Unwelcome Visitor

by The desert brony

Chapter 7 Carnival of lies Part4

Unwelcome Visitor

Carnival of lies part 4

Scootaloo bolted upright in her bed screaming at the top of her lungs, and began to violently thrash against the confines of her blanket. The door burst open and a teal pegasus rushed into the room. She felt kind and tender hooves wrap around her, brushing her mane softly. A voice like the soft pattering of rain cooed and rocked her gently while saying, “It was just a dream.”. Scootaloo slowly gave in to the soft words, letting her fear ebbed away, and with a heavy sigh, she was calm again. “It was a normal nightmare for once. If you could call a pegasus falling out of the sky a normal nightmare.” She let her mind wander as she sat there allowing herself to be rocked gently by her mother. “I was flying by...no, being held by somepony, but who was it? Why can't I remember.” The wind outside rattled the window making her jump and the arms of her mother squeezed her tighter. Scootaloo heard her name being called from the mare above her, she didn't respond.

“Scootaloo... Why did you let me die?” A winded raspy voice spoke out. “Why didn't you hurry home?”

“No, please, not again!” Scootaloo squirmed in her mother's embrace, but to no avail. The hooves that wrapped around her were like a vice, the body behind her cold and clammy. “B-b-but I did hurry home, I ran all the way from school.” Her voice trembled as she tried to fight the rising fear.

“So you're not at fault for not rushing home, but being too slow.” The decaying mare tightened her grip on the little filly.

“No, I ran as fast as I could! Please believe me!” Scootaloo wailed. Her attempts to dislodge herself from the undead grip were fruitless. Her wings were pinned to her sides and utterly useless.

The mare moved her snout to hover by Scoot's ear. “Oh, I believe you were just too slow to save me Scootaloo. It's no wonder why that mare Rainbow Dash barely gives you a fleeting glance. Why would anypony want to deal with a little filly who couldn't even save her mother?”

Scoots stopped struggling at those words. Tears welled up in her eyes at the thought of Dash flying in the sky, barely acknowledging that she was cheering for her. All the times Dash had flown off without saying a word to her surfaced unbidden.

“And let's not forget the two fillies that call themselves your friends.” The raspy voice continued. “Those two fillies that only help you because they pity you. They only do it because it makes them feel less guilty than not helping does.”

Tears now fell from Scootaloo's eyes as the words sunk in. “N-n-no... Y-you're lying, they wouldn't do that. They care about m-me. We are g-g-gonna get our cutie marks together.” She didn't want to believe what she was hearing from the mare behind her.

“Oh and what did you three do all last week and the one before... You went crusading for your cutie marks, but every idea that was tried was your idea. They did this because they thought that IF you learned your special talent, they could simply let you drift away from them instead of flat out kicking you out for being such a failure.”

Through blurry vision and an aching chest, Scootaloo began to struggle once more. “No, you're wrong! They care about me! My friends would never do anything to hurt me!”

“If you believe so, just wait and see. Your father doesn't know that you failed to save me. Your so-called friends know that you don't deserve a father after you let me die. I wonder how he would look upon you if he knew? Would he still love you? Or would he leave because you let me, his very special somepony, die?” The undead horror tightened its grip on Scootaloo, making it even harder for her to breath.

“No!” Scoots flailed her hooves around hoping to smack the mare and make it lose its death grip on her, but to no avail.

“You can end the pain right now, Scootaloo. Just stop struggling and let me take you. At the very least, we'll be together again. That would make me very happy you know.” The nightmare cadaver's raspy voice carried a soothing bitterness to it.

Scoots continued to writhe and defy the nightmare. With every jerk and twist, she felt her body move just a tad more out of its grip. “NO! He loves me and he won't leave me!”

The nightmare's face fell into a frown before lifting back up into a maniacal grin. “Oh ho ho, you think he loves you. Ha, what a laugh, Scootaloo. He doesn't love you any more than he loved me. Why do you think he never came back? It's because he never loved me! That fight that happened before you were born, what do you think it was about? I can tell you this much, it was right about the time I found out I was with you.” The horror's laugh was like a rusted nail being pulled from a plank of wood. Throwing her arms open, she let the little filly tumble to the floor with the mocking laughter echoing around her.

Scootaloo screamed as she plummeted from the nightmare's grasp. The final words of the nightmare chimed in her ears as she fell and hit the hardwood floor with a loud smack. The world went pure white to her as she continued to scream, until a strong pair of orange hooves wrapped around her clutching her softly. Scootaloo hadn't realized that she was crying, at least not until she started to hear a stallion's voice comfort her.

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Blaze had awoken with a start when the scream of his daughter began. Bolting to his daughter's bed, he saw her flailing like a fish out of water. Quickly picking her up and rocked her back n' forth. “Shh, it's ok, it was just a dream, shh.” Blaze felt his daughter relax within his arms. “Scootaloo, it's alright...” Blaze, unaware of the inner turmoil of his daughter mind, heard her mumble something in her sleep and started to squirm in his grasp. “Your safe at home now, just take it slow.” As he spoke his words she struggled harder against his grip. “Oh crap she's still having a nightmare, umm what in all of Celestia's mane do I do? Wait, what was that mare's name? The one that she adores so much... Dash... Rainbow Dash that's it!” “Don't worry, you'll be as fast as Rainbow Dash some day. Most ponies would be lucky to catch a glance of you.” Blaze felt her struggling cease and let himself take a breath. “Okay, crisis averted. She's calm and I should try to keep her calm. If I talk about her friends, she should remember happier times.” Taking a breath Blaze drew up all he was told about her friends. “And lets not forget your two filly friends, they are great because of how they help you, pity they couldn't come.” Blaze was rewarded with a few moans and barely audible mumblings from the filly. “It's okay, you three tried all of last week and the one before to get your cutie marks, some of them were your ideas.” He didn't know how his own words were being twisted in her nightmare-fueled mind. “I believe you three will get your cutie marks, just you wait and see.”

“Okay, she's still calm, just keep going and she'll be fine.” Fate, however, was going to make Blaze eat those very words. “You can end this dream now, Scootaloo, just stop struggling and wake up. We can have breakfast together again.” Scootaloo moaned and mumbled something along the lines of love and leaving. “Hehehe, of course I love you, silly. Why do you think I came back? It's because of you.” Blaze smiled thinking he was making positive progress in his daughter's dream. “The fight I had with your mother before you were born, I will tell you what it's about, later. I'll tell you this much, if she had told me she was with you, I would have stayed.” Blaze was feeling good until a swift buck to his stomach caused his arms to fly wide open dropping the little filly to the floor.

“Crap!” Blaze's mind was reeling from the sudden attack and the act of dropping his daughter onto the floor. Ignoring the pain, he swiftly scooped up Scootaloo and looked her over. “No lost fur, no scraping, but she might be left with a bruise.” He stopped when he noticed her eyes upon him. They were wide and full of fear, of her nightmare or him he couldn't tell, but it was enough to convey that holding her any longer would be unwise. Placing her on her bed, Blaze took a step back from his daughter and as calmly as he could asked her a simple question. “Are you okay, Scootaloo?”

At first, she didn't respond. She was still shaken from the words her nightmare spoke. When Scootaloo lifted her head and looked into her father's concerned eyes , she broke down and cried. Her father was quick and had her in his hooves once again, clutching her tightly as she drained her eyes for what felt like the hundredth time since she lost her mother.

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Morning at Sweet-apple acres CMC headquarters

Sweetie Belle and Applebloom had been pouring over the tabloid all morning. They read the article roughly six times before finally calling it quits, having found the answer to who the mysterious mare on the cover was. All it stated was that the prominent member of the stunt team was sighted taking his inebriated captain to a hotel, and that in the three hours the reporter stood outside of the establishment, that no observation of Blazewing leaving was recorded. The rest of the article talked about the “Why a married stallion would do this?” and “What will this do to his career?” bit. While it remained professional, this reporter had painted the star pegasus in a very poor light.

To any reader or a child, the words were like a spike driven through their hearts and dreams, but to the two fillies reading it today, it was devastating. Not once in their young lives had they ever heard of such acts and more importantly, knew what to do about it.

“We can't tell Scootaloo!” Sweetie cried out after finishing the article.

“What? Why not?” Applebloom's perplexed stare bored into her friend.

“Because if she finds out about this, it will ruin her chance at having a father and he might send her back to the orphanage!” Sweetie waved her hooves in the air to emphasize the direness of the situation.

“Now tell me why would he go and do a thing like that?” Bloom understood the basic contents of the tabloid. Blaze did something wrong and was caught in the act.

“Well... maybe this was what he was talking about back at Sugar Cube Corner. He said 'I wasn't what you would call a model citizen.' This has to be what he was talking about!” Sweetie's mind was racing. Of all the bad things that could happen. This is the. Worst. Possible. Thing! This could very well push her pegasus friend over the deep end.

“I don't doubt that Blaze did something that was wrong of him. This magazine just told us what it was. But Scootaloo needs ta know. It wouldn't be right if we didn't tell her.” Applebloom had been raised to be an honest pony, and she sure as stars wasn't going to start down the wrong path, like those unicorn brothers some time back.

“But she lost her mom. Now what would happen if she lost her dad too? She might do something horrible like... like... Like run away or something!” Sweetie was quickly losing her mind with renewed worry.

“Well, you know what we need to do if that happens?” Applebloom eyed her friend and fellow crusader. “We make sure she knows we care about her like we did two years ago. We helped her then and, by Celestia, we'll help her again.”

Sweetie nodded and steeled herself, for she knew what came next. Applebloom trotted up to her and they bumped hooves, looked to the sky and shouted together. “With Celestia as our witness, we will help Scootaloo with her cheating father!”

Elsewhere in Canterlot, the regent of the sun and co-ruler of Equestria groaned in frustration.

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Breakfast was awkward to say the least. Scootaloo never made eye contact with her father as she slowly munched on some oatmeal with banana slices and honey. Blaze was worried for her, but he had to think of a way to bring her out of this depressing state. Then an idea popped into his head and a great grin crossed his face. “Hay, Scoots.” His cheesy grin grew as she looked up from her food. “I remember Bang telling some of the new techs to lock the firecracker box last night.” He watched as Scootaloo tilted her head to the side, clearly wondering what he was going on about. “If I remember correctly, Long Fuze should have been on duty and he always forgets to lock it. How about we give my team a wake up call?” Blaze was rewarded with perked ears, wide eyes, and an almost devilish grin. “Finish your oatmeal quickly, we don't have much time.” Blaze was mentally patting himself on the back. “Offer the prospect of fun and most fillies and colts will forget their blues in an instant.” After placing the bowls on the room service dolly, Blaze and Scootaloo were soon flying over the fairgrounds with their goal of mirth and mischief.

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As Blaze soon found out, he had found that his memory was spot on, but unfortunately Flash Bang was already awake and chewing the younger stallion's ears off.

“If I've told you once, I've had to tell you a hundred times! Never leave the fireworks box unlocked! How is it that you forget the same task every single night?” Bang's yelling carried over the crew setting up the rows of seats for tonight's show. Long Fuze was shaking in his hooves. No matter how many time he ended up on the receiving end of Bang's anger, it was never easier to deal with.

Crouching low and whispering into Scootaloo's ear, Blaze instructed the tiny filly to search for a brown box with red and yellow lettering then meet him back here. With that done, it was now time for his part. “Good morning, everypony!”

Flash Bang and Long Fuze turned and stared at the overly joyful stunt devil. “You're in a good mood today. I didn't expect you to be up this early, Blaze.” Bang had more than enough experience with Blaze's pranking. Her sarcastic greeting betrayed her suspicions of his behavior from the get go.

Blaze continued to smile hoping that Bang had not yet remembered that he had Scootaloo, his new partner in crime. “Good hotel beds are only a sweet second to any cloud I could sleep on, but the food is worth the wake up call.” He saw Scootaloo drop into the open container of carefully wrapped explosives and begin her rummaging. He needed to stall for more time. “I take it Fuze forgot to lock the fireworks box again?”

Long Fuze pulled his ears back and dropped his head lower to the ground. “Oh, don't get me started again Blaze. It's bad enough that he forgets to lock it on normal days, but to forget it on a show night! Had it not been for Tough Luck, some joker would have found the box wide open for Celestia's sake.” Her emphasis on 'wide open' made Fuze thankful of the earth pony twins and hoped that a pay dock was all he would get this time around.

Blaze laughed. He loved how Bang over exaggerated the incident. Only Bang, the captain, Dust Devil, and himself, knew that the fuses for all the fireworks were hidden. Any pony who didn't know the location of it was in for a nasty surprise. Motion from the box caught his attention as a purple and orange blur made its way from the box. “Okay Fuze, I gotta say try not to let this happen again. While nothing was stolen this time, you'd better thank Tough Luck for saving your flank.” Turning to Bang with a less than happy face. “I know he's under your management, but please remember that he is your second hoof and apprentice.” With that Blaze winked at Bang and cantered out to the mobile trailers used for places with less the prime hotels.

Flash Bang groaned and dismissed Fuze. Trotting over to the explosives box, she found it to be in horrid disarray. “Wait, it was all in order just a minute ago. Fuze didn't do this and Blaze couldn't have then...” As the realization struck her, it was already to late. “BLAZE, don't you dare corrupt that little filly!” The screech from the captain's room rang out accompanied by the bursting of tiny firecrackers.

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Blaze and Scootaloo were both rolling on the floor of the trailer as the captain was awoken by the rapid popping of firecrackers underneath her bed. The rude awakening had frayed the captain's mane as she fell out of bed. The laughter from the two died down as Sunbright tried to get her mane back in order while glaring at them. “I should have seen this coming. Knowing the trickster you are Blaze, I should have known you'd get her to help you with pranking. I had hoped it wouldn't be so soon.” With a sigh, Sunbright set the hoof-brush down and looked over her mane for any out of place hair. “Now, since you've gone and woke me up, you are to report outside for overdue flight training and pre-show warmup.” She turned to Blaze, mouth open to continue her rant, if a certain little filly hadn't cut her off.

“OH, can I watch!” Scootaloo put on her best cute filly face. Every time she tried to use this on her mother, it failed, but most other adults crumbled at it. And Sunbright was no different.

“It's just a quick flight test to make sure he hasn't lost his edge, but I guess so.” Sunbright was caught off guard at the filly's actions. She had been almost sure that Scootaloo would avoid her after last night, or maybe it was her desire to watch a pro at work. “Okay, enough stalling. Blaze outside now!”

Blazewing cantered outside and started stretching. A few audible pops later and he was done. With a short leap, he was in the air and climbing higher with every beat of his wings.

Scootaloo turned to the captain. “What were those popping noises? Do they hurt?” She was a tad worried that they may be a bad sign.

“All that popping was him loosening up his joints. Sometimes, they hurt, but it fades quickly and if you're wondering, no, they aren't dangerous or bad. Most ponies pop their joints, but you shouldn't do it just yet.” Sunbright never took her eyes off of Blaze as she answered the little filly's questions. “Blaze, your right side is too tense and you're drifting off!”

Scootaloo watched as her father made loops and wide arcing turns. So far, this warmup was lame. She had seen Dash do much more complex maneuvers just for her warmups. “Come on, dad, show us what you got!” She cried out in hopes of something better.

“Ah, youth, how often had I done the same to my parents when I watched them.” Blaze laughed to himself and decided to indulge her. With one final loop, he dropped into a vertical dive straight to his daughter.

When her father dived, Scootaloo panicked. He was coming down too fast and was going to land right on top of her! She scrambled away from the projected impact zone only to be jerked off her hooves and flung into the air. Instinctively, her wings flared open and beat wildly to keep her aloft. Her head and legs scrunched up as close to her body as they could. Her eyes clamped shut in fear of seeing the ground, but yet, the only sound heard was the sound of her own frantic fluttering. Slowly, her eyes creaked open, and to what did she see? None other than her father on the ground, holding her aloft with a single hoof and a slap happy grin on his face.

“You need to learn a few things about daredevils, Scoots. When you call us out, we will do something crazy.” Setting the now disgruntled filly down, the captain came strutting up with a little giggle.

“Alright, Blaze, enough scaring the daylights out of your kid. We need to talk about a few things so find her a quick foalsitter.” Sunbright turned and trotted away then called over her shoulder. “I'll be in the trailer.”

The grin Blaze wore faded, replaced by a more blank and emotionless facade. After his captain was out of sight, he turned to Scoots with a subdued smile. “Sorry, Scoots, I was hoping for a little more time, but I got to get some work done.”

“Work? I thought the show was your work?” Scootaloo cocked an eyebrow at her father, trying to catch him in a lie.

Blaze didn't stumble, but took a moment to decide on how much of the business side of his work to talk about. “... Yes, the show is what I do, but it goes a bit deeper than that. We have finances to do, deal with ponies who work for us that haven't been doing what they are suppose to, ponies that want to be employed with us or want to join our act. We also have to decide on what town or city to perform at next, send letters to notify the mayor and we either receive an acceptance or rejection letter in return. We choose what set of tricks and stunts to beforehoof, but the audience chooses which one of us will do what stunt.”

Scootaloo tried to wrap her mind around the amount of work done behind the stage, over what she thought was the actual work. She wondered if the Wonderbolts had do the same things as her father did. “Oh, I thought you only had to do cool stunts and be awesome.”

Blaze burst out laughing for he also thought the same way in his youth. “Well, I've already delayed that work for three whole day now, so let's go find somepony to watch over you.” With that said, Blaze picked up Scootaloo, placed her on his back and headed into the tent to find some unlucky pony to foalsit.

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“Excuse me, Miss Sassaflash!” The arctic blue pegasus halted her weather duties to find the pony who called her. “Down here!” Casting her eyes to the ground, she spotted two little fillies, a white unicorn and a yellow earth pony. What could these little fillies need of her? She dropped from the sky and landed in front of them.

Sweetie Belle waited patiently as the pegasus landed in front of her. “I'm sorry to bother you, Ms. Sassaflash. My friend and I are doing a paper for school and we're hoping to ask you a few questions.” Sweetie knew Applebloom didn't want her to lie, but they had to find the truth, and who better to ask than another pegasus.

Sassaflash smiled at the fillies. “Sure, I'll help you out. What do you need to know?” Sass could take a few minutes away from her job.

“Great, thank you!” Applebloom pulled out a small note pad as Sweetie levitated a quill, ready to write. “Okay, we're researching entertainers and how the public views them. The pony we've chosen is a stallion pegasus named Blazewing. He's a member of-”

“Blazewing of the Phoenix Wings daredevil trio! Oh, I love their shows, Blaze and Dust are such hunks. Oh, I wish they would come to Ponyville so I didn't have to take time off work...” Sassaflash had ranted and rave about the team for ten solid minutes. Sweetie's magic now drained, causing the quill to float lazily to the ground. “Oh dear, I'm sorry, I didn't realize how long I was talking. Why don't you rest here for a bit, I'll go grab a cloud so you two have some shade.” And she was off.

Sweetie slumped against Applebloom tired from using her magic for so long. “I think we need to find a pony that's not a fan.”

“Ah guess so, but we are just asking random ponies hoping that they know him. Oh, I know!” Applebloom grabbed Sweetie and took off.

Sweetie screeched as she was carted away. “Know? Know what, Applebloom?” Finding her hooves once again, she quickly matched the pace of her friend .

“I know who we need's ta talk to!” Applebloom in her jubilation, nearly plowed into several ponies.

“Who?!” Sweetie Belle said aggravated, having swiftly becoming annoyed at her friend and fellow crusader.

“Why, who else than a pegasus that knows all about doing tricks and stunts?” This only earned a glare from Sweetie, to which Applebloom responded with a goofy grin. “Rainbow Dash, silly!”

If Sweetie wasn't running, she would have facehoofed. Why hadn't she thought of that before. Surely, Dash would know more about Blaze and his team, even if her desire was to join a more known and loved group. “Right, let's find Dash and quick.”

//However back at the -tap tap- Humm? Yes, Pinkie, what is it? … … You wanted to do a fourth wall breaking joke. Well, I would love to, but it's not necessary right now. I promise you can have one in a future chapter... Yes, cross my heart hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. Okay, see ya later, Pinkie. Now, where was I? Oh yes. However, Scootaloo was in the care of Flash Bang, but not everything goes as we hope things to!\\

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Scootaloo held a grin so large, it threatened to stick like that. It hadn't been more than half an hour since Flash Bang was unceremoniously recruited to foalsit, but in that time, Scootaloo had learned a lot about her father as a colt. The whole flamethrower repair was just the tip of the iceberg. Blaze was well known to climb to any high point: trees, scaffolding and buildings were not safe from his enthusiastic endeavors. He even tricked another pegasus to fly him into the air, just to jump off and scare the daylight out of him. This trend of climbing and jumping was so bad, Blaze's parents had to find wing binders to try and control this. According to Bang, it failed all, but twice, and left his elders far more stressed.

A brown stallion came rushing over to the mare and filly. “Ms. Bang! We need help over here. Cannons one and two aren't functioning properly and we can't find the problem.”

With a sigh, Bang looked to Scootaloo. “Can you stay here for a minute? I need those cannons for tonight... On second thought, Short Fuse come over here!”

A disgruntled young unicorn stallion came trotting over, his short turquoise mane was half dyed a darker blue and looking quite odd against his lime green coat. “Yes, Ms. Bang?” The stallion's voice made it well known that he didn't like what was coming.

Bang ignored his obvious irritation. “I need to deal with the cannons and can't take little Scoots over there. I need you to watch her until I'm done, got it?” Bang's voice told of her years in dealing with ponies, and this tone meant he had no choice.

Short Fuse gave a heavy sigh of defeat. “Alright, come on,” motioning Scootaloo to follow him over to where he was working. He sat down in front of a black box, the top portion had more than a dozen wires protruding from it. Below them were two rows of red lights, each marked with a number. To the lower left side, a large red button covered by some glass, to the right, a key was stuck in the box next to two lights, one yellow, the other red.

Scootaloo marveled at the mysterious nature of this box as the older stallion used his magic to adjust wires. “What does this do?”

Short Fuse groaned as the growing headache began to bloom. “It's called a detonator, and it's used to set off the fireworks for the show's ending.” Short knew that was not going to be last of her questions.

“Cool! What does this button do?” Before Short Fuse could stop her, Scootaloo lifted the glass and pressed the large red button. The two rows of red light lit up along with the yellow one near the key.

Everything was silent for a moment as Short held his breath, his eyes wide with fear. Another moment passed, then all the red lights blinked off. Short's sigh conveyed his displeasure with the little filly's action. “Listen, Scoots or whatever your name is, had this been armed, you would have set off all of our fireworks and leaving us with nothing for the crowd tonight. You would have wasted thousands of bits worth of fireworks and possibly injured somepony still working in the area.”

Scootaloo backed away from near-enraged stallion. Though he was keeping his voice low, he made no attempt to hide his anger. “I-I'm sorry.” She didn't want to turn her back for fear he may turn violent.

“You should be sorry. To what stallion or mare that raised you apparently didn't teach you very well. Be thankful that nothing bad happened this time, because should you touch something that's not yours might get you into more trouble than you can handle. Now do us all a favor and get out of here, this is no place for you or any foal for that matter.” With his rant done, Short Fuse turned away from Scootaloo and once again set himself to his work.

Scootaloo huffed at him and took off. It's not like she broke anything. She had wanted to scream at him for what he said. He knew nothing of how kind and caring her mother was. Of all the things that she had taught her, and had yet to teach her. Scootaloo looked up and found herself outside near a few trailers. She could hear voices from some of them, others, she heard snoring. “Okay, that will conclude the finances and progress for tonight, we'll talk about the towns that have requested us tomorrow. You are all dismissed.” Even though Scootaloo had only met the mare just last night, Sunbright's voice came through loud and clear. Scoots made her way around to the back of the trailer, found some boxes, and swiftly climbed to a partly open window. Peeking inside, she saw a few ponies shuffling out except for her father and the captain.

Once all of the ponies had left, Blaze picked himself up and yawned loudly. Smacking his lips a few times while rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he turned to his captain. “You are a damn great flier and a damn good captain, but your ability to put me to sleep during these meetings is beyond my understanding.” Grunting a little as he stretched out his stiff muscles.

Scootaloo continued to watch as her father, but got distracted by the captain as she sauntered over to him. Blaze finished and was going to speak, had Sunbright not grabbed his face and locked her lips to his. Scoots was at loss for words. The more she stared at the two kissing, the more she wanted to bust in there and stop it.

Blaze broke the kiss by gently pushing his captain away. “I do expect you to control yourself, you know. I have a daughter and she takes priority.” To Scootaloo, his voice was flat and emotionless.

“Oh, I expected you to say that Blazey Wayzy.” The sultry tone from Sunbright was on, and the more she heard it, the more she felt disgusted at the captain. “I know you would never willingly abandon a mare, no matter how young.” The captain giggled before she continued. “You know I love you and if it helps at all, I'd treat her her as if she were mine.”

Scootaloo was confused at the captain's remark. Was she implying that she could replace her mother? If so, she was so wrong. There was no way her father would marry her. She glanced at her father so she could judge his reaction to this, but found the same emotionless stare. “I'll think about it.” Scootaloo didn't know how to take this. Was he truly willing to marry his captain just so she would have a mother? She already had a mother. Granted, she was gone, but that didn't mean she needed another one. Quietly as she could, Scootaloo climbed down from the boxes and made her way back to the tent. She found Short Fuse still working on the detonator from before. Plopping herself a few hoofsteps away, she thought about how her father's response. Scootaloo now wanted answers from her father. How he felt about her, her mother, and his captain. She didn't have long to think as Blaze trotted up to her, a bright smile on his face as if nothing had happened.

“Come on, Scoots, let's grab some lunch.” Blaze blissfully unaware that his daughter had witnessed his captain's actions.

For the first time Scootaloo's smile was fake. She decided right there to get to the bottom of why her parents split so long ago. As soon as she got home, she would get Applebloom and Sweetie Belle to help. She knew they would help. For now, she would enjoy this time with her father, because she felt what she may find, might not be pleasant.

//Even now two -CRASH- What the? Dash, what are you doing here? … … You came all the way over here just to ask when your next scene is... Well, guess what, you can show us just how fast you truly are as you get back to Ponyville in time for your scene which is next. -ZOOM- -BOOM- now, where was I again? Oh, right. \\

Even now, two little fillies trekked across Ponyville in search of the local rainbow maned pegasus, hoping to end their search for Blaze's past on a high note.

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“Come on, Sweetie, she's got ta be around here somewhere.” Applebloom, despite what others would say, had the most energy out of the three crusaders.

Sweetie, panting a little from running all over Ponyville, was searching the sky for the cyan pegasus. “I don't see her. Maybe we could ask a pegasus to look for her.”

“Look for who?” A very distinct voice rang out from behind the two fillies.

Applebloom and Sweetie turned around in the blink of an eye to face the very cyan pegasus. Dash was covered in sweat and was breathing heavily. “Are ya ok Rainbow?” Applebloom inquired.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just doing some practice since it's my day off.” Dash wipes some moisture from her brow. “Who are you looking for that you need a pegasus to help search?”

“Actually, we were looking for you, Rainbow.” Sweetie looked to the older mare. “We were hoping that you could answer a question that me and Bloom have.”

Dash, now fully in control of her breathing, eyed the two fillies. She was nervous about what they could, or for that matter, might ask her. “Ah, sure, what did ya wanna ask?” At the very least, she could fly away or simply direct them to Rarity or AppleJack if they asked her something... inappropriate.

“When Scootaloo introduced her father, ya said he was famous.” Applebloom had paused for only a second.

Mentally giving a breath of relief, Dash silently thanked Celestia it wasn't the birds and the bees question. “Oh, he's famous, alright. He's been nominated as one of the most hunkiest stallions in all of Equestria. I still think Soarin is better. Blazewing and his family I think are one of the three original pegasus families that started it... oh, I think one hundred and twenty some years ago...but the Wonderbolts have been around for much longer.” Dash was going to continue, but was quickly interrupted.

“That's not exactly what we wanted to know...” Sweetie cringed a little inside when Dash gave her a questioning glance. “We wanted to know if he had ever been in trouble... He did say he was a prankster, and we wanted to know if he ever went... too far?” Her eyes fell down as she pawed the ground. She hadn't actually wanted to ask so bluntly, but what's done is done.

Dash was perplexed at her question. She had expected something like 'How old is he?' or 'Do you think he's cool'. Were these two really looking for something bad about him? “Why do you want to know?” She may not be an egghead, but she wanted to know what brought this on.

“We heard a rumor that he did som'in bad and that's why he left Ponyville. We know how bad rumors can get, especially when they're untrue.” Applebloom gave a quick nod to Sweetie. Both of them still remembered the mess that was caused by them printing stories as Gabbygums.

Dash nodded. She had once again underestimated these two. They weren't out to hurt him or keep him from Scootaloo. “Okay, I guess you've heard something about him, but when it comes down to it, there is only one thing most ponies talk about when he's the topic. Did he cheat on his wife? To this day, nopony really knows if he did it or not. He denied it publicly, but some ponies believe that makes him guilty. But take my advice and don't tell Scootaloo.”

The two fillies looked to Dash slightly confused before asking in unison. “Why?

“Because, Scootaloo is my number one fan and you both know she lost her mother. I don't think she wants to hear her father's a bad pony on top of that.” Dash watched over the fillies as they thought about this. She continued. “I'll tell you two a secret.” When she had both of their attentions, she let this one failure be known to them. “After Scoots went to the orphanage, I couldn't stand to see her like that. So I tried to adopt her.”

“What!?” Is what they tried to screech, but a hoof was waiting for them.

“Yes, I tried to adopt Scootaloo, but the orphanage said I didn't meet the standards for adoption.” Dash removed her hooves from the two and bowed her head. “They said I didn't qualify, because I was too young and I was unmarried.” She growled these words, her anger showing through. “And I did everything right. I showed them that I made more than enough bits to support the two of us. My job was steady and in good standing but...” Dash paused and took a deep breath. It wasn't worth breaking down here in front of two fillies that were best friends to Scootaloo. “But the one thing that ended it was me and my stupid mouth saying, 'I was going to be a Wonderbolt'. They told me that if that was my goal professionally, then adoption was out of the question. They said the life of a famous pony carting around a filly from city to city could be seen as bad publicity for me and bad for her. They also told me that if she didn't have a permanent home, that 'She wouldn't get the proper education she needed.' All I wanted to do was make her happy again, and I know she would've been happy with me. I just had to open my big fat mouth!”

When Dash slumped, both Applebloom and Sweetie ran up and hugged her. They too had begged their families to adopt Scoots, but were shot down. “It's okay, Rainbow, we know you did the best you could. I'm sure Scootaloo would be happy to hear that you cared enough to try and adopt her.” Sweetie was hopeful that her words would cheer up the cyan pegasus.

“I know you're right.” Dash giving the two another hug before letting them down. “But that's why I don't want to see her family fall apart again. She's already lost her mother, she doesn't need to lose the only other family she has too.”

Sweetie and Applebloom gave a firm nod to the older pegasus. The two were glad that their investigation came to a halt. As long as Blazewing was a good father to Scootaloo, then nothing else mattered. The happiness of their friend was far more important than digging up some old dirt. “Ya' know, I think we should get somethin' ta eat. All this work has made me hungry.”

Dash laughed. Only Applejack and her family would rebound so quickly, and turn to food no less. “That sounds pretty good about now. Sugar Cube Corner, my treat.”

With a resounding “YAY!” from the two fillies, the three of them were off to the famed confectionery.

****************************************************************

It was time. Time for the most glorious event of all night. The Phoenix Wings daredevil event and, for Scootaloo, the very event she had been waiting for all day. To finally see her father in action. From her front row seat, she could see everything. Of all the working ponies behind the scenes making sure this event went smoothly, one of them was called as an escort for her. Long Fuze was the poor unfortunate soul this time. Many of the ponies around Scootaloo oohed and awed as the performers did many things: An earth pony Tightrope walking while balancing spinning plates on their heads, making a pony pyramid over ten ponies high, an earth pony and unicorn couple were swinging high above the air as they flipped around and caught the other. Scootaloo had seen a circus before, but none of them matched up to this.

Barely noticed by the crowd, a beige mare in a black vest and top hat entered the center of the tent. “And now, the moment you've all been waiting for. The fabulous trio of flaming pegasi. The Phoenix Wings!” Erupting from the ground, three pegasi emerged. Their bodies fully covered by a red and orange flight suit. The suits played tricks on the eyes of every pony watching, for each one was made to stylize a phoenix against the body of the pegasus wearing it. A flash emitted from the three as they broke off, lighting the air on fire with brilliant orange, yellow, and red flames. Scootaloo cheered like all the other ponies as the three came to rest on a platform up near the top of the tent. “For you first timers, let me introduce you to our lovely fireball of a captain, Sunbright!” The captain removed her goggles and waved to the ponies below. “Our next member, who's devilishly handsome and whips the wind into a fury, Dust Devil!” Dust removed his own goggles and waved to the crowd. “And lastly our biggest and a powerhouse of a pony, who has been with the group since birth, Blazewing!” Unlike the others, Blaze dropped off the platform to do a flyby on the crowd below before returning to his teammates.

Several young mares squealed and called out to him as he flew by, foalishly hoping to be the one he'd fall in love with. To Blaze, it was the same old song and dance with every love struck mare, a smile, a wink, and off he flew. When he landed on the platform next to Dust, he gave a short tap to Dust's hind leg.

Dust in turn eyed his friend. It had been a long time since he'd gave that non-verbal cue to go before him in a show. Something was obviously bugging him, even beyond the problems he was going to face with his daughter. A nod of acknowledgment and Dust moved into position.

The announcer spoke again, dispelling the cries of joy from the crowd. “The first up is our lovely captain. Now, for our first-timers, in front of you are three buttons, you get one vote for sending our captain on 'The Free Fall', 'Cannonball Rescue' or 'The Roaring Dragon'! Make your choice now!”

Scootaloo examined the buttons before her, each held a picture of what stunt to be chosen. A falling pony for the first, a cannon for the second and the head of a dragon for the last. Unsure which one to pick, Scoots turned to Long Fuze. “Which one do I pick?”

Long Fuze thought for a moment before answering. “Free Fall is her best one out of the three, I think that would be the best choice.”

Giving the older stallion a thankful smile, she pressed the button.

“And all the votes are in!” The announcer rang out again. “The Captain will suffer the Free Fall! Wrap her up boys!” With the announcer's words, Blaze and Dust pulled a wing restraint brace and tied Sunbright tightly. The announcer didn't brake the audience's sight on the now flightless captain. “Captain Sunbright, whenever you are ready!”

Up on the platform, Sunbright took a few deep breaths. Her normal routine was interrupted when she felt a wing poke her in the side. A quick look confirmed that it was Blaze that had poked her, but what happened next, she had never expected. With a swift thrust of his hips, Blaze had sent the captain over the side and into open air. Upon feeling gravity take hold of her, Sunbright quickly brought a small copper rod with tiny barely noticeable leavers to her mouth. “What in all of Celestia's mane did he do that for?! Is he trying to get me killed or something?!”

When the crowd saw this, they cheered, thinking it was nothing more then a twist on the show. As the captain fell, the crowd gripped the rails in front of them. Closer and closer she fell and Scootaloo became worried when Sunbright had passed the mid point.

“Crap, damn you, Blaze!” The captain, out of options, squeezed the very tip of the copper rod. A dull click told her just what she wanted to know. With less then a few feet to go, the brace popped off and the captain soared over the crowd with the cheers following behind her. She landed back on the platform, a bright smile and wave of her hoof sent the audience into a roaring applause.

“Amazing! What a sight of skill that was folks! I hope you are ready for more because Dust Devil is up next, and we only have two stunts left. Which will it be, The Cannonball Rescue, or The Roaring Dragon!?” Most had ignored the announcer in the beginning, but when Dust was called forth, the crowd burst into action to make their next choice. “Quick to vote, I see. I like that about you ponies. For Dust, it's Cannonball Rescue!” A team of earth ponies wheeled out a set of four cannons, each one big enough to fit a full grown mare or stallion.

Scootaloo looked to Long Fuze. “Are they doing what I think they're doing? Are they going to shoot ponies out of those cannons?”

Long Fuze turned his head to gaze at the inquisitive little filly. “Yeah, it's the only flight stunt that involves other ponies.”

“That's so cool!” Scootaloo nearly screeched at the top of her lungs. For a single moment, she actually wanted to be shot out of the cannons and into the open hooves of her father. But the moment passed with the resounding boom from the first cannon being fired. Scootaloo watched as a cream colored earth pony was shot out of the first cannon. The pony squealed as she fell, the mare was soon caught by the strong hooves of Dust and lowered to the ground. Peace was quickly swept away as the firing of two cannons forced Dust into action again to save the lives of more ponies. Upon the sound of the third round of cannon fire, one of the daredevils flew in front of Blaze and the captain. At this point, Scootaloo stopped admiring Dust and his stunt, to watch her father and Sunbright yelling at each other. Between the roar of the crowd and the cannon fire, Scootaloo couldn't make a word of what they were saying. However, their faces displayed their fury. Scootaloo watched as her father, his face contorted in anger, shouting at his captain and long time colleague. For every shout Blaze made, Sunbright had one ready and waiting in return, the anger on her face matching that of her father's. Scootaloo wished she could hear what the two were fighting about, and hoped that her father didn't get fired over whatever this was about. With one final blast of a cannon, the crowd erupted in cheers as Dust lowered the final daredevil to the ground. With a wave and a smile, he launched himself back to the platform, where Blaze and Sunbright were now smiling at the audience below.

The announcer once again called for the audience's attention. “Ladies and gentlecolts. The stallion you've all been waiting for... Blazewing!” Blaze reared up, splaying his wings, and the crowd went nuts. They stomped the ground, cheered, and started to chant his name as he kept their attention firmly on him. Meanwhile, members of his crew were quickly setting up for the last stunt. “Now, it is time for our most beloved flier to face his own creation, The Roaring Dragon!”

From his vantage point high above the crowd, Blaze watched as his crew moved sets of rings around the tent. The setup was different almost every time, but today was one of the more grand displays of this trick. After the rings were finally set into place, the true danger of this stunt flared to life. Directly below him, the maw of a dragon greeted him, writhing in bright orange and red flames. Blaze's eyes traveled around as the rest of the flaming mass as it came alive. Past the head, the long serpent-like body twisted and corkscrewed down close to the floor before it curved up into a straight, but steep climb. At the peak of this arch, its body became vertical to the ground and then curved into a much smaller spiral before ending with another draconian head. “Oh, right, I forgot about the fire... although, that is not the problem.” Blaze looked down at the flaming dragon and saw the true problem. He had been much younger and far smaller the last time he did this trick. Now, there was barely enough room for his wings as he passed through the rings of fire. With a heavy sigh, Blaze steeled himself.

From the spectators stand, Scootaloo watched as her father fell from his platform and into the fire. Then, all she could do was wait with baited breath. The orange and yellow flames masked where her father was inside. A cry rang out from the middle of the flaming corkscrew as one of the many rings wobbled, and then another. With each new wobble, a deeper silence fell over the stands as they watched the fire drake rock. Each shake marking each impact as Blaze made his spiral down. The base of the first spiral rocked with a unnervingly loud crack and silence filled the air. The long body of the fire dragon rocked smoothly to and fro, but the crowd poised at the edge of their seats wondering if Blaze's accent would be disastrous.

Then, without warning, the arched back of the dragon flared a bright yellow. To the patrons, it was a pretty display of fire and magic, to the crew it was a nightmare. Using the shadows to her advantage, Flash Bang moved around the edge of the performance field with much haste. Now at the final spiral, the wobbling intensified. Scootaloo and the rest of the spectators held their breath. To the little orange filly, the last remaining seconds dragged on for eternity. She hadn't realized how she had gone from sitting to standing on her hind legs flapping her tiny wings to keep her steady, hoping that her father would make it out alright.

With a resounding bang of wing on metal, Blaze clipped the last ring as he pulled out of the flaming dragon's maw, followed by a bright trail of orange and yellow flames. Scootaloo cried out in mixture of relief and joy to see her father complete the stunt, but something was wrong. Cries of shock and fear rang out through the crowd as Scootaloo realized that her father was on fire.

Blaze was flying in a wide circle over the stunt grounds, one too many contacts with the flaming rings had transferred the liquid used to keep the rings burning onto his suit. When the pain hit him, Blaze then realized how much trouble he was in. The fire had eaten away at his flight suit and now was burning away fur, feathers and flesh. The heat was unbearable and the pain blurred his vision, the screams from the crowd drowned out the yelling from Sunbright, who was standing next to a tank filled with water. Flash Bang broke her cover and levitated the tank of water in front of Blaze. With a splash and a mighty crack, Blaze hit the water and the bottom of the tank. The audience went dead silent as the tank was lowered back to the ground, black smoke emanating from the container.

Scootaloo jumped over barrier and ran as fast as her legs could carry her over to the tank. With adrenalin pumping, she leapt to the tank and looked inside. She saw her father sitting in knee high water breathing hard. His suit was burned off completely, his pelt was charred black on his left side, half of his mane and tail were burnt off and not a single feather was left unsinged. The stench of the burning flesh nearly made her vomit, but Scootaloo was forcefully removed from the tank by the pyrotechnic pink unicorn. She emitted an ear piercing scream as she was yanked away.

Upon hearing his daughter's cry, Blaze bounded out of the tank to face his daughter's attacker. Brushing his wet mane out of his eyes, he caught sight of the head pyrotechnic holding Scootaloo. The audience's gasp at the damage Blaze had sustained nearly deafened Blaze's voice. “Bang, you can let her go now.” He hobbled over to the filly struggling to free herself. “Scootaloo, I'm alright.”

The sound of her father's pained voice made her thrashing pause long enough to watch Blaze fall to his good side. With one last jerk, she was freed from the unicorn's grasp. With a plop, she hit the ground and scurried over to her father.

Sunbright and Dust flew over to view the damage done to their fellow entertainer. The captain poked lightly at his left shoulder and heard only the hiss of pain. “Can you stand and finish or do we have to call them in?” As Sunbright waited for his reply, the little orange filly caught her eye. Before a she could get a word to leave her lips, Blaze rose to his hooves and spread his wings wide.

Despite the sight of his charred left side, the crowd cheered as Blaze got to his hooves. With a smile to the audience, he gave a bow, eliciting a round of hoof stomps and and cheers as the famous daredevil cheated death once more. With a look to Sunbright and a nod, Blaze turned, placed his good wing over his daughter, and headed to the dressing rooms outside the tent.

Comments

[The desert brony]

My longest chapter to date... and over two months of work to get it done

[Cinnamon Clover]

[The desert brony]

1596672 I'm glad you like it

[Cold Spike]

Well it was certainly done well enough, action scenes are always difficult for me to describe but this chapter did it better than anything I could ever type.

[The desert brony]

1613912 It took me a good amount of time to think of how I wanted the scene to play out, and I still feel like it could use improvement.