//------------------------------// // Rule # 19 // Story: The Code of the Villains // by Kaliann25 //------------------------------// Rule # 19: A villain should never, EVER, act by anger After his little adventure pissing off the examiners, Bright was a worried about his mother’s reaction, just a little. But he didn’t mind at the moment since as good accomplish, his father have already prepared a little escape and there they were; happily wandering around the streets of Canterlot. The kid was happy, there were few things he liked more than spend time alone with his father; and he took the chance to tell him all about what happened during the exam. And of course, Flash laughed all the way, but at the end he calmed and turned serious. “I know I should scold you but I was the one who give you the advice… but you overdid, Champ. And I’m pretty sure right now your mother is considering which punishment you should get” “Yes, I overdid but come on! They wanted me to admit me without exam, I had no choice, dad” “Of course not; or maybe yes, but again, I cannot complain since I was the one who gave you the idea. So I recommend you to stay away from your mother until your Godmother and I talk to hert, okay? Whatever it happens, I promise you I’ll try to soften her” “What? But dad, I thought we were going to have fun together today!” Complained Bright. “I know Bright Spark, but as I say, you overdid and is up to me to deal with your mother. And you’ll like the change of plans, I promise” assured Flash. And now that he mentioned, Bright realized where they were: it was an old residential neighborhood full of ancient manors; and they stopped in front of a beautiful beige house with windows decorated with stylized flower pots; and on the top of it, two towers with a golden dome. Bright couldn’t believe it, and as Flash guessed, Bright ran straight to ring the doorbell. The door was opened by a sixty-nine-year-old mare with gray fur, a white and purple mane (that had become whiter with the pass of the years), blue eyes that she covered with a pair of glasses with silver frame and a Cutie Mark of three stars. The mare seemed surprised at first, but then she smiled. “Oh, look who suddenly remembers he haves grandparents! What do you have to say on your defense, young colt?” Bright only hugged the mare and nuzzled her, and Twilight Velvet returned the gesture with a playful smile. “Granny! Is so good to see you!” “Oh Bright Spark, I’m so glad to see you darling. Night! Look who is here!” Night Light appeared behind his wife and smiled widely. “Oh, what a nice surprise! So you finally decided to appear after a long time. Oh Flash, always a pleasure. Where is my daughter?” Flash made a small nod to his parents-in-law. “Hi MIs and Mister Sparkle. Sorry for coming all of sudden but we have a small situation and…” “Say no more, come on in please” said Velvet letting them pass. “Do you want something to drink?” “A cup of your famous cocoa, please Granny!” asked Bright with joy. Velvet and Light giggled to this expected answer and the mare went to make the cocoa and a cup of tea for Flash, who accepted it in silence. “Thank you Miss Sparkle” said Flash politely. “You see. There is a small problem involving Twilight and Bright’s admission exam for the Academy of Gifted Unicorns” Night Light raised an eyebrow. “What? But I thought you didn’t wanted to study magic Bright” said the mature unicorn looking to his grandson. “Yeah, we even gave you that book of basic mechanics for your birthday” added Velvet. Flash sighed. “I know, but try to explain that to Twilight. She really wanted Bright in that school!” sighed the Pegasus. “And I don’t want to! Advanced magic is boring!” Complained the kid. The grandparents stroke Bright’s mane now with a very clear idea of what happened. “So then?” “Well, dad suggested all I had to do was to fail the admission test so I could make mom happy and study elsewhere. But when I got there they accepted me without even evaluating me so I had to make sure they wanted me as far as possible!” Explained Bright. The grandparents began to laugh loudly imagining the scene. “As you see, the kid made quite a number” said Flash. “I can see that” giggled Velvet. “Uf! Twilight probably wants to kill him!” “I’m pretty sure of that, but she also deserve it, right Bright?” Agreed Night Light. The kid pouted. “Yes, she’s always busy doing I-don’t-know-what from the Crown; and the few time we spend together is for learn useless magic. It’s boring but…” “Is the only connection you have with Twilight, we understand darling. She’s really stubborn but at least this will open her eyes to your interests Bright” smiled Velvet comforting her grandson. “But while she calms down… you may stay away from her” said Night Light thoughtful. “That’s why we came, I’ll try to reason with her but if she looks the kid she surely explodes” explained Flash awkwardly. “Gladly we’ll take care of him” smiled Night Light. “It’s been a while since we spent time with certain colt. Why don’t you come to visit more frequently?” “Maybe because he thinks his old folks aren’t funny anymore” Bright smiled warmly to the two of them, he really love his grandparents. So Flash just sighed relieved Bright was okay with the change of plans and went back to the Palace ready for his greatest challenge so far in his long and successful military career: to deal with his angry wife. He arrived to the Castle just in time to see Twilight and Princess Celestia arguing angrily about what just happened, or to be more specific, Princess Celestia was listening to Twilight’s shouting, and god, she was furious. “But he’s an irresponsible! HAVE HE REALIZED HE THREW ALL HIS FUTURE OUT OF THE BOARD? WHAT WAS HE THINKING ABOUT RUINING HIS REPUTATION IN EVERY MAGIC SCHOOL?” And Celestia continued listening, but when she saw Flash had come, she sent him a look asking for help. Flash understood and called: “Twilight!” “WHAT? Oh, the accomplice is here. Where is Bright Spark?!” “As far as possible, at least for the moment. Now calm down and try to listen” asked Flash patiently. “ARE YOU DEFFENDING HIM?!” “Of course, he’s my son! And it’s no big deal!” Five, four, three, two, one… “NO BIG DEAL?  NO MAGIC ACADEMY WILL WANT HIM AFTER WHAT HE HAS DONE!” Flash took a deep breath, this was going to be hard. “So what?” Bad choice of words, Twilight just began cursing and shouting and was so angry that her magic went of control and if it wasn’t for Celestia’s quick reflexes Flash would be carbonized right there. “Twilight!” Warned the white alicorn. The lavender alicorn apologized and after breath to calm down, finally she looked at Flash angrily. “I’ll ask you again Flash: where is him?” “In a safe place” And it was when Celestia intervened but just a bit since she wanted to be out of this problem. “Commander Sentry, would you mind to take a double shift for tonight?” “Gladly!” And they left leaving Twilight alone with her anger. In the meantime Bright was having the time of his life relaxing in a way he could only do at his grandparent’s house; and experience that made him ask himself why didn’t he visited them more frequently? It was a forty-year-old house where everything was surrounded with a strange smell of nostalgia and family; and Bright really loved that smell, it made him felt protected as in any other place. There were lots of shelves full of old magazines his grandfather had been collecting from who-knows-when, and even if they were full of mots and had lots of lose pages, Night Light loved to open them and read a random article just to be transported to another era. And Bright Spark had inherited that taste, and both grandfather and grandson shared countless hours reading enjoying each other’s company. As he was used to every time he visited his grandparent’s house, Bright walked to the jar full of jellybeans his grandmother always had in case the grandkids come to visit; then he walked back to his grandfather’s study to pick up a magazine that didn’t seem too damaged, to finally sit aside the older stallion. Night Light glanced at him from behind his magazine and smiled to him, Bright smiled back and they but stayed there just reading, when suddenly Night Light asked: “So how you’ve been doing at school, Bright?” “Great grandpa, the same old thing with teachers and homework… and boring. Too easy for me” Night Light giggled. “You’re just like your mother when she was your age” Bright frowned. “I’m nothing like my mother” “Of course not! But you did got your enormous brain from her, right?” “Maybe, but I’m nothing like my mom!” Insisted Brigth Spark. “So even if is not magic, always study hard” Bright nodded softly and Night Light seemed as he was going to add something, but then Velvet came in: “Lunch is ready!” The two of them let their magazines and went to the dining room where Velvet served them a delicious-looking lasagna. “So tell me dear, what are you going to do now that you made your mother lose her temper?” Asked the mature mare. “Pray for my father manages to calm her down” said Bright sincerely worried. The two older unicorns stroke his mane. “Easy, your mother will understand eventually” “If you need help, you can count on us” They ate in silence for a while, until Velvet winked an eye to her son: “If only Twilight realize of your other talents. By the way, what happened with the little project of the metallic servant you were working on?” Bright froze for a few instants remembering that four years ago he told his grandparents he wanted to make some kind of machine that would make all his chores for him, he even showed them the prototypes that never worked. Luckily they took it as a phase and understood Bright’s true passion; luckily for the young villain they haven’t related the machines Z used with his. “Bright?” Asked his grandfather. “Huh? Oh sorry, I spaced out. And the project is doing fine, you’ll see! I’ll give you your own metallic servant when I finish!” The two older unicorns laughed at this and again they stroked their grandson’s mane but Bright detected a bit of condescendence, still he didn’t mind, remembering that a secret identity was vital for a villain. When they stopped eating, Bright comfortably stretched-out. “Uf! I ate for a year!” “Is that so? Because we were thinking we could go for some ice-cream for dessert” said Velvet playfully. Bright just accepted in silence. Definitely I’ll return at least a couple of pounds heavier. Near the Sparkle family’s house, there was a small but famous ice-cream shop where the family used to eat since Shining and Twilight were little; property of an old friend of Velvet, Cream Cone. With the pass of the years the shop had grown a lot, but Cream Cone still made her ice-cream by hoof and attended her costumers in person. Strangely enough, the Sparkle family weren’t the only one that had visited the place for generations. “What do you want, Bright?” Asked Velvet. Bright considered for a bit and smiled. “A vanilla sundae with cranberry sauce!” “Sure, go get us a table and we’ll join you soon” said Night Light. Bright then went to pick a beautiful table, right aside the garden to keep enjoying a good day, but he bumped into an unsuspected complication: his grandparents and him weren’t the only ones who decided to have some ice-cream to deal with a stressful day. “BRIGHT SPARK!” Roared Twilight’s voice scaring the young colt and paralyzing both costumers and workers. The kid gulped. “Ehem… hello mommy?” “HELLO MOMMY? IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY? YOU’RE COMING WITH ME RIGHT NOW!” And with her magic she began to pull Bright Spark from his ear. “Ow, ow, ow, mom please!” “You and I are going to have a serious talk Bright Spark, and when …” “TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” Shouted a voice as powerful as Princess Luna's. Twilight turned only to face her mom angrily advancing towards her. She haven’t seen her like that since… “Of course he had to be with you! Back off mom, this had nothing to do with you” “It has everything to do with me, now release the kid. He stays with us until you calm down and could have a civilized discussion with him, not before” Twilight of course wasn’t on the mood to argue. “Excuse me? Bright is my son, you can’t decide over him!” “Maybe not, but his father can, and he was the one who told us to take care of him for today” “I’ll deal with Flash later, I’m perfectly capable to educate my son so he’s coming with me right now!” “Should I remind you what happened between you and Spike?” Asked Velvet coldly. Twilight froze, that was cheating. Taking the chance, Bright get rid of her and went to hide behind his grandmother. “As I said, when you calm down and can have a civilized conversation with Bright, come to our house. But in the meantime, Bright stays with us” “I have the ice-creams. Shall we go home now?” Asked Night Light. And they left leaving Twilight between hurt and offended. But no, one time was more than enough so she advanced furiously to her parents and son. Bright shivered when he saw his mother’s eyes, but at the end she made a small nod. “Fine, I get it. I can’t deal with Bright right now and I admit it. But I want you to understand one thing Bright: you are in big trouble and when we go home, you’ll be grounded. Do you know what you just did?” “I failed a test?” “You gave yourself bad reputation and no magic academy will accept you after what you did. Do you understand? No magic academy! And the worst part is that you’re the son of the Element of Magic… Shame on you!” That was it, Bright separated from his grandparents and faced his mother. “Good! I’m glad I did it! MAGIC IS BORING, I HATE IT!” Twilight’s eye twitched, she was angrier than ever; unfortunately, so was Bright. “What did you say? I OWE EVERYTHING I AM TO MAGIC!” “MEANS THAT YOU’RE AS USELESS AND BORING AS MAGIC!” Enough, Night Light and Twilight Velvet hurried to take Bright back home before things got really bad. “Bright…” tried to reason with him Velvet. But she soon realized that the kid was crying in anger; and Velvet preferred not to say anything. Bright was exactly like his mother when she was ten, and Velvet knew by experience that it was impossible to talk to them when they were that angry. “But do you realize you two have to talk at some point, right?” Asked Night Light. “She never listens, I don’t want to learn magic. Is not fair! I don’t deserve to be grounded!” “Bright, you overdid by offending the examiners. We understand you’re not interested in learning magic, but your mother is right about grounding you” “But…!” Protested Bright. “Fair is fair Bright” said Twilight Velvet firmly. Bright didn’t answered, he was still angry but not with his grandparents, of course not! Talk with his mother? Yeah, right, she never listened to him and the fact he was being grounded proved it. But it was okay, if his mother wanted to ground him that much, he’ll ground her first and knew the perfect way to do it. If mommy wanted to play, he will play. And for the rest of the day nor Bright neither Twilight said any other a word to anypony. Night Light and Twilight Velvet were clearly at their grandson’s side, but they were also aware that Twilight was right to ground her son. Now all they could do was wait. It was nighttime, very late, but Bright resisted to sleep. He had to wait to his grandparents went to bed to make his move. Finally when he spotted how the light from their room turned off (around eleven o’clock) he jumped out of the bed and being as sneaky as possible, he went to one of the towers and after check he haven’t alerted anypony, he opened the window and put on the two cufflinks to activate his suit. In the meantime Twilight couldn’t sleep neither so she decided to have a night walk to her old academy to clear her thoughts, specifically the new wing built in her honor. And for fortieth time in the day she asked herself why Bright did what he did and why Flash and her parents put on his side? Magic was boring? What the hell? Okay, she admitted it was a good idea to let Bright Spark stay with her parents until she calmed down, but still didn’t get why this change in Bright. At least Flash told her half of the story, of how Bright agreed to do the exam only to please her and he really didn’t like to study magic, that he did it only because it was the only way he spent time with her. For real? Okay, it was true that because of her Princess duties she hadn’t as much time as she wanted to spend with her son, but he always was so independent and never complained. In which moment he said he didn’t like to study magic anymore? Okay, letting aside that he offended the examiners and at this point every single magic academy considered him as undesirable, she understood that she never actually asked Bright what he wanted to do. Twilight took a good look around, admiring the architecture of her beloved school. So Bright would never put a hoof in there? It felt so frustrating! She was lucky that the rector understood it was Bright’s fault, not hers. But still her reputation would suffer for raise such a disrespectful and bratty child. Lost in her thought as she was, Twilight didn’t realized when a large shadow had appeared above her. A little distracted Twilight looked up only to see with… Mister Z? In claws of his infamous Z-Bots? What was he doing there? The steel things released its creator and he landed right in front of Twilight, too surprised to react; and he didn’t actually cared, all he wanted was to teach her a lesson. Twilight was wondering what was he doing there, and why he haven’t made a full show of himself as he was used to? And what did he wanted? To steal top-secret documents or something? But before she could ask, Z aimed a hoof to the Academy and from his suit emerged some kind of cannon, much bigger than the ones he used in previous battles. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Shouted Twilight scared. He shot, reducing the Academy to nothing but a bunch of ashes. And not happy with that, he turned to a Statue of Twilight that was on the garden and kicked it destroying it completely. “WHAT? WHY?” Cried Twilight. “To send a message: this is what I really think about magic. Compared with what I can do, it is useless!” And his robots came back to take him on their claws and flew away leaving a very shocked Twilight behind, but not before release a smoke screen to cover Z’s track. From the highest tower of their home, Night Light and Twilight Velvet were seeing the disaster in their daughter’s old Academy. They were awoke for the sound of a explosion and the first they did was to run to check on their grandson’s safety; but he wasn’t there. They discovered a track of hoof-prints to that tower, but again there was no sign of him, it was like he flew away but it didn’t had sense. And finally they saw a giant metal structure carrying Equestria’s newest villain, Mister Z. They stepped backwards but he didn’t mind, he was so furious that he didn’t care anymore. Z deactivated his suit revealing himself to his grandparents. “What?” “The metallic servant project did work. I made it so well that I also adapted them as soldiers. You can have one if you want” said Bright coldly and walked back to his room. Looking at the devastation Z have just made, Twilight felt as confused as ever. This didn’t seem like Z’s doing, his crimes were more to call for attention instead of make real destruction; so why he decided to destroy her academy. And then it was that weapon, why did he destroyed everything with a single shot instead of go and take something from the Academy? This seemed more like a tantrum than an actual villainous action, and that was when Twilight had a horrible feeling that made her shiver. But no! It didn’t had any sense. There was no way a ten-year-old could build all that right? “It’s urgent I recruit the new group of heroes. I have to take off his mask no matter what!”