Family Begins With You

by Jmaster49

Arc VII Episode IV: Along Came A Spider...

Meanwhile, on the other side of town…

A large, two-story home was located near the suburbs of the city. This is where Blueblood lived. There, he was already pondering his next move regarding Aidon and the others.

“Gah…this won’t do,” he thought to himself while looking at his notes on the kitchen counter as he sipped his coffee, “There has to be a way to…unless…It seems I have no other choice.”

With a snap of his fingers, he summoned Wendy from his book, and the girl would appear in front of him moments later.

“Yes, Master Blueblood? What do you need?” she asked as she appeared in front of him with a dutiful nod. “I’m still not at my full power yet but…”

Blueblood shook his head, “No need for that. I’ve already got the perfect thing in mind that you can do to help. Aidon is more powerful than we would’ve expected, but…” He shut the book. “If you make use of your Endbringer’s Frost, we’ll be able to freeze him to death.”

Upon hearing him say the name of that particular ability, Wendy froze--metaphorically--in place, staring at him with wide, fearful eyes. “...T-the E-endb-bringer Attack…? B-but…Master…using that would…I would…”

He got up from his seat, and put a hand on her shoulder. “I know. Trust me. It hurts me just as much as it hurts you. But the longer we wait, the stronger he’ll get. Surely you understand that we can’t wait any longer.”

Plink…plink….plink…

Frozen tears dropped and clattered to the floor. Wendy forcefully kept her eyes shut and did her best to keep from bawling--only letting out small, soft whimpers. “I-I…I understand, Master. Besides…I-I know you can just summon others like me anyway so I don’t really matter that much in the grand scheme…” she said in between a sniffle.

“Wendy…” There was a regretful look on his face even as he looked away from her. Was it possible that Blueblood genuinely had sympathy for this creature? “I…” he sighed as he tried to explain himself, “It’ll ultimately be for the greater good. I can’t beat him in my current state, so your execution of the Endbringer would be extremely beneficial.” He looked down at the floor. “And then maybe…just maybe…if I find a way to grab your essence from the Aether, I can bring you back to life once it’s over.”

Her sobbing slowly came to a stop as she opened her eyes. The girl rubbed away her tears with an open palm and muttered. “You...you promise?”

“I promise,” he replied with a nod, “You’ve been quite the loyal subject. To throw you away completely would be rather foolish…”

Wendy turned around and hugged him, burying her face against his chest. “Oh, thank you, Master!”

“You’re welcome, Wendy.” He hugged her close, and looked away with a small grin on his face. “Of course…what I want comes first.”

---

Meanwhile, back in the middle of the city…

Pinkie had been roaming around, looking for any shred of information she could find in regards to the ‘demons’ that Twilight had mentioned over the phone. But so far, she was having no luck.

“...Sprinkles,” she muttered under her breath as she walked casually down the street with her hands in the pockets of her hoodie, “Just what am I even looking for out here? The city is like a big, metallic jungle filled to the brim with big metal trees!” she said in reference to the tall buildings all over the place. “C’mon, Pinkie Pie…think…”

Little did she know, there was already a magical presence in the area. And it was sneaking up on her in the form of purple smoke…but it didn’t make a sound, nor did it have a scent of any kind, making it impossible to detect unless someone was looking directly at it.

“Hm…” she looked around, then down at her phone to check the time. “Let’s see. I’ve got about forty minutes before I’m back on the job. I think that gives me enough time’ta search a few blocks.”

Once again, the miasma would continue to flow in Pinkie’s direction, hiding behind bushes as it slowly crept up to her.

And at last, she was able to feel something…strange. “Eghgh…what is…” she stopped dead in her tracks, and reached behind herself in an attempt to scratch her back. Thankfully, nothing was there. “...What the…I could’ve sworn something was crawling on me just then.” She took a look around and found nothing. She was standing in front of a park where a few kids were playing to her right. And to her left, cars continued to pass by down the road like always.

“Hoo…” Pinkie took a deep breath, and continued onwards, “Alright. Maybe it was just my mind going places as usual. Focus, Pinkamena. Focus.” She grumbled to herself while rubbing her head, “You’re looking for demons. Demons. No other thoughts…gotta stay alert…” she narrowed her eyes and started to shift her head back and forth, glaring in all directions as she walked. “...Something’s up. I know it.”

She was in for a rude awakening.

Pinkie’s perceptions were perfect, though she didn’t realize that something had been following her the entire time.

Meanwhile, behind her, some of the children at the park had noticed the shadow-like figure evolve into something solid with multiple legs.

“...”

They all froze, dropped their toys and immediately scampered off into the distance without saying a word.

“Huh?” Pinkie turned around to see…nothing. No one was there and all of the children had run off. “...Freaky. What’s got them all spooked?” From the corner of her eye, she was able to see--right below her… “Eeek! A spider!” And she dove into the nearest bush…

But surprisingly, it didn’t look harmful. It was a simple yellow-sac garden spider.

“Oh…it’s just…I thought it was something deadly. Fluttershy showed me that one a while back. I guess it can’t hurt to help it out…right?”

Ever so carefully, Pinkie walked out to the spider with a large leaf in hand. “Hey…little guy. Let me help you…” she muttered quietly while a few beads of sweat ran down the side of her face. She bent over and shook the leaf in its direction…

And it obliged, crawling onto the leaf which only caused Pinkie’s hand to shake further.

“...Okay…j-just gotta get it over to the park’s grass…” Her heartbeat was thumping loud enough to be heard inside of her head as she slowly walked it over to the grass, and let it go. “...Whew…that wasn’t so bad…”

The spider turned around and looked at Pinkie with its set of eight eyes…and blinked them all at once.

“Ew-ew-ew! Gross!” she revolted and quickly backed away from the spider.

But Pinkie’s comment would prove to be her undoing…

WOOSH!

From where the spider stood, it gave off a purple miasma as its size shifted. Soon enough, it became large enough to where it was the size of a car. But instead of its usual arachnid head…

“WHAT THE GOODNESS--?!” Pinkie screamed as she watched the bug transform into something large enough to cast a shadow over her…

---

Back at the diner…

Diamond Tiara and Keiji had pretty much finished up their meal, and were prepared to leave.

“Mm, that was awesome,” Tiara commented as she cleaned her hands, then face with a moisturized wipe that came in a bottle she carried with her. She then handed one to Keiji. “Here, ya vagabond. You got ketchup and stuff on those weirdly sharp teeth of yours.”

“Hm?” he accepted the wipe, and licked the ketchup off his fangs with an oddly satisfied expression. “Mm…almost like the real thing…” he mumbled as he cleaned his face and hands as well.

“Say what now?” Tiara inquired.

Only for Kei to shake his head. “Eh? Nothing. Let’s get going.”

“Uh-huh…anyway, you’re not as bad or creepy as I thought,” Tiara commented as she walked up to the register to pay, “Who knows? If you’re lucky I might accept you as my personal servant.”

“You serious?” he raised a brow.

Tiara giggled to herself. “Of course not. But I’m not ashamed to call you an acquaintance at least. Take it or leave it.”

Keiji rolled his eyes in response. “I’d rather just leave you here.”

“Sure you would--”

CRASH!

Everyone immediately turned their heads to the window when they heard the glass crack, followed by a thud as something--or rather, someone, hit the ground outside.

And Sonata was the first to realize who it was. “Pinkie?!”

Comments

[Jmaster49]

11081219
You're not wrong! 😂

[Jmaster49]

11082466
Well he's trying to figure out how to break it to her lol