• Published 7th Aug 2013
  • 2,692 Views, 103 Comments

Rain of Fire - LessThanHuman



After Princess Luna was banished to the the Moon her beloved bat ponies died off to the point of extinction. So how did one manage to survive for almost thousand years, and given their violent nature, what are his intentions?

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Chapter 4 - Paperwork and Lodging

Firestorm stood alone in the bank lobby; papers were beginning to settle down as the sudden vortex of air Rainbow Dash had created when she flew out of the bank after she had seen his account balance. Firestorm would swear she broke the sound barrier and the visible light spectrum all at once. With Rainbow gone he returned to his teller and asked to see all transactions. The teller nodded and asked him to follow her. Firestorm was led into a public vault where safety deposit boxes were stored. The teller unlocked his designated box, box number 117. She nodded and left him alone in the vault. Firestorm opened the large metal box and retrieved the intimidating amount of paperwork within. As requested, all transactions within his accounts were stored in his safety deposit box. He flipped through the papers which started out with simple transactions which earned seemingly insignificant amounts of bits. As he continued through the files, the transactions, and amount of bits exchanged increased. He paused, carefully examining and reading over a document and settlement concerning “The Equestria Railway”.

As Firestorm finished going over the business transactions surrounding his accounts he turned his attention to a magically encrypted envelope. Flaring his wings, the envelope began to levitate as it was wrapped in the magic focused through his wings. He carefully set the envelope down and touched his wingtip to the seal. If somepony had made it this far and survived the shock of the underlying defense spell, without the encryption spell, the contents would be illegible. With a surge of magic through his wing the encryption spell dissipated and the envelope opened.

Firestorm took a deep breath before spreading the contents in front of him. He looked over each document, each one bringing back painful memories. Before him lay nine different folders containing birth certificates, death certificates and other documents related to the documented pony. Firestorms sadness melted away into anger; each pony in the folders was different, but at the same time, they were all the same. They were false all the identities of Firestorm.

Firestorm took another deep breath as he opened the earliest and the latest documents at the same time. The earlier of the two had a specific date on the top, two hundred and seventy years after Lunas’ banishment. The last was dated just over five hundred years later. Despite what he had told Rainbow Dash, Firestorm never had anypony working for him, he was in direct control of his account for the past several centuries. Each identity was forged so he could increase his wealth without arousing suspicion of his existence. Instead of one pony controlling the account for hundreds of years, several different ponies had inherited the account over the course of hundreds of years.

“What’s the point?” Firestorm asked himself, “All the time and planning put into increasing my wealth over the time span of ten lifetimes and for what?”

Firestorm tucked the documents in their envelope, reapplied the encryption spell, and restored all the paperwork to its rightful place in his safety deposit box before locking it and returning it to the place it called home within the vault.

Firestorm flew back to Ponyville at what Rainbow Dash would consider a “lazy pace”. He realized that once he got back to the small town, if nothing else, get some food, get a room, get some sleep, and repeat the process until the Princess returned.

The sun had set by the time Firestorm arrived in Ponyville. He landed in the town center and stopped a young couple to ask for directions to a hotel. The couple stared at him nervously, with a lack of sunlight Firestorms fur was an intimidating black and his amber eyes glowing bright yellow as they reflected light from a nearby shop. Firestorm bowed his head, “My apologies, I did not mean to scare you, I was simply looking for a place to rest.”

The couple looked at each other before more confused now than nervous. They were not wealthy high class ponies nor were they royalty, so why did the bat pony in front of them have reason to bow? The stallion cleared his throat, “No, no I’m sorry it’s just, ummm…. There is a nice bed and breakfast owned by a nice couple down this road,” he said gesturing to a specific street, “just follow this down until you get to the sofas and quills store, turn down the first street on your left and it will be at the end of the street.”

Firestorm looked up at them and smiled, “Thank you, enjoy your evening,” he said before trotting off in the direction he had been advised.

The trip didn’t take any time at all and Firestorm took note of the shops along the way including a new restaurant scheduled to open the next night. Firestorm paused outside of the bed and breakfast to calculate how he should approach the owners. After a minute of thought he reached a decision. He approached the small building and knocked gently. A minute passed before the door was opened by a unicorn mare. She smiled brightly, “Hello, may I help you?”

Firestorm kept his eyes closed, “Yes ma’am, I was told there might be a room available here?”

“Well, yes…” the mare hesitated, “All the rooms are available but I’m not sure you’d enjoy staying here…”

“Oh, may I ask why not?”

Before the mare could answer a loud eruption of low frequency vibrations which quickly shifted to high frequency and low bass vibrations answered his question.

“My daughter is staying with us, and I’m afraid she quite… artistic with her music and while I welcome you to stay, I fear you may not get much sleep… at all…”

Firestorm was at a loss for words, the feeling of the vibrations coursing through his body awoke something dormant within him, he didn’t know what it was but all he could ask was, “How much for the week?”

The mare was shocked by his question, especially after the brief demonstration of her daughters’ “music”. “Twenty bits a night, one hundred and twenty five a week and breakfast is included.”

Firestorm reached into his saddlebag and retrieved one hundred and fifty bits which he presented to the mare.

“I’m sorry; did you say you wanted to stay for the week?” she asked confused by the odd amount.

“Yes, but I feel it would be better if I paid you this amount,” Firestorm replied.

“Why?”

“Well, I, umm…” he struggled before giving up, opening his eyes, and moving into the light so she could see what he really was. He also took the opportunity to see what the mare looked like now that he had his eyes open. The mare was much smaller than he was, her coat was a light brown and her mane and tail were blonde. She had light green eyes and a cutie mark of a house like a child would draw.

“Oh, I see,” she said calmly.

Firestorm looked down, expecting to be turned away. The sound of bits falling to the floor confirmed his suspicion. When he opened his eyes however, only twenty five bits lay at his hooves. He quickly looked up at the mare with confusion.

“I don’t accept bribes,” she said with a smile, “If you’ll follow me, I'll show you to your room.”

Firestorm returned his refunded bits to his saddlebag and stepped inside, “Wait, you’re not… afraid of something like me?”

The mare turned to Firestorm with a polite smile, “You’re not something you’re somepony; my daughter is something else…”

Firestorm took a step back in surprise.

“You must really like her kind of music to be willing to stay here.”

“I’ve never heard anything like that before. I mean, I think I like it because I can actually feel it.”

“Well suit yourself; I can introduce you to her once you get settled in if you'd like...”

“You don’t think she’ll be afraid of me?”

“I think it’s going to be the other way around to be completely honest,” she said with a playful wink, “Oh, by the way my name is Haven. My husband, Homestead is in the kitchen, and our daughter, Vinyl is in her room.”

“My name is Firestorm,” he answered plainly.

“Well, welcome to the Ponyville Bed and Breakfast,” Haven said warmly.

Haven led Firestorm upstairs where she stopped at the end of a hallway which had three doors on either side. The last two at the far end of the hallway were closed, “Each room has its own bed, nightstand, dresser, bathroom, and closet. I have the keys for all the locks and I’ll give you your key when you chose a room you like. They’re all the same; it’s mostly where you’d like to be.”

Firestorm looked to the room on his right; he went inside and looked around. It was exactly how Haven had described; a bed a nightstand, a bathroom, a closet, and a dresser. The room was plain and simple, yet warm and inviting. “This will be perfect,” Firestorm said turning towards Haven who was already holding the key to the room with her magic.

Firestorm extended his wing as he telekinetically took the key with his own magic. Haven simply smiled. Firestorm suddenly realized he was focusing his magic and dropped the key when his concentration was broken. Haven continued to smile, “Don’t worry, Twilight Sparkle already told me to be expecting you. I imagine she told everypony in town who rents rooms about you and your unique position.”

“I’ll have to remember to thank her for that,” Firestorm said as he rolled his eyes before looking away from Haven.

“Yes, I believe you should.”

Firestorm looked at Haven, expressing surprise and confusion.

“When she told me and everypony else about you she took the time to explain how you saved those three little fillies,” Haven clarified before leaving Firestorm to the privacy of his temporary living arrangements.

Firestorm walked to the bed where he fell back on it with a gentle thud. With his wings flared out beneath him, Firestorm took a deep breath and exerted a small magical pulse of energy through his room which bounced off every surface and returned to his wings. He now had an exact layout of the entire room etched into his memory. He took another breath which he quickly let out along with another small pulse of magic which extinguished all the candles which had been illuminating his room.

Firestorm turned to the window which let moonlight flow freely into his room. The moon was almost full and as its power invigorated Firestorm. He rolled out of his bed and approached the window; he could feel the power of the moonlight flowing over his form as he fully exposed his form to it. His eyes reflected the light and his pupils changed from circular to vertical slits. He slowly spread his wings aiming them directly at the moon. His phalanges began to glow red as well as archaic symbols on his wings themselves. Soon he felt power surging into his body, he felt renewed, refreshed, and regenerated. After a moment longer he closed his eyes and folded his wings in at his sides as he let out a satisfied sigh. He trotted into the bathroom and looked at his reflection. His smile quickly faded when he looked into the draconic eyes staring back into his.

The symbols on his wings had completely faded and he knew it wouldn’t be long before his eyes returned to normal as well. Sure enough, in the literal blink of an eye, his pupils reverted back from vertical slits to round. He smiled once again now that he looked as normal as he would consider himself. A gentle knock on the door made his ear twitch and drew his attention. He quickly made his way to the door and opened it without hesitation. A large brown stallion with a light brown mane and tail stood in the doorway. His eyes were green and his cutie mark looked like a house a professional contractor would draw. He smiled warmly, “My name is Homestead,” he said with a deep yet warm voice as he offered his hoof to Firestorm.

“My name is Firestorm,” he said shaking Homesteads’ hoof.

“So you’re the pony brave enough to stay with us while our nightmare of a DJ daughter is visiting from Canterlot?” Homestead asked playfully.

“I heard that!” yelled a voice from down the hall.

“How? With all the thumping and screeching and other noises you make on that turntable of yours I’m surprised you’re not deaf yet!” he yelled back.

“Ich werde euch taub alte Mann!” the voice yelled.

“Don’t you threaten me with that Germane language your girlfriend taught you missy!”

“She’s not my girlfriend, she’s my roommate!” the voice clarified.

“You’re not dating a mare? Oh thank Celestia there’s hope for you yet!”

After a moment of silence Homestead turned back to Firestorm who was completely dumbstruck by the conversation he had just heard. A second passed before Homestead burst into a fit of laughter which resulted in him loosing his balance, falling over, and roll on the floor for the remainder of his laughing fit. He abruptly stopped laughing; his eyes popped open, wide as a realization hit him, before looking up at Firestorm. He quickly got to his hooves, “I’m sorry, but my wife doesn’t approve of me tormenting our daughter like that and when she stays with us nopony else stays here because of her so called music. Could you please help me with something really quick?”

“Umm sure, I guess,” Firestorm said hesitantly as he stepped out of his room.

Homestead looked over his guest noting he was a bat pony, a sinister smile crept across his face, “This is going to be better than I thought!”

He motioned for Firestorm to follow him down the hall where he stopped in front of the only other closed door. He gestured for Firestorm to stand just next to the doorway where he would be out of sight to the pony inside. Once he was situated, Homestead knocked on the door which opened only seconds later.

“Honey, you know I love you no matter who you love and I know that pony Octavia is a great girl, but I am so glad you’re not dating her, which is why I got you this,” Homestead said as he literally pulled Firestorm into his daughters’ field of vision, “I found him walking by outside and he says he’s not married. His name is Fire Shadow or something and he would be happy to take you as his bride even though all I told him is I have a single daughter! Isn’t that great?” he asked with a poker face so straight even Celestia herself couldn’t tell whether or not he was lying.

Firestorm played along and smiled at the mare. She was a white unicorn with bright red eyes, a messy electric blue mane and tail, a musical note for a cutie mark, and a look of horrific shock on her face. After a minute her expression changed as she realized it was another one of her fathers’ cruel jokes.

“That’s it!” she said, “When I get back to Canterlot I’m asking Octavia to marry me, I’m not inviting you to the wedding, and I hate you!” she yelled before slamming the door in the two stallions faces.

Homestead slowly turned to face Firestorm, a trembling smirk on his lips, “that’s never going to happen… she’s afraid of commitment!” he said before falling to the floor and bursting into another fit of laughter.

Eventually, Homestead regained his composure and got back to his hooves again, “Thanks for your help kid, I’ll get you a fresh Sweet Apple Acres pie tomorrow for your help,” he said before trotting off down the hallway. “Dinner should be ready soon,” he called back as he started down the stairs.

Firestorm looked at the closed door; he took a deep breath and knocked on it. The door opened slightly and one very angry unicorn stared at him through the doorway. “Listen, I’m sorry about that, I’m just staying here for the week and your father decided to use me as a pawn in one of his elaborate jokes.” he said sincerely.

The door opened a little more and the unicorn stepped out, checking to see if her father was still around. Once she was sure the coast was clear she turned her attention back to Firestorm, “Name’s Vinyl. And its okay, that makes two of us,” she said before shutting the door.

Firestorm shrugged his shoulders and trotted back to his room. "This is going to be an interesting week," he thought.

Author's Note:

Next chapter is going to have Firestorm interacting with the CMC and some other things blah, blah, blah. I used Google Translate for the Germane sentence so I know it's not 100% correct. It means "I will make you deaf old man". Alert me to spelling and typing errors, constructive criticism, blah, blah, blah, and you know the rest. Next chapter will be better and the one after that? I'm not sure of yet...