//------------------------------// // Arc II: Chapter 43: Big Bro // Story: Quest For Equestria // by Skyguy626 //------------------------------// "What do you know about me? You know nothing..." the girl said but she was cut off as Phoenix conjured a ball of fire in his hand. "I understand. Because I am you." Phoenix said softly making the girl's eyes widen in shock. "Hey, room for one more?" Skywalker asked as he sat down next to the girl who saved him. "What do you want?" she asked, not looking at him, but staring in the distance. "Well, I'm leaving tonight." Skywalker said, finally getting the girl to look at him, "I'm leaving for Republic City tonight. You're welcome to come along." he added with a smile. "But they said..." she tried to protest but he stood up. "You need to find your own way." Skywalker explained as he turned around, "I never do what I'm told to do. The offer stands, but you have till tonight." and with that he starts to walk away. The girl gave one last looks toward the horizon, her expression suddenly becomes serious and determined. "Alright. I'm going to the city." Phoenix said preparing himself to head off. The girl gave him a questioning look, which he responded with a warm smile, "I'm gonna see if my friend is there. If he is, great! If not... Well though luck." Phoenix said before gaining an idea, "After I'm done looking, why don't you come with me? You will be surrounded by people like us!". The girl was startled by the idea, "That... Sounds appealing. Let me think about it." she said gaining a nod from him. "So, 'Knight Of The Wind', fancy title." the girl said sitting next to Skywalker against the large sleeping polar dog. "The 'Only One in Canterlot Not Completely Insane' was considered..." Skywalker remarked dryly, gaining a chuckle from her, "Your lucky you know." he added, gaining a puzzling look from the girl as she place a sushi roll in her mouth. "You're lucky with your loving parents. I had no such luck.", he said sadly. "What happened to them?" the girl asked him, giving him a compassionate look, "Well, my parents are... dead. I grow up alone." he said his voice cracking a little."I'm sorry, That must have been hard for you." the girl said sadly but Skywalker shook his head, "That's nice of you to say, but I had my friends. So it wasn't so bad.". "Are you alright?" Phoenix asked an elderly man, after fighting off some Corrupted with a blast of fire. "He's a witch too!" the man said crawling away from him. "... Your welcome." Phoenix responded dryly. "I'll help you on your quest to find your sister." Phoenix offered a girl with turquoise blue eyes, long strawberry-blonde hair tied into two braided pigtails, bangs down her forehead and a dusting of freckles. "Thank you.", the strawberry-blond girl said gratefully. "But I have to warn you, reuniting siblings is more Messiah's shtick." Phoenix warned, gaining a chuckle from the girl. The girl woke up, glances around, and rubs her eyes. "Skywalker! Naga, we're here!" she said excitedly trying to wake Skywalker up from his sleep. Skywalker turned to his other said while saying, "No Luna, I don't want to go to school. The teachers are stupid!". "Where could we possible look?" she pondered, as Phoenix looked up, "Maybe that nice girl who lives up in the mountain in that created that ice castle has seen your sister.", he suggested. Arc II: Maze Of Life It had been two days since the second battle against Chrysalis, and aside from losing two of their members to an unknown spell everyone returned to their normal lives. Currently, we're in Rarity's room, her head resting peacefully on McGrath's chest, his face nuzzled in her purple manes. Suddenly the smell of pancakes filled the room, making the couple stir in their sleep. "Oh... Are those sweet... pancakes I smell? Mmm, how divine, num num num num. The aroma... spiced warm apple cider." Rarity muttered in her sleep, digging her head deeper into her boyfriends chest. "Smell more like smoke..." McGrath muttered before his eyes open in shock, throwing Rarity of him, quickly charging down the stairs not bothering to put on any pants, grabbing a fire extinguisher along the way. McGrath charges into the kitchen noticing that the smoke came from the stove, quickly he blasted it with the fire extinguisher. "McGrath!" a voice came from below him. Looking down he could see a angry Sweetie Belle looking at him, "You ruined the surprise! I was gonna serve you and Rarity breakfast in bed!", she said offended, turning a sad gaze over her even more ruined breakfast. "Sweetie Belle. If you decide to burn down the house, please do it when we're not in it." McGrath told her placing down the fire extinguisher on the ground before realizing something, "Wait a minute... How did you get in?", he asked turning his gaze back to the little filly. "Who might you be?" a female voice spoke up from the diner table, turning his head he saw two unicorns sitting there, both gave him a studying look before he noticed that the female's gaze was trailing down to his junk. "Rarity! Your little sister, your older sister and her boyfriend are here!", McGrath shouted moments before his girlfriend entered the kitchen. "Oh, who ever he is I like him." the female unicorn said with a grin. "Well! G'mornin', Rarity!" the male one said with a happy grin to Rarity, who turned her gaze towards her boyfriend. "Darling, she is not my sister and her boyfriend." Rarity corrected him, "They are my mother, Pearl and my father, Magnum." she introduced them them before her cheeks turned red, "Mother, father this is McGrath. My... coltfriend.", she said blushing, but it's true, he is her boyfriend. "Nice to meet you, McGrath." Magnum said with a big grin, shaking the hand of McGrath with his hoof. "Like wise." McGrath responded, giving the kitchen a good look over, "What happened exactly?" "Sweetie Belle here cooked this yummy lookin' breakfast all on her own." Magnum explain, giving a proud smile at his youngest daughter accomplishment and for the record everything looks and is burned. "I... figured." Rarity said in dry tone which wouldn't seem out of place coming from her boyfriend. "...I didn't know you could burn juice." McGrath added with a similar dry tone. "I've been giving her lessons." Pearl explained proudly, giving a pet on her youngest daughters head, "I wouldn't be surprised if she's got a Cutiemark in fancy cooking by the time we get back from our vacation.". McGrath was pouring himself a coup of coffee, he had no idea how other people managed to be so energetic in the morning without it. "Wouldn't count on it.", he noted, taking a sip from it. Aaah, Moca. Rarity raised her head up at what her mother said last, "Vacation? Is that this week? As in 'starting this very instant' this week!?", she asked in a slight panicked voice while Sweetie Belle places an bowl on the table. "Apple sauce?" McGrath asked but Sweetie Belle shook her head, "Nope. Toast!", she then turned her sister pulling her into a big hug, "We're gonna have the bestest time two sisters could ever have! I'm gonna go grab my stuff from Dad's wagon." and with that said, she left the kitchen to get her stuff. "Well. I'm going to be sleeping at my place for the next week." McGrath said, finishing his drink and standing up to get dressed. A few hours later at the guys house, McGrath was getting some shut eye while laying on the sofa. He could hear the front door open, figuring it was Sutakira or Grffifth he didn't bother to open his eyes. To his surprise he heard a feminine giggle followed by a beautiful singing voice, "Hush Now, quit now!! It's time to lay your sleepy head!". This made him open his eyes and he saw Sweetie Belle looking at him. "SB for Celestia's sake I was half-asleep!" McGrath shouted sitting straight up, "Your seriously cutting into my nap time. So how's the sleepover at Rarity's going?" he asked, rubbing his eye. "Why, it's smashing!" Sweetie Belle said with a bad imitation of her sisters voice before returning to normal, "I just wish we could do something special together that didn't include me goofing anything up." she explained, gaining an uninterested look from him "Wanna grab some grub?" McGrath asked, looking on his phone for the time. Sweetie Belle look at him in surprise, "Really?... Your not afraid that I would goof it up?" she asked as she followed him outside. "How would you goof up eating?" he asked. At the local diner, he could see that Rainbow, Spike and to his great surprise Phoenix was sitting at the table. "Finally! What took you so long!?" Phoenix shouted not noticing the surprised look on his friends face. "P-Phoenix!? What are you doing here!? Weren't you dead!?" McGrath shouted, gaining a chuckle form his red headed friend. "No, you see. Messiah and I were transported to another world. I just got back an hour ago." Phoenix explained, before he could be asked how he got back he continued, "How I got back? Well apparently the EoH, that's Elements Of Harmony for short, have the power to make small rips in the walls that keep the Worlds apart from each other.". McGrath nodded, this could be useful in the future he thought, "Does that mean, Skywalker is back to?", at this the pyromancer dropped his head, "I couldn't find him. I think he must be in another World.", Phoenix explained, gaining a nod from his emerald eyed friend, before noticing Sweetie Belle standing there. "Yes. We have another guest." McGrath said, as he took a seat and studied the menu. "Hi, Sweetie Belle." Spike said waving at her, "You brought Rarity's little sister?", he asked McGrath gaining a nod from the brunette. "That's nice of you, Big Bro!" Rainbow teased him, making him flinch at those words, turning to his side, he could see Sweetie Belle looking up at him with big eyes, "Big... Bro?", she said slowly, liking the sound of those two words. "Don't call me that." he told her as the waiter took his order, "Anyways, you looked for something to do with Rarity?" he continued while placing a pamphlet on the table, advertising the Siblinghooves Social. "You and Rarity can compete against other sibling teams in all these events." Spike explained, as Sweetie Belle got a bright smile at the thought, "That sounds like the perfect way for us to hang out! Rarity will think it's an excellent idea." she said. An hour later found McGrath sitting in the garden with Sweetie Belle, according to her, the excellent idea was not so excellent. Sweetie Belle explained what happened after she left for Rarity's and how she found the contest 'uncouth' and how they aren't sister anymore while McGrath was smoking... something. "'Uncouth'? She said the Siblinghooves Social was 'uncouth'?" McGrath asked after she was done explaining. "Yeah! Uncouth?... Wait. What's uncouth?" Sweetie Belle asked but the answer came from the swimming pool. Sutakira who was laying on an air bed, "Awkward, clumsy, or unmannerly. An uncouth relative who embarrasses the family." explained as he didn't look up from his book. "It's not just the Social. She thinks I'm uncouth." Sweetie Belle continued but she flashed McGrath a glare as he scoffed, "Rarity thinks everything's uncouth." he said dryly standing up, "Now come on, let's stop this depressing discussion and have some fun." "You sure? I just mess everything up." the filly said sadly before she felt herself being picked up in McGrath strong arms. And so McGrath and Sweetie Belle found themselves in front of the TV, playing some video games and filling themselves with junk food. McGrath was currently on his third bowl of ice cream. "Your a big eater." Sweetie Belle told him, looking in his emerald eyes with her own, she noticed that his eye white had become a slight shade of red. "Sure, lets keep it at that... SB left flank!" he shouted suddenly as Sweetie Belle quickly pushed a few buttons and thanks to her quick assist, they won the match. McGrath stood up from the couch, throwing his controller down in excitement, "Neuk yeah! High five!" raises his hand, which Sweetie Belle accepted with a big grin. "Rarity never high-hoofs me." she said as they both sat down back on the sofa. "I don't understand why. Your an amazing Smash player." McGrath told her and to her big shock, she could see his the sides of his mouth rise a little in a half smile. "I don't get why Rarity would date someone like you." She noted, "Your pretty uncouth by her standards." McGrath took a sip from his beer before responding dryly, "Like I said; Rarity things everything is uncouth. But I'm charming.", he added with a chuckle, which somehow, she didn't found scary. They heard the front door open, both turning around to see Rarity walking into the living room. Before she could say anything, her sister cut her off. "Oh hello, un-sister. What are you doing here? Better be careful, you might get some dust on you." Sweetie Belle said, turning her head back to the screen. Just so you know its not that dusty in there... It should be more messy seeing as five guys are living there. "Oh, Sweetie Belle, I want to apologize. I am not better off without a sister." Rarity said, standing in front of her. "I'm not better off without a sibling either. Spending the day with McGrath made me realize that.", Sweetie Belle admitted before pulling McGrath in a hug, "And that's why I'm adopting McGrath as my big brother!". McGrath's eyes got big looking uncomfortable, "Its touching me!", he thought to himself as Rarity couldn't believe what she just heard. "A sibling is someone who loves and takes care of another sibling. McGrath's a real brother." Sweetie Belle said letting go of him and looking her un-sister in the eyes. "Or maybe he should be your brother, so he could teach you what a good sibling is supposed to be!", and with that the filly runs upstairs and locks herself in McGrath's room. "Well, that apology went swimmingly." McGrath noted dryly as his girlfriend took a seat next to him. "Darling, why do you have to be so good and make me look so bad?" she asked placing her head on his shoulder. Her coltfriend gave a deep sigh, he found it really depressing that he of all people was asked advice about sibling related problems. The next day at that Siblinghoove social thing. McGrath, Applejack, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle are walking around, looking at all the different games that could be played. "Well, I guess it's a good thing Rarity isn't here. Do I see 'uncouth' written all over this contest?" Sweetie Belle noted sadly looking back up as Applejack said, "It's almost time!" said as she and her sister headed to the starting line. "Well, you two have fun." Sweetie Belle wished them, before turning her gaze back to the ground, "Sure wish I had a sibling to run the race with." she muttered to herself but she was surprised when she felt a sash being put around her. Looking back at is she saw that it was a participant sash and a similar sash was tied around McGrath bicep. "No way!" the filly said excitedly, looking up at McGrath, "Yes way. Now lets go win this thing." McGrath said heading for the staring line with her. As soon as the race started McGrath and Sweetie Belle got a good head starts thanks to his powerful legs and energy skating. The first mud pool came up, which Sweetie Belle vaulted with some difficulty but he wasn't so lucky, tripping and being fully covered. "You okay, McGrath?" Sweetie Belle asked, but McGrath was already back to his feet, covered completely in mud but that didn't stop him from continuing the race. With no problem at all and helping on another over the difficult courses they rushed over the finishing line, ending in first place. "We did it! Thank you, McGrath! You were amazing! This was so much fun!" Sweetie Belle thanked him excitedly pulling him into another hug. But something felt odd, normally his chest region was flat and hard but now it was round a soft. Seeing at Sweetie Belle knows something is up, 'McGrath' removes the wig and uses a cleaning spell to remove the mud, revealing another human, this one had purple hair and sapphire blue eyes. In a flash of sky blue light, the human transforms back into Rarity. "Rarity!?" the filly exclaimed but then she looked around, "Wait, where's McGrath?" looking at the first mud pool, she could see two emerald eyes looking at her. "We switched places over at the very first mud pool." McGrath explained as he stood up and walked over to them. "You did this for me?" Sweetie Belle asked but Rarity shook her head, "Us. I did it for us." Rarity corrected her, gaining a smile from her sister as she was pulled in a hug.