Star-Crossed School Days

by mechafone

The Truth About Family

Two weeks later, the four Pegasi friends returned to Cloudsdale to once again try to get in contact with Spark Storm's biological parents. He was all nerves as they casually walked down the cloud streets.

Along the way, Rainbow Dash explained that she only knew his parents by name and sight. She'd never met them. She also revealed that Spark's mother, Aurora Flash, was Dash's mother's sister.

Finally, they arrived at the big cloud home. While only one floor, it could be certainly fit in with the wealthy class.
Spark Storm sighed as questions raced through his mind. He wasn't sure if he could do this after all. Tears started to form in his eyes. He wanted so badly to know about them, but he was so afraid, and he felt so weak and terrible for doubting himself.

After a moment, he felt Ditzy lean into him. She nuzzled his side comfortingly, then pulled him into a hug with a wing. Sapphire joined in on his other side, and kissed his cheek. Even Rainbow Dash rubbed his back. With all his friends giving him support and love, he finally felt that maybe he could do this.

Just as he lifted a hoof to knock at the door, the door opened and out bolted a little colt, no older than two years old. Spark Storm backed away, then fell down one of the cloud steps. He stared at the colt. The colt stared at him.

The little foal looked just like him, save for his mane. It was three-toned; Yellow, black, and chromium. His tail was the same. The rest of the foal looked exactly like his big brother, black...and normal, healthy wings.

A tall, dark blue Pegasus mare with colorful wings stepped out of the doorway, reaching down to nuzzle the little foal. "Spectrum! What are you looking at..." She trailed off as she caught sight of Spark Storm. Her eyes were wide, and she had frozen, like a deer in headlights.

Mother and son both wore an expression of surprise and horror. Finally, Spark Storm got up and off down the street, leaving behind a stream of tears. Aurora looked dumbfounded. How did he even...She finally noticed the three mares slowly backing away from her. Catching sight of Rainbow Dash, who looked like she wanted to dig her way through the bottom of the clouds. "Oh! Sweet Celestia! What in the world were you thinking, bringing him here?" She yelled, her voice booming in afternoon air.

Aurora reached down and grabbed up her younger son and flying off in the opposite direction Spark had gone. Three Pegasi mares looked at each other, the same thought going through their heads: This could have gone better.

---

Spark Storm stopped at the edge of Cloudsdale, the spot overlooking Ponyville. He desperately wanted to get back there, but he had impulsively ran off without the girls. There was no going back without them. So...he had a brother. A little colt by the name of Spectrum. So his parents had dropped him off at the orphanage, forgotten about him, and had another foal. The more he thought about it, the more the tears threatened to fall. He heaved a sigh, which turned into a sob. His tears slowly dripped down his cheeks, and fell, lost to the abyss that existed between Cloudsdale and the earth.

He quickly made to get rid of his tears when he heard fluttering behind him. Expecting one of the girls, he was surprised when it was a Pegasus he hadn't seen for some time. It was the lanky, butter yellow Pegasus that had been bullied when he'd come here last to try to talk to his parents.

She looked at him like she wanted to comfort him, but she made no move to. He stared at her while she cast her eyes to the clouds at her hooves, daintily kicking at them and causing them to poof a little. After about two minutes of silence, he decided that she hadn't come to talk to him. He turned and started to head back into town to see if he could find the girls.

"Wait!" He turned back to the mare, who immediately looked down at the clouds again, hiding behind her hair. This time she looked back up at him after only a brief moment. "Um...I-if it's all right with you, can I talk to you?"

Spark sighed quietly. He had so much on his plate right now, but...he really did need to clear his head. Maybe talking with this shy pony would help. "Yeah. All right, sure. What did you want to talk about?"

Fluttershy blinked at him, then sat up a little straighter and stared at him with wide, kind eyes. "I-I just wanted to let you know...They didn't forget about you." It took him a moment to find her meaning. When he did, he frowned angrily.

"What?" He didn't even get how she knew what he was going through. "They did too forget about me!" He threw his hooves up in the air. "They threw me down there, and had another foal! They forgot about me!"

Fluttershy gasped with fright at Spark's outburst and pressed herself tightly against the cloud and hid her head under her hooves. Spark rolled his eyes to the heavens. Celestia, she was being annoying. He was about to yell at her and tell her so when he noted how much of a bully that would make him. He hated bullies.

With a bit more understanding for the situation, he reached down and rubbed her back soothingly. "Hey, I'm sorry. Please don't be frightened, you didn't do anything wrong." It took her a moment, but she finally looked up at him through her hair. He smiled gently at her, to which she smiled back and sat up again.

"So...what did you mean, 'they didn't forget about me'?" He asked gently.

"Well...my family knows Rainbow Dash's family well," She said, her voice so quiet it barely registered. "I remember my mother going to visit your mother. Mother used to tell me that when they talked about foals, your mother would get really sad. When my mother first asked her about it, she said that she lost something very dear to her."

Spark still didn't see what this had to do with him. Seeing his confusion, she pressed on. "This was before Chrome Spectrum was born, Spark...she was sad because she lost you." Spark Storm closed his eyes. He tried to imagine it. He tried to imagine his parents sad. Had they really been even a little remorseful at having to give him up? But...they went and had another foal. He felt torn. He still felt like he'd been given away because he was unloved.

---

Rainbow Dash darted this way and that through the streets of Cloudsdale. She'd been looking for ten minutes, but she just couldn't spot Spark Storm anywhere. She was beginning to panic; had he fallen off the clouds, or maybe...jumped? After a few more minutes she ran into Ditzy and Sapphire at a street corner at the end of town.

"Guys, I'm getting really worried! I can't find him anywhere, and it's getting late! You know how Cherry gets, if she doesn't get her baby back before the sun goes down..." Sapphire rolled her eyes at the snarky last bit Rainbow Dash spat out.

"What about the cloud edges? Maybe he went someplace that wouldn't have a lot of ponies." Ditzy suggested. The girls decided it was a good suggestion.

They didn't have to look long. Now that they were looking in the right direction, his dark colors, which greatly contrasted with the afternoon sky, was easy to spot at the edge of the clouds. As they approached, Dash stopped and held the others back. "Whoa. You guys wait here." Sapphire wasn't about to sit this out, but a hoof on the back from Ditzy convinced her to hold her tongue.

Rainbow Dash approached quietly so as not to disturb the scene in front of her. Fluttershy held a balled up Spark Storm in her forelegs. She brushed his mane tenderly, lest he wake up. Dash sighed as she got closer and snuggled next to her cousin. With just a glance at Fluttershy, the two friends placed their heads on the dark Pegasus, deigning to protect and love their new friend from the harsh realities that he had suffered today.

Comments

[LizzieLizard]

what did that brat SAY to her?! poor cheerilee...

[Jacensolo43]

I've seen my friends be called things that made me want to tear the speakers apart, but my friends never cried from it (or at least not that i know). What in the world did that ... What did he say to her!?

[mrmayortheiv]

That scene was pretty cool, I have a little sister so I can totally relate to how he is feeling (even if Cheer is older). He seems to be getting pretty tough.