The week waiting for Crystal Glint to finish my special order wasn’t quite torture, but it was close. I let the anticipation of seeing the finished work build up, but at the same time, Dusky had been working hard to handle Mahogany’s situation with his father. She brought me in with Mint to help them work through all the necessary paperwork and reports.
Staring down a seemingly endless stacks of legal paperwork that Mint brought from Canterlot put me in a strange sense of ease. It was just like working through the weather reports, each more technical than the last. There was a familiar flow to them. Once the others had given me the details, I only had to ask on points of clarification where the legal language of Canterlot seemed to get too verbose.
Mint was there to answer the legal questions and Mahogany was there to detail the situation. Between them, Dusky, and myself, we managed to complete the forms and get them sorted and prepared for my dad to officially verify and submit. Soon enough, Mahogany would have his restraining order, and the legal recourse he needed if Birch continued to harass him.
A few days later, forms fully submitted and everything in motion, we gathered back in the Lusty Seapony to relax. It felt like it'd been too long since we'd all gotten to just hang out together. Life kept moving forward in ways I could never expect.
Mahogany had begun his celebration early, already a few empty buzzards on the table, as I sipped at my tea. Star had a glass of wine that didn’t look like it had been touched, and Merri seemed to be competing with Mahogany cup for cup. Mint had even stayed in Ponyville to hang out, drinking a cup of coffee. Terra had curiously abstained from alcohol, instead chewing on her lip nervously as she looked back and forth between several resort brochures.
Dusky sat beside me, nursing her usual mug of cider and flipping through the pamphlets. “Okay, so let me see if I have this straight: Bay Breeze has the Sapphire Lagoon and Crystal Reef available. The Lagoon’s hall can only hold fifty, but the veranda is sizable enough for another fifty and faces the beach. The Reef’s hall holds all of one hundred and is three-quarters the price of the Lagoon, with a balcony that also holds fifty, but only the thinner south side gives a decent view of the beach and it’s distant.”
Terra nodded with a wistful sigh. “Yeah, I wish we could afford the Tsunami Sandbar. Then we wouldn’t have to decide.”
“It would be nice, but we don’t need it.” Dusky pointed a hoof at one of the photo spreads. “Sapphire Lagoon has a view that’s pretty much just as nice.”
“I don’t know… you really think we can fit everything in?” Terra’s face dropped as she looked over the papers.
Dusky grinned, folding the brochure up. “Of course. We’ll just need to make ample use of the balcony. Between Tower Tracer and I, I’m sure we can come up with a good layout. We might just need to make a trip down to verify, since I don’t like to rely on photos.”
I’d had so many plans of my own in motion since we’d returned home, trying to juggle work and family and my hopes and dreams, I’d barely been involved with Terra’s plans. She’d announced her engagement to Stalwart Stone when we’d returned from Ostfriesen, with Dusky acting as her Maid of Honor. Now their planning sessions had intensified as the big date approached.
Terra poked at the brochure again nodding, then slowly stopping as her face fell back into a frown. She settled her head down on her forehooves. “Mmm. But what about the weather? The outdoors will be useless if it rains.”
Extending a wing to comfort, Dusky pointed out another line on the brochure. “Well, Bay Breeze employs a private weather control team, so I don’t think that should be a problem.”
“But what about that rogue weather stuff you guys are always talking about?” Terra sighed again.
Mahogany echoed her with an over exaggerated sigh of his own. “Willya calm down? Orlov’s notta place witha crazy forest. ‘Sides, if their pegasi are slackin’, we can always send Flurry up. Right, buddy?”
I blinked as Terra’s gaze quickly turned to me and managed a short smile. “Y-yeah. Um, but I don’t think I’ll have to do that. Mahogany’s right. Rogue weather happens more in the wild when there aren’t pegasi around to keep it in check. The Everfree is one of those weird exceptions that sends it out.”
Terra narrowed her eyes at me. “You’re sure?”
“Yeah. I, um, I’ll still keep an eye out if it makes you feel better.” I tried to mimic the smile that Dusky always gave when she was trying to reassure somepony.
“Sorry, Flurry. I’da volunteered, but…” Mahogany shook his head with a chuckle. “...y’know, schquare clouds an’ all that.”
He wasn’t lying about that, his cloudwork was as bad as he said. I simply laughed along, reaching for my tea cup. “Right. Square clouds.”
With a sip, I let the chamomile tea linger a moment, closing my eyes to savor the taste. Barkeep always had good tea. Maybe not the best, but definitely more than just drinkable. I lowered the cup to find Mint staring at me, “Um, Mint, is something wrong?”
She shook her head, smiling ear to ear. “No, nothing wrong. I’m just admiring how much my little brother has grown up.”
My eyes went wide, and I could feel my face going red. “I, um, thanks?”
Mint giggled. “Sorry. Probably not the best time for that, huh?”
“I do not see what the problem is,” Star levitated her glass down to the table, giving me a smirk. “I am quite familiar with such feelings and do not believe there is anything to be ashamed of on either side.”
Merri gave her sister a sharp look and stuck out her tongue. “Oh, shush. We’re twins.”
“Somepony had to come out first.” Star deadpanned.
In contrast, Merri waved her forehooves frantically. “That’s only fifteen minutes!”
“Really?” Star shrugged, barely making an effort in comparison to Merri’s flailing. “The way you act, somepony might think it was several years.”
Merri stared at her sister, but quickly broke into laughter. “Look at you, making jokes. I think Equestria is rubbing off on you.”
“I joked before.” Star’s own stoic expression broke into a frown. “It was not a foreign concept to me.”
Leaning back into her seat, Merri grinned. “Mmmhmmm.”
Further conversation was cut off by the sound of the door being flung open, and a bellow that echoed through the bar, silencing the conversations. “Ma-ho-gany!”
The whole room turned to regard Birch as he marched towards our table.
Mahogany seemed to shrink behind his glass, voice just loud enough for his father to hear. “Dint I tellya to goway.”
Birch came right up to Mahogany, and lowered his head, staring down his nose at his son. “You think you can get away with manufacturing some trumped-up accusations?”
“Trumped-up?!” Mahogany spun in his seat, voice rising in the already silent room. “You grabbed me! You broke’nto mapartment! Yer a psycho!”
“You’re clearly not in your right mind, son. I’m just a concerned father, here to save you from yourself. Now, stop making up lies to discredit me and get your ass on that train.” Birch straightened up and pointed a wing towards the door. “Then we’re going to see a friend of mine about getting your head put on properly.”
It was like deja vu, watching this whole scene play out again. Mahogany rose up from the table and dug in his hooves. Beside me, Dusky was already up as well, and Star and Merri were both exchanging glances. Mint’s eyes were narrowed at Birch, but I moved mine to Mahogany.
“No!” Mahogany widened his stance, as if he were about to charge in and headbutt Birch. “You ain’t even said nothin’ to convince me since last time!”
“Convince you?” Birch made a show, snorting loudly, then pulling back in disgust. “You smell that? That’s the stink of entitlement. I am your father, Mahogany. I know what’s best for you.”
“Oh, yeah?” Mahogany gave a snort of his own. “How many Father of the Year ‘wards ya won for chasin’ yer son around tellin’ ‘im he’s a screw-up?!
Birch didn’t budge or crack. “Truth hurts, son. Sometimes a foal’s got to be taught a lesson.”
“In case you ‘aven’t noticed, I’ma grown up, no thanks to you!”
Birch turned away to let out a long sigh, letting it linger. “Yes, perhaps I should have had more of a hoof in your upbringing. Perhaps if your mother hadn’t coddled you far too much, you wouldn’t have grown up to be such a little shit.”
“You… Yer right.” Mahogany stepped closer, his tone definitely not matching his words.
“Of course I am, I’m your f—”
Before I could blink, Mahogany snapped forward, stopping just short of his father’s face.
“This place does stink like ‘titlement.” Mahogany jabbed a hoof at Birch, stopping short of striking him. “Ya come in here, treating me like shit, then you can’t even admit yer wrong. Ya gotta shit on Mom. Birch, the only foal here is you!”
“You ungrateful—”
“Shut! Just… Shut up!” Mahogany took a deep breath, then another. The anger was obvious in his face, but he somehow managed to settle his voice. “I’m going home. Ta my home. An’ I don’t want to see you ‘round here again.”
“You—”
“Get the hell outta my town, Birch!” Without another word, Mahogany turned and marched past Birch, and out the door.
“M-Mahogany!” I spared Dusky a glance, then shot up from the table and followed after him. Pushing pushed through the door, I called out again as I caught a glimpse of Mahogany taking flight. "Hold up!"
Mahogany glanced back and narrowed his eyes. "I'm not goin’ back in there, Flurry."
Opening my wings, I kicked up into the air to meet him. "No, you probably shouldn't. I just figured you might not want to fly home alone. If, uh, if you don't mind a friend coming along."
He squinted at me at first, then his expression lightened up. "Yeah, I wasn't really plannin’ on going straight home anyways, ya know, just in case."
"Well, that's fine." I looked back down towards the bar. "We should probably get a little distance."
Mahogany nodded and started to fly. "I'm honestly ‘mazed he didn't storm out ‘fter me. Hope he's not givin’ everypony else problems."
I frowned at the thought of Birch harassing Dusky, but then actually found myself starting to chuckle. "I, um, I'm pretty sure if he tries to give Dusky any problem, she can more than handle herself. And Mint's in there too. Not to mention Merri and Star."
"Yeah, I guess. Gotta regular oubliettes and ogres ‘venturing party for friends. There's the rogue, the guard, the wizard, and whatever Merri is. The seductress?"
I continued to laugh, shaking my head at what should have been a ridiculous thought, but instead fit maybe too well. "Yeah, that sounds about right."
Mahogany grew quiet as we continued to fly over the town, making a slow climb up to the clouds. Whether it was the adrenaline dying down or the cold air, or both, he seemed to be sobering up. "An’ then there's us. Well, maybe jus’ me. You're making yourself into something. I'm just not part of the group. No adventuring for Mahogany."
There was something on his mind that he was skirting around. The obvious candidate was still back in the bar, but it didn’t quite fit into this line of thought. "It's not exactly what I'd prefer to be doing. You know what Fillydelphia was like."
He snapped back bitterly. "Yeah, I do. I've got White Riot's blood on my hooves too, Flurry."
I shrank back quickly. White Riot’s face haunted me sometimes, on the nights I couldn’t sleep. "I didn't mean it like that, I just meant—"
"No, no, I know. But then dad came back, and tried to pull his crap at the bar that night. I just couldn't take him putting down my friends anymore. So, well, you saw. I hit him. I guess I'd hoped that would get him off my back. He denounced me an' everything. I figured he gets out of my life, I get out of his. Win, win."
"And then he just kept pushing." The break-in, the harassment at his job, and the constant passive aggression.
Mahogany growled under his breath. "Yeah. I guess hitting him just convinced him that I was ready to really start a fight. Made me a target, instead of an inconvenience. I'd never fought him before, I'd always just run away. Now, if I was gonna fight him, he didn't have any excuse to hold back. That's the real rub, Flurry. Hitting him didn't discourage him. It just proved that I was just like he is."
I turned my head to glare. "You know you're not like he is."
He shook his head again. "I don't know that. Hitting him felt good, Flurry. He knows it too. That's what tonight was about."
Some of the pieces started to fit together. "Tonight? Antagonizing you again? Wait, so you mean he wanted you to hit him?"
"Yeah. He was tempting me. He wanted me to strike again." Mahogany narrowed his eyes, considering. "I mean, he probably didn't really want that. But he’d gone on the attack, and I went back to running. I tried to ignore it all and just wait him out, but that wasn’t working for either of us. So maybe something in the back of his head needed to provoke me again."
I nodded. “And the restraining order was a challenge?”
He laughed, “Yeah. Telling him to stay away was a big red flag that said ‘come and get me!’. Ironic.”
Taking a deep breath of the fresh, high altitude air, I smiled. "But instead of letting him provoke you, you proved him wrong. You just showed him you're better than he is, and you're not going to fall for his bait again."
Mahogany snorted. "Yeah, maybe. If only he were smart enough to realize it."
I laughed with a little more optimism, hoping it'd catch on. "Well, I might be biased, but, I trust Dusky, and I trust my sister. I know they've been working hard to get everything together for that restraining order. Maybe that, combined with walking out tonight will finally drive home the message."
"You're siding with Dusky? Never woulda guessed." He rolled his eyes. "But maybe you're right."
My face burned. "Wh-what? She's usually right... or at least, she spends a lot of time thinking everything out."
Mahogany gave out a wry laugh. "You're too easy, Flurry. She's been busting her flank to help me out. I've not nearly been as helpful as I should've been."
"She's not the type who's willing to sit back when her friends need help." It was one of the many things I'd come to admire about her. Not being a hero didn't mean sitting back while your friends were hurt. "Neither are you, really. You've done a lot for her. For all of us. You said it yourself, the reason you hit your Dad wasn’t because you wanted to. It was because you were tired of him talking down to your friends."
He shook his head, his mood starting to sound better. "Nah, I’m not that good. Don’t make me sound like I’m just doing it for my friends, or whatever. Makes me sound like one of Twilight’s friends."
"What, you don’t think Pinkie Pie would say the same?" I glanced about, as if saying her name would summon her, even this high.
Mahogany cringed, giving the clouds around us the same cursory looks. “Ugh. No. I am not in the mood for a Pinkie party right now.”
If a Pinkie Pie party wasn’t an option, an idea came to my mind for something else. It was something we’d done more than a few times in the past when Mahogany had needed some levity. “Well, what about the theater? I hear they’ve been doing marathon showings of some classic comedy movies...”
He halted mid-flight, instantly knowing what I was hinting at. “The Blues Stallions?”
I nodded. “Might be playing. If not, well, there’s bound to be another one we can see. Could be better than flying about aimlessly, if you don’t quite want to go home yet.”
Mahogany chewed on his thoughts for a moment then grinned. “Damn it, Flurry. Let’s do it.”
My grin grew wider. Tonight felt like it was a win. No violence, no sulking, just a good friend and a good film. If Mahogany could walk away from his father and find a way to live his own life, it would be the biggest victory over Birch possible.