This is what we do chapter 27
By Foxgear
The Apple’s home was silent. Mac sat out on the porch alone staring out into the morning sky. Everything seemed so peaceful. Almost mockingly peaceful when compared to the hell of yesterday. In the living room sat Fury and Ferocious, watching the news report of the attack in the city. He heard the sound of baking in the kitchen, Sonata and Aria were awake and were helping Adagio prepare food for the abundant about of house guests they were now supporting. The bills from yesterday still lay on the table unpaid and getting close to due. An insignificant problem when compared to everything else going on right now. But even with the reports of the world ending, the billers still want their money.
“Mac…” His wife said softly poking her head out the screen door, the cordless phone in her hand. “Um… the hospital called, well Nyx called, she’s wondering if it’s ok to use the same… ah… the funeral company that buried your mom and dad for Bailey?”
He looks at her and she flinched but stood her ground.
“I know you don’t like this, I don’t either, but…”
“It needs to be done,” He finished holding his hand out for the phone. “Bring me the bills and my checkbook too, if you would.”
“Are you sure you want to do them out here? What if the wind picks up?” A gentle breeze rustled the leaves, but other than that it was dead still.
“I’ll deal with that too if it comes up. I just… I just want to sit here for awhile.”
Adagio nods giving him the phone as she goes back into the house. While he’s going over the details of what planning a funeral entails with Nyx. Adagio pops back on the porch giving him the bills and his checkbook as well as a pen. She plants a kiss on his cheek and whispering endearments before going back inside.
Mac spent the next two hours pouring over bills, several times he had to go into his office and find his account books, which he’d later have to put on excel, but he was determined to keep working on the porch for as long as it was practical. The house was feeling just a bit too stuffed right now for his liking. He remained hunched over his work giving the briefest of greetings to Luna and Celestia. Giving a quick good morning to the two sisters, before glancing at his watch, the time ten AM, he returned to his work.
When all the checks were written, filed, and placed in envelopes and stamped. Mac placed his account books and checkbooks in his office. Telling the gathered crowd of people in his house he was going to the mailbox. The letters in his back pocket Mac set off down the mile-long driveway on foot.
As he walked a strong gust rustled the trees, shaking the turned leaves off their branches and sending them whirling around him as he treads the packed gravel road. He glances at the trees. Trees that his great grandfather’s great-grandfather had supposedly planted or so he had been told. The age of the farm had never really crossed his mind before, but they’d probably qualify as a century farm by now or sooner. It was funny to think his family has been here for almost a hundred years.
Arriving at the mailbox Mac disposits the bills inside. About facing he heads back towards the house, but stops after only taking a few steps to look in the direction of the old west shack. With little rhyme or reason, he walks into the brush following the old road back to the old hideout. His steps quick and loud on the leaf covered ground.
There the old shack stood. He’s wondered how long it’s been since they’ve been out here. Since he and Adagio got hitched and all the sirens started living at the house they’ve barely come out here. Five months of weathering and no maintenance gave the shack a beleaguered look. It didn’t take long for things to start decaying of you didn’t take care of them.
For reasons he didn’t quite know he was drawn to the old building. He opens the door going inside the now bare building. When the sirens moved out they stripped the place bare of all the things inside, even his father's stuff. The gun safe was empty, so was the closet and the desk. All the files and other things were gone too. The bunkbed he found on a rummage sale was still here and the single bed too, both still in the addition he had made for the three sirens when they first started working with him. A card table sat in the middle of the main room, with some folding chairs and a couch. Feeling tired he flops down on the sofa looking at the bare building.
“I should move Sunset in here. It’s so much bigger than the south shack and it’s closer to the road. I should check on Sunset’s shack, see how it’s holding up. Winter’s coming, should make sure to move her here and get the heat going or make sure her heat is working or one of the two. Actually, I’ll just move her. This place might as well get some use after everything I dropped into it for Adagio and girls.” He nods, liking the idea as he sits for a spell. His eyes get heavy and he lays on the old couch falling asleep.
A creak shakes Mac awake and he rolls to the floor suddenly awake. He looks frantically around for any danger but just finds an empty shack. He takes a breath and stands, checking his watch. It was noon now. Dinnertime. Adagio was probably worried. He felt around his pants pocket for his phone and realized he left it at the house.
“Should have known better,” He mutters stomping towards the door. As much as society complains about cellphones, and he was included in that bunch too. They were a handy tool. Especially for the things he does. Back in the day farmers had to walk home if something broke out in the field, now you call or just walk up a hill for service and get a ride. Of course staying in touch was also important when you hunted literal monsters. “She’s probably stressing by now.”
Mac picks up his pace to a jog hopping onto the old path. The path was a bit faded as the grass grew back but it was still there. He remembered how long it used to take to get out here. Now it seemed like it took no time at all. Within a half an hour, he was back in the yard, Adagio pacing the porch.
“Took you long enough to drop off the mail,” She said hotly, brushing a stray hair out of her face.
“I got sidetracked. Went to ya old shack and took a nap on the couch there.”
Adagio blinks, cocking her head. “You were in the old shack? What made you go out there?”
He shrugged. Not really knowing the reason himself. Adagio clicked her tongue biting down on her lip as she folds her arms under breasts.
“Alright fine, dinner is ready. Mashed potatoes and fried chicken is waiting inside.” She turned around marching inside, but he stopped her by wrapping his arms around her waist pulling her back onto the porch. She struggled momentarily before snuggling against his chest. He lay his chin on her shoulder whispering into her ear.
“I’m sorry I made you worry, I’ll remember my phone next time.”
“Make it up to me when we send the kids home, and our other house guests.”
He chuckles. “I don’t mind, but I don’t think that’ll be for a while.”
“Well poo, I’ll just have to settle for passionate make-out sessions in bed, oh woe is me.” She pats his thigh and he lets go and follows her into the dining room. Everyone quiet and looking at their plates as they walk in. Guess they heard everything, the front door wasn’t that far from the kitchen.
He sits down, digging into his meal without a word. No one else spoke up either, yesterday’s events still playing through their minds. Magic was now exposed to the world at large or at least monsters were, but some people would arrive at the conclusion after aliens and other such nonsense. That was out of their hands. He wasn’t about to expose his family to news media to calm the public, it wouldn’t help either way. He doubts people would be reassured that a barely nineteen-year-old and his merry band of teenage girls with a few adults were their defenders. That was the grander scale tragedy, nothing they could really do about it.
There was nothing they could do about the smaller more personal tragedy of Bailey’s death either. He could do nothing.
“You ok, Mac?” Adagio said. “You’re holding your silverware awfully tight.”
He looked down at his knuckles, they were white as snow, the metal utensils nearly cutting his fingers from his own grip. He loosens his fingers setting the fork and spoon on the table, his food already gone without a taste or notice.
“I got some things to do outside. Thanks for the food, Hun.” He picks up his plate and glass scrapping them clean before putting them in the dishwasher. Passively he waves goodbye to the gathered people walking out the back door before a word could be said.
The door closed behind him Mac takes a breath and sighs. In the corner of his eye, he catches sight of the tool shed and heads straight for it. He stops to open the big rolling door, letting sunlight stream into the old building. Inside rests Bailey’s old tractor. A 1954 Super MTA. He smiles running his hand over the hood of the old girl. She was as old as the farm, Bailey having bought her new after coming home from Korea. He slumps on the stool beside it remembering the time he watched dad rebuild the engine and the how Bailey taught him how to care for the old tractor when he got the farm.
That story had some new context now. He wondered how hard of a time Bailey had teaching Dad about motors. Dad being an interdimensional pony from a medieval period no less. Well, he had to give Equestria some credit they did invent an engine of their own around the time Dad hopped worlds.
“I never really knew you did I, dad? All the things we could have talked about now. All the things I could have learned from you.” He leans his head against the cold metal of the tractor. “Bailey too. I didn’t visit him enough. Barely even thought about it. He would come out to the farm when I was still fixing it up. He’d stand back his arms crossed smoking his pipe and talking about old stories. I only half listening.” Tears swell in his eyes, he squeezes his eye tight, trying to fight back against the swelling regret. “I should have listened. Even when he repeated the same story for what seemed like the thousandth time. I should have stopped and listened.”
Mac bangs his fist against the tractor. Snarling. His gums ache, blood spills out from between his lips his teeth becoming draconic, scales cover his arms, his fingers become claws. The tools in the shed begin to rumble as magic fills the air.
“Fuck. FUCKFRUCKUFRUURUCKURFKCUFUCK!” He swirls around knocking the stood over. He raising his arms about to bring them down on the tractor, but he holds back not wanting to damage the memento. He stomps his feet, cracking the cement. Everything was swirling, but he had nothing to lash out on.
Then he spots Bailey old ax.
Marching over he grabs the wood cutting tool by the handle and marches out the back of the tool shed walking a fair distance until coming to an old fallen tree. On it ever several ax marks. Marks from when he was growing up. Each gash a little deeper from the last. The last one was made at fifteen years old.
He paws the ax in hands, raising it high above his head and swings down with all his might! The ax head sinks deep into the wood, right up to the handle. He rips the ax free rising it again, this time he lets out a loud belly deep roar! The ax head sinks even deeper, splinters shoot of the fallen trunk as it cracks and gives. He rips it out again. His grip tightening his magic flaring high, engulfing the ax, his muscling bulge with power. He glares at the log, slobber spilling out from gritted teeth he didn’t see the log anymore.
He saw Rarity.
Swinging down the supercharged ax splits the log clean through digging into the ground. The earth splits! A crescent orange blade of magic ripping through the ground, cutting down another tree and blowing it to pieces.
‘Clap, Clap’
Mac whirling around finding Ferocious behind him using his long sword as a crutch.
“Impressive. First time channeling magic through a melee weapon?”
“Y-Yeah.” He replied feeling embarrassed for being caught mid raging. “What are you doing out here? You should be resting.”
Ferocious adjusts his weight on his weapon, his right arm and leg hanging loose in the air. He took three bullets when fighting what was mostly likely Pinkie from his fellow police officers. One in the shoulder, bicep, and thigh. The third missing that artery that would have guaranteed his death by a narrow margin. Nyx tended to him after Bailey’s final moments. Using what little healing magic she had to ensure a speedier recovery. Speedier by human standards. The holes in his limbs would close up completely in a week. If he rested and didn’t try to use them. To that end, Nyx used some strange ability of hers to numb Ferocious’s injured limbs so he couldn’t use them. Seems they weren’t the only one evolving their skills. That might be concerning.
“I would, but it’s hard to nap when you’re screaming your head off. Understandable, really. Mind if I blow off some steam too?”
Mac steps aside, “Sure, but how will you…”
Ferocious hops on his good leg, switching his sword from under his right arm to his left hand, ponying up. “This isn’t the first time I couldn’t use half of my body.” In a flash Feri leaped forward bringing his glowing blade down on the fallen tree, slicing is clean through and then jumps to the newly fallen tree and cleaves the trunk into a pile of wooden disks. He lands on his one leg sticking his sword into the ground to balance as he pulls a pack of smokes out his coat pocket. Feri hops around so they were face to face, cigarette between his teeth Feri snaps his fingers, lighting the cancer stick.
“Do you know how mad I am right now, Mac?” Feri’s cigarette suddenly combusts, the entire stick gone in an instant. “First Applejane dies, and then Nico goes and gets himself killed. I still wonder, no rage, trying to figure out why he didn’t ask me for help that night. I was angry at him, at myself, still am sometimes. Bailey helped me through that, both Stryker and me, he was like a second father to me. If the universe made any sense, this would be the point where I help you.” He takes up his sword again, crouching on one leg, blade erupting in fire.
“Feri,” Mac takes up his ax wondering what the fireman had in mind. Well, he didn’t have to wonder, he just hopes Feri didn’t go through with it. “Your arm and leg… You can’t…”
“Use that rage, Mac!”
Feri comes at him in a spiraling flame. Mac grips his ax, charging it with magic and swings with all his might, Feri suddenly changes course red feathers fluttering in the air over his ax. He heel turns. Feri already rushing him from the right, he brings the ax up to guard, but Feri drops to the ground still spiraling like a top and swept his legs out from under him. Feri’s knee slams into his stomach while nape of the longsword is pressed against his neck.
“If I was an enemy you’d be dead Mac.” Feri hops off, jumping to his feet and leaning against his sword again. “I hope you're not planning on going after Rarity in this state. I’d hate to break my promise to Nico and your wife by letting you die.”
Mac growls standing up. He glares up at his godfather, he was nearly six feet tall, it’s not often he has to look up at anyone. Granted Ferocious probably only had an inch or two on him…
Flick!
He stumbles back, taken by surprise when Feri flicks him between the eyes! “For a grown man, you’re acting like a child.” Feri flicks him again! “Stop that!”
“Are you going to kill Rarity?” His godfather asks suddenly.
“I…”
Flick!
“Will you stop that!”
“Answer the question, Mac.” Feri pressed. “Are you going to kill her and take revenge like your dad or are you going to do what Bailey would want you to do and save her.”
“What?”
Flick! This time with magic!
Mac held his face as blood seeps between his fingers. “Fuck! Just let me think for a goddamn second!”
“Why do you need time to think? The answer should be obvious right?”
Mac opened his mouth to retort but stopped. He frowned looking around the cracked ground and shattered trees. What was he doing? The fallen tree was one thing, but he destroyed a perfectly healthy tree. Trees he cared for, trees that provide for him and his family. He destroyed it without a thought. No, the tree hadn’t been his target, but that didn’t matter he should have been more mindful about his surroundings. He had been blind to them.
“It is obvious.” He said walking over to the shattered tree. “But I still did this, with just that one thought in mind. Killing Rarity won’t bring Bailey back, I know that. I know that because it’s stupidly obvious and its obvious that if I kill her I’ll hurt not just Applejack, but Sweetie Belle, her parents and so many more. Still, I knew that, but I still wanted to kill her.” He tightens his fists around the ax handle. “It’s still there too.”
Feri hobbles over beside him. “That’s fine. Everything is still fresh, your feelings, rage, sadness, regret. Anger feeds magic, dark magic, but still magic, still power. Raw power. It’s easy to use and even easier to abuse. When your dad went to avenge your mother, he was probably the strongest he’s ever been, but also the least himself. Blinded by his rage. He went there to do a simple task, kill Madhoof. He did that. But he burned down a school, roasted dozens of experimented humans alive and almost killed those two teenagers. If the fight had gone beyond that basement… well. Who knows when it would have stopped or how many bodies would need to be piled on the altar of revenge before it was satisfied.”
“I get it, I get it. Blind rage and all that. I’ve seen enough actions cartoons to know that lesson.” Mac shakes his head and then looks to Feri who looked at him strangely. “What?”
“When the hell did you have time to watch cartoons?”
“When I was seven.”
They share a laugh. Feri pats him on the back and then turn around hopping back to the house. “I know this doesn’t really fix anything, but humor me as I try to keep you alive. That being said, take your time out here. When your ready to think and act clearly, come back inside.”
“Yeah, I will.” He replies as Feri disappears around the corner. Alone again Mac picks an apple from a nearby tree biting into deep to get to the seeds. He spits three of the little seeds out into his palm looking at the spot where the fallen tree had been. Arms still scaled and bolstering with strength he digs his claw deep into the stomp and pulls! The earth tears at the roots rip up the ground and with a loud victorious yeah, he pulls the stomp out of the earth and tosses it away. Next, he drops the seeds into the earth and steps back holding out his hands.
When he was in Equestria he read up on the different types of ponies there under Luna. His counterpart was an earth pony there, and his pony form, while draconic was also that of an earth pony. So, by that logic, he should have the same powers over the earth as an earth pony does.
His hands glow. He imagines the earth filling the hole and much to his delight the hole closes over the seeds. He presses his palms against the grass, sending his magic through the earth and into the seeds, willing them to grow. Within seconds a small spout the height of his boot springs out of the ground. He powers down, sweaty and exhausted. That would a lot out of him. Guess it was easier to destroy than create. He steps back, observing the seedling.
Normally he wouldn’t plant offspring seeds so close to its parents, but after the destruction, he wanted to create something. Leaning back, he admires the little sprout, wondering how high it will grow in the comings years if he keeps feeding it magic.
“I guess you need a name,” He said to the sprout. Naming trees has always been more of Applejack’s quirk. He frankly found it silly, but she had been eight and cute and he played along. Now she was sixteen, seventeen? God, when did he lose track of his sister’s age? And she was still doing it. And though he did find it silly, he did want to give the little seedling a name. “Grandpa said all the spirits of the Apple’s that have come and gone reside in the trees they planted, so I think I’ll call you Bailey. That way you can grow and watch over the farm all over again.”
Mac holds out his hand, creating a tiny sphere of magic and feeds it to the tree. “I’ll bring your granddaughter you to see you when she’s born. I promise.”
The seedling sprouts a leaf, touching his finger in a bizarre handshake.
“It’s a deal then, don’t go wilting on me now.”
Back in the house, Mac sat in his lazy boy, completely ignoring any and all strange looks as they convened around the coffee table. He should have walked a bit further out into the orchard when he went to vent, but well, it is what it is now. Adagio came into the room plopping into the chair with him. He wiggles a bit so she’d slide in better.
On the cloth couch sat Aria, Sonata, and Sunset Shimmer, on the other side on the leather couch was Fierce Fury, and Ferocious with Moon Dancer nervously squished between them. Applejack sat on one of the kitchen chairs along with Celestia and Luna. Applebloom sat cross-legged on the floor. Twilight was still sleeping upstairs with a fever. Sweetie was up there too.
“So… what are we going to do?” Applejack asked breaking the silence. “I mean about… about my friends.” Her arms were trembling as she gripped the edge of her seat. Luna leaned over and rubbed her back, providing a small amount of comfort.
Mac grimaces, thinking hard when Moon Dancer spoke. “What are we going to do about Maddie? One of those Sins has her and the time is ticking on her seal. How long does she even have?”
“I gave her two weeks about… one two three? Maybe three days ago? Hard to say, everything things been hell in a handbasket.” He answers. He was pretty sure it was three days ago. Maybe four? “She has ten days before Sixes' seal burns her alive.”
“You’re from Equestria, can’t you do something about that seal?” Moon Dancer asked pointedly to Fierce Fury. He gave her a sharp look and she shrunk back into her seat. “Um… can I trade seats? Please…”
As her and Luna swap seats, Luna looking awkward as she looks between the two counterparts. Fierce Fury answers Moon Dancer’s question. “It’s Sixes’s seal, he has to be the one to release it. I was never good at that kind of magic. Besides our objective remains the same. Find the Sins, we find Maddie. Simple as that. We just have to do in ten days.”
“That could take too long!” Moon Dancer decries.
“Maybe not as long as you think,” Aria said joining the conversation and holds up Rarity’s diary that Luna and Fury had brought back with them. “From this, we can assume Rarity is working alone. There’s an entry here saying she ran into Fluttershy before Maddie went missing and she knew Fluttershy was a Sin as well.”
“And Rainbow Dash could barely take care of herself when Stryker and I found her at home. I’m not an expert like you all are, but I would assume if Rainbow as in such a state she couldn’t have the strength to keep Maddie subdued.” Celestia states.
“That could mean a number of things,” Ferocious spoke up rubbing his chin. “Maddie could have escaped if Rainbow was the one that kidnapped her and both were left bruised and beaten after the fight. Two one of the others stole Maddie away from Rainbow. Or three Maddie could be dead already.”
Luna gave Ferocious a light slap on the arm, “Don’t say things like that!”
“I’m inclined to agree with my counterpart, but Mac would know if Maddie was dead.” All eyes to turn him as he interns looked questioningly at Fierce Fury. “You hold Maddie’s chain, if she were dead you would have been notified.”
“Could we track Maddie through the seal?” Moon Dancer asked excitedly while Mac looked at the back of his hand. A faint rune appearing on it. “Well can we?” Moon Dancer earnestly insisted.
“Umm… I don’t know.” Mac admits. “Sixes only taught me how to give her permission to leave and set time limits. He never said anything about tracking Maddie with it. Is it possible Fury?”
The red Night Patroller stroked his chin. “Hmm… yes and no. Sixes probably could, but as I said, seals aren’t my business. Besides tampering with the seal without Sixes might cause it to burn Maddie alive. Think of it this way, there on twenty-five buttons on a panel and one turns off the seal, all twenty-four others kill her. I cannot stress enough how little Sixes cared about giving Maddie a second chance, so he made sure she wouldn’t get a third.”
They sit in silence for the following minute. Each of them contemplating what they should do. Well, they knew what they had to do. Find the infected girls. The problem was they needed to find them fast. Ten days wasn’t a lot of time to search the entire county, assuming the four were even based here. Rarity and Rainbow were both injured too, they’ll want to keep a low profile until their recovered.
“We could go check out our usual sources. The golden girls have to have seen something.” Sonata voiced, speaking of the sirens elderly women’s gossip network. The elderly had a lot of time to watch the news and hear all kinds of things young folks don’t have the time to do. “It is a dumb idea?” She asks when no one spoke.
“No, but it doesn’t cast a large enough net. We need a more active approach.” Ferocious said. “Though it would help to know if anyone saw them around town.”
“These Sins…” Adagio spoke up for the first time during the meeting. “They radiate dark magic, right?”
Fierce Fury nods. “The sins themselves do, but they usually use the hosts magic as their own. Why?”
“If they’re using dark magic, then my sisters and I can find them. I’m sure they’re contaminating it all over the place, but it can pinpoint their general location.”
“We can’t walk the entire town and surrounding area Adagio.” Sonata points out. The yellow siren rubs her temple suppressing a growl.
“I know that Sonata, but if we stand a cliff or say the town water tower and we get supercharged with enough magic for a full transformation, we should be able to see something.”
Everyone blinks in unison looking at Adagio. “Holy shit babe,” Mac says planting a kiss on her cheek. “That just might work!”
“Just might?” She scoffs. “It’ll work for sure!”
Moon Dancer springs out of her seat. “What are we waiting for, let’s go then!”
Mac reaches out an arm, blocking her. She looks angerly at him, but he pays her no mind and instructs her to sit back down. “We’re all excited to get going Moon Dancer… AJ.” He says looking at his sister who had been halfway to the door as well. “But given what happened… recently.” Mac looking at Feri and dropping the mood of the room as they thought about the event of yesterday. “We can’t go into this half-cocked. This is a serious hunt and we need to prepare and bring everything we got to the table.”
Aria perks up, looking excited! “You mean!”
He nods standing up. “We need to bust out the big toys.”