Family Begins With You

by Jmaster49

Arc XIV Episode I: Smoke And Mirrors

Meanwhile, elsewhere…

The feminine figure that was clad in a skintight, latex bodysuit to hide her presence had made her way across the city and into an abandoned warehouse building. She removed the bodysuit, and revealed herself to be a brown-skinned young woman with purple hair. She was also rather tall--about six feet--rivaling the height of Principal Celestia.

“Everything’s going as planned, boss,” she spoke with a slightly foreign accent, as she stripped down to workout clothes--a basic pair of shorts and a sports bra. “The dream demon I planted took a lot out of them. They’ll be powerless against the next stage of our plan.”

“Excellent work,” said another feminine, albeit raspy and aged voice from nearby, “I knew I could count on you. Equestria was so…stifling, wasn’t it, Lucide? A place where you couldn’t dare practice certain types of magic lest a certain someone get in your way.”

Lucide, the tan-skinned woman, flopped against a lone couch that was in the middle of the warehouse floor. “Don’t I know it. So what’s the idea behind the next stage of your plan again? How’s mind control gonna get where you’ll have your power back?”

Rrrrrr…

The whirring of an electric wheelchair could be heard as the source of the second voice wheeled herself towards one of the nearby windows. The key difference between her and the rest of those in this world?

She had hooves instead of feet.

But hands as well--which meant that she was anthropomorphic. The exact details were left unknown due to the fact that she wore a hood that concealed her face as well as most of her body.

“Kiddo, if there’s--ack!--one thing I’ve noticed about this world…” she explained in between coughs, “Is that these humans, their…brains. Their sense of self is on par with the ponies back home. Maybe--ack!--greater what with all these giant carriages on wheels and space lasers…”

“Cars and satellites,” Lucide corrected her.

“Don’t interrupt. Anyway--despite the advancements humans have under their belt, they do have one weakness that is all too easy to exploit, dear Luci.”

“...And that is?”

The cranky lady replied with a smug giggle. “Hmhmhm…hormones, my dear. These humans have little to no control over their endocrine system. Far less control than the average pony, dragon, or changeling…”

Lucide sat upright with a nervous expression on her face. “...Wait a sec. You really wanna use…ya know…that spell, ma’am? The forbidden one?”

“Absolutely,” the older woman responded with a chuckle, “Haven’t you noticed that whenever there’s a problem that needs to be solved or a demonic entity that needs to be put down, those girls are the ones who tend to fix things?”

“...Hmm…”

The wheelchair-bound lady continued while pushing her chair towards Lucide. “Just as well, the student body seems to be primarily made up of girls with only a small percentage being boys. Which means their…capacity to fall victim to the distractions of young adult hormones is great. And once they’re distracted, I can find out the source of Sunset Shimmer’s power, as well as any other Equestrians that are here.”

“Oh yeah,” Lucide called to mind what she had seen earlier that day. “So far, there’s two of ‘em. One of them seems to be a batpony stallion who can control blood. The other seems to be a shadowpony stallion who can control dark magic. The latter is much older though, and they’re both male.”

“I see…this could present us a--ack!--goddammit, Luci get me my pills. And then make sure we still have that necklace.”

The young woman got off of the couch and snickered in response to the order. “Damn, granny. Are ya sure this is gonna work? You can barely stand, let alone use any power.” She walked over to a nearby filing cabinet and grabbed a small medication bottle, then she tossed it in the older woman’s direction. “Sunset seems pretty powerful. I don’t think it’ll be enough to win her over.”

Without hesitation, she grabbed the bottle out of the air via a weak, green aura of levitation magic. “Hmph,” the older woman scoffed as she took one of the pills, “Never underestimate the power of age and experience, dear. I used to be quite the looker in my day you know. I know all of the best ways to catch a stallion’s attention. See when I was younger--”

Lucide rolled her eyes as she grabbed a book from a nearby bookshelf, and used the open cover to hide the fact that she was gritting her teeth. “Oh joy. Here she goes again with her tales from two-hundred years ago…can we just cut to something else, please?”

---

At the city hospital…

Keiji was cleared once the doctors had found that his heart attack wasn’t fatal. As soon as he was able to leave, Adagio was waiting for him outside of his hospital room, biting her lip from anxiety.

“...There you are,” she put down the magazine and approached him with a hug, “I’m so glad you’re okay. I couldn’t live with myself if I let our new baby br--er, friend… get hurt.”

“Geh…dammit…” he muttered under his breath, though he didn’t exactly make an effort to get away from the embrace. “Is that why you all went apeshit? After I got hurt?”

Adagio let go of him, and put her hands behind her back as she explained herself--though she was unable to make eye contact. “Well…yes. We like you, and seeing you in pain made us…lose our bananas as you might say.”

“...And why do you guys like me so much?” he folded his arms, “I’m an asshole. The Christmas crap was one thing, but you all really wanna hang with me outside of that?”

“...This may sound a bit harsh, but to be honest…” the eldest siren took a pause and sighed, “We pity you. Knowing that your older sisters treated you in such a way back in Equestria…it made us livid. I wish we could tear their heads off.”

Keiji shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged. “Pfft. I suppose that’s one thing we agree on. But it’s not their fault--it’s the shitty state of our household.”

“Even so, it was no excuse for them to treat you with such…malice and contempt,” Adagio lamented as she put a hand on his shoulder, “So my sisters and I figured…we could try to be your real older sisters…if you wanted?”

The boy’s cheeks turned a shade of crimson as he was unable to answer right away. “...I’ll…I’ll think about it. Speaking of which, where’s Sonata and Aria anyway?”

“Aria went to Sour Sweet and Sugarcoat’s hospital room to check up on them. And Sonata…” A small smile grew on Adagio’s face. “...She’ll be back soon with a surprise.”

“...Uh-huh.”