It started raining as I flew towards our old, worn down house. They can't have left. They wouldn't have left us. They couldn't... I thought to myself. As I flew towards the house, I could see some smoke rising in the distance. "No...No!" I shouted as I sped closer to the smoke. I landed in front of the smoldering remains of our house and fell onto my knees. My brother landed behind me.
I stared at my home. The place I grew up, the place I learned to walk, to talk, to write. This was my entire life. "What happened? Felix? What...happened..." I asked as tears started to swell into my eyes. He came up behind me and put a hoof on my shoulder.
"I wish I knew Dash. But I don't. We need to go to the bank. Maybe there's something there that can give us a hint." he said. I shrugged his hoof off my shoulder and stood up. The rain pattered against my face as I walked to the remains and started to dig through, trying to find anything I could. A picture, a book, a physical memory that I could use to always remember this place. All I was able to find was the mirror that I had looked into just hours earlier. The glass was cracked and splintered my reflection into multiple directions. Just like my heart. My Wonderbolts costume soaked and torn. Just like my pride.
Weak and helplessness. That's all I felt. For all I knew, my parents were dead and my home destroyed for no reason. I let myself cry a little, knowing the rain would hide my sorrow.
"Come on, Dash." Felix said softly, opening an arm. "There isn't anything here. We don't want to be here in case 'they' show up." he said, referring to those in the note mom left. I slowly walked over to him and fell into his open arm. I cried to myself, not making a sound. I stopped myself though. I had to be strong. I couldn't show weakness, not in front of Felix. We walked away from the ashes and headed towards the bank.
It had only been five minutes when we reached the bank, but the shock of seeing the smoldering remains and my mind trying to comprehend what had happened made it seem like a lifetime. Who would do this to us? We didn't do anything wrong. We never hurt anypony. We were just a poor family living in a rusty old, run down house. I thought as we entered the bank, soaking wet.
"Hey! You two! What are you doing running around in the rain? Shouldn't you kids be at home?" a bank teller asked. Without thinking I gave the teller a death glare. Felix must have noticed his reaction and kneeled in front of me.
"Hey. It'll be alright. He doesn't know. How about we keep it secret. You know, until we find out what's really going on." he said calmly. I nodded my head and we began to walk to the counter.
"Hello there. Sorry about that. She's just a little cranky from the rain." Felix said.
"Hey! I'm not cranky!" I shouted at him. He gave me a nudge with his back left leg and shot me a look to stay quiet.
"I see. Well why are you two out, though? It's a little late for a filly to be out of bed." he said curiously.
"She was out getting candy for Nightmare Night and I had to watch her. You know, sibling thing." Felix replied casually.
"I don't need to be watched!" I shouted again. He nudged me harder and I shut up this time. Not because Felix wanted me to, but because he can nudge hard and it hurt.
"Anyways, we need to see a Mr. Rich, I believe his name was." Felix told the teller.
"Uh-huh. And how do you know Mr. Rich?" the teller asked slowly.
"Oh, well you see he's a..." Felix stuttered.
"A friend of the family. He knows our parents." I chimed in. Before Felix could nudge me again to be quiet, there was an accented voice. It was a heavy accent and could only have come from one place. Canterlot.
"Why I say, look at you Felix. You've grown so much since I last saw you. It was at the Stock Exchange am I right?" a stallion in an expensive looking suit said. "My my, and you beat me at our own Exchange simulator! Not many are able to do that. I didn't even think it was possible for someone your age to be able to have even accomplished such a feat!" he said with delight.
"I take you must be Mr. Rich?" Felix asked with a smile.
"Indeed my boy. You sure do have a knack for finances." Mr. Rich said.
"Yeah, well I guess that explains why I was stuck balancing the bills." Felix said, casual as usual.
"Indeed. Now, Mr. Barker, if you'll excuse me, I think I can handle it from here." Mr. Rich told the teller. He left without a hesitations notice.
"Now, what can I help you with?" Mr. Rich asked with a huge smile across his face. His teeth were a bright white. Obviously he had some expensive dentist do his teeth.
Felix looked around to make sure nopony was listening. "I was told to tell you Felix Dash 35." The white smile on his face suddenly went blank as his eyes grew wide. He looked behind him before he picked up a pen and paper. He gave it to Felix and tapped on the paper. Felix gave me a questioning look before looking at the paper.
"He must want the password." I whispered to him. Felix gave me an acknowledging nod and turned his head back to the paper. We were never told the password, so we had no idea what it was. I didn't even know we had a bank account until today. I stood there, thinking as fast as I could. It had to be something only we would know. Something that meant something only to us. Then it hit me. Almost like getting hit in the face with a lightning bolt.
I tugged on my brother's tail and he looked to me quizzically. "Family means loyalty. Ohana." I whispered to him.
"You sure?" he mouthed to me. I nodded my head quickly. He wrote 'Ohana' down on the slip of paper and handed it back to Mr. Rich. He looked over the slip and hit a button underneath the counter. A small screen appeared on the desk in front of him as he tapped the password in. There was an accepting 'ping' from the screen as it accepted it.
"Alright, Mr. Felix. If you and your sister Rainbow Dash will follow me, I'll take you to the vault." Mr. Rich said as he opened a gate for us to pass through. We were led to a metal door with huge locks on it.
"Whoa." I said, unable to stop myself. Mr. Rich typed something into a pad to the left of the door and it opened. As it swung open, I saw just how large the door was. There was five feet of solid steel that blocked the entrance. We followed Mr. Rich to a rainbow colored door at the end of the corridor.
"Do you two know what lies behind this door?" Mr. Rich asked when we reached it. Felix and I both shook our heads. "Good. Then what is behind will hold even greater meaning to you." he said as he opened the door. We walked inside and our mouths suddenly were hanging agape. My eyes grew wide. I had never seen so many golden bits before in my life. Whenever I was fortunate enough to find one in the streets, I cherished it and usually gave it to my parents so they could help pay the bills. I knew it never did much help, but it felt good to know that I was contributing something. I had always thought we were lucky to just barely scrape by.
"What in the name of Celestia..." Felix said, almost as shocked as me. "This has to be around 10,000,000 bits. Where'd it come from?" he asked Mr. Rich.
"Felix?" I called as I walked towards a rainbow colored bag with a note attached to it. He ran over and picked up the bag. He looked at the note and read it aloud.
If you are reading this, then you know that we are no longer at the house. Right now, we are just happy that you two are safe. You are probably shocked by what you see around this note. New questions must be popping into your head. I can't say everything, but I can tell you this. We are more than what we seem. As you can tell, we were never really poor. We had money, but we acted like we had none. There were multiple reasons for this, but the over all reason why we did that was to raise you two to know the value of what you don't have. Money can't get you everything. Money can't buy you happiness. Family, however, can give you happiness. This is what we hope you two have learned. Maybe one day, when all this is over, your father and I can explain. But until then, keep each other safe. Remember, take only what you need. No more, no less. Inside this bag is a deed to the house where me and you father used to live. Felix, as usual you'll be dealing with the finances. Don't let Rainbow Dash spend it on too much stuff. And watch out for her. You know how she can be sometimes. Rainbow Dash, watch out for your brother as well. Listen to him as you would us. Stay friends with Fluttershy too. We know what's happening at her house and you are her only real friend. She can help you too. She is basically family. Don't tell anypony anything about this. I know you two can figure something out if anypony asks. Remember, we love you.
I took the letter from him so I could read it myself. "This is incredible." Felix said. "It's just like in Marey Potter and the Elements Stone."
I looked at him confused. "What's that?" I asked.
"It was one of the stories dad would read to us each night before bed. It put you straight to sleep." he said.
"Yeah well I'm no egg head." I said, returning my attention to the letter. "So, they're alive?" I asked, unsure.
"It seems so. And for whatever reason, they had to leave in a hurry. All we can do is trust them. Have they ever lied to us before?" he said and I gave him a raised eyebrow. "Other than the financial thing." he clarified.
I thought about it, and no, they had never lied to us. They never said anything that we couldn't trust from them. "So what are we going to do now?" I asked as I looked around the room.
Felix knelt down to me and took the note and bag from me. "I am going to see what this place is that mom told us about. You know, to make sure everything's safe there." he said, putting a hoof on my shoulder. "You, however, are going to go to Fluttershy's house. I think she might be a tad bit upset. Why don't you stay the night there?" he suggested.
I hadn't told anypony about her parents, so I was a little unnerved when I learned my parents knew about Fluttershy's parents. "Well...her parents aren't really that nice..." I said carefully.
"They can't be that bad. Especially with Fluttershy around." he said. If only he knew the truth.
"I guess so. I'll fly over there and see if she wants to." I said. I gave my brother a big hug.
"You do that. Be careful, sis." he said, letting me go from his hug.
"You too." I said back and walked out of the vault and back to the entrance. I walked outside into the rain and launched myself into the air.