Family Begins With You

by Jmaster49

Arc XVII Episode II: Love In The Air

Meanwhile…

The Sirens arrived at school moments later, each with their own respective reactions to the greeting card holiday.

“Ugh--this lovey-dovey crap is gonna make me break out in hives,” Aria grumbled as she walked with her sisters.

“Aw, c’moooon!” Sonata insisted, “I bet it’ll be super fun! And look!” she pointed at a poster that was plastered on the wall near the cafeteria. “They’re serving heart-shaped molten brownies! That has to be cool, right Dagi?”

There was no response from the eldest siren. Her gaze was averted in the direction of the boys that were busy on their way to class.

“...Dagi? Yoo-hoo! Anyone home??” Sonata repeated herself while standing on one foot and frantically waving her arm in front of her sister’s face to get her attention.

“Huh--wha? Oh…” Adagio rubbed the side of her head with an embarrassed smile on her face, “Sorry, girls. For some reason I was out of it for a second. I’m not sure--must be something in the air.”

Aria stuck out her tongue, feigning a gag, “Uch! Better not be ‘love’ in the air. The last thing I want is to fall for somebody that I don’t get along with. Though…” she tilted her head and started eyeing some of the boys herself. “I guess I can see the appeal--” But upon saying that, she immediately shook her head and gagged once more. “Blech! What the hell? Nah. No way--I must be crazy.”

“Ooooh!” Sonata sprouted from between her sisters and threw one arm around each of them. “Do my sisters have crushes? Oh this is so exciting!”

“Motherf--no I don’t!” Aria huffed.

“...I don’t think so,” Adagio denied.

However, just as her older sisters did before, Sonata also started to make faces at the boys, with a cat-like expression on her face--she even purred! “Rrrr…come to think of it, they’re not half bad--”

“Oh no you don’t,” Aria snapped her out of it by pulling her arm, “Let’s go. Not letting you fall victim to this love-crap.”

Sonata recoiled, skidding along her heels as she was pulled by force. “Hey! I was joking! C’mon, Ari!”

But this left Adagio perplexed. The orange girl stroked her chin as she thought about the sensation she had just experienced moments ago. “Was that…? No, it couldn’t have been.”

As they went through the halls, Aria and Sonata watched as the saddened Flash Sentry passed by them, now walking towards the front of the school.

“Huh? What’s up with him?” Aria asked.

“Not sure…” Sonata said as she yanked her arm back with a pop!

Aria scratched her head as he walked off. “Think we should say something?”

“Let’s not bother him, girls,” Adagio suggested, “He probably has a lot on his mind that we wouldn’t be able to help with. Best we leave him be for now.”

“Yeah…guess you’re right,” Aria replied with a sigh, “We don’t know how human problems go, so we don’t wanna make things worse…”

“Poor guy…wonder what happened…” Sonata pondered aloud.

Meanwhile, near the front of the school…

Sunset and Applejack were walking to school together and chatting about recent events.

“So ya’ll fought an ‘elephant’ demon?” Applejack commented with a chuckle, “Boy howdy--ya can’t make this stuff up. I know we should be used’ta it all by now, but every time somethin’ new happens, I’m still surprised.”

“Same here. But it begs the question,” Sunset replied as she looked down at the journal in her bookbag, “Just how much longer before we end up in a situation where both worlds collide? Do you think we’re headed towards uncertain danger?”

Surprisingly, Applejack scoffed at this with her sense of down-to-earth logic. “Pssh-yeah right. Sunset, that kinda stuff only happens in disaster and sci-fi flicks. There’s no way there’s enough magic’ta actually bridge the gap between two dimensions.”

“Are you sure?” Sunset asked with a worried expression, “Because it feels like we’ve been living through a constant sci-fi flick. Plus, ya know, I literally grew up where all this stuff came from?”

Even still, Applejack was confident as they entered the school. “Ah, tamaters, pataters--we’ve sent evil magical creatures runnin’ scared with their tails between their legs every other time.” She emphasized while punching her open palm, “Ain’t no way we’re gonna lose against any others.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Sunset replied with a giggle, “Sorry. Guess I’m just wrapped up in my own head again…” With a quick exhale to calm herself down, she then changed the subject. “Oh right--by the way, how’s Keiji been doing at your farm, Applejack?”

No answer.

The deafening silence caused Sunset to swiftly turn her head, “Applejack?”

Applejack was busy idly looking at some of the boys headed to carpentry class from afar with a blank stare on her face. It wasn’t until Sunset snapped her fingers in front of Applejack’s eyes that her attention was broken.

Snap.

“Yah! Whu--what’s goin’ on?” the farm girl panicked as she whipped her head every which way.

“Easy, AJ. You were staring off into space for some reason. Everything okay?”

“I’m fine--just found mahself lookin’ at the fellers for a sec. Dunno what came over me--”

Sunset teased her with a friendly nudge of her elbow. “Well, they do say things like love is in the air around this time. Don’t think I forgot about your childhood crush on Jonathan.”

“Gah!” Applejack gasped, then narrowed her eyes, glaring at Sunset with a pouty lip. “Who told you that?”

“Relax--your secret is safe with me--” Sunset stopped on a dime when she saw Flash Sentry pass by her, and walk out to the front of the campus where he’d take a seat on the steps. “...That’s weird…”

“Somethin’ the matter--ohh…” Applejack bit her lip when she saw the boy in question and immediately put two and two together. “...Heartache. Best we not bother him.”

“...Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Sunset asked, “Maybe it’s the holiday that’s getting to him.”

As always, Applejack spoke honestly and from the heart. “Yeah, likely cuz ya’ll both used’ta date each other. If you approached him now, it might cause all those repressed feelin’s pop up again. Ya don’t wanna make it worse, do ya?”

And as much as she wanted to help out, Sunset was willing to listen to her friend. Applejack was usually right when it came to intrapersonal conflict, so why stress the issue? “Yeah, guess you have a point. He probably needs some space right about now. I’ll probably check on him later…” All the while her gaze was so fixated upon him that she nearly walked into her locker--!

“Woah, watch where yer goin’!” Applejack got between her and the metal doors at the last second.

“Oof. Sorry. Guess my mind is all over the place today…”