November 18, 2015

Aria Blaze grumbled as she opened her eyes, finally waking up. She blinked in surprise when she saw Jacket's blanket on top of her and the girls. She shook Adagio's shoulder as gently as she can.

"Hey, Adagio." Aria gently whispered. "Wake up."

Adagio woke up, but she was surprised that Aria didn't just rudely wake her up as usual. Of course, Aria was surprised the same way when she heard the yellow siren say, "Thanks Aria."

Aria gently shook Sonata's shoulders, deep in thought. For someone as scary and silent, Jacket sure brought these girls together. She still remembers how Jacket made them apologize to each other the night before.

"The funny thing is that I'm actually sorry about that and apologized for realsies." Aria thought to herself. "Oh great, now I'm thinking like Sonata."

Jacket sure has some experience making people rekindle with each other. Maybe her theory that he had no friends may have been false.

"Hmm?" Sonata said as she woke up. "Oh, good morning, Aria. You slept well?"

"Yeah, thanks for asking." Aria kindly responded. "You?"

"Yeah. I slept alright. And you, Adagio?"

"Same here, thanks for asking."

"Nice to hear. I'm going to go make us some pancakes. You want anything else?"

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah, me too?"

"Sure!"

The trio of girls jumped out of bed with a big smile on their faces. Their smiles vanished as they froze. Eventually, Aria shook her head.

"Okay, can I just say what the heck is going on here?" Aria stated.

Adagio and Sonata looked at her.

"I mean, we're being nice to each other, Sonata's the one making breakfast, even though she's too lazy to do so in the first place, and we want to help her." Aria pointed out.

The trio of girls just looked at each other with confusion on their faces.

"Jacket?"

"Jacket."

Sonata sighed as she placed her right hand on her right cheek.

"Man, he's been here for just thirteen days and already he made us fight less and actually tolerate each other." Sonata explained.

"I know!" Aria exclaimed. "I still feel bad for dinner yesterday!"

"You know the sad thing?" Adagio admitted. "He's being nice to us and he's brought us together, but he doesn't know who we really are: those three sirens that brainwashed all of Canterlot High!"

The girls just looked down. Sonata eventually cleared her throat. "When are we going to tell him about us? I mean, he's going to find out eventually."

Adagio and Aria looked at each other with worried looks on their faces. "Well, let me think about it first." Adagio answered. "I'll wake up Jacket."

As Adagio walked to Jacket's room, Aria noticed how the screen door to the balcony was slightly open. As she went to close it, she stopped a moment to see the cigarette butts outside, laying on the balcony floor.

"Jacket?" Adagio said as she opened to door to his room. She saw him laying on top of his bed, snoring slightly without a blanket. His snoring stopped as he opened his eyes and glanced at Adagio. "Good morning. Sonata's making pancakes. C'mon."

He nodded and got off his bed. He let out a yawn while stretching before he headed for the dining table. He took a seat as the sirens headed for the kitchen. Because Jacket was always paying for his rent in advance, the sirens have enough money for actual food. After all, those dead gangsters are not going to need their money anymore.

As Jacket waited for about half an hour, Sonata came into the dining room with a very tall stack of pancakes. Adagio came in with a fresh pot of coffee and Aria brought along some plates and syrup.

"Thanks Jacket, for the rent money. We can finally afford actual food." Sonata thanked with a relieved smile as she served pancakes to Jacket first.

Jacket nodded as he gave a thumbs up. His face showed no emotion, but he was glad to help them out. Eventually, Sonata served the rest of the sirens as coffee and syrup was also served. The four peacefully ate their breakfast with Jacket finishing first. He wasn't that hungry. Judging from how the sirens were practically stuffing their faces with pancakes and syrup, they didn't seem to have much to eat before Jacket came along.

He nodded his thanks as he stood up from his seat. The phone began to rang; Jacket turned to the phone and walked to it. He picked it up.

"Howdy! It's Pat from Crystal Prep. We need you to chaperone a school event that's happening two miles west from the Everfree Recreational Area. It's that purple house near the abandoned mechanic shop. Take care!"

Jacket hanged up and grabbed his backpack. He waved to the girls goodbye as he headed for the door. The girls waved back and then sighed as soon as Jacket left.

"We wouldn't be even having this kind of food if Jacket wasn't here to give us rent money." Adagio grumbled. "That's it. When he comes back, we tell him the truth about us."

"You're right." Sonata admitted. "I'm sure he'll understand. I mean, he seems like an understanding guy."

"HOLY FUCK!"

Jacket shut up the gangster by repeatedly stomping his neck until it was gone. He cleaned the blood from his sneakers a bit before proceeding forward.

He kept walking until he saw a green door to his right. He was able to burst through the door but he decided to try something new. He calmly knocked on the door.

"I'm in the fucking john!" Someone shouted from behind the door. "Wait your turn!"

Jacket mentally shrugged and walked away, deciding to deal with him later. He walked to the door on the opposite side. He was greeted with a gangster putting toaster strudels inside the gray toaster. Just as he turned on the toaster, he noticed Jacket and yelped. He quickly grabbed the kitchen knife and pounced on Jacket. The masked man quickly avoided the attack, causing the gangster to tumble on the floor. Jacket quickly jumped on top of the man and grabbed the back of the gangster's head. He brutally smashed the head repeatedly on the floor, bits of blood and brains splattered on the floor and Jacket's mask.

"The hell's going on?" Someone said from another room. Jacket's head snapped back up as he dashed to the side of the door. Another gangster walked into the room with a machine pistol on his right hand.

"I heard some noise. What the hell are yo-MMPH!"

Jacket quickly jammed the knife into the gangster's back. As the gangster collapsed, his machine pistol was quickly grabbed by Jacket. Tightening his grip on the gun, Jacket actually decided to get a drink. Walking up to the refrigerator with his gun, he opened it and observed the contents of the fridge. The only thing he can find in the fridge were these drinks from this place called Sweet Apple Acres. Fizzy apple cider? Jacket raised an eyebrow. This is crackhouse, not a hoedown. Where's the beer? Jacket shrugged and took one bottle.

"There, now you can use the fucking john."

Jacket quickly turned to the doorway as he heard that same guy who was in the bathroom. The gangster froze the minute he saw the rooster-masked man in the kitchen, holding a machine pistol and a glass bottle of fizzy apple cider. Jacket just stared at the gangster. The two men just stood still, looking at each other.

The toaster strudels suddenly popped from the toaster.

Jacket immediately fired the machine pistol at the gangster. His blood splashed on the floor and nearby walls. Jacket just stood there with his cold drink and empty gun. After a minute or so, he dropped the gun, briefly removed the mask, and gulped down all of the cider. As soon as he finished the drink, he put his mask back on and smashed the glass bottle at a wall, shattering the bottom into many pieces. He exited the room and headed for the stairs with his broken bottle.

He reached the second floor, looking around to see which room was where the cocaine would be located. He noticed a room guarded by a black door with the words NO CHICKEN FREAKS ALLOWED sprayed on it. That's the one.

Just as he headed for the door, it opened and a gangster exited through the room with two micro Uzis on his hands. His jaw dropped when he saw Jacket. He tried to point his weapons at him but was interrupted by Jacket, who lodged the glass bottle into the gangster's neck. Jacket ignored the dying gangster and picked up the twin guns.

He burst through the door, seeing a giant open room with tables of cocaine and crack. Twelve gangsters stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to the masked maniac. They quickly grabbed their assault rifles and pointed it to Jacket.

This was going to be fun.

Jacket grabbed one of the metal tables and flipped it to provide cover. Bullets hit the table as Jacket hid behind it. He quickly looked to the side and spotted two gangsters reloading. He took this opportunity to jump up and fired at the two unsuspecting thugs. They clenched their bullet-filled chests as they slumped to the ground. Their blood and chest bits landed on some of the cocaine.

"Fuck!" One of the thugs growled. "What are you guys waiting for?! Kill the chicken freak!"

Another gangster saw Jacket reloading his weapon. He took the opportunity to throw a grenade at him. Jacket spotted the grenade rolling on the floor, causing his eyes to widen. He quickly grabbed the grenade and threw it back at the gangster. Jacket hid back to his cover as he heard some screams and an explosion. The force of the explosion knocked Jacket to the ground as his weapons scattered to the floor and his hearing almost dying.

He grunted as he turned around and saw the other seven surviving gangsters in the same predicament. Some struggled to stand up while others cupped their ears with their hands. One gangster vomited after glancing at the bloody remains of the three dead gangsters killed in the explosion.

Grabbing the nearby Uzi, Jacket pointed it to the vomiting gangster and blew off his head with a good shot.

Jacket heard the faint shouting of someone ordering to kill the "chicken fuck." He glared at the six gangsters and wasted all the ammunition killing three of them. One gangster pulled out a hammer and ran towards Jacket. He was stopped when Jacket quickly kicked him in the stomach. Jacket immediately grabbed the fallen hammer and smashed the gangster's brains out.

Jacket could tell his hearing was back to normal since he and the two surviving gangsters heard the faint sound of sirens from police cars. Jacket swiftly grabbed a nearby rifle and eliminated the two gangsters. As they died, Jacket saw a fire escape outside. He quickly smashed the window and climbed down on the fire escape.

He ran next to the dumpster where the backpack was located. Jacket quickly put the mask inside the backpack and fled from the house.

Jacket straightened his clothes a bit as he walked up the apartment stairs. As he reached to locked door to his place, he searched his pockets for his keys. He planned to just lie down in his bed and do absolutely nothing until midnight. He found his keys and unlocked the door.

He stepped into his home, heading for his room.

"Jacket?"

He turned around to the dining table after hearing his nickname. He saw the three girls sitting next to the table. They had a serious look on their faces, even Sonata looked serious. Adagio pulled up an empty chair next to her.

"Can you have a seat here, please?" She asked. "We're not mad or anything. We just want to talk."

Jacket looked at three sirens and mentally shrugged. He walked to the seat and sat down.

"First off," Adagio said as she let out a grateful smile, "We just want to REALLY thank you for all you've done for us. I mean, before we met you, the girls and I had no food, barely any money, and practically hated each other."

"You not only gave us money and food, but you brought us closer." Aria added as she smiled.

"You're the best, Jacket!" Sonata shouted with a huge grin. "Thank you oh so very much!"

Jacket sat there with the same emotionless expression on his face. However, deep inside, he felt a sense of pride for this. He let out a thumbs up at the three girls. However, the trio suddenly dropped their smiles.

"The girls and I talked about this." Adagio softly said. "I think it's time you know the truth."

"Jacket, have you heard about those...rumors about us?" Aria asked.

Jacket thought for a moment. He did hear some people mentioning about sirens and battle of the bands or something like that. He didn't pay much attention to that and he assumed it was just bullshit.

"You know, the rumors about the sirens and brainwashing a school?" Sonata pointed out.

Jacket did nothing in silence before he finally nodded.

"Well," Aria sighed. "They're true."

Jacket raised an eyebrow.

"We're, um, sirens." Adagio explained. "And we did try to brainwash Canterlot High."

"Um, get comfortable." Sonata stated. "This is gonna be a LOT of explaining."

Eventually, the Dazzlings explained everything to Jacket. They talked about their true origins and how they were banished to the human universe by a pony named Star-Swirled the Bearded. They explained how they plotted to find a way to come back to Equestria. They eventually discovered magic in this universe and tried to obtain it. They eventually brainwashed a school and turned their music event into a music contest. They were foiled by seven girls. Their singing which was used to brainwash others was forever gone. They now had to live in poor condition.

"So..." Sonata uncomfortably said. "That's the story. If you think we're crazy, we can understand that."

Jacket just sat in his seat. His face was unreadable. His mind, however, was completely confused and tried to register all the stuff the Dazzlings explained.

The girls just stared at Jacket. The four humans just sat there without saying a single word. Eventually, Jacket did do something. He got up and headed for his room.

"He thinks we're crazy or something." Adagio muttered as she placed her right hand on her face. "I knew this was a bad ide-"

Adagio stopped her talking when she saw Jacket come back to the table with a notepad and a pen. Before she could ask what he was doing, Jacket began to wrote on the paper. Adagio, Aria, and Sonata just stared at Jacket, unsure what he was doing. Eventually, he stopped his writing and ripped the paper from the notepad. He handed it to the girls as they leaned to read what he had to write.

You three are not the only ones to come from another universe.

"Did, did you come from Equestria?" Sonata asked with a surprised look on her face.

Jacket shook his head and began to write some more. He ripped out the paper from the notepad and handed it to the girls.

Believe it or not, I came from another universe that's kinda like this universe.

Jacket spent the rest of the day explaining about where he came from. He explained how his universe was similar to this universe but with some differences. He patiently answered any question the girls asked him. He also took time to explain some of his backstory. He explained about how he was once in the military with his bearded friend, fighting against Russians. He made sure not to explain about the phone calls he was getting, giving them cryptic messages to kill these Russians. He finally points out how he saw this bright yellow and red light that engulfed him, which later resulted in him coming to this universe.

"Wow." Aria said in complete disbelief. "I can't believe we have a lot of things in common."

"Miami sounds like a good place to go to." Sonata squealed with a grin. "I wonder if their tacos are the bomb!"

"I hope your friend is alright." Adagio said to Jacket, placing a hand on his hand.

Jacket nodded at Adagio and looked down at his stomach when it growled.

"Dinner time!" Sonata cheered. "I'm gonna go order us some tacos!"

Sonata hopped to the phone as Jacket let out a relieved sigh. So far, it's been a good day. He sure missed his bearded friend though.