The Future Will Change

Chapters

Chapter I Episode I: Prologue
Episode II: Long Time No See
Episode IV: A Quick Break
Episode V: Hostile Mutant
Episode VI: A Quick Bout
Episode VII: Campus Work
Episode VIII: Concerned Query
Episode IX: All About Family
Episode X: Sew It Seams
Episode XI: Suspicion
Episode XII: Hunting The Bat
Episode XIII: The Cat Strikes Back
Episode XIV: Tactical Meetup
Episode XV: Hostage Situation
Episode XVI: Curiosity Kills
Episode XVII: Nine Lives
Episode XVIII: Putting Her Down
Episode XXIV: Loss
Episode II: Mere Jobbers
Episode III: Bowled Over
Episode IV: A Night In
Episode V: Flicks & Thrills
Episode VI: Anima Style
Episode VII: Wabbit Season
Episode VIII: Signal Tracking
Episode IX: Predators
Episode X: Sick Beasts
Episode XI: Ox Apples
Episode XII: Ravenclaw
Episode XIII: Man Curse
Episode XIV: Upperclass Party
Episode XV: The Sus Curse
Episode XVI: Beastman Rage
Episode XVII: Great Escape
Episode XIX: Getting Heated
Episode XX: Role Model
Episode XXI: Sweet As
Episode XXII: Buzz Off
Episode XXIII: Game On
Episode XXIV: Unbearable
Episode XXV: Discordia
Episode XXVI: Putting It Together
Episode XXVII: Death Throes
Episode XXVIII: Agent Of Chaos
Episode XXIX: Monster Surprised You
Episode XXX: Put To Rest
Episode III: Enter The Fraternity
Chapter II: Episode I: Time For A Break
Episode XVIII: Corruption

Chapter I Episode I: Prologue

Three years had passed since Keiji and Aidon had come to know and appreciate their new friends. The Sirens had found their place here and were able to graduate from Canterlot High alongside Sunset Shimmer and her friends after their final year of high school together. Here is a brief overview as to what they got up to since they left high school:

Sci-Twi, or this world’s Twilight Sparkle had graduated and was currently attending a rather prestigious college program in order to work to become a physicist.

Rarity went off to attend a fashion art university and worked towards opening several stores under her own name.

Fluttershy had decided to remain home and take online college courses while working at the vet to earn an animal science degree.

Pinkie Pie went off to culinary school where she’d earn enough credits to eventually open her own restaurant and bakery in the city.

Rainbow Dash had decided not to bother with college and instead focused on training her body as an extreme sports entertainer with a heavy social media following with everything from biking to snowboarding sponsorships.

Applejack had also chosen not to bother with college since Big Mac had gone off to live with Sugar Belle after the two got married, she chose to stay and focus on the Apple Family Farm.

Sunset Shimmer had ultimately decided to pursue a career in one of her favorite pastimes; art. Specifically comic book art, so she went off to art school to hone her techniques as she looked for a publisher to get her work out there.

Adagio Dazzle (and her sisters for that matter) simply couldn’t afford college. So instead, they focused on furthering their dreams in smaller ways. The orange-haired siren had taken a job as a singer at a jazz club in Canterlot City where she’d make most of her money in an honest-to-good way.

Aria Blaze had decided to join a fight club circuit where she could put her skills and let out her temper in a productive way via regulated martial arts tournaments held by the local gym.

Sonata Dusk had opted to be the say-at-home sister for her two sisters. Whenever they were finished with work, she’d have dinner prepared for them for when they got back and kept the house in order as she took online college courses for writing in her spare time.

Others such as the Crusaders, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, and everyone else in their age group would be entering their first year of college at the ripe and ready age of 20 years old while also looking to figure out what they wanted to do with the rest of their lives in the process.

But along the way…that didn’t stop this world from suffering.

More monsters and criminals with magical powers started to arise and appear due to the overwhelming presence of Equestrian magic and the effects its corruption had on the population. In the last year alone, there were at least 1000 reported incidents of monsters, magical beings, or humans abusing magic for criminal activity. Property damage racked upwards of millions of dollars, and there were at least 500 deaths and 10000 injuries as a result of these incidents across the Nation of Mapleland where Canterlot City was located. It got so bad, that the crime rate had surpassed the massive United States of Vinland that existed just South of Mapleland.

The Equestria Girls and their friends did their best to quell these incidents, but they couldn’t be everywhere at once. Wherever there was magic ready to be exploited, crime was present. The media had pressured the Maplelandian government, pressing them further and further on what to do, and the Royal Family in charge simply couldn’t withstand the pressure from the public. With so many lives lost and negative media attention from other nations, Mapleland had lost a lot of its monetary gain from its tourism and sports industry sectors. Even the Equestria Girls weren’t capable of handling all the threats to the nation, so the government’s hands were tied. The needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few.

The Prime Minister of Mapleland issued a press conference and a statement that declared all magic use illegal and punishable by law. Anyone that used magic in the nation from as far as Canterlot City, to Horseshoe Falls, to the capital city of Vanhoover would automatically be tried and punished to the fullest extent of the law. While no one blamed Sunset Shimmer specifically, there was a sudden shift in how she and her friends were treated if they were caught using their magic in public. Rumors and murmurs started to arise of them being criminals as well.

The general public turned their back on magic users. While those living in Canterlot City knew that Sunset and her friends were innocent, the general population of other cities weren’t so quick to treat her and her friends fairly, declaring them and other magical beings ‘mutants’ or ‘demons’ without trying to understand them.

Because of that, Sunset and her friends made a pact to lay low and keep themselves out of trouble. They made sure to use their magic as little as possible if they could avoid it and tried their best to stay out of the public eye and live out normal lives as young women moving through society. So long as they didn’t use their magic, no one would bat too much of an eye at them. But that also meant they couldn’t jump in and save the day like they used to due to fear of public outrage. At the same time though, it was a good opportunity for them to focus on their own lives for a change, and everything worked out…for the moment.

But how much longer would things stay like this? Would Sunset and her friends simply head into adulthood and never answer the call to action again? What about Aidon and Keiji? How would they get along with all of this happening?

There was only one way to find out…

Episode II: Long Time No See

At a jazz club in Canterlot City, Adagio Dazzle had just finished a performance on stage while wearing a rather form-fitting black dress. The wooden floors combined with the sparsely populated tables and bar as the band accompanied the siren would give the place a rather modest, almost cozy feel. The small crowd cheered for her as soon as she was finished, and someone in particular from the audience would come up to greet her once she was done.

“I see your voice hasn’t gotten worse over time,” Sunset Shimmer teased the siren while leaning with her back against the wall next to the stage.

“Uch. Wouldn’t you know,” Adagio rolled her eyes, then greeted her properly. “But I’ll admit, it’s not that bad to see you again, Shimmer. How have you been?”

“Well, things could be a whole lot worse,” Sunset replied with a shrug. “I’ve been working on getting my comics published. Things have been a bit…tense outside the city lately.”

Adagio groaned and walked with Sunset to her break room. “Ugh…don’t even get me started. I get that there are dangerous magical creatures out there, but does that really mean we should all be labeled as dangerous?”

“Aaaaand now you see how it felt for me when I first got here way back then,” Sunset joked at herself with a forced smile, then a sigh. “But I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later with all of the incidents we got involved in that were made public and whatnot.”

“...yes, I think I understand now,” the siren replied with a regrettable tone as she flopped down on the break room’s couch. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, Shimmer.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Sunset replied. “Part of me just wants to move on up in life like a normal woman, ya know?”

“...you don’t want to go back to your home in Equestria?”

There were a few reasons Sunset wasn’t worried about this. “Nah. For one thing, I know Princess Twilight has everything under control over there and I can always visit. But here…I feel like I’m at home here even though I wasn’t born here. Like I’ve found my place in life. There are things here that we just don’t have in Equestria like cars,” she glanced at her hand and wiggled her fingers, “hands, and sports like basketball.”

Adagio could see her perspective and gave a nod. “Yes, that’s true. The modern architecture is also a nice change of pace.”

“Plus there’s also the fact that comic books are way more popular here than in Equestria,” Sunset went on, “It’s kinda my passion but it never really caught on back home. Here though? I’m already in the process of getting my story published!” she squealed with excitement at the prospect.

“Oh?” the orange siren tilted her head as she sipped from a bottle of water, “What’s this ‘comic book’ you’re writing about? What’s the story?”

“It’s about a demon who suddenly finds herself in space in the midst of war of guns and marines,” Sunset explained with excitement on her face as she pantomimed the act of firing a weapon, “It’s full of crazy shenanigans that’ll appeal to guys and girls too.”

Her enthusiasm killed Adagio’s mood for a moment; the siren gave a half-hearted smile, “...I’m happy for you, Shimmer.”

Sunset noticed this, and asked, “...is everything alright?”

“Meh…I suppose I’m still jealous of you even after all these years,” Adagio replied while chuckling at herself, “Yet again, you’ve proven that you’re better than me by braving the school system of this world and making a name for yourself.” She sighed, and looked longingly down the hallway towards the front house of the jazz club. “...meanwhile, this is all I can really do to support myself and my sisters. But we’re getting by…”

“...” Sunset bit her lip and rubbed the back of her neck with her hand. “...sorry, Dagi. I didn’t realize you and your sisters weren’t doing so hot.”

Adagio gasped and shook her head. “O-oh! No…sorry. If anything, I should apologize for bringing the mood down. I don’t mean to devalue your accomplishments, Shimmer. I hope your career brings you the success you want out of this world. Even if who we are as magical beings has been…”

“Made into social pariahs by the public?” Sunset rattled off, “Admittedly, I can’t exactly blame them. A lot’s happened in the last few years. Loads of magical beasts and corrupt people trying to use it for personal gain have done everything from petty theft to commit gang violence. I…can’t exactly blame the government for being scared.”

“Hmph,” Adagio grumbled as she placed the empty bottle down and folded her arms. “Even so, I don’t intend on rejecting who I am just to satisfy some corporate suits who sit on piles of infinite wealth while the innocent people on the ground have to suffer. Makes me sick just thinking about it, Shimmer…”

And admittedly, Sunset couldn’t blame her for that line of thinking either. The government at large had chosen to actively vilify all forms of magic and respond with lethal force. At the end of it all though, it wasn’t magic that determined good or evil, it was its user…

Something Sunset was fully aware of, given her past. “...you have a point,” she replied.

Adagio shook her head and decided to change the topic. “Sorry…let’s talk about something a bit less heavy. How has Keiji been?”

“Oh, from what I heard he’s been doing alright. Apparently he’s looking to become a toy maker so he’s pursuing graphic design. I think he wants to share his passion of those little crochet dolls with everyone else.”

“How sweet…” Adagio muttered with a smile on her face, then thought of someone else. “...what about Professor Aidon? Is he still teaching at Canterlot High or did he transfer somewhere else?”

“...I’m not sure, honestly,” Sunset admitted, “...I’ve never really kept up with my teachers outside of Princess Celestia and Twilight. I wonder how he’s doing…”

“I wonder if he and Luna have done it yet--”

Sunset interrupted her with a blush on her face, “That’s private!”

Adagio simply giggled and shot Sunset a knowing grin, “Come on. They’re both adults who love each other. It’s only a matter of time.”

“...Yeah I’d rather not discuss one of my teacher’s sex lives though,” she faux-gagged, and stuck out her tongue before changing the subject. "Moving things along, have you heard how Keiji's pursuing his career? He didn't give me too many details other than graphic design."

"Well from what I last heard," Adagio confirmed, "He's actually been accepted into Vanhoover University in the capital city. Alongside Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon no less."

Sunset's eyes shot open at such news. The vampire-pony-turned-human boy with a rather rebellious nature had not only gone off to college, but the most prestigious one in the nation? All Sunset could manage to say was, "Wait…what???"

Episode IV: A Quick Break

After their first set of classes for the day, both Keiji and Rumble met up at a cafe near the university where students were allowed to get lunch from. The big city environment of Vanhoover was much different from Canterlot City due to the extreme population difference. For reference, the recorded population of Canterlot City was about 500,000 compared to Vanhoover’s massive 2 million.

There was also a general lack of natural spaces with a heavy emphasis on urbamized buildings almost everywhere one looked. The closest equivalent would be something akin to Manehattan with the sheer density of high rises and skyscrapers that littered the main areas with the suburbs only taking up a small portion of it.

The boys met up at a cafe that required them to walk up a flight of stairs that rested above a small stationary store.

“Damn, this place is much different than the sticks,” Keiji commented as he and Rumble took a seat at one of the tables. It was a rather retro-meets-modern style cafe with tile floors, a jukebox in the corner, and various Vanhoover-related memorabilia such as flags and jerseys on the walls.

“You can say that again,” Rumble replied. “Everything is so cramped up in this big city that I find it hard to breathe sometimes. But at least we have different stores to shop at for a change, right?”

“...yeah, I don’t know a thing about shopping,” Keiji admitted. Even now, the vampboy had still been used to ordering everything online.

Something Rumble lamented. “...my dude, we need to show you how to hit up a store.”

Keiji’s mind was already elsewhere though. “...right. So uh, what do you think about that Vertex guy?”

“I dunno,” Rumble replied as he thought back to their leader of House Iota. “He didn’t seem like a bad guy. Maybe we just caught him at a bad time?”

“I’m just confused as to why a girl would be at the frat house if they aren’t allowed there,” Keiji continued.”

“Maybe she got lost?”

“That’s likely, Rumble. Maybe. He probably wanted to scare her off or something.”

Rumble sighed as he looked out of the window to the city, “Still kinda crappy how he treated her though.”

“I can’t blame him though. Loads of incidents have happened over the last year where magical beings have done some awful shit,” Keiji explained as he recounted events that had occurred while glancing at his phone, “Let’s see…yeah, there was an incident where some guy got magnetic powers and used them to fling people’s cars everywhere. Around 30 people were killed…”

Rumble’s eyes shot open and he bit his lip. “...yikes. I didn’t realize. But that’s just one, right?”

“...nah, bud. There’s been far more incidents other than that. There was this one chick who managed to harness the power of plants and suffocated a bunch of people under them,” Keiji continued as he looked through the public crime database, “Some dude who had werewolf powers and went on a killing spree, and some other chick who stole guys’ souls through…her body, let’s say and robbed them blind.” Then he showed his phone’s screen to Rumble which displayed the numbers. “From those incidents alone, around 500 people died--including children--and millions of dollars in property damage was inflicted around the surrounding cities. It’s gotten to the point where they each have designations.”

“...Designations?”

Keiji nodded, “Threat Levels. Class D threats are the lowest and Class S threats are the highest. The magnetism guy and plant chick were both Class A for instance.”

Rumble absorbed himself in all the information that Keiji had just told him. Magical beings were now being given threat levels to specify just how deadly they were when the police had to approach them. This in turn, made it so that other ‘mutant’ folk like Keiji--who was once a vampire batpony--had to live in secret.

“...I get it now,” he replied, “Shit like this makes it harder for everyone that isn’t a normal human. But I can’t blame them for getting scared. It’s in our nature to fear things that encroach upon, and threaten us.”

“It is what it is,” Keiji sighed as he put his phone away and sat back against the seat of his booth, “Thankfully, I don’t have any particular mutations that make me stand out. But going back to Vertex, I’m just hoping we can show him that we’re not out to hurt him.”

Rumble blinked, then remembered that he had inherited a small amount of power from Equestrian magic. Sci-Twi had dubbed it-- “Aether. That’s right. I guess that’d make you a pureblood Etherian while I just kinda got some of it.”

“...yeah we are not calling it that,” Keiji muttered in an annoyed tone, “Just stick to something simple like ‘mutant’, yeah?”

“Fair enough. So do you think we can show Vertex that we’re not evil mutants?”

“Yeah I think so,” Keiji replied, then chuckled as he reflected on his past self, “Heh. The younger me probably would’ve just challenged him and escalated the situation before getting us all in trouble.”

“And I probably would’ve joined in because I was irresponsible like that,” Rumble agreed, “But for Scootaloo’s sake, I don’t think I’ve got it in me to do that anymore.”

“Glad to hear you both are doing alright,” Keiji replied with a smile as a waitress walked up to them. The first thing she noticed was Keiji’s letterman jacket.

“Hello, boys--oh, I see that you’re students, hm?” the older woman in uniform asked, “Please be sure to head straight back to your dorms right after, okay? We’ve been getting reports of college students getting attacked by mutated individuals lately.”

Rumble had looked down at the menu, but his head shot up when she mentioned attacks. “W-wait, what?

The waitress would continue with a sigh, “Yes…unfortunately we’ve been hearing it quite often around here in Vanhoover. The police are trying to do what they can to keep everyone safe, but to be extra careful, just make sure you get home before it gets dark. That’s when the mutants are supposedly out and about.”

“...I see…” Keiji replied apprehensively as he tucked his overbite within his lips to keep the waitress from seeing his vampony teeth.

“Anyway, what would you boys like today?”

One meal later, and the two of them were on their way back to their dorms on campus…

But along the wait, that same hooded figure with cat ears started to follow them from the shadows. But she also had a tail too?

"There they are. I got ye knob'eads now."

Episode V: Hostile Mutant

Soon enough, the boys would make their way back to their dorms. That’s when one of the professors made their rounds to ensure everyone was in place for the evening as it got dark outside. The curfew was in effect to make sure everyone was accounted for as they all went back to their rooms for the night.

“Stay inside, now!” One of the professors, an older gentleman wearing a monocle, called out as he passed through the male dorms, “You’ve no telling what creatures of the night are lurking around this time.”

Inside his room, Keiji rolled his eyes. “Ugh. Do they really need to do this?”

Rumble, his roommate, was busy playing a video game on the TV nearby. “I guess it’s how they’ll keep track of everyone just in case something goes wrong. The last thing they want is to piss off the wrong rich kid’s parents and get sued into oblivion.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get that,” Keiji yawned and flopped on his bed. There, he began to tune the radio that sat on the nightstand nearby. Eventually though, he’d unintentionally pick up a frequency from a police officer’s radio…

“...suspect spotted. Class A threat is currently holed up in the jewelry store. Has a young woman hostage.”

Keiji’s eyes shot wide open. On instinct, he immediately opened the window to the dorm and looked outside where the school’s courtyard could be seen. “Yeah I can make that jump.”

“Aw shit, you’re doing this, huh?” Rumble paused his game and left music playing via a speaker. “Welp, if we’re back before the sun rises, we should be fine I think. You think it might be…?”

“Not sure,” Keiji replied as he climbed out of the window, “But I’m not taking any chances. I’ll be damned if I sit on my ass while that happens. You with me, or what?”

Rumble stretched both of his legs behind his head like a track athlete who was preparing to run. “Like I said, I’m with you on this. Besides, it’ll give me a chance to stretch my legs since it’s not that far.”

“Alright, let’s go.”

The two boys jumped out of the window. Keiji flew off on his vampire wings into the night while Rumble bounced off the nearest tree branch, landed, then ran after him down the sidewalk. Thankfully, they narrowly avoided the cameras as they left, however, a certain someone was still following them…

“...wonder what you lot are doing out this late when ye aren’t supposed to be?”

About two blocks away, near the inner city…

It didn’t take long for the boys to find the scene of the crime. A jewelry store where several cop cars were located on the scene. Several officers had their guns drawn and pointed at the front of the store where the display windows had been shattered, leaving broken glass all over the place as they focused hard on a creature that stood in the middle of the store.

“Hands in the air! This is your final warning!” a female officer shouted.

Inside the store, a young woman with tan skin who wore a set of black, medieval armor had taken a young woman hostage. But there was something about her that gave off the aura that she wasn’t a mere cosplayer…

“Fools! I have to get back to Equestria…I’ll show them for daring to cast me out!” she screamed as she cast a ball of white energy so powerful that it blew up the entire perimeter of cop cars and sent the officers flying! “You’re useless to me…” she muttered before tossing the girl out to them who cried out in pain.

“AGH!”

Rumble raced over and caught the young woman before she could hit the wall outside. “I gotcha!”

“...who…who are?”

“Well here we go,” Keiji yawned as he walked onto the scene with his hands in his pockets, “As soon as I heard something about Equestria, I knew this would go bad.” Upon getting a look at the woman, he could tell by her armor that she was likely a Royal Guardspony. Or a former one in this case. “Damn…she won’t be easy to deal with.”

“...it’s not Silver Spoon, bud,” Rumble spoke up in reference to the girl who he had saved, “What’s the plan?”

While that put him at ease, Keiji was still prepared to fight.

“Get her outta here while I deal with this trash. The cops could use some help.”

They both glanced at the numerous flipped cars and incapacitated officers strewn about the streets from the explosion they had just witnessed.

“You!” the armored woman called out to them as she stepped out of the store, “Aren’t you an Equestrian too? Come on and help me!”

“Damn, she can tell, huh?” Keiji scratched behind his ear, “...listen, lady. Equestrian or not, your ass is still a criminal. Not gonna let that slide.” And with that, he summoned his katana by reaching into a reddish-black void. A sword with a blade made of a pulsating red metal with a leather hilt encrusted with gold.

The armored lady stuttered, “What--what are you--don’t you know who I am--?!”

WOOSH!

With a flash, he had dashed towards her and slashed at her armor with his katana, but she had blocked it with a shield made of light. “Nah. And I don’t really care either,” Keiji replied bluntly as he flipped off of her and landed just a few feet away. “All I can see here is that you’re hurting people and causing shit. Not to mention fucking with my sleep schedule…”

“Fine then…I’ll just put you down as well, traitor!”

Episode VI: A Quick Bout

The armored woman rushed at Keiji with gauntlets made of light and started throwing punches at him which he blocked with his katana. Her attacks were rather hefty, and staggered him ever so slightly from the sheer force with each fist colliding with his blade.

Keiji retaliated by plunging his katana into the ground beneath himself, causing a wave of blood-colored crystals to rise up and form a quick wall of protection. The next time the knight woman threw a punch, she’d find her fist stuck in the wall of crystalized blood.

“...!”

Keiji broke through the wall of blood and performed two quick slashes with his sword. A downward slash that cut through the outer layer of her armor and stunned her momentarily, then an upwards slash that sent her into the air. Just before she landed, he leapt and dropkicked her into the nearest overturned police car.

“Gah!” she cried out as soon as her back collided with the vehicle.

“Kenotic Purge,” Keiji muttered, and swung his sword forward, sending multiple, blood-red ring-shaped projectiles towards the armored lady.

“!” She rolled out of the way just in time, and the bloody objects would collide with the car and cause it to explode with a--!

BOOOM!

“Dammit!” Keiji huffed as he glanced over and saw the woman trying to run off. “Hey!”

But before she could even round the corner--!

CLANG!

Rumble had kicked her so hard that her entire set of armor trembled, causing her to vibrate in place as he kicked her in the throat, then spun and performed a quick enzuigiri to knock her down onto the pavement.

With a flick of his nose, he scoffed at how easy the battle was overall. “Hmph. Class A threat my ass. If I were a teacher, I’d give you an ‘F’.”

“Hey dawg, where’s the chick that was in the shop?” Keiji ran up to Rumble and questioned him.

Rumble pointed to the paramedics that had recently arrived on the scene who were escorting the young woman onto a stretcher. “There. I think it’s about time we get outta here before the cops realize what’s up.”

“Yeah, good idea,” Keiji agreed as he stuck his sword in the ground and made it disappear into nothingness. "This battle is over."

Neither of them wanted to be on the news for being noticed by the public, so the two of them hurried off and would hustle back to the college campus to get back to their dorms before anymore time would pass.

And by the time the armored woman came to, a pair of anti-magic cuffs had been slapped on her as she was being shoved into a cop car.

“Ugh…” she muttered, completely dazed from the battle and unable to speak.

One of the officers commented, “Wow…I guess someone must’ve taken her out, huh?”

The leader of the group, the female officer who had been shouting earlier responded to her colleague, “...hm. Maybe. I wonder…”

The next morning…

After their first classes for the day, Keiji and Rumble watched a news report headed by Starlight Glimmer on one of the campus’ televisions.

“A Class A mutant has been detained after robbing and destroying the local jewelry store in Vanhoover. One of the Silver Family’s main outlets, this store was on the corner of 12th and Main where a woman clad in armor making use of magical abilities tried to steal various pieces of jewelry for smelting and making weapons. Thankfully, the police were able to apprehend the suspect and the young woman at the scene, 21-year-old Stream Chrome, was sent to the hospital where she’s currently recovering…”

Rumble scoffed, “Tch. Naturally. Kinda wish we could get some of the credit, but alas…”

“Yeah let’s not go that route,” Keiji urged him, “Come on. I’m looking to get some food that’s actually good for once. Where can we get some pizza?”

The boys left the campus. By the time they arrived at a nearby pizzeria, the same exact news report had been playing on a TV there as well.

There, Rumble would immediately be stolen away by a familiar face.

“Hey, you!” Scootaloo stomped up to Rumble and grabbed his arm, “I texted you like 20 times, what happened?!”

“Ohhh…sorry, I’m still not used to having my phone turned on,” he admitted sheepishly, “I have to keep it off during practice, so…”

“Well we’re now on a date together,” Scootaloo huffed and pulled him over to her table, “We’ve got some catching up to do.”

Rumble sighed and looked at Keiji. “...I’ll see you later, yeah?”

“No prob. I’ll just…” Keiji muttered as he grabbed a table in the middle of the room and sat at it. After placing an order with a waiter, a familiar face would eventually walk up to him.

“...Keiji? Thank goodness,” Silver Spoon greeted him as she took a seat across from him at the table, “Your classes are done for the day, huh?” She was now a young woman wearing a gray hoodie and matching sweatpants. When she tilted her hood down, her head of long, flowing silver hair was released once she got comfortable at her seat.

“...Spoon,” her presence immediately put a smile on his face, “Yeah, I’m--yeah. Nice to see ya.”

“You too. You heard about that attack last night, huh?” Spoon brought up the ongoing newscast, “They said a mutant attacked one of our stores, and I’m just coming back from checking in on it.”

Keiji scratched the back of his head. “...yeah, I heard about that.”

Having known him for so long, Silver Spoon could easily spot Keiji’s visual ticks. “...you got involved, huh?”

“Shit am I that easy to read?” he sighed, “Yeah. You know how that goes, Spoon. I’m not just gonna stand by and let someone cause trouble for you guys. Not when you’re trying to focus on your own life, ya know?”

Silver Spoon smiled and replied, “...thanks. That means a lot to me. Though for the record, it’s also why I’ve been working on my own skills, Keiji. I know you can’t be everywhere all at once after all…”

“...oh yeah, that’s right,” Keiji recalled the aether granting Silver Spoon her own powers as well when they were younger, “What weapon did you get?”

“Ninja tools. You know, stuff like kunai and shuriken?” she replied while folding her arms and crossing one leg over the other. “Still kinda confused on why I got that of all things. Does the magical mutation operate on the ‘rule of cool’ or something?”

“...I couldn’t tell you,” Keiji answered nervously, “But hey…you make anything look cool, soooo…”

Spoon giggled. “Now you’re just being a tease, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I mean no--?”

“What?”

Episode VII: Campus Work

Later that evening, as the boys arrived at their fraternity…

Vertex would be holding a meeting with the other boys of House Iota in the common area.

“Alright, guys, listen up. We’re gonna start off our first ritual of the year by welcoming some of our freshmen.” He pointed to Keiji and Rumble. “These guys right here.”

“Sup,” Keiji flashed a peace sign as the rest of the young men glanced in his direction.

“Hey,” Rumble called out, “So uh…we’re not gonna go around and bust any buildings are we?”

“The fu--no?” Vertex raised a brow as if he was offended by such a question. “We’re gonna go clean up the park downtown. It’s fulla trash and shit and no one’s doing anything about it.”

Rumble blinked and asked, “...wait, literal shit or--”

Keiji scratched the back of his head, “Huh. I didn’t expect that. But I guess it makes sense. A city this big is filled with so many busy people that don’t have time to worry about something small like that.”

“Pretty much. Show him, Quency.”

Another guy with long, dirty blonde hair that covered his eyes would open up a map of the city that was rolled out on the wall to their right.

Vertex would continue by tapping a certain green patch of the map with a pointer. “The park is here. We’re gonna clean up as much as we can and raise a stink about it. The whole damn country is putting so much money into its anti-mutant stuff that it’s forgetting about the basic shit we still need done on the ground.”

This surprised Keiji to hear, considering how they first met. “Wait a sec,” he interjected, “I thought you hated mutants. Wouldn’t you support their decisions?”

“Not at the expense of what folks need,” Vertex replied with his arms folded, “And…as far as what I think of mutants, I…listen, just follow the directions I’m giving you yeah. We don’t have time for all that personal shit.”

Vertex would continue to explain their plan as Rumble whispered to Keiji.

“...maybe it’s possible he doesn’t really hate folks like you? Based on that reaction, there might be something else going on.”

“It’s possible, yeah,” Keiji replied with a nod. “I don’t think he hates them all, but it sounds like something happened that made him bitter.”

“Think we’ll figure it out? Should we ask him?”

Keiji shook his head. “Let’s get to know him better first. Then see what we can figure out.”

Once Vertex finished his explanation, everyone got ready to head out as he answered the last few questions they may have had. The fraternity of House Iota all walked down the street together to the park that their leader had described. There, all of the gardening tools and supplies were at the ready for them to make use of in order to clear out the garbage and overgrown weeds that had overtaken the park. Everyone got to work shortly thereafter, including Vertex himself.

Meanwhile, at Vanhoover University’s Sorority zones…

Silver Spoon arrived back at her Sorority House--House Gamma--with a stack of pizza boxes. On the way there, she noticed a cat-eared individual stalking her. Or at least, that’s what she thought she saw as she approached her Sorority’s front door.

“...that’s weird. I thought…no. Must be losing it.”

Eventually, one of her fellow Soro-Sisters opened the door. “Took you long enough, Spoon.”

“Sorry, Filament,” she replied to the young woman that opened the door for her and set the pizzas down in the kitchen, “Long lines really backed me up. The pizza here is supposed to be the best in the continent apparently.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever,” Filament waved her hand with a scoff and walked over, “Anyway, we need to think of a way to stay ahead of the boys.”

Spoon adjusted her glasses and replied, “...excuse me?”

“Stay ahead of the frat boys in Iota, duh,” she went on while nibbling on a slice of pizza. Filament was a young woman with soft-green skin and a head of long, cream-colored hair. She currently wore a pair of form-fitting yoga pants and a black sports bra. “We can’t let them show us up with their community project, ya know? They’re cleaning up the park, remember?”

“Oh right,” Spoon replied and shook her head. Admittedly, she had more or less forgotten about their community project and had her mind elsewhere. “Well, what have you got in mind?”

“I was thinking we could volunteer at the old folks’ home--”

Another young lady called out from nearby, “Ew, gross! I don’t wanna deal with yucky old people!”

“How about we do something that’s actually fun?” another soro-sister called out, “Like volunteering at Equestria World?”

“No, you dope!” Filament brought her palm to her face out of disbelief, “We need to do something that will actually look good to the public and the dean.” She then glanced at Silver Spoon, “You. You and Tiara’s parents are loaded, right? How hard would it be for them to make a donation to a charity?”

Silver Spoon sat down on one of the barstools next to the kitchen’s counter. “They do that all the time anyway. Charity work is how we keep our good PR going. But I don’t wanna just rely on my family’s money for everything. Let’s think outside the box for once.”

Outside…

The cat-eared individual, a young woman, had been listening in on their conversation and purred to herself. “...couldn’t get anything out of that bloke at the fraternity, but these ones will do perfectly.”

Episode VIII: Concerned Query

At the site where the fraternity’s cleanup was taking place, the sun had started to set as they gentlemen worked hard to clean up the park. In a surprising display of organization skills, Vertex made sure that everyone worked carefully and took proper breaks as they cleared up more and more of the park. Soon enough, the park was around halfway free of debris and other garbage.

“...I’m actually shocked,” Keiji commented as he wiped sweat from his forehead and flopped on the grass, “Everything went pretty smoothly today, huh?”

“I’ll say,” Rumble replied as he tossed away a set of logs into a nearby wheelbarrow, “I could get used to this though. Working off the stress of classes is fun.”

As they worked, Keiji noticed that Vertex had taken a moment to relax on one of the rocks in the park. Since nobody else was around him, Keiji decided to get up and go talk to the guy.

“Wait, where are you--?” Rumble called out but Keiji had already left to go speak to Vertex.

The vampboy took a seat on the rock next to his frat house leader and spoke up. “Yo. Can I ask you something?”

“Sure, I suppose,” Vertex replied with a sigh, “What is it?”

“Well I didn’t really get much of an answer from you earlier,” Keiji began the conversation carefully, “But…what do you think of all the mutant stuff in the news? Ever since magic came over here and started messing with stuff. Do you hate it, or…?”

Vertex scratched the back of his head and turned away from Keiji for a moment. “I…it’s not that I…listen, the mutants that cause trouble here are part of a bigger problem.” He sighed again, and shook his head, “But there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m just one guy in a big-ass city. A little fish in a big ocean. Nothing I do is gonna matter and once I die, I’ll just fuck off back to the earth like the other corpses buried there…”

The man’s…pessimistic perspective was disheartening, but understandable given how much crime had occurred in the last year alone. Keiji wouldn’t judge him over it, but he still had another question.

“...I see. And why exactly do you feel this way?”

“...can we change the subject, please?” Vertex huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, “I don’t feel like talking about mutants, alright?”

“...right, I get it,” Keiji replied and immediately changed the subject as requested. Since he was their house leader at the university, what better topic than studies itself? “Let’s see…ah. What’re you majoring in, Vert?”

“Medical research,” he replied with a neutral expression, “I’m…looking to become an ER doctor someday so I can work to save lives. Even if it’s something small like healthcare, then I’ll be happy that I’ve made an impact, ya know?”

Keiji could relate, seeing as he had no choice but to abandon his biological family, he too was desiring some form of acknowledgement. “...yeah, I feel that. You’ll get there one day, bud. I know you will. You deserve that much.”

Vertex’s response was delayed, “...thanks. That means a lot coming from a freshman. Anyhow, let’s finish up for the day and head back. We’ll pick this back up tomorrow, alright?”

“Got it.”

With that, everyone in House Iota got their supplies and started to head back to the campus to rest for the evening as it got dark.

Meanwhile, at the campus itself…

A young woman from the sorority House Gamma had taken out the trash to a dumpster behind the building. But on the way there, she noticed a small cat limping away from the campus and into an alley behind a shop across the street.

“...hm? A kitty…?” the student called out to the cat and took off after it. “Hey, wait! You look hurt…!”

Soon enough, the college girl had found the small, black cat and scooped it up in her arms. “...poor thing. You look hurt. Let me help you get better by taking you to the--!”

SHING!

Suddenly, her throat was slit by what sounded like unsheathed claws. The girl immediately dropped to the ground as her neck bled and her body went limp. Her eyes blank and staring off into space as she bled to death…

Back at the campus…

Filament had been looking around for someone and muttered, “Where the heck is Spring? She should’ve been back by now…”

Another one of the soro-sisters put on a jacket and called out, “I’ll go check on her. She probably got lost trying to find her way in the dark. I’ll go see what the problem is.”

“...alright. But if you see anything weird out there, you gimme a call, alright?” Filament demanded as her sorority sister left out of the back door.

“...what’s going on?” Silver Spoon asked from upstairs, “Everything okay?”

Filament would call back, “Nothing! Just go back to sleep, everyone. I’m sure everything will be fine.”

Episode IX: All About Family

The next day…

News of two college students going missing had reached the police and the news media by proxy. Security would start to be heavily amped up around the campus as a result as all of the students looked out from their dorms to see a multitude of squad cars roaming around alongside several armed policemen.

From inside the campus, Silver Spoon had just been walking from one side to the other for a different class as she spoke with her mother on the phone…

“Yeah, mom. I know. Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to keep in contact with you throughout the day. I don’t think I’ll be attacked but I definitely won’t be going out late at night. You can trust me on that.”

As she hung up, Filament approached and started walking alongside her. “Hey, Silver. Everything alright with your folks?”

“Yeah, my mom is just worried which is understandable,” she replied as she put her phone in her pocket, “If it was my daughter on the line, I’d be concerned too. So those two never came back, huh?”

“...yeah, it’s strange,” Filament admitted, “Hopefully it’s nothing related to a mutant attack, but we can’t rule anything out.”

Silver Spoon took a more passive stance. “No no no…I’m not getting wrapped up in this. Let’s let campus security handle it. Hell, call the military if need be.”

Filament shook her head. “...I see why Diamond Tiara calls you passive. You need to take action sometimes, Silver. Can’t just let everyone else do everything for you.”

“Yeah, no,” Spoon replied as she pushed up her glasses, “I’m perfectly content with staying in my own little bubble while the world sorts itself out. I’ve got way too much stuff to worry about otherwise. My cousin Salad’s already moving up and working on her own business so I’m lagging behind my mom’s expectations.”

“...ah. That’s…yeah…” Filament couldn’t really comment since she wasn’t too familiar with how the life of a wealthy young woman with a lot of expectations placed on her shoulders went. “I wonder what your mom’s doing right about now…”

“Probably at the salon with Tiara’s mom,” Spoon answered in a huff, “Discussing our ‘futures’ I bet.”

“...eh?”

Indeed. At a high-end Salon in the middle of Vanhoover…

Next to Spoiled Rich was another, voluptuous middle-aged woman about her age. With gray skin not unlike her daughter’s a head of silver-white hair. This was Silver Spoon’s mother. Dressed in a set of formal gray pants and a matching business suit top in which her ample bosom was nearly bulging out with visible cleavage and a rather round, almost pear-shaped lower half with a wide pair of hips and bottom. Both she and Spoiled Rich were having their nails done at booths next to each other in the upper-class beauty parlor with pearlescent cream floors and the softest chairs made of green alligator leather as a piano player played soft music nearby.

After the phone call, Spoiled Rich would ask her friend, “...Is your daughter okay, Silver Lining?”

Silver Lining was her name. The matriarch of the Silver Family. She would respond, “Yes. I just got off the phone with her, Rich. Some of their friends went missing last night and haven’t returned to the dormitories since. I’m somewhat concerned.”

“Given who our daughter’s shared boyfriend is,” Spoiled Rich spoke up in reference to Keiji, “I don’t think they’ll have much to worry about.”

Indeed. Both families were fully aware of the fact that their daughters had been romantically involved with a certain vampboy for the last three years now in what was essentially a polyamorous relationship. This presented both complications and benefits for the aging families and who the heirs to their companies would be…

“Of course,” Lining rolled her eyes as she thought about it, “Normally, such a thing would be forbidden, but given how many times he’s kept them both safe, we figured it would be easier to simply allow it.”

Spoiled scoffed, “Hmph. Finally. However, while that does make things a bit easier regarding who the inheritances of our companies would go to…”

Given that the social structure of both families prioritized male members above female ones.

Silver Lining would nod, then bring up a counterpoint, “However...it makes things a tad awkward regarding relations. If that young man doesn’t properly take care of either of them, or if he shows favoritism to one over the other, he’s going to suffer quite a lot.”

Spoiled Rich couldn’t deny it. Both families were easily among the wealthiest in the country due to the Rich Family’s monopolization on general stores and housing and the Silver Family’s control over jewelry and cookware.

And with that level of wealth came unsavory customers looking to stir trouble. And with that, came both families’ method of defense and retaliation: Enforcers.

Or private mafias in more graphic terms.

“Trust me, Line. I’m fully aware of what your…’family’ is capable of. I don’t think Keiji is foolish enough to give one of our daughters preferential treatment over the other.”

Lining huffed and held her polished nails in front of the desk fan nearby. “...Very well, Spoiled. I do trust this boy, I really do. And ultimately it does save us both the trouble of looking for suitors for both of them. But with all of the recent attacks lately, I don’t want to take any chances.”

“Hrm…” Spoiled turned in her seat so the stylist could work on her other hand. The news of the recently missing college students put her into a state of concern that she couldn’t ignore. So she came up with an idea. “...alright. If it makes you feel better, Lining, I have an idea on how we can keep a closer eye on the three of them.”

“I’m listening.”

Episode X: Sew It Seams

At a crafts shop in the Vanhoover Shopping District…

Keiji was busy buying materials for his personal and professional projects. Yarn, needles, hooks, and his own sewing machine so he could practice more even when he was away from class.

“Let’s see…ah. Yup. This is exactly what I need,” Keiji muttered to himself. The quiet nature of the craft shop resulted in his voice coming out a bit louder than expected since the carpet beneath his shoes absorbed most of the sound as he glanced through each shelf.

Moments later, an elderly woman would call out to him from nearby. Since Keiji was a routine customer at this store for the last few months, she instantly recognized him.

“Ah, Mr. Ketsuki, dear. How are you today?” the short woman wearing a modest yellow sundress called out to him with a pair of glasses on her face. Her eyes were seemingly shut but she could see through them despite how they appeared to others. She pushed her four-legged, two-wheeled walker along the floor until she finally reached the vampboy. “...looking for more materials to make dolls? Oh no…that’s a sewing machine! Ah, you’re looking to make quilts and blankets?”

Keiji’s face lit up with a smile upon seeing her. “Oh. Hello Mrs. Motif. How are you today? Did you take your medicine? I don’t want you falling out on the job now.”

The shopkeeper and owner of this store. Her name was Gabrielle Motif. “Oh you. Of course you’re always reminding me of such a thing. But I’m grateful for it. You always keep me on my toes, young man.”

“Well if you weren’t, you’d be in a wheelchair,” Keiji joked, which caused the older lady to chuckle along with him. “But seriously, take it easy, okay? If you need anything, then please let me know.”

During his time there as a customer, Keiji would often assist Motif by helping her move various boxes and other heavy objects from storage and for customers that needed large items. In fact, there were many times where she’d specifically dial Keiji’s phone just to ask for him specifically.

“Of course I will,” Motif replied as she pointed at his arms, then his legs, “You’ve built up quite a lot of muscle over these past few months, hm? Just how are you so strong?”

‘Well I’m not even human for one thing,’ he thought to himself, then spoke aloud, “Well…I just mostly work out and keep myself healthy. Exercise too.”

And yet, the older woman would immediately poke a hole through his words. “Oh you. You’re like a young little superhero from those comic books my grandson loves.”

Keiji let out a nervous chuckle, “Ha…well, I guess? Anyway, I gotta--”

Just then, his phone started to buzz in his pocket. Keiji picked it up and saw that Silver Spoon was the one calling him. He glanced at Motif and spoke up, “Oh. Excuse me. It’s a call from my girl.”

“Take your time, dear,” Motif replied as she stepped away for a moment to take her place at the register, “I’ll ring you up when you’re ready.”

“Thank you.” Keiji then answered his phone, “Hello?”

On the other end, Silver Spoon could be heard, “Hey you. So I’m sure you heard about the attacks that have been going on, yeah? Well, my and Tiara’s moms have agreed to let us use my family’s beach house to stay in until things die down while we attend uni.”

“Oh. Alright, that makes sense,” Keiji shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t mind the water anyway. How far is it?”

“We’ll show you when it’s time. Don’t want anyone overhearing you,” Spoon warned him, “How’s everything going with you today, Keiji?”

“I’m good,” he replied as he glanced at the items in his cart, “Just getting some stuff for my projects. I’m thinking of making some models out of yarn but I’m not sure where to start. Maybe embroidery…”

“...man, your patience is unflappable,” Spoon commented in response, “I don’t really have the wherewithal to deal with threading needles. I’d rather just slap on a sweater and call it a day, ya feel?”

“Hmph,” he scoffed in response, “You simply lack the understanding of quality crochet, dahling,” he replied with an exaggerated flamboyant tone. “The fabric on our backs are easily the most important things we have.”

Spoon giggled. “Okay now you just sound like Rarity. Surprised you haven’t taken lessons from her. Think she’ll show up at uni as a teacher?”

“Hope so. It’d be fun to learn from an expert.”

As the two continued to talk, Motif heard a heavy knocking from the front door of the store. “Hm?” The shopkeeper went outside and called out, “Now what in the dickens is going on out here?"

As soon as she got outside, she was met with a rather aggressive-looking group of what appeared to be young gangsters in facemasks. Some of them held baseball bats...

"Pay up, granny. Your time's up."

Episode XI: Suspicion

“...I’m working as hard as I can here, Argos,” Motif insisted, “Your father knows well enough that I’m doing what I can. You aren’t to harass me for money, boy.”

“My old man’s a farce. He can’t hold a candle to what I’m doing nowadays,” Argos dismissed the woman’s claims, “Now are we gonna have a problem or what? The recent attacks don’t excuse your lack of generated value. You can still make deliveries can’t you? What about that online store you’re supposed’ta have?”

The elderly lady sighed behind a forced smile. “Of course. Don’t you worry. Everything will come together in time. Just be patient, will you?”

Just then, one of Argos’ crewmates looked into the store and noticed Keiji talking on the phone. “...shit. We better skeddaddle before he notices us, boss,” she alerted her leader who grumbled in response.

“Rrrgh…fine,” the guy huffed and turned to leave, “But you got lucky today, granny…”

Motif sighed as the group of gangsters left down the street. Then she turned to walk back inside where Keiji had gotten off the phone and pushed his small basket of items up to the counter. The vampboy tilted his head in confusion as he noticed her soured expression.

“Mrs. Motif? Everything alright?” he asked as he placed the sewing machine on the counter, “Were you talking with someone?”

The elderly woman sighed as she started to scan the various items that Keiji had. “...nothing you need to worry about, hun. Just keep your nose clean and ear to the ground, alright? Tensions are rising high in this city with all that new-fangled stuff rolling around. Young bucks and their tricked out cars and body paint…”

“...yeah, I feel you,” Keiji listened to what she had to say with a nod, “Trust me, the last thing I wanna do is get wrapped up in something that lands me in hot water with the wrong people. I understand, ma’am.”

Given that being ‘superhuman’ was conflated with being a ‘demon’ or ‘mutant’ nowadays, Keiji was more than understanding in regards to keeping himself in check. Showing off his abilities was a death sentence that could ruin the reputation of not just him but everyone that knew him as well.

As he left the shop and bid Motif goodbye, Keiji lamented this fact to himself as he pulled his items in a wagon behind himself. “Blech…the people of Metropolis don’t have to deal with this. Their superheroes are beloved while we have to hide in plain sight. This ain’t fair.”

While he pulled his items along, he stopped to think about how much more convenient a motorized vehicle would be as several of them passed him by on the street. ‘Hmm…this would be a lot less annoying if I could drive one of those…cars. It’s like a carriage but operated by its own power instead of a puller. Interesting…”

At the same time, a convertible where Argos was sitting could be seen across the street from where Keiji had turned. The young man, about the age of a college senior, wore black jeans and a matching jet-black button-up shirt. With a burnt-orange skin tone and slicked-back hair, the grimace he had on his face as Keiji walked off radiated an aura of hatred.

“Grrgh…he’s going to present some trouble for us if we don’t do something,” Argos complained.

The same female member of his gang from before removed a cap on her head that revealed a set of purple-colored cat-ears. She wore shorts, and a white tank-top. She snickered as she pointed to her phone. “Nyeh-heh…don’t worry partner. I’ve already remote-hacked into his phone and found his contacts.”

“Alright, anyone important?”

“...Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara. I smell ransom moneeeey~” she added with a musical tone in her voice.

“Interesting…”

Meanwhile, with Keiji…

As the vampboy walked down the street, he was eventually approached by a familiar face.

“Hey, Keiji,” Sunset Shimmer called out to him as she got out of her car in a nearby parking lot and waved him over. “How’s everything going for you?”

“I’m all good,” he replied as he glanced over at his supplies, “Just getting some stuff for my work. Didn’t expect to see you way out here in Vanhoover though. What’s going on?”

“I’m actually looking to get my comic published by a bigger company,” she explained as she walked around to the trunk of her car where all her supplies were, “Most of it’s based on true stories, buuuut they don’t need to know that,” she added with a wink as she picked up her comic drafts.

Keiji peered over the stack of comics and raised a brow, “Huh? Anything about me in there?”

“Oh yeah, I even gave you a Bat Signal and everything,” she snickered as she flipped through a few pages.

“...uhhh…” he rubbed the back of his neck, “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m almost certain another superhero that lives somewhere else already uses that, so you might wanna change it. The legal trouble would be a shitshow.”

“...yeah, you’re right,” Sunset lamented as she glanced at the panels inspired by Keiji with a young, katana-wielding boy half-shaded against the darkness as vampire bats littered the sky. “But it’s so coooool…” she whined.

Keiji simply rolled his eyes and glanced at her car. “Hey how long did it take you to pilot one of these things?”

“Oh that? Just need to brush up on the driver’s manual and take the test,” she replied, “Thinking of getting your own?”

“It’d make traveling through this big-ass city easier, yeah,” he agreed with a shrug, “Just thinkin’ about what’d be helpful with staying safe. What with all the attacks and such…”

Sunset nodded, “I understand. Make sure you take care of your friends, alright?”

“Don’t worry…I’ll die for them if need be,” he huffed in a gravely tone.

“Okay, crouching tiger, maybe don’t go that far-”

Episode XII: Hunting The Bat

That night, at the beachfront home owned by Silver Spoon’s parents…

A large, two-story home built into the side of a mountain that rested about a mile away from the campus of Vanhoover. A once vacant vacation home that would now serve as the potentially permanent household for Keiji Ketsuki, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon as they traveled to and from school. In the wake of the recent attacks, the matriarchs of both families wanted to keep their daughters--and their shared husband-to-be--safe. With three bedrooms and three bathrooms, a game room, and a large open kitchen, they had the perfect amount of space to themselves.

This wasn’t a big deal for them at all though. Silver Spoon was busy at a desk in her room she had often used when vacationing here.

“I’m back!” Diamond Tiara called out as she walked through the front door, her voice echoed far enough for Silver Spoon to look up from her desk. “Is Keiji home yet?”

“No!” Silver Spoon answered from her room as she got up, and walked out to meet her girlfriend, “Hopefully he considers getting a car or something soon. Walking everywhere is starting to get dangerous.”

Tiara walked up and smooched Spoon on the cheek before flopping on the couch. “Yeah, especially for someone like him. If someone sees him on the street and realizes who he is…”

“Yeah, let’s not think about that, huh?” Spoon replied, “Dinner’s almost done, so he should be back soon.”

But Tiara wasn’t satisfied with that. She immediately whipped out her phone and started to dial Keiji’s number. “Not leaving it up to chance. I need to at least know where he is.”

“Agh…you always worry too much, Di,” Spoon commented as she walked into the kitchen and put on an apron before checking the oven. “You know he can take care of himself, right?”

“Well sorry, but I’m not exactly willing to let him get hurt out there. Even if he can take care of himself, doesn’t mean we also can’t.”

Ever the anxious one, Diamond Tiara always prioritized her emotions when it came to situations such as this while Silver Spoon existed to keep her best gal’s head cool. The latter would always operate on logic rather than her heart which often gave Silver Spoon an aloof exterior even if she did care deeply for someone else.

Soon enough though, Tiara’s anxiety would be sated as her vampboyfriend answered the phone.

“Wassup, Deets?”

“Don’t you ‘Deets’, me!” she hissed over the phone, which caused Silver Spoon to roll her eyes from the kitchen while Tiara continued to rant, “Do you realize how dark it is outside? Get your ass home, now!”

“Okay, I’m on my way. I’m actually just a block away from the house. Don’t worry, Tiara,” he replied calmly to hopefully ease her tensions.

It worked, and Tiara lied back against the couch. “Alright…sorry for the outburst, I’m just worried about you, ya know?”

“Thanks. I’m glad someone actually cares about me for once,” Keiji answered, “I’ll text you when I’m walking up the steps.”

“Okay…love you.”

“Love you too.”

Tiara hung up her phone, then heard a faint giggling. She turned to see Spoon snickering into her hand which caused the former to become flustered.

“W-what are you laughing at?!”

“It’s just so adorable seeing you get like that, Diamond Tiara. Don’t worry about it.”

The young lady in pink huffed, pouted, then folded her arms. “I’m not gonna hold back against anyone. You know that.”

“I know, I know. I’m not making fun of you,” Spoon cleared up, “It’s part of your charm. Now come taste what I’ve made…”

Meanwhile, with Keiji…

The young man was indeed one block away from his new home. However, on the way, something caught his attention…

“AGH! Get off me! STOP!” a cry for help came from a nearby alley which immediately made him drop everything.

“...??” He turned his head and saw two figures fighting in the alley. One much larger than the other and pinning them against a wall. Against his better judgement and sense of self-preservation, Keiji would immediately rush over and shout, “Hey! What’s going on over here?!”

“Help me!” a young woman with cat ears cried out for help as a man pushed her against the wall.

“This ain’t got nothin’ to do with you!” the guy shouted at Keiji, “Scram, kid!”

“Yeah right. I’m not gonna--”

But just before he could even think to pull out his sword--

Click.

Shing.

Keiji felt the barrel of a gun tap the back of his head and what felt like the blade of a dull machete against his neck.

The guy and cat-eared gal stepped forward. It was Argos and his work partner who had faked an attack just to get Keiji’s attention.

“...looks like we just caught ourselves Kid Dracula.”

“Meeewwwh…” the cat mutant stretched her furry arms, which led into purple paws instead of hands, up as her ears flicked, “I honestly thought he would’ve been a bit more difficult to capture. Guess I was wrong. What a pathetic pushover.” She snickered while licking the back of her hand, then brushed it over her head.

Keiji grit his teeth, knowing he couldn’t make any sudden movements with the other gangsters behind him, he opted to play along for the moment. “...what do you want from me?”

"Don't take it personally," she went on with a flick of her tail, "But privileged bastards like you have had it too good. Now you're gonna see what it feels like to be a bottom feeder."

Episode XIII: The Cat Strikes Back

About an hour later…

Diamond Tiara got a text from Keiji.

“Hm?” she immediately picked up the phone and looked at the message.

‘Staying at Rumble’s place. He picked me up. Sorry!’

“Ugh!” Tiara rolled her eyes upon seeing the message and sighed, “Could’ve at least told me that sooner ya dick…”

Silver Spoon looked over and noticed the message. “Ah. Well at least we know he’s with someone he knows. Don’t worry, I think he’ll be fine.”

But Tiara wasn’t exactly convinced that he’d be ‘fine’ given the amount of recent attacks lately. But given how late it already was, she figured it was no use to complain about it now. “Blech…whatever. He better have a good explanation for this.”

“Come on, he’s probably hanging with his friend because they got a new game or something. You know how guys are,” Spoon tried to reason with her in order to calm her down.

It worked for the moment. Tiara got up from the dinner table and walked upstairs. “Fine…I’m gonna go shower. Let me know if he says anything else.”

“Will do.”

Oh little did they know…

“Rrrgh…” Keiji huffed and squirmed within the handcuffs he had been locked into while sitting in the back seat of the convertible that Argos drove with his crew. “Damn you…holy water-infused handcuffs and bullets? How the hell did you know about all that??” he asked in reference to his weaknesses as a vampire.

Next to him in the back seat, the cat mutant was scrolling through Keiji’s phone with her paw-fingers and a malicious cat-grin on her face and one of her fangs poking over her bottom lip. She had sent a fake text message pretending to be him. “Hmhm….don’t underestimate the power of a genius hacker. I know everything about you, vamp-boy," she muttered as she tossed his phone down to the bottom of the car's seat.

“Grrgh…but why me of all things?” Keiji protested, “I’m a nobody, you know that? Killing me won’t solve shit. Who even are you, anyway?”

“Like, duh,” she mewled with a small flick of her ears, “I know that killing you won’t solve anything. Who do you think I am?” She reached over and pinched his cheek, “And to answer your question: You can call me Chati.”

“Mmmph…” Keiji hissed at the touch and tried to bite down on her finger with his shark-like teeth. Chati pulled her it away at the last second and giggled into her hand.

“Mewhehe…” Her expression then turned somber as her voice lost the playful tone she had. “...I’m just like you, ya know. I’m from that world too. I was an Abyssinian that was placed here against my will after the war ended. When I got here, everyone treated me like garbage. Freaking out as soon as they saw the cat-lady with paws for hands…”

Keiji thought back to when he had first arrived here and how difficult it was for him to make friends until he met Diamond Tiara… “...okay, I get it, but--”

“Oh. Do you?” Chati raised an eyebrow. “Some random vampire batpony just so happens to land here. Then just so happens to cross paths with the heir to one of the richest families in the nation.”

“...I…”

Chati’s expression grew more intense as she bared her fangs with her tail frizzing up. “Then he just so happens to shack up with another one of the heirs to the richest families in the nation. Oh yeah! You had it so hard. Didn’t you?! Huh, playboy?! Go on! Tell me how hard you have it fucking some rich guy's daughters! GO ON! TRY ME!”

“...” Keiji couldn’t say anything at first. Ultimately, she had a point. His life, at least now, was rather cushy compared to how things were before he got here. “...okay, look. While that may be true, I suffered through hell to get here.”

“Yeah well that doesn’t matter now, does it? Look at me. I’ve been punched, kicked, spat on, had my tail and ears pulled, and touched in so many places by weirdos that it’d make your head spin…” she went on as she held her face in her paws, “...lost my home, couldn’t find work, and was ultimately forced to live on trash. So yeah, I’m looking for revenge on the rich assholes who never bothered to help me. Starting with you.”

“...but…you’re--this is a bad idea. You say the humans here hate you yet you’re buddying up with them just to get what you want?” he asked in reference to Argos who was at the wheel. “...isn’t that a bit hypocritical?”

Chati folded her arms beneath her chest and sighed. “...Don’t you think I know that? I’m doing this for me. Not for them. Besides…I’ve…well you don’t need to worry about what else I’ve got planned. Just know that you’re my stepping stone to get what I want.”

There were far too many layers to Chati’s mentality that Keiji couldn’t exactly pick apart at the moment. The holy water-soaked cuffs had already burned into his wrists and sealed off his power, preventing him from fighting back. All he could do for the moment was try to negotiate.

“Listen…I don’t know all of the details of your presumably fucked-up backstory or anything,” he commented, noting that she had to be doing this for a reason greater than what she had described thus far, “But this ain’t it chief. There’s gotta be a way we can work this out, come on. I don’t even know you.”

“Oh. You mean to tell me you can single-handedly change the public’s opinion on our kind?” she hissed with an expression of disbelief, “Yeah, right. All you’re worried about is how much money you have and how many girls you can get with. You’re all the same…you’re one of those dirty corpos now…”

“No. You don’t know Tiara and Spoon’s families. They aren’t what--HRRK!”

Chati wrapped her tail around Keiji’s neck and tightened her grip to choke him. “Shut up, you…I don’t need some corporate dog telling me what to think. I’m gonna put you in your place, dammit!”

“We’re here,” Argos commented as they arrived at an empty, abandoned motel building, “Do what you want with him until we secure the ransom.”

“Mwhehehe…” the feline gal shot a predatory glance in Keiji’s direction--the latter unable to breath from the tail constricting him. “How much holy water will it take for me to see bone, I wonder~?”

Episode XIV: Tactical Meetup

The next day…

Everyone went to their classes at Vanhoover Uni as usual…though one particular individual was missing from the fraternity which caused a few heads to turn when it was time for a meeting.

“...hey, you know where Keiji is?” Vertex asked Rumble as the latter approached the frat house, “I don’t think I saw him anywhere on campus today.”

“Nope. Me neither. I tried calling his phone but he wouldn’t answer,” Rumble explained, “...hope he’s okay, but I’m not quite sure. Surprised that you’re worried about him though, seeing as we just met and all.”

Vertex folded his arms, “I worry about all my brothers. It’s all I’ve got left to worry about. Where did you see him last?”

“Down at the corner before he went off to a craft’s store,” Rumble replied, “But I’m not really sure otherwise.”

“Dammit…no leads,” Vertex swore under his breath as he thought about what they could possibly do to track Keiji down. “Hrm…know anybody who might be able to tell us where he went afterwards?”

That’s when it finally clicked for Rumble. “Oh yeah! Hang on, I just thought of someone.” And he took out his phone to dial Sandbar’s number.

“Yo,” he answered over the phone, “It’s ya boy from House Lambda. What’s up?”

“Yeah, Sandbar?” Rumble began, “Your sister goes here, right? Think we could meet up and have a chat?”

“Sure. But what’s up, dawg? Somethin’ goin’ on?”

“...yeah, you could say that,” Rumble glanced over at Vertex and nodded, “Think we could meet up at Little-Dogenzaka?”

“The place with all the Eastern stuff, yeah? Got it. I’ll tell Coral and we’ll meetcha there in an hour.”

Rumble hung up his phone. “Sandbar’s sister Coral…let’s just say she’s got a lot of connections that could help us locate Keiji.”

“Alright. To Little-DZ then, yeah?” Vertex replied.

Rumble nodded. “Yup. Let’s go.”

The gentlemen took one of the local subway trains in order to get to Little Dogenzaka within Vanhoover’s consumer district. On the way there, Rumble had also gotten a phone call from a perplexed Diamond Tiara wondering why Keiji wasn’t answering his phone. Once she had gotten her answer…

“...so there’s a chance he’s been kidnapped. Is that what you’re saying?” she asked from her end.

“W-well…I don’t really know. Trust me, your fam is probably gonna freak out, but we don’t want that, so don’t let them know he’s missing, alright?”

“Ugghh…” Diamond Tiara grumbled, “...alright, fine. But as soon as you find something out, you better let me know, Rumble. I mean it. I’m not gonna be left behind if Keiji’s in trouble. Got it?”

“Of course, I get you,” Rumble replied, “Alright, see ya.”

Vertex raised a brow, “Was that someone close to him?”

“More or less, yeah,” Rumble looked over to Vertex as the crowded train sped along through the tunnel. “He’s basically got two girlfriends. Diamond Tiara’s one of them. She’s…well, you heard her.”

Vertex chuckled as he leaned back against the seat of the train. “...good for him. I’m glad he’s got folks like you and her that care about him. In that case, we need to work twice as hard to make sure we get him back safe and sound before anything bad happens.”

“Agreed.”

Soon enough, their train would stop at the station and they’d be able to exit. Now they were in downtown Vanhoover, and once they reached the topside of the city streets, both Rumble and Vertex took a hard right and found themselves staring at a wide variety of stores with foreign, Eastern text and characters run by many people from the nation of Japone. This was a part of Mapleland’s bilateral relation with them. Some of their culture was present in their respective cities such as small Vanhoover districts in that nation. And in this case, Japone’s capital of Kyo was allowed to set up various shops to bring their culture here as well.

Little-Dogenzaka or Zakatown as it was informally called.

Rumble and Vertex would eventually spot Sandbar, and Coral Currents who were at one of the cafes. Coral, Sandbar’s younger sister, had grown a tad in the last three years. Now that she had just turned 18, the greenish-blue young woman had grown a bit in all areas and was currently wearing her usual attire of an oversized black jacket and athletic shorts which left most of her legs exposed with sneakers in addition to her head of teal and pink hair flowing down past her shoulders.

Sandbar himself looked mostly the same, save for gaining a few inches and more muscle over the years. Still in his usual style of a tank top and cargo shorts and sandals. “Ey, ya’ll! Over here!”

“Hey you guys,” Rumble greeted them, and looked over at Vertex, “This guy’s our frat house leader.”

“Hello. We’re wondering where Keiji is,” then he glanced at Coral, “...I was told you could help us out with that."

"Sup," she responded with a peace sign, then opened her laptop computer. "And yeah I think I can figure out where he is. Do you have his phone number?"

Rumble nodded, and showed her Keiji's contact info from his phone. "Yeah, right here."

"Alright, one sec."

With a few quick taps and clicks of her keyboard, the black screen would begin to show lines if code, then a satellite view if the city. An arrow was directly pointed above an empty hotel building nestled within a rather rugged, low-income area of the city.

"There," Coral pointed out on her map, "I'm also getting reports of police activity in the area, so we should approach this carefully."

"That's my Cici," Sandbar nudged his sister with his shoulder, earning an aloof eye roll and frown from her that turned into a grateful smile from the acknowledgement.

"You're willing to help us save him?" Rumble asked, "We wouldn't wanna trouble you…"

Coral scoffed and waved her hand with a nonchalant smirk on her face. "Pfft. It's fine, bud. 'Sides. I've been itching to get my other skills back in gear since I haven't had any jobs lately."

"...other skills?" Vertex asked.

Coral held up her right hand and extended her index finger, making a gun-like gesture with it, and pointed at their heads. "Bang-bang-"

"...I see."

Rumble glanced at his house leader with a concerned expression. "...are you gonna be alright? We might get into a fight here."

"I told you already, I'm not leaving my brothers behind," he replied with a determined tone, "They're all I got left, so I'm doing this for him."

"...fair enough, Vert. What's gonna be our plan?"

Coral closed her computer and picked it up. "Rumble, follow me to my whip. Big brother and frat leader guy, back us up."

That little detail caused Rumble's eyes to shoot open. "...wait, you can drive?"

Episode XV: Hostage Situation

At the run-down motel building…

In a motel room, Keiji had been tied to a chair where Chati would routinely proceed to casually burn his skin with towels soaked in holy water. The vampboy tried his best to endure it, but was pushed to the point of tears as he sat there, defenseless.

“Rrrgh…why…why are you doing this, dammit?!” he gave a guttural roar through the pain he felt, “What the hell is the point of any of this? When you get your money, what are you even gonna do?!”

“It’s not just about the money…it’s about sending a message.” Chati hissed as she crawled over to him and put her paw at his throat, “Magic users, people with different physical attributes they can’t control…I’m sick of hiding in the shadows. If a few others have to die in the process, then tough shit!”

Chati roughly pushed him away, but Keiji started to think about what she had just said regarding lives.

“...wait…what--wait a second, if a few others have to--?”

She looked over her shoulder with a smug cat-grin on her face. “...yeah? Go on, put two and two together, ya ninny.”

“...No way. You mean to tell me that you were the one who--”

“Caused all of those disappearances and murders of your fellow college students and sold out other magic users to take the fall in my place, causing a fear-mongering feedback loop?”

“WHAT!?” Keiji nearly flipped himself backwards in the chair from how hard he shook himself, “Again, for the love of god why?!”

Chati turned away from him and grit her teeth. “...after being beaten and molested by so many weirdo assholes, I said ‘fuck it’. If this world wasn’t gonna respect me, they’d fear me instead.”

“Look, I’m sorry that happened to you,” Keiji replied, “Believe me, I know what it’s like to have things shoved in me against my will by people who had power over me. But this isn’t gonna solve anything. You aren’t making anything better by doing this.”

“Maybe not….but I’ll be damned if I let anymore rich bastards take advantage of people who look different. A few lives being sacrificed is nothing compared to satisfaction I’ll have once I get what I want.”

Keiji groaned at her inability to make sense and shouted, “What do you want?! Do you wanna stand up for mutants or fix the system or what?! None of what you’re saying sounds like you’re trying to do anything for anyone but yourself!”

Which was ultimately the truth. Chati knew deep down that this wasn’t a desire for altruism or to fix anything. It was just to satisfy her own ego and take revenge against society for how she had been wronged by the human world. And to do so, she would cause chaos and civil unrest until she was satisfied.

“...you’re not a hero--you’re not even a misunderstood anti-hero,” Keiji continued, “You’re a monster!”

“What took ye so long to figure it out ya dumbarse?!” with a hefty slap that left scratch marks across his face, Chati struck Keiji down, knocking him out of the chair. She then stomped her foot onto his back and snarled, “...ye know what? Fuck the money…I’ll just make an example out of you instead!”

Outside, about one mile away…

Coral Currents was driving through the city, speeding in what looked like a run-down, rusted green pickup truck. The dashboard had all of the information she needed locked onto a GPS system. With a focused, determined expression on her face, she swerved through traffic and side streets as fast as she could.

“Hrrk!” Rumble held tightly onto his seatbelt as he was jostled about in what was essentially a rollercoaster of a truck ride through the city. “Is this how you approach most of your missions?”

“Yeah. It’s basically our thing,” she replied as she shifted gears, “Listen up. The police radio is giving me a signal…”

With her radio tuned, Coral was able to pick up a signal from nearby…

“Release your hostage immediately!”

“Not until my demands are met! A million dollars for his life or else!”

“Dammit,” Coral muttered, “Looks like they’re already in the forceful negotiation phase. This is Keiji, right? You think he’ll be okay?”

“I’m not sure,” Rumble answered hesitantly, “We don’t really know what they’re capable of here, so anything can happen--”

“Shit…” Coral muttered as she pulled over all of a sudden and looked down the street to see a horde of police officers gathered outside of the motel building. “Well, this just got way hotter than I expected.” She pulled into an alley and reached behind the driver’s seat where she retrieved a box-shaped, automatic shotgun and shell ammo.

“Uhhh…” Rumble glanced at the sheer amount of firepower she was packing with a concerned expression. “...is that really necessary, Coral?”

Coral got out of her truck and shut the door. “Gotta be prepared for anything, Rumble. If there’s this many cops, there has to be a small army inside holding this place up.”

Rumble would follow her out. “...damn…hang on, Keiji.”

Episode XVI: Curiosity Kills

As that was happening, Vertex and Sandbar were waiting on a rooftop near the motel building. Their objective was to await Coral’s command, so they passed the time by chatting.

“Alright, so what’s the plan then?” Vertex asked.

Sandbar cracked his knuckles, “We wait for my sister to give us the signal, then we move in.”

“That’s your little sister, huh? She’s got loads of tech, weapons, and other stuff…” Vertex commented as he glanced over and saw Coral breach the roof of the building with her shotgun ready, “Seems like she’s the one protecting you.”

“I know, right?” Sandbar had a wide smile on his face as he put his hands behind his head, “Cici’s adorable. I’m actually worried for any guys who try and date her though. They’re gonna have a hard time, heh!” he added with a light-hearted chuckle as they heard gunshots in the distance.

Vertex raised an eyebrow, then couldn’t help but chuckle also. “...you’re quite the chill guy, huh? Still…I’m glad you and your sister have such a good relationship. Makes me long for those days…”

Sandbar put his arms down and asked, “...huh? Oh, you got a little sibling too?”

“...Well,” he paused and scratched the back of his head, “...I…used to…”

“...ah,” Sandbar’s tone went somber. He could immediately tell by Vertex’s tone that the latter had lost a family member. So Sandbar decided to change the subject. “...well, anyway, she’s super fun to be around because she’s always been smarter than me. Could never really get a handle on math as well as her. Though I’m trying to go for a major in biology so I can become a pro athlete.”

“Oh? What are you looking to go pro in, Sandbar?”

“Surfing, yo!” he pumped his fist in excitement, “It’s considered an Olympic sport now so I’m dyin’a bring home the gold for my fam, ya feel me?”

Hearing Sandbar talk about his future and life goals only further served to widen the hole in Vertex’s heart.

“...lucky guy. He’s got so much to live for. So many people to live for. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous of him. Still wish I could see my own brother’s face again like that…why couldn’t it have been me instead?”

As Sandbar continued talking, Vertex would simply smile and nod along while hiding his pain behind a forced smile.

Meanwhile…

BANG!

Coral had the slightest wry grin on her face as she fired off multiple sets of buckshot in the direction of the gangsters that were in her way. Though, they weren’t lethal bullets as each guy she shot immediately buckled and collapsed to the floor.

“Wait what--?” Rumble commented as he roundhouse kicked another dude, “What kind of bullets are those?”

“Non-lethal buckshot,” Coral commented in between shoving a gangster in the wall, knocking his gun out of his hand, and shooting him directly in the knee. “These guys need to pay for their crimes. They’re only a Class C threat at best.”

“...damn,” Rumble whistled in response at what was essentially an insult towards the gangsters. “But I guess I can’t blame you. These guys aren’t exactly putting up much of a fight. I wonder…”

“Stop wondering,” Coral interrupted him as she hurried forward. “Keiji’s just up ahead.”

After running past a few more doors, the pair would eventually find themselves at the final door in the motel building where they could hear screaming…

“AAAARGH!”

“Aw, it’s hurts, doesn’t it?! I bet it hurts real bad!”

Coral immediately kicked the door down and pointed her gun in front of herself. “Don’t move.”

“...Keiji!” Rumble shouted as he prepared to run forward, but was stopped by Coral putting a hand in front of him.

Chati had covered Keiji’s face with a towel soaked in holy water, burning the vampire-boy’s skin alive. The beastcat woman looked at them and hissed. The fur on her tail and her head of purple hair frizzed from her insatiable bloodlust.

“Rrrrgh…what are you doing here?! Don’t you hate people like him?! Rich assholes who make things worse for us on the bottom?!”

“Listen, I don’t know nor care about what your problem is,” Coral muttered in a cold tone as she cocked her shotgun’s bolt, “But you’re holding a hostage, engaging in cruel and unusual torture, and have several murder charges behind you. You’re in no position to negotiate.

“Let him go, you bitch!” Rumble yelled as he stepped forward.

Now that she was essentially cornered, Chati knew she couldn’t fight back. Faced with a weapon that, for all she knew, could kill her with one shot, she took a step back and hissed.

“...you…you’re all the same…sucking up to the teats of billionaires while us on the lower class have to face shit you’ll never understand…!”

“Don’t mov--!”

BANG!

Coral fired off a shot, but Chati managed to escape it just barely with a quick pounce out of the window. With a loud crash of old wooden planks, the police would fire at her as soon as she escaped, a wave of bullets would richochet off of the pavement as she skittered away on her claws.

That’s when Coral spoke into her phone, “Big brother! She’s on the move, it’s you guys’ turn!”

“Already on it, Cici!” Sandbar shouted back.

As it turned out, Sandbar and Vertex were riding a wave of sand that the former had created to fly through the air with as he propelled himself with sand flying out of his arms.

Meanwhile, Vertex was armed with nothing but a simple folding steel chair as he looked down and noticed Chati run towards the shopping district. “There!” he called out, “There’s too many people down there! We gotta stop her!”

“I got this, yo. Don’tcha worry!”

Episode XVII: Nine Lives

Chati rushed through the city on all fours, but knew she couldn’t avoid Sandbar forever. The massive sand walls that appeared and blocked her path caused her to hiss under her breath. They were impossible to climb due to being made of coarse sand that contained shards of glass!

The beastcat would eventually be forced into travel down Sandbar’s path until she reached an empty playground. There, the guys would land and approach her.

“It’s over, yo,” Sandbar commented as he punched both of his fists together, turning his forearms into what looked like muddy, rock-like armor, “Give up now, and we won’t need’ta use force!”

“What he said!” Vertex called out while brandishing the steel chair in his right hand, “You’re gonna pay for messing with my brothers!” Then he blinked as he noticed the cat-ears on her, “Wait a minute…I remember you. You were the one who tried to invade the House!”

Chati glanced at Vertex and snarled, “Dammit…figured me out that easily, huh? Guess you’ve made up for letting your whole family die, huh?!”

“...” Vertex’s heart nearly exploded, skipping a beat as he felt a sharp pain in his chest. “....how…how did you…?”

“Oh come on!” Chati continued with a sadistic cheshire-like grin and a sadistic glare in her eyes, “It was all over the news 10 years ago and wasn’t that hard to dig up! ‘Lone Boy Survivor Of Mutant Attack’! That was you, wasn’t it?!”

“...I…”

Sandbar stepped forward and screamed, “Ey! Leave him alone, yo! He ain’t done nothin’ to you, so shut your trap!”

“You’re one to talk, given how stupid you are!” she laughed his words off in an effort to insult him, “How sad is it that your little sister is like, what--five years younger than you, but also five times smarter?” She flashed him the same smile while tapping her forehead, “Are you slow? Do you have some kinda mental retar--!”

SQUELCH!

Suddenly, both of Chati’s legs were consumed by quicksand thanks to Sandbar’s abilities. The cat girl had no time to react before Vertex ran forward and smacked her in the face so hard with his chair that a loud CLANG would echo through the air as she was knocked backwards into a wall of sand.

Sandbar would then follow this up by rushing at her and threatening to punch her dead against the wall with a giant fist made of sand, but she was able to duck out of the way just in time and evade his attack. While she was fragile, she made up for it with her catlike reflexes and agility, darting over to Vertex’s position. Before the latter could react, Chati had pounced upon his back with her claws around his neck.

“Hrrk!” Being a mere human, he was unable to predict her attack and wound up held in place by her, dropping the chair he had been using as a weapon.

“Don’t move!” she screamed with a maniacal glint in her eye as she scraped her claws against Vertex’s nape, “I’ll kill him! I swear to god I’ll do it! Then he can join his family once and for all!”

Sandbar grit his teeth and stood still for a moment. Any wrong moves would result in possibly fatal wounds for Vertex…

Meanwhile, with Keiji…

“Bud, you alright?” Rumble asked as he helped Keiji out of the restraints.

There were several burn and claw marks all over his body. The vampboy nearly fell limp upon getting up and coughed. “...yeah…I’m…I’m alright. Thanks. Still don’t get why she attacked me though.”

Coral peered out of the window where she could see the officers had given chase in the direction Chati had ran off to. “...she blames you for the problems she’s faced,” Coral explained, “It’s easier to simply blame someone wealthy when we have a societal problem regarding how magical creatures are treated here. Not exactly something you can pin on any one individual.”

“...sounds like a heavy topic for another day,” Rumble commented, “Let’s get him to a hospital.”

“...you really think someone at a random hospital knows how to treat holy water burns?” Keiji asked, raising a brow as he felt his face and grimaced. “Argh…I’ll…I’ll be fine. Just take me home, yeah?”

“Don’t worry,” Coral replied, “I’ve already signaled for backup to come get him. I need to go help my brother out against this pussy beast.”

“I’ll stay with him,” Rumble took it upon himself to put Keiji’s arm over his shoulder, “No way am I leaving my best bud behind.”

“Fair enough, boo,” Coral muttered and started to load her shotgun with live ammunition this time. “But after seeing what just happened, all bets are off. Time to hunt a cougar.”

Chk-chk.

Episode XVIII: Putting Her Down

Back with Chati, Sandbar, and Vertex…

Restrained by the threat of her claws at his neck, Vertex was frozen in place and shook his head while looking at Sandbar, silently warning his friend not to attack.

“Go on little bitch! Try me! I dare ya!” Chati hissed in his ear, egging him on to attack her.

Just when she thought she had the upper hand, Vertex drove his elbow into her midsection to knock her off of his body, but not before she dug her claws into his skin and shred through his neck. Vertex would muscle through it and whip around, smacking her dead in the face with the chair once more and send her flying aside.

“Vert--shit!” Sandbar raced over to the frat house leader who had collapsed onto the ground, “...we gotta get you to--”

“...get…get her…” Vertex muttered as his neck bled, pointing to the cat beast who had still tried to get up and run.

Sandbar grumbled and sprinted over to the beastwoman, stopping her head with more quicksand before she could even think to move. He placed a hand over her head to hold her in place to ensure she’d be stuck.

“I just got one question for you, you sick, conniving, inverted gastrointestinal cat bastard!” Sandbar ranted without so much a thought behind his words, “...why? Why are you doing this? Why did you attack Keiji?!”

“Hrrrgh…”

With a hefty slam into the dirt, Sandbar smashed her head down and lifted her back up, “Answer me asshole!”

“...a simple-minded ape like you wouldn’t get it,” Chati continued to strike back with a snarky tone of voice as if she didn’t have a care in the world. “Rich, wealthy assholes like that guy won’t wise up until…” she paused to cough, “agh! Until an example is made. Until then, they’ll keep putting us down. People need to see…see how hard my conviction goes!”

Sandbar grit his teeth then let out a sigh of disappointment. It was no use. There was no getting through to someone like this. Someone whose ego ran so deep that they refused to listen to reason no matter what.

“...never mind. I don’t even know why I asked,” he lamented, “Tried to be nice, tried to be patient…but what’s the damn point anymore? You thugs are all alike!”

With a quick swipe of her claws, Chati attempted to slash through Sandbar’s face but was only able to cut through pure sand as he slipped through her fingers and disappeared.

“...?!” Chati stood up, and looked around, wondering if she was free from it all until--!

BANG!

“....”

A hole had been blown through her head with one of her eyeballs popping out as the bolt of a shotgun was cranked once more. Chati's dead body hit the ground with a hollow thud. Coral Currents placed the weapon over her shoulder and sighed.

“...god this job gets messy,” she muttered as she dusted herself off with her bucket hat and placed it on her head.

“Great timing, Cici,” Sandbar praised his sister, then glanced over at Vertex, “Shit! We need to get him outta here!”

“Already done,” Coral replied with a snap of her fingers as a few other female agents jumped out of nearby bushes to load Vertex’s body onto a stretcher and into the back of a nearby van. “Don’t worry, they’ll get him to the hospital.”

“Gotcha. Guess the Amanita Girls arrived just in time, eh?” Sandbar noted the efficiency of Coral’s agency comrades, then switched the subject, “Guess we’re done for today, huh? That fight was a trip…”

Despite his forced smile, Coral could tell something was wrong with her brother’s demeanor given the bulging veins on his neck. “...big brother, you okay? You seem…antsy…”

“...that kitty-girl was insultin’ both you and me,” he admitted with an annoyed tone of voice, “...almost called me a ‘tard for not bein’ as smart as you.” He folded his arms and grit his teeth. Processing what she had just said, even after she was killed, had rattled him to his core and it was impossible for him to brush it off. “...fuckin’ bitch.”

Coral’s eyes shot open as she holstered her weapon. Hearing Sandbar swear was such an oddity that it flung her into a visible frenzy as she hurried over to his side and gave him a hug. “...hey. Come on, Sandbar. Let’s go home, alright? Mom and dad haven’t seen you in a while, so let’s relax until this all blows over.”

His sister’s words had eased his mental state. Sandbar nodded silently, and followed Coral to her truck. “...sounds nice, sis.”

All Coral could do was give a worried smile as she drove back home with him…

In the days that followed, Vertex would be placed in Vanhoover’s Hospital while Keiji was given medical treatment from his home privately to avoid the news of his vampire DNA spreading to the public. Another news article would explain the fallout of the incident as the police reports deemed Chati’s death as an assassination. All other parties, including Argos, were arrested and tried for their involvement in a kidnapping.

Nothing else anyone could do now but wait for Keiji and Vertex’s recovery…

Episode XXIV: Loss

A few days later…

Keiji, having started to recover with a few burn marks on his face, had received a message to visit Vertex in the hospital. Accompanied by Silver Spoon, he’d arrive there via one of her family’s limos.

The vampboy would walk through the hospital and past the receptionist desk towards the room that Vertex had been stationed in. On his way there, he passed by several of his fellow House Iota brothers who had rather somber expressions on their faces as they left the hospital. Seeing this caused Keiji to fear for the worst. His eyes shot open, his heart raced, and he quickly sprinted down the hall towards Vertex’s hospital room.

Once there, the open door of the room would allow Keiji to see that Vertex was actually alive and well. He immediately took a sigh of relief as he stepped into the room where the EKG was beeping at a steady rate.

“...oh thank god,” Keiji commented as he stepped inside and took a seat one one of the chairs at Vertex’s bedside. “I was assuming the worst there for a second, but it looks like you’re okay.”

“...” Vertex glanced over at his newest frat house recruit and gave a forced, painful smile. “...I’m just glad to see you again, brother.”

“Me too. That situation was horrible, but it seems like you’re gonna make it out okay,” Keiji replied with an earnest smile, “Oh and don’t worry about that cat bitch. She’s dead and you won’t have to worry about anyone else being hurt by her either.”

“...good to hear,” Vertex responded with a small sigh as he glanced at the ceiling.

Confused at the presence of their fellow House Iota memebers, Keiji would continue the conversation, “...so uh…what’s going on? Why’d you wanna see me so soon? And what was the deal with our guys from Iota being here?”

“Needed to explain some things to them,” Vertex went on, “I need to be up front with you, Kei. Things aren’t…gonna pan out well.”

“...whaddya mean?” Keiji tilted his head, “We beat the bitch, we’re alive. That’s all that matters, right? C’mon, you’re overthinking things, bud. Soon enough, you’ll be back in classes to get your majors and fulfill that doctor dream of yours,” he encouraged his friend with a smile.

“...”

Vertex looked upwards for a moment and decided to start the conversation over by bouncing off of what Keiji had just said.

“...pal. I don’t think I really quite explained why I wanted to become a doctor, huh?”

“You said you wanted to help people, right?”

“...I wanted to become a doctor because my entire family was killed when I was little,” he went on, “...right in front of me. Mom, dad, my little brother and sister. All shredded to pieces by some…weird demon thing…” He held his head in his palm as he shuddered. The memory of what happened clearly took a toll on him even now.

Something that Keiji could feel even from where he sat. “...I…I see now. Now I get why you’re so apprehensive towards mutants too.”

“...yeah. Though the thing is…I’ve figured out that you are one,” Vertex muttered with a smile while glancing at the vamp. “...a vampire pony from that other world, huh?”

“I…yeah…”

“...and a few of your friends that were born here have mutations from that world too. Like Sandbar with the sand stuff. Cool, huh?”

Keiji blinked his eyes. What could this mean for Vertex now? He had to know.

“Wait, so does that mean you don’t hate mutants anymore?”

“...yeah. Well, the ones who aren’t criminals and assholes anyway,” Vertex chuckled, “But that’s pretty much how regular people are too. I made too much of a snap judgement before, so I wanna apologize to you at least, Kei.”

Keiji felt no animosity towards Vertex to begin with, but could absolutely understand where the guy was coming from given his past. “...no need for that, brother. I feel you. Sorry for what happened to your family. Sounds to me like they were good people who didn’t deserve what happened to them.”

Vertex nodded slowly. “...yeah. My mom was a mail runner and dad was a gardener. They both kept things in order while my little bro wanted to drive race cars and my sis wanted to become an astronaut,” he grinned at the fond memories before his expression flattened, “...too bad, though. They were all pronounced dead in this same exact hospital believe it or not.”

“...ow…damn, I’m…sorry…” Keiji muttered awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head. Then he came up with another query. “...hey, before all that went down, what did you wanna do when you got older?”

“Be a rocker,” Vertex replied with a smile, then changed the subject, “Have always loved music. But…anyway, there’s some things I need to talk to you about, Keiji. Gotta make this quick.”

Given that visiting hours were extremely tight, Keiji was understanding of this. “No prob,” he leaned forward with focused interest, “What’s up?”

“...gonna need you to take over for me as House Leader. Not gonna be able to…”

“Until you get better, right?” Keiji cut him off and pointed confidently at himself, “I can handle that. Anything that needs to be done, I’m your guy and they’ll listen to me.”

“...” Vertex glanced at Keiji, then turned his head away.

“...until you get better, right?”

With a heavy heart, and a low tone of voice, Vertex would finally come clean. “...when I said I gotta make this quick, I literally meant that I don’t have much time left, man. As of this moment…I’ve only got a few hours left.”

Keiji froze, and clutched his chest to make sure his heart was still beating. The news rattled him to his core and caused his hearing to deafen to the immediate area around him. “Wh-what…? No…no way…you’re fucking with me, right? C’mon…”

Vertex shook his head. “...There’s nothing I can do. All of our other Iota brothers already know. I just wanted to let you know so you can take up the mantle for me when I’m gone.” He reached out and patted Keiji on the shoulder. “...stay cool, alright?”

“...you…you went through all that trouble to save me and now…” Tears started rolling down Keiji’s face as he grit his teeth. The overwhelming sense of helplessness left him unable to do anything but cry for his new, dying friend. “...you’ve thrown away your life for someone like me?! What were you thinking, Vert?!”

“...I wouldn’t say that,” he replied as he let Keiji go, “...quite the opposite, actually. This experience…it’s given my life more meaning than it ever had before.” He flashed a genuine, wide smile at Keiji, “...and for that, I’m grateful. You were the best mutant I ever met.”

“...” Keiji glanced up at him, eyes filled with tears as he sniffled, and threw his arms around Vertex to hug him. “...I won’t forget you. You got that? I’ll make sure you’re immortalized for what you did for me.”

“...I’d rather you didn’t,” Vertex chuckled as he accepted what was essentially his last hug of his life. “Nothing crazy like a huge ass memorial or anything, alright?”

Keiji let him go and nodded as he wiped his face. “...promise. Nothing crazy like that.”

“...Now let me explain what you’ll have to do as House Leader from here on.”

With that, Keiji listened to Vertex’s explanation on what to do as House Leader for Iota. The vampboy wasn’t going to allow his friend’s death be in vain and made sure he listened to every last detail and kept them in mind as he left the hospital.

Once he arrived at the limo where Silver Spoon had been waiting, she immediately walked up to him, and held him tightly to comfort him. “...I’m sorry, Keiji.”

“...don’t be,” Keiji replied with newfound courage, “...he’d want me to live happily. Not in fear.”

And with the last few beeps of the EKG…it flatlined. Content with his decisions, Vertex Incline had passed away from his injuries with a peaceful smile on his face.

“...see you soon, everyone.”

Episode II: Mere Jobbers

As she watched everyone’s belongings float away, Silver Spoon couldn’t simply remain idle anymore.

“...screw it,” she muttered as she got up from the table.

As their daughter ran off, Argent would call out, “Hey, kiddo! Where are you--?!”

“Stay back! There’s robbers near here!” Silver Spoon shouted.

Sure enough, as she rounded the corner, she saw several people wearing jet-black hoodies. They were using magic to steal from as many people as they could! But as soon as they saw Silver Spoon, they chuckled.

“Well if it isn’t the byproduct of one of the richest families in the city,” one of the thieves sneered.

“What are you gonna do?” another thief, a female, called out, “Throw money at us? Bribe us?”

They started to laugh as Silver Spoon twirled a small, silver, kunai-like dagger in one of her hands.

“I’m going to ask that you return everything you stole,” she commanded as she pushed up her glasses with her free hand, “And for the record, you’re not even good thieves. I mean, seriously? Stealing handbags off of people in broad daylight? If you’re gonna be a criminal, at least do it right.”

“Hey! This is the perfect spot!” one of the thieves debated, “Hardly any cops come through here!”

Silver Spoon rolled her eyes. “Right. I guess you didn’t account for the fact that citizens are legally allowed to respond with force if they’re being threatened.”

“Pssh!” one of them scoffed, “And just what kinda force could a little wimpy girl like you do to us?”

As the banter continued, one of the thieves used his magical abilities to forcefully pull one of the nearby stop signs on the street corner behind Silver Spoon. And just when it came loose--!

SHING!

“...!”

Silver Spoon ducked underneath the sign just in time as it whizzed past her head. Almost immediately afterwards, one of the thieves dashed towards her with a pocket knife and tried to swipe at her with it, only for Silver Spoon to grab the thug’s wrist with her hand just in time! The guy gasped; he wasn’t expecting that.

“What the--?!”

CRACK!

With a quick spin, Silver Spoon spun around and dealt a swift roundhouse kick to the thug’s midsection, sending him flying backwards into his fellow thieves.

“ARGH!” he shouted upon hitting the ground. The others glanced at him with dumbfounded expressions on their faces, wondering how someone so petite could throttle a grown man.

Silver Spoon bent forward taunting them as she adjusted her glasses again. “Mmm…yup. Hole in one. Alright, who’s next?”

“...”

The rest of the thieves immediately turned and started to run!

“Of course. Little roaches scatter once they get stepped on…” Spoon scoffed as she threw her dagger into the air ahead of them.

With an instantaneous blink, she teleported from where she stood to the location of her dagger in front of the remaining three thieves who stopped and gasped once she appeared in front of them.

“AH! Please don’t hurt us!”

“We’re sorry! We’ll give everything back!”

“And march straight to the police station afterwards, hm?” she asked with a nonchalant expression, hands on her hips.

“...W-well…”

Silver Spoon raised an eyebrow whilst twirling her dagger on her finger once more. “Hm?”

“Y-yes ma’am!”

After a swift altercation, the thieves would return the belongings to every patron at the burger stand, narrowly avoiding getting themselves pepper sprayed by a few bitter elderly women in the process. Immediately afterwards, a police officer that was called to the scene by one of the victims made a formal arrest and took the four criminals away.

Silver Spoon sat down at the table with her parents and huffed. “Hmph. Bastards having to attack now of all times…”

“Language, kiddo,” her father scolded her, then changed his tune, “...but I gotta admit, that was pretty cool what you did. Where did you learn to fight like that? And those quips--you were like a superhero,” he added with an enthusiastic smile.

“I think she learned that from those comic books she reads,” her mother interjected, “The ones with the sweaty vampire men--”

“MOM PLEASE--”

“They’re good reads, though!”

Silver Spoon reached under her glasses and rubbed her eyes. “...I regret everything…”

A few minutes later, the owner of the burger stand would approach them with their usual order on different trays. A double chili cheeseburger, jalapeno chili bowl, and chocolate shake for Silver Lining, a massive quad-burger, chili cheese fries, and beer for Argent Rush, and a chili burger, chili dog, and chili tortilla-chip bag with a an iced tea for Silver Spoon.

“Thanks Mr. Takeshi,” Silver Spoon thanked him.

The older gentleman with a dragon tattoo that went up his neck simply bowed in response. “You’re very welcome, child. Ah. Your old teacher visits me quite often. Very good student he said about you.”

“...really? I…thank you, sir. Which one exactly?”

Episode III: Bowled Over

Meanwhile, at a bowling alley near the edge of the city…

CRASH!

The crash of ten pins falling would result in a wave of cheers as Luna got out of her seat. “Yes! Good one, Aidon!”

“Oh uh…thanks?” the shadowman--Aidoneus would smile nervously as he turned to face Luna and the rest of his bowling team. “I’m still trying to get the hang of all this…”

Vice Principal--or rather, retired Vice Principal Luna--was participating in a bowling tournament alongside Aidon. Their remaining team members included Saffron Masala, Pistachio, and Kerfuffle. They all wore matching, dark blue shirts with the moon printed on them and above it, the words: “LUNAR LANDERS” in striking white text.

“Don’t be modest,” Luna asserted, “We’ve been practicing all year! You’re a natural. Right, sister?”

Celestia was actually not part of their team at all. But rather, she was a mere spectator to the event. “I had no clue how this sport worked when I first started watching, but you’re all doing so well. Almost makes me regret not signing up…almost.”

Luna rolled her eyes. “We get it, sister. You’re lazy and don’t like to lift big heavy balls.”

Everyone in their group snickered as Pistachio too his turn.

“...” Celestia couldn’t help but grin and shake her head. “...anyway, how far behind are you from the other team?” she asked while looking up at the electronic scoreboard that hung from the ceiling.

As team captain, Luna’s team was about 20 points away from their opponents. A team led Windy Whistles--Rainbow Dash’s mother.

“Not too far behind,” Luna replied, “If we can maintain our streak of strikes, we can manage to eke out a win.”

“Oh that’s right,” Celestia continued, “If you win this game, you’ll be representing Vanhoover at Nationals, correct?”

Aidon nodded, “That’s right. And if we manage to win that tournament, we’ll be eligible to participate in the worldwide bowling events at the World Games.” He folded his arms with a frown of contempt on his face. “Then hopefully the Olympics will finally recognize bowling as a proper sport.”

CRASH!

“Yes!” Windy Whistles shouted from a nearby lane as she scored a striker, “Woooo! Beat that, Luna!” Her team consisted of Cinnamon Chai, Ms. Peachbottom, Trouble Shoes, and Thorax. They all wore jet black shirts with a hot pink lightning bolt in the center with text that read: “DASHERS” above it.

Nearby, her husband Bo Hothoof was cheering her on while their daughter, Rainbow Dash was cringing to herself as she grabbed the bridge of her nose. “...please keep your shirt on,” she muttered to herself, “We don’t need a repeat of last month.”

“Shyooot…” Pistachio--a college-aged farmer boy--tilted his hat upwards as he glanced at the score screen. “We’re a bit behind. Come on, we can do this,” he muttered nervously since he knew his parents were spectating nearby.

“I think we got this,” famed restaurateur Saffron Masala added, “Who’s next?”

Kerfuffle, a young woman with a prosthetic leg, spoke up, “...looks like it’s Luna.”

“The pressure’s on now,” Luna replied as she grabbed her ball from the nearest rack. “Okay…”

Everyone watched with bated breath and quieted down as Luna took the last bowl of the game. Her custom dark-blue, 8-pound ball would decide the fate of the game and either team. One would continue, one would fall. It was the tightest game of bowling the local alley had seen in months.

After a few steps and with a hefty thud, Luna rolled her ball down the lane. Everyone stared closely as the ball rolled towards the set of ten pins. All Luna could do was shut her eyes and cross her fingers…

CRASH!

All ten pins were knocked down. The Lunar Landers had won the game with a final combined average of 245 over the Dashers’ 243!

“We’re headin’ to nationals, ya’ll!” Pistachio cheered.

Everyone of their team members started hollering and gathered around for a group hug, practically dogpiling Luna for scoring the winning strike!

“Ah! W-we won?! Really?!” Luna gave a surprised gasp.

Meanwhile, Windy huffed and took a seat. “Darn…almost had ‘em. Ah well. There’s always next week, right?”

“Yeah, mom--part of me is glad you didn’t win,” Rainbow Dash stated bluntly, “You get waaay too excited when you win. And coming from me, that’s saying something.”

“Ah, lighten up, kiddo,” her dad patted her on the back, “This is your mother’s only real hobby. Support her, wouldja?”

“Hrrk!” Rainbow coughed from the force of her dad’s hand on her back, “Yeah dad. Sure--try explaining an indecent exposure charge to the police when it’s all on CCTV.”

After the celebratory postgame party with fried chicken, everyone went their separate ways. Except for Luna who walked with Aidon.

“...that was fun, huh?” she asked with a giddy pep in her step, “Just think, Aidon. Soon, we’ll be famous for our own skills.”

“...it would be nice, yes,” the shadow man admitted with a nervous smile on his face. “...Honestly, I never thought I’d be able to retain my sanity and make it this far here. But with you by my side, Luna, it’s been much easier.”

Luna blushed and started to fidget her hands behind her back as she walked. “I…well…that is to say, I’m glad I could make things easier for you too, Aidon. You deserve it after all you’ve been through. Your power doesn’t define nor control you.”

“...you’re right,” Aidon replied with a content smile, “It doesn’t. Ready to head home, love?”

"Mm-hmm. I have a surprise for you when we get baaaaack~" she replied with her best attempt to sound sultry which came out mostly as goat-like noises instead due nerves.

"...oh?"

Episode IV: A Night In

Aidon and Luna returned to their newly shared home near the suburbs by the beach. A two-story home with three bedrooms, a guest room, a basement, attic, and two bathrooms. In particular, the master bathroom was a large, open space with a walk-in shower that was big enough for them both to use at once.

Which they did.

“That was a rough one today,” Aidon muttered as he started scrubbing his hair, “Ms. Whistles’ team almost had us.”

Luna had begun to wash herself as well, her body soaked in suds from the water. “They did, but we managed to pull through. It’s actually staggering how much we’ve improved ever since we started practicing, Aidon. Do you think we’ll actually manage to get bowling recognized by the Olympic committee?”

“No telling for the moment,” he gave a content sigh as he watched Luna clean herself--particular the suds travelling down her supple, jiggling behind.

“...Aidon, are you staring-?”

“N-no…” he shook his head.

Luna giggled. “We’ve seen each other naked and have done it how many times now? And you’re still getting worked up?”

“...it’s not that. You’ve simply…put on more weight since last time,” Aidon spoke honestly, which earned a teasing glare from Luna.

“Oh? That’s not a problem for you is it?” Luna grasped her butt in both hands and squeezed her cheeks. “...Maybe I should try to work some of it off? I hear most models are super flat--”

“NO!” Aidon yelped.

Luna snorted and started laughing. “Don’t worry yourself. I know you prefer a bit of cushion on me. Honestly, that’s how I prefer it too.” She gave a content sigh, “...ah…it’s nice, you know?”

Aidon chuckled, and began to scrub his arms. Then responded with a tilt of his head, “Hm?”

“Nice to finally have someone who understands and cares about me,” Luna replied, “It’s…ah, never mind. We’ve already been over this, haven’t we?”

“Admittedly, yes,” Aidon nodded, “But even so, I get what you mean. Even a few years ago, I never thought I’d be where I am now. Just a shame the country has gotten so afraid of us…but I guess it’s only natural to fear the unknown, huh?”

“...they fear what they don’t understand, love. It’s not your fault. It’s just unfortunate that we’ve seen a massive rise in magic-centric crime lately.”

“To the point where any shred of magic will have people on edge,” Aidon lamented, then shrugged, “Speaking of which, I heard some rather upsetting news…”

Aidon was, of course, referring to the incident in which Vanhoover University student Vertex Incline was pronounced dead as a result of a mutant attack. Thankfully, the knowledge that the murderous mutant had died at the scene was a silver lining to it.

“I heard,” Luna replied as she rinsed her body off under the running water, “...tis a shame what happened to that young man. I sincerely hope that Keiji is doing well through it.”

“Ah, him,” Aidon recalled the vampboy who was in a similar position as himself, “He’s attending the same University as well, yes? I hope he and his friends are well after all of that.”

Luna moved over so Aidon could start rinsing off next. “So do I. At any rate though, we should probably try our best to relax. We don’t want to stress ourselves out, love.”

“That’s right--oh, and you’re volunteering at the local observatory, right?”

Luna nodded. “Mm-hmm. They needed some more part-time hands so I figured I’d join in. Plus, we’re actually opening an exhibit that shows sediments from various moons from across our solar system. We’re currently looking into Titania and Oberon specifically.”

“...aren’t those the names of fairies from a book?”

“Yes,” Luna replied with a giggle, “The wife and husband respectively. But those names are also used for two of Uranus’ moons. Oh! Did you know Ganymede is actually the largest moon in the entire solar system? It’s even larger than Mercury!”

Aidon’s eyes went wide as he listened to her speak. “...I’m amazed, honestly. I didn’t know that.”

The two would continue to talk more about what they were currently doing in life and get themselves cleaned up in the shower. Luna had then called Aidon over to the couch where she intended to make good on the promise of the surprise she was going to give him.

The shadow man, now wearing a white T-shirt and a pair of black pajama pants, watched as Luna flipped through the movies that were available for streaming on the TV.

“...Oh? We don’t need DVDs anymore?” Aidon asked with a curious gaze, “I had no idea. So what is it you wanted to show me, Luna?”

Luna, who was now wearing a pair of tightly fitted blue yoga pants and a black T-shirt, sat down on the couch next to Aidon. She had a rather excited expression on her face with a giddy tone, “Okay, Aidon. Apparently there’s this streaming movie that’s cursed. And if you watch it at midnight, you’ll awaken a demon of some sort!” she squealed, “How cool is that?”

“...interesting,” Aidon admitted with a slow nod of his head. Demonology was one of his favorite hobbies given his origin as an Overlord of the underworld itself. “Well if it proves to be true, we can study it and possibly use its power to keep this realm safe.”

“And to prove to my sister that I’m finally right about this legend,” Luna pumped her fists with a petty, competitive smirk on her face. “She’ll rue the day.”

Aidon gave a fond chuckle as he leaned forward. “Alright, so what’s it called?”

The TV screen showed the movie’s DVD cover, A series of reddish-black entities that looked like demons all fighting each other in a violent flurry. The title was Enchanted Torment, in bold white letters using brushstroke accents.

“...I see,” Aidon adjusted his glasses upon reading the title of the film, “Well…” He looked at his watch, “We have about thirty minutes before it starts. Want to get ready for it with some moon pies and ice cream?”

“Ooh! We could make milkshakes out of them!” Luna suggested as she got up from the couch and skipped towards the kitchen, “Let me get the blender!”

“Wait…let me help you,” Aidon warned with a worried expression as he got up to follow her into the kitchen.

As the two left, the movie’s title screen would generate a suspicious aura, humming lowly with a red tint around the edges of the screen where tiny sigils could easily be missed…

Episode V: Flicks & Thrills

A rather common urban legend indeed. This movie actually had among the lowest watch rate among streamed films due to the rumors and fears associated with it. Many have tried to watch Enchanted Torment but not many could tell exactly how it went when watching it. It was a film shrouded in mystery that the general public wasn’t ready to deal with.

So naturally, Luna and Aidon were more than willing to--in Layman’s Terms--fuck around and find out.

Once they had their snacks ready, they both sat on the couch. Luna had an excited smile on her face.

“Ooh, this is gonna be fun! I wonder if we’ll get cursed while watching it,” she mused with an oddly chipper tone.

“I’ve seen many a cult in my time below the surface,” Aidon recounted the magical mishaps he had witnessed. “So I don’t think a mere curse would surprise me, but I’m more than happy to see if it’s real or not.”

“Worst-case scenario is I get possessed by a demon,” Luna muttered fondly, “But then again, I think you’re more powerful than any regular demon, hm?”

Aidon shrugged with a neutral expression on his face. “I can easily dispel possession to be quite honest with you. Nothing like that scares me.”

“Great! Then we have nothing to worry about,” Luna smiled widely as she turned the movie on.

After a series of way too many production and company logos, the film would start up within what appeared to be the underworld itself. Several demons were engaged in a rather gruesome ritual in which severed human heads were placed on pikes.

“...really?” Aidon muttered with an unamused expression as he sipped his shake, “Pretty tame thus far.”

“Maybe it gets more interesting over time?” Luna muttered with her elbow on the couch’s arm rest and the side of her face in the palm of her hand, “I’ve seen all of this stuff before in other movies of this type.”

Soon enough, the demons had started to sacrifice animals as well. All types from mammals to reptiles to fish. Nearly every type of animal one could think of was subject to a sacrificial ritual as the demons absorbed their blood and life force.

“...yuck,” Luna stuck out her tongue, “Okay, I’ll admit, this is a bit rough.”

Aidon still didn’t react to it though. “Eh. Saw this all the time.”

The main conflict of the movie wouldn’t begin until about halfway through when secret agents from the human world would eventually find out about the demon's plan to take over and stop them before they could finish their ritual.

But by the end of the film, the humans are cursed by the ritual as well and had to fight their way back out of the underworld after defeating the army of demons. Some of which died in the process.

“...that was…painful,” Luna sobbed lightly as she wiped her face, “I can’t believe how Ustinov sacrificed himself for everyone else near the end.”

“A brave young man indeed,” Aidon sighed as he recalled the final moments of the film, “Such a shame Lauren realized his feelings for her at the final moments. But I have to wonder what the actual curse was? Or rather, the effects of it.”

“Hrm…that’s right,” Luna wondered aloud, “They were cursed but we didn’t exactly get to see anything come from it.” She folded her arms and leaned back against the couch with a rather pouty expression on her face. “Hmph. Lazy writing.”

Conversely, Aidon had a different take. “Or maybe they wanted to leave it to the imagination? The fear of the unknown and such? I was admittedly on the edge of my seat wondering what sort of diabolical reactions would occur.”

“I suppose, but aren’t you at least a little disappointed they didn’t show us?” Luna asked.

“Well…”

As the two continued to talk, the film’s credits would pass and it would come to an end. After which, a gentle red hue would be emitted from the screen and pass on into the room where they were before it traveled over their bodies.

However, they were too engaged in their review of the movie to really notice. Eventually, the couple would get tired and make their way to bed for the night.

Soon enough though, almost like clockwork, something would crawl its way out of the TV. No, it wasn’t a young woman with a mess of black hair covering her face. It was almost practically the opposite.

While the subject in question was female, she was a rather tall, stocky individual with oni horns. “...ah shit, it happened again, didn’t it?”

Episode VI: Anima Style

The next morning…

After a night of ravenous love-making as usual, Luna would awaken and walk into the bathroom where she washed her face and took a look at herself in the mirror.

“Hm…mm…”

It took her a moment to realize…that she had a tail.

“...Hm?”

And not only that, her entire body was covered in a layer of blue fur that matched her skin color.

“...what…?”

To top it off, her face was now a fox-like muzzle and her teeth were sharp. All in all, Luna had essentially become a fox-like humanoid creature of some sort.

“WHAT THE HELL--?!” she squealed aloud, which immediately awakened Aidon.

“Huh?!” Aidon leapt out of bed and looked around. “...Luna, are you alright?! What’s going on?!”

Luna stormed out to him and showed him her current form. “Look at me! I’m a poorly-made piece of internet fanart bait!”

Aidon, not familiar with the concept of ‘fanart’, tried his best to process what she had just said. “...I see. Admittedly, you don’t look half-bad all things considered.”

“...” Luna simply stared at him in silence.

“...what’s wrong? Do I have something on my face?”

Luna stood aside, her tail wagging nervously, “You might want to check the mirror.” Though her nerves turned into what sounded like a hardness of breath the longer she looked at him--possibly due to attraction?

Aidon quickly rushed into the bathroom and took a look at himself.

“Huh. So that happened,” he said with an unamused shrug. His tone indicated that this wasn’t at all that shocking to him. But what exactly did he look like?

A jet-black hellhound with three tails that emitted black fire from the tips.

“So I’m Cerberus but instead of three heads, I have three tails,” he rolled his eyes, “Sure, why not? Not the craziest thing that’s happened.”

“...do you think this could be a result of the film we watched last night?” Luna asked, “Was there an actual curse in it?”

“I’m honestly not sure, though it wouldn’t surprise me if it was.” It wasn’t so much the ‘what’, but rather ‘why’ in this case. “I’m confused though. What’s the purpose of spreading some kind of curse through a television?”

Just then, a voice would call out to them. A feminine tone with an accent akin to those found in Trottingham.

“Oi! I think ya caught somethin’ from that movie ya watched!”

“...Hello? Is someone there?” Aidon called back, “Do you happen to know what’s going on?”

“Come out to me and I’ll explain everythin’, mate.”

Naturally, Luna was suspicious. Against her nature, she sniffed the air as her fox ears twitched in the direction “...think we can trust this individual?”

“Given that I could easily rend their soul from their body,” Aidon replied with a yawn, exposing his canine maw. “I don’t think we have anything to worry about, Luna. Just stay behind me.”

With that in mind, Aidon carefully approached the bedroom door and grabbed the knob with his canine paw-hand. Once he opened it, he and Luna both walked out to the living room where an Oni had made herself busy…cleaning the house?

“Oi, you lot are a busy pair, ain’tcha? This place is a sparkin’ mess…”

To be exact, she was a six-foot tall blue oni with two horns on her forehead and a set of long, white hair. Her upper body was clad in nothing but sports tape that held her rather bouncy, well-endowed chest together. Below that, she had a set of rather chiseled abs that matched her muscular arms. Arms that led into hands wrapped in sports tape up to her wrists, though her fingers were bare.

And below that, she wore what appeared to be a pair of white martial artist pants and a black belt that held them up tightly. Lastly, she currently had her shoes off, leaving her blue feet bare for the moment as she continued to put away the trash and started to clean the dishes that the couple had left behind last night.

“Anyway, I came outcha telly,” she continued as she threw some trash away, “And looks like I was too late to help. You’ve already been afflicted with the Anima Curse.”

“...Anima Curse?” Luna tilted her head. “I don’t follow.”

Aidon snapped his fingers as his tails wagged. “Oh! That curse. I remember now, it’s a curse that makes use of transmogrification in order to force people to join a cult. But I never realized it made it here into the human world.”

“Yeah you right on it, old man,” the oni woman commented as he opened the fridge, “Oi, mind if I take one’a these bevvies?” she asked in reference to the cans of beer that were present in the fridge.

“...sure,” Aidon nodded. “Not a problem.”

“You cleaned up for us so it’s the least we could do,” Luna replied with a smile and wag of her tail. Then turned to Aidon. “So…if this is a curse to follow a cult, why weren’t we affected?”

“Maybe we have high concentrations of magic that prevent us from succumbing to it fully,” Aidon mused as he looked at his paw-hands, “...at least, that’s my best guess. But there’s no telling how many others watched that film and befell the same curse, or who’s behind this. Speaking of which…”

Aidon glanced over at the oni who had taken a seat on the couch and started sipping the beer.

“...excuse me, miss, but two questions: Who are you and where are you from?”

“I’m from what you’d call this world’s version of Hell I s’pose,” she answered honestly, “Had a barney or two with Cerberus. Also saw this one bloke named Tirek once…”

“...that confirms my suspicion,” Aidon muttered, “The underworld of Equestria and the human world are one and the same.”

Luna would walk around to her and ask, “...okay, that answers that. But what do you do?”

"Guess you could call me crowd control for this kinda crap," the oni went on, "A paranormal investiga'or of sorts. I'm 'ere to 'elp."

Episode VII: Wabbit Season

“Oh and my name? You can call me Aoife (ee-fuh) Aogami,” the oni went on, “I’m from a group down under that deals with nonsensical crap here on the surface. You could call us like our own little agency of sorts.”

Aidon wagged his tails as he gave it some thought. “I see. So the anti-demon faction is still active even long after I left. Interesting. So we have someone here on the surface using a magical film curse to turn people into animals to get them into their cult.”

“Somehow that’s the least strange thing I’ve heard,” Luna muttered as she sat down, and reached one of her leg-paws to scratch behind her ear, “...argh…now I’m really starting to act like one.”

“Yeh, that’s a problem with that kinda curse,” Aoife replied, “You start feelin’ it more and more over time. Thankfully it seems you lot are a tad resistant to it, but we need’ta find out if anyone else has been afflicted by this and see what we can to do track down the perps, yeh?”

“Seems reasonable,” Aidon agreed. But now they had to figure out exactly where to start. “...the problem is: How will we know who’s been affected by this?”

Aoife would sport a wide smirk on her face. “I got myself prepared for this, love.” She pulled out what appeared to be a compass-like device. “This’ll point me in the direction of the nearest state of corruption on the surface world.”

“I see,” Aidon looked over at the rather archaic-looking device, “You really were prepared for this weren’t you, miss? You’re much more intelligent than the common imp.”

“Pshaw,” Aoife scoffed, “You think I’m like the average imp bloke that can barely fend for themselves? I don’t need to suck on a Goetia’s teat to get anywhere, love.”

“Any idea where it’s pointing?” Luna asked with an interested tone as her tail wagged. “I won’t lie, I’m quite interested in dealings of the occult. Twas a little side hobby in my youth.”

“Well you’re both in luck,” Aoife stood up and slipped her sandals onto her feet, “I’ve got a signal comin’ from up the road. Wanna follow it with me?”

“Nothing better to do,” Aidon replied, “Besides, I’d very much like to get to the bottom of this curse.”

“Same here!” Luna added with a fox-like chirp, “Lead the way, Ms. Aogami. Oh, though we should probably put on some jackets,” she warned as she realized their rather inhuman appearances. “Don’t want anyone to see us.”

The group would leave Aidon and Luna’s home and stick to side streets in order to avoid being seen by too many people. A nagging feeling in the back of Aidon’s mind subconsciously passed judgement and suspicion towards Aoife due to her sudden appearance and knowledge of the incident. But given that they had no other information or leads, Aidon had no choice but to trust her…for the moment, anyway.

Eventually, after a few minutes of walking, Aoife’s compass would lead them and start glowing upon reaching a particular home in the suburbs of the city.

“Oi. Over here,” the oni called out, “Got a live one.”

Aidon tilted his head. “Hrm…wait a minute, I believe I recall this address.”

“Wait, so do I,” Luna added as she took a look around the area. Her ears twitched in the direction of the home. “...that’s right. This place is listed as one of the emergency contacts for Rainbow Dash.”

“...that could mean any of her family had been afflicted by the Anima Curse,” Aidon commented. “I’ll take point. They’ll recognize my voice first.” The cerberus-man had decided to venture forth and knocked on the door of the home. “...hello?”

There was a silence, but eventually Rainbow Dash’s voice would call out. “...who’s there?”

“...it’s your old professor,” he continued, “Aidoneus?”

“...Professor? Uhhh…now’s not a good time, I need to--”

Thumpthumpthump….

“...is everything okay in there?” Aidon tilted his head to look into the nearest window, “Are your parents home?”

“...n-no! They’re not…ah forget it, I may as well show you.”

The door opened to reveal Rainbow Dash…

Except she had also become cursed.

The cyan-colored young woman had become a cyan-colored, anthropomorphic rabbit woman with furry hands, long droopy ears, a twitchy nose, and lagomorphic legs that she didn’t bother with shoes over due to how wide her paw-feet were now. And of course, a pom-pom bunny tail on her backside. Her athletic pants were torn and stretched from her new muscular legs, thick thighs, and wide hips, but thankfully her crop top conveniently matched her newfound bustline.

“Look at me! What’s happened?!” she screamed as she pointed at herself, her left foot thumping repeatedly against the ground, “I look like a cartoon character designed to draw in horndogs and creeps!”

Aoife leaned over and inspected Rainbow Dash with one eye shut before opening it. “Yup. That’s the Anima Curse, innit.”

“Oh gee, thanks captain obvious!” Rainbow yelped as she folded her arms, “Tell me something I don’t know! I was watching a kung-fu movie last night and--I NEED LETTUCE!” She quickly stormed back inside with swift hops, leaving the group to munch on a head of green leaves.

“...we need to regroup,” Aidon called out, “Let’s calm down and go over what we know before we proceed.”

Episode VIII: Signal Tracking

Everyone went inside Rainbow Dash’s family home to discuss what was going on. They all took a seat in the kitchen where Dash had made herself busy nibbling on more lettuce.

Aidon would begin, “So you said something about watching a kung-fu movie, correct? What happened afterwards?”

“Well after that,” Dash muttered as she tried to recall what happened, “...I think I ended up on some weird movie called Enchanted Torment. After that, I kinda fell asleep and woke up like this.” She rolled her eyes, “Why a rabbit anyway…?”

“A’right,” Aoife commented, “That means you were affected by the film’s curse as well. Okay, so that tells us a bit more about what’s happened. But not quite enough about who’s behind it.”

Luna would jump into the conversation with a bit of conjecture. “Hm…this is merely an educated guess, but I imagine there’s a reason it turned you into a lagomorph. You have an affinity for athleticism and agility, not unlike a rabbit after all.”

“...Huh. I guess so,” Dash’s nose twitched curiously.

Aidon would add onto that point. “...that’s right. Now I’m starting to remember. The Anima Curse often changes its victims into beasts that closely line up with their inner personas. It was eventually neutralized for good in Equestria since most beings there are already beasts.”

“But not here looks like,” Aoife pointed out the fact that humans are susceptible to this curse more than any other creature, “This is somethin’ that’d only work in this world.” She then turned to Rainbow Dash, “I recommend ya stay inside for a while, love. You don’t wanna attract any unwanted attention.”

“...yeah, fair enough I guess,” Dash sighed, “Kinda sucks since I was gonna go down to the beach and work on my surfing but I guess that’d cause way too much of a public nuisance.”

Given the current state of the nation, she’d be immediately found out and likely taken away by the police for merely sporting a mutation like that in public.

Aoife comforted her with a pat to her head. “Don’t worry, love. Big sis Aoife’s got this. We just need a lead on where this feckin’ curse is comin’ from…”

“Rainbow Dash,” Luna called out as her tail wagged, “Can you do us a favor and call your friends? Be sure to warn them not to watch this film.”

“Yeah I will. I just--please let me know when you catch whoever’s behind this,” she grumbled as she bit down on a carrot, “I’m craving vegetables and now I feel like I need to start jumping around and stuff. It’s crazy!”

“...best we give her some space for now,” Aidon suggested, “At the moment, our trail on this case has run cold, so we need to think about--”

Bzzz!

His phone started to vibrate in his pocket. Aidon took it out and answered it. “...hello?”

“Yo, teach? I’m not sure who to ask here but I got a bit of a problem,” Aria Blaze’s voice called out from the other end.

“...Ms. Blaze?” Aidon’s eyes shot open. He recalled that, long ago when he was still their teacher, he instructed them to call him in case of an emergency in school. Given that, he immediately began to worry about her reason for calling. “...is everything alright?”

“...yeah there’s a bit of…hang on, lemme turn on my phone’s camera.”

Aidon looked at his phone and there, Aria had the face of a shark. “...Oh no…” he gasped, “Looks like you’ve been affected by this as well.”

“Know anything about this?” Aria asked, then took a minute to glance harder at her former teacher. “...oh wait, guess you must know if you’re an animal-person too.”

Aidon then tilted his phone in the direction of Aoife. “She could probably explain it to you better than I could.”

One explanation from the oni later…

“...some kinda curse from that movie, then?” Aria sighed, “Here we go again…”

“Yeh, sorry about that mate,” Aoife responded with a sympathetic tone, “Like I said, I’m ‘ere to ‘elp in any way I can. What we need to do is find the source of that damned signal but I ain’t got no leads.”

That’s when Aria would speak up. “...signal? Oh wait, that’s right, a streaming service signal.”

“...do you happen to know something, Ms. Blaze?” Adion asked with a hopeful wag of his tails.

“Yeah I got a buddy who works at a TV station in the city where the movies are streamed from,” she went on, “I think we’ll be able to find something from there. Just need to make a quick call and we’ll be in business. Also nice to meetcha, ‘Ife. You look like you’d be fun to screw with.”

Aoife chuckled and gave a confident smirk as she folded her arms under her chest, “Nah mate. You don’t want nunna this. If anything, I might be the one protectin’ ya. You just leave all this to big-sis Aoife, savvy?”

“Ugh,” Aria rolled her eyes at such a suggestion. Dealing with Adagio’s protective nature was bad enough, now she had to deal with it from somebody she barely knew? “Don’t test me. I can take care of myself.”

“Spunky ain’t we?” Aoife replied, still smirking. "We'll see how long that lasts."

“...okay, let’s not start a fight over something rather petty,” Luna suggested, “Ms. Blaze, could you please take us to meet your friend so we could possibly locate the source of that signal?”

“Yeah yeah, sure. I’ll be up in Vanhoover in like an hour.”

Episode IX: Predators

About an hour later at the TV station in middle of the city…

Aria had gotten out of her car wearing a hoodie that covered her sharky features. Her skin tone was now a slate gray but her multi-colored hair was still the same.

Meanwhile, Aidon had driven to the address that Aria had provided and met up with her there as he parked his SUV nearby. He, Luna, and Aoife would all get out to meet her.

“...damn,” Aoife gave a worried frown as soon as she saw the condition Aria was in. “Looks like it hit you pretty hard. But it seems like you’ve managed to hold onto your sanity.”

“Yeah thanks,” Aria rolled her eyes, “Come on, we need to get inside quickly before anyone sees us.”

The group hurried towards the TV station where Aria called up her friend. A small building on a street corner at the edge of the city near a radio tower where the signal was broadcast from. They were let inside, and met with a young man who had recently been turned into a chipmuk!

“...hey, Cable, I--” Aria glared at him, then took off her hood. “...damn, it looks like it got to you, huh?”

“Yeah,” Cable sighed and shook his head, “As soon as you called and asked me about what was going on, I knew I wasn’t crazy. The fact that I’ve been turned into a munk is…” He looked at his paw-hands, then up at everyone else, “...yeah.”

“We need to be quick,” Aria went on as he walked up to his desk, “Where did the signal for Enchanted Torment even come from? Was it submitted from a company or an individual? Details, buddy.”

Cable opened a filing cabinet at his desk and looked through it. “...no idea. Looks as if it just appeared out of nowhere one day. Must have been broadcast from somewhere else.”

“Damn,” Aria grumbled.

“But we can still see what we can find at my terminals,” Cable suggested, “Follow me.”

Everyone followed the chipmunk guy to the terminals in the back of the TV station beyond where the streaming server’s supercomputers were located. There, upon several computer monitors, Cable would type to bring up information about Enchanted Torment.

“That’s odd,” he muttered out of confusion as he adjusted his glasses to get a better look at the screens, “Nothing’s really coming up for this. This hasn’t ever happened before.”

Aoife tilted her head at the screens and tried to look for any abnormalities within them. An average joe like Cable wouldn’t be able to pick up on it, but an experienced paranormal investigator like her had seen this sort of thing before.

“Hrm…” In particular, she noticed her compass device twitching violently towards the upper-right monitor.

Aidon noticed how deep in thought the oni gal was, and spoke up. “Ms. Aogami? Do you see anything out of the ordinary?”

“Somethin’ like that,” the oni stepped forward and past Aria. She then looked at the chipmunk guy, “Say, love. Wouldja mind openin’ that file for me in the uppa-right?”

Cable turned and was met with the oni gal’s ripped set of blue abs, then looked up and noticed her…rather well-endowed chest, but quickly shook his head to avoid staring. “I-I uh…yes. No problem!”

Aria scoffed at this, noting how quick Cable was to react to Aoife’s request. ‘Oh sure, he suddenly starts figuring things out when Ms. Floatation Devices shows up.’

Once Cable found the file that Aoife had asked about, the oni stepped forward and tapped the screen…

ZAP!

“Ah!” She immediately pulled her hand back upon feeling a sting from the screen’s interface. “Damn thing’s got magic imbued in it. It must be the source of the curse.”

“What do you intend to do?” Luna asked.

“Smash it to bits and break the curse, obviously,” Aoife commented as she cracked her knuckles.

But just before she could even executed her idea--

The screens flickered and revealed what appeared to be a hooded figure with a white, ghost-like mask covering their face on each individual monitor. Their voice was distorted as if altered by a voice changer.

“I don’t think you should do that.”

Everyone paused and looked up at the monitor out of confusion. Was this the individual behind the curse in the first place.

“Oi! Who in the snuff are you?!” Aoife shouted.

“Are you the one that’s turning people into furries?” Aria asked, “If so, why?”

The masked individual would continue.

“I know about the public’s perception of magical creatures and mutated beings. They’re all so weak and feeble-minded. Easily falling victim to the little crumbs of hype and sensationalism they can get their grubby little hands on. Like wild animals rummaging for food…”

“Self-indulgent bellend--” Aoife grit her teeth, “Quit talkin’ in riddles dammit! Explain yourself!”

The distorted voice would cut right to the point. “If you wish. Then so be it. I’m looking to conduct an experiment of sorts. To see how animals like humans react when their own kind are turned into beasts. It’s going to be a fun time. After all, humans are so preoccupied by their screens, their devices--they sit at home and merely wish to substitute real experience through fantasy. Video games, television, fanfiction…it’s all a farce.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” Aidon yelled, “You blindly assume all humans are the same. What does that make you? In fact, who even are you?!”

The voice hesitated for a moment when they noticed Aidon, and continued, “Who I am is irrelevant. But I think you’ll find out soon. After all, there isn't much fun without a chase. You all have seven days. I will be sending you instructions with clues to track me down...if you can. In the meantime, good luck and we'll see who comes out as apex predator.”

Episode X: Sick Beasts

Just then, the transmission cut out. With nothing left to go off of, all they could do was listen and wait for the mysterious masked individual’s further orders.

“...I’ve lost the signal,” Cable commented with a nervous chitter as he typed on his computer. The mysterious file from before was now gone. “...sorry, guys.”

“...damn,” Aria sighed, then shook her head. “Nah, it’s not your fault, bud. We just need to regroup for now.”

“I take it that we need to wait for further instructions from them,” Aidon repeated the information that the mysterious figure gave them, “I suppose there’s not much else we can do but wait for their orders,” he gave a dog-like growl under his breath, “...as much as it pains me to stand idle.”

Aoife shrugged her shoulders. “Yeah, well I ain’t exactly in the mood’ta sit around and wait fer no one’s orders.” With that, she turned and started to leave. “I’ll catch you lot some other time, yeh? Hopefully you make it through this.”

Luna tilted her head with a concerned foxy whine. “Hm? Wait, Ms. Aogami, where are you going?”

“Out. I’ll come on back if I ever need anything else.” And with that, the oni woman left the TV station and presumably went her own way.

“...I hope she’ll be okay,” Luna sighed.

“There’s not much else we can do at the moment, Luna,” Aidon added with an annoyed huff, “All we can do is wait for those directions.”

“I’ll head out too,” Aira commented, “I need to make sure my sisters know about this. Whoever that bastard is, it’s clear they wanna cause a bunch of freakouts just to prove why humans suck.”

Being a native human herself, Luna was unable to refute such a claim. “I mean, admittedly there are plenty of nasty and selfish humans, but that doesn’t mean we’re all like that. Whoever this is is clearly so utterly bored with themselves that they feel the need to conduct an experiment like this to give their pitiful existence any sort of meaning.”

“Well that’s a rather poignant way of putting it,” Aidon noted just how abrasive Luna’s comment was towards the masked figure. “But for the moment, let’s all head home and try not to end up on the evening new, shall we?”

And so they did. Everyone went their separate ways for the time being as they awaited the Masked Figure’s orders.

Meanwhile…

Unfortunately, as one would expect, numerous people had screwed around and found out about the curse of Enchanted Torment. The result?

Numerous arrests.

One after another within the last few days alone had started to appear on police records. Mutated animal-people were immediately arrested on sight without warning or being given a single chance to fight back. The Masked Figure’s point about humanity was already being proven fear of the unknown already overtaking them.

Just within the last hour:

A woman had found that her son had turned into a dog-boy and had him taken away.

A man that had been turned into a bear-man had been shot with a tranquilizer as soon as he unknowingly tried to get his mail.

A girl had been turned into a hawk-gal and was arrested on suspicion of being a harpy as soon as she left school.

“...and that’s just three of many cases that have happened today,” Starlight Glimmer reported on the news, “It is said that everyone needs to remain calm as the authorities sort the situation out and figure out whether or not the people infected by this ‘Anima Disease’ are harmful or not.”

Applebloom had been watching the news report at her family’s farmhouse and sighed upon hearing what had been happening around the country…

“Hot dayum,” the young woman lamented. Now an adult in her own right, Applebloom continued to manage the farm alongside her sister Applejack since Big Mac moved away to live with Sugar Belle.

After a long work on the farm, the haggard Apple Bloom was enjoying herself an ice pop while sitting on the couch and watching the TV. But it wasn’t long before Applejack awakened and stepped into the room.

“...aaaugh…mornin’ sis.”

“Morn--” Bloom stared at her sister. Applejack’s face was completely different and more…bovine-like. “...sis? Have you looked in the mirror lately?”

“Hm? Yeah, wha…?” the half-awake Applejack rubbed her eyes. “What’s wrong with meh?”

“...sis, you’re a cowgirl.”

“...eh? I know that, sugarcube,” Applejack replied with a confused tone.

“No. I mean--hang on a spell,” Applebloom took out her phone, snapped a picture of her sister and showed it to her. “Look.”

“What’re you on about Applebl--”

Applejack froze as she looked at the photo, then down at herself. The curse had turned her into an ox-cow.

“...”

Episode XI: Ox Apples

“...I’mma damn cow!” Applejack lamented her appearance. She was essentially a female ox-minotaur now with an orange color scheme and…enlarged bosoms as a result of mutation. “Is this some kinda magic spell? I need’ta call Twilight…”

“Yeah, sis, about that…” Applebloom would relay what she had seen on TV including all of the cases of mutated animal-folk that had been quarantined and arrested on sight.

“...gyatdayum,” Applejack’s tail swished nervously in response, “So I can’t be seen out in public. Well that’s just plum great. So yer sayin’ this is all due to some kinda disease? Or is it magical, maybe?”

Bloom shrugged her shoulders. “I dunno. Maybe Twilight knows? She’s the smarty-pants of ya’ll group ain’t she?”

“Good idea,” Applejack nodded, and took out her phone to give Sci-Twi a call.

It didn’t take long for her to answer. “Hello? Applejack?”

“Yeh, have ya watched the news lately, Twi?”

“...I have, and I’ve experienced what they’ve described.”

“...yer a varmint too?” Applejack muttered in horror, “...damn. Looks like our options are gettin’ slimmer.”

Twilight hesitated for a moment, and sighed over the phone. “Yeah…it appears I’ve been transformed into a corvus--”

“A ‘whoovus’?”

“...a raven. Hang on let me show you. Turn on your phone’s camera.”

“Mah what?” Applejack held her phone away from her face and tried to activate the camera. “...argh…I ain’t used’ta this stuff. Applebloom?”

Applebloom rolled her eyes and activated her sister’s facetalk camera. They could both see Twilight Sparkle had become an anthropomorphic raven with a dark-violet set of feathers all over her body and a matching beak.

“Yeesh. You weren’t kiddin’, Twi,” Applejack whistled as soon as she saw Twilight on the facecam. “But ya know, ya don’t look all that bad if I’m bein’ honest.”

“Thanks, but I don’t think the public would have the same reaction,” she replied as she nibbled some of her arm’s feathers. “It all started after I watched a movie called Enchanted Torment with Spike. I wish I could figure out how it cursed me but the movie has deleted itself from my streaming service so I can’t access it anymore.”

“Ah--damn,” Applejack huffed. It looked like they wouldn’t be able to use the film as a method of figuring out where this curse had come from. However, Applejack had a more pressing question on her mind. “...hold on--Twi you said you watched that movie with Spike, right?”

“Yes?”

“...Spike’s a dog, ain’t he?”

“...yes?”

“...from what I can tell, so far, humans are bein’ turned into critters. But what happens when a critter watches it…?”

“...” Twilight froze. She hadn’t considered that until now. In fact, she hadn’t seen Spike at all that day.

Applejack tried to get her attention, “...Twilight?”

“I’ll call you later, Applejack. I need to check on Spike!”

And with that, she hung up.

“Guess she didn’t think about that ‘til ya mentioned it to ‘er,” Applebloom commented from the couch.

“I can understand,” Applejack was sympathetic given her usual work, “When you get yourself in a routine of feedin’ yer pets or farm animals, ya don’t really realize somethin’s off until someone else points it out. Regardless…I need’ta figure out how I’mma work the cider stand…”

“But people love ya, sis,” Applebloom replied, “You ain’t got nothin’a worry about…I think.”

“...considerin’ I look mighty different than mah usual self,” Applejack pointed out that she no longer resembled a human being, “I dunno about all that. Might be best if I just lay low and don’t do nothin’ that could land me in a bear trap…or ox-trap I guess.”

Applebloom stretched her arms upwards. “Don’tcha worry, sis. I’ll handle the Cider stand. Reminder: I’m like 20 now.”

Applejack stared at her sister for a moment, realizing how developed she had become. Applebloom was standing at a staggering 5-foot-10, had a rather curvaceous appearance with wider hips and a more pronounced bustline.

“...that’s right, I keep forgettin’ you ain’t exact my little sister no more,” Applejack snorted as she affectionately patted her sister’s head, much to the latter’s visible chagrin. “How’s things goin’ with you and yer man?”

“About the same as you and yours,” Applebloom rolled her eyes and playfully swatted her sister’s hand away. “He’s been treatin’ me well. Don’t worry.”

“Good. Now get yer purdy little self on down to the stand. I’ll help ya however I can.”

And so Applebloom would take up the management of the Cider Stand for the first time on her own. Applejack would help her by carrying the barrels of cider from nearby where most of the customers couldn’t see her. It was pretty much all going well for the most part.

But then she heard a distant cry for help.

“HELP! HE’S TOUCHING ME!”

“Shut up and keep quiet!”

“...?” Applejack’s bovine ear and tail flicked. “...what the? Applebloom, didja hear…?”

Nope. She didn’t. Applebloom was busy serving cider to customers. It must have been Applejack’s sensitive ox ears that allowed her to hear such a thing. Without warning, she took off like a stampeding bull with her rope at her side. Something about that cry for help sounded…eerily familiar to her.

“...is that him again?”

Episode XII: Ravenclaw

Indeed. It was someone that Applejack had dealt with before. An entertainment manager and agent that had nearly destroyed one of her childhood friends’ reputation…

“No…not him. Not again!”

Applejack raced down the streets with her thunderous ox legs causing quakes in the earth beneath her. It wasn’t long before she found herself in the big city of Vanhoover. As it turns out, her hearing was just that good.

But the question is, just what was she hearing?

It didn’t take her long to find out that it was coming from a nearby acting studio.

“Listen here, little missy,” a man in a blue business suit pushed a young woman up against her trailer. “You’re gonna take the part and perform that ad. You wouldn’t want to disappoint all of your adoring fans, would you?”

“N-no! But…please stop!” she begged as tears rolled down her cheeks. It was a young woman, no older than 17 who wore what appeared to be a schoolgirl’s uniform. Whatever she was advertising must have been related to her attire, given how embarrassed she was.

“Then you’re gonna do what you're told,” the man grit his teeth at her. “...or am I gonna have to take measures into my own hands…”

She could hear the sound of something unzipping, and panicked. “N-no! I’ll do it! Okay! I-I promise!”

“That’s a good little--”

THUMP!

“SVENGAL!” Applejack’s voice bellowed in an unrecognizable tone as she approached the parking lot. In her oxen form, neither of them could tell that this was the Element of Honesty they were dealing with.

“What the--?! Who in god’s name are you?!” he yelped, and started to back away. “Some kinda cow-demon, thing?! Someone call the police!”

“Ah!” the schoolgirl in question broke free and ran away, panicked at the sight of the cow beast, but mostly because she wanted to get away from Svengal.

Applejack stomped up to him and picked him up by his collar, causing him to panic as she snorted steam in his face from her nostrils. Her anger had caused her to grow in size, now standing at a monstrous 8 feet tall. “I saw what you was gonna do.”

“W-whatever do you mean?!” Svengal tried to nervously play it off by shaking his head. Being faced with what was essentially a monster bovine on two legs. “I-I didn’t--!”

“YOU LYIN’!”

Applejack roared as she slammed Svengal into the ground, but as soon as she did--!

“POLICE!” a policewoman cried out, the same woman who had been working the various investigations into mutants thus far. She held a handgun towards Applejack alongside her backup officers. “Hands in the air, monster! Let the man go!”

“HE WAS--!” Applejack looked down and noticed that Svengal had escaped her grasp and sighed to herself.

From their perspective, a giant cow-monster woman had just upped and attacked a random civilian for no reason. Context didn’t matter. Nuance didn’t matter. Applejack appeared guilty to everyone here, and she knew this.

“...enough!” the officer woman shouted, “Just calm down and come quietly or we will use lethal force!”

With no other option, Applejack simply took off! Her hefty footsteps shook the earth once more as the officers fired bullets at her. Bullets that merely bounced off of her body as she ran off.

“Dammit!” the officer stomped her foot, “The department needs to hurry up with those anti-magic bullets! Everyone, let’s hurry up and see if we can find any injured.”

Meanwhile, at Sci-Twi’s house…

“...Spike? Spike??” Twilight called out to her furry little friend, looking all over the house for any sign of him, but found nothing. The young raven-girl scientist dreaded what could have become of Spike since he had watched that film along with her.

“Oh no…” she muttered with a nervous chirp as a few feathers were expelled from her body, “I don’t have the proper data to understand what effects that film has on people, let alone actual animals! Spike, where are you?!”

Thankfully, it didn’t take long for her to find him. Eventually, once she reached the attic of her home, she’d find a young human man with purple skin that was about her age, hiding away in one of the corners of the attic.

“...no way, Spike is that you?”

“...go away,” he called out. His voice was so deep that it was like talking to someone completely different, “I’m…hideous Twilight.”

“...so it’s true,” she sighed as she called out to him, "You've been affected by the curse too, huh? Come on, I won't hurt you, Spike. You're my best friend. I promise I won't laugh. If anything, I look way worse right about now."

"You promise?"

"Promise."

Episode XIII: Man Curse

The young man crawled out on all fours, still used to being a dog and unable to properly ambulate on two legs just yet. He had found some of Shining Armor’s old clothes that were passed down to Twilight--specifically a pair of camo-colored cargo shorts and a green basketball jersey.

“...you’re okay, Spike,” the spectacled raven called out to her friend, “I’m right here.”

“...Twilight? What happened to me? Wait, what happened to you?” he asked as he tried his best to stand, only to stumble in the process.

Twilight adjusted her glasses and squawked against her will. “Awk! I-I mean…I think I know what’s going on. But we need to conduct more research before we do anything. The media is actively pining against anyone they see that’s even remotely non-human, and I’d certainly be arrested on the spot for going out.”

“...but not me, right?” Spike asked as he scratched behind one of his ears with his hand, “I won’t be judged for looking different, will I?”

Twilight shook her head. “I don’t think so. You’ll be fine. The rest of us, however…I need to check up on them. Rainbow Dash already called me and told me she had turned into a rabbit creature. And Applejack said she became an ox.”

“So that leaves Rarity, Sunset, Fluttershy, and Pinkie,” Spike counted them off as he raised his fingers with each name, “...I see.”

“...huh,” Twilight muttered as she put her claw-hand on Spike’s forehead.

“What’s wrong? Do I feel funny?”

She shook her head. “No, it’s just that I didn’t expect you to look like this. Or react like this.” She giggled, “I always imagined that if you turned human, the first thing you’d do would be to try and get Rarity’s attention.”

Spike rolled his eyes. “...come on, Twilight, you know I’m not interested in her. We’ve been over this.”

“Right, sorry. I shouldn’t be teasing you when your whole life’s been changed,” she noted his new appearance, and started to take measurements, “We have a lot of tests we need to run.”

“If it’ll help, I’m all for it,” Spike agreed with a smile on his face, “Let’s see what we can find.”

Meanwhile, with Aidon…

The cerberus-man had to adjust his daily routine. Going outside in this state was no longer an option due to his appearance, though Luna was intent on at least doing shopping with a hoodie on to mask who she was, much to the chagrin and concern of Aidon.

Thankfully, she didn’t take very long.

“I’m back!” the fox-lady yipped as she removed her sunglasses and hoodie to let her hair flow down, “You won’t believe this, Aidon, but a lot of people out there actually like me like this.”

“...really? That’s a surprise,” he replied with a raised eyebrow as he glanced up at her from the couch. He had been watching the news rather closely to see if anything else had arisen. “But I’m glad. Seems as if not everyone is swayed by the media’s outrage.”

Luna walked to the kitchen and started to put away the groceries she had purchased. “Speaking of which, have you received any new information from--?”

Aidon’s phone would buzz and it would be a call from the Masked Figure who appeared on his screen. “Are you prepared for your first test?”

“Fine. What do you need from me?” he asked as Luna approached from behind with her tail wagging expectantly.

“Who’s all pink and loves to eat to their heart’s content like a ravenous animal?” the figure would give the first riddle, “See if you can find them before things get worse.”

“Wait what--?!” Aidon yelped but he got no answer. The call ended and he grumbled as he put his phone away. “Dammit. They’re gone.”

Luna had already figured it out though and was busy texting on her phone as she hummed an idle tune. “Hm…”

“Have something?”

“Yes,” she replied, “Whoever that is essentially gave it away when they mentioned pink. It has to be Ms. Pinkie Pie.”

Aidon recalled how Pinkie’s appetite was essentially bottomless. But that also begged the question of why she was their next target. Could she already be afflicted with the Anima Curse?

“...I see. We need to contact her immediately,” said the hellhound man.

“Already done,” Luna replied as she showed him her phone, “She’s currently doing a catering job for a party at one of the nation’s elite estates near Vanhoover’s hockey stadium.”

“I have a feeling something bad is about to happen if our Masked friend is trying to egg us onwards. Here’s hoping Aoife is doing okay as well--wherever she is."

Luna put a paw-hand on his shoulder and smiled. "...you sound like a father worried for his daughter right about now."

"...do I?"

The fox-woman giggled and wagged her tail. "Come on, let's get up to that hockey rink."

Episode XIV: Upperclass Party

Indeed. As Luna found out, there was a rather massive event being held at an estate near one of the hockey stadiums in Vanhoover. It currently wasn’t in use due to the summer weather, but the estate that overlooked it was where the festivities were being held.

Pinkie Pie, along with the various employees of her business, were hard at work to unload the food from a truck into the estate where the event was taking place. Apparently it was the wedding anniversary of one of the members of Mapleland’s Elite. An event so important that a member of the Trottingham Royal Family was present as well given that they still had jurisdiction over the nation.

“Pinkie, are you sure this is a good idea?” one of her employees--a young man--muttered as they pushed a food cart into the back of the building. “Considering your current condition…”

Pinkie was wearing a massive pink hoodie to conceal her face. “No…I’m fine. I can handle it. But thanks for asking, Carpenter.”

Another employee--a young woman--would speak up from a nearby cart. “If it gets bad, Pinkie, let us know and we’ll take you back. Your sisters and parents would kill us if we let you hurt like this.”

“No, Ambrosia,” Pinkie was determined, “I promised that this would be the best party possible for Mr. and Mrs. Valois and I’m not gonna let my face ruin it.”

Both Carpenter and Ambrosia exchanged an uncertain glance with each other. Their boss was an excitable woman that tried her best to make sure everyone was having a good time. Her commitment to her work was one of her greatest assets.

Unfortunately, it was also one of her greatest faults.

Because of her almost insatiable determination towards her job, Pinkie refused to back down from it even if she knew she wasn’t feeling well. Having suffered from the Anima Curse and having her appearance altered, she knew that being seen in public was a bad idea. But she also knew that her work was just as important and didn’t want her employees to work such an important event without her.

It was a risky move, but it was one Pinkie was willing to take.

“Don’t worry,” Pinkie added, “I’ll make sure I stay out of sight. I just wanna be here for my team. You know how it is, right? A hockey team can’t function without its captain.”

“...true, but--”

Pinkie cut Carpenter off. “Well a catering business can’t function without its head chef in charge. You guys need me and I won’t abandon you for a selfish reason like my face being all messed up. We got this, guys.”

Her employees were still nervous, but they were willing to go along with her word at least for now. Little did they know that trouble was already brewing on the horizon…

About an hour later, outside…

Aidon drove with Luna up to the hills overlooking Vanhoover. Specifically around behind the main building where they knew Pinkie’s catering company would be present with their vehicles.

“Alright, Aidon. How do you propose we handle this?” Luna asked, “We don’t know how these people are going to react if they see us.”

“I have something for that,” Aidon cast a quick refraction spell upon them both, shrouding them both in darkness to where no one would be able to see them. “There. We’re essentially invisible now so we shouldn’t have much to worry about.”

“Very good,” Luna clapped her hands, “I’ll admit, I’m also excited because I’ve never been invited to an event as extravagant as this.”

Aidon exited his vehicle and started walking. “But remember, we’re here primarily to see if Ms. Pie is okay and whether or not our Masked menace is going to stir up trouble.”

“I know, I know,” she nodded with an attentive smile, “...but I can’t deny I’m interested in seeing what the venue is like at the very least. Aren’t you, Aidon?”

“...maybe,” Aidon shook off the thought as they snuck into the building behind the rest of the caterers.

Sure enough, they’d find Pinkie’s co-workers stocking various tables with cakes, pies, and other desserts. But there was a glaring lack of Pinkie herself.

“That’s odd,” Luna muttered, “She’d almost always be at the center of events like these. Do you think the curse has already gotten to her?”

“It’s likely. But I’m not in the mood to allow the others to find out,” Aidon answered with a grim tone.

Thankfully, it wasn’t long before they heard Pinkie’s voice. It had been about an hour

“Good job, guys. Keep going.”

“Pinkie, I think you should rest,” a male voice spoke to her, “You’ve done more than enough already.”

“...I guess you’re right, yeah,” she replied with a sigh, “I think I’ll take a pixie-stick break outside. You guys keep at it, okay?”

Aidon sighed with relief upon hearing the voices. “Whew…alright, it seems as if Pinkie is headed outside. That’s good. She won’t cause any damage there.”

Or at least, that's what Aidon thought. Little did either of them know, that the Masked Figure had already hijacked the TVs located in the event's auditorium space where the guests were partying...

Episode XV: The Sus Curse

The festivities of the event would go off without much of a hitch at least thus far. However, unbeknownst to everyone in the room, the curse would already begin to seep through some of the monitors present in the building…

However, Aidon wasn’t aware of this just yet and was instead focused on Pinkie’s well-being.for the moment. As soon as she stepped outside to take a bite of one of her candy sticks, both Aidon and Luna would re-appear in front of her.

“...Ms. Pie?”

“Mr. Aidon? Ms. Luna?” Pinkie blinked upon seeing them and tugged on the strings of her hoodie to hide her face from them. Only her hair could be seen which looked normal enough. “I-Is that really you? What are you guys doing here?”

“We wanted to see if everything was okay with you,” Luna explained, “I’m sure you’re aware of the dangerous curse that’s turning people into anthropomorphized animals, yes?” Her ears wiggled.

And Aidon would corroborate this with a nod. “Indeed. As you can see, we’ve both been turned into beastmen of sorts. Note the wolf-like snout and tail, as well as my claws?” he added as he showed off his hands with his claws unsheathed. “...we have reason to believe you’ve been affected by this curse also, Ms. Pie.”

“U-um…well…” Pinkie nervously dodged the question.

Luna would approach her with a soft, motherly tone. “...it’s okay, Pinkie. You can talk to us. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, right Aidon?”

“Yes, of course,” Aidon would bounce off of her words with some of his own, “We just need to make sure that you’re okay, Pinkie. If you’re afflicted with this curse, we’re looking into a way to reverse it. We just need to know if it’s harmed you or not.”

“Well…” Their combined efforts broke through her nerves and Pinkie would accept their offer to help. She knew that she couldn’t get anywhere if she beat around the bush about it, so she relented. “...okay.”

Moments later, she pushed down her hoodie, and revealed her face. While her face was still pink, her nose was now the snout of a boar! In fact, her entire form had similarly taken on elements of a pig such as her waistline and posterior now becoming rather larger and…wobblier, to put it politely. But she tried to hide it under a set of baggy athletic pants.

“...well, here ya go,” she admitted sadly, “...I’m a fat, ugly pig.”

“...” Luna shook her head and put a hand on Pinkie’s shoulder to comfort her. “...no. Not at all, dear. Don’t think of yourself like that. You really don’t look ugly at all. I’m certain of it.”

“And regardless, it seems as if you’re still yourself,” Aidon went on, “No matter what you look like on the outside, remaining true to yourself is what matters in the end.”

“...I guess you’re right,” Pinkie agreed with a nod, then ran her hands through her hair in an anxious manner. “I guess I’m just…I dunno--a bit more nervous now that I’m older and striking it out on my own? I’m just worried that my business will tank if I don’t get this client’s order done just right. That’s why I essentially forced myself to come out here even with my freaky pig face.”

Bear in mind that this was the first time Aidon had seen Pinkie since the latter had graduated. In those three years, the girl had become a young woman with her own catering business. She finally had her own life together, and this curse had to come along and mess with things.

“I understand,” Aidon replied caringly, “You’re looking to take your responsibilities as seriously as possible.”

“Even so, it’s not smart to push yourself too hard,” Luna warned her--speaking from experience. “I’ve been worked hard for years to help you and your friends finish high school but had to take a break after a while. You don’t want to burn yourself out by the time you reach my age.”

“You make a good point,” Pinkie sighed, “I think I should just go on home before--”

Suddenly, Aidon’s phone buzzed.

“Hm?” His tails swished anxiously as he answered it. It was the Masked Figure speaking.

“You’ve solved the first riddle,” they spoke cryptically over the phone, “Good. Now it’s time for the main part of today’s game to begin.”

“Wait wha--?!” Aidon tried to get an answer but the phone hung up. The hellhound-man snarled, clutching his phone in his claws. “What could that bastard me--?!”

CRASH!

Suddenly a loud noise came from inside of the venue alongside the screams of various people. Everyone’s ears and tails pricked up upon hearing the sound and Aidon wasted no time rushing inside.

“What was that?!” Pinkie yelped as she watched Aidon take off, “H-hey! Wait up!”

“Will you be alright?” Luna asked.

“My work buds are in there,” Pinkie huffed, “I’m not gonna just leave ‘em!”

Against her own judgement, she rushed inside after Aidon, with Luna hurrying close behind. Once they arrived at the wedding anniversary’s venue, they found that a majority of the guests had run off, but some were still too scared to move. Why?

A few guests had been turned into muscular lion beastmen and had gone berserk. Attacking guests and civilians at random, including…

“Carpenter! Ambrosia!” Pinkie screamed with fear in her twitching eyes.

“Pinkie!” Ambrosia yelled back just before getting flung across the room by one of the lion beasts.

“Dammit no--aaaagh!” Carpenter screamed as he too was thrown aside and into the nearest wall.

Aidon cricked his neck and unsheathed his claws. “I suppose this was the little game that our Masked ‘friend’ was preparing us for. Luna! Get those kids out of here while I distract them!”

“On it!” Luna had taken advantage of her newfound foxy agility and ran on all fours around the lions before they could target her.

“I’m gonna stand with you, Professor!” Pinkie insisted as she grit her teeth and ran up beside him. The rage of the boar was already building within her. Her body was growing larger and more muscular by the second! “Hey asswipes! We didn’t work hard on this just for you to ruin everything!”

“...oh no…” Aidon muttered as he watched Pinkie’s form get corrupted from the curse. They needed to find a way to end this as swiftly and cleanly as possible.

Episode XVI: Beastman Rage

While Luna had swooped in to rescue Carpenter and Ambrosia before they could be harmed any further, Pinkie’s body had swollen as she took on the form of a boar with tusks and all. Seeing red, she charged at one of the lion men with a flying kick that sent him across the room! She then charged after him and was intent on taking on two of them by herself.

Aidon had focused his efforts on one of them. Dodging a claw swipe, he grabbed the lion man’s arm and flipped him over. Since these were likely innocent people who had been affected by a curse put out by the Masked Figure, Aidon didn’t want to kill them.

“We just need to subdue them long enough so we can figure out a way to reverse this,” he thought to himself.

Though it was easier said than done.

Aidon dodged a sweeping kick from the lion and retaliated with an open palm strike to the feline’s chest. That wasn’t enough though, as he started throwing punch after punch at Aidon. All the hellhound man could do was dodge each one until he had found himself another opening and caught the lion’s fist out of midair, swiftly spun him around, grabbed him, and suplexed the lion into the floor!

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Aidon called out as the lion man tried to slowly get up, “You’ve been corrupted by someone that wants to ruin your life. You have to fight it. Trust me. We aren’t your enemy.”

“Rrrgh…” the feline man grumbled.

Aidon quickly subdued him by raising his hands and conjuring chains of darkness that would slowly suppress all of the magic in the lion man’s body. “Stay there.” He then turned around to check on the situation with Pinkie…

The giant pink boar woman had successfully taken down both lions with explosive punches that released sprinkles from her palms. Her unstoppable rage had her to where she had beaten them within an inch of their lives--the lions were bruised and bleeding from their mouths as Pinkie tossed them aside and prepared to charge at them one more time…

“Pinkamena!” Aidon shouted to get her attention, “They’re regular people who have been corrupted just like you! Cease your assault!”

“Rrrgh…but…they…hurt…my friends…” she grumbled in a low voice as she thought about Ambrosia and Carpenter. “Can’t…forgive…”

“Pinkie! It’s not their fault!” Aidon shouted once more, “If you hurt those men, you’ll be no better than the one who started this nonsense!”

With her hands on her head, she tried to fight off the urge to attack. Pinkie’s mind was eating away at her. “Grrgh…Professor….!”

“No! You listen here, young lady!” Aidon rushed in front of her, standing between her and the remaining lion beastmen, bearing his canine fangs, “Stop right now before I make you! And I don’t think you want that!”

Seeing the conviction of the hound-man’s aura resonated with Pinkie. The last thing she wanted to do was anger one of her former teachers and potentially hurt him…or herself. Now wasn’t the time to be petty.

“...fine.”

And with that, Pinkie’s size regressed down to normal, and her form reverted to that of an anthropomorphic domestic pig.

“I just hope my friends are okay,” she muttered.

“They are,” Luna spoke up as she hurried back into the auditorium. “The paramedics are outside treating their injuries. But the police are on their way as well. We need to leave immediately.”

“But…Carp and Amber…” Pinkie lamented.

Aidon put his hands on her shoulders. “Ms. Pie. We need to leave immediately or else the police will be after us and make this into a larger ordeal than it has to be. There’s no time and we are in no position to argue about this.”

“...alright,” Pinkie had given up, emotionally detached from the entire situation by this point.

Suddenly, they were greeted by a familiar face and voice. “...dammit! I didn’t make it in time. Bugger off…”

They all turned to see Aoife having arrived with her compass device.

“Ms. Aogami?” Aidon looked at her, “What’s going on?”

The blue oni sighed and went on, “There’s been a lotta readin’s ‘round these parts. You lot would do well to get on home by this point.”

“That’s just what we were about to do,” Luna replied with a nod. “Come, Aidon. Pinkie. It’s best we get away from here as quickly as possible.

Episode XVII: Great Escape

With Aoife serving as a distraction to help them escape, Aidon, Luna, and Pinkie would manage a narrow getaway in his vehicle. Along the way, they’d explain to her exactly what had been going on down to the finest detail of a Masked Menace causing problems for everyone with their curse that was coming through a movie. Eventually, they’d drop Pinkie off at her home in Vanhoover.

“...thanks for bringing me home, professor,” Pinkie expressed her gratitude as she left the vehicle, “You guys were a big help. And…I’m sorry for freaking out back there.”

“It’s alright,” Aidon consoled her, “I just wish I could’ve done more for those who had been corrupted, but your co-workers should make it out okay at least.”

“And that oni girl is here to help us too, right?” Pinkie asked for confirmation, “I hope so. Because I don’t know how long I can stay home before my business tanks…”

“Don’t worry,” Luna added as her tail wagged, “We’ll try to figure out some sort of cure for this before long. For now, you’d do best to stay out of harm’s way until we have a definitive answer. And be sure to tell your friends to do the same.”

Pinkie nodded as she walked up to her house. “...I will. Thanks.” And with that, she went inside with a sad snort.

Luna then turned her attention to Aidon who had rested his forehead on the steering wheel. Her fox ears wriggled as she tilted her head.

“...are you alright, dear?”

“I’ve had better days,” the hellhound-man admitted with a tired exhale.

“...you were brave to put yourself in such a dangerous situation,” Luna went on, trying to comfort him with a paw-hand on his shoulder, “Pinkie is…an unpredictable one. I don’t think I would’ve been able to do such a thing.”

Her words put him at ease at least somewhat. “Thanks, Luna,” he replied with a small smile across his canine face. “But still…that bastard managed to get the better of us this time. Can’t let that happen again.”

Luna’s tail started to wriggle some more as she sat back against the seat of the car and put some heavy thought into the situation with her arms folded. “Hrm…not quite. We now know that they can induce the curse anywhere they please. It’s entirely likely that they may try to do the same thing again.”

“Hm…good point,” Aidon replied, “But still, we don’t exactly know where they plan to activate the curse next. If only we had some sort of an inkling of an idea, we could prevent the next major incident before it occurs.”

“Well we could waste our time thinking about how and when it’ll happen, or we could go home and rest…in our new forms,” Luna suggested with a small yip, “I think Aoife can handle the cleanup part.”

“Fair enough…let’s hope she can throw the police off of our trail.”

With that, Aidon drove on home with Luna…

Back at the site of the incident…

Aoife was able to pull off a rather convincing human appearance given the technicolor skin tones of the general population. All she had to do was wear a fedora to hide her horns as she spoke to the female captain of the police.

“...so you’re saying this incident was a result of a social media stunt?”

“That’s right, love,” the oni replied, “What you saw here was nothin’ more than one’a them social experiments.”

“...right,” the female officer rolled her eyes at such a tale. She wasn’t buying it for a second. “...quite wasting my time, kid.”

Just then, one of the other officers called out to her. “Chief Eris. We’ve found some hairs that forensics might be able to take advantage of.”

“Finally,” Eris rolled her eyes and put her notepad away before patting Aoife on the shoulder. “Listen, kid. I got some business I need to go do. So if you’ll excuse me…”

“Oh yeah, no problem, mate.” Aoife nodded and walked away from the scene of the incident. Her part in the mission had been accomplished by allowing the others to get free before the police showed up. However, there was just something she couldn’t shake from her mind as she hopped onto the nearest building.

“Eris…Eris…” she muttered as she observed the police officers continuing to work. “Where in the bloody hell have I heard that name before? It’s on the tip of my tongue…”

Episode XIX: Getting Heated

“...Luna are you sure you’re up for this?” Aidon asked with a nervous tone, “My biology is probably more canine-like than before…”

“That doesn’t really matter to me,” Luna assured him with an eager wag of her tail. “But I won’t pressure you if you don’t want to.”

“N-no…I do. I mean…” Aidon’s own tails started to wag nervously as he glanced over Luna’s body. “...well I suppose it would be worth it to at least make use of these bodies while we have them.”

Luna approached him with a smile and sultry eyes upon her foxy face. “Don’t worry…I’ll be gentle with you, dear.”

“Okay. If you’re certain…I’m interested.”

Without hesitation, Luna dropped down to the floor with her tail wagging excitedly. She nuzzled the bulge in Aidon’s pants before pulling them down and revealing his bulging canine shaft which was aching and throbbing with pulsating veins along the sheer massive length.

“...Oh my…it feels like it’s even bigger now,” Luna gasped as she sniffled at his testes before gently stroking him off with her paw-hand. “How does it feel, love? Do you like how my soft fur feels~?”

“Y-yes…” he muttered through a canine growl, “Oh it feels amazing…maybe having these animal bodies isn’t such a bad thing.”

“If we can take advantage of them for our own pleasure…” Luna muttered as she continued giving him a handjob with her paw and grasped his swelling balls in her other one, “Maybe it’ll be fine. After all, we need to be in full mental capacity if we want to succeed, correct?”

“Yes…of course…now it’s my turn,” Aidon pulled back and got on his knees. Luna would stand up and allow him to remove her panties and access her pussy lips. Without warning, he started to eat her out using his hellhound tongue.

“Agh! Oh my…” Luna moaned aloud and yipped with her tail squirming about. Her vaginal walls were dripping wet into Aidon’s maw as he lapped up everything she leaked out. “Mmmph…A-Aidon…”

“Hm?” he looked up and wiped his mouth. “Is everything okay, Luna?”

She took a moment to breathe. His tongue had sent her into a frenzy which caused her to shiver where she stood. “...y-yes…I…I love that…so very much. This has a completely different feel compared to when we were human.”

“I’m up to keep going if you are,” he said with an inviting smile.

Suddenly, Luna pushed him down upon the bed where she proceeded to mount him reverse-cowgirl style. The fox woman shoved her plump, blue ass upon her lover’s canine shaft, and started to grind upon him, stroking his cock with her butt.

“Mm…ah, yeah you like that don’t you, doggy~?” Luna tried her best to come up with dirty talk on the spot as she flicked her tail at his nose.

Aidon simply let out rabid moans as she proceeded to grab ahold of his balls and raise herself up. She spread her pussy apart and took the entire length of his cock up her dripping vaginal walls.

“Rrrgh~!” he moaned, “D-don’t stop!”

Luna would yip playfully as she held his balls in her hand and began to ride him, bouncing up and down on his cock with her ass clapping into his pelvis. Soon, Aidon would grab ahold of her ass and smack it, causing Luna to yelp louder and speed up.

“Aiyee! I’m…close…I want this canine knot inside me!” she squealed.

Aidon would flip her over into a missionary position and grab ahold of her bra, tearing it away to reveal her breasts before suckling upon them as he continued to thrust rapidly and causing a massive bulge in her abdomen with his cock.

“AAAAGH~!”

They both howled together as Luna crossed her legs around his hips. Aidon’s canine knot would sink into Luna’s pussy as they both reached climax and came with each other. Luna squirted and milked Aidon’s cock as he spurted and filled her womb.

“That is…so god…” Luna panted with her tongue hanging from her mouth.

“...we need…to…conduct further experimentation,” Aidon panted with her as their tails wagged happily. “...I-I mean, we need to further adapt to these bodies unless we want to experience discomfort.”

“Mm-hmm…” Luna teased him by sticking her tongue out of her maw, “Just say you want to fuck me more, you nerd~”

Coming from her, it was a term of endearment as they shared a kiss with each other. But not long after, Luna’s phone would buzz.

“Hm?”

“Oh shit,” she muttered under her breath as she grabbed her phone off the nightstand, “It’s my sister…what a time to call.”

“Erm--”

Luna answered it, “...Tia? Hi! What’s going on?”

From the other end, Celestia would speak, “Hey, Luna. I caught your email from earlier. I’ve been looking into large-scale events like you asked and I think I’ve found something that might be relevant.”

“...Oh?”

The next day…

After the couple showered, Aidon’s phone would ring and the mysterious figure’s voice could be heard from it once more.

“Here’s your next clue: flycatcher and honeytrap.”

The phone hung up before Aidon could get a word in edgewise as usual. “Great. But at least we know where we’re going this time, right Luna?”

“That’s right,” the fox woman replied with a determined smirk, “We won’t be letting those models suffer this curse.”

Episode XX: Role Model

Across Vanhoover, at a modelling venue in the middle of the city…

Rarity was getting a series of supplies ready to show off her new fashion line with the aid of Sunset Shimmer. The latter was stacking boxes that the former needed for her line of summer clothes.

“I keep forgetting how important clothes are here,” Sunset mused aloud as she placed a box down.

“Hm? Oh that’s right,” Rarity replied as she filed one of her nails from a nearby stool she sat upon. “All this time we’ve been together I sometimes forget you’re from Equestria. Clothes aren’t really worn all the time there like they are here, hm?”

“Nope,” Sunset replied with a shrug, “Guess things are just different over there. Honestly it took me a bit of time to adjust when I got over here. I accidentally went outside without anything on once and…yeah,” she added with a nervous smile as she cringed at her embarrassing actions from the past.

Rarity could only manage a giggle in response as she imagined not only what Sunset looked like during that moment, but also the faces of whoever happened to be passing by on that day.

“Pfhfgt…I do hope you weren’t outside for very long,” she replied, “Lord knows that no one would be able to take their eyes off you, darling.”

“H-hey! Like I said, I come from a world where clothes are only used ceremonially,” Sunset insisted, then thought about the pony counterpart to Rarity. “In fact, your equine self mostly focuses on ceremonial garb. Your job is more important by comparison.”

“Yes, because unlike dainty small horses, we humans have to wear clothes all of the time,” Rarity sighed, then put a smile on her face, “But at least it means I have more ways to express myself. Exhibit A!”

“Henh?” Sunset tilted her head as she watched Rarity get up from her seat and scramble to a nearby box.

Rarity retrieved a set of rather skimpy two-piece swimsuits. “Bet you they don’t make ‘em like this in Equestria, Sunset!” she declared with a proud smirk on her face.

“Well no because our anatomy is totally different,” Sunset replied with a chuckle. “Well, if that’s all you need more for, then I better get going. Twilight told me about that animal curse and I don’t wanna be around to catch it.”

“But--darling, please--you won’t catch a curse just by modeling for me,” Rarity pleaded as she raised the pitch of her voice.

“...now I see why you called me up here,” Sunset rolled her eyes. “You wanna try and get me in your modeling gig because you’re low on options, huh?”

Rarity was suddenly within Sunset’s personal space without warning, causing the latter to flinch as she made her case. “Well, yes--the rest of our friends are currently afflicted by the curse and I don’t have anyone else to help me right now so--”

“Alright, alright,” Sunset sighed and shook her head, “Lucky for you I’m currently looking for inspiration for one of my next comic designs so this just might help me out.”

“Ah! So you’ll do it?!” Rarity squealed as she dangled the swimsuits in front of Sunset.

“Yeah yeah, no problem,” Sunset rolled her eyes with a small smile on her face. “I don’t think I’ve got any reason to regret this so…”

The venue’s participants would slowly start to flood in. Rarity’s models, Sunset included, would line up with their summer outfits on in preparation to show them off to the investors--some of which included Prim Hemline and Hoity Toity.

“Perfect,” Rarity muttered as she peered out to the crowd, “If I get enough investments, my summer line is going to sell like hotcakes, darling. Hot. Cakes.”

“Mmhmm…” Sunset stretched her hands upwards as she arched her back forwards, allowing her chest to sway about in the confines of the bikini top. It was a basic two-piece comprised of red and white stripes. “...Yeah this actually fits surprisingly well for how skimpy it is.”

“Exactly. I’m appealing to both the women who want to show off, and the men who need a bit of…” Rarity rolled her hand as she tried to come up with the best terminology. “...encouragement to approach a lady on the beach.”

“Urgh…really?” Sunset glanced down at her butt and adjusted the swimsuit. “...it rides up a little, but it works. Honestly wish we could wear stuff like this more often all things considered.”

“Now you’re getting it, darling,” Rarity gave Sunset a thumbs-up, then pulled out her phone. “Going to see how far I can push this on livestream.”

Meanwhile…

As the event got started, Aidon and Luna had arrived on the scene with their animalistic abilities at the ready.

“A modelling gig, hm?” Aidon mused as he drove his car up to the rear end of the reception hall. “I suppose that might be our honeytrap?”

“But catching flies?” Luna thought about the other half of the Masked Menace’s riddle. “I’m not quite sure what that means.”

Aidon growled under his breath as he approached the door. “...all I can say is that I hope our guess is correct.”

Episode XXI: Sweet As

But before Aidon and Luna could make their entrance, his phone started to ring once more. Though this time it was someone else…

“Ms. Sparkle?” Aidon answered as he looked at the video call and saw Twilight standing there as an anthropomorphic raven. “...so it seems it has affected you as well.”

“Unfortunately,” she replied with a sigh, “I can’t even go out looking like this. But that’s besides the point. I’m detecting a high magical force reading from where you’re currently located. You might want to be careful.”

“I knew it,” Luna called out as she wagged her tail, “My sister mentioned a large gathering of famous people happening here today. It’s the prime target for something devious such as a magical scheme to turn people into anthropomorphic beasts.”

“We’re on it, Twilight,” Aidon assured her, “You stay where you are. We don’t know what sort of effects this will have on your body and mental state.”

“...fair enough, professor,” Twilight reluctantly agreed as feathers dropped from her body. “But be advised, we have no idea what could happen at this point.”

“Don’t worry,” Aidon replied, “We’ll be careful.” After hanging up, he glanced at Luna once more. “Alright. We need to be fast and interrupt this event before any mutations occur. Sound good?”

Luna nodded. “Of course. Sounds simple enough to me. But you know how these things tend to go, love.”

“Yup,” he replied with a sigh, “Easier said than done.”

Unfortunately for them, even though they were ahead of schedule as they had originally thought, a certain someone was watching them from a nearby abandoned building.

“...boss. They’re early. Activate it.”

Down in the building…

The modelling event went off without much of a hitch to start with. Sunset managed to walk out and show herself off in Rarity’s swimwear with little difficulty.

From the sidelines, Rarity squealed and clapped as Sunset walked back behind the stage. “Ah! You’re wonderful, darling. They loved you!”

“Stiiiill not quite used to having these things gawked at,” Sunset grabbed the sides of her chest and accidentally caused them to jiggle about. “People over here really like the way breasts look, huh?”

“Darling, you wouldn’t believe it if I explained it,” Rarity replied with a snarky smile, “But I think you might have the perfect assets for my upcoming line…”

“Ah boy, more?” Sunset rolled her eyes with a playful smile. Since she originated as a pony, she wasn’t exactly put off by it. “Eh. As long as it doesn’t interfere with my schedule. I still gotta finish my next issue for the Daily Plan--”

“Yes yes of course,” Rarity interjected, “Now let’s begin the next--”

But as soon as she turned to look at the rest of her models, she noticed that a good chunk of them were missing. And by a ‘good chunk’, that actually meant her entire modelling crew aside from Sunset!

“Ah! Ah! Ah!” Rarity gasped with her hands on her head, eyes darting around the room, “W-where is everyone?! I-I can’t start the next phase of the venue without my models! Where are they?!”

Sunset tried to think through it rationally. “Hm…maybe they’re just all taking a break. Modelling does seem like it’s pretty hard work.”

“Yes, but they know their schedules!” Rarity snapped back and took a breath, “Sorry, sorry. I’m just--stressed out right about now. This is one of my first professional events and things are suddenly starting to go haywire out of nowhere.”

Given her harsh schedule as a writer, Sunset was more than empathetic. “I understand,” she replied with a nod, “I can’t blame you for getting like this. If it makes you feel better, let’s go looking for them. They’re probably just out back in the hallway.”

The young ladies walked to the back of the building, but as soon as they opened the door to the hallway--

ZZZZZ!

“WAGH!”

Both Rarity and Sunset recoiled and hit the floor as they witnessed a horde of anthropomorphic bee women that flew out of the hallway and into the main hall where they began to terrorize the eventgoers! Screams of fear could be heard as they fired off honey to barricade all of the doors in the building!

“What the--how?!” Sunset groaned as she picked herself up off the floor.

“...Is this that wretched curse that I’ve been hearing about?!” Rarity glanced into the hallway and found a bunch of dropped smartphones with ‘Enchanted Torment’ playing upon them. She picked one up and immediately felt a strange sensation in her hand. “...Oh no.”

“...Rarity? What’s up?” Sunset turned to her friend. “You found someth--?”

“RIBBIT--! Sunset…I feel…strange.”

Sunset took a look at Rarity and found that her body was now a mixture of blue and yellow with…amphibious features.

“...okay, so…don’t freak out, but--”

“Is it my hair?! No. My makeup?! I need a mirror!” Rarity squealed as she ran into the dressing room and looked at herself. There, she found…

She had become an anthropomorphic poison dart frog.

“AAAAAAAAAAUGH!”

Episode XXII: Buzz Off

“What happened to me?!” Rarity squealed as she felt her face. Indeed, she had become a poisonous dart frog with webbed hands and feet and a rather moist outer skin layer. Though surprisingly, her eyelashes carried over to her current form. “Rib--why am I an amphibian?!”

“This must be the curse I’ve been hearing about,” Sunset grumbled as she looked between Rarity and the swarm of bee women, then snapped her fingers to summon her flaming sword to her hands. “We need to contain this situation before it spreads. Are you with me?”

Unfortunately, Rarity was still too shocked by her sudden change in appearance to move. She was stuck in a fetal position, rocking back and forth on the floor as she snapped up a nearby fly with her long frog tongue involuntarily.

“...Okay, I’ll let you have a second,” Sunset responded empathetically. She knew Rarity valued her appearance and this could easily be considered a tragic moment for her friend. “Just gotta figure out how to--”

That’s when Aidon and Luna burst onto the scene by diving into the room.

“Dammit, we’re too late!” the hound beastman snarled.

“I’ll see what I can do about saving the others,” Luna quickly came up with a plan, “Think you can handle those bees, love?”

“Go for it,” Aidon agreed as Luna ran on ahead.

Sunset Shimmer noticed her former educators’ sudden appearances and recognized them instantly by their voices. “Luna? Professor? Is that you?”

“Long story--oh dear,” Aidon noticed that Sunset was still wearing nothing but a swimsuit and averted his eyes, “Are you getting dressed?”

“Oh, this? Nah, don’t worry about it--I’m a model,” Sunset replied casually about her appearance, more focused on the situation in front of her. “Though right about now, I think we need to play hero.”

“Yeah, something like that,” Aidon replied as they both sprung into action.

Since they both knew that these corrupted bee women were real people, they didn’t want to cause them any excess harm. But they still had to fight back to save the people who were being attacked by them. Aidon leapt forward and restrained one of the bees in chains made of darkness, holding her to the floor before deflecting the stinger of another, but some honey was shot at his feet, holding him to the ground.

“...?!” Aidon growled and forcefully lifted one foot, then the other out of the honey but found himself swarmed by at least six of them on all sides.

‘I have no choice but to use this,’ he thought to himself as he brought his claws together and created a small black hole that drew all of the bee women inwards until they were stuck together and immobile. Then, with a single palm strike, he struck the ball of bee gals and sent them flying in all directions, hitting the walls and losing consciousness.

By now, Luna had managed to escort each of the civilians out with her superspeed as a fox-woman, so they had free reign to fight each of the bee girls without fear of causing collateral damage.

On her end, Sunset leapt through the group of six more bees and blocked their stingers with her sword just before swiping at them with a giant fist made of fire in order to send them careening into the nearest wall. One managed to slip through and put her in a chokehold from behind, but Sunset shifted her own weight forwards, flipping the bee over her body and roundhouse kicking her into the pile of other incapacitated bees.

“Hmph,” Sunset made her sword disappear and rubbed her hands together to dust them off after a job well done. “Who says it’s unrealistic to fight a battle in just your bikini?” she muttered smugly to herself.

“Are you alright, Sunset?” Aidon asked as he approached her. “The police will have no doubt been called by now, so we need to hurry up before things get messy.”

“...Yeah, you’re right--wait, Rarity!” Sunset called out as she remembered her now frog-like friend. She immediately hurried backstage where Rarity was still stuck in a fetal position. “Darn…I don’t think she’s alright.”

“We should get her out of here,” Aidon suggested, “We’re still working on a way to reverse this curse, but we’re not sure how we can. Thankfully it seems as if you’ve managed to avoid it thus far. Just be sure to avoid looking at any screens depicting--”

“Enchanted Torment,” Sunset recalled the film’s name, “Yeah I think I caught that. Though, if it’s really a curse that can be put into reality and affect the world around us, then there has to be a way to undo it by altering the world around ourselves again.”

Luna ran back in to speak with the group. “Whatever we’re discussing, we need to do it elsewhere. The police are on their way right now.”

Sunset levitated Rarity up with her magic. “I’ll get her outta here. Don’t worry.”

“Alright then,” Aidon sighed, “I suppose our Masked Friend has gotten the better of us again. We need to leave and regroup once more unfortunately.”

With that, they all left and snuck out just as the police arrived. Including Commissioner Eris….

“Goddammit!” Eris screamed as she exited her vehicle while other officers made arrests on the bee women. “Every fucking time we arrive just as the action is over with! This is really starting to get to me…” she hissed as she shook her head.

Archie would try to console her. “...Look. Ms. Eris. Maybe there’s more to this that we’re missing. There has to be a reason why--”

THUD!

Eris suddenly shoved Archie against the outside wall of the building as the other officers nearby simply rolled their eyes and disregarded it as their chief’s usual behavior.

“Listen here, chucklefuck,” Eris grumbled in his face, “You and your goody-two-shoes demeanor is really pissin’ me off. Don’t fuckin’ start with me. You do what I say, when I say, or you get your ass blasted and fucked off back to your parents like a pathetic little embarrassment. Do you understand me?”

“...y-yes ma’am…”

“Good,” Eris shoved him once more and walked away in a huff.

Another officer spoke up from nearby. “Hey, boss. I got something over here. Culprit left a note. Something about…technology consuming all.”

“Eh?”

Episode XXIII: Game On

Meanwhile, later that night, at Fluttershy’s house…

“Are you there?” she spoke into her headset as she sat in front of her television and began her nightly gaming session. “The event starts in a few hours so I was worried I wouldn’t be able to make it.in time.”

“Nah, you’re alright, Fluttershy,” her friend replied over the headset, “Honestly I’m just glad you’re okay given all the crazy stuff that’s been happening lately.”

“Thanks, Flash, but I think I’ll be fine,” she replied with a relieved tone. “I’m just happy to have someone that’s willing to play video games with me. All of my other friends can’t really seem to keep up when I play.”

Indeed. Flash Sentry was her gaming buddy. One of the only people that she remotely knew who was willing to play video games with her. Today, they were playing a MOBA-like game set in a sci-fi world.

Sentry replied, “...yyyeah, that’s because you’re in Gold Rank and this game kicks the crap out of newbies. Luckily I’m here to help--and with my buds of course. Can’t forget them.”

A few other players would sound off over the headsets, displaying the fact that everyone was ready to get started. Fluttershy had picked a large robotic character called the Loader to serve as their team’s tank while Flash Sentry was a Combat Medic healing the rest of the team.

All was going well. They managed to push the enemy team’s side back just far enough on the map to claim the area.

“We got trouble,” Sentry called out, “Some Space Pirate players are hacking into our base.”

“Drrgh…I hate the Space Pirate class,” Fluttershy hissed as she mashed her mouse and keyboard to activate her abilities, “But I can’t attack there right now. I’m still at the front; can someone else take over?”

“Someone needs to switch to the tech class if we wanna have a chance,” one of their teammates called out.

Sentry would take over and give a quick order. “Alright, one of you switch to medic. I need to get those pirates off our base.”

With some quick cooperation on their part, Fluttershy’s Loader class would allow them to steamroll the enemy base while their fellow players acting as Soldier and Excavator classes would allow them to pierce through. The Combat Medics healed everyone that needed it, and Flash Sentry’s Tech play would get the rest of the enemies off of their base just in time for them to win and rank up.

“Yes!” Fluttershy cheered while pumping her fist and sipping some tea from a nearby cup. “Can’t believe that only took us five minutes.”

“I know, right?” Sentry replied, “This game is the type of game that can make you feel depressed, annoyed, then euphoric within minutes. It’s ridiculous. But I guess that’s why it’s so appealing, huh?”

Fluttershy giggled and nodded to herself as she went to her customization screen. “Pretty much, yeah. It’s a nice way to unwind after dealing with all of the animals at the zoo.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right. You got that job at the zoo, right?” Sentry asked as he changed out his weaponry in game. “How’s that been going?”

“Just peachy--the penguins in particular are just so cute. We’re taking in the endangered ones that can’t survive in the wild.”

“Good to hear. I always heard bad stuff about zoos and how some of them abuse the animals in captivity or prevent them from living well,” Sentry lamented what he had heard, but congratulated Fluttershy for her work. “Nice to hear that you guys are treating animals properly. Wish I could visit more, but well…work is a killer.”

Fluttershy realized just how dangerous his job was. “...that’s right. You’re a part of the army, huh?”

“Coast Guard technically,” he clarified, “It’s a bit different but yeah. The base here is practically my home.”

“Does it get lonely where you are?” Fluttershy asked with a sympathetic tone.

“Sometimes. But hey, I’ve got my buds here, and we’re cool with each other so don’t worry about me.”

“Okay…if you’re sure--hm?” Fluttershy squinted her eyes as she noticed a pop-up on her computer’s screen. “What’s this?”

“Fluttershy?”

Once she clicked it, there would be a few moments of silence from the other end. Flash Sentry would call out to her a few more times, but only be met with silence until…

“Rrrghgh…” A guttural growling could be heard. An unnatural sort of noise that could only be dreamed up by movies.

Sentry’s eyes shot open at what he was hearing, “...Fluttershy? Are you alri--?!”

The next thing he knew, Fluttershy’s headset went dead, and he looked on his game’s screen to see that she had logged off.

“...this is not good.” He took off his headset and reached for his phone…

Episode XXIV: Unbearable

Later that evening, at Sunset’s home…

“Ugh…that was certainly a day,” she muttered as she dried herself off once she exited the shower and put on her pajamas. But just before she could lie down to get any sleep, she was interrupted by a phone call. “Hm?”

Once she saw it was Flash Sentry, her heart raced for a moment as she thought about why he could possibly be calling so late.

‘Wait…what? He’s…no, just stay cool. It’s probably nothing serious. Just act normal.’

With a deep breath, she hesitantly answered the phone. “...hello?”

“Sunset? Good--listen,” he started off with a concerned, yet focused tone, “Fluttershy is in trouble. I don’t know what’s going on, but someone needs to get over to her house right now.”

Sunset discarded her personal feelings once she heard that. “Wait, what? What’s going on? Her too?”

“I’m not sure,” Sentry replied, “We were gaming together and then I heard some kinda monster noise in the background then she logged off outta nowhere. I’m not sure if there’s something in her house or what--wait a sec. ‘Too’?”

“...I’m sure you’ve heard the news of the animal mutations that have been going around,” Sunset explained, “Whatever you do, Flash--do not watch Enchanted Torment. It’s a cursed film that turns people into animals. Then the trigger-happy police comes and arrests whoever they deem out of the ordinary.”

That’s when Flash put it together. “...It’s possible that could’ve happened to Fluttershy. Someone should go check up on her.”

“I’d go but I’m kinda spent for the day after that last battle I was in,” Sunset admitted with a yawn. “But I know just who to send over.”

About one hour later, a young woman was speeding towards Fluttershy’s house, hopping from rooftop to rooftop…

“I got this, Sunset, don’t worry,” Coral Currents replied over the phone as she neared Fluttershy’s home. “My drones will keep an eye on everything and I’ll make sure I stop any creeps that get near her place.”

“Thanks,” Sunset sighed, “I’d go, but…”

“Yeah, yeah just don’t overdo it, huh? I got this,” she boasted before hanging up. Coral would then hustle her way over to Fluttershy’s house. Just then, she had picked up a police signal in her headset…

‘...we’re on our way now.’

‘Thank you! That growling is very scary and concerning!’

“...”

Coral’s eyes shot open. If the police got there before she did, that would only spell bad news. Something that she absolutely did not want to think about.

After a few minutes, she was at Fluttershy’s house, and dropped in front of her front door to knock. “...hello? Fluttershy? It’s me, Coral. Sandbar’s sister?” she called out and got no answer.

With no other option, she picked the lock of the front door and pushed it open to walk inside. She’d then call out once more.

“...Flash Sentry said he was gaming with you and you logged off suddenly. I just wanna check up on you and see if you’re oka--”

“AAAAGH! STOP! PLEASE!” a blood-curdling scream could be heard from the backyard. Coral felt her heart skip a beat as soon as the piercing cry reached her ears.

“...Fluttershy?!” she called out as she ran towards the back door of the home, “Fluttersh--!”

CRACK!

With a swift thud, Coral was struck upside her head and tossed to the floor as Eris came out from behind a nearby table.

“Now what’s a little brat like you doing here?” Eris hissed as she walked up to Coral and stomped on her chest before she could make a move. “Answer me.”

“Argh!” Coral forcefully coughed up air--the woman’s boot had knocked the wind out of her. “You…how did you--”

“Get here so fast?” Eris snickered as she increased the pressure of her shoe on the girl’s ribcage. “It’s my job. Kids like you should be making yourselves busy studying. Not messing around where adults are working.”

“Grrgh! I work for the government, asshole!” Coral screamed, her voice becoming raspy due to losing air fast as she tried to grab ahold of Eris’ ankle, “And I’m…like…17! Grrrgh! Where’s…Fluttershy?!”

“Her? She’s become one of them,” Eris hissed under her breath, “...would you like to see?”

“...no…no way!” Coral coughed.

Eris lifted Coral off the floor and slapped handcuffs on her. “And that’s an obstruction of justice charge for you by the way. Now get moving.”

“What the--hey!”

With a swift kick, Eris knocked Coral forwards down the patio to Fluttershy’s backyard where the latter had been taken down by other officers working under Eris.

Fluttershy had become a mutated giant panda bear with black and white fur and a semi-humanoid body. She had been beaten down to the ground and tased--crying into the dirt after she was arrested.

“I didn’t…I didn’t do anything wrong,” Fluttershy pleaded, “I swear…please let me go…!”

“A sick freak like you is bound to cause trouble,” Eris refuted her words as her fellow officers arrested her, “I’m not letting any of you ruin my city. Not again.”

“No…Fluttershy!” Coral yelled as she watched the officers take her away. She grit her teeth and glared at Eris. “...you…you’re gonna regret this.”

“...no,” she replied with a shrug and a devious smile on her face, “I don’t think I will. Now shut it. You have the right to remain silent.”

As he watched this unfold from the nearby patrol car, Archie clenched his fist in silence…

Episode XXV: Discordia

Later on, at the police station…

Fluttershy was completely blindsided by the entire situation. All the sudden, she had found herself mutating into a panda bear woman and the pain that her body underwent during the transformation caused her to cry out loud enough for her neighbors to hear. Said neighbors feared the worst and called for the aid of the police to quell whatever monster or mutant had appeared in Fluttershy’s home.

Unfortunately, the actions of her neighbors were unwitting instigators of doom for the animal lover.

“Huh…what?” Fluttershy muttered as she awakened in an interrogation room while tied to a chair.

“Final warning,” Eris stood above her with a mean glare as she slammed her hands down on the table in front of her, “What’s causing this mutation outbreak? Who is your leader?!”

“I…wha…??” Fluttershy sputtered as she looked around in confusion, and started to sob desperately. “...I don’t know anything, I swear!”

Eris rolled her eyes and concluded that this was yet another lost cause. “Dammit…fine then. Be that way. But I’m not gonna let…whatever you are cause trouble.” As she walked away, she glanced at her associates who brandished electrical batons…

Fluttershy saw this and started to cry out from within her restraints. “No…please! STOP!!”

Her screams could be heard as Eris left the room and went to her office. As soon as she closed the door, she’d find Archie standing there, having waited behind it the entire time.

The young man approached her desk and slapped his badge down on top of it. Along with his uniform top.

“I’m done.”

“...whatev--wait, what?!” Eris screamed upon realizing that the young, brown-haired man had turned in his badge to resign. “You can’t--what do you think you’re doing?!”

“I said I’m done,” Archie seethed over his shoulder, “I can’t stand working for someone like you anymore. You make me sick the way you treat criminals. As if they’re subhuman.”

Eris got up from her desk and stomped over to him. “Yeah! ‘Cuz they literally are subhuman ya fuckin’ dipshit! They’re evil beasts who don’t have any rights!”

“So tell me, what if you got turned into one, huh?” Archie snapped back, “What would you think of yourself then? Do you even know why this is happening?” He raised his head and stared her down, “Or are you just that pathetic to where you get off to the suffering of others?”

Eris’ hair started to flare up with a seemingly magical aura of its own. “...I’m warning you, kid. Shut up about what you don’t understand or you’re gonna regret it.”

“Oh I understand alright,” Archie refused to accept her words and challenged her by stepping towards her. “I understand that you’re a leech. A societal leech that can barely think past the fakeness of her own shit, huffing her own fumes because thinking about anyone but yourself would be too much of a task to ask someone with that much silicone in her tits.”

“WHAT?!”

FWOOSH!

Suddenly, a magical force pulled Archie towards the snarling woman’s face. The young man grit his teeth even though he was in the presence of a magical being. In fact, it pretty much confirmed his suspicions…

“So…it’s you, then--HRRK!”

With a loud crash, Eris threw Archie into the nearest wall. “I warned you,” she grumbled, “Had to deal with goody-goodies in Equestria and now that I’m stuck here, I still have to deal with them?!”

Archie rubbed a bit of blood from his lip. “Go on…do whatever you want to me,” he challenged her, “You said yourself that my parents are gonna disown me if I lost this job, huh? Well you’re right.”

“...!” Eris’ eyes shot open with a slight gasp as she watched the man chuckle to himself.

“Kinda hard to fuck with someone who has nothing left to lose, huh?” he replied with a pained smirk, knowing full well that she couldn’t take advantage of a weakness that wasn’t there. “Come on!” he shouted as he stood up, “You talk all this shit about trying to ruin my life and now look at your punk little ass having to resort to whatever magic you got as Nyx’s little crotch goblin!”

“Shut…UP!” She screamed, causing everything in the room to fall over and clatter as she pounced onto Archie and started punching him dead in the face. “Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP! You’re nothing…you’re a human…you’re pathetic human…”

Even with his face bruised, Archie had tossed out his fear at this point. “...this ‘pathetic human’ has managed to piss you off enough into devoting your anger to…I’d call that more pathetic honestly.”

She grabbed him by his shirt and chuckled manically. “Hehehe….fine…you know what? I may as well make an example out of you before I make you wish you were dead.” Eris then resorted to her last option in order to force a reaction out of the man. She forcefully injected him with a syringe...which caused his eyes to roll backwards…

“Let’s see how big you talk once I’m through with you!”

Episode XXVI: Putting It Together

The next day…

On the news, Starlight Glimmer would give a report.

“A tragic day as police officer Archibald Cronus has been confirmed dead with his body crashed into the roof of a car downtown. Some sources say that it was a suicide by fall but the results are inconclusive due to a bullet wound that was found in his head. In other news, a giant panda woman was arrested yesterday near the home of Fluttershy…”

As Twilight watched the news report, she couldn’t help but slam her bird-like fist into the corkboard where her results had been pinned with push-pins and notes.

“Dammit! Why can’t I figure this out?!” she grumbled and squawked, shedding some of her raven feathers. “Now Fluttershy’s been arrested and the rest of my friends are helpless animal people! Rrrak! What am I missing from this picture?!”

Nearby, Spike was trying his best to adapt to his new human body by lifting weights as Twilight had instructed him to do. “...think that police officer could have anything to do with it?”

“Huh?” Twilight’s bird wings fluttered at the idea. “...wait a minute. You might be onto something.”

“I’m just spitballing here,” Spike went on, “But it seems weird how that cop was killed right after something like that happened. Usually in cop movies, the guy who finds out about something he shouldn’t is killed off by the bad guys.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and slapped her conspiracy board. “Spike, you can’t just rely on movies for your--” But then it hit her. Maybe the timing of the report was a tad suspicious? “...hang on a minute.”

“Hang on?” Spike asked.

Twilight would then proceed to dial her phone to call Aidon.

Eventually, he would answer, “Hello?”

“Professor, did you see the news?” she asked.

“...I did,” he admitted with a sigh, “We’re still one step behind…”

“Professor. You’ve been at all of the scenes so far, right?”

“Yes?”

“And every time something happened, the police showed up, right?”

“...yes, but isn’t that what they’re supposed to do?” Aidon muttered in confusion, “I’m afraid I don’t follow.”

Sci-Twi would then run with Spike’s analysis. “Spike just brought something to my attention regarding that officer’s death. Do you think it’s possible that these situations are connected?”

Aidon couldn’t exactly rule it out. “...maybe, but don’t you think that’s a bit of a logical leap?”

“Not for someone like me,” she went on, “What if that police officer got too close to exposing our culprit, and he was killed for it as a result.”

“Okay, but why wouldn’t the culprit simply get rid of all of the evidence?” Aidon countered. “Wouldn’t allowing that officer to show up on the news poke a hole in their plans?”

“Not if it was done on purpose,” Twilight replied as she scribbled down something on a notepad. “Maybe our culprit wanted to expose that officer and make an example out of him. To show that their plans wouldn’t be tampered with and to dissuade others from trying to interfere.”

Aidon couldn’t help but agree. It would stand to reason that showing one’s crime on TV would be a great way to scare off others from tampering with one’s criminal acts. However, this still didn’t get them any closer to exactly who could be behind it all.

“I see…but does this give us any proper leads, Twilight?”

“Not quite yet,” the raven-girl added, but then came up with an idea. “...but I have a theory. The next time you get a call from that mysterious person, don’t run as soon as the police show up.”

“...alright, Twilight. I trust your word here.”

With that, Twilight hung up and continued to scribble down on pieces of paper while flying back and forth through her house. “Yes…yes…this has to be correct!”

All Spike could do was watch his caretaker turn into her usual sporadic self when she was on the verge of a discovery and simply grab the bridge of his nose. “...ah boy there she goes again.”

At Aidon’s home…

The cerberus man sighed and nearly crushed his phone in his hand. Luna was already there, rubbing his shoulders with a gentle frown on her foxy maw.

“...Aidon, honey, are you alright?” she asked, “I know Twilight Sparkle, trust me. She’s an intelligent young woman and we can trust her.”

Aidon gave a relaxed exhale. “...Yes, I know. I suppose I still have a hard time letting go of my old habits.”

“If Twilight knows something, I’m almost certain it’s true. We just have to trust her word for now.”

Suddenly, Aidon’s phone rang once more and he immediately answered it.

“No more games, heathen,” Aidon snarled with a canine growl.

“...this is your last chance,” said the masked figure, “If you can’t figure it out, the curse will spread to everyone in the city. This is your final clue: Death License.”

Episode XXVII: Death Throes

With their trust placed in Twilight--and Spike’s--intuition, Aidon would follow the directions given to them by their masked friend. But one thing was eluding them about the clue…

“...a ‘Death License?’” Aidon muttered as he drove and grumbled under his breath. “I don’t get what that means at all.”

Next to him, Luna would try her best to figure it out. “Well a license for death…could it have something to do with a job involving the deceased maybe?”

“A funeral organizer?” Aidon mused.

“I was thinking of something a bit darker,” Luna went on as her tail wagged with a hidden sense of intrigue. “Such as…a crematorium.”

“...” Aidon gave a small shudder, but she had a point. Such a thing would fit the description of a ‘death license’ after all. “I see. But now we just need to figure out what sort of event with a lot of people would involve a dead body like that? Any funerals happening today, Luna?”

Luna took out her phone and started to scroll through her news feed. “Let’s see…”

Meanwhile…

As they were driving, the blue oni woman named Aoife had been eyeing their vehicle from afar with a nervous frown on her face.

“...Dammit all. If they find out, they could be toast. What to do…” she groaned to herself before getting up to follow them by leaping and running through back alleys. But as she hopped along, she noticed some of the police cars driving along the roads without their sirens on. This confused the oni since she didn’t often see them driving in a particular direction.

Aoife chose to tail the police cars and keep an eye on them. On the one hand, it was possible she was overreacting since patrols were commonplace. On the other, she didn’t want to rule out any suspicious behavior.

And as it turned out, she’d be rewarded for her persistence.

Soon enough, some of the police cars would park near the local cemetery and crematorium. Aoife had perched herself upon one of the trees nearby and noticed that Eris was in one of the patrol cars.

“It’s that captain lady again,” she instantly recognized the woman’s face. “But why in Queen’s tails is she all the bloody way out here? Unless…no…” Aoife checked her Anomaly Compass once more. The result was a hard twitch from the needle that pointed directly at Eris’ cop car.

“...my arse,” she grumbled to herself as she clutched her compass hard enough to crack the glass of the overlay. “So it’s her. She’s the real deal. I bet she’s been my target this whole time.”

But before Aoife could act, she watched as Eris’ patrol car pulled off.towards the crematorium area of the cemetery. The oni woman could already sense how out of place this was, noting the peculiarity of the vehicle’s movement.

Meanwhile, with Luna and Aidon…

As they got closer to the rear end of the cemetery, Aidon would slow his car to a stop as he noted the sheer amount of people that were present and well-dressed as if a funeral had just happened.

“...this might be a private affair,” he muttered to Luna as he parked a few yards away from the procession, “Let’s try not to disturb them if we can help it.”

“You’re right. Though…this is a rather large gathering of people,” Luna added with a curious wag of her tail as she continued scrolling through her phone. “I wonder what this could…ah!”

Aidon looked over, “Did you find something, Luna?”

Luna showed him her phone which detailed the recent death of a social media influencer. “...I think this might be our target’s target.”

“Hm…that’s a rather long list of challenge names,” Aidon squinted at the screen and shook his head. Since he wasn’t familiar with that genre of online content, he had no attachment to this individual. “But this could very well be the large group of people our ‘friend’ is after.”

Similarly, Luna wasn’t aware of this person’s identity either. All she was concerned about was figuring out when and where the masked menace would activate the curse from. “That’s right,” she replied as she looked around, “Since there are no televisions around, it’s likely that the Anima Curse will be activated from everyone’s phones instead.”

Episode XXVIII: Agent Of Chaos

The problem here was twofold:

How could Aidon and Luna inform the funeralgoers of what was happening without showing their faces? After all, given that they were still mutated themselves, it wouldn’t be a good idea to simply show up and try to inform them of what was happening.

Likewise, even if they could explain what was going on, what were the chances of the crowd actually believing what they had to say? There was simply no good answer to this question.

However, Aidon did notice that no one had their phones out yet. So there was no chance of the curse spreading…for now.

“Hrm,” he muttered, “...we have some time until they bring out their devices.”

Luna would place her fist in her open palm as her tail wagged fiercely. “Okay, Aidon. I have an idea. It seems as if my power as a fox enables me to travel faster than anyone can see.”

“Yes, that’s what I’ve noticed so far,” he replied with a nod, “But how will this help us? What do you intend to do, Luna?”

“I scurry through the crowd and swipe everyone’s cellphones off of their person,” she added as she raised her paw-hands and wiggled her fingers, “If the curse travels through screens, then we just have to remove them until our culprit shows up.”

Aidon raised an eyebrow. “...are you certain this is a good idea, Luna?”

Luna folded her arms with a confident smile. “Please, dear--I’ve been a vice principal for years. I’m more than used to swiping away phones by this point.”

Well Aidon certainly couldn’t argue with that, but the droopy nature of his ears displayed a sense of worry. “...touche,” he replied with a sigh, “Well, if you’re certain. Just…don’t get yourself hurt, alright?”

“Don’t worry,” Luna replied with a smile as she kissed him on the cheek, “I’ll be faster than anyone can see.”

With that, Aidon nodded, and accepted her decision. Luna exited the vehicle and crouched down to the ground on all fours to flex and stretch her foxy body from her tail to her claws. From there, she eyed up each and every member of the funeral congregation and sniffed the air.

“...as I expected, they all have at least one mobile device. Alright…”

SHOOM!

Luna took off in a dark blue blur around the funeral procession. Thankfully it didn’t seem as if anyone noticed her.

Aidon meanwhile, would keep his nose and ears close to the ground in order to make sure nothing went wrong. But something about the environment caught his attention. A smell that his sensitive canine nose couldn’t help but detect.

“...what a minute? What’s this aura that I’m sensing? It’s…oddly familiar.”

What he didn’t know was that he was detecting the aura of Eris herself. The woman’s police car had pulled up about one block away from where he was. At this point, there was no doubt that Eris was indeed the true Eris from Equestria, and Discord’s maniacal cousin. Unfortunately, no one was able to put that detail together quite yet.

Which is exactly why Eris was able to get away with her crimes in this world. With no one to keep track of her chaos magic, she was free to do as she pleased. Which included…

“...heh-heh. Dumbasses falling for the old voice-modification trick every single time,” she snickered to herself within her police car. Indeed. As it turned out, Eris was the one behind the phone calls that Aidon had been receiving this entire time. The reason?

“Just one more chaotic incident and my power will be fully restored,” she gloated to herself as she clenched her fist. “All I need to do is wait for these people to pull out their phones, get infected with the Anima Curse, go insane, and soak up all of their juicy chaos…”

But just as she thought her plan was foolproof, she caught a glimpse of Luna speeding by with her foxy agility and swiping the phones off of everyone present. She immediately spit out her coffee as a knee-jerk reaction.

“Pppbbht!” she wiped her lips and focused hard. Given that she was a (slowly recovering) goddess, she was able to see Luna move in slow-motion, and could immediately pick out that it was her. “...well, well, well. The underdog eternally living in someone else’s shadow. Luna was a bit of a pain as a crybaby bitch with dream powers back in Equestria, and she’s still a thorn in my side here too,” Eris chuckled angrily as she stepped out of her vehicle. “...guess the blue cunt is on my hit list toda--”

“I don’t think so, mate.”

“...?!” Eris whipped her head around to see the blue oni woman, Aoife, standing there with a hand on her hip.

“You the one that made that boy kill himself, didn't you? You ain’t mean’ta be here,” Aoife commented with a stern glare on her face, “You’re an abnormality that needs to piss off before I make you.”

Eris looked down at the ground with a dark smirk on her face. “...so the paranormal agency has finally caught up to me, huh? Fine…I can deal with this. You’ve got nothing on me anyway. What gives you the right to come after me like this?”

Aoife raised her other hand--an electrical aura pulsated through her muscular bicep. “...Things like you don’t deserve rights.”

Episode XXIX: Monster Surprised You

Eris knew that she was incomplete and not at her fullest potential, but the arrogant goddess of disorder didn’t care. To her, it didn’t seem like much of a challenge to stomp out a mere oni from hell.

“Fine then…come at me, since you’re so bold!” Eris yelled.

Aoife started it off with a punch to the ground that sent a wave of blue electricity towards Eris. The half-powered chaos goddess easily dodged it and performed a backflip into the nearby street intersection where she’d levitate various parked cars and transform them from a molecular level into what appeared to be bombs!

“You fuckin’ wot--?!” Aoife yelled as she blitzed around and dodged each bomb that exploded the ground nearby and left a crater in its wake.

By this point, both Aidon and Luna could already see what had been happening and took matters into their own hands as soon as the fighting started.

The cerberus-man had bent the light surrounding the scene to create a shield out of the shadows cast by the battle while the blue fox woman used her speed to quickly escort the funeral members away from the area.

“...I was worried for a moment,” Aidon thought to himself as he watched Aoife fight Eris, “But I can see that you really are on our side. I’ll try my best to help you as soon as I can, child.”

The bombs would ran around Aoife, but she withstood the knockback from the explosions just enough to speed up to and land a deadly haymaker on Eris’ face.

“Aaargh!” Eris yelped as she was flung backwards from the punch and dug her hand into the ground. The fact that she felt pain gave her pause for a moment as she glanced down at her cheek and had to adjust her jaw. “No…impossible…”

“Not so easy when you can’t just fuck over whoever you want, eh?” Aoife smirked as she cricked her neck and hopped back and forth on her heels. “You gods can’t go five minutes without interferin’ with mortals, can ya?”

“Rrgh…oh so when Discord does it it’s okay!” Eris countered as she stood up, “But when I do the same thing, I get criticized for it?!”

Aoife rushed up to Eris with the intent of throwing another punch but the chaos being was able to grab her hand just in time. Unfortunately, she was being slowly overpowered by the might of the oni with a worried expression on her face.

“Discord got his own problems, but at least he ain’t goin’ around raping and murdering people ya moldy old taint scrape!” she roared as electricity surged from the corners of her eyes. “You and I both know what ya did to Archie!”

“So what?!” Eris barked back, “The loss of another mortal in the shuffle of billions! You’re all so hung up on your short little lives like it means something but you’re all just gnats in the grand scheme!”

With a snap of her fingers, Eris tried to summon a black hole beneath Aoife, but her power wasn’t substantial enough for it. Instead, it was a much less harmful gravity well that attempted to suck the oni beneath the earth’s surface.

“Rrrgh!” Aoife resisted the pull on her body as she felt pieces of her leg’s flesh fly off. The only thing she could think to do was to quickly separate herself from Eris. Without hesitation, she jumped up and dealt a hefty dropkick to Eris’ midsection which flung the chaos being into a nearby car!

“Agh!” she yelled upon crashing.

The result was the spell breaking and Aoife returning to a neutral stance as she took a moment to breathe.

“Alright…I’m through feckin’ around…” she grumbled as she stomped up towards Eris. “I’m gonna feed you yer own damn heart,” she seethed as blood dripped from her leg.

“I-I’m possible!” Eris backed away once more, utterly dumbfounded by the mortal oni’s determination. “...How are you this strong?!” With her options limited, Eris knew that this was a losing battle at this point. In order to have a chance, she knew that her only bet was to make her escape as quickly as possible. “No…I won’t stand for this. You’re not worth the time.”

Eris would then attempt to bend the light around her body so that she could teleport herself away from the situation.

What she didn’t account for, was a certain three-tailed hellhound who had been able to see what she did with the light and counter it by rising out of her shadow in a purple puddle of miasma and putting a hand on her shoulder to lock her firmly in place in this reality.

“...Oh no no no,” Aidon shook his head, then glanced at her with his canine teeth salivating with a wicked smile on his face. “...you don’t get to cheat death this time. In this reality, you are the insect.”

Before Eris could say anything else, Aidon sank back into the shadows and the darkness would overtake her body with jet black tendrils forcing their way into her mouth, causing her to scream in silence and gag as her throat was destroyed. From the inside out, the darkness would rend every single molecule of her being including her soul in what could only be described as full awareness of one thousand year’s worth of torture in mere seconds.

Soon enough, Eris would be covered in this jet-black miasma and frozen solid as Luna appeared. The fox woman had nothing but contempt for the woman as she used her speed to grab ahold of Eris by one of her clawed hands and rush her over to where Aoife had been standing.

Aoife then flexed her right arm as Luna threw the frozen goddess of chaos towards her. Then, with all of her might, punched Eris’ face with an electrically charged fist so hard that the sound barrier broke as she shattered Eris’ body into millions of tiny pieces that would fade out of existence.

Aidon would then rise out of the ground and found that his animal form had disappeared. He was back to human again. “...it’s over.”

Luna sighed as she returned to human as well. “Indeed…though…I will admit I liked being a vulpin.”

“...” Aoife collapsed to the ground after the intensity of the battle.

Aidon and Luna glanced at the blue oni, then each other. They knew exactly what to do.

Episode XXX: Put To Rest

“Ugh….spark it all…” Aoife groaned as she felt an ice pack against her forehead. “I could’ve sworn I was done for after all that.”

Luna smiled at the oni woman. “Shhh…you’ve exerted your muscles too harshly and now you’ve put a strain on yourself.”

As it turned out, Luna and Aidon brought Aoife back to their home and chose to nurse the oni back to health after what had happened. The ensuing aftermath was certainly going to be a mix of hysteria and insanity once it was all brought to light.

But for the time being, Aoife had no choice but to rest in the home of the couple that had saved her.

“Argh,” she groaned in pain, “...is Eris gone? Like gone for good, gone?”

Aidon would appear from nearby and place a tray of food on the coffee table in front of Aoife. “Yes she is,” he replied, “I was able to hold her in place with my darkness magic and restrict her from using another ounce of her power. Thankfully she wasn’t at her fullest potential or that would have been a very bad situation.”

“Mother Theresa I swear…” Aoife muttered under her breath as she recovered. That’s when she noticed her leg was bandaged up from the damage it took during the fight. “...thank you both, though. I didn’t expect you guys to actually care about me.”

“Well we weren’t just going to leave you there,” Luna replied with a concerned frown, “After all you did for us and those innocent people, it’s the least we could do.”

“That’s right,” Aidon added, “And it would seem as though you’re a member of an organization from the underworld that--”

“Deals with escaped threats that arrive in the overworld,” Aoife confirmed, “...yeah something like that, mate. You know about it?”

“As a former overlord of hell itself, there’s quite a lot that I know that you may not,” Aidon said with a friendly chuckle. “But please--do take your time and rest up. You’ve endured a lot of stress and I’m certain everyone is going to need to recover from that Anima Curse.”

Luna perked up at the mention of it. “...speaking of which, I wonder if it’s completely gone. Do you think we’ll still be able to access that power?” She idly twiddled her index fingers together as she looked off to the side. “...if I’m being honest, I enjoyed shapeshifting into a fox woman.”

“There’s no telling for sure,” Aidon replied, “For now it’s probably best that we all get some rest and figure that part out later.” He glanced at the blue oni. “That goes for you especially. You expended a lot of energy in that battle and we aren’t letting you go until we know you’re ready.”

“Alright, alright dad,” Aoife snarked with a roll of her eyes, “Sure. It’s no problem. And…thanks. I appreciate it.”

Aidon chuckled at the notion of being referred to as someone’s parent. “Oh? I see. Regardless, take all the time you need, young lady.” He then stretched his arms up and walked towards the bathroom. “I need a nice, long bath after all of that.”

“Same,” Luna agreed, “I’ll go in after you. There’s something I want to check up on.”

“Got it.”

As Aidon left the room, Luna went up to their bedroom and started looking through information on her laptop computer in regards to the news of what happened to the police chief. “Nothing…good. However, there’s still a bit of a problem…”

Her phone rang, and she picked it up. On the other end, Twilight could be heard speaking.

“Ms. Luna? Is everything okay?” Twilight asked, “All of a sudden, the curse disappeared on our end and I’m back to normal.”

“Yes. That’s because we managed to contain the culprit behind the incident,” Luna explained the rest of the situation including what Eris had done. “But now I believe we need to work towards getting Fluttershy out of that prison and into some therapy. They’ll likely find her at the police station by now.”

“I’ll go get her,” Twilight offered, “Considering what you've had to deal with thus far, I’m willing to take control on this one since I don’t have to worry about being a raven anymore. Brrgh…” she shuddered, “Such a creepy animal…”

Episode III: Enter The Fraternity

Indeed. Vanhoover University was the most prestigious college in the country and one of the top universities in the world, clipping at the heels of Trottingham’s Oxenford. A large, castle-like building on the outside that even tried to mimic the old architecture of Oxenford. Though the fraternity houses surrounding the campus itself were still built to accommodate more modernized technology which each student had access to along with their own rooms.

Keiji Ketsuki, formerly a vampire batpony and thrust into this new world well over 5 years ago was now a freshman at this very university. His intent was to learn graphic design and turn that into his major as he wanted to get into manufacturing. Unfortunately, the recent tension growing within the government had caused folks like him to be…treated not so greatly. So he did his best to avoid standing out.

So far, he had been there for the last few months and had just joined a fraternity. There is where he met one of his friends from high school…

“Keij-match!” a voice called out to the vampboy as he approached the fraternity building.

Keiji, who now stood at six feet tall and currently wore a pair of dark jeans, a solid black t-shirt, and a green letterman jacket with ‘VU’ on its shoulders, looked in the direction of the voice and realized who it was. “...Royal Rumble.”

Rumble, Thunderlane’s younger brother, wore a pair of baggy gray athletic pants along with a white track jacket. Now also a bit older and standing at the same height as Keiji with a deeper voice as well, he was happy to see Keiji after missing him for a while.

“You son of a gun,” Rumble remarked.

The two approached each other, and locked hands in what could only be described as a mid-air arm-wrestle-like ‘handshake’ of sorts.

“Damn, your grip is much stronger now,” Keiji commented, noting how the veins on Rumble’s arms bulged before letting go. The vampboy had to actually shake his hand to get rid of the sting he felt. “Not bad at all. How’ve you been?”

“Good here. Been actually practicing my TKD skills and been majoring anatomy so I can prepare myself to become a track star,” Rumble replied with his hands behind his head.

“Sweet. How about your brother--Thunderlane, right?”

“Yeah, he’s gone pro with Spitfire,” Rumble continued, “She, Rainbow Dash, and a few others are looking to go pro as the Wondercolts Soccer Team. They’re actually hoping to join the internationals too at some point.”

Keiji smiled, knowing that one of his best friends and his family was safe put him at ease. “Good to hear, dawg. But I guess it means you’re on your own more often, huh?”

“Eh, doesn’t bother me,” Rumbled replied with a shrug, “Besides, the new power we’ve unlocked has helped me focus on something else instead.”

“...hey now, try not to make use of it too much, alright?” Keiji warned his friend, “I don’t want you getting hazed over your powers.”

Rumble scoffed at this, and led him into the frat house, “You worry to much, K. Come on, follow me. We’re in Fraternity Iota.”

“Iota huh…hrm…” Keiji muttered as he followed Rumble into the building. “Where have I heard that name before…?”

The inside of the frat house building was a rather large, two story building with a set of stairs immediately to the right that led up to the main rooms and freshly shined hardwood floors. To their left was a big TV room and a common area with a fireplace. To their right was a massive kitchen area where food could be made or ordered. And towards the back of the building, near the end of the hall, was where a hatch that led to a basement was located. More than likely where all the frat houses' supplies were kept.

“So we meet here every week I think. Though you’re free to come and go as you please. Er--Keiji?”

“Oh, sorry,” the vampboy looked up from a state of deep thought as Rumble led him to the common area, “Yeah, I’m with ya. Was just thinking for a sec. Guess no one else is here, huh?”

“Yeah,” Rumble replied, “We’re the only ones here for now and the Sororities are also getting ready to get started. But I think we’ll see some of our other classmates soon.”

Suddenly, the two young men heard a loud thump sound from upstairs which caused them both to tilt their heads upwards.

“What the--?” Rumble immediately squinted out of confusion as he looked up and ran towards the stairwell. “Hang on, I could’ve sworn I was the only one here.”

“Oh hell no you don’t,” Keiji called out as he followed his friend, “I’ve seen those slasher flicks where the killer is hiding on the college campuses. ‘Shriek’ or something. Not letting you go alone.”

The two ran up the steps and hurried towards one of the rooms of the frat house where a soft sobbing could be heard. Keiji stood on the left side while Rumble stood on the right side against the walls in a breaching position. They glanced at each other, nodded, and prepared to kick the door open. However, before they could…

The door swung open on it’s own as a young woman’s voice could be heard, followed by a hooded figure running out and screaming, “I-I’m sorry! I won’t come around here again, I promise!”

“You better not!” a young man’s deep voice called out after her.

The hooded figure, presumably the young woman, had ran off downstairs, and out of the frat house. As she left, both of the guys could see that she had cat-like ears…?

“What the…?” Keiji muttered as they watched the hooded female leave.

Then they looked up and watched as a young man their age stepped out to greet them. He had a rather fair skin tone and a rather long head of burgundy hair. He wore baggy sweatpants and a black tank top with a pentagram pendant around his neck.

“Fuckin’ bitch thinks she can do what she wants around here,” he paused, then noticed the two freshmen. “...oh, sorry about that. Just had to deal with some trash that thought she could show her face around her. Fuckin’ cat-eared weirdo…”

“...cat ears…?” Rumble muttered, “...I wonder…”

“I don’t think all that was necessary,” Keiji stepped up to him, “What’s the deal?”

“Hey,” the guy raised a brow and grit his teeth, “Let’s get something straight: I’m the House Leader. Do as I say and worry about what I tell ya to worry about. Got it?"

Keiji grumbled and took a step back. “...alright alright, jeez. What even is your name anyway?”

“Vertex. Vertex Incline. Don’t forget it, alright? And…" he stopped for a second and squinted, looking more closely at Keiji's lips and the fangs that resulted in an overbite. "...The hell? What's with those teeth? Are you one of those freaks too?"

"...Nah I…got a condition…" Keiji made up on the spot.

Vertex glared at him with suspicion, "Riiiight…just don't allow any freaks in here. I'm gonna go get some supplies for later." And with that, he took his leave downstairs and out of the frat house.

Both Rumble and Keiji glanced at each other. They didn't quite have the full story and for all they knew, that hooded individual could have been a thief…

“...Ah shit--”

“--here we go again,” they lamented respectively.

Chapter II: Episode I: Time For A Break

When Keiji arrived back home, he immediately went to his room without so much as a word to Diamond Tiara or Silver Spoon. Still shaken by his new friend’s death that he felt he was responsible for, Keiji would hold himself up in his room as he started to work on the new schedule for fraternity House Iota as its new leader.

Meanwhile, Tiara and Spoon exchanged a worried glance at each other within the living room.

“...I heard about what happened,” Tiara commented with a sigh, “His friend didn’t make it, huh?”

Spoon quietly shook her head as she walked into the kitchen to begin prepping for dinner. There was a heavy, and awkward quietness that overtook the entire house that evening as everyone tried their best to process what had happened.

The next day…

Silver Spoon was out shopping near the coastal boardwalk when she happened to run into some ‘friends’ from her sorority.

“Hey you, Silvie,” a college girl about the same age as Spoon commented. The opulence emanating from her was palpable with a designer leopard fur coat and jewelry all over her body. “We’re gonna head out East this summer. Wanna join us?”

“Huh?” Spoon glanced up from her list and shook her head. “...sorry, no. I’m busy with a lot of stuff right now.”

The second young woman next to the fur-coated gal was wearing a quality goat’s-wool tube top with dangerously short specially-made alligator-skin shorts that showed off her nonexistent figure. “C’moooon. You said that last year. Our parents are gonna be letting us fly first class this time around. After all, if you’ve got the money, why not use it?”

While her ‘friends’ were more than willing to indulge in their parents' seemingly endless supply of daddy issues--or rather, credit card money, Silver Spoon had no real reason to do so.

“Listen, I’m trying to make my own money here,” she explained as she folded her arms, “My grandparents worked hard to build the business empire we currently have and my dad had to work his way up just like everyone else did. There’s no shortcuts in my family and you know that.”

“Yeah yeah sure--” the fur-coated gal brushed her words aside, “Look, you can spend all day talking about how hard your family worked, but nobody’s gonna care anyway because all they see is how many dollar signs you’re worth.”

“She’s right,” the gal in shorts added, “No point in trying to convince anyone of anything. Better to just indulge as much as you can. I mean, who’s gonna stop you?”

That line of thinking was exactly why Silver Spoon tried to engage with other ‘rich’ kids as little as possible. To her, most of them were just greedy crotch goblins who wanted to mooch off of their parents’ wealth while fully misunderstanding what it took to get there in the first place. Hence why she wanted nothing to do with them.

“...I’ve got stuff to do, guys,” she replied as she walked on, “Bye.”

“Don’t tell me you’re still care about that scummy boyfriend you have with nothing to his name,” the gal in the coat sneered, “Out of all the guys you could pick, you pick him?”

“Embarrassing,” the chick in shorts snickered.

Silver Spoon simply ignored their comments as she walked away. It wasn’t worth getting upset over.

Eventually, as she finished up her shopping, she’d be met with a shocking appearance.

“Hey, it’s my little princess!”

“...wh--daddy--er, dad?!”

A man with gray-colored skin and silver hair done in a mullet would appear in a white business suit, smiling at her as he rounded the corner. “How are ya?”

“Wh-what are you doing here?!”

“I wanted some time off, so I took some time off,” he replied with a smile on his face, “The investors can handle most of the chatter for the upcoming imports. Thought I’d come on down and see if you were free yourself, sweetie.”

“Uh…y-yeah!” Silver Spoon squealed in disbelief over the fact that her father was actually present, but had to wonder about her mother as well. “Wait, what about mom, is she free?”

Her father beamed with a wide smile, “She is! In fact, I was thinking we should all take a break from all the stress of what’s been happening lately and go to one of our old favorite places to eat. If that’s okay with you?”

“Sure! I’m always happy to spend time with you guys,” Spoon almost jumped for joy at the offer.

And so the father and daughter duo went to one of Silver Spoon’s favorite childhood eateries: A small burger stand near the suburbs of Vanhoover that offered quite possibly the simplest menu around: burgers, fries, hot dogs, and the option to put chili on everything.

Silver Spoon’s father--Argent Rush--actually knew the owners of the establishment personally due to how much time he had spent there with his daughter. Due to this close relationship, he made sure to fund small businesses such as it so the city wouldn’t be able to forcefully tear it down just to build more offices over it.

“...just how I left it,” Argent commented as he exited his car, “Nobody’s gonna take this place from us, sweetie. No one.”

Spoon rolled her eyes at her father’s dramatic tone. “Dad, it’s just a burger stand. It’s not like they’re going out of business anytime soon.”

“No! No they aren’t. But still…do you know how many lobbyists are trying to get this place torn down so they can build another factory over this lot? It’s insane, kiddo.”

“...you know what, that doesn’t surprise me,” Spoon snarked with a roll of her eyes. “Some of the folks in power think they can do whatever they want with their money. Makes me sick. Also, where’s mom?”

“I think she got here before we did--yup, there’s the old broad,” Argent snickered upon seeing his wife at one of the tables nearby.

“And there’s the old hag himself,” Silver Lining shot back as she walked up to him and kissed him on the lips.

Silver Spoon averted her eyes and gagged. “Blech. Can you not. You’re embarrassing me way more than usual. Everyone knows us here.”

As they all went to their table, their jolly little time would be interrupted as one of the other patrons cried out.

“Hey, my purse!”

“Mine too!”

Several purses, handbags, and fanny packs were all lifted away from various customers, which caught everyone’s attention. They were all being telekinetically pulled towards multiple hooded figures at the end of the nearest street corner!

“...what the--?” Argent marveled at what he saw, “Is this some kinda magic trick?”

“...honey, I don’t think Penn and Teller are in town,” Silver Lining muttered.

Spoon watched this happen, and weighed whether or not she should get involved. “...if they see me…”

Episode XVIII: Corruption

Later on, as Eris finished up her investigation, she returned to the police station and took a seat behind her desk.

“Dammit…all of this shit is getting out of hand,” she muttered to herself as she looked over the various dossiers of mutated beings they’ve arrested thus far. “If we don’t come up with an answer yet, we’ll just run into more problems. We need to quell the public’s anxiety as quickly as possible. No matter the cost.”

One of her co-workers--her assistant that had been with her the whole time up to the point, walked through the door. A young man who looked to be her deputy officer.

“Miss Eri--”

“Captain.”

“S-sorry. Captain Eris. I’ve been looking into those cases and so far, none of the suspects we’ve questioned have been able to give us any solid information,” he explained with a sigh, “Do you think it’s possible that we’re barking up the wrong tr--?”

CRASH!

A stapler whizzed past the guy’s head and clattered against the wall right as he ducked under it.

Eris glared at him and grimaced. “Why do you suppose I just threw a stapler towards you, Archie?”

Her assistant, Archie, stuttered, “I-I don’t know.”

“Oh I’m sure you don’t.” The chief officer’s cold voice called out as she approached him.

The young woman had a dull pink skin complexion, long blond hair, and wore a typical police chief’s brown uniform suit with a rather ample bustline and rather wide hips. She approached Archie with a threatening smile on her face.

“...M-ma’am, I--”

“Listen up, kid. We’re the police. It’s our job to put those who are in the wrong behind bars, right?” She asked with a condescendingly sweet tone as she backed him against the nearest wall and repeated herself with a deeper inflection, “Right?”

“Y-yes, of course--but I don’t think that we should just be arresting them solely on the basis that they look different,” he replied nervously as he cowered under her, “W-we don’t have any real evidence against them and their testimonies are inconclusive!”

“Probably just lies to cover each other’s asses,” Eris grumbled as she grabbed the bridge of her nose. “Look, I don’t have time to deal with this. You either follow my orders or I’ll have you demoted to the mail room where your parents can see where all of that expensive academy schooling went.”

“...” Unable to deal with her blackmail, Archie stood up and sighed. “...fine. I’ll…see if we can get anything out of the suspects.”

“There. Good boy. Was that so hard?” she replied with a sarcastic shrug and a roll of her eyes as she walked back over to her desk. “I swear. Fuckin’ limpdick boy scouts like you are gonna get eaten alive by reality sooner or later….” she mumbled under her breath as she flopped down in her swivel chair and turned away from him.

“W-what was that, ma’am?”

“Get me my lunch,” she called out to him, “Make it snappy. Egg salad and black coffee and I want it in the next ten minutes, Archie!”

“Y-yes ma’am!” the deputy saluted and ran out of the room.

Back at Aidon and Luna’s home…

After showering, the cerberus-man had to shake his body and flick his tails to get rid of all the excess water. The end result left his fur rather puffy as he glanced at himself in the mirror.

“...I look like a chalkboard eraser,” he lamented.

Luna meanwhile, had to deal with not only brushing her hair but her entire body’s worth of fur as well. “Ugh…how do the anthropomorphic characters in films and video games deal with this much…hairyness?”

“I haven’t the faintest idea,” Aidon huffed as he slicked his fur down. “This is getting rather bothersome, but after today, I just want to lie down and relax. We need to be on top of our game if we want to be prepared and figure out the Masked Menace’s next target.”

“I’m still trying to think of a method we can use to pinpoint who will be targeted next,” Luna squealed, flicked her tail and wriggled her ears as she left the bathroom wearing a loose-fitting tank top and pajama pants. She then sat at a computer desk nearby where she started to click through various articles for events. “They seem to want to target an area with a large number of people. There’s a chance that we could get the drop on them. Just need to figure out what I can find…”

Aidon tilted his neck and cricked his bones. “...argh. You do that, Luna. I…need a moment to lie down and rest. This form is murder on my physicality.”

Luna glanced at her computer screen and put it to sleep for the moment. She got up and went over to Aidon, nuzzling the side of his neck. “...how about you and I take a break and spend some time together, then?”

“...maybe that will help take my mind off things until we know what’s happening next.”