Raison D'être

by mechafone

52 - The Changeling Of Ponyville pt 2

Anorax swallowed hard as he saw his music player in Spark's hooves. He sucked in a breath, then let out, and with a big, goofy grin said, "Spark! Ol' buddy!" Spark blinked with confusion as Anorax came in for a hug. "How long's it been, anyway, bro?" Spark narrowed his eyes as his old friend made a large sweeping gesture for the dark pegasus to enter. "Where'd you get that device? Looks pretty sweet!"

Spark entered the house. It was spacious and well-decorated. Whatever Anorax' parents did for a living, they weren't wanting. As Spark glanced around the room, his eyes returned to Anorax. He hadn't really taken the time to notice, but his friend had really grown. And apparently changed races. With the white carapace and red coloring where other Changelings were green, there was no way the red-haired pegasus wasn't hiding something from Spark.

"So, what's been going on, guy? Did you come to set me up with another gig? Are we having another rally for...ugh...Ditzy?" Spark turned to stare at Anorax suspiciously.

Anorax looked from side to side nervously as Spark turned completely to face him. "Anorax, I've gotta ask you something, and I want you to take me seriously. What do you know about Changelings?"

The white pegasus felt his blood start pumping. He was really caught now..."Ch-chaaahh-what? What's a Changeling?" he asked in a completely unconvincing voice. He cleared his throat and started toward the kitchen. "C-can I get you something to eat? What do you eat, anyway? C'mon, let's-" Anorax was cut off as Spark held a hoof out, blocking the white pegasus from entering the kitchen. He swallowed hard as Spark Storm leaned in close. The look in his eyes told Anorax that he was deadly serious.

"Yoo hoo, comin' in!" A young, feminine voice called from the kitchen as the back door opened. Anorax's eyes opened wide as he recognized Lyra's voice. I forgot! Lyra's coming over to swap musical studies! Anorax thought. Before he could open his mouth to warn her, he heard Lyra's favorite greeting for him and knew it was all over: "How's my favorite Halfling?"

Spark Storm's eyes widened, as Anorax' eyes dilated in horror. The two continued to stare at each other in silence as Lyra made her way into the room, prancing happily until she saw the tense scene. Lyra looked from Spark Storm to Anorax and back, back to Anorax, then Spark. The silence and the stares between the three of them was overwhelmingly telling. Finally, Lyra broke the silence by jumping over to Spark and catching him in a tight hug.

"Spark Storm, you're home! It's so good to see you, buddy! We missed you!" Spark glared silently at Anorax, who by now had gotten over the relative shock of being called Halfling in front of Spark. He'd have no choice but to disclose his secret at this point. Lyra finally released Spark after she realized he wasn't hugging her back. She cleared her throat uncomfortably. Still, not to be deterred, Lyra stood on her hind legs and leaned against Spark's back, balanced on an elbow.

"So. How's life treating you?" she asked, now attempting to completely ignore the situation. Spark glared at his old friend. Was she really going to do this now? She always had the oddest habits of standing like a biped. Now that he thought about it, a little bit like Sohl. And now that he was thinking of Sohl, this brought his train of thought right back to the Changelings.

"Halfling?" he finally said. He turned to Anorax, ignoring the unicorn leaning on his back. "I'll admit I'm a little confused, Anorax. I know that was you I saw in the woods earlier, but you don't look like any Changeling I've ever seen. Now spill it! Are you even Anorax?!" Spark started to advance angrily, causing Anorax to back away from his friend in fear.

Without wasting a second, Lyra jumped in front of Anorax to defend him, her horn lighting up in a light greenish hue. "Aequivalere perturbare!*" she called, her voice amplified and sounding as if it were coming from everywhere in Spark's ears. The sound itself did things to Spark's sight, hearing, sense of balance. Everything was swimming as her voice continued to bounce around in his head.

"Whoa, what...what'd you..." Spark tried to shake the feeling, but that only made his dizziness worse. Spark let out a pained yelp as he felt Lyra grab his left ear with a hoof, and with one good yank she pulled him down to the floor and pressed a hoof to his shoulder to keep him down, not that he could move much at the moment.

"Knock it off with the big dangerous hero crap, Spark! I won't let you hurt Anorax just because you think he's a monster, I thought you knew better than that, what with your running around with your own monster pals!"

Anorax watched the whole scene with fascination. He knew Lyra was great with spoken spells, but he'd never seen one turned on another pony before. He stepped forward and touched a hoof to her shoulder. "Easy, easy. He's just worried about the old Anorax he knew, that's all." As Lyra stepped away from Spark, she began to pull off her spell. It took a few moments for his dizziness to dispell. He supposed he'd had it coming, if the situation really wasn't what he thought it was.

When he got to his hooves, he shook out his mane to make sure he wasn't dizzy anymore, then smiled appreciatively at Lyra. "Geez, that was crazy, Lyra." Lyra posed with her nose in the air with a 'hmph' sound. Her confidence was shaken, however, when he asked accusingly, "And just how do you know about my 'monster' pals?"

Lyra's eyes shot open as she realized she'd given away a secret that Rarity had entrusted to her. Even Anorax looked interested. "Dude, you keep monsters in your saddlebags and you come accusing me of being one?" The accusation directed at Spark made the dark pegasus frown.

"I don't have Changeling friends!" he shot back at Anorax. Spark immediately regretted his words. Anorax was his friend, wasn't he? He'd come all this way to ask Anorax about his heritage, not to out him as a friend. He supposed if things were different, if he found out that Anorax was a dryad, or maybe a harpy (are there even male harpies?) that he'd be approaching his old friend a little differently. As it stood, all the Changelings that he'd met had wanted to kill him, thus were all enemies. Spark took a deep breath before looking up at his two old friends who now looked very angry.

"...But I do, apparently, have a Halfling friend who has every right to be angry with me." he said, his ears laid back against his head, which he lowered in apology. "And you're right, Lyra, I do have monsters for friends. I don't really think of them as monsters, though...I think of them as friends, and it was stupid of me to think that Anorax was any different. I'm sorry, guys."

At the heartfelt apology, both of Spark's friends smiled, then suddenly tackled the big pegasus to the floor in a big group hug. After the three of them got back up and had gathered in a circle, Spark wanted to know everything.

"So Anorax, you've gotta tell me: Lyra called you a Halfling. Fill me in, dude."

"Well," he began. "you remember my mom, right? Starshine Scratch?" Spark nodded, eyes widening as Anorax paused to let this sink in. "Well, she..." Spark nodded, gesturing for him to continue. "...she fell in love with my dad." Spark nodded slowly, then shrugged. "...who is a Changeling. You know, Celestia herself was here for my birth, a bit like a midwife," he added proudly.

Spark's eyes widened at this. Just how many lives was she involved in? Midwife for Anorax' birth, and surrogate fussy mother to him and Sapphire Snow, always butting in whenever the two got a little too hot and bothered. A little off-topic there, Sparky, he thought to himself. He nodded in understanding at what Anorax had told him. "So do you ever speak with the Princess?" he asked.

"She sends me letters now and then, just to check up on me, and she's told me some very interesting things about you, 'Sparky'."

Spark narrowed his eyes just a little. Why was the Princess telling Anorax anything about him? "Uh huh, like what?"

Anorax grinned, first at Spark, then at Lyra. The unicorn turned and beamed at Spark, practically bouncing with excitement. "Spark, we hear/tell it's your girlfriend's birthday coming up in a month and a half." This caught Spark off-guard. Why would this matter to anypony except him? Seeing the look of confusion on Spark's face, Lyra continued. "See, the Princess sent Anorax a letter say how it'd be nice to throw her a surprise birthday party. We were gonna let you in on it later this week, but since you're here and all..."

Spark continued to look surprised. It'd been so long since Sapphire had been here in Ponyville, sometimes it was difficult to picture her having anything to do with it. "So...you guys wanna throw her a birthday party...here?"

Anorax shook his head, grinning all the while. "Nope. It'll be in Canterlot. It'll be her fifteenth birthday, right? It's gotta be special. Lyra and I got a special invitation to set up this huge dance party in the palace. The freakin' palace, Spark!"

Spark's eyes widened as the scope of what the two of them were saying began to make sense. "So...you guys want to throw my girlfriend, whom you've never even met, Anorax, a big surprise birthday?" Lyra and Anorax both exchanged worried glances. Suddenly Spark leapt to his hooves and danced around in a circle. "That's so cool, I'm all in, baby!"

Anorax and Lyra both broke out into laughter at Spark's outburst. It'd been a long time since either of them had seen Spark so full of unbridled excitement. "That's great, Spark! Listen, I think it's about time to let you in on the plan..." Lyra said with an excited grin.

---

"Applebloom! You git back here right now!" Applajack shouted. The one and a half year old filly ran out of the bathroom at top speed, soaking wet after her evening bath. She giggled and nearly flew down the stairs with her big sister right behind her. Applejack nearly had a hold on the little filly when she slipped on the trail of water Applebloom was leaving behind, and she tumbled into the kitchen table with a painful-sounding thud. "Ow! Somepony stop her, she'll get all dirty again!"

Applebloom burst out of the front door and leapt off the front porch just as Applejack got to the door, yelling out a dismayed "Noooo!"

Applebloom sailed happily for the dirty down below when a dark form came sliding under her, hooves reaching up to grab her. "Safe!" cried the voice attached to the hooves holding the now struggling filly.

"Spark Storm! Just in time," Applejack said, laughing uproariously as Spark got to his hooves and held Applebloom in his forelegs. She looked up at him curiously, her eyes filled with curious recognition.

Suddenly, she pointed at him and shouted, "Thorm! Thpark Thorm!" Spark arched a brow, then grinned as he realized that she was nearly done teething and wouldn't speak normally for some time.

The big pegasus gave his surrogate baby sister a hug before reaching up and placing the filly up on his back, then started rubbing her dry with his wings, which elicited delirious giggles from the tiny tot. When he was finished, Applebloom's red mane stood straight up, held aloft as static electricity sparked and fizzled through the filly's mane and all along her fur. She clapped her hooves together with delight, which brought a tired smile to Applejack's face.

Spark climbed the stairs and gave Applejack a warm hug, his wings pulling together to hold a squirming Applebloom. Spark lifted the little filly with a wing and deposited her into the waiting arms of her older sister. "She's really grown, Applejack. She's a fast lil' bugger!"

Applejack put on a wide grin, then set Applebloom down on the floor of the patio, facing the door, and swatted her behind gently. "Get in there, Applebloom, an' stay in there! It'll be dinnertime soon, y'hear?"

Applebloom let out the most indignant of squeaks and limped dramatically into the house. "'Jack thpanked me, gramma!" she called, hoping to get some vengance for the swat. Applejack let out another hearty laugh, then turned and clapped Spark on the back. She looked at him in surprise when he barely flinched, then brought her hoof down on his back once more, eliciting an eyeroll from him.

"Lan' sakes, Spark Storm, you plannin' on joinin' the Royal Guard or somethin'? What kinda trainin' they got ya doin' up there at at castle, anyway?"

"The kind that I can't talk about..." he told her in a deadpan tone, a disturbed, faraway look in his eye. When Applejack just looked at him with a shocked, open-mouth look, he laughed and lightly patted her on the back. "It's just a joke, Applejack."

"Oh, heh. Ya got me there, Spark." She shook her head at him, then grabbed one of his forelegs and tugged as she lead him inside. "C'mon, now. We already got some guests fer the night, might as well have one more. 'Specially considerin' the guests already here."

Spark followed her curiously. More guests? He remembered that Dinky was staying here, but who...? Spark was suddenly assaulted by a number of bodies as Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash both tackle/hugged him to the floor. The Apple home was suddenly alive with conversation, laughter and dinner as Pinkie Pie talked about the party that she sensed he was going to be giving, Rainbow Dash asking how much he'd been training, Rarity talking with Cheerilee, and general happiness as the night wore on.

Spark spent the night catching up with his sister, joking around with Pinkie Pie, racing Rainbow Dash around the fields until they were both tuckered out, and finally fell asleep on the couch with an equally tuckered out Applebloom tucked between his wings. As he slept, Cheerilee crept up and covered her younger brother with a blanket, then settled down beside him. Spark slept peacefully, and surrounded by his beloved family and friends.

---

* Aequivalere perturbare -this is Latin for Balance Disrupt (thank you google translate)

Comments

[Saveer]

*squeel like a little girl* YES NEW CHAPTER!

[Jacensolo43]

Balance Disrupt huh? makes sense. And the halfling thing is a bit surprising. honestly reminds me of... can't remember what i was gonna type. I HATE when that happens!

[mrmayortheiv]

He has been quite the family huh? Makes me wonder if he has forgotten about his parents, the one chapter his dad was in was kind of weird by the way, I thought if he is going to be introduced into his life he oughta get more attention than a couple of paragraphs... but I digress

[mechafone]

1283500 Yeeaah, that was a weird chapter. And he kinda disappeared after that. I am planning a rewrite, the first chapter is out, of course. It will be much more detailed and have much more information and content. I might even do Raison Detre' if I have the energy left over from the first rewrite ><

[Melody Brush]

Soul Of Songs, I love your family reunions Mech! And little Apple Bloom is so cute! She knows who he is!