//------------------------------// // Arc IX Episode II: Equestrian Betrayal // Story: Family Begins With You // by Jmaster49 //------------------------------// The man was too compassionate to allow a fellow Equestrian fall to the wayside because of someone else’s gross negligence. Maybe, just maybe, if he could make a difference for her, she could begin to comprehend what it meant to look out for someone else…right? “Come in. Quickly,” Aidon instructed as he stood aside to allow her entry, “I’ll allow you to stay here for the night for the sake of your safety, but come tomorrow morning, you’re going to apologize to Twilight, Adagio, and Octavia, understand?” “Y-yes sir…then what?” she asked as she stepped inside. Aidon then closed the door and continued. “After that…we’ll have to consult Sunset Shimmer. She knows far more about the workings of how both worlds connect than I do. I was simply banished here out of nowhere with no clear understanding of how such magic worked.” “I see…” Wendy sat down on the couch in the living room. “And what about you, sir?” she asked with an innocent tilt of her head, “Do you want to head back to Equestria too?” It’d come as a shock to the wendigo girl when Aidon shook his head. “Absolutely not. I have no intention of returning to that place. Of course, if you want to head back, I understand completely. But for me? That world wants nothing to do with my kind.” He walked into the kitchen. “Good riddance, I say.” “Wow…” Wendy paused for a moment to think about what she had heard from him. She knew he was a shadow pony and that they didn’t exactly take too kindly to such creatures back in that world, so it started to open up some new perspective for her. “He’s still trying to make the best of his current situation despite that…wait. What am I thinking? He’s the enemy. I have to be strong.” Just before she could begin to activate her magic, Aidon interrupted her with a question. “Would you like anything? Are you hungry? Injured?” “N-no…no…” Wendy swiftly denied the offerings and lied down upon the couch. “I’m fine. I just…I just want to rest.” “...I understand.” Aidon had originally entered the kitchen with the intent of making a cup of coffee for himself. But instead, he thought it was best to give the girl her space as quickly as possible so that she could get some sleep. “She’s been through a lot. I’m just glad she managed to break free of Blueblood’s hold upon her.” With that in mind, he turned off the light and exited the room, heading upstairs. “Goodnight, Wendy. I’ll make sure that you won’t suffer anything of the sort again.” “...Thank you, sir,” she replied from the couch, “Goodnight.” And as soon as Aidon went upstairs… Wendy smirked to herself. “What a complete imbecile. Falling for such a clearly made-up trick. I’m beginning to wonder how he’s survived for this long in this world. But no matter…I just need to start gathering my magical energy. And then I can begin…” Back at the Rich Family Manor… Spoiled had heard from her husband that their daughter was allowing their little friend to stay over for the evening. Naturally, since it was a boy her age, she threw on her nightgown and instantly ran over to her room when she found out. “...What was he thinking letting him stay here?!” But when she got there, she simply found the two sleeping in separate sleeping bags on the floor. “Whew…” Spoiled whispered to herself as she walked away from the bedroom, only to be met with a snide remark from her husband. “I told ya you wouldn’t have much to worry about,” Filthy commented from a nearby room, “And you were passin’ judgement just cuz he’s a boy, weren’t ya?” Spoiled glared judgemental daggers in his direction as she walked towards her own room in the manor. “Quiet you. You know how some people can be. You never know who’s trying to get involved with our family for the money.” “Aren’t you the one who hired him?” Filthy quickly pointed out, “If he’s here cuzz’a the money, then it’s gonna be your own damn fault. Not mine, not his.” As he was talking, Spoiled had lit up a cigarette, huffed it, and coughed smoke in his direction. “I didn’t ask you, buckface. Mind your own business.” And she promptly slammed the door to the room she was sleeping in. Filthy sighed to himself as she shut it. “Dammit…how did it come to this? Wish there was a way to fix all this for her sake. Hope that boy can at least take her mind off things…” With that in mind, he retired to his room for the night as well. With no clear answer from either side, the Rich Couple were estranged from each other despite doing their best to communicate. It was solely because of Diamond Tiara that the two tried to make things work. After all, a child was the ultimate binding contract…stronger than any amount of money in existence. Back on Aidon’s street corner… Blueblood had exited his vehicle and started tapping a smartwatch that was on his left wrist. “Perfect. It won’t be much longer now…activate your power, Wendy. You’ll be missed, but I have bigger, more important fish to catch.” And inside Aidon’s house… Wendy had been readying herself, her magic was flaring up once more until a frozen aura had begun to billow around her body. Then, her body started to crack and break apart like she had been made of glass with each piece of herself exposing more and more raw, unfiltered mana that started to become more and more unstable. Soon enough, the entire room where she stood had frozen over. Everything was covered in a layer of ice and snow… And upstairs…Aidon had started to notice the drop in air quality. “What the…did I leave the window open…?” he muttered as he rose out of his bed, only to realize, to his horror… The windows in his room were frozen shut. “...!!” His body reacted and kicked into overdrive as he leapt out of bed and scrambled down the stairs…only to slip and land on his rear end at the bottom of the staircase with a hard thud. “Oof! Mother of god--what--?!” he looked up to find that the stairs had frozen over and standing in his living room… Was the last remnant of Wendy Goetia. “Face erasure.” Aidon tried to reason with her, but it was too late. “WHY--?!” KABLAM! In a violent, torrent-like explosion, Aidon’s entire house was covered from top to bottom in shards of dry ice. The man was flung through the living room window and into the street with a loud crash and crackle of glass! “AGH!” It took him a moment to recover, but once he rose up on his elbows and knees, he looked over to see his home…shredded. Reduced to nothing but small pieces of atomic matter. And standing in the middle of the street, right in front of him was a familiar face that stood tall above him. “...I knew that wasn’t going to be enough to finish you off. But now that I have her out of the way…I can use her essence to become stronger and rid you of this world once and for all, you wretched cur…” “You…” Aidon rose to one of his knees. “You really used her?!” Blueblood reached his hand out and ripped Wendy’s essence from the Aether, transferring it to his watch. “Of course, you fool. I don’t intend on bringing her back at all. Nay--she’s serving a much greater purpose…” “...Master Blueblood…?” The young man pressed a button on the watch, and a surge of white magic started to overtake him from the sky. “Now…I will exterminate you with the power of light!”