//------------------------------// // Arc XI Episode III: Holiday With The Vamp // Story: Family Begins With You // by Jmaster49 //------------------------------// The boy stared at them all for a moment, eyeing them up in their…eccentric outfits. “...I…what?” Sonata stepped forward and squealed, “We’re here to be your si--er, friends for the holidays! If you want, that is.” “...Friends?” he asked, tilting his head. “For sure,” Aria stepped forward with a small grin on her face, “We know what it’s like to be a fish out of water when it comes to living in this world. It freaking sucks.” “Yeah, don’t have to tell me twice,” Keiji replied as he rolled his eyes. Adagio stepped forward next, and patted him on the head. “But we’d like to give you an experience of having a fam--er, companions with you. And…we have some presents that we’d like to give you. For not only saving our beloved sister, but for generally being a good boy as well.” A small shiver traveled through his spine when he heard that. The idea of someone calling him ‘good’ was…unexpected to say the least. “...A good boy, huh? You really think I am?” “Sunset can see the past of anyone she comes in contact with,” Aria spoke up, recalling Sunset’s abilities, “From what we can tell, you’re mostly innocent aside from robbing the local blood banks.” She raised a brow. “But you got a job to donate money back to the hospital for what you took, right?” “...Oh…” Keiji idly rubbed his index finger upon his cheek. “Y-yeah. I fully intend on correcting my mistakes and donating back to the hospital. You have my word,” he said with a bow. “Ooh!” Sonata clasped her hands together, then threw her arms around him as soon as he raised up from bowing. “You’re adorable. I could just eat you up, you know that?” “Mm--hmm?” he was forcefully pressed against her which caused his speech to become muffled, “Erm…okay…that’s enough--please!” “Easy, Sonata,” Adagio giggled as she entered the apartment and pried her sister off of him. “You were crushing his face. You have to learn where to properly hug people.” “Oh, my bad…” she put her hands behind her back while blushing from embarrassment, “Are you alright?” Keiji rubbed his neck. “Yeah…no harm done.” Aria entered and shut the door behind herself. “Alright. Now…let’s give him our little surprises, girls.” She looked at the boy and asked, “You ready? This is gonna be good.” Keiji watched as Adagio reached into the red sack she had brought into the room, and sat on the couch. “I’m ready.” The sirens looked at each other, smiled, and nodded together. Meanwhile, across the city… Sunset was in her home, relaxing in bed after all of her christmas festivities when she felt her phone buzz. ZZZZ! “Hm?” she picked it up and answered, “Yo.” “Hey Sunset,” Sci-Twi said over the phone, “How have you been? Everything okay around the city where you are?” “Yup,” she replied, “How is it at your family’s place?” There was a pause over the line… Twilight turned her head and watched as her mother and Cadence were busy in the kitchen and Flurry Heart could be seen gossipping to her cousins about Twilight’s school. Shining and her father were busy setting up the tree’s ornaments. “It’s…mundanely chaotic as usual,” the purple girl replied, “Anyhow. Did you all communicate with Keiji yet?” “We have. The sirens are supposed to be throwing him a little Christmas party right about now,” Sunset said with a small grin on her face as she imagined the possibilities of what they could all be doing together. “I bet he’s having a fun time with them all. Wish I could be there too, but I’m…” she yawned and stretched her arms out, “...suuuper tired from spending Hearth’s Warming Eve with Princess Twilight and Princess Celestia.” “Hard to imagine the fact that my pony counterpart has such a good relationship with the counterpart to our principal,” Twilight pointed out with a snicker, “Hehe! But that’s good. I’m sure they’ll all get to know each other well as fellow Equestrians who are doing their best to adapt to this world. And Applejack has already given him a job too, right? Seems like everything is working out pretty smoothly for once.” “Yeah…about that,” Sunset changed the subject, “I can’t say for sure, but it seems like we’re dealing with someone who can mess with dreams.” “Oh yeah…Rainbow Dash texted me about what happened. Reminds me of this old horror movie from a while back. What was it called? Nightmare something…” “Well this isn’t like the movies,” Sunset interrupted her, “Back in my world, Princess Luna was able to control other people’s dreams and keep them from having nightmares in the first place. But here? Well, she’s not here. It’s completely plausible that whoever’s doing this, knows this and are taking advantage of it.” “Did you ask Princess Me about that yet?” “Oh yeah…I’ve been so worried about our vamp-friend that that completely sorta…slipped my mind?” Sunset replied bashfully, “But I’ll get to that tomorrow….promise.” “Alright. Well as long as you’re sure,” Twilight paused and then-- “Ah! Flurry! What did we say about playing with drones in the house?!” With an annoyed sigh, she gave her parting words to Sunset. “I’ll talk to you later, Sun. I’ve got a little punk of a niece to deal with.” Sunset chuckled. “I don’t doubt it. See ya.” She hung up the phone, and lied down upon her bed. There was no way she could force herself to send Twilight another message--she had to stop and rest for a moment… “Yeah…tomorrow…” Back at Keiji’s apartment… The Sirens were busy helping Keiji set up decorations as well as giving him presents. In particular… “Open this one, if you don’t mind,” Adagio offered him a neatly wrapped box with snowman-printed wrapping paper. “I made it myself. And…I hope you’ll find it suitable.” “Suitable?” Keiji tore into the paper, and opened the box to find…a black and red hoodie. “Woah…is this…?” She nodded. “Yup. I’ve noticed that you’ve been walking around without a jacket. It’s gonna get cold soon so you’ll need a--” Aria rolled her eyes and interrupted her. “Hmph. What a ‘mom’ gift.” “Hey, what’s that supposed to--” “It’s not a bad thing, but a boy his age need something cooler, and more dangerous,” Aria reached into the sack and pulled out a much larger package. “Something that’s gonna get all the girls’ attention.” Adagio stared at her sister with a raised brow, as if she had grown an extra head. “Here, Kei. This is what you need,” Aria placed the large box in his hands and took a step back, “No need to thank me. I am the best at giving gifts,” she added while placing a hand on her chest, basking in…whatever glory she could accrue. “Oh, uh…thank you?” Keiji opened it up…