“Come on, Aria. We don't want to miss the flight.” Crimson Napalm shouted excitedly to his girlfriend Aria Blaze as the two carried their loaded suitcases through the crowded airport.
“No duh,” she replied as she pulled her wheeled bag. “How often do I get to go on a trip on someone else' dime?” The two arrived to the terminal where their traveling companions, Napalm's ex, Taffy Shade and her fiance, Marco Dafoy. Taffy spotted them and immediately waved them over.
“You guys made it!” She excitedly hugged both of them. “Good to see you two again. It feels like it's been forever.”
“Taff, you dropped by just last week.” Crimson noted as Aria frowned in annoyance.
“And I'm still not really a hugger.” Taffy released the two and they got their belongings together. “Still, thanks for setting us up with these tickets. You sure your parents are cool with you going on a trip with your ex?”
Taffy looked to her with a smirk. “Of course not. That's what lying is for. Told them I got the deluxe vacation package to justify the extra expense.”
“Being that they hate my guts, good choice.” Napalm said as they walked onto the boarding ramp.
“They don't hate you. They are just... so completely opposed to the fact that you and I made a baby that they have barred you from seeing her or I ever again and if they knew about this weekend excursion or any of the times prier that I broke those rules, they would more than likely throttle you.”
Crimson shuttered at the thought of that actually happening only for Marco to pat him on the back. “Then it's a good thing they are out of town as well and none the wiser.” After storing their carry on bags, the four took their seats.
Taffy was a bit fidgety as she looked down at her phone. “I wonder if I missed any calls. Maybe there's a bad signal. What if there's an emergency right now and Therma needs me and I'm not getting it because of a bad connection?”
Marco placed a hand on hers. “Relax. I'm sure Therma is fine.”
“Yeah,” Napalm added. “Pinkie may be hyper x infinity, but she's great with kids.”
“Better than leaving her with Sonata.” Aria commented as she flashed back to a few days before.
Three Days Ago
Sonata held Therma up in the air as she sat on the couch. The infant chuckled as she got a birds eye view of the living room. “You are sooooo cute. I could just eat you up. I'm not even joking. If we were still in Equestria you'd be a snack for me.” She laughed as she kissed her on the cheek repeatedly. Sonata stopped for a moment and licked her lips. “Mmm.”
“Sonata, stop tasting that baby!” Adagio yelled from the other room.
“I'm not tasting, I'm kissing.” As she objected to the accusation, she was already pulling out a salt shaker. No sooner had she done that than her eldest sister was already looming over her.
“Hand over the salt.” Sonata gave up the shaker. “And the oregano. The saffron too.” One by one she lifted a myriad of spices from the youngest siren. “And the cayenne pepper.”
“Aww, but that adds a real kick to it.”
Adagio gave a raised eyebrow before taking Therma from her. “You know what? I'll just take this, too.”
“Why?” Sonata whined.
“So there will still be a baby when they get back.”
Present
“When we finally have a baby, don't leave it with Sonata.” Napalm requested as he spilled his complimentary peanuts after struggling with the bag.
“When?” Aria responded in bewilderment. “I remember talking about it. Didn't think we actually agreed on it or anything. Matter of fact I recall saying no a bunch of times.” Aria put on her headphones and closed her eyes to relax while they waited for takeoff.
Taffy and Marco leaned forward to see if Napalm was doing alright. He smiled lightly. “We're...going through some stuff.” The flight down to Las Pegasus was fairly uneventful and the group were soon off and retrieved their luggage before Marco flagged a taxi down.
“The Gladmane Hotel.” He said as the others piled in. As they rode, Aria had seated herself on the passenger's side so she could stare out the window, her headphones pumping out her hard rock that was apparent to her companions. Meanwhile, Marco had positioned himself to converse with the driver about some of the local venues and sites. Taffy took this opportunity to have a more private conversation with her ex-boyfriend.
“So, things not going well with Ms. Blaze?”
“What gave it away?” He turned to her to see that she was still staring out the window. “I mean I know it's a little early to be talking about kids but I thought she at least wanted to entertain the notion. I mean she's so great with Therma and she finally got Sonata to stop sticking forks into the outlets.”
Taffy chuckled a bit. “A baby is a huge commitment. We're living proof of that. Just give her some time. She'll come around eventually. Speaking of which, have you talked to her about...you know what?”
Napalm looked around to make sure Aria was distracted with her music before responding. “I'll talk to her in a bit once we get settled in. Hopefully she won't go overboard once I tell her.”
“Just give me a call if you run into any problems. I've got your back.” She playfully punched him in the arm as they waited and soon Marco returned with the keys to their rooms.
“Alright, folks. We are all set. They'll bring up our bags and we can get settled in. What do you guys want to do first? Thought we might take in the sites.”
Aria, having removed her headphones, spoke up. “Don't know about you guys but this place has an Olympic size pool. So guess where I'll be?” She received the key to her and Napalm's room and headed to the elevator with her bag.
“Can't keep a siren away from water I suppose.” Taffy mused as Crimson nodded.
“You two go, have a good time. Think I'll have that little chat with Aria.”
“Good luck.” Taffy and Marco headed out, leaving the other two to their own devices. Soon afterwards Crimson was seated poolside as Aria enjoyed herself, doing laps in the large in-door hotel pool.
Crimson had his bag at his side as he watched Aria, in her purple bikini top and bottom, true to her last name, blaze through the water with the speed of a shark. She easily outpaced anyone who even dared to keep up with her. “Hey Ari, got a minute?” The girl paused and popped her head up out of the water as she swam over to him and climbed out of the pool. “So...I wanted to talk to you about something.” Aria responded with an eyebrow raised in suspicion. “Not the baby thing again, I promise. It is important though.”
“Shoot.” She grabbed a towel and dried herself off and sat in the chair right next to him as she watched him fidget about with the notebook he had in his hand.
“Well, I think that if we are going to make this relation work and really stick that we need to be completely honest with each other. I already feel really guilty about not telling you about Taffy and Therma right away.”
“Yeah, you'd think that your girlfriend would have wanted to know about your ex and the baby you two made. Then again, had I known about that at the beginning, there wouldn't be an us.”
Napalm cleared his throat and turned his attention to the notebook. “Yeah, well I just thought that you should know that after me and Taffy went our separate ways...there were a couple of other women in my life before you and I got together. And not just dated. We kind of...” He ends by interlocking his fingers in a gesture that Aria fully understands.
Aria responded with a shrug of her shoulders. “Makes sense. No one would blame you for looking for a special someone.”
“I appreciate that but I just thought you should know who they were since you may know them and see them a lot.”
“Who, exactly are we talking about?” She asked with a puzzled look as her boyfriend opened the notebook.
“Well, for starters, there's Baton Switch from the band. She and I were a thing before I met Taffy. Just thought I should get that one out of the way first.”
“Okay. Not much of a stretch. I detected a little tension between you two before. No biggie.”
“That's a relief.” Napalm gave a soft sigh as he went back to the list. “Um, Cherry.”
“Cherry? Cherry Crash? Your band leader?”
He chuckled a nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I was a little down after me and Taff split up and she took me out a few times to lift my spirits. You can ask her about it. She just laughs us off. I think we both knew what it was: nothing.”
“Well this has already gotten a bit weird for me.”
“It uh...it may get weirder.” Scrolling down the list to the next name, Crimson looked up with a bit of uncertainty. “Rarity.”
“What?” Aria had to do a double take when she heard that.
“We kind of had this Lady and the Tramp thing going for about a month before that fell through. Guess she was testing the waters. We really don't talk about that...like ever. Then she introduced me to Pinkie Pie and...”
“I'm going to go ahead and stop you right there. Are you telling me that you dated and slept with those two? Pinkie and Rarity? My friends, who I see on a regular basis in school and out?”
He simply gave a very nervous nod in confirmation and awaited her response. To her credit, Aria simply closed her eyes, took in a deep breath and exhaled before looking at him again. “I...understand that you are a male with male needs and despite how awkward it will be to be around them for...I don't know how long, I can accept that.”
“That's good to know, because I've got a few more.” He again guided his finger down to the next name on the list. “Let's see. Lyra and Sweetie...at the same time. Glad they never put those dots together.” Outside of the raised eyebrow she was giving him, it didn't seem to illicit a further response from Aria and so he kept going. “Principal Celestia.”
The girl responded with a twitching eye. “You have got to be kidding me. You are kidding me, right?”
“Hehe,” he chuckled as he looked away partially. “Detention is a strange place to meet someone, isn't it? Would explain why I didn't flunk my math class.”
Aria half wanted to get up and go and half punch Napalm in disgust. Her fist clenched tightly, she paused and internally counted down from ten before speaking again, her teeth clenched. “Anything...else?”
Napalm began to sweat as he cleared his throat and spoke the next name on the list. “Well there are a couple of others on here but I think this one is the one you should see. I-I uh think you should just read this last one. I really don't feel comfortable saying it out loud.” He turned the notebook to her and she glanced down at the name he held his finger on. Aria's eyes opened wide in shock as she looked up to him. “I met her at a store after the games and well...”
Her eyes returned to normal and she promptly got up, placed her towel back on her chair and walked toward the pool. “Ari, are you...okay?” She didn't respond as she got into the shallow end and made her way to the deep end before sinking to the bottom and assuming the fetal position. Napalm and the other guests watched as she sat down there, no bubbles even coming to the surface. “Oh Jeez!” He instinctively dove.
Later
“So...how did it go?” Taffy asked as she basked in the sun by the pool. Next to her Napalm, wearing a pair of sunglasses, sat as he scrolled through some texts on his phone he'd missed.
“Well after I fished her out of the pool and told her that it was all just a test, she wasn't happy but she was definitely relieved. All things considered she took it better than expected. She'll definitely appreciate you a lot more after listening to a list like that.”
“And I take it you'll be appreciating what you have in her. Not that you'll be forgetting it anytime soon with that little souvenir she left you.” She smirked at him as he remove his glasses to reveal a blackened right eye. “I have to admit, she's doing a lot better with her temper and the jealousy thing. Though I still can't believe she thought any of those were real.”
Napalm looked down and paused for a moment before responding. “Well...some of them were true.”
Taffy sat up and took notice of that comment. She looked into his one good eye to see if he was telling the truth. “Can I-Can I know which ones?”
The boy hesitated for a moment before he took out the notebook again and scrolled a pen across the page. “I uh... circled them all.” She took the book and scanned the list of names before calmly standing up, placing the book on the chair and walked toward the pool. “Taff? Not again!” Soon after, he found himself leaping into the water a second time.