Strike decided it was about time to meet Rainbow's friends in Ponyville, so he and Rainbow Dash took to the skies for their destination. Rainbow insisted that he met Twilight first, but the only thing that seemed to cross Strike's mind was not to get too close to one another.
He may not have been around for too long, knowing that those criminal friends of his from the past claimed they were coming back, undoubtedly to kill him and possibly the rest of his family, including Rainbow.
The thought itself was dreadful. He just loved her too much to let her go, even if they were long distance from knowing each other to truly call themselves siblings, but nothing could change what they mean to one another.
The small town of Ponyville soon came into view. Rainbow looked at Strike to tell him the first place they were going to go to. “Strike! We should really go and see Twilight first if you want to get to know the others, she can tell you more about them before we meet them.”
Strike nodded with a large smirk. “Race ya to the bottom, Dash!”
Rainbow's lips held a challenging smile of her own. “You're so on!”
They flapped their wings harder and harder until they turned into a blur and sped up, Strike was getting a head start with no delay as he looked over his shoulder at Dash who was way behind, but soon enough caught up to him. They were then side to side, flying at an equal speed, yet still trying to go faster.
“You know, Strike, I'm not called 'Rainbow Dash' for a no reason!” She taunted at her brother as she gave another smirk and tried to flap harder and when she greater wing force than Strike, she blasted unbelievably fast straight past Strike, leaving him in awe as he watched her become less in his sight of visibility.
“Whoa,” He whispered in amazement. “let’s see if she can top this!”
He flapped his wings as hard as he could and darted off faster than Dash. In seconds the rainbow cone of lightning formed around his two front hooves he had stretched out in front of his face and then... 'BOOM!'
Rainbow strikes of lightning emitted from the tips of his tail and mane as he moved just as fast as lightning and directly past Rainbow Dash who was near the ground already, but Strike got there before her.
“See you at the bottom, Rainbow!”
Rainbow's eyes widened in disbelief as he blasted past her, leaving her mouth agape. “Whoa.'' She whispered to herself. ''That. Is. Crazy.”
Nearing the ground of Ponyville, Strike couldn't stop in time to land safely and before he knew it, he darted past the Golden Oaks Library sign and demolished the wall as he went through it and downed pretty much every bookshelf in his wake, Rainbow Dash coming in soon after.
She worriedly flew to where Strike was lying in a pile of books and scooped the books off of him and pulled him out, thankfully seeing he wasn't hurt.
“Seriously, Strike, what is it with you and ramming into walls?” Rainbow chuckled as Strike shook his head and began rubbing it with a hoof.
“'I'm called 'Strike' for a reason, you know?” He smiled back at Rainbow who was now laughing with him.
At that moment, Twilight came in from the basement of the library upon hearing the loud thumping noises of hundreds of thousands of books falling to the floor from Strike's entry through the demolished wall.
“GAH!'' Twilight exclaimed, shocked at the state of her usually well-maintained library and alphabetized bookshelves. ''Rainbow, I thought we were through this little problem of crash landing years ago! How did you manage to-“ Twilight paused as she noticed a second pony next to Rainbow Dash, with the same looks and mane with a lighter shade of cyan for a coat.
Her angry expression soon transformed into a look of wonder as she kept her purple eyes locked onto Strike's emerald green eyes.
“Rainbow? Who's this? I'm sure I haven't seen him around before.''
“Oh, right. Twilight, this is my brother, Rainbow Strike. He's just come back to town not long ago” Strike looked towards Twilight and right into her eyes as he inspected her. He actually thought she was pretty cute, especially for a unicorn. He walked up to her and stuck out a front hoof which Twilight placed her own into.
“Nice to meet you, Rainbow Strike. I'm Twilight Sparkle.” She smiled at him as she looked deeper into his eyes. It surely was rare to meet members of Rainbow's family, especially since they all mostly live in Cloudsdale and mostly stay up in the clouds, apart from Rainbow Dash who only ever goes to her cloud palace when she isn't working as a weather pony for the weather team.
“Nice to meet you, Twilight. Sorry about the shelves.” He looked to Twilight with an apologetic smile but he could still clearly see that she was quite annoyed by the mess surrounding her once tidy and clean floor. Now it looked more like a book-dump, or more specifically a tramp's idea of a bookshelf.
“That's okay, don't worry about it, Strike.” Twilight said, trying to hide her annoyance. She glanced at the wall where Strike had crashed through and rolled her eyes as she let out a quiet grunt and looked back to Strike.
“So, where did you go if you've been gone for a while?”
“Oh, I just felt like leaving town to go someplace else” Strike lied with a ghost of a smile, trying to look as convincing as he could, even if Twilight knew that it wasn't the case from that look in his eyes.
“Right,” Twilight spoke slowly and panned her head to Rainbow. “So I don't suppose Rainbow Dash wanted you to meet her friends? Is that why you are here?”
“That would be correct.”
“Well, you've met me, so that's out of the way, so I guess the ones left to meet are Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rarity. If you want, I can show you where they all live and introduce you to them.”
“Applejack? I've met her already the first day I got back, but I would feel glad to see her again. I promised I'd come back and visit her, and as for Pinkie, I assume she was the pink pony with the darker pink mane?” Strike quizzically raised a brow.
“Yeah, that's right. But I'm surprised that Pinkie didn't keep you for too long, you sure she wasn't all annoying?”
“Actually, yes and no. She was nice. I did know somepony with the last name 'Pie' and that was Granny Pie, and Pinkie's her granddaughter. But anyways, we should get moving if I'm to see the others.”
“Alright, let’s go then, you two.” Rainbow announced and they left the library to head for Sweet Apple Acres.
On the way to the Apple Family farm, they bumped into the pink party pony and Fluttershy as they were turning a corner. Strike quickly recognized the mare and handed her a hoof to help her up.
“Oh my, sorry about that, Pinkie Pie! I didn't see you there!” Strike apologized and pulled her up. ''No, It's alright, Strike.'' Pinkie said as she dusted herself off.
Fluttershy, on the other hoof was staring into Strike's beautiful emerald eyes as though she's been lost in them and couldn't find her way out of their loving grasp.
“Oh, hey Twilight! Whatcha doin'?” Pinkie chimed and waved at Twilight who waved back.
“Hey Pinkie, we're just off to see Applejack at Sweet Apple Acres. What are you two doing? Just hanging out together?”
“Yeah, something like that. Right, Fluttershy?” Pinkie swiveled her body around to face Fluttershy only to see her staring into Strike's eyes like she was under a spell. “Futtershy? Helloooooo?” She waved a hoof in front of Pinkie's face, trying to snap her out of her trance.
“Huh?! Oh, sorry,I was miles away, Pinkie.” Fluttershy said quietly and softly as she blushed a hue of red when she gazed back at Rainbow Strike who gave her an awkward look upon noticing that she was staring into his eyes.
“Well,” Strike began. “since we are off to see Applejack, do you want to come along with us? It'll be nice to have a chance to hang around and get to know you better.”
Pinkie pointed a hoof to Fluttershy. “And by the way, Strike, this is my best friend Fluttershy.”
“Hey.” Fluttershy greeted softly.
“Hi, Fluttershy. I'm Rainbow Strike, nice to meet you.” He let out a hoof and shook Fluttershy's own.
*** *** ***
When the group got to Sweet Apple Acres, they walked to the farm house and knocked on the door while they patiently wait. The sound of locks behind the door where heard along with a rattle of chains and the door opened with Applejack to greet them.
“Howdy, everypony.” Applejack cheerily greeted and let them in, closing the door behind them. “So, what brings ya'll here?”
“I thought it was about time we got to know each other. I mean, when us two met, I wasn't around for long seeing as I wanted to find my sister.” Strike informed her.
“Well, that's might kind of ya, Strike. This here's our farm, like you saw the day you came and this is my family.” She pointed a hoof to her family and introduced them individually.
“This is Apple Bloom,''
“Howdy!” Apple Bloom greeted him with a warm smile and wave of her hoof.
“Granny Smith.”
“Hi!' Granny croaked from her seat in her rocking chair.
“and finally, Big Macintosh.” She pointed to the strong looking bulk of red that was her big brother.
“Eeyup.” He replied simply with a smile of his own.
“And Strike, Before I forget, you dropped your saddle bag when you crashed on the farm. Here ya are.” Applejack picked up Strike's cobalt coloured saddle bag that had his cutie mark stitched onto it from the corner of the room and handed it to him.
“Thanks, Applejack. I was wondering what happened to it when I realized I lost it in mid-flight.” Strike thanked gladly, earning a bow of the hat from Applejack in acknowledgement.
Strike unstrapped the left saddle and flipped the lid back then reached in and pulled something out. It was a picture of him and a beautiful yellow mare with yellow eyes and a lovely mane that looked the same as Vinyl Scratches, only consisting of orange and yellow. They were both hugging each other and the mare was nuzzling Strike's cheek. On the back of the picture was three words that read ''Strike and Remedy''.
Strike whispered quiet enough so no other pony could hear him. “Celestia, I miss her.”
He put the picture back and took something else out and looked hardly at the object in his hooves. It was a sheath made from brown leather and had a massive bowie-style knife inside of it. Strike pulled back the pin and pulled the blade out. The knife was indeed a bowie, and was customized.
The guard of the knife was a shiny, polished brass piece that was cut in a rectangle shape and the handle was a polished wood that shined with the light. On the handle, Strike's gang name was carved into it - 'Striker'. The blade, however, was shiny, but had blood splattered all over it's front tip, causing the ponies and Strike to flinch.
Strike immediately shoved it back into the sheath and tucked it back into the bag, hiding it under the old things inside.
“I-I really didn't need to see that.” Strike whimpered, scared by the memory it gave him. The blood on it was still fresh. He remembers who it was from perfectly. It belonged to one of the gang members he killed the day he returned. The one they called Torcher, the Element of Arson. He even remembers what a crazy bastard he was.
“W-W-Was that blood on your knife?” Rainbow cautiously asked Strike.
Strike only nodded slowly in response to her question. ''I really was hoping you wouldn't see that.'' His face held a sad expression.
All of them looked at Strike with worry plastered on their faces. Wondering what he had a knife for, all apart from Apple Bloom who was too young to even know what was going on.
“Applejack?” Strike asked in a quiet tone.
“Yeah?”
“Where did you find my bag, anyway? I didn't even feel it slip from my body.”
“I found it hangin' on a tree branch in ma orchard, so I took it in, thinking it was yours.”
“Thanks, Applejack. So, listen, from what I know there are 6 of you altogether, but there are five currently here. Who's the other friend?”
“That'd be Rarity. She's a mighty good clothes designer and creator. Heck, she even worked with a pony called Photo Finish before and presented a line of new fashion to her and she loved them so much, she offered her a job for being a model.”
“Wow. That's impressive. So, where can we find Rarity?”
“She'll be in her boutique in Ponyville. If ya'll plan to go and see it, I wouldn't disturb her if she's working. She goes wilder than anything if she's interrupted.”
“Thanks for the warning Applejack. I'll go see her at some point later on.”