Twilight met Flash at the sidewalk as he pulled up. The two had texted all night so they could get their story straight. It wasn't like they could just come out and say they met last year when she came through a magic portal from another dimension while chasing after her stolen crown because she's actually a pony princess form where she's from; and oh, by the way, that's where your real daughters at right now but don't worry, she'll be back as soon as I vanquish a man eating monster that escaped from my realm. Well, they could but the outcome was likely to be unpleasant.

Flash got out of the car, walked over, and gave her a hug. Both fully realized they were being watched.

"You know what to say right?" Twilight whispered into his ear.

"Yes. I've been preparing all day," he whispered back.

They started walking up to the front door, his arm around her shoulders, hers around his waist.

"Spike will be keeping an ear out too. If he hears anything that might be dangerous; he'll start barking and acting up," Twilight whispered again in Flash's ear.

With that they got up to the door which was opened immediately by Mrs. Sparkle.

"Flash! Hi. Nice to see you again and thank you for accepting our invitation for Sunday lunch."

"It's my pleasure. I am honored that you would invite me. Here." Flash reached into his jacket and pulled out an oblong box that was wrapped in shiny red wrapping paper. "Tsumaranai mono desu ga."

"Arigatou," Mrs. Sparkle said with a smile as she took the gift.

"I know I am supposed to wait until after the visit to present a gift, but I was afraid it might break," Flash said apologetically.

"It's ok. Besides, both my husband and I were born and raised here. So were his parents and my father, so you don't need to be so formal. Come in please."

Twilight entered first then Flash. Inside Mr. Sparkle was waiting for them just inside the dinning room. Mrs. Sparkle walked over and gave Flashes gift to her husband who thanked Flash and opened it. Inside was a pair of chopsticks and a ruler. Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle looked confused.

"The chopsticks are from my grandfather's restaurant. My dad owns his own construction business, so that's why the ruler. Also it's supposed to mean may your home be well built and the food plentiful and tasty. At least that's what I was going for. I might have over thought it a bit." Flash blushed.

"Xie-xie," Mr. Sparkle said with a smile. "Or would it be doh je? I don't know if your family speaks Mandarin or Cantonese."

"Doh je. And thank you. I'm only half Chinese on my dad's side and he only speaks it occasionally. If I ever went to China, I'd be hopeless," Flash ended with a nervous laugh.

"Same for us. My wife knows more Japanese than I do, but even that is scant. Heck Twili here probably knows more than I do. I've noticed she's been speaking it more around the house." Mr. Sparkle shot Twilight a mischievous look and Twilight blushed and looked away.

"It's ok Twili," Mr. Sparkle said in sweet and consoling manner. "Listen, I went through a `back to my roots' phase when I was your age as well. Heck, I went out and bought a kimono when I was fifteen and I came down with it on and my parents busted out laughing. My father could barely breath as he told me that I had on a woman's kimono."

Mr. Sparkle laughed quietly at the memory of his unintended drag show. He then turned to Flash with a smile. "Come, sit down."

"Twilight, will you help me get the food from the kitchen please?" Mrs. Sparkle asked sweetly.

"Sure Ha, I mean Mom." Twilight blushed again. Since finding out that her human counterpart was of Japanese descent, she had delved into researching as much as she could about Japanese culture. It never occurred to her that she was over doing it.

"Ha ha or Mom, I like them both. Well, maybe in public say 'Mom'. I wouldn't want anyone to think you were sarcastically laughing at me all the time." Mrs. Sparkle smiled and went into the kitchen and Twilight followed.

Flash sat down at the table where Mr. Sparkle had pointed.

"Flash, first, I just want to say, I've been where you're at. Meeting the girlfriends parents is never easy. I remember one white girl I dated. She brought me home and as soon as her dad saw me, he yelled, "Oh hell no'. He pulled a gun and I ran away so fast, I forgot I had driven there. Ran right past my car and didn't stop until I was halfway home. Luckily she returned my car the next day. Needless to say that was the last time we saw each other."

"It was kind of like that for my parents except it was my grandfather who didn't accept my mom. I mean, my mom's parents weren't head over heals about the relationship, but they got over it."

Mr. Sparkle nodded knowingly. "Listen, you know the score. I love my daughter. I want what's best for her. So I am going to do all I can to make sure that's exactly what she gets. I also think, from what I've seen of you so far, you're a good kid. Certainly better than I was at your age. I'm not here to be your enemy. I'd like to be your friend. But my first duty is to my daughter. So I will be watching. Understood?"

"Yes sir. I couldn't ask for anything more. I do have one question, how did you know how to say thank you?"

"I deal with Chinese clients at work. I'm the Asian guy at work, so that's who I usually get, Asians. Sometimes I wonder how they'd feel if I went up to one of them and went, 'Oh, you're white, talk to this Polish guy'." There was a mild bitterness in his voice. He was American through and through yet was still seen and treated as an outsider in his own country.

"I appreciate it sir. Thank you."

Inside the kitchen, Twilight was helping to plate the food. Her mother hadn't really said anything to her outside a few basic instructions but Twilight kept noticing she was constantly looking over at her with a smile on her face. Finally out of both annoyance and curiosity, Twilight asked, "Am I doing everything alright?"

Mrs. Sparkle laughed which annoyed Twilight even more. "Mom!" she sort of whined out.

"Sorry Twilight. I know it was you who told him to do all that. The gift, the greeting, and all. Just a touch overboard." Mrs. Sparkle's tone was playful and understanding.

Twilight looked away in embarrassment. "I'm sorry. It's just, I rally care for Flash. I want things to work out for us. I'm just worried that you might not like him."

Mrs. Sparkles smile grew broader. "I must have given that speech a hundred times while I was growing up. I know what it's like. Heck, my parents threatened to call the law on your father if he ever came near me again. When you're a parent, you see the world through two sets of eyes. I see you, now, and I'm flooded with memories and emotions of who I was and how I felt when I was a girl. But I also see how my parents looked at me back then as well. And it's how I look at you now.

"Your father and I talked. So far we really like Flash. He seems like a good kid and it's obvious he's crazy about you. I can assure you, we're not looking for a reason to break you up. We just want to make sure he's worthy of you."

"Thank you Mom," Twilight said and gave her mother a hug.

The two began to bring the plates out to the table. After each was placed where it was supposed to be, they sat down. Twilight sat beside Flash on his right. Mr. Sparkle sat at the head and Mrs. Sparkle sat to his left. Shinning Armor wasn't there. He and Cadence said they'd be around later though. The two had hit a rough patch in their marriage so Shinning moved back in briefly with his parents. Now that they had patched things up, they wanted to spend some much needed alone time together.

The dinner went exceedingly well. The conversation was light and cheerful. The story they told on how they met was close to how they actually met, with her being knocked over and him helping her up, it was just the timeline and the magical details they left out. By the end, everyone was feeling really good and laughing. It was then Shinning and Cadence came in. Both were pale with fear in their eyes.

Mrs. Sparkle noticed first. "Shinning, what's . . . "

"There's been more murders. We heard it on the radio on the way over. They're holding a press conference now," Shinning said in a cold terror.
Without thinking, Twilight rushed to the TV and turned it on. On the screen was the mayor and police chief. The Chief stood in the background while the Mayor talked.

"As I said, the decision was made when we discovered the body of Ms. Fine on Wednesday; that we would keep the details quiet. Things have changed now. So I will let you know what we do.

"On Wednesday, the body of Sandra Fine was discovered in a motel room. It had been devoured like that of Ramone Salazar and Margret O'Conner. What was different was on the wall, someone had written a message to local crime boss Donald Cornelius Richards, also known as Discord. This is what separated from the previous two. Which is why we kept it quiet. While the MO was the same, this seemed to be more of a gangland hit as Ms. Fine was a known prostitute on Discord's payroll.

"But as we discovered more facts about Mr. Salazar, we started to wonder if there was a connection. Then, early this morning, the body of Discord was found. One hand had been chopped off. The body looked to have been there since either Wednesday night or Thursday morning.

"After much debate, we decided to hold this press conference. We do not know exactly what is going on. This might be a new, dark, escalation in the drug war. Some new cartel moving in. We're not sure. But whatever is going on, it's big and it's horrible. So we are coming to you, the public, for any help you can give."

Everyone gasped and Twilight fell onto the couch. She had been getting too comfortable in her new life here but now the horror of what she faced had been made manifest before her. Another human life lost. And Discord? Yes human Discord, but still he was a Discord.

Flash sat down beside her and put his arm around her shoulder. She looked at him and burst into tears.