Author's Note

Thank you for your patience, and I hope you enjoy the newest piece of content! Shall things get better? We shall see...

Burnin', Chillin', and Bamboo

Inferno opened the doors of the restaurant he was called to and walked inside. Inside, he could see the place was decorated like a 1950s diner. Checkered floors, red cushioning, shiny chrome, some old pictures and vinyl records hanging on the walls, this was one giant memorabilia dedicated to the 1950s.

"Hey!"

Inferno's head turned, and saw the happy smile from the tan construction worker.

"Over here!"

Inferno smiled and he paced over to the booth where the construction worker sat at. But much to his dismay, Blizzard was sitting there as well.

"You!?"

"You!" Blizzard seethed.

"Why is she here?"

"Hey, stop. Look, I invited you both here because I want to talk to the two of you."

"About what?"

Tombstone breathed in, and breathed out. He patted the shoulders of both adults, and looked them in the eyes. He wasn't joking. He was serious.

"Okay, so look. I like you both, but you are bad news in the teamwork department, so we need to talk things out."

Blizzard blanked and deadpanned at the same time. "Why?"

"Why? Because of what happened yesterday, that's why."

"Its her fault, she's the one who jumped right on my parachute!"

"You're the one mocking me for the ice puns! I can't help them, they're my coping mechanism!"

"But you're--OW OW OW!

"--OW OW OW!"

Tombstone grabbed them both by the ears, and looked at them sternly.

"Alright, I don't want to do this, but let me make this clear. I can bend earth to my will. I can make an earthquake, that will literally take out whatever homes you have, or I will throw giant boulders at your homes. Now we're going to talk like strong, mature, mutant adults, or so help me, I will make you two sit with me as I make an earthquake that makes the gods above swallow you up whole! Get it?"

The two of them nodded and felt the pain on the sides of their ears, still feeling the hard pincer and grab.

"Okay. So, lets talk. Inferno, you start first."

Inferno sighed. "Alright, look... when we were getting out of that plane, everything seemed fine. But I don't know if Blizzard here has ever parachuted in her life cause she just tangled right into me, making us both fall and get hurt."

The only parent at the table gave a nod. "Okay. Now Blizzard, what happened with you?"

Blizzard groaned and threw her head back. "Alright, look... yes, I never skydived before. At all. Not once in my life, and you know when we jumped out of that helicopter, and going down high above the sky... I was scared. Okay, I didn't know what I was doing, we barely got through any orientation on how to use the parachutes and I just... I just lost it, okay?"

Inferno frowned. "Well, I can understand having never skydived if you're not much of an adrenaline junkie. But really..." Inferno gave it some long thought, and a scowling deadpan look soon followed. "Okay, can we just agree that this is Adagio's fault? Barely got any time for safety procedures or practices to get to the ground."

"YES!" All three adults cheered.

"But regardless... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you. I shouldn't have done that, especially to someone who's never done something like this before," Inferno replied, calmly.

Blizzard gave a soft smile to the fire-bender. "Thank you. And I'm sorry for snapping at you too. Can we just call it a truce and start over?"

Inferno grinned. "I'd like that."

Inferno extended his hand out, willing to shake the ice-maker's hand. Blizzard put her hand out, and the two adults happily shook each other's hand, calling it a truce. Tombstone sighed in relief and laid back in his chair, happy the two adults could finally talk and compromise.

"Well now that you two have finally made up, what do you say we get the team back together?" Tombstone offered.

Inferno seemed confident in the idea. Blizzard on the other hand, did not.

"I don't know..." Blizzard said with uncertainty.

"Come on girl, we gotta try!" Inferno ushered.

"I don't know, its just... we couldn't stop two thugs, what makes you think we can be supers again?"

"Because as a code of superheroes... the first attempt or first mission, almost never works. What we need to do is keep practicing so we can get better. Being hero is not just something as easy as simply solving a math equation. Everyone starts somewhere, and the only way one becomes better is to keep practicing, and then one day... we're Canterlot's newest heroes!"

The two of them nodded, understanding.

"Okay, well, if we're going to get back into the field, what are we going to do?" Blizzard asked.

"Hardest part; find everyone, apologize, and convince them to come back again. And I know just who to begin with..." Tombstone approached.

One thing was for certain. If they were going to bring everyone back together, they had to go and find everyone's location and talk to them together, as a united front. Their first stop; Silverstream's!

Tombstone parked the car in the parking lot, and the three adults walked towards an apartment complex. From the outside, it looked like a very nice apartment complex. Lots of plants on the outside, and a few bamboo chairs, tables, and lots of bamboo trees.

"What kind of place is this?" Blizzard asked.

"The Bamboo Hut," Tombstone replied, reading the big sign on the building. "Come on, lets find her."

As the three of them walked inside, they walked up to the front desk to the doorman who was busy doing his own paperwork.

"Oh, good afternoon. How may I be of service?" The doorman asked.

"We're here to visit Miss Silverstream?"

"And just why are you here to see her?"

All at once, the three of them showed off their superpowers. Tombstone made a few pebbles in the little bowl on the desk float, and both Blizzard and Inferno formed little balls of ice and fire in their palms.

The doorman blinked and chuckled, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well, uh... she's up at the top floor. Penthouse. I'll tell the butler you're coming."

"Thank you, I-dah what..." Inferno looked back, "That kid's got a butler?"

"Family's loaded," The doorman shrugged.

With no more questions, the adults got into the elevator and went up to the penthouse floor. Once the elevator dinged, they got out and went straight to the door leading to the penthouse. Tombstone politely knocked on the door, and eagerly waited for someone to answer it. Would it be Silverstream? Would it be her parents?

The door opened up, and to their surprise, it wasn't Silverstream or two people who should be the mom and dad. Instead, it was Cutlery who opened up, giving them all a quizzical look.

"Who are you three, and what are you doing here?" Cutlery asked.

"First off, hello sir. My name is Tombstone, and these are my associates; Inferno and Blizzard. And to answer who we are, we're... supers, basically."

Just like to the doorman, the three of them showed off their powers again, all levitating their elements in their palms, surprising the butler.

"Hmmm... when Silverstream signed on for the ad, I assumed it was more of an after school kind of club," Cutlery replied.

"Nope! We're actual mutants! We've got powers! Well... except for Silver who saw the ad but... she was still awesome though," Tombstone said with some positivity.

"We uh, might have hurt her feelings, and we thought we should come over and give her a proper apology," Blizzard stated.

"Well as honest as you all appear to be right now, I'm afraid Silverstream is not well to see anyone."

"Are you just saying that so we don't come in, or is she actually not well?" Inferno asked, extending a hand out.

"She's not well! She hasn't left her room since yesterday, and nothing I've done has got her out! She hasn't gone to school, she doesn't eat, not a thing! So what makes you think you can get her to come out?"

"Because we know she's a good kid, and she needs to know we're here to apologize. Please?" Inferno begged.

Cutlery could have easily closed the door right in their faces. But he could tell they weren't one to give up or go away. But even then, he could still tell they had no intent to hurt or do anything that was highly illegal. He was trained to see through any lies or signs of manipulation, especially to protect little Silver.

Sighing and shaking his head, he gave them all a nod.

"Very well, you may come in. But Novo is going to need your contact information so she can see all of you, personally. And if anything happens to her niece..."

"I promise, we're not going to let anything happen."

"That's what the last visitor said right before they tried to steal Novo's prized pearl," Cutlery deadpanned.

After closing the door, the supers got a look inside the home. The place looked... really nice, actually. Stainless steel on some of the countertops in the kitchen, lots of roomy space to walk/run around. Not to mention, there was a massive TV in the living room with assorted video games and video game console, plush couches and furniture, disco ball, workout equipment, this place had everything!

"Dang, this kid is rich," Inferno stated.

"Enough for you to steal?" Cutlery replied with a sour groan.

"For heaven's sake;s, we're not here to steal anything! We would have done it by now if we were!" Inferno ranted.

"Guys, come on. Lets try to stay on our best behavior, okay?" Tombstone asked. "Now, where's Silverstream?"

"Come with me. All of you."

Everyone did as he said, and followed him to the hallway. He slowly propped a door open, letting the light shine inside a cave. The entire room was kept dark; the shades were down, not a single lamp or light was on. And on the bed, they could see a little girl snuggled up in a bathrobe, hugging something in her arms.

"She has been like this for all of yesterday, and today. I tried to get her to open up, but she refuses to say anything. I personally think she needs Novo's maternal affection, but if you three think you can try to get her to turn on the lights, then by all means, try. But I will not be leaving because as super as you three may be, you are complete strangers and I will not let anything happen to Novo's niece."

Tombstone gave a smile and nodded. "I understand in full, and I will keep it in mind."

As careful as he could, he slowly walked towards the bed and sat on the edge of it, looking over at Silverstream.

"Hey Silverstream. Silver? Its just me, Tombstone. I uh... understand you haven't been at school all day. Any reason why?"

Silverstream didn't reply, but instead she just kept her gaze away from the rock bender and whimpered.

"Silver, please. We just want to talk. Besides, I believe Inferno and Blizzard have something to say?" Tombstone said, gazing to the other two.

Inferno and Blizzard nodded and they moved a bit closer, but enough to keep a good distance between themselves and the little girl to not upset the butler.

"Hey, um, Silver. We... we've got something to say. Look, about what happened yesterday, um... Blizzard and I had some differences and we weren't really communicating. And I understand that we shouldn't have yelled at you. You didn't deserve it. So I just want to say, I'm sorry."

"And, I'm sorry too," Blizzard replied. "Can we please talk?"

Silverstream whimpered.

"Come on, please, you can't stay in here forever. We know we yelled at you, but we didn't want to hurt you. Please?"

Silverstream sniffled. "N-No... I... I just... I can't..."

"Can't what? Kid, what can't you do?" Inferno asked.

Silverstream didn't turn her head, but she kept talking. "I can't be a superhero... I can't fix things, I can't bring anyone back together..."

"Kid, who said you couldn't? If anything, I think you're a better superhero than we were. You landed safely, you didn't die, and you helped Tox in a car that he stole! Really need to talk to him about that, but the point is! The point that I'm trying to make is you can be a great hero!"

Silverstream moved her body even further away, scrambling around on the bed. "But... you two were fighting..."

"Kid, people fight, its gonna happen. Friends, family, co-workers... parents--"

Silverstream let out a soft cry.

"Silver, what's wrong?" Blizzard asked.

"Please, just go... I don't want to see you fight again, not like... not like mom or dad..."

Tombstone was now intrigued. Even the two adults were interested. Was this the source of the problems? Was this the issue she had?

"Kid, what do you mean? What ever happened to your mom and dad?"

Silverstream, surprisingly, pulled herself up and leaned up so she could look at the supers. Everyone frowned once they saw her face. Tattered hair, reddened cheeks, teary eyes; this girl looked miserable!

"You guys don't know it... but I chose to live here with my aunt long before I was told I had to. One night I was with my brother, we overheard our parents fighting... but the fight, oh gosh. They sounded mad, angry, bitter, they sounded like they were going to start destroying things! But when I tried to get them to stop... they screamed at me. I never saw them so mad in my life, not even during times when they were really mad! But... it only got worse afterwards."

She hugged her teddy bear tight in her arms, not wanting to let it go.

"They got papers and signed for a divorce. Soon after... I'm staying with Aunt Novo and my cousin Skystar to finish school here, while my brother bounces back and forth between my parents homes overseas! I... I had to live with this for months now! A-A-And... I thought, if I joined you guys, I could forget about it! I don't have any friends at the school I go to, but then when I saw you fight I... it just made me think of Mom and Dad not loving me anymore!"

Silverstream tightened the hug on her bear, and tears began to fall down her face. Tombstone frowned, and patted her shoulders.

"Awww, kiddo... come here," Tombstone opened up for a hug.

Silverstream didn't wait. Immediately she nearly pounced on him, crying into his shoulder as she sobbed her eyes out. Tombstone could only listen to her cry as she rubbed her back.

"T-They don't love me anymore..."

"No, kiddo... that's not true," Tombstone softly spoke. "I'm sure your parents love you with all of your heart."

"B-B-But why are they apart?"

Tombstone pulled out of the hug and looked the little girl in her eyes.

"Its hard sometimes. Sometimes parents don't always get along, and might end up splitting apart. But it doesn't mean they'll stop loving you. The only thing your parents want is for you to be happy, they don't want you to be miserable because they're not happy. Sometimes if they want to be happy, it may end up meaning they have to split up. Let me tell you something; I have a daughter. Sweet little girl. But her mom and I? Well... I'm afraid we weren't happy."

"Why not?" Blizzard asked, taking a seat on another part of the bed.

"Well... she and I weren't getting along as we used to, and then one night, I came home from work and when I went into the bedroom... lets just say she seemed happier with another man more than me."

Inferno and Blizzard let out a sharp hiss.

"Oooh... ouch, man, that's not cool..."

"That's terrible," Blizzard shook her head.

"I know. Needless to say, it didn't make things better when she and I split up... But the point I'm trying to make is, even in spite of us splitting up... I became a lot happier having split up. And look at me now, I've got earth powers, I've got a good job, I've still got a great daughter... I've got a great life."

Silverstream whimpered and sniffled some more, Inferno offering a tissue there after.

"I know its hard, and you're trying to adjust to all of this. But you should know, I'm positive your parents love you with all of their heart. Maybe you should call them, maybe tell them how you feel."

The little Polynesian gave a slow nod, understanding.

"I guess I could try talking to Mom and Dad again..."

Tombstone gave a small smile and ruffled the top of her hair, making her giggle a bit. For once, she smiled that day.

"Hey, there's that smile!" Tombstone grinned.

He gave a little boop on her nose, making her nose scrunch up and giggle afterwards.

"That's it, there we are! That's the happy little girl I know!"

"Heh," Silver chuckled, rubbing her arm.

"So. I want you to listen. Your parents still love you... and you can be a great superhero. Understand?"

Silverstream gave a full understanding nod.

"Now come here," Tombstone offered another hug.

Silverstream hugged him again, finally embracing him in full with a smile that continued to grow. She felt like a blanket of weight had been lifted off of her, and now she was free from the pain.

"Mind if we get in on that?" Inferno grinned.

Silver opened up her arms some more, letting Inferno and Blizzard join in for one giant group hug.

"Kid, I just want to state for the record, I didn't know your parents were divorced. And I'm sorry we scared you. I can promise it won't happen it again."

"Maybe..." Blizzard rolled her eyes.

"What's that's supposed to mean?"

Silverstream bawled her eyes out, in an over-dramatic sense. "Why are you fighting?"

Inferno immediately panicked. "No, no, no, kid! We're sorry, we're sorry, please, its okay! We're not gonna fight!"

Like a light had been flicked on a light switch, Silverstream went from a crying and sobbing mess, back into her happy-go-lucky demeanor. "Oh, okay!"

The two of them sighed in relief, thank heavens.

"So... are we all good now?"

Silverstream beamed. "Yep!"

Tombstone grinned and gave her another boop on the nose. Cutlery, who had been watching this entire scene stayed in silence, but as he watched them interact with Silverstream, he could see their conversation actually helping the little girl. She was no longer cowering in her bed. She was now talking with these people like they were friends! He couldn't help but smile as he watched them.

"Now what do you say you get dressed, get some food, and then we go bring the team back? Lets show Adagio we're still there."

Silverstream squeaked. "Yes! We're getting the team back!"

The adults chuckled.

"Alright, we'll let you get dressed."

The four adults left Silverstream's room, allowing her to close the door and get dressed. As she cleaned herself up, Cutlery gave them a deranged look of shock and awe.

"Well then... perhaps I misjudged you three. Maybe you three can be trustworthy after all..."

The three adults gave hopeful grins. Was he truly trusting them? Could this man be okay with them--

"I'm still telling Novo."