Crying wasn't cool, it really wasn't. You ended up all snotty and wet, looked like a sissy and tended to have other people laughing at your misery. With this in mind however, Rainbow Dash tried her hardest to hold the tears in, no matter how sad her friend's story was. She had a problem though, it wasn't working. It didn't help that Maud interjected every few moments in her sister's retelling to add or verify facts, her plain tone creating a level of blunt realism that Pinkie's raw emotion just couldn't scrape. If she didn't know the girl better, she could of sworn that Maud just didn't care.

She managed to struggle through though to the bitter end though, everyone else reduced to floods of tears --even the normally stoic Applejack-- save for herself. She'd later wonder whether she should be proud of such a feat or worried, but for now it didn't concern her. What did was quickly changing the subject, lest this transform from a 'Pinkie Party' to a 'Pity Party'. She glanced at her friends in hope that they might be able to break the sad silence, only to be rewarded by sniffles and Rarity awkwardly attempting to clean her now-running mascara without a mirror. Whilst normally a tad insensitive even she recognized this was a fairly awkward situation and trying to come up with a solution was distressingly difficult, was this what it felt like to be Twilight ?.

"So...uh...what does your dad do ?" was the best she could come up with on such short notice and even then she felt it was weak. It seemed to do the trick though, Pinkie's smile returning slowly, Maud too seemed to show the briefest flicker of happiness at the subjects change from deceased mother to living step-father before her usual composed facade returned.

"Oh Daddy's done lots of things, he's been to lots of countries too !"

"That's nice but what does he do ?" she repeated scratching her rainbow mop of hair. Even for Pinkie it shouldn't be this hard.

"Don't pressure the girl, Rainbow" muttered Rarity, elbowing her friend in the ribs. She could be so uncouth at times.

"Father is a philanthropist" replied Maud confusing CHS's number one athlete even further, noticing the girls vacant look she continued, "He runs America's fifth largest cardboard box factory and donates at least half of the profits to helping the poor and needy."

Applejack gave a low whistle, "That is mighty generous, most folks don't even give a single dime to charity but here he is giving half his profits to 'em, you've got a real saint of a Pa, Pinkie." The girl giggled, nodding in agreement. She knew her step-father well, he was certainly a saint, even if he grumbled occasionally when she hogged the kitchen for baking time.

"Speaking of Saints, Pinkie, father's book arrived today. Did you place it in his study ?" Maud asked.

"Oooh yes...um no....uh maybe ?" the girl said, traipsing through her memory for an answer. When her eyes lit up, she dropped to the ground and crawled on her belly, beneath the party food covered dining table.

"A-are you ok Pinkie ?" stuttered Fluttershy, who found the situation too surreal; one minute a full interrogation, followed by a heart-breaking story, and now her friend’s sudden interest of the living room carpet.

"Yes indeedly," she remarked popping her head out from beneath the over-laden table.... which was starting to lurch. "Got it Maud !" she cried, waving a thick brown-paper-covered package with a noticeable insignia in the center, "St. Hilarious’ History of the Imperial guard right ?"

"Hillary's" Maud corrected, helping her sister up whilst keeping a watchful eye on table.

"Aww, I thought Daddy bought a joke book," she mumbled, idly stuffing a cupcake into her mouth.

"History of the Imperial Guard ?" Twilight eyed the package carefully, she was definitely curious. This world’s magic 'Internet' had taught her much, but she preferred a good book to staring at that 'monitor' (What was it monitoring?) all the time.

"Father has a keen interest in Military history, mostly concerning the last hundred years or so, but he's begun branching out at my suggestion," said Maud, whilst inspecting the former prop for damage.

At the mention of 'Military', Rainbow Dash's attention was grabbed, "You mean like cool tanks and stuff ?"

Raising an eyebrow at the girl's interest, Maud paused, "Yes...I suppose, I can show you if you like, Father keeps his collection in his study."

"You know we're not supposed to go in there without asking first, Maud." garbled Pinkie in between a mouthful of her third cupcake in a row.

A surprisingly sneaky look came over the usually reserved girl's face, "What father doesn't know won't hurt him".

Before her sister could even form a response, she'd grabbed Rainbow Dash's hand and sped up the stairs, even managing to outpace the shocked girl as she was dragged in Maud's wake. The fuzzy haired girl simply shrugged, it was Maud who risked being grounded, not her.

-----------------------------

"What. The. Hell." was all the loud mouthed girl could think as she was forcibly tugged out of the living room and into what must be the study on the second floor. She'd heard Maud was pretty sporty --not necessarily as rounded as herself though, no one was that awesome-- but this was ridiculous ! She practically had an iron grip. Her burst of speed was insane too, even her own sprinting wasn't that quick off the mark !

"Ta-da !" Maud declared, her tone struggling against the implied gravitas and showmanship of her words. She gestured to the room and it's contents and … it was kind of boring Rainbow admitted. Just a desk, lots of books and a few picture frames. She'd expected guns or models or something. Something cool.

"Impressed ?" the purple haired girl queried, tilting her head slightly.

Kicking the carpet lightly as she meandered around the small room, Rainbow had to disagree, but how could she tell Maud without coming off as a jerk though ? This would take so-

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!" she squealed, nearly slamming into what had caught her attention. It was a small frame containing a simple swatch of fabric, what it represented though was what caused her to break out the infamous 'squishy face' she reserved for moments of sheer glee. "I-is that what I think it is !"

"Yes, it's a military patch Rainbow Dash" Maud nodded, confused at the girl’s sudden explosion of excitement.

Lifting the frame off the wall with careful reverence, Rainbow pointed eagerly at its contents "It's not just any patch Maud, it's a FOXHOUND patch, do you know how rare these things are ?"

"As rare as any other special forces unit patch would be I suppose" she just couldn't understand all the excitement over a lump of wool. Surely the signed first edition of ‘La Guerra de Guerillas’ on the shelf was more exciting ?

"These things are five hundred dollars minimum and that's just for the grunts, I tried getting my dad to get me one, but he just couldn't afford it this year...or the year before that...or the year before that as well".

"I didn't take you as a FOXHOUND fan, you were always seemed more interested in the Wonderbolts" Maud said pointing to another frame on the wall showcasing several fighter jets in a complex aerial display. To be fair she didn't even expect the girl to be much of a 'history' fan from her reputed test scores; the Wonderbolts were her only known obsession aside anything non-sport or music related, and they were barely military these days.

"Well...uh," the girl blushed placing the frame delicately on Mr. Pie's desk, "When I was a kid I always wanted to be a member of FOXHOUND."

"Really ?" this was news to her, probably to her friends as well.

"Yeah, it's kind of embarrassing but...well, when I was six my dad would read me bedtime stories, but he wasn't really imaginative you see and 'In the Darkness of Shadow Moses' had just come out so he kinda read it to me...but I'm pretty sure he toned it down or made stuff up, like the creepy psychic guy, I mean that can't be real right ?" shuddering at the memory she continued with her story "Solid Snake was my idol, he didn't let anyone stop him, from soldiers to giant nuclear robots, he was so awesome ! "

"We have a copy of ‘In the Darkness’ if you wish to borrow it" Maud added, somewhat absorbed by Rainbow’s fangirl like response to a hardened soldier. The rainbow haired girl nodded vigorously before continuing her story.

"I was obsessed with him and wanted to be a FOXHOUND agent so badly, I'd pretend to be him during recess and Dad even made me a little bandanna" she chuckled at her childhood years "It was kinda silly, looking back on it now, but he was a real hero to me, he taught me to never  give up even when things looked bleak...but then...the Tanker thing happened...." she trailed off with a look of disappointment on her face.

"Ah" Maud remembered it, it was big news when a 'legendary hero' becomes a terrorist killing over four-hundred marines and causing a massive ecological disaster. She could still remember the seagulls slick in petrochemicals, a frightening sight for a 9 year old child.

"Yeah...I was devastated, I didn't want to believe it, I really didn't. I wanted someone to come on the news and say it was all a set-up or a lie but well there were the pictures and everything...." her voice quiet, "Then ...then that asshole turns up again, demands thirty billion dollars, kills the President and rammed the ship he stole from the Navy into Manhattan !" she growled, the betrayal obvious on the girl’s face.

"Yet you still idolize FOXHOUND ?" it was a fair question, you didn't usually squee over an organisation tied to a man responsible for two thousand plus deaths.

"Not for him, not Snake, he was a part of it but I won't let that spoil it for me. No, FOXHOUND means more to me thanks to my new idol, the guy I found after the Manhattan Incident and the funk I got in over it" she smirked "He's an awesome badass who didn't let anyone stop him...even Solid Snake".

Realization slowly dawned on Maud, "You’re not talking about-"

The smirk expanded into a full shit-eating grin, "Yup, Big Boss !"

Maud drummed her fingers on her Father's desk, an awkward silence forming between the two of them. "You do realize he killed more people than Solid Snake right ?"

Rainbow Dash crossed her arms, entering full on 'stubborn mode', "He had his reasons, like the bullshit government stabbing him in the back and making him kill his mentor, hell they made him kill his friends afterwards as well!"

"I see you've read Robert Johnson's 'Snake Eater : The Truth' " if the girl's body language said anything Maud suspected that Rainbow had had this argument numerous times before. Caution was optimal.

"Yeah, it was my tenth birthday present, Dad saw how badly I took the whole Manhatten Incident so he thought some new 'soldier hero' would help me get motivated again."

"Well I won't argue with you Rainbow Dash, you obviously know from experience how divisive a topic Big Boss can be" she rallied, internally wishing that they could have a sensible debate on the subject, but the girl was far too headstrong and emotionally invested. All it would do was wreck their slowly forming friendship and cause Pinkie no end of heart-ache.

"Y-yeah...he had his reasons though."

"One more question though, how did you go from Big Boss to the Wonderbolts ?" a simple diffusive technique, move the conversation back to a 'safe topic'.

Taking a deep breath, the most competitive girl Maud knew gave a lopsided smile "Well since FOXHOUND was disbanded, I couldn't really join them, and my dad took me to an airshow, which was actually the last one before the government cut back their military spending to focus on the PMC's, and it really inspired me you know ? Sure I could never be a FOXHOUND agent, but why would I want to pound the ground when I could soar the skies ?"

"Fair enough, and it's certainly safer now that the Wonderbolts aren't part of the Air Force, less chance of getting your wings clipped by the enemy."

"Please, I'm going to be twenty percent more awesome than anyone else out there, even if we have to fight, I'd show them." She said, punching the air.

Maud smiled as she placed the FOXHOUND patch back on the wall, grasping Rainbows hand she then led them out of the study "I think it's about time we leave now, the others are probably wondering what's taking us so long and I'd rather not have Father yell at me."

"I've got a 'Big Boss was right' T-shirt you know" Rainbow added as they walked down the stairs, the good natured taunt lying thickly in the air.

"You know-", Maud began "-that doesn't surprise me in the slightest Dash." Next Chapter: The Best Is Yet To Come Estimated time remaining: 30 Minutes