Unwelcome Visitor
The sun was shining brightly over Ponyville and the town was full of bustling ponies going about their day. The Mayor sat at her desk looking over her small pile of papers needing her approval. A coffee mug sat, half full, as she look over the weather schedule pondering how Cloudsdale weather team thought a rainstorm was a good idea, when a knock came from the door. “Come in,” called The Mayor, as her secretary, QuickNote, entered the office. The Mayor smiled, thinking how lucky she was to have such an old friend working for her, but the smile turned to worry upon seeing her old friend looking flustered, almost angry.
“Mayor, Mr. Blaze, your one o'clock appointment, is here. Do you wish to see him now?” QuickNote said, with restrained agitation, yet still maintaining a professional address to her. Glancing up at the clock, The Mayor noted that he was fifteen minutes early and she did like punctual ponies, but the tone of her secretary made her wonder who this stallion was that could make her secretary's anger boil.
“Yes, I'll him see now. Thank you, QuickNote.” Giving her a smile, The Mayor trotted from behind her desk to meet this pony, but regretted her decision the moment the stallion entered her office. The stallion stood as tall as Big Macintosh, but still held the thin athletic build most Pegasus like him had. His short dark brown mane lay flat across his neck, but made the bright orange color of his pelt glow, and his cutie mark was a pair of outstretched Pegasus wings with a trail of fire following.
The one hoof she half raised to warmly greet this stallion, now hung in the air as the shock of who this pony was hit her like an anvil. Standing before her was Blazewing, a pony who left Ponyville due to events nine years ago. The Mayor began to recall the memories of her last dealings with him.
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Yelling from the town square had drawn a crowd of ponies to see who was causing all the ruckus. The Mayor knew who it was. Blazewing, the brown haired, orange furred stallion and, member of the aerial acrobatic stunt team, Phoenixwings, who rivaled the Wonderbolts in fame and talent. The other, a purple maned and teal coated mare, her cutie mark was a pony standing on its hind hooves, one front hoof held to the chest, the other held above the head pointing to a cloud with 3 raindrops coming out of it, was Raindancer, a Pegasus who had lived in Ponyville all her life. She stood with tears streaming down her face and a sneer of disgust playing across her lips.
“HOW COULD YOU!?” she yelled at Blaze, who stomped one hoof on the ground with pain and anger on his face. “I loved you! How could you sleep with another mare!” She screamed as loud as she could wanting everypony to hear.
“I told you once this morning and I'll tell you a hundred more times, it's a lie! Are you so willing to believe trashy tabloids over your own husband?” Blaze yelled, matching her shouts, his anger flowed unrestrained with each word he spoke.
“I DIDN'T READ IN SOME TRASHY TABLOID! CHEERLEE WAS IN MANEHATTEN PARTYING, WHEN SHE SAW YOU TAKE A MARE FROM THE BAR BACK TO THE HOTEL!” Gasping for breath between the sobs and her outburst, Raindancer, shaking, turned to walk away, but Blaze was in front of her quicker than most ponies could blink.
Everypony held their breath as Blaze, with a stern and angry face, raised a hoof to her shoulder, but was slapped away before taking a solid punch to the jaw. Before he could recover, Raindancer flapped her wings, turning herself around. Landing on her two front hooves, she bucked Blaze's head as hard as she could, which sent him crashing to ground.
Raindancer flew from the square, tears falling down to the earth as she fled. Blaze, however, was not moving. Minutes passed before The Mayor stood over him and called for ponies to carry him to the hospital. The next day was cloudy and depressing, as Blaze flew from Ponyville with his saddle bags that contained his Phoenixwing uniform, goggles, travel rations and a small sack of bits leaving everything else behind. The words of The Mayor hung heavy in his heart. “I think it would be best if you left Ponyville. I may not care what you did or didn't do but I can't have a pony known all around Equestria bringing a poor image to this town.”
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Slowly the memories faded as The Mayor looked upon the stallion, who nopony expected to return to Ponyville. Now she understood why her secretary was so agitated. Quicknote and many of the other citizens of Ponyville had believed Cheerlee's claim that he bedded a mare in Manehatten nine years ago.
“It's been a long time, Mayor,” Blaze spoke with a parched voice. Coming back to her senses again, The Mayor allowed Blaze to sit in front of her desk as she moved to the other side, never taking her eyes off of him.
“Would you like a glass of water, Mr. Blaze?” She asked, in a flat tone, wondering how much he had changed over the years, if at all?
“Yes, I would appreciate some.” Blaze's dry throat had caused a small fit of coughing. After Blaze had finished the glass, The Mayor studied his face, trying to guess his motive for coming back, but she could think of nothing on why. Blaze was first to break the silence. “You are wondering why I came back, aren't you?” The mayor slowly nodded her head, wanting Blaze to do the talking for her. “I'm here for my daughter, Mayor. I'm here for Scootaloo.”
“Bu-but how..?” The mayor's face drained of color. She had done everything she knew that could prevent any word of Scootaloo's birth from reaching him. Everypony in Ponyville who knew Blaze was asked not to contact him! Who could ha-? The orphanage! How could she have forgotten about Ponyville orphanage!? It hadn't been built until a year after Blaze left. The the ponies who ran it knew nothing about him.
The stunned mayor watched as Blaze rummaged through his saddle bag retrieving a letter clearly marked from the orphanage. “I received this letter two weeks ago stating that Raindancer had passed away two years ago, and that my daughter was living in the orphanage waiting for me to claim her. I sent them a return letter saying I was never informed of my wife's death and that I was going to come and pick up my little filly once my schedule cleared.” The mayor had expected Blaze to be yelling, but was speaking in a flat and calm tone.
Clearing his throat, Blaze continued, “I understand why you, of all ponies, would want me to never return, but because Raindancer has died, you stand to deny my right as a father to be with my child that no pony bothered to tell me about. In fact, Mayor, the day I left, not even my own friends responded to the letters I sent... the only pony in all of Ponyville that could prevent even my own friends from speaking to me would be you.” Not once did Blaze falter in his tone. Over the past nine years, the mayor had forgotten how Blaze dealt with anger.
Swallowing the lump in her throat, the thought struck The Mayor that gave her confidence. “It's been over nine years, and I don't believe Raindancer ever wanted you to know about her. She probably didn't think you were even alive. A-after all it was not my duty to tell you that you had a child.” The Mayor was about to smile thinking she had victory over Blaze, but stopped when she saw him smiling instead.
“Do you really think I'm so short sighted, Mayor? I've been writing to Scootaloo for the past two weeks and it was clear Raindancer never told her about me...can't say I blame her. But it was your responsibility to inform me of my wife's death.” The last few words filled the room with tension as his tone grew cold. The Mayor felt her heart race, as he knew as well as she, that Blaze and Raindancer never divorced.
“I-i-it-its been nine years, Blaze. Hardly anypony remembers you. Even I forgot about you.” Fear was taking hold of The Mayor. She had never once seen Blaze turn violent, but the cold stare he gave made her silently pray to Celestia.
“I guess I can't fault you on that, after all you didn't want a stallion with a bad name bringing the view of your town down.” Blaze's words stung like a viper's bite, but all malice was void from his words. His eyes were closed as he continued, “If after nine years, most ponies here have forgotten me then I hope you don't expect me to uproot Scootaloo and take her away from all her friends.” Her eyes shrunk in horror. He was moving back into Ponyville. With her mind blank, The Mayor could only nod her head.
After a few minutes, the silence was unbearable. She needed to think. She needed him to leave, but how? I need to get home... Home. That's it. “I take it you would like your old residence again?” She spoke as she began to searching her files for the home.
“I would have thought after two years it would have been sold, but if it's available yes.” Blaze spoke with a tinge of hope on his words. After fumbling with a few unrelated documents, The Mayor pulled a scroll out, unfurled it, and presented it to Blaze. The deed to his home still held his and Raindancer's signatures.
“I will need a day or so to get you the death certificate from Ponyville hospital. The doctor and nurse Redheart have been very busy of late.” Blaze silently nodded then took the deed and placed it in his saddle bag. “You must be tired. I can let the orphanage know you'll be by tomorrow to pick up Scootaloo.”
“Tired as I may be, Mayor, I already notified the orphanage and Scootaloo that I would be coming today.”
The Mayor stared blankly at him. “Oh I see. Well, I'm sure Scootaloo is still in school and would like to play with her friends before you arrive.”
Blaze chuckled at her. “By all means I think she would be telling her friends at school that I'd be coming by today and to tell Miss Cheerlee that she has a special guest arriving in...” Blaze looked to the wall-mounted clock. “Oh, I must be going. I promised I would be there in five minutes. Ta ta, Mayor.”