“Hey, have you seen Mom?” Mint Fudge asked as he trotted up to his younger brother.

Stellar Bolt, who was too focused on fixing his mane, took his sweet time answering Minty. “She’s getting ready to train me on a new stunt, been talking about it all day.”

The freckled stallion felt his stomach drop and his ears flicked back in response. “But she said she was going to come to my race today…”

“Pffft, you thought she would actually go? Mom’s been talking about my training all week. I can’t even remember the last time she went to one of your races.” Stellar chuckled, having the same interest in ruffling everyone’s feathers as Lightning Dust did.

“Whatever, at least I actually enjoy what I do!” Mint Fudge snapped, quickly falling into his little brother’s trap as his emotions went haywire. Lightning Dust’s lack of attention was a sore spot for Minty and whenever it was brought up, he couldn’t help but yell or cry about it.

Stellar Bolt laughed again, which only angered his older brother more. “At least I actually get Mom’s attention! She barely even realizes you’re around!” He goaded, knowing the more he annoyed his brother, the better he felt about himself.

“W-Well--!” Minty stuttered, desperately trying to outwit his brother with another jab as his face grew red. “A-At least I know the moment you don’t get into the Wonderbolts, you’ll lose her attention too!”

This time, it was Stellar Bolt’s turn to become livid. His temper flared and he bared his teeth while taking a few stomping steps towards the green stallion. “At least my father’s around! Yours can’t even be bothered to come around and see you! He’s probably embarrassed of you like Mom!”

It was clear that jab was one too many and Mint Fudge clenched his teeth as hard as he could to avoid crying. The two had always gotten on each other’s nerves and even had pretty decent spats, but no one ever dared to bring up Dumbbell. Stellar Bolt huffed, breathing as if he had just run a race.

Knowing Minty wouldn’t be able to respond without bursting into tears, his little brother started to walk away, knowing he had ‘won’ the fight. Stellar picked up the pace trotted off, almost looking proud of himself. Mint Fudge, even though he was alone, furiously wiped away tears the moment he felt them run down his cheeks.

Running away from home had never seemed so tempting.