//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: The New Generation // by Autobot Lancewing //------------------------------// Chapter 4 Stargazer, a dark blue alicorn with a black mane, walked into her messy room. She obviously did not have her mother's obsession with neatness, but she does share her mother’s eyes. She was wearing a black hoodie, jean shorts, and white socks which looked odd with her dark clothes and body. She sighed and started to pick up the clothes that were on the floor and put them in a basket. She was ordered by her mother to start cleaning her room after she logged off of a certain racing video game. About a half an hour later, Stargazer was about to start on her dresser when… “Stargazer,” Twilight Sparkle, Stargazer’s mother, said as she entered Stargazer’s room. She was wearing a white button up shirt, a purple skirt, and white socks that almost reached her knees. “We’re getting ready to go meet with Rainbow Dash and Rarity’s families to get something to eat.” “Oh, will Lionheart be there?” “I don’t know. It’s possible…” “Mom…” “What? You know you like him.” “Well, yeah, he is a good friend and all…” “Stargazer…” Twilight sighed. “What?” “I think we both know it’s...deeper than that.” “Whadda ya mean, ‘deeper’?” “Well… You have that look in your eyes every time you see him…” Stargazer started to blush a bit, “Um...well...maybe I like him a...little differently…” “See? You’re blushing now.” Twilight was trying to hold a laugh. “Mom…” Stargazer stuffed her hands in her hoodies’ pockets. “I can’t believe my little Star has a crush.” “I do not.” “Uh-huh...What would you call it?” “An admiration for a friend.” “I see...You know...I had a similar admiration for a friend.” “And who was that?” Stargazer smirked. “Your father.” “Thought so… but it’s not the same thing.” “Well...Okay.” Twilight was about to leave, before, “Oh, Stargazer?” “Yes Mom?” “Lionheart’s standing right behind you.” “What?!” She turned around, only to see a poster of a green Gumpert Apollo. “Mom…” “Gotcha.” ****** Teddy walked into his room and straight toward his bed. He reached under his pillow and pulled out a teddy bear. He sighed, he might’ve been too old for teddy bears, but he didn’t care; it was the most valuable thing he owned. Truth was that it was a gift from his sister the week before she was abducted. He bit his lip, it still hurts to think about her, but the teddy bear helped for some reason. He never knew why, but it did help. To add to all of that, Sweetheart, the one pony who could really, truly see good in him, reminded him of her. He reached under his pillow again and pulled out a photo. It was the last picture of his family all together. His father was red with an orange mane, his mom was blue with a yellow mane, and his sister was red with a yellow mane. He sighed, “I miss ya, sis.” Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Teddy stuffed the items back under the pillow, “Who is it?” “Uh...It’s Sweetheart, can I come in?” “Um… sure. I’ll be right there.” He opened the door and saw Sweetheart standing before him. “Hi, Teddy.” “Um...Hi Sweetheart.” Sweetheart could tell there was something wrong, “Teddy? Are you doing okay?” “Who, me? Never better.” “Well, you really truly don’t seem fine.” “Trust me, I am.” “Okay...if you say so…” There was a moment of awkward silence. “Um...I was wondering if maybe you’d like to go to a movie…” Sweetheart finally admitted. “Y-You do?” “Um...Yeah, if you really, truly want to…” “Okay… What do you want to see?” “Um...Maybe Daring Do and the Diamond Skull?” “Sure. I heard it was a hoot.” “Okay then. So when would you like to go?” “We could go right now. Just let me grab something.” "Okay. I'll wait." Teddy rushed back into his room and grabbed his wallet. He walked back to the front door where Sweetheart was patiently waiting. “Alright, I’m ready.” “Okay then, let’s go.” ***** A griffon in a black and navy blue suit was standing in the middle of a cloud. He watched as a figure walked down the dirt road below him. The figure was a griffon that wore a blue T-shirt, jeans, and sandals. The eagerness was seen in his eyes as he spread his wings. He jumped off the cloud and flew toward a bush. The ninja picked up a pebble and threw it at a wall. The griffon on the road looked at the wall before looking in the direction he originally was, only to see the ninja dead in his face! The ninja exclaimed, “Surprise!” "I knew you were on that cloud," the stranger sneered in his Japanese accent. “What?! How? Who gave it away?” “You did. Your tail was still exposed.” "Well...yeah, but it's really uncomfy in the suit." “The suit isn’t for comfort, it is to help you mask your presence. Now go change before you attract attention.” "Gee, I love you too, Dad." The ninja walked into an alley. A few minutes later, he walked back wearing a white T-shirt, black jacket, jeans, tennis shoes, and a necklace with the Kanji for “Ookami” (or wolf). "You ready to go?" The other griffon nodded before the two walked on. “Are you hungry by chance?” “A little.” “Good, because we’re going to meet your mother for dinner.” "Sounds good, where?" “At Marelanos." "Oh, okay. Sounds good." “We’ll also need to be on the lookout for certain ponies.” “Certain ponies?” “Yes.” He hands the teen a photo of two male ponies. “These ponies are slave traders. They don’t do the actual abductions, but they do specialize in sales and distribution. Somewhere in Equestria is their market, accessible to everyone who knows of it.” “So… if we find them, we find the market?” “Yes, they know where it is, but it will be difficult to get the to confess. Luckily, your mother can be very convincing.” "Don't I know it." "Well, let's be on our way before we're her next victims." The teen winced at the thought. His father might not have a short-fuse anger, but his mother does! How those two got together he'd never know. They turned into the restaurant to see a huge crowd of people. “Well, so much for a table here,” the teen said. “Don’t be so sure, Garuda,” a voice said. Both griffons turned to see a female griffon sitting in a bench seat by a table. She was wearing a black jacket, white shirt, black skirt, and boots. They immediately walked to the table and took their seats. “Good evening, Gilda,” the older griffon said. “Good evening, Katsumi,” Gilda replied, “What took ya?” “Garuda was trying to scare me.” “And failed, all because of this,” Garuda said before holding up his tail. Gilda gave him a look. “Don’t hold your tail at the table.” “Alright.” Garuda let his tail loose. “So have you seen ‘them’ yet?” “No, I haven’t.” “Darn.” “Just be patient,” Katsumi said, “They’ll show up.” Garuda merely nodded and looked at the menu while keeping an eye out for his targets. The waitress walked up to the family. “Hi, my name is Sparkleworks; I’ll be a waitress for tonight. Is there anything I can get for you guys?” Garuda looked to the waitress, “Um...do you have hamburgers?” The waitress gave Garuda a funny look, while his mom tapped him on the shoulder, “They don’t have meat at pony restaurants.” “What…?” “We would all like salad.” Katsumi smiled. “We would?” Garuda asked. Gilda nudged him. "Oh. We would." “Okay, I’ll bring that right out.” “So...why are we at a salad bar?” “They only sell food with vegetables in Equestria; ponies are vegetarians.” Garuda sighed, “Poor things.” "And stop being such a dweeb. That attitude will get you nowhere. Trust me, I know." “Yeah...I’ve heard that story…” "Then learn from it." "Behind you." "Yes, I put it behind me, but you-" "No, look behind you." Gilda looked in that direction. Sitting at the bar was two particular ponies, both wearing worn-down clothes. The perpetrators. She turned back to her family, “You wanna take em or me?” Katsumi wasn’t there anymore. “Dang it! I wanted to get ‘em,” Garuda sulked. “Well, let dad do this one...besides,” Gilda watched as her husband moved toward the two, “he’s so cute when he goes after bad guys.” “Okay, now you made it sound gross.” “Well excuuuse me for marrying him.” “Well...just keep that thought to yourself, okay?” ****** “Okay, let’s go over this again,” the orange pony said to his partner, “We talk the customer about the girl, sell her for 400 bits, give the girl to the guy, and make off.” “Sounds good to me,” the green pony replied, “and if we get caught?” “That’s what GUNS are for.” “Guns don’t always work,” Katsumi said. “Definitely, with those-” the green pony stopped when he saw who it was. He pointed his gun at Katsumi, but Katsumi strikes it out of his hand. The gun went flying through the air, and Katsumi caught it with his tail, hit the other pony’s hand with his tail, sending it flying, Katsumi then finished the move by throwing the gun his tail was holding in the air and catching both, then pointed them both at both ponies. “Now, let’s talk about where your market is.” The ponies looked at each other, than bolted toward the door. Katsumi followed close behind. "And there he goes," Gilda said turning to- "Garuda?!" She looked around, Garuda was, like her husband, gone with the wind. She facepalmed, 'Not again...' Garuda had gone after the ponies as well, making sure he would be unseen. When he had exited the restaurant he spread his wings out and took to the sky. He soared over them without their knowing and tried to find a good opportunity to land. When he landed, he darted towards a secluded area and changed into his ninja outfit. He then proceeded to follow the ponies as they ran toward the park. ****** “Okay, so the movie wasn’t as good as the first, but it was still pretty good,” Teddy said. “Yeah it really, truly was,” Sweetheart replied, “But they honestly could have let Trailbreaker live…” “Yeah… Or did he really die? Afterall, it was just a cave-in.” “That is true…” "Yeah...hey, are you hungry?" “Starving.” "Do you wanna eat up at this place?" “Sure, I mean, what could go wro- OOF!” Sweetheart was bumped on a pony on the run. The stranger looked at Sweetheart. “Hey Clyde, look what we got here!” He began to grab Sweetheart, but Teddy suckerpunches him, knocking him to the ground. “Stay away from her!” The stranger tried to get away, but Garuda grabs him. “End of the line!” The stranger is now cuffed. “Sorry about that, but don’t worry, he won’t be causing any more trouble.” “O-Okay…” Sweetheart said. Garuda walked away with the stranger, but something fell out of the cuffed pony’s pocket. Sweetheart picked it up and started, “Hey, you dr-” but Teddy snatched it from her after catching a glimpse of it. “Teddy, why did you-” “No… No, no, no, no, no. This can’t be her.” Teddy studied the photo closely. He didn’t want to believe it, but that pony matched the one that was in the photos earlier; that photo was of Teddy’s sister! ****** Katsumi, meanwhile, was in pursuit of the other pony. The pony was still a good distance away from Katsumi, but Katsumi was not ready to give up. Suddenly, a few shurikens stopped the perpetrator in his tracks! “Goin’ somewhere, Dweeb?” Katsumi looked. There were only two griffons he knew that say that: Gilda and… “Garuda?!” Garuda throws the other pony at his partner. “Hope you had a ball, but now it’s time to take you in.” Garuda takes out some cuffs and handcuffs the other pony. “Seriously, you made this much too easy…” The pony grunted. “Guess we all can’t be ninjas.” “True, have to be born awesome like me,” Garuda snickered. But his mom had different feelings, “What did I tell you about that attitude?” “What? It’s my trademark.” “Yeah, used to be mine, too, till I ended up on the street…” “Well at least the ponies I’m calling lame are those that are like these two!” “True…” Gilda punched both ponies in one hit, “Wow that felt good.” “Glad you got that out of your system,” Katsumi said, “Now let’s go before something happens.” “Yeah, better meet up with Princess Cadence to question these two.” “Alright, when does the next train leave,” Garuda asked, “Don’t want to be late.” “One hour,” Gilda answered. All three griffons suddenly felt a sense of urgency as they picked up the pair and started making a mad dash for the hotel. ****** Teddy walked into his room still shaken up about what he had seen. He and Sweetheart never did go to that restaurant because that thought vanished from his mind once he saw that photo… Not to mention Sweetheart was scared half to death by that pony grabbing her, so they both felt they should just go home. Teddy looked at the photo again before reaching under his pillow. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath… preparing for what he was about to see… He quickly grabbed the family photo. Yep… The pony in the recent photo was now around his age, but the two photos pointed at the same pony. His sister, Flare. Mind you, she was thinner, and had a few bruises. There was no mistaking what happened to her. The very thought of it disturbed him; his little sister… violated in so many ways, it was unthinkable. At this point, there was nothing for him to do but to curl up into a ball… and cry. After several minutes, Teddy heard a knock at the door. “Teddy? Can I come in?” It was his mom. “C-come in…” His mom opened the door. “Teddy? Are you al-” She saw Teddy crying, “Teddy? What’s wrong?” “Well, Sweetheart and I just finished watching this movie, and some creep tried to grab her.” “Oh...goodness! Is she okay?” “Yeah, I sucker-punched him before some ninja took him in. But… the creep dropped something as he was being taken away.” “What is it?” “Well…” He hands the family photo to his mother. “Do you remember Flare?” “Yes, of course I do. I wish she were here right now.” “Well, the good news is that she’s alive… Bad news…” He handed the new photo to his mother. She immediately gasped when she saw the state her daughter was in. “HE... dropped THIS?” “Yes…” “So does he have her?!” “I don’t know. It’s likely.” His mom’s lip quivered and she began to shake, “H-have you told your father?” “No, I haven’t seen him yet.” “Oh...he’s in the family room, I think you’d better tell him.” “Okay…” Teddy got off of the bed and walked into the family room. His father was sitting on the couch, reading a book. “Honey,” the mother said, “We need to talk.” He looked at her and noticed the worried expression on her face. He looked over at Teddy and saw that the same was true with his son. He set the book down on the coffee table and said, “What’s wrong?” “Well… There was an incident…” “Oh?” “Sweetheart was grabbed by the same person who dropped a photo of OUR daughter.” His dad’s eyes widened, and he took a hard swallow, “Can I see the photo?” The mother nodded and hand the photo to him. He sat back down overcome by shock… “They did this to her?” “Yes,” Teddy said. His dad took another hard look, processing all of the injuries that his own flesh and blood had gone through. “Why?” Was all he could say. It was only one word, but it translated into so many questions: “Why was she taken,” “Why did she have to go through this,” “Why were the police unable to find her sooner,” and so on and so forth. “If it helps, I punched him in the face when he grabbed Sweetheart, and a ninja arrested him,” Teddy commented. Both his parents gave him a funny look. “What? It was the only way I could get him off of her.” His mother said, “No, we mean, ‘Ninja’?” Teddy sighed before saying, “Next time, I’ll have my camera on.” “Well… We DO have this picture… Now we need to hand it over to the police.” “Are you sure they can do anything?” Teddy asked. “We can only hope…”