Family Begins With You

by Jmaster49

Arc XVI Episode III: Helpful Communication

“Oh, not at all, Silver!” Tiara looked over at the green boy, then at the gray girl. “Come on in, the water’s perfect!”

“I’m sure it is…” Spoon replied as she entered from the shallow end of the pool, and grabbed onto one of the many pool noodles to float upon--away from Keiji. “So, how ya been, Di?”

Keiji looked at Tiara and shrugged his shoulders. If Silver Spoon wasn’t willing to approach him, then he saw no reason to exchange effort where there wasn’t any. Instead, he simply resumed his backstroke routine towards the deeper end of the pool.

Tiara sighed to herself as she watched her friends separate. “I have to get them together somehow. At the very least to where they don’t actively dislike each other. But how…what do they both like. C’mon, think…”

As she combed her brain for ideas, her best friend spoke up to her while floating on one of the pool’s air-filled lounge chairs. “So! Got anything special in mind for Valentine’s Day? Maybe hand out candy to someone special?”

“Oh, uh…I haven’t thought about it very much actually,” Tiara replied casually, brushing off the holiday as unimportant. “It’s just a holiday meant to capitalize on people’s shortcomings and make them feel inadequate for not being able to get a date. Which is something I plan on not doing.”

Spoon paused for a moment and turned her head to the side. “...Dammit.” After a moment of hesitation, she cleared her throat and looked at her friend with an uneasy smile. “Yeah…of course, totally. I couldn’t agree more.”

But Tiara was more perceptive than Spoon thought. In an instant, she could tell something was off, and spoke up about it. “Tell me what’s wrong, Sil. It’s okay. Keiji’s way over there so he probably won’t even hear you.”

“Fine…” Spoon turned over onto her stomach, lying on the floatie-chair so she could speak with Tiara more closely. “I…like you, okay? And I don’t want you to hang around someone who could possibly break your heart.”

Tiara fell silent for a moment as she thought about what to say next. “...I’m flattered, Spoon. But I’m not looking for something like that right now. Not from anyone. But I want you to know that he’s not gonna break any hearts.”

Surprisingly, she took the rejection in stride. Instead, Silver Spoon was more focused on her friend’s safety than anything else. “Uh-huh,” the gray girl narrowed her eyes, “And just how are you so sure about that?”

“...He’s probably gonna kill me for spilling this. And he’d be completely justified. But I need to explain it so she’ll understand.” Once her mind was made up, Tiara decided to explain. “Because…his heart’s already been broken. In a dozen or so places. Notice those marks on his body?””

Spoon paused and tilted her head. “Wait…what?”

At the other end of the pool…

Keiji was swimming by himself, casually swimming about in a rather directionless manner. That is, until he heard his phone ringing from nearby.

“Eh?”

He hopped out of the pool and grabbed his phone from the nearby table he placed his bag earlier. “Yo.”

The phone engaged a video call between himself and Rumble. “Hey dawg, how’s it goin’?”

“I just got here. Don’t bother me, please,” Keiji rolled his eyes, then looked directly at the screen, “Where are you right now?”

The silver-colored boy was covered in sweat and sitting on a bench. “I’m at soccer practice with my buds. Caught a break and I figured why not check up on you? Never seen Diamond Tiara’s place before.”

“Right. Well anyway--”

Suddenly, another voice popped up followed by the appearance of another boy who was around their age range--maybe a bit older. “Who’s that, yo? Hey, is that the vamp-dude from school?”

Keiji looked closer at the screen, and eyed the other boy who was in the same blue and yellow soccer uniform as the other Wondercolts--albeit he was ahead of them in age as a Junior. The guy in question had pale-green skin, and a messy head of hair that was two shades of blue. “...Wait a sec, Sandbar? Well I’ll be damned. You’re actually doing something instead of lazing around. What happened to your glasses?”

“Oh yeah, those?” the boy casually replied with half-lidded eyes as he reclined on the bench, “Turns out I had a vision problem, yo. I felt so different once I was able to take ‘em off, ya know? Like I could be myself again. So I figured why not do some other things?”

“Huh,” Keiji raised a brow, “Well…I suppose I’m happy for you. I may as well ask--what else are you guys doing today?”

Rumble spoke up to answer that question. “Well after this, we’re gonna head to a secret little cove that Sandbar found. Then get some food. His dad apparently owns a food truck near the beach where he sells stuff from Jamhayca.”

“Jamhayca?” the vamp-boy scratched his head, “Where’s that again?”

“It’s where my dad is from. It’s in the ocean below the continent, yo,” Sandbar explained, “The Carribean? Don’t you remember your geography lesson?”

“...I can point out the Earth on a map?”

Rumble snickered. “Lay off him, Sand. He’s still getting used to all this stuff.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right. You’re from Equestria with the magic ponies. Sweeeet,” Sandbar added as he threw his head back and drank from a sports bottle. “Anyway, we better get goin’. I think Coach Spitfire is about to put us in.”

Sure enough, the iconic, raspy tone of Spitfire called out to them from afar. “RUMBLE-BEE! SANDMAN! GET YOUR ASSES ON THE FIELD!”

“Go, Rumble, go!” Scootaloo’s voice could be heard in the background.

Followed by a thunderous shout from Yona. “Sandbar is best at association football! Smash enemy team!”

“And that’s our cue, yo,” Sandbar stood up, “Talk to ya later, Keiji. Let’s go, Rumble.”

“Ugggh,” Rumble rolled his eyes and took one last look at the camera. “See ya. Hope things go well at DT’s place.”

“Pfft. Worry about yourselves,” Keiji sassed back before hanging up. Once he put his phone down, he was about to turn back towards the pool until…

Both Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon approached him, having just gotten out of the pool themselves. The latter of which had a nervous expression on her face and was unable to look Keiji in the eye.

“...KK,” Tiara began, “Silver Spoon has something she wants to say to you. Don’t you?” she emphasized while glaring at her friend from the corner of her eye.

“...”

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

How many chapters long will this story be?

[Jmaster49]

11164654
Until I feel that it's reached its conclusion. Why?

[Snowdrifter]

“...I can point out the Earth on a map?”

[Jmaster49]

11201859
He's not exactly from around here....