//------------------------------// // Chapter 21 - Family Trees (Part 3) // Story: A Pony Displaced: Homeward // by NoLongerSober //------------------------------// Four days had passed since Winter Gem had first met with her local relatives. In that time, several brief things had occurred. Hat Trick had ended up breaking a window while practicing his juggling as Wind Whistler had played tag with her friends. Iron Forge had started to craft replicas of the weapons he’d seen in the Pony Rangers comic books, Winter Gem had nearly gotten into a fight with a mare in the grocery store over a jar of peanut butter and Swiftsword had gone out to either add a weapon to her arsenal or a musical instrument to practice between combat practice sessions. Unfortunately for Magic Barrier, what she picked up was not what he would describe as an axe, but Daring certainly would. Now the ponies of the manor made their way to the train station on a clear and cool night. Hours prior, they had received a letter telling them that Daring and Verdant would be returning  later that night. Wind Whistler let out a yawn that was quickly drowned out by the whistle of the rapidly approaching train. The gathered group stood at attention as the train finally came to a halt at the platform. With a hiss, the doors opened and many ponies disembarked from the metal vessel. A few moments passed before they spotted their missing housemates within the crowd. Daring was looking quite refreshed in her A.K. Yearling guise while Verdant trailed behind her, appearing tired and sickly. “You’re looking quite well, dear,” Barrier said as he pulled Daring into a hug and shared a quick kiss. “What’s wrong with Verdant?” “Bleurgh…” the stallion in question groaned, “Bad peanut-butter cup.” “Eh, he just had something that didn’t agree with him,” Daring answered for him as she pulled away from Barrier. “He’ll probably be fine in the morning.” “So, how did things go?” Barrier inquired as they started to trot away from the station, Forge giving his ill friend a pat on the back. “Eh, I’d say they went pretty well, save for that bodyswap teleport accident that Verdant and Twilight had,” Daring replied with a smirk, drawing a raised eyebrow from Barrier and the others. “Verdant, is she making that up?” Barrier turned to see Verdant, but found he wasn’t where he was moments prior. Glancing around, he spotted the green stallion with his head in a bush, a retching noise coming from him. Barrier could only grimace at the display. “At any rate,” Daring spoke up, drawing attention away from the puking pony, “I’ll leave telling you about what we found to him in the morning. Tonight, I just want to spend some quality time with my special somepony.” She then drew closer to Barrier and nuzzled his cheek. “Just remember to use a sound-shield spell this time,” Wind Whistler said before yawning loudly. “At least Hatty and Gem have the courtesy to bite a pillow.” Her statement drew a blush from the four she had mentioned and her mother, who proceeded to place a hoof over her good eye. *** Early the next morning, the household had gathered around the breakfast table. Verdant was looking much better as he happily munched on a piece of toast. Iron Forge was practically bouncing in his seat in anticipation for what he and Daring had discovered. “Well don’t keep us in suspense, Verdant,” Barrier said as he poked at his scrambled eggs. “Windy needs to head to school in a bit and I don’t want to have to get any more replacement furniture than I have to.” He glanced towards Forge, who ceased his bouncing and gave a sheepish smile. “Right,” Verdant spoke through a mouthful of food before giving a quick swallow. He then dashed off from the table. A few moments later, he returned with a folder held between his teeth which he placed on the table. “Since Forge is so eager, I’ll cover his stuff first.” “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” the blue stallion replied as Swiftsword’s magic held him in place. Nudging open the folder with his nose, Verdant’s eyes went over the papers within. “Well first off, approximately a year and a half after we were stuck in the empire on March seventh, your mother married Flash Sentry.” “I already know that, Verdant,” Forge said with an eyeroll. “Fleetfeather told me that in our first week here. I appreciate your efforts in getting official confirmation, but I’d like to know something I don’t already know.” “Very well then.” Verdant looked back down at the papers before facing Forge once more. “Just shy of four years after we disappeared, you gained two new siblings. Your mother gave birth to a pegasus filly named Lightning Flash and adopted a pegasus colt name Fireball.” “My word… it… it’s rather strange to picture this… having siblings that I never got to meet,” Forge looked away from the table until he felt a pair of tiny hooves shake his leg. Turning his attention to the source, he found Wind Whistler looking up at him. “Well, at least you’ve got me, Forge!” The little filly’s words brought a smile to Forge’s face. He ignited his horn and Wind Whistler found herself wrapped up in a warming aura as she was lifted from the floor and pulled into his forelimbs for a hug. “Thanks, Wind Whistler.” He nuzzled the filly, “I’ll do what I can to try to be a good step-brother for you.” As the small filly returned the nuzzle, Forge turned to Verdant once more. “Verdant,” he said hesitantly, “How long did my mother live after we… vanished?” “According to what we could found, she passed away twenty-two years after we disappeared at the age of fifty-six,” Verdant recited before he leaned closer to his friend. “Are you okay, Forge?” “Aye,” Forge said before taking a deep breath. “At least I know she had those she cared for and lived a long life.” “Indeed,” Verdant replied before sliding one of the sheets of paper in the folder towards Forge’s end of the table. “That lists all those who were married to and descended from not only your siblings, but also the children that Fleetfeather had for about three-hundred and eighty years, give or take. I would have gone further, but there was apparently a fire at one point that caused a fair amount records from then to be lost, so tracking past that was next to impossible.” “Not to worry, my friend,” Forge happily replied, “I really appreciate your efforts.” “As do I, Private,” Fleetfeather said between sips of her coffee. “It will be quite soothing to learn what became of my children.” “What else did you find, Verdant?” Winter Gem inquired before munching on a strip of hay bacon. “Well, I happened to find out something surprising involving Barrier’s family.” His reply drew Barrier’s attention and a raised eyebrow. “I thought I said not to bother looking into what happened with my family, Verdant,” he said as he gave the younger stallion a flat glare, slowly taking a sip from his coffee. “I know, but this is something I stumbled across while looking up other stuff.” The younger stallion turned his gaze back to the folder before speaking once more. “It appears that your mother divorced your father four months after you disappeared. She would proceed to marry into a herd two years later and having a filly by the herd’s stallion a year later.” Barrier was dumbstruck by the young stallion’s words. “How is that possible?” He tilted his head, his left eye squinting. “She was over fifty years old! There’s no way she should have been capable of that.” “I don’t know how, sir.” Verdant nudged one of the papers closer to the charcoal unicorn with his snout. “But what matters is she did and you got a little sister out of this.” “My word…” Barrier paused, taking a deep breath and remaining silent for moment. “At least her final act was to bring one more life into the…” “No it wasn’t,” the freckled stallion interrupted. “She actually lived to be seventy-five until she passed away.” “Unbelievable,” Barrier slouched in his chair, placing his chin on the table, “How in Faust’s name was all that possible?” “I don’t know how, sir. All I know is that our sister’s birth must have been a miracle,” Verdant replied as he reached across the table, grabbing a pair of hay bacon strips. “I’ll say. Faust must have really been on her...” Barrier suddenly stopped, one of Verdant’s words standing out in his mind. “Wait a blasted moment.” He slowly rose his head from the table to glare at the stallion who was merrily enjoying his breakfast. “What did you mean by our sister, Verdant?” His tone became harsher as he glared at Verdant, who merely smirked in response. Quickly swallowing the hay treat, Verdant replied. “Well I did say she joined a herd,” he said as the smirk grew ever wider. “Guess who’s herd it just happened to be?” “No…” Barrier’s pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks, recalling the face of a green stallion barely any older than himself apologizing for one of his mates punching him in the face. “Oh yes, sir” Verdant said with a nod, “Your mother, after leaving your father, joined the herd that I came from and had a daughter by my father named Emerald Dawn.” Barrier could only stare in silence at the revelation that Verdant had brought to him. “Sir?” Swiftsword rose from her seat before placing a hoof on Barrier’s shoulder. “Are you alright?” “I’m… I’m shook…” Barrier replied as his eyes and face fell, drifting down towards his breakfast. “You mean shaken, sir.” “Shut up, Hat Trick.” Barrier’s turned his head and shot the purple pegasus a glare before turning his attention back to Verdant. “This had better be an elaborate joke, Verdant.” “No sir. It’s all here in black and white.” He slid several sheets of paper across the table. “Your mother married my father and gave birth to our sister. At any rate, that means we’re now step-brothers.” Barrier grumbled before Daring approached and placed a wing on his back. “Hey, look on the bright side. Your sister ended up creating a lot of advanced construct spell techniques that are still being taught at magic schools to this day.” “I suppose,” Barrier said as he placed a foreleg around her neck and pulled her closer. “Still, I just hate the idea of having another family member that I never got to see, let alone not knowing about their existence after all this time.” “Well I’m pretty sure I can dig up a portrait of her from a museum or academy somewhere,” she said as she rubbed her wing across his back, her feathers gently brushing up against his short dark coat. “Thank you, Daring.” He turned to face her, giving her cheek a quick kiss. “I truly appreciate this, dear.” He then turned to face Verdant. “Did you learn anything else about your family during your trip?” “Yes I did, thankfully,” the grass colored pony replied as he shuffled through some of his remaining papers. “Thankfully, records of my sisters’ descendants managed to survive. One thing I learned is that Emerald Dawn ended up marrying Forge’s brother, Fireball.” A loud squee emanated from across the table before Forge dashed away from his chair and he wrapped Verdant in a tight hug. “My best friend’s my brother-in-law!” the squeeing stallion exclaimed as he tightened his hold on his friend. “How fantastic!” “Glad you’re so happy, Forge,” the verdant pony wheezed as he was slowly turning blue. “Now, if you could please let me go.” “Sorry.” Forge released his grip as a blush dashed across his face and scratched the back of his mane. “Well, at any rate, are there any other finds from your search?” “Yes,” Verdant answered between deep breaths of air before he glanced back at the papers. “I found a few modern relatives that I may try to get in contact with.” He then shuffled through the stack of papers and glanced at a long list of names. “There’s Baron Greenback in Trottingham, there’s Olive Quiver in Detrot, there’s Beanstalk right here in Vanhoover, there’s Treehugger in…” Verdant paused as Barrier rose from his seat. “Sir, where are you going?” “I’m heading for my liquor cabinet,” Barrier replied without looking at the ponies at the table. “I need something to get rid of the mental image of my mother and your father…” He bristled at the thought before shaking his head and leaving the room. I pray I don’t have any weird dreams I have to explain to Luna after this. “How do you think I feel about this?” Verdant called out to the departed stallion. “Now I have the image of my father with somepony willing to kiss Hat Trick!” “Hey!” Winter Gem and Hat Trick shouted back, drawing laughs from Forge and Swiftsword, along with a smirk from Barrier.