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// Episode 3: KiliHima Arrival 
// Story: My Little Pony: Sparkling Harmony: Repairing Burnt Bridges 
// by Captain_Cosmos 
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Sparkler, Twilight, Autumn, Feathers, Flash, Hanzal, Candy, Amber, Lucky, the Medley Kids, and Flappy and Mina all traveled the desert. Having arrived at the nearest train station to KiliHima Village, they had to walk the rest of the way.

“Ugh! Why couldn’t they have made a road at least?” Crystal complained as she walked with the group.

“I don’t know honey. But relax. We’re almost there.” Sparkler said.

“Yeah. It’ll only be a few more minutes before we see it.” Pedal told her sister.

“How do you know that? You’ve never been to KiliHima Village before.” Sky asked.

“We’re in a hive-like mental link with mom, remember?” Sprinkle asked. “Her knowledge is our knowledge. And vice versa.”

“What does Vice versa mean?” Lumber asked.

“It’s a two way street.” Mystic said.

All the kids went oh. While Sparkler smiled. Right then, she was able to see over a sand dune, and saw it. Her hometown. “…There it is. There’s KiliHima.” She said.

Except for Sparkler, Flappy, Hanzal, and Candy, everypony got their first look at KiliHima Village, and after a moment of staring, Feathers spoke up. “Ah huh. True to your word Sparkler, this place could use some touch up.” She commented.

“One of the joys of being the most remote village on the planet.” Sparkler responded. “It’s so remote, there are only two ways news comes in. One, looking with your eyes in the sky, and two in cases like my parents, I tell them stuff in letters.” She explained.

“Yikes.”

Flappy nodded, before he flapped his wings. “Squawk! I’m gonna take Mina for a flyover of the town. Catch you guys later! Squawk!” Flappy and Mina flew off.

Meanwhile, a new pony called out to the group. “Oi! You lot there! You wouldn’t happen to know an Amber Hansworth would you?” Asked a stallion.

Amber looked to where the voice came from, and beamed when she saw who it was. “Mark!” She exclaimed as she trotted over and hugged him tight.

Lucky noticed where her mom went and followed her with a big smile. “Dad!” She exclaimed.

Mark smiled as his wife and daughter hugged him. “Hey there guys.” He said. “I missed you.”

“Missed you too dad!” Lucky said. “When are you going to move to Ponyville?”

“In a few days actually. So not too much longer.” Mark responded.

“Good.” Amber responded.

“Hiya there Mark.” Candy said, making her presence known.

Mark glanced towards the group and saw Candy and Hanzal. “Well if it isn’t Candy and Hanzal. Good to see you two again.” He said.

“Good to see you too pal.” Hanzal said.

Mark nodded, and at last, glanced towards Sparkler, she was wearing a sweater over her wings, but Mark wasn’t an idiot. He smiled. “Hey there Sparkler.” He said.

“You must be Mark. Another pony who didn’t hate me back in school.” Sparkler responded. Still cautious.

“Yeah. That’s me. I tried keeping the pressure off you after…that incident.” Mark said.

“Did you now?” Sparkler asked.

“I know I didn’t do a very good job, but I did try. Honest.” Mark responded.

Sparkler stared at him for a few moments, Amber, Candy, and Hanzal all spent the train ride telling Sparkler a little about Mark and focusing on the fact that Mark had, from the sidelines, had tried being her guardian angel after the freshman incident. It was then that Sparkler had finally realized that the bullying DID go down some afterwards. She woulda thought the teachers and their stern talk with the students, coupled with the detention, finally got through to the students, but she knew better.

Standing here now, Sparkler had gotten the sense that what she was told was true. “Thank you for trying Mark.” She finally said. “I may not have realized it until today but the bullying DID go down now that I thought about it so I do appreciate the effort.” She said, deciding not to bring up the lack of reaching out, because she knew the answer.

Mark smiled and nodded. He then cleared his throat. “So, who do you guys have with you?” He asked.

Lucky beamed as she ran to the Medley kids. “These are my new friends! Melody Sparklehearts, Lumber Striker, Trail Blazer, Lightning Shield, Sky Flitter, Crystal Spark, Sprinkle Medley, Pedal Medley, and Mystic Medley. All of whom are Ms. Sparkler’s kids!” She said.

Sparkler blushed and gestured to the other adults. “And these are some of MY friends. Autumn, Flash Sentry, Feathers. And my marefriend and second parent to the kids, Princess Twilight Sparkle.” Sparkler introduced them, saying Twilight’s title without even thinking.

At the princess part, Mark jumped as he suddenly became very terrified. “PRINCESS?!” He exclaimed before bowing, noticing that Twilight had a crown on.

Everypony stared at him for a few seconds, before they all burst out laughing. Twilight gestured him up. “Relax Mark, yeah I’m a Princess, but you don’t need to treat me as such. I’m no better than anypony else.”

Mark took a deep breath and stood back up. “Ahem. Sorry, I was just surprised. I thought for a second you were coming to seek retribution for what your marefriend went through.” He admitted.

“We’ll see.” Twilight said. “Yeah. I know now that a few didn’t, but a LOT of them did. And since Sparkler is back now, if any of her old bullies do anything. Let’s just say they’ll regret it.”

Mark cleared his throat. “If they do anything this time around, just holler to the police and they’ll take care of it. As they can now be charged with assault since they’re adults.” He explained.

Sparkler blinked, as if her brain suddenly reconnected with simple legal logic. This whole time I had been reluctant. But I failed to realize that this time the law is on my side.

Mark cleared his throat. “Ahem, shall we? If you’d like, I can show you to a motel.” He said.

“We’re actually staying with our grandparents!” Melody said happily

“Those of us without family here are staying in the motel though.” Flash commented.

At that point, plans were made that Mark would show Autumn, Feathers, Flash, Candy and Hanzal to the Motel while Sparkler and her family proceeded to Sparklers’ parent’s house. And as it was after lunch, they all agreed to meet up for dinner at the park in a little bit (after Sparkler’s dad confirmed that her mother had already started cooking a large dinner and could easily increase the amount.).

So off they went in different directions once they got into town. Sparkler led her family down the street, and was back to being antsy. She tried to focus on the road in front of her, but in her peripheral vision, she already spotted at least a DOZEN different familiar faces that she recognized as her old bullies. She tried to focus on the fact that she was with ponies, and for once in her life, prayed that Twilight’s crown would help protect her. Surely they know what a crown means right? And maybe none of them will recognize me? Sparkler didn’t know for sure, but maybe they had used the wings as an identifier.

She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard one of her kids, Crystal, gasp. She glanced at Crystal and saw her looking at something hanging from a nearby booth. “Ooh. What’s that?” She asked. “That thing hanging from the roof?”

Sparkler looked at what Crystal was looking at, and smiled. “That is a mulahiq al'ahlam. Translated to Dream Catcher.” She explained. She studied the pattern of the object for a second. “And that particular design is meant to bring good luck to anypony who owns one.” She continued.

“Ooh. Can I get one?” Crystal asked.

Sparkler and Twilight both chuckled. They could see that coming from a mile away. “Yeah. Come on, I’ll—“ That was as far as Sparkler got before she noticed the pony behind the counter, and her irises shrank to near invisibility in horror. “Twilight, can you take Crystal over there?” She asked.

“Huh?” Twilight asked.

Sparkler quickly whispered something in her ear. “It’s HIM. The guy from the first date disaster.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. And she had to restrain herself from immediately going over there and giving him an earful. She took a deep breath. “It’s ok sweetie. We’ll be quick.” With that, Sparkler watched as Twilight took Crystal over to get the lucky dream catcher. On one hoof, she was half afraid that Twilight was gonna do something, because no matter what Brad may have done to her, it was the past and she just wanted to move on. But a small part of her was hoping Bradford would be scared by the crown.

After a few anxious moments, Twilight and Crystal returned, with Crystal carefully holding the wrapped up Dream Catcher in her magic. “Thanks Mom, Mommy Twi!” She said.

“Your welcome sweetie. Now come on, let’s go see Grandma and Grandpa.” Sparkler said as the group left.

Back over at the booth, the Earth Pony Stallion had noticed the group before the clear Princess had even come up with who was presumably her daughter, and the instant he caught a glimpse of Sparkler, it took all he had not to panic as the princess came over and bought the dream catcher for her daughter. The pony named Bradford was working on customer service Autopilot. But once the group had left, he let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

“She’s back. And it looks like she brought her family…her ROYAL family…” Brad wasn’t an idiot. He could tell that Sparkler was the second mother. He sank down to sit on the ground and covered his face with his hooves. “Sweet Bananas what am I going to do?”

To be continued…