wish to be known he has children then so be it but I never announced that I was his son so I always kept to myself.

One day she had a shipment of kitty litter to put away in her shop, the delivery guy just left it outside her shop, so as I was out and about one day I offered her help to take it in and one thing lead to another and we started dating, realizing how well we got on and I got out a little more (but not much) after that but in the end my love for my work put a damper on things and I broke up with her, she needed someone who would take her out and show her off like she should be and I couldn't do that so about 8 months into the relationship my business picked up and well...four months later it was straining our relationship just as much as my lack of wanting to go out did so yeah, we parted ways but remained the best of friends."

"I hope my nephew has been treating you better then I did" he said as he walked over and nuzzled her.

"I love him with all my heart, Winter, I never thought I could get over you, I did invest myself pretty heavily into the relationship but he is, he truly has been the greatest of gentleman, he has been raised well, your sister and her mate have done a fantastic job on raising him, he may be a bit younger then I am but he truly has been the greatest thing for me, he treats me well, he is spontaneous and loving and kind and and he is mature well beyond his years, I couldn't ask for another, he helped me finally get over you, not that he knew his uncle was the one who did that to me...."

"I am pleased, Eternity, you do have a wonderful boyfriend, I may seem to be a biased uncle but it is true, Tira has grown up to be a beautiful, strong, mature man, you are very lucky to have him."

"And this is how you make a man blush" he said as he walked over to Eternity and nuzzled her "I love you to my darling, but you already knew that" she said as she licked his cheek.

"This is really sweet and all but guys, dinner, can't let that go cold" Red said as he gestured to the dining room "go take a seat and I will go see what is with your parents" Red said as he walked out of the kitchen, squeezing past those in the door way as he went.