Hello! Yes, back again very soon once more. Here we have what I thought was going to be the first thing I'd publish this month, but obviously me taking part in that Age-Up Challenge put a slight delay in those plans. With that out of the way, though, here's my next entry in the 5G1B AU.

Now before we get going, I've got something to address since this was brought to my attention via a PM a week ago in relation to this. When I first came up with the idea of this AU and more specifically for the age progression portion of it, the original plan was for it to be one singular multi-chapter story. However as you can obviously tell, that hasn't been the case. There are a multitude of reasons for that, starting with the simplest one being that I simply prefer to do one-shots overall. Another reason is that I feel like each story deserves to have its own identity and time in the limelight as opposed to being parts of a larger story. Then there's a sillier reason like how there will be a couple of stories in this saga down the line that will necessitate a T rating and I don't feel like giving a multi-chaptered story such a rating if there's nothing to justify it until some point later on and everything before that point is mostly wholesome and family friendly. Plus, with now four stories including this one already out there, I feel it's too late to retroactively take them down and reupload everything in single story. That, and I probably don't have the heart to take down what's already up there either way.

I will also say that despite my decision against making this saga multi-chaptered, I'm not actually against doing anything beyond one chapter in general even again. To repeat, it's just that one-shots are what prefer doing for the most part, but hey, you never know what else could happen, AU or otherwise...

Okay, now with that said and done, let me give a quick rundown for what this one will focus on. As the title and summary say, this story is primarily going to serve as the beginning of Luna's gradual transformation in this AU into the cool rocker gal like she is in the proper canon of The Loud House. There's also a little side story featuring Mr. Grouse, who becomes the first character outside of the family to be reintroduced. As I've said before, certain select characters will gradually be brought back in both in this particular saga and future stories within the AU, but not every single one. There's far too many supporting characters to really realistically bring back and in general the Loud family themselves are the stars and central focus for this AU, so naturally they're going to have the lion's share of the spotlight.

All right, with another long intro done, read on and hopefully enjoy!

The Loud House is the exclusive property of Nickelodeon and Viacom. The usage of the setting, characters and such is based on nothing more than a pure affinity for everything and is not being used for monetary purposes.

Year 2011
Ages:
Lori - 13
Leni - 11
Luna - 9
Luan - 7
Lynn - 5
Lincoln - 3

It had begun as a seemingly typical morning in the Loud house. At the present, six out of the eight members of the family were in the middle of their breakfast while the remaining two had yet to come on down.

In the kitchen, Lynn Sr. manned the stove as he was in the middle of cooking up another serving of breakfast specifically for that pair who had not graced everyone with their presence yet.

"Hey, another fantastic breakfast, sweetie." Rita said as she arrived in the kitchen, carrying a handful of dishes with her, "Hope Luna and Luan can say the same pretty soon whenever they come on down."

"Oh, thanks, honey. I do what I can." Lynn Sr. remarked in return.

Rita smiled and went to the sink to take care of those dishes.

"Say, speaking of Luna while you're here, mind if I ask you something?" Lynn Sr. inquired to his wife.

"Like what?" Rita wondered.

"Well, has it been just me, or have you noticed that she has been talking in a different manner than usual?" Lynn Sr. asked.

"Huh? How so?"

"Well, using myself as an example, it's been normal for Luna to greet me with something like 'hi Dad, how's it going' or anything else along those lines. But recently she's been saying stuff like 'yo Pops, what's the haps' as well. In fact, she's been calling me 'Pops' in addition to the usual 'Dad' on top of that." Lynn Sr. explained.

"Really? Actually, now that I think about it more, I have noticed something similar myself." Rita said, "I don't know how long she might've been doing this, but I've overheard her sometimes addressing any one of her sisters simply as 'sis'. The use of that word itself isn't strange, only that I haven't heard her use it before. But the real unusual part is I've even heard her call her sisters 'dude' here and there. Since when are girls ever referred to like that?"

"I've actually heard her say that, too. Additionally, at least since yesterday to my knowledge, she's now been calling Lincoln by nicknames such as 'bro' and 'little bro' almost as much as his given name. She's even been using this other term 'brah', like B-R-A-H, as well." Lynn Sr. said, actually showing a little bit of grin, "Huh, safe to say Luna's picking up some new additions to her vocabulary. Might be due to all those rock records of mine I've been having her listen to these past two years. She's really been into them in that time."

Meanwhile, right as this discussion was going on, Luan was only now starting to wake up and preparing to start the day. Her sleeping in for a little bit likely stemmed from the night she spent having a whole ton of fun celebrating the fact she had split away from Lynn and Lincoln in getting her own room at long last. Technically speaking, she did have her own room within the first two years of her life, but she didn't have much in the way of memories of anything then due to being so incredibly young and the past five years had her share a room first with Lynn and then eventually Lincoln as well. Now in this case, she can truly feel a sense of independence in again having her own room.

As she rose out of bed and after getting dressed, Luan heard someone knocking on the door.

"Come in!" She said.

The door opened and though the face was familiar, the greeting was indeed very different.

"Oh, hi, Luna!"

"Yo, Luan, how's it hangin'?" Luna inquired, "Must be pretty rad to have your own crib again, right?"

"Huh? Crib? But I sleep in a bed." Luan replied thoroughly confused.

"No, I mean that it's cool you get to fly solo with your own pad." Luna rephrased it.

That one hardly made more sense to Luan, who tilted her head to the side with a baffled look on her face. Sighing a little, Luna tried one more time while going for a simplified route.

"Okay, I'm trying to say that you must like having your own room once more."

"Oh, okay, I get it now! Yeah, I do! I'm not sure why you didn't say that the first time." Luan wondered.

"Eh, I could've, but I've been liking mixing up my lingo here and there. Gotta keep it fresh and rockin'!" Luna explained, "Well, later!"

And just like that, she was on her way almost as quickly as she arrived, leaving her younger sister still immensely confused. Nonetheless, Luan also would soon be on her way and to get the day rolling.

At the same time, after Lynn Sr. served up breakfast for his two remaining daughters, he decided to take Lynn Jr. and Lincoln outdoors with him to the front yard for some playtime. The younger Lynn had brought with her the same red rubber ball she loved playing with for the past year now.

As part of this playtime, Lynn Sr. rolled the ball a la kickball style over to Lincoln, though when his only son tried to kick it, he did so a little too early and hard, ending up flat on his back while the ball casually rolled by his side.

"Step aside, let me show you how it's done, Lincoln!" Lynn Jr. declared.

She tossed the ball back over to her father and he repeated the rolling motion for his daughter. Lynn Jr. ran up just as the ball was reaching her and she swiftly kicked high and far into the air. So high and far it went that when Lynn Sr. attempted to catch, it narrowly escaped his grasp and he fell down trying to catch it.

"I get it, Daddy!" Lincoln said.

The three year old stumbled up to his feet and ran after the ball. It bounced off the driveway, rolling over onto the next yard on over. He completely ignored the calls of his father to stop, only instead having a single-minded determination in retrieving the ball back.

"I got it!" He said, picking it up in his hands.

"I don't think so!"

Suddenly, Lincoln felt the ball be snatched away from his hands. He looked up and saw the bald, eyeglass wearing, mustachioed face belonging to the ball snatcher, Mr. Grouse, the Loud family's ornery next door neighbor.

"Keep yourself and your toys off my yard!" He yelled at the boy.

Having taken the ball into his possession, Mr. Grouse began heading back over to his house.

"Hey, give that back, Mr. Grouse! That's mine!" Lynn Jr. shouted.

"You should've thought about that before it ended up in my yard!" Mr. Grouse fired back.

A pair of differing emotions filled Lynn Jr. and Lincoln. The former was furious that her ball had been taken away from her, while the latter felt despondent, believing that though his sister was the one who kicked the ball into Mr. Grouse's yard, he felt that it was his fault that it ended up in their cranky neighbor's possession for not getting it back quick enough.

"Uh, hey, you kids head back inside and let me try to talk things over with Mr. Grouse, okay?" Lynn Sr. said to them.

Reluctantly for their respective aforementioned reasons, Lynn Jr. and Lincoln complied with their father's request and walked back to their home.

Meanwhile, Lynn Sr. knocked on the front door of his neighbor's house. Initially, he got no response, but after more knocking and ringing to the doorbell, he heard annoyed grumbling from the other side and eventually the door opened up.

"What do you want, Loud?" Mr. Grouse wondered irritably.

"Listen, Mr. Grouse, I'll take full responsibility for my kids' letting that ball get to your yard, but come on, did you really need to take it away from them?" Lynn Sr. questioned.

"You know the rules, Loud. My yard, my property!"

"But can't we-"

But just as Lynn Sr. was in the middle of speaking, the door was slammed right in front of him.

As all that was going on, Lynn Jr. and Lincoln had returned inside, where the looks on their faces caught the attention of both their mother as well as Luna, since both were passing right on by.

"Hey, what are you kids doing back inside so soon? And where's your father?" Rita asked.

"Yeah, is something up, dudes?" Luna added in her newfound wordage.

"Mr. Grouse take ball." Lincoln said sadly.

"Yeah, he stole my ball and Daddy's trying to get it back." Lynn added perturbed.

She grumbled and stomped away angrily. Rita followed her along concernedly while Luna remained near with Lincoln, noticing the increasingly sad look on his face.

"Aw, cheer up, bro. I'm sure Dad will pull through." She tried in telling him, "But if you'd like, you can come with me upstairs to play if you like."

"Yeah!" Lincoln cheerfully said.

With a little laugh and a smile, Luna lead Lincoln upstairs to her. Unlike in previous years, the little guy was more than capable now in going up the stairs himself. What was once a daunting task had become second nature.

A minute after that, Lynn Sr. returned inside, albeit without his youngest daughter's ball back with him. He closed the door behind him right as his wife came back.

"So, Mr. Grouse has Lynn's ball, huh?" Rita asked him.

"Yeah…" Lynn St. answered with a sigh, "Guessing you heard from her and Lincoln."

"Yeah, and from the looks of it you've had no luck in getting it back?"

"Pretty much. You know how stubborn he can get in that anytime something lands in his yard, he views it as his property and it can take some doing to get it back. Hopefully I can be just a bit more successful in convincing him another time, perhaps even by the end of the day."

"We can hope." Rita agreed, then a smile came across her face, "But hey, until then, we still have that trip to the park we're taking the kids to later today. That could help cheer up both Lynn and Lincoln since I saw them both clearly not be in the best of moods."

Lynn Sr. smiled lightly, "Yeah, I guess so that can help, at least until I try giving it another shot."

Later on into the afternoon, the Loud family had arrived at one of several park the populated the town. Within seconds of arrival, the parents laid out the ground rules for their kids on this occasion.

"Okay, kids, you are basically free to do whatever you like within reasonable boundaries." Lynn Sr. said.

"But just to be on the safe side, we think that you should be split up into groups of three with one of your older siblings keeping an eye on you." Rita added, "So I thought for instance, Luan and Lynn, you can be with Leni."

"Sure, I can do that, Mom!" Leni affirmed.

"And that would mean Lori would get to stick on by with you two, Luna and Lincoln." Rita continued.

"Hey, can't I do that by myself now, Mom?" Luna suggested, "Aren't I old enough?"

"Huh...you know, perhaps you're right, Luna. Maybe you can look after Lincoln by yourself." Rita answered after giving it a second of thought, "I mean, if you're okay with that, Lori."

"Eh, I think she's old enough, too. Besides, if I'm being honest, I sort of prefer the idea of having time literally to myself." Lori said.

With everyone having their plans set up, the family went in their respective different ways. Lynn Sr. and Rita sat at a bench, Leni, Luan and Lynn all went to the playground, Lori sat down and relaxed under a tree, and Luna and Lincoln went on a little walk together holding hands.

"This is nice, isn't it, Linc?" Luna said to him.

"Uh-huh." Lincoln replied.

As they traveled further within the park, they were unaware that they were being followed. It wasn't until a trio of looming shadows cast down over them did they turn and see a group of older kids looking down right at them.

"Hey, what brings you here?"

"Yeah, don't you know that this is our park?"

"So get on outta here!"

"Huh? What are you talking about, dudes?" Luna wondered.

"Hey, you got cotton in your ears, girly?"

"Skedaddle! Vamoose! Out!"

"Hit the bricks or else!"

"Or else what?" Luna continued asking.

Grinning sadistically, the older kids all grabbed Lincoln and pulled him in their direction.

"Hey, what are you doing? That's my little bro!"

Ignoring Luna's words, they put him in between them and pushed him around multiple times, each making Lincoln more fearful.

As she helplessly watched on, Luna was torn between going in and trying to get Lincoln out of there, risking herself getting harmed by these kids or calling for help, also fearing drawing the attention of these no-gooders.

"Hey, what are you doing?!"

But luckily for Luna, she didn't have to fear making a hard decision either way, as Lori had entered the picture and was not in a good mood at all to say the least.

"This isn't your business, four eyes!"

"Oh, yes it is! You're harming my little brother and scaring my sister!" Lori said in increasing ire.

"Ha! What are you gonna do…"

Whatever one of the kids would say next, he didn't get the chance when Lori grabbed him by the shirt collar.

"Listen here, you dirtbags! You lay your hands on any of my siblings again and I swear I could turn you all into human pretzels if I really wanted to! Now scram!"

Either out of intimidation or knowing they can't really get away with much anymore, the trio of kids started to leave, though they gave an unpleasant glare over to Luna and Lincoln in particular.

"You got lucky...this time."

Lori shot a return glare back at them, and once they left, she looked back over to her siblings.

"Maybe it was a good idea after all if I do stick by you like Mom suggested after all." She said.

"I...I guess…" Luna conceded.

With a little sigh, Lori reached down and brought Lincoln into her arms. She carried him as she and Luna headed closer back over with the rest of their family for the remainder of time together at the park.

Later on in the evening, dinner had just wrapped up with a wonderful helping of Lynn Sr.'s signature lasagna, or "Lynn-sagna" as he's dubbed for as long as he can remember.

As he helped with the clean up, Lynn Sr. noticed there was a small serving of lasagna still left over in the pan. He was just about to cover it up in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for another time, but something else caught his eye.

Looking out the kitchen window, Lynn Sr. saw Mr. Grouse in his backyard milling about and perhaps doing some form of yard work.

Glancing back at the leftover lasagna, an idea sprang into Lynn Sr.'s mind based on the events of the morning. He took the pan into his hand, grabbed a fork as well and brought them with him outside.

"Hey, Mr. Grouse!" He shouted to his neighbor.

"I don't have time for whatever it is, Loud!" Mr. Grouse said dismissively.

"Oh, but it won't take long at, trust me! I just thought you'd like to try out some of my lasagna that I have left over." Lynn Sr. explained.

Mr. Grouse turned around and raised an eyebrow, "And why in tarnation would I want to do that?"

"Well...maybe you're a secret foodie and you've never told me...and plus maybe this can work as an exchange so I can get back my youngest daughter's ball back, too?" Lynn Sr. offered, laughing anxiously, "But really, give it a try and see what you think."

He handed his neighbor the pan and fork. Shrugging and never willing to turn down free food at this rate, Mr. Grouse took everything at hand and chowed away in no time, perhaps proving the foodie portion of Lynn Sr.'s statement.

Smiling, Lynn Sr. thought things might be going upward. Seconds after finishing up, Mr. Grouse casually handed the pan and fork back, then he turned and headed into his home.

A couple of minutes passed and the optimism Lynn Sr. had just moments earlier began fading. He now thought Mr. Grouse had simply up and went into his house for the evening. Sighing in disappointment, he began heading back inside.

"Hey, Loud, catch!"

Suddenly, he looked back over just in time to see Lynn Jr.'s red rubber ball being sent his way, which he barely managed to catch with one hand.

"Whoa...Mr Grouse?"

"All right, I got to hand it to you, Loud...that was pretty scrumptious stuff you had there, and I suppose it was worth a trade." Mr. Grouse said in a conciliatory tone, though he quickly shifted back to his standard namesake attitude, "But don't have this be a regular thing of any of your kids' stuff landing in my yard!"

"Oh, sure, no problem, Mr. Grouse! I'll be sure to have a talk with my daughter so that she doesn't try to kick or otherwise have any of her balls land in your yard again. Also the more I think about it, the backyard is more conducive for playtime than the front yard anyway, but still…" Lynn Sr. said.

"Yeah, whatever you say. Just make sure you remember which side of the yard that stuff belongs in."

As that exchange ended, both men were going back inside their homes. However, one last unexpected thing was mentioned.

"All that aside, though...I wouldn't mind having another serving of that lasagna of yours again should I ever get the chance." Mr. Grouse admitted.

Lynn Sr. smiled, "Really? Well, I think that can be arranged one day."

Finally after that, both returned to their homes. Putting aside the tray and fork, Lynn Sr. brought the ball with him and headed for the living room, luckily where everyone else in his family was, including that of his youngest and namesake daughter.

"Hey, LJ, guess what I got?"

He held the ball up high in the air and Lynn Jr. couldn't have been happier.

"My ball!"

She leaped up from the couch and made a dash up to her father, hugging his legs.

"Thank you, Daddy! I knew you would get it back!"

"Of course, sweetheart. You just got to promise me that you won't let it end up in Mr. Grouse's property again. Something tells me he won't be as willing to return something of ours without some serious concessions. You understand that, okay?" Lynn Sr. said.

Lynn Jr. nodded slowly, "Okay, I promise."

And with that, he handed her the ball back.

"You know, I've got to ask how you've managed to convince Mr. Grouse to give it back in the first place, honey." Rita said.

"Well, as unbelievable as this may sound, he gave it back after I shared with him that last little bit of lasagna that was left over from dinner. Turns out he absolutely loved it. I really didn't think it'd work out, but I'm glad it did in the end." Lynn Sr. said with a relieved sigh.

"Actually, I'm not shocked myself, Dad. Your lasagna is literally one of the best things in the world, so even someone as stubborn as Mr. Grouse clearly is able to be swayed to do the right thing if that's the case." Lori posited.

Sharing in the agreement with that of their oldest sister, the rest of the kids added in their own similarly praiseworthy comments much to the delight of their father.

"Aw, thanks so much, kids. You'll always get to hear from me how much stuff like that means to me." Lynn Sr. said gratefully.

A couple of hours later on, bedtime had approached for the majority of the family. Thanks to the general happy ending of Lynn getting her ball back, most everyone was in good spirits as they went to their respective rooms.

However, there was one notable exception to this rule.

In her room, Luna sat on the edge of her bed and sighed unhappily. All day long she couldn't rid herself of the thought of what happened over at the park. She hated the fact that she felt like she failed in protecting Lincoln from that trio of bullying older kids and had to almost cowardly stay back until Lori fortunately intervened to put a stop to everything before it could have possibly gotten worse.

But that wasn't the only thing that kept Luna up at the moment. While thinking about that, she had a small handheld mirror and looked at her reflection. For a while now she had been struggling with who she was both physically and personality wise, and that crack from one of the kids calling her "girly" only amplified that struggle.

In recent days, she had changed up some manner of how she spoke partly due to the influence that listening and experiencing rock music had over her in the past two years and partly as a way of seeking that pathway of discovering who she might really be. Now with what occurred at the park on top of that, she figured that she really needed to jump start further a change in who she is.

Sighing, Luna placed the mirror aside and put on a determined look on her face.

"All right...I know what I need to do. Starting tomorrow, the world is gonna see and get themselves a whole new Luna Loud."

In the morning that followed, Lori somewhat drowsily exited her room and was about to head into the bathroom. However, she could hear a specific sound that indicated someone was occupying it at the moment.

"Huh, guess Dad's in there shaving or something." She said.

Indeed, the buzzing sound of what likely is an electric razor was what could be heard from the outside. Regardless, Lori chose to stand by and wait.

As the seconds turned into minutes, she gradually got more impatient. She was about to knock and ask what's up, but someone unexpected coming up the stairs put a pause on that.

"Good morning, Lori."

"Oh, good morning…"

She was turning around and was stunned to see her father being the one who addressed her.

"Wait, Dad? I thought you were in the bathroom."

"Oh, uh, no that's obviously not the case. I was on my way up and apparently going to wait just like you to use it myself." Lynn Sr. explained, "What made you think I was in there, Lori?"

"Well, if you listen closely, you can literally hear the sound of an electric razor being used and I thought that meant you were in there shaving or something along those lines." Lori replied.

"Really? Who'd be in there using something like that then?" Lynn Sr. wondered just as perplexed as his oldest daughter was.

"Guess there's only one way to find out."

With that, Lori knocked on the door.

"One moment, dude, I'm almost done!"

Needless to say, the pair on the other side did not expect that response.

"Luna? What is she doing?" Lynn Sr. said.

Lori shrugged, then she knocked again, "Luna?"

"Hey, give me a couple more minutes here, brah!" Luna requested, "Wait, actually, I'm done, but still, hold up some, okay?"

As confusion only mounted for both Lynn Sr. and Lori, the buzzing sound came to an end. Now, however, they heard what appeared to be a sweeping sound, like that of a broom being used.

Finally, after another minute or so of waiting with baited breath, Lynn Sr. and Lori saw the door open up and Luna emerging from the bathroom.

Or at least, who they thought was believed to be her.

"'Morning, dudes!"

Slack jawed and mouths agape, they witnessed the girl whose voice they recognized and the freckled face looked the same, but a whole lot else were varying degrees of different.

Starting with her apparel, although she had one of the same pairs of buckled shoes she usually sported, just about everything else from that point upward Luna had on was somewhat different. In place of one of the dresses she's typically been known to wear over the years instead was a skirt featuring a checkered pattern and a buttoned formal shirt. She still sort of had the same overall girlish look in her clothes as before, just perhaps less pronounced than before.

But that was nothing compared to the more startling difference in Luna's appearance. Gone were the long brown locks of hair and what was left consisted of a shorter hairstyle. This meant the buzzing of an electric razor was in fact Luna cutting her own hair.

"Luna?!" Lori managed to say after a period of stunned silence.

"You better believe it, sis! Make that a whole new one at that!" Luna proudly stated.

On the other hand, Lynn Sr. found himself in a state of shock unlike fewer other times he's ever felt before. So taken aback by the sight of his third eldest daughter having apparently given herself a makeover completely out of the blue, he mumbled and muttered indistinctly, then he moaned as he fainted back first with a thud.

"Dad!" Lori shouted.

Turning her attention away from her sister, she went over to her fallen father's side. At the same time, the sound of him crashing to the floor garnered the attention of everyone else, from Leni, Luan, Lynn Jr. and Lincoln looking out from their bedrooms to Rita rushing up the stairs.

"What happened?!" Rita asked in a slight of panic.

"I think Dad fainted, Mom!" Lori responded.

"What? How? And did he…"

But as Rita was speaking, she did a double take in the direction of the bathroom to see Luna standing in the doorway in her new look. Now it was her turn to be bewildered.

"Luna? What did you…?" She tried saying.

Following their mother's lead, Leni, Luan and Lynn Jr. looked up and they all gasped upon seeing their newly transformed sister. On the other hand, Lincoln only looked on confused.

"Luna? You look...different." Luan said, struggling to find much else to describe what she saw.

"Uh, yeah, just thought I...go for a bit of a change up." Luna attempted in explaining on the spot.

"I...but...for what…" Rita struggled saying, letting out a deep sigh, "All right, never mind for a moment. Lori, Leni, can you give me a hand in helping bringing your father downstairs?"

"Sure we can, Mom." Leni answered.

Kneeling down to her husband's side, Rita sat him up, put her arms around his waist from behind and grunting as she lifted him up, all while Lori and Leni helped by grabbing a hold of one of his legs each as they carefully brought him down the stairs. At the same time, Lynn Jr. followed along hoping to help out in her own way should she be able to.

As that was going on, Luan and Lincoln turned their attention back to Luna, still unable to fully grasp with the sudden change in looks their older sister had put herself through.

"Luna...where you go?" Lincoln inquired confusedly.

"Huh? What do you mean, bro? I'm still here." Luna replied.

She tried approaching him, but Lincoln rather suddenly backed away and hid behind Luan.

"Linc? What's going on?" Luna asked him worriedly.

When she tried to reach out for him, Lincoln then flinched and ran off into his room.

"Lincoln!" Luan said.

She followed after him, leaving Luna behind wondering what could've possibly gotten into Lincoln.

Between what seemed like frightfulness coming from her little brother and her father fainting, this morning that signified her new look wasn't starting off like Luna either thought or hoped for. She did expect some in her family to be taken by surprise by her decision, but certainly not to this extent.

The confidence she'd built up for herself the night before fading quickly, Luna sighed and started walking away. However, she did notice Lori coming back up the stairs.

"Hey, where are Luan and Lincoln?" She asked.

"In their room." Luna answered halfheartedly.

"Why?"

"Luan followed him after he ran off in there. I hate to think he's scared of me."

"What? Why? That sounds…"

But suddenly, it became patently obvious to Lori what might've triggered such an act by Lincoln. Much like their father, he must've taken the sight of seeing Luna looking like how she is now in far from the best of terms. Knowing this, she sighed.

"Listen, Mom wanted to do this herself, but I offered to do something similar. I think we need to have a talk about...this, Luna." Lori said.

Realizing something like that was going to be inevitable, Luna nodded reluctantly. Her oldest sister motioned for her to follow along and they went inside her room, both taking a seat on the bed.

"So, I guess I'll get straight to it, Luna. What's the deal with this?" Lori asked.

"Nothing, Lori. Just wanted to change things up is all." Luna replied.

Lori rolled her eyes and sighed again, "Oh, come on, Luna. Am I supposed to buy that? You just chose to give yourself what amounts to a total makeover of yourself for literally no reason at all? Pardon me, but that's outrageous. Now seriously, what's the deal?"

For a moment, Luna hesitated and didn't seem like she wanted to truly reveal the impetus that caused her change in appearance. But she also likely knew that Lori wasn't going to let the issue go until the cause was revealed ultimately. Groaning, she buried her face into her hands.

"Why do I have to be such a...girl?"

"Huh? 'Such a girl?' What's that supposed to mean?" Lori asked, placing a hand on her sister's back.

"I mean, why have been who I am for these past nine years? It didn't...feel right. And did one of those gnarly dudes at the park have to rub it in by calling me 'girly', too?" Luna lamented.

"Wait, wait, wait, hold up…" Lori said, making Luna face her directly, "Is that the reason for all this? Just because one of those dirtbags called you 'girly'? You can't be serious, can you?"

Luna shook her head, "No, that's not it, Lori! If I have to tell the truth, I've felt like this for a long time now. Like, who am I really? Am I someone who wears really girly dresses, likes classical music and plays around with dolls and stuff, or has there been this other side of me being locked inside that I've decided to finally let out?"

As Luna's expression turned more sullen, Lori's disposition turned more sympathetic. She was realizing this wasn't some overnight spur of the moment change for its own sake, but more of a long term struggle that she's never been made aware of for whatever reason. On that front, Lori was understanding her sister's plight to an extent. She was still in the middle of her awkward stage which began a year earlier and still had issues with it to this day, although she had gotten better in dealing with it all the same. While in her case it was insecurity over changes to her appearance she couldn't control that also lead to personality problems as well, Luna on the other hand appeared to have admitted to having doubts about who she was on a complete fundamental level and sought to take matters into her own hands in some sort of path of self discovery

In a sense, Lori should have seen something like this coming, with the biggest clue being the rock inspired lingo, vocabulary and manner of speaking Luna had been employing these past few days. It made her think getting into rock music might've been the real inspiration that slowly began the process two years earlier.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all…" Luna said sadly, "Maybe this whole things is stupid. If it made Dad get knocked for a loop and scared Lincoln, then I guess I should forget about it and accept who I am...some simple girl who doesn't stand out."

"Well, hold on, Luna. I won't deny this change almost came out of nowhere and maybe you should have told me and our family in advance you've been wanting to do this and also told us about this struggle you were going through, but I don't think you should call it or certainly not yourself stupid." Lori said.

She put an arm around Luna and drew her over closer.

"And going back to that statement of wondering why you felt like 'such a girl' like one of those kids said, I hope you're not suggesting that you're ashamed of being girl, are you?"

"No...I don't think that's what I meant. But I wonder if I'm too girly, though." Luna cleared up.

"Well, I don't personally think that myself, and regardless, I want to tell you there's literally nothing wrong with being a girl at all, Luna, just like how there's nothing wrong with say, Lincoln being a boy as well. No one should ever convince you that being a girl is something to be ashamed or have regrets over." Lori said with a smile.

"Yeah...I guess not." Luna agreed, grinning just briefly, "So, should I forget about this makeover?"

"Well, it's clearly too late when it comes to your hair I'll say that much." Lori pointed out jokingly, "But in all seriousness, that's not for me to decide. If this is really what you want to do, then that's your decision. I'd consider yourself old enough to make the choices in life in how you want to literally define yourself. I guess all I ask from you is that you don't make such choices entirely based on guilt or outside pressure."

"Sure, I can promise you that, sis." Luna affirmed.

At the conclusion of this talk, they shared a hug together.

"Now, how about we check up on Dad and maybe we can try to get him and everyone else to better understand why you've chosen to do with yourself." Lori suggested.

"Yeah...I guess we can do that...maybe?" Luna said, albeit with a tiny bit of hesitation.

"Hey, it'll be okay. I doubt Mom or Dad in particular are going to be mad at you or anything. They'll just want to know why is all, I'll bet on it." Lori said assuredly.

She stood up as did Luna and both of them left Lori's room to make their way down the stairs. Upon arriving at the ground floor, they saw their mom and the rest of their siblings, Luan and Lincoln included who have since come on down themselves, surrounding their dad on the couch who has since thankfully regained consciousness.

"Oh, hey there, Lori. Hey...Luna." Lynn Sr. greeted, some admitted restiveness in his voice present in his voice when speaking to the latter.

"Hey, Dad. You doing okay?" Lori asked.

"Oh, yeah, no problem. Your old man's made of tougher stuff than you might think. Not like a little fall's going to faze me that much." Lynn Sr. said while grinning.

"Probably not, but I think there's something that may have fazed us all in a sense." Rita said, looking over with concern at her third oldest daughter, "Luna, I think you might owe us all an explanation here."

At first, Luna came off as quite nervous in expressing to the rest of her family what spurred her makeover. A quick glance over at Lincoln, who was still acting almost afraid, hardly made things better. But with a comforting hand from Lori rubbing her shoulder, she took a deep breath and went ahead.

"Okay, I want to first say I'm sorry that I've chilled you all to the bone with this new look. I should've said something before going through with it I guess…" Luna started with.

"That might've helped a bit…" Lynn Sr. said with an awkward laugh.

"True, but more to the point, why have you done this, Luna?" Rita asked her.

"Well, to tell the truth, I wasn't really feeling who I have been for a while now, and I'll admit that maybe getting into rock music thanks to Dad's help played a big role in that. Oh, and I'm not blaming him in any way. This is my choice alone." Luna explained.

"Wait, what do you mean you weren't feeling who you were? That doesn't make a whole lot of sense." Rita said.

"Yeah, that actually sounds pretty worrisome, honey." Lynn Sr. added.

"Maybe it does, but you shouldn't be too worried about it. I'm not ashamed of who I am or I guess now was. I just may have been searching for my true self or something like that and well...I guess this is it." Luna said, "But if you don't like it…"

"Well, I wouldn't say that, Luna, at least speaking for myself." Rita spoke up, "I mean, yes, it's not every day where one morning one of your daughters suddenly cuts her hair and changes her clothes to quite a degree, but no, I can't say that I don't like it."

"I agree with what your mother is saying. But hey, all things considered, just from my vantage point, you look like you did a pretty good job in terms of cutting your hair." Lynn Sr. admitted, "Granted, it's a big shock to see you like this, but still…"

"Oh, heh...well, thanks, Pops. So, you and Mom aren't...you know, mad at me?" Luna wondered.

"What? No, of course not! It might've helped again like you said if you could have told us before doing any of this, but no, weren't not mad." Rita assured.

"Yeah, and honestly, you're getting close to or already at the age where you should be exploring more about who you are or want to be. So maybe in a weird sort of way, we could say that we're proud of you, Luna." Lynn Sr. added.

"Really? Well...thanks, I guess." Luna said, awkwardly laughing.

Nonetheless relieved she wasn't in some sort of serious trouble, she headed up to both her parents so she could hug them both, which in turn like magnets brought her siblings into forming a group hug between them.

All except for one missing component, however.

Notably, Lincoln didn't join in and instead he still seemed very reluctant and even still filled with anxiety about the changes Luna went through.

"Hey, Lincoln, it's okay." Lori told him after she approached him.

"But...but...but Luna gone…" Lincoln said wistfully.

As her little brother whimpered, Lori brought him into her arms.

"Aw, no she isn't. She's just looking different is all. She is still literally the same wonderful sister she is and always will be." She said.

She picked him up and brought him along closer to the rest of their family.

"Why is Linky being like this, Lori?" Leni asked.

"I'm guessing he's having a harder time dealing with Luna's makeover because since he's still so young, he's only known her like she was the past two years that it comes as a much bigger shock to him than perhaps with the rest of us." Lori tried theorizing, adjusting her grip to face him, "But don't worry, Lincoln. I think you'll get used to it just like the rest of us."

"Yeah, except for maybe an adjustment here and there, nothing's changed in me on the inside, little bro." Luna said.

Despite some clear reservations, Lincoln tried giving a little smile. Change can indeed be a difficult thing for anyone, let alone a three year old. But knowing he wasn't alone in the initial shock of Luna's new look would hope to make this a little easier on him.

As the afternoon arrived following that very eventful morning, the Loud family chose to pull a repeat of the previous day by spending time at the park again. The setup was largely similar to last time as well, with the siblings split into three groups, the exact same ones as the day before. This time, Lori would be keeping tabs on Luna and Lincoln better as opposed to only having them out on their own.

While Lori sat back and looked on, Luna and Lincoln were having fun simply chasing each other around. However, the fun would come to a screeching halt when both of them inadvertently bumped into someone.

Unfortunately for them, it happened to be the same trio of older kids who accosted them yesterday.

"Hey, watch it, dorks!"

"Yeah, watch where you're going!"

"Yeah and...wait up, you look familiar…"

"Hey, you're right! This is the same little brat we saw yesterday!"

"You got some nerve coming back here…"

"We told you this is our park!"

"You three again?!"

The confrontation would be put on hold when once again Lori came running up, thankfully this time before any harm could come about.

"Oh, look fellas, four eyes is back!"

"Save it! I'm not going to let you pull a repeat of you harassing my siblings again!" Lori said determinedly, "In fact…"

But before Lori could finish, she was shoved to the ground, knocking her glasses loose as well.

"Hey, what gives, dudes?!" Luna asked them aggressively.

"Whoa, who the heck are you?"

"Wait, isn't this girly girl?"

"Is it? If so, now she looks more like a boy with that stupid hair!"

If seeing her older sister getting pushed down hadn't done so enough, that little insult got Luna really hot under the collar. In addition to looking anew, she slowly also seemed to get a slightly harder edge in her personality, which she was about to show off.

Disregarding the fact she was outnumbered, Luna swung with her fist and connected with one of the kids' face, then she did the same with the other two in quick fashion. Though staggered and taken aback by this sudden ferocity coming from her, it only caused greater fury from them.

In response, one of the kids pushed Luna to the side and with Lori still trying to recover, the trio aimed their sights over to Lincoln. Three year old or not, they didn't care and seemed determined to take him on.

"You're gonna regret ever coming here, kid…"

That threat being made crystal clear, Lincoln trembled and had tears forming in his eyes. One of the kids pulled back with his fist and was primed to strike.

However, at the last possible moment, Luna dove right in and took the blow for Lincoln. Next, she quickly got up and as her little brother cowered, she covered him up with her own body as blow after painful blow came raining down.

Thankfully for both of them, this torment was very much short lived, as one of the kids felt himself get decked hard by a now fully recovered and completely livid Lori. Then in rapid succession, and though well short of that human pretzel threat from the day before, she bounded together the hands and wrists of the other two and in an impressive feat of strength, she hoisted and slammed them both down right on top of the other kid.

"You will never mess with me or any of my siblings ever again! Got it?!" Lori furiously told them.

Without giving it another thought, her very next act was to take both Luna and Lincoln with her back to their family.

Back at home not too long after, Luna was laying across the couch recovering from all she had been on the receiving end of. She wasn't too terribly hurt, but it was still a good idea for her to get a little rest in.

"Hey, how are you holding up, Luna?"

She looked up to see Lori coming over while also carrying Lincoln in her arms.

"Oh, I'm cool, Lori." Luna said to her.

"Or perhaps as cool as getting hammered by those dirtbags before they got what's literally coming to them, right?" Lori stated humorously.

Luna chuckled, "Yeah, I can go with that, too. That was awesome how you dealt with them by the way."

Lori grinned, "Thanks, Luna. All in day's work to keep my siblings safe. And speaking of which…"

She gently placed Lincoln right close by Luna.

"Figured this little guy might want to keep you company."

"Oh, okay, sure." Luna happily accepted.

Smirking, Lori left both of them alone. In that time, Lincoln crawled closer and hugged Luna.

"You save me, Luna." He said.

"Aw, it was no trouble, bro. I'd do anything for you." Luna said, hugging him back, "Plus technically Lori saved us both, but I appreciate the thought anyway."

As Luna eventually let go of Lincoln, she noticed he had a little frown on his face, which got her a little worried.

"Hey, what's wrong?" She asked.

"I sorry for be scared of you." Lincoln replied.

"Hey, it's okay, Linc. I don't hold it against you at all. A little dude of your age had every right to be a little taken aback by how dramatically I changed myself." Luna said, cupping his face, "But as I said before, I may look different, but I'm still your big sis and that will never change."

She leaned over and kissed on him on the cheek, which made him giggle and hug her again, as she too did the same so they could start snuggling up together on the couch.

"I love you, Luna."

"I love you, too, Lincoln."

There we go! So Luna's transformation wasn't absolutely complete here and that was by design. She's currently something of hybrid of the rocker girl look and personality while still holding on to a little of her original dainty side. Additionally, she's only nine in this AU so far, so she's still got some time before she fully becomes who we all know and love her as she is in the original canon.

Yeah, I think that's all I have to say right about now. Thanks again as always for the support and reading, and uh, yeah, seen you another time when it comes to that point!