The Pegasus and the Draconequus 2: Screw Ball's Adventure
The sun began to rise high into the sky on the town of Pony-Ville. It was near the time of the Summer Sun as ponies prepared for its arrival. On that fine morning, a family of five was flying across the town. They were a strange family with a father who's a draconequus, a mother who's a pegasus, and the children… The eldest was a female Earth pony with swirly purple eyes who had the ability to levitate. The second daughter was like their mother, only she had their father's dark mare color. Finally, the youngest was a son who resembled their dad the most of them all, but still had the pony shape from their mom.
The family greeted other ponies from above, like when they were passing Sweet Apple Acres. They saw Apple Jack with her kin, Apple Jewel and Apple Shield, and her husband, Spike, working in the orchards. Screw Ball quickly gave her good friends, Apple Jewel and Apple Shield a hoof bump. Apple Jewel had a dark orange coat and seemed to take after Apple Jack the most except for the fangs (thanks to Spike) while Apple Shield had a darker orange coat, a purple buzz cut, Spike's eyes, and was a pony like his mom and sister. After moving on, the peculiar family passed Rainbow Dash with Soarin' and their son, Hail Storm, in the clouds. Hail Storm was a mixture of both parents, having a coat and eyes like his mom and a hairstyle close to both of his folks with streaks of red and on the tail, too.
Then, the family got closer to the ground and into the streets of town square. They walked past Sugar Cube Corner with Pinkie and Cheese Sandwich performing to onlookers with their son, Butter Ball, who was also a combo of his parents, having father's coat and mane color, but with mother's hairstyle and eye color. Next, they passed Carousel Boutique and saw Rarity decorating outside the shop with her husband, Good Manners, who resembled his uncle, Fancy Pants, only skinnier and had no mustache, and their son, Dignity, who looked very close to his father, but his mane was that of his mother's.
After they took off again, they passed the castle where Twilight and Flash Sentry and their son, Fire Spark, who took after his father with the coat, eyes, and hair, but had streaks of purple, and their daughter, Starling, who took after their mother with a darker purple coat and had a purple mane with streaks of blue and had Flash's eyes, on one of the castle balconies.
They made it home to the edge of the Everfree forest, where Discord had extended Fluttershy's cottage to be bigger like that of a mansion.
"So, who's ready for lunch?" Discord asked.
"Me!" shouted four-year-old Zany.
"What are we having?" the eight-year-old Perplexity questioned.
"Is it cotton candy?!" an excited twelve-year-old Screw Ball asked with hope.
"Oh, Screwy, you know you have to wait until dessert." said Fluttershy, "Besides, I got something much healthier in mind…" She went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator to take out a salad and Brussels sprouts.
All three of the kids, including their dad, gave a grimace when they saw the Brussels sprouts.
"Oh, come on now! You'll never know until you try them."
"Easy for you," pointed Discord, "Some of us have chocolate in our diet; you always had to eat veggies your whole life."
"True… but won't you try, for me?" batting her baby teal eyes at him.
He went weak in the knees, "Oh… fine!" he gave a smirk.
"You're not going to kiss again, are you?" said Zany.
Once she had set the food down on the long dining table, she rubbed her son's head, "No, not when it's close to eating time."
"Thank you…" he breathed.
"But it's so romantic…" sighed Perp.
"And gross…" whispered Screwy.
Although disgusted at first to try it, the kids managed to keep it in their systems and quite enjoyed the meal, but Discord… the minute it touch his tongue, he had run out of the room and made a gagging noise. He groaned as he slowly made it back to his spot facing his wife at the other side of the table.
"Oh, sweetie… Thank you for trying anyway."
"Anything for you, honey…"
"Now that we're done eating, I have important news. With the Summer Sun Celebration fast approaching, the Court of Friendship and I (you know, your aunts, Twilight, Apple Jack, Rarity, Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash, and your uncle Spike) have to make this the biggest celebration ever in Pony-Ville."
"How come?" Screw Ball wondered.
"It also marks the fifteenth anniversary of Princess Luna's return. It's a huge deal."
"Isn't that when you used the Elements of Harmony?" said Perp.
"Yes, very much so. And as representations of the Elements, it's vital we pull this celebration off."
"Well, good luck, Mom." said Screwy.
"You mean good luck to both of us." said Discord as he teleported to Fluttershy's side.
"Yes, your father and I are going to be busy over the next few days, so we need all of you to stay close to the house until we're done."
"Can we still play with our friends?" asks Zany.
"Yes, just make sure you remember to come home on time."
"Trust me, we will know if you're late." said Discord as he pulled out a stopwatch.
"You mean you'll know." said Screwy.
"Point taken."
"Does this mean I can't go my Cutie Mark Crusaders meetings?" Perp asked as she looked at her blank flank. Screw Ball looked at her own cutie mark. Not too long ago, she was Cutie Mark Crusader and so were Apple Jewel and Fire Spark. Now, it was Perp's turn, as well as Hail Storm, Butter Ball, and Dignity's.
"No, no," Fluttershy shook her head, "you still can do things. We just want you to come home before we come home."
"Oh, okay," they said. Perp then headed up to her room and Zany did about the same.
Screwy then asked, "Can I go hang out with Jewel and Fire?"
Discord answered, "Alright, but no magical surges."
She rolled her eyes in two different ways, "Yes, Daddy, I know." She kissed his forehead and then floated out the door.
Discord watched his daughter go through a window.
"Discord?" Fluttershy came to him.
"I'm just trying to teach her to keep her powers under control. The last thing we want is…" he trailed off as he gave a solemn face.
Fluttershy knew all too well what he was getting at. Lifting his chin, she stated, "Is another Tirek episode?"
"Oh, Fluttershy…" holding her hoof to his face, "What a terrible creature I was…"
"We've been over this… we agreed never to mention that ever again…"
"Still, how you stayed friends with me was truly amazing. That's why I was happy to always have a letter from you every week still as if nothing had changed… That's why I was concerned I didn't receive a letter from you when you were in the Crystal Empire that day. I was afraid that somehow, I lost your friendship after all… and why I saw the pony before me as the most beautiful sight I could ever behold…"
"The day we fell in love…"
"And I'm making sure the kids don't make the same mistakes I made, since I nearly lost all I had…"
"Well, with you telling them what's right, they won't."
"Well, maybe not Perp and Zany, but Screw Ball… that's a different story, you know as well as I do that she's like me the most."
"Oh, Discord… she's fine. She has friends, doesn't she? Something you didn't have in the beginning."
"I guess… but I certainly don't want her doing something she'll regret… I know that feeling all too well…"
"You learned from your mistakes and you know now who your true friends are. And I love you; do you love me?" she led him on.
He gave a smirk, and using his tail, he twirled her around before tilting her, "What do you think?"
They kissed.
Screwy's first stop was the castle as she looked for Fire Spark by searching through the windows. She finally found him in his room. She tapped on the closed window to get his attention, which she got when he opened the window.
"Hey, wanna go hang out?" she asks.
"I wish I could, Screwy, but I'll be too busy helping my parents while they get Summer Sun ready. Mom needs me to help the folks around here in case there's a problem. This is a huge thing for me, Screwy; she's trusting me to keep the peace while she's working. She thinks I'm old enough to handle it!"
"That's great! I'm so proud! But… that means I won't be able to see you until Summer Sun…"
"Yeah… Sorry…"
"No, no, you have this huge role to fill now! You are a prince, after all…" She looked at his cutie mark of a lit torch. He looked at it, too.
"I remember… I got this when we were on that camping trip with Aunt Rainbow Dash, but then she had that accident and broke her wing and leg."
"Lucky for us, you studied trail maps ahead of time before we left and knew exactly where to go at night so we could get help."
"I had to light a torch to see where we were going."
"Thus resulting in your cutie mark."
He looked at her cutie mark of a baseball and a screw.
"You have a fun cutie mark story."
"Not really… that time we were playing for the championship, things were more serious."
"Never the less, you pulled through for us by being our star pitcher. Now all the kids on the Little League do the famous screw ball!"
"But is that all I'm good for, Fire? Throwing baseballs around? I am a daughter of kindness and chaos. There's got to be more to my destiny. You are a natural born leader and Jewel is a hardworking apple farmer. Those destinies serve a purpose…"
"I wish I knew the answer to that, Screwy… but I don't…"
"Thanks, anyway… I'll see you around if I can." she started to go.
"Me, too…" he went back into his room.
Jewel used her hind legs to get the apples into the buckets. Screwy watched from the side when she told her what Fire Spark told her and what she told Fire.
"Wow, that's huge responsibility… but I know Fire can do it."
"I don't doubt it."
"I wish we can hang out too, Screwy, but Mom and Dad need me with the rest of family to prepare for the Summer Sun banquet."
"I understand… you got a really important job."
"You're questioning your destiny; that's tough…"
"Am I really just going to throw baseballs all my life?"
"Well… let's think back to when you first got that cutie mark…"
A flashback happened that showed the school and a baseball field. It was the bottom of the ninth, the scores were pretty low, and the team gathered in their box to think of a way to get those scores up again.
"We're so close!" said an eight-year-old Fire Spark, who already received his cutie mark.
"We made it all the way to the championship, but we might lose after all!" said Apple Jewel, who, too, had her cutie mark as a jeweled apple.
Screw Ball had a blank flank; she stared at the score cards, and then stared at the field before proclaiming, "We have come too far to lose it all now! Our parents have supported us since that first game, and I for one will not disappoint mine!" she readied herself on the pitcher's mound since it was found out that she had quite the swing. With a determined look on her face, she faced her opponent who also had a determined look. Sweat rolled down her face, then with a mighty throw, the ball swished and swirled around. It passed the hitter and into the catcher's mitt.
"Strike one!" yelled the Umpire.
"No fair! She used her magic!" shouted the hitter.
"No, she didn't," Twilight came in, "I could have sensed if any magic was in use, but there wasn't. Screw Ball has got a talent!"
The team cheered in the field while Discord yelled, "That's my girl!"
Feeling full of confidence, Screw Ball kept throwing her special ball throws. She struck out the other side so much that eventually, her team won the championship! Her team lifted her into the air and by the time they were done, Fire noticed something… "Screwy, look!"
She saw a baseball and a screw on her once blank flank; she cried tears of joy when her parents praised her.
"Oh, Screwy, I'm so proud!" said her mother.
"Way to go, kiddo!" her dad ruffled her mane.
That was one of the happiest days of her life until now; she realized that maybe her cutie mark isn't great after all…
"I just can't help but think we're missing something…" pondered Apple Jewel.
"What's to miss? I threw a famous new throw, that's all there was…"
"But that just can't be it…" She then saw the sun slowly lowing, "Shoot, I have to get back to bucking; it's almost dinner."
"I understand… Thanks anyway, Jewel, I can always talk to you."
"With the banquet in need of care, I won't be able to hang with you for the rest of the week. Sorry…"
"That's okay; I'll find something else to do… I always do…" she walked off. Not feeling in the mood to levitate, she slowly walked around Pony-Ville and saw friends hanging around and on occasion, lovers. That got her to wondering what her future would be like, "Look at me… I will never pass for a perfect bride… Or a perfect daughter… Can it be, I'm not meant to play this part… Now I see, that if I were truly to be myself, I would break my family's heart… Who is that girl I see… Staring straight, back at me… Why is my reflection, someone I don't know… Somehow I cannot hide… Who I am… Though I've tried… When will my reflection show… Who I am inside! When will my reflection show, who I am… inside…" she sat in self pity until she heard a commotion coming from the market place…