As the night got later, the Dazzlings headed back into the bedroom to get ready for the evening. Hunter walked Sunset to the door and idled with her in the threshold.
“You sure you don’t want me to stay?” She asked as her arms encircled his waist.
“Yeah,” He ran his fingers through her hair. “I’m ninety-nine percent sure we’re okay here, but just in case I don’t want you here if something bad happens.”
“Okay,” She kissed him, smiling as she backed into the hall. “You behave now.”
“Of course,” Hunter chuckled. “Those three have been traumatized enough for one day.”
“That’s right,” Sunset laughed. “Good night.”
“Night, Sunny.” He waved as she started off down the hall; locking the door securely he went to the bedroom door with a knock, he was given the clear to enter and joined them. “Everything good?”
“Yes.” Adagio noted as she pulled back the covers.
“Cool,” He nodded. “I’ll be right out here if you need me; I sleep with one eye open anyway so try and get some sleep.”
Sonata appeared beside him, quickly hugging him. “Thank you.”
Breathing a light laugh, he put his arm around her and patted her back. “Sure thing, see you all in the morning.” He left them for the night and returned to the couch, sighing heavily as he laid his arms out across the back. Mind full, he turned on the television and did his best to zone out under the murmur of the late night show. Dozing off at some point, he was awakened in the wee hours of the morning by kitchen rummaging; peering over at the fridge he saw Aria pulling out sandwich material. “No rest for the mildly wicked?” He asked with a laugh.
Aria noticed him watching her and went about her business. “With that chainsaw in Sonata’s throat? Rarely.”
“Nobody’s perfect,” He shrugged, gesturing to the adjacent recliner. “It’s quiet out here.”
She finished constructing her midnight snack and sat in the chair. “Wasn’t trying to wake you.” She noted, taking a bite.
“That’s okay,” He assured. “I’m a light sleeper anyway. One time, I got sent to Sri Lanka under the cover of an exchange student; I lived off of sporadic, thirty minute naps for almost a week while I was tracking down a rumored Naga in the jungle.”
Aria looked down at her sandwich in thought. “In Equestria we were always on the move; every species was hostile towards us, so I know the feeling.”
“Because of all the mind control?”
Aria grumbled but slowly nodded. “We did what we had to do to survive,” She eyed him. “You’re a warrior, you understand.”
“Yeah… I do,” He admitted. “You are too, aren’t you?”
“I had to be, like you did.” She quietly confessed.
“Is that why you’re still on the fence about me?” He smiled at her.
“Like I said, you understand.” She took another bite. “Sonata was quick to trust you, but she’s always like that; that’s why I stay on her so much. It may seem mean, but she’s too… naive; and Adagio is always working on some scheme or master plan, with Sonata’s head in the clouds and Adagio’s in the future… I have to be the one in the moment.” She let out a hard sigh. “I know you mean well, but I can’t turn that part of myself off.”
“Now that I really do understand.” Hunter nodded. “On a mission I can’t worry about what happened or what might happen, only what’s happening and how to best handle the situation. It makes you seem defensive and apathetic, but in reality it’s the sacrifice you have to make because you care the most.” Aria looked at him with far softer eyes than she had ever done so before. “Now that I’ve been around you for awhile, I can see just how much heart you’ve got locked away in there.” He pointed at her chest. “For whatever it’s worth coming from me, I’ve learned that you don’t have to hide it all to still do what needs to be done; in fact, in a couple of ways it makes it even easier. You should try and open up a little more; I appreciate wanting to handle your business on your own but my shoulders are lighter than ever now that I have Sunset and the others to share my life with,” He grinned. “And as you’ve seen, I can still kick plenty of ass.”
Aria actually laughed at that as she considered his advice. She took a deep breath through her nose as her head lowered a bit. “I’m scared,” She confessed. “I can’t remember the last time I was scared. Losing our magic was one thing but not being able to defend myself… or them… I hate it; I feel so weak and its frustrating.”
“That’s a normal feeling for a soldier,” Hunter assured. “Feeling powerless is the worst feeling we can have, especially when we aren’t able to protect the people we care about. We’re supposed to be the strong ones, we’re supposed to be the ones on the front line taking on all threats; when we lose that ability it’s easy to feel like you’ve lost an entire part of who you are. On top of that, it is hard to ask for help when you’re used to being the one to handle things.”
Aria smiled. “I didn’t think a human could understand that type of thing so well.”
“Here,” Hunter quickly stood and went over to the entertainment center, he reached behind it and unstrapped something from the rear panel. Heading back over to her, he held out a sheathed knife with a leather bound grip.
“What is that?” She asked as he unsheathed the seven inch blade.
“This is a KA-BAR, straight edge combat knife,” Hunter knelt at her feet. “I’ve had this a long time and it’s just as sharp as it was on day one.” He held it out to her.
“You want me to have it?” She asked.
“Well, I’m not going to give Sonata a knife,” He laughed. “I know I can trust you with this, one soldier to another.”
Aria reached out and took the weapon, looking down into his eyes with a newfound bond. “Thank you.”
“Just remember, that’s for keeping your enemies in line… not your buddies in there.” He patted her leg with a smile.
“I’ll try.” She smirked, setting the knife safely at her side. As Hunter returned to the couch she turned her eyes to the television. “Anything good on?”
“Probably not,” He took up the remote. “But that won’t stop us from looking.” Hunter flipped through the early morning programming as the two of them sat and continued to talk until the dawn.
At the height of morning, Adagio and Sonata finally emerged from the bedroom; wondering where their third had gone, they were surprised to find her and Hunter together in the living room.
“There you are,” Adagio observed. “How long have you been out here?”
“I dunno,” Aria shrugged. “Few hours.” She looked up to see Sonata standing over her; her eyes drifted over to Hunter and then back down to her, a wide smile on her face at the idea that they had finally gotten close. “Wipe that stupid grin off of your face!” Aria blushed as she stood. “I’m going to take a shower.” She quickly went back into the bedroom.
“How you feeling?” Hunter asked as he sat upright.
“Well enough,” Adagio answered. “What is the plan for today?”
“I’m expecting a shipment of equipment to show up later,” He noted as he stood to stretch. “When it gets here, I’m going to need you three to hide out in the bedroom for a minute. I can’t have my HQ knowing that I’m hanging out with three sirens from another world who know my true identity. If that happens we’ll have much bigger problems than Melodiam.”
“Can do.” Sonata said with a thumbs up.
“Perfect,” He patted her shoulder. “How about breakfast?”
“I can handle it.” Adagio said as she moved into the kitchen.
“You sure?” Hunter asked as he followed her.
“I know how to prepare food,” She curtly informed. “Once we started to grow more successful, I decided to learn since we could finally afford more ingredients than bread, peanut butter, onions, ketchup and ramen noodles.”
“Ah, the college diet.” Hunter nodded understandingly as he sat at the table to wait.
Running a few minutes behind, Sunset hurried through the lunch room to get her food; she spied a table with Rarity, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Applejack and went to join them.
“There you are, darling.” Rarity scooted over to give her room. “Fashionably late at that.”
“I was on the phone with Hunter,” She informed. “He’s still got the Dazzlings at his place.”
“How is that working out?” Rainbow Dash chuckled at the thought.
“Apparently pretty well,” Sunset admitted. “They seem to respond to him; it helps that he’s so comfortable around all the weirdness.”
“I’m surprised you’re so okay with him being locked in an apartment with them for so long.” Twilight noted.
Sunset laughed and nodded. “I trust Hunter; besides, we already had that talk a while ago,” She held her hand up. “He said even he’s not crazy enough to cheat on a girl who’s a walking lie detector.”
“Oh my,” Rarity began through a giggle. “I never thought of it like that.”
“So where are the others?” Sunset asked as she dug in.
“Pinkie and Fluttershy are using lunch to have a quick meeting with the rest of the cheer squad.” Applejack relayed. “It isn’t like that girl isn’t constantly packing snacks anyhow.”
“Has there been any more news on Melodiam?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I’m stating to get antsy.”
“No,” Sunset shook her head. “She wasn’t with Cobalt at the hotel attack which means he probably went rouge to go after the Dazzlings. We don’t know where she is and looking for her is dangerous because of Cobalt’s spy golems. We’re both on the defensive in this situation.”
“Well, a stalemate isn’t an option for either side.” Twilight surmised. “Someone is going to have to make a move.”
“Hunter said he’s getting a weapon shipment from his headquarters… although, they aren’t exactly aware of that fact.” Sunset said with a hint of worry. “I’m going to check on him after school so I’ll be able to tell you more later on.”
“I guess that means we just have to keep laying low?” Applejack grumbled.
“Well, if you two would like you could give me a hand after school.” Rarity interjected. “I’ve been working on a design for the summer and I could always use a couple of models.”
“Sounds so much more exciting than fighting monsters.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, but it beats another night of fielding Big Mac’s poetry.” Applejack admitted.
“Poetry?” Twilight asked in surprise.
“Sugar Belle just took up a creative writing class so now he decided that he’s going to be a poet.” Applejack listlessly detailed. “Y’all ain’t lived until you've heard seven stanzas about hay and tractors.”
“I’m happy not living then.” Twilight barbed.
The five minute bell rang which prompted them to wrap up and head for their next classes. Once school was out, Sunset immediately headed over to Hunter’s apartment; as instructed she wore shades and her beanie to help hide her visage in case the area was being watched. She shed the disguise as she came upon the door and knocked, eventually being greeted by Sonata.
“Oh, hi Sunset.” She smiled.
“Hey,” Sunset stepped inside, finding Hunter on the couch with an amused smile on his face. “How’s everything going?”
“Great.” Sonata beamed. “Nobody has tried to kill us today.”
“Um… awesome.” Sunset said with a titled smile, she headed over to the couch and looked down at Hunter. “So, how’s life rooming with pop stars?”
“More like living with a vaudeville act.” He reached up and took her hand, pulling her down into his lap and wrapping his arms around her. “Fun though, did you know Addy could cook?”
“Addy?” She looked over and saw Adagio at the kitchen counter working on lunch. “Really?”
“Is that truly so shocking!?” Adagio growled as her vegetable chopping increased in pace.
“She really lets you call her that?” Sunset looked back at him in shock. “You’re getting along better than I thought.”
“Yeah, you’d better watch out,” Sonata snickered. “I think Aria is starting to crush on him.”
“Shut up!” Aria’s voice rang out from across the room, Sonata ducking to avoid the pair of scissors that zoomed over her head.
“Hey!” Sonata glared back at her. “Hunter said if you’re going to throw something to make sure it’s blunt!”
“It’s pretty much been like this all day.” Hunter noted.
Sunset could only laugh as she smiled down at him. “Well, it seems you have things under control. What about the gear you were expecting?”
“In the bedroom, want to check it out?” He asked.
“Sure.” She nodded as they got up from the couch.
“I suppose that means you’re staying for lunch?” Adagio asked from kitchen.
“You don’t have to worry about me, Adagio.” Sunset assured.
“It’s fine,” Adagio countered with a bizarre mixture of short-tempered graciousness. “It’s the proper thing to do.”
“Wow.” Sunset whispered to herself as she followed Hunter into the bedroom.
Over the course of the afternoon and into the evening, Cobalt sat on the roof of their current hideaway; his mind receiving a constant stream of data from the dozens of golems he had sent out across the city. Over the course of the day he finally pieced together the leads he needed and worked to get as much verification as possible. His eyes closed and he smiled, eagerly jumping up and heading back down to where Melodiam waited.
“Ms. Melodiam.” He hurried into the back room his creatures had set up for her.
“Cobalt,” She rubbed her stomach. “Please tell me you have news, time is running short.”
“I do,” He nodded and knelt at her side. “I’ve managed to track down those girls that were with Hunter. They’re just a bunch of teenagers.”
“Perhaps, but they wield magic.” Melodiam sat upright. “Where are they?”
“I know they go to Canterlot High,” He informed. “I can ambush them all at once before soldier boy can interfere.”
“Excellent,” Melodiam smiled. “But this time, I will go with you.”
“You can’t,” He eyed her stomach. “You’ll be jeopardizing your eggs; I know I shouldn’t have gone after those sirens without a plan, I let my anger get the better of me and it won’t happen again.”
“No,” Melodiam stood and steeled herself. “We need to get rid of these nuisances now; my greater plan may have to wait but I need them gone before my eggs are ready.” She held his cheek. “If we miss this chance, your mortal lifespan will not last long enough to have another. I will help you kill them myself and then we will be free to take our time to rebuild.”
“Alright,” He nodded. “If I get you close and protect myself, can’t you just sing Mortem to eliminate them?”
“Unfortunately not,” She admitted. “Mortem takes time to sing and its effects are not instantaneous.” She held up her hand which deformed into a claw. “ I shall tear them apart with my own two hands, I have enough energy to manage that much. But this time we will not move without a plan, I want to make sure they have no options for escape.”
“Yes, Ms. Melodiam.” Cobalt headed back outside. “I’ll recall my golems and we can get started.”
Melodiam ran her hand over her swelling stomach, resolve to not lose this rare chance washing over her face as her mind began forming a plan of attack.