• Published 3rd Nov 2021
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Family Begins With You - Jmaster49



The Sirens devote themselves to protecting Canterlot City and each other as they come to understand human holidays and traditions.

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Arc XXIII Episode XIII: Festival Demons

The festival…for the most part would continue without much of a hitch surprisingly enough. While Shinji was busy observing Sunset and her friends from afar--that’s genuinely all it amounted to: Observation. Both he and Julius simply took note of the power they possessed and kept a close watch on the girls from a safe distance. They knew full well that attacking someone with so many people around would get them spotted and immediately taken down.

Outside the festival, however…

Tatsuya had carefully hidden himself within a tree while watching the conversation that Mr. Rich and his daughter were having. Then he laid eyes on Keiji and immediately redirected his focus to the vampboy.

“Shit. It’s gonna be twice as hard getting through them with him in the way. Guess I’ll need to figure out what his potential weaknesses are before I get too close. The old man wouldn’t let me hear the end of it if I went down first. Maybe I’ll just let Shinji handle the grunt work and come in to clean up when his dumbass inevitably shits the bed.”

Meanwhile…

One of Keiji’s ears wiggled, and he tilted his head slightly to the left. With his enhanced hearing, he could suss out the fact that someone had been watching them.

“Hm…”

Silver Spoon noticed the look of concern on his face and asked. “...Keiji? Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, just…got this weird feeling that someone’s looking at us,” he spoke in a low tone to keep his suspicions from being recognizable, “Dunno for sure but we need to be careful.”

“Looks like he can sense my presence,” Tatsu thought to himself as he slipped further away into the shadows of the bushes surrounding the park, “Guess I better make my exit before they find me out. Wouldn’t want them to see me before I’m ready.”

As soon as his presence was gone, Keiji found himself at ease. “Hm…maybe it was nothing. Nevermind.”

BLAM!

The sound of an explosion followed by the sound of broken wood could be heard from the other side of the festival! Most of the festivalgoers didn’t realize what it was due to the noise being somewhat drowned out by the fireworks. But Keiji--with his enhanced hearing--was visibly startled and shaken by it as he collapsed to the ground and took a knee while clutching his chest.

“What the--?!”

Silver Spoon knelt down next to him with a wide, concerned set of eyes. “What happened? Did you feel something else?”

“...an explosion on the other end of the park,” Keiji explained as he stood up. “I need to go. You guys stay here!” And without another word, he took off towards the source of the noise…

The cause of it?


Ten minutes earlier…

Applejack was thinking hard to herself about what Sunset had told her. “Apple crisis…five years ago. Where in blue blazes did that come from? That can’t have just come from nowhere.” She sighed, lamenting the fact that she didn’t ask her friend for more information. “Darnit. Wish I woulda been more open instead’a dodgin’ the question like some emotional wreck. What’s wrong with me?”

That’s when she laid eyes on Shinji--or rather, noticed him from the corner of her eye. And down beside him was a white cat with yellow eyes…just as Sunset had described.

“Could that be them? Are they startin’ up trouble?” Applejack wondered to herself. “No…gotta act rational. Can’t just fly off the handle. Keep yerself together, ol’ girl.”

But the next time she blinked, she watched as both Shinji and his cat suspiciously looked around themselves and quickly faded into the crowd of the festival--as if they were satisfied with what they had seen.

“No…they was definitely spyin’ on me,” Applejack thought to herself, “Sunset’s words were probably a warnin’. I need’ta git after ‘em before they do anythin’ weird.”

With her mind made up, Applejack chose to follow the young man and his cat, eventually finding herself on the other end of the festival lot searching for them.

From their perspective…

“We’re being followed,” Julius notified Shinjiro, “It’s entirely plausible that one of them have caught onto what we’re doing here. We can’t be too careful.”

“I see…” Shinji replied, “Don’t worry. Whoever it is, we’ll smooth things over and make sure they’re none the wiser.”

Julius flicked his tail. “The energy I’m feeling is rather hostile and unstable. Whoever’s after us is rather powerful and should be considered dangerous, my lord. I suggest we remain on our guard.”

Shinji was not prepared for Applejack’s appearance as she walked up to confront both him and his cat.

“Howdy,” she said with a low tone, eyes narrowed, “I noticed ya’ll were lookin’ at me for quite a while back there. Do ya need somethin’?”

“Isn’t that one of the Apple family’s children?” Shinji passed his thoughts to Julius via telepathy. “She’s probably pissed at us for what my old man did.”

“Stand down. I’ll handle her myself if I have to,” Julius responded as he stood in front of his owner, “You need to get yourself somewhere safe.”

“Bullshit. I’m not leaving you!”

“Hello?” Applejack called out, having stood there in silence as they communicated with each other mentally. “Anybody home? Or are ya just a mad dog that likes oglin’ gals?”

“That’s…not it at all,” Shinji replied defensively, “I just happened to be looking in your direction. Don’t take it the wrong way.”

“Yer lyin’,” Applejack snapped coldly as she took a powerful step forward. Cracks in the hard asphalt spread out from where she stomped. “Don’t mess around with me, boah. I’m not that many apples short of a bushel as I look. I ain’t gonna ask you again: What was ya lookin’ at me for?”

Threatened by Applejack’s strength, Julius refused to wait any longer. “Enough of this. She’s going to attack!”

Shinji looked down and yelped, “Jules, no!”

BLAM!

An explosion occurred…and when the dust settled, there was a giant white tiger with gray stripes along its body in place of the small domesticated cat from before. It was easily as large as a car!

All Applejack had to say was, “WHAT IN TARNATION--?!”

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