//------------------------------// // First Day Pt. 3 // Story: Family 101 // by Kail //------------------------------// Lightning left home and flew above Ponyville. Spotting a weather team in the distance, she flew toward them, her pegasus skin in place. As she approached the weather team, Lightning noticed that most of them were nervous as she flew closer. Lightning sighed. “Look guys, I’m a changeling, that’s been established. But you’ve worked with me and I did help save the town so can we just get to work?” Rain Drop, a female pegasus, hovered closer to lightning and shook her head. “It’s not that Lightning. We don’t really care what you are, it’s just that....” Lightnings brow rose. “Just what?” “Dash told us to send you to the weather office if we saw you.” Rain Drop lowered her head. “The office? She never uses the office.” Lightning’s head tilted in confusion. Rain Drop’s rose her head and locked eyes with Lightning. “She does when things are serious. And by the way she looked, this is as serious as it gets.” Lightning only nodded before rolling midair and start gliding toward the weather office. And possibly toward the start of a lot of trouble. ============================================= Lightning stood outside Rainbow Dash’s office in town hall, anxious about why the chromatic mare wanted to see her. As she’d walked down the hall Lightning saw more of the weather ponies she worked with give her worried looks. So that had just added to why Lightning stood outside her friends office, trying to steel her nerves. Taking a calming breath Lightning lifted a hoof and knocked on Rainbow’s door. “Come in” Lightning entered the office.and was surprised to see that not only was Rainbow sitting at her desk but that a stallion she’d never met sat in one of the two chairs in front of the desk. Rainbow turned her attention to Lightning. “Have a seat, Lightning.” Lightning sat in the unoccupied chair and spoke. “What’s this about, Boss?” Rainbow motioned to the stallion in the other chair. “Mr. Rich had some concerns about you and suggested you be brought in.” Lightning glanced to her left to get a better look at Mr. Rich. He looked to be middle aged with a black mane and tail. His coat was brown and the cutie mark on his flank was a bag of bits. What got Lightning’s attention though was the look in the stallions eyes. She knew that look. This stallion was afraid of her, or more likely, afraid of changelings. And fear was a great motivation to get rid of something. Lightning narrowed her eyes slightly as Mr. Rich began speaking. “That’s right Miss Dash. I wanted Lightning to be here so she could face her accuser.” Lightnings eyes widened as Mr. Rich went on. “I feel that while Princess Celestia had good intentions when she decided to have the changelings live with us, I don’t think they should be allowed to run free range in our town.” Lightning grit her teeth and was about to tear into the stallion when Rainbow spoke up. “Your concern is noted Mr. Rich, but I still don’t see what Lightning has to do with any of this.” The stallion cleared his throat. “I was just getting to that. This changeling infiltrated our town and deceived all of us. All the while she was holding a filly captive and worming her way into the good graces of you and your friends. This could all be one big take over and I’m worried that...” Rainbow dash held up a hoof, stopping Mr. Rich’s speech. “Mr. Rich let me make this clear. I trust Lightning. I had my doubts about her at first but she’s proven she’s on our side. This baseless fear you have of her and her fellow changelings is, in all honesty, unfair.” The stallion sputtered before finding his voice. “You can’t be serious. These monsters tried to destroy us!” Dash smirked. “And they were stopped. By Lightning.” Mr. Rich was about to speak again when dash continued. “I realize you’re afraid of the changelings, so if it makes you feel better I’ll keep an eye on Lightning and all other changelings that work for me.” Mr Rich growled. “That’s not enough! They should all be quartered off and watched constantly.” The stallion pointed a hoof at Lightning. “And the filly being held by this one should be placed in proper care.” Lightning bristled and shot off her seat to glare at the stallion. “What!?” Rainbow stood, leaning forward on her desk. “Lightning, sit down.” Lightning looked to her friend and was about to argue but the look in Dash’s eyes silenced her. Rainbow wasn’t her friend right now, Rainbow was her boss. Lightning sat down and watched as Rainbow Dash turned her attention back to Mr. Rich. “Mr. Rich, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t rile up one of my weather crew. Now let me tell you what’s going to happen.” Rainbows eyes hardened as she stared down the stallion. “You are going to leave, Lightning is going to get back to work and we are all going to get along. Understand?” Mr. Rich narrowed his eyes. “What? You can’t just brush me off! Do you know who I am?!” “I don’t care who you are. You don’t tell me what to do with my workers. Now you and your opinions about changelings can leave my office.” Mr. Rich stood and stepped angrily to Dash’s door. Before he left he turned and glared at Lightning, while growling in a low tone. “This isn’t over, changeling.” The irate stallion slammed the door as he left. When the sound of hoofsteps faded, Rainbow sat back in her chair and rubbed her temples. “I’ve been dealing with ponies like that all morning. Sorry you had to be here, Lightning, but that guy just wouldn’t back down when he wanted to see you.” Lightning sighed. “Why didn’t you just tell him to leave like you did just now?” “I’m the manager of this whole area and that also means I’m the PR pony around here. I’m kinda obligated to hear the concerns of the citizens about my workers. It’s all a bunch of political horse apples if ya ask me.” Dash said, shaking her head. Lightning nodded. “So I gotta ask, you think I should worry about what that guy said?” Rainbow walked from behind her desk to stand next to Lightning, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “He’s got a lot of pull around here. I think he and those other ponies, who don’t want changelings around, are in some kinda anti-changeling group. My advice, be careful. I didn’t like that look in his eyes.” Lightning sat in her chair, turning the situation over in her head. Meanwhile, Rainbow went back behind her desk. “Look, Lightning, for now you should just act like nothing’s wrong. I’ve got paperwork to take care of thanks to all this and you’ve still got a job to do. If anything comes up, I’ll let you know.’ Giving a nod, Lightning rose from her seat and left Dash’s office. All the while wondering how this was going to affect her family. ================================================== Lightning finished the first half of her shift and felt better about the relation between ponies and changelings. Mostly due to the fact that several changelings had been integrated into her shift and everyone got along great. Lightning flew into town to take her lunch break and the good feeling she had began to slowly but surely fade. While there were the ponies that gave her a friendly greeting as she walked toward Sugarcube Corner, she noticed that just as many ponies would glare or cross the street to avoid her. Lightnings ears lowered a bit. Even after all she’d done for the town there were ponies that saw her as nothing but a monster. Something to be feared and shunned. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Lightning arrived at Sugarcube Corner and noticed that the lunch rush had hit the place hard. The Cakes and Pinkie were rushing around to fill orders and deliver the orders to the tables of waiting ponies. Lightning chuckled as she found a secluded table off on the far side of the bakery. As Lightning sat she let her pegasus skin melt away and did some pony watching. Lightning’s lunch breaks were often spent like this. She would come to the bakery and just watch the ponies interact with each other. As she did, Lightning would bask in the palpable atmosphere of positive emotions. This time though it looked like she would have some company at her table. A pegasus mare with a gray coat, blond mane and offset golden eyes sat across from her with a grin. “Hi, you’re Lightning, right?” “Yeah, but how’d you know?” Lightning asked while tilting her head in confusion. The mare chuckled. “I saw you come in, and I was there when you revealed yourself after that attack. But I haven’t introduced myself yet have I. I’m Ditzy Doo, but my friends call me Derpy.” Lightning nodded. “Oh, the mail mare right? You helped when we were short hoofed putting a storm together before all the craziness happened.” “I’m glad you remembered. I wanted to talk to you for a bit, if that was ok.” Lightning motioned for Derpy to continue and the mares grin faltered a bit. “I’ve heard all the things about changelings, but I wanted to talk to you personally before I decided what I thought about you. So I want to ask, why’d you help us?” For a few moments silence was the only answer Lightning gave. Derpy shifted uneasily as Lightning closed her eyes in thought. When Lightning’s eyes opened she smiled. “Because I found a family.” Derpy cocked her head to the side questioningly and Lightning continued. “After the failed takeover at Canterlot, I was cut from the hive. Without the hive I wanted to find something to live for, and that’s when I found Scootaloo.” Lightnings smile grew. “I wasn’t sure why at the time, but I found her alone, with these emotions of longing and sadness coming from her, and I just had to make it stop. I wanted to make her happy. So we became a family, and the rest is history.” Derpy nodded with a soft smile on her face. “I feel the same about my little filly, Dinky. She needed me like Scootaloo needed you.” The two sat for the rest of Lightning’s break, talking and by the time the two parted ways both were happy to have made a friend. Lightning rose from her seat, reverting back to her pegasus form, and headed for the door. Lightning would have liked for fate to let her enjoy this high note but there was one more thing, it seemed, fate wanted to throw at her. As Lightning left the bakery she came face to face with Mr. Rich. The stallion had a self satisfied grin on his face as he walked towards Lightning. “Just who I was looking for. Could I have a word with you, Miss Lightning?” “Make it quick. My break’s over and I need to get back to work.” The stallions grin became cheshire like as he motioned for Lightning to walk with him. “As I’m sure you’re aware, I and many others are... werry of the changelings in Ponyville and we-” “Spare me the sales pitch slick. Just say what you want so I can get back to work.” Lightning cut in viciously. Mr. Rich chuckled. “Direct I see, fine I can cut to the chase.” The stallions face darkened. “You and the rest of the changelings can either leave or my friends and I make your lives miserable. Understand?” Lightning starred at the stallion before bursting into laughter. Mr. Rich tilted his head at the laughing changeling. And when Lightning got control of her laughter, she took one look at his confused face and it sent her into another bout of hysterical laughing. When her second laughing fit ended she smirked and looked at Mr. Rich. “Oh that’s priceless! You actually believe you’re a threat.” Mr. Rich scowled and opened his mouth to say something but Lightning held up a hoof. “You see this face?” She pointed to herself. “This is my ‘not giving a buck’ face.” The stallion bristled. “Now listen, you little-” “No, you listen you self important blowhard. I’ve taken on my own kind, faced off against the Queen of my race and been in so many close calls before then I can’t even count them. And you think you can threaten me? I’m done here.” Lightning was about to fly away when the stallion said something that actually gave her pause. “That little orphan you have. I can take her away.” Lightning rounded on the stallion, a look of disbelief on her face. A smile settled on Rich’s face again. “I know how you forged the records at the orphanage. You didn’t cover your tracks as well as you thought. I’ve got the statements of workers that saw the Orphanage’s manager in two different places that day.” “You’d bring Scootaloo into this? She’s just a filly that didn’t do anything!” Lightning shouted. The stallion scoffed. “You’re the one that brought her into this. So what do you say? You and your kind leave and I don’t involve her.” Lightning stared into Rich’s eyes, and her tone grew dark. “I faced things worse than you to get her back. You’re insane if you think you can take her away.” The stallion turned and started walking away. “Then I suggest you get a good lawyer. Good afternoon miss Lightning.” Lightning watched as Mr. Rich trotted away. When the stallion was out of sight, Lightning lowered her head and sighed heavily, She couldn’t tell Quicksilver or Scootaloo about this. At least not until she was sure there was no other choice. For now, Lightning decided it was better to keep this to herself.