The girl on fire
What must be done chapter 2
By foxgear
Beep. Beep. Beep.
What was that sound? Where was he? He heard someone say something. Were they talking to him? He wished they would speak up, he could barely hear them. Something smelt weird, like someone was cooking something, but whatever they were cooking didn’t smell good. His body hurt. It hurt a lot!
“MAC!”
Mac’s eyes snapped open; all around him he saw unfamiliar faces and white, a lot white, with a lot beeping and flashing instruments. He reached up, but one of the people in white quickly forced his arm down, he didn’t have the strength to resist them.
“Mac!”
AJ? Why was she screaming so loud? His head rolled to the side, he saw her, sitting beside him crying her eyes out. Great, what did he do this time?
“Mac, please be alright! You gotta!”
What was going on? What happened?
“Mac,” Another voice called out to him, but much calmer, he knew this one too. A pair of soft hands grabbed the sides of his head and turned it so he was looking straight up at Adagio’s smiling face. “You’re going to be alright Mac, I’m right here, we both are.”
“Applejack, Adagio…” he rasped, his throat was dry, really dry! He wished someone would give him some water.
“You two stand back, please.” A voice said, one he didn’t know. He felt something prick his arm and then everything went black. The noise faded, so did the pain, it felt like he was floating in space and then that was it.
Applejack sat silently by Mac’s side as he lay on the hospital bed, covered in bandages. It was a miracle he was alive, but he was looking pretty good for a guy that just had a burning barn fall on top of him. Most of the damage was on his face, torso, and arms; amazingly most of the wounds were only cuts and minor burns.
It was a miracle like the Doctor said, but she knew better, it wasn’t a miracle that saved her brother it was the sirens. She saw Adagio Dazzle run head first with no hesitation into a burning building to save Mac, but why? Why did she do it? Then there was the ambulance ride to the hospital. Adagio had ridden along with her. The way she spoke to Mac, so calm and lovingly, it was as if she knew Mac, but that can’t be possible. Nobody has seen the sirens since the Battle of the Bands and even then Mac would know to stay away from them. So why did he sound so happy to see her? What was going on?
She wanted to question the Dazzling face to face, but in all the commotion the siren slipped away as Mac was being brought to the ICU. Applejack didn’t follow Adagio, too worried about her brother to notice her one time foe slip away, but now things have calmed down, and she wanted answers from both her and Mac and right now only one of them was healthy enough to provide answers.
Slipping away to a nearby balcony that over looked the city Applejack made a phone call. She would get to the bottom of this, no matter what.
“Is Mac ok?” Sonata asked as Adagio climbed into the truck with a heavy sigh. After Adagio had pulled Mac out of the fire and ridden off in the ambulance, she and Aria made themselves scarce before any of the neighbors or police decided to question them. Lucky no one saw Adagio ‘pony up’ to save Mac.
“He’ll be ok,” Adagio answered as she pressed her head against the steering wheel. “He won’t be happy when he finds out the barn is gone, but he’ll have more important things to worry about when he wakes up. More importantly did you two discover anything?”
Aria, squished between them nodded, “Yeah, we did. The firefighters think it was an accident, a lantern falling or some faulty wiring igniting some straw or something. We know differently. That fire wasn’t an accident or natural, there was magic mixed in with it. Someone or something targeted Mac and tried to kill him. The question now is what was it?”
“No,” Adagio said, “The question isn’t what it is, but if it will strike again? We need to do some research. Sonata and I will handle that end, Aria, gear up and keep an eye on Mac, but do it without his sister or her friends discovering you. Think you can do that?”
“Oh please, as if I even need to try to fool those goofs.” Aria snorted. “I’ll need my gear though, let’s ahead back home and plan from there. Mac will be fine for an hour or two. Whatever attacked him probably won’t attack again or at all till night time.”
“Agreed,” Adagio nodded as she started the truck and drove out of the hospital parking lot.
Back home the Sirens quickly prepared Aria’s gear for her and sent her on her way on Mac’s bike so they could use the truck if they needed it. Also Aria was the only one who knew how to ride the damned thing. Something that irked the other two, but they pushed those feeling aside and quickly got to work.
Deciding Nico’s old records and notes may hold some answer (they have before) they poured through everything they could find. Hours later and they didn’t discover anything new, until in an act of frustration Adagio hit the map on the wall, accidentally causing all the newspaper clipping and notes to fall off and reveal a map of the city. Circled in red with a big knife mark next to it was Crystal Prep Academy. The article tacked beneath captured the two sirens’ attention.
The article read that students Mi Amore Cadenza and her boyfriend Shining Armor escaped a fire in the basement of the school, where one Professor M. Hoof met with a fiery end and was believed to behind the several student disappearances. In the background of the picture they spotted none other than Mac’s father and their old enemy, Nico Vega among the crowd. The date on the article was five days before Nico’s death.
“Professor M. Hoof, you don’t think?” Sonata looked worried at her. Adagio knew what her fellow Siren was thinking and she was thinking the same thing.
“Yeah, it could be him, but I’m not going to assume anything till we know for sure. He could just be the counterpart. The only way to know for sure is to check out the site and talk to the now Dean Cadence about the incident. Hopefully she remembers what happened that night.”
“I know,” Sonata said playing nervously with her pony tail, “but what if it really is Madhoof? What are we gonna a do Adagio?”
While not one for comforting people, Adagio wrapped Sonata in a hug and stroked the top of her head. “It doesn’t matter either way; the newspaper said he died, so there is nothing to worry about. Now get some sleep, we got to look our best tomorrow if we’re going to fit in at a place like Crystal Prep.”
Sonata nodded tiredly and crawled into bed, while Adagio made a phone call to Aria to let her know what was going on.
“Madhoof huh,” Aria grunted as wrapped herself in a blanket. She was up on the opposite building across from the hospital, keeping a watchful eye on Mac, her 300 magnum Winchester bolt action rifle her only company. “Can’t say I’m happy to hear that name again, how’s Sonata taking it?”
“She’s fine,” Adagio answered, carefully she looked over her shoulder to make sure Sonata was still asleep, “Knowing that he’s dead helps, but she’s probably going to be on edge for a while. Still what are the chances that it was really him that died? Nico said he drowned when they first got here.”
“He’s survived a lot worse than a little water. I’m not even sure fire would do Madhoof in, but knowing Night Patrollers like I do, I can say for sure Nico probably tore his guts out before leaving him to burn.” Aria looked through her binoculars; the night nurse was making her final rounds. She looked in Mac’s room, but didn’t approach the bed. Quickly she wrote down her name on a little notepad. Aria wanted to have all the regular staff registered and documented, a stolen nurse’s schedule helped her with this. Her hope was to stop anything from sneaking in among the staff. “Still be careful tomorrow. We don’t know what’s gunning for us and if it was willing to start a fire big enough to burn down a barn just to kill Mac, then there’s no telling what it will do.”
Adagio couldn’t help be agree, “I know, I know, we’ll prepare accordingly. Take care of yourself; you’ll be on your own for a few hours, try not to get into any trouble.”
Aria laughed, “Me? Get into trouble? When has that ever happened?”
“More often then you’ll ever admit,” Adagio said dryly, but a small smile danced on her lips as she said her good nights, “Good night, Aria.”
“Same to you, at least you get to sleep,” She grumbled as Adagio hung up.
The next morning Adagio and Sonata got in the truck and drove for the city. Their plan was simple. Pose as new students looking to transfer, get an interview with the Dean and then question her about the incident and Professor M. Hoof. The possibly of her actually knowing if he was the same Madhoof from their world was little to none, his counterpart could have been just as mad in this world as in theirs, but they had to make sure. Getting a record of his life and history would be a start.
Of course they realized their first mistake for ‘blending in’ when they pulled into the parking lot. Fancy cars filled just about every lot, cars well into the six digits and here they were pulling in with a muddy, rusted, old farm truck. The one time they didn’t want to be the center of the attention, they had every eye trained on them.
“Crap…” Adagio sighed pressing her head against the wheel, while Sonata patted her back. Embarrassed both for stupidly not thinking about the truck and the actual mocking laughs they were getting from the student body, Adagio and Sonata walked for the doors of Crystal Prep with shielded faces. Sonata took their public humiliation much better then Adagio as she strode easily into the hallways of the rich and powerful.
“Who designed this place?” Adagio asked to no one in particular as she followed the little map of the school to what should be the Dean’s office, but the school was made up of several levels that intersected and left for a lot of confusion, which might explain why they were standing outside what looked like storage room.
“Let’s take a look inside anyway, it might be fun!” Sonata said bursting inside the room and hit the little purple and green dog by the door… wait…“Is that Princess Twilight’s pet!”
Rolling her eyes Adagio knelled down and scratched the puppy’s chin, it barked happily and pressed its body harder against her touch. “Doubtful, seems we found this world’s Twilight and judging from this room, she’s probably not getting a PHD in friendship.”
“Hey look at this!”
“Sonata!” Adagio growled marching over the wall ready to forcibly drag her fellow siren out of the room, only to stop when she saw the wall of photos and theories Twilight had posted. Seems someone had a keen interest in magic, though it was doubtful the actually knew what she was dealing with. “Interesting theories, but she’s way off the mark, if she thinks its simple energy bursts.”
“Not that, this!” Sonata pointed.
Adagio followed Sonata’s finger and saw the picture of one Professor M. Hoof, two pictures in fact, both circled in red with a question mark next to them. One was older, perhaps when he first started working at the school, the second showed the same man years later, but something was different. She just couldn’t place her finger on it.
“Hey Spike! Spike!”
They knew that voice! It was Twilight! They had to act fast! Well they didn’t really have to, but they didn’t want to really deal with a high school nerd on the hunt for magic, so when Twilight (with Glasses) came into the room, ironically hitting the dog again. Adagio pinched the nerve between her neck and shoulder knocking her out. Gently she sat the girl in her chair and she and Sonata exited as quickly and quietly as they could, only to run into their target, Dean Cadence.
“You must be the new students! How wonderful to meet you. I just need to get my sister in law and I’ll be with you shortly!”
“You can’t!” Sonata nearly screamed blocking the door, “She’s sleeping!”
Cadence looked at her strangely, something Adagio couldn’t fault her for. Sonata was strange. Gingerly Cadence moved Sonata aside and peeked in and saw Twilight sleeping in her chair.
“So she is, whatever principle Clinch wanted can wait. Let’s go to my office we have much to talk about.”
They followed Cadence to her office. Neither siren spoke as Cadence explained what rooms were what and how great crystal prep was etc. Instead they focused on her. Really how old was she? In the article she had been in her last year of school as a student teacher, more than likely she had been interning for her degree at the time of the incident, to become the Dean of the school in what? Four five years? That’s pretty impressive.
“Here we are, please come in and take a seat.”
“Thank you,” Adagio and Sonata replied sitting down in front of Cadence's desk. Her office was a combination of elegance with excess, yet somehow humble all at the same time. On the desk were several photos, one was of Shining Armor, the other student at the incident and her boyfriend at the time, husband now considering the wedding picture. The next photo was one of them and Twilight after the wedding. The third and final picture was of Celestia and Luna; the frame read “Favorite Aunts”. It’s a small world indeed.
“Now what makes you want to transfer to Crystal Prep?” Cadence asked as she turned in her chair to face the two girls. She blinked in confusion as Sonata disappeared over to the door, locking it. “What’s going on?
“Sorry about this,” Adagio said getting out of her chair. “But we’re not interesting in transferring schools. In fact we it’s us who want to question you Dean Cadence about the fire that happened in your last year of school.”
Adagio studied Cadence’s face carefully. The woman was clearly disturbed, but was doing a good job at trying to hide it. Her body betrayed her though, her lips trembled and she nervously rubbed her left arm. There was no doubt. She had answers they needed.
“How do you know about that? You’re too young to know about that, too young to even care about something like that! Are you reporters? Is that is? I’m not talking! And I want you out of my school right now!” Cadence shouted rising to her feet. Adagio did her best to calm the Dean down.
“Easy, easy, lady, we are not reporters, also we are technically older then you, but that’s beside the point. The point is that you know something that may help a friend of ours out. So if you can just settle down and talk it would make our job a lot easier.”
Cadence took a deep breath and exhaled, which seemed to do her some good as she looked a lot calmer than before.
“Fine,” She said crossing her arms, “I’ll answer your questions, but only if you answer mine first. Deal?”
“Deal,” Adagio agreed, “Ask away.”
“First question, who are you too really? Second why do you want to know about the fire in the basement?”
Adagio sighed, “You’re probably not going to believe this, but we are magical fish ponies or sirens from another world and we were banished here about a thousand years ago. The reason we want, no need to, know what happened is because we believe Professor M. Hoof was also a pony named Madhoof, a mad scientist that experimented on ponies in our world. Somehow he and another pony, named Nico Vega ended up in this world and we believe the fire that killed Madhoof was started by Nico Vega, since he appears in the paper reporting about the fire. We also know you and your boyfriend were there, given Madhoof’s history, you were probably next in line for the extermination table correct?”
Adagio and Sonata waited for Cadence to speak, it didn’t take long the Dean to bow her head into her hands and start laughing. At first they thought she didn’t believe them and thought they were crazy, but that changed when Cadence raised her tear streaked face..
“It’s funny; I wouldn’t have believed you if not for what happened that night. After all this time, I thought I was crazy, that I was simply hallucinating that night. I had nightmares you know. Who wouldn’t after that? I saw him. I saw Madhoof cutting up my friends, the students he kidnapped and brought down to that secret lab of his. They were orphans, students the school took in for appearances and grants. They didn’t have anyone that really cared if they disappeared. Nobody noticed,” Cadence’s smile faded completely, her body trembled as she sobbed, “Nobody but me… I was the only one because I was like them. I was an orphan too. I started asking around, he said they had just transferred, but there was no record of where they had gone. I started doing some digging, but I guess I dug too deep. Guess what? I was taken next. He strapped me to a table and made me watch… he made me watch…”
Gently Adagio touched Cadence’s shoulder and did her best to consul the crying woman. “Hey, hey it’s ok. You don’t have to tell us anymore, if you don’t want to.”
Cadence shook her head as she blew her nose with a handkerchief, “No, it’s fine. I can keep going. It feels… good to tell somebody. Shining was there too, but he’s a lot better as suppressing the memories then I am. I don’t want to risk bringing all that pain back, ignorance is bliss right?”
Adagio nodded along while rubbing Cadence’s back to help calm her down. “What happened next?”
“Madhoof, he finished whatever he was doing to my friend, Kerosene, she was a nice girl had a bit of temper though, it was real easy to get her fired up. Anyway he started rambling saying I was special and that I deserved a special experiment, before he could do anything Shining Armor showed up and tried to rescue me, tried being the key world. Shining was a fighter, he studied martial arts and stuff, but Madhoof took him down with ease. He was like a master or something. After that he strapped Shining to a table to and was going to have him watch, while he experimented with me, but then…”
“Then what,” Adagio urged Cadence to continue, thought she had good idea what happened next.
“Nico Vega showed up. He burst into the room, he took one look at Madhoof and he became angry, no enraged! Nico fired wildly into the room, charging Madhoof while just roaring in rage. They fought and this were I was sure I in some sort of nightmare because they turned into monsters!”
“Monsters?” Adagio said, “Care to clarify?”
“They grew ears and wings and there were fire balls and lightning everywhere! It was how the fire started! Those two, they started the fire while they fought, Nico won in the end, he disemboweled Madhoof right before my eyes! He looked so savage I wasn’t sure if he was there to save us or kill us at that point. Thankfully he seemed to regain his senses. Nico was sporting a pretty bad wound in his chest, but he still took the time to get us out here, Shining and I, but the others… he left them to burn. Said it was the best thing for them after what happened. After what I saw, I agreed with him.”
“After Nico left you two for the police and emergency response and he disappeared I assume?” Adagio said to speed up the conversation. What Nico did was pretty standard after a successful monster hunt. Get out quick and leave the normal people to put the pieces back together. Cadence nodded in confirmation. “After that Nico died five days later, you know anything about that?”
Cadence nodded, “A little. I saw his name in the paper and decided to go to the funeral. I met his kids, but I don’t think they remember me. His son Big Mac was the kid that beat up Shining in the friendship games I remember. From what I heard whispered around during the ceremony Nico got sick and that was what killed him, but…”
“But…?”
“I think he was poisoned by Madhoof. He wasn’t looking too good after the fight and from what I heard, I don’t think he ever got better,” Cadence sighed, “but I guess we’ll never know for sure.”
“I see, not surprising it sounds like something Madhoof would do. Tell me did they recover all of the bodies from the fire?” Adagio asked, it would be bound to be a touchy question, but it needed to be asked. Cadence nodded, making Adagio sigh in relief, Madhoof was dead. “How about his research notes, did anyone ever find them?”
Cadence frowned, “I don’t know. I guess maybe they could be in the secret lab still; it’s not so crazy to think they would be in a place safe from fire really. They could still be there.”
“Would you mind showing us were the lab is at?”
“Not at all,” Cadence said getting up from her chair. She was looking a lot better than before, thought her eyes were still a little red from crying. “Let me get the key, the area has been sealed off, so students can’t get in.”
“Lead the way,” Adagio said as she and Sonata followed the Dean.
As they walked single file down the hallways, none of them noticed the shadowy figure peering around the pillar.
When they arrived at the door leading to the basement Cadence fished out the keys to the locks and began to unlock them. Adagio was impressed by the number of locks; there were at least five different locks on the door. When Cadence said they sealed the basement she meant it. The door was even made of solid steel to top it all off.
“The lab is located in the school’s old basement. No records exist of it anymore, after the fire the school went through some renovations and the school board decided to simply close off this section of the school.” Cadence explained as she removed the third lock. “Some students have tried to get in, a few did, after breaking down the original wooden door, so we replaced it with this steel one to prevent that. Some kids from the shop class tried to get in using a torch, but they were discovered before they could get here.”
Adagio couldn’t help but smile at the student’s attempts to break in. No doubt there were rumors surrounding this place, rumors that have more than likely become urban legends that everyone and their grandma knows and talks about. She wondered if they knew just how dangerous a place like this really was? Would they be so eager to get inside? The humans probably couldn’t sense it, it probably felt like a cold tingle running down their spine or a sudden feeling of coldness, but to her it was dark magic and this place was rich with it.
The fifth lock was removed; time to see what the mad doctor had been cooking up.
The door swung open to reveal a long stone corridor with doors on each side, but the most interesting door was the one on the far end, blackened by soot and ash. The smell of the fire lingered in the air and it was cold, very cold, it was so cold Adagio could see her breath.
“Do you feel that?” Sonata shivered, wrapping her arms around herself to try and keep warm. Cadence did the same.
“Yeah, I feel it.” Adagio replied, her eyes narrowing on the door down the hall. “Come on, let’s not stay any longer then we need to.”
They entered the door at the end of the hall inside was what remained of Madhoof’s lab. The entire room was blackened from the fire, but the table where he held his victims was still there and still bore the white outline of a human shape of his final victims that were burned alive.
“You sure you don’t want to wait outside?” Adagio asked Cadence noticing that the pink woman was trembling again. She couldn’t blame her, not after what she went through, in fact she was surprised Cadence made it this far. The Dean was a far stronger woman then one would expect, but it probably wouldn’t be long before she reached her limit.
Cadence gulped, glancing back towards the other end of the hall. “Maybe… maybe I should keep watch by the door? Make sure no student sneak down or a teacher or janitor sees the door open and seals us in.”
“Good idea, we’ll try to be quick.” Adagio promised patting Cadence on the shoulder. Cadence gave a shaky nod and a look of gratitude as she left the lab. “Come on Sonata, let’s get to work.”
“Okie dokie,” The blue siren said, not sounding much better then Cadence. Her eyes darted around like something was going to jump out and attack them, which could happen, this was Madhoof after.
They checked everywhere they could think of looking for a safe box or a hidden hiding place. Something, anything that could maybe lead them to clues, Sonata patted the walls, while Adagio searched the remains of what looked an office.
Inside Adagio found a charred desk with ashes scattered all over it. In the corner stood several filing cabinets but there contents were also destroyed, it seemed like they had hit a dead end when suddenly she heard Sonata gasp and let out a scream!
“What is it?” Adagio rushed out of the office and found Sonata on the floor pointing at an opening in the wall. Inside was a skeleton, in its hands was a simple safe box. She bent down and removed the box of the skeleton’s grasp. “Could this be it?”
Sonata wordlessly shrugged as she got up off the ground peering over Adagio’s shoulder as she opened the box. Inside was stack of files. Wordlessly Adagio opened the first one and read it her eyes widening.
“We need to get to Mac and Aria now! Come on!” Adagio yelled as they rushed out of the lab passing Cadence without even stopping.
“Where are you going?” The Dean yelled after them.
Adagio turned and yelled to her, “Lock that door and forget you ever met us! If anyone asks about this again you know nothing! It’s for your own good!” She turned and ran; leaving Cadence to frantically slam the door close and secure all five locks again.
She ran after the two sirens or maybe it was just to get away from that place quicker, but by the time she made it the first floor the sirens were already in their truck driving away as fast as they could. They left in such hurry that they left black marks on the tar as they went, making Cadence wonder what it was they found.
“No, somethings are better off unknown.” She looked at the keys in her hands and then to the pillar, where she knew a certain someone was hiding. She ignored them. Not wanting to further invoke their curiosity. Instead she turned and made her way towards the metal shop. She needed use of their torch and maybe a welder.
Aria yawned loudly, smacking her lips as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She’s been sitting on this rooftop keeping watch over Mac all night. The time was three in the morning and she has run out of coffee. Not her first all-nighter, but certainly her most boring. That was worse than being attacked by monsters, being bored.
As she looked through her binoculars for her scheduled check up on Mac, she noticed something strange in the room three windows over. Looking in she saw a nurse tending to a patient. The nurse was leaning over the person, hiding their face, but something was off. Her eyes snapped open, if someone could have seen them they would see her eyes glowing green. That was because she just saw someone use dark magic!
“Dammit!” She cursed grabbing her gun. She targeted the window, but it was too late, the nurse had already left the room. Zooming in on the patent in the room, Aria couldn’t notice anything wrong with him, but then again it was hard to tell from this distance. She knew what she had to do.
“Crap, I gotta go over there.”
Placing her rifle back into the guitar case she used to hide it during transport, she retrieved two .45 Bulldog revolvers, five shot stub nose revolvers that could be easily hidden, from the case. She hid one in her left boot and the other inside her inner coat pocket. On her way through the hospital parking lot she secured the guitar case to the bike. Times like this she kind of wished she had the truck, it was better for hiding weapons and bodies then Mac’s bike.
Jogging across the street Aria entered the hospital and took the elevator to the fifth floor where Mac was and where the nurse attacked the patient. She passed Mac’s room first and peeked to make sure he was still ok. He was still asleep and stable, which was good news. Keeping an eye out for the nurse she went three doors down, which actually was another section of the hospital and looked for the room that the nurse had been in. She found it easily enough since it was the only room with the light on. Hand on her gun she entered.
“Nothing so far,” She whispered pulling back the screen to the first bed, it was empty. Moving to the second screen, the one she had saw from the room, she found her victim. A young man, his chart had him listed as Scoop.
Leaning in closer to Scoop Aria couldn’t find anything wrong with him, he wasn’t flat lining, he was still alive, yet something didn’t feel right to her. Then she noticed a mark on his neck, two puncture wounds perfectly parallel to each other, almost like a…
“Bite mark… Mac!”
Aria ran out of the room, not caring if she was noisy or not, course now that she thought about it, the hospital was unusually quiet. Sure it was three in the morning, but there was a night shift, hospitals couldn’t just leave all these sick people unattended. There should be someone here.
Aria skidded to a stop as she pasted a closet, hearing a noise from inside, “What was that?”
Drawing the bulldog from her vest she opened the door and found a nurse tied up and striped of her uniform. The same nurse she just saw through the window. She looked pretty scared, course that might because she had a gun pointed at her face and she probably just attacked and striped down to her underwear, probably wasn’t a good night for her.
“Hey, hey it’s ok,” Aria said calmly as she could manage, though she probably still had a scowl on her face and she was still pointing the gun at the nurse’s face. “Sorry, I don’t usually deal with hostages; well we don’t usually find hostages just dead bodies. Sorry, I’m scaring you aren’t I? My friends tell me I’m a terrible people person.” Aria removed the nurse’s gag, “So who did this to you?”
“Me,” The Nurse said, “Or something that looked like me, it got me from behind, stole my uniform and locked me in here. I never saw anything like it!”
“Hmm… well so much for vampire ponies, sounds like we got a changeling problem.” Aria mumbled to herself. Damn she thought she would finally prove the existence of vampire ponies, or just vampire in this world, but it was just a stupid changeling. Shouldn’t be too much trouble, unless it was a queen Changeling, but what are the chances of that.
“Ok, don’t panic, but I’m going to keep you locked here for safety, while I go hunt down the monster that attacked you. You ok with that? Wait, sorry you don’t get a choice.” Aria closed the door to the closest again, nurse still bond inside. “I’ll be back, but if I’m not I’m probably dead or I might forget in the aftermath of the battle, it’s fifty-fifty, but I’m sure someone will find you by morning!”
The nurse’s cries were muffled by the door, but Aria paid them little mind as she ran towards Mac’s room. If something magical was attacking people then Mac would be next target. Rounding the corner Aria came to a skidding halt as she spotted the fake nurse entering Mac’s room, with no hesitation she raised her gun and fired!
The bullet hit the false nurse making her drop her disguise and as Aria expected it was a changeling. It looked less monstrous then she was expecting though, other than the black skin, holes in its ankles, big blue eyes, sharp teeth and bug wings it looked like a normal human. Oh and pony ears, because everything had pony ears.
“Alright why are you after Mac and was it you that started the fire in the barn and why… why is there like no one else here? I just fired a gun in a hospital, I would think someone would come… oh sleep magic, got it, standard monster in disguise thing.” The changeling clutched its injured arm trembling with fear as Aria went about her rant. Aria approached the quivering black mess of a creature, gun still trained on the Changeling’s head. “Hey I’m asking you a question here; this is the part where you answer like on TV. Come on, or do you want me to shoot you again?”
Aria waited for answer, her expression serious, and then the changeling started crying. A lot. There was a literal river of tears running down the changeling’s face.
“Why-why did-did you hurt me?” The changeling sobbed. “You big meanie! I was only trying to get some food! I maybe a changeling but I still eat love in this world! I wasn’t hurting anybody (Long term)! And I have no idea what fire you were blabbing about! I was working the morning shit when they brought the guy in this room in. Ask Nurse Blue Cross!”
“You mean the nurse in the closet?”
“Yes! I mean no! Ok yes… her. I was a little careless tonight, but that was only because I got a bad vibe from somewhere I swear! I put her in there for her own safety. I thought it was you that was producing all that black magic I sensed.”
Aria frowned, lowering her gun from the changeling’s face. “What’s your name?”
“Nyxia.”
“Well Nyxia, if I thought you were the one using dark magic and you weren’t and you thought I was the was the one using dark magic, which I was not, then the question is who is?” Both of them looked warily around the vacant hallway. It was becoming more and more clear that there was a third party here. Someone or something was powerful enough to keep an entire hospital asleep that not even the sound of gunfire could wake them up. That kind of magic took talent and years of study.
“I think we should get out of here.” Aria suggested. In the corner of her eye she saw a dark mist rolling into the hallway, whatever was here was getting closer. “I need you help me carry my friend out of here first.
Nyxia scoffed, “Yeah I saw that guy’s records, and he weights over two hundred pounds! There’s no way I could carry him even with both arms and you helping. You’re not exactly miss muscles.”
“I’ve been working out,” Aria pouted buffing up her cheeks. She moved to open the door to Mac’s room when she hear the sound of footsteps, both her and Nyxia froze as they listened to the haunting echoes of the persons footsteps draw closer and closer, also was it feeling hotter in here all of the sudden? The air was dry and sweat started to drip down from her brow, it was almost like she was standing by a furnace. Aria was having a bad feeling about this.
“Whose there?” She demanded pointing her gun down the hallway toward the shadow looming around the corner. The shadow stopped for a moment, before continuing its march, an orange glow illuminated the hallway, as if someone was carrying a torch and why was it so hot in here? Hospitals are usually cold!
The answer to her questions were not what she wanted to see as the person down the all rounded the corner and revealed themselves to a be a young girl, probably in her teens, she looked normal enough. The girl looked at her with dead white eyes and then she suddenly gained pony ears and caught fire!
“Holy Celestia’s teats!” Aria screamed shooting the girl on fire. One round hit her in the chest causing the girl to recoil from the hit, but ultimately it didn’t seem to do anything as she marched head, leaving foot prints of fire in her wake. Knowing she didn’t have much time Aria did the only thing she could thing of and that was running away!
Grabbing Nyxia by the arm Aria dragged the changeling nurse inside Mac’s room and slammed the door.
“What did you bring us in here for? We’re sitting ducks in here!” Nyxia panicked as the girl on fire drew closer to the door.
Aria ignored her and made a dash for Mac, nearly falling on top of him as she kissed him fully on the lips!
“Great you came for one last make out session with your boyfriend! Thanks for getting me killed with you!” Nyxia screamed angrily when a bright light enveloped the two and suddenly Aria had wings and pony ears. “What in the world…”
“I’ll distract her! You get Mac out of here!” Aira ordered Nyxia as she raised her arms singing high pitched key. Water flowed down from the sprinkler systems just as the girl on fire finished burning her way through the door. “Take this you flaming bitch!” Aria thrust her hand forward unleashing a torrent of water that carried the fire girl away. She dived in and gave chase after her, leaving a stunned Nyxia with a still sleeping Mac.
Nyxia slammed the door for Mac’s room closed trying to catch her breath. She didn’t know what was going on, she’s avoided every magical creature she could sense and now her place of employment was on fire! Speaking of which where were the fire department, why weren’t any of the alarms going off? They just check them last week for Pete’s sake!
“Oh right dark magic,” She frowned as she looked over to Mac’s bed where Mac himself was sound asleep and he looked as heavy as she guessed he was. No way was she picking him up and carrying him out, so next option: wake him up.
“Hey,” She yelled slapping in the face, “Wake up! Your crazy gun touting girlfriend is going to get barbecued if you don’t get out of bed!”
No response.
“Ok, fine, I got other tricks. Like this!” With a snap of her fingers Nyxia turned into Adagio, who she had seen climb out of the ambulance with Mac earlier today. “Oh Mac please wake up!” She cried in her most tearful and sorrowful voice, like on the sappy sitcoms they play on TV.
Still nothing!
“Ugh, ok how about this!” Transforming again she took on the form of Applejack. “Hey big brother time to wake up. Please wake up for your little sister.” She pleaded evening so far as to make her eyes appear bigger and cuter and still nothing!
“Alright I tried! I’m out of here, good luck not burning to death.” Nyxia said as she made a beeline for the door. She didn’t get far as a huge explosion rocked the building causing her to fall to the floor. She hissed in pain as she stubbed her knees against the hard tiles of floor.
“Dammit what is that crazy girl doing? Is she trying to bring down the entire building?”
As she was massaged her knees Nyxia failed to notice the shadow creeping up behind her, or the sound of bare feet smacking against the tile till a hand grabbed her by the shoulder making her grasp in surprise as she turned around to face Big Mac wide awake and wearing a grim frown on his face.
“Where are my pants?”
What does it take to kill a creature of fire? The obvious answer would be of course water, so when that failed. Aria did the next best thing and threw a fire extinguisher at the girl, which exploded releasing a big puff of white anti fire foam. That didn’t work either.
“Dammit!” In a rage Aria sang a quick and loud melody, releasing a shock wave of sound at the girl on fire, knocking her away. For a moment the fire around the girl went out and a helpless wreck of girl lay on the floor crying as she looked to Aria with the biggest saddest eyes the siren had ever seen. No, that’s not right; she’s seen that look before.
For a moment the girl was replaced with Sonata’s image.
“Please… please help! Help me!”
“I…” Aria froze staring at the crying girl. There was nothing she could do for her. She wasn’t like Sonata, she wasn’t in Equestria, where there she at least a chance, but here in a world nearly devoid of magic or any knowledge on how to use it? There was no chance to reverse whatever curse is upon her.
“I’m sorry, I can’t help you.”
The girl wailed harder, erupting into flames once again as she dived for Aria. The siren just barely catching the girl and managing to keep her from engulfing her in what would be the most painful hug of her life.
Aria screamed as the palms of her hands burned from holding the fire girl back she tried to throw her off, but the girl kept grabbing at her, burning her arms, legs, anything she managed to scratch at.
“Get off!”
Suddenly the burning stopped as the fire girl was pulled of off her, Aria looked up and gasped as she saw Mac lifting the girl up by the neck, his hand glowing with magic and where those pony ears on his head? Mac ponied up? Also he was shirtless; a strange thing to notice at a time like this but… it was very noticeable in her opinion.
Growling Mac smashed the fire girl though a wall and ran braking plaster and wood as he dragged her along for the ride. The girl screamed in pain, but he ignored her overcome with rage seeing Aria hurt like that. Whatever this thing’s story was he didn’t care, it was time for it to end and he knew just the place. He’d been in the hospital before, it was the same one Applebloom had been born in and he knew for a fact there was a pool on this floor.
Pulling the girl from the wall he continued to run as the door to the pool appeared ahead of him he moved her so she was in front of him; giving him a clear view of her fiery tears. He didn’t stop though he busted right thru the door, sending glass flying everywhere as he made beeline for the pool and jumped in.
The water was cold at first, but it was quickly warming up as the fire girl struggled to get out. Unfortunately the pool wasn’t very deep, only about three feet or so, it was used for physical therapy for the elderly and disabled. He’ll have to drown her the hard way. He’ll have to hold her down.
“I’m sorry,” He whispered as he held her down beneath the water. She clawed at him; one hand scratched him on the face, leaving behind four burning scratch marks on his face. He held on and soon enough her struggles stopped, the fire that engulfed her died out, leaving her skin blackened and cracked. Mac raised her out of the water, but she fell to ashes in his hands.
He heard footstep behind him, it was Aria, and she was looking worried and relieved at the same time. A cool liquid rolled down his cheek, at first he thought it was just water, but when he swiped it from his face he realized it was tear. He was crying.
“Oh Mac…” Aria whispered as she helped him out the pool. Before he could even say anything she wrapped her arms around him and held on to him as tight as she could. He wasn’t sure what to do, so he embraced her too and they stayed like that for several minutes.
“We should go. The dark magic is gone; people will start waking up soon.” Aria said unwrapping herself from Mac, “Your bike is here. We can take it home.”
“Yeah, let’s do that.” Mac murmured he wasn’t feeling very well; fighting must had worn him out, but he certainly wasn’t going to stay here. People would be hurt if he stayed, but it would look suspicious for him to be gone with all the damage.
“I know what you’re thinking.” Aria said as they made their way to the exit, “And I think I have a solution.”
Aria smiled as the strange nurse he saw in his room peered around the corner. The nurse looked around nervously before pointing at herself.
“Me?” Nyxia cried, having any idea of what the siren wanted her to do, “I-I can’t… I mean… ah…”
“Well,” Aria smirked, “We could just do what we usually do to monsters we find, and you did see what that is right? Think of it as payment for… overlooking your existence.”
Nyxia stuttered, remembering the slaying she had just witness and rubbed her neck. “Fine, I’ll buy you five days that’s how much vacation time I have after that you never saw me!”
Aria nodded, “Deal.”
Out in the parking lot Mac and Aria adjusted the weight load on the bike so they could ride it properly. Mostly they were arguing about who should drive. Mac insisted he drive, since it was his motorcycle and riding on the back seat was dangerous because he weighed more than Aria did and it was also embarrassing. There was a problem though; he was having a little trouble seeing out of his left eye, where the girl on fire had scratched him. He could still see out it, so it’s not like he was blind, but everything was kind of fuzzy on that side. Probably had weld flash from his eye being exposed to the bright light of the girl’s fire, neither the less...
“I’m driving,” He insisted.
“It’s four in the morning and you want to drive a motorcycle with one eye? Fat chance I’m letting that happen! I’m driving!” Aria argued crossing her arms, only to hiss as she touched her own burn marks.
Mac frowned at her, “How are you going to drive with those arms? The bike weights six hundred pounds! Throw me on the back and that’s eight hundred total. There is no way you can drive something that out weights you by seven hundred pounds!”
“That’s… um… fine! You drive! But if we crash and die I will… haunt you in death or something… I don’t know I haven’t slept for two days!”
“As long as we agree,” Mac chuckled as he mounted the bike. “Come on, get on.” He drawled as Aria climbed over the seat and wrapped her arms around his waist. They took off out of the parking lot and barely rounded the corner when the firetrucks and police rolled in. Mac kept the bike at low speeds to keep anyone from hearing them. He wondered how dad sneaked around on this thing when it rumbled so loudly all the time.
The ride back to the farm was a silent and cold one. Well the weather wasn’t bad; they were riding a motorcycle at night in late spring with no coats or sweaters making for a semi chilly ride. During the ride Mac felt Aria cuddle closer against him for warmth.
As they rode into the driveway Mac noticed the lights were on at the house. Sharing a look with Aria they rolled up into the yard to check it out. He was certain it was Aj maybe coming home to cope with the recent events. Much to his surprise he saw the blue truck parked outside the house. Meaning it was Adagio and Sonata.
The two other sirens ran out the door as Mac killed his engine.
“We just heard what happened at the hospital are you two alright?” Sonata asked on the verge of tears. Beside her Adagio was keeping a much calmer appearance, but Mac could still see the worry in her eyes.
“We’re fine as can be, been a rough night though. You two find something out today?” Mac asked as he walked onto the porch. Normal people would probably gush emotionally after the recent events, but he and the sirens were different. They coped by pushing forward.
Adagio nodded, “Yeah, we found something out. Come inside we gotta lot to talk about.”
Mac nodded and followed her inside, Aria following behind him. She said nothing as she walked past her fellow sirens and made beeline for the bathroom. A few minutes later the sound of the shower running could be heard throughout the house as they waited for her to finish.
Taking a hot shower after monster hunting was part of Aria’s ritual. It was actually a thing all three of the sirens did. They explained to him once that being aquatic ponies they very much enjoyed the water and that they tend to bathe in the nearby river. Mac felt a little guilty about not having hot water out there for them, so he let them come to the house for hot showers whenever they like. From the scent in the room, Sonata and Adagio, both took one recently.
“Alright,” Aria said walking back into the room wrapped up in towels, “What did you find out while we were getting barbecued.”
“This,” Adagio pushed a stack of files over to them. Mac took the one on top and Aria the one beneath. Inside were VERY detailed finding on how to change a normal human into a magical monster. There were pictures too, a lot of pictures, each one more horrifying then the last. Beside him Aria was shaking.
“Madhoof…” She whispered her eyes wide with fear as she looked to her fellow sirens, hoping this was joke, but their shaking heads dashed any hopes of that. “That bastard is alive?”
“No, he’s dead, killed by Nico Vega a few years ago. A fitting end all things considering their history, but… there is a problem.” Adagio dug into her pocket and retrieved a photo and a man in a professor coat and young girl in a crystal prep uniform. The man Mac assumed was this Madhoof they were taking about and the girl… “This is Madhoof’s daughter, Maddie Hoof; currently she is the head of the Canterlot Research Center for Science and she’s probably is the one that’s been causing all of our grief recently.”
“We don’t have proof of that,” Mac said frowning. He wanted to believe them, but in this matter the three sirens were probably more than a little bias given their history with this Madhoof. One day soon he’d have to get the full story from them.
Aria sighed as she threw her file on the table. “This girl, her name was Kerosene, she was the girl on fire that attacked us tonight and probably attacked you in the barn. There is no doubt the daughter picked up her father’s work.”
“That’s not possible,” Adagio said making Aria frown.
“Why’s that?”
Adagio pointed to the picture of Kerosene, “Because this girl died the same night Madhoof did. She was one of his last experiments.”
“The hell is going on?” Aria cursed scratching her head, “Nothing is making sense! What are we going do now?”
All three sirens looked to him for the answer and Mac wasn’t sure what to tell them this time.
“I don’t know, but whatever it is, we’ll do what we have to when the time comes, till then let’s get some rest. You three can stay here; it’s too late to go back to the shack tonight.” He said as he climbed the stairs up to his old room. He could feel the sirens worried eyes following him, but he paid them no mind. He had a lot on his mind as his head hit the pillow.
Things were getting crazy, dangerous, and a lot more complicated than he ever thought they would. Now there was some mysterious master mind trying to kill him? That probably extended to Aj and Applebloom too, how was he going to protect them when he could barely protect himself?
“Dad… what do I do?” He asked the ceiling. He of course didn’t get a reply and so he lay there, tired, yet not sleepy. Sometime past and he felt the bed shift.
“Adagio I’m not… Sonata?”
“Hi,” The blue siren waved, wearing one of his shirts for PJ’s. “You look like you need someone to talk too.”
Mac raised an eyebrow, has she been spying on him? “And what makes you say that?”
“The fact you’re talking to yourself and asking a dead guy for advice. Adagio and Aria say I’m the most emotionally open of us, so I should give you support or something like that.”
“You just want to cuddle,” Mac dead panned, knowing siren’s quirks.
“That too,” She exclaimed as she latched on to him. “But in all seriousness Mac we are here for you. You don’t need to take this burden all by yourself. I mean Nico did and he’s dead now. I don’t think your family would want that.”
“I suppose your right,” Mac sighed in defeat. She really did have a point, but he was too tired right now to really deal with anything at the moment. His problems could wait till morning, or this afternoon, it was nearly six now. “So are you staying here or…?”
“Dog pile!”
Mac grunted as both Aria and Adagio jumped onto the bed, making the springs squeak from the extra weight. All three of sirens shifted around, fighting for space, ending with Adagio on his right and Aria and Sonata on his left. Adagio’s hair proving to be the advantage as it kept the other girls away.
Despite their antics Mac did eventually find sleep.
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rely great chapter
6877410 Thank you
I'm actually really enjoying this story. It has so much potential. Looking forward to the next chapter!
6881863 Glad you like it, and think for the watch!
That was something. Keep it up
I very much like this story you have going here. I am honestly wondering if Mac and company are going to run in to a pair of brothers named Winchester at some point in time lol.The girl on fire reminds me of several characters from video games, particularly Alma from the FEAR series and Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin from MGSV: Phantom Pain. I know she fell to dust here but I wonder if she will be returning to haunt everyone later on. I will be sure to keep reading.
Is the horrifying death of kids going to be a theme? because if it is i'm out
10403577
I don't know if you call it a theme, but there is one more death of someone a similar age to Kerosene, yes.