//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Masters of the Sky // by klockwork //------------------------------// Lightspeed began to tell his story in a much calmer voice. "It all happened years ago. Me and Speedy were friends and rivals at the same time. Or, at least I thought we were. We had known each other since we were just little babies, and had been friends ever since. When we got older, we both developed immense flying skill and ability. We were the best fliers in the school by far. Even so, we always practiced and got better and better every day. One day, we discovered that a sports organization called "The Wonderbolts" had been formed. We both wanted to be one of them more than anything. We decided to make a 'friendly' competition." He added air quotes on the world friendly. "We had seen a notice that the Wonderbolts were recruiting one new member, one and only one. We knew it would be one of us, but we were both amazing and matched in skill. We decided to have an intense race of speed and agility. The winner would be the one who tries out, and inevitably makes it. I never had a reason to hate him before that race though. He won, and only because he cheated. For the past four years I have been looking for him, in fact I've been looking for this damned civilization of Equestria for the past three and a half years. Our race took place on the outskirts of the Everfree Forest, where it connects with mountains far, far away. We had a map set up already, with markers in place. We should have probably had a ref somewhere to watch us, if we did, none of this would have ever happened. We had just finished our part in the forest and were crossing into the mountains. I was in the lead by a few meters and I was feeling good. I knew I was going to win, in fact I still think I would have. But then he cheated. What did he do you ask? Well, apparently one of the markers nearing the top of a mountain was a trap. It was designed to activate when a pony flew over it, and once it did it would eject a huge amount of gas. The gas would immediately crash anypony's nerves who would inhale it. They would get knocked unconscious and wake up with a splitting headache and amnesia. I'm not completely sure, but from dates from now I am pretty sure it has been four years since this happened. I could be wrong though. I must have adapted quickly because of the amnesia because I was easily able to survive on the mountain and eventually I managed to walk back to the forest. I do remember how I regained my memory though. It came back slowly, but there was one thing that I saw that hit me and began to make me remember everything slowly. I saw an orange and purple maned filly wandering about in the woods with her friends one day. She reminded me of my daughter, she looked just like her as well. It may have even been her. It may have even been you." He said as he pointed towards Scootaloo. "Where are your parents?" He asked a bit awkwardly. He had the sudden thought that she may be his daughter. "I don't know." She said half sadly and half excitedly. It occurred to her as well know that she may be looking right at her father. "I don't remember them. The last place I remember being was at an orphanage. Do... do you think you're my father?" She asked even more awkwardly. It wasn't every day that in the middle of story time the speaker asked if one of the listeners was his daughter. Everypony else in the room was quiet. This was a new experience for everypony, and none of them knew what to do or say now. Everypony was at a loss for words. "Maybe." Lightspeed said after a minute. "I had two kids. One was already grown up and had just moved out that very year, it was unfortunate how she didn't get my genes in flying though, she ended up leaving flight school on the final year of it. She was still a great girl though and was successful in other ways. And then my other was only a baby. She had the same colors as you on her mane and skin. Her name was Scootaloo." The awkwardness in the air had previously been so thick you could cut it with a knife. It began to fade away and turn to rejoice as evidence went together. "So is my name!!" Scootaloo cheered. "My friend Twilight is a genius, she could do a, oh what was that thing called again." She stopped and thought for a moment before shouting out ecstatically "A DNA test! That's it, as a final check." "We could have Rapidfire do one here. He always excelled in physics and chemistry as well as flying. I wouldn't feel right anyway, sending you home with a random stranger who just burst into our house screaming." Spitfire said. "Ya sure, after you finish your story. Now go on." Rapidfire said obviously a bit annoyed at the interruption. "OK, so as I was saying. I began remembering my past once I saw Scootaloo. Over the course of Celestia knows how many months, everything slowly came back to me. Eventually the remainder of it all hit me full on and I remembered mostly everything. I immediately screamed off in a fit of rage and began my search for Speedy. For about five months I searched everywhere, until I saw a flier of a tour of the Wonderbolts. I decided chances are that that bitch had joined the Wonderbolts, and I decided to go after them then. I got an apartment and relaxed for a bit and worked out. I had four months until the tour began and the entire time I exercised and let my hatred grow. I had spent some time looking for both of my children as well, my wife had died when Scootaloo was only a baby though. If you are my daughter." He stopped the story for a moment and looked at Scootaloo. "Then I'm sorry that you never got to meet your mother." "At least I would have you." Scootaloo replied still in a happy tone. She had spent her life missing her parents, and the possibility of finding one was enough to shadow even more sadness and mourning. "Well, that's pretty much all there is to my story. Next thing is, I ended up here. Oh by the way, I'm sorry for incapacitating the guards outside. I was angry as hell and was so happy I was about to get my revenge, but they wouldn't let me in. Again, sorry." He said apologetically and hoping he wasn't going to get in trouble for that. "I'd be angry, but this seems like a good enough excuse." Spitfire said. "Don't worry about it, there trained to fight. Although, they might need a refresher course...." She began to trail off wondering how one single angry flyer was able to take down nine guards. "Rapidfire! Now that the stories over can we have that test?" Scootaloo asked impatiently. "Ya sure kid." He said. "I haven't been able to play in the lab for a few weeks now cause of all this training and shows. It'll be refreshing." He said. "Come on, follow me its not in this building." Spitfire and Fleetfoot picked up the earth pony and unicorn and they all zoomed out following Rapidfire. "Hey Spitfire, do ya think that if Scootaloo is his child, then she would have the skills of a Wonderbolt?" Applebloom asked as they flew through the air. The flush of the air against them blocked out all sound, Spitfire could barely hear the question. "I don't know. She can try out and we can see if she can fly. He said his other daughter hadn't developed flight skills like his, so I don't know." Spitfire said not wanting to get the kids hopes up or let her down either. "It would be amazing if she made it in." Applebloom wondered. They quickly arrived at the science lab in Manehatten. Turns out, Rapidfire has his own lab sector for himself there along with ones in other towns. The lab was amazing. The three fillies especially were entranced by it all. It had so many machines and charts and graphs that they had never seen before. There were numbers and symbols all over the charts and graphs, it almost made there brains hurt. The rest of the Wonderbolts were familiar with some of it, but they didn't understand any of it, and they never hoped to. Rapidfire had once tried to teach them some of it, and they all just sat there and stared blankly at the lesson they were being given about trigonometry. "OK, this won't hurt for more than a moment." Rapidfire began as he went over to a closet and took out a few needles. "We'll need blood samples from you both." Rapidfire quickly took blood samples from both of the ponies foreleg. Scootaloo let out a tiny squeek when she got poked, Lightspeed stood as hard as stone. Certainly a needle wouldn't affect him after his life. "OK... now it will only take a few moments for the tests to run and declare there types." Rapidfire said monotonously already absorbed in his machine and test. Their was so much suspense in the air. Scootaloo was ready to burst with joy at finding her father. There wasn't a doubt in her mind, as she wanted it to be true so much. The clock seemed to be moving slower she thought, just for her. Finally after a few minutes of insanely impatient waiting, Rapidfire finally talked. "And the results are....." He began, purposely milking it for joy. "a match! Wow, I've made many great achievements in my life, yet they don't feel as good as reuniting a father and her daughter. And when Soarin gets back here, I am going to kill him." He added, saying the last part in an angrier tone. "He must be Speedy. I remember him saying that he was a bit tired since he had just finished doing something else. Even so, he managed to outperform the rest. Although I doubt hes going to show his face around here again. Unless he brings an equally crazy story." While Rapidfire was venting Scootaloo and Lightspeed were having a grand time in the background, finally reunited. They seemed to have more energy than Pinkie Pie. "Wait, if your my father then that means I have a sister as well! Whats her name? Oh! And it also means I must grow up to be a great flier just like you, daddy!" Scootaloo cheered. "Her name... I feel like such a bad father right now. I can't remember my eldest daughters name! I think she did end up getting it changed though, she said it fit her better. But still, I can't remember. It should come back to me eventually. Every once and a while some small piece of information comes back to me." Lightspeed said depressed. "Its OK! I have you at least. She'll find you one day, or we'll find her if she doesn't." Scootaloo said. Nothing, no matter how sad, could affect her right now in any way. She was overjoyed at finding her father after years of living at an orphanage. "Does this also mean my father could be a Wonderbolt?!" She then thought of the fact of why he was lost in the woods in the first place, he was cheated out of the position. "If he still has the ability." Spitfire replied. "I can't remember how well I used to fly, but I think right now I do pretty outstanding. I'm sure Scootaloo has some of my genes as well. I doubt both of my kids would lose that one." He said ***Back in Reality*** "And after that they both tested out with our manager and he felt both did outstanding. He said Scootaloo for one did outstanding for her young age, but still had much to learn. And obviously, as well, Scootaloo found her cutie mark during her test run. As you can see, we did find Soarin though. Turns out he isn't this Speedy character Lightspeed was looking for, but there was another story between Speedy and Soarin. That one doesn't matter now though. In fact he won't even tell us. We wouldn't have believed he wasn't Speedy, if he hadn't brought a beat up pony named Speedy with him when we found him" Spitfire said. "Ya... and sorry but its going to stay that way." Soarin said a bit embarrassed and rubbing the back of his head. "That's what I call a great story." The mayor said beginning to clap. The crowd followed her precedent and and eruption of clapping had ensued. They also shouted various praises. It wasn't every day that a member of your town found her dad and became a Wonderbolt and on top of that, the story was told by Spitfire! "Ah wonder how Rainbow's doin. As much as she loves this little filly, she must jealous to no end. Ah doubt it was work she went to." Applejack whispered to Twilight. "Ah reckon somepony should go check on her." "Ya, you're probably right. We could go get Pinkies hot air balloon and all of us could go visit her." Twilight suggested. "Shes probably taking it hard. It was her dream. Although, I'm not sure why she hasn't been accepted in yet, shes the only pony to perform a sonic rainboom, and shes done it twice." Twilight then wondered. "That's a great idea darling, and for the Wonderbolts thing, who knows." Rarity said. "Ya, sounds like a good idea." Fluttershy agreed quietly. "OK, lets go. I'm sure Scootaloo will be busy up there for a while longer." Twilight said. She felt it rude to just up and leave like that, but it wouldn't sound right to say 'See ya Scootaloo, congratulations on the joining the Wonderbolts and finding your father, but we gotta go check on Rainbow Dash to see if shes gone insane with jealousy yet and beat herself up.' They all quietly and secretly snuck off to get Pinkies balloon. Chances were they would find Pinkie frantically planning the party at Sugarcube Corner and she would want to come along as well. They could hear Pinkie talking to herself from outside, and she was probably running around based on the noise. The door was still wide open, so they decided it was safe to just walk in. "Pinkie!!" Twilight called out. "Ya?" She replied stopping mid-trot dropping some supplies. "Wassup?" Shes said bouncing over towards them. "We thought we should go check on Rainbow Dash, and we were wondering if we could use your balloon and also, would you like to come?" Twilight asked. "Ya sure thing, I bet Rainbow's a bit down in the dumps after seeing Scootaloo beat her to the Wonderbolts. Did you guys learn how Scootaloo found her cutie mark by the way?" Pinkie said. "Ya, its a long story. We can tell ya on the way to Rainbow's. Now come on les' go." Applejack said.