Family Begins With You

by Jmaster49

Arc IV Episode III: Demons In The Workplace

After school ended, Adagio went to work as always, but with far more apprehensiveness than usual. From her perspective, she knew she was ahead of Wendy and her plans. “If she tries anything, she’ll have something else coming beforehand. My sisters are already waiting for anything…”

But as she’d soon find out, things were a bit different on this day.

As soon as she stepped in and got ready to start her shift, Blueblood would approach her.

“Hey, Adagio. Can you do something for me?”

“Hm?” she looked around to make sure Wendy wasn’t present, and answered. “Um, sure I guess? What would you like me to do, sir?”

Blueblood led her to the storage room where loads of boxed items could be seen out of place and disorganized. “...My usual stockman had a prior engagement. Would you mind sorting these for me? No need to unpack them. Just set them up near this wall here,” he pointed to the bare wall next to the door, “so that the stockman can have an easier time when he returns. Sounds good?”

“Huh. Is that really all he wants from me? Guess it won’t be a problem if I’m being paid extra.” Since she saw no problem with this, Adagio agreed to the terms. “Alright, sir. I’ll get started right away.”

“Excellent…” Blueblood said as he left the room. As soon as he did, he chuckled to himself. “And once you’re done with all of that, you’ll be too tired to fight back once the ritual begins.”

Wendy approached him moments later with a jittery set of knees that shook from excitement. “How much longer?” she pleaded, “I’m dying to steal her--”

“Shhhh…” Blueblood placed his index finger over her lips to quiet her. “Patience, my dear. Patience.” He then patted her on the head. “You’re a lovely little loyal lady, so I’m going to ensure that you have everything you want. Just give it time…”

The gesture calmed her down, almost like a perfectly-trained animal. “Ahem...right. Yes sir. What shall I do in the meantime?”

“Man the front register,” Blueblood ordered, as he fixed his sleeves, “We’re still open so we don’t want to look oddly understaffed.”

“Sir,” she saluted and put on an apron as she walked out to the front of the store.

In the storage room…

“Rrgh!” Adagio struggled to move the first box that was full of heavy pieces of piano parts. “Yikes. This stuff is heavy. How do those stockboys manage?” She thought back to the muscular boys she saw at the gym. “Ah...that must be it. They utilize the workout facility. Humans really are strange. On the one hand, they constantly destroy themselves via war, and on the other, they constantly build themselves up. I wonder which side makes up the true face of mortality…”

After finishing up with moving the first box, Adagio ended up sneezing from the amount of dust near the corner of the storage room. “Eh-chew! Ugh...is there no such thing as a cleaning crew here? Hm?” Near one of the boxes was a shelf of old books--the source of her dust problem. She took a step towards it, and found that there were books about the supernatural and other forms of understanding the paranormal. “That’s new...wonder what this could be about.”

That’s when she realized: One book was missing from the shelf.

“Hm...I wonder if he has it. And if so, what it could be about...better keep working before he gets suspicious, though.”

And work she did. About three hours of moving and sorting heavy boxes filled to the brim with wood, glass, and metal parts until it was about 6PM and getting dark already due to fall’s shorter days. Sweat started to pour down her body from the stress combined with the poor ventilation of the storage room. It became akin to a sauna in a flash--a very dry, very painful sauna.

“Yeesh...at least I’m getting fifty an hour for this…” she said while lifting her shirt up halfway to wipe the sweat from her head.

---

Meanwhile…at the same time...

As Aidon drove through the city, he thought to himself about the blackmail that he had been dealt earlier that day. “I don’t get it...what exactly could she be trying to keep me away from? Gah...is it really worth risking my current life over? I only just got started…”

He pulled his vehicle into a market parking lot...across the street from the antique music shop. There, he would get out of his car and pull out a grocery list. “Alright, now what do I need here…?”

---

Soon enough, Adagio would be far too tired to keep going. She had to stop, and drink some water to replenish her stamina. “Yeesh...that was a lot,” she muttered while looking at all the boxes she had moved over those hours. They were now neatly piled along the wall just as Blueblood had asked of her.

From the other room, Wendy was listening in on Adagio’s tired, heavy breaths. “She’s slowly drying up, Master.”

“Alright. Allow me to fetch the spellbook from my office. This won’t take long at all,” he replied as he walked down the hall.

Soon enough, Adagio returned from the storage room with rivers of sweat rolling down the side of her face. But as soon as she returned to the much cooler front of the store, she let out a sigh of relief while shutting her eyes blissfully. “Ahhh...much better. You guys really need to install some AC back there. Either that or it was just me.”

Wendy had a devious grin on her face behind her. “Oh, it’s probably just you…”

Ding-dong…

The front door’s bell chimed, indicating that someone had entered.

“Oh my. This place is downright amazing...” Octavia muttered as she looked around at the various shelves of small musical trinkets like old guitar picks and horn valves. The glass desks near the counter housed more valuable items such as parts made of actual gold and diamonds akin to that of a jewelry store. And behind the register, on the wall were various large instruments like susaphones, French horns, and accordions. “I really wished I had come here sooner…”

“Octavia? Hey!” Adagio said with a tired wave of her hand from behind the register, having assumed her usual position as soon as she heard the door go off. “So glad you’re here. There’s this cool Indo-xylophone that I want to show you.”

But the musician could already tell what state her friend was in as she walked up to the counter. “Erm...are you alright? You look rather worse for wear…”

“Hm? Oh yes, I’m fine...just working hard as usual…”

Soon enough, Blueblood would return with the spellbook as the girls were having their casual conversation. “Hm...now this is a problem…”

Wendy looked in his direction. “What should I do, sir?”

Octavia’s presence served as a small hurdle for the man, but he didn’t allow it to topple his plans. “Alright. I’ve got it. You head out back to the alley and wait there, please.”

“On it,” Wendy replied as she went through the hallway and out of the back door.

Blueblood stepped forward and interjected their conversation. “Hey there, Ms. Melody. I see you’ve taken a liking to our merchandise.”

“Is this her boss? I wonder...” Octavia thought to herself with a cautious leer in his direction. “...Yes. I’m quite the history buff when it comes to various cultures and their music.”

“Oh, that reminds me. We just had a shipment of drums that came in from South Zebrica,” Blueblood said as he pointed to the back of the building, “If you’ll join me, I’ll gladly show them to you.”

The gray girl’s penchant for musical paraphernalia that she had not yet experienced got the better of her. “Oh, yes! Come on, Adagio! Show me, please?”

In her tired state, the yellow siren’s sense of judgement was clouded. All she could do was get up from her seat and stretch. “Huh? Sure. I probably need to bring those in anyways…”

With a satisfied smile, Blueblood led them out to the back of the music store and into the alley where trucks would normally pull in to drop off their equipment. Except today...there wasn’t one.

Octavia was quick to point this out. “Erm...where are the--? Hey! What the bloody hell--?!”

And in a flash, Blueblood suddenly put his arm around her neck, holding her to his body.

“What--Blueblood, what are you doing?!” Adagio yelled as she turned to see her friend held captive by her boss. “Let her go!”

“I will,” he said with a small chuckle, “Don’t worry. This is just an unforeseen accident.” In his free hand, he started to read from what appeared to be an old spellbook. “Ελάτε και σκορπίστε πνεύματα χάους του κρύου!”

“Rrrgh!” Octavia tried her best to struggle, but locked eyes on something else that caused her to stop on a dime. “...D-Dagio...behind you!”

Adagio turned around to see Wendy standing there. Her eyes were now solid white and shining against the darkness of the evening’s moonlight. Her human form started to fade away as a harsh, cold wind started to blow around the alley, forcing a chill down their spines.

“Your power belongs to my master now, Adagio Dazzle! I’ve been waiting for this moment ever since I came to this wretched place!” Soon enough, Wendy’s human form had disappeared and she had transformed into a transparent, ghostly horse creature that was the size of a house.

A wendigo.

Comments

[The Crazed Werewolf]

I wonder how long it will take for Blueblood to realize that Wendy is using him.

[Starlight Nova]

The Human World is seen as the dumping grounds for Equestrian threats that are too much to handle. The biggest, most notable example of which was the Sirens who are now regular human girls trying to get by.

Really? I thought they only did that with the Sirens and the Memory Stone.

[Jmaster49]

11056715
In the canon? Yes. But this story is going to show off other individuals and artifacts that were banished here via my own original concepts.

[Jmaster49]

11056713
It goes both ways if you think about it. He's merely using her to get what he wants also. Neither of them realize it just yet though.