//------------------------------// // Runs in the Family // Story: Bass Clefs and Sapphires // by Crispn //------------------------------// Breathing in the cool October morning air did a lot more to calm my ragged nerves than it had earlier. It may have also been due to Dash not actually hating me for snapping at her. I did have a problem with my anger, and drudging up shitty memories about my past was always something that caused it to rise much faster. Vinyl was right, I guess. I really did need to keep my temper under check. This seemed like a pretty close knit group that she pushed me into and I don’t think that I have made the best impression. Pinkie had taken my hand and was quickly pulling me towards the store she worked at with Dash following closely behind. It was taking all my strength to try and stay on my feet, Pinkie was a lot stronger than she looked. Dash was laughing all the while. “So what’s the plan on this? I have no idea what to do in these kinds of situations.” I asked the two girls that were dragging me along. “Oh you know,” Dash replied, kind of offhandedly, “talking about fashion, school, other things of that nature. It’s just going to be pretty simple actually. AJ and I used to do this all the time before. Our little sisters were all part of this little club when they were just kids. “Cutie mark crusaders” I think they called themselves. I think Sweetie Belle has hurt herself more times than I have, and I have crashed more times than I like to admit.” “Like that time you broke your wing and had to stay in the hospital for a week. Ooooo, did you pick up the latest Daring Do book? Was released last week and it’s super duper good and you need to read it now.” Pinkie had let go of my hand and had jumped over to Dash, dangling a book in front of her face. “Pinkie, how do you not remember you, me and Twilight camping out for a night to get a signed copy? You made cupcakes, Fluttershy brought us cocoa, Rarity made us custom blankets and AJ picked our exhausted asses up. It had to have been one of the best nights ever.” “Oh yeah, that was a pretty great night. The best part was the cosplay contest, that girl that won looked perfect. Even had the mark down perfectly.” “Sounds like a good time, maybe we could have something like that if I can ever get a demo out.” Pinkie, now back to pulling me along as her pet, started to bombard me with questions about how it was to be in a recording studio and what instruments could I play. It was all I could do even keep up with the party girl, she just had too much energy. “Calm down, Pinkie. You can ask him all sorts of questions when we get something to eat.” Dash said, as she lifted Pinkie off the ground in her arms. Gracefully, Dash zipped past with a happily screaming Pinkie as she made a mad run for the Corner, which we had been closing in on. “Hey! Wait up! I’m not as fast as you are!” I yelled breaking out into a run, trying to catch up to Dash. “You could be!” she shouted back, laughing at me. She flipped around in the air and started taunting me, pulling down on her eyelid and sticking out her tongue. Pinkie’s laughing just fueled the taunting from Dash further. I knew what she meant, but there was no way I was going to let her pestering get to me. Pumping my legs as hard as I could, I pushed as much as I could. I felt the wind blowing through my hair and rushing past me. I started to feel exhilarated, my wings were straining against the straps that were holding them down under my layers of shirts and jacket, desperate to feel the wind whipping past them and fly free into the sky. About thirty yards behind Dash, I did a quick scan of the street. It was completely barren, but that was to be understandable. Saturday mornings were usually quiet, what with all the college students nursing hangovers or still sleeping off the midnight booze. Smirking a bit in the early morning and seeing the dense cloud cover and fog rolling in, I thought maybe just this once, I would use my wings and get myself ahead. Stopping for just a second, I quickly whipped off my coat. My shirt had a couple of wing holes that I could easily slip my wings out of. Reaching under the bottom of my shirt, I loosened the straps and released the wings I had so carefully hidden for years. Pushing my wings through the holes of my shirts felt euphoric. The wind blowing over the feathers as I jumped into the air and sped off towards the street Dash and Pinkie had disappeared down was just too much. I could feel my body screaming in jubilation all over as I screeched down and turned the corner. The next thing I knew, I had collided into yet someone else today. As I bounced off the victim of my stupidity, I quickly withdrew my wings inside my shirts. I slammed into the ground with a sickly thud and feared I broke them again. From behind, I felt someone putting their hands underneath my arms and try to lift me up, but since she was laughing all the while, I felt Dash was having a hard time picking my idiot body off the ground. Completely dazed, I could see a pink and blond blob helping a purple blob up off the ground. Back on my feet, Dash handed me my glasses that had flown off into the street. Inspecting them and finding no cracks or scratches, I placed them on. As my eyes readjusted, I found Pinkie and Ditzy helping Rarity brush herself off. Still in a confused haze, I turned to Dash and half mumbled, “I did that?” Laughing hysterically now, Dash wiped the tears out of her eyes and replied “Yea...You came screaming around the corner and just slammed into her. By the way, I didn’t think you had it in you,” she pulled me down to her level and whispered, “Ditzy saw them, but she is not one to gossip. So you don’t have to worry about that. Rarity didn’t see anything, besides, she is too busy fixing up her clothes to notice if an elephant walked next to her.” “If I had a bit for every time I had to clean up a new dress or skirt, I would never have to work again.” Rarity was finished with her cleaning process. Turning towards me, she looked daggers straight at me, “It’s like having a larger Sweetie Belle around.” “Oh it can’t be all that bad, Sweetie Belle is such a sweetheart. Now, I think it’s time to get some breakfast.” Ditzy smiled, putting her arm through Rarity’s and sidling up to her friend. Rarity huffed and glanced back at me. Her eyes went from daggers to something I did not fully understand, but Pinkie, Ditzy and Dash all backed away from me quite quickly. “Just a moment, darling. There is something here...” Rarity darted all around me. She moved surprisingly quick. She started lifting up my arms and held them out at full length and then circled me once more. Just as she finished her movements, she stopped dead in front of me and looked me right in the eyes. After a minute or so, she exclaimed “I have just the perfect thing for this,” and diving into her bag, pulled out a magnificent scarf. It was black with a streak of silver going diagonal along the entire article. Rarity had me quickly try on the scarf and after I had placed it, smiled. “Isn’t it just perfect, matches the hair to a T. Ooo and with your coat and shirts, it makes this outfit simply magnifique. Wouldn’t you agree?” Completely out of the loop on what just transpired over the last three minutes, I held the length of scarf draping from my neck in my hands. She was right, it did perfectly match my hair, even the streak was correct. The material was incredibly soft to the touch, almost as soft as my down feathers. “Uuuuh yeah, it does kind of work.” “Well of course it works. I made it and picked it out specifically. Now, you can buy me a blueberry muffin with cream cheese spread to make up for this atrocity against fashion when you caused me to become....filthy.” Walking down the road towards the bakery, I replied, “I think I can do that. Blueberry is an excellent choice by the way.” Rarity smirked, “Like I said before, of course it is an excellent choice, I made it.”