Family is everything. Even if you hadn't seen them in Six years.
Today Ponyville is hosting a music festival to raise money for the town. The best artists from all around Equestria will be here to sing and meet with their fans. Nothing bad can happen right?
Shadow Storm grunted when his alarm clock went off on his nightstand beside his bed. Storm wasn't used to this type of alarm clock yet. He ended up destroying his last alarm clock by throwing it at the wall so hard it broke on impact.
After Storm bought a new alarm clock he promised himself not to throw it at the wall ever again. That promise lasted a whole week.
Being woken up from a beautiful dream by an annoying beeping sound early in the morning caused Storm’s patience to reach and ignore his common sense. This resulted in Storm grabbing his alarm clock and throwing it at the wall. To his surprise, it was still beeping.
“Shit.” Storm grunted.
Not only did he possibly make a hole in the wall with that throw, now Storm has to get out of bed and turn off the alarm clock rather than still be lying in bed.
Storm throws off the covers and rolled out of bed. He walked to the corner of the room where he threw the clock. Storm picked it up and shut it off. He inspected both the clock and the wall. Neither seemed damaged from the throw.
“Lucky me.” Storm said. “I guess old school technology is better than a new school.”
After putting the alarm clock back where it belonged Storm went into the bathroom to get ready for the day ahead.
Inside just before he got in the shower he turned his radio on to hear the latest music and news both the town and Equestria had to offer. Storm hardly listen to the music or the news he just had it around for noise. If something had come up that piqued his interest he would be all ears.
“Good morning, Ponyville, this is your host DJ Lead. Today is the day. It’s the first day of the summer festival.”
“Summer festival?” Storm said to himself. “Was that today?”
“I know everyone in town and beyond is just as hyped as I am. All the big names are going to be here. Terror Shot, 42 Slash, Center C, and the top music group that’s been breaking records ever since they were formed Emoraled kiss.”
It was today. Today was the day of the music festival being held in Ponyville. A four-day-long festival that’s going to be caped off with a big music performance by Equestrias top music performers.
Storm remembered Chief Night said something about this one day. She said that Ponyville will be hosting a music festival and it was going to be a nightmare for everyone.
“Today is the first day of the festival which means that all of the artists will be arriving this afternoon. Which means today’s main destination will be The Ponyville Train Station.”
Storm turned the water off, got out of the shower, and dried himself off. He also turned off the radio.
“Oh boy,” Storm said. “The next two days are going to be fun. Real fun.”
X
On his way to the Station, the town looked way different. Decorations were placed everywhere, Steel barriers were placed in front of the entrance to neighborhoods and apartment buildings to make sure no unwanted guests would enter.
Storm also noticed that there were no clouds in or near the town. Once again Mayor Sky has ignored the town's weather schedule for his own personal reasons. Now the town is two weeks behind their weather schedule and needs to be made up some kind of way before the start of Fall.
Finally, arriving at the station the lobby was packed. The room was filled with ponies he didn’t recognize. Passing by Storm noticed that most of them were shop owners and were worried that they would be robbed since the shopping district didn’t have any barriers.
In the meeting room where it was pretty empty, it was full. Just like the lobby the room was filled with unfamiliar faces everywhere. In the back, Storm noticed Phantom along with everyone else sitting with him in the back.
“Who are these guys?” Storm asked standing beside the table. “I don’t recognize any of them.”
“That because they aren’t from town,” Clover said. “Some are from Hayfield and others are from Cloudsdale. They're here to help us with the festival. That’s what I heard Chief said yesterday. Is it really going to be that bad?”
“Probably,” Star said. “Getting out of my building was annoying. I had to go out the back door because the front was covered with bars and the doors were locked.”
“Is the festival really going to be that bad?” Phantom asked.
“Don’t think it’s going to be that bad. But, I think they don’t want a repeat of what happened last time.” Storm reminded.
“What happened last time,” Phantom asked.
“Long before any of you started to work here. The town had a get together for New Years.” Storm said. “Fireworks, Roasted Corn, Live music.”
“That doesn't sound too terrible,” Phantom said. “What happened?”
“Unfortunately.” Storm resumed. “Things go wrong. Fireworks went off when they were 10 yards in the air, Buildings caught on fire, the corn was burned, and we couldn’t see anything because of the smoke. Not a single Star.”
“Speaking of Star,” Clover said looking at Star. “Where’s Starlight? I haven’t seen her for a few days.”
Star sighed. “Since this festival is being hosted here and it’s for five days, she decided it would be best for her to stay with her parents until this whole thing blows over.”
“Do they…”
“No,” Star said. “They don’t know that she’s pregnant.”
“What about your parents?” Comet asked. “Do they know.”
“Nope.”
“Who does know?” Phantom asked joining the interrogation.
“They know about Starling, but not her being pregnant.”
“Dude.” Storm said. “Are you serious?
“Look, I’m just waiting for the right time to tell them.”
“When will that be?” Comet asked.
“The day the baby is due.”
“That’s assuming if your mother doesn't kill you,” Phantom said. “The female gender doesn’t like to be the last to know about their grandchildren.”
“Alright,” Night voice echoed throughout the room. Beside her were two ponies. One is a pegasus the other is a unicorn. “Everyone knows what’s happening today. If you don’t, it’s the first day of the five-day festival here in town. Many of you know that we are going to have quite a crowd for a town our size for the next four days. So the mayor asked for help from Hayfield and Cloudsdale.” Once again, Night pulled down the map of the town. “Till the festival is over we will have a few laws in place. One of them will be a flight restriction around the town mainly near the V.I.P.s hotel. The station will be Homebase. Basically, this will be a command post for all of us.”
“How are we going to patrol the town?” Comet asked. “Even if we have help from two other departments how is that going to work without us getting in each other's way?”
“I was getting to that,” Night said. “On to the groups, there will be three in general. Group one will be commanded by Heavycloud, a Lieutenant from Cloudsdale. His group will be the air unit. Your job will be to watch the sky’s and be a spotter if there is something the ground units can’t see.”
“That right,” Heavy Cloud said. “Our job is overwatch. There will be some occasions where we will have to help the other units.”
“Next, is the crowd control units.” The sliver unicorn said. “My name is Silver Flash. I’m a Sergent from Hayfield. The crowd control unit will be keeping the peace. Guarding the V.I.P.s, clearing out the crowd, stopping fights in the areas, and guarding areas when needed.”
“Finally, I’ll be in control of the last unit.” Night said. “I will be the commander of the patrol unit. Everyone knows what that is so no need to explain. Everyone understand?”
“YES, MA'AM.” Everyone shouted.
“Good,” Night nodded. “Now onto your groups.” Night pulled out a clipboard. “When your name is called stand up.”
X
Miles away from Ponyville a city train zoomed down the tracks far faster than any train that has come through these tracks for a long time.
Inside the train, a gray mare stared out the wind watching trees and rock pass by faster then she could get a look at them. Almost as if it was running instead of standing still.
“Ponyville,” She said. “The festival is going to be held there?”
A pink mare put down the magazine she was reading. “You sound disappointed Silver Flash. I thought you wanted this festival to happen.”
“I am happy,” Silver Flash assured. “I just thought that the festival was going to be in a major city. Not a small town.”
“Midsize,” A light blue mare corrected. “It’s a midsize town, not a small town.”
“Thanks, mom.” Silver Flash said. “You always know what to say.”
Rose tossed her magazine. “I’m glad we're not performing in a city this time. It's nice to get some fresh air and not have a ton of traffic everywhere we go.”
“Well, I grew up in a small town,” Silver Flash remarked. “Let me tell you, there is nothing to do.”
“Nothing?” Snowflake asked.
“Nothing,” Silver Flash replied. “Besides getting beer and the parties in the summer. We had nothing to do. You worked and went home that’s it.”
“Girls,” A voice called out. “We are almost at our stop.”
“Hey, Copper,” Rose said.
Copper is the manager of Platem Kiss. He didn’t find the group by any means but he did get them pretty good gags.
“Hey, Copper.” Silver Flash said. “Why is the festival going to be in this town and not in a city?”
“Is was changed last second,” Copper said rolling his eyes. “It was supposed to be in a city called Rockview. But, something happened and instead of canceling the whole thing the mayor of the town insisted that we have it here.”
“Wow,” Rose said, “The town was willing to host a festival for us?”
“I know it's pretty odd. Anyways once we arrived at the station will head towards the hotel and prepare for tomorrow.” Copper said.
“A four-day Festival filled with the biggest artists of all time in a small town. This could be either a great thing or a total disaster.” Snowflake sighed. "All we can do now is wait."
“Clear the area,” An officer shouted. “If you're not wearing a vest move along.”
This had been the scene for the whole morning. Clearing the area for the V.I.Ps, scaring a route for them to get to their hotel, which was also being cleared and checking when the V.I.Ps arrive.
Night made it clear that she wanted everything to be done by the book in a quick and timely manner. Not the small-town way, not the county way, the way we were taught in the academy.
Even if Night didn’t say it, Storm knew that she wanted nothing out of the ordinary happening for as long as this festival was going on. That and maybe she didn’t want the town to get sued when the town is already broke.
“Black cloud, this is Ground star do you copy?” A voice asked over the radio.
Storm and Star were placed in different groups and so were Comet, Clover, and Phantom.
Storm and Comet are in the air unit while Star and Clover are the patrol team who was picked to escort the V.I.Ps to the hotel. Then Phantom was placed in the crowd control unit.
“Star, stop with the stupid code names,” Storm said.
“Well, excuse me for trying to have some fun, we're basically being forced to do this.”
“Our job?” Storm asked.
“No, that volunteer line that the chief said at the briefing. We didn't volunteer she basically threatened us.”
He was right. The Chief did threaten them with crappy hours and lots of paperwork for them to do when her secretary leaves for vacation. Nobody dared to call her bluff.
“How long have we been here?” Comet asked shifting around in her cloud. “It feels like hours.”
“We’ve been here for.” Storm looked at his watch. “Two hours.”
The arrivals for the Festival should be here any minuter now. Storm, Comet, and the other pegasus officers that make up the air unit had been on overwatch duty giving a heads up when trains arrive or when there’s something strange happening in the crowd.
Star and Clover along with other groups who were picked to escort the V.I.Ps and make sure that they got to their destination on time and safely.
The only one missing was Phantom. He was back at the station with the crowd control unit waiting to be deployed.
So far things have been pretty calm. There was a bit of excitement when certain artists were confirmed to arrive. It didn’t get to a point where it was a problem. However, Chief Night wasn’t lying when she said that they were going to be outnumbered.
“I wonder how the guys down there are doing.” A pegasus said looking at the large crowd near the train station. "I think the crowd double in size."
“Not too well,” Comet replied. “When our guest arrives things will go bad real fast.”
“Well, it’s about to get real bad.” Storm jerked his head in the direction of a train approaching. A train appeared and stopped at the station. “Speak of the devil here they come.”
“Look alive we got the first train arriving.” Dispatch called out. " Everyone get ready."
30 minutes later STAR’S POV
“Men,” Star said closing the doors to the train station. “They act like they have never seen a pony that can sing or rap before.”
“OK,” Clover said. “I think this is the last group before we have to clear the station.”
“Good,” Star said. “Then what?”
“I’m pretty sure it’s going to be like this for the whole festival. Unicorns and Earth Ponies on the ground Pegasus stay in the air. It’s been pretty quiet and calm so far.”
As Star and Clover near the Train stations platform there was a voice shouted from the there. The first thing Star could describe the voice as annoying, bossy, and really rude.
“I got this,” Star said stepping ahead of Clover.
“There you are.” A stallion said as if he were waiting for hours.
“Sorry, sir.” Clover apologizes. “We are running a bit behind. So we must get going.”
“Fine.” He said with his nose in the air. “Let’s go.”
“Let’s hurry up and get this over with.” Star murmured to Clover. “This is going to be the worst one out of all of them.”
As the group neared the exit the crowd started to go wild seeing the group behind them. Some of them even tried to open the door.
“Holy crap,” Clover said. She then grabbed her radio. “This is the escort team. The crowd is starting to become a bit out of control. We request that overwatch teams provide backup for crowd control teams to clear a path.” Clover said that while looking at the doors.
“Your girl's sure are popular,” Star said to them while looking outside.
“Of course they are. Do you not know who we are?” Their manager said as if Star insulted him.
Knowing all well who they were Star could use a good laugh. Besides, he did this to Storm all the time. He wanted to see how it will work on someone else for a change.
“No, I don’t,” Star answered.
The manager looked at Star. “Your joking right?”
“No, sir I am not.”
“Those girls are known as Perfume. The best mare singing group in the music world.” This is Silver Flash, Rose, and Snowflake.” The manager pointed to the gray mare, the red mare, and the white mare in that order. “And I am Copper the manager of Perfume.”
“Neat.” Star smiling. “I’m Loadstar a police officer who is here to protect you for little pay and right beside me is one of my co-worker who is bilingual.
“We should get moving,” Clover said. “Overwatch units gave us an opening.”
The five moved towards the door. Outside there was the Crowd control unit and overwatch teams pushed back the crowd that once blocked the doors. Even with help crowd was still winning by a pretty big margin.
“Let’s get moving,” Clover said. “I don’t know how long they’ll last.”
“We’re going into that?” Rose said lifting her sunhat. “I thought that this was a small town.”
“Yea, well when it was confirmed that you guys and Twin Cities were performing, the neighboring town and cities decided to make the trip to our little town to see you.”
“But.” Snowflake looked outside. “Are you sure that we should go now? Maybe we should wait.”
“If we don’t go now we will be stuck here all day,” Clover said. "This is our only chance."
“She right.” Star agreed. “Were pretty outnumbered and this is the biggest window that we will get.” Star then bucked open the door. “Stay low, Go fast.”
Clover went first followed by Rose, Snowflake, Silver Flash, Star, and then Copper. The crowd seemed to get even wilder. Many tried to push through the wall of officers. Pegasus spread their wings to extend their reach to push back, Earth Ponies pushed back by using their body’s and Unicorns use riot spells to push them back. It was a battle of raw power.
“ROSE, ROSE I LOVE YOU.” A voice shouted from the crowd.
“Don’t you even think about it Bow,” Star shouted back to the voice. "I'll drop you in a second."
Finally they arrived at the carriage that would take the group to the hotel they were staying at. Clover opens the door and just like a dog running into an open house they jumped in one by one. Star did a quick headcount before closing the door and sending the carriage on its way. The V.I.P.S have made a getaway from their fans."
“Well that was easy,” Star said. “Now what?”
Clover reacher for her radio again. “Storm the last of our VIPs are gone, what now?”
“Go to your assigned positions. This is only the beginning everyone.”
Day two of the festival had arrived. Today a photoshoot is scaled at the large grass plans along with a meet and greet a little after. Nothing happened last night to the best of Storm’s knowledge so there's nothing extra look over on today’s patrol.
Just like yesterday, Storm’s group was assigned to clear the clouds in the area above the event and provide overwatch.
The patrol group will be running thin today since they had to patrol both the grass plans and the town as well.
Crowd control is going to be positioned in between the grass plans and the Diamond Dog fields. This was one of the few problems that the managers feared about the photoshoot. The Diamond Dogs fight against the police and the citizens of the town got attention all across Equestria.
Storm and Comet along with a few other pegasuses from the air unit volunteer to help patrol on the ground. Since the patrol unit was running so thin in their numbers.
“How many performers are here again.” Storm asked Comet as they patrolled the outer area. “I lost count.”
“Counting the singing group as three then their Ambush, Terror Shot, 42 Slash and Center C. So that makes seven.”
“No wonder so many ponies are here,” Storm said. “I heard that the singing group here is really popular. Are they good?”
“Of course, they are,” Comet said a little shock. “You’ve never heard of them when they're on the radio?”
“I probably have heard their songs I just don’t know who’s singing them.” Storm admitted.
Comet stopped walking and stared at Storm. “So, you just listen to the radio without really paying attention to what’s on?”
“More like to just have noise around,” Storm corrected. “If I hear something I like or it’s unexpected, I’ll start listening.”
Comet rolled her eyes and continued walking. “Their name is Perfume, their songs are at the top of the music list every single time.”
“Wow,” Storm said slightly impressed. “How do you know that?”
“One, I listen to the radio. Two, my daughters are obsessed with them. Especially with the pegasus.”
“What are their names?” Storm asked.
Before Comet could answer the call came over the radio.
ALL PATROL UNITS WE HAVE A 10-14 NEAR THE PHOTOSHOOT ALL AVAILABLE UNITS PLEASE RESPOND.
“Want to take it?” Storm asked.
“Why not,” Comet said, “We're not doing anything.”
“Let’s go.” Storm said walking towards the photoshoot with Comet behind him.
When the par arrived in the area, Storm noticed White Lighting, a pegasus that helped him on a few occasions, he was there with a tall earth pony. He had a Hayfield patch on his uniform.
“Hey, Storm, Comet.” Lighting said when he saw the par approaching. “Good to see you guys again."
“Same,” Comet replied with a smile. “What’s going on?”
The tall earth pony spoke. “Many bystanders reported a strange stallion wandering around this area. Many suspected he's under the influence.”
“Do we have a description of the suspect?” Comet asked.
Thunder pulled out a notepad from the chest pocket on his uniform. He flipped it open. “He's about 5,9, around 250 pounds and his skin is blue with a black mane. No positive look on his cutie mark.”
“That fine,” Storm said. “We can work with that. Where was he last seen?”
“Near the carriages for the V.I.P.S, we’ve been there all day and saw him only a few times.”
“And you guys left?” Storm asked.
“It was the manager,” The Hayfield officer said. “He didn’t feel safe with us close by.”
“Sounds like a real genius.” Storm sighed.
“I say we head over there,” Comet suggested. “We can try and catch him.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Thunder said. “Let’s go.”
Nearing the photoshoot the group noticed a crowd being forming at the V.I.P.S carriage.
“I bet that manager is regretting not letting us stick around now.” The Hayfield officer said.
“YOU CALLIN ME A LIAR!?” A voice shouted clearly intoxicated.
“That’s not good.” Storm thought.
“POLICE, POLICE!” a mare shouted. Her voice was high and sound like she was in pain.
“That’s really not good.” Storm broke out into a galloped before anyone else in the group could. He pushed his way through the crowd, followed by the others behind him. After getting through the crowd Storm was in the center of the commission.
He saw the suspect standing over a brown stallion who was covering his nose with his hoof.
“Stop Police.” Storm ordered.
The stallion turned around. His mane was dirty and he had a hard time standing on his own. “What?” He spat. “Who are you.”
“I’m officer Storm,” Storm announced. “Can you please step away from the stallion?”
“No way,” He growled. “Not till I get an apology from this rude jerk.” He pointed to the stallion on the ground.
By this time Comet and the others had gotten through the crowd. Comet being rushed passed Storm and both stallions to the three mares.
Before Comet could even get a word in. The blue stallion grabbed Comet by the back of her uniform and threw her to the ground backward.
“STAY OUT OF THIS!” He shouted.
In life, there are things that you shouldn't do just because it's a bad idea and you'll pay for it. Pushing a police officer to the ground is one of them.
Storm then begins to advance towards the stallion. “That’s it, I'm taking you in.”
The stallion heard this he turns around and attempted to throw a punch at Storm. Luckily, thanks to great reflexes and dodgeball Storm ducked before the punch could connect.
Storm reached for his baton on his belt, took it out, and aimed right at the stallions foreleg that was still on the ground. The baton connected with the foreleg, just as predicted the stallion fall to the ground his foreleg speared apart.
Before the stallion could recover, Storm jumped on the stallion and wrapped his forelegs with the stallions so that he couldn’t get off the ground. This was a move that was taught at the academy to restrain a suspect till helps arrives.
When the stallion realized that he couldn’t move his forelegs, he began moving his back legs moving both Storm and himself slightly forward. Strom drugged his back legs in the dirt to stop the stallion from moving.
Right at that moment, Thunder rushed to Storm’s aid and grabbed the back legs of the stallion, and pushed him to his side to limit the stallions moving.
“COMET!” Storm shouted over the commotion. “GET THE GROUP OUT OF HERE NOW!”
Strom didn’t hear a reply, but he did hear a group of hoofs pass by him along with shouts of “Move” over and over again.
Eventually, the stallion tired himself out and stopped moving. Backup arrived and soon he was cuffed and led away to the police station.
FIVE MINUTES AGO (BEFORE THE ARREST) On the other side of the field the photoshoot for the performers were taking place in an area of flowers that was popular in town. Snowflakeflake, Silver Flash, and Rose are the last to have their photos taken. Smiles had been on their faces for almost 30 minutes straight as bright camera flashes continued in waves.
“Over here.” A photographer requested trying to get a better shot.
Snowflake hated doing the photoshoot. The bright flashes from the cameras always made her dizzy and gives her a slight headache. Also, smiling for a long time has a habit of making her cheeks hurt as well.
Today was going to be a long one. First, is the photoshoot, then they had a short break followed by a meet & greet at town hall, Finally, they had to look over the stage for tomorrow's rehearsal. By the end of the day Snowflake knows that she won’t have any energy to do anything besides sleep in the large three bedrooms they have at the hotel.
Snowflake wanted to go sightseeing in town. Snowflake knew that there wasn’t much to see in this town, but she hated being stuck in a small room all day. However, Copper was quick to shut that down.
“Sightseeing in this town?” Copper said when Snowflake suggested her idea. “The only thing you’ll see here is a few ma and pa shops and a lot of farmland. You need to focus on the concert this is a big payday for us.” Copper really knows how to take the fun out of everything. No matter where they go, even if it’s a basic signing he doesn't want us to go anywhere.
Snowflake knew why since the private security standards have changed too many are available in Equestria. If they wanted to go somewhere they would have to be escorted by an officer.
Eventually, the photoshoot ended and the group was preparing to leave for the hotel to have a quick rest and then go to town hall for the meet and greet.
Snowflake and her group were the last to leave the photoshoot. All performers ahead of them had already left for the hotel.
“That went well,” Silver Flash said as the group walked away from the photographers. “Why are those flashes so bright?”
“The trick is to look away from the flash it hurts a lot less,” Rose suggested. “It works for me every time.”
“Speaking of looking away,” Silver Flash said looking around. “Did you guys feel like somebody was watching?”
“It was a photoshoot Silver Flash,” Snowflake said. “Everyone was looking at us.”
“Not like that. I meant that somebody was watching us a little too closely.”
Nearing their Carriage in the middle of the path there’s a blue stallion looking a bit dazed. Copper jogged upfront and spoke to the stallion.
“Excuse me sir, you are blocking the path. Please move to the side and let us pass.”
The stallion turned his head to Copper and snarled.
“You can’t tell me what to do,” The stallion said. “Go away before I make you.”
“Sir you are in the way and please move.” Copper placed his hoof on the stallion's shoulder.
Big mistake.
The second the stallion felt the hoof on his body he turned and punched Copper in the nose. Copper fell to the ground on his back. Blood was on his nose and suit.
Being the bleeding heart she is, Snowflakeflake grabbed Copper and tried to help him up. He stayed on the ground groaning in pain from the sucker punch. A crowd started to form from the commotion.
Silver Flash being the hotheaded one in the group called out the stallion on his action.
“What the heck is your problem? You hit somebody because you didn't want to move?”
“You calling me a liar?” The Stallion shouted.
Snowflakeflake didn’t know how to respond. The stallions reply was nowhere near close to an answer for Silver Flash. Silver Flash knew this as well. The look on her face had the same confused look.
“POLICE, POLICE,” Copper shouted his voice was very high. He could have been mistaken for a mare from far away.
As if Celestia had granted his wish. A “Stop Police.” Came from behind the stallion. He turned around and noticed how dirty his mane was and how he struggled to stand up.
A second officer this one was a pegasus. She landed in front of Snowflakeflake and Copper and offered a hoof to help Copper up.
“Are you ok?” She asked. “Did he do this to you?”
Before anyone could answer. The pegasus was shoved to the ground by the stallion.
Everything happened so fast. One moment the stallion was standing and in one second or two he was on the ground being held down by the first officer. Others arrived soon after and pinned him to the ground. “COMET,” The black stallion shouted. “GET THE GROUP OUT OF HERE NOW.”
“Come on,” She said helping Copper off the ground. “We have to go.”
The group begins galloping towards the carriage. Snowflake looked at the three officers holding down the struggling stallion. One of them looks familiar very familiar.
The group piled in closed the door and a voluntary officer pulled the carriage to the hotel.
Soon the group reached the hotel. Copper was taken to a medic tent nearby to be checked out for his nose.
The group went to their room. A similar large room with three beds and two bathrooms.
Rosa went to the bathroom and Snowflake went to her bag and started digging through it.
“I can’t believe that the meet & greet was canalled,” Silver Flash said jumping on her bed landing face-first into a pillow.
“It had to be,” Rose said from the bathroom. Her voice partially drowned out by the water coming from the shower. “They had to clear the area. Plus, the stage wasn’t even finished so it was pointless to have a meet & greet with no stage.”
Silver Flash lifted her head off the pillow and was about to say something to Rose when she noticed Snowflakeflake rummaging through her bag. Silver Flash hopped off the bed and looked over Snowflakeflake. “What are you doing?”
“I’m looking for something,” Snowflakeflake said as she continued to look through her bag. Right when she said that she found what she was looking for. A medium-sized picture frame. “Found it,” Snowflake said holding the frame as if it were an award.
By now Rose grew interstate by Snowflake’s voice and joined in eavesdropping on Snowflake with Silver Flash.
“What’s that?” Silver Flash asked. “A photo?”
“A family photo,” Snowflake corrected. “From a long time ago. We took it on my last day of elementary school.
Rose looked at the photo. There were four pony’s all pegasus. Three foals and one mare. The mare was nothing short of beautiful. She was light red with a long mane of gold. On the right was Snowflakeflake, her mane hasn’t really changed as much since she was a filly. Next, to her was a purple filly with a matching purple mane with black highlights. Then there was a black stallion with red and yellow highlights on both his tail and mane.
“I know it,” Snowflakeflake said. “That was him.”
Meanwhile at the Police Station. “What’s the story with this one?” Twister asked looking up from the book on the desk.
Twister was the main stallion that you would see almost every day at the front desk in the police station. He basically ran the lower floor of the station. Prisoners, reports, complaints, and call outs, he controls them all and keeps them organized.
With his size, build, and the light scar on his face you would imagine that Twister would be working in construction somewhere in a city or some kind of mill near town.
“Assault, Assaulting an officer, public intoxication and resisting arrest,” Strom answered. Lighting and Steel are behind him.
“Quadruple charges,” Twister said while writing in the logbook. Something that was mandatory with every arrest or a call-out something in town. “Congratulations Storm, you’re the fourth officer to bring in someone with four charges.”
“Seriously?” Lighting asked.
“This is a festival mate,” Twister reminded. “Public intoxication and Assault are basically the most common charges at a festival in this area.” Twister then pushed a few papers to Storm the normal paper to fill out after every arrest. “Here’s your prize.”
“Yay,” Storm cheered. “More paperwork.”
“Do it later,” Twister said. “We need everyone out there. Just put it with the others on your desk.”
“Alright, at least things can’t get worse tomorrow.” Storm said, taking the papers.
Day three for the festival had arrived. The Meet & Greet was rescheduled for high noon instead of the early evening for some reason. Maybe because of what happened yesterday.
The area was loaded with security. It was clear the chiefs didn't want a repeat of what happened yesterday. Most pegasus were on the ground rather than in the air, the V.I.P’s are being escorted, anyone who goes to the meet and greets will be pat-down. Which kind of makes no sense since pony didn't have pockets. Or do they?
Storm knows this was because of what happened yesterday. The breach in security had many guests worried along with the V.I.P’s managers. Before dismissal Chief night grilled everybody in the room about how we need to be more careful and know where everyone is so that this incident doesn’t repeat itself.
Storm and Star are in front of the entrance. Taking cover under a tree from the sun.
“So how’s the house hunting coming?” Storm asked. “Find anything good?”
“Not really. Most are out of my price range and my place doesn’t have enough space for foal’s.”
“Just take a loan from the bank and start a family like a normal stallion in his mid-thirties.”
“I’m not thirty for another two years.” Star corrected.
Storm chuckled. “Star, just take what you can get. Small towns normally don’t have many options on where to live unlike the city.
Clover approached the pair. Her long mane is tied into a bun and her forehead was covered in sweat from the heat.
“Hey, Clover,” Star greeted. “What brings you here?”
Clover wiped off the sweat from her forehead. “It seems that you're very popular Storm, One of the V.I.P groups wants you to escort them to the Meet & Greet.
“Why?” Storm asked.
Clover shrugged. “They didn’t tell me. They just asked for you.”
Storm sighed knowing there was no way to get out of this, he moved out of his shaded spot and followed Clover.
“Let me know what happened,” Star called out.
Clover grabbed Star by the back of his uniform and dragged him from under the tree. “You’re coming with us if I have to drag you all the way there.”
At the entrance of the meet and greet a large number of ponies were waiting for the V.I.Ps to arrive. Notepads and cameras were in hoofs waiting to meet the performers.
Storm, Star, and Clover waited at the entrance along with a platoon size of officers that were ordered to keep unofficial ponies from entering that area.
“So you really don’t know why they want me?” Storm asked. “If someone is asking for me that’s kind of a red flag.”
“I thought the same thing,” Clover agreed. “I think it’s the same group that you helped when that drunk stallion attacked them.”
“It was less of an attack and more like a drunken rage.” Storm admitted. “Gotta love festivals.”
Soon the madness started. It seems that overnight or in many cases in the morning Chief Night and Chief Flash came up with a new plan to contain the crowd. Separate the crowd from the carriage, from a route, and shield the performers with your body. Simple and effective.
Chariots landed one by one as the V.I.P’s and their managers exited and walked to the entrance. A few of them stopped for pictures and signed autographs for fans. This was repeated six times until the singing group arrived.
“That should be them,” Clover said. “Lead the way hero.”
Storm rolled his eyes and walked towards the chariot. The group was already stepping out of the chariot by the time Storm was half-way there. Three mares and stallions were the same ones from yesterday.
“Hello, everyone and Welcome to TownHall. Please follow officer Clover to the stage where the meet and greet will begin. Also stay close to me and the other officers to ensure we don’t have a repeat of last time.”
The four nodded and the short walk to the entrance was uneventful as expected. Just before Storm and Star were about to leave when Storm felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned and faced one of the performers, Snowflake.
Storm didn’t notice this at first, but now he couldn’t help that he’s seen her somewhere before.
“I’m sorry,” She began. “I know this may sound pretty rude, but may I ask you for your name?”
“Shadow Storm,” Storm replied.
Her eyes went wide at Storm’s name. “I know it.” She said. “It really is you.”
Without warning or permission. She hugged Storm right in front of Clover, Star, the other performers, and the fans.
Storm was speechless, to say the least, he couldn’t believe what was happening. Strom doesn’t have a problem with personal space, but a stranger was hugging him out of the blue without his consent in front of her fans, Storm’s co-workers, and photographers who are hungry for a story on celebrities. This won’t end well.
“Ma’am?” Strom asked, still being embraced by the surprise hug. “Can you please let me go?”
To Storm relief, the idol released herself from Storm. She wiped her eyes with her hoof. “I’m sorry,” She said. “I lost my composure for a second. That must have been a surprise to you. It’s just that I haven’t seen you in so long.”
“What? Have we met somewhere before?”
She smiled. “We’ve known each other for our whole foal hood. I can’t believe that you don’t recognize your own little sister.”
“You’ve got a lot of explaining to do, Storm.” Clover lectured. “What the heck was that all about?”
After the whole incident with Snowflake, Storm made the excuse that he had to relieve a pegasus officer who was providing overwatch in another area. He was able to avoid everyone for the rest of the day. That was until he returned to the station where his team was waiting for him.
“Listen to the mare,” Star demanded. “We need answers. When this gets out to all of Equestria it’s going to become a PR nightmare for our town.”
“How is this going to be a PR nightmare? This doesn’t have anything to do with the town or the department, just me.”
“Ignore him,” Comet said. “Back to you. What was that all about and don’t say it was nothing. One of the biggest pop stars in Equestria just hugged you out of the blue and called you brother. That’s something, not nothing."
Storm sighed, knowing that he’s not getting out of this one. He might as well spill everything. “Alright, I’ll tell you everything. She’s my little sister that I’ve haven’t seen for almost six years.”
“None of my business or anything, but why haven’t you seen your sister for six years?” Clover asked.
Storm sighed again. “The last time I saw her was when I went to Bootcamp for the army. After that I’ve haven’t seen her since. My mom told me that she moved to Manehattan after she finished college, then we lost contact.”
“Wow,” Phantom said. “You sure do have an interesting life, Storm.”
“It hasn’t slowed down since I moved here,” Storm sighed. “I just want to have a normal month where nothing crazy happens.”
“You guys should catch up,” Phantom suggested. “Tomorrow is the prep day for the concert. So she isn’t doing anything.”
“I’m pretty sure that she’s got her own problems. The press is probably swarming her with questions.” Storm said.
“That reminds me. There’s a pack of reporters in front of the station waiting for you.” Star warned.
“I’m going out the back door.”
“HE’S YOUR BROTHER?” Silver Flash and Rose shouted.
Snowflake winced from the shout. She knew that was going to happen sometime today and this was the best time for it inside the carriage away from their fan.
Today’s list was finally complete. The girls are on their way back to the hotel to rest and prepare for the concert in two days. The meet & greet went on a bit longer than expected thanks to Snowflake. She had a longer line than normal asking the same questions over and over again.
‘Who was that stallion?’ Was repeated almost every single time a fan approached her. Snowflake responded the same every single time he’s a friend. She said this with the prized innocent smile she does when she’s in a jam. It worked throughout her foal hood and it's working now.
Finally after dealing with her fans Snowflake now has to deal with Silver Flash and Rose. Two mares who are determined to find the truth by any means necessary.
“I’m not buying it,” Rose objected. “No way he's your brother. That hug you gave him was completely by surprise.”
“That’s because we haven’t seen each other for seven years. Of course he’ll be surprised, let alone not recognizing me.” Snowflake explained.
“Could have you at least given us a heads up,” Rose asked. “Copper is freaking out. He thinks that the stallion is your secret boyfriend. Or something else from a tx drama he’s watching.”
Snowflake rolled her eyes. “I don’t care what Copper thinks. I just wanted to say hi to my brother. I can’t do that now because he’s gone and I don’t know where he is.”
“Flake, flake, flake,” Silver Flash said, shaking her head. “Like I said before this is a small town, not a big city. I bet that your brother is at the town police station. Wherever that is.”
“Technically, we have half of the day free tomorrow,” Rose remarked. “Maybe you can visit him before he does he’s cop stuff.”
“You think so?” Snowflake asked.
“Yea, leave it to me. I’ll get everything you need.”
The festival was moving closer or what the residents of the town call it, The calm before the storm. The concert is tomorrow and the whole town is buzzing with excitement and concern about what might happen tomorrow.
There’s already been many drunk and assaults calls and they haven’t stopped since day two. Luckily for Shadow Storm and company there’s been no reports on property damage, injuries for both citizens or first responders, and the V.I.P’s are safe and sound.
However, a message was received that a large number of guests will arrive tomorrow for the main event based on overwatch outside of the town and reports from the city. This caused an emergency meeting formed by the town’s Safety Committee to plan for tomorrow.
Storm and a few others attend the meeting since they’ll be on the frontlines during the concert tomorrow and they need to know how to handle any situation that may happen that night.
After the meeting Chief Night assigned him to special call response till the night of the festival. That’s just another way of saying desk duty until tomorrow evening. Storm knew that was just an excuse for him to catch up on the month and a half of paperwork that’s at his desk. As he neared the stairs Twister called out to Storm before he could get to the first step.
“Hey, Storm. You have a visitor.”
“Take a message,” Storm said while walking up the stairs. Dreading the mountain of papers that are waiting for him. “I got stuff to do.”
“It’s your sister.”
Storm stopped. There’s no way he could have heard that right. He must have made a mistake. Storm turned to Twister. “What?”
“Your sister,” Twister pointed to the bench. “She’s been waiting for a while.”
When Storm made eye contact with Snowflake she smiled and waved.
Storm forced a smile knowing that being mean to his sister who is a top artist will be bad in more ways than one. “Let her in.”
Hear that Snowflake got up and walked to the small gate that separated the waiting area from the rest of the office. A pegasus from Cloudsdale opened the gate for her. She smiled and thanked the pegasus before walking towards Storm.
“Snowflake,” Storm began. “Is something wrong?”
“I haven’t seen my brother in years. I can’t say hi?”
“It would have been better if you would have given me a heads up first. Instead of just popping up out of nowhere.”
“I tried,” Snowflake said. “They said that you were in a meeting. So I waited for you. Everyone was nice, they kept asking me if I needed anything.”
“So she used her looks and charm to her advantage. Some things never change.
Storm led Snowflake to the second floor and directed her to his desk. Papers and files cover the desk.
“What’s all this?” Snowflake asked, staring at papers scattered across the desk. “Are you organizing or something?”
“Paperwork that I haven’t done,” Storm sighed. “I need to finish this by the end of the week.”
“All of it?”
“Every single paper.”
“And I thought the autographs I sighed when we went on tour were a lot.”
“It's not so bad.” Storm said looking at a paper. “Most of this is reports on incidents from yesterday. The others report I need to sign and file for the record.”
“Geez, a detective does all of this?” Snowflake asked.
“That and I’m head of the sky patrol of the town.”
“You work two positions?”
“Pretty much. Small town, some of us have to do multiple things for our jobs.”
“Don’t you get tired?”
“I’ve pulled five all-nighters in a roll with no sleep. I’m holding up just fine.”
Snowflake chuckled. “I remember that. You were studying for the flight school exam and you needed a high grade to pass. When it was over you stayed in your room for three days just sleeping.”
Strom smiled. “Yeah, you, Mom, and Vortex didn’t let that down for days.”
“Speaking of Vortex,” Snowflake said, her voice dropped to a sad and uneasy tone. “Have you heard from her?”
Vortex is the youngest of the three. She was born after Snowflake 25 minutes later into the next day. While Storm was born 3 years ahead.
Since Vortex could talk she had no problem being blunt. She would often get into fights at school and with Snowflake and Storm on some occasions. Strom nearly had to carry her away from a fight with 3 mares at school after an argument about colts, clothes, or whatever mares talk about at that age.
The worst thing he had ever seen with Vortex is the fight she had with Snowflake. It started with something small, a hairbrush, or a towel, something pointless. It escalated from mean comments to shouting. Then Vortex said something that escalated to a new high.
“An ugly idiot like you won’t ever become an idol. Just give it up already, you're wasting money.”
Things got heated after that. Storm and his Mother had to separate them both before any more damage could be done to either of them. After that things were awkward to say the lease. They didn’t really talk to each other much after that.
Storm didn’t know if they made up or not since he was heading for Bootcamp in a couple of days. He left before his mother could do anything. Storm kept asking what happened to his mother when he was on leave, but she would only say, “It’s complicated.” Code for ‘It’s a mare thing. You wouldn’t understand.’
Then contact became harder and harder since everyone was busy starting their own lives and careers. Storm didn’t really hear from his sister after that. He did keep in contact with his mother who talked to all of her children regularly. She would normally try to get everyone together, but everyone’s schedules are different and she admitted that she’s afraid that another fight will break out between Vortex and Snowflake.
“Not really,” Storm finally replied. “We talked a little, but it wasn’t anything eventful.”
Snowflake nodded and changed the subject to Storm’s love life and other things siblings talk about. They’ve been talking for almost two hours. At one point Snowflake spotted the clock that was hanging near Phantom’s office.
“Oh, no is that the time?” Snowflake gasped. “I have to get back to the hotel. I need my rest for tomorrow.”
Storm nodded. “Alright, I’ll walk you out. Is a carriage already waiting for you?” Snowflake nodded. “Yea, I told him that I’ll be here for a few hours. So he’s waiting.”
Storm escorted his sister to her carriage that was waiting outside for her. There was no incident this time. Strom could help notice a few pegasus looking at his sister a little too long. It looks like the Big brother protect instance is coming back.
On the day of the festival the police were preparing for the battle ahead. Last night Storm, along with his team helped set up crowd control barricades to limit access into town and the area of the concert.
Clover and Star were working at the entrance of the festival. The area can only be entered by the bridge into the area. There were about seven officers there checking bags and for weapons. Storm and Comet were on overwatch like always. Watching from above and being quick to respond to an emergency. Phantom was on standby waiting in a trailer for the go-ahead to move in.
Throughout the late evening Storm was waiting for something to happen. Something always happens at the main event. A fight, a drunk idiot causing problems or a major equipment malfunction on stage Anyone of those things could happen.
One more night and it will all be over. It was true that this festival would help raise money for the town and the businesses as well. However, there were a few headaches to deal with. The main thing was the trash in the grasslands. Plastic cups, food wrappers and bottles cover the field from end to end. Then clearing out the crowd tonight and V.I.P’s leaving tomorrow. Not to mention taking down decorations, storing away the barricades, returning borrowed equipment to Hayfield, and other things that are bound to come up.
“Pretty quiet huh?” Comet said as the concert was going into the final show of the evening. “Maybe tonight won’t be so bad.”
“I hope so,” Storm said. “The last thing we need is something happening at the final show of the night. Stuff like that always happens to us.”
“I know. It’s annoying at times, yet I’m glad. When me and Clover moved here we thought that it was just going to be a boring and lazy town. Man, we were wrong the first day we moved here.” “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Storm agreed. “Beats sitting around all day and doing nothing.”
“I heard that your sister visited the station yesterday.”
“Oh, great who told you?”
“One of the stallions from Cloudsdale. He was saying to everyone that the goddess of Snowflake smiled at him.”
“That goddess of Snowflake?” Storm asked. “That’s just overkill.”
Comet snicker. “Anyway, have you ever listened to your sister sing before? I mean when you guys were younger.”
Storm shrugged. “Sometimes, she was in a lot of talent shows at school and she always sang when she was cleaning or cooking around the house. I never really listened.”
“You’re a great big brother, you know that?”
Shouts and cheers erupted from the crowd below. It appears that the final show of the night is about to begin. Snowflake, Rose, and Silver Flash all came into view and started singing.
Storm could barely hear anything as the crowd sang along and him being pretty high in the air. What he could see was the smile on his sister’s face as she sang. He hadn’t seen her smile like that since she was accepted into college. Maybe getting the family together is a good idea.
When the performance finally ended 'operation clean up' began. This consisted of picking up the trash, loading barricade equipment into the carriages, and kicking out stragglers after the show ended.
Everyone who was assigned to help draw straws to decide who does what. Storm and Phantom along with eight others had to kick out the stragglers. Some did what they were told and others would try to fight. Once they saw Phantom they instantly backed off and left. A few times an airlift was needed to carry an unresponsive pony to the hospital. The operation continued on till the early morning. Then they have the task of loading the equipment up in trains, while everyone else escorts the guests out of town by ground and air.
Storm, Phantom, and two earth ponies were trying to load a carriage full of equipment into a train cart. This would be so difficult if the wheels hadn’t been taken off to make room for it. After what felt like forever the carriage was finally loaded in the train cart.
Storm let out a long yawn. Working 10 hours is usually nothing for him. However, he suddenly felt drained. Maybe the workload and the lack of sleep from the past week is finally taking a toll on him. The idea of going home and sleeping sounded like the best idea in the world right now.
Just as Storm was about to leave the station he’s name was being called from a cart. He turned and saw Snowflake waving from a window. Storm jogged over to her.
Snowflake nodded. “Yeah, we have to go. There’s a question I wanted to say to you before I left.”
“Sure, sis what is it?”
“Will we see each out again?”
“Of course we will,” Storm assured. “We're family and we stick together. One day sooner rather than later that we’ll all be together again you, me, Vortex and mom I promise.”
Snowflake smiled at Storm’s answer. “Yeah, you’re right.” The train hissed and started moving. “Stay safe.” Snowflake shouted. “And remember you promised.”
Storm waved as the train left the station. “I’ll see again.”
“That was really touching Storm,” Phantom said. “I’m glad that you made that promise.”
“Phantom,” Storm said. “If you tell anyone about what just happened. I’ll deny it. Then I’ll murder you. Got it?”
