This is what we do

by Foxgear

Different everyday problems

This is what we do ch 7

By Foxgear

---

Applejack awoke with a low groan, her stomach feeling heavy and bloated from last night’s party. After returning from camp she and her friends decided to have a sleepover at her house since Granny and Applebloom were gone. They had stayed up late, played video games, spin the bottle, truth or dare, cards, ordered pizza and drank enough soda pop to be live wired till four in the morning.

Her room was a complete mess as a result.

Groggily she rolled off her bed, her foot whacking Pinkie in the boob as she did. She whispered a soft ‘sorry’ and tiptoed through her friends that lay haphazardly around her room.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy lay huddled together, Fluttershy using Rainbow as a plushy, while Rarity lay by herself in a very inelegant pose with two empty cider bottles clutched in her hands and her chest covered in dry cider. She was not going to be happy when she woke up.

Also, those weren’t soda cider bottles either. She’d have to try and hide that fact from Granny.

Continuing through the mess of bodies Applejack stepped over Sunset and Twilight who were blocking the door. She began to pace in place as the need to use the bathroom arose suddenly. The cider was really getting to her. Gently as she could she picked up the two by their bra straps… why they were only in their bras was a different question entirely, but not one she felt like thinking about now, so she tossed her friends on the bed and left, but not before taking one second to take a snapshot with her phone of them all.

One trip to the bathroom later Applejack was downstairs eating breakfast in her pajama shorts and big apple t-shirt. Today was Sunday and Granny wouldn’t be home until Monday, so she saw no point in getting dressed right away and the chores were already done thanks to Granny’s neighbor. Making this one of the rare days that she didn’t have to do any work right away in the morning.

Mindlessly chewing through her bowl of bran flakes, the only cereal Granny brought, Applejack picked up the newspaper to see what happened while they were gone. She assumed everything would be quiet as the magic problem seemingly followed them to camp. She hoped that gave Mac and the sirens some peace and quiet for a little bit.

Flipping the page Applejack spotted an article that made her eyes snap open and spit milk out her nose in surprise. She groaned, quickly grabbing a napkin to clean her face. Shoving the bowl aside Applejack held the paper up to read with her full attention.

The article read, ‘Investigation still ongoing on soccer player attack after last Friday’s game of Canterlot vs. Griffonstone. Griffonstone star player, Gilda Griffon, was attacked after last Friday’s game. She reports that someone or someone’s had thrown frozen ice at her when she ran for cover from the sudden storm that ended the game early. Authorities speculate that attack could because of a rival school as Gilda’s assailants only aimed for her legs, perhaps hoping to take her out before the next game or in some twisted revenge scheme. Thankfully with the help of a friendly spectator, Gilda was able to escape back to her couch for treatment; her legs badly banged up and covered in blood from witness accounts…”

Applejack put the paper down, her stomach turning as she looked away from the picture of Gilda’s legs. The black and white photo hid a lot of the damage, but it still made her queasy. The bruises were this size of her fist, she could only imagine the pain that girl was in.

(Last Friday, the day before we left for camp.)

She thought back to that night. The game had been intense and Rainbow Dash had been pushed hard to the point that she was kicked off the field for disorderly conduct. Rainbow hadn’t been happy about that she knew, but Rainbow would never do this, she was a sore loser sometimes but never vengeful when it came to a fair game. Besides she and the others had been with Rainbow during and after the game, so she couldn’t have done it.

“What’re reading AJ?” Sunset asked as she and the human Twilight Sparkle entered the kitchen. Both looking half past tired. Applejack could relate as she was feeling the same.

“Just the paper,” She answered tucking it away with the other papers of the week. The others didn’t need to know about that attack last Friday. At least not yet, come Monday everyone would know, so they might as well get a day off from the town gossip.

Sunset yawned and nodded searching through the cupboards for bowls and cereal. Knowing it was only a matter of time before the inevitable happened Applejack got up and grabbed bowls and spoons for her friends. Sunset flashed a bright white smile as she sheepishly took the bowls and spoons and set then down on the table where Twilight was already sitting. They all sat in quiet silence until they heard the sound of a car pulling into the drive and the doorbell ring.

The two other girls looked at her as she stood up to get the door. Now she was cursing her laziness as she walked into the mudroom.

“Can you wait a minute? I’m… a bit underdressed…” She told the person the other side with flushed cheeks.

“That will be fine ma’am,” the owner of the voice said, it was a man’s voice.

Quickly Applejack hurried up to her room grabbing the first pair of pants she saw and ran back while putting them on, hopping one-legged down the stairs. She finished buttoning her jeans back in front of the door, the whole ordeal only taking forty seconds give or take.

Warily Applejack opened the door, her hand gripped around the shotgun tucked behind the door. When she cracked the door open wide enough to see who was on the other side Applejack immediately let the gun slide from her grip. The man at the door was a cop!

“Um… hello officer, can I help you?”

“Detective actually,” The man said holding out a red hand with a card slipped between his fingers. The card read ‘Detective Ferocious of Canterlot Police Department’ it had his phone, fax and office address all written on it.

What really held Applejack’s attention was his face, not that she found it attractive, but because it looked so familiar. He looked like Fierce Fury, one of the Equestrians that came to help her and friends doing the Maddie incident. There was something else familiar about him too, she couldn’t place it, but it felt like this wasn’t their first meeting.

“What can I do for you today Detective?” She asked tightening her grip on the door. She shouldn’t be nervous! She and her friends were all at camp for the entire week they couldn’t have done anything!

“Relax AJ, I just need to ask you and your classmates some questions regarding last Friday. Is there anyone else in the house with you?”

(How does he know my name?) She thought worriedly.

“Um yeah… about six of them, some of them are still sleeping.”

Ferocious tapped his chin, “I see, well, would you kindly disclose those names?”

“Is someone in trouble? What’s going on?” Applejack demanded hotly, only to quickly cough and calm herself down. “What I mean is please tell me what this is about?”

“Good girl,” He smiled pulling a notepad and pen from his pockets, “And I was just getting to that. I’m the lead investigator on the Gilda case. I’m trying to find out whom or what attacked that girl Friday. Several eye witnesses report you in the crowd, so I have to ask,” Ferocious leaned down to look at her with frightening yellow eyes. “Did you or your friends see anything or hear anything before, during or after the game before you left for camp?”

Applejack shook her head, “No, nothing, I just found out about it in the paper this morning actually.” He looked at her with steely cold eyes, like a hawk watching its prey. She shivered involuntarily. He smiled and leaned away.

“I see, I’ll have to take an honest girls word on it then, now if you could kindly write down your friends’ names I’ll happily speak to them when they’re at home and… decent… as you say.” He handed her his notepad and she wrote her friends names, minus Sunset’s, because well… it was Sunset. She didn’t need an investigation on her that could lead to a lot of uncomfortable questions with few answers.

She handed Ferocious his notepad back and he pocketed it and began to walk back to his car only to stop half way and turn back around.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where your brother Macintosh was last Friday and Saturday would you?”

Applejack’s blood ran cold, what happened to Mac? “No, I haven’t spoken to him all week. Why do you ask?”

“Well the description given to us by Gilda of the man that helped her is striking to your brother and the day after the game there are reports that someone matching his description was at the scene of the slaughter in Cloudsdale, but I guess you might not have heard about that yet.”

If Applejack was looking in a mirror her skin would have been white with fright. “What slaughter?”

“Someone…” Ferocious stopped seemly fighting with himself about what to say. “SomeTHING, killed several campers and more than two dozen police officers. There are mixed reports of a man and three women helping the officers, their descriptions all over the place.”

“Then how do you conclude it was my brother?”

Ferocious smiled as he tipped his hat to her, “Just a hunch. I remember a certain friend of mine who got into similar trouble. Now you have a good day Applejack.”

Applejack ran onto the lawn as Ferocious got into his car, she ran after him screaming, “How do you know my name!” She didn’t get an answer as Ferocious drove away leaving her standing on the grass confused, worried, and filled with questions.

(How did he know my name? How did he know my nickname? How did he know Mac’s name?) Applejack thought in a panic, but there was one more question. He said he had a friend like Mac. (Did he… did he mean dad?)

“Applejack… are you alright?” Sunset asked from the front door.

Applejack shook her head, “I don’t know,” She said, her voice hoarse from yelling. Her hands were trembling; her breathing was becoming shorter and more rapid.

She suddenly ran for the house and grabbed the phone and dialed Mac’s number. Her friends watched worriedly as she frantically paced in place, biting her nails which each ring. Finally, someone picked up.

“Do you have any fucking idea what time it is?” Adagio groggily replied on the other end of the line. Instantly Applejack relaxed upon hearing her sister in law’s voice.

“Sorry Adagio, I didn’t mean to call at… ten am… but can I speak to Mac? I really need to talk to him.”

Adagio yawned loudly, chomping her teeth together as she did, “Mac’s not here right now. I sent him away on a vacation to relax. One of those farm expos or something, if you can count that as something fun to go to. He’ll be back Monday or Tuesday, in the meantime come pick up your little sister sometime today. Oh, wait, Aria was going to do that… bye.”

She hung up.

Sighing in relief Applejack hung up the phone. Mac was ok; everything was fine, for now.

“Is everything ok?” Twilight asked looking worried.

Applejack fell back in her chair with a sigh, pressing her head into her hands. Everything was so crazy it was driving her crazy! Going to Camp Everfree was supposed to be a break from the crazy, but things only got even crazier!

“No, I mean yes, I mean… I don’t know. After camp, I just thought maybe Mac was in trouble and now the cop at the door.”

“There was a cop here!” Twilight squeaked looking nervous. Even Sunset was looking concerned as Applejack reluctantly threw the newspaper article at them. There was no point hiding it now. She also dug for last Saturday’s paper. Sure enough, the police slaughter at the camp was on the front page. She handed it over to the two, their expressions turning grim.

Twilight looked the most affected, “Are these… are these because of magic?” She whispered horrified. Her research subject was looking more and more dangerous by the day. The purple girl was looking a little green as she flipped through the pictures. The Cloudsdale newspaper was very graphic.

“I think I need to use the bathroom,” Twilight said running away.

That left Applejack and Sunset staring at each other. They were most involved in this magic business, what with Applejack’s dad being a pony and Sunset being a pony.

“What are we gonna do cuz?” Applejack sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time today. The medallion she got from camp flopped against her chest, reminding her of yet another magic mystery needing to be solved.

If Sunset had the answer she didn’t look it as she copied Applejack’s pose. “I wish I knew AJ. I want to learn more about the magic of this world, starting with these medals and our new powers, but it just keeps getting more and more dangerous. I don’t really feel comfortable bring the others into this. Rainbow would walk into Tartarus and not even know it, but Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy… I can’t say I see them handling the more extreme stuff. You can only take so many Maddie incidents before you start to lose it.”

“I feel like I’m at the kid's table,” Applejack admitted sourly. “Sure our threats have been dire or whatever, but all we had to do most of the time is hold hands and fire a magic rainbow or something and that’s it! Can you even imagine half of what Mac does?”

Sunset nodded, thinking of all the stuff Mac had to contend with after the Maddie incident such as where to bury Whitetail’s body… “Hey, Mac never happened to mention what Sixes and the others did with Whitetail’s body, did he?”

After the incident with Maddie Sunset had noticed there was freshly turned up dirt near her shack. She shivered to think if that was what that was. Also, there was the chimera body Nico buried… and she was really starting to think some things were better left alone.

Still wanting to be of some help, Sunset reached across the table and took Applejack’s hands in hers and looked the farm girl straight in the eye, “What do you want to do AJ?”

Applejack’s hands tightened around Sunsets. She could either turn away and pretend nothing was happening or face it head on. Originally when she left for camp she wanted a few days to sit back and evaluate the whole magic thing, even as she told Mac she wanted to learn more about monster hunting. Now it was clear to her, there was no choice; this wasn’t going to leave her or her friends alone.

“I want to learn, I want to protect my friends and family.” Of that Applejack was certain, more than anything else in the world. She wanted to keep her family safe.

“Well count us in!” Rainbow Dash shouted from the hallway with the others sheepishly hiding behind her. Sunset and Applejack sat flabbergasted and red faced.

Applejack let go of Sunset’s hands and tried to fight down her brush, “How long have you been there?”

“For a while…” Fluttershy admitted meekly.

“We didn’t mean to pry, but we all felt the call for breakfast as you know… and a shower,” Rarity said, looking much cleaner than before.

“Yeah, we got super hungry and then we ran into Twilight and then we wound up here! It’s kind of funny story, but I guess now not the time for it, but…” Pinkie chattered on, Rainbow’s hand muffling her words, which ok as she had gotten her point across.

Splitting from the group Twilight walked in front of everyone, still looking a little sick, but much more composed. “Things are looking much scarier than they first seemed, but I still want to learn more about magic, no matter what.”

(No matter what huh, defiantly can see that coming back to bite us.) Regardless her friend's speeches made Applejack’s heart flutter with joy knowing she wasn’t alone.

“Well, before we go looking for trouble, why don’t we get some food in you.” Applejack stood up and passed out more bowls and spoons for her friends and poured them all some cereal till the box was empty. Together they sat back and chattered while they ate and she looked on with a smile. As they each expressed their excitement about researching magic.

Until they remembered they had other things to do today. Rarity had to finish a dress, Fluttershy had to work at the animal shelter, Rainbow had promised to practice with others from the soccer team, and Pinkie needed to go home and do… something, it was hard to understand through her chewing.

Either way, it left only Twilight, Sunset, and Applejack to do any research today, not that they knew where to start. Neither the less Applejack’s friends helped clean up her room and the mess from the sleepover. They were all on their way save for Twilight and Sunset who stayed behind briefly.

“I think we should go talk to Maddie. I’ll take Twilight home to drop off her stuff first and we’ll meet you in a few hours at the farm.” Sunset said as she helped fit her spare helmet onto Twilight’s head.

Applejack nodded, liking the plan, “That’s fine; I come meet you after Aria drops off Applebloom. She’ll be alright for a few hours by herself.”

With those parting words Sunset and Twilight zoomed off on Sunset’s bike, Twilight screaming all the way down the street as Sunset revved the engine faster than she needed. It brought a smile to Applejack’s face, a desperately needed one at that.

With nothing else to do she walked back inside the house to shower and to hide the fact some of the alcoholic cider was missing.

---

About thirty minutes later the doorbell rang again just as Applejack finished her shower. Looking out the kitchen window from the bathroom hall she saw Aria’s truck. Yelling for the two to come in she went back to drying her hair.

“You're enjoying your day off it seems,” Aria said dropping Applebloom’s bags on the floor as Applejack walked out of the bathroom in a white towel. “Looks like you’re really pampering yourself there AJ, is that scented soap I smell? I’m sure Rarity or better yet Adagio would just love to know you actually have a feminine side.”

“How about I send you home with a fat lip,” Applejack growled shaking her fist at the siren, blushing redder than a red apple. She liked strawberry shampoo, so what!

Aria scoffed, “I’d like to see you try, but if you really want to have a go. I just want you to know I have my phone and once your ass is on the floor expect pictures to be taken.”

Grumbling Applejack held her towel tighter to her body and stalked past the siren towards the stairs. Only to pause once she heard the sound of a camera, she turned around with a death glare to Aria who had her phone up.

“That’s a nice one. I might just sell to Explicit for some quick cash or maybe just steal what’s in the register once she passes out. I think you’re her type.”

Applejack ran up the stairs, “Once I get some pants on your fucking dead Aria!”

“Just pants? I might get even more then!” Aria laughed as Applejack screamed in frustration. Having her fill of teasing her sister in law Aria deleted the picture from her phone.

“Why are you so mean to AJ?” Applebloom asked walking with Aria to the door.

Aria laughed and waved her off, “I’m not mean; she’s just so easy to tease, besides after living with Adagio’s crap I think I earned the right to dish some teasing out. Adagio isn’t ashamed of anything and Sonata is too dense to tease, AJ is just right. But I better go before your sister comes down and shoots a rainbow at me or something.”

“I’ll shoot you with something other than a rainbow this time!” Thundering down the stairs Applejack was half way through finishing putting her shirt on, earning another snapshot from Aria as the pink siren walked out the door. “You better delete that!”

“I’ll think about it!” Aria replied as she climbed into her truck and drove off.

Applejack growled on the porch watching Aria drive away. Eventually, she took a deep breath and calmed down. Grabbing her keys off the rack Applejack stalk towards her truck.

“I’ll be home in a little bit, hold down the fort.”

“But I just got home, where are you going?”

Applejack paused and faced her little sister, she had thought she’d be excited to be home alone. “I just need to do somethings. You behave, no calling friends over or anything like that, I won’t be gone long.”

“All right,” Applebloom drawled tiredly. She was feeling rather tired.

With Applebloom back in the house, Applejack started her truck and drove off towards the farm.

---

Sunset and Twilight were waiting for her outside Sunset’s shack in the south orchard. The two girls waved as Applejack approached on foot, her truck left on the secret road that leads to Sunset’s humble abode. It was imperative that the sirens did not know they were going to speak with Maddie. For if the sirens knew then Mac would know and Applejack didn’t want Mac to know. She didn’t want to add to his worries.

Walking together the three took the old path through the southeastern part of the orchard to Maddie’s shack. The path was overrun with wild grass and fallen branches. A cool wind blew through the trees giving off a creepy vibe.

“No one really comes out this way huh,” Twilight said as she huddled in her sweater. It was the tail end of the summer the weather was still warm, but in here it felt like fall as if the orchard had its own climate.

Applejack nodded as they passed a large moss covered dirt pile with small white patches here and there. The patches were bones of something long dead, another of Nico’s kills perhaps.

“Dad always told us to stay out of the west orchard, but this part he never needed to tell us to stay out of, it was creepy enough. If you think it’s bad now, wait till it gets dark.” Behind her Twilight and Sunset shivered as they passed another mound, this one had a large creature’s skull out for all to see as the rain had eroded away the dirt covering it.

Sunset hugged herself as they passed the skull, “Is that a chimera skull? Like the one, we dug up in the west orchard.”

Applejack stopped and looked the skull over; it was indeed a chimera skull, though it looked much older. It has defiantly been here awhile. “Seems to be, come on, Maddie’s isn’t much further.”

The three girls exited the southeast orchard, the scenery taking a drastic change as the trees appeared less and less creepy with a more pleasant atmosphere. The place was feeling like a normal farm again much to everyone’s relief. Ahead down the overgrown path was Maddie’s shack.

Maddie’s shack, much like Sunset’s was small, but comfortable, and featured many signs of recently being worked on. New paint, new roofing, with a satellite and generator, the last two features Sunset’s shack lacked, as her power was directly connected to the main house.

Knocking on the door they received no response. The three girls looked at another before knocking again and yelling for Maddie. “Maddie, are you home?” Applejack asked banging on the door.

There was no reply.

Turning the doorknob they were surprised to find it turned. The door was unlocked! Slowly they entered keeping an eye out for Maddie. Inside the small dim shack, the only light from the setting sun, they saw Maddie’s merger home for all it was. There was a messy bed, old food containers, and a computer desk with a dual screen desktop and papers littered everywhere.

“Oh my god, this is amazing!” Twilight gushed as she rushed to the computer. “This is a custom 2 terabit Mac operating system! This cost more than my college fund!”

“As impressive as that is, I’m a little weary touching Maddie’s stuff. You haven’t met her yet Twilight, but Maddie is scary, even scarier than Midnight Sparkle.” Sunset said trying to pull her friend of the computer. Maddie could be back at any minute!

Her words seemed to have little effect on Twilight, “I doubt that. I mean I… er… Midnight tried to destroy the world! What’s worse than that?”

Applejack gripped her tightly, making the purple girl shiver under her hard gaze, “A lot of things Twilight, a lot of things and that’s all I’m gonna say. Now, do you think you can get something off this thing?”

Sunset gasped, “Applejack?”

“Look, Maddie’s been researching Magic her entire life, she’d got to have something we can use. Now might be the only time we get unfiltered access. So Twi, can you get something off this?”

“Well, I’ll have to log in first and… she doesn’t have a password on her computer… that’s… irresponsible.” Maddie’s homepage popped up, with countless files and programs running. A map popped up automatically showing portal locations and what has appeared and where.

“I think that’s what we’re looking for; can you get the monster files and this radar thing copied or something?” Applejack asked.

Twilight bit her lip in thought, knowing she’d need something to put the data on. She could send it home to her computer, but Maddie would be able to track it and she didn’t want that. A sudden notification from her phone gave her the perfect idea! Setting her iPhone on the desk she synced the data on the computer with her phone and downloaded as much as she could sending anything that didn’t into the iCloud.

“Got it, I now have everything right here!” Twilight held up her phone and pointed it at Sunset. “Athena, identify.”

The phone took a picture of Sunset and then brought up all of her files for the group to see. It fascinated Applejack and creeped Sunset out.

“Now we’ll be able to identify monsters when we find them and get alerts when a portal opens in real time! Technology is so great!” Twilight swooned dancing around with her phone only for Applejack to pluck it from her hands and look intently at it. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just feel like I’ve seen something like this before. What was it… Dex… something…” The realization hit her like a brick. “We just made a fucking Pokedex!”

“Well… there may have been some subconscious influence…” Twilight blushed.

Sunset spoke up, “Look I don’t care what it is, I just want to get out of here, before Maddie gets back!”

“I second that,” Applejack agreed pulling Twilight towards the door as the purple girl desperately reached for Maddie’s computer. “Leave it; we got what we came for.” She said as they got outside and shut the door firmly behind them. “Do you think you can get this stuff on all our phones?”

“With sometime maybe, I’ll need to reformat the program into something our phones can handle,” Twilight replied.

Applejack looked at the little device in her hand and handed it back to its owner, “Do it. We’ll gather everyone up once you’re done. First I better get you home, it’s getting late.”

---

“What a beautiful day,” Fluttershy gushed walking home from her shift at the animal shelter. She had only stayed home long enough to say hello to her parents before leaving again. Still it was nice to see them after a week. She wasn’t so nice to see her brother back after supposedly moving out for the third time, but what could you do? He was family.

Regardless her fist tightened at the thought of him being back.

Getting flustered at her brother wouldn’t help though and Fluttershy took a deep long breath and relaxed. She didn’t like getting angry, she clenched her teeth when she got angry and then her gums would start to hurt and it would ruin her day.

It was already happening; she could feel her gums aching, especially around her canine teeth.

“Oh, that makes me so mad!” She huffed kicking a stone. The stone flew into an alley, followed by a high-pitched yelp! Quickly Fluttershy ran into the alley and found a stray dog shivering in a box, the stone she kicked lying beside the dog. “I’m sooo sorry Mr. Puppy! Here let me help you feel better.”

She kneeled down and reached for the little dog, he coward away from her, so she reached into her pack and retrieved a doggy treat. When she reached again he eagerly came out and swiped the treat from her hand and crawled back into his box.

Fluttershy smiled and watched the little dog eat, wondering what he was doing here. Of course seeing a stray dog was no surprise to her, but she wondered where he came from and if he was really a stray or just separated from his owners.

The box suddenly lurched and fell trapping the dog as a soccer ball flew overhead. Fluttershy watched in horror as two more balls came flying from the other end of the ally, hitting the box again. She grabbed the box and quickly grabbed the shivering puppy as three boys approached her.

“Ah look, the mutt found a bitch, how sweet,” One of the boys sneered.

All three boys wore school uniforms from what looked like Crystal Prep or maybe even Crystal College, they did seem to be the right age. The question on Fluttershy’s mind was why they were here and not the city and why were they being so mean.

“That wasn’t very nice, you leave this puppy alone!” She demanded hotly, her blood pumping hard as the three boys towered over her. They all had to be near six feet tall!

“Awe look the bumpkin knows how to speak,” The boy in the center mocked leering over her. “She doesn’t look half bad either. What do you say, bumbkin, what to take a ride on the high side?”

He reached for her and Fluttershy forcibly pulled her hand out of his grip and began to walk back towards the street, only to bump into the two other boys. Her chest began heaving as her breath picked up. She was trapped!

“Y-y-you leave me alone! I-I-‘m warning you!” She stuttered as one of the boys pulled at her tank top. Her arms tightened around the puppy in fear and her gums really began to hurt, almost unbearably.

“Come on cutie, my pops told me all sorts of stories about you bumpkin girls, don’t worry, we’ll leave you with a nice tip.” The boy laughed, and so did his friends.

As one of the boys reached for her tank top strap she grabbed him by the wrist causing him to scream out in pain as blood came spewing out. The boy continued to cry out as Fluttershy easily manipulated his body as if he were a toy doll. She hoisted him up the collar and bit him in the neck.

“What the hell?” The other two boys screamed as Fluttershy dropped their friend like a sack of potatoes, her lips marred with his blood, but what really freaked them out where the two long fangs sticking out from her mouth and her blood red eyes.

The boys began to run as yellow leather wings and long pointed ears appeared on Fluttershy. Spreading her wings she chased the boys down sinking her teeth into both of them.

---

When Fluttershy came back to her senses she was in a park fountain, her memory blank as she climbed out of the red water.

(What… happened? Did those boys throw me in the water? That must be it, what mean boys) She concluded groggily, not noticing the waters new tint as the puppy from earlier barked happily at her. She picked it up and carried him home. She needed to change clothes.

---

Rarity wiped her lips clean with her napkin as her friend Saffron Masala set a cup of tea down before her. Over the summer Saffron and her father had set up a restaurant near her shop and so in the interest of supporting another business Rarity eats at Saffron’s restaurant once a week if she can. It helps that the food is delicious and reasonably priced.

“I must thank you again for the new clothes Rarity; my customers have really enjoyed it.” Saffron gave a little spin to show off the new uniform she commissioned from Rarity. The uniform was much like her old one, a light flowing top and skirt, but now a rich purple with red accents. The cut of the dress was a little more explicit, but not enough that to be too sexy for families. Though there has been a rise in her single male patrons and some females.

“Oh think nothing of it, darling. I was happy to help and you are a perfect model. Would you consider posing for a few of my new dresses? I would even let you use them in your next restaurant poster if you’d like.”

A grumbly voice interrupted them as Saffron’s father, Coriander Cumin, motioned for his daughter to go wait other tables. “You make business more profitable Miss Rarity and you have my thanks, but your designs make me worry. They make daughter too desirable, many unworthy suitors come now because of you.”

Rarity laughed sheepishly, “Oh Mr… Cumin… I mean Coriander!”

Coriander rolled his eyes, “Enough of your dirty minded jabs, you call me Cori, as I have said before.”

Keeping her face as neutral as possible Rarity nodded, though her mind still lingered on the misfortune of Cori’s full name, Cumin was a perfectly fine name in their home country, but here… it had a different meaning. A meaning that left Cori fuming red with annoyance and embarrassment, it had also been the cause of their slow start as their restaurant name was originally “Cumin Masala’s!” the name was thankfully changed to ‘Saffron’s far east kitchen’ now.

“Cori… right, my apologies. And while I am proud of my work, your daughter would look beautiful in just about anything. But I suppose next time I could be a little more conservative in my design.” Rarity chuckled. She hated to temper her work, as it limited creatively, but she could see Cori’s fears. Her own father was much the same way.

Cori’s chest puffed up with pride as he looked at his daughter, “I thank you for your understanding and much thanks for your favorable comments of Saffron. You are right; she is beautiful, just as her mother…” Cori wiped his face with his sleeve. “I am sorry; I must go check the stew. Have a good night Miss Rarity.”

She smiled and waved as Cori left her. Picking up her bill she left a large tip, about fifty dollars, and went to the counter to pay. Saffron and Cori must be doing well now if they could afford to hire someone to run the register. They had quite the setup. Cori cooks and Saffron waits tables and gathers the crowds.

“That will be fifteen nine total ma’am,” The cashier said, Rarity hadn’t even really looked at her, but the sound of her voice made her quickly look up at the smiling face of Lyra heartstrings of all people.

“Lyra? Since when did you work here?” Rarity barely recognized the girl; she wore the spare uniform she made for Saffron well. Between the top and skirt and the red bandana wrapped around her head, the only thing Rarity could make out was Lyra’s face and the tufts of hair that stuck out from under the bandana.

The teal girl laughed, blushing rosy red, “Since today, I got off the bus after camp and I found out I got laid off at Burger Queen’s because I forgot to tell my boss I was leaving for a week. So I was wondering towards home and I saw the help wanted sign in the window. I came inside and I got the job.”

“Well that is wonderful, Saffron and her father are very nice,” Rarity said as she forked over the amount due.

“They are. Have a goodnight, I'll see you around,” Lyra called out as Rarity made her way to the door.

Humming a little tune Rarity turned on the sidewalk and made her way to her car. The street lights were on. She hadn’t realized it was so late. Sweetie was probably wondering where she was. Mom and dad were gone off on another trip for business, leaving her to look after Sweetie. She did an ok job of it… provided she wasn’t busy.

“Sweetie is old enough to take care of herself for a few hours, it’s not like we don’t have food.” Rarity reasoned aloud, but neither the less began to walk at a brisker pace, until she heard the sound of a trash can being knocked over, the sound coming from behind Saffron’s restaurant. Curious Rarity looked down the alley to see two men cornering Saffron, who had been in the middle of taking out the trash.

Quietly she drew closer, her blood boiling when she saw the two men, she knew them. They were a pair of local loan sharks. She knew because they tried to get her to take a loan with them when she first opened her shop. She refused of course.

“Time to pay up Saffron, business is doing good, so you must have our money ready right?” One of them said as he stroked Saffron’s cheek.

“Our agreement was not until later this month, we still need to pay the rent and other things, but you will get your money, we have never broken our word!” Saffron replied fiercely, but the fear in her voice was evident.

The other man chuckled, “I don’t think you know how this works. You pay us first, whenever we say so, of course….” The man licked his lips as he reached for Saffron’s skirt. “The payment doesn’t have to be cash.”

Rarity had just about enough. Raising her hand she formed a shield in front of Saffron and used it to pull the men towards her. Quickly she wrapped them in a sphere and dragged them off before Saffron could even open her eyes to see it happen.

Less than a minute later in a deserted parking lot Rarity tossed the two men to the ground, her eyes glowing with magic as she stared down at the men that assaulted her friend. In her hands rested two black diamond knives, to which she pointed and jabbed into the men’s throats. Not enough to cut them, but enough to make them feel uncomfortable.

“As of now my friend’s debts is paid, if see you harassing her or anyone else again,” She pressed the tips of her knives harder, drawing blood. “I’ll hang you up like stuck pigs.”

The two men nodded in terror and she removed the knives and began to walk away. Little be known her, her body was covered in diamonds, a prize the greedy men couldn’t pass up.

“How about we take you instead and break you up piece by piece for payment!” One of the men yelled pulling a knife and stabbing Rarity in the back or at least he tried to. His blade stopped by her diamond hard skin. She turned slashing his neck with her knife, only no blood came out, instead, the man began to choke as diamonds began to grow all over his body. He fell to his knee clutching his neck as his entire body turned to solid diamond.

Rarity glared at the other man, twirling her knife, “Such greedy men, you’re better off being dust.” She flicked the diamond man with her finger and he burst into dust and scattered with the wind. The other man screamed and ran away.

“You’re a monster!” He screamed as Rarity twirled her blade a little before throwing it, turning the other man into a diamond statue too.

“No more than you are,” She whispered in his ear. “At least you get to die in a beautiful form.”

She reduced the man to dust and walked away.

---

When she came too, she was at home on her couch, groggy and confused. “Oh my when did get home?” She looked down at her sparkling shirt, her face contorting into annoyance. “Sweetie must have put glitter on me my in my sleep. Oh, that girl! If it weren’t so late would give her a spanking!” Rarity fumed as she tossed her shirt into the hamper and went to her own bed.

---

Blue and red lights flashed in the background as Ferocious waded through the crowd of police, a cigarette in his mouth as he pushed his way through to the three bodies in the alleyway. The victims were three boys, all in bad shape, but alive, for now. The paramedics were hurriedly trying to keep the pressure on their necks. Each boy had a deep wound on their necks as if a wild animal attacked them. He’s seen cases like this before, actually, all of his cases were like this. He always got the weird ones.

He leaned down for a closer look at the wound. One of the paramedics, a female, and a good looking one, pushed him back. Scolding him for smoking over the wounded boy. He smiled playfully back, getting the finger in response.

“Nurses and cops don’t mix, you should have stayed with that principle chick,” His partner Stryker Six chuckled as he entered the scene. Stryker was a tall man with ash black skin with blue hair. “So, we got another weird one?”

“Looks like it, and cops and nurses can mix. You just have to find one that’s seen as many dead bodies as I have and they become numb to the world. Also, leave my Ex out this.”

“Doesn’t she live around here?”

“What’s your point?”

Stryker shrugged, “No point, just stating a fact. How as your visit today? Find anything out about that Gilda case?”

“Nothing much really, AJ just got back from camp, just read the headline in the paper.”

Stryker rolled his eyes, his partner could be so soft sometimes, “And she proved this how?”

“I know when AJ lies,” Ferocious grumbled defensively. He really hated being back here, back in Canterlot. His hometown. There were a lot of memories here. Some good, some bad, others were just painful. Like his Ex and his best friend who has long since passed. “Wish Nico was still around; he kept this shit under control.”

“Well he’s not; we are, so let’s get to the bottom of this quick. We got other fish to fry. Maybe we’ll be lucky and this was just some gang violence or something simple.”

One could only hope were Ferocious thoughts as he picked up a stray pink hair off the ground, it looked familiar, he’s seen this shade before. Pocketing the hair he returned to the car. Between this case, the camp slaughter in Cloudsdale and the assault on Gilda he was going to be a busy man.

Author's Note:

In this story Fluttershy's brother his older.

Ferocious is mentioned in What must be done and is featured in Bonds between worlds, a prequel about Mac's parents.

Comments

[Daybreak]

Ok, this was unexpected. The girls have evil blackouts. This is going to go well...

[H3lios]

Nightmare Rarity and Flutterbat. Wonder what else could go wrong.

[FoldabotZ]

So for Rarity her diamond skin is like Emma Frost from the X-Men? Neat.
Looks like Maddie's experiments on them is coming back to bite them in the ass.

[Foxgear]

9141255
Basically :)