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                        Dark Flight                        
                    -by pinkiemyster2-                     
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                   Back Story (Prologue)                   
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Back Story (Prologue)
It was late at night, or rather early in the morning, Stormy Night was sitting in the back of the carriage along with his mother, Silent Skies. They were on their way towards the Summer Sun Celebration to watch Princess Celestia raise the sun. This was his first time going, and he was more than just excited.
"Are we almost there Mom?" Stormy asked looking out the window of the carriage, "I can't wait to see the princess raise the sun!"
"Almost Stormy! Ponyville is just over this hill," Silent said as they neared the top of a rather large hill. "How is your father doing?"
Stormy reared his head towards the front of the carriage, "Are you alright Dad?"
His father, an earth pony named Sebastian, turned his head backwards, "I'll manage son,"
Stormy smiled and sat down, looking back at his mother, "He said he's fine Mom,"
Silent smiled and nodded, "Good, now when we get to Ponyville I want you to be on your best behavior. I don't want you running around,"
Stormy's smile slowly faded, like a foal when you tell him he can't have any candy, "Yes ma'am,"
After a few more minutes of lecturing, the carriage finally came to a stop. Stormy's smile quickly returned as he raced from the carriage, forgetting everything his mother had just told him.
"Hang on Stormy! Don't leave us now!" His father was shouting as he was unhooking himself from the carriage. He stepped up to the door, opened it, and allowed Silent to step out before shutting it. "Alright Stormy, lead the way,"
Stormy beamed, he turned and ran, following the many signs as he went.
Stormy was rushing through the streets, his face filled with excitement. He raced through the many ponies that lined them. 'This is going to be great!' He thought as he arrived at the stage. He turned around to see if his parents were still behind him, they weren't.
His smile instantly faded, "Mom?" he slowly began to walk back down the way he came. He began to trot back through the streets yelling, "Mom? Dad?" He slowly began to pick up his pace as he grew more frantic, "MOM! DAD!"
As he passed an alleyway he heard a faint sound. He stopped and looked down the dark path, listening intently. Until... "Stormy!"
He didn't hesitate. He dashed down the alley, wings buzzing to hopefully propel him forward. "MOM!" He continued running, yelling as he did. "Mom, where are you?"
He reached a wall, he looked left and right. Two paths, which one did she go through? He waited, listening for something, anything... He faintly heard it, "Stormy, help!"
He quickly turned to the right, the direction her voice came from, and ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He kept running, he could hear his mother's voice getting fainter as she grew further away.
It wasn't long before he reached the end of the alley, his mother nowhere to be seen... "Mom?" No response. Stormy began to cry, "Mom?"
He sat there, crying. Not wanting to do anything at all. He began to
feel as though his life was over, like everything was lost and there was no way to retrieve it.
Not long after, he felt a tap on his shoulder and jumped back, looking up to see who it was. He saw a brown earth pony with a black mane looking back at him. She looked to be about the same age as he was. "What's the matter?" She said, her eyes full of sympathy.
Stormy sniffled and wiped his eyes, "I can't find my mom," he said, still crying uncontrollably.
The pony looked down, "Oh," was all she could say. They sat there in silence for a few minutes.
Suddenly she spoke up, "Maybe my mom can help!"
Stormy sniffled again, "Really?"
"Yeah, I'm sure she can help find your mom!"
Stormy stood up and wiped his eyes once more, "Th-thanks,"
The pony turned around and began to walk, "Oh, I'm Octavia by the way. What's your name?"
Stormy began to follow as he replied, "I'm Stormy Night,"
Octavia turned her head, "It's nice to meet you Stormy!"
Stormy looked at her and smiled for the first time in what seemed like forever. He turned back to where he had just been sitting, wishing he had just stayed with his mother like she wanted...
It wasn't long before the two of them arrived at Octavia's home. It wasn't big, it was kind of on the small side. The two of them walked through the front door, Octavia yelling, "Mom! I'm home! Can you please come here?"
"Yes in a moment!" Her mom called back.
Octavia turned back to Stormy, "It's okay Stormy, my mom can help. We'll find your mom and dad in no time!"
After a few more moments, Octavia's mother came through a nearby door. She was a white mare with a black mane just like Octavia. "Hello Octavia, who is your friend?"
Octavia spoke up, "This is Stormy Night, Mom. He needs some help,"
"What is it?"
Stormy began to tell his story, from how they had planned to go to the Summer Sun Celebration to how he chased after his mother. How he couldn't find her and even how he felt after he lost her.
"Oh my, well it'll be alright Stormy," she reached over and hugged the little colt, "I will do everything I possibly can to find your mother,"
Stormy didn't try to hold back his tears, he just let it all out. The mare didn't stop him, how could she have?
Weeks passed with no news. No whereabouts of his mother were found. Stormy began to lose hope, he began to feel as lost as he had the day they were separated.
Stormy was sitting alone in the guest room, as time passed, however, it began to feel more and more like his room. He heard a knock on the door, followed by, "Can I come in?"
Stormy sighed, "Yes it's open," The door opened to reveal Octavia's mother, whom he now knew as Sweet Melody.
"How are you doing?" She said as she sat on Stormy's bed next to him.
"Okay I guess,"
"Well, I know it's been hard for you, being so young and all, but... it's been weeks Stormy, there isn't much more we can do to find your mother,"
Stormy looked up into her eyes, "Wh-what are you saying?"
Sweet sighed, "We have to give up...,"
Stormy shot up from the bed, "No! We can't! They're out there somewhere, I know it!"
Sweet stood up next to him and hugged him, "I know this hurts you, but we can't do anything else. Believe me, we've been trying, so very hard, to find your parents,"
Stormy began to cry as he hugged her back, "N-no...,"
Sweet moved back as she looked him in the eyes and smiled, "You are welcome to stay here, with us. You've been here so long you're like family to us now, and we can't just leave you,"
He looked back at her, "R-really?"
She nodded, "Of course. Don't worry, you will be safe here, we will love you and take good care of you,"
Stormy thought a moment, then he looked back up at her, "Th-thank you, for everything," He then wrapped her in another hug, which she generously returned.

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                 Dark Flight Rises Part 1                  
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Dark Flight Rises Part 1
New Story- Dark Flight Rises
It's been a few years since Stormy Night moved in with Octavia and her family, nine to be precise. Octavia was more than happy to let him stay, she even tried to throw him a party, which didn't really turn out like she had planned. The only ponies that showed up were her, Sweet Melody, and Stormy. She wasn't a very popular pony, she never really made any friends. Sure she had some friends, but she never went out of her way to make any. She was still this way even as she grew into a young mare.
One of her friends, a white unicorn named Vinyl Scratch, was her friend for as long as she could remember. They had been friends ever since Octavia was just a little filly. This is who Stormy and Octavia were with now. They were hanging out at a bar, of which Octavia was having trouble getting used to.
"Come on you guys! Can't we just leave now?" Octavia refused to have any drinks for fear she would get drunk.
"Octy, come on just have a drink with us! One drink won't kill you!" Vinyl was attempting to get Octavia to loosen up and have fun for a change.
"I don't want to have a drink! I want to go home!"
"Don't worry Octavia," Stormy jumped in, "we can leave soon. I won't let Vinyl keep us here all night. Besides," he let out a yawn, "I'm getting kind of tired myself,"
Vinyl groaned, "Fine, we can go," Octavia began towards the door, "right after I have a little fun!" Octavia turned around with an irritated expression on her face as she saw Vinyl running back towards the dance floor.
She began to walk back to the booth that they had been sitting at. "I wish she would grow up and be mature,"
Stormy, who was sitting across from her, looked at her, "Come on Octavia, she's just having a little fun. Maybe you could forget your maturity for once and just cut back and have fun!"
Octavia jerked her head up at him, "I need to 'cut back'? She's the one who needs to be more responsible! How can she just throw all her cares out the window?"
Stormy chuckled, "I'm sure she still considers them, she just chooses to ignore them for now," He took a sip from his drink.
"How can somepony do that? I just don't understand...,"
Stormy set his drink down in front of her. "Come on, just have a little bit. Would I ever do anything to hurt you?"
She smiled at him. It was true, he had never done anything to cause harm to her in any way. He never even pulled a single prank on her, which he and Vinyl loved to do to each other. Sometimes he would even let her know that Vinyl had set one up for her, if he thought it would hurt her feelings. She still couldn't understand how Vinyl could ever get him, he was the king of pranks. He could see a trap set up from a mile away, maybe he only fell for it to humor her.
Octavia looked down at the concoction, it was a screwdriver, she had no idea what was in it though. She picked it up in her hooves and looked up to Stormy with a questioning look. He gestured towards the drink and she looked back down to it. She closed her eyes and forced herself to take a sip from it. It burned as it went down her throat and she dropped the drink on the table, coughing as the drink went down.
Stormy couldn't help but laugh. "Are you alright?"
Octavia looked up at him as her coughing died down. "How can you drink this?"
He continued to laugh, "You'll get used to it, I promise,"
"Oh no I won't," she said as she stood up, "I'm going to find Vinyl, I think it's about time we head home,"
By this time, Stormy had controlled his laughter. "Wait, I'll come with you. I'm ready to leave too,"
After Vinyl ran off, she found an empty spot on the dance floor and began dancing. Normally she would be the one on the stage, but tonight was her night off. Actually, EVERY night was now her night off. She had recently been fired from her latest job for drinking. Sure, it was good to have a drink every now and then to promote the bar, but Vinyl had a bit of a drinking problem. She didn't go out and get drunk every single night, she didn't drink every second of every day either. It was simply that sometimes she tended to get carried away at times. Which is exactly what she did during her last shift.
Vinyl began drinking normally after that night, she claimed that she couldn't afford to lose another job to this. It didn't matter though, any reason to try to slow it down would be good enough.
After a few minutes of dancing, Vinyl decided she would have a drink, 'Hopefully just one,' she thought. She walked towards the bar and found an empty seat. She sat down and ordered a martini. Not long afterwards, her drink came, along with a couple of stallions.
"Hey there, what's your name sweetie?" The first one, a gray stallion with a blonde mane, asked with a smile.
"Vinyl, and I don't remember asking you two over," She turned back to her drink.
"Well, we thought we'd just come introduce ourselves to a nice looking mare like yourself,"
Vinyl sneered, "You really suck at flirting,"
The gray stallion's face grew irritated, "Look you little-," The other stallion, a white one with a black mane, placed his hoof on his friend's shoulder.
"Hmph," Vinyl began to take a sip from her drink as she heard something from across the dance floor and turned to see a couple of ponies fighting, probably over another mare or something. She turned back to the other two stallions standing next to her, who were each looking towards the commotion as well.
She sneered and returned her attention to her drink, even looking at the two of them bugged her. She lifted the drink to her muzzle and heard it, "Vinyl stop!"
She turned around to see that Stormy and Octavia had come looking for her. "Hey guys, what's up?"
"'What's up' is that these guys drugged your drink!" Stormy was pointing accusingly at the two stallions.
Octavia looked at him confused, "What are you talking about? I didn't see anything,"
Stormy continued to look at the two of them. "Look closely into your drink Vinyl, there's white powder in it!"
The two stallions stiffened up as Vinyl removed her glasses and peered into her glass. Sure enough, there was a white powdery substance sitting on top of the drink. "You were going to drug me?!" She stared at the two stallions with fury evident in her face.
They began to back away as the first one spoke, "H-hey come on guys, we were just gonna have a little fun,"
"With my unconscious body!" Vinyl was beyond furious, she began to walk towards the two stallions, who looked between each other and straightened up.
"We aren't afraid of a little colt and a couple of mares," It seemed as though the first one was doing most of the talking.
"Well maybe you should be," Stormy flew over to Vinyl's side. "Get lost,"
"Make us," The gray one tried to shove Stormy away with his front hooves, but missed as he ducked underneath them. Too surprised by his sudden movement to do anything, the stallion was powerless to stop him as Stormy quickly tackled him onto his back.
"You sure you wanna do that?" Stormy looked at him with anger in his eyes.
After a buck to the stomach threw Stormy off he said, "I'm pretty sure," He then charged towards Stormy, ready to repay him for the tackle. Stormy quickly dodged to one side and punched him in the barrel. He let out a howl of pain to signal his counterpart, who ran towards Stormy, head lowered to hit him with a headbutt.
It never connected. Stormy spun to the side and was able to buck this one in the same place as the last. He fell to the ground, holding the spot where he had been kicked. During his attack, however, his friend was able to sneak up on Stormy and punch him in the jaw. Blood splattered on the ground as Stormy reared up and uppercutted his attacker, sending him flying to the ground unconscious.
He returned his gaze to the other stallion, who was still on the ground holding his side. Stormy wiped his mouth and pulled his hoof back to reveal a small amount of blood.
Octavia ran up to him, "Are you alright Stormy? You're bleeding!"
"I'm fine," Stormy replied, "let's just get out of here before anything else happens," He turned to Vinyl, "Come on Vinyl, I think it's time to leave now,"
Vinyl was looking at the unconscious one with her mouth slightly hanging open. She quickly closed it and looked up at him, "Um, yeah. Let's go,"
The three of them were walking down the street talking, mostly just Octavia and Stormy actually. "Are you sure you're alright Stormy? It looked like it hurt," Octavia was still worried about him.
Stormy let out a laugh, "Yes Octavia, I told you a million times, I'm fine. It doesn't even hurt that bad,"
Octavia looked at his wound, "Well, if it does begin to hurt tell me and we can go see a doctor,"
This just made him laugh even more, "Octavia, I'm not a little colt anymore. I can take myself to the hospital if I need to,"
Octavia smiled, "I know that, I just don't want to see you in pain,"
Stormy turned towards Vinyl, "So what's the matter with you? You're worried about me too are you?"
Vinyl looked from the ground up to him. "Huh? Oh, no... well... kinda, I guess,"
Stormy raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"
She sighed, "I just... You saved me, if you hadn't been there...,"
Stormy stopped dead in his tracks, the others joined him. "Don't think that way Vinyl, I WAS there and I DID stop them. There's nothing to worry about,"
"I know, but what if they had gotten me? I don't I would've been able to go on-,"
Stormy put his hoof up to her mouth, "Stop it Vinyl. They didn't get you, so don't worry about it. You'll be safe now, they can't get you now,"
Vinyl sighed, "I know, but... I mean... Thank you, Stormy,"
Stormy wrapped her in a hug, "Don't worry about it, that's what friends do for each other,"
They stayed that way for a long time, just embracing each other. After a while they separated and into each other's eyes. When Octavia coughed, however, it reminded them that they weren't alone. They jumped and smiled awkwardly, continuing on their way home.
It wasn't long before Stormy began to talk again, "Besides, it's not like could just sit there and nit do anything about it. I can't stand crime,"
Vinyl stepped in, "Yeah, I just don't understand how ponies can do things like that. How they can just do whatever they want and not care who it affects,"
Stormy thought about that night so long ago. The night he lost his mother and father forever to crime. "Yeah, if there was anything I could do, anything at all to stop it, I would do it in a heart beat,"
Octavia was now quiet, it didn't take long for the others to realize this though. "Octavia?" Vinyl asked.
"Huh?" She was jerked back from her thoughts, "What?"
"What's wrong with you now?" Stormy asked looking at her with sympathy evident in his eyes.
"Oh, I was just thinking about something,"
They were silent for a moment, "What about?" Vinyl wondered aloud.
"Well... No never mind, it's silly,"
Stormy gently bumped her, "Come on just tell us, we won't laugh,"
Octavia sighed, "Fine, I was just thinking about how we could stop crime in Ponyville. Most, if not all of it,"
Vinyl bumped in, "How is that 'silly'?"
"Let me finish, I was going to say... that we could fight the crime. Like heroes or something,"
Stormy and Vinyl looked between each other and back towards Octavia. A huge grin appeared across each of their faces.
"Come on you guys, you said you wouldn't laugh!"
Stormy walked towards Octavia, "No, that's actually a pretty good idea. You mean like Mare Do Well right?"
"Yeah, only we would be a team instead of just a single pony,"
Vinyl joined the other two, "As great as that all sounds, we don't know what to do or how to get started! How are we supposed to stop ALL of the crime in Ponyville anyway?"
Octavia looked at her, "I never said it was perfect,"
Stormy turned to her as well, "Don't worry, I mean how hard can it be?"
"Stormy's right, we can do this. We all agree that crime is a terrible thing, why not at least try to put an end to it?"
Vinyl sighed, "Fine, I guess I could try to pitch in and help. Who knows? We might actually be able to do something,"
"Right," Stormy said, "even if we can't do anything, at least we tried. That's a lot more than most other ponies can say," He stuck out his clean hoof, "So, what do you guys think? Are you ready to put an end to all this crime or die trying?"
Octavia's eyes grew with shock. Stormy began to laugh, "I'm just kidding Octavia!" She relaxed a little and joined her hoof with Stormy's.
Stormy looked at Vinyl, "Come on, like you said, we can actually pull this off and make a difference if we try hard enough,"
Vinyl hesitated, but her hoof eventually found its way and joined the others'. "Fine, but I'm going to be the one actually fighting the crime,"