Chapter 10

Ricco

Right after the Discord statement, Firefly gave me a mean headbutt, which I expected.

I flew out the window of the cart towards the castle. I entered through a window of the throne room right next to the Princess of the Sun, who was drinking a cup of tea.

“She’s changed.” I said, startling Celestia, making her spill “Firefly’s behavior has altered dramatically.”

“What do you mean?” Celestia asked, putting down the now empty cup of tea.

“She has started to question Cloud’s and my behavior.” I said, “And she mentioned something about Discord. How he told firefly about me.”

Celestia closed her eyes and faced downward. “Hmmmm… It seems that she has fallen under a spell conjured up by Discord, one that he has used before on my elements.”

“And…” I said, impatiently, “How do we free her from it?”

“She would need to be reminded of why she is here and why she and you are friends.” Celestia said.

“Well that’s… not as easy as I was going to make it sound.” I said, thinking about how I’ve treated the mare.

She looked like she’d seen better days when I first saw her. She didn’t look like much of anything to me. I was harsh on her for her faults and weaknesses. But for some reason, the word friend seemed to click into place when I thought of her. Why? I didn’t ever give her any slack, not even when she was in the pyramid. I came to a sudden realization when I thought of Cloud Skipper.

“I think I know what has to happen.” I said as I looked back up to Celestia.

Droplets of water started to land on the roof that was at least forty feet above me, making a small bell-like chiming echo around the room. Flashes of lightning lit up the room slightly as well.

“It’s too dangerous to fly back to them.” She said as she beckoned a guard over with a wing.

She whispered an order to the guard, who immediately trotted out the door.

“I’ve asked the guard to send Firefly directly to my chamber upon reaching the Castle.” She said, “But that won’t be for a while. Why don’t we talk about something?”

I was immediately suspicious about her question. “Why?”

“Well, you’re here and there isn’t anything else to do on a rainy day.” Celestia said.

I was aware that the weather was controlled by magic in Canterlot, so all it took was one word from the princess for it to be any other type of day, but I felt genuine concern in her tone.

“What exactly did Firefly say about Discord?” Celestia asked, now sitting down.

“Well, she said that Discord told her about… me.” I said, “But that isn’t possible, he didn’t know about me until you called me.”

“Why do you think that?” Celestia asked, I could feel something in her tone.

“Because….” I started.

I realized that I really didn’t know why I thought that. The thing I felt in her tone was a knowing. A knowing that I didn’t have an, what you would call, clean past.

“Do you think this because you don’t want him to know about you?” She pushed.

I sighed. Even before the underground fights and reckless killings.

“Why don’t you tell me about you?” Celestia asked.

Her tone changed again. It was now one of sincerity, one of caring, one of empathy.

I sighed again, and sat down. I started to tell of my past. Things started out good enough for me. I was born into a rich family of stock traders for the Griffonia Stock Market. My childhood was one filled with sunny days on a ranch that my father owned, but others cared for, and cold, winter days in a mountain cabin. My parents were loving enough, and shielded me from the reality of society in Griffonia. One of corruption and greed. One day, when I was around twenty-two, about seven in griffon years, we were enjoying a nice day on my father’s estate by the pool. I was swimming and both my parents were catching some rays with their large wings. Suddenly, a large carriage pulled up and opened a whole can of lead straight through our iron fence. The water level was low enough for the bullets to sail straight above my head. The carriage sped off and both of my parents looked like swiss cheese. I got out of the pool and ran into the house. I asked one of the servants to help them, and they obliged immediately. When he was walking away, I noticed him smiling, instead of mourning. I ran into my father’s room and locked the door, I thought back to when the carriage pulled up. Not even one servant was startled or rushed out to see what happened.

I started to look out the window and lose myself in my own recollections.

It turns out that my father’s head servant had hired the mafia to take out my close family. I looked around my father’s room for anything that could be used as some sort of weapon. I eventually found my father’s gun safe. It was a measly S.A.A. and a custom gun I’d never seen before. I still carry both around to this day. My wings had dried enough for a short flight, so I took the first chance I got and flew to my uncle’s house. Apparently, my father did not spread his wealth throughout the family and my uncle never got a single bit. As you would imagine, I had a large inheritance to my name. My uncle accepted me with open arms. He was nice to me, until the inheritance was gone. He turned out to be a real scumbag. He would come home every other night either drunk or drugged, but never in a good mood. He’d beat me with the nearest blunt object until I’d pass out, and then some. After about two years, I grew tired of the my uncle’s behavior and snapped. During one of his beating sessions, I threw a punch and knocked him out cold. Apparently I was very strong through some type of breeding my father was doing. He’d only been married to my mother for her gene pool to make as close to perfect child he could call his own. I walked up to my room and got the Single Action Army I’d taken and blew my uncle’s brains out. Of course the cops came snooping around, but I was long gone.  I’d flown for who know’s how long until I’d reached a different city. One that wasn’t as pleasant as my hometown. I grew up on the streets and learned the hard way of living.

I looked back to Celestia to see if she was listening. Intently, I should add. I turned back to the window.

I found a place to stay, if you could call it that, and lived out my life. I found a dame, I think that was the correct terminology back then, who tugged my heartstrings with a vengeance. We started to go out. She was a beautiful griffon, of a middleclass family, a girl my father would have never let me go near, but he was gone. We’d gone out on a few dates, and even thought of settling down with each other, and we almost did. One day, as I knocked on the door of her house, I found it to be wide open. Upon closer inspection, I saw that the door had been forced open, and the deadlock had broken through the frame of the door. I walked into my love’s ransacked house to find her in the bathroom, facedown in the bathtub. A note was lain in the sink. The death had been courtesy of the Griffonia Mafia. I cried my heart out for at least a week. You might not know this, but Griffons mate for life. Killing a griffon’s mate was the dirtiest thing someone could do. Of course I wanted revenge, but going against the mob was suicide. I had to live with this burden. I started to become more and more angry with each passing day. I eventually stumbled upon an underground fight club, which is where you found me.

I stood up and stretched my legs “That brings us full circle.” I said.

A guard rushed in and whispered into Celestia’s ear, “Send them in.”

“They’re here.” Celestia said as Cloud Skipper brought in an unwilling Firefly. Next Chapter: Chapter 11 Estimated time remaining: 7 Minutes