All we needed was to be strong.
With a high pitched scream a dresser shook violently as two sorrow driven fists came down once more on its top. A girl shakily stood hyperventilating through clenched teeth and trembling as tears rolled down her cheeks. She winced as a sharp pain made itself apparent in her right hand and she lifted it to find blood running from her palm, brought on by clutching the shards of a tarnished ruby colored gem.
First at the hooves of Starswirl, now the hands of those meddlesome Rainbooms! The worst of it is we lost our necklaces too.
She sniffed, but desperately clung to her anger, keen to not succumb to sorrow. However, that broke once she caught the moonlight illuminating her features in the mirror. Her raspberry colored eyes were bloodshot and agitated, her normally grandiose and brilliant orange and yellow streaked hair was dull and in disarray. The formerly fabulous outfit from earlier that evening was worn with tears here and there and the cloth was strewn about her room. The longer she looked at the person in the mirror, the more foreign the image became. No longer a powerful, imposing image, but a frail, frightened shell.
The girl rapidly began to fatigue, knees buckling underneath her as she whimpered in the dark. Again..! Why..? Is power so much to ask for? We are the last three. She sniffed and tried to steady her breath, blinking away the tears that blurred her vision. Why is this so frustrating!
A small knock came to her door accompanied by two quite familiar voices that whispered just on the other side.
"We can't just leave Addie alone, Ari," came the softer of the two tones.
"I guess we can't let her cry all night. The old man will be here soon, Sonata. We should at least try to comfort her and come up with a plan." The second voice though edged with a slightly cold tone, was nonetheless genuine.
"Go away!" Adagio barked, a combination of crying and screaming had taken their toll on her vocals. "This is the second time I've failed you two..."
The door slowly creaked open, allowing in light from the hallway. The first face that peeped in bore a small smile and belonged to Sonata. "Hey Addie..." she cooed, her normally bright and rosy pink eyes were clearly clouded with concern as she approached. "It's alright... We will figure something out."
"It's not like we haven't bounced back before." Aria's dry voice chimed in as she followed behind Sonata. "C'mon. You've told me time and again that you're our leader. You crying doesn't do much for morale."
"Hey, we're trying to cheer her up, Ari. Addie tries." Sonata huffed, leering almost comically at Aria who only replied with a scoff and lazy flick of her purple and aquamarine streaked hair.
"I know she does, but this isn't the time or the place to cry." Aria knelt down and placed a comforting hand on Adagio's shoulder. "Without our magic that old man no doubt will kick us out. We need a plan and we need one now. We need you, Adagio."
"Whatever." Adagio hissed, shrugging off Aria's hand. "You've been looking for an excuse to take the lead, what's stopping you now?!"
"So I keep you on your toes, big whoop." Aria rolled her bright, violet eyes. "I may not be as cuddly like little Ms. Taco Tuesday over there, but I do respect you enough. You and I may be a bit cold, but we need to be. And, just like back in Equestria, we're in this together."
Sonata nodded with a smile as she got down and hooked an arm around both of them. "Yupyup, so our magic chaos rubies shattered, we'll find another way home. We still have each other."
"Yeah..." Adagio managed a small smile and nodded as she wiped away a tear only to accidentally streak her cheek with blood. "Shoot... I must look a mess..."
"I'll say." Aria chuckled.
"Been worse before." Sonata chirped, wiping away the blood from Adagio's cheek. "Remember when we first got to this world? Talk about awkward."
"Thankfully it was easy to get clothes to wear. And a convenient Hooman. To put under our spell." Aria chuckled. "Might be a little difficult now, but we'll manage."
Adagio only nodded with a growing smile as she found a bit of her resolve once again. "Aria, Sonata, thanks for trying to cheer me up. I know I'm hard on you two..."
The two girls smiled at Adagio and nodded, relieved to hear their efforts weren't in vain. "Oh don't get sappy on me." Aria smirked as she folded her arms. She looked around the quite plain room then back to Adagio. "I didn't expect you to run back here though."
"It was the first place I could think of that was remotely safe for us." Adagio shrugged then got to her feet and walked over to the window, peering out at the moonlit neighborhood. "Though in light of recent events I don't think we'll be welcome here for much longer."
"Darn," Sonata sighed, standing and dusting herself off. "I was growing to like this place. It was neat having my own room."
"It's what we need to do." Aria stated matter-of-factly. "Now, come on, we nee-" Her eyes narrowed at the door as footsteps began rapidly approaching. "Too late..."
"Oh, he made it in." Sonata blinked, oblivious to the gravity of the impending situation. "I didn't even hear his car pull up. Then again it is a Prius..."
Adagio could feel that dreadful sense of powerlessness begin to resurface as the footsteps stopped at the door, the shadow of feet could be seen in the space between the floor and the door. She swallowed the feeling and attempted to steel herself as the knob twisted and in the doorway stood a man in teal scrubs and a lab coat with a panicked expression.
"Girls!" a chocolate skinned man exclaimed as his hazel eyes darted between the group. His gaze combed over each girl before him and darkened with worry as he laid eyes on Adagio.
"Look, we don't want any trouble we were just about to leave." Aria defensively said, standing and stepping before the man with her eyes narrowed as she clenched her fists. "Just... Don't hurt us and we'll be out of your hair."
"Yeah, we don't plan on making anymore trouble yet." Sonata added which caused Aria to groan and raise a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose.
"Idiot..." Aria mumbled.
"I heard what happened at CHS." He sighed then took a moment to calm down and process the knowledge that the girls were home safe. He scratched at the back of his unkempt brunette hair then leaned against the wall. "I am happy you three are safe."
"You are?" The three spoke in unison and reeled a bit.
"W-well, of course." the man frankly said, appearing almost offended by their collective skepticism. "Five years is quite a bit of time for someone to get to know others after all. Or, maybe this old man is just emotional."
"You can't possibly be serious." How are you not angry with us?" Adagio slowly shook her head, confused by the even tone the man held in light of recent events. "We tricked you with magic and had you bring us into your home!"
The man sighed and folded his arms as he appeared to gather his thoughts. "I might not know much about the magic you all use, but I doubt I was under a spell. It's nice being able to take care of someone else again. Thinking on it now, I guess the whole, ' Amnesiac Orphans ' thing is a bit cliché."
"We aren't even from this world, Mordio." Aria said. "Heck we aren't even Hooman."
"Human." Sonata corrected. "At first I thought that was a mistake..."
"Whatever." Aria sharply replied, dismissively waving a hand. "Point is, he has no obligation to help us."
"Obligation or no, I've fed you three, clothed you, laughed and argued with you all." Mordio chuckled and his gaze drifted to each of them as he spoke. "I can understand not wanting to let someone in about your past. I wouldn't mind hearing you three out."
"We don't need your charity." Adagio scoffed.
Mordio only gruffly chuckled. "On the contrary, I think you all might. This place is the only familiar place you three know. This ain't charity or pity, it's a chance to start over."
Adagio, Aria, and Sonata all anxiously glanced to one another as Mordio finished. All three girls appeared more uncertain as each moment passed.
Sonata turned her attention to Mordio but only held the man's gaze for a second before tapping a finger at her chin and tilting her head. "Can... Can we stay the night?" Sonata asked, much to her bandmate's confusion.
"The thought of knowingly putting three little girls out alone on the streets doesn't sit right with me." Mordio smiled. "It would do this heart of mine a world of good if you three stayed."
"Why are you being so... Kind, Mordio?" Adagio leered at Mordio as she studied his face, more so confused than frustrated with his attitude. "We planned on taking over your world, we used you to survive you know. You were a means to an end for us. Nothing more. Plus, you don't know the first thing about our pasts."
"Well, there’s this thing called compassion. Also forgiveness." Mordio chuckled. "It's up to you girls to tell me about your past or not. Despite my age, I like to think I've proven I'm an okay guy. Besides, what you three did can be forgiven if that last fiasco is any proof of."
"If you don't wake up tomorrow to find us gone." Aria scoffed.
Mordio smirked, chuckling lightly as he looked to Aria. "Well, nice to hear you're at least spending the night here. Or at least until I fall asleep. Always knew you were the sweet one, Aria."
Aria huffed and folded her arms as her cheeks burned a light shade of red, much to everyone else's amusement.
"There's a few smiles." Mordio chuckled. "Well, whatever you girls decide to do, you know where the spare key is outside. My home is your home."
Humans are so peculiar... Adagio quietly watched everyone else for a moment as she mulled over Mordio's offer. It's one thing to use someone, but we've never relied solely on another before.
"Think you can whip up something to eat, Mr. Mordio?" Sonata chirped, derailing Adagio's train of thought. "We've kinda had a long day."
Mordio chuckled at Sonata's request then nodded. "I'll get right on that. Give me about a half hour then you three get downstairs, alright?" The man waved as he walked into the hallway then disappeared around the corner.
"Food?" Aria turned and arched an eyebrow at Sonata as she shook her head. "Really, Sonata? At a time like this?"
"No, no, no! It's so we could have a little privacy." Sonata protested as she waved her hands. "You know. To talk. I can be clever too, you know."
"I don't mind telling Mordio about what we are. We have nothing else to lose, anyway. Worst case scenario he kicks us out." Adagio shrugged. "We roll with the punches from there. What do you two think?"
"Sounds like a plan." Aria smirked. "And best case scenario... I suppose we might still have a roof over our heads."
"He's wanting to hear about us. So, I guess that's a start." Sonata noted. "First time that's happened."
"True." Adagio said. "We danced around telling him the truth for the better part of five years."
"Danced?" Sonata echoed.
"Not literally, Sonata." Aria groaned, flicking Sonata across her forehead.
Sonata winced and covered her forehead with her hands. "H-Hey!"
"Anyway," Aria chuckled. "He also claims he wasn't under our spell. Take that for what it's worth. There's Equestrian magic here, so there's a way between worlds. We only need to figure out a way of using it."
"I wonder if Mordio can help us with that..." Adagio said, tapping a finger at her cheek.
"I think he would try. But, if we are asking a favor of him, isn't it only right if we tell him about ourselves?" Sonata spoke up, the topic silenced the Adagio and Aria. "I don't think he believes the amnesia story anymore."
"We don't have the use of our magic. And we are in a strange world. Our options are... Limited." Aria groaned. "I don't like the thought. But, maybe we should take his offer. At least until we have a better plan."
Adagio sighed, the thought of relying on the kindness of a stranger left a sour taste in her mouth, but knew the smarter decision was to stay put. "Looks like we won't be on the move for awhile. You girls can go do what you do. I'm going to change out of this. And thanks again." She smiled.
"Sure!" Sonata chirped. "You might be our leader, but like Ari said, we're in this together, Addie."
"The world must be ending. I actually agree with Sonata." Aria chuckled. "See you two at dinner." With that, Aria smiled and waved then began on her way out of the room.
"I'm coming with!" Sonata called after Aria. She took a moment to embrace Adagio and make a sound akin to a squeak before dashing out the door.
Adagio sighed heavily as she walked over to her dresser. She gently placed the remains of her bloodied necklace on the wooden top and looked up at the mirror once more and stared at it, recalling memories she hadn't brought to mind in a long time. Memories that only served to temper the resolve that gradually began to return to her. "We'll find a way of becoming strong. And When we do... It'll be Equestria to pay."
