//------------------------------// // A Father, his son and his adoptive niece // Story: The Road Trip of A-Holes! // by Sense of Humor //------------------------------// Quill watched as the rock he threw failed to bob its way across the surface of the water and promptly sunk to the bottom. His hand reached for another rock, somewhat smaller than the first one and set his sights of the disturbed surface of the small pond. Once he deemed it settled enough, he reared his hand back just enough and flicked the small thing forwards. He expected to see it finally skid and bob across the surface for a while, but it just sunk it's way to the bottom again. Quill slumped to the ground and pouted at the sight. “It's not working! It never works!” “I never said it would come to you naturally on the first try, now did I?” A voice remarked from just behind, approaching slowly. Soon someone was sitting right next to him, picking up one of the rocks he'd collected to inspect it. The voice laughed at what she saw. “This rock is too jagged and hard. I told you only smooth pebbles will do the job.” Eight year old Quill pouted harder. “It's im...i...im--pahseebull to find any of those.” “You mean one of...these?” A feminine hand pulled a small, flat storm from his ear like she knew magic. He didn't doubt that she did. “You should have asked me where to look for them.” “I guess so.” He admitted sheepishly. “Thanks, mommy.” The woman nodded, but her smile slowly fell. She looked internally pained, her body briefly shuddering and then relaxing again. She shook her to clear an unseen haze, but there was still the lack of a smile. Quill inspected her closely, worriedly. “Are you okay, mommy?” Meredith's warming smile appeared again. “I'm just fine, Quill.” She handed him the smooth pebble and gestured to the lake. “Now, why don't you try again? I've got a good feeling about this one.” Quill watched the rock he threw sink into the pond. It hadn’t even tried to skip across just once. So instead of cursing himself for his inability to throw it the right way, he merely stared at the ripples in the water and reflected on the times he'd tried to practice with his mother. She was an impossibly patient woman for someone to have a kid who couldn't ever get the blasted technique right. She was impossibly patient for someone who was just as content as her child to wait for her husband to return. She waited for as long as the brain cancer would allow her, but that just wasn't long enough. Quill stared at the ripples in the water again, watched them until they stilled and became nothing. Why hadn’t he believed his mother on her deathbed, when she finally revealed that his father was not a world famous guy with a truckload of money and a smile that could kill women where they stood? He was ashamed for thinking she was crazy when she said he came from space, but he was more ashamed to be the son of an abandoning father. Had the roles been reversed, Quill would have stayed with his son through it all. He was glad Yondu never dropped him off to him. Heck-- Yondu had, at times, been a better father than David Hasselhoff and A thousand gods combined. Sure he'd threatened to kill him as a boy, or just truss him up in a good soup and there had been a lot of exchanged punching between the two. He was a major douche, but he never left him in trouble. And there were...exceptional moments where Yondu hadn't been an A-hole--a few now that he looked back on them. He would never know how to fire a blaster if it weren't for that lesson in the woods, he would have been shot by angry gamblers if they hadn't been talked down and there was never a day when he didn't have at least one bite of something; nasty or not. It was a distant memory, but Quill remembered falling asleep near the blue pirate leader and waking up for a few seconds when someone draped Yondu's jacket over him and walked off briskly. Yondu would later pretend that Quill stole his jacket for a blanket. Yondu was not a good father, but he had been a better figure than Ego. Quill shook his head at the thought of the sad yet well-meaning celestial. There was too much to just...accept him. Too much to consider and...the human sighed in mild irritation. “Not now, Trix. Go back to the others.” A feminine voice and trotting hooves approached from behind, giving a surprised gasp. “How did you know Trixie was here?!” “Quill-Sense. Now get lost, ” He sniffed and licked up another rock. He tossed it into the water without even trying to make it skip. “I'm not looking to have a heart to heart right now.” “Well...Trixie wasn't going to try anyway. She was just...making sure you hadn't fallen and hurt yourself.” “Well, as you can clearly see, I'm just fine and dandy.” “You look more like...mopey and conflicted.” Trixie sat next to him and picked up one of the rocks. She eyed it with disgust, and then tossed it into the water. “Which is the same mood your dad's in, sooo...like father like son?” Quill huffed at her. “He can't be in the same mood I'm in, because I have worse stuff to deal with.” “So he does he, I'm certain. Honestly, after watching you two, I’m glad I’ll have no stuff to deal with when I meet my dad, ” Trixie inspected her reflection in the water's surface with deep thought. She blew a strand of hair out of her face. “We’ll be thick as thieves right off the bat!” The human stared at her as if she were growing another set of hooves. “Cut the bullish!t. No one would be comfortable with their dad abandoning them along with their mom.” Trixie rolled her eyes at him. “Uh, Equus to Quill? I grew up in an orphanage, remember?” “How is that any better?!” He asked in pure exasperation. “Don't tell me you haven't once been bitter about being left in an orphanage--instead of living in a nice house!” “That orphanage may not have been the best home, but it was still home!” The pony poked him roughly with a hoof and glared. “Which is the point we're trying to make! He may not rhe be the best dad of the year, but you should try to accept him!” Quill massaged his aching forehead. “So you and Gamora keep saying!  Why do you care about this so much?” “Because aside from friendship, my time learning from my mistakes also taught me that family is important for shaping a pony’s life!” “How would you know that?! You don't even have a family!” Trixie stared at him with an unblinking look, slowly tilting her head. She gave a short huff of breath--a cross between a disbelieving laugh and a scoff. “ Wow. That was a really low blow, Starlord.” Quill dragged a hand down his face and sighed at her. “Look, please don't do that cliche movie thing where I say something mean, you start crying and then you run off. I'm just really--” The mare rolled her eyes. “Please, Trixie doesn't cry. And even if she did, which would be rare, you'd have to go lower than that to do it.” Starlord shrugged to himself. “Well, what I meant to say was that you don't have any experience to judge...all this crap going on with me. You just don't, okay?” Trixie’s stern look weakened over time. “You didn't even give him a chance to defend himself. He…” She caught sight of something behind him and focused on it curiously. “...is flying up into that huge dome thing.” “He--what?” Quill turned to follow her line of sight and soon caught visual confirmation. Connected to the far right side of the grande palace was a circular metal dome sitting on top of a downward come structure, with strange markings engraved in the sides. Ego was just floating up to a small compartment on the west side of the dome, walking in and closing it behind him. Quill huffed through his nose as he looked over the building once more. “What is that place for?” A blue blur trotted past him. “I'm gonna go and find out myself.” The man didn't try to stop her, but he did find some reluctance following behind. He debated whether or not to just go back to the pond as they finally approached the base of the odd tower, looking up at its daunting height. He scanned the cone shape for any grooves or steps that he could use to climb up the normal way, but was met with nothing for his efforts. His pony pal appeared to be sizing up the tower with a tense expression. Finally, she spoke up. “I could teleport us up there!” “You could--uh, no. No teleporting. The thought makes me nauseous.” He stared up and grimaced. “Couldn't you just fly us up there? Levitate?” “You look like you weigh a ton. Teleporting is much faster at a lower price of magic! Sure, Trixie could accidentally fuse our flesh to the metal or even even each other, permanently disfiguring us for the rest of our short lives…” Trixie explained with a casual shrug. “But hey, no pain--no gain!” “That saying doesn't make any sense here!” He responded begrudgingly. “And neither does taking a transportation route that could screw up your internal organs, or turn your skin inside out or turn you to dust! I don't like the idea of turning to dust you know.” Her horn lit up without a second thought to his very reasonable concerns. “You're just being a sissy, you sissy. I'm gonna do the thing now, and you're gonna take it like a man!” Quill couldn't get three steps away before he horn lit up, then exploded with the fury of a thousand miniature hurricanes. He felt nothingness for the smallest fraction of a second, hurled through an infinite void only to be yanked back onto the world before he could even make sense of what was happening. He quickly noticed some good news and some bad news: The good news was that Trixie hadn't seriously deformed them by accident and actually did get them to the top of the tower like she said she would. And therein lay the bad news. “Woah--woah--woah--woah-woah!” Quill scrambled frantically as they slid down the dome structure, finding nothing physical to stop their fall. This thing was a lot slippier than it looked. “H-hey! Slow us down!” Trixie gasped and lit up her horn again just as they started to fall off the dome, enveloping Quill in a light blue aura of some kind. The man gasped for breath as he was held in a very shaky grip, just inches away from tumbling off towards a hard landing. He shot her a look of confusion as she strained heavily to keep up the flow of energy around them both.  “Has...A-anypony….ever told...y-you...that you w-weigh...so much?!” “It's not like I can just get a set of dumbells right now, you know!” He squeaked when her grip faltered very briefly and pointed down. “Just set me down in front of the door, slowly!” Trixie strained even harder when she tried to do that, her brow crinkling with the effort. In a way, it was completely infuriating to be capable of much, yet be able to do so little. “Easy to say...Not so easy...to do.” “Allow me!” Crackling white energy erupted from the door of the dome in the form of three thick tentacles. They twisted this way and that as they poured out and swiftly hoisted the two beings safely into the air. As they dangled, the controller of the tendrils leaned against the dome's doorway and crossed his arms. “Seems I've caught you two in the act of sneaking in.” Quill rolled his eyes at Ego's constantly aloof nature. “It was Trixie's idea.” “You traitor! I should've let you fall to the ground.” “Speaking of which, you seem to be straining a lot with your power. It only comes with your emotional state, and its constant change means its hard to predict when it will be strong.” Ego lowered them onto the platform checking the dome and knelt down in front of the pony. “If you want, I can give you a tune up?” She blinked. “Give me a what now?” “It's just a way of saying: Cerebral Adjustment. Your power is...basically a big battery. Your emotions are the plug right now, but if you want…” He explained eagerly, yet slowly so she understood. Quill bristled as it distantly reminded him of those days at the pond. “we can upgrade the plug so that your power connects to your mind instead. Then you can think things into existence like these tentacles I made. Or that lightning bolt you mentioned earlier.” “So...basically make it so that I use my powers with my brain?” Trixie scoffed, waving a good for emphasis. “Uh, duuuuuh! Make it happen, Cap'n!” Starlord glowered even more. “I'm the captain.” Ego reached forward with his hands, now glowing an otherworldly white and pressed his bright palms into her temple. The pony's irises shrank into pinpricks almost instantly and her eager smile melted away into slack-jawed nothingness. The old celestial seemed like he was calmly searching through files in an office, his own eyes pinpricked by tiny irises. Quill frowned when his face suddenly became...distressed, like fearful recognition. His hands trembled ever so slightly. And then it was over. Ego slowly moved his hands away and their pupils returned them almost instantly. Trixie shook her head a few times, but her eager attitude returned full force. “So? Did you do it? Am I the Spectacular and Invincible Trixie now?” Ego grinned away any emotion that had been on his face earlier--so fast that Quill wondered if he had actually seen him look...scared or not. “Y-yeah. It's done! Go on, try something, ” Trixie thought over that for a least half a minute, then gasped with delight at the idea that entered her mind. Once her horn lit up with a darker blue aura, the ground beneath them rumbled. A pillar of dirt rose up from the ground and solidified itself into white granite. Then a good chunk of water from the garden pond floated its way to the flat top of the pillar and hovered there for a moment. The water chunk rippled and churned as it tried to find a shape to take. Eventually, it took on a familiar, four-legged form and posed while it hardened into ice. Trixie smiled proudly at her finished work. “Ta-da!” “Very impressive!” Ego clapped momentarily. Quill regarded the statue Trixie made of herself for a moment, but ultimately tore himself away from it to look at the elderly being of mass power. “Yeah, nice. So, what we're doing in this...thing?” Ego smirked and traveled inside the dome, gesturing for the two of them to follow behind. Trixie exchanged an indescribable glance with Starlord before following suit and being introduced the stunning interior of the dome. It was bigger on the inside than on the outside, all made up of one Interconnected web of bronze metal. Floating in the center of the room was a silver helmet of sorts--very simplistic to match the calm decor of the dome. Ego pointed at the helmet. “This is the...theater room, you might say. That helmet is a telescope specifically designed for Celestial beings.” His son squinted at it. “Really.” “Really.” Quill walked up to the helmet without a sound and paused for a moment when Ego gestured for him to out it on. The man reluctantly did so and found his eyes opened far past the walls of the dome--past the planet itself. Stars, nebula, comet herds and the like we're there everywhere he turned his head. He could see them as if they were just a couple hundred yards in front of him, even though he knew better than to think such. He turned his head everywhere until he saw one planet that stood out from the rest, catching his attention for a long time. He licked his lips. “...you really were from the stars. Hmm.” His father furrowed his brow. “Hmm…?” “She said you were from the stars.” “...” “...you know-- funny story, Trix.” Quill's eyes were wet as he tore them away from the view of earth, and took the helmet from his eyes. “My mom-- she told everyone my father was from the stars. She had brain cancer, so everyone thought she it was making her crazy. All the kids liked that, you know. A kid saying his father was David Hasselhoff, and the dying mom spouting shit about an alien husband. What a fucking joke, right?” Trixie shuffled uncomfortably where she stood in the corner of his eye, backing up just a pace. Ego held an even stare with him, tired and remorseful. “Peter--” “No. No. Listen, I’d love to believe all of this happy go lucky daddy stuff, I really would.” Peter growled out the words between clenched teeth if only to keep from sniffling. “ But you abandoned me… and the most wonderful woman in existence. You jumped ship and left her to die!” “You think that's it?!” Ego barked at him, angry and saddened all at the same time. “you think that--t-that one day, I just up and decided I didn't love her anymore?! There's nothing in my life I've hated more than leaving your mother, Peter! If I don't return to this planet on a regular basis to replenish my power? I die and return to this planet regardless!” Quill sarcastically raised his arms. “Oh, yeah! That makes everything better! I'll just go back to my planet and never return--no, better yet: I'll send the shittiest pirate gang in the world to abduct my son and bring him to me, instead of getting him myself! God, I'm so smart!” Ego was turning red by this point, trying to emphasize his points. “I loved your mother more than anything in this universe! I’m not just sleep deprived because of thinking about you--I can't sleep because I close my eyes and see her smiling at me! There's a hole in my heart, Peter!” His voice broke as he shouted. “I couldn't and still can't set foot on an earth where she isn't alive! You don't have the slightest idea what that's li--” “Who had to watch her get sick? Who had to watch her cough up blood day after day?! Who had to visit her every day?! I did!” Quill cried. “...I had to watch her die, dad!” Ego said nothing. He and Quill merely stared at each with rolling tears, for minutes on end and then even longer. His son sniffled and aggressively rubbed his tears away on the sleeve of his jacket. Ego breathed through his nose, shaking his head. “..I'm the worst.” Peter looked up, squinting sharply. “What?” “I am the worst father. To have made you go through that alone. I know that...and as sorry as I am to have left you...I know I'll never be able to change it.” Ego declared sadly, then went silent again. “Over the millions and millions of years of my existence… I’ve made more mistakes than I can count. But you’re not my mistake, Peter. Just...please give me the chance to be the father she would want me to be.” His son gave a shaky sigh, but didn't leave the room for some reason. Quill still felt like he should keep dodging his father, but part of him kept him rooted. Ego wiped his face and took it as a good sign. “There’s so much that I need to teach you about this planet… and the light within the very core. They are a part of you, son.” Trixie, who had been silently backing up towards the door and looking awkward, glanced up when the conversation started to become...less heated. “...Are his powers connected to emotion too? Will you have to...upgrade the plug?” “Maybe not.” Ego explained thoughtfully as he walked up to Quill. Grasping his son's hands, he shifted them so that the palms were facing up. “Here, hold them like that. Now...close your eyes and concentrate.” Starlord held an uncertain stare with him, but eventually closed his eyes and chose to focus on the energy he'd seen Ego manipulate earlier. The white matter that moved as he saw fit, like an extension of himself. “Yes...take your brain to the center of this planet…and make it.” Ego continued to urge him on, and Quill closed his eyes harder as a bewildering sensation bloomed in his stomach. Like running water, it flowed into his veins and traveled along his arms in mere seconds. The feeling pooled into his palms and gathered the more it moved, sloshing over molecules of itself as it built up to something. What that something was, he had no idea what it would be. At least not until an electric crackling sound was heard. He heard Trixie gasp in delight and Ego whoop enthusiastically. “Yes! Yes! That's it!” Quill opened his eyes to a most startling sight--he was holding a huge ball of electric green plasma, which frothed this way and that between his palms. He squeaked in alarm, causing the ball to slowly fizzle out and die before he could fully appreciate it. He looked up at the celestial and gaped. “That...Did I just…?” Ego gestured to his hands excitedly. “It’s okay... Just relax. Concentrate. You can do it. Bring it back…” His hands shook nervously, but he nodded all the same. He concentrated once more and steeled himself when the energy began to bloom through his body again. The ball of green plasma sparkled to life faster than the last time, gleefully surging like a puppy. “Woah. Woooah. Man, it feels weird.” “That's all you, son….Yes; shape it. Feel that energy.” Ego watched with a proud smile as the man compressed and shaped the ball like clay, giving it a more refined look than before.The old celestial stepped back a few paces, his smile growing wider and he watched him finish shaping it. For the first time, he finally saw Quill smile at him. A genuine, eager smile. “Looks like you're home, Peter.” Peter nearly choked on air when Ego pointed at the ball and held out his hands expectantly. He laughed at the whole situation for a moment, and then beamed down at the ball he'd formed in his hands. Shakily, he tossed the ball to his father and watched as he caught it with one hand like it was nothing. He threw it back with an underhand toss and a laugh that could melt the hardest of hearts. Quill laughed right back as he caught it. This was it. This was it felt like. This was what he missed. This was what he had now. As the childhood glee filled him he stepped back a few paces and hurled the plasma ball once more. In the background of the truly heartwarming scene, a blue unicorn sighed between smiling lips. Trixie couldn't imagine a sight more gushy and cheesy, but in the best way possible. To see someone finally get what they always wanted since childhood was a rare treat in itself...one that she didn't want to ruin by being there. Without a sound, the mare turned around and began to slowly trot out of the dome. “You, Trix! Heads up!” “Huh? Woah!” Trixie turned around just in the nick of time; her head was only inches away from being hit by the green plasma ball. She used her magic to hold it in place, only for her to realize what happened and blink owlishly at the others’ smiling faces. “Uh…?” Quill shrugged, almost holding back a laugh. “Where ya going?” Trixie sheepishly brushed hair out of her eyes. “Oh. I...Uh, I figured this was just a family thing between you two. So, I’ll just leave you two to play catch.” Ego shrugged as well. “Celestials are a rare breed, you know. You can be my adoptive niece if that's what it'll take to get you in here.” The mare's eyes widened, her mouth ajar for a while. “...I...I-I've never been a niece before…” Quill chuckled aloud. “I've never had a pony as my...adoptive cousin. Join the club, Trix.” Trixie could do nothing but gape in surprise at them, and then at the ball in her grasp. It never occurred to her how the lack of a family didn't leave her any opportunity for playing catch, like Quill. It didn't leave her with memories to look back on, and now she had a once in a lifetime opportunity to have memorable fun--even if they weren't in any way her blood relatives. The thought of having family, a cousin at long last, made her smile wider than ever. With a very warm heart, the showmare giggled to herself and prepared to toss the ball back. “Okay, ” She smiled. “I'll join.”