//------------------------------// // Arc XXVII Episode I: Scientific Calculations // Story: Family Begins With You // by Jmaster49 //------------------------------// That evening… While Sunset and her friends were busy coming up with a plan on how to finally stamp out the intrusive Yakuza force once and for all… Keiji was on the brink of a breakthrough. “Aha…” he marveled at the creation of his new, blood-based potion and began to conduct a test. In which he rigged a test tube filled with it to explode all over his kitchen via wires that were attached to it! With a small detonator in his hand, he took cover behind his living room couch and started to count down… “Alright. Three…two…” DING-DONG! “God-jeez--mother of balls--!” Keiji swore up a storm due to being startled by his doorbell, nearly dropping the detonator and quickly catching it by diving for it upon the carpet. “...Too frickin’ close. Now who in the hell could that be?” He set the remote aside and went to the door… “Yeah?” he called out upon opening it. “Keiji? Ah, good it’s you, darling,” Rarity approached him and greeted him with an affectionate pat to the head, causing him to hiss under his breath. “Applejack wants to know how things are coming along.” Once he shook off her gesture, Keiji raised a brow and glared at her with suspicion. “Are you sure she wanted to know how I was doing?” “Well…” Rarity held her hands behind her back and pushed the door closed with her foot. “Okay…I’ll be honest. I’m just rather anxious about all of this. I want to confront whoever committed the atrocity that was her parent’s murder. So…would you mind telling me how far along you are…pretty please?” she begged with a nervous smile on her face. To which Keiji rolled his eyes. “Easy now, Goldilocks. I’m still working on it. In fact, I was just about to conduct a test to make sure my new potion that’ll allow me to trace any fluid kind of like how a blacklight does it.” “I see…” Rarity took a step towards his work and peered at the tubes filled with red liquid with an intense stare. “Looks…dangerous. Are you sure you know what you’re doing, darling?” “Don’t baby me,” he huffed, and grabbed her by the hand to pull her behind the couch. “Ack!” Rarity gasped and stumbled after him, “Ahem! Watch where you’re grabbing a lady. For future reference, this is not how you should treat Diamond Tiara when you’re both out together.” A shadow of embarrassment briefly appeared over his head before he replied, “...Yeah yeah--anyway! Watch closely.” Rarity kept watch over the beakers as Keiji got ready to press the button… Beep. POOF! Red smoke went everywhere, creating a thick cloud of red that was nearly impossible to see through for a moment. Surprisingly enough, it wasn’t toxic and didn’t cause them to choke. Once it cleared, they were able to see…lots of multi-colored lines on the ceiling of his apartment. “Aha! It works. It’s identified all the chemicals that I’ve used over the course of the last few days.” Rarity looked at his ceiling with a worried expression. “Erm…and are you sure it’s a good idea for you to be breathing all of that in?” “Oh don’t worry, I keep my window open when cooking stuff,” Keiji explained as he pointed to the kitchen and living room windows which were indeed open wide. “I’d have suffocated a long time ago if that were the case.” “Very well…” she muttered while staring at the ceiling, “Now…pray tell, dear Keiji--how exactly do you intend to use this to locate the chemical used on Applejack’s parents?” “Oh I got that. I just need to ask the police station for a tiny bit of it and mix it in with my solution here so it’ll give me a trail--” Rarity suddenly had her detective’s fedora on her head. “Oh no you don’t. Not without my supervision.” “Where the hell did you get--” And in the next moment, she had her detective’s coat on, and everything had gone black and white. “We shall get to the bottom of this matter together. For Applejack’s sake.” “Ayo what the f--why are we in the style of the old Draculas--” “Follow me, dear boy. We have answers to find,” Rarity started walking, leaving a confused Keiji behind. “Hmmmph--and she didn’t answer me. Whatever--I guess I need someone over 18 to accompany me anyway. Stupid rules…” he grumbled as he followed her out. Meanwhile, at Aidon’s home… “We've got him right where we want him. We can just kill him now and get our revenge.” “We could. But that’s not the point. Even if we did, there’s no guarantee that we’d feel better afterwards. After all, aren’t we tired of drowning ourselves in darkness?” “I suppose I am…yes. I don’t want to live in fear anymore. It’s not fun…and I don’t think Luna would like that.” “Exactly. I know who I am now and I’ve come to terms with what happened between Starswirl and I all those years ago. I do intend on giving him a good wallop at some point, but killing him would be a bit…well, overkill.” “I guess you--er, I make a good point.” Once he had finished stewing in his thoughts, Aidon had placed down one of the dumbbells he had been using to work out with. Wearing only a tank top and shorts--the shadow man had started to sweat as he worked both his mind and body “...That self-help exercise book has done wonders for me,” he said to himself as he passed a mirror and looked at his chiseled biceps. “I just hope that Luna doesn’t mind. Now to prepare for the attack we’ll be staging tomorrow…” But before he could take a step towards his room-- DING-DONG! “Ach…the most inopportune moment…” he huffed as he went to the door and opened it. “Yes? May I help you?” And standing there was a woman in a pink business suit-skirt. She had peachy skin, curly blond hair, and wore a pair of pink glasses. She was standing there, arms folded and pushing up her chest to assert her importance. “Finally. I’m here on behalf of Luna and she wants to make sure you have all of the necessary paperwork for the next school year.” The woman handed him a folder filled with documents. “Oh right. Of course,” he accepted the folder with a nod. “I’ll be sure to look over it promptly. Thank you Miss…?” The woman stared at him for a moment with a suspicious glare. “...this is the math teacher? He looks like an outright vagabond…hmph…though he is rather good-looking, that doesn’t absolve him of suspicion. What is that complexion of his…?” “...Miss? Madam?” Aidon spoke up to get her attention. “O-oh! Er…yes,” she blinked and shook her head, coming down from her distracted state, “Phyllis Cloverleaf. Good to meet you, Mr. Iota. I trust that you’ll have everything done on time?” “I will. Don’t worry,” Aidon replied then decided to explain himself, “Apologize for the sweat. I had just finished exercising. Don’t worry, I don’t show up to work this way,” he added with a chuckle. “...You’d better not,” she huffed, “My son is training to become a sheriff and he will be upholding everyone to a high standard once he does.” “That sounds nice. I’m sure you and your husband are very proud,” he complimented her efforts to encourage her son. To which Phyllis reacted with hesitation. “...Er…it’s just me and him. Now if you’ll excuse me…” She quickly turned and walked away as if she was in a hurry. “Oh…I understand. Have a nice day, miss,” Aidon replied and shut the door. “What was that all about?” As Phyllis left, she grumbled to herself as she found her head swimming and unable to focus. “Gah…stupid good-looking men and their stupid beautiful arms. Why do they all have to be taken?”