The Vanishing Star
By NocturneD
"Okay, okay Twilight I'm moving I'm moving." I chuckled while my sister pushed me across the black and white marble floor. "Just one question though." My eyes sneered back as much as they could to see my sister pushing and pushing me. I knew deep down she was but damn.
She continued pushing me and with a sense of strain in her voice I knew that I was heavier than she could handle, "Yeah?"
"So what was with the name Dawn Light back then?" I simply asked.
Instead of a quick answer in which I knew she would not reply with a positive attitude. A simple, "It's a long story..."
I left it at that. I told her that I would like to know the full story of why she went with another name like she always had it. So I let my sister take a break from pushing me as I got up on all fours and levitated my briefcase to my side. Can not forget about that, I also called for body-guard to come to my side as well. Then I forgot something... crap I forgot to tell Swan that I was going to be somewhere for a determined amount of time.
"Hey Twilight I forgot to tel..." I was about to say.
But my sister stopped me. With a productive smile, "I already told her Van. Don't need to worry your big head about it."
"Wow." I chuckled. Naive my sister was, it was rather charming in a sense. She must get it from me. Yeah that was it. The way she laughed. The way she smiled. It could just melt your heart if you saw it. "You thought of everything." I should hire her as my security and replace Hair Piece because Twilight actually does remember things and keeps track of things. Not like Hair Piece where all she does is file her hooves and talks on her phone. Why do I keep her around at all? Plus the front of my office smells like hair spray, I'm scared what would happen if I lit up a smoke the entire floor would burst into flames.
The meeting point was just another long and wide hallway. Suits of armor and more art would be spaced out to give variety and life to this hallway, not like it did not look the other generic hallways. Got to admit, a lot of fine detail and craftsman ship went into making the pillars that support the upper floors and ceiling. Enough about that. The hallway no surprise, crowded, I mostly quiet except for a few ponies talking. From what I suspect were different families of the Sparkle clan. I knew mine and found uncle Aries and Libra just fine. Who these other ponies were, were beyond me. Let alone I really did want to know as some of them looked at me, wondering why the prize winner bunched up with them. Let alone a kirin and former accused child abusers, if you don't know who those were they were my parents. And if you found that shocking then you were probably picking your butt to figure to even notice that. I saw many of variety on unicorns, some of them were not unicorns and were probably married off. Saw some good-looking Pegasus females, a few earth pony girls, then there was the opposite going on. All of them, pretty much the same. Either noble, high-ranking or rich. Mostly rich. Some of them had friendly faces on, others had a righteous look, the younger ones had a confused look as much as I did.
Thinking back at what my father said about the patriarch. It caused him a lot of stress because he was being blackmailed. From looking at the other guests waiting outside I could actually tell the difference between honest and guilty. My father reeked of being guilty once we started talking again under my real form. You could just see it on it face. How his long forgotten son for twenty years just comes back to face him, sure he said sympathetically he wanted to die for all the crap he done, but there is just some stuff you can't forgive. Not ever. Still I wondered what the blackmail was about. I let my eyes scan the ponies that were not part of our group, found a few that could be sneaks. Wolves dressed in a sheep's clothing. I know those types, I see them constantly at parties like these and other events. Wanting in on a rich in-laws will and hoping to get something.
Still I heard muttering. Typical questions among themselves if I should even go in the room with them. Totally understandable but something just irked me as much as the wandering eyes still ventured around the ponies. We must have waited over twenty minutes, some of us grew restless and some even left. "Patience is virtue," I often heard from grandma Lucrecia. I guess some don't care about these reunions anymore and to be honest, this was my first one. I hated the usual long parties that play out the same during the holidays, tradition they say, it only comes once every year they say. Bull...
Finally a stallion walked out of the room we were just dying to get into. Dressed in a mix of robes and armor, as well as headgear and a faceplate. Tall, very well-built and strong-looking. Only thing I could make out were his dull grey eyes. His voice slightly echoed through the mouth piece.
"The meeting will begin in five minutes. The main family is still getting ready, you all may come in and sit in your seats assigned to your branch." And with that, another yet similar stallion walked out and stopped his steps next to the first stallion. Slowly waving us in. The room was huge, no surprise there but looked more like a lecture hall back at the college. Just had a more futuristic look to it yet a pinch of goth. Each row separated to fit instead of desks and chairs but large tables large enough to fit entire families. There must have been a good number as I took one glance around the room. About twenty, twenty-five, maybe even thirty large tables. The ceilings were very high up, matter of fact it looked more like the same basic theme the castle had. Boy dad was not kidding about the Sparkles and royalty having connections, but I think Sparkles found themselves a little too high up thinking they were royalty. Is this confusing you yet? Well just imagine some pony here must really want to detail all of their property up like royalty. Unless this was a royal house then it makes sense.
It did not take long for us to take our seats around a huge table. I knocked on it, fine marble indeed. I set my case down on the table in front of me then took my seat, for close protection I kept Ghendi at my side to sit next to me on one side. Twilight did not wait and sat down on the other side of me. Good, I didn't want to sit next to my brother after his stupid comment back there. Then the arrangements went according of Shining Armor next to her, then Cadence, then mom and dad. Then my uncles; Aries and Libra with their wives and future filled children, two of them to be exact. Then there was one of my uncles Gemini, the one with the job if you need a reminder, then his wife and kid. I saw all the other tables fill according to families and holy hell I did not know the Sparkle clan had that many members. There must have been over one hundred, no maybe two hundred in this room. Wow, just wow.
More time passed and it was getting a little irritable having to wait even more. I looked at the faces around the table. Some of them nervous, then again I wonder if they should be? Let alone, dad poured his heart out saying that he had dealings with the main family after I beat the crap out of him. Were they really that bad? Was this some Illuminati thing at work?
"Hey Mr. Fade Away!" I heard a pony called my name.
Sounded like a young teen colt and as I turned I found Lucian Lorenzo waving at me. Wow, he grew a bit and became more charming. Still, as he waved frantically to get my attention I just waved back and smiled. I honestly liked Lucian, so much potential in a kid like him but wasted in a family like that. Well, wasted as in me saying that the family being a pro-Canterlot, pro-military, pro-unicorn political thing where the family wants the good of all unicorns. Lucian, is a free spirit who thinks outside the box after I watched him draw and draw his advanced designs. They were great. Sadly, he seemed more like a jail bird in that family.
"Hey I'll catch you after this assembly kid!" I smiled, "Good seeing you again!" Lucian slowly sat back down in his seat to his table. Then I saw Illusive Lorenzo, staring my way with those eyes of his. Ever since Malik, I never really trusted Lorenzo's little head-talk ability, then I think I really set him off ever since I confronted him about his alicorn research. That piercing gaze of his, creepy to the max. Then finally, he turned his head to focus back to the front of the room. Lower and lower, at the bottom of the stairwell was a platform, pretty large but had six podium stands. Again, decorated to look like royalty.
"So... how do you know the Lucian kid?" Shining Armor asked.
"Oh..." I turned my head, "I came to talk to his school and I really got to know him afterwards... I know the family. That's pretty much it." No way, I'm telling my opinion to Shining Armor. Let alone, who knows what my brother might even talk to the Lorenzo family about if he hears that Lucian made weapons for his father and his group. Sounds like he should know about it, then again it is none of my business.
Just then, the lights dimmed down. Then a stage light landed its gaze upon the stage. Slowly the door next to the stage opened up and six ponies walked through it. From their sizes I think there are two female and four males at least. All of them unicorn, but they were similarly dressed to the ponies that opened the door earlier. Robes, with some masks over their faces. Each one more detailed and less colorful than the other. I could not make out the detail because of the distance. I could only watch in awe as the six walked to their designated podium. In all my life, I never have seen some freaky stuff like this. Well, except for Malik getting his skin blown off but this is one that just seems scary. In a dark room with other ponies, just watching as six robed ponies who represent the Sparkle clan as they talk about whatever every year.
I suspect the one in the middle is the leader, dressed in red and had a piercing gold mask on. His plot was on the floor as he raised his fore legs and shouted in a booming voice, "Welcome all. Another year has passed since our last meeting. A year that, given to each of you to succeed beyond our expectations."
Blah
Blah
Blah
Blah
Blah
Blah
Basically what was going on is that the main family was introducing themselves and talking about the ever going success of the Sparkle clan. If I was going to sit through a history listen then I would have done willingly back home watching the history channel. The next stallion to the red robe wearing unicorn, this time wearing blue was giving us the low down of our success. It all started off with a unicorn named Clover the Clever who surprisingly was one of the two unicorns that started the Sparkle clan. She is considered the mother, then there was another unicorn... named... Van the Great. Who was considered the father of the Sparkle clan. Talk about a weird coincidence huh?
Guess I was named after this so-called, father of the clan because this character went through all out history achieving great things. Considering he was a genius and ahead of his time centuries ago. Saying that he helped build the landmarks and sites of ancient Equestria that time was not too kind to over the years. Kind of sad to know that your work would not survive over time, makes me think twice about some of my projects. Maybe in the future the Lucrecia program would be considered obsolete then any pony could use magic, or the prosthetic would be perfected?
Blah Blah Blah
The old fart in the blue robe continued to babble on about Clover and Van's success. Their children to inherit their success, then their children and so on. By now I could have walked to McHooves and got myself a daisy whopper burger, ate it then came back this pony would still be talking. I almost nodded off a couple of times but thanks to Twilight bumping me on the head a few times I could not miss anything. Some stuff mentioned here and there. And by now you're thinking. "This is the main family?" Six ponies, standing up on a stage talking to us about history? This one in particular sounded like an elder unicorn, male surely reading from a tome as it appeared to be. The red one I suppose is the leader, or let alone the opening act.
And finally we get to business. The main family stood up again together this time. And asked that each table to approach to the front of the room to present their accomplishments for the year. Families who have not done anything worthwhile are allowed to sit out, but from what was explained earlier by Shining Armor. Whoever does not take part does not get a cut in the main family's blessing. In which they mean, money. So pretty much the meaning of this game was, impress the main family and get a cut, if you wow all of them you get a bigger cut. Slowly, this started to make some sense into why dad was acting the way he was back then, yet still what he was lowered to doing was something I really want to bite into.
Table after table went up in front of the other families and shared what they deemed accomplishments. I heard from merging companies, to buying property, to opening land marks, to leading businesses. Pretty much your typical kiss ass scenario with every pony going, "Hey! I did this! Beat that!" So far, nothing very secretive going on. Even if there was, Ghendi would have not gotten past the door so easily. Cadence, I'm pretty sure was allowed access since she's part of royalty and married into the Sparkle clan, so a win-win in their book. Table, after table, after table. I sat through a lot of discussions and presentations on why some ponies deserved bigger cuts into this BLESSING they call it. Some ponies needed a help or a boost in money to get their work started, yet two or three out of the six robbed ponies would deny they need a bit. Pretty much the, "We only help to those who help themselves" deal going on. If I knew any better, the main family seemed conflicted on issues. So far, the presentations given were pretty good as I had no idea that we were filled with successful family members. Almost like we were our own society contributing to make our own better...
And that's what got to me. Each accomplishment is for the SPARKLE clan, not the individual pony. Almost like, the main family was taking credit. Keeping tabs on the income that the pony brought in, no that was silly. Almost like they wanted something, they slowly building their luck all over Equestria. Was this for royalty's sake? Was this to keep peace?
Finally our table was summoned to go up. I turned my head to Ghendi, "You ready to rock their socks off?"
"Let's do this." He smirked in return.
Our family made our way down the stairs. Stood by each other single file, as we looked at the six robbed ponies as they looked down on us. Like their gaze through their masks pierced my soul, something just seemed ominous about just six unicorns standing there. Standing there and judging us like we were a piece of meat deciding what part was the fat and the other the savory parts. Slowly I wiped my forehead clean.
"Ah... Sparkle family of the Dawn branch." The red robed pony announced. "Nice seeing you again."
"As we are to see the main family again." My uncle Libra bowed his head in a scared form of appreciation.
"Tell us now. Why do you believe you deserve a better cut than the other branches?" A purple robbed pony asked this time. This one sounded like a middle aged female. A silver mask covered her face tightly, her silver eyes peaked through the holes hauntingly.
My uncle Gemini went first, since he had the best job out of all siblings. Nothing very straight forward, said he continued his services for Princess Celestia as she met him with great praise, he would soon hear of a promotion that placed him higher than what he was now. Then my uncle Libra said simply that he worked a lot of hard cases lately. He was a lawyer and worked various defense cases but then made a switch to be Royalty's defendant. While a promising promotion, it also meant that he would work less on being a Sparkle representative. My uncle Aries said he got promoted to colonel or something around that. That was pretty much it for the grown ups, though harshly my mom's case of her books being passed over. Then again they were not best sellers so the main family could not benefit from it. Yes, this is where I got my conclusion I mentioned earlier about the main family only being in it for the money and process to making the entire clan look good.
In honors, we let our cousins go first. Just a few acceptances into high-ranking schools and a job that goes under the princess herself. Other than that, I let Twilight step up to the plate.
"Ah yes. Miss Twilight Dawn Sparkle protegé of Princess Celestia herself, daughter of... Light Bright "Orion" Sparkle and Twilight Velvet Sparkle." A green robbed pony this time greeted my sister. This one sounded like a middle-aged male. But once he mentioned my father's name, it got a little personal.
"I'm... just here to support my children's success." My dad answered calmly, but still had a bit of timidness in his voice. "There's no crime against that."
"Even so I'd rather have you ban..." A yellow robed unicorn was cut off by a purple robed pony.
"He's not here to cause trouble, I'm sure after twenty years... He is still living with the pain of guilt. Even if I believe he should have been hanged years ago for what he did."
My dad only backed slowly away, the guilt still never left. No surprise. I'm assuming since my dad bawled about his black mail to me they been pulling his leash, or still find him disgusting after my disappearance twenty years ago. Surely, news of my disappearance was a staple on our families judgment. My mom only put her fore legs around my dad as support. Little did the main family even knew, I was still standing here. Just Vanishing Star watching his dad get mangled, my mom looked at me thinking I was going to back my dad up.
Nope...
I still find this very odd.
"And... who is this?" I noticed one of the robed ponies point to Ghendi.
My body-guard looked at me, then I looked at my family to see if something seemed wrong. My uncles only stared with confused looks like they had no idea. Twilight was the only one who smiled and nodded. I nudged Ghendi to go ahead and introduce himself.
"My name is Ghendi, ex-royal cadet academy student, former member of the Black Suns and heir to the Kirin clan on the east borders of Equestria." I nodded in approval.
I heard some ponies gasped in the audience. Like some pony just committed murder.
"I'm sorry..." The red robed pony apologized yet stressed, "But you said you were of the Kirin clans?"
"Uh... yeah." Ghendi's eyes wandered back and forth. "I'm only half to be correct. My mom was a unicorn."
"Such... filth has disgraced our home!" Yelled an elder female pony.
"GET THAT BEAST OUT OF HERE!" Another unicorn yelled.
"WE DON'T WANT HIS KIND IN HERE!"
"Elders!" Another pony demanded answers, "Why should we allow a Kirin here at all!? They're barbaric!"
Ghendi just stood there, kept his cool. But slowly, dropped his head in a depressed mood.
But slowly anger was taking over me.
"GET THE BEAST OUT!"
"THANK CELESTIA THAT CLAN OUT IN THE EAST GOT KILLED!"
"THEY WERE ALWAYS A THREAT TO THE SPARKLE CLAN! AS WELL AS EQUESTRIA!"
Ghendi knew he was not wanted. He was always such a nice pony, true he was half kirin. But he looked more like a unicorn so, what's every pony's deal? He was just about to turn and leave. A can was thrown and hit him in the head, he winced. I don't understand, just a couple of nights ago he was just fine with my family watching him. I guess most of the Sparkle clan was racist. I looked up and saw Lorenzo just sitting up at his table with his fore legs crossed. Just smiling... enjoying Ghendi's torment as he got belittled. Another can was thrown, then another, then another. Twilight reached up to grab Ghendi from leaving, telling him that she was sorry as she did not know this was possible. She was upset, I knew she really liked him. He insisted on leaving but she just begged him to reconsider. There was something going on between these two, almost clicking. That's when another can was thrown at Ghendi, but hit my sister square in the face.
I had it. I just F'n had it.
"EVERY PONY SHUT THE FUCK UP!" I roared, gasps were heard, "WHICH ONE OF YOU DEAD MOTHER FUCKERS JUST THREW THAT?!"
All eyes were on me. If any ponies should be throwing anything at any pony, throw it at the dumb ass with the blue fur. And maybe Shining Armor...