//------------------------------// // Episode 3: Rising Concern // Story: My Little Pony: Sparkling Harmony: Season Two // by Captain_Cosmos //------------------------------// Flappy flew through the window in Sparkler’s bedroom, returning from listening in on the press conference in Twilight’s castle. He shook his head and he flew down the stairs into the kitchen. “Squawk! The papers for the next few days are going to be messy. I can feel it. Squawk!” He sighed as he landed on the table. Like Sparkler, everypony expected the press to track her down after the Music Festival. And Celestia knew most of them were going to over exaggerate just to sell more copies. After seeing Mina off, he had flown to the boutique to look for Sparkler, Rarity had sent him to the Castle of Friendship where she had told him Sparkler was in a press conference. He tried knocking on the door, but nopony answered. So he decided to try the windows. He eventually found the window seeing directly into the press conference, and he could clearly hear the questions and answers. While most were predictable and Sparkler gave honest answers, he heard some that made him worry about Sparkler. Fortunately, Twilight was there to ward off any questions that crossed the line. Bless Twilight. He smiled. After school in Saddle Arabia, Twilight had been an absolute godsend to Sparkler since they moved to Ponyville. Not only was she the first pony to really accept her for her, wings and all, but she also was instrumental in helping her face her fears. And what should be the icing on the cake but Twilight helping Sparkler to understand their species. Granted Twilight was a Unicorn before she was an Alicorn, she was still way more knowledgeable about the subject than either him or Sparkler and was more than willing to share that knowledge with them through their regular study sessions, some of which he attended. Simply put, Twilight was the knight in shining armor that Sparkler had oh so desperately needed. He chuckled at that. “Squawk! How ironic that Twilight is Sparkler’s knight in shining armor when Sparkler isn’t the princess. Squawk!” He shook his head and glanced at the photo pinned to the fridge. The same photo he had managed to take during the first study session. The picture had Twilight mid bounce with a gleeful smile on her face and Sparkler laughing, and not caring that her wings were exposed. He smiled, he could just feel the pure, genuine joy irradiating off Sparkler that day. Bless you Twilight Sparkle. You just might be the best thing that’s ever happened to Sparkler. At that moment, Flappy heard the front door open and turned to see Sparkler enter the house. He smiled as he took off from the table and flew into the living room to greet her. “Squawk! Sparkler. You’re back. I managed to catch most of the press conference. You feeling alright—“ His nose picked up the smell of dumpster, and used his claws to cover his nostrils. “—oh, oh what is that awful stench?! Did you dive into a dumpster on the way home?! Squawk!” Sparkler sighed and shook her head. “I didn’t. But this one did.” She turned a little bit and Flappy at last noticed that Sparkler wasn’t alone. Riding on her back was a young colt. A really young colt. Flappy raised an eyebrow. “Squawk! Who’s this Sparkler? Squawk!” “This is Thunder Kicker.” Sparkler replied. “I found him in an alley dumpster diving for scraps as dinner.” She turned her head to give an encouraging smile to Thunder Kicker. “Say hi Kicker.” Flappy smiled as he waved a claw at the colt. “Squawk! Hey there bud. It’s nice the meet you. I’m Flappy. Squawk!” Thunder Kicker nodded, clinging to Sparkler. “Uhm. Hi. I-It’s nice to meet you too.” Sparkler smiled as she turned back to Flappy. “He’s gonna be staying with us tonight. I’m gonna take him upstairs and get him cleaned up. Can you start on dinner Flappy?” Flappy nodded. “Squawk! Any special requests? Squawk!” Sparkler turned to Thunder Kicker. “What do you want for dinner?” Kicker stared at Sparkler for a second. “Y-you’re asking me?” Sparkler nodded. “Gotta put something in the tank that isn’t garbage.” Kicker gulped before shakily asking. “C-can we have Spaghetti and Salad? P-please?” Flappy nodded. “Squawk! Coming right up. Squawk!” He zipped into the kitchen to start cooking. Kicker watched the parrot go, wide eyed that a bird was going to cook. Sparkler saw the wide eyes look on his face and chuckled. “Don’t worry. Flappy’s a master in the kitchen. Come on. Let’s get you all cleaned up.” Seeing Kicker nod, she smiled and trotted to the stairs, taking his trunk and her sweater bags along. Flappy watched her take Kicker up from the corner of his eye as he started dinner. He raised an eyebrow. Found him in an alleyway dumpster diving for food? Why wasn’t he at home eating healthy food? ... An hour or two later, after Sparkler had cleaned Thunder Kicker up and all three of them had a nice dinner, Sparkler carefully tucked him into bed in one of the spare rooms the house came with. “There we go. Comfortable?” She asked. Kicker nodded. “Yes.” Sparkler smiled. “Have a good sleep little one. Tomorrow we can go out and look for your parents. That sound like a plan?” Thunder Kicker said nothing, but slowly nodded. Sparkler smiled and leaned in to plant a light kiss on Kicker’s forehead. “G’night Kicker. Sleep tight.” She smiled warmly and slowly backed out of the room and gently closed the door. After a second, she walked into her room, Flappy had just come out from brushing his beak before bed. On her bed were the two bags of sweaters. She lit her horn and started to hang up the sweaters in the closet. “So, how was your day Flappy? Did Mina like your animal friends?” Flappy nodded. “Squawk! Yes. But we’ve got more important things to talk about. One of them is sleeping in one of our guest rooms right now. Squawk!” Sparkler nodded. “Thunder Kicker.” Flappy nodded. “Squawk! Run it by me again how you two met? Squawk!” Sparkler nodded. “I was on my way back after picking up my new sweaters from Rarity—“ “Squawk! They look amazing by the way. Squawk!” Sparkler nodded. “Thanks. Anyway, I was walking home when I heard a crash coming from the alleyway. I looked around in the alleyway and found the dumpster. Looking back, that crash was probably the lid falling. I looked inside and there he was. Curled up in the dumpster nibbling on a rotten apple.” Flappy nodded. “Squawk! What the Tartarus was he doing in there? Why isn’t he home with his family? Squawk!” Sparkler shrugged. “I don’t know. I offered to take him home, but he just flat out said no and ran to his trunk. It was like he was afraid to go home.” Flappy nodded. “Squawk! So you offered to bring him here for the night. Squawk!” Sparkler nodded. “Yeah.” She sighed. “I don’t know Flappy. I just get this feeling that there’s more going on than we realize. I mean, did his behavior remind you of anything? Or anypony?” Flappy nodded. “Squawk! He was shy all night, he looked like he was on constant watch, and he seemed disbelieving that we were treating him with kindness. Now who does that sound like? Squawk!” Sparkler sighed. “Me when I first came to Ponyville.” Flappy nodded. “Squawk! You think he’s in a similar situation? Squawk!” Sparkler shrugged. “We’ll find out soon, but no matter what, I’m gonna help him.” Flappy nodded. “Squawk! Hey, don’t leave me out of this. We’re a team. Squawk!” Sparkler nodded. “Me and you ooh ooh.” “Squawk! Always have each other’s backs we do. Squawk!” They touched wings at the end of their little sing-song moment and giggled. Flappy nodded. “Squawk! Now. About that press conference. Squawk!” To be continued...