Family Begins With You

by Jmaster49

Arc XXV Episode X: Reporting The Scores

“...I see. And is there any way I can speak to this ‘Starswirl’?” Tatsu said with airquotes, “Because this magic shit has been the source of our family’s troubles this whole time.”

Aria bit her lip and explained, “...we’d need to bring him through an Equestrian portal. Something that only happens every so often. But we can make one ourselves with the right kind of magic.”

“Believe me, I hate his ass too,” Keiji added, “But getting to him won’t be easy. It’ll take us some time.”

“Hmph,” Tatsu scoffed under his breath. It was anyone’s guess as to whether or not he believed what they were saying. But for the moment, he knew he had to cut his losses and move on. “This is a pain in the ass and it’s only gonna get worse the longer I hang around. Gotta bail.”

“Well?” Flash spoke up, “What’s it gonna be?”

Tatsu held up his free hand. “Alright. You’ve bought yourselves some time…for now. You’ve got one week to bring me this ‘Stargirl’ bastard or whatever his name is. I’m running out of patience and we’re gonna take matters into our own hands if you can’t prove anything to us.”

Since they were at a standstill, there was no way to resolve their current situation without their alibi. The group had to concede.

“...Fine,” Keiji muttered, “I’m too tired to kick your ass anymore anyways.”

“So that’s it, we’re letting him go?” Flash grumbled.

“Nothing else we can do right now,” Aria replied, “We’re all tapped out and he’s got the advantage against us.”

Flash huffed and tried to step forward, but stumbled down to one knee. “Gah…dammit. I suppose a tactical retreat is in order.”

“See you losers later,” Tatsu gave a salute with two fingers and threw a smoke bomb on the ground.

Poof!

And he was gone in an instant.

“...Huh. After seeing Trixie fail at that about 69 times, I never expected anyone would actually use it right,” Aria quipped.

“You seriously kept count?” Keiji asked flatly, “For real, sis?”

Aria shrugged her shoulders. “I thought friends were supposed to memorize stuff about each other.”

“Not like--ugh, nevermind,” Keiji rolled his eyes.

Moments later, Sunset and Rainbow Dash would appear on the scene, running up to the group.

“We’re here! We’re here!” Dash yelled as she looked around, gritting her teeth, “Whose ass do I have to kick?!”

“...For the fastest one around here, you were pretty slow on the draw,” Aria commented, “You just missed ‘em.”

“Aw come on!”

Sunset had her fire sword at the ready, but snapped it out of existence as she went to kneel down next to Flash.

“Flash! Are you okay? Gah…I never should’ve let myself allow you to do this,” she lamented as she tried to look over his bruises and wounds. “Can you look at me?”

“Yeah, I’m…well, if I said I was fine, I’d be lying,” he said with a forced chuckle before keeling over as he held his chest, “...agh--yep, there goes the internal bleeding.”

“Hang on…I’ve been practicing white magic for just such an occasion,” Sunset placed her hand on his neck, and a gold aura would shine from her hand…

“Why’d you let the bad guys’ boss get away?!” Dash complained, “Don’t you know that’s how they always come back stronger?”

Micro stood up and spoke, “We won’t have to worry for too long. They shot down a military vehicle on our home soil. The authorities are gonna be tracking them down for that and they’ll be found within days.”

“He’s right, agh--” Flash added in between a grunt of pain, “Can’t believe I didn’t think of that myself. We just need to make sure to report everything that’s happened. You got those photos, MC?”

“...Some of them, yes,” Micro replied, “I’m hoping our efforts won’t have been too late for an investigation to get started.”

“It’s already happened, kiddos,” a man’s voice called out from afar.

Everyone turned to see a gray-skinned detective wearing a brown trench coat, a female police officer with bright yellow skin, and a younger male officer with thick-rimmed glasses next to him.

“Quick Draw, call it in. Corkscrew, get a report filed.”

“Yes sir,” the woman replied.

“On it!” the young man replied.

The detective approached everyone and got out his notepad. “Okay…one at a time--”

But before he could even speak, Aria, Rainbow Dash, and Micro Chips all started talking over each other as they tried to explain what happened.

“The Yakuza shot down one of our national guard’s black hawks!”

“I’m almost certain they got illegal weapons.”

“Some of them ran off before we could kick their asses!”

“...One at a time, please,” Pale muttered as he shook his head. “...I need a clear report to give to The Mayor. She’ll need to know what to do to keep the city intact.”