Chrome Spectrum yawned as he woke up in the guest room of his aunt's home. He froze as he felt the fur sticking up on the back of his neck; he hadn't experienced this sensation since years before when he confronted his mother about having a brother he didn't know about. Something was wrong in the house, something was very very wrong, or about to be wrong, or about to erupt.
He crept to his door, then eased it open very slowly. Silence. And yet, the silence was what bothered him. Usually his mother and his aunt were chatting animatedly about things, things like the Wonderbolts, or Rainbow Dash's flight school, or Rainbow's friends.
He cantered down the cloud hall, then froze as he saw something he would never forget, something that would be burned into his mind for the rest of his life: His mother, sitting at the table, her eyes angry and disappointed as she waited for him. Rainbow Falls, his aunt, was also present. Aurora Flash stood and stepped closer to her son.
"Chrome Spectrum, your aunt was cleaning up after Rainbow Dash in her guest room when she found a note. A note that I'm pretty sure you read. Now, you were gone all day yesterday, and when you came home you didn't give me a single word of greeting, and that tells me you know you did something wrong. Now what do you have to say for yourself?"
Chrome blinked, staring at his mother. At first, he'd been afraid, thinking that he had indeed done something bad by going to see the brother that his mother had denied existed his entire life. But that was the point, wasn't it? She had been lying to him her entire life about a strange colt that had shown up at their door eight years ago, then suddenly disappeared. If anything, she had some explaining to do!
"Well..." he said, reaching a hoof up to his chin to scratch at it in mock contemplation. His mood and tone was not lost by either pony in the room. "let's see. I have a brother named Spark Storm...oh. Did you know his name, mother? Did you even bother to name him before you tossed him out the window?!" he finished yelling the last few words.
His mother and aunt stared at Chrome, both with differing looks on their faces. Rainbow Falls held a hoof over her mouth. She looked like she at least partially approved of Chrome's bravado. Aurora Flash, however, looked like she'd been struck in the face by her own son.
Aurora had been through a lot since her first son had been born. Burdened with the responsibility of keeping him or running the risk of losing him to an accident in the sky, she made her choice, and effectively pushed her husband to give up their son, played it safe and had him live on the ground. She always felt it had been the right choice, but it was a choice that slowly ate at her husband, leading to him eventually leaving her some time after Chrome Spectrum was born.
Her choices had come to leave her bitter and angry. Any change threatened to loosen her last holds on any normalcy she had left in her life. Her sister and niece helped immensely, but her remaining son was the real source of her comfort. Her hold on him was threatened now, and she was quickly being backed into a corner by his accusing tone.
"Young colt, you are not allowed to take that tone of voice with me!" she yelled back, advancing on her son to tower over him. "The choices I made in life haven't always made me proud, but I always did what I thought was right. I...I shouldn't even have to explain myself to you. You're my son, that doesn't make you-"
"What that means is you look out for me!" Chrome yelled, advancing on his mother. She backed away this time, her body language displaying fear and tension. She'd never had a problem with her son before. Sure, he was rebellious sometimes, he was a Rainbow. All the stallions and mares in the Rainbow family were bull-headed and proud.
"I have always looked out for you!" Aurora shouted back, advancing again. The two came to a standstill, neither of them backing away from the other. Rainbow Falls quietly got up from the table and slipped outside. This was no longer a matter for the whole family. It was personal.
The shouting continued as Rainbow Falls slipped outside. She took off into the air, her mane cascading around her like water, as her name suggested. She flew to a distant cloud, far enough away to offer privacy, but near enough to hear if things got bad. As thought on the situation, she couldn't help but worry about her own child. Rainbow Dash had been involved in some kind of rope or vine accident, and damaged a rib and hurt her throat. While Ditzy hadn't been too keen on divulging information, Falls was satisfied with the knowledge that her daughter would recover.
Just then, Chrome Spectrum burst from one of the cloud walls of the house, and flew down towards Ponyville. He certainly was a Rainbow; he was nearly as fast as Rainbow Dash. Falls sighed to herself as she heard her sister breaking down in broken wails. It was time for damage control as she flew back to her home.
Chrome Spectrum burst into the library, his breathing hard, ragged and trembling. Tears of anger threatened to fall, and if he didn't find something to kick soon he might just hurt somepony, the first somepony he saw.
He looked around, and the first ponies he saw were a unicorn and a pegasus, ones that he recognized from Spark's story the other day. Emerald Skies, if he remembered, but the mint green unicorn mare he didn't really recognize. He'd seen her, but she'd been so quiet that day that he'd barely noticed her.
Lyra and Emerald looked up as Chrome stood there, seething with anger. He began to pace back and forth inside the library, snorts of anger escaping him. Lyra stepped toward him slowly, a cautious frown on her face. "Uh...Chrome, was it? What's wrong, little guy?"
"I am not little!" he snapped, rounding on Lyra angrily. She gasped at his outburst, but she stood her ground, inclining her head just slightly to let him see her horn, an indication that she wouldn't take violence sitting down. "I'm too big to treat like a sniveling little colt!"
Lyra was in no mood to deal with an angsty ten year old. Her horn lit up, but she paused when she felt Emerald's patient hoof on her back. She calmed down and dispelled her magic, and took a step back as Emerald took one forward. "Chrome, tell us what happened," he said, his voice patient and controlled. His tone and gentle command seemed to calm the younger pegasus, at least a little.
"It's my mom...she's angry at me for being gone all day yesterday and spending my time here, getting to know the brother that she gave up for adoption! She's angry! At me!"
An understanding look came over Lyra's face. He really did have just cause for anger. Years ago Ditzy told her about the encounter involving the two brothers. It hadn't ended well, not for anypony. "You know, Chrome, she's probably just scared that she's going to lose you," Lyra said gently. Chrome frowned at her, a bewildered look on his face. "Your dad's not with her anymore, right? Think about it...it's just the two of you now. Maybe she doesn't know how to respond to you in a way that'll make you see how she feels, so she lashed out."
Realization came over the young pegasi's face. Conflicted emotions ran through Chrome as he started pacing again. "So...she's mad at me because she's worried she'll lose me? But the only way she knows how to tell me that is by getting pissed and yelling at me?! That's not fair, that's just stupid!" he yelled. He was angry all over again, this time stomping over to a pile of books stacked by a large shelf on the right and kicking them hard, sending books across the room.
It was Emerald's turn to move towards Chrome in anger. No one damaged books in his library! In a reversal of roles, Lyra grabbed Emerald's tail and dragged him backwards, leaving him to lose his balance and fall back on his butt. He straightened his glasses and glared at her as she passed, an amused smile on her face. Chrome turned to face Lyra as she approached, prepared to lash out at her. He was completely unprepared, however, for the hug that she pulled him into.
An embarrassed blush came over his face at the unexpected close proximity to this mare that he barely knew. "Hey! Stop that! I-I don't want hugs, I wanna hit things!"
"So hit me," Lyra said, looking down at Chrome. He was tempted to, but he looked up into her eyes, and he was caught there, their eyes connecting. Chrome saw a sadness, and maybe even an anger, that matched his. "You've got a good reason to be angry with your mom right now. Your feelings are totally understandable, Chrome. I get it, I really do. But Emerald's library shouldn't be treated so harshly. If you want, hit me, instead. Unlike the books, I deserve it."
Chrome felt confused. On the one hoof, he was angry and he really wanted to throw a tantrum and cause damage. Hadn't he wanted to fight earlier, with anypony? Lyra's behavior and her close contact was melting his resolve to be angry, though, and her self-depreciating words were even more confusing. He was losing his anger, and with every passing second he was starting to see reason concerning his mother. It wasn't fair. He wanted to be angry.
Instead of lashing out at the unicorn, Chrome buried his face in Lyra's chest. When she reached up and ran a hoof through his mane, he couldn't help it. He started to cry. It was embarrassing crying in front of a girl, but she was already holding and comforting him. It couldn't get much more embarrassing than this, and he needed to let it out.
Chrome was so lost in his own emotions that he didn't notice when Lyra began to cry as well. Her troubles with Bon Bon had been weighing heavily on her mind, and she hadn't allowed herself to vent, or to feel much of anything until now. More aware of this than he was comfortable with, Emerald began to pick up around the library quietly, leaving the two alone to release their grief to each other.
Outside the library, an ear pressed against the door, Ditzy frowned and pulled away, Dinky nearly falling off her back. She instinctively caught her with a hoof and slid her back up into a stable position, then took off into the air, an angry, determined look on her face. She made a beeline for Bon Bon's.
The pounding at Bon Bon's door at nine in the morning was one of the most intrusive and vulgar sounds she'd heard in a long time. As she crept from her kitchen, down the hall and to the door, she saw a grey figure through the stained glass windows that lined the center of her doorway. Ditzy? What was she doing here? When she opened the door, the outraged look on the mother's face was almost too clear. "Ditzy? Um...what can I-" she began, trailing off as Ditzy stormed inside, her wings flared. A barely concealed Dinky poked her head out between the feathers.
Bon Bon sighed and closed the door. It had been going around town that she and Lyra had parted on bad terms, she supposed it was only a matter of time until somepony got on her back about it. Truth be told, she was only making Lyra suffer for a little while. Of course she wasn't going to keep her away for much longer; she just wanted to make sure that she'd learned her lesson about lying to her and for getting too close to the librarian pegasus guy.
The miffed look in Ditzy's eyes, however, worried Bon Bon. The pegasus had so far kept her mouth shut about the whole thing. If Ditzy herself was coming to yell at her, then...
"Bon Bon, I'm disappointed in you," Ditzy began. "You and Lyra were two of my strongest supporters, and it seemed like the two of you would never have any trouble. Look, I don't know what's going on between the two of you, and it's none of my business, but if there's a chance for you two to make up, then take it!" Ditzy marched right up to Bon Bon, leaning over the earth pony threateningly with their foreheads pressed together. She jabbed a hoof into Bon Bon's chest, her wall-eyed stare suddenly less comical and more angry than Bon Bon had ever seen. "And if I find out that you've been playing a game with Lyra's heart, you are in big trouble, missy!"
Bon Bon frowned unhappily. That was exactly the case. Having felt unappreciated by her girlfriend, Bon Bon had created a situation at Canterlot Castle to make Lyra jealous. It all went down-hill when she discovered that Lyra had been studying a magic that was probably prohibited in Equestria. Her loyal girlfriend had been lying to her for months. To top it all off, she had been spending more and more time with Emerald Skies. Sometimes it felt like Lyra had been cheating on her. So in retaliation, she broke up with the unicorn and left her standing on the steps leading from the city. It had been harsh, but it was necessary to teach Lyra to appreciate her.
She opened her mouth to retort, but Ditzy turned right around and started walking for the door. "Hey! You can't just come in here and yell at me and not give me a chance to defend myself!"
"Dinky?" Ditzy said. The light purple unicorn popped out from behind Ditzy's wings and held a hoof to her eyes, then whipped it in Bon Bon's direction in an unmistakable 'I've got my eyes on you' gesture, then disappeared back into Ditzy's wings as the mother left the house and closed the door behind her.
Applejack frowned angrily up at the tree in front of her. Her keen eyes looked the tree up and down. Every apple on every tree was important to her. They were all important to the business. So when a few apples went unaccounted for, it was cause for alarm, and cause for scrutiny. Applejack turned and marched right up to Big Mac. He watched her from the corner of his eye, then rolled his eyes as she fixed him with a glare. Here we go again, he thought. This was the third time this week.
"Big Mac!" she shouted, though she was standing not five feet from the big work pony.
"Eyyup?" he said, continuing to work. He turned towards her and bucked the tree behind him.
"We got varmints again! There's some apples missin' from that tree!" she said, gesturing to the tree behind her.
"Yer sure ya didn't just miscount like last time? I keep tellin' ya to learn yer numbers..."
"You keep mah learnin' outta this!" she said accusingly, stepping closer to poke him with a hoof. "Ah'm tellin' ya, there's apples missin', and I aim to catch the thief. With or without yer help, but Ah guarantee we'd get things done a lot faster if ya just helped me out!"
Big Mac stopped working long enough to give his younger sister a glare for a long, hard minute, the mare keeping her eyes glued to his, daring him to disagree with her one more time. Finally, with a brief roll of his eyes, he moved forward and past his sister towards the tree with the 'missing apples'. "Alright. Let's get this over with so's we can get back to work."
As the two siblings approached the tree, arguing back and forth, a pair of eyes watched them quietly from across the field. The eyes belonged to a small unicorn, around the age of 11 or 12. As he levitated the six apples he'd pilfered from the apple orchard, from that very tree the siblings were arguing about, actually, he took a bite from one, feeling himself fill up quickly. He marveled at it's crisp outside and it's juicy inside. He'd had apples before, of course, but it had been many years since he'd been able to indulge like this.
The wild orange and red unicorn ducked down as the orange mare in the orchard looked his way. Too late...she'd seen him. He could hear her yelling at him as she was suddenly moving very fast towards him. He dropped all six apples on the ground as he panicked and started running away. Too fast, she was too fast! She was gaining on him at an alarming rate.
"Git back here, you!" she shouted. Closer. Closer. The unicorn's breathing came in ragged heaves. He wasn't used to long bouts of running like the mare was. She finally got close enough to make a diving tackle, and she came down hard...and empty hooved. She rolled a few times until she came to a stop, a bewildered look on her face. "Wh...what in tarnation?" she said. She looked to the side where the unicorn had managed to reach the woods and disappear. She was sure she was on top of him, but then he just seemed to...well, phase through her.
Applejack got back up and dusted herself off and straightened her Stetson. "Hmph...Ah knew there was a varmint." She turned and headed back towards the orchard, a feeling of accomplishment putting a hop in her step. "That's two days o' hard labor Big Mac owes me!" she announced to herself, taking one last look towards the woods before heading back to tell her brother what for.