Chapters Riot was walking through town, he had a smile on his face, he was on his way to Derpy's house. Riot was asked to watch Dinky while Derpy was on delivering mail to the gryphon empire, a special assignment given to her by Princess Celestia.
"Hello there Riot, you look really happy." Mr. Cake said as Riot was passing by, he looked at him.
"Yea, i'm on my way to Derpy's place" he said back, then he looked around "have you seen her today by any chance?" He asked, Mr. Cake had a grin on his face, Riot gave him a confused look.
"Oooh, yea i have, she passed by an hour ago" he said, the same grin on his face, Riot was about to walk off before "did you finally ask her on a date?" He asked, his grin growing a little bigger. Riot's face grew a deep crimson color.
"N-no!" He quickly said back, Mr. Cake started laughing, and laughing, and laughing. "Well, uh, thanks, bye bye!" He said before walking away, his face still red. He managed to stop blushing after walking for ten more minutes, he silently cursed to himself.
He stopped when he felt a breeze to his right, be looked over, an alley way was sitting there. He just stared, his eyes grew wide, and he started hearing noises, a loud and sad 'NO' was heard in his mind. He turned his head a tear in his eye.
Twilight was watching him from her telescope, she held it firm in her grip. "Why did he stop there?" She asked herself, she had been spying on him for a while, she knew something was bothering him, and it seemed to be getting worse.
She watched as he started walking away, she lowered her telescope, and stared at the ground for a second. "Twilight whats wrong?" Her head snapped up, Derpy was hovering in place close to Twilight's balcony, her mail mare outfit covering her body, her mailbag hanging to her side.
"You havent noticed?" She asked Derpy, Derpy just shook her head. Twilight let out a small sigh, "somethings wrong with Riot, he seems a little....distant" she explained to her, Derpy's eyes went a little wide.
"You mean somethings wrong with him?! I have to find out!" She said before flying as fast as she could down the street, Twilight was about to call her back, but just shrugged it off, and went doenstairs to read a book.
Riot was just a block away from Derpy's house, he looked to his left, then his right, then crossed the street. It wasnt necessary to do it, there were hardly any Taxi cabs here, he was just to used to manehattan. He proceeded on his way down the street.
He walked up to the door and knocked, and waited, no one came to the door. He knocked again, as before, no answer. "LOOK OUT!" He quickly looked behind him, only to be met with Derpy's face smashing into his. They both fell through the door as soon as Dinky opened it.
"What the?!" was all Dinky could say before getting smashed by them, they lay there for a second. Riot looked up to see Derpy on top of him, he started blushing, his crush was right on top of him after all. *MMFMMNN!* he looked around, he couldnt see anyone.
Riot felt something poking his back, he quickly got Derpy off him, who was still dazed from the crash, and got off of Dinky, "thank you" she said, then got up and looked at Riot, "what were you two doing? It looked like you fell through the door while makin-"
'HM HMMM!' Derpy cleard her throat, while giving Dinky a look. "Uh nevermind! Can i go to over to Appleblooms, i can? Thank you!" Dinky quickly said before dashing through the door, Riot had an extremely confused look on his face.
"Hehe, sorry about that, i was trying to find you as quickly as possible, and, well, crashed into you" Derpy said while standing up.
"Uh, its ok, it was an accident" he said back to her, then cocked his head to the side a little, "so why were you looking fo me?" He asked.
"Well, Twilight thinks theres something wrong with you" she said, Riot stared at her for a moment.
He gave a small sigh "well, there is" he said, Derpy gasped "dont worry, its not serious, just....something that happened a long time ago" he said, Derpy looked him in the eyes.
"Well, what can i do to help?" She asked, Riot stood there for a moment, thinking about what she could do.
"Well, could you tell Twilight and her friends to meet me at the park tommorrow? You can come along to" he said, Derpy nodded.
"I will, and if i want to be there, then i'll have to go early" she said, Riot nodded.
"I understand, and i didnt get the tickets for the movie yet, so i dont mind" he said, mentaly facepalming himself. Derph gave him a hug, his face turned red, then he returned the embrace.
"Ok, i'll be back as soon as possible" she said before breaking away from him, "take care of Dinky!" He said as she started on her journey. He nodded then walked back into her house.
"Wait, where did he go again?" He asked himself, then sighed, and started his search near Derpy's house.
~~~The next day at the park~~~
Riot had just arrived at where the picnic was, Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie. But wheres Derpy? "Sorry im late!" He looked up, Derpy was flying in from above. Did i miss anything? She asked as she landed.
"No, i havent started the stroy yet" Riot said as he joined the group. "Now, what i am about to tell you all is....a little disturbing" he said.
"Oh my" Fluttershy said, Raritys eyes grew a little wider.
"Ok, whatever, just get started already!" Rainbow said impatiantly, "i've been waiting since yesterday to hear this!" She said, waving her hands above her.
"Ok Rainbow, just making sure you were all comfortable with it" he said, he cleared his throat, and began.
"Alright, i'll begin with the beginning of the story" Riot said out loud to his audience of seven, they were all sitting in silence, waitin for him to begin. "Me and my parents decided to go out and around town, get some ice cream, see a movie, go shopping, all the good stuff of the day."
~~~~~FLASHBACK~~~~~
(Six year old Riots time)
"Today is going to be fun!" Riot said, extremely over joyed about todays plan, "oooh, hey mom! Can we also go to the arcade?" He asked his mother, her name was midnight shine, her mane was black, and she was purple, wearing her best dress, a black and purple stripped dress.
"If you behave yourself, then i'll think about it" she said in her calm, motherly tone of voice.
"ALRIGHT!" He yelled out in excitment, he was jumping around a little.
"Of course we can go the the arcade! You know i like that place to dear." Riots father called from his couch, he had a brown mane with a small hint of red-ish, he was a deep brown color, he was reading the latest sports magazine, he was wearing a normal plad colored shirt with matching pants. His name is Smith R. Gunner (the R standing for Rich)
"Oh dear, looks like im outnumbered" Midnight shine said, everyone started laughing a bit, then things got quiet. The clock started to make the dong noises it makes every hour, *dong dong dong!*
"It's three! Lets go!" Riot said in pure excitment, he was at the door in a split second, all ready to go. His parents were taking their time, Midnight Shine was putting some earings on, while Smith grabbed a tie and attached it to his neck. "Cooome on! You guys are taking forever!" He said, starting to get bored just waiting for them.
Then his parents finished getting ready, and they were on their way. They caled a taxi cab, and took a ride to the park, they always went to the park first, cause the ice cream cart there always serves the best. Riot went with two scoops of vanilla, Midnight Shine did a scoop of strawberry and chocolate, and Smith went with double chocolate scoops.
They walked through the park eating their ice cream, they stopped at the memorial there, and decided it was time to get to their next destination: the mall. They called a taxi cab, but none stopped for them. "Guess we'll have to walk" Midnight said.
"Yea! Plus the mall isn't that far from here!" Riot said, full of energy, he always liked walking, it gave him a feeling of peace.
"It'll give us some excersize, i was hoping for a cab,but its ok if we walked" Smith said, he liked riding in a cab, he felt as if he was going faster then he could run. They started their walk, they passed by a candy shop, a toy shop, and a repair shop.
"Why dont we just go to those shops we passed?" Riot asked, his mother giggled a little.
"Because their candy isnt the best, the best is at candy world in the mall" she said, he got extremely excited about getting the best. They continued their walk in silence, listening to the noises of the city, looking at the birds flying above them, then they arrived at the mall.
~~~one really long shopping spree later~~~
They were making their way out, bags in hand. Riot had managed to get his mom to buy him a toy car, his dad bought a new tie, and his mother, bought the most, including a new dress, three sets of earings, and a golden necklace.
They stepped outside, it was darker then when they entered. "Oh dear, we stayed longer then expected" his mother said.
"Well, guess we'll have to end this trip at the arcade" his dad said, Riot strted jumping around in joy.
"Race you there!" He said before running down the street, he didnt hear his parents yell for him to stop, he just kept going. He got tired of running and stopped to catch his breath, he was standing in front of an alleyway.
He looked down the street, his parents were catching up, there weren't that far away. "Heeeelllloooooo tthhhheeeerrrre" he heard someone say, "whhaaaat arrre yooou doing *HIC* herrrreee litttttlllle misssss" he looked in the alleyway.
There stood a drunken stallion, broken bottle in hand, giving him one of the wierdest looks hes ever seen.
"Iiiimm gonnnnnaaa have *HIC* a fuuuuuunn timmme withh you my deeeeeaaarr!" The drunken man said before jumping at Riot, he screamed as he was grabbed by the man.
"RIOT!" He heard his mom yell, he struggled against the mans grip but to no avail, the man was now trying to kiss him.
*WHAM!* his dad threw his fist into the side of the mans face, Riot fell to the ground, hitting his head. His dad was about to help him up, before the man attacked Smith, stabbing him in the stomach with the bottle. His eyes grew wide.
~~~~~PRESENT~~~~~
Riot had tears in his eyes, the mane six and Derpy had shocked expressions on their faces. "You ok sugarcube?" Applejack asked, he looked at her and nodded.
"I-it was s-such a nice story" Fluttershy said, most affected by the story.
"Is that all your gonna tell?" Someone said, but no one knew who, then Applebloom, Sweetie Bell, Scootalo, and Dinky walked out of a nearby bush.
"Dinky?!"
"Applebloom?!"
"Scootalo?!"
"Sweetie Bell?!"
"Yes?" The four of them asked at the same time, they were acting extremely innocent, Riot was giving them a wierd look.
"What in the hay are ya doing here? I thought you were home with your friends!" Applejack said, Applebloom's ears folded back in shame.
"Well, i wanted to see what you were up to,and the others agreed." She said, her head hanging in shame "we didnt know you would be hearing a story, and when we found out, we listened too!" She said in a cheery tone, her head coming up a little.
It was quiet for a minute as they all registered what just happened, then Riot broke the silence. "Well, I never got in trouble for hearing a story, so why shpuld the little ones get in trouble for their curiosity?" He asked no one in particular.
"Well, i just dont want her to have nightmares because of what you just revealed to us" Applejack said.
"Same here" said Rarity.
"I dont wanna put up with Dinkys nightmares again" Derpy said, "but that was during Luna's exile, so i guess whe could stay" she continued, getting an excited look from Dinky.
"Scoots can handle it, right Scoots?" Rainbow said, everyone looked at the them. They all nodded then looked at us.
"We promise we wont bother you if we have nightmares. We will conquer them ourselves!" They all said in unison, Riot stifled a laugh but Applebloom noticed it.
"Whats so funny?" She asked as she looked at him, he couldnt help but give her a smile in return.
"I find it funny how you four speak in perfect unison" he said, at this point they were grinning.
"Alright, thats enough of that" Applejack said, "why dont you continue your story now?" She said, the CMC were now sitting on the blanket, waitimg to hear more.
"Alright ill keep going" he said, then prepared to continue.
"We're waiting" Twilight said, she was getting tired of waiting, she wanted to hear more. Riot swallowed the last of his water.
"OK, we can begin again" he said, then opened his mouth, and started again.
~~~~~Young Riot's time~~~~~
He stared in horror as his dad was impaled by the bottle, fear was in his eyes. His dad backed away from the drunken man, and looked at the bottle inside of him. "R-riot. Run. Get out of here." He said, before pulling the bottle out of his stomach.
Riot took a step back, then looked at his mother on the other side of the scene. Her face was frozen as she looked at what just happened, she wasnt moving, she just stood there. He started to run around the drunken man towards her. "Wheeere you *hic* goooing little miissssss? We're gonna have soooooo mu- *hic* -ch ffffun"
Riot screamed in terror as he felt the back of his shirt get grabbed by him, a drunken smile on his face. "Let go of my son" Smith said as he punched the man again, his stomach had a huge cut mark in it. Riot started running to his mom again, she was no longer frozen, but she was on her knees crying. He looked back, the drunken man had his bottle again and he already had it back in Smith, cutting his stomach open.
"NO!" Midnight yelled out, she stood up and ran towards the fight, as she was goimg past Riot he looked at him and said "run home as fast as you can." He nodded, then started running again, he looked over his shoulder, he saw his mother get pushed to the ground. He closed his eyes, tears flowing down his face.
~~~1 hour later~~~
He made it to his house, he turned the handle and ran inside, slamming the door behind him. He ran to his room and went under his bed. He stayed there, crying, he watched his father die, he left his mom behind. *creeeak* he heard his door open, he looked at it from under his bed. "Is he in there?" A deep voice asked.
"No, i dont see him" a mare said, her voice was smooth and gentle.
"Look around, he might be hiding" the deep voice said again, Riots heart started to pound, he didnt know who these were, but they were looking for him. He saw a pair of legs moving around in the room, they walked over to the closet.
"Not in here" the mare said, then the legs came over to his bed. His heart skipped a beat, they were going to find him, and he had no idea what to do. Then a blue arm came down into sight, he stared at it. Then the person started to crouch down, then he saw her face. "Hello there sweetie" she said.
Riot started scooting farther under the bed, "i take it you found him." Another pair of legs appeared when he said that, then he also crouched and looked under. He was grey.
"W-what do you w-want with m-me?" Riot asked, his voice shaky. The two looked at eachother, then back at him.
"We wanted to find you, and ask you some questions about your parents." The man said, his voice still deep, "and apologies, we forgot to introduce ourselves" he said, then he stood up.
"Its ok you can come out now" the lady said, also standing up. He stayed under for a few seconds, then came out from under. "There ya go sweetie, now we arent hurting our backs when we talk to you" she said in a happy tone of voice.
He stood there looking at them, then they started their introduction. "My name is Mister Vandlo. Dont ask, my mother thought it was a good name" Mr. Vandlo said, he was wearing a suit, a crossbow strapped to his side.
"And im Mrs. Vandlo" Mrs. Vandlo said, she was wearing a dress, she also had a crossbow strapped to her side. "And we're the detectives!" She said in excitment, Mr. Vandlo just stood there.
"This is her first assignment" he said, then he waved his hand in a way that said 'follow'. Riot followed him out to the living room, he sat down with Mrs. and Mr. Vandlo sitting on the other couch. "So tell me, where are your parents?" He asked, Riot flinched when he heard him say parents.
He sat there for a second, then looked up at them, "my dads dead, and im pretty sure my mom is too" he said, he was trying his best to hold back the tears.
"And when did this happen?" Mr. Vandlo said, a little concern in his voice.
"Today, a few blocks away from the mall" he said, a few tears flowing down his face. The Vandlos looked at eachother, they wispered a few things. They wispered for a few more seconds before turning their attention to Riot.
"I am sorry to hear that" Mr. Vandlo said, Mrs. Vandlo had a tear running down her cheek. "Do you have any relatives you could go live with?" He asked.
"My grandparents are dead, my Aunt went missing, and i was never told of any othere relatives" Riot said, he remembered his aunt, she was always kind. Then the tragic day day came when she had a heart attack, and died in the backroom at her job.
"Oh dear" Mrs. Vandlo said, another tear running down her face, "you never told me your job was this sad" she said the her husband.
"It was in the job description" he said back to her, she looked back at Riot, her eyes were filled with sorrow. "Sorry about everything that has happened today, and sorry we can do no more for you" he said, Riot looked at him in confusion.
"What do you mean by that?" He asked, Mr. Vandlo sighed and looked him straight in the eyes.
"It means we have to take you to the orphanage" he said, Riots eyes grew wide, he had heard terrible things about that place from his friends. He was tensed up a bit, and the Vandlos saw it.
"Dont worry, the orphanage isnt a terrifying place" Mrs. Vandlo said in her calm voice, "dont listen to those storys about it, i've heard a few myself, and i don't believe them" She said, Riot eased up a bit, and relaxed in his spot.
He looked at them for a few seconds, then nodded his head. They all stood up and walked to the door, Riot pooked back on last time, knowing this was the last time he would see his home.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Well, what happened next?" Applebloom asked.
"They took me to the orphanage" I said, the others had a few tears in their eyes.
"Alight, time to finish this story up" Riot said, but before he could begin, Dinky popped up.
"Already?" She asked, the look in her eyes was adorable and cute.
"I'm afraid so, we've been here for two hours now" he said, Dinky looked down, but looked back up and nodded. "Alright then."
~~~~3 years later~~~~
It was the normal routine again, go to school, get bullied, go back to the orphanage, get bullied, and then sleep. It was a never ending nightmare, the bullies at school bullied him for his lunch, the bullies at the orphanage did it for his blankets. And what was worse is that the mare that works at the orphanage, doesn't care about children.
Riot walked through the school halls, avoiding everyone bigger then him. He was a little small for his age, he looked kinda like a third grader. He was stopped by his number one bully: Felis Von Herdra. Felis hated Riot, all because Riot couldn't hold back the laugh when he heard his name, ever since, he started taking his lunch, making it clear that his name was something you shouldn't laugh at.
"Where you going shorty?" He asked, Riot looked him dead in the eyes. Riot decided that he had enough of this.
"Shut the hell up Felis" he said, Felis was surprised to hear such a young colt swear, he never went that far.
"Started swearing huh? Doesn't make you any taller! HAHAHA!" He said, laughing at his lame joke. Riot launched his fist into his face, giving Felis a knuckle sandwich for lunch.
"Thats your lunch Felis" he said as he walked by him, he looked back at Felis, he was on the floor crying. He felt a little bad, but pushed it aside, Felis never felt bad for him, right? He walked into his class, sat at his desk, and fell asleep.
~~~~three classes later~~~~
He sat there, bored, watching the teacher talk about math. *RINNG! RINNG!* he ran out of class as the bell rang, he didn't even stay for the homework. He ran through the halls, running for his favorite place afterschool: The Ice Cream Shop. Literally it's name, The Ice Cream Shop.
He ran through the doors to the ice cream shop and took a seat. There was a couple seated behind him, he felt as if hes seen them before, but shrugged it off as his ice cream arrived.
"Hello there Riot, how was school today?" Mr. Ice Cream asked him.
"It was the usual" he said as he grabbed his ice cream, Mr. Ice Cream gave him a smile before returning to the back room.
"It's been a while Riot" the mare said from behind, Riot spun around and looked at them. It took him a second, but then his mind clicked into place when he recognized them. It was the Vandlos.
"M-mrs. Vandlo? What are you two doing here?!" He asked, surprised to see someone from the past.
"We're here for you" Mr. Vandlo said, a beard now adorning his face. His voice has gotten deeper in the three years, but was almost the same. Almost.
"W-what do you mean b-by that?" He asked, stumbling over his words a bit.
"Well you see, Mrs. Vandlo doesn't work with me anymore and he just stays at home. She gets a little lonely without someone she cares about." He said, Riot took in every single word, then his eyes grew wide.
"Does that mean your going to- are you?" He asked, Mrs. Vandlo nodded.
"We are" she said, Riots face was beaming with excitment, nothing could describe how happy he was. "Shall we?" She asked Mr. Vandlo, he nodded. They all stood up, Riot finished his ice cream as they walked out. The walk didn't take long, the ice cream shop was only three blocks away from the orphanage.
They filled out the paper work and called a taxi cab. They sat in the cab as the driver pulled them towards their destination: The Vandlo Manor. Riot stared at it, his mind amazed by the sight. He walked inside, holding Mrs. Vandlos hand. They stood in a big room, a piano over to the left and a big couch to the right. Artwork adorned the walls and hallways, the bedrooms had big beds, and the bathrooms were clean!
"How were you able to aford this?" He asked, Mr. Vandlo chuckled a little.
"Being a detective earns a lot of bits" he said, they all sat on the couch, a fire was going in the fireplace. Riots eyes grew heavy, he gave into sleep. His never ending nightmares, have finally stopped.
~~~~~Back in the park~~~~~
"And thats all" he said, everyone sat there for a minute, letting their minds dwell on the end.
"Well, where are the Vandlos now?" Twilight asked, Riot sat there for a minute, thinking about it.
"Well, they dissapeared when I was sixteen, and your staring at one now" he said, Twilight looked at him for a second, her face screaming confusion.
"Oh yeah! Cause when they adopted you, you became a Vandlo!" Scootalo said, Riot chuckled at her enthusiasm. He looked up at the sky, the sun was halfway to the horizon, and the day was still young.
"I feel...better" he said, a smile growing on his face.
~~~The End~~~