//------------------------------// // Ode To My Family // Story: Twilight Sparkle; Appleloosan Sheriff // by Peridork //------------------------------// Dash stared down at the letter that she had received today. She had completely forgot about the event. It held so many implications: the good, the bad, and the family. She knew she had to bring Scootaloo since the orange filly hadn’t seen her adoptive parents in quite a while. It wasn’t like Rainbow had found her with a note attached to her coat saying that her parents were too busy. But that almost did happen. With both of her parents on the payroll of Princess Celestia- it’s just what happens. (Actually she wondered why her parents hadn’t arrested her yet for piracy and smuggling. Must be a parent thing.) Her mother never did say what she did for the Princess so she made the explanation in her head a combination of a caring mother and a ninja. After that, her father being part of the Pegasi Brigade boring in comparison. If only her mother wasn’t so embarrassing. Now she had to tell her friends about coming as well. They, being her friends and all, must want to see her compete in the Pega 500. Well now with airships, anypony could compete but the name still stuck. *** “Hey, Applejack, can you and Rarity spare a few days? No, I’m not smuggling anything. Just I’m participating in a race and I want you there.” “Hey, Fluttershy, if you can get your rabbit off me I’ll tell you what's going on,” “Mr. Pie, tell Pinkie that...oh hey Pinkie. And you’re already packed. Okay then. Pinkie Sense, right...” “Twilight, ever wanted to see the Pega 500 and pegasus history all in New Cloudsdale.” *** And Rainbow’s friends were dragged to see her perform in a race. But first Rainbow had to find a place to put her friends. And so with a heavy heart, she finally called her parents. Even Fluttershy hadn’t met her parents. *** New Cloudsdale A ringing noise echoed throughout the entire house as the female pegasus walked stealthily towards the door. Possibilities ran through her head as who it could be. Since she was part of the Celestial Knights, it could have been anypony ready to strike her down as a political message. Or even worse it could be that dragon that she had slayed a few years back come back to eat her as revenge. Or worst of all, it could be the tax collector. So she gingerly opened the door and as the beams of light shone into her eyes she saw her prismatic daughter in all her resplendent glory and the rapscallion that had stolen the hearts of both her and her husband. “Oh my dears! You are finally home! Oh how I missed you and- I mean welcome.” The five friends were surprised. Rainbow and Scootaloo were not. “Girls this is my mother Firefly. Where’s dad?” Slowly a stallion strode out with bags under his eyes and looked at the pile of estrogen that would enter his house and walked back inside grunting some foul words against the rulers of the land. And still the ponies stood there. “Don’t mind Bifrost. He’s not a morning pony.” “Mom. It’s the middle of the afternoon.” “Well then he’s not one of those ponies either. He’s been overworked by Luna.” Shocked looks were passed around. “Not that kind of work. He’s just part of her Night Guard.” Rainbow stopped. “Dad got a promotion? I thought he was too old to be part of the Guard.” Firefly felt a little tinge of anger. If her own daughter was calling her husband old, what did that make her? In all her years of being in the guard, nopony had survived after calling her old. “Dashiel, what did you call your father?” Rainbow turned and saw her mother’s wrath. And so she ran as far away as possible. The five mares just stared at the huge house. Rainbow had never told the girls what her family life was like. Rarity was practically gushing over the revelation that her smuggling friend was actually rich. Fluttershy just calmly slunk away at Posey’s command, mostly because Fluttershy had fainted from the news and Posey got the body controls for once. Twilight and Applejack just exchanged looks as Pinkie began planning for “Party number whateverty eleven”. Slow methodical hoofsteps surprised Twilight and she turned to see Rainbow’s dad smirking. He quickly shushed her and dragged her towards the back of the house. *** Twilight glared at Rainbow’s dad. “Why did you drag me back here? Do you know how weird that could have looked if somepony saw you drag me to a secluded room?” Bifrost ran a hoof through his colorful mane and smirked. “You silly, narcissistic pony. I’ll have you know that my wife is very demanding in those kinds of affairs and that I came to talk to you about my lovely daughter. Be glad that you got me and not my Knight Rider.” “Knight Rider?” Bifrost just blushed as he remembered why her gave her that silly nickname. “Let’s just say that our first meeting was very different than normal. I wonder what she’s doing right now?” *** At That Moment Firefly gently set the bowl of fruit down on the table and waved the girls towards the snacks. As they all sat down to eat some tasty treats she began to get ready for The Talk. “Now dears, I know that one of the few reasons my little bird of paradise would bring so many mares at my home is. . .” Dash just shuddered as her mother embarrassed her yet again. *** Twilight curled up on the chair that Bifrost led her to and gently sat down and looked around the room for the first time. Medals and decoration hung on the walls while the same six ponies kept appearing on each successive picture. One was Firefly and Twilight could see that her smile changed through each picture. Twilight guessed that the ones on her left were earlier in time because the pink pegasus’ smile was the broadest. Then she finally reached end of the pictures, It was markedly different than the rest. First of all, Celestia was present in the picture and everypony was crying. Second, while the other pictures had six friends, this one only had five present. Then she noticed the engraved words on the small plaque that told her all she needed to know. “Posey- the best friend a pony could have, the mother of an adorable filly, and an Equestrian defender that knows no equal. May we remember her sacrifice always. Kindness shall miss you.” “So you noticed the decorations, Miss Sparkle.” Twilight almost fell out of her chair as Bifrost spoke. “That was the day that my Knight Rider cried; she kept that picture to remember her friend. I don’t know most of the details, but I suggest you ask her.” He sighed and looked straight at the purple unicorn. “Now down to business.” With a thought he switched into his guard uniform. Which surprised Twilight because he transformed into a bat pony. “Ponyfeathers, Princess Luna told me that a transformation would be painful. but. . .” Bifrost gingerly poked at his fangs that magically came in, stretched his wings, and bade Twilight to stop hyperventilating. “Lunar Commander Bifrost and personal confidant of her Lunar Majesty Princess Luna- and on those monthly hormonal moody times- Nightmare Moon. I always did find that epithet a wee bit demeaning. How would you like to be called “a really annoying shut in” for example because that’s what vibe you’re giving off right now.” Twilight frowned and wanted to have a chance to speak but Bifrost had something else on his mind. “Now we have a matter of national security on our hands. I know you have an inkling of what I’m going to say. The Crystal Empire has been off the radar for almost three weeks.” Twilight squirmed. She knew that the Crystal Empire was having issues but three weeks of silence was unheard of. Normal procedure called for the bare minimum of two check-ins through the magic lines every fortnight. “So what does this mean?” “Well. It isn’t good. We have a few witnesses of what happened at the scene and they spoke of mechanical things that had some sort of nullifier armor- Magia class-” Anti-magic shields? But that’s-” “Highly theoretical and shouldn't be remotely possible? Yeah, we’ve heard. So I am telling you right now that Equestria is on high alert. It’s hush hush of course. Here’s the information that the Princesses gave me. You can have it. Rule number one of being a Commander in the Lunar Guard- memorize every document just in case some awe inspiring tantrum burns some documents.” Twilight just turned and slowly began to walk out of the study. She laid a hoof upon the door. Then remembering a question, she turned. “What about Cadance and Shining Armor?” Bifrost cocked his head and smiled. “Your brother and his love doctor? Dunno. As far as we know, they are currently missing. Oh and Twilight- tell Rainbowmane that she still owes me fifty bits from her last race.” Twilight was shocked. He just chuckled. “You think Celestia doesn't keep tabs on a Lunar Commander and one of her five remaining Harmonic Knights Let’s just say that she sees the use of a smuggler- but she has to keep up her prim and proper demeanor. Now run off to your friends.” Bifrost waved her out and pulled out a large tome that he had planned on reading again. “The Commander of Mount Celestia. . .autobiography of Commander Hurricane.” *** The dinner passed without much smalltalk as Firefly’s stories had scarred the mares that had heard it. Twilight didn't know what got into them because she was spared from The Talk. (And an anecdote about the time that Fancy Pants wanted to go drinking and Firefly told him that Bifrost was busy with personal matters. Of a rabbit nature.) *** The Next Day “Welcome folks to the annual Pega 500! I am your announcer, Madden, and with me today in the sound both is Equestria’s very own Sapphire Shores! We have a very wonderful for all you ponies out there in this very inclusive race. We have all the racers competing in their very own personal, in some cases, hoofmade airships! I hope that you remember the slogan of this New Cloudsdalian race: Anything goes! And now a word from our sponsor- Ponactin, for all those sports related injury needs!” Rainbow looked over the competition. A few earth ponies that were probably related to Applejack were flying in an apple themed airship. Spitfire was in her Firebolt, Fancy Pants was somehow in the race, and nopony else was here. Last year must have scared off the competition. “Alright. Simple.” She knew she would have to be careful though. The Pega 500’s slogan of anything goes did extend to weapon restrictions. Dash tightly gripped the controls and she noted that Fluttershy added a few buttons that weren’t there before. The colorful pegasus hoped that Fluttershy hadn’t put too much power in the weapons. She remembered the last time Fluttershy had doled out her own brand of cheering. It didn’t end well for the spectators. . . A roaring boom reached her ears and she pressed the ignition button. The mana battery roared to life as the flight spells were activated and she made her hunk of metal fly. *** “And folks they are off! We have a varied crowd of racers today. Crowd favorites seem to be Rainbow Dash from our very own New Cloudsdale and Spitfire from Canterlot. these two ponies have some bad blood between them ever since last year’s spectacle of Dash’s loss at the last second to Spitfire’s Firebolt. “Next on the list of ponies is Braeburn. Ponyville’s Apple Family. Now we don’t know much about him since the reporter than we had sent to Ponyville mysteriously disappeared with the words ‘I am now straight.’ Strange because I knew the mare and she was in a definitely happy same-sex relationship. I have to say that that Braeburn seems to have a magnetic personality! “And finally we have Fancy Pants! He is an all-around gentleman and one of Canterlot’s elite! He has a ship he purchased on the spur of the moment and he said before the race that he would win the race for his wife! Isn’t that sweet, New Cloudsdale?” *** Dash gently guided her ship, which was hurtling at speeds faster than normal pegasi could fly, and did another left turn. The Pega 500 was a test of a pegasus’ endurance since the same driver had to be in their ship for the duration of the race. 500 laps around a track. *** Lap 290 Dash was forced to action when she heard the cannon yet again. The second cannon meant that a weapon had been implemented and had taken down one of the contestants. She quickly looked to see that Braeburn had been taken out by Spitfire. “Wow! Wow! Wow! Did you see that? Spitfire has fired the first shot in the Pega 500! Her signature flame crystal missiles did the trick! Those things are the maximum explosive rounds allowed by the Games Commission and boy did l feel like a colt having a sugar coma. Isn’t that right, Ms. Shores?" Dash cursed under her breath. Missiles definitely made Spitfire extremely dangerous. The orange mare really had a score to settle. Rainbow readied all her weapons. *** In The Stands Applejack cheered as her cousin was shot down. “That’s for sending me letters full of your gloatin’ and for turning everypony I know gay every Family Reunion. Your parents were cursed to have an insufferable stallion. . .” Pinkie Pie just looked at her friends and did a twirling motion with her hoof as Applejack continued to rant about how perfect her cousin was. *** Lap 450 Dash didn’t feel remorse as she blasted Fancy Pants out of the sky with a harpoon stright to his engine crystal. That caused the explosion to travel through the wires of Fancy Pants’ ship and it hit the ground with a resounding clang. Rainbow knew that the medics would be on scene in seconds since the sport of airship racing was notorious for extreme violence. A message came through on the ship’s radio: “Hey, Dash, this is Spitfire. Wanna go all out and lose in the next lap? Cause I’m going to come for you and win. This is for blowing up the aerodrome last year!” “I’m telling you! That was Fluttershy’s mistake. Sometimes she adds too much firepower to my ship!” “So?” “Okay.” *** Lap 451 Dash stared down at Spitfire’s ship with fear. Spitfire had turned around her ship and was aiming straight towards Dash’s. “Oh Sweet Celestia. She is going to ram me.” Spitfire loosed all of her missiles and smiled as she saw the zooming rods of death head towards her adversary. Dash prayed and hit all of her buttons at once. Even the ‘Do not press’ button which she headbutted. Dash saw stars as the payload of her ship was sent towards Spitfire. Rainbow Dash was speechless as a rainbow laser cut through Spitfire’s hull and through one of her wings. It ship listed to one side as it smoldered and rammed the ground with enough force to cause a shockwave to hit the stands/ “Yeah! I win! I win!” Then Rainbow saw that her engine battery was dead. “Fluttershy! You drew the power for the laser from the main battery?” It was not a pretty landing. *** The Hospital Rainbow Dash stared at the ginormous medal that graced her bedside table. She felt accomplished and ecstatic about her win. Sure, she didn’t finish the race’s 500 laps- but when you have explosions everything is fine. Rainbow spied a book nearby. “What’s this?” Rainbow read the cover. “Daring Do, Book 1: The Quest For The Sapphire Stone.” Rainbow looked around. “I guess I have nothing better to do. . .”