"Your magic, white rabbit, has left it's writing on the wall.
We follow, like Alice, and just keep diving down the hole.
We're falling, and we're losing control.
You're pulling us, and dragging us, down this dead end road."
-White Rabbit, Egypt Central
………….
"Got the music in our hearts, we're here to blow this thing apart!"
It had been two weeks since it happened.
"And together, we will never, be afraid of the dark!"
Two weeks since they had lost everything.
"We'll sing our song out loud, get you dancing with the crowd, as the music, of our friendship, survives! Survives!"
But to Adagio, it seemed like it was just yesterday.
"Got the music in our hearts, gonna blow this thing apart! And together, we will never, be afraid of the dark! We're here to sing our song out loud, get you dancing with the crowd, as the music, of our friendship, survives! Survives! Survives!"
It had been so clear that night, and yet now…now it seemed as though the storm clouds outside were crying and sobbing, like a son or a daughter may cry at their mother's funeral. The winds, too, were howling in pain and sadness, creating a sort of melancholy song: a lullaby, perhaps. A dead body, maybe two, maybe even three or four, would look completely natural in the storm- monsoon, more like. The glass doors to the tiny diner rattled, and the lights flickered on and off, on and off. It was hard to not take notice of these events, and such things usually annoyed her: the noise made it hard to think. Yet, it didn't bother Adagio in the slightest. Not today.
'Maybe this rain is because of what happened…' she thought as she stared absently down at the dark, steamy surface of her coffee. Maybe the sky was crying for her. 'No,' she quickly corrected herself, shaking her head. 'That's completely and utterly stupid. It sounds like something Sonata would say. A rainstorm, because we split up. That ditzy little twit…still a pain in the ass even when she's gone.' Adagio chuckled to herself at the thought of Sonata's frivolous antics. Always the silly and eccentric one, Sonata mostly just pissed her off, but there were occasions where the blue-haired girl was genuinely funny. And then there was Aria, the serious one, always competing with Adagio for power over the trio. She shook her head as she gently reached down and picked up the steaming cup, blew, then took a sip.
The reaction was immediate. Her mouth felt like it was being set on fire, and the taste of the brew itself resembled that of battery acid. Coffee was a foul thing, truly; Adagio had only tasted it once before, when Sonata had insisted upon going to Starbucks to get them all pumpkin spice lattés for Halloween. Halloween was positively awful in and of itself, combined with the lattés…it was a traumatizing experience, and yet she still sat there, drinking the foul brew once more. For what reason that was, she had no idea. Maybe to take her mind off of all the recent events…but then again, maybe not. It only served to further remind her of her sisters in crime, after all. She resisted the urge to spit the drink out all over the counter, and maybe gag a little. Just to be dramatic. Instead, she set the mug down rather violently and forced herself to swallow it.
'Never again…' she thought. 'Never again will I subject myself to such wretchedness.'
…….
"Bye, girls!" Sunset Shimmer called to her friends as she began to walk away, waving her hand at them. None of the five girls: Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, even Fluttershy seemed to hear her, though. Instead, they continued to talk amongst one another, heading in a massive clump towards the waiting buses. Sunset's hand slowly fell down to her side, shoulders slouching with disappointment. 'They could wave back to me sometime. That would be nice.' thought Sunset as she blew out a loud puff of air, sharply turning her back to them. After a few moments of wrestling with her tiny, raggedy backpack, Sunset managed to get her bright red umbrella open and above her head. Bracing herself to the best of her abilities, she headed out into the storm, trudging in the direction of the school parking lot.
The cold raindrops fell in sheets and buckets, the wind swirling around her in a raging torrent. It felt like a hurricane, like at any given moment Sunset could be swept off her feet and carried away into the stormy skies. She shivered as she shut her umbrella and opened the driver's side door to her old VW Beetle. Tossing the sopping umbrella in the back and jamming the keys into the ignition, the engine roared to life. She quickly pulled out of the lot and started on her way to downtown Canterlot. There, the buildings towered far above, reaching into the darkened sky. The crowded streets and sidewalks were always bustling, but now, she was the only one on the roads. Canterlot, the city that never slept, was silent, probably due to the storm. Slowly, she wound her way into the "bad" part of town, as addressed by many: the slums. She stopped at her favourite diner, then headed inside. But as soon as she opened the dirty, rattling glass doors, she stopped dead in her tracks. Her blue eyes were immediately drawn to a cloud of frizzed orange hair, and a very familiar face.
"Adagio Dazzle?"
…….
"Adagio Dazzle?"
Adagio's head shot up and snapped to the left, where she saw none other than Sunset Shimmer, the harbinger of her downfall. Red and yellow hair, blue eyes, leather jacket…She gritted her teeth, "WHAT DO YOU WANT!?" She yelled, getting up and walking over to her. She forcefully grabbed Sunset's jacket and shoved her against the wall, causing the other girl to whine in pain.
"Ow-" Sunset was cut off by Adagio, who began to shake her, slamming her head against the wall.
"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Adagio shouted, throttling Sunset.
"You get your hands off her!" Said the waitress, from the back of the room, placing her hands on her hips. Adagio gave Sunset a death glare before releasing her iron grip. Then, she left, slamming the doors behind her.
……
Sunset stared, bewildered, as Adagio Dazzle left the diner. She walked slowly towards the waitress, a short and chubby woman who's brown hair was tied up in a bun atop her head.
"You okay, hon?" Asked the waitress.
"Yeah, I'll live. But…do you know what that was about?" Sunset asked the waitress.
"She came in about a half hour before you, and she looked mighty awful. That's all I know, sugar. She's probably just one of the crazy folk."
"Huh, I wonder what she was doing here…" said Sunset, rubbing the back of her head.
"Ya know her?"
"Yeah, she used to go to my school. But I thought…"
"What?"
"Never mind. The usual, please."
Author's Note
Note: the chapters in this story will be short, but there will be alot of them, so don't worry!
"But I'm only human, and I bleed when I fall down. I'm only human, and I crash and I break down."
-Human, Christina Perri
…….
Adagio awoke with a start, jolting upwards as a loud voice penetrated her ears. She reached up to cover them: her head hurt, and she had experienced the worst of dreams…now wasn't a good time for her to be bothered.
"Hey! You can't sleep here."
Oh, that's right… she thought, tears welling in her rosy eyes. It's not a dream. Not anymore. Obeying the policeman who was speaking to her, she slowly got up off the park bench and began to walk away down the dirt trail. She wrapped her arms around her stomach as it growled with hunger. It hurt. Everything hurt. Every day, things just went from bad to worse, and from worse to absolute shit. Now that her voice was gone, she was broke, homeless, and starving. How is this my life? she thought. She continued to walk, scuffling along, her legs and body aching in protest. And as tears streamed down her face, slowly she stopped, and collapsed onto her knees. How…how could I let life just slip between my fingers? I'm better than that…I'm not a waste, like them. My sisters…
"Aria, Sonata…I'm sorry." Adagio whispered, curling forward until her forehead touched the dirt.
…….
Sunset Shimmer sat at her desk in math class, tapping her chewed pencil against it in a steady rhythm. Usually, math was her best and favourite subject, but today she just couldn't focus. Her mind kept skipping back to last night, to her encounter with Adagio Dazzle like a broken record. It was only a small coincidence that they were at the same place at the same time, but something seemed off about it. She just couldn't place her finger on it. She was alone… thought Sunset, brow creasing. And there were bags under her eyes. She was so dirty, too. If I didn't know better, I would've thought she was homeless. her train of thought was soon cut off by the sound of the bell ringing. She got out of her desk and gathered her things, then proceeded to make her way to her locker, pushing and shoving past the other students. She grabbed her lunchbox and headed down to the cafeteria, where her friends immediately waved her over.
"Hello, Darling!" Rarity chimed as Sunset sat down. "How are you doing?"
"I'm doing alright," Sunset replied. "But guess what."
"Ooh! Ooh! What!?" Pinkie Pie chirped excitedly, leaning over the table.
"I saw someone last night."
"Oh boy, Sunset hooked up. Don't kiss and tell, ya know." Said Rainbow Dash flatly.
"No, you don't get it," she said. "It was Adagio Dazzle." At this, they all perked up and leaned forward.
"What?" asked Applejack. "Are y'all being serious?"
"I kid you not, Applejack. But there was something off about it…" said Sunset quietly.
"Well, spit it out, dear!" said Rarity.
"She was alone, and she looked terrible."
"Serves her right," snickered Dash. "She deserved everything she got."
"I don't know, Rainbow Dash. I couldn't help but feel kinda…bad for her."
"Don't feel down, Sunset. That Adagio Dazzle was no good anyway, and neither was Aria or Sonata." said Rarity, grabbing her for a side hug.
Sunset decided against speaking out then, eating her lunch in thoughtful silence. There's something wrong here. I know there is...
…….
Adagio had no idea how long she sat there, sobbing and wailing into the damp earth. She would have cried for longer, except for that her tear ducts had gone completely dry. She stood up, still hunched over, stomach growling. She looked around with a hawk's gaze for somewhere, anywhere to eat. Then, her eyes caught on to a filthy green dumpster not far away. Internally she was retching, but it was her only shot.
—–-—–-
She stood in front of the dumpster, then bracing herself to the best of her abilities, flipped the lid open and began to dig through in search of food. Lost in her search, she was unaware of a man walking towards her. Only when she noticed his shadow looming over her did she turn towards him, taking a bite of a half-eaten pizza slice she had found.
"Miss, are you okay?" The man asked.
"W-what?" She asked quietly, dropping the slice in shock. Why would anyone speak to her that kindly? She didn't understand it in the slightest.
"Are you alright?" He asked once more, continuing to step towards her.
"I…I'm…I…I think so…" she said blankly, eyes wide. She had no idea what else to say. Why did this man, this stranger, want to know if she was okay?
"Mhm. What's your name?"
"A-Adagio Dazzle…" she said.
"That's a pretty name."
"Thank you…"
"Why don't you come with me? We can get you cleaned up." Adagio did nothing, said nothing. This seemed wrong. Something about this man wasn't right.
"Why?" She asked.
"Well, such a pretty girl as yourself deserves to not have to eat from a dumpster." He held out his hand for her to take. Despite her suspicions, Adagio found herself subconsciously stepping forward, and she took it. They walked away together.
…….
Sunset once again pulled out of the school parking lot, half asleep at the wheel of her car. She slowly and sleepily crawled her way through the winding streets to downtown Canterlot. Practically asleep, she began to lay her head down on the wheel and just drive at 30mph throughout the streets. But what she didn't see was the orange-haired girl running out into the street, shirt falling off of her shoulders. And then, she went completely unconscious, her foot becoming heavy on the gas, the car jerking forward, faster, faster still. 40mph. 45. The girl looked up at the car, her rosy eyes widening, standing still like a deer in the headlights. And then, Sunset was jolted awake by a loud thump against her car, followed by a bloodcurdling scream. She practically flew out of the car, frantically looking for the source of the sound, and when she found it, she nearly fainted.
Adagio Dazzle laid on the pavement, a pool of red rapidly growing by her head, her legs bent at awkward angles, eyes staring blankly up at the sky, chest rapidly rising and falling. Sunset fumbled around for her phone, and with shaky hands, dialed 911.
"911, what's your emergency?"
"I just hit a girl with my car."
