Canterlot High OSS: Gerald's Secret Weapon

Even once everyone stopped sobbing there was not a single dry in the room. Even Gerald had shed his share of tears, although he had only wept silently. The moment was about Adagio, Aria, and Sonata and the opportunity for them to feel completely released from the fetters of their past. Tears to cleanse, and a waiting embrace to start the healing.

"You were right, Pinkie," Rayne said, chuckling. "Hugs are magic."

"Told you!"

"So," Adagio said, still kneeling on the bed. "How does this work?"

"It's simple: you put your amulet on, and I tune it to you as it does its thing."

"Why do you have to tune them?" Sonata asked.

"Since you don't have even a hint of your former abilities right now, you need the maximum amount of assistance from the amulets. Tuning allows me to optimize the amulets not only to that need, but also to each of you individually. Then, as you become more skills, the optimization from now will affect you less and less. Eventually you won't need any help from your amulet, and could even sell them."

"Get rid of them?" Adagio asked, looking around the room, and then over at the open box at the foot of the bed. "I don't think so." And then she reached out and picked up the center piece. Without any hesitation, she brought the necklace up to put it on, but she could not put it over her considerable hair, and the clasps were hard to feel. "Uh..." After all that drama, it was anticlimactic to be unable to put the amulet on, especially when she felt so good.

"I can do that," Felicia said softly, holding out both hands.

"I... thank you," Adagio placed the item in Felicia's hands, and the other girl quickly leaned forward and put it on her, giving out a free hug in the process. "Thank you."

"That's what friends do," Felicia said, smiling with all her heart. Adagio blushed.

Aria picked up the left-hand amulet and held it out to Ro. "Would you..?"

"I would be honoured," Ro said.

"I guess I will have to help you another time," Elle said.

"There'll be another time?"

"Of course there will be," Elle said. "We're here to help, or have you forgotten already?"

"No, I haven't forgotten. It's just... too much."

"There, we're friends, aren't we?" Elle gave Aria her own hug.

"It's funny, but in more than a thousand years we kept thinking we were above everyone else, so we made ourselves unapproachable. It never occurred to us to try to become friends with anyone else," Adagio said.

"That's not funny," Pinkie said as she helped Sonata with her amulet. "It's strange!"

"Well, that's what I meant."

"If I'd known having friends felt this way I'd have insisted on doing it a long time ago," Aria said.

"I know, right? I feel much more full!" Sonata said. "For the first time ever I don't feel hungry anymore."

"So..."

"I could still go for a taco, though."

"I thought so," Aria said, but there was a smile on her face.

"This is the same thing I only discovered for myself recently thanks to Twilight's friends," Shimmer said. "I didn't realize how power-hungry I was before. Not to mention how insane I was for thinking that that plan would work in the first place," she looked at Gerald, who had verbally poked her plan full of holes back when they met, she a demon and he in full armour. "Now I don't need any of that."

"That's nice, but you're living in Equestria, where we don't want to go. We're going to stay here, but we don't want to be leaning completely on you now," Adagio said.

"You won't have to," Gerald said, changing the tuner's settings through his smartphone. The actual tuner was sitting in the room under this one, just where Jackie had put it. "As soon as I'm done tuning, you should be able to sing just fine."

"And then the learning can begin," Twila said.

"And the training," Rayne said, grinning.

"You really like training," Aria said, "but it sounds like a lot of effort."

"I love doing sports, and I have to train hard to be able to do them as well as I do. But I get my biggest high when my friends are watching me play. It's so awesome!"

"That... doesn't sound bad," Aria said.

"So," Sonata said, still hugging Pinkie, "when do we start?"

"Soon," Gerald said. "Tell me: how do you feel?"

Multicoloured light flowed out of each amulet, bathing each wearer in its glow. It only lasted for twelve seconds, and then the light showed stable in each gemstone. "I feel lighter," Aria said.

"And fresh," Sonata said.

"I feel... like singing," Adagio said.

"Give it a try," Pinkie said.

The Dazzlings took the stage at the head of Pinkie's bed, while the others gathered around them. At first the three of them were hesitant to let out even a single note, remembering how they had not been able to carry a tune after their pendants were destroyed. But now, softly, they held their notes, their voices rising and falling through the scale. With their new friends listening attentively and openly, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata raised their voices, and allowed their growing song to reach out, aiming as far as they could go. They could sing!

"Very nice," Rayne said, "but you're not the only musical talent around. Can we cut in?"

"Oh, so you wanna join, Rainbooms?" Adagio grinned. "Why not?"

"Hang on, y'all: I think we'd better move this production to the garage," Jackie said.

"Can I join too?" Shimmer asked.

"Heck yeah," Rayne said. "Lets move it!"

Within a couple minutes, songs from a massive band in a little garage started to ring out throughout the neighbourhood, and considering how gently the music flowed through the streets and embraced the listeners, Gerald really could not claim he was surprised when nobody filed a complaint about the noise. This was music in the air. This was harmony.

"Hey," Shimmer said as she continued to play the guitar, "even though I'll have to take the portal back soon, I'm really glad I came."

"Me too, Sunset Shimmer," Twilight said.

"Heck, my best friend called me though my book. How could I say no?"

"Neither of us could. None of us could, because we're friends!"

"Better be careful," Sonata said, "or I'll feel like hugging you again."

Not that any of them would mind, although there were three new friends who still blushed at the thought. They would learn, though.