//------------------------------// // Arc XII Episode X: Prep Academy Scramble // Story: Family Begins With You // by Jmaster49 //------------------------------// “I can see Sugarcoat over there!” Aria shouted from the backseat of the SUV, “It has to be nearby!” Sonata stuck her head out of the sunroof, and gasped at what she saw. “Ah! It’s on top of the building with Cadence’s body!” “Let us out, gramps, we got shit to kill!” Keiji called out from the third row. “Alright, kiddos. Undo your seatbelts and prepare to jump out,” Aidon muttered as he moved the stick shift of his vehicle with a chk-chk-chk!, “Don’t ever try what I’m about to do. Get ready!” Everyone removed their seatbelts as instructed. With a press of a button, all of the seats went flat against the floor of the vehicle and the back door to the SUV was unlocked. SKRRRRRT! The man quickly swerved on the empty street, turning the steering wheel to its side so that his vehicle would spin, and allow everyone to jump out at a moment’s notice. To which they all did--like something out of an action movie. Sunset, Keiji, and the Sirens all leapt out of the vehicle, and landed upon their heels, skidding to a stop in front of the building. “This is…I’ve seen this before…” Adagio muttered to herself. “Right??” Sonata replied in agreement, “Elephant monsters are all over Equestria near the Southern Oceans.” Aria meanwhile, was her usual, gritty self in the face of the enemy. “That’s my friend, asshole!” she said with her fists raised and ready to fight, “Don’t make me screw your ass up! Because I will do it!” “Dean Cadance…don’t worry, we’ll save you.” Sunset started to analyze the elephant creature with a keen set of eyes. It was familiar to her also thanks to her studies under Princess Celestia herself. “Wait a minute…I think I know what this is--!” “Do you now?” the pachydemon called out to them all. Sour Sweet’s body was still limp, and unresponsive to the events going on around her from within the demon’s outer shell. “I suppose we’ll have to put that to the test, now won’t we?!” “God dammit…” Keiji swore under his breath while looking at Sour. “She’s…just a puppet at this point. Disgusting as all hell.” Meanwhile, Twilight had exited the vehicle, and prioritized her unresponsive old friend. “Sugarcoat! Speak to me!” She knelt down to her, and placed a hand on her cheek, and another on her neck. Her pulse, while present, was faint. “Okay-okay…sh-she’s fine…she’ll be alright. Just need to administer some medical aid…” But as she got prepared to work on Sugarcoat’s ailments, her tablet started beeping off of the charts with a loud blaring noise. EEEEE! “What the--?!” Twilight took it out, and turned it on, biting her lip at what she saw. With a panicked, shaky frown on her face, she screamed, “Everybody get down!” But it was far too late. The pachydemon tossed Cadence’s body aside, and summoned numerous smaller demons to fight alongside herself. They appeared to have taken the shape of rhinoceroses…that were as big as the cars parked along the streets. One of them began to immediately charge with its horns primed to stab at whatever unlucky soul was in its way. “WOOOOAH!” The entire group had to dive out of the way at the same time with an overlap of surprised yells. That’s when Aidon had joined the fray, and used his shadow mana to phase through the horde of rhinos and swiftly retrieve Cadence’s unconscious body from the campus battlefield. Then, he teleported over to Twilight--where she had been busy treating Sugarcoat’s bruises, and placed the dean’s body next to hers. “Can you treat her as well?” “I’ll…do what I can…” Twilight replied with a somber tone, “This is…I’m so sorry to have brought you into this, professor. I want to fight. I really do. But…Sour’s an old friend. I can’t bring myself to raise a finger against her.” This was the reason why she chose to stay behind and take care of her injured schoolmate from the past. Despite having some of the strongest magic in the group, it didn’t matter if one’s emotions took over… Aidon knew this, and chose to not press her into the fight. “Don’t fret over that now. This is my fight just as much as it is yours. As your teacher, and a being from Equestria, I have to--no, I have chosen to do this.” “Thank you…” Twilight replied with a sniffle as she raised her glasses to wipe her face. “For now, I’ll focus on keeping these two safe.” “Yo, Teach!” Aria shouted from afar as she delivered a wind-powered kick to the face of one of the rhinos, sending it across the city. “Little help here?!” “I’ve got you!” Aidon shouted and quickly re-joined the others. While everyone else focused on clearing out the horde of rhino-shaped demons, Sunset and Adagio focused their efforts upon the ringleader itself. “HYAH!” With a loud grunt, Sunset swung her two-handed broadsword made of fire directly at the beast’s head, intent on decapitating it in order to force it to give up control over Sour Sweet’s body. But it was quick for a pachyderm, blocking each strike with either its trunk or tusks. “Is that really your best? How can you honestly call yourself a warrior when you can’t even strike me?!” it jeered, taunting her with its defensive skills. “I don’t give a damn!” Sunset roared back, “I’ll protect my friends even if it kills me! And that means removing scum like you from this planet!” “But by definition, we are the same strain of scum! We come from the same world do we not?” With a loud swish!, Adagio came up from behind the beast and attempted to jam a water blade through its head. “You merely desire power for the sake of causing destruction. We are not the same!” THUD! The pachydemon put its other hand up, forcefully stopping Adagio’s attack and removing the watery buzzsaw from existence. Now caught between the struggle of holding back both Equestria girls, it seemed as if it wouldn’t last for much longer until… “You’re both pitiful and weak…just like these squishy humans…” BONK! While holding onto both of them, the elephant brought its hands forward in a clapping motion, slamming the heads of both girls together, and putting them out of consciousness instantly…