//------------------------------// // Episode 9: Friendship Fortification // Story: My Little Pony: Sparkling Harmony: Season Two // by Captain_Cosmos //------------------------------// Celestia’s sun graced the land as the town of Ponyville awoke from its slumber. In one house, Sparkler poured a bowl of cereal and capped that off with some milk. She smiled as she floated the bowl to Kicker. “Here you go Kicker. Milk and Cereal. Standard breakfast for any developing foal.” Kicker smiled. “Thanks Sparkler.” Sparkler nodded and sat down at the table after fixing a bowl of cereal for herself. Flappy just pecked at a piece of watermelon. In between pecks he smiled at Kicker. “Squawk! So you’re the reason I woke up to find Sparkler missing from bed Eh. Squawk!” Kicker had taken a bite from his cereal, and his ears drooped and he sighed. “I-I’m sorry. I just...I just needed to know I was still here. Instead of...” He trailed off. Sparkler saw his mood drop and immediately gave him a reassuring smile as she walked around the table and immediately draped a wing over Kicker. “Hey, nopony’s mad at you sweetie. You just had a bad dream that’s all.” Flappy nodded. “Squawk! Yeah. Everypony has those. It’s not that big a deal. Squawk!” Kicker nodded. “Ok.” Sparkler smiled and walked back over to her seat. “So, what do you want to do today Kicker?” Kicker had gone for another mouthful of his cereal, and promptly choked on it for a second in surprise. “What?” Sparkler giggled. “I asked what you wanted to do today.” Kicker’s eyes widened in shock. He couldn’t remember the last time he was asked that. “What I want to do?” Sparkler nodded. “Yeah...is that a bad thing?” Kicker shook his head quickly. “No! It’s just that...I can’t remember the last time anypony asked me that...” Sparkler flashed him a smile. “Ok, then we’ll make today all about you. We’ll do anything you want to do. Go to the Park...go out for Ice-Cream, or we can stay here and play games all day. The choice is yours.” Kicker sat there in disbelief. He wasn’t used to having a say in anything, not used to his opinion mattering. “U-uhm...the Park sounds nice.” Sparkler smiled. “Alright. There’s something I need to do outside around the house, but after that we’ll have a Park day. We can play games, go for a walk. Have a picnic...ooh, that’s a good one. Hey Flappy, I’ll go do that thing outside, can you get a picnic all set?” Flappy nodded. “Squawk! Sure thing. Squawk!” Sparkler nodded, took one last bite of her breakfast, and went for the door. “It won’t take long. We’ll go soon Kicker.” Kicker nodded. “Ok.” ... Sparkler lit her horn and cast a scanning spell on her house, looking for any cracks or openings that she could seal up. “Step one to a good defense, analyze current weaknesses and eliminate them. Then I’ll cast all the defensive spells I know.” “Good start. Is a barrier shield spell in your arsenal?” Sparkler jumped, whipped around, flared her wings in an attack position, and pointed her horn. “Don’t try anything you crooks! I know all about you!” She saw a Pegasus mare immediately put her horn up. “Whoa! Stand down! I’m on your side!” The mare quickly reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a badge. “Investigator River Song, Nosey’s partner.” Sparkler saw the badge and immediately stood down. She dimmed her horn. “Oh my gosh I’m so sorry Investigator. Ever since Nosey told me yesterday who we were dealing with...I’ve been on edge.” River nodded. “I understand. If my little one was in danger I’d be on constant alert too.” She folded her wings back up, relaxing again. Sparkler went back to looking for cracks to seal up. “So, what brings you here Investigator? Need more details?” River shook her head. “Nosey should’ve already taken care of all that yesterday. I just came by to say hi, and maybe see how Kicker was doing.” Sparkler nodded. “He’s doing Ok. He’s had two consecutive nightmares since he’s been here but for the most part he’s slowly but surely warming up to the fact that he’s safe.” River nodded. “The poor dear. No foal should have to go through that.” Sparkler nodded. “Yeah. And because of his parents’ species? That’s just wrong on SO many levels.” River nodded. “Exactly.” Sparkler shook her head in disgust. “At least he’s out of their hooves now.” River nodded. “And in the hooves of somepony who has the capability to protect him.” Sparkler blushed a little. “Ahem. I’ll do what I can, and I’ll see if Twilight can cast some sort of defense barrier around this place...but with those two crooks being powerful defense breakers...I don’t know if that’ll be enough.” River giggled. “Two Alicorns contributing will definitely give those crooks a tough time. No matter how powerful they think they are.” Sparkler nodded. “I still don’t know if that’ll be enough, I’m a child compared to Twilight in power levels.” “You’re still more powerful than any Unicorn here! Even Starlight can’t match your strength!” River and Sparkler jumped when they heard that high pitched voice. They turned to see Pinkie smiling at them. Pinkie waved. “Hi Sparkler. Hi Investigator River Song.” Sparkler recovered from her shock. How the TARTARUS does she do it?! “Pinkie! You scared us!” Pinkie giggled. “Sorry. I was just making my morning rounds and sensed you two were back here so I decided to come back here and say hi.” River recovered from her own shock and smiled. “Well. That’s nice.” Pinkie nodded and turned to Sparkler. “So, whatcha doing Sparkler? Sealing up the house for winter?” Sparkler nodded. “Yeah. That’s what I’m doing.” Pinkie smiled. “I’m sure Kicker’ll appreciate that. It gets cold sometimes around here. Especially for five year olds like Kicker.” Sparkler’s smile faded fast. I swear to Celestia if the answer is Pinkie Sense I might just lose it! “Uh, what are you talking about? Who’s—“ Pinkie chuckled. “Sparkler, what have I said about trying to lie? It’s not gonna work on me. I know you’ve been given temporary custody of Thunder Kicker after he escaped from meanie ponies that did a lot of bad things to him.” River’s and Sparkler’s jaws dropped...before Sparkler sparkler just lunged and tackled Pinkie to the ground. “How?! How do you know that?!” Pinkie laughed. “Pinkie Sense.” Sparkler groaned. “That’s your answer for everything!” Pinkie nodded. “Yeah. ‘Cause it’s true. My sense is really detailed, and there’s a sense for everything. Especially your feelings for Twilight.” Sparkler blushed like mad when Pinkie said that. “You haven’t told Twilight have you?!” She asked urgently. Pinkie chuckled. “Nah. That’s on you.” Pinkie slid out from under Sparkler and hopped onto her hooves. “So, our weekly pet play date is today. I’m sure everypony’ll love to meet Kicker.” Sparkler’s eyes widened in realization. Today was their weekly pet play date. “Right. I forgot about that.” Pinkie laughed. “Of course you did, after all you now have a new foal to protect. You can do that at the park you know.” Sparkler bit her lip. On one hoof Pinkie was absolutely right. On the other hoof she didn’t want to pressure Kicker into a situation he wouldn’t want. Pinkie saw the undecided look on Sparkler’s face and smiled. “The CMC are gonna be there too so Kicker will have somepony to play with. And he can play with our pets, and we can play with him, we can have a Super Fun Day!” When you put it that way... Sparkler made up her mind. They were going to the park anyway, and it would save her a trip to the castle to ask for Twilight’s help. She nodded at Pinkie. “You know what Pinkie, why not. We were going to the Park anyway.” Pinkie bounced and beamed. “Awesome! See ya there! I’m gonna go finish my rounds!” With that, Pinkie bounced off. River watched the conversation, and when Pinkie left, River turned to Sparkler. She smiled. “That Pinkie’s really something isn’t she.” Sparkler nodded. “I’ve learned not to question it, but at the same time, she picked up on my past in Saddle Arabia, she picked up that I was an Alicorn, and now she’s pinged Kicker. All without me telling her, all because of her so-called Pinkie Sense. For all intents and purposes she’s a freaking psychic.” River chuckled. “She’s a remarkable mare.” Sparkler sighed and nodded. Turning back to the house. “That she is.” She lit her horn and began casting spells. “You may not want to linger in this area for much longer investigator. Some of these spells are sensitive when casting.” River nodded. “Right.” She started to leave. “If you ever need advice about being a mother, just look for me.” Sparkler nodded. “I’ll be sure to do that.” She cast a tripwire spell...then froze. She glanced behind her. “Hold the Hay, what did you just call me?” ... Soon after, Sparkler, Flappy, and Kicker walked into Ponyville Park. Flappy smiled. “Squawk! Whoo! Pet Play Date! Let’s go! Squawk!” Flappy took off to find his animal friends. Sparkler giggled while Kicker raised an eyebrow. “What’s got him all excited?” Sparkler chuckled and flashed him a smile. “He’s just excited to see his animal friends. We get together with our friends every week and they bring their pets. Hence why we call it a Pet Play Date.” Kicker nodded, shrunk a little, and buried himself in Sparkler’s fur. Sparkler smiled and unfurled one of her wings, curling it up to rub against Kicker’s back. “Hey, it’ll be ok. My friends are really nice. I promise. You already know two of them. Twilight and Starlight.” Kicker nodded. Sparkler spoke again. “You know what else? I’m told a trio of foals are gonna be there this time. Foals who know how to have a good time. I’m sure they’ll let you play with them if you ask. Wouldn’t that be nice?” Kicker hesitated, before nodding. “Yeah...” Sparkler giggled. “Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll make at least one new friend before today’s out.” At that moment, they both heard a cheery voice calling out to them. “Hey Sparkler! What’re you doing standing over there? Come over and introduce us to your new foal!” Sparkler froze and gulped when she heard Pinkie said that, and she internally cursed herself. Darn it Sparkler! You should’ve sworn her to secrecy until I said something! She also blushed a tad at Kicker being called her new foal. Kicker on the other hoof panicked and covered himself with the wing that was still draped over his body. Sparkler felt the sudden change in her wing position and immediately whipped her head around to smile at the shaking Kicker. “Hey, it’s ok. They won’t hurt you.” Kicker gulped, before peeking his head out from under the wing. “P-promise?” Sparkler nodded. “Promise.” Kicker hesitated, before nodding. Sparkler smiled and trotted over to where her friends were and smiled. “What up girls? How are all you today?” Rarity smiled as Sparkler walked up and set down on her haunches. “We are fabulous darling. And Pinkie here was just telling us something amazing that happened recently to you.” Rainbow nodded and noticed Sparkler’s wing covering something. “And I’m betting it’s under your wing, which by the way shouldn’t be bent like that for too long.” Sparkler chuckled. “Well, guess there’s no beating around the bush.” Twilight nodded. “But, a word of advice to everypony, don’t startle him. Especially you Pinkie.” Pinkie raised an eyebrow. “I wasn’t gonna startle him. I was gonna say hi.” Sparkler nodded. “Yeah, and a lot of the time you startle ponies in the process so just stay right where you are and go for a simple smile and wave.” Everypony chuckled while Sparkler turned her head and nuzzled her wing, and in turn Kicker. “Hey, you can come out now. It’s ok, these mares are friendly.” Kicker felt the nuzzle, and slowly peaked out from under the wing. He saw Sparkler’s gentle smile. After a bit of hesitation, he slowly crawled out from under the wing, up Sparkler’s neck, and poked his head out from behind her head to look at the mares all smiling at him. One of them got one look at him and beamed. “Aww! Who’s this cutie?” Kicker blushed a little while Sparkler smiled and lit her horn, encasing Kicker in her magic and lifting him over her head and setting him down in front of her. “Everypony, this is Thunder Kicker. The foal Pinkie told you about. Say hi Kicker.” “H-hello.” Kicker said shakily. Pinkie beamed. “Hi there Kicker! Nice to meet you! I’m Pinkie Pie! And that’s Applejack, Rainbow Dash—“ “Pinkie! You're scaring him!” Starlight cut her off. Indeed, Kicker backed against Sparkler and shrunk under Pinkie’s enthusiasm. Shaking a little in fear. Fluttershy saw the foal’s behavior and smiled. She got up and walked over, slowly, and brought her face close. She gave him a warm smile. “Hey, it’s ok. You don’t need to be scared Kick, she’s just excited to meet you. That’s all.” Kicker peeked up and saw the caring look on the canary mare’s face. “R-really?” Sparkler smiled down at him and nodded. “Yeah. She’s just excited, and always hyper. Nothing to worry about though.” After getting encouraging smiles from Sparkler and the canary mare, Kicker nodded and stood on his hooves and took a couple steps forward. He saw the orange mare give him a friendly smile. “Hey there little one. It’s right nice to meetcha. As Pinkie said, I’m Applejack.” She gestured towards the other mares. “The canary mare is Fluttershy, this here is Rainbow Dash—“ “The awesomest one.” Add Rainbow with a nod and a smile. Applejack rolled her eyes and gestured to Rarity. “And that right there is Rarity.” Rarity flashed him her signature smile. “A pleasure to meet you darling.” Applejack giggled. “And from what Pinkie’s told us you already know Starlight and Twilight there.” Kicker nodded. “Yeah. Sparkler took me to visit the Castle yesterday.” Pinkie nodded and spied a few fillies off in the distance. “Hey Kicker. The CMC are over there playing. I’m sure they’ll let you play with them if you ask.” She pointed over yonder. Kicker followed her hoof and saw the three fillies playing. They looked a little older than him. Applejack saw his hesitance and smiled. “Now don’t you fret little one. Those three are nice. I promise.” Kicker turned to look directly at Sparkler, who smiled and gestured over yonder. “Don’t worry. I’ll be right here making sure they don’t do anything. Go on and have fun.” Kicker glanced at the three fillies, and then back at Sparkler, with one more encouraging nod from Sparkler, he walked away from the mares to join the fillies. Rarity watched him go, and then turned to Sparkler, Twilight, and Starlight. She raised an eyebrow. “Is there something going on with Kicker?” Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say he didn’t exactly trust us.” Sparkler sighed and shook her head. “Unfortunately that’s right. He doesn’t trust you.” Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “What does that mean?” Sparkler bit her lip, debating on what exactly to tell her friends. “Let’s just say Kicker didn’t really have the best life before I met him.” Pinkie nodded. “I’ll say! Two ponies foalnapped him, took his parents away from him, and were big meanie flanks to him until he escaped! That’s not a life a foal should live!” Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow gasped. Rarity whipped her head back to Sparkler. “What ever does she mean by THAT darling?” Sparkler glared at Pinkie before sighing. “Hold on to your tails girls, what I am about to tell you is anything but pleasant, and not for everypony’s ears so keep this among us only.” She then proceeded to tell them everything, from what Kicker told her, to Nosey’s story, to her own perspective. While Sparkler was storytelling, Kicker nervously headed closer to the older fillies, that were throwing a frisbee to each other. That looks fun...and they look nice enough... When he was certain one of them would hear him, he cleared his throat loudly. One of the fillies, an orange Pegasus, heard the throat clearing and turned to see Kicker. She smiled. “Well what do we have here.” She turned to the other fillies. “Hey Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, look who decided to join us!” The other two fillies stopped what they were doing and turned to see Kicker. They smiled as they ran up to him. The yellow filly smiled at him. “Hey there. We saw you come with Sparkler earlier. What’s your name?” “Thunder K-Kicker.” Kicker replied. The yellow filly smiled. “That’s a cool name. Mine’s Applebloom.” She gestured to the two other fillies. “The unicorn is Sweetie Belle, and this here Pegasus is named Scootaloo.” Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo smiled. “Hi there.” “Sup.” Kicker nodded. “It’s uhm...it’s nice to meet you.” He took a glance at the frisbee. “What’re you playing?” Scootaloo smiled. “We’re just throwing a frisbee to each other. Trying to see how many times we can catch it. Wanna play?” It sounded fun, so Kicker nodded. Sweetie Belle beamed and held the frisbee out in her magic to him. “Ok. Then take this and chuck it as hard as you can. One of us will try and catch it. Got that?” Kicker nodded and grabbed the frisbee with his mouth. The fillies smiled and started running away. “Go long Crusaders!” Applebloom shouted. When they were a good distance away, Kicker swung his head and threw the frisbee with all his might. It soared through the air and went Applebloom’s way. When it was close enough, she jumped up and caught it in her teeth. She landed on her hooves and smiled and waved at Kicker. “Good chuck Kicker!” She threw the frisbee to somepony else. Kicker let a smile capture his face. He was actually playing with other children, and it wasn’t so bad. Who knew playing with other foals could be so fun! The frisbee came his way and he jumped up and caught it. He landed on his hooves and chucked the frisbee to one of his new friends. If this is what it feels like to be happy then I’ll take it. To be continued...