//------------------------------//
// Lies 
// Story: This is what we do 
// by Foxgear 
//------------------------------//

This is what we do chapter 17
By Foxgear



Mac opens the mailbox, pulling the newspaper and several letters out. Climbing back into the idling pick up he drives with his knees down the driveway flipping through the letters. 
“Bill, bill, bill, junk mail, junk mail, Taco’s Weekly, Punk Rock Monthly, Not so Secret Vicky’s, and bill.” Tossing the stack of envelopes and magazines onto the seat Mac pulls up to the house. Shutting off the truck he grabs the stack and walks into the house. Turning into the kitchen he passes out the magazines to their respected subscribers, tosses the letters on the counter for now and unfolds the paper as Adagio places a plate of eggs and toast in front of him. “Thanks, Babe.”
“Your welcome,” Adagio chimes sweetly, kissing him on the cheek. Leaning back, she ogles at him, a wide smirk dancing on her lips as she leans her head on her hand. “So, did you like the new additions to my collection?” 
He chuckles, turning the page as Sonata and Aria gag, Mac takes a bite of toast. Adagio’s finger tapping the table restlessly as she waits for his reply. “It was pretty good.” 
“The toast or the Lingerie?” 
“Both,” He answers smugly. 
“Well, maybe next time I’ll make breakfast in it.”
Mac chuckles again, imagining the scene, “I wouldn’t mind I guess.” 
Adagio groans laying her face on the table, “Ugh! You’re no fun to tease anymore! I’ve corrupted you too well!” 
“You were a good teacher,” Mac turns the page again. Across the table, Aria groans loudly. 
“For the love of god, just go fuck again if you haven’t done it enough already! Replace that damn squeaky spring before you do though! Damn thing kept me up all night!” The pink siren complains drowning her coffee in one go. Slamming the cup on the table Aria stands up straight and marches towards the door, “I’m going to go do chores.”  
Sonata’s sighs, “Aww, we didn’t even get to talk about yesterday.” She smiles at Mac. “It was super fun! I wish you hadn’t been asleep when we got home, Mac. The look on Applejack’s face was hilarious!” 
“Adagio gave me the highlights in bed,” Mac says turning the page, his eyes skimming over the daily markets and projections. “Doing all the chores myself and going through the bills and taxes was more exhausting then I thought it’d be. That little coach in the office was a little too tempting after a while.” Mac chuckles remembering Adagio waking him up to come to bed last night. Taking the moment to display some of her purchases. However, before things could get hot and heavy he and Adagio made a phone call to Nurse Nyx to find out it was ok. Her response was an angry ‘yes’ followed by a list of things that could happen, but usually yes, followed by another angry shout of ‘you can google some of this shit’ and then she hung up. 
“Speaking of yesterday,” Mac continues, “We need to go by and barrow Jubilee Stock trailer and bring in some of those cows this morning. After that, we’ll need to hang around town a bit.”
“What do we need to do in town?” Sonata asks picking up her empty plate. Mac turning the newspaper towards to reveal an article, “Another house disappears, residents missing.”
“That’s not the only strange one,” Mac folds the paper, showing another article. “Three owners killed by dogs, possible links to illegal cockfights.” 
Adagio takes the paper, reading it for herself, “Hmm, shouldn’t these have been on the news last night?”
“We didn’t watch the news remember?” Mac reminds her, causing her to blush. 
“Oh, right.” 
Mac folds the paper, laying it on the table, “Well Sonata, we better go help Aria and get those cows loaded, if we want to get to town before noon.” 
Sonata nods excited, “Uh ah.”
“Hey, will you guys be back for dinner?” Adagio calls after them as Mac and Sonata pull their boots on at the door. Her husband’s brow scrunching down in thought. 
“Hmm… good question. Probably not, we’ll eat in town and see if we can’t hear and rumors at one of the diners or cafes. You can ride along if you want. You don’t have to stay here.”
“I know, you don’t need to worry about me,” Adagio says walking over to Mac and kissing his lips. “I’ll give you a call before noon and drive myself into town if I decide to go. I might go over to Miss Cherry Jubilee’s for a bit this morning. She’s been prodding me about hanging out for a while.” 
“Careful she just might become your new best friend,” Mac jokingly warns. Miss Jubilee wasn’t a bad person to be around, but she was too much to handle sometimes. 
“Yeah, yeah, she’s not that bad.” Adagio retorts pushing the two out the door. “See you guys later!”



The smell of the stockyard was stifling as Mac backs the pickup up to the gate. Checking his mirrors, he sees Aria and Sonata wave for him to back up more. Gently he taps the gas, inching the truck and trailer closer, the girls cross their arms, yelling for him to stop. The trailer lights shine on the metal cattle shoot and the girls pull the gates to either side of the trailer, chaining the gates to the trailer Sonata steps up three rails and unlatched the trailer gate. 
From the other side of the trailer, Aria yells, cursing up a storm as she pounds the side of the aluminum trailer. The old Chevy’s suspension bucks as the eleven hundred to fourteen hundred steers stampede out the back of the trailer. Turning into a congested mob of black and white as they sort themselves through the gates. Sale barn employees urge them on, leading them through gates to corrals. Once the cattle were through, an employee shuts the gate behind them, allowing Aria and Sonata to undo the chains. 
Mac pulls ahead giving the girls a quick salute as he pulls out of the way. Parking in the wide-open gravel lot. Mac shuts off the truck and steps into the mud in his rubber boots and makes his way to the office. 
Inside the office, the stench of tobacco smoke lingers in the air, a big hefty man in a white suit and cowboy hat sat at the messy desk, puffing the last bits of his cigar. The man was the owner of the sale barn, and also the local rodeo host. His peach skin was wrinkled with age, he was probably in his seventies, but his blue eyes twinkled with excitement and ambition. The man took one look at Mac and smiled wide, showing off his yellow stained teeth. 
“Well, Ah’ll be! If it isn’t Macintosh! How you have grown boy! You look just like a young Bailey! Come in, come in, sit down! You want a soda pop or are you finally old enough for whiskey? Ah myself prefer whiskey of course!” The man heartily laughs pouring himself a glass from the bottle hidden under his desk. He offers the bottle to Mac, who politely refuses.
“I’m still underage sir,” Mac informs him. The old man laughing as he replaces the bottle. “Yes, yes, I suppose. You look so much like Bailey, I kind of forget how young you actually are. I suppose some Root Beer will do you fine?”
“Three actually,” Aria says as she and Sonata enter the office. Her nose wrinkling at the smell. 
“Oh ho, seems the rumors were true! You got yourself a little herd of ladies Mac!” The old man rolls his chair across the floor, pulling three cans of Root Beer from the fridge and rolling back over to the deck to hand them to the three. 
“Thanks, Mr. Colonel,” Mac says popping the tap. “These are my sisters-in-laws, this is Aria, and this is Sonata. My wife Adagio is at home at the moment.”
The Colonel laughs, “Well, if these are her sisters, then I have no doubts you reeled in a catch son! But I suppose you want to be getting down to business, huh Macintosh? Let’s see… ah… I just got your sale bill here, one of the boys just brought it to me. Give me a second here, ah here it is! Let’s see, ah… eight head, price of $115.45, the weight of the cattle versus the weight of your rig, about $1215.00 a head, so $8,505 total. Here’s your check, son.” 
Mac takes the check, feeling a bit down by the amount. It wasn’t anything, but the price wasn’t what it used to be. At this rate, he was barely breaking even after the price of feed. 
“Thanks, Colonel.” 
“Don’t sound so down Mac, the markets will pick up… some time here. Just stick it out.” The Colonel said joyfully, but his true feelings were revealed in his eyes. “Yeah, things will pick up here, anytime.” The old man shook himself, taking a quick gaze at the clock. “Hmm, almost noon, you three staying into town for dinner?” 
“Yeah,” Mac replies, “We have some other things to do. Adagio might join in if Cherry Jubilee didn’t stuff her full of cherry pie this morning. Why’d you ask?”
“Ah, no real reason. I was just going to recommend you go down to Night Riders, it’s the food joint that also serves as the VFW for the town. Good food, locally used beef, half of the profit goes to the VFW, it recently became open to all the public, so I’m just trying to spread the word around. Just make sure you enter on the east side. The west wing is for Veterans exclusively. The east was for Biker’s, but with the Riding season coming to an end they need to cast a wider net.” 
“I’ll give it a consideration.” Mac takes his check and the half-drunken soda towards the door, stopping short as the Colonel hollers at him one last time. 
“You might see some familiar faces there too. I’m sure there are some folks there that wouldn’t mind seeing how you’d grown.”
Mac glances at the portly old man with a curious look, but Colonel was already rifling through his papers again. Walking to the truck Mac and the girls climb, sitting silently for a moment as they think about what to do. 
“That guy seemed strange,” Sonata says.
“Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Sonata. The question is why was he so keen on getting you to go to the VFW?” Aria ponders, noticing Mac’s grip tighten around the steering wheel. “What’s wrong?”
Mac’s grip loosens at the question and he takes a breath, his shoulder’s slumping low. “Nothing. Going to the VFW wouldn’t be a bad idea. The old guys there probably hear a lot rumors around town, it wouldn’t be a bad place to pick up some intel. Most of them are probably the husbands of your usual sources. And it’s not a bad place to eat either.”
“You’ve been there before?”
“Yeah, at least I think so,” Mac said with a frown, getting nothing but static in his brain when he tries to recall the bar. “Come on, let’s find a spot for the trailer and head over there.”
Unhooking the trailer next to a line of other trailers. Mac heads downtown towards the VFW post. On the way, Mac has a feeling a déjà vu as he passes some familiar landmarks. Such as Veteran’s park and Mr. Swirl’s ice cream parlor. Images of a feminine blue hand handing him an ice cream cone flash through his mind, scenes of him playing the park waving to tall shadowed figures. He sees his mother smiling, another woman laughing, and two men in the background, one was his father, the other was red skin man smoking. A loud voice screams in excitement, a four-year-old AJ runs past him, running to his father and the other man.
(Daddy! Daddy! Uncle Feri! Look at what I got!) AJ says unclasping her hands, a butterfly escaping from her fingers. His dad and the man chuckle ruffling her hair. 
“Mac… Hey MAC!” Aria shouts breaking Mac free of the memory. 
“Ugh… yeah, what is it?” Mac asks swiping the sweat from his brow. 
“Um, we're here?” Sonata says leaning towards him with concern. “Are you sick? You’re not looking well.” 
Mac brushes her hand way, pinching the peak of his nose. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just… I don’t know feeling nostalgic is all.”
“Your nostalgic about a VFW Biker bar?” Aria questions. “What kind of parties did you have that we don’t know about?”
Mac looks across the street from where they were parked. A crowd of leather wearing riders stood outside despite the cool weather, smoking in front of the east half of the building. While on the west side a line of Veterans in and out of uniform smoke.
More images flash through his mind. One of him sitting on a bar stool, his father on one side next to him with his arms around his mother. A gray tone barkeep cleans a glass, passing it to the person next to him. He looks over, seeing a much younger Luna cuddled against the red skin man from before, but he couldn’t make out his face. He looks to his father, asking for something, his dad shaking his head no. From the other side, a red hand appears, dropping a dollar in quarters in his hands and he runs of the bar stool. 
“Ok, this is the second time you’ve thousand yard stared off into the distance, what’s going on Mac?” Aria demands shaking him from his… daydream, vision? He wasn’t sure what was happening. It’s like he’s remembering something he had forgotten. 
(Or maybe something I was forced to forget?) Mac wonders as he steps down onto the road. 
Approaching the east side of the building the three pass the bikers, all wearing the same patch, a skull with a lightning bolt striking the top of the skull and wings unfurling from behind the skull. It looked like any other biker patch, but to Mac and the girls, it seems familiar. They eye the patch, while the bikers in turn eye the unicorn skull and wings on Mac’s arm. At first, they thought there was going to be trouble until a big burly old biker drunkenly salutes them. 
“I’ve seen that patch before,” The big man laughs rolling up on his feet. Swaggering over to the trio the biker pokes his fat finger on Mac’s shoulder. The younger man tensing, ready for anything. “Your Nico’s little boy aren’t you!” 
Eyes from both sides, Biker and Veteran turn towards them. The girls huddle closer to Mac, back to back in case a brawl was about to break out. Noticing what they were doing the big biker waves his hand for them stop. 
“Sorry, sorry didn’t mean to spook ya! You’re among friends. Sorry to hold ya up, it’s just (HICCUP!) that patch brings back memories.” The old biker looks sad as he shuffles away. 
“I think we're about to get more than we bargained for Mac,” Aria whispers, but Mac doesn’t heed her words and continues to the door. Inside Mac makes for the booth in the corner, his back against the wall and his eyes on both the rear and front door. It was an old cowboy trick prevent getting shot in the back. Usually, he wasn’t worried about that, but this crowd… had him uncertain. There was a feeling of unease despite the warm welcome. 
The waitress came and took their orders. All of them ordering Cheeseburgers and fries and Dr. Peppers. While they wait Mac checks his phone. There was a text from Adagio saying Cherry Jubilee invited her to dinner at her place, so she wouldn’t be coming to town. He texts, ok, back and sets his phone down. A wink and kiss emoji appears before the phone locks and he lightly chuckles, sending an ‘I love you too’. 
“You ever worry you and Adagio don’t argue enough? Your both so lovely dovely all the time, it’s probably not healthy for your relationship,” Aria says bored as she digs at the table with her nail. 
“We don’t like to fight in front of the kids,” Was Mac’s reply unlocking his phone to check the news. Aria and Sonata looked confused by his comment before they realize he was talking about them. 
“Hey!” They both retort in mock offense.
Ignoring their pouty glares Mac flips through the local news. Nothing new about the second house disappearance, except the landowner confirmed he was renting the place to shady looking guys name Snitch and Rat, both were still missing. Some news anchors were suspecting they might be the cause of the diamond dust, but the argument was quickly shot down. Some others were speculating that the two might have been inside the house and are now dust in the wind. This for all intents and purposes was probably the truth. Not that anyone could prove it. 
Setting his phone back down Mac happen to glance at the bar stools. The same from his earlier vision. “Sonata, go work you charm at the bar counter. See what you can find out.”
The blue siren looks curious at him, shrugging as she shimmies out of the booth. “Ok, am I looking for anything specific? Besides the diamond dust houses and the fire, I mean?”
“Yeah, ask anyone if they knew my dad’s friends. Or if Luna’s ever come in here.” Sonata gave a surprised look, but none the less nods and walks off. 
“Call me when the foods here!”
Mac leans back rubbing his brow, his mind a swirl of mixed thoughts and emotions. He wants to sit back and try and sort everything out, but the pouty look Aria was sporting should probably be addressed. 
“What’s wrong?” He asks the pink siren. A shade pink appears on Aria’s cheeks as she rests her head in her arms on the table. 
“Why’d you say Sonata has charm? Does that imply I don’t?” 
“What? Why would you… where is this coming from? Sonata’s bubbly, people find her easier to talk too because they think she’s a ditzy girl. Which is kind of true, but that’s beside the point.” Mac rubs his temple. It was a joke before, but Aria and Sonata did feel like his and Adagio’s children sometimes. There were clear issues that have been festering for the past thousand years. They should be addressed, he just wasn’t sure why he was one that needs to address them. “Look if you want you can go up to the bar too. You don’t need my permission. Besides some of these guys might be your type.”
“What’s that mean?” Aria snaps.
“I don’t know. You dress like a punk, I’m kind of shoe balling, but bikers might be into that. I don’t know, what do you want from me here?” 
Aria grunts, standing up, “Nothing I guess.” She walks away, joining Sonata at the bar, who was chatting it up with three guys. Including the bartender.
“Those two are popular.” A voice says. 
“Yeah, I guess,” Mac’s brow frowns. “Wait…” his head whips around coming face to face with Officer Red Alert of Cloudsdale PD. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be on duty and in Cloudsdale?”
Red Alert shrugs and sits down across from Mac, “I would like to be, but I’m on paid leave till the media buzz dies down. The chief is looking to transfer me and others from the camp incident. They’re thinking of sending some of us to Canterlot Central. I don’t like the city so I’m looking at housing here since it’s so close and a lot cheaper. Wouldn’t think I’d see you guys again… well ever. Is that sword lady nearby too?”
“Kira went back home, if you happen to see her again I’d suggest you get away. Last time was just supposed to be her vacation. You wouldn’t want to be around when she’s actually here on a job.”
The office chuckles nervously, “I see. Um… what was her job again and where is she from?”
Mac’s own brow frowns, what was Kira’s job again, she was a night patroller sure, but didn’t she say she was a queen to or something? “It’s probably better you don’t know. I imagine you want to stay out of the weird stuff, right?”
“I suppose you are right,” Red Alert laughs, “Kind of late for that now though.”
“What was that?” 
“Nothing, nothing, just muttering to myself. Look it’s been nice talking to you again kid, be safe on your… business.” Red Alert scoots out the booth as the waitress arrives with the food. Aria and Sonata take notice and wave goodbye to their new friends. They sit down and the three begin to eat. 
“Find anything out?” Mac asks between bites of his hamburger. Colonel was right, this was good beef. 
Sonata smiles cheekily, while Aria blushes. “Well…” she beings jovially bumping Aria in the shoulder. “Ari go some date requests for playing the cutesy punk girl. She even gave out her number.”
Aria blushes, “Shut up, Sonata.” Only encouraging the blue girl’s smiling, to which Mac shakes his head. 
“Ok, that’s great. Anything relevant.”
Aria coughs, clearing her cheeks of any redness, “Yes, from what we gathered the victims of the house fire were part of the Del Rio Toro Gang like the news said. They were a new gang on the block, but they’ve been promptly wiped out of the area after that fire. Rumor is some new gang took over and are keeping any more gangs from coming in, but nobody knows what gang it is.”
“Some believe it’s a biker gang,” Sonata chimes in. “Like the Hell’s Angels or Warlocks or something like that since guys riding Harleys were at every attack, but there hasn’t been an increase in the number of bikers in the area bearing any of those patches.”
Mac glances behind the girls at the bikers, The Night Riders, besides their patches many of them wore veteran patches too. They were local guys, they probably wouldn’t take kindly to gangs in the community. 
“Who’s the leader of Night Riders?” He asks the girls, Aria and Sonata look beside themselves and shrug. “Really?”
“Nobody would tell us!” Aria shouts, quickly she covers her mouth, realizing she was being too loud. Softly she says, “The guys were pretty tight-lipped. They didn’t really talk about their leader and when they did they just called him boss.”
“His office just up the stairs through,” Sonata adds, gesturing to the stairway the bathroom was located under. No one was guarding it, but it wasn’t really a way to sneak up without being seen. 
“We might have to try and get up there before we go,” Mac says, “Anything on the Dust houses?”
The girls shrug, taking bites of the hamburger, “Nothing really, except that their owners were low lives. One of the guys lives in the same area as the second house. The guys that were leaving there were and sorry for the lingo but this dude was old. He said they were greaser types, slick hair and leather jackets with no patches. Probably didn’t work an honest wage. They’d be gone for most of the week in the city when they’d come back they party hard. Really hard. Cocaine off a hooker’s thigh hard.” 
“Ok, that was very detailed and I’m questioning how this guy knows all that, but that doesn’t really answer my question. What reason would a monster have to destroy these houses?”
“Maybe it’s not the houses,” Sonata suggests, “Maybe it’s the people. If this monster is intelligent and I’m saying pony, I mean human, level intelligence, then it would pick out victims people wouldn’t care were gone and do it in a way that wouldn’t leave any evidence.” 
“By turning a house to diamond dust?”
Aria shrugs, “Some creatures have to work with what nature gave them. For all, we know this thing craps rubies and eats livers.” 
“Well, it’s a start. I’m going go to the veteran’s side. Sonata try to distract the crowd. Aria, why don’t you go see if you can get a look at the boss’s office?”
“Will do!”
“Fine.”
Mac finishes off his fries and drink, leaving a tip and heads for the cash register. Sonata goes up to the bar again, her jacket tucked under her arm and the top three buttons of her flannel shirt undone. She was wearing work clothes, she had to add a bit more sugar to her act. Aria goes and stands at the bottom of the stairs, pretending to mess with her phone. After a quick glance to see if anyone was watching she hurries up the stairs, disappearing into the shadows. At the stop by the office door, she sighs, finding another set of stairs that leads to the back alley. 
“Well, that would have made things easier.” She mutters sourly. Turning the knob, she finds it locked. Taking a second look around for any unwitting eyes, she grins as she creates a spark of pink lightning on her fingertip. Jamming her nail into the door lock she gives it a good twist, the door creaking open. “Easy as pie.”
Stepping inside the office Sonata focus magic into her pupils giving her night vision. The office was… rustic? If there was a word of it. It wasn’t so much an office as home apparently. There was a bed, a bathroom, and even a shower. Approaching the bed Aria tries to get a scent, her nose clear now, she instantly recoils. She only got three things off the sheets, tobacco, Alcohol, and sex. She was not touching it! 
“Ok, anything else?” Softly as to not make noise Aria tiptoes over to the closet, opening the sliding door and… “Holy shit, this guy as a lot of guns! He even has more then we do! Holy crap… is that C4! What else does he have? M16, Grizzly Big Bore, 300 Winchester magnums, glad to see we have similar tastes in sniper rifles, um let’s see what else… Uzi, AK-74, half a dozen different pistols, machete, bow and arrow, UMP, jeez, where did they get all this?”
Softly closing the door Aria walks over to the desk, scanning the top of the mountain of papers, but not daring to touch anything. Mostly it was bills and expenses for the restaurant. Aria was about to take her leave when she saw the wall of pictures and a glass case where a claymore was on display and a long coat with a patroller patch with the number 0756. 
In a daze Aria approaches the display, running her fingers along the well-used blade. Her eyes wander the wall of pictures, landing on one with Nico Vega and two other men and she shivers at the sight of them. Realizing just who owns this bar. 
“Shit, it those guys,” Aria curses rubbing the right side of her neck, where the blade before her had once almost cleaved her neck from her body. “How’d I forget about these assholes.” A load creak and door slam brought her back to reality. Outside the sound of heavy thunderous steps climbing up the backdoor, stairs had her sweating bullets. The footsteps were halfway up the stairs, with little choice she hurries to the bathroom pulling her hair bands loose as she shuts the bathroom door as the office door opens. 
“Didn’t we lock the door?” A deep voice asks as two sets of feet enter the office. 
Another voice says, “I thought we did. Maybe one of the waitresses came up to deposit the money in the safe. It is past noon.” 
“Hey, the bathroom lights are on.” The first voice says. There was the familiar sound of ‘click, click’ indicating the loading of a bullet into a semi-automatic pistol. The duo of feet marches towards the bathroom door, bursting it open with a swift kick. 
“EAAAKKK!” Aria lets out high pitch scream, her loose hair covering her face as her hands cover her neither’s, her pants dropped around her ankles as she sits on the toilet. The door slams shut, the faces of the two men a deep red as they disappear behind the door. A small smirk plays on her lips as she pulls up her pants. Looking in the mirror Aria adjusts her expression, channeling frighten girl, so Fluttershy, and meekly steps outside between the two men, who were looking anywhere but at her. 
“I’m sorry, the bathroom downstairs was taken (Sob) and I really needed to go, (sob) I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to come up here. I’m sorry.” She cries with tears coming down her face. Plucking her lips, she gives her voice a little stutter to help sell the act. “I’ll… I’ll be going now!” She runs for the door, being sure to run as girly as possible. Fragility was the key. She was about home free when a voice and strong grip grabs her by the shoulder. 
“Now just hold on here girly,” A voice said, belonging to the ashen gray man with blue hair. “Sorry about the scare there, but this is area is for personal only. Who let you up here? And just who are you? You seem familiar…. Have we meant? I’m Stryker Six, my friend over there is Ferocious. We kind of run this place. And it’s kind of his home, so he gets a little touchy about uninvited guests. But back on track, who let you up here?”
“Um, ah…” Shit, what does she do now? “I’m…Ari... I don’t know who let me up here. I just ran up to one of the staff since the bathroom was busy. They said I could use the one up here if the door was unlocked. Saying you’d probably be in here if it was. When I opened the door, no one here, so I just went ahead and relieved myself and then you…” Aria fibs making sure to keep her bangs over her eyes and her face away from Stryker. 
“Ok, ok we get it. Again, sorry for the scare, but we’re not in the position to take chances.” Stryker’s grip loosens releasing her shoulder, as he pulls his arm back the back of his hand brushes against her cheek and his thumb knocks away her bangs for a brief moment, giving each other, a quick clear look of each other’s faces. Aria’s cheeks burn red as she looks away, staring at the floor, a shivering running throughout her body as the strong scent of stallion clings to her cheek. “Well, that’s it. You probably want to be getting back downstairs. A girl like you must have a boyfriend waiting right?”
“Well, actually,” Aria stutters. She was stuttering! Why was she stuttering these guys will kill her if they find out who she is! “I don’t have a boyfriend.” Her hands intertwine, her body posed in a cutesy fashion as a single velvet eye peaks out from her bangs as she eyes the ashen color man. “You could say I’m browsing the market.” 
Stryker laughs heartily, while Ferocious grunts in disgust. Stryker shooting his friend a ‘shut up’ glare as he faces Aria again, business card in hand. “Well, if you ever get tired of searching or just find yourself in trouble give me a call. I’ll be there quicker the lightning.”
“Thank you,” Aria clasps the business card in her palm and quickly exits the room before her stupid mating instincts get her trouble. She ran all the way down the stairs, nearly crashing into Sonata who was waiting at the bottom with a worried look. 
“Hey, where’s the fire?”
“Never mind that, let's go, where’s Mac?” 
“He’s still on the Vet’s side. What’s going on? You look nervous and are you blushing?” 
Aria growls, “Never mind, I’m going to go wait in the truck. Tell Mac when he’s done or better yet go get him. We need to leave, now!” Sonata stood stunned as Aria all but ran, well not ran, more like a brisk walk, out the door and across the street to the pickup, just as Mac rounds the corner. 
“Check’s paid, is Aria back yet?” He asks looking around for the raspberry color siren. Sonata points outside. 
“Yeah, she ran for the truck, talking like a madwoman. She seems kind of spooked for some reason.” 
Mac frowns, “Well let’s go find out what’s wrong then.” 
In the truck, Aria tries to fight off her shivers. Not shivers of fear, but shivers of excitement as she looks at the name on the business card she was given. “Detective Stryker Six, Central CPD… nononono! He tried to kill you! Well, Ferocious did, but Stryker tried to kill Sonata in the past! But we tried to kill them too… urgh! Stupid feelings! Go back in your box!” 
“Uh… Aria? Is something wrong?” Sonata asks entering the truck, pushing Aria to the middle, so she was squished between her blue sister and Mac. Discreetly Arai slips the business card into her pocket as Mac pulls out onto the road. “Did something happen up there? What’d you find out?” 
Aria opens her mouth, about to speak, only to falter in her words. “Um… nothing… nothing at all. It was just a messy gross office that the owner is using as living quarters. Dirty laundry everywhere you know? Stunk in there too. I barely got out of there when the owner came through the back door as I was leaving.”
Mac and Sonata look at each other, their expressions morphing by the second as the process her lie. Her fists tighten. Worried she was going to be called out, she acted too unusual for them to just brush it off.
“Um, ok… must have been pretty bad in there then,” Sonata slowly, her tone indicating she only half brought Aria’s story. “So, who was the owner?”
“Oh, just some old veteran guy, a pipe smoker, the office reeks of tobacco. I don’t think he saw me leave. So, we should be safe.” She looks nervous between her sister and brother in law, her smile stressed, why was she lying? Why was she going so far to cover up meeting Stryker and Ferocious? No, not Ferocious, just Stryker. 
(You want him all to yourself, lest someone steals him like Adagio stole Mac.) 	A voice in her head told her. She wants to deny that claim, but maybe it was the truth. She was jealous of Adagio for having Mac and jealous of how easily Sonata gets attention. She was tired of being left with just her sister’s scarps!
“Aria!”
“Ugh, what?” She says quickly, shaking away her dangerous thoughts. “What Mac?”
Mac sighs at having to repeat himself, but Aria was defiantly acting strange, “I said are you sure there was nothing else up there?”
"Like?”
“Pictures of my dad or anything strange. I’m sure he has a connection to that place. Are you sure you didn’t see anything?”
The wall of pictures, the jacket with the patch, and the sword came to mind, but Aria just looks ahead at the road, saying, “Nope, I’m sure.” As they drive further and further away from the bar.




Rarity hums rhythmically folding Fluttershy’s order neatly into their packaging. Her pink hair friend would so be over to pick up the order and she wants everything to be perfect. Checking her watch Rarity had slight frown as she looks at the time. Fluttershy was taking a bit longer than expected to get there. Rarity hopes she gets here soon, she had other things to do tonight after closing shop. 
The bell on the door rings, Rarity turns around and smiles at the sight a flustered Fluttershy panting at the doorway. “Sorry, I’m late. I got busy with something else.” 
“Oh, no worries dear here is your order. I must say learning how to levitate thing with my magic has been a lifesaver. It’s like having a hundred hands!” Rarity laughs handing the clothes over to their new owner. Her finger touches Fluttershy’s prompting a jolt of magic to spark between them. The fashionista takes several steps back, feeling something, she hadn’t felt the other day when taking Fluttershy’s measurements. She eyes the yellow girl, who does same, setting the bag of clothes aside, the two circle each other like alley cats. Fluttershy’s light blue eyes turning blood red, her ears becoming pointed and her nails become claws. A green snake emerges from under the other girl’s shirt and flies at her!
Smirking Rarity lifts her arm, her own white and purple snake, flying out of her hand. The two snakes coiled around each other, battling as they try to sink their fangs into the other. Each one freezing in a stalemate as their fangs bite into the other's neck. 
“So, you’ve awakened too,” Fluttershy hisses, now fully transformed into her bat form. The same form she gained from Maddie’s experiments. “What’s your name? Or are you still a blank slate?”
Rarity turns up her nose, “As if I would not name myself. Call me Vanity. What are you? Flutterbat?” 
Fluttershy growls, angrily flashing her fangs, “Envy. But let’s cut the formalities, are you going to get in my way?” 
“Depends on what you plan on doing sister.”
“Big sister, I was created before you, you’re just the runt, remember?”
Vanity twitches, grinding her teeth as she glares at Envy, crystals growing down her fingers forming razor-sharp claws. “Don’t get ahead of yourself BIG sister, I might just find myself one sibling short.”
“Give it a try!”
“With pleasure beast!”
Before the two could move the snakes broke apart and bit their respective masters in the ankle. Envy and Vanity both hiss as the snake’s black venom flows into their blood, relaxing their bodies. The girls retract their claws. Lowering their arms, they urge the snakes climb up and the snakes comply slithering up their master’s arms to coil around their necks like scarfs. 
“Let’s start over, shall we?” Vanity chipperly. “I only seek to spread beauty and to eliminate ugly people from existence. Ugly souls that exploit beautiful. My current targets are members of the Canterlot Loan Firm, loan sharks in reality, I’ve made a few of them my prey already.”
“I’ve noticed, your diamond dust houses are all over the papers.” 
“Well, they were such ugly brutes, but at least for a second even they were beautiful and then were simply dust in the wind. I find it poetic.” Vanity says fondly, remembering the horror etched faces of her last victims, frozen in crystal, the light shining of their bodies in one last glorious display and then reduced to nothing! It was the most elegant of executions. 
Envy turns her nose in disgust, “Your letting that host body influence you too much. It’s pathetic.” 
“Oh really?” Vanity replies hotly. “And just what are you doing with your new life and freedom?”
“I’m bringing justice to those who abuse innocent creatures for their amusement. A much nobler goal then you.”
Vanity scoffs, “And you call me pathetic. You know as I well as I, that you’re just copying and pasting your host's desires for your own, just like me. So, don’t get so high and mighty.” The two girls glare and growl at each other, but relax as their snakes shoot them a glare. “I guess neither one of is very original, but still this life is better then what mother would have planned for us. Lives as her slaves.”
Envy nods, “Agreed. Yet if not for mother we’d be nothing.” 
“Yeah, but I’m still going to kill her when I see her.”
“Me too.”
“Good.”
“Good.”
Envy gathers up the bag of clothes, reverting back to ‘Fluttershy’ “Thanks for the clothes, sister.”
“Anytime, I’m sure you’ll look fabulous as you kill your enemies.” Vanity smiles, waving as Envy disappears into the darkness. “Hmm, I wonder how many more of us are awake? Don’t matter as long as they stay out of my way. I don’t care what my siblings do. Speaking of siblings… I should go check on Sweetie Bell.” Vanity pulls out the phone she stole from the loan sharks as she climbs the stairs to the living quarters. “Let’s see… I got them, them… and them… so tonight… I’ll hit up this house. After putting Sweetie to bed of course.” Vanity replaces the phone in her pocket, resuming her act as Rarity as she enters her little sister’s room. She smiles as she kneels beside the young teen’s bed lovingly stroking her hair. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back in the morning. Goodnight, I love you, my dear little Sweetie.”