Bloodlines

One year had passed since the events of the magic killings. The girls were finishing up their final year of high school and getting ready for college. Even the Dazzlings were exceeding with their education, and had plans to attend college while working on their music. The Dazzlings were no longer living out of a van either. For one thing, it was destroyed during the battle with Killian. The three sisters had since moved into Sunset’s apartment. They all had an internal feeling that Sunset was perfectly okay with this, and that them living in her apartment was Sunset’s way of saying thank you.

The girls also made sure to follow Sunset’s wishes by using their magic for good. But to make sure that they didn’t become corrupt with power and that people didn’t overly rely on them or see them as gods, they used a light touch. Like Rainbow Dash using her super speed to round up food and dropping it off anonymously at food shelters.

Things were going great for everyone. One night Rarity was at the fashion boutique where she worked when she got a visit from AppleJack.

“Hello, darling!” Rarity said to AppleJack.

“Hey Rarity. I was just checking in to see if you were almost finished. I wouldn’t want you to be late for the party.”

“Ah yes, the final week of school party. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I have just one more client to attend to and then I can lock up for the evening.”

“Great. I’ll see you there.” AppleJack and Rarity then kissed.

“Later darling!” Rarity said with a big smile.

A minute after AppleJack left, the final client came into the store. SHe had gray skin, brown eyes, and black hair with a red streak going through it. She wore a black T-shirt with a big red X in the middle, a red poodle skirt, and knee high black and red striped boots.

“Hello, I’m here to pick up my order.” The client said.

“Aw yes, your order is complete.” Rarity walked around to the back of the boutique and came back with a flowing, red silk dress that had a single shoulder strap that had a silk rose on it.”

“You must really love red.” Rarity said.

The client waved her hand and smiled slightly. “It is my favorite color. Besides, red is the color of passion.”

“I can’t argue with you on that.” Rarity placed the dress in a box with special paper to keep it clean and handed it to the client. “By the way, I never caught your name.”

“You can call me Aba.”

“Aba, that is such a lovely name.”

“Do you know what else red is the color of?” Aba asked.

Rarity tapped her finger to her lips as she was deep in thought. “No, I never really thought about it. What else does red represent?”

A super serious look then came over Aba’s face. “Vengeance.” Aba then grabbed Rarity by the throat. She lifted Rarity off the floor and pinned her to the wall.

Rarity was shocked at Aba’s strength. It was even greater than AppleJack’s strength. “What are you doing?!”

Aba placed a finger to her lips and shushed Rarity. Aba then kissed Rarity. As she did, Rarity began to feel queasy. A bright, white light began to glow in her chest. Rarity could feel it moving up her esophagus, past her throat, and into her mouth.

Aba then sucked the light out of Rarity’s mouth into hers and swallowed it. Rarity felt hollow inside. She could barely breathe, and she was so cold that she was shivering violently.

Aba kissed Rarity again, this time breathing a red mist down her throat. Rarity’s breathing returned to normal, and her body warmed up. But at the same time, dark thoughts invaded her mind. Everything that Rarity knew about friendship, kindness, accepting others, and love were drowned out by thoughts of hate, violence, and bloodshed.

Images of red, thorny vines grew all over Rarity’s body and her eyes became bloodshot. Aba then let her go.

“You are now my disciple. You will obey me at all times. You will not stop until you complete the missions that I assign to you. Understood?”

“Understood my mistress.” Rarity then bowed down and kissed Aba’s hand. “What is our objective?”

“We’re going to war.”

The party was being held at Rainbow Dash’s house. Her parents were out on a date night, but they knew that they could trust Rainbow Dash and her friends to not let things get out of control.

Everyone was having a great time. The girls got together and chatted a bit about their college plans. Fluttershy was going to study to be a veterinarian, AppleJack was going to study agriculture to find ways to help improve her family farm, Twilight was going to study astrophysics and engineering with hopes of getting a job at NASA, Pinkie Pie was going to study business so that she could open her own party planning company, and Rainbow Dash was going to college on an athletics scholarship.

The doorbell rang and Rainbow Dash went to answer it. The Dazzling were on the other side and walked in.

“Welcome to the party!” Rainbow Dash said.

“I’m glad we could make it.” Adagio said.

“Yeah, getting in those last minute exams was stressful. But we all passed.” Aria said.

Twilight approached them. “We were just talking about our college plans. Do you guys know what you want to do?”

Adagio smiled and placed her hands on her hips. “Oh yeah. We’ve decided to study acoustics and music to better improve our sound.”

The doorbell rang again. Rainbow Dash opened it to find Timber Spruce.

“Hey Rainbow Dash. I’m not late, am I?” Timber asked.

“Of course not! You’re just in time!”

“Great!” Timber said with a smile. He then stepped aside. “I hope you don’t mind, but I brought a friend of mine over for the party. His name is Cassidy Lee.”

Cassidy walked into the house. He had messy blonde hair that went down to his shoulders. Cassidy had blue eyes, with a soul patch on his chin. He had beige colored skin and his body was skinny. Cassidy wore a white T-shirt and blue jeans with sneakers. Cassidy had a slight smile on his face and his hands in his pockets. He gave off a “Super relaxed.” Attitude.

Timber led Cassidy around the party and introduced him to everyone. When they got around to the Dazzlings, Adagio and Aria waved and said hello.

Cassidy smiled and waved back. “Nice to meet you.”

Sonata however just stared at Cassidy. For some reason, she felt at ease around him. Sonata also saw what she thought was Cassidy’s aura, which was an orange light.

Aria snapped her fingers. “Hello? Earth to Sonata!”

Sonata snapped out of her haze. “Sorry. I’m Sonata Dusk.”

“Cassidy Lee.” Cassidy replied.

“I haven’t seen you around before.” Adagio said. “Are you new to town?”

Cassidy let out a slight laugh of embarrassment. “Yeah. I actually just moved here to attend college. I’ll also be helping out Timber part time at Camp Everfree for cash.”

“Really? We’re going to college here!” Sonata said with an overly excited tone. “What are you studying?”

“Acoustics and music. I play guitar, and I want to get better so that I can start a band.”

“Really? That’s what we’re studying!” Sonata said with a big smile. “My sisters and I are already in a band. We’re called The Dazzlings.”

Cassidy became surprised. “Oh yeah! I’ve listened to your music online. You’re really good!”

Sonata blushed. “Thanks.”

Cassidy noticed something in the corner. “Hey, are those Guitar Hero guitars?”

“You bet.” Rainbow Dash said. “I have every game in the franchise.”

“Mind if I play some songs?”

“Go right ahead.”

“Cool.” Cassidy walked over and selected Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. He turned on the game and selected Through the fire and the Flames by DragonForce. Cassidy chose legendary difficulty and began to play. Everyone at the party was blown away by how good he was.