//------------------------------// // Family Connections // Story: More than a Storybook // by balletdivagirl //------------------------------// Storybook followed Twilight around Ponyville, along with Blaze and Twilight’s friends. Blaze as usual had insisted that he pull the cart that held all of the books she was bringing to Twilight’s library, and a crate that wasn’t hers. Blaze hadn’t said anything about it. Story wasn’t sure what was in it, but it probably had something to do with Blaze’s latest job. She hadn’t let on in the train, but if all that had been going on with Blaze lately was lost cats and jewelry, he’d have whined the whole way to Ponyville. Story hadn’t questioned it because she wanted to read. Blaze would tell her eventually, he always did. “So, how tall are you?” Applejack was asking Blaze, “Cuz I don’t think I’ve met any pony, Celestia excepted, as tall as Big Mac.” “Princess Celestia is the only pony I’ve ever met taller than me.” Blaze answered this question a lot. “That is impressive. And I do love your coloring.” Rairity was talking to him now. Blaze really did have good coloring, even though he hated it. His coat was a grey blue, and his main was a very dark navy. Still, he blushed at Rarity’s compliment. “Uh, thanks.” Blaze looked at Story, like she could help him. Today she felt that wasn’t necessary. She already considered herself friends with the girls she’d met today, Blaze was on his own. And Rarity seemed like the type who gave compliments easily, but always genuine. “Oh and Story, darling, you must come by the boutique while you’re in town.” Rarity sounded like she was doing some self-promoting, “I’d love to see you with your hair down. I can tell you have a gorgeous natural wave.” Now it was Story’s turn to blush. Normally, no pony noticed her hair when it was back. “Thank You.” Story wanted to say more, but she couldn’t manage any more. “Oh Rarity, you forgot to mention her super pretty eyes!” Pinkie, who had been bouncing along happily, now popped out of one of the boxes, without actually opening the box. Story knew she’d turned a deeper shade of red. Her eyes were the one thing she hoped other ponies wouldn’t notice, the purple in her eyes contrasted horribly with her yellow coat. All at once Rarity had stopped walking right in front of Storybook. She was staring intently at Story’s eyes. Story glanced over at Blaze, who was now trying not to laugh. She should have shown him mercy earlier. “My word Pinkie, you’re right!” Rarity exclaimed. “Why in Equestria do you wear glasses?” Now Blaze did laugh. “Because she can’t walk in a straight line without them.” Blaze kept laughing. “I wish she didn’t have to wear them, but she’s a danger to herself and others if she doesn’t.” “Knock it off!” Story shouted. “That was an accident! And you’re the one who stole my glasses!” Rarity didn’t know exactly what was going on, but she knew two ponies in love when she saw it. She simply couldn’t fathom why Blaze and Story hadn’t introduced themselves as marefreind and coltfriend. The two were now trying to tell the story of how Blaze had taken her glasses and nearly destroyed most of Canterlot. “I remember that!” Twilight called all of a sudden, “The only damaged building was the library. I take it that she was in the library when you stole her glasses.” “I was napping in grandfather’s study. He was the head librarian before me.” Story blushed. “I never sleep in my glasses.” “Wait,” Twilight looked at Story, “your grandfather is Dewey Decimal? But he’s a Pegasus!” She remembered him from her many, many hours spent in the library when she was little. Applejack huffed, “We’ve seen stranger, like the Cakes.” Blaze looked over at her, clearly confused. “I’ll explain later.” “Yes, but Dewey Decimal comes from a very long line of pegasi, he’s almost pure pegasi.” Twilight knew it was rare for any pony to have only one kind of pony in their background, but there were a few. Some could even trace their ancestors to the original settlers of Equestria. “Is he?” Story looked confused. “He never said anything like that. I suppose it is odd for two pegasi to have a unicorn daughter.” Twilight couldn’t believe her ears. She wondered about the other side of Storybooks family tree. Maybe there were more unicorns up that branch. “So is Dewey Decimal your maternal or paternal grandfather?” Twilight realized they had all stopped walking, but she had to know. “Paternal. My mother is Cloud Dancer.” Story smiled, “and my younger sister and brother are both pegasi also. I’m just special.” “Wait, Cloud Dancer?” Twilight didn’t think she’d heard right. How did she not know that such a famous pony had a daughter, or a husband? “Your mother is the famous air dancer? I didn’t know she had any kids!” “Well, she kept performing while I was little, but I can’t walk on clouds so I was never there for any of her performances.” Story kept smiling, but it was a sad sort of smile. “She retired after my brother was born, and then my sister came later.” Twilight thought for a moment. Cloud Dancer was said to have gained her gracefulness in the air from her parents, and inherited her long slim wings from her great-grandmother. Twilight wasn’t believing what she was hearing, and if her book on famous dancers was right, Cloud Dancer’s colors were light blue and blue. “Do you take after your father’s coloring?” Twilight looked at Story. Maybe the blue main came form her mother. Story looked confused again, or actually surprised, like she’d never thought about it before. “We are blocking the path, which way to the castle?” Blaze interrupted. He sounded mildly upset. Story looked around. “He’s right, we should get moving.” Story looked at Twilight expectantly. Twilight reluctantly took the lead back to her home. Story was soon involved in a conversation with Pinkie Pie and Applejack about, ah, Twilight couldn’t really follow it. She just kept leading the way. Soon Blaze was walking next to her. “Please don’t ask Story about her parents. I’ll explain everything later.” Blaze looked over at Story. That had been close. There were some things that Story just couldn’t find out. Ever. Twilight might need to know if she was going to help him though. Twilight looked at him suspiciously. “So even though her whole family is pegasi, a presumably intelligent pony like Story didn’t ever think it was weird?” “She did, but-” Blaze stopped, “I said I would explain later. I know we just met but please trust me!” He sounded worried, and then he glanced over at Story. This was totally strange, but she wouldn’t push them. “O-k” Twilight kept walking towards her castle. But now, her curiosity was peaked. She had read all the books on pony genetics, and Storybook sounded like a new case study waiting to happen. Twilight hoped she would be in Ponyville a while, and that Blaze had a good explanation for all of this. “Look Out!” Rainbow Dash’s voice rang out of the sky. Twilight and the rest stopped just in time to see a rainbow streak flash by, followed by a purple and orange one. Then Rainbow, and presumably Scootaloo, ran head long into the side of the bridge. “Rainbow!” The girls all ran for the bridge. Blaze followed a little slower. At this rate they would never get to Twilights castle. As the group reached the bridge they found Rainbow pulling Scootaloo out of the stream below. She had a huge knot on her head. “Scoot!” Blaze unhitched himself and flew down to the stream, “Are you ok?” He picked her up and started brushing her off with his wing. Scootaloo suddenly looked really embarrassed. “Uncle Blaze! Not in front of Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo wriggled away. “I’m not a baby anymore!” Rainbow Dash looked up at Blaze. “So you’re Uncle Blaze, I’ve been hearing about you all day.” Rainbow turned to Scootaloo, “You didn’t mention he was so tall.” “Maybe that has something to do with why you’re tied to Rainbow Dash’s waist?” Blaze raised one eyebrow at the filly. Everypony now noticed the rope tied around both Rainbow’s and Scootaloo’s waists. “For the record, her idea.” Rainbow started to untie herself. Scootaloo looked around, and started mumbling to herself without making eye contact with any of the older ponies gathered. “Scoot, if you don’t tell me what’s going on, I will tell Rainbow Dash all your embarrassing baby stories, and I have the pictures to back them up.” Blaze watched as Scoot’s eyes widened. Even if he hadn’t actually seen her in a few years he knew all the stories. “I thought if Rainbow Dash got me up in the air, I might be able to fly.” Scootaloo looked down. “Our family’s so full of famous flyers, and I still can’t fly.” Blaze figured it was something like this. While Scoot wasn’t actually his niece, she was his cousin, but they did have a family of famous flyers. “And you thought that my coming meant you needed to fly?” Blaze picked her up and put her on his back. “You are talking to the Pegasus who failed flight camp, twice.” “You failed Flight camp!” Rainbow Dash started to laugh hysterically. “I thought Fluttershy was the only one.” “This coming from the pony who just ran into a bridge.” Applejack spoke from above. “We are all still headed to Twilight’s. And If I remember correctly, there is a rainstorm scheduled for today.” Applejack glared at Rainbow Dash. “I’m not on duty tonight.” Rainbow stuck her tongue out at Applejack. “Maybe not, but I have two boxes of ancient books that can’t get wet!” Story looked back and forth at the sky, and at the pegasi gathering clouds. Blaze almost laughed at her concerned expression. She always got this way about books. They hadn’t mentioned it in their story, but the day they’d practically destroyed the library was also the day she’d gotten her cutie mark, trying to save all the books from getting damaged. Blaze hoped all she’d ever have to worry about was her books getting rained on. “Let’s get to the castle.” Blaze hitched up to the cart again, Scootaloo still on his back. “Then I will take you home and tell you the horribly embarrassing story of flight camp.” “Can we hear it now?” Story laughed, like she didn’t already know. “I think that we’d all enjoy that story.” She smiled at him devilishly, he glared back. “You wish.” Blaze stared at her as she walked off, and then she purposefully smacked his face with her tail. “Ow” “Hey Uncle Blaze,” Scootaloo whispered loudly, “is that Storybook?” “Yes, why are you whispering?” “So she’s the one Mom always says you’re gonna marry.” Scootaloo whispered again, but still loud enough for Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight to hear. They all turned to him, with eyebrows raised. “Scoot, is this revenge?” Blaze really did whisper, and did not look at the other ponies. He did not need Twilight questioning his motives. Twilight walked passed him. “Oh, I’m going to ask you about this later.” Great. The rest of the trip to Twilights castle was uneventful, except for the first few sprinkles of rain, and Rainbow Dash’s asking Scootaloo about all of the famous flyers in the family. And before they knew it, they had finally arrived at Twilights castle. “I’ll tell your mother where you are, Scootaloo, I think everyone should spend the night here.” Twilight and Storybook levitated the boxes out of the cart and took them to the library. Everyone else followed. “I’ll help you organize them tomorrow.” Story set her box down. “Your castle is fascinating, is it rea-“ “TWILIGHT!” Spike came running into the library waving a scroll around, “This came, and the next one said it was urgent” Twilight took the letter and unrolled it. “Oh, Story, this looks like it’s for you.” Twilight handed it over to her. Her eyes flew over the words, but her face lost all its color. She hovered the letter in front of Blaze, and sat down with a thud. “What ever is wrong, Storybook?” Rarity looked at Blaze, whose face had also gotten a little paler. Blaze answered for her. “Someone’s destroyed the Canterlot Library, and they were looking for Story.”