A Shocking Secret
The story is set in Equestria and will remain that way. This one will be quite interesting, I think you'll like it. So please read and review if you want.
The morning sun in the magical land of Equestria shone brightly upon its residents one fine Saturday morning with a few clouds in the sky. Deep within the Everfree Forest, a pack of velociraptors, two-legged fast moving prehistoric creatures raced through the trees. In the lead was a pale-coloured raptor with silver streaks and bright green eyes. The raptor was a female and she was'n't really a raptor, but a human woman named Jade Harmony.
She never was like this, a raptor with pale scales and silver stripes. All that had changed when she had found and brought back a six-year-old little girl 5 years ago, along with four raptor babies. The little girl was named Riley and the four raptor babies were her sisters. She had tearfully explained that she had been held captive in a lab where she'd been injected with velociraptor blood, enabling her to change into a raptor herself. Jade and Riley began to bond with each other and Lara, herself and Riley went out shopping to get the little girl new clothes and shoes. But the scientists that had experimented on Riley soon found out where she and her pack were and tried to recapture them. Still, Jade refused to allow them to touch her child and used her ice magic to drive them back, unfortunately, the man who tried to take Riley had his friend drug the Snow Queen and she was taken to the island where she was injected with raptor blood as well. Her raptor form was a pale-coloured raptor with silver streaks She somehow managed to escape and killed the people in that lab in her raptor form, killing them all and leaving no one to harm Riley and her sisters.
Lara and Shadow had gone to find Jade and bring her home and they arrived at the island and then Jade emerged from the trees near the burning building. She collapsed from exhaustion and blood loss from her wounds and she was taken back to the mainland where she was treated. With help from Riley and the raptors, Jade came to embrace her raptor form after a few weeks. That was 5 years ago and Jade had since learnt to control her raptor side. She still had her ice magic, but the bonus was that she could morph into a pale velociraptor with silver stripes. Today Jade had decided to race with her pack through the Everfree forest.
Another raptor raced up to Jade's side, this one was orange with a neon green stripe running down the length of its body and blue eyes, it was Riley. The raptor was not as tall as Jade, she only came up to the pale raptor's neck in height. Running up beside Jade and Riley were four other raptors. Tyra, the sandy, grey-spotted raptor with red eyes, was the beta of her sisters. Next was Raven, dark brown with green eyes like Jade, just not as bright. Then there was Lapis, grey with light blue streaks and dark blue eyes. Then there was Fern, light green with yellow eyes.
So that's where they were now, racing in the Everfree Forest! Tyra, Fern and Raven came up to Jade's side and all of them burst forth into a clearing, Jade, Tyra and Riley all tied for first place. Jade shifted back into her human form, with pale skin, and silver hair that reached the back of her knees and was always tied up in a high ponytail. There were severe scars on her face, the two lacerations running down the left side of her face over her eye were from a rogue dragon attack when she was a little girl and living with Shadow's mother Midnight after being taken by the dragon mother. Then one night a few days after finding Riley and taking her in, the scientists that had experimented on Riley and herself, even though they were dead, had other associates that were out to get them. Of course, they were killed, but it left Jade with a fear that she and Riley would forever be hunted by bad people and so she made the decision to leave Earth and come live in her real home Equestria permanently! It was difficult for Lara to say goodbye to her childhood home, but she accepted Equestria as her new home.
Her, Sam, Jade and the four raptors had been living in Equestria for a few weeks, and all of them had grown used to the bright-coloured creatures of this magical land. Riley shifted back into her human form, with brown hair and blue eyes with tanned skin. She was now 11 years old and attending middle school in Ponyville where she was friends with Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The 11-year-old smiled as Jade walked over to her, wrapping an arm around the young child's shoulders. Right now she was on school holidays for two weeks.
"Thanks for the race, Tyra." Riley thanked her raptor sister with a smile on her face. Tyra chittered to her alpha and sister. "Of course, little sister."
"You too, guys." Jade smiled, patting Tyra's neck gently.
This year's Summer Sun Celebration was happening in a few weeks and every-pony was excited about it. Celestia had asked Jade if she and her pack would perform at the beginning of the celebration before she and Luna would raise the sun and lower the moon in sync like they did every other year. Of course, Jade had agreed and she set up a routine for her pack and herself. So far, it was going well and they had decided to skip training today in favour of spending the day together.
"Come on, let's head back and get something to eat," Jade suggested and the pack, and two humans turned around and made their way back towards Canterlot Castle to grab a bite to eat, as Jade and Riley were hungry after their race.
Ten minutes later, the small group arrived on the grounds of the royal castle. Jade, Riley and the raptors headed inside the castle. Lara and Sam were out on a date and wouldn't be back for at least an hour. Jade wrapped an arm around Riley's shoulders as she walked down the halls of the castle with the raptors keeping pace. She looked down at the young child and smiled, she still couldn't believe that Riley had changed her life for the better. She could still remember when she and Lara first found Riley in that alleyway 5 years ago.
Jade peered around a trash-can, her green eyes going wide when she saw a little girl with four baby velociraptors surrounding her. Lara poked her head over Jade's shoulder and let out a gasp as she saw the little girl and four raptors. "Holy shit!" the little girl looked up with fear-filled blue eyes and whimpered as the four raptors, despite being only babies, stood in front of her protectively, screeching and hissing aggressively at the two women. "Whoa, easy there. We won't hurt you." Lara attempted to soothe the four agitated raptors as the child shook with fear. Jade knelt in front of the small group. "It's okay, my name is Jade, this is my sister Lara. Do you have a name, little one." despite her mistrust of strangers, she couldn't leave this little girl out here on her own in a storm!
"R-Riley." the little girl whispered to herself as Lara came to kneel beside her sister, they had put their knives away once they had spotted Riley to avoid scaring her. "Riley, that's a lovely name." the raptors hissed lowly at the two women and Riley reached out her hands to stroke their heads, hushing them and calming them down.
"Riley, what are you doing out here alone with those raptors? Are they your family?" Lara questioned while looking around, she didn't see any adults coming into the alley screaming about their lost child! Riley nodded slowly as she carefully stood up on shaky legs. Both Lara and Jade saw that she was very skinny and dirty, she was in desperate need of a bath and warm meal. "They are my sisters."
Both Lara and Jade's eyebrows rose in slight surprise once Riley had said that the four raptors were her sisters, but then again, Jade had a Night Fury as her brother, so it wasn't too surprising to them. "Where are your parents?" Jade asked gently. Riley's blue eyes filled with tears and then she launched herself into the silver-haired woman's arms, crying. "They never loved me! They gave me away to bad people who experimented on me and injected me with their blood." she sobbed into Jade's shirt and jacket as her sisters chirped softly in concern for her. Jade's arms wrapped around the small child and held her close. How could people be so horrible as to give a baby away and let her be experimented on by scientists? "When you say injected with blood, do you mean your sister's blood?" she asked gently and got a small nod in return. Jade looked from the child in her arms to the four baby raptors that were watching her. So Riley was injected with velociraptor blood, did that mean she could become one too?
Lara wrapped her arms around Jade and Riley, heartbroken that the little girl had such a terrible beginning to her life. "We're so sorry, Riley," Lara whispered as more thunder rumbled, it wouldn't be long now before it started to pour. They needed to get back and fast! "Alright, we need to get going before we get soaked!" Lara urged and Jade looked at her before she scooped little Riley into her arms and stood up. "Alright, will your sisters be able to follow us?" Lara asked Riley as the child clung to Jade's neck. She nodded mutely and Jade looked at Lara, who looked at the four hatchlings. "Alright, how will we get them home without them being seen by people?"
Jade poked her head outside the alleyway, she noticed very few people were out, but the streets were still pretty crowded despite the incoming storm. She looked back at the four baby velociraptors and then gently put Riley down to take off her jacket Lara had insisted she wear and handed it to Lara, picking Riley back up in her arms. "Okay, Riley. We're gonna have to carry your sisters in this jacket. They'll need to be quiet. Can you tell them to try and stay quiet while Lara carries them?" Jade asked the little girl who relayed the message to her sisters The four babies chirped softly to their sister as Lara laid out the jacket and they all climbed into it as the brunette wrapped them in it, making sure they weren't seen before hauling the wrapped babies into her arms and the two sisters exited the alley and went in the opposite direction to where other people were going so they didn't get strange looks from people as they walked past.
That day changed her for the better and she had a beautiful daughter and four raptors as pack. She wouldn't change anything. As they were passing a hallway, Jade stopped suddenly and turned her head towards the hallway. "Mum, what is it?" Riley questioned when she noticed her mother had stopped.
"I don't know," Jade answered and stepped into the hallway, which led to her mother and aunt's bedrooms. "Jade, why have you stopped?" Tyra questioned with a snort as she and her sisters watched their alpha walk down the hallway.
"Do you guys feel that?" Jade asked. "Feel what?" Riley asked in confusion as her mother stopped in front of a bare wall near the sun-decorated door that led into her grandmother's bedroom. Jade frowned, they must not feel what she could feel due to not being born in Equestria like she had been and therefore able to sense strong magic if it was nearby. "I can feel magic here, strong magic like it's protecting something." Jade mused as she stepped closer to the wall. There was nothing there, but she could feel the magic pulsing from the wall. Since she never really ventured to her mother or aunt's rooms when she was younger before Midnight took her away, she never knew there was magic here until now. Sure she and her family had been here for a few weeks now, but no one went to Celestia or Luna's bedrooms.
Resting her hand upon the wall, Jade felt something behind it, like a ripple effect when something disturbs the surface of the calm waters of a lake. She now knew there was something hidden. "Get back, all of you," she said and they all heeded her advice, moving back and once they were out of the way, Jade threw her left leg out and kicked at the wall hard! She kicked the wall again, the sound of splintering wood cracking could be heard for a split second before she kicked a third time and the powerful illusion spell that had been placed on the wall to hide whatever was behind it shattered like a wall of ice, collapsing to reveal a single wooden door.
Riley peered around Jade's body, her blue eyes going wide when she saw the newly revealed door. "Where did that come from?" she asked her mother, looking up at the silver-haired woman. Jade shrugged her shoulders, clueless as to why an illusion spell had hidden this door from view. "Someone didn't want this to be found." the Snow Queen said and reached out her right hand, touching the door knob and gripping it tightly. She twisted it to the left, pushing open the door on squeaky hinges that hadn't been used for who knows how long.
The room was dark and covered in a thick layer of dust from not being used. Jade coughed on the dust particles that hung in the air and sneezed. She waved her hand to get rid of the dust that lingered in the air. "God, it's so dusty. How long has this room been hidden?" Jade questioned as Riley and their pack entered the dark room.
Jade noticed a window covered with an old, dusty blanket and torn it down, sunlight streaming into the room. With the darkness evaporating a little, they could see the room was an old nursery with two wooden cribs in the corner of the room. Jade walked over to the cribs and peered inside. Two baby blankets lay in the cribs. She picked them up in her hands, one was red with flame patterns on it and the other was purple with stars. She looked from the blankets to the cribs, where she saw names carved into the wood.
"Firo and Aydia. Who are they?" Riley read the names on the cribs, looking at Jade again. "I don't know." her eyes scanned the room and Raven noticed an old bookcase located near the window. Walking over, she sniffed at the bookshelf, sneezing from the amount of dust that floated up to her nose, attracting the rest of her pack's attention as all eyes settled on her. The brown raptor noticed the few books that were on the shelf, and then she saw a small pile of photos. Picking them up gently in her jaws, she turned around and headed over to Jade, chirping softly as her alpha took the photo's from the brown raptor, patting her nose in thanks, then she brushed the small layer of dust from the photos and was shocked by what they saw.
"Is that…mum?" Jade questioned as she stared at the woman in the photo. It was Celestia, she was in human form and smiling at the camera. In her arms was a baby with a tuft of red and orange hair on top of its head, wrapped up in the red baby blanket Jade had draped over her arm. Riley looked at them from beside Jade as the four raptors gathered around the two humans. Jade flipped to the next photo, this one was a man with black coloured wings and to her shock, the same coloured hair and eyes holding a bundle in his arms, only this one had a tuft of purple hair on top of its head, so it had to be a girl, she was wrapped up in the purple baby blanket.
Jade's eyes glanced at the names carved into the cribs, then looked back at the photos, connecting the dots. "Holy shit!" she gasped, her eyes going wide. She wasn't alone, she had siblings, and by the looks of it, twin older siblings! And a father who looked so much like her. "Why the hell didn't she ever tell me?" she questioned as she went through the photos. Riley could only shrug her shoulders as she watched her mother go through the dusty photos, becoming angrier with her grandmother.
Finally, she looked up, inhaling a deep breath to calm herself down before she tucked the photos away in her pocket and folded the two blankets up, creating an ice-made bag and placing them inside before she turned and left the room. Riley and the raptors followed her. "Mum, where are you going?" Riley asked as she hurried to catch up with her mother as she was marching towards the throne room. "To confront my mother," Jade answered tersely through gritted teeth, her fists balled at her sides.
Riley knew her mother was very angry with her grandmother and she knew that if Jade confronted her mother now, it would end up in a screaming match between the two. So the 11-year-old stepped in front of her pissed-off mother to stop her. "Mum, stop. It's just going to get worse for you and her if you confront her now." Jade stopped to listen to Riley, she knew better than to ignore the young child. "How about instead of going to confront her, we go and find your father and older siblings."
Jade raised an eyebrow at the offer. "We?"
Riley nodded. "I know you probably want to go by yourself, but I want to meet my new grandfather and new aunt and uncle. Can I come with you?" Riley pleaded with her mother to go with her cause she wanted to meet the other unknown members of her family. "Riley..." Jade warned.
"I know that I'm only 11, but I want to be with you, mum. I don't want to be alone." more than anything, Riley hated being alone after she'd spent her first six years alone in a lab being experimented on by scientists, then a few weeks later, she met her new raptor sisters and then they all escaped that horrible place and found a home with Jade, Lara, Sam, and dragons.
Jade sighed, looking down at her fists, which were still balled and she unclenched them. Riley was right, it would only end in a screaming match between her and her mother if she confronted her now. The best thing to do was to go and find them first, explain herself and then confront her mother. But to bring Riley with her would be dangerous, she understood her daughter not wanting to be alone, she had tried her best to always be there for Riley as she was growing up with her and the rest of her family. Despite only being 11, Riley was incredibly smart and wise for her age due to the raptor blood in her system.
Inhaling a calming breath, Jade spoke. "You are to listen to every word I say, you are not to wander from my side, even if we know my father and older siblings, you are to remain by my side at all times. Do you understand?" she stared her young daughter down, if she was to come with her, she had to obey the rules she just told her to stay safe. "And most importantly, don't expose your raptor form to them unless you feel threatened, understand?":
Riley nodded her head. "I understand and I promise to not reveal my raptor form unless you tell me to."
The young pre-teen threw her arms around Jade's waist tightly. "Thank you, mum." she thanked her for allowing her to come with her on this journey. Mother and daughter held each other for a while before separating and Jade faced her pack-mates. "You all heard what we spoke about. Riley and I will be going to find my father and older brother and sister. I need you four to stay here and protect Lara and Sam. Can we count on you for that for us?"
Tyra stepped forward. "Of course, you can. We only ask that you both be safe out there." the sand-coloured, grey-spotted raptor chirped softly to her alpha and little sister.
Jade smiled gratefully at them and hugged each one around the neck, thanking them before she and Riley left to get ready and head out. Jade and Riley were in her bedroom, the Snow Queen was grabbing her weapons like her black recurve bow, a quiver of arrows, and her sword FrostFang. Riley had her knife Jade had given to her as a birthday gift and was strictly told not to use it as a toy, only to use it to defend herself if she needed to or as a last resort, morph into her raptor form and defend herself like that.
"Alright, ready?" Jade asked, placing the photos and baby blankets into a shoulder bag and dispersing the ice bag she had made beforehand in a cloud of snowflakes that drifted away in the breeze out her open bedroom balcony. Riley nodded, she had her knife strapped to her belt in its sheath and her brown hair was tied up in a ponytail. Mother and daughter walked onto the balcony and Jade shut the doors behind her as Shadow, her Night Fury brother, appeared in the air in front of them and landed gracefully on the balcony so Jade and Riley could mount the saddle on his back and begin their journey. Jade had told him everything as they were getting ready and while he was shocked to learn that she had other siblings and a father out there, he was more than happy to take them.
"Ready?" he asked once Jade was on his back, strapped into her saddle with Riley behind her. Jade had even tied some rope around her and Riley so they weren't separated if they ran into trouble on their journey. "Ready, brother," Jade said with a determined look in her green eyes. She felt bad about leaving Lara and Sam without explaining herself to them, but she figured they would figure it out themselves soon. Shadow unfurled his black wings and took off into the sky, flapping his wings hard and fast as he disappeared into the clouds, unaware that a pair of turquoise blue eyes that belonged to Princess Luna had seen them leave Canterlot.
Luna watched her niece and grand-niece fly into the sky on Shadow until they disappeared. She knew something was amiss and teleported herself from her bedroom to the hall outside her room. She saw the open wooden door that used to be Firo and Aydia's nursery before the attack and entered the room. It was dusty from not being used and the wooden cribs where her niece and nephew had slept when they were just a few days old were covered in a thick layer of dust. She noticed the baby blankets she had made for them were gone, along with a small pile of photos that had been on the shelf. At once, Luna knew Jade had figured it out and that is why she and Riley had left Canterlot.
The Moon Princess had said that Jade needed to know the truth, but instead, she had found out on her own and now had left Canterlot with Riley and Shadow. Luna just hoped they stayed safe and didn't get into any trouble as she headed for the throne room to inform her sister of her daughter and granddaughter's departure.
The first chapter is done. Please read and review if you like. I hope you all enjoy reading this as I do writing it.
