Warning: This chapter contains implications of sexual themes that are not suitable for minors. Reader discretion is advised.

Sub-Volume 5 - Demons Within

Chapter 4 - Cold Turkey (Lennon, 1969)

AUGUST 10, 2038

Flash and Twilight's kids looked at their parents with curiosity.

"So, you really didn't trust Timber after he killed Cinch at all, mom?" said Twilight V.

"No," Twilight admitted to her daughter. "Song Cue could tell you the same thing."

"Though she did come close to attacking him a few times," Flash added.

"Yikes," said Dusk. "I wouldn't have wanted to see that."

"I came close to attacking him too," Twilight admitted.

"Goodness me," gasped Dawn Spark. "Really, aunt Twilight? You and Song Cue nearly attacked Timber? That's crazy."

"Not nearly as crazy as when..." Vincent began, before deciding not to finish the sentence. "We'll come to that later."

"What, dad, what is it?" asked Dawn.

"Yeah, uncle Vincent?" said Dusk. "What's crazy?"

"Well... it's sort of... kind of..." Vincent sighed, worrying about how his daughter would take in what he was about to say. "Dawn Spark, I hate to admit this, but... you weren't my first child."

"I wasn't?" asked Dawn with surprise.

"No, you have a half-brother," Sunset confirmed.

"Half-brother?!" gasped Dawn. "I don't understand. How did this happen?"

"That's a bit of a long story," said Vincent, and he began to think back to that fateful Christmas day...

DECEMBER 25, 2015

Usually, the alarm clock would ring in the morning. But at the Sentry house, on Christmas day, that was a little different.

"Wake up, everybody!" Fictionary's voice rang through the house in excitement.

"I'm up, I'm up!" Flash yawned and rubbed his eyes. "Sis, what's happening?"

"It's Christmas morning!" said Fictionary excitedly.

"Even as a teenager, you do it every Christmas morning," sighed Flash as he reluctantly got out of bed.

"Oh, Flash... Fictionary's always excited when it's Christmas," chuckled Vincent. "Wouldn't surprise me if she did this as an adult too."

"Merry Christmas, guys," smiled Page Turner as he came to his kids.

"Merry Christmas, dad," said Vincent. He was the last of them to wake up.

"This will be a fantastic day," smiled Fictionary. "I can't wait for Scootaloo and First Base to get here with their mom."

"Don't forget aunts Holiday and Lofty as well," said Flash.

"It will be a great big family gathering," said Page Turner. "I'm looking forward to that."

"We'll have to get things ready for the Christmas lunch," said Fictionary. "Last one to the dining room has to do the most dishes."

"Fictionary, get back here," chuckled Flash.

"Wait, if you are going to the dining room, how are we going to set everything up if we don't get the plates and cutlery out from the cupboards in the kitchen?" Vincent called.

"Oh, heh, wrong way." Fictionary sheepishly turned around to the kitchen.

"She does that every year as well," said Vincent to Flash.

"She's so excitable," agreed his brother. "No wonder she and Pinkie get along so well."

"Now that would be a twist if Fictionary and Pinkie were long lost cousins or something," chuckled Page Turner.

"Yeah," said Flash. "I'm still surprised at the fact that Pinkie's related to someone as grumpy as Limestone, stoic as Maud and as shy as Marble. Not to mention their traditional parents."

The Sentry siblings and Page Turner went about preparing the table and other preparations for their family to arrive at their house.

"I hope auntie Lofty brings her cookies for dessert," said Fictionary.

"And that Scootaloo doesn't eat them all first," added Flash with a laugh.

"I'm sure we'll all get a chance to have some," said Vincent. Just then, the doorbell rang. Page Turner went to answer the door.

"Hello, dad!" Scootaloo was the first to greet him.

"Merry Christmas, dad!" First Base rushed in for a hug.

"Good to see you too, Page Turner," smiled Cindy.

"Likewise, Cindy," Page Turner replied, watching Scootaloo and First Base run inside to meet their siblings. "Always a pleasure seeing you and the twins."

"And how are the other kids?" asked Cindy, following Page Turner into the house.

"We're not kids anymore," said Vincent. "Well, Flash and I, at least."

"But you guys will still be our kids," said Cindy, greeting each of them with a hug.

"That's true enough," said Fictionary. There was another doorbell a few moments later.

"That must be aunt Holiday and auntie Lofty!" said Scootaloo eagerly.

"Hello, everyone," said Lofty. "I hope we didn't arrive too late."

"No, sis," chuckled Cindy. "You and Holiday arrived about the same time as us."

"Thank goodness for that," said Holiday.

"How's everyone doing?" asked Lofty.

"We're doing great." Scootaloo was the first of the group to hug her aunts. "Today is going to be fantastic."

"It sure will be," said Lofty. "After dinner, we can share my cookies."

"As long as you don't pinch them all, Scoot," chuckled Holiday.

"I couldn't resist last year," insisted Scootaloo. "They were so good!"

"Well, they are an old family recipe," Lofty said proudly.

It wasn't long before the family was listening to Christmas songs from the laptop and opening gifts from one another.

"Aww, cool!" cried Scootaloo. "A skateboard. I can't wait to try this out."

"A new baseball and bat!" grinned First Base. "This will be fun to try out when the warmer seasons roll around."

"Wow, these new Warrior Cats books look so cool!" said Fictionary. "Song Cue said they were fun to read."

"Oh, a new rock 'n' roll shirt," said Flash. "I think I may wear this as soon as possible."

"Is that... a painting of the Beatles?!" gasped Vincent. "Wow, that looks great."

"Looks like they are out on Abbey Road," said Flash.

"Didn't Sunset say she went to the United Kingdom?" asked Holiday.

"Yeah, she did with her family," said Vincent.

"Maybe she decided to check out Abbey Road," said Lofty. "It sounds like fun."

"Yeah, it does," said Vincent. But it's a shame that I'm not with her... he thought to himself.

"She'll be back soon," said Cindy. "It will be alright, Vincent." The day wore on by for Vincent; even though he tried to wear a smile, he couldn't stop wishing Sunset was with him.

Soon, it was evening, and the guests hugged their family members.

"We had a lovely day, dad," said Scootaloo. "Thanks for having us."

"It was no problem at all," smiled Page Turner.

"Come back anytime, guys," said Flash.

"Maybe we can have Christmas at my house next year," said Cindy.

"That sounds wonderful," said Holiday. "We'll see you all later. Merry Christmas once again."

"Farewell," said Page Turner as everyone left. He glanced at the clock. "Bless me. It's getting a bit late."

"You're right, dad," said Flash. "Let's get to bed."

"I guess I'm tired too," said Fictionary. "I may read a chapter of one of my new books before bed."

But Vincent wasn't feeling ready to go to bed yet. He felt very restless and upset due to Sunset not being there. More recently, his hair had started to look a lot shaggier, had gotten a bit longer, and he was beginning to grow out a beard. Although Vincent was almost nineteen years of age, he looked more like he was thirty.

"Maybe I can slip out for an evening walk," he said to himself. "But I'll need to dress warmly since it's cold tonight." While his dad and siblings were getting ready for bed, Vincent slipped on some winter clothes.

"I'll go through the window and be back in a few minutes," Vincent said confidently. "No problem." He quietly closed his bedroom door and headed outside through the window.

"Oh my goodness..." he sighed. "Why did our house need to be two levels?!" Vincent then noticed a tree nearby his window. "Maybe I can use that to help me get down." He slowly put one foot out and the other, making his way to the tree.

"I gotta be very careful..." he said to himself. "I have to make sure that I..." He gulped. "Man... I don't think even being a Pegasus can make me lose my fear of heights. Even twelve feet up is too high for me."

Finally, Vincent managed to get to the tree and began climbing down.

"Maybe I should just walk in the front door when I get back," he said to himself. "At least I have my key with me or else I'd be stuck outside in the snow."

Vincent finally got to the ground and began to walk into the cold night.

"How do penguins and polar bears put up with this cold weather?" Vincent sighed as he ventured out. Many houses were shining with Christmas lights outside, Christmas trees were decorated in the living rooms with the windows open, and some families were eating a nice dinner in the dining room together.

"Glad they're having a good time..." Vincent muttered. But as he carried on, he came across a curious poster.

"What's this?" he said, looking at the poster. It gave details about a party on Christmas day at a local pub, and it went till late at night.

"I did have a good meal before," said Vincent. "But... the cold does make it tempting to eat more food."

"You're telling me," said another voice from further down the street. Vincent was surprised; this wasn't a voice he was familiar with at all.

"Who said that?" he asked. A female was standing down the street that seemed twice his age. She had moderate purple hair with light brilliant aquamarine streaks and moderate mulberry eyes.

"I was just on my way to the party myself," she said. "My sisters were with me but my younger older sister lost the map and my oldest sister forgot something back home."

"I hope they manage to catch up with you soon," said Vincent.

"They'll meet me at the party," said the woman. "Say, I can show you how to get there."

"I'd certainly appreciate it," smiled Vincent. The two started to head to the pub; it was a walking distance away so no car was needed.

"I'm Aria Blaze, by the way," said the older woman. "My sisters and I love to sing Christmas songs at the pub whenever we get a chance."

"I'm Vincent," said the blue-haired young adult. "It's nice to meet you, Aria."

AUGUST 10, 2038

"Wait a minute," gasped Dawn Spark suddenly. "Aria Blaze sounds familiar..."

"You met with her and her half-sisters last week, right?" asked Flash.

"Yeah, that's right," said Dawn. "Wait... Aria Blaze is my half-brother's mom?"

"Uh... yes," sighed Vincent. "I'm getting to that..."

DECEMBER 25, 2015

Vincent and Aria soon reached the pub. Everyone was eating meals, Christmas decorations were everywhere, Christmas music was blaring, the whole place was just bustling with activity.

"Whoa," gasped Vincent. "I've never seen the pub like this before."

"Then you haven't lived," said another voice. "Aria, I finally caught the map!" Vincent turned to see the source of the voice, which was a bit higher pitched than Aria's.

"Sonata," sighed Aria, "it's all covered in snow and it's difficult to read. I told you to get another one..."

"I managed to get here, didn't I?" said Sonata with a shrug. "Now where are those tacos? I'm hungry."

"If that's one of your sisters," said Vincent, "then who's the third?"

"I finally found my purse," said a third voice; this one sounded a bit deeper and more sultry.

"Thank goodness, Adagio," said Sonata. "I thought you would have been delayed for hours."

"Aria, Sonata, Adagio?" asked Vincent.

"Our dad had a love for music," Aria explained. "Named all three of us after that, as well as our mothers' respective interests in gems for Adagio's, the night for Sonata's, and for bright colors for mine."

"He must've been a really busy guy," Vincent noted.

"That's one way of putting it," Adagio replied. "Say, I don't think I've seen you on this night out before."

"Oh, that's because I've only... er, just become of age to come out here," said Vincent.

"Well, you know what people say, the more the merrier," said Sonata. "Come on, we'll show you round."

The four of them ventured inside, out of the cold.

"We booked our table earlier," said Adagio. "It's just us three but there's usually an extra seat. Maybe you could sit with us."

"Sure," said Vincent. He found himself seated next to Aria. It wasn't long before the waitress came up.

"Our favorite musical sisters," she smiled. "Oh, and a new friend."

"This is Vincent," said Adagio. "He's our guest for the night."

"Hello," said Vincent to the waitress.

"Well, we're always happy to have newcomers," she said warmly. "So what can I get you all to start with?"

"Could you get us some wine, please?" said Aria.

"Of course," said the waitress. "Red wine is your usual so that's what I'm assuming you want."

"You're right there," smiled Adagio.

"And what can I get you, Vincent?" asked the waitress.

"A ginger ale, please," said Vincent.

"Coming right up," said the waitress and walked off.

"So, Vincent," said Aria, "you have any siblings?"

"Four," said Vincent. "Two brothers and two sisters. Only Flash is older than me."

"Flash..." said Adagio. "That sounds familiar."

"It does?" gasped Vincent.

"Yes," said Aria. "Is this Flash Sentry you're talking about? We met him as a baby."

"That's him, alright," Vincent confirmed. He was most surprised to hear this news. "Were you friends with my mom?"

"We try to get to know everyone in town," Aria explained. "Your mother saw us in town one day and we knew each other since."

"I see," said Vincent.

The waitress soon came back. "Enjoy, everyone," she said, placing the drinks down.

"Thank you," the half-sisters and Vincent called as the waitress walked off.

"We heard about your mom too, Vincent, and were at her funeral," said Sonata. "That must have been awful..."

"Yeah... It still pains me knowing that she's no longer there," said Vincent.

"Don't worry, Vincent," said Aria. "You have our full support."

"Thanks..." Vincent said quietly. But unknown to Vincent and the sisters, another costumer had come over to chat to a friend on the table next to them. He put his drink down right next to Vincent's drink. When he next looked down, Vincent was surprised.

"That's strange," he said. "I didn't order two ginger ales." The liquids in both glasses looked very similar in color, which made things confusing for both Vincent and the other customer.

The glass that had just been set down was a beer, and the glass Vincent already had was a ginger ale. Unknowingly, Vincent returned the ginger ale glass to the other customer, and then Vincent took a sip from the beer glass.

"Huh?" The other costumer was surprised when he drank Vincent's drink. "I didn't order this..."

"Goodness..." said Vincent, his voice sounding unclear. "That tastes very weird..."

"What's up with Vincent?" asked Sonata.

"Dunno," said Adagio. She then smelled the drink that Vincent had taken a sip from. "Wait, I don't think that drink is ginger ale..."

"You don't think he drank beer do you?" said Aria.

"Didn't he say he became of age?" said Sonata. "He should be okay."

But I'm sorry to say that Vincent wasn't; as you and I know, in America, it is illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to consume alcohol. Not only that, different people have different tolerances to alcohol, and in this case, Vincent could not hold his liquor.

"I don't think he looks okay," said Aria. Vincent was now not thinking straight, and singing "Jingle Bells" off-key while hiccuping. At least he's not performing on stage, Aria thought. That would've been embarrassing for him.

"Maybe we should get him home," said Adagio.

"But do we know where he lives?" asked Sonata.

"I think I know where his home is," said Aria. "It's not far from here."

"Let's go then," said Adagio, and everyone got up from their seats. "No more drinking for him..." She made sure that all four of them had paid for their drinks, even though Vincent had unintentionally taken another patron's drink.

"I deeply apologize for this," said the waitress who served them. "We'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

"It's not your fault," said Aria. "Another customer left their drink by Vincent's by mistake."

"Well, we'll speak with him about this to take more caution where he puts his drink," said the waitress. "Have a good night everyone. Merry Christmas."

The quartet all headed out of the pub down the street.

"Which way did you see Vincent come from?" asked Sonata. Aria squinted to try and see where the young man had come from, but because it was dark outside, it was hard to see properly. The fact that it was starting to snow again didn't help much.

"Sometimes I wish Rudolph would come more than once..." muttered Aria to herself.

"But you said you didn't believe in Santa Claus," said Sonata.

"Uh, girls?" said Adagio, glancing over. "Where did Vincent go?" Aria and Sonata quickly glanced from side to side.

"Vincent!" called Aria. "Where are you?!"

"Isn't that him heading for our house?" said Sonata. There was Vincent, heading in completely the wrong direction, and drunkenly singing, occasionally messing up the lyrics and singing another song as a result.

"Mister Blue Sky, please tell us why, you had to hide away for soooo looong... where did we go wrong?" he sang. "Hey there Mister Blue, we're so pleased to be with you. Look around, see...alhouetto for a man... Everybody does the Fangdango... Thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening to you and me..."

"Er, Vincent, maybe you should get some rest at our place before we get you home tomorrow," said Aria as calmly as she could manage when she came up to him. And mostly so you don't keep butchering some of the greatest songs of all time and causing a public disruption, she thought.

The three women quickly got Vincent inside their house. It was a fairly decent sized house. Their living room was just down the main hall, and the kitchen was further down. Adagio's bedroom was downstairs near the living room, while Aria's and Sonata's rooms were opposite each other upstairs.

"Alright," said Adagio. "I think we have spare blankets and a pillow to make a bed on the couch somewhere." She went to open the cupboard and looked around.

"Let's see, blankets... where are you..." Suddenly, the wind blew in from one of the windows and slammed the cupboard door.

"Hey!" cried Adagio. "I'm locked in!"

But Sonata had already rushed upstairs to bed and Aria was trying to make sure Vincent wasn't going to get into trouble.

"I've never seen anyone get this hammered by one beer," she said to herself. As she tucked Vincent in, Aria accidentally tripped over one of Sonata's cook books and fell onto the couch, kissing Vincent in the process. Aria pulled back, blushing in embarrassment. Vincent didn't say anything as he was out cold.

That... felt kind of good... Aria thought to herself in amazement. In all her years, she had never once kissed a boy - not because she wasn't interested in guys - but because she'd never found herself in a relationship with anyone. Now that she'd had a taste of the honey, she wanted the whole bottle.

"C'mere, big boy..." she purred, pulling Vincent in for another kiss.

Very early the next morning, all seemed quiet in the house as Sonata and Adagio slept heavily. Suddenly...

"Ooooooooh, sweet mystery of life, at last I've found you...!"

The two sisters woke to the sound of Aria singing in soprano for some reason.

"Hey, what's going on out there?" Adagio demanded, banging on the cupboard door. "Someone open this blasted cupboard!"

Sonata couldn't understand why her half-sister was singing opera either.

"She'd better not be eating any of my special tacos," she fumed.

"Oh, forget about your tacos and get me outta here!" cried Adagio, banging on the door. Sonata was surprised; she had no idea that her older half-sister had been in the cupboard all night! Still, she opened the door, and Adagio finally emerged with her hair a right mess.

"So, you finally came out of the closest," joked Sonata.

"I came out years ago, Sonata," Adagio growled. "But that's not important. Where's Aria at?"

"I think her singing came from over there," said Sonata. The two of them strolled over to Aria.

"Sis, what is... ARIA?!" Adagio jumped back in shock, and Sonata fainted from what she witnessed.

"Well... there's goes the last of my heterosexuality," grumbled Adagio.

Aria was stunned from what had happened, and got to her feet. "I... uh... well..."

"What have you done?!" snapped Adagio. "You knew he was drunk last night!"

"I..." Aria sighed, guilt coming in a tidal wave. "I kinda tripped over a book and kissed them and then... I got carried away."

"We have to get Vincent home," said Adagio, trying to calm down. "Goodness knows what his family and friends are going to think of this."

Meanwhile, Flash yawned as he woke up. For whatever reason, it felt very cold inside the house.

"Better go see how Vincent's doing," he said to himself. "I hope he didn't turn the heater off." He strolled over to his younger brother's room.

"Hey, Vin... Wha..." Much to Flash's surprise, there was snow all over Vincent's room.

"That's odd," he said. "Vincent would never leave his window open..." He then went to close it up and looked at the snow that had gotten in.

"There's so much snow..." he muttered. "It would take ages to clear this. Is he downstairs or something?"

But Flash would find that Vincent wasn't downstairs either.

"Vincent?" Flash cried, now starting to panic. "Little brother? Where are you?! Dad, Fictionary, wake up!"

"It's four in the morning..." Fictionary moaned. "Too early..."

"Vincent is gone!" Flash cried, rushing to his sister's room.

"He's what?!" Fictionary sprang out of bed and both of them rushed to their dad's room. "Dad, Vincent's missing!"

"What?!" Page Turner woke up. "Okay, let's not panic. I'll go around the neighborhood and see if he's nearby. You two call your friends and ask if they know where he could be."

"He could be anywhere by now," said Flash. "I just hope he hasn't gone too far..." Page Turner got his coat and quickly went outside, while Flash got his phone out.

"Flash..." yawned Twilight as she picked up the phone on her end. "It's a little early to be hanging out."

"It's not that, Twilight," said Flash. "It's Vincent; he's gone missing!"

"He's missing?!" Twilight was wide awake now. "Okay, I'll get my family on the lookout."

"Thank you, Twilight," sighed Flash. "I hope he's not caught a cold or something..."

Fictionary had her own phone out too.

"Fictionary?" Scootaloo blinked her eyes open. "We only saw each other yesterday. What's the rush?"

"Vincent's gone missing!" cried Fictionary. "He's not at home and he could be anywhere by now!"

"Oh no!" gasped Scootaloo. "I'll tell First Base and mom straight away. Families stick together."

"Thanks, Scoots," said Fictionary.

While Flash and Fictionary were calling up their friends, Page Turner was looking down the street.

"Vincent!" he called out. "Where are you, son?!"

Further up the street, the Dazzling half-sisters and Vincent had finally gone outside. The poor young adult was most confused at the circumstances that had gone on.

"How did I end up at your house?" asked Vincent. "How long was I there? Oh... dad, Flash and Fictionary will be so worried!"

"We'll find them," said Adagio. "Which way is your house?"

"It's at 66 Strawberry Avenue," said Vincent.

"Let's go then," said Sonata. "Ugh... I should have gotten a new map last night..."

"It's this way," said Vincent, walking down the correct street this time. Adagio, Aria and Sonata followed, the youngest had not said a word since they had gone outside.

"Vincent!" came a voice further up the street. "Is that you?"

"Dad!" cried Vincent, rushing over.

"Son," he said, hugging Vincent tightly. "Where have you been?"

"I..." Vincent sighed. "I left the house last night on my own accord."

"Why did you do that?!" Page was shocked. "Do you realize how worried your siblings and I were, young man?"

"I didn't want to cause a fuss," insisted Vincent. "I just wanted a bit of time to myself."

"Then why are you with these three women?" asked Page Turner, seeing the half-sisters nearby.

"I met Aria on the way to the pub and met Adagio and Sonata there," Vincent explained.

"You went to the pub?!" cried Page. "Please tell me you didn't get drunk underage."

"He ordered a ginger ale," explained Sonata, "but while we were busy talking, another customer put a beer down next Vincent's drink and... there was a mix-up."

Page Turner sighed. "You must keep a close eye on your drinks when you are out in public, and that costumer has to watch where he puts his drink!"

"Yes, dad..." said Vincent.

"Thank you for bringing Vincent back to me," said Page Turner to the women. "Have a good night. Or... is it a good day?"

"Doesn't matter," said Adagio. "We know what you mean." She started to lead Aria and Sonata back to their house.

Vincent looked down at his shoes, too embarrassed and ashamed to say anything. He knew that actions had consequences, but he didn't yet know how bad they were going to be...

FOOTNOTES

Vincent's pony self is indeed a pegasus and is afraid of heights. For the record, his parents Flame Barrier and Lullaby Strings are pegaus ponies, his stepfather Page Turner and half-sister Fictionary are unicorns, and stepmother Cindy is an earth pony. (Maybe one of her parents was a pegasus in order for Lofty to be as such.)

Originally, it was Adagio who was intended to get pregnant by Vincent, but it was changed to Aria instead.

Aria and Sonata's birth orders were switched around.

So far, we don't know what the Dazzling's sisters parents would look like, though in the pony world, they were probably sirens.

Aria singing after having some "fun" with Vincent is a reference to Young Frankenstein.