A conflicting family

by Diana8651

Rating: teen
Tags: Comedy, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Slice of Life, Thunderlane, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Other, Original Character
Length: 3192

A family must learn to work together. Quickly.

Flare Jumper and Thunderlane had a family. Then they split apart. End of story, right? Wrong. Flame Jumper somewhat happily raised four children alone, and now Thunderlane wants them back, even though the fillies never met him. Oh, and one of them wants to run away. How will such a conflicting family ever get along?

Published 2014-01-22 00:30:06 UTC
Last updated 2014-02-09 05:56:29 UTC

A Request

"Moooom!!! Lightning took my manebrush!!!" A medium sized Pegasus whined at her mother's side, begging for attention with her big blue eyes.

"Lightning Dasher, give it back NOW!"
A small grey-haired Pegasus stood in the doorway to the bathroom, brush in mouth.

"But mom, I don't have one!" In Lightning's attempt to speak, the brush clattered to the ground, only to be picked up again fairly quickly.

"I'll get you one on Friday!"

"Friday's too far away!!"

"Lightning Dasher! If you don't give it back this instant you will be in a heap of trouble!"

Peace followed soon. The brush was returned to the blue eyed one, and Lightning muttered, "No fair. Moonlight Dancer is always treated better. We're supposed to be twins."

Flare Jumper breathed in quietly as she prepared for the next sibling battle. Why had she ever decided to have four kids? Two pairs of twins, to be exact.

Ever since Thunderlane had left, she had been working a terrible job, with barely enough money to support them all. It was enough to drive anypony insane.

"DINNER IS READY!" Flare called through the apartment. The clattering of four sets of hooves filled up as every filly came rushing to the table.

Groans arose from all the fillies when they saw what was for dinner. Bean Casserole. Soon whines of "Mom, I don't like bean casserole! Mom, I already ate! Mom, this is disgusting!" filled the air. She tried to tune it out as she said her mealtime prayer.

"May unicorns bless the food we eat, so graciously given by earth ponies, and so warmed by Pegasi. May Celestia keep food plentiful, and bless the moon goodnight."

Quickly after she said that, the doorbell rung. Eagerly, Sunset Climber lit her horn and raced down the hallway to open the door. Flare Jumper was faster. "Ohhh, no you don't! We don't know who this is!"

Flare opened the door. On it stood the mailmare, a grey Pegasus with yellow wall eyes. "Delivery for Miss Flare Jumper of East Canterlot?"

"That's me," Flare replied. "Thank you, miss, uh-"

"Derpy Hooves," the mare replied. Of the famed Derpy's Canterlot Mail Delivery. Best there is! Of course, we also deliver to Ponyville, Trottingham, Manehattan-"

So focused was Derpy, she failed to notice that Flare Jumper had already closed the door.

"-Neighagra Falls, Cloudsdale, Los Pegasus, Applewo- Hey, where did she go?" The confused mare looked around, and seeing as she couldn't find her, promptly flew off to finish her deliveries.

————

"Mom! What's in the letter?"

Flare opened the envelope slowly. The letter didn't have a return address. She turned the envelope away, and opened the letter.

"Dear Flare," she read aloud, "It is with a light heart I write to you now. I have found a successful job here in Ponyville—"

"That's where the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony live!" Moonlight Dancer was wide-eyed with respect, her blue eyes glinting with the thought of the Elements.

"—and wish to request to you and the children," Flare continued, "That you come and enjoy this summer here with me. I have tickets for the train enclosed in the envelope. Love, Thunderlane."

All mares in the house were silent for a bit, but not for too long. Lightning Dancer figured out what it meant.

"OHMIGOSHWE'REGOINGTOPONYVILLE!!!! RAIINBOWDASHLIVESTHERE!!!! I'VEALWAYSWANTEDTOMEETHER!!!"

"NO! FLUTTERSHY IS THE BEST!"

"TWILIGHT SPARKLE!"

"APPLEJACK!"

"RAINBOW DASH!"

"FLUTTERSHY!!!"

"BE QUIET! WE ARE NOT GOING!"

All fillies were shocked at their mother's reply. She had never raised her voice before, or cried. And yet, she was doing both.

"But mom-"

"I said we aren't going. That is final!" To make her point even clearer, she took the tickets and tossed them into the trash.

She stood up and walked away. Once in her room she fell to her bed, crying. "Why now? Leave my family alone."

She cried herself to sleep.

At the table, Lunar Eclipse, who was always more in touch with her mother's feelings, was sniveling. The other fillies quietly cleaned up. They were still in shock.

Who was Thunderlane? Why was he making their mother cry? They had to find out. So Sunset used her magic to get the tickets out of the trash, which was luckily empty. And so, all four fillies hatched a plan.

Author's Note

Whelp, I'm done. Fist chapter on my first day of my first story? That's a lot of firsts. More chapters coming soon, hopefully.

A spell (or two)

"Oh, I just can't wait for you to meet Rainbow Shine! She is the most wonderful Pegasus I have ever met! Besides you, dear, but-"

Thunderlane was rambling on about everything in his life, but none of the mares were listening. Flare was fuming silently to herself, and the poor fillies were still trying to connect themselves to the stallion who was supposed to be their father.

"How could I have been born? Their both pegasi," Sunset Climber whispered.

"I dunno," Lunar Eclipse replied.

"-and you guys have to meet her! She's at my place. Let's go!"

Thunderlane took off into the sky, heading straight for the cloud home above. He got to the front step, and realized none of the mares had followed him. Soaring back down, he confronted them.

"Why didn't you guys follow me? I mean, I was going pretty slow." Thunderlane flapped his wings angrily.

All of them stared at him. Flare glared. "Not all of us are pegasi, you know."

Thunderlane's flapping came to a stop.

"Well, we need to take the children to see a unicorn to get a spell! Why didn't we have any unicorn children? That would have made things so much easier for us! Earth Ponies can't do magic, you know."

The children were shocked that their 'father' showed such ignorance towards them. Sunset and Lunar wanted to cry. He didn't see their horns? He thought they had wings, and then nothing at all?

"Come, come! To Twilight Sparkle we go!" Thunderlane hurried the children along the path to the library. He knocked at the door and waited. The door creaked open and a purple unicorn mare stepped out.

"Can I help you?"

Lunar Eclipse could barely contain her excitement. The most accomplished pony in the field of magical studies! Princess Twilight Sparkle!

Thunderlane stomped his hoof impatiently. "We need a spell."

Twilight looked confused. "For who?"

He gestured towards the fillies. "The two earth ponies here."

"Uh, sir, I don't think these are earth ponies."

"Of course they are! Do you see any wings? I can't!"

She looked at the small group. She walked to Flare and said, "You must be Thunderlane's sister. I hope he wasn't like this in his childhood. I'm guessing you need a cloud walking spell? Come inside."

She turned and walked back inside. Lunar almost ran after her, she was so fast. The others were…slower, but then again, not everyone likes Twilight Sparkle.

Once everyone was inside, Twilight again faced the small group.

"So. Two of you need cloud walking spells. Can you two step forward? Excellent. Now, think calmly of clouds. Big, fluffy clouds." Her horn glowed. "This won't hurt a b-"

"Actually," Lunar interrupted, "I was hoping you could do something a little different for me?"

"What is it you want?"

"Wings"

"You know, that'll cost extr-"

HEY!" Thunderlane objected. "I thought you gave this stuff for free!?"

"Times are rough, Thunder." Twilight replied. "I barely have enough money. Being a librarian isn't the highest paying job, so I got another one. Now, a cloud walking spell is usually 25 bits, but a-"

"Please?" Lunar begged, golden eyes in the saddest expression she could muster. "I've always wanted to fly. My family doesn't have much money as-is."

Twilight was tired of being interrupted. She Gave an exasperated sigh and answered.

"Kid, I like you. You remind me of me when I was little. But everyone's got to pay. Tell you what, though. I'll lower the price for both spells to 15 bits. I'll also thrombin some old magic practicing books of mine so you can prac-"

"THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!"

Lunar leapt onto Twilight giving her a big bear hug.

"Now," Twilight said, peeling Lunar off of her, "How long do you want the spells to last?"

"The rest of summer," Flare said.

Forever, Lunar thought.

"Okay," Twilight spoke, her horn glowing once again, "Wing spell might feel a little funny, as your brain hooks up to the new bodyparts. Cloud walking is nothing special, except you can, well, walk on clouds. Ready?"

A beam of magic hit the two unicorns.

An Argument.

"Lunar Eclipse fluttered her butterfly wings gracefully. With just a few flaps she was soaring. It. Was. Amazing. She truly believed that pegasi were the luckiest of the three types. (Alicorns exc

And the wings. Oh, the wings! They shined like gossamer and were as light as silk. And the colors!
They mixed every color of her perfectly. Her dark teal coat, her black mane, and her gold eyes. Lots of gold. Amazing.

"Guys!" she called to her sisters, "This is amazing! Look at my wings!"

Moonlight Dancer groaned and covered her eyes with a hoof. "You said that already. Like, less then a minute ago. And a minute before that, and a minute before that, and a minute before that-"

Lightning Dasher slapped a hoof over her twin. "Shut UP!" she growled. "You think I can handle TWO mares that won't be quiet? I've got enough trouble dealing with THAT egomaniac, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!"

Moonlight Dancer nodded and waited for her sister's hoof to come off. And when it did, she took her chance.

"-and a minute before that, and a minute before that, and a minute before that-"

Lightning snapped. Her wings flew open.

"I CAN'T TAKE IT ANY MORE!! I'M FINDING RAINBOW DASH!"

She jumped off like she was committing suicide. Down she fell. The ground fell closer and closer.... WOOOOSH!

In the last possible second, she let her wings catch air. She glided above the streets of Ponyville to her begin her search. Soon a cloud covered her from view. Lunar was humming contentedly.

"Lightning, dear, would you mind…….Where did she go?"

"To begin a marehunt. She'll be back when she's hungry."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, my dear filly, Flare Jumper was having an argument. With Thunderlane. Celestia help him.

"Honey," the argument began.

"Don't call me honey," Flare snapped.

"But I want to introduce you to Rainbowshine! And Cloudkicker!"

Flare stomped up to him. Next to Thunderlane was a light purple Pegasus with baby pink hair. Standing next to her was a mare about the same age as Sunset Climber and Lunar Eclipse, with a similar coat. She was snapping on a piece of gum, playing on a Neightendo DS.

"Hello," Rainbowshine began. "You must be Thunderlane's sister! I hear so much about you! Funny, though, you never had a husband. But how did you have so many fill-"

"Uhhh, Rainbowshine? How about you take Cloudkicker to meet her cousins?" Thunderlane spoke nervously.

As the other two mares left the building, he surveyed Flare carefully, like she was a bomb he had yet to diffuse.

"So," Flare began in a cold voice. "I'm your sister? And Rainbowshine is…………let me guess……………your wife?"

"Did you also tell her," Flare continued, her voice volume rising, "that you are a backstabbing, cheating son of a *sqeeeeee* that abandoned his previous family in search of more money? Or were you too busy tying the knot?"

"Honey, you know why I left! There wasn't enough money to support all of us, and the employment rate was going down! I never got to meet Lightning Quick and Moonlight Sonata!"
"It's Lightning Dasher and Moonlight Dancer," Flare growled.

"So I invited you guys and-"

He never got to finish his sentence.

"What the HELL were you THINKING? I was raising the children fine without you, and the suddenly you want us to VISIT YOU?

"We got nothing, not one single stinking FILLY SUPPORT CHECK! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD! And yet, here you are, living in a cloud home with your RICH wife, successful JOB, and healthy FILLIES!

"I don't know why you would want us here, seeing as you've already got a PERFECT life here!

"You know what? I can't even stand to look at you. The children and I are finding somewhere else to spend the summer! As long as I don't have to see your stupid, rotten, no-good cheating face of a bum, I'm good! I'm going to pack!"

She spun out of the room, tears streaming down her face.

Thunderlane was going to need his ears checked. The dark red mare had almost broken his eardrums.

Author's Note

Aha.... Mild language in this chapter.
Please note, I'm kind of making this story up as I go.
So, comments are appreciated. I'd love some.
Oh! Any of you artists? Because I desperatly need some cover art done.
So, if you think you can vector up some family portraits, message me!

Diana8651, out.

A theft

Lightning Dasher's tummy rumbled. How long had she been at this? An hour? Two hours? Either way, she needed food.

Swooping down to the town below, her hooves gently touched the dirt ground. Canterlot had never been like this. The bustling was normal, but so different! The ponies of Canterlot were so... Hoity Toity. Here ponies were friendly, like they were family. Awesome. But it didn't solve her problem. Where was food?

Shifting her weight from hoof to hoof, she scanned the area. Nothing... Aha! An... apple stand? Canterlot didn't have that. Only grocery stores.

Walking closer, the tantalizing smell of the ripe fruit became unbearable. As the orange pony who seemed to be manning the stand was busy with another customer, Lightning Dasher picked the biggest apple. Eagerly she reached for her mother to pay for it, only to remember: her mother wasn't here.

Looking around, her tummy grumbled once again. She took a hoof out, and had just grabbed it when the orange pony turned. The mare had caught her in the act.

"And just what in the hay," the mare asked, "do you think you're doin'? Ah ain't blind, ya know. So y'all best be puttin' that apple down, 'less ya got some bits to pay fer it."

Lightning disappointedly put the apple down.

But she was so hungry! Lightning wanted to cry. Just as she was going to walk away, a flash of rainbow skidded to a stop next to her. There stood a mare who nonchalantly handed two bits to the orange pony, and picked the apple Lightning had tried to steal, pointing at it with a cerulean hoof. Her tangled multicolored hair blew in the wind. There stood…

…Rainbow Dash.

Lightning Dasher could barely contain her excitement. In her head, she was screaming. Rainbow casually glanced at Lightning, and asked the orange mare, "Who's that, Applejack? Haven't seen her before."

Applejack replied, "It's a dirty little rat you'll be lookin' at, so 'less you want ter be gettin' a disease, y'all best stay away from it. Stinking varmit tried to steal an apple."

As Rainbow Dash looked yet again, Lightning put on a begging look with the saddest eyes possible. It was a look to match Applebloom's.

"Please?" the filly begged. "I was just hungry...."

Rainbow seemed to ponder this for a minute. After some thinking, she tossed another two bits to Applejack and picked out an apple. Handing it to Lightning Dasher, she said, "Squirt, I like you. Reminds me of me. You should meet Scootaloo. A lot like you. 'Bout the same age, too."

Rainbow Dash flied to the clouds. Applejack gave the most hateful look she could towards Lightning, and turned to her next customer. But that didn't matter. Lightning Dasher took a big bite of the apple, and flew back home.
Her quest of the day had been completed. Time…to…sleep...

Author's Note

My mission is yet to be completed. I still don't have a cover picture.
Yup. Seriously, I've looked all over the interwebs, guys, but haven't found anyone who would do the job.
And don't even ask if I can do it myself. I just can't. :'(
Also, I'm kind of… commentless. So, if one or two of you readers could just say what you think.
There's a reason comments exist.

So, what happens next? Will Lightning Dasher meet Scootaloo?
What happens when Rainbowshine realizes the kids are Thunderlane's?
Where will Flare Jumper stay for the rest of the summer? Find out what happens next on:
A CONFLICTING FAMILY!!

A Train Ride

The four fillies eagerly pushed their mother down the street. "Whatever you're taking me to," Flare Jumper said, "It better be good! I didn't allow you to blindfold me and lead me down the street just for a candy store!"

"It is good!" Sunset Climber quietly handed the tickets to the ticket master and did a shushing motion towards him. She signaled for the other children to lead their mother farther down.

Flare perked her ears. "Is that the train I hear? I thought I said we weren't going."

"No, mom. You're just hearing things. See?" Lunar Eclipse had researched sound muting spells the night before, so performed the spell. Soon all Flare could hear was her children's voices. Still, she felt a slight ping where her hoof hit metal on the train. Must have been a drainage pipe, she thought.

Lightning Dancer giggled when her mother stepped onto the train. "Almost there!" she called out, holding out a hoof to support her mother. She seated her mother and proceeded to tell her that they would have to wait a bit for it to start movin- I mean, opening.

The train started soon after, and Flare felt her seat jilt. Immediately she knew where she was. She yanked off the blindfold to discover she was on the Canterlot Express. It was too late to get off. The train had already pulled out of the station. All she could do was ground the fillies and sit back to enjoy First Class.

————

Moonlight Dancer was staring out the window. What would would Thunderlane look like? Would he be evil? Images of scary-looking stallions with gnarled hooves and black coats filled her mind and danced around, laughing sinister laughs.

Then she caught sight of the Ponyville station. "We're here! We're here!" she cried, startling the others awake. Her mother looked out as well and quickly turned away. All four fillies were excited, and pulled their mother along to go look for Thunderlane. Each one would point at a stallion and shout, "It's him!" only to be corrected by Flare.

Finally, not looking where she was walking, Flare bumped into a stallion with a sea green mane and grey coat. She took one look and gasped. "You."

"Me."

The fillies stopped and all pointed at him. "He's Thunderlane!"

Thunderlane took one glimpse at the children and smiled a big smile. He knelt down and said,

"Yes, it's me. Your father."