Shadows of fire

What must be done

By Foxgear

--break

“Big Mac you’re going to be late for school! Hurry up with them chores!” Granny Smith yelled from the porch already dressed in her lunch lady uniform with her two granddaughters, Applejack and Applebloom waiting beside her. Both girls bore worried frowns as they watch their older brother march through pig slop, cursing and flinging buckets of feed with controlled rage.

“Does Big Mac seem… angrier to you lately sis?” Applebloom asked huddling close to her sister’s thigh.

Applejack smiled softly as she patted her little sister’s hair, “He’s just stressed is all. He’s been having a tough time in school since taking over the farm, it's stretching him thin and it’s probably what’s go him in such a huff. I’d wish he’d let me help him.”

“Damn boy’s stubborn, but then so are you. Come on let’s get you two so school, he can take that damn death machine of his.” Granny grumbled referring to the motorcycle Big Mac had brought home after his birthday. She hadn’t liked it when their dad had taken their mother on rides years back when they were young. Seeing her barely legal grandson driving one wasn’t any better for her, but she none the less let him ride it as he was a legal adult now.

“We’re leaving Mac. Make sure you get to school on time!” She hollered out the truck window. He waved as they left, signaling he heard her.

It took another twenty minutes for Mac to finish the chores. He walked into the house covered in slop. He peeled the wet clothes from his skin with a digest. He hated the rainy season. Everything turned to mud and manure turned to literal liquid shit.

Grumbly he walked into the mudroom shower and turned on the water, which was cold of course. The heater was slow and he didn’t have time to wait, so he grabbed the bar of soap and scrubbed the important parts and got out. Shivering he dried the wetness from his body and tossed on some old spice and dressed in whatever he could find. It took a total of five minutes for him to clean up and get his stuff and he was out the door and on his bike, roaring down the road to school.

Arriving at school had become a pain of sorts since he’d gotten the bike from the shack repaired. The damn thing was loud and drew attention, attention Mac didn’t really want, but he liked the benefit of not having to car pool with his sisters.

It’s not that he didn’t want to ride with them or anything. He just needed to be more mobile and independent now. Besides he was graduating this year, he would have stopped riding with them anyway, but… he did miss their morning drives to school. Singing along to country songs on the radio, chatting about school, and chores and whatever was going on with everybody.

Rolling into the first open parking spot, which happened to be in front, Mac removed his helmet to discover the school’s only other motorcycle rider smiling and waving awkwardly at him. The rider was none other than the school’s reformed pariah, Sunset Shimmer.

“Um… hi Mac… How are you today?” She asked fidgeting in place.

She might be hanging around Fluttershy too much because Sunset Shimmer was never nervous. Mac supposed that might be a bit far. Sunset was probably just being careful, it’s only been about three months since the battle of the band and she’s just gotten into everyone’s good graces. Wouldn’t want to screw up and be back at square one.

Course there was another reason she might be nervous around him specifically and the cause of that would be she only has a roof overhead because he allows her to stay at the shack in the south orchard. She was placed there out of kindness or maybe a sense of duty, by his dad, Nico Vega, who he recently found out had been from the same world as her.

“I’m fine. How are you doing? Nobody had been giving you grief lately have they?”

“No, no, no,” She replied quickly, crossing her arms in a big X. “Everyone that still has a grudge against me for what I did at the fall formal hasn’t come out too… pay me a visit, since that one time.”

Sometime between the fall formal and the battle of the bands, a group of students with a bone to pick with Sunset followed her home and sprayed graffiti on the shack she was living in. Well it wasn’t so much as a shack as single room house like the one in the west orchard, but the fact remained the same, some assholes came onto his property without permission and did some damage.

Damage he made them pay for in both cash and blood.

“Hey Clover, how’s the leg?” Mac asked casually as the former football star limped into the school building. He froze up when he saw Mac and hurried into the school. Mac would’ve laughed if it didn’t make him so sad, seeing the fear in the other boy’s eyes.

“He’ll get over it,” Sunset said warmly, placing a soft hand on his arm, it was almost enough to make him blush, if… well, he’d rather not think about it.

“Maybe,” Was all he said getting off his bike and heading into the school. Sunset trailed behind him. In the glass of the door, he saw her smile, a wide happy smile that made his stomach dance. He hoped she wasn’t starting to have feelings for him or vice versa.

--break

The school day went by with little to speak off. Mac did his best to stay awake in his classes, fighting the doziness that came with his new… occupation as he would call it. That required him to be out late at night, very late. All he had to do was get through math and he’d be free to take a damn nap!

“Big Mac, are you paying attention?” Ms. Cheerilee asked him.

He rubbed his eye, crap; he had fallen asleep at some point. He didn’t know when he blacked out, so he wasn’t certain what she was teaching right now. He’d have to wing it.

“Yelp.”

“Good, why don’t you come up and solve this problem?”

Mac grumbled under his breath, math was one of his best subjects, but he couldn’t do it when he was tired and oh boy what was that? The damn problem took up half the board! Who uses this junk? He wouldn’t that’s for sure. All he needed was basic math, accounting, and trig.

Regardless Mac bruised himself on trying to do the problem, unsurprisingly he didn’t get it right and Sunset Shimmer was called to solve it. As he sat back in his chair, waiting for the bell, Ms. Cheerilee said something about the Friendship Games coming up. He wanted to snort at the mention of it.

He had competed in the games four years ago, the games had been held at Crystal Prep that year. He had competed against some Crystal Prep senior named Shining armor in a martial arts contest. He remembered the match very well. Shiny boy had been trained in some fancy Tai Kwon do or something and he’d gone against him with what Dad had taught him. He lost due to too many penalties and being too brutal and unsportsmanlike.

He left Shiny boy with a lot of bruises and a broken arm. The referee had to drag him off the mat. Mac felt bad for what he did, it was pretty stupid to hurt a guy like that over something as silly as the Friendship Games. Mom and Dad had still been alive at the time and they had very different reactions.

Mom had been upset by how he acted. Seeing her quiet baby boy beat the living tar out of someone had to be quite a shock. Then there was Dad… he had been proud, it had been strange to feel shame and pride at the same time. Course Mom hadn’t been happy when she found out Dad had been the one to tell him to not stop punching till his opponent either gives up or dies.

Dad had been in the doghouse for a while after that. Course he must have made it up to her at some time because he heard… yeah, he was done thinking about this.

The final bell rang and the students filed out. Mac quickly stopped by his locker, avoiding anyone he could and made a beeline for the exit when…

“Hey Mac wait up!” Applejack called from the somewhere. She ran up to him as he walked outside to get away from the noise of the hallway. “Mac!”

“Ah know, Ah heard ya, just wanted to be someplace quiet is all.” He said, hoping to quell her anger. He had a busy day ahead of him and it was just starting.

“Alright, sorry for yelling, but Ah’m getting worried, you’ve been acting… strange. Even Applebloom is starting to notice, so you know it’s gotta be bad.” Mac grimaced; this was exactly why he wanted to leave quickly. “What’s going on Mac? Is something the matter?”

Protect her son

Mac shook his head and put his best smile, “No, nothing’s wrong. I’m just tired is all, you know working at the farm, doing chores, and school, it’s all just getting to be a bit much maybe. All I need to do is last the rest of the year and it’ll be just me and the Apple trees.”

“Oh, I see…”

Mac frowned at AJ’s tone; she was obviously upset about something. She probably wouldn’t tell her unless he prodded her about it. “Ok, what’s the matter with you? Why are you looking so blue?”

“Well… it’s just… hard thinking you’ll be gone and on your own soon.”

“Aj, I’m just moving back home. You and Applebloom can come with me if you really wanted too you know?”

“And leave Granny all by herself?”

Mac hesitated; he really didn’t know what to say to her. Maybe that he didn’t want to leave Granny, but he also wanted to start his own life too? Or maybe he should tell her the truth, about what he learned out in the shack?

He didn’t know and he didn’t want to deal with this, not right now. Call it running away, but he didn’t it care.

“Ah’ll be home later. Call my cell if you need anything.” He said walking away to his bike.

Applejack stayed where she stood and watched him roar off. Behind her, her friends emerged from the bushes, all of them with varying looks of concern.

“So do we follow him?” Fluttershy suggested quietly.

“No, leave him be for now,” Applejack told them as she slumped away to her truck.

--break

Canterlot square market was located on Main Street, the market was a spot reserved for local farmers to sell their wares directly without having to pay stores commission to sell their products on their shelves, thus making their products cheaper and easier to sell.

As Big Mac rode up to the dealer’s parking lot he wondered how his new “employees” were fairing. Hopefully, they weren’t causing trouble today. After last week he was starting wonder if they were worth keeping around, but he couldn’t hire anyone else for less than what he was paying them, which was basically nothing.

“How are you three doing today?” He asked walking up behind the three. “Make a good profit today?”

Three cashiers turned revealing them to be the sirens, Adagio Dazzle, Sonata Dusk, and Aria Blaze.

“Oh just swell, at this rate, we might have enough to buy some real clothes in about four months,” Adagio said with mocking sweetness. Mac could only raise an eyebrow as he looked over the clothes he provided them with, which were Applejack’s old clothes that she didn’t wear or wasn’t allowed to wear. Such as cutoff jeans and short shorts, Granny really got Applejack out of that phase quick.

None of them, except Sonata, had been really enthusiastic about their choice of clothing when he dropped the pile off at the shack for them, but it was all he had to give them. No way was he was going out and buying or giving them money to buy the clothes they wanted, which all were in the three digits for just a single article of clothing. Seriously who pays a hundred dollars for a shirt?

He did give them money to go buy their own bras and panties. That resulted in a mall trip he was forced to attend for reasons he didn’t know why. For a solid three hours, they teased him with varies linguine, he sat there red-faced from embarrassment till they had their fill.

Why had he gone through the trouble of not pulling the trigger that night? Well, to be honest, he wasn’t completely sure he could have gone through with it either way. Despite them actually being monstrous fish ponies from another world, they looked and for the most part acted human.

So he took them in, built an addition on to the shack in the west orchard for them to bunk in and gave them a job. Not as apple sellers, that was just a bonus for him and a way to keep them busy till he needed them for their real job, which was to help track down other monsters from Equestria.

Something they have proven to be a great help in. They had a knack for sensing dark magic after eating it for years and they worked very well as information gatherers. Between the three of them, they were able to run the cart and run around town and investigate anything that might be magic related. There were a lot more magical disturbances than anyone would have guessed. Most of them just weren’t on a very large scale like with the Sunset and the Dazzlings incidents.

That didn’t mean they weren’t any less dangerous and in some cases, they were worse because no one knew enough to put a stop to them. When he first arrived at the shack his dad had collected a lot of missing person’s reports and unexplainable deaths, which the Dazzlings confirmed as monster attacks. For three months since he took them in and the Dazzlings have been investigating each spot the attacks had accrued and every new one that cropped up and then eliminated the problem.

“Got any info today or will I finally get a night off?” He asked them as they loaded the remaining products into the back of the truck, which wasn’t much, the girls did seem to have a knack for getting stuff sold.

Adagio had on her usual smirk, a look he’s come to relate to, as no, he wasn’t getting the night off.

“Where is it this time?” He asked slamming the tailgate of the blue truck shut. At some point Dad had bought a second truck, a blue 1997 Chevy, Mac had completely forgotten about it till it came apparent the Dazzlings would need some kind of transportation. Thus he dug the old girl out of the trees and fixed her up for them. He hoped to God they never got stopped or got into a car accident. They didn’t have licenses and the truck wasn’t insured.

“In Hop’s valley park,” Adagio answered moving the driver’s side of the truck, “Several campers have disappeared without a trace. Police have finally released a statement saying that this has been going on for a while. I would guess it’s been happening even longer than they think, and they’ve just now noticed it.”

Mac sighed, Hop’s valley was a forty mile drive away and the valley was over two hundred acres of hilly forest with multiple campgrounds.

“I see,” He said as the Dazzlings piled into the truck, Adagio in the driver’s seat. “What do you think it is more timber wolves that somehow got through the cracks?”

The portal in front of the school wasn’t the only way to get from Equestria to Earth as his dad’s own arrival in this world involved some sort of faulty teleportation device and the Dazzlings via banishment spell. Most creatures that come through via what the Dazzling described as a natural temporal portal.

The plain version of their hour long lecture on the subject was that cracks in reality form and any random thing falls through. They can be from any world from any point in time, and from anywhere, most of them were simple beasts. The portals usually only occur in areas with large amounts of chaos magic, which according to the Dazzlings, Equestria had an entire forest of the stuff.

Adagio tapped her finger on the steering wheel, humming a little tune as she did so. It was an action she did quite often when she was deep in thought.

“I don’t think so,” She answered after about a minute, “No timber wolf, no matter how smart could keep this many attacks this quiet for so long. As a timber wolves territory grows they grow bolder and attack more often. Whatever is in that valley, it has some intelligence.”

“I see, let’s go back to the farm for now.” He said mounting his motorcycle.

As it turns out there was a secondary road to the west shack, it was off the road just a bit further down from the main driveway and it leads directly to the shack. Mac wondered how he never found it before.

The Dazzlings parked the truck and took the extra produce inside to make into their supper, while they were doing that he was going through what he would need for tonight’s mission when Adagio sat beside him with one of dad’s pistols in her hand.

“I’m coming with you tonight,” She stated leaving no room for argument.

“And why do want to do that?” Mac asked as he cleaned out the cylinders of his .44 revolver, he decided he wanted more stopping power tonight.

“Because it seems like fun,” She smirked seductively.

This wasn’t the first time one of the Dazzlings has come with him on a monster hunt, sometimes it was only one, sometimes two, and on a few occasions all three of them came with. Every time they proved helpful. They seemed to take some kind of… pleasure in hunting monsters. Perhaps it was the fact they were predators back in their world and what to show they were at the top of the food chain in this world.

“Fine, we’ll take the bike and park in one of the parking lots near the attacks and search on foot from there. The 12 gauge sawed offs will fit in the saddle bags.” Mac walked to the gun cabinet, a newly purchased metal one that replaced Dad’s old wooden one, and retrieved the firearms from their resting place inside, along with two shotgun bandoliers loaded with slug and buckshot ammo. Red for slug and green for buckshot, with a few nonlethal blue shell here and there.

“Which one do you want?” He asked Adagio holding up the two guns. One was a double barrel break top and the other a pump action. The double barrel allowed you to load longer more powerful shells, making up for its lack of ammo, while the pump action could only be loaded with standard shells but held double the ammo. Adagio took the pump action.

“Hey there baby, mama missed you,” She cooed, rubbing the gleaming black barrel. She cocked the gun, cycling through the action to ensure it was working properly. “Perfect.”

“Supper is ready!” Sonata adorned in AJ’s old apron, dropped a pile of freshly baked cinnamon filled apples and tacos on the table.

“Taco’s again?” Aria groaned as she flopped down in her chair, regardless she took the food and it ate it with no further complaints.

“It’s all we can afford besides apples,” Sonata said while chewing her food.

Mac chuckled as he took his portion of the meal. He would probably never get over the fact that despite living in this world for so long the sirens had never bothered to keep a stash of money at any point since their arrival. The reason was simple, if not a little foolish, why save money when they could just hypnotize people?

Their tricks worked well for them, until about the late thirties when cameras became easier use and could take pictures on demand. He didn’t believe them when they said they ran with John Dillinger and the other gangsters of the time before they showed him their mug shots from the Chicago police. Still, back then they could get away with a lot of things, despite people knowing their faces, and then came along the video camera and the internet. Which put an end to their bank robbing careers, they could fool the people in the room, but they couldn’t fool video cameras.

That was why before the Battle of the Bands they were laying low and had changed to their looks from their last mug shot, which had been in the eighties. Mac couldn’t control himself when he saw them all rocking the Afro in their photo album; he must have laughed for a solid minute, all the while the three glared with varying blushes.

So other than their hoodies, the clothes they wore to school, and the clothes from the Battle of the Bands, they had nothing else, which was probably the driving factor behind them staying here on the farm.

He did tell them about the portal in front of the school and the fact that it was passable at almost any time now (Per Sunset’s request). Why he told them about it was unknown to him, he probably figured they were home sick or something, and wanted to help them out. Either way, it proved to be crueler than kind. The portal wouldn’t allow them through, a spell, probably done by the one who banished them prohibited them from ever returning to Equestria.

“Ready to go?” Adagio asked him. She was dressed in biker gear, the best protection they could afford right now. He wore his father’s old combat uniform. The Dazzlings said it was probably this world’s version of Night Patrol armor. It looked like standard special ops stuff to him, but he supposed it was better than wearing a literal suit of metal armor.

“Yelp.”

The mounted the bike and took off for Hop’s valley.

--break

Hop’s valley was named after Hops Hopkins, the explorer who discovered the valley back in the eighteen hundred, since that time the valley has been named a national park and has been the main bread winner for the towns scattered throughout the valley. There was a total of twelve campgrounds scattered throughout the valley. The campground with the most victims was campground nine.

Mac and Adagio rolled into camp nine’s parking lot, parking away from the lamp lights they geared up. Right now the number of campers in this area was low due to the attacks, but there were still some more stubborn campers about. They managed to “acquire” the camp’s map of occupied lots from the ranger’s station. Hopefully, no one was out for a late night hike.

“You see anything?”

Adagio nodded, “Yeah, I see magic, dark magic to be exact; I’m surprised the girls and I never came here to feed. There’s so much of it, it’s going to be hard to pinpoint the source.”

“Do you think we’re dealing with more than one creature then?” Mac asked, squinting into the darkness of the forest. There was defiantly something off about this place. Something that made chills run down his spine.

“Possible or it’s something really powerful, but that leaves the question as to why something so strong would hide?”

“You said it yourself, that the creature might have some intelligence. It’s safe to assume it was afraid of being discovered when it was weaker, but now that’s it stronger it’s probably not afraid of discovery anymore.” Mac hypothesized.

Adagio nodded in agreement. That would make sense. Creatures of darkness tend to be cowardly and crafty when weak, but the moment they gain power they become bolder and more careless about their actions. The question now was what was it?

“Let’s go, it’s already eleven, I would like to be home before morning this time.” Mac flicked on his flashlight and walked onto the trail, Adagio following behind him, neither of them knew that what they were searching for was lurking much closer than they would ever guess. For in the darkness of their shadows danger awaited them with glowing green eyes.

--break

For the next hour, they walked in darkness guided only by the light of their flashlights. They thought they might have to turn around and call it a night, maybe come back in the day time so they could find clues easier. However, things changed when they stumbled across an RV, torn to shreds and covered in blood stains. Inside was a family of five, the mother, the father and their three children, all under the age of 10 were dead inside.

They had been disemboweled. On the floor pieces of their intestines and livers showed signs of being chewed on. The sight had the two monster hunters relieving their stomachs of their supper.

“What the hell would do this?” Mac gasped, wiping the bile from his lips. He’s seen a lot of things since he started this gig, but nothing, nothing compared to the massacre that happened inside that camper. Adagio was looking any better, in fact, she looked like she’s seen a ghost.

“Adagio, are you alright?” She was muttering something under her breath; he leaned down next to her to hear what it was.

“No, it can’t be they were wiped out! They can’t be here!”

Mac grabbed her by the shoulders, “What is it? What did this?”

Adagio gulped her face paler than the moon as she whispered the name of the creature, “Shadow ponies.”

A loud long whiny filled the air! The sound came from every direction, it sounded like a herd of horses was galloping around them. Then Mac heard it, he heard the sound of their hooves come to a stop. He looked down at his shadow cast in the light of the dead family’s campfire. From his own shadow a black horse emerged, its body a cluster of shifting shadows, its eyes glowing like green fire and its teeth razor sharp glistened in the moonlight.

Mac raised the sawed off and fired both buckshot rounds into the shadowy equine. The shadow reared back like hit had actually been hit, blots of black blood sprayed onto the tree behind it.

“RUN!”

Mac grabbed Adagio’s hand as the shadow pony withered in agony. More and more whinnies could be heard as they ran into the darkness. As they looked back they saw the other shadow ponies eat the one Mac shot alive.

“Why aren’t they chasing us?” Mac panted as they took cover behind a tree. He didn’t know how far they ran, but hopefully, they were heading back towards the bike.

“They need light to enter this domain, without it they stay trapped in the darkness. They hunt using the only weapon ponies can use to fight off the darkness and that is light. Ponies that hid in the dark would go mad waiting for dawn to come; most of them never make it before foolishly lighting up a candle or campfire out of fear of the dark.”

“Sounds like you know them well,” Mac pointed out, “You’ve run into shadow ponies before?”

Adagio chuckled humorlessly, “Kind of hard not to. I was raised with them, we all were. Aria, Sonata and I were born in the port town of Songsalsa in Maredor. A country ruled by the dark unicorn King Sombra. He allowed all manner of creatures into his country; so long you served him he didn’t care what you were. The shadow ponies were his favorite, though, whatever they wanted he granted and in return they served him without question. I thought they had been wiped out in the Crystal War against Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. At least that’s what my mother told me after she fled from the battle.”

From how Sunset always spoke of Equestria, it sounded like it was all sunshine and rainbows, but Mac supposed that was a foolish notion to assume. A land filled with monsters and magic couldn’t be that peaceful.

“Alright, so how do we kill them?”

“Well after the fall of the Crystal Empire, the remaining shadow ponies were hunted down by Luna’s Night Patrol and killed. Though I’m not sure how they did it.” Adagio admitted. “Shadow ponies, well not invincible are hard to kill and how you kill them has been kept secret. I assume the Night Patrollers that hunted them down figured it out somehow and didn’t bother to tell everypony thinking they wiped them out.”

Night Patrol, the group Dad belonged to before being transported to this world. Maybe he left a clue in a journal or something. He fished out his cell phone and dialed the number of the phone in the shack.

“This is Aria.”

“Aria, it’s Mac, I need you to look at my Dad’s notes and see if he wrote anything about shadow ponies down somewhere.”

“Shadow ponies? Celestia’s teets! That’s bad!” The sound of paper being moved come over the phone and then suddenly stopped. “MAC TURN OF YOUR PHONE LIGHT! THEY CAN FIND YOU!”

“Oh shit…” Mac and Adagio rolled just as the snapping jaws of a shadow pony reached out from the tree behind them. Crushing Mac’s phone between its teeth, with its light source gone the shadow pony vanished into thin air.

The two shared a sigh of relief as they continued their way down to the bike. They still had Adagio’s cell phone, which they managed to shut off the lights off, so Aria could at least call them when she (hopefully) found the information they needed.

In the distance, they spotted the gleam of the lamp posts and made a mad dash for the bike, only for Mac to stop them at the last second before they got the pavement.

“Wait, something not right, the bike it’s been moved.” Mac pointed out. The bike which had been hidden away from the lamp posts was now directly below one. “They moved it, but how?”

“That’s how ” Adagio pointed to a dead squirrel on the ground by the bike’s tire. “They jumped from the squirrel’s shadow and moved the bike. There’s no way we can hop on and get it started in time to get away.”

“Then we won’t run,” Mac said walking towards the street light. He leveled his shotgun at the lamp light; carefully he counted the steps till his shadow would be cast. “We’ll fight!”

Mac leaped into the light, aiming his gun at the ground and fired, blasting the emerging shadow pony with a full buckshot. The creature whinnied in pain, he fired again, and the shadow pony fell onto its side in a big black mass. Already his friends were devouring it, just like before. He took his chance to reload and fired into the feeding frenzy, hitting more, but they didn’t react, they just kept eating!

“Is there a reason they’re doing that?” He asked as he ran away, two more shadow ponies emerged from his shadow, they were quickly blasted away by Adagio. Getting an idea he ran in a circle, letting the shadow ponies chase after him as Adagio fired. Her shotgun ran empty, so she switched to her pistol, taking down two more. Mac ran out of the light and rolled, drawing his pistol as a final shadow pony leap at him! He fired blowing its head off!

Adagio helped him up and they both quickly jammed more shells into their guns, all the while keeping an eye on the mass of shadow ponies. They were still eating one another, blobs of shadows piled on top of another and then they stopped and disappeared.

“That can’t be good.”

“It never is,” Adagio said as she cocked her gun. She noticed something shifting beneath the bike, slowly a long black tendril of shadow slithered along the ground. She fired, but only hit stone as her bullets passed right through the shadow; she backpedaled as the thing touched the edge of the lamp’s light range and then slipped past it. From the shadow emerged a black humanoid figure, devoid of any features except for two pony ears atop its head.

“Did that thing just do what AJ and her friends do?” Mac asked looking the shadow being. Did that make it a shadow human now? He wondered.

“Do not say they “human up” or something nonsensical like that,” Adagio warned him.

Mac rolled his eyes and got back on track. Wondering what this new form would bring, he doubts it saw the errors of its ways and was ready turn over a new leaf on life. And from the way it was smirking with those big pointy teeth he would say he was correct in his assumption.

“Shoot it!” He yelled they both opened fire, blasting the shadow being into pieces with buckshot, the thing splattered all over the ground in puddles, but they didn’t celebrate. That was too easy. Nothing was ever that easy when it came to monster hunting.

Murphy’s Law came into full effect as shadow ponies or humans, whatever they were now. Emerged from the blood splatter and took shape. What was once one was now over three dozen! Things weren’t looking good for them as the shadow monsters began to slowly enclose around them.

Mac dropped the shotgun and switched to his pistol, hoping it would be more effective, he fired hitting one in the chest. The round made a big hole in the monster chest that quickly regenerated, while the spatter from the wound became more shadow monsters.

“This defiantly not good!” He whacked one of the shadow monsters with the butt of his gun, if he couldn’t shoot them, maybe he could hit them to death!

“Stop being stupid and come on!” Adagio grabbed Mac by the arm and tried to pull him away to the woods, but the big guy was too engrossed in his fighting to notice her and brushed her off. She watched helplessly as the shadow monsters dog piled on top him. She fell on her butt and scooted away as the occasion shadow monster was tossed over her head by Mac. He was putting up a fight, but he wouldn’t last long against these numbers.

“I gotta…(RINGRINGRINR)” Her cell phone rang, quickly she answered hoping it was Aria with a way to beat these things.

“Aria?”

“USE MAGIC!” The purple haired Siren screamed in Adagio’s ear.

“What?”

“Shadow ponies are beings of pure magic, so only magic can defeat them! You have to use magic!”

“But…”

“Adagio!”

“Alright fine!” Adagio screamed ending the call. The shadow ponies weren’t paying much attention to her; they were putting all their efforts into going after Mac. It seems they were still getting used to their new forms. A good thing for Mac, otherwise they would have eaten him alive a long time ago.

Running with all her might Adagio jumped on top of the shadow pony dog pile and fought her way down to Mac, who was already getting his arms and legs chewed on by the hungry beasts. He was surprised to see her; well he would be even more surprised after she did this!

Without hesitation, Adagio grabbed Mac by the collar and pulled him into a deep kiss!

Mac’s eyes popped wide open, surprised that she would be doing such a thing and at such a time, yet there was something strange about the kiss. He could feel something leaving his body and into Adagio. She broke the kiss and straddled his waist with her custom seductive smirk. Opening her mouth she sang in the most beautiful voice he had ever heard.

She sang softly without words, her voice blasting the shadow monsters away! Standing up she moved her arms majestically, her voice rising in volume, her body glowing bright gold and then right before Mac’s eyes Adagio transformed, growing pony ears and transparent wings like she had during the Battle of the Bands.

“I got this Mac,” She said, her voice alive with power, “Time for the curtain call!”

Adagio inhaled and then released a high-pitched blast of magic that vaporized the shadow ponies in a single instant!

“Ah, feels good to have magic again, though positive energy is kind of makes me ticklish.” She said as she floated back down to the ground, her wings and ears disappearing. “Ready to… Oh… I guess I have some explaining to do?”

Mac frowned down at her, looking pretty angry with her. “Yes, yes you do.”

--break

Mac and Adagio rode back to the farm as quickly as they could. As much as Mac wanted to question Adagio about the return of her magic, they didn’t want to be around in case someone actually heard all the commotion from the fight.

At least they didn’t have to pick up the empty shells, which had been blown away from Adagio’s attack. That saved them some time to get home and get rid of any evidence of them being there. Still, it was about one thirty in the morning when they made it back to the shack. Waiting for them inside was Sonata and Aria, both looking nervous and guilty as he and Adagio sat down with them.

“Alright, tell me,” Mac said after a few minutes of silence. The three looked between themselves, playing rock paper scissors to decide who would do the talking, Adagio lost.

“As you know we used the gems to gather the negative energy created during the conflict. However, the gems, well important, are not necessary for us to gather magic. We sirens naturally steal energy. However the more power we have the faster we burn it up, so we need a constant source of power. The gems provided that. After the gems were destroyed we found… another source to feed off of.”

“Another source,” Mac questioned curiously.

“Yeah,” Adagio tapped her fingers against the table nervously before pointing at him, “namely you Mac.”

“Explain.”

Adagio sighed, “You listen to Nico’s tapes right? You know what he said about you and your sisters?” Mac nodded and then his eyes widened with realization. “That’s right. The magic you and your sisters were naturally born with makes you the perfect power source for us. All we need to do is be near you to absorb the magic coming off your body. Doing this is what allowed us to see dark magic and perform very weak suggestive spells. How do you think we sell all those apples? Don’t worry the amount of energy we get isn’t enough to do anything more than that unless we do what I did tonight and take it directly. Course that involves… direct contact and even then the magic we get from you is positive energy, not negative. That stuff doesn’t really encourage you to do bad things.”

“Is that why you three have more… cheery lately?” Mac asked thinking back to how the sirens when he first started working with them. They were selfish, bickered a lot and very rude. Now they were kinder, more courteous, and even kind of nice in their own way, strange how he never noticed the change in their behavior till now.

“But I’m always cheery!” Sonata said, speaking for the first time since they started talking. They shared a laugh at her expense.

Once they settled down they sat in silence waiting for Mac to speak his mind. He let them sweat a little bit before speaking. A little revenge to get them back for deceiving him, but ultimately he smiled.

“It was a surprise, but it saved our lives tonight, so thank you for that. Don’t worry about me kicking you out either. I’ve trusted you three with my life for the past three months and you haven’t given me a reason to doubt you yet.” Mac gathered his coat and left for the door, stopping just outside he turned and smiled, “Next time though be upfront about things like this and Adagio, nice kiss.”

“Yeah,” Adagio waved, her cheeks burning bright red as the other two Sirens glared at her. Mac chuckled as he shut the door behind him. The sound of Sonata and Aria chewing out their leader was rather amusing to listen too.

To be honest, if you would have told him the Dazzlings might have some feelings for him three months ago, he would have laughed and gone on his way, but now? Well, he wasn’t one hundred percent sure what their feelings about him were, but he could safely say he felt the similarly.

In some ways, they felt like family, yet more.

--break

Mac rode into Granny Smith’s yard as quietly as he could, killing the bike’s engine and silently rolling up to the front porch and came to a stop. He was tired, dog tired, and wanted nothing more than to go to sleep. It was three A.M. He probably should have just stayed at the farm and gone to sleep there, but he had promised Aj he’d be home and it was far too late to call and tell them he was gonna stay at the farm.

Dismounting he made his way up the creaky steps as quietly as he could, wincing at every groaning step that he was sure would wake someone up. He reached for the door handle and froze as the porch’s light come on. There sitting on the swing bench was Applejack with her arms crossed and looking very angry. She probably wanted to give him an earful, but he was too tired to want to hear it now.

“Where were you?” She asked sternly as she walked over to him.

“I was working, got a bit late,” Mac replied, his tone equally hostile.

Applejack growled, “Stop lying! Nothing at the farm is that important that you have to stay up till three in the morning to do! Nothing couldn’t have waited until tomorrow, now tell me what’s going on MAC!” Applejack yelled, poking him in the chest, right where he’d been hit by the shadow pony. Mac hissed the pain was too much for him to hide. “What the… your hurt!”

“I’m fine!” He yelled back, brushing her prodding hand away, “Now I want to get some sleep, so if you would kindly…”

“No! Tell me what’s going on, right now MAC!”

Mac ran his hand through his hair in frustration, he was close to snapping! “It’s none of your business AJ.” That probably wasn’t the best thing to say, because she slapped him!

“You’re my brother! Of course, it’s my business!

“WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME AJ!” Mac roared angrily.

That did it. He made his sister cry. He let out a tired sigh as he saw the tears stream down her face, she slapped his hand away when he tried to reach out to her.

“I want my brother back,” She sob going inside the house.

Mac tiredly sat down on the steps of the porch. Granny and Applebloom were probably awake now. He heard a sound from around the corner of the porch; he leaned over and saw Applebloom peeking around the corner. She walked over and sat down next to him. He pulled her into a shoulder hug and kissed her cheek.

“Go to sleep Applebloom,” He told her, “You got school in a few hours.”

“So do you,” She replied with a whisper.

Mac smiled at her as he mounted his bike. “I’ll be skipping today, tell Principle Celestia I’m sick or something. I’ll be back after both me and Aj cool down.”

“You gonna tell us what’s going on then?” She asked.

“Maybe, it’s not something I really want to talk about.”

“But we’re family Mac.”

Mac sighed as he makes his way over the bike and turned it around, “I know,” he said starting the engine, “And that’s why I can’t tell you. Trust me when I say it’s for your own good.”

Applebloom sat there and watched him drive off, she looked worriedly between the house and glowing tail lights of Mac’s bike as he drew further and further away.

--break

The next day or really three hours later Applejack woke up early for the morning chores. She knew Mac had ridden off last night after their little spat, making it her job to do the chores. Throwing on her overalls she went out to the barns and got to work. School started in only a few hours, Applejack was kind of wishing she had just stayed up and done the chores after Mac left. At least then she would have gotten a better night’s sleep that way.

That was hindsight she guessed as she waded through pig slop, tossing the feed into the troughs with unnecessary force. Corn flew over the sides of the bunk, falling into the brown sea beneath the pigs’ feet. Much to her displeasure more than half of the feed wound up on the ground, meaning she’d have to get more. This was not a good way to start the day.

“Come on Applejack, we’re waiting on ya!” Granny Smith yelled from the porch, her own temper rising with every second her blond granddaughter failed to leave the house. Applejack came running the door, her hair a mess and her clothes wrinkled. Normally Granny wouldn’t allow any of them to leave the house in such a state of dress, but they were pressed for time, so she made an exception.

Applejack and Applebloom piled into the old red truck and took off for school, while Granny followed in her little red station wagon. The drive to school was tense between the two sisters, Applebloom knew her sister’s temper was short this morning and thus kept quiet, not even bothering to turn on the radio and simply let Applejack drive.

At school Applejack stormed into the building, taking note that Mac’s motorcycle wasn’t parked in its usual spot. She decided she didn’t care and didn’t even bother to answer Sunset’s question as she entered the school.

“Applejack wheres…” The door slammed in the bacon haired girl’s face as she stared at the retreating back of the farm girl. “Ok then.”

The day seemed to move slower than usual, fueling Applejack’s anger, by the third period she was ready to just say she was sick and go home. She didn’t care if Granny found out and grounded her (Which she would) she just wanted to go home and work out some stress.

Applejack was so deep in her anger she didn’t hear the classroom door open or the hurried footsteps that walked right up to her, she did, however, take notice when vice principle Luna tapped her shoulder.

“Applejack,” She said quietly and tensely, “I need you to come with me.”

“What’s going on?”

“Just come with me please, it's important.” Luna insisted nearly dragging her by the hand. Applejack yield and followed her. “Sorry to interrupt your class, Mr. Doodle, please inform the other staff, Applejack will not be attending the rest of her classes today.”

“Ok,” Mr. Doodle replied with an offhanded wave.

Now Applejack was really wondering what was going as they stepped out, but she didn’t have a chance to ask as the moment the door to the classroom closed Luna took off running, dragging her with her. They arrived at Celestia’s office in record time and Luna ushered Applejack inside and seated her next to Applebloom, who was looking as confused as she was.

“What’s going? Did we do something wrong?” Applejack asked, shifting in her seat. Luna and Celestia were acting strangely. Both of them were hesitant and looked worried about something. The only other time she saw them like this is when their… no.

“What happened to Mac?” She asked suddenly catching the two by surprise. They looked between another, each second escalating Applejack’s fears. “Tell me!”

Luna sighed and kneels in front of Applejack and held her hands, which were shaking.

“We just got a call; there had been an incident at your family’s farm. The barn started on fire.”

Applejack’s blood ran cold. “Mac, what about Mac?”

Luna shook her head, “We don’t know yet.”

Before anyone could react Applejack ran out of the office with Luna hot on her tail, but the farm girl outpaced her, adrenaline pushing her beyond her limits as the made for her truck. By the time Luna made it the edge of the parking lot Applejack was burning rubber down the road to home.

“Be alright, please be alright!” She chanted, gravel slid as she drifted down the old dirt roads. Up ahead she saw the cloud of black smoke rising over the trees. She stomped her foot on the pedal, the old truck groaning as it accelerated.

Applejack came a tearing into the yard. Firetrucks, ambulances, and cop cars were all there already. In the crowd, she could see their neighbors and Ms. Cherry Jubilee back behind the police line, but no Mac. She got out and ran towards the blazing barn. The horses were outside safe and sound, which only meant one thing, Mac had gotten them out.

“MAC! MAC! WHERE ARE YOU!” She screamed over the roaring flames. There was no reply. A few in the crowd turned to look at her and then looked away. She followed their gaze back to the barn and saw him, inside the inferno trapped beneath a fallen beam. The north side of the structure had collapsed, the barn entrance was warped and on the verge of falling down. Two teams of firefighter’s sprayed water, trying to get inside, but the flames refused to be dosed. Without even realizing it she was running.

“Applejack NO!” Jubilee yelled as Applejack broke past police and firefighters, brushing by with her unnatural strength. She ran at full sprint ready to leap inside and save her brother when something blindsided her and tackled her to the ground.

“Get off me!”

“Shut up and stay down! You’ll only get in the way.” A voice said a familiar voice at that. The ones holding her down were Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk!

She tried to get free, but their grip was stronger than she thought it would be. She was about to curse them out, when a purple and orange blur sped by, it was Adagio Dazzle.

The Dazzling’s leader leap through the narrow opening, jumping right into the fire just as the entire barn collapsed on top of her and Mac.

“MAC!”

The girl on fire

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What must be done chapter 2

By foxgear

Beep. Beep. Beep.

What was that sound? Where was he? He heard someone say something. Were they talking to him? He wished they would speak up, he could barely hear them. Something smelt weird, like someone was cooking something, but whatever they were cooking didn’t smell good. His body hurt. It hurt a lot!

“MAC!”

Mac’s eyes snapped open; all around him he saw unfamiliar faces and white, a lot white, with a lot beeping and flashing instruments. He reached up, but one of the people in white quickly forced his arm down, he didn’t have the strength to resist them.

“Mac!”

AJ? Why was she screaming so loud? His head rolled to the side, he saw her, sitting beside him crying her eyes out. Great, what did he do this time?

“Mac, please be alright! You gotta!”

What was going on? What happened?

“Mac,” Another voice called out to him, but much calmer, he knew this one too. A pair of soft hands grabbed the sides of his head and turned it so he was looking straight up at Adagio’s smiling face. “You’re going to be alright Mac, I’m right here, we both are.”

“Applejack, Adagio…” he rasped, his throat was dry, really dry! He wished someone would give him some water.

“You two stand back, please.” A voice said, one he didn’t know. He felt something prick his arm and then everything went black. The noise faded, so did the pain, it felt like he was floating in space and then that was it.

Applejack sat silently by Mac’s side as he lay on the hospital bed, covered in bandages. It was a miracle he was alive, but he was looking pretty good for a guy that just had a burning barn fall on top of him. Most of the damage was on his face, torso, and arms; amazingly most of the wounds were only cuts and minor burns.

It was a miracle like the Doctor said, but she knew better, it wasn’t a miracle that saved her brother it was the sirens. She saw Adagio Dazzle run head first with no hesitation into a burning building to save Mac, but why? Why did she do it? Then there was the ambulance ride to the hospital. Adagio had ridden along with her. The way she spoke to Mac, so calm and lovingly, it was as if she knew Mac, but that can’t be possible. Nobody has seen the sirens since the Battle of the Bands and even then Mac would know to stay away from them. So why did he sound so happy to see her? What was going on?

She wanted to question the Dazzling face to face, but in all the commotion the siren slipped away as Mac was being brought to the ICU. Applejack didn’t follow Adagio, too worried about her brother to notice her one time foe slip away, but now things have calmed down, and she wanted answers from both her and Mac and right now only one of them was healthy enough to provide answers.

Slipping away to a nearby balcony that over looked the city Applejack made a phone call. She would get to the bottom of this, no matter what.

“Is Mac ok?” Sonata asked as Adagio climbed into the truck with a heavy sigh. After Adagio had pulled Mac out of the fire and ridden off in the ambulance, she and Aria made themselves scarce before any of the neighbors or police decided to question them. Lucky no one saw Adagio ‘pony up’ to save Mac.

“He’ll be ok,” Adagio answered as she pressed her head against the steering wheel. “He won’t be happy when he finds out the barn is gone, but he’ll have more important things to worry about when he wakes up. More importantly did you two discover anything?”

Aria, squished between them nodded, “Yeah, we did. The firefighters think it was an accident, a lantern falling or some faulty wiring igniting some straw or something. We know differently. That fire wasn’t an accident or natural, there was magic mixed in with it. Someone or something targeted Mac and tried to kill him. The question now is what was it?”

“No,” Adagio said, “The question isn’t what it is, but if it will strike again? We need to do some research. Sonata and I will handle that end, Aria, gear up and keep an eye on Mac, but do it without his sister or her friends discovering you. Think you can do that?”

“Oh please, as if I even need to try to fool those goofs.” Aria snorted. “I’ll need my gear though, let’s ahead back home and plan from there. Mac will be fine for an hour or two. Whatever attacked him probably won’t attack again or at all till night time.”

“Agreed,” Adagio nodded as she started the truck and drove out of the hospital parking lot.

Back home the Sirens quickly prepared Aria’s gear for her and sent her on her way on Mac’s bike so they could use the truck if they needed it. Also Aria was the only one who knew how to ride the damned thing. Something that irked the other two, but they pushed those feeling aside and quickly got to work.

Deciding Nico’s old records and notes may hold some answer (they have before) they poured through everything they could find. Hours later and they didn’t discover anything new, until in an act of frustration Adagio hit the map on the wall, accidentally causing all the newspaper clipping and notes to fall off and reveal a map of the city. Circled in red with a big knife mark next to it was Crystal Prep Academy. The article tacked beneath captured the two sirens’ attention.

The article read that students Mi Amore Cadenza and her boyfriend Shining Armor escaped a fire in the basement of the school, where one Professor M. Hoof met with a fiery end and was believed to behind the several student disappearances. In the background of the picture they spotted none other than Mac’s father and their old enemy, Nico Vega among the crowd. The date on the article was five days before Nico’s death.

“Professor M. Hoof, you don’t think?” Sonata looked worried at her. Adagio knew what her fellow Siren was thinking and she was thinking the same thing.

“Yeah, it could be him, but I’m not going to assume anything till we know for sure. He could just be the counterpart. The only way to know for sure is to check out the site and talk to the now Dean Cadence about the incident. Hopefully she remembers what happened that night.”

“I know,” Sonata said playing nervously with her pony tail, “but what if it really is Madhoof? What are we gonna a do Adagio?”

While not one for comforting people, Adagio wrapped Sonata in a hug and stroked the top of her head. “It doesn’t matter either way; the newspaper said he died, so there is nothing to worry about. Now get some sleep, we got to look our best tomorrow if we’re going to fit in at a place like Crystal Prep.”

Sonata nodded tiredly and crawled into bed, while Adagio made a phone call to Aria to let her know what was going on.

“Madhoof huh,” Aria grunted as wrapped herself in a blanket. She was up on the opposite building across from the hospital, keeping a watchful eye on Mac, her 300 magnum Winchester bolt action rifle her only company. “Can’t say I’m happy to hear that name again, how’s Sonata taking it?”

“She’s fine,” Adagio answered, carefully she looked over her shoulder to make sure Sonata was still asleep, “Knowing that he’s dead helps, but she’s probably going to be on edge for a while. Still what are the chances that it was really him that died? Nico said he drowned when they first got here.”

“He’s survived a lot worse than a little water. I’m not even sure fire would do Madhoof in, but knowing Night Patrollers like I do, I can say for sure Nico probably tore his guts out before leaving him to burn.” Aria looked through her binoculars; the night nurse was making her final rounds. She looked in Mac’s room, but didn’t approach the bed. Quickly she wrote down her name on a little notepad. Aria wanted to have all the regular staff registered and documented, a stolen nurse’s schedule helped her with this. Her hope was to stop anything from sneaking in among the staff. “Still be careful tomorrow. We don’t know what’s gunning for us and if it was willing to start a fire big enough to burn down a barn just to kill Mac, then there’s no telling what it will do.”

Adagio couldn’t help be agree, “I know, I know, we’ll prepare accordingly. Take care of yourself; you’ll be on your own for a few hours, try not to get into any trouble.”

Aria laughed, “Me? Get into trouble? When has that ever happened?”

“More often then you’ll ever admit,” Adagio said dryly, but a small smile danced on her lips as she said her good nights, “Good night, Aria.”

“Same to you, at least you get to sleep,” She grumbled as Adagio hung up.

The next morning Adagio and Sonata got in the truck and drove for the city. Their plan was simple. Pose as new students looking to transfer, get an interview with the Dean and then question her about the incident and Professor M. Hoof. The possibly of her actually knowing if he was the same Madhoof from their world was little to none, his counterpart could have been just as mad in this world as in theirs, but they had to make sure. Getting a record of his life and history would be a start.

Of course they realized their first mistake for ‘blending in’ when they pulled into the parking lot. Fancy cars filled just about every lot, cars well into the six digits and here they were pulling in with a muddy, rusted, old farm truck. The one time they didn’t want to be the center of the attention, they had every eye trained on them.

“Crap…” Adagio sighed pressing her head against the wheel, while Sonata patted her back. Embarrassed both for stupidly not thinking about the truck and the actual mocking laughs they were getting from the student body, Adagio and Sonata walked for the doors of Crystal Prep with shielded faces. Sonata took their public humiliation much better then Adagio as she strode easily into the hallways of the rich and powerful.

“Who designed this place?” Adagio asked to no one in particular as she followed the little map of the school to what should be the Dean’s office, but the school was made up of several levels that intersected and left for a lot of confusion, which might explain why they were standing outside what looked like storage room.

“Let’s take a look inside anyway, it might be fun!” Sonata said bursting inside the room and hit the little purple and green dog by the door… wait…“Is that Princess Twilight’s pet!”

Rolling her eyes Adagio knelled down and scratched the puppy’s chin, it barked happily and pressed its body harder against her touch. “Doubtful, seems we found this world’s Twilight and judging from this room, she’s probably not getting a PHD in friendship.”

“Hey look at this!”

“Sonata!” Adagio growled marching over the wall ready to forcibly drag her fellow siren out of the room, only to stop when she saw the wall of photos and theories Twilight had posted. Seems someone had a keen interest in magic, though it was doubtful the actually knew what she was dealing with. “Interesting theories, but she’s way off the mark, if she thinks its simple energy bursts.”

“Not that, this!” Sonata pointed.

Adagio followed Sonata’s finger and saw the picture of one Professor M. Hoof, two pictures in fact, both circled in red with a question mark next to them. One was older, perhaps when he first started working at the school, the second showed the same man years later, but something was different. She just couldn’t place her finger on it.

“Hey Spike! Spike!”

They knew that voice! It was Twilight! They had to act fast! Well they didn’t really have to, but they didn’t want to really deal with a high school nerd on the hunt for magic, so when Twilight (with Glasses) came into the room, ironically hitting the dog again. Adagio pinched the nerve between her neck and shoulder knocking her out. Gently she sat the girl in her chair and she and Sonata exited as quickly and quietly as they could, only to run into their target, Dean Cadence.

“You must be the new students! How wonderful to meet you. I just need to get my sister in law and I’ll be with you shortly!”

“You can’t!” Sonata nearly screamed blocking the door, “She’s sleeping!”

Cadence looked at her strangely, something Adagio couldn’t fault her for. Sonata was strange. Gingerly Cadence moved Sonata aside and peeked in and saw Twilight sleeping in her chair.

“So she is, whatever principle Clinch wanted can wait. Let’s go to my office we have much to talk about.”

They followed Cadence to her office. Neither siren spoke as Cadence explained what rooms were what and how great crystal prep was etc. Instead they focused on her. Really how old was she? In the article she had been in her last year of school as a student teacher, more than likely she had been interning for her degree at the time of the incident, to become the Dean of the school in what? Four five years? That’s pretty impressive.

“Here we are, please come in and take a seat.”

“Thank you,” Adagio and Sonata replied sitting down in front of Cadence's desk. Her office was a combination of elegance with excess, yet somehow humble all at the same time. On the desk were several photos, one was of Shining Armor, the other student at the incident and her boyfriend at the time, husband now considering the wedding picture. The next photo was one of them and Twilight after the wedding. The third and final picture was of Celestia and Luna; the frame read “Favorite Aunts”. It’s a small world indeed.

“Now what makes you want to transfer to Crystal Prep?” Cadence asked as she turned in her chair to face the two girls. She blinked in confusion as Sonata disappeared over to the door, locking it. “What’s going on?

“Sorry about this,” Adagio said getting out of her chair. “But we’re not interesting in transferring schools. In fact we it’s us who want to question you Dean Cadence about the fire that happened in your last year of school.”

Adagio studied Cadence’s face carefully. The woman was clearly disturbed, but was doing a good job at trying to hide it. Her body betrayed her though, her lips trembled and she nervously rubbed her left arm. There was no doubt. She had answers they needed.

“How do you know about that? You’re too young to know about that, too young to even care about something like that! Are you reporters? Is that is? I’m not talking! And I want you out of my school right now!” Cadence shouted rising to her feet. Adagio did her best to calm the Dean down.

“Easy, easy, lady, we are not reporters, also we are technically older then you, but that’s beside the point. The point is that you know something that may help a friend of ours out. So if you can just settle down and talk it would make our job a lot easier.”

Cadence took a deep breath and exhaled, which seemed to do her some good as she looked a lot calmer than before.

“Fine,” She said crossing her arms, “I’ll answer your questions, but only if you answer mine first. Deal?”

“Deal,” Adagio agreed, “Ask away.”

“First question, who are you too really? Second why do you want to know about the fire in the basement?”

Adagio sighed, “You’re probably not going to believe this, but we are magical fish ponies or sirens from another world and we were banished here about a thousand years ago. The reason we want, no need to, know what happened is because we believe Professor M. Hoof was also a pony named Madhoof, a mad scientist that experimented on ponies in our world. Somehow he and another pony, named Nico Vega ended up in this world and we believe the fire that killed Madhoof was started by Nico Vega, since he appears in the paper reporting about the fire. We also know you and your boyfriend were there, given Madhoof’s history, you were probably next in line for the extermination table correct?”

Adagio and Sonata waited for Cadence to speak, it didn’t take long the Dean to bow her head into her hands and start laughing. At first they thought she didn’t believe them and thought they were crazy, but that changed when Cadence raised her tear streaked face..

“It’s funny; I wouldn’t have believed you if not for what happened that night. After all this time, I thought I was crazy, that I was simply hallucinating that night. I had nightmares you know. Who wouldn’t after that? I saw him. I saw Madhoof cutting up my friends, the students he kidnapped and brought down to that secret lab of his. They were orphans, students the school took in for appearances and grants. They didn’t have anyone that really cared if they disappeared. Nobody noticed,” Cadence’s smile faded completely, her body trembled as she sobbed, “Nobody but me… I was the only one because I was like them. I was an orphan too. I started asking around, he said they had just transferred, but there was no record of where they had gone. I started doing some digging, but I guess I dug too deep. Guess what? I was taken next. He strapped me to a table and made me watch… he made me watch…”

Gently Adagio touched Cadence’s shoulder and did her best to consul the crying woman. “Hey, hey it’s ok. You don’t have to tell us anymore, if you don’t want to.”

Cadence shook her head as she blew her nose with a handkerchief, “No, it’s fine. I can keep going. It feels… good to tell somebody. Shining was there too, but he’s a lot better as suppressing the memories then I am. I don’t want to risk bringing all that pain back, ignorance is bliss right?”

Adagio nodded along while rubbing Cadence’s back to help calm her down. “What happened next?”

“Madhoof, he finished whatever he was doing to my friend, Kerosene, she was a nice girl had a bit of temper though, it was real easy to get her fired up. Anyway he started rambling saying I was special and that I deserved a special experiment, before he could do anything Shining Armor showed up and tried to rescue me, tried being the key world. Shining was a fighter, he studied martial arts and stuff, but Madhoof took him down with ease. He was like a master or something. After that he strapped Shining to a table to and was going to have him watch, while he experimented with me, but then…”

“Then what,” Adagio urged Cadence to continue, thought she had good idea what happened next.

“Nico Vega showed up. He burst into the room, he took one look at Madhoof and he became angry, no enraged! Nico fired wildly into the room, charging Madhoof while just roaring in rage. They fought and this were I was sure I in some sort of nightmare because they turned into monsters!”

“Monsters?” Adagio said, “Care to clarify?”

“They grew ears and wings and there were fire balls and lightning everywhere! It was how the fire started! Those two, they started the fire while they fought, Nico won in the end, he disemboweled Madhoof right before my eyes! He looked so savage I wasn’t sure if he was there to save us or kill us at that point. Thankfully he seemed to regain his senses. Nico was sporting a pretty bad wound in his chest, but he still took the time to get us out here, Shining and I, but the others… he left them to burn. Said it was the best thing for them after what happened. After what I saw, I agreed with him.”

“After Nico left you two for the police and emergency response and he disappeared I assume?” Adagio said to speed up the conversation. What Nico did was pretty standard after a successful monster hunt. Get out quick and leave the normal people to put the pieces back together. Cadence nodded in confirmation. “After that Nico died five days later, you know anything about that?”

Cadence nodded, “A little. I saw his name in the paper and decided to go to the funeral. I met his kids, but I don’t think they remember me. His son Big Mac was the kid that beat up Shining in the friendship games I remember. From what I heard whispered around during the ceremony Nico got sick and that was what killed him, but…”

“But…?”

“I think he was poisoned by Madhoof. He wasn’t looking too good after the fight and from what I heard, I don’t think he ever got better,” Cadence sighed, “but I guess we’ll never know for sure.”

“I see, not surprising it sounds like something Madhoof would do. Tell me did they recover all of the bodies from the fire?” Adagio asked, it would be bound to be a touchy question, but it needed to be asked. Cadence nodded, making Adagio sigh in relief, Madhoof was dead. “How about his research notes, did anyone ever find them?”

Cadence frowned, “I don’t know. I guess maybe they could be in the secret lab still; it’s not so crazy to think they would be in a place safe from fire really. They could still be there.”

“Would you mind showing us were the lab is at?”

“Not at all,” Cadence said getting up from her chair. She was looking a lot better than before, thought her eyes were still a little red from crying. “Let me get the key, the area has been sealed off, so students can’t get in.”

“Lead the way,” Adagio said as she and Sonata followed the Dean.

As they walked single file down the hallways, none of them noticed the shadowy figure peering around the pillar.

When they arrived at the door leading to the basement Cadence fished out the keys to the locks and began to unlock them. Adagio was impressed by the number of locks; there were at least five different locks on the door. When Cadence said they sealed the basement she meant it. The door was even made of solid steel to top it all off.

“The lab is located in the school’s old basement. No records exist of it anymore, after the fire the school went through some renovations and the school board decided to simply close off this section of the school.” Cadence explained as she removed the third lock. “Some students have tried to get in, a few did, after breaking down the original wooden door, so we replaced it with this steel one to prevent that. Some kids from the shop class tried to get in using a torch, but they were discovered before they could get here.”

Adagio couldn’t help but smile at the student’s attempts to break in. No doubt there were rumors surrounding this place, rumors that have more than likely become urban legends that everyone and their grandma knows and talks about. She wondered if they knew just how dangerous a place like this really was? Would they be so eager to get inside? The humans probably couldn’t sense it, it probably felt like a cold tingle running down their spine or a sudden feeling of coldness, but to her it was dark magic and this place was rich with it.

The fifth lock was removed; time to see what the mad doctor had been cooking up.

The door swung open to reveal a long stone corridor with doors on each side, but the most interesting door was the one on the far end, blackened by soot and ash. The smell of the fire lingered in the air and it was cold, very cold, it was so cold Adagio could see her breath.

“Do you feel that?” Sonata shivered, wrapping her arms around herself to try and keep warm. Cadence did the same.

“Yeah, I feel it.” Adagio replied, her eyes narrowing on the door down the hall. “Come on, let’s not stay any longer then we need to.”

They entered the door at the end of the hall inside was what remained of Madhoof’s lab. The entire room was blackened from the fire, but the table where he held his victims was still there and still bore the white outline of a human shape of his final victims that were burned alive.

“You sure you don’t want to wait outside?” Adagio asked Cadence noticing that the pink woman was trembling again. She couldn’t blame her, not after what she went through, in fact she was surprised Cadence made it this far. The Dean was a far stronger woman then one would expect, but it probably wouldn’t be long before she reached her limit.

Cadence gulped, glancing back towards the other end of the hall. “Maybe… maybe I should keep watch by the door? Make sure no student sneak down or a teacher or janitor sees the door open and seals us in.”

“Good idea, we’ll try to be quick.” Adagio promised patting Cadence on the shoulder. Cadence gave a shaky nod and a look of gratitude as she left the lab. “Come on Sonata, let’s get to work.”

“Okie dokie,” The blue siren said, not sounding much better then Cadence. Her eyes darted around like something was going to jump out and attack them, which could happen, this was Madhoof after.

They checked everywhere they could think of looking for a safe box or a hidden hiding place. Something, anything that could maybe lead them to clues, Sonata patted the walls, while Adagio searched the remains of what looked an office.

Inside Adagio found a charred desk with ashes scattered all over it. In the corner stood several filing cabinets but there contents were also destroyed, it seemed like they had hit a dead end when suddenly she heard Sonata gasp and let out a scream!

“What is it?” Adagio rushed out of the office and found Sonata on the floor pointing at an opening in the wall. Inside was a skeleton, in its hands was a simple safe box. She bent down and removed the box of the skeleton’s grasp. “Could this be it?”

Sonata wordlessly shrugged as she got up off the ground peering over Adagio’s shoulder as she opened the box. Inside was stack of files. Wordlessly Adagio opened the first one and read it her eyes widening.

“We need to get to Mac and Aria now! Come on!” Adagio yelled as they rushed out of the lab passing Cadence without even stopping.

“Where are you going?” The Dean yelled after them.

Adagio turned and yelled to her, “Lock that door and forget you ever met us! If anyone asks about this again you know nothing! It’s for your own good!” She turned and ran; leaving Cadence to frantically slam the door close and secure all five locks again.

She ran after the two sirens or maybe it was just to get away from that place quicker, but by the time she made it the first floor the sirens were already in their truck driving away as fast as they could. They left in such hurry that they left black marks on the tar as they went, making Cadence wonder what it was they found.

“No, somethings are better off unknown.” She looked at the keys in her hands and then to the pillar, where she knew a certain someone was hiding. She ignored them. Not wanting to further invoke their curiosity. Instead she turned and made her way towards the metal shop. She needed use of their torch and maybe a welder.

Aria yawned loudly, smacking her lips as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She’s been sitting on this rooftop keeping watch over Mac all night. The time was three in the morning and she has run out of coffee. Not her first all-nighter, but certainly her most boring. That was worse than being attacked by monsters, being bored.

As she looked through her binoculars for her scheduled check up on Mac, she noticed something strange in the room three windows over. Looking in she saw a nurse tending to a patient. The nurse was leaning over the person, hiding their face, but something was off. Her eyes snapped open, if someone could have seen them they would see her eyes glowing green. That was because she just saw someone use dark magic!

“Dammit!” She cursed grabbing her gun. She targeted the window, but it was too late, the nurse had already left the room. Zooming in on the patent in the room, Aria couldn’t notice anything wrong with him, but then again it was hard to tell from this distance. She knew what she had to do.

“Crap, I gotta go over there.”

Placing her rifle back into the guitar case she used to hide it during transport, she retrieved two .45 Bulldog revolvers, five shot stub nose revolvers that could be easily hidden, from the case. She hid one in her left boot and the other inside her inner coat pocket. On her way through the hospital parking lot she secured the guitar case to the bike. Times like this she kind of wished she had the truck, it was better for hiding weapons and bodies then Mac’s bike.

Jogging across the street Aria entered the hospital and took the elevator to the fifth floor where Mac was and where the nurse attacked the patient. She passed Mac’s room first and peeked to make sure he was still ok. He was still asleep and stable, which was good news. Keeping an eye out for the nurse she went three doors down, which actually was another section of the hospital and looked for the room that the nurse had been in. She found it easily enough since it was the only room with the light on. Hand on her gun she entered.

“Nothing so far,” She whispered pulling back the screen to the first bed, it was empty. Moving to the second screen, the one she had saw from the room, she found her victim. A young man, his chart had him listed as Scoop.

Leaning in closer to Scoop Aria couldn’t find anything wrong with him, he wasn’t flat lining, he was still alive, yet something didn’t feel right to her. Then she noticed a mark on his neck, two puncture wounds perfectly parallel to each other, almost like a…

“Bite mark… Mac!”

Aria ran out of the room, not caring if she was noisy or not, course now that she thought about it, the hospital was unusually quiet. Sure it was three in the morning, but there was a night shift, hospitals couldn’t just leave all these sick people unattended. There should be someone here.

Aria skidded to a stop as she pasted a closet, hearing a noise from inside, “What was that?”

Drawing the bulldog from her vest she opened the door and found a nurse tied up and striped of her uniform. The same nurse she just saw through the window. She looked pretty scared, course that might because she had a gun pointed at her face and she probably just attacked and striped down to her underwear, probably wasn’t a good night for her.

“Hey, hey it’s ok,” Aria said calmly as she could manage, though she probably still had a scowl on her face and she was still pointing the gun at the nurse’s face. “Sorry, I don’t usually deal with hostages; well we don’t usually find hostages just dead bodies. Sorry, I’m scaring you aren’t I? My friends tell me I’m a terrible people person.” Aria removed the nurse’s gag, “So who did this to you?”

“Me,” The Nurse said, “Or something that looked like me, it got me from behind, stole my uniform and locked me in here. I never saw anything like it!”

“Hmm… well so much for vampire ponies, sounds like we got a changeling problem.” Aria mumbled to herself. Damn she thought she would finally prove the existence of vampire ponies, or just vampire in this world, but it was just a stupid changeling. Shouldn’t be too much trouble, unless it was a queen Changeling, but what are the chances of that.

“Ok, don’t panic, but I’m going to keep you locked here for safety, while I go hunt down the monster that attacked you. You ok with that? Wait, sorry you don’t get a choice.” Aria closed the door to the closest again, nurse still bond inside. “I’ll be back, but if I’m not I’m probably dead or I might forget in the aftermath of the battle, it’s fifty-fifty, but I’m sure someone will find you by morning!”

The nurse’s cries were muffled by the door, but Aria paid them little mind as she ran towards Mac’s room. If something magical was attacking people then Mac would be next target. Rounding the corner Aria came to a skidding halt as she spotted the fake nurse entering Mac’s room, with no hesitation she raised her gun and fired!

The bullet hit the false nurse making her drop her disguise and as Aria expected it was a changeling. It looked less monstrous then she was expecting though, other than the black skin, holes in its ankles, big blue eyes, sharp teeth and bug wings it looked like a normal human. Oh and pony ears, because everything had pony ears.

“Alright why are you after Mac and was it you that started the fire in the barn and why… why is there like no one else here? I just fired a gun in a hospital, I would think someone would come… oh sleep magic, got it, standard monster in disguise thing.” The changeling clutched its injured arm trembling with fear as Aria went about her rant. Aria approached the quivering black mess of a creature, gun still trained on the Changeling’s head. “Hey I’m asking you a question here; this is the part where you answer like on TV. Come on, or do you want me to shoot you again?”

Aria waited for answer, her expression serious, and then the changeling started crying. A lot. There was a literal river of tears running down the changeling’s face.

“Why-why did-did you hurt me?” The changeling sobbed. “You big meanie! I was only trying to get some food! I maybe a changeling but I still eat love in this world! I wasn’t hurting anybody (Long term)! And I have no idea what fire you were blabbing about! I was working the morning shit when they brought the guy in this room in. Ask Nurse Blue Cross!”

“You mean the nurse in the closet?”

“Yes! I mean no! Ok yes… her. I was a little careless tonight, but that was only because I got a bad vibe from somewhere I swear! I put her in there for her own safety. I thought it was you that was producing all that black magic I sensed.”

Aria frowned, lowering her gun from the changeling’s face. “What’s your name?”

“Nyxia.”

“Well Nyxia, if I thought you were the one using dark magic and you weren’t and you thought I was the was the one using dark magic, which I was not, then the question is who is?” Both of them looked warily around the vacant hallway. It was becoming more and more clear that there was a third party here. Someone or something was powerful enough to keep an entire hospital asleep that not even the sound of gunfire could wake them up. That kind of magic took talent and years of study.

“I think we should get out of here.” Aria suggested. In the corner of her eye she saw a dark mist rolling into the hallway, whatever was here was getting closer. “I need you help me carry my friend out of here first.

Nyxia scoffed, “Yeah I saw that guy’s records, and he weights over two hundred pounds! There’s no way I could carry him even with both arms and you helping. You’re not exactly miss muscles.”

“I’ve been working out,” Aria pouted buffing up her cheeks. She moved to open the door to Mac’s room when she hear the sound of footsteps, both her and Nyxia froze as they listened to the haunting echoes of the persons footsteps draw closer and closer, also was it feeling hotter in here all of the sudden? The air was dry and sweat started to drip down from her brow, it was almost like she was standing by a furnace. Aria was having a bad feeling about this.

“Whose there?” She demanded pointing her gun down the hallway toward the shadow looming around the corner. The shadow stopped for a moment, before continuing its march, an orange glow illuminated the hallway, as if someone was carrying a torch and why was it so hot in here? Hospitals are usually cold!

The answer to her questions were not what she wanted to see as the person down the all rounded the corner and revealed themselves to a be a young girl, probably in her teens, she looked normal enough. The girl looked at her with dead white eyes and then she suddenly gained pony ears and caught fire!

“Holy Celestia’s teats!” Aria screamed shooting the girl on fire. One round hit her in the chest causing the girl to recoil from the hit, but ultimately it didn’t seem to do anything as she marched head, leaving foot prints of fire in her wake. Knowing she didn’t have much time Aria did the only thing she could thing of and that was running away!

Grabbing Nyxia by the arm Aria dragged the changeling nurse inside Mac’s room and slammed the door.

“What did you bring us in here for? We’re sitting ducks in here!” Nyxia panicked as the girl on fire drew closer to the door.

Aria ignored her and made a dash for Mac, nearly falling on top of him as she kissed him fully on the lips!

“Great you came for one last make out session with your boyfriend! Thanks for getting me killed with you!” Nyxia screamed angrily when a bright light enveloped the two and suddenly Aria had wings and pony ears. “What in the world…”

“I’ll distract her! You get Mac out of here!” Aira ordered Nyxia as she raised her arms singing high pitched key. Water flowed down from the sprinkler systems just as the girl on fire finished burning her way through the door. “Take this you flaming bitch!” Aria thrust her hand forward unleashing a torrent of water that carried the fire girl away. She dived in and gave chase after her, leaving a stunned Nyxia with a still sleeping Mac.

Nyxia slammed the door for Mac’s room closed trying to catch her breath. She didn’t know what was going on, she’s avoided every magical creature she could sense and now her place of employment was on fire! Speaking of which where were the fire department, why weren’t any of the alarms going off? They just check them last week for Pete’s sake!

“Oh right dark magic,” She frowned as she looked over to Mac’s bed where Mac himself was sound asleep and he looked as heavy as she guessed he was. No way was she picking him up and carrying him out, so next option: wake him up.

“Hey,” She yelled slapping in the face, “Wake up! Your crazy gun touting girlfriend is going to get barbecued if you don’t get out of bed!”

No response.

“Ok, fine, I got other tricks. Like this!” With a snap of her fingers Nyxia turned into Adagio, who she had seen climb out of the ambulance with Mac earlier today. “Oh Mac please wake up!” She cried in her most tearful and sorrowful voice, like on the sappy sitcoms they play on TV.

Still nothing!

“Ugh, ok how about this!” Transforming again she took on the form of Applejack. “Hey big brother time to wake up. Please wake up for your little sister.” She pleaded evening so far as to make her eyes appear bigger and cuter and still nothing!

“Alright I tried! I’m out of here, good luck not burning to death.” Nyxia said as she made a beeline for the door. She didn’t get far as a huge explosion rocked the building causing her to fall to the floor. She hissed in pain as she stubbed her knees against the hard tiles of floor.

“Dammit what is that crazy girl doing? Is she trying to bring down the entire building?”

As she was massaged her knees Nyxia failed to notice the shadow creeping up behind her, or the sound of bare feet smacking against the tile till a hand grabbed her by the shoulder making her grasp in surprise as she turned around to face Big Mac wide awake and wearing a grim frown on his face.

“Where are my pants?”

What does it take to kill a creature of fire? The obvious answer would be of course water, so when that failed. Aria did the next best thing and threw a fire extinguisher at the girl, which exploded releasing a big puff of white anti fire foam. That didn’t work either.

“Dammit!” In a rage Aria sang a quick and loud melody, releasing a shock wave of sound at the girl on fire, knocking her away. For a moment the fire around the girl went out and a helpless wreck of girl lay on the floor crying as she looked to Aria with the biggest saddest eyes the siren had ever seen. No, that’s not right; she’s seen that look before.

For a moment the girl was replaced with Sonata’s image.

“Please… please help! Help me!”

“I…” Aria froze staring at the crying girl. There was nothing she could do for her. She wasn’t like Sonata, she wasn’t in Equestria, where there she at least a chance, but here in a world nearly devoid of magic or any knowledge on how to use it? There was no chance to reverse whatever curse is upon her.

“I’m sorry, I can’t help you.”

The girl wailed harder, erupting into flames once again as she dived for Aria. The siren just barely catching the girl and managing to keep her from engulfing her in what would be the most painful hug of her life.

Aria screamed as the palms of her hands burned from holding the fire girl back she tried to throw her off, but the girl kept grabbing at her, burning her arms, legs, anything she managed to scratch at.

“Get off!”

Suddenly the burning stopped as the fire girl was pulled of off her, Aria looked up and gasped as she saw Mac lifting the girl up by the neck, his hand glowing with magic and where those pony ears on his head? Mac ponied up? Also he was shirtless; a strange thing to notice at a time like this but… it was very noticeable in her opinion.

Growling Mac smashed the fire girl though a wall and ran braking plaster and wood as he dragged her along for the ride. The girl screamed in pain, but he ignored her overcome with rage seeing Aria hurt like that. Whatever this thing’s story was he didn’t care, it was time for it to end and he knew just the place. He’d been in the hospital before, it was the same one Applebloom had been born in and he knew for a fact there was a pool on this floor.

Pulling the girl from the wall he continued to run as the door to the pool appeared ahead of him he moved her so she was in front of him; giving him a clear view of her fiery tears. He didn’t stop though he busted right thru the door, sending glass flying everywhere as he made beeline for the pool and jumped in.

The water was cold at first, but it was quickly warming up as the fire girl struggled to get out. Unfortunately the pool wasn’t very deep, only about three feet or so, it was used for physical therapy for the elderly and disabled. He’ll have to drown her the hard way. He’ll have to hold her down.

“I’m sorry,” He whispered as he held her down beneath the water. She clawed at him; one hand scratched him on the face, leaving behind four burning scratch marks on his face. He held on and soon enough her struggles stopped, the fire that engulfed her died out, leaving her skin blackened and cracked. Mac raised her out of the water, but she fell to ashes in his hands.

He heard footstep behind him, it was Aria, and she was looking worried and relieved at the same time. A cool liquid rolled down his cheek, at first he thought it was just water, but when he swiped it from his face he realized it was tear. He was crying.

“Oh Mac…” Aria whispered as she helped him out the pool. Before he could even say anything she wrapped her arms around him and held on to him as tight as she could. He wasn’t sure what to do, so he embraced her too and they stayed like that for several minutes.

“We should go. The dark magic is gone; people will start waking up soon.” Aria said unwrapping herself from Mac, “Your bike is here. We can take it home.”

“Yeah, let’s do that.” Mac murmured he wasn’t feeling very well; fighting must had worn him out, but he certainly wasn’t going to stay here. People would be hurt if he stayed, but it would look suspicious for him to be gone with all the damage.

“I know what you’re thinking.” Aria said as they made their way to the exit, “And I think I have a solution.”

Aria smiled as the strange nurse he saw in his room peered around the corner. The nurse looked around nervously before pointing at herself.

“Me?” Nyxia cried, having any idea of what the siren wanted her to do, “I-I can’t… I mean… ah…”

“Well,” Aria smirked, “We could just do what we usually do to monsters we find, and you did see what that is right? Think of it as payment for… overlooking your existence.”

Nyxia stuttered, remembering the slaying she had just witness and rubbed her neck. “Fine, I’ll buy you five days that’s how much vacation time I have after that you never saw me!”

Aria nodded, “Deal.”

Out in the parking lot Mac and Aria adjusted the weight load on the bike so they could ride it properly. Mostly they were arguing about who should drive. Mac insisted he drive, since it was his motorcycle and riding on the back seat was dangerous because he weighed more than Aria did and it was also embarrassing. There was a problem though; he was having a little trouble seeing out of his left eye, where the girl on fire had scratched him. He could still see out it, so it’s not like he was blind, but everything was kind of fuzzy on that side. Probably had weld flash from his eye being exposed to the bright light of the girl’s fire, neither the less...

“I’m driving,” He insisted.

“It’s four in the morning and you want to drive a motorcycle with one eye? Fat chance I’m letting that happen! I’m driving!” Aria argued crossing her arms, only to hiss as she touched her own burn marks.

Mac frowned at her, “How are you going to drive with those arms? The bike weights six hundred pounds! Throw me on the back and that’s eight hundred total. There is no way you can drive something that out weights you by seven hundred pounds!”

“That’s… um… fine! You drive! But if we crash and die I will… haunt you in death or something… I don’t know I haven’t slept for two days!”

“As long as we agree,” Mac chuckled as he mounted the bike. “Come on, get on.” He drawled as Aria climbed over the seat and wrapped her arms around his waist. They took off out of the parking lot and barely rounded the corner when the firetrucks and police rolled in. Mac kept the bike at low speeds to keep anyone from hearing them. He wondered how dad sneaked around on this thing when it rumbled so loudly all the time.

The ride back to the farm was a silent and cold one. Well the weather wasn’t bad; they were riding a motorcycle at night in late spring with no coats or sweaters making for a semi chilly ride. During the ride Mac felt Aria cuddle closer against him for warmth.

As they rode into the driveway Mac noticed the lights were on at the house. Sharing a look with Aria they rolled up into the yard to check it out. He was certain it was Aj maybe coming home to cope with the recent events. Much to his surprise he saw the blue truck parked outside the house. Meaning it was Adagio and Sonata.

The two other sirens ran out the door as Mac killed his engine.

“We just heard what happened at the hospital are you two alright?” Sonata asked on the verge of tears. Beside her Adagio was keeping a much calmer appearance, but Mac could still see the worry in her eyes.

“We’re fine as can be, been a rough night though. You two find something out today?” Mac asked as he walked onto the porch. Normal people would probably gush emotionally after the recent events, but he and the sirens were different. They coped by pushing forward.

Adagio nodded, “Yeah, we found something out. Come inside we gotta lot to talk about.”

Mac nodded and followed her inside, Aria following behind him. She said nothing as she walked past her fellow sirens and made beeline for the bathroom. A few minutes later the sound of the shower running could be heard throughout the house as they waited for her to finish.

Taking a hot shower after monster hunting was part of Aria’s ritual. It was actually a thing all three of the sirens did. They explained to him once that being aquatic ponies they very much enjoyed the water and that they tend to bathe in the nearby river. Mac felt a little guilty about not having hot water out there for them, so he let them come to the house for hot showers whenever they like. From the scent in the room, Sonata and Adagio, both took one recently.

“Alright,” Aria said walking back into the room wrapped up in towels, “What did you find out while we were getting barbecued.”

“This,” Adagio pushed a stack of files over to them. Mac took the one on top and Aria the one beneath. Inside were VERY detailed finding on how to change a normal human into a magical monster. There were pictures too, a lot of pictures, each one more horrifying then the last. Beside him Aria was shaking.

“Madhoof…” She whispered her eyes wide with fear as she looked to her fellow sirens, hoping this was joke, but their shaking heads dashed any hopes of that. “That bastard is alive?”

“No, he’s dead, killed by Nico Vega a few years ago. A fitting end all things considering their history, but… there is a problem.” Adagio dug into her pocket and retrieved a photo and a man in a professor coat and young girl in a crystal prep uniform. The man Mac assumed was this Madhoof they were taking about and the girl… “This is Madhoof’s daughter, Maddie Hoof; currently she is the head of the Canterlot Research Center for Science and she’s probably is the one that’s been causing all of our grief recently.”

“We don’t have proof of that,” Mac said frowning. He wanted to believe them, but in this matter the three sirens were probably more than a little bias given their history with this Madhoof. One day soon he’d have to get the full story from them.

Aria sighed as she threw her file on the table. “This girl, her name was Kerosene, she was the girl on fire that attacked us tonight and probably attacked you in the barn. There is no doubt the daughter picked up her father’s work.”

“That’s not possible,” Adagio said making Aria frown.

“Why’s that?”

Adagio pointed to the picture of Kerosene, “Because this girl died the same night Madhoof did. She was one of his last experiments.”

“The hell is going on?” Aria cursed scratching her head, “Nothing is making sense! What are we going do now?”

All three sirens looked to him for the answer and Mac wasn’t sure what to tell them this time.

“I don’t know, but whatever it is, we’ll do what we have to when the time comes, till then let’s get some rest. You three can stay here; it’s too late to go back to the shack tonight.” He said as he climbed the stairs up to his old room. He could feel the sirens worried eyes following him, but he paid them no mind. He had a lot on his mind as his head hit the pillow.

Things were getting crazy, dangerous, and a lot more complicated than he ever thought they would. Now there was some mysterious master mind trying to kill him? That probably extended to Aj and Applebloom too, how was he going to protect them when he could barely protect himself?

“Dad… what do I do?” He asked the ceiling. He of course didn’t get a reply and so he lay there, tired, yet not sleepy. Sometime past and he felt the bed shift.

“Adagio I’m not… Sonata?”

“Hi,” The blue siren waved, wearing one of his shirts for PJ’s. “You look like you need someone to talk too.”

Mac raised an eyebrow, has she been spying on him? “And what makes you say that?”

“The fact you’re talking to yourself and asking a dead guy for advice. Adagio and Aria say I’m the most emotionally open of us, so I should give you support or something like that.”

“You just want to cuddle,” Mac dead panned, knowing siren’s quirks.

“That too,” She exclaimed as she latched on to him. “But in all seriousness Mac we are here for you. You don’t need to take this burden all by yourself. I mean Nico did and he’s dead now. I don’t think your family would want that.”

“I suppose your right,” Mac sighed in defeat. She really did have a point, but he was too tired right now to really deal with anything at the moment. His problems could wait till morning, or this afternoon, it was nearly six now. “So are you staying here or…?”

“Dog pile!”

Mac grunted as both Aria and Adagio jumped onto the bed, making the springs squeak from the extra weight. All three of sirens shifted around, fighting for space, ending with Adagio on his right and Aria and Sonata on his left. Adagio’s hair proving to be the advantage as it kept the other girls away.

Despite their antics Mac did eventually find sleep.

Applejack investagates

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What must be done ch 3

By foxgear

Applejack looked impatiently at her watch reading twelve o’clock, her friends were running late. Well they weren’t, since they agreed to meet at twelve fifteen, she was just early. Yesterday she had made a call to her friends asking for their help, but unfortunately everyone, except Sunset Shimmer was tied up with other things that day. Rarity was swamped with dress orders and homework, Fluttershy had to work at the animal shelter, Pinkie had to work a shift at sugar cube corner, and Rainbow Dash had a soccer game in Appaloosa that night.

They all said they would come help her if it was a real emergency, but Applejack hadn’t wanted to disrupt their lives on just a foolish suspicion, so she postponed their gathering till today, which was Saturday. At the time she thought whatever mysteries surrounding her brother and sirens could wait another day and then the hospital where Mac was staying at caught fire.

Mac was still save and sound sleeping in his bed thankfully, but now more than ever Applejack knew something was going on. She didn’t know what, but whatever it was it probably involved the sirens and more than likely magic.

“Applejack, what are you doing here?” A voice asked bringing Aj out of her mussing. She leaned around the corner of the horse statue in front of the school meeting the curious eyes of vice principle Luna. “Are you feeling alright? I heard about the fire at the hospital. I know this a trying time for you and if you want to talk my office is open. I am the school’s registered therapist after all.”

Applejack shied away from the vice principle, using her hat to cover her expression. She would like to talk, to get these feelings welling up inside her off her chest. The confusion, the anger, but she didn’t have time for heart to heart right now. Maybe Monday after everything blows over.

“Thanks, but no thanks. I’m fine and so is Mac in case you didn’t know. I’m just… waiting on my friends.”

Luna awed with her mouth and gave dazzling smile that made Applejack feel bad for her attitude towards Luna’s offer. “A girl’s day out with your friends, sounds like a nice way to get your mind off the current events.” Luna chuckled, “Kind of reminds me of the times my sister and I would go and hang out with Applejane in our school days. Well you all have fun!”

As Applejack watched Luna walk away, something in Aj’s mind clicked and she called out to the vice principle. “Wait! You knew my mom?”

Luna stopped in her tracks and turned to face the spitting image of her friend. “Yes, Applejane was Celestia’s and I’s best friend in high school, we even went to the same college, though Applejane went for a different career field. Would you like to hear some stories?”

Aj almost said yes, but then another thought came to her mind. “You went to school with my mom, so does that mean you went to school with dad too?”

Luna blinked, “Nico Vega? Oh no, we wasn’t in our classes, or even our school now that I think about it. Actually it was at the end of senior year that he started working for Granny Smith out on the farm. He just kind of showed up one day. Well… Applejane pulled him from the river, but Nico basically just showed up out of the blue. He never talked about any family or where he came from, I don’t even know how old he was, but I think he had been in the military or something because he had this awesome looking jacket with this cool logo on the sleeves. Oh yeah and it also had the number 088 on it.”

“088…” She’s heard that number somewhere before, but where? And when?

“Is there anything else you wanted to know?” Luna asked, looking at Applejack with concern. The young girl was just kind of staring into space.

“I’m fine, really I am.” Applejack said waving her hand and smiling as wide as she could. “Thanks for talking; maybe we can do it again sometime.”

“Applejack,” Luna said walking up her and wrapping the cowgirl up in hug, “It’s ok to ask for help. Don’t try to shoulder everything yourself, it’s… it’s not healthy.”

Applejack nodded as Luna released her and patted her on the shoulder. She hid her blushing cheeks under her hat as Luna walked away, but more importantly she hid her tears, because for a brief moment it felt like she was in her mother’s arms again. When was the last time she got a warm hug? Or was told she didn’t have worry about the harshness that was life? She couldn’t remember. She really couldn’t.

A few minutes later, after erasing any trace of her tears, her friends showed up. First to arrive was Rainbow Dash, dragging Fluttershy in tow. Next was Rarity, hair a mess and glasses still on her nose with Pinkie coming in fourth, face covered in whip cream and finally the last to arrive was Sunset Shimmer. Who was always the last to arrive now that Applejack thought about it; where did that girl live anyways?

“Sorry I’m late! Traffic was terrible today.” Sunset panted running up to them.

Applejack waved her off, “It’s alright. You live a long ways out right? Like the other side of town?” Sunset looked nervous about the question. Why? Also why did she care? It wasn’t her business where Sunset lived; though it was strange that nobody seemed to know where the pony girl lived.

“Why do you smell like apples?” AJ asked suddenly after catching the familiar scent coming off Sunset.

Sunset smiled nervously while scratching the back of her head, a habit of hers that only came up when they asked about her place of residence. Every time Sunset would manage to mislead them away from the subject.

“So Applejack what did you need help with?”

Damn if the former she demon wasn’t grate a manipulating people still. However she did have a point. They weren’t here to solve the mystery of where Sunset sleeps after sunset. Packing that mystery away from another day AJ explained her concerns about the sirens and Mac. The responses were mixed at best.

“So you think Mac is involved with the Sirens somehow?” Rainbow Dash stated as Applejack nodded in confirmation. “And you think this because Adagio showed up and rode in the ambulance with you?”

“Well it does sound strange doesn’t?” Rarity chimed in, “Why would Adagio be at your farm? Better yet, why would she save Mac? I don’t recall them ever meeting when they were at school.”

Fluttershy mumbled something that no one heard and Pinkie… “Oh, oh maybe Mac and Adagio are...” The pink party girl made some hand gestures that made them all turn a little red.

“I highly doubt that’s the case.” Sunset coughed looking just a hair redder then Fluttershy, which earned her a suspicious look from Applejack. “Anyways even if you’re right Applejack, where do we start looking? Canterlot isn’t a huge town, it is plenty big, they could be anywhere by now.”

“You got a point,” Aj conceded, and then idea came to her. “Alright we’ll split up. Rarity and Fluttershy will go downtown. Pinkie and Rainbow will check out the residential streets and Sunset and I will check out the farm. They may have left some clues there or something.”

The girls nodded and went their separate ways, leaving Applejack and Sunset standing awkwardly next to each other as they looked at their means of transportation, since Rainbow and Pinkie were borrowing AJ’s truck, all that was available to them was Sunset’s bike.

“So… got a second helmet?”

Downtown Canterlot was in Rarity’s word, a quaint little place with many stores and business, but most importantly it was home to her very own store, the Canterlot Boutique! She put her entire college fund into the business, and whiles her parents had been less than happy when they found out she used the money to buy the vacant store, it turned out in her favor in the end! Well almost, she did still have a few more loan payments to make, but the business was doing well, even with her having to attend school.

However having her own clothing store didn’t mean she didn’t like going to other stores to shop and since the sirens didn’t get their clothes for the Battle of the Bands from her, it was safe to say they probably got them somewhere around here. She even brought a picture to show her fellow fashionistas to jog their memory.

“Um Rarity,” Fluttershy meekly mumbled as they came to a stop outside “Explicit’s clothing” “Are you sure this is… ah… the right place?”

“Why of course darling!” Rarity hung her arm around the shy girl's shoulders, “Explicit would be the best place to start our search. The sirens seemed to favor… a certain brand of clothes, so we need to look at the place where such clothing can be bought.”

Fluttershy nodded in agreement, noticing outfits similar to what the sirens had worn, but there were also more risque clothes on display that had her cheeks burning from just looking at them.

“Come on let’s go in!” Rarity cheered dragging a nearly limp Fluttershy inside. “Hello, Explicit, how are you today?”

Behind the counter was a middle aged woman, dressed in rather provocative attire, yet still decent, she flashed Rarity a smile as she made her way around the corner to embrace her younger business rival/friend.

“Oh I’m wonderful darling! Come to try on some risky attire today?” She winked, earning a giggle from Rarity and a deeper blush from Fluttershy. “You brought a friend too! Even better! Come I have some new stock that I would just love to put you in!”

Rarity laughed politely, knowing it was probably fruitless to try and get out of being Explicit’s personal mannequin, but she could always try.

“Sorry dear, but I’m afraid I’m on other business today.” Rarity dug out the pictures of the sirens and showed it to Explicit. “Have you seen or sold any clothes to these three? It would have been about three months ago or so.”

Explicit took the picture, “Hmm they do seem familiar, but I just can’t place them, perhaps if you and your friend were to put on a little fashion show for me. I might just remember clearly.”

“Um Rarity,” Fluttershy mumbled clutching the back of Rarity’s shirt. Her heart went out for the poor girl, but she knew that look in Explicit’s eye.

“If you only use me as you guinea pig I’ll wear whatever you want, no matter how risqué it is.” Rarity said firmly, the bartering had begun.

“Temping, but your little friend is just so cute! I just have to have photo of her in something cute! She’s seems like a natural model you know?”

Rarity sighed; she had thrown out her best offer. She gave Fluttershy an apologetic look as she prepared to do her final bid. “Fine you can put her in a dress, something very non risqué and me and whatever you desire.”

“Deal!” Explicit ran to the door and flipped the sign to closed and shut the shades. “Come on! They’re in the back!”

“Um Rarity what’ going to happen to us?” Fluttershy asked meekly as they were dragged into the back room. Rarity did her best to calm her fears.

“Nothing bad, just a little dress up is all, you know like I have you do for me sometimes.” Rarity smiled, knowing it wasn’t quiet going to be the same, but it was better if Fluttershy didn’t know that.

“Umm Miss Explicit, isn’t this a little… short?” Just as Explicit promised Fluttershy was now adorned in a very cute looking white dress that really brought out her features. However the helm of the skirt barely went past her thighs. Fluttershy was frozen like a deer in head lights as Explicit snapped a picture of her.

Explicit waved the photo to help it develop, “Nonsense darling it’s looks wonderful on you! Pretty soon this will be the next big trend in town thanks to you. You’re just so beautiful!”

“Really?” Fluttershy wondering feeling empowered by the complement, and started looking at the bright side of this experience. It was really nice to be called pretty, but it was even better that she didn’t have to wear what Rarity was wearing, which was purple bunny suit complete with ears and a tail. This was the first time Fluttershy had seen Rarity looking unexcited to be wearing new clothes.

“There has to be some sort of law against this,” The fashionista mumbled as Explicit took pictures of her, a lot of pictures! “Are you done yet?”

Explicit laughed setting the camera down, “Alright, alright, I’ve had my fun. Come back up front when you finished changing.” She said over her shoulder leaving the two alone.

Fluttershy began to undress when Rarity stopped her. The shy girl gave her friend a confused look as Rarity walked over to the door with a clothes hanger and stuck the hook through a little hidden hole in the door. There was loud yelp from the other side.

“Alright I’m going for real this time!” Explicit said from the other side.

Fluttershy could only blink as Rarity began undressing, “Is there something wrong with her?”

“She’s….” Rarity fumbled with the words, going through a long list of how to describe Explicit, and decided she better keep it to a Fluttershy rating, “Very free spirited.”

“Kind of like Tree Hugger at the animal shelter. She’s always being so nice and taking pictures of me when I work with the animals.”

Rarity nervously laughed, “Yes let’s go with that! Now come on, let’s change before she comes back!”

When the girl emerged from the back room Explicit was opening the shop back up. The two stood by the register and waited for her to return, when she did she sat on her stool and lit a cigarette, a vent sucked the smoke outside, preventing the smell from lingering in the store.

“I remember those three,” Explicit began taking a long drag, “They nearly robed me blind. I nearly let them get away then the store alarm went off. Buying those security tags was a good investment. Anyways I made them do some photo opts for me to pay for the clothes, since what they wanted to steal wasn’t that valuable and they were all very pretty I figured I could make some quick cash off them. I did very well on their pictures; they were worth more than cost of giving the clothes away, so it was a good deal in the end. I didn’t see them again, but one day I was at the Plaza and I think I saw one running a food stand down there. I can’t say for sure since I was pretty far away and her hair style was different that day, but I’m certain it was this blue girl here.”

“Sonata Dusk?”

Explicit shrugged, “Never got their real names, I just took pictures and gave away some dresses. That’s all I know.”

“I see, thanks for the help, Explicit.” Rarity said as she led Fluttershy to the door.

“Rarity, wait a second,” Explicit yelled after them, making the two freeze in the door way. She shivered as hugged herself, “Rarity, those girls, I-I know this will sound strange, but I think their bad news. Whatever you want with them, I’d suggest you just drop it and move on.”

Rarity nodded, more for Explicit’s sake then her own, “Thanks, but we’ve dealt with them before. We’ll be alright.”

As the door closed Explicit sighed, she really hoped Rarity was right. She really did.

“So do we go to the plaza then?” Fluttershy asked as they walked down the street, passing several old dark alley’s along the way. Though a nervous girl, Fluttershy never felt threatened by the alley’s before, she’s even gone into them a few times to look for strays, but something felt ominous about them today, even in the daylight.

“It would be the best place to start… Fluttershy?” Rarity turned around, finding no trace of the shy girl. She walked to the last alley they passed and peered down. On the ground was a tuff of pink hair. “Fluttershy!

With no hesitation Rarity ran down the dirty alley, jumping over tipped over trash cans and piles of garbage bags. When she exited the alley she skidded to a stop as two women load an unconscious Fluttershy into the back of white van!

“Fluttershy! You let her go right now!” She demanded shifting into a fighting stance, those self-defense classes were about to pay off.

The two women disregarded her and continued to load Fluttershy into the van. With a growl Rarity charged at them, but didn’t get far as she felt a sharp pain in her leg and fell to the ground. She whimpered as a third attacker walked from behind her holding a steel bar in her hand. In the other hand she held a strange device.

“Hmm,” The woman with the bar hummed, bring the device closer to Rarity, “Only a two out of five on the meter, above average, but defiantly not enough to have defeated Kerosene. Still two above average subjects in one day, defiantly worth taking both of you. However I’m a fair a gal, I’ll make deal, if you can make it to your friend in thirty seconds on that leg, I’ll let you both go, if you don’t, well… you know.”

Rarity choked back a sob as she tried to get to her feet; pain assaulted her senses as she put the tiniest bit of pressure on her injured leg. She screamed and fell down again. Knowing it was impossible for her to walk she started to crawl along the dirt, but the woman the dug the steel bar roughly into the hand making her scream!

“No, no, you have to walk. That was the deal. Crawling is against the rules, oh and you only have fifteen seconds left.”

Rarity was crying hard now, her vision a blur as she got up again. She took one long deep breath and broke into a sprint, ignoring the pain as best she could. She was nearly to the van when the alarm on the mad woman’s watch went off. Still wanting to save her friend Rarity leap for Fluttershy, but another whack of the steel bar took her other leg out from under her.

“Now, now, we can’t have that. You lost the game and now I’m going to take you away.” The mad woman said cheerily as Rarity was lifted into the back of the van. “Don’t worry about you injuries, I take good care of my patents, I am a Doctor after all. Oh, you can call me Maddie by the way.”

Rarity tried to say something but it only came out as mumbles, Maddie laughed hysterically, as if she had just been told a funny joke.

“Wishing for you friends to save you dear?” Maddie noticed something sticking out of Rarity’s handbag and picked up to look at it. It was picture of Rarity and her friends at an amusement park. “Hmm, you know what; you may see your friends again after all. White Tail please find these girls for me and please get it done by the end of the day.”

White tail, the white skinned girl with tan hair took the picture and the device from Maddie and walked away. Maddie smiled cheerfully as she slammed the doors of the van closed. Things were getting very exciting!

In the back of the van, the bouncing of the road had awoken Fluttershy, who broke down and cried as she realized she had been kidnapped; she only cried harder when she found Rarity next to her and very badly hurt. She did her best to tend to the wounds, but she knew it wasn’t much help.

“Please,” She sobbed, “Please someone save us!”

Rainbow Dash puttered around the block of one of Canterlot’s many residential streets with a bored look on her face. She had thought going on the hunt for the sirens would have been more action filled, but it turned out to be a lot of driving and a lot looking at nothing really interesting. Most of what she saw where kids both her age and younger, enjoying the nice weather, playing games and running around, you know, having fun!

“Cheer up Dashie!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she looked through a magnifying glass, where she got it Rainbow didn’t know, but it was proving to be one of the more annoying props Pinkie had bugged her with so far. The pink party girl just kept looking her ear all the time; calming to be looking for rainbow ear wax, so she could make rainbow candles or something. “I know something exciting will happen soon!” She said looking in her ear again!

“Pinkie for the last time I don’t have rainbow colored ear wax!” Rainbow exclaimed shoving the party girl away. She took a turn onto the next street, passing a parked van on the corner as she entered the poorer part of town, known as little Hispania. She was pretty sure Derpy lived in this neighborhood.

Driving down the poorly maintained street Dash kept a close eye at anyone they passed. Canterlot didn’t have a lot of gang violence, but it did have gangs, most were harmless posers, but there were a few gangs of hoodlums that were serious to the bit. She may or may not have joined them for a short time after the first break up of their friendship group.

“Hey Dashie?” Pinkie said while poking the rainbow haired girl in the side. The party girl’s tone was lacking its usual dose of sugar and was instead a mix of worry and concern, not that Rainbow Dash was in the right frame of mind to notice.

“What?” She huffed, wondering what the party girl wanted. She followed the girls pointing finger to the rear view mirror, where a white van could be seen trailing behind them.

Rainbow took the next right and drove the end of the block and made a quick left stopping half way down the street. She waited a minute to see if the van would follow and sure enough she saw it poke around the corner. Slowly she drove ahead, careful to not make whoever was following aware that they knew they were being tailed. On the next right she turned slowly and once she was around the bend she floored it!

“Hang on Pinkie!” Rainbow yelled as she shifted gears heading for the more deserted streets. Behind them van come roaring around the corner, quickly eating up the distance between them. Taking the next left Rainbow dash smiled as she got on to an old dirt road and put the pedal to the floor knowing no one would be around here.

Dust flew up behind them hiding them from sight, but making them easily to track. The road twisted and turned sharply, Rainbow drifted professionally thru and straightened out. The black top came into view again and Rainbow hopped onto the road and gunned the truck for all it was worth! However that didn’t prove to be much as the engine died and the truck sputtered to a stop, the fuel gauge reading empty.

Rainbow punched the steering as the van pulled up behind them, “Crap!” She yelled as the driver of the van stepped out, it was woman, a very tall woman, wearing what looked like a coat made of deer hides. She walked towards them slowly, taking her time. Rainbow got out and moved into a fighting stance.

“What do you want with us?” She demanded as Pinkie Pie got out on the other side. The party girl took a very strange kind of fighting stance, but she looked comfortable in it, so maybe she could hold herself in a fight.

The woman held up a picture and looked between it and them several times before nodding and placing the picture back in her inner pocket.

“Da, I am here to capture you for my master, we have already capture to of your companions, the purple and the other pinked haired one. Please come with me peacefully or you will be forcibly detained as they were.”

“Who are you and what did you do to Fluttershy and Rarity?” Rainbow demanded angry.

The woman cracked her neck and shook off her coat, placing if safety on the hood of her van. “I am White Tail,” White Tail held up a strange device and pointed it at both of them. “Hmm three of five, and three and a half of five, much more impressive than your friends, but still not enough to have killed Kerosene. Regardless, I take you.”

“Whoa, whoa, what’s this about killing someone?”

Rainbow didn’t get an answer as White Tail began to glow, growing ears and deer antlers on top of her head!

“Whoa she can pony up?”

“I think you mean deer up Dashie, also does this mean she’s really a he, because female deer don’t have antlers, unless…”

“Pinkie not the time!” Rainbow yelled as the deer girl charge her, Dash jumped to the side, but outward spikes of White Tail’s antler caught her jacket taking her along for the ride as the deer girl swung her into the side of the truck with a sickening CRACK!

Rainbow slumped down the side of the truck, barely registering Pinkie Pie jumping over from the other side and tackling White Tail and punched with the furry a of angry ally cat!

“TASTE MAUD FU!” She screamed punching White Tail in the face! The deer girl’s antlers bounced against the pavement of the road with every hit, bouncing her head back into Pinkie’s line of fire. White Tail used to this her advantage however as she adjusted the angle of her head so one of the spikes would hit Pinkie in the arm, the ploy worked and Pinkie’s assault came to a abrupt end as she stumbled away clutching her bloody arm.

“That’s my cupcake throwing arm!” The party girl cried as she fell against the side of the truck, looking pale. “Oohoo… I don’t feel so good.” She mumbled before falling face first onto the tar.

“Pinkie!” Rainbow yelled crawling over to her friend, “What’d you do to her you bitch!”

White Tail smirked, pointing to her antler, “Neurotoxin, I paralyzed her and soon I’ll do the same to you.” She broke off one of the spikes and held in her hand like a knife, the broken spike growing back almost instantly.

Rainbow Dash rolled avoiding the first attack, which pierced through the side of the truck, Aj wasn’t going to be happy about that when she found out. Stumbling to her feet Rainbow made a break for it, White Tail chasing after her, she could hear the deer girl’s footsteps echoing right behind her. She could just barely feel her fingers brush the back of her shirt and it was at that instant Rainbow ducked and turned punched White Tail in the stomach, following up with an upper cut the jaw! The deer girl staggered and fell on her back. Rainbow spat on her as she walked past her.

“I never abandon my friends,” She declared rushing back to Pinkie. They could take the van to the hospital and call for help after that. “Pinkie, Pinkie!” Rainbow yelled shaking the girl, she got no response; quickly she checked for a pulse and sighed in relief when she found one. Gathering the party girl in her arms she carried her to the van and placed her back. Finding some blankets she tore some strips from it and wrapped Pinkie’s bleeding arm and walked for the driver’s seat. She was about to start it was she discovered the keys were missing!

“Looking for these?” White Tail said standing right beside the door, a spike ready and waiting in hand, Dash tried to fight her, to throw her off, but the deer girl was on her before she could do anything and she felt the sharp prick of the spike stab into her shoulder, she fell limp in White’s embrace.

“That’s a good girl,” White Tail chuckled placing Rainbow in the back with Pinkie. “Four down, two to do.”

Applejack and Sunset walked around the burnt remains of the barn, searching for anything that could help them understand what was going on. They weren’t entirely sure what they were actually looking for, but they figured this would be the place to start.

“Aj look at this!” Sunset said pointing to a foot print in the blackened floor. The tail lead from the back of the barn to where Mac had been hit with the beam. On the other of the beam the ash was in a strange almost ripple pattern like someone had thrown a pebble in the water. Aj wondered what it could mean.

“Any idea if this is something magical? You’re kind of the expert.” Aj said kneeing down for a closer look of the footprints, missing Sunset’s down trotted frown.

The pony girl took a deep breath and gave it her best shot, “It’s hard to say for sure, but it’s defiantly not natural, though I don’t know of anything in Equestria that leaves tracks like this; how about you, any ideas?”

Applejack resisted the urge to scoff and say of course not, but held herself back. With all the strange things going on lately she might start believing big foot is real. Still she’s never heard of anything about a walking fire person or something a keen to that.

She looked closer at the foot prints following them back to what used to be the back of the barn. There were a few footprints burned into the grass, but only four or five feet away from the barn. Whatever this thing was is wasn’t on fire all the time and then there were the footprints themselves.

“I don’t know what this thing is, but it is defiantly female, look at how slender the foot is and how far apart they are. Who or whatever did this was probably about five feet tall and weighed less than a hundred pounds.” She told Sunset, who was looking wide eyed over her shoulder.

Sunset blinked, clearly impressed with the deduction, “How’d do you get all that from just some footprints?”

“Pa taught me and Mac when were kids…” Applejack began to say when her head started to hurt. She swayed a bit as she stumbled to her feet causing Sunset to catch her and hold her steady. The pain in her head increasing as she heard a voice screaming in her head!

STAY AWAY FROM THERE!

“Aj, Aj are you all right?” Sunset asked concerned leading her friend to the house. “Maybe you should sit down; you’ve been through a lot the past few days; how about some water?”

Sweating profusely and breathing heavily, Applejack nodded to the offer and allowed Sunset to bring her to the front porch swing chair, where Sunset left her as she ran inside the house for some water.

While she waited Applejack suddenly remembered something from her childhood, something she had forgotten. She looked up staring at the path leading into the western orchard, she remembered now, her dad told her not to go in there, a long, long time ago.

“Here’s the water,” Sunset said placing the ice cold glass in front of her face. Applejack took it with a nod and took small sips, her eyes focused on the tree line in front of her. She tilted the glass higher; nearly draining it, when she set it back down on the arm rest Applejack saw a shadow out of the corner of her eye. “It can’t be…”

“Applejack?” Sunset asked not quiet hearing what the farm girl had said, before she knew what happened AJ was out of her seat and running towards the west orchard! “Aj wait! It’s dangerous in there!” She yelled chasing after her friend.

Applejack ran with all her might, breaking through low hanging branches that cut her arms, ignoring thorn bushes cutting her legs, and stumbling over rocks in a desperate need to chase the shadow in front her all the while a familiar voice screamed in her head.

GET BACK IT’S NOT SAFE!

Turn around AJ! Don’t look!

As Applejack stumbled into a familiar clearing she finally remembered. She remembered being attacked by a strange creature in the orchard and her father had saved her. She remembered the rain running down her face, mixing with her tears of panic and fear as she lay curled up in ball on the ground as her father stood over her, locked in conflict the creature. He had been bleeding; his hands gripped the upper and lower jaws of the creature, its teeth cutting into his hands.

“Look away Aj,” He had told her and she had, for only a brief second, before looking back again. In the flash of lightning she had seen something she had never seen before, the creature which she had thought was a hungry mountain lion, was something she had only seen in fairy tale books, a chimera, a monster with the head of body of lion, the head of a goat, and a snake for a tail, but that wasn’t the only strange creature she saw that night, she saw her father with ears on top his head, large leathery wings, and a tail. She had been in awe of the sight, but it had quickly turned to horror as her father ripped the monsters mouth open with his bare hands!

After that she had fainted and woke up back at the house, where her dad had told her it had been a stray mountain lion and that she had come close to being its supper. He had forbid her from entering the west orchard ever again.

“Aj’s what’s wrong?” Sunset panted finally catching up to her.

Applejack swallowed the lump in her throat, unsure how to answer. Maybe what she saw had just been her younger self’s memory of the event, maybe a mountain lion had attacked her. As she walked into the center of the clearing Applejack noticed a patch of glass was a different shade from the rest of it. The patch was quiet large, large enough to hide something.

“We need some shovels.” She said walking back towards the yard with Sunset following her.

Getting the shovels didn’t take long and they returned to the spot with in twenty minutes and started digging, Sunset on the west side of the patch and Applejack to the east. They didn’t have to dig long till they hit something.

“This is a…” Sunset gasp holding up a huge snake’s skull, while Applejack tapped the lion’s skull she uncovered, her eyes narrowing as she looked at it.

“A chimera,” Applejack finished for her. She dug the rest of the skull out just to be sure, and sure enough its lower jaw was separated from the upper, broken in way that could not be natural. This was indeed the creature that had attacked her. The thing her father lied to her about. The question now, what else was he hiding? “Come on, let’s go.”

Sunset dropped the snake skull and ran up to Applejack, “Go where?” She asked nervously, the west orchard had always been eerie, that’s why she never came here in all the years she’s been staying in the south orchard. She should probably tell the girls about that sometime, but not today.

“I don’t know,” Applejack answered honestly, “But I have this feeling that if we keep going deeper into the orchard, we’ll find what we’re looking for.”

Applejack pushed on, going deeper into the west orchard then she had ever gone before, Sunset bravely following her lead. She raised a curious eye brow to the well-worn path they stumbled upon, finding a few tracks in the dirt Applejack knelt down for a closer look.

One of the tracks was defiantly Mac’s; she’d know his boot print anywhere. The others were a bit tougher because they were her boot prints, her old boots! She found three different sets. Meaning there were either three people running around with her old boots or one person rotating between them. She was fairly hard on boots; whoever was wearing them wouldn’t get a lot of comfort out of them.

“Just a little further, we’re getting close,” She told Sunset as they pushed on, following the path, it didn’t take long for them to reach the shack at the edge of the orchard. From behind her, Applejack heard Sunset gasp, but chose to ignore her strange reaction for now and opened the door.

Inside were signs of people living inside, and female judging from the pair of panties on the floor. God, she hoped Mac didn’t make this to his love shack or something like that. That theory, well possible, though not in alignment of Mac’s character was quickly looking unlikely as she looked around. She very much doubted you had maps of the city, guns, and emergency first aids in a love shack. This place was looking more like something out of CSI; there were even bloodstains on the floor!

“What in the hell is going on?” Applejack muttered as she closed the gun cabinet. She looked to Sunset for an answer (Knowing she wouldn’t have one) as the bacon haired girl exited the newly made addition that housed two bunk beds.

Sunset shook her head, really having no idea what to say to her friend. She liked Mac; he protected her from vandals and gave her a home. She looked up to him, respected him, and just maybe had some feelings for him, but that aside maybe it was time to tell Applejack the truth about her father Nico Vega, she had a right to know and it would probably help clear somethings up, but she had promised Nico not to say anything either.

She groaned in frustration, not knowing what to do, which drew Applejack’s attention. From the look on the farm girl’s face it was obvious she knew something was up and Sunset was about to break down and tell her the truth, really she was, but then Sonata Dusk walked into the cabin wearing nothing but a bath robe and things got really awkward really fast.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Applejack yelled at the siren looking at the two of them like a deer in head lights before bolting out the door. “Come back here!”

Sunset uncertain what to do chased after them.

It didn’t take much for Applejack and Sunset Shimmer to capture Sonata, running bare foot in the woods was very impractical and painful and Applejack ended up giving the blue siren a piggy back ride back to the shack, where she thankfully put on some clothes.

Now dressed in sweats pants and a hoodie Sonata sat before her two captors, one a fellow magical being, the other Mac’s little sister, the person she was supposed be to be protecting while the others were gone. She probably should have skipped the dip in the river.

“So um… what do you want to know?” She asked nervously looking between the two girls. Applejack wasn’t looking too happy with her while Sunset was… she didn’t know looked sympathetic? That might be it, sympathetic, now if only she could remember what that meant.

Applejack snorted angry, “How about we start with why you’re staying in a shack on MY farm!”

Sonata recoiled as Sunset held Applejack back, she took a calming breath knowing what she was about to say next would only further enrage the girl, but it was the truth.

“First of all, this isn’t your farm, its Mac’s,” Sonata pointed out, getting a death glare from Applejack, “And second I’m here because Aria, Adagio and I live and work here. Mac (Shot us with bean bags) hired us because he believes in second chances.”

“As if,” Applejack said disbelievingly.

“It’s true!” Sonata shot back, standing up to poke the farm girl in the chest, she also just realized Applejack was a good few inches taller than her and clearly stronger, but she wouldn’t let that deter her. “All me and my sisters do is run the apple stand in town, collect apples and bake treats to sale, and gather information on possible monster sightings and then go monster hunting with Mac! We don’t even get paid for that second part that I really shouldn’t have told you about!” Sonata rambled as Applejack’s and Sunset’s eyes widened. “Oh… crap… there’s no chance you two will just pretend you didn’t hear that right?”

Applejack and Sunset shook their head slowly.

“Ah poop…” Sonata said falling back into her chair, “So I guess this is the part where I have to explain what has been going on behind you back right?” They nodded again. “Ok, but you might what to sit down.” She cautioned as she explained what has been going on since Mac recruited them after that battle of the bands.

Needless to say Applejack and Sunset were a little overwhelmed but what’s been going on behind their backs and by a little overwhelmed, well it may not accurately describe their feelings on the matter as Sonata found her herself lifted up by the collar and getting screamed at by an angry Applejack.

“You mean my brother has been going to school, running the farm, and fighting monsters with you three all night!” Which explained why Mac was so tired and irate all the time now, but still why would he do that? “Why didn’t he ask me for help?” Applejack screamed pushing Sonata away.

“Well we don’t fight monsters every night… right that’s not the point. We also don’t help him all the time, most of the time he likes to go alone… but we help like seventy-five percent of the time! Ok, I can see this isn’t making you any happier, so it’s the fact he lied to you and it seems like he doesn’t trust you, even though you fight magic and monsters too, is that what’s bothering you?” Applejack nodded slowly, gritting her teeth at the siren. “I see, well there’s an easy answer for that… Nico Vega told him not to tell you… and that probably isn’t going to help you calm down is it.”

Applejack stumbled away from the siren falling into one of the nearby chairs, “Dad… dad told him to lie to me… why?” She looked to Sunset and Sonata silent tears falling down her cheeks. “Whoa… I… don’t… I don’t know what to do.”

She was so angry. At Mac, at her dad, she was so angry her gums hurt! She wanted to scream out, but all that come out was sputter of croaks and suppressed sobs. Someone put their hand on her shoulder, it was Sunset’s, and she looked really uncomfortable. Applejack could understand that, it wasn’t easily dealing with people when they were emotional.

Across from her Sonata was looking pretty bad. The blue siren curled into a ball on her chair and as twisting her long her around her fingers, keeping her eyes averted from Applejack. She was mumbling something under breath. Applejack slowly walked over and knelt down in front of the girl.

“He just wanted to keep you safe. He just wanted you safe.” She repeated over and over. Applejack had a pretty good idea that she was referring to her father, Nico Vega.

“You knew my dad?” Applejack asked the siren. The blue girl nodded as she swiped her nose with her arm, getting snot all over it. It really sucked when you cried, because you always got a runny nose to go with it. “Here,” Aj offered Sonata her handkerchief, which she took with a weak smile. “Care to tell me what’s going on? Like how you know my dad and why your helping Mac? I… I really want to know.”

Sonata nodded as she blew her nose, “Sure, but can we get Aria first? I’d feel better if at least one of the others were with me. She should be in town at the stall right now. Mac and Adagio went to the city to investigate some leads and they won’t be back till later tonight.”

Applejack checked her watch, it was nearly five in the afternoon, and it was getting close to the time they agreed to regroup with the others.

“Sure, we need to go to town anyways, but we only got Sunset’s bike for transportation and Rainbow has my truck.”

“Aria has our truck and Mac and Adagio took Mac’s bike, but…” Sonata got up and led Sunset and Applejack outside to a lean to on the west side on that shack with an old black ford truck resting inside. “We can take this, it’s a little old, but it still runs.” Sonata got inside and turned the key over the engine coming to life after a few seconds. Applejack and Sunset piled inside barely squeezing into the cab because of the gear stick in the middle.

“Why is there bullet holes in the dash?” Sunset asked nervously as Sonata pulled out from under the lean to.

“Oh that’s from when Bonny and Clyde got shot by the police.” Sonata answered turning onto the secret road. Giggling at the slack jawed looks she was getting from her two passengers. “What? We got it on a salvage title! You couldn’t get a cheaper car in those times!”

“How old are you again?” Applejack stuttered as they got onto the main highway to town.

Sonata winked and said, “That’s a secret.”

Aria smiled and waved as her tenth customer for the day walked away with some of her homemade caramel apples. She deposited the money into the safe box as she tallied the number of items sold. Mac wanted to keep a record of what items sold better, so they could make better sells, but they took things a bit farther and had a list of goods sold and who made them. Sonata’s treats always seemed to sell the most.

As she plucked on of the chocolate dipped apples for a quick snack, Aria heard the familiar old sound of their old ford truck and sure enough Sonata pulled into the back lot, but with to passengers Applejack and Sunset Shimmer. Sonata waved nervously at her as the two girl climbed out of the truck.

“Great…” She sighed as the two approached her. Things were about to get complicated, a lot more complicated. Mac isn’t going to be happy when he gets back.

“We need to talk.” Applejack said bluntly.

Aria could do nothing but shrug at the farm girl, “Doesn’t seem like we have a choice. You’re the boss’s sister after all.” She joked turning the stalls sign to closed and she was so close to beating her record too.

“First off have you seen Rarity and Fluttershy?” Sunset asked, worry filling her voice. “They’re supposed to be searching for you in this area.”

“Can’t say that I have, I’ve been here all day and haven’t seen any sign of fancy skirt and squeaky.” The two gave her unconvinced looks, but Aria gave them no mind as she led them down to the side walk. “The plaza is at the end of downtown, so that means they would have to be up the street somewhere. We can take you to our usual sources to see if they have been in the area.”

The usual sources were in fact, the elderly, as Sunset and Applejack came to discover as the two sirens chatted it up with several old folks who for the most part sat on benches and spread the town gossip. It was amazing really watching the two gather information. The town’s folks met the two sirens with happy smiles and laughs, as they talked about their day, sharing whatever candy or treats they carried.

After the third or fourth person the sirens knew everything from where Fluttershy and Rarity were last seen to tales of their principles' youth. Whatever the case the fact they found themselves outside a clothing store was no surprise.

“Isn’t this the place we got caught robbing and had to take pictures in bikinis and lingerie as payment?” Sonata asked a loud, as Aria nodded along.

“Yep, this is the place, Adagio got really into that too. I doubt the owner will be happy to see us again, so do you two want to go in ask the owner about your friends?” Aria turned two Sunset and Applejack, who were looking back with some simmering glares. “What? I’m just saying it would be simpler, would hate for her to call the cops on us.”

Blushing red from the outfits in the display window, Applejack growled out a harsh, “Fine” And marched into the store with Sunset in tow.

“You know what’s going to happen to them right?” Sonata asked noticing the smirk on Aria’s face. “You totally sent them in there on purpose didn’t you?”

“It’s better this way, plus some pay back for the battle of the bands.” Aria said walking down a few alleyways, coming to a stop at one in particular. “You feel that?”

Sonata shivered, “Yeah, dark magic, it’s everywhere!”

“Sad to say but something probably got those girls. Look there.” Aria pointed to a pink hair on the ground. “Come on, let’s check it out.”

Sonata nodded and followed her to the alley behind the stores. There the scent of magic filled the air, the lingering taste of a spell still fresh.

“Do not see me; do not hear me, classic bad guy spell.” Aria knelt down inspecting some marks in the dirt. “Someone fell here and then crawled a little bit before running, ending at the tracks… here. Meaning they were taken by car. This is going to be tough case.”

From behind they heard two sets of footsteps, the sirens turned to face Applejack and Sunset with their arms crossed and looking very displeased, “What are you two up too?”

“Didn’t enjoy the fashion show?” Aria chuckled, earning a glare from Applejack, but as much as she wanted to tease the two and ask what they were forced to wear. There were more important matters at hand.

“Alright no more joking around, your friends are in danger, where did you send the other two?”

“Why? What happened to Rarity and Fluttershy?” Applejack demanded angrily grabbing Aria by the collar, if the purple siren was feeling threatened, she hid it well.

Aria forcibly removed Aj’s hand from her shirt, “Their gone, taken by someone, but more than likely alive. Now tell me before it’s too late, where are the other two?”

“They went to search the residential area.” Sunset answered with worry.

The two sirens ran off, Sunset and Applejack giving chase, following them back to the plaza. Where they all piled into the siren’s blue truck and headed for the residential part of town. There it was the same as before, asking elderly folks of what they seen through the day, and were hot on Rainbow’s and Pinkie’s trail as followed their path though the neighborhoods. Derpy giving them the final clue to where the two had gone and the four of them eventually pulled up to Aj’s abandoned truck.

“That’s not good. Sonata arm up!” Aria ordered pulling two sawed off from under the truck seat. “You two stay here; keep the engine running anything happens you book it. Understand?”

Maybe it was the authority she spoke with or the eerily presence of Aj’s deserted truck, but the two rainbooms nodded and followed the sirens orders.

Aria and Sonata approached the truck carefully, checking inside, underneath and in the box for anything. Their eyes glowed in the evening twilight as they sensed the presence of magic. All around the truck the presence the smoky green mist was made clear to them.

“What do you make of this?” Sonata asked holding up a broken piece of a horn. The thing was soaked in magic.

“I don’t know, but it isn’t good. Check the second tank on the truck for fuel, and see if we can’t drive it back to the farm.” Sonata fiddled with the truck, Aria knelt down for a closer look of the blood on the tar.

From the looks of things Rainbow and Pinkie, were attacked too, but they managed to put up a better fight then the other two did at least. It was amazing how easily their former enemies were being taken down and here they were protecting them. Nico was right, Aj and her friends, they weren’t ready for whatever was hunting them, and after the fire girl at the hospital Aria was beginning to doubt they were ready.

“I got it going!” Sonata yelled revving the engine.

Aria nodded and hopped back into the blue truck with the other two, “We’re going back to the farm. Whatever is after you its good at what it’s does, we need to wait for Mac and Adagio to get back before we can do anything.”

As they drove down the road Applejack leaned her head against the window of the truck, staring at the setting sun and feeling like her entire world was being flipped upside down. She sighed as her eyed fluttered closed, the exhaustion of the day catching up with her and she wondered if her life would ever be normal again.

Frozen Apples

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What must be done chapter 4

By foxgear

Applejack slumped in the recliner in the living room of the farm house, the chair had been her dad’s and he had spent many a nights reading story books to her before putting her to bed when she was little. Though she was still little cross with her dad for forcing Big Mac to become a monster hunter and leaving her out, she found comfort in the chair as she sank into the leather. With just today’s recent events she needed something to help her relax, at least a little bit. Still there were those of their group that were a little too relaxed, namely Aria and Sonata, who just finished taking two long showers, each of them taking roughly half an hour.

“I know you said we needed to wait, but aren’t you two at least a little concerned about some crazy lady hunting us?” They had told her about Maddie Hoof and how they suspected her of being behind the attacks on both Big Mac and her friends. “Shouldn’t you be arming up or something?”

Plopping on the sofa across from her, Aria kicked up her feet onto the coffee table with a big sigh. “Says the girl resting in the lazy boy and it’s you she’s hunting, not us, though I bet she’ll be coming for us soon enough. Either way if you get worked up about this stuff every time something comes up you’ll burn yourself out. You have no idea how long it took us to get Mac to cool down when he first started monster hunting. Guy nearly ground himself down to the bone. Remember when he had to sleep for two days Sonata?”

The blue siren flopped down next to Aria and laid a tray of cookies and coffee on the table, pouring a big cup with a lot of sugar, a lot of sugar! It almost more sugar then coffee!

“Yeah I remember that!” She said nearly bouncing in her seat. “He missed two days of school and we had to do all the chores! What was really funny is that Adagio tied him to the bed so he couldn’t get up! It was hilarious!”

“And that helped him how?” Applejack asked crossing her arms. She knew what they were talking about; she had to bring Mac his homework for that week. He had said he was fighting cold and was staying at the farm so it wouldn’t spread to everyone else.

Aria answered while pouring her own mug, she likes hers with a lot crème. “Well one he finally got some sleep and two he learned the world wasn’t going to come burning down if he took a day off.

Applejack hummed as she poured a cup of her own. Thinking back Mac did seem to mellow out, well mellow out more than usual before their argument, it was probably her fault for getting angry with him the night she waited up for him. As worried as she had been that was poor time to confront him. Maybe if she had waited for morning he wouldn’t have gotten attacked or maybe they all might have burned?

“Don’t think about.” Sonata said suddenly.

“What?”

“I said don’t think about what could have happened if you did this or that, it’s not going to fix what happened already, so there no use thinking about it you know? Past is the past and all that.”

“Very philosophical of you,” Applejack drawled, Sonata smiled at her and giggled, leaving Aria to roll her eyes.

“Don’t mind this one; she probably got that off a fortune cookie.”

“That doesn’t make it any less true!” Sonata argued.

Applejack couldn’t help but laugh at their antics. Hard to imagine that only a few months ago they were locked in a battle for the fate of the world and now? They were sitting in her living room drinking coffee together. The world was certainly strange.

As she took good hearty sip of her drink Applejack noticed the fourth member of their posse missing. In fact she hasn’t seen Sunset Shimmer for quite some time now. Remembering the bacon haired girl’s last location to be the kitchen Applejack quietly dismissed herself to go take a look.

In the kitchen she found the cooling coffee pot on the counter and some homemade treats with a note next to them. The note was from Sunset and it read, “Went home to get my journal will be back soon.”

Applejack frowned and looked outside the front window, outside she saw her truck, the siren’s truck and Sunset’s bike all parked where they had been left. Once more she hadn’t heard any engines start up, so what did Sunset take home? Actually where did Sunset live? Well never really caring before, now it was really starting to bother Applejack, really what are the chances Sunset was living in her orchard too?

“Nah that’s crazy, it’s not like we have shacks in every part of the orchard…” Applejack paused thinking back to the time her dad had made a big order of building materials to build a new barn. She also remembered he had over ordered and had enough extra to make a few small shacks…

“Hey you two,” She called into the other room, “Do you know…” Aj stopped mid sentence as a pair of head lights filtered into the windows. Peering outside she saw a white van park in the middle of the yard, about thirty yards away from the house. She didn’t recognize the van, nor would anyone she know park so far away from the house. In the other room she heard the sound of guns cocking as the sirens took up positions beside the windows.

“Better arm yourself cowgirl,” Aria shouted while looking out the window, the sound of the van door opening and closing drawing their attention, “Things are about to go down.”

Huddling close to the wall Applejack peeked out for another look, the yard light illumined the new arrival making out the form of a tall woman wearing deer skin clothes. Looking further to the left she managed to see inside the van’s front window and inside was an unconscious Sunset!

“Sunset!”

“Don’t go out there!” Sonata tackled her before she could even reach for the door, the window shattered above them as two loud “THUNKS” came from the opposite wall. Aj lifted the brim of her hat to see two antler spikes stuck in the wall. Pushing Sonata off her she rose up catching a glimpse of the woman now sporting a pair of antler on her head.

“Are deer’s inhabitants of Equestria too?”

“Yeah, some are smarter than others, others are normal deer, and I think they had their own country once.” Sonata answered dusting the glass off her clothes, “Oh and you’ll want this.” She handed Applejack a pistol.

Applejack looked between the gun and the siren. “You expect me to kill her?”

Sonata shrugged, “Basically, I mean first we have to interrogate her to find out where she took your friends and then maybe we’ll see if she’s willing to switch sides, but until we have her chained to a chair, shoot to kill. Magical beings tend to be tough.”

“Will you two shut up and shoot already!” Aria screamed unloading her gun at the deer woman.

The woman leap sideways avoiding the shots with ease, running as fast as any deer making her a blur of brown and white as she rushed for the house. Sonata fired, making her detour again.

Applejack’s hand shook as the sound of empty clips hitting the floor rung in her hears. She pointed the gun, which was her dad’s 1911 colt 45 at the deer woman. Time seemed slow as she looked at the woman’s face, seeing every detail as she got closer and closer. She placed her finger on the trigger and froze, she couldn’t do it.

“Celestia’s teats shoot her!” Aria screamed pushing Applejack aside, three shots followed after; there was a grunt and the sound of footsteps on the porch.

Rolling across the floor Applejack jumped to her feet as the deer woman and Aria were wrestling on the floor in front of her. The woman swung her head wildly about trying to spear Aria with her antlers; Aria deflected them with her gun and a knife. Sonata come screaming in firing four shots into the woman’s back. The woman grunted as blood poured down her sides, she whipped her arm out smacking Sonata away.

Applejack’s grip tightened on the gun and she ran up jamming the barrel right into the deer woman’s face and pulled the trigger!

“Fuck!” The woman screamed grabbing the side of her face. The round had bounced off her skull, blowing apart her right ear and antler. She whipped her arms wildly about keeping Applejack at bay as she pinned Aria by the throat with the other.

“Too powerful…get bigger… gun!” Aria choked out as she tried to keep from being strangled.

Applejack stood petrified for several seconds and then made a break for the stairs, running with all her might she skidded around the guard rail and made a beeline for the old storage room busting down the door without hesitation. She stopped in the middle of the room eyes searching for her great grandpa’s old chest, finding it under a pile of blankets.

Pushing the clutter aside she popped open the locks and lifted the lid revealing the boxes contents; her grandpa’s 84 caliber rifle, also known as an elephant gun. It was one of the most powerful guns in the world and Applejack had four rounds. Hopefully they wouldn’t explode in her face, she was pretty sure these rounds were from world war one.

From the first floor Aria screamed, “Hurry up!”

Determined Applejack broke open the gun and loaded two shells into the double barrel and hurried down the stairs. She came to a stop at the base of the stair way and shouldered the rifle, the old sight bead swayed with the weight of the gun as Applejack braced herself and fired!

The force of the recoil knocked Applejack to the ground! As she fell she could see the scene unfolding in front of her. The bullet hit the deer woman on the right side of her torso, the round tearing through her like a hot knife through butter, she flew off of Aria and slammed into the wall with a hole in her chest that you could stick an arm through.

Aria sat up as she rubbed her throat, her eyes wide with shock as she looked between Applejack and the dying deer woman. “Holy Celestia is that an elephant gun? Where the hell did you get that?” At the same time Sonata regained consciousness, blinking a few times as she processed what was going on.

“Yay, we won!” She turned and looked at the gun in Applejack’s arms and then outside, where one of the smaller trees had been chopped down by the round, just barely missing the van with Sunset inside. “Good shot.”

On shaky legs Applejack rose up, her shoulder throbbing in pain and her guts were turning inside out as the sight of the deer woman bleeding out in her living room. Slowly she made her way over to the woman falling to her knees in front of her.

The deer woman coughed, blood spilling down her mouth as she looked into Applejack’s eyes, “What do you want? You want to mount my head on the wall?”

Applejack shook her head, hot tears flowing down her face like a river as she placed her hand over the wound. Even with her fingers stretched open she could still fit her hand through the bullet hole.

“I’m sorry!” She choked blowing her head to the deer woman. “I’m so sorry…”

White Tail laughed, “I kidnap your friends and you apologize for defending yourself? Stupid girl.” She laughed harder, the pain was overwhelming, but it didn’t matter, she didn’t have much time anyway, “Do not apologize for such things, it is only a matter of two wills pushing against each other and yours won.” Her vision began to fade to black and her breathing was getting more ragged, this was it.

“Too bad… you won’t be so lucky against Tundra…”

Aria pulled Applejack up and shoved her behind the wall; Sonata took up position across from them, both sirens keeping a keen eye out for anything strange.

“Sonata you go and get bacon hair, I’ll cover you.” Aria said taking charge. Sonata nodded and ran out to the van. For a full minute there was nothing, only the sound of Sonata pulling Sunset from the van and her footsteps back to the house. There was nothing and that’s what worried Aria the most, there was no sound of insects or night critters in the orchard, only the eerily stillness.

Once Sonata was back in the house Aria sighed with relief, only to stiffen at the sight of her own breath. It was late spring and a comfortable sixty five degrees out tonight, she should not be seeing her breath!

She looked around at the others, whose breath was also visible as well as the air chilled.

“The trees…” Applejack pointed towards the orchard, “There’s frost on the trees!”

Not just the trees, but the ground as well, it grew gradually freezing everything in its path. In the distance the sound of a single pair of footsteps could be heard coming up the drive way and with each foot step the frost grew closer.

“You two run now,” Aria ordered pushing both Applejack and Sonata towards the backdoor. “I’ll deal with this.”

Sonata protested grabbing hold of Aria’s arm, “But Aria!”

“No buts just go!” She yelled slamming the door in their face and locking it.

The purple siren panted hard her adrenaline sparking as her body shivered. She could barely move with how badly her limbs were shaking. On unsteady legs she returned to the living room, where Sunset was still unconscious on one of the couches. Walking over to the girl she adjusted her head so it was up right.

“Don’t over think this, I just need some magic,” She said to the unconscious Sunset, kissing the girl fully on the lips. Instantly she felt the spark of magic enter to body as she gained her wings and ears. Singing a soft song she pulled the water from every faucet in the house and gathered it around her, making sure the water was nice and hot as she waited for her opponent.

She didn’t have to wait long as the door swung open revealing a light blue toned girl with ice crystals for hair. Aria remembered the girl from the files, another one of Madhoof’s experiments, the girl’s real name was Icy breeze, but it was later changed to Tundra. She was basically a walking ice storm.

“Well come on then!” Aria challenged gathering the water for an attack. Arm stretched she sent a whip of scolding hot water at the girl only to gasp as it instantly turned to ice before even getting close, the water whip froze to the ground trapping her arm. In a rage she attacked with the other, getting the same result. Tundra took three steps towards her and froze all of her water, trapping her. Aria cringed as the ice girl touched her face and everything went dark after that.

Applejack and Sonata ran down the old dirt path though the east orchard, neither one daring to look back as they skidded around trees and rocks. Sonata’s face was a mess of tears and snot as she whispered Aria’s name under her breath, knowing her siren sister didn’t stand a chance. Ice was a siren’s primary weakness.

“Come on, we just need to get across the river and then we can get over to Jubilee’s acreage.” Applejack said as they made their way through the shallow stream the water only reaching up to their ankles. They stopped on the other side to catch their breaths, having just made a mile and half run in only ten minutes. Both girls part took in a good hearty gulp of river water to hydrate. “We gotta keep moving, it’s five more miles to Jubilee’s.”

Sonata shook her head as she walked into the center of the river, her back turned to Applejack, “I’m not going,” she said, her voice cracking. “I’ll… I’ll buy you some more time.”

“Don’t be stupid Sonata! Now come on!” Applejack yelled reaching out for the girl with her hand. At first it seemed like the siren was going to listen to her but as soon as their hands met Sonata pulled Applejack close and kissed her and then pushed her away, a wall of water rising between them.

“You should get going, she’s almost here.” Sonata said solemnly as the trees began to frost over. “And if we don’t see each other again, I just want you to know you’re a pretty nice girl and sorry for accidentally stealing your first kiss.”

Applejack blushed despite herself, “There no way you could know that!” Sonata chuckled as she floated into the air gathering as much water as she could from the river.

“As if anyone would be stupid enough to hit on Mac’s little sister, don’t worry I just needed a little energy and that’s the quickest way to get it. Now you should really get going.” Applejack stared at her for several seconds, probably taking in her wings and ears, before finally nodding and said “Thank you.”

Sonata smiled as she watched Applejack disappear into the trees. “Good luck.” She turned and came face to face with Tundra, who stood on the river banks waiting, “How nice of you to wait.” Tundra said nothing as she walked towards the siren, the water freezing beneath her feet.

“In the words of Aria, I say bring it on! I’ll show you what we did to sea ponies that dared attack us back home!” With a thunderous scream Sonata sent all the water at Tundra, the wave spilling over the banks and rising half way up the trunks of the trees creating a small lake. She dived beneath the surface avoiding the ice spears Tundra threw at her. The ice girl was having a hard time moving under water, her movements were slow and predictable to the siren, Sonata also kept the water moving preventing Tundra from freezing it right away. Ducking under another ice spear Sonata was finally close enough to seize the ice girl by the throat and drag her down to the bottom of the water. There she began to choke the girl, air bubbles floated past her as the ice girl struggled beneath her.

“I got you!” Sonata boasted her voice sounding clear as crystal even underwater. She continued to squeeze with all her might avoiding the Tundra’s grabs. She lifted the ice girl’s head and slammed it against the ground to try and quicken her death, but that proved to be a mistake as a sharp rock cut into her finger. The injury was nothing, but it didn’t stop Sonata from reacting to the pain and release her grip on Tundra.

The ice girl smirked at her as she grabbed Sonata’s face.

Sonata shivered as she felt her entire body go cold and her magic drain from her body. Her water made its way back to the river leaving her lying on the ground at Tundra’s feet.

Tundra barely even glanced as her latest victory and pressed on.

She was the last one; it was just like those stupid horror movies Rainbow Dash liked to watch when they had sleep overs. Some manic picks them off one by one, the friends of the first victims realize what’s going on too late and are picked off as easily as the others until only one remained to fight the monster and that was her.

This was no movie though. She wasn’t going to stumble onto a magic object that would banish the demon, some random hunk wasn’t going to jump in and save her so she could deliver the final blow from behind and the ghost of her dead parents weren’t going to come in and save her at the last second. That last one was Harry Potter, but it was the same principle, she was screwed!

“God’ dammit! Why didn’t I bring the elephant gun?” Of course there was no proof that it would work on the ice girl, but it did kill the deer girl, so it wouldn’t have hurt to at least try it. Applejack pulled her pistol from her pocket and slide the clip out, she had four bullets in the gun. Bullets that the deer girl shrugged off and it was safe to assume the ice girl was much more powerful. The bullets weren’t going to do much, but maybe they could still be of some help.

A plan was forming in her brain, a plan that relied on a hell of a lot of wishful thinking and dumb luck, but it was a plan none the less.

Following the old trail that lead to the north orchard she hoped against hope that her theory was right and her dad had made shacks in each part of the orchard and knowing him he would want them to be in roughly the same sport as the others.

Applejack couldn’t keep the grin off her face when she found the shack just where she expected to, it was in rough shape, having had no attention to keeping it up for some time, and the door was locked. She tried to break it down by ramming it with her shoulder, but the old wood held firm. Deciding to take the risk she shot the lock off and went inside, hoping something was in here that could help her.

There was no power so she had to fumble around in the dark and feel around for whatever she could get her hands on. Checking the items she grabbed in the moon light. After some time of searching she found what she was looking for.

“This will do.” In her hand was a tin can with the symbol for flammable on it. She twisted the lid and poured the contents onto the floor. Quickly and loudly she moved for the back window of the shack and grabbed onto the frame ready to jump through at moment’s notice. She heard footsteps and saw the windows frost up as the ice girl entered through the open door. She looked around, clearly not seeing any better in the dark then any normal person as she began to feel around, knocking over cans and other items.

Applejack called out to her, “Hey!” She yelled the ice girl turning towards her, the moon light out lining her body. “Burn in hell!”

Without hesitation Applejack pulled the trigger twice, the first round hitting Tundra, dropping her to the ground, the second round hitting the can next to the ice girl, the can exploded into a small fire ball igniting the flammable liquid she poured on the floor earlier. She jumped through the window landing in broken glass and wood as the shack combusted into a giant fireball!

“Damn, what did dad put in there?” She coughed rising to her feet. Stumbling over to a nearby tree Applejack slumped against the trunk to watch the shack burn; also she had a piece of wood in her leg meaning she wasn’t running anywhere anytime soon.

With a hiss she pulled the chunk out of her leg and tossed it aside, tearing a piece of her skirt off to use as a bandage. “This is like a fricken die hard movie.” She joked tying the cloth tight.

With that done she leaned against the tree and finally caught her breath before laughing hysterically. She couldn’t believe her planned worked! It really worked! She was laughing so hard that she didn’t even realize she was crying, the weight of the situation finally catching up with her.

Her friends were still captured. Aria and Sonata could be dead for all she knew and she was stuck out here till someone come to investigate the smoke, which raised further questions, why wasn’t anyone coming? Sure they were out in the boonies, but they had neighbors, guns shots, even pistols could be heard from miles away and now she had a good bonfire going. Someone anyone should have called this in by now.

Grabbing a stick off the ground Applejack used it to hoist herself to her feet. She needed to get back to the yard and check on the others. She didn’t know how, but she had a gut feeling the proper authorities weren’t going to be coming anytime soon, meaning she would have to do something.

Hoppling along Applejack made it to the edge of the clearing when the shack finally collapsed. She didn’t bother to turn around, not wanting to see the ice girl’s burnt carcass, but a sudden chill and frosty grass made her stop and turn.

“You gotta be shitting me!”

Rising from the ashes was Tundra looking a little worse for wear, but still alive. Her face where Applejack shot her was cracked and only a few parts of her were burned. Beneath her was a large puddle of water, meaning she probably saved by freezing herself in ice and the fire melting ice creating water which gradually putting out the fire.

Slowly Tundra walked out of the smoldering ruins of the shack. Applejack raised her gun ready to use her last two bullet.

“You aren’t taking me without a fight!” She bravely yelled firing at the ice girl’s head, the round swizz by harmlessly as Tundra continued her approach. Applejack grit her teeth and adjusted her aim, her eyes were dry from staring at the fire, her night vision was completely ruined, so she took aim at the girl’s mid-section and fired her last round! She smiled as the round hit true, the ice girl stumbled back as pieces of ice fell from her body like glass, but she didn’t stay down for very long. Tundra righted herself and showed Applejack the damage, which looked pretty minimal, the girl was coated in a literal suit of ice armor.

Applejack fell to the ground the fight leaving her body. Her eyes stung with tears at her failure. This was it; she was going to be taken. What would granny think happened to her? What would Applebloom do without her? And Mac, oh Mac, he would probably blame himself.

Tundra’s shadow fell over her, she huddled into a ball to try and keep warm against the cold as the ice girl reached for her.

“Daddy,” Applejack whispered with trembling lips, her mind going back to the time she was attacked by the chimera “Please help me!”

Applejack braced herself for whatever was to come next, but nothing came, in fact it was getting warmer. A strong breeze rustled through the trees making the trees sway, sticks fell to the ground glowing with an unnatural energy, both Applejack and Tundra were transfixed by the display as more and more sticks gathered between the two girls. The sticks began to take shape as they blackened, two glowing sets of blue eyes opened as the shape fully formed into that of a black timber wolf!

“What in the Sam hell…”

The timber wolf growled, snapping its jaws at the ice girl; the wolf crept forward as the ice girl backed away. Applejack doubted she was actually afraid of her would be savior from the smirk the girl had, in her hand was a rapidly forming ice dagger. Applejack yelled for the wolf to move as the ice girl swung at it and to her surprise the wolf danced around the attack and bit the girl on the shoulder! The wolf pulled her down to the ground and began to savagely tug at the girl’s arm, trying to rip it off!

The girl jabbed with her knives, breaking chunks of bark and stone loose from the wolf’s body, but he seemed to pay her no mind as it sunk its teeth deeper into her icy skin. Applejack cringed and cheered as droplets of red blood appeared on Tundra’s blue skin.

“Yeah get her boy!” Applejack cheered, the wolf seemed to appreciate it as he got more aggressive and clawed into Tundra’s stomach sending shards of ice everywhere as he dug through her ice armor to her skin.

Tundra began to panic as the timber wolf’s stone clawed drew closer and closer to her skin. She tried to turn out of his hold, but the wolf’s teeth held her firm, she only had her single arm to use and her attacks didn’t seem to hurt it, but she kept stabbing anyway. Her persistence paid off as a bright blue light began to peek out between the mass of twigs and bark and with a savage grin she plunged the ice dagger into the light!

Applejack gasped as the wolf yelped and released Tundra, the hole in its side exposing a bright floating blue orb that must be the creature’s life source. Before the wolf could fully recover Tundra speared it with an ice spear pinning it down as the wolf tried to recover its exposed core.

Tundra was having none of that though as she kicked the wolf, it yelped and growled as sticks and bark fell from its body, one of its hind legs fell apart as it tried to get up. The ice girl kicked again this time in the face, wanting to prolong the wolf’s suffering.

The wolf growled with defiance as it tried to get up again, even as its body fell apart, the ice girl kicked him again, breaking his stone teeth loose. He snapped angrily not wanting to give up, prepared to fight to the death.

Tundra formed another ice spear and raised it high and aimed for the wolf’s core. With a wicked grin she plunged the spear downwards the wolf too injured to move, however Tundra stopped her attack short as her true target threw herself protectively over the timber wolf.

“Don’t hurt him anymore!” Applejack yelled covering up the wolf’s exposed core. She didn’t know why she was doing this, but she felt she had too as she held black timber wolf in her arms. Something about it seemed familiar, like she knew it from somewhere. “I’ll go with you peacefully, if you just leave him alone.”

Tundra debated, looking between the girl and wolf, it would be easy to push the girl aside and simply kill the annoying creature that had almost gutted her, but on the other hand she could feel her strength waning and she wasn’t in the mood for anymore funny business.

“Fine,” She replied speaking for the first time, “You come with me, no more running and resisting.”

Applejack nodded as she let the ice girl grab her by the arm and take her away. All the while she kept looking back at the black timber wolf, its blue eyes staring back at her.

“Thank you,” She whispered as they exited the clearing.

A long anguishing howl echoed through the trees as the wolf tried but failed to rise up. His blue eyes filled with sadness as he stared at Applejack’s retreating back.

He had failed.

The last March of patroller 088

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What Must be Done Chapter 5

By Foxgear

When Big Mac and Adagio rode up to the shack they weren’t expecting the lights to be off and the truck gone, both of them knew Aria and Sonata should have been home by now. It was nearly one in the morning for Pete’s sake!

Rationally though Mac reasoned they must have gone up to the house for some hot showers and had probably fell asleep watching TV, a normal habit of theirs.

However things were not normal at the house. For one, not only was the truck there, but so was Applejack’s truck and Sunset Shimmer’s bike and not only that but the front window was broken in and there were no lights on in the house. This worried them.

Carefully Mac approached the porch, gun in hand, Adagio huddled against the wall as he slowly opened the front door and turned on the lights. Broken glass littered the floor, the entire place smelling like gun smoke and blood. Speaking of blood there was a lot of it, a huge puddle just by the door, and it was nearly dry. Meaning whatever happened here, happened nearly an hour ago.

Mac’s grip tightened on the gun as he caught sight of Great Grandpa Apple’s elephant gun lying on the floor with a few blonde hairs stuck to the buttstock. Aj had fired the gun, he had little doubt about it as his anger surged.

“AJ! AJ are you here!” He yelled running throughout the house throwing open every door to see if anyone was hiding inside. He heard Adagio go upstairs, opening and closing every door. He appreciated her help, even if he knew logically their search would be fruitless.

“Mac!” Adagio called for him, her tone wary, “I need your help up here!”

He bound up the stairs in three massive leaps and ran for the end of the hall and came to a stop at AJ’s old room. Inside kneeling in front of the closet was Adagio with Applebloom clinging to her shirt in a sobbing mess. The siren gave him a “help me” look as his youngest sister soaked her shirt with her tears.

“There, there everything ok now, please doesn’t get snot on my shirt.” Adagio awkwardly patted the crying girl’s back as she tried to remove Applebloom from her bosom, but to no avail.

Kneeling down next to them Mac cooed, whispering a soft lullaby that he used to sing when Applebloom was growing up. Gradually she removed herself from Adagio and snuggled herself into his arms. Eventually she cried herself to sleep.

“Come on, let’s go back downstairs,” He suggested carrying Applebloom down to his parents old room on the first floor. The room was exactly has it had been left since his parents death. All the pictures were exactly where they’ve been and so were all of their clothes and possessions, even the sheets haven’t been touched till today. He could have just as easily left Applebloom in his room or AJ’s, but he had the strangest urge to put her in here. Maybe it was because Applebloom was the only one who didn’t remember their parents. She had been young when mom and dad died, not exactly a toddler, she had just started elementary school, maybe even first grade if he remembered right. She hardly ever talked or asked about them. Maybe it was just her way with coping with the loss he reasoned as he finished tucking her in.

Mac stayed there for a moment looking over his little sister’s sleeping face, which was still stained with tears. Gently he wiped her face clean with his handkerchief and carefully backed away from the bed, not wanting to disturb her sleep. However as he approached the door he couldn’t help but stop and stare at the family photo on his parents dresser. As if in a trance he walked over and picked it up.

The photo was of the day mom and dad brought Applebloom home from the hospital. Mom sat on the porch swing with Applebloom in her arms, Applejack looking almost like a mini version of their mother sat next to her, her eyes wide with wonder at the new baby. To his mother’s right sat him and his father. Mac chuckled embarrassed by how shy he looked in the picture as he sat in his dad’s lap. His father was smiling, looking as happy as man could be, his silver hair cut short and his blue eyes gleaming with happiness. Hard to believe he was a pony warrior from another world.

Mac rubbed his finger across the faces of his parents. Wondering what they would do if they were the ones here and not him. Mom, while probably not understanding what was going on would help dad and dad… while Mac wasn’t sure what he would do. From what the sirens and dad’s old tapes said, his father walked from one battle to the next like an old marshal trying to tame the west. Never resting and never giving up.

Setting the picture down Mac exited the room, his thoughts racing, he wasn’t his father, and he had to remember that. He wasn’t any better or worse at monster hunting just less experienced. He and the Dazzlings have faced many foes, each other tougher than the last; they would just have to rise to the challenge. First they needed to go over what they had.

“Find anything Adagio?”

The dazzling was in the middle of cleaning up the mess or more likely looking for clues and hints to their enemy. “The floor is wet and so is the grass, but it hasn’t rained tonight, so were dealing with some kind of water user, but this could have easily been done by Sonata and Aria. The temperature is cooler here then when we were driving home, meaning they were attacked by something with weather based abilities. I’m guessing something involving ice.”

Mac didn’t argue with her deductions, she’s been pretty accurate in their past missions, so there was no reason to doubt her now. The question now was who attacked them? This was too well organized to be a random monster attack, leaving the chances pretty high that Maddie Hoof was behind the attack, but the questions was why go after Aj and her friends… actually now that he thought about it why not go after six magically gifted girls who have allowed themselves to be videotaped with wings and ear several times.

“What are the chances Maddie is behind this?” Mac asked, knowing Adagio would be thinking the same thing. Their investigation on Maddie today hadn’t turned up much, despite following her all day. Their suspected enemy was busy teaching her classes and going to cafés after work with her fellow professors at no point had they lost her. Hell they even ended up watching her undress through her condo window, a part of the mission he left Adagio to do alone of course.

Adagio frowned at the question, “Well she personally might not have done anything, but Madhoof liked to use minions at any chance he could get. Maddie logically could be the same way, but we’ve monitored her calls and emails all day and never heard any chatter related to kidnapping.”

“Yeah, and you are going to explain one day how you know how to do that stuff right?”

Adagio blushed and looked away from him for a moment while playing with one of her hair curls. “Well let’s just say I was “Involved” with the guys that invented phones and computers, so know a bit here and there about them.” She admitted.

With that Mac figured he was better off not knowing. “We have our suspect, but no proof of her doing anything. She’s either really good at hiding her tracks or it’s not her, we need to be certain before we waste our time chasing a lead to nowhere.”

“You gotta point there,” Adagio sighed with frustration. There didn’t seem to be any more clues to be found at the moment. “What are we going to do with Applebloom? Can’t just leave her here, can’t just drop her off your grandma’s all freaked out like she is.”

Suddenly the house phone rang. Mac and Adagio looked uncertainly between each other, with Mac pointing for Adagio to take the phone as he was supposed to be in the hospital still. After some hushed arguing Adagio answered.

“Hello?” She said as sweet and preppy as she could sound.

“Who’s this?” Granny Smith’s scratchy tired voice asked over the line. “You one of AJ’s friends? Where the hell are you girls! I’ve been getting calls all night asking where you are!”

“Oh um yes! I am Applejack’s friend… Sunny, Sunny Spark! Sorry we didn’t call in sooner. We’ve just had such an exhausting day and we decided on the fly to have slumber party here on the farm. We’ll be sure to call our parents right away, sorry for the trouble ma’am.”

“Oh what a sweet little thing you sound like, have you met my grandson Mac? I’d bet you two would kick it off real good!” Granny heckled as Adagio imagined the elderly woman going to what she called “Dotting grandma mode” this phone call could go on for hours if she didn’t end it soon!

“Oh yes, Mac’s a nice young man Miss Smith, I’d hold off on anything romantic right now, school and college you know.” On the other end Granny hummed and probably nodding to her words. “Also Applebloom is here, we found her sleeping in her parent’s old room. We didn’t want to walk her up, so left her there, but I was wondering why she was out here?”

Granny huffed over the phone, “Oh she and her little friends were getting worried about their big sisters, and you should probably call and ease their minds too. I’m sure Applebloom stayed there to wait and see if any of yawl would turn up there, but I recon’ her friends Scoots and Sweetie are home already, but please give their folks call. Also she can just stay out there with you gals. That girl has been a little down lately since her sister and brother have been fighting, see if ya could cheer her up some will ya?”

“Can do ma’am,” Adagio sounded off as Granny yawned loudly on the other end.

“Such a polite girl you are, better get your hands on Mac as soon as you can, so I can met ya in person Sunny.” Granny finished hanging up the phone, leaving Adagio flustering red as she hung up the phone. “So umm… your grandma’s nice.” She coughed looking away, “Oh and we should call your sister’s friends and straight up lie about what’s happened to them.”

Mac handed her the phone again with an unamused frowned, “I’m supposed to be in the hospital, you’re gonna have to do it, phone book is right here.” He said patting the thick book handing on a wire. “Their numbers are booked marked for you.”

He let Adagio to it and slumped into his dad’s old chair with a long sigh. From here he watched Adagio call Rarity’s, Rainbow Dash’s, Pinkie Pie’s, and Fluttershy’s parents. Parents that would most likely be worried for their children, parents that have probably been waiting up for their children to call them, parents that may not ever see their children again if he doesn’t find them.

The old grandfather clock dinged as the hour hand struck twelve, it was already two in the morning and there was a lot he still had to do and he’s barely gotten started.

“Well that’s done,” Adagio sighed joining him on the chair. Normally he could kindly turn down her physical affections, but he was too tired too, just as she was too tired to do her normal teasing when she sat on his lap, hell they were both tired! Also what they were doing felt kind of nice right now, relaxing even. He didn’t know how long they stayed there just sitting together, but it wasn’t very long, barely five minutes when a shuffle of footsteps came up behind them. Applebloom was awake!

“Big Mac…” She said tiredly rubbing her eyes. “Is that…?”

She didn’t get to finish as another set of footsteps come up the porch, but they were different, they walked in rhythm of four and sounded like wood against wood…

Both Adagio and Mac quickly realized what it was, “Timber wolf!” They yelled together, both jumping up at the same time, and both fell in a tangled mess of limbs as they knocked each other to the floor. The timber wolf’s steps slowly getting closer, which was strange, timber wolves usually attack with speed and a lot of fang and claw, not walk up to them like injured dog and they most defiantly weren’t black like they were made of campfire wood, but this timber wolf was all of these things and he looked at both him and Adagio with curious and confused eyes as it sat in front of them, not attacking.

“Wow, so cool,” Applebloom gushed kneeling down and petting the timber wolf, and much to Mac’s amazement it didn’t bite her hand off! “Oh you’re hurt!”

“Applebloom get away from that thing!” Mac ordered finally coming back to his senses! There was timber wolf in his house and he was letting his baby sister pet it like it was a dog! “It’s dangerous.”

“He needs help!” Applebloom shot back with a lot more force then he was expecting after just seeing her cry herself to sleep. “What do you need boy? Will some syrup make you better? Syrup comes from trees and it’s like glue, so maybe it will glue you back together?”

Too much of their collective amazement the wolf shook his head and instead raised it broken paw and put it over Applebloom’s heart and before Mac could even think to try and stop whatever was about to happen, his little sister began to glow with magic, sprouting ears and a pony tail right before his eyes!

“Wow, I’m like Applejack!” Applebloom squealed with excitement as she began to float. “This is so cool! Hey think I know what you need!”

Gently Applebloom placed her hands on both sides of the wolf’s head and did… something. Mac wasn’t sure what it was, but she started sending her magic into the wolf and its body began to reform and take on a new shape.

“Full fill your true purpose!” Applebloom shouted dramatically as her magic peeked and there was a sudden flash of light that blinded everyone in the room. When the light dyed away Applebloom was unconscious in a pair of arms made of wood and leaves. The timber wolf had changed into a human or a timber human or whatever that wasn’t important, but what was important was the face the woodman had and it left both Adagio and Mac stunned at the sight of it.

“Nico!”

“Dad?”

They sat in silence, both Mac and Adagio looking at him with suspicious eyes, not that he could blame them. They were right to be cautious; you had to be when dealing with monsters. This would the part where he would tell a sad tell of how he became what he is, but the truth is he’s always been a monster, even back home in Equestria.

“So I suppose you two want to know what I am.” Nico Vega asked his son and former enemy/informer/possible mother of his grandchild if their little cuddling session was anything to go by. He received two firm nods for an answer. “Alright, that’s fair. I guess I should start with the fact that I am not Nico Vega.”

Mac and Adagio looked at him, both of them clearly confused by his statement. “Allow me to clarify. I’m not the same Nico Vega you both knew when he was alive, I’m not the one who raised you and your sisters Mac, nor am I the one who chased you and your sisters away Adagio, that Nico is dead and buried with his wife in the graveyard. Me, I’m nothing more than a phantom created by Nico’s magic and his strong attachment to this place and to you and your sisters Mac.

Nico loved you so much, that when he died he wanted some way to still protect you, a fail safe, so he poured what magic he had left into the trees of this place and combined with the chaos magic that spills over from Equestria and created me into existence. I’m the reason there are less timber wolf attacks around this place, I control these woods, call me the guardian of the orchard or such things, or if you wish you can still call me Nico and father, just know I’m not him. I’m just pile of sticks held together by his magic, my only mission is to keep you kids safe and I’ve failed.”

“So you don’t really care for us then?” Mac asked him sadly, Nico followed his son’s gaze to the little girl currently hugging him like a plush toy in her sleep, Applebloom, his youngest child.

“I care and love you guys as much as Nico did; I have all his memories, his experiences, his way of thinking. I guess you could say I’m a clone, we’re the same, yet different. I’m not sure how to really explain it better than that.” Nico said scratching his hair, which was made up of leaves. “Look, let’s just skip the family reunions and get down to business. Some frosty snow bitch came and took Aria, Sonata, and Applejack, also Sunset Shimmer, almost forgot about her. They put up a fight and they lost. I tried to step in and help AJ, but… my strength wasn’t enough. She was the one that ended up saving me instead. Now I’m not update on what you all are doing or who you’re fighting, so ask me whatever questions you want and I’ll answer the best I can. Cause this is probably my past coming back to bite you.”

Mac and Adagio nodded in agreement.

“Alright,” Mac said, tossing a bunch of files onto the table, “What do you know about Maddie Hoof?”

Nico picked up the file, it’s been a few years, but he recognized these girls, Madhoof’s experiments from Crystal Prep Academy. Those poor girls, he wished could have helped them more than he did.

“Maddie is Madhoof’s biological daughter, I’m not sure who her mother is, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she was made in a test tube rather than a womb. Madhoof was crazy like that. Whatever the case she was taught everything Madhoof knew about magic and science and the existence of Equestria. I think she was possibly only sixteen, when I destroyed Madhoof’s lab and finally killed the bastard. She was there that night too; I ended up saving her that night and placing her in an orphanage. I was kind of hoping she would turn out better, but I guess she’s too much like her father. I should have done more for her, maybe took her in myself, but I was her father’s killer, I doubted I could have done anything to help her.” Nico lamented tossing the files back onto the coffee table.

“As for the other three girls, Kerosene, White tail, and Tundra, I can only assume they survived the fire and somehow ended up in Maddie’s care. She’s probably used them to achieve her current position despite being so young.”

Mac asked the next question, “Why go after Applejack and her friends and how did they find them?”

Nico sighed, “Aj and her friends have the highest amount of magic humans can have in this world, which is kind of my fault, my magic was passed onto you kids and then your magic encouraged the dormant magic in other people to grow. However I had a feeling Aj and her friends were always something more, but that’s a matter for another time. What’s important now is that we find them and rescue them before Maddie decides just want kind of monster she wants to make them into.”

“Where do we being to search? We followed Maddie all day and didn’t see anything strange, no evidence of a lab or anything like that.” Adagio stated showing her notes on Maddie’s actions for the day. Nico took them flipping through the pages slowly with a curious expression.

Nico stood up and retrieved a map of the city and laid it across the table for them to see and with a pen he marked out several locations on the map. “Madhoof had more than one place for his experiments, some were to hold supplies, others for subjects he captured and many more were backups in case he was discovered. I know for certain the lab beneath Crystal Prep is destroyed, as is this one here, here and here, leaving only this one available.”

“The old Canterlot city Library, I thought they were going tear it down.” Mac said remembering hearing about it on the news, though he wasn’t sure it actually happened or not.

“They were,” Nico confirmed, “but Madhoof brought it from the city for cheap and had it restored as a private home. It has a lot of basement space and thick walls, his favorite kind of building and it’s also in a poorer part of town, a good place to pick up more subjects. In place like that if a few runaways or hookers go missing nobody will pay it any mind.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Mac rose up from his seat, but Nico pushed him back down. “What are you doing?”

Nico huffed, “Slow down a bit Mac, first things first we need to tend to Applebloom and there a few other things that need to be done before we ride off. First thing we need to do is to get you two geared up and I mean fully geared up. Carry whatever you can and wear your best armor clothing because you’re going to need it. I assume it’s all out in the west shack?” Mac nodded. “Good, you two go get geared up, I’ll stay here and get something ready.”

Mac and Adagio walked out of the house and sprinted into the trees, leaving him and Applebloom alone. After several seconds Nico spoke, “I assume you heard all that?” He said aloud as Applebloom’s eye flicked open. “And I assume you want to help?”

“Dang right I do!” Applebloom shouted raising her head off his lap, her eyes burning with determination that reminded him of her mother. “Nobody messes with my big sister!”

“Alright, alright, I get it, but you can’t come with us, it’s too dangerous.” Nico said, earning a glare from his youngest daughter, though it only made her look cuter in his opinion. “Now, now, don’t look so gloomy. There’s still something you can do to help, it just won’t be on the battlefield.”

“Then what is it… um dad?” The red head ask uncertainly. “I can call you dad right?”

Nico nodded, “If you wish. Though don’t get too used to be being around, I’m afraid my time in this form, if not this world is limited. I wish I could spend some quality time with you and all that dad stuff, but there isn’t time.”

“I understand,” Applebloom said sourly, obviously disappointed. Thought there wasn’t much he could do about that. “But I still wanna help!” She cried making him smile.

“I know and that’s why I’m going to give you a very important job.” From beneath his coat of bark Nico pulled out Sunset’s journal and a piece of paper and handed it over to Applebloom, “This is what I want you to do…” He whispered into her ear.

It was awkward being having four people squished inside of a regular cab pickup truck, but that’s what happened, since as epic as it would be to ride Mac’s and Nico’s motorcycles to town, it was impractical with how much gear they needed to bring. So here they sat with Mac driving, Adagio next to him and Nico riding shotgun with Applebloom sitting on his lap.

The sight of his father’s magical phantom or whatever it was, was strange to see, even harder to admit it was real, but it was and it was currently chatting with Applebloom answering whatever questions she could think up. Truthfully Mac was a little jealous, though he knew it was stupid to be, he had actually gotten to spend time with their real father. Applebloom barely remembered him; whatever time she could spend with him was her to have.

Keeping his attention on the road Mac put aside his petty jealously as he pulled into town. They hit a bump, resulting in Adagio grabbing tightly onto his arm, pulling his arm into her breasts making him blush.

“Am I going to have grandkids soon?” Nico teased, making both Mac and Adagio blush.

Mac spluttered as he tried to come up with a retort against his father, but all that came out was a bunch of sounds and not much else, making Nico grin wider.

“It’s alright Mac, nothing wrong with falling for a siren, it’s practically their lot in life to be irresistible. Doesn’t hurt this one here has turned over a new leaf for a better life, right?” Nico said jokingly ruffling Adagio’s hair. The siren swatted his hand away with an even deeper blush then before. She couldn’t catch a break as an excited Applebloom nearly pounced on her, pulling her into a hug.

“Does this mean I get to have a magical fish pony as a sister?”

Adagio awkwardly pried Applebloom from her waist, looking to Mac for help, but he wasn’t going to step on that landmine. “Let’s wait and see about that.” Adagio said gently hoping this would be the last of Nico’s teasing.

“This it over here,” Nico said pointing to a duplex on the right side of the street. “We’ll leave Applebloom with my friend for the night. She won’t ask questions.”

Mac shut the truck off and climbed out of the cab walking around the truck to the side walk. Something about this street seemed familiar, but he couldn’t place his finger on it. Whatever the case they decided to leave Applebloom with dad’s “friend” since to was too late in the night to bring her back to Granny’s place and it was too dangerous to leave her alone at the farm. Course he couldn’t help wonder as Nico and Applebloom exited the truck, who lived here?

Unable to restrain his curiosity Mac asked, “Whose house is this?”

His father chuckled and slapped him on the shoulder and said, “Your godmother’s of course! Now come on, she’s probably still awake playing video games or something.” Nico walked ahead of them and rang the doorbell.

Now Mac was expecting perhaps some distant relation of the Apple family or someone a keen to that to answer the door. What he did not expect was his vice principle, dressed in only a long blue tee shirt, to open the door for them with black circles so deep under her eyes that it looked like she’d been punched in the face!

“Vice Principle Luna?”

“Big Macintosh? Aren’t you supposed to be in the hospital? Wait... aren’t you one of the sirens!” Luna yelled pointing to Adagio who stood a ways back from the rest of them. Luna brushed past them, only to stop short as she turned around to look from Mac to Applebloom to Nico, and then back to Mac and then back to Nico. She took seeing her dead friend made of wood very well. “What- wait your- is this more magical bullshit? Why can’t there be any normal problems for once!” Luna sighed exhaustively. “Whatever, what do you need?”

Whatever Mac was expecting to happen, didn’t, because Luna took it all in stride as she led Applebloom into her house with a kind and gentle demure and handed her a PS4 controller and let the youngest Apple play what looked like an M rated game.

Luna stepped out under the step light and shut the door behind her. “Alright what’s going on Mac and please don’t lie to me.” She said crossing her arms, her face set in her stern lecture mode.

“Well… it’s a long story and we really don’t have the time to explain it.” Mac began hesitantly; he looked to his father for help, who looked equally unsure of what to do. Mac was going to try doing his best to explain the madness that was his life now, but Adagio beat him to it.

“Look,” She began, “All you need to know is that little girl’s sister and her friends are in trouble and time is something we can’t spare right now. I promise that once we come back, we’ll explain everything, but right now we need to move.”

Luna looked at them with an impassive expression before nodding, “Alright, if things are truly that dire, then I will delay you no longer. However what should I do if you don’t come back?”

“I’ve already arranged what needs to be done should that happen,” Nico said stepping forward and wrapping Luna in a hug. He whispered something in her ear, something that Mac and Adagio couldn’t hear.

As the two old friends broke apart Luna nodded and said, “I understand, I’ll make sure it’s taken care of. Please don’t let it come to that.”

“I’ll do my best.” Nico said to her as he motioned for them to get back in the truck.

As Mac pulled away, he couldn’t help but glance at his father’s solemn demure as he looked out into the passing terrain. Unable to not know, he spoke his mind.

“What did you ask Luna to do?”

Nico sighed heavily as he turned and looked Mac in the eyes. “I asked to do what she promised to do when she agreed to become your kid’s godmother, take care of Applebloom.”

“What about Granny Smith?”

Nico chuckled humorlessly, “Do you think Granny’s old heart could take losing both you and AJ at the same time or even at all? No, she’s a tough old woman, but she’s seen a lot of her loved ones die before her. Her husband, her daughter, sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews, she’s lost a lot, but losing you kids would probably be the breaking point for her.”

“I won’t let that happen,” Mac said matter of fact. He looked to his father again to read his expression, which was a small grin.

“Then we better not fail then.” Nico said as he settled down into his seat with a big yawn. “Wake me up when we get there. Even magical beings made of wood need rest you know.” He chuckled going still as a tree trunk.

Mac and Adagio rode in silence for several miles, Adagio occasionally tapping on Nico’s wooden skin to see if he was truly sleeping or not, at least that was Mac assumed she was doing in order to keep herself amused, but it was far from the truth as she sat back with her arms crossed her expression grim.

“No matter what happens he won’t live past the night.” She said suddenly, Mac nearly swerved off the road out of shock of the statement, but quickly righted himself, Nico didn’t even react the sudden action.

“What do you mean?” Mac asked looking worriedly to his father’s phantom. His mind was still processing the fact the thing was real and now it was going to be gone soon? That wasn’t fair! He wanted to at least have one conversation with his father again, real or not!

Adagio sighed, looking put out by what she was about to say, “He’s basically a super charged timber wolf Mac, timber wolves can’t leave the forest they inhabit for long, by the time we save your sister and her friends he’ll have been away from his life source for too long. That’s why he’s resting; he’s trying to extend his life period for as long as possible. I’m sorry.”

Mac gripped the stirring wheel tightly, he’s been suppressing his anger since he’s found out about Applejack being kidnapped and the grim news of Nico’s short life didn’t help, but he didn’t have anything to channel his anger at for the latter.

“Don’t be sorry, it’s not your fault, it’s is what it is.” Mac stated as he exhaled deeply. “It’s probably for the best anyway. He isn’t really dad and he’ll just open up old wounds if he were to linger around.”

“You don’t have to try to hide your feelings Mac.” Adagio placed her hand on his shoulder. “I know you want to talk to him, which is why you should just say what’s on your mind, even if he can’t hear you right now.”

“There’s nothing to say,” Mac grumbled as they entered the city limits.

Adagio huffed and leaned back into her seat, “Fine be that way for all I care, leave me to be the only one to worry about your emotional state.”

Not wanting to get into an argument with her Mac kept his mouth shut and kept his eyes focused on the road ahead.

It’s not that he didn’t have anything to say to his father, he was just too embarrassed to say it in front of Adagio. He actually had a lot thing he would love to talk to his father about, things he never got to ask before he died. Simple life lessons that every son needs from his father.

Life lessons such as how do know when you’ve found the right girl to marry? How to run the farm, what should he do if he had a failed crop or how to be a father when he has finally has kids? Stuff like that.

“Mac, turn left here.” Adagio directed breaking him of his musings.

They have arrived.

The library was in deceit condition, though not great, clearly it wasn’t being maintained properly, but neither was the rest of the neighborhood. In fact from what Mac has seen so far, the entire block around the library appeared to be empty.

At first he wanted to scoff at such a thought, thinking the idea ridiculous, after all how could such a large space in an overcrowded city be empty? Well the idea wasn’t looking that ridiculous when they passed the first blood stained wall.

“What in the hell,” Mac uttered under his breath as his father approached the stain, it wasn’t the only one, there were dozens of them! The entire street seemed to be filled with them!

Nico hummed as he rubbed the blood stain with his hand, a deep frown marred his features as he walked up to the stoop of the apartment building and busted down the door. The sound echoed throughout the entire square and only the crows responded to it, nothing else moved.

“Adagio, do you see anything?” Nico asked her, his voice heavy with sadness.

Adagio’s eyes shined green as she looked around the area, her expression looking more and more distraught the more she looked.

“There’s nobody here, all I see is dark magic seeping out of the library. There’s nothing else here.” She reported. “The people that lived here are they?” She left the question hanging, probably already knowing the answer.

“Yeah, they’re gone.” He said grimly waking back down the stoop. “She wiped them out and nobody even noticed. Probably because nobody cared about this neighborhood and no human authority would want anything to do with a mess like this, so they probably just pushed it under the rug and said everybody moved away. I guess that’s how she was to buy this area from the city so cheaply.”

The idea that anyone would kill so many people just for some land would be chilling, if weren’t for the fact history was full of people that did just that, but that was usually a country or some tyrant conqueror, this here, this was a woman barely in her twenties.

Mac was getting an eerily vibe from this place, like he had back in valley where he and Adagio had encountered the shadow ponies. This place felt just like then, only a hundred times worse.

“Wait up you two,” Nico said putting his arm out in front of them to block their path and pointed toward the top of the stairs. Up top stood a blue figure standing at the top, the air suddenly became chilly.

“That’s her.” Nico said with a wide grin as he pulled the elephant gun from his back holster, “The one that took Applejack and her friends. I’ll deal with her, you two get inside and take out Maddie and rescue the girls.”

Mac nodded as he and Adagio ran up the stairs. Ice began to creep down towards them, but they didn’t slow down, even as the ice girl Tundra approached them. The sound of elephant gun firing made his ears ring his father fired at the ice girl. They ran past her shattered body, which was quickly putting itself back together as they reached the top of the stairs. Thankfully the ringing had stopped by then, allowing Mac to hear Nico’s last words to him before he entered the library.

“No matter what Mac, I’m proud of you!” Mac heard his father shout as the elephant gun blasted off again as the door shut behind him.

Nico watched as Tundra fully reformed in front of him. He tossed the elephant gun aside, knowing it would be useless from here on out, it had served its purpose anyway. Mac and Adagio were inside and that’s what mattered.

“You don’t honestly think you can beat me do you?” Tundra asked him as she finished pulling herself back together. “It will be a mere repeat of last time, only this time there will be no little girl to beg for your life.”

Nico scoffed, breaking out into a wide grin. “Last time I checked, I had you on the ropes at the start and now I know what to expect from you this time. You on the other hand,” Nico’s body began to change shape from human to something more equine with a little draconian.

“Have no idea what you’re up against!”

Jaws snapping and claws curled, Nico leap forward with his new wings, relishing the feel of his original form, it’s been so long he’s nearly forgotten what it felt like to be in pony shape, but it all come back to him as easy as riding a bike as he assaulted Tundra with a fury of blows so fast she could barely keep up as he ripped large chunks of ice from her body.

“I’m Night Patroller 088, Nico Vega, and in the name of Princess Luna of Equestria, I sentence you to death for foal napping my daughter!”

Failure

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What Must be Done Chapter 6

By Foxgear

Applejack awoke with a groan as she stumbled to her feet. At some point in the trip or maybe it was right away, she didn’t know, Tundra knocked her out. Her vision cleared and she found herself in some sort of a see through prison. The room was dark, but she could make out several other similar cages around the room, one was right next to her in fact and it seemed to contain one of her friends!

“Hey,” She yelled pounding on the glass “Are you ok?”

Beyond the glass was a waterfall of pink air, far too straight to be Pinkie Pie’s, which left Fluttershy as her nearest cellmate. She yelled louder and increased her pounding trying to get the girl’s attention, but the shy girl barely moved and it was really starting to freak her out.

“Maybe these things are sound proof,” Applejack reasoned stopping her assault on the glass, which showed no signs of damage, meaning it was some tough stuff, like shark tank tough. She did manage to bloody her hand though; a red smear stained the otherwise crystal clear surface.

Applejack looked down at her damaged hand, looking it over for any broken fingers or something, she thankfully found none, she just busted her hand open around her knuckle, nothing too serious Applejack reasoned looking up from the wound, only to gasp as she found Fluttershy, red eyed with fangs and bat wings pawing at her cell!

“Whoa! What the hell!” Applejack screamed rushing to the other side of the cell, giving her a full look at her shy friend’s new appearance. Fluttershy looked as if she was ponied up; ears on her head and wings, plus the extra hair, but this version gave her longer pointer ears with leathery bat wings and hair down to her feet. Also big two inch long fangs, cannot forget about the fangs!

Slowly Applejack gathered her courage and slowly moved closer to Fluttershy, confident in the cell’s sturdiness. Once there she got an even closer look at her scary fangs, but also noticed something else, a tuff of purple hair on the ground behind her.

Moving to the right of Flutterbat, who was too busy trying to get a lick of her blood off the cell wall, Applejack peered in for a better look and gasped at the sight of Rarity sprawled out on the floor with her shirt nearly ripped off and large bit mark on her neck! For a moment she thought the fashionista was dead and gone, but there was a faint movement of her chest, indicating that Rarity was at least still breathing, though she was looking much paler then usual.

Backing away Applejack tried to look at the conditions of her other friends, but the dim lights prevented her from seeing anything worthwhile, and in her mind was a blessing and a curse. There was no telling what kind of monsters the rest of her friends could have become and she was afraid to find out.

“Enjoying the show?” A voice said, startling her.

Applejack pressed herself against the wall of her cell as a peach toned woman with brown hair stood outside her cell door smiling casually at her. She wasn’t sure what was more disturbing, the woman’s smile or the blood stains on her lab coat. Either way the woman opened the door to cell and walked in with no weapon or containment device Applejack could see and the woman was wearing heels and didn’t look to have a lot of meat on her. She could take her.

With a throaty growl Applejack rushed the woman, fully intent on punching her in the face and getting out of this cell, but to her utter shock and surprise the woman dropped her clipboard and just as quickly dropped her to the ground! Applejack struggled against the woman’s grip as she nearly twisted her arms into pretzels, but the woman was much stronger then she looked, stronger than her even.

“Hmm, test subject 005 shows to possess average intelligence with good tactical instincts and possess beyond normal human strength for a female. Possible conclusions are earth pony magic, but then again, Nico Vega’s daughter would be someone special.” The woman smiled widely down at Applejack, giving the farm girl the shivers as the woman ran her finger down her cheek. “Cute freckles, inherited from your mother, in fact you inherited almost all of your mother’s genes. Practically a clone as far as looks, which is only a good thing I assure you. Your mother was quiet the looker.”

“What do you know about my mom?” Applejack asked/snarled trying to break free of the woman’s grip, but it wasn’t happening.

“I know a lot more about her then you do,” The woman answered lifting her off the ground, though still maintaining a strong grip. “I’m Maddie by the way, Maddie Hoof, pleasure to meet you again Applejack Abigale Apple, did you like the flowers?”

Applejack blinked in confusion, “Flowers?”

“Oh you don’t remember,” Maddie pouted walking her out of the cell, “I sent you flowers for your dad’s funeral, but I guess you wouldn’t have remembered, what with being stricken with grief and all, understandable. They were moon orchids by the way; your mother always had a special thing for them. Course that maybe because of your father, he was so transfixed by the moon, must be from serving under Luna.”

“Serving under Luna… my vice principle?”

Maddie laughed a loud as she pushed Applejack into a chair and quickly locked her down before she could do anything to escape. Not that she would have gotten far anyway.

“Sorry for laughing, but it’s just so funny that you don’t know! I would have assumed Nico would have told you before he died, but I guess not. Shame he chose to keep you ignorant of your true heritage.”

“True heritage?” Applejack asked warily. How did this woman know her father and mother? What the hell was going on?

Maddie rolled in a table with a number vials and needles spread out in front of her and carefully began to mix and match the contents as she talked.

“Well, to start off I guess I should tell you that both your father, Nico Vega, and my father Madhoof, are both from the world of Equestria, a world that I’m sure you are at least a aware of given the level of magic oozing from you and your friends. To make a long story short, Nico Vega served under Princess Luna in her night patrol and my father worked in what they called the rainbow factory. They were on opposing sides of a conflict involving my father’s work and they ended up here by accident.”

Maddie hummed a little song as she shook a blue and yellow vile between her fingers, all the while Applejack stared jaw slacked at her. “Let’s see after they end up here, your dad tried to drown my dad in a river, but he survived and was found by some campers and they took him to the hospital. After that he found this world’s version of him and took over his life by you know…” Maddie made a cutting gesture over her throat. “With that taken care of my father got educated about the world, became a professor at Crystal Prep and continued his research for many years, along the way having me, and one day Nico shows up and kills him.”

“You don’t sound too broken up about that,” Applejack pointed, noticing the lack of emotion at the mention of her father’s death. Something she hoped never happened to her.

Maddie shrugged. “Well it’s not like my dad didn’t tell me why Nico was bound to come and kill him, it’s completely understandable why he did it. I mean dad did kidnap Nico as a foal and then changed him and many others into dragon ponies, completely erasing their former selves. Also dad may have had a slight, maybe major role in your mother’s death.”

Applejack blinked and then clenched her jaw hard as she glared at Maddie, “What did you just say about my mother?”

“That my dad injected her with the same virus that he used to kill Nico and then sent Nico flowers telling him that he did it? I think he had the flowers signed to 088, if I remember right.”

That was it! That’s where she saw 088! The day of her mother’s funeral she answered the door and found a bundle of roses and moon orchids at the door. When she looked at the card the only thing it said was “to 088, I hope your time was together was happy.” She showed her dad the flowers and he got mad, really mad! He crushed flowers in his hands, the rose thorns cutting into his palms, but he didn’t care, he just stood there seething in the living room as blood pooled at his feet. That was the day her dad changed, the day he became distant and colder. He left her, Mac and Applebloom with Granny more and more often, till finally he come home one night smelling of smoke and wearing a grim smile.

Tears swelled up in her eyes. She had been the first one to find dad that night, slumped against the porch door with a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a picture of mom in the other. He had ruffled her hair, chuckling sadly as he took a drink from the bottle. He had gotten revenge, but at the cost of his own life and he knew it too. After that night her dad had been his kind old self again, taking every second of every day to play and spent time with them and on the seventh day, he died.

“You… you killed my parents!”

Maddie paused in her work and tried to look cute, which only pissed Applejack off more as her hands tightened so tight that her nails cut into her palms!

“Technically it was my dad that did that, but I guess that doesn’t matter, since I did kidnap you and your friends.” Maddie leaned in close to Applejack, a sickly sweet smile on her lips as she whispered into Applejack’s ear. “And do you know why I told you all this? Knowing it would make you angry?”

“No, why?” Applejack growled, though she really didn’t care what the girl’s reasons were, she just wanted to get out of these cuffs and wring her neck with her own bare hands!

“It’s because,” Maddie whispered seductively, “This is an experiment and this mixture works better if your body is running with adrenaline, the compound spreads faster that way.”

Applejack’s entire body froze as she felt the prick of the needle against her skin. She watched wide eyed as the blue and yellow mixture slowly entered her body, its effects hitting her almost instantly as she felt something strange happening to her body.

“Why is it so hot in here all of the sudden?” Applejack asked, her anger and energy suddenly drained. She felt exhausted and was that stream coming off her skin?

“I wonder what magic will awaken in you?” Maddie said a loud as she uncuffed Applejack and threw her back into her cell. Applejack’s entire body was limp; the farm girl couldn’t move a muscle. “Will you turn into a monster like your shy friend or will you become an elemental like Tundra? Maybe you’ll be something new? Wouldn’t that be exciting? I wonder if Nico’s dragon genes transferred over to this world. That would be interesting, you turning into a dragon!”

Maddie laughed hysterically from outside her cell, not that Applejack really cared right now. She didn’t really care about anything. She pressed her head against the cement trying to cool down, but it didn’t have much effect. She was just too hot!

In some hope of cooling down Applejack kicked off her boots and socks and unbuttoned her shirt, exposing her belly and bra, but that was as far as she went, but god damn if she wouldn’t consider it if she didn’t cool down soon!

Another thing she noticed was that it was getting harder to breathe and to see. Her vision was blurry as hell and everything looked a like mesh of colors and lights.

As she rolled over onto her side, her stomach felt sick, like she was about to throw up! Never mind that, she did throw up, she thought dreary as she rolled away from the stink. What was happening to her?

Maddie tapped on the clear wall, “Hey how you doing in there? It’s been at least two hours and no change, I’m kind of disappointed, so much so that I think I’m gonna give you another dose!”

The cell door opened and Maddie walked towards her with a syringe in hand. Applejack fearfully backed up against the wall of the cell.

“Please don’t! I can’t take anymore!” She pleaded.

“Oh they all say that. Don’t worry Applejack, the human body can take a lot of abuse before breaking down, you just got to push yourself!” Maddie grabbed Applejack by the shoulder forcing her against the ground. “Now hold still for your medicine!”

Applejack felt the prick of the needle hit her again, this time in her leg as she slumped against the ground without any fight. The heat was cooling and now she was feeling cold. She shivered as she curled up into a ball for warmth and she wondered if she would ever get out of here or be forced to be Maddie’s play thing till she finally died.

“Mac… please help me… Mac,” She cried, sobbing loudly into the floor. She didn’t want to be here! She wanted to be at home with her brother and sister!

But Mac didn’t come. He probably wouldn’t be coming anytime soon, he might never find them. Applejack sobbed harder at the thought as she huddled in the corner. In the cell next to her she spotted Flutterbat standing leaning over Rarity, licking her lips, she looked away as her lips parted revealing her fangs.

Applejack awoke feeling normal, but stiff, sleeping on the floor did that to a person. She didn’t know how long she’s slept, but it must not have been too long.

“Ugh, why won’t you stay changed?” She heard Maddie shout in frustration. Looking over to the other cell Applejack saw that Fluttershy missing. Quietly she moved the door of the cell to get a better look around the lab, there she spotted Fluttershy strapped to a chair, her face covered in tears, but at least she was normal again.

Keeping quiet she listened in.

“This is the third time you’ve changed back! I’ve wasted two doses on you and have gotten no results! Now tell me, why won’t you stay transformed?” Maddie demanded with a syringe filled with a pink liquid in her hand. “Tell me now!”

Fluttershy sniffed as she tried to shrink into the chair, there was blood on her lips, Rarity’s blood. Applejack preyed she didn’t remember her time as Flutterbat; the poor girl would never recover.

“I-I-I don’t know,” Fluttershy cried as Maddie grabbed her by the hair, pulling it hard so her head was off to one side revealing her neck.

“Fine, then I’ll just have to watch you more closely this time.” Maddie stabbed the needle into a Fluttershy’s neck and injected the mixture. The effect was immediate as Fluttershy changed to Flutterbat within seconds, looking angry and hungry as she snapped her fangs at Maddie.

“How cute,” Maddie scoffed tossing the batgirl back into her cell. “Snack on your friend some more… wait a second!”

Maddie entered Fluttershy’s cell batting the batgirl’s attacks away easily as she knelt over Rarity, muttering something to herself that Applejack couldn’t hear. After several seconds Maddie picked Rarity up off the ground and carried her out of the cell and locked the door. She threw Rarity into her own cell and returned to Fluttershy’s with a tape recorder.

“Have removed subject 002 from subject 001’s cell, on the theory that 002’s blood somehow reverts 001’s experimentation. Cause for this theory is only a hunch, but shows strong signs of being correct. I will look into the effect at a later date.” Maddie left Fluttershy’s cell and moved to another across the room and turned on the lights, revealing Rainbow Dash lying face down on the ground. “Beginning experiment on subject 004.”

From her position Applejack could only watch helplessly as Maddie injected Rainbow Dash with some sort of blue liquid. The effects were quick to start as Dash began to scream in pain as lightning began to shoot from her body!

“AAAGHH! It hurts! It hurts!” Rainbow screamed as even her hair became electrified, she was shining as bright as a thousand watt light bulb as she ponied up, growing ears and wings with her hair growing down to her feet before she passed out.

Maddie commented into her recorder, “Subject 004, here by named Rainbow Storm, as shown elemental properties after injection with quick results. Reprogramming will commence after evaluation of subject 006.”

Applejack watched worriedly as Maddie traveled to the other set of cells far side of the room. The cells contained Sunset, Aria, and Sonata, but her worries grew when Maddie stopped in front of Sunset’s cell with a dark red vile in her hand.

She opened the door; Sunset was still asleep inside, making it easily for Maddie to inject her with the red liquid. Once she was finished Maddie stepped out of the cell and waited.

Sunset’s eyes snapped open. She wobbled onto her feet and fell against the wall breathing hard and sweating heavily.

“What’s… who are you… what… what did you do to me?” Sunset asked fearfully as red stream began to rise off her body. “No, no, no, no! I don’t want to! I don’t want to be that monster again!”

“Sunset!” Applejack screamed out as she watched her friend slowly transform into the monster she had once become during the fall formal. Unlike last time she wore a look a pure horror and sadness as her skin redden and her fingers become claws. She cried out as two leathery wings sprouted from her back.

“Aj, AJ HELP ME!” She screamed as the transformation finished. She gave one final agonizing scream before passing out and falling in a heap on the floor.

Applejack screamed at the top of her lungs, “What are you doing to my friends!”

Maddie stepped away from Sunset’s cells to stand in front of Applejack’s, a devious smile on her lips. “I’m making them into my new minions. Your brother and his band of girlfriends, killed White Tail and Kerosene, two of my favorites by the way, and I need replacements. Don’t worry; you’ll join them soon enough as soon as I find the right magical chemical mix to inject in you. Since you show no reactions to fire and ice, I’ll have to do an earth and wind mixture this time.”

“You stay away from me!”

“Oh Applejack, it’s so much fun watching you crumble before me, though I was hoping you’d keep that feisty attitude a little longer. It makes it more fun for me.” Maddie said pulling out a green and black syringe. “Now, which one do you want first, or how about both?”

Applejack growled as her back touched back of the cell, “How about neither!”

Rushing ahead Applejack punched Maddie in the face, catching the mad woman by surprise as she pinned her down with her knees and proceeded to rain a fury of blows on Maddie’s face, splitting her forehead open as Maddie screamed with rage as she wiggled her arm free from beneath Applejack’s legs and stabbed the black syringe into the farm girl’s leg. Instantly Applejack’s assault stopped as the mixture paralyzed her.

With a simple push Maddie knocked Applejack onto the floor and got up wiping the blood off her face as she did so.

“Still go some fight huh, that’s good, very good. You’ll last longer with that attitude.”

Applejack didn’t respond, or rather she couldn’t respond. Something, something was happening to her. Her muscles felt like they were being torn apart!

“Ah I see I finally got the right mixture, I wonder what you’ll become?” Maddie giggled as she crossed her fingers, “Here’s to you becoming a dragon! Oh don’t give me that look it will be fun! I’ll leave you alone to change in peace; you seem to take longer than the others to transform. Kind of like the pink one. She’s something special all together.”

Maddie continued to laugh as Applejack mumbled something, curious Maddie leaned in closer, “What was that?”

“Mac…”

“Hmm, you’ll have to speak up, I can’t here you.”

“Mac…”

“Crying out for big brother now? Figures, I can’t tell you how many times he’s accidentally been a thorn in my side, but I very much doubt he has the intelligence to find you and even if he did, it would be far too late to…(BOOM!)… save you. Hold that thought.”

Maddie ran over the security monitors where they showed Tundra being shattered to pieces as Mac and Adagio entered the library with a third shadowy figure standing at the base of the stairs.

“Well fuck, I guess he’s a lot smarter then I gave him credit for.” She said watching the two through the hallway monitors. They were looking a bit conflicted about which way to go and it would be a real pain if they found her lab and wrecked her equipment. She better go greet her guests.

“Well, you girls play nice, while I go play with your little would be rescuers.” Maddie sweetly sang as she unbuttoned her lab coat, revealing a pair of black shorts and a workout shirt as well as her toned body.

Maddie giggled as she did a few stretches to limber up, “Like what you see? You’d be surprised how much of a workout it is wrangling monsters all the time. I could probably compete in the Olympics if I wanted too. I’ll be back shortly with more of your friends, please be a dragon when I get back!”

AJ laid numbly against the floor Maddie exited the lab. There was nothing she could do except pray Mac and Adagio would save her.

Maddie slowly walked up the stairs of the basement to the main level of the library. She could hear their footsteps up above her. Guess she did a good job hiding the lab’s secret entrance; they’d be distracted well she made her entrance. Hopefully she could catch them when they separated, it would make things easier.

At the top of the stairs Maddie peeked through the secret door, making sure the cost was clear, seeing that it was she entered the library and quickly shut the secret lab door behind her. For now she stood alone, with the only the shuffles of Adagio’s and Mac’s booted feet echoing in the room.

Quietly Maddie removed her shoes and placed them on the shelf. Now in her long socks she jumped onto the nearby bookshelf, which she had bolted down so it wouldn’t tip over. In the past she used the shelves and other objects in here to practice her gymnastics. This was her playground. They didn’t stand a chance!

Catching the wisp of orange fluffy hair running by Maddie smiled deviously as she jumped and flipped her way from shelf to shelf. She came to a stop on the shelf where Adagio had her back turned to her and as nimbly as a cat Maddie jumped down on the siren! Muffling Adagio’s mouth with her hand before Adagio would even scream out. The siren struggled beneath her, trying to break free, but Maddie was prepared for such a thing.

“Sleep now, sleep,” She whispered into Adagio’s ear as she stabbed the siren with a tranquilizer dart. The siren’s eyes drooped as she muscled relaxed and her struggling ceased. “Good girl.”

Mac yelled, “Adagio! Where are you?”

Quickly Maddie hoisted the unconscious siren over her shoulder and ran from the sound of Mac’s voice, her socked feet making no sound on the hardwood floor. Opening the secret door, she dropped Adagio inside and shut it again. One down, two to go.

(I wonder who they brought with them.) Maddie found it hard to believe there was magic user in this world she didn’t know about. Whoever it was had to be strong for Tundra to still be fighting them. She’d have to go help the ice girl after capturing Mac.

Creeping back up onto the shelves again Maddie searched for her prey, which she found quite easily. He was standing the middle of the room. The one place where she would be unable to get the drop on him, from the shelves at least, getting a running start she leap for the bars hanging from the ceiling swinging from one to the next, till she was positioned right over Mac. From this high up she would hit the ground pretty hard, her impact would be at full force, making the best use of her one hundred twenty pound body frame against Mac’s two sixty.

Still this was very high up. Nervously Maddie licked her lips as her hands began to sweat. She remembered falling from this high before and breaking her leg. Dad, dad had been less then supportive as she dragged herself down to the lab. He did splint it for her, only to go back to work right away, telling her next time if she was going to jump from stupid heights she should at least use her magic, which she will in this case.

All she needs to do is drop down, transform and land on Mac before he notices the magical surge. She was confident she could take him down quick, but if she failed the fight would no doubt drag out and that was something she could not afford. He had the strength and endurance to outlast her and while she processed beyond normal strength and was certainly more agile and quicker then Mac, she tended to tire quickly. Such is the bane of having a female body, but that’s genetics for you.

“Come on, you can do this Maddie, just let go and let gravity do the rest.” There was on hiccup with her plan. She may have a slight fear of falling from that one incident. She wasn’t afraid of heights, but falling in midair with no way to control her landing. Even if she had the power to do so now, a small irrational part of her mind held her back.

The sweat on her hands began to pool, soon she wouldn’t be able to hold herself up anyway, she should just let go and finish this! She closed her eyes and thought of letting go of the bar, but she didn’t, if nothing else her grip tightened, forcing a drop of sweat to drip from between her fingers. She watched in slow motion as the droplet fell right on top of Mac’s head. He looked up at her and she looked down at him, both of them did nothing for several seconds and then Mac pulled out a pistol. She had no choice now!

A shot rang out, whizzing past her hair as she touched the floor, her knees bent and she rolled to lessen the impact, but it still hurt. She hadn’t used her magic like she planned to and had taken the full blunt of falling from ten feet in the air straight to her knees, but at least nothing was broken.

Mac came roaring up behind her and slammed into her like a stream roller straight into a bookshelf. She was really regretting bolting them to the floor. They made excellent break stops as she now knows due to her body being pressed up against it.

Once Mac backed off to make a second attack, Maddie recovered and quickly climbed to the top of the shelf. Mac rammed into the hardwood, while she flipped onto his back and tried to tranquilize him. She was unsuccessful as he bucked around like a rodeo bull, making her drop the dart as Mac threw her off his back and into a bookshelf.

“Damn that hurts!” She screamed holding her ribs. They weren’t broken, but bruised ribs hurt too. They hurt a lot!

As Maddie stumbled to her feet Mac wasted no time charging her and punched her in the solar cortex. Rolling with the blow Maddie dropped and rolled along the ground and flipped back up onto her feet and delivered a jab to Mac’s side. The big man didn’t react to the blow.

Maddie stepped away from the towering mass of muscle, realizing that going head to head with someone like Mac was like a mouse challenging a cat and she was the mouse in this situation.

“Um there isn’t any chance that we can change this to a battle of wits instead of fists?” Maddie meekly asked as Mac snorted turning towards her like an angry rodeo bull that just saw red. “I thought not.”

Ducking under Mac’s punch Maddie rose up delivering a barrage of fast punches to his torso, she jumped back when Mac tried to grab her, knowing he would win any grappling they engaged in. Quick as a bee she jumped back into Mac’s reach with most of her punches getting through his defenses, but their effectiveness was lacking as Mac just kept coming at her!

Gritting her teeth Maddie wiped the blood from her lip with her hand. Mac only hit her about three time’s vs her twelve, but she was defiantly the one hurting after each exchange. She’d have to use her trump card now or never.

Calling on the magic inside of her Maddie felt the warmth of magic wash over her as well as the tingling sensation of her ears changing position from the side of her head to the top and the feeling of her hair brushing her thighs. Mac was clearly stunned by her display and she took her chance and charged with a fist a blazed with magic as Mac raised his arms in defense. She could see his own magic surging to counter her attack, but it was too late, she was too fast for him!

There was a small shock wave as they met. Her fist slipped past Mac’s arms and hit his heart directly, the big man wheezed as his breathing became irregular as his body worked to get back into rhythm, which left him completely defenseless.

Maddie waited with tranquilizer dart in hand for Mac’s heart to get back into rhythm and the moment it did, she stabbed the dart into his neck! He grabbed for her one last time, his fingers brushing her throat as his massive frame dropped the ground. It was over she won!

“Oh thank God,” Maddie sighed falling onto her butt. This was why she had minions, for things like this! Speaking of minions, where was Tundra?

The front entrance of the library suddenly blew up, sending shards and shrapnel in every direction with a few pieces of glass landing by Maddie’s thigh, though she was too tired to really react. She did gasp though as the body of Tundra was tossed inside and a broken figure stumbled inside.

“You’re dead,” She stated bluntly to the figure standing the early dawn. She wasn’t sure who she was expecting the third person to be, but Nico Vega made up of wood and magic was not her first choice. He was as powerful now as he was before, though his fight with Tundra was not one sided, since he was missing most of his upper torso and his left arm. Inside his chest the faint glow of the magic orb that held his being together pulsed, growing weaker and weaker every second.

“Yelp,” He replied, “That I am.”

“Using a timber wolf body to create a copy of yourself, cleaver. I’ll have to remember that. Still you clearly don’t have much time left, but maybe just enough to oh I don’t know… kill me?” She liked to think she sounded brave, but she was absolutely terrified. She was tried and drained of magic with no minions; except her doppelganger, which was at her apartment across town. She had nothing left to defend herself with.

Nico looked sadly at her as his body began to break down into sawdust. “I didn’t kill you before, so why do it now? Like I told you last time Maddie you don’t need to follow in your father’s footsteps. You’re a smart girl, you know what he did was wrong and you know what your doing is wrong. You don’t have to be the mad doctor.”

“What if I want to be the mad doctor? What if I like being like my dad? Ever think of that?” She retorted with a huff, ignoring the crack in her voice and the pain in her chest. It hurt like that last time too. “Don’t look at me like that!”

Pity, he was pitting her! Looking at her with those eyes! What does he know?

Nico shook his head with sorrow, “There will be no mercy after this Maddie. No second chances. I’ve made the arrangements. I may not be able to save my kids, but my friends will and when they find you Maddie, they will kill you. You can avoid this fate, if you simply let my kids and their friends go and stop following in Madhoof’s hooves. Nothing less will do.”

“You think I’m sacred of your little threats? You’re bluffing; there is no one in this world that can stop me! Who can stand up to me once I finish my work on those girls down stairs? Who would have that power?”

“Who do you think?” He said bursting into splinters, leaving only a small blue orb behind.

Maddie walked over to orb and took it in her hands, it was the last shred of Nico Vega in the entire world, the last of his magic and it may hold the key to finishing her research. Orb in hand she descended down the lab once more and placed it a container that would keep it supplied with power, so it wouldn’t fade from existence.

Next Maddie drowned a bottle of her father’s patented healing potion. The effects were instantaneous as her bruised ribs were mended as were her other injuries. She felt a lot better, but she could still feel the pain from the injuries, but the injuries themselves were taken care off.

Back to a functional level Maddie dragged Adagio and Mac down the lab and placed them cells. She threw Adagio in with her fellow sirens, while placing Mac in the cell next to Applejack, who was withering on the floor, with no noticeable change her appearance.

“Why don’t my serums affect you?” She wondered aloud bringing up Applejack’s blood tests up on her computer. The thing is, is that it wasn’t just Applejack, but all the other girls were also showing high resistance to her tests. Something kept changing them back to their original forms and she needed to get the bottom of it soon if Nico’s threat of another recuse party was indeed valid.

She didn’t know who he was referring to, but she had a feeling she’d need her new minions functional and under control sooner then she planned. Looking over to Nico’s magical core an idea occurred to her.

Taking the orb in her hand she pulled it apart making it into two smaller orbs. She walked over to Mac’s and Applejack’s cells looking from the siblings to the orbs.

“I wonder…”

Opening the cell doors she first walked into Mac’s cell shoving one orb into Mac’s chest and then walked over to Applejack’s cell and did the same and exited to watch the results. She didn’t have to wait long as both Apple siblings withered in pain as dark blue magic rose off their skins.

The effects didn’t stop there. The others seemed to react to their friends suffering with the same blue magic seeping out of them and it was them Maddie realized why they were to resistant to her experiments.

“A magical bond! Your magic is all connected together! Amazing, simply amazing!” Quickly she ran into Rarity’s cell injecting the girl for the first time. Why hadn’t she realized it earlier? With their magic intertwined, if one was unaffected it would slowly change the others back overtime. Now with all of them infected and Nico’s magic working its way through their magic bond it would only be a matter of time before they were under her sway. Whoever was coming wouldn’t stand a chance!

“I hope you’re watching from up above Nico, cause your children are going to kill your friends when they arrive!”

Princess Luna of Equestria, Princess of the Night, yawned loudly as the morning sun peeked over the horizon. Celestia had awakened and it was time to change shifts. Tiredly she descended her throne flanked by her most loyal and faithful guards and friends, Sixes and Fierce Fury, both of them have been with her since before her banishment and had served as commanders in her night patrol a thousand years ago, even going so far as to freeze themselves (along with many others) in stone so that they may serve her now, but that was a story for a different time.

As they approached the door leading to up to her tower a messenger pony came running in and skidded to a stop in front of her.

“My time is done for the night; please bring whatever it is to Celestia.” Luna told the pony as Sixes and Fury opened the door for her. The messenger did not leave.

“Please hear me out your majesty, Princess Twilight Sparkle is here and requests an audience with you right away.”

Luna stopped in her tracked and turned to face the messenger. “Twilight Sparkle wishes to speak to me?” The pony nodded, “And she is here personally?”

“Yes, your majesty.”

“Then let us not delay. We will see her.”

The messenger trotted away to fetch the Princess of Friendship, leaving Luna to wonder what she would want at such an early hour and why not send a scroll via Spike? She hopped nothing was a hoof, but Luna trusted that if it was something truly dire Twilight would have notified them as soon as possible.

The doors the hall opened and a haggard looking Twilight entered carrying a book with Celestia’s cutie mark, ugh, she would still never get used to calling them that. A thousand years ago they were simply called marks, or emblems, crest and such; adding cutie just… didn’t feel right to her. Especially when stallions said it, Sixes and Fury have voiced their disapproval of the renaming to her several times, but it was just a thing of the times.

“Good morning dear Twilight, what has you calling on me so early this morning?”

The princess of the friendship looked uncertainly around as she levitated the book she was carrying in front of her.

“Well you see I got a strange message from my friends from earth, the world beyond the mirror, well not my friends exactly, it was actually that world’s Applebloom and she asked me to give you this message right away.”

“And what message is that?” Luna asked, her curiosity peaked at the mention of the other world’s Applebloom as she was associated with this world’s Applebloom so well through her dream walks. She wondered what she wanted.

Twilight rubbed her head nervously, “Well the thing is, I can’t read it, and it’s in ancient Equestrian, which is weird, because no one over there should know that language.”

“Let me see it,” Luna ordered taking the book from Twilight. The message was indeed in the old language in use a thousand years ago, but not only that it was in code, the same code night patrollers used to use.

“088… Nico Vega! By mother’s mane this is from Nico Vega!” Luna exclaimed excitedly remembering the small dragon pony that served her. “And he’s in need of our help! Sixes, Fury, get Kira Perfecta, we fly for Ponyville! We have an old friend to see and we are a thousand years over do!”

Author's Notes:

Another chapter down and maybe only two or three to go. I hope everyone is enjoying the story, so far even though I haven't focused much on Mac and the sirens, a fact that I do lament, but this is the directions the story went and only time will tell if I made the right choice.

On a side note the characters at the end that are going to appear with Luna are characters imported from my other story Night Patrol the stories are kind of connected but I've been trying to write this story in a way that doesn't require you to read Night Patrol, but the events that have Nico and Madhoof appearing in the human world are told in that story if you want to read it. I actually wrote this story because I wanted to give Nico his own story, because I just ended up liking his character more then I was expecting and he was supposed to just be a extra.

Raising of the Moon

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What must be done ch 7
By foxgear

“Mac… wake up… wake up MAC!” Applejack yelled pounding on her cell wall. She felt sick to her stomach from whatever Maddie had injected her with and this time something was happening to her, she didn’t know what, but she now had scales on her hands. Mac wasn’t looking much better as a patches of scales dotted his neck as he lay unconscious, but she’d be damned if she didn’t talk to her brother at least one last time! “Wake up dammit!”

Mac groaned as he rolled onto his back staring at the ceiling with empty eyes. “What is it AJ. Ah’m tired…” he said sleepily.

“Don’t you know where you are Mac? You’re in a cage for apple’s sake! Snap out of it!”

A ruff animistic growl escaped Mac’s throat, causing Applejack to scoot away from the wall of her cell. “Sorry, I reckon your feeling as bad as I am.”

He sighed as he looked over to his sister’s fallen expression and got up and sat down across from Applejack. “I’m sorry,” Mac said placing his palm on the see through wall, “I don’t mean to be so testy. I’m just… well I’m a lot of things right now. Angry, disappointed, most of all I feel like a failure. I failed you, I failed Applebloom and I failed dad. I couldn’t protect you like he asked me to.”

Applejack smiled as her place her hand over Mac’s, his were so much bigger then hers, it was like a child comparing their hand to an adult. She remembered doing the same thing with dad.

“You did your best and I know ya gonna say your best wasn’t good enough, but sometimes all you can do is your best. Frankly Ah’m just glad to talk to you again. Ah…” Applejack choked up as she thought of the night they argued, “Ah thought, Ah wasn’t going to get the chance. First you get caught in that barn fire, then the hospital catches fire, I thought for sure Ah was gonna lose you.”

He smiled, chuckling a little, “It’ll take more than a little fire to get rid of me, trust me I’ve faced worse.”

“Speak of that,” Applejack said narrowing her eyes at him, “When were you gonna tell me you were out hunting monsters with the sirens? Better yet, when were you going to tell me you were hanging out with the sirens?”

Under Applejack’s determined stare Mac broke down and told her how he found dad’s tapes on his eighteenth birthday and how he’d tracked down the sirens after the battle of the bands and recruited them to be his helpers. He left out the more dangerous monster hunters, as well as the Sirens’ constant teasing of him and more then friendly flirting. However despite this Applejack’s first questions after he finished his story was…

“So are you three… you know,” She held up her finger and made a gesture that granny would have smacked her silly if she’d been around to see it. “Not that I mind, it’s certainly not my business, but Ah’ guess I’m having a hard time believing you now have three girlfriends.”

Mac gave Applejack a blank stare, he swore this had to because of Rarity, that girl was the gossip Queen of Canterlot. “All that and the fact I have three girls living with me is the most surprising thing about this?”

“What? You never had a girlfriend before, so it’s just amazing that three girls, need I remind you are sirens from another world, all have the hots for you?”

She did have a point, though… “I’m certain they just like teasing me. I doubt there’s anything beyond that, beside our comradely.” Mac looked over to the Sirens’ cell; all three of them were still out cold, making Mac worry about their health.

Applejack hummed and gave him accusing look, “You sure it’s just flirting Mac? I did talk to them for a bit and I gotta say they seem… they seem to genuine care about you. Why else would they stick around for so long? Surely by now they would have at least enough money to go off on their own, why stay on the farm and keep working for you?”

“Maybe they like it out there,” Mac replied trying to keep his blush under control. It was all wishful thinking; there was no point in getting too excited about the idea of the sirens liking him to the point of loving him, or vice versa.

But Applejack didn’t back down and said the exact thing that’s been plaguing his mind since he became certain the sirens weren’t going to run out on him, “Or maybe they like you?”

Once again Mac looked to the three sirens, they were the best friends he’s ever had, they were there for him when others abandoned him and they’ve only known each other for three months and they were tighter than a band of thieves.

Shaking his head, Mac brushed away those thoughts for now, “Enough about my…”

“…Love life?” Aj offered making Mac’s expression turn sour.

“No,” He said with controlled irritation, “Well… no just forget it. We need to figure out how we’re going to get out of here and change us and our friends back to normal. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but you have claws now.”

Applejack raised her hands in front of her, her eyes widening to dinner plates as she stared at her clawed and scaled hands. “Oh wow… that’s not good.”

“No,” Mac agreed looking at his own hands, which were in a similar condition. In fact he could fell something on the back of his neck, probably more scales. “I think this is the end Aj.”

“Don’t say that Mac, there’s still time… urghh! Oh God, that hurts!” Applejack groaned as her stomach did a flip flop. She fell onto her side, her eyes wide with fear and tears. Slowly her vision began to fade to black her final thoughts were of Applebloom and what was to become of her with her and Mac gone.

Mac watched helplessly as Applejack slipped into a comatose state, her transformation finishing almost instantly. She looked like she usually did when she ponied up, but with a few extra features, such as claws on her hands and feet and patches of orange scales on her skin. Her ears were atop her head like usual but they had some sort of orange like crystal spikes on them.

“Oh she did turn into a dragon, how wonderful!” Maddie exclaimed happily outside Applejack’s cell, Mac growled at the mad scientist punching the wall of his cell as she teased him on the other side. “Oh, looks like someone isn’t far behind, but before that happens I have a little something I want to try before you change completely.”

He watched as Maddie opened Adagio’s cell and drag the siren across the room to his cell. He narrowed his eyes as Maddie injected a pink liquid into Adagio’s neck.

“What are you doing to her?” He demanded as Maddie unlocked the door to his cell. He made a break for it, to try and over power her at the door, but another wave of pain left him stunned and unable to move. Letting Maddie peacefully enter his cell and deposit Adagio inside.

“Oh don’t worry; this experiment is one you should enjoy. You see this little number here?” Maddie asked holding up another one of the pink vials. “This little guy suppresses inhibitors. You know the things that stop you from doing what normally wouldn’t do because for whatever reason.”

Mac scoffed as he picked himself off the ground, the pain subsiding for now, “And what’s the point in that?”

Maddie smiled, which really pissed Mac off, “Oh Mac, Mac, Mac, haven’t you ever wondered? Wondered why three gloriously beautiful sirens would stay with you, why Sunset acts so strange around you? Yeah, I know this stuff; people tend to ramble about their darkest secrets well under the effect of some of my concoctions. That’s beside the point; the point is that what do all four of these girls have in common? Can you guess?”

“No,” Mac growled unwilling to play along.

“You’re no fun,” Maddie frowned, “But regardless I’ll tell you. I’m just nice like that. The reason these four ponies turned humans are so attracted to you Mac is that fact you, yes you, are the only actual stallion in this world, to them at least. You Mac are the perfect blend of pony and man; you have that natural attraction to them that the other males in this world lack. What I’m interesting in seeing is what happens when this girl is allowed to act on her baser instincts without being held back by her human brain.”

He didn’t quite know how to process what Maddie just said, but one thing came to mind, she was insane. This woman was defiantly insane.

“So you just made Adagio want to…”

“Exactly,” Maddie confirmed with a head nod.

(I’m sorry for what I’m about to say Granny.) Mac took a deep breath and slowly exhaled and looking Maddie straight into the eye he said, “What kind of crazy bitch are you? You’re going force us to have sex?”

Maddie shrugged, “I prefer to call it intercourse, sounds better when you’re writing a scientific report, but yeah basically that’s what I want. I mean if you think about it, with a herd of pony girls and a stallion, I could have new subjects for a live time and best of all I can select the best genes to carry on ensure a better stock. I’m starting to wonder why I didn’t do this sooner!”

“Your fucking insane if you think I’m gonna do what you want!”

“Oh Macintosh,” Maddie sighed laying her head on her hand, “What makes you think you have a choice? I’ve already injected you with the same drug as Adagio here, it’s only a matter of time really. Don’t worry though, I’ll leave and give you two some privacy, in fact why don’t I do this?” Maddie clapped her hands, causing the walls of Mac’s cell to darken so that you couldn’t see inside.

“There the mood is set and there are no prying eyes to bother you two, have fun! I’m off to do some “conditioning” to some of your little friends.” Maddie opened the door to Rarity’s and Fluttershy’s cells and dragged the two girls out by the neck; both were unconscious at the moment, with Fluttershy retaining her bat form and Rarity being covered in crystals. “Have fun while I’m gone!”

Mac punched the wall as he heard the sound of the door slamming. Behind him Adagio moaned as she began to wake and there was faint musky smell. He tightened his fist as he resisted the need to turn around and look at her; already his body was betraying him.

“Hmm Mac, you smell so good, have I ever told you that?” Adagio said wrapping her arms around his waist, her breasts pressing against his back. This was not going to be easy.

“Adagio, you’re not yourself, you gotta fight it.”

“I’ve been fighting it for a long time now,” Whispers Adagio huskily into his ear. “I didn’t want to upset Sonata and Aria if I made too bold of a move, but now… I really don’t care. I just want you.”

Mac spun around holding Adagio an arm’s length away, “This isn’t you Adagio. You don’t act like this, you… well ok you are flirty, but you’re not mushy. You need to get a grip, you need to…” Mac didn’t get to finish as Adagio jumped and landed a kiss on his lips. They fell to the floor, his grip on her wrist loosed and he snaked his arms around her thin waist and pulled her closer, deepening their kiss.

He couldn’t fight it anymore. He put up with the flirting and teasing for three months. He didn’t bat an eye when all three sirens teased him as they swam in the pond in bikinis; he kept his cool whenever he accidentally bumped into them as they walked out of the shower in only a towel. He’s even walked in on them changing a few times. He just couldn’t do it anymore; he can’t fight off their advances, more specifically Adagio’s advances.

With sure and steady hands Mac unbuttoned Adagio’s shirt.

Applebloom stood outside the school with Sunset’s journal clutched tightly in her hands. The time was four o’clock in the afternoon, hours after Mac and Adagio had said they would be back from rescuing Applejack and the others. With little hope she wrote the message her dad left her in Sunset’s journal and waited by the statue as he told her to do. She’s been here since ten in the morning and no one has come through the portal yet.

“I’m sure Nico’s friends are coming any minute now.” Luna tried to reassure her, though she didn’t seem very confident herself. She’s been standing here the same amount of time as Applebloom, only leaving to get some rolls and juice for them while they waited. Luna was beginning to wonder if she would have to full fill her promise to look after Applebloom.

A responsibility she was willing to do of course. She was just uncertain if she was actually ready for such a thing. Especially not knowing what’s become of Applebloom’s siblings and the others. Made only worse by the fact that she did know something happened to them. God how was she going explain this Granny Smith and Celestia?

After everything that’s happened lately the truth wouldn’t be that outrageous, but should she tell them? Should see tell them of the grim reality or give them a happy lie? She didn’t know and she didn’t want to find out, so she was praying like hell that something, anything would walked out of that mirror and help them.

She stared at the smooth surface of glass and nothing happened. Disheartened she sighed and pulled Applebloom along by the hand. There was a bench nearby; maybe a little break would do them good. They were almost to the bench when the sound of metal clicking against stone drew their attention.

There standing in some sort of battle garb was another Luna doing her best to stay on two legs.

“By mother’s mane how do these creatures stand like this?” She shouted as she wobbled. “Ok, ok, that’s it and yes, success!” The other Luna cheered hopping up and down, her dark ethereal hair bobbing lazily behind her.

When the other Luna ceased her celebrating she finally noticed the presence of Applebloom and Principle Luna, the three stared at on another awkwardly, neither sure what to do. Thankfully the silence was broken as four more individuals crossed through the portal, each one dealing with their new anatomy as best they could, each one managing to at least stand by their princess’s side without falling over.

“You are this world’s Applebloom correct?” Princess Luna said finally addressing the two; she got a slow nod in reply. “Excellent, you may already know this, but I am Princess Luna of Equestria, Ruler of the Night and I have come to help you. Behind me are, shall I say, are very good friends of your father.”

The tall orange haired man of the group stepped forward and crouched down so he was eye level with Applebloom. He reached out with a gloved hand and ruffled Applebloom’s hair.

“So you’re Nico’s kid huh, can’t say you look anything like him,” The man chuckled, “Names Sixes, I served alongside your father, or better to say he served alongside me as I was his commander. I hear you got a brother and sister missing right?”

Applebloom nodded tearfully as she began to hiccup from trying to hold back her tears. Sixes pulled her into a hug and patted her on the back; she wrapped her arms tight around his waist and buried her head into his fur collar to muffle her cries. He was wearing the same coat, the exact same coat Mac wore, the same coat as her dad’s. It was familiar and comforting.

“That’s it, it’s alright, you’ve been a brave little girl,” Sixes cooed, “Don’t worry we’ll get them back.” Gently he pushed Applebloom away so he could look her in the eye. “I swear to you, we will get them back.”

Principle Luna couldn’t help but smile, she didn’t know what kind of people would be coming through the portal, but she wasn’t expecting someone so kind and understanding as Sixes. She’s been trying to get Applebloom to open up to her all day, but the little apple just kept everything bottled up.

That being said, she couldn’t help but feel a little unnerved by the fives presence, seeing her other self from another world was defiantly something else, but it was the four that her counterpart bought with her that had Luna on edge. Like something in the back of her mind was telling her that despite how normal they all looked, there was something in the air about them, something that made her brain scream they were dangerous.

“I suppose proper introductions are in order,” Princess Luna said as Sixes finished consoling Applebloom. “You already know me and Sixes here, behind me are my best retainers. The white mare is Kira Perfecta; beside her with the red hair is Fierce Fury, and finally our last minute tag along Topaz Slicer.”

“Very nice to meet you all,” Greeted Principle Luna as she pulled Applebloom closer, the youngest apple sibling was busy wiping her last remaining tears on her pant leg. “We are very grateful for your help and we will assist you in any way we can.”

Princess Luna smiled at her counterpart, “We gratefully accept your help. Tell me did Nico happen to say where they were going?”

“The library in the city,” Applebloom spoke up, “We can take you there. Right now, come on!”

“Hold up young Applebloom,” Princess Luna said pulling the young girl back, “I understand your impatience, but there is another place we must go first. The first rule of combat is to know your enemy, and as of now we know little to nothing about ours.”

Luna’s heart ached at the sight of Applebloom’s down trotted eyes, but she pushed through and stepped towards her counterpart. The two Luna’s sized each other up, with Principle Luna having to crane her neck to meet her Princess counterpart’s eyes, who stood at least a half a head taller.

“We are in need of your assistance other me,” Princess Luna said pulling a note from a hidden pocket. “Can you take us to this location?”

Principle Luna took the note and read it over with a keen eye. The only thing written on the note was an address up in the city. She didn’t know the exact location in the city, but it was a ways away from the library.

“I can, but why? What’s there?”

“Information on our enemy hopefully,” Princess Luna replied, “It was encoded in the message sent by Applebloom from Nico, I can only guess as to what we’ll find there. Now come, we are wasting time.”

Principle Luna looked warily to her two seat black ford mustang and the six people standing on the sidewalk. There was no way she was getting all of them in her car. Reluctantly she flipped open her cellphone and hit the speed dial. The person on the other end picked up almost immediately.

“Hello?”

“Hi Tia, I need to barrow your van.”

“Do I want to know why?” Celestia asked with a deep sigh.

Luna held back a chuckle remembering the last time she borrowed Celestia’s van for one of her bar hoping nights with some of the other staff, Celestia was not happy, course who would be when your call smelt like vomit. Cheerilee could not hold her liquor.

“No, no you don’t, can you bring it to the school? I don’t want to leave my car on the street unattended.”

“Fine,” Celestia sighed, “I’ll be right there.”

Crystal Apartments, Room 1101, current resident: Maddie Hoof or someone that looked like her. “Maddie” was currently sitting on her couch in nothing but a tee shirt and panties, eating a bowl of ramen.

On a normal day she’d be dressed to impressed as she portrayed the perfect professor, wearing turtle necks and slacks, but at home she like to unwind and just lounge around, since the real Maddie hasn’t called for help with any experiments recently she was enjoying a little extra leisure time.

Maddie chuckled as the thought of the real Maddie, only for her smile to drop as she looked into the mirror. It was still weird, even after all these years playing the part to see a different face then the one she was born with. She touched beneath her chin, feeling the surgical scars hidden there. Hard to believe she was once Moon Dancer, the girl everyone liked to pick on.

It was silly and stupid to think of her high school bullies in her twenties, but those last years of high school and even into college had been rough for her. She didn’t know if she wore a sign on her back or if she just that unlucky, but everyone and she meant everyone treated her like she was their personal bitch.

She shuttered remembering the crueler pranks her fellow female classmates pulled on her. Like the one time they stole all her clothes and left her naked in the locker room for hours, or the time threw ranch on her face and took a picture, spreading it all around the school. The ranch had looked like… well a certain white body fluid and the rumors spread by themselves.

However there was one light in her high school years, Maddie Hoof, her only friend. The girl that enacted revenge on her bullies on her behalf and got her into the best college in the state and then gave her the best job in the world, being Maddie Hoof.

Sure the surgery had been painful, but she got to live life as Maddie, she was treated nicely and respected and she was allowed to show her own personal research and give lectures to future generations. All the while receiving Maddie’s paycheck and living in the most luxurious condo available. Her life was great, well Maddie’s life was great, she should say.

Her life, her life was still crap, even if she wasn’t living it. Her parents hadn’t even batted an eye when she disappeared or stopped calling them. Maddie was right; they didn’t care, not like Maddie did.

Moon Dancer leaned back, her hands traveling all over her body, yes Maddie, her friend, her savor, her lover, her everything. Her hands drifted further downwards when the doorbell rang.

“Ugh, who could that be?” She whined, not expecting guest. (Maybe it’s Maddie!) She thought excitedly.

Jumping on the couch she didn’t bother put on more clothes or even look through the peep hole, or check the security chain. She just flung open the door and was instantly tackled roughly to the ground!

“Whoa?” She gasped as she felt the hard heavy body of a man fall on top of her. She tried to scream out but a hand covered her mouth, a female hand. With eyes filled with panic she looked up at the white haired woman kneeling over her, she smiled down at her as she tied a cloth around her mouth.

Moon Dancer was tossed onto her stomach, her face pressed into the carpet as more people walked in to the apartment. She heard the door shut and the lock click as her hands and feet were tied.

Roughly she was placed on one of the wooden kitchen chairs and then tied to the chair. She trembled as her attackers surrounded her in a semi-circle. She didn’t know who any of them were, but they looked angry, no, they looked furious! Their eyes seemed to glow with hatred as they stared at her. No matter how much she was ever bullied, she’s never felt such disdain toward her.

Fear crept through her body turning into wave as she thought of all the horrible things that could befall her. She began to hyper ventilate, her chest heaving made the ropes tighten. She felt wetness between her legs and the smell of urine. She had peed herself.

“Oh sweet Celestia’s, what the buck!” One of the men, the red haired one, groaned waving his hand fan away the smell. “This little twig of a mare is supposed to be Madhoof’s daughter? Cowardice runs in the family it seems.”

They knew Maddie’s father? Moon Dancer spotted something on the coat of the orange haired man, the patch he wore on his shoulder, it was the same as the man’s that killed Maddie’s father! A unicorn skull with wings, stitched below were the numbers 6666. It wasn’t just him, they all wore the patch. It finally happened, they’ve come for revenge!

Moon Dancer thought back to that night, the night the school caught fire. She had been on her way back to pick up something, some homework maybe, it doesn’t matter and she stumbled upon the school basement ablaze and walking out of the flames was a silver haired man wearing the same jacket as the people in front of her, the number 088 stitched below the patch.

The man had looked at her, his eyes distant, his face burned and bleeding with Maddie draped over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He laid Maddie on the ground in front of her and walked away. Afterwards Maddie lived with her and her parents till graduation. She never spoke of the man, only that he was gone and there was nothing to worry about, except perhaps if his friends ever found out he was gone.

Well those friends were here now and they looked ready to kill her! Was this part of Maddie’s plan? Was she set up to take the fall? No, no Maddie wouldn’t do that, they were friends; friends don’t do that to one another.

Despite her best efforts, Moon Dancer began to cry, going into a full out wail of anguish with tears streaming down her face and snot, always snot, she was going to look so pathetic in the crime scene photos! One last humiliation before the end she guessed; the story of her life.

“Alright, enough,” A tall woman with floating black hair said stepping in front of the group. “Let’s get what we came here for. Sixes do your thing.”

“Roger that ma’am,” The orange haired man said kneeling down in front of her. He held one of her cooking pots in one hand and in the other a small orange candy that looked like a jaw breaker. He bit the candy between his teeth, a faint glow of orange outlining his body for several seconds before fading.

Taking the pot in both hands Moon Dancer watched with amazement and fear as the man’s hands started to glow turning the pot to a bright red orange color, the heat was intense, but he didn’t seem to mind as he crushed the pot in his hands, rolling it as one would dough, till it was only a small glowing marble.

“Alright little lady, we have some questions. Now when we remove you gag, you will not, I repeat will not scream for help or any of that nonsense. You'll answer our questions, all of them, truthfully and we’ll know if you’re lying. When our questions are answered we will let you go and you never see us again. Now if you scream or lie, I’m gonna drop this little red hot piece scrap down your throat and it only gets worse after that. Understand we are trying to be the nice ponies here, don’t make us have to be the bad ponies, but don’t think we won’t play that role if we have to.”

Literary shaking with fear Moon dancer nodded. The man smiled as he continued to play with the hot red marble in his hand. “Good to hear, Kira, if you would please.”

The white woman in the kimono like dress untied her gag, allowing Moon Dancer to take her first true breath in several minutes as she greedily sucked in air.

Sixes stepped back, allowing the other orange and blue haired man to kneel in front of her. “Hello,” The man said, “I’m Topaz Slicer. I am very acquainted with your father Madhoof.” His eyes narrowed, he grabbed her chin tilling her head up so that he could see her scars. “Princess, we have an issue.”

“What’s wrong Topaz?” Luna asked kneeling down beside him.

Topaz pointed to her scar, tracing it with his finger, “See this here?” The princess nodded. “This isn’t Maddie Hoof, this is a fake.” He roughly released her chin, his eyes boring into her. “Who are you?”

Maddie licked her lips as sweat poured down her forehead, “I-I-I am Maddie Hoof.”

Topaz’s eyes narrowed even further, “Sixes.”

Sixes held up the hot ball of hot metal and brought it towards her lips; she could feel the heat rolling off the hot steel as it drew closer and closer. She decided to change her tone, fast!

“Moon Dancer! My name is Moon Dancer!” The hot steel retreated, she sighed in relief. They looked at her expectantly and she resigned herself to what she needed to do to survive. “I’m Maddie’s best friend. I help keep her public image alive when she gets too involved in her work.”

Princess Luna’s eyes narrowed at her, “Do you know what she’s doing?”

Moon Dancer gulped, “Yes… I help sometimes.” The air in the room took a nose dive. She maybe shouldn’t have said that as the hot metal in Sixes’s hand went from red hot to white hot.

Through gritted teeth Topaz asked the next question, “So you are aware of what she does. What she does to… what are these creatures called again?”

“Humans I think,” The woman behind her said, “Shall we call upon your other self and confirm princess? She is an educator in this world.”

Princess, other her and not knowing what humans are? “Are you guys from the other world Maddie talks about…” They glared at her. “I’ll um… be quiet.”

“No, you will not,” Luna said getting right in her face. She was scary angry, her hair was flying wildly around. “Now next question, what do you know about the experiments? What do you do to the victims of your sick madness?”

“We… well Maddie she made this serum. Actually Maddie’s father, Madhoof made it, she’s just improved it, the serum works by injecting it into the subject. The serum mixes with the subject’s natural energies and forces any latent magical energy to emerge. The three most common changes are animal, elemental, and mythical.

Animal subjects take on animal like traits, one girl named White Tail, gained the attributes of a white tail deer. Elemental are as they sound, they gain control of the elements, though usually they lose their personality, Kerosene became a fire girl and Tundra became an ice girl, both lacked a lot of their former selves. I haven’t seen any mythical transformations personally, but Maddie said their supposed to take on power of mythical beasts like dragons or unicorns or something.

If they were mad at her before, they looked ready to kill her right on the spot now.

“How do you control them when they’ve transformed?” Topaz asked her as Sixes took Luna to the other room. “I doubt their very happy with you when you’re done.”

“Maddie has this special serum she uses, when it’s injected it makes the mind more open to suggestion, it takes several daily doses for about a month for it to have permanent effects, but she can have complete control of the subject for as long as the serum is in their system.”

The room fell silent as the five strangers gathered around in circle speaking in hushed whispers. Here and there she caught snippets of their conversation, but nothing concrete. They spoke for several more minutes, each one feeling like eternity to Moon Dancer as her fears of them simply killing her continued to rise. When they finally broke apart, they looked her with… sadness?

“What? You’re planning to kill me aren’t you! That’s it isn’t!”

“No, no, no, that’s not it.” Sixes said gently as he untied her and helped her out of the chair. Her knees gave out beneath her, but he caught her before she could fall and handed her over to Kira. “Get her washed up and into some clean clothes, keep an eye on her though.”

Kira nodded, taking Moon Dancer into the bathroom and helped the trembling girl wash, though she ended up doing most of the cleaning herself. Kira hummed a soft tone as she washed Moon Dancer’s hair and handed her towel so Moon Dancer could wash her more personal areas herself.

“Been a long time since I’ve had to do this,” Kira chuckled as she rinsed the shampoo from Moon Dancer’s hair. “I think the last pony I bathed was my grandchild Nagasaki, scurry little brat I’ll tell ya. Got me covered in water, after that I told my son, Hiroshima, he was washing his own kids; was getting to old to do that stuff anyway.”

“You’re a grandmother?” Moon Dancer questioned looking the white haired woman up and down, she had a few crow’s feet around her eyes and she did have an air of maturity about her, but she certainly didn’t look grandparent age.

“Aye I am, or I was,” Kira said sadly, “It was a long time ago. Being a dragon pony I out lived my children, my grandchildren and even my great grandchildren, didn’t even get to spend that much time with them. I guess falling asleep for hundred years or more without even thinking about it is another trait we share with dragons.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Moon Dancer asked as Kira helped her out of the bath and wrapped her up in a big fluffy blanket. The grandmother brushed her cheek looking sad.

“You were nervous; I was just trying to soften the mood. Sorry for the threats, Madhoof is a rough subject for us all on a good day and today is not a good day.” As they walked into Moon Dancer’s bedroom they passed the night stand, which had a picture of her and Maddie, the real Maddie, and her before the surgery.

Kira picked up the picture, “Is this you?”

Moon Dancer nodded staring at her former face, “Yeah, that’s me. Wasn’t much to look at was I? Just a nerdy girl everyone liked to pick on.”

“Nerdy?” Kira said looking puzzled, “Ah that term for intelligent, but physically weaker ponies, we called them philosophers when I was young; a much more respectable term in my book. Still I can’t imagine why you would do this to your face. You were rather cute, if I may say so.”

“It was for the better,” Moon Dancer retorted hotly, “You wouldn’t understand! My life… my life was pathetic. In high school I got picked on every day, by everyone, except Maddie and in college things didn’t get better! Then Maddie gave me a chance at a better life, her life, how could I turn it down?”

“What about your parents? Do they know what’s become of you?”

“No,” Moon Dancer said dejectedly, “And they don’t care. They never even bothered looking for me when I stopped calling them.”

“You’re a grown mare, I’m sure they just wanted you to live your own life, besides why haven’t you contacted them?”

“Firstly I’m not a pony! I’m a human and in this world we are referred to as people, man, woman, and persons and secondly I haven’t contacted my parents because… because…” Someone knocked on the door saving her from having to answer, because she didn’t have one.

“Kira,” it was Sixes, “Are you two done in there? We’re on a time schedule remember.”

Kira sighed shaking her head, “Yes, yes, Sixes. We’ll be out in a second. It’s a good thing you had a son, you’d never survive having daughters.” She chuckled winking at Moon Dancer, “Don’t mind him, he’s sweet, but a bit of grouchy old stallion too. Hard to believe we’re about the same age.”

“Yeah,” Moon Dancer stuttered as she was led out into the other room, dressed in fresh underwear and sweats. The mood of the room was very different from before. Kira’s friends shared a look of pity as they gazed upon her and she wondered why.

“Sit down please,” Sixes said gently offering a seat on the couch, which she accepted with only a little apprehension. They were acting strange, like they were about to give her some bad news.

“This isn’t the part where you guys tell me you have to kill me is it?”

Sixes shook his head, a soft chuckle escaping his lips as he patted her knee. “No, no, nothing like that. In fact we want to help you.”

“Help me with what?” Moon Dancer asked warily. Did they think she was sick or something? Well she was pretty terrified of them; maybe that’s what they meant. They just wanted to change her image of them, which if asked, she would answer still scared, but also fascinated.

Topaz sat down next to Sixes, his hands folded together beneath his chin, “Moon Dancer, you told us that Maddie has a mind control
serum of sorts, I have seen its effects on my fellow ponies before, and I’m afraid to tell you that you are not acting of your own free will.”

“That’s not possible,” Moon Dancer scoffed, “Maddie is my best friend! We’ve been together for years! She’s protected me from my bullies, helped get into the school I wanted, got me my dream job…”

“And made you take on her face and give up your life,” Topaz interrupted, “Tell me is that something a friend does? She just causally asks you to give up your entire life and live as her, and you do it just like that? No hesitation? No thought as to why she would ask you to do such a thing?”

“She… um…” Her mind was drawing a blank, why had Maddie asked to her take on her appearance? Why did she agree? Cause she loved Maddie of course! Yes, that was natural reason to undergo a life changing surgery, a painful one too. “It doesn’t matter, she’s my friend and I help my friends.”

“Ok, that’s fine,” Topaz replied calmly, “When is Maddie’s birthday?”

“May 7.”

“When is your birthday?”

“May 7… no, it’s in August, August 22.”

“And what did you give her for her birthday?” Moon Dance blinked at the question, not sure what they had to do with anything.

“I gave her well… that’s kind of personal,” She blushed red, remembering the gift, it was an adult themed gift and she’s rather not say what it was.”

Topaz raised an eye brow, but continued with his questions, “Alright, what did Maddie give you for your birthday?”

“She…um… she gave me…” What had Maddie given her for her birthday? Actually when had she even celebrated her real birthday? Also why was it suddenly so warm in the room? “It doesn’t matter, gifts don’t make friends!”

“True,” Topaz agreed, “But usually friends give gifts if they receive gifts or just as a random heartfelt jester. Tell me, what was last gift you received from Maddie?”

The last gift she received from Maddie? That was a tough question because… she’s only ever received one. The picture frame Kira was handling earlier.

“That doesn’t matter! I don’t need gifts to know Maddie cares! She’s looked out for me when no one else would, she was always there when I needed help and that’s what counts!”

“Touching,” Topaz said evenly, “But have you considered she might be the cause of your misery?”

“What… what do you mean?”

“We overheard your conversation with Kira and we also have this,” Topaz held up her dairy, how the hell did they get a hold of that? “And by your own accounts and I can safety say Maddie set up the attacks on you.”

“That’s impossible Maddie…”

“Just happen to know you were in the girl’s locker room with no clothes or no means to contact anyone else and on a day that would have left you stranded there for the entire weekend and also with your parents out of town? How about this one? An embarrassing photo of you is spread thought out the school, yet somehow Maddie is able to quell the rumors and get rid of the pictures? Tell me how would she do that?”

Moon Dancer shrugged, “She’s Maddie, she gets stuff done, it’s always been that way.”

Topaz raised an eye brow at her, “So Maddie was popular?” She nodded. “Then why would you, her best friend, be the target of so many pranks? Why would they dare go after you? After all going after someone’s friend is a good way to get on their bad side don’t you think?”

She hated to admit it, but he had a point. Looking back she’s always been the girl everyone ignored growing up, no one really like her, nor hated her, so why the sudden shift at the end of high school? In fact even after attending a college where the only one who knew her was Maddie, why was she harassed as much as she was?

Moon Dancer remembered her first boyfriend in college, a boy Maddie introduced her to. They’d been together for two years, everything was going great and then he dumps her. She remembered how heartbroken she’d been, how she’d ran to Maddie’s arms. Maddie who had been waiting with her favorite ice cream and treats she liked to have when she was sad. How did she know to have it ready? Not just on hand, but she literary had a bowl of ice cream waiting for her at the door!

Someone placed her cell phone in front of her, her parent’s number displayed on the screen.

“We’re gonna gamble on this one, call you parents, get their side of the story and whatever happens we’ll leave, whether or not you believe us.”

Moon Dancer reached for the phone, but hesitated to pick it up. How long has it been since she’s called home? Has it been two, three, maybe even four years? She didn’t know. She stopped talking to her parents before the surgery. After the surgery she almost deleted the number from her phone, but decided at the last second not to.

Taking a deep breath she picked up the phone and hit call. The phone rung and rung and she thought they maybe weren’t home and then the phone clicked and she heard her mother’s voice for the first time in years.

“Hello?” Her mother, Salsa Dancer answered.

Moon Dancer gulped, she could do this it was her mother. No problem talking to your mother after several years of not talking to her, right?

Softly she said “Mom?”

“Moon Dancer, Is that you baby? How are you doing? Is everything alright? Are you done with your research trip?”

Moon Dancer frowned, research trip? What was she talking about? “My research trip?”

“Yeah, Maddie said you were going with a team to the south pole for a few years, it was so sudden, but I guess that’s something you don’t turn down, thought I wish they would have let you at least call us, but you’re a big girl and your father and I know how out of it you get when you get to researching.”

“Maddie told you… she…”

“What was that dear? I couldn’t hear you? Are you ok? Do you need a ride home? Are you coming in by boat or plane? Don’t worry about the cost; you know your father and I will come get you wherever you are.”

“No, no I’m fine. I’m actually still on my way home. I just really wanted to talk to you.” Moon Dancer smiled brightly to try and add actual cheer to her voice, but even as she smiled tears were rolling down her cheeks. “Do you and dad still hold that memorial day picnic with the family?”

“Of course,” Salsa answered, making Moon Dancer smile even wider.

“That’s good, I’ll see you then. I got some work to sort out till then, but I promise to be home to see you and dad and everyone else. See you then, mom.”

“Ok honey, I love you.” She hung up.

“Love you to,” Moon Dancer whispered as she put her phone on the table. She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, it was Kira; the grandmother smiled down at her and patted her shoulder and kissed the top of her head. The gesture warmed her heart. “Thank you… I… I don’t know what else to say.”

Luna smiled, “We are just happy to help. I apologize for our earlier behavior and I hope you can forgive us for any trauma we may have caused. I would hate to leave you in such a vulnerable state, but we must go save our friends. I trust you have no issue with us putting a stop to Maddie’s activities?”

Moon Dancer shook her head, “No, but can you promise that you’ll try to help her like you helped me? Even if she was the one behind all the things those things, Maddie is still my best friend, and friends don’t give up on friends, at least not without trying to help them first.”

“We’ll do our best, but I make no promises,” Luna said as the other filed out the door; leaving Moon Dancer sitting alone in her apartment.

She sat there her mind a buzz, her entire life playing through her mind like a movie. She saw everything she should have seen, but didn’t, she didn’t see how Maddie was controlling her life. Chipping away at her till she thought of only Maddie and no one else. She thought of all the friends she could have had, but didn’t because Maddie convinced her they weren’t really her friends. She thought of all the loves of her life that she let pass by till she was convinced Maddie was the only one who loved her. She thought of her parents, who went years not knowing what actually happened to her, thinking she was in the fricken south pole! It was Maddie’s fault; it was all Maddie’s fault. Yet even knowing the truth, she couldn’t hate Maddie.

Walking out onto the balcony, cell phone in hand she spotted Princess Luna and the others hoping the fence and climb into a white mini van parked on the other side of the street. She watched them drive off. They would be going after Maddie now. Moon Dancer looked at her phone and brought up Maddie’s number, one last time she would help her friend. She pressed dial.

“What is it?” Maddie answered with a hint of irritation in her voice. In the background the sound of heavy breathing could be heard, long pained breaths, Moon Dancer knew the sound well. Maddie was experimenting.

“I just got a house call from some interesting people, Princess Luna of Equestria and four of her guards. They’re on their way to you now to get their friends back.”

Maddie cursed, “Dammit and I’m almost done too! How much did you tell them?”

“I didn’t tell them much, they know about the mind serum, but they already knew you location.”

Maddie growled on the other end, there was a sound of something being hit, “Be still damn you! Moon Dancer listen I need you to…”

“No,” Moon Dancer said adeptly, making Maddie pause.

“What did you just say to me?” Maddie’s tone was for the most part, angry, and Moon Dancer didn’t care.

“I said no, I won’t help you. The Equestrians showed me the truth. You’ve been using me. This phone call was out of sense of duty for our friendship, because despite everything you are my best friend Maddie and I love you and sometimes you have hurt your loved ones for their own good. This is my advice, give up Maddie, there still a chance you might receive mercy yet, if you give up now.”

Maddie sighed as she held the phone in between her cheek and shoulder, washing her bloody hands in the sink. “So you know I was the one that put those girls up for stealing your clothes, your boyfriend leaving you and convincing your parents you were in the arctic huh. Took you long enough, I guess I can also assume you know about the mind serum I’ve been force feeding for years.”

“I wasn’t sure, but I assumed so. I’ve notice there are gaps in my memory, things that should have tipped me of that something was wrong but didn’t.” Moon dancer clutched the rail of the balcony, gritting her teeth as she prepared for what she was about to say and the answer she might receive. “It was the blueberry juice wasn’t it? Every time you wanted a favor you would make it, it’s my favorite or at least I thought it was. Tell me though, why did you start giving to me? We were friends for years before you gave me the first glass, why do it at all? Even back that I was practically attached to your waist like a pathetic puppy. You didn’t need it.”

“You are smart,” Maddie chuckled, “but yeah it was the juice. I did it because you were my friend and I wanted to keep it that way. You never knew it but you looked damn adorkable and believe it or not there were a lot of guys and a few girls that would have just loved to steal you away from me and I couldn’t let that happen. You are my friend, my little treasure; nobody was going to have you but me.”

Moon dancer’s hand tightened around the rail, “Not even my parents?”

“Sun Dance and Salsa are nice, I do like them, they did take me in after my father died, but yes, not even they could have you. Look on the bright side at least I said you were in the arctic alive rather then killed in a car crash right? Though I did have the planned out and ready to go, even had one of your bullies all dolled up to look like you and ready get hit by a semi-truck, but she’s enjoying the arctic now I guess. Got a call from her last week too, she loves it down there, course it might have to do with all the guys she’s with and she’s kind of into that scruffy sea captain look all the guys have down there. I would be interesting in documenting her stay down there, do you think she’s, well you know.”

“You really don’t feel any remorse for what you did to me do you?” Moon Dancer said choking back sob. This was her best friend. She was friends with a psychopath!

Maddie chuckled, “Well it’s not like it really matters. You do remember right?”

“Remember what?”

“That just because you’re aware you are under the sway of the mind serum doesn’t mean its affects have stopped. I mean you’ve been chugging that stuff for years. It would take at least a year of cold turkey for its affects to go away and you know what that means right?” Moon Dancer’s blood went cold. “Now where are you again?”

“On the balcony of the apartment,” Moon Dancer answered roboticly. She had no control of her body! She couldn’t move!

“I see, why down you be a dear and jump off the side for me, if you survive the fall I’ll patch you up and then maybe forgive you for betraying me.”

“Sure,” Moon Dancer said as she dropped the phone and climbed to the top of the rail, “I still love you Maddie; I want you to know that. No matter what, you were my best friend.” She said crying as she lifted on foot of the rail.

“And you were mine, good bye Moon Dancer,” Maddie said hanging up the phone.

Moon Dancer closed her eyes and jumped.

Principle Luna put the van in park as they pulled up to the old city library; the entire area had a bad vibe to it. There was no one around, there weren’t even any alley cats or dogs to make noise, it was just quiet; creepy quiet.

“Thank you for your assistance… um Luna,” Princess Luna awkwardly said as she and the others exited the car. “I would suggest you two take your leave. I have a feeling things will get… chaotic from here on out.”

“Sounds like good advice to me,” Principle Luna agreed wanting to get the hell out of dodge, or at least this neighborhood, “We’ll be two blocks that way, flag us down when you need a ride.”

Applebloom protested, “I want to stay, my brother and sister are in there!”

“We know little Applebloom, please trust us to get them back for you. I fear what is to come will not be appropriate for one as young as you to see.” Princess Luna pleaded.

The youngest Apple huffed and crossed her arms, “I’ve seen R rated movies.” She mumbled.

Princess Luna blinked, “I have no idea what that is, but I feel it don’t not qualify you to be on a battlefield. Please take her away from here Luna… ugh it’s so weird saying my own name!”

“I second that,” Principle Luna agreed starting the van, “Be careful,” She put the van in drive and drove away, leaving the five ponies turned human in the middle of the street.

“Well this it,” Sixes stated as they all turned towards the library. As one unit they marched up the stairs, Luna in front, Fury and Sixes on her left and right with Kira and Topaz to their right and left. Their walk was an eerie one. Each of them expecting an attack at any moment, but none came as they climbed higher and higher, till they finally reached the top, where they were greeted by their enemy, Maddie Hoof and behind her stood their rescue targets all ten of them in a line. Their eyes dull and empty, full mind control, great…

Maddie waved at them, “You must be Princess Luna and the night patrollers, so nice to finally meet you. Dad told me a lot about you.”

“As did Moon Dancer,” Luna replied, “Seems the apple does not fall far from the tree. You’re just as twisted as your father and his cohorts were. Shame Madhoof isn’t alive to know of their fate. I assure you, the same is waiting for you.”

“Death threats, I would have thought such things would unbecoming of a princess.”

Luna growled, stepping ahead of the others, a small blue candy between her fingers, “I make no threats, only promises. Release these children from you control and I may yet show you mercy, refuse and you will suffer the same fate as the others that came before you. Trust me when I say, their fate is not one you wish to share.”

Maddie laughed aloud mockingly as she point a finger at Luna, “Oh and what did the pretty pony princess do? Lock them in a dungeon full of stuff animals?”

“Actually we burned their eye socks out, along with their ear drums and tongues and left them to wonder blind, deaf and mute in the desert, till they died of dehydration.” Sixes answered nonchalantly, making Maddie stare disbelievingly at him and the others.

“Wow, and you accuse me of being messed up.”

Luna coughed, “Regardless, the time has come Maddie Hoof, answer for your crimes and you will receive a fair trial, resist and take your chances against me and my night hunters. The choice is yours.”

“I think I’ll choose… resist. Get them!” At Maddie’s command the ten charged for Luna and the night hunters, who each pulled a candy from their pocket and broke it between their teeth. Magic shimmered around them as they charged to meet their opponents.

Luna and the night hunters didn't want to fight, but it what must be done to save them. To save Nico's children and their friends, they must fight them.

Fire and Rubble

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What must be done ch 8
By Foxgear

Water dripped from the ceiling soaking the rotting wood of the rundown apartment as rats scurried across the floor. All was quiet, all was calm in the library suburb of Canterlot city nothing disturbed the creatures of the night, until the wall of the family room broke, spraying plaster and splinters everywhere as night hunter Fierce Fury came crashing through. He rolled across the floor and jumped to his feet just in time to catch Fluttershy by the arms and throw the girl turned bat into another wall.

Fury felt two sharp objects fly into his back; he turned facing his other opponent, Rarity, covered head to toe in a diamond garb that covered most of her body, leaving streaks of pure white skin exposed. He shouldn’t be surprised that she made outfit was more fashionable then functional; it was the Rarity thing to do.

Pulling the diamond knives from his back Fury tossed them angrily away as he charged head on at the diamond girl. She fired another barrage and he blocked by crossing his arms over his face, several diamond shards pierced his arms as he smashed into Rarity, sending the girl back through the wall he came through.

He didn’t get a moments rest as Fluttershy returned and jumped on his back and bit him in the neck. Angrily Fury pulled the bat girl off and tossed her away again. She flexed her wings and slowed her fall landing gracefully on her dainty feet. He wished he had his wings right now, they would be useful, that and fire breath.

A diamond knife flew through the wall and pierced his shoulder pad; the tip of the blade just barely pricking his skin. With growing irritation he ripped it free and tossed it a side. The two monsterified girls lining up for another run on the opposite side of the room.

“You know,” Fury said cracking his neck, “If I wasn’t under orders to bring you down alive. You two would be on the ground.”

Fluttershy snorted, “Big words coming from someone who’s been our rag doll for the past ten minutes. We know this world, we know how to operate our bodies properly, and we know how to use this world’s magic. You stand no chance of beating us!”

“And all that coming from a pony that’s afraid of her own shadow, well I guess our Fluttershy’s gotten better, you seem to be a little ahead of her in the confidence department though.” Fury fished into his pocket and pulled out a small red candy. “That being said, you are right. I don’t know anything about this world’s magic, good thing I brought my own.”

“Don’t let him eat that!” Rarity screamed throwing a barrage of diamond knives as Fury flicked the candy into the air. The knives missed, her hurried actions throwing off her aim, leaving Fluttershy to go in for the save, her jaws wide as she bite down Fury’s right hand, severing four fingers.

“Pugh! Ew, ew, ew,ew ewwww!”Fluttershy screamed spitting the appendages out with disgust. She was having a bit of mental break down as she curled up into a ball on the floor, repeating “I’m vegetation” Over and over again. Leaving Rarity to sigh as she tried to snap the girl turned bat out of it.

“Still the same old Fluttershy when it comes to somethings,” Rarity sighed patting the trembling girl on the back, “Come its ok; you didn’t swallow, so technically you didn’t eat meat.”

Over on the other side of the room Fury crawled across the floor, clutching his injured hand as he made his way unnoticed to where the candy had fallen. He flopped down right beside it and grabbed it with his tongue, his hand occupied with keeping pressure on his wound. With a grimace he bit into the candy, ignoring the taste of dirty floor as he swallowed. A red shimmer of magic fell over his body.

“Why is it suddenly so hot in here?” Rarity asked as she turned around, it was there was a raging fire… Fury, Fury was on fire!

“Alright,” Fury growled out, “No more mister nice pony.” Much to the amazement of Rarity and Fluttershy Fury’s fingers grew back as the fire surrounding his body faded, gathering to a single point in his palm and forming a sphere. He wrapped his hand around the sphere and it expanded out into a sword of fire!

“I’ll show you why you don’t want to make me angry!” He raised the blade of flame and swung downwards, unleashing a firestorm upon the two.

Kira sighed as she watched three building on the other side of the plaza erupt into flames. There was no doubt, Fury had lost his temper. Still she could see three magical energy signals coming from that direction, so at least they were all still alive.

She smiled and tilted her head as a bolt of lightning stuck the wall. Behind her a frustrated Rainbow Dash was charging up another bolt as Pinkie Pie, not looking her usual self (Had to be the straight hair) stood further back, looking like a depressed teenager.

“Stand still!” Rainbow screamed in frustration as she fired another bolt. Kira tilted her head to the left, letting the bolt fly right past her. “Grrr, how are you doing that?”

Younglings are so impatient, she wondered if she was ever like that, not that she would remember. Course the logical answer would probably be yes, at some point she was probably that brash.

“It’s called insight,” Kira said as she unsheathed one of her swords. The blade was ornate with engravings and a nice shiny finish, a gift from her late husband. It was a little too fancy for her tastes, but the blade was made from the toughest metals in the land and could with stand almost anything. Hopefully that remained true in this world; because so help her if this brat broke her precious sword she was going to put her over her kneed and spank her blue ass red.

Kira paused in her monologue noticing there seemed to be a lack of lightning flying at her face. “Sorry did you tire yourself out? Need grandma to put you to bed little thunderhead?”

Rainbow Dash’s cheeks puffed with anger as she unleashed a storm of lightning at her. Kira was prepared for this and simply raised her sword to catch the lightning, only there was a problem, her sword felt unusually heavy at least double the weight than normal.

Still she managed to raise the blade in time to stop the lightning, though her hand was trembling trying to keep the sword raised.
Grabbing the bottom of the hilt with her other hand she swung the blade around and sent the lightning harmlessly into the wall, the weight of the sword seeming to increase. Even with both arms she could barely lift it!

“Ok,” She hissed letting releasing her hold on the sword. A deep frown marring her face as the katana broke the through the floor board and fell two floors down, “You have my attention children.”

Grimly Kira pulled her watashi from her sash and pointed it at the two teenagers, “Come to grandma.”

Rainbow Dash screamed forming a spear of pure lightning as she charged at Kira, who just looked bored as she side stepped Rainbow and tripped her with her foot, sending the rainbow hair girl rolling into the wall.

“Seriously how do you do that?” Rainbow remarked angry as she climbed to her feet. The flashing of steel caught her eye and she barely managed to duck under Kira’s blade. She was about to taunt the old mare again, when a section of the roof fell on her head.

Kira glowered as turned her attention to Pinkie, still standing across the room with her arms crossed. Confidently Kira stepped towards the pink girl, the floor board creaking loudly beneath her wooden clogs, a bit too loudly in Kira’s opinion. She took another step and the floor board beneath her foot cracked.

“I assume this is your doing?” She asked looking directly at Pinkie Pie. “A neat trick, let me guess you control gravity?” The pink girl stared silently at her, glaring, Kira knew what that meant. “Please tell me this isn’t teen angst. I’ve dealt with that enough in my life raising my own kids. Please, please for the love of Celestia don’t make me deal with yours while fighting.”

Pinkie’s frown deepened as she extended her hand, “You don’t understand.” She said flicking her fingers down, the old rotting boards beneath Kira creaked and moaned the entire building seemed to be bending inwards towards a single point.

Not missing a beat, Kira cut a hole into the floor and slipped down to the lower level, only to fall through the floor to the main floor from the increase in gravity. She did find her sword though and it was its normal weight again.

“Seems her powers only affect things that she sees, interesting, I can probably use that.” Kira side stepped as another bolt of lightning came flying down the hole. She couldn’t help but smirk as Rainbow Dash screamed with frustration.

“Oh come on!”

“Keep trying, you can only get better!” Kira yelled up the hole, she received another growl in response. That was enough toying around through, she should probably get serious. Digging into her kimono sleeves she fiddled around for the little candy Princess Twilight had prepared for them. Magical items from Equestria kept their magic after crossing the mirror, so after a long lecture most of them slept through Twilight created these rock candies infused with their magic which in theory would allow them to use their own magic without having to figure out this world’s magic. Kira couldn’t believe how lucky they were that it actually worked.

Rainbow and Pinkie came crashing down from above forcing her to move out of the way as a bolt of lightning lit up the room. Swords in both hands she parried Rainbow’s spear thrust and Pinkie’s open palm strike. However she underestimated them as she felt an invisible force push against her that sent her flying backwards, she was slammed against a support post her old bones crying out in pain as she was blasted with a stream of lightning. Gritting her teeth Kira raised the candy to her mouth and bit it.

Instantly the world changed to monochrome and red, her normal vision. A red spot marked the ceiling. Pulling free one of her hair ornaments she threw it at the spot making the entire ceiling collapse on top of the two girls and fill the room with dust.

“Where did she go?” Dash asked aloud coughing. She didn’t even see Kira coming as the white pony emerged from the cloud of dust and jabbed her in the stomach, the chest and then the neck. Rainbow staggered from the blows, her breathing irregular.

Kira stood over the rainbow haired girl with a grim frown, “I could have killed you seven times over by now. I see every fatal hit I could make on every part of your body. Every organ, artery, every bone, I see every possible way to kill you.

A shiver ran up Kira’s spine as she felt a presence behind her. She ducked just in time for an invisible blade to cut above her head. It would have cut her in half had she not dodged!

“You’re not a very fun grandma,” Pinkie said as the dust began to settle. “You don’t play along with my game. That makes me very sad!” Pinkie’s hand slammed down shaking the entire building. The air became heavy again. The sound of creaking wood echoed all around them as dust fall from the ceiling. Kira grit her teeth and raised both swords in the air as building come crashing down.

The sound of fire crackling and stone breaking caught Topaz Slicer’s attention. He figured there was over a sixty percent chance Fury and Kira were currently alive. A percentage he may share if he doesn’t pay attention to his own opponents, the sirens Aria and Sonata.

The two sirens were proving to have the advantage over him. He was a close range fighter, with a limited skill in mid-range combat. The two sirens were able to keep him at bay with a series of long ranged sonic blasts and water attacks. Factoring in his unknown ability with his current body, he was looking at a seventy percent chance of victory; a percentage that lowered once he factored in his inability to kill his opponents to fifty, overall not very good odds for him but nothing new.

Aria’s purple astral siren form floated past the alley where he’s taken refuge, meaning they weren’t far behind. From what he’s observed the siren’s specters could only travel fifty years away from the host body. This would be the closest he’s managed to get so far.

Pressing himself against the wall of the alley Topaz ate his magic candy, allowing him to activate his plasma ability. His claws instantly ignited in bright blue flames, which burned into the stone of the building. He was having trouble controlling his magic in this world, unfortunately it was too late do anything about it. They knew where he was.

Sonata Dusk rounded the corner on the other side of the alley, well Aria rounded the one closest to him, and both had their specters floating behind them. They looked eager to attack.

“Chance of survival… twenty five percent,” Both sirens roared and charged at him and with hands ablaze with burning plasma Topaz slashed at the specters his attack passing through them completely and into the buildings. The buildings bucked and tumbled as hot plasma cut them haphazardly in half, sending brick and mortar falling on top of the three.

“Getting tired your highness?” Adagio mocked the princess as they danced the deadly dance down the front of the library steps. Luna grunted as the siren landed a hit on her torso, the leather breast plate absorbing most of the impact, still she felt a dull ache from the blow. The siren was much stronger then she appeared.

Luna grabbed the siren’s arm and flipped her over her shoulder slamming the fish girl to the ground, placing a foot on the girl’s chest Luna twisted the sirens arm, pinning her down.

“Not in the slightest.”

Adagio snarled pulling against the princess’s grip with strength beyond what her skinny arms should produce. “Don’t underestimate the ponies of Maredor!” With one hard tug Adagio broke free from Luna’s hold, the princess seemingly off her game as she stared jaw slacked at Adagio.

“You’re from Maredor, Sombra’s original kingdom? How is that possible? It was destroyed many moons ago.”

“Destroyed by you and your night patrollers, my sisters and I were banished during the attack a thousand years ago. I’m sure you must have been filled with glee watching the city burn.” Adagio summoned her specter, the ghostly shape of her true from floated above her like a demonic angel. “First you killed our king, plunging our home into civil war! Then you have the gull to invade us! Claiming it was for the good of all, but is wasn’t, it was only for those that agreed with you. The rest of us… we were just in the way of harmony I guess.”

Luna adjusted her stance to a neutral position, “I’m afraid I have little knowledge of that time as it was after my banishment. I assure you though, my ponies were doing what they and my sister thought was right at the time. Whether or not it was the right thing to do is something my sister and I will question for the rest of time. Given my past experience though, heed my advice and let go of the past. I know it is hard, but it will send you down the better path. A path, I know you have already begun to walk, so please Adagio, fight Maddie’s control for your own sake and your sisters.”

“That’s rich coming from you, did Celestia write that on a piece of paper for you; sounds corny enough to be her writing.” Sunset sneered flying down beside Adagio. “All you and your wonderful sister have done is force ponies to bend to you will and when they wouldn’t you abandon them!”

“Sunset Shimmer I presume,” Luna looked the girl up and down, pulling on Celestia’s recounting of her former student. She also remembered the portrait of another pony her sister had shown her. “Celestia was right, you do look alike.”

Sunset growled, “So she showed you her “favorite” student.”

“Celestia speaks highly of Sunny Spark; she said she saw a lot of her in you. You should be proud of that.”

“Proud? Proud of what? I was just another replacement and when she realized I wasn’t her precious dearly departed student she pushed me away and then had the gull to say I was out of line when I saw what could be in the mirror. To add insult to injury she adopted that pathetic excuse of an alicorn Cadence! I was an eye sore to her, I could tell, I just wish she would have had the stones to tell me herself.”

Luna shook her head retaking her battle stance, “Your thoughts and mind are poisoned. I’m sure you would see the truth if you would just stop and think. Trust me Sunset, Celestia loves you more then you’ll ever realize.”

Sunset scoffed, barring her fangs she and Adagio began to encircle Luna. The princess of the night popped her magic candy in her mouth and with a flick of her finger called the shadows to her aid. The inky blackness of pure darkness seeped out of the ground, crawling up Luna’s legs and spreading all over her body, creating a shroud of darkness around the princess.

“If you’ll not listen to reason, then I will make you see the truth!” The shadows covered Luna’s hands, morphing the dainty fingers into claws! Sunset responded in kind, fire engulfing her own claws as she charged for the princess, Adagio charging in from the side. The three met head on, darkness and light erupting in a brilliant display of fire and shadow.

Plaster broke as Sixes flew through the wall Applejack and Mac hot on his tail as he broke through from one room to the next. Hot stream rising off his hands as he grabbed whatever he could, a loose brick, and melted it into a puddle of lava. Skidding to a stop he set up the pitch and threw the lava at the Apple siblings. The hot ball of magma rolled down their skin like water, meaning they had been dragonized, making them immune to lava and high heat. Seems he drew the short straw.

Fingers spread wide he swiped at Applejack, missing, and then at Mac, missing again. The siblings were running circles around him. He blocked a strike from Mac, the blow making his knees buckled from the force, he back stepped away tossing his broken arm guard away; it had done its job.

Back against the wall Sixes taunted the siblings; sure enough they took the bait hook line and sinker. He ducked up their combined blows, tackling them and ramming them through the adjacent wall. The two groaned on the ground as he picked up some lose bricks and melted them, creating a make shift pair of cuffs for the two. He bound their hands together and then their legs, but he knew the cuffs wouldn’t last long.

“I owe your father a debt, it’s my fault he ended up in this world, so I’m trying my best not to hurt you two, but you need to get a grip on your senses. I know we don’t know each other very well, but I know you two got to have some fight in you, so fight Maddie’s control over you. Think of your friends, your family and everyone else that loves and cares for you!” Mac and Applejack continued to snap and growl as they slowly but surely worked away at the cuffs, it wouldn’t be long before they broke free. “Well so much for the love and friendship speech, I guess a more physical persuasion is in order.”

The cuffs were about to break, large cracks covered the melted mess of stone, the budging mass of the siblings muscles the cause of the destruction. Honestly Sixes had no idea where they got their strength from, Nico was never that strong, in fact none of the Apple siblings looked a hint like their father. He was going to have to ask about that after this all said and done. Not that he had time to think about that now, Mac and Applejack were loose.

Before Mac could get to his feet Sixes socked him right in the face, knocking him back down, with Applejack… he showed a bit more restraint.

“Afraid to hit a girl,” Applejack mocked throwing a few punches that Sixes deflected.

He couldn’t help but chuckled, “Little filly, I burned down a mansion full of stallions, mares, and even fouls. Trust me when I say I’m not afraid of killing anyone or anything, but… you do have the face of an old friend. That I find hard to hit.”

“Buddy, buddy with the pony Applejack?” Applejack accused, the way she said it gave Sixes some hope that her true self was still trying to push though.

Sixes shook his head, “No, not her preciously, we are acquaintances, but I’m referring to her… oh about times ten great grandmother? I don’t know I was asleep in stone for a thousand plus years.” He chuckled, a thought dawning on him. “I might even have some descendants around somewhere. Holy Luna I might be a grandpa! Crap I feel old now. Guess I can’t give Kira grief anymore about her age.”

They shared a short laugh together, Sixes and Applejack, and for a moment he was reminded of his old friend the first Applejack. He felt a sort of comfort in the fact that they were so alike. Whether in different times or different worlds, Applejack would always be Applejack.

The good moods quickly come to an end though as Mac, who Sixes had forgotten about, punched him through the wall and out of the building into the street. Sixes landed on an old car, crushing it. He grimaced as he rolled out of the dented metal and onto the sidewalk coming face to face with Principle Luna’s head lights.

“What are you doing here? It’s not safe!” He shouted as he raised to his feet, behind him Applejack and Mac jumped down from the building, both landing on their feet and coming right at him! With Luna and Applebloom behind him, he had no choice but to stand his ground and met the two Apples head on. The two slammed against him, but he held firm pushing back with all his might, but even with that he could feel his feet slipping beneath him as they slowly pushed him back.

The sound of the car door opening barely registered in Sixes’s mind, nor did he hear the patter of running footsteps, till Applebloom’s bright red hair came into his vision.

“Mac, AJ! Stop it!”

“Applebloom get back here!” Luna screamed as she got out of the car.

Everything moved in slow motion. Applejack broke off and turned her attention to Applebloom, bringing down a clawed hand towards the youngest Apple sibling. With a primal roar Sixes pushed Mac away and tackled Applebloom to the ground, Applejack’s claw slashing him across the back. He stumbled and rolled across the ground, his trip ending with him slammed up against a mail box. He let out a cry of pain as the corner of the box dug into his wounds, but Applebloom was still safe between his arms; though maybe not for long.

“Run,” He whispered pushing Applebloom out of his lap, “Run!”

Fighting through the pain Sixes melted the mail box into lava and threw it in Applejack’s face. He shoved her aside grappling with Mac once again. The big teen proving to be his match in strength as Mac slammed him against an abandon car.

“You don’t want to do this Mac…” Sixes choked out, it felt like some of his ribs were broken. “You don’t want to hurt you sister right? I know you don’t, so snap to your senses!”

He punched Mac in the head; the big man stumbled but quickly regained his balance with an angry snort, his eyes turning to Applebloom.

“I told you to run!”

Applebloom trembled as her monsterified siblings approached her, their eyes lacking their usual warmth and love. She tripped as she tried to back away, AJ’s bloody clawed hand reaching out to her. She closed her eyes and waiting for the pain that was sure to come, but it didn’t. Something warm touched her cheek instead. Applebloom opened her pink eyes meeting Applejack’s green as the older girl caressed her cheek with a bloody hand.

“Applebloom…” The second oldest Apple croaked as tears rolled down her cheeks. “Applebloom is that you? Is it really you? I… I thought I’d never see you again.”

Applebloom smiled and got on her knees and hugged her sister. “Yeah sis, it’s me.”

A bright warm glow surged from Applebloom traveling into Applejack and flowing over the farm girl like waterfall of gold. When the light faded away Applejack was herself again.

“Whoa… what happened?”

“Family is what happened!” Applebloom exclaimed still glowing with magic, it was bright and warm like the morning sun. “Come on sis! Let’s get our brother back!”

Applejack smiled as she took her little sister’s hand, “I don’t know what’s happening, but I’ll do mah best!”

Together the two Apple sisters ponied up and stared down their wayward brother. They each raised a hand and blasted him with orange and yellow magic, purifying him. Mac stumbled and wobbled as he tried to regain his balance and they caught him before he could fall.

“Applejack? Applebloom? Ugh… my head! Why you two shining so bright?”

“We’re shining with the magic of family! How about it bro? Wanna teach that no good Maddie what happens when you mess with the Apples?”

Mac grinned as he took his sisters hands, “With pleasure.”

Hand in hand the three Apple siblings walked side by side into the library plaza, Sixes was receiving medical treatment from Principle Luna; leaving it to them to put an end to Maddie’s mad scheme. Together they stood at the edge of the battlefield. From here they could see it all, their friends fighting against their will against the ones trying to save them. Despite the horror of it all, it was quite a sight to see, the battle here made Sunset’s rampage and the battle of the bands look tame by comparison. There was fire, buildings falling, and magic flying everywhere.

“Ready,” Mac took the lead; in each hand he held the hand of one of his sisters. They shared a blush, knowing how silly the must look, but pushed on for the good of their friends.

“Ready!” His sisters answered.

“Let’s saddle up!”

Magic, red, yellow, and orange shot into the sky as the three transformed into their pony forms. Wind whipped around them as their power grew, drawing the attention of everyone, even Maddie who stood atop the library stairs staring down at them.

Maddie reared back, understanding what had happened to two of her minions and what was about to happen to the rest of them if she didn’t do something quick!

“Stop them! Stop them now!” She screamed.

All of their friends broke away from their fights and began charging at them. Mac licked his lips and held his sisters’ hands tighter as they charged up their shot. They may only have time for one shot; they had to make it count!

“Assistance them!” Princess Luna ordered as she tackled Sunset to the ground, but was forced to let Adagio go as she and Sunset tangled on the ground.

Rarity and Fluttershy come running in fast and hard, Fierce Fury ran interface banishing his fire sword at them. He kept Rarity pinned, but Fluttershy out maneuvered him by taking to the sky. Cursing Fury wrestled the fashionista to the ground and held her there.

“Gotta runner!”

“I got her!” Topaz declared leaping into the air and raking his claws across Fluttershy’s wings, grounding the batgirl. He was tackled by Sonata and Aria. A rainbow blur flew overhead, meaning it was Rainbow Dash coming in fast! A white and pink blur incepted the rainbow and Kira stood on top the rainbow haired girl’s back with Pinkie pie swung over her arm. She gave them a wink as she put more pressure on Rainbow’s back as the girl tried to get back up.

“Hurry up and fix this kiddos!”

Adagio was the only one running free and everyone was busy trying to keep the others back, leaving Mac and his sister open to attack. He gripped their hands tighter, keeping his focus on gathering the magic to fix everyone. They were almost there, but so was Adagio.

“I’m coming!” Sixes yelled sprinting to intercept Adagio, but his injuries hampered him, he wouldn’t make it in time. Adagio was almost within range to attack, they needed just another few seconds!

An idea suddenly struck Mac like a bolt of lightning, it was stupid, but it just maybe might work! Licking his lips nervously Mac said the three words he knew Adagio has been waiting to hear; “I love you!” Adagio come to sudden stop just inches from front of them, her eyes wide with surprise and shock. Grinning Mac leaned closer and captured Adagio’s lips, at the same time unleashing the magic they’d been gathering all across the block curing every one of their monsterification. The light died away leaving behind ten confused girls.

“Um… what’s going on?”

“AHH! WHERE ARE MY CLOTHES?”

“Ooh are we having some sort of mortal combat party?”

“Did I eat meat?”

“Ugh… sweet Celestia I remember this feeling…”

“Same here… why do rainbows taste so bad?”

“Hey Adagio’s kissing Mac!”

Mac felt his cheeks burn as everyone turned their attention to him and Adagio, their lips still locked together. Gently he tried to break the kiss, but Adagio’s arms snaked around his waist and she pressed herself against his body. Awkwardly Mac stood there still as a statue as Adagio had her fill.

“Oh how long I wanted to do that!” Adagio sighed against his torso, “You’re such a tease, Mac.” She giggled, causing everyone else to join in on the laughter as their stress and fears washed away, until…

“Hey aren’t we forgetting someone?” Applejack pointed out the fact that Maddie was missing; however so was someone else. Sixes was nowhere in sight. A loud shrill screamed pierced the night air, the scream was differently female and it was coming from the alleys to the east. Wordlessly they all ran in the direction of the scream.

Maddie ran as fast as her feet could carry her. For the first time in a long time she was afraid. She was very afraid. She could hear the sound of hooves behind her like a galloping horse in a dead run. She peeked behind her shoulder getting quick look of the night patroller chasing her. His eyes were like burning coals as he stomped after her. She tripped over a trash can and rolled into old back alley basketball court. She tried to get up, but the pain in her ankle make her leg gave out beneath her. Great she had sprained her ankle!

“Nowhere to left to run, Madhoof,” Sixes snorted hot stream from his nostrils, his hands glowed with intense heat, so hot that Maddie could feel it from ten feet away. She gulped as the dragon pony drew closer racking his claws against the building wall, creating a river of hot lava; his boot steps were loud and haunting as he raised his red hot hand. “Time for your trial, I hereby judge you guilty of the crime of practicing dark magic, kidnapping, mutilation, forced enslavement, and murder.”

The glowing hot hand reached for her. She tried to crawl away, but a heavy boot stomped on her wounded ankle making her scream out in pain. Tears fell and were imminently dried as the intense heat turned the tears to stream, burning her.

“Please stop! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

A low growl escaped Sixes’s throat, “Tell that to my dead friend.”

Maddie braced herself for the pain, but it didn’t come. The heat was still there though. Warily she opened her eyes, Sixes flaming hot claws still only inches from her face, but they were behind held back by Mac of all people!

“No, not like this,” Mac said staining to hold Sixes’s hand at bay. “This is our world. We will judge her and decide her punishment.”

“He’s right Sixes, this is not our world. We hold no authority here and also this is not how we do things, not anymore,” Said Princess Luna placing a calming hand on the dragon pony’s shoulder. His shoulders slumped and the red hot flames cooled as he stepped away from Maddie.

Dejected Sixes looked at Nico’s children and then to his princess, “Yeah, your right.” He stepped completely out of the way. “Do what you will to her.”

Mac nodded, waving Sunset and the five over. The group looked uncertainly between one another before grabbing each other’s hands and transforming. They rose into the air and blasted Maddie with a rainbow.

Maddie closed her eyes against the light as the colors over took her. At first nothing happened and she wondered what it was that they were trying to do to her when suddenly her world view changed and she was on her back looking up at herself?

“Now this won’t hurt… well it’s going to hurt, but not a lot I assure you.” Her other self said holding up a scalpel. Grinning widely she lowered the knife, cutting flesh and then pulling it tight as she sung a little tune, “Just a nip and tuck, nip and tuck.”

She screamed but it wasn’t her own voice, it was Moon Dancer’s! This was the memory of when she changed Moon dancer’s face!

“Don’t worry my little Moony, it will be over soon.” Except it wouldn’t be, it would be hours before she would be done. Every second, every minute, was nothing but pain and she had to endure it all, just as Moon Dancer did.

There was another flash and Maddie found herself in a different situation, but one just as familiar and she was cold, so cold!

“Now watch what happens when I do this!” Her father said excitedly, a younger version of herself standing eagerly beside them as they worked together to create Tundra. She let out a wailing scream as icily bolts of electrically assaulted her body. She let out another scream and cried for her father to stop, but he didn’t. He just smiled and continued, letting her younger self take the lead at certain points. Maddie felt the probe she had stuck into Tundra’s side, she remembered it well, she had accidentally hit Tundra’s voice box on her fifth stab, and it had never healed, leaving the ice girl nearly mute.

“Do you understand?” A voice said from above as the scene changed again. “Do you understand what you’ve done?”

Maddie croaked back a sob. She wanted to scream yes, she understood what she did wrong, but she couldn’t her mouth was gagged. Her eyes widened in fear, she knew what was about to happen.

A teenage version of her stood in front her with her father next to her. In the teen Maddie’s hand rested a vile of glowing red liquid. Maddie looked at the mirror placed above her, it was Kerosene’s face. The needle stabbed her in the side of her breast near her heart. She could feel the burning sensation of the serum flooding into her blood system. Tears rolled down her face, turning to streams of liquid fire, soon followed by the rest of her body as her flesh slowly blackened and burned away. The pain was indescribable.

“I’M SORRY! I REALLY AM! PLEASE STOP!”

Maddie come to back in the alley. Her breath was labored as her brain it tried process all the painful memories she now had. She experienced it all. Every evil thing she had ever done to someone else. It wasn’t just the moments that she was personally done it either; she got to feel everything the person had experienced before and after. She saw their lives, their loved ones that searched desperately for them, and what happened to them. In every sense of the word, she had been them.

Falling against the ground, Maddie curled up into a ball with a croak and a sob, “Do whatever you want. I deserve it.”

It was Mac stepped forward and offered a hand to her. Hesitantly she took it and he pulled her up to her feet where she stood waiting for their judgement.

Mac let out a slow breath and placed a hand on Maddie’s shoulder, “Ah can’t say I don’t want to punch you square in the face for what you’ve done, but given that Sunset and the Sirens have both tried to take over the world. You deserve the same chance as they got to reform and make up for your past crime and do some good for once. Ah can’t say I can forgive you at this very moment, but maybe someday I could, as long as you keep on the straight and narrow.”

“And want are you going to do with me? Turn me in to the authorities? You certainly could, even without the magic stuff I could easily be placed in prison for any number of things.”

“No, I have a different prison in mind; one closer to home, where I can keep an eye on ya.”

The final chapter

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What must be done ch 9
By Foxgear

Mac awoke with a groan his body still sore from the battle one week ago. Turns out dark magic always backlashes when purified. He hissed through his teeth as he moved his body, the injuries he sustained while fighting Sixes where healed, but the pain was still there. Princess Luna said it would be another week or more for all the dark magic to leave his body and everyone else’s.

Currently all of Applejack’s friends were sleeping somewhere in the house in what Pinkie Pie called a “week long recover from being evil sleep over”, it was working title. Nether the less Principle Luna, their godmother, still had to get used to that. Made arrangements to excuse them all from classes for the week, by telling their parents and legal guardians they were all on a field trip. When in reality they were all out to the farm recovering, with Luna covering their school lessons personally. However such things could not be done without a little more official help and thus Principle Celestia was brought into the loop on what happened. She took it rather well.

“Luna I need another refill!”

Ok, she didn’t take it well. Turns out though it didn’t take much to grease the principle’s palms to look the other way. Vice-Principle Luna simply had to be her personal maid for a bit, something the younger sister didn’t seem too bothered by, until Celestia added on the condition she had to wear a maids outfit and no video games. Their relationship was strange and Mac (and everyone else) didn’t want to dive in any further.

“Coming sister!” Principle Luna grumbled walking past his door. Currently Mac was in his parent’s room on the first floor, his room occupied by Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. Sunset was in Applejack’s room with Aj and Fluttershy was in Applebloom’s room. Of course the Sirens were with him, snuggled together very, very tightly.

“Can I get up now?” He asked trying to wiggle free from the girls.

“Nope!” Sonata chimed cutely. “Adagio got to kiss you, so I get to snuggle with you for double the time! Right, Aria?” Aria blushing like mad on the other side of him nodded and snuggled in deeper, further trapping him. Across the room in the rocking chair sat Adagio looking jealous, amused and pouty all at the same time. It was a rather endearing look.

They laid there for another hour or two. The warmth of their bodies lulling Mac to sleep, when he woke up from someone knocking on the door Adagio was lying on top of him.

“One minute,” He answered doing his best to wiggle free from the girls without waking them; it proved to be fruitless as they all wound up on the floor in a heap of limbs. They groaned and moaned as they worked themselves free with Mac eventually untangling himself enough to answer the door.

“Hi Mr. Sixes,” he answered addressing the dragon pony at this door and someone that knew his father. A subject they have had little time to discuss, despite the night hunters being at the farm for an entire week, minus Princess Luna who had to return to Equestria, but said she would come back in a few days.

Sixes smiled as he placed a hand on Mac’s shoulder, “Just Sixes is fine. Listen Topaz, Fury, and I aren’t exactly what you call builders. Mind giving us a hand with the door repairs? Nothing physical, I know you must still be hurting, just in a management role. You know tell us what you want done and we’ll do it. Sound good?”

“I’d prefer to do myself,” Mac admitted, “But the forecast is calling for rain soon and it needs to get done.”

“Excellent, lead away boss man.” Sixes joked walking back into the living room. Mac knelt down and planted a kiss on Adagio’s forehead. He was feeling really affectionate lately, though Sonata and Aria demanded they each have one as well, which he complied and then got the hell out of there. Not wanting to get dragged into another one of their cat fights.

“Alright, put that board there and…” Mac directed the construction of the front door with little trouble. Despite Sixes claim the three patrollers were very skilled workers and they seemed to know their way around tools. By the afternoon they had the outer wall rebuilt and sealed to keep water out. There was still the need for sheet rock and others things for the inside, but that could be done later.

“Dinners ready,” Principle Luna announced carrying a try of hamburgers and hot dogs from the grill. She placed the tray on the table next to a plate of buns and salad and all the house residents filed down into the kitchen to eat. As they ate chatter filled the room and Mac couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he looked around the table as everyone excitedly talked about this or that; much of the conversation where questions directed at their Equestrian visitors. Something they didn’t seem to mind as they happily answered every question. Rarity asked the most questions, mainly about their clothes or rather Kira’s clothes.

“I say Mrs. Perfecta that is a rather fetching kimono you are wearing, would you mind allowing me to study it? I would love to start a new line of eastern designs and it would be the perfect base to start with. Also would you mind doing some modeling for me too? You have a natural grace that I’m sure would really make my designs shine!”

Kira’s response was a simply shrug, “Sure why not. I’m always up for something new. I’ll have to ask for some leave time from the Princess first.”

“Oh please Kira! The Princess has been trying to get you to take a vacation since she found out you were alive.”

“I took time off to raise a family in Nippon when she was in the moon. I believe that counts as a vacation don’t you Sixes? By the way how was your thousand year beauty nap? Resting I hope.” She retorted to the orange haired man’s jab. They all shared a laugh at Sixes expense as the dragon pony hide his blushing face under his hands.

“I think it’s a lovely idea Kira,” A voice said from the other room. They all turned none of them hearing the two new arrivals enter.

“Princess Luna, Princess Celestia! What are you two doing here? We weren’t expecting both of you to come today.” Said Sixes as all the patrollers rose from the seats and bowed to the two royals.

Celestia, dressed in a casual pair of jeans and a yellow silk shirt, waved them down. “I wanted it to be a surprise. It’s not often I get to visit other worlds anymore and… why is your counterpart wearing a maid’s uniform Luna?”

“No idea sister.”

The elder princess blinked, but chose not to push the matter. “Ok then, moving on. Where is Sunset Shimmer? I wish to speak to her and I don’t see her here.”

“She’s up in AJ’s room,” Mac answered, “I’ll show you the way.”

“Please do.”

Sunset stared up at the apple decorated ceiling, each apple containing a picture of Applejack and her family and friends, it was nice. She liked it. Maybe she should do something like it in her um… home, which was a shack, which she should really think about moving out soon. She was getting tired of living off Mac’s kindness, rent free, tax free, and with free food. Maybe she should offer to pay rent or work for her board? Also she should probably tell her friends where she actually lives… someday. She was kind of embarrassed to admit that for all her claims of being independent, she was probably the most dependent person in town.

“She’s in here.” A voice said outside her door, it was Mac, but who was he talking to? Uncertain and with a weird butterfly feeling in her gut, Sunset feigned sleep and hid under the covers, “Seems she asleep.”

“That’s fine, thank you for showing me the way Mac.” That voice! It can’t be, she can’t be here! She would never leave her kingdom… oh yeah Cadence and Twilight. Backup princesses. She would have to remember that. “I think I’ll just sit beside her for a little while. I would hate to disturb her sleep needlessly.”

“Alright, we’ll be down stairs if you need anything, just ask.”

“If it isn’t too much trouble could I get some tea?”

“No problem.”

Mac’s footsteps faded away leaving her and Celestia, make that Princess Celestia alone! Sunset shivered as she felt the Sun Princess’s hand touch her back, it was warm; warmer than a normal human hand should be. It felt nice though, like the sun was gently kissing her skin.

“Oh Sunset, how I have hurt you,” The Princess began sorrowfully. “I did what I thought was best as your teacher, but I was wrong. You didn’t need a teacher. You needed a mother, a family, something I wasn’t ready to have again. Not after losing Sunny Spark so soon. I told you about her right? I said she was my favorite student and well that is true, it is also a lie. She wasn’t just my student. She was my daughter in law and your mother.”

Sunset couldn’t help it. She gasped, revealing that she was indeed awake, but she had feeling the Princess had already known. Why else would she say such things?

“Can’t get anything past you can I?” She said pushing the covered off. Sitting up on the bed she looked Celestia square in the eyes. Eyes that were usually so guarded nothing could see though them were now open and willing share. “So I guess I was little off when I thought was your daughter and you were just hiding me to keep me safe. I mean, I only remember ever being in the castle all my life and you dotted on me so much, practically raising me. I guess I just assumed…”

“It’s ok Sunset. I should have told you the truth, but…” Celestia looked away ashamed. “There was a time, when you were growing up you accidentally called me mom, it made me so… happy to hear those words again. My son, Crusader, your father he was a bit too much like his father. Uptight and so serious when it came to his duty as a patroller, he rarely called me mother or anything other than Princess. I guess what I’m saying is, I indulged in your fantasy wanting it too much to be reality. Every time I would look at Sunny’s picture though I would be filled with guilt and I soon began to push you away. Nightmare Moon was soon to return and I wanted to lessen the blow in case I didn’t survive the battle.”

Realization hit Sunset like brick, “That vision I saw in the mirror. That future was what would have happened if you…”

“Died? Yes, it was my intention to leave the throne to you and Luna should she have returned to her senses. I would have left it to you and Cadence, but the Crystal Empire would be returning soon also and it would need its ruler back. Perhaps things would have gone smoother had I been less secretive about everything.”

Silence filled the room, neither one of them sure what say.

“So… you’re my grandma?”

“Indeed I am,” Celestia answered leaning close. “Don’t tell Blueblood, at least not right away, he’d probably blow a brain cell if he knew he wasn’t in line for the throne anymore.” They shared a giggle, both imagining Blueblood’s meltdown when he found out the truth.

“That would be hilarious!” Sunset laughed so hard her sides were hurting! “So who’s the lucky stallion that’s my grandfather? Is he even still around?”

“Oh yes, he’s alive and well, in fact you’ve already met him.”

“I have?”

Celestia nodded, “Yeah, it’s Sixes.”

“Wait what…” Sunset did the math in her head and it made no sense. “That’s impossible! He’s like a thousand years old and was frozen in stone before I was born and how… ouch my head hurts. This is a prank isn’t? Ok, enough fooling around who’s my grandpa?”

“I told you it’s Sixes, it’s a very long story, but my son Crusader… let’s just say he wasn’t born normally. He was a Rinin, a dragon pony, one of Madhoof’s experiments, created using Sixes’s blood and one of my feathers. I adopted Crusader as my son and Sixes… well…”

“I chose not to fulfill the role.” The pony in question said entering the room. He flopped down in the chair next to Celestia looking nervous about the whole ordeal. “Sorry dragon ears, I can hear everything down stairs. I just… I guess I would like to be a better father or grandfather in this case. I didn’t give Crusader the time he needed when he was alive. I’d like to make that up with you if you don’t mind.”

Uncertain what to say Sunset nodded, receiving a half arm hug from Sixes and full hug from Celestia. “Ok, but that still doesn’t explain how my mother marries your son from a thousand years ago and how I’m here today. Was I like frozen or something?”

“In a sense yes,” Celestia replied trying think of a way to explain the situation logically. "Sunny Spark was actually born a thousand year plus ago, she met Crusader, they did that thing that stallions and mares do and during one of her checkups, it was discovered she was ill with a terminal disease. One that at the time was incurable. So I took a page out of Sixes’s book and froze her in stone till a cure was made, it took a lot longer than I thought it would, but eventually it was made and Sunny was unfrozen and cured and already carrying you. She carried you to term, but the shock of being frozen for so long, fighting the disease, plus the grief of losing her mate was more then she could handle, adding childbirth on top of all that and… she just couldn’t recover like she should have. She straggled along for two to three years, but she died anyway. Leaving you with me and a kingdom to run and a vengeance crazy aunt about to return and plunge the world into darkness.”

“You are making me feel really bad about my behavior grandma,” Sunset joked, though she did feel bad. She never realized just how much was on Celestia’s plate at the time, if not all the time. She wanted to hide under the covers forever thinking about just how stupid and foolish she was back then.

Celestia as if sensing her mood, raised her chin off her lap and smiled at her. “Well I can’t disagree; I will say I am proud about your progress and the young mare… I mean lady you have become. I know you have become rather fond of this world, but please remember that you have family waiting for you back home.”

Family, yeah she had family, here on earth and in Equestria and she’s treated them both pretty badly.

“Is it ok if I take a walk? I need some time to process this all.”

“Fine by us, right Sixes?”

“Why would I have a problem with that?”

“Hmm, you know I don’t know might be stereo type.”

Sunset snuck out of the room as Sixes and Celestia got into an argument that she did not want to get dragged into if she was called upon to ask who she agreed with. Tip toeing down the hall Sunset made her way down stairs, bumping right into Mac, the person she wanted to talk to.

“Um… hi,” She greeted lamely.

“How are you today Sunset? Feeling better I hope.”

She nodded curling a stained of hair around her finger; a nervous habit. Peering around the corner Sunset made sure none of the sirens, especially Adagio, were around. The former villains would pounce on her like a pack of angry alley cats if they hear what she was about say.

“Can we talk, alone for a little bit?”

Mac shrugged, “Sure, I got a few minutes before I bring Maddie her dinner. Come on outside and we can talk.”

“Sounds good,” She smiled as they walked out onto the porch. Finding a comfortable spot in the shade Sunset took a minute to appreciate the view. Despite living on the Apple’s farm the entirely of her stay on earth she rarely got to enjoy the view of the yard. Mostly she stayed in her part of the orchard, avoiding coming up to the house unless she had a reason to be there; reasons such as Applejack wanting a help with a project or stuff like that. She sighed remembering all the Apple family reunions she’s spied on over the years, it looked like a lot of fun with a lot of good food. It was the event all Apple’s looked forward too, even her.

“What did you want to talk about Sunset? Something need fixed at your place?”

She shook her head, “No, no, everything’s fine and in tip top shape! I just… I just wanted to talk I guess. You know Nico Vega, your dad; he adopted me into the Apple family. He was standing in front of the statue the moment I came out. I walked a few feet and then fell to the ground, it was cold and rainy and I was soaked to the bone almost instantly. Funny thing was he was waiting there with an umbrella. He took me to a local dinner, got me a hot meal and drink and then took me to the court house and got me documentation and all that stuff. The whole time I was acting my usual self-back then, but I had no one else to depend on and I figured hey free food and legal papers. Then he gave me a home and the documents. They read Sunset Apple Shimmer. He said I was an official Apple and that if I ever needed help all I had to do was ask.”

Sunset paused to wipe a stray tear from her cheek, “I don’t think anyone has ever been that kind to me before, not since Princess Celestia taking me in to be her student. I wish I hadn’t had such a chip on my shoulder back then and had actually tried to be a part of the Apple family.”

“Well,” Mac said with a small smile as he pulled Sunset into a hug. “It’s never too late to start. I’m sure Granny Smith would be happy to hear you’re finally ready to an Apple.”

She smiled against his chest, “Yeah, it would be nice. Though I feel like I can never repay you or Nico for everything you’ve done. I don’t think I can ever repay you two in a million years.”

“Think nothing of it, we’re family.”

Sunset squeezed herself against Mac before letting go of him completely, a big smile on her face. She was officially friend zoned or family zoned and she was ok with that.

“Neither the less, I’m still going to try.” She smiled as someone else pulled up into the yard. She didn’t recognize the car at all.

“Come on,” Mac said, “Let’s go bring Maddie her dinner.”

Mac and Sunset carried the hot tray of food to Maddie’s shack in the east orchard. It was just like the others in the west and south, though not as well maintained. Sixes, Fury and Topaz worked hard this past week to make it livable for their… new resident. Once the repairs were complete Maddie had withdrawn into the shack and rarely, if ever come out. She was allowed to leave the shack and travel the around the orchard, but she would need and escort to leave the farm. A spell bound her to the land and would alert them if she tried to leave without permission. A handy thing, though he wished its installment had been different.

“Maddie,” he shouted knocking on the door, “We brought dinner.”

A quiet, “Come in” was their reply.”

Inside the shack was… messy. Papers were scattered about, laptops hummed and fans blew to try and keep the room cool. Maddie still dressed in the same clothes as last time and sitting at her work desk typing away and scribbling notes here and there. A huge map rested on the wall; on it were dozens of pins. For her crimes it was decided Maddie would assist in tracking monsters that appeared from Equestria and find any rogue experiments of her and her father. There quite a few that needed to be found.

“Hot dogs… I guess you guys don’t do vegan?”

“My dad was a pony and he ate meat.”

“He didn’t understand the consequences of too much grease. Neither did your mother, seriously I spied on you guys for a good two years, do you have any idea how many carbs you ate in a day? More than 1800’s lumberjacks that’s for sure.”

“Look you can eat the hot dog or eat the apples outside, take your pick.” Maddie grumbled, but reluctantly accepted the hot dog; covering them with relish and ketchup. “So,” She said chewing, “What do you need? I already got a dozen cases that need worked, but I know you can’t take any till you all healed and that, so why bother me? You don’t really need to keep tabs on me; Sixes’s seal is good enough I assure you.”

Sixes’s seal or rather the large hand shaped burn on her left shoulder just above her breast peeked out of the helm of her shirt. it was a ugly wound and looked very painful. Sixes infused his magic with Mac’s and the orchard's natural magic to create the seal, if Maddie tried to leave the orchard, Mac would know and the wound on her shoulder would burn with red hot heat till she returned to the orchards bounds. Only with spoken permission and an escort could Maddie leave the farm and even a time limit was placed in case she tried to make a break for it. If she stayed away longer then she was allowed the seal would burn her until she returned or got an extension from Mac or her handler.

“I’m sorry about the seal; I wish it hadn’t come to that.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Maddie retorted hotly, “I may have felt the “magic” of friendship, but time makes us forget and old habits are hard to break. Anything less than this and I would be back to my old ways in a few years, black magic is like a drug and you never lose the need for it. Even your siren girlfriends suffer from it; they just got a different drug, namely you, to curve their addiction.”

That… was an interesting statement to say the least. Course the sirens have told him of the effects of dark magic in the past and their recent admittance to feasting on his magic did give credit ability to Maddie’s claim.

“Would eating my magic have a direct effect of them?” He asked curiously.

“Of course,” Maddie answered sharply, “Why else do you think they’ve taken to country living so fast? Are you done here? I would prefer to be left alone.”

“Not even if an old friend came to visit?” A voice said from outside the shack. Maddie froze in place, her mouth agape as she swiveled her chair around so fast she fell onto the floor. There standing in the door way was her best friend Moon Dancer!

Maddie’s mouth struggled to work as she scrabbled to her feet, rushing to Moon Dancer and embracing the girl to make sure she was real. “How are you alive? I told you to jump of a fricken balcony! I’m sorry about that by the way, I…I…” Maddie began choke up with tears. “I’m so sorry!” She wailed into Moon Dancer’s breasts.

Moon Dancer chuckled, patting Maddie on the back, “Shh, shh, it’s ok and yeah I did jump of the balcony, or back flipped. Isn’t gymnastics wonderful? I jumped back into the apartment safety. After all you told me to jump, but you didn’t say where.”

“You clever girl! I could kiss you!”

Moon Dancer blushed as she held Maddie at arm’s length, “I’d prefer if you didn’t. At least till I figure out if well… you know, swing that way. I mean you did kind of… well you know.”

“Right, sorry about that… really I am. I know a great shrink if you want to see her.”

“It’s you isn’t it.”

“You could be better to put you back together then the one that took you apart?”

“Well, I’d say you were crazy if that didn’t make some sense. However I think you might be more in the need of my help rather than the other way around. What I’m saying is despite everything, you are still my best friend and you need help and I want to help you.”

There was a warm fuzzy feeling in Maddie’s chest when she heard those words, she grinned as she wiped away the tears rolling down her cheeks. “Stupid tear ducts, crying when I’m happy, what a stupid thing for the body to do.”

Moon Dancer chuckled as she pulled Maddie into a hug, “You can just say you’re happy to see me you know. Not everything needs to be science related.”

“Everything is science.”

Feeling a little intrusive Mac and Sunset backtracked out the door and left the two friends alone. Trusting they would work things out between themselves.

Mac slumped into his father’s old lazy boy with a sigh of content, it was late in the evening now and he was tired. Mentally he ran through everything that’s happened today, from rebuilding, to doing chores, talking with Sunset and Maddie, and a bunch of other things.

Outside several horns honked as a group of parents rolled up into the yard to pick up their kids. It was a heartwarming sight and a depressing one at the same time. Their parents thought they were coming back from a field trip, when really they were coming back from hell and it was agreed that ignorance is bliss and thus their fears and concerns were pushed down and hidden with smiles. In some ways Mac kind of wished they would have allowed Princess Luna to erase their memories of what happened.

Still it was none of his business and they were all old enough to decide what they wanted to do. Really he wouldn’t want to forget either; whether it’s good or bad it was a part of his life. Mac adjusted to a better position just as Applejack and Sunset entered the room, sporting similar attire.

“Really to go Mac,” Applejack asked as she adjusted her skirt. She was dressed all in black as was Sunset and Applebloom who wondered into the room. He nodded and got up revealing his own attire, his father’s old suit, also black.

“Yeah, I’m ready,” He said taking Applejack’s and Applebloom’s hands. “Let’s go see mom and dad.”

They all piled into the truck and drove towards the cemetery where their parents were buried. In the parking space next to them was Principle Celestia and Luna and their counterparts from Equestria and next to them was a mass of uniformed people. The entire night patrol had gathered to say good bye to their lost comrade. There must have been two hundred people.

The sirens, also dressed in black, met them at the cemetery gate and opened it for them. Together they walked up the hill to the tombstones. Silently they stood in front of the tombstone baring their parents’ names.

Nico Vega Apple & Applejack Abigail Apple

One by one, each patroller walked past the stone paying their respects to their father, sharing stories they never heard before. Many spoke of Nico’s heroism, some of his foolhardiness, other of how he saved their lives. Each tale was recited with joy and admiration for their father.

“I’m glad you found happiness old friend,” Was Princess Celestia’s final words to their father. She held Princess Luna close as the Princess of the Night laid a pair of white and black roses at the base of the tombstone.

Principle Celestia and Luna approached next, “You certainly had a lot of secrets, but you made Applejane happy. Thank you and don’t worry, we’ll look after your kids. They seem to have knack for trouble, just like you.” Luna tearfully said as Celestia rubbed her back.

The final one to approach was Sixes; he said nothing as he knelt down before the stone with his hands a glow. At first Mac was worried, especially when Sixes began to carve into the stone, but he held himself back. Knowing no one here would ever do anything to degrade his father’s resting place.

When Sixes finished his work he moved out of the way to reveal the engraving of a unicorn skull with wings behind it, the symbol of the night patrol, the same symbol they all wore on their uniforms.

Sixes raises his voice for the entire crowd to hear, “Let us give our final farewell to our lost brother, if you would all join me in song.”

“Song?” Mac whispered.

Fierce Fury leaned over and answered, “Traditionally when a patroller is put to rest we all sing a song of tribute.”

Mac nodded in understanding as Sixes cleared his throat and sang…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Dg-g7t2l4

The song started out soft and then grew, the sound of instruments rose from the crowd, but Mac couldn’t see the players. The melody picked up and the air tingled with power. The sky gave way to the night and the stars shined brighter than he ever seen before. Streaks of lights exploded in the night sky like fireworks, forming shapes that took the form of Nico Vega both human and pony. The imaged changed frequently depicting him doing daring feats to fathering. It didn’t take long for Mac to realize that these were physical manifestation of memories of his father. He felt a tear roll down his face as the final image faded from the sky, it was of their entire family together.

He felt someone squeeze his hand. He looked to his right and saw Adagio with Aria and Sonata, to his left was Applejack, Applebloom and Sunset Shimmer; his family.

After the song ended, the people gathered filed away back to their home in Equestria. Lucky it was late at night and no one was at the school, letting the small army disappear into the night like they were never there. Mac and his family stood in front of the statue, saying good bye and thank you to all those that come to pay respects to Nico.

The final ones to leave were Princess Luna and the ones that come with her. Topaz gave a simple wave and nod before departing. Kira gave each of them a hug and offered to take them to Nippon if they ever decided to visit Equestria. Fierce Fury shook Mac’s hand and nodded in approval. Princess Luna and Sixes were the last to leave.

“If you ever are in need of our help Mac, please do not hesitate to help. We will do our best to close the portals on our side of the mirror to help stem the flow of monsters to your world.” Princess Luna said handing Mac a folded coat. “I asked this world’s Rarity to make this for you; it’s your own official Night Patrol jacket, made from the same material as your old one and enchanted self-mending spells and the works.”

Mac accepted the gift, bowing low to the princess, “Thank you, Princess.”

“Think nothing of it, night patrollers take care of their own.” She gave them all one last good bye, leaving Sixes standing alone outside the portal.

“If you ever want to become a full-fledged patroller or even a night hunter just come over and ask. I’d be happy to train you personally.” Sixes placed a hand on Mac’s shoulder, giving the young man a heartfelt smile. “Nico would be proud of you. You’re a good stallion, I mean man. You’re a good man Mac, never forget that.”

With those final words Sixes slipped back through the portal.

“Come on,” Said Mac as he rubbed the material of his new jacket. “Let’s go home.”

Later that night Mac lay in his parent’s bed. The silence of the night whispering a soft lullaby as the gentle snores of the house’s inhabitants filled the air. Mac couldn’t help but smile as he imaged Applejack and Applebloom fighting in their sleep over the blanket or Sunset probably being cuddled to death by Sonata. Aria and Adagio shared his old room as he decided it was time to grow up and take his parent’s old room, also he would like one night’s sleep without being a part of a human dog pile.

The sound of the floor creaking caught his attention. Mac probably figured someone was up getting a glass of water, but then he heard the front door open. Curious he got out of bed and quietly crept for the door. Has the handle turned he heard something hit the floor with a dull thud, something made of metal. He turned and spotted the object basking in the moonlight, his mother’s old wedding ring.

“Where did you come from?” He wondered aloud picking the ring up and placing it in his pocket. He didn’t want to try and find a place to keep it safe in the dark, afraid he might lose it, and he didn’t want to turn on the lights.

Stepping out on to the porch he spotted Adagio’s big puffy hair against the moon light with the owner staring up at the stars.

“This spot taken?” He joked plopping down next to her. “Having a tough time falling asleep?”

Adagio nodded, “Yeah, something like that.” She held her hand over her stomach.

“You’re not…”

“No, I’m not pregnant.” She answered quickly. “I had Aria look to see if there was any traces of magic… down there. Since magic is basically life energy in this world. She saw nothing and Aria’s eyes are pretty good, she is a sniper after all.”

Mac chuckled, “That she is. Still you seem… how I should say… disappointed?”

Now it was her turn to chuckled, “And you don’t? You can’t tell me you weren’t just a little excited about being a father Mac.”

“Well, it’s something I want eventually, but I think it’s a little early for that. I mean I haven’t even proposed yet.”

“And are you?”

“Am I what?”

“Going to propose? To me that is?” Adagio asked curiously, spotting the ring shape in Mac’s pocket. “Let’s stop dodging the issue Mac. We have a mutual attraction. We’ve done the dirty deed, under mind control, but we still did it. We are basically living together already. Why not just come out with it and make it official?”

Mac blinked, a little off balance with Adagio’s bluntness and seriousness. Usually she was a lot more sultry and flirty when it came to this kind of thing. He fiddled around in his pocket for the ring, the silver shined in the moonlight as he fell to one knee.

“Adagio do you want to get married?”

“Well that’s… the dullest delivery I ever heard for someone offering a marriage proposal,” She snorted accepting the ring, “But it’s nothing less than I would expect from you Macintosh Apple.” She kissed him full on the lips. The two of them getting lost in the moment till the sound of a window opening caught their attention.

“Yay! I’m getting another sister!” Applebloom proclaimed loudly, waking up ever one else in the house.

“Adagio!”

“We could elope right now. Just get on the bike and run, we got time.” Adagio said chucking nervously as Aria and Sonata stormed down stairs. “What do you think?”

Mac shook his head, smiling so wide his lip might split. “Somehow I doubt we could out run them.”

“Your probably right, honey.” She said with a sultry tone that left Sonata and Aria fuming on the porch.

“What happened to our truces?” Aria demanded.

“Yeah,” Sonata yelled backing up her fellow siren in arms, “I thought we agreed to a three way or nothing!”

“That never happened,” Adagio faced palmed, “Besides, first come first serve and all that. I’m sure there are a few other Apples for you to pick from. It’s not like you two haven’t been looking right? I’m sure you two can fight over Big Tex.”

As the three sirens fell deeper and deeper into their argument, Mac could only shake his head and laugh. His life was so strange. First he became a monster hunter, now he was marrying a siren and he was still only eighteen. It was crazy and he loved it.

This was his life and his story and someday he hoped to share it with his kids and their kids for generations to come. Today he had to break up a fight between his bride to be and his new sister in laws.

That was just what needed be done.