Sucker for a Cute Face

by Eyeswirl the Weirded

Rating: teen
Tags: Slice of Life, Fluttershy (EqG), Romance, Equestria Girls, Comedy, Adagio Dazzle
Length: 274212

Adagio finds Fluttershy alone one morning, and many to follow.

Quiet mornings before school starts can be lonely, but peaceful. For some people, they're a good time to just breathe and prepare themselves for the day ahead. Fluttershy and Adagio Dazzle find themselves doing this in the same place at the same time, in their own ways.

Based on a picture that was a little too big to be the cover art, but cute enough to inspire some shipping anyway. :raritystarry:

Now comes with actual cover art courtesy of SkycatcherEquestria!

Comments may contain spoilers!

Now comes with Trope page!

Published 2015-03-03 04:10:02 UTC
Last updated 2018-11-22 19:48:36 UTC

Chapter 2: Cold Sauce Hook-Thing

Later that day, Fluttershy couldn't help imagining Rarity saying something about her earlier exchange with Adagio being unsanitary.

Also? Eep!

She could never tell anyone about that, and pray that Adagio didn't either.

It's no big deal to her, is it? She did... that... without any hesitation at all! I bet she does that kind of thing with random people all the time!

Something about the thought saddened her.

Yes. All the time.

Pinkie Pie's voice snapped her out of it. "You keep waffles in your hair all the time?"

"W-what?!" Looking around her group's usual table at the cafeteria, she saw the others staring at her, perplexed. She gulped. "D-did I say that out loud?"

"Well, y'know," continued Pinkie, "for you it was like a soft mumble, but I heard it, and said it again, so it's like we all heard anyway!" There was a pause. "You keep waffles in your hair all the time?"

Fluttershy lowered her head a little as the others awaited clarification on the waffles-in-hair matter. "I, uh, no, it, um, Iwasjust, uh-"

Applejack snickered. "How 'bout that, Rarity? It ain't just ArrDee that spaces out."

Rainbow Dash grinned triumphantly, pumping a fist in the air. "Yyyyes, pay up!"

Rarity looked flabbergasted. "We never made any kind of wager!"

Rainbow snapped her fingers. "Dang." Now it was her the others were looking to for clarification. She smiled. "If I'm not the only one that zones out, I figure I can capitalize on it and act like I made a bet with people that weren't paying attention."

Sunset Shimmer raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't they need to know an amount before they could pay you anything?"

Rainbow shrugged. "I figure if they're really out of it, they'll just hand over five bucks."

Sunset bit back a comment about taking advantage of people, even for not paying attention, and the conversation carried on until the end of lunch, Fluttershy grateful her own part in it was forgotten this time.

I wonder if Adagio keeps things in her hair...

The next morning, Fluttershy chose to wait somewhere different before school. Today she sat by the statue out front while enjoying a jawbreaker, as it was something that could dissolve in her mouth while she thought about other things. Primarily? Keeping an eye out for any sign of orange fluff. If Adagio had found her at the soccer field once, there wasn't much reason she couldn't find her in front of the school. She sat in silence (as she usually did) the entire time, a whirling mixture of odd feelings churning in her stomach at the thought of meeting Adagio in private again. Remembering their exchange made her lips tingle and her face burn, but the wait for school to start seemed to go a little quicker than normal.

To what was mostly her relief, Fluttershy didn't see any sign of the Dazzlings until much later in the day. The three of them were standing in the hall, idly talking amongst themselves. This would have been perfectly fine, but they were standing close to the door of her next class, which was due to begin in two minutes.

I could take the long way around, take a detour that leads to the same hall, but I might be late for class, or, run into someone else in the hallway!

Trixie looked a little annoyed when they bumped into each other about a year and a half ago, but Fluttershy couldn't tell if the irritable "Watch where you're going!" she'd been given back then meant Trixie might still be mad at her. And then there was the chance she'd see Photo Finish, who might take her picture again! Thoughts of whether or not she'd been making a weird pose or had her eyes closed haunted her for weeks afterward. One minute, thirty seconds remaining to class time, Fluttershy made her choice, moving quickly in the hope of slipping by the trio unnoticed.

She didn't dare look at any of them, knowing the feels-like-I'm-being-watched effect could get her spotted, but walking by, she overheard Aria Blaze.

"-appened again, huh?"

As she walked into the classroom, Fluttershy heard Sonata Dusk.

"That's like the fourth time, Dagi!"

Fluttershy didn't see Adagio again the rest of that day or the entirety of the next one, so she felt secure in her usual place by the soccer field as she enjoyed a candy cane the following morning. Of course, that was when she unconsciously turned her head, finding Adagio's wickedly-grinning face inches from her own. Emitting a startled squeak, Fluttershy fell backward on the bench.

Leaning over the back of the bench as she had before, Adagio cackled triumphantly until her target was sitting up straight again. "I didn't think I'd see you out here twice, Sweetie, do you make a habit of waiting around by yourself?"

"N-no, w-well, k-k-kind of, uh..." She gulped. "Was there s-something you wanted?"

Keeping her relaxed smirk, Adagio rolled her eyes. "I'm still not going to hurt you, if that's what you mean." She was partly surprised that this actually seemed to calm Fluttershy down a little. She raised an eyebrow, pointing at the striped hook Fluttershy was holding. "What's that?"

Fluttershy fiddled with the day's treat, the name for it briefly slipping her mind. "I-it's a c-candy cane." She quickly looked back and forth between it and Adagio several times. "Uhm-"

Adagio held up a hand, her simultaneously laid-back and malevolent smile unchanged. "Don't worry, I remember our last meeting. Right now, I'm just here to kill time." She could do that by replicating their first encounter, but it lost something if they knew exactly what she was up to.

"A-actually," Fluttershy tried not to blush, with poor results, as she held out the candy cane, offering the straight end, which she hadn't licked yet, "would you l-like to, uh, t-try this, too?"

Adagio blinked twice, her surprised expression making Fluttershy feel like she'd done something right before it returned to the passive little grin of superiority the other girl normally wore. "Well, since you're formally offering..." She lightly gripped the cane between two fingers, spent about ten seconds examining the shiny, red and white surface, flipped it around, and slid her tongue along the end Fluttershy had already been licking.

Fluttershy stiffened, watching wide-eyed and red-faced as Adagio slowly tasted the curved stick of peppermint, her tongue caressing and wrapping around it not unlike the stripes themselves.

The delighted smirk derived from Fluttershy's expression again became an analytical look as she started to actually taste the thing. "It's... odd. It's like it's cold, but the weather is warm... But it is, as with the previous form of sugar on a stick, sweet." She tongued the cane's curves a few more times. "Cold-sweet. The opposite of hot sauce, which is more hot-tangy. Do they make cold sauce, too?"

Faced with questions she could actually answer as Adagio's predatory look faded, Fluttershy's brain started working again. "I-I think it's more like, uh... W-well, have you ever had a mint before?"

Adagio's head tilted inquisitively. "Is cold sauce called 'mint'?"

Not sure how to place the feeling Adagio's curious face gave her, Fluttershy smiled a little. "Kind of. It's made from a type of plant that tricks your brain with a chemical reaction and makes it feel 'cold', sort of like the acids in spicy things making them feel 'hot' no matter their temperature."

Looking at the cane again, Adagio nodded a little. "I see." Then the mischievous grin returned as she looked back at Fluttershy and offered the cane. "Thank you for sharing this with me, Sweetie."

Hesitantly taking it, Fluttershy couldn't help turning red again as she eyed the saliva-moistened curve of the cane. She could see streaks in the red where it had melted and smeared, Adagio watching and waiting for her to either turn it around and lick the as-of-yet untouched end, or make those streaks worse. Her heart rate was going up by the second.

Do I lick it where she did? Where I already did? That, that would be like, and, just like last time, but now it's, but, if I don't, isn't that like rejecting her? Would she get mad? Would she get worse? I don't know what to do!!

Before she could decide, Adagio chuckled, pushing off the bench. "Well, I'll be going now. See you again soon, Sweetie."

She sat holding the candy cane for a good minute after Adagio was completely out of sight, still not sure what to do. Rarity would surely tell her to throw it away now, but, if she wasn't being watched anymore...? Taking one last look around, she popped the curved part into her mouth, the sensations of cooled saliva and peppermint exploding through her tongue, extending to warmth in her face and a rhythm in her chest.

Fluttershy was sure Rarity would understand. She of all people knew the value of sharing things.

Author's Note

Rainbow is usually portrayed as the biggest jerk in the Mane 6. This might be because in the show/movies, she kind of is. While that might have been more fitting for Sunset Shimmer if she'd had a slower redemption arc, having her be the snarkiest member of the group now would feel a little weird with how she acted in RR. As such, Rainbow tends to find her way to the underside of a bus. I thought I'd try for a more lovable goofball portrayal here. :rainbowwild:

Also? Even normal kissing is a little gross when you think about it. :applejackconfused:

Chapter 3: Tiny Traffic Cones

Fluttershy again sat on the bench by the soccer field, wondering if doing so was a good idea. Still, she'd stick to her routine for today, and that started with the day's feel-a-little-better treat; candy corn! Some people hated it, she knew, the taste, the texture, maybe even the color just not sitting right with them, but to her, they were always a little part of what made Halloween special. Not that it was anywhere close to Halloween, but she'd gotten a little bag of candy corn just the same.

It was just as she'd placed the first little triangular treat on her tongue that Fluttershy nearly choked on it out of fright.

"Morning, Sweetie." Adagio was leaning over the back of the bench again. Seeing the bag of tri-colored triangles, Adagio raised an eyebrow. "I find you eating the strangest things... Do you go for the mystery meals in the cafeteria?"

"Uhm, n-no," she mumbled, composing herself as best she could, "the salad bar is usually enough for me." She smiled a little, holding the bag where Adagio could see. "W-would you, um, i-if you'd like to-"

Adagio held up a hand, eyeing the little orange things with distrust. "That's alright, I, uh... had a... big breakfast?"

Fluttershy just smiled, tilting her head a little and staring at Adagio with those soft, blue eyes. "Are you sure? They're not very filling, candy usually isn't, and, it's, um..." In the face of Adagio's doubting stare, her resolve wavered, the smile fading, her shoulders starting to fall, and her head unconsciously retreating behind her hair. "I-I mean, unless you really don't want to, that's okay too."

Adagio felt something tingling in the back of her head. This was perhaps her least favorite reaction out of Fluttershy thus-far, but she (fondly) remembered the difference taking her offer last time made and opted to try for a similar outcome.

Those things look weird, but...

She cleared her throat, her expression neutral. "Wellll, I've been trying new things more and more lately... How are they?"

A few couldn't hurt, right?

Looking up, the smile made a hesitant comeback. "They're sweet and sugary, with a unique sort of flavor." She looked away for a split second. "B-but, I should probably warn you, some people think it tastes really... strange."

Taking a few pieces of candy corn out of the bag, she eyed them curiously. "They look almost like tiny traffic cones..." She popped them into her mouth, chewing slowly. "Hm... It is a little strange." Once more, she had that analytical look Fluttershy was growing to like. "Waxy, almost syrupy as it melts... I can't quite place the flavor... It's almost tangy, like an orange. Citrus? Hard to tell, but it is, as you said, sweet." She grinned. "I think I like it."

Fluttershy smiled a little. "You're one of very few there, I think."

"Hah, more for me, then!" She leaned in close, her mouth lightly opened. "Unless you'd like to...?"

"Eep!"

Just as Adagio had hoped, Fluttershy flushed brightly at the suggestion coupled with their facial proximity. This definitely beat that other reaction, but it looked like she was having trouble maintaining eye-contact.

"Y-you should, uhm, b-be careful, doing... th-that... You might get sick!"

Smirking, Adagio raised an eyebrow. "You're worried about infections? I've had all my shots, Sweetie, and I'm sure you have too. If not, I'd be happy to administer them to you." Her voice dropped to a husky whisper. "If you like, I'll even wear a nurse outfit..."

"Eep!!" She blushed even brighter, fidgeting where she sat and looking down. "Th-that, really n-n-nec-not necessary, I-I, uhm-"

"Are you sure? If you're good," she leaned in very close, grinning deviously, "you might even get a lollipop."

Fluttershy was nearly glowing as she visibly started to sweat.

"Besides," she continued with a relaxed grin, "the three of us, Aria, Sonata, and I, would directly share negative energy all the time, back when we still could. Why is a faux pas with any other kind of food?"

Fluttershy dared look up just a little. "D-did negative energy have bacteria in it?"

Adagio blinked once, her eyes widening in realization. "Oh." It was faint, but Fluttershy could have sworn her cheeks colored just a little. "Ohhh. Yes, I think I see the problem..." She shrugged a little. "Still, I stand by what I said earlier, provided neither of us are currently carrying anything worse than a cold, I don't think there's much to worry about."

Fluttershy nodded a little. It wasn't that she wasn't at least a little worried about either of them getting sick if they... kept... doing that... But, she wasn't too worried. For medical reasons.

"Anyway," Adagio said with her usual mischievous grin, "thanks for the sugar triangles,"

"Candy corn."

"Right. If you ever feel like sharing again, I'll be around..." She pushed off the bench and turned to walk away in the direction she came, behind Fluttershy.

Slowly turning to watch her go, she saw that Adagio was already gone.

That's odd. Where could she have-

"When you least expect it!"

The statement loud-whispered directly into her ear from the opposite side of the bench Adagio had been standing on, Fluttershy nearly jumped out of her skin, followed by the sound of familiar, maniacal laughter. Albeit not directly into her ear.

Having had the weekend to consider her plan of action in regard to the newest complication to her life, Fluttershy opted for staying out of sight. She carefully crept around the school building. It was still early enough in the morning that there were shadows, but she'd be kidding herself if she thought she'd stay hidden for long with her usual white shirt and pink hair. That was fine, though, she just needed to find a spot where ~~Adagio~~ anyone couldn't easily sneak up on her.

Slowly pacing along the wall by the parking lot, she decided against that area. There were plenty of spaces to hide between, or even under, cars, but no matter what, she'd be on very uncomfortable pavement. Moving on to the alcoves of the building that led into the gym, she determined that while the area was well-shaded and didn't have a lot of entry points, she ran the risk of one of the athletes going in for an early-morning warm-up, or coming out after, all big, and sweaty, and-

She quickly jogged around the corner, bumping into someone that barely budged with the impact as Fluttershy fell backward. "Ow." Gingerly rubbing her rear, she looked up at the person she collided with. "S-sorry, I was ju-EEP!!"

Adagio regarded her curiously before donning her usual smirk. "What's wrong, Sweetie? You look like you're afraid something will get you."

Still sitting on the ground, she lowered her head. "W-what are you doing here?"

Resting a hand on one hip, she tilted her head a little. "I, a student, walking around a school shortly before school is due to begin? Yes, whatever could I have in mind?"

"Y-you don't really pay attention in class, though..."

Adagio didn't respond to that comment. "So why are you on a different side of the school than usual?" Her voice filled with mock-hurt. "You weren't trying to avoid me or anything, were you?"

Fluttershy nearly curled into a ball. "N-no! I-I, th-that wasn't-"

All but looming over her, Adagio leered at Fluttershy. "Oh, I see. Well, I wouldn't want you make you uncomfortable, so I'll just be on my way." She took two steps forward, leaning down to whisper into Fluttershy's ear. "See you again soon, Sweetie."

As the Dazzling leader walked away cackling, Fluttershy wasn't sure if it was the laugh, the fact that Adagio definitely didn't mind making her uncomfortable, or the implication that she intended to do it again in the very near-future that sent shivers up her spine.

Having spent the entire rest of the previous day anticipating Adagio suddenly surprising her, Fluttershy all but kicked herself for not realizing until she got home that that was exactly what Adagio was probably hoping she'd do. Adagio hadn't come near her again the whole day. This morning, she'd find somewhere quiet and secluded and hopefully be able to go there from now on without incident.

She really wasn't trying to avoid Adagio, or anyone else, it was just the possibility of someone sneaking up on her that made her nervous. More-so than usual. Resting on her legs at the base of the statue in front of the building, where the stone was much smoother than the parking lot's blacktop, Fluttershy kept an eye out for any hint of orange, rapidly looking back and forth, scanning the area from every angle so as to minimize the chance that-

"Boo."

"EEEK!!" Holding a hand to her chest in the vain effort of trying to slow her thumping heart, Fluttershy looked up to see Adagio lying on her stomach atop the pedestal of the statue behind her, staring down at her, that evil grin of delight pointed her way.

"Comfortable, Sweetie?"

Fluttershy hid behind her hair as best she could. "Uhm, n-not exactly..."

"Well, then you probably shouldn't sit on hard pavement. Unless you just like it hard?"

Her face caught fire and her throat had locked shut. She couldn't even squeak.

Adagio chuckled with sadistic glee. "Well, I'll just leave you to your... preferences. Don't hurt yourself, Sweetie." She slowly sank back on the pedestal until she entirely faded from sight.

Still blushing furiously, Fluttershy crawled on her hands and knees around the edge of the statue.

Adagio must have climbed up there from the other side, which means she'll have to-

Getting to the opposite side of the one she'd been on, there was no sign of Adagio anywhere.

Huh? Where did she go? Could she have run off already? I didn't hear-

"My, my."

Fluttershy jumped, whirling around to see Adagio looking down at her with a mildly bemused grin.

"Going for a walk now, are you? You're getting more interesting by the day, Sweetie..."

Suddenly feeling very self-conscious, it occurred to Fluttershy just how crawling around like this, bare hands and knees on the hard concrete, might look from the right mindset. She hopped up, brushing off the dust as best she could. "I-I wasn't, th-this isn't-"

Adagio held up a hand, only smirking a little. "I'm not judging, really, but doing that kind of thing in public, knowing more people will be here soon? I never would have guessed you of all people were a masochistic exhibiti-"

"I-I'M NOT!!"

"Alright, alright," Adagio said as placatingly as one could while giggling, "I believe you. Just wanted to make sure this wasn't a side-effect of my company." She held her fingertips to her chest in melodramatic fashion, which Fluttershy had to remind herself to look at for only two seconds. "I'd hate to be expelled for being a bad influence on the students, you know?" She closed her eyes and struck a much more provocative pose, one leg out to the side, hips cocked, arms up over her head, fingers folded and palms outward as she stretched, exhaling in a gentle groan. "I can't help being too much for some people, it's just-"

Fluttershy had already turned on a heel and sprinted away. It was a good thing she didn't wear glasses, because she'd definitely trip over something if they got all fogged up.

Author's Note

If you're wondering, Flutters is still having a morning treat every school day, it's just not being depicted every time.

Also, I'm going to try consistently short (less than 3000 words or so) chapters on for size. Whether or not this just leaves a lot of cliffhangers, time will tell.

Chapter 4: Musical Chairs

Fluttershy was still badly flustered even through first period, the chocolate bar she'd brought doing little to alleviate the heat in her face or the rapid beating in her chest. Luckily, having established to Ms. Inkwell that she wasn't just hiding a comic book or something early in the year, she wasn't disturbed for hiding behind her textbook the whole time. The rest of the day up to lunch went similarly. She continued to not forget what she saw up close that morning, the details of Adagio's leg muscles showing through her tights, the way she arched her back, the exposed skin on her neck and-

She smacked her head on the lunch table, hoping it would clear away the wayward thoughts lingering in her brain.

"You okay, Fluttershy?" Rainbow lightly poked her shoulder a few times.

Unfortunately, such an action has a way of drawing attention, but it was always nice to be reminded how much her friends cared about her. She looked up to see five concerned faces, giving them the best smile she could despite a light red mark on her forehead. "I-I'm okay, j-just, um, sleepy?"

Sunset gave her a dubious look. "You sure? You've been kinda jittery for the past week."

Applejack nodded in assent. "Been shakin' like a leaf today. You sure ain't nothin' buggin' ya?"

She lowered her head a little. "Uhm, n-no, I'm fine, thank you."

Pinkie gave her a worried look. "Is that like fine fine, fine-China fine, pointy-fine, or not-fine-at-all-but-I-don't-want-you-to-worry-about-me fine?"

Applejack frowned with concern too. "Ya gave us that last one a couple'a times before, sugarcube. You sure ain't nobody givin' ya a hard time?"

Rarity spared a sideways glance to the table three particular girls (and just those three) were known to sit around lunch time. "I can think of a few possible suspects off the top of my head..."

Fluttershy's world slowed down. She could see the next ten minutes play out in the blink of an eye, starting with her friends collectively getting the idea that the Dazzlings had been picking on her, (it was only one, kind of) deciding to go over and confront them about it, Aria and Sonata having no idea what's going on and getting angry about the disturbance, them and her friends starting to fight, then Adagio laughing that scary laugh that made Fluttershy's heart beat irregularly. Her friends would assume it meant Adagio had done something to her, she'd stand up, look Fluttershy in the eye, and say "Oh, Sweetie, did you tell on me? Well, I suppose I'll just have to be honest with them..."

"No!" Fluttershy jumped up, slapping both hands on the table a little harder than she'd meant to. "No one is bothering me, especially not those three! It's just normal old scaredy-cat Fluttershy, really! I know they gave us trouble a while back, but they've all been really well-behaved since-" she shrunk back a little, "w-well, mostly- since the concert! I know they haven't been perfect, but they'll never get any better if we never give them a chance!"

The group, combined with the four or five other people in the cafeteria that could actually hear Fluttershy talking, blinked in surprise.

Sunset scratched the back of her head. "She's probably right. I talked to them a while back and I'm almost sure that they don't want to hurt anyone." She blinked once. "Well, that is to say, any harm they do cause probably isn't on purpose."

Rarity propped her head up with an arm on the table, her expression only a little skeptical. "Not that I mean to doubt you, darling, but how do you know?" She glanced at Fluttershy with a look that said she was just worried. "Just for our peace of mind."

Looking over at the Dazzlings, just the three of them at that table again, Sunset shrugged. "Well, remember why they're sitting alone in the first place?"

In the first week the Dazzlings decided to attend school again, they'd collectively walk into the cafeteria at lunch time, pick a random table, and sit down. Every time, anyone else at the table they'd chosen would immediately clear out the moment one of them spoke. Then they would try again the next day. There were only two tables exempt from this little process; those seating Flash Sentry due to having no available room, (Flash was still a pretty popular guy) and the one seating the Rainbooms, for some other reasons none wanted to ask to the trio's faces.

Within the first week, they got the idea to have one of them approach first to soften up those already seated. Unfortunately for the Dazzlings, people may have clued in that that was exactly what they were doing the first time Aria walked up to the athletes' table.

"Room for a few more here?"

That they got right up and relocated to a different table summarily answered the question.

"Hey, you guys mind if we sit here?"

Six seconds passed before the table was clear.

Aria called after them. "So, you don't mind and it's fine if we get the whole table, or you do mind and you're going somewhere else...?"

"Hey, we're just gon-"

Slapping her hands flat on the table, Aria scowled at those seated. "Don't run!"

Once the usual thing had happened, a little faster than normal, Adagio crossed her arms. "Hmph. Clearly, you're just too intimidating for them, let me do the talking next time."

"I'm Adagio Dazzle."

Those at the table shared a quick look. "Nnnope!" And then they fled.

"Hel-lo there, would you girls mind if-"

"Hello, boys."

Aria rolled her eyes as the trio again sat at a recently-emptied table. "Not bad, Adagio, that group lasted maybe four seconds longer than the rest."

She sighed. "Thanks."

The next day, Sonata gave it a try. "Hi! Okay if we sit here?"

Sonata managed to sit with them a whole five seconds before the table residents shakily agreed that yes, it was okay, and got up to leave.

Adagio smiled a little. "I think I smell progress."

"Eh," Aria said with a shrug, "might just be the coleslaw."

"No, really," Adagio went on with an increasingly diabolic grin, looking at Sonata, "you might have the friendliest face of the three of us. If we send you in first to soften them up, we'll be making friends all over the place in no time!"

Sonata had a bad feeling, but had to agree; she wasn't sure Adagio's spooky smile would be good for friend-making. Nor that she had just broadcasted her thoughts for the entire cafeteria to hear. Laughing maniacally wasn't making it better...

They had Sonata try again the next day. "Weather's great today!"

"Yes," the table's residents agreed, "the weather is nice today! We'll go have a closer look. Right now!"

"Nice day, huh?"

This group hung around looking jittery for a full minute after all three Dazzlings were seated before scrambling to get away.

Sonata had a big smile on her face. "It's so great when people don't run away! Don't you guys think so?"

That table cleared out in record speeds.

The three sitting with just each other (not that they were complaining, exactly) again, they shared a group sigh. Adagio rested her head in her hands. "Sorry, girls."

Sonata gently rubbed her shoulder. "It's not your fault, Dagi, apart from the crazy laughing thing."

Adagio's head sunk lower.

Aria had a better idea of how to cheer her up. "Don't feel bad, they were running from us even before that. I don't think it matters how we come at them, they all still think we're up to something."

Sonata indignantly crossed her arms. "Which we're totally not!" But just to double-check... "Right?"

Adagio looked up, shaking her head. "No point, remember?"

"And I'm happy to hear that!" The Dazzlings looked up to see Sunset Shimmer giving them a sheepish little 'hello!' wave. "I just wanna talk for a minute." As the trio shrugged, she took that as acceptance. "I've been watching you guys the past couple weeks here, why don't you come sit with-"

Adagio held up a hand, not making eye-contact. "Look, it's not that we don't appreciate being given a chance, but we'll form social links on our own."

Not sure how to change their minds and not wanting to risk making them resentful, Sunset opted to heed their wish, turning to walk away. As she did, she heard a whisper that made her smile a little.

"Thanks anyway."

They didn't want to join her friends for lunch and Sunset didn't push them. She had a feeling she knew what the biggest problem would be, and it was something the Dazzlings would have to tackle for themselves.

"So," Sunset summarized, "I think, at the very least, they're trying."

Rarity nodded, smiling. "Well, suppose we'll just have to give them the benefit of the doubt."

Conversation moved on from there, the group accepting Fluttershy-is-Fluttershy for the reason she seemed so... Fluttershy, lately. Having calmed down enough to stop shaking, she'd wondered what those girls were up to the days she'd seen people up and leave their usual tables, and now she knew. Was Adagio's daily teasing just her way of trying to make friends? Or had she already given up on the chance, content to torment people just for kicks?

Author's Note

Applejack: Ya or You? I think it depends on the feel of the sentence, say it out loud and see if it feels right.

Chapter 5: Inarticulation Cubes

Waving goodbye to her mother as she drove away after dropping her off at school, Fluttershy smiled peacefully. Then she turned around, took two steps, and froze. Adagio was standing in the shadows cast over the front entrance, the sun not yet high enough to fully illuminate that side of the building. Even from the school's driveway, Fluttershy could see her smiling mischievously.

Oh no, she thought, now she knows the time and place I get here!

She could always ask her mother to drop her off somewhere else, but then she'd have to explain why, which left her back at a slightly older problem. An older problem with orange, fluffy hair, looking right at her. Strangely, she didn't approach, didn't call out, didn't so much as wave at her, just turned and walked out of sight. If Fluttershy was any good at pattern recognition, that meant she had maybe a minute before her morning predator pounced at her from out of nowhere.

Thinking it was the last thing the older girl (she looked and acted a little older, but it was hard to tell) would expect her to do, she ran at full speed in exactly the direction Adagio had gone, which happened to take her to the doors to the gym. That gave her an idea. Double-checking that no one was around, she slipped in to the third door from the right, the one that was never locked for some reason. Broken lock, maybe? She tip-toed through the only-a-little-spooky, unlit halls, pretty sure Adagio wouldn't think to look for her inside right away, which should give her enough time to hide.

Sneaking into the school early was bad, but she was getting desperate. If yesterday's embarrassing incident by the statue taught her anything, it was that Adagio was incredibly sneaky.

How does she move so quietly in those boots?

Well, right now she had to be sneaky herself! Quietly making her way through the mostly-dark hallways of CHS, she made it to the library without so much as hearing a familiar, fiendish chuckle signaling her doom as it echoed eerily off the walls.

That she imagined such a thing at all probably wasn't a good sign.

Setting foot on the green-marble floor of the library, she saw that the glass dome on the ceiling made sure it was the best-lit room in the building until it formally opened, just as she'd hoped. Tip-toeing up the stairs to the second floor, she crept behind the front rows of shelves. She spent a minute to find a spot where she'd be hidden from anyone in the center of the room and very hard to see even from the skylights, (Adagio had surprised her from above before) and took a seat in a corner where a bookshelf met the wall. This gave her some time to think.

Part of her felt guilty. She knew the Dazzlings were having trouble fitting in, and running away from them like the kids at lunch probably wasn't helping. Maybe her private humiliation was just Adagio's way of reaching out to her, and somewhere in the back of her head was a voice that said if she just stuck it out, maybe the teasing would ease up and they could just be normal friends.

Or something like that. Who knew?

However, the reality was that Adagio had only been getting more vicious, pushing her a little harder every day, and Fluttershy was already near the end of her rope! So here she was, hiding, which felt kind of ridiculous.

I never went this far to stay out of Sunset's sight even on her worst days, before the Fall Formal, but here I am, waiting in the least-dark room of the school to hide from someone I actually kind of like.

She didn't exactly not want to see Adagio, she just didn't want to be startled every time. Or to have thick, muscular legs stretching in front of her face, curvy hips swaying just within reach, body language that said 'go on, just try it,' eyes that said 'I dare you,' her bulging-

Feeling as though the temperature of the library had increased by about two hundred degrees, Fluttershy slapped both hands to her face.

How is she doing this without even being in the room?!

As if on cue, Fluttershy heard a door open on the lower level, followed by the clack of heels on the polished floor. Maybe it was due to the near-silence of the library, but it almost sounded like she was stomping with every step, Fluttershy not daring to peer around a bookshelf to catch sight of Adagio. It had to be her, and from the sound of things, she might have been angry.

Did she follow me in here? Or does she come in here normally? Is she mad I wasn't outside?! WhatdoIdowhatdoIdo?!

The sound of spiky heels coming down hard rung across the library a few more times as Fluttershy looked around for a better place to hide, but she had already chosen the most secluded spot she could find, which was still out in the open if someone walked by! To Fluttershy's horror, the loud footsteps took on the rhythm of someone ascending a staircase. Silently berating herself for not thinking to hide somewhere darker, like an office or a closet, she closed her eyes and covered them with her hands, hoping Adagio just wouldn't see her.

The stomping continued for a few seconds, then stopped altogether. Trembling, Fluttershy heard footsteps at an ordinary volume that slowly got louder, the vibrations she could feel through the floor and the feeling that someone was looking at her suggesting that they were getting closer and closer at a relaxed pace. The sounds stopped directly in front of her, drawing a quiet whimper.

She felt something poke her nose, eliciting a fearful yelp as she opened her eyes to peer through her fingers.

Adagio was kneeling in front of her, no sign of anger or irritation on her face, just a mildly perplexed look. "Try to keep it down," she said quietly, "you're in a library."

"S-sorry, I, um..." She blinked several times, a little part of her brain loudly objecting to letting her next thought pass her lips. "I thought you'd be madder."

The wary, suspicious expression she got for that only looked more menacing in the dim lighting. "Madder about what, Sweetie?"

She shrunk back, trying to merge with the wall behind her. "N-nothing!"

"Ohh, no you don't," Adagio said with narrowed eyes, poking a finger just under Fluttershy's neck, "why am I expected to be angry? Out with it."

Whimpering, Fluttershy shook. "B-because I was hiding...?"

Staring at her for another few seconds, Adagio started to smile. The smile became a low chuckle, the chuckle became a laugh, the laugh became holding a hand to her face as she seemed to forget her own library advice, laughing like she'd lost her mind.

Fluttershy, for her part, was at least less afraid now, which felt odd. Being laughed at was never her idea of a good time, but Adagio had a very nice laugh.

After a minute or two, Adagio gave her what might have been an apologetic smile. "I'm not angry, I was stomping specifically so that I wouldn't catch you off-guard."

"...W..." She couldn't believe she was asking, but every part of her brain was dying to know. "W-why not?"

Eyes half-lidded, Adagio reverted to her usual relaxed grin. "So I could ask you this; how was the rest of the mint hook?"

Fluttershy blinked once. "Mint hook? Oh, the candy cane? It was good, I-EEP!" Realizing that she had just admitted to finishing the not-her-own-saliva-covered treat after all, Fluttershy clasped her hands over her mouth and turned red.

Adagio smiled a little wider. "So it was fine? No worse than before I sampled it?"

Fluttershy nodded hesitantly. "I-it's okay, I think. Um, why, uh..." Her tongue locked up, but the patient, faintly curious look on Adagio's face urged her to keep going. "W-why do you ask?"

Still smiling, Adagio shrugged. "Good to know I'm not dampening the experience, is all." Staring silently back at her, it seemed Fluttershy couldn't think of anything to say. Adagio had that effect on people. "Well," she said as she stood up, reaching out to ruffle Fluttershy's hair and drawing a quiet squeak, "that's all I wanted to know. See you around, Sweetie." And then she turned and walked away, not another move made on Fluttershy's fragile pride.

Watching her go, intently, Fluttershy wanted to ask why Adagio didn't approach her when her mom dropped her off, but couldn't find her voice. It would only have made sense if she didn't intend to sneak up on her, right?

Maybe she was going to and changed her mind? I don't understand her at all...

A little part of Fluttershy half-expected a surprise ambush at some point in the day, but most of her knew by now that, for whatever reason, Adagio only came to tease her in the mornings.

Probably because during the day, there are more students around and she has other options...

Or because Aria and Sonata were there too. Well, she guessed that was fair, and, really for the best, as she wasn't sure she could cope with witnesses to what had happened some mornings.

And that made this morning odd. There was no doubt about it, apart from the moment she thought Fluttershy had wronged her somehow, Adagio was clearly holding back, only flustering her a little bit before backing off.

Maybe she really meant what she said about being too much?

Thinking about the encounter in the library through most of the day, she reflected on lunchtime yesterday. No, she wasn't being bullied or picked on, or her 'tormentor' wouldn't have relented like that.

Maybe she's just lonely in the mornings? I've been coming alone for so long, I guess I just got used to it... Maybe, she's looking for a friend?

She had an idea.

All things considered, Fluttershy felt brave. She was sitting with the most natural posture she could manage, blinking rapidly, and shaking like a leaf, but doing so out in the open on the usual bench by the soccer field was the exact opposite of running away. Adagio was going to sneak up on her again, but if she just kept her cool, she might be able to-

She looked around very quickly to find she was completely alone. Huh. I had the strangest feeling that she'd spring on me right then. Am I getting too-

A finger brushing bare skin on the back of her leg made her jump half a meter in the air, shrieking like a little girl. She quickly looked down, face already flushed, to see Adagio lying under the bench by her feet, head propped up on one arm, and cheekily grinning at her.

"Morning, Sweetie."

Willing her heart to beat normally, Fluttershy was lost for breath, some part of her mind dreading the apocalyptic possibilities if Adagio and Pinkie Pie ever joined forces.

Adagio slid out from under the bench behind her, once more leaning over the back of it as she looked sideways at her morning prey. "Apart from the sheer, ecstatic joy that comes with my company, what's got you so rattled today? You were shaking before I even got close."

"I-I, w-well, uhm..." Talking was still hard, but Adagio just waited patiently, something about her relaxed little grin actually making Fluttershy feel a little at ease. "I've, um, I-I've been thinking, you remember the first few times we talked in the morning?"

Adagio nodded once. "Fondly."

Trying to ignore her own blush or the chuckle it drew from Adagio, Fluttershy gulped. "W-well, I was thinking that, i-if it's okay with you, maybe we could go back to that?" Now the Dazzling leader looked confused, raising one eyebrow. Fluttershy reached into her bag, pulling out two little brown cubes wrapped in clear plastic and showing them to Adagio. "I mean, I-I liked sharing with you, and, maybe, w-we could, just, do that? Without you sneaking up on me?"

There was a long, long couple of seconds in which Adagio just stared back at her, her expression neutral before curving into a confident smile as she shrugged. "Sure, why not?" She waited just long enough for Fluttershy's hopeful smile to reach its apex, and smirked. "I'm sure there are other ways I can get your heart racing."

"Eek!" The smile vanished, Fluttershy nervously glancing around as Adagio cackled with delight at the color in her face. "I, uh, I-I..." Steeling herself, she looked Adagio in the eye, grabbed one of her wrists, and placed one of the plastic-covered cubes in that hand. "D-deal!"

Adagio blinked twice, her triumphant expression utterly erased by a look of surprise for all of five seconds before she giggled a little. "'Deal'? Do I need to sign anything?"

Feeling just a little silly, Fluttershy smiled sheepishly. "Um, n-no, not really." She unwrapped the other cube in her hand. "These are caramel cubes, I think you'll like them."

Adagio looked at the little, brown, shiny square from multiple angles before raising it to her mouth...

Starting to turn red again over the next several seconds, Fluttershy gulped. "Uhm... wh-what are you doing?"

Adagio was holding her cube between two fingers, undoing the wrapper with her tongue. Fluttershy could only watch helplessly as she slowly savored peeling it away, that surprisingly long, moist tongue working carefully to liberate the piece of candy before quickly darting out to ensnare and spirit it away, trapping and gnashing it between perfect, pearly teeth. She grinned with satisfaction at Fluttershy's mortified, open-mouthed stare. "Shomet'ing wrawng, Shweetie?" Then she blinked twice, just gaining awareness of the thick, buttery substance in her mouth. "Ooh, dish ish odd..."

Feeling some measure of relief in the return of Adagio's analytical face, Fluttershy regained some degree of psychological footing, popping her own caramel cube into her mouth.

"Ish... tick! Verruh tick. An' shweet! Auh'm naw shure whah elsh ta shay abouw ih'." She chuckled a little, her cheeks tinting red. "Makesh maw voish shound shilluh!"

Fluttershy giggled too, the effect proving mutually contagious until they were both laughing like they'd gone bonkers. By the time they stopped, the caramel had mostly dissolved, leaving them able to speak normally again.

Adagio turned to look at Fluttershy with a kind of smile she couldn't remember seeing out of the fluffy girl. It wasn't a smirk, wasn't malicious, wasn't even her relaxed I-own-you-and-you-know-it grin, just a happy little smile. It only lasted a few seconds before the usual grin took its place, but the effect stole her breath. Adagio didn't seem to notice. "So, you bring something to snack on every morning?"

Mentally shaking herself awake, Fluttershy nodded. "Y-yes. Actually, um," she averted her eyes, not quite brave enough to share something personal while maintaining eye-contact. "th-the reason I bring something every morning is t-to help calm down a little, to, uh-"

"Start the day on a positive note?" She glanced up in surprise, Adagio just shrugging at her. "Sonata does something similar with sticky-notes on the refrigerator. Every morning she adds a new doodle of something that makes her smile." She giggled. "Does all of us a little good, I think." Then her face grew serious, scrutinizing the other girl closely. "Why do you need calming down? I was under the impression anything that opposed chaos magic would already be at peace."

Fidgeting where she sat, Fluttershy just focused on getting the words out. "B-because, um... W-well, you might have noticed, but, I'm, kind of, a little, uh..." She gulped. "There are a lot of p-people in school, so..."

Adagio poked an index finger through the top of her pink hair, as though pressing on 'Stop' button on a cassette player, Fluttershy going silent when she did. Her tone was unamused. "Are you telling me that someone who stood against magical beings far more powerful than herself twice and won both times is afraid of the average person? The average person is afraid of me, whom you face daily."

"B-but, it's st-still really-"

"Sweetie, I've been dropping by on and off to toy with you-" she lightly ruffled Fluttershy's hair for emphasis, "-for the better part of two weeks now, and you still show up every morning. Are you really telling me that your mother dropping you off before the doors are even open is strictly necessary?"

"W-well, um," she focused on shyly fiddling with her fingertips, "maybe not, but it's either that, bothering one of my friends to get up a little earlier every morning, or riding the b-bus."

Adagio nodded a little, looking as though she was piecing something together. "And you, mousy little thing that you are, don't want to bum a ride from someone other than your mother-"

Fluttershy smiled a little. "It's one of the ways we spend time together."

"-and are too intimidated by the thought that someone on the bus might harass you, correct?"

Fluttershy nodded, Adagio lightly flicking her forehead. "Ow!"

"You're more afraid of taking a chance of someone bothering you versus confronting someone who definitely will? Not buying it, Sweetie. You're either braver than you give yourself credit for, or an idiot, and I've seen your grades."

Her heart leapt, slowly fluttering down again like a leaf kicked up by a gust. This manifested in the form of a little smile as Fluttershy studied the grass. "Y-you're not that bad." Adagio didn't respond to this, looking out over the soccer field. Then something sunk in, Fluttershy looking at her with a hint of confusion. "Wait, when did you see my grades?"

Adagio smirked, turning to look at her with that old predatory gleam in her eyes. "Ohh, don't you worry about that, worry about whether or not it means that I know where you live, too."

Fluttershy squeaked. "D-does it?!"

Naturally, she smiled wider, averted her eyes, and gave the worst possible answer. "Who knows?" She made a watch-checking motion, not even pretending to lift her armband to look at an imaginary watch. "Well, look at the time, I should be going. I expect I'll see you here again, same time tomorrow?" Not waiting for an answer, she turned to walk away. "Good. Take care, Sweetie."

Fluttershy gulped.

Oh, dear. Now I'll be thinking about it until the day she shows up at my door!

Would she knock first? Would she even use the door at all?! Would she just climb in through a window in the middle of the night?! And, what would she do when she got there?! Once again, all Fluttershy could do was wait.

Author's Note

Over the desired word limit, but important stuff happened this chapter.

I've thought about one of the Dazzlings vs. Team Jumpscare before, but this interpretation of Adagio might have done a much better job there than the first one did. Her own fondness for startling people might even help her make friends! :pinkiecrazy:

Is the library supposed to be carpeted, or is that green with weird swirly lines like some kind of marble? I couldn't tell, so I picked the one with a possibility of dramatic sound effects. :eeyup:

Chapter 6: Congealed Misnomer Lumps

School was interesting that day.

Not because of anything in the lessons, but because Fluttershy really didn't feel all that tense about what Adagio had said to her. Part of that may have had something to do with the other thing Adagio had said to her, one statement counteracting the other. The two thoughts swirled around in her head like the anxiety and pride that accompanied each swirling in her heart! Specifically, the notion that it was possible she knew where Fluttershy lived and could drop by at any time, unannounced, with no possible explanation to give her mother if she was home at the time... and that she thought Fluttershy was brave.

And, thinking about it, she kind of was! That was what she had felt just before Adagio scared the daylights out of her, after all. But still, she knew Adagio, scary, suggestive, personal-space-violating Adagio, was coming for her and sat out in the open anyway, just waiting to get ~~pounced on~~ startled. She could hardly conceive of doing something like that less than a year ago, but there she had been! Of course, her soaring confidence was brought down to normal levels when she remembered that she had still been shaking with fright, screamed when Adagio touched her leg, and spent most of the encounter stumbling over her words.

That in mind, she still felt alright through the rest of the day.

"You're either braver than you give yourself credit for, or an idiot, and I've seen your grades."

"You're either braver than you give yourself credit for"

"You're brave"

She wore the memory of those words like a shroud, a thick blanket to take refuge in.

The scariest girl in school said I was brave! There's nothing you can do to me!

Thinking such things at some of the people she'd ordinarily have turned and quickly walked away from in the hallways was exhilarating! At least, it was when they didn't look directly at her, leading her to instead think-say a rapid stream of apologies if her thoughts were bothering them and that she'd just go away now.

Before going to bed that night, Fluttershy looked in the mirror, stood up straight, and whispered to herself: "I can be brave. I can be brave. I can be brave."

That, a glass of warm milk, Angel Bunny sleeping protectively on her stomach, and the knowledge that Adagio was not in the room at that very moment were all she needed to get to sleep that night. Along with a quiet prayer that it would remain that way. At least until she was ready for it. Not that she ever would be, of course! But, just, in the unlikely event of that happenstance, she would want to be-no, it was like-

She lost another hour of what could have been sleep herding the bunnies in her brain until they settled on just not wanting Adagio in the room right now.

The next morning, Fluttershy again waited at the bench, trying not to think about the chances that Adagio forgot their 'deal' yesterday, or decided she just didn't care. Either way, thinking about someone sneaking up on her was a heavy load on her nerves, so she instead focused on the little bag she had waiting on her lap, wondering how Adagio would respond to jelly beans.

She had specifically started looking for candy types that would be harder to do anything like... well, like what Adagio had been doing with them up to now. She would try to avoid anything with wrappers in the future. Lollipops were out, for obvious reasons, along with anything that Adagio might take out of Fluttershy's mouth, put it in her own again, and-

Something touched her shoulder, earning yet another startled yelp. Whipping her head in the direction of the tap, she was met with a slightly bewildered Adagio leaning over the back of the bench.

An orange eyebrow was raised. "Can't pin this one on me, Sweetie, I called out to you twice."

Her whole face feeling warm, Fluttershy wasn't sure if it was because she'd been caught zoning out, or because Adagio remembered after all. And cared! "Haha, s-sorry about that," she held up the bag where Adagio could see, "would you like some jelly beans?"

Examining the bag, Adagio tilted her head a little. "Well... " As with the candy corn, she seemed almost suspicious of them. Did she just not like bagged food? Whether that was the case or not, she reached in to grab a few, lightly bouncing the sugary seeds in her hand. "I thought jelly was a lot softer than this."

Fluttershy nodded a little. "These might have been once, but I've always kind of figured they congeal and harden a little while after they're made." She looked at the bag curiously. "However that's done."

Shrugging, Adagio raised the oddly-shaped candy pellets to her mouth, making note of Fluttershy suddenly turning away. She grinned. "Something wrong, Sweetie?"

She didn't dare look back at Adagio for whatever she was about to do. "N-no ma'am, please don't mind me, just, w-watching some birds."

"Mm-hmm. Well, that's good, I was afraid you might have been thinking something dirty."

She squeaked. "I wasn't-!"

"Oh, I know," came a reply that sounded like 'I know you're lying,' "a good girl like you wouldn't spend a second of her day thinking about a bad girl like me. About the things I might do." Her voice was getting a little closer with each breathy syllable. "Things a bad girl like me might do." The mischievous grin was painfully audible, making Fluttershy shake. "You wouldn't think about things like that, would you?"

Lowering her head to hide in her hair even while facing away, Fluttershy was having trouble concentrating. "N-n-n-no, I-I'd-" She could feel warm breath on her ear, sending a wave of shivers up her spine.

"Because if you are thinking impure thoughts, you can tell me everything..."

By the way Adagio giggled to herself, Fluttershy guessed she didn't need to be able to see her face to know it was red enough that circulation was becoming a concern, however distant. Quietly babbling to herself, she felt like this one was her own fault somehow.

Leaving her target to think (and think hard) about whatever may have been on her mind at that moment, Adagio backed off a little, resuming her usual position and popping the jelly beans into her mouth. Finding them to be smooth and relatively hard, she tentatively bit down, finding them to be much more flavorful as she chewed them apart.

Not hearing anything out of the ordinary, Fluttershy risked catching sight of whatever Adagio might have been doing for a chance to see the analytical face, and there it was!

Tracing over the inside of the beans with her tongue, Adagio didn't notice the tiny smile directed her way. "Hm... They're kind of, strange in texture, on the inside. Flavorful, but rough, almost grainy. Nothing like jelly..." Chuckling, she smiled a little, Fluttershy's own growing ten-fold. "They're pretty good, I suppose, misnomer or not."

Still beaming happily, Fluttershy held up the bag again. "There are plenty more, if you'd like!"

Staring back at her for a moment, those big, bright, blue eyes seemed to pull Adagio in for just a fraction of a second. She wasn't sure what to make of this expression, but nodded a little and took another handful of internally grainy fruit-lumps as Fluttershy did the same, the two of them eating in silence for a few minutes.

"So," Fluttershy inquired when her mouth wasn't full, "how have things been, since you started coming to school?"

Adagio shrugged. "We do alright, the three of us. At least, most of the time." Fluttershy's curious little head-tilt suggested she wanted to hear more. "Do you remember the pep rally a few weeks ago?"

The sirens had been together for quite a while, and in that time, Sonata proved herself as the most willing to follow orders. Not always the most able, but generally more cooperative than Aria. This extended beyond Adagio's evil plans when they dried up, so when Principal Celestia asked everyone to show their support for the Wondercolts, Sonata was the first to grab two pom-poms and go ballistic.

She jumped up and down, flailing her arms and running all around the gym, her high-pitched shouts doing more to instill amusement than school pride in the student body. She cheered and screamed and danced as though she were possessed by a myriad of pop icons at once and all of them had taken near-lethal amounts of caffeine. Then came fear as she got her hands on the megaphone and turned the volume to maximum.

"WOOOOOOO-EE!! C'MON EVERYBODY, GET UP AND STOMP! STOMP HOLES IN THE FLOOR!! STOMP UNTIL YOUR ANKLES ARE BROKEN!! AND WITH THAT PAIN, SCREAM!! SCREAM FOR YOUR TEAM!! WE'LL MAKE IT EXPLODE UP IN THIS BITCH!! E! X! P! L! O-oh, hi Vice Principal Luna! You don't look very peppy..."

Fluttershy did remember, she'd spent the whole time hiding in the library, like she always did when the whole school got together to be loud and scary. This time, though, there was an extra little... disturbance, a feeling of foreboding that made her especially glad she hadn't gone.

"It's a shame," continued Adagio, "I really thought Sonata would open the door for us by befriending the cheer-leading squad after that, but since her little stunt at the last big game...?"

She had heard about that. Sonata had apparently coated the Wondercolts' mascot outfit in certain chemicals to slow any actual burning before putting it on and setting it on fire to dance around while screaming at the top of her lungs. To support the team, of course. It made some kind of sense in theory, but to everyone that saw her, (which is to say, everyone) it just looked like she was so full of school spirit that she set herself on fire. As the suit was only a little singed in a few places by the time they put her out, Fluttershy wondered if she at least got extra credit in Mr. Doodle's class. "They, uh... probably kicked her out after that?"

"To put it lightly." Adagio held a hand to her chin in contemplation. "Actually, that's not the only, err, misunderstanding to have taken place since the three of us started attending classes." She gave Fluttershy an earnestly unsure look. "I'm not complaining, but why do they keep letting us come here? Even if none of us are trying to cause trouble between Aria's occasional outbursts, Sonata's rare antics, and me being-" she haughtily brushed her hair aside, smiling confidently as she did, "-too much, I know we're breaking rules sometimes." Adagio herself wound up in the vice principal's office fairly often, but that wasn't the same as being expelled.

This one was actually kind of easy. "Well, I think Principle Celestia really believes in forgiveness and second chances, even for bad kids." Her eyes shot open and her heart-rate spiked as she realized what she just said. "I-I MEAN, not that you guys are bad, I-I'm sure you, it's, you just do bad things beca-no wait, you aren't, y-you even said-"

Adagio reached out and gently poked the top of her head again. "Stop. Breathe. Listen."

She did.

"We might only be here to kill time, but I'd like to think that we make an effort to play by your rules counts for something."

"I-it does! And we're all very glad you're-"

"Yes, I know," Adagio said with a chuckle, "I wasn't taking offense. I get that what we pulled before wasn't very nice, and have absolutely no plan, or means, to do it again. Alright?"

Nodding a little, Fluttershy was glad to have that settled so soon.

"Come to think of it," Adagio went on with a hint of a smile, "we still haven't even blown anything up yet, and if Sunset Shimmer earned everyone's trust after that, there must be hope for us too!"

"...'Yet'?"

Adagio crossed her arms, nodding. "Yet. If Sonata decides to show school spirit by rigging something to explode, Aria and I will try to stop her, but no promises."

There was a long pause before Fluttershy opted to try a different topic. "What is it Aria does that gets her in trouble? She's pretty well behaved in my English class."

Adagio chuckled, pushing off the bench. "Long story short? Language barriers. See you around, Sweetie."

This time, Fluttershy waited a whole ten seconds before rapidly looking around, and to her surprise, spotted Adagio actually walking away. She wasn't exactly happy that Adagio was leaving her for the day, but contented herself with doing a little analysis of her own. Even from the back, she could see that Adagio moved with confidence, back straight, head held high... hips swinging...

A part of her dared dream that someday, she might walk the same way.

Author's Note

I'm going to try to publish each chapter within a period of two weeks, amid everything else I'm working on. That they're supposed to be short and sweet makes that a little easier.

Chapter 7: Inside-Out Jelly Chunks

She wanted to walk with as much confidence as Adagio some day, but who was to say she couldn't at least give it a try?

Every day, Fluttershy took a route from her History to English classes with little to no people, cutting through the gym, which was always empty at that time. Even though the path she chose was longer, moving through less-crowded hallways granted her more time to get to classes than walking near so many other students did, or even brushing past them when things got desperate. Keeping a brisk pace just the same, Fluttershy had time to think, debating with herself whether or not to do what she was thinking, fear that she would get caught weighed against the specifications of the large, empty, windowless room she'd be walking through in roughly thirty seconds.

Two years and three months she'd been using the gym as a shortcut to get around the bulk of the student body, and in all that time there were maybe two instances of anyone else being in there when she walked through. That meant she was still taking a chance, if just a little, teeny, pygmy-marmoset-sized one.

Ooh, pygmy marmosets are so cute! The way they cling to things with their little-

Focus, Fluttershy!

She was in the doorway of the gym. No one was around, but she timidly glanced around to make sure, slowly started making her way to the opposite door. She was alone, she could be doing anything at all and nobody would be the wiser. Heart pounding, she dared recall every detail of the way she'd seen Adagio moving. Head high, back straight, hips swinging, every step as much a declaration that she was free to do whatever she wanted as it was a challenge for anyone to stop her, to even try to get in her way.

Shakily, Fluttershy transitioned her gait to be as much like that as she could manage, her footsteps feeling unnaturally loud against the hard, wooden floor as she tried to keep her head up like Adagio would. She couldn't completely avoid hunching over as bigger and bigger waves of self-consciousness spilled over her, but for the last fifteen steps, she even swayed her hips!

That the hallway beyond the gym was generally near-vacant as well at this time could only be a blessing, she was sure someone would have noticed how hard she was blushing.

Even sitting in class, hiding behind her book again, the heat in her face hadn't faded. By now it was less because of what she'd done, more for what Adagio would say if she ever learned about it. She'd shaken her rear while walking. In public!! Empty, nobody-around-to-see-right-now public, but still! Memory of her voice sounded in Fluttershy's head.

"I never would have guessed you of all people were a masochistic exhibiti-"

"I-I'M NOT!!"

And yet, here she was, practically shaking in her seat, head down and completely obscured from everyone by her book at the thought of being seen doing what she did, a blur of heated feelings whirling around in her head at the very idea of the consequences! That sounded a lot like-...

Why was the classroom quiet now?

Slooowly lifting her head to peer over her book, most of her eyes and forehead still hidden by her hair, Fluttershy saw exactly what she'd most feared; the entire class staring at her. Squeaking with fright, she nearly slammed her head on the desk to escape their gazes.

"You see?" asked Ms. Harshwhinny from the front of the class, "That is how I know your poem was not appropriate for school, Miss Rarity."

Fluttershy didn't even realize Rarity had been reading aloud. She cast a cursory glance to her fashion-forward friend to see that she was just a little distraught.

"I'm sure it was fine! The description of one embracing a lover, in a hug, after a long parting may sound lascivious, but I assure you my writing is completely chaste!"

Ms. Harshwhinny gave her a deadpan stare. "Look at Fluttershy-" she ignored the shy girl's second terrified squeak that class as some turned to look at her, still flushed, "-and tell me it was G-rated." Some of the class snickered.

Glancing at her, Rarity was less sure. "W-well... I suppose it might have been-"

"Oh, this is a load!" The voice of Aria Blaze was accompanied by the sound of her slapping both hands on her desk and standing up. This particularly drew attention because she was normally very quiet in class.

"Miss Blaze," responded Harshwhinny, "please take your seat."

"No," she retorted sharply, "listen up, I dunno what Squeaky's problem is, but I heard the whole poem, analyzed the implications of every stanza, considered possible meanings and contexts for every word, and I'm telling you, it was clean." The grumpiest siren looked less angry, more exasperated as she started making emphatic gestures and arm motions. "What is it with you people anyway? Why do you hate your own language so much that you bar pieces of it off? Where I come from, every syllable is as precious as any other, regardless of use or context, because each and every one is a tool through which to express our thoughts and feelings. We don't even have a concept of swearing! You can't take a word and label it unconditionally bad, you shouldn't be calling words bad to begin with, they're not!"

She snapped her fingers. "If I said I wanted to rip the eyes out of a whole class of freshmen and show a picture of it to their grandparents before throwing them, and the grandparents, through a wood-chipper, that'd be bad, but I'd be allowed to say it, to anyone. If I use the first word that comes to mind for what wasn't happening in Charity's poem-"

"It's Rarity."

"-Shuddup, if I said that one word, no matter how or in what light, it's bad, always is and always will be. Does that make any sense to you? If I wrote a poem, a song, anything that really was dirty, something detailing the raw, unbridled feeling between two, or more, mature adults as they tore into each other like the world was ending, nothing but primal passion at work, the most appropriate possible use for that word, would it still be inappropriate?"

Silence. Fluttershy was sure that if Rarity dropped one of her sewing needles, everyone would have heard perfectly.

Ms. Harshwhinny just stared at Aria, wide-eyed, not immediately sure how to counter her question. She looked around at the class, nobody having a word to offer as Aria stared back at her, face annoyed, but expectant. "W-well," the instructor quietly managed, "all of that may be true, but I'm afraid school rules forbid literature of that nature, at least in the classroom."

Aria slumped back into her seat, arms folded. "Tch, whatever."

Class went on, but the matter of whether or not Rarity's poem had been too lewd was dropped.

"So," Rainbow started with a hint of a smirk when everyone was seated at lunch, "what's this we're all hearing about you being a living smut-detector, Fluttershy?"

"W-WHAT?!"

Predictably, Rainbow was immediately whapped over the back of the head by Applejack, though that didn't stop her from laughing herself silly. Nor Pinkie, who had the fortitude to meet Rarity's very disapproving glare and explain the situation. "We heard about one of the Dazzlings ranting in you guys' English class, and that Ms. Harshwhinny pointed to Fluttershy right after your poem and-"

"-and Aria defended it," continued Sunset with a smile, "something one of us did. Do you guys know what that means?"

Rarity smiled a little too. "That she has an appreciation for romantic literature?"

"Not impossible, but what else?"

Rainbow raised her hand, which she almost never remembered to do in class. "That she wants to be able to curse people out without getting an earful from Luna?"

"Maybe a little more likely, but beside the point." Sunset went on the moment Pinkie opened her mouth. "It means that they can't all hate us so much that it gets in their way! If she was really still mad at us, or at least Rarity, she'd have probably tried to make her situation worse out of spite."

"And not that I'm ungrateful," said Rarity with a skeptical eyebrow, "but why couldn't she remember my name, even right after hearing it?"

"Huh? Oh, uh..." Lowering her head a little, Sunset blushed, hesitantly meeting the group's collective, curious stare. "That, um, that might be, I guess, maybe, s-spite?"

There was a pause.

"So," Applejack asked with a tilt of her head and an amused smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, "iffin' somebody happened to keep gettin' a few peoples' names wrong even after a week of knownin' 'em...?"

Sunset offered her most sheepish, most apologetic grin. "Haha, m-maybe. And, if someone were to fail to let go of their resentment before then, maybe they would later say 'sorry'?"

Having quite meant it when they said they'd forgiven a certain formerly-spiteful person for everything she'd ever done to them, the rest of the table just giggled, moving on to jokes about Rarity's racy poems.

Over that weekend, Fluttershy pondered the implications of Friday's English class. Aria was, as far as anyone could tell, the surliest member of her group. If she could put aside her hard feelings for the right reason, was there something Adagio would protect over the chance to make someone squirm? It was a thin hope, but she remembered that Adagio had backed off that morning in the library, even if she wasn't sure why. It could have been in the hope of getting a taste of each morning's treat, but she could have easily taken it if she wanted, and if they weren't offered, she never stuck around for them anyway.

She couldn't come up with any concrete answers, but at least it gave her something to think about when trying to get to sleep. Something other than the possibility that Adagio knew where she lived.

Why, oh why did I have to remember that the moment the lights went out?

Monday morning, Fluttershy finally wasn't startled by Adagio, who offered a little wave before stopping to lean on the bench.

"Morning, Sweetie."

"Good morning!" Thinking she had just about worked out a system, Fluttershy held up the bag, carefully watching Adagio's expression. "Would you like some orange slices?"

She didn't look suspicious of these, but picking one of the orange, curled, slightly bulbous candies up between two fingers, she smirked a little. "If this is a dig at my hair, Sweetie..."

Fluttershy's smile vanished. "I-I swear it's not!!"

Luckily, Adagio didn't look mad. "Mmhm..." Taking a bite, her eyes widened. "Oh! These are actually like jelly inside! Not quite liquid, but more..."

The smile returned, both because she wasn't in trouble and because she got to see one of her favorite expressions again. "Jellyish?"

"Yes! They're almost the opposite of jelly beans, or the same thing, turned inside out. Not hard anywhere, grainy and sweet on the outside, still sweet on the inside! They should have called these jelly, uh... wedge, things."

Giggling, Fluttershy ate one herself. While she delighted in the pleased face Adagio made while eating orange slices, (Maybe she really likes soft and sweet things?) her attention was drawn to dark rings around Adagio's eyes, which was quickly noticed.

Smirking again, Adagio haughtily brushed her hair aside. "Eyeliner. Like it? I was thinking of going for a-" shadowed eyes went half-lidded as she leaned in closer, "-darker, more lady-like look. What do you think," she asked with a little pout, "does it work for me?" She concluded by batting her eyelashes, to an almost mesmerizing effect.

Feeling a tingle run up her spine, Fluttershy lowered her eyes to Adagio's mouth, willing them to stop there. Adagio was breathing softly, yellow lips just slightly parted... waiting... Wait, yellow lips!

A cluster of thoughts made her pull back, though not in time to avoid turning roughly the color of her own hair again. "Y-you're not wearing lipstick?"

Knowing where Fluttershy's eyes were, yellow lips formed a teasing half-grin, her tongue poking out just long enough to moisten them. "You'd rather I did? I can if you like, but-"

Shrinking back in her seat, Fluttershy turned pinker. Also without help from make-up. "N-no, that's, I-I didn't," she raised both hands defensively, "I-I'm not thinking about, I mean, your lips are fine!"

She smiled a little more like a jungle cat with a trapped rodent, raising an eyebrow.

Heart hammering in her chest, very little of the blood in Fluttershy's head was being used to power her brain. "F-fine as they are! Your lips are f-no, I meant, all of you is fine-wait, I, I-I just-"

Licking her lips a little more pointedly, Adagio leaned in closer, her voice low. "You're right, actually, lipstick isn't the only way for me to leave marks..."

They locked eyes, Adagio's gaze all but holding her. The effect of her deep, red-violet eyes encircled with dark rings looked like a pair of lights at the end of a tunnel, slowly drawing her in with promises of things she knew she'd never be able to ask for, things she'd remember for the rest of her life, and maybe even longer!

That didn't really make sense, but a pygmy-marmoset-sized part of her wondered if Rarity ever wrote a poem about something like that.

She was shaken out of her daze by Adagio quickly darting her head forward and snapping her teeth just in front of Fluttershy's face, causing her to emit a silent shriek of terror and fall backward off the bench, landing with her feet sticking straight up in the air. Her head was still spinning by the time Adagio stopped cackling madly, stepping over to look down at her with an almost apologetic expression.

"You alright, Sweetie?"

Still trying to steady her breathing, Fluttershy nodded as best she could at that angle. "I'm... f-fine."

Playfully-raised eyebrow. "Fine?"

"I-I mean good!"

Adagio chuckled. "Good." Amusing as this was, Adagio didn't quite have it in her to inform her victim that her current pose presented a memorable eyeful, but settled for storing that ammo for later use.

Getting to her feet, brushing herself off, and sitting on the bench again, Fluttershy quietly sighed.

One of these days, I'll talk to her without making a fool of myself.

Following Adagio with her eyes as she returned to her usual, leaning-over-the-back-of-the-bench position, Fluttershy tilted her head a little. "Uhm... Y-you can sit on the bench if you want. There's more than enough room for two people."

Adagio made no greater movement than a shrug. "I'm fine here." That Fluttershy looked away from her for a second before quietly muttering 'okay then' told her she just made some kind of mistake. "So," she started conversationally, "I heard you got an idea of Aria's biggest problem here, late last week?"

Blinking twice, Fluttershy turned to face her, not sure where she was going with that. "Uh, y-yes...?" Fluttershy's eyes widened, realization hitting her like a cheetah pouncing a hapless gazelle. I'm thinking about jungle cats a lot lately... "Y-you were talking to Aria about me?!"

Oddly, Adagio looked just as surprised. "What? No, she just told me you were there when she went off on the teacher, something about you being an indicator for whether or not a poem was too saucy or something." She frowned, reaching out to gently place a hand on Fluttershy's trembling shoulder. "We don't keep a lot of secrets from each other, but I haven't even mentioned our meetings to Aria and Sonata. Okay?"

Eyes moistening and a steady rhythm building in her chest, Fluttershy hesitantly began to smile. "You keep a secret from your two closest friends for my sake?"

For just a second, Adagio looked completely lost. "Huh? Eh, well, it-" she turned away and crossed her arms, but now Fluttershy was sure of it, Adagio Dazzle was blushing, "-don't think I, I mean, you, it's not like it costs me anything to just not mention it. Besides, you'd explode if I did, right?"

Giggling, Fluttershy gave her a bright, earnest grin. "Right! Thank you, Adagio."

"Right, well..." The happy little face Fluttershy was making was by no means a bad one, but it was making Adagio start to struggle to fight off the building warmth in her cheeks. "You asked about Aria's difficulties around here, so, thought I'd mention it." The bad feeling was gone, so she was probably in the clear now, turning to leave. "See you around, Sweetie."

Still feeling weirdly happy, Fluttershy waved goodbye and called after her. Out loud. "See you again soon!"

Even when Adagio was gone, the internal fuzzies didn't disappear, making her just feel good all over! So much so that she reached into the bag, pulled out an orange slice, and giggled to herself as she put it in her mouth in just such a way that it looked like a sugary little orange smile.

Author's Note

Yes, Adagio bringing up Aria's 'language barrier' issue and having it almost immediately spelled out in the next chapter isn't great pacing, but it's not exactly a major plot-point, so I'm not too worried.

While I'm more or less with Aria on this one, I do think it's handy having swears if you use them sparingly, like to signify considerable anger, pain, or distress. Otherwise, they utterly lose whatever purpose they had as swears, right?

Again, sincerely sorry for that Publish button slip-up earlier. Adagio might be a tease, but I try not to be.

Chapter 8: Multi-Hued Fruit Ellipsoids

That happened kind of fast.

Fluttershy wasn't complaining by any means, but ~~reminiscing~~ looking back on that morning's encounter as she walked to her next class, it really felt like things went very quickly. Still, she hadn't stopped smiling since!

It's true, isn't it? 'An hour sitting with a pretty girl on a park bench passes like a minute'?

That wasn't the whole quote, but right now she didn't care. Mental images of Adagio's blushing face kept Fluttershy feeling warm through the day, remembering the kind of beauty it brought out in her. It was like seeing a flower blossom, a tenderness uncovered for all the world (well, just her at the time) to see, a moment of delicate vulnerability that exposed a soft, sweet center.

Stopping in another near-empty hall, Fluttershy's whole face felt hot, and she had no idea why. She shook her head and kept walking.

She still wished they could have had more time together, even if it wasn't spent with her getting to watch Adagio be the one to look bashful for once. They might have, actually, but Adagio left of her own free will, even though the school wasn't due to open for a little while longer. Realizing that was what finally brought Fluttershy back down to Earth.

Did she just not want to be around me anymore? Did I make her uncomfortable? All I said was 'thank you,' was that weird for her?

There had to be something she could do to hold Adagio's attention longer. She already knew her favorite subject, but there was no way Fluttershy could talk about that stuff and keep her head on straight. Maybe there was something else, her only other two friends? Unless the 'other' part was assuming too much, in that case, her only two friends? Adagio brought up Aria's rant on her own, would she be happy to talk about her and Sonata? She made a mental note to try it tomorrow, realizing on the way home that she'd forgotten to try the try the ~~sexy~~ confident walk today.

The next day, Fluttershy was startled less out of malice or playfulness, more because she hadn't been paying attention when the sneakiest siren leaned over the bench and said hello. The dark eyeliner probably wasn't helping.

Adagio chuckled. "Sorry, should I be calling out to you first, or...?"

That it sounded like she earnestly cared was worth any amount of jump-scares to Fluttershy, drawing a smile. "I-it's okay, I'm just really, um, w-well-" Adagio just kept grinning at her in a believe me, I've noticed, kind of way. She refrained from even mentioning the empty seat on the bench, not wanting to risk Adagio feeling even the tiniest bit like she was being pressured into anything she didn't want to do. Clearing her throat, Fluttershy offered the bag containing today's choice of candy. "A-anyway, have you ever seen these before?"

Leaning over to get a better look, Adagio could see a variety of little, elliptical pellets of many colors, each one bearing a tiny, white letter 's'. "Are these a different type of jelly bean?"

Giggling, Fluttershy shook her head. "Not exactly, but they do come in about as many flavors. Try some!" To her slight surprise, Adagio didn't hesitate at all, making two out of four cases of bagged candy she had no visible problem with. Had the candy corn and jelly beans in particular just looked strange to her, or was she just growing to trust Fluttershy enough to eat whatever she offered? Her heart palpitating at the very thought, she almost missed something else she'd grown to cherish as the treat analysis began.

"These are... interesting." She chewed for at least twenty seconds, her face thoughtful. "A lot like the jelly beans, yes, but perhaps more flavorful, I can taste the different juices blending together into an unplaceable uniform... stuff." Reaching into the bag for another handful, she eyed them curiously. "They even feel grainy on the inside, too, but denser, maybe even weirdly metallic, if that makes sense, like compacted versions of the jelly beans. She popped them into her mouth and smiled, the way it felt like only she could now. "Very good, though."

Chewing on a few herself, Fluttershy hoped it just looked like Adagio's own beautiful smile was contagious. "S-so, what do you guys usually do for fun? Outside of school, I mean?"

Pondering the question for a few seconds, Adagio swallowed her current mouthful. "Well, there isn't a whole lot that really grabbed us, hence coming here at all, but we did experiment with a few hobbies. We still have quite a lot of money at our disposal, so buying whatever caught our eye was a cinch." She glanced at Fluttershy, only a bright, welcoming grin where she thought a judging stare would be. Odd. Perhaps it didn't occur to her that their wealth was ill-gotten. "So, when we learned of video games, buying the necessary machines and a number of data disks to go with them led to a good few days' worth of digital exploration..."

Following a talk with Sunset Shimmer, the Dazzlings found themselves in search of purpose. Or failing that, something fun to do. A few different consoles and a small collection of games in their anti-boredom arsenal, (once they figured out where all the wires go) the three were seated on their living room sofa and dove in.

"So how does this one work?"

"The box said it's a shooter. So you, uh, shoot. A lot."

"Alright, then! Which one is the 'shoot' button?"

"I dunno, but I think I found how to throw-"

There was an explosion onscreen, followed by a prompt to retry the level.

Aria had opted to start reading game manuals following their many deaths in the first-person shooter.

"Quick, throw a shell!"

"I'm not holding a shell, Dagi!"

"Use a mushroom!"

"I'm not holding a mushroom, Nata, you have to-ooh, picked up a banana!"

"What do those do?"

"Maybe they attract monkeys."

"What good is that in a race?"

"This is a race?"

"I knew we were driving in circles!"

Eventually, they tried the shooter again.

"Alright, I'm starting to see where this game stands; you shoot the guys who shoot at you first, and no one else."

"So that's what friendly fire means!"

"Didn't we shoot these guys in the last level?"

Then a strategy game.

"Now this is how it always should have been, the three of us in command of our own army!"

"Once we get enough supplies, yea."

"Well, yes, that. How do we do that again, Ria?"

"Manual says we tell the miner units go whack those glowing rock-looking things over there."

"Can't we just steal the enemy's rock-things?"

"Yea, once we've got enough rock-things to build an army to go steal more rock-things with."

"War stinks."

And a dungeon-crawler RPG.

"Picked up a new sword from that ugly, green midget cheiftan."

"Is it better than the other sword? I still can't tell the difference between 'Red Steel' and 'Silverite' or whatever."

"Uhh... It's got a dexerity plus on it, so I'm gonna say yes."

"Ha-ha! I shot that guy with lightning!"

"I think that was a merchant we could have sold the extra sword to, Dagi."

"But now we can take his swords and sell them to someone else, right?"

And a platformer.

"So we just have to keep running to the right, Ria?"

"And not fall down any pits, that's important."

"What do we spend these coins on? Does this game let you build armies too?"

"INCOMING MEAN-FACE ROCKET!!"

"Ooh, I'll buy one of those!"

Then another shooter.

"I'm sure we've shot all these guys before, Dagi."

"Couldn't be, it's a different game."

"Then why do they look just like the other guys?"

"Maybe they're all clones!"

"Too many clones."

"Maybe we're putting them down before the surplus population eats everything in the ecosystem? I think this makes us veterinarians."

"Veterinarians with assault rifles, I guess."

"Kickass!"

And then something to do with survival horror.

"I found a rusty key!"

"Does that go to the rusty door?"

"A lot of the doors are rusty. I think you opened one with the bloody key a little bit ago."

"Was that the 'bloody' key or the 'blood' key? Or the red key?"

"This place must be a nightmare for janitors."

"Judging by the mangled dead guys walking around, it's probably a nightmare for everybody else, too."

"But mostly janitors! Why else would the doors get so rusty? They haven't been cleaned in forever!"

The less said of their efforts in the stealth game, the better.

"How did that guy see me? I was in the box!"

"You were moving in the box, Nata."

"So? What do they have against moving boxes?"

"The same thing they have against intruders, maybe?"

"Racists! Well now I'm glad we're snapping their necks!"

Admittedly, things went better when Adagio stopped using various action buttons to pose in front of cameras.

They were on a roll with the shooters. As it happened, most of the main campaigns were over by the time they started to grow tired of them.

"So, I had a thought about these games."

"Shoot."

"Not at us, you dunderhead!"

"Oh, relax, friendly fire is off. What is it, Nata?"

"Well, if we keep shooting the same guys over and over again because they're pretty much clones, how do we know we aren't clones just like them? In the game, I mean."

"Are you basing this on what happened in the stealth game?"

"Kinda?"

"I, I think... I think she might be onto something."

"Oh?"

"Yaaay! Onto what?"

"I mean, if they've got some big cloning thing goin' on, maybe we're just the renegades trying to stop them, but first we've gotta take down all the other clones and-"

"-and the random buildings we keep blowing up are cloning facilities, or part of the clone soldier infrastructure, which means-"

"-which means if we don't shoot all these guys and blow up all this stuff, the war will just keep going forever!"

They all spoke in unison. "And that's why these games are so alike!"

The cutscenes told a very different story, but such skippable lessons were lost on the Dazzlings, who still felt like geniuses for solving the imaginary riddle.

"So," Adagio concluded, "while we had some fun, it wasn't all we wanted to do for the rest of our lives. Aria still spends some time after school scouring the virtual world for something more interesting, but for now, here I am."

"And then you tried the cheer-leading squad?"

"Well, Sonata did. We looked at a few different student organizations, actually, but none of them worked out." Maybe it was the slight tilt of her head, maybe it was the big, doe-eyed look Fluttershy was giving her, but something in her expression said she wanted to know more. Well, why not? Adagio smirked a little. "The drama club looked promising, but my worries that we'd all upstage everyone else were put aside, because we didn't get to join in a single production before being blacklisted." She chuckled, a hint of nostalgia to her just-slightly-evil grin. "Not every play they were putting together was a centuries-old classic, you see. We caught them in the middle of an original work, and Aria, being Aria, had some... constructive criticism to offer."

Fluttershy looked just a little skeptical. "Constructive?"

"Well, at first, yes. She pointed out some technical issues, some grammatical mistakes in the scripts, a few anachronisms for the setting of the piece, all valid points." She smiled wider, suggesting that any grief she felt over their expulsion from the club was long replaced by amusement. "However, the manner in which she did so was perhaps less than what such gentle souls might have preferred. The playwright remained adamant that no changes needed to be made, Aria wasn't quite as patient back then and may have called someone a 'talentless hack with no understanding of narrative flow.' Admittedly, it might not have gotten so ugly if Sonata and I hadn't been laughing so hard."

To Adagio's immediately-masked surprise, Fluttershy didn't offer a single scolding word for this, not even telling her they were wrong to have done what they did, or anything else. Instead, she giggled, like it was a harmless joke. Was it? People's reactions were so hard to gauge now...

"After Friday's English class, I can kind of see that. What did you try next?"

Something bubbled up in the back of Adagio's head, telling her that something was wrong here. It asked whether or not she could remember a time Fluttershy, Sunset Shimmer, any of the Rainbooms had reprimanded her group in any way since the battle. Teachers did, Luna and Celestia did, other students did, mostly behind their backs or when they assumed they were out of earshot, but never the six (or Vinyl Scratch, but she wasn't talkative to begin with) that had actually stopped them. Why?

She didn't have time to ponder it now, Fluttershy was waiting for an answer. "Well, the first time we attended gym class, we learned a little about the sports they play here. Unfortunately, when all the running in circles and stretching was done-" Adagio chose to leave out that Coach Iron Will had almost thrown her out of class after her custom stretches may have made two students faint, but she'd definitely succeeded in demonstrating her flexibility, "the first game they had us play was football. Sonata told us as they were assigning teams that she had seen that game on television and gave us a brief rundown of what to do take the lead. As we demonstrated a good understanding of the rules as we thought they were set and I convinced those in charge that physically fit students wouldn't be any worse for wear after being tackled a few times, there weren't any repercussions for this, either."

Fluttershy tilted her head. "Either?"

"Ohh, nothing. We did eventually get in some trouble the next day when it was discovered that football was the only sport we understood, but I maintain that making everything-" the smirk leaned a little toward lewd, "-full-contact would have only benefited the student body in the long run. Probably all the kids who go to CHS, too."

"Isn't that the same thi-" As realization struck, Fluttershy turned red, bringing both hands to her mouth. "Oh my!!"

Snickering with satisfaction, Adagio went on. "It was a shame, Sonata was rather adept at Tackle-Baseball. Made more sense than running in circles like a dolt, at any rate." She frowned a little, shrugging. "They don't let me play dodge-ball anymore, though. The balls rolling harmlessly off my hair apparently doesn't count as a hit, there was an accident with someone trying to bind it for me, -Aria did warn them- and even when it was as tied up as it could get, an honest mistake of my aim followed by an equally unlucky ricochet was the last nail in the coffin." She was a little insulted Iron Will was so quick to believe that she of all people would try to hit such a place. Then again, maybe her banter to the opposing team put certain thoughts in his head? "Now they just let me go early on dodge-ball day."

Fluttershy frowned too, but she saw opportunity for something she'd been wondering about for weeks. "Is that why I see you standing alone outside the locker room sometimes?"

Blinking twice, Adagio's cheeks tinted the faintest shade of red. "Oh, that? W-well, actually..." She looked away, whatever blush had been building going right back where it came from as she looked out over the soccer field. "I'm, due to some misunderstandings, not allowed in the locker rooms-" either one, Luna had made it clear, "-when the other students are changing."

There was just a little doubt in the raising of a pink eyebrow. "Misunderstandings?"

Standing up straight, Adagio looked back at Fluttershy as though she'd been accused of murder, fingertips drawn to her chest (Two seconds!) in melodramatic fashion. "You don't think I would go and do something to make anyone uncomfortable, do you? My intentions were nothing but pure!" She clasped her hands together, making what could only be called puppy-dog eyes. "You believe me, don't you?"

This was almost definitely a trap, a lie, or both, but if she wanted to really earn Adagio's trust, Fluttershy knew she had to give her the benefit of the doubt. She smiled warmly. "If you say you're innocent, then of course I believe you."

Adagio blinked twice, laughing as she returned to her usual leaning pose. "No," she said with a smirk, "that they don't let me in when others are changing is entirely my fault. But really, you'd think those girls could take a compliment."

There was a distant sense of shock not that Adagio had been lying through her teeth, but that she had just delivered a response that didn't surprise Fluttershy at all. Whether or not that was some kind of paradox, she'd work out later.

"So," the siren leader went on, "with none of the clubs we had even the foggiest interest in willing to give any of us a sideways glance, we opted to forsake groups altogether and just try befriending random people at lunch." She shrugged. "Didn't work."

Giggling, Fluttershy spoke without thinking. "I'm a little surprised you would try to make friends at all." Adagio gave her a worrying look, as if to say 'No please, elaborate.' She gulped. "W-wait, I didn't mean it l-like, I-I don't think you're, I-I mean-"

Adagio sighed a little, as though she'd anticipated this. "Relax, Sweetie." She gave Fluttershy a minute to calm down before explaining. "If you were hoping to give me The Talk about the joys of friendship and all that, Sunset Shimmer beat you to it." To Fluttershy's unnoticed delight, Adagio started to get that rosy look as she crossed her arms, looking out at the soccer field again. "The first time we talked, she happened across us in town one day. We had a little chat about why the three of us were still together, what we must have meant to each other to have not gone our separate ways, blah, blah, you can probably guess the rest."

Fluttershy frowned. "You're really not going to tell the whole story?"

With a roll of her eyes, Adagio blushed a little brighter. "I assure you that it was all very huggy and tearful and embarrassing. Sunset Shimmer supervised. Anyway, after that, we just tried to kill time together, find something to do with our lives. Hence? School."

Fluttershy nodded a little. "I guess that makes sense." She smiled genuinely. "Thank you for telling me this, Adagio."

Adagio stared back at her, still flushed. "Yes, well..." She stood up straight, quickly ruffling Fluttershy's hair. "I think that's enough sentimentality for today. See you around, Sweetie."

Straightening her hair as best she could, Fluttershy waited, very patiently, until Adagio was out of sight before checking the time on her phone. She smiled. That might be the longest she's ever talked to me! Maybe all she had to do was bring up things Adagio wanted to talk about? Sadly, it looked like anything she thought was too 'sentimental', anything that made her blush, was off the list.

Then again, she thought through the day's first class, her heartbeat picking up again, Adagio getting all rosy-cheeked is so...

Still, she didn't want to risk Adagio getting uncomfortable around her, and deciding they were done talking for the day seemed like just that. What drew that reaction? Yesterday it was saying out loud that she had done something nice for Fluttershy, today it was, what? Sharing that she and the others had talked to Sunset?

Oh, that's it!

Adagio was a lot like Sunset, or like she had been a little after the Fall Formal; proud, guarded, hesitant to show even a flicker of tender feelings. Well, not those kinds of tender feelings, anyway. Opening the door to the empty gym, Fluttershy decided she'd just have to be patient, to let Adagio share as much as she wanted at her own pace.

Speaking of paces, it was time to practice the ~~shaky~~ confident walk again...

Author's Note

The image of those three playing video games together just tickles me. :rainbowwild:

I'm over the desired word limit again. Is under 4000 words still short and sweet enough? I think just heavily implying that stuff happened can convey just as much hijinks as writing out every word. :pinkiesmile:

In case it's ambiguous, Sunset talked to the Dazzlings multiple times before the events of the story, checking in on them every so often to make sure they weren't as lost and miserable as she would have been without the other five. She may not be the protagonist of this story, but she still cares. :twilightsmile:

I put Teen ratings on almost all of my stories for creative freedom. Has this one earned it yet?

Chapter 9: Shareable Anti-Mint Spheres

The door to the gym was shut behind her, nobody was around, and she had the whole walk to the other side of the gym. There were no excuses. Head high, back straight, Fluttershy took two swingy steps before she started to hunch over with the fear of what anyone that saw her would say. Still, she kept her hips moving, back and forth, back and forth, certain it would be noticeable from clear across the room.

It's not exhibitionism, it's not exhibitionism, it's not exhibitionism.

It wasn't, she knew it wasn't, but the heat in her cheeks persisted. It wasn't like she was doing anything dirty, Rarity was known to strut a little and nobody ever batted an eye. Heck, Adagio herself didn't seem to get any extra attention for the way she walked, and she had the widest, swingiest hips of anyone in-

She'll tease you about voyeurism next, you know.

The thought didn't help with the burning sensation in her face as she reached the other end of the gym, not even able to recall if she'd done the walk or not. Touching the handle, she looked over her shoulder at the empty gym, feeling something flicker in her chest. She still had a few minutes until her next class, there was still nobody around to see her, and if she built a good foundation now, she might even be able to think about doing the walk in public by the time she was in college!

Not actually doing the walk, just thinking about it. But, in public! With other people around!

Planning like that worked for her transition to wearing skirts that ended above the knee from fourth grade to the start of high school, after all, and here she was! Then again, she knew Adagio wouldn't spend a minute thinking about whether or not something she wanted was too high to aim for, she'd just go for it until it was hers or she knew it was absolutely impossible to reach. And even then, she'd just find the next best thing and tackle it twice as hard! That was the only thing she had ever admired about the old Sunset, and one of the few things she and Adagio still had in common; to be so self-assured and assertive as to know what they wanted and go straight for it, gosh darn the consequences!

She squeezed the door's handle before releasing it and turning away. Marching right back the way she came, the blush persisted as she forced her hips to sway with every step. Stopping, she had an idea. Walking with any real confidence would look weird on her, but maybe if she just did it without the hip-shaking part, she could adapt it in later? Head high, back straight, she walked with no regard to the noise her shoes were making against the hard-wood floor, like someone who didn't give a twitch of a tail who heard her walking places! When she got to the door she came in through, she turned right around and marched the same way straight to the other side. Her heart beating fast, she decided that was probably enough for today and proceeded to class normally.

Wednesday morning got off to a flying start, because for once, Adagio's arrival went perfectly! Looking around as she waited for her favorite Dazzling, Fluttershy caught sight of her, smiled and waved at her normally, and got a normal smile and wave back as she approached! Not that she disliked Aria or Sonata, she was sure they were nice enough girls too. And, Adagio's smile was more like a half-smirk, but for her it was pretty much the same thing. But still!

Taking her usual place over the back of the bench, Adagio seemed a little extra relaxed today. "Morning, Sweetie."

She smiled brightly. "Good morning!" Feeling a strange sense of something she couldn't put her finger on just then, she opted to test the waters of small-talk with a former evil enchantress. "How are you today?"

Adagio's relaxed smirk grew a little wider. "How am I, you ask? Well," she stood up straight to stretch her arms up over her head, "I suppose I'm as lithe, limber, and-" closing one eye in a coy wink, she took up a pose not unlike the one she'd used on Fluttershy before, arms still raised, fingers interlocked as the palms faced outward, back arched, hips cocked, and one leg out to the side, the eye not winking kept on Fluttershy, "-flexible as ever." She bent over to position her face very close to that of her prey, her question coming with a slow, warm exhale. "Whyever do you ask?"

Wide-eyed and bright red, Fluttershy remembered that Adagio was still a little evil. But this time, she wouldn't run away! "I-I was just, y-you know, asking."

"I see. And how are you?"

From a variety of tingly feelings, she deduced that sometimes a completely honest answer wasn't best. Even so, she steeled herself, not wanting to shrink back any further than she already had. "I'm... okay?"

Adagio leaned in closer, their noses almost touching, eyes half-lidded. Her voice came in a husky whisper. "And now?" The only verbal reply was a series of high-pitched squeaks, but the sight of sweat running down Fluttershy's crimson face hinted that maybe she was going too far again. Chuckling, she backed away and resumed her usual pose. The way Fluttershy was glowing, a tiny part of her was worried about getting sunburned at that distance, anyway.

For the next two minutes, Fluttershy focused on breathing, the bag she'd brought today's treat in, and a niggling sense that she was going to regret her choice very soon. Glancing at Adagio, she was a little surprised to see her still waiting, not a single sign of impatience in that laid-back little smirk of hers. Something about the expression tickled the edges of her heart, making her smile. "T-today I brought something a little different." Fishing one of the candies whose wrapper she greatly loosened in advance, Fluttershy quickly revealed a little, red ball and offered it to Adagio. "They're usually called fireballs, very flavorful, but very spicy."

Taking it between two fingers, Adagio skipped any jokes about Fluttershy trying to get her 'hot' (too obvious) and popped it into her mouth. To no immediate effect. "Spicy, huh?"

Eyeing a second fireball in her own hand, Fluttershy was visibly steeling herself for the coming trial. "G-give it a minute..." Taking a deep breath, she put it in her mouth. Ordinarily, she gave this kind of thing to Pinkie, Rainbow, or maybe even Applejack, but she did not want to risk Adagio thinking she was playing a prank on her when the acidic properties of the ball kicked in. Sucking on one herself seemed like the best way to show that wasn't the case, though while they were sweet and sugary, she'd probably have to run to the nearest water fountain soon. Trying to take her mind off the rapidly-intensifying heat, she looked at Adagio, her analytical face reinforced with a sincere little smile.

"These are... interesting. Candied hot sauce? It's not so different from mint, but in reverse, somehow." Fluttershy winced a little as she caressed the tiny ball with her tongue. On purpose. "Yes, this is different, candy with a kick!" She chuckled. "Not bad at all, Sweetie! How's yours?"

Fluttershy internally screamed. Why did she have to ask that?! Visibly sweating, she tried to push the ball around in her mouth to areas that weren't burning as badly without letting it touch her tongue, with little success. Tears gathering in her eyes, she all but whimpered. "H-ho-ho-hot!!"

Adagio gave her a strange smile of amusement and sympathy. "Aww, you poor thing. Well, maybe I can help you."

Her mouth was barely opened to ask how when Adagio quickly darted forward, her long, slippery tongue extended like a hummingbird about to feed from a flower, sliding straight past Fluttershy's lips!

From there, her world exploded into heat. Heat from the fireball, heat from Adagio's fireball-coated tongue, and the regular kind of heat in her face, much hotter than usual, in response to awareness that she was possibly in the middle of her first french kiss. It was a wonder she didn't pass out! There was a haze of thoughts about whether or not it counted, of not being sure there was any kind of lip contact and not knowing if french kissing was just one tongue in another mouth, but the next thing she knew, Adagio was giggling almost maniacally and her mouth didn't feel so hot anymore.

Now enjoying the fiery intensity of two spicy candies as well as her usual morning entertainment, Adagio couldn't help smiling. "So, just asking, how are you?" As anticipated, the only reply was incoherent, red-faced babble. The display was tastier than the fireballs, but she was likely pushing her luck now. "Sorry," she offered with a chuckle, placing a hand on Fluttershy's shoulder, "in all seriousness, are you alright?"

The combination of Adagio's gentle tone, the sincerity in her voice, and what she was sure was a caring look in her eyes made Fluttershy's heart melt. Unless that was an after-effect of the fireballs, but she'd never heard of such a thing from Pinkie. She smiled warmly. "I think I'm okay." There was only a tiny jab in Fluttershy's chest when Adagio nodded and pulled away, but she hadn't really expected the moment to last.

"Good. As I said before, I tend to be a little too much for some people, so..." She shrugged, losing her smirk. "If you need me to back off a little, I-"

"No!" Quickly reaching out to grab one of the siren's hands in her own, Fluttershy was a little surprised to see Adagio startled for just an instant. "Please, don't worry about me, I might freeze up and shy away sometimes, but I'm fine! You, you personally, haven't hurt me since we met, and I like you just the way you are!" She frowned a little. "Please, don't let me keep you from being yourself, or nobody will be happy in the end."

Staring back at her in silence, it wasn't clear if the redness in Adagio's cheeks came from what Fluttershy just said, or the fireballs. She cleared her throat, glancing at the hand still being held. "Right, well..."

Realizing how the situation might look to an observer, Fluttershy squeaked and drew back, her face burning all over again. "S-sorry!"

Turning her gaze out toward the soccer field, Adagio shrugged again. "So, anyway, thank you for the fireballs."

Smiling through her lingering embarrassment, Fluttershy offered the bag. "Here! I-I don't really like these all that much myself, so, if you'd like the rest, um...?" Remembering her recent confidence, she tried to keep her shoulders and face up, but couldn't help a light tremble.

Adagio was a fraction of a second from asking what she wanted in exchange, but the answer was clear in her bright, blue eyes.

'Nothing. Take them, please?'

Letting out a short giggle, Adagio accepted the bag of spicy treats, narrowing down the best time in the day to tell Aria about them. "Quite the altruistic type, aren't you? Very well, thank you." She set the bag on the seat she was leaning over, smiling in what wasn't quite a smirk at Fluttershy. "So, if you don't actually like these, why would you bring them along? Spicy things don't sound conductive to steadying one's nerves to begin with."

This time, Fluttershy blushed for reasons that had nothing to do with being teased, being looked at, or wayward thoughts breaking free of their pen in her mind. "Do you like them?"

Adagio looked back at her in quiet surprise. The four, simple words said much more than the question they formed, returning greater warmth to Adagio's insides, independent of the fireballs. It was with just a tiny smirk that she reached out to ruffle Fluttershy's hair again. "You're too kind."

Giggling, she straightened her hair as much as she could manage. "Thank you."

"No, really," added the former mastermind, though her expression hadn't changed, "you waited out here almost exclusively to share these with me? It's a lovely gesture, but don't you think you're forgetting something?"

Fluttershy was lost, and it showed on her face. "N-no, not really. Waiting was easy, I do it all the time."

"That's not what I-" She blinked once, drawing a hand to her chin as she turned her analytical gaze on Fluttershy herself this time. "Why is that, anyway? I've been here long enough to hear 'good things come to those who wait,' but I can personally attest that they come much faster for those who get up and take what they're after. I know people are encouraged to wait their turns and all that, but all being willing to wait gets you is the chance to wait longer."

"W-well, I know that, but-"

"Then why do you do it?" Adagio hoped interrupting her to ask would demonstrate the point.

There was a pause, resolve clear in Fluttershy's face when she answered. "Because someone has to." Adagio's adorably inquisitive stare remained. "I mean, if nobody's ever patient, if everyone jumps in to take what they want all the time, then things only get cluttered and hectic, right? But, if they see others waiting patiently, nobody feels like they're the only ones, and it's easier to tolerate waiting their turn. I guess, I want to encourage the system of getting what you want in due time by being that example." She shrugged a little, looking down. "It, doesn't really seem to work all that often, but, that's my reason."

Then she waited. There were sentiments she'd heard many a time about standing up for herself, about being every bit as assertive as everyone else, but she'd thought about assertiveness vs. patience more than once. The conclusion she'd come to was that while being the kind of person that got what they wanted right away might have been nice, it wasn't fair and realistic for everyone. So, she would be one who could wait, as long as it took. Yet, to her surprise, there wasn't a word out of Adagio about her being weak or telling her to stand up for herself like her friends had in the past.

Looking at her, Adagio just kind of nodded. "I see. Well, just the same, it would be best if you brought something you enjoyed, Sweetie." Chuckling, she winked again, drawing an immediate, rosy-cheeked smile out of Fluttershy. "While we're trading philosophy, here's another tid-bit worth remembering; if you're not at least a little selfish, you'll never be happy."

Blue eyes blinked once. "Huh...?"

Smiling wider at her expression, Adagio giggled. "Just, something to think about, I suppose." She picked up the bag and pushed off the bench. "I'll see you around, Sweetie."

Watching her go (and noticing that she didn't shake her hips that hard), Fluttershy had a lot of thoughts to sort through. There were the specifications of hip-movement she'd try to remember for later, Adagio's philosophy on selfishness, and most tantalizing of all, the french kiss.

Am... Am I going to get pregnant now...?

No, don't be ridiculous! You know that's not how it works, it goes like-

Still partly recovering from the fireball, it was best that she not think about what she'd learned in health class right now. Still, she'd have the rest of today to work out everything that happened this morning... Just as soon as it stopped feeling like the butterflies in her belly were on fire.

Fireflies. Fireflies are so pretty.

Author's Note

Yes, Adagio does pretty good in geometry class.

Chapter 10: Chocolate-Covered Treachery

It was

It wasn't.

It was.

I don't even remember feeling her lips!

Do you need to?

Yes!!

Would it feel any different?

It would feel like a kiss!

And how would you know what that felt like?

I... I'd...

...

Fluttersigh.

The worst part of arguing with yourself had to be when you lost. It was a sad and very surreal sort of feeling. Still, that voice in her head was right, she'd never gotten further in that kind of thing than her mornings with Adagio, so if this morning could be called her first kiss based on the technicality that a tongue in a mouth usually meant that sort of thing, did the lollipop count? Did the candy cane? How many pseudo-kisses was she up to in that case?

But, still, it felt like... Well, it felt like something! Something she wanted a little more of. And, since Adagio kept showing up every morning, it must have meant something to her too!

Maybe it means she just likes toying with you?

OH, COME ON!!

It went back and forth in that fashion, part of her brain thinking romantically and part of it very much refusing to, not reaching any satisfactory answers. She tried to forget about the maybe-kiss when the time came to practice the walk. Moving with the hip-shake was actually a lot easier when she was doing it more for purposes of memorization than emulation, even if the latter was the ultimate goal. She mimicked Adagio's stride as best she could, going back and forth across the gym twice just to be extra sure she had it down right.

Once lunch time came, she tried to focus on her friends talking about a picture hanging outside the art room.

"You've gotta admit," urged Pinkie, "they sure made good use of color!"

"Yes," agreed Rarity half-heartedly, "the detail in the wings really brings out her eyes."

"I think the magic-y blue fire kinda does that too." Rainbow didn't know much about art, but she knew what she liked.

Applejack just frowned a little, looking at the subject of the painting that hung for all to see the past few months. Granted, she didn't really look like an infernal bat-woman anymore.

Sunset looked tired, her head propped up by one arm on the table, her face somewhere between browbeaten and exhausted. At least until she noticed the rest of the table staring at her and forced a smile. "I keep telling you guys, I know it's just a painting. There's no sense worrying about it, no sense being mad at whoever drew it, and no reason to ask Mr. Magnet to take it down. Okay?" She got five concerned stares. Again.

Rainbow was the first to articulate the question. "Somebody gets nightmares about what happened at the Fall Formal, paints a picture of you all fire and brimstone, which gets posted in the hallway a few days later, and you seriously don't have a problem with it? At all?"

Sighing, Sunset shook her head. "It's not that I don't have a 'problem,' but if I so much as suggested that maybe I didn't want that picture there, wouldn't it look like I was just trying to cover it up? Even now?" She shrugged. "I try not to think about it, but if you asked me how I'd envision something hanging over my head for the rest of my life, this is in the top three methods." She was almost startled by Applejack's hand on her shoulder.

"Ahh, don't you worry none 'bout that old thing. They're bound to replace it with somethin' else sooner or later, right?" She chuckled. "Maybe it'll be one'a mah drawin's. Or heck, maybe even Fluttershy's! We got the same art class an' she sketches like nobody's biz'ness."

The group's attention collectively turning her way in an instant did little for her ability to think on the spot. "I could draw hair!" Being stared at in confusion didn't help as she lowered her head, trying not to turn as pink as her hair. Which she could allegedly draw. "I-I mean, I could, draw, um... here...?"

One thing to love about Pinkie Pie was that she could act like anything made perfect sense. And as she smiled, maybe, to her, it did. "Neat!"

Sunset did her best to save her mousiest friend. "Anyway, I really appreciate the sentiment, but they probably aren't going to take it down any time soon." Rolling her eyes, she crossed her arms. "And, as much as I hate to admit it, whoever made that painting did a really good job. Just wish I wasn't the subject matter."

Rarity would have offered sentiments about being an inspirational muse to at least one person, but Sunset very clearly was not flattered by the work.

Conversation drifted to how it could have been worse, how someone could have sculpted a statue of Sunset as a raging she-demon, to composing a song about how scary she was and singing it during the Battle of the Bands, to writing a scary poem about her, to Rarity's racy poems again.

Fluttershy, however, kept her thoughts on art bound to paper. Specifically, how Adagio would look as the central figure in The Birth of Venus.

She definitely has the hair for it. And, the sirens were sea creatures, right? Someone should paint that, it'd make perfect sense!

Art class that day would remind Fluttershy that while reasonably skilled in the field of drawing with a pencil, she was a terrible painter.

Walking down one of the less-traveled halls to her next class, Fluttershy heard voices around a nearby corner.

"Alright, what'd you wanna show me?"

Aria Blaze?

"Just this."

Adagio!!

Aria sounded a little alarmed. "Wha-h-hey, what are you-MMPH?!"

There were sounds of a small struggle, but by the time Fluttershy dared peek around the corner, she only saw Aria sputtering and wiping her mouth. "Dammit, Adagio! We keep telling you humans don't eat that way!"

Adagio snickered at her. "I don't remember you complaining all the times befo-"

Aria's pupils shrunk to pinpricks as she glanced around, slapping a hand over Adagio's mouth. "Shut! Up!!"

Stepping back, Adagio chuckled. "They're called fireballs, I think. How is it?"

Aria's mouth hung open for a moment as she gained awareness of the spicy ball in her jaw. "Tch," she shrugged, "it's alright, I guess."

Still grinning, Adagio offered Aria the bag she'd gotten from Fluttershy earlier. "There are more, if you'd like."

Eyeing the bag suspiciously, Aria raised an eyebrow. "Where'd you get 'em?"

Averting her eyes, Adagio grinned mischievously. "Ohh, I have this good friend that-"

With just an inkling as to where this was going, Aria held up a hand. "Stop, stop, forget I asked!"

Fluttershy's heart leapt. She called me a good friend! Maybe only as a cover-up lie, but still!

Aria took the bag without making eye-contact, certain she was already blushing. "Thanks for the cavities, anyway."

Adagio chuckled, extending one arm to lean on a nearby locker. "You're welcome. Have you made any progress in that Empire Cardiac-Muscle game?"

Purple palm met purple forehead as she groaned. "Two and a half hours in and I'm still in the freakin' tutorial!"

"I keep telling you it all goes faster if you skip the cutscenes."

"Yea, but eastern games are usually a lot more about the story, and I'd actually kinda like to know what the hell's going on in this one. Haven't skipped a thing and I'm still lost."

Adagio nodded, giggling. "Stay strong, Aria, we're still pretty much counting on you after school."

Aria smirked a little, though her expression wasn't the least bit unfriendly. "Yea, yea, don't I know it." The two briefly bumped fists. "Seeya at home."

Fluttershy ducked back around the corner the instant the two sirens turned away from each other, closing her eyes and willing herself invisible as a set of footsteps drew closer. They stopped at the same time as her heart, making her very hesitantly open one eye to see a wide-eyed, blushing Aria Blaze. Probably not just due to the fireball. "Oh, h-hi there, M-Miss Aria, I-I was, j-just, not standing here, the last... few... minutes...?" She didn't need a mirror to know her sheepish smile wasn't going to be selling bridges any time soon.

Wasting no time, Aria stepped closer, poking a forceful finger into Fluttershy's chest. "Listen up Squeaky, you didn't see anything, didn't hear anything, and won't say anything about the things you didn't see and didn't hear, capiche?!" To her relief, the Rainbooms' biggest wimp nodded vigorously in agreement. "Smart girl."

A few steadying breaths later, Fluttershy stood alone in the hallway, reflecting on what she had just partially witnessed.

"The three of us, Aria, Sonata, and I, would directly share negative energy all the time, back when we still could."

...Maybe it really hadn't been a kiss, then? If she could do the same thing with Aria, it almost certainly didn't mean as much to Adagio as it had to her. The thought was as comforting as it was frustrating. Did that not count as a kiss, or did kissing not hold the same weight to their people?

Wait, are they a 'people'? Is there a whole country of sirens over in Equestria, or are these three the only ones of their kind? Aria said they didn't have a concept of swearing where they came from, but does that just mean that she, Adagio, and Sonata just never thought of words as bad? Who raised them? What was growing up like for-

Before she could think more on it, the warning bell for the next class sent her hurrying through the halls.

What life was like growing up was something she could ask Adagio later. So, Fluttershy instead dedicated most of her remaining thinking time that day to what she'd said about selfishness, and couldn't find fault in the reasoning. The kindest, most benevolent, most philanthropic people in the world did good, caring things because they wanted others to be happy, right? But, why? She knew. Pinkie Pie openly went around making as many people smile as possible (Sunset had asked her to make an exception for the Dazzlings, instead just giving them space,) because seeing people happy made her happy. Was that a little selfish? Yes. Was it bad? Not at all.

Adagio was right. That was the whole point of assertiveness, wasn't it? To make yourself happy by behaving selfishly enough to get what you wanted? Was it possible to enjoy life without ever being selfish? Even a little? The only way she could think of was if, while doing nothing to push it along, everything around you just happened to fall into place in just such a way that you would have wanted it to anyway. The odds were abysmally low that way, so, yes, you had to be a little selfish.

It's not like I share with her just because she's never tasted these things before, right?

Then came a thought she pushed out of her head immediately. She couldn't let herself even think it. Not yet. Luckily, she had a distraction handy.

So, about that maybe-maybe-not kiss...?

Sleep hadn't come easily, but Thursday was a new day. And with it, another accidental case of Adagio startling her.

Sighing with stage exasperation, she wore her usual smirk. "What did I do this time, Sweetie?"

"N-nothing," she answered with a sheepish smile, "I'm just a little, y-y'know, jumpy." Truth be told, it was the eyeliner, which looked a little darker this morning. The effect worked to make Adagio a little scary all over again. She's wearing her dance outfit again today, too. I wonder if there's a pattern, hoodie and jeans some days, purple jumpsuit, pink vest, and tights the others? It gets a little chilly some mornings, is she warm enough? Regardless, Fluttershy smiled. "So, um, g-good morning! This might sound a little strange, but do you have a peanut allergy?"

Orange curls shook gently with the her head. "I don't think so. Near as I can tell, none of us have any sort of allergies." Adagio had a particular kind of smile when she talked about her friends, like the happy little grin she'd shown a few times before, painted with reminiscence. If you were looking for it, her fondness for them was clear in her face, just making Fluttershy feel all fuzzy inside. "Well, Sonata doesn't like fish and Aria claims to be allergic to hugs, but I don't think she'll ever have a severe reaction."

"...Haven't you been hugging her in school, sometimes?" Rumor had it that Sonata was the only one that didn't complain when Adagio got publicly affectionate toward her two closest friends.

Adagio regained a familiar little smirk of amusement. "I'm just trying to show everyone how friendly we are, is all." That Aria got all adorably huffy about it when there were a few witnesses was just a happy coincidence.

There was a thought that had been buzzing around in Fluttershy's head like a bee that got lost in a house for a while now, but the time had never felt right. This looked like a good opportunity. "Um, i-if it's okay to ask, why don't Aria and Sonata ever join you in the mornings?"

For a worrying few seconds, Adagio stared back at her, expressionless. Then she shrugged a little, her relaxed smirk as strong as it had ever been. "I'm just more of a morning person than they are, and it gets boring waiting for them to wake up."

Not sure how to follow that statement, Fluttershy nodded. "Okay then. Anyway, I have to ask, because," she drew the day's treats from her bag; a pair of peanut-based wafer bars covered entirely in a layer of chocolate. "these have nuts in them, and they crumble to pieces very easily." She offered one to Adagio, confident she wouldn't be able to open the glued-shut, tear-only kind of wrapper with her tongue. Not that she didn't try! Adagio eyeing the treat in confusion before hesitantly tonguing the edge of the wrapper was just the kind of thing she'd seen kittens do when presented wrinkly plastic, and proved to be equally adorable. "Uhm," Fluttershy managed with a giggle, "y-you're supposed to, well, like this." She tore the wrapper to her own candy bar normally, pulling two sides of the flat part in opposite directions.

Adagio blinked twice, looking at the wrapper with a small, lopsided pout of mild frustration, her face all but saying 'Oh, NOW you tell me!' Fluttershy's continued giggles at this new, childlike expression didn't go unnoticed, Adagio adding a little blush to it against her will. "Something funny, Sweetie?"

"N-no," Fluttershy said while smiling wider and laughing harder, "nothing at all!"

"Mmhm..." Well it's not my fault I've never seen this kind of wrapper before! Stupid, flappy-ended, shiny-paper thing. Part of her wanted to complain about how most of the candies she'd been offered up to this point had been edible right away, so licking this one as it was offered made sense at the time, but it still made her feel like an idiot. Regardless, when she got the defiant thing off, she glanced back and forth between Fluttershy, quietly chewing on her own chocolate-covered bar with a big smile, and the one in her hand. Getting an idea, she smirked. Phallic-shaped food items? For me? Sweetie, you really shouldn't have.

She raised the bar to her mouth...

What followed is best not described on school grounds, but Fluttershy quickly remembered why she hadn't tried bringing candy bars before now.

When she was finished, a thin layer of chocolate was smeared on Adagio's lips, along with bits of peanut on her chin and some that landed on her chest. Adagio spent a minute pondering whether it would be going too far to suggest that Fluttershy help her clean up, given that the other girl hadn't stopped hiding her face, beet-red, no doubt, in both hands with her legs tightly crossed, her whole body shaking like a leaf. It was such a good look for her, but saying that out loud may have pushed this round into overkill. Wiping away the crumbs, at least the score was even now.

It was just as she was trying to think of how to get Fluttershy's attention back to Earth without making her run away again that one of those bushy-tailed tree-rodents appeared, nibbling the crumbs by the foot of the bench. Adagio had heard a little about her favorite playmate being some kind of animal lover and gently reached over to tap her shoulder, keeping her voice quiet so as not to scare the little forager away. "Look. Friend of yours?"

"W-what?" Hesitantly peeking between her fingers, Fluttershy immediately lowered her hands and lit up with glee, as though the past few minutes hadn't happened at all. "A squirrel!! Ohhhmygosh, he's here for the peanut crumbs! Can you see the way he's storing them in his cheeks, not actually eating them right away? It's a little more dangerous to enjoy a meal out in the open with a chance of predators around, so they usually-"

Fluttershy gushed like that for a solid minute as the squirrel went about its harvest, to Adagio's quiet amusement. Better still was the face she made when the squirrel hopped into her lap to collect the fragments from her own candy bar. Her grin was almost face-splitting when the squirrel just kind of looked at her as she brushed its fluffy tail with a finger, but then it looked at Adagio.

"No," she said with hint of smirk, "I am not your mother."

As she'd hoped, this drew a laugh from Fluttershy. "B-because of the fuzz?"

Grinning wryly, she nodded. "Sonata once called me queen of the-"

The squirrel jumped down the front of Adagio's jumpsuit, to her immediate, wide-eyed shock.

"AH!" She stood up straight, patting along her chest and stomach to catch the thing as fast as she could. "W-what is it-eek!" She quickly lost what little composure she had, feeling the tiny paws and tickley tail running very quickly around her midsection. "I-it's, aha! N-no, pleaheeheeheehee! S-stop, that's gaaahahahaha!!"

Fluttershy could only watch in silence as Adagio did a more chaotic variation of the ice-cube-down-the-back-of-my-shirt dance, uncontrollably letting out high-pitched giggles with her face turning increasingly red.

"H-H-HE-HELP M-ME-HEE-HEE!!"

The very sound of it was so cute, the mischievous part of Fluttershy's brain said she should be recording this on her phone. Compassion easily won out, however, and she stood up, trying to get the squirrel out just as much for his sake as for Adagio's. The poor thing must have been terrified! She saw a little lump under the jumpsuit near Adagio's hip and made a grab for it, only getting a startled yelp from Adagio as the lump slipped away. She tried again as it moved toward her stomach, earning another involuntary laugh as the squirrel kept moving.

"P-please, hold still, Adagio!"

"I-I'm t-try-ee-hee-heeing!!" Despite a big, wavering smile, the fact that Adagio was blushing furiously said she probably wasn't having much fun with this, stamping around and shaking her arms uselessly as she struggled not to respond to the constant, unyielding tickles under her clothes.

Fluttershy made a grab for the lump as it appeared at the small of her back, but only got another high-pitched yelp.

"S-stop fee-heeling me up!!" Feeling another assault of fuzz on her belly, she immediately reconsidered. "Okay, okay, feel-EEK! Ahahaagh!! Do whatever y-ooh-hoo-hahaha! Do whatever y-you have to, ju-ahahahaahahha!! JUST GET IT OU-HOU-HOUT!!"

Flushing brightly, Fluttershy tried to ignore how what she was doing might look out of context. Knowing she had to get Adagio to hold still, she tackled her to the ground.

Several minutes later, Fluttershy managed to free the squirrel, by which point Adagio was lying in the grass, disheveled, sweating, her make-up running, (to even more frightening effect!) gasping for air. Her gold-colored belt was off, her jumpsuit lightly pulled down, and her lacy bra, and consequently most of her chest, exposed.

As the peanut crumb bandit scampered off, Fluttershy couldn't help her eyes. Wow. A teeny bit smaller than average, maybe, but the vest really does make a difference... The second Adagio started to sit up after catching her breath, Fluttershy whipped her head away, hoping her blush wasn't completely bleeding into her voice. "H-he probably wanted the your-I mean, I-I think little bits of peanut might have fallen down your shirt, so, uh-"

"Yes," Adagio managed, fatigue clear in her voice, "I guessed as much." Groaning a little as she got to her feet, she forced an unconvincing smile to hide her embarrassment, gesturing to her still-showing black bra. "Well, now we've both seen a little of each other's underwear!" Fluttershy's red-faced shock was as good a state as any to make an escape in. "Think that's enough fun for today," she uttered as she bent over to pick up her belt and began a tired stumble away, "see you around, Sweetie."

When Fluttershy snapped out of it, Adagio was long gone. She didn't even have time to ponder what had happened before she actually heard the warning bell ring! Scrambling to put her book-bag on, she scurried toward the day's first class.

Author's Note

Fellate candy bar to torment Fluttershy, get viciously tickled by a squirrel. Karma? Maybe so.

If you're wondering, I figure the painting of Sunset looks something like this.

Chapter 12: Flavor Crystals on a Stick

Clarity was nice.

It was an increasingly rare thing in Fluttershy's world ever since the leader of the Dazzlings approached her on the bench almost three weeks ago, but it never completely left her. Friday evening, during that transitory period when the sun was still going down, she sat in a rocking chair in the sunroom of her house, enjoying the cool air through a cracked window and the quiet tranquility of the hour. The presence of Angel Bunny, laying peacefully on her lap, only made it better as she gently pet him and rested a hand on his fuzzy little belly, fingers nestled in his fur, just feeling all safe and cozy. This made it easier to process thoughts that generally made her feel the opposite. Most of Adagio's behavior was hard to interpret, more possible explanations buzzing around Fluttershy's mind the more she dwelt on her actions, word choices, facial expressions, body language, that gleam in her eyes that just dared her to-

Eaaasy, girl. Think. Breathe. Focus on the cute bunny.

Belly rubs were administered as much for Angel's sake as her own. Calm, she remembered how just that morning, she got responses that signaled a few things beyond the shadow of a doubt: Adagio cared about her, and had hugged her with the intention of making her feel better. Granted, she did so with some slightly funny ideas in her head, but her heart was in the right place. Something else that had become almost painfully clear to her was that she did want Adagio to go further with the necklace. Or heck, skip the necklace entirely and just-

Pet the bunny, pet the bunny...

She did, scratching the space behind one of Angel's ears with a fingertip, which drew a little leg kick that made her smile and filled her insides with warm fuzzies. She had feelings for Adagio, that was another little tid-bit of clarity to cling to, the ambiguous part was how to respond to them. Telling her friends would eventually be necessary, but they didn't even know she was meeting Adagio in private yet! Would they tease her too? Adagio already pushed her to her limit on a regular basis, even if she was merciful enough to back down when she saw Fluttershy's blood vessels reaching critical mass, so she wasn't sure she could handle more on top of that. How would Adagio respond by the time it would probably take Fluttershy to work up the courage (a few months, being optimistic) to tell her?

Angel Bunny's soft fur and pleased little reactions to her attention helped chase away increasingly scary thoughts as her heart settled down again. So, telling anyone at all was out for now, but she'd get there, she just didn't know how. That was fine, wasn't it? You didn't always know just what you'd do in life, which path you'd take around an obstacle. Sometimes it was as simple as walking around, sometimes you could hide in a hole until the obstacle went away on its own, and sometimes you'd charge head-first into the obstacle out of desperation and panic. No matter what she ended up doing, she knew she couldn't worry about it. That came up in their song at the Battle, after all, not being afraid of the dark.

Fluttershy smiled, looking forward to Monday morning, and whatever came with it.

Both to prevent being startled again and to minimize the chance that she was making Adagio feel guilty by getting startled so often, Fluttershy kept her focus on the world around her as she waited on the bench. This time, she was alert, this time she was aware! Of course, Adagio probably still could have snuck up on her if she really wanted to, but it felt like they were finally past that stage. Or, of doing it on purpose, anyway. She was just about to slip into reminiscence of wickedly gleeful, but strangely beautiful expressions following successful jump-scares when she barely heard footsteps in the grass nearby, snapping her back to attention as she turned to see Adagio walking toward her.

Today, she wore normal shoes, jeans, and a dark-violet hoodie. And the dark eyeliner. She waved a little as she approached. "Morning, Sweetie."

"Good morning!" She retrieved two long, thin sticks wrapped halfway in thin plastic, offering one to Adagio. "Have you ever tried rock candy?"

She took it between two fingers. "Can't say I have. I'm going to guess they aren't actually made of stone?"

Fluttershy couldn't help giggling as she unwrapped hers, as much to demonstrate how to do so as to actually taste it. "No, but they're very... crunchy!"

"I should hope so," she said while tearing open the wrapper to reveal the shiny, craggy, purple substance on a stick beneath it.

"You really don't like misnomers, huh?"

Adagio raised an eyebrow, her tone bordering on defensive. "What's wrong with that? They're confusing."

Smiling a little wider, Fluttershy nodded in agreement before nibbling on the treat in her hand, leaving Adagio to do the same.

She eyed the thing from a few different angles, appreciating the way light of the early morning sun glinted off the crystalline material before hesitantly tonguing the tip. As suspected, Fluttershy hadn't asked her to stick something sharp enough to cut herself with into her mouth. She bit down on the edge, biting a little harder until she felt it crack, then bit down again to crush the not-stone in the same manner as Friday's sugary ringlet. "It's a little tougher than the necklace, which at least lends some amount of credence to the name. Brittle, but not-oh!" She smiled as she tasted grape at greater intensity, realizing that the fragments were slowly melting in her mouth and chewing a little to speed it along. "I get it now, it's a congealed liquid of some sort, condensed around the stick like dried blood!"

Fluttershy nearly choked, tiny pieces of rock candy spraying from her mouth as she coughed and sputtered.

Adagio seemed to realize her mistake, lowering her head a little and whispering. "Sorry."

When she could breathe again, Fluttershy gave her an equally worried and inquisitive look. "Is that really the first thing that came to mind?"

With a little shrug, Adagio looked away. "I blame Aria, she was showing us a game that looked interesting last night and it had really detailed gore physics."

Fluttershy shivered, hugging her arms to her stomach. "Oh, I can't even watch things like that."

"Sorry."

"Huh?"

Adagio shrugged a little, frowning. "I'm not sure what else to say, so, sorry."

Looking at her, Fluttershy was sure that if Adagio had pony ears like she and the others did when they performed together, they would have been down.

And then she had the mental image of Adagio with pony ears.

Ear-to-ear smiles weren't supposed to be sheepish or accompanied by a blush, Fluttershy was pretty sure, so her face probably looked a little funny now. "I-it's fine, I, you, uh, d-don't worry about it!"

Still looking a little contrite, Adagio looked out over the soccer field and returned to biting off chunks of rock candy, leaving Fluttershy to do the same. She didn't look back even when they were both finished.

Curious about this, Fluttershy tilted her head a little. "Uhm-"

"I'm guessing you've heard?"

"About what?"

Glancing at her, Adagio smiled a little. "Oh, good, I at least get to tell my side of it first! You recall I wasn't sure exactly how to go about showing affection physically in a way that doesn't land me in the Vice Principal's office again?"

Turning only a little red, she nodded. "Uh-huh?"

"I got thrown out of the library on Friday while trying to look it up."

CHS's library wasn't the most popular hang-out spot in the school, but there were almost always enough people there to make any sentiments that it was a good place for privacy fall flat.

Dammit.

Shrugging, Adagio moved toward the front desk with her usual, confident stride, making an effort at a friendly smile. If she had made as much effort to research the difference between 'friendly' and 'amorous' before today, this might have been more effective. "Hello there," she said in equally friendly tone, "where might I find literature on physical intimacy?"

Cheerilee only stared back at her in shocked silence.

"For purely educational purposes, of course!"

Adagio sighed, resting one elbow on the back of the bench and propping her head up with that arm. "In hindsight, I can see how my choice of words may have been misconstrued. Didn't help that I'd dealt with that teacher before." I have no idea what that class was supposed to be about, but damned if it wasn't fun! "So, yes, no matter what anyone says, I wasn't looking for pornography in the school library."

Fluttershy choked on air for a minute.

"Sorry."

"I-it's okay..."

"Anyway, I know better than that; if I wanted to find that kind of thing, I'd use the computers. Just typing in the word 'tentacle' can-" It was while waiting through another round of shock-induced coughing fits that Adagio wondered if maybe filtering her thoughts a little more would prolong Fluttershy's life expectancy. "Sorry."

"It's n-not," she made the effort to clear her throat, "It's not your fault." She really went to the library for that... Hasn't anyone ever hugged these girls? She said her talk with Sunset had been 'huggy,' but it looked not a lot was retained. And Sunset had gotten pretty good at hugging! Was that on the same list as swearing for things siren society just didn't know? Maybe that made a certain amount of sense for aquatic creatures.

Adagio opened her mouth, but slowly closed it again, looking out at the soccer field.

"What?"

"Hm?"

Fluttershy leaned to get a better look at Adagio's face. "What were you going to say?"

"Nothing." It might have been that she had to glance at Fluttershy to see if she bought it that gave Adagio away. "Well, I mean, I was going to suggest that I just watch my language much more carefully, but you said the other day that you didn't want me not being myself, and I'm not sure if self-editing like that counts, so...?" She shrugged. "What do you think?"

Touched that Adagio would remember what she'd said and take it to heart, Fluttershy smiled. "You aren't doing anything wrong. If anything, I'm just too sensitive, I hear about, uhm... th-those kind of things all the time, and, so it's like-"

Adagio raised an eyebrow. "Hold on, it's fine for me to make you uncomfortable because, given my demeanor, such is effectively my lot in life, but not fine for you to get uncomfortable for essentially the same reason? It has to work both ways to work at all, Sweetie."

Fluttershy blinked twice. "W-what?"

Nodding sagely, Adagio's tone was almost authoritative. "Being considerate isn't too hard, but if I'm not to truly change myself to suit the tastes of those around me, then neither should you. I feel no shame for my body, you apparently do, and neither way of thinking is inherently wrong. Right?"

It had been a long, long time since someone had suggested that Fluttershy's timid nature wasn't just a problem that needed fixing, even her friends regularly urged her to stand up for herself more often. However, in the defense of everyone who had ever said it was a problem, she at least understood what they meant, how it limited her, and the benefits of being just a little more assertive that she strove for even now. Even so, she could never explain the perspective that could come from standing back and observing in silence. Literally, she always got self-conscious or started babbling when she tried to clarify the points of view staying quiet sometimes offered, but maybe, with her own slightly unusual mannerisms, Adagio understood this kind of thing too? Just the thought of it warmed Fluttershy's chest, that feeling spreading to the rest of her body, particularly in the facial region as a smile formed on her face and tears gathered in her eyes.

Oh, sea spray, thought Adagio, you're making her cry! Quick, elaborate! "I mean, let's say everyone just dropped any and all faults with their character right now, the entire population offering only the 'best,' most desirable traits, the exact same traits everyone else would have. Sound like fun?"

Smiling a little wider, Fluttershy shook her head.

Okay, still smiling, but why are there tears?! You're not supposed to get those with smiles! Playing through, she didn't let her worry show on her face, instead maintaining a confident grin. "So we have that being different, even in readily undesirable ways, is not wrong so much as inconvenient. Provided your kind of difference doesn't actively hurt anyone, I wouldn't say it's really a problem, would you?"

The statement made Fluttershy feel lighter, like a daisy under a pile of dirt that had been mercifully brushed away, letting it feel the sun's rays. Not wanting to ruin the moment by crying tears of joy, she quickly wiped her eyes, shaking her head once. Looking at Adagio, her heart beat a little faster as she watched the way the morning light almost formed a frame around her, projecting the image of a fluffy, smirking angel. Simultaneously terrified and touched deeply that such a figure would take notice of someone like her at all, she kept her mouth shut, offering only a tender smile in place of the chance that she'd babble like an idiot if her tongue weren't pinned down.

Crisis averted! Smiling genuinely herself, Adagio gave an affirmative nod and returned her gaze to the soccer field. "Good. I was actually talking to the others about this last week, how there's no sense in any of us making even a single friend if we have to do so through a mask of 'ideal' behavior." She chuckled. "Aria said it was mostly just Sonata and I that caused problems, but I know she really meant to say-"

Not for the first time, Fluttershy accidentally tuned out, staring at Adagio's face (well, the side of it she could see) in silent fascination. She watched her lips move, the glimmer of gentle grace in her eyes, the little hint of warmth in her cheeks as she spoke of her friends, and her perfectly smooth skin overall. This was the girl that teased her at every opportunity, but always let up when she thought she was going too far, the girl that took great delight in seeing her tremble in fear and shake with embarrassment, but still apologized for it, and even agreed not to startle her on purpose!

I'm sure that if someone to talk to was really all Adagio was after, she could have gone to some coffee shop or something this time every morning, could have talked to random people on the street on the way to school, or even skipped it entirely to spend as much time as she wanted with whoever she wanted, but day after day, she chooses to come see me!

That thought alone was like a tree growing straight out of her heart, the roots sinking deep, the branches stretching out every which way, every individual leaf eager to catch all of the light her dazzling, fluffy sun would rain down on them! The sun was Adagio's face. Or something. She wasn't sure that made any kind of sense right now, but she wanted to kiss that face! And, feeling a rare burst of courage/assertiveness/confidence/mango-scented madness, she sat up straight, leaned closer, and pecked her on the cheek!

It was as Adagio flinched and sharply drew in a breath that Fluttershy remembered that striving for what you want is all well and good, but there are different rules when that something is another person. Another person with thoughts and feelings. Another person now staring back at Fluttershy in wide-eyed, red-faced shock, holding a hand to her cheek.

"Whuh... wh-what was-"

Feeling at least four different kinds of contrition, Fluttershy made the effort to pull as much of her own hair in front of her face as possible. This proved difficult with her hands shaking, fingertips tingling, and her whole head so hot she couldn't tell how much of it was actually concealed. "S-s-sorry, I-I was j-just, I th-thought I-"

"No, no, it's fine," Adagio insisted, regaining her composure and retaking her relaxed pose of a moment ago with just a hint of rigidity, "just, you know, wasn't expecting it."

Unable to wrangle her tongue again for the next minute (No, not like with the fireball!!), Fluttershy could only loose a series of squeaky whimpers, but as usual, Adagio was apparently willing to wait. "I-is it," she eventually managed to whisper, "is it really okay...?"

Still a little alarmed, Adagio was grateful that Fluttershy hiding her whole face meant she couldn't see her own, letting out a chuckle. "Of course. With all I've been doing with you, a little kiss is nothing." Waitthatsounded- "N-nothing to worry about, I mean!"

A single, cyan eye appeared through the soft pink. "You're... not angry?"

Opening detected, Adagio smirked. "Sweetie, with just half of the things I've said to you up to now, I'm surprised it took you this long to give in to my splendor." Unable to gauge Fluttershy's entire reaction through just her eye and a light tremble, she brushed her own hair to the side as much for an excuse to look away as for emphasis and returned her gaze to the soccer field. "Do whatever you like, I'm not about to call the cops."

Now both eyes bulged through the pink shroud. "Y-YOU CAN GET ARRESTED FOR KISSING PEOPLE?!" Somewhere in the back of her head, a tiny Pinkie Pie said something about jail time for serial kissers being rough, but she was kind of busy right now.

Snickering a little at her surprise, Adagio shook her head. "No, just... I'm not angry, not bothered, not anythi-" there was a split-second pause in which she drew a blank for what to say, quickly shrugging, "-do it again if you don't believe me."

The same side of Adagio's face was essentially presented, the older girl exactly where she was a moment ago. Fluttershy was still reeling with shame, but...

Well, she did just offer...

Leaning in slowly, Fluttershy let most of her hair fall from her face, heart hammering in her chest as she heard voices that simultaneously demanded that she halt her own movement entirely, and screamed for full speed ahead. Slowly, carefully, as though Adagio were made of glass (or rock candy!), the latter side more or less got its wish as she moved close enough that Adagio could feel her gentle breathing on her cheek, drawing another blush that only grew more vibrant the closer Fluttershy got.

Despite a mostly calm facial expression, Adagio erupted into luminous crimson when Fluttershy's lips made contact with the same spot as before, keeping that hue even as Fluttershy squeaked and pulled away like she'd been touching her face to a hot stove. "Y-you see?" she asked with her casual, confident grin-smirk, "Nothing to worry about." All things considered, she must have done a better job of sounding cool and collected than even she'd have guessed, because even though she was burning up herself, Fluttershy smiled back at her.

"R-right!"

Nodding affirmatively, Adagio managed to reign in the lightning ripping through her innards by renewing the earlier topic. "So, yes, there's a bit of a balance to be drawn between all that 'being true to who you are' talk and bettering oneself, I think." With the redness in her face starting to die down, she held a hand to her chin ponderously. "Those must be two difficult philosophies to mash together, maintaining personal integrity and accepting it in others while simultaneously encouraging a golden ideal to live up to. Seems a little contradictory, in fact."

Thinking about it for a moment, Fluttershy frowned. "That's... not quite the idea." Adagio's curious face was focused on her again, tickling her heart and drawing a little smile. "Well, I've thought about it a little myself, and, I think, being a smarter, stronger, prettier person overall might be nice, but no one is supposed to be pushing anyone else to be perfect. Everyone is different, they always will be, but people aspire to being those things anyway, to having more of good qualit-"

"Conditionally good qualities." Even with Fluttershy looking back at her in confusion, Adagio didn't get the impression it was out of surprise for the interruption. She shrugged. "Brains aren't so desirable for doing menial labor, physical strength is useless when making life choices, and beauty is perhaps the last thing one wants in a prison yard."

It took Fluttershy a minute to connect the dots on that last one, but when she did, "Oh!!" she lit up again. Finger twiddling did less to chase away those thoughts than she'd have hoped, but focusing on Adagio helped to tip the balance. "Y-yes, I, uh, think I s-see what you mean... So, whether they're always good to have or not, people praise and admire those qualities in others regardless."

"And as people generally jump at the chance to be adored by those around them, striving to be the best themselves isn't uncommon?" A stare of dawning shock and horror wasn't quite what Adagio was going for, so she gently pat Fluttershy on the shoulder, speaking in the most soothing tone she could muster. "Not accusing, not damning your society, just making note of it. If you wondered at all why converting almost everyone was so easy for us, now you know."

Fluttershy nodded slowly, letting all of the implications sink in. "R...Right. But, we're not supposed to act that way, I think, it's like-"

"People know the words, but don't sing along?"

She blinked twice at the weirdly fitting metaphor. "Y-yes, that, um... I think that might be it. It's not that you and your friends aren't okay the way you are, it's just, after what happened, people might be slow to give you a chance."

Adagio hadn't forgotten those weeks in the cafeteria, nor that Fluttershy herself had been visibly frightened the first time she approached. And yet, here she was. What was the difference? Even if she was too spineless to tell me to leave, she could have just run away, which she only did after I pushed her hard enough. Where is the line? Pushing off the bench, she wanted to think about this alone for a while. Along with how one little kiss (well, two now) could leave her so frazzled. "Suppose there's nothing to be done for it. See you around, Sweetie."

Focusing on that lovely puff of orange fluff, Fluttershy felt as warm as if she were wrapped in it from head to toe. Just be patient, Adagio, I'm sure everyone will welcome you, Aria, and Sonata eventually. Until then, she had a bit of reminiscing to do, silently weighing the pros and cons of trying to run all the way home that very instant to write about this morning's encounter in her diary. Repeatedly.

I kissed Adagio Dazzle!

I kissed Adagio Dazzle!

I kissed Adagio Dazzle!

TWICE!!

Every single part of the statement had her burying her face in her hands and shriek-giggling like she'd lost her mind, managing to stop her legs kicking with the knowledge that it had only been on the cheek. Her mad, tornado-of-fireflies-in-her-belly gigglefits were cut short by the warning bell, but she'd be hiding behind her book again today, for sure.

Author's Note

Alternate title: Dazzle-Frazzle!

Adagio rolled a critical failure for diplomacy, at a -15 reputation penalty to start! Luckily, Fluttershy leveled up today. :twistnerd:

Also; rolling touchy-feely-spontaneous-kissy bits in with more philosophy was maybe not the best idea, but it was the best way I could manage to string this chapter together. Let me know if it feels as rambly and ham-handed to you as it does to me after around five considerable edits. :pinkiesick:

Chapter 13: The Sincerest Form of Flattery

Following another well-executed confident walk, Fluttershy stopped at the other end of the gym, smiling. Just moving this way made her feel taller! That probably had something to do with keeping her back and legs mostly straight, but the (cheek-only) kisses with Adagio earlier, the ones Fluttershy initiated herself, had her feeling invi-... Well, okay, no, not invincible, but definitely bigger and stronger than she'd ever felt without Twilight's magic in her body! There was enough time for an encore, so she turned around and sashayed all the way back to the first door, keeping her eyes focused on her target! In this case, that was just the other side of the gym, but it was the principle of the thing.

Reaching the door, she stopped, posed like Adagio might have with a hand on a hip, turned around, and saw Adagio standing right there, not three feet behind her, making a similar pose and leering at Fluttershy with her evilest grin.

"My, my, Sweetie, didn't know you practiced this kind of thing!"

Any confidence Fluttershy had held just seconds before abandoned her as she shrunk back, knees shaking, holding her arms to her chest and doing her best to hide behind her hair, emitting only mortified squeaks.

Adagio let out a fiendish chuckle. "You know, I don't think I've ever seen you move that way before." There was a certain twinkle in her eye, and what might have been a strange sort of friendliness in her smirk. "It suits you. Where did you learn to swing your selling points in such a sultry, salacious manner?"

At the time, Fluttershy's brain was far too rattled to decipher whether or not 'selling points' was Adagio's idea of a compliment toward her body, but she definitely heard it.

As she leaned in a little, Adagio's tongue darted out to quickly polish her own lips, which formed a malevolent smirk. "While I very much enjoyed the show, I'd be more than happy to offer pointers, if you-"

Fluttershy shook her head fast enough to get dizzy.

Adagio was making what were unmistakably bedroom eyes. "Really?"

Staring back at her, Fluttershy felt an answer she didn't want to give dancing on the tip of her tongue, those red-violet orbs beckoning to something in her, something concerned parents and health classes might have warned good little boys and girls about!

Hmm, Adagio thought to herself as she enjoyed the familiar spectacle, maybe I was just imagining things... Taking a step back, she shrugged. "Well, suit yourself, but I'll be around if you change your mind." She closed the statement with a wink, demonstrating the walk in slow, extra analyzable manner as she brushed past her trembling imitator, despite there being plenty of space with which she could have walked around. Doing so earned a delightful little squeak, but this didn't settle the question of why she still felt a little warmer than usual.

Fluttershy had to close her eyes to keep from turning to watch her go, though it was hard to tell if Adagio noticed. Unfortunately, standing still in a big, empty room with your eyes closed leaves one open to being-

"Fluttershy!!"

Startled. However, the familiarity of the voice sped her recovery this time as she glanced about to see a friend sprinting toward her. "R-Rainbow?"

She skidded to a stop, her face worried as she put her hands on Fluttershy's shoulders and inspected her for injuries, tears in clothing, make-up stains, anything. "Are you okay?! What happened?! What did she do?!" As Fluttershy just looked confused, Rainbow summarized, talking as quickly as she'd run. "I saw Cleat-Heels come in here, I don't think she's wearing them today, but still, she walked by the doors, stopped and looked through one of the little windows on 'em, made that I'm-about-to-eat-a-baby smile, and went in, so at first I was like, 'She's up to something, but I'd really rather not get mixed up with those three again, and Sunset's been saying they're really trying to be good, so she can't be up to anything that bad,' and walked away, but then I remembered that you use the the gym as a shortcut and almost knocked over a freshman runnin' back! So, you okay?"

Quickly looking herself over, Fluttershy nodded. "Um... Y-yes, I think I'm alright."

Rainbow scanned her again, as though waiting for some sign of abuse to jump out at her. "You sure? You were still shaking when I ran over here."

"Oh, w-well, um..." Trying to find the least compromising way to explain what had just happened, she tinted red again. "She might have said some things, but I'm okay now."

"Just talking? She didn't threaten you, didn't push you at all or give you a wed-"

Blushing intensified. "N-no one's done that since middle school!!"

Rainbow breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, cool, matches up with what I've heard so far."

The heat in Fluttershy's face withered away in the face of her veins filling with ice-water. "What?"

"I asked gossip-queen Rarity about what those three have been up to." Rainbow smiled a little. "Heh, she gave me that 'oh, very funny' look when I called her that. Anyway, she told me about-" The warning bell sounded, which reminded Rainbow that they were still in school at the moment. "Shoot, we'll talk about this at lunch, okay?" Running for the door, Rainbow didn't seem to notice how much Fluttershy had paled.

They know. Rarity knows, and she told everyone, and now they know!! That terrifying possibility wrestled with the near-certainty that her friends would never talk about her behind her back like that, occupying her thoughts to the point that she didn't even remember jogging to her next class.

Fluttershy sat trembling at the end of Rainbow's story of what happened in the gym earlier, dearly hoping the others would assume it was just because the focus was on her again.

"So," summarized Sunset Shimmer, "you had a little run-in with Adagio Dazzle, she teased you for a minute or two, and walked away?" Fluttershy managed a nod, Sunset sighing. "Yea, sounds like her usual M.O."

Pinkie tilted her head. "M.O.? Magic Orangutan? Movie Order? Messy Or-"

Applejack slapped a hand over Pinkie's mouth. "PINKIE!!"

Pinkie leaned back to free her mouth. "What? I was just gonna say 'Messy Orange Hair,' which I know is one more letter than M.O., but it kinda works if you think of it like Emm, Oh, y'know? Besides, brushing that stuff has gotta be a nightmare!"

Gigglefits from Rainbow drowned out the sound of Applejack's embarrassment.

Smiling a little, Rarity rolled her eyes. "Modus Operandi, Darling, the method in which she does things." The table's focus on her, she cleared her throat. "Rumor has it, she goes around engaging in flirtatious behavior, and according to reliable sources? No bites so far." She touched a finger to her chin ponderously. "Actually, I don't think any of the Dazzlings have gotten a date since they-"

Sunset tapped her on the shoulder. "Focus, please? We're not really worried about their love lives right now."

"Right, sorry. Anyway, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to her choice of victims, no pattern to whom she riles up from one day to the next." She looked over the group with a hint of contrition. "So, despite what you may have been hoping, I have no idea why she'd go after Fluttershy."

Oh, thought one of apparently many victims with relief, they don't actually know anything's been going on between us...?

Yes!!

Before Sunset could muster the will to offer her own experience-based theory, Rainbow spoke up. "Maybe you don't, but I think we know someone who does." She glanced to the Dazzlings' table across the room, seeing only Aria and Sonata for some reason.

No!!

Fluttershy tried to stop what was coming. "Uh, m-maybe we shouldn't, I-I mean, we'd probably just bother them, so-"

"Prolly couldn't hurt to ask," offered Applejack, "this is the first Ah've heard'a any of 'em startin' anything with one of us in the last few months."

Sunset gave the two sirens another look. From what she could tell, neither were saying a word, both occasionally glancing toward the cafeteria's double doors. She stood up. "I'm gonna go see if they'd be okay with talking to us for a minute."

Fluttershy watched in cold horror as Sunset strode over to their table, waved a little and said something to get their attention, Aria and Sonata turning to her with passive faces. A moment later, Sonata looked inquisitively at Aria, who shrugged, said two words, and looked over at the Rainbooms' table. Cold, purple eyes locking onto her own made Fluttershy flinch and turn her head.

"C'mon," whispered Rainbow, "looks like they said yes, Sunset's waving us over."

The cafeteria didn't go silent as more and more eyes noticed the rest of the Rainbooms collectively moving to the Dazzlings' table, but it was noticeably quieter as the five of them joined Sunset, Aria, and Sonata.

"So," said Aria while propping up her head on an arm, looking bored, "Adagio's been being Adagio and you guys wanna know why? I'll give ya three guesses." These weren't her favorite people to talk to, to be sure, but Adagio was supposed to have brought today's lunchroom topic.

Beaming, Pinkie raised her hand. "Because there's a colony of tiny people living in her hair and they give her commands by-"

"Nope," interrupted Sonata, "we checked." There was a group stare. Sonata shrugged. "It was a super slow day."

Applejack glanced around. "Where is she, anyway? Thought you three were always together 'round this time, she sick?"

"Hmm," hmm'd Sonata, eyebrows knit in concern, "she was looking a little red earlier, maybe she's coming down with something?"

"Pfft," Aria looked less worried. "doubt it, she never gets sick. If anything, she was probably just thinking dirty thoughts again."

Sonata shrugged. "Anyway, right now we're waiting for Dagi to be freed from the VeePee's office again."

Sunset didn't look surprised. "What'd she do this time?"

Smiling, began to orate as though retelling a classic fable, eyes sparkling and one hand drawn to her chest, the other extended for no readily apparent reason. "I remember it like it was yesterday..."

Adagio stood once again before a very irritated Vice Principal Luna. "What? Photo Finish claims to know a thing or two about fashion. I wasn't trying to seduce anyone, I just wanted to know if she thought my underclothes complimented my-"

"Office. Now."

"Ooh, so forcefu-"

"MOVE."

Aria gave Sonata a deadpan stare. "That wasn't yesterday. That was fifteen minutes ago."

"But I remember it like it was yesterday!"

Eyes were rolled.

Sunset looked inquisitive. "Alright, then, she wasn't specifically going after Fluttershy, it was just a matter of wrong place, wrong time?"

Aria casually inspected her nails, her face passive. "Most likely." Nothing followed her statement as she looked around the table, so she shrugged. "Don't really have much to say about it, this is kind of a regular thing."

Sonata grinned. "Like you arguing with teachers?"

She got an annoyed eyebrow raise. "Or you almost blowing up the kitchen in Home-Ec?"

Groaning, Sonata threw her hands up in exasperation. "It was one time and I said I was sorry!!" That they stuck her in a different class for that period said she probably wasn't forgiven yet. Or allowed to go back in there. "The Age of Brownies is still coming, y'know! I'll figure something out, and when I do-" her face grew increasingly manic, "oh-ho, yes, when I do, the revolution will be glorious! THE CHOCO-DOUBTERS WILL BE-"

Clearing her throat, Sunset wasn't quite done investigating. That, and it was probably best to stop that line of thought here and now. "Is there anything in particular Adagio looks for in those she messes with?" She had a few guesses, but it was better to hear it straight from the source. Or, the source's two closest (only?) friends.

Aria and Sonata exchanged a long, uncertain look. "Well," offered Sonata, "basically, I think it goes like-" she whipped her head toward Fluttershy, arms up, wide-eyed and snarling, "-BOO!!"

"EEEEP!!"

"Hey!" said Rainbow with more than a hint of aggression as she put a steadying hand on Fluttershy's back, the others mainly offering disapproving glares, "Whaddya think you're doing?!"

Sonata giggled. "Sorry, but that was the fastest way to answer your question. That reaction, that I-would-look-great-gnashed-between-your-teeth vibe? Dagi's catnip."

The image of Adagio mewing and rolling happily in a Nepeta bush aided Fluttershy's nerves immeasurably, though Applejack looked less affected. "So, basically, she's a bully?"

"Kinda," Aria answered carefully, "but I don't think it's out of bad blood or hard feelings, this is just how she gets her kicks; bug random people until Luna shows up." Purple cheeks tinted red as Aria crossed her arms. "Hell, she even does it to us sometimes."

Sonata smiled smugly. "Mostly you."

This earned an emphatic scowl. "Because you cheat somehow!"

"I just accept her love, that's all you have to do."

"Yea, right." Arms remained crossed as Aria angrily pouted and turned away.

Giggling, Sonata stage-whispered to the others. "That there? Blood in the water."

"If that's what's up," asked Rainbow, "won't she just keep coming after Fluttershy?"

If only you knew, Rainbow. Actually, please continue not knowing, just forget I thought anything! Please?

Cleaning one ear with a pinky finger, Aria snorted. "That what this is really about, huh? Figured." Purple eyes scanned the ceiling as she pondered an answer. "She's gotta have known Squeaky over there was your biggest chicken for a while now, that this didn't happen sooner probably means she just couldn't find anyone else at the time." There were a variety of stares and glares following the chicken comment. She shrugged. "I call 'em as I see 'em."

Rarity opted to change the subject before things grew uncivil. "Witness testimonies to her little games suggest that she simply delights in making others squirm and blush... Is that all there is to it? No goal beyond flustering her current target before moving to the next person? She seems rather practiced in the art."

Applejack was incredulous. "Practiced? Way Ah hear it, Adagio's gotta be more embarrassing than Granny Smith!" She tugged her hat downward to cover her eyes as a half-dozen painful, dignity-destroying memories flashed before them, "An' she's got a photo album!"

Sonata snickered. "I can totally see her keeping a scrapbook of embarrassing pictures of random people!"

Aria smirked a little. "Probably just be a bunch of snapshots of people naked." The smile vanished. "Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if she really had one of those."

Neither would Fluttershy, arguing with herself about whether or not she should be making sure nothing could see through her windows before going to sleep every night. Or during the day. Or maybe she could just board them up. That wouldn't be an odd thing to do, right?

"Indeed," nodded Rarity, "especially after that indecency with the, em... b-bathrobe incident."

Sonata beamed. "Ooh, yea! I remember it like it was yesterday..."

Aria rolled her eyes.

The very first day the Dazzlings decided to attend school, they showed up in what were essentially their bedclothes. Nobody was really bothered by Aria's tank top and ratty jeans. Sonata's pink, ankle-length nightgown was pushing it, but passed for a dress. Adagio's white, fluffy bathrobe and bunny slippers were too far outside the dress code to ignore. Principal Celestia, who had caught her in a hallway after second period, did not know that this was all she was wearing. "Take that off right this instant!"

Turning to her, Adagio shrugged. "If you insist..." With a tug on the soft, felt belt and a quick motion of her shoulders, she let the loose-fitting robe fall to the floor.

Some students nearby fainted, many more simply turned red and stared until Celestia shouted, "Everyone that doesn't turn away RIGHT NOW gets a week's detention!!"

A few people got a week's detention. Not all of them were boys.

Adagio just looked around, relaxed, but uncertain. "What is the problem? I don't see any kind of uniform standards in place."

"CLOTHES," answered Celestia in exasperation, "clothes are the standard!!"

Adagio raised an earnestly confused eyebrow. "Then why did you want me to take mine off?"

"A bathrobe does not qualify for-urgh!" She facepalmed. "Just, put it back on, we'll discuss this in my office."

"Hmph." Gathering up her robe as asked, Adagio eyed Celestia from head to toe, a hint of a smirk on her face. "Maybe you'd be more comfortable with this if you took your clothes o-"

Celestia was red as a tomato. "MARCH!!"

Due to her being more resistant to that sort of shameless behavior, dealing with Adagio was delegated to Luna soon afterward.

The end of the tale is when it struck Fluttershy that while Adagio seemed to irregularly alternate between her dance outfit and what she guessed were street clothes, as she was wearing today, she could only recall Aria and Sonata wearing their dance outfits to school. She would have thought a little more about asking them why that was, but Sunset spoke first.

"Why didn't you two say anything to her? Did you guys all not know there were decency laws, or did she just not care?"

Looking down shamefully, Sonata twirled the tip of her ponytail around a finger. "I didn't really know much about the naked rules either, back then."

Aria shrugged. "The naughty bits were covered before your principal asked for a free show, so-"

Rarity couldn't help a scandalous giggle. "I-I don't think she intended to see as much as she did that day, really."

Skeptical, Aria raised an eyebrow. "Because people are just fully dressed under bathrobes all the time?"

Blink. "Eh, well, I, no, I suppose not, but... Hm..." Largely unseen, post-bathing fashion. Could there be a market for such a thing? A seamstress dared wonder.

"Anyway, we were all decent when we left the house, so I figured it'd be fine." Aria turned a slightly suspicious look toward Sunset. "Actually, you must have known she's been getting in trouble for a while now, why haven't you done anything?"

"Er, actually, that's..." Sunset scratched the back of her head, "I kinda tried, but..."

"She's supposed to say 'like it was yesterday'!"
"Go back to sleep, Sonata."

About two weeks after the bathrobe incident, Sunset decided to try direct intervention. The Dazzlings didn't seem to hate her, so maybe it was worth a shot?

"Adagio? Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Adagio stood in front of a terrified Bulk Biceps, apparently pinning him against the lockers with just her index finger held to his chest. By the terrified look on his face, it probably had more to do with her sadistic expression than physical strength. Hearing Sunset and turning her head in that direction, her predatory smile slipped away. She looked at Bulk Biceps out of the corner of her eye. "Scram."

He did so the second she retracted her finger.

Facing Sunset, Adagio crossed her arms, her tone and expression passive. "You need something?"

Sunset approached in as nonthreatening a manner as she could manage, no aggression in her face or body language. "I know you're just having a little fun here, but I think you're bothering people. A lot. Can you please tone it down a bit?"

Adagio rolled her eyes. "Ohh, spare me. I've been at this for a few weeks now, and do you know how many have actually asked me to stop? Two, and neither of them were students." Giving a quick toss of her hair, she paced closer, a hand on her hip and a smirk on her face. "I'm not 'bothering' anyone, because despite what they may say, the attention of a pretty girl is everything some of them have ever dreamed of in this stage of their lives. Trust me, if I really wanted to get to these people, they'd all know it." The smirk faded. "Oh, and if you're wondering about your turn, Sunset Shimmer?" She stepped close enough to whisper into Sunset's ear.

"Don't worry, I'm already done with you."

Adagio walked away without another word.

Aria and Sonata nodded in unison. "Yea," the former assented, "that makes some sense."

The other five girls at the table seemed to think otherwise, Applejack in particular. "Uh, mind fillin' the rest of us in?"

Sonata nodded. "The three of us picked on Sunset in a dark hallway this one time, and we weren't really pulling punches. I think past that, plus everything else she went through before we got here, not even Dagi wants to torture her any more than we already did."

Aria eyed the ceiling, her expression colored with what may have been heart-felt contrition. "We were kinda brutal when she talked to us for the first time a few weeks later, too." She shrugged, managing to look Sunset in the eye. "So, like, sorry about that."

This drew an appreciative little smile from Sunset.

"Yea," added Sonata, "and, the rest of you guys don't really seem like total jerkwads, either."

Aria went on before they could dwell on that last part. "ANYWAY, say what you like about Adagio, she at least knows where the limits are." There was a heavy silence as all present recalled the bathrobe incident. "Usually. Horror stories aside, she really isn't that bad most of the time." Sonata just smiled in agreement.

It touched something in Fluttershy's heart that the Dazzlings, once seen bickering almost all the time, would defend each other like this. If they could grow to cherish their own so much, there must have been room in their hearts for others, even her friends!

Rarity grinned. "I never did thank you for that English class the other week, Miss Blaze." Aria just looked back at her in confusion. "Remember? When you defended my completely chaste poem?"

Aria nodded once. "'Kay." She got a few confused stares for that reaction. "What? You might not have to correct your 'teachers' that often, but for me? That was just Friday."

The lunch bell sounded, Aria and Sonata taking off without much more than a 'Bye,' but Fluttershy could hear them talking as they left.

"I thought she was supposed to come if we spoke of her, Ria!"

"I dunno, that's what I heard. They get their magic all messed up here."

Or, then again, thought Fluttershy, maybe not... Well, nobody said anything particularly unkind through the entire conversation, so there was still hope, wasn't there? She made the mental note to worry about befriending the Dazzlings as a whole after she'd gotten closer to Adagio.

Author's Note

Another candy-free lunchroom chapter!

Due to length, I should be publishing the next chapter as two next week, with the one from Adagio's perspective coming the week after that. Stay tuned!

Chapter 14: Worry and Visitors

In her time spent helping out at the animal shelter, Fluttershy never neglected her work, knowing everything she did was for the benefit of the many critters within. That in mind, she did go about today's tasks a little bit on auto-pilot, her thoughts drifting to another source of fluff in her life.

Adagio teases other people. I mean, of course she does, I knew that since before she started doing it to me, but I didn't think, it wasn't really...

But, it was a good thing, wasn't it? If Adagio was using up her daily allotment of sadistic energy just as much on other people, she'd have less to torment Fluttershy with. That was good. She should be glad about that. It wasn't like teasing people meant anything by itself, right? That was just the kind of thing Adagio did with random people all the time!

Fluttershy was hit with the most unpleasant wave of deja vu of her life.

Yes. All the time.

Glancing around quickly, she didn't see any sign that she'd said that out loud. The parrot perched on a nearby birdhouse was quietly preening himself.

But, still, it was fine, Adagio was free to fluster whoever she wanted, to suggest otherwise wouldn't even make any kind of sense. And why should she want to, anyway? She didn't. That would be insane. And stupid. And irrational. And controlling. Complete control probably wasn't right for Adagio anyway, the Dazzlings were chaos in the shape of three girls! It looked like they liked (or at least respected) Sunset, and she couldn't completely tame them either! Not that Fluttershy thought anyone needed taming, just maybe that they could stand to be- but, then, would they still be themselves anymore? Were all three of them just like great white sharks kept in swimming pools at aquariums, denied their nature by being forced to comply with the limitations imposed on them by their new environment? The one they had no say in entering? Maybe it was because of something they did in over in Twilight's world, but still...

The whole line of thought was crazy, so she just tried to focus on refilling the food bowls. This led to thoughts of hunger, to feeding, to what Adagio might like to eat ordinarily, to feeding Adagio from the palm of her hand, to Fluttershy repeatedly slapping herself in the face. When she stopped, she noticed the entire hamster cage staring at her, fuzzy little heads curiously tilted. She gave them a sheepish smile and got back to work.

She was late again. Waiting on the bench, alone, just like she used to every morning, Fluttershy took yet another long, careful look at her surroundings, not a hint of orange fluff in sight. Was it because of the kisses? The last time Adagio showed up later than expected had been right after the squirrel incident, was there a connection? Did being embarrassed the day before make Adagio think twice about showing up?

I knew it, she didn't like the kiss, I saw how she lit up and did it again anyway, I-

No, she said it didn't bother her, she even told you to do it again to prove it!

But that doesn't change the way she turned red, she was uncomfortable, she-

Really? The girl that makes suggestive comments toward you on a daily basis, the girl with the very racy sense of humor, would be bothered by kisses on the cheek?

Then why did she blush?

Fluttershy didn't have an answer for herself, which felt really weird. And worrying. She looked around again, still very much alone.

It can't be as bad as you're making it out to be, she still came to you in the gym, right? If she really wanted to avoid you, she'd have-

Wait! Maybe it was just because she saw me doing the shaky walk and wanted to comment on it?

If she's looking for a chance to tease you, what better time of day than now?

Maybe Adagio was just doing something else this morning? Maybe she was sleeping in, or walking here with Aria and Sonata for once, or... It couldn't be that one of Fluttershy's friends went to talk to Adagio after lunch and told her not to come around anymore, right? Because, even if they did, and she doubted any of them really would just because of what happened yesterday, wouldn't Adagio just take that as a challenge, coming to poke Fluttershy even more often just to see what whoever threatened her would do about it? Fluttershy would have taken that with a smile right now.

Maybe she was teasing someone else, another girl, or even a boy, someone that caught her eye, that never ran away from her, that never made her feel uncomfortable or unwanted! Someone prettier than Fluttershy, someone that was always happy to share food with her mouth-to-mouth, that wouldn't just accept her double entendres, but shoot back with their own! Someone that would compliment Adagio's beauty every time they saw her, someone that-

Wait.

Fluttershy remembered something Sonata said the day before, something that sent a chill down her spine.

"...she was looking a little red earlier, maybe she's coming down with something?"

Sick. Adagio was probably sick today, and Fluttershy knew why. Still, just in case she was wrong, she waited on the bench to see if Adagio was just running really, really late, to see if she'd pop up and surprise her just like she did before, to show herself and let Fluttershy know that she was being really silly and worrying over nothing at all!

She didn't.

The first time she realized it, Fluttershy thought that she had no classes with Adagio was a great blessing. Now it was a source of worry and dread, because she knew that, barring a very, very rare event like yesterday, the only ways she was likely to see her favorite siren during the day were in the cafeteria, or by sheer chance. That in mind, she took a quick look around the gym, saw no one, and did the walk as accurately to what she remembered of the up-close demonstration yesterday, really emphasizing the hip movement despite the renewal of a blush she thought she'd nearly conquered.

Other door.

Turn around.

First door.

Turn around.

She managed to do the walk a total of five times, nobody coming in to tease her for it.

It was possible that she was just in trouble with Vice Principal Luna again, but there was no sign of Adagio at lunch that day. Aria and Sonata looked like they were talking normally in the seconds Fluttershy could steal a glance at their table, which made her wonder if they were used to their leader (was she still 'in charge' of their group?) not being around already. Her thoughts were just drifting to the likelihood that her own friends wouldn't notice if she up and disappeared (medium to low, she hoped) when Pinkie Pie roped her into a spontaneous, table-wide game of Who Can Name The Strangest Creature On This Side Of The Portal To Make Sunset Feel More At Home. In the context that there are all sorts of odd things in Equestria, of course.

Fluttershy got thirty-eight points by naming and describing the barreleye fish, but the game had to stop because nobody else felt like eating afterward. She probably should have known better than to bring up abyssal sea creatures during lunch, but darned if she didn't feel appreciated in some weird way.

At the very end of the school day, Fluttershy made her move. It was a bit of a gamble, calling her mother to say she would be staying at a friend's place for a while after school today, but even if what she was about to try didn't work, she could probably just walk to Sunset's place not too far from here and keep her company for a while. Of course, Sunset being out or busy was another gamble, but there was no time to worry about that now. She stood out in front of the school by the statue, wondering if she should have waited around the back instead.

However, her hopes were validated when Aria and Sonata came through the front door together, chatting about something she couldn't hear as they started down the road. Looking around and seeing the students at large disperse, Fluttershy followed a ways behind the two sirens after they passed her. She tried not to stare at them as she followed, all too aware of how creepy she must have looked right then to anyone that noticed what she was doing, but a few blocks down the street, Sonata glanced over her shoulder and turned around, quickly tugging on Aria's vest, which made her turn around too.

The two stood still, Sonata looking worried, Aria looking confrontational, complete with crossed arms. Even at that distance, Fluttershy could practically read their faces.

'One of them is following us! Like in those movies!'

'I see her, let me handle this.'

Steeling herself, Fluttershy forced each footstep, looking primarily at the ground, but not letting the sirens out of her sight for more than a few seconds at a time. They waited for her, not saying a word until she was just a meter away.

"Well?" demanded Aria, her tone level, "What do you want, Squeaky?"

Gulping, she managed to look Aria straight in the eye. "It was my fault."

She got a skeptical look. "What was your fault?"

"Ad-dagio wasn't here today. She has a cold, doesn't she?"

The sirens shared a quick look of surprise, Sonata the first to speak. "How did you know that? Have you been following us around all day?"

"N-no," Fluttershy answered with a shake of her head, "I just-"

Aria was somewhere between terrified and enraged. "What, you can just wave a wand and make people sick? People that don't ever even get sick?! I guess you're just some kind of Plague Doctor Seuss aren't you?!" She stepped close enough to grab Fluttershy by the shirt, drawing a frightened shriek. "What did you do?" she asked in a threatening growl, "How did you do it? What kind of sparkly-rainbow-unicorn-barf magic do you have that can just-"

Sonata grabbed one of her wrists. "She can't fess up if ya shake her like she owes ya money, Ria!"

Taking a deep breath through her nose, Aria let Fluttershy go. "Talk. Now."

Steadying herself as best she could, Fluttershy nodded. "Y-you remember that she came near me yesterday? I just got over a cold on Sunday, I think some of it must have still been on me when she got close to me."

Aria slooowly turned to look at Sonata, her face all but saying 'can you believe this crap?' before she turned back, looking much less angry. "That's not really the same as just making someone lay in bed coughing all day."

"But it is how an infection might spread. I took care of myself this weekend, I've taken care of others in the past, and I know I can help Adagio get better too." Fluttershy clasped her hands together. "I just know she's sick now because of me, and I have to make it right. Let me treat her, please?"

Sonata smiled. "Okay!"

Aria sputtered. "D-don't just accept it right away!"

"Why not? She's like their group's Doctor Seuss or something, you said it yourself!"

Shoulders slumping for the usual reason, Aria deadpanned. "I was being facetious."

Sonata crossed her arms and raised her chin haughtily. "I don't know what that means, but I know fancy words won't help Dagi get better, people with 'Doctor' in their title will!" A blue hand wrapped around Fluttershy's wrist like a vice, pulling her along. "C'mon, Dr. Seuss, time's a-wastin'!"

And just like that, Fluttershy was spirited away to the Dazzlings' house by a very lively Sonata, Aria jogging along beside them with partly worried, partly hopeful sort of expression.

There wasn't really time to take in the details of the dark-blue, two-story house before she was dragged into it, but just looking at the exterior filled Fluttershy with an eerie sense of foreboding, like the black, wooden front door was the threshold to another world entirely. She may have read a few too many fantasy novels in middle school, but going in, her suspicions were only heightened as she looked around.

There were rugs strewn about in apparently random places, sometimes leaving them flopped partly up against a wall or doorway, erratic furniture arrangements in almost every room they went through, such as only three out of six chairs set around what she guessed was the dining room table, the other three stacked in some kind of chair pyramid in the corner. That was when she noticed hammocks hung in apparently random corners of the ceiling even when there were no clear means of reaching them. A few rooms were amateurishly painted, with uneven coats and bizarre color choices that would probably make Rarity dry-heave. The strangest thing had to be the random objects in nets, from silverware, to electronics, to cleaning supplies, all hanging from hooks haphazardly nailed on the walls of almost every room, though they looked to be in arms' reach, at least.

...What kind of place is Equestria, anyway?

She couldn't remember Sunset having random hooks in her home, but maybe this was another siren thing.

When they reached the stairs, Sonata stopped. "Oh, wait, gotta get the suit! Ria, can you let Dagi know we're home and that we nabbed a doctor?" Not batting an eye at any of that, Aria nodded, proceeding upstairs without a word of elaboration as Fluttershy was hastily brought to another room of the house, full of costumes of many kinds. Once more, it made her think of Rarity.

Letting go of her captive, Sonata started tapping along a row of hangers laden with Hollywood-worthy outfits, lightly muttering to herself. "Da-da-da-da-da-I-think-it's-o-ver-aha!" Smiling, she picked out a short, white dress with short sleeves and a little, white hat. It was only when Sonata turned the hat to reveal a red cross that Fluttershy understood the thing to be a nurse outfit, the kind hospitals didn't really use anymore.

"You're going to wear that to help Adagio get better?"

Giggling, Sonata shook her head. "No, ya big goof, that wouldn't make any sense at all." She stepped closer, clutched Fluttershy's wrist just as tightly as before, "You're going to wear it to help Dagi get better!" and pulled her toward what looked like a little changing room in the corner of the wardrobe. "I asked the voodoo counselor lady about her Jedi-master-lookin' get-up once and she said 'to suit a certain state of mind, it may help to dress in kind,' and something about fixing your brain just as much as your body, so every bit helps!"

Eyes widening in horror, Fluttershy tried to pull away. "N-no, wait, I wouldn't, I can't, i-it won't even, th-there's no way I can-!"

Within seconds, she was dragged into the changing room, stripped to her underwear, and left with nothing but the nurse outfit as the door closed behind her. She stood shaking with embarrassment for the better part of a minute.

Wow, she thought while trying not to look at the full-length mirror in the little room, I thought Rarity was the only one who could do that.

Every second she stayed undressed was another that Adagio might find her that way, so, blushing furiously, she started putting on the ridiculous medical costume. She was startled by Sonata talking through the door.

"I'm a little surprised you came to talk to us, Doc! You know Sunset Shimmer was the only one to ask where Dagi was all day? Other than her, it was like nobody even noticed that she was missing. I get that, but, it's nice that at least one other person in the world cares, y'know?"

Fluttershy wasn't sure what to say to that. On one hand, it was nice that the Dazzlings acknowledged her, but on the other, sad that they still didn't have any friends outside each other and possibly Sunset. Still, she had to say something!

"I'm sure there are others who care too, they just, uh, might be afraid to talk to you girls?"

Sonata giggled. "Heh, I get that, too."

Finished dressing, she actually found the nurse costume to be a little more modest than she'd have guessed. The skirt was no shorter than her usual choice, the dress buttoned up all the way to her neck, it wasn't uncomfortably form-fitting, and she had to admit the little hat was kind of cute. The white heels she'd been left in place of her regular shoes might take a minute or two to get used to, but all things considered, she felt pretty good. It was as she examined herself from multiple angles in the mirror that she was startled by the door flying open and Sonata grabbing her wrist again.

"C'mooon, it's taking too long to get to the good part as it is!" Without waiting for a reply, she them sped out the door, through the hall, up the stairs, and through another hall to Adagio's room, Fluttershy nearly tripping in the heels a few times. She could hear the muffled voices of Aria and Adagio through the door, with the latter sounding a little offended.

"So nobody said they missed me? Not even a little?"

"'Fraid not."

"Not even Trixie?"

"She hates you, remember?"

"Loves to hate me, you mean!"

"She didn't say anything."

"Boo. I'll just have to make more of an impression when I get back..."

The two of them giggled. From the sound of things, Adagio was almost like a normal, somewhat playful person out of school.

"Anyway," Aria picked up, "Nata and I brought help, should be here soon."

"'Help'? What for?"

There was a pause. Aria's voice was even quieter, the earnest fear and worry in her tone leaving a little lump in Fluttershy's throat. "You never get sick, Adagio."

Adagio's reply was equally quiet, her tone gentle and reassuring. "It's just a little cold, Ria, I'll be fine."

And like that, Aria's typical, flippant demeanor was back. "Hah, you better be or I might take over."

"Yes, that truly would be a disaster!"

Aria giggled. "Ahh, shuddup."

It was here that Fluttershy noticed Sonata giving her a patient stare. "So, are we going in, or is listening at the door part of the prescription?"

Fluttershy turned red, not having meant to eavesdrop again, but Adagio apparently heard that.

"Nata? Is that you?"

Sonata beamed. "Yep!" She threw open the door before Fluttershy could mentally prepare herself, pushing her into the room. "We brought you a Dr. Seuss!"

Fluttershy mentally gave herself an order: Just don't think about it.

There were maybe three seconds to take in the scene of Adagio's bedroom. It was, to her surprise, actually pretty normal-looking, give or take several wall-hooks and a hammock in the corner by the window. There were clothes strewn about in places, but none of it looked unclean in any sense of the word, and there was a simple vanity by the closet. Then she noticed that Adagio's bed was heart-shaped. On that bed, Adagio herself sat wearing purple, silk pajamas with her with her lower body under the red, velvety covers, her back against a mound of pillows and possibly her own bedraggled hair. Her face was a little flushed, there were bags under bloodshot eyes, though she was still able to convey shock as she processed Fluttershy in a nurse outfit.

Surprise became a lewd, if weak smile. "Ohh, I feel better already..."

Author's Note

Aaaaand Nurse Outfit! There it is.

Alternate titles:
Worry and Cosplay
They Brought Me a Present!
High Heels and Cute Hats
House Call From Dr. Seuss
Sweetie Gets a New Pair of Shoes
Hellooooo Nurse!
My Favorite Kind of Medicine

Yes, I was thinking about this one for a while.

In other news: 8.5k-ish words worth of story due by Saturday morning, once I've had time to proofread and such. This was all supposed to be one chapter, some moons ago, but the usual thing happened and now I'm cutting it into three, hoping to write and publish Adagio's POV chapter next week.

Chapter 15: Sweetie Gets a New Pair of Shoes

Beaming, Sonata triumphantly rested her hands on her hips. "I knew the doctor get-up would help!"

Adagio chuckled. "Your consideration is most appreciated, Nata."

Knees shaking where she stood, Fluttershy maintained eye-contact with what was to be her patient, who looked pleased, but still a little puzzled.

Aria headed to the door, hooking Sonata by the arm. "We'll be downstairs, holler if ya need anything." They closed the door behind them, which left the room in silence.

"Uhm," Fluttershy began to her patient for the day, absent-mindedly smoothing out her skirt, "I-I'm here to take care of you, s-so, uh, t-to start, how are you feeling?"

"Hungry."

Her eyes were half-lidded, but Fluttershy couldn't tell if she was just tired or not, though what might have been a wolfish smile felt like a hint. Then again, maybe that was just her hungry face? Did she have one of those? "Uh, okay, I, um, I could probably prepare some soup, warm liquids might help with-"

Adagio started laughing, though it quickly became a coughing fit. Once she recovered, she managed a smirk. "Warm liquids? You're going to have to be more specific, Doctor."

Turning redder than the bedspread, Fluttershy rapidly waved her arms in an 'X' pattern. "N-nothing like that!! Soup, tea, something to help you-"

She was cut off by more coughing, Adagio holding both hands to her mouth as her convulsions wracked her whole torso.

Worried now, Fluttershy took a step toward the door. "J-just hold tight, I'll get you some-"

"Wait," her patient rasped, breathing a little heavily, "I... h-have to ask something..." She waited until Fluttershy turned back to her, though she couldn't really appreciate the sight in her condition anyway. "Listen..." Clearing her throat, she smiled and cupped her hands around her mouth while talking to the door. "If you two want to join us in the bedroom, you only have to ask!"

There came a resounding thud from the door, followed by loud whispers Fluttershy couldn't quite make out and rapid, retreating footsteps, Adagio just laughing.

Were the others listening at the door? They don't trust me? Well, it wasn't like she could blame them, but the thought still drew a quiet sigh.

"Something wrong, Sweetie?" Adagio was smiling a little at her, or giving a very weak smirk.

"Oh, n-no, I just... how did you know they were there?"

"Apart from the shadows under the door? They worry, this is kind of a rare thing for me." She examined one of her own hands, slowly waving it in front of her face. "I'm all for trying new things, but this is a total miss so far." Shrugging, she returned her slightly reddened eyes to Fluttershy, her expression a tired version of the curious face. "So, what's going on, Sweetie? What are you doing here? And, I'm not complaining about the outfit, but...?"

Trying to ignore the heat in her face and the waves of self-consciousness that came with it, Fluttershy lowered her eyes and focused on answering the questions in order. "W-well, I knew you were sick today, I'm here to help you get better, and, uh, S-Sonata kind of, your house has a costume room, I-I didn't really have a say in, uh-"

Adagio giggled. "Forced cosplay? You don't have to make excuses for me, Sweetie, you can dress in whatever tickles your-" Teasing was halted by another coughing fit, the smile gone when she caught her breath. "...What do you mean you 'knew' I was sick today?"

Taking a deep breath, Fluttershy explained the situation, but her unintentional victim's face didn't change until the end, when she started to giggle. Giggling became laughing, laughing became mad cackling, mad cackling became another coughing fit, however interladen with mad cackling.

"Y-you even warned me," Adagio managed while wiping away a tear, "you said in the first few days that I'd get sick, and here we are!"

Fluttershy shook her head a little. "We didn't share anything yesterday, other th-than, the, uhm..."

A little more color returned to Adagio's cheeks as she scratched her head and glanced away. "Oh, right..." Then she half-smirked. "Looks like you're a, I mean, your kiss of death is-no, wait, uhm..." She visibly puzzled for the better part of a minute, Fluttershy standing in perplexed silence. "I, I know there's a gag in there somewhere about certain diseases passed through physical means, but..." Looking at her nurse, it was clear she wasn't impressed by this bout of wordplay, which made Adagio pout. "Oh, give me a break, this is a lot harder when you're sick."

Smiling a little wider than she'd meant to, Fluttershy nodded. "I-I'm sure it is." Then the situation caught up with her and she frowned, her face contrite. "So, uh, s-sorry I gave you my cold, I never thought-"

"Wait." Adagio was holding up a hand, her face simultaneously weary and solemn. "If you're about to go off on a tangent about how my getting sick was all your fault, you should know that in a building with that many people, I could have picked up the bug from anyone at any time, transmission of diseases is an involuntary thing, and-" she was cut off by another coughing fit, one that left her hunched over and breathing heavily.

Fluttershy didn't even remember moving to sit by her on the bed or put a steadying hand on her back, but the once-proud siren leader just looked so pitiful. "You've been coughing a lot, does your throat hurt at all?"

There was a tired eye-roll, though Adagio visibly bit back a sarcastic retort. "Yes, you could say that."

"Gargling saltwater might help a bit, can you wait here a minute?"

Leaning back on the pillow mound, Adagio nodded.

Getting up, Fluttershy stopped at the door, looking over her shoulder. "And, Adagio?" She smiled a little. "Thank you."

Managing a tiny grin of her own, Adagio dismissively waved for her to get going.

After a quick trip to the kitchen to prepare a little mug of saltwater (Fluttershy learned that they stored even more odd things in their cupboards here, but she did manage to find the salt) and Adagio taking a minute to gargle it, she spat the contents back into the mug and cleared her throat. "Well," she managed, "can't say how well it worked, but time will tell."

Setting the mug on the bedside table (which, for some reason, was a small, personal refrigerator with the door ripped off its hinges), Fluttershy smiled. "How about the blankets? Can I help you get warmer?" She flushed crimson the second she realized her word choice. "N-no, I mean, if you're, uh, c-cold, then-"

"Help me get warmer?" Making another weary smirk, Adagio tugged the sheets just a little higher around herself in an almost defensive manner. "Just what did you have in mind while I'm so weak and helpless?"

Remembering that Adagio was ill and needed help, perhaps in more than one sense of the word, Fluttershy did her best to keep her cool. "More blankets, for k-keeping you warm, and nothing else."

"Really?" Peeking beneath her covers, Adagio's grin widened to almost-normal proportions. "You know, that might actually be a good idea, I'm a little lacking in warm fabric under this, if you catch my meaning."

"Uhm-"

"Wanna see?"

"N-NO I DON-"

Adagio quickly threw off her blanket, Fluttershy immediately shrieking and covering her face with both hands, then dropping them again when Adagio let out a sound of discomfort. Adagio was, in fact, wearing the pants portion of her pajamas, shivering lightly and hugging herself.

Dammit, forgot I really was trying to stay warm!!

Adagio immediately wrapped herself in the blanket again, feeling foolish for having removed it at all.

Her doctor moved for the door again. "I'll t-try to find you some more blankets, just wait-"

"Don't," Adagio said a little more pleadingly than she meant to, "what I have here is fine, provided I don't do that again." Simple plan; heavily imply nudity, then reveal it to be false and follow up with poking about specific expectations, but the room felt deceptively warmer under the covers. The focus now on her moment of stupidity, she opted to change the subject with a little smile. "You wear that look well, by the way!"

Despite the less-than-fluid transition, Fluttershy tinted pink and fidgeted in place, eyeing the floor with one hand unnecessarily smoothing out her skirt, the other adjusting her little hat. "I, uhm, th-thank you."

The smile came a little more naturally as she took a few seconds to admire Sonata's selection, making the mental note to get her a snow-cone or something later. Speaking of... "You know, Sonata is probably, for lack of better words, holding your clothes hostage until she's convinced I'm getting better." Her eyes lit up with wicked glee. "So take good care of me, or you might have to go home naked."

Fluttershy stepped forward and grabbed her by the hand, her face equally full of resolve and compassion as they locked eyes. "Of course I will." Adagio was only staring at her wide-eyed as the words sunk in, turning Fluttershy bright red again. "I-I mean, health, help, of c-course I'll-"

To Fluttershy's surprise, Adagio gave her that earnest, ray-of-sunshine grin, her own face coloring a little more. "I get it, Sweetie, thank you." Eyeing the thin, white heels however, she managed a normal smirk. "So, not having any trouble with those? I know that kind of shoe gives a lot of girls trouble, but you look like you're not even a little uncomfortable."

Glancing down at her feet, Fluttershy managed a smile despite a little blush. Heels may not have been for her, but this was a subject she had some experience with. "Actually, I've worn shoes like this a few times before. There are some harmful, long-term effects, but they can be minimized by finding shoes that fit right, not having the heel be too high, internal cushioning, and thicker heels for more stability, like what you usually wear," she couldn't help a giggle, "give or take the spikes."

For just a second, Adagio's jaw dropped, the look on her face making Fluttershy think of Applejack saying something like 'Well, shut mah mouth!' That expression quickly became what Fluttershy interpreted to be a sickly, tired, but no less emphatic grin of pride. "You're just full of fun surprises, aren't you? Where did you get to be an expert in high heels, Sweetie?"

Her cheeks growing a little rosier, Fluttershy quickly looked down at the floor, though not enough to hide a wavering, self-conscious smile. "I-I wouldn't say 'expert,' but, uh... y-you know my friend Rarity? I was her guinea pig when she first started working with clothes. She may not need me as much for that these days, but we learned a lot working together."

Something about the display, about the way Fluttershy spoke of her friend, the way she smiled in recounting their time together, was giving Adagio another dose of that odd little tingle she'd been getting more and more lately. It was, but the surge was cut off by another painful, convulsion-inducing coughing fit. When she looked up again, Fluttershy was looking back at her with concern.

"Do you have any aspirin here? Reducing pain should help to ease recovery."

Not about to argue, Adagio cleared her throat as best she could. "Try the mirror-compartment in the bathroom, third door from the left just outside this hall." She waited in silence as Fluttershy jogged out of the room, gently closing the door behind her. About two minutes later, there came sounds of things bumping against the wall outside her door, the things in the nets clattering together as Fluttershy searched through them. Apparently, there hadn't been any aspirin in the bathroom after all, but Adagio could have sworn that was where she'd been leaving everything she identified as medicine. Regardless, her faithful nurse must have found her prize, because she came back with the headache cancellation pills and a glass of water a few minutes later.

Setting the glass on the bedside broken mini-fridge, she smiled. "I found it! The bottle was next to your fire extinguisher and a bag of saw dust." Sitting on the bed and twisting the cap off the aspirin bottle, she gave Adagio a perplexed little head tilt. "Um, speaking of, why do you have those things hanging in the hallway?"

Adagio took one of the offered tablets and picked up the glass, which she noticed was just a bit heavier than the mug had been. "In case of fire."

"How does the saw dust help?"

"It helps make more fire."

"M-more fire?!"

Tilting her head a little, Adagio looked as though she didn't feel this called for explaining. "Saw dust for making the fire bigger, fire extinguisher for putting it out. Simple. We haven't had to use the dust yet, but I won't make the same mistake twice."

...Okay, thought the bewildered caretaker, it's Pinkie Pie logic. Process. You can do this. Thinking about it, she conceded that if nothing else, sawdust would probably make a fire a little bigger, even if not for very long. "I... guess that makes sense?"

Adagio nodded. "I thought so." Placing the pill on her tongue, she gingerly raised the glass to her lips with tremulous hands, spilling more than a little of its contents as she did.

Fluttershy frowned in concern. "Uh, d-do you need help with-"

The sickly siren wasn't quite scowling, but she was definitely annoyed as she spoke without disturbing the tablet on her tongue. "I can drink from a glass by myselv, tank you." She glared down at her still-shaking hands and the heavy glass they held. Was it really necessary to bring her a full glass? Or for that matter, a glass-glass? With a heavy, thick base? The plastic cups hanging in one of the living room nets would have made this much easier, but she supposed she couldn't ask Fluttershy to know where those were. Taking a quick breath, she tried again, focusing on the glass. The heavy, unnecessarily water-filled glass that continued to shake, Adagio feeling like she was being judged for every drop that fell, only getting worse as a badly-timed coughing fit sprung up. Fluttershy used that chance to take the glass from her. Now she scowled. "I thed I can-"

"No, you can't." Fluttershy's eyes were compassionate, but firm. "You're a little weaker than I thought right now, please lean back a bit and I'll f-feed you."

Taking the pill out of her mouth, Adagio raised an eyebrow. "It's drinking from a cup. I can handle it."

Holding the glass out of her reach, Fluttershy indicated the little wet spots on the velvety, red blankets. "I don't think you can. If you spill it on yourself, the water will make it much harder to stay warm, you'll lose energy, your immune system will get weaker, and-"

Sickly or not, Adagio could still cast a mean, and more importantly, commanding glare. "Sweetie? Give me the glass."

Despite a tingle shooting up her spine, the doctor for a day held strong. "No."

The glare intensified, then dropped entirely as Adagio started to smirk, sitting up a little straighter and letting out a low, sultry chuckle. "Ohh, I'm sorry, you really want to play doctor?" If Fluttershy didn't catch the double entendre, unbuttoning the shirt of her pajamas seemed to send a much clearer message as her nurse turned bright red and looked away. Gritting her teeth at the sudden flow of cold air to her exposed skin, she worked it into a smile, her eyes half-lidded. "Come on," she said with a breathy whisper, "I'm ready for my check-up..."

With just the faintest turn of her head, Fluttershy's eyes betrayed her, increasing the temperature in her face for every second they ate up the sight of Adagio's uncovered, faintly muscular stomach and midsection. Efforts to keep her gaze even that low were thwarted as she glanced up to see that the shirt was still being held just closed enough to cover most of the breasts, but still showed a little more skin than her purple jumpsuit normally did. Flashing back to the squirrel incident, Fluttershy realized that Adagio wasn't wearing a bra today.

Wait, the squirrel incident, that's it!

Slowly, looking exactly where she figured Adagio wanted her to, Fluttershy set the glass on the bedside fridge-table and tried to will her heart not to explode as she leaned in a little closer.

Grinning wickedly, Adagio slowly turned her upper body back and forth, lightly flicking the edges of her shirt outward in an almost matador-esque fashion. "Well? I'm sure that if nothing else, this'll take my mind off the pai-" Fluttershy's hand darted out toward her stomach, the fingertips quickly gliding over her exposed belly. "Hihihihii!!" Immediately jerking backward, Adagio drew her shirt shut as much as possible, her face flushed. "W-what the Hell are you doing?!"

Fluttershy was still blushing furiously as she tried not to think about her fingers on Adagio's bare flesh, but her smile was normal as she continued to hold out her hand in Adagio's direction. "If you're not worried about losing energy, you must have plenty to spare, right?" She playfully traced the air with her fingertips. "If so, you wouldn't need to worry about getting a little exercise."

"Y-you can't possibly be serio-" The hand again shot for her stomach and got to work, drawing another short, humiliating series of high-pitched giggles. "S-st-to-hop!!"

"Why," her tormentor asked with a completely innocent grin, "you're not really sick or tired or anything, are you?"

Adagio leaned back, arms protectively covering as much of her torso as possible, fear clear in her crimson face as she started to sweat. "I-I'm, this isn't, you can't just-..." Every defense she could think of just proved Fluttershy's point. Pathetic as it made her feel, she really was too weak to defend herself right now and just didn't have the stamina for this. She'd been lying in bed for hours, but once again, lamented her inability to flop down and sleep on command. Fluttershy seemed to sense that she'd already given up, because she picked up the glass again, but to her surprise, she didn't look even remotely smug or victorious, not a hair of fiendish delight or even ordinary amusement in the face of what could have been her long, uninterrupted revenge, if she'd so wished.

"I'm sorry if that hurt you at all," her caretaker said with an earnest, hopeful smile, "but if it did even a little bit, maybe I can help?"

There came another unidentified feeling, not quite guilt, not quite shame, but something Adagio couldn't place as she found herself wishing she hadn't resisted. She glanced around for the aspirin she'd been holding a minute ago. "I, can't find the..."

Fluttershy was already holding out another one, her friendly smile no weaker. "Can you lean back on the cushions, please?"

Taking a second to button up her shirt again (it was getting damn chilly!), Adagio took the pill, rested it on her tongue, and gingerly leaned back, part of her still wary of another tickle assault as she lightly sunk into the pillow pile.

Scooting a little closer, Fluttershy slowly, steadily raised the glass to her patient's mouth, noting just how delicate she looked in this situation. Fluttershy hadn't forgotten how fearsome this girl had been at the Battle, how she alone had shouted down Twilight's magic before Sunset stepped in, but now? She looked so frail, so fragile as she lightly sipped the offered water, Fluttershy was worried she'd shatter if she was so much as tapped the wrong way.

But, not in that way! She wasn't thinking about 'tapping' Adagio! Or anybody! Or anybody else tapping-! At least, not like-! No, not in any sense of the-

Something tapped her shoulder, eliciting a jump and a terrified squeak. When she came to her senses, the entire world was burning hot, though Adagio was just quietly staring at her in confusion, the empty glass in her hands (Did she manage the rest on her own with me holding it?) as she tilted her head.

"Sweetie? What's wrong?"

"I, ehm, uh, s-sawdust!"

Adagio blinked slowly. That's an incredibly strange way to say 'You're welcome.' Did she not hear me thank her for the drink? Well, she wasn't going to thank her again for something so degrading, she had to hold onto what little pride she still had in this post-magic stage of her life!

Unless, maybe, if Fluttershy asked nicely... Which, if she asked at all, she would ask nicely. It was Fluttershy.

But, it looked like she was too flustered for such a thing right now. Delicious as the display was, she wasn't sure the origin this time.

Wait, is feeding someone else without lip contact another one of those touchy-feely actions here? ...Is that why she wanted to do it?

She didn't have time to think about it right now, because donning her usual smirk, she had another kind of meal in front of her.

"Sawdust, Sweetie? Are you trying to say I'm lighting your fire?"

Having taken the time of Adagio's confused silence to try to corral her thoughts a little, Fluttershy at least got most of the blood in her toes back, but still looked at the world through a haze of warm air. "I-I, n-no, I, j-just, uh..." She glanced around the room, remembering that they were on the second floor and a window escape wasn't a good idea. Plus, Sonata still had her normal clothes. Most importantly, she still had a patient to take care of, that thought being the one that calmed her down the most as she took a deep breath. "...Do you guys really start fires in the house?"

Chuckling, Adagio shrugged. "Well, just that one time so far, it was kind of an emergency situation, but never hurts to be prepared. Sonata kept saying we should spring for a napalm launcher or something, but it was her promises to be careful that led to that particular storage hook."

"Storage h-Oh!" As the information clicked in her head, Fluttershy smiled. "I see, those are for storage, not decoration?"

Adagio looked earnestly confused. "Who uses things on hooks just for decoration?"

The completely rational part of her brain was nearly pulling its hair out with questions about the rugs and the hammocks -were those for storage too?- and how some of those rooms she saw were painted, along with the fact that people hung paintings and such on hooks all the time, but Fluttershy told it to hush. She saw an opportunity to learn a little more about the sirens, and darned if she wasn't going to take it! "Why do you store things on hooks? Is the closet full? Does this place not have an attic?" She glanced around somewhat nervously. "I-is the basement just really scary?"

Starting to smile, Adagio shook her head. "No to all. Have I ever told you that we used to live undersea?"

Fluttershy smiled too. "No, but I did get that impression from your ethereal aspects when they appeared."

"Yes, we-" Blink. "...You're knowledgeable in women's footwear and otherwordly entities now?"

Smiling shyly, Fluttershy rubbed one arm, a kind of blush Adagio didn't quite recognize coloring her cheeks. "No, but I used to read a lot of fantasy books and I still remember some of the terminology."

Adagio giggled quietly. "I see," she said as her smile seamlessly shifted to a smirk, absent-mindedly tracing a fingertip along her own neck, "couldn't get enough of those magical creatures, could you?"

And then Fluttershy was trapped. While she knew what Adagio was implying, she had been interested in some of the fictional (or so she thought, if demons and sirens turned out to be real) animals and sapients alike in those stories, from the massive Roc, to the powerful minotaurs, to the cursed wolf-people, to the mysterious sphinx. Legends of woodland nymphs particularly caught her eye, but she wasn't sure how to explain that to Adagio without a risk of it sounding dirty.

"Um, w-well, I mean, I, it was just a, they were-" A very emphatic hobby? A guilty pleasure? A borderline obsession for a little while? One more reason she was teased mercilessly in middle school? Something she had to stop enjoying publicly just to get a little peace, and had more or less outgrown since? She knew how to answer, her embarrassment fading entirely. "...Just a phase, I guess?" Adagio didn't quite look satisfied with that response, making an adorably inquisitive little face, complete with head-tilt.

Adagio was halfway through finding the exact words she wanted to use for the question when she really got to reading Fluttershy's expression, the little hint of loss mostly buried in one form of acceptance or another. This was at least a partly sensitive subject, and Adagio could appreciate just wanting some things left alone.

She shrugged. "Very well. To answer your earlier question, the nets on hooks were how we stored things in the sea, given that some things were obnoxiously buoyant and that we lacked abundant supplies of malleable material like wood with which to shape boxes and the like. Seaweed, however? Well-named, I assure you, most, uh," What word translates best? "neighborhoods couldn't weave the stuff into nets fast enough." She chuckled, nodding to some of the net-hooks hanging around her own room. "About three quarters of the netting you see around here, the three of us wove out of accumulated rope over the years."

Smiling again, Fluttershy tried not to let the way Adagio's nostalgic tone touched the edges of her heart show on her face, remembering how Sunset used to clam up when she got that kind of reaction to sharing happier memories. "I see. Thank you for telling me."

What might have been a giggle came out as a short, quiet series of coughs, but Adagio was grinning anyway. "The way you say that sometimes, you'd think I was a stingy information broker throwing you a rare bone, so to speak. What about you, Sweetie? Wha-" She coughed a little more, but it at least didn't hurt as much as some of the earlier fits.

Just the same, Fluttershy looked worried. "Are you feeling alright? Would you like another glass of saltwater?" She'd washed out the first one before bringing her water to take the aspirin with.

"N-*koffkoff*-no, I... Actually, what might my doctor recommend eating in my condition? I know what I said earlier, but I've spent most of today more tired than hungry, and the scales are tipping."

Smiling warmly, Fluttershy stood up. "I'll see if Aria or Sonata can help me find you something to eat, wait right here."

Closing Adagio's bedroom door behind her, Fluttershy contemplated searching for food in the nets hanging there in the hall, but thought better of it. Even the sirens had to know that food would go bad if just left somewhere long enough, and it was hard to tell what was in the nets at a glance, so by the time they meant to eat anything stored this way, they might forget which wall-hook-net they put it in. She headed downstairs, hearing Sonata's voice from a room nearby. Not for the first time, Fluttershy found herself unconsciously flattened against a wall.

"-ouldn't just pop in all 'heya, how ya doin', guys?' after Dagi caught us at the door like that. That would have been really awkward!"

Aria sounded amused. "But...?"

Sonata sounded confused. "What butt? Why are you thinking about butts at a time like this?"

There was a sound of a palm meeting the back of a head.

"Ow! Okay, okay, deets! I couldn't just drop in to see what they were up to, but I could listen outside the door!"

Fluttershy held both hands to her own mouth to muffle a squeak. They listened in on us again?!

...You hypocrite!

Ouch...

Fluttershy accepted this, more-so as she hadn't moved from her current spot. Which she should probably do now. Right n-

"Seriously? That's how we got fingered the first time."

"Yea, but this time I listened from further away! I must have been out of Dagi's Jehovah's Witness Detection range, because she didn't invite me in for a threesome or anything!"

Fluttershy paled, unseen.

"Uh-huh. So what'd you actually hear?"

"Something about something being harder when she was sick."

It sounded like Aria did a spit-take.

"Haha, maybe I should'a been standing closer to the door, huh?"

"N-Nata, they were doing that and you didn't even-?! ...Oh." Aria chuckled. "Got me. Very funny."

Fluttershy dared peek around the corner to see three long ponytails (or was it one ponytail and two pigtails? Rarity would have known.) hanging over the back of the couch, their owners facing away from her.

Sonata tilted her head, confused. "Got what? Doing what?"

Giggling, Aria lightly shoved her. "You're the worst, ya know that?"

Sonata retaliated with giggles and a light shove of her own. "You are!"

The two laughed together for a moment, the act warming Fluttershy's heart.

"Anyway, there's no way they were up to anything... strenuous."

Thank you, Aria!

"'Cuz, there's no way Squeaky has the guts to try something like that on a sick person."

Oh, I, uh... Well, I guess that's true too...

"Besides, if they were getting it on, we'd have heard it, Squeaky looks like a total screamer."

Fluttershy's jaw dropped. She had to duck around the corner again in case they noticed a sudden rise in the room's temperature.

"A squeaker, you mean?"

"I guess. So you didn't hear anything substantial?"

"Nah, I scurried away when I heard something about going to get saltwater."

"Smart move. For you, anyway."

"Thanks!"

There was a silence, but Aria shrugged and went on. "I heard Squeaky rooting through nets in the hallway, popped out to see what she was up to, but she was already going back into Dagi's room."

"So?"

"So I got closer to the door. Had to make sure she was actually helping Dagi get better, y'know?" Aria audibly smirked. "She was. Apparently, Squeaky thought to give her some'a that headache-fix candy, the kind that comes in the little bottle." She chuckled. "Squeaky wanted to help her take the pill or something and the way I heard it? Dagi totally got spanked. Wish I could'a gotten it on camera or something."

"Dr. Seuss gave her a spanking? I don't know if Dagi likes that kind of thing, but how would it help her get better?"

"Wha-? No, I mean, Squeaky forced her to-"

"Wait, was this one of those secret butt fun things? Because I know those are supposed to feel really-"

"Ugh, no, it, just, n-nevermind, Nata."

"Hey, you're the one that brought up butts in the first place!"

Aria was just about to dope slap her when the two were startled by a loud thud from behind them, whipping around in unison to see Fluttershy lying prone, a little cloud of steam rising up from her head. Sonata made a very obvious poker face, but Aria was sweating bullets. "Haha, Squeaky, h-hi, uh, h-how long were you standing there?

Guilt for her eavesdropping and the fact that her patient was still waiting on her, however patiently, had spurred Fluttershy to get up, shaking off the scathing embarrassment as best she could. "N-not very long..." She managed to make eye-contact, but it looked like she hadn't set either of them at ease. "Please, I-I need to find some food for Adagio, s-so, um..."

Sonata hopped up with a nervous, ear-to-ear grin. "And we'd just be super glad to help with that! And not stand outside the door! Which we totally didn't do! Right Aria?"

Her face was buried in a double facepalm. "Why...?"

Brushing newly messy hair out of her face, Fluttershy looked at the plate. "Is... I-is this really all?"

Aria shrugged. "Kinda looks like it. She'll be okay with that, though, right? She'll still live? 'Cuz, I can run to the store or something if-"

"No, no, there's no time, this'll have to do for now." Adagio had told her the day they met (for certain values of the word) that she never ate anything but dark energy before losing her gem, and what Fluttershy saw in the kitchen backed up her story. Sighing, she accepted what little they'd found and took the plate in both hands. "I'll bring this up to her, thank you for your hel-"

Sonata came sluggishly trudging around the corner, wearing a grocery bag where her skirt used to be. "Okay, I'm sure there's nothing tasty in the nets!"

Aria facepalmed. "Nata? Why are you wearing a bag?"

Placing her hands on her hips, Sonata held her head high. "I have misplaced my pants."

Aria chose to ignore the difference between skirts and pants in this exercise. "How'd ya do it this time?"

"Y'know that leaf-blower we found in a living room net about ten minutes ago? I found the off-switch, it's not blowing anymore!"

"Is it sucking things in now?"

"Maybe?"

"Ugh." She turned back to Fluttershy. "You need anything else?"

"Uhm, n-no, but..." Before going back to face Adagio, she wanted to clear her conscience. "I-I might have lied earlier, I was listening for a while." Both sirens paled, but she pressed on. "I shouldn't have eavesdropped on you like that, and I'm sorry. And, i-if you don't mind my saying so, um..." She took a deep breath, less sure how this would sound. "It's not nice to eavesdrop on anyone. I can tell I've made the two of you uncomfortable with my own wandering ears and I'm very sorry for that, but how do you think your friend would feel if she knew you had been doing the same thing to her?"

Now it was Aria and Sonata she pictured with lowered pony ears, given their expressions, though the image wasn't quite as endearing this time. Maybe she was finally building up a resistance to non-critter cuteness? She'd have to test with Wondercolt ears on someone to make sure. Would Adagio agree to wear them for her? Just for a minute?

Aria shamefully rubbed an arm. "I, yea, we'll... We talked to Sunset Shimmer about this once, Dagi apologized for secretly keeping those baby-monitor radio things in our rooms to keep tabs on us. That was just the sort of thing we said we wouldn't do to each other anymore, and here we are." She shook her head. "Anyway, yea, sorry, we'll do that, er, we'll quit doing that, I mean." Not willing to look Fluttershy in the eye, she nudged Sonata. "C'mon, let's go get some more grub in case she's hungry again later."

Feeling just as dirty, Sonata managed a tiny smile, gesturing to her waist. "Sure, I've already got the bag."

Aria slowly shook her head. "...No. Just, no." She grabbed Sonata by an arm and gently led her to what Fluttershy deeply hoped was the costume room to find something more appropriate for a supermarket.

Pleased though she was about the tiny change she'd apparently helped to cause (hopefully in herself, as well), Fluttershy took the plate up to Adagio's room, not looking forward to reporting that her nurse had failed her.

About twenty minutes after she'd gone, Fluttershy stepped through the door with a tan, grainy chunk and a glass of goldish liquid balanced on a plate in her hands. Her eyes were hidden behind messy hair, which would have drawn a smart remark from Adagio if not for the downcast expression on what she could see of her medic/caretaker/whatever job she was technically doing right now's face. "Sweetie? Everything alright?"

It sounded like she was about to cry. "I-I'm sorry..." Fluttershy managed to make eye-contact, her face shameful and contrite. "I, we looked, the three of us, but there was hardly anything in the kitchen." Setting the plate on what she was just going to think of as an ordinary bedside table now, she indicated what little could be scrounged up from the Dazzlings' nihilistic pantry and barren (though full-sized) refrigerator. Things didn't get much better when Sonata started looking through random nets for snacks to bring up, found a leaf blower, and couldn't find the off switch. "In terms of things that looked safe for you to eat, there was about half a loaf of what I'm pretty sure is garlic bread and most of a carton of orange juice." She managed a tiny, hopeful smile. "B-but, the second one might help a bit! I hear that experts say vitamin C doesn't really make much difference, but I know it makes me feel a little better."

Looking over the meager selection, Adagio chuckled. "Suppose this is an inevitable consequence of primarily going out to eat or ordering deliveries almost every day and night. Sorry if finding even that much was stressful for you, I'll try to keep the kitchen a little more stocked after today, alright?" She closed the statement with a little wink, which at least pulled Fluttershy the rest of the way out of her mini-depression.

Her heart-rate spiking, Fluttershy felt her face going as red as the little cross on her hat. "I-I, y-you don't have to- I mean, it's n-not like I'll be here again any time soon, s-so-"

Mischievousness was roused like a sleeping kraken, Adagio smiling with a wicked gleam in her eyes. "Are you sure? I could see you spending a lot of time here..." The only immediate reply was a squeak and a hundred-degree increase in the temperature of Fluttershy's face. The fluidity of her psychological pawing took a hit when she started coughing again, so she opted to bring this round to an early end. "If n-*koff!*-nothing else, this at least means you now know where I live. H-how do-" This coughing fit lasted a few seconds longer, but she still managed a decent smile. "...How do you like that? We're even."

Considering that Fluttershy got that cute, wide-eyed terror look, Adagio still counted this one as a win as she took a bite of the (thankfully very light) garlic bread. Crunchy! She couldn't remember if that was good or bad for bread, but ceased to care when she looked at the glass of orange juice. Sheepishly, her head lowered by about an inch as she glanced at Fluttershy. "Ehm, uh, f-for the sake of, I mean, just in case I start coughing again, um-"

Pushing old fears into the dark woods at the back of her mind, Fluttershy smiled. "Of course." She picked up the glass as Adagio hesitantly leaned back like before, gently raising it to waiting, yellow lips.

Taking a sip of orange juice for the first time within memory, Adagio immediately smiled. "Oooh, it's sweet! Tangy, too, or tingly, I don't remember the difference right now." She took another sip, smiling a little wider. "It's... it's like drinking sunlight, if that makes sense." She turned to Fluttershy, unaware that it was the bright, warm sincerity of her smile that earned her one in kind. "Thank you for this."

All but beaming, Fluttershy gave a quick nod. "I'm glad you like it!"

She didn't quite get her ~~wish~~ ~~daydream~~ random thought scenario of Adagio eating out of the palm of her hand, but holding the glass for her while she happily drank filled Fluttershy with a tingly little sense of delight. Kind of like drinking orange juice!

A bit later, the little meal was finished and two had gotten to talking about Monday morning, specifically Fluttershy's walk in the gym. Oddly, Adagio wasn't really poking her with that information all that much, just asking questions with her normal little smirk. "So, in imitating me, you feel just a little less afraid of the rest of the world? A little more lady-like, perhaps?"

Of course, this did nothing to prevent Fluttershy turning fluorescent pink as she sat on the (heart-shaped) bed next to her. "Th-that's the gist of it, yes..."

Adagio giggled, but her face was still just a little smug. "Hope my interruption didn't rain on that at all? Trust me when I say that keeping you from... expressing yourself-" she winked, "-is the last thing I want to do."

Fluttershy had to turn her head away and take a deep breath before her tongue would cooperate. "I, uh..." She gulped. "I-I might keep practicing, just for good measure...?"

Adagio nodded softly, her tone equally gentle. "Good. You don't have to worry about me coming in again, by the way, I picked up from the others that dropping in on you even once made waves with those friends of yours." She shrugged. "Just goes to show my caution has been well-placed."

Turning to look at her again, Fluttershy tilted her head a little. "Caution?"

Chuckling, Adagio brushed the tip of a finger under Fluttershy's chin, eliciting a shiver. "I've turned down more than a few opportunities to play with you during the day, Sweetie, because there were always witnesses at the time and I still don't want you to explode." Smirking, she leaned forward to let out a breathy whisper in her ear. "Not yet, anyw-" The line was cut off by another abrupt coughing fit, the first two breaths of which were directed into the side of Fluttershy's face, along with projectile spittle, making both rapidly jerk away. When it was done, Adagio looked mortified, hiding her face in both hands and groaning for more than just feeling sick.

Wiping her face clean, Fluttershy couldn't help giggling a little at what had just happened, but her patient seemed less amused.

"Sea spray," muttered Adagio, her face still covered and her voice muffled through her hands, "it wasn't enough that our voices were mutilated, but when I get a cold? It's mostly in the throat!"

Smiling warmly, Fluttershy put a hand on her shoulder. "I think your voice is lovely, no matter how congested it might get."

That won Adagio's full attention, making her lift her head up and stare wide-eyed. Fluttershy seemed to realize what she'd said, but to Adagio's surprise, she didn't revise, didn't re-word, didn't take back the sentiment, though she did turn red while waiting for a response. Adagio's mouth twitched, her mind wrapping itself into pretzels trying to articulate a coherent reply, her heart not doing much better as it threatened to burst from her chest despite what felt like a soft, thorny, rubbery vice squeezing it from every angle. Words, the manipulation of which was arguably her greatest talent, the means by which she formed her songs, shared thoughts and ideas, got others to see things her way, and even just messed with some heads, were failing her.

She managed something. "Could I get some more orange juice?"

Fluttershy blinked twice. "Eh? Uh, I, y-yes, okay." She stood up with the empty glass, moving toward the door.

Adagio didn't need years of experience in reading hurt, dejected expressions to know that she'd made another mistake. "Wait!" Thankfully, Fluttershy stopped. "I, I haven't heard, s-since before that night, you know, s-so it's, I mean..." She took a deep breath, opting for the simplest expression for her torrent of thoughts. "Thank you. Really."

Looking over her shoulder, Fluttershy smiled brightly. "Any time."

And then she went to fetch more orange juice, which left Adagio and the intensified workings of the fuzzy heart-vice at least a minute and a half to understand how tears and smiles could go together, even as she tried to wipe her own away. She knew Fluttershy wasn't talking about her singing voice, but somehow, it didn't make a difference to her.

Meanwhile, in Aisle 17 of the local grocery store, Sonata abruptly stopped pushing the cart and scowled at Aria. "Heeey, what do you mean smart move 'for me'?"

Facepalm on Aisle 17.

Author's Note

Alternate title: Rhymeless, Tangy, Cheer-Fluid

I don't know if alternate titles are going to be a thing now. Along with long, rambly Author's Notes!

Nihilistic Pantry sounds like a good band name. New record for chapter length, doubly so as 14, 15, and 16 are all technically supposed to be one chapter, but this isn't Fallout: Equestria. Still, I feel like this big ol' chunk of text works better as its own singular chapter, even if it ends up being the longest in the story.

The more I think about it, the more this pairing reminds me of a more flirtatious, less outright insane version of FlutterCord. Is it just me? Because I've come up with a ridiculous number of ways to say someone was really, really embarrassed.

Also, I feel like most of the time, the sirens are written as actually being pretty normal in terms of home life. Maybe they are, but I delight in writing creatures of chaos at every opportunity, and they're supposed to (I think?) come from an undersea culture anyway, so having them be not just different, but alien feels right.

On an unrelated note, is now a good time to mention that back in season 1, the thing poison joke changed about Pony!Fluttershy was her voice?

Chapter 16: Ranting, Fool's Gold, and Gigglefits

Her composure regained and another glass of orange juice downed, Adagio smiled without a trace of malevolence or smug superiority. "I think I'd have written a song about this stuff if not for the name." The smile immediately died. "And, well, you know."

Fluttershy frowned too. "I'm sorry."

Adagio didn't look at her, moving her shoulders in a quick shrug, though she didn't need a mirror to know the look on her face wasn't a friendly one. "Did I ever tell you exactly where having our gems destroyed left the three of us?" She still wasn't looking at Fluttershy, but assumed she shook her head. "I'm not entirely clear how it works, but at the right volume, the right projection, something happens with our vocal cords. When we try to sing, it sounds like-" she couldn't bring herself to say it, "-well, you remember. That isn't the only oddity all three of us have been saddled with since your spell crippled us," there was no keeping the bitterness out of her voice, but if she didn't say this now, she probably never would, "just talking loudly enough does something to us, you remember what I said about Sonata at the pep rally? How she sounded shrill and high-pitched? That wasn't just raw enthusiasm, that happens every time we shout, or scream, or yell, hiccup, sneeze, or as you may recall? If we laugh hard enough."

Dead silence. It took Adagio longer than she'd have liked to admit to work up the courage to look Fluttershy in the eye, but when she did, she saw a look she had no words for. And Adagio knew a lot of words! It wasn't quite pity, wasn't quite sadness by itself, some kind of mixture of the two, or both of those and some other feeling, but it didn't feel like she was being looked down on.

Despite dozens of thoughts swarming in her head, Fluttershy couldn't enunciate a single one of them. She knew Sunset, at the very least, used to be good with magic, and that even if she had no idea what could be done to help, Twilight would probably be able to figure something out. But if she couldn't, or just wouldn't, the thought of getting the sirens' hopes up for nothing was too painful to bear.

Perhaps even worse would be if she could just ask Twilight, if it was as simple as waving a magic wand and giving them everything they had before, dark magic and all. Would the sirens behave now? Or would they go right back to the way they used to be with a vengeance, Adagio just dropping her and-

Or, what if, even in the ideal outcome of restoring their voices without the spell power, her friends and the sirens started fighting anyway? How would everyone react? What if Fluttershy came out and said she'd been talking to one of the sirens without telling anyone, was accused of 'taking their side,' and one little spark kicked off a powder keg of hurt feelings on both sides? No matter how Fluttershy looked at it, there was so much that could go wrong that the whole situation just made her want to cry.

"I, I suppose," Adagio eventually managed, "that we should count ourselves lucky we can still speak at all, but I can't help thinking of telling someone they should be glad only one of their arms was torn off. You don't have to say anything, but, I guess, I've just been wanting to tell one of you that for a while." Her piece said, she looked Fluttershy in the watery eye and waited.

Breathing softly, Fluttershy barely whispered around the lump in her throat. "I don't know if it means anything now, but I can't apologize enough for what happened to you. I can barely imagine what it must be like to have lost something so precious," she gently took hold of one of Adagio's hands in her own, continuing when she wasn't pushed away as she feared she might be, "but please, please believe me when I say we never meant to hurt you like this. I could try to pretend it was some kind of justice, but justice is supposed to be even, and nobody else has lost anything from the battle. It isn't right, it isn't fai-"

"It never is."

The reply had been so flippant that Fluttershy felt as though she'd been slapped across the face. "...What?"

Adagio rolled her eyes, her tone almost indifferent. "Life in general? It's never fair. It's not fair that we essentially robbed those rich stiffs a while back, it's not fair that few of those rich stiffs have done anything to earn what they had in the first place, it's not fair that millions don't get to enjoy the luxury they do. I could go on, but pertaining to you and I? It's not fair that my group was permanently maimed after our confrontation while Sunset Shimmer wasn't, it's not fair that you feel like you have to try to shoulder the blame for that alone, and don't tell me you're not."

Adagio started to raise her voice as she went, but it didn't quite reach what could be called yelling at her, "It's not fair that we were banished, from our home and then from our home dimension, for doing what we were good at, it's not fair that you were bullied for something you enjoyed when you were younger to the point you effectively gave it up, and it's not fair that no matter what the three of us do, not even our lovable dope Sonata can make a single friend with which to enjoy the supposed 'magic' that comes with it in that insipid little school of yours, because despite just that? People only focus on the negative!"

She stopped to take a few breaths, her rant having been said in one or two. When Fluttershy still didn't say anything, just held her gaze, Adagio sighed. "Aria and Sonata told me about yesterday, you know. Nobody really talks to us, but they do talk, and nothing, thankfully, is wrong with my hearing. I know there are rumors about all three of us, how I in particular never do more than pester random people until they reach their limit or run away." She shrugged. "I won't pretend I don't do that, but have you heard the ones about how I always tried normal conversation before screwing with them?"

Fluttershy shook her head, her face mostly passive.

"No? Of course not. I tried to behave when introducing myself to people, but it was never long before I proved to be too much for them, and after a while, almost everyone just assumed that even my attempts at casual small-talk must have been some kind of trick, a conversational trap to embarrass them. All anyone notices, all anyone remembers, is that which hurts and irritates them, and it's a wonder that was our power supply for so long? Do you think we never tried to be good before? I guarantee you that if Equestria remembers the three of us at all, the phase in which we sang simply to lure people away from our home doesn't come up." She shook her head, as if to dislodge the memories. "I got tired of it, people that recognize me assume I'm there to bother them right away, and if that's what they want, that's what they'll get."

At last, Fluttershy spoke. "They know the words, but don't sing along?"

Adagio blinked twice, the words tickling her memory and eliciting a tiny smirk, which got Fluttershy to smile a little too. "Right. Actually, I heard about Twilight Sparkle's little song in the cafeteria, before the Fall Formal, how everyone joined in and took up her two-faced mantra." Little twitches in Fluttershy's face said she took at least a modicum of offense, but she wasn't saying anything about it. "'Magic of friendship,' right? Then where was it for those that sought it out, those that practically begged for it? How many people actually took that message to heart? Sunset told us all about how she was treated, and you and I both know how easily the three of us tore your supposedly united school apart. No one outside your group learned anything from dealing with Sunset Shimmer, your so-called 'unity' amounts to a population that revels in victories won entirely by someone else, possibly barring Vinyl Scratch, but ask them to stand up and show the same spirit on their own?" She shook her head, teeth clenched. "It all dries up, no hint of anything that came up in your songs, that's all just someone else's mess to sort out, because they can't see past the negative that we pull kicking and screaming to the surface, that shows everyone just how ugly they can really be deep down. That's Twilight Sparkle's legacy; a sick joke played on an unwitting populace by a brain-washing musician." Adagio gestured to herself. "Sound familiar?"

Fluttershy held her gaze for a long minute, frowning. "Do you really believe all of that?"

Adagio crossed her arms, glaring. "Shouldn't I? Was anything I said less than the truth?"

"...I think so." To her slight surprise, Adagio's glare didn't magnify, but became a slightly irritable version of the curious face, which urged her to go on. "You said nobody ever sees past the negative, that no one you talk to remembers more than your teasing, right?" She took a deep breath, her heart beating faster as she forced the words. "If that's the case, what do we have?"

Staring back at her wide-eyed, Adagio slowly opened her mouth, then closed it again. She looked away, Fluttershy giving her a minute to think. Taking a long moment to reflect on all of her interactions with Fluttershy since they met (well, in person, one-on-one), she saw the hole in her reasoning, starting to smile. "You... You remember more than torment, don't you?"

Fluttershy smiled too. "I do, and you really aren't so bad. I remember that when you first approached me on the bench, you startled me, but only by accident, and that you didn't tease me at all right away." She giggled a little. "I thought it was strange, that I could be the only one you didn't play with to start, but that was never the whole story. All this time, you've tried to talk to people normally, but what people talk about is-"

"-is that which bothered them... myself included." Shrugging somewhat guiltily, Adagio made a sheepish little smile. "I've spent more than a few hours pondering our collective standing with the student body, and the way you respond to me didn't come up even once. Sorry about that, but I never said I was any better." Fluttershy just kept her cheerful expression, doing that wrong-response-she-was-weirdly-fine-with thing again. "Well, I haven't really bothered to play nice in the last week or two, everyone kind of knows me by now, but now that I think about it, you are an exception to the rule, and I've been more vicious with you than anyone."

The smile grew stronger. "And if at least one person can look past 'the negative'...?"

Adagio didn't answer the unfinished question, but she smiled too. "Friendship?"

Blink. "Huh?"

"You asked what we have," Adagio started to blush, twirling a lock of poofy hair around a finger, "and, I think, i-if you really don't mind everything I put you through, then-"

Reaching out to rest a hand on her shoulder, Fluttershy smiled warmly, turning rosy herself at the contact. "I don't mind at all."

Independent of the fever, the heat in Adagio's face intensified, bringing with it a nervous little smile. "Th-then, I, uh..." She managed a shrug, working some measure of cool aloofness back into her voice. "I don't mind a kiss."

And then Fluttershy went hot enough to roast marshmallows by dangling them in front of her nose. "W-WHAT?!" Then it hit her. "Oh, th-the, f-from when, I-I, and, uhm..."

Adagio nodded. "Maybe not right now, don't want you re-catching your own cold again if you haven't already, but..." She seemed to take interest in the ceiling for a moment. "It just, caught me off-guard the first time. But," hesitantly looking back at Fluttershy, her grin and her blush were renewed. "that I can do that at all, that I can relax around you, th-that alone is-" giggling, she shook her head, an awkward sort of smile plastered on her face, "is it bad?"

Fluttershy smiled too. "I d-don't think so."

Sitting close together, the two locked eyes, grinning warmly as Adagio reached out to hug her newest friend in such a way that allowed her to immediately return it. They stayed that way until Fluttershy felt a hand somewhere you're not supposed to touch during a hug, which made her squeak and quickly pull away, red in the face with her own hands protectively over her posterior. "ADAGIO!!"

Confused, Adagio gave her an innocent little head-tilt. "What? I thought you were about to do the same thing."

"W-why would I be t-t-t-touching your b-b-b...b..."

There was a relaxed smirk. "My what? Can't quite hear you, Sweetie."

"Y-your, b-b-b-" she gulped, worried she might soon need the fire extinguisher out in the hall, "b-back of your pants!"

Adagio chuckled, wiggling her hips. "I can give you a lot of good rea-" The mood was killed by another lasting, poorly-timed coughing fit. At least she knew it meant she wasn't into being choked. Clearing her throat, she could at least appreciate that Fluttershy was no less red than a minute ago. "But, really," she said with a straight face, "in the context of hugging, it occurred to me that the embrace is a thing done for warmth and softness, no?" Still looking a little like a stop light, Fluttershy nodded. "Right. So what part of the body is warmer and softer than the behind, for most people?"

Fluttershy's jaw dropped, both for the perverted reasoning... and because she couldn't immediately refute it. Luckily, Adagio apparently wasn't just looking for an excuse to feel her up, because she waited the two and a half minutes it took for Fluttershy to get her thoughts together. "Uhm, w-well, I-I guess that's n-not exactly untrue, b-but, it's, I-I mean, th-that place is considered, a-and, t-touching it is, uh-"

"Akin to touching these?" Adagio had, with a completely normal expression, undone the top few buttons of her shirt. When she started to pull the fabric apart to show more of her chest, Fluttershy turned away like one of the vampires she'd read about in the face of a sunlit window. Fitting, because she felt like she, too, was about to burst into flames.

"Y-YES, th-those parts of your body are, uh-" She felt a gentle, and hopefully chaste, hand on her shoulder, making her turn back to see Adagio frowning.

"Sorry. I'll keep working on it."

Staring at her for a long moment, Fluttershy managed a slightly exasperated smile. "Okay, then. You were coughing again, how are you feeling?"

Adagio shrugged. "I think I'll be alright, but I'm a little tired. I, uh," She looked away, unintentionally sealing a new expression in Fluttershy's memory as she lightly worried her lower lip while twirling a lock of orange around a finger. Fluttershy would think of this one as her bashful face. "I was thinking," she said in a whisper, "do you think you could, just for a minute or two, help me get to sleep?"

Fluttershy hadn't even recovered from the blush of a minute ago, but she was still supposed to be a nurse right now. "What, um... w-what do you need?"

"Well, I mean, if at least one of us can still sing..." She earnestly tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice, "it would be a shame never to use that gift, don't you think?"

Her heart swelled. That any of the Dazzlings could ask any of her group to sing for them, to sing to them, was by itself some kind of miracle. That it was Adagio asking her was almost more than Fluttershy could process, tears welling in her eyes as she smiled brighter than any time in recent memory. "I'd love to!"

A little later, Fluttershy sat on the edge of Adagio's bed, the room silent as she watched the sleeping siren. Her smiling face was so serene, so angelic and peaceful, that it made her want to take a picture, add a caption to it, and find a way to post a big, five-hundred-foot-tall version of the image to a skyscraper somewhere so that everyone could look up and see 'There IS good in the world!'

She may have been biased by fondness for this particular sleeping angel, but she could hardly even think of her as the same girl that had once tried to enslave the world with dark magic. Leaning closer, Fluttershy brushed her own hair back so as not to risk it getting in the way of what she was about to do.

"Good night," she whispered by Adagio's ear, "and sweet dreams!" Before she could have second thoughts, she leaned in a little closer and gave Adagio a quick peck on the cheek, pulling away before she could linger long enough to do more than that. Adagio didn't seem to respond to the instant of contact while Fluttershy was waiting for her own heartbeat to return to a steady rhythm, though watching her enjoy restful sleep certainly helped. It also made Fluttershy feel a little teeny bit like a total weirdo, since it looked like all Adagio needed right then was sleep, and that meant it was time to go. Silently getting up, she tip-toed to the door, gently cracked it open, gave Adagio's sleeping form one last, lingering smile, and went out, quietly closing the door behind her.

On her way down the stairs, Fluttershy got an eerie sense of foreboding, like something was enclosing on her posi-

Sonata, her skirt regained, appeared out of nowhere and grabbed her by the shoulders the instant her foot touched the bottom step, her face anxious as she rapidly shook her captive. "How is she, how is she, HOW IS SHE?!"

Eyes rolling around in their sockets, Fluttershy's world was a blur, though she did make out Aria chuckling from somewhere nearby.

"She can't talk if you shake her, remember?"

Sonata sighed, but didn't lose the note of desperation as she let Fluttershy go. "C'mon, Dr. Seuss, give us the news!"

Shaking off the vertigo, Fluttershy smiled. "She'll be okay, but she's resting now, so please try to be quie-SQUEAK!" She was immediately picked up by Sonata in a bear-hug, getting squeezed and shaken again.

"Ohh, thankyouthankyouthankyou!! We thought Dagi was gonna die or something, but now she's not! At least not from being sick!"

"You're, welcome," wheezed the human stress ball, who caught sight of Aria with her arms crossed and a little smirk on her face.

"Put her down, Nata, we'll need her alive if Dagi gets sick again."

"Oh, right!" Sonata quickly released her, smiling apologetically. "Sorry about that. And the leaf-blower thing!"

Aria nodded a little. "And really, thanks for looking after her. It's usually her that takes care of us around flu season, so we've never really had to worry about this kinda thing."

Touched, Fluttershy smiled. "I was happy to help."

They said their goodbyes and she headed out, but the clack of her white heels on the pavement woke her up to something that had slipped her mind, making her sprint back to the door and rapidly knock on it, but hopefully not loudly enough to wake Adagio upstairs. "Wait, please, open the door!!" By the time they did, Fluttershy was beet-red, holding the nurse hat in both hands. "C-could I have my normal clothes back, please?"

Aria gave Sonata a deadpan stare, getting a sheepish smile in return as Sonata closed one eye, rapped a fist against that side of her head, and stuck her tongue out one side of her mouth in a 'silly-me' gesture.

That night, Fluttershy lay sprawled out on her bed, her diary resting on her stomach and her hand stinging with writer's cramp. Today had been very, very eventful, but her thoughts returned for an eighth or ninth time to that which she'd denied herself the very realization of when going into Adagio's room:

I was in Adagio's bedroom. Just me. And her. And me. In a fetish outfit.

A very tame version of a fetish outfit, perhaps, but the thought was still like a thick layer of hot sauce on her face now. That was okay, though, because if she'd let it in while she was there, she was sure she'd have fallen apart. Not helping at all was the memory of a firm, wandering hand.

And, while she was still awake, if I had... kissed her... in her room... on her bed... just the two of us...

She thought about it so hard her vision was starting to go blurry. Well, she thought, giving her right hand an experimental flex and finding that moving her fingers still hurt, I guess I can try writing left-handed for a while...

Wednesday morning, Fluttershy sat on the bench feeling just a little groggy, but at least she managed to get all of her thoughts to paper the night before. Finishing a yawn, she opened her eyes to see Adagio, standing in front of the bench and smiling warmly at her, a tiny hint of color to her cheeks that almost completely offset the dark eyeliner.

She spoke gently, one hand on her hip. "Good morning, Sweetie."

Fluttershy smiled too. "Good morning. Are you feeling better?"

Adagio nodded, taking two steps to the side and facing away from her. "I am. Thank you."

And then she stood still, not saying another word, her back to Fluttershy. A sudden sense of tension was making her uneasy, like Adagio had some kind of bad news she needed to share, but couldn't find the words for. Before she could work up the courage to ask if something was wrong, Adagio's head flicked to the left and right, quickly scanning the area before she looked at the bench. Hesitantly, she sat down next to Fluttershy, her face bearing a look of caution as she continued to glance around.

Looking at her, Fluttershy frowned. She knew that look, she'd made it herself a thousand times. It was a look that said she was expecting someone to come and tell her that she shouldn't be there, that she was doing something wrong and should just save everyone the trouble and leave before she made things worse.

Fluttershy hated that feeling, and everything that came with it.

Some kind of defiance bubbling up in her head, she reached out to rest a hand on Adagio's wrist, thinking of every time the siren had ever genuinely smiled at her to make one of her own. She didn't speak, but hoped her expression would be enough to say 'I'm glad you're here.'

By the look on Adagio's face, surprise slowly shifting to what might have been warm gratitude, maybe it was. "You know," she started, "The first time I saw you was that day in the cafeteria, but I don't think we've ever been formally introduced." She held out a hand, something from the back of Fluttershy's brain telling her she was supposed to kiss it. "I'm Adagio Dazzle, pleased to make your acquaintance."

Tilting her head, Fluttershy couldn't help giggling a little. "Isn't this kind of silly after a few weeks of knowing each other?"

Adagio's smile didn't change in the slightest. "Yes. Now do it."

Fluttershy laughed a little harder. "Okay!" She took Adagio's hand. "I-I'm Fluttershy, and it's nice to meet you too."

Grinning a little wider, Adagio started to giggle as well. "Charmed!" As they shook hands, she smirked. "I'm still going to call you 'Sweetie,' you know."

'Sweetie's' smile had only gotten stronger. "That's okay with me."

They maintained eye-contact, Adagio starting to snicker, Fluttershy trying not to laugh, both getting steadily louder. A few seconds later, they were both laughing, faces tinting red at the senseless little exchange, but at least they could say they'd formally met now.

When the two had caught their breaths, Fluttershy was still smiling. "Have you ever had chocolate coins?"

Adagio blinked, completely lost. "Have I...? What?"

Giggling again, Fluttershy reached into her bag to retrieve the day's treat. "Ordinary chocolate encased in gold-colored foil, try one!"

Taking one of the offered doubloons, Adagio eyed the thing carefully with the assumption that the aforementioned foil was not to be ingested. She glanced at Fluttershy, who was unwrapping one herself starting with little folds on the sides, and mimicked her action. Unveiling enough of the substance to take a bite, she chuckled. "Chocolate money? Isn't that a little bizarre even for candy? I can even see the effort of carving them to look like real coins was employed."

Fluttershy nodded, her smile no weaker. "Yes, but I think that's part of the charm! They're silly, but fun, like edible pirate treasure!"

Lacking meaningful commentary on the constitution of chocolate, Adagio instead turned her attention to her new friend, smirking a little. "Did that come up in those stories you read? Digestible currency?"

"N-no," she answered with a giggle, "but it's fun to imagine."

The two of them downed another coin each before Adagio spoke up. "You can do more than imagine, you know." This got her a confused look. "I mean, I suppose back then, imagination was the most you could apply to those tales, but look at who you're talking to now. I, Aria, Sonata, and likely Sunset Shimmer all lived among lifeforms you probably won't find in this world, learned about some of them first-hand." She shrugged a little. "If you wanted to know more about any given species, I could at least take a stab at it."

Taking a moment to ponder the possibilities, Fluttershy hesitantly smiled. "Did... d-did you ever meet a huge, three-headed doggie?"

Adagio's sinister smirk returned, but there was a twinkle of amusement in her eyes that kept the look from being threatening. "Yes, actually. Funny story..."

Author's Note

The given lullaby isn't quite what Fluttershy sang for her, but I think it gets the idea across.

So that's the Sick Episode! 16,000+ words in total. I started on it some time last week. Now remember the days when I thought I'd be keeping all of these chapters under 3k words and join me in screaming at the sky. :derpytongue2::twilightangry2::flutterrage::rainbowwild::duck::pinkiecrazy::applejackconfused::eeyup:

The end here is a fade-out, not a cliff hanger, but this is the end of the sick chapters. Next time, a day through the eyes of our favorite walking cream-puff!

Chapter 17: Innuendo-Inducing Crunch Orbs

Thursday morning, Fluttershy sat in her usual spot without a hint of fear or anxiety, not even the normal kinds! Memories of chocolate coins and Adagio's account of the time her group met Cerberus, the massive, three-headed guard-puppy, had kept her smiling through most of yesterday, even after Adagio made a suggestive comment involving Fluttershy trying to use the chocolate coins to 'bribe' her way into her bedroom again! With the context that chocolate could be considered an aphrodisiac, of course. Anyway, she wasn't afraid, and even if her heart beat a little faster, she looked around with her head held high and a smile on her face for any sign of her favorite, fuzzy, huggable, fantasy-world girl!

Thinking about Adagio's efforts at hugging, however, brought a dampening realization; for all the time they'd spent together, Fluttershy still felt like she barely understood her. She was still puzzled as to how Adagio's mind worked, how she felt about things, what the world looked like through the eyes of a girl from a real fantasy-world. Well, Sunset Shimmer was technically a fantasy-world girl too, but she was pretty normal when you got to know her. Maybe the sirens were too?

The painted rooms.

Maybe it was just a one-time experiment in home decorating?

The nets on the walls.

They had a perfectly understandable reason for that!

The hammocks in the corners of the ceiling.

Well, okay, maybe I didn't actually get around to learning what those were for, but-

Sawdust.

...

Normal people did not want to make fires in their own homes bigger. So, no, maybe the sirens weren't normal, but Pinkie Pie was living proof that that was okay! Still, she'd have loved to get to know Adagio a little better. Realizing what those words meant in the context of her crush sent her head straight to the clouds like an overheated balloon. Then the bubble was burst by a heavenly voice.

"-tie? I didn't know you were the type to sit naked in public."

"W-W-WHAT?!" Fluttershy (already florescent pink at the time) immediately moved to cover herself with her arms, only to find that she was fully clothed. Blinking twice, she turned to see Adagio dressed in her dance outfit, sitting next to her with one hand over her mouth and snickering. Despite feeling like a dope for falling for that, she couldn't help joining in with giggles of her own. "You got me."

Reclining on the bench, Adagio grinned and gave her hair a haughty toss. "Don't I always? And, just in case you didn't hear it the third time, good morning, Sweetie."

'Third?' Fluttershy smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, again."

"It's fine," she said with a chuckle, "anything that gives me more opportunity to play with you is more than tolerable." Fluttershy had been blushing since Adagio arrived, but that didn't stop it from growing just a little brighter. Along with that happy, Magic of Friendship™ smile only her ~~favorite chew toy~~ newest friend seemed to have. She just kept staring like that, an unplaceable look in her eyes that sent electric eels through Adagio's stomach, drawing a more awkward grin than she'd intended to show. "So, uh-"

Fluttershy snapped awake, quickly reaching into her bag. "T-today I brought malt balls!"

She produced a little bag of what appeared to be chocolate orbs, presenting it to Adagio in that holding-it-up-in-both-hands way she did sometimes, as though offering tribute to some kind of deity. Appreciating such a sight directed exclusively at herself was almost a guilty pleasure for Adagio at this point, waiting until the last fraction of a second before silence became awkwardness or confusion to reply. She reached into the bag to seize one of the spheres between two fingers. "Is malt another word for chocolate?"

Giggling, Fluttershy shook her head. "No, it, well, see for yourself!" She popped a ball into her mouth, waiting in quiet anticipation as Adagio did the same. Oddly, she saw the bulge of the candy in Adagio's cheek, but she didn't seem to be chewing it at all.

Adagio looked back at her passively. "How long do these take to kick in? It definitely tastes like the coins, but nothing special so far." She would have made reference to yesterday's volley of comments, but that felt entirely too predictable.

"Uhm," the sweetest Rainboom offered with a little smile, "well, y-you're actually supposed to chew on these."

Raising an eyebrow, Adagio tested the malt ball with her tongue, finding it to be hard and dense. "It's a ball. Aren't you supposed to suck on balls?" She realized her word choice a second too late to prevent Fluttershy turning red, gasping, and immediately choking and coughing up bits of chocolate. She frowned, both because the choking reaction always looked painful (she could definitely sympathize), and because even if it had been deliberate, she hadn't worded the sentiment more elegantly than one of the freshmen boys she'd overheard a few times before. Adagio Dazzle was classier than that, dammit! "Sorry, Sweetie."

Clearing her windpipe, Fluttershy still managed to smile. "It's okay. If anything, I'm just too-" she stopped, Adagio was giving her a sad look that jogged her memory. "Oh! I mean..." She glanced away for a second, focusing her thoughts marginally easier when not looking someone in the eye. "I mean... That took me by surprise, but please don't worry about it."

Adagio grinned a little. Ordinarily, she might have commented on Fluttershy getting taken by surprise, but she felt like she was already pushing it this morning. Instead, she opted to bite down on the partly-melted chocolate ball in her mouth, immediately feeling a crunch and tasting a hint of a strange flavor. "They're... almost like cold sau-err, minty on the inside. It makes the chocolate seem maybe a few degrees cooler, which makes for an interesting little change of taste."

She stopped to look at Fluttershy, who was wearing that one particular grin she got whenever Adagio sampled food from her. Was it just the good, giving, chaos-killer spirit of generosity that made her happy to share things? Adagio wasn't sure, but it was a cute expression anyway, and one that meant Fluttershy wasn't annoyed with her at that moment. She reached into the bag, popped another into her mouth, bit down right away this time, and smiled. "They really make a satisfying crunch when broken, like someone's will breaking with the crack of a whip!"

Luckily, this one only made Fluttershy turn red and sputter for a few seconds. "W-whip?!"

Smirking a little, Adagio pantomimed swinging the tool in one hand. "For recreational purposes, of course. It is a little rough, though, not your cup of tea?" She just chuckled as Fluttershy rapidly shook her steaming little head. "Fine, fine, everyone has their own tastes..." The quick movement of her tongue to polish her lips may have helped send a subliminal message. "But if you ever change your mind, that door is always open."

Adagio could see that Fluttershy was beginning to perspire, but she still managed to look perfectly happy, even if she sounded a little nervous. "I-I see... Th-thank you for the invitation?"

As ever, Adagio just kept a relaxed smirk as she stood up from the bench. "Any time. See you arou-"

"Wait!"

She turned and was immediately startled by Fluttershy standing up with her, leaning in very, very close, and pecking her on the cheek.

Fluttershy could have sworn she heard the tiniest squeak, but couldn't be sure it didn't come from her own mouth. Now both of them were scarlet, Fluttershy starting to lose her nerve as Adagio stared back at her, wide-eyed.

"Y-you said," stuttered Fluttershy, fidgeting where she stood, "you said a k-k-kiss was okay, s-so-"

Adagio regained a confident stance and expression, though her face was still all aglow. "Right, it is!" Quickly, she grabbed Fluttershy's head pulled her in close to kiss her on the cheek, then immediately did it again on the other side. Her hands felt toasty until she let go. "See? No problem."

Fluttershy was a bright, blushing, babbling wreck, teetering back and forth on her feet like a dazed, smiling drunkard.

"Okay," Adagio muttered with a giggle even as her own cheeks continued to burn, "small problem. Why don't I just...?" Gently, she held Fluttershy by the shoulders and slooowly sat her back down on the bench, meeting no resistance. Leaving off with a kiss on the forehead felt like the obvious choice here, but she was definitely pushing her luck as it was. It looked like the girl was about to faint! Stepping back, she appreciated the sight just the same, unable to resist leaning forward a little to wink at her.

"See you around, Sweetie!"

She took it as a good sign that Fluttershy had already recovered enough to say something back, her big, silly grin unchanged. "S-see you soon..."

Chuckling, Adagio turned and walked away, keeping a leisurely pace until she was well out of Fluttershy's sight, then quickly and quietly (she had long ago mastered keeping her heels from clacking when she didn't want them to) moving the long way around the school to reach the gym door and slip into the building. Within a minute, she was on the upper floor of the library, the immediate area only dimly lit by thin streams of sunlight piercing the roof-window at this hour. She paced to the area right around where she first found Fluttershy cowering in fear, the day after she'd run away from her, after the admittedly vicious teasing by the statue in front of the school.

That was the only time, wasn't it? She sat on the floor by a bookshelf, obscured from the center of the room. She was likely trying to hide here, but I don't recall another instance in which she outright fled from me.

This morning felt kind of close, but she kept to Fluttershy's own rules. That seemed to work so far, at least better than pure trial and error to find out where the limits were. Speaking of limits, she touched a hand to the cheek Fluttershy had kissed. Again.

This is ridiculous, she thought while curling up where she sat and resting her forehead on her knees, I've proposed much more intimate actions to complete strangers, and just this has me all...

"Urgh!"

For a few seconds, her echoing exasperation was the only sound in the library, which swiftly returned to silence.

She'd had admirers before, and while the lover count was lower than some might have guessed, Adagio Dazzle had been kissed before. Most of all on her boots, by adoring fans, but she had known gestures of affection! That knowledge did nothing to dissuade the fuzzy heart-vice and all it's soft, horrific squeeziness, nestled smugly in her chest even now. Sitting where she was in the library, Adagio at least had plenty of time to calm down and get her head on straight before facing the day.

Maybe it's because Fluttershy isn't just another groupie? She'd be adorable jumping up and down squealing my name from the front rows, but she's adorable doing pretty much anything else, too.

Fluttershy was different, because without a doubt, she liked Adagio for more than her musical talents. Part of which she helped to destroy. The fact that it wasn't all her made it easy not to bear a personal grudge, along with that whole powerless-to-do-anything-about-it, no-point-even-if-they did bit. Something in all of that, she was sure, had to explain why her kisses got Adagio's heart pumping as though she were doing something much more involving, something Fluttershy hadn't yet signaled that she wasn't afraid to do. She surely wasn't afraid of kisses, at least not on the cheek, because she hadn't run away this time.

Which was good! She'd been tormenting the girl for weeks and she still kept showing up at the same spot, as though nothing in the world was wrong. Adagio herself could barely imagine willingly returning to be humiliated day after day, but she knew there was a little more to their situation than that. Maybe because she only (deliberately) flustered her in private, away from witnesses that would point and laugh at her?

How did it start? Adagio found the girl alone one morning, had a short, silly misunderstanding, didn't bother with introductions (poor manners in hindsight, but she'd since remedied this), had a little fun at her expense, and walked away. The next time they met, Fluttershy offered her the mint-hook on her own.

Perhaps theirs was a symbiotic relationship, Adagio getting a kick out of the expressions Fluttershy made when she was teased, Fluttershy getting whatever feeling came with that I-just-shared-something face she made whenever Adagio sampled her wares?

That doesn't quite cover it either...

She heard Fluttershy's voice in her head.

"If that's the case, what do we have?"

She answered with 'friendship,' but this wasn't like what she had with Aria and Sonata, nor, she was sure, what Fluttershy had with her own friends. Maybe because none of those relationships were secret? That surely had an effect. That in mind, this morning went well! Fluttershy made the shocked, choking reaction, but she didn't get angry about it, and more importantly, she didn't run away. She still wished she knew a way to tell if something she was about to say went too far or not, but not even the gems could have granted her that. Adagio sighed.

Guess there's nothing for it. Teachers should be coming into the building here soon, may as well start the game.

There was maybe a twenty minute period every weekday in which the school staff would be preparing themselves for the day before students flooded in and the entire building emitted that noise that-bell, it was called the 'bell'. If that obnoxious noise constituted a bell ringing, she liked to think she could still pass for an opera singer. Anyway, since the first time she'd decided to sneak around the school to privately spite Luna, Adagio developed a little game of slinking through the lesser-lit areas, around corners, on ceilings (why nobody ever thought to look up in this world, she'd never know), and right behind people until it was time to start classes. Knowing where all the cameras were had made things a little too easy, so she started to swipe random items unseen and replace them somewhere nearby. Score was determined by reactions of those she was toying with.

Scratching their head was worth one point.

Doing a double-take was worth two points.

Muttering in confusion was worth three points.

Looking around as though they thought the school was haunted was worth four points.

And of course, swearing incoherently was worth five points.

She got twenty-three points today! Coach Iron Will could really stand to control his temper.

The first class period of the day was never much fun. The material was dull and the only person that would even talk to Adagio was Flash Sentry, who, while a handsome fellow, was likely the dullest, driest, least entertaining person in this school. At least Mr. Doodle got annoyed when she called him by name or offered tips regarding his wig. That she was seated right next to Twilight Sparkle's boy-toy felt like an incredibly lucky break her first day here, but now she understood it to be some form of cosmic mockery. He hadn't even turned his head when she was in nothing but a bathrobe! Still, in the last ten minutes of class, when the teacher entirely stopped giving a damn and left everyone to do busywork until the bell rang, she had nothing better to do than try again, leaning over a little to whisper to him.

"Good morning, Flash."

As usual, he paused in his classwork and looked at her with an ordinary smile. "Good morning, Adagio."

"You know," she said with just a mildly suggestive tone, "it occurs to me, in the quiet part of class, hardly anyone is paying attention to anything but what they're doing."

"That they are, it's a good time to focus on getting work done."

It was true, nobody so much as turned their head for anything quieter than a book falling off a desk or something, all writing or reading or texting or holding their own quiet conversations. Adagio propped her head up on one arm, her eyes half-lidded. "That in mind, it seems to me that someone could do all kinds of things unnoticed if they were quiet, maybe even under a couple of desks?"

"I guess so," he said without a hint of comprehension.

Adagio just held her playful smirk, as though the boy weren't denser than a diamond mine. "If they were really careful, they might even be able to do something during lecture, don't you think?"

He glanced away as though seriously contemplating the validity of the idea. "Yea, I guess."

Her expression unchanged, she looked Flash dead in the eye, carefully scanning his face for the slightest twitch or muscle movement to indicate that he was getting the message. None. Same as ever. Letting out a silent sigh, she lightly shook her head. "That's all I wanted to say."

Flash nodded, getting right back to work. "Okay."

Adagio took solace in the fact that if Twilight Sparkle ever wanted to bed this boy, she'd likely have to either tie him to one and throw herself at him, or be very, very patient. Like Fluttershy! As much as Adagio liked to tease her for having stray thoughts, she was always a good girl, always kind and gentle with Adagio no matter what she'd done to her just minutes before, always at least trying to offer a peaceful smile, always a big, soft pillow to lean on without mocking those leaning on her for being weak, all without even charging for her time! She was very patient, which was something Adagio really needed to pay her back for.

Ooh, idea. Maybe I could...?

Well, they had talked about being patient before, right? How she -what was it?- acted that way because someone had to? Because she wanted to be an example? Adagio grinned in her usual fashion, unaware of the chills this sent through some of her classmates. If Fluttershy wanted to change the world by being a good example, maybe it was time that actually started working out for her...

Slowly pacing through the hallway, Adagio kept an eye out for chances to be patient, slowly scanning everything in front of her with a little smile playing on her features. Nothing was really jumping out at her, but that was fine. She would just have to be patient! It was possible her efforts were already being noticed, the way she was getting stared at more than usual. And not just from behind! She couldn't help chuckling at the thought, her grin only getting wider as some students rapidly turned their heads to focus on anything but her.

Go ahead and stare, kiddies, you'll only be left wanting more.

She never needed to turn around to know some people were happier than others to watch her go, even if her hair kept them from seeing much at that angle anyway. That she appeared in this world with a means of constant teasing attached to her head, while aggravating to deal with itself for the first week or three, had proven a fun blessing. Her hair had turned out to be like wearing a micro mini-skirt over her behind at all times, just barely concealing her enough that people might not have realized right away that the best they could hope for was to catch sight of her curves through her pants or jumpsuit anyway. It was a built-in teasing double-whammy, like Rainbow Dash wearing shorts under her skirt, thus denying the possibility of gratification for wandering eyes.

Unless those shorts are counted as underwear. In that case, is it modesty or exhibitionism? I feel like I should know this...

Maybe Fluttershy could tell her? Now there was a fun thought, the mental image of how she might react to the question drawing a low chuckle from Adagio as she prowled the hall on the way to her next class. That might have been an unusual action, judging by the people turning away, covering their ears, or whispering silent prayers as she passed them by.

With history class ended, Adagio had an idea. She was the first one to the door, so she grabbed the handle, pulled it open, and stepped aside, holding it so that everyone else could pass through. The other students, Trixie in particular, stopped and stared as though the doorway had suddenly become a sea serpent's mouth.

"Please," Adagio purred while gesturing to the door, a friendly smile on her face, "after you."

A few people looked like they were considering window escapes, but the room was on the second floor. Hesitantly, a few people inched toward the door, but most of them were held back by considerably more worried friends.

Adagio didn't let her annoyance show on her face.

Oh, for goodness sake, you'd think they couldn't trust me to hold a door open for them! It's not like I had time to rig a trap or something, and they'd have had to see me do it anyway.

She didn't say anything about it, though, just kept waiting. Patiently. It helped that she honestly didn't care if she was late to her next class, or that she might have even favored such a thing.

"Welp," announced crazy old Ms. Inkwell, putting on a football helmet, "what're we waitin' fer?" She drew a grappling hook from a drawer in her desk, spun it in the air a few times,

THUNK!

hooked it into a ceiling tile, "THE WAY IS OPEN!!" and swung through the doorway, gone for parts unknown.

Adagio, not blinking through any of that, maintained her After You pose, patiently waiting for everyone else to leave too. That almost everyone was still looking at her in surprise irritated her considerably, but her patience was rewarded (Yay!) when the braver among those present slowly followed Inkwell's example, albeit without aid from a grappling hook. She didn't say a word, didn't move a muscle as everyone filed out, though Trixie stopped at the doorway.

"You're not fooling anyone, you know," she said with a challenging smirk, "everyone knows what you're really like and no amount of open doors is gonna change that."

Adagio just smiled in her usual way. "Thank you so much for believing in me, Silver."

Trixie sputtered. "Wha-?! I-I just said-! Trixie does not believe in you at all, and she has told you before to address her as-" there came the usual drama club extended-arm gesture, "-the Great and Powerful Trrrrrixie!"

"I'm sorry, Silver," Adagio said while brushing her hair away from one ear, "I didn't quite catch that, could you run it by me again?"

The amateur magician scowled. "Trixie said-" she leaned in a little closer, Adagio startling her by quickly leaning closer at the same time, their noses barely an inch apart as Trixie tinted red. "Eh, uh, I, uh-"

Fixing her with a half-lidded stare, Adagio made sure every syllable dripped with passion. "What's the matter? Do I make you uncomfortable, dear?"

"N-n-no," she replied through chattering teeth, her eyes wide and not entirely fearful, "T-Trixie is not even the t-tiniest bit uncomfortable, no matter how c-close someone stands to her," her voice dropped to a whisper, "nearly breathing on her neck, t-temptingly soft hair so close she could-" She stopped, looking around to see students out in the hall waiting to get into the classroom she and Adagio were blocking entry to with their little episode. They were looking at Trixie and whispering to each other. Staring. Judging.

Trixie drew a smoke-bomb from her shirt and detonated it immediately. Adagio just walked out into the hall through the lilac-scented smoke, appreciating the ambient effect Trixie had given her before smirking, striking a sultry pose, and beginning the walk to her next class.

When the smoke cleared, Pinkie Pie gasped from the hallway. "She's gone!!" Then she peeked around a corner. "No, wait, there she is."

By the time she'd finished playing with Trixie (for now), the halls were nearly empty and class was due to start any minute. This did nothing to increase Adagio's pace, as it was a class she was even less enthusiastic about than most. The calculations were fine and all, but it was her classmates that bothered her. Specifically, one classmate, one of few students that made a point of greeting her at almost every opportunity, and a rarer one still in being perhaps the only one in the building she really didn't want to talk to:

Sunset Shimmer.

It wasn't that Sunset didn't continue to be nice girl when her friends weren't watching, but if anything, maybe that was the problem. She'd give Adagio a friendly smile, ask how she was doing that day, and Adagio would answer not unlike Flash Sentry did when she asked him similar questions. It wouldn't be surprising if Flash was just hoping she'd leave him alone, too.

Speaking of, I probably should have tried the door thing first period.

People in this realm, ordinary beings, were slow to accept change, it seemed. New and unusual were treated with fear and suspicion, no matter their intentions. Inkwell's oddities didn't seem to bother anyone, presumably because they were just used to her doing that kind of thing, but when someone else comes along and draws out the entire floor-plan of an undersea city on the chalk-board, it's 'strange' and 'freaky!'

"And together, we will never be afraid of the dark," eh, Twilight Sparkle? I wish you could see your false-faced followers now. Bet Flash would have gone through the door no problem, setting a precedent for the others right away instead of that long, awkward, suspicious waiting period.

It was while trying to remember if she had any other classes with Flash that day that Adagio saw something out of the corner of her eye. Something interesting. She stopped, turning to look into the doorway wide-eyed.

Is that a...? In a school? Oh, my...

She could see the instructor writing notes on the board, so this was almost certainly a formal class. Intrigued, she found herself grinning with delight, walking in to investigate...

Vice Principal Luna sat at the desk in her office, glaring at the trouble-maker sitting across from her. "Look," she said in a stern tone, "I have told you countless times, and I will tell you as many more as is necessary that-" Sighing, she started rubbing her temples. "Didn't we establish a rule? A very simple one? Unless it is a matter of life and death; the locker room, by which I mean the girls' locker room? Fine. The restroom? Acceptable. Anywhere else? No!"

Adagio raised an index finger to object. "But-"

"No, you cannot disrobe anywhere else!!"

Adagio threw her arms out in exasperated fashion. "It was a sex-ed class!"

"Yes," replied Luna in irritated tones, "one you were not scheduled to be in, Miss Dazzle."

The algebra skipper innocently touched a fingertip to her lower lip. "I wasn't? All these doors and halls look so much alike, I still get so hopelessly confused..." Luna's glare said she wasn't buying it. Plan B! "Anyway, I was just trying to help with the day's lesson. You can't tell me that enriching the education of my fellow students is-"

"The lessons are well-decided in advance, Miss Dazzle, and they do not need your-" she made sure to use mocking air-quotes, "-'expert opinion' on the matter." Truly, it was no mystery to Luna why her sister had, on her hands and knees, delegated dealing with Adagio to her.

Utterly ignoring the sarcasm, Adagio looked appalled. "You would deprive eager young minds of an expert's opinion?!"

"Wha-?! I just said-"

She folded her arms, turning away. "I quite frankly am shocked and disgusted, madame! Aren't you supposed to be an educator?"

"No," growled Luna, "I am the one who handles student discipline, which you are severely lacking." The worst part had to be that she couldn't even say the word 'detention' around this girl. There were legal reasons why they couldn't just lock her in a room by herself again and no one deserved to be trapped in detention with Adagio Dazzle. A few former delinquents may have since cleaned up their act, but poor Ms. Cheerilee nearly quit that day.

Still not looking at her, Adagio was silent for a moment. Then she slowly turned her head, a hint of a smirk on her features. "You're offering to discipline me?"

Luna hoped her scowl was more prominent than her blush. "We have also discussed this many times, and you know that that is not what I-"

Adagio's coquettish smile widened as she shifted in her seat, wiggling her hips. "Perhaps we could kill two birds with one stone here, the two of us could head back to the classroom and instruct on-"

"Corporal punishment is not employed in the modern school system!"

Her grin was nothing short of lewd now. "Is it still 'punishment' if I ask for more? You might even be able to make me beg if-"

Luna pulled at her own hair and screamed.

"...So it's a 'maybe,' then?"

Stepping out of Luna's office, Adagio looked down at the note she'd been given and sighed.

Dear Ms. Zecora,

The usual.

-Luna

Long story short, Adagio was off to see the counselor again, the one she'd have to give the note to so that Luna would know she got it when it was passed back to her later. Certainly, neither Adagio nor her companions were truly obligated to obey any orders they were given, but causing trouble without at least the justification that they didn't mean to wasn't going to win them any friends with which to find the so-called magic that came with it. Besides, if they got thrown out, they'd be back to the long, boring days of not feeling compelled to do anything. That would suck, quoth the Aria.

Giggling a little to herself as she headed to Zecora's office (though she preferred the term 'hut,' thinking it to sound friendlier), she took solace in the fact that at the very least, the woman wasn't unpleasant to talk to, having a contagious appreciation for spontaneous poetry. Their first meeting had certainly been entertaining, once Adagio was offered the chance to introduce herself to the woman that spoke in rhyme.

"Hello there, I'm Purple Orange!" She tugged at her own hair with one hand and a leg of her jumpsuit with the other. "As you can see, I'm named after my color scheme, but if you like, you can just call me Violet Tangerine!"

After a short silence, Zecora had laughed for a solid minute.

Knocking on the only door in the building with a dream-catcher hanging from it, Adagio heard Zecora's muffled voice.

"Greetings, friend, I've just made tea! Please come in and sit with me!"

With a little grin and a carefree shrug, Adagio stepped in, finding the circular room to be roughly what she remembered from last time. It wasn't too outrageous, all things considered, a few woven rugs here and there, some arrangements of beads hanging from things, tiki masks on some of the walls, but nothing terribly strange. Sitting in the center of the room by a little, wooden table with a steaming kettle and a few cups on a particularly soft, plush rug was the only person in the school Celestia apparently tolerated wearing robes. She was a grey woman with what Adagio interpreted to be darker grey, stripe-like tattoos over most of her body, though the majority of her skin was concealed by baggy, brown robes. It gave her a very relaxed kind of look, along with the long, white hair that hung from her head in wild, though not necessarily messy tendrils. She waved Adagio over to join her, accepting the offered note as Adagio was seated.

Zecora sighed through a knowing smile. "You'd not be here as often if Luna you did not offend. May I ask the case this time?"

Adagio smirked a little. "She didn't like a joke of mine."

"Did it cross a moral line?"

"I would say that it was fine."

"But Luna clearly disagreed?"

"Hence giving that note to me."

Not having lost her smile, Zecora chuckled. "Suppose we should get started, then. What trouble brings you to my den?"

Adagio formed her usual, laid-back little smirk. "No trouble at all, I'm perfectly fine, folks just don't like this humor of mine."

"There's not a thing you would discuss, here with just the two of us?"

Eyeing the kettle, Adagio grinned a little wider. "I wouldn't mind a spot of tea, making these brews still eludes me."

Zecora was happy to oblige, but she couldn't help the corners of her mouth dropping by just a millimeter. Still, maybe if the Dazzlings knew how to brew their own calming tea, they wouldn't be sent to her quite as often. "If the correct herbs you've got, you begin with a boiling pot..."

As it came time for Adagio to return to classes, Zecora waited until the door was fully shut to let her smile fall away. She didn't know if Luna expected more from her at this point, but she wished she could report with progress for once.

"I'm fine."

'I'm fine,' she'd said. How many times had Zecora heard those words from those who did not mean them? She had spoken to the individual Dazzlings many times, and of all of them, she was sure that the ringleader was the most troubled. Little Sonata would speak her mind, Aria had once come to cry, but Adagio was a book closed tight, her feelings never coming to light. Zecora had an idea, finding a pen with which to leave it on the note she'd return to Luna later.

"If she cannot bare her soul to me," she said under her breath, "perhaps with this, she may be free..."

Fourth period was uneventful, but Adagio tried the door thing again when it was over. Results were consistent with her first attempt, but without a Trixie to play with at the end of it. Then came time for lunch, which brought the realization that waiting in the line to pick something up would be a great way to demonstrate her patience! So while Octavia was taking her time deciding whether to go with mashed potatoes or celery, Adagio just quietly stood behind her, not saying a word. She didn't just reach past her to take something, didn't make a comment to speed things along, didn't try to convince her that one choice or the other would be better for her figure, didn't mention that she didn't particularly mind standing behind Octavia anyway and was sure that none of the boys in this school did either, just stood there with a smile.

After about a minute, Octavia seemed to sense that she was being watched, unconsciously turned her head, caught sight of Adagio, shrieked, and ran away, never having procured mashed potatoes or celery. Perhaps she was just on a diet?

Yes, tell yourself that. The look on your face had nothing to do with it.

Containing an irritated sigh, Adagio added a biscuit to her tray and headed to her usual table, reflecting on unfairness regarding reactions to her smiles as opposed to almost anyone else's. She had tested this in a mirror countless times, and came to the conclusion that her own grins were fine! She showed just enough of her teeth at the right times and even added an alluring, come-hither look with her eyes, not outright promising mind-blowing ecstasy for any who would dare come close enough to claim it, but certainly flirting with the idea. Sure, some people found that a little intimidating, but the point of smiling at people was to make them want to come to you, wasn't it? Something must have been wrong with these people that what she offered had the exact opposite effect.

Well, at least Octavia's scared face was cute.

Aria chuckled at her as she took her seat. "What took you, Adagio? Had to give someone a heart attack first?"

"Something like that. What's new with you two?"

Sonata shrugged. "Nothing much." Then she smiled. "Heard you got in trouble with the VeePee again, what'd ya do?"

Adagio smirked a little. "Just indulged a little scientific curiosity and tried to help some of my peers do the same. Honestly, you would think that kind of thing would be encouraged in a school." With her two oldest friends giggling, she smiled a little wider. "Speaking of, you two never did tell me how that little chat went, the one that happened when I wasn't around?"

Aria shrugged, folding her arms. "Not our fault you got busted again."

"True, but I'd still like to hear what you talked about."

"Well," Sonata offered, tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth as she searched her memory, "Sunset came asking about you poking Dr. Seuss and asked if it was okay that they all come over and talk to us for a bit. They wanted to know if it was just a one-time thing or not, I think."

"And we knew," added Aria with just a hint of apprehension, "that if we said 'no' that they'd get all 'ooh, what have you got to hide?' on us and do that self-righteous stalking thing until they knew what they wanted to know, that it'd all balloon into some big, irritating incident that left us worse off and them getting off scot-freakin'-free no matter what they did in the process."

It was possible Aria was still bitter about Trixie and the Illusions suffering no punishment whatsoever for their part in the Battle of the Bands. Nor Photo Finish and her group. Nor anyone else that broke rules. Presumably, they all pleaded direct mind-control to the only two actual victims of such magic; Luna and Celestia, who were no doubt inclined to believe it.

"So we covered for you," Aria said with a little smile, "and luckily, all we really had to say was the truth."

Adagio smiled at them earnestly. "Thank you both, and I'm sorry if that situation worried you."

Aria grinned cockily, but there was a tinge of red to her cheeks. "Ahh, no problem, we had it all under control."

"Yea," offered Sonata, "and it's about time we started paying you back for all the trouble we used to cause!"

"Haha, yea," added Aria, whose grin grew just a little rigid, "thanks, Sona-"

"I mean, I remember a few times you were actually pulling your hair out and-"

"Okay, she gets it, now-"

"Come to think of it, we kinda still cause you trouble sometimes-"

"Quiet time, please."

"-like when we went to the zoo and Aria fell into the-"

"Sonata!!"

Adagio just chuckled, long since having let go of the many, many, many times her then-minions had gotten on her nerves, as it was clear they'd forgiven everything she'd dragged them through as well. "Just the same, thank you for taking care of me." She and Aria sealed the notion with a fist-bump.

Sonata frowned a little. "Speaking of that, um..." She nudged Aria, who also stopped smiling.

"Eh, um... Tiny confession? We kinda listened in on you and Squeaky."

Adagio's good mood was crushed, smothered by a blanket of cold dread. "What?"

Sonata lowered her head in puppy-eyed contrition. "We're sorry, we were just worried that, y'know, she was one of them, how could we trust her to make sure you got better?"

"What did-" Adagio stopped herself, she had to pick the words a little differently if she didn't want to signal that she had something to hide. She took a deep breath that did nothing to sooth her friends. "Your caution is perfectly understandable. How long were you listening?"

"N-not long," Aria admitted with just a tinge of worry, "all I really heard was the part where she made you take your medicine."

Adagio tinted pink, annoyance equally vibrant. "Word from the wise? Never fight your nurse." She grinned a little as both of them let out tiny giggles. "Anything else?"

Sonata shook her head. "No, but we're still sorry for doing that. I know it would'a made Dr. Seuss nervous if we just stood there watching her, but we shouldn't have spied on you."

They don't know anything they shouldn't. Good. Adagio smiled normally. "It's alright." Her nosy, but fortunately ignorant caretakers smiled back. Now to change the subject. She winked at Sonata. "Good choice in her uniform, by the way, I don't know if she was working her legs on purpose, but the heels were a perfect fit."

It was always nice when Sonata could be proud of herself. "Haha, thanks!" She tugged at the collar of her shirt. "This clothing stuff confused the bejeezus outta me when we first got here, but I feel like I've figured it all out now! I even know what to do with that funky underwear with the long socks and lacy belts!"

Adagio lit up. "Do tell!"

Aria darkened with a blush. "Uh, h-hey, speakin' of weird crap, you got sent to the counselor's office again, right?"

Chuckling, Adagio nodded. "Yes, she showed me how to make tea. If we're lucky, I'll remember all of the instructions by the time we get home."

Sonata giggled. "Did she say how it was done in rhyme? With stirring and a twist of lime?"

"No limes here, I don't believe, just hot water and leaves."

Aria was infected too, smiling a little. "Did she say to use a certain pot, or are we good with what we've got?"

"If you need just the right pot for tea, she didn't say as much to me."

"Can it be brewed in just a bowl?"

"Or would you have to pour it down a hole?"

"I'm sure it can be brewed in bowls without pouring things down holes."

All three of them were grinning like dolts now.

"Can you brew it on a boat?"

"Can you brew it with a goat?"

"I'd not want to brew it on a boat, let alone when near a goat!"

"What about while on a train?"

"Maybe even on a plane!"

"On locomotives or on planes, I would just as soon abstain."

"Why is that? What do you fear?"

"Can you not brew it far or near?"

"Very simply put, my dears? I've never even brewed it here!"

There was a pause, then the three of them laughed, loud and long, to the fear and worry of most of the cafeteria. The Dazzlings didn't notice, but six girls at one table collectively smiled at them.

Author's Note

I picture Jedi Master Zecora as mostly looking like a humanized version of her Nightmare Night outfit, but with fewer spiders.

Two out of three Dazzlings are dangerously genre savvy. Three out of three Dazzlings can be very silly.

Anyway, as you may have guessed, it happened again, but I'm afraid I can't write 15k or so words worth of story per week, so the rest of Adagio's day will hopefully be done by next Saturday. Sorry if you were hoping for the whole thing at once. :fluttershysad:

Chapter 18: Liquid Dark Magic

Fifth period was, as ever, dull enough that Adagio had plenty of time to think. Today's mental showcase included the possibility that she was very right regarding what she'd said about patience that day, reaffirmation that she couldn't get away with so much as looking at Fluttershy during school, and in a roundabout way, the state of her own breasts.

She'd only been trying to be patient with people for about half a school day, so it was little wonder it didn't seem to be paying off yet.

Being caught with her favorite playmate wouldn't just leave Fluttershy embarrassed and possibly angry with her, it would hurt Aria and Sonata too when the whole thing inevitably spiraled into disaster and tears. She'd finally made a friend, with one of the Rainbooms, at that, and couldn't even tell anyone. Awareness of this fact did nothing to make her feel like being patient.

This led to formally crossing out thoughts and ideas of what she'd do if she dropped in on Fluttershy doing her walk again, to everything she wanted to say about her one-time nurse oscillating her cute little behind, to thoughts of Adagio's hair covering her own rump, to how hers was probably a little bigger than Fluttershy's, to how the ratio between the two of them was probably the exact opposite in terms of human chest meat. Glancing down at herself, Adagio couldn't decide whether to be frustrated or grateful that hers weren't particularly outstanding, even though she got the impression they were meant to be a woman's primary feature in this world, at least with the way the boys (mostly) acted.

On the other hand, she'd learned that these bizarre lumps could be very sensitive, and never wanted to test that again, so having them be barely noticeable under a vest most of the time felt like a point in her favor. At least she could still show off everything else without much fear of someone touching an overly vulnerable area. Sometimes, she still missed her gleaming scales, both for their beauty and for the protection they offered. Not that human bodies were a complete loss, but...

Class ended. Adagio's next class was just down the hall, so she opted to wander around at random for a bit, talk to people, make some friends, figure out free energy, achieve world peace, and maybe cure cancer while she was at it. Anything was possible, right? She saw Trixie facing away from her, doing a card trick or something for a little cloud of freshmen. Polite and patient person that Adagio was, she waited until the trick was finished before walking up behind Trixie. The kids caught sight of her and stared in horror like she was the Nuckelavee itself before the lot of them quickly dispersed.

Sure, go ahead, run, not like I have anything to talk about with kids anyway. Besides, she thought with a growing smirk, I have bigger fish to fry...

Trixie watched in bewilderment as her deserters fled before looking around for the reason. Adagio would have matched her movements to stay behind her, but there was only so much time for these hallway games, so she was spotted quickly, drawing a delightfully emphatic scowl from her target.

"What do you want, Adagio Dazzle?"

Oooh, she's blushing already! She had determined weeks ago that if she couldn't play with her favorite toy (friend now) in public, she could certainly amuse herself with the rest, worry-free. She sidled a little closer to Trixie, reaching out to rest four fingertips on her shoulder. "It's funny you should ask..."

Trixie stepped back, smacking the hand away. "W-whatever it is, you won't get it from Trixie!"

"Oh?" Keeping her fiendish smile, Adagio gave her a calculated look, 60% conviction, 40% arousal. "I think I might. Have you ever had the pleasure of a strong drink, Silver?"

Glancing around, Trixie decided there weren't near enough witnesses to let peer pressure override the fear of Luna overhearing her saying something compromising. And, y'know, being honest and all that crap. "No, of course not, Trixie is well under twenty-one! Unlike you, you moldy bag-lady!"

Adagio chuckled, her expression unchanged as she stepped closer. "I look mature to you, do I?"

"That's not what-"

"Then you believe me when I say I have some familiarity with liquor." Another step closer. "With what it does." And another, Trixie was backed against a locker and starting to sweat. "With what it can make you do. It reminds me of you, actually."

Just as she'd hoped, Adagio must have used just the right inflection for that to sound vaguely flattering as Trixie gave her a cautious look. "Really? How?"

The predatory smile faded to a happier one as Adagio leaned back, grinning as though Trixie were an old friend. "You both make things disappear, of course!" Then she leaned in, growling into Trixie's ear. "Fears, inhibitions, clothes... sound right?" The evil grin returned as Trixie shook like a red, sweating, stammering leaf before slipping away, detonating another smoke bomb, and presumably fleeing as Adagio cackled maniacally.

Life was still good sometimes.

Interesting fact about standing back and waiting? It gave you a chance to smell the roses, so to speak, like when watching a steady stream of people slowly flowing through one side of a double door instead of, you know, opening the other door and doubling the speed at which everyone could get through. It was something Adagio had never really noticed before, as she'd always been one to either gently push people aside when she needed to access a crowded area, or clear her throat and let her presence take care of the rest. That second method worked much better in recent weeks.

Anyway, there she stood, silently watching as a dozen or so students at a time huddled together to squeeze through the one door opened by the first person to reach the pair of doors right next to each other and not a single one of them thinking to take two seconds to remedy the situation by opening the other door. It was as fascinating as it was mind-boggling, doubly so because more than a few of those she observed looked annoyed about having to slowly shuffle through the doorway as they were.

Either they're putting on an utterly senseless act in pretending to be impatient, or they're genuinely irritated by how long this is taking and doing nothing about it. Maybe this is one of those cultural things I just don't get, but until I get a chance to ask Fluttershy, I'm going with 'people are stupid.'

Truly, the logic often proved unassailable, there was a reason she'd thought of this world as pathetic, not terribly long ago. Regardless, she grew tired of going all Fluttershy's method and opted for a compromise. Fluttershy was fond of those too, right? She approached the closed door from along the wall, where the student stream was thin to nonexistent, reached out, hooked a few fingers around the handle, slowly pulled it open, and stood back, waiting. She got more than a few odd looks, again, but people filed through the widened opening just the same.

Lovely progress!

As the horde of less intelligent beings thinned, Adagio felt a hand on her shoulder. She smirked, turning with intent to say something about appreciating directness until she saw Luna.

"Adagio Dazzle? Sister wishes to see you."

Adagio stared back in bewilderment. Was opening two double doors at once some kind of taboo here?! Had she actually violated a cultural norm of unbridled stupidity?!

However, Luna didn't look angry, or even the least bit annoyed. Noticing Adagio's consternation, her voice was very calm. "No, you are not in trouble." She grinned wryly. "This time."

Cautious, Adagio crossed her arms. "Then what's going on?"

"I'm afraid I cannot divulge that information here, but please stop by her office soon. Right now is good, actually." And then she walked away, leaving Adagio to realize she was holding a door nobody was going through. Shrugging, she made her way to the principal's office.

Principal Celestia sat her desk, arms folded over the organized chaos of papers that perpetually littered it. Across from her was Filthy Rich, something of a regular in her office on account of his daughter's behavior. This time, however, he expressed concern about what Diamond might do after witnessing some other students.

"You know what those three did, everyone knows! I can't believe you haven't expelled them already."

Celestia was fortunate in having years of experience in maintaining a perfectly serious expression no matter how hard she was laughing inside. "Yes, the incident in which the three of them influenced quite a few people with magical songs, which were evidently neutralized by a giant, crystal unicorn with wings. And rainbows." She tilted her head, the poker face undented. "How would you like me to explain that to the state board?"

Filthy facepalmed, sighing. "Just like with that Shimmer girl, then? But, there have been two of these incidents now, you must be able to do something!"

"Such as?"

He shook his head in exasperation. "Just, tell them to get out, maybe? Forbid them from attending? Whatever you have to do to ensure that my little girl stops coming home gushing about what those harpies did that day."

Celestia's expression was still very calm, but her tone took on the thinnest hint of a cold edge. "I see. You are asking me to bar them from my school, to tell them to be gone and let someone else sort them out. Is that correct?"

"Yes!"

"Hm. Then, you would have me simply push troubled students away, rather than trying to help them? To let my problems fall entirely to someone else? To let those girls, and any others that don't immediately fall in line, simply find their own way in our wayward little world? 'Look after the good ones and devil take the riff-raff'? Is that it?"

Filthy was visibly choosing words. "W-well... No, but-"

"Is that not what you've suggested? That anyone that cannot easily be made to cooperate simply be done away with? Is that the kind of world you want to live in, Mr. Rich?"

After a moment's contemplation on where his own daughter would stand in such an arrangement, he sighed. "...No."

Her point made, Celestia smiled warmly. "I know I have not shown great aptitude in dealing with the three of them myself, but rest assured that as long as they come through those doors, I will continue to try."

Filthy nodded a little. "I see. We'll just have to hope they straighten up, then?"

"It has worked before."

"I guess... Thank you for your time, Principal Celestia." He walked out into the reception area, immediately catching sight of the fluffy menace that he'd caught (well, heard about) Diamond trying to emulate a few times. That wayward mass of orange was bobbing with her head, the smiling girl attached to it holding one hand over an ear, eyes closed as she sat in one of the chairs by the door. "Hrm," he muttered on the way out, "toxic little..."

Adagio's head just kept bobbing until Filthy's footsteps were no longer audible, at which point she opened her eyes in a glare. She forced the expression to become her usual, relaxed smile when she heard Celestia clear her throat, which made her turn to see the principal leaning through the office door. "Oh, sorry, didn't notice you there, are you ready to see me now?" By the look of Celestia's frown, she wasn't fooled. Letting out a silent sigh, Adagio let her hand fall away from the non-existent headphone and stood up, the two of them sitting in the office a moment later. As Adagio didn't want to sound impatient, she let Celestia open discussion.

"I've gotten a few reports, from students and staff alike, of odd behavior from you today, Adagio."

Crossing her arms, Adagio raised an eyebrow. "You're going to have to be more specific."

Celestia smiled a little. "Specifically, two teachers and thirty-eight students have come by or left messages that you've been standing quietly behind people, holding open doors and waiting until everyone else had gone through first before using it yourself, and holding ninja throwing knives behind your back by concealing them in your hair." That Adagio started laughing at that last one said it probably wasn't true. She knew when Adagio was up to something by now, and her demeanor in those cases was usually a smug smile and a look that said 'Yes, I am up to no good. Now prove it.'

Violence hasn't really been her style, anyway.

"I'm going to guess the third issue was overactive imagination?"

Wiping away a tear as her giggles were reigned in, Adagio nodded. "Creative, I'll give them that."

"And the first two?"

Adagio's humor quickly faded. "Being patient draws complaints now?"

"Not complaints," she said with an affable smile, "worries. I don't see a problem yet, but it is a little unusual for you. Is there anything you'd like to tell me?"

"Yes, put a sign on every double door in this building with a message that goes thus: This is a door, doors can be opened." Celestia blinked slowly, which drew a shrug. "No, nothing."

"I... see." Double doors? Is that code for something? Is it better not to think about it? "That's not the only thing I wished to discuss with you today." It was with a tiny stab of guilt that she drew Zecora's note from her desk drawer, Adagio growing a little stiff and apprehensive when she saw it. "There have been some concerns about your behavior overall, particularly in Gym." The look on her face said Adagio had no questions about why. "As such, we would like to move you to Art class that period."

"What?!"

Celestia frowned, doubly so because she was aware that physical education was a popular class and one of few the Dazzlings seemed to enjoy. That it was the only one they all had together didn't make this any easier. "I, Vice Principal Luna, Zecora, and Coach Will all discussed it during the lunch period and we agreed that, cathartic as it may be, the aggressive, competitive nature of Gym wasn't helping you to fit in, not to mention your-" she made a valiant effort not to blush, "locker room hijinx. The hope is that in Art, a much calmer setting, you'll be free to express yourself through nonphysical means, but I wanted to consult with you on the matter first."

Adagio crossed her arms, trying not to scowl with contempt. They were giving her a choice, but only in the sense that she could go along with whatever was pushed on her or be openly defiant, thus making her, and likely the others as well, the undisputed 'bad guys' again. Ooh, wait! She raised an eyebrow. "What about the others? Are they being moved to a 'softer environment' too?"

Celestia shook her head. "I'm afraid you will be alone in this. I am aware they have not been perfectly behaved either, but pointing out rules that the coach forgot for the games and getting a little too enthusiastic about the day's activities aren't the same as, say, eyeing up nearby students during stretches-"

"Like they aren't doing the same to me?"

"-and loudly commenting on their findings?"

"...Touche."

Giggling quietly, Celestia kept her expression as serious as she could manage without coming across as unfriendly. "You make a lot of students uncomfortable, Adagio, and while I can appreciate that Gym clothes may make avoiding such instances troublesome for you, the hope is that Art will be a more relaxed place. You recall that Sonata was moved from Home-Ec?"

"Because of one little mistake, you mean?"

"And one massive mound of shifting, twitching, groaning brownie mix, yes."

Adagio snapped her fingers, as though making a declaration in a courtroom drama. "But the mistake itself was small!"

With a tiny smile, Celestia nodded. "And now she is in English that period, where there seems to be no incident. You already have English, so we decided on Art." Her face grew concerned, her tone gentle. "However, I want to make sure you are alright with this. What do you think? Would you like to stay with your friends in Gym seventh period, or take a chance at making new ones in Art? The choice is yours."

Oh, I'm so sure!

Adagio had gotten more than an inkling of where it would go if she refused, but thinking about it? She really did risk getting Aria and Sonata in trouble along with her too often, seeing as how they still defaulted to her lead even when she was just playing with people's heads for kicks. She sighed. "When do I start?"

Feeling like some measure of progress was made, Celestia smiled warmly. "The necessary papers should be sorted out over the weekend, so you're free to enjoy today and tomorrow."

Adagio nodded once, though she clearly wasn't happy with these developments. "Anything else?"

"Possibly." Losing her cheer, Celestia glanced to the doorway, where Filthy Rich had walked past Adagio not ten minutes ago. She'd heard what he said on the way out, and knew Adagio did too, likely along with everything that came in the minutes before. She looked at Adagio with a concerned frown.

She stared back, her face the picture of apathetic indifference. "What?

Celestia shook her head. If Zecora couldn't get anything out of this girl, she probably couldn't either. "Nothing, thank you for stopping by." It was as Adagio silently got up and walked out that she remembered something, quickly rising from her chair to call after her through the doorway. "Oh, and thank you for never pressing charges!"

Adagio turned on a heel, confused. "What?"

Nodding, Celestia offered an apologetic grin. "I never said anything, for that time you were-"

Tinting red as realization struck, Adagio hastily, dismissively waved a hand. "I told you, it's fine, that whole situation got blown completely out of proportion and I don't bear a grudge for what happened." So stop mentioning it already!!

Standing in the reception area, the two heard a quiet voice. "P-pressing charges?"

They turned to see Fluttershy standing in a corner, covered in pink frosting.

Adagio immediately slapped a hand over her own mouth, the first six things that sprang to mind not being acceptable in front of Celestia. Or any witness, really. Luckily, it may have just looked like ordinary surprise, because Celestia giggled a little.

"There was an accident in Home-Ec," she explained to Adagio, "her mother dropped off clean clothes just a short while ago." Then she turned to her icing-spattered student. "Nothing to worry about, Fluttershy. Have you been waiting long?"

Fluttershy shook her cute, delicious little head. "N-no, uhm... i-is there a changing room nearby, or...?"

Chuckling, Celestia moved to retrieve the bag of clothes waiting in her office closet. "I'll stand outside the nearest bathroom, if it makes you more comfortable. One moment."

This left a window of maybe ten seconds during which Adagio stood alone in a room with a frosting-covered Fluttershy. As the living cupcake had feared, Adagio grinned devilishly, eyeing her from head to toe while sloooowly licking her lips.

Just as Fluttershy was turning that perfect shade of red, her knees shaking, she opened her mouth. "Uhm-"

Adagio darted her head forward and snapped her teeth, just like she had the day Fluttershy brought orange slices, to roughly the same effect as her extra-tasty friend-target suppressed a gasp, quickly averting her eyes and taking up that adorable, knock-kneed stance with her arms held close to her chest. Satisfied (mostly), Adagio put the predatory look away, regaining her relaxed grin the second Celestia popped through the door with Fluttershy's change of clothes and a little note.

"Your mother also left a message. It says, 'Be sure to change into clean underwear too, okay? Love Mom.'" She looked up to see Fluttershy looking absolutely mortified, hiding her luminous face in both hands as Adagio, whom Celestia now remembered was still in the room, snickered behind her hand.

Oops! Sorry, Fluttershy...

Celestia and the most tempting way to spoil one's appetite left for the nearest restroom so the latter could get changed, leaving Adagio to head back to class. She'd have to ask what happened specifically that got Fluttershy covered in frosting, but hopefully it wouldn't be Sonata's fault this time. More-so as she wasn't even supposed to be in Home-Ec anymore. Regardless, the rest of sixth period passed without incident and, not particularly worried about getting called to the office again for this, Adagio held the door. She hadn't timed it, but everyone went ahead through maybe a few seconds faster this time, if only because most walked a little faster than normal to get out of the room. Everyone, Adagio noticed, except for Vinyl Scratch, who was still seated with her head propped up on one arm.

Taking a quick look around and finding the room to be empty apart from Vinyl and herself, Adagio smirked, pacing over to the girl that, while never having said two words to any of her group, was still directly involved with the destruction of their gems and the mutilation of their vocal cords. She leaned in front of Vinyl, pressing her hands flat on the desk and bending forward enough to leave her chest level with Vinyl's sunglasses. "Far be it that I should dictate this kind of thing, but shouldn't you be getting to your next class as well? Or," the predatory smile widened, Adagio's tone getting a little lower as she kept the space just under her neck directly in front of Vinyl's glasses, "has something caught your attention?"

She waited. No response. Vinyl didn't say anything, didn't look away, didn't turn red, didn't even move.

Adagio kept her smirk. "Shameless thing, aren't you? Well, you're more than welcome to stare, I'm-" She heard a little sound, like a very, very quiet gurgle coming from Vinyl. It sounded almost like a snore. Adagio snapped her fingers in front of the girl's face, getting no reaction. Swiping the glasses right off her quasi-enemy's face, she found that Vinyl's eyes were closed, fast asleep.

It would be another minute or two before students started filing into this room, or maybe much longer if there were no classes in here seventh period, but either way, there was more than enough time for a little mischief. It was as she pondered the fourth or fifth possibility that came to mind that Adagio found herself giving her dozy target another look. She was calm, quiet, a peaceful little smile on her face, just passing another boring day in school by getting a little rest. Adagio could sympathize, smiling a little herself. She gently replaced the sleeping girl's spectacles, the urge to wake her as abruptly and unpleasantly as possible gone as she silently moved away from the desk.

...On the other hand, there was no reason she couldn't do something nice for poor, sleepy Vinyl, was there?

She quickly tip-toed back, delicately lifted one of Vinyl's headphones, and released a warm, shuddering breath in her ear. Vinyl tensed just slightly, emitting a tiny sound as her cheeks flushed. Grinning wickedly, Adagio whispered, "Sweet dreams!" into her ear, gently replaced the headphone, and then quietly walked away, for real this time, heading out the door and to her next class. It wouldn't be her fault if Vinyl was late next period anyway, right?

Gym was a lot of fun today. As she knew she'd be essentially getting kicked out next week, Adagio held nothing back. She had let out borderline erotic groans during the warm-up stretches, winked at everyone that made eye-contact with her, issued sportsmanlike pats to the behinds of her (female) teammates in volleyball (the cutest reaction for that actually came from Sonata today), made it clear that they were more than welcome to do it back to her (one did!), extended the offer to the entire room (five did!), and of course made her usual running commentary on the physique of her peers. Only complimentary, of course! That Coach Iron Will just sat there ignoring her the whole time meant he probably knew what was going on and had opted to just wait out the last two days without a word to her. Spoilsport.

Still, she had a good time, so much so that she didn't even mind the usual wait outside the locker room in nothing but her tiny, purple Gym shorts, tight tank top, and dull, heelless shoes. It was actually something of a sad thought; that this was the least she seemed to be able to get away with wearing in school and that it would be the second to last time she wore it.

What is the deal, anyway? Hotpants and white shirts that essentially turn see-through once you've worked up a sweat are fine when half the room is dressed that way, but in a classroom it becomes indecent? It's just like the stupid swimsuit/underwear/nothing rules.

Not that it mattered. No pool in the world would ever match the breadth of the sea she used to know. Having found some surprisingly depressing thoughts to dwell on, Adagio was grateful to have her attention snatched by Aria poking her head through the door.

"Hey, everyone's done changing, you can come in now."

Walking in, Adagio immediately stripped her own top off, but the other girls just quickly filed past her and went straight out the door. She did get a few lingering glances, however, which always made her feel pleasantly warm inside!

Aria faced away from her as she changed. "So what's all this we're hearing about you holding doors and stuff? Just tryin' to get a look at people's asses when they go by?"

Having just taken her shorts off, Adagio glanced over her shoulder with a smirk. "No, if I wanted to do that, I'd, I don't know... just have them turn their backs to me?" She grinned wider as the side of Aria's face flushed crimson, her hands immediately tugging the back of her vest downward in a vain attempt at covering the curves plainly visible through her tight, tight pants.

She was saved by Sonata, calling from somewhere else in the locker room. "So what's up, Dagi?"

Pulling her tights up, Adagio shrugged, even while fully aware that neither of the girls she could openly be friends with were looking at her. "Just thought I'd give it a try, maybe show people the three of us can just be polite for its own sake if we feel like it."

Aria nodded a little. "Worth a shot. What about that little show in there?"

Adagio rolled her eyes. "That wasn't a 'show,' my shirt got stuck on the net. Besides, I looked it up and there's nothing obscene about the stomach."

"Not that, the way you were all..."

"Handsy!" called Sonata.

"Yea, that."

Sighing, Adagio finished dressing by pulling her vest on, brushing her hair outwards so that none of it remained caught in her clothes. "Suppose now's as good a time as any." That made Aria turn to face her, though Sonata was still out of sight. "Tomorrow is my last day in Gym, they're moving me to Art starting next week."

Sonata sounded like she just heard the cafeteria was out of pudding. "Aww, we can't play with balls together anymore?"

Aria firmly ignored that word choice, looking protectively irritable as she crossed her arms. It was a very Aria expression. "And what's that about? Why're they cutting us up even more?"

Frowning, Adagio wasn't sure what to tell them. Aria never liked that this was their only class together, but they guessed that those in charge figured it was the only one in which they wouldn't chat amongst themselves the whole period. As though the three of them utterly lacked the self-control not to. She shrugged. "Something about Art being 'better' for me, like how English was 'better' for Sonata."

"Age of Brownies. Just you wait, Canterlot... Just you wait..."

Adagio went on. "I'm not exactly thrilled, but I'll ask that neither of you raise a fuss about this. Going by my very recent experiences, we're still the bad guys here no matter what we do, so complaining about our treatment will only sound like we're planning to start trouble again, or an outright declaration of war." Granted, she couldn't blame people when they actually did act a little apathetic to the standards of this society, most of all herself, but the more scrutiny they got, the stronger the temptation to misbehave became. Vicious cycle.

"Tch," Aria all but spat, "Yea, don't worry, we all know the score by now." Glaring, but not wanting to glare at Adagio for this, she instead turned to Sonata's general direction. "Hey, what are you still doing over there anyway? Because if it's something that needs fuses, I'm gonna smack you!"

"It's noooot!" Sonata stepped around the corner with a slightly annoyed look on her face, but neither of her companions noticed that at the time so much as her attire. Aria's jaw dropped, Adagio's eyes widened, but neither said a word as they took in the sight of Sonata wearing a full set of matching, white, lacey bra, panties, stockings and a garter belt. Noticing that she and her fancy undies were noticed, Sonata beamed, posing with her hands on her hips. "I toldja I knew what to do with this funky crud!"

Adagio beamed with pride. "Good girl, Nata!!"

Turning red and looking away, Aria facepalmed. "You guys are so embarrassing."

The last class of the day passed without incident, so the Dazzlings met up in the foyer and headed home together, Adagio chuckling with delight every time someone turned their head to gaze at Sonata's sexy, stocking-clad thighs.

Aria shook her head. "Can't believe you wore that for the rest of the day."

Sonata pouted a little. "What?"

"Wearing that stringy, do-me-riffic stuff under your clothes? That's the kinda thing you'd do if you lost a bet."

Her eyes glinting with wicked glee, Sonata grinned impishly. "Really? You'd wear it if you lost a bet?"

Aria grew apprehensive, giving Sonata a cautious look. "N-ye-well, I mean..."

"Just under your clothes? It is underwear, y'know."

"It sounds like some kind of punishment, that's all I mean to say here."

Sonata was still grinning like she was about to spring a trap. "Then the next time we make a bet, I can set that as the condition if you lose?"

Aria looked like she was regretting this whole line of conversation as sweat trickled down her forehead. Amusing though it was, Adagio came to her rescue. "Leave her be, Nata, it'd be a waste of a bet anyway." She got two simultaneous 'huh's for this, which made her giggle. "Think it through. If Ria were to wear elegant undergarments with those pants, it wouldn't exactly be a... comfortable fit." She and Sonata took a few seconds to appreciate the look on Aria's face as she grew increasingly self-conscious. "So wearing them under her current attire is a no-go. She could conceal them entirely under our usual alternative, but then they'd be entirely concealed, which kind of nullifies the point."

"Sooo," Sonata offered, still grinning, "we'd need a second bet to get her to go somewhere in a miniskirt?"

Aria blanched.

"No, no, don't be ridiculous, we're talking about Ria here." Adagio waited until juuust the point where Aria's grateful smile reached its peak before giggling evilly. "We'd have to have her go out in nothing but the lingerie!"

The look of shock she got for that line was priceless. Aria then scowled and looked away. "Hate you both."

Adagio and Sonata both laughed, long enough that Aria hesitantly started giggling along with them. After about another minute of walking, Sonata was looking herself over. "We really could use a little changing up in the outfit department. I'd start wearing stuff from the costume closet to school, but we already got in trouble for that once."

Pouting a little at the memory, Adagio sighed. "I still don't see what the problem was, mine was specifically labeled 'Schoolgirl.'"

Neither Aria nor Sonata had the heart to say anything. But they did quietly giggle the rest of the way home.

A few hours of post-school kicking back and relaxing later, Adagio opted to try one of a few new things she'd been getting practice at since meeting Fluttershy; cooking! Specifically, she'd only been trying it for the last few days, the time in which their kitchen actually had a decent stock of food to cook with. Aria had proven fond of microwavable meals (as well as the microwave, but that was another story), Sonata generally liked anything she could just scarf right down, but Adagio wanted to try the more sophisticated route. Indeed, blending ingredients and heat with measurements and timing was almost like composing a song! A song she could stuff her face with after!

In theory, anyway.

Results were often mixed. As in, she might have been able to put what she cooked in a blender and it would make precisely as much difference, but she was getting better! Today's discolored bowl of steaming slop at least had distinctive flavors for the first few mouthfuls. Then she realized that those were just the things that floated to the top, possibly to escape that which sank to the depths. That was about all she could stomach before giving up for the day and eating a bowl of cereal followed by half a bag of grapes dropped leisurely into her own mouth while leaning back on a comfy chair, but there was always next time.

Walking out of the kitchen, she saw Sonata sitting at the bottom of the stairs and putting her shoes on. "Hey, Nata."

Sonata jumped, giving Adagio a wide-eyed, hand-in-the-cookie-barrel kind of look for just a split second before smiling. "Yea, hey, hi! What's up?"

Suppressing a reaction to that odd look, Adagio shrugged. "Nothing much. You done anything interesting recently?"

"Uh... Nah, not really."

"You haven't been playing with matches?"

Sonata rolled her eyes and groaned. "No, I haven't set anything on fire lately."

"And?"

"And I haven't put out fires that were supposed to be there." How the heck was she supposed to know what a Luau was, anyway?

"Good," Adagio chuckled, motioning to her most accident-prone friend's shoes, "going somewhere?"

Sonata briefly regained that flicker of panic. "Y-yea, to, a, place! And stuff."

Adagio glanced out the nearest window. "It's almost night time, where would you be going so late in the day?"

Sweating even a little bit wasn't making her look any less suspicious, nor the wide, nervous grin as she stood up. "Just, y'know... out?"

Raising one eyebrow, Adagio held her with an appraising look.

Going out in the evening, not saying where, that anxiety in her face? Ooh, la-la~!

Adagio showed only a friendly smile. "Well, have fun." She stepped forward to hug her, pausing for a fraction of a second to make sure she didn't do so in such a way that pinned Sonata's arms to her sides. "Be a good girl, stay out of trouble, and don't offer candy to strangers."

Hugging her back, Sonata giggled. "Gee, thanks, mom."

Smirking just a little, Adagio whispered into her ear. "I'll leave the door unlocked, alright?"

Sonata turned red. "Eh, r-right, thanks..."

Waiting until the front door was closed, Adagio waited four more seconds, drew her phone, and typed up a quick text message to Sonata.

[One last thing? Be sure to use protection! ;)]

Pressing SEND, Adagio pocketed her phone. "Three. Two. One." She heard Sonata's voice from outside.

"GYAH!!"

Adagio spent the next minute cackling triumphantly, only laughing harder when Sonata messaged her back with a series of angry, typo-ridden emoticons. Catching her breath, she found herself alone in the silence. She wasn't actually certain Sonata was going out to indulge in animalistic lust for a while, but even if she was, Sonata was a big girl and could take care of herself. At the very least, maybe she'd get up to something that would make for a funny story later?

Adagio shrugged. May as well see what Aria's up to. Pacing into the living room, she found Aria leaning back on the couch in front of the big-screen TV, a controller in her hands and a microphone-headphone combination gadget on her head. Those were useful for having a little extra fun with other players online, the Dazzlings had learned.

From the look of things, Aria was explaining something to a player named 'DoomPrism,' her usual co-op buddy when her fellow sirens weren't interested. "Oui," she said in a French accent, as was her preference for this sort of thing, "use TK on zat garbaj truck, hold eet in frahnt of you, zen hold ze sprint buttahn an' charge down ze street." The screen filled with calamity and explosions, Adagio hearing tinny, maniacal laughter from the other side of the connection as Aria smiled. "Oui, zat is quality chaos, well done, ami."

Leaning over the back of the couch, Adagio giggled, but kept her voice down. "Having fun?"

Aria nodded to her, not looking away from the screen. "Totally, you can really go nuts in this game. Wanna join in?"

Tinting pink, Adagio shook her head. "That's alright, I'll wait until you and Doom have worked out the highlights."

"Sure thing..." Aria waited until Adagio had pressed off the couch and turned to walk away before smirking. "Comrade Adagio." She didn't get to see their near-shameless leader blush, but hearing her tense up and freeze where she stood before continuing a little faster than before was every bit as satisfying.

Huffing silently as she turned a corner, Adagio shook her head.

I don't know how they ever talked me into joining that ridiculous little shtick.

Aria had worried about someone recognizing her voice and came up with Mademoiselle Aria to disguise it. Once Sonata got the idea of crudely imitating Photo Finish to hide her own, it wasn't long before both repeatedly urged Adagio to do something similar. It might have made her feel a little sexier, but there was really no sensible reason for her to spend all online interaction talking in a Russian accent.

Marching up the stairs, she'd shaken off the warmth in her face by the time she'd entered her room, flicking on the light and looking into a full-length mirror. She was briefly torn with indecision as to whether she wanted to stare into that one or the one on her vanity, but settled for the choice that came with a cushy stool to sit on. She only wanted to examine her face, anyway. Doing just that, she prioritized her eyes, particularly the eyeliner applied that morning.

Still there, just as it was!

She continued to stare at herself, slightly bothered by how her own eyes seemed to hold her, the dark rings she'd painted onto herself reminding her of some abyssal horror peering out from a deep trench.

You didn't wear make-up before.

Times change, I do a lot of things differently now.

But not for no reason.

Yes...

She sighed, tracing a finger very close to one eye, rubbing away a thin layer of the dark substance in a trail leading toward her temple. Then realization struck.

The eyeliner!! I'm an idiot! Of course everyone's more scared of me than ever, it's only in the last, what, week or two that I've been painting dark rings around my eyes?!

Slamming a fist against the vanity counter-top, she cursed herself for not realizing such a thing could even have an effect, for forgetting she'd even been wearing it through the day. Fluttershy didn't seem to mind, and if the squirmiest cutie she could find was alright with it, how could anyone else be afraid? It made more sense when she didn't think about it, at least not enough to remember that Fluttershy was no true coward, unlike Twilight's legion of stupid, spineless, self-righteous-

She wouldn't like you thinking that way. Not even because some of them are her friends, she'd just be worried about your mental health.

Sighing again, Adagio made the conscious effort to calm down. She wiped away another streak of eyeliner with a fingertip, this time in a line smearing down toward her cheek, and was reminded why she wore the stuff at all.

She wouldn't care, you know.

In the sense that it wouldn't bother her, but she'd still ask about it.

True. What are you going to do?

Nothing. I'll work something out, fix this myself, and it'll be like nothing was ever amiss.

Fine, maybe she never finds out and everything goes on as before. Then she can get sick of you for the regular reasons.

...

Well it wasn't like she could just not fluster Fluttershy, the girl was so bashful it barely took a wink to spike her heart-rate! It was all fun and games now, but sooner or later, be it weeks, months, or, if she was lucky, years from now, Fluttershy was sure to get sick of being someone's plaything, even to the ~~merciful~~ comparatively tame degree the game had reached. It wasn't even a matter of just watching words, and they'd specifically laid out rules that nobody should be acting as anything but themselves, that was the beauty of their friendship, that there was no need for a facade at all! Adagio loved talking to Fluttershy, loved playing with her, loved their small-talk, loved trading philosophy with her, loved making her squirm as much as making her smile, but she'd gone too far at least once and come close too many times more! Sooner later, it was going to be too much, Fluttershy would snap and shout at her, in that I-would-never-sic-a-squirrel-on-you way Adagio knew she could, she'd declare that she didn't deserve to be treated that way, and she'd be right!

No, wait...

She'd been following the rules as Fluttershy herself set them, hadn't she? Talking was fine, implication was fine, accusation was apparently not, kissing on the cheek was fine, hand-touching was fine, bottom-touching was not, etc. The only ways Adagio could find these limits was either to notice Fluttershy setting them by committing the specific actions, or by crossing them herself by accident, which brought the risk of upsetting Fluttershy. This returned her to the problem of a moment ago.

But, Fluttershy definitely likes me, she wouldn't have put up with me for so long otherwise, and she almost always looks happy to see me.

She turned to look at her heart-shaped bed, remembering when Fluttershy came in and sat with her. In a nurse outfit. And then nothing steamy happened. The fact that Fluttershy's interest was non-sexual just made it all the more frustrating and confusing.

MOSTLY non-sexual, I should say. I know she stares at my ass when I walk away. Everyone does, or at least tries to, that's kind of the idea.

Well, usually. It had been a little awkward the day she caught Sonata ogling her without a hint of denial, but at least it meant Sonata was honest with herself. And others. To an almost worrying degree. That in mind, Sonata probably really wasn't sneaking out to meet a lover tonight, or she'd have outright said so. Right?

Still, I know there's more to it with Fluttershy.

Why are you so worried about this anyway? Even if she pushes you away, you've still got people like Trixie to screw with to your heart's cont

No. I have other targets, I have other playmates, but apart from Aria and Sonata, I have no other friends.

...And how long before they get fed up with your salacious sense of humor too? What if Sonata really is out on a date tonight, an earnest attempt at a relationship, and you just made her nervous? What if that's what had her so evasive?

Adagio made the mental note to try to fluster her oldest companions a little less often.

Anyway, Fluttershy. She likes me, for more than my body, more than my voice, more than pure admiration, because cute little offering pose or not, she doesn't see me as an idol to be worshiped, which means she isn't just a thrall to be lavished by.

She hated this, having a fondness for someone, but total lack of control over them, making it a vulnerability. It was a weak spot, a tiny, soft, secret, precious, embarrassing, tender little weak spot that she didn't want to give up.

I'm sure there's a dirty joke in there somewhere, but she isn't around to hear it right now anyway.

Wiping off the rest of the eyeliner with an old shirt she'd never even worn, Adagio stood up, groggily paced the five steps to her bed, barely stopped herself from falling into it, and wavered indecisively for a minute before determining that undressing before sleep was probably a good idea. Stripped, she sprawled out on her bed, knowing that there was nothing more she could do about the Fluttershy situation than there was about their voices. The ones they lost under her command, no less. They'd all had a chance to cry that out during the time with Sunset Shimmer, but it didn't stop being true.

Shaking her head as the troublesome thoughts piled up, Adagio closed her eyes, waiting for the morning.

Eventually, she reached the point where she couldn't lie in bed any longer, certain even without turning to look at the un-set alarm clock on her bedside refrigerator that several hours had passed. She must have spent at least a few of them out cold, right? Dwelling on such troubling thoughts just before bed had not been a great idea. Feeling too stir-crazy to be still a second longer, she sat up, got dressed in another of her duplicate dance outfits (Sonata was right, we really could use new threads, if only to change it up a little more), moved over to her vanity, flicked on the lights surrounding the mirror, and sat down to apply today's layer of eyeliner. She'd considered adding lipstick many times, but she didn't like the way it could make anything she ate taste funny if she wasn't careful. Besides, Fluttershy would never live it down if she were caught with lipstick smeared on her face, neck, or clothing.

It's never exactly gone that far, but she's surprised me a few times now...

When it was done, she grinned a little, batting her eyes at herself and blowing a kiss. Standing up, she headed downstairs and got some coffee brewing. It was too early in the day to experiment with cooking, but cereal and milk were plentiful and tasty. And coffee.

To think, the residents of this world figured out a way to harness dark energy not in miniature incantation prisms, but in water!

It had almost made her take back what she'd said about their world being pathetic on the spot. By her third cup, she wondered if Aria and Sonata heated up and drank what she didn't when they eventually woke up, or if they just poured it on the curb in a weird, quasi-memorial service because she wasn't home at the time. She was pretty sure they both drank coffee, sometimes.

There was still an hour before Fluttershy was due to be at school, so Adagio headed to the living room, turned on the necessary machines, turned down the volume so as not to wake the girls upstairs, sat on the couch, picked up a controller, and tried to remember the instructions Aria had given DoomPrism. It took her about ten minutes of wandering around to find a large vehicle, but there was a kind of zen in just walking the virtual world, seeing the sights, appreciating them in all their digital splendor. It was nice when a game let her do that, just aimlessly tour the world map with nothing getting in the way or demanding she defend herself, just leaving her free to explore the nonexistent city at her own pace. Then she found a garbage truck.

"Telekinesis... hold it in front of you... get on the street... sprint."

She was rewarded with instant noise and explosions, fire and screams, rag-doll physics and death. She smiled. The only thing nicer than the peace of a big, open-world map was destroying that peace and making every living thing in her virtual playpen regret the day they were coded. Fluttershy wouldn't approve of how she chuckled darkly to herself as she pretended to wipe out scores of imaginary population, but what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her. Or stop Adagio from hurting hundreds of fake people.

KRAK-BOOOM!!

"Heeheeheeheeheeheeheehee..."

It was with more than a hint of hesitation that Adagio found herself walking down the street to CHS, but it would raise questions if she broke pattern again. Besides, it wasn't like she had anything better to do. Before she knew it, she was standing a considerable distance behind Fluttershy's bench, staring at the pink plume that first caught her eye, and before she could convince herself not to, she took a step forward. The sound of her spiked boots momentarily crushing the grass underfoot was louder to her than ever.

Will she be startled again today?

Crunch.

I try, I really do, but I can't help it when she zones out.

Crunch.

Does that make a difference to her?

Crunch.

If it keeps happening, it's just one more thing for her to get annoyed about.

Crunch.

I want to make her blush,

Crunch.

I want to make her squirm,

Crunch.

but I don't want her annoyed with me.

Crunch.

If she gets annoyed, she'll eventually push me away.

Crunch.

There'll be nothing I can do to get her back.

Crunch.

Her friends, my friends, would only encourage separation,

Crunch!

because I tease her,

Crunch!

because I torment her,

Crunch!

because even when I'm-

Crunch!

not trying to-

Crunch!

I always-

Crunchcrunch!

but, she never-

Crunchcrunch!

no matter what I-

Crunchcrunch!

because she-

Crunchcrunchcrunch!

but, I still-

Crunchcrunchcrunch!

Adagio slapped both hands on the back of the bench as she came to a stop, feeling oddly short of breath. "Fluttershy!!"

"EEP!"

I'm sorry! "I need to ask you something."

Her heart already beating much faster than normal, Fluttershy stared back at Adagio, the shock of the sudden appearance, the urgency in her face, and the sound of her own name from Adagio's lips spinning like an egg-beater in her head, denying more than a dumb nod in reply.

The siren's expression was firm, but her eyes were tinged with fear. "Do I bother you?"

"W...w-what?"

"Do I irritate you, am I an annoyance, do you ever wish I'd just leave you alone some mornings?" The corners of her mouth twitched as though she was trying to smile, "Because I can, I can go by whatever schedule you like, Hell, I could skip whole days if you'd be more comfor-"

Fluttershy held up a hand, her voice quiet, but eyes pleading. "Wait." Seeing Adagio's mouth close and some of the tension fall from her shoulders, she went on. "No, you aren't a bother. You definitely make me jump sometimes, and, I know you don't always mean to, but you do frighten me a little, and that's okay." Shock and confusion were never so prominent. Smiling a little, Fluttershy patted the seat on the bench next to her. "Sit with me, please?"

Gingerly, as though she'd momentarily forgotten how sitting was done, Adagio stepped around and took a seat, making a face like she'd done something wrong.

"At first, seeing you at all filled me with fear and worry, not knowing what you were thinking, not knowing what you going to do, but, when I understood that you meant no harm, I started to relax." Fluttershy smiled sheepishly. "I-I'll admit that I don't know if I ever completely relaxed, but before long, I actually, well... You remember that morning in the library?" Adagio nodded once. "I think that was when I was sure that you weren't just picking on me, because that was the first time you held back. Once I knew that, I knew we could be friends."

Holding a hand to her chin, Adagio tilted her head, making a variant of the analytical face. "The next day, that was when you proposed the deal, wasn't it? That we'd eat candy together if I didn't startle you? The one I've repeatedly broken by accident?"

Fluttershy frowned, but renewed her grin as an idea sprang to mind. "Then, maybe we could do something else? I like sharing with you, Adagio, and I know you can't help catching me off guard, so, why don't we just enjoy a treat together every morning? Or, if I bring something you don't like, we can just talk, talking is nice too!" She gently reached out to take Adagio's hand. "We can do that whether you startle me or not, just as long as you come by every morning! I won't say I'm never scared around you, but I'm not scared of you." Her smile turned warm and welcoming, hitting Adagio like a super-charged version of Celestia's best effort at the same expression. "I don't hate you, I never have. Please don't think otherwise. Okay?"

Adagio could feel tears welling in her eyes, but she mustered her will to keep an even voice and project only the utmost confidence as she closed her eyes, crossed her arms, and grinned haughtily. "R-right, well, that's exactly what I suspected. Mostly. Mostly what I expected."

Fluttershy didn't quite believe that, but hadn't stopped giving the benefit of the doubt. Besides, she kind of admired that prideful attitude, even if it made Adagio act a little silly sometimes. Even then, what was wrong with silly? Still, she felt like she needed to say something, leaning a little closer. "H-hey, Adagio?" Adagio turned back to face her, making that adorable little 'huh?' face. "I-I, uh, I was thinking, um, s-since you're here-"

Kiss me.

"I mean, when you're here,"

Kiss me.

She could feel herself heating up, Adagio looking back at her with a mildly perplexed, but patient expression. "k-kind of like right now, but-"

Kiss me!

"I-I mean, it d-doesn't necessarily have to be right now, but-"

Kiss me!

"well, now is fine too, so, um-"

Kiss me!

Her heart was hammering in her chest, Adagio just quietly staring back at her, not making a move. "I was j-just thinking, we, could-" Adagio's head tilted just barely enough to look like she was about to lean in for a lip-lock, triggering a short series of words and movements borne of panic. Fluttershy reached into her bag, grabbed the first thing her fingers touched, "wouldyoulikea-" and rapidly yanked it upwards, slapping Adagio in the face with a notebook.

Recoiling, Adagio held a hand to her cheek. "Ow!!"

Fluttershy internally screamed, needles of pure ice assailing her spine as she babbled incoherently. That ice extended to her heart when it looked like Adagio was glaring at her, thawing a little when it became a pained smirk.

"Very funny, Sweetie." The way Fluttershy quickly shook her head, getting that teary-eyed look when she stopped, only left Adagio confused.

"I, I didn't, it was an, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

Piecing together the most likely explanation in her head, Adagio started to giggle, letting her hand fall away from her slightly sore cheek. "I get it, Sweetie, it's alright." She smirked. "I know how it is, and don't worry, you're far from the only one who loses control of their body around me." Fluttershy let out a satisfying little squeak as she tinted pink, Adagio's evil grin growing as she scooted closer. "I mean, just the thought of touching me sends some people into a dreamy little daze. Sound like anyone you know?" The answer was apparent, but Fluttershy was still very much conscious. That or her eyes were rapidly tracing over Adagio's body of their own accord. Win-win!

Her hand darted out to seize Fluttershy's wrist, moving it to rest her hand flat on Adagio's thigh. The low, long whimper this drew as Fluttershy burned hot enough to roast marshmallows over made Adagio chuckle fiendishly, letting go and reaching out to lightly touch the trembling girl's chin and turn her head to force eye-contact. However, Adagio dropped the sadistic look in favor of a sympathetic one, her voice warm and gentle. "You're sure I don't bother you, Sweetie?"

Fluttershy blinked twice, but even through the blush, her brain recovered faster than she'd have dared dream. "I..." She smiled, making no effort to move away from Adagio even by an inch. "Y-yes, I'm sure!"

Her smile growing wider, Adagio made less of an effort to hide the shine of tears in her eyes this time. "That's all I wanted to hear." The two of them locked eyes, their faces already close, both at least a little red in the face. "Sweetie?"

Breathing was getting difficult. "Yes?" Adagio pointed downward, where Fluttershy's hand was still on her thigh. This made her tense up, unintentionally contracting her fingers, which immediately drew a wide-eyed look and a deeper blush from Adagio, who sucked in a breath through her nose as Fluttershy jerked backward, her own face (and hand) feeling unbearably hot. "S-S-SORRY!!"

The groped siren, however, just giggled, laughing a little harder by the second even as her face grew redder. Holding a hand over her mouth, she managed to contain herself before the high-pitched giggling phase was reached, but she was definitely smiling by the end of it. "As I was saying, hm?"

Fluttershy let out a nervous giggle, still flushed herself. This time, she was much calmer when she reached into the backpack, making sure she had a grip on the little bag before gently lifting it where Adagio could see. "Would you like a peanut butter cup?" Sudden memory. "N-no actual chunks of peanut in this, I promise!"

Adagio smiled, leaned over, and kissed Fluttershy on the cheek.

Author's Note

...Not yet, reader. Not quite yet.

I finally finished this just before going to sleep last night. Next chapter will be shorter. Maybe. Hopefully. Such is the plan. See you next week.

Chapter 19: Melty Bedroom Passes

"Darnit!"

THUD!

"Darnit!"

THUD!

"Darnit!"

THUD!

"Darnit!"

THUD!

"Darnit!"

THUD!

"Darnit!"

THUD!!

Stumbling away from the very sturdy wall in her bedroom, Fluttershy dizzily found and flopped down onto her bed, massaging her forehead.

I wonder if Rarity ever gets hurt in her... moments.

Well, in her own case, a little headache felt entirely deserved. This morning, that was it, that was her chance, she should have...!

Fluttershy let out a low, pitiful groan.

It made her heart sing that Adagio cared enough about her to ask, to completely drop her facade and directly pose the question of whether or not her teasing was too much, and it felt like they were having an important moment there on the bench, but, then, Fluttershy chickened out!

As usual.

Not now, please.

If you hadn't panicked again, you could have been enacting the ending to any of your favorite fantasy stories by now!

Give or take sailing over the horizon on flying mounts, fulfilled prophecies, and ethereal swords?

Don't be a smart-mouth in your own head!

Sorry.

It's okay. Anyway, yes, you're a wimp! She cares about you, so much that she's even afraid of scaring you away! That means it's up to YOU to show her she doesn't have to worry!

But I worry! I'll never be as bold as she is, I can't just-

And she doesn't want you to.

Oh, right!

Yes, she likes you just the way you are, remember? But that doesn't change that if you're ever going to win your fairytale ending, if you're ever going to kiss your fantasy-world girl, then-

Still lying on her bed, she sighed. "I have to take the first step."

And she would! Somehow. Some day. She'd skipped practicing the confident walk since the day Rainbow caught her in the gym, post-teasing, but maybe that had been a mistake? She was terrified of the thought that Rainbow might check in on her without warning after that, but it hadn't happened these last few days. She needed to keep practicing, if only for the feelings of strength and fortitude the walk gave her. She'd need them if she was ever going to work up her courage... And today had been the last school day of the week.

Shoot!

Was there anywhere else she could practice? Just a long stretch of flat ground away from prying eyes? There had to be somewhere, somewhere she could go alone and walk with swinging hips as much as she wanted, and she'd find it this weekend!

...

Starting tomorrow morning, it was already getting dark out. Until then, she reflected on today's talk with Adagio. Nothing really interesting happened after the peanut butter cups were offered, but at least Adagio liked them! Smiling, Fluttershy remembered the way those pearly teeth had chewed slowly, commenting on how the chocolate and peanut butter blended together, how one gave bulk to the other, the puzzled little face she made as she tried to determine the dominant flavor, and the uncertain expressions she showed when making her guess, as though hoping Fluttershy could confirm it for her. When she couldn't, they giggled together through another cup each. They left off with a kiss on the cheek each, Adagio having shakily kissed her first, looking just a little anxious until Fluttershy slapped herself awake to kiss back.

Was she afraid of overstepping her bounds even then, or does kissing just make her really nervous? Speaking of bounds...

That 'pressing charges' thing had been bugging Fluttershy since hearing it in the principal's office, more-so because it was Adagio that would have been pressing charges against the school. Not that she wanted it in reverse, but it wouldn't have been as surprising. Still, whatever had happened, Adagio didn't want to talk about it, so Fluttershy didn't press her, even after sharing her own reason for being in the office that day. The two of them agreed that Pinkie Pie and Sonata might find some common ground, at least in terms of affinity for making a mess of Home-Ec.

Anyway, she had two goals this weekend; finding a place to practice the walk in total privacy and working up the courage to kiss Adagio full on the mouth! That her hands shook and her face burned just at the thought of it wasn't a good sign...

Coming home Saturday evening, Fluttershy felt pretty good about herself. She'd determined that the best place she could get some practice for the walk was the roof of the animal shelter, because as long as she stayed away from the edges, nobody was likely to see her from below and there was more than enough space to strut like a siren. On top of that, she had developed a plan to kiss Adagio! It hit her while she was being nuzzled by a kitten whose bowl she'd just filled that if Adagio were about as intimidating as a fuzzy critter, as opposed to the tall, proud, confident wall of dominance she usually was, working up the courage to kiss her would be that much easier!

In short, all she had to do was make Adagio look cuter, and she already had a plan! Kind of. She would still need to be brave enough to try it, but it would be easier than just leaning in and stealing her lips. As ever, it was a good thing Fluttershy waited until she was alone to entertain these kinds of thoughts...

Monday morning. It was time. With at least an hour's worth of practice on Sunday alone, Fluttershy found herself doing the walk more for the feeling it gave her than to actually memorize how to do it. She was sure she could walk that way any time she wanted now, provided nobody was around! That might have actually been a bad thing, if she started doing it unconsciously, but she couldn't think about that right now. When Adagio arrived in her usual dance outfit, Fluttershy smiled at her, patting the seat on the bench next to her.

"Morning, Sweetie." Adagio sat down, smiling a little herself.

That her happy little smile, not her relaxed smirk, was getting more common filled Fluttershy with warm tingles, but she had to stay focused! "Good morning! I have two things to share with you today, if you don't mind."

Raising an eyebrow, Adagio chuckled. "Oh? What's the occasion?"

Fluttershy responded with a shrug and a sheepish little smile. "N-none, really."

"Well, alright then. What's item one?" Drawing a small, rectangular cardboard box from her book-bag, Fluttershy presented it in that Sacred Offering sort of way, the one that made Adagio increasingly uncertain as to whether or not she really needed to say something about it. Cute, though! Lifting the lid, Adagio found little, brown cubes resting on tiny napkins within the box. She made a guess. "You seem to have a thing for chocolate lately."

Grinning, Fluttershy picked up one of the cubes. "These are fudge, they're like, well, it's a little bit different from what you've seen so far. Try them!" She demonstrated that these fudge cubes could be popped straight into one's mouth without having to pick anything out of one's teeth, so Adagio did the same, chewing slowly.

And then came the analytical face! "It's... Good."

Fluttershy beamed. "I knew you'd think so!"

"Very good. Sweet, rich."

"Uh-huh."

"Smooth," she continued breathily, "creamy..."

Fluttershy started to blush. "Y-yea..."

"It's so thick, melting in my mouth, dripping and-..." Adagio smirked. "Something wrong, Sweetie?"

Fluttershy was looking away, but there was no hiding the heat in her face. "N-nothing, just, uh-"

"Waiting for your plan to come to fruition?"

SHE KNOWS?!

She whipped her head back toward Adagio, eyes practically bulging out of their sockets. "W-WHAT?!"

Adagio giggled at her. "My, my, quite the reaction there. Does that mean you are trying to bed me with chocolate?"

And then Fluttershy's brain stopped working. She stared blankly back. "...What?"

The amusement in Adagio's eyes faded to a sort of subdued curiosity. "Chocolate. You've brought it three days in a row, I think? After my comments on its qualities as a love-aid? So I thought... No?" Adagio couldn't help noticing just how pretty Fluttershy's hair was any time she shook her cute little head. The smooth curvature made her look so... graceful! "Alright, what is your plan?" In her usual, timid fashion, Fluttershy folded her hands in her lap, fidgeting as she looked at the floor. Ooh, it must be something juicy!

"W-well, I, uh, I-I was th-thinking, uhm... Y-you don't have to if you don't want to, I just, uh..." she gulped, very, very hesitantly met Adagio's eyes, and let out a low series of squeaks.

Lost, Adagio tilted her head. "I didn't quite catch that," she said without a hint of her usual playful grin, her voice as gentle as possible, "once more, please?" It may not have been enough, because Fluttershy was actually starting to sweat.

"C-could you... t-try something on f-for me?"

Now Adagio was blushing too. "If... i-if it's something I need to take my pants off for-"

"WHAT?!"

"Because I'm not saying 'no,' but-"

"I-IT'S NOT!!"

"Oh. Had to make sure. What is it?" That poor Fluttershy needed the better part of a minute to calm down only made Adagio want to know more. Good thing she knew how to be patient!

Reaching into her bag, Fluttershy tried to picture doing the walk in her mind. This wasn't going quite how she hoped, but progress was progress. She pulled out a long, shiny, purple ribbon, and held it where Adagio could see. "I was thinking you could use it to tie your hair up, instead of," the smile wavered with her confidence, but she pushed through, "the, uh, s-spiky, um..."

Absentmindedly touching the points of her spiked hairband, Adagio scrutinized the ribbon. "Just... use that instead?"

There was the smallest hint of desperation in Fluttershy's eyes. "Only for a minute, just to see how it looks? I mean, if you don't mind?"

Aww, that face~!

Tempting as it might have been to see if she could get Fluttershy to formally beg, it looked like this might have actually been kind of important to her, for whatever reason. Smiling, Adagio nodded, reaching back to hold her hair where her spiked band did with one hand and remove the accessory with the other. "Would you like to do the honors?"

All but beaming, Fluttershy nodded. She stood on her knees to reach the back of Adagio's head.

Now's the time! I just have to tie it right and... Oh, my.

Fluttershy had spent a good few hours thinking about this hair, but she'd never gotten her hands on it like this. It was soft, light, fluffy and huggable! The scent of mangoes drifted up as she stretched the ribbon around the area Adagio was holding for her, giving her a clue as to the exact hairstyle her favorite Dazzling wore. It was a little hard to be sure just looking at her normally, but up close, it was clear that Adagio's hair was done up in a massive, mega-ponytail, kind of like Sonata's if it were thicker and fluffier.

"How's it coming along, Sweetie?"

"A-almost done!"

"No rush..." With Fluttershy getting so close to her, Adagio definitely wasn't complaining about the view. There was an arsenal of comments to be fired about the proximity of her chest to Adagio's face, but that Fluttershy wasn't shaking at all or making that oh-please-don't-look-at-me pose said she hadn't noticed. Tragic waste, but again, this was apparently important to her. At the very least, Adagio would make sure she found out why.

"It's done!" Leaning back to sit on her legs, Fluttershy smiled. The ribbon now sat nestled in orange fluff, tied in a bow at a forty-five degree angle on the side of Adagio's head. The effect was every bit as adorable as Fluttershy had hoped it would be, more-so as the wearer made that inquisitive little face while glancing upward, as though trying to see the changes on her own head.

Adagio fished through her vest pockets for a compact mirror, using it to see the pretty little ribbon tied in her hair as she set the spiked band on the bench. "A bow?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Why?"

Fluttershy blinked once, lowering her head and showing a sheepish little smile. "I, just, wanted to see how it would look on you, if that's okay."

"I see. And," smirking, Adagio batted her eyes, "what do you think?"

Warmth intensified. "It's, v-very..." Still grinning like a dope, Fluttershy gulped. "...cute?"

The word added pink to Adagio's face, but her expression didn't change. "Cute?" She chuckled. "Well, thank you. Not really my style, but good to know it isn't a bad look for me." She closed the statement by poking the tip of her tongue out of her mouth and winking.

Glowing, it was all Fluttershy could do to resist wrapping her arms around Adagio and squeezing her until not a shred of dignity remained in either of them! However, that would not be conductive to a kiss... Which, now that she was thinking about it, wouldn't that be a little weird to just do? An affectionate peck on the cheek was one thing, but a full lip-lock undeniably held romantic connotatio-well, unless you were a siren. But, if neither of them were eating anything at the time, would there be any doubt? How would Adagio respond to that? What if it felt weird to her? What if she didn't feel the same way? But, the kisses on the cheek, didn't that mean-?

"Sweetie?" Adagio was smiling at her patiently. "Everything alright?"

No, nonononono, it's not alright, I'm not ready!!

Forcing a smile, Fluttershy fumbled for a sentence, spitting it out a little faster than necessary. "So, how was your weekend?"

And then Adagio tensed. It was faint, but as Fluttershy was focused entirely on her, she was sure of it. "Fine," she answered tersely, "one week into the next."

Her own expression slowly shifting into one of concern, Fluttershy felt a little sense of dread where the butterflies usually danced. "Adagio?"

She shrugged a hair too quickly for it to be natural. "What about you? Go frolicking in the woods or something?"

Fluttershy frowned. "You don't have to tell me, but if something is wrong, please don't keep it all to yourse-"

Starting to sweat, Adagio raised her hands placatingly. "No, no, nothing is wrong, really, I was just, uh..." Tell her, or she's going to spend the next week worrying about you for no reason. She sighed, cheeks tinting red. "I'll say right now that I'm not proud of what happened, but nobody is hurt, nobody is dying, and you don't have to worry, okay?"

Managing a tiny smile, Fluttershy gave her the benefit of the doubt. "Okay. So what happened?"

"Well... The three of us, Aria, Sonata, and I, got the idea to try online chat rooms..."

The Dazzlings had spent more time on the global human network since their voices were lost, and in that time, they'd heard about chat rooms. Some were about particular topics, some were connected to video streaming sites, some made Aria start clearing their browser history for sheer Euugh factor. One brand of virtual communication box they learned about included video, which made the three of them nostalgic for the days of Contact Pearls back home. Procuring a webcam and hooking it up accordingly, they found a video chat site and began their foray into digital-real-person-friend-making.

"Testing, testing, one-two-three, is this thing on?"

"Ugh, you would start this with a cliche."

"Focus girls, I think our first vict-err, friend is-"

-User Disconnected-

"Shoot."

"Why did you say victim, dammit?! We don't even do that stuff anymore!"

"It slipped!"

"It says we're connecting again."

"New prey!"

"Shh!"
"Shh!"

"Heeheehee!"

"Uh, hey there!"

"Hi!"
"Hey."
"Good evening."

"What're you three doing tonight?"

"Talking to you!"

There was a silence.

"Okay. Uh. What's up?"

"In what sense of the word?"

"Huh?"

"Seriously? I know you know what that question means."

"Yes, but this makes for less insipid conversation."

"Conversation is up!"

"Haha...What?"

"Up!"

"I guess if you consider how often the word 'what' can come up in the average verbal exchange, then yea, 'what' is, itself, up."

"I'm so proud of you!!"

"GAH, stop hugging me!!"

"And that's what's up!"

The next person they were connected to was a small boy that smiled, yelled something into a microphone that wasn't hooked up, and motorboated the screen. Not sure what to do with that, the Dazzlings shrugged and skipped to the next person. They were met with a woman in heavy make-up that made her vaguely resemble a cat, along with the fuzzy, felt cat ears and paw-gloves she wore.

"Who dat? Who dat on da scween? Hewwo der! Hewwo der on da scween!"

"Hi!"

"I don't even."

"Nice make-up, but I think you'll have to go a bit further if you want to get on those websites."

"Which ones are you tal-"

"NATA, NO!!"

Next was a normal-looking person, apparently asleep at the keyboard.

"Hello there."

"Hey!"

"Zzzzz...zzz..."

"Wake up! You're on the internet, you jerk!"

"Ooh, I have an idea!"

"Make passionate noises to give him a wet dream?"

"What?!"

"I know how the three of us can make it convincing..."

"Hell no!"

"Heeheehee."

"Actually, I was just gonna-SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"

Their chat partner immediately jumped up, spasming and flailing and knocking over the laptop.

"Hahaha, nice one!"

"Full points for projection, too!"

-User Disconnected-

"Aw, shoot."

"Nuts to that guy, that was funny."

"Yes, that'll teach him to try making friends in his sleep!"

"Yea, that arrogant jerk!"

"What?"

"I dunno. Next person!"

Another connection, another teenage boy with little restraint. "SHOW ME YOUR TITS!!"

"Okay."

Slowly, Adagio slipped her vest off, Sonata munching popcorn as she unzipped the back of her jumpsuit. She made sure she had the other user's full attention as she lightly tugged it downward, slower than she had with the vest, the thin layer of cloth just barely-

-You Have Disconnected-

"Oops. And he was juuust about to see them."

"Yes! Come to the Tease Side!"

"We have cookies!"

"Seriously?"

"Maybe, but you'll never actually get them!"

"Hahahahahahaha!"
"Heeheeheeheehee!"

The next user was dressed like a clown and waving a butcher knife in the air. Adagio stared at his thick make-up and puffy, blue hair for a long minute.

"Girls? I want to be a clown."

"OHGAWDNO!!"

-You Have Disconnected-

"I swear you've got a make-up fetish, Dagi."

The next user confused them, because there was nothing but a dark, silent screen before a hideous, shrieking demon face charged the camera.

"Woah, surprise buttface!"

"We can hear you, no need to scream."

"It's gone."

"It doesn't say it disconnected. You still there, freako?"

"Where'd ya go, Buttface?"

"That looked like a butt to you?"

"Kinda. Butt-ugly!"

"I don't like that you're implying that someone's butt can't be beautiful."

"Oh, geez, here we go."

"I immediately regret this decision."

"No, really, not only am I living proof of the contrary, but you two aren't poorly-built either~!"

-User Disconnected-

"I'll never get what it is with you and staring at asses."

"They're a big part of seduction!"

"Thank you, Nata!"

"Some bigger than others!"

"Yes, it's-... Thank you, Nata."

"Heeheehee!"

"She ain't wrong."

"Ah-ha!"

"Wai-no, I mean-"

So wrapped up were they in their discussion, the Dazzlings didn't notice when they were connected with an ordinary person.

"You've really never admired yourself in a mirror from every angle?"

"Stop."

"You must know what I'm talking about."

"No, as usual, I've got no idea what's wrong with your head."

"Other than dat fluff!"

"First of all, my fluff is something very right with my head. Second, I know you know what I mean, Ria. If you aren't showing off your finer points, why do you always wear such tight pants?"

"Guh, buh, I-I-"

"You're wearing them now."

"She's kinda got a point, Ria."

Aria clapped her hands over her ears and turned red. "I am not talking about this with you two again."

"Oh, c'mon, we were just kidding about the belt stuff."

"I wasn't~!"

"Yea, but I was hoping Ria didn't know that."

"'Belt stuff'?"

"Oh, hi there!"

"Good evening! How do you feel about skin-tight pants?"

-User Disconnected-

The next chat partner was a guy presenting his naked crotch to the camera. The Dazzlings tried to make conversation by offering observant commentary, but he quickly turned the camera away in shame, disconnecting a minute later.

It was something of a surprise when the trio connected with none other than Principal Celestia.

"Oh, hello there girls. How are you this evening?"

"Oh, we're just-Mmph?"

"FINE."

"...Why did you slap a hand over her mouth?"

"Hehe, she's probably worried Dagi'll say som-MMPH!"

"That one looked like it hurt."

"Just a little game we play, try it with your friends, gottagonowseeya!"

-You have Disconnected-

"...Sigh. Right. My friends."

Following a fat guy attempting to serenade them with a guitar and terrible audio quality on his microphone, the Dazzlings found themselves talking to that insane cat lady again.

"Ooh, you got fwuff! You got wuffly fwuff! You got wuffly fwuff on da hed! Who dat who got da fwuffy hed?"

"...I think it's talking to you, Dagi."

"I gathered. Ahem. Good evening once more, unconvincing anthromorph. My name is Adagio Dazzle, what is it you mean to ask of me?"

"Fwuffy-fwuffy-wuff-wuff! Pway wif kitty? Pway wif kitty fwuff?"

Adagio chuckled darkly. "I'm sorry, you want to play, kitty-cat?"

"Pway wif fwuffy!"

"Good. Turn around and lift your tail."

"..."

"I'm waiting."

-User Disconnected-

"Muahahahaha!"

"You're sick."

"Sick puppy puts down sick cat."

"...That was weirdly poetic, Nata."

"Thanks!"

Fluttershy was confused. "That doesn't sound so bad."

"It got worse when we took turns on our own. I'll skip to our most... memorable interactions..."

Aria volunteered to go first. Her most outstanding encounter was with a small band of young boys, none older than perhaps thirteen, that made a series of rude, vulgar gestures at the camera. Despite the general effect of what they were saying to her, it was clear within seconds that they did not earnestly intend to pick her up, because they were using entirely the wrong words and phrases. Smiling a little, Aria decided to enlighten them.

"Boys," she said gently, but with just enough volume to be heard over their juvenile come-ons, "I have something I'd like to tell you." To her slight surprise, they actually stopped to listen, though one had to be slapped upside the head before all were focused on Aria. She spoke with just a hint of a coo to her words, using the sort of inflection Adagio had taught her to employ when she wanted something, but lacked the force to immediately seize it. "I can see why looking at me would make you act that way, and I'm truly flattered. However, I don't think your feelings will come across to any girl this way. Do you know why?"

They shook their stupid, barely-pubescent heads.

Aria kept her tone and her face sweet. "Because the kind of people who like young men like yourselves hip-thrusting at the camera aren't pretty girls like me." She threw in a giggle. "Actually, I think most of them are older men. Older men with ugly coats that drive dirty vans. They'd love to have you! They'd take you places, in their vans. Like back home with them. To their shack. Or their basement. None of them will be fun places, y'know?" Keeping the warm smile was easy, because she relished every second of their mirth slipping away, shock and cold fear taking its place. "They'd do things to you, with chains, and hooks, and broken glass. If you're lucky they'll only put them in your mouths. That wouldn't be the real reason, though, because the thing they're really after, is what you were doing when you first saw me. Ohh, but they'd give you a reason to do those things, boys, just as sure as you gave a reason for them to do it. To you. On you. Through you."

Silence. Dead, beautiful silence.

Aria giggled again. "Now, if you want attention from a lady, you have to do something else; you have to show her respect. Treat people like people and they'll do the same for you. Treat people like pleasure toys and, well...?" She winked. "I hope you lock your doors. Got it?"

They nodded as one, the lesson learned. Or not. She couldn't have cared less as she moved to the next user.

"...Did you hug her after that, or...?"

"Without mercy."

Adagio ran into someone that reminded her of the 'Buttface' encounter, a man in a poorly-lit room apparently wearing something to the effect of a devil mask.

"I kNow WheRe yOu liVe," he bellowed in a distorted voice.

Smirking, Adagio took up a reclining pose. "Do you now?" In response to the name of the state she lived in appearing in the text chat, she let out a low chuckle. "That's still a lot of ground to cover to find little old me."

"CaaaaNteRlooooT."

She smiled a little wider. "Oooooh, done some homework, have we? Narrow it down a little more."

"CaN I coMe ovER?"

"Going to come looking for me?" She chuckled. "That's fine, I'm pretty recognizable."

"Can I ComE oVer?"

"That depends," she whispered while twirling a lock of hair around a finger, "are you bringing me a present?" There was no immediate reply, but Adagio kept her coquettish smile. "I'm not asking much, just something to make it worth the trip for you. You wouldn't want to come all the way to Canterlot just to feel like you've wasted your time, right?" She grinned wickedly. "Oh, and, keep the horned mask. I have plans. I'll be waiting in the park, bring a first-aid kit if you want to make it home in the mor-"

-User Disconnected-

Crossing her arms, Adagio huffed. "Damn tease."

Somewhere, a kettle stared indignantly at a pot.

"G-goodness! Were you really going to meet some complete stranger in the park to, t-to..."

"No, but are you seeing the pattern here?"

"Umm..."

"This next one should spell it out."

When it was Sonata's turn, she sat perfectly still when the other user connected. She stared at them, wide-eyed, unblinking, then giggled melodiously as they stared back her in perturbed silence. Sonata started laughing harder, then louder and crazier, twitching erratically as her voice got lower and lower, her entire body going into spasms as she gurgled, all but foaming at the mouth until she fell out of her chair.

After a long silence, her chat partner leaned in a little closer to the screen. "Uh... hello? You still ther-"

Sonata leapt up, quickly stuck her face in the camera to reveal her eyes were now pitch-black with tiny red circles for irises, and let out a blood-curdling shriek.

Sonata stood with her hands proudly on her hips as her fellow failures in online friend-making stared at her in perplexed, slightly judgmental silence. She beamed at them. "I'm not even sorry."

"From there," sighed Adagio, "it pretty much devolved into screwing with random people over the internet for all three of us. Only the next day did we remember that we were doing that at all because we were trying to make friends." She didn't dare look directly at Fluttershy for fear of the crushing, I'm-disappointed-in-you gaze she knew she'd get. Fluttershy was just that type. "A-at the time, I mean, it felt justified. If about a third of the people we met were just going to try to screw with us, or turn out to be complete lunatics, why shouldn't we have some fun too? So, the three of us spent the better part of the weekend just messing with some heads through a webcam." The trick where they made it look like Sonata's head had fallen off was a good example, but she wasn't about to say as much.

There was only silence. Once again, Adagio felt that little compulsion to turn and look Fluttershy in the eye, even knowing full well what would come with doing so. She tried to resist, tried to think of an excuse for her blatantly fiendish actions, but she knew those eyes would see right through her. With the suspicion that things would only be worse if she got up and left now, she gave in, bit her lower lip, and turned just enough to see Fluttershy giving her a kind of wry, but patient grin, like a parent looking at a toddler that just smeared their meal all over their own face.

"It's okay, Adagio."

"...Really?"

"Really."

Folding her arms, Adagio gave her a somewhat skeptical look. "It doesn't bother you at all that we spent the better part of that night having fun entirely at the expense of people who probably did nothing to deserve it? At least not to us, personally?"

Fluttershy smiled almost apologetically. "Well, I won't say I'm glad you scared or confused those people, but none of you meant any lasting harm, right?"

"Some of Sonata's methods made me wonder... But, well, no, not really."

"Would you say it was all in good fun?"

"Not for our victims." Fluttershy was giving her a weird smile. "What?"

She giggled. "Pinkie and Rainbow do things like that too, sometimes, play pranks on people? Most of the time, the recipients laugh too, even if not right away."

"...So painting regular eyes over our eyelids to make it look like we're not blinking, then opening them to reveal bright-red, monstrous contacts, all fun and games?"

"W-well, I'm sure there's a line somewhere, but..." Fluttershy shrugged. "As long as nobody is hurt, I think you don't have to worry." She frowned a little. "Though, it's still not very nice."

"Right, well..." Adagio stood up, stretching a little, her face and tone betraying more than a hint of what may have been regret. "I'll, try not to... do that, as often. At least not when people don't clearly deserve it. See you around, Sweetie." She turned and walked away.

Watching her go, Fluttershy wasn't sure what to make of her reaction to her own behavior. Was she ashamed to have scared people for her own amusement, or only because, in hindsight, those people hadn't shown that they were afraid of her first? Did that validate it in her mind? Was that why she teased people all along?

Rarity said there was no pattern to those she played with, but maybe it's not random after all. She didn't tease me when we first met until-

Her thoughts were halted when Adagio came charging back, her face crimson. She stopped just in front of the bench, quickly taking off the ribbon. "S-sorry, forgot, I didn't mean to walk off with it!"

Blinking twice, Fluttershy looked to her side to find the spiked hairband still on the bench, where Adagio had left it. "Oh, that's okay," she said while giving Adagio a little smile, "I was thinking you could keep it!"

Unfortunately, Adagio had already taken the bow out of her hair, allowing it to collectively hang down a few inches lower in long, curly tendrils. "Oh." She looked down at the ribbon in her hand, making an uncertain expression. "I, well... Thank you, Sweetie."

Handing Adagio her usual accessory, Fluttershy smiled warmly, a little tingle working its way through her heart. "You're welcome."

Still a little flushed, Adagio quickly pocketed the ribbon, re-set her hair in its usual style, and turned away. "Alright, see you, again, see you again, bye!"

Nearly stomping by the time she was out of sight, Adagio cursed herself.

Urrgh! Cute, she calls you cute ONCE and you start bumbling like that cross-eyed girl!

She took a quick breath.

You are Adagio Dazzle, leader of the sirens, lead singer of the Dazzli-... Ouch. Well, leader of the sirens! Cute is for smaller, weaker creatures than yourself, cute is not your style, and it never will be!

Smiling a little at her own reassurance, Adagio regained her normal, confident exterior... but it was unfortunate having a gift she'd never use. Still, it was the thought that counted, right?

Back on the bench, Fluttershy smiled a little, glad that Adagio liked the bow enough to not take it off right away.

Now, where was I? Thinking Adagio doesn't fluster people until they make themselves look like targets? She didn't tease me until seeing how I reacted to the lollipop, because I thought it was kind of like a ki-

Fluttershy slapped both hands to her head, pulling at her hair.

"DARNIT!!"

Author's Note

I get the feeling my 'teasing' is becoming a meme with this story. Trying not to encourage it.

Vague visual aid for Adagio wearing a bow and sticking her tongue out. (Warning: Cutest pony fan art I've ever seen. Not hyperbole.)

I think I've found Sonata's evil calling; Internet Troll! I don't know if it'll come up in the story, but she still does the webcam games on her own, if you're wondering.

Green text does not signify any particular character, I was using it because ordinary black text for speech alongside colored dialogue looks off.

Also, I apologize if anyone was genuinely frightened if they clicked the link, but what did you expect from a link labeled 'blood-curdling shriek'? :rainbowhuh:

Chapter 20: Eye Candy

It might have worked, it really might have worked.

There she had been, sitting close on a bench with the object of her affection and the reason her diary entries were all a few pages longer these days, Adagio looking cute as a sleeping puppy as she wore the bow in place of her usual spikes, and both of them had just had fudge!

Note to self: would she be even cuter with bows in place of the spikes on her heels, too? Wrapped tight around the underside of the arch, or just around the ankles?

There would be time for a thoughtful diary entry later. For now; according to the magazines she'd sometimes skimmed through during spa visits with Rarity, the standard convention was some kind of breath freshener, but there would be no mercy in the teasing if Adagio caught her doing that. Tasting like fudge was fine too, right? Well, it would have been, but...

Fluttersigh.

She rested her head on the lunch table, defeated by her own fear and hesitation yet again.

Noticing this, Applejack smiled a little and patted her on the shoulder. "Buck up, Sugarcube, Monday ain't that bad."

"Nah," dissented Rainbow, her head propped up by an arm on the table, "I'm with her, Monday bites."

Pinkie giggled. "That's because you were up late playing games again!"

Rainbow managed a smirk. "S'worth it. Eight hours. Capture the- no, blow up the, or, eliminate the..." She thudded her knuckles against her own head. "I'unno, but it was fun."

Shaking her head, Sunset managed a little smile. "Sleep is important, y'know, especially for your brain."

"You would know that, Brainiac!"

Even Fluttershy found herself joining in on the giggles, which made it all the stranger that Rarity wasn't. The group looked at her, a little concerned.

Applejack straightened her hat. "You okay, Rare?"

Rarity was leaning on the table not unlike Rainbow, massaging a temple with her middle and index fingers. "Oh, fine, yes, just... had a little trouble with the fireplace."

Rainbow snorted. "You still use a fireplace?"

"Oooh," Pinkie chimed in, grinning brighty, "were you roasting marshmallows?!"

There was a pause as Rarity gave both of them a wry grin. "Yes. Yes, I was roasting marshmallows." She made a point of tasting the fingertips of one hand one at a time, the table bursting into gigglefits when she was finished.

Mr. Magnet was as lively as ever today. He was a purple-skinned man with wild, orange hair, twirling in the center of the room, which made the colors of his long-sleeved, tie-dye shirt whirl into a blur of color. "Heeeeeel-lo, class!" He stopped and struck a pose that reminded Fluttershy of many a dashing, fairytale prince, if they'd been half as enthusiastic as Mr. Magnet. His black pants and pointed shoes vaguely helped the image, too. "How is everybody doing today?" He got the usual nods and murmurs, which momentarily drew a distressed pout. Perking up again, he gave one side of his long moustache a quick twirl. "Boys and girls, you've really got to liven up a little! This isn't Math or History, this is Art, where we're all free to express ourselves to the fullest extent paint and paper can grant us! Or in today's case, paper and graphite!"

Fluttershy liked sketching days. Her drawings never made her want to visit the graves of famous artists to formally apologize.

"Before we begin, though, I'd like to introduce you all to a new student!" He hollered to the door. "Come on in, Dearie!"

Opening the door, Adagio walked in, a hand on her hip and her usual laid-back smirk on her face. As she slowly scanned her future playmates, she only saw a few she recognized. There was Photo Finish, Lyra Heartstrings, Flash Sentry's band-mate Ringo... and two of the Rainbooms; Applejack and Fluttershy. She couldn't have prevented the wide, devilish smile if she wanted to, opening with a low chuckle that made half the room shudder, most of all her Sweetie. Looking them over, she made sure not to let her eyes settle on anyone in particular. "Good afternoon, everyone. No need for introductions, I'm sure all of you know me, and I'll get to know you very soon..."

Mr. Magnet clasped his hands together, smiling brightly. "That's the spirit!"

Applejack leaned over to whisper to Fluttershy, worry clear in her face. "This should be int'resting..."

Yes, thought Fluttershy, interesting is a very good word for your secret crush transferring into one of your classes. Your secret, flirty, near-shameless, still-kind-of-evil crush, that you haven't even told your closest friends about.

For once, the rational part of Fluttershy's brain made itself heard before panic set in. But, Adagio has been making the effort not to embarrass me in public, right? At least not around witnesses? She wouldn't tease me here then, right? I just have to stay calm... She must have zoned out for longer than she'd thought, because everyone started arranging their chairs and the drawing stands in a semicircle, which she quickly got up to join while Mr. Magnet pushed a long, asymmetrical sofa not unlike Rarity's fainting couch into the center of the room. He only did this when they were all going to sketch the same thing, but-

"Allllright, then!" Mr. Magnet kept his enthusiasm as he indicated Adagio. "As supplies for one more artiste aren't quite ready yet, Little Miss Dazzle has agreed to be our model for today!" Neither he nor anyone else in the room noticed the split second in which Fluttershy's jaw dropped. "Please, kick back, relax, and let the warm, peaceful energy of loving creativity flow into you like a spring breeze!"

Casually tossing her hair, Adagio smiled and approached the couch in the center of the room. "Certainly, thank you." When Magnet asked if she had a sketchbook (Different from a notebook somehow?) and a few different kinds of pencil ready, she'd been worried this would get embarrassing for her, but it looked like he had a back-up plan. That, or his stream of compliments a moment ago had been entirely genuine and he honestly thought of the right to draw her as a good opportunity for the class. Either way, she wasn't about to turn down a chance to be admired for a while.

Gingerly reclining length-wise on the couch, she rested her head atop her folded arms on the armrest (obviously) and let her boots just barely hang over the edge on the opposite side. She decided that having one leg slightly bent wouldn't look too much like she was going for a sensual pose. Settling into her chosen position, she smiled a little, this thing was actually pretty comfy!

Magnet spoke up again. "Now remember, those noisy bells won't disturb us in here, but I'll be keeping time and let you all know when to wrap up. Ready aaaaaand, start!"

Fluttershy, sitting effectively in the middle of the semicircle of desks, felt like she was right in front of Adagio, though she tried to position her stand so as to block eye-contact. That would make things difficult when it came time to draw Adagio's face, but if she got flustered in the middle of class, she was doomed.

But, still, she didn't want to risk Adagio thinking she was ignoring her, either. In a manner perfectly befitting someone that was still getting their bearings on the subject of a sketch, Fluttershy peeked around the stand holding the paper she'd be drawing on to see Adagio's face. She was looking straight at her with a devious little smirk, as if to say 'I knew you'd look. Couldn't keep your eyes off me, could you?' This, of course, made Fluttershy immediately duck behind her stand again, doing what she could to take refuge in her hair as well.

"Land sakes," whispered Applejack, sitting next to her, "just gettin' that wild mane'a hers down is gonna be a challenge."

Fluttershy didn't say anything in reply, but she did get to work, starting with what she could see of Adagio's boots and opting to work up from there, hoping to focus on the lower body until Adagio wasn't looking at her as much.

NOT that she meant to focus on Adagio's lower body because she wanted to or anything, just, in this situation, it was best that she, because, her face was-

Hesitantly allowing herself another peek, Fluttershy at least confirmed that she shouldn't have done that when Adagio made the faintest little motion with her lips, almost as if she were blowing a kiss. Feeling about a hundred degrees warmer, Fluttershy suppressed a squeak and earnestly tried to focus on the shapes of Adagio's boots.

The way she was lying down, the spiky parts weren't visible to Fluttershy, so she wouldn't have to worry about drawing those provided Adagio stayed still. Which, she was doing a good job so far! But, still, this whole situation was embarrassing! Mr. Magnet was quietly pacing around the room, so softly you wouldn't even know he was there as he observed individual sketches for a moment at a time, and, she knew, all of those sketches were of Adagio! It was a weird and irrational feeling, but somehow, it felt like everyone could see something secret, something she didn't want them to, as if Fluttershy were lifting her own skirt in a crowded area.

...That was kind of a weird comparison to make, you know.

Doing her best to dislodge the thought while redoubling the effort to hide in her own hair, she tried to focus on drawing. Before long, she found herself gently tracing the long, smooth curves of Adagio's muscular legs. A little while after that, she figured it might be okay to move on from the long, smooth curves of Adagio's muscular legs. It was while finishing up the little insignia on her thigh, the point where her tights were swallowed by the legs of her jumpsuit, that Fluttershy realized she was hardly looking at her model to do this. Glancing up to make sure she was drawing her right, Fluttershy found her sketch to be very, very close to the genuine article.

Have I spent so much time staring at Adagio that I already have a near-perfect image of her?

Moving slowly up her body as she drew, Fluttershy was soon faced with no way to draw the exact positions of her arms without being able to see her head, and consequently, her face. She peeked, Adagio's red-violet, half-lidded eyes on her a second later.

And now she's batting them at me!!

Her heart rate was picking up again, but it would stand out if Fluttershy only drew the lower two thirds of Adagio's body. It would stand out in a really, really bad way. So, she tried to focus, to quickly outline the hair and shade the enclosed area appropriately. She had to double-check a few times (septuple-check?) to make sure she was getting the highlights right, and the exact positions of the siren's visible fingers. It looked like Adagio hadn't moved a muscle since the sketching had started, which at least made things easier. It was just as Fluttershy was shading the poofy shoulders on Adagio's vest that she heard Lyra quietly speaking from a few seats over.

"Hey... Hey, guys? I think she's out cold."

Everyone stopped drawing to take a good look at their subject. Adagio was lying where she'd been the whole time, head on her folded arms, eyes closed, and a serene, happy little smile on her face, just like the one she made after falling asleep when she'd been sick. Fluttershy smiled too, tickled that Adagio could still be really cute even without a bow. Most of the class apparently agreed, judging by the quiet sentiment delivered in unison.

"Aww..."

Mr. Magnet wiped a tear from his eye. "Look at that, cherubs, someone that feels so safe and soothed by the arts that she can drift off to dream land! Please, let's all stay hush-hush and let the little angel rest while we finish up these sketches."

There were some quiet giggles at the notion of any of the Dazzlings being identified as an 'angel,' but everyone kept their voices down.

"Oh, wow..."
"She looks so... normal..."
"De magicks..."
"Like a big, fluffy baby..."
"A big, fluffy baby with donk!"
"Shh!"

Looking at Applejack, Fluttershy saw her shaking her head a little and smiling. "Never quits bein' a li'l weird, huh? Seein' someone go from magical mega-maniac to dozin' all peaceful like?"

It was, indeed, just a little weird the first time the group saw Sunset peacefully asleep at a slumber party, exactly like Adagio was now. There had been a group 'Aww' then, too, and it was Fluttershy's favorite kind of weird! Picking up where she left off without fear of public bedroom eyes, she drew the rest of the model in peace, giving special attention to the dreamy little expression that flirty, evil, seductive, adorable face now formed.

With class winding down, Mr. Magnet indicated that it was time to wrap up. Everyone kept mostly quiet as they put things away, but no one really looked certain what to do about the sleeping siren in the middle of the room. Fluttershy jumped when Mr. Magnet tapped her on the shoulder. "'Scuze me, Fluttershy, but I've gotta make a quick stop by Luna's office, do you think you could rouse our muse for her next class? I ask because you of all people are the least likely to give anybody a rude awakening, you know?"

Fluttershy nodded a little. She didn't want Adagio to get in trouble again, least of all for taking a nap. Waiting until Mr. Magnet and everyone else was out of the room, she approached the couch, very gently reached out to touch Adagio's shoulder, and gave her a little shake.

No response.

"Adagio?"

Still no response.

She shook her just the teeniest bit harder, leaning in closer to whisper into the hair by Adagio's ear. "Adagi-" Adagio stirred, making Fluttershy hop backward.

One red-violet eye opened and a tiny smirk formed. "Mmph. Sweetie? Was just thinking about you..."

As ever, Fluttershy flushed crimson. "Uh, th-that's n-nice, um, it's t-time for the next class, so-"

Adagio sat up, looking around somewhat blearily. Just Woke Up was another new expression to cherish. "...Class is over? Did art happen?"

"Yes, and, kind of?"

"Kind of?" She smirked. "Wait, you drew me while I was sleeping?"

Once again, Fluttershy lit up like a human stove, gesturing every which way in the hopes of somehow pointing to a perfectly reasonable explanation for having done that. "I, buh, it, we, I, the, w-well, w-we-"

Giggling, Adagio got to her feet and stretched a little. "Actually, we can probably talk about it later, catch you tomorrow?"

Despite her flustered state, Fluttershy didn't really want to be late either (if only for the whole class' worth of attention it draws). She smiled shakily. "Um... S-sure!" Turning to head out, she took two steps before being seized from behind, Adagio's arms gently wrapping around her. This drew a burning, luminous blush as she tried to turn her head. "Uh-huhm... Ad-dagio? W-why are you... h-hugging me l-like..." the last word was barely a squeak, "this?"

She felt warm breath on her ear, but strangely, Adagio's tone wasn't seductive so much as it was soft, tender, even affectionate. "Just felt like it. Do I need a reason?"

Fluttershy was shaking, both for the first reason, and for the implications of that sentiment. "W-w-well, n-no, but, uhm-"

Adagio audibly frowned. "You don't like this."

"It's, uh, n-not that I, I mean, it's just that, um..." She gulped. "You'retouchingmybreast!"

Paying close attention to where her hands were now, Adagio held very still. "Oh. Sorry."

Despite her racing heart as the stray hand fell away, Fluttershy managed a goofy grin. "Don't worry about it." Just before she was let go, she turned to kiss Adagio on the cheek, drawing a rosy blush and a shy little smile.

Stepping back, Adagio narrowly avoided eye-contact. "So, I'll, see you tomorrow, then. Twice." She looked directly at Fluttershy just long enough to wink, "Bye now!" and walked out, hips swinging a little faster than usual as she performed the confident walk at top speed.

If Fluttershy was lucky, it would look like her face was still red because she had just jogged to the next class.

A minute later, the Art room was entirely empty. Mr. Magnet popped his head in through the doorway. "Is she awa-... Oh. Guess that answers that." Walking in, he saw that one of the stands still had a picture on it. What he saw made him smile. It wasn't signed, wasn't labeled, but going by its position in the room, he was almost certain the sketch was Fluttershy's. He looked to the doorway. "Hm. Well, if she left it here, I suppose it couldn't have been dearly important to her. Still, it's a shame to just forget about such a nice picture..."

And then he had an idea.

That night, Fluttershy had a secret research mission. Well, technically it was just pouring over her little collection of fantasy novels, carefully examining the feel and context of the hero's first kiss with the love interest in every example, but it was still research conducted secretly! She paid particular attention to the one with the dark spirit that came around to see that there was more than pain in the world when she felt loved for the first time.

I know these aren't much of a substitute for actual romantic advice, but there's no one I can really talk to about it.

It wasn't for lack of trust, just that even vaguely implying she knew someone who might have wanted a little help working up the courage to initiate a kiss could snowball out of control and wind up the same as shouting 'I have a crush on Adagio Dazzle' in the streets. She glanced at her diary, lying on her bedside table. It didn't need to be open to remind her that there were at least two full pages worth of those words written over and over again, among other things. It was almost as if she was practicing writing that sentence as much as she was practicing the walk in the gym and on the roof of the animal shelter.

She returned to her studying, making notes for every romantic scene, most of all the kisses. From the look of things, the typical fantasy kiss just happened either after an action sequence in which the lovers survive by the skin of their teeth (not really a factor for her and Adagio, at least she dearly hoped not), or moments that just seem to feel right, like the kiss happens on its own. That was what she would have to do, she guessed, just ~~relax~~ ~~calm down~~ try to keep a level head around Adagio and wait for the moment. Part 2 of that plan was to not choke when the moment came around again. If the moment ca-

No, it WILL come, you can't keep letting fear win! There will be another moment like last Friday, you'll recognize and seize that moment, and then you'll kiss her on the lips for reasons that have nothing to do with sharing food of any kind!

"..."

For a minute, it felt like the world was dead silent. Shifting the pages of the nearest book helped to restore noise to things.

It will come. I didn't even think about kissing her on the cheek today, right? Like Adagio's accidentally-kinda-gropey hug, I just felt like it and it kind of happened. Is it supposed to be that easy? And, even if it is, what will she do?

Fluttershy might have been more confident now than through most of her life, but she was still terrified of what might come after the kiss, how Adagio might respond, whether or not she really felt the same, and something in her head saying that everything they had together could come to a screeching halt. That in mind? She didn't need her stories to know that if she didn't at least take the chance, she'd regret it forever. She would take that chance, there was no doubt in her mind that she wanted that kiss, and everything that came with it.

...Seriously, I don't know how much longer I can take this kind of tension!

Author's Note

The Fluttersigh! Is it as funny the second time? You tell me. Really. Talk or I will shine a lamp on you.

Alternate title: "I Know There Was This Movie About a Boat, But My Crew Had Nothing To Do With It!"

Chapter 21: Suckable, Tangy, Glass Slabs

The following morning, Fluttershy quickly reviewed her battle plan; just act natural and let the moment come on its own. She'd smile, share the day's treat, talk, and see where things went from there. Simple!

Before long, Adagio (wearing her jeans and hoodie today) arrived and sat beside her on the bench. "Morning, Sweetie."

"Good morning! Have you ever had Joyful Rangers before?"

Adagio blinked twice. "Have I...? Are you asking if I've made troopers very happy before?"

"W-what?!"

"Because I know that one's a bit of a stretch, but that's the only way I can think of that 'having a joyful ranger' makes any sen-"

Fluttershy was holding the treats where Adagio could see in the blink of an eye. "J-just this!!"

"Oh." She tilted her head to read the label on the long, thin, flat wrappers, under which was presumably the aforementioned candy. 'Joyful Rangers,' it indeed said. With a wacky, bulbous, slightly curved exclamation point. She hesitantly seized one for herself, trying to remember what she did to remove this kind of flappy-plastic-ended wrapper last time. Luckily, Fluttershy demonstrated.

"I should probably warn you, these are meant to melt slowly in your mouth. If you bite into them hard enough, they break like glass, and might even cut the inside of your mouth a little." That had never happened to her, but Pinkie was very clear in her warning.

Nodding a little, Adagio peeled the wrapper off, took one look at the big, red thing, and smirked viciously, even for her. "Sweetie?"

Ohh, no, what's wrong with these? "Y-yes?"

"You're just screwing with me now."

The accusation drew a wide-eyed look of alarm. "WHAT?!"

Adagio gestured to the Ranger, her evil grin no weaker. "A thin, shiny, flat piece of candy is nothing out of the ordinary as far as these things go. However, that it is also a long, hard, smooth thing-"

"EEK!!" Fluttershy quickly turned as red as the treat itself.

"-that you're specifically not supposed to chew on-"

"OkayIgetitpleasestop-"

"-you'd be eroding it away by stroking it with your tongue-"

"Ididn'tmeanto-Ijustpickedsomethingupand-"

"-which essentially means we'll be sucking on-"

There was only a long, strained scream-groan-squeak, all coming out as one tortured syllable as Fluttershy fell on her side.

Giggling evilly, Adagio thought about leaning over her and delivering a coup de grace, but the memory of this conversation would likely follow Fluttershy every time she raised a vaguely phallic object to her mouth for the rest of her life. And if it didn't, she wanted to be able to be there to reinforce those thoughts. For learning's sake! While waiting for her to recover, Adagio put the thing in her mouth, resisting temptation to make loud slurping noises.

"Ooh..."

The flavor of the thing was... intense! Not exactly forceful in its cherryness, but it just felt magnified compared to the lollipop from a few weeks ago. Perhaps there was a higher concentration of something in this shiny substance, or maybe Fluttershy had already drained the intensity out of the sucker that time, but this felt like she was tasting more at once. The thing seemed to melt slowly, much slower than chocolate, feeding her an acidic (citrus?) fluid throughout. Meaning to share these observations, she looked over at Fluttershy and was startled to see her sitting up, and a little closer, looking at her with a big, happy smile. "Eh... Hi. Welcome back."

She would never get tired of the analytical face! "Do you like it?"

Adagio nodded. "Quite different from what I've seen so far, but not bad at all. I wonder..." She bit down. Harder. And harder.

Fluttershy noticed, worry clear in her expression. "Oh, uh, p-please be careful, it could really-"

CRUNCH!

Her mouth full of pointy little fragments, Adagio didn't speak. She was able to feel the little jabs in her gums, but they were harmless as long as she didn't move her jaw or tongue. Sweetie's still giving me a really concerned look, but making it clear I'm not in any pain should help. Feeling the tiny pieces of shattered Freudian theory melting already, at a faster rate now that more surface area was exposed, she smiled amicably, not saying a word until everything in her mouth was liquid. "Ta-daaa!"

Breathing a sigh of relief, Fluttershy frowned a little. "Please don't scare me like that."

Adagio raised an eyebrow. "You were really worried I'd be hurt by candy?"

"It could happen, people choke on food all the time, and when that food is tiny, sharp-" Her hair was ruffled. Adagio was happy-smiling at her.

"I'll be careful. Promise." With Fluttershy smiling back at her, they enjoyed the Rangers in silence, and with only a minimum of suggestive facial expressions from Adagio.

A little after they were finished, the two got into discussing a recent deviation in Adagio's behavior. Specifically, that she was seen standing behind people, holding open doors, and letting people go ahead of her very often.

Adagio rolled her eyes, smirking a little. "Knew you would ask eventually. Yes, I'm giving this a go just for a change of pace, trying it on for size." It isn't a complete lie if you don't disclose the whole reason, right?

Fluttershy nodded, smiling that precious someone-is-being-nice-to-others-and-that-makes-me-happy smile. "And, how do you feel about it so far?"

There was a little shrug. "In it's own way, it's almost pleasant. Gives you a chance to stop and smell the roses a bit, get a good look at things." And then, just as the pride was swelling in Fluttershy's chest, Adagio smirked. "That, and it's fun to see the looks on people's faces when they see me of all people holding a door open for them!"

She finished with loud laughter, but to Fluttershy, it still felt like progress down a road she hadn't known she was travelling. "So, uh... w-we have Art class together."

"Yes, I'll happily pose nude for the class."

"EEP!!"

Fluttershy burned red, Adagio cackled maniacally, which eventually died down to quiet giggles as she wiped a tear from her eye without smearing her eyeliner. "You must have known that one was coming?"

Though she was having a hard time looking away from the ground, Fluttershy let out a nervous little giggle, which was the most she could do without making the situation more embarrassing.

Composed, Adagio looked out over the soccer field. "Anyway, I won't focus entirely on you, don't worry. If the incident with Rainbow Dash- that's her name, right?" Fluttershy nodded. "Okay, good. If the incident with Rainbow Dash taught me anything, it's that I'm not allowed to interact with you in public." She turned to Fluttershy with a wink. "Of course, we both know how I feel about things I'm 'not allowed' to do..."

That she playfully stuck out her tongue, still faintly red from the Ranger, made Fluttershy's heart skip a beat, drawing a warm, if nervous smile. "Th-then, from now on...?"

Chuckling, Adagio reached over to tickle the underside of Fluttershy's chin with a fingertip, which drew a little shiver. "I understand that you'd be eager for my attention, but I can't focus on just one person all the time without it coming across a little odd, especially knowing the fuss it would raise." As Fluttershy actually deflated a little, Adagio giggled. "Ohh, don't fret, Sweetie, it would be just as strange if I ignored you completely. If we play it right, it might just look like I'm capitalizing on someone I know is easy prey, and it won't look at all out of place if I pick on you more often. Granted that your farmer friend doesn't object to my bullying, of course."

Fluttershy felt cold, her eyes going wide. "B-bullying? You're not a-"

With a grin somewhere between wry and regretful, Adagio held a finger to Fluttershy's lips. "It's alright, I have no illusions about what I've been doing. I push people's buttons for my own amusement, I pester them without a thought spared for their feelings, I rile up the same few victims because I know they'll react to me. What else would you call someone like that?"

For a worrying moment, she didn't have an answer. However, where her brain failed, her heart spoke loud and clear. "I like it when you pick on me!" Clasping both hands over her mouth and turning hot pink as Adagio started at her wide-eyed, Fluttershy politely asked her brain to chip in a little here. "I-I mean, uh, th-that is to say-" Heart and Brain. Together. We can do this. "I-I actually have a lot of fun, because even though it wasn't that way at first, you almost never push me that hard, and the times you kinda do, you always apologize." Feeling a little warmer at the sight of Adagio's almost awe-struck expression, Fluttershy smiled. "You aren't a bully, Adagio, or at least, you're not just a bully. You even said that you teased people because they didn't specifically ask you to stop, right?"

Mentally reeling, Adagio's mouth twitched a few times before it made words again. "I... W-when did I say that?"

Remembering where she got that tid-bit, Fluttershy smiled sheepishly. "Well, you never told me, but Sunset said it in the lunch room the day Rainbow found us in the Gym, that when she asked you about poking people, you said-"

"Ah, yes, right..." Looking away, Adagio absent-mindedly scratched her chin, a rosy little blush on her cheeks. "I did say that, didn't I?" Giggling, she grinned. "Well, no problem if I do as I please, then." She winked again. "Look forward to Art."

To Adagio's slight shock, Fluttershy beamed. "I will!"

I am a baaaad influence, thought the siren. Still, she chuckled and stood up, not noticing Fluttershy's slightly panicked expression. "Well, alright then. I'll see you around, Swee-"

Seeing what felt like a good chance slipping away, Fluttershy's heart ached, spurring her into action. That action was meant to be standing with Adagio, tenderly embracing her, and planting a big, wet kiss on her lips. What actually happened was Fluttershy launching herself face-first like a kissy-faced, ballistic missile (kiss-le? ballisti-kiss-le?), missing her mark, slamming into Adagio hard enough to catch herself in the throat on Adagio's shoulder, and sending both of them to the ground. Fluttershy was lying on top of her like some kind of clumsy, gasping fish as she choked from the throat impact.

Adagio, lying very, very still, waited until her attacker caught her breath before asking the question, in a calm tone of voice. "Sweetie? Everything okay?"

"Um... I-I think so, yes."

"You're sure? I know I've said it before, but I really can be too much for some people, so it's okay if you're overcome with animalistic lust and can't wait to peel the clothes from my-"

Lifting herself up by straightening her arms as Adagio tensed under her, Fluttershy burned red. "Th-that's not it at all!!"

Still pinned to the floor, Adagio raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "Really?"

"R-really!"

"Mmhm. Explain your hand."

"Huh? What do you m-"

One hand was on Adagio's chest. Specifically, she had one hand atop a firm lump just under the soft, light fabric of Adagio's purple hoodie. All brain activity came to a screeching halt until her accidental-groping victim (the irony was distantly noted) spoke with a triumphant little smirk despite the flush of heat to her face.

"So, like I was saying, really looking forward to Art class, hm?" As Fluttershy emitted only mortified whimpers in response, there was really no choice here but to grin wickedly and say, "Did you want to do it here and now, or... wait until we have an audience? I'm sure someone will sketch all the details in perfe-"

Fluttershy pushed off of her as though she were on fire, Adagio remaining where she was and bursting into impish gigglefits. She was almost certain she had done it with the perfect timing to cover up a shudder at having such a sensitive spot handled that way. A minute later, she sat up, feeling a tiny pain in her chest when she didn't see Fluttershy right away. Her Sweetie was on her knees nearby, face buried in her hands, prompting Adagio to get up, stride over, kneel down, and wrap her in a calming Friendship Hug™ (she'd looked it up online, there were even diagrams) to make everything better. "Just in case you're thinking it," she whispered, "no, I'm not angry, not offended, not going to go cry to Zecora about being violated."

There was a tiny, two-syllable squeak.

"Yes, really. I did it just yesterday, right?" She giggled, tightening the hug. There was no audible complaint about it so far, so she guessed this was an acceptable method. "I like things to be even, so this works out." The call to add a little more to the sentiment was strong, but she held it in. Something told her she'd be lucky if Fluttershy didn't break off running the second she let her go.

Fluttershy, for her part, felt all kinds of relieved. At not having crossed a line, at the warm tenderness of the hug, at Adagio not thinking she was suddenly some crazy, grope-y pervert and that she couldn't let her guard down around her anymore. Not that she wanted Adagio to let her guard down, specifically, just that she felt it meant that Adagio trusted her and that was a really nice feeling to have. Managing a little smile, she gently hugged Adagio back. "I love you too."

"What was that?"

EEK! "I-I said, I trust you too!"

"Oh." Chuckling, Adagio worked just a hint of suggestion into her voice. "Are you sure about that? I could just be waiting for the right moment to-"

Fluttershy squeezed her a little harder, nuzzling her face against Adagio's shoulder and breathing in the sweet scent of mangoes. "I'm sure."

Though it was unseen on account of being just over Fluttershy's shoulder, Adagio's face flushed a bright, hot crimson. Gah... You win this round, Sweetie.

As the two knelt hugging in the grass, Fluttershy did have one tiny regret: This wasn't really a kissing atmosphere as much as it was a cuddly, hugging one. That wasn't a bad thing, but the situation didn't feel right for a kiss, and feeling right was all she had to go on at this point.

Touching her breast led to a hug. Maybe touching somewhere else would-NO, bad Fluttershy!!

She hopped up, smiling sheepishly as Adagio got to her feet too. "W-well, uherrm, th-thank you for, um, h-hugs."

Adagio blinked twice before giggling. "Yes, thank you for hugs. I'll catch you in Art, take care, Sweetie." And off she walked.

Fluttershy noticed a slight reduction in hip movement now that she wasn't wearing her usual spiked heels. Alone, she quietly examined her hand.

...Definitely a little bigger than they look.

Adagio had a very interesting morning, with today's first meeting with Fluttershy certainly starting things on a high note. The realization that there would now be two a day for the foreseeable future, even if not to the same length or one-on-one intensity, was the source of a single, tiny squee the night before. Anyway, she ignored Flash entirely first period to focus on the morning encounter, which presented new, partly troubling, but no-less-enticing information.

She likes it when I pick on her... Why, Sweetie? Why must you complicate things?

Now figuring out where the limits were would be EVEN HARDER!

...But still...

There was so much potential now that she knew that, so much she could do, so much she could make her Sweetie do!

So much that could go wrong, so much that could be going too far, so much that might make her never want to talk to you again.

Hey, she jumped me today! It didn't go very far, but she definitely wants a little something more.

Well, that or it was just another one of those clumsy-dope moments Fluttershy sometimes had, like that time with the notebook, and she'd be signing her own restraining order if she took it the wrong way. The way Fluttershy seemed to have a tiny breakdown after said that the... touching... probably wasn't deliberate. Just the same, it was an exciting thought, that she might be pounced on by Fluttershy of all people at any time, more-so if she continued to drop her guard when they were together. The squirrel incident had been embarrassing and there were a lot of little undignified moments in their time together, but she hadn't really gotten hurt so far, right?

Vulnerability worked two ways, after all. If someone got close enough to caress your most tender, most delicate aspects (Ooh, la la~!), then they would invariably be close enough to cause just as much harm to those weak spots. In a bad way. Fluttershy hadn't made her regret it yet, so the scary little possibility, however distant, was just something she opted to learn to live with in exchange for everything else they had together.

The other thing that caught her attention was how people were looking at her again, but in a different way than usual.

They were smiling.

She was getting strange looks in general, but some people looked at her, directly at her, she was sure, and smiled. It was only two or three in first period, and only through fleeting glimpses, but walking down the hall to second period had at least a dozen people giving her little grins, at least until she looked directly back at them. It was just as she was stepping out of third period that Adagio got a text from Aria.

[Hallway outside the Art room. Hurry.]

Author's Note

No, there will not be a continued theme of groping, by accident or otherwise, through the rest of the story. I think. Maybe it shows, but I pretty much make up the specific events of individual scenes as I go.

Chapter 22: Treats and a Spectacle

The Rainbooms gathered out in the hall that quite a few students were starting to congregate in, which made Fluttershy just a little nervous. Still, Sunset had sent everyone a text, the second part of which froze Fluttershy's blood.

[They finally took down that stupid picture of me! :D Oh, and there's this cute drawing of Adagio Dazzle there now.]

Nearing the Art room's display area, Fluttershy caught sight of the Dazzlings heading in the opposite direction. The angle of Adagio's hair (her long, bulky bangs, that is) hid her face entirely, but she could see Aria looking irritable.

Cold dread dripped through her heart as Fluttershy made her way to her friends, all looking at what was, as she feared, her sketch of Adagio sleeping. Weirdly, with the cute, serene expression on her face immortalized in graphite for all to see, some part of Fluttershy was happy.

The rest was terrified.

Pinkie shook her head ruefully. "Tsk, tsk, getting her picture taken with her eyes closed."

"It's a sketch, Pinkie Pie," said Rarity with a giggle, "though I can see why you might think otherwise."

Rainbow scratched her head. "Why would anyone draw this?"

Shrugging, Applejack answered while still appraising the paper herself. "She was our model in class yesterday, looked just like this when she dozed off."

"Is that even legal? Students posing as drawing material?"

"Mr. Magnet comes up with some funny stuff in the name'a art, Rainbow, but Ah don't think he's ever broken the law."

"That didn't necessarily answer the question..."

Sunset scrutinized the sketch as well. "Going by the detail on Adagio herself, her legs, her hair, even the exact placement of the little triangles on her tights, whoever drew this must have really been looking."

EEP!!

"I mean, the sheer level of almost photo-realistic shading on her legs and the, eh, g-general hip regions is..."

I-I was supposed to draw her ass-IMEAN as accurately as possible, wasn't I?!

Rainbow nodded. "I knew the sirens got this kind of attention all the time, but daaamn!"

PLEASE stop focusing on the-

Pinkie admired the drawing from multiple angles. "A sleepy-head face and curvy body. Who knew she of all people could pull off adora-sexy?"

What?!

Applejack glanced in the direction the sirens had gone. "Didja see her face a minute ago? Don't think Ah ever saw one'a them three blush like that."

And Adagio probably hates it too. Wonderful.

Feeling smaller by the second, Fluttershy tried to hide in her own hair and duck down out of sight, Rarity gently patting her on the back a second later.

"Perhaps we should move along," she urged her friends, "the next class will start soon." The others glanced in her direction and got the hint for the real reason, giving Fluttershy, surrounded by all these people while they all talked about body detail, sympathetic looks. People around her were whispering as the six departed.

"Man, Dazzle looked pissed."
"Somebody gonna get it."
"Nah, I think she was red out of embarrassment, not rage."
"Rumor is she volunteered to be drawn like that."
"I, for one, have a new-found appreciation for Art."
"Totally, and the face she made when she saw it, I just wanted to squeeze 'er!"
"The cute one, well, cuter one, I guess, was actually giggling."
"Either way, I'd hate to be whoever made that sketch."

Lunch opened on an awkward note, with Rainbow's help. "Sorry, Fluttershy," she said with a little frown as they were all seated, "didn't mean to make you uncomfortable back there."

The attention immediately on her, Fluttershy felt her face heating up. "Oh, th-that's, uhm, that's okay, I-I-"

"Yea," added Pinkie with a hint of shame, "we all know you don't like seeing or talking about that stuff." She couldn't help a tiny grin. "But seriously, dat shading!" Fluttershy's squeak and sudden hair-hideyness made her wince. "Sorry. Again." That settled it; she would be getting some apology cupcakes later.

Sunset dismissively waved a hand. "Body-focus aside, did you guys see the detail on her face? Along with not including the eyeliner she's been wearing lately, the way it was drawn was nothing like her usual expressions, and I don't think she's ever made a face like that in school before now." The best word for Sunset's own expression just then was 'concerned.' "I'm not about to complain about one of those three finally getting some good PR, but I'm wondering if someone drew her all peaceful on purpose for some reason."

Applejack shook her head. "Nah, that was the real deal, she looked exactly like that in class yesterday." Blink. "Well, 'cept with scary eye make-up."

The dark circles don't make her that scary, thought Fluttershy.

Rarity's attention was piqued. "Ooh, that's two times in the last week someone did something juicy in their sleep!" She got the usual not-on-the-up-and-up looks. "Vinyl Scratch got detention for falling asleep in a classroom last week, having shouted out, err..." Problem with juicy gossip, which Rarity remembered only as she turned scarlet? That which makes it juicy. "S-something a lady shouldn't repeat when she was woken up. From the sound of things, she was in the middle of a very interesting dream..." She was reminded why she typically didn't share this kind of thing with her friends when most of them turned red too. New subject. "So, Applejack, she shares a class with you and Fluttershy, seventh-period? Was that the interesting thing you alluded to this morning?"

Shaking off the Rarity moment, Applejack nodded. "Eyyup. She came in, stretched out on the schmancy couch," she raised her hands in a vaguely menacing fashion for emphasis, "and just kinda looked at people like she was tryin' to paralyze 'em in a snake stare 'till she fell asleep. Then she was all smiles an' sweet dreams, like y'all saw."

Oh, thought Fluttershy, she was giving everyone looks? Not just me? I, I guess that's normal for her...

Chuckling, Rainbow raised an eyebrow in mild disbelief. "Snake stare? Seriously? I-" She remembered they were talking about the queen of scary faces. "Ooh, actually, yea, I buy that. She get you too?"

Applejack crossed her arms and scoffed. "N-no, Ah was just tryin' to draw that crazy 'do of hers. Oh, speakin'a which..." Smiling a little, she reached into her bag, pulling out a long piece of paper, featuring nothing but the outline of Adagio's disembodied head attached to the entirety of her big, fluffy hairstyle in reasonably high detail. "How do ya like that? Ah can draw hair!"

Pausing as the memory of Fluttershy's unusual offer to replace the painting of Sunset resurfaced, all six of them broke into gigglefits.

Over at the Dazzlings' table, things were a little less jubilant.

"So," asked Aria with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow, "you got a creep-o stalker now, or...?"

Adagio shook her head even while propping it up on one arm on the table. "No, or at least, if I do, this has nothing to do with them." How does one answer whether or not they have a stalker? Isn't not knowing about them a key element of the thing? "I was asked to be the central figure in my new station seventh period, but no one said anything about results being hung up the next day." That Sonata started giggling made her hesitate to ask, but she felt it best to get it out of the way. "Something funny, Nata?"

"Pffftheeheeheeheeheehee!" They gave her a minute to gather her thoughts. "Snooze, ya lose, huh, Dagi?"

Aria and Adagio both groaned, the former shaking her head ruefully. "Too freakin' predictable, Nata."

Sonata rolled her eyes. "You are such a joke snob."

"Anyway," Aria gave the technically-willing muse an inquisitive look, "how're you feeling about this?"

There was a tiny smirk. "Oh? You're directly asking about feelings now? Should we be on guard for flying pigs next?" That her friends just held their stares said Adagio wasn't weaseling out of this one. She sighed. "A little embarrassed, alright?" The rest came through her teeth in a low grumble as her face grew warmer. "People are looking at me like I'm a kitten that just rolled over on its back."

Sonata clasped her hands together while making a dreamy little expression. "Awwwww!!" The death-glare from her fluffy-wuffy friend immediately replaced the look with one of shy contrition.

Aria shrugged. "Kinda brought this on yourself, Dagi. If you didn't go around putting yourself in a spotlight all the time, people probably wouldn't care as much, y'know?" She winced as Adagio rested her head on the table and Sonata gave her one of those 'now look what you did' frowns. "Err, I mean, like..." Now she was smiling sheepishly. "H-hey, at least they made you look good, right?"

Trying to help, Sonata chipped in. "Yea! Super high detail from the waist-down, somebody in that class definitely has their eye on you!" This got her two mildly perplexed looks, but at least Adagio wasn't doing that sad, slumpy thing now. "I mean, why else would they draw you all sexy? They even made your tits look a little perkier!" Aria and Adagio both flushed red, which was a rare accomplishment for Sonata.

Ordinarily, Adagio might have protested that if she hadn't been rendered to look gorgeous, the artist would have failed to draw her by default, but right now her mind went elsewhere. She hadn't needed to look at the picture for long to figure out the angle of the sketcher's point of view, which left a slim list of possibilities. If nothing else, this would make for interesting conversation come tomorrow morning.

Aria slowly turned to her with a mostly blank expression. "Eh, yea. Definitely made you look hot. That's a bright side, right?"

"I don't have a problem with the body," answered Adagio, "it's the face they drew me with that's getting all these stupid little grins. The worst part," she uttered with a hint of resignation, "is that this might actually be good for us." Now she was being stared at in surprise. A welcome return to form. "Think about it, the three of us are still feared and hated to some degree by most of the school, if not the population of Canterlot as a whole. Since this morning, people have been smiling at me. If they've got it in their heads that I'm not the threat I used to be-"

"The one none of us have really been since the big show," Aria noted bitterly.

"-right. I most likely have the worst reputation out of any of us outside the local cooking community-"

Sonata scoffed, crossing her arms and looking away indignantly. "One freakin' time."

"-so if they can look at that sketch and think I'm not so bad after all, you two can only look even better by comparison." For just a second, she felt like her old, megalomaniacal self, but tried to keep it in check as her face formed a malevolent smirk. "If we don't fight this at all, students and staff alike might be under a whole new spell, and with it," she felt a lot less villainous saying this next part, "they might finally give us a real chance at the coveted friendship this school is supposedly united by."

Aria shook her head. "Remind me again why we're even bothering with 'Princess' Twilight's fake little philosophy?"

One eyebrow was raised as Adagio gestured between the three of them.

Purple cheeks turned red. "Oh. Right." She shrugged. "Well, easy to miss that with these people, y'know? Sick of gettin' that deer-in-headlights look."

Sonata gave her a sympathetic smile. "You wouldn't get it as often if you didn't glare at people so much."

Unwittingly, Aria glared. "I glare because they give me that look!"

"And the looks they're giving me now," Adagio continued with only a hint of annoyance, "indicate that we have a chance here. If we play this right, don't touch the picture or say anything about it, we may finally find ourselves with more than one friend." The words clicked in her head the instant after she'd said them, but it was too late.

Aria and Sonata both traded confused, wide-eyed looks, going back and forth between herself and each other before settling on her. "Wait," Aria almost pleaded, "you have one friend besides us? Who? Since when?"

At the moment, Adagio's face was that of someone that just made a startling realization, but playing it off as confusion at the question was no challenge. "I... Sunset Shimmer, who else?"

Facepalming, Aria turned red and muttered to herself. "Oh, duh..."

Sonata scratched her head. "Why don't we ever hang out with her anyw-" Memory made her make a sour face. "wait, nevermind."

Adagio nodded once. "That aside; this isn't quite how I'd have orchestrated the situation, but that drawing may still work to our advantage. Give it time, I'll let you know if people are still giving me those looks a week from now and have a plan ready from there. Any questions?"

Chuckling, Aria crossed her arms and smirked. "Great to have you back, boss."

Sonata beamed. "For realzies!"

With a feminine, dismissive hand-wave of faux-modesty, Adagio chuckled. "You're too kind."

The three of them giggled together, but contained themselves before it could reach the loud, scary, mua-ha-ha levels that wouldn't do them any favors right about now.

Closing her bedroom door, Fluttershy gently set her book-bag by a shelf, paced over to her bedside table, picked up the diary and a pencil, and sat on the bed, not quite sure where to begin.

"Well... maybe with...?"

Dear Diary,

Today's Art class was all kinds of frightening. I may have made a little mistake yesterday when I forgot to bring my sketch of Adagio (yes, that one) home, but at the time, I thought, "if I have such a perfect image of her in my head already, I don't need the picture." It made sense, because I know Mr. Magnet likes keeping his students' art, both for what he calls the spirit of creativity and to remember them by. He's a very sweet man, I think. Then Mr. Magnet hung it in the hallway. For everyone to see. And they did. Even Adagio.

That feeling I wrote about yesterday, with everyone seeing something I wished they didn't? That again, but so much worse! So, when Art started today, I was expecting her to do something to humiliate me in front of everyone, but then I realized that I didn't tell her that the drawing was mine. Mr. Magnet, if he knows, was nice enough not to put my name on it, and none of my friends said a word relating it to me, so, if I'm lucky, nobody knows at all yet. I'll have to come clean to Adagio right away tomorrow, because trying to keep it a secret would only lead to her finding out anyway and feeling hurt that I tried to lie to her and not trusting me ever again.

Adagio is very sneaky, and will find things out whether I want her to or not, which is why it's best to be honest.

So, Art class. I went in thinking she was going to do something really embarrassing for me, but since she (probably) doesn't know the sketch is mine, it went about how you'd expect an Art class with Adagio to go. That is to say; I was still shaking and blushing and trying not to look directly at her (which is as difficult as it's ever been, see Wandering Eye poem on page #111) the whole time. She looked at me a few times while I was looking at her. I really hope no one noticed!

We were doing origami today, and at one point, she tapped me on the shoulder (I jumped, but I managed to keep from shrieking and making a scene) and asked me to hand her a pair of scissors in that low, sultry voice of hers. It only took me around ten seconds to fulfill her request, but she just stood there until I did, looking at me with that face she makes whenever I'm nervous, the one that makes me more nervous and she just keeps staring and I just keep fumbling like a fool and I think some other kids were looking when this happened and I was worried Applejack was going to say something and then there'd be this big thing about it, but then I handed her the scissors and she walked away and everything was fine.

I still spent most of Art expecting something mortifying, but just like the time she told me she'd "See you soon, Sweetie" and I spent the whole day panicking about it, nothing really bad happened. I don't think she's going to tell me how she plans to torture me in Art every day, she'll just do something and I'll... I'll let her!<3 That's Adagio, my sneaky, scary, curvy, compassionate, smiling, sensitive sweetheart siren.

Note: Valentine sweethearts are probably a bad idea, for now at least.

Anyway, there was one thing in Art class; a few minutes after I gave her the scissors, Adagio unfolded her paper, but to everyone's surprise, it wasn't anything obscene, just a butterfly, with thin slits cut to resemble a surreal wing pattern. I have a few guesses why she looked at me in particular when showing everyone. Maybe... maybe that was what she was planning to do? I'm still not sure how to interpret it, was she saying that she had me in her hands, that I was just thin paper for her to shred whenever she felt like it, or was it a soft, sweet gesture? Like she was saying she thinks about me sometimes? Am I just getting conceited? It's possible that she just felt like making a butterfly, because the long, crazy cuts in the wings to form the patterns didn't resemble any butterfly I've ever seen. Was it an Equestrian butterfly? Or some kind of message? I have no idea.

I wonder if the sirens, and maybe Sunset too, get homesick.

~~~

Now, about my sketch, Re: AdagioEveryone Seeing It. I was kind of... Well, I knew exactly what I wanted towhat I had to drawI knew how to draw her because well, see the last entry. People noticed the level of detail, but I couldn't not draw her right! I don't know how long everyone will be talking about that sketch, but going by the reactions to that scary painting of Sunset? A few weeks, maybe. It wasn't an all-the-time thing then, just something people kinda thought about whenever they walked by the Art room. The scary thing is that I can't decide if I want Mr. Magnet to replace it soon or not. I can't ask him to, because then he would definitely know it was mine. What if he tells someone? If anyone figures out that I drew that sketch, I don't even want to think about it!

Everyone will know I have a crush on Adagio and they'll all point and laugh and draw little chibi versions of our heads together in a heart on chalkboards and I'll never live it down and I have no idea how Adagio would react to all that.

What do I do?

~~~

In more normal news; Mr. Strangle (the big boa at the animal shelter) seems to be getting along with Rainbow now, which is nice. Pinkie Pie surprised me with apology cupcakes a little bit ago, which I've learned it's better to just enjoy with her than to insist they aren't necessary. I think it hurts Pinkie's feelings when people don't accept her sweets. Applejack showed us her sketch from yesterday and it was just Adagio's hair. Everyone at the lunch table giggled! (Context: I Can Draw Hair entry)

There was a brief period in which Fluttershy lay awake that night, one particular sentiment echoing in her mind.

"Either way, I'd hate to be whoever made that sketch."

"Either way, I'd hate to be whoever made that sketch."

"I'd hate to be whoever made that sketch."

"hate to be whoever made that sketch."

"hate whoever made that sketch."

She tried not to think too hard about it. If she came clean to Adagio first (or second, depending how brave she was feeling at the time) thing tomorrow morning, she'd be forgiven for making her so angry/embarrassed with the sketch. She hoped.

Wednesday morning had arrived. In the hope that it might soften the blow a little, Fluttershy opted to bring orange slices again today, remembering how much Adagio seemed to like them. There were other soft and sweet things she could have gone with, but she (fondly) remembered the little look of delight on Adagio's face when chewing them. She wouldn't mind a repeat, right? Sooner or later, Fluttershy was going to run out of new candy anyway, there were only so many kinds in existence. No, Pinkie's occasional twisted experiments did not count in her mind. She could have gone with fireballs again, but Adagio had specifically asked her to bring something Fluttershy could enjoy too. She was such a sweetheart when you got to know her!

When Adagio showed up, it was hard keeping a perfectly normal smile. "Good morning."

Leisurely reclining on the bench, it seemed Adagio was over her initial reluctance to sit there as she nodded. "Morning, Sweetie."

Fluttershy already had the little bag on her lap, but couldn't decide whether to open with the slices or her apology first. Would one look out of place after the other? If so, which one? She was already getting nervous, would it just look like she was trying to butter her up if she said sorry while Adagio's mouth was full of sugar? Would she take them at all once she knew? The thought of screaming the apology at the top of her lungs while cramming orange slices down her throat wasn't really worth entert-

"It's alright, Sweetie, I know it was you."

"EEK!!"

As ever, Adagio patiently waited through the three-act play that was Fluttershy caught off-guard. Act 1 was already complete with the exclamation of shock, always a crowd-pleaser. She appeared to be going with a wide-eyed stare and incomprehensible stuttering for Act 2, then wrapped up with kicking on the red lights and rapid apologizing for Act 3, even ending in a little bow. It was a slightly unusual assembly this time, but with the delivery was perfect, as always! Adagio, connoisseur of the skittish arts that she was, looked forward to the next show.

"I repeat," she said with a little smile, "it's alright, calm down."

Fluttershy hesitantly met her eyes and started to open her mouth.

"Yes, really." As she'd hoped, this won her an adorably surprised face, which opened the door for her to clarify her thoughts. "I know it was you because by the angle I'm drawn at, there are only a few possible artists who could have done it. Also, the detail was very realistic and your grades in Art have always been nearly perfect." No time was given to dwell on that last part before she moved to the real point. "Seeing myself depicted with that..." she couldn't help turning pink at the memory, "that expression wasn't exactly a proud moment for me, but I'm not angry with you."

"Oh. Um..." Nervous finger-twiddling never seemed to make it into the Startled performances, which was a shame, but she'd take it wherever it guest-starred. "Wh-why not? Wasn't it really embarrassing having everyone t-talk about you like that?"

"Yes, but I'm not angry for three reasons. First, I'm guessing having the whole school see your work wasn't your idea."

Fluttershy shook her head. "Oh, g-goodness, no!"

"And that the idea of anyone learning you were the artist...?"

There wasn't a show this time so much as a singular, horrified squeak as Fluttershy went pale and gave her wide, worried eyes. "Y-you're... you're not g-going to...?"

Frowning, Adagio leaned over and hugged her, in a grope-free kind of way, until she stopped shaking. "I'm starting to get the feeling you don't trust me."

Aaaand shaking was back. "Th-that's not it at all, it's, just, I-I, since I, and, with the, you'd be-"

Well, thought Adagio, so much for a hug making everything better. Plan B. She let go and backed away a little, but not too far to rest a hand on Fluttershy's trembling shoulder. "Sweetie? Breathe. You bring candy to calm your nerves, right? Why don't we try that before picking this up?" That seemed to be working already, Fluttershy beamed!

"O-okay!" She opened the little bag in her lap, immediately offering Adagio an orange slice. "Here!"

Adagio smiled too. "Oh, I remember these." Taking the treat as offered, she wondered how much of Fluttershy's enjoyment came from ingesting sugar, and how much came from sharing it with others, resulting in the bright, happy grin she wore as Adagio chewed. Somehow it felt fitting that she couldn't help thinking she was being spoiled in their mornings together, not quite dinner and a show, but definitely an acceptable substitute.

A few minutes later, it looked like Fluttershy was breathing at a normal rate, so she went on. "So, we have that you most certainly didn't want anyone seeing that picture to begin with. The second reason is that despite this initial, awkward phase, I may be able to use this situation to my advantage." She looked out over the soccer field in the hope of suppressing a blush, as she'd done quite a few times before. "Getting that kind of attention wouldn't have been my first choice, but if it means people are more willing to overlook, well, me, then I'll take it. With any luck, some of the good will, for lack of better words, that this generates will rub off on Aria and Sonata as well."

Fluttershy nodded once, not sure she should say anything about the 'overlooking me' part. She knew Adagio was a nice girl when you got to know her, but that people might have trouble seeing that was perfectly understandable. "And, the third reason?" Now she wondered if her first idea was actually such a bad one, because Adagio gave her a truly vicious smirk.

Opening with a low, dark, breathy chuckle, Adagio leaned in close. "Like I said earlier, very realistic depiction, Sweetie." There was a squeak, but Fluttershy had definitely earned this. Briefly tasting her own lips, Adagio's eyes went half-lidded. "The way you drew me, my luscious hair, my slender waist, my not-so-slender hips... my legs? Really, I'm not sure which is my favorite part... or yours." By the sharp increase in the magnitude of Fluttershy's blushing based on timing, she actually had a pretty good guess.

She added a mock pout. "Aww, but I forgot, that's not the, whole picture, is it?" Grinning wickedly, she grabbed Fluttershy by the shoulders, eliciting a gasp that didn't sound entirely like fright, and leaned in even closer, her lips nearly touching Fluttershy's ear. "Maybe next time, you'd like to draw me from the back? I'd make sure nothing gets in the way, of course..." And then she let go, giggling with impish glee as her Sweetie fell backwards on the bench in perfectly rigid fashion, gibbering incoherently under the blistering heat of her own head.

Ohh, if not for the foul smell, I'd need a cigarette!

And then guilt started to set in, Fluttershy still lost in her no-doubt delightful little fever dream a full three minutes later. Leaning to fold her arms over the back of the bench and rest her head on them as she did on Monday, Adagio's tone was quiet and sympathetic. "Sweetie? Are you alright?"

The sound roused Fluttershy from her surprisingly long daydream, though she was still red in the face for having allowed her mind to go to such places at all. "Y-yes... I'm okay." She... she couldn't have meant it like...? Oh, no. I'm a pervert. She sat up, frowning. "I'm, s-sorry."

Sitting up straight herself, Adagio blinked once. "What?"

"F-for, uhm," admitting to this was maybe the worst possible time to maintain eye-contact, but she'd feel dishonest if she didn't. "d-drawing you like that, obsessing over your b-b-body, and-" She was silenced with a finger held to her lips, Adagio giving her a thoroughly unamused face.

"Sweetie," she said with a hint of annoyance, "if you're about to apologize for finding me attractive, I'm going to spank you." This won her a scarlet, wide-eyed Fluttershy, but more importantly, silence. She offered a relaxed smile. "The third reason I'm not angry? The drawing was really well-done, and I'm flattered that you could render me so neatly." This seemed to calm Fluttershy down a lot, getting her a warm, happy look. "Think about it: If I didn't like having your undivided attention, would I keep doing things-" quickly grabbing Fluttershy's head and pushing it down to her own lap confirmed that Adagio wasn't the only one that let her guard down in their meetings, "like this?"

Her cheek resting against Adagio's thigh, Fluttershy squeaked, whipping back to an upright position so fast her hair might have hurt someone standing behind her. "The-tha-I-ah-th-ffuablama-!"

Giggling with evil delight, Adagio leaned over to give her a quick peck on the cheek, ruffled her hair, and stood up. "Just some food for thought, Sweetie. See you again soon!" She closed the statement with a wink, her most adorable friend already having seized up again, and sashayed away, letting those pretty, cyan eyes fall wherever they would on her slowly-retreating figure.

Rooted to the bench, Fluttershy's mind was working a mile a minute, her vision starting to blur. For the sake of not running the risk of blurting out something indecent like she heard Vinyl Scratch had, she opted to do her best to compress this morning's warmer thoughts until she could get to her diary later this afternoon.

The rest of the day passed in a bit of a blur. Fluttershy was pretty sure all the normal things happened; classes, hallways, practicing the walk, lunch, more classes, then the animal shelter for a while, then home. Diary Time at least let her gather and write out her thoughts, but she was hesitant about actually putting them to paper.

It's not dirty, I'm not a freaky pervert, I'm just writing what happened and how I felt about it. That's what a diary is for, right?

Right. She picked up her pencil.

Dear Diary,

ItalkedtoAdagioaboutthesketchandshesaidshe'dbeokaywithmedrawingherfromthebackandIthinkshemeantnakedbutI'mnotsureandshealmostkissedmyearwhichmademewanttochewonhersuntilshemadeanoiseorsomethingbutanywayshesaidthatifIdidn'tsayIthoughtshewasprettythatshe'dspankmebutshedidn'treallysayitthatwaybutI'dgladlytellhershewasprettyeverydaywhethershespankedmeornot!

Stopping, Fluttershy looked down at her shaking hand and took a deep breath.

Dear Diary,

Sorry about that. So, I didn't kiss her yet. It's not that I'm not looking for the moment, but every time it gets close, I think, she does something that makes me lock up, babble like an idiot, or both! Anyway, her, uh... thing she said when I apologized for thinking about her like a piece of meat, gave me an idea.

Okay, two ideas, but I'm only going to talk about one right now.

Have I ever actually told her she was pretty? Out loud? I mean, I guess she'd just be like "Yea, I know," because, look at her! You can't, you're a diary. I should sketch her in you some time. She must hear that all the time and I don't want to bore her by saying boring things, but if the idea of me saying sorry for noticing her... everything... annoys her, then... Maybe just once? Just to see how she responds to it?

But, what would I do after that? How do I respond if she waves it off, or teases me for it, or wants more?! What if she's the kind of girl that can listen to people telling her how beautiful she is all day? I have plenty of material to work with there, but it would almost definitely end up relating to my drawing of her somehow, and then we'd be talking about her body, and then I'd lock up and babble like an idiot again!

She really is pretty, though! ~<3

That in mind, Fluttershy got up to retrieve some blank paper, wanting to get a little practice in before putting the real deal in her diary...

Author's Note

For those who have been hoping for something public between the two, I hope this at least addresses the itch a little. Also, I really hope I'm not ruining any kind of candy for anyone. At the same time, if any act of ingestation has become more appealing to you since reading this story, I'm not sure I want to know about it.

Rambly bit incoming!

Narrative tension is a funny thing. So funny in fact, that I'm not sure those are the right words to describe what I'm thinking of.

The Chase: I know that after enough chapters of build-up, things get too heavy and fall down, the wait can be too long for the payoff. I kinda feel like I've been going that way with this story for a while now, but there are things that need to happen before some other things happen, things I really don't think I can skip over. As such, the juicy part I know some of you are waiting for just keeps waving from the distant horizon, probably never feeling like it's getting any closer. Sorry about that, it's not on purpose.

Believe it or not, I don't particularly enjoy tormenting readers. It's for that reason that I'd rather not publish a single chapter of a more... for lack of better words, dramatic work until I've got the whole thing pretty much ready to go, or at least up to the point where what feels like a borderline sadistic secret is unveiled. Hooking people with dramatic tension and mystery and such is all well and good, but if it's all hook and no worm, then sooner or later you're just sitting there with a bunch of hook wounds. Ouch.

All of that said, click the next chapter for a new can of worms!

(...And I mean that in a good way. :raritywink: )

Chapter 23: Soft and Sweet

Thursday was odd for Fluttershy. Very odd. In its own way, it was actually a little infuriating. Around the usual time, she opened her diary, skipping her usual opening address as writing fervor overtook her.

I'm upset. Not because of someone picking on me or an argument with a friend or even animals being mistreated again (at least not that I heard about today), but something else that happened. I should start with the bench. Things were fine with me and Adagio this morning, she smiled that happy smile a few times while we enjoyed a little bag of cotton candy together.

Remembering the look of surprise on Adagio's face when the first bite melted in her mouth helped calm Fluttershy down.

I'm sorry, Diary, I don't mean to worry you, things are... well, I guess I'm a little stressed, but I'll get to why soon.

I think I was right about her liking soft, sweet things, because she really enjoyed the cotton candy! For the first minute or two after a particularly big mouthful, she couldn't stop giggling and got this cute little blush, saying this was the strangest thing we'd ever eaten together! Maybe it was, but I think she enjoyed it at least as much as the orange slices.

Huh. Both kinda vaguely remind me of her hair. Does she ever think about eating h

Fluttershy had to stop writing to repeatedly slap herself across the face, partly to stop where her mind was going, partly in a pat-out-the-fire kind of way.

So, yes, this morning with Adagio went fine, we even talked a little about what her life was like under the sea! That led to talking about the nets hanging around the sirens' house, which she sneakily turned into talking about me wearing fishnets somehow. She really has a way with words...

After that, the day was pretty normal. Classes, practiced the walk, classes, lunch, classes, then Art (Adagio bent over in front of me!! It was only for a second but ohmygoodness!!) and then the upsetting thing happened. I'll try to detail it as best I can...

Walking out of the Art room, Fluttershy felt a pang of worry when she saw Adagio, who had stepped out just before her, standing about ten feet in front of Trixie, who wore her starry hat and cape. Looking at Adagio with a vicious smirk, Trixie spoke loudly.

"Watch and be amazed, students of Canterlot High School, as the Great and Powerful Trrrrixie performs feats of awe and wonder!" She made a few needless gestures before getting on with her trick, the one she'd use to avenge every indignity the head siren had ever inflicted on her.

Tricking me in the Battle of the Bands, humiliating me in public time and time again, that week of detention that I DID NOT deserve because your stupid hair blocked everything from my angle anyway, and always calling me 'Silver'! If you thought that picture was embarrassing, you've got another thing coming, Adagio Dazzle...

Quite a few kids had gathered around in a vague circle surrounding her and her target, so it was time to get started. Lifting off her hat and twirling it by the rim on her fingertip, she chucked it straight up and caught it by the sides, reaching in to pull out a string of handkerchiefs that ended in a frilly, white-trimmed, soft-pink pair of underwear with a cartoon teddy bear on the seat of the pants. Some members of her audience immediately gasped while Adagio just raised an eyebrow.

"Look everyone," Trixie said before anyone could voice their own theories, "Trixie has magically removed the underpants of the leader of the Dazzlings!" She grinned cheekily, holding up the kiddie panties where everyone could see. "And what a childish style she wears..."

Fluttershy, her hands over her mouth as her face went warm, looked at Adagio to find her blushing a little herself, wide-eyed. It felt more likely to her that Trixie had no magic to speak of and had prepared the underwear as part of her trick beforehand. However, the only way for Adagio to prove that she was still wearing her underwear was to show everyone, which would be just as humiliating (in the sense that everyone would, in theory, point and laugh at her) as letting everyone think she wears cute teddy panties! Not wanting to see Adagio getting embarrassed in public again, Fluttershy tried to think of a way to distract the crowd, but the knowledge that they would all be focusing on her after froze her solid.

Little did Fluttershy know that Adagio was all but in her element. Hm. Said it myself, didn't I? "They might even try to take revenge, if they were really pressed..." Thinking about the situation, she smirked. Not bad, Silver, let's see how far you'll go.

Holding her hands to her cheeks, Adagio smiled dreamily, speaking loudly enough that she was sure almost everyone would hear. "Ohh, Silver, I'm glad we can agree what happened the other night was, magical..." She paused just long enough for the crowd to make the right (wrong) connections, "but I never thought it'd lead to you stealing my undergarments when we were done." She stared at Trixie with look of dawning shock, getting one right back. "W-what... What have you been doing with them, exactly..?"

As those gathered turned to Trixie, wide-eyed and whispering to each other, she immediately knew to abort the plan. "N-no, nothing! These aren't really her underwear, or mine, it was just a-"

Internally disappointed to have her fun cut short so soon, Adagio begrudgingly conceded that Trixie was at least smart enough know when to fold, as it were. However, that didn't stop her from putting on a hurt face or working a light tremor into her voice. "Oh, I-I see... You never loved me to begin with, it was just my underwear that drove you wild with lust!"

Trixie raised a hand in protest. "I-I don't-"

Adagio sniffled, turning away. "W-well, I guess if teddy bear panties are your only real love," sniff, "th-then I wish you two the best!" She managed to choke out a sob, covering her eyes with an arm. "Farewell!" And then she ran off making quiet sobbing noises, leaving Trixie alone with the crowd of judging, perplexed, and possibly aroused stares.

The young magician, her trick thoroughly thrown back in her face, could only stand there, mouth agape and her entire body burning with embarrassment before throwing a smoke-bomb and fleeing the area like her heels had caught fire. Which, she would reflect later, might have made for an interesting trick.

The crowd dispersed a minute later, but Fluttershy was now standing perfectly still for very different reasons.

Finishing up her account of Adagio claiming to have spent a night with another girl, Fluttershy was nearly scratching through the paper with the tip of her pencil.

Now half the school must be thinking about her! In her bear-free underwear! I'm so frustrated, I could just throw something through the window!!

Reaching for a random object on her bed, she threw an octopus plushie. It spun through the air like a ninja star before harmlessly thumping against the glass and landing on the floor. Feeling a tinge of guilt, she rushed over to it, picked it up, patted its big, soft head, and quietly apologized for using it as part of her tantrum. Hugging Mr. Cups helped her feel a little better, along with several deep breaths. Pacing back to her bed, she nuzzled the felt octopus once and gently set him down, returning to her diary.

I'm losing my mind, Diary. Everyone must think Trixie is something special to Adagio now, that they had something together, something big enough to make Adagio run away crying when it was broken off! Would she cry like that for me too if No, I know she was acting, that little smirk just before her hurt lover routine was like a billboard to me, but the way everyone was looking at Trixie, I think they really bought it!

Adagio is such a good actress ~<3

I can't believe she did that! Right in front of me! Did she even think about how I would-

...

Why would she? Why should she? I mean, technically, there's no reason she should, I guess, because we aren't... like what she pretended to be with Trixie. But, she has to know I- doesn't she? I've never said it out loud (but I did say it...), but... was she trying to make me jealous?

BECAUSE IT WORKED!!

Or am I just too full of myself? What if that was just another day to her? How many relationships has she pretended to have just to make someone uncomfortable? I can see her doing that kind of thing, I just wish she'd do it with me! I'm the one that's been talking to her every morning, I'm the one that kisses her (on the cheek) and hugs her (in a non-gropey way, most of the time) and comes to take care of her when she's sick! it should have been me that Adagio was focused on today, and it should have been me that got publicly humiliated!

She dropped her pencil in shock.

"...Oh, dear."

Fluttershy picked up Mr. Cups, hugging him to her chest while trying to think. She was jealous, that much was obvious to her, the idea that anyone but herself should be called Adagio's girlfriend, or anything similar, just didn't feel fair, but neither did getting all possessive and acting like Adagio belonged exclusively to her. In fact, thinking it made her feel a little sour inside, another thing she felt like she should apologize for the next time she saw her favorite siren.

What did I refer to her as some entries ago? 'My' fantasy-world girl?

Nobody had a claim to anybody, and no matter how much it had hurt, Fluttershy wouldn't let herself get hung up on what happened today. But, if she did have a claim to Adagio, if they were... closer... then...? She had always tried to follow Fluttershy's requests, from the original deal of sharing candy in exchange for not being startled, to being herself no matter what, to the new deal of just showing up to talk to her every morning, and she even gave patience a try of her own volition, just to see how it felt... Maybe there was something else Fluttershy could ask for? Because there was one thing she could think of that might make sure she never had to feel this way again, something that would make Adagio hers alone.

She squeezed the plushie extra close.

...Am I in love? Is it supposed to feel this... clingy? I don't think I like this, it hurts, and it scares me, and it might even push her away if I tell her... But I can't not tell her, can I?

Tomorrow. Tomorrow morning, no more waiting, no more games, she would sit down with Adagio and tell her everything. If Adagio pushed her away after that, well...

She'd cry. A lot. Probably for quite a while. Nobody would mind if a corner of the library emitted the sound of ominous weeping for a week or three, right? But still, even that would be better than this tension, this crushing feeling that came with keeping it all to herself. Wanting more and neither going after it nor giving up was unbearable, and after tomorrow, she'd have it or she wouldn't.

She looked down to see her hands shaking, even as they held the plush octopus to her chest. Just the same, she smiled. Wow. I'm so assertive!

Friday morning brought pressure. Fluttershy knew that if she choked today, she wouldn't get another chance until Monday. She also knew that she couldn't wait that long. Sleep hadn't come easily, for similar reasons, but she'd settle for taking a nap when she got home, if necessary. Glancing down at her bookbag, she wasn't confident about today's candy choice, but she needed to restock before next week if she wanted more to choose from.

Adagio likes soft and sweet things, and these are... Well, they're something, at least... Maybe they'll work out anyway?

After what felt like a longer wait than usual, "Trixie's ex-girlfriend" arrived, looking no worse for wear after her "break-up." She sat down, giving Fluttershy a little smile. "Morning, Sweetie."

That smile made it hard to stay jealous. Was that a good thing? "G-good morning... Uhm-" Come on, no more waiting, remember? Say it. "I, I-I, uh, about y-yesterday...?"

Adagio gave her a wry grin. "You're about to tell me that vanishing fluff was made from your pink friend's hair?"

Fluttershy sputtered, bursting into gigglefits. "N-no-ho!" The injection of levity did more for Fluttershy's nerves than she would have guessed.

"Not it? Hmm... Life's too short for twenty questions, so I'll just use one; what did you want to ask?"

"DidyoukissTrixie?!"

Blink. "What?"

And like that, Fluttershy was in full-on nervous babble mode. "Ijustwannaknowbecausethewayyouactedyesterday-"

"S-Sweetie, slow down-"

"-ImeannotthatIreallybelieveditbutitwasactuallykindofconvincing-"

Adagio's fuzzy heart-vice squeezed with a vengeance when she saw the tinge of hurt on Fluttershy's face. "Sweetie?"

"-likethe'maybeI'mjustimaginingthings'convincing,but-"

"Sweetie!"

"-andIknowIcan'ttellyouwhotoletstealyourunderwearorthatI'devenwanttobut-"

"Please, calm d-"

"-butthinkingaboutyoutwotogetherjustmakesmeso-"

With a hint of deja vu for the day after the squirrel incident, and a few times since, Adagio grabbed Fluttershy in a hug, which only reduced her high-speed meandering to a low, pitiful sobbing.

I must have done something really wrong to make her get like this... What was that about Trixie?

She didn't ask, just gently holding Fluttershy and patting her back. She couldn't remember if that was a feasible cure for the cries or the hiccups, but anything was worth trying.

Sniffling, Fluttershy eventually reigned in her feelings and steadied her breathing for the clearest enunciation she could manage. "I'm sorry."

Not having let go yet, Adagio sounded perplexed. "You're certain you're the one that needs to apologize for something? Because I remember something like this before."

Smiling just a little, Fluttershy nodded. "Well, I might be a little upset, but I don't think it's your fault."

There was an audible grin. "Then I'm going to assume the same of your alleged offense until shown otherwise."

Fluttershy giggled. She really has a thing for the Golden Rule, doesn't she? Or at least some version of it, in terms of her teasing victims. As much as she would have liked to stay where she was, in Adagio's arms and breathing the sweet scent of mangoes, the thought brought her back down. She gently pulled away, frowning. "I'm jealous."

Now was a bad time to adore Adagio's perplexed face. "Of what?" She seemed to remember something, working a bit of haughtiness into her tone. "I mean, I know there's a lot about me to admire, but what-"

"Trixie."

Once again, Fluttershy was giving her a hard-to-place look, somewhere between sad, faintly irritated, and worried.

Such expressive eyes...

Connecting the dots as best she could, Adagio made a guess while scratching her head. "Y-you, you want a pair of my underwear instead?"

And once again, Fluttershy lit up like molten iron. "WHAT?!"

"Because those weren't really mine, you know, teddies aren't my style." She glanced downward at herself. "But, I guess if you really-"

"No!" Fluttershy couldn't wave her arms in an 'X' pattern fast enough. "Nononononono, th-that's not even, I-I don't-" And then she was thinking it, which made her slap both hands over her face. "Oh my goodness...!"

Adagio had a feeling hugging her again wouldn't go over so well right now. Gentle Tone to the rescue! "Sorry, bad guess, as usual. Can you tell me what's the matter?" It was really for the best that she'd picked up this patience thing, because the old her might have snapped at Fluttershy for faster responses a dozen times by now.

About a minute and a half of borderline hyperventilation later, Fluttershy let her hands fall away from her face to look Adagio directly in the eye. "I'm... I'm j-jealous of Trixie, that she got your attention, that sh-she was, I mean, that everyone thinks she's your, a-and I'm just, no one even knows I-" Now was a really bad time for a lump in her throat, but she pressed on, tears welling in her eyes again. "I, I just, I can't..."

And here you are. Choking again. How has she even tolerated you this lo-

She was startled by Adagio putting a hand on her shoulder, her expression soft and worried. "Tell me what you want me to do, Sweetie. Say there's nothing between Trixie and me? There really isn't, beyond my usual antics. Does that bother you?"

Holding her arms close to her chest, Fluttershy sniffled as the guilt of her thoughts bled onto her tongue. "Yes!!"

Adagio glanced away thoughtfully. "Trixie is a friend of yours? I wouldn't have guessed."

"N-no, but, i-it's not a matter of who you tease, it's, m-more like..." She gulped, but Adagio just waited for her to voice her thoughts. The memories of all the little things Adagio had done since they met to show she cared spurred Fluttershy on. She took a deep breath, said a silent prayer, and spoke. "I, I have a req-no, I should explain first, um... Y-you know how you, uh, go around and mess with people for fun?" There was a nod, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Well, I-I know you only do it to those you think have earned it, for one reason or another, but, a-and I know this is ridiculous to even ask, b-but, I want-I would like, if it's okay with you, um, t-to," her throat was locking up, her mouth getting painfully dry, and of course she was burning alive as she started having fifth thoughts about this request, but Adagio kept that tender you-can-tell-me-anything look, "c-c-could you, i-if it's not too much to ask," she gulped, "not tease anyone but me?"

Adagio, ever the predator, couldn't help herself as she formed just a little smirk and held a hand to her ear. "I'm sorry, what was that? It sounded like you said-"

"I did!"

Startled a little by the sudden reply, Adagio giggled in surprise. "Well, now! I have plenty of love to go around, Sweetie," part of her felt guilty for teasing Fluttershy at a time like this, but she didn't know how else to respond, her eyes half-lidded, "but if you want it all for yourse-"

"I do!"

She blinked twice. Fluttershy was looking at her with fear and apprehension clear in her face (along with excess blood), but beneath it, resolve. Adagio gave her an almost apologetic smile. "No, no, I'm saying I would agree to pestering you and you alone. Daily. All of my vicious energy-" she reached out to lightly tickle Fluttershy for emphasis, eliciting only a slight, twitchy-mouthed shiver, "-would be used on just you from now on. Are you sure you could take that, day-in, day-out?"

There was no hint of doubt in Fluttershy's face, which Adagio found a little unsettling. "Yes. Please let me be the only one you tease from now on."

Her mouth opening and closing once, Adagio really started to look worried. "Sweetie, do you remember what I did to Trixie? That wasn't premeditated, wasn't planned, and I have nothing against her, I did it because I could, just for kicks." Hamming up her broken-heart routine for the short remainder of the day had been pretty funny too. "Now, I'd try my best to keep things private, like we've been doing, but if you're my only target, I can't guarentee-"

Fluttershy grabbed both of Adagio's hands in her own, looking her straight in the eye. "Adagio, I don't care if you do tease me in public, I don't care if the whole school finds out and mocks me worse than you ever have, because if it means I can have you all to myself, you can do anything you want to me!"

Adagio's mouth hung open for a second. She stared at Fluttershy, still holding her hands, in wide-eyed disbelief. "A-anything?"

She got a nod. A nod, which usually meant, 'Yes, yes I agree to those terms and conditions.'

The siren's grin was as maniacal as it was nervous. "D-do you understand what you're asking? There'd be no mercy, you know, I'd take full advantage of your offer, it might even be more than you can endure. You of all people must know by now that I'm too much for some folks, do you really want that all directed at you?"

Despite a bright blush, Fluttershy smiled and gave her hands a little squeeze. "I do."

There must have been some kind of secret button Fluttershy just triggered, because Adagio's heart started pounding like it was about to burst from her chest. "I... I-I..." Is it hot out here? I can feel myself sweating... Fluttershy's gaze held her, begging for an answer. Well... If she's really sure about this... Hesitantly, Adagio smiled. "Alright. I'll do it."

Squealing with joy, Fluttershy pulled Adagio into a tight hug. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!!"

As much as she wanted to say something sly in that moment, Adagio was giggling too hard for anything of the sort. Instead, she hugged back, quietly enjoying the fruits of her hugging mastery.

"I know it's selfish of me to ask," Fluttershy eventually whispered, "but, like you said, if you want to be happy, you have to be at least a little selfish, right?"

Pulling back enough to look her in the eye, Adagio beamed. "You were actually paying attention, weren't you?! That's so rare in people I share my philosophies with!" Such people were pretty rare to start. Regardless, the big, happy smile became a malevolent smirk. "I'll corrupt you yet, Sweetie!"

Fluttershy giggled at what she interpreted to be a villainous sense of humor. "It's true, though. And, you've always listened to me whenever I offered my own points of view, so it's only fair that I give you the sa-"

Adagio leaned in and kissed her on the lips.

For a split-second, Fluttershy's vision went white, the sensation of Adagio's yellow, make-up-free lips against hers twisting her brain into knots of joy and fireworks. That the contact was only for a few short, wonderful seconds meant she came down right after to find her face was on fire again. And so was Adagio's.

The suddenly-smoochy siren smiled somewhat sheepishly. "Well, you said I could do anything I wanted, and it feels like I've been wanting to do that for, months, at least! I hope it wasn't too much for y-"

Fluttershy launched herself forward, wrapping her arms around Adagio and eliciting a startled shriek as she pulled her into their second direct, unambiguous, no-candy kiss. Adagio didn't resist, closing her eyes and melting into the embrace just as much by gently brushing her hands across Fluttershy's back. Little did she know that this would only push Fluttershy further into her frenzy as long-repressed feelings boiled over and spilled out in the form an increasingly aggressive lip-lock. Her vision blurring badly, be it from tears of joy or some kind of animal instinct, Fluttershy closed her eyes too and pushed harder into the kiss, leaning into Adagio until she accidentally pushed her onto her back, practically lying on top of her as the two partly nestled in Adagio's poofy hair.

After about another minute of that, both were reminded by protesting lungs that they needed air to live and stopped for several, gasping breaths as Fluttershy held herself up as though doing a push-up on the bench with Adagio directly beneath her.

Adagio, face flushed and practically panting, managed a pleased smirk. "Like it... like it rough, hm? Y-you know... all you had... h-had to do was ask."

Fluttershy, glowing almost bright enough to shine a red light on the girl under her, couldn't do words right now. Instead, she offered a sheepish smile before lowering herself enough to steal her third kiss from a very happily-accepting pair of lips. Awareness that they were out in the open reluctantly creeping back in, Fluttershy returned to her sitting position, a sense of guilt and shame starting to kick in. "Uhm, s-sor-"

"Haha, Sweetie?" Adagio sat up with a predatory gleam in her eyes. "Remember what I said about apologizing for the wrong things?"

The mix of sudden, chilling terror with her burning euphoria just kind of brought Fluttershy back to normal temperature. "I, er, uh... I'm, not sorry? At all?" Adagio raised an eyebrow at her. "AndImightevendoitagain!!"

Chuckling, Adagio nodded approvingly. "Good girl." Then she stood up, not entirely sure she trusted herself with her new-found power. "I won't go exposing our time together right away," she said with a smirk that sent shivers up Fluttershy's spine, "but, well..." She winked, adding a light shake of her hips to punctuate the next statement. "Let's just say you'll be seeing a bit more of me during the day. Take care, Sweetie!"

Feeling her skin tingle as Adagio walked away, laughing evilly, Fluttershy tried not to think too hard about the possible interpretations of 'seeing more' of her. Part of it was fear that she'd be thinking bad thoughts when class started, part of it was that she was more concerned with something that was definitely going to distract her through today anyway;

We can kiss now... On the lips!!

It felt like some kind of great, golden treasure chest had been opened, or a seal had been broken, or a curse dispelled, or whatever the locking procedure for the floodgates of happiness was. Touching a hand to her mouth, she savored her recent memories and looked forward to making new ones. She stared in the direction Adagio had gone with a longing look and smiled almost regretfully.

I really must be selfish, because even though I just got everything I wanted, now I want even more...

Sitting in the dimly-lit library, Adagio chuckled to herself.

I was right; being pounced on is exciting!

Author's Note

Alternate title; Pink, Fluffy, Houdini Clouds

Finally it happens! Hope it was worth the wait. Now for a few simpler, fluffier chapters, I think. :derpytongue2:

If this whole chapter feels rushed, it's because I didn't want to risk yet another 10,000 words or so before finally getting to that darn kiss! Enough is enough. Seriously, this was getting ridiculous. >.<

Also; Don't feel too bad for poor Trixie here, her part in the story isn't quite done. :raritywink:

Yes, I am thinking about having Adagio do a Mr. Snow-Miser parody at some point, but she'd be a little hard-pressed to do it any time soon.

Chapter 24: Colorful, Spinny, Whirly-Blur

"Ow!"

Rainbow winced. "Sorry!"

Fluttershy rubbed her forehead, looking down at the lunch table to see the still-frozen pea that had been used to get her attention from across the table, which clued her in that she'd missed something. "I-I'm sorry, what happened?"

"Ya done that zonin' out thing a little harder than usual," answered Applejack, looking worried, "you okay, Sugarcube?"

She smiled. "Um... Y-yes, I think so." Truth be told, her mind was a little blank and she didn't remember much of today past watching Adagio walk away. And what came before that. Three times. The first was-

This time she was just tapped on the shoulder. "AH, ubuh, wha?!" Everyone at the table was looking at her.

Applejack tipped her hat while raising an eyebrow. "Sooo, like Ah was sayin'...?"

Fluttershy quickly turned crimson, smiling sheepishly. "Err... Pass?"

Sunset sputtered. "P-pass?! You can't just 'pass' when we're worried about you!" She should have known, they hadn't let it slide when Sunset tried the exact same thing some months ago. In hindsight, she was grateful.

"You have been a little out of sorts lately," Rarity added with an inquisitive look, "you're sure there's nothing out of the ordinary?"

"W-well, umm..." Memory. She smiled. "We're due to get a baby Agouti at the animal shelter early next week! They're like guinea pigs, but with more fur, bigger ears, and-"

She was cut off by a small wave of chuckles and good-natured eye-rolls.

"Welp," surmised Applejack with a grin, "reckon that explains it."

Pinkie was giggling. "Instant Fluttershy distraction: Just add fluffiness!"

In a manner of speaking, that might have been true, but Fluttershy dared not even glance at the fluffiest person in the cafeteria.

"So," began Rarity, looking at Sunset, "back to your story about Flash Sentry?"

"Right, umm..." Sunset scratched her head while trying to remember where she'd left off. "Okay, so, I ran into him in town some time yesterday..."

It was a small world, Canterlot a small part of it, and Canterlot's mall was smaller still. As such, it wasn't entirely surprising when one could see the same faces in the same places from day to day, as occurred when Sunset saw Flash Sentry sitting on a bench in a little resting area in the middle of an intersection. The mall wasn't really busy that day, which was half the reason Sunset had chosen it to pick up a new outfit to replace the one that got ruined in Pinkie's exploding frosting fiasco. Even so, the apology cupcakes had been delicious!

Flash clearly saw her too, because he waved her over. "Hey, Sunset. Got a minute?"

The bag on her arm meant she had finished her task in the mall and thus had time to kill. "Sure." He motioned for her to sit with him, so she did.

His expression wasn't overly serious, but it wasn't the usual, smiling Flash, either. "I'd like to get straight to brass tacks, if that's okay."

Something was off. "What's on your mind?"

"I'm the one who made that painting, the one they hung outside the Art room these last few months."

Sunset stared at him, wide-eyed. "What?" He just stared back at her, his expression unchanged, as though he were waiting for more. "I... W-why?"

"Why did I paint it? To vent. The night of the Fall Formal, I saw everything I ever tried to stop you from becoming, everything I failed miserably to prevent. No matter how much damage control I ran on your rumors and blackmail schemes, I-"

"Wait, what?!"

He smiled sheepishly. "Well, I never told you because, y'know... I've been meaning to, but-"

She shook her head. "No, I mean, what are you talking about? 'Damage control'?"

Flash shrugged. "Positive rumors, for lack of better words, 'Bulk Biceps won a junior weight-lifting competition the other day!' 'Rarity's hair is looking shinier than ever!' to balance out your negative ones, getting friends to talk things out whenever you caused a fight. Didn't usually work all that well, but I like to think it made a little difference."

In hindsight, Sunset was a weird kind of grateful someone was technically trying to stop her even back then, but that wasn't what boggled her mind at the moment. "You were undermining me in secret? How? I mean, believe me, I'm okay with it now, but where did you learn to...?"

There was a cheeky little smile. "Well, part of being your boyfriend meant actually talking to you, listening to what you said, and since you mostly talked about your plans at the time...?"

Tinting pink as she recalled the many times she all but gloated to Flash about another destroyed relationship, how easy it was for her to make those people her pawns, Sunset shamefully rubbed one arm. "I, thought you were on my side at the time."

He sighed. "Yea. So did I. Anyway, listening to you, I learned a thing or two about dealing with people, just never used that info the same way. It blew my mind how far a simple sentiment or a distinct word choice could go, but I guess it helped that most people listened to me before we even met." He shook his head. "Detour. Anyway, Fall Formal, big, fiery reminder of how little I was able to stop you from doing what you did, rainbow beam out of nowhere comes and does it all for me somehow. That was nice and all, but it left me kinda..." He shrugged. "I don't know, like I was missing closure with 'the demon,' like I didn't really get to see it fade away from nice girl I knew you were at heart."

Sunset blushed, but tried to keep to the topic at hand. "What does that have to do with the painting?"

"I dunno, but Magnet had been going on about getting feelings out onto canvas at the time, so I just painted the first thing that came to mind. The demon was gone, but when the picture was done, I could look at it and say 'You don't exist anymore.' I did it a few times since they hung it up, too, -I didn't ask them to do that, by the way, but there it was- and every time, it felt a little more true, until I didn't even need to look twice at the thing. Still, I know that picture caused you some grief, so, sorry."

She smiled warmly. "It's okay." Truth be told, Sunset was touched to hear he thought the monster was gone for good that soon.

Flash, however, didn't quite look satisfied, raising an eyebrow. "Really? 'It's okay' that what might have been the darkest moment of your life and a reminder of the thing you were hoping everyone would forgive you for was hung in the hallway for all to see? 'It's okay' that I inadvertently made it harder for you to find acceptance among those who would remember everything you ever did to them whenever they saw that stupid painting? None of that bothered you at all?"

Sunset bit back her first thought, instead forcing a smile. "I, well, i-it's better to forgive and-"

Flash frowned. "Sunset, please. I'm already feeling better about having told you all this, so if you have anything you've been wanting to get out of your system, I can take it."

Again, Sunset restrained herself, feeling a little lump build in her throat. "I... really?"

He smiled at her. "Closure. Let 'er rip."

She did. Sunset stood up and nearly shouted (only nearly, they were still in a mall) at him about every painful feeling that painting gave her, about how she had to specifically ask her friends not to touch it or say anything countless times because she knew it would fall back on her, how she'd cried the night after the first time she saw it, how sometimes, she could almost hear that goddamn painting laughing at her, and that it brought her nothing but misery and grief until just this week; the day it was replaced, how seeing something else in its place was like an elephant off her back.

When she was done, Flash smiled again. "Better?"

Nearly out of breath, Sunset flopped back down on the bench. "I... yea." She giggled. "Feeling pretty good, actually."

Flash nodded. "Good, because I've been thinking about closure a lot lately. I actually came here to think of how I'd talk to you alone for a bit because with the painting finally down, I'd quit being reminded of it, which meant I might forget, which meant we'd probably never get-"

"Closure." Sunset finished with a smile. "I think I see what you mean. Did you draw that picture of Adagio too, or...?"

He snickered. "No, but it's a great replacement. Maybe I should have drawn you all sleepy and harmless?" Blink. "That sounded a lot less creepy in my head..."

Nearly crimson, Sunset gave a half-hearted smile. "Eh, w-well, doesn't matter now, right? I mean, if anybody needs a nicer light shone on them these days, it's those three." She scratched her head. "Actually, I'm a little surprised the Dazzlings, very pretty girls, don't all at least have boyfriends or something, let alone their own circle of friends. Their whole thing used to be making people like them, you know? But as far as I can tell, it's still just the three of them at lunch every day."

"A lot of people I know still talk about them pretty often, mostly because they keep doing crazy stuff. Less so with Aria, but not a lot of kids think to say the lessons are, in her words, "stupid," "ill-conceived," or "freakin' pointless."" He raised an eyebrow. "Actually, I'm kinda surprised your group hasn't-"

Sunset held up a hand, smiling wryly. "Believe me, I've tried to make that happen, but they made it pretty clear they want to figure it out themselves. That said," she winked, "I think they'll come around eventually."

"Let's hope. You know, there are at least a few guys that say they wanna be the first to ask one of them out, but the popular 'joke' is that friends don't let friends date Dazzlings."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. Ask anyone if they think magic was the only reason they liked 'Under Our Spell.'" He scratched the back of his head. "They're good-looking girls, sure, but if everyone thinks it's just part of a trap? Heck, the theories I'm hearing about why Adagio is holding open doors now pretty much says it all."

Something clicked in Sunset's head. "Uh-huh... And, what kind of 'damage control' have you been running for them?"

Surprised, Flash gave her a guilty smile. "Got me. I've just been trying to keep anyone from doing anything stupid, -amazing what you can do with a well-timed 'not cool, man'- like harassing those three or deliberately making them feel unwelcome. Everyone should get a second chance, right?"

She beamed. "I like to think so!"

He chuckled, but the grin faded. "It's mostly because of Sonata and Adagio, but people are still reasonably scared of those three, and I think that's making things harder for them than the mind-control shtick. Everyone worries Sonata will snap and do something insane if she so much as misinterprets sarcasm again, Aria goes around looking like she can't wait to rearrange somebody's face, and Adagio manages to look scary just walking around." He shrugged. "It's kind of a bleak situation for the 'magic of friendship.'"

Sunset sighed. "Their behavior really makes a difference, huh? I asked Adagio to tone it down once, but-" Flash was giggling. "...What?"

"Terrifying smiles or not, Adagio might actually be the easiest one to deal with, just don't play her games." Sunset all but gaped at him, so he tried to elaborate. "You kinda taught me this one; don't give people what they're after and they'll turn to get it elsewhere? It didn't take long to see that she loved to mess with people, so I figured if all she really wants is a reaction, all you have to do is give her a 'boring' one. I mean, sure, not responding to some of the stuff she says might not be easy, but if you act like she's being totally normal, treat every innuendo and double-entendre like a friendly joke, she'll lose interest and go play with someone else." He gave a deadpan look. "Weirdly, nobody seems to catch on that she pretty much leaves me alone now because of this."

"...Huh."

"Yup."

"I, I kinda knew, just, I wanted to be friendlier with her, you know? And shutting someone out is a lousy way to make friends."

Flash nodded. "Maybe, but I've tried being nice with her -and don't get me wrong, I intend to keep trying- and she just loses interest in minutes. I've tried the same approach with Aria and never even managed small-talk, and she kinda gives the impression that she wants to be left alone anyway. Sonata is bright and approachable, but I've never been able to talk to her for longer than five minutes before either she gets distracted by something or I can't follow what she's saying anymore. Are you sure those three even want friends?"

Sunset's face was less than confident, but thinking back to that first big talk she had with the Dazzlings, she smiled. "Pretty sure, it's the whole reason they're at school at all now."

He shrugged. "If you say so."

"We talked a little bit longer," concluded Sunset, "but those were the important parts."

"So," surmised Applejack, "he toldja he was the one that made that scary painting, you guys made up lickety-split, then he toldja 'bout a trick fer dealin' with Adagio?"

"Pretty much."

Pinkie looked at Rainbow. "Speaking of tricks, I'm surprised you didn't try your 'Ha, five bucks!' trick while Fluttershy was-"

"Shh," shh'd Rainbow, whispering so only Pinkie could easily hear, "Fluttershy is the reason I came up with that stupid little trick. Don't ask, but I kinda owe her forty bucks." She dared glance at the person she'd borrowed money from a few too many times since they'd known each other, but it looked like she had drifted off again.

Wow, she thought, Flash has been trying to help the sirens in secret? I wonder if Adagio knows about that. Fluttershy would have to sleep on whether or not to tell her that he was deliberately deflecting her teasing, but maybe it didn't matter anymore?

"Hah," chuckled Applejack, "Ah bet Trixie wishes she'd known how to get ridd'a Adagio, come yesterday, but it was kinda too late by then."

"Oooh, I heard about that," Rarity said with a hint of sympathy, "how Trixie wanted to antagonize the sirens only for it to blow up in her face, so to speak?"

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Kinda her own fault. If she didn't want Adagio to do that, she probably shouldn't have called her out in public after boinking her." There were a few spit-takes. "What?"

Shaking her head, Sunset smiled wryly. "I'd take whatever Adagio says with a pinch of salt, Rainbow, it's doubtful they really slept together. Still, you're probably right in that she brought it on herself by giving Adagio an opening, and a pretty big one at that."

"Speaking of," Rarity replied while thoughtfully drumming a finger on her chin, "didn't we do a little more than claim to remove her unmentionables and flaunt them around for all to see? I recall that they said they weren't here for revenge, but who's to say they don't simply change their minds some day, send Adagio to do the same thing to us?"

"Probably not an issue. I talked to her in third period today and nothing out of the ordinary happened."

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "She still givin' ya the cold shoulder?"

"...A little bit, yea." Sunset shrugged. "When dealing with most people, she's kinda like a bee, I guess; leave her alone and she'll leave you alone. Unless she smells nectar, so to speak." Scratching her head, Sunset tried to think of how to compare Adagio to a whole beehive if provoked without mentioning her outrageous hair. Not even her mind was up to such a task on such short notice.

That night, Fluttershy set her diary down with a contented sigh. The stressful, pent-up feelings from just this time yesterday were all but gone now, peaceful warmth in their place. That said, she'd had surprisingly little she wanted to write today, the details of the kisses being the main focus. She'd noted that the cute-new-animal-at-the-shelter excuse probably wasn't going to keep working, that there wasn't going to be an incredibly adorable animal she could pretend to be completely fascinated by every week and that she'd have to watch herself during the day, but her primary thought was that kissing Adagio was a thing now.

I should probably tell her what I learned about Flash trying to make things easier for her group, along with his evasion tactic.

It made her feel like a bit of a tattle-tale, but she couldn't bear the thought of hurting Adagio by keeping a secret from her. Because Adagio is very sneaky, and finds things out whether you want her to or not. That thought reminded Fluttershy that while she wanted to be open and honest, Adagio most likely had things she didn't want to share, like that 'pressing charges' thing Fluttershy heard Principal Celestia mention. She could understand wanting to keep some things private, a secret relationship, for instance, but Fluttershy herself had nothing to hide. From Adagio, anyway.

...At least I don't think so. Do I? By this point, I'm pretty sure I've told her everything. Well, maybe except for saying I love her out loud.

She'd kind of covered that one up impulsively, but the words had come almost on their own. Was it too soon to say 'I love you'? After just three kisses in a very short span of time? Part of her said it almost sounded like 'Let's get married!' if she wasn't careful. Fluttershy giggled to herself.

Another day, another milestone to strive for, huh? At least I know to let the moment come on its own.

The important thing, she was sure, was a simple question: Would Adagio say it back?

Meanwhile, in the Dazzlings' house, Adagio lay on her heart-shaped bed, gazing into the whirl of colors formed by the patterns she'd painted on her ceiling fan.

Spinny, spinny, spinny... All this motion, but you never go anywhere. Silly fan.

Distraction was going great!

Oh, sea spray.

Well, there was really no need to put the thought out of her head any longer; she was given free reign with Fluttershy. The idea was as exhilarating to her as it was terrifying. She was going to miss toying with random people, certainly, but a lot of them gave boring, mediocre reactions anyway, give or take people like Trixie.

Well, we did technically break up from an imaginary relationship and/or friends-with-benefits situation, so it's poetically fitting. I might need to clear up that that was a joke. More importantly; Fluttershy! So many options... Do I take it slow, build up gradually, or just do whatever I feel like, without thinking, every day? A build up has to lead to something and I don't really have anything in mi-... Rolling over on her stomach to bury her face in the covers, she blushed a deep scarlet. Well, maybe one or two things... But, she would never-! I couldn't just-! I know she said she-! Agh!!

She rolled back and forth from one side of the heart-mattress to the other for a few minutes, rapidly alternating between a slow approach with subtle little tastes and teases until Fluttershy was on the verge of madness and not even her friends had the foggiest clue why, or just throwing inhibition and restraint to the depths and acting on impulse, diving into the epitome of life that was the freedom to do whatever one wanted without hesitation or regret. The second option was clearly more dangerous, but how long did she have with-

The rolling stopped.

No, wait, she specifically asked you for this, remember? The risk of her getting tired of you might not even be a factor anymore.

But even if she doesn't mind anything I do, even if she likes it, what's going to stop her friends, or even mine, from shutting it down if I go too far?

Staring at the whirly-blur of color that was her ceiling fan again, Adagio loosed a long breath.

"Suppose I'll play it by ear, see what happens, and back off the second I'm asked to." She closed her eyes.

About an hour later, she opened them again. "I need to get her a safeword..."

Author's Note

Still not a clopfic, no matter what Adagio says/implies to the contrary!

Have I ever mentioned that I don't care for all the Flash hate that goes around? He seems like an okay guy to me.

However, while I'm normally all about dem ship teases, no, I don't really see those two together. Said the writer of a FluttershyxAdagio Dazzle crack pairing. Hurrheehurrheehurr.

Other than building some context, there wasn't much really going on this chapter, but I hope it wasn't too boring. If it was, tune in next time for another chapter primarily from Adagio's POV!

Chapter 25: Squeaky, Health-Conscious Pillow

Monday morning had felt weeks away, but the weekend eventually passed and Fluttershy again found herself on the bench, eagerly awaiting her favorite siren.

Chances were high that she was going to be startled again, badly, but she knew it would be out of love! Love of startling her, maybe, but as she had given Adagio permission to do whatever she wanted, it would have been very silly not to expect her to utilize it. The thought kept her heart beating a little faster since the moment her mother dropped her off, half-expecting Adagio, whom she knew knew where and when she got there, to spring on her before she'd even reached the bench, but as ever, she was kept guessing. Was the wait part of it? It didn't feel like a stretch to think so, she was as nervous now as she would be if Adagio were already giving her one of those stares.

Nothing had been sprung on her Friday, nor over the weekend. Was Adagio just letting her sweat it out for a while? Rainbow seemed to like doing that with someone she intended to play a prank on, but Fluttershy got the impression that Rainbow was just too lazy to think up a prank right away. The thought tickled her as she drew another tiny correlation between Adagio and one of her friends, wondering if that could be used to bri-

Her head was seized from behind, turned in quick, but gentle fashion, and locked in a passionate kiss. She melted almost instantly, the sudden embrace of smooth, full lips pressing against hers sweeping away all other thoughts. When it broke half a minute later, Fluttershy ragdolled over on the bench and landed on her back, leaving her red in the face and breathing heavily. Looking up, she could see Adagio leaning over the back of the bench just like she used to, grinning down at her with affectionate (if darkened with eyeliner) eyes and a little blush of her own.

"Morning, Sweetie."

Still catching her breath, Fluttershy managed a smile back. "M-morning." Hoodie and jeans today. She always looks so soft and huggable with those on, I wonder if- Her heart stopped for a split second as Adagio vaulted over the bench, coming to rest as her rear impacted Fluttershy's stomach. "Oof!!"

The girl using her as a cushion leaned back leisurely, one arm casually draped over the back of the bench as she turned her head and grinned cheekily. "Comfortable? I am."

"Uhm-" herbutt'stouchingme!! "I, uhh..." If nothing else, Fluttershy felt very, very warm. "You're, um, k-kind of-"

"Heavy," said Adagio with a mock-pout, draping an arm over her face in melodramatic fashion, "it's alright, I've heard it all around the school, you can tell me I'm too-"

"N-no, that's not it at all!" Fluttershy squirmed as she tried to sit up, only able to bend her spine enough to raise her head and the upper-most part of her torso a little. "You're not too heavy, it's, j-just, um..." Her current position made hiding in her own hair difficult. "i-it's just, y-your, b-bottom is, uh..."

Adagio smirked viciously, wiggling a little where she sat. "Yes? What about it, Sweetie?"

The sensation against her stomach sent shivers up her spine and straight into her brain, making it hard to tell if her vision beginning to blur was from dizziness, or the little cloud of warm air rising from her own face. "I-it's, uhm, j-j-just, k-kind of-"

"Fat?"

"No!"

The forcefulness of her delivery surprised the sitting siren a little. "Oh? How would you describe it, then?"

Fluttershy's reply was immediate and delivered without a single stutter. "Nicely-rounded, plump enough that it sticks out a little, especially when you bend forward a bit, it's wide, but proportionally still looks normal, and yes, big, but not in a way that just looks fat, more-so considering that even when pumping your hips, I've never seen you jiggle even a little bit, though it's crossed my mind that that might be because I've never seen you in tight enough pants to notice!"

In the ensuing quiet as Fluttershy tried to catch her breath, Adagio stared in wide-eyed shock. "You've really been looking, haven't you?" This goes a little beyond just appreciating my form... I've been admired before, but not to that level of detail! At least not that anyone had commented on aloud, as far as she knew.

Still glowing herself, Fluttershy smiled that endearing little 'caught me' smile, but it quickly became a concerned frown. "Are people really calling you fat?"

"Uh..." She might have preferred less crude descriptions of her hips than the ones she heard, but other than that, she shrugged. "Not in those words. Don't worry, most of them are only noticing what I wanted them to."

"But do you think you're too heavy?"

Adagio blinked once in surprise as something occurred to her. That description a second ago, was that the culmination of a lot of time spent ogling me, or an attempt to make me feel better about a perceived insecurity? It could have been a bit of both, she supposed, but regardless, she looked down at Fluttershy with what could only be called a loving smile and gently tussled her hair. "Definitely not. Trust me when I say I get my share of exercise and that my body is exactly the way I want it to be."

The girl-turned-cushion smiled too. "What do you do to stay in shape?"

Adagio giggled. "So inquisitive..." I should be asking questions too... She's known me long enough that it won't look like I'm plotting something heinous, right? "I don't know if you got to see it while I was sick, but we renovated one room back home into a gym of sorts. Weights, monkey bars, a few machines, a scale, you get the idea."

She kind of didn't. "Monkey bars?"

"I don't know what else to call them, a series of rods hanging from the ceiling." She couldn't remember why they wanted to have those installed, now that she thought about it, but she smiled regardless. "Sonata likes swinging around on them making animal noises, which annoys Aria while she's on the treadmill. Sometimes that leads to a longer work-out in the form of Aria getting mad and going up there after her, the two of them trying to grapple the other with their legs to fling them to the padded mats below." Adagio grinned almost devilishly, a hint of red warming her face. "Have I mentioned how glad I am that we agreed on keeping fit in our underwear? We don't always exercise together, but there are days that those two make quite the show..."

Predictably, Fluttershy squeaked, holding both hands over her mouth as she involuntarily pictured it. It must have been written all over what was visible of her face, because Adagio let out a triumphant cackle.

"And since I know you're wondering, yes, that includes me. Admittedly, I'm not as... lively a spectacle as the monkey twins, but I focus more on building muscle. You might recall?"

"Whuh... W-what do you mean?" The look of wicked glee on Adagio's face suggested she had been hoping Fluttershy would say that.

"Oh," she said while quickly seizing one of Fluttershy's hands, "need a reminder? Alright then, just-" she slapped the hand to her own thigh, mentally bracing herself for the possibility of another squeeze, "this."

Fluttershy's heart thumped almost audibly as the familiar feeling danced across her palm and fingers. That this was a familiar feeling sent her head spinning even faster. Yes, it did feel like muscle, but not to the point that she wasn't still fairly soft, not unlike the hindquarters still parked on her belly. "...eep."

The next move would have been to brush Fluttershy's hand across her own leg a few times while tracing a finger of her own hand along Fluttershy's thigh, but Adagio didn't want to break the girl's brain just yet. Giggling as she let go of Fluttershy's wrist, Adagio's smile turned a little more friendly than mischievous. "What about you, Sweetie?" She lightly tickled the stomach she sat on, drawing little shivers. "Any weight-watching secrets from an animal lover?"

"Oh, um..." Thinking about it for a minute as her pulse slowly returned to normal, Fluttershy smiled. "Walking the dogs at the animal shelter usually helps keep me pretty healthy, in addition to mainly eating fruit and vegetables." She decided not to mention the other kind of walking she'd integrated into her daily life, as that was technically more psychological exercise at this point.

Dreadful temptation arose, but Adagio resisted the urge to ask about what way Fluttershy went for walks. "All of the dogs at once, or do you have to take turns? Either way sounds strenuous."

With a smile that depicted fond recollection, Fluttershy shook her head. "Ohh, they're no trouble at all. I usually take everyone with me at once, and I don't even need leashes most days."

"No trouble?" Adagio absent-mindedly scratched her head with a fingertip. "Then, it's not much of a work-out, is it?"

Blink. "Um, w-well... Not, a big one, I guess."

"Hmm..." The evil smile was back. "In that case," Adagio leaned over Fluttershy's face, resting one hand dead-center on her chest to keep balance, which immediately drew a gasp as Fluttershy went scarlet, "why don't you come over to burn calories with us some time? It doesn't have to be an exhaustive work-out, but I'd happily oblige if you really wanted to get sweaty." She drank in Fluttershy's fidgety, flustered whimpers with fiendish delight, softly, slowly shifting her weight back and forth on the girl beneath her.

"I, I, I'd-" With a hand resting just barely above her breasts, the pressure and warmth of that big bottom gently brushing against her, and eyes that offered even more leering down into her own, the combination of sensations quickly proved maddening. "Haba, muh-"

"Remember," Adagio added huskily, "we'd all be in our underwear... Or, if you like, maybe even less?"

Brain was then out to lunch as Fluttershy went light-headed. She grabbed the arm on her chest and yanked it downward to pull Adagio in for a furious lip-lock! What happened instead was Adagio getting startled by the sudden shift in her weight-bearing arm, losing balance, making a frightened expression Fluttershy would probably remember forever, and falling in the direction she was pulled; straight into Fluttershy's face. They knocked heads with an audible BONK!

Dazed, Adagio rolled off and fell to the grass, not moving.

Fluttershy quickly sat up, worry clear in her face. "Are you alri-" Agh! Vertigo. Big time. Then the actual pain of the blow sunk in and Fluttershy drew a hand to her forehead, but she did her best to focus on her floored friend, who dozily sat up and rubbed the upper-left side of her own head.

"Ow..." She looked at Fluttershy with her eyebrows lightly furrowed, keeping the left eye shut. "Should I take that as a 'no'?"

She's hurt!! Fluttershy nearly leapt off the bench, kneeling beside Adagio with, once more, mildly startling speed, physically and verbally. "I'msosorry!! Areyouokay?! Areyoubleeding?! Letmesee!!"

Trying to shuffle away for some breathing room, Adagio didn't even have time to open her mouth before Fluttershy seized the hand covering the point of impact and gently but firmly moved it and a fluffy tuft of hair away to inspect for herself. The situation made her feel like she was back in bed with a cold; weak and defenseless before her cute, but aggressively helpful nurse. She knew she was neither of those things right now, but it was amazing just how quickly Fluttershy's tone and expression almost made her forget.

"Hmm," Fluttershy quietly hummed while examining the spot, "it doesn't look like you're bleeding, and, I don't think it'll even leave a bump. At least, not a big one, if at all." She stopped to look Adagio in the eye. "Just the same, would you like me to get you some ice? Or a compress? We should keep the area elevated, which should be easy, since it's on your-" The sound of girlish tittering made her trail off.

Adagio was giving her a rare kind of smile, almost regretful if it weren't so wide and happy. "Remind me never to get a real injury around you, Sweetie."

Fluttershy made a disapproving face. "Head injuries are no laughing matter, a concussion could have serious conseq-"

"Alright, alright," Adagio said with a more apologetic grin. She thought of pointing out that Fluttershy was apparently ignoring her own blow to the head, but she remembered that going against her nurse's wishes was a bad idea last time. Weirdly, that Fluttershy was getting so worked up over something so minor tickled Adagio in a less humiliating way than what might happen if she resisted, so she tilted her head forward. "Give it to me straight, Doctor," she said with a hint of amusement she couldn't entirely repress, "is it serious?"

Even if she sensed a little bit of sarcasm in there, Fluttershy took another look anyway. The little red mark on Adagio's head was already fading, so part of her felt silly for reacting so strongly. Still, this left her very close to Adagio's head, one hand on her scalp. She hadn't directly touched Adagio's hair since the time with the ribbon, but the scent of mango was every bit as rich. Up close, Adagio's skin was so smooth and flawless it was almost inhuman, like the nymphs she'd read abou-

"That silence is starting to worry me, Sweetie."

Her face warming up a little, Fluttershy giggled despite herself. "I think you'll make a full recovery." She sealed the notion with a little kiss to the point of impact, hearing a tiny, surprised gasp as all of the skin around it went fluorescent pink. Backing away a little, she felt a warm tingle of huggy delight as the flustered siren made a timid face.

"Th-thanks..."

Fluttershy couldn't help smiling a little wider at the expression, but she still had to ask. "Is something wrong?"

Looking at her, Adagio grumbled under her breath. "K-kissing it better... That's something you do with little kids, isn't it?"

The smile stayed. "I like to think it works for everyone."

Orange eyebrows furrowed slightly. Well, let's see how you like it! She quickly rose to her knees and leaned in to kiss the red mark on Fluttershy's forehead.

Rather than heating up like a stove, however, Fluttershy giggled, only turning a little rosy as she gave Adagio a sweet smile. "Thank you!"

Adagio blinked twice. Despite her continued embarrassment at their childish little exchange, she found herself wearing a tiny grin too. "Yes, well..." Am I overreacting? She's not mocking me even a little bit... Her smile twisting into a smirk, Adagio wanted to test something. "So, about that work-out idea..."

Now Fluttershy turned red, her eyes widened, and her breath came at an irregular rate as the mental images returned to her like a boomerang the size of a fridge. "Ah, uh, th-that, um, I-I-"

Standing up, Adagio brushed herself off and chuckled. "You don't have to answer any time soon, but the offer's open." She winked, "Think about it." then turned and walked away, her mature image evidently intact. Several paces from the bench, she smirked viciously, stopped, rested a hand on her cocked hips, and looked over her shoulder with a sultry gaze. "Really," she said while giving her 'nicely-rounded' behind a slow shake, "think about it."

As hoped, Fluttershy squeaked and shuddered in place at the idea, still sitting in the grass and glowing like a pink-haired stoplight. She quickly sought refuge in her own hair again, but didn't take her eyes off the cackling girl as she departed, hips swinging with a little more oomph than usual. It wasn't until Adagio was gone that Fluttershy regained control of her legs, sheepishly sitting on the bench as dread kicked in. Working out... Getting all sweaty... with the Dazzlings! All four of us! Underwear! Not thinking about this all day was going to be a challenge she was not looking forward to.

Glancing around for her book-bag, she saw it on the ground beside the bench, likely knocked there when Adagio sat on her. The variety of feelings that instance had given her was something else that would have to wait until she could get to her diary to get out. She thought about bringing it to school to write these things out whenever she had a moment alone, but she mentally blew that candle out immediately, and the risk of anyone, even her friends, seeing her diary was all the sand that ever needed to be poured on the wick. Picking up her book-bag, she remembered something.

Oh, shoot, I forgot to tell her about Flash!

And to offer candy again. She noted to try starting with that next time.

Slinking through the school in silence, Adagio remembered something too.

Oh, sea spray, I forgot to ask her about a safeword!

Shaking her head at her own scatter-brained moment, Adagio kept moving. If Fluttershy knew what a safeword was, anything that would get the message across would almost definitely lead to another three-act play on her face. If she didn't, Adagio looked forward to explaining it to her! Either would be nice, really, but not if it meant there would be witnesses, as she didn't want things public yet. It wasn't that being able to play Fluttershy like a squeaky violin (the simile struck a slightly bitter chord with her) out in the open didn't appeal to her, but she didn't want to subject the poor girl to any emotional pain at the hands of her peers.

It wouldn't even matter if I hadn't, as Aria put it, gotten a spotlight on myself. If people knew what we did together, they would talk, and Fluttershy doesn't need that.

That wasn't even accounting for the other primary possible complications, as Adagio had had time to compile in her head:

-Fluttershy's friends taking issue with their relationship.
-Adagio's friends taking issue with their relationship.
-The more extreme moments Adagio would subject her to (and there would be extreme moments) breaking school rules, likely landing Fluttershy in hot water with the staff and possibly her parents.
-Fluttershy's grades slipping (so far, so good) if she got too distracted on a daily basis.
-People thinking Adagio was just bullying her and rushing to her "aid."
-The chance that, no longer fettered by thoughts of keeping things private, Adagio would go completely overboard and wind up just bullying her.

It was that last one that worried her most right now, doubly so as Fluttershy had, just days ago, given her express permission to do whatever she wished to her. The temptation wasn't quite murder, but it was there. On that note, this morning went pretty well! Her brief ruse of insecurity regarding her body fat index made her feel a little underhanded, in a bad way somehow, but she'd confirmed beyond the shadow of a doubt that Fluttershy found her physically attractive. She was sure now that even with how often she'd noticed Fluttershy practically chewing on her, it wasn't just the idea of getting intimate that flustered her.

...It's not insecure to wonder that, any normal person would have been all over me by now! In a variety of ways! She still didn't take advantage of the situation today, even when I was sitting on her... unless her idea of feeling someone up on purpose involves headbutting them?

It seemed more likely that Fluttershy just wanted another kiss and miscalculated, now that she thought about it. Regardless, Fluttershy's interest had to be at least partially sexual, so the idea she came up with late last night (or early that morning, give or take) was still on. Smirking, Adagio patted the photograph in her pocket, just wishing she could be there to see the look on Fluttershy's face when she found it in her locker later today. The smirk fell away when she happened across a very different image hanging just outside the Art room.

"And then there's this," she muttered to herself. It was still there, Fluttershy's sketch. She didn't even entertain the idea of removing the picture herself, both because she'd specifically told Aria and Sonata she didn't want anyone touching it and because it seemed like doing so would hurt the artist's feelings somehow, if only indirectly. Looking at the many delicately-traced marks that formed her own sleeping face, Adagio sighed. "I liked the demon painting." It really brought out Sunset's eyes! The real tragedy of that conflict was that the world never got to find out what Sunset could have done with those claws.

Thanks a lot, Sparkle.

Shrugging at senseless thoughts of what might have been, Adagio let them fade out, lamenting that her recent deal with Fluttershy meant she probably couldn't play her usual game in the mornings anymore. Just as well, perhaps, some teachers had taken to just quietly accepting that the school was haunted or something, which made for boring sport.

Author's Note

When I said this one would be mainly from Adagio's POV, as in, another chapter mainly following her through the day, I neglected to account for the possibility that their morning together would go longer than I intended. Same old, same old.

Until next time!

...

In other news:

You may have known that this story isn't a clopfic, that I specifically said there would never be clop of this many weeks ago. At the time, it had never occurred to me that someone would volunteer to do just that, and they did!
For those interested in our two heroines throwing caution to the wind and going at it like I'm never going to write them doing, there is now something to satisfy all your bench-coitus-related woes!

LINK!

I'd like to thank GenerousGypsy for writing a pretty faithful depiction of what the couple's first time might be like! And while we're at it; everyone that's showed their continued interest in this story! :pinkiehappy:

Chapter 26: Brain Food

Second period was a little tense, but not for the first reason that came to mind. A few people had still given Adagio those little smiles walking through the hall, those funny looks that almost said they wanted to pet her, even if they usually looked away when she met their eyes, but that wasn't the source of the strained atmosphere in the room now. It was like everyone but Inkwell was waiting for Adagio to do something. She had thought it would be good enough if she made a point of not even looking at Trixie, but things were more or less the same on Friday.

In the last few minutes of class, she figured the problem wasn't going to fix itself and came up with a little plan, enacting it when the bell rang. The suspicious waiting period had been cut down considerably since the first time Adagio held this very door, but ten seconds was more than she needed to calmly address the class, and most importantly, Trixie.

"In case anyone was wondering, I was just kidding about the underwear thing last week."

Everyone immediately turned to look at the supposed panty-thief, who flushed red and shrank down under their collective gaze.

Tempted as she was to play up a hurt lover routine to make the situation so much worse for poor Trixie, Adagio contained herself to her usual little smile. "There was never anything between us, it was just a joke, and I'm sorry for any confusion it may have caused." Several students looked back at her, some in surprise, some in suspicion. It was interesting to note that she got roughly the same expressions directed at her now as when she, Aria, and Sonata first returned to this school.

Trixie's knees were shaking a little, so it was possible she was too nervous to speak. Perhaps she, too, was waiting for a trap to close around her, but after another minute's awkward silence, the room began to clear. As had happened no shortage of times before, Trixie approached when everyone else had gone out, but for once, she didn't look annoyed, condescending, or otherwise antagonistic, just hopelessly confused.

"...Why?"

Adagio couldn't help a little giggle at the adorably lost expression. "I know we've been through a lot together, but you don't have to worry anymore. I've had my fun, and I'm done with you now. Take care, Trixie." As her former greatest (public) victim just stood there, dumbstruck, Adagio opted to close things herself by (begrudgingly) heading to her next class, leaving Trixie to do whatever baffled young magicians did in their spare time.

Trixie, for her part, had some time to think.

...It can't be. She can't really mean...? She'd never just leave me alone! There's no way!

She grit her teeth.

She's trying to trick me, this is all a set-up to do something even worse than last week! That evil, remorseless, manipulative bitch!

Trixie quickly considered her options.

Maybe I can buy her off, give her something to really make her leave me alone! What would she take? Money? A good word? ...Does she want my panties?

Her shoulders slumped.

Oh, what's the use? Nothing I can do will ever stop that monster, she's going to torment me until gradua-no, until the day I die! I'll be her pitiful little whipping girl forever, and there's nothing I can do about it!

And then Trixie felt something, like a little light in her chest. Hope, maybe.

No, maybe... maybe I'm being too pessimistic? What if she really meant it? She wasn't doing that spine-tingling smirk thing she does when she said it, so... maybe it's true? Maybe I'm free?

Thinking about it, Adagio probably could have royally humiliated Trixie just a minute ago (Trixie saw it in her eyes!) and didn't. If that was still her goal, she'd have done it then. And didn't. It actually kind of sounded like she was trying to take some of the heat off of Trixie, and while she was sure one short little speech wouldn't wipe away what happened the other week, Adagio formally saying it was all a joke had to count for something, which was about the best she could hope for.

If she wanted to keep toying with me, she could have... This is good, right? Yes, yes it is!

Trixie smiled. Maybe now, at last, she was free!

And blocking the door to the classroom, as the warning bell clued her in. Remembering that she was still in school, she squeaked and bolted to her next class.

Third period. Sunset Shimmer. The usual routine began.

"Good morning, Adagio!"

One, two...

She didn't even make an attempt at smiling. "Hello, Sunset Shimmer."

Two, three...

"How are you today?"

Three, four...

Adagio shrugged, not looking at Sunset as everyone took their seats. At least it was always short. Sunset would smile, make her attempt at friendliness, Adagio would perform a less emphatic imitation of Flash Sentry, class would begin, and if she was lucky, that would be the end of it. It seemed odd that Fluttershy never said anything about Sunset, never dispensed platitudes of any kind, never even gave her disapproving looks or tried to tell her what a great person Sunset had become. Nothing.

Perhaps Sunset was keeping quiet on the matter? Whether it was because she didn't want to risk friction or if it was to hide that Sunset wasn't an expert in friend-making herself, Adagio didn't care. She ignored Sunset to the best of her ability whenever they weren't assigned to do group work together. Unfortunately, for well-documented reasons, nobody else in the room ever wanted to work with Adagio on such days, which led to the slightly more varied song and dance that was Sunset trying to relate to her in between math problems. Oddly enough, there were never any attempts at a guilt-trip or disgusting little speeches about how former monsters like themselves had to stick together, just casual(ish) small-talk and periodic, awkward, verbal bumbling.

"Do you need any help on that problem? I mean, not that I'm saying you can't do it on your own, I'm sure you can, just, I ask because, y'know... group work?"

"So, do you have any hobbies? You used to? What was-... Oh. Right."

"How's Art class been? Drawing is fun, right...?"

The time Sunset asked if she wanted to join her and her friends at some new restaurant was particularly memorable, if only for how Sunset furiously back-pedaled after telling her that they served great sea-food. Not laughing or even smiling was a challenge when Sunset turned pink and stuttered that she would never try to get Adagio to do something that bordered on cannibalism, then that she didn't mean to equate the sirens to dumb fish, then that she was sure fish weren't dumb at all because fish was typically considered brain-food, though she knew that wasn't how it worked and that she'd just be quiet now. It was perhaps the most difficult time Adagio had ever had keeping a straight face, but she managed. Wouldn't want Sunset to think the tiniest grin meant she had accepted her or something.

Really, Sunset could be pretty adorable when she was trying to be friendly. It was a shame that Adagio hated her so much.

She got more of those little looks on the way to fourth period, and as was usually the case, Adagio spent most of that class zoned out. Her yawning never seemed to disturb class, but she had long given up on focusing on the dull, dull lessons. Instead, her mind wandered, starting with less-than-fond recollection of the two full days she spent without ~~pestering~~ ~~playing with~~ ~~just talking to~~ interacting with Fluttershy. It had, of course, occurred to her to simply visit Fluttershy at her home or invite her over to theirs, but they risked discovery either way if their respective families were there at the time.

Maybe I could get Ria and Nata out of the house for a few hours, but I'm almost sure I promised to stop tricking and manipulating them.

Exchanging phone numbers felt like an obvious choice, but she just knew that someone would get a hold of one of their phones and ask why they had the other's contact information.

Besides, even if we just memorized each other's numbers, someone might check the call history.

She wondered if cyber communication was an option. Did Fluttershy own a computer? A private one through which they wouldn't have to worry about anyone catching her talking to Adagio? The Dazzlings still had plenty of money to kick around, maybe she could-

But I'd need to be able to either hide the laptop entirely or be able to give a reason for getting it. I can think of a few that'll guarantee neither of my housemates will ever ask what I'm up to on the internet again, but that doesn't cover how Fluttershy would explain where she got a new laptop free of charge when someone inevitably sees it in her room.

Adagio suppressed a sigh.

All this sneaking around... Well, given the circumstances, it's not like we have a better option. Keeping quiet may mean less time together, but we've come too far to have to drop everything now. I at least want to enjoy this in peace for a while.

Lunch. Free, government-paid meals. Not always the highest-quality stuff, but- okay, no, it was never the highest-quality stuff, but that was hardly surprising. Food was food, that Adagio knew. Kind of. She was still iffy on some dishes she'd seen served supposedly to human beings, not some kind of weird, insectoid creatures in skin suits, horrific entities that could eat anything between two slices of bread. Trying new things didn't always pay off.

Anyway, Adagio sometimes wondered if, without this little nugget of time to talk and eat together, without school, without something to bring them outside on a regular basis, her group would have eventually devolved into staying home and having all their meals delivered. Maybe they'd have become complete shut-ins that hardly ever even visited each other in their own house all that much, eating alone when they were hungry and never so much as tasting anything that didn't have an option of being driven out to them. That sounded an eency bit creepy, like the three of them would develop sharp little claws and glowing eyes for reasons completely independent of magic if they lived that way long enough. She had little logical basis for these imaginings, but there were stories about kelpies that lived all alone in abyssal caves...

These were the kinds of things Adagio thought about while en route to the cafeteria and waiting in line. When she sat at the usual table, Sonata smiled at her.

"Heya, Dagi! Didja see the newest picture on the fridge?"

She did, a memory from earlier that morning drawing a faint blush. "I can't believe you hung that."

Sonata smiled guiltily. "Sorry. I know taking a picture of another picture is technically cheating, but darned if that sketch of you doesn't make me smile!"

Her embarrassment only deepened as Aria whispered, shooting her a slightly apologetic grin. "It is kinda cute, Dagi."

Ordinarily, this would have been the point when Adagio returned fire with something mortifying for each of them, but considering her promise to Fluttershy and how she really meant to cut back on how often she teased Aria and Sonata anyway, she just sighed in annoyance.

Apparently still at least partly sympathetic to her plight, Aria took up a much more business-like tone. "We have any idea who did it yet?"

Deploying cover-up. "Someone in my new seventh period class, obviously, but going on a witch hunt won't do us any favors. Even if we knew, nothing good can come of confronting the one responsible, and like I said before, this can work to our advantage."

Sonata nodded once as she swallowed a bite of carrot stick. "How's that been going? Anybody tried to give you one of those big, squeezy huggles yet?"

"No, but I suppose that would be a fair sign that we'd washed off the stigma. I'm still getting those stares, though not constantly or in great number, which tells me that the picture alone won't be pulling the three of us out of 'undesirable' status. I'll be making a move soon, so just stick to what you've been doing until then." She remembered something at the very last instant of the sentence. "Uh, please." That both of them saluted her at the end of that sentence made Adagio chuckle, drawing two smiles in kind.

Walking out of the lunchroom, Adagio made a beeline for Fluttershy's locker. With any luck, it wouldn't strike anyone as the least bit odd that she'd moved a little quicker than usual, but she had to get to that hallway first to ensure that no one saw what she was about to do. Grinning fiendishly, she glanced about the clean hall, not a single witness in sight, but she could hear voices just down the hall and steadily growing in volume. Quick as a whip, she drew the folded picture from her pocket and slipped it into Fluttershy's locker, moving out of that hallway as quickly as she'd come and going straight to her fifth period class.

It was difficult not to wear a smile that would erase all thoughts of the one Fluttershy drew her with from the minds of those who saw her (at least until the next time they looked at that sketch), but Adagio contained herself. She made the mental note to do that for the next hour or two, knowing that if she was seen making especially emphatic smiles in the same time-span as Fluttershy's reaction (and she was nearly certain it would draw attention), the connections would be drawn too easily. Of course, if Fluttershy let anyone see the picture, that might happen anyway, so part of the secret's safety depended on her.

I wonder if she'll appreciate that I waited until after the time of day when she'd have to be sitting by all her friends with that image on her mind?

The picture was nothing too damning to be caught with, really, and it had occurred to Adagio that given their similar skin tones, Fluttershy could pass it off as a photo of herself, which would still raise questions. Art class would surely give her a hint as to how it was received, but she could hardly wait until tomorrow morning!

And yet, I'm sure I'll have to anyway...

Walking down the hall to sixth period, she caught sight of Lyra and Bon-Bon, giggling like a pair of dolts as they sat side-by-side to text each other. Adagio had teased them many times about their burgeoning romance, whether it really existed or not, but today, she just kept walking. It was an odd feeling, not toying with people on a whim, like how she imagined a shark would feel if it suddenly decided it wanted to go vegetarian one day, but at the same time? She felt weirdly at ease. Sure, she'd had to bite her tongue a few times since Friday morning, especially when people carried conversations directly within her earshot, but other than those moments, it was a bit like...

She'd heard the phrase 'a walk in the park' before, and it was one she hadn't understood until now. The first thing that came to mind when she went walking in a park was that there were potential playthings all over the place, walking dogs, sitting on benches, playing games about throwing things and immediately running to catch them, or just lying in the grass. Now she felt like it made more sense, because she wasn't a hunter on the prowl and surrounded by prey. Today, she was just a passive observer, taking in the sights and sounds of the world around her without a thought (deliberately) spared for how she'd make Target X, Y, or Z squirm within the next minute or so.

It was peaceful.

And then came seventh period, where the new game was waiting for her! All the devious, prowl-y thoughts were on again, but remained bubbling under the surface of the peace Adagio had been part of in earnest up until then. Walking into the Art room, she kept any and all reaction off her face when she quickly scanned Fluttershy, who was looking squarely at Adagio's legs with the most delightful little blush!

She found the photo, then. She probably can't see all that much through my jeans, should I start wearing tighter pants? She commented on that, as I recall...

Working her legs and hips no more than usual (which was to say, a lot), Adagio strolled across the room to take her seat just as Magnet started his usual thing. Today they'd be sketching, which briefly struck the siren with apprehension and dread, but it looked like she would just be drawing this time. As she remembered, the chairs were arranged in a semicircle and a subject (a surreal sculpture from another class, possibly modeled after an octopus having an epileptic fit) was placed in the center of the room. In quick, but subtle fashion, Adagio glanced at Fluttershy, determined where she'd be sitting, and set her own chair not far in front of her. Not in a way that obscured the day's subject, just enough to be sure she was in Fluttershy's field of view at all times.

And the fun began!

Walking out of Art, Adagio had left her take on the octopus abomination in the room. Maybe that would replace the picture of her? It was worth hoping, but she'd quite enjoyed her time drawing today regardless. It was difficult to gauge whether or not the various shapes and angles she'd drawn the tentacles at had sent the right subliminal messages to the girl behind her, but she was sure the way she occasionally stretched, the delicate manner in which she gripped her pencil, and the light, smooth caresses of the paper with each stroke weren't missed. Crossing her legs every ten minutes or so to dangle one or the other where Fluttershy could see must have had an effect as well, given some of those soft little squeaks she'd heard from behind her. Truly, the only downside had been that she couldn't turn around to see that doubtlessly-crimson face, and left the room without so much as a sideways glance in her Sweetie's direction.

Couldn't go signaling that it had all been on purpose, not with that many witnesses.

Again, her thoughts drifted to clandestine communication, this time shooting down a secret code as a means of talking to one another in public. Maybe they could have worked out a whole alphabet of subtle motions and perhaps even held conversation, but what would it say to anyone who noticed the two of them unable to sit completely still for fifteen seconds? Even if they came up with something so subtle that there was virtually no chance of anyone else noticing, Fluttershy suddenly going cherry-red or squeaking and hiding in her hair for no apparent reason would effectively negate the point of the thing.

And, I suppose, every now and then, my own reactions might do the same...

Just this morning was a good example. At any rate, everything she could think of carried a risk, and she wasn't sure what level Fluttershy was comfortable with. As ever, there was nothing she could do, no way to really interact in public, not much chance that she wouldn't continue to fluster Fluttershy even if they could, thus giving them away. It was all very frustrating, but focusing on those thoughts helped the last period of the day pass a little quicker.

The sirens walked home together, as usual, but Aria went straight to her room when they got there, saying she had to catch up on homework. This left a rare occasion in which Sonata asked Adagio to play games with her, just the two of them. Things were always more hectic without Aria to explain or remind them of the rules and game mechanics, but Sonata and Adagio weren't really the types to let ink on paper tell them how to have a good time anyway. As was usually the case, they played a series of games set in that side-scrolling platformer's universe, consistent names and creatures put through a variety of wringers to create just as many absurd, but amusing scenarios. First up was the racing game.

"Do you think the bombs and stuff are alive? Do they feel it when they blow up?"

"Perhaps. Why?"

"They've got eyeballs! Not like creepy doll eyes that follow you around the room, but eyes! Lil' peepers! And I know sometimes, they walk around."

"You mean to tell me that you're starting to feel guilty for snuffing out their lives to get ahead in these races?"

"A little bit?"

"Because you just sacrificed three mushrooms with eyes (possible relation) to boost your speed and knock that other driver off the bridge."

"He cut me off!"

"Ha, that's my girl!"

Next up was an extraordinarily bizarre board-game-type-thing that revolved around... something. Neither of them quite understood what they were doing, but the minigames at the end of every turn gave them plenty of time to discuss it.

"I think, based on the behavior of the AI players, we're supposed to be going after those floating stars. With eyes."

"But you can't spend stars on anything!"

"Maybe the ultimate goal is to start a star-based slavery ring?"

"Nuts to that, coins are the real movers in this game!"

"Because coins can win us items, access to different areas of the map, chances to screw over the other players, and the stars themselves?"

"Yea! Coins can't buy me love, but stars can't buy me lunch!"

Sonata earned a hug, which was something else she couldn't get with stars.

Thoroughly deciding that they didn't give a flapping flipper what the game told them 'victory' status entailed, the two finished the game with a hefty sum of coins and paid no attention (or coins!) to what the final score screen had to say about it. Then they moved on to the platformer all of this was apparently bastardized from.

"Ahahahaha, I stomp you dead, jumpy-fish!!"

"You're still sore about that time one of them leapt from the water and killed you?"

"My vengeance knows no calendar! Besides, I was like two steps from the end of the level that time."

There was a question that could be raised regarding revenge not yet exacted, completely independent of the game, but as that discussion would only serve to kill the mood, Adagio just smiled. This was made easier when she picked up the immolation weed.

When the two of them found themselves wanting to take the violence a step further, they switched to a straight brawler game every bit as absurd as the board game had been. The levels were erratic and possibly alive, cartoonish weapons (with some delightfully unorthodox ideas for the word 'weapon') fell from the sky, and the only apparent goal was to brutalize the enemy until a voice from nowhere declared it was over. As usual, they'd tinkered with the settings to drop the most volatile items as often as possible.

"THE BOMB-GUYS ARE TAKING REVENGE!!"

"Hm, they do get up and walk around. Just back and forth, it seems. Do you think they're just lost, or do they have somewhere to be?"

"RUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUN!!"

"Nata, just jump somewhere out of their range."

"It's too late for me, Dagi, but I know how to take 'em all out at once!"

"Waiting for them to detonate on their own? If you wait about fifteen seconds, I think they'll-"

"KAMIKAZEEEEEEE!!"

The screen shook with explosions.

"Eh, I guess that's quicker. You were brave, Nata, I'll be sure to remember y-oh, there you are again."

"Oh, goodie, I had another life!"

When the bloodlust had died down a bit, they played a game about dealing with the already-departed in a haunted house. By sucking them up with vacuum cleaners. It made as much sense as anything else in this franchise.

"Coins, bills, gemstones, and gold bars. Amazing what people just leave lying around in kitchen cupboards."

"So, are we exorcists or looters?"

"Can't it be both?"

"Well, yea, but I'm wondering which one our guys came here for. They see an old, rickety-ass, rumple-fugly house on a hill and think either 'Hey, we should go in there and stuff dead guys into a jar!' or 'Hey, I bet nobody'll call the cops if we run in and ransack the joint!'"

"Once more, I feel our motives are flexible."

"But aren't the vacuum guys supposed to be the heroes in this story?"

"I never agreed to that! Besides, we both know that being the 'hero' means doing whatever you want without a thought spared for your adversaries. If the ghosts are lucky, maybe we'll sell them to a nicer slaver than whoever takes the stars."

The sentiment lightly agitated old wounds for both of them, but they focused on trapping more lost souls in the derelict mansion of the dead and damned before their thoughts could go somewhere depressing.

Game time eventually came to an end and Adagio got started on dinner. She'd made a lot of progress in her cooking since she began, but she wasn't quite ready to show Fluttershy. Someday, though...

Until then, the sirens sat at the dining room table to do that family meal thing they'd heard so much about. The only appreciable difference between that and eating at the cafeteria seemed to be a welcomed lack of prying eyes and ears, meaning they could say and do whatever they wished without a care. Well, that and higher-quality meals than anything the school offered, once Adagio had gotten into the groove. Speaking of which, she chose the moment they were all seated to enjoy the side-dish of a little teasing.

"Ria, dear," she said in a warm, motherly voice betrayed by her usual smirk, "did you get all of your homework done?"

Stabbing her fork into a chicken tender, Aria gave her a perturbed look. "The 'mom' thing hasn't gotten any less creepy since last time, y'know."

Sonata snickered, loud-whispering across the table. "She's just cranky because you didn't tuck her in last night."

Aria flushed crimson at the thought, scowling. "Shut your stupid face, Sonata!" The rebuttal came in the form of blowing raspberries, which drew a little laugh from Adagio.

"Alright, you two, simmer down or I'll spank you both." She'd said it with a smile, but it never ceased to amaze her just how quickly that threat seemed to end quarrels. More-so with the ones that were technically her fault. She picked up with a friendlier tone. "Really though, I trust neither of you need any help in the schoolwork?"

Snorting, Aria almost leaned back and rested her feet on the table before remembering there was food there. "Natch, they don't exactly have the highest standards in this world, y'know?"

"Yea," concurred Sonata as she bit into a slice of jellied toast, "schtuff's way eashier than whah we did back home!"

"Speakin' a which," noted Aria almost hesitantly, "you guys heard about Crystal Prep?"

"A bit," offered Adagio, "just that no one around here seems to think very highly of them."

Aria nodded. "Yea. It's this rich-kid school in the city, hear the whole place is swankier than CHS could ever hope to be. Harder classes and stuffier, well, everyone, but we probably wouldn't get as much grief over there if we transferred." She gave the two of them a serious look. "What do you guys think?"

For just an instant, Adagio felt a rush of cold through her body. Then her brain kicked on again and she looked at Sonata, whose horrified expression said she wasn't at all in favor of the idea. "Well, that depends," Adagio began, looking back to Aria, "how keen are you on having more classwork to do, a long, daily bus-ride to and from the city (unless you want to go through the trouble of moving?), and, whether they know of us or not, the chance that we'll be even less welcome there than we are here?"

Sonata helpfully raised an index finger, as if making a point with her statement. "And that's saying something!"

Raising an eyebrow, Aria looked back and forth between her fellow borderline outcasts. "So that's a 'no' for both of you?"

She wasn't about to voice her primary reason, but Adagio had other deflectors at the ready. "It seems unwise, in practical terms. We could move well across the country and start with a clean slate, but if even one person were to hear of our magical incident and spread it to the rest, it'd be the same as when we started over here. Those in charge of CHS have been very accommodating and, as you may recall, very forgiving of the three of us. Whether or not this is solely due to the meddling of a few particular girls, I can't say, but it's something we can't be sure we'd have in another school, be it Crystal Prep or anywhere else."

Aria and Adagio looked to Sonata for her two cents, getting a slightly worried frown. "I kinda like CHS. Nobody really likes us that much, but they aren't trying to drive us away, either. Can we stay? Please?"

Her two oldest friends looking to her now, Aria chuckled. "Sounds like two 'no's, then. Good, just wanted to get that outta the way. I don't care if we'd get a higher pedigree at some snazzier school or whatever, we're only going at all to make life suck less, right?"

Sonata beamed. "Right!"

"I don't really wanna go anywhere either, but it had to be asked. It's pretty cozy where we are now, and if I remember right," she smiled at Adagio, "I think you've got a plan in the works for this place?"

Grinning coyly as she raised a chicken tender to her lips, Adagio winked. "Sorry, no spoilers." She took a bite and chewed slowly, as if to emphasize that they'd get nothing further out of her on the matter.

"Tch," said Aria with an amused eye-roll as she bit into a mouthful of slightly over-seasoned meat, "fine, keep your secrets."

The three of them giggled and proceeded to enjoy most of the meal (Adagio had made some kind of miscalculation with the dipping sauce), but Adagio couldn't help thinking Aria's choice of words was a little too appropriate.

'Keep my secrets,' Ria? Yes, I'm afraid I must, and I dearly hope that the two of you can forgive me the day you learn the truth.

Later that night, Adagio sat at her vanity, staring into her own eyes. She pondered whether or not a single soul actually saw her as more 'mature and lady-like' as opposed to dark and monstrous with the make-up on before wiping it away with that increasingly-dirty shirt, and with a quick 'after' comparison, she sighed. Standing up, she stripped her clothes off and flopped over on her bed, kind of wishing she'd had the presence of mind to disrobe every night. It made sleep just a little easier.

Was that odd? She hardly even felt her clothes against her skin during the day, but when lying down, it was like she was more sensitive all over. (Ooh, la-la~!) Maybe it was just a matter of being too warm. Her hair certainly didn't help in that department, but during the winter, she was never not a snuggly ball of warm fluff. A secret she hoped to take to her grave, actually.

Will that work, if Fluttershy ever...? I mean, it's not like she just won't notice if we ever sleep in the same bed. She'd see my sleeping face again, and sooner or later, I'm sure I'd see hers. I bet it's cute. Almost all of her faces are.

These were Adagio's thoughts as she drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Adagio hopped out of bed around the usual time, briefly enjoyed the feeling of morning air against her bare skin, and reluctantly reminded herself that no, she probably wouldn't be given a free pass on wearing clothes today, either.

Hah, I wonder if Fluttershy would even be able to get to sleep at all if I went au naturale. Maybe she does it too? A girl can dream...

Giggling at the thought, she headed to the shower, was dry about forty-five minutes later, got dressed in her dance outfit, and nearly walked out the door before remembering the plan. The one she'd all but promised to enact after a week of Fluttershy's sketch hanging where it was. Today marked a week. With an almost alien sense of trepidation, she paced over to her dresser to draw something from the back corner of her underwear drawer. Due to heavy implications to the others that something truly depraved and innocence-shattering dwelt in that drawer, it was perhaps Adagio's best hiding spot in the house. That was where she found the article she'd thought she'd never have use for.

It was still there, the shiny, purple ribbon Fluttershy had given her, every bit as silken and pretty as when it had first been tied in her hair. Warmth built in her cheeks as she stared at the thing, picturing exactly what her plan entailed.

Can't believe I'm doing this...

She removed her spiked hairband.

Author's Note

No, she is not cutting her hair, The Poof is here to stay. :pinkiesmile:

Chapter 27: Choke Dust and Word Play

Adagio stood with her hand on the doorknob. She remained that way for at least ten minutes, Fluttershy's ribbon tied in her hair like before, and, to her private annoyance, butterflies in her stomach.

Just go already, you big jellyfish!

Really having second thoughts here...

You have your usual hairband with you, so worst comes to worst, you can change at any time.

People will laugh at me for this!

It's just a little thing, maybe hardly anyone will even notice?

You know what else is a little thing? A 'cute' smile drawn on an otherwise striking full-body portrait.

But, the way they looked at me, that wasn't hatred or contempt, or even fear. Not quite mockery, either. It might be a little embarrassing, but, if it means at least a few people will be pleased to see me again, is it really so bad?

She did enjoy adoration, even the little taste of it she'd been getting in the form of those looks people were giving her. Opening the door, she stepped outside and quickly shut it behind her, immediately getting an idea of how Fluttershy must have felt in the nurse outfit. There was no one around at the moment, but she still felt almost naked.

Maybe this'll be easier if I think of it as streaking?

It made some kind of sense in her head, and if she were walking around naked, she knew there'd be no problem at all! Well, other than those pesky authorities and their decency laws, but for now, she'd just have to own this. Standing straight, she began to walk in her usual fashion, not letting herself forget that she was wearing a shiny, purple bow in her hair, lest she be surprised by it later, but not letting it get to her, either. She was Adagio Dazzle, and no accessory was going to get the better of her!

Unless it came with chains, maybe. Did Fluttershy feel the same? Food for thought.

Her thoughts having drifted to a few other things she was never going to be allowed to wear in school, Adagio found herself approaching Fluttershy on the bench before she knew it. She moved slowly, thinking that if she was going to experiment with cuteness today, it couldn't hurt to do something fun in the same spirit. Creeping up behind Fluttershy, she quickly reached around Fluttershy's head to cover her eyes with both hands.

"Guess who!"

There was a startled little squeak, but after a moment's silence, it sounded like Fluttershy was smiling. "Adagio?"

"Good guess!" Giggling, Adagio again vaulted over the bench rather than walking around to be seated, this time preferring to sit on the bench beside Fluttershy rather than on top of her. This time. "So, how are you?"

Fluttershy responded with a bright, happy grin. "I'm okay, thank you! Would you like a Fairy Flute?" To her immediate delight, Adagio responded with a puzzled expression.

"A... what?"

Quickly retrieving the long, thin, paper tubes from her backpack (finally), Fluttershy held them where Adagio could see. "They're basically just sugar, you tear off the top and pour it into your mouth." Her cheeks warmed. She was sure some part of that could have sounded dirty, but to her surprise, Adagio didn't comment on it, instead eyeing the stick she'd been handed.

"Just... tear off the top, drink the contents?"

"Uh-huh!" Fluttershy was having second thoughts about asking Pinkie Pie for samples of her experiments to share with Adagio, because the day she ran out of new, weird treats to show her was the day she might hardly ever get to see that wonderfully inquisitive expression of hers again. She watched in quiet anticipation as orange eyebrows lightly knitted, Adagio looking the stick over from a few different angles before lightly caressing the shaft with a fingertip, pinching the tip of the top (Oh, my...), and twisting it off. She made the most adorable little 'Hey, what's this?' face as she peeked into the hole to see the colorful grains inside! Shrugging, Adagio raised the tube to her lips, tilted her head back, and poured the contents into her mouth.

That's where things went wrong.

In an instant, Adagio's eyes widened as she dropped the sugar stick, clutching both hands to her throat and coughing up little clouds of the substance that now stuck in her windpipe. This, somehow, was worse than her cold, the painful convulsions bringing blinding tears to her eyes as she choked a few more breaths away. It seemed like it was just starting to clear up when she felt the sensation of being lifted into the air and hauled away, though she still couldn't see what was going on, or even feel much beyond her own continued coughing fits. Her ears, however, worked fine.

"Drink, quick!!"

With the sound of one of those little water fountains being triggered came from right in front of her face, Adagio managed to open one eye enough to see the stream. She leaned forward to wash out her mouth, the sugar mostly melting within seconds. Her throat was still a little sore, but she had at least regained herself enough to take stock of the situation. She was kneeling by a fountain up against a wall by the soccer field, only about twenty meters from the bench. To her left, Fluttershy lay panting in the grass, strands of pink hair plastered to her sweaty face.

Did she... carry me?

Ordinarily, there would have been a volley of comments to launch for this situation, but right now she wanted to say something else. "You alright, Sweetie?"

Still catching her breath, Fluttershy sat up. "I... should be asking... you that."

Smiling a little despite the situation, Adagio giggled. "I'm fine, thank you." Then, frowning, she drew a hand to her throat as tried to clear it, earning a few more coughs. "You know, other than how this keeps happening."

Feeling a little tug in her chest, Fluttershy frowned too. She remembered very clearly the look on Adagio's face when she said it.

"it wasn't enough that our voices were mutilated, but when I get a cold? It's mostly in the throat!"

With the sirens' vocal cords damaged, anything that affected the same area must have felt like insult to injury. Injury that would never heal, at that. She still didn't know how to even tip-toe in the direction of the subject to anyone that could help without the risk of hurt feelings and disaster. She could possibly have tried to get her hands on Sunset's journal without telling her, or even just going through the portal and searching high and low for Twilight, but both options made her feel like she'd be betraying the trust of her friends. A few ideas she could experiment with had occurred to her, but if they weren't guaranteed to work, the thought of getting the sirens' hopes up was still too painful to bear.

Adagio might tease me, sometimes viciously, but to dangle what she wants most in front of her only to snatch it away is something I'd never forgive myself for.

However, there was one thing she could think of that might at least make Adagio feel a little better right now. Before she could think twice about it, she brushed her hair back, leaned in, tilted her head a little, and kissed Adagio on the neck. This drew a tiny gasp and a bright blush, just like yesterday, but while Adagio looked embarrassed, she wore a very different expression from the last time Fluttershy tried to kiss it better; eyes wide and mouth drawn in a thin line.

"S-Sweetie...?"

The look made her a little uncomfortable, but she still smiled. "Uh... yes?"

"Tell me that was on purpose and you'll be going to class covered in grass stains."

Blink. "What?"

Raising an eyebrow, Adagio slowly rubbed the spot Fluttershy had kissed. "Is that a 'no'? There are certain connotations to kissing someone on th-"

Realization hit Fluttershy like a falling anvil, immediately setting her face on fire. "EEP!!"

Adagio chuckled, her usual smirk making its proud return. "Not on purpose, then. So I'm to understand that you're an accidental seductress?"

If she could control her legs, Fluttershy might have stuck her own face in front of the fountain just to cool off a little. "I-I-I, it, I d-didn't, I-I, that, k-k-ki, j-just-" Adagio's increasingly predatory look wasn't helping. "I-I'm, s-s-sorry, I only m-meant to-"

Letting out an airy little laugh, Adagio rested a hand on her shoulder. "Relax, Sweetie, I just wanted to make sure." As ever, her dear, sweet, gullible Fluttershy let the tension fall away from her shoulders, which was when Adagio moved in for the kill. She braced Fluttershy with both hands, which earned a startled squeak as Adagio leaned in close, her lips just barely touching Fluttereshy's neck. "Besides, this is how you do it!"

Hot breath on her bare skin was enough to make Fluttershy tremble by itself, but the sensation of that long, wet tongue sliding up and down her neck sent her brain spinning so fast it probably would have had its own pull. There were more little feelings as Adagio worked her lips, tongue, and teeth along Fluttershy's throat, but they all blended together into an incomprehensible blur, the skin on her neck becoming a pleasure center like she'd have never thought possible until her world melted into a lovely haze...

"...-eetie?"

Fluttershy blinked, finding Adagio and herself sitting on the bench, just like they were a few minutes ago. "Eh, I... what?"

Adagio smiled at her. "I said, 'so, how are you?'"

"W-what?!"

The smile didn't fade even as Adagio raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "A little out of sorts, I take it. Something on your mind this morning, Sweetie?"

Her mind lurched. Had all of that been a fantasy? Dreamt up with as little provocation as saying 'hello'? "Uh, I, bluh, humabuh-" Adagio's smile rapidly widened, quickly making the transition to snickering that she poorly hid behind one hand. "...What just happened?"

Adagio threw her head back and laughed, savoring every second of Fluttershy's utterly baffled expression. When she could speak clearly again, she did so with a particularly delighted smirk. "Just repaying a favor, Sweetie. You carried me and kissed my neck, I kissed your neck and carried you. Now we're even."

Assured that that really did happen, Fluttershy felt little tingles in several places, most of all her face. "Oh. Then, why did you pretend like-"

The sneakiest siren beamed. "Juuust for fun!"

Fluttershy pouted. "You're mean." Adagio laughed again, which Fluttershy joined despite herself. A minute later, however she frowned, remembering that because of her, Adagio had been choking a few minutes ago. "I'm, um, sorry about the Fairy Flute." This won her a mildly perplexed look. "I said you were supposed to drink it, but I should have been clearer by saying that you're supposed to let it melt in your mouth. I'm sorry."

Blinking as she played back the event in her memory, Adagio smiled a little. "Ohh, don't worry about it, not like this is the first time I've mishandled something you shared with me."

The Rainbooms' unofficial nurse wasn't quite satisfied. "But, you were choking, and you could have really been-" She was stopped by a quick, gentle kiss.

Adagio took advantage of the brief stunning effect this had. "Sweetie, I assure you, if I had died from candy, I would have come right back to life so I could die of embarrassment." This didn't quite erase the worried look she was getting, so she opted to adjust her approach, half-lidding her eyes. "Besides, I can think of much better ways to enjoy something like that..." Fluttershy tensed again, but didn't move as Adagio again closed in on her, resting her hands on the other girl's shoulders and unveiling her ideas in a sultry whisper. "Incorporating what we've learned today, I think I'd lay you down," she gently pushed Fluttershy backward, though not enough to push her over, "pour it in a line," she leaned in closer, breathing on Fluttershy's neck again, "lick it all off, and then-"

She was stopped by a long, high-pitched squeak-scream, which made her pull back enough to get a good look at Fluttershy's face. She was a pleasant shade of red, but with an utterly frazzled expression and tears in the corners of her eyes.

"I-I'm s-sorry, j-just, I, I can't, I can't-" Adagio pulled her into a hug, gently patting her back until the sniffles stopped. "I'm sorry," she eventually whispered, "that, that one is just... too intense for me."

Adagio giggled, but her voice was soothing. "That's fine. What have I always said, after all?"

Fluttershy giggled a little herself. "Too much." Then she frowned. "But, I want to accept you, to take whatever you can give me, so you won't feel like you have to hold back, especially after-"

"Shhh..." They hugged in silence for a moment, and when it was broken, it sounded like Adagio was smiling. "Don't worry, I actually had something in mind for this to make everything okay."

"Huh?"

The two pulled away, Adagio giving her a big smile. "How do you feel about a safeword?"

Blink. "W-what?"

Her expression unchanged, Adagio nodded. "A safeword, maybe something like-" She mimed writhing in place while hugging herself, even working an ecstatic tone into her voice. "Oh, harder, please!!"

Fluttershy burned red. "I, uh, d-don't think that would be a very good idea." Adagio just kept smiling. "B-because, w-wouldn't that get really confusing?" The smile turned devilish. "You know, because s-saying that would mean to keep doing it at the same time, s-so-"

"You didn't ask what a safeword is."

"What...?" And then it hit her like a two anvils, her pupils shrinking to pinpricks. "Oh, no."

"That makes me think you already knew..."

"No!"

"And if you already knew, you must have some... prior knowledge?"

Adagio was getting warmer, though not nearly as much as Fluttershy's face, which she immediately covered with both hands. "No!"

"But where, oh where could you have learned such things? I don't think they covered BDSM in your school's (rather bare-bones, if you ask me) Sex-Ed class."

"Nononononononono!"

"Sweetie?"

She whimpered, but Adagio's voice came again with a slightly demanding edge.

"Sweetie?"

Slowly, fearfully, Fluttershy peeked through her fingers, but was surprised to see Adagio giving her a soft, understanding smile, her tone equally gentle.

"Been doing a little research, Sweetie?"

"...M-maybe?"

"Before or after you met me?"

She retreated a little further into her own hair. "B... Before."

Adagio beamed. "Ooh, la-la~!" Fluttershy squeaked and hid her eyes again, drawing an amused little laugh before Adagio gently raised the trembling girl's head up with a finger under her chin, quickly reestablishing eye-contact. "Sweetie, all joking aside, I need to know when I'm going too far. If you know what it is, then you know what it's for, and that I'll stop the second you use it."

The surprisingly kind, nurturing tone brought her from burning alive to just slightly too warm, which helped her to form a reply. "...Just... j-just for some breathing room, until I can cool off a little?" Adagio nodded. "And, y-you won't..." She felt a little lump in her throat as she forced the words. "You won't get bored with me if I really can't take it? You won't just leave me one day?"

Adagio gave her the hungriest smirk she'd delivered in a while. "Just try and keep me away, Sweetie."

Her heart leapt, along with a lot more blood going straight up into her head and a surprised, girlish giggle rising in her throat. The mouth saying it might have been a little scary, but the sentiment was kind of flattering! Adagio was smiling patiently at her, likely still waiting for an answer. Well, Fluttershy had one! Smiling sheepishly, it was only her cheeks she was trying to cover now. "I... Okay!"

Adagio nodded affirmatively. "Good. You know, it's amazing that we're not actually talking about sex here!" That, she immediately learned, was in 'Too Much' territory as Fluttershy went a bright, glowing red, let out a strangled squeak, and fell over on the bench in a perfectly stiff fashion. Adagio chuckled. "I should probably get to work on that safeword now. Let's see..."

Adagio had had plenty of time to consider which syllables would best suit their purposes, but hadn't quite decided on what she wanted to go with before Fluttershy recovered and told her about what she heard from Sunset Shimmer about Flash Sentry. As Adagio had always suspected that was the case, she wasn't particularly bothered, reaffirming that if that was his way of saying 'leave me alone,' then she'd honor that wish, having continued to tease people at all because most of them never asked her to stop. Plus, with their recent agreement, it was kind of a moot point anyway. On that note...

"So, what did you think of my present, Sweetie?"

"Eep!"

"That good, huh?"

Fluttershy would have retreated behind her hair even if she didn't just involuntarily remember that picture, and she remembered it vividly. It was a close-up of Adagio's thighs, not so much that it was difficult to tell, but enough that those two pillars of firm muscle resting on the red fabric Fluttershy recognized as that of the heart-shaped bed were the central focus. It was a top-down shot, the camera apparently having been pointed straight down on her lap, because Adagio's thighs, the bedspread, and the floor of her room were all that could really be seen, along with part of a lower leg and a few toes of one foot. On the back of the picture, in pink cursive next to a kiss-mark, was a message:

Remember when you had your head in my lap? I do...

That picture had since found a home taped into her diary for safe keeping. She peeked out from her hair at a very satisfied-looking Adagio. "Th-that, m-my locker, I, I almost screamed when I saw that!"

Eyebrows were waggled. "You really liked it, then."

Flushing almost painfully red, Fluttershy retreated into her own locks again. "Not like that!!"

"You're certain? Because you wouldn't be the first to think of me while-"

"EEP!!"

Adagio chuckled. "Either way, I did tell you you'd be seeing more of me during the day, but..." The smile slowly slipped away. "If you'd rather I never did that again, I'll-" She was interrupted by a squeak she couldn't quite interpret, so she just waited quietly for the next attempt as one of those soft beautiful eyes peeked out at her.

"I, um... I k-kind of..." Letting most of her hair fall away revealed a shy, but earnest little smile. "I did like it. It was a nice picture, thank you." She wouldn't have minded a less risky means of receiving such a thing, but smuggling it out of school in her bag had made her feel like a pirate secretly transporting stolen gold! That being sneaky could excite her so much was terrifying all on its own.

Smiling herself, Adagio nodded once, indicating the bow tied in her hair. "I thought it was time I repaid your gift from a while back." She had thought Fluttershy was just being considerate or something by not commenting, but her eyes widening along with a huge, happy smile said that she just hadn't noticed her ribbon up to this point. The next thing she heard could only be described as a 'squee' before Fluttershy exploded.

"Omigoshyou'rewearingitIthoughtyou'dneverputitonagainbecauseyousaiditwasn'tyourstylebutIrespectfullydisagreebecauseitlooksreallygoodonyou!!" Beaming with delight that drew appreciative giggles from Adagio as she took in the admiration, Fluttershy leaned forward for a better look, tilting her head to see the bow nestled in all that fluffy hair from a few different angles and nearly bouncing in place with glee. "It even compliments your jumpsuit! I know it's not easy to see from the back, but neither was the spiked headband, and this just makes you look sooo cute! You were already pretty huggable with so much soft, fluffy hair, but now it's almost like it's out in the open for everyone to see!"

Drinking in the attention, the fluffiest siren couldn't help herself, giving Fluttershy a little smirk. "I'll take that to mean I look good, then?"

The dreamy little smile was what sold it. "Always."

Blinking once, Adagio giggled, just a hint of pink to her cheeks. "Good answer!" She was sure of it now; even if nobody else was likely to gush over her like this (Ooh, la-la~!), she wanted to try wearing the bow for the whole day.

"I mean it," Fluttershy said with an adoring gaze in those big, soft eyes, "you really are very pretty!"

Gnawing at her lower lip, Adagio struggled not to let the words go straight to her head. "Mmph... You're spoiling me, Sweetie."

There was an apologetic grin, but she'd been meaning to say this for too long. "You've probably heard this a thousand times, but you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, talked to, or heard about. From your toned body to your gorgeous eyes, you're lovely in every way from head to toe, all of it framed by your amazing, mango-scented hair! I know the first time didn't turn out all that well, but I'd be happy to draw you again any-no, every day of the week!"

Gah...! Adagio shook, hands lightly caressing her own sides as she hugged herself with an ecstatic look on her face. "I..." Never knew sweet-talk could feel this good! "S-sorry, can I... get a minute? It's... b-been a while..."

Giggling, Fluttershy nodded. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she noted that there was a time that kind of analysis would have had to have been dragged out of her, usually by an insistent Rarity, but today it was nearly automatic! Come to think of it, describing her bottom almost came on its own, too. Before she could dwell on that thought, she voiced another one. "But, um, i-if you don't mind me asking, what brought this on?" She was graced with Adagio's already-cute 'Huh?' face, magnified by the ribbon, when the siren shook off the daze, but Fluttershy controlled herself this time. "I mean, did something happen to your usual hairband, or...?"

"No I still have it, but you recall that I said your sketch might work to my advantage? Forgive me for exploiting your... artistry," she paused just long enough to admire the lovely shade of crimson her favorite classmate had turned, "but I shared those thoughts with the others and I owe them some results. As such, I thought I'd wear this today and see where it takes me. I was worried because any girl with a reasonably pretty face can be 'cute,' but being sexy is an artform." She smirked deviously. "You should know, Sweetie, you've been practicing."

She got even redder. "I-it, I d-do it bec-cause-"

Adagio held up a hand, giggling. "I know, I know, just making note of it."

Still blushing, Fluttershy let out a breath and smiled again, looking at the bow. "I think everyone'll like it."

"That's the hope." She closed the statement with a little wink while poking the tip of her tongue out, a measured gesture of cuteness. This might have snapped something in Fluttershy's head, because she immediately went rigid, gave a wide-eyed stare that Adagio had to consciously resist shrinking back from, and an even wider grin that kind of-

In a flash, Adagio was pushed onto her back and nestled into her own hair, squeezed in a hug that pinned her arms, and rapidly nuzzled cheek-to-cheek by a very energetic Fluttershy, who let out a variety of happy, but incomprehensible squeaks as Adagio wriggled in her grip, giggling uncontrollably under the cuddly assault. There was a lot she could have said about this not being the first time she recalled having Fluttershy on top of her and how she'd been furiously pulling at her clothes last time, but laughing made it difficult to enunciate these thoughts. And that's when she knew what word she wanted to use.

Adagio lay in Fluttershy's embrace until the cuddle frenzy died down, adding this instance to the list of possibilities that came with being pounced on. She quietly enjoyed the warmth of the moment until Fluttershy regained control of herself, very sheepishly got off of her, and backed away, retaking her seat on the bench.

"Haha, s-sorry," she said through a sheepish smile on a flushed face, "I, um, d-don't know what came over m-EEP!"

She was cut off by a sudden lip-lock, which Adagio held long enough to be sure Fluttershy wouldn't forget that she wasn't the only one capable of surprise attacks. It was during the happy-embarrassed daze that followed (a welcomed addition to Fluttershy Theater) that Adagio smiled. "Squirrel."

Red curtains drew back to reveal an adorably baffled expression. "Squ-... What?"

Adagio nodded. "I was trying to think of the most appropriate word for 'please stop', and I think that one fits nicely. 'Squirrel.'"

Fluttershy stared back in silence as the gears in her cute little head visibly turned. Something must have clicked into place, because she snorted, quickly slapping a hand to her own mouth to stifle her giggles. This quickly became muffling herself with both hands as she shook, tears building in her eyes.

Adagio turned faintly pink at the memory, but she figured the tiny embarrassment that came with it would only help to apply the brakes when necessary. However, Fluttershy seemed to notice this by the time she reigned in her laughter.

"I-I'm really sorry, it's just... Are... are you sure? I mean, I don't want to use that one if it makes you uncomfortable, and, what if we actually see a squirrel at some point, or-"

"Firstly," she interrupted with a little smirk, "I'm surprised you're already so bold as to hope for something outdoors, but if you've changed your mind about exhibitionism, I'll see what I can come up with." Silence was a dish best served in fluorescent pink, Adagio decided. She chuckled, but her smile turned sympathetic as she went on. "Second, yes, I'm sure. That incident is one of few times that, if it were as simple as saying 'stop,' I definitely would have wanted to, but couldn't. The plan is that remembering that helpless feeling will be all the motivation I could ever need to stop immediately. And, if this one ends up not working out, I'll come up with another one. Deal?"

Fluttershy smiled warmly. "Deal."

"Good!" Adagio rose to her feet. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go see how this-" she gestured to the bow, "-plays out. Take care, Sweetie." She took two steps, stopped, and turned back to face her. "Oh, and-" She leaned down to grab hold of Fluttershy's head, pulling her in for another kiss that left the two of them feeling a little warmer. When they broke, she smiled sincerely. "You're beautiful too, you know. Don't forget it."

A variety of feelings whirling around in her heart as her breath hitched, Fluttershy could only manage a shaky smile and a nod before Adagio patted her head and walked away.

She said I was beautiful.

She said I was beautiful!

She said I was beautiful!

In an actually-pretty-enjoyable bout of deja vu, she buried her pleasantly warm face in both hands and let out high-pitched shriek-giggles like she'd lost her mind, legs kicking uncontrollably for several seconds as she savored the sentiment from the prettiest girl she'd ever known.

Wait, a little voice in her head piped up as her mirth died down, what was that she said? "One of few times"? When has she felt helpless before? Would she be comfortable talking about it?

She looked in the direction Adagio had walked off to find her long gone. It was with a pang of sadness that Fluttershy realized she'd have to wait until later to be able to ask, because even if she could catch up to Adagio (wherever she went these mornings), classes would be starting soon.

Author's Note

I initially wrote Fluttershy's name as 'Sunset' a few times here. Whether it's a symptom of my burnt-out brain or a kind of Freudian slip, I'm not sure. Nowhere near being ready to update any of my Sundagio works, either. Beetlejuice.

Anyway, for those of you who didn't catch the blog post, sorry this one is late, but I haven't had tons of time for writing in the last couple of weeks. Will hopefully be able to make up for it in December.

Chapter 29: Simple Questions and Tiny Pants

Dear Diary,

Adagio is definitely still evil, but not in the way my friends are afraid she is. Sorry, I mean, the others were worried today because she showed up wearing the ribbon I gave her (which she wore to school of her own free will!!), so they got to talking about how the sirens might have been up to something. I don't think anyone hates them, they just don't want to take any chances, but that means they can't give them a chance, either. Sunset was the first to defend them out loud, and Rarity sounded like she wanted to trust the sirens too (though, yes, that might have partly been because fashion was involved. Re: Adagio wearing the ribbon to school), and even if I didn't say so, I appreciated that from both of them. Rainbow was the one that brought it up this time, but she wasn't adamant in thinking we had to be careful or anything, I think she really was just worried.

She cares, and that's always a good thing!

Then I saw Adagio... doing things... with her lunch. I fainted. In the lunchroom. My friends brought me to the nurse's office and I had to pretend I had no idea why I fainted like that, so Pinkie thought I might have overexerted myself in talking too much when I said it was wrong to keep an eye on the sirens all the time because they'd always feel unwanted that way, which Pinkie noted really wasn't a whole lot of talking, but that it was a lot at once for me and she worried that if I didn't build up my mouth muscles, I would faint like that more often. She started moving my jaw around with her hands while doing her ventriloquy to make it look like I was talking, which made it hard to politely ask her to stop and the others giggled and it was a little embarrassing, but Pinkie was just showing that she cared too.

Unfortunately, fainting in the middle of lunch meant I was getting looks from people for the rest of the day, which was a little scary, but there weren't that many. I guess no one was really all that surprised that I of all people fainted for no apparent reason? Maybe there's a bright side to being... how did Aria say it that one time? 'My group's biggest chicken'? I wonder if she still calls me 'Squeaky'. Ha, it almost sounds like an affectionate nickname, now that I think about it! Maybe the same is true of 'Dr. Seuss'? I kind of want to ask Adagio what her friends think of me, maybe we could exchange respective friend-thought situations?

Speaking of Adagio; Art class. Applejack approached her while she was molding some kind of disc-covered aberration out of modeling clay.

Note: Adagio's artwork has almost always been surreal and unusual. The last time we worked with clay, Mr. Magnet asked us to make some kind of hand, anything that could feasibly be used to hold something, so Adagio made some kind of knuckle-squid. It looked like it was made of the bones of a human hand, right down to the anatomically-correct joints, but with multiple twisted fingers in random places. I've been too scared to ask why she smirked at me when it was done.

Note Post-Script: She can draw, mold, fold, even paint! Where did she learn to do all of these things so well?

Anyway, Adagio and Applejack talked for a little bit. I was scared things were going to get confrontational, but Applejack only asked her a few questions about the bow, like why she was wearing it instead of her spiked band and whether or not it was a hassle tying it on. Luckily, she didn't ask where Adagio got it.

Adagio responded that she'd been trying new things a lot lately (I was facing away, so I couldn't tell if she was looking in my direction when she said it) and that the bow was no trouble. Then she asked about Applejack's hat, calmly raising the question of whether or not it was still considered rude to wear hats indoors. Applejack quickly said that she'd just let Adagio get back to molding now without answering, but Adagio didn't seem to mind.

Miss Zecora goes everywhere in robes (she reminds me of a wise sage!), so I don't think Applejack's stetson is too much of a violation of the dress code or anything, but she still looked a little sheepish for the rest of the day. She cheered up again at one of our usual get-togethers at Sugarcube Corner later in the day when Rarity said there was nothing rude about having a personal style and that nobody had complained so far, right?

Rarity cares too. They all do!

...On that note; this morning, Adagio said she 'owed Aria and Sonata results' when talking about wearing the bow today. Does she feel compelled to do things for them, like she has to make up for their current situation? Does she feel like it's all her fault? It reminds me of when she said I shouldn't try to take full responsibility for them losing their voices, even though I'm the one that wrote the song (I don't know if she knows that already), and if Adagio feels like she's to blame for what happened, well, maybe it's something we have in common?

I don't know where I'm going with this, but the thought makes me weirdly happy. It probably shouldn't, because she told me I shouldn't feel like anything is all my fault. If it ever comes up in conversation, I have to tell her that it's not all her fault either. It might have been her plan, as much as it was my song, but neither of us knew things would happen like they did, and I think both of us wish it could have been different.

I shouldn't dwell like this.

...

I wonder what she meant by 'one of few times'? I'm a little surprised someone as strong and confident as Adagio could ever feel helpless, but I guess everyone gets that way sometimes. What makes her feel vulnerable? Just squirrels in her clothes? Being tickled? Was the time she was sick another one?

...Weren't all of those because of me? Am I the main cause? Because that's not okay with me! I want her to feel safe and comfortable around me, the last thing she or any of the Dazzlings need right now is to feel threatened by anybody! I should do something nice for her, or at least stop doing things that wind up hurting her. I'll be more careful with the morning treats from now on, I think, and I'll bring something I know she likes tomorrow. Maybe caramel cubes? Kissing might be a little more interes

The next morning, a piercing cacophony made Fluttershy sit up in bed with a start, sweat dripping from her face and her hair plastered to her head. When she'd gotten her bearings, she realized the sudden noise was just her panda bear alarm clock. Equally distressed and relieved to have been awoken, she gingerly tapped its plastic head to turn it off. Waking up like this, her heart pounding and spine tingling, wasn't a familiar experience for Fluttershy, who sat on her bed and trembled until she could steady her nerves enough to breathe normally again. When she could make words, she knew just the ones to test her tongue with.

"Oh... My..."

Most mornings before school were spent double-checking homework or playing with Angel (if he felt like it) or maybe even logging into MyStable for a bit if she was feeling especially bold, but this morning, she needed a long shower to wash off the sweat. With any luck, freezing water would help with her steaming face, too.

Wednesday was not shaping up to be a high point in the week for Fluttershy. Nothing terrible happened, but she had, as feared, gotten so flustered just looking at Adagio (who wasn't wearing the bow that morning, sadly) that she could barely speak intelligibly, less-so following a sudden, suggestive mention of tacos. Luckily, Adagio had demonstrated her usual patience, which gave Fluttershy time to take multiple deep breaths, offer caramel cubes, and clarify that no, it wasn't anything that Adagio had done, specifically.

A playful expression featuring a raised eyebrow and a few teasing questions followed, but even if she didn't hear a peep of 'squirrel', Adagio stopped of her own accord and administered especially cuddly hugs and a little kiss on the cheek when Fluttershy's face started overheating again. For once, she found herself somewhat relieved not to have gotten a full lip-contact kiss from Adagio, because she couldn't say what she'd have done had it happened.

They talked about Equestria for a little while and Adagio left off by gently brushing her fingertips along Fluttershy's spine during a hug. Fluttershy appreciated her restraint, but the look in those red-violet eyes said there was a lot more where that came from when Fluttershy was ready for it. She had managed to stop worrying about whether that referred to the hugging or the teasing, and the implications either way, right around lunch time, if only because her attention was seized by a friend's frazzled expression.

"Rainbow," Fluttershy was the first to quietly ask, "is everything okay?"

The young athlete in question sat shaking in her seat, eyes nervously darting about, hands in her lap, and beads of sweat forming on her increasingly flushed face. "Uh," she managed while shrinking down in a near-perfect role reversal, "I, I-I'm-"

Sitting next to her, Applejack leaned over with an eyebrow raised. "Why're ya holdin' down yer skirt like tha-"

"MY EYES ARE UP HERE!!"

Quite a few people then turned to look at Rainbow, making her yelp and dive under the table. The others shared a look and went after her, ducking by their seats to see what was the matter.

Pinkie beamed, but kept her voice to a whisper. "Secret hidey party! Be careful not to get gum in your hair from the underside of the table!"

Rarity in particular was aghast, ducking her head lower and holding an arm protectively over her purple curls.

Frowning in concern, Sunset put a hand on Rainbow's shoulder. "I second Fluttershy's question; is everything okay?" She could tell very plainly that it wasn't, of course, but she'd learned asking anyway was usually appreciated.

Rainbow gave her reply while hugging her knees to her chest. "I-I dunno, it, it's like..." She quickly gave each of them a quick glance. "Do... do you guys think I'm a p-pervert?"

Jaws were dropped. Not a single one of them wore a look other than utter bafflement, but Applejack managed to voice the question. "What in tarnation gave ya that idea, Sugarcube?"

Her eyes going squarely to the floor, Rainbow gulped. "Well, I, kinda talked to one of the sirens a little bit ago."

To her private relief, Fluttershy wasn't the only one who went wide-eyed with worry, even if it probably wasn't for the same reasons.

Sunset was the first to ask. "What. Happened."

Still not looking up, Rainbow shrugged a little. "You guys heard about Sonata comin' to school in high heels today, right? How she's been tripping and falling and stuff pretty much all day?"

Fluttershy had not heard about that, but couldn't see the Dazzlings at all from under the table, not even their feet.

Rainbow went on. "Well, we know their boss has been acting even weirder for a while now, so I just thought I'd talk to her to see what was up..."

Contrary to popular belief, Rainbow Danger Dash wasn't an idiot. She knew things were delicate with the Dazzlings right now and she wasn't going to do anything to make it worse. In fact, she was going to help make it better! But first, she needed to know what the heck was going on with those three, and the best way to do that was to ask.

Lessee, she thought to herself while wandering a nearly-vacant hallway, that time she messed with Fluttershy, she was right around the gym at about this time of day. Oh, crud! Is she already there now, doing it again?! I should-

She spotted orange fluffiness, done up in a familiar spiked headband again. Adagio was casually strolling down the hall, proudly wearing that Just Try And Stop Me kinda smile she always had, but no sign of the other two. Rainbow grinned, though not nearly as evilly. Now was her chance!

"Hey," she said in as calm and dip, dippy, dipla-

"Diplomatic, Rainbow?"

"Yea, thanks. Heh, I toldja you were our brainiac, Sunset!"

"Hey," she said in as calm and diplomatic a fashion as she knew how, "can I talk to you for a sec?"

Adagio's smile slipped away, but she didn't look angry. Instead, she wore a completely blank, neutral look, right about on par with Maud Pie's perma-poker-face. Maybe that was just her diplomatic mode. "Yes... Rainbow Dash, isn't it? What do you need?"

"Please don't take this the wrong way," Rainbow Diplomacy Dash began with a friendly smile in her opening play of getting-along-ness, "but you guys have been acting a little funny lately, AND THAT'S FINE," the slightly annoyed look Adagio was giving her left as soon as it came, which felt like a save, "I don't wanna tell you what to do, but I've gotta ask; is something goin' on?"

Tilting her head a little as she thought about it, the siren hmm'd meaningfully before replying. "Not that I know of, no. Just coming here to pass the time, as we've been doing." Adagio shrugged, offering an apologetic little smile. "I am sorry, but I don't know what to tell you."

Rainbow kept disbelief off her face, knowing it would get her a penalty. At the same time, Adagio wasn't really open for asking what that bow had been about, at least not yet. "Then, like, Sonata just felt like comin' to school in high heels? That she keeps tripping in?"

Chuckling, Adagio raised an eyebrow. "Does it really strike you as any stranger than the time she self-immolated?"

Shoot! Verbal curve-ball! Straight out of the left field! Not knowing what a word meant was fine, because the diplomatic fallback when you didn't know was to just agree with whatever they said! "Uh, no, I, kinda guess not." That Adagio just nodded once felt like a few points were scored somewhere, but then came the game-breaker.

"Since I answered one of yours, might you afford me a question as well?"

She kinda talks like Rarity, doesn't she...? "Sure, go for it."

Adagio smiled. "Thank you." Then her face went back to Maud Mode; totally blank. "There's something I've been wondering for a while now; are you an exhibitionist?"

Rainbow's jaw hung open. "Uh... Whuh...?"

Adagio's passive expression remained. "Do you take ecstatic joy in being seen in a state of undress, are you aroused when exposed to strangers, do you get off on flashing people? I ask because of those shorts you wear."

"W-WHAT?!"

"Your shorts," she repeated while taking up a thoughtful, one-hand-on-chin, the-other-on-the-elbow-of-that-arm pose, "a very tight little garment worn under a slightly shorter skirt. I'm reminded of underwear, you see, and as I now know that there are taboos about exposing such articles, the fact that your under-pants are plainly visible makes me wonder; is it for an illicit thrill? I ask for purely educational purposes, of course."

Rainbow quickly tried to cover the legs of her shorts with both hands. Never having thought about her outfit like that before, the idea that she was technically flashing everyone that saw her lower body was a startling revelation, to say the least. She couldn't speak, eyes nervously darting about, legs shaking, and her face redder than the most vibrant hues of her hair.

Adagio's face hadn't changed in the slightest as she did that curious little head-tilt thing again. "...Keeping your answer to yourself, then? Hm... Well, I suppose that tells me all I need to know. Take care, Rainbow Dash."

And then she walked away, leaving Rainbow to sheepishly shuffle to her next class with both hands tightly holding her skirt down as the warning bell rang.

Still under the table, everyone gave Rainbow sympathetic looks, Applejack again being the first to ask. "So that's what this is about? Somethin' she said to ya?"

Fluttershy hoped that tone only meant 'she' as in 'the girl already known to embarrass the heck out of people,' though she wasn't sure if that was what Adagio meant to do this time.

"Yea," answered Rainbow, face still buried in her knees, "pretty much. I can't decide if taking the shorts off would be better or worse, or like, if I should take off the skirt instead, but that I'm thinking about taking my clothes off in school at all, doesn't that make me a total freak?!"

Pinkie to the rescue! "Nah," she said with a giggle, "I think about taking my clothes off all the time! I keep most of my stuff in my hair anyway," she pulled out a waffle to make the point, "so I wouldn't even need pockets!"

Sunset raised an eyebrow. "You keep waffles in your hair?"

"Not all the time."

Rarity shook off the weird sense of deja vu, instead patting Rainbow on the shoulder. "Darling, there's nothing wrong with having a personal style, remember?" She smiled at Applejack, who returned it before the two (gently) fist-bumped. "Just because you're wearing those shorts under another garment, it does not make them 'underwear.' Even if it did, no one has ever expressed the slightest discomfort around you for it, have they?"

Rainbow raised her head a little. "I... I guess not? But, maybe, um..." She gave Rarity a sheepish look. "Well, I mean, clothes are your thing, so-"

The young fashionista beamed. "Say no more, Rainbow, I'd be happy to help you find a look you're more comfortable with! How does right after your usual practice ends sound?"

Managing a smile, Rainbow nodded. "Yea, sounds like a plan."

Rarity contained herself to a friendly grin. Sunset Shimmer yesterday, and now Rainbow! Mama's on a roll!

Author's Note

Hope you enjoyed Rainbow and Adagio's little talk, I've been waiting to complete that particular brick joke for months! :pinkiehappy:

Speaking of waiting to include things in the story, who wants to play Spot the Reference? :trollestia:

Chapter 30: Touchable Ears and Insidious Mind-Fuzzies

Thursday morning didn't get off to a flying start either. It wasn't due to Adagio this time, or even Fluttershy reacting to her, because the low point came before Fluttershy had even gotten to the bench! She'd needed to go to the bathroom during the drive to school, but absolutely did not dare to ask for a rest stop. The last time she had done that, her mother called out while she was walking back to the car.

"DID YOU GET DONE TINKLING, FLUTTERSHY? I KNOW YOU HAVE TROUBLE IN PUBLIC SOMETIMES!"

Mortifying.

Her mother was a very nice woman, really, she just had some... short-sighted ideas on how to offer help sometimes. That horrible incident in mind, she'd opted to just hold it in until she got to school this time. Running to the bench by the soccer field, she left her backpack so Adagio would know she was here today in case she showed up before Fluttershy returned, then sprinted off to the nearest bathroom accessible through the gym door. Which itself was on the other side of the school. Why the soccer field was on the opposite end from the gym, she would never know.

Turning the corner on her way back from the restroom, Fluttershy saw the mass of mango-scented fluff hanging over the back of the bench.

She waited on me!

...

Is it weird that that makes me so happy?

Well, she didn't want to keep Adagio waiting any longer, so she jogged over to take her seat. The second she got close enough that she was confident she'd be heard, however, she caught sight of none other than Angel Bunny, sitting on the bench by Adagio! Fluttershy's eyes widened. "Angel? Did you tag along in my bookbag again?"

Chuckling, Adagio turned her head in Fluttershy's direction as the latter sat down. "So it is yours. Was worried you'd picked up a stray."

Fluttershy smiled. "Well, I do pick up strays sometimes, they usually..." She trailed off as she examined her stowaway pet. Angel was staring fixedly at Adagio (who was wearing her hoodie and jeans again today, as she'd been doing slightly more often of late), but not like the squirrel had that day. By the way he was tilting his little head and twitching his whiskers, she could have sworn he was confused about something.

"Usually what, Sweetie?"

Blink. "Huh? Oh! Um, sorry, I... they usually stay with me for a few days, at least, or however long it takes until they're ready for a place in the animal shelter. Or better yet, a good home!" Despite being presented with perhaps her first opportunity to inquire about whether or not the Dazzlings had any interest in a fuzzy pet (or maybe a goldfish?), Fluttershy again couldn't help but notice Angel Bunny's movements. He was lightly tugging a little paw on the leg of Adagio's pants for attention, which Adagio didn't seem to notice at all. He hopped up onto her thigh, chittered and squeaked while looking directly at her, but it was like he wasn't even there as the siren looked solely at Fluttershy.

"And how exactly do you maintain so many creatures, day to day? Government funding? Anonymous donations? ...Piracy?"

The last one was said with a hint of smile, gaining one in kind. They'd talked about the likelihood of meeting actual pirates in Equestria before, with jokes made about Fluttershy's prospects as a swashbuckler. Angel was still tugging in vain on Adagio's jeans, which prompted Fluttershy to ask. "Angel? What's wrong?"

He turned to her, his little nose twitching.

"Something about Adagio? What did she...? Oh! Really?

What had been perplexed silence quickly became cold fear as Adagio's eyes widened in horror. "W-wait, that rabbit can talk?!"

Fluttershy smiled. "Oh, I wouldn't say that, it's more like-..." Looking up, Adagio's expression made her trail off again. "Um... Is everything oka-" Angel squeaked once to regain her attention. "Huh? I'm sorry, what did she do?"

Glancing back and forth between Fluttershy and the rabbit that was about to rat her out, Adagio couldn't think of any way to stop what was about to happen without virtually guaranteeing that Fluttershy would be very upset with her. Burying her face in both hands, she slumped over on the bench and waited for the inevitable.

It was a knight's duty to protect. To protect their home, to protect their queen, to protect their food bowl! The stalwart defender, Angelius McMillan Bunniceus, known to the rest of the kingdom as Angel Bunny, was one such protector! He had done well in his duties up to this point, but a curious qualm had gripped his tiny, but valiant heart of late: The Queen had not taken him along to defend her in many a day, many a week! This worried him, and so he elected to join The Queen in her daily departure to fend off brigands should the need arise!

And perhaps sample scraps from the Great Feast known to take place in the institution when the sun was high in the sky.

Thus did Angelius make his descent into the dark, but warm depths of His Lady's Sack of Transportation whilst she proved preoccupied with her morning tasks. Not terribly long after it began, motion came to a halt, indicating that the destination had been reached. It was while awaiting His Lady's delicate hands to draw the Sack of Transportation open that he heard an unfamiliar, but heavenly voice.

"Hmm... Looks like her bag, but where's...?"

There came a pause before the latch slid open, whereupon Angel deftly dove behind the Baggie of Delicacies! Sometimes The Queen would bestow upon him tiny nibbles from her Royal Stash of Tasty Things. Looking at the baggie, it appeared that today's choice was the accursed orange, white-tipped triangles. Blech.

He had long ago been informed that his presence in this place was considered an act of rebellion, and a knight did not bring war upon His Lady's doorstep, so he elected to hide until the voice of The Queen beckoned him. No such luck, for there was only more silence following a brief rustling of things in the Sack of Transportation. After a time, Angelius determined that the danger had passed and boldly hopped out, finding himself upon familiar ground where The Queen was known to recline in anticipation of the day ahead.

Upon this morn, however, he could see that circumstances were very different, for instead of The Queen, he saw only...

Her!

For but a moment, there were no words, only quiet reverence as he, Angelius McMillan Bunniceus, beheld the sight of The Great Fluff, surely the most powerful hopper to ever frolic in a meadow! Or in this case, sit upon a bench! She was reclining in leisurely manner upon the bench as though well aware that all who beheld her were in great fortune to do so, the sheer mass, the sheer enormity of her tail, undoubtedly a thing of legend!

She was really quite fluffy, too.

Transfixed in her presence though he was, he froze entirely when she turned her gaze upon him! An orange eyebrow rose in amusement.

"Oh, hello," came her holy voice, "might you be a friend of Fluttershy's? Or are you just looking for crumbs?"

She knew of The Queen! Heart gripped with awe, his response was a shameful stutter, ear-flicks and nose-twitches coming in erratic fashion. Strangely, The Great Fluff seemed to take no notice as she loosed a stream of graceful giggles and smiled down upon him.

"Cute, as far as rodents go, not like one of those bushy-tailed rats. I wonder..."

She reached out a heavenly hand, Angelius standing still as stone as her fingertip softly caressed the edge of one ear, as gently as the hand of The Queen herself! Her touch was pleasing, only more-so as The Great Fluff then scratched behind that ear! Angelius surrendered immediately, leaning into her scratchy embrace with almost greedy fervor, which drew yet more giggles from The Great Fluff as she took to addressing her fingertips to his chin! This escalated to The Great Fluff lifting Angelius into the air and nuzzling his fuzzy body with her face while her laughter grew in intensity!

Another blissful moment passed as she alternated between attending to his chin and belly with those golden fingertips, but after, the haze began to fade, Angelius finding that he'd been set back upon the bench without ceremony. There'd not been time to discern whether he'd offended his cuddly goddess somehow before The Queen arrived. Disgraceful behavior though it was for a knight, he could not focus upon His Lady, instead exploring the mystery of The Great Fluff that now refrained from even resting her sight upon him. This was most befuddling, but try as he may, he could not regain her attention, nor her divine favor.

The tale concluded, Fluttershy looked at Adagio with quiet curiosity, but she was still burying her face in both hands, what little Fluttershy could see a bright shade of red.

Smiling, Fluttershy leaned over a little, trying to angle her head to get a better look at Adagio's face. "You were playing with Angel Bunny?"

The response came in the form of low muttering. "I, it wasn't, I just, he was-..." She trailed off, loosing a quiet groan as her head sunk lower.

"What? What's wrong?" Maybe this was another cultural thing. Did aquatic civilizations have some kind of taboo about nuzzling bunnies? It felt unlikely, but so did the sawdust.

There was a little sigh. "You're going to make me say it? Thought I was the sadist here."

Thinking back to the week before, Fluttershy made a guess based on the last time Adagio got this sheepish. "You're... worried that cuddling Angel was too childish? Too girly?"

"Partly," Adagio answered without looking up, "part of it is the complete lack of self-control required to give in to such an urge."

"A lady always maintains her composure," said the Rarity in Fluttershy's head. Maybe that elegant sense of dignity was something her stylish friend and Adagio had in common? It was food for thought that Fluttershy would digest later, instead offering her secret girlfriend (squee!) a smile. "It's not so bad, I mean," she flushed pink, but didn't let herself stop, "You used to go around encouraging people to give in to urges, right?"

Adagio let out a surprised little laugh as she sat up a little straighter and let her hands fall away from her face. She was still flushed, but at least she was smiling a little now. "You're right, Sweetie; I'd rather have been caught pleasuring myself." To her slight regret, Fluttershy choked on air again as she went a bright, burning crimson (Angel administered fuzzy little pats to her neck), but at least the playing field was level now. She used the time Fluttershy spent recuperating from the shock to get her own thoughts together, managing to at least banish most of her own blush. "I figured I could do... w-what I did, before you got back with no one being the wiser, that my hair would shield me from behind until I heard you coming, but it hadn't occurred to me that you could actually speak to these creatures."

Her breath steadied again, Fluttershy regained her smile. "Well, I understand Angel, but I've known him for a while now. Did you want to do that with the squirrel, too?"

Adagio shook her head. "Not particularly," she said with a little smile while reaching out to tickle Angel's chin, to his delight, "this one is just a lot more... touchable, I suppose, like I-" Her eyes went wide as she realized what she was doing, immediately drawing her hand back, to Angel's slight disappointment. She was blushing again. "I-it's the ears, dammit!"

Giggling once more, Fluttershy kept a warm expression. "I guess you know how the other kids felt now?" Adagio's blank expression said she was lost. "Y-you know," Fluttershy offered with a slightly sheepish grin, "right after they saw my sketch?"

And then Adagio's mouth slowly fell open, her eyes going wide. "Just... like...? Of... Of course." She stood up, raising both fists as her eyes seemed to gaze in no particular direction. "Of course!!" For reasons relating to old habits, she began to pace back and forth in front of the bench as she spoke. "I see it! I see it now! Those looks they were giving me, that wasn't condescension, they weren't looking down on me for being weak or vulnerable, it was instinct! That's what makes sapient lifeforms express benevolence toward younglings of entirely different species; the reason infants are 'cute' to begin with, it's a defense mechanism!"

Fluttershy wasn't entirely sure she followed Adagio's increasingly manic rambling, but she tried to focus on the words, not the siren showing multiple angles of herself as she walked in front of the bench.

"The other students weren't laughing at me, not most of them, at any rate. The bow, your drawing, they sent signals straight into the brain that made the recipients think 'Oh, how precious!' before they'd even realized what had happened, even though they know that consciously, they're afraid of me, of all three of us! All this time, I've likened being 'cute' to being prey, to being a squirming victim to play with- Sorry, by the way."

Fluttershy smiled. "It's okay."

"Right, thank you. -for my own amusement, but there's more than that!" Looking up at the sky as she stood still, Adagio pressed a hand to her forehead. "I can't believe I've missed it up to now; all I had ever wanted to do with something smaller and weaker than me was to make it squirm between my claws, so to speak, but it's not just an absence of threat to mark easy targets, it's a call of sorts, a siren's song that says 'Please, protect me,' 'comfort me,' 'Keep me warm and safe,' 'Adore me!'"

It was difficult keeping a frown entirely off her face as Fluttershy pondered what the sirens' upbringing must have been like, but now didn't feel like the right time.

Turning to face Fluttershy again, Adagio pointed almost dramatically at Angel. "That's what I felt just minutes ago; a little compulsion to show a flicker of affection toward a harmless entity, not because I knew it couldn't hurt me and therefore it was mine to play with, but just..." She shook her head somewhat incredulously, voice lowering to gentle tones as she stepped closer. "Instinct. Maternal, almost, a quiet, easily-indulged little will to be... nurturing, I suppose?" This time, it was a consciously-embraced decision to tickle Angel's ear with a fingertip, drawing a little smile from each of them as Adagio looked at Fluttershy. "Is that how it feels for you?"

Smiling warmly, Fluttershy nodded. "Sometimes, yes. It isn't always furry little animals that make me feel that way," she joined Adagio in lightly brushing Angel with a fingertip, the rabbit happily soaking up their mutual attentions, "but they're usually the first."

Nodding, Adagio pet Angel for another minute and turned to walk away. "I need to jog home for something, but I'll be back before classes start, so-"

"Wait!"

Whipping around, Adagio saw Fluttershy standing up, clutching a content-looking Angel in both hands, but with a worried expression on her face. This drew a concerned frown. "Sweetie?"

"Uhm-" Knowing Adagio was in a hurry didn't make forming the question tactfully any easier. "-I, I-I heard, yesterday, um, that you talked to Rainbow, a-and I'm not t-trying to accuse you of anything, but, um-"

Knowing where this was going, Adagio grinned wryly. "She told you I got her all riled up, did she?"

"Well, the way she told it, it kind of sounded like an accident, but...?"

Adagio's eyes widened. "'The way she told it'? That is to say, something other than 'That bitch was messing with me'?" Fluttershy nodded twice. "...Huh." The siren smiled a little. "Maybe we are making progress... Well," she said with a shrug, "I didn't mean to embarrass her like that, it was a serious question." Crossing her arms as she recalled the last time her curiosity had gotten her in trouble, Adagio made a slightly sour face. "I'd kind of hoped that not smiling at all would make it sound natural, but I'm sure I'll pin down the details sooner or later." She shook her head, smiling again. "In hindsight, I suppose I should have known better than to bring up anything of a remotely... private manner when talking to a high school girl. I remembered our deal, but I'm sorry if that worried you."

Rather than looking reassured, Fluttershy wore a contrite expression. "No, no, I... I don't think you did anything wrong." I thought you said you'd give her the benefit of the doubt, she chided herself. "I'm sorry, I guess I still get-" She was cut off by a friendly giggle.

"It's fine, Sweetie. After all," she said while pacing back to the bench with half-lidded eyes, "you and I both know how I can be about giving in to urges without thinking, right?" Fluttershy lit up again as Adagio leaned in to cup her chin in one hand. "What do you think," she asked breathily, "do I need to work on my... self-control?"

Despite her knees shaking, Fluttershy answered the question by covering Angel's eyes and leaning forward for a kiss. A wonderful moment later, they broke apart, Adagio smiled, said "Gotta run," and ran off in the direction of the sirens' house, leaving Fluttershy to gently fall backward on the bench.

Looking down at her pet rabbit, Fluttershy smiled and patted his head. "I might need to bring you along more often, if that's okay."

Angelius McMillan Bunniceus, stalwart protector of The Queen, offered a crisp salute. And The Queen smiled upon him!

Adagio rushed straight up the stairs and into her room, going to the dresser right away. Taking out her spiked headband, she gave it one last, lingering look before setting it on the dresser and tying her hair up with Fluttershy's ribbon again. Double-checking the bow in her vanity mirror, she was pretty sure she'd gotten it just right.

Suppose I should be glad that turned out the way it did, she thought with a little grin, picked up a new trick and the rabbit didn't see as much as I'd thought.

Picturing Fluttershy's possible reaction in the near future, Adagio chuckled fiendishly. When she'd started back down the stairs, she heard a call from the kitchen.

"Hey Dagi, that you? What're you doin' back here already?"

She moved to join them. "Just forgot something on the way out, Ria."

"Heh, damn. Had hoped school was closed today or something."

She arrived in the kitchen to see her oldest friends wrapping up breakfast. Sonata, sitting at the table in a short, pink nightie, was in the middle of that morning's sticky-note sketch to hang on the refrigerator while Aria, standing at the sink in just a light tank top and tight, skull-patterned panties, cleaned dishes. Adagio resisted the urge to comment on the either's state of undress, made easier when Sonata instead drew attention to Adagio's own fashion choice.

"Hey, you're wearing the bow again!"

This drew an over-the-shoulder glance from Aria. "All part of the plan? How's that comin' along?"

Adagio gave each of them a confident smirk, hands placed on her hips. The subtle, psychological effect made cuteness an insidious force, and that, she knew, made it a viable weapon. "I'll be gathering more data in the coming days, but with recent revelations? We may find ourselves working a whole new kind of magic."

Sonata stopped her doodling to look at Adagio in wide-eyed confusion. "Huh?"

Their leader chuckled. "What would you say if I told you there was a form of seduction that didn't strictly depend on sex appeal?" Speaking of seduction, part of her distantly wondered if Fluttershy would appreciate the present Adagio had left her...

"EEEK!!"

Half the class jumped as Fluttershy slammed her book shut, eyes wide, face flushed, and beads of sweat appearing on her brow. Ms. Inkwell was the first to ask.

"You okay there, Fluttershy? I know Antietam was a right bloody scene, but what we get in these books is the PG version."

Shaking with all eyes on her, Fluttershy ducked down, managing a tiny, abashed smile. "Y-yes, I, j-j-just, uh... saw a... spider?"

Inkwell chuckled, in that crazy-crone kind of way she did. "And squashed 'im good, didja? That there's how wars are fought!"

"I-I guess so."

Class went on with Fluttershy unable to hide behind her book like she usually would in this situation, but Miss Inkwell didn't seem to mind her following along in her head as opposed to trying to read through spider-squash. It was lucky for her that no one in the room questioned how she of all people could bring herself to hurt a small, helpless arachnid, as there was nothing of the sort in her history book. On that note, Fluttershy silently marveled at Adagio's dedication, both at how she must have figured out what pages the lesson would cover, and that she'd been able to deposit the photo there without Fluttershy noticing. Maybe it was when she was alone with Angel, but she wasn't sure. Could it have been earlier? An embarrassing time-bomb? Were there others?!

As she couldn't hide behind her book, Fluttershy desperately tried to focus on the lesson today.

After class, Fluttershy jogged to the nearest restroom, knelt down in a corner stall, and retrieved the picture from her history book. It wasn't really as bad as she'd thought in class, she'd only looked at it long enough to see a lot of bare, yellow skin, but it still felt pretty damning to be caught with to her. It was an up-close side view of Adagio's naked rear, apparently bent over her bed in a way that exposed most of one cheek and her upper leg, which was technically still tamer than what Fluttershy had seen on the covers of some of Rarity's fashion magazines. That, of course, didn't stop Fluttershy from feeling about a hundred degrees warmer when looking at it, or the caption on the back.

You were right, it does stick out a little...

"Angel," she whispered to the bunny in her bookbag, "I need you to guard this for me. Please keep it hidden until we get home."

She knew that it was a completely serious sign of his undying loyalty and his will to make her happy, but Angel's tiny salute made Fluttershy smile every time.

Author's Note

I was torn on whether to have Angel perceive Adagio to be a graceful goddess or a wicked arch-demon, but with most of the school treating the Dazzlings the way they do, I figured a change of pace was in order.

Also: You know that big, fat, super-chapter thing I've done a few times now? The ones where things went much longer than I'd intended, but I wasn't quite willing to cut content altogether? That's actually what the last few chapters have kinda been, only without the rushing to get it all done at once, and there's still another part that isn't finished yet. Hope to have that up within the next week or so, but after that should be the particularly interesting chapter followed by the slightly more interesting chapter I alluded to months ago.

...Of course, noting the pattern, those chapters are probably going to be a chapter or two each, what I anticipate to be Chapter 32 almost guaranteed to be BIG. Luckily, I should have the better part of the next month to get some writing done. :pinkiesmile:

Chapter 31: Cheeky Tactics

"So," began Rarity when everyone was seated, "latest update on the increasingly bizarre siren situation; you all remember the incident with Trixie not too long ago?" There were some affirmative nods. "Right, well, the word going around recently is that some measure of her 'relationship' with Adagio Dazzle must have been real, that their break-up is the reason behind her odd behavior."

Fluttershy kept any expression from her face as best she could. Changing little more than the name, Rarity was millimeters from the truth! Guilt that she was still keeping it from her friends wasn't doing the real culprit any favors, either.

"Then," guessed Sunset, "you're thinking that she's more or less lost her taste for screwing with people since what happened with Trixie? That that's why she hasn't really messed with anyone in... what, a week?"

"So goes the rumor," Rarity answered, "the general speculation is that her reaction to, err, Trixie's preferences-" this drew a few giggles, causing Rarity to tint pink herself, "-wasn't just over-dramatization as initially assumed, but at least partly an actual outcry of heartbreak."

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Yer really tryin' to sell us on Adagio singin' the blues 'cuz Trixie left her for her underwear?"

Pinkie almost laughed out loud at the sheer silliness of the statement, but awareness that none of the sirens would be singing anything any time soon made that line kind of a downer. Blue, even.

Rarity shrugged. "That's the way the story goes, Darling, and frankly, I don't have any better theories." She touched a fingertip to her chin as a thought occurred to her. "Do you think, perhaps, that something similar is the reason Aria Blaze seems so well-behaved? That she experienced a romantic loss of her own before their return and now can't bring herself to behave as brashly as we initially anticipated?"

Rainbow glanced over at the Dazzlings' table. "That... might actually explain a thing or two. Y'think all three of them have-" her eyes widened for a split second before shrugging and looking away. "-aaaactually, I'd rather not get wrapped up in talking about, y'know, gushy crud." There were a few chuckles around the table, but they moved on from the Dazzlings' prospective love lives.

Fluttershy, for her part, was grateful not to have been asked any questions, because she wasn't sure how much she could say on the matter without revealing something she shouldn't have.

The sirens, meanwhile, discussed the progress of their latest plan to make some friends of their own.

"Alright," Adagio said with a hopeful smile, "what do you have for me?"

Sonata raised a hand, which she usually forgot to do in class. "I tried doing that flirty, arms-folded-in-front-of-you pose and batting my eyes, but Flash just looked weirded out at me."

Adagio shrugged. "More than I usually get out of him. What about you, Ria?"

"Ermm..." Aria glanced away with an uneasy look on her face. "I, kinda, haven't really... tried anything yet...?" Her friends shared a look before turning to her with wide smiles. She gulped.

"Really," asked Adagio, an eyebrow raised in amusement, "even with everything you have at your disposal? I believe we've already discussed the merits of the Pouty Face."

"Y-yea, but-"

Sonata was all too happy to cut her off. "If you can't use that, maybe you could shake your head like a puppy. Your hair would flap around like a doggie's ears!"

Crossing her arms at the mental image, Aria grumbled her reply. "I'm not a dog."

Remembering her deal with Fluttershy, Adagio mustered her willpower to resist the urge to make Aria's situation much, much worse. Even if she had kind of earned it by doing nothing to help with the plan. "You don't need to do much, maybe just wear a ribbon, like me?"

"Ooh," Sonata interjected with a big smile, "you should wear a short, ruffly skirt, too! Those are cute all by themselves!"

Aria sputtered. "Sk-skirts?! Look, I told you guys, what I wore at the Battle was a one-time thing, and even then I had-"

Sonata gasped, happily clasping her hands together. "Stockings!! Does that you mean you'll wear the lingerie too?!"

"WHAT?!"

Adagio tried to help. "We agreed that you'd have to wear something showing a little more leg if you ever put on a full suit of lingerie, so-"

Aria unconsciously made the Angry Pout, to the delight of her two friends. "I'm not wearing a damn skirt!"

Eyes sparkling, Sonata held both hands to her cheeks. "So you're going in nothing but the lingerie?!" Smirking as she gave Aria a sultry look, Sonata mockingly fanned herself with one hand. "So daring! We only need to do something cute, y'know."

Groaning as she rested her beet-red head on the table, Aria gave her giggling friends a tired look. "Alright, alright, I get it, I'll do something before the day is out."

Adagio smiled beneficently, making a mental note to hug Sonata later. "That's all I'm asking." Does this still count as teasing? If only in a murder-by-inaction kind of way?

Letting out a little sigh as she righted her posture, Aria shook her head. "Why're we doing this, anyway? Isn't doing 'cute' little tricks the same as pretending to be somebody we're not?"

"Not exactly," Adagio explained, "putting on a consistent act is what we want to avoid, but there's no harm in expanding our repertoire a bit. Think of it as swapping out batting your eyelashes for quick, coy winks, exchanging slow, tantalizing finger-wiggling for energetic waving, or whatever you're comfortable with. Like I said this morning, it's essentially just another form of seduction, but with fewer sexual connotations-"

Grinning, Sonata finished for her. "-and thus more plausible deniability, which helps us look a little more innocent!"

"Hahahahaha, yes!" Adagio remembered that her laugh seemed to do exactly the opposite about a quarter of a second later, but kept it to herself.

Scratching her head, Aria nodded. "Guess that works. Hell, with our reputation, it might be worth it for that last part alone. Speakin' of, what'd you do today, Dagi?"

"I tried giving people sweet, friendly little smiles while holding doors open. I didn't exactly have a stop-watch going, but I think they might have actually walked a little faster!"

"Because they thought it was welcoming, or because they wanted to get away from you?"

Adagio's smile didn't change. "I have no idea."

All three giggled, Sonata in particular. "At least doing cute stuff is WAY easier than wearing high heels." Judging by the looks she'd been getting, nobody around here thought bruises were a turn-on.

"I'm sure you'd have gotten it eventually, Nata," Adagio said in a soft, encouraging voice.

Aria was a bit more practical-minded. "Maybe, but her tripping and falling all over the place probably wasn't doing us any favors." Sonata frowned, spurring Aria to try to fix it herself this time with a slightly sheepish smile. "But, I mean, it couldn't have been that bad, because everyone already knows you do the weirdest crap, right?"

Most people might have taken issue with the sentiment, but most people weren't Sonata Dusk. Managing a tiny smile, she sighed. "I guess, but I kinda just wanted to be sexy too, y'know? I'm the only one that didn't pop into this world with boots that were made for walkin'!" Walkin' with a little more of a hip-swing, anyway.

Holding a hand to her chin in thought, Adagio studied the ceiling. "I'd make a few suggestions, but I'm told they have standards here." Arbitrary standards. Honestly, her bathrobe was more modest than her dance outfit!

Sonata made an angry little pout of her own while muttering under her breath at her lunch tray. "I'd wear nothing but the lingerie, but she'd eat me alive for it."

Aria raised an eyebrow. "Y'mean Luna?"

Her head snapping upward, Sonata smiled. "Yea, her!"

Hm, thought Adagio, suppose that's a relatively bright side to controlling myself in school; much fewer visits to Luna's office. None, in fact. I wonder if she misses me?

Looking up from her sandwich as she sat in the teacher's lounge, Principal Celestia raised an eyebrow. "Luna? Are you alright?"

The vice principal shivered in her seat, just a faint tinge of red to her cheeks. "I... I-I do not know, Sister. I felt... a disturbance."

"...You've been drinking Zecora's special brews again, haven't you?"

Luna's brows furrowed in challenge. "They are healthy and delicious!"

Celestia rolled her eyes, continuing her lunch.

Following fifth period, Adagio once again found herself wandering the halls in something of a daze. Auto-pilot, maybe. She still had that peaceful, walk-in-the-park feeling going, but her reason for walking around a bit before sixth period had essentially been to find somebody to play with for a few minutes. That was off the table now, but the thought of going straight to her next class and sitting in silence didn't exactly draw her in. Still, she could meander about, passively observe her surroundings, overhear snippets of conversation, and just generally people-watch. It was becoming some kind of guilty pleasure, witnessing little scenes of peoples' lives playing out in front of her, making a few guesses as to the circumstances and context of what she heard, and speculating on the kind of lives those people lived outside CHS.

That making note of patterns could help her narrow down what exactly constituted 'normal' behavior was just a benefit on the side, really.

Adagio didn't keep an ear out for any particular voices when she did this, but she couldn't help hearing it when one spoke a little louder than the rest. Unsurprisingly, this time it was Trixie, whom might not have known Adagio was a ways behind her when she irritably shared her thoughts with one of her former(?) bandmates, the purple-skinned blonde. As usual, this included liberal use of arm motions.

"Can you believe the nonsense they're spewing? As if Trixie would ever have anything to do with that, that, walking suffocation hazard!"

Cloud Kicker giggled, trying half-heartedly to hide a little smirk behind one hand. "Dunno, I think you could do worse. Scariness aside, Adagio is pretty hot."

Trixie crossed her arms. From the sound of her voice, she was doing that darling little this-annoys-me pout. "That's neither here nor there! The notion that Adagio Dazzle lost her touch because she got her heart broken from a relationship with The Great and Powerful Trixie is absurd! Ludicrous! Baffling! Because it implies that Trixie was ever interested in her to begin with!"

"That's not what you were saying just before the Batt-"

Trixie immediately covered Cloud Kicker's mouth with both hands. "Youshutyourmouth!!"

While that little display went on, Adagio kept her usual grin as she strolled away. 'Lost my touch,' have I? Thank you for the free alibi, Trixie.

What was the saying? That the devil's greatest trick was convincing the world that he didn't exist? She'd suspected people would notice if she stopped teasing others altogether, and as she hadn't actually taken advantage of Fluttershy's offer to torment her in public yet (give or take her reactions to the pictures), she could see why outsiders might think she'd simply changed since her soul-crushing break-up with the young magician. The situation couldn't have been more perfect! With this, her group would be deemed less threatening, people would be willing to approach them, and they'd finally have their own piece of that Magic of Friendship pie!

Besides the little bit that I alone get to enjoy with Fluttershy in private, that is. Aria has her online buddy in the virtual worlds they explore and shoot up together, Sonata has her seventy-six thousand subscribers on that scare-prank channel she started running in her spare time (Sonata did not share her niggling sense of remorse in what they did with that webcam), and I have Fluttershy for just under an hour on weekday mornings.

She tried to tell herself not to worry about it, that it was fair that they found their own respective friend-types in various places, but when weighing what Aria had with DoomPrism, or what Sonata had with her commenters, against what she had with Fluttershy, Adagio felt like she was cheating them. It was like she alone had found the deep, meaningful connection they'd come in search of with rare, cautious optimism, and was keeping it all to herself. Weren't they not supposed to hide things from each other anymore? Sonata might have been doing it first, but-

"Hey!"

Turning, Adagio was just faintly confused not to see anyone until she glanced downward to catch sight of two freshman girls. One was grey with a silvery braid and glasses, though Adagio wasn't sure what it meant that the nervous look on her little face was leaning toward the 'torment target' kind of cute as opposed to the 'administer head-pats' kind. Was there any difference between the two, or was it a matter of situational context? Before she could decide, the dull-pink girl, whom the first was vaguely hiding behind, spoke up, her tone matching the irritated look on her face.

"Why did you stop being cool?"

Perplexed, the siren let her raised eyebrow speak for her.

The grey one tugged on her friend's arm, looking at Adagio as though afraid she'd be pounced on if she broke eye-contact. "L-let's just go, Di!"

Diamond Tiara didn't so much as look backward, dismissively waving a hand. "Inna minute." She focused on the formerly-cool upperclassman. "You haven't done anything that pissed off Luna lately, or any of that gooey-eyes talk, like-" she turned to face her friend with half-lidded eyes, gently tracing her fingertips along the skin just above her necklace of little, blue pearls, "Ohh, Silver, I could just chew on your ears all night..."

Silver Spoon responded by turning bright red and starting to sweat, her gaping mouth emitting only a quiet squeak as she shuddered, lost balance, and fell on her little rear, Diamond looking back at Adagio in perfectly calm, casual fashion. "Like that."

Noting that someone was probably going to be getting The Talk soon, Adagio focused on the question, answering with another. "Is there a reason I should?"

Diamond scowled a little. "Well, yea! You used to go around doing whatever you wanted, any time you wanted, that's what made you cool! What gives?"

Adagio chuckled, giving a little grin. "And what makes you think I'm not doing what I want?" Both girls were giving her confused stares now. The smile grew. "I toyed with those people because I felt like it, and now I don't." Technically not true. "Well, I suppose it's more like..." There was faint color to her cheeks as she giggled. "There's something else I want now, and doing what I did before would make it harder to keep. Do you understand?"

"No, what the heck are you talking about?"

Adagio was still smiling patiently. "Priorities, Little Miss. To get what you want; decide what it is you want most, then go for it with everything you have. If you want it badly enough, you might find yourself willing to part with something else to get it."

This, Diamond understood very well, smacking a fist into the open palm of her other hand. "Like a purchase! You give up money for a new snow-cone machine or whatever!" That her favorite upperclassman was giving Diamond a nod and a proud grin made her feel like she was trying on her mother's tall, pointy shoes again!

"I think you've got it." And with that, she walked off, having influenced the next generation. A bit. Kind of. Or not, time would probably tell.

"Eh, Fluttershy?"

"Eep!" Whipping her head to the side, Fluttershy did her best to switch her startled expression to a small smile. "Y-yes?"

"Ah know paintin' ain'tcher favorite thing in Art, but yer lookin' a little more nervous than usual. Everything okay?"

"Oh, uh, y-yes, just, y-you know... worried?"

Applejack gave her a little smile. "Aw, don't worry, Mr. Magnet knows you do yer best every time, even when it don't come out like you had in mind. Just relax and have a little fun with it, okay?"

Fluttershy smiled a little wider. "Okay."

Of course, she couldn't very well tell Applejack the actual reason she was nervous; the one that walked into the Art room just seconds before things got started.

"Aaaaaaaalright, class!" began Magnet with a flourish while Adagio took her seat, "today you're free to paint whatever your bursting little heart desires, to go wherever your muse takes you! Well, I won't delay the magic, begin!"

It was with a note of apprehension that Fluttershy saw Adagio sitting a row in front of her again, wide, plump curves resting on the stool in front of the easel she'd be painting on. Even if those jeans looked a little tighter than usual, she tried to focus on her own painting.

Adagio, meanwhile, did much the same, albeit with a side of experimentation as class went on. She knew that some people, for whatever reason, found clumsiness cute, thought making little mistakes was endearing, but where Sonata usually went overboard with it, Adagio would try something subtler. Namely, dropping things in such a manner that it wouldn't leave a troublesome mess (clean brushes, lids to paint containers, etc.), quietly saying 'Oopsie,' or 'oh, silly me,' then bending down to pick it up again with just a faint little wiggle of her behind.

It was difficult to gauge the reactions without looking at anyone, which would likely give her away, but she was sure at least one member of the audience enjoyed the show. Hiking her pants up an inch or two before class definitely made a difference!

When class was drawing to a close, Adagio wasn't feeling too confident about her double-helix eel. The conjoined areas of the body came out fine and she even got the teeth to look nice and sharp, but the little green spots along its external sides didn't seem like the right shade to convey bioluminescence. Magnet would say it was great, of course, as he was the sort to praise pretty much everything if his students did more than spit on the page. Without turning her head, she listened as he went around, paying particular attention when he got to Fluttershy's painting.

"Oh, what a magnificent peach you've got there!"

"Th-thank you," whispered Fluttershy, "it, i-it, uhm-"

"The attention to detail is outstanding! You're finally getting a feel for focusing on the individual strokes! Just look at those long, smooth curves, that nicely-rounded globe, and that shading!"

Adagio bit her lip to keep from giggling, but it kept going.

"It's n-nothing really, I j-just-"

"Ohh, look at you, flushing with modesty! Well, I won't keep you, but be sure to cherish the warm, tender feelings you felt when this image sprang to your mind!"

There was a tiny squeak that sounded vaguely like 'thank you.' Adagio was pretending to have a coughing fit.

Magnet moved on, not a hint of irony in his tone. "Oh, very good, Lyra, your dog has four legs this time! Wonderful job!"

Adagio might have called that Game for the day, but dear, honest Applejack had a few words of praise for her friend.

"It really does look good, Fluttershy. Why, it's so big an' juicy-lookin', Ah could just sink mah teeth into it! ...Why're ya hidin' in yer hair? It's a compliment!"

While she might have counted herself blessed for getting two teasing assists like that in one day, Adagio couldn't stop herself from releasing a short, but loud series of cackles just as Magnet was getting to her. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow before glancing back and forth between her and her helictical eel (h-eel-ictical?) in perplexed silence.

Letting out what she hoped was a sufficiently cute giggle, Adagio smiled sheepishly. "It, er, reminds me of home?"

Magnet beamed. "Splendid!!"

Author's Note

DT strikes me as the sort who wouldn't be afraid to speak her mind, even to her idols. More-so when she's not seeing what she wanted to see in them anymore.

Chapter 32: Dark, Stringy Confidence

Butterflies. Swarms and swarms of butterflies.

The feeling in her belly was so dense, so hectic, that Fluttershy was worried she might be sick. Still, she pressed on, slowly opening one of the big, glass doors to the mall and hesitantly stepping in. She came alone, as they'd agreed, dressed in a plain, green sundress and matching sunhat, a pair of white-rimmed sunglasses the most she could do to hide her face without reaching the point that it drew more attention. Or made her feel really silly. She still felt a little silly wearing what were ostensibly outdoor clothes inside, but other than the pair of Groucho glasses that Pinkie (for reasons unknown) stuck to her bottom one time, she lacked anything that could be called a disguise. Her heart beating a little faster with every step, she tried to remember what brought her to this point.

"Hey Sweetie, are you doing anything tomorrow?"

"Uhm, n-no, but... w-why do you ask?"

"Well... We're essentially a couple now, right?"

There had been some teasing and a tiny, nervousness-and-joy-induced panic attack involving the exact state of their relationship, but after that came a request. Friday morning, Adagio had asked her out. On a date.

Adagio Dazzle had asked her out on a date!

Adagio Dazzle had asked her ou-

"There you are!"

"EEP!!"

Fluttershy whipped around, catching sight of Adagio leaning against the You Are Here map-board by the entrance. She was wearing grey sweatpants and a grey hoodie with the hood drawn up, along with much darker, thicker sunglasses than Fluttershy's, but the smile was unmistakably hers.

Adagio stepped forward, deducing that Fluttershy looked nervous enough as it was without being teased about having kept a lady waiting, let alone her thoughts about how she might punish her for it. Besides, she wasn't sure what the rules were when both of them were ladies. "Ready to get started?" Her Sweetie gave her that hesitant, but hopeful little smile in response.

"Y-yes!"

They walked together, Adagio regularly stealing glances at Fluttershy out of the corner of her eye. Even in a dull frock, Fluttershy managed to look so graceful, so majestic, so serenely beautiful that part of Adagio was jealous. That part of her was immediately flattened by the awareness that the bashful beauty was all hers to cherish, in multiple (but not all) senses of the word.

There weren't a lot of people around the mall on that early Saturday morning, leaving Fluttershy and Adagio essentially by themselves as they walked. Just as planned! However, Fluttershy still looked a little more jittery than usual, prompting Adagio to address her with soft tones and a warm smile. "Relax, I'll be keeping an eye out for anyone from CHS the whole time, like we discussed, and if it looks like anyone recognizes either of us, I can be gone in seconds."

"Oh, n-no," Fluttershy said with a little head-shake, "it's not that, just, j-just..." She pulled her hat a little further down, though her smile still showed through. "W-we'reonadate!"

Blinking once behind her shades, Adagio chuckled. "Yes, Sweetie, just you and me today. The safeword is still Squirrel."

"Meep!"

"Hahahahaha!" Fluttershy's timid posture as they walked through the mall gave Adagio a plethora of great ideas, but nothing they could do without drawing unwanted attention. On that note, really hoping I don't look like I'm planning to rob someone. The innocent cutie willingly walking at my side will be enough to do dismiss such notions, right?

As planned, they headed to a clothing shop Adagio had visited before, a little store with a wide selection, but not a lot of traffic in one corner of the mall. Most importantly, the cashier didn't go to CHS, so they were likely free to take their clothes off together. Sharing this thought won her another squeak and some rosy-cheeked stammering.

"I-I thought we were j-ju-just, t-trying on outfits!"

Ohh, too easy. "We are. Why, did you have something more in mind?" Part of Adagio wanted to snatch Fluttershy's hat right off her head to better enjoy that precious, glowing little face as her Sweetie sputtered and pulled the hat downward again, but they really were here for practical reasons.

Given their talk Thursday morning, Adagio had come up with the next step on the Dazzlings' road to acceptance; tactical cuteness! Little gestures got some kind of response, Aria having reported that winking and sticking the tip of her tongue out at a few people, while a little embarrassing for her, won surprised, but not unwelcoming stares. That was a good sign, but Adagio remembered how everyone looked at her when she wore the bow. Well, if revealing outfits bolstered seduction power, some cuter clothes had to help out with this, right?

Adagio determined that she'd be the first to try a new look, to dress up in something a little more traditionally girly and wear it to school. For that to work, she'd need to find something 'cute,' and as Fluttershy was the one that gave her the ribbon (which she wasn't wearing today, having gone with a simple scrunchie for once), it made sense that she would be able to help Adagio find something suitably adorable, but reasonably dignified. Fluttershy seemed happy to offer her services to that end, even if there had been a bit of ribbing about just how eager she was to decide what Adagio would be wearing. That in mind, she let her guide cool down a little before voicing her first question.

"So, skirts: Strictly required?"

"Um, w-well..." She took a moment to think about it. "You don't have to wear them to look cute, but they are generally seen as more feminine, so they're a pretty normal choice for girls."

"Is it about showing leg, or potential to catch a glimpse of the wearer's undergarments?"

Fluttershy tinted pink. "N-neither!!"

That would be another factor that made Fluttershy the perfect partner for this; keeping away from anything too racy, anything that might detract from the image she was going for by leaning toward her old (and current!) one, was as easy as a game of Hot and Cold. That was the game they played while Adagio picked out and tried on outfits with Fluttershy offering critique and perceived threat level. Adagio needed no reminding that she could be too much for some people and that part of it was her general style. Spikes, they agreed, would have to be ruled out entirely, because there was nothing cute about the thought of puncture wounds. No, not even in a playful-kitten-nibbling-on-your-hand kind of way.

"Th-the design is cute, but, uhm... d-don't you think that top is a little... low-cut?"

"Perhaps, but the lack of fabric makes it look smaller. Smaller is cuter, right? Because I'm sure the same applies to my chest anyway, so-"

"L-let's try something else, please..."

"What do you think of this coat? Am I soft and huggable now?"

"W-well..." She was kind of always soft and huggable, at least in Fluttershy's eyes, but in regard to the addition of a long, dark coat...? "It looks nice and warm, I think, but even if we're not thinking about the season all that much, it's still a little scary."

"Even with all the fluffy trim?"

"Black is kind of a scary color, I guess... Sorry."

"Hm..."

"I-I don't think those pants are helping..."

"Why not?"

"They're... shiny..."

"So is the ribbon you gave me."

"And a little... tight!"

"And pink!" Adagio turned in place to be seen from different angles. "Pink is cute, right?"

"...It's d-definitely a certain kind of cute..."

"What was that?"

"N-nothing!!"

"EEEK!!" Fluttershy covered her eyes. "W-what are you d-d-doing?!"

"I thought I'd try the 'lovable dope' angle on for size. 'I forgot to get dressed today, teehee!'"

"Y-you can't go to school n-naked!!"

"Nonsense, it's just a question of how long I can stay there!"

"Adagio!!"

"Sigh. Fine, fine, back to the drawing board."

Fluttershy sat on one of the benches just outside the changing area, slumped over and still trying to convince her heart to slow down while fanning herself with her hat.

Dressed in her plain, grey outfit again, Adagio paced over and sat beside her. "You alright, Sweetie?"

Taking a calming breath, Fluttershy gave her a somewhat tired look. "Did you want me here today just to tease me?"

"While that's a fantastic idea and I may use it later, no. There aren't a whole lot of people I can talk to that understand the 'cute' look, and..." She looked Fluttershy in the eye, no trace of amusement or her usual predatory stare in her face. "I wanted to spend a little more time with you."

A pleasant warmth bubbled up from Fluttershy's chest. "R-really?"

Adagio shrugged lightly. "Well, we still see each other in Art, but I thought a little more wouldn't hurt. I know that technically, I'm free to come after you-" she lightly tickled Fluttershy, drawing tiny giggles, "-whenever I like, but you've probably figured out by now that I'd like to avoid the mess that would make for as long as possible. I don't mind keeping things subtle between us until you graduate, Sweetie, but the current arrangement does leave me wanting a little more. That said, I really would like your help with this, so if I'm just botheri-"

In a rare show of assertiveness, Fluttershy leaned forward to peck Adagio on the lips, smiling even as she turned rosy. "I-I wasn't complaining, exactly... And, when you decide you want things out in the open, I promise I'll be ready." She didn't need to be able to see through Adagio's shades to know she was staring back at her, helped by her mouth forming that surprised little 'o' shape, at least until it became a tiny smirk as Adagio turned her head away and chuckled.

"Well then..." The siren waited until she could keep her voice perfectly steady before going on. "I had an idea while getting dressed. Since none of my choices seem to be what we're looking for, I was thinking you could pick something out for me to try on, as you'd know better than I what to look for." She shrugged again. "Probably should have started with that, really, but I wanted to at least give it a try on my own. What do you think?"

Judging by the wide, wide smile, Fluttershy was wiling to accept these terms.

"How do you feel about hats?"

"If it fits on my head, I'll give it a go, Sweetie."

"Okay. Um..."

"Limited selection, hm?"

"K-kind of, but, uh... oh, these little hats might work!"

"Tiny hats are cute, are they? Alright, which would you recommend?"

"How about this one?"

A pleasant time was had trying on tiny hats, by Adagio and Fluttershy, but in the end, they decided that the ribbon was all the head-wear she would need. Luckily, this diversion bought time while Fluttershy got her thoughts together about the prospect of being able to dress Adagio. That was a hefty responsibility that called for careful consideration, but she managed to keep her thoughts clean when picking the first outfit.

"Sonata brought up ruffly skirts just the other day, so this might work."

"Really?"

"Yes. Actually, this, the white shirt, and long socks together all kind of look like the schoolgirl outfit back home."

"O-on second thought, let's try something else!"

"Huh?"

Mostly clean. There must have been some kind of unconscious interference. She'd do better this time.

The plain, ankle-length dress was certainly modest, but a little too dull for Adagio's liking. Not particularly cute, either. Next, they tried a biker jacket and brightly-colored short-shorts over dark tights with fashionable tears along the legs, but came to the conclusion that the 'bad girl' look was only cute when the wearer couldn't easily play it straight. This proved equally true when the pair indulged in a bit of pirate girl dress-up just for fun.

"Goodness," said First Mate Fluttershy while lifting her eye-patch, "they really have a wide selection here, don't they?"

"Indeed, but I suspect there are so few people here because none of it is brand-name. What's next?"

It took some thought and a bit of searching, but Fluttershy felt herself getting into the groove of this thing as Adagio stood before her in a striped shirt and knee-high socks, another ruffly skirt, and a bright-pink jacket. The wearer, however, looked just a little uncomfortable.

"Is something wrong?"

It was a bit like the feeling she got when wearing the ribbon in public for the first time, only much worse. "Are there any... other options? I don't think I like this one."

Fluttershy kept a little smile. "That's okay, we still have plenty of options to choose from."

Glancing down at herself, Adagio nodded. "True. But, this look is 'cute,' right?" Fluttershy's big, happy grin as she nodded drew a chuckle. "Alright then, at least we have a reference point."

The next few attempts passed in similar fashion. None of the chosen outfits looked bad on Adagio (saying as much earned Fluttershy a quick kiss on the cheek), but Fluttershy could see that none of it felt like her, like something she'd have worn on her own.

What's missing?

I think you know.

NO, that is precisely what we're here to avoid, or at least work around!

She liked Angel's ears, right? Maybe a bunny suit would-

YOU BE QUIET!!

Fine, try to ignore that body, but I'll be here when you need me.

There had to be more to Adagio's look than raw sex appeal, and thinking about it, Fluttershy knew what it was: Elegance! She was a lot like Rarity, right? The looks they'd tried up to now would have fit Pinkie Pie just fine (in hindsight, maybe it was the fluff? Another unconscious connection), but maybe something more graceful was called for. Looking around for a bit as Adagio silently followed behind her, Fluttershy stopped when they came to a dress being worn on a mannequin display.

The colors alone made Fluttershy think of brighter, gentler times, a white blouse with long, lace-adorned sleeves and a ruffled, exceptionally puffy, sky-blue, knee-length skirt over color-coordinated, polka-dot stockings, complete with hot-pink little shoes for just a dash of flair! Cute flair, that is. This wasn't even accounting for the bows tied all over the outfit, from the wrists, to the shoulders, to the collar, to the really big one over the rear of the skirt! It was huggably cute, but fancy!

Fluttershy looked at Adagio to find that the older girl had gone a little pale, her pupils shrunk to pinpricks.

"S-Sweetie," she said quickly though a little smile, turning Fluttershy to face her with a hand on her shoulder, "I was thinking; I've tried on a few things you'd like, and I'm starting to feel selfish having all the fun taking my clothes off in public..." As hoped, Fluttershy turned a lovely shade of red as she started to sweat. Adagio gave her a half-lidded stare. "I don't have anything untoward in mind," she said while gliding her fingertips along Fluttershy's spine, "but I was thinking that I wouldn't mind spreading the love a little."

"Uhm-"

"My plan is this," she said with a smirk, her lips drawing closer and closer to Fluttershy's ear, "you've helped me understand a particular look a little better, so why don't I help you with something you've been, shall we say... practicing...?"

Her heart beating faster, Fluttershy gulped. "Y-you mean...?"

"That's right," the sultry siren purred, "if you want to swing when you walk, I can show you just what you need to do it, in any outfit." Before any response came, Adagio quickly moved in to kiss her on the neck. She might have lingered longer, but lack of immediate witnesses or not, they were still in public. Regardless, she grinned with fiendish delight as Fluttershy melted in her grip...

This fiendish delight was impeded a bit by the shame felt for her own cowardice, but she was sure they'd have some fun anyway.

There was a mild sense of deja vu as Fluttershy again stood in a changing booth in her underwear, but this time, she was the one waiting for Adagio. The details were a little hazy, but they'd come to an agreement that if Fluttershy tried on something Adagio picked out for her, something that would help her to look and feel... sexy... no matter what she wore after, Adagio would put on anything Fluttershy could find for her without objection, whether it had anything to do with looking cute or not. Win-win, right?

Then Adagio swung the outfit over the door, the hook dangling from her index finger. "Here you are, Sweetie!"

Fluttershy gaped. For a split-second, she dared dream that Adagio had simply forgotten something, or that there was more coming, but she knew what she saw was exactly what Adagio intended for her to wear. It was a black, shiny string-bikini, one that left almost nothing to the imagination. Just looking at the thing made her feel exposed, even if she weren't already undressed! Before she could dwell on what her friends and family would think of her if they ever saw her in the same room with such a racy swimsuit, it gently swung back and forth from the hook on Adagio's finger. She sounded amused.

"Weeeell? Go on, take it!"

Looking at the tiny, skimpy thing, Fluttershy whimpered. "D-do I really have to, t-to... It's s-so-"

"Insubstantial? Barely clothing at all? Hear me out, but that's kind of the idea, Sweetie. Think about it; you'd never wear a thing like this in private, let alone where someone might see you, right?"

"R...R-right."

"Just like you'd never go swinging your hips for eye-catching effect, right?"

"Ri-... Oh."

Adagio chuckled. "I think you've got it. Put this on, strut around a little (or a lot, I'm not judging!), and... well, see how it feels. I'd recommend going naked of course, but-"

"EEK!!"

"Yes, that. Sooo..." She dangled the swimsuit back and forth almost tauntingly. "There's no doubt in my mind that it'll be a good look for you, but the safeword is still 'Squirrel' if you want out. What'll it be, Sweetie?"

Staring at the thin lines of fabric, Fluttershy felt herself sweating.

Would it even fit me? Does Adagio know my size? It looks kind of small, would-

Adagio stopped swinging the bikini back and forth. "Is that a 'no'?"

Spurred awake, Fluttershy grabbed the hook before she realized her hands were moving. "I-I'll do it!"

"Really?"

"Y-yes, j-just," just as soon as my knees stop shaking, "just give me a few minutes..."

There was a chuckle from the other side of the door. "Don't keep me waiting too long."

Looking down at the material in her hands, Fluttershy found it to be sleek and smooth. And thin. Painfully, embarrassingly thin. Still, if just putting it on might be like doing The Walk for an hour straight...?

There were a variety of funny feelings as she stripped naked and put on the swimsuit. Her legs never stopped shaking as her pulse picked up and she almost fell on her face, but the walls of the little changing room made it easy to catch herself. The first thing Fluttershy noticed about her new attire was that it was as small as it had looked and didn't quite fit her comfortably, most of all in the briefs. "Briefs" felt charitable, but she didn't want to use the other word for something she was going to wear. Part of her was getting middle-school flashbacks, but she managed to don the thing in such a way that she was, legally speaking, still decent. That didn't quite explain why, when wearing the tight, tiny, shiny strands, she didn't feel empowered or confident so much as naked.

That brought a slew of other feelings.

"Sweetie? You alright in there?"

"Y-yes, um... I'm w-wearing it..."

"Good. Now come out."

"W-WHAT?!"

"You heard me," she said with an audible smirk, "come let everyone gathered out here look on you with envy and lust!"

"G-gathered?!"

"Just a dozen or so. You still coming?"

"Um... D-do I have to?" Fluttershy whimpered.

"I've come out to show off everything I've worn today. Fair's fair, don't you think?"

"But, b-but-"

There was a little sympathy in her voice now. "It's not too late to back out, Sweetie," and then there wasn't, "but I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd love to see you in it! Or without, but baby-steps!"

"This is a baby-step?!"

She chuckled. "Well, a baby-step in high heels. So what'll it be?"

Fluttershy could practically feel the stares beyond the door, hundreds of big, judging eyes waiting to tear into her, to mock her every exposed pore and tell everyone they knew to do the same! "I, I-I c-can't, I-"

"Don't make me come in there, Sweetie, you won't like what I'll do." It sounded like Adagio was leaning up against the wall just by the door, her voice a sultry growl. "Or, maybe you want to find ou-"

The changing room door flung open. Fluttershy stood knock-kneed in the doorway with her arms stretched outward, eyes tightly shut, and her face a bright, hot red as she nearly hyperventilated while waiting to hear the jeers and, if she was unlucky, flashing cameras. None came. She dared open one eye to see only Adagio (who had stood out of door-swinging range, luckily) by herself, giving Fluttershy a smile that looked more sheepish by the second.

"...So... You did it... Good job..." Ohhh, I'm dead.

Glancing around nervously, Fluttershy saw not a soul in the area apart from her sneaky, evil girlfriend (squee?), but that didn't change how exposed she felt standing out in the open. "Th-there's n-no one here?"

"Um... No. Made that up, Sweetie. Haha?" In ordinary circumstances, Adagio might have been eating up every inch of the sight in front of her, but being caught in her lie left her considerably less composed than usual. There would be reflection later, that much was sure.

Fluttershy's heartbeat didn't slow down much as she connected the dots, but when she did, she managed a little smile of her own. "You were just... teasing me?"

The guilty siren's abashed grin remained. "Something like that. So... M-my turn?"

Sitting nude (she hadn't bothered with underwear that morning, just in case it might have been part of the get-up if short skirts came up) in the changing room, Adagio waited with her head in her hands.

Jellyfish. You are a pitiful, quivering jellyfish. You knew there'd be risks today, but trying to bluff your way out of getting a little embarrassed? She came here to help you, and you pull something like that? Whatever she'll make you wear for this won't be enough, you should be flagellated, tied to a pole and whipped in the streets!

...Would Fluttershy be the one doing it?

Ye-... N-... Um... Don't change the subject! You're a coward, and she's probably going to tell you so!

Off the top of her head, she could only recall one time Fluttershy had seemed genuinely upset with her, and that was when Adagio had implied that she'd make an animal do her dirty work. Fluttershy wasn't actually intending to get any measure of revenge on her back then, but now she well and truly had it coming. As soon as Fluttershy came back with her choice.

It really is taking her a while. Is she just letting me sweat it out first? Not sure if I should be impressed or not.

She silently kicked her bare legs in the air.

Heh, never thought I'd dread waiting for someone like this.

Fishing her phone out of the pocket of her sweatpants, lying in a heap by her feet, Adagio determined that she'd been waiting for nearly ten minutes to get her karma. Her pink, frilly, humiliating karma.

Is she having trouble finding that lace-riddled abomination again? Trouble getting it off the mannequin, maybe? Or, is she looking for something even more like a-

She was startled by a knock on the changing room door. For some reason, Fluttershy was keeping her voice down.

"Hey! I found something, s-so, uh... t-try this!" Fluttershy had to stand on her tip-toes to get the outfit over the door, but she managed without having to risk getting badly flustered again if Adagio was naked in there.

The sky-clad siren, for her part, was baffled. She took hold of the outfit; a simple, three-piece combination of a purple vest and miniskirt over a relatively shiny, very-dark-blue jumpsuit that reminded her of her dance outfit's tights, but to go over her whole body up to the neck and wrists. As she was trying to imagine what could possibly be undignified about the ensemble, Fluttershy knocked at the door again.

"Oh, and, uh, th-there are these shoes to go with it, but, I don't know if I can reach over the door, s-so, uh-"

Adagio felt herself smiling just a little. "You can come in, if you like."

"Eeek! N-n-no thank you, I, uh, I-I, I'll just-"

Chuckling, Adagio spoke softly. "I'll step out to get them when I'm decent, Sweetie, thank you... On that note, you're sure this is the one you want me to wear?"

"Y-yes...?" There was a tiny gasp. "Wait, i-it's not too racy, is it?! I was worried the tights would be a little too... t-tight, but, I mean, n-not that I'm saying you're out of shape, b-because your shape is very-NOWAIT! I, I meant, j-just, uh-"

The rambling wore on, but Adagio just smiled.

She's worried about embarrassing you. You get her to stand where people could see her in what amounts to a handful of string, knowing full-well how she feels about being stared at, and she's the one worried that her pick is too shameful?

In my defense, she does have some exhibitionistic tendencies.

You don't deserve her.

I know.

A tiny lump built in her throat, but she kept an even voice as she called out to Fluttershy, who had transitioned to borderline unintelligible squeak-talk in trying to explain herself. "Sweetie?"

"-notthatI'vethoughtaboutyouinabunnysuitbeforebecausethatwould-... uh... Yes?"

"This one is fine, thank you. I suppose I just thought, you know... perfect chance for revenge?"

"...Huh?"

It never even occurred to her. What does that say about you?

"I mean, the way you were looking at that dress on the mannequin, I kind of thought...?"

"Oh, that!" Fluttershy giggled in her usual sweet, innocent fashion. "That one was nice, but the colors didn't quite feel right and I wasn't sure if we'd be allowed to take stuff right off the display racks anyway, so I looked around a little more and found those. Together the look is simple, but elegant!"

Somehow, this seemed worse than if she'd been made to wear something nightmarishly doll-house, but Adagio hoped it still sounded like she was smiling. "I see. I'll be out in a minute."

Moments later, Adagio stood outside the booth in the purple vest, skirt, dark-blue, figure-hugging jumpsuit and sleek heels of matching color, doing a quick twirl to let Fluttershy see her from every angle. Her fashion consultant for the day grinned brightly.

"I like this one! The little vest and skirt give it an innocent, girlish look, but the dark, svelte tights cover up enough to keep it from looking too..." Her smile faltered as she tried to find the right word. "Uh-"

Shrugging a little, Adagio offered her guess with a slightly wry grin. "Whorish?"

Fluttershy immediately frowned, almost wincing at the term. "Please don't think of yourself like that, no matter what you wear."

Flinching, Adagio frowned too. "S-sorry." Speaking of things you should apologize for... "And, well, sorry about the swimsuit. As usual, I don't have much to say for myself, just that I really didn't want to wear that thing, which I know is no excuse for trying to manipulate you into letting it pass."

As the sentiment sunk in, Fluttershy's eyes widened slightly. "You... that was a trick?"

Unable to bear that gaze, Adagio hoped her hair would, in a near-perfect role-reversal, hide her face as she looked at the floor. "I know, I know, I'm no better now than I was before, just as self-serving and terrified of not being the one in control, just as-" She was cut off with a hug.

"It's okay."

Adagio could barely manage more than a whisper. "How is this okay?"

Fluttershy's mouth formed a tiny grin. "It's okay if I forgive you. Will you let me?" She didn't hear more than an unsteady breath in reply, so she gently pat Adagio's back. "I'm not happy that you didn't just tell me how you felt, but I wouldn't have forced you to do anything you didn't want to, and I still won't, just like you've never forced me."

"...That swimsuit was at least a size too small. Was it your idea to put it on anyway?"

"Well, no... but it was my choice." Adagio backed away from her a little, confusion clear in her beautiful face. Fluttershy answered with a smile and a tiny blush. "I didn't say 'Squirrel.' And you can say it any time you want, too." Even if it made her a little more self-conscious, she gave Adagio a little wink. "Fair's fair, right?"

And then Adagio broke into the biggest, wobbliest, almost tearful smile before squeezing Fluttershy closer, demonstrating a good understanding of chaste hugging as she cuddled into her without resting a hand anywhere questionable. "Thank you, Sweetie. Really."

She didn't respond verbally, just quietly cherished the warmth and closeness of the moment. Then, she begrudgingly remembered that they were still in public and that someone might see them at any moment, if they hadn't already. She looked around to make sure (the coast was clear!), but her head motion must have reminded Adagio too, because she broke away a second later.

"Are you hungry, Sweetie? I was thinking we could pick this up after grabbing a bite at the food court."

Eyes widening as her heart stopped, Fluttershy turned a deep, deep crimson. "P-pick... up...?"

Raising an eyebrow, Adagio smirked. "With the outfits, I mean. Unless you've reconsidered joining me in the changing room?"

"Agh!" Fluttershy's arms were a hectic whirl of motion. "I, n-no, I, I-I was, I thought-! Pick, pi-pick, with-! uhuhm-"

Giggling, Adagio pat her on the head and moved to put her sweatpants, hoodie, and sneakers back on. "Tell you what; I'll give you a minute to think about it, and if you barge in and ravish me before I'm done, I won't say 'Squirrel' for at least the first hour or three, but if not, I'll change and we can get lunch together. Fair deal?"

She shut the door almost in almost tauntingly slow fashion, leaving her steamed lobster of a secret girlfriend to quietly mutter to herself about squirrels and bunny suits.

Author's Note

Next time: Their first date continues!

You've probably guessed that I was hoping to have the whole thing happen at once. Taking a cue from what I learned several months ago, I'm not going to push to get 10k words or so worth of story done in the span of about a week, but I hope what I do get done will be enough until I get the point I had hoped to be at like a month ago.

Chapter 33: Mistakes Were Made

Following the purchase of Fluttershy's pirate uniform and the last outfit Adagio tried on (all of which Adagio insisted she be allowed to pay for, what with her abundant affluence and everything), Fluttershy put her hat back on and the two headed to the food court. They kept an eye out for anyone remotely familiar, but the only people in the area at the time were a few mall-cops that appeared to be on break, a small pack of twenty-something women excitedly chatting about a line of boots said to be equipped with built-in pepper-spray dispensers, an elderly couple, and a very, very fat man eating by himself.

They procured a meal (there had been teasing about Fluttershy wanting a side of big, juicy peaches while they waited for their order) and sat at a table by a corner of the area, but true to her word, Adagio regularly scanned their surroundings anyway.

Fluttershy couldn't tell if Adagio was just being considerate or if none of the options had appealed to her, but she hadn't ordered any meat. Either way, she wasn't sure if she should have said anything, because she'd long ago grown to tolerate people eating meat around her and had never tried to force her friends to do otherwise. They'd also procured a big bunch of fries in one of those plastic baskets lined with paper to share between them, which was where Fluttershy chose to start.

"Need any salt with those, Sweetie?"

Chewing, Fluttershy determined that the fries were a little bland, but she shook her head. "No thank you, I always feel a little bad about using salt."

Even behind Adagio's shades, it was clear that an eyebrow had risen. "Salt? You're not going to tell me that they get the substance from animals in this world."

Giggling, Fluttershy shook her head. "N-no, it's not that, just..." She briefly studied the nearby salt-shaker. "Well, even if you only sprinkle a little bit, not all of it stays on the food, so some of it just goes to waste." Unless you licked the plate clean, of course, but the funny looks she'd get for doing it had long since broken her of that perfectly practical habit.

Adagio still looked uncertain. "...And? They're specks of dust, Sweetie, I don't think anyone will miss them."

"Maybe not in one meal's worth, but like, cumulatively, you know?"

Folding her fingers under her chin as she rested her elbows on the table, Adagio studied Fluttershy's face for a moment, her own calm and neutral. "...Your reasoning is that adding salt enough times, no matter the ratio of salt consumed vs. thrown away, you'd inevitably have enough to fill a salt shaker when someone else would have needed it, correct?" There was a nod. "Does the fact that they don't charge extra for use of condiments factor in?"

"W-well, whether we have to pay for it or not, I'm sure someone does."

"Yes, a cost so low as to be utterly negligible." With an earnest expression, Adagio lowered her shades enough to look Fluttershy in the eye, though something about the effect drew a little blush from her economically-conscious girlfriend. It was something Adagio would have to investigate later. "Maybe it is a waste, but there are times that can't be helped, and you shouldn't let that stop you from taking what you want." Grinning a little, she winked. "I'm not suggesting you go snatching suckers out of people's mouths or anything, but..."

Turning a little rosier, Fluttershy smiled too.

Adagio went on. "Back when my group fed on negative energy, do you think that even the gems, Coltantian artifacts perfected over millennia of development, operated at 100% efficiency? Even if the energy in this world were more substantial, no offense,"

"None taken."

"we still only pulled in about 93% (give or take fluctuations in empathic convergence) of the power present at each feeding. It might not have made a difference in the end, but no matter what we did, something went to waste." She indicated the salt shaker with an index finger. "You could probably stuff that whole thing in your pocket when no one was looking (I know I don't have to tell a good girl like you not to, but please don't, as the mall-cops over there are already giving us funny looks), and the people running this place wouldn't do more than shrug their shoulders and move on, because the effort of recovering the missing shaker would be much more than what it took to grab another one from the nearest kitchen supply shop."

She smiled. "Honestly, I find there's a bit of catharsis to be had in indulgence, even just in tiny ones, like, say... buying a treat to enjoy every morning?" Fluttershy's eyes widening said she got the message, drawing a chuckle. "Maybe it's selfish, but-"

"But," Fluttershy said with a little grin, "if you're not at least a little selfish, you'll never be happy?"

Adagio beamed. "Right!" She smiled as Fluttershy boldly took hold of the shaker and sprinkled its contents into the fry-basket. Said sprinkling was done carefully, but still.

I really need to find a way to show appreciation for her actually listening to me, not just dismissing my philosophies as automatically wrong by virtue of not being her usual 'friendship and harmony' platitudes.

Not phrasing it like that felt like a good way to start, but before she could find the right words, Fluttershy spoke again.

"W-well, in that case, um..." She let the rim of her hat hide her eyes as she looked down at the table. "I-it's not about wasting anything, I guess, but, uh... s-something I wanted to know, b-but only if you don't mind telling me, uhm..." She had to look Adagio in the eye to ask. "What... wh-what was that, 'pressing charges' thing about?" Adagio blinked once. "You know, b-back in Principal Celestia's office, when-"

"Oh!" She scratched her chin, thinking back to the day she saw her Sweetie covered in frosting. Before her mind could wander to the usual places, she ventured a guess. "You want to know what happened that made Celestia grateful that I didn't pursue legal action?" The answer was a nod, which looked just a little cuter in that big hat of hers. The story was a little embarrassing for her, but Adagio didn't want to detract from the lesson of moments ago. Besides, she definitely owed Fluttershy for that bikini trick. She cleared her throat. "Alright, it started the week we returned to CHS..."

This world was very different from the one which Adagio and her followers had once known, a fact made clearer to her all the time. One big change was the school system, in that what they had running in this world was a sad, twisted little joke in comparison, though she couldn't really blame this species for not being as advanced as the Coltantians had been. To humanity's credit, they hadn't gotten themselves utterly annihilated yet. Yet. Adagio didn't see any atmospheric calibration spires in place anywhere she'd ever been in this world, so maybe that day was still a good ways off.

More to the point, they had strange classes here, enforcing instruction of things that may or may not be forgotten before the students' graduation whether they had any use past that point or not. Perhaps the most perplexing class was the one Luna had dragged her to; 'Detention.' Adagio could not for the life of her deduce the true purpose of sticking a half-dozen people in a room with a teacher that strictly tries to keep the room silent and nothing more. It was very odd, doubly-so as the class took place after school hours, but Adagio had managed to... make things fun, while she was there. Long story short, Adagio wasn't allowed in Detention class anymore, at least not with the other students and poor Miss Cheerilee. That, or she passed in one session. Hard to tell.

Luckily, Luna (who looked just a hair frustrated at the time) thought up a program for solo-study comprised mainly of locking Adagio by herself in a small room on the third floor. She even sealed the window with chains. Not big, heavy ones, but chains none-the-less. When the door was shut and locked, Adagio briefly analyzed the room, finding it to be a little cramped for an average classroom. Desks were pushed all the way to the walls and lined up in shorter rows than the usual arrangement, the teacher's bulky desk had to be shoved into a corner leaving very little wiggle room for the chair, and there was maybe a square meter of space in which to stand in front of the board. Not helping matters was the placement of stacks of boxes and some kind of bulky machine Adagio couldn't begin to identify in the back of the room, taking up valuable(?) learning space!

"Oh," she thought aloud, "perhaps... perhaps this is some manner of shop class? Am I to solve a puzzle of sorts?"

The room had little space, the management of which was a reasonably valuable skill by itself. Examining a few of the boxes, she found not all of them to be filled with various supplies and pieces of metal. Was it related to the big, bulbous thing in the back of the room? Thinking about it, they might have been pieces of the device, but more importantly, the boxes weren't filled to the brim, which meant space wasn't being utilized!

Looking to the bulky machine, she decided that taking it apart as best she could and stuffing the pieces into the boxes was the way to go. At least as long as just moving some desks out of the room (locked door and windows) wasn't an option. She approached the metal... thing, took hold of a knob of some sort between two fingers, and twisted it off with little effort. Nothing happened, so she deposited the knob in the nearest box and proceeded to remove a loose bolt, some kind of plate with a broken hinge, and another knob somewhere. Things only got worrying when she displaced a pipe by tugging on it really hard, steam spraying out of the opening with no signs of stopping. The small room quickly became warm.

Ohh, I should not have worn a hoodie and jeans today.

She wouldn't have worn anything at all, but these damn rules! Stripping right now seemed like a logical choice, but she remembered the whole reason she'd been drafted into Mystery Alone Time class in the first place had something to do with her having ignored the clothing rules again. If she continued to disregard those rules, she and the others might get thrown out, returning them to boredom limbo. The sweating siren remained dressed as steam continued to pour in.

She was probably going to get a bad grade in this class.

About forty-five minutes later, Luna walked briskly down the hall to retrieve the young felon, quickening her pace when she noticed the wisps of steam in the air.

"What is that little degenerate up to now," she hissed under her breath, "is there no end to the things she'll do for attention?" Unlocking the room as steam continued to seep from beneath the door, she gave the handle a twist and pulled... to no avail. She pulled harder, finding the door to be stuck tight. "W-what? Adagio Dazzle! Open this door!!"

The door-muffled reply came with obvious irritation. "What do you think I've been trying to do? You locked me in, remember?!"

"You mean you cannot...?" Luna's eyes widened in horror.

She is trapped in there. With what may be dangerous temperatures.

"J-just hold on," she shouted through the door while backing up, "I'll have you out momentarily!" Without waiting for a reply, she kicked the door as hard as she could, but it barely budged. She backed up to kick it again and again with similar results, even when she tried a roundhouse kick and a running start from several feet away. She kicked until it hurt to stand on that foot, but the door did not yield. There was no time to lament her foolishness for having deliberately chosen a room with a sturdy door in which to confine Adagio, but it had felt necessary at the time. Instead, she dialed an emergency number in her cellphone while shouting through the defiant barrier.

"Miss Dazzle! If you can still hear me, open a window to release some of the steam!"

"I would, but someone had them sealed with chains. Very kinky, by the way, do you use this kind of equipment often?"

Her face growing as hot as the vapor that continued to flow out from under the door, Luna grumbled a stream of swears under breath until the maintenance man picked up.

Twenty minutes later, a man in a jumpsuit stood outside the room with her, but Luna was no happier for it.

"What do you mean you cannot open the door?!"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I mean 'xactly what I said, it's a no-can-do. And it ain't just cuz'a the old wood in the doorway swellin' shut with all that heat an' moisture, there's a busted piece'a tech in there that's makin' all these fumes, right? They passed a law back in the eighties 'bout how ya can't go riskin' public places when there might be toxins in the air."

"T-toxins?!" Luna was nearly pulling on her own hair in exasperation. "If the room were full of poisonous gas, would she still be breathing in there?!"

"Well, breathin' poison."

Adagio offered her thoughts from behind the door. "I'm not breathing poison."

Luna pointed to the door. "She's not breathing poison, now help me get it open!"

"Yes, please help her get it open!"

The maintenance man didn't move. "But then we'd risk breathin' poison!"

The trapped siren sounded increasingly irritable. "This room is so fogged up I can hardly see the door I'm yelling at you through! If this were some kind of toxin, I'd die the minute I exhaled!"

Dire as the situation was, Luna noted Adagio's capacity to be a smartass as a sign of decent health. She turned to the legally-dogmatic dolt in the jumpsuit. "If we cannot open the door, how are we to retrieve the student inside?!"

"Uh..." He took his time in looking back and forth between her and the door. "I'unno. Break a window, I guess? That wouldn't be flooding the school, just the environment. They were way more lax about the trees and all that back then, ya'know?"

Luna cupped her hands around her mouth to shout through the door. "Adagio! If you cannot pry them open, break a window to increase air-flow!"

In the room, the sweat-drenched siren all but scoffed. 'Break a window'? I don't think so. Adagio smelled a trap. She knew that her group wasn't wanted in CHS, and trying to trick her into damaging school property, with a witness, at that, would be just the thing to justify throwing all of them out for good! It'd be the same as if she...

...if I were to take my clothes off again. That'd be against school rules too, wouldn't it?

Was this whole thing a set-up? Luring her into a little room, having her trigger the steam, and waiting until she could be caught doing something to relieve the heat? Were they trying to get rid of her so soon? Surprisingly, the thought of it actually hurt, making Adagio turn away from the door in disgust, though the sudden motion made her a little woozy. She'd have crossed her arms as well, but such an action had a way of conserving warmth in the body, which, along with her abundant hair and clothes, wouldn't do her any favors right about now.

Out in the hall, Luna grew more frantic with the trapped student's silence. "Miss Dazzle? I said you can break a window!" No response, does she not have the strength? "Adagio Dazzle! Just pick up a chair and swing it at the glass!"

Not going to work, thought Adagio, I'm not going to- She shakily fell to one knee, which was odd, because her head felt lighter by the minute! Actually, the ground felt relatively cool on her sweat-dampened knee... She sunk lower, meeting the welcoming tile floor with all-due haste. Ahhh, that's better...

"That sound," Luna said as she pressed an ear to the door, "I think she's collapsed! We need a ladder, now!!"

Following a third-story, window-smashing rescue that Luna had to carry out herself while the maintenance man bumbled about with questionably-necessary gasmasks, a very dozy and dehydrated Adagio was princess-carried down the ladder. It was a remarkable feat of balance by the vice principal as she carried the hooded girl, though the only witnesses were the oaf in the jumpsuit and a squad car.

There was a bit of explaining to be done to the police, first for why they appeared to be breaking into the school via a third-floor window, then why it was deemed necessary to enact seclusion of a student outside of an emergency situation. However, after having been allowed a long drink of bottled water, the girl in question surprised all present by insisting that the event was an honest mistake, that no harm was done (to her anyway, she couldn't speak for the window or the machine that the maintenance man had to climb the ladder to go in and fix), and asking that charges be dropped. The school was let off with a warning not to allow a repeat of this incident, something Vice Principal Luna solemnly swore on.

A little later, Luna sat on the school steps next to a slightly soggy siren, waiting in silence as she guzzled down her third bottle of water. When her thirst seemed just about quenched, Luna spoke quietly. "I cannot apologize enough, Miss Dazzle, I had never intended things to turn out this way. If I had known that old boiler were capable of malfunctioning to such an extent, I would have never selected that room for your detention." Truly, the timing for such a thing could not have been worse.

Having riddled out that she may have been a little hasty in her judgement of the situation before, Adagio hoped her reluctance to look Luna in the eye would be read as her usual insouciance. "Don't worry about it." More-so because the pipe breaking was my own fault in the first place...

However, Luna wasn't quite satisfied with this. "I'm afraid I must, as your life might well have been in danger. I cannot believe I am asking, but why did you not simply disrobe? Surely, the heat would have been more bearable without such warm clothing."

"Well..." Now Adagio looked at her, but only fleetingly. "There are rules about staying clothed in school, right?"

Something in Luna's heart sank. "You endured that Hell just to abide by regulations?" The only reply was a shrug. Luna had gathered that the sirens were foreign to this land in the same vein as Sunset Shimmer, but it was clear they did not understand their new(?) environment as well as she had. Perhaps assuming otherwise had been Luna's error. If their greatest crime (well, second or third greatest) was that they could not easily integrate with a new society, a new world, then Luna did not want to punish them further for trying.

"Perhaps there can be an arrangement," she said with a hopeful grin, "I will ask that you not remove your clothing under ordinary circumstances on school grounds outside of restrooms or locker rooms, but if it is a matter of life and death? You are permitted to strip naked anywhere you please."

Looking directly at her now, Adagio smiled. "I fully accept those terms!"

Luna smiled a little wider, sensing that some kind of understanding had been reached. Then Adagio asked a question.

"Oh, could I add just one more place to the list?"

Luna raised an eyebrow. "Where did you have in mind?"

She leaned over enough to bring her lips to Luna's ear and growled. "Your office, ten minutes."

Luna whipped her head backward, a murderous glare saying what the law would never allow her to. It was almost intense enough to hide her equally furious blush.

Adagio grinned cheekily. "So... It's a 'maybe'?"

Author's Note

Remember their little talk back in Chapter 17? This was the context. :pinkiehappy:

Alternate title: Sweet, Salty Selfishness

I've heard that Fluttershy has a Shining Armor of her own. That is, a hitherto-unknown brother that they're going to tell us totally existed this whole time and wasn't just made up for the sake of whatever they're doing that episode. I'm not thrilled about Maud Pie's introduction either, but she's at least kind of fun to have around.

That in mind, I'm disregarding FlutterBrother entirely in my work until sufficiently pressed to do otherwise, same with the rest of the Schrodinger's Family Members floating around.

Next time: History lessons with Adagio!

Chapter 34: No Pain, No Gain?

A feeling Adagio was getting better-acquainted with was the one that came when someone looked worried about her, with the most common cause giving her such a look right now.

"She locked you in a room... and if she hadn't gotten to you in time, you c-could have been-"

While she didn't like to scowl at Fluttershy, Adagio felt validated this time as she crossed her arms. "I'm not some frail little ragdoll, Sweetie, I'd have walked away just fine."

Aria's voice sounded in Fluttershy's head.

"You never get sick, Adagio."

Maybe she had a tougher body than her beauty would suggest? Were the sirens just really resilient in general? That or, considerable misfortunes aside, Adagio was some kind of lucky. Lacking any type of injury to immediately point to, Fluttershy wasn't sure she could argue that Adagio needed to be more careful, but she still wished she could do something to keep her safe in the meantime. Unable to think of any preventative measures off the top of her head, Fluttershy found herself just a little annoyed with Luna. "Are they even allowed to lock people in rooms?"

"Actually, no, that was what the officer wanted to address when he understood the situation. That said, I don't bear a grudge because I'd rather there be no additional friction between us and the rest of the school, I actually felt a twinge of guilt for assuming the worst in Luna, and..." Cheeks tinting pink, she sighed. Suppose there's no avoiding it. "The steam thing was completely my fault anyway."

Frowning, Fluttershy tilted her head. "I'm not so sure about that. P-please don't take this the wrong way, but it sounded like you barely understood the situation. Did Luna even actually say that it was supposed to be a punishment?"

Rolling her eyes, Adagio chuckled. "Nonsense, I'm sure there was a structured reason for the Detention class if I'd just asked, but to me, it was just another way to kill time."

Blinking slowly, Fluttershy re-checked everything she knew about school to confirm that yes, detention was a standard school punishment, starting from time-out in kindergarten. Even if that wasn't quite the same thing... Anyway, she briefly shared this knowledge with Adagio, who wore a skeptical face throughout.

"That makes no sense. A punishment is supposed to teach the wrong-doer not to do what they did again, often reinforced with pain. What pain is there in having to sit still for a while? How does it demonstrate not to do bad things anymore?"

Again, Fluttershy tried not to think about the sirens' upbringing. "W-well, um... I-I don't get detention very often, so I'm not sure, but, I think the idea is that the kids in detention would rather be doing something else, that it's really boring, though I don't know if it's painfully so."

Adagio raised an eyebrow. "Being stuck in a boring room for a while? Doesn't that already describe the hours of a school day? What does it say that their idea of punishment is to endure more of the same, but without so much as a subject to later be graded on and theoretically benefit from?"

There was a short silence as Fluttershy thought about it. She had no answer, but it did raise a question. "What, um... y-you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but, what did they do for punishments in Coltlantis?"

"It depended on the crime, of course, as it would with any sane society." She snapped her fingers. "Let's say someone cheated on a test in Coltlantis. The most likely penalty they'd face would be similar to your detention, but giving the cheater an answer plate (we couldn't really use paper underwater, long story) and at least a dozen tests (custom-made for their punishment) to fill out, the number of tests multiplied for each time they've been caught cheating. They'd be required to get a perfect score on each and every one or do them all again, and with none of this bubble-in business they have here. Ironically."

It took Fluttershy a second to get the 'ironic' part, but when she did, she giggled, which drew a little smile from Adagio as well. "Then, the punishment for cheating in Coltlantis was something like forced studying?"

"The punishment for cheating on tests, yes, though again, it depended on the specific details. If the guilty couldn't or wouldn't do as they were supposed to, they'd typically be seized and led off to the nearest form of extreme discomfort, Cacophony Chambers being particularly popular. For certain values of the word, anyway."

She chose not to ask how often, if at all, Adagio and the others were punished. Their current punishment, which she already knew to hurt them badly, seemed like pain enough without being made to relive bad memories. If she wasn't already.

Didn't you say you'd stop doing things that hurt her?! What do you call this?!

It wasn't on purpose!

It never is! Just stop digging up her past before you really open old wounds!

Seeing an unfamiliar look on Fluttershy's face now, Adagio frowned. "Sweetie? You alright?"

Caught, Fluttershy flinched, but didn't want to risk Adagio's trust by lying to her face. "I'm s-sorry, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories."

Blinking twice, Adagio gave a sympathetic smile. "Don't worry," she softly replied, "I might miss my old form every once in a while, but I'm well and truly over my 'home,' and I'm sure the others are too."

She thought I was worried that talking about how people were punished would make her homesick? I don't even know where to start...

...Then again, if Adagio was willing to share, maybe this was a good opportunity? She hesitantly met Adagio's eyes. "W-well, then, um... would you mind if I asked a few questions?"

Adagio chuckled. "Always so curious, and yet I don't really know that much about you. I'm not opposed to telling you what you want to know, but I'd like some information in exchange this time."

Fluttershy smiled. "Sure!"

"Thank you." She didn't quite plan it, but this seemed like a fitting enough dating activity. "So, tell me about yourself. You use Equestrian magic, are you from another world too?"

Fluttershy had entertained the fantasy a few times when she was younger, but she still shook her head. "No, I was born in this town, and I've been here all my life."

Adagio nodded. "How about your family? You know Aria and Sonata are all I have, but-" the question came with a hint of a smirk, "-is there anyone you'll have to introduce me to some day?"

A prickly feeling working across her cheeks, Fluttershy gulped. "Uhm... w-well, there's just me and my mother now, and..." And I may need to wear a bag over my head if you two ever meet.

Strangely, Adagio either didn't pick up on a chance to tease her, or didn't care as she frowned again. "Something happened to your father?"

Blink. "Oh, yes, he... passed on, when I was a little girl." She managed a tiny smile before Adagio could respond. "Please don't worry, I've had plenty of time to grieve." This got an understanding little nod. "Is there anything else you'd like to know?"

"Hmm... Just this for now; what is it with the animals? Did a stray cat endear itself to you once, a talking animal cartoon leave an impression on you or something?" She considered the possibility that Fluttershy had acquired a cuddly little friend to help get over her father's passing, but wasn't about to verbalize it.

"Umm..." Scratching her head, Fluttershy wore an apologetic smile. "Sorry if this sounds a little boring, but I wouldn't say I took an interest in animals at any point in my life, I've just kind of always liked them."

Adagio nodded again. "I see. That's all I had for now, your turn."

Fluttershy's grin grew much brighter. Part of her felt like she was being asked to pick out her own Christmas presents! "You said once that, i-if anyone in Equestria remembered you, that they wouldn't remember when you only wanted to defend your home. Can you tell me about that?"

It wasn't exactly a fun story, but Adagio couldn't help giggling at the enthusiasm. "Before the three of us were thrown out of Coltlantis, we were essentially a protection measure for the city. The gems you saw were once very different; considered holy relics by the more superstitious, wonders of advancement in the field of magic by pretty much everyone else. In short, they were made to influence minds through song, something they did quite well. I, Aria, and Sonata were chosen (well, I earned the right to wield them through trial and chose those two as my backup for how well we harmonized together) to use the gems to fend off trespassers in the local sea. For reasons not worth going into, Coltlantis had some enemies, and many more factions they just didn't want poking around, so incoming vessels had to be intercepted."

"Luring them away?"

"Precisely. We'd go out, serenade the crews with pleasant melodies while implanting the idea of returning home or just visiting some other island-"

"Island?"

"While construction did begin well below sea-level, Coltlantis didn't sit entirely at the bottom of the sea during its healthier years. Would have made our jobs easier, certainly, but can you imagine foreign relations without somewhere to stop and rest on the surface? Not everyone had gills, Sweetie."

"Hehe! I guess not."

"Right, so, we'd steer unwanted visitors away, then most of them would fail to get home safely. Did you know that the sea is an incredibly dangerous place if you don't know what you're doing? I would have thought the people (all-encompassing term) serving as navigators on those vessels were aware, but it seems being sent off-course was all it took to ensure that they'd perish in storms, smash themselves into large rocks, sail straight into leviathan territory, or just go in circles until most of the crew was starved, insane, or both. Naturally, those who lost ships that had been on course for Coltlantis, whether they were welcome or not, blamed the city they couldn't reach without permission as having maliciously attacked them, which didn't help matters politically. Those in charge, in response, decided that scapegoats were needed."

Fluttershy's smile had long vanished. "I'm sorry."

Shrugging, Adagio briefly scanned the rest of the food court again. "Don't be, the shallow attempt at appeasement didn't work and they got what was coming to them anyway mere weeks after we left. Tell Princess Twilight that if her historians think it was the four or five fleets showing up at once that doomed Coltlantis, they're wrong; that conflict began and ended with hubris."

She picked up her drink by the rim of the glass, her focus on gently swirling it around as her voice grew a little too calm. "I might have felt a pang of guilt for taking the gems with me when Aria, Sonata, and I slipped out of the city in the middle of the night, but with how often our armed forces boasted their superiority over all others, regularly belittling the three of us for how much better they'd handle the trespassers, I just couldn't be sympathetic when they were overrun. The three of us watched from a distance as they fired up their last resort, and, well..." There was just a hint of grim satisfaction in her tone as she set the glass down hard. "Let's just say that they didn't brag much about that ever again, either."

Part of Fluttershy wanted more details, but her heart demanded that questions about Coltlantis be stopped right now. Adagio might not have been saying so, but Fluttershy could tell that the story bothered her.

Technically, you only asked her about the defending-her-home part, she told you the gory details on her own. Does that mean she's been wanting to tell someone this?

There was one way to get an idea. Fluttershy gave her an earnest little smile. "I see, thank you for telling me." That Adagio just smiled right back before taking a slightly more relaxed pose conveyed that she was probably happy to stop talking about it.

"Anything else, Sweetie?"

You were hurting her again. You are such an idiot. "Uhm, w-well-" She was surprised to hear Adagio giggling, a warm smile sweeping her anxieties away.

"Sweetie? I'm glad Coltlantis perished."

There was a slow, fearful blink. "W-what?"

More giggles. "Written all over your face, Sweetie, and you have nothing to apologize for. For reasons I'll go into if you still want to know, I'm not the least bit bothered that my birthplace was destroyed partly just because-" she lowered her shades to wink, "-I've had plenty of time to grieve." She just held a wide smile as Fluttershy processed that information, then erupted into little gigglefits of her own. When she came out of it, however, her face was serious.

"Can... c-can I say something?" A nod urged her on. "I'm not sad it was destroyed either." Part of her felt like a monster for even thinking it, but Adagio just raised an amused eyebrow as if to say 'Oh? By all means, do tell.' "Well, i-it's just that, in all the times you've mentioned Coltlantis? It sounds like a horrible place, the thought of living there is scary, and the thought that you and the others lived there is painful. More than that, a-and I know this is awful of me, but-" her head unconsciously retreated behind her hair, the rest coming out in a squeaky whisper.

Adagio, showing no sign of offense, leaned over the table a little. "Sorry, could you repeat that?"

"Um... I, I-I said... I'm g-glad it's gone, because..." She gulped, planting her feet firmly on the floor in the vain hope it would help her stop shaking. "If it were still s-standing, they might have let you b-back in some day, and you'd n-never be here... with me."

Her eyes widening, Adagio broke into a bright shade of red before giggling and looking away with an awkward, happy, embarrassed smile plastered on her face. "You're q-quite a charmer, you know that?"

Fluttershy blushed too, even if she smiled at what might have been praise. Whether or not Adagio was flattered by the sentiment that someone could be glad a city was destroyed to allow them to meet, she didn't want to dwell on.

"I won't speak for the others," Adagio went on when she managed to reign in the heat in her face, "but I think I'll count that among my blessings too. Was there anything else you wanted to know, Sweetie?"

They spent the rest of their time in the food court talking about the sirens' journey, how they'd been in their late twenties when they first took up the job, essentially teenagers as far as kelpies go, that they did it for a few years without incident before being banished, roamed Equestria for a few months causing chaos in a sort of revenge-by-proxy on the civilizations that aggravated Coltlantians in the first place (which Adagio conceded to have been kind of hollow), and got banished again. They'd only been here for a few years, though Adagio wasn't sure the exact date of their arrival, having explained that it was only when they lost hope of returning to their own world that they started keeping track. There was another short bout of apology and assurance that it wasn't necessary before they headed back to the clothes shop.

Author's Note

Adagio didn't tell the whole story here, but the plan is to have a bonus chapter at the end in which the full history lesson is delivered to a very willing listener. Anyone interested in reading that, or can I save some time and summarize with bullet points before moving on to the next story? :twilightsheepish:

I'm sorry to say that I don't think I'll be doing the regular, scheduled update thing anymore. I'm not dropping the story, but I would like a little more breathing room with it. Things are winding down by this point, so I hope to have it finished some time within the next few months, but in the form of updating whenever I've got the time/energy to put into it.

One of my first stories taught me that forcibly sticking to one thing can get exhausting after a while, and that's kinda been happening with this story here and there. Maybe it shows? An upside to taking the occasional break from this one is that I may focus on some other stories that have been burning a hole in my inspiration (not sure if that wording makes any kind of sense) for months, so hopefully one or more of those can be just as entertaining for you! :pinkiehappy:

On that note, the conclusion to the date should be all edited and proofread by tomorrow morning!

Chapter 35: Cherries, Salad, and Dark Fiber

When they returned, it was back to business; getting an idea of what looked cute on Adagio without making her want to retreat into her own hair. Lace and frills were generally excluded from this search, but Fluttershy convinced her to make an exception for an outfit built similarly to 'The Abomination,' but with much more restrained use of bows and ruffles. The black miniskirt and corset over a white, puffy-shouldered shirt looked pretty dignified on their own, even with the long ribbon tied into a bow over the behind, but the neon, hot-pink trims and bright red stockings gave it enough color to look almost friendly and a little flirtatious. Then Fluttershy was reminded that Adagio was wearing it as the older girl sat on one of the benches just outside the changing area.

"So," Adagio said with her usual smirk, folding one leg over the other, "what drew your eyes to this one, Sweetie? I mean, I definitely appreciate your choice, but one wonders..."

Feeling just a little too warm, Fluttershy couldn't decide whether it was better to keep her hat on to hide her face, or remove it in the hopes of cooling off a little while giving Adagio a full view of the damage. Does that rile her up even more? I don't think I've ever tested whether or not that makes a difference, but Sonata once said it was like blood in the water... "It, uhm, i-it looked... cute...?"

Studying the tip of her shiny, black shoe, Adagio chuckled. "I suppose it is, but I was thinking in more... specific terms." She started bobbing the foot of the leg she'd folded over the other one, a motion she found Fluttershy following closely. "I really like the stockings, this lovely, vibrant color is sure to draw some attention, wouldn't you say?" She grinned wider as Fluttershy's eyes snapped upward, her guilty little face starting to take the same hues as the long socks that now coated Adagio's legs. "Your pick here," she said while slowly sliding one leg across the other, "is especially interesting."

Fluttershy could only brace for impact. "Wh-why is that?"

"Red."

"Huh?"

"Bright red. Cherry red..."

It took a second for the full meaning to sink in, but when it did, Fluttershy slapped both hands over her mouth while making a particularly high squeak. This drew a triumphant laugh from her leggy tormentor.

"Oh, look, we match!" Even as she giggled, Adagio couldn't help feeling just a little guilty for flustering her like this again so soon. She stood up, paced over to the trembling, sputtering girl, and wrapped her in a hug. "Sorry," she whispered, "the safeword is still squirrel if you need it."

Gently returning the hug, Fluttershy smiled even as she remained flushed. "I-it's okay, but... thank you."

"No problem."

Well, small problem. Is she just not using it, or am I not pushing her as hard as I think? Idea.

"And," she said with an audible smirk, brushing one of her legs against Fluttershy's, "if I'm right about these stockings, just let me know when you want a lick."

The two sat together on the bench as Adagio gently fanned Fluttershy with her own hat, the human stop sign in a sundress dozily leaning on her shoulder. Steam was still rising from her head following the short meltdown, but that there still hadn't been a peep of the safeword left Adagio to guess that maybe Fluttershy was just a glutton for punishment. The idea filled her prospects for the future with awe and wonder, but for now, fanning it was.

Slowly regaining the ability to form intelligible thoughts, Fluttershy lay in a happy, hazy heap against her secret girlfriend, just enjoying (most of) the warmth and closeness. Then memory of why they were there trickled back, reminding her that this moment was brought to her by Adagio's talent for making everything... suggestive.

Maybe I should just pick something naughty. Just to get it over with.

WHAT?! Are you out of your mind?!

Technically, we're both 'in' our-

What did I say about being a smart-mouth in your own head?

Right, sorry.

It's okay. Anyway, do even remember what she did with something as innocent as red stockings? Why on earth would you give her something so easy to work with?!

Well, she'll probably make me pass out with embarrassment, but after that? Anything else would have to look tame in comparison, right?

That's-...!

Riiiight?

...No.

You know it's true.

She might just keep teasing us anyway!

If so, she'll probably do it no matter what we pick, so we might as well bring home some great memories for the diary, right?

You fool! You'll doom us all!

That's nice. Hold, please?

No, don't, don't you da-!

"Um, h-hey, Adagio?" Fluttershy turned her head enough to show her face, which had slowly returned to healthy temperatures, and spoke before she could stop herself. "Would you like to try on something skimpy?"

Adagio blinked twice, immediately cleaning out an ear with a pinky finger. "Sorry, Sweetie, I don't think I heard you properly. Once more?"

There was a short, but fierce struggle for control in the seconds that passed while Adagio gave her a normal, friendly smile. It was the gentle one she'd grown to love from her, the one that would probably melt most of the school's idea of her if they could just see it themselves. However, bold assertiveness backed by many memories of The Walk pressed forward, demanding that Fluttershy take a chance even as she started to heat right back up. "I-I said, w-would you like to t-try on something... s-sk-sk-skimpy?"

The leader of the sirens had made many fiendish, many evil smiles in her time. Aria and Sonata joked even to this day that some of the grins she'd cracked could make the gates of Tartarus slam shut as its residents huddled together in terror, that when she eventually died, her coffin would have to be sealed tighter than most relics of the dark age, because otherwise her smiling skull might have started an era of panic and dread if anyone laid eyes on it.

Those two were silly, but looking at her right now, one could be forgiven for thinking otherwise.

Once Fluttershy could get her legs to work again, she headed to the nearest restroom. All clear. She was sure it would have been okay anyway, because they sold underwear here too, but it'd still be really embarrassing to have to write it in her diary.

Next, she got to work in searching the store, both giddy and horrified at the thought of what she was doing. Adagio was expecting it now, so there was no going back, but in her hunt for something like a bunny suit, Fluttershy found something even better.

Is... is that...? It looks kind of like... Oh my...

Once more, she was amazed at the range of choices they had here.

Adagio proudly stepped out of the changing booth in what could only be called a green, chainmail bikini with a leaf-shaped-bra, gold trim, and a long loincloth that hung down to her ankles, all held up with very thin straps. She thought of some kind of warrior druid from one of those fantasy games in which she'd had so much fun frying merchants, and could finally confirm to Aria that the garb wasn't as uncomfortable as it looked. Strangely. Pleased though she was with the outfit, she was tickled to see that Fluttershy seemed to like it even more. Maybe it was a nature thing.

"Sweetie? Not that I'm not loving the choice, but would you like to tell me what this is about?" For what wasn't the first time in her memory, Fluttershy exploded, rapidly alternating between English and Squeak.

"Omigoshomigoshomigosh!! You look just like an elven shamaness in an adventure series I really liked in sixth grade! You don't have vines in your hair or a pet flying beaver-shark on your shoulder, but-" she started hopping up and down, talking even faster,
"-Icantotallypictureyouwalkingonwaterortalkingtotheflowerstofindthehiddenwindcrestsand-" The rest came out as a series of rodent-calls that still had Adagio giggling with amusement until Fluttershy had to stop for several breaths.

"...So," the accidental cosplayer guessed, "you have such a fondness for nature that you wanted to see me looking... natural?"

Fluttershy paused in her admiration long enough to remember the series of thoughts that led her to this wonderful point, but there was nothing she could do to stop the smile that threatened to split her crimson face. The only replies that came out the first few tries were babble, but Adagio seemed willing to wait, the look on her face all but saying 'Oh, I know, but please, do go on...' Despite an increasingly warm blush, she tried.

"I, uh, I guess... I was thinking it'd be easier after something like this?"

Taking up a feminine hand-on-hip pose, Adagio raised an eyebrow. "For contrast, you mean? Going to extremes in one direction to get an idea of the range you have to work with?" She glanced down to admire herself. "Not sure if that applies here, but don't think for a minute that I'm complaining!"

Before Fluttershy could attempt to clear up that her intentions had been slightly different, she noticed the grin the nearly-nude siren was giving her. It wasn't a smirk, no sign of a vicious teasing coming her way, just a pleasant little grin, the one she sometimes wondered if Adagio only ever showed her. Was it because Fluttershy was already bright red and having trouble talking normally? Was Adagio just more comfortable being half-naked? Well, technically it was more like 4/5ths naked... And when she walked, the cloth could show a little more of her legs, so it might have been closer to-

Adagio chuckled. "I'd love to wear this to school, Sweetie, but I don't think Luna would allow it. Still," she once more struck her leg-out, hips-cocked, fingers-folded, arms-above-her-head pose, but her face remained the same, "as you were the one to come up with this, was there anything more you had in mind for me here?" She closed the question not with a wolfish smile, but a wink, which, paired with her friendly little grin, made Fluttershy's heart skip a beat.

Fluttershy beamed. "Y-you did it!!"

The response was a confused stare, even as she held the pose. "Did what?"

Her mouth working, but no words coming out right away, Fluttershy sputtered. "Th-that! The, y-you, you did something... cute! All by yourself!"

"Oh." She glanced down at herself, then smiled brightly. "Wait, then I'm more adorable the less I wear? Because that's the best news I've heard all-"

"Uh, n-no, I, you, I-I just meant, uhm-" It was too late. She was already picturing it. Backed up with a very recent and very vivid memory, even with how quickly she'd looked away at the time, the image of daily life with a naked Adagio sent another pack of fireballs straight to her cheeks. Fluttershy wasn't sure she'd ever been flustered so intensely so many times in such short succession, but it was getting to be...

Too much!

Rocking back and forth on her increasingly rubbery legs, Fluttershy managed to breath one word before falling backward. "Sq-squirrel!"

Giggling a little at today's curtain call for Fluttershy Theater, Adagio was a little relieved. She couldn't imagine what she could have done to finally hit the limit, but she'd confirmed that the limit could be hit, so she wasn't in danger of really hurting a girl that wasn't willing to stop for her own sake. That sounds romantic on paper, sure, but the reality of such a thing would be dangerous in a number of ways.

Well, she thought while pacing back to the changing room with a satisfied smirk, I suppose this means I won't have to get it out of her with a spanking after all.

Once Fluttershy had cooled down, she sheepishly explained her actual reason, started to apologize for objectifying Adagio again, got a chilling look from the girl who would decide for herself when she felt 'exploited,' thank you very much, and shakily re-worded the apology into saying that Adagio looked lovely in the elven shamaness outfit. This escalated until Fluttershy won a slightly flustered siren and a quick peck on the cheek when they were sure no one was around to see.

Getting back to work in earnest now, they tried a few more outfits, found a few they liked, two that looked better on Fluttershy, and had a short discussion about the merits (or lack thereof) of food as clothing in the context of coconut bras while dressing up as hula girls together. To give Fluttershy a better idea of how to perform dances that emphasized hip-swinging, of course. That had been embarrassing for her, but eventually, the two found what they deemed to be the winner.

It was similar to Adagio's dance outfit, and maybe that was part of what made it feel right. They found little pink palm-gloves and a puffy-shouldered jacket exactly like the ones she normally wore, high-heeled purple boots just like hers, but without the spikes, and pink tights with purple triangles. In fact, the main difference was that instead of a jumpsuit, they'd found a pretty, purple, gold-trimmed dress with a skirt no longer than anything Fluttershy's friends wore, cinched at the waist with a little ribbon. It was a bit of an oblong thing, with half of the skirt ruffled and the other perfectly smooth, but decorated with alternating gold dots... and the orange-gem/treble clef insignia Adagio normally wore. That couldn't have been a coincidence, and Fluttershy said as much.

"Right you are, Sweetie," answered Adagio, "this is where we got our outfits the first time. I'm not sure what it was that attracted us to the place, but I know it's owned by a company that specializes in variety in all its property. 'Dis-Corp,' I think."

Fluttershy scratched her chin. "That would explain the shark hats I saw."

There was a nod before Adagio glanced over herself again, doing a little twirl to appreciate the effect it had on a skirt. "So, this is the one? You'd like me to wear this to school Monday?"

Beaming, Fluttershy nodded. "Uh-huh! It's light, friendly, but elegant and, well... you!"

Chuckling, Adagio turned back toward the changing room. "Then I think we can call this a day. Meet me at the check-out?"

They walked out of the mall together, Fluttershy carrying bags containing her pirate outfit, the two outfits that Adagio had described as complimenting her more generous chest, and a little bowler hat that Adagio had said looked particularly cute on her. Adagio was loaded up on both arms with the outfits she'd be wearing in the relatively near future, starting with the last one.

"Thank you for your help today, Sweetie," she said with an appreciative smile before lowering her voice to a whisper, "I'd offer you a kiss, but we might be spotted." She even refrained from going into any detail for the sake of not drawing attention via Fluttershy's reaction.

Smiling, Fluttershy nodded. "That's okay, I had a lot of fun with you today." It tickled her heart that the sentiment drew a tiny blush from the hooded girl.

"The feeling is very mutual. So much so that I got you a present!" Quickly taking a little bag on the end of her arm, she offered it to Fluttershy. "Don't open until you get home, alright?"

There was a split second in which Fluttershy thought to refuse, that she didn't like letting Adagio pay for everything already, but both the little Rarity and the little Sunset in her head were frowning at her, so instead, she smiled and accepted the gift. "Th-thank you. So, I'll see you Monday?"

Adagio grinned back. "See you Monday. Take care, Sweetie."

The diary was well-fed that night, Fluttershy noting that other than their first date (squeeeeeee!!) having been an overall success, she now owned a pirate-girl outfit, the eye-patch messed with her depth perception, and that she was worried about being blindsided if she actually wore it. This led to thoughts about what circumstances other than a costume party could lead her to put on a pirate outfit, to wondering if Adagio was planning to ask her to join her and the others in a boat robbery or setting out for the high seas for a life of loot and plunder if the friendship thing didn't work out, to wondering if Adagio just really liked the outfit on her, to remembering that she saw Adagio stark naked for the first time.

The diary gained its first sketch of Adagio Dazzle. It would need to be buried with her now.

Lying on her bed with the secret tome on her stomach again, Fluttershy reflected that there were a lot of embarrassing moments today, but she was still glad she went. She got to spend some time with her clandestine girlfriend, learned a little more about the sirens, shared a little about herself, and helped Adagio to find something that would bring her and her friends one step closer to being accepted by everyone. All was right with the world!

...

Then she remembered the little bag from the end of the trip, quickly sitting up.

"Oh, I forgot to open it!"

She got up, jogged over, and drew the little strings open. What she saw confused her for a few seconds, at least until she pulled it out of the bag. Her face burned up yet again as she looked over the black, shiny string-bikini Adagio had gotten her to try on, dreading the sneaky siren's plans for it far more than any she could have had for the pirate outfit. Then she noticed something sitting at the bottom of the bag; a square piece of paper, written on with familiar, pink penmanship.

Thank you again for the help today, Sweetie. Some might leave off with the clothes and a hug, but you know me~!

If you ever want me to really show my appreciation, you only have to ask.
-Adagio Dazzle ♥

Part of Fluttershy knew better than to turn the paper around and see the attached photograph. Part of her knew better than to look at one of these even when her heart was already beating so fast. She looked anyway, seeing an extreme close-up of Adagio's face from the bridge of her nose down, eyes out of the frame, but the dark eyeliner she'd worn even through the date plain to see. Not quite as dark as the thing Adagio held tightly between her teeth, some kind of black, shiny thread or-

Fluttershy could almost smell her own blood as she lit up, went light-headed, and fell backward, shouting the only word she could manage before she passed out.

"SQUIRREL!!"

She awoke hours later in a daze, wondering how the heck Adagio even pulled that one off.

Author's Note

No names thought up for Fluttershy's favorite(?) fantasy series, because I don't want to risk whatever I come up with getting enough development to matter. I've already got a spin-off (maybe two) in mind for this story (once it's done) and I'd rather not have that be it.

I saw this picture and loved the look. Visual aid!

Credit for image: http://mixiepie.deviantart.com/art/Adagio-Dazzle-as-Rainbooms-559059266

Check out Mixiepie's gallery, it's full'a dem Equestria Girls!

Chapter 36: Pressure

Being invited over to peoples' houses used to be a really special thing for Fluttershy, but making her first friends slowly pushed that wondrous sensation to just being a thing that still made her a little fuzzy inside. It went back to being extremely rare during the old Sunset's reign, but post-Fall Formal months had brought it back to just being a normal thing when her friends invited her over. All except for Rainbow's house, which, while home to perfectly nice, welcoming people, was kind of...

Big!

It was strange, because Rainbow's family wasn't exactly 'rich,' and they were definitely a far cry from 'poor,' but they just lived in this big, big house! It wasn't a mansion, but it had several rooms that were really, really spacious. Maybe Rainbow used to run around a LOT as a little girl and her parents wanted her to be free, but safely indoors? Either way, Fluttershy approached the slightly intimidating structure with every intent of lightly assaulting its front door with her knuckle, but her arm was seized and she was pulled inside practically the instant she touched it.

"Gladyoucouldmakeitrightthiswayplease!"

Rainbow was never the most patient person, but she seemed to be in an awful hurry today, with Fluttershy unable to utter a word as she was all but picked up and carried to Rainbow's room. Sitting on the bed (the only alternative being bean-bag chairs) there was Rarity, who smiled a little.

"Good morning, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy managed a quick wave in response. "H-hello."

Then Rainbow set her down in a seating position on the bed next to Rarity, looking back and forth between her and Rarity with a smile that was just slightly too wide. "So, you guys comfy? Can I get'cha anything?"

Rarity shook her head. "I think we'll be fine until the others arrive, and perhaps then you can tell us all just what it was that you of all people are so eager to share as to wake up before noon on a Sunday."

Ignoring the possible jab at her sleep habits, Rainbow giggled as she closed the door. "Well, about that." A very audible click signaled that she had no intention of letting anyone else in, or out, of her room at the moment.

Fluttershy felt a slightly larger pang of anxiety than usual, but apparently not as much as Rarity, whose pupils had shrunk to pin-pricks.

"R...R-Rainbow Dash? What are you doing? Why did you lock the door?"

There was a silence as Rainbow faced away from them. Standing with her hand against the locked door (yes, she knew they could just flip the knob the other way to unlock it again, but it was the principle of the thing!), she took a deep breath before turning around, her face solemn, but troubled. "I can't do this anymore."

"D-do what," Rarity quickly asked with a wide, nervous grin, eyes darting back and forth between her two friends, "lock the door like a silly girl? Yes, I agree, you really shouldn't do that anym-"

"I'll go first."

"Rainbow, please, you said you'd-... Wait, what do you mean by...?"

Motioning to the game console by the TV in the corner of her room, Rainbow's expression hadn't changed. "I've been playing games after school with Aria Blaze for weeks now. I didn't tell anyone because I knew things were kinda shifty between us and the sirens and I didn't wanna go blowing anything sky-high." The others looked back at her in mutual shock, but she was long past those feelings herself by now. "It started a little after the time I saw Adagio picking on Fluttershy in the gym, the day we-"

"She wasn't picking on me!!"

Fluttershy immediately slapped both hands to her own mouth, the words having escaped before she even thought about speaking. And at such volume! More startling than that was the look of wide-eyed shock Rarity was giving her... and the complete lack of one from Rainbow.

"Yea," she said while scratching the back of her head, "that's kinda what I thought since yesterday."

Fluttershy's world stopped.

"since yesterday."
"since yesterday."
"since yesterday."
"since yesterday."
"since yesterday."

It was a full minute before she could think things again, but when she came to, Rarity was sitting close to her, gently holding one of her hands as she apparently scolded Rainbow.

"-ust have known just throwing it out like that would be a terrible shock for her, what were you thinking?!"

Still standing by the door, Rainbow looked sheepish. "I'm sorry, really, but like I said, I can't keep this secret stuff up! You've gotta admit, going behind each others' backs like this is pretty messed up."

"Perhaps, but I thought we agreed that it was much too soon to go blowing whistles." She stopped to glance away with a little frown. "Though I wasn't aware they were seeing each other either." That sad, possibly hurt face turned to Fluttershy. "Honestly, Darling, we would have supported you no matter who it was."

Rainbow had crossed her arms, her face thoroughly unamused. "Speaking of which..."

"Err," Rarity said with a luminous blush, "well, y-you must understand my own reason for-"

"Please," the young athlete said as she clutched at her own hair, "please just say it already!"

Fluttershy, still feeling just a little overwhelmed, could only blink in confusion as Rarity grew redder. "Uhm... w-what... what's going on?"

Rarity gulped. "I've been seeing Sonata Dusk!!"

There was a long silence. And then Rainbow.

"Been doing a lot more than seeing her, I think."

The young fashionista reached a new shade of red. "RAINBOW DASH!!"

She grinned somewhat apologetically. "I'm just saying, maybe Fluttershy and I have secret siren friends too, but at least we're not banging ours."

She winced a little as Rarity choked, sputtered, and eventually passed out. The only reason, she guessed, that Fluttershy didn't immediately start fussing over her unconscious friend was because she'd gone white as a sheet. It was possible she'd fainted while sitting up, but she was the first to recover a few minutes later, drawing a smile from Rainbow.

"So, you have any questions? Because I know I do."

Fluttershy remained very still, if only in the hope that it would make her world stop spinning. Rainbow knew (she actually knew this time) she was with Adagio, apparently having seen them at some point yesterday. "When... when d-did you see us...?"

The speed with which she answered said Rainbow had been expecting that question. "Not sure about the exact time, but it was when you were fangirling over Adagio's leafy little outfit in that goofy clothes shop and-no, no don't faint! ...Aw, dangit."

Fluttershy awoke to the sight of Rainbow sprawled out upside down on a bean-bag chair.

"Oh good, you're up!"

"Uhm... y-yes..." She glanced to her side to see that Rarity was still down for the count, briefly checking to make sure her pulse was normal. Then memory kicked in and she flushed crimson. "So... y-you saw us?"

Sitting normally now, Rainbow nodded. "Yea. I was waiting for somebody to -aw, heck, might as well just- I was hoping Aria would accept my invite to hang out at the mall together, but while I was walking around looking for her, I spotted Adagio's unmistakable hair through the store window. It was just a little puff between some clothes racks, but I knew it was her. I moved in a little closer to see if she and the others were having some kinda shopping trip when I saw you hopping up and down and her lookin' all Level 26 Nature Priestess, but that's all I saw before I high-tailed it out of there. I mean, my first instinct was to walk right up and ask what the heck was going on, but then I remembered Rarity and it was like..." She scratched her head. "So, how long's that been going on?"

"A month or two, I guess?" Again, the words had come without Fluttershy consciously speaking them, easier than she'd have ever dreamed.

At this, Rainbow finally did look surprised. "Really? Wow. Looks like we've all been keeping secrets for a while." Her face grew guilty. "That's what I wanted to talk to you guys about today; I don't think I can live this way anymore. I mean, everyone knew when we started hanging out with Sunset and it was no big deal, what's the worst that could happen if we just came out with it?"

"Other than the sirens specifically having asked for distance, you mean?" Rarity had arisen from her mortification-induced fainting spell, gingerly rubbing her fingertips against a temple. "Sunset has tried more than once to blend their group with ours, if you'll recall, and they made it clear that that was something they didn't want."

"Why not?! If all three of 'em are okay with being friends with one of us in private, then why can't we all just-"

"Did you ever ask Aria? Whom, by the way, you never told me you were acquainted with even after learning of my secret?"

By the look on Rainbow's face, the words cut deep. "I'm sorry, I just didn't know how to bring it up with Sonata right there, y'know?" She sighed. "But, no, I never asked her about that." A glance at Fluttershy said she was having trouble following the conversation. "Uh, let's start from the beginning, okay?"

Taking a quick look at the confused animal lover herself, Rarity sighed a little. "Yes, let's. You both recall the day Sunset recounted the sirens' attempts to find company in the lunchroom, how they came to sit alone as they do now? I was suspicious of those three because Sonata had visited me in my shop for the first time just days before. She was only interested in clothes at the time, but I couldn't help distrusting her. Nothing came of it, so Sunset's assurance that they were on their best behavior left me a little more open-minded by the time she stopped by again. The two of us got to talking while she tried on shoes at my recommendation and she began to drop in more often, and..." Rarity looked away, a light blush Fluttershy recognized very well coloring her cheeks. "Somewhere along the line, we... grew closer. I, I wouldn't say it's love, but I do care for her."

A sniffle drew their attention to Rainbow, who rapidly rubbed her eyes. "Okay, okay, so stuff got all sappy with you guys after she started coming to see you, but you hid it so well that neither of you even made a face when you saw each other the time we went over to their table at lunch."

Never had pride and shame been so prominent in a smile. "Not making eye-contact was key, Darling."

Thinking back, Fluttershy had been too nervous to think much about her friends' expressions, but Sonata had seemed completely unfazed by their presence.

Rarity urged Rainbow to go on. "And shortly after that...?"

There was a nod. "Right, a couple hours later, I talked to Aria alone for the first time. I was playing soccer with the guys again and the ball went long (Bulk still needs to work on his restraint), so I went after it, finding Aria playing on a hand-held around a corner. I asked her if she wanted to join us, she said sports weren't really her thing (something to do with gym class having put her off), and I asked if she played anything else. I expected her to tell me to get bent now that it was just the two of us, but she looked me in the eye, all calm and relaxed, and said she played online sometimes. We traded screen-names-" she winked, "-I still use the one you thought up for me way back when, Fluttershy- and I started my first co-op game with her later that night." Rainbow chuckled. "She's actually pretty badass most of the time, but she stinks with grenades almost as bad as I do!"

As hoped, the comment brought a little laugh from her friends before she went on.

"I didn't wanna go making a big scene with any of this, but I figured just playing video games together wouldn't hurt anything, and it didn't, but then?"

Fluttershy's eyes widened a little. "That day at lunch, when you said...?"

Crossing her arms, Rarity looked slightly skeptical. "You were the most suspicious out of any of us, Rainbow."

Just slightly defensive, Rainbow nodded. "Yea, because me and Aria were talking just the night before! She got all cryptic when she told me Adagio had some kind of plan going, that even she didn't know all the details, and this being Adagio Almost-Freakin'-Won-The-Battle-Of-The-Bands Dazzle, I panicked!"

Rarity idly scratched her chin while searching her memory. "Miss Dusk did mention something about that bow of hers being related to some kind of plot that night, but she assured me it was nothing sinister."

Fluttershy blinked. "Miss Dusk?"

And then Rarity turned neon-red. "I-I mean Sonata!!"

Rainbow was averting her eyes. "Don't ask, trust me." Then she looked at Fluttershy. "Anyway, you defending the sirens that day makes a lot more sense now."

Feeling just a flicker of guilt for her long-held lie, Fluttershy looked down. "I, y-yes... And, um... Ad-dagio's bow? That came from me too, I gave it to her as a gift."

"Why?"

Fluttershrug. "T-to make her look... cute?"

Rarity clasped her hands. "Awww!" She approved of the sweet gesture, really, but felt the tiniest regret that the motion sent Fluttershy retreating into her own hair.

Rainbow took Fluttershy hiding as the cue that she wasn't exactly ready to share the story yet, so she proceeded with her own. "You guys probably remember that I tried talking to Adagio the next day and that Rarity invited me to swing by her place after school?"

Now it was Rarity that was trying her best to hide, covering her face with both hands. "Rainbow, please!"

"Relax, I'm just gonna sum up. We went to her place to see if we could find something I wouldn't feel so..." It was briefly her turn to blush. "exposed in, Rarity brought me to that big ol' back room, we found Sonata lying bare-ass naked on a big pillow with a rose in her teeth-" Rarity let out an agonized groan, though she was no longer the only one covering her face with both hands as Fluttershy squeaked, "-and that was how I learned they'd been, uh, t-together for a while." It was also how she learned that Sonata was maybe a little more emotionally fragile than she looked, because having her slowly break down in tears from embarrassment (plus the whole looks-like-we've-been-caught thing) when she noticed Rainbow was something else she really hadn't expected to see that day.

Rarity sighed, her face still crimson as she let her hands fall away. "Poor dear was absolutely mortified, but I managed to calm her down before long."

"After that," Rainbow picked up, "I agreed not to say anything because, y'know, who am I to tell people they can't get all mushy in private?"

Her shame finally starting to abate, Rarity smiled gratefully. "And we're both thankful, really. However, if she should ever offer to repay you in baked goods," there was a coy little wink, "it may be best to feign illness."

Rainbow snorted. "She hasn't gotten any better since that big ol' choco-glob, huh? Oh, well. Anyway, since then, I've been trying to think of a way to bring everyone together, what with me and Aria already being pals, I figured -that's platonic pals, by the way, she and I don't get naked and wait for each other in places,-" there was an unamused glare from Rarity, "I figured that getting a buddy for Adagio would be the last step." She looked at Fluttershy, who was at least composed enough to peer through her fingers. "Then I saw you guys together at the mall, ran home, and tried to work something out, but this is all I've got." She grinned at her two friends, clapping both hands together. "And now, I have no idea what to do, your thoughts?"

"Well," offered Rarity as she looked squarely at Fluttersly, "I'd rather like to hear about what's going on between you and Adagio, because Mi-Sonata never mentioned anything of the sort."

Fluttershy had spent the last several weeks thinking she'd have an easier time cutting her own tongue out than telling anyone what she'd been up to with the leader of the Dazzlings in all that time, but right now? She felt surprisingly calm. That is, her cheeks burned and her heart thudded in her chest, but all things considered, that seemed pretty mellow for having her biggest secret dragged out into the open. "W-well..." She breathed deep. Her friends had just told her about their secret friendships, so it was only fair she share her own, right? She was sure Adagio would understand, she of all people seemed to appreciate the Golden Rule.

"It... it s-started with a lollipop..."

"And... Th-that was how our first... d-d-date ended."

Following a pause, Rainbow whistled. "Damn. I'm surprised you haven't like, burst blood vessels in your face by now."

Rarity had displayed a vast array of reactions to the story, but right now, she looked a little flustered, lightly fanning herself with one hand. "Good heavens, Fluttershy, I think my heart would have given out weeks ago were I in your shoes!"

Somehow, it felt like praise, drawing a sheepish little smile. Fluttershy wasn't sure she'd stopped blushing at any point in her explanation, but it felt surprisingly good to share what she'd been hiding for so long.

With an appraising look, Rainbow rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Then, all those times you got all spacey at lunch, you were thinking about her?"

Despite Fluttershy's appreciation that Rainbow had cranked up her air-conditioning about a third of the way through the story, she still felt herself grow warmer. "Uhm... y-yes...?" She jumped with a start as Rarity draped an arm across her shoulders, which may have been an act of solidarity as her fellow siren-lover turned a little rosier herself.

"You can hardly blame her, can you? Those girls are nothing if not sightly."

Adding her own blush to the mix, Rainbow crossed her arms and found sudden interest in a nearby poster. "I dunno, I'm straight!" That the others quietly giggled at her said there were no hard feelings about that.

Fluttershy was happy to have someone that could understand what she had been through these past weeks, but then Rarity betrayed her.

"So, wait," she asked with a raised eyebrow, "you've been seeing Adagio Dazzle in private for all this time, and you two have really never...?"

"EEP!!"

To her own surprise, Fluttershy didn't completely lock up this time, she just burned about as hot as she would if Adagio had been teasing her. The shock of having been discovered mostly passed, maybe she was finally building up resistance to embarrassment? It was a pretty thought, though one cut off by the sound of Rainbow scolding Rarity.

"-nd you seriously just asked Fluttershy of all people about that?!"

Contrite though she was, Rarity seemed just a little defensive. "It was a valid question, she only became incomprehensible about four times when telling us about the kisses."

Their attention was seized when Fluttershy found her voice. Mostly. "Ad-dagio and I-I haven't d-done, uhm... a-anyth-thing like... that!"

The room was silent apart from Fluttershy's heavy breathing. And then Rarity again.

"...But not for lack of interest?"

Rainbow facepalmed as Fluttershy lit up to worrying temperatures. "Seriously?!"

Rarity again looked defensive. "What? I know it's a sensitive subject, but physical urges are perfectly healthy and like it or not, that kind of compatibility is important for a romantic relationship!"

"What the Hell does that mean?!"

"That it's not passionate romance without passion!"

"Yea? Then how have she and Adagio gotten as far as they did without doing it?"

"MEEP!!"

There was a lady-like scoff. "Well, they may not have formally combined yet, but-"

"That's formal? I mean, I know you write some fancy poems, but-"

"Oh, don't be so crass! As I was saying, those two might be relatively chaste for now, but if you were paying attention, there is clearly attraction!"

"Yea, well..." Rainbow didn't quite look sold. "What do you think, Flutter-"

Turning to look at her, they saw their mousiest friend dozily teetering back and forth where she sat, glowing red, steam rising out of her ears, and a big, dreamy smile on her face.

"Ha," Rarity said with a triumphant smirk while outstretching a hand, "pay up!"

Grumbling, Rainbow reached into her pocket, withdrew a few bills, then blinked, scowling. "Hey, wait a minute!"

Rarity laughed uproariously, barely composing herself enough to wipe away a tear. "I'm s-sorry, I do believe Sonata is r-rubbing off on me-hee-hee-hee!"

Even as she rolled her eyes, Rainbow couldn't help a little grin at the near-perfect reversal.

Author's Note

Alternate titles:
Burning Passion
That Pesky Blood-Pressure
Three Girls Getting Uncomfortably Hot in a Room Together

But those sounded misleading. :applejackunsure:

Cliffhanger-ish chapter. Long Author's Notes. To start, I'm not moving to a three or four week schedule now, I just took a break from this story for a while and got started on this chapter on Thursday. I think it paid off!

Alrighty, so I wasn't nearly as clever as I thought if people guessed that Sonata was with Rarity and 'DoomPrism' was too obviously Rainbow playing with Aria. Just a few more chapters and I might have pulled off a genuinely startling reveal there. Congratulations, attentive readers, this is now every bit as suspenseful for me as it is for you. :twilightsheepish:

That said, I feel like having hints that fit together coherently enough for people to guess the story means I've done something right, at least better than just dumping stuff out of nowhere, no prior evidence of the sudden thing making it smell like a retcon.
*Still a little annoyed about what they did with Shining Armor, more-so about their tendency to keep doing it!*
It is just a little frustrating when I can't respond to certain comments one way or the other without risk of giving spoilers, so for all those (usually quite accurate) guess/theory/speculation comments I flat-out ignored all this time, I'm sorry. :fluttercry:

Anyway, I hadn't really intended Sonata's penchant for occasionally burning things and Rarity pretty much having a Frollo moment to be linked, but darned if it doesn't kinda fit. Actually, I thought the biggest hint would have been Sonata's offhand thoughts about how they could use new outfits (which someone did pick up on later!), if not the instant-strip technique that Fluttershy even commented she thought only Rarity knew how to do. Or, maybe the way she figured out how to put on the lingerie she occasionally makes Aria uncomfortable with?

Speaking of Aria, I'm guessing 'prism' was what gave it away? Many months ago, I just went with something that I thought only faintly suggested rainbows with the initial intent of revealing that Fluttershy (in her fantasy-fanatic phase) had been the one to help Rainbow come up with a sufficiently cool-sounding name early in their friendship, pre-Sunset Shimmer, which Rainbow kept ever since. At the time, I thought it sounded subtle. :derpyderp2:

Speaking of details, if it feels like this 'reveal' chapter is leaving a lot out, well...
Three guesses what one of the possible spin-offs will be. :trollestia:

Finally, It occurred to me that I haven't had Adagio say 'Oh, sea spray!' in forever. It's not that she quit using the phrase, there just hasn't been anything she felt 'Oh, sea spray!' about lately.

Chapter 37: Soft, Gooey Centers

Once everyone had pulled themselves together, Rarity, Rainbow, and Fluttershy agreed that the next thing to do was to inform the sirens of what they'd shared together. Fluttershy, having been there before, led the way, though Rainbow had been startled to learn that her house was only a few blocks away from theirs. Both Rarity and Rainbow had been startled when Fluttershy reviewed her thoughts on Adagio possibly knowing where all of them lived on the way.

Fluttershy stopped everyone at the door (which remained as dark and foreboding as she remembered, most of all right now) and turned to quietly share something she may have skimmed over during her story. "Now, um, th-the sirens' house is, well... they aren't really from around here, so things might feel a tad strange, but please keep an open mind when we go in."

Raising a hand to her mouth in ladylike fashion, Rarity tittered. "Ohh, I'm sure it's just fine."

When they rang the doorbell, the sound of loud, rapid footsteps coming their way made Fluttershy nervous, but part of her wondered if the Dazzlings just didn't get that many visitors. The black door flung open, revealing a beaming Sonata dressed in a tube top and sweatpants.

"Hi, the-" Her smile was immediately wiped away with a look of wide-eyed shock, her voice fading to a strangled wheeze as she started to sweat profusely.

Smiling a little, Rarity tried to calm her down. "Hello, Darling."

Sonata's eyes shifted to her, then to her friends, then back to her, then she fell backward in perfectly stiff fashion, not moving or saying another word. Aria's voice was heard just seconds before she came around the corner, garbed in a loose, black shirt and tight jeans.

"Who is it, Nat-" For just a second after catching sight of the trio, she locked up like Sonata had, but seemed to do a lot better after the shifty-eye phase. She looked squarely at Rainbow. "...Jig is up?"

Just slightly remorseful, Rainbow nodded. "Jig is up, RuleBook."

Screen-name: RuleBook's eyes narrowed. "You caved."

Rainbow raised her arms in exasperated fashion. "I had to!!"

As was typical of the surliest siren, she crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Whatever. What now?"

"Can you get everyone together? I think we need to talk."

Nodding, Aria nudged Sonata with her foot, which apparently freed her from her paralysis as she sat up and shouted toward the stairs.

"DAGI, DR. SEUSS IS HERE!!"

While they waited for a response, Fluttershy noticed the perplexed stares she was getting. "Sonata calls me Dr. Seuss," she quietly, passively answered. The stares yet remained. She could only shrug. "Sonata calls me Dr. Seuss." She got two simultaneous 'Ohh's before Adagio shuffled into view from the upstairs balcony, overlooking the foyer. The sight of her drew a little blush from all three Rainbooms.

She was clad only in dark-violet, lacy underwear faintly covered by a long, black robe, open at the front with the shiny, silken sash hanging at her sides. The fabric was so thin that she might as well have been draped in a shadow as she stopped at the top of the stairs and looked down at the gathering. They could see even from there that she was wearing the usual layer of dark eyeliner as well.

Rainbow whispered to the others. "As if she needed more of that Evil Queen thing going."

Rarity shushed her, turning to find that Fluttershy was the latest paralysis victim as she beheld her secret lover in a state of undress, though with the added symptoms of a flushed face and light perspiration.

Definitely interested, she thought.

"What is this?" Adagio asked in level tones while pressing a hand to her own forehead, "I'm not sick or anything, so...?"

Just as with Sonata and herself the day their groups spoke in the cafeteria, Rarity spotted no flaw in the (according to Sonata) oldest siren's performance, not one lingering glance at Fluttershy, nothing shown in her expression save for mild curiosity in the form of a single raised eyebrow.

Suppose this is what the others will feel like when they learn what we've been keeping from them. Truly, the effect is chilling!

Aria nodded her head toward a doorway. "Let's talk in the dining room. Put on some pants, okay?" She headed off to wipe the dust off that chair pyramid, Sonata and their guests following. It was difficult to hear from the bottom of the staircase what Adagio had muttered about someone being lucky she wore anything at all as she paced out of sight.

Walking through the house, Fluttershy's warning apparently started to make a lot more sense to Rainbow and Rarity as they took in the sights. It was all as she remembered, give or take one room now having duct tape placed erratically along one wall like some kind of grey, sticky thunderbolt. The hooks and nets hung just where they'd been, she could see that the leaf-blower had been successfully deactivated (or run out of power) and put away, carpets and rugs were still strewn about, the ceiling-hammocks hadn't changed a bit, and the funny-painted walls gave her a weird kind of nostalgic feeling. Her friends, however, still seemed to be adjusting, with Rarity in particular looking ill.

"Man," Rainbow whispered, "dafuq with this house?" Aria must have partly heard her anyway.

"Yea, we got it back when we had our magic, okay? Hotels were too damn small and we couldn't make them feel any homier, so I hope you aren't here to tell us we have to pack up and go or anything."

Rainbow looked almost hurt by the thought. "No, no, nothing like that! There's just something the six of us need to talk about."

"Well, alright then," came Adagio's voice from directly behind them, earning three startled jumps. In addition to the bow in her hair, she was garbed in what Fluttershy recognized as one of her own selections from the mall; the skirt, vest, and blue jumpsuit combo, complete with the heels, she bore her usual smile. "Please, have a seat."

When explanations were through, five out of six girls were silent, the only sound in the room being the constant, near-manic, and slightly unsettling giggles of Fluttershy's no-longer-secret girlfriend.

Aria, leaning a little away from her, raised an eyebrow. "Funniest damn thing you've ever heard, huh?"

"N-no-ho-ho-heeheehehehehehe!" She took a quick breath, but the giggling didn't quite stop. "I th-think I'm just-heeheehahaha-I think I'm just in shaw-haw-hawk-hahahahahaha!"

Sonata, for her part, at least managed to sit in silence. Stone-stiff, bullet-sweating silence.

"Okay, uh," Rainbow bravely offered, "I'm glad you're not, y'know, having a psychotic episode over this or anything, but do you think you could, uh, c-cool it a bit?"

There was a little more laughter before she sucked in a breath, keeping a smile as she glanced back and forth at her two fellow friend-makers-in-secret. "I actually felt guilty for keeping it to myself for so long. What about you two?"

Aria, arms crossed as usual, shrugged a little. "Hey, I was just playing games, nothin' else." To her slight relief, Rainbow nodded in agreement. Now was NOT the time for a hurt, 'is-that-all-I-am-to-you?' lover routine, even as a joke.

Sonata looked much more contrite, her head almost low enough to touch the table. "It, just kinda started with clothes and...?" She gently face-planted. "M'm a bhd grrl."

Chuckling, Adagio shook her head. "Sorry, I didn't mean that to sound so accusing, most of all because I was apparently the first, just..." She flashed the girls across the table an apologetic grin. "Forgive us, this was something we talked about with Sunset Shimmer."

Rarity smiled a little. "Oh?"

"Yea," Aria confirmed with a regretful nod, "no going behind each others backs, no big secrets, no big lies, all the crap we've been doing anyway." She turned her head just enough to see her two oldest friends in the corner of her eye. "Sorry."

Rainbow said it before Fluttershy could. "Hey, if you're thinking it was a super-crummy thing to do, don't. Not just because we did it too and we're supposed to be all about the Friendship™ stuff, but because, I mean, we all kept quiet because we didn't want a huge mess, right? Because we all thought we were the only ones doing it until recently? But now," her smile was just slightly forced, "at least we can talk to each other, right?"

Warm grins were passed around the table, but Adagio wasn't entirely placated. "Perhaps, but where exactly are you intending to go with this? Does what we've shared today not leave this room, or can we expect everyone at Canterlot High to officially regard us as your latest triumph?" The confusion across the table said that not even Her Sweetie understood that last part. "We weren't the only ones to share in our soul-baring session with Sunset Shimmer, and she told us all about what she went through after you took her in."

"Ohh," Rarity said cautiously, "she did mention something like this..." She glanced at Rainbow and Fluttershy, who evidently didn't follow. "I've pursued the matter with Sunset, of what might come if we could do with them what we did with her? She explained it-" she quickly turned to look at the sirens, "-a-and do let me know if I mis-speak, but, the fear was that, seeing the three of you getting along with the six of us, the other students would immediately see you all as 'Sunset 2.0,' so to speak, that you'd be treated with only the pretense of acceptance by virtue of being near us at best, outright scorn and hostility like Sunset faced at worst?"

There was a short silence, broken by a whistle from Aria. "Sounds pretty much like what we talked about back then, yea."

"Well," offered Sonata, "things have kinda changed since then. We've been coming to school for months and nobody even calls us mean names when they know we're around to hear it, and even those people are pretty rare. So like, I don't think we even have to worry about being the school's bitches."

Rarity scowled. "Miss Dusk!"

The entire rest of the table, sans Rainbow, asked at once. "'Miss Dusk'?"

Rarity and Sonata shared a glance before mutually reddening, similarly giving their answer in unison. "N-nothing..." Both caught Adagio's cat-like smile, promising doom later for the poor soul who lived with her. For now, however, the Mistress of Merciless Teasing cleared her throat.

"Anyway, as she said, I think we've made enough of an impression that people giving us trouble as they did for her is a negligible risk, so the real concern is something far more... insidious."

There was a heavy silence, which is when Fluttershy chose to ask. "Uhm... Th-the, 'pretense of acceptance'? Wh-what does that mean, exactly?"

Aria shook her head. "Oh, come on, Squeaky, you're smarter than that. If people saw us with you guys, they'd be all 'ooh, look, the Dazzlings must be okay now, not because we give a damn about them or because they're just trying to live their harmless lives now, but because they're pals with our favorite band!'" She frowned a little harder than usual. "They'd just see us as accessories to you. Get it?"

Rainbow frowned. "I, yea, I think we get it. It'd be like how Sunset only dated Flash to get people to like her, way back when?" She was answered with three simultaneous nods. "But, wait, why is that such a bad thing? If they like you, they like you, so what if it's not for the best reason?" To her slight surprise, it was Fluttershy that responded first.

"How would you feel if you learned people were only even willing to talk to you not because they liked you for you, but for someone you knew?"

The first reply that came to mind was 'I wouldn't know because I'm so awesome,' but the words felt sour before she even said them. She turned to Rarity to see a frown that made her think there'd been experience there.

"It's an ugly feeling, Rainbow, rest assured."

"Yea," agreed Aria, "I mean, as it is? Everyone gives us a wide berth. If that changed overnight because'a you guys, because everyone decided they didn't care about what we did or, I guess, the stuff we still do solely because we were standing next to you, would you call that the 'magic of friendship'?"

They wouldn't, but Rainbow wasn't ready to give up yet. "So, what, you guys are just gonna stay like you are forever, never making any friends on your own?"

Sonata indicated the immediate gathering. "Hello, we made friends with you guys, remember? If we just keep at it, there's bound to be more!"

Leaning back with her arms crossed, Aria nodded. "They'll have to get used to us eventually, right? Besides, I think all of us would rather have few friends than fake friends."

"Indeed," Adagio picked up, folding her hands under her chin as she rested her elbows on the table, "which brings us to the inverse of the matter: Let's say that we made no secret of our involvement with the three of you up to this point and everyone didn't just go along with it. How do you think your peers might react if they learned what we," she used two fingers to indicate herself and Sonata, then Fluttershy and Rarity, "the four of us in particular, have been up to without their knowledge?" She was the only one at the table not to blush even a little. "Would your status as the school saviors be enough to ward off the hushed whispers and scrying stares, or would there be a sudden shift in trust now that everyone knew what you'd been doing behind their backs, whether it was any of their business or not?"

Rarity's eyes widened. "You're saying that we would be treated much like the three of you are?"

"Or worse, for you especially." She idly eyed the ceiling, thinking aloud. "Give or take demeanor, you're the most like what Sunset Shimmer once was, are you not? A social butterfly with nothing if not connections? 'Campus Queen' or something to that effect? It's not a guarantee, of course, but knowing how people are, that could change very quickly. That in mind," she actually gave Rarity a friendly little smile, "it might pay to be careful, no?"

Rather than showing fear or consternation at the idea, Rarity grinned right back. "I'm touched by your concern, Miss Dazzle."

Adagio would have gladly taken the chance to twist 'Miss Dazzle' into a question about 'Miss Dusk' and just what Rarity had in mind for her, but Fluttershy's presence reminded her of an earlier agreement. Shrugging, she wore a little smirk anyway. "Just be glad I have nothing to gain in ruining you." That drew a strangely satisfying look of surprise, but before Adagio could decide whether or not enjoying that kind of reaction meant she was still evil, she herself was surprised by Sonata leaning over to hug her arm.

"Aww, she might act that way, but she and Ria are total softies deep down!"

Fluttershy was happy to hear that for a number of reasons, one of which was for the sight of Adagio (and even Aria!) tinting pink as the rest of the table giggled. That neither said a word to deny it made her happier still.

"Alright," asked Rainbow, "so, what are we doing here? Do we just keep quiet about this until you guys can make some completely not-us friends on your own?" The sirens sharing a quick look before collectively nodding wasn't quite what she was hoping to see. "Can we at least tell Applejack, Sunset, and Pinkie?"

Aria raised an almost accusing eyebrow. "The more people you tell a secret, the harder it is to keep it that way."

This won a slightly guilty expression from Rainbow, but some of the tension left her shoulders when Rarity placed a comforting hand on her back. "Keeping secrets isn't Rainbow's strong suit to begin with, and the poor dear was more than a little distraught when she broke the news to Fluttershy and I."

"Don't call me a 'dear'!"

"Hush. I can't be certain how well they'd take it, but I am certain we can trust the others not to go spreading details we'd rather they didn't."

A silence settled over the table as Aria and Sonata looked to Adagio, who held Rarity's gaze for a long moment. She nodded. "That should suffice for now."

Internally, Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief. This wasn't exactly a perfect resolution, but it wasn't an explosive disaster, either. Shortly after, the three Sirenbooming Rainbooms departed to inform the other three of what had occurred today, leaving the Dazzlings still sitting at their dining room table.

"Okay," began Aria the second she heard the front door close, "we're trusting all six of them, why?"

As usual, Adagio had an answer ready. "Because in addition to the fact that Rainbow Dash -bless her heroic little heart- was on the verge of making a costly mistake if she kept it to herself much longer, they must know that letting the cat out of the bag could prove harmful to their own friends as well as the three of us. Someone may still slip, granted, but this seems to be the safest option."

Nodding affirmatively, Aria kept her arms crossed. "The first time I played with her, I knew she was gonna be the one to talk first."

Sonata giggled. "I totally thought I was gonna blow it first!"

"You might have," replied Adagio, "had I pressed you for details that night a few weeks ago or inquired where exactly you've been sneaking off to." Her grin turned wide and murderous. "On that note..."

Tinting a lighter shade of blue, Sonata quickly got out of her seat. "W-well, I gotta-" Adagio had already latched onto her, holding her in a tight, but snuggly hug. It took a second for Sonata to register that that was what was happening, along with Adagio practically squeeing as she gently shook her back and forth.

"I'msoproudofyouuu!! I never even suspected you were meeting someone to go at it like- well, okay, I suspected, but my mind's always in the gutter anyway, so I'm still really proud!!"

"Oh-kay," Sonata wheezed as she was squeezed, turning back to her normal color, then a slightly darker shade of blue. Mercifully, Adagio set her down, but took hold of her shoulders to deliver her rapid-fire questions.

"Have you kissed? Have you frenched? Has she touched you? Has she made you squirm and shudder? Has she stuck it in your-"

Dark blue became bright pink. "DAGIII!!"

Adagio's eyes widened in surprise, but her smile didn't weaken. "Me?! Oh my, don't tell me you already need to spice things up with threesomes!" She gasped, though it was difficult to say whether or not she was just hamming it up at this point. "Or, are you both so vivacious that you're not completely satisfied with just each other?! Nata, I never thought you would turn out to be so-"

Sonata let out an agonized groan, giving Aria a face that pleaded 'Help me!'

No such thing was offered as Aria smirked, mouthing "You just have to accept her love." It was one of the most satisfying glares she'd ever gotten out of Sonata.

It wasn't what she'd been doing with Rarity that made Sonata so nervous, really, just what she knew would happen if Adagio caught wind of it. Pretty much what was happening right now. Realizing that Aria had a secret lady-friend too, Sonata grinned mischievously. "Oh, Dagi, aren't you going to ask Ria all about her Rainboom buddy?"

Adagio turned to look at Aria, but only got a calm stare back. "We play games together after school, but there's nothing more to it than that. Anything you wanna know?" To her slight surprise, Adagio did have one question.

"Yes; how is she with grenades?"

"Even worse than I am."

Two questions. "Truly?"

"Yep."

"Outstanding."

"Yep."

There was a quiet moment, then Adagio turned her focus back to a gobsmacked Sonata. "So, 'Miss Dusk,' hmm...?"

"W-wait," she sputtered, "what about your secret girlfriend?!"

The delightful glow Sonata was giving off did indeed remind her of Fluttershy, which reminded her that what she was doing now probably went a little beyond harmless questioning. This went double considering that some were asked more to see Sonata react to them than to actually hear an answer. Still grinning with delight, she let Sonata go and took a step back. "Alright, your turn. Shoot."

Before Sonata could ask, Aria shook her head. "If Nata and Hairspray have secretly been going at it like rabbits in lingerie-" a spastic noise from Sonata was ignored, "-then I don't think we really wanna know what you'd get up to. No shock that Squeaky is freaky, though. Always the quiet ones, huh?"

Feeling an odd little twinge of irritation, Adagio gave her an honest reply. "Actually, we've been rather chaste, I haven't slept with her even once." Two jaws dropped so hard that part of her was worried there'd be broken teeth. Those shocked, wide-eyed stares would have been priceless if not for the strangely piercing effect they were having on her, leading to a quiet attempt to clarify. "I, I know that's odd for me, and, I'm not completely sure what we have together, but I really do value her company."

Aria quickly grabbed Sonata to pull her into a huddle. "There's no way this isn't a trap!"

"I dunno," Sonata offered with a little frown, "she sounds pretty sincere to me."

"Sigh. That's what I was afraid of."

Giggling, Sonata grinned. "But isn't it kinda sweet?"

"...From her? Yes, disgustingly so."

"For the record, I can hear everything you two are saying."

The huddlers snapped to attention, finding a mildly bemused Adagio standing right where she was a minute ago. Aria opened with a hint of a smirk.

"So, what, you're going all touchy-feely now?"

Clasping her hands behind her back in slightly self-conscious fashion, Adagio shrugged. "I guess?" She felt herself growing steadily warmer under the surprised, searching stares, but she did not take it back. Aria looked a little lost, but Sonata lit up with glee.

"Wait, you get those tingly, fluffy feelings too?! The ones that make your heart beat faster even when you're just sitting there?!" It was by no means the rarest thing in the world, but they didn't see Adagio wearing a sheepish smile very often.

"Sometimes." The silent staring was actually starting to make her nervous, so she was thankful for Aria saying something as she scratched her head.

"The 'cuteness' plan you came up with, where you got that bow in the first place, were they...?"

Still a little flushed, Adagio nodded. "It wasn't exactly a collaboration between the two of us, but she was involved, yes." She held the edges of her miniskirt out with the fingertips of each hand. "This outfit, and a few others, were picked with her approval during our date yesterday."

Sonata touched both hands to her cheeks, possibly in an effort to contain her ear-to-ear grin. "You pick out clothes for each other?!"

Adagio giggled. "Kind of?" Mention of the mall date reminded her of something else, something that, for reasons probably relating to the fuzzy heart-vice as it squeezed her from within, she just wanted to tell someone! "A-and, uhm," the thought still drew a demure blush, "she said, s-said, uh..." Almost involuntarily, she covered her face with both hands. "She said she was glad Coltlantis burned if it meant we could be together!"

Sonata gasped, then Oooooh'd and burst into squealy gigglefits while Aria blushed, trying to cover a smile with one hand.

"Oh, damn! Getting serious, huh?"

Adagio could only reply with girlish giggles of her own. She couldn't remember a time she'd been more embarrassed, but didn't feel a hint of shame in it. It wasn't an unpleasant sensation. Was that why Fluttershy could return to her, day after day? Her thoughts on the matter were arrested by Sonata's angry pout.

"Heeey, wait a minute! Rarity never said she'd destroy a city for me, and we've already done it in every room of her house!"

Aria had no words.

Chuckling, Adagio resisted the (quite powerful) urge to inquire further, instead offering what little experience she could for this issue. "I think you have to wait until at least the first date before she'll declare that kind of love, Nata, might be considered too soon otherwise."

"We've spent time together at her place a lot, does that count?"

"If meeting for a little while on a bench on weekday mornings counts."

"Phooey!"

Author's Note

Reactions to the last chapter really surprised me! I figured that since people had pointed the relationships out, I wouldn't be fooling anyone that had seen those comments, which might have been fallacious thinking on my part, but as these (quite correct!) guesses had started months ago, I just thought the cat was pretty much out of the bag.

Not everyone thinks the same way, however, and maybe some others had their own theories, thought the clues were just random details like all those others I've been throwing around since the story began, and maybe some didn't remember stuff from chapters posted several months ago. That last one would be my own reason in most cases. :twilightsheepish:

Still, to those of you that caught on, with either pairing, bravo. :scootangel:

'RuleBook' because she's the only one that bothers to read the manual as opposed to riddling the game out on her own. That she's less adventurous than the others in more than one sense of the word was actually kind of an accident.

Chapter 38: Joy-Induced Saltwater

Setting up a picnic usually took a little longer than twenty minutes, but one phone call was all it took for Pinkie and Applejack to combine forces and put together a basket to bring to a table on the outskirts of Sweet Apple Acres. They didn't meet up out here very often, but Sunset, Pinkie, and Applejack all trusted the other half of their group when they said Sugarcube Corner was a little too public for what they wanted to share.

The basket wasn't touched until well after explanations were over, which meant there were no spit-takes, to Pinkie's slight disappointment. More distressing to her still was learning of the three secret friendships, as evidenced by her quivering lip and watering eyes, but none would have guessed that it was actually guilt that drove this reaction. When asked why, she collapsed sobbing on the table.

"I did it too! I've been friends with Sunset Shimmer for muh-huh-unths!!"

Sunset blinked twice.

"...Pinkie," deadpanned Rainbow, "we've all been friends with Sunset Shimmer for months."

Any sign of emotional turmoil vanished from the pink partier as quickly as it had come. "Gasp! Everyone was in on it?!"

Eyerolling, facepalming, and a dope slap followed before Applejack moved things along.

"So, lemme get this straight;" she indicated Rarity with one finger, "Sonata swings by yer place one day an' you never tell anyone 'cuz ya didn't wanna make a fuss, an' that grows into, uhh..." Turning rosy, she quickly moved to Fluttershy. "A-and, Adagio talks to you while yer' waitin' on that bench like usual, makes a habit of it, and you start to fall for her after a whi-"

"It kinda sounds like they didn't know that they fell oh-woah-oh for each other," interrupted Pinkie.

"Right. So we got you two hookin' up with two'a the sirens and-" she pointed to Rainbow next, "-you playin' online sometimes with the last one?"

She'd have been casually leaning back in her seat if picnic tables had something to lean back on. "Yep."

There was a skeptical eyebrow from Applejack. "And that's all yer doin'?"

The question drew a blush. "I'm straight, and I'm pretty sure she is too!"

Sunset's head tilted. "You asked?"

"W-well, no, but..." She started to smile self-consciously, letting out a nervous giggle. "Y'know the final boss-fight in Populace Immoral 5 I was telling you guys about? Where big, brawny Sirhc Greenvalley was punching the boulder in a volcano? I was playing as Sirhc at the time, and from her comments, I've got three guesses for why Aria's aim was way off during that part."

There were some slightly scandalous giggles from around the table before Rarity cleared her throat. "That does sum up the situation, yes, and we're all sorry to have kept the three of you in the dark for so long."

Grinning, Sunset dismissively waved a hand. "Oh, it's oka-"

"It kinda ain't," interrupted Applejack. Glancing around, she found that the table was dead silent, drawing a sigh. "Well, Ah mean, Ah don't wanna go makin' a big mess over this, but don't it make anyone else just a little uncomfortable?"

Her expression guilty, Rainbow's hand shot up. "Yes! Super uncomfortable, that's why I blabbed!"

There were some giggles before Applejack returned her attention to the three secret siren befrienders. "Now, Ah definitely don't think that what'cha done with those girls is a bad thing, just..." She shrugged, some measure of hurt clear in her face. "Why didn't any of ya tell the rest of us sooner? If ya wanted us to keep quiet, we could have, it-"

"It's," Rainbow interrupted, "really not as easy as it sounds, AJ, trust me." She gingerly clasped her hands on the table. "Like, even now, I'm just wondering who out of the nine of us is gonna slip and expose everything first, but I don't think any of us wanted to hide anything." She turned to Fluttershy and Rarity. "Am I right?"

Both nodded, though Fluttershy wore a particularly apologetic frown. "I-I'm sorry I never, I mean, y-you girls almost guessed it a few times, but I always covered it up, b-because-" She was startled by a hand on her shoulder, whipping her head in that direction to see Applejack giving her a gentle little smile.

"We get why y'all did it, Sugarcube, and..." She had to hide her eyes with her hat. "Shoot, if Ah were in yer shoes, Ah might'a done the exact same thing."

She was clasped in an especially soft and grateful Flutterhug, which she returned with a light pat on the back.

"Pinkie Pie," asked Rarity, "are you quite alright?"

"Sure," she answered with a perky expression, "why do you ask, Rari-bear?"

Rarity gave her a sad stare. "I saw that frown, Miss Pie. I know I'm in no position to throw stones for keeping secrets, but if there's something you'd like to put forward, now is the time."

Pink, poofy hair lightly deflating, Pinkie made her I-Just-Dropped-A-Cupcake face. It was a very sad face for Pinkie. "Well, I guess it's like, we could have been friends with the Dazzlings the whole time?"

Sunset frowned too. "It's really not that simple, Pinkie."

Pinkie flailed her arms in random directions for a few seconds, though as always, she was careful to keep it out of friend-smacking range. "IknowIknowIknow, but still! It's been way, super hard to give them space like you said (which is a weird thing to give someone, because then they wouldn't be able to breathe), so instead I just stayed away from them and that's been really hard too! But I did it, I'm in the same class as Aria in sixth period and Adagio in eighth, but I left them alone no matter how sad, bored, or generally un-smiley they looked, but now I know that we could have been throwing secret siren parties for weeks?!"

Internally bracing herself, Sunset kept an even tone. This was going to be painful, but the point had to be made. "And what would we be doing with them at those parties?"

Her brain in party-mode, Pinkie beamed. "Tons of stuff! We could play games, eat cake, sing son-"

"Sing?"

The table was silent for a long moment. Sunset sighed.

"I haven't talked to them about it since before they started coming to school, but they're probably still sore about their voices." She focused her attention on Rarity, Rainbow, and Fluttershy. "Have they said anything to you guys about that?"

Rainbow's wince said it had come up in conversation, and her guiltily rubbing the back of her head said there may have been hurt feelings at the time. "I, it, it might still be kind of a soft spot, yea."

"Indeed," added Rarity with a frown, "there's no song in the world, or Twilight's, that could be sung to win them over right now."

Adagio's voice echoed in Fluttershy's head.

"I, I suppose that we should count ourselves lucky we can still speak at all, but I can't help thinking of telling someone they should be glad only one of their arms was torn off."

That was what Adagio had said on the matter the day Fluttershy nursed her, and nothing had really changed since then. Looking at Sunset, she frowned too. "Has T-Twilight said anything, since the last time?"

Sunset shook her head. "Nothing substantial. Actually, judging by the long pauses between her messages and the occasional odd word-choice? I don't think she wants to say it, but she might not even know where to begin, with or without the gems."

"What about you," asked Pinkie, "you were a magical brainiac too, right?"

Even if she blushed a little at the title, Sunset cracked a smile. "Well, maybe, but I only looked into chaos magic for a few days as part of a project, so I doubt I'd be much help."

"They were Coltlantian artifacts," blurted Fluttershy, "some actually thought they were holy relics, but Adagio said they were more like magically-advanced, uh... things. Would that help?" The rest of the table gaped at her, which made her shrink down a little. "I-I asked about their home once, so..."

"...Well," Sunset eventually offered, "I guess that's something, but Coltlantis was destroyed over a millennium ago, and almost nothing is known about their methods. Still, I'll pass that tid-bit along to Twilight soon."

Though if I tell her that she was directly involved in destroying irreplaceable Coltlantian artifacts, she'll probably blow a gasket.

"Anyway," she said with a hopeful smile, "at least when the sirens have more friends of their own, letting go and moving on might be easier for them."

There was another of those long, quiet moments as the others traded looks. Rainbow resisted the urge to make fun of Equestria's weirdness with punny names again, so the silence was broken by Applejack this time.

"Ah'm just gonna say it; why're you so calm 'bout all this? You were tryin' harder than anybody to get closer to the sirens and they acted like you were a hole in their boot. Don't it bother you even a little?"

Sunset let out a little laugh. "Of course not, why would it?" Five stares held her, which had proven to be a worryingly effective tactic for making her spill her guts. She'd have lamented the loss her status as an incredibly convincing liar, but what she'd gained in exchange was too precious to even think about trading back, even if it drew a little frown from her now.

"Well, okay, I'm not thrilled that none of them ever came to me," the smile made a hesitant return, "but believe me when I say I'm much happier that this is happening at all. I'd love to have them join us at Sugarcube Corner sometime, but from what they told you three," she indicated the trio that had passed along the sirens' thoughts, "it sounds like we'll have to wait a bit longer."

"From what I gather," offered Rarity, a thoughtful finger on her lower lip, "Adagio has some kind of operation in the works, though I'm unclear on the specific details."

All eyes turned to Fluttershy, which only made her a little nervous this time. Just the same, her expression was warm and cheerful. "Our d-date yesterday, it was to pick up some cute outfits that she'll be wearing to school."

Rainbow's fist shot upwards as she rose to her feet. "Freakin' called it!!" It only took a few seconds of unamused stares for her to sit back down, smiling sheepishly. "Heh, heh... sorry."

Rarity might have liked to comment as well, but she knew that at the time, Adagio and Fluttershy had no idea of what she'd been doing with Sonata. That was the only reason she didn't take offense to not having been contacted for giving one of the sirens a makeover.

"If it works out," continued Fluttershy, "I think Aria and Sonata might be doing the same thing soon."

Pinkie clapped her hands together, beaming a bright, sparkly-eyed grin. "And that might finally get them some friends! All it takes to get started is talking to someone for a few minutes, and this might finally be the icebreaker!"

"Yea!"
"Eeyup!"
"Hear-hear!"
"Uh-huh!"
"Yay!"

The six of them spent a little longer ironing out details, first and foremost that no one was to go spying on the sirens when they were with their respective Rainboom buddies. It was easily agreed on, but Rarity wanted to make especially sure, for reasons Rainbow insisted not be asked. That led to Pinkie expressing her sustained surprise that Fluttershy was the one to tame Adagio, Fluttershy replying that she wouldn't put it that way, just that Adagio was holding back to make her happy, for which she was very grateful. Applejack then asked her about Art class and shared her new hunch about that sketch from a while back, both of which led to Fluttershy locking up and sinking under the table until she could be lured out with a juice-box.

A little later in the afternoon, the group dispersed, everyone having agreed to honor the sirens' wishes by continuing as normal until the time was right, then see how things unfolded from there. That there wasn't a single hint of opposition to embracing the three as friends was like a flock of pronking lambs in Fluttershy's heart; just warm and happy and covered in soft fluff. That, of course, led her to her still-kinda-secret girlfriend, who would probably like to know how things went with the others today...

DING-DONG!

Sonata answered the door again, smiling just like she did earlier today. "Hi the-... Dr. Seuss? What're you doing here again?"

Giggling a little at the silliest of the nicknames the sirens had given her, Fluttershy smiled. "I just wanted to let you three know that the others agreed to keep things private and that there's nothing to worry about."

"Oh, we know," Sonata said while patting one of her pockets, "Rarity already called to pass it on, but thanks anyway!"

"Oh." Somehow, it hadn't occurred to Fluttershy to do that. Did she actually have Adagio's number?

...Could she get it now? There was no reason why not, right? The worry had been that her friends would see it in her phone and now her friends all knew about it anyway, so-

"-euss, Earth to Dr. Seuss, do you read, over? KRRRSHK!"

Fluttershy blinked twice. "Whuh, huh?"

Sonata giggled. "Thinkin' about Dagi naked, huh? It's okay, I do the same thing wi-" She was cut off with a series of spastic arm movements as Fluttershy went all rosy.

"N-n-no! I, I-I wasn't-"

"Is that so?" came a familiar, velvety voice from just behind her as faintly muscular arms slid over her shoulder and around her midsection, "And, what about now?"

Turning her head, Fluttershy found Adagio holding her in a gentle hug, her arms wrapped around Fluttershy's torso. Despite the predatory gleam in her red-violet eyes, Fluttershy only smiled a dopey smile. "Hi."

Adagio giggled. "Hello, Sweetie." She doesn't look very surprised, was slipping out the window and creeping around the side of the house not sneaky enough? Or does she just expect this from me now? I'm happy to oblige, but still...

Neither that nor the nudity question from a moment ago were answered as Fluttershy stretched out her neck to deliver a peck on the cheek, to which Adagio responded with a long, soft lip-lock. This might have escalated further, but both were a little taken out of it when Sonata, hands pressed to her cheeks, all but shouted "AWWWW!!"

The couple blushed, but neither had stopped smiling, even when they heard Aria's exaggerated yakking noises from inside. Shaking her head a little at the purple prude, Adagio smiled at the soft, cuddly girl in her arms, her voice gentle. "Would you like to come in for a while, Sweetie? I'll be making dinner in a bit."

Quietly awed by the fact that the suggestion had come without a hint of suggestiveness, from Adagio of all people, Fluttershy smiled back. "S-sure!"

While Fluttershy certainly enjoyed the way Adagio picked her up and brought her inside in the traditional princess-carrying pose; the carrier's hands supporting her legs and back while the carry-ee's arms gently encircled the carrier's neck, a tiny part of her was opposed. She was left on the couch, Adagio sitting next to her, and Aria and Sonata occupying cushy chairs to their sides, by which point she determined that her tiny dissatisfaction stemmed from wanting to be the one doing the carrying. Whether or not she had the physical strength to lift Adagio for longer than a four-second emergency-sprint, she didn't know.

"So," began Aria without looking away from the TV screen on which her digital rampage was displayed, a controller in her hands, "everything cool with those three?"

Grinning, Fluttershy nodded. "Everything's okay, none of us will tell a soul until you want us to."

"On that note," said Adagio as she leisurely leaned backward on the couch, "we'll likely need to be careful about how that's timed, even when we have a social circle of our own. No need to hammer out specifics right now, but it would raise a few eyebrows if we revealed everything on the same day, most of all you and I, or Nata and Rarity."

"Yep," giggled Sonata as she picked up a controller and tagged into Aria's bus-throwing mayhem, "if we were all "Hey, did we ever mention that we've been secret friends with those guys for months now?", it'd probably be more fuel on the can't-trust-'em-as-far-as-we-can-throw-'em fire."

It was a point they hadn't discussed at Sweet Apple Acres, but one that had occurred to Fluttershy before. She shrugged a little. "I guess so."

"It'll work out," Aria said in almost apathetic fashion before nodding to a third controller on the coffee table, "wanna join in?"

Cyan eyes rapidly darted back and forth between the controller and the onscreen chaos a few times. "Uh, n-no thank you."

"Not into the rough stuff, huh? Guess I can respect that." Another virtual garbage truck was sacrificed to the vicious reaper of pixels, but Aria noticed that other than the fire and explosions from the TV, the room had gone very quiet. She glanced at the others to see Fluttershy sitting there wide-eyed and glowing while Sonata and Adagio made the exact same motion of looking back at her with a scandalous hands raised to their mouths, though they did little to hide the smirks. Her word choice sunk in, making Aria blush almost as brightly as Fluttershy. "F-for the love of, I didn't mean like that!!"

Sonata wore a wide, satisfied grin. "But you still totally said it!"

"I meant violence, gut-rending, bone-crunching violence!" She winced a little as Fluttershy covered her virgin ears, but the fluffy-haired punishment for this was already staring her in the face.

"And yet, you didn't just say 'violence,'" Adagio pondered aloud as she leaned forward, her smirk and raised eyebrow starting to make Aria sweat, "you said 'the rough stuff.' Why is that? Something on your mind lately, Ria? Something you want to share?"

Aria did her best to sink down into her seat. "No."

"You're sure?"

"Yes." She was equally surprised and relieved to see Adagio backing off so early, but maybe she wanted to behave in front of her favorite Rainboom.

"Alright then, but remember that you can always talk to us, about anything."

"Uh-huh..."

Things were quiet again as the onscreen action continued, but Aria didn't dare look at either of her tormentors. Then Sonata asked anyway.

"So, top or bottom?"

"ARRGH!!"

Two sirens giggled as another turned red, but even she started to chuckle by the end of it. The three of them carried on, Fluttershy just watching in silence.

They still smile, she thought to herself, even without their voices, without- well, I don't know if it meant more to them than anything in the world, but- even without something very precious to them, they can still smile.

And somehow, that made her sad. Not that they could find any measure of happiness, that was great! Just, that anyone could carry on despite a painful loss, and she knew there were a lot of them in the world, made her think of her father. He was gone now, and nothing would ever change that, so the best thing she could do was to let go. Was the same true of the sirens' voices? She didn't want to think so, especially when-

Once more, Fluttershy's world stopped. It was just an instant, but one in which her brain struggled to keep up with itself as a number of thoughts crashed together at once. Adagio, Aria, and Sonata would never forsake their ability to sing if they had any hope whatsoever of getting it back, which was why the subject probably still hurt them. The problem, Adagio said, was that when they tried to project their voices loudly enough, they broke, but their speaking voices were unchanged. She said she wasn't really sure about how it worked either, that something happened when they shouted, sneezed, got the hiccups, yelled, or laughed too hard, but talking at an indoor volume was okay?

If that was the case... Fluttershy had a theory. A theory that, while she knew it was foolish to put such hope in so soon, she couldn't stop from splitting her face in a wide, painful smile. This got the Dazzlings' attention as they paused the game to look at her.

"Uhh," started Aria, "Squeaky? You okay there? Lookin' kinda..." there was a flicker of a nervous grin, "haha, scary."

Sonata looked a little uncomfortable too. "Y-yea... What's she doing, Dagi?"

Their fearless leader studied Fluttershy with a hand raised to her chin. "I don't know, but..." A little smirk forming, Adagio started to blush. "I think I like it..."

Aria covered her eyes. "Wow, and, ew."

Sonata didn't. "Dagi, you're a real freaky bit-"

"I HAVE AN IDEA," blurted Fluttershy, startling the sirens into silence. She gave the three of them an apologetic little grin. "Uh, I-I mean... I have an idea, f-for, uhm..." Horror seized her when she realized what she was about to suggest, but if there was even the tiniest chance that she was right? It was an easy thing to test, and from somewhere in the back of her mind, a long-accumulated confidence stepped forward, bringing with it such certainty that if she was wrong, she'd let them throw her out of the house stark naked. She had the undivided attention of all three, the combination of their stares and what may come with the next few minutes kicking her heartbeat into overdrive and sending ripples of fire and ice through her skin.

"What if you sang quietly?"

Not even Adagio gave her more than a blank, numb stare of shock in response. Her confidence took a baby-step backward, so she had to say this quickly.

"I-I mean, if your voice b-breaks when you talk louder, and they're-it's f-f-fine when-when, the rest of the time, I-I thought, w-what if, what if you j-j-" she bit her tongue, the stabbing pain bringing tears to her eyes as she cupped both hands over her mouth. She feared she'd start bawling then and there, but a gentle hand on her shoulder reminded her that she wasn't talking to complete strangers, but someone she loved, someone that might have even loved her back, and two people that... well, she was pretty sure they trusted her.

Fluttershy opened her eyes, but nothing had changed. The world hadn't split open, the sky hadn't fallen, and the sirens didn't look even a little upset with her. If anything, they looked lost, trading unsure glances until Adagio, gently rubbing Fluttershy's back, asked a question in a soft voice.

"What do you mean, Sweetie? That if we're just quiet, we should be able to sing again? Did Sunset Shimmer say that, was it an idea from Twilight Sparkle? What brought this on?"

She needed a minute before she could steady herself enough to verbalize a reply. "I, n-no, it's not from anyone, it just hit me a second ago. You s-said that, uhm, I-I mean, I think you said, that it was only when you were l-loud enough, s-so, I mean..." She gulped, her heart shuddering at the very idea of getting their hopes up for nothing. "Have you tried? Just singing quietly?"

There was another silent look-trading session before Aria shrugged. "What would you sing when it's so quiet hardly anyone's gonna hear it?" She was almost startled by Fluttershy's instant answer.

"A lullaby?"

Another short silence, this one broken by Sonata bursting into gigglefits with a wavering grin. "W-what, like, just like that? Sing quiet and it'll work great?"

"Have you tried?"

"Why would-"

It was the forcefulness in her voice that did the startling this time. "Have you tried?" It was like a needle in Fluttershy's heart when Sonata looked back at her as though she'd been scolded. If she had pony ears, they would have been down.

"N-no..."

This time, it was Fluttershy that was startled as Adagio cleared her throat. The others looked to her as though she'd just said she was going to cut a finger off.

"Well," she uttered, "lullabies aren't exactly our bread and butter, but if there's even a chance...?" Aria and Sonata, her two oldest friends, watched her in stationary silence as she raised a steadying hand to her chest, closed her eyes, opened her mouth, and held a hushed note. None of them could rightly call it singing, but it was a far cry from the screechy Hell that had been their performance just before being booed off the stage at the Battle. She dared push a little harder, but backed down to softer keys when she felt her voice giving. Staying as low as possible, she varied things a little more, letting herself gently hum a few bars of the lullaby Fluttershy had sung for her the day she was sick.

And nothing was wrong.

It was soft, it was modest, but it was her voice, a much gentler version of what she remembered. Her heartbeat picking up, she opened her eyes to see her two band-mates gaping at her with their eyes nearly bulging straight out of their sockets and Fluttershy beaming the biggest, brightest, most dentist-worrying smile she'd ever seen her make. Adagio's speaking voice was soft and tearful as she smiled at the three of them. "Join me?"

The four of them practiced a lullaby together. Aria and Sonata were as shaky as Adagio had been at first, but the three of them worked out their range fairly quickly, singing very softly, but almost flawlessly for the first time since their gems were destroyed. When the lullaby stopped, it wasn't because the song was over, but because none of the four girls could hold together through their tears. She would deny it to her dying day, but Aria was the first to break down into inelegant blubbering as the sirens all but launched at each other, stammering and crying and and squeezing each other in clumsy, but fully-reciprocated hugs. It wasn't all happy crying, because overjoyed though they were to have even this much, they knew they'd spent the last few months without it for no better reason than having been too scared to try such a thing, but pain wasn't high on their list right now.

Emotionally raw though they were, the three didn't forget about Fluttershy, who was startled for different reasons when they latched onto her as one, their tears matched with her own, their grateful mutterings met with wordless blubbering that vaguely conveyed wishes for their continued happiness. It wouldn't make up for what they had lost, all of them knew that, but for now? It was something, and something they intended to cherish every day of their lives.

Author's Note

...I feel like with the way this chapter ended, I need to say that No, the story is not over yet. Things are winding down, but there are still several chapters left. With my wonky idea of what constitutes a 'chapter' at that. Next one is about Fluttershy hanging out with the Dazzlings for a bit.

Three guesses which of the Dazzlings' songs Pinkie liked best.

I wrapped up the picnic scene with Tell again, but only because the rest of it struck me as kinda boring conversation.

Seriously, Chris, boulder-punching. Why do it, even? Why?

Finally, remember when someone wrote a clopfic about this story? Well it happened again, and might actually keep happening! I'm as surprised as you are, honestly, unless you're not surprised, in which case, I may be in a minority in feeling quite surprised!

At this rate, I'm thinking I'll just post all recursive fanfics this story gets (clop and otherwise) at the bottom of the description, with notes regarding the chapters after which they're supposed to take place so no one accidentally gets spoilered. That might be easier, so I'm hoping there are no rules about not being allowed to post links to clopfics in non-clop stories. Didn't see any, will have to look again.

Chapter 39: Fun and Name-Games

Following an extended group-hug (VERY huggy, and tearful, and embarrassing, Fluttershy supervised), control of their emotions gradually drifted back in. Aria and Sonata somewhat sheepishly moved back to their chairs as Adagio gently held Fluttershy on her lap, almost as though she were afraid someone would try to take her away. Self-conscious though it might have made her feel, especially in front of witnesses, Fluttershy did not protest.

"Wow," muttered Sonata while steadying her breath, "that was like... cleansing, or something! Is that gonna be a regular thing when we have more friends?"

It took Fluttershy a second to realize that she was the senior... friendship... person... in the room, so she answered as best she could. "W-well, it's not exactly an everyday part of life, o-or every week, or even every month, but uhm..." She shrugged a little. "It does kinda happen, when it needs to."

Her arms crossed, Aria shrunk down in her seat a little, a hint apprehension in her face. "Does it have to be in front of, y'know, other people? This might come as a shock, but I'm not exactly... good with people."

Tilting her head a little, Fluttershy frowned. "What do you mean?" She could guess, of course, but she wouldn't have bet on any of the sirens, who had no trouble shaking their hips in public, having the same problems she did.

Aria shuffled a little, unable to sink down or cross her arms any further. "L-like, I mean..." She looked to her two oldest friends, almost hoping they'd make fun of her somehow so she wouldn't have to say it herself. Each of them just gave her warm, patient, judgement-free looks.

Dammit.

She sighed, looking Fluttershy in the eye. "Look, up to now, I've been keeping to myself to stay out of trouble, but like, that's not the only reason, y'know?" The look on Fluttershy's face said 'No, I don't know, please embarrass yourself by telling me.' Not in those words, maybe, but Aria knew there was no point in stalling now. "You might not hear a lot of people talk about it, but I actually did try making friends by myself when we came back, and it was always a disaster." She blushed. "Even when people weren't scared of me, I'd get all self-conscious and babble like an idiot. I even asked Photo Finish if she worked at the racetracks!"

Fluttershy blinked twice. Aria vaguely gestured with her hands in response. "Y'know, because, it's the racetracks, the horses go really fast and sometimes it's a little hard to tell who's in first, so like, they get a camera for, uh, photo-finishing... it?" The following silence was almost painful, but Adagio stepped in to save her. Kind of.

"Was that an adequate demonstration, Sweetie?" The answer came with a smile and one of those endearing little giggles.

"I-I think so, yes." Experienced with friendship and awkwardness, Fluttershy offered her best advice to her fellow babbler. "It might be a little scary at first, but when you get to know someone a little better, talking to them gets a lot easier." Realizing how that might sound condescending, she raised her hands defensively. "Oh, b-but, uh, y-you might have already known that, because you already know Adagio and Sonata, and you talk to them all the t-err, I mean, I would think you do, b-because, and, uhm-" She was cut off by Sonata's sudden gigglefits.

"Man, good thing you nabbed her first, huh Dagi?"

Chuckling, Adagio gently brushed a hand along Fluttershy's back. "Indeed." Adagio kissed her on the cheek before she could ask, Fluttershy's thoughts reduced to fidgety, happy-embarrassed muttering.

"So, anyway," Aria picked up with an almost apologetic little grin, "Doom came to me that one time at school, but other than that? I kinda hung back and hoped those two-" she indicated Sonata and Adagio "-would figure out the whole 'friendship' thing for me. Mission accomplished?"

Sonata blushed, averting her eyes while absent-mindedly scratching the underside of her jawline. "Well, Dagi and I might'a figured out something else first..."

Fluttershy squeaked, drawing a giggle from Adagio. "Ohh, don't be silly, Nata," she smirked while delicately brushing her fingertips along Fluttershy's spine, "we already knew all about that!" The shivers from the blushing girl on her lap just made her all warm inside! Aria turning rosy too was a delightful bonus.

"Yeesh, get a room!"

"I look forward to the day you hit puberty, Ria."

"Wha-?! I'm, I already-" Her friends giggling at her drew an angry pout, but it quickly transitioned to a wry little grin. When the laughter died down, she picked up a controller again. "So, Squeaky, I know I asked already, but you sure you don't wanna play with us? We do have some stuff that's actually less violent than the Vietnam war."

Almost without thinking about it, Fluttershy turned to look at Adagio as if seeking confirmation or approval, and got a little nod back. She looked back and forth at Aria and Sonata, both of whom were making faces a bit like Rainbow when she asked if she would come cheer for her at a sporting event, or Rarity when she was hoping Fluttershy would try on a design she made. It always tickled her a little when someone wanted her to be part of something important to them, drawing a slightly self-conscious grin.

"O-okay!"

She was startled by a sudden, relatively loud "Hurray!" from Sonata as she leapt out of her seat to switch discs in the right machine. As the loading screens ticked by, Aria handed Fluttershy a controller of her own.

"We'll have to get you a screen-name first, what do you wanna be called?"

"Uhm... F-Fluttershy?"

Adagio snorted, quietly giggling as she patted Fluttershy's head. "An online alias, Sweetie."

"Oh, right!" She hadn't really understood what Rainbow meant when she asked her to come up with a screen-name all those years ago, and if she'd known at the time that it would be seen by potentially thousands of people, she'd have probably put more thought into it than 'DoomPrism.' Awareness that it was practically a secret identity helped cushion the blow, but she still wasn't sure what to call herself now. "D-do, um, do you have any suggestions?"

Sonata rapidly shook her head. "You've gotta pick your own name, Dr. Seu-... Um..." She smiled very, very sheepishly. "Haha, n-nevermind... Do you mind if I keep calling you Dr. Seuss?"

She smiled. "Not at all." It kind of fit because she was at least reasonably talented in writing rhymes for the songs she wrote. Like the one that destroyed the Dazzlings' voices. The one that left them broken and miserable until Sunset found them. The one that-

"-eetie? Are you alright?"

Fluttershy snapped to attention, seeing Adagio's slightly worried face inches from her own. This was far too happy a day to dwell on something like that, so she banished the thought to the dark woods in the back of her mind. "S-sorry, I was just thinking of, um-" Idea! "w-what do you guys use for screen-names?"

"I go with 'RuleBook,'" answered Aria, "Nata is FriendlyFire, and Dagi switches her name all the time."

"Oh?" She looked at Adagio to see a mischievous grin. Her fluffy, trickster goddess started to giggle as Aria listed off names.

"Yea. I think it went Touch_Me, PillowTalk, -she made a lotta suggestive comments during that deathmatch- Harder_Please!, Alpha_Q, -don't say it fast-" Sonata was giggling too now, "If_U_Seek_Amy, -don't say it slow- The_Safe_Word_Is_Thank_You, and, w-well..." Aria turned pink. "Let's just say the first part of it was 'Mike' and leave it at that."

Adagio cackled as Fluttershy tried to decide whether she wanted to work out what half of those names meant right this minute. "Don't worry, Sweetie, I don't always go with something naughty."

"Yea," Sonata concurred, "just like 98% of the time!" She smiled wider when Adagio playfully stuck her tongue out at her. "Real-talk, though, the one you've got now is pretty innocent. Why would you pick 'MagnificentPeach' for a name, anyway?"

This one worked itself out in Fluttershy's head almost instantly, bringing up memories of Thursday's Art class. Certain now that Adagio had heard every word about her painting that day, in addition to the awareness that thousands of people might see that name, Fluttershy flushed painfully hot as her jaw fell open and Adagio again cackled in triumph.

Snickering, Aria shook her head. "So it was delayed dirtiness. You always played the long game, Dagi."

The fluffy mastermind wore a proud smirk. "I try." Granted, she didn't know Fluttershy would ever see it, but sometimes things worked out quite nicely on their own.

When Fluttershy had cooled down and Aria was configuring the game settings for a first-timer, Sonata smiled. "So, what're you gonna be, Dr. Seuss?"

"Yea," added Aria, "what'll it be, Squeaky?"

She again looked at Adagio, but this time there was just an encouraging little smile. "Anything you like, Sweetie." She sealed the statement with a quick kiss to Fluttershy's forehead.

That peck must have gone straight to her brain, because Fluttershy instantly knew what she wanted to call herself. She'd be lying if she said there was no bias in which of her three Dazzling-bestowed nicknames was her favorite, but if this was the name she was going to use when playing with them, she knew just the right one. She smiled.

"Can you make me 'Dr_SweetSqueak'?"

A trio of giggles delivered through warm, sincere grins faintly reminded her of the first time she saw Adagio genuinely smile.

Adagio didn't join the game, deciding that she was quite content to hold Fluttershy instead of a controller at the time. The first game was about teams of cartoon worms blowing each other up with bouncy grenades, haphazardly-aimed bazookas, and a bunch of other exploding stuff. It was violent, certainly, but just cartoon violence, the kind Fluttershy had come to grips with a long time ago.

Seventh grade was plenty long ago, thank you very much!

More importantly, it was all imaginary anyway, so she didn't even let the exploding sheepies (the very cute exploding sheepies that even went 'Baaa!' before detonation) bother her. Not a lot, anyway. That she was sitting on Adagio's lap may have helped.

"You getting the controls yet, Squeaky?"

"I think so, yes. These little worms are so cute!"

"Where are you going with that one? The other team is on the other side of the map."

"Oh, I know, I just like watching these characters inch across the landscape."

"Better still, going that far from the central battlefield means they have to either pull off some very difficult shots, or run down the timer to follow you."

"Huh?"

"Ooh, she's right! Ria, get to high ground with me on your turn!"

"Nah, I'll shoot 'em in the back while they're following her, only one of us needs to survive for our team to win the match."

"What's going on?"

"Don't worry about it, just see if you can nab some of those crates over there."

"Ooh, even the boxes are all cute and bouncy!"

"Hehe. Yes, Sweetie, just focus on the bouncy boxes."

"Wait, why is the water level rising?"

Fluttershy's love of watching cartoony worms make their way over the destructible terrain led her worm and most of the enemy team to a watery grave when the sudden-death timer ran out and the map began to flood. Sonata's carelessness with a grenade quickly cost her the high ground, but Aria's bazooka-sniping perch left her as the last one standing. Any sense of the death toll was lost on Fluttershy when she beheld the animations of a cartoon-worm victory dance.

When Fluttershy was warmed up to the mechanics of the game, they decided to play an online match, where Aria and Sonata spoke with their 'disguise' accents, despite Adagio's subtle pleas not to. They stayed in-character while explaining it to Fluttershy.

"Eet iz very sim-pull, Dahktah Sooz," Sonata said while possibly offending Photo Finish's ancestry, "we speek in dis way to hide ourselves fwom de worlt!"

"Why?"

Aria shrugged. "It begahn when Ah first stahted playeeng with Rainbow Dahsh, ami, Ah used zis voice in cahs one of her friends happahned to ovahheer me ahn ze microphone. Zen Nata 'erd an' joined in, an' ze two of us got Dagee to do it as well."

Just as Adagio feared, Fluttershy turned to her with wide, curious eyes. "Really?"

"Er, w-well..." She felt herself blush, glancing at Aria and Sonata in the vain hope that they might get her out of embarrassing herself in front of Fluttershy. As anticpated, they wore only amused grins, with Sonata showing particular enthusiasm.

"Do eet, Da-Jee, we arr not kom-pleet wit-out you!"

"Oui, show 'er your impres-shahn!"

Fluttershy didn't say anything one way or the other, but her eyes might as well have beamed the 'Pleeeeeeeease?' straight into Adagio's fluffy head. She sighed in defeat. "Alright, alright..." It tickled her a little how Fluttershy perked up when she cleared her throat.

"Vell," she asked in her Imitation Russian voice, "vaht do you vant to hear? I von't be joinink in zis match, so eet makes leettle difference how I speek." It was with a hint of anxiety that she watched the girl on her lap go wide-eyed and cover her mouth with both hands, though Adagio could tell by the position of her cheeks that she was smiling. "Sveetie? Everythink alright?"

Fluttershy moved her hands to cover most of her face, though that which was visible flushed red as she giggled. She loved Adagio's voice as it was, but a Russian (or was it 'Slavic'? Somewhere in Eastern Europe, she was sure) accent just felt right for her somehow.

Will she use that voice on the bench tomorrow? Would she tease me with it? Would I have to ask?

...Do I want to?

Peeking through her fingers let her see a smirk that said this uncertain wish was about to come true.

"Sveetie? Somethink you vant to tell us?" Adagio gently seized her prey by both arms, fingertips delicately brushing over her skin. Fluttershy shivered, but quickly shook her head in denial. Adagio's grin only grew more vicious. "No matter, I have vays ov making you talk..."

For the next minute, Adagio rapidly alternated between light (though chaste) caresses and aggressive tickles, her trapped victim going back and forth between shudders and loud, uncontrollable laughter. Sonata giggled merrily at the sight, trying to decide whether or not recording it on her phone would be going too far. While part of Aria was annoyed that Adagio apparently just got over one of the few things they could fluster her with (something about fake accents making her feel silly, which Aria determined to be plain crazy-talk), the rest of her was just glad not to be the one getting tormented this time.

The tickle target gasped for breath. "St-st-sto-hah-heeheehee! Ple-hee-eese, sto-ho-hop!!"

Snickering, Comrade Adagio relented, even if she didn't quite hear a 'squirrel' in there. "To be conteenued."

When Fluttershy had caught her breath, Fraulein Sonata smiled. "So, 'ow uhbout yoo, Dahktah Sooz?"

"H-huh?"

Offering Fluttershy a headset of her own, Mademoiselle Aria chuckled. "Ah zink she wahnts you to peek one of your own, ami, a voice to play weeth?"

"Oh!" Feeling just a little put on the spot, her mind stumbled for a moment. Then she remembered Rarity, and smiled. "Well," she said in her best impression of a posh, British accent, "I do believe I could emulate a vernacular from across the pond, if it pleases you. Would that be permissible, do you think?"

There was a loud second of silence, then all three sirens burst into gigglefits, Sonata's easily the loudest even without her fervent clapping. It made her a little self-concious to perform like that, but Fluttershy still smiled, doubly so when Adagio leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"Velcome aboard, Sveetie."

While Adagio's breath on her ear sent a tingly blush creeping up her neck, keeping her mouth shut kept her from making it worse. There'd be time later to work out exactly what she meant by 'Velcome aboard,' but for now, Fluttershy basked in the warm feeling of inclusion.

And then they shot cartoony rockets at stuff.

After a few online victories earned through strategic use of the sudden-death flash-flood, the four of them moved on to an eastern RPG. The sirens were most of the way through this one already, so Fluttershy asked them to explain the plot. To her surprise, Aria was having more trouble than she was.

"But if he's from the future, how did the space-whale attack in the first place?"

"He wasn't from the future, the ruined city in this world is the desolate remains of that very attack a thousand years ago!"

"Ahh, memories."

"Heeheehee!"
"Haha, yea."

"Wait, if the city was actually in the past, why is almost everything so low-tech during the events of the story?"

"Back in Equestria, they didn't have most of the technology you have here. Here in this world, they didn't have periodic attacks by powerful forces of evil until Sunset Shimmer arrived. Getting your world ravaged by big monsters on a regular basis slows R&D down a little bit, Sweetie."

"I guess so."

"Plus, y'know, the church telling everybody that techno-crud is what makes the space whale mad. That they still have those machines, like in the basement of the biggest temple, proves that it all existed already, that they've been using it ever since that city was destroyed!"

"I thought it was the punk-rock lookin' heretic guys that built it all?"

"It was the church guys that told us that, Ria, and they're the bad guys in this game!"

"Okay, okay, just answer me this; if this guy Wavus is just a 'Dream of the Optymysm,' why can everyone touch him?"

"He's a dream in the same sense that the summoned monsters are."

"The ones made of dead people?"

"Their spirit energy, perhaps."

"The same ones that turn into monsters out in the wild?"

"The difference is a sacrificial ritual, they explained this earlier."

"And, what we're trying to do to kill the space whale, that's gonna get rid of all of them too?"

"Pretty much! It's the only way to make sure the whale doesn't come back when we kill it."

"But, w-wait, if everything the Optymysm summon will go away once the space whale is gone for good, and Wavus is 'summoned' too, d-doesn't that mean...?"

"And that's why he hasn't told the girl yet."

"Oh... oh, this game is so sad..."

"Eh, I hear the sequel has a happier ending."

Fluttershy got to watch the spectacular final boss-fight and ensuing bittersweet ending. She kind of wanted to ask if she could come over again just to see that happier ending in the next game, but the thought of regularly coming over to the sirens' house made her mind wander. It came back to her when the main menu to a cartoonier, more cheerful game appeared onscreen. The sirens had apparently noticed her expression from moments before, explaining that a light-hearted game about defending your house from zombies with a magic garden would probably take her mind off of the tragic parting in the RPG.

It worked swimmingly.

"Eeee! All of these plants are adorable! Even the zombies are kind of cute!"

"My favorite's the walnuts!"

"The ones that die slow and painful when you use them as shields?"

"Aria!"

"What? It's how the game goes."

"War is full of sacrifices, and if not for those willing to give their lives, the rest might not see another day."

"..."
"..."

"...You took that better than I'd have anticipated, Sweetie."

"Heh, t-thanks. I mean, I guess it's k-kind of like-"

"Like when Wavus died in the other game?"

"SONATA!"
"Oh, poor Wavus!!"
"Aaand there it is."

It had worked swimmingly.

After a few rounds of defending the homestead with sunshine and vegetables, Aria suggested a game with a similar concept; defending a portal from waves and waves of goblins, but with medieval traps instead of a magical green thumb. As the sirens knew that this was a much more violent game, Aria signaled Adagio to distract Fluttershy so she could go into the options menu and disable the gore. Adagio obliged with glee.

"Hm... Sweetie, I just thought of a way we can play as a team."

"Huh?"

"I'll use you as my controller."

"What d-EEK!"

"Weird place for a start button..."

"I-I don't think that-Ooh-hoo-hoo!"

"Shoulder-triggers, good..."

"Pl-please st-Yipe!!"

"Ooh, I think found the analog sticks!"

"ADAGIO!!"

"Heeheehee! Sorry, Sweetie, suppose I'll need to... refine the technique before we can use it."

She took Fluttershy glowing red to mean the distraction was successful. That or Fluttershy's battery was running low. Cordless controllers were kind of a pain like that. Either way, she glanced at Aria, whose smile said they were ready to go, and Sonata, who set down the notepad she'd been writing on to begin the game.

"Remember, Squeaky," Aria said with a hint of a smirk, "on the other side of that portal are all the flowers and bunnies and innocent, rosy-cheeked orphans in the idyllic little village. You know what happens if too many goblins get through?"

"R-right..."

"Wow... New high score. I don't think anything even got near the portal!"

"No kidding, I barely got to shoot anything. What'd you do, Squeaky?"

"Huh?"

"We let you handle the traps while we defended the gateway with brute force. Just what did you set up?"

"Oh, um, w-well, it was nothing much, I just-"

"We've got some time until the next round, let's just go out and... Wow, that's a lot of springy-pads!"

"They didn't cost much to build, so when I got more points at the end of each round, I-"

"There's a network of these things!"

"I'm following it."

"Oh, it just leads to the water over by the eastern ledge. I felt bad for the poor goblins, and if the scarecrows I put up didn't convince them to leave, I thought the bouncy-boards would eventually take them to the harmless water."

"Does she know those 'scarecrows' are bombs? Or that goblins can't swim?"

"Shh."

"But, traps need a minute to reset after they're triggered. What, did you put all your extra points into speeding up the reset times?"

"...Is... i-is that bad?"

"Hehehe. Not at all, well done, Sweetie."

"Yea, yea, it was fine for Easy Mode, but I still wanna rack up a bodycount too. Let's crank it up to Normal."

"Phew, that was a little hectic. Happy now, psycho?"

"It was still kinda weak... What'd you do this time, Squeaky?"

"Um... Th-things were fine until the hobgoblins showed up, and they were kind of mean, so-"

"Ria. Come see this."

"I-I just wanted to protect the flowers and bunnies and-"

"Wow. You've got a real decathlon of death goin' here. Why'd you put freeze-cannons way up there?"

"Oh, well, the bat-creatures (they aren't very nice either) only come once in a while, and with the cannons' long recharge time, I figured it would be okay to let them freeze the bats solid so they would shatter on their own when they hit the ground. The sharp, slippery chunks of ice over that spot are good for slowing the rest of the horde down, too, so the swinging guillotine trap at the end of that walkway is more likely to catch more of them at once. The scurrying little rat-men compensate with speed over the ice, but their small health-bars mean they don't survive the burning coals before the guillotine, so it's only the bulk of the tougher enemies that survived everything else who get their heads chopped off. Is that okay?"

"..."

"Scary."

"I'm sorry!"

"Huehuehuehuehue~!"

"Uhm... Ad-dagio?"

"Don't worry about a thing, Sweetie, you did wonderfully. In fact, I'm curious."

"C-curious?"

"Oooh, she's givin' her the smirk of death!"
"Shh!"

"Mhm. Your traps were set so deviously, I can hardly wait to see what you have in mind for me."

"Wh-what?!"

"You know, something you've always wanted to do to me, something you'd have to be sneaky to pull off."

"N-noth, there's nothing I want to do like that!"

"Ohh, come now, there must be something you've thought ab-"

"No, I mean, if there was something I wanted, I'd never be sneaky about it, I would just ask you!"

"..."

"Oooh, Dagi's blushing too!"
"This girl is a miracle-worker..."

"I, I mean, I'd want to be sure it was okay with you first, a-and I'm not as good at being sneaky anyway, s-so... Is it okay if I just ask?"

There was a genuine smile. "That's okay with me, Sweetie." And then a smirk. "So, now that we're on the subject-"

"Jeez, Dagi, didn't you say you'd be making dinner?"

"Oh, right! Are you two still interested in fried onion curls?"

"Heck yea!"

"Hehe, alright then. Sorry, Sweetie, but...?"

"Ah, uh, o-okay!" She didn't exactly scramble to get off of Adagio's lap, but she knew cooking would be tricky if she didn't move. "D-do you need any help, or-"

"I'll be fine. Stay and play a while, would you? These two get ludicrously competitive if it's just the two of them."

"Do not!"

"Yea, 'cuz I totally wipe the floor with her."

"Oh, yea? Because that's not how I remember that last round in Better Bash Brothers going!"

"Y-you got lucky!"

"Lucky I'm so much better than you!"

"You little-"

"Girls, please, we have a guest."

Fluttershy giggled as the two bickering sirens tinted pink.

"Anyway, I'll be back in a bit. Play nice now!"

Calmer now, Aria cleared her throat. "So, Squeaky, how are you with puzzles?"

"I-I'm sorry?"

"Woah, apologizing already? That's not encouraging!"

"What?"

"I probably should'a brought it up earlier, but we've got at least one game with no combat, no fighting, not even any blood in the co-op mode."

"What was that last part?"

"Nothin'. So, you interested? I already played through with Dagi and it's no fun if you already know the solutions, so Nata here hasn't had anyone to play it with."

"I never even got through the single-player part, but I'm sure we'll nail it together, Doc!"

"Okay!"

Fluttershy found herself controlling one of two cute robots in a high-tech testing facility, Sonata controlling the other as they worked together to solve environmental puzzles with movable blocks, obstacles, switches that did things, and rift-launching mechanisms of some sort. Aria was there to offer tips when the two got stuck.

"Okay, remember that hover-walkway thing from a few rooms ago?"

"Yes?"

"The power source is wired up in this chamber, so you can use that to charge the next walkway."

"Oh, I see! So I just..."

A rerouting of energy revealed the way forward.

"Hurray!"

"Yay~!"

Sonata started across the hover-bridge.

"Squeaky, you see those levers by the start of the bridge?"

"Yes?"

"Hit middle one."

"But isn't that the-"

"No time, just hit it!"

"O-okay!"

The three of them watched as the hover-bridge disappeared, dropping Sonata into a pit of boiling acid.

"HEY!!"
"I-I'm sorry!!"
"Nyehehehehehehehehehe!"

"That, th-that was just mean!"

"I know, didn't think you had it in you."

"WHAT?!"

"You knew the switch would retract the bridge, right? Why'd you hit it anyway? Do you just like making poor Nata suffer?"

"B-but, I, y-you, I, but-"

"Muahahahaha!"

"Heeheehee. I think I see why Dagi likes messing with her so much, that face is pretty funny!"

"Haha, yea. Sorry, Squeaky, you okay there?"

"I, I'm, y-you're, you are such a-...!"

"...?"

"...Meanie!"

"...Ow. My fragile pride."

"Gasp! I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean it, I was j-just so frustrated, I-"

"PFFFTHahahahahahahahaha!!"
"Ogawd, it hur-hur-hurtshahahahahahahaha!!"

Fluttershy sat still, slowly going red under the dual assault of laughter until the two looked at her with wide, genuine smiles as they tried to reign themselves in.

"You're a riot, y'know that, Flutters?"

"Y-yea! I'm literally cry-hi-hing!"

Blushing for slightly different reasons now, Fluttershy smiled back. "Hehe. Thanks."

Dinner wasn't quite ready by the time they were finished solving sciencey puzzles, so Aria brought out one more game to entertain Fluttershy while they waited. It was right up her alley, too; a game about cutesy, singing animals!

Well, animal mascots.

In a run-down pizza joint.

Did she mention it was a horror game? No, no, where would the fun in that be? It had gotten dark outside, too, so shutting off the lights and leaving the television screen as the only source of illumination in the room in the name of 'ambiance' was icing on the cake.

Even better? Sonata had never played it either, so the two of them had no idea what to expect.

Aria just wished she had popcorn.

"What was that phone call about?"

"I-I'm not sure, I was kind of seeing what all the buttons did. This one moves the doors, this one switches through the little TV screens. Hello there, Mr. Bunny, how are you?"

"He looks kinda rusty."

"That's not very nice."

"Well he does! ...Hey, where'd he go?"

"You might have hurt his feelings. Mr. Bunny? It's okay, Mr. Bunny, I'm sure she didn't mean it."

"Totally did."

"Shh! Mr. Bunny? Mr. B-oh, there he is. And there's Mr. Bear in the dining roo-"

They were nearly launched out of their seats by the mechanical rabbit jumping at the camera while emitting an ear-splitting shriek. Fluttershy and Sonata had immediately responded in kind, though more out of terror than... whatever Mr. Bunny's reason had been.

"Ahahahahahahahahahaha!!"

"YOU SUCK!!"

"Heh heh heh! Ohh, that was great."

"Y'know what? I agree with Dr. Seuss: You're mean!"

"Yup. That's pretty much it for this game, but I knew it'd be worth a-... Squeaky? What're you doing?"

"Hm? Oh, I'm trying it again. I think I know why Mr. Bunny attacked us the first time and I want to let him and the others know that we're all friends here."

Aria and Sonata shared a cautious look.

"Um... The rust comment?"

"Hehe. No, I know they can't really hear us. It's okay, Mr. Bunny," she said to the game anyway, "I won't close the door and make you feel unwelcome this time."

"Uh, a-actually, you're supposed to-"

SCREEEEEEEEE!!
"EEEEEEEEEEEEK!!"

"..."
"..."

"O-okay, uhm... m-maybe if I try this..."

"I get it now, Mr. Bunny knows this is a security office, and he doesn't like it when the doors are left carelessly open! I'll just leave them closed and we can be friends through the screens!"

"Well, you're, uh, kind of getting the right idea, it's more like-"

"Oh, the lights just went out for some reason."

"Limited power supply."

"Oh, it's okay, Mr. Bear brought a light for-"

SCREEEEEEEEE!!
"OHMYGOODNESS!!"

"...Yea."

"This time, this time I know what to do; Mr. Bunny, Ms. Chicken, and Mr. Bear don't like the door open, but none of them like it when it gets dark, so I just have to-"

SCREEEEEEEEE!!
"AAAAAAA!!"

"Let me guess; that one's name is Mr. Fox."

"I like to call him 'Pirate Dave.'"

"Left hall clear, one in the kitchen, dining area clear, right hall is-DOOR! ...Clear. Mr. Dave is still behind the curtain, just have to-"

SCREEEEEEEEE!!
"EEEEEEK!!"

"Um... Look, Squeaky, are you sure you don't wanna do something el-"

"I'm fine!"

"Really? 'Cuz, you're starting to look a little twitchy and-"

"I'm fine! I'll work out their system, and then we'll all be friends! Heeheehee, yes, we'll all be friends, little critters, and by the end of the night, you're going to love me..."

"...I'm scared!"

"Shh!"

"We'll have a great time, a great time together, just stay where you are, s-staaaay there, and we'll be fine, everything will be absolutely fine, la-de-de-de-deet-de-da, hahaha! Ohh, where did you go, Mr. Bunny, where did Mr. Bunny gooo? Gosh, I wish I knew where Mr. Bunny went because it's not good when they go places, nonononono, it's not good at all, it's not good at all, why did you go somewhere, Mr. Bunny? Why did you go? Where did you go? Why and where did you go, why did you go to where? Don't you want to have a great time together? We could have a great time together, but not if you- oh, goodie, Mr. Bear is gone too, hahahahaha! That's fine, that's fiiiine, what was that noise? I don't like that noise, I don't like that noise at all, mn-nhn, because that noise means one of them moved again, but I don't see anyone on the cameras, I don't see-"

SCREEEEEEEEE!!
"AAAAAISEETHEMNOW!!"

"This is almost as bad as the time Dagi dressed like a clown!"

"Arguably worse."

"...Sonata, when did you move to Aria's chair?"

"Uhm-"

"Heeheehee, it's okay, you wouldn't be the only one moving around when I wasn't looking, ISN'T THAT RIGHT, MR. DAVE?!"

"...Ria?"

"...Yea?"

"...Hold me."

"...Okay."

"Y'know what, y'knowwhat?! Fine, finefinefinefinefinefinefinefine!! You guys wanna be like this, you, you just, BE LIKE THIS! Go be like this all over the floor, or in a closet, or a dark basement, or an I-don't-care! I'm just gonna sit here, in my little room, with my door buttons, and my screens, and my- you not in here with me! Because you don't want to be friends, nonononono, you just want to pop up and scare me, well fine! You want me to keep the door shut, I'll shut it right in your stupid face!! I tried to be nice, I tried to be understanding, I know that this isn't a good habitat for the four of you and I tried to let you into mine, but no, it's all shrieking and scaring, and not understanding that I don't like that very much! Could we just find a little common ground? A little meeting halfway? No, because all of you are nasty critters and you know what? You ARE rusty! So you can just-"

The screen faded to black with the chiming of a bell, signifying that the player had made it through the night.

"Gasp, it, it's over? I won? HA! Yes, I did it! The night is over and I won, suck on that, pop-up critters, SUCK! ON! THAT!!"

Her adrenaline returning to normal levels, Fluttershy let out a contented sigh and smiled peacefully. "That was a fun game."

Aria and Sonata, still clinging to each other for dear life, shared a quick, worried glance before deciding not to say anything. Unfortunately, this left them in silence with the screaming ball of Crazy that had again donned its mask of normalcy, the inscrutable facade again raised to lure unwitting victims into a false sense of security, just waiting for the right moment to-

"Dinner's ready!"

"EEEEEEEK!!"
"AAAAAAAHH!!"

"...What's got you two so spooked?"

"Uggh. Should've checked the camera for the kitchen..."

Author's Note

So here we are again. It's always such a pleasure.
I've been thinking about Portal lately.

Anyway, usual thing; I think "Oh, just a chapter or so!" and get a full-fledged story arc (still don't know if that's the proper term) out of it. Long AN's are getting to be a thing too. Wharhargarbl.

Awkward Aria. Awkwaria. Aquaria, pirate princess of the high seas! She'd need an eyepatch, but then people might wink at her. Awkward.

My apologies to all nationalities everywhere. For what it's worth, typing those accents is a bit of a chore. If requested, I will write plain translations under all of the accented bits, like

"Oui, show 'er your impres-shahn!"
<"Yes, show her your impression!">

This chapter contains a shout-out from the future. :pinkiehappy:

Does highlighting the colored text make it easier to read at all? :rainbowhuh:

It occurred to me while writing this chapter that a lot of this story could be considered 'filler,' but I kind of feel that some amount of filler is necessary. Very little might be happening to visibly advance the plot, but I feel the fun moments help space out the big, important happenings, as well as provide most of the normal, life-y scenes, if that makes sense.

I can understand wanting things to steadily move along, but with no simple interaction scenes at all, the characters involved feel lifeless and robotic, even if there's plenty of banter and chatter during the important scenes. Like, if we never get to see them just interacting like ordinary people, just living their lives when things aren't tense and serious, it can be hard seeing them as people with thoughts and feelings instead of a list of roles to be rigidly acted out so the big climax can happen.

I actually kind of like slice-of-life-y filler scenes, is what I think I mean to say here.

Chapter 40: Sweet Buns

As everyone settled around the table, four plates of potato salad and sides of onion rings left a pleasant aroma in the air, which helped Adagio to conceal her nervousness. It wasn't just that having Fluttershy here made it feel more like that 'family dinner' thing they'd heard about (their first, at that!) as opposed to just the three of them eating like always, but that now it was Adagio's turn to share food, and something she'd prepared herself! She kept these thoughts entirely off her face and tried to push them from her mind with idle conversation.

"So, what was all the screaming about?" Fluttershy blushed, but Aria and Sonata both paled. Adagio raised an eyebrow. "Girls? Were you picking on our lovely guest?" It was with a hint of delight that she watched Fluttershy flush brighter, drawing a chuckle. "I mean, not that I of all people can realistically blame you if you were, but still."

Sonata smiled guiltily. "She is pretty fun to play with... Can we keep her?"

Adagio gave Fluttershy a half-lidded look. "Well, I'd certainly like to, but..." She giggled with impish delight as their guest squirmed in her seat, at least until Aria won her attention with a clap.

"Okay, okay, let her eat in peace." To her dismay, Sonata proved to have a longer memory than that of a goldfish.

"You were the one who picked on her the most! In fact, it was pretty much just you!"

"Thanks, traitor," Aria whispered through gritted teeth. The table was silent as sweat formed on her brow. Gulping, she turned her head just enough to look at Adagio, but only got a little smile back. Their suspiciously forgiving leader shrugged and wagged a finger at her, speaking in her faux-motherly tone.

"Aria, don't pick on guests-" she looked at Fluttershy out of the corner of her eye and smirked, "-unless they're into that." Fluttershy squeaked.

When Adagio didn't follow that up with more than a giggle before taking a bite of potato salad, Aria and Sonata shared an incredulous, almost worried look. Frowning, Sonata asked first.

"Dagi? We've been meaning to ask; are you feeling okay?"

Both she and Fluttershy stopped eating to look at Sonata in surprise. The latter alternated between her and Adagio, who asked before she could.

"What? I'm perfectly fine, why do you ask?"

"C'mon, Dagi," said Aria with a tone that suggested she knew she'd regret this, "not only have you pretty much backed off messing with anyone at school, but you barely rile us up anymore. What's gotten into you?"

The way Adagio glanced back and forth at her oldest friends reminded Fluttershy of a child that was being scolded, the awareness that it was her fault sending a little twinge through her chest. Once again, she found her mouth moving almost by itself.

"It's because of me, I asked her not to tease anyone else because it makes me j-jealous!"

Dead silence. Now all three sirens were staring in surprise, only Sonata managing to work her jaw. Kind of. "Whuh... what?"

Feeling warmer than the onion rings she'd been chewing just seconds ago, Fluttershy nodded. "I-it was me, weeks ago, I, she, w-with Trixie, and some other people, but mostly her, um, and..." She momentarily stopped not out of that people-are-looking-at-me fear this time, but for the realization that she knew she could do better than this. She cleared her throat. "I mean, I noticed the way she teased other people, and I know it was selfish of me, but I got jealous, and asked her to tease only me from now on, and..." She glanced at Adagio with a happy-nervous little smile, getting one right back. "She agreed!"

There was another silence, broken when Sonata looked squarely at Fluttershy, raised both hands to her head in dramatic fashion, and shouted. "YOU FOOL!!"

Fluttershy blinked twice. "Wh-what?"

"She's right," Aria added with a little nod and her crossed-arms pose, "even if she doesn't tear you to shreds, wanting to be the only one she messes with is like asking her to marry you." It was a shame that she was still too much in shock to relish the sight of the two lovebirds turning beet red, most of all for this next part. "And... she said 'yes'?"

"She asked very nicely," Adagio quietly confirmed, her eyes downward, "and, she even gave me free reign during the school day, but you can probably imagine why I haven't capitalized on that offer."

Mouthing the words 'gave me free reign' with clear incredulity, Aria turned to Sonata, as if to confirm the implications of what they'd just heard. She got a nod back before Sonata asked her question. "So, that's why you hardly even poke us anymore?"

There was a twitch in Adagio's lips, a split-second in which they nearly formed a vicious smirk, but she turned away almost immediately, making no comment on anyone's word choices or the implied desires therein. Aria let out an impressed whistle.

"Man," she chuckled. "Twenty-eight years in our world, three or four in this one, and that's gotta be the most amazing thing I've ever seen."

Sonata grinned. "For realzies!"

Adagio hadn't been sure Fluttershy would be comfortable revealing that deal of theirs, so she'd been hesitant to share details even with Aria and Sonata. Now that it was out in the open, however, she smiled too. "I do hope you two can forgive my neglect, but my poor Sweetie is just insatiable." Her mirth vanished when Fluttershy nearly choked on an onion ring. "Sorry, Sweetie."

Flushed and coughing, Fluttershy managed to clear her throat enough to reply with a little smile. "I-it's okay. The food is really good, Adagio!" Now it was the chef wearing a demure blush, the others again marveling at the effect Fluttershy had on her. Sonata, however, wasn't quite satisfied. Clearing her throat, she put on a blank face and internally braced herself for what she was about to do.

"H-hey, Dagi. I'm wearing a thong right now." She ignored Aria's jaw dropping and Fluttershy's hilarious spit-take as both of them turned burning red, instead focusing on the girl that wore only a calm smile.

"That's nice, Sonata."

She tried to keep a neutral expression. "And I was thinking that I should show Rarity!"

That won another lip-twitch out of Adagio, but she didn't take the bait. "And... I wish you luck in that venture?"

Sonata was blushing too now, but she'd already come too far to stop. "I might just drop my skirt and shake it, right in her face! Got any tips for what I should say?!"

Her mouth twisting into a crooked smile, Adagio lightly shook with the effort of containing herself. "N-no, none."

Aware that she was really doing worse to herself than anything Adagio likely would have done by this point, Sonata sprinted to the goal-post. "AndIwasthinkingImightbringacanofwhippedcreamdoyouknowwhatIshoulddowithit?!"

Snorting, Adagio slapped a hand to her mouth, her eyes tearing up as she fought to keep her thoughts, and wild cackling, down. She visibly struggled, her whole torso shaking as she clenched her jaw hard enough that it brought to mind one of the Joyful Rangers she'd shared with Fluttershy, splintering and shattering into pieces between her teeth. Thinking about moments they'd shared on the bench helped to regain her composure and take a long, slow breath, capped off with a serene smile. "Whatever you decide to do together, I hope the two of you enjoy yourselves."

She resisted the urge to wink and add "And each other!"

Fluttershy, for her part, felt a lump in her throat as she fully realized just how much she had to mean to Adagio for her to restrain herself like this every day. Still, something wasn't quite right here. The table was quiet for a long moment while she tried to work out what it was and Aria and Sonata processed their new situation. Aria smirked. "So, you won't make fun of us anymore, no matter what we do...?"

Her eyes widening, Adagio visibly tensed. "Umm... W-well-"

"Because, if that's how it'll be from now on," her grin turned wicked, "there's a thing or two we've been dying to tell you."

Looking back and forth at her former henchmen and their increasingly fiendish smiles, Adagio gulped. Well, I suppose this is karmic. "Alright," she said calmly, "go ahead."

Sonata fired the first shot. "Your hair looks like a big, fluffy creampuff and I wanna pour sugar on you!!"

There was no time for a reply before Aria chimed in. "I agree with what they said at school; the bow totally makes you look like a cute little doll!"

A-Doll-gio Fluffle blushed. "Th-that's-"

Beaming, Sonata pressed both hands to her cheeks. "A soft, huggy dolly that needs to be picked up and squeezed!"

"And dressed up in ribbons and frills," added Aria, "with a big, poofy skirt and a bonnet!"

"W-WHAT?!"

Watching in silence, Fluttershy was conflicted. On one hand, her beautiful, sometimes-adorable girlfriend was hearing all about how cute she could really be from someone other than Fluttershy herself. On the other? She looked bothered by the teasing, the twitching of her lips as she fought to keep herself from letting out a searing retort for either or both of her tormentors a clue that she wasn't enjoying this at all. The mental image of Adagio in a bonnet was something else entirely, but something Fluttershy would think more on later. It was rude to interrupt, but as the others weren't letting up for a single second, she felt there was no choice.

"A-actually, when I said-"

Sonata didn't seem to hear her. "And when Christmastime rolls around, we can totally use you as the tree!"

"Uhm, e-excuse me, but-"

"Yeah-hah," guffawed Aria, "we could stick a star to your usual hairband and everything!"

The sight of Adagio squirming helplessly, fully able to defend herself, but not allowed to, was all Fluttershy needed to see to find her voice.

"HEY!"

Of course, all three sirens jumping with a start before turning to look at her was all she needed to see to mostly lose it again, smiling sheepishly. "Er, s-sorry, I, uh..."

Focus!

"Ahem. When I said I was jealous of Adagio teasing other people, I meant other people." This won three perplexed looks. "I mean, I-I watched that last time with Trixie, and it made me feel horrible, but, well," she glanced at Aria, "the time I saw you in the hallway with the fireballs? That didn't bother me at all." Well, it kind of had, but for very different reasons that didn't really matter to her anymore.

Aria scratched her head. "Time with the...? What-" Eyes widening in recollection, she turned redder than the candies in question. "Oh. Ohh. Wait," she demanded while snapping her fingers at Adagio, "that 'good friend' you mentioned back then, it was-"

"I bring this up," Fluttershy continued somewhat forcefully, "because, w-well, I know that I asked you not to tease anyone but me, Adagio, but at the time, I hadn't really thought about where Aria and Sonata fit in there." She frowned. "I'm sorry I wasn't clearer, but the whole reason it made me jealous was because I saw anyone else you teased as practically being your g-g-..." Saying it out loud was a little harder. "g-girlfriend!" She felt herself warm up as the Dazzlings stared at her, Aria and Sonata doing so with growing anxiety, but she pressed on. "S-so, I mean, I kind of see you three as being more like sisters, and siblings pick on each other all the time, so...?"

Adagio's expression was carefully neutral. "Sweetie? I haven't had too much trouble keeping my pants on in school, so to speak," now was probably a bad time to enjoy Fluttershy's shocked, crimson face, or elaborate further on not wanting to wear pants in school, "but are you saying you don't mind if I pick up where I left off with these two?"

Paling, Adagio's two oldest victims could only watch helplessly as Fluttershy nodded. Aria resisted the compulsion to look at Adagio, but Sonata had no such willpower. The smile chilled her blood.

"Girlllsss...? I have a few things I'd like to say to you too..."

There were multiple times throughout the sirens' history together in which Adagio had been impressed with just how well Aria and Sonata could synchronize. That wasn't what she was going to say, but the thought sprang up as the two almost instantly shot up and nearly shouted in unison.

"GreatmealDagigottagobye!!"

And the two sped away, but did so while bringing their plates to the kitchen like good girls. Part of Adagio wanted to brag about that, but as her only company was Fluttershy, she instead chuckled, flashing her a grateful grin across the table. "For the record, I have been meaning to go easier on those two, so your proposal was actually in good timing."

Fluttershy tilted her head a little. "Why is that?"

Adagio looked away, casting a short silence over the room as she decided on the best way to explain. "Do you remember the day I found you in the library?"

"Uh-huh."

"And just the day before, when I went overboard and scared you off?"

Fluttershy's mouth popped open to object, but she was silenced with the memory of how she had run off at the time, and even tried to hide from Adagio the next day.

"When you ran from me, Sweetie," she said with a rueful smile, "I was surprised to find that it hurt. At the time, I was almost offended. 'How dare she walk away from me?!' But, really, what did I expect? I realized then that I couldn't just do whatever I wanted and think you, or anyone, would stick around, so I had to tone things down a little."

Frowning, Fluttershy connected the dots herself. "You're afraid that the others will leave you too?"

There was an almost flippant shrug. "Everyone has their limit, Sweetie, and if I never let up, I'm going to hit theirs."

As much as she wanted to reassure Adagio, Fluttershy of all people had very little to argue with there.

"Before, back when we had our gems, our shared goal of being lavished with praise and adoration kept us together no matter how much we annoyed each other, but now...?" Eye-contact was re-established. "We might be closer than before, but it won't last if I do to them what I've done to pretty much everyone else."

Fluttershy couldn't hold it in anymore. "I'm sorry!" She answered before Adagio could ask. "That you lost your gems, lost your voices, was my fault, I'm the one who wrote the song we used at the Battle!"

Silence. The two stared at each other for at least a full minute without either moving a muscle. Then Adagio raised an eyebrow.

"And?"

Fluttershy nearly fell out of her chair. "I-I made the song that destroyed your gems, d-doesn't that-"

"And if you didn't?"

There was a slow blink. "...What?"

The siren's face was very calm, almost utterly passive as she nodded. "Imagine if your group had used another song to stop us. Do you think the effect would have been any different? Your magic was triggered by your friendship, right? If so, you could have sang Ring Around the Rosie and it still would have crippled us." Still calm, she idly scratched her head. "How such supposedly friendly magic can be destructive, however, I have no idea."

Another long, quiet moment followed, with Adagio as the one waiting for a reply this time. Fluttershy didn't really know how the magic worked either, so she couldn't be sure her lyrics were even related to the loss of the gems, or (most of) the sirens' voices. Still, the song had cost them those things, and possibly more, so she had to ask.

"Do... d-do you hate us?"

There was another pause, but only a short one. This was a subject Adagio had thought long and hard about, one she'd discussed with the others just hours ago, and she'd determined almost exactly what she wanted to say. Resting her elbows on the table and her chin on a bridge of her folded fingers, she kept a calm expression. "Do we; the songless sirens, hate you; the triumphant Rainbooms that destroyed everything we'd worked toward and left us to languish? Yes."

With a hint of a (slightly forced) smile, she continued before Fluttershy could do more than make a heart-wrenchingly hurt expression. "At the same time, do we; Adagio, Aria, and Sonata, three silly girls at Canterlot High, hate you; Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Sunset Shimmer, the six who have been as welcoming as reasonably possible even when we pushed you away? Three of whom accepted us as friends, or more, and one that never stopped trying? No. Do you see the difference?"

It was, once again, a good thing Adagio had adopted this patience thing, because Fluttershy needed a long time to process this one. Adagio noted to herself that maybe she wasn't being entirely honest regarding Sunset Shimmer, but she wasn't completely certain how the others felt about her.

"Then," Fluttershy eventually managed, her face uncertain, "it's not that you hate us, exactly, just that what happened between us?"

"That," she answered with a rueful nod, "and what we discussed earlier today. I know you're good people, I know that you've all done what you can to make us feel welcome while respecting our limits, I know that all things considered, we're lucky to have met you, but-"

"But it still doesn't change what we took from you?"

Some part of Adagio was equally surprised and strangely proud every time Fluttershy interrupted her, but that wasn't quite why she smiled. "Right. And, don't think for a minute that we're not grateful for what you showed us just tonight, but-"

"But it's still a painful loss," Fluttershy said with a frown, "and letting go of something that meant so much to you just isn't that easy? Let alone having to see those responsible on a daily basis?" The smile she was getting told her that Adagio was glad she could see things from their side, at least. "Um... I noticed that you didn't mention Twilight a minute ago, how do you feel about her?"

Shifting to an unamused face, Adagio raised an eyebrow. "The pony princess who came in, ruined us, and left without a second thought? Three guesses, Sweetie."

Fluttershy nodded. She might have tried to argue that Twilight was a very nice girl too, but if she wasn't around to feel the sirens' resentment anyway, it probably wasn't a battle worth fighting.

Glancing at a sideways-hanging clock (left as such because Aria was the one to change it the last time Daylight Savings came around) on a nearby wall, Adagio frowned a little. "It's getting late, do you need to be home soon?"

Realization hit Fluttershy like a dodgeball to the side of the head as she remembered nothing about having told her mother where she would be today. She quickly stood up, trying not to panic. "Yes, yes I should! ThankyouforthemealI'dlovetocomebackagainsometi-" She tripped and fell when her foot caught on the leg of a chair, which was how she learned that the Dazzlings kept a big box labeled 'Firecrackers!' under their kitchen table. When she looked up, Adagio was offering her a hand.

"Will you be alright alone, or would you like me to walk you home?" Fluttershy's look of surprise made her chuckle as Adagio helped her to her feet. "I've been doing a bit of research and that comes standard for couples. So?"

As Adagio was already holding her hand, Fluttershy lit up. "I-I'd like that!"

The trip was not quite as romantic as Fluttershy had been hoping, what with Adagio having quickly switched into her 'incognito' disguise of the hoodie and sweatpants just in case anyone saw them. Fluttershy couldn't rest easy, however, because Adagio had convinced her to do the swingy walk all the way home!

In public!

Outside!!

...After dark and without another soul on the streets save for the occasional passing car (the walk stopped for a few seconds every time that happened), but still! Thanks to Adagio's running commentary, she spent most of the trip increasingly flustered, and by the time they got to her doorstep, her heart was pounding! Most frightening of all was that part of her wanted more.

The escort complete, Adagio took a step back. "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow, Swee-"

Not thinking, Fluttershy grabbed her wrist with one hand and hooked the other around the small of Adagio's back to pull her closer, winning a startled squeak as she dipped her and forcefully (but not roughly) planted her lips on Adagio's. Surprised, but not unwilling, Adagio melted into the embrace, brushing the fingers of her free hand through Fluttershy's hair and along the back of her neck until breathing through their noses wasn't quite enough anymore. Even through the dim lighting and Adagio's hood, Fluttershy could still see her flushed, smiling face.

"My, my," she all but panted, "a little bolder by night, hm? I may exploit that later."

As holding Adagio up proved slightly more straining than Fluttershy might have hoped, she couldn't do more than giggle before letting her secret girlfriend return to a fully upright position. Still, that she'd held her even that long, that she'd grabbed her for a kiss in the first place, was definitely something to be proud of!

"One last thing," Adagio leaned in to whisper, "do you have a habit of showing people your phone? Of leaving it around where anyone might pick it up?" She got one of those cute little head-shakes back, drawing a smirk. "Then no one but your friends is ever likely to see it?"

Fluttershy connected the dots immediately, drawing a bright smile. "M-my number is-" She was stopped by a yellow finger pressed to her lips.

"Ah, ah, ah," Adagio tutted in quiet, sultry tones, "I had something else in mind. You already have my number, so find it, send me a message before morning, and..." She winked. "There'll be a special reward for you." The rosy glow she got for this drew fiendish chuckles as she started toward the street. "See you tomorrow, Sweetie."

Watching Adagio go (and go) as she hummed a cheerful little tune, Fluttershy eventually pulled herself together.

I already have her number? Where? How? Should I check my textbooks?

She briefly probed around in her own mouth with her tongue, but didn't feel anything out of the ordinary. Just as well, if Adagio had snuck her something through a spontaneous kiss that she didn't start, Fluttershy wasn't sure what she'd have done to cope with the sheer scariness factor. She went inside, closed the door, took two steps, and was startled by one of those mini confetti-cannon things going off.

"Good job, Fluttershy, ya finally made it!"

Paling, Fluttershy turned to see her similarly-colored mother, a tall, weighty woman in bright, cheerful clothes and light-pink hair down to her shoulders. She was currently holding the spent party implement and positively beaming as she stepped forward to wrap Fluttershy in a firm, but gentle hug.

"Uhm... M-made it home? I'm sorry I didn't call you, i-it kind of slipped my mind b-because-"

"Ohh, no, not that," she giggled, lightly shaking Fluttershy as she did so, "I knew you'd be okay with your friends, but staying out without calling me, coming home at night, and smooching that hoodie girl on our doorstep? Honestly, I thought you'd be halfway through college before your first nookie!"

Fluttershy flushed hotter than during most mornings on the bench. "MOM!!"

"No need to be embarrassed, Honey! I think you might've surprised her just a minute ago, but it looked like she was digging it!"

There was another chilling realization. "...M-Mom...? H-how do you know about...?"

"I was watching through the peephole!"

"..."

"Fluttershy? You oka-oop, gone all catatonic again. Must'a been good!"

Adagio had barely closed the door when she heard Sonata behind her.

"You're back! Where'dya go?"

"Just walking Fluttershy home," she said while turning to her with a little smirk, pulling her hood down, "can you imagine what might happen if some twisted, depraved deviant were to get their hands on such a sweet, innocent girl?"

Her eyes drifting to the ceiling, Sonata smiled. "Yes."

The two of them giggled together as Aria stepped into sight. "Yeesh, surprised you haven't broken her yet."

"Or scared her off," chirped Sonata.

Adagio opened her mouth to reply, but something in the tone of that last part gave her pause. The looks she was getting from her two oldest friends were equally unsettling. "...Girls? Is s-something wrong?"

They frowned, with Aria crossing her arms. "We heard you. While you were talking to Squeaky?" She could tell by the look on Adagio's face that her heart had probably just stopped, if only for a second. She'd remember to feel bad about eavesdropping again later. "You really think we'd just up and leave you over a little teasing?"

Pressing her back against the door, Adagio looked down at the floor in the hope it might hide her lip trembling. "...Everyone else does." With one obvious exception, of course.

Sonata stepped forward to hug her, which was a little hard with her back to the door. "We don't hate you, Dagi. Teasing you back might be pretty hard, but you've never gone too far on us."

"Haven't I? You never wish I'd let up a little?"

"Aw, can it," Aria said without venom as she stepped forward to put a comforting hand on Adagio's shoulder, "you remember what you did to the guy who made fun of our voices? The one that said our mouths would only be good for 'one thing' now? He deserved it, but that would be going too far."

He had deserved it. Hell, Adagio wasn't sure she cared if he didn't. Still, she knew she couldn't justify being a quarter as nasty with anyone that hadn't earned it, which brought her to today. Then she remembered what she'd told Sunset Shimmer.

"If... if you wanted me to tone it down, would you tell me?"

"Of course," answered Sonata while nuzzling the shoulder Aria wasn't touching, "ya big silly."

There was a quiet, huggy moment between the three of them, with Aria and Sonata giving Adagio some room to breathe a second later. When she looked back at them, she wasn't the only one smiling.

"Okay. I... Thanks. I don't mind if you two take shots of your own, by the way, but not being able to respond is a little... straining."

Aria looked away somewhat guiltily. "What we did earlier was kinda unfair. But Hell, so's going up against you in the first place."

"For realzies!"

Adagio wore an apologetic grin. "Maybe it won't kill me to ease up just a little. I didn't get around to dessert before you left, are you two still hungry?"

Sonata smiled much wider. "Heck yea!!"

Aria and Adagio giggled again. "Alright," replied the latter, "I'll see what I can put together. Maybe a pie, tons of whipped cream?" It had been a challenge keeping a smirk off her face while asking that question, and Sonata's jaw going slack as she flushed crimson wasn't making it easier, but she wanted to try her hand at friendly teasing. "I'm sure I can procure a cherry or two on my own, but thanks anyway. Or, maybe you're channeling those spicy fireballs?" Aria froze up right on cue, drawing a giggle. "To answer your earlier question, yes, I did get those from Fluttershy. We even shared them in the same way!"

In stark contrast to Sonata, Aria paled. "...Did... did you- was the one you gave me the same one that...?"

Grinning coyly, Adagio turned away and started pacing toward the kitchen. "Maaaaybe~!" She couldn't quite hear all of Aria's reaction over her own barely-contained snickering, but it sounded like she was as flustered by the idea of sharing food with Fluttershy as Fluttershy herself had been that day. It was funny, because the one she'd shared with Aria had been an entirely different piece of candy, the first two having long since melted, but why spoil Aria's fantasies? She was just about to pass through a doorway when Sonata shouted from behind her.

"W-wait! I'd like, f-for dessert, um... how about a creampuff?!"

She stopped and turned around, but couldn't hide her giggles, delighted to see Sonata smiling too even if she hadn't fully recovered yet. Playfully touching a fingertip to her lips, Adagio batted her eyelashes. "You want to eat my creampuff?" She practically heard the DING-DING! of a boxing ring's bell as Sonata again burst into redness, stumbled where she stood, and slumped against Aria, who was still standing there in a daze, for support. Chuckling, she stepped over to wrap them both in a hug. "You two are so cute."

Aria managed to pull herself together a little more as she hesitantly grinned. "Cute as a sleeping sketch model?"

Still blushing furiously, Sonata backed her up. "With a pretty bow in her hair?"

Not losing her smile as she tinted pink, Adagio giggled. "Yes!" As much as she'd have liked to remind them that they too would be dressing up in cute outfits for everyone to see sooner or later, it was probably best to let them have this little victory for now.

A little later, she found herself in the kitchen to get started on dessert in earnest.

Now, do I want to make a pie, creampuffs, or a creampuff pie with some fireballs mixed in? Do we have any whipped cream left?

She hadn't made her mind up when her phone beeped at her. Answering, she found it to be a text from an unknown number, but it wasn't hard to guess the identity anyway.

[How did you get that paper into my bra?!]

Adagio giggled.

Silly Sweetie, what fun would it be if I just told you?

Before she could send that special reward she'd mentioned, she got another message.

[I'm sorry, that was a really weird first text. Hi! :)]

Adagio giggled like she had a squirrel in her shirt.

Sitting on her bed in her pajamas, Fluttershy breathed out a quiet sigh. She'd managed to clear up the misunderstanding with her mother, at least, but even if she agreed when Fluttershy begged her not to tell anyone (begging probably wasn't necessary, but she wanted to be extra sure), she probably wasn't going to be safe at home anymore. Her mother never meant to embarrass her like that, but she'd always just get so excited on Fluttershy's behalf. This wasn't even accounting for the fact that Adagio, beyond the shadow of a doubt, now knew where she lived! She was just about to get started on what would be a long, long diary entry for today when Adagio texted her back.

When she opened the message, she burned red again, nearly slamming her phone face-down on the bed out of fear of someone seeing it. Awareness that she was alone with her stuffed animals and that they'd never betray her helped her to pick it up and look again. It was Adagio's full behind this time, covered only by a light pair of panties with the word 'Sweetie' stitched across the rear in pink cursive.

[I'll leave THIS one to your imagination. Keep in touch, Sweetie! ;)]

Fluttershy felt a nervous grin slowly spread across her face as she realized exactly what Adagio having her number could mean.

"Haha... Oh, dear."

Author's Note

Find self with heavy workload for the next few weeks. Find surprise gap in busy-ness. Pony.

Longer and longer, these things go. Can you believe I was initially planning to have a few chapters of pure candy-on-the-bench fluff just to space things out more after this? Hoping to cut that down to one chapter (for real this time!) before the next thing happens. Stay tuned!

It seems like I almost never write Aria and Sonata apart. This isn't deliberate, because though they are delightful to work with together, I feel they shine a little brighter when they're separated. If nothing else, it helps avoid the feeling that they're one person with two voices, which I wholeheartedly try to stay away from. I should get back to Changing Tune some time.

Yes, I'm aware that Fluttershy's mother seems awfully unfazed by her only child returning late on a school night after not even calling to let her know where she'd be, but I think it'll make sense later.

Chapter 41: Silly, Smoky Sugar Sticks

Not for the first time, Fluttershy awoke with a start, breathing heavily and drenched in sweat. It took her a second to realize that the familiar ringing noise she was hearing was just her panda alarm clock again, which she gave an irritable look before remembering that it was just doing its job. She reached over to shut it off, trying to get her thoughts together as her heartbeat slowly returned to its normal rhythm.

Boy, that was really a long weekend! So much happened in just two days! I went on my first date, got to spend record amounts of time with Adagio, learned a little about her (terrible and scary) hometown, helped her pick out new outfits (She'll be wearing one today!!), our secret relationship was exposed to our friends, most of whom had their own secrets about pretty much the same thing, we worked out a plan to include with Adagio's, I got to spend time at the sirens' house, we had a nice (if embarrassing for everyone at one point or another) dinner together, Adagio walked me home, and-

-she came in, pushed me onto the couch, peeled off my clothes, and-

-THAT DID NOT HAPPEN!!

Not yet!

Fluttershy slapped herself.

"...Ow."

The slight stinging sensation helped clear her head a little more, bringing to mind the way Adagio had responded when Fluttershy apologized for thinking about her that way again.

...Oh, yea, she probably wouldn't have minded. Sorry.

Don't worry about it. If anything, this might mean she was right abou-

ANYWAY, I got her phone number and she got mine, so...

She could call her now. Just pick up her phone and send a quick 'Hi! :)'

But, what if Adagio wasn't awake yet? She didn't want to risk annoying her first thing in the morning by costing her sleep, and rest was very important!

That she didn't know what to say and didn't want to make (more of) a fool of herself on messages that could be kept and shown to other people was only a tiny part of it. Honest.

Shaking her head, she got out of bed and prepared for the day... starting with a shower.

The forecast for this week was due to be pretty cold, so she put on a yellow sweater before the ride to school. It might not have been needed, because her mother's questions and comments about the 'curvy girl in the hoodie' on the way to CHS had left her feeling uncomfortably warm again. When she was dropped off, she walked to the bench like usual, her thoughts returning to last night's dinner with the Dazzlings.

I'm still a little shocked that she's held up her end of that deal so well when I've barely held up mine. Well, technically, she hasn't let me, but we both know why.

Sitting on the bench, she sighed. There was something Fluttershy had been worrying about since Adagio outright asked if they were a couple on Friday morning; that she could only answer with "K-kind of...?" She was almost sure they were a real couple now, but only in private. A secret couple. How long did those normally last? How long would it be before the two of them, along with Rarity and Sonata, could hold hands and sit together in public? The thought made her mind wander, but she wrangled it back on track in record time! Things were still a little socially shaky right now, but Fluttershy took solace in knowing that after today, things could only get better! Adagio was coming to school in a friendly outfit to help smooth things over a little more, and with how well cute moments from the sirens had been received in the past, Fluttershy was sure it would only be a matter of time until those three were as welcome at this school as anyone else!

Or, at least, she wanted to think so. What would the sirens do if nothing they tried worked out like they hoped? After the Fall Formal, the worst thing Sunset could have done was to give in to despair, and her friends had never let that happen, but what would she do if the sirens up and-

The next thing she knew, she was short of breath, her heart was pounding, and she was straddling a flush-faced, fast-breathing Adagio, who lay prone on the bench. Also on her body was the last outfit she'd tried on at the mall; the one that was just like her dance outfit, but without the spikes and the jumpsuit part replaced by a cute, half-ruffly dress. To Fluttershy, that she still had the thick rings of dark eyeliner felt like an odd choice to look friendly, even if in a mature, lady-like way. Adagio chuckled, wearing her usual smirk in addition to the shiny, purple bow in her hair.

"All that from a little kiss on the neck, hm? I can hardly wait to see what you do when there are witnesses, Sweetie."

"H-huh?"

Her memories came back in a rush. A tap on her shoulder, turning to see no one there, tongue-moistened lips pressing against her neck, a fire in her belly, turning around to see Adagio making those eyes at her, saying something flirty, animalistic make-outs, and now the present.

"Oh. Right."

Blushing furiously, she caught herself about a second before she apologized for the wrong things again, but still offered a sheepish smile as she gingerly scooted off of Adagio. There was a bit of teasing related to Fluttershy pouncing, the 'dangers' involved with wearing skirts, and Fluttershy's reaction to the implication that Adagio wasn't wearing underwear before the day's treat was shared; candy cigarettes. It took Adagio a moment to process why Fluttershy was smiling about these, but memory of their first meeting drew many giggles. The sight of Fluttershy putting one of the 'cigarettes' in her mouth and 'smoking' by puffing on it in the cold air had her laughing hysterically, but they spent an otherwise peaceful morning together.

There was an art to smiling. Adagio wasn't sure when exactly she picked that up, but she knew it was a thing now. Her usual relaxed smirk, along with all the rest of them, really, did her no favors here, won her no friends, never even got her any tempting offers. In fact, it seemed to do the opposite for some reason. She understood why, of course; alien world, alien rules, and what would bring company back home couldn't exactly be expected to work here. At least she'd figured out how to work her body to her advantage, but she still had to be careful about her expression.

These were her thoughts as she strolled through the halls of CHS, struggling not to make a face that would undermine the effect her new outfit was having. Heads turned, jaws hung open, and eyes bulged as they beheld Fluttershy's choice in little dresses and hair accessories. The more dramatic reactions only came from a few of the people that witnessed her, but that kind of attention wasn't making it any easier to hold what she determined to be a normal grin.

"Good morning, Adagio!"

"Hello, Sunset Shimmer."

"How are you today?"

Adagio shrugged, making no further attempt to communicate. Sunset, however, did not stop smiling. Much wider than usual.

"I really like the new clothes, much more, uh... not spiky! It definitely looks nice." Blink. "Not that you didn't look nice before, but more-so now! Friendly, even! Has anyone else said so today?"

"No."

"That's-... Oh. Well, I'm sure someone's saying it, just not to you, because the thing with that sketch of you? Man, that was all over the school for-... Uh, I-I think class'll be starting in a sec... Youlooknicethough!"

It was completely deadpan, but Adagio at least mustered the will to say "Thank you, Sunset."

Just a little later that day, Adagio got confirmation of Sunset's suspicions while walking down a hallway.

"And Trixie just knows that they'll say this is because of her too! Honestly, The Great and Powerful Trixie maybe draws the attention of Adagio Dazzle, and suddenly everything she does is because of Trixie!"

"So," pondered Cloud Kicker, wearing the amused grin she always wore when Trixie was being Trixie, "you're thinking that she dressed up to get your attention?"

"Yes! I mean no! I me-T-Trixie means that that's just what people will say!" She harrumph'd quite dramatically while crossing her arms. "Really, just because Trixie is a beauty equal to the sirens, if not greater," she said at a slightly higher volume, "it's not like she would cause their leader to change her style just to catch Trixie's eye, no matter how believable it would be!"

Adagio had already walked past the two of them, but Cloud Kicker must have raised an eyebrow.

"Or, such is what Trixie would guess people are saying now, is all!"

Hm, thought Adagio as she went, so close and yet so far.

Would Trixie be counted among their future friends, if this plan worked, or had Adagio's previous interactions with her already ruined that? If the latter, would they have better luck with the people she hadn't teased much at all? Because, that would be kind of a short list. Which was her own fault. Again.

She'd have hummed a little tune to help compose herself, but an agreement with Aria and Sonata that they shouldn't sing in school kept her quiet. Well, quieter. No need to risk people jumping to the wrong conclusions if they heard that the sirens still had any measure of their voices, but it was one more thing on the To Be Shared Later pile.

"Lollipops today, Sweetie?"

"Uh-huh! I was thinking that since you never actually got to eat one, just sort of tasted it, you could have one all to yourself this time!"

"Hm. They make these in... root beer flavor?"

"It's the darndest thing, but yes. You'll probably never see little flavored pellet candies that taste like butterscotch or cotton candy as opposed to some kind of fruit, but little lollipops are the only candy I know that can just taste like other candies!"

"Huh."

Adagio actually refrained from doing anything suggestive with the sucker this time, just quietly enjoying the taste of sugary imitation.

...At least until Fluttershy pointed this out, whereupon Adagio played dumb, discreetly pushed Fluttershy's buttons, flipped her switches, and tricked her into performing lewd acts with a lollipop herself. Her only regret was that she hadn't thought to film the tasty display on her phone.

They talked a little more about magical creatures from Equestria, Adagio relating the weather to the chilling tale of the windigos. When she understood the pun, Fluttershy didn't laugh, but instead needed comforting cuddles. This was equally acceptable.

"EEP!"

By some great feat of dexterity, Fluttershy managed to hide her phone in the half a second in which the entire class turned to look at her. Ms. Inkwell turned away from the chalkboard to suspiciously glance around the room.

"What wuzzat? We got a mouse in here?"

Fluttershy burned red and sank down in her seat as the class quietly chuckled at her. She was grateful when Ms. Inkwell fluidly injected the example of a mouse into the lesson to describe guerrilla warfare, which quickly took the focus off of her. Not that the embarrassment wasn't a fitting punishment for the disruption, but that wasn't the one she was really worried about after reading Adagio's text.

[Answering your phone in class, Sweetie? Naughty, naughty...]

The accompanying picture was what really got to her; a close-up of a riding crop held tightly between the fingers of two yellow hands. It was raised just under Adagio's chin where only the underside of her face, set in a truly wicked grin, was visible in the shot. Toward the end of class, it occurred to Fluttershy to wonder how she'd taken that picture hands-free.

Fluttershy had spent a lot of time practicing The Walk in the gym, to the point that she felt pretty comfortable doing it now. She could hold her head high, keep her back straight, shake her hips, and strut in full force! The chances of someone popping in and seeing her never completely left her mind, but she didn't even blush anymore! Heck, she was mainly doing it for that lovely feeling of confidence now, because this was one of few places that she could walk like this unseen. It was halfway through her first return trip that she was startled by a loud, close snapping sound from behind, rooting her to the ground as she locked up and shivered. It was only when Adagio spoke that she noticed she hadn't felt any pain.

"Coming along beautifully, Sweetie," she said while stepping into view from behind Fluttershy, clapping her hands a few more times, "I still think you might benefit from a good pair of heels, but you've definitely got the swing down-" she gave her own hips a meaningful shake while turning around to face her, "-pretty well on your own." Stopping to rest her hands on her hips, she smirked and raised an eyebrow. "Why so tense, Sweetie? It's a compliment."

Flushed crimson and starting to sweat, Fluttershy couldn't meet her eyes. "Uhm, n-n-no r-reason...?"

"Ohh, what's wrong," she asked sweetly, in stark contrast to her increasingly vicious smile, "something on your mind?"

Yet again, Fluttershy felt herself go from being a nearly-invincible person who walked places in sultry style, to a quivering bowl of warm jelly in Adagio's presence. Knowing that she was caught, she jumped straight to the point.

"I s-set my phone to vibrate so it would be quiet, but-"

"But you still answered it in class? For shame, Sweetie, I thought you were an honor student."

"B-but, you c-c-called me!"

"And you knew the school rules. Now," she said while drawing a thoughtful hand to her chin, pretending to earnestly think about it as she drank in the sight of Fluttershy's panicked face and shaking, knock-kneed stance, "what to do with you...?" She let Her Sweetie dwell on the question, waiting until she turned just the right shade, made just the right facial twitches that Adagio knew she was reaching her limit, then shrugged. "Well, I can't seem to think of anything, so I guess we can leave it at a warning." It was, once again, a small struggle not to laugh at Fluttershy's sudden shift to an utterly baffled expression, but one made easier by turning and walking away. "Behave yourself, Sweetie~!"

Standing there for another minute, Fluttershy felt like she'd been wrapped in twin blankets of relief and confusion, then rolled down a hill, possibly while being made to wear a tiny hat knitted from frustration at the same time. She was just trying to picture what colors those fabrics would be when the warning bell for the next class sounded, making her squeak and scramble to make it on time.

"Glad I caught you."

Applejack loosed a shriek that Rainbow would never have let her live down if she'd been there to hear it when Adagio's hand clapped her on the shoulder. Luckily, she whirled around to find that it was just the two of them in this hallway. Despite her blush as the siren gave her a perplexed look, Applejack's eyebrows furrowed.

"Awright, Ah'm just gonna say it; you wanna have an easier time gettin' along with people here at school? Quit sneakin' up on 'em!! Ah don' know what's scarier, that you got the drop on me without makin' a sound, or that ya did it in them heels!" To her continued bafflement, Adagio actually seemed to ponder this, idly stroking her chin.

"...'Don't sneak up on people.' It seems so obvious now that you say it."

Shaking her head, Applejack let out a little sigh. "Why'd ya even start creepin' around like that?"

Adagio crossed her arms and inclined her nose upward. "I'll have you know that in the depths of the sea, it's only polite to control one's velocity when approaching another, and I was raised properly." Air may not have had the same impact as water in regard to fluid motion, but the habit had been thoroughly drilled into her from a young age, especially when approaching someone from behind.

Ooh, la-la? I'm not sure if that one works.

Noting that Rainbow had been right about the similarities to Rarity, Applejack shrugged and rested her hands on her hips. "If you say so. So what'd you wanna talk about?"

At this, Adagio gave her an earnest, sympathetic expression. "You've been having trouble with this, haven't you?" By the look on Applejack's face, she understood the question, so she didn't need to say anything specific out loud. "You proved to me just a minute ago that you prefer to be frank, so I can imagine this situation isn't any easier for you than it was for your friend, but I want you to know that your efforts are appreciated, by all of us." Daintily pinching the sides of her skirt, she ignored her protesting pride and curtsied. "Thank you, Applejack." The medicine went down easier when the Rainboom gave her a surprised, wide-eyed look, then smiled, blushed, and massaged the back of her head.

"Aww, shoot, don't worry 'bout it. It's just what friends do, y'know?"

Not missing that word-choice, Adagio smiled too. "I've been getting that lately, yes. Would it be permissible for me to say 'happy trails, Applejack'?"

Applejack answered with another look of wide-eyed surprise, this time followed up with loud laughter that left her doubled over and clutching her sides. Adagio patiently waited for a more coherent answer, which she got in the form of Applejack smiling and wiping away a tear as she pulled herself together. "Y-yea, sure," she said while turning to walk away, "happy trails, Adagio."

With a satisfied nod, Adagio headed off to her next class. She briefly pondered the use of bumpkin dialect and countryisms for befriending purposes, but that kind of deception felt too much like her old methods.

Fluttershy sat on her bed, covering her crimson face with both hands as slightly tinny laughter poured from the phone in front of her.

"It, i-hit, y-you-hahahahahahahahahahaha!!"

All she could do was whimper. She'd felt so brave when she sent that picture, but she really should have checked it first. It wasn't like the stomach was a naughty region to begin with, but her hands were shaking so badly that she wound up having to explain what she'd sent to Adagio. Results were mortifying.

"Heeheeheeheehahahahaha!" She heard Adagio take a deep breath on the other line. "You're so cute, Sweetie."

"I, j-just thought, it was only f-fair, since-"

"Ohh, don't worry about it. I'm glad you enjoy my presents, and I know how much it means that you would even try to send me your own. I'm touched!" Fluttershy smiled warmly at this, but once again, Adagio was not done with her yet. "Very touched," she said in a low, husky voice, breathing a little louder as she all but moaned through the phone, "so very, very-oh, ah, haa, ahhn~!"

There was a silence as Fluttershy's mouth hung open. Her skin tingled, her mind became a frantic swarm of crazed hornets, all flying in different directions as her imagination ran wild. She was sure that if she were wearing a hat, it would have caught fire.

And then Adagio delivered the killing blow in a bright, peppy voice. "Well, sweet dreams!"

Beep!

Fluttershy flopped over on her bed, but didn't sleep for quite some time.

The next morning, Fluttershy gave her alarm clock a tired frown, but she got up and started her day just the same.

It was rainy that morning, so Fluttershy brought an umbrella. This didn't stop her from making the embarrassing mistake of sitting on a soaked bench and getting her bottom wet, but when it was too late, she just sighed and remained seated. She didn't have to wait long before Adagio arrived, carrying an umbrella of her own.

"Hm," she remarked from behind the bench, "should I have left mine at home? I think the cliche goes that one of us brings an umbrella for the other."

Looking over her shoulder, Fluttershy giggled. "I-I might have been thinking something similar."

"You're sweet, but I'd have recommended just going inside anyway. Shall we?"

They walked to the school library together, making their way to a cozy chair in the reading area on the second floor, where Adagio pulled Fluttershy onto her lap and held her again. There was much cuddling as they listened to the gentle patter of rain on the skylight, just relishing the peaceful moment together. Adagio actually dozed off a little after Fluttershy's head came to rest against her chest.

Definitely a little bigger than they look!

Her cheeks warmed and her heart beat faster at just how close she was to her beautiful goddess, but what really caught her attention was the little sound Adagio was making. It was like a tiny snore, a quiet rumbling from her barely-parted lips that almost sounded like...

A purr!

Adagio was purring!

Well, she was snoring very, very quietly, but still! Fluttershy had to clamp both hands over her mouth to keep from squeeing and waking the cutest sleeper she'd ever snuggled up to. She cherished the moment with all her heart, but she knew it would eventually end when the warning bell rang. The only thing that kept her from crying was the knowledge that they'd have many, many more moments like this one in the future, and really, she'd be just as sad to miss those.

As had become very common this week, Sunset was smiling even wider than Pinkie when everyone was seated in the cafeteria.

"So, how have our friends from out of town been doing?"

Rarity tittered. "Quite well, Darling, much the same as the last time you asked. On a completely unrelated note, reception of Adagio's new look is predominantly positive! Rumor has it that Thunderbass complimented her out loud and Octavia didn't run away the instant she saw her!"

"But she did still run away?"

"Well, yes, but she's practically the only one that still does that at this point. If this keeps up, those girls may find themselves chatting and socializing like anyone else within a week!"

"And then," said Rainbow, who had a much easier time keeping secrets when she could dress it up like something out of a spy movie, "our friends from out of town might be willing to hang with us? Even with witnesses?"

Pinkie managed to restrain herself to a whisper-screech delivered through the widest jaw-clenchy smile she'd ever made. "Friendsfromoutoftownparty!!" It tickled her that her friends quietly clapped at the stunning display of self-control. All those sessions with Master Aayla Zecora finally paid off!

On the other side of the cafeteria, the sirens were feeling pretty optimistic as well, Sonata in particular.

"-and since she tells me my outfit is already pretty cute, we ended up just making tiny changes bit by bit." At the risk of breaking table etiquette, she lifted one foot to show the light-blue ribbon hanging from her boot, tied at to top of the rim so as to minimize the risk of dragging on the floor. "It's hard to tell how many people are looking from behind me, but now they aren't just checkin' out my butt!" Blink. "Well, not just my butt, anyway."

Chuckling, Adagio turned to Aria, who signaled that she'd done something juicy by turning red and looking away.

"Uh... I, um, might've, like... smiled, winked, and snapped my fingers at someone at the same time! It was horrible!" To her relief, her friends only giggled at her a little bit.

"No need to strain yourself, Ria, but it's good that you're working on your demeanor. For my part, I've been getting plenty of grins and even the odd compliment, but nobody has stuck around when I tried to engage them thusfar."

Sonata frowned. "Why don'tcha just buddy up with Flash? He'd never make excuses and scram, and he's totally popular!"

"Tch, yea," Aria said with her characteristic eyeroll and crossed arms, "because nobody ever swindled the school like that before, right?"

Adagio nodded, keeping her voice down. "Indeed. Sentry is affable enough and he'd be an easy ticket to the rest of the school, right up until someone remembers the old Sunset Shimmer. And then, we'd be doomed, because if someone accused us of doing what she did in that scenario, they'd be right." In that they'd be using him to get more popular, which would be kind of counterproductive to the whole genuine friendship thing they were after anyway. Maybe it was for the best that they could never find three open seats at his table?

No matter. With the way things were going, it was only a matter of time until they finally won some of that unfiltered harmony for themselves!

"Oh, I am just so sorry, class!" Mr. Magnet practically pirouetted in a full circle in the process of draping a forearm across his forehead. "I've done a terrible mis-service to you all, and to Art itself; I've-" His lower lip trembled. "-I've... I've forgotten to bring the subject for today's sketch!"

Just once, he wished the students would gasp in surprise when he did senseless things like that. They didn't, so he shrugged and pulled himself together, idly stroking his long moustache.

"That really does leave us in a bit of a bind, because making trips to the supply closet to switch out the sketching paraphernalia would take up valuable class time. If only we had something else to-..." And then he noticed the student that had modeled for the class once before, looking particularly pretty in that sweet little outfit she'd been wearing this week. He grinned. "Miss Dazzle, you've been a great boon to The Arts once before! Could I convince you to pose for us again in this time of crisis?"

"Uh-" All eyes on her, Adagio had a split-second decision to make: Refuse the chance to be appreciated by an attentive (if small) crowd, or risk another embarrassing sketch (from Fluttershy or otherwise) if she fell asleep on that soft, plush couch again. The first would raise questions if she of all people were to do it, the second came with a chance to earn a few more points toward convincing CHS as a whole that the sirens were good girls now. She braced herself. "-of course!"

She stood and waited as Magnet did his little dance of delight and wheeled the lopsided couch into the center of the room. Subtle glances at her classmates revealed some of them to be particularly excited about this venture, Fluttershy showing it through an adorable attempt to hide her smile by sinking into her hair. She'd happily let Her Sweetie eye her up, down, left, and right for as long as she liked, but she did not want to fall asleep again. Looking cute and approachable was one thing, but she didn't want 'Ohh, wookit da kyoot widdle baby' to be how everyone saw her. She had changed, she had calmed down a lot, she had learned to behave herself, but she was still Adagio Dazzle, dammit! Any friend she made under the mantle of what was assumed about her due to that sketch or any that should follow it would be every bit as false as if she'd gone along with the Sunset Shimmer treatment.

That in mind, she sat on one side of the couch as though it were a normal chair, though she had to lean heavily toward the armrest. One leg folded over the other (though mindful that she was wearing a skirt), she rested one elbow on the armrest and her head against the fist of that hand, her other arm leisurely draped over the back of the couch as she looked out over the class with her standard dominant smirk. To her immense relief, this won no uncomfortable glances or looks of surprise, indicating that her real personality hadn't been overshadowed by a smiling daydream. Relief, however, quickly proved to be her enemy when she remembered just how comfortable this couch was.

Several minutes passed as she held her pose, briefly scanning her sketchers just as she had last time. Looking at Fluttershy helped calm her nerves, but it only took a split-second droop of her eyelids to realize that 'calm' was something she needed to avoid right now. She'd been so cozy in the library that morning, but now she needed to be tense! Active! Her blood pumping and her pulse pounding!

...While sitting perfectly still.

Sea spray!!

She felt her body giving in to the soft cushions beneath her as her eyelids grew heavier, but she would not let mere upholstery get the best of her!

Dammit... Dammit... Dammit!

No one made any notice of her silent distress, which at least meant she was pulling it off so far! Just... forty more minutes to go. Her Sweetie sat at her chair, sketching away with a serene little smile.

Urgh... if only I could play with you in public, Sweetie, then I'd have no trouble staying awake. Wait, that's it!

Internally, she cackled with maniacal glee. She couldn't get up, couldn't move, and, if last time was any indication, couldn't send subtle signals to Fluttershy and easily remain conscious, but she could imagine doing whatever she wanted. Keeping her smirk became effortless when she let her mind wander to places she hoped to show Fluttershy in detail someday, to wonderful worlds of pain and pleasure, to the things she'd do to her Sweetie the day she gave her explicit consent, and things that might be done to her. Fun, naughty thoughts weren't quite enough to keep her heart beating faster on their own, but tensing her muscles to keep from relaxing too much ensured her wakefulness through the rest of Art class.

Fittingly for where some of her fantasies had taken her, Adagio could practically feel the tooth-marks on her behind in addition to the general fatigue and mild muscle aches, because her plan was thoroughly biting her.

I wouldn't mind, but I don't think 'Squirrel' will get me out of this.

By the time eighth period rolled around, she was exhausted, having had to rely on staying tense much more than she'd have liked as Art went on. Still, better to be drowsy in English class where no one was liable to draw her sleeping face and hang the result for all to see. Who knew; feeling as dozy as she was, maybe Harshwhinny would actually call on her again? She'd worn such a smug face the first time she picked Adagio to answer a question in class, but...

Ask a few questions they're not ready to answer, give a few answers they really didn't want to hear, and suddenly it doesn't matter how long you raise your hand. Aria was so right about her.

And Adagio didn't 'ruin' that movie about the talking toys for anyone, it was a perfectly valid point! Maybe if Harshwhinny (And some others, come to think of it!) weren't so keen on running films to fill classtime rather than coming up with their own lessons, this wouldn't have been-

Adagio jerked in place, blushing a little as she glanced around to see if anyone noticed. If anyone saw her almost doze off, they didn't show it.

So tired. Just one more period, then I can go home, flop down on my bed, and sleep like... like a... um...

What's a thing that sleeps really-

Sonata! I can sleep like a Sonata! Sonatas are good for putting people to sleep, right? Was that Arias?

It's not really a factor either way, numbskull, the soothing quality of a song doesn't depend much on whether or not there are instruments or vocals, specifically.

What about Adagios? Am I boring? Dull Dagi sleepy siren? What was I talking abou-

Rare was the day that any of the instructors in her school should be the ones to call her, but Principal Celestia found herself marching through the hallways just the same. Truly, that Marigold Harshwhinny had willingly sent Pinkie Pie to deliver a message was a red flag all its own, she just wished Pinkie had been a little more comprehensible. When she (and Pinkie, whose motor-mouth meandering Celestia had been tuning out) turned the corner, they saw all but two members of the eighth-period English class standing out in the hallway as Ms. Harshwhinny paced back and forth. Her arms were crossed, but the look on her face suggested worry, even fear.

"Ms. Harshwhinny? Could you explain what's going on?"

"N-not exactly," she said, not lifting her eyes from the floor, "but I cannot continue my class in these circumstances."

Celestia glanced at her watch, finding only about twenty minutes remaining in the school day anyway. "What happened?"

"That siren girl, the one we had that talk about? She fell asleep in class."

Unamused, Celestia raised an eyebrow. "You are authorized to wake sleepy students, Ms. Harshwhinny."

"I tried," she hissed back, "but this, this was just-"

"For goodness' sake," Octavia cut in, startling the adults, "Adagio Dazzle passed out in class, loudly fell onto her desk, Ms. Harshwhinny tried to wake her by calling out to her, then she twitched, we all waited to see if she was awake and playing some kind of joke, she twitched again, more violently than the first time, her eyes still shut, then we evacuated the room." She stomped one foot while pointing at the door to the classroom. "Now go fix it!"

She got two wide-eyed stares, reminding her that she was dealing with two grown women who held authority over her, which drew an abashed little grin. "Er, p-please...?"

Celestia smiled amicably. "As you command, Miss," she said with a little bow, making Octavia flush brighter as some of the other students giggled at her, "I'll deal with it right away."

She went into the room to find Adagio sleeping on her desk, as promised. The effect of her hair hanging over the side of the desk in long tendrils as she all but clung to it with her arms was just slightly unsettling, but Celestia didn't see the-

Oh, nevermind, there's the twitching. Definitely twitching. Bad dreams, nothing Zecora can't help with.

Pacing closer, she kept her voice warm and gentle. "Adagio? It's time to ge-" She was just about to touch Adagio's shoulder when the girl shook, actually spasmed in place for a full second as she let out a piercing shriek.

Ice-water pouring through her veins and a shiver running the full length of her spine, Celestia drew back. "Nope!" She quickly backed away. "Nopenopenopenopenopenopenope!"

When she was out of the classroom, she turned and saw Pinkie Pie explaining the situation to Luna.

"-which actually kinda demonstrated the class material, which is why we sorta let her snooze at first, but she wasn't making any cute faces at all and then she got all Twitchy-McExorcism and everyone got super freaked out, so we went to get help, and here you are!"

"I see." She turned and moved toward Celestia, stopping just close enough that her whispers wouldn't be picked up by the students. "I heard that scream. Code Spider, Sister?"

Celestia blushed. "I-it wasn't me, she screamed in her sleep!" There was a pause. She quietly sighed. "But, yes, also Code Spider."

Unsurprised, Luna nodded and headed in. She found Adagio in the same state as had been described, shaking her head when she stopped in front of the desk. "You had me fooled, Miss Dazzle, I thought you might never draw my attention again after these last few weeks of peace. Then again, this is most unlike y-" When she witnessed the rumored twitches, it was time to assume this was no act of playing possum. She seized Adagio by the shoulders and shook her. "Wake up! Wake up!"

This roused the sleeping siren in short order. Sitting up as she got her bearings, she looked at Luna through half-lidded eyes and smirked. "Mmh, Vice Principal Luna," she muttered sleepily, "was just thinking about you..."

Luna frowned. "I find that deeply concerning, given the circumstances." This seemed to confuse her, so Luna waited in silence as Adagio looked around to make sense of the situation.

Her eyes snapping open said she'd realized she was in school, looking around with a hint of panic, pointedly at the scared, worried faces poking in through the doorway, before turning red and covering her face with both hands. "Tell me I didn't."

"Fall asleep in class? It appeared that way, yes." As much as she'd have loved to (revenge!)tease her a little, now really didn't feel like the time. Instead, she employed her sister's practiced Warm Honey voice. "Is there something you'd like to tell me about, Miss Dazzle?" As anticipated, there was no response. Perhaps she needed some time to herself. "The school day is nearly over anyway, so you are free to go if you wish, but if you are having trouble, please talk to someone. Anyone at all would likely suffice, but I speak from experience when I say keeping it to oneself is what makes a Nightmare."

Adagio didn't move as Luna turned and walked out, just hoped in vain that she could will herself to vanish. When she peeked between her fingers to see the other students (and Celestia) still looking at her through the doorway, her insides churned. She quickly stood, strode to the door, pushed past everyone that didn't have the sense to get out of the way, and marched straight home.

Watching her go, Pinkie frowned. She just knew this meant they'd be putting off that big siren friendship party even further now.

Author's Note

No, Adagio's undersea etiquette lessons do not explain how or why she learned to cling to ceilings to stay out of sight.

There was going to be a talk about the difference between pretending to be something you're not and changing voluntarily (in the context of that "be yourself" talk and how Fluttershy and Adagio are both a little different from how they were in the start of the story), but I couldn't quite get it to feel right and I knew that if I hammered that bit out to the point that I would be satisfied with it, it might take up its own chapter.

So instead, I'm just going to say that yes, they've changed, people change, but that's not necessarily the same as not being themselves.

Maybe someday, I'll add bonus chapters of this story consisting of nothing but food/candy-based teasing on the bench together. Just for the sheer joy that a flustered Fluttershy can bring.

"Aayla Zecora." Hurheehurheehur.

Chapter 42: Dark Stains

It was rare for Adagio to find her mind blank for long, but she strode home in relative silence.

That realization was what broke it, of course, and the point at which she became aware of the swarm of worries all screaming and crawling over each other in a desperate feeding frenzy for her attention. The first to surface comprehensibly was that Aria and Sonata were going to want to know why she went home by herself.

Not like I could have hoped to keep what happened a secret.

Slamming the door to her room did less than she'd hoped to stop the flood of worries, but symbolic acts had a way of being infuriatingly useless at times like these. Without bothering to disrobe, she flopped down on her bed as the cluster of consternations overtook her.

Everyone at school was going to know about today.

What do they really have from that? That I was tired? That even I get nightmares sometimes?

The timing on that one really couldn't have been worse. This wasn't going to do her reputation any favors.

Everyone hates us anyway.

That wasn't true. In addition to her two oldest friends, there were at least six girls that were going to worry about her now. She would have to explain this to them.

I once bluffed the Spirit of Chaos that our gems were infused with primordial energies as old as he was, magic with the power to undo him. He never bothered us again. I can fix this.

How? By lying to everyone again? By lying to Fluttershy? The thought plucked at something in her chest.

Sweetie will understand. She always does.

Telling her wouldn't be any easier for it, but at least Fluttershy of all people would give her a chance to explain herself. Explain why she'd collapsed in class. Explain why she'd resisted just taking a nap in Art. Explain why she really could have used that nap. Explain why she fell asleep so easily just that morning.

Explain why I'm still wearing this stupid make-up.

It didn't make her look 'mature' or 'lady-like,' she'd figured that out ages ago, it just made her look like she was on the fence about going goth. She really did like putting on make-up, though. There was something inherently enjoyable about delicately painting her face, especially to bring out her beauty a little further. What she had been wearing the last few weeks had no such purpose.

Pity that clown idea didn't work out. What happened to the costume I put together, anyway?

At least Sonata's reaction was cute. She and Aria probably weren't going to be laughing when they got home, however. That would be soon.

I told them we'd already dealt with this. I told them it was under control.

Sonata even braved Rarity's little shop months ago to find her a good set of pajamas. It apparently turned out much better than they'd have anticipated, but learning the opposite about how much that had helped Adagio was probably going to upset them. It was definitely doing the same for her as she felt her eyeliner being spread across her face in black streaks, but she didn't have time to think about wiping it off for the day before her phone rang. She didn't know if she picked up so quickly for the chance that it might take her mind off of this or because it was Fluttershy, but she answered with what she hoped was an even voice.

"H-hello?"

Oh, sea spray, not even close!!

"Adagio? Pinkie told me what happened. Are you okay?"

The fuzzy heart-vice squeezed with particular fervor, but she hadn't been at this Friendship thing long enough to understand why. "I'm... What have you heard?"

"Just that you had a bit of an, um... episode, in your sleep. In the middle of class... I won't ask you to talk about it if you don't want to, but if you do want to talk, if you need me for anything, I'm here. Is that okay with you?"

Snorting, Adagio smiled. "That's okay, Sweetie. I'll be fine, don't worry too much, I'll... I'll tell you everything tomorrow, okay?"

It sounded like Fluttershy was smiling as well. "Okay. I love you."

Another violent motion by the heart-vice destroyed what little composure Adagio had managed to hold onto. "L... L-love you too, S-Sweetie."

She held the phone to her ear in silence for a moment, at a loss for what to say after something like that. Luckily, Fluttershy knew more about these things.

"I'll see you tomorrow, o-or, I would be happy to visit, if you wanted."

Even with tears and ruined make-up on her face, Adagio managed a tiny smirk, though she couldn't quite get the seductive tone back to 100%. "That eager to be in my bedroom again, Sweetie? Bad girl." The noise from the other line made her smile wider.

"Gtchblt!I, uh,haha, I-I'll talk to you soon, s-stay safe!"

Beep!

Giggling even as she continued to lay where she'd landed, Adagio felt a little better already. Then she heard the front door open and was swallowed in the wave of worries again. She couldn't decide whether she wanted them to leave her alone or just come and get it over with, but the sounds of two sets of feet on the stairs gave her a clue about which one was coming first. At the sound of her bedroom door slowly swinging open, she did her best to to sink down further into the covers of her bed, as if hoping to disappear in them. Just the thought of telling them she'd ruined the plan and wasted all their efforts up to now had her muffling a sob as she felt two weights settle at her sides.

"So, uh," Sonata began delicately, "we only caught a little bit of what happened eighth period, but is this part of the plan?" Whimpering into the bedsheets sounded like a 'no,' so she did the gentle back-rubbing thing she remembered from their time with Sunset, smiling as Aria did it too. The two of them administered feel-better rubs and hummed gentle melodies for a little while, and they must have worked, because Adagio eventually sat up. This was how Sonata learned that their sulky leader's face was a horrifying mess of badly-smeared blackness, drudging up memories of The Clown Day and drawing a high-pitched shriek as Sonata took her turn to bury her face in the covers.

Despite herself, Adagio giggled, which drew a little smile from Aria as she got up to fetch something for wiping off the make-up. She settled on a mostly-blackened shirt on the floor, which she guessed Adagio had been using for this very purpose. Picking it up and turning around, she pressed it into Adagio's face without ceremony, ignoring what she assumed were muffled complaints. "Man," she remarked with a chuckle, "never thought one of us would be doing this for you, but it kinda sounds like you had a rough day." When she pulled the cloth away, she immediately dropped it, her eyes widening. "Woah."

Her traumatic memories already fading, Sonata sat up. "What? Woah what?" Leaning over to get a better look at Adagio's face, she got her answer. "D... D-Dagi," she asked with a pleading frown, "what's with these bags? I thought you said...?" She frowned a little more when Adagio's eyes welled up again, but at least there wouldn't be any more scary smears this time, right?

"I'm sorry."

Aria glanced back and forth between the two of them as she connected the dots in her head. "So, what, those PJ's Nata got you didn't do anything? You're still lying awake half the night?"

"W-well, they helped me stay warm when I got sick, but other than that?" She turned to Sonata with a regretful look. "Sorry."

Sonata just gave her an understanding smile. "Don't worry about it. Heck, I totally get the going-to-bed-nude thing now."

Crossing her arms, Aria raised an eyebrow. "When were you gonna tell us about this?"

"I wasn't," Adagio muttered at the carpet, "I was going to let it take care of itself, to hope it would just go away by the time we had our own circle of friends."

"And if it didn't?"

Chuckling humorlessly, Adagio managed to meet her eyes. "Then, at least I'd have plenty of friends to help me through it, right?" Her tiny smile vanished when Aria threw both hands up with an offended look on her face.

"What about us?!"

"What about us, Ria?" Two heads snapped toward Sonata to find her wearing an uncharacteristically severe expression. "I mean, she told us every time it happened when it started, and we all tried everything we could think of together. Meds didn't work right, that trick with the swinging watch didn't do squat, laying totally still didn't work, work-outs right before bed just made her lay awake MORE tired, warm milk didn't do anything, and the bedtime stories were fun, but totally useless." Her shoulders slumped. "Just like us."

As much as Adagio wanted to offer a counter-point, her brain was working against her again.

Her lower lip quivering, Aria sputtered. "B-buh, but, w-we, we could've, we, but-..." She glanced back and forth at her dejected friends, tears stinging in her eyes before she clenched them shut and divebomb-hugged Adagio, weeping quiet sorries into her shoulder. Latching onto Adagio's other arm, Sonata wasn't doing much better, leaving the girl in the middle to scramble for any way of making them feel better.

"You two should be angry at me," she insisted, getting softer and squeakier as she went, "CHS will never get used to us now, we'll never make any new friends here, everything we've worked toward was-"

"Hey, w-wait a sec," urged Sonata, "it's not that bad!" She didn't get more than a frown from this, but she was sure she saw an 'Is Too' kind of look in there. "I mean, i-it's like...!"

Aria and Adagio were staring at her in silence. Okay, things looked bad, but she didn't want to let the sad things win! What was that thing Rarity told her? When life was a lemonade stand and you didn't have any sugar or-no, you've fallen down the stairs and-no, something like... pickles? It would have been so much easier to remember if she hadn't been bent over and howling at the time. Whatever, she'd wing it. Wiping away her tears, she made the smiliest smile she could!

"We still made a buddy each even way before we started the cutesy stuff! That's something, right?" She got two blinks at this, so she thought of some other stuff! "And like, people forgave us for-well, okay, maybe not forgave us for the stuff at the Battle, but they let us into the school, right? How bad is a little sleep-twitching next to that? You and me have totally done worse than that before, Dagi, and you still got tons of smiles when that cute picture of you first went up! "

"Hey, yea," mumbled Aria, slowly lifting her head from Adagio's shoulder as a thought dawned on her, "because, they might not forget what we do, but they don't constantly harp on us for it like they did with Sunset, before we showed up." She looked directly at Adagio now. "You're probably gonna get some weird looks for a while, but I think we can ride this out."

Sonata beamed. "There's hope!" The sight of Aria and Adagio finding their smiles again, however hesitantly, made her feel higher than the time Rarity let her use the paddle!

"I... Yes," Adagio said with a little nod, "I suppose there is... We just have to keep moving forward, shake this off and proceed as before. In fact," she said with a shadow of her confident smirk, "this doesn't change anything, really, we'll just endure a few more odd looks than average, let them forget about it, and wait until the stigma completely wears off. Hell, we may even get people approaching us to ask if everything is alright! Whether their sentiments are hollow or not, such encounters may give us an opening-" if only out of habit, she raised one hand in front of her as it clenched into a fist, "-to form our first non-Rainboom connections!"

"And then we do all that friend-y stuff," said Aria with a borderline malevolent smirk of her own, "chat on the phone for like an hour, invite people over, get invited to places, talk about random crap and eat tons of pizza, all that crud!"

"Everything we do with each other," cheered Sonata, "but like, more of it! More the merrier!"

And with that, the three of them thought as they cackled together, maybe they could finally move on. After a long moment of huggy, laughy closeness, Adagio glanced back and forth at her friends.

"By the way, have you girls seen my clown outfit?" Sonata seizing up was a pretty good hint.

"Uh... Nnnnoooo...?"

Adagio gave her a patient smile. "Nata, where is-"

Sonata leapt to her feet, her smile even bigger and faker than the red one Adagio had painted on her own face that day. "GreatthatwehadthischatIshouldcallRaritytoletherknoweverything'sokayokaybye!!"

And she bolted from the room. A moment passed in silence before Adagio turned to Aria. "Where did she put the clown outfit?"

"Um... Well, y'know how half the sawdust went missing around that time?"

"Oh, dear."

"Yea. She burned it in a circle of salt while reading aloud -that is, screaming at the top of her lungs- from the party catering section of a phonebook."

"..."

"...So," Aria whispered with an evil grin, "clowns for her next birthday party?"

Adagio returned it. "I love the way you think, Ria."

The two chuckled fiendishly together. Who knew? Maybe when that day came, they'd even be able to invite friends.

"So, all this time, you've been having trouble sleeping almost every night?"

Adagio had spent most of her explanation hunched over with her head down, looking squarely at the grass at the foot of the bench. "I'm sorry I lied to you, Sweetie." She was still wearing the new outfit, even if yesterday's spectacle had greatly diminished its effect.

Sitting close beside her, Fluttershy frowned. It hurt that Adagio had lied to her, hurt that she didn't trust her enough to talk about her sleep difficulties sooner, but much worse was knowing that Adagio had been struggling with this alone since before they even met (on the bench, that is). "And, when it got worse, you tried to cover it up with that eyeliner." The eyeliner she had on even now.

"I thought about wearing one of those super-hero masks for an air of mystique, but that would be taken off much too easily. At least if something happened, I could play off the dark spots as my make-up being smudged."

"I guess that makes sense. What about when you knew it was making you scarier to everyone?"

At this, Adagio's eyebrows knitted. "I also knew I'd rather be feared than pitied, Sweetie."

Fluttershy nodded. "I see... Do you know why it happens?"

The immediate response was a short, hollow, bitter laugh. "If I knew that, maybe I could have done something about it by now."

"Hm... Well, how do you feel when it's happening?" This got Adagio to look up, confused. "While you're lying awake, what do you feel?"

Adagio actually struggled with the question for a moment. "I... Annoyed. Frustrated. So tired. Weak." Her head sank again. "Helpless."

Fluttershy gently rubbed a hand along her back, fervently reminding herself that she was doing so for chaste, supportive reasons. "Is there anything that makes you feel that way during the day?"

"Oh, I don't know," she said bitingly, "being trapped in another dimension by a lazy coward that blindsided us with a vacuum portal? Being blamed for all the problems of our homeland before that? Having months of work and, if I may say so, an amazing job of playing this school like a fiddle rendered moot by someone else's dumb luck? That that incident cost us any hope of everything we'd ever wanted and left us scrounging for scraps in the den of hypocrisy and lies you call a community?"

She looked directly at Fluttershy now, and while the wounded frown might ordinarily have given her pause, she couldn't have stopped now if she wanted to. "I could do it again without magic, you know; get this whole school, maybe this whole town, tearing into itself with what I know now. Even if no one else talks to me, I've overheard enough to know that we're not the only ones with secrets, Sweetie, and that's not accounting for whatever Aria and Sonata may have picked up. You thought Sunset Shimmer was bad? I made a living in starting fights, and these-" her voice took on a tone of faux sweetness for a moment, "-'good, normal' people are always eager for the next conflict, whether they can admit it or not. I alone could destroy whatever fractal unity these people have with all the little details I've gathered in my time here, but...!"

Swallowing to banish the growing lump in her throat, Adagio hadn't even realized she'd been clenching both fists, but the increasing pain in her knuckles helped snap her out of it. Faintly surprised that Fluttershy wasn't crying or covering her face or even trembling in fear, she sighed. "...But, none of it would do us any good. There have to be dozens of ways we could have taken our revenge by now, but then we'd really have nothing left." Chuckling half-heartedly, she shrugged. "Wanting is better than having, I suppose... If you're thinking that all of that is why I can't sleep well, then I have a question: Why aren't Aria and Sonata having this problem?"

"I'm... I-I'm not sure. Sorry." Fluttershy didn't see Canterlot High that way herself, but with how things had gone since the sirens returned, she could at least see where Adagio was coming from. "Have you three talked about this? About how much it bothers you?"

"At length. Those two are every bit as annoyed about the situation as I am."

"Is there anything going on that's upsetting for you and you alone?"

Adagio's mouth popped open, then slowly drew shut as she thought it over. She was still thinking when Fluttershy, frowning, proposed her own answer.

"...Is it because of me? Because I asked you not to-"

"I've been having this problem since long before we made any sort of deal, remember?"

She felt relief and embarrassment at the same time. "Oh... Right."

"For the same reason, I'm sure it isn't the matter of our relationship either. Or at least, if that's part of it now, that wasn't the trigger. Sonata, as ever, has had no trouble whatsoever getting to sleep despite her own secret affiliation, so it may not even be a factor."

"Hm... Okay, what would you say is bothering you the most?"

"Our voices, no contest." Looking at Fluttershy out of the corner of her eye, she smiled a little. "Don't get me wrong, what you showed us Sunday has been great for all three of us, we even spent an hour trading our favorite lullabies just last night, but-"

Fluttershy wasn't smiling. "But it isn't the same, and being limited to singing quietly just reminds you of what you've lost?" She was partly surprised to get a particularly soft hug for this as Adagio answered in gentle tones.

"We are grateful, Sweetie, really. But, yes, being denied the full spectrum of what we used to be hurts a little."

Pressure flowed up from Fluttershy's heart and lodged in her throat, but she willed herself to keep it together. "W-would you say it hurts you even more?"

"I don't see how, it's not like they're any less affected than I am." She shrugged lightly. "Maybe it's just that they didn't write the songs?" Fluttershy pulled back to look at her in surprise, which urged her to elaborate. "I was our composer, it was part of how I earned the gems in the first place. Back in Coltlantis, I chose the two of them because out of all possible candidates for the job, their voices harmonized best with mine and, well, I won't go into detail, but writing our songs has been up to me ever since. I was never exactly big on singing people to sleep, they'd never adore me afterward, so lullabies aren't exactly my-oof!"

Adagio had mixed feelings on the very forceful Flutterhug she was getting, and maybe it wasn't just the strain on her ribcage. Indeed, the sounds of Fluttershy sniffling as she let out a stream of high-pitched sorries into Adagio's chest (the heart-vice was equally emphatic in its complaints) made things distinctly less cuddly than usual, but somehow? Every bit as tender and strangely comforting. When Fluttershy pulled back enough to look her in the eye, there was conviction in her tear-streaked face, the likes of which she'd have never pictured from the girl she first caught 'smoking' a lollipop.

"I'll help you with this. I don't know how yet, but even if I can't fix any of your other problems, there must be something to help you get to sleep."

Having heard exactly that sentiment from Aria and Sonata months ago, Adagio wasn't exactly optimistic, but the last thing she wanted to do (well, it was low on the list) was to discourage Her Sweetie. Knowing that Fluttershy wanted to do this for her sake made smiling much easier. "Alright. Let me know what you come up with, I'll try just about anything at this point." There were a number of ways she could have twisted that sentence for another ticket to Fluttershy Theater, but instead settled for closing the statement with a peck on the cheek, which still drew the red curtains.

"I-I'll ask my friends for advice," she said with a shy smile, "do you mind if I tell them about this?" Her grin faded when Adagio made an uncertain, uncomfortable expression.

"Well..." Crossing her arms, she sighed. "I don't want anyone looking down on me, but keeping it hidden hasn't exactly helped, has it? Tell them if you have to, but I'd prefer the entire school not know about this." More than they knew already, of course.

And the smile was back, more enthusiastic than before! "I'll make sure it stays between us, don't worry about a thing!"

Chuckling, Adagio stood up. "Thank you. See you around, Sweetie."

Watching her go, Fluttershy's face grew steadily warmer as she pondered the merits of hip-swinging to combat insomnia.

No, Miss Pervert, she said she already tried exercise, remember?

What if I shook my hips for her before bed?

WHAT?!

Just swinging back and forth like she did for Under Our Spell, hip-nosis!"

First of all, that pun was atrocious.

Sorry.

It's okay. Second; no! Even if we could keep it together long enough to lull her to sleep, she already tried hypnosis too!

Shoot. I guess it would have been hard to tell mom why I was going out just before bedtime every night anyway. "Hey Mom, do mind if I head over to my girlfriend's house at night so I can shake my behind until she falls asleep?" What if she offered to drive us there?

EEEK!!

Mortified at the very thought of her mother calling out something devastating where any or all of the Dazzlings might hear it, Fluttershy shook and curled into a ball on the bench until she could remind herself that no such thing had to happen. She was still worried about the prospect of Adagio meeting her mother, but that was a worry for another day.

Author's Note

She wiped away another streak of eyeliner with a fingertip, this time in a line smearing down toward her cheek, and was reminded why she wore the stuff at all.

Y'know, I really thought that line would have given it away back in Chapter 18, but the sleep deprivation bit was apparently covered up juuust well enough to keep it ambiguous. For those of you who re-read this story sometimes, see how many hints you can find throughout the tale now that you know the secret. :pinkiehappy:

Ordinarily, I'd feel the need to explain how it is that Adagio is wearing the same outfit for days in a row without needing to wash it daily. (though I guess it's not impossible that she'd be doing that.) However, as everyone wears the same thing every day in most cartoon universes, I feel that this is right up there with the amazing technicolor hair and skin on the list of things that aren't worth worrying about.

Chapter 43: Pillow Talk

With the help of Flash Sentry, Adagio's day actually started on a high note. He smiled and greeted her like absolutely nothing was out of place in first period. She returned the grin and the greeting, feeling cautiously optimistic for the day ahead even as the rest of her classmates offered only confused, scared, and worried stares. She didn't return those, but smiling at them didn't do her any immediate favors either.

Not a problem. We'll just ride it out.

It hurt a little that Adagio found herself more or less back where she started in terms of holding the door open in second period, with several seconds of hesitant shuffling and suspicious looks. This was after they'd just walked through with no problem only yesterday. Even so, Adagio kept her small smile and waited patiently for the frightened sheep she called classmates to remember that she'd never done them any harm with this. It was while she was trying to determine whether or not thinking of those she eventually hoped to befriend in such terms was detrimental that Trixie approached her with a very severe expression.

"What's going on with you?"

Adagio kept an innocent smile. "Hm?"

"Don't give me that! The clothes, the door-holding, the smiling at people, all of that was weird even before you went all demon-possessed in the middle of class yesterday! What. Is. Going. On." There was a heavy pause as Trixie's eyes narrowed. "...Question. Mark."

The last part drew an amused snort, which transitioned to giggles as Adagio shot her an apologetic grin. "What, that? I just got a little drowsy and had a bad dream. I posed for Art again just before and being a muse-" she brushed a hand through her hair for effect, "-takes a lot out of me."

Trixie continued to stare at her, as if hoping to drill answers out of her eyes by boring into them with her own, but Adagio just kept smiling. They remained standing there even when the warning bell rang, Trixie with her inquisitive stare, Adagio with her amicable grin, locked in a fierce match of Tardiness Chicken, but Adagio remained unfettered by thoughts of not getting to third period on time.

Who knows, maybe that would be a sign that I was 'back to normal' as far as CHS was concerned.

Eventually, Trixie stomped one foot while making an (adorably) irritated noise and ran off, leaving Adagio free to...

Sigh.

...face Sunset Shimmer for the day.

The teacher didn't even remark on her coming in late. She stopped and stared at her for a second, but didn't say a word as Adagio came in and took her seat next to Sunset, carrying on with the lesson like nothing had happened. Sunset proved she wasn't willing to risk getting either of them in trouble by talking in class, but the worried glances didn't go unnoticed. Luckily for Adagio, it wasn't a group-work day, though Sunset's prying stares did make her feel just a little guilty.

Whispers and glances. Whispers and glances. There was a weird kind of nostalgia to it, almost, the way Adagio could experience roughly the same thing now as she and the others had when they first arrived, which made it easier to keep wearing a smile. The difference was that now, not everyone was doing it, which made it much easier to hold out hope that things would die down again.

She wondered if Aria and Sonata were getting the same treatment.

"Nah," Sonata said through a bite of corndog, "been purdy normal fer me."

"Same," added Aria, "not getting any more weird looks than usual on my end."

Unable to resist the bait, Sonata swallowed her mouthful and smirked. "Ohh, I'm sure your end gets plenty of looks!"

Her eyes widening, Aria blushed, then scowled. "Shut up, Sonata."

She coyly looked away. "Did you ever notice how the table behind us is full of boys? Food for thought."

Aria resisted the urge to turn around. "S-so?"

Grinning viciously, Sonata sing-songed. "Sooo, if you didn't wear such tight pa-aaaants..."

Flushing a deeper crimson, Aria lowered her head, tugging on the back of her vest with one hand in the vain hope of covering up a little more. "I hate you."

Sonata giggled, but the two of them looked across the table to find Adagio restrained to a little grin of amusement. Some part of Aria was grateful not to be hit with another teasing tag-team, but the rest of her was worried.

"So, maybe things are still shaky, but it hasn't even been a full day yet."

Lacking better, more comforting ideas, Sonata offered a warm smile. "It'll be okay, Dagi."

Knowing that at least Aria and Sonata weren't being dragged into this too lessened the effort it took to keep smiling herself. "Yes, I'm sure it will. Just have to be... patient."

Adagio had never felt awkward about a teacher wanting to talk to her alone before, but Magnet had proven himself to be a very odd man. He'd waited for her out in the hall before Art started to humbly thank her for committing so much to The Arts that she would literally collapse from exhaustion soon after. It was with a slightly wry smile that she thanked him for promising to make sure she was feeling up to it before he asked her to lend her talents again.

It really was a rare day, because Adagio had to stop and take a breath before walking into eighth period. Heads turned, faces were made, and the room was deadly quiet apart from her heels on the floor until she took her seat. Not even Pinkie Pie was saying anything. Adagio chose to ignore it, but even Harshwhinny was just a little off when she came in. Still, she carried on, class started like normal, and soon it was like Adagio wasn't even in the room.

Progress!

...

I think.

"Wow," remarked Rainbow, "you actually mowed the grass out here!"

Applejack tried to keep the pride out of her voice as she observed her friends taking in the sight of the area around the picnic table on the outer area of Sweet Apple Acres, primarily the freshly-cut grass. "Ah had a bit'a time and figured if we were meetin' out here more than once, Ah ought'a spruce up a bit."

Rarity seemed particularly pleased as everyone sat down. "And a lovely job of it you've done!"

When discussion of that just-mowed-lawn smell passed, Rainbow looked at Fluttershy. "So, let's have it. You said you'd tell us what was going on with Adagio when we got somewhere private, and even Aria told me we should ask you."

"Miss D-err, S-Sonata told me only that she was having trouble sleeping, which, frankly, was already quite obvious by then." It was to her great relief that none of her friends asked about the slip-up.

Fluttershy cleared her throat and explained what Adagio had explained to her, but left out the list of possible causes that drove Adagio's rant, as well as the notion that the sirens could have taken revenge any time they liked. She said they wouldn't, and Fluttershy believed her, so there was no sense in making anyone worry. She hadn't gotten to the things the sirens had tried to alleviate Adagio's problem before Sunset rested her face in both hands, propped up with her elbows on the table.

Leaning over to get a better look, Pinkie frowned and asked very, very softly. "Sunny? You okay?"

Sunset shook her head. "I knew it," she said in a strained voice, "I knew something was wrong, but she never..." She took a few breaths as those sitting close to her placed comforting hands on her back and shoulders. "Alright, I'm... I'm alright, just..." She looked at Fluttershy through faintly watery eyes. "You said that not even Aria and Sonata knew until yesterday, right?" She got a nod. "Okay, that's... that's a bit better, I guess. It's not that she didn't trust any of us, it's that she didn't trust anyone."

Fluttershy opened her mouth, but Rarity spoke faster.

"She never took you up on your regular offers for help, should she need it? Did any of them?"

"No, but..." Sunset gave Fluttershy a hopeful look. "They're asking now, right?"

"Mmhm. They've already tried a few things, but I told her I would ask you all for advice, so..." Internally, she tensed at the thought of having to tell Adagio she hadn't come up with a single thing if no one had any suggestions. "...W-well, um... any ideas?" She never would have expected that Pinkie Pie would be the first to come up with ways to fall asleep.

"Easy, just tell her to read something really, really boring while lying down, preferably somewhere comfy!"

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that how you said you study for tests?"

"Hey, we're not talking about me here!"

There were giggles as Rainbow shook her head, smiling wryly as she looked back to Fluttershy. "Tips for dozing off, huh? Some good exercise usually wears me out."

"I'm afraid she's already tried that one."

Pinkie grinned. "What about meds?"

"That too."

Rarity made a sour face, as though she'd just seen a Hawaiian shirt. "Honestly, pharmaceuticals tend to be so unreliable anyway, even if there aren't nasty side-effects. What about getting a massage shortly before bed?"

Applejack tilted her head. "What, on a nightly basis? Fer the rest of her life? That'd run up a bill pretty high, don'tcha think?"

Making a somewhat sheepish face, Rarity shrugged. "Well, heavenly as that would surely be, I don't think it'd need to go that long, just until she learned to relax again. It's probably stress doing this to her in the first place."

"She didn't say anything about massages," noted Fluttershy, "so I guess I could at least bring it up." She turned to Applejack, but got two upraised palms.

"Don' look at me, Ah usually get to sleep just hittin' the hay."

When Fluttershy looked at her, Sunset smiled. "Well, you guys probably remember my own little struggle with insomnia. Has she tried warm milk?"

"Yes."

"Heh, didn't work for me either. Having someone tuck her in?"

"It sounded like it, yes."

"Just getting comfortable and staying still?"

"Every night."

"Hypnosis?"

"No effect."

"An extended chat about her feelings with someone she trusts? That was the one that did it for me." It was how I finally got to laugh back at that stupid painting, too, if only for a little while.

Fluttershy's mouth opened, closed, then formed a smile. "We actually talked a little this morning, but I'll propose the idea to her in full. Does anyone have any other ideas?" A slow survey of the table provided no further suggestions, but she smiled anyway. "I see. Well, thank you all very much for the help, I'm sure we'll figure out something."

From there, a pleasant time was had before everyone headed home, Fluttershy doing so with a strong sense of purpose.

"So those are all the ideas they came up with?"

"Uh-huh! Which one would you like to try first?"

"Hrmmm..."

The other line was silent for a moment, but looking at the notepad in front of her as she sat on her bed, Fluttershy went down the list of options again in case Adagio asked.

"Well, we talked a little about how I felt earlier today, right? Was that enough, or do we need to go deeper?"

Fluttershy smiled. "Would you like to?"

"Uh... I, I don't..." She let out what sounded like an abashed giggle. "What, do I just, talk about my feelings? Is it really that simple?"

"That was the one that helped Sunset after the Fall Formal. Just say anything that comes to mind, we can talk about anything you want."

"Alright, um... How do you feel about being tied up?"

Eyes growing to the size of saucers, Fluttershy choked on air as she burned red. "Wh-wh-wheeze!-WHAT?!" The scary part was that Adagio had asked without a hint of her usual seductive tones.

"You alright, Sweetie?"

"Y-yes, I'm... I-I'm fine, b-but... t-tied up?"

"Recreationally, I mean. It's odd, I really don't like feeling defenseless in general, but under the right circumstances, having my arms pinned behind my back is kind of-"

"Eep!" Her phone emitted slightly tinny giggles.

"You said I could talk about anything, Sweetie."

"Y-yes," she forced herself to say despite the luminous protest of her cheeks, "I did, and I.... Gulp! I m-meant it!" This was all so she could sleep. They'd already discussed how she felt about the sirens' situation at school, and if this was something Adagio wanted to get off her chest, Fluttershy would hear her out! "Wh-what do you l-like about b-being... t-t-tied up?" To her relief, the reply didn't immediately fluster her further.

"Uhmm... I, I guess that's what I'm wondering. I don't get worked up at the sight of handcuffs, and being helpless by itself still sounds awful, even frightening. Still, I'm not completely turned off by the idea, so... I suppose I'd like to weigh it against someone else's feelings on the subject. Your thoughts?"

Heart thudding in her chest, Fluttershy swallowed. "Well..."

It proved to be a long, embarrassing night, but she learned some interesting things.

The panda alarm clock was all but slammed in fury, something Fluttershy might have felt worse about if it weren't made of hard plastic.

"I'm going to start setting you five minutes later," she grumbled at it while getting up, "maybe even just sleep in one of these days..."

Today was Friday, so maybe that was what she'd do tonight. Maybe. But then the animals at the shelter would be waiting for her and-

Oh, darnit!!

Fluttershy frowned. "It didn't help at all?"

Shrugging, Adagio averted her eyes. "Well, we stayed up for about half as long as I usually lie awake anyway and I didn't fall asleep until a while after, so... Did we do it wrong? Were we supposed to talk about something else? Because come to think of it, the four of us got everything out in the open in that first talk with Sunset."

Oh, Fluttershy thought to herself, I forgot about that... I guess that won't work, but she doesn't look exhausted.

She was still wearing the dark eyeliner, of course, but with the bags wholly concealed, Fluttershy wouldn't have even guessed she hadn't slept well. "Um... h-how much sleep do you usually get a night?"

"It varies. Why?"

"It's just, you always seem pretty lively, even late in the day. How do you keep your energy up on so little sleep?"

"In addition to the coffee I drink in the mornings and whatever I can get sneaking into the teachers' lounge (someone in there has a talent for coffee, by the way), I..." She grinned coyly, already enjoying the nervous, yet nearly expectant look this drew from Fluttershy. "Well, do you remember what we were talking about last night?"

"Y-yes...?"

Leaning in closer, Adagio gave her a half-lidded look. "Particularly on the topic of... witnesses?"

"Wh-what?! We didn't talk abou-" She was shushed when Adagio touched a finger to her lips, so lightly that Fluttershy almost leaned in a little more for reasons she was barely aware of.

"Mmm," she purred, "don't remember?" Snaking her other hand around to Fluttershy's back, she tenderly drew her fingertips up her spine. Along with the usual flush of warmth, this drew delightful little shivers and a shuddering gasp. "That's fine, I'm sure they-" she nodded to something behind Fluttershy, "-can tell you all about it."

Fluttershy's head whipped around so fast, she worried she'd pulled something in her neck, but looking around, no one was there. Even more surprisingly, Adagio hadn't vanished when she looked back, instead sitting right where she'd been and holding a phone in-

kchck!

Snickering, Adagio turned the phone around so Fluttershy could see the picture of herself. "That pwecious widdle face? Just one of many that kept me going during the day." It made her smile wider when Fluttershy blinked very slowly, her adorably confused expression magnified by a slightly slack jaw.

"...Wuh?"

Adagio cackled, transitioning to merry giggles as she reached out to hug Fluttershy's head close to her chest. This elicited an entirely different, yet equally welcome reaction out of her target, whose glowing face and nervous babbling tickled her all the more. When her laughter died down, she let Fluttershy go, though this only had her flop down on Adagio's lap.

Aww, poor thing. Suppose I may have overdone it again.

Not sure how to rouse her without risk of flustering her further, Adagio contented herself with gently stroking Fluttershy's hair for a few minutes, which may have at least helped to calm her down.

Her head now resting against Adagio's thigh (for the second time!!), Fluttershy felt faint, not sure how to process the realization of one of her long-awaited dreams. Panic crackled through her heart like jellyfish venom as she awaited the panda alarm clock, but this time, she actually remembered how she came to be here. That was how she knew she had to separate herself from those long, smooth curves, even as she dared hope they'd one day be reunited again. She sat up straight again, steadying herself by pushing the last few minutes to the area of her mind labeled 'Diary Storage.'

"S-so, um... I'm afraid I don't understand, what is it that helps you stay awake?"

Chuckling, Adagio shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure myself, but I can tell you this: I may not get as much sleep as I'd like most nights, but when I'm playing with someone really reactive? I don't feel tired." She quickly held up a hand. "And before you say anything, yes, the days might have gotten a little harder to get through since our last deal, but even if I could spend all day riling up whoever I wanted, I'd still be lying awake half the night." She smiled when the guilty consternation visibly drained out of Fluttershy's face just as quickly as it had come. "Besides," she breathed, reaching out to delicately brush her fingertips along Fluttershy's jawline, "I'll sleep a lot better knowing I'm not doing anything to upset you." She capped it off with a wink. "Okay?"

Struck equally by the light touch and the romantic sentiment, Fluttershy let out a long, blissful sigh, melting where she sat with a big, dopey smile on her face.

When she came to, Adagio was gone, but her phone's cheerful ringtone informed her that she had a new message.

[What worked for Sunset Shimmer might not have worked for me, but I'll be ready to try any method you can think of. See you soon, Sweetie! <3]

Fluttershy smiled brightly, but before she could think about replying, she got another message.

[Oh, and to show my appreciation, here's something to keep YOU going during the day...]

When she scrolled down, Fluttershy's jaw nearly dropped right off. This was a picture of Adagio from the faint curves of abs in her stomach down to the tops of her taut, muscular thighs, hips cocked, and wearing nothing but a tight, tiny thong.

[Remember our trip to the mall? I found this and thought of you.]

Fluttershy had to use the nearby drinking fountain to cool her head. What she hadn't considered was the effect her wet hair might have on her classmates, namely freaking a lot of people out by looking like a pink-haired onryo. Ms. Inkwell actually used this to center the day's lesson on Japanese ghost stories, saying the school could use more culture anyway. The added attention had Fluttershy hiding in her hair the whole time, but she got extra credit for an accurate portrayal of the evil spirit, somehow. Rarity (who scolded her a little for soaking her head just before school) helped straighten her out again between first and second period, though her mind still wandered.

I wonder what Adagio looks like with wet hair...

Author's Note

I was tempted to name this chapter "Pink and Wet," but that might have been misleading. Instead, I spent at least forty minutes coming up with something less innuendo-y. Yes, "Pillow Talk" was one of the cleanest things I came up with. It's amazing what sounds tastelessly dirty (or just really dumb) when you're thinking too hard. :applejackunsure:

You know how Magnum (which I think is actually his name), Rarity's tourist father, always wears Haywaiian shirts? Probably didn't help, growing up.

Chapter 44: Anatomically-Incorrect Cuddle-Helpers

Adagio made sure to stay ahead of Aria and Sonata as they came through the front door, if only so that they wouldn't see the relaxed smile slip off her face. Had to keep morale up, couldn't let them worry too much, but something in the silence behind her as she headed upstairs told her that they'd guessed the truth anyway.

When she closed her bedroom door and took off the outfit Fluttershy had helped her find, she sprawled out on the faintly cool bed in a moment of naked bliss. There were better reasons to flop down unclothed on a bed, but the little sense of freedom just made her feel alright, even since before the Battle. This society's standards had imbued the action with a certain illicit thrill, of course, but that was just a happy bonus. Thinking about it, she sighed.

Why does knowing I'm breaking rules of some kind make me feel more alive? Aren't I supposed to be behaving now?

Yes, which makes it even naughtier!

And all the more fun for it... Can feel my heart beating a little faster already, but that's hardly much help to me right now.

Maybe her body was working against itself. After a few years spent straining for any measure of energy she could catch, maybe part of her was opposed to losing enough that sleep becomes necessary? Or something? She wasn't sure that made any sense, but couldn't be bothered to argue with herself about it. Instead, she thought of what helped her stay awake during the day and what could be done to invert it.

'Naughty' behavior was always fun, maybe if she tried acting really prudish?

'Hmph, I have no interest at all in physical intimacy! Repression is my middle name! Hmph again!'

The thought of such an act made her smile, which wasn't a great sign for getting to sleep. She settled for just not dwelling on dirty thoughts, which was pretty easy when there was no one in the bed with her. Teasing people helped her forget her woes, and she'd already tested that school was much duller when she couldn't play to her heart's content.

Easier still; I'm all alone in here.

And then there was coffee. She could just... not drink it?

...Done!

With all of that together, Adagio had everything she needed to... do exactly what she usually did when trying to get to sleep.

Uggh. Screw it, I have another idea.

Getting up, she threw on her bathrobe (as she'd agreed to stay at least relatively modest when moving about the house, as per Aria's request) and headed downstairs and into the basement. She'd been meaning to get started with this for a while now, and everything she needed to brew her own tea had just been gathering dust down here while she worked up the initiative.

Large boxes of herbs? Check.

Huge, wooden spoon? Check.

Firewood? Check.

The scraps from when she'd carved the spoon would have been handy even if she hadn't meant to replenish their sawdust reserves. She didn't like her insomnia, but at least it was productive sometimes.

Big, black cauldron in which to make large quantities of tea? Check.

And the pièce de résistance; a big, pointy, wicked-witch hat Aria spitefully swiped from the theater club when they barred us from returning? Check!

She distantly wondered if Trixie ever brewed her own tea before calling Fluttershy to let her know she'd be trying relaxing herbal beverages tonight.

Lying in bed the next morning, quite awake and slightly annoyed, Adagio wondered if she shouldn't have gotten Zecora's directions in rhyme. At least the three of them had plenty to drink with dinner, with Sonata even getting the idea to throw their very first tea party! Aria agreed under the condition that she not have to wear a pretty dress, so their quick trip to the costume room ended with her dressed as a colonial British officer while Sonata and Adagio wore Southern Belle and Gypsy Dancer outfits respectively. Much fun was had, but whether it helped her 'relax' or not, Adagio didn't sleep any better than usual that night.

Wearing nothing but the colorful sash from the gypsy outfit around her waist, Adagio once again found herself spread out on her bed and staring at her painted ceiling fan. As was common for her on weekend mornings, she remained that way for about an hour after waking up, bar sitting up for a minute to answer Fluttershy's text about whether or not the tea method had worked. It was as she was weighing the merits of drawing more attention to her hips by wearing the sash all the time against offsetting the look Fluttershy had helped her put together (as well as being uncertain if the article leaned more towards 'cute' or 'sexy') that her bedroom door cracked open.

"Hey," came Aria's voice, "are you still in bed because it worked so well that you haven't gotten up yet, or it failed and you're sulking?"

Sitting up, Adagio sighed. "Second one."

"You dressed?"

"Come on in."

"That wasn't a 'yes'!"

She chuckled. "Suppose you had to stop falling for that one some time. Do you need something?"

"You pervy old-... Actually, I was thinking it was something you needed."

"Oh?"

"Yea. Nata's out with Rarity, I think, so it's just us here for now. Wanna play some games? I've got a few lined up that might make for good stress relief."

Adagio smiled. "I'll be dressed and downstairs in a minute." It sounded like Aria was smiling too, but the effort at sounding aloof anyway still tickled her.

"Cool, I'll go set up."

"So, what's the gist of this first one, Ria?"

"Bunch'a zombies on a tropical island, we go places and kill a bunch to either fetch supplies or work machinery for NPCs that literally can't fight to save their lives. The combat is the reason I picked this one, though."

"So I see! Unfortunately, I think my oar is breaking."

"Yea, stuff falls apart quick, but there are more weapons everywhere. Plus, you can always just kick zombies away or even knock 'em down and stomp their heads flat."

"Wood and steel have a weaker constitution than a human foot?"

"Don't think about it too hard."

"Hmm..."

A fairly good time was had as the two dispatched the majority of their shambling foes by kicking them in the stomach and stomping on their heads, seldom even needing to use real weaponry.

Next, they explored the virtual aftermath of a plague of undeath simulated on a space station, with a much greater focus on dismemberment.

"You having any trouble with the monsters, Dagi? The combat's a little clunky in this one."

"Ohh, not at all. Time your swings, knock them down, stomp all their limbs off. Fun!"

"Yea, that's-... Wait, have you even used your gun yet?"

"Oh, is that what this thing is?"

"Holy crap, Dagi..."

"What? I thought it was some kind of tool. The main characters are engineers and we're supposedly here to fix the ship in the first place!"

"Well, we kinda do that too, but the various 'tools' are just excuses for different kinds of guns."

"Oh. So I should be...?"

"Unlawful use of heavy equipment."

"Well, when in space..."

Adagio still made a point of stomping the limbs off of every dead body they encountered, especially when it was completely unnecessary. That most of them dispensed items and money in the process only encouraged her.

When the gratuitous guts and gore grew grating, Adagio mentioned the game she'd played with Sonata to relieve frustration. They played with all volatile item settings at maximum of course.

"You're much more skillful in dodging the bombs than Sonata was." She didn't need to turn her head to see Aria's proud smirk.

"I did say I was way better than her at this."

"Yet you've still never beaten the Adventure Mode."

"I-It's that stupid racetrack level!!"

"Hehe! Whatever you say."

Issues of unfair rocket-car timing dropped, they learned that it was possible to run, jump, and drop off ledges to avoid the bombs long enough to let them take care of the less dexterous AI opponents, and won a few rounds without throwing a punch.

On the topic of old favorites, they eventually popped in the game in which Aria had explained telekinetic garbage-truck rampages to Rainbow 'Doomprism' Dash. After a few giggly minutes of playing catch with a double-decker bus (it blew up when Aria tried to ricochet it off of a building), they started experimenting with the game's selection of melee weapons.

"I was kinda disappointed that there wasn't a chainsaw, but if you upgrade the nail-bat all the way, you can turn everyone you hit into clouds of gore for pretty much the same effect."

"Blood fetish?"

"No."

"Only because you answered that one without blushing or stammering am I going to believe you, Ria."

"Uh... thanks. I guess. Havin' fun with the laser sword?"

"I know it's not as visceral as the nail-bat, but I do enjoy vaporizing things."

"Surprised you didn't go with the tentacle-bat."

"I think that says more about you than me."

"Wh-what?!"

"Stammer! You're a baaaad girl!"

"N-no, I, I meant, it, I was-"

Giggling gleefully, Adagio got up to hug her. "Just kidding, Ria."

Lightly squirming for a moment, Aria eventually donned a wry grin before gingerly hugging back. "Yea, yea."

"Really, I'm not judging, no matter what you're into, no matter how depraved your-"

"Uh, D-Dagi?"

Her eyes widening, Adagio backed away with a sheepish smile. "Right, doing it again. Sorry."

Aria chuckled. "Hope you're careful with Squeaky, or you'll break her before you two even get near a bed."

Adagio smirked, drawing a hand to her chin. "Ohh, I think she'll-" She stopped, reconsidered what she was about to say, and smiled normally. "I mean, good advice, thank you."

Aria stared in surprise, then stood up and clapped. Adagio humored her by bowing and pretending to wave to an audience. When they got back to the game, Adagio was delighted to learn of the super-powered stomp attack, which could be used to clear whole city blocks.

Next up was another zombie game, but set in a mall/casino hybrid thing.

"Oh dear, there are quite a few of them in this one!"

"Heh. Don't worry, Dagi, these are the slow, shambling kind, barely even a threat on their own."

"Then how did the outbreak start?"

"...Huh?"

"Most of them are going down in one swing, so how did they build up their numbers when they die so easily?"

"...Uh..."

"And come to think of it, if the zombies spread their infection by trying to eat things, shouldn't most of them be shredded, tattered husks of human beings, barely able to move for sheer damage to the muscles and nervous system? If they tear their victims apart, then the only ones that should be in any condition to reanimate are, in theory, those that get bitten once, escape further biting, and then turn later, right?"

"...I'm going with 'don't think too hard about it' again."

"Mm, works for me. At least dispatching them by the dozen is fun!"

"That's pretty much the name of the game. The zombies aren't a looming threat or a real enemy so much as bitey obstacles to tear through. Pretty much just gory stress-relief."

"Ooh, there's even a stomp attack!"

"Yea, but the real draw to this game is going nuts and throwing stuff. Everything you can pick up is a weapon, and items are everywhere. And if you find a workbench, you can-... Dagi?"

"Stompy, stompy, stompy," she quietly sing-songed, "stompstompstompstompstomp! Heeheehehehe! Look, you can even crush their torsos when all the limbs come off!"

"...Let it all out, Dagi. This is what we're here for."

By the end of it, Adagio really did feel a little better, tenderly hugging Aria in thanks. Her dignity not in any immediate danger, Aria hugged back. Adagio headed upstairs to see if digital gore-fests helped her sleep, but an hour later, this hope was thoroughly crushed. Not unlike many virtual enemies under her heel, actually.

Not that we didn't have legs before, albeit of very different make, but these new ones really have grown on me.

A little more-so since she started working out, in fact. With the muscle she'd gained in the last so many months, she might have really been able to reenact her favorite attack if given an acceptable target! Or just let a particular admirer caress her curves to her heart's content, either was fine.

That's provided that she isn't afraid to touch me, which may yet take a while. Am I doing something wrong? Is she afraid of me? Not like she doesn't have a reason, but I only threatened to spank her (which I kind of thought she'd take advantage of) if she apologized for giving in to her urges! I don't want to pressure her, but it's not like she's going to hold me down against my will, and I don't care if she's supposed to be a hero, there's a difference between showing restraint and being repressed!

And then she felt like stomping on something. Instead, she called Fluttershy to ask about what her friends came up with and decided on giving spa treatment a try. It was only around two in the afternoon, so they had to be open, right? Fluttershy offered to get a full time-table from Rarity, but confirmation that she wouldn't be heading out for nothing was enough.

They spent the next ten minutes talking about whether or not Adagio should show up in a bathrobe and how whether it would project confidence in the masseuses' abilities or not, she should probably wear something more substantial on the way there.

Later that day, Adagio closed her bedroom door with a sigh.

Of course a boy from CHS worked there. Of course he told the rest about me. Of course the entire staff was scared to lay a finger on the 'big, scary,' teenage girl.

That did explain why she was in the waiting room for so long, but she thought that was just part of the experience. She didn't fall asleep, but the chairs were soft (though less so than Magnet's half-couch thing, which itself was only slightly less comfortable than her own bed) and the quiet music they played there was vaguely soothing, so she tried to make the best of it until someone mustered the will to give their only remaining customer a massage. On her best behavior, Adagio stripped off her clothes, laid down, and didn't make any strange noises no matter where she was touched...

At first.

They kept telling her to relax, to loosen up and let herself 'decompress' or something, and despite what the situation reminded her of, she tried to adhere to their suggestions without comment until it was time to explain that those were appreciative noises! Honestly, how could they work in that profession and not know they were making people feel good? They eventually managed to do their jobs with much less fuss, but one would think they were expecting her to grow massive talons and tear their lungs out. Or just stomp on their heads.

Regardless, she left the spa feeling... better. She even took a cab home to ensure she wouldn't walk off the effects of the massage, decided against asking Aria or Sonata to carry her upstairs, went straight to her room, briefly reflected on her excursion, and stood there feeling like a bit of a dope for still being on her feet.

Stripping! That was the thing she was supposed to do when she got back here!

Clothes off, she laid down and got comfortable.

So veeeery comfortable.

She kept her phone within reach just so she wouldn't have to get up if someone called.

Soft.

Warm.

Relaxed.

So relaxed.

It was a little early to be going to sleep for a normal person, but what was that saying by the fat man with the kite and the tiny glasses? Inkwell seemed to like him. She thought about possible romances for her and other school staff before thinking about random students, among other things, until the sun went down, but eventually she had to face the fact that she was still lying awake. It wasn't so bad, though, because even if she had no intention of returning to that spa any time soon, at least she could lie here and be very, very comf-

She sat up, wide awake.

Wait, did I make anything for Aria and Sonata? Are they expecting me to? And, have I eaten anything recently?

She'd grown to enjoy cooking, so making dinner every night for the last few weeks was something she'd been more than happy to do, but wasn't sure if the others had just gotten take-out like the three of them used to. Getting up, she headed downstairs to investigate!

The next morning, Adagio felt a little silly. Everything was fine, Aria and Sonata had ordered pizza, which was something Adagio hadn't adequately learned to make anyway, and the three of them ate heartily. A little later, Adagio had gone back to bed, with the usual result. There wasn't much to do on a Sunday, so she opted to just work out for a while, have a shower, microwave the rest of the pizza, and watch Sonata play the sequel to that JRPG in which poor Wavus didn't make it.

Monday morning, Fluttershy sat next to a less-than-enthusiastic Adagio. "So, the sound videos didn't help either?"

Leaning back on the bench, Adagio shook her head. "I tried listening to oceanic, forest, rainforest, and just plain rain noises on my phone last night, and while I suppose they weren't unpleasant, I was still awake well into the night."

Fluttersigh. "I'm sorry, I guess it's not a matter of being able to relax, but something else." Luckily, she'd come up with a few more ideas over that weekend. "Do you have a teddy bear? Something small and cute to hold while trying to sleep?"

This drew a smirk and a raised eyebrow. "Just what are you volunteering for, Sweetie?"

"EEP!! I-I, I meant, t-t-, uhm, l-like, t-teddy bears! Stuffed animals! They've helped me s-since I was little!"

"Ah," she replied, her predatory look quickly fading, "no, I don't think we have anything along those lines at home. Can't be hard to find one, I'm sure. Any suggestions from the connoisseur?"

"Actually, I was thinking I could just give you one of mine!" Smiling, she reached into her bookbag and was startled to feel something move. "What's-?! Angel?"

The rabbit, Angelius McMillan Bunniceus, boldy hopped from his hiding place and was immediately graced with the light of not only His Queen, but that of The Great Fluff! He would not err this time, he would make his allegiance clear to the very heavens!

Adagio giggled as Angel hopped to her lap, then her shoulder to nuzzle her face. "Y-yes, yes, I remember you."

Observing this, Fluttershy was conflicted. Part of her wanted to remind Angel that she was over here, but thinking about what she might do if she were a cuddly little bunny, she could hardly begrudge him. Refusing to let herself be jealous of her fuzzy pet, she watched as he licked Adagio's cheek, rubbed his face against hers, and buried his little nose in her neck, all drawing delighted giggles and a warm blush. Thinking back to the squirrel, she dared dream of what she might do if she were tiny. She thought of the closeness, of her entire body pressed against Adagio's, safe and warm under her clothes, of delivering fully-body hugs to every inch of-

"-eetie?"

She snapped to attention, startled to see Adagio wearing a tight, purple bunny outfit with white rabbit ears! Then she blinked, seeing Adagio back in the outfit she'd been wearing to school for the past week with Angel curled up on her head. Not even able to feel her face, Fluttershy sputtered quietly until Adagio smirked, gently put a hand on her shoulder, and said "Deeeep breaths."

Fluttershy did what she was asked, though not hearing a certain word, Adagio had no qualms about poking her a little more. "So, does my company alone fog up your mind, or have you just really missed me?"

Smiling sheepishly, Fluttershy answered honestly. "A little of both."

Adagio blinked, then giggled, blushed, and turned her head away, idly twirling a lock of hair around a finger.

Fluttershy might not have been seeing the inquisitive face very much these days, but the bashful look was a very acceptable trade! She liked that expression so much that she reached out, cupped Adagio's face with both hands, and pulled her in for a kiss!

Standing atop The Great Fluff as she and The Queen inspected one another's mouths, Angel wondered if there would be nibbles soon.

The two talked for a while about the prospect of the sirens getting their own pet(s), but Adagio wasn't sure they'd want to worry about a little animal every day, or risk becoming crazy cat ladies if they decided they liked their pet (and all that unconditional love) better than trying to make human friends. That, and she didn't want to see Sonata's face the day a beloved pet proved it couldn't live as long as they did. She'd considered the merits of getting a turtle, but they probably wouldn't be much fun.

Fluttershy promised to bring a stuffed animal from her own collection tomorrow and the two shared another quick kiss before the day began.

Sitting at the lunch table, Sonata frowned. She knew what the answer was going to be, but had to ask. "So, anybody forgot about your little snooze yet?"

Adagio sighed. "The only ones treating me the same as they did before are Flash Sentry, and the people who stayed away from me anyway." Glancing around, she kept her voice very, very low. "And, well, you know."

"What about Sunset?"

"The same, but with an added layer of 'Oh, you poor little thing' in her eyes." Adagio had forced herself to remember that no matter what, Sunset's heart was in the right place with those sentiments, even if they were of no more use to her than any of the many failed methods of finding sleep.

"I hate these people," said Aria with a disdainful head-shake, "I really do. No real menace, no real threat, and they'd be calling the freakin' City Watch on anything that spooks them a little. Bunch'a jellyfish."

Sonata frowned. "Well, we did kinda almost mess up their whole world, even without the twitchy thing."

"Sunset did that too! I've heard people talk about how she used to fall asleep in class for a while!"

"And they gave her Hell for it," said Adagio, "at least until we came along to give them new hate fig-YEEEK!"

She jumped in her seat, quickly looking down and angling her head to see under the table.

"What," Aria asked in alarm, "what happened?"

Still looking around, Adagio answered somewhat sheepishly. "Uh... nothing, I guess, just... s-something touched my leg..."

Aria and Sonata took a moment to look under the table, but didn't find anything out of the ordinary. The latter shrugged.

"Weird."

Lying on her bed, Fluttershy held Adagio's latest picture over her head, her heart equally full of warmth and terror. On one hand, Fluttershy had found the picture behind the doggie treats at the animal shelter, which neatly demonstrated that nowhere was safe. On the other, she still hadn't stopped smiling after reading the pink cursive on the back.

I hold you close to my heart... Along with these!

The image this time was a close-up of Adagio's chest, bare for all but one arm and some strategically-placed fingers to keep it PG-13. The same could not be said for Fluttershy's imagination, but the first part of the sentiment just made her feel all fuzzy!

Speaking of fuzzy, she thought, angling her head to look at the pile of stuffed animals, which one of you would she like best...?

Pinkie's 'read boring stuff until sleepy' approach had not worked, but Adagio had plenty to say about exactly why the sky was blue, the production process of tires, and the political workings of a Colonial-era Great Britain. On the topic of history, Fluttershy brought up how Twilight had mentioned finding information on the sirens in a history book. When Adagio asked how far back it was dated, Fluttershy had to text Sunset to confirm that it was roughly a thousand years in Equestria. Adagio shrugged, noted that it wasn't like the three of them had anything to go back to anyway, and that was that.

Then they had peanut butter cups, which led to Fluttershy's second offering.

"Is this... an octopus?"

"Uh-huh!"

"I... see..." Adagio held the felt cephalopod in front of her, giggling a little at the cutesy, though anatomically-incorrect placement of its eyes. "Does he have a name?"

"It's up to you." She made only a tiny squee at the return of the inquisitive face, then launched into her explanation. "It's a bit of a psychological crutch. Naming something yourself helps make it feel like it's yours, which gives it a sense of attachment right away, and for cuddly closeness and warding off nightmares, that's a good thing to have in a stuffed animal."

"Mmhm... Well, in that case, I think I'd like to know what you called him." Blink. "Or her."

"Huh? Wh-why?"

There was a little shrug as she brushed the back of the octopus's soft little head, letting it come to rest on her lap. "You aren't going to convince me that you're not better at being comforting than I am, Sweetie, and as this is a gift from you, there's a pretty strong connection already, isn't there?" She stole a glance to find Fluttershy wearing a demure blush and a dopey grin, which she met with a smile of her own. Reaching out, one hand delicately cupped Fluttershy's cheek as she leaned in for a kiss. It would be a very, very, very long time before she tired of the little noises Fluttershy made whenever they did this, but she still contained the contact to a few seconds.

Too few, judging by Fluttershy's reaction, which was to latch onto her and pull her in for another, much more aggressive kiss, which escalated to Adagio being pushed onto her back with a tongue halfway down her throat, Fluttershy's hand firmly on her thigh, and... something pressing between her legs! It was soft, but difficult to discern through her skirt. She was definitely blushing by the time Fluttershy stopped for air, and spoke between ragged gasps.

"S-Sweetie... are you...?"

Propping herself up with her hands pressed through Adagio's hair to the bench on both sides of the trapped siren's body, Fluttershy looked down at her with a combination of adoration and a face that said she wasn't all there at the moment, which Adagio was going to start calling her daydream stare.

"Hm?" She noticed Adagio looking downward, which Fluttershy followed. What she noticed made her feel like a monster for a short list of reasons. Her fervor rapidly fading, she backed away from Adagio to release the felt octopus she'd been accidentally crushing against Adagio's crotch by kneeing him in the face, picking him up and whispering apologies for getting him involved with something so... steamy!

Sitting up, Adagio chuckled. "I really hope you're apologizing to the stuffed animal, Sweetie, because that was..." Giggling through her blush, she wore a look blended with her usual, teasing smile and some kind of admiration. "Not bad at all. For a second there, I thought you were really going to... you know, take me, right out in the open."

Covering the octopus's non-existent ears, Fluttershy answered with only a sheepish smile as she burned like molten iron, because she wasn't exactly sure what she was going to do herself. A few quiet moments passed as the two cooled down, with Adagio being the first to find her voice again.

"So, like I was saying, what's his name?"

"Uhm..." She presented him timidly, unable to stop thinking about where he'd been only minutes before. "I call him Mr. Cups."

Adagio took Mr. Cups in both hands, smiling again as she held him in front of her. "Hello, Mr. Cups," she said with a wink, "I'll be welcoming you to my bed tonight." The soothing sounds of Fluttershy sputtering beside her drew a pleased smirk as she used her thumb and index finger to make Mr. Cups nod affirmatively. When it sounded like Fluttershy was in control of her breathing again, she turned to her with an earnest grin. "Thank you. I promise I'll take care of him, whether he helps me sleep or not."

Fluttershy smiled back. "I would appreciate that. He's a very good octopus." The two giggled together, though Fluttershy was a little surprised at how Adagio had been presented a gift with tentacles and not made a single joke on the subject. And then she was surprised to see Adagio store that same gift in her hair. "Um... Do you-"

Preempting the question, Adagio dismissively waved a hand. "I saw Pinkie Pie do it and, you know me, always trying new things, so... Yes, I'm also storing pencils, a nail-file, and some make-up supplies in there." They stared at one another in awkward silence. "...Do you need a touch-up, or-"

"Uh, n-no, but thank you."

"Any time." Adagio stood and turned to walk away. "Be seeing you, Sweetie."

Hopping to her feet, Fluttershy called out as if Adagio were already nearly out of ear-shot. "I love you!!"

Adagio stopped, looked over her shoulder, and smiled tenderly, a warm blush clear on her cheeks. "Love you too, Sweetie."

When Adagio had gone, Fluttershy again waited alone with her thoughts. The first was that if not for fear of being seen together, she'd definitely be spending every minute with Adagio in the mornings, right up until the bell rang! But, that would probably cause a lot of trouble. Her mind wandered as she thought of Mr. Cups, how she'd see him again the next time she found herself in Adagio's bedroom... for whatever reason... And, in the same vein, it was possible that someday, she'd bring Adagio to her room. The one with all those stuffed animals on the bed.

The thought brought her a new, and perhaps irrational, kind of shame.

Author's Note

I notice that Aria's name just doesn't seem to come up all that much in spoken dialogue, at least not as much as some other characters. I don't know if it's just the way her role typically goes or what, but maybe that's why we don't officially hear her name in the movie.

In other news: For those of you still eagerly awaiting the couple's first time, I won't be giving you that any time soon. Here to tide you over a while longer is another rendition by Generous Gypsy; Of Black Dresses and Gentle Caresses!

Chapter 45: That Homemade Cookie Smell

Dear Diary,

Having Mr. Cups did not help Adagio sleep Tuesday night, and singing lullabies through the phone to her didn't help the night after. I know that because she always answered 'Yes' when I whisper-asked if she was still awake. That she answered at all made that pretty clear, actually, but that's not the issue here!

I'm running out of ideas that I can actually do, and I want to fix this for her! More than that, I want to fix this for her. I'm her girlfriend.

Something about writing the word had Fluttershy stopping to doodle happily on the side of the page for about twenty minutes.

I'm her girlfriend, I should be able to make her happy, to be there to help her when she needs me. Now, some crazy little part of me is thinking that if I'm not the one that helps, someone else will eventually come along, solve it for her, and I'll have to surrender Adagio to them, and I know that's a selfish, stupid thing to think about, but it

Stopping for a moment, Fluttershy took a deep breath and focused on the most important thing right now.

Singing for Adagio in person helped her sleep the time she got sick, so... I mean, I thought it did, but she took a nap in the library too, and I didn't so much as hum. Was it the lullaby, or something else about the situation? Come to think of it, I was there with her for quite a while, but if I can't guarantee that I'll always be there with her (as romantic as that would be), I can't let her restful sleep depend on me. I can't be her teddy bear any more than I can dance for her every night.

Rarity said it was probably stress. I've done a little research on insomnia, and that is usually part of it. I know she's upset about her voice, how she can't give her songs the quality they deserve, how she and the others can't (publicly) make any friends, and I know this started before we had a real relationship, but

More doodling occurred after she trailed off on that thought.

but having to keep it secret probably isn't helping. The same goes for her not being allowed to tease anyone but me; I know it didn't start this, but it can't be making anything better. Should I tell her I don't mind? I would mind, but

Slightly more scribbly doodles followed.

No, no, she even told me she'd sleep better knowing I wasn't upset. The very first time the sirens came to the school, I thought they were all mean, horrible, selfish people. Maybe they were, but who's selfish now, Diary? She loves me. She loves me and she doesn't want me to be upset, but now I'm upset because I love her too and I don't want her to have to deal with this for the rest of her life!

Wait a minute... Adagio used to be a very mean, horrible, selfish person, right? I mean, I think she had her reasons, considering what happened with her own home scapegoating her and the others to save their own scales, but... does she think she deserves this? When Sunset was still having nightmares, she told us she thought it was just supposed to be that way; that bad people had to suffer indefinitely because they had done something wrong. We talked to her about it, and the nightmares stopped when she let those feelings go.

I have an idea.

If I can make her feel safe and loved, break through every bad feeling that keeps her up at night, maybe that would be enough? Maybe, if I can bring her to a state in which she feels warm, comfortable, and happy, she'll stay there from then on? Sunset was in a bad place and got out, and she was okay from there, would it be the same for Adagio?

Tomorrow morning, I'll ask her how she feels about coming to my house for a nice, peaceful dinner. And maybe even a sleepover! Just the two of us!!

...For cuddling purposes
nowaitthatstillsounds
I think it would be good for h
we fell asleep together in the librar
well, okay, she fell asleep in th
but, it could really
it might be good fo
I just want to hold her

Oh, darnit, I'm just gonna take a chance on this one! I mean, I still don't think I'd be ready for anything... heavy... but, just talking, cuddling YES, CUDDLING! and sleeping together should be fine.

But, first, I need to clear the idea with Mom. I'm sure she'll agree, but if I survive her meeting my girlfriend, Adagio might finally be able to rest easy.

Saturday evening, Adagio walked to Fluttershy's house on her own, her heart beating just a little faster than usual. Idly running a hand over the little bag hanging at her side, she distantly wondered if she could convince herself that she'd forgotten something so she could run home and put this off for just a little longer. Unfortunately, she'd done that twice before even leaving her room, and knew that everything she needed for an overnight stay was already in the bag. Even if it wasn't, something in the back of her mind told her that Fluttershy would bend over backwards to accommodate her, so the only way was forward.

It only seemed fitting that she wear one of the outfits Fluttershy had helped her find; a loose, soft-pink dress with a ruffly skirt stopping just under her knees, cinched with a thick, black belt with a gold (or at least, the right shade of yellow to shine like gold) buckle. She also wore a thin, purple jacket (or was it a baggy vest with sleeves?), simple, red heels, and of course the bow Fluttershy had given her. Whether or not to wear dark eyeliner had been quite the conundrum, but she eventually decided that a thin layer of yellow make-up about the same shade as her own skin would work for one night.

Her first instinct, of course, had been to wear something tight, revealing, or both, but the mental image of meeting the family (even if it was only her mother) that raised such a sweet, innocent -well, mostly, but the times she wasn't were probably my fault,- girl while dressed like that made her feel like walking garbage. This wasn't accounting for the chances that she'd be barred from the house and Fluttershy forbidden to ever see her again if she was lucky.

When she got to the door, Adagio took a deep breath.

This is it. Fluttershy's house. I'm here for a pleasant evening together and to meet her biological family. And, since this is to double as a sleepover, are we to engage in Girl Talk? Given her long-time friendships with comparatively normal girls, she probably has more practice than I do, but maybe I can let her pick the topics. Then again, if this is her way of saying she wants to take things further, what's the proper etiquette for-

She was startled when the door flung open and a tall, weighty woman popped out to grab her by the arm. "Oh, for goodness' sake, come in already!"

Adagio was pulled into the house before she could say anything, and the next thing she knew, she was face-to-face with what had to be Fluttershy's mother. Mrs. Shy clasped her hands together as she smiled down at her.

"Oooh, I saw a little of you the other night on the doorstep, but you're even prettier in good lighting!"

Uncertain amounts of approval gained. So far so good.

"Thank you," she replied with an amicable smile, "this might be a silly question, but is Fluttershy here?"

Mrs. Shy tittered. "She's still getting ready, but last I checked she was down to semifinals on what to wear. I'll see if I can get her to make up her mind a little quicker." Adagio had barely opened her mouth to say 'thank you' when Fluttershy's mother turned and hollered over her shoulder. "HONEY, YOUR GIRLFRIEND'S HERE! IF YOU DON'T PICK SOMETHING TO WEAR SOON, YOU'LL HAVE TO EAT DINNER IN YOUR UNDIES!!"

The distant, but audible sound of "EEEP!!" made Adagio giggle.

Ohh, Sweetie.

Mrs. Shy smiled at her. "She's told me a bit about you, but the full Qn'A is gonna have to wait until I don't have food cookin'."

It would be soon, but until then, maybe she could make herself useful. "Might you need any help? I've been improving my culinary skills, as it happens."

"Ohh, I'll take care of it. You just sit tight and Fluttershy should be down soon."

And with that, she headed to the kitchen, leaving Adagio to idly survey her surroundings. Fluttershy's house was a pleasant place, pictures and paintings depicting various takes on themes of nature framed in predominantly round, light frames of soft-tinted colors on the walls, small, cutesy animal knick-knacks on shelves and tables, floral-patterned upholstery, and a general air that made her think of warm cookies and lullabies. Whether the carpet being green to evoke a subconscious sense of walking on grass (even if it felt completely different under one's feet) was deliberate or not, she couldn't say.

Quite a reach from your own home, isn't it?

Shut up. I've baked cookies a few times too.

Shaking the thought off, she walked into what she guessed was the living room. They didn't have a massive television with four or five different machines plugged into it, nor a snack hammock anywhere to be seen, but there was a couch and chairs centered around a table. Making some slightly abstract calculations in her head, she determined that the couch was the most guest-like place to sit.

She was in a nice house.

Wearing a nice dress.

To have dinner with a nice girl.

And her (apparently)nice mother.

All while hiding the not-so-nice bags under her eyes, her not-so-nice past, and her usual, not-so-nice personality as much as possible.

Sweetie? Why did you want me to do this?

Something about making her feel safe, about feeling completely welcome and secure, but she wasn't sure how dressing up and meeting Fluttershy's mother was supposed to accomplish that. She couldn't think on it long before being startled by a fuzzy sensation brushing against her bare leg. Looking down revealed the culprit to be Fluttershy's pet rabbit, which immediately made her smile.

"Hello there," she said while leaning down to scoop him up and hold him in front of her, "miss me?"

He answered by hopping to her shoulder and nuzzling her face, particularly the long, fluffy locks of hair hanging by that side. Adagio's barely-controlled giggles continued as he burrowed and weaved through her hair to nestle against the back of her neck, which, while warm and cuddly, was starting to give her squirrel flashbacks.

"Alright, you, come out of there."

Reaching through her own curls, she gently grasped his soft little body, but he squirmed out of her grip and fled to the opposite shoulder of the one he'd started on, then back into her hair when she tried to seize him again. Adagio found herself trying to catch Angel as he wriggled around in her hair for the better part of a minute, giggling not because of tickling contact (indeed, he wasn't even touching her skin through most of this), but an odd, genuine sense of amusement at the tiny animal weaving through her curls. Before long, she found herself letting him slip away on purpose just to keep the game going, but as she giggled and reached through her own hair with both hands, a voice made her abruptly freeze in place.

"Um, Adagio...?"

Feeling her face heat up, Adagio turned her head to see Fluttershy, her hair done up in a bun, in an outfit she recognized. Like her own clothes, it was something they picked up during the mall date; a long, sleeveless, yellow dress with a single slit going almost all the way up to her thigh, light-green, translucent stockings similar in shade to her usual skirt beneath it, and yellow, open-toed shoes with high, thick heels on her feet. Fluttershy had apparently settled on a more formal look before coming down, but while she was visibly doubting herself (again), she pulled through by instead focusing on Adagio with a wavering smile.

"...Hi!"

Adagio slowly drew her hands from her hair, resting them at her sides. "Hello, Sweetie."

"Um... Wh-what were you do-"

And then cute, white bunny ears sprung from the top of Adagio's head, making Fluttershy trail off as her jaw dropped. Her brain started working again when Angel fully stood up on Adagio's head and waved at her.

Oh... For a second there, I thought she was wearing a bunny suit under her clothes. That would be... strange...

But not unwelcome?

HUSH!!

Trying not to think too hard about it, she smiled sheepishly. "So, um... a-am I overdressed?"

Gently lifting Angel from her head and setting him on her lap, Adagio giggled. "It's your house, Sweetie, so I'd think that's up to you." Her eyes slowly traced over Fluttershy before she winked. "I know I said this at the mall," she added with a soft smile, "but you look lovely."

Folding one arm over the other in front of her, Fluttershy felt herself blush. "Th-thank you!"

With Fluttershy standing there nervously for another minute, Adagio tentatively brushed aside her uncertainties about offering someone a seat in their own home and patted the sofa cushion beside her, smiling as Fluttershy sat down. "So... how was your day?"

Giggling, Fluttershy again donned that Magic of Friendship™ smile. "It was fine, thank you." In light of Adagio's unsuccessful massage treatment, she wasn't sure about mentioning her spa date with Rarity, even if she might have still been curled up into a ball of nervousness on her bed without it. "What about you?"

Idly scratching an appreciative Angel under his chin, Adagio shrugged, unaware of the warm smile she was wearing herself. "I told Ria and Nata that I'd be here tonight. When the dust settled and it was clear that you were not 'taking me away forever,' (this was especially silly on Nata's part, as she's been to Rarity's multiple times), each of them offered some advice and wished me well."

"A-advice?"

She chuckled ominously. "Well, Ria just suggested that I not break your mind. I think she liked spending time with you, if her thinly-veiled concern for your well-being was any indication."

Once upon a time, Fluttershy had been fairly certain there was no chance that the grumpiest of the Dazzlings would ever tolerate her presence, let alone like her. It was the day Aria had practically threatened her over witnessing the fireball exchange with Adagio in that hallway, to be exact. Of course, she'd once had similar thoughts about Adagio herself, and look at them now! It really amazed her how much things could change. "That was sweet of her."

Adagio giggled. "Yes, but try not to say that in her company." Glancing away, she grinned coyly. "Or do, her reactions are always delightful." Fluttershy's 'Oh, you' face was nice too. "On that note," she said with a wink, "it's because of Ria's suggestion that I won't tell you Nata's." Equally enjoyable and predictable was Fluttershy getting all flustered, but what she said took Adagio by surprise.

"Did... d-did it involve keys?" No stranger to enjoying reactions herself, Fluttershy quietly cherished the sight of Adagio going wide-eyed, even gaining a small, but rosy blush!

"How did you...?"

Of course, her own embarrassment rapidly worsened, but not to the point that she couldn't speak through her sheepish little smile. "Rarity may have given me some advice too."

Connecting the dots between their (apparently short-sighted) friends, the two giggled scandalously.

In this happy little moment together, Fluttershy noticed something that simultaneously filled her with hope and made her wonder if tonight's visit/sleepover had been made unnecessary somehow. "Um, y-your eyes, are-"

Adagio quickly leaned in to silence her with a kiss. When she didn't hear a sound from anywhere around her, she glanced around to confirm that Fluttershy's mother wasn't close enough to hear when she quietly addressed her blushing girlfriend. "Yellow make-up, didn't want to risk sending the wrong messages, but this should be fine for just tonight."

Fluttershy frowned, but kept her voice down too. "Wrong messages?"

Adagio's mouth curled into some kind of uncomfortable, lopsided frown. "When I realized I was coming over to your house to meet your family... It, I mean, I know that I can't just do whatever I want and expect-..." Her lips twitched a few times as she visibly pieced her thoughts together, made no easier by Fluttershy's look of concern. "I wanted to look nice, presentable, wholesome, and no matter what I wore, neither heavy, obvious make-up nor dark circles under my eyes were that." To her immediate surprise, Fluttershy managed to grin.

Truthfully, she was terrified, albeit for different reasons, but she had to keep her spirits up if she wanted this to work. "I think it'll be okay." The doubting stare had been anticipated, what with how CHS as a whole responded to Adagio's unfiltered personality, but there was something Adagio probably didn't know here. "It's a normal thing for couples to meet each others' families, and part of the reason I wanted you to meet my mom is because, believe it or not, I think you two will get along pretty well."

A skeptical eyebrow was raised as Adagio crossed her arms, but the look on her face bore more worry than suspicion. "And why is that?"

Fluttershy smiled sheepishly. "Because like you, even if she embarrasses me on a near-daily basis, she's kind, patient, understanding, and I know she loves me." She was rewarded with Adagio turning a lovely shade of crimson. Fluttershy giggled. "Her sense of humor is a lot like yours, too."

"Hmph," hmph'd Adagio, the burn in her cheeks no weaker as a little smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. She even made a show of keeping her arms crossed in mock indignance. "I see, you only fell for me because I remind you of your mother."

Good-naturedly rolling her eyes, Fluttershy gently gripped Adagio by her jacket to pull her in close. "I have plenty of reasons." Before any reply other than a look of surprise and a brighter blush could be offered, she pulled her in the rest of the way for a long, explorative kiss. Pleased noises were heard and lovely sensations were felt, but even with her confidence reaching somewhere near orbit, Fluttershy still forced herself to pull away when her brain started getting fuzzy.

"I was right," smirked Adagio, her hands having moved to a shoulder and the small of Fluttershy's back, "you are bolder by night."

"Golly," said Mrs. Shy, startling both into seizing up where they sat, "I sure hope so! She probably ain't gonna get very far in the sack otherwise!"

Months ago, Fluttershy would have turned to stone right then. She'd have turned to stone as though held in the gaze of a gorgon, then crumbled into itty-bitty pieces. The Fluttershy of today, however, only froze for a few seconds, even if her face had practically caught fire! "Uhm... Hi mom."

"Hi, Honey-Bun! When you're done in here, dinner is just about ready, so be sure not to have dessert too soon!"

That last part made her lock up again for a second, but Fluttershy managed to squeak out an "Oh-kay" as her mother went to prepare the table. Adagio, for her part, had taken the whole thing pretty well too, in that she only sat perfectly still, eyes wide and unblinking, unwilling to dare glance over her shoulder until after Mrs. Shy had left. After that point, she composed herself quite quickly.

Huh, she thought to herself, I wasn't reprimanded. Not even given a warning.

Was it coming later? Perhaps she'd be pulled aside and threatened when not in Fluttershy's sight? Of course, looking at her smiling Sweetie and remembering what she'd said, Adagio drifted toward cautious optimism. "Um, so," she said with a mildly abashed grin, "before we go, should I...?"

Gently taking hold of one of Adagio's hands, Fluttershy gave her a soft, loving smile. "Please be yourself, or nobody will be happy in the end."

Feeling herself blush, Adagio returned the smile and gave Fluttershy's hands a little squeeze back. "Right. Shall we?"

That squeeze must have triggered something, because for a split second, it got hard to think. "Sh-shall we what?" Coming up with an answer in nearly the same instant, the rate of her her heartbeat spiked. "D-dessert?!"

"Dinner," Adagio said with a smirk, "the one you invited me for?" She chuckled as Fluttershy took on the hues of a huggable, sweating stop-sign. "And to think," she said while reaching up to boop Fluttershy's nose, "I've been worried about my behavior. Naughty girl."

"I, buh-you, I-I, th-that, but-"

Adagio did her best not to cackle madly, but she did laugh as she lifted Angel Bunny from her lap, put him on her shoulder, stood up, and followed her nose to find the kitchen and/or dining room. "Come on, Sweetie."

Waiting until her legs stopped being jelly, Fluttershy sat where she was as she watched Adagio, particularly the way her dress clung to her hips.

"Ooh, she looks like a wild one," whispered Fluttershy's surprisingly sneaky mother from just behind her, "have you tried pinching her caboose?"

"MOM!!"

Author's Note

Relatively short chapter, but as I'm kinda overdue (I try to update my 'regular' stories at least once a month) and this feels like a good stopping point until next time, I hope this is okay.

Now, some crazy little part of me is thinking that if I'm not the one that helps, someone else will eventually come along, solve it for her, and I'll have to surrender Adagio to them, and I know that's a selfish, stupid thing to think about, but it

It's official; the day I get my hands on a completed copy of Yandere Simulator, I'm probably going to play with Fluttershy as Yandere-Chan and Adagio as Senpai within the constraints of the customization options for both. I remember hearing that there'll be an option for a female Senpai at some point and one of the hair options vaguely reminds me of Adagio's poof, so it might actually work out.

And no one will take Dagi-Senpai. No one.

I especially want to cover the wall-board thing with pictures of her while either writing or spelling out with strings the words "YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE ME", but now this is getting weird...

On a completely unrelated note, here's another clopfic based on this story, courtesy of musicman722!

Chapter 46: Intermission- Nerfing a Frowny Face (By Jetto)

Chapter 46: Intermission- Nerfing a Frowny Face (By Jetto)

Rainbow Dash inhaled, waited a few seconds, then exhaled, carefully opening her eyes, hoping, praying, for a different outcome. The blank page before her was still as white, featureless and not even close to reaching that 1000 words mark, as it was thirty minutes ago. It's not that she knew nothing about the subject. She knew all of it, she was just having trouble with expressing herself. I wonder if writers block will earn me at least a D minus. It didn't before, but maybe... She shook the idea out of her head. No, no excuses! I bet 5 bucks on this and Applejack will never let me forget it! Focus, Rainbow! This is like a soccer match, all you have to do is keep on trying and you'll be able to get the trophy good grade!

Few more breaths in and out, she grabbed the pencil, narrowed her eyes (with tongue cutely sticking out on the side, which she only did alone as it looked silly) on the page and then, after a few seconds... then she banged her head on the desk, still blanking not only on paper, but in her head as well.

"Who am I kidding, this is nothing like soccer! Stupid history..."

Few minutes later, she let her head up again, ready for a different approach, which she shamelessly stole from a movie she saw recently. With her eyes closed and breath stabilized, she kept chanting the wise words of sensei.

"Don't write the essay; be the essay!
No distractions,
there is no world,
there is onlyJOHN CENA!"

"MEEEP!" Rainbow Fluttershied, as the loud fanfares started coming from the direction of her bed.

"YES! DISTRACTION!" She exclaimed, diving into her bed towards her phone laying around.

Two thoughts appeared in her head. Why did I ever use that ring tone was the first one, while only one person still has that ring tone attached and she usually calls for a GOOD reason was the second. Her smile grew thrice fold when she found exactly what she expected.

from: RuleBook

CotO?

The message was immediately given a positive response, after which Rainbow dashed to boot up her PC, found her headset (thirty seconds later, another record), waited until her desktop finally showed up three minutes later (I need more RAM... or a better anti-virus), then finally double clicked on the "Shortcut to Spyke.exe", where user "RuleBook" was already waiting.

"Kay, I'm in. Sorry, this piece of junk was booting up forever, I seriously need an upgrade to my RAM. Know any good online store, by the way? You got yours fairly cheap, if I remember correctly?" She waited a few moments for a response, but got only silence. "Aria? You there?" A few seconds more passed, Rainbow scratched her head and was about to ask again, when a voice suddenly answered her.

"I think you're muted. Again." The voice of RuleBook Aria Blaze said in monotone. Rainbow rolled her eyes and pressed clicked on the speaker icon.

"Now can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear... hi."

"Hi."

"Were you saying something before?"

"...nah, nothing. Let's just get on with it."

"CotO?"

"CotO."

= = =

CotO stood for "Champions of the Oblivion", the newest game of the MOBA genre. Even though it was still in the beta, the lucky few (million) people could play it before launch, acting like beta-testers and never actually sending any reports. And by lucky few (million) they meant 'send an e-mail and eventually we will send you codes when we feel like it'. What was a MOBA, you ask? It stands for "Multiplayer Online Battle Arena" and if that name tells you nothing at all, it's because it's a poor name. The general gist is that teams of players (usually 5vs5), each taking a different "champion" with different abilities and fight on a giant, symmetrical arena which has a few lanes that connected both teams bases. Each lane is guarded by towers of ludicrous power, but you have minions to use as meat shields. The goal of the game is to get into the enemy base and destroy their core, beating up enemy champions on the way to get exp to become stronger and stop enemy from doing the same. The champions respawned after being killed, but getting killed made enemy stronger, so a general rule of thumb was- don't die.

If you still don't get it after that explanation, then it's fine, since only a few (million) people in the world can understand the appeal of the genre.

"Why so silent?" Asked Rainbow Dash, as the main menu STILL loaded. I only forgive it because it's a beta.

"Just finishing up the blog post about MOBA's."

"Ah, gotcha."

Writing a blog was another idea to get Aria into the world, although so far it was in its infancy and only the two of them knew about it. Whether it would grow into something bigger was a story for another day.

"I just got into the part where few people can understand it."

Rainbow snorted. "Yeah, no kidding!" She rolled her eyes. Not a single one of her friends had any interest in pouring hundreds of hours into an unfinished product just to get half decent in a meaningless game that might never get released. Bunch of weaklings, go back to 'Donut Smash'!

= = =

Few minutes waiting for a match later (it's a beta, only a few (million) people play it!), the game finally put the teams together. Unlike most MOBA games, where you choose your character after teams are assembled and everyone picks at the same time, CotO has you pick a character before you even click the "Play" button and the game assembles teams by itself. And while the engine is designed to make teams as balanced as possible, it's still a beta.

"Oh, perfect," Rainbow could almost hear Aria's eyes rolling "we have one dps, two mages, two supports and NOT A SINGLE TANK?"

"So it's gonna be one of those games."

"Oh yeah. Look at the teams."

"How is matchmaking always on... wait a second!"

As the match loaded, all players could see the portraits of champions they were playing as. Doom_Prism and R00LB00K both had a blue flag next to their portraits, while their teammates had gray ones, which indicated that aside from the two of them, all other players were random loners.

"We're playing against a premade group of five!" Rainbow smacked her face and groaned, right after noticing five red flags over opponents characters.

"Weren't they supposed to patch it out?"

"Yeah, they were."

Aria hummed. "Why do we play this game again?"

"I don't remember. I'll let you know when I do."

Few minutes later the game finally loaded and each players in-game avatars teleported into the starting area. The chatroom was already active before all the characters appeared on the screen.

(All) CompleteSardin : OMG do you run this game on a toaster?

(All) push<3_2start : I made and ate a sandwich while loading lol

(All) UN-dressin : Buy more RAM!

(All) Cremedawg : go paly pong xd

(All) Supermove : I almost fell asleep

(All) Cremedawg : play*

Hearing the angry groaning and nervous mashing, Aria rolled her eyes and spoke to Dash. "Ignore them, don't feed the trolls."

"I wasn't saying anything."

"I can hear you typing."

"Fine, fine, sheesh, stupid, old keyboard!" she mumbled and Aria heard a distinct sound of Backspace key being tapped repeatedly. "We go bot?"

"Kay."

Champions of the Oblivion had several different maps that players would randomly played on, but almost all of them followed the same pattern. Both bases were connected by three lanes, named after their positions on the map. There was the top lane (top), middle lane (mid) and bottom lane (bot), with forts and towers guarding the way to each base. The general consensus among the player base was to have two people on both top and bot, with a single one being in the mid. It was deemed as the most 'optimal' strategy for the time being, if only because barely anyone knew how to play this game properly. Some people coming from other MOBA's assumed that 'jungling' (fighting neutral monsters between the lanes to get exp and gold, letting other players get more exp solo) was a thing, learned the hard way that monsters in early game were a bit too much for level 1 characters.

But while maps, characters and abilities could be learned and mastered, the actual players had one major flaw- they were human.

(Team) wiedzmin2002 : jak dojade do 10 levelu dajcie mi wszystkie buffy to ich sciagne moim ultem, ok?

"Oh sea spray..."

"How come we always have a russian in our team?"

"He's not russian, he doesn't use cyrilic."

"So who is he?"

"You lived in this world longer than I did, you tell me."

"Some european, I dunno. Whatever."

(Team) wiedzmin2002 : robcie czesto ganki na moja linie

(Team) R00LB00K : Speak English!

(Team) 5kyc0d3r : W3 d0n't m00nsp34k 101

(Team) Doom_Prism : wiedzmin, we can't understand you!

(Team) wiedzmin2002 : jak pingne to zrobcie ganka, jasne?

(Team) R00LB00K : All in favor of ignoring wiedzmin2002, write 'aye'

(Team) Doom_Prism : Aye

(Team) 5kyc0d3r : 4y3

(Team) Hana_Song : aye

(Team) wiedzmin2002 : super, zajebiscie! wreszcie jakas druzyna ktora slucha kiedy sie do nich mowi, a nie banda jelopow, bez urazy

(Team) Doom_Prism : We still don't get you, wiedzmin

(Team) 5kyc0d3r : 101 th15 g4m3 w1ll b3 4w350m3, gg

(Team) R00LB00K : ...what?

"It's just l33t speak."

"Leet speak?"

"It's when you place numbers instead of letters thing, like when we made your login."

"Ah. Now I can actually kinda sorta read it! Eventually. Maybe... not really."

= = =

There were three main factors that decided which team won a match in a MOBA: team composition, personal skill and team coordination. A team made out of a two damage dealers (DPS), tank, support and a mage was considered balanced (in this game, not in the genre in general), though some divergence was allowed, as long as you knew what you were doing. As this game was still in beta and nobody knew the characters that much, it made that part extremely hard to anyone with a life outside of video games. Thankfully, the champions themselves seemed fairly equal, being at least competent in their areas of expertise. Though some players would beg to differ...

(All) Supermove : omg Delilah is so OP!

(All) Supermove : #nerfdelilah

(All) R00LB00K : #nerfurmom

(All) Cremedawg : lol

(All) 5kyc0d3r : 8urI\I

"Really, Ria? You're making "ur mom" insults now?"

"...it slipped. Just be glad Nata's not around or you'd be hearing way worse."

"Sure, sure."

When it came to a personal skill, it was all over the place. The two of them knew the basics of their characters and had a general idea of what they should be doing and which enemy did what, with Aria specifically memorizing the numbers such as damage, cooldown between each abilities or time stunned, while Rainbow Dash relied on instinct and reflexes, both of those approaches yielding mostly positive results. The rest of the team was a different story, though. As expected the "not-Russian" was all talk (and only gibberish), but was absolutely awful at this game, dying all the time. The "l33t Master" was average at best, but the MVP of the match went to the "Silent One", the one teammate that said exactly three lines so far:

gl hf (Good luck, have fun)

Aye (when voting to ignore not-Russian)

brb (be right back)

And yet out of the five of them he (or she) seemed like the one who would carry the game if properly supported.

As for the enemy team, their skill levels were all over the place as well, with some being near professional level, others not knowing what they were doing. What they lacked in individual skill, they made up with teamwork, constantly saving each other and coordinating their abilities for maximum synergy. It was safe to assume they were communicating by Spyke, just like Dash and Aria were.

"Wait, Sonata's not home?"

"Yep." Said Aria, as she threw a spear at the rampaging fire yeti, impaling him into the wall and following with a few more stabs, and a few fire bullets from Dash's character, to get the kill.

Delilah (R00LB00K) KILLED Burnbo (Supermove)!

(All) Supermove : OMG this spear is so OP!

(All) Cremedawg : nerf delilah

(All) push<3_2start : nerf Delilah!

(All) Un-dressin : nerf Delilah!

(All) CompleteSardin : I'm not joining this.

"Great, now they're trying to start a meme," Aria groaned. "I hope this won't catch on."

"And where exactly is Sonata?"

"Three guesses."

"Rarity's?"

"Wanna guess what they're doing there?"

"Wh-whuh- -" All of a sudden, the demonic gunslinger rolled towards the enemy base, where it got into the range of an enemy turret. Two shots, along with a few ice bolts from the remaining enemy champion, was all it took to send it to his grave, as he burned to ashes. The animation was really impressive, even on lowest settings.

Icelion (Cremedawg) KILLED Hellios (Doom_Prism)!

(All) Cremedawg : ty for free kill :-)

Rainbow Dash banged her head over her desk, but still found time to reply.

(All) Doom_Prism : ur welcome -_-'

Aria hummed. "So... what was that supposed to be?"

"My hand slipped."

"Your hand slipped."

"Stupid keyboard..."

"Uh-huh."

"And thank you very much for a mental image of my friends... together... in the middle of a battle!"

"You're welcome."

"I swear, if we lose, I'll blame you. And not-russian!"

"You'll get used to it."

"I DON'T WANNA!"

"Just be glad you're not playing with Adagio. I'm at least holding my punches. And speaking of punches..." By pressing a single button, a trap exploded nearby Icelion, the Frost Wraith, dealing damage and rooting him in place just long enough for a spear to impale his body, shattering it into ice cubes.

Delilah (R00LB00K) KILLED Icelion (Cremedawg)!

"There, avenged you. Better?"

"Only a bit. And your character doesn't punch."

(All) Cremedawg : nerf delilah!

(All) Supermove : nerf delilha!

(All) push<3_2start : nerf Delilah!

Aria humphed. "It's a figure of speech."

(All) CompleteSardin : I'm in a team of idiots...

= = =

As the time went on, champions started leaving their spots to ambush enemies, fight over treasures in the jungle and occasionally piling up on opposing turrets and destroying them one after another. They have entered the phase known as 'mid-game' – where nobody really knew what to do, other than kill enemy, protect ally and wait for an opportunity. This was the time where teamwork was the most crucial and as expected, the blue team was at a serious disadvantage.

(Team) wiedzmin2002 : ej no, gdzie te ganki? Przez cala gre nie mialem ani jednego! Kurna ogarnijce sie troche

(Team) 5kyc0d3r : c4n w3 h4v3 0n3 g00d t34mf1ght m4yb3?

"Well," Aria sighed deeply, shortly after three opposing champions surprised and killed her in the jungle "this match is garbage. Dash, any progress on the 'why are we playing this game' thing from earlier?"

"Working on it!"

And then she took an exploding arrow in the head and died.

Desk-banging ensued. "I hate this game..."

"It's the worst thing you talked me into."

"What about 'I am Egg'?"

"...second worst."

Suddenly, the arena darkened, afternoon turning into a dark, gritty night, illuminated only by few lamps, which suddenly grew on the lanes and in key locations in the jungle. The most important was an altar between middle and bottom lane, where usually a few skeletons were waiting for players to kill them for easy exp. Now a giant, red hot, dragon egg awaited for the champions. Soon, that area would unlock and both teams would have an opportunity to capture it. Capturing process was easy: just stand nearby for ten seconds, uninterrupted. Doing that when your enemy keeps on attacking you- that was the difficult part and it usually ended up with a huge team-fight nearby, with winning side taking the prize. And it was worth it: the dragon that would hatch from the egg would wreck havoc at the other team's base, flying all over the map and shooting fire at enemy champions and structures. Recovering from a dragon attack was very, very hard.

"Well, what are we waiting for? This is our chance!" Rainbow said, after which a repeated key mashing ensued.

(Team) Doom_Prism : Okay team, now or never, let's get the dragon and win!

"Dash, they'll eat us alive. They're two levels above, semi-competent and premade. There's no way we can win."

"Not with that attitude. Come on, Ria, it's not like we have anything else to lose."

(Team) 5kyc0d3r : L3t5 k1ll th3s3 b1tch35!1!

(Team) Hana_Song : Ok

wiedzmin2002 : olewamy smoka, chodzcie rozwalic ich baze kiedy ich nie ma, mam portal gotowy!

"I have some sanity left, can I leave the game and keep it?"

"You live with Sonata and Adagio. You have no sanity left."

"They're not home, I kept some hidden away from them."

"Adagio's not home either?"

"Nah, she's with 'Squeeky'. Wanna guess what they're do--"

"No."

All champions were spread around the map, each fighting their own fights, but as soon as the night fell, all melees stopped, structures could sigh with relief for once (some structures were sentient- don't ask) and all focus went towards the altar.

"Oh shi--!" Aria suddenly yelled.

"What? What happe--"

Gallandros (CompleteSardin) KILLED Delilah (R00LBook)!

"Oh... that."

"WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT? WHERE DID HE COME FROM?"

"Gallandros goes into stealth when--

"I KNOW THAT! UGH!" All Rainbow Dash heard, was a lot of groaning, shuffling and finally a painful sound of what she assumed was a headset dropped on the floor. After that, nothing.

"Ria, you there? Aria?" Getting no response, Rainbow Dash scratched her head and started worrying if they just permanently lost a teammate. It's like 'I am egg' all over again... "Aria?" After quickly muting the game sounds, Rainbow Dash listened carefully for any background noise. All she head was a very faint, but unmistakable chain of slurs, cursing and overall 'Aria on a bad day' package. Oookay, she still has 80 seconds until respawn, so... "I'm going to assume you'll be back once you calm a bit... okay?" Silence. She sighed and turned the sounds on again as the battle begun...

= = =

Hellios was about to finish the enemy tower with the help of few tiny grunts, all of whom adored their champions, even one such as him- not entirely human, not a demon either, a half of each world. Dressed almost entirely in dark shades of brown, with stylish long coat and cowboy's hat, he could almost pass for a human being, if not for what little of his exposed skin being made of a burning hot lava, illuminating a small area next to him. Hearing the call for battle, he tipped his hat farewell to the grunts, then dashed towards the rendezvous point, hoping his comrades will reach it safely as well. It took him only ten seconds to reach the place, just nearby where the egg would soon appeared, but was the first one, with none of his teammates in view. Without Delilah it was four on five. Bad odds, but giving up was not his style.

He waited only a few seconds, theorizing that if his team won't join him withing next minute, he'd go alone. Not to destroy the enemy- that was impossible on so many levels, but rather to slow them down, maybe take one down with him, buy his team some time. He readied his two lava-loaded revolvers, then... he shot at the nearest bush! The bullet went right through without obstruction. Hellios smiled weakly, knowing that in those bushes was no enemy, but rather an ally!

"Dud3, y w45t3 m4n4?"

Hellios sighed with relief, pulling his guns away. Well, there goes the immersion...

Melodio was a human bard through and through, dressed in a jester attire without the hat, revealing the gaudiest blonde bowl haircut ever invented. Melodio wasn't a warrior and most people would question why he was on the arena at all, but that's before they witness him shooting notes at enemies from just strumming the strings. That alone was impressive, but his true might lied in his songs, which literally filled his allies with strength, speed and life, at the same time doing the opposite to the enemy team.

Hellios nodded to his comrade. "Where's the others?"

"M0rt3nc14 15 h3ck kn0w wh3r3."

Hellios sneered at hearing that name. "That wench doesn't do us any good."

Melodio shrugged. "4t l345t sh3'5 4 g00d m34t sh13ld?"

"The most positive I can say about that gibbering bi--"

The bushes rustled again and instinctively another pair of bullets went towards it, once again passing through without a problem. Both gunslinger and bard sighed with relief when their third teammate appeared before them.

"Oh, it's just you, Hophop."

A few weeks ago the sight of Hophop, a two feet tall pink anthropomorphic bunny (roll with it), with a carrot backpack (roll with it) and a red ribbon tied to one of its ears, ~~would be a strange sight~~ Scratch that, it's still weird, but the world of Oblivion not only got used to the tiny creature, but learned to respect and fear his/her/its (the gender was unclear) magical prowess. In any other world a carrot grenade that turned into five smaller carrots (roll with it) which packed quite a punch would've been weird.

Most worlds makes sense.

"Guess it's only three of us, then," Hellios sighed heavily "well, not the first time we all died horribly."

"Ch1ll m8, 1t'll b3 f1n3." Melodio cheered him up, but then was quickly shushed by their tiny friend.

Hophop frowned and reached on paw into its backpack as its eyes narrowed. Hellios grunted, turning himself towards the other bushes Hophop was looking at and instantly fired two shots at it. Instead of passing through safely, both bullets stopped on something solid, revealing a huge, hulking figure inside, which then leaped high into the air, landing straight in the spot where Hellios was only a fraction of a second ago, rolling away just in time to avoid getting crushed by his old arch-enemy- the molten yeti named 'Burnbo' (roll with it).

"Missed me?" The yeti spoke, grinning his teeth at the cowboy.

"Nah," Hellios retorted, pointing his guns at the monster "I never miss!" And then he started shooting.

Even though the bullets were made out of pure, magical magma, Burnbo was a tough one and what normally killed a typical champions in few seconds, barely scratched the surface of the yeti. That was only temporary -Burnbo's protective fur (roll with it) almost doubled his health, but once it was gone, he lost a lot of his powers. And despite his enormous size, his punches didn't hurt nearly as much as they should. Hellios' teammates didn't budge, keeping awareness of the surrounding area. Burnbo was a brute, but not an idiot- he knew he would lose against three and would never come alone.

Hophop carefully observed the area until it noticed something odd and threw one of his carrots at the spot. The initial explosion struck and revealed the clay golem ninja, Gallandros. His stealth was a pain in the butt, but taking any damage nullified it and left him vulnerable. The other exploding carrots went in five directions, one of them reaching the other bushes, where another person jumped out of. Kotaro, the japanese style, kimono-wearing archer (and the least visually impressive champion in the beta) dashed out of the radius, revealing himself to his enemies.

"Damn rabbit!" Kotaro cursed, pulling out and arrow and taking aim at Hophop.

"You'll pay for this!" Gallandros yelled, pulling out his short sword and rushing at the tiny mage.

The battle started anew- Hellios shot round after round, clip after clip worth of bullets at the rampaging Burnbo, who kept running in his direction, though couldn't quite keep up. What few times the yeti managed to catch up to him and land a hit, two tops, the gunslinger quickly rolled away and continued his assault, with Melodio in the distance providing moral and musical support. And while all of this was happening, Hophop was masterfully engaging two enemies at once, throwing smaller explosive carrots at them when either got into the range, once in a while setting up a bigger one, when the two got too close together. Kotaro and Gallandros were at a disadvantage here- Gallandros was a stealth character, his entire kit relied on surprise and careful planning, without those he was just a sub par melee fighter. Kotaro was doing better, shooting plethora of arrows of different kinds, but Hophop masterfully dodged anytime a heavier hit would reach it.

If Fluttershy played this game, she would probably main Hophop... ah, there goes the immersion again!

All seemed well, but deep inside, blue team realized this was a lost battle in the long run. Hellios was able to out maneuver his rival, but he was slowly running out of mana and the only reason he was standing, was Melodio in the background providing him with additional health regeneration, but at the cost of ignoring Hophop, who was outside his range. The rabbit was a force to be reckoned with and could possibly win his own battle, but one thing kept all three of them on their toes/paws.

Where are the other two?

The battle went on for quite a long time and only after such a long time, Hellios realized something grim. Burnbo was two levels higher than him, but Hellios should've been able to counter him very easily and kill him outright in few seconds, yet despite being supported by Melodio, he was still standing. What in the... oh... oh, darn! ~~Rainbow Dash blamed her low screen resolution~~ Hellios was so absorbed in his hit-and-run tactics that he didn't notice a very important detail- Burnbo wasn't supposed to have tattoos. And yet, there he was, covered in odd, tribal symbols, which answered one question he had. So that's where Acid went...

Acid was a particularly odd champion, but for different reasons than Hophop. His normal form was a tiny blob; fragile and helpless. But during the match it could bond with another champion to make it a lot tougher, stronger and faster, on top of adding a ton of new options to the host.

I should've figured he was way too fast!

While a typical support would walk around and help his team, Acid only ever helped the one hosted, but was in no danger himself as long as the host was alive. And when they bond for too long...

"Get ready for my true form!" Burnbo shouted and started cackling maniacally, as he grew at least 20% bigger than he was even before and it was about the additional power he received. It didn't sound like much, but it lasted for a very long time and it stacked with what Acid usually gave him. Hellios knew he wouldn't walk away from this fight alive. Then, there was the question of their fifth champion, who was nowhere to be seen. If Icelion was going to join the battle, he would've done so long ago.

CRAP! THE EGG! Hellios realized, turning his gaze towards the altar that this entire fight was all about. The dragon egg was almost two stories tall and the tip was visible from where they stood and he could already tell that someone was over there, about to harness its power. Thinking fast, Hellios did the only thing he could and focused all his energy into a single bullet, which he then shot, narrowly avoiding the yeti.

Burnbo laughed. "You missed!"

He smiled smugly. "What did I tell you?"

Hellios (Doom_Prism) KILLED Icelion (Cremedawg)!

"I never miss!"

'The Longshot' was Hellios greatest ability, his 'ultimate ability', to be precise. He could only use it once every two minutes, but it was very strong. It shot once supercharged bullet which flew for a very long range, bypassing all obstacles until it reached any hostile target. And the further it went, the more powerful it became. Icelion was a glass canon, nowhere near tough enough to survive it.

The eye twitching of the yeti was the best reward. "Clever... but not enough!"

Hellios smiled and loaded more bullets into his guns. "Come at me!"

= = =

Burnbo (Supermove) KILLED Hellios (Doom_Prism)!

"Ugh..." Rainbow Dash groaned, leaning back on her chair "I tried..."

She heard some shuffling coming from the headphones, after which Aria's voice came in. "Okay, I'm back."

"Cool. You're feeling better?"

"Yeah, I'm over it. What did I miss?"

"Oh, nothing really. Just the three of us fighting like complete badassess in an unfair battle. Acid can go to hell."

"I see... huh, you managed to get two?"

"I got only one, Hophop got the other. "

wiedzmin2002 : ja nie moge, co to za debilizm? jeden skill mnie zdjal, co za idiota balansowal tego bohatera?

"And what's his deal?" Aria asked.

"I dunno. He was pretty useful."

= = =

HopHop was in a pinch. Soon after Hellios was taken down, it was only it and Melodio support that was around. The rabbit wanted to kill at least one, probably Gallandros, who was the weakest of the bunch, but he was suspicious about Kotaro being away. The egg wasn't being captured, so he was nearby, most likely charging his 'ultimate'. 'Rain of Exploding Arrows' (skill name was bound to change in next patch) was exactly what it sounded- a rain of arrows. That exploded. It was able to wipe the entire enemy team when used correctly, but using it correctly meant 'sitting like a sitting duck for five seconds and charging', which wasn't all that easy, unless almost entire enemy team is dead, which was the case here. Hophop rolled its eyes, realizing that this skill was an overkill and they would lose anyway, why make it longer?

But just as the rabbit mage expected a shot to be fired...

"hej chlopaki, walczymy o smoka czy co?"

Mortensia was a black haired teenage vampire, wearing what amounted to a mix between a thong armor and leather BDSM costume. That wasn't quite true- what they saw on her body was actually a construct made by blood of fallen soldiers, which Mortensia apparently killed back during her childhood.

Yes, there was a naked, jailbait emo vampire with blood powers walking around the battlefield. Because it was tasteful and all that. You would not believe the amount of NSFW fan art she was getting.

"hej, co tu sie dzie--!"

BOOM!

One giant explosion later, Mortensia was no more. The battlefield stopped for a moment, staring wide-eyed at the crater left by the explosion, in the center of which used to be a little emo girl. Their gazes then went toward Kotaro, now revealed after firing a shot. The archer himself scratched his head, then looked at the others and shrugged.

"Uh... oops?"

A few seconds passed in silence.

"R1ght3u5."

= = =

"He bravely took the shot for the team," Rainbow said, shedding a fake tear "and we all doubted him."

wiedzmin2002 has left the game

"You were saying?"

"Oh, he is so getting reported!"

Even with the 'brave sacrifice', the battle was lost anyway. They managed to take out Gallandros, but both Melodio and Hophop went down one after the other, though they bought some time for their team. Even if there was only one person alive.

"Man, and they were all so close to death!" Rainbow complained.

"Hey, I'm finally alive!" Aria exclaimed. "Now what?"

"You're one on three, they have an 'Acidated yeti' and a bowguy, it's super far away, they're taking the dragon as we speak and you're a support with nobody to support. I say we officially lost now."

"I still have my ultimate."

"It would've been very useful two minutes ago, but..."

"The other ultimate."

Delilah was a female paladin, dressed in a heavy, silver armor, carrying a lance in her hands, with several smaller throwing spears on her back. The game labeled her as a support character because most of her skills rely on helping the team. Just being around her regenerated your health and most of her skills either protected or made her allies stronger, though she could deal quite a lot of damage with thrown spears, which pushed back and if they push enemy into a wall, the damage is significantly increased. And then there were her ultimate abilities. Each character was able to choose one such ability when they reach level 10 and the game aims to make them all balanced and useful, but a consensus on which one is better for any given character varies. The general consensus is that Delilah has one of the most overpowered ultimate in the game: "Boon of the Sun". It sends a wide ray of sunshine at Delilah, healing and reducing damage of every ally in range. It's healing output was so huge, it was currently considered the most powerful ability in the game.

Aria took the second one: "Bane of the Sun". This one was a lot more straightforward- it sent a laser from the sun in target area, dealing damage to every enemy in range. It had a global range, meaning it could be cast anywhere on the map. Sounds amazing? It is. The only problem was that the first one exists, thus nobody was taking the second one.

"They don't have the dragon yet," Aria stated, clicking on the desired place on the map "so if I hit it juuuust right..."

"You'll buy us some time, at best."

"Only one way to find out!"

"They probably healed by now, and most went back to the base, I don't think it'll do any--"

Delilah (R00LB00K) KILLED Burnbo (Supermove)!

]Delilah (R00LB00K) KILLED Acid (push<3_2start)!

DOUBLE KILL!

Delilah (R00LB00K) KILLED Kotaro (UN-dressin)!

TRIPLE KILL!

ENEMY TEAM DESTROYED!!!

"..." Rainbow Dash blinked.

"..." Aria most likely blinked too.

"...pfft..."

"...pffft..."

They held their breaths for a few seconds longer, before launching into a hysterical fit of laughter. Rainbow Dash herself had to muster a lot of her willpower to take off the headset, before allowing herself to literally fall on the floor and laugh for a longer time. She had a feeling Aria was experiencing a very similar feeling.

(All) Supermove : WTF WAS THAT?!

(All) Cremedawg : wow, that just happened xd

(All) 5kyc0d3r : 0MG l0l0l0l0l

(All) Hana_Song : gj

(All) CompleteSardin : how... why?

(All) push<3_2start : rofl

(All) UN-dressin : so balanced o_o omg

(All) Supermove : (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

(All) Cremedawg : nerf delilah

(All) push<3_2start : nerf delilah

(All) UN-dressin : nerf delilah!

(All) Supermove : nerf Delilah!

(All) CompleteSardin : I hate you all...

"I-I ca-can't... bwahaha... breathe..." wheezed Rainbow Dash

After calming down, Aria focused on the game once again (though not without a snicker here and there) and Delilah made her way toward the dragon altar, easily summoning the beast to their aid. With nobody to fight it, the dragon was breaking building one after another, and by the time the enemy team could subdue it, the damage was so severe it ended in a win for blue team.

Rainbow Dash snickered looking at the giant "VICTORY" screen. "W-wow, we just won a 4 on 5 match."

"With premades."

"Using the sub-optimal strategy."

"If this gets out, Delilah will be nerfed for sure."

"Yup."

A small, but pleasant silence went on, as the two smiled widely at the longest stream of l33t speak and balance complaints they have ever seen.

"Aria?"

"Yeah?"

"I remember why we play this game."

The siren snickered. "Yeah. Me too."

Another few seconds passed in a blissful silence, only game's main theme running in the background.

"So, one more?"

"Don't you have an essay to write?"

"It can wait. You in?"

"Sure. I'll give Hophop a try, he seems fun."

"And I'll get Delilah this time. Before she's nerfed for real."

And then they lost horribly and decided to never play this horrible game again.

They played again the next day.

Author's Note

Jetto's Notes: With all the apologies to all Russian MOBA players- not all of you are bad people (only the ones I play with). No apologies to Polish MOBA players- wszyscy jesteście okropnymi ludźmi. I nie, wcale nie jestem od was lepszy :P

While most MOBA (and Overwatch, which is not one) references are pretty obvious, I won't bother naming any of them and let you have fun finding them all. I do want to give a shoutout to the inspiration to the red team, which is none other than the cast of "Co optional Podcast", the best podcast about video games:

CompleteSardin is TotalBiscuit (aka TotalHalibut or CynicalBrit)

Supermove is Jesse Cox (aka omfgcata, though often his in-game moniker is epicmanouver... get it?)

push<3_2start is Dodger (her channel is called 'presshearttocontinue')

Cremedawg is crendor (while he's not a main podcaster, he's been on so often he might as well be one)

Un-dressin is Strippin (also not a main guy, but he appears quite a lot. Also, he's Dodger's fiancee and they're super cute together)

No, I did not contact them to ask for permission, nor do I think any of them will care, but they'll appreciate more views and subscribers, wheverer the come from.

Or you could pretend that red team is all made of Shadowbolts. You're welcome.

Eyeswirl's Notes: When I first conceived of Aria and Rainbow getting their own little side-story (well, alongside Rarity and Sonata's), I was thinking their interactions would be something like this. :pinkiehappy:

Also, the title of the chapter is because Rainbow, as is fairly consistent behavior for her by now, is discreetly (for her) trying to make Aria just a bit more sociable, which she may or may not be hoping will transmit to the other sirens through her, and that they'll be making friends just a little easier.

Chapter 47: Extra Noodles

Fluttershy, her mother, and Adagio (with Angel still on her shoulder) were seated around the dining room table, where three servings of pasta waited. Adagio spent the first few minutes of the meal trying to determine whether or not this was some kind of joke about her hair, but neither of the Shys were laughing, snickering, or giving her funny looks, so she let the thought pass. However, Mrs. Shy was giving the rabbit on her shoulder a few odd glances, which spurred her to ask.

"Um... I'm sorry, are pets not allowed at the dinner table?" Something about the question didn't quite line up right in her mind, what with Angel belonging to this household.

"Oh, no," Mrs. Shy said with an airy giggle, "I'm just surprised Angel likes anybody other than Fluttershy. He doesn't even like me holding him!"

She turned her head to look at the bunny in question, who nodded affirmatively. "That's a little cold, don't you think?" She had never seen a confused bunny before, but the sight wasn't quite as endearing to her as Fluttershy's usual reactions. "That woman raised your master," she said with an arched eyebrow and a hint of force in her tone, "and if nothing else, at least deserves your respect." She wasn't sure if Angel could actually understand her, but he must have sensed disapproval by the shift in his eyes, ears, and whiskers. She pointed to Fluttershy's mother, which, after a quick glance, Angel followed.

He hopped down, scurried over to where she sat, looked back at Adagio again, got a conclusive nod, and gingerly nuzzled her leg.

When she shook off the shock, Mrs. Shy picked up Angel along with her jaw, holding and petting him without a fuss.

Pleased, Adagio grinned, taking a bite of pasta before looking at Fluttershy. The face she was getting sent a shiver up her spine, Fluttershy's focused, wide-eyed stare speaking of awe, wonder, and a quiet hunger that lit a fire in her belly.

No. Bad. Down girl. Save it for when her mother isn't around.

Giggling merrily as Angel tickled her face with his little bunny nose and whiskers, Mrs. Shy pat his head and looked to her daughter. "Miracles do happen!" She nodded to Adagio. "Where'd ya find her, anyway?"

Adagio seized up. Judging by how Fluttershy did the same thing, she guessed it meant that she hadn't told her mother much about her. Even so, she'd considered the possibility that she'd have to explain this part herself, and mentally prepared for it beforehand. Of course, that was when she'd planned to be a bit less straightforward with it, so she altered the delivery based on Fluttershy's suggestion to be herself. Sitting just slightly rigid, she smiled pleasantly.

"I was the mastermind of that Battle of the Bands incident a while back, sank my hooks into most of the school, manipulated someone into trapping Fluttershy and her friends with the intent of draining them of their magic (you've heard about that part before now, right?), using that power to enthrall as many people as we -my followers and I- could, then build our own little commune on a nice, tropical island, where we hoped to live out the rest of our days as goddesses reigning over an adoring army of brainwashed servants."

The table was silent. Even Angel Bunny was staring at her, but he kind of did that every time she saw him.

"Wow," Mrs. Shy eventually said, "heck of a mouthful there... Are you still, uh, doin' that, or...?"

Her smile unbroken (if only due to the tension with which she was holding it in place), Adagio lightly shook her head. "All such plans are postponed indefinitely, to say the least, but luckily for me," she indicated Fluttershy, "I've found new joy in life by riling up your daughter."

Fluttershy squeaked for a few different reasons, but she couldn't tell whether or not that was why her mother snickered.

"Yea, I get that! Oh, does that mean you're the reason she's washed her bedsheets eight times in the last few weeks?"

Nearly dropping her fork, Fluttershy locked up as she let out a strangled noise and the blood rushed to her face, but it was either a blessing or a curse that Adagio didn't look like she understood.

"Washing her...?" Looking across the table at Fluttershy, she frowned. "I, are you, having nightmares because of me? Because, a-and I mean this in the nicest possible way, but I'd have thought you already owned a nightlight or-" She trailed off as she took in the subtle details of Fluttershy's expression over the sounds of Mrs. Shy's continued giggles. Fluttershy was embarrassed, but the contours in her face, the look in her eyes, and the way she started chewing at her lower lip spoke less of shame (as one might feel for wetting the bed) and more of guilt... The only other thing Adagio could think of was...

Ooh, la-la~!!

Adagio neither had time to think about masking her own expression nor suppress her malevolent chuckles as she took in the pure joy that was Fluttershy's 'She knows!!' look. "So, when I said 'Sweet dreams'...?"

"Gchtlbtz!"

Even as she felt herself flush much hotter, Fluttershy didn't miss the fact that Adagio and her mother were now giggling together. Considering what she'd spent most of this morning catastrophizing over, it was a trade she was more than willing to make.

Mrs. Shy smiled. "What brought you two together, anyway? Partners for a school project, blind date, trapped in a room together?"

Certain it would be best to let her cool down a little, Adagio waited until Fluttershy could answer this one herself, however hesitantly as she looked at her mother.

"Um... W-well, you know how you drop me off early for school?"

"Uh-huh?"

"Sh-she, um, she found me waiting a few times, and we got to talking..." She gave Adagio a quick, bashful little smile. "I-I liked sharing the morning treat with her, and over the last few months, we-"

"Got to smoochin' on the doorstep?"

"MOM!!"

Snickering as Her Sweetie lit up again, Adagio couldn't resist. "It goes just a little further than smooching, sometimes..."

"Eep!"

"Ohhh, is that what she's dreamin' about?"

"EEEP!!"

"I wouldn't really think so," Adagio answered passively, waiting until Fluttershy's resulting relief had reached its apex. "Just during the school day!"

"Ack!"

"Really? Wow, I'd'a thought daydreamin' about that kinda action would mess up her report card for sure!"

"H-Hablahma-"

"Not to worry, your daughter is very diligent in her... studies~!"

"S-SQUIRREL!!"

Fluttershy took several breaths in the otherwise silent room before realizing what she'd just said. In front of her visibly confused mother. Who did not know about the safeword. She thought about trying to play it off as a squirrel having gotten into the house, but choked at the thought of outright lying to her mother, so she watched with a mix of gratitude and horror as Adagio calmly explained everything.

"I tease the poor girl all the time, enough so that we came up with a signal for when she needs me to back down and let her cool off a little."

As her mother smiled in understanding, Fluttershy dared think she'd been saved. Then she opened her mouth.

"So it's like a safeword!"

Dead. Fluttershy was dead, her head exploded, her heart imploded as it pumped all the blood in her body to her face. In reality, she'd only slumped backward in her seat, head lolling to one side as her soul nearly left her body to escape the devastating embarrassment of the whole situation. Or maybe those were just the steam clouds rising from her cheeks. Who knew?

Though she quietly treasured the sight, Adagio contained herself to a nod. "Yes, but that was her using it just a moment ago, so she would probably appreciate a change of subject."

Mrs. Shy had the decency to look contrite. "Ohh! Sorry, Honey."

Though still reeling with humiliation, Fluttershy managed a tiny smile as her heart swelled with love for her merciful goddess.

"I really should be more sensitive to this stuff by now," Mrs. Shy said somewhat regretfully as she, slowly, so as not to disturb Angel while he rested in her hair, shook her head, "I've known for years that she takes after her father, Camera Shy." As Adagio accepted the hook with a tell-me-more kind of smile, she went on. "He was such a quiet guy when I met him, a thin little short-stuff who'd gotten into photography because he thought that if he was the guy holding the cameras, they'd never be pointed at him. This was years before selfies were a thing."

Adagio immediately decided against saying anything to the effect of 'Good thing he's dead, then,' even in the lightest, most conversational tones imaginable. One's life wasn't a very good trade for not having to face a phobia, no matter how she worded it.

"So, I figure her shyness is from his side of the family. Literally!" Her brows furrowed. "Those little jerks in middle school sure as sugar didn't help, something about swords and elves not being 'cool.' And then came the old Sunset Shimmer..." She and Adagio turned to give Fluttershy mildly concerned looks, but she gave them a little smile and a 'what can you do?' shrug back.

"They weren't exactly good times, but they helped make me who I am today." She could see in Adagio's face that she was contemplating what she may or may not have been able to do with a list of names, but even if she could remember everyone that had ever picked on her, she wasn't sure siccing Adagio on them was the right thing to do. It would probably hurt Adagio's reputation further if she enacted vigilante humiliation, or worse, on people for crimes they might not even remember, but darned if Fluttershy wasn't already kind of growing to like the fantasy.

"I am justice," growled the statuesque figure standing on the corner of a high rooftop under a waning moon, "I am the night," garbed in a tight, black, shiny suit of bullet-proof latex, her every tantalizing curve on full display, mocking any who would tease others about their bodies by already baring her own, next to nothing left to the imagination from her sleek, high-heeled boots to the pointy ears of her bat-like cowl, the taut muscles of her-

Fluttershy snapped to attention, blushing vibrantly and growing steadily warmer as she realized where her mind was going during dinner with her mother and girlfriend. Luckily, they weren't focused on her at the time, her mother smiling as she told Adagio about Camera Shy.

"-ink having her helped him come out of his shell, because when she was an itty-bitty thing, he'd beg like a kid to get her to tell us what she wanted when she showed even the teeniest bit of interest in something." She tittered. "Oh, he'd always go-" she pantomimed begging motions, "-'Pleeease, Fluttershy? Tell me what it is, you can trust me, I'll be your bestest friend, ohh, tell me, tell me, tell me, please, please, pretty pleeeease?'" Adagio was already giggling, but saying "Usually in public!" made her laugh hard enough that she had to wipe a tear away. Mrs. Shy internally jumped with maternal glee when the pretty poof turned to her daughter with the kind of smile Fluttershy herself usually gave baby bunnies.

"Did he really?"

"Uhm," Fluttershy answered with a sheepish grin, at least able to play off her blush as having primarily come from her memories of such incidents, "y-yes, and the only way I could get him to stop was to just say what it was I wanted."

Though distantly aware of the irony, the thought of a teeny tiny Fluttershy getting all embarrassed was a little too much for Adagio, who drew her hands to her cheeks as she grinned like a dolt and let out a dignity-melting "Awwww!"

This, for Fluttershy, was another new face to cherish.

Mrs. Shy giggled as the two love-birds smiled and blushed at each other. "Yea, she was even more of a little cutie when she was younger, and I've got the photo albums to prove it!" Fluttershy paled a little, turning to her with wide, horrified eyes that rapidly darted between her and a clearly intrigued Adagio. "Ohh, don't worry, I won't bring out the baby pictures or anything." Adagio gave her a slightly disappointed stare as Fluttershy sighed with relief. Then, hoping that safeword thing wasn't still on, Mrs. Shy beamed. "That's for much later! You two haven't made hanky-panky yet, right?"

Fluttershy locked up as though she'd been turned to stone, a long, high-pitched, barely-audible squeak-groan the only sound she could make.

Adagio, however, calmly shook her head, her tone perfectly even. "No ma'am, we have not." She shot Fluttershy a sly look. "Not until she's ready."

The squeak-groan picked up by a few decibels. Fluttershy couldn't even feel her face.

"Well okay then," giggled her mother. "I figured I should hold off on that stuff because baby pictures oughta be small potatoes once you've noodled her caboodle."

Fluttershy felt like she was falling in every direction at once, trying not to think about how dinner tonight was pasta.

Letting out an amused snort, Adagio looked down at her lap. "I'm afraid I don't have a 'noodle' with which to do anything with her 'caboodle,' unless I could find some 'noodle' impliments. Or, failing that," she gave Fluttershy what may have been her most sharkish smile to date, "I suppose we'd have to get creative..."

The two waited for a reaction from the red lighthouse of a girl across the table, but she seemed well and truly petrified. Adagio stood up, walked around, and waved a hand in front of her face, eliciting no reaction. She snapped her fingers, tapped Fluttershy's shoulder, and lightly ruffled her hair before looking to her mother with an apologetic frown. "I'm afraid that some day, I really am going to break your daughter."

"Naw," she said with a laugh and a dismissive handwave before gently lifting the rabbit that had gone to sleep on her head and setting him on the table, "she's a heck of a lot tougher than she looks. Can you help me get the dishes to the kitchen?"

More than eager to prove her good intentions, Adagio smiled and got right on it, the two carrying all plates and silverware from the room as Fluttershy remained rooted to her chair, not a muscle moved.

"I am the night!!"

Fluttershy's nose was bleeding.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Adagio tried to keep herself from grinning with too much pride at how well she was handling the familiar task of storing leftovers and cleaning dishes alongside Fluttershy's mother, who, fortunately, didn't seem to notice anyway.

"So, sorry if this seems kinda sneaky of me, but... "

Ah, thought Adagio, here it is.

"How serious are you about her? I'm not askin' ya to pop up with a ring within the next week, but I'd like to at least know in advance if this just gonna be a learning experience for her." She hoped that didn't sound too accusing, because even what she'd seen in the last week or two was more than she anticipated Fluttershy getting to see within the next few years.

She didn't slow in her tasks as she answered. "Frighteningly so, actually. Before her, I'd never..." Now was a bad time to get all hazy from the fuzzy heart-vice, but she felt herself blush just the same. "l-loved, anyone like, or..." Mrs. Shy spared her dignity by finishing for her with a little giggle.

"So she's your first too? Not that that ain't cute and all, but for a pretty thing like you, I'm a little surprised there wasn't a waiting list."

"We -my two oldest friends and I- aren't exactly popular at Canterlot High. Even prior to that, we were never the dating types before, sooo..." Setting a freshly-cleaned plate down, she shrugged. "Truth be told, I'm about as clueless as she is in all this, if not more-so."

"I dunno about that, you've already worked out about how much she can take, right? You've gotta have some experience."

And there was that 'walking garbage' feeling again. "...Not in anything wholesome, Mrs. Shy."

"That's what I meant!" Now Adagio turned to her, perplexed, to find her smiling. "I mean, I know that as a parent, I'm supposed to act like having a sex drive is all bad all the time, but I know I raised a good girl with a good head on her shoulders and you two won't get up to anything you really, really shouldn't."

Given the changes she'd seen in Fluttershy's behavior over the last few months, nevermind the perverse glee she felt in knowing it was because of her, Adagio looked away in shame. "I don't know how much longer that'll last." She was surprised when Mrs. Shy gently pulled her around to face her with a hand on her shoulder. The smile she was getting was warm and sympathetic, almost like... like this person had spent years taking care of someone. Or something like that.

"I may not know everything you two do together, but I know being around you makes her very, very happy. Heck, I'd say you've been good for her all around!" Her grin weakened a little as her daughter's first love stared back at her with uncertainty. "To be totally honest, I do worry about her, a lot, especially when she came home late that one time-" an eyebrow was waggled, "you remember, eh? Eh?" She giggled as Adagio turned all rosy and gave her a sheepish smile. "-but well, you know how she can be, right? Her confidence shakes so easily that if I got mad at her at all, she might regress by a few years (which kinda happened at the end of middle school, my fault, but we worked through it before Sunset showed up for the first time), then lock herself in the house or at best the back rooms of the animal shelter rather than goin' out and finding what makes her happy."

Adagio nodded thoughtfully. "Her friends do take good care of her, if it's any consolation."

Mrs. Shy tittered. "Ohh, I know, but it's gotta be nothing compared to what you do for her. Since she started seeing you, I've caught her walking with her head up more, asking for things without two or three preamble askings to ask if it was okay to ask for things, trying on saucier clothes (not buying, but baby steps!), and the manager of the animal shelter tells me she goes up to the roof sometimes just to strut around and shake her tail feathers!" Adagio giggled, but Mrs. Shy didn't want her to miss the point here. "She's never been this confident in her life, and maybe even just as happy, so whatever you're doing, please keep doing it. Okay?"

Again, Adagio couldn't help feeling guilty as she smiled back. "I'll do my best, Mrs. Shy."

"Super! You two can set up the sleepover stuff, right? I don't have anywhere I need to be, but I figured it'd be best if you two had some privacy."

Even if she appreciated the directness, Adagio was a little taken aback at just how frank Fluttershy's mother was proving to be. "Uhm... I-I think we'll be fine, yes."

It was a mystery to her how sleepovers were even begun without hammocks anywhere, but she was sure Fluttershy would know what to do.

Author's Note

I had kind of hoped to have the whole sleepover portion as one big chapter, but to heck with it, I'm technically a month and a half overdue. If anyone is willing to give me some kind of medal for understatements, I'll say that things have been busy and generally unpleasant over the last many weeks.

The rest of the sleepover is coming along, but one important scene is proving tricky to present just right, so that may be a while. At least shorter chapters still make for easier, more digestible reading, right? :pinkiehappy:

Tonight's dinner comes with a side of mythology gag.

Long, slightly gushy, only-tangentially-related ramble below:

In other news, remember that Yandere Simulator idea I brought up last chapter? Well, recent (recent-ish, it was new back when I wrote this) developments have given me more to work with. Does anyone else see some interesting parallels between these slightly cliche personalities (mainly the rivals, I mean) and our very own FiM cast? Because I see several characters that could fit several of the roles (like, Maud might fit Yandere-Chan just as well and nearly anyone could be Senpai), but as Yandere Fluttershy was what spawned this line of thought, I guess it'd be an AU-SFaCF type thing if I wrote it; poor Flutters not having any friends prior to the start of the story, Adagio hiding her crippling loneliness and desperation to taste this 'love' thing she sees local couples enjoying, and at least ten girls that get her attention over the course of the tale.

Picture SFaCF with a whole new teasing target every few chapters. Just the image of this version of Adagio interacting with a whole bunch of different personalities makes me think this would be worth spending some time on.

I could write an entire story with Equestria-Girls-flavored Yandere Simulator, but I'd need more to go on. For Megami, the very last rival, I already have an idea of who to use in her place, but I'd like the story to match up with the game as much as possible, give or take bloody murder*. I don't know exactly how Megami is due to behave, the exact context of her interactions with the Senpai character, if someone else would be more appropriate than the character I had in mind, or how Senpai is going to react to her when the game comes out, same with most of the other rivals.

Luckily, the game shouldn't be done for around two more years, I think, so this won't distract from anything I'm doing right now. :twilightsmile:

Still... brain food...

*And, because I'm still not a fan of Grimdark, I'd probably have the rival eliminations be silly instead of severe. Like, one rival, the delinquent girl, looks like a pretty good match for Gilda. In my eyes, there's no happy ending with murder, so Yandershy would hook her up with someone else at best, put her through some wacky/painful/embarrassing ordeal that dissolves whatever there was between her and Adagio at absolute worst (this is if the rival in question is outright hostile towards Flutters and can't be persuaded otherwise), or convince her with some reasonable argument (with info she might have gained from stalking someone) that things just wouldn't work out between them.

Chapter 48: Chocolate Cold-Sauce Kisses

When Fluttershy had finally recovered from her ~~fantasy of the vigilante thoroughly apprehending the pink-haired felon on charges of indecent exposure~~ daydream, her mother had nearly sent her back into it by telling her she was heading out for a while to meet with some friends. Therefore leaving her alone. With Adagio. In the safety and comfort of her own home. No one else around.

Fluttershy managed to reign herself in this time by remembering that this night was supposed to be a nice, calm, relaxing, welcoming one for Adagio, not a frantic chase through the city streets after a half-naked-

ANYWAY!

In her room, she changed into her pajamas; a slightly baggy, leopard-patterned, long-sleeved shirt and pants, complete with a little tail and a hood with little ears. Her usual nightgown, while nice, was strictly out of the question when guests were over. Even Adagio. Was she changed yet? Fluttershy went to the living room (Adagio, as usual, had much fewer reservations about privacy when disrobing) to get her answer, freezing when she caught sight of two bare legs as Adagio pulled up the pants of the purple, silk pajamas she'd been wearing when she was sick.

The question of whether it was a really good or really bad thing that Adagio had her hair down at the time and, having approached from behind, Fluttershy couldn't see clearly through those long, wild curls when Adagio's pants were still down was one that would later be answered over several pages of her diary.

When she noticed Fluttershy standing there, gawking, Adagio's reaction was a smirk until she took in the sight of her leopard-patterned PJ's, at which point she held a hand to her widely-grinning mouth. "Leopard-print?! Ooh, la-la~!" When Her Sweetie took up a delightfully flustered stance, complete with pulling the hood a little lower to hide that precious little face, Adagio stepped closer, chuckling as she lifted Fluttershy's chin to force eye-contact. "Don't fret, Sweetie, it's very cute on you."

"Haha, th-thanks." And then she noticed something sticking out of Adagio's hair. "Um... you brought Mr. Cups?"

Adagio's mouth made a little 'o' shape. "W-well," she said with a little blush as she reached back to pull him out, "even if he doesn't seem to help me sleep, I felt weird about leaving him alone for the night."

I really wish I could show moments like these to everyone at school, Fluttershy thought to herself as she grinned ear-to-ear, because if they could all see her cute side, I'm sure no one would hate the three of them ever again!

There were still no hammocks, but the two sat together on the especially soft and cozy couch to enjoy some snacks and watch videos through a phone. It was no surprise to Adagio that the whole of Fluttershy's Recommended column on the site consisted of fuzzy critters doing cute, silly things. In the process of watching things on the tiny screen, Fluttershy hadn't even realized how physically close they had gotten, huddling together without any teasing or inappropriate touching at all! Then her eyes drifted downward.

Adagio was not wearing a bra. With the way the silk rested on her skin, there was no mistaking it.

...Is she wearing panti-

Feeling the prickly blush working its way across her cheeks again, Fluttershy focused on Adagio's adorable giggles as a kitten wearing a little party hat batted at the hanging string of a balloon onscreen. When it ended, she turned to Fluttershy with a smile.

"So, this is the rumored sleepover? All we have to do is watch cat videos on a couch in bedclothes?"

"W-well, not exactly, but most sleepover activities are a lot more fun when there are more than two people, l-like, um," she considered it a monument to her own boldness that she could even imply the existence of this game to Adagio, "t-truth or dare...?" To her surprise, there wasn't a wolfish grin, a sadistic twinkle in her eyes, or even an inquisitive stare for this. Instead, Adagio just made a drained, almost sad kind of expression and sighed.

"I'm... I'm not allowed to play that game anymore, Sweetie." The look of wide-eyed surprise helped her smile a little. "The three of us played it amongst ourselves once, and the outcome was that I'm not allowed to anymore. No exceptions. It was a pact sealed with what we could manage for a Coltlantian binding ritual previously used to close the most hazardous oceanic trenches and lock away horrors best left forgotten." She giggled as Fluttershy's surprise slowly shifted to utterly bewildered shock. "The trade-off (partly because they wanted to be fair to me and partly because the ritual traditionally calls for a sacrifice) is that Sonata isn't allowed to keep sweets all to herself (there was a concern about her growing waistline at the time, resolved since our personal gym was finished) and Aria isn't allowed to touch fireworks unsupervised." She nearly cackled at Fluttershy's 'Wat.' face, but didn't want to risk her thinking this was all a joke. "It was for the best for all three of us, I think."

Dark woods. All the way to the deepest depths of the dark woods at the back of her mind. That was where those thoughts would stay. "O-okay then... Another activity is board games, but most of those aren't much fun with just two people. Oh! We can just talk, that's a normal thing too! Has anything interesting happened for you lately?"

"Actually, yes," Adagio answered with a smile. "You know how I've been holding doors for people?"

"Uh-huh?"

"Yesterday, someone actually held a door for me! And I'm sure that was it, because no one else was going through it at the time!"

Fluttershy gasped, then beamed with delight. "That's wonderful!"

"Isn't it?! They didn't stick around when I smiled and thanked them, but still!"

The two hugged, giggling with glee about the message of patience getting around.

When the giddiness wore off, other topics were explored.

"You were never jealous of her talking dog?"

"Oh, not at all. In fact, I think the lack of speech, the understanding I usually have with animals, is part of what makes those connections special. Besides, he told us he was actually a dragon, and those have always been kinda scary to me."

"Hm."

"So you do own high heels!"

"Y-yes...?"

"What would it take for you to wear them to school, I wonder? Completely on your own whim?"

"Um... w-well, I'd usually think about wearing them to a dance or something, even if I was only going with friends, b-but I, it wasn't..." Fluttersigh. "I always chickened out."

"I see. And, now?"

"Huh?"

"If there were a dance, ball, or something at the school that called for a more elegant wardrobe, would you wear them now? Sultry walk and all?"

"..."

"...?"

"...W-would you go with me?"

Adagio frowned. "Could I?"

Fluttershy's mouth opened, closed, opened, and closed again. "...I-I could handle it, y'know. I think."

It wasn't exactly said with confidence, but Adagio wasn't about to point that out. Instead, she smiled in sympathy, patting Fluttershy's shoulder. "I'm sure you could, but we still don't want that kind of attention. At least not yet." She sealed the sentiment with a kiss to her forehead, drawing a precious, rosy-cheeked little grin.

"Is there a kind of animal that you don't like, Sweetie?"

"Umm...?"

"Anglerfish."

"I like their little bioluminescent bulbs, even if they would probably bite me if I tried to touch them."

"Bats."

"Oh, bats are little angels! And some of them are so fuzzy!"

"Crocodiles."

"I wouldn't try to hug one, but they're still beautiful in their own way."

"Wasps."

"I know it seems like they're aggressive for no reason sometimes, but they're predators. If they were hesitant or sluggish in going after smaller bugs, like mosquitoes, the world might be overrun with 'pest' insects, which would be a much bigger problem."

"Mosquitoes."

At this, Fluttershy flinched. "W-well... I don't hate them, but I guess if I were being completely honest, I don't like them either." She was grateful that Adagio didn't say anything like 'Ha, I knew you weren't perfect!' or something like that, as though not loving all living things equally made her some kind of fake, or meant she must have wished all the animals she didn't love were dead or something. Instead, Adagio gave her an understanding nod. Still... "Um... I-I'm a little surprised you didn't mention spiders."

Adagio's brows furrowed. "Spiders are adorable."

Not that Fluttershy wanted to try, but the finality of her tone left no room for argument.

"You used to eat meat? Really?"

"I wasn't always like I am today. Was anyone?"

"I suppose not. Was it at all difficult making that change?"

"Um... Well, while I could never willingly eat a piggy now, I do miss bacon sometimes." Adagio rolled her eyes, earning an inquisitive head-tilt.

"Sorry, for all I hear people go on about the stuff, I don't really see the appeal. Even if getting greasy fingers (couldn't pick the stuff up with a fork without breaking it into more pieces) didn't put me off, the flavor just isn't anything special. It's overrated, if you ask me."

"I-I guess that's one way to think of it... So, d-does that mean-"

"That you won't have to worry about my diet in the long run?"

Her answer came fast. "Iwouldneverwanttocontrolyoulike-" She was silenced with a finger pressed to her lips.

"Shh. There are dishes with meat that I like, but I don't mind keeping such meals to a minimum. Truth be told-" she shot Fluttershy a hungry smirk, "-there's really only one kind of meat that strikes my fancy."

"Huh? What kind would tha-" She got it, her jaw dropping as she practically pre-cooked herself from within. Her face only grew warmer as Adagio cackled with wicked glee.

"Was it really that surprising?"

"Oh, definitely! I've known Angel since he was a teeny, tiny little thing, and he never let my mother hold him without at least squirming a little, no matter how much I pleaded, coerced, begged, or bargained."

Adagio chuckled. "Well, that might be it right there. My method has always been less about 'pretty please' and more-" She grabbed Fluttershy by her shirt, her eyes shining with an unplaceable luster and her tone dangerously forceful as she spoke in one breathy growl. "Obey me." Fluttershy stared back at her, slack-jawed and wide-eyed, barely even breathing. Adagio's own expression quickly shifted to a worried, apologetic one. "S-Sweetie? I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that, I thought it might be too much, but, it s-seemed like-"

"N-no, no," Fluttershy said with a shaky smile and a growing blush, "I'm okay, really, just... um, th-thank you for the demonstration, c-could you excuse me for just a second?"

Nodding, Adagio let her go, watching in silence as she left the room.

She's not running from me. She just got a little overwhelmed and needs a second to clear her head. Just like any time she's said 'squirrel.' She's not running from me. It's not remotely the same thing.

Popping into her room, Fluttershy made a quick journal entry.

♥♥♥OH! FREAKING! MY!! ♥♥♥

When Fluttershy came back, Adagio's happy little smile was just a little bit cuter than usual.

"Better?"

"Y-yes, thank you." She sat down beside Adagio again. "So, um... Are you comfortable?"

"I think so. Is it time for the sleeping part? Where should I-"

"My lap."

There came a loud, heavy pause.

"...Come again, Sweetie?"

"M-my lap," Fluttershy stammered as her face heated up, "I was tink-th-thinking you could sleep with your head on my lap, b-because I s-slept on, w-well, it was more like just lying on and cuddling against your ch-chest, s-so, um-" The vicious smirk stopped her cold.

"Are you sure you don't want to rest your head on my lap? It's every bit as-" she shuffled her thighs in tantalizingly slow fashion, "-warm and soft as I'm sure you remember."

She did want that. She wanted that badly. However, the yellow make-up faintly visible under Adagio's eyes reminded her of what she wanted even more; to be the one doing the comforting, because she knew Adagio was the one that needed someone to coddle her! "N-no," she said with more conviction than she'd have expected out of herself, "I'd really like for you to rest on my lap, s-so, if it's okay with you, I'll lean back on the couch, you get comfortable, and I won't let any bad dreams get to you!"

Snorting, Adagio giggled for several seconds. It was just such an adorably Fluttershy thing to say that she ruffled her hair (or, the hood and cute little ears attached, at least), but even as the cuddly cutie smiled back at her, she gestured to her lap. Fluttershy was serious about this.

"Um..."

The reason, she suspected, was that doing such a thing was a show of vulnerability and trust, something she'd really have to feel safe and welcomed to pull off. It wasn't like she'd be tied up and blindfolded, but it was something she doubted she'd ever do even with Aria or Sonata. Once more, her pride protested at the idea of lowering her defenses by doing this, but...

Well, how many times had Fluttershy passed up golden opportunities for revenge? Adagio would be safe with her. Nothing would happen. She knew that, but her heartbeat picked up regardless as she hugged Mr. Cups to her chest and very slowly shifted herself into place, as though her body were resisting itself. When her head came to rest against Fluttershy's leg, she felt the muscle beneath her tense as Fluttershy let out a quiet gasp. The sound made her smile, but she still couldn't help feeling a little exposed in this position.

Come on. It's just like when you cozied up together in the library.

I kind of dozed off by accident back then.

So doze off again! She won't hurt you, you know she won't hurt you, won't even take advantage of the situation to feel you up, so there's nothing to worry about here!

She knew that, but her body was a little slower on the uptake. Even so, she dared cuddle a little closer to Fluttershy, resting a hand on one leg to get comfortable. This was how she determined that Fluttershy wasn't 100% unaffected by this either, so they at least had that silent solidarity going.

Struggling to keep her breathing normal, Fluttershy assessed the situation as calmly as possible.

Hand on my thigh... handonmythigh!! And also her head!

Save it for the diary! She needs you right now, so think warm and welcoming, not hot and heavy!

Thinking warm was easy when she focused on Adagio's hair bunched up by her stomach. She was sure that if she'd been wearing something thinner than her leopard PJ's, she could have felt at least a few stray tufts tickling her chest. Still, it wasn't hard to feel through her pants (in a completely chaste way!!) how tense Adagio still was, so she opted to try reaching through her hair to administer slow, delicate back-rubs. Adagio made a little noise and tightened up further for just a second, but softened a little over the next few minutes.

Fluttershy whispered. "Is this uncomfortable for you?"

"N-no, but... well, a little, b-because..." Fluttershy hadn't burned her in sharing personal matters yet, either. Just the same, she felt herself blush. "I've, c-c-cuddled with people before, Sweetie, and even if it was only rarely, I was always the big spoon, so to speak, always felt like I was in control. So, th-this-"

"Must be just a little scary for you," she said sympathetically, "like singing for the first time in months, even very quietly?" It was because Adagio's face was pressed against her thigh at the time that Adagio's affirmative nod made her shiver.

"...I spent most of my life in complete control of my situation. If I couldn't get what I wanted with words, I could use guile, or even well-applied force, and when we left Coltlantis, there were even fewer moments where I couldn't enforce my will right away. I've been used to always being able to get what I was after, to always having something I could do when something was in my way." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "And, I think, ever since the Battle, it's been like I have no control at all. There's nothing I can do about our situation, because everything I knew before; magic, manipulation, or even very well-worded arguments (which I guess could be construed as manipulation again), won't win us any friends here. It's like, we're just as helpless with this as with the loss of the gems." There was a note of bitterness in her tone as she went on. "Whether or not we can actually get along with these people normally, get to openly enjoy with them what we have with some of you, isn't up to us, but the whims of those around us. When I think about that, I'm... scared."

Fluttershy was still gently rubbing her back. "Do you think about it often?"

Adagio hugged Mr. Cups a little tighter to her chest, the realization hitting her just as she said it. "Every night. Same with everything else that's been bothering me. Consciously, I know that dwelling like this doesn't do me any good, but lying in bed, I can't help thinking about these things, staring at my ceiling fan as I ponder a hundred ways I could fix any one of our problems, all of which we've either tried already, or are guaranteed to make things worse in the long run. Until the Battle, that was how I lived; always chasing the next target, overcoming the next obstacle, claiming the next prize. Now? Brick walls in every direction, with nothing I can do but hurl myself at them again and again until I drop. That's... that's probably why I can't sleep, isn't it?"

"You've been under a lot of stress," she answered without ceasing her back-rubs, "everyone has things they worry about. But, you can't keep those worries on your mind all the time."

"...I used to outline my plans while lying in bed," she muttered, "go over assets at my disposal, consider what I could use to my advantage, hazards to avoid, tasks to which Ria and Nata would be best suited, everything I would do the next day, barring whatever I came up with on the fly. I suppose, even now, I still default to that, but, lacking any meaningful direction for those thoughts, I'm only hurting myself."

"Mm... Maybe not." Adagio turned her head enough to show the perplexed look in her eyes in addition to a little frown. "I mean, maybe you could do what you've been doing, but with a different spin on it? Like, what nice things you might do or say the next day, whether anyone even notices or not, things you and any friends you already have might do together, or even reflect on happy memories from that same day. Anything that makes you happy."

"Progress used to make me happy."

For fear of making Adagio even faintly suspect that she was laughing at her, Fluttershy kept herself from giggling. "I'm afraid that part may have to come on it's own."

"Just need to be patient... Happier thoughts, hm? Well," she drew a circle on Fluttershy's thigh with a fingertip, smirking a little at the shiver she felt it draw, "I certainly have a wide selection of those, thanks to you. And Sunset, I suppose. And, Hell," she said with a genuine smile, "even Ria and Nata before we came to this world. We weren't like your friends, but we couldn't have stuck together if we'd never gotten along."

Could it be that simple? Think happy thoughts? She couldn't remember where her mind had gone when she was sick in bed with a singing nurse or cuddled up in the library just before school, but she didn't recall anything like her usual train of thought. If nothing else, it was worth trying. Not sure where to start, she thought back to the day she 'met' Fluttershy for the first time on the bench, the first time she saw that adorably flustered little face when she stuck the sucker back in her mouth, fast-forwarding through a Greatest Hits track of reactions she'd gotten, from Fluttershy and others.

Fluttershy, for her part, reminisced a little herself, thinking back to the very first time she saw the sirens, heard their lovely (if evilly-applied) voices, saw those swinging hips, and had some slightly strange thoughts about Adagio for the first time, moving up to how she'd felt the first time her attention was on Fluttershy alone. How she'd secretly enjoyed their first interaction. How she'd simultaneously feared and hoped Adagio might come by again. How she'd shared the candy cane the next time they met just to get Adagio's attention on her again, to get another not-quite kiss from a beautiful girl, to keep seeing the expressions she'd never seen Adagio show before. The memories would have made her all warm and fuzzy even without her leopard PJ's, let alone the sound of Adagio's purr-snore coming from her lap.

She blinked, leaning over to check.

"Rrrrr... zz-zz-zz... Rrrrr... zz-zz-zz..."

Grinning ear-to-ear, it was all Fluttershy could do not to sweep up the dozing cutie and ruin everything on the spot by waking her with frantic, joyous hugs. Instead, she settled for light, chaste petting, leaning back into the couch cushions and listening to the sound as it lulled her to sleep

When the sun rose, more cuddling followed before two got up for breakfast. The sounds of distant snoring meant it would be a peaceful meal between the two of them in which pleasant conversation was had, thankful sentiments were offered by a well-rested siren, and teasing was kept to a minimum.

...Until Fluttershy was tricked into practically begging for it. The brightest blush came from sentiments of wanting such a thing even with risk of her mother hearing.

As much as they were enjoying their quiet morning together, a few frantic texts from Sonata (and one from Aria, worded as though she were just tired of being 'stuck' with Sonata by herself) reminded Adagio that someone was waiting for her back home. Finding it incredibly sweet, Fluttershy didn't keep her, looking forward to their time on the bench tomorrow. A little after Adagio had left (but not before flustering Fluttershy with the sentiment that "I'll think of you in bed!"), Fluttershy got a few inquiring texts herself, her own friends wanting to know how things had gone.

Through considerable effort, she managed to reply to each one without saying anything that might be taken out of context.

Monday morning, the ride to school had been... less intense than Fluttershy had anticipated. Her mother didn't pry, didn't offer advice or make mortifying comments, but her bright, happy smile on the way had made things just the tiniest bit awkward. The 'Go get her, Tiger!' when she dropped her off was the only thing that made Fluttershy seize up and turn red for a moment.

She waited a little longer than usual at the bench, but when Adagio showed up (wearing the outfit with the ruffly skirt they'd picked up at the mall), she actually flipped over Fluttershy's head with a handspring using the back of the bench, whirling around to face her, bend forward, then grab and pull her into a kiss that quickly turned into many quick, energetic kisses all over Fluttershy's face. The recipient giggled and blushed furiously, but managed to stammer out "It's n-nice to see you t-too, Adagio!"

"Ihadcoffee!!"

Fluttershy was still smiling. "W-what?"

Adagio beamed.

"IsleptfinelastnightthankyouverymuchbutoutofhabitIdrankjustasmuchcoffeeasIusuallydoandthatprobablywasn'tagoodideabutIfeelgreat!!"

"O-okay, um," Fluttershy gently seized Adagio's wrist to pull her down to the bench, which transitioned to pulling her in for a hug, "why don't we just... calm down a little?"

Nodding, Adagio couldn't help keeping her legs below the knee swinging in the air like an excitable grade-schooler, blushing a little at her hampered self-control. She gave her giggling girlfriend a sheepish smile. "I-I'm sure this'll wear off eventually."

"So, you tried thinking positive in your own bed? And it worked?" She was still wearing the dark eyeliner, but it wasn't like Fluttershy had expected the bags under her eyes to disappear after just a night or two.

Nodding again, quick and lively enough to draw more giggles from Fluttershy, Adagio smiled. "Slept like a Sonata! I say that because she can practically just roll over and sleep anywhere. I asked, but she didn't know how, and trying to figure it out just made her flop down on the spot. I was annoyed about that at the time, but instead of taking it out on her, I left her alone with Aria. I don't know what happened after that, but yes, I was asleep within half an hour last night!" She beamed again. "New record!"

With more giggles borne of Adagio's infectious cheer, Fluttershy leaned against her as they sat on the bench together. "...So, they're not all that different from mints, but have I ever given you peppermint patties?"

Cool, chocolaty, minty-flavored kisses had Fluttershy in a light haze all the way through first period, but it was while walking through the halls in a dream-like trance that Rarity snapped her out of it by grabbing her by the shoulders.

"-arling, listen to me!!"

Fluttershy blinked, immediately feeling a pang of worry at the urgent, almost panicked look on her face. "R-Rarity? Why are we whispering?"

"Haven't you seen it yet?! There was a-" The warning bell rang, and knowing that she couldn't possibly get the word out to all of her friends and convince them to skip a class with her in time, Rarity let out an agonized groan. "You have to check your MyStable page, soon!"

Blinking slowly as Rarity hurried off to class, Fluttershy drew a blank for what she could have meant.

MyStable? What's that got to do with anything...?

She didn't know, but on her way to second period, she did notice a few people looking at her and whispering to each other.

Having learned her lesson from answering Adagio's text in class, Fluttershy waited until after second period to find somewhere private to check her phone, feeling her knees wobble under the many stares that were directed at her on the way. The library was open, but not populated enough that she couldn't duck behind a shelf in one of the back rows. When she got to her MyStable page, she had dozens of new comments. Scrolling down, she froze solid, feeling as though her entire body had turned to ice.

Posted anonymously on her page were three new images.

One of her sitting with Adagio on the bench, smiling and talking together.

One of Adagio standing outside Fluttershy's house in the outfit she wore Saturday evening.

And one from just this morning, when Fluttershy was sitting on Adagio's lap, held in her arms as they shared a long, chocolate-mint-flavored kiss.

"Oh... my..."

Author's Note

I don't like ending chapters on cliffhangers, but my This Is A Good Place To Stop senses were setting off fireworks in the house.

On that note, the incredibly busy and unpleasant period is giving way for now, as may be evidenced by me publishing things! I don't know how soon it'll be, but join us next time to see how most of the school responds to those pictures! :pinkiehappy:

Since I know some of you are thinking it: Remember that fearing spiders is, apparently, a primordial human thing, even if not everyone feels it, and the sirens grew up under the sea of Equestria, where things far more horrifying than any arachnid that ever existed were known to dwell.

...And, on the off chance at least one or two of you are thinking it, the bacon thing was partly because sometimes I have to remind myself that there is no Sundagio in this story, and having her be the one that liked bacon would cloud that a little in my mind. :twilightoops:

Onomatopoeia for purring is probably 'purr', but it just didn't sound right for what I was doing here.

For those that don't remember or never heard it 'MyStable' was the social network given in the EQG Holiday Special, a play on 'MySpace.' For those that don't remember or never heard it, 'MySpace' was pretty much Facebook before Facebook existed. Feel old yet? :pinkiesmile:

Chapter 50: Minty, Oral Stress-Ball Globs

Her eyes snapping open, the ringing of the panda bear alarm clock had Fluttershy rise from her bed in a fury, tightly seizing it in both hands to growl "What do you want from me?!"

As it continued to ring in her hands, she surmised that it probably wanted her to wake up, like a good little alarm clock would. Sighing and feeling just a little bit silly, she turned it off as heavenly visions of dreamland grew fainter by the second. Still, she took a moment to jot down what she could remember in her diary.

She'd heard that doing that helped remember dreams better, and could even lead to lucid dreaming. Couldn't hurt to try!

"You brought gum to school? For shame, Sweetie, I thought you were an honor student."

"I-I don't chew it in class, or even between classes, I just... um, anyway, t-try it yourself." Remembering how things had gone with the sugar sticks, she added a slightly frantic addendum. "A-and, this is meant to be chewed until it loses its flavor, not swallowed!"

Giggling, Adagio nodded, popping the little strip into her mouth and gnashing it between her teeth. Then something strange happened. It must have registered on her face, because Fluttershy (chewing her own piece) was smiling at her.

"It's a bit like chewing rubber, isn't it?"

"It... Very soft, sweet rubber, maybe." Ooh, idea! But not yet... "So, how are you holding up lately?"

"I'm..." Instinct was to insist that she was fine and not let her loved ones worry about her more than they already might have, but she thought of the Golden Rule in regard to how Adagio had completely opened up to her. "I'm doing okay. The thought of everyone knowing still makes me just a little nervous, but I think the shock to everyone else must be dying down, because the most recent comments have been less about surprise and more about, uhm," she tried hard to say this part without blushing, with her usual success rate, "what we do together." Also as usual, Adagio fixed her with a scary smirk.

"Really? And what might that be?"

Feeling herself glow brighter, Fluttershy turned her attention to her index fingers, the tips of which she idly touched together while trying to think of school-safe wording. "W-well, uh, n-nothing t-too, um... detailed, just... like, h-holding, kissing, t-touching, and-"

"Sorry," Adagio said with a coy grin, "what is it? I can't hear you, Sweetie."

"T-t-t-...touching!"

"Oh. Well, that's not so bad, is it? We touch one another all the time, don't we?"

"N-not like, I-I mean-"

"Describe it to me."

As there was no hiding the glow on her cheeks anymore, she looked up. "WHAT?!" Fluttershy's spine tingled at the sight of the smug smirk (all the more impressive while she was still chewing the gum) Adagio was giving her while leaning back on the bench, a spell-binding gleam in her eyes firmly reminding her that Adagio could do whatever she wanted with her.

"Tell me, in detail, what they've been saying about us. I'm waiting."

Shivers running through her skin at the order, Fluttershy did her best to remember some of the comments she'd read just under an hour ago. Adagio kept her fiendish grin as Fluttershy stammered out some of their classmates' speculations on how they spent their time together, which involved things from babbling at each other in baby-talk, to stripping one another's clothes off and heavily fondling one another, with one or two suggesting that things had gone much further. She laughed when she heard the one about Fluttershy stealing her panties, amazed that that joke was still alive on some level, but when Her Sweetie was nearing her limit, Adagio smiled beneficently.

"Alright, I think I get the general idea. In fact, you said it all loudly enough that I'm pretty sure-" she pointed over Fluttershy's shoulder, "they do too."

Eyes widening, Fluttershy whipped her head around to see... nobody. She had barely enough time to register that it was a trick before Adagio pounced on her with an assault of tickles and gentle neck-kissing that had Fluttershy gasping for breath between uncontrollable giggles. It was a good thing that Adagio relented on her own after about a minute of that, because Fluttershy wasn't sure she could coherently pronounce 'Squirrel' if she'd needed to.

When Fluttershy had just about caught her breath, Adagio shot her a smirk. "I didn't see anything quite like that in the comments, but they're sure to get a better idea soon."

"Eep!"

Was it time? Were they starting today? Adagio's wording made it just ambiguous enough that she wasn't entirely sure, which was probably intentional, and, knowing Adagio, might have even meant she'd have to formally ask Adagio to start teasing her in public just so she didn't go through the day constantly expecting it, like back when-

Wait...

She looked at Adagio with a curious head-tilt. "...'Didn't see'...? You've, already seen the...?"

Winking, Adagio gave her a triumphant grin. "Yep!"

"You, if y-you already knew, then what, why did-" She was cut off by Adagio's maniacal laughter, which was what clued her in that Adagio asked her to tell her just to hear her say those things. The thought drew a timid smile to her already-flushed face. "You're horrible."

"You're too kind," she said with a haughty smirk and a dismissive hand-wave, "but as you've likely pieced together, yes, that means Ria, Nata, and I have accounts on the MyStable site now. No bites so far, but we'll keep checking."

Beaming, Fluttershy pulled out her phone. "Can you add me?!" This won a confused little look that quickly shifted to a blend of surprise and recognition as Adagio drew her own phone and started looking through screens.

"Oh, right! Which of these buttons is the...?"

"Hehe, it's this one!"

Fluttershy knew it was with a bit of an unfair advantage, but in the back of her mind, being Adagio's first friend over the internet felt like some kind of accomplishment. With any luck, maybe Aria and Sonata would let her be their first too! Unless the sirens had already added each oth-

They had. Darnit.

When that was finished, Adagio was smirking again. "So," she pointed to her own mouth to indicate the gum she was still chewing, "you said this was a bit like chewing rubber. Hobby of yours?"

Blink. "Huh?"

Snickering, Adagio stood up and turned to walk away. "Nothing, nothing, forget I mentioned it." She paused long enough to loudly whisper over her shoulder. "For now."

Chewing on the thought as much as the gum, Fluttershy couldn't quite pin-point how Adagio's last statement was suggestive, but she was sure it was. The question was whether to try to ask directly or figure it out herself and risk exploding with embarrassment at a bad-OH! Fluttershy gulped.

If I figure it out in the middle of class or something, it might be like kissing in public!

It was a trap. A humiliation time-bomb. One that, if she was lucky, would go off in total privacy if she didn't cave and ask Adagio what it meant, thus having it sprung on her then and there, and then probably rubbed in, in typical Adagio fashion. This, she decided, was a whole new kind of torment.

Stares and whispers. It wasn't constant today, but no matter how many times in her life she'd experienced them, nor in what context, they always made Fluttershy nervous. Even in the times shortly after she and her friends had helped save the school, the admiring looks and approving sentiments were just as anxiety-inducing as those she'd gotten in middle school, even if for completely different reasons. On the bright side, at least she still had the warding shout-thought to block them out as best she could, give or take the unfortunate moments in which she made eye-contact with people.

She couldn't just not watch where she was going, because bumping into things where people could see her was much more embarrassing, so each look that pierced her defenses sent fleeting waves of fear, worry, and self-consciousness rippling through her mind, making it even harder to maintain a normal walking stance.

I don't care, because Adagio Dazzle loves me! She loves me and I love her! We are dating! I am going out with Adag-

Then it hit her that they hadn't been on a date since the trip to the mall, because she wasn't sure going over to each others' houses for dinner (and meeting respective families) counted.

I should fix that.

...I could fix that!

Everyone knew now. There was no point in being careful or quiet about it anymore. They could go out on a date together, just the two of them, together, in public, and nothing would be at risk of getting worse! Anything anyone could glean from seeing the two of them together was already public knowledge, and there'd be nothing to clue anyone in that Rainbow and Rarity were seeing (platonically, in Rainbow's case) Aria and Sonata, respectively!

What could we do together? What do people do on normal dates again? Dinner and movies? We can't just clothes-shop every time.

Although...

Quiet, you!

Linge-

I SAID QUIET!!

You'll be back.

Um... Anyway... My first impulse is to ask Rarity about these things, but talking about dates when she can't (openly) go on any herself might upset her, even if she pretended otherwise for my sake. Maybe I could just leave it to Adagio to decide where we go, it was her that came up with the mall date, right? But, I don't want her to feel like she has to do everything, and it'd be nice to treat her to more than just candy in the mornings.

What did Twilight say, during the Battle? That it didn't matter what they did, just as long as they did it as friends? Maybe the same thing worked for dates; just as long as they had a good time together, it didn't matter what they were doing. It wasn't romantically conventional as far as she knew, but would Adagio like petting animals at the shelter? Playing with the critters? Just feeding fish?

Why does thinking about fish and Adagio always make me feel like I'm being racist?

Oh, nature walks! Long walks through quiet wilderness, or even just the park! That'd be romantic, right? She could just picture it; the two of them walking hand in hand, the sun neatly lighting up the world around them, but not shining so bright as to get in their eyes (timing the walk for the right time of day would be important), birds chirping, wind gently rustling through the trees, squirrels... keeping to themselves. But, in a peaceful, beauty-of-nature kind of way! Adagio probably had all kinds of things she'd like to do together too, given all the different activities she and the others tried to fill time with before settling on CHS, so the possibilities were endless!

It was while daydreaming about peaceful outings and countless intimate moments together that Fluttershy picked up various voices again.

"-ust look at her face!"
"Smiling and blushing like that sorta says it all, huh?"
"Daaaaamn."
"Can you blame her? If I had that body all to myself, I'd be-ow!"
"Oh, come on, it's Fluttershy!"
"It's Fluttershy with Adagio Dazzle."
"Bow-chic-OW!!"
"Am I gonna have to follow you around today?!"
"Please do!"
"Freak."

Her ears and the rest of her face burning, Fluttershy kept her head down and went her next class as quickly as possible without running in the halls. If nothing else, a date might help take their minds off all this for a while.

It was weird to think that the Confident Walk, with all its sultry hip-swinging, made Fluttershy feel so collected when it used to make her so nervous, but marching through the gym was very calming. Then she turned around for the return trip and nearly jumped out of her skin at the sight of Adagio, wearing a familiar, evil grin.

"Put these on," she said without preamble, holding up a pair of white, high-heeled shoes.

Fluttershy looked them over, but didn't quite understand what was going on here. "Um-"

"We don't have a lot of time if you don't want to be late to class. I won't make you, but," she said with a wink, "-good girls are rewarded, Sweetie."

And there was that wicked, irresistible look again, the one that made Fluttershy's insides shiver and her outsides tingle. Her mind was going just a little fuzzy trying to riddle out what Adagio was about to make her do, but she knew one thing: She very much liked being rewarded.

Taking the heels and sitting on the bottom seat of the nearest bleacher, Fluttershy switched her shoes, getting the next instruction when she stood up.

"Good. Now walk, as you were, to the other end of the Gym and back."

Oh!

Fluttershy glanced around the Gym, not seeing anyone at the doors, but... "I-is anyone watching?"

"Maybe," Adagio answered with a smirk, "will that stop you?"

"Uh..." She looked around a few more times, but even if it was possible someone was watching through a door-window and she just hadn't spotted them, the clock was ticking, and indecisive girls weren't necessarily good girls. She very much liked being rewarded...

Gulping, Fluttershy took the first, slightly shaky step, not accustomed to the feel of doing the Confident Walk with heels on, but the adjustment came to her in just a few more steps. It still took a little getting used to, but despite the warm blush spreading across her face, she settled into a comfortable rhythm by the time she was halfway across the Gym, walking almost exactly like Adagio herself!

Adagio had just a little more swing to her step, as Fluttershy had noticed through careful study, because she had more to... swing with, but she knew it was still close!

The thought was confirmed when she turned around, seeing Adagio just where she'd been standing, watching her with a bright, maybe even prideful grin. She didn't say a word as Fluttershy sashayed back to her (though she couldn't do it while looking directly at Adagio the whole time), smiling a little herself. Fluttershy smiled wider when Adagio pulled her in for a hug, gently brushing the top of her head.

"Good girl, Sweetie."

Drinking in the quiet praise, Adagio's congratulatory voice flooding her insides with warmth, Fluttershy let herself melt into the embrace with a soft sigh. Unfortunately, with their limited time together, it couldn't last. Tempted as she was to latch onto Adagio like an affection-starved leech (if blood were affection, or something), she didn't do anything to stop her from pulling away, but Adagio did say something to brighten her spirits a little after she'd put her own shoes back on.

"We'll talk about your reward later," she said over her shoulder while walking away, the white heels in one hand, "see you again soon, Sweetie!"

Watching her go, Fluttershy was just a little confused.

'Later'? Was the hug not the reward...? Is there more? Did she slip me something again?

The warning bell didn't exactly help her think, but she couldn't find anything on her person even after a thorough search in the bathroom between classes.

Applejack sighed. "Still nothin', Rare?"

Rolling her eyes, Rarity put her phone away. "It's a gossip network, not a spy agency!" The rest at the table giggled, but it was true, and she didn't care what Cherry Crash said to the contrary.

"I'unno," said Rainbow while scratching her head, "it sounds sorta feasible to me. What else do you call a bunch of people that make it their job to know what everyone else is up to?"

Unamused, Rarity answered in a humorless deadpan. "We do not 'make it our job,' we simply discuss points of interest witnessed by ourselves or oth-... What is...?"

The Rainbooms' collective attention was seized by a paper airplane sliding to a landing on their table, Fluttershy immediately recognizing the pink cursive on the white rectangle sticking out of the plane's middle fold. Unfortunately, Pinkie Pie had faster hands, reaching out to snatch it for a better look. From the way her eyes widened and her face quickly turned to a deeper shade of pink, Fluttershy was right in thinking that it was another picture from Adagio. Lighting up even brighter at the thought of someone else, especially one of her friends, seeing one of those pictures, Fluttershy startled herself by reaching out to take it without even asking!

It was a picture of Adagio from the neck down, lying in a provocative pose on her bed while nestled in her own outspread hair, clad only in thin, tight, pink lingerie-

Yaaay!

NOT NOW!

-with one of her hands held out to squeeze the bedspread beneath her in a way that tickled the imagination. Nothing explicit was visible (though she'd have to use the magnifying glass to make sure when she got home...), but it was still an incredibly suggestive picture! Turning it over, she read the message.

I've been sleeping much better thanks to you. Any time you'd like me to return the favor, just let me know~! ♥
-Adagio

'Return the favor'...?

It was hard to tell sometimes if Adagio's sentiments were more sweet or seductive, but in the context of the picture, she had to quickly shake her head to keep from drifting into fantasy land again. Doing so brought her back to the lunch table, where her friends were all leaning in close to see the other side of the paper she was holding. The one with the pic-

"EEP!!" She curled in on herself to hide the scandalous photo just as much as her own face, though not so much that she couldn't still see the others through a gap in her hair. It was only after she did so that her friends looked away, bar Pinkie, who remained frozen in her hunched-over position.

"Y'know," Applejack thought aloud while fanning herself with her own hat, "Ah ain't sure if Ah'm more worried 'bout this, or jealous. It ain't a whole lot of either, but it's somethin'!"

Rarity nodded while making similar motions with a hand. "She is either remarkably bold, or very confident in her aim. Can you imagine sending such a thing of yourself and the plane not landing where it was intended?"

Rainbow had no words for the whole phone-free sexting thing Adagio and Fluttershy apparently had going, but tried to forget her own blush by busying herself with Pinkie, who, still flushed and unblinking, sat rigidly where she'd been while looking at the picture. Even though it wasn't visible anymore. "Uh... You okay there?" She snapped her fingers in front of Pinkie's face a few times, shook her, and wiggled a pudding cup under her nose before looking to the others. "I think she's broken."

"That's nice, Rainbow," said a slightly flustered Sunset, who would apologize later for not really having been listening. For now, she managed to look at the still-trembling Fluttershy. "Sooo... Things are good between you two, at least?"

Distantly glad that they weren't rubbing in what already would have counted for a nightmare scenario to a weaker, less confident Fluttershy, she answered with a sheepish little smile.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the lunchroom, Aria snorted with amusement before looking away from the Rainbooms' table. "I still don't wanna know what it was, but it really looks like you set off a bomb over there."

Brushing a hand through her hair, Adagio grinned haughtily. "I try. Any bites on the new accounts yet?"

"Nothin' yet," Sonata said while looking down at her phone, "but it's only been like, a day." She frowned. "Still, I at least expected some mean, just-get-out-of-our-school-already comments." The surprised, concerned looks she got from the other two (even Aria!) said she had some 'splaining to do. "I mean, yea, nobody's talked to us like that since we got here, but if they did, it'd at least narrow down who we could buddy up to, y'know?"

Relieved that Sonata had not been getting bullied and not saying anything (as much as it would be a pot calling a kettle something coming from her), Adagio Secret Insomnia Dazzle shook her head. "I'm afraid it's not that simple, what with forgiveness supposedly being big around here and anyone at all giving us a chance meaning we would have to overlook a few harsh words."

The table was quiet as Aria visibly mulled something over, Sonata attempting to stick a carrot into one of her pigtails while she and Adagio waited. The carrot was fumbled when Aria suddenly moved, snapping her fingers and smiling without a hint of awareness at the attempted vegetable accessorizing.

"So wait, we've gotta be all selectively-forgetful and understanding no matter what anyone does to us, right? But everyone else has to let go of the stuff we do, too? We're actually getting fair treatment somewhere?"

"In theory," Adagio answered carefully, "as long as they want to live up to this school's on-and-off mantra too."

"But it means that for anyone that does, we'll be on even footing?"

Briefly pondering the question, Adagio couldn't see it otherwise, so she nodded.

Folding her hands behind her head in a relaxed manner and leaning backward, Aria made brief, spastic arm-flailing motions when she remembered that cafeteria chairs had no back part to lean on, nearly falling off her seat. Even so, she ignored the amused smiles the others were giving her and beamed. "Sweet!"

Sitting in class and counting down the minutes until she could see Her Sweetie in Art, Adagio thought about the time she'd told Fluttershy that she could probably ruin this school with information gleaned from all the people she'd overheard, all the people that either lacked the self-control to keep their voices down, or didn't care. She wondered if Rarity's gossip group operated the same way; a few mindful ears picking up details during busy-work class sessions like this one.

"C'mon, it's gotta be her! She feuded with Adagio for weeks, got her ass handed to her, and dug up dirt on her for revenge!"

"Told you before, Trixie wasn't the only one that never left a comment on those pics. I looked just this morning and didn't see any from Flash, Vinyl, or, y'know, their biggest enemies; any of the Rainbooms. Er, 'sides Fluttershy."

"Yea, but... Sunset Shimmer said they were pretty much cool with the Dazzlings now, but Trixie still has a beef with Adagio."

"Everyone she's ever picked on can claim to have a beef with Adagio, and that's most of the school, students and staff. Not havin' anything to add on somebody's private moments ain't enough to make a case."

"...But you know it still totally could be her?"

"Oh, yea, no doubt. We can't prove anything, but she's my first guess too."

Considering that Trixie hadn't so much as given her an odd look lately, Adagio didn't share their certainty. The silly girl hadn't even come by to smirk at her with blatantly false sympathy about her secret being exposed.

She wondered how, if the photographer's identity ever came to light, the rest of the school would react. Would the guilty party be the new untouchable around here, Adagio and her own group all but forgotten about now that they were clearly someone else's victim, or would whoever posted those pictures just be stuck joining the three of them at lunch? Or, she supposed it was possible that the verdict would be "It's just the sirens, so who cares?", and that would be that. Not that she had anything to gain but hollow catharsis in exacting retribution, but it would be very difficult to explain to Aria why they had to let such a thing slide, especially after lunch today.

"I can't believe you did that!"

"Is that why you're still smiling?"

Fluttershy blushed and turned her head away, but Adagio could still feel her bashful giddiness as the two sat next to one another to paint two separate canvases. Everyone was working in pairs today to create juxtaposed images, so she didn't worry any more than usual about what might be heard if they talked quietly while working on their two halves of a massive butterfly. Not that the volume adjustment was much change from the norm for Fluttershy.

"Wh-when you said, that there'd be a r-reward, I-I didn't think... In front of my friends! It was so embarrassing!" Pinkie came to her senses eventually, as though nothing had happened, so at least the only damage was to her dignity.

Adagio giggled. "That wasn't it, Sweetie."

"Huh?"

"Now's a good time, actually. Today's picture was something I was going to do regardless, but when I said I'd reward you, I had something else in mind. Tell me; is there anything you'd like to see me doing in one of those pictures?" She gave Fluttershy a minute to take deep, slow breaths following the short, spastic meltdown after that question, not poking her about where her mind undoubtedly just went, but not losing her cat-like smirk, either. "I was thinking of a custom picture, one in which you tell me what you'd like to see; what you'd like me wearing in it, what kind of pose, even the lighting if you're feeling particular. There's no time limit on this offer, so take your time in thinking about it, alright?"

And think she did.

...Adagio. Offering. Anything we want.

No!

One reason.

Because...! Um...

I'm thinking bunny suits, maybe in front of a mirror so we can see the front and back at the same time!

Why do you get so much of our critical thinking skill?!

Because I know what we like, not what we're afraid of being judged for?

...We should ask for it to be sent over the phone, a data file is easier to store and copy than a physical photo.

I love you too.

Fluttershy didn't respond out loud to the offer, but the blissful look on her crimson face said Adagio had made the right call with this idea. It tickled her to see Fluttershy's excitement at the prospect, but there was still room for a little more... "Speaking of things to think about, did you ever reach a decision on that work-out offer? You should know that we've since discovered yoga pants and lycra."

She tittered with mischievous glee at the way Fluttershy locked up where she sat, lips set in a wide, wobbly smile as her cheeks continued to burn. This didn't help the poor thing detail her side of the butterfly much further, but enough was done that Adagio had little trouble syncing up the color scheme on hers to show a singular image when their two paintings were set right next to each other. It was shamefully cheesy, but she felt an odd glimmer of pride in the way the two sides of their massive butterfly kind of looked like a heart.

"So, uhm... I-if you're getting to sleep without as much trouble now, why do you still wear the eyeliner?"

Adagio sighed. "They haven't quite gone away yet, Sweetie, but I'll gladly stop wearing it when they do. I'm long overdue for trying something new in that department, so," she smirked, "maybe lipstick would look good?"

As much as she felt like she was walking into a trap, Fluttershy didn't see anything wrong with that statement, so she smiled. "I-I'm sure it would be lovely on you!"

"Of course," she chuckled, "I think we've established that tattered rags would look good on me (if you ever want proof, just let me know!), the question is whether or not it looks good on you."

Blink. "M-me?"

Nod. "Your lips. Your cheek. Your neck... Your collarbone... Anywhere, really! Oh, don't worry," she purred to the shaking, sweating stoplight on the bench next to her, "if I pick the right shade of red, it'll hardly be noticeable!"

Giggling nervously, Fluttershy forced herself to confirm something important. "But, you are still sleeping well, right?"

The gleeful smirk fading to a calm, appreciative smile, Adagio nodded. "I'd forgotten what it was like to be well-rested all the time. I should be able to keep it up on my own if needed, but..." Her voice soft, even vulnerable, she asked with a pleading little frown. "You'll keep calling, right?"

Her heart melting, Fluttershy wrapped her arms around Adagio for a cuddly embrace. "For as long as you want me to." Being hugged back made her all warm and squishy, but squishy in a way that didn't diminish her confidence in the least. That made it easy to say the words she'd been wanting to say to a girl like Adagio for years.

"So, um... are you doing anything this weekend?"

Shaking her head, Rainbow couldn't help the little smile on her face. "Y'know," she said to the others at the table, "I was initially sorta worried there'd be all this friction and drama and shouting after those pictures went up, but I guess they're takin' it pretty easy."

Seated across from her, Fluttershy practically bobbed in her seat with happiness. It wasn't like she expected Adagio to refuse, but that did nothing to prevent the awareness that she had asked Adagio out on a date and been answered with 'yes' from flooding her very being with bliss. They decided on a Chinese buffet Adagio had never been to because the topic of fortune cookies had come up while they were discussing what they could do together. She could hardly wait!

Fluttershy's joy proved infectious, Sunset unable to stop grinning herself. "Not the first time Fluttershy has proven to be a lot tougher than most of us would've given her credit for."

"And not that that isn't lovely," Rarity said with a hint of urgency, looking down at her phone, "but we may have an update on that MyStable Stalker situation..."

"Thank you so much for coming, Roseluck!"

"Uh," she said with a hint of apprehension, "sure thing, Rarity. You guys wanted to talk about something?" Roseluck wasn't someone that got to talk to any of the Rainbooms all that much, so being invited to join them at Sugarcube Corner for a little while sounded like a hoot. They (well, Pinkie, natch) even gave her free cupcakes! That she would have to bust her hump to work off the calories later! Worth it!

There was a short silence as the Rainbooms collectively traded looks, as though wondering if any of the others were going to say it first. Applejack volunteered.

"Welp, might as well just ask," she said while bringing up a particular screen on her phone, "you were the one that posted this, right?"

The image was that of the comment section on Fluttershy's MyStable page, specifically of one that had included an image of Fluttershy's sketch of Adagio sleeping on the wall outside the Art room.

-Roseluck: Hey, remember this thing from a while back? She and Fluttershy share an Art class. I think we know who drew it now, huh? -7h 24min ago

Glancing over the replies for the second time, Roseluck no longer had any doubts about why these girls wanted to talk to her.

-Pixel Pizzaz: Waitwaitwait, THAT came from FLUTTERSHY?! -7h 22min ago
-Norman: Maybe that's how they hooked up; she drew, Adagio saw, figured out she had a secret admirer, and uh... nature took its course. -7h 19min ago
-Paisley: Um, more importantly, does this mean YOU took those pictures, Roseluck? -7h 14min ago
_____>-Roseluck: What? No, I just noticed this! -7h 11min ago
-Ringo: Girl knows her anatomy. -7h 2min ago
-Lyra Heartstrings: You should hear the way Adagio calls her 'Sweetie'. It's the cutest thing! -6h 54min ago
_____>-Blueberry Cake: I think I heard Sonata call her 'Dr. Suess.' -6h 47min ago
__________>---Pinkie Pie: It's spelled 'Seuss,' you uncultured swine! -6h 42min ago
_______________>-Blueberry Cake: Oh, whatever. -6h 38min ago
_______________>-Ringo: Harsh! -6h 12min ago
____________________>-Pinkie Pie: I take my Seuss VERY seriously! Which is sorta ironic now that I think about it. -5h 47min ago
-Ditzy Doo: Drawn with wuv! -6h 39min ago
-Mystery Mint: Rose was the stalker all along?! -6h 32min ago
_____>-Roseluck: NO!! All I did was take a picture of THIS picture!! -6h 26min ago
__________>-Violet Blurr: Adagio is gonna kick. Your. Ass. -4h 37min ago
__________>-Sweet Leaf: And if she doesn't, the others will! -3h 58min ago

There were more like that, but the general consensus was that Roseluck was the prime suspect for those pictures from Monday morning, leading her to let out a beleaguered sigh as she looked at the Rainbooms through weary eyes. "That what this is about, huh?"

"We're just a little concerned," Sunset answered in sympathetic tones, "what with what's been going on lately, and we'd like to hear your side of the story." She spared a glance at Fluttershy, who, head down, just looked like she was worried that this was all her fault somehow.

Roseluck nodded. "Well, I didn't take those stalker-pics if that's what you mean." She shook her head in exasperation. "It's like, damn, I didn't know pointing something out like that put your head on the chopping block!"

"So," Rainbow asked with a raised eyebrow, "that's all it was? You didn't do it?"

"No!"

"And no clue who did?"

"Well, everybody's got a guess, but I couldn't tell ya anything new." She was a little surprised when all Rainbow did was mutter 'dang' and take a long sip from... whatever she was drinking, but maybe the Rainbooms really didn't call her here to do a good-cop-bad-cop shtick.

Rarity gave her a sympathetic smile. "Well, thank you for coming anyway, Roseluck, and we're sorry to have gotten you involved in all this."

Roseluck shook her head, offering a little smile back. "Nah, it's cool, I'm the one that dripped blood in the shark tank. Not that anyone's really tried to take a bite of me, but geez!"

"I'm certain this'll all be cleared up soon enough." More certain when she pressed 'send' on the group text to her contacts. Innocent until proven guilty was the rule, and Rarity would not see the chaos of a few years ago in her gossip circles.

"Cool..." She scanned the other Rainbooms to find nothing but understanding smiles, no signs of accusation or contempt. While she probably wouldn't get that kind of grace from the Dazzlings if they got their hands on her, it was always nice to have someone to run to for help if you needed it. Speaking of which... "So, uh... I've been dyin' to know for weeks now; why haven't you guys absorbed the Dazzlings yet?" She got six confused stares. "I mean, like with-" she gestured to Sunset, "-her, you guys beat her down, took her in, and..." She guiltily scratched her head. "Yea, I guess it sorta took the rest of us a little too long to catch on, but, uh..."

Rainbow crossed her arms. "But what? Those three are behaving now too."

Roseluck raised an eyebrow. "Then why haven't you guys reached out to them or anything?"

Applejack blinked twice. "Yer waitin' on us?"

"Well, sorta? It's like, if they aren't so bad now, why are even you keeping away from them?" She winked at Fluttershy. "Well, mostly."

Eyes widening, Fluttershy turned red and covered her face, but they could all see her little smile.

"We give them space because they asked us to," said a worried Sunset. "Are you saying that everyone still keeps their distance from the sirens because we do, give or take?"

Rainbow shook her head incredulously. "And why should it matter? Does anyone really need our say-so for this stuff? Because even if you do, I think Fluttershy has pretty much proven they're harmless now." Give or take Sonata's occasional mishaps, but accidents weren't nearly on the same level as big, evil plans.

Building pressure clear on her face, Roseluck shrugged. "I don't know, this is just me, okay?" She tensed for a second when she felt a hand on her shoulder, but it was just Sunset giving her a friendly grin. Which was still a little bit weird when she thought back to the time with the flagpole.

"Sorry, we're not trying to grill you here, but there's really nothing about the sirens to be afraid of. I talked to them, and the reason they're at CHS at all is because they want to make friends. The ribbons and cute dresses, Adagio holding doors, they're trying to be nicer, trying to get along with everyone, and I'm sure they'd really appreciate anyone that gave them a chance."

Roseluck looked away. "I hear ya say it, but..."

"Huh?"

"Nothin'," she said while standing up, "I should get goin', homework to do, but thanks for the cupcakes!"

Pinkie smiled and called after her to come back any time to try the special, but the others shared worried looks.

"So," Applejack started, "that whole 'human accessory' thing them three was frettin' about. Kinda sounds like they might'a been on the money."

Rainbow looked like she'd just missed a kick when there wasn't even a goalie. "Is that how it is now? They're pretty much screwed until we publicly befriend them, at which point they're sorta screwed anyway because they wouldn't know who was being sincere and who was just going with the flow if that happened?"

"That," Sunset said with a sigh, "might be the best we can hope for now."

Fluttershy heard Aria's voice in her head.

"They'll have to get used to us eventually, right? Besides, I think all of us would rather have few friends than fake friends."

"No," she said with quiet finality, "that isn't what we sang about in the cafeteria, or on that hill at the Battle, and it isn't what they hope to find here. It's taken a long time, but people are warming up to them on their own, just like we did. We just have to be patient." Seeing only proud, warm smiles, she smiled too. "Luckily, I can definitely say that Adagio has learned a lot about patience."

Only because no one else was close enough to hear it did Rarity say this in audible tones. "I can say the same of Sonata. She once waited in my room for three hours while I was busy with the drama club's costumes."

Rainbow chuckled, a little smirk on her face. "It's pretty neck-and-neck in most of our Versus games, but Rulebook always beats me in loading screen endurance."

The group collectively giggled. Maybe the rest of the school was generally waiting on the Rainbooms to befriend the sirens, but if it came down to a battle of attrition between fear/suspicion and the Magic of Friendship, there was no doubt in their minds which would win out in the end!

Author's Note

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-Omake:----------
Fluttershy: "I think I got what you meant with the gum."
Adagio: "Oh?"
Fluttershy: "I-I figured it out at the animal shelter, watching a puppy play with a rubber chew-toy."
Adagio: "How does that relate to sucking on a ball-gag?"
Fluttershy: "A WHAT?!"
Adagio: "I thought you figured it out."
Fluttershy: "S-so did I..."
-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

The start and ending parts with the gum (from way back when candy was a regular thing) were slightly difficult to integrate into the scene without having them offhandedly spit it out for no discernible reason, which I think would be littering. Neither of them are litterbugs.

If the sirens were able to sing above a whisper at the time, I'd have probably parodied Tangled's When Will My Life Begin (or whatever that one was called) with the three of them doing a bunch of random crap to pass the time. And, if I'd actually depicted all that stuff happening, rather than summing it all up because this story started as a one-off ship-tease because of a cute sketch I saw. It is now over a hundred times its starting length and still not quite done. Snowball!

Forgot to mention it last time, but I avoided 'txt tlk' as much as possible in the comment section parts because typing like that on purpose causes me physical pain. Part of my quasi-headcanon-thing for Old Sunset's reign was that she wouldn't stand for The Stupid in any form in her school, not when she could bully it out of existence. I like to think she cracked down harshly on anyone that couldn't take two seconds to spell out and punctuate their sentences properly. The threat may be gone, but the scars remain.

On the bright side, CHS's test scores as a whole were higher than ever! That's right, Cinch, the real secret to CHS's sudden success was Sunset being a bitch all along! Nice job bringing the overall GPA back down, Twilight!
/Kidding. Mostly.

Join us next time for the identity of the photographer!

Chapter 51: Reasons

While she was still looking forward to spending time with her animal friends just as much as usual, Fluttershy opened the door to the shelter with a sigh. She shuffled past the front desk, barely looking at any of the critters as she made her way for the back room. It wasn't that she didn't want to pick up a whole armload of them and cuddle her worries away, but she kind of had to get some work done today, even if she couldn't tear her thoughts from the disaster that was last night's date. Maybe she was making mountains of molehills, but it felt like just about everything had gone wrong.

They went to the Chinese buffet place (Fluttershy still couldn't pronounce the name without fear of offending someone's ancestry) and things were okay for maybe two minutes. Not usually carrying much in general, it had somehow it had slipped Fluttershy's mind to bring enough money for dinner. Despite assurances that she had nothing better to spend that money on, she felt awful about making Adagio treat her (again) when it was supposed to be the other way around.

Then they were noticed by a small group of CHS students, who were neither discreet nor polite in the way they watched her and Adagio the whole time, making a few unwelcome comments primarily toward the latter. Adagio insisted that she didn't mind, that it wasn't bothering her, and while her delivery was convincing to the point that Fluttershy honestly wasn't sure how she felt, it definitely bothered Fluttershy. Adagio, annoyed on her behalf (or possibly just annoyed), offered to 'get rid of' their audience, but Fluttershy couldn't let her do anything that might make it harder for the sirens to make any friends at CHS later. She'd gone into the building with vague plans of flirty behavior, hopes of impressing Adagio with her boldness, but when there were people she might see again watching her, it all shriveled up and dried out! Kind of like the shrimp.

The food hadn't been particularly outstanding either, and while they did get decent meals, there was nothing new or tasty enough to make Adagio do more than go "Ah.", like when her fortune cookie said "Worry does not beget change" (she described the cookies as tasting like stale potato chips, at that), no delighted/surprised expressions the whole evening.

They still had some fun talking and it wasn't like those watching them were whispering and snickering to each other every single second, but it definitely wasn't the evening Fluttershy had in mind. At the very least, they agreed on going somewhere more private next time.

When she got to the back room, Fluttershy started going over the shelter's stock of animal food.

More than enough to feed the birds for a few weeks, puppy chow reserves look good, treats included, but we could use a little more gerbil mi-

She heard the door shut behind her, sending shivers through her entire body. Slowly, she dared turn around. "Ad-"

It wasn't Adagio. Standing there in a black cloak with the hood drawn back was Trixie Lulamoon. From the dull glare in her tired eyes, it was possible that she was still mad about that time Fluttershy bumped into her a few years ago.

"Fluttershy," she stated flatly, "I need to talk to you."

"Um... Okay," she replied, distantly guilty and ashamed at her own sense of (thankfully fading) excitement in this situation. "How did you get in here?"

Trixie snorted, her lips curving into an amused smirk. "I've learned a thing or two about being sneaky in the last couple weeks."

"Oh."

That was it. Just 'Oh.' Fluttershy wasn't even shaking or anything. Her smirk slipping away, Trixie slowly raised an eyebrow. "...You're pretty calm about this."

Fluttershrug. "I'm sorry?"

"I even brought these-" she said while pulling a chocolate bar and an especially soft teddy bear from her cloak, looking just a little disappointed, "-because I thought you'd be wetting your pants or screaming for help when I snuck up on you."

She smiled sheepishly. "I don't know what to tell you." Then she realized that Trixie had intended to comfort her if she needed it, and grinned in earnest. "Oh, but thank you for being so considerate!"

Her jaw slackening, Trixie gave her a long stare. "...Being with her really changed you, huh?"

Fluttershy giggled. "I guess so. But," she asked as the situation started to catch up with her, "why did you want to sneak up on me?"

Returning the bear and bar to her cloak (indefinitely borrowed from the Drama club since the accompanying witch hat went missing), Trixie sighed. "I'm sorry."

The smile faded. "What do y-"

"If you pretend you don't know," Trixie cut her off, scowling, "I swear I'm just gonna smack you!"

Flinching at the threat, Fluttershy brushed one arm with the opposite hand, instinctively lowering her eyes to the floor. "...I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt." She heard something like a laugh out of Trixie, or at least a loud, uneven breath.

"Yea," she muttered, her head down, "you would. But, you shouldn't, because, I did it. I was the one that took those pictures."

"Why?"

Trixie shook her head. "It's a long story." A tapping sound alerted her to Fluttershy now sitting on a nearby box, patting the space next to her. She had really, really anticipated rage or tears or even just an ice-cold glare, but this girl was smiling as she invited her to take a seat. It wasn't a big, happy smile, but still.

Fluttershy, for her part, thought of what Sunset had said the other day. Whatever her feelings on the person that revealed her and Adagio to the rest of the school ('kind of peeved' felt a little extreme), she was far more worried about what would happen when the sirens found out too, and if she understood the reasons, maybe she could help explain things and keep them from doing anything... mean. Whether the culprit 'deserved it' or not. They hadn't just sat back and let anyone pick on Sunset, right? Everyone deserved a little kindness, and judging by the way Trixie had completely dropped her haughty, 3rd-person speech pattern, she could really use someone to talk to right now.

Trixie sat beside her for a long while, visibly looking for the best place to start. "...It's her fault, you know."

Maybe 'kind of peeved' was just right. "What do you mean?" Peeved-ness shrunk a little when Trixie looked at her with a glint of hurt in her eyes.

"Why'd she pick you? What do you have that made her just up and forget everyone else?"

Feeling a flicker of guilt in her chest, Fluttershy hesitated to answer before Trixie went on.

"She used to come by every day to mess with me at least once, but out of nowhere, it's 'Take care, Trixie!' and then nothing!" Fluttershy didn't say anything. She wasn't asking why that bothered her or about Adagio leaving her alone being a good thing. Thinking back to some of the things she'd witnessed, she had a hunch about why. "...When those three came back, I was still pissed about the way she used me for her plan, the way she messed with my head to rope me into her schemes, and I let her know it. Of course, she just smiled that evil smile of hers and before I knew it, she'd made it look like I was saying I missed her!"

Fluttershy giggled, immediately transitioning to a sheepish, rosy-cheeked smile when Trixie shot her an annoyed glare. "Sorry, just... that sounds like something she would do."

Trixie huffed. "Yea... It kept going like that for a couple months; her making a fool of me again and again, but at the same time? She was always so... nice about it. She never insulted me, never accused me of unflattering things no matter how often I did it to her, just-..." She blushed, giving Fluttershy an angry pout. "Well, y-you know already." The way Fluttershy's face colored further confirmed that she did. "But, when she did stuff like that, it sorta felt... I mean, it was almost always embarrassing, but the attention made me feel like I was special. The way she talked, the way she looked at me, the vague come-ons, empty or not, always made me feel prettier, sexier, greater and more powerful, even! I didn't want to say that because I didn't want her to win, so..." She shook her head. "I don't know. I was hoping to turn the tables for once with the underwear thing, but I think you got to see that one backfire."

Trixie let her head fall to her hands, each arm propped up on a knee. "And then she just ditched me, said she was done with me and never gave me another look! At first? I was actually glad! I thought I couldn't have been happier that she'd finally decided to leave me alone! Then I started to miss it... After a few days of being ignored, I wanted her attention again, but she wouldn't even give me a sideways glance." Her eyes clenched shut. "I felt like trash, like I wasn't worth bothering with to her anymore, and I knew it wasn't that she hated me for my trick, because she won that time!" Adagio won all of their little matches, actually, but that wasn't the point! "But that was it; after that, she barely looked at me, just threw me away!" She stifled a sob. "Just like I wanted her to..."

When a steadying hand soothingly brushed against her back, she wanted to push Fluttershy away, to yell at her for all of this being her fault in one way or another, but couldn't muster the self-control to do more than sit there, pitifully shaking as one of her victims tried to comfort her. "I c-cast a sp-spell, you know? I didn't th-think it-sniff-worked, but-" The words were lost as she descended into blubbering, Fluttershy gently hugging her until she calmed down. Ironically, the teddy bear and chocolate bar in Trixie's cloak were used to comfort Trixie herself when Fluttershy asked her to bring them out again.

Quietly, as though afraid too much noise would hurt Trixie somehow, Fluttershy asked a question. "What do you mean 'a spell'? Do you have some kind of magic too?"

Crumpling up the wrapper and stuffing it into her cloak pocket, Trixie shook her head. "No. I don't know. It was just a dumb 'witchcraft for dummies' manual, but it-..." Squeezing the bear to her stomach, she sniffled. "R-right after the underwear incident, I was confused, frustrated, humiliated, and pissed, just wanting any way to guarantee she never beat me again. So that night, I grab the book from the back of my closet. I only did it to feel better, but it looks like it worked anyway, because the spell I cast was supposed to get her to leave me alone." Her voice broke, "It worked!" but she managed to keep herself from outright crying this time as she silently, but greedily accepted the there-there pats.

When the internal ache had mostly subsided, she sat up straight again and sighed. "So, she forgot about me. Just like that. Eventually, I tried to just let that be it, tried to ignore her too, just accept it and move on, but then she started acting really weird, even for one of those three. Or, that was what I told myself, at least. I started getting more and more paranoid that, knowing her, it was all another trick, that she had to be up to something, and her little nap in 8th period was the last straw for me. I told myself that if someone didn't keep an eye on her, she'd pull off something big and horrible right under everyone's noses. That was how I validated stalking her for a while." She paused to look at Fluttershy for a response, but rather than judgmental scorn or righteous indignation or anything, Fluttershy was looking at her with concern.

Maaaaybe I shouldn't share my thoughts about how I was pretty sure the whole 'nice girl' thing she does was all an act to lower everyone's guard so she could do whatever she wanted. It was probably the paranoia talking.

"Thinking I'd get grabbed and dragged off to a basement somewhere if she or the other two caught me spying on her, I went out of my way to be careful with it, to make sure she'd never know I was there." She tried hard to sound proud of that, but maybe if she had been caught, things wouldn't have gone this way. "I used one of my tricks, a ninja-blanket patterned to looked like the cafeteria floor (and harder to notice in the shadows under the table), to eavesdrop on their conversations at lunch."

She left out the part about reaching out to touch Adagio's leg the time she briefly lost herself while staring at those long, smooth curves, but Fluttershy didn't need to know about the almost suspiciously cute sound Adagio produced at the time.

"But, that wasn't enough after a while, so I got a camera with a good zoom-in range and hung back, usually stayed far enough away that I was sure she wouldn't see me right away if she looked in my direction. I must have been good at it, because she never even turned around with an I'm-being-watched look on her face, and if she always knew I was there anyway and felt like toying with me (a constant concern!), I'd have gotten my limbs rearranged by her minions by now."

Fluttershy tried to speak up to correct the word 'minions,' but Trixie was still a faster talker than her.

"I tailed her on and off for days to figure out what she was up to, but couldn't find any evidence for an evil plan until the day I woke up way too early for a normal person (thinking the sirens were not normal people), staked out their house, saw her leaving surprisingly soon (I was right!), followed her to school, and saw her talking to you on the bench." She couldn't look at Fluttershy at all now, no matter the face she'd get for it. "I thought, back then, like, 'Ah-ha, she's worming her way into the Rainbooms' good graces to destroy them from within!' or something, so I snapped a pic and watched her rile you up for a while before school started. I thought I'd need evidence, so I got a lot of pictures, like when she got you to do that thing with the licorice-" A spastic noise and rapid rise in temperature in the air next to her made Trixie deadpan. "Relax, I already deleted everything." She still didn't look, but Fluttershy sounded relieved. "-and when you stared at her butt while she was walking away-" Another noise. "Deleted!" Another relieved sigh.

Trixie shook her head, muttering. "I don't know why you even bother, that skirt makes it harder to see than ever and her hair covers most of it anyway."

"Huh?"

"Nothing. So, anyway, I tailed her whenever I had time, saw her go into your house, but couldn't get any closer than that without the chance of getting arrested for burglary or something (in hindsight, a ski-mask was a poor choice), so I went home to think about what she could be doing with you, why the other two weren't there with her. I was up until about two in the morning thinking about what she must have been up to, how, if this wasn't just some scheme, she could throw me aside for someone as dull as y-err... Sorry!"

There was no response.

"...S-so, I knew she hadn't teased anyone since the underwear thing, but the paranoid thoughts I'd been using to justify myself got buried when I figured she probably just liked you. I wanted to talk to her alone, but by the time I got to the bench Monday morning, you were already there too. I saw you kissing, and..." Feeling her voice tremble, she tried to hurry through the rest of the confession. "I lost it! Thinking that she could just drop me like a rock, completely throw me away like I was never anything to her, it... it wasn't fair! Seething at the sight of you two together when I had been brushed off, I took one more picture, finally knowing just how I was gonna 'get back' at her! Even halfway through first period, I still hadn't calmed down when I made that account, posting those pictures to show everyone in the most cowardly way possible!"

Short of breath, but not daring to reclaim it at a rate that fully satisfied her lungs, Trixie remained silent, waiting for the reaction. There was no sound, no sensation of hands on her now, in comforting or strangling fashion, but she could still keenly feel Fluttershy looking at her. The tension quickly grew unbearable, Trixie just wanting any sort of release from the moment when she jerked her head toward Fluttershy. What she saw, of course, almost made her wish she hadn't.

Fluttershy was crying.

It was the silent, tears-streaming-down-their-face kind as Fluttershy gave her a miserable, heart-stabbing look.

"I'm sorry." She shook her head the second Trixie opened her mouth. "No, listen! Everything you felt, everything you went through, I know what that's like, because I felt the same way because of you!" She sniffled, Trixie thankfully not interrupting her with more than an incredulous stare and a dropped jaw. "She stopped coming by to tease you, and everyone else, because I asked her to after the underwear incident! People started saying, b-because of her act, that you must have been her girlfriend when I was the one spending time with her every morning. I got so frustrated, I threw a plush octopus at a window!"

Trixie stared at her, increasingly perplexed.

Sniffling again, she blushed. "That's a very violent outburst for me, okay?" Trixie managed to nod dumbly in response. "I-I was jealous, the very idea burning me up so much that I couldn't take it, and I-... Well, I-I didn't really realize it at the time, but with slightly different wording, I practically begged her to be my girlfriend the next morning, which, at the time, meant teasing me and me alone. She agreed." Recognition lighting in Trixie's eyes told her she didn't need to say much more. "That was why she picked me. That was why she ignored everyone else. It wasn't you, it wasn't even her, it was me, because I wanted her all to myself. I only had to deal with that horrible feeling for half a day, but I knew exactly how I would have felt if she'd just stopped talking to me, and I'm so sorry to have made you go through the same thing."

And, now that she thought about it, who knew how many others? There couldn't have been that many people that enjoyed Adagio's games, but she did once say that only two had ever asked her to stop, and neither were students. Part of that had to be that you don't generally believe a bully (for whatever value that word fit Adagio) would stop if asked, but Fluttershy was sure she'd heard Sunset mention having told other people about it.

"So..." Trixie looked confused. "What, you just, got jealous over her teasing other people? Of her making fun of them?"

"It isn't just making fun, it's how she shows affection!" Blink. "W-well, th-that's at least part of it..."

Trixie shook her head. "Even so! I get feeling left out, I get wanting more attention for yourself, but it's not like she was cheating on you! Riling people up is not the same as screwing them, no matter how much innuendo is involved!" She knew that was pretty extreme language to use in front of Fluttershy, as the crimson feedback immediately confirmed, but if she didn't say this, she might burst. "If you were dating Pinkie Pie, would you tell her not to throw parties for anyone but you? Tell Rarity you were the only person she could make clothes for? Even if they agreed to it, do you really think it'd be something they wanted?"

Her mouth hanging open for a minute, Fluttershy had no answer. Reigning in the feelings she'd long let run rampant in regard to Adagio, she thought hard about the question.

I remember now; earlier this week, the day after the pictures went up, I had meant to tell Adagio that there was no reason she should have to tease only me anymore, because everyone knows without a doubt now that we're together. I meant to tell her because it was something I never should have asked for in the first place, because her teasing was something I decided was special between us. I wanted her to be mine, but I didn't just ask for that, did I?

She'd begged Adagio not to tease anyone else, told her she could do whatever she wanted to her in exchange, and received her first three kisses as a result. Because, Adagio said, she felt like she'd been wanting to do that for months.

Within the first couple weeks, I had specifically asked Adagio not to limit herself so much, then turned right around asked her to limit herself just to appease my insecurities, when I should have just asked her to be my girlfriend. We were already kissing each other on the cheek by then, and she figured that we were essentially a couple anyway not long after!

In a twisted kind of way, she knew now that she'd let her insecurities beat her again, making some slightly controlling decisions because hearing the other kids at CHS, who had no way of knowing the truth, refer to Trixie as Adagio's girlfriend had made her feel so threatened, so envious, that she lost herself for a while.

Noticing just how depressed Fluttershy was starting to look, Trixie felt like she'd just kicked one of the puppies she'd walked past on the way here. "H-hey, uh, I-I mean, it couldn't have been that bad, right? She still said 'yes,' didn't she?"

"To something I shouldn't have asked for in the first place." It was the fact that they weren't girlfriends and Fluttershy wanted them to be, wanting more and neither giving up nor going for it, that had hurt so much. She knew, without a doubt, that if Adagio had asked her to give something up in exchange for monopolizing her in some way, even if it were something she really enjoyed, she'd have accepted in a heartbeat, whether it was good for both of them or not. Adagio had pushed her to be a little selfish, but now it felt like she had taken it too far. She had only been thinking about making herself feel better that morning, even if the reasons she was upset weren't completely rational.

"You don't get to tease anyone but me because it'll make me mad." With that door open, I wonder what else I might have asked for, later on down the road.

Maybe she was a little wiser now.

"And, uh," Trixie said offhandedly, "not like I'm really one to judge, going all jealousy-fueled stalker myself. But now it doesn't matter, because, it, the pictures are still, and-..." She took a second to gather her thoughts. "You told her not to play with anyone else, she stopped, I lost my head over it, exposed both of you to the school, and now not only is everyone in your business, but half of them are blaming innocent Roseluck for all of it." She cracked a tiny smile. "Heh. It's great. It's my best trick ever. Yay Trixie."

The complete lack of mirth with which it was delivered clued Fluttershy in that the statement might not have been sincere. Knowing that she didn't mean for any of this to happen either, Fluttershy quietly rubbed her back.

"I h-have to tell everyone," Trixie muttered, her breath hitching, "tell them I took the pictures."

"You don-" Fluttershy was startled when Trixie quickly turned to look at her, furious.

"Don't even start," she hissed through gritted teeth, "because as much as I want to -and believe me, I'm tempted- to take advantage of your perfect, infinite, good-girl patience-" Fluttershy detected just a hint of mockery in there, but it was probably the hurt talking, "it's the only way to clear Roseluck without blaming someone else, and it's the only thing I can fix now!" Rage quickly ebbing away as tears began to flow again, she sniffled, the wretched look on her face plucking at several strings in Fluttershy's chest. "...Adagio is going to hate me forever now. She used to c-call me 'Silver,' y'know? I was never very confident about my hair, but that was the feature she noticed about me, instead of calling me 'Loudmouth' or 'Drama Club' or 'Hack Wizard' like others have. No matter how she used it, 'Silver' always felt like a compliment, even if I refused to let her 'win' by showing it. Not anymore."

The thought of Adagio not calling her 'Sweetie' ever again had her latching onto Trixie before she knew it, distantly relieved not to be shoved away and/or screamed at. "You love her too, don't you?"

"WHAT?!" Now Fluttershy was pushed away, but only enough that Trixie could look her in the eye. "Where did you get that ide-..." Thinking about how her actions could be interpreted, Trixie produced a blush bright and hot enough to rival Fluttershy's own most embarrassing moments. "No, I- we, sh-she, no, that is not what I-"

"It's okay, I know how it-"

Trixie shook her head. "No, nononono, what I feel for Adagio is nothing like-"

"There's nothing to be ashamed of, she's a very beautiful girl and very kind once you get to kn-"

"Listen to me, dammit!!"

"She might not show her soft side easily, but it-" She squeaked when Trixie seized her by both shoulders.

"Look, I. Am. Not. In. Love. With. Her. I have no romantic designs on Adagio Dazzle, that's all you, I was upset because it looked like she ditched me for no reason at all, but that doesn't automatically mean I want to kiss her upside down in the rain or whatever, even if I'm open to the possibility of wild, mind-blowing sex somewhere down the line!" Both of them were red now, but with the way Fluttershy was looking at her, Trixie felt herself get just a little warmer as her eyes narrowed. "Don't judge me, you've seen that little sparkle in her eyes!"

She had. She very definitely had, but that didn't make it any easier to articulate.

Folding her arms, Trixie huffed. "...How did you get so involved with her, anyway?"

Fluttershy smiled sheepishly. "I sit at that bench every morning before school because I don't like taking the bus and it's the only time my mom can drop me off. She found me there a few months ago, we got to talking, and I started sharing candy with her. It kept up like that until, well..."

Trixie raised an eyebrow. "Sharing candy? Is that what they're calli-"

"ACTUAL CANDY," Fluttershy answered in a shrill squeak, talking quickly as her face warmed up again, "you saw, like with the l-licorice?! She tasted a lollipop I was eating on the first day, I liked talking to her, teasing and all, so I shared a candy cane the next time she stopped by! Th-things like that!"

"...Huh. You know, as much as I liked her attention, I don't think I started doing anything to invite her over until after she'd left me alone. I know there are a few others that had their eye on her-" she stopped to snap her fingers, pointing at Fluttershy, "m-more like the way you did, I mean!" This got a quick, understanding nod from Fluttershy, so she went on. "-but you were probably the first to make a move."

Very warm and happy butterflies danced through Fluttershy's chest, drawing a bashful smile. "I guess?"

"I feel like I should be annoyed somehow, but it's not like I blame you." Grinning, she raised her hands in front of her as though cupping two grapefruits. "Seriously, that ass is like-" She remembered who she was talking when Fluttershy let out a particularly high squeak, gaining a rosy blush herself. "Ehh, well, a-anyway, yea, you two making goo-goo eyes at each other wasn't what bothered me."

"Oh... Then," Fluttershy asked with a curious head-tilt, "why? Why would it bother you so much that she'd leave you alone in that case?"

Huffing, Trixie crossed her arms. "How would you feel if one of your friends just dropped you like a sack of bricks?"

'Hurt,' was most certainly the answer, but before Fluttershy could say that, she and Trixie were startled by the door to the storage room flinging open.

Standing there was Adagio, her wide, piercing eyes locked on Trixie. "What was that last part?"

Deep in the back of her mind, Trixie was assembling a smart remark about the last thing she said being about bricks, but it would never see the light of day (or even the dim light of a storage room) under the layers of fear and shame that showed on her petrified face.

Fluttershy managed to think much faster. "H-hello, Adagio, um-" She was silenced with a fingertip as Adagio stepped closer.

"Sorry," she said calmly, her gaze not leaving Trixie, "I just need to be sure I heard right." She had to take hold of Trixie's head to regain and keep eye-contact. "...You said a friend up and forgot about you. Were you referring to me?"

Shaking, Trixie clenched her eyes shut. "H-how long were you-"

Even if it wasn't directed at her, the return of Adagio's demanding voice made Fluttershy shudder. "Please. Answer. The question."

Gritting her teeth, Trixie managed to look her former tormentor in the eye. "Of c-course I mean you!! How many other people willingly talked to you on a daily basis?!"

Her tone just as annoyed, Adagio let go of Trixie's head. "Ignoring the one I until recently kept secret-" Trixie flinched. "-and my two oldest companions? There may not have been many others, but I thought you despised me!"

Trixie stood up. "If I really hated you, would I keep coming back?! Sometimes it was me, sometimes it was you, but one of us would start up your little routine almost every time we saw each other and we're both one of few regular relationships the other has! We're friends by default!!"

Blinking twice, Adagio looked to Fluttershy with a puzzled expression, as if to say 'Is that true?' While cute, it was a look that Fluttershy didn't have time to fully appreciate as she tried to work out Trixie's idea of friendship. The two of them looking at her in anticipation of a reply did not help her think. "Uh, I... Well, it's certainly a little unorthodox, but I guess that could be seen as some kind of friendship...?"

Arms crossed, Trixie nodded affirmatively. "See? Friends."

A eye twitching suggested that Adagio was far less content with that answer. "And how the Hell would I have known that?! I barely understood the idea of friendship some months ago and you're the one that was here when Twilight first showed up!"

"That is....! T-true! Dammit!"

Adagio stared irritably at an increasingly sheepish Trixie, but neither said another word. Fluttershy took the chance to help them both cool down a little.

"Um," she started with a hesitant grin, "not that I'm not happy to see you, Adagio," this drew a tiny smile and blush, "but what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to reassure you that last night wasn't your fault-" for once, she ignored Trixie going all red and wide-eyed, "-and thought we could make up for the date by spending some time together today. I was told you'd be back here and had barely gripped the doorknob when I heard something about magic." An abashed smile on her face, Adagio twirled a lock of long, orange curls around a finger.. "And, I know, bad me for eavesdropping, but hearing you talking to Trixie about magic, I froze up, and couldn't bring myself to just open the door until that friend comment. So..." She nodded to Trixie. "Why didn't Twilight sing about anything like this?"

Feeling that the subject was a little above her expertise, Fluttershy smiled apologetically. "Uh... it, just, didn't come up, I guess?"

"Hm... But, it is a valid form of friendship? Not like the offers Ria and Nata have been getting from a few boys?" Over the last few days, it had become clear to all of them that Flash's damage control could only do so much.

Seeing Trixie stare at Adagio with her face frozen in a blend of hopefulness and shock, Fluttershy thought carefully. "I, guess there's no reason it can't be, but, could I maybe suggest a slightly more conventional angle or two? L-like, um, did you two ever just talk normally?"

Huffing, Adagio crossed her arms. "I tried to be civil on our first day back, but-"

"Waitwaitwaitwaitwait," Trixie sputtered while shaking her head, stopping to give the other two girls incredulous looks, "aren't either of you two pissed at me?!"

Fluttersmile. "I'm not, because I understand what you've been through. I may not have been happy about it, and I hope you'll never do something like this again, but you said you were sorry, and I forgive you." She looked to Adagio, whose unreadably calm expression held Trixie like a vice.

Hm, she thought as Fluttershy and Trixie waited for her answer, hates the feeling of just being dropped? Of someone she felt close to up and abandoning her? Yes, I might know what that's like...

"Well, I may not be thrilled, but if I heard right (again, sorry about that), it sounded like you had your reasons." She arched an irritable eyebrow. "I most certainly am annoyed, though. Do you know how many fun scenarios I had in mind for when it was finally time to reveal things? All up in smoke now." It took a bit of effort not to grin when Trixie hung her head.

"I'm sorry..."

Internally sighing with relief at how well Adagio was taking this (Aria and Sonata might be another story), Fluttershy was reminded of something she'd meant to say to Adagio earlier this week. "Um... sp-speaking of apologies... I'm sorry too."

Adagio pointed the inquisitive look at her now. "Once more, I'm going to need more details before I hold you accountable for anything."

Though she tried not to, Fluttershy couldn't help smiling a little. "I should never have asked you to tease me and only me, because I should have asked you to go out with me instead. I know they led to the same place for us, but-" she nodded to Trixie, "-I never meant to cut anyone else out of a chance to be your friend."

Adagio folded her arms. "There are ways to interact with people other than teasing." Looking away, she muttered the rest. "Though, they haven't gotten a lot of results for me. Or, any of us, really."

Thinking for a moment, Fluttershy smiled. "I haven't made a lot of friends being quiet and reserved, either, but even acting the way I do, I still treasure the ones I've made just the same. You might not find many people like me and Trixie, but if you-" she and Adagio said it at the same time, "-can't be yourself, no one will be happy in the end." Her smile faded. "I was the one that asked you not to be, and for that, I'm sorry."

Adagio shrugged. "You offered me the chance to do whatever I wanted, to be myself at you in full force, I just didn't take it."

"Because we both knew that if you actually did, it would lead to-... well, pretty much where we are right now. I've been thinking that, since everyone knows we're together now, it doesn't really matter if you fluster anyone else anyway, so there's no reason to hold back at all anymore."

"Other than everyone assuming I've regressed to my old ways if I start acting more like I did before?"

"Uh..." Fluttershy's mouth worked in vain for a few seconds, but she couldn't think of a reason the other students of CHS wouldn't think such a thing, especially with the talk going around about even the sirens' nicer behavior all being part of some insidious (and imaginary) plot. It was as she strained for a way to stop that part from happening that Trixie spoke up.

"So what if they do?" That had to be the first time Trixie saw Adagio Dazzle look so confused, which might have helped her take up a slightly haughty hands-on-hips pose. "It's not like you went around harassing people like Sunset used to, and if 'your old ways' just means playing mind-games and not another magical takeover plan, -and since you haven't just done that by now, it feels like a pretty safe bet that you're never gonna- then it's no worse than Pinkie Pie being really hyperactive all the time, or Ringo being a freaky pervert, or Lyra and Bon-Bon refusing to just kiss already for pity's sake, or Rainbow Dash's monstrous ego, and people put up with all of those just fine!" The last one got her a pair of deadpan stares, which left them in awkward silence for a moment. She coughed. "And, y-yes, that may loosely apply to me too, but the point is that all of those people have friends of their own that either don't care at all or don't let it bother them, so-" she dramatically balled a fist, "the ones that do can suck eggs!"

There was a pause as Trixie held her pose, Adagio again looking to the senior-most Friendship person in the room. "...Did Twilight ever say anything about that, or...?"

"Um..." It was increasingly clear that Trixie took a very unconventional route with the Magic of Friendship. "Well, n-no, but, I think Trixie has a point." Trixie beamed with pride! "It's not like everyone will always be close to everyone else, and, it's true that friends will accept you for who you are, so..." She smiled. "That in mind, I think it'd be okay if you went back to teasing people."

Adagio's worried frown said she wasn't sold. "Sweetie, you begged me in tears to be the only one I played wi-"

"I know, but I promise I'm over it now! Or, a-at the very least, I will be, because no matter what," she stood up, "I won't forget that no matter what anyone thinks," gently grabbed Adagio, "we're the only ones who do this!" and dipped her, initiating a long, intimate kiss, lovingly returned by the recipient. A moment later, they separated, Fluttershy feeling a familiar rush of warm tingles at the rosy-cheeked smile Adagio was giving her. "Or, the only ones we do that with, I mean. Among other th-things?"

Though she did hear that last part, Adagio was a little too flushed to properly capitalize on it. She'd never been handled like that in front of witnesses! Looking at Trixie, she was vaguely gratified to see that she was magnitudes more embarrassed about the situation, turning her crimson face away so quickly that Adagio was almost sure she heard vertebrae snapping.

"Uh, I, er-"

"What," Adagio asked in level tones, "did that make you uncomfortable? Here I thought you enjoyed watching us together." She allowed herself a tiny smirk as Trixie grew even more fidgety. "To think, you used to tell me over and over how you 'weren't moved by such carnal impulses'..."

Burning brighter, Trixie quickly turned to look back at her, making all manner of short, erratic arm-motions. "I-! Tha-! Y-! It-! I-! Bu-!"

Even if she felt a pang of sympathy, Fluttershy giggled. More importantly, even if she felt a much smaller pang of unease, she absolutely refused to let it drive her anymore, because she knew that Adagio still loved her! Looking at the fluffy tease in question, she was mildly startled to see Adagio staring right back at her out of the corner of her eye, visibly scanning for any slightest sign of her being upset. In the hope of erasing her doubts, Fluttershy gave her a warm smile, which grew when Adagio hesitantly returned it.

"So," Adagio calmly began, cutting off Trixie's sputtering noises, "how exactly do we proceed from here? We can't very well keep this meeting entirely to ourselves."

Pulling herself together, Trixie remembered the avalanche of guilt and shame she'd woken up to for the last few days. She gulped. "I have to tell everyone what I did, what I've been doing."

Adagio raised an eyebrow. "I might have missed the part that explained what that would solve. The way I hear people talking, it sounds like they're caught up in the fervor of Evil Siren dates Heroic Rainboom-" she paused to look directly at Fluttershy, "-which is not how I see it, just how I've heard it discussed-" back at Trixie, "and aren't looking for a scapegoat for anything."

Trixie looked at the floor. "Roseluck might appreciate it."

"Who?"

Adagio briefly needed filling in about Roseluck and her situation. Showing her the relevant comments hastened things considerably.

"I see... Alright, I have an idea."

"Ahahahaha! You cannot catch The Great and Powerful Trrrrixie~!"

The sight of hamsters happily rolling around in their little hamster-balls always warmed Fluttershy's heart by itself, but Trixie letting them chase her around the room was a fun way to spend their playtime. Their food and water refilled and an order placed for more gerbil mix, Fluttershy walked over to Adagio. "How's it coming along?"

Sitting with her phone, Adagio made an uncertain noise. The three of them had worked out exactly what they wanted to tell everyone, but wording it right took some time. "I think I got all the points across, but... Well, take a look."

Reading over the message, Fluttershy smiled. "It looks okay to me!"

Adagio wasn't as enthusiastic. "You're absolutely sure that this is fine? No part of this bothers you in the slightest?" She got a smile and a nod. "Well, alright... Here goes."

-Adagio Dazzle: Hello, students of CHS.

As most of you may be aware, I have been seeing Fluttershy (whom you may remember as the one you call whenever you want help with your pets at no charge) in secret for some time now. As most of you were not aware, but may have suspected, it was actually Trixie that exposed this detail. I'll ask you all not to hold this against her, because we've talked, and given my own track record, the poor thing was, in part, just terrified for the fate of her school if I got my wicked hooks into it again. The other part was that, as most of you may recall, I used to go about teasing and tormenting people, especially her, on a daily basis.

I had never suspected that my attention would be so missed!

You see, I was asked very, very politely to desist in my games for the general public, and in the hopes of everyone getting along better, I acquiesced. It hadn't even occurred to me that anyone might actually be distressed by such a change! It has since come to my attention that some find such passivity unsettling, enough so to follow me around with a camera just to make sure I don't disrupt your peaceful lives. Well, worry no longer, my dear classmates, for if my silence has been the cause of unrest, I'll happily pick up where I left off.

However, for those of you that were pleased about that grace period, those of you that would genuinely prefer to be left alone, fear not. If you would rather I leave you in peace, all you have to do is ask.

See you all soon! ♥

...This is ordinarily the part where I would leave a signature or something, but you can already read my name next to the post. -Just Now

Author's Note

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-Omake 1:----------

-Sonata Dusk: TL;DR: DAGI'S BACK, BITCHES!! -2min, 45s ago

-Aria Blaze: Dammit, Sonata!! -1min 58s ago

-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-Omake 2:----------
Adagio: "By the way, what was that I heard about you abusing a plushie? Did you give me a traumatized octopus?"
Fluttershy: "N-no!! I mean, yes, I did th-throw him, but I administered comforting head-pats and cuddles immediately!"
Adagio: *nods* "Yes, that matches up with what he told me."
Fluttershy: "Good, because I would nev-... wait, what?"
-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

This was, by far, the most exhausting chapter I've ever written, because there was a lot to include, and I wanted to present it all just right. Even now, I'm not entirely sure if everything comes across clearly. In the last few weeks, I'd rarely get more than a sentence or three written or a little bit more of the chapter's general structure (and those that are due to follow it) figured out at a time. Long chapter-writing time also means a long, rambly AN!

On the bright side, the remainder of the story should be much, much simpler stuff. Just four more important events (four more "chapters" in the sense that the Sick Episode, mall date, dinner at Flutters' house, etc. were all "chapters,") before the epilogue, then it's silly, cutesy bonus chapters and the two spin-off stories whenever.

Fortune Cookie?

It was while writing this chapter that I realized that Adagio threw Trixie's underwear trick back at her by implying that she was crazy about little teddy-bear panties. In other words, Trixie bragged about a conquest she hadn't really made and a minor ursa came back to bite her. :trollestia:

If you noticed that Trixie's response to Adagio being 'done with her' back in Chapter 26 was to go through the five stages of grief in short succession (granted, Acceptance didn't last), you may now feel super smart for having seen this coming. :twilightsmile:

The point was made in the Season 5 (I think?) finale that when one friendship (for whatever value that word fits Adagio and Trixie here) is sundered, the whole world is just a little bit lesser for it. I didn't have a particular moral in mind for this story overall (or if I did, I've long forgotten it), but I think that one applies to Canterlot High here.

...And, yes, now that I think about it, this version of Trixie might work as Yandere-Chan in my Yandere Simulator idea too. Heck, she might even be more appropriate, and it wouldn't be the first time I wrote her as an obsessive stalker.

Nothing is set in stone and Trixie as the yandere would make for a wilder, sillier story when/if I get around to that in a few years, so I guess it's worth asking; would anyone prefer to see her as the main character instead of Fluttershy? I don't know if I could convincingly have Trixie consistently be as sneaky as I've been thinking Fluttershy would be without very frequently bumbling it up or just getting lucky, but at the very least, it might be worth a bonus 'What If?' chapter somewhere.
Maud Pie would fit Yandere-Chan pretty well, if we could factor out the rock obsession, but I have a vague plan for her as a short-lived rival anyway. She's an eerie fit for Nemesis-Chan too, but that character is second-generation non-existent for my purposes.

Chapter 52: Mutually Heart-Inflating Mouth Curvature

-Octavia Melody: TRIXIE, YOU FOOL!! -6h 42min ago
_____>-Pixel Pizzaz: Eesh. She said you can just opt out, calm down. -1h 12min ago
__________>-Raspberry Fluff: Yea, if you believe anything one of the DAZZLINGS says. -1h 3min ago
__________>-Bon-Bon: Maybe she meant the part where Trixie started stalking them in the first place? -59min 22s ago
-Luna: This... also explains much. I am uncertain as to whether or not detention for Miss Lulamoon is called for if she is to become your target again, but I will be keeping my eye on you, Miss Dazzle. -6h 18min ago
_____>-Adagio Dazzle: As always? ;) -6h 15min ago
__________>-Luna: ... -6h 1min ago
__________>-Celestia: Walked into that one, Sister. -5h 48min ago
________________>-Luna: BITE ME! -5h 47min ago
_____________________>-Adagio Dazzle: ...As always? -5h 28min ago
__________________________>-Celestia: NO!!! -5h 21min ago
-Aqua Blossom: Ohhh, crap! -6h 8min ago
-Roseluck: INNOCENCE PROVEN! WOOP WOOP! -5h 55min ago
______>-Violet Blurr: Yea... sorry! -5h 39min ago
______>-Sweet Leaf: Our bad! -5h 12min ago
______>-Mystery Mint: Sorry, Rose! -5h 6min ago
___________>-Roseluck: WOOP WOOP I SAID. -4h 42min ago
-Aria Blaze: Ugh. We're not allowed to kick her ass for this, are we? -5h 41min ago
_____>-Sonata Dusk: Wouldn't be very friendly of us. -5h 32min ago
__________>-Adagio Dazzle: It could be, but only as long as it's safe, sane, and consensual. -5h 25min ago
________________>-Aria Blaze: ... -5h 12min ago
________________>-Luna: She even does it to her own! DO YOU SEE WHAT I LIVE WITH, SISTER?! -2h 33min ago
-Ringo: It begins anew. Take to the streets. Rend your garments. And prostrate yourselves before the coming wave. -5h 30min ago
_____>-Teddy: Wut. -5h 18min ago
_____>-Paisley: Freak. -5h 11min ago
-Ditzy Doo: But, there's still gonna be adorable, fluffy cuddles, right? -4h 35min ago
_____>-Sonata Dusk: Confirmed! -4h 29min ago
___________>-Ditzy Doo: D'awwesome! -4h 14min ago

"Well, the weekend was sorta quiet," Sunset mused at the lunch table, "but now that we're back at school, how have you been holding up, Fluttershy?"

"I'm doing great, thanks!" Her smile weakened just a little. "Well, I mean, other than the usual, but I always knew that dating Adagio would attract some extra attention anyway." She wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing that even the most... speculative whispers didn't compare to Adagio's teasing from just this morning. Nothing public had happened yet, but Fluttershy had to cool her head in the fountain again.

"Good to hear, I guess. Though, to be honest," she said while looking at another table, "that's not the only thing I'm worried about."

The other five turned to see Trixie sitting alone at one end of a table. With her back turned to the group, it was difficult to gauge her exact feelings, but her solitary position was a pretty big hint.

Rainbow groaned. "Are we seriously gonna feel sorry for her? After what she did to Fluttershy?"

Tilting her head, Pinkie frowned. "Why not? I know she didn't get zapped by anything, but it sorta sounded like she had a pretty hard time before anyone even knew what she was doing. No point in making it worse, right?"

"Well, yea, but..." She looked around for any sign of support on the It's Too Early To Forgive Trixie front, but the best she could find was Applejack hunched over the table, looking a little disgruntled. "What do you think, AJ?"

"Honestly? It ain't really Trixie that's got me sittin' on bent wood here. Ah mean, it's got to do with her, but more why she did it than what she did." Sitting up straight, she adjusted her hat. "Way I figure it, she went off her rocker 'cuza her thing with Adagio, right? 'Cuz even if she thought she was up to somethin', bein' Adagio's friend meant that much to her? What does that say 'bout us? Does all that magic we been singin' about mean doin' anything to keep a friendship goin'?"

"She wasn't trying to keep a friendship going," Rarity said with a frown, "she was acting out of hurt, fear, and confusion, though the severance does appear to have played a part."

"Ah guess. Still feels like there's a lesson in all that somewhere."

Sunset beamed. "Already wrote to Twilight!"

The group giggled, with Applejack turning to look at Rainbow when they were done. "Ah ain't happy 'bout what happened either, Rainbow, but it ain't worth goin' after her for it now."

"Likely not," Rarity nodded. "You know, I had several sources report odd behavior from Trixie in these last weeks, but, well-"

Pinkie smiled. "She's sorta weird already?"

"Yes," Rarity said with a wry grin, "we do have a few such characters around here." All present giggled as Pinkie beamed a bright, innocent smile. "But really, had Trixie not built such a reputation over the years, we might have looked into what she was doing a little more, but with things as they were, we may never have even known it was her if she hadn't come forward. Perhaps that is worth considering when judging her actions as a whole."

"Alright, I get it," Rainbow said with a slightly agitated arm-wave, "but this had better be the last of this stuff we see from her." Blink. "I mean, whether she gets caught or n-, I mean, she shouldn't be doing it at all, so even if she doesn't get caug-er, like, in the event that she does it and does get caught, I'll be like, wait-"

The group again giggled as Rainbow tried to figure out how to say what she meant to say, but Fluttershy spared another glance for lonely-looking Trixie before looking to the sirens' table. From the glances they were giving Trixie, it was possible that they were thinking something similar.

Adagio sighed. She wasn't opposed to asking her newest (?) friend to join her group for lunch, but couldn't remember what the etiquette was for inviting someone to a lunch table from when Sunset had tried to do it for them. Could it be as simple as 'we won't eat you, so sit down'? Well, perhaps more pressing were the feelings of the friends she already had, and luckily, Aria continued to wear hers on her non-existent sleeves as she sat there, arms crossed and her face all scrunched up.

"...I've said it before, right? Like, over and over again? Because I stand by it."

Sonata frowned. "Are you really, really sure you're mad about people doing whatever they want to us and us not being allowed to get 'em back for it, and not that you just wanna punch somebody really hard in the face?"

Aria flinched. "I- no, that..." They agreed to stop lying to each other. The two stares made her begrudgingly remember this. "Well, m-maybe, but I only feel that way because people can do whatever they want to us and we can't get 'em back! Do you know what some of these pricks have been saying about us? It isn't just boys that've been treating Nata and I like-... like, um..." It was always so hard to keep an angry expression when she was trying to think. "Uh, Nata, what's a good-"

"Like the last two donuts in a box? Ever since you and Dr. Seuss went public, Dagi, it's been like a race was on to 'score a siren' before all three of us were taken. The attention was sorta nice at first, but I'm already, y'know... We might've actually been better off with the 'friends don't let friends date dazzlings' thing."

Hm, mused Adagio, suppose seeing the local authorities on friendship, if there is such a thing, allow Fluttershy to be near me sent certain signals. Now they're harassing these two because the option is clearly 'open.'

What had she told Fluttershy once? That even beauty was only a conditionally good quality? Canterlot High wasn't exactly a prison, not even during the utterly inane Detention class, but being especially attractive didn't seem to be doing them any favors on the friend-making front right now.

"And no matter how politely we say no," Aria continued, "some of 'em have the gall to give us dirty looks for it!"

Adagio shrugged. "We've gotten away with plenty ourselves, Aria." Even if not where it mattered most.

Aria sighed. "Yea, I guess. Didn't they make us pay for the mascot suit from a while back, though?"

"I offered in the hopes that it would be seen as an olive branch." They took the money, naturally, but it seemed the bridge was still burned. Along with the old mascot suit. "As before, we-"

"I know, I know!!" Groaning, Aria let her head fall to one hand, propped up on the table. "I know it wouldn't do us any good to beat someone senseless, but can I just gripe about it?" To her slight surprise, Adagio gave her a little smile.

"Yes. Yes, you can."

Sonata was smiling too, which made Aria grin contentedly. "Great."

"If it helps," Sonata offered, "Trixie's probably gonna be getting her ass handed to her again when Dagi goes back to picking on her. How's that going so far, by the way?"

Her smile slipping away, Adagio shuffled in her seat. "Well... I tried talking to her this morning after second period, but things were kind of... awkward. More-so with the entire class watching our every move. We barely said hello before moving on. I'll try again later today, when there aren't as many gawking faces around."

There was a lull in conversation, which Sonata, like anyone trained in the ways of the modern teenager, answered by bringing her phone out. "Still no bites on the accounts so far, not even any comments telling us to get bent."

"Fishing is all about patience, Sonata. I think. Certainly isn't the fashion."

Another lull. Conversation was getting difficult these days if they didn't want to drift back to the same few topics, the same few unresolved issues, over and over, but Aria had something to add. "They've got some games on that site, but like, all of 'em are boring or designed to psychologically manipulate the player into coming back again and again for a hollow sense of achievement, and usually try to get you to buy progress whenever they can get away with it too."

"Like you and Doom for the week you were absorbed in that -what did you call it- mass-multiplayer game?"

Aria facepalmed, letting out a slow, shuddering breath. "I don't. Want. To talk about it." She smiled when Sonata and Adagio giggled, opting to spend the rest of the lunch period ripping on the stupidest games she'd found on that site.

Strolling through the halls later that day, Adagio tried not to smile too widely at the fearful stares and anxious glances she was getting. By now, it was almost nostalgic for her! Still, she didn't see Trixie where she could have sworn she used to stand around this time, doing simple tricks for anyone that would pay attention to her for a minute or two.

I should probably ask her number, or give her mine. That's a thing that friends do, I'm sure of it.

Regardless, she did see the back of another familiar target, and still had to make good on her promise to CHS...

"Hello there."

She contained herself to her usual smirk as Octavia whipped around, eyes deliciously wide and panicked, but rather than freezing up or just tearing off again, Octavia raised both arms to make a finger-cross as she tightly shut her eyes and screeched "IWANTTOBELEFTALONE!!"

Taking a second to interpret that, Adagio smiled, raised both hands defensively, took a step back, and walked off without another word. The ensuing whispers behind her meant that everyone saw that, right? That they got the message? No matter what she'd heard about the details of Sunset's reign, CHS as a whole must have been smart enough to get that much, right? She chose to think so as she caught sight of an even more familiar target, feeling herself smile wider and wider the closer she got. As fate would have it, Fluttershy wouldn't see her coming either...

"EEK!!"

Startled though she was to be grabbed from behind so suddenly, Fluttershy registered that Adagio was just hugging her before she had even finished her frightened yelp. One arm gently wrapped around her midsection and the other across her shoulders, just barely brushing across her neck, Fluttershy felt all warm and tingly as Adagio rested her chin on Fluttershy's shoulder. "H-hello!"

Adagio giggled. "Hello!"

She said something else, but Fluttershy missed it when she remembered that they were in the middle of a hallway. Not an otherwise empty one, either. The stares, those wide, focused eyes, had her burning up in seconds as they scanned her being embraced by her girlfriend, a very tender moment out in the open for all to see! "Uh, d-d-Adagio, um, p-p-people are s-staring at-"

"I know," she whispered, "does that bother you?"

"Uhm, w-well-"

"All those faces," she continued in huskier tones, "looking directly at you, your every movement, every facial twitch, every trembling muscle a clue as to exactly what you're feeling." Fluttershy could hear the wicked grin. "It's almost like you're standing here naked, isn't it?"

This was it! It had begun! Teasing in public! Just like she'd ~~fant-~~ feared! She could practically see the steam cloud rising from her own face, not even sure if she was properly standing up with how badly her knees were shaking, but she didn't fall over when Adagio started pulling away. Something in the back of Fluttershy's head wished she could stop those fingers where they were as they slowly slid across her skin, but the hug was broken anyway. Adagio chuckled.

"Well, try not to think too hard about it. See you in Art, Sweetie!"

And off she went, leaving Fluttershy flushed and breathing just a little harder than was dignified in the middle of the hallway. Familiar instincts kicked in as she covered her face and walked as quickly as was permitted to her next class, unwittingly covering up her wide, wobbly smile while she was at it.

The next morning on the bench, Adagio giggled for a minute straight when the topic of yesterday's Art class came up. Fluttershy, covering her crimson face with both hands, muttered pitifully.

"It wasn't supposed to look like that!"

Chuckling, Adagio shook her head. "I may have been coloring your thoughts, Sweetie, but you were the one who drew it."

Fluttershy took solace in the fact that she honestly had an 'alternate interpretation' for... what she ended up making. Mr. Magnet wouldn't let her destroy the picture, but at least he discreetly agreed not to hang it on the wall. As embarrassed as she was, she stole a glance at Adagio anyway just to see the strangely enthralling, happy-evil look on her face that came with moments like these, which was when she noticed something that made her hopeful.

"Y-your eyeliner looks a little thinner this morning! Does that mean...?"

Blinking twice, Adagio smiled tenderly. "They're not gone yet, but they are going away at last. Once more, thank you."

They hugged, scooching over to lean against each other for a while. As nice as the peaceful, cuddly quiet was, Adagio eventually asked a question.

"So, have you thought about what you'd like for that custom picture?"

Fluttershy froze in place as her thoughts sped ahead of her.

She had thought plenty about that picture over the last few days, but while a wide variety of ideas danced in her imagination, she couldn't decide whether to treat it as a special gift and ask for something beautiful (Adagio as the central figure in Birth of Venus, maybe), or use it as it was probably intended and ask for something... naughty. Whether or not there would be extra teasing for the latter was another thing to worry about. She had thought of calling Adagio to ask about a specific outline of what she considered acceptable, but she remembered that Adagio had promised to give her a picture of herself, in any pose, any outfit, doing anything Fluttershy wanted.

Knowing Adagio, 'anything' meant 'anything.'

But, instead, she looked to Adagio with a shy grin. "Um... C-could I get a picture of you smiling, maybe?" The transition was slow as Adagio processed exactly what her offer was being cashed in for, but the blend of wide-eyed surprise and a tender blush told her she wouldn't regret her choice. Even so, a long silence meant she probably had to explain a little. "I've put a lot of thought into it, and, while I might like to, uhm... y-you know... use it... like that... if I only have this one to ask for, using it for something d-dirty feels like a waste, so... just a smile, please? I would really like a picture of you being happy."

She was squeezed in an especially tight, but cuddly hug, her heart seizing up when she heard what sounded like sniffling. It was quiet and only lasted for about half a minute, but she gently pat Adagio on the back anyway. When Adagio spoke, it sounded like she was a little calmer.

"My plan was to offer other rewards for other tasks, Sweetie, it wasn't a once-in-a-lifetime offer. Just wanted to keep it one at a time for simplicity's sake."

In the blink of an eye, her imagination exploded, then sucked its scattered contents back into itself. "Oh! Does, does that mean-"

"No spoilers on what I might ask you to do, but yes, I was kind of thinking more custom pictures might be fun. That in mind, do you still want the-"

Not hesitating for even a second, Fluttershy answered with a grin. "Yes, please!" There was a brief shudder as Adagio most likely tried to suppress the resulting eruption of feelings, not unlike Sunset had a few times, but Fluttershy just rubbed soothing circles on her back for a minute. She was a little startled when Adagio quickly grabbed and turned her, but before she knew it, she'd been pulled around to face the same direction as Adagio as they sat together, the click of a phone-camera alerting her that a picture was taken. Adagio held her phone so that Fluttershy could see.

"Like this?"

It was a selfie of the two of them looking directly into the camera; Fluttershy wide-eyed and surprised, Adagio wearing an earnest, blissful smile, not a hint of malice or mischievous glee to be found. There were a few thin, black streaks running down the sides of her face from the dark eyeliner, but because Fluttershy was there to witness the cause, it didn't detract from the smile for her, leading her to make a big one herself.

"I love it!"

Giggling, Adagio nodded and started fiddling with her phone. "Good. I'll need to touch up my make-up now, but..."

An electrical noise let Fluttershy know that she'd received a message. She now had the picture in her possession! Adagio winked at her.

"I'll let you know when I have another task for you."

That was ordinarily the point where Adagio would stand up and walk off, but considering that they no longer had anything to lose in being discovered together, the two cuddled on the bench right up to the warning bell.

Adagio held the door second period, like usual, but when Trixie stood nearby, just out of the doorway so as not to block traffic, she didn't quite know what to do.

"Um... Good morning?" Trixie stood there looking at her as though her head were on backwards. "...So, missed me?"

"Okay, look," Trixie said flatly, "I get that you're not the most socially-able person around, but you don't have to act any different from before. How did you treat Aria and Sonata when you first met them?"

A hint of guilt on her face, Adagio shrugged. "As subordinates with whom I rarely spoke for the first several weeks we worked together?" Trixie raised an eyebrow. "...Did you want me to do that with y-"

Annoyed, Trixie tinted pink. "Trixie is not your servant!!"

The familiar opening was presented, but Adagio found herself struck with indecision. They were friends now, right? How did she treat Her Sweetie when that realization came? When exactly was that? The day she got sick, right? What had changed after that? It was all so fuzzy now, she couldn't even remember how things had developed between her, Aria, and Sonata over the years, but she was almost positive that Trixie had said she actually liked her teasing. Platonically! Sort of. Hesitantly, she allowed her mouth to curve into a faint smirk. "Are you sure? We both know how good you've gotten at following me around."

Flushing brighter, Trixie's jaw dropped for a second. "I, that-...!" She anticipated some kind of follow-up, but Adagio just kept looking at her as though she was trying to coax a kitten and worried it would run from her, an uncertain nervousness in her eyes as they stood there in silence. This was a side to the big, scary siren she'd never seen before, but the air still felt awkward, so Trixie tried again, crossing her arms and huffing. "Well, someone has to keep an eye on you!"

The smirk shifted a little, becoming something between her usual expression and a genuine smile. "Does that include the camera?"

Still blushing, Trixie wore a haughty grin herself. "Of course, for evidence purposes!"

Adagio chuckled, nodding. "Right, evidence, for careful review later." Idea! "On that note, would you like to join Ria, Nata, and I at lunch? It'd be much easier to carefully review me up close, ideally not from under the table."

Trixie burned red, but even so, she giggled, a normal, even friendly smile on her face. "Well, since she is formally invited, Trixie shall gra-" The smile vanished. "-wait, the other two won't kill me, right?" Adagio shook her head, so she smiled again. "Haha, super, Trixie shall grace you with her presence!"

Adagio nodded. "See you then, Silver."

For perhaps the first time, she was smiling all the way to third period.

Having just finished loading up her tray in the cafeteria, Fluttershy nearly dropped it when Trixie hooked her by an arm and started walking with her. She wasn't rough, but Fluttershy had to move a little faster than normal to keep up.

"Trixie knows you're scared to go to the sirens' table alone, but now Trixie is here to join you, so there's nothing to worry about!"

"Uh-"

"Yes, you're quite welcome!"

Though not resisting her forced escort, Fluttershy blinked twice. She'd had more than a few one-sided conversations in her time, but Trixie was an expert! It didn't escape her that, given her pride, Trixie was most likely projecting her own feelings onto Fluttershy as an excuse to bring her along, but she had been wanting to sit with Adagio for a while anyway. The thing that had kept her from doing so this past week was still around, of course, but she managed to block out all those ~~floating, disembodied~~ eyes by looking at those of her friends, meeting their concerned stares with a reassuring smile.

Come to think of it, I guess Trixie wasn't that far off, even if not for the reasons she probably thinks.

The sirens (well, Adagio and Sonata) greeted the two of them with smiles, not needing to make room because there was already plenty of that at their table.

"Didn't know you'd be joining us, Sweetie," Adagio said with a smirk that bordered between excited and amused, "did your friends?"

Taking a seat, Fluttershy blinked once. "Huh?"

"You know," Aria said noncommittally, a bored look on her face as she inspected her nails, "the other Rainbooms. We wouldn't wanna rock the boat any harder, right?"

Fluttershy didn't answer right away, and not just because the look on Trixie's face said she was only just now remembering that Fluttershy had other friends. The way Aria and Adagio spoke, some subtle detail she couldn't pinpoint in their tones, told her there was a little more than the face value of what they said. Then it hit her that while Trixie was almost certainly aware that Fluttershy was a Rainboom, she probably didn't know about Rarity and Sonata's relationship or Aria's friendship with Rainbow. The way Sonata's eyes flickered to Trixie two times felt like confirmation. "Um, I-I'm not sure, but, it probably wouldn't bother them."

"Perhaps not," Adagio nodded, "but we should still be careful about these things."

"We shouldn't talk about anything relating to the two still-secret relationships with Trixie around," was what Fluttershy read between the lines. Considering to whom they owed the first secret being spilled, even if she grew to regret it, that made a lot of sense. But, was it right to keep Trixie out of the loop like that? Deceive her so soon after she, Adagio, and possibly Fluttershy herself became friendly?

"Th-that's true," Fluttershy muttered, "but, friends can trust each other, right?"

"I think we can trust Trixie."

Sonata shrugged. "Yea, but you'd have to be friends for a while to get there, ya know?"

"We should wait until we've known her longer."

Fluttershy frowned. "Well, kind of, but you have to offer a little trust to build more, and some people can surprise you."

"What I said, but in regard to letting Trixie in on the secret. She's already shown she can be sneaky."

"But that much," said Adagio, "depends on what those involved with one another are willing to put at risk to secure that trust."

"Aria and Sonata are the ones that still have secret friendships going; let them decide whether or not they want to tell Trixie."

Fluttershy nodded. "Well, that's true."

It was up to them. Fluttershy didn't like leaving Trixie out any more than she liked hiding from her own friends, but it wasn't her decision to make, and she hadn't forgotten how she felt when her own secret was blown. At least it all worked out in her case.

None of the sirens offered any further thoughts as Trixie glanced around the table, one eyebrow raised. "Trixie appreciates you guys being sensitive to her, but she couldn't quite follow; are the other Rainbooms mad at me for this?"

There and gone in a heartbeat, the panic that Trixie had known exactly what they were talking about left a guilty twinge in Fluttershy's chest. The sirens, however, were probably more accustomed to deception as Adagio smiled.

"I'm sure that even if they were, they'd forgive you."

Trixie looked content with this, but Fluttershy heard an echo of either "We would most likely forgive Trixie even if she spilled again," or "I hope you'll forgive us for keeping this from you." Maybe both.

"So," Trixie started, giving Aria and Sonata slightly fearful, apologetic looks, "we haven't exactly talked before, but, um..."

Aria rolled her eyes. "We might be a little pissed about what you did, yea, but we're not gonna make you our gopher to make up for it, okay?" And not just because, even if it wasn't in a way they wanted, Trixie might have actually done them a bit of a favor. At least, once you got past the whole school being more obnoxious than ever thing.

Trixie blinked twice, then smiled. "Okay then!" There was an awkward pause, which told Trixie that none of the other four girls knew how to engage Normal Social Mode. Luckily, they had Trixie! "So, I tried inviting Cloud Kicker and Fuchsia Blush along, but they both went all pale, made excuses, and quickly walked away, which was probably a 'no.'" She'd barely spoken to Fuchsia since the Battle, actually, the same way that pretty much everyone else stopped talking to their bandmates when it was over.

Sonata raised her hand in classroom fashion. "Was it because of the stalking thing?"

Trixie practically face-planted on the table. "N-no! Trixie has definitely not been treated any differently on account of her subtle observation activities, and has easily gone five minutes of talking to someone without them poking fun at her for it!" Dead silence. Four stares. She sighed. "...It's not like I'm an outcast now or anything, but people are sorta awkward around me now and even Cloud Kicker (we're still talking, thank you very much!) teases me a lot about the stalking." Shrugging, she mumbled the rest. "Which I'll admit I maybe deserve on account of having stalked someone. Kinda just glad nobody's tried to have me arrested, actually."

Feeling another tiny tingle of that weird sort of nostalgia, Adagio offered a sympathetic smile. "It was generally awkward for us too, when we first returned, and Sunset tells us she had it even worse." She chuckled. "In fact, she wouldn't say who, but it sounded like a few particular people almost enjoyed making life difficult for her, directly harassing her on a regular basis, so by comparison, we could have it much worse, right?"

Aria raised an eyebrow. "And how much does that actually say? Anything can always be worse, that's like the worst way to look on the bright side ever."

"Didn't you just say it could always be worse?"

"Uh. Yea?"

"Then how can it be the worst way ever? By your own words, such a state is unachievable."

Aria's mouth popped open. Sonata snickered at her. "Gotcha there, Ria!"

While Aria sputtered to revise her statement, Fluttershy kept very, very quiet, stealing a glance at a slightly downcast Trixie. The sirens might not have known, but Sunset's biggest ~~bully~~ ~~harasser~~ person who made life difficult was Trixie herself, and from the look on her face, the full weight of it was hitting her like she'd been headbutted in the stomach by a dolphin. Not thinking about where that simile had come from, she wanted to do something to make Trixie feel better, but, well... this was a tunnel Trixie had been needing to go through for a while now, just like Sunset did. If nothing else, she wanted to make sure someone was there to comfort Trixie when she stepped out into the light, and maybe she, Adagio, and even Aria and Sonata could be the ones!

And that made her wonder...

"Uhm, e-excuse me."

Grateful for any escape from the tag-team teasing she was getting from Adagio and Sonata, Aria quickly turned toward Fluttershy. "Y-yea, what?"

"Do you three, uh-" It only hit her that she might possibly be overstepping her bounds after she'd started asking the question, "d-do you ever, um, think maybe, er, I-I mean if, it...?" The three of them, and Trixie, just stared at her. She took a quick breath. "D-doyou ever feelbad ab-bout theBattle?!"

Instantly, Sonata, Aria, and Adagio pointed at her while snapping their fingers, the three of them giving their answers at the same time.

"Yes!"
"No!"
"Maybe!"

There was a short silence. All three smiled, snickered, and giggled like schoolgirls before Trixie raised an eyebrow. "Um. What was that?"

"That," Aria answered through a laugh, "was the answer to a question we've been waiting for someone to ask for months. Didn't think it would take that long, but the payoff was pretty good anyway."

Adagio pat a still-giggling Sonata on the back. "To answer the question, we do, and we don't." Her expression turned serious. "On the surface, we've come to understand just what it was we were doing, what we tried to do by pitting everyone against each other for our own gain and, before we came to this world, a hollow sense of vengeance."

"Breaking people up is a really, really mean thing to do," Sonata said with a frown, "and we did it just so they'd act like they loved us instead for a little while. Forever, if we could get enough juice."

"And that's pretty messed up," nodded Aria, arms crossed, "so, yea, thinking about it? We're sorry. But..."

Sonata's contrition was replaced with irritation. "Nobody else actually lost anything, nothing was broken, and nobody got hurt, but we're dealing with a life-long punishment anyway. You try telling someone that breaks your legs for trying to swipe their wallet that you're sorry."

"Then sticks you in twisted casts to make sure they never heal right," Aria added idly. Shrugging, she offered Fluttershy a genuine little smile. "Well, y'know, mostly."

Fluttershy managed a tiny smile back, and not just because she fully understood where they were coming from.

"Not helping at all," Adagio thought out loud, "is the way most of the student body has treated us since we arrived, which recently grew worse." Trixie flinched, which she responded to with an apologetic little smile and a shrug. She made the mental note to quit rubbing it in like that before moving on. "Quite contradictory to the sort of things they sang about when Twilight was around, actually. Unless-" she glanced at Aria and Sonata, "-you two have been getting fewer unwelcome advances?"

Blushing a little, Sonata pouted. "Someone actually slapped my butt earlier," Aria's outraged expression was cut off when she said the rest. "and they didn't even pull my hair or call me a bad girl first!" She turned to look at the otherwise frozen Aria, whose mouth hung open as her face quickly heated up. "What?"

Barely even sputtering, Aria's forehead smacked against the table as she muttered. "You guys are so embarrassing."

Sonata and Adagio giggled, then looked at Trixie, who, also blushing, immediately held up both hands in defense.

"No comment!!"

Smirking, Adagio looked straight at Fluttershy, who had only just barely managed to wrangle her thoughts out of the gutter.

"Uh..."

"Yeees?"

Oh, she's giving me that look again!

Relax, answering her question is easy.

Oh?

"Harder and harder!"

ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US?!

Fumbling for anything to say, Fluttershy stuttered out a half-dozen syllables before Adagio chuckled, her jungle-cat stare quickly fading to a relaxed smirk.

"So, any updates on the MyStable situation, Nata?"

"Not yet!"

Glad though she was to be released so soon, somewhere in the back of her mind, Fluttershy felt an odd little pang of worry.

Was... was that it this time? She only looked at me. I mean, not that I want her full attention on me alone all the time (anymore), but that felt kind of... short. Come to think of it, she didn't stick around for long in the hallway earlier either, but was that just because we didn't have much time anyway, or...

She took a good look at Adagio, vainly hoping to somehow draw an answer from her usual, nonchalant expression as she and the others discussed the possible social consequences for Trixie if she were to add any of them to her profile.

...is she worried I can't take it? I didn't even try to say 'squirrel,' so is it that she's worried about me, or just stopped where she felt like stopp-

A sudden noise made her jump, then blush vibrantly when she realized it was her phone. Giving Trixie and the sirens a sheepish smile, she answered the text from Pinkie by turning to look at her friends' table, doing her best to tune out all other faces she saw, smiling, and waving.

Waving back, Applejack smiled. "Well, looks like she's holdin' up fine."

Rarity nodded proudly. "She's a big girl. Remember that no matter what the rumors say about Trixie, Fluttershy was the one to tame Adagio. Mostly."

Rainbow snickering for an unusually long time drew a few looks of concern. "I-" She had to take a few deep breaths to get her gigglefits to subside, but her smile held strong. "Sorry, just, RuleBook tells me stories about the other two sometimes. The way she talks, they're actually pretty cool too."

Sunset raised an eyebrow. "So cool that it makes you laugh uncontrollably?"

Her cheeks warming, Rainbow shook her head, though her smile persisted. "N-no, it- when she said 'tame Adagio,' it reminded me of-hehehehehe! It was like, there was this time with-pffthahahahaha!" She breathed deeply. "There was this time with two big ol' monsters, sea monsters, cuz' that was where they lived, and like, they had a power plant thingie that-" Devolving into the occasional syllable between giggles again, her whole face turned red. "Ogawd, I can't, it's ba-ha-ha-haaad, hahahahahahaha!"

"...So, anyway," Rarity picked up, "while I might have suggested that we extricate Fluttershy from their company immediately some months ago, I think she'll be fine spending some time with them."

Applejack nodded. "Ah don't see 'em takin' her away or nothin', so... guess we wait and see how things go."

"Yea," breathed Rainbow, wiping a tear from her eye as she pulled herself together, "and when all the stuff with the Dazzlings is sorted out, remind me to give Adagio a high five."

"For what," Pinkie all but pleaded, never thrilled to be left out of something funny, "high five her for what?!"

Rainbow snickered. "If I said it at the lunch table, Rarity'd hit me."

Silence.

"...Well," Rarity said quietly, crossing her arms with a neutral expression. "I suppose we should thank you for abstaining, then."

"Pay up!"

"No."

"Dang."

The five of them giggled.

Dear Diary,

Today, Trixie brought me with her to the sirens' table. Things were just a little tense, but I would say everyone got along pretty well! Things have been a little weird for Trixie since Adagio's message went up, but I think it'll-

Staring at the page for a long moment, she sighed.

...That's not what I want to talk about right now.

Pretty much nothing happened in Art class today, even with Adagio sitting near me. I mean, it wasn't that she just didn't have the energy, I think, because I know she's been sleeping better (I still call to remind her every night, which I'll do until it starts being annoying for her) and the looks she gave me said she was more than willing to torture me a little more, but she just, didn't.

It's hard to describe, Diary, but I got the feeling that she was holding back today. We're very public now, there's no need to restrain herself, and I even (I am very proud of this by the way!) managed to whisper that even if I don't expect her to tease just me anymore, the offer is still open for her to do whatever she wants to me. She smiled, nodded, told me that my fly was open (I'm less proud of falling for this, because I wasn't even wearing pants),*chuckled at my reaction, and that was it.

Am I just being too needy? It's not like I'm expecting her to be feeling playful ALL the time, but I'm worried she thinks I just can't take it. It's true that I've had a few very, very uncomfortable moments this week, up to and including small groups of people directly asking me questions about my-

*AND I MEAN THAT I WAS WEARING A SKIRT!!

questions about my relationship with Adagio. I've actually skipped doing the confident walk a few times (I don't think I really need to practice it anymore... but I still do anyway! ♥) for fear of someone popping into the gym, seeing me, and asking about it. But, still, I'm doing okay, I can take this, and I want Adagio to know that. How do I show her?

She knew how.

It had been a pretty regular day, from cuddles on the bench, to Adagio leaving her another racy picture (it was a standing shot of her legs this time! With thin stockings!), to joining Trixie and the sirens for lunch (which was something she wanted to do until Trixie was completely comfortable with them and the friendship was solidified, as she explained to her friends), to a fleeting brush of Adagio's fingertip across her shoulders in the hallway as she walked by.

Okay, maybe there was a lot that wasn't 'regular,' but she still felt like Adagio was restraining herself when they were in public, and Fluttershy knew just how she was going to prove that she could handle more. It was a sketching day, and when Art class rolled around, she talked to Mr. Magnet in private.

She'd done the confident walk a few extra times that morning, a little surprised to find that she didn't feel any different from usual while doing it, ~~at least as long as no one was looki-~~

She was brave, she was strong, and she could do this!

"So, class," Magnet began, visibly uncertain, "I promise I didn't forget the model we were going to sketch today, but I've very recently gotten a, uh... request. As you all know, Miss Dazzle has offered her services to The Arts twice now, so I can't very well refuse the right to anyone else that should choose to be drawn for the class."

No one listened to the rest of his little speech as Fluttershy sat on the lopsided couch in the middle of the room. She sat normally, her hands in her lap and a peaceful little smile on her face. She felt herself blush a little and an entire anthill's worth of tiny, fidgeting movements scrambled at the back of her mind with everyone looking straight at her, but she held the pose and expression, looking at Adagio in particular in the hopes that her message would get across. Adagio was looking back at her in surprise, but when class started, she got right to work, which made Fluttershy's heart beat a little faster.

It wasn't an easy class period, but she didn't visibly shake, didn't cry, didn't get up and jump out the window, didn't do anything that would have shown extreme nervousness. Looking at Adagio helped, especially when she smiled back with a look that conveyed some kind of pride in her, maybe even admiration! She couldn't stare for too long, of course, or she'd start getting all fluttery, so it turned into kind of a balancing act between feeling uncomfortable looking at the other students and seeking encouragement from Adagio. By the last ten minutes, Fluttershy was starting to sweat a little, but eventually, class came to an end.

Standing up, it suddenly hit Fluttershy that there would be a bunch of pictures of her now. Luckily, Adagio either didn't notice the way her knees were shaking, or didn't care as she approached, her own Fluttersketch under her arm and a bright grin on her face.

"You really are full of surprises, Sweetie, never thought you would volunteer for something like that."

Fluttershy chose not to take the chance that Adagio wasn't in Read Between The Lines mode. "I wanted to sh-show you that I could handle it."

Though she heard the stutter, Adagio nodded, her smile no weaker. "And so you have. I won't say you were perfectly still, but all things considered, I'd say you did beautifully." Fluttershy glowing with delight at the praise made her all warm inside, but she had a little more to offer. "Speaking of performance," she turned the sketch so Fluttershy could see, "how'd I do?"

All too happy to take in an idea of exactly how Adagio saw her, Fluttershy scanned the page as though committing it to memory. The lines were lightly drawn, the image sharper and more detailed towards the face, and while her entire body was rendered on the page, special focus was given to her eyes and hair. It made for an almost eerie sort of portrait, making Fluttershy feel like she was looking at some kind of ghost in pencil lines, but she couldn't stop smiling if she wanted to.

Adagio noticed, letting out a bashful little giggle. "If you like mine, you should see Ringo's."

Flushing crimson, Fluttershy immediately responded with "No thank you."

"Are you sure? I could see from where I was sitting that he put particular emphasis on your-"

"Th-that's okay, I really don't-"

"It was actually pretty tame, all things considered. At least he was one of few to depict you clothed."

Fluttershy's jaw dropped, a little steam cloud floating off her face as she stood rooted where she was. "...Eek."

Giggling, Adagio hugged her. "Kidding."

Sighing with relief, Fluttershy melted into the embrace, not saying a word as she tenderly nuzzled Adagio's shoulder. Then they heard Mr. Magnet.

"Er... Ringo, I do appreciate your creativity and expressiveness, really, but artistic license doesn't really apply to sketching models."

Fluttershy's eyes grew to saucers as she burned red again. "I-I thought you said-"

"Kidding about them drawing you naked, Sweetie."

"...Eek."

She hadn't seen the giant, winged, crystal unicorn since that night at the Battle, but she distantly wondered if praying to it not to let Ringo's picture be hung in the hallway would be some kind of blasphemy against Friendship.

Closing her locker, Sunset breathed out a sigh of relief for the end of another school day. Then she turned, startled to see Trixie standing just a little too close to her with an anguished look on her face. "Uh-"

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I just didn't hear you comi-"

"I'm sorry for how I treated you after the Fall Formal. You were already dealing with a lot and I got my jollies making it worse for you, almost hoping you would either get fed up and go off so the others would beat you down again, or just run away from school. Even once everyone else accepted you, I still rubbed salt in old wounds at almost every opportunity." Brushing one arm with the opposite hand, she studied her shoes. "I got my own taste of what it's like lately, and, I'm sorry."

"Is it too early to hug you?"

Trixie looked up to find Sunset smiling. "Huh?"

Sunset chuckled. "My friends got touchy with me sooner than I was ready for and I had to explain the concept in detail to the sirens before they'd let me do it to them, so I thought I'd try asking first this time." Hesitantly, Trixie nodded, making a sound of surprise when Sunset wrapped her arms around her. "Apologies accepted, Trixie."

Glad though she was not to get yet more of her own medicine by way of refusal to forgive, Trixie could feel her face burn. She'd specifically waited until no one else was around so that it wouldn't sting as much if Sunset went off on her, in rage or mockery, but she didn't want to be seen like this, either! Still, she didn't wriggle out of it, instead forcing herself to at least put her own hands on Sunset's back in a token effort at accepting the (entirely too intimate!) method Sunset had chosen to bury the hatchet. Mercifully, she was only held for about a minute.

"And," Sunset said with a serious expression, holding up one index finger for emphasis, "if anyone starts ribbing you and says 'no offense,' you're allowed to take offense anyway if it does offend you. Don't put up with that crap; if you have to be good, they can at least be considerate."

Trixie blinked twice. "Uh... okay?"

Sunset nodded sharply, her expression unchanged. Trixie left during the awkward silence that followed, but Sunset had told the sirens the same thing. Fair was fair!

Speaking of those three, she thought as she fished out her phone, they're still struggling to get along here. Fluttershy even told us that they said they were sorry about the Battle of the Bands, even if they're still a little bitter about their loss. I get that, but if Trixie of all people can turn around like that, maybe it's time I helped them along a little...

Author's Note

It went longer than expected. Again. If insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, I must be wiffle-bat waffle kersploingo mallets. :derpyderp2:

I'm getting a lot more out of the comment section thing than I thought I would (Which is to say, more than one instance), possibly because CHS as a whole has become a lot more involved at this phase of the story. That said, I think this is the last comment wall. Probably. Though they are fun to write, because I can easily have a whole bunch of people interacting at once. Maybe one more in the last chapter or so...

It occurred to me that I didn't have to spell out the double-talk, but I didn't want anyone to be confused about that part.

Sorry about Rainbow's inside joke, I know it probably wasn't as funny for you, but a scene I put together in the Rarity+Nata/Aria+Rainbow spin-off sort of felt like the kind of thing that Rainbow would mention to others. That probably made no sense, but I'll get to that particular scene some day.

I'm still not totally decided yet (I'll still have to play the game first to know how to depict the final rival anyway, when it's released in a few years) but another point in Yandere Trixie's favor:

"Uhh, what are you doing with that ________?"
"This? Er, The Great and Powerful T-Trixie is-"
"Actually, I don't wanna know, bye."

In Yandere Simulator, the player can join the art club, put on the artist's smock (I think is the term), stab someone to death, and run around covered in blood without raising suspicion, because everyone thinks it's just paint.
Another option is to join the music club, meaning no one will bat an eye if Yandere Chan goes around with a huge violin case on her back. It's obviously just instruments, right...? (You can chop up bodies and transport the limbs, head, and torso to the incinerator.)

It occurred to me that Trixie would have a similar angle going for her. Fluttershy would have to be subtle and careful, but if Trixie's antics before the story would start her with a reputation as a weirdo (I'll be taking liberties with the idea behind the Reputation Meter anyway), it'd be that much easier to have her get away with most of the insane things she'd be doing to (non-lethally) eliminate rivals.

I think it says something that I'm writing this many author's notes about a story that doesn't even exist yet, but I don't know if it's mainly good or bad. :derpyderp2:
And yes, I am ABSOLUTELY going to end each AN of that story with "And thank you, for following the development, of (Story Name)"

Chapter 53: Black Bottles

"Great, you made it!"

Closing the door to Canterlot High's music room, Adagio chose not to ask what Sunset thought would intercept her on the way. "Yes. You wanted to talk about something?"

"Uh-huh!"

And as this room is hardly used by pretty much anyone else anymore, we've even got privacy!

She didn't say that out loud for fear of making things awkward again, instead raising an eyebrow. "So, where are the others? You're the only one whose number I have and I sorta thought they'd be with you."

Idly inspecting her nails, Adagio shrugged. "We were on our way home when I got your text, I told them I'd relay whatever you wanted to tell us and they could go play with their respective friends." She answered Sunset's hopeful look with a very flat one, communicating that Aria and Sonata still only had the friends Sunset already knew about. Even so, Sunset kept an optimistic expression.

"So, I know things have been shaky for you guys lately, but I was thinking that if we gave it one good push, the three of you could finally break through and get past all this weird, awkward, mistrust stuff. If you're all sorry about the Battle, what if you just told everyone that? You wouldn't even have to lie about anything!"

Adagio raised an unconvinced eyebrow. "Because everyone forgave you when you said a few particular words, not continuing to shun you for months?"

"Uh..." Her grin faltered a little. "Well, maybe not, but... I mean, if you are sorry, why not say it?"

"We have our regrets, Sunset Shimmer, but I'm not sure myself if it's more because of what we were doing or because of what we lost as a result. It's at least a little of both, but would you like us to pretend it was entirely the former?"

"No, but, you don't have to pretend. I mean, you kind of owe the school an apology anyway, right?"

Adagio's eye twitched. "Do we? Please, tell me all about what anyone else lost that we should owe them anything. Was taking our voices and magic, along with the general Undesirable treatment we've received since we got here, not enough to make everyone feel nice and vindicated?" There was also the dream of being lavished and adored by magically-enthralled masses, but she could see how they were wrong to pursue that one in the first place.

Sunset hesitated. "What about doing it just to mend fences a little? Trying to get along for getting along's sake? That's the sort of thing Twilight wanted everyone here to do."

"If that's the case, then why are you talking to me and not the rest of CHS? Are we not the ones going out of our way to play nice?"

"Oh, come on," Sunset urged, her brows lightly furrowed, "you know everything would go a lot easier if you just did the right thing here."

"'The right thing'? Really?" Adagio struggled to keep the resentment out of her tone, fighting down the urge to strangle Sunset while she was at it. "Perhaps you could clarify what you meant when you told us about searching our hearts and being true to ourselves in that first talk we had, because my feelings are that it makes no sense for us to beg forgiveness when so much of your school treats us the way it does. If anyone had actually gotten hurt from the Battle, if anyone were killed, debilitated, or otherwise permanently worse off as opposed to being better than ever like they actually are, then yes, we'd have gladly swallowed our losses and apologized to everyone by now, but as it is? No. So tell me; would that little betrayal still be 'the right thing' to do if it makes everyone else happy? Ignoring that, going by your own experience, it may not even make a difference? Or does being 'true to yourself' not apply when it's more convenient to just do what everyone wants you to?"

Sunset grit her teeth. "Look, you've tried things your way and it isn't working, so you might as well just suck it up, tell everyone you're sorry, come over to our table, and let everyone know what's been going on between the nine of us. It's not like anyone will treat you any worse and someone even told us that that was exactly what everyone's waiting for!"

"And I told you; in addition to the fact that your group may lose a lot of trust itself if it comes out that three of you have been getting along with the three of us this whole time, if the rest of the school only accepts us because we're 'safe,' because we're standing next to you, then it's meaningless anyway; friends that only care who you know aren't friends at all! Furthermore? If our way isn't working, however slowly, explain Trixie."

Oh, right. Forgot about that.

The aggression slowly faded from Sunset's face. "I, I know that, but, everyone here eventually came to accept me even though I tortured them for much longer. I've been trying hard to give you three what I have, so if you just cleaned up your acts a little more, you could-"

Unfortunately, Adagio's clenched fists and teeth said she had only gotten angrier.

"Just 'clean up our acts'? That's all it would take? That's all that keeps us below desirable status? You make me sick." Raising her voice, she moved closer, Sunset stepping back as Adagio stabbed an index finger just under her neck. "Do you not remember why they grew to accept the likes of you? Does flowery friendship play havoc on your memory, or was forgetting just more convenient to your little message?" Pressing harder with her finger, Adagio slowly pushed Sunset backward as she advanced. "It wasn't that they saw you as a good, caring person, it wasn't about your behavior, it was because of us!"

Sunset's back hit a wall, pressure tightening in her throat as Adagio's hateful gaze bore into her. "I-"

"Did you forget your song, too? The one you crippled us with?!" Her face twisting with scorn and a long-held fury, Adagio's impression was fractured as her voice began to crack. "'Not singing just for pop-u-larity!' Funny how it got you just that, isn't it?! You're the same liar you always were, Sunset Shimmer!" Ignoring the tears in Sunset's eyes, Adagio used the palm of her hand to push her harder against the wall the second her mouth opened. "Save it! I know you're going to say it wasn't like that, that you really only wanted to stop us, and maybe you even believe it, but that's not how it turned out, is it?! You remembered what happened when it was your turn, that everyone hated you no matter what you did after that! Then we showed up, gave you a chance to turn it around and be the hero!"

Her eyes still full of sheer loathing, Adagio managed a faux-sweet smile. "And you've been living it up ever since, haven't you?! Must be nice; having things work out in your favor so easily, getting everything you wanted with just one song, having all the power you could ever need right there when you needed it, not having to work to build up that kind of strength, all you want and more at the drop of a hat," the fake grin died away as Adagio's fingers sank harder into Sunset's skin through her shirt, "but the rest of us aren't so lucky! I'm so sick of you; acting so nice in the way only a condescending, know-it-all 'hero' could, even when the only reason you're free to do so is at our expense, your perfect comeback at a cost solely to us, free to befriend and frolic as you like, even though if we had never shown up, this school would still be treating you the same as it did before!"

With Sunset's tearful whimpering, the intensity of Adagio's glare died down as she slowly transitioned from yelling at someone to just describing something that happened without much more than quiet contempt. "These people, these 'good' people we've bent over backwards to appease? They're just as bad as you are. They're fine with you now not because you changed, not because you haven't hurt anyone they cared about lately, not because they give a damn about you, but because you saved their worthless hides from a bigger threat, just like Twilight Sparkle did with you. And you know it, don't you?"

As Adagio let her go, Sunset slid down to the floor, hid her face in her knees, and shook with quiet sobs.

Staring down at her, Adagio loosed a quiet sigh, debating with herself whether or not to say anything more. After about a minute, she turned and walked away.

[Um, hey, Dr. Seuss? I think something bad happened. Sunset texted Dagi to talk to her in the music room, and when she got home, she was sending bad-mood vibes all over the place, went to her room, slammed the door, and isn't coming out. I'm kinda worried, but she isn't talking to us right now, and she's crazy about you, so like... help? please?

-Nata

PS, Ria's trying to act all cool and indifferent, but I'm pretty sure she's really worried too, because she said if I'm so worried, I should just call you like four times! It's not her fault, she's just sorta awkward with this stuff.]

Stopping at the black door to the Dazzlings' house, Fluttershy took a deep breath. She had rushed back to the school to check on Sunset first, and got the full story from her once she'd calmed her down. Wanting a little time alone, Sunset said she would stay in the music room until everyone's feelings were worked out, or at least until the school staff made her leave.

Fluttershy didn't like to use puppy-dog stares to get her way, but a quick stop by Luna's office had felt necessary. It wasn't like Sunset sticking around for a while would hurt anyone.

She knocked a little more quietly than she'd intended, but the door startled her by flinging open anyway, Sonata grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her inside.

"Great, you're here! No costumes this time, you just head up-" she switched to Aria's wrist, pulling her along with no resistance as the two moved for the front door, "-and we'll head out."

"W-wait," Fluttershy pleaded, "where are you going?"

Aria shrugged. "Well, given that all she's willing to tell us is that she blew up at Sunset, apparently thinks she's wrecked any chance of us making friends with the rest of the school -which I would worry more about, but she's kinda told us that one before- after spelling out how much she hates one of their heroes, we've kinda eavesdropped on her too much already, and keeping people emotionally balanced is sorta your shtick? Figured we'd leave you two alone for a few hours, or at least until we got a text that the smoke had cleared." She slapped a lightning-fast hand over Sonata's mouth. "And that's all we're doing."

Sonata murmured in disappointment before nodding her head.

The two left, but unfortunately, Fluttershy pieced together herself what Sonata was probably about to say. She was alone in the house with Adagio. Who was probably waiting for her in her bedroom. In any other circumstances, it would have been a beautiful thought, but she had to remind herself that her girlfriend was almost definitely in an extreme emotional state right now (either from sadness or rage, she'd find out in a minute) and proceeded up the stairs to meet her.

Once again, she gently rapped her knuckles on the door. "Adagio...?"

No response.

Increasingly anxious, but not wanting to force Adagio to do anything she didn't want to (again), she kept her voice as soft as possible. "I know you're upset, but, I was hoping we could talk. Please? I won't ask you to talk about it if you don't want to, b-but, just like before, if you do want to talk, if you need me for anything, I'm-"

The door opened to reveal Adagio still wearing the outfit she'd been wearing to school lately, offering a weak smile. "Hello, Sweetie."

With her make-up wiped away for the day, the dark bags still lingering under Adagio's eyes (it looked like they were getting better, at least) were plainly visible, but despite her worries about Adagio's sleep schedule, Fluttershy smiled back. "H-hello. Um-"

Without a word, Adagio stepped back into her room to let Fluttershy in, crossing her arms when she turned to face her. "So?"

She got right to it. "I think you might have been a little hard on Sunset."

Adagio raised a doubting eyebrow. "Is that all?"

"Well, sh-she was just trying to help."

"Help?" It was clear to Fluttershy that she was still leaning towards anger. "Telling us to forsake all our efforts up to now, efforts that she fully outlined and encouraged, 'suck it up,' and submit to her having complete control over our social lives, is help?! Like the 'Magic of Friendship' couldn't happen without her say-so?!"

"It wasn't like that!"

"I wonder!" Adagio started pacing the floor as she talked, making a few frustrated hand-gestures along with it. "She invited us back with the anticipation that we would inevitably just give up and come to her, implying that she had little faith in Twilight's idiot minions, her own idiot minions now, and fully expected them to reject us from the start, exactly the way damn near all of them did! She even told me just today that everyone -which I know is false if people like Trixie exist- is actually waiting until we give in! Call me crazy for suspecting that maybe she's been up to something all this time!"

Knowing that it was mostly anger talking, Fluttershy didn't let the aspersions on Canterlot High as a whole get to her. "Do you really feel that way?"

Glaring, Adagio turned to her in a snap. "Tell me why I shouldn't!!"

Fluttershy could feel her knees shaking, but thinking about how far Sunset had come since the Fall Formal, she steeled herself. "Because, s-she, she talks to us all the time about how she hopes the three of you can make friends here. I think she's been looking forward to it for as long as you have, because even before she knew about what any of us had been doing together, she was always excited to hear any remotely good news about the three of you getting along, with the school and each other."

Remembering the earnest smiles Sunset had always greeted her with in fourth period, the clumsy attempts at small-talk, the hopeful comments relating to the sirens finding lasting friends, Adagio couldn't fully convince herself of her new theory. She let out a long breath through her nose. "I suppose it's only recently that she's grown tired of waiting for us to manage on our own?"

"I don't think that was it, exactly, just... she wants to see everyone getting along, to see you three be welcomed and accepted like she was."

Adagio snorted in derision and contempt. "You want to point out a magical evil we can help vanquish?! Be my goddamn guest!!"

Fluttershy flinched, but didn't let herself take even the tiniest baby-step backward. "Even if she had her own struggles, Sunset has been fortunate, in having friends and enemies when she needed them, in the form of your group and mine when Twilight first came. Thinking about it like that, I know it doesn't feel fair to you that your circumstances have been so different, but that isn't Sunset's fault."

"And it's not what I'm angry at her about! I've had it with her; acting as though she has everything figured out when all she does is pour salt in our wounds, wounds she helped to make! I know you would never see it from her, but the insufferable air she carries when 'reaching out' to us is always so obliviously condescending, so full of good-natured conceit, that it's like she thinks we couldn't possibly get along with anyone without-" she briefly used a mocking tone, "-her grace and benevolence, acting like it's us that aren't trying hard enough!"

Though her eyes were full of fury, there was a faint glimmer of tears as Adagio pointed at her. "And you're here to do the same thing, aren't you?! To say that since your perfect little school mostly rejects us, it must be a fault on our end, because saying otherwise would imply that Twilight's little message meant nothing to your 'unified' community and admit that for all that talk of how important friendship is to all of you, it doesn't actually matter to anyone but those who directly draw tangible power from it!"

Fluttershy didn't speak, so Adagio stepped closer, an unsteady, lopsided smirk on her face. "Go on, say it; say I was wrong about everything and Sunset was right! Well?!"

Holding her arms close to her chest, it took considerable effort to meet Adagio's eyes. "...Do you feel like you've done something wrong?"

Anger giving way to uncertainty, Adagio struggled with the question for a moment. She carefully scanned Fluttershy's face to glean an idea of which direction she was expected to lean toward, but there was no judgement or challenge in her expression to suggest that she was waiting for an apology, nor the sense of a shared complaint, like she, Aria, and Sonata had worn many times while discussing these matters. Fluttershy wasn't conflicting or agreeing with her, she was earnestly asking.

Have I done anything wrong today? I feel like going off on her has been a long time coming, but I'm not exactly thrilled that she was crying. Definitely not in the happy way, either.

She certainly didn't feel like anything she'd said was false, but she'd felt the same thing in thinking that no one could recognize or appreciate anything but that which hurt them back when she was sick, herself included. The key factor to changing her mind back then, of course, had been Fluttershy.

"I feel like something is out of place," she admitted with a passive, though faintly irritable expression, "but I wouldn't say I was out of line in my response. Is there a reason I should?"

"Well, not 'out of line,'" Fluttershy started, "but, maybe up to a line that was set too far?" Now was a bad time to appreciate Adagio's perplexed stare. "I mean, yes, you got really angry with Sunset and hurt her feelings, but the way she explained it to me, she realized that she kind of pushed you first. I hope you can forgive her, because even if she hadn't thought things through, her heart was in the right place." The sad, tender look on Adagio's face said she knew that, but had forgotten it for a little while. Sunset herself had moments like that, but now probably wasn't the time. "And, if she can be forgiven for pushing too hard in trying to help with the wrong methods, I think you can be forgiven for losing your patience." She smiled a little. "It, has to work both ways to work at all, right?"

Even if she hadn't forgotten the seriousness of the subject, Adagio was having one of those smiling-against-her-will moments, eased by averting her eyes. "It does."

It wasn't as though Adagio had shouted at the object of her scorn until she'd said everything she'd ever wanted to say, she'd walked away when Sunset clearly couldn't take any more. That was how she determined what had been wrong; for all the time she spent hating her, she was still grateful for what Sunset had tried to do for her, Aria, and Sonata, and in spite of that, ended up hurting someone that, however distantly, she did care about in a fit of rage. Even if it was Sunset herself that repeatedly kicked that particular hornets' nest this time, it hadn't felt good to yell at her. She wouldn't just suddenly take her advice and give up everything they'd worked toward up to now, but half the reason for staying away from Sunset in the first place was that she didn't want to hurt her anymore.

"...Do you know where Sunset might be around now?"

Still sitting exactly where Adagio had left her slumped against the wall, Sunset idly looked over her reflection on the screen of her phone, and the lack of messy smears on her face made her glad she never wore make-up. That wasn't what she'd told Adagio the few times she tried to talk to her about it in fourth period, but she'd learned that little, white lies were fine if it was for friendship-building purposes. She'd only said she'd thought about trying something herself, anyway, not going completely Rarity with it, but Adagio never took the bait. At least now she knew why.

Anyway, the just-cried-my-eyes-out look was fading, so she wouldn't have to worry too much about anyone getting all guilt-inducingly worried about her on the way h-

"Sunset?"

Nearly jumping out of her skin, Sunset looked up to see Adagio wearing a slightly confused face. Standing up, she cleared her throat. "Uh... hi?"

While she remembered Applejack's advice, Adagio had approached quietly in an effort to be sensitive. She'd keep working on it. "Can we talk?"

"Yea, sure. Um-"

"You probably didn't mean for things to turn out like they did, and even if I still think the contrast between what your group overall tends to say and what actually happens is odd, what I said earli-"

"Wait, stop," Sunset said while shaking her head, palms upraised, "please don't apologize. I did pretty much the same thing to my own friends on several occasions, and a few times, they even did it back at me, so I'd like to think I've learned enough about emotional breaking points to not begrudge you. Besides, I was the one that lost my temper first, so if anyone is to blame for things getting heated, it's me. It was like, 'who the Hell is she to lecture me about this stuff?! I've been doing this for months longer than her!' But, it doesn't really work that way, huh?"

Folding her arms, the subtle shift in Adagio's face almost showed annoyance. "In our first talk, you said-"

Sunset frowned. "I know, I know, it's kinda scummy of me to go back on all that integrity stuff we talked about just for the sake of resolving things faster, especially considering that there'd be a lot of underlying resentment and bitter feelings bubbling under the surface for years that way, but I just-"

"You said," Adagio interrupted with an arched eyebrow, "that shouty arguments tend to lead to apologies, so I was trying to follow through."

Sunset's mouth hung open for a second. "Oh," she said with a sheepish smile, arms bashfully folded behind her back as her cheeks colored, "right."

"You dolt," Adagio sighed, no venom in her tone as Sunset kept making that endearingly awkward little grin. Fluttershy had mentioned that Sunset might not be willing to be forgiven right away, as was something of a regular occurrence in their first weeks together, so she didn't press it. Several months ago, Adagio had decided she didn't want to be friends with this girl for a short list of reasons, but she wondered now what might have been had she given Sunset a chance.

Well, things being what they are, it wouldn't have worked out anyway.

"So," Sunset asked with a hopeful smile, "now that you've gotten all that out of your system, how are you feeling?"

"...Different. I don't know if it's better or worse, but, different."

Sunset chuckled. "Lighter, maybe? A little less tense?"

"You have experience here."

"Yup! I think it was Rarity that first explained it to me as venting, or airing grievances, that getting angry even at people you care about isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as you work through those feelings together. Like I said, I did it a lot after the Fall Formal, especially once I figured out how just bottling it all up is bad for you and having a friend who-" She stopped, her pupils shrinking to pinpricks. "...I'm doing the 'condescending, know-it-all hero' thing again, aren't I?"

Smiling a little, Adagio shook her head. "Even if you are, I know that you're only trying to help. I'm not annoyed this time, and I'd like to hear what you have to say."

Sunset softly smiled back. "Right, so... Having someone to talk to about your feelings is good, even the painful ones." Adagio waited for more, but Sunset offered a sheepish shrug. "That's kinda the end of that one."

Adagio snorted in amusement. "Of course it is." Then her humor fell away. "And, I'm sorry if it sounds at all like I'm rubbing it in, but... about what I said earlier, the reason everyone forgave you...?"

"Uh..." Sunset frowned. "Well, I mean, you're not wrong. I've kinda known for a while that it was weird how no one cared what I did until I got my own 'hero' moment, but no one was apparently hurt by the results and it looked like everything was fine, so I didn't think about it much. And, I only ever hang out with the friends I have anyway, because even before you guys came along, I picked up that it can be hard spending time with everyone on a regular basis, that having too many friends is just as bad as being lonely." She shrugged. "Maybe some people can pull that off without any problems, but for someone that pretty much used to live in the royal library (I had my own little pillow fort in one of the long-forgotten back rooms), I'm just happy not to be scorned by the whole school anymore."

"I can respect that," more-so that you didn't make excuses for your fellow students, or flat-out deny it. "I just wanted to make sure my little rant earlier won't leave any bad blood between you and anyone else."

Smiling, Sunset shook her head. "Nah. I might not have gotten most of the town to like me through the best means, but the friends I have are as real as it gets." The smile quickly became forced. "And, hey, at least my problem could be resolved, right?" Adagio wasn't grinning back even a little bit, so Sunset dropped hers and said it before Adagio even opened her mouth to reply. "It was me. You three losing your voices was all my fault."

And then something weird happened. In Sunset's experience, a confession like that directly led to some kind of emotional outpour, but Adagio just passively stared back at her, and when she finally responded, she sounded almost skeptical!

"Really, now? Please, do tell."

"I'm serious!!"

Adagio studied the nails of one hand. "Perhaps you are, but I'm afraid Fluttershy already pulled this one."

"Did she corrupt Twilight's spell at the Battle?!"

That got Adagio to look up again, noting the tears in Sunset's eyes.

"Do you know why I've been trying so hard to help you three make friends and be happy? It isn't just that I was given another chance myself and I'd feel like a total hypocrite if I didn't at least try to share that with you, though that's p-part of it, but because, back then, the spell, b-before that, I..." Not wanting to say or do something stupid again, she forced herself to breathe and collect her thoughts. "When we got out from under the stage, by the time Twilight called out to me for help, I hated you guys. Deep down, after everything you'd put me, my friends, and my school through, I wanted you to be hurt, I wanted you to suffer like I did when the Element of Magic betrayed me. And, thinking that some amount of aggression needed to be there, that you needed at least a little malice to fire off the kind of spell Twilight used on me, I let my anger at you into my spirit for the song."

Letting out a hollow chuckle, she shook her head ruefully as she lowered her eyes to the floor. "I never asked if that was actually how Twilight and the others stopped me, but never felt like I needed to, and it was so satisfying to see you three taken down after what you'd done to me, but it was only later that I realized it wasn't a will to harm an enemy, but a wish that they'd stop harming others. I alone corrupted Twilight's magic, and you three losing your gems, your magic, and your singing voices is all my fault!"

In the ensuing quiet, Sunset realized how hard she was breathing. She hadn't meant to shout, but felt distantly relieved to know that the music room was sound-proofed. Eventually, she managed to look directly at Adagio, but despite the clenched fists and tears in her eyes, Adagio was stony calm, even if she wasn't saying anything yet. To Sunset, the anticipation was murderous.

"As... I said... Fluttershy tried to pull this too. You may have more legitimacy than she did and I'd love to pour all my hatred on one target, but you must know that I could easily have paid all of you back by now single-handedly. Did getting your revenge make you happy?"

"It wasn't for reve-..." She felt the tears slide down her face. "I've felt horrible ever since our first talk, when I learned exactly what all of you lost, and the guilt has been eating away at me ever since. I won't ask you to forgive me, but I'm truly sorry, and I'd do anything to make the three of you happy again."

More silence. Even if she couldn't see that Sunset was already hurting for what she did to them (which she hadn't, until a moment ago), she knew that 'getting even' didn't bring Sunset any lasting joy, and it was clearer than ever now that it wouldn't really do anything for her, Aria, and Sonata, either. One more reason not to bother. And yet, knowing that her primary hate figure would most likely suffer this guilt for the rest of her life, she found it harder to begrudge her. It wasn't the same as when she forgave Trixie, but the seething resentment had definitely lost a lot of its fire, even though she was just a little annoyed about drawing no satisfaction in knowing that she and the others weren't suffering alone.

"Well," she said with a shrug, "thank you for telling me, but I'm afraid it doesn't change anything for us; we're still mostly songless no matter who's responsible."

Sunset had heard about the lullaby thing from Fluttershy, but it didn't make her feel any better. "I can't fix your voices," she admitted sullenly, "but whatever you do, please don't give up hope, or it really is over."

"Hmph. I assume you mean hope of finding more friends? Because if there's nothing we can do about it, abandoning our voices is the only sensible choice." Sunset was looking at her like she just said she was dying. That was odd, considering... "Do you not remember? You were the one that suggested we find something else to do in the first place, and making some friends was your first recommendation."

"You're..." Her brain shook as she processed what she was hearing. "You're, only here, only trying to make friends, to distract yourselves from your loss?"

"As opposed to spending the rest of our lives sulking," Adagio deadpanned, "like we talked about? Those were your exact words, and how you got Aria and Sonata to listen to you in the first place." Sunset's confused face made her raise an eyebrow. "You hadn't even suspected? I had thought that part was painfully obvious."

"Didn't you tell Fluttershy you were here to kill time?"

"Yes. Kill time. Do you not recall how we did that before?"

"Well, no, I mean yea, I get that, but..."

But what? Try as she might, Sunset couldn't grasp how the three of them trying to make friends was a bad thing, even if it wasn't for the purest reason. Friendship as a coping mechanism. As a means of moving on. Had she been any different? Something about it just didn't sit right with her, but what was the alternative? To tell them to stop trying? Maybe it was the fact that they hadn't really gotten over what they'd lost yet, but damned if they weren't trying. She shook her head, sighing.

"N-nothing, I guess."

Adagio nodded, turning toward the door. "If that's all, both of us should probably head home; if the school hasn't closed yet, it will soon, and I left Fluttershy with Aria and Sonata."

Sunset managed a little smile. "See you in Math?" To her quiet glee, Adagio actually glanced over her shoulder to offer a tiny smile back.

"See you in Math."

This time, Adagio's quiet approach was deliberate, but only because she hoped to catch a glimpse of the 'screaming ball of crazy' the others had told her Fluttershy became when they played together. When she crept to the living room, however, it seemed like everything was normal.

"Quick, use the warrior dress-sphere, Ria!"

"I'm trying, Nata, but the turns in this game are all wonky!"

From the back of the couch, Adagio could see Fluttershy tilt her cute little head. "It was turn-based in the last game, right? Why would they change it here?"

"They changed a lot of stuff, Squeaky, but at least we've only got three party members to worry about this time."

Sonata shrugged. "Could've just skipped the ones we never used all that much."

"And what happens when the three you rely on constantly get taken out?"

Fluttershy raised her hand. "You'd be forced to fight with weak characters against something that already incapacitated your strongest?" She squeaked as slender, yellow arms seized her from behind.

"Right! You're a trap-layer extraordinaire and an adequate tactician, Sweetie."

Not really minding either way what being an 'adequate' tactician might have meant, Fluttershy turned her head toward Adagio and smiled. "How did it go?"

"I'll still refrain from talking with her more than necessary in school, but for now? I think we're good."

Fluttershy smiled wider, and not just because Aria and Sonata looked happy to hear that too. "Okay, I should probably get home, but I'll see you tomorrow!"

Cheek-kisses were exchanged before Fluttershy left. The three of them huddled on the couch together, small-talk was made regarding what Aria and Sonata did while they were waiting for her to come back, how they'd started the sequel to that JRPG with the sad ending so Fluttershy could see the happier one, to the details of Adagio's most recent talk with Sunset. As per something else Sunset urged them to do, she kept no secrets from them, explaining what Sunset had told her about her influence on Twilight's spell, making it perfectly clear how Sunset now felt about the whole thing. When it was done, Aria was the first to say anything.

"...Yea, and?"

Adagio shrugged. "That's what she told me, and this distinctly felt like a 'when were you going to tell us' kind of thing." She hadn't expected Aria to hug her for that, but she offered no resistance as Sonata swiftly followed. When they separated, she regarded the two of them with a raised eyebrow. "So, no comment at all?"

Sonata scratched her head. "Well, like, 'it's all Sunset's fault' was sorta our default anyway, right? Wasn't that why we kept away from the Rainbooms as a group?"

"And the fake-friends thing," Aria said while reaching over to give Sonata a little nudge, "but, yea. I mean, would either of you two actually care if those girls were the only ones we ever got along with? 'Cuz I know I don't."

"But," Adagio said leadingly.

"But, even if it was a little shaky at first, we probably couldn't do it if Sunset was around or we'd be biting our tongues the whole time, and that's if things didn't turn sour anyway. Even if the other Rainbooms somehow picked us over her..." She let Sonata finish, which she did with a frown.

"Sunset would be pretty much alone, and that's way too mean to her after all she's done and tried to do for us, even now."

Adagio nodded. "Especially given that the rest of the school seem to be acquaintances with her at best and we haven't seen a hair of Twilight since the Battle. I suppose Sunset could just follow Twilight back to Equestria, but that wouldn't make it any less cruel to her, to say nothing of the fact that if she wanted to go back, she probably would have by now."

"And like," Aria said with a hint of exasperation, "it's not even like Sunset is a bitch or anything, she's great, but at the end of the day, living with what we got out of the Battle while she gets off easy; her having been unpopular for a few months while we lose our voices forever on top of that? Sucks!"

"Indeed." Adagio briefly made a show of scrutinizing the others. "Neither of you have breathed a word of this to your respective Rainboom buddies, I hope?"

Aria waved a dismissive hand. "They don't need that kinda drama in their group. Besides, it's not really their problem that we still haven't found anything to help get over what they took from us. It's easy to hate Twilight if she's not around to feel it from us, but Sunset's the one that dragged us out of our dark spot, sooo...?"

"So we stick with the plan;" Adagio nodded, arms crossed, "make some friends outside their group, get all the feelings they enjoy together, and finally forget about everything we lost when the gems were destroyed. Who knows? Maybe some day, we can completely let go of this, play along with Sunset just like she hoped."

Sonata leaned over, resting her head on Adagio's shoulder. "That might be cool."

"Mhm," Aria concurred, leaning on Adagio's opposite side.

They stayed together like that for a little while, quietly joining hands before starting a soft, slow tune.

Author's Note

If it feels like the last scene there ends the chapter kind of abruptly, it might be because I had to re-write the original last scene a few times to avoid spoiling the next chapter, then figured it was probably better to just leave it out entirely until then.

...I guess every chapter that doesn't end the story is kind of a cliffhanger, when you think about it, but hopefully this one didn't build too much worry/suspense and make it painful to wait for the next one.

Also, in one of the many Sundagio stories I've got on hold, I need to have Adagio be Tsundere for Sunset. For reasons.

Chapter 54: Electric Anxiety

It had come to be a familiar scene in the sirens' house during early weekday evenings, especially on Friday night; Aria and Sonata in their separate chairs, Adagio lying on the couch, all three wearing mic-equipped headsets with controllers in their hands and a game on the monitor. Now that she wasn't spending the later portion of the day exhausted (the eye-bags were almost gone, too!), Adagio had more time for things other than staring at her ceiling fan in the vain hope of catching up on sleep, completely unaware of how she'd been preventing herself from doing exactly that just by letting her mind wander.

Of course, she'd forgotten what she used to do in place of that activity, but spending time with Aria and Sonata was usually fun. Aria had found a game about genetically-engineered super cops cleansing a city of gang warfare or something like that, jumping several stories into the air to lock onto some hapless thug half a block away, then shooting four more before even touching down on the rooftop as the shootout began. Joining them in this virtual venture was Rainbow 'Doomprism' Dash, whose tinny, borderline maniacal cackles sounding through their headsets had all three smiling in amusement as Rainbow's avatar flung another virtual truck at someone.

Because, Serve and Protect, apparently. They were future cops.

Adagio didn't think too much about the specifics of what was going on, both because it let her paint the virtual world with her own imagination and because it left her more time to think about other things, like how things had been going at school lately. Not focusing on these matters while trying to sleep didn't mean never considering them, and turbo-kicking virtual henchmen off buildings was about as mindless as it got.

Still no change in our situation at school, but at least nothing has gotten worse. I had kind of thought it would, what with people generally not liking it when their heroes are told off, but if anyone knows about that little exchange, perhaps they know about our second talk as well? Could just be that Sunset and Fluttershy never told anyone, but I wasn't exactly keeping my voice down the first time. At least I can explain myself if anyone takes issue with that little episode, provided they're willing to listen.

Like Trixie. I'd have never guessed she could do more than talk and talk and talk, but perhaps her hope is that if she waits and listens through other peoples' thoughts and anecdotes, they'll listen through hers?

That's a bit of a pessimistic thought to have towards a friend, isn't it?

Yes, but everyone is ultimately selfish to some degree, and I would argue that understanding how my friends think is a component of getting to know them better. We've gotten to do a bit more of that during lunch, when she joins us, as she and Fluttershy have on and off for the last few days. I should ask them if they worked out some kind of schedule between us and their real regular friends.

She lost her train of thought when the doorbell rang. Glancing at the others, she smiled, sat up, said "Shark test," directed her onscreen avatar to jump into the nearest body of water, and got up to answer the door. When she did, her eyes shot open.

"Sweetie?"

"Hello!" She lightly clutched the strap to the backpack she was wearing. "I-is now a good time for a sleepover? I think brought everything I could need."

"Um..."

Adagio had several questions, such as why Fluttershy's hair looked just a little disheveled, or why she hadn't called ahead first (not that the assertive move of coming over prepared in advance wasn't welcome!), or what brought this up, or whether or not this meant she was finally accepting that offer to work out with them (or just wanted to watch, Adagio would take it at this point!), but most importantly, she had Fluttershy on her doorstep and asking to be let in for a sleepover. Aria and Sonata wouldn't mind, right?

"I, er-... Come in?" The warm, faintly relieved smile she got drew a particularly tingly jolt from the fuzzy heart-vice.

"Thank you!"

When they entered the living room, Aria was the first to notice. "Oh, hey. What's up, Squeaky?"

Sonata turned her head. "What's with the bookbag?" Her eyes widened with horror. "Wait, no, is this a surprise study-session?! Did Rarity tell you I was doing bad in History?!"

Adagio's eyes narrowed. "You're doing bad in History?"

"Oh, crap!!" She shot Aria a bail-me-out look, but Aria just looked down her nose at her in disdain.

"Tsk. Tsk."

Sonata glared. "If I knew where you were messing up? This is where I'd be telling!"

"And it's precisely because I know that you slipping up will lead to her keeping an eye on both our grades that I've been doing all my homework."

"Grrr!"

As the two quietly bickered, Fluttershy and Adagio continued to stand there, the former keeping her own voice down.

"I can hear everything they're saying."

"Yes," Adagio whispered back with a wry grin, "yes you can."

"What should we do now?"

"Nothing. Either they'll escalate things to yelling or they'll realize we're talking about them now and cut their own conversation short. Probably. To be honest, I've never had a third party with me during these exchanges."

"Oh." Fluttershy smiled. "Well, I, guess I'm honored!"

It was Adagio's giggles that won Aria and Sonata's attention, which left the four of them in slightly awkward silence when they stopped.

"So," Aria tried again, "what's up, Squeaky?"

While a little part of her had hoped Adagio would explain and possibly enforce the situation herself, Fluttershy steadied herself with the help of her girlfriend's encouraging little smile. "I was th-thinking I could, uh, st-stay the night here?"

Worry clear in her face, Aria glanced at the others before asking. "What, were you thrown out of your own house? Did your mom not like that you were seeing Dagi, or-"

"No, no," Fluttershy said with a quick head-shake, "nothing like that, I just, uh, th-thought it might be nice to spend some time together, and i-if you'd have me again, I'd kind of hoped-"

She was silenced by Adagio's arms gently wrapping around her from behind, one over her shoulder and the other around her side. Adagio looked to the others with a little smirk. "Can we keep her," she asked in a faux-pleading tone, "please?"

Sharing a disbelieving glance with Sonata, Aria opted to play along. "You'll have to play nice with her, keep her fed and put her to bed on time."

"But of course..."

As the words were breathed directly into her ear, Fluttershy suspected they were said more to her than to Aria, leaving her mind fuzzy as Adagio gently, slowly stripped her backpack away (the connotations of the act were not lost on Fluttershy, who burned brighter as the other two sirens blushed in kind), set it on the nearest wall-hook, and again brought her to the couch, seating Fluttershy on her lap.

"Ooh, wait," Sonata declared somewhat urgently as she got to her feet, "this is like a slumber party, right?!"

Aria's eyes widened. "It is... Holy crap, it is!" She jumped up too. "We trained for this! Dagi, quick, distract her!"

Fluttershy blinked twice. "D-distract?"

She seized up when a hand delicately grasped her shoulder, another on her chin to guide her into a kiss...

"Okay," Sonata said as she wiped her brow, "I think we're all set."

The coffee table was now adorned with snacks, drinks, and a TV guide (long out of date, but they were still learning), the couch and chairs bolstered with pillows and blankets to make a modest fortress, and the sirens' very first overnight guest, her hair now a little more disheveled, was starting to come to as the end of Distraction Procedure Mk.1 (which would need to be adjusted for use on someone other than visiting girlfriends) let her catch her breath. Rainbow had needed filling in about why the sirens' avatars had all stopped moving.

"Guys, if you're gonna go AFK, at least say something!"

"Sorry," giggled Sonata, "had to make a pillow fort real quick!"

"Got a guest over," Aria clarified, "you are now an audio-witness to our first slumber party. Man, that sounds girly when you say it out loud."

"Guest?"

Fluttershy wasn't sure Rainbow would hear her, but when Adagio put a headset on her head, she smiled. "Um... H-hello, Rainbow."

"Fluttershy? You didn't tell us you were- aw, wait, crud, this is because'a the whole... everyone-only-knows-about-you-and-Dagi deal, innit?"

"It would be kind of hard to explain if someone other than me were seen coming to or from this house, I'm afraid."

"Yea," she answered with a hint of disappointment, "I guess... So, Nata said you were building a pillow fort, does that mean...?"

"Yep," Aria answered with a chuckle, "it's the weekend, so, we're free for a while."

"Awesoooome!"

The four in Fort Crashing Couch (Aria won the game of rock-paper-scissors to name it) giggled, Adagio handing Fluttershy her controller, which was met with a confused look.

"Um... Aren't you in the middle of-" She was cut off with a very gentle hand massaging her shoulder, the sensations sending shivers through her skin as Adagio whispered into her ear.

"Sweetie, when I have you in my hands, how could I play with anything else?"

"Uh, I-I, oooh-hoo..."

"Hey," Aria chided, "no seduction in Fort Crashing Couch. If you wanna deflower her, take it upstairs." She blinked. "A-and, no taking it upstairs, because it's, w-we're in the middle of our first slumber party!"

Adagio chuckled. "Of course. Sorry, Sweetie."

"Th-that's okay," she answered, flushed, "I'll, just, uh..." She looked back and forth between the controller and the screen. "What was my screen-name again?"

Aria, Sonata, Rainbow, and Fluttershy played virtual super-cops for a while longer, taking a detour from fighting crime after Fluttershy accidentally kicked a futuristic minivan straight through a flock of pedestrians while trying to issue a parking ticket. Rainbow had nearly laughed herself sick. The four of them, made fugitives with the less powerful, AI-controlled police force, took to the sea until the Wanted Level meter depleted, where they at least confirmed that there were no sharks in that game.

"I was thinkin' it'd just be a matter of time," Aria noted, "like if we swam far enough out or just over deep enough water, we'd hear a noise, then BAM, swallowed in a heartbeat."

Sonata shivered. "Hated those things... totally unrealistic portrayal of sharks, too!"

"Because the floating-egg collectibles, pointy-eared people, roaming monsters, magical, color-coded energy stuff just floating around, and overall fantasy-world vibe that game had going were 'realistic'?"

Sonata's eyes narrowed. "You be quiet!"

"I'm with Nata," Rainbow mused, "those sharks were literally nightmare fuel."

"Ooh," said Adagio, an evil smirk growing on her lips, "speaking of nightmare fuel, scary stories are a regular thing at sleepovers, right?"

"Yeeeaa...?"

"Why don't we compromise that a bit with what we're doing now? We have a few horror games we could play."

It was in this moment that Aria and Sonata regretted telling Adagio about the Screaming Ball of Crazy, but Rainbow replied before they could object.

"Aw, heck yea! I know a few that'd be great for that! I mean, if you don't mind, Fluttershy...?"

Fluttershy, comfortably sitting in Adagio's lap, showed no sign of opposition to this plan as Adagio practically pet her. "It could be fun, I think."

Looking one another in the eye, Aria and Sonata said a silent prayer that they wouldn't see the dark metamorphasis a second time, but otherwise readied themselves for action.

"Ohmygoodnessohmygoodnessohmygoodness!!"

"I know it's a lotta zombies, Flutters, but just keep shooting!"

"Man, can you imagine if we didn't turn the gore down?"

"Quiet, Nata! Also: GET THIS THING OFF ME!!"

"Hold still, Ria!"

"Do you not see me being dragged by the 80-foot-tongue monster?!"

"No, too many zombies in the way!"

"I'm throwing a molotov!"

Ten seconds later.

"This is worse!"

"So much worse! And I'm still being molested by Licky McGee here!"

"It'll balance out, trust me!"

"I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry!!"

"Squeaky, quit apologizing to the ravenous, flesh-eating hordes!"

"I'm s-sorree-hee-hee!!"

"Look, see?! The fire's going out and most of the zombies are dead!"

"You mean more dead!"

"Quiet, Nata."

"Hehe!"

"Oh, goodness, that was hectic. I'm going to check these buildings for supplies."

"Go nuts, Squeaky, we'll pick off the rest of the stragglers."

"I think I hear someone crying in here!"

Adagio started giggling as Aria, Sonata, and Rainbow all cried out at once.

"FLUTTERSHY, NO!!"

After the incident with the treacherous, crying claw-monster, they opted to play something a bit more relaxed; a survival-horror game set in a big, scary castle populated by tenacious stalkers out to kill the players in gruesome ways. As the focus was on avoiding confrontation by running away from the psychotic killers and solving puzzles with inventory items and pieces of the level environment, Fluttershy was already feeling right at home, especially once she found and rescued the loyal dog companion.

"Eeeee! There's even a button to pet him!"

"Yea, great, but that's not gonna distract the hulking, cannibal rapist with down syndrome if he finds you."

"Oh, he is not a rapist, Ria, he just likes playing with dolls!"

"You haven't seen the game-over screen when he catches you."

"Nuts to the doll-guy, the maid is way worse! Just the way she laughs is so freaky that I bet it bumped up the content rating on this game, but the visceral noises if she gets you..."

"Yea. Getting caught in general; seriously not fun, so keep an ear out for when the background music suddenly stops and-"

"OH, CRAP!"

"Run, Nata, Run!"

"Wait, the kick button stops right about at junk-height, I'm gonna try kicking him!"

Punt!

"...KICKING DOES NOTHING!!"

"Get outta there before your panic meter goes off!"

"Right, forgot we were playing as total wimps!"

"Look for a closet or something!"

"Or under a bed! The hiding spots usually have a message or something when you walk past 'em!"

"I found a wardrobe!"

A tense moment passed as the monstrous brute briefly searched the room, then left in pursuit of 'his dolly.' Sonata breathed a sigh of relief before a female voice was heard from within the game.

"Miss...?"

The maid had been waiting in the wardrobe.

Over the sounds of rending flesh and piercing, psychotic laughter, Aria and Sonata looked at Fluttershy, who was... still administering virtual head-rubs to the dog, a look of pure bliss on her face as a very content Adagio gave her much the same treatment in the real world. Shrugging, the two opted to count themselves lucky and move on.

After escaping Castle Psychosis (it turned out that the big, dumb doll guy had a key to the front door in his hut), Rainbow suggested they move on to a game that took place in a different castle. Preferably one where they could defend themselves.

In theory, anyway.

"Dodge-roll, dodge-roll, dodge-CRAP!"

You Died.

"Told you just rushing past 'em wouldn't work, Nata."

"Bite me, Ria! It was working until they started shooting homing arrows!"

"Why would you wanna skip the fighting, anyway? You don't get any loot or their souls if you don't kill 'em."

"Because in case you haven't noticed," You Died. "grrr... The fighting is SUPER HARD!"

"Not if you're smart and careful, and maybe just a little opportunistic. Look how many of these undead soldier guys I've taken out just by backstabbing 'em when they're chasing Squeaky."

"G-glad I could help..."

"Pfft, sure," Rainbow replied with audible challenge, "if you wanna play it like a wuss."

Aria smirked. "Oh, yea? How did your last eight direct frontal assaults go?"

You Died.

"...I-I'll get it eventually!"

"Nuts to this, I'm joining Dr. Seuss's thing."

Rainbow's retort was cut off,

You Died.

along with her avatar's head for the ninth time.

"Sigh... yea, count me in."

"Welcome to the Dark Side, Doom."

Rainbow was audibly smiling. "Shuddup, Arbie."

Grinning with amusement, Adagio arched an eyebrow. "'Arbie'?"

"It's, uh... Like, Rulebook. 'R. B.' Or 'Aria Blaze.'"

"You two are so cute together."

Aria and Rainbow shouted at the same time. "WE'RE STRAIGHT!!"

The other three giggled.

After a slightly hectic boss-fight, they switched to a horror game set in a castle that felt more like a mansion, give or take the murderous, mutilated husks, carnivorous wall-jelly, and evil, unknowable blackness following them around. This was another in which self-defense was not a viable option.

"You guys keep the shambling freak-show busy, I'mma loot this room."

"What for, Ria?! You've already got all the lantern oil you can carry and like a hundred tinder boxes!"

"Well, yea, but... loot!"

"If we were in the same room, I'd fist-bump you!"

"Yea, sure, you two have your kleptomaniac friendship moment while I'm getting eaten by this walking, burlap sack fulla meat and pointy bones."

"It's just 'cuz you suck at sneaking around, Nata. Look at Squeaky; already made it all the way to the flooded basement."

"I-I'm kind of stuck here, actually..."

"The monster in there will only kill you if you stay in the water too long, just go from one conveniently-placed box to the next and you'll be fine."

"I-I try, but, the second my toes touch the water, he makes that noise, a-and-"

"You hop right back onto the box?"

"Sorry."

Sonata beamed. "Ooh, I've got an idea!"

Adagio watched, perplexed, as Rainbow, Aria, and Sonata worked together to drag random boards, boxes, and any other objects they could move around with the game's physics system to bring those objects to the flooded basement, throw them in the water, and use them as floating platforms to avoid the water monster.

It didn't work, because only two or three of them were stable enough to jump on, but the group managed to play keep-away with the monster (it could only chase one at a time, after all) long enough for Fluttershy to solve the area's puzzles unmolested, grab any 'loot' she could find, and get out of there in a touching display of teamwork.

"Awright," Rainbow said with a yawn, "I'm gonna hit the hay. Applejack wrangled me into helping her do stuff tomorrow."

Aria offered a two-finger salute she knew Rainbow couldn't see. "Catchya later, Doom."

With game time ended, Sonata beamed. "Okay, time now for the part where we fall asleep watching movies and/or reruns!"

"Oh, uh," Fluttershy said as she gently removed herself from Adagio's lap, to the latter's slight dismay, "c-could I use your restroom first?"

Aria nodded, crooking a thumb over her shoulder. "Down the hall, right around the corner."

"Thank you!" She got up, picking up her backpack from the hook on which it had been placed. Noticing this drew some perplexed looks, she smiled a little. "T-toothbrush, and er, things." The sirens nodded, so she took this as a blessing and set off.

When she was gone, they sat in awkward silence for a moment. Aria looked at Adagio. "So, looks like your plan didn't work." She got a raised eyebrow for this. "Y'know, making Squeaky play horror games so you could see her go all scary? Like we told you about?"

Adagio visibly puzzled for a second, then her eyes widened. "Oh, that!"

"You forgot?!"

"I might have gotten distracted by the cutie on my lap. Next time?"

Aria facepalmed, but Sonata giggled. "Wait 'til you get your own sweetheart, Ria, then you'll know what it's like!"

"I keep telling you I'm straight!"

Adagio and Sonata shared a look. The former tilted her head. "Straight people can have sweethearts too, Ria."

Aria's mouth hung open for a moment as she pondered this. Reaching much the same conclusion, she blushed. "Right... Sorry, force of habit or something, I guess." She smiled as the other two giggled. "Kinda think I'll put all that off until things aren't so shaky for us, though. Surprised you two are just diving into it when we've got all this other stuff goin' on."

Smiling, Sonata shook her head. "We didn't choose it, silly, it just sorta happened."

"Well," mused Adagio, "there were conscious decisions that led to where we are, but I don't think growing so close with our respective Rainbooms was one of them. I'll grant that maybe it could have happened with better timing, but even with everyone talking about us, Fluttershy and I haven't had it too bad."

Aria shrugged. "Good to hear, I guess. How're things between you and Sunset since the...?"

"Publicly? Unchanged. I may not hate her anymore, but we still can't very well be friendly if we don't want everyone thinking we're in the Rainbooms' pocket now."

"Because then we'd get the fakes," Aria sighed, "which wouldn't even be that bad if we still had some real friends, but things bein' what they are...?"

There was a quiet moment. Adagio lightly shook her head. "Progress is slow, but it's there. Trixie has come to talk with us at lunch almost every day lately, and-... Well, okay, she isn't exactly popular, but her own two or three friends might give us a chance someday, and provided we got along with them too, we would have our own decent social circle. On that note, any chance anyone has been treating either of you like Trixie did me?"

"No dice," Sonata answered with a frown, "I was sorta hoping Luna might've been tsundere for me when she put me in another class after the brownie thing, but she had no idea what I was talking about when I asked."

"Ooh," uttered Aria as she gave Adagio a curious look, "Luna used to follow you around a lot, do you think...?"

"Only doing her job, I'm afraid. She hasn't even called me into her office lately, let alone the Detention class." She brushed a thoughtful hand along her chin. "Doubt she'd sit with us at lunch anyway."

Sonata scratched her head. "Are we even allowed to make friends with the people who work there? I never see anyone else just chatting up teachers or the janitor or anything."

"Pfft," scoffed Aria, "what, like we'll get even less popular if we manage to win over the staff or something? We go there to make friends, so anyone we can talk to is fair game." Remembering a favorite classroom passtime of hers, she tinted red and averted her eyes. "Though, uh, you guys might have better luck?"

Chuckling, Adagio shook her head. "Wouldn't count on it. Cheerilee, Harshwhinny, and Coach Will all hate me, and the rest don't exactly smile when they see me." Not that she had to ask why.

"Not even Inkwell?"

"Not even Inkwell. Granted, at least she never gives me weird looks. Or, weird looks that she doesn't give everyone else."

"What about Magnet?"

Adagio paused, then smiled with cautious optimism. "Do you think he'd-"

"Wait," urged Sonata, "do you really wanna be a high school girl asking a grown man to be your friend? Especially when he's already had people draw you in sexy poses? I kinda like the guy too, but if anybody gets the wrong idea, somebody might go to jail." The others stared at her in perplexed, mildly accusatory silence. She blushed. "I-it happened in one of Rarity's soap operas, okay?!" The stares abated, so she took her chance to change the subject. Or, get the old one back. "Anyway, the Home-Ec teacher probably doesn't like me either, and that was before the brownies. Heck, it was before that time with the eggs!"

"Hmph," Adagio said with a haughty smile, "we don't need them anyway, I learned to cook without Home-Ec."

Snorting, Aria wore a tiny smirk. "Not that you're bitter about being left out of that class?"

Sonata smiled. "Or pulled outta Gym?"

"Yes," Adagio replied in an icy deadpan, "thank you both."

Giggling, Sonata got out of her seat to sit next to Adagio on the couch and wrap her in a hug. "Sorry."

Adagio silently reciprocated, leaving Fort Crashing Couch quiet until Aria, feeling a little left out herself, got up to join in. They were just about to start singing again when they remembered the reason they weren't in their own beds right now.

"Squeaky's been gone a while."

Sonata looked around. "Think she's still looking for the bathroom? Not like this is a BIG house."

Gently (and somewhat reluctantly) freeing herself from the group hug, Adagio got up. "I'll go check on her."

When she reached the first-floor bathroom, she stopped to find the door open and the lights off. The sink was dry, so if Fluttershy had been here at all, she hadn't washed her hands.

For shame, Sweetie. For. Shame.

Her next guess was the upstairs bathroom, Fluttershy possibly having been too self-conscious to use one on the same floor as people who might hear her doing anything anywhere near a toilet, but she popped into the costume room just in case Fluttershy was feeling festive or even just nostalgic.

No Fluttershy.

On the off-chance Fluttershy was interested in the work-out offer now of all times, she checked the empty gym before heading upstairs, but that bathroom was vacant too. Now she was starting to worry, but just as she was about to call out to Fluttershy, she heard a shuffling noise. From her own room.

...Sweetie? Are you doing what I think you're doing?

She wasn't sure why else Fluttershy would sneak into her room this late at night, with a backpack full of mystery contents, but Her Sweetie had surprised her a few times before...

And Hell, even if it isn't anything naughty, it's more than enough to tease her with!

Adagio crept up to the door, and knowing that the squeaky hinges would give her away, -Note to self: Oil up doors in the future for stealth entries/exits!- she flung it open, smirking at the sight of a startled Fluttershy standing near the center of the room, having been fiddling with her backpack as it rested on the bed.

"My, my," Adagio purred as she strode closer, a vicious smirk on her lips, "was the bathroom an excuse, or... were you just freshening up?"

"Uh-"

"I mean, Ria did say that if any deflowering was to go on, we should take it upstairs, and... here you are. Trying to tell me something, Sweetie?"

"I, I-I, th-this is, um..."

Cherishing the way her stuttering girlfriend fidgeted and blushed, she stopped just in front of Fluttershy. "Yeeees? What was it you had in mind that involved sneaking into my room at this time of night?" The unintelligible reply Fluttershy directed at her feet was every bit as delectable as usual, but after about a solid minute, Adagio was starting to wonder.

She's not calming down... if anything, it looks like she's getting more nervous. Sweating, shaking, and glowing like a Christmas tree. I should ask if something's been bothering her or-

In a blink, Adagio was grabbed by the wrist and thrown onto her heart-shaped bed, narrowly missing the backpack as she landed on a cushion of her own hair and her legs hung over the side. She quickly sat up. "What ar-"

Fluttershy practically pounced on her, seizing both wrists to press her against the bed as she leaned in. Adagio gasped as she felt a series of frantic kisses along her neck and collarbone, followed by a shaky replication of what Adagio herself had practiced on Fluttershy with her tongue and teeth on that day they tried the sugar sticks. The sensations sapped her strength (or just her will to resist, it was hard to tell) as she felt her clothes being unfastened, soft, warm hands frantically running over her skin, probing everywhere as they surveyed in apparently random fashion, Fluttershy's tongue having moved to inspect the interior of Adagio's mouth, hot breath on her lips as her own breathing picked up.

With Fluttershy's hands still wildly moving over her skin and occasionally lingering in a few favorite areas, it was getting hard to think, but this situation was difficult to interpret as something other than Fluttershy finally giving into her urges in the most direct possible way. Adagio hadn't exactly compiled a list of things she'd use to determine that Fluttershy was ready, because the idea was to wait until she said it herself, but feeling a trembling hand snaking its way into her undergarments for the fourth time in the last minute, she firmly gripped Fluttershy's shoulder as her other hand gently worked its way along Fluttershy's spine.

However, the second she started to pull at Fluttershy's shirt, she heard a shrill, terrified noise, felt two hands roughly pulling hers away, and a rush of cold as Fluttershy's body heat left her, rapid footsteps quickly growing fainter just before she heard the front door slam.

Sitting up as she started to catch her breath, Adagio looked around to find herself alone.

What... What just happened? What was that about?

Fluttershy's backpack was gone too, and it didn't sound like she was on her way back upstairs. Adagio struggled to process the last few minutes, but she was certain of a few particular details:

She had caught Fluttershy in her room.

Fluttershy had, quite aggressively, initiated very intimate physical contact.

Adagio reciprocated.

And Fluttershy ran from her. Not just ran, but sprinted out of the house in terror.

The thought made her throat contract as her insides twisted into cold knots.

Why? What did I do wrong? Was there something else I was supposed to do first? She didn't ask me to do anything! She didn't say anything at all! Was that important?

She reached for her phone, absentmindedly trying to decide whether to call or text.

But she started... that! What was I supposed to think it meant?

She grimaced at the little screen, not sure if Fluttershy would answer her at all.

Did it mean something else? Do romantic relationships have a step before sex that involves mad, frantic fondling? Was I supposed to be doing it back?

She agonized with her phone for several minutes before deciding to just call and ask what was going on, each sounding of the electric waiting noise a tighter, more strangling squeeze of the heart-vice until the answering machine sounded. Adagio immediately hung up and called again, not feeling any better through the second round of it. Nor the third. She tried to ignore the burning tears trickling down her face during the fourth. By the sixth time, she heard footsteps coming up the stairs, her heart beating irregularly as she dared dream Fluttershy had come back, but a tingle of deja vu told her it was Aria and Sonata. When the two stepped through the door with looks of anxious dread, Adagio answered their silent question in a croak.

"...She ran from me."

Author's Note

Sooo... you'd probably like to go straight to the next chapter to see the resolution to what just happened, but if you don't mind putting the dramatic tension on hold for a minute, here are some author's notes. :twilightsheepish:

Tried to do one of the game session scenes without colors even with multiple characters this time. I know the colors annoy some people, but here's hoping a little extra effort is enough to keep it clear who's talking at a given time. Also, as usual, I've taken creative liberties with some of the games they're playing, which might make them a smidge harder to guess. (though if it really is hard to tell who's saying what, I'll go back and color things)

You Died. is the exception, because... You Died.

It occurs to me that I could have distinguished everyone's voices with accents, but they weren't playing with strangers and the cat was kind of out of the bag between the lot of them anyway.

I was tempted to include a bit with Little Nightmares after having recently watched Markiplier play through it (hilariously, the reason for him descending into insanity this time is the credits), but I didn't want to spoil anything about it. Plus, the only way I could think of for more than one person to be playing it* was some kind of turn-taking speed-run thing where players go one at a time and see who can get through each segment the fastest or something, which seemed like needlessly clunky exposition for something that wasn't going to matter a few paragraphs down.

*As you may have noticed, every single game in this world seems to have multiplayer options, even when I'm referencing what were strictly single-player games, which will be explained a little more in one of the spin-offs.

Chapter 55: A Chance

In the late afternoon of the next day, Fluttershy returned to the sirens' house as quietly as she could, which was a little silly when she was planning to ring the doorbell. She was pretty sure she was welcome here, but even if she didn't trust her frazzled mind to respond to them at the time, ignoring Adagio's calls might have sent the wrong message. Worse yet was that now she had to tell her anyway.

She pushed the doorbell button, waited a few minutes, then tried again. No one was answering and she didn't hear any activity from the other side of the door, but it was a Saturday, so the sirens were probably home. She tried the handle to find it unlocked, very cautiously pulling it open. Not seeing a sign of anyone around or hearing a peep from anywhere in the house, she went in anyway, hoping the sirens trusted her enough to not press charges for trespassing if she waited for them to come home if they really weren't here right now.

Approaching the staircase, however, she heard footsteps from just behind her, whirling around to see Aria with a very unamused scowl as she clamped both hands onto Fluttershy's shoulders.

"Squeaky. We gotta talk."

Fluttershy had barely opened her mouth to reply when she felt the familiar sensation of hands reaching into the back of her skirt, seizing the waistband of her underpants, and thrusting upwards, turning her words to an anguished series of noises as the fabric stretched higher. Aria let go of her shoulders to take hold of one side of her underwear, Sonata lifting the other as the two hefted her off her feet, carried her to the nearest wall, and hung her on one of the wall hooks.

While excruciatingly painful to start, Fluttershy quickly found that having the entirety of her weight held up only by her duck-patterned panties grew much worse with the fact that she was a little heavier now than she had been in middle school.

"So," Aria began, arms crossed and a disdainful glare on her face, "maybe you can tell us why Adagio cried herself to sleep last night. A first for her, by the way."

Fluttershy strained to answer, but the growing pain made talking difficult as she desperately tried to press her feet against the wall for some kind of relief.

"She hasn't even said anything since then," Sonata added with a scowl, "all she'd tell us is that you ran from her!"

"Ran from...?"

Oh, Fluttershy thought as her stomach sank, of course. How could I forget?

She did her best to settle into the least uncomfortable position she could find while hanging from the hook. "I-I'm sorry, really, but-ow, I just, well... it's a little hard to exp-ach, explain, but, w-well, I mean, it s-started with, I-I meant to tell you when-"

Groaning impatiently, Sonata barked "Out with it!!" as she harshly yanked Fluttershy downward by an ankle, drawing her answer through an especially pained yelp.

"I was trying to fix the gems!!"

The two stared in wide-eyed silence for a solid minute as Fluttershy squirmed on the hook, Aria being the first to articulate in a mix of indignation and disbelief.

"What?"

"I took them, what I could f-find, from Adagio's r-ow-ow-ow-ow-room, because I heard from Sunset that-ouch, that all this t-time, the three of you only wanted friends so you could forget the-eek! loss, a-and, it wasn't getting any better by itself, s-so, I wanted to do something, but-I'msorrythisreallyhurtspleasegetmedow-how-hown!"

Sharing a quick, uncertain glance, the two settled on unhooking and gently lowering Fluttershy to the floor, if only to hear a clearer explanation. They got it after Fluttershy had a moment to catch her breath and shakily get to her feet.

"I've been hoping, and waiting, for some time now, that Twilight would visit us or send a message to Sunset and help work something out, to see if your voices could be completely restored with some kind of magic, but..." She shrugged. "Well, it's been several months now and nothing has happened. So, I thought, if nothing was going to happen, then someone had to make it happen, but until I could be sure it would work, I didn't want to risk getting your hopes up for something that meant so much to you." She frowned. "I've visited Twilight twice now, and while there's still a chance, I'm afraid it's only a chance."

Again, Aria and Sonata shared a look, but before Fluttershy could stress that she wasn't sure her findings would help or that they shouldn't look forward to the results too much, Aria glared at her.

"So, which part'a that meant breaking her heart?" Aria wasn't sure how to feel about the look on Fluttershy's face, as though the words cut into her more than her duck undies a minute ago, but she lingered between satisfaction and regret.

"I'm really sorry," she uttered, "I never meant to hurt her, but..." She looked up with tears in her eyes. "Well, would you mind if I told her instead?"

"That depends," Sonata answered with an uncharacteristically serious expression and crossed arms, "...are things gonna be okay between you two?"

Aria turned her head to see Sonata barely keeping up her angry exterior, practically broadcasting that she just wanted everything fixed through abnormally frequent blinking and facial twitches. She chose to assume that Fluttershy was just being polite and pretending not to notice when she responded in total sincerity.

"If she'll forgive me, I hope."

Aria and Sonata shared one more look. Hooking one arm around Sonata to pull her toward the living room, Aria pointed to the stairs. "You go talk to Dagi, we'll wait down here."

Sonata offered an apologetic smile over her shoulder. "Sorry about the stretched undies!"

Fluttershy blushed, but managed to smile back. She could certainly understand what it was like to be enraged on a friend's behalf, she just hadn't ever expected to wind up on the receiving end. That in mind, she turned to look at the stairs with a hint of dread.

"Ow... Ow... Ow... Ooooww..."

She'd made it. Top of the stairs. She could see Adagio's room, and anxiety of what was coming did a lot to take her mind off the lingering discomfort. Thinking back to the day their two groups, sans Adagio, talked for the first time, Fluttershy remembered Aria's mention of having been a little harsh with Sunset during their first talk, feeling an odd stir of warmth as she considered the chances that the sirens cared for one another like this even back then. As opposed to doing it because of what they lost, of course.

Huh... Did they give Sunset a wedgie too, or...?

That didn't matter, it was time to talk to Adagio. Gently grasping the doorknob to her room, Fluttershy found it unlocked, slowly turning the handle to see something that made her chest ache.

Adagio was in right about the same spot that Fluttershy had left her, not even having bothered to disrobe or change into pajamas, her hair an unkempt mess as she lay on the edge of the heart-shaped bed, facing away from the door.

Fluttershy approached as quietly as possible, flashing back to the day Adagio was sick as she again imagined that Adagio was made of glass and would shatter if she weren't painstakingly careful. She knew this was silly and that Adagio was one of the most resilient people she'd ever met, but seeing her like this made it easy to forget. She tip-toed over the bed, deciding against sitting down next to her.

"...Adagio?"

No response.

"Adagio?"

Not so much as a muscle moved. Taking a breath, Fluttershy opted to just talk.

"I'm sorry I ran from you. I know how much that bothers you, but, well, a-and I know this will sound like an excuse, but-"

"Just tell me what I did wrong, Sweetie."

Startled by the sudden interjection, Fluttershy nearly fell on her rear as she rapidly stepped backward, internally wincing as she realized it looked a lot like she was already running from Adagio again. Then she shook her head. "N-no, it wasn't, y-you didn't do anything wrong, I-"

Adagio sat up, looking over her shoulder to show that while she had been crying, at least the bags under her eyes weren't any worse. "Sweetie," she said with an unamused look, "are you about to tell me that you bolting out of here like you were going to be skinned alive had nothing to do with me?"

"Yes!"

There was a pause. Now was not the time to enjoy the perplexed, irritated face Adagio was wearing, so she quickly explained.

"I ran because I shouldn't have-" It wasn't a great time to recall, in steamy, diary-filling detail, what she had done with Adagio the previous night, either, but her brain was thoroughly working against her today. "-uh... done, um, w-what I did, A-AND, I don't mean to apologize for, I-I mean I do, but not because, w-wait, I mean-"

Sighing, Adagio stood up, paced over to a hanging hook-net on her wall, and shuffled through the contents for a moment. "You know," she said dully, "I've been thinking a lot about what the three of us could do to help our look, to appeal to people a little more, and one of the things I came up with was something I've seen used as an unusual choice of accessory in fiction." She turned around to show a thin, white cylinder sticking out of her mouth, which she immediately removed to reveal to be a tiny lollipop, holding up another where Fluttershy could see. "I couldn't really go eating candy in school, I think, but it's something I considered doing around town. Until then, however...?"

She held out the one still in its wrapper, gauging Fluttershy's expression to be a blend of touched by the offer despite what had recently happened between them and guilt for exactly that incident, even if Adagio didn't fully understand why. She opted to take a small risk.

"Take it," she ordered with a stern expression, "calm down, and tell me why you ran out last night."

Fluttershy straightened up as though an electric current ran up her spine. "Y-yes, Ma'am!" She quickly walked over, gently seized the little sucker, popped it into her mouth, popped it out, frantically removed the wrapping (Adagio had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from snickering), and popped it in again.

They stood there in awkward silence for a moment, though the sweet, sugary sensation on her tongue did help Fluttershy's nerves.

"So," Adagio eventually said with equal hints of apprehension and annoyance, "were you rejecting me or what?" She winced as Fluttershy gasped hard enough to suck in her lollipop, which immediately lodged in the back of her throat to cause another painful-looking coughing fit, which at least dislodged the thing immediately. "Sorry, Sw-" She was startled by a hand being slapped to her mouth in both quick and gentle fashion, fingers carefully angled so as not to disturb Adagio's own sucker.

Fluttershy coughed for another half minute, but managed to shake her head. "Please, please-hack! hack! don't apologize..." She took a deep breath, frowning deeply when she continuted. "You don't like it when I apologize for doing things that show how attracted I am to you, right? I don't like it when you apologize for things that aren't your fault."

At a loss for words, Adagio stared back at her in silence. When Fluttershy showed her a tiny smile, she managed a half-hearted smirk. "Are you threatening to spank me if I do?"

The angle of the lollipop's stick poking upwards out of her mouth made Fluttershy look comical even without the wide-eyed look on her glowing face. Adagio smiled a little wider, but despite the perfect bait dangling in front of her, the maliciously playful energy just wasn't there. She sighed as her lips slipped into a frown.

"If I didn't do anything wrong, why did you run from me?"

The cluster of crazed hornets again buzzing through her mind, Fluttershy forced herself to stop and start over. "I'll, um... I guess I should start at the beginning. I heard from Sunset, after your last talk with her, that the three of you were only attending Canterlot High to make friends, but not just for its own sake. And, I felt like I should have known, like it was obvious when I stopped and thought about it, that the reason you wanted to make friends here was to help cope with the loss, to forget your voices and move on. Is that right?"

Adagio nodding as though confirming that big rocks were heavy didn't make her feel any better.

"Right... So, I thought, it just sounded too sad; forsaking something that means so much to you when we didn't even know if there was a way yet, and, since we'd waited so long already with no results, I mean-" She stopped herself again, collecting her thoughts as she rolled the sucker over her tongue. Watermelon! "...Do you remember that fortune cookie? 'Worry does not beget change?'" Adagio nodded, so she smiled a little. "I thought of that, and how, if we ever wanted something to happen, sitting around hoping for it wasn't going to help, someone had to stand up and make it happen. At the same time, I couldn't bear the thought of telling any of you that I was going to try to restore your gems, or at least your voices, and failing, so..."

Her mouth formed a very pained, sheepish smile. "W-well, I thought, maybe if I could take a page from your book, maybe if I were fast and sneaky enough, maybe I could do it without anyone knowing, then surprise you with the gems or something if it succeeded?"

Adagio stared back at her, almost bored if not for the irritation in her eyes. "You said you'd never-"

"I know," Fluttershy interrupted, tears welling up in her eyes as the guilt of a broken promise (even if she never actually promised, it felt the same to her) welled up in her chest, "I know I said I would never do anything like this, that I said I would just ask you, but I couldn't this time without planting the idea that you only might get your voices back even though I might come back empty-handed, showing you what you wanted more than anything and then ripping it away!" The tears spilled down her face as she latched onto Adagio's shirt with both hands. "Which I technically ha-ha-haave!"

Steadying Fluttershy as she cried into her shoulder, Adagio gently pat and rubbed her back until the sobbing stopped. "...'Technically'?"

Fluttershy sniffled. "Th-there's a chance, but..." Righting herself, she took a step back and shook her head. "I'm sorry, I need to tell this in order. I went to see Twilight Sparkle, through the portal just outside Canterlot High (I can show you if you want, she said all three of you can visit any time you like, though that won't help restore your gems or your voices), and asked her for help. At first, she refused, saying she couldn't take that kind of chance with you three no matter what I said. I understood why; you girls were a threat, and she had experienced a relatively recent betrayal under similar circumstances, but I asked her if she trusted me. I don't think she was willing to say out loud that she, who Sunset tells me was given the title 'Princess of Friendship,'-" she smiled a little as Adagio rolled her eyes, "didn't trust someone she considered a friend, and-"

Suddenly remembering something, Fluttershy again wore a sheepish smile, folding her arms behind her back. "Uh, haha, in lieu of nothing, um, would you at all mind maybe an hour-or-so-long interview of answering questions about your people? Because suggesting to Twilight that you three were a direct source of long-lost knowledge (Sunset told us that Coltlantis perished over a thousand years ago, you remember that we talked about how you three were flung into the future, right? Okay, just double-checking) and might be willing to share what you remember from your first-hand experience of living in the lost, legendary city was kind of how I convinced her to take a thorough look into restoring your gems, or at least working out some kind of limiter on them."

Her face stern, Adagio raised an eyebrow. "You took advantage of a scholar's thirst for knowledge to manipulate her into serving your own ends?"

All the shaky walking in the world wouldn't have made Fluttershy feel any less like an ant. "Yes?"

Adagio lifted her off the ground in a hug, practically squeaking with joy. "So proud!!"

Her feet dangling just above the floor, Fluttershy blinked twice before remembering that she was talking to Adagio Dazzle. She chose to focus on the same logic with which she'd justified her underhanded act in the first place; that it was for the happiness of those she loved and wouldn't hurt anyone if everyone played nice. She continued when Adagio set her down.

"S-so, she agreed to at least try, and we spent almost the whole day doing research, trying things I could only guess at what was going on (real magic experimentation isn't as much fun to watch as the books make it sound, sadly), but even though Twilight had gotten a better understanding of what you three had lost while we were talking, she told me there was nothing she could do without the gems, and those, she told me, were history."

She stopped her story to glance at Adagio's bedside mini-fridge, the recognition in Adagio's eyes telling her she immediately connected the dots.

"You're a burglar now too, Sweetie?" She chuckled at the utterly ashamed look she got for this, patting Fluttershy's head. "Relax, I'd forgotten the fragments were even there, and besides..." Tilting Fluttershy's head to force eye-contact, she smirked. "Stealing from our house like that? I told you you were brave. Can you imagine what any of us might do to you for something like this? Nevermind that it's the remains of our gems, the physical remnants of our shattered lives that you stole?"

She felt a tinge of guilt as Fluttershy went white as a sheet, her mouth hung open, her eyes rolled back in her head, and she drifted out of consciousness. Even so, Adagio grinned a little. It was coming back to her!

Fluttershy awoke to find herself with her head on Adagio's lap, the two of them on the bed, the sticks from the lollipops missing (most likely in the nearby wastebasket), and the sadistic siren looking down at her with a tender smile as she softly said "I'm still waiting for the rest of the story, Sweetie."

Sitting up, Fluttershy flailed about for a moment, spastically sputtering apologies for having stolen from the Dazzlings and that she would give it back as soon as she could, but a tight grip around both of her ankles drew her attention. She paused to find that she had handcuffs locking her legs together, turning to Adagio with an inquisitive look.

Adagio smiled sweetly. "I'm still waiting for the rest of the story, Sweetie."

"Ha, haha," she gulped, "r-right, um... So, y-yes, I... I came back here that same night, and, I'm very, very sorry I lied to you by acting as though I just wanted to join you for a slumber party -though that part was technically real; I've been wanting to for a long time!- and took your things without permission, but, I mean, y-you already know why I did it, but, I know that doesn't exactly make it right because it's still-"

All humor vanished from Adagio's face. "Why did you run from me?" They stared at one another in silence for a moment, Adagio's shoulders drooping as her frown deepened. "You said it wasn't because of me, but I know now that you've deceived me once already." The pained wince in Fluttershy's face as the words visibly tore into her didn't make Adagio feel any better. "...Don't look so guilty, it's not like I'm any better, remember?" Fluttershy seemed to accept this. "Now, what do I have to do to keep that from happening again? What more do you need from me so that I don't have to spend another minute just hoping you'll come back?" Hurt entering her own voice and expression, she couldn't help a mild glare. "You could at least tell me what's wrong before running off, or use the safeword! That's what it's there for!"

She closed her eyes, if only to momentarily shut out the utterly miserable look on Fluttershy's face, and took a deep breath. "But, I have to ask, because, as much as it hurt when you left me, the thought of that being the end for us hurt much, much worse." She opened her eyes again. "So, please, if there's something you need me to do...?"

Sniffling once, Fluttershy shook her head. "I swear it was not because of you. Okay? You haven't done anything wrong, it was my fault for f-forcing myself on you to cover up for taking the gems." Adagio could hear the lump in her throat. "I thought, at first, that once I found the gems, I could head back downstairs, rejoin the slumber party, and go back to Princess Twilight the next day, but when you caught me, I couldn't tell you what I was doing without getting your hopes up, s-so... I lied. I took the first excuse that came, b-because, I thought, 'we're a couple now, there's no reason we can't do this!' But, even while I was throwing myself into it, finally free to do everything I'd ever fantasized about doing with you, I realized that we'd only be doing any of it, our first time, because of a lie."

"I couldn't bear the thought, but by then, I couldn't stop myself either, like my body was moving on its own, aching for every extra second of contact, and I was trapped! I thought of what things would be like between us when you eventually found out the real reason I had come to your room that night, the look in your eyes when I told you that those memories were wasted on a falsehood, and worst of all, how you might look at me from then on if we hadn't stopped, I took the gems to Twilight, and the plan hadn't worked at all."

Not having realized how quickly she was breathing, Fluttershy took a moment to compose herself as Adagio stared at her in silence. "...That was why I screamed, that was why I ran. I wasn't afraid of you or anything you might do to me, I was afraid of me, and what I might do to us."

There was a long pause in which Adagio averted her eyes. She shrugged. "Well, again, it's not like I can blame you. As I've said before, anyone would have given in by now, and maybe if I weren't always all but offering myself, baiting you with those pictures and-" Fluttershy's hand seized one of hers. When she looked up, she again saw that odd blend of sadness and conviction from when Fluttershy swore to help her get over her sleep troubles.

"It wasn't your fault. I like your teasing, I-" there was a flicker of a nervous smile, "-really like the pictures, and I like every second of the way you play with me," it was unfair having to ignore a moment in which Adagio blushed, but darnit, this was important! "but I made the wrong choice in launching into those feelings when you caught me. If I hadn't pushed you onto the bed, hadn't smelled your hair while I kissed your neck, hadn't touched your soft, smooth skin, caressed every inch of your tight, muscular body, inspected the curves of your chest with individual fingers, squeezed your taut thighs in both hands, felt the warmth of your-"

She stopped as her brain caught up with what she was saying. She'd never seen Adagio blush so brightly as she stared back in shock, but couldn't say which of them was glowing more as she timidly touched the tips of her index fingers together. "I, uh, f-forgot where I was going with this..."

Looking away as she considered cranking up the ceiling fan, Adagio coughed. "S-so, like I was saying, I don't blame you for giving in, but... suppose the timing was unfortunate." She looked at Fluttershy out of the corner of her eye. "Can we chalk this whole thing up to a misunderstanding?"

"...I guess so?"

An awkward silence persisted as the two sat on the bed on which that same, heated misunderstanding took place..

"I turned into a pony."

Adagio looked at Fluttershy, perplexed. She smiled.

"I t-turned into a pony, when I went over there. The shock has worn off, but it was weird at first."

"...I see."

"I had wings! And a tail!"

Adagio smiled a little. "And cute little hooves?"

"Yes!"

The two giggled together, Adagio casually brushing her poofy hair aside. "So, once you got the remains of the gems, what happened next?"

"Huh? Oh, uh..." She frowned. "I'm afraid that, even with the gems, Twilight couldn't figure out what to do. She even called in what she told me was a chaos expert named Discord! He was a big, serpent-like creature, with a lion's paw, a talon-hand, a bat wing, one goat horn and one gazelle horn, one foot that I wasn't quite sure what-"

"Hasn't changed his look in all this time?" Adagio casually studied her nails. "Some embodiment of 'chaos.'" She answered Fluttershy's inquisitive stare with a shrug. "We've met."

Fluttershy nodded. "I-I kind of figured, because when he learned the gem fragments were yours, he recoiled from them." She smiled a little as Adagio rolled her eyes. "When he understood that they were powerless, he explained that, while he couldn't fix them either (something about the Coltlantians using really complicated micro-glyphs and leyline clusters that went over my head), the gems never should have had an effect on your voices, that, um... I think his words were 'The mind-warpy stuff was their whole shebang,' that 'singing is as much part of a kelpie as flying is part of a pegasus,' which I know isn't a perfect comparison, because I turned into a pegasus for several hours and didn't fly at all, but he said even what he called 'earth ponies' had magic that never left them."

"Then," Adagio asked with trepidation, "this 'chance' that we could sing again...?"

"It's related to this, yes. There was something about kelpies having developed and perfected sonar to an artform, that singing used to be their main means of survival as the species advanced, which translated to singing, I think." Adagio nodded affirmatively. "He compared the gems to a magic pair of binoculars that could see far past normal eyesight, even in x-ray vision -he and Twilight had a disagreement over what she called using comic book terms- and other things, then having those binoculars explode while you were looking through them. Does that sound close to you?"

Adagio pondered the idea with a hand on her chin. "Your eyes certainly wouldn't be the same afterward, no matter how long you'd been using them prior. Yes, I suppose that's an apt comparison in this context."

Fluttershy smiled shakily. "And, h-he said, if you can find that magic in yourselves again, it should heal you, sort of, like unclogging a drain. But, the p-problem is-" her grin quickly slipped into a pained grimace, "I have no idea how to do that."

"...He said we still have our magic?" Fluttershy nodded, and she didn't want to think Her Sweetie would mislead her, but... "Discord is a notoriously unreliable creature, Sweetie. Why would he help you or Princess Twilight?"

"I heard about that, actually, because he was the one that betrayed Twilight, but looking into his eyes, -which are heterochromic, by the way!- I believe him when he says he regrets doing it." She smiled. "He also said I remind him of a friend!"

Adagio snorted with amusement. She was by no means inclined to trust the legendary trickster, especially if he knew he'd be helping anyone in her group, but lying to the precious, innocent face in front of her was something she wasn't sure even he could do if he was in a state in which Princess Twilight could tolerate his presence.

Besides, one could say the exact same thing about me.

"Alright, then... If we can find our own magic, do something to wake it up, we should be able to sing normally again?" Fluttershy nodded, though the worried look on her face didn't exactly speak of confidence. Luckily, Adagio had a theory. "Well, given that kelpies use their magic through singing, maybe we just need a really intense lullaby?"

Fluttershy looked hopeful. "Would that work? Would you be happy singing those?"

"Well, no." It hurt her a little to see her adorable girlfriend deflate. "We used to enjoy playing for a roaring crowd," she said with a hint of a nostalgic smile, "the excitement and energy almost palpable as they cheered for us, every note resonating through the hearts and minds of everyone listening, swept up in our song even without magic to keep them hooked on every word out of our mouths, dancing to every beat of our tune." The grin slipped away. "The problem is, of course... how can we get a reaction like that sounding like we do? I don't think even this world has pop stars screeching and shrieking with every chord."

There was a kind of desperation in Fluttershy's eyes. "D-does it have to be pop? What about, um, country? Or hip-hop? Or even jazz?"

"Do any of those work for people with throat damage?"

"...Maybe metal?" Adagio's perplexed stare had her pulling out her phone to look for examples, pulling up a video that she may or may not have remembered from a time in which she'd been fascinated with dark elves and their rougher, gothic themes. The effect hadn't lasted, but the song still carried a sort of violent energy, the sort that inspired fist-pumping and head-banging, people stomping their feet and shouting along with the music even though the vocalist, in this case, sounded as though they'd been smoking for most of their lives. A hopeful smile grew on Fluttershy's face in direct proportion to the evil smirk on Adagio's.

"I've... I'll admit I've never done something like this, but..." The smirk faded as she considered what it would take to actually produce a metal song of her own. "We don't exactly know how to play this world's instruments, Sweetie, though I'm sure we could afford decent equipment and lessons to-"

Fluttershy shook her head. "We can do it, my friends and I! Sunset and Rainbow are good with guitars, Pinkie is more than happy to go ballistic with drums, and Applejack handles the bass really well! I don't know if Rarity and I can be much help, never heard of metal with tambourines or keytars, but we'll do whatever we can!"

Adagio blinked, a little taken aback. "Should you really be volunteering your friends like thi-"

"There's no doubt in my mind that they would help, and even if they don't, I'll find someone who will. Heck, Trixie might be able to help too! And while I don't think Aria or Sonata will want to sit this out either, I'm sure they'll be happy to give it a try if it works for you. You just need the music to sing along to, right?"

"R-right, but-"

"If you can write a song that works with your voices as they are right now, would you be okay with whoever does the music playing alongside you?"

"If we were singing alongside people we know the crowd already likes? Not so differently from joining your table at lun-"

"Point taken, what about if the song were recorded in advance and then played on a sound system for your performance?"

Blinking twice, Adagio glanced down, wondering if Fluttershy was even aware that she was grabbing Adagio by the upper arms, their faces just inches apart. "Uh," she said with a growing blush and a faint grin, "that, might work, but-"

Fluttershy beamed, stars in her eyes as she leaned in a little closer. "Then we just need an audience! Maybe we could hand out flyers or something, o-or just set up a stage on a roof somewhere and-" A sudden, hot breath on her ear funneled the rest of her sentence into a squeak as her skin tingled and her cheeks burned.

Adagio chuckled. "I think I have an idea. You remember how the Battle of the Bands was supposed to be a musical showcase before we stepped in? What if we talked to Celestia about putting on one of those to make up for the one we ruined? Let everyone play the way they first wanted to, featuring our own song free of competition and magic? While that was being arranged, Ria, Nata, and I could work out exactly what sort of range we're working with, I could compose the song, your friends could perform the instrumental portion, and we'd sing when our turn came up. Any questions?"

The purpose behind the arm-grabbing became clear when Fluttershy startled Adagio by pulling her into a passionate lip-lock, the two falling onto the bed as they sunk into Adagio's mango-scented poof. When she got a second to breathe, Adagio looked up almost timidly. "S-Sweetie...?"

The hint of worry in her eyes immediately stringing a few dots together, Fluttershy quickly pulled back, a sheepish smile on her face as she defensively raised her palms. "Right, too soon, s-sorry, I just-EEP!" She remembered too late that her ankles were still handcuffed together, losing balance and toppling off the bed, landing face-down with her rear up in the air in comical fashion.

Sitting up and getting her breath and heart rates down to normal levels again, Adagio chuckled.

Ohh, Sweetie.

Author's Note

I'd have liked to include Aria and Sonata in the talk at the end, but the scene didn't really call for them to come in, I wasn't sure how smooth a transition it'd be if the couple decided to stop and take it downstairs, there wasn't much dialogue left by that point, and having two extra characters might have cluttered the scene a bit. So instead, here's this!

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-Omake:----------
Just after they left Fluttershy to make up with Adagio, Aria looked to Sonata.

"You are such a sap."

"Shut up, you wanted it to have a happy ending too!"

Aria looked away in practiced fashion.

"Well, duh, but... So, what happens if she messes this up and Dagi gets her heart busted forever?"

Sonata smiled as she held up a funnel and a bottle of five-alarm hotsauce.

"Round two."
-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

"if we ever wanted something to happen, sitting around hoping for it wasn't going to help, someone had to stand up and make it happen."

It should be noted that this is to be applied on a case-by-case basis. I don't think there's anything anyone can do to make chapters of a fanfic come faster, for instance, unless they're the writer of that fanfic. :twilightsheepish:

I was tempted to use 'Frownershy' a few times here, but the tone was never quite right for it.

You know that feeling you get when, amid a myriad of speculations and predictions as to how something you're writing will turn out, someone actually guesses what you were planning almost exactly on the dot? That happened regarding Trixie's actions throughout the story and with Flutters seeking out a princess (Twilight, natch) in Equestria to help fix the gems, some time ago. I couldn't spoil it by replying to those comments, but I smiled hard. :pinkiehappy:

Chapter 56: Long-Overdue Do-Over

"Okay, so," Aria summed up, following a long talk that only got a little huggy, and tearful, and embarrassing, Adagio supervised, "our magic isn't gone, just like, sleeping, we're gonna try to wake it up with heavy metal because that's probably the best vocal range we can reach right now outside of literally singing people to sleep, and if it works, we should get our full singing voices back?"

Fluttershy nodded.

"And," asked Sonata, her face hopeful, "if that works, we can finally bury all this hard feelings stuff between the three of us and the six of you, drop the rest of CHS like a sack of bricks, and not have to care anymore what anybody thinks of us, whether they like us for us or not, because no matter what, we'll be friends with you guys?"

"H-hopefully, yes!"

Following a short silence, Aria shrugged. "So, what do we do first?"

Adagio grinned.

Ecstatic, Rainbow pumped a fist in the air. "I freakin' love this plan!!"

The other five girls giggled, though Rarity wore a look of thinly-veiled consternation. "Then... metal, hm? I don't believe any of us have ever performed such a piece."

"We'd never really performed anything until just a couple weeks before the Battle of the Bands," Applejack noted, "but we pulled all that off fine, didn't we?"

"Totally," chirped Pinkie, "we'll rock out whatever they give us, like-" she tossed a handful of confetti into the air, "-magic!"

Sunset in particular looked hopeful. "Did Adagio say when she might have a song ready?"

Fluttershy smiled. "Possibly some time this week."

Though they agreed that she shouldn't stay up all night to get it done. Even if it was for something positive, Fluttershy didn't like the idea of Adagio not getting enough rest again, something she was thankful Aria and Sonata had backed her up on. All of them were looking forward to this, but they convinced Adagio not to force herself to finish the song, and if they saw the dark rings under her eyes making a comeback, all three of them (even Aria!) would make very sad, heart-wrenching faces at her. She was too touched by their concern to tease them for such a threat, but they'd gotten her to promise to take her time with the song by the time the hugging stopped.

Sunset nodded. "Has anyone asked Luna and Celestia about holding a new showcase yet?"

Early Monday, Sunset and Fluttershy found themselves in front of Luna and Celestia in the latter's office, which always made Sunset just a little antsy. Luckily, she knew all the messy stuff from before was behind them now, because the look on Celestia's face was more concerned than condemning.

"Hm... An actual musical showcase to make up for the one that came before? I'm not against it, but you said this was the Dazzlings' idea?"

"Um... Yes?"

"I ask because I recall you specifically mentioning to keep them out of Music class at all costs back when they first returned, their... condition being no secret to most of us here."

Sunset smiled hopefully. "That's actually kind of what this is about. In short, letting them sing in front of a crowd might be all they need to go back to how they were, singing-wise," she winked in what she dearly hoped was a playful and charming fashion, "just no mind-control power this time."

Arms crossed and her head tilted, Luna frowned. "Would that not be greatly difficult precisely because of their predicament?"

"Yes," answered Fluttershy, "but I think we found something for them. It took some trial and error, but all three agreed that they don't sound too bad when doing the vocals for heavy metal."

There was a pause.

Luna raised an eyebrow. "The Dazzlings, whose entire motif was based in slow, sensual pop rhythm to draw cheers from their audience, intend to elicit the same reaction through rough, aggressive metal?"

"Uh-huh."

And another.

Shrugging, Luna turned to her sister. "Well, provided there is no magical foul play, I see no reason we should object."

"Indeed," said Celestia with a wry grin, "no reason at all." Her expression turned a little more serious as she looked to Sunset. "I mean, is there? I don't understand exactly what these forces do or how they work, but if it was because of magic that the sirens could sing, can't sing now, and are supposed to be able to sing again...?"

"Completely different magic," Sunset answered quickly, "just the innocent, non-hypnotic kind they're kinda supposed to have anyway, totally harmless."

"Ah. Well," Celestia offered with a smile, "if that's all under control, I think we can have things in order in a day or so and announce the showcase a little later this week. Would the Friday after next provide enough time for the Dazzlings to put something together?"

Sunset beamed. "I'll have to check with them to be sure, but that should be enough time, thank you very much!"

Equally happy and relieved, Fluttershy smiled too.

I don't know why, but I thought we'd have to do some kind of difficult task or overcome some obstacle to get this approved. I'm glad Luna and Celestia are as understanding now as they were for Sunset.

Lunchtime in CHS started with something of a brief pause that day, because while it only lasted about half a minute, many stopped to look as Adagio and Fluttershy walked into the cafeteria hand-in-hand. Neither responded to the attention with more than a blush, proceeding as normal to the table at which Aria, Sonata, and Trixie were waiting. Having talked a little about it the previous day, Fluttershy and the sirens agreed that a big, very public event like the upcoming showcase was considerably difficult to hide from even a single person and, feeling that she most likely trustworthy by this point anyway, decided to quietly break the news to Trixie a little early.

"...Wow. I stop watching you for a while and you really do start scheming stuff!"

Adagio blinked, offering a slightly sheepish smile. "Y-yes, but, it's not something evil, right?"

"Not gonna lie," Sonata whispered to Fluttershy, "I thought Trixie'd go all 'YOU DID WHAT?!' and everyone in school would know right then."

Fluttershy giggled, but made a shushing motion.

"More importantly," Aria said very pointedly in Trixie's direction, "we don't have to worry about anyone knowing anything before we're ready to tell them, right?" She shrugged when Adagio gave her a slightly chiding look, but Trixie caught the exchange and smiled.

"Worry not, Trixie knows to approach this issue with utmost discretion!" She felt a warm little tingle at the sight of Adagio's relieved, grateful smile, but hearing about the plan for the showcase made her wonder. "So, you said you three were going to play a song and the Rainbooms will be providing the instrumentation? Is it a favor for Fluttershy, or...?"

Fluttershy responded immediately. "Pinkie Promise not to tell anyone?"

So did Trixie, who even did the hand motions. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye?" She met the surprised look with a hands-on-hips pose, haughtily raising her chin. "Trixie is familiar with your group's gang-sign vow."

"I-it's not a gang-sign!"

"To answer your question," giggled Adagio, "I think there's something we've been meaning to tell you." She looked at Aria and Sonata, letting them decide for themselves whether or not they wanted to back out now.

Sonata kept her voice down. "I've been going out with Rarity for a while now."

"And," Aria added before any dirty details could be shared, "I play games with Rainbow after school. It's not like we're friends with their whole group or anything, but we aren't exactly enemies either. The plan is that we won't be biting our tongues and pretending we don't care about our voices, our magic, and our way of life having been ripped out from under us at the last second if we can get at least one of those back, so if this works, we can finally quit pussy-footing around with the rest of the school on the off-chance one of them is willing to talk to us."

"Not that we're barring everyone else off forever," Adagio clarified, "just not seeking their favor anymore."

Trixie scratched her head. "...I get the feeling this has been brewing for a while."

"Kinda. We've talked to them about it, but this showcase thing is new." Arms crossed, Aria folded into herself a little and turned her head away. "So, like, sorry we kept you in the dark and all."

"It's, uh, i-it's okay," she said with a slightly forced smile, "I mean, me exposing one of you to the entire rest of the school is still kinda recent, so, uh... How's that been, by the way?"

"I finally saw it yesterday," muttered an increasingly red Fluttershy as she slowly sunk under the table, "on the whiteboard, in the middle of class, little chibi versions of our heads together under an umbrella with tiny hearts and stars and even if it was kinda cute it was so, so embarrassing!"

"...Right, so, I get why you'd leave me outta the loop on that one." Trixie smiled brightly. "But since I promised, you can trust me because Pinkie'll break my legs if I blab now, right?"

"Probably," shrugged Aria, "so welcome to... knowing... stuff. I guess."

Adagio smiled. "Eloquent as always, Ria."

"Bite me!!"

"Where~?"

"Eep!"

The rest of the table giggled, Trixie picking up. "So, if you've already got the music covered, Trixie would like to make a contribution as well."

The sirens (and Fluttershy) exchanged looks, Sonata tilting her head. "Like what?"

"Well..." Savoring the suspense as she held off on her answer, Trixie just wished she'd been wearing her hat as she showed them her sly, practiced smirk-and-eyebrow-curl face. "This is a metal song, right?"

Trixie, the sirens, and Fluttershy stood out by the seats of the same outdoor performance hall in which the Battle of the Bands had taken place. Fluttershy had worried that being here might bring back bad memories for some of them, but several months at CHS had kind of already done that to the point that they were numb to it. She tried not to think about that too hard as a grinning Trixie held the switch to the system they'd watched her set up.

"In three... two... one!"

In an instant, the front of the stage lit up with pillars of blue, green, and yellow (as opposed to the standard orange-ish) flames, drawing immediate appreciation from the sirens in the form of 'oooh's and excitable gestures. As they rapidly whisper-talked amongst themselves about when the best times to utilize the pyrotechnics might be and how often they could do it, Fluttershy turned to Trixie.

"It's really nice of you to offer something like this."

"Heh," Trixie said while striking another pose as though she were in a photo-op, "don't mention it." She maintained the stance for almost a minute before turning her head just enough to make eye-contact, her smile slipping away. "And, y'know, least I could do to make up for exposing your hot, wild romance to the whole school."

"Gtchga!" Fluttershy felt herself burn, though nowhere near brightly enough to be used as part of the stage. "I-I, w-we're not, w-we haven't, it's n-not like we've, it, we aren't the-"

She was seconds away from saying it was Rarity and Sonata that got 'hot and wild,' but still hadn't forgotten how she felt when her secret went public. Adagio wouldn't get mad at her for not denying this even if it genuinely wasn't true yet, right? It wasn't like pretty much everyone didn't already think that was what was going on anyway, so...

Very timidly, Fluttershy folded one arm over the other and looked at the floor. "Um... y-yes..."

"Oh relax, it's not like anyone would blame you."

Fluttershy looked up, noticing that Trixie's eyes were firmly on the sirens at the time. Before her Jealous Girlfriend Senses kicked in, however, she found herself wondering what the three of them would wear for their song. Sonata did say that dressing the part can help, and she had seen the costume room herself.

"Morning, Sweetie."

"Good morning!" Fluttershy was always happy to see Adagio sit next to her, but a subtle quirk in Adagio's smile and the worried look in her eyes diminished her own bright, beaming smile to a slightly nervous grin. "Is everything okay?"

"...Uh," she answered while twirling a lock of hair around a fingertip, her head turned just enough to look at Fluttershy out of the corner of her eye, "I'm fine, just..."

Fluttershy recognized this face as Adagio lightly gnawed at her lower lip and started to blush; it was the bashful face! She nearly drew her phone to snap a picture of it, but then Adagio might be careful about what faces she showed from then on and that would be really, really sad, so instead she just cherished it in the moment.

Ooh, the next time she offers a picture, could I ask for one of her looking like this?

Can we get at least one of her naked first? Just to compare to the diary sketches?

Quiet.

Are you still mad about the-

I listened to you and almost poisoned our relationship with the most wonderful girl we'll ever meet. You. Be. Quiet.

By the time she shook off those thoughts, Adagio was still nervously fidgeting in place, the blushing having gotten brighter as she stammered something about the morning treats and all their time together and greeting cards and not having these kinds of holidays where she came from. After a little while, she seemed to realize she was babbling, turned even redder, and looked away, reaching back into her hair to draw something she was hesitant to let Fluttershy see.

"It, you can, I-I was thinking since... My turn?" Glancing aside just enough to make eye-contact with her patient, if slightly confused girlfriend, Adagio brought her other arm around to reveal a big, red, heart-shaped box.

Taking a few seconds to piece together what that object could mean in this context, Fluttershy felt herself smile wider and wider as she touched both hands to her cheeks and let out a loud "Awwww!!"

No less red than a minute ago, Adagio wore a shaky smile. "So, uh, I-I know it's not Valentine's day, but... chocolate?"

Following an especially snuggly hug and a kiss on the cheek from Fluttershy, they opened the box and had a few assorted chocolates together, remarking on the more unique and interesting pieces. Most of them were familiar in one way or another, like the one with caramel inside, but Adagio had made a particularly delighted face when she tasted one with mint. She kindly shared this sensation directly while the flavor was still on her tongue. Fluttershy agreed; mint-chocolate was delightful.

When they had mostly finished the box (which Fluttershy insisted on keeping as a memento of that morning), Fluttershy asked. "How's the song been going?"

"Quite well, though with the showcase not even officially announced yet, I'm taking my time. The lyrics are proving a little tricky with what we can intelligibly sing, but-" she winked, "I'm a cunning linguist, so I'm sure I'll manage." It took a few seconds to sink in, but when Her Sweetie gasped and turned red, Adagio snickered. "If you'd ever like an in-depth demonstration," she said with a faint eyebrow-waggle, "you need only ask."

Quietly sputtering as she tried not to picture things that would destroy her ability to focus on classwork all day, Fluttershy noted that either Adagio was moving past Saturday's misunderstanding much faster than she was, or she took to teasing her out of habit. Either way, she was relieved that the air between them hadn't become strained or awkward on account of that incident.

...The air between her and her friends, however, might have still needed some clearing, at least where Rarity was concerned.

Rarity had waited until they could talk in private in the relaxing atmosphere of their weekly spa date, asking when it was just the two of them sitting comfortably in towels in the sauna. "Forgive me if this sounds at all accusing or hypocritical, Darling, but I thought we agreed to trust one another with our relationships to three particular girls."

Frowning, Fluttershy needed no elaboration on what Rarity meant. "I'm sorry, I know you said you'd have supported me no matter who it was back when Rainbow called us over, and all of you have been very helpful ever since, but-"

"You didn't trust us not to say anything?" Her face softened when Fluttershy gave her one of those heart-wrenching looks, the kind Sonata couldn't pull off no matter how hard she tried to get out of punishment. "I didn't mean it like that, Darling, it's just, were you really that worried about them hearing just a little sooner than intended? Even if it didn't work, it-"

"It has to!!"

Taken aback, Rarity stared at in mildly fearful silence. It was not often that she heard Fluttershy raise her voice and interrupt someone in the same breath! She felt a little twinge of remorse for even bringing up the subject when Fluttershy seemed to sense her shock, her expression fading back to contrition as she hid behind her hair.

"...Imagine... imagine if, somehow, Rainbow were crippled, and could never play in any sport ever again, or if Pinkie were blacklisted on every catering service in the world somehow, and couldn't get the supplies she needed to throw parties for some reason. Or, I guess, if you magically lost your fashion sense, couldn't sew a single stitch to save your life, and no matter what you did, even if you came to grips with what you could do, you knew no one else would ever enjoy your work again, at least not on the scale they used to."

She let one eye peek from between strands of hair, unintentionally spooking Rarity a little further with a pink Onryo kind of effect. "It would hurt, wouldn't it? It isn't as though you couldn't live without it, and anyone you met could just as easily tell you to suck it up and move on, but that wouldn't erase the loss. Then, out of nowhere, someone tells you you could get it all back, be everything you remember being before, even shows it to you and makes you genuinely believe it before saying 'Just kidding!' and ripping it away." She shook her head, Rarity hearing the lump in her throat. "That's why I tried to hide it. It's too cruel, I can't do that to them, to anyone, not if I ever wanted to look them in the eye again, s-so," she sniffled," we have to get this right, w-we have-"

Scooching over to wrap Fluttershy in a one-armed hug, Rarity held her tightly until the tears stopped. "It'll be alright," she said in the gentlest, most assuring tone she could muster, "I may not know much about magic, but I do know you, and I know you won't rest until the ones you care about are happy."

Fluttershy hugged her back, the two of them staying that way for a while.

...Then the realization that they were both, damp, very warm, and clad only in towels while sitting in a private, steamy room sunk in, the two turning red and quickly separating as they silently agreed never to mention this moment to their respective lovers.

-Principal Celestia: Good morning, students! I am pleased to announce that we'll be holding a musical showcase (a real one this time!) next Friday. As before, there is no prize and no 'winning' or 'losing,' but feel free to come out and have a good time of it anyway.-6h 23min ago

-Velvet Sky: Sooo... this just in... -5h 37min ago
_____>-Teddy: WE ALL DEAD -2h 44min ago
-Micro Chips: Oh, dear. Another public event at this school. -5h 21min ago
_____>-Sweetie Belle: Do you think we'll get another magical calamity? -2h 52min ago
__________>-Micro Chips: I was more worried about the 'public event' part, actually. -2h 45min ago
-Ditzy Doo: Oh, goodie, I can play my saw again! -5h 9min ago
_____>-Octavia Melody: You can do that anyway, Ditzy. -4h 39min ago
__________>-Ditzy Doo: GASP! :D -4h 32min ago
-Lyra Heartstrings: Get hype! -5h 2min ago
-Vanhallan: Nothing could possibly go wrong! -4h 46min ago
_____>-Roseluck: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! -4h 44min ago
-Aqua Blossom: Uhh... Singing or not, are the Dazzlings allowed to attend this one, or...? -4h 24min ago
_____>-Sweet Leaf: Not if anyone wants this to go well, they won't be. -4h 12min ago
__________>-Ringo: Madam, while your consternation regarding this matter is not wholly baseless, I do feel it is misplaced. The three girls in question have not only been well-behaved for the majority of their time here, but gone out of their way to be approachable and inoffensive, much to the indifference of our student body as a whole. All of our initial fears that they would rain down on us with a new source of magic at worst and become bullies more aggressive than the old Sunset Shimmer at best have been discredited by the simple fact that in these last several months, we as a school have done more harm to them than their group has done to any one of us. This is without considering which of those two parties musically alleges to subscribe to the notion of companionship overcoming adversity.

Caution is healthy up to a point, but to sit back and wait for 'proof' of one's fears while barring off any and all information that conflicts with it is the very definition of confirmation bias, and to apply such reasoning to living, breathing people despite a solid contradiction walking among us is utterly senseless. -4h 8min ago
_______________>-Brawly Beats: DUDE!! -4h 3min ago
_______________>-Violet Burr: Damn, man. Didn't know you had it in you. -2h 36min ago
_______________>-Octavia Melody: You're just hypnotized by Adagio's backside. -1h 44min ago
____________________>-Ringo: Be that as it may, my point still stands. -1h 27min ago
____________________>-Cloudkicker: Can you blame him? You should see the side profile on that thing. -1h 22min ago
_________________________>-Pixel Pizzaz: PREACH! -1h 12min ago
_________________________>-Cherry Crash: So much this! -1h 9min ago
_________________________>-Bulk Biceps: YEAH! -54min ago
_________________________>-Roseluck: Wait, are we talking about her hair or her ass here? -37min ago
______________________________>-Pinkie Pie: Both, silly! -33min ago
_________________________>-Mystery Mint: The sirens in general. CHS needs a swim team. -44min ago
______________________________>-Luna: We will look into a fundraiser for a pool should it be in the school's interest. -25min ago
______________________________>-Indigo Zap: Crystal Prep already has a big, competition-standard pool and a few water-related clubs. Just throwing that out there. -13min ago
___________________________________>-Bon-Bon: What are you even doing here?!-2min ago

Aria clicked her tongue. "This school is full'a hypocrites, idiots, and perverts."

"It's full'a hormone-crazed teenagers, Ria," observed Sonata, "what'd you expect?"

Not answering, Aria looked to their leader to find her resting one elbow on the table, that hand being used in a facepalm to partly conceal a mild blush. "If all it would have taken to make some friends at this school," she muttered through gritted teeth, "was a pair of very tight, low-riding pants, I'm going to have to hurt someone."

Aria wore a sympathetic little smile. "Hey, if you're thinking you just needed to shake your ass at people to win everyone over, just remember that seducing people into liking us only would have gotten us fake friends, same as if we'd buddied up with the Rainbooms."

Looking up, Adagio smiled with a hint of relief. "Yes, I suppose it would. Thank you, Ria."

"Any time?"

There was a lull in conversation. Sonata beamed. "Y'know, you could still wear tight, low-riding pa-"

Amused, Adagio waved her off. "Ask your dom to wear them for you."

"Shoot!"

"And more importantly, it looked like Ringo was actually defending us. Probably too little, too late now, but if this doesn't work, even if we don't get our voices back, we might still have a chance with falling back the old plan."

Aria raised a skeptical eyebrow. "A chance with the people who only wanna see you do your towel-drop routine again with the bathrobe?"

"It's not a favorable option, I'll admit, but if we find ourselves exclusively doing vocals for metal (which, I have to say, I'm feeling a little lukewarm about so far) and lullabies from now on? It would be something."

Aria nodded. She could certainly respect having a back-up plan if something went wrong.

And speaking of which...

"So, Dagi, you remember how we treated Squeaky when she came back, right?"

"Yes?"

"Would you mind staying home this afternoon?"

"What?"

"So you're more of a spoon and bowl person, huh, Dr. Seuss?"

"K-kind of, it makes the melting easier to contain."

Though she had initially told them it wasn't necessary and she completely understood why they'd gotten upset with her, Aria and Sonata had insisted on taking Fluttershy out for ice cream when they found her alone while leaving the animal shelter for the day. Whether or not they had waited for her out there, she hadn't quite been sure she should ask. Instead, she opted for small-talk.

"How's your milkshake, Aria?"

Aria shrugged, nonchalant. "Cold, sugary, pretty much what you'd expect. I'm with you on the melting thing, though; and sucking it up through a straw keeps things even cleaner."

There was a teasing crook to Sonata's smile. "And makes it easier to keep ice cream headaches away?"

"More importantly," Aria grumbled through a light blush, "there's not as much risk of dropping bits of it on the floor and some idiot coming along to try to lick it up."

"Huh?" Perplexed, Sonata scratched her head. "Nobody came along that time, I just tried to eat it myself because the floors there were really clean and-" Her eyes widened, then narrowed in annoyance. "Heeey!"

Aria playfully stuck her tongue out, drawing a giggle from Fluttershy before taking another sip of her shake. Convincing Adagio to stay home and play Direct Phoneline Florida (a particularly violent, fast-paced game suitable to Adagio's instant-gratification-loving tastes) had been much easier when Sonata explained how it wouldn't really be just the two of them making up for the wedgie if Adagio tagged along.

"So, again, sorry about earlier. You've never really given us a reason to think you'd wanna hurt us, but when something like that happens, thinking 'Oh, I'm sure they mean well' just doesn't come naturally, y'know?" She got uncomfortable squiggles in her guts when Fluttershy smiled all warm and peaceful.

"It's okay, I know how hard it can be to give someone the benefit of the doubt. Believe it or not, I used to go around thinking everyone was just out to get me a little after middle school." From the looks on their faces, it was possible Aria and Sonata didn't believe it. "But then I met Pinkie Pie, and when I finally gave her a chance, I found out what I had been missing by always pushing everyone away. I made a few more friends, and figured, even if some people really do have bad intentions, it was almost always better for me in the long run to try to trust people, to give everyone a chance no matter how things look at first."

The faces she got for this were a little more contemplative, but still quiet, so she went on. "I didn't exactly trust Adagio either, the first time she found me on the bench, b-because, well... But, after a while, I felt like if she wanted to hurt me, she would have, so..." Her smile turned tender as she felt herself blush. "I think you know how things went from there. Was that what it was like for you two?"

"Not really," Aria admitted somewhat uncomfortably, "because while I didn't wanna go burning bridges and making a mess, I didn't trust Doom at all the first time she talked to me alone. In fact, knowing what I knew about her, I was pretty sure all she wanted to was to beat me at whatever game she was playing in front of witnesses, like she was looking for a victory lap." She chuckled. "Of course, now that I know her better, I know she'd never think that far ahead."

Fluttershy blinked. "Um... Okay then... What about you, Sonata?"

"Huh?"

"You must have trusted R-" a sharp look from Aria kept her from saying the name out loud, "-rr... that person to not have any bad intentions if you kept visiting her, right?"

"Oh. I'unno, didn't really think about it." Both Aria and Fluttershy looked like they were expecting more, so she kept talking. "I got the pajamas I came there for, but she was pretty, fed me tea and fancy snacks, didn't give me those 'just-need-an-excuse-to-call-the-cops-on-you' stares, kept letting me help with stuff, and I liked talking to her, so I kept coming back."

"...Oh."

Friendship lessons weren't always clear and easy, she guessed. Maybe she just hadn't picked the right one in this case?

Quietly sipping her milkshake, Aria decided against the other talking point she'd wanted to bring up today. It seemed like a safe bet that all three of them would get rainbow-blasted again if Sonata or Adagio left either of their Rainboom sweethearts on bad terms, and she'd wanted to make it clear that she'd have her own justice if either of her oldest friends were the ones to end up with broken hearts.

However, Fluttershy probably got that message already, and if anything, felt more like the type to beat herself up worse than anything Aria would want to do to her if she found Adagio as a crying, inconsolable mess again. That in mind, she opted to keep the friendly, sorry-about-the-wedgie atmosphere just the way it was, hoping they'd never need to bring up the subject of heartbreak-induced vengeance again.

As the three of them headed for CHS's music room, Sonata couldn't help feeling a little uneasy. "You're sure the Rainbooms are gonna do it right, Dagi? This stuff isn't really their bread and butter."

"Completely sure? No, but worst comes to worst, we need only hire professionals to record the tune for us before the showcase."

"That'd rack up a bill after a while," Aria idly noted, "and what we've got ain't gonna last forever. Anyone have any idea what we're gonna do once school ends?"

"A few," Adagio answered offhandedly as they came up on the music room, "but for now, let's focus on the matter at hand. The text said they'd gotten through the entire song with no problems today and we should stop by to-"

The doors flung open, a blue, rainbow-haired blur bolting out to draw a startled shriek from Adagio by grabbing her by the waist, picking her up, and twirling her in a circle before setting her down again, to the sirens' mutual confusion as Rainbow excitedly babbled something about rocket ships and stone birds and brain-steroids. They couldn't remotely follow what she was saying, but her beaming smile and occasional fist-pumping motions made it clear that she was all psyched up.

"Uh," Aria ventured with audible concern, "you feeling alright there?"

"Great," she answered through a face-splitting grin, still practically shaking as she tried to contain herself, "so great! Blood's pumping and I feel like I could punch-" she punched a nearby wall, hard enough to make the sirens wince, "a building!!"

There was a pause that Sonata hesitantly broke. "...Didn't that hur-"

Rainbow was still smiling. "Knuckle's bleeding!!"

"Forgive her enthusiasm," Rarity said as she joined them out in the hall, her hair lightly disheveled as she focused on Sonata with a half-lidded look, "but I think all of us got into the groove, as it were, most of all Rainbow. I'm sure the effect will wear off in due time."

"'Effect'?!" Aria scowled at Adagio. "Have you been holding out on us?!"

Adagio sputtered in indignant disbelief before Sunset and Fluttershy stepped out too, the former answering. "There was no magic, we'd just never played a song like that before and it had kind of an impact on some of us. Promise."

She tried not to laugh at the withering look and very sheepish, apologetic smile Adagio and Aria were giving each other, respectively, but hoped she could blame her grin on the same high that had affected the others if anyone asked. She only had to crane her head backward to hear that Pinkie and Applejack were still talking about branching out a little. Doing so must have caused her to miss something, because Fluttershy was now bandaging Rainbow's hand and Rarity was kissing Sonata right in the middle of the hall. Classes were over and almost nobody was in the building around this time, but still.

"R-Rari," Sonata whispered through a wobbly smile, face flushed as she tried to turn away, "someone might see us."

"Frankly my dear," she breathed while brushing a loose strand of Sonata's fringe back into place, "I don't give a damn."

Many eyes widened as Rarity pushed Sonata to the floor to commence aggressive French kisses. After about a minute of that, Adagio regarded Sunset with a raised eyebrow.

"Playing one metal-style song did this to your group?"

"The girls that are used to singing cheerful pop ballads about the joys of friendship? Kinda looks like it, yea."

"Part of it might have been the lyrics," Fluttershy chimed in, "because while we didn't sing, part of what helped us get the feeling of the song was to go through the lyrics in our heads." She grinned brightly. "I wasn't even playing an instrument and I still got goosebumps!"

"I'm sure we can do it again if the recording isn't quite what you had in mind," Sunset offered with a smile, "but if not, do you guys have everything you need?"

Glancing over the floor-bound couple, Aria crossed her arms. "A tarp to cover these two, maybe."

"I think we're set," Adagio giggled, her lips forming a warm, genuine smile, "and, thank you."

Feeling another shot of that extra-cuddly Friendship Juice in her chest, Sunset smiled too. "Any time!"

"This is it, this is really, really it," Pinkie excitedly reminded everyone as she bobbed in place in front of the big, outdoor performance hall, "today's the day; the big showcase!"

"Yes, we know," tittered Rarity, "I think all of us have been looking forward to this."

Applejack smiled as she straightened her hat. "We still playin' 'Shine Like Rainbows' when it's our turn?"

"Darn right we are!" Rainbow, almost as psyched up as Pinkie as she pumped a still-bandaged fist. "It's the only thing we've got that feels feelsy enough for today, y'know?"

Sunset snorted, amused. "Never thought you'd pick a song for a reason like that."

Hands on her hips, Rainbow struck a Trixie-worthy pose of chin-raised haughtiness. "I can read a mood sometimes."

The group giggled, Applejack taking a quick look around. "So, anyone seen the sirens today? This is kinda their show, after all."

"I believe they're getting ready backstage," answered Rarity, "even got their wardrobe all squared away."

Pinkie tilted her head. "They didn't let you dress 'em up for this?"

"Sonata apparently wasn't exaggerating when she said they had an extensive costume department and the style she talked about isn't exactly my forte anyway, so it's likely for the best." She looked askance at Rainbow. "Speaking of accessorizing, didn't you say your hand had healed up?"

"Yea, but the bandage just looks cool."

There were more giggles, Fluttershy looking towards the stage as she pictured the upcoming performance. For once, she barely felt the fears and worries that swirled around in her belly, just looking forward to many more songs in many more styles from her three favorite singers.

The showcase opened in the late afternoon with Trixie and The Illusions, who played an upbeat, but not as in-your-face kind of song as what they performed during the Battle of the Bands. Fluttershy had been surprised to see them together, but apparently the group had talked just a few days before the showcase. Snips and Snails (tried to) perform another rap, this time earning an approving look from Principal Celestia for not dropping the microphones. Flash Drive and Ditzy's band played their songs, the Rainbooms had their turn (which, standing on such a big, everyone-staring-right-at-you stage, Fluttershy got through by closing her eyes and thinking of swingy walks), Octavia played a soulful classic, and then it was the sirens' turn.

The lights dimmed over an empty stage, a lasting quiet making a few people wonder if the showcase was over and it was time to go home. This ambiguity was shattered when the sudden, startling sound of three low, guttural voices called out in unison.

"We want..."

As making these work has a lot to do with following the syllables, I resisted writing a parody song for something in Japanese (which tends to say a lot more a lot faster) in another story, but here's hoping German is easier to follow!

The voices came again, the music starting up in quiet, but rhythmic pulse as they repeated the chant, building tension until a lavender-scented smoke-bomb detonated at the back of the stage. Accompanied by the entry of the guitars, the sirens slowly sauntered out into view.

Adagio was clad in a black, shiny, skin-tight jumpsuit under thin, dark-purple skirt that hung down by her knees from the back and cut up to her thighs in the front, a trim vest of the same color, and her belt, hairband, and high-heeled boots all adorned with spikes. Happy to take the excuse, she even wore thick, black eyeshadow and lipstick. On her right, Aria proudly wore a thick, black jacket with metal spikes sticking out of the arms and shoulders in apparently random directions, tight black jeans, thin, black heels, fingerless gloves, and a black skull painted over her face. On Adagio's opposite side, Sonata wore dark-red, tattered, punkish shorts, big, spiky bracers, spiky-footed boots that went up to her knees, tank-top that, while thin, didn't show anything indecent, and face-paint resembling a jack-o-lantern with black, crazy eyes and a sharp, wavy mouth.

By the time the lyrics got started, every eye in the audience was watching with rapt attention.

We want you to hear us out,
We want...
We want to hear voices shout!
We want...
We want you to sing with us.
We want-
-you to know our song, and thus!

We want...
We want you all on your feet.
We want...
We want you feeling the beat!
We want...
We want your counter-attack!
We want...
We want you all screaming back!!

Fluttershy beamed with delight as she glanced around to see quite a few people already bobbing along with the tune, even as some others looked on as though expecting another spell.

We want...
We want all of you to see...
We want...
We want all of you to be...
We want...
We want you to feel this too.
We want, a voice from all of you!

Kneeling down and extending a hand outward to the crowd, Adagio purred in her regular speaking voice.

"Listening?
You'll know the words...
When we sing...
Come be heard!"

What do you hear?!

The sirens felt a warm pulse as some of the crowd joined in.

I hear you!

And when we sing?!

I'll sing too!

And when we're screaming?!

I'll scream too!

We want to hear you!

What do you hear?!

I hear you!

And when we sing?!

I'll sing too!

And when we're screaming?!

I'll scream too!

We want to hear you!

We want...

We want...

We want...

We want...

Softly, Adagio again addressed the audience in her speaking voice as the song quieted down.

"We just want to sing with you...
To know Harmony like you do...
If you'd come and join our song...
I'm sure we can get along..." She winked. "Right?"

The music picked up with a vengeance as Trixie's colorful pyrotechnics flared up, many in the audience jumping to their feet to join in.

What do you hear?!

We hear you!

And when we sing?!

We'll sing too!

And when we're screaming?!

We'll scream too!

We want to hear you!

What do you hear?!

We hear you!

And when we sing?!

We'll sing too!

And when we're screaming?!

We'll scream too!

We want to hear you!

We want...

We want...

The sirens timed the song's abrupt end with a bow, and not just because none of them wanted the roaring crowd (not everyone, but the ones they heard were going ballistic), to see the tears in their eyes or the embarrassingly sappy smiles on their faces as they drank in applause for the first time in...

Since before they entered this world, maybe? It wasn't quite what they'd expected, but this was pretty much it; what they'd wanted all this time, and the warm tingles in their chests as clear a sign as they knew how to interpret that something had just happened. However, when Adagio mustered the will to look at the crowd again, seeing all the same faces in the exact same spot she'd stood when they lost their gems and all that came with them, she froze. As much as she wanted to let out a perfect note in her unaltered singing voice, to confirm to her smiling Sweetie that everything had finally worked out, she hesitated. Glancing at the others, she found that they were most likely thinking something similar, opting to regroup backstage.

When the crowd had mostly quieted down, looking at the three of them with a hint of anticipation, she addressed them with a slightly sheepish expression. "So, uh..." striking a cutesy pose despite her dark and imposing appearance, she winked, "bye!" She detonated one of Trixie's smoke-bombs and the three of them ran, drawing giggles from many in the audience as Lyra and Bon-Bon got their piano ready.

Sitting by her friends, Sunset smiled. "I think it worked!"

Rarity looked less sure. "Should we go check on them?"

"They looked pretty happy to me," added Applejack, "right Flutter-..." She looked around. "shy?"

The trio stood in silence, trading unsure glances and occasionally opening their mouths only to snap them shut again. The prospect of having it all back at long last was an enticing and exhilarating one, but in the same box awaited the possibility that nothing had changed, a confirmation that they truly had lost it forever with no hope of recovery, the very reason all three had been to afraid to even think of directly asking for help. At this point, all that remained was to try.

And that was the scary part.

They couldn't exactly go the rest of their lives just not knowing, of course, and it wouldn't be fair to the Rainbooms (and Trixie!) to let them go to all that effort without any kind of closure, so it was only a matter of time until they worked up the courage. Seeing the paralyzing anxiety in Aria and Sonata's faces, Adagio again pushed herself to take the first leap, but the second she took a breath, the three of them were startled by the door flying open.

"Did it work?" Fluttershy focused directly on Adagio as she paced closer, "were they right about waking up your magic again?"

"We d-don't really know yet," murmured Aria, her eyes on her shoes.

"We know we can do metal," Sonata offered with a forced smile, "so like, there's that."

The mood of the room did not get one iota lighter. The sirens looked at each other and Fluttershy until Adagio cleared her throat to try again. Starting low, she let out a quiet note as perfectly as the night Fluttershy suggested lullabies, then gradually pushed further.

Her voice cracked.

Not looking at any of the others for even a second, she closed her eyes and tried again, only a few seconds passing before she heard the strained screech from her own mouth. Calming herself as best she could, she immediately tried again, with even worse results than before. Her voice died off into a pitiful whimper as she covered her face in shame, clamping down on any and all noise as she struggled not to audibly cry.

Tears streaming down her face, Aria grit her teeth in defiance and tried to sing herself, only pushing harder when she heard her own tuneless, wretched voice. She was quickly joined by Sonata, whose sobs would have thrown her off even without the painful attempts at music she produced. It wasn't long before all three of them found that they were no better than before and anguished weeping was the only sound any of them made.

Aria sniffled, turning a glare on Fluttershy. "Happy now?"

In the back of her mind, she knew it wasn't fair to blame Fluttershy for this, but as with the outcome of the Battle, she told herself the fault lied with the person whose idea this was. Her rage was short-lived, because not so differently from Adagio at the time, Fluttershy looked even more miserable than she did, on her knees as she silently cried, an utterly anguished look of despair in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she bawled, "I'm so, so sorry, this wasn't supposed to happen! This, th-this is why I, I didn't want it to-"

The rest was lost as Fluttershy crumpled to the floor, shaking with sobs as she wept into her own arms and hair. Feeling robbed and helpless yet again, the sirens didn't fare much better, with Sonata curling into a ball to hide her face in her knees and Aria turning away, clenching her fists so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Standing rigidly where she'd been, Adagio found herself utterly paralyzed, torn between the crushing finality of their loss, the howling rage born of disappointment and frustration, and a twisted kind of regret that any of the others had to be involved in this in any way.

She glanced at Aria and Sonata, then Fluttershy, a painfully pitiful sight even if Adagio weren't hopelessly in love with her. Even if Fluttershy wasn't taking this any better than they were, she knew Fluttershy had been through her own pains and losses, and even the bitter, vindictive voice at the back of her mind, the one that used to call for retribution on a daily basis, drew little satisfaction from the misery of one who had helped break her. If anything, it made her feel worse, the heart-vice tangled into a knot like never before as she found herself stepping closer to lean down and put a hand on Fluttershy's shoulder.

"Don't," Fluttershy all but begged through her tears as she pushed Adagio's hand away, "please, don't, I can't I c-can't-" She forced herself to speak through her inelegant blubbering, even if these ended up being the last words she ever said to any of the sirens. "I can't let you forg-give me for this, it's too, it's, I never meant to-"

She quickly lost what little composure she'd had as Adagio pulled her into a hug anyway, holding on even as Fluttershy frantically tried to squirm free in her fit of guilt-induced self-hatred. Adagio remembered when she was the one that didn't feel she deserved forgiveness, and the time she was the one that needed help, which was where she drew the inspiration of how to calm Fluttershy down.

Turning their heads as Adagio started singing a soft, soothing lullaby, her voice unhampered by the strange volume issues that had kept them restricted to specific ranges, Aria and Sonata watched in silence for a moment. It wasn't every day that they saw someone cry, and emotional outpour of one who reached out to them by herself, who only strove to make their lives better despite past difficulties, wasn't one they wanted to see. Aria sniffled once, wiping the tears out of her eyes as best she could as she walked over, knelt down, and wrapped her arms around Fluttershy and Adagio. She hadn't heard Sonata move, but there she was almost immediately as the two gingerly joined in the song.

It was hard to tell whether or not Fluttershy even recognized the lullaby she'd sung when Adagio was sick, because she continued crying long enough that they had to start the song over. Whether they were better synchronized on the second go or she was just running out of tears, her sobs faded to whimpers and sniffles, which faded into silence as she finally started to calm down. The sirens kept singing anyway, if only to reinforce that they didn't hate her or blame her for this, but the warmth they felt as she stopped trying to wriggle out of their grasp and cuddled hungrily into the embrace might have kept them going regardless.

Even with the restriction on their vocal cords, all three felt pretty good about this. It was almost nostalgic; the kind of feeling they used to get when returning from another job for Coltlantis, a sweet mixture of pride and contentment in knowing they had secured that which mattered most to them for another day. It was a very warm feeling! Maybe Fluttershy even got it in a second-hand happy kind of way, because she eventually looked up, managing a tiny smile.

"I didn't notice the ears before, during the show. When did you add those?"

Adagio blinked twice. "Ears?"

Looking at her, Sonata's eyes widened and she pointed. "Aaaaaahh!"

Wincing, Aria wore a half-hearted scowl. "Don't yell in our ears you doof-AAAAH!!"

At the second scream, Adagio raised her hands to cover her ears... only to not find them. That was when she noticed that Aria and Sonata both had pony ears atop their heads, as well as the hair extensions and gossamer wings she remembered from the Battle. Reaching higher up on her own head, she found herself in the same situation. "What-?!"

Before she could even finish the exclamation, Sonata let out a long, loud note. In her regular singing voice. There was a pause, followed by all three sirens trying in unison to sing like they used to, no whispers or throaty metal vocals. They could sing again.

What followed is best described as an equally confused and delighted romp around the little room as the four girls practically rolled around on the floor as a big, giggly mass of bodies in a blend of four repeating, simultaneous hug-tackles happening at the same time, with a few light bruises and parts of spiky outfits jabbing some uncomfortable places and leaving scratch-marks on the floor. The sirens continued to sing a happy, disjointed barrage of random songs even when the pony-up faded, going until they were all out of breath. It was this noise that clued the searching Rainbooms in to their exact location, Sunset the first to pop her head through the doorway.

"Here they are! I heard laughing and singing, did it wor-" When she saw the badly-smeared blackness of the sirens' make-up among the visually-baffling mound of tangled bodies and erratic limbs, she stopped, shrieked, and bolted from the room, the other Rainbooms popping in much like she had.

"What's goin-"
"Y'all okay in-"
"Heya, guys-"
"Good heav-"

Seeing the same sight as Sunset, the remaining four Rainbooms went wide-eyed, screamed, and fainted.

Adagio giggled. "Not that I don't like being close to all of you, but we should probably help them up."

And so they did! Once everyone was untangled and Nurse Fluttershy had been allowed to address everyone's tiny, but numerous wounds. As the only cooperative patient, Adagio had watched with delighted amusement as Aria and Sonata learned the hard way never to fight their nurse.

Author's Note

This probably isn't the first predictable resolution to a story I've done, but FiM is a very cliche-friendly place when it comes to happy endings.

And yes, how exactly that worked will be addressed in the history chapter (by which point they'll have had some time to think about it) with Pri-Twi. On that note, any questions you may have regarding (this version of) Coltlantis and the sirens' origins, Twilight may ask in the interview, so feel free to leave them in the comments! ...But remember that Adagio is the one answering. :twilightoops:

I was tempted to say the sirens could play just about any musical instrument (and thus be able to make the song themselves) because they had a magical affinity with music in general and that it was just their vocal cords that were damaged, but I feel that wouldn't have made sense for a short list of reasons, and more importantly, I didn't so much as hint to it anywhere else in the story, so it would have come out of nowhere.

I know Sunset got away with it (as she generally does), but if they could play instruments (from another world, no less) all this time, I think they'd at least be content to jam together rather than sulking about not being able to sing, specifically.

So instead, we get a little reinforcement of the name of the show when some friends lend a helping hand! :pinkiehappy:

I also wanted to include a note of Luna suddenly having painted her own face and head-banging during the sirens' song (and Celestia being very glad no one was looking at them), but there just wasn't room for it to fit neatly. Still happened, though!

Chapter 57: Interesting Meals

The week following the musical showcase proved very eventful.

CHS was surprised and worried to see the sirens suddenly happier than ever before, with Adagio strolling through the halls looking blissful and content, wearing an earnestly cute smile without even being aware of it. At least until she spotted a tempting teasing target, but even then, managed to restrain herself a little and always backed off when asked. Aria had lost a lot of her grumpy, standoffish demeanor, not quite smiling most of the time, but not scowling and glaring, either. This served to make her much more approachable, and with irregular moments of awkward babbling, even endearing to many, to her mild, pouty-faced chagrin. Sonata had gotten even more cheerful and excitable than ever, but the occasional dope-slap kept her from taking anything too far.

With the reason for all the tension between their groups essentially dissolved, the sirens and Rainbooms had planned on just greeting each other casually and being friendly whether people were watching or not, then explaining to anyone that asked that the Rainbooms had helped with the song. However, in the morning of the first school day after the showcase, the sirens were surprised by a warm welcome from someone none of them had even spoken to before.

Aria and Sonata stood back in quiet puzzlement as Ditzy Doo grabbed one of Adagio's hands, shaking it with both of her own as she excitedly babbled something about how their song was really good and even if she didn't understand all of words (harsh metal vocals and all), it made her want to jump up and down (which she did!). The faces of the other students in the hall betrayed a variety of responses, but to the sirens' surprise, only two or three out of a dozen were visibly worried.

Over the course of that day, it became increasingly clear that, not so differently from the case of Sunset Shimmer, the majority of CHS seemed to stop caring as much about all that these-girls-are-evil stuff once they'd seen the three of them do something 'awesome' in the form of a musical performance complete with eye-catching costumes and colorful pyrotechnics. Even if their rendition included heavy metal and no magical evil to vanquish, the irony was not lost on them. They didn't exactly have tons of new friends, but there were a lot more people that didn't seem to mind talking to them, all of whom proved to be genuine in their offers of congratulation and well-wishing, even when it came out that the sirens had their full singing voices again. If anyone ever noticed that this returned their magical musical accompaniment as well (albeit without mind-altering effects), they never said as much.

Some continued to fear and mistrust the sirens unconditionally, but such people were more than free to carry on with their lives under no actual threat. Two or three of the most cautious students strongly urged the Rainbooms to take action, which (as agreed upon in private) they responded as having done by helping the sirens with their song as an olive branch for having destroyed their voices and to let them enjoy the musical showcase like everyone else, whether they were 'good now' (Rainbow had even questioned exactly what that meant, receiving no answer) or not. This had the joint effect of establishing a reasonable connection between their groups and quieting the fearful rumors of a second Battle of the Bands happening. There was, as suspected, a clear presence of "Well, if the Rainbooms say you're okay..." in CHS once that came to light, but with how many had already embraced and welcomed the sirens of their own free will, it barely mattered most of the time.

To her credit, Trixie never once tried to farm popularity points by saying she was close with the sirens and could introduce anyone. If anything, she seemed careful and protective of them, and in the context of her own history with Adagio, no one really felt the need to ask why. There were occasional jokes about panties, but having gotten used to (or at least learned to weather) Adagio's teasing, Trixie usually shrugged them off.

Within days of the musical showcase, CHS as a whole had regained its peaceful, companionable atmosphere in full, with all suspicion and gossip of another threat against their school eventually dying off entirely as the sirens were finally welcomed on their own terms; given a chance for who they were, not who they knew. Most things, of course, remained much the same, such as Adagio and Fluttershy's meetings on the bench by the soccer field on weekday mornings.

Sitting very close together with Fluttershy's arms wrapped tightly around her, Adagio found herself wearing a slightly wry grin as they cuddled.

"Not that I'm complaining, but do you believe me yet when I say I'm really not upset about the false start just after our song?"

"I don't know," Fluttershy giggled as she nuzzled Adagio's shoulder, "I might need more time to be sure."

Though her smile didn't fade as relished the tender embrace, Adagio spoke softly. "You really have been a little extra affectionate lately, and with the way you've been looking at me, and the others, I don't think it's just out of love." The way Fluttershy's face contorted with quiet shame seemed like a bullseye. Now the smile faded a little, Adagio giving Fluttershy's hand a little squeeze. "We're not mad at you, you know we're not. I know we haven't had a big, formal, soul-bearing session about it so far, but if you think it'd help, I-"

Frowning, Fluttershy lifted her head to look her in the eye. "It may have only been a few minutes, but I know that hurt all of you. That the pain doesn't last for long doesn't make it okay to cause it, it-"

"It is if I forgive you, right?" She grinned a little wider as Fluttershy's eyes widened, saying the rest the second Fluttershy opened her mouth. "Will you let me?"

For several seconds, it was unclear to Adagio whether she'd said something very right or very wrong as Fluttershy's lips wobbled and her eyes watered, but the sudden (and slightly painful) increase in pressure around her ribcage as Fluttershy buried her face in Adagio's curls felt like a positive sign. She could have sworn she heard a muffled 'I'll respect your decision' in there too, which made her giggle. Gently rubbing circles on Fluttershy's back, she leaned back into her own fluff-cushion.

"You know, I spent the first... maybe four or five weeks that we knew each other just worried that I would inevitably scare you off, that either I'd push you too far one day or you'd get sick of me over time. Even when you said you'd let me do whatever I wanted, the fear didn't just vanish, and I worried often that sooner or later, I would go too far." She gently moved Fluttershy far back enough to be able to make eye-contact, offering a warm smile as she did. "Does any of that sound familiar?"

She got a nod, which she responded to by delicately brushing aside the hair partly obscuring Fluttershy's face. "I've treated you as though you were fragile many times, but you've proven more resilient than the girl that ran from spotlights in my memory. I know now that you won't tear off screaming or devolve into a blubbering heap if I cross a line somewhere, and..." Smiling somewhat self-consciously, she shrugged. "You've probably noticed that my own tolerance for pain is nothing to scoff at."

Fluttershy nodded. "I have, but I'd still rather you didn't hide it." She hadn't meant that to sound so accusing, but the guilty look on Adagio's face had her talking before she thought about what she was saying. "B-but I don't blame you! I know what you mean; how it's good that we, that anyone, could care about someone so much, to worry about hurting them and doing what they can to be careful and considerate, but if that goes too far, it can have the opposite effect. Trusting each other not to hurt us is fine, but not if we never trust each other enough to say anything when something is wrong, or when something hurts, whether it's by saying 'squirrel' or not!"

The two blushed a little in the following pause, but Adagio chuckled. "Indeed. I don't know if a safeword is necessary just for regular interactions, unless you're really into that kind of play," she smiled wider as Fluttershy flushed hotter, "but the same principle applies; you tell me when and if you need me to slow down or something and I'll tell you when I could use a break. Is that okay with you?" She nearly squeed as Fluttershy gave her a tiny, bashful, slightly wry smile with that precious, crimson face.

"Y-you're making fun of me now." Fluttershy felt her heart flip as Adagio shot her that adorably coy, playful look with a wink as she briefly stuck her tongue out.

"Maybe, but if I ever go too far...?"

Fluttershy hugged her tightly. "I'll let you know!"

Giggling merrily, the two cuddled on the bench together.

"So, Sweetie, while we're on the subject, could you maybe restrain your hugs a little? I'm not sure all this pressure on my insides is healthy."

"Haha, s-sorry!"

It had become not terribly rare to see the sirens and Rainbooms all sitting at the same lunch table, but today wasn't one of those days. Ordinarily, Adagio would have just offered Trixie to join in too, because the tables were certainly long enough to accommodate a lot of people, but the big, beaming smile on Trixie's face when she asked to talk to them in relative private for a while was just too precious to decline. What Trixie had to share didn't necessarily need to be secret in any way, but it did only concern the three of them.

Sonata's eyes widened. "You talked to the drama club for us?"

"That's the best part," Trixie replied with a proud grin, "they talked to me! You guys remember Sophisticata, pretty much the one in charge? ...No? Well, she's pretty much the one in charge of the drama club, and at our club meeting, she brought up how you guys wanted in before, and even if I wasn't there when you tore into Indigo Wreath's writing abilities, the steady decline of interest and attendance for our original productions over the last year or so has made it pretty clear who was right about who being a hack."

The effort with which Aria restrained herself from making a smug smile had her looking as though she'd french-kissed a lemon, but Adagio gently pat her on the back as Trixie continued.

"We've all talked (and shouted a couple times) about it, and while the grammar issues had mostly been ironed out, our playwright conceded that he could stand to work on consistent characterization and maybe string scenes together in chronological order all the time, ideally while doing something to show the audience what actually connects said scenes. I bring this up because while we were making changes, Sophisticata asked me to talk to you guys about coming back!"

The sirens shared a look, Adagio raising an eyebrow. "Did she happen to say why she wanted us?"

Trixie made a face as though bracing for something painful, a hint of apology in her eyes as she delivered what she was pretty sure would be taken as bad news. "Wellll... Supposedly, it's to make up for how things went for you guys when you first came back to school, both in the club and in CHS in general, but I'm pretty sure it's also because people kinda-sorta like you now after that song and-" she made a proud, though fleeting little smile, "Trixie was lauded for her part, by the way- and they're hoping your newfound popularity will help boost interest in the drama club a little. No point in all that work if nobody comes to see, y'know? That, and it probably goes without saying that casting three of the prettiest girls in school will make at least a few more people wanna watch, so...? How're you guys feeling about this?"

Trixie got to watch a short, silent conversation among the sirens as they traded looks, Sonata the first to say anything out loud as she smiled hesitantly.

"It could be kinda fun."

Aria crossed her arms. "They just wanna use us, just like they're using Trixie to get us on board."

"Perhaps," nodded Adagio, "but in light of our own experiences, perhaps we could stand to give them the benefit of the doubt?"

Aria's mouth opened and closed a few times as she visibly went through her own arguments before settling on a disgruntled pout. "Fine, but..."

Sonata giggled. "I think it'll be okay. Oh, but, if we join, do we have to give back the witch hat we swiped?"

For the first time in a long time, Aria and Adagio facepalmed in unison. "Sonata!"

Trixie's eyes widened. "You stole from the drama club?"

Adagio raised an irritable eyebrow. "Didn't I see you in the cloak from the same outfit, well away from school grounds?"

"Ack! I, that, th-that was...!" Glancing around for a moment, Trixie wore a sheepish, guilty little grin. "...I won't tell if you won't?"

The four girls giggled, quietly agreeing to return the witch costume eventually, whether things worked out with the drama club or not.

Idly strumming his guitar while waiting in the music room, Flash Sentry looked up when he heard a quiet clack of heels against the floor. "Adagio. You said you wanted to talk to me?"

Secretly pleased that she had pulled off an audible, non-startling approach, Adagio nodded and smiled. "Yes. I wanted to thank you for what you've done for us, but I don't believe your services will be necessary anymore." As expected, he gave her a confused look.

"'Services'? What are you talking about?"

"There's no need to pretend anymore, I'm well aware of the, 'damage control,' I think you called it?" The nervous shift in his face was all but confirmation, drawing an amused chuckle, "And, while we're grateful for the help, I don't think we'll be needing it anymore."

Flash spent a few seconds working up some kind of denial, but as he could see in Adagio's eyes that it was written all over his face, he sighed, smiling a little in resignation. "It, sorta felt like the right thing to do, I guess. If Sunset probably-the-worst-bully-in-CHS-history Shimmer got another shot, it's only fair that you guys should too. Sorry I couldn't do more for any of you, but, uh..."

"It's alright, we're..." She shrugged. "I know we're not the easiest people to get along with in general, and even if you had befriended one or more of us personally, we'd have probably been accused to using you in the same way Sunset did anyway." She frowned. "And, on the topic of apologies, I never said anything about how I used you to get under Twilight's skin, did I?"

With a slightly rueful smile, Flash waved her off. "Don't worry about it. I've had several months of no contact whatsoever from her to think about it, and I'm pretty sure there's nothing between us at this point. I mean, it'd be kind of stupid to get all bent out of shape about a relationship that wasn't going anywhere anyway, right?"

Adagio shifted where she stood, still visibly contrite. "Perhaps, but knowing what I do now about how it feels to care for someone that much, I'd..." She lowered her eyes to the floor. "I'd like to say I wouldn't have done it anyway, but given the chance to regain our power, as I was, I don't know what would have been more important to me."

There was a short silence as Flash looked at Adagio, getting deja vu for the time Sunset delivered her own apologies. Adagio's were much, much shorter, but at least she wasn't crying, because he'd had no idea what to do when that happened. Absent-mindedly strumming his guitar, he smiled. "Y'know, I think I'm gonna try my hand at a song about not sweating the 'maybe's and 'what-if's in life. I'm sure it's been done before, but tons of songs out there aren't original, and I sorta feel like the reminder wouldn't hurt."

Seeing what he was really saying there, Adagio hesitantly looked up with a little smile. "Indeed. Hoping to sway a girl or two in the process?"

Shrugging, Flash showed her a slightly sheepish grin. "Why does any man pick up a guitar?"

Adagio's lips curled into a playful smirk. "A lack of endearingly oafish, nice-guy charm?"

He blinked twice. "Huh?"

Giggling, Adagio turned on a heel. "Nothing, nothing. Take care, Flash Sentry."

Leaving the music room, Adagio smiled to herself. She'd never dreamed she would find someone like Her Sweetie here at CHS, but she had entertained fantasies of fooling around with Flash, mainly to spite Twilight in some way. Hell, in a world in which she hadn't constantly been watched by most of the school and never connected with Fluttershy, maybe it even could have gone somewhere, but that world was not this one.

Gathered around the tables of Sugarcube Corner, the sirens, Rainbooms, Trixie, and quite a few others clinked sodas and milkshake glasses together in a toast to the long-awaited Finally Friends With The Sirens party, for which, Aria suspected, Pinkie had stopped just short of snorting raw sugar in preparation. Really, the only thing she'd have changed was the complete absence of alcoholic drinks. And maybe not have as many streamers. Come to think of it, if they had to have a cake, she'd have preferred one that didn't have so many bright colors and-

Whatever. They'll discover grown-up parties some day.

For now, Aria contented herself with an activity she had only been able to do with Rainbow up until recently; sharing stories of times with friends who weren't there and knew all the details already. "...So when Nata and I get back from making up with Squeaky, Dagi's finished the game (it's kinda short), moved the couch so it's facing the front door when we walk in, and she's leaning back on it with one leg folded over the other, wearing a creepy rooster mask as she says 'Well, look who it is...'"

Being familiar with Direct Phoneline Florida, Rainbow and Applejack both laughed. Still smiling, Applejack shook her head. "Ah guess she couldn't find a donkey mask fer that part?"

"I don't think so, but, there's only one of her and three characters, so she wasn't gonna be able to do that part right anyway."

At another table, Sonata was doing something similar, but on a bit of a sweeter note as she grinned. "And like, Dagi learning to cook makes it a three-way thing!"

Fluttershy, still on cool-down from a particularly intimate (and public!!) moment with Adagio earlier in the party, giggled. "It's so nice that all of you found something the others can enjoy too."

"Yes," Rarity said uncertainly, "though while I think I see the appeal of cutesy doodles hung on the fridge (Sweetie Belle used to do something similar in an effort to make my fabrics prettier, which was adorable at the time), how does Aria playing games help either of you?"

"Uhmm...?" Sonata scratched her head. "Well, it's like, some games are complicated or frustrating or just kinda crap, and Aria likes figuring them out and telling us where the good stuff is so we can just play, forget the day, and pass the time." She smiled. "I don't think any of us did it on purpose, but I'm glad it worked out this way."

Fluttershy smiled brightly. "Me too."

Not far from them, Sunset sat with Adagio and Trixie, grinning brightly as she vocalized a question she'd been wishing she could ask for months. "How's non-outcast life been treating you, Adagio?"

"Quite well," she replied through a chuckle, "almost no sense of anyone wanting me gone all week."

Sunset stopped smiling. "'Almost'?"

"Don't worry," Trixie said while giving Adagio a playful nudge, "this scoundrel's only problem has been people that don't want to play her games."

"Oh," Sunset sighed in relief, "that's, good, I guess. No trouble with the drama club so far?"

Adagio giggled, shooting Sunset a slightly wry smile. "If I didn't know better, I would think you were looking for disaster."

Shrugging, Sunset smiled sheepishly. "Seems like there's always at least one bad thing going on, y'know? With how well things have been going, I'm half-expecting someone get abducted or something."

The smile became a smirk. "Been thinking about abduction lately, hm?"

Blink. "Huh?"

"A lone victim taken without warning, bound and at the mercy of their captors..." She winked. "Don't worry, it's a reasonably common kink." Adagio had earnestly planned to stop there, but then Sunset's eyes widened and Trixie pointed to Sunset and said something silly. Loudly.

"You have a kidnapping fetish?!"

That got the attention of most of the room, which a blushing Sunset did her best to defuse. "N-no!! I was just saying 'what if', y'know?!"

Rarity, eyes wide, looked directly at Sunset. "'What if' what, Darling?"

Realizing that the rest of the room was missing a very important piece of context as Adagio started snickering, Sunset stood up and did her best to explain. "We were talking about bad things happening!" If anything, she only got more judging stares for this, making her glow even brighter. "A-actually bad things, the tragic kind!"

She heard people whisper.

"Tragic?"
"Sounds like something heavy."
"Is she even old enough for that stuff?"
"She's supposed to be older than all of us, right?"
"And she's from Equestria, same as Adagio..."
"They must be into some intense stuff over there..."

Seeing that she was only making it worse, Sunset covered her face with both hands, groaned, and sank into her seat. She didn't feel any better when she heard Trixie giggle, though she peered through her fingers to find an apologetic smile on the magician's face.

"Well... Sorry about that. If it helps, you're not the only one thought to have had extremely unusual sexual proclivities, and I can tell you the worst of it goes away after a week or two."

"Thanks. Thanks so much." Even if she was trying to keep it down, Adagio's giggling drew a scowl as Sunset's eyes narrowed in faux menace. "You started this."

"Guilty," she admitted with a cheeky grin, "but you took it so much further than I would have." She reigned herself in enough to make a completely straight face. "Although, if you'd rather I didn't...?"

Letting out a quiet sigh, Sunset shook her head and smiled. "Nah. I know you don't mean any harm with it, and if anything, I always thought it was a little weird that you used to totally ignore me." The way Adagio flinched, frowned, and turned her head away sent a guilty twinge through Sunset's chest, but luckily, Trixie spoke up and wrapped a friendly arm across Adagio's shoulders.

"Mileage may vary, but Trixie much prefers friendly ribbing to complete shutting-out."

Still avoiding eye-contact with anyone, Adagio guiltily fidgeted in place. "Sorry. In hindsight, I think giving you two the cold shoulder, no matter the reason, was a mistake, but if that was how people treated us when we returned, I thought...?"

Thinking back, Sunset knew exactly what she meant. That had not been a fun stretch of months, and if not for her friends, she'd have probably closed herself off from everyone else too, let them hate her while hating them all right back, so she could hardly begrudge Adagio for thinking along similar lines. In fact, she was pretty sure she felt a group hug coming on, scooching her chair over to hug Adagio too!

Embraced by the two girls, one she used to despise and the other she'd been certain despised her, Adagio melted, the heart-vice offering only a warm, gentle squeeze for once as she hugged the two of them back. Then she felt another, less gentle squeeze by an additional pair of arms wrapping around the three of them.

"Ack, Pinkie," Sunset strained, "we've talked before about the importance of lungs! Loosen up a little, please!"

"Heehee, sorry!"

Before Adagio knew it, some kind of summoning spell had been triggered and half the room (including the rest of the Rainbooms, Sonata, and a slightly begrudging Aria) was joining in on the increasingly dogpile-like hug, even knowing that she was at the center! Not that she was surprised that people might want to be physically close to her, but for different reasons this time! She was just about to ask if this was a regular occurrence at Rainboom parties when she felt something wriggling through her hair and another pair of arms wrapping around her midsection, Fluttershy's smiling face popping out of her hair to rest on her shoulder.

"...Hi!"

"Hehe! Hi, Sweetie."

Seeing those two get all flirty and publicly affectionate, Sonata had an idea. She turned to look at one of her fellow huggers. "Hey Rarity, wanna be a couple?"

Rarity's jaw dropped and her face flushed. "I, I-I, that's very direct for such a-"

"I'm taking that as a yes! I'll get some punch," she said as she quickly freed herself from the group hug, leaning in to kiss Rarity on the cheek, "MMMMWAH!" and bounded off, presumably towards the snack table.

Snacks sounded good to a lot of people right then, so the hug mostly dispersed, with Rarity in particular needing some room to cool down as a new wave of excitable whispers started up.

Lightly elbowing Aria while looking in the direction Sonata had gone, Rainbow chuckled. "Works fast, doesn't she?"

"Pfft," Aria scoffed in accordance with the act, "I give it a week."

Still cuddled into Adagio's hair, Fluttershy whispered into her ear. "S-so, speaking of being direct, um..."

"Yes," Adagio answered with a smirk, "you may rest your hands anywhere you wish."

"Eep! N-not that, I, uh, w-wanted to ask-"

"Permission to strip your own clothes off as long as you're hiding in my hair anyway? Well, I won't stop you if-"

"Not that either!"

"Fine, I'll take my clothes off and-"

"Adagio!!"

She giggled. "Alright," she asked softly, "what did you want to say?"

Fluttershy took a breath, but to her equal pride and relief, didn't need very long. "Are you d-doing anything this Saturday?"

Adagio smiled.

"This... is... interesting. Not bad, mind, but how did you find this place?"

Fluttershy giggled. "I spent some time looking into restaurants in the area to find somewhere different, and this one really stuck out."

It was true; the building was even kind of slanted and painted with bright, cheery colors, making The Face-Stuffporium hard to miss. That wasn't the reason she wanted to take Adagio here, however, it was what she'd heard about the menu. Apparently, the place was owned by an eccentric billionaire that wanted to see all different kinds of foods available in one place, from local favorites, to exotic dishes, to completely unorthodox mixtures like chocolate-covered pancakes and cute little sculptures made of fruit and breadsticks, and even things the customers make up themselves!

She wasn't sure how they managed all this in one building, but it meant that as long as she could keep thinking of new things (or at least finding things that sounded appetizing on the Popular Requests menu), she'd never run out of new things to feed Adagio! That was what allowed her to witness the analytical face as Adagio chewed frosting-dipped peanuts and chicken nuggets seasoned with honey.

"So, you remember that scare-prank channel I told you Nata set up? The one with the video chatrooms?"

"Yes?"

"She shut it down this morning. Apparently, she made a video to tell her viewers that she just isn't feeling it anymore, explained to thousands of anonymous strangers that she had been scaring people as a means to vent her frustrations with life in general, and things had changed enough for her that she didn't want to do it anymore." There was a pause as Fluttershy stared back at her. She shrugged. "I thought you might be happy to hear it; someone deciding not to torment other people for giggles anymore?"

"Oh!" She smiled. "Well, y-yes, I guess that's nice."

Nodding, Adagio smiled too. "I could certainly see where she was coming from, because I hardly remember the last time I went around looking for victims like I used to, and the compulsion has practically vanished. I think life has been calmer for all three of us," her eyes went half-lidded, but there was an unmistakable air of genuine warmth and affection rather than just playful malice, "and we owe nearly all of it to you." Using a crazy straw bent to form a square in the middle, she took a long sip of a partially-melted rootbeer float as Fluttershy smiled bashfully.

"I-I guess I helped."

She'd been worried Fluttershy would let her modesty have her insist it was all her friends or that the sirens did it themselves, but it was delightful to see her willing to at least acknowledge her own victories. However, when Adagio tried to say this, she was interrupted by a high-pitched "Hic!"

There was a pause as Fluttershy stared at her. Adagio cleared her throat. "I-hic!"

Fluttershy smiled brightly, stars in her eyes as she touched both hands to her cheeks. "That is the cutest little sound!"

Rolling her eyes, Adagio blushed. "Well, gla-hic! glad you think so, but if it's all-Hic! all the same to you, I'd ra-Hic! rather do without it." She took a long drink of a cold, sugary slurry (something like a blend of ice cream and one of the candies Fluttershy had once shared with her) in the hopes of curing her hiccups. When she set down the cup, they waited.

"...Hic!"

Fluttershy giggled, but gasped when a worrying thought struck her. "Wait, i-it sounds like, from before, when your voices were all high and squeaky sometimes, I thought-"

Adagio cut her off with a few short, perfect notes, at least until she was cut off by another "Hic!" She shrugged. "My singing voi-hic! voice is fine, Sweetie, I-hic! think I've just always had high-pitched hic-hic!-ups."

"Oh..." Fluttershy smiled. "Well, that's a r-"

"Hic!"

"-relief."

"Hic! ...Right. Know any remedies?"

"...Well," Fluttershy asked with a sheepish little grin, "do we have to cure it right away?"

Adagio shot her an amused smirk. "While I'm glad you're-hic! speaking up when you want somethi-hic! something, I'd really rather be able to breathe normally again."

"Hehe! Okay, um... I've heard that-"

"Hic!"

"I've-"

"Hic!"

"..."

"..."

"Holding your breath might work."

Adagio inhaled deeply and held it for a worryingly long time, but when she exhaled, the hiccups were back in seconds.

"Okay, um..." She glanced around the table. "Maybe just eating something?"

Adagio sampled a little of everything on the table at various speeds, including the rest of the rootbeer float that caused her predicament, but try as they might, the two couldn't get rid of her hiccups even when they had eaten nearly everything.

"Umm..." Fluttershy glanced around her side of the table. "I think I dropped my spoon a few minutes ago, one moment please."

"Take your-hic! time."

Fluttershy did just that, disappearing from view as she went rooting around for the missing utensil. Adagio wasn't sure it was necessary, because as with the salt shakers, the owners probably wouldn't even notice the thing was gone, nevermind the high chances that the establishment's cleaning staff would find it, but Her Sweetie was certainly a good girl.

That reminds me, I should-

"Hic!"

-come up with another-

"Hic!"

-task for her. If I could find a private enough spot, would she be willing to dance in-

Adagio jumped in her seat, cut off not by another hiccup, but a loud gasp as a brief, but thought-shattering sensation under the table seized her attention. Eyes wide, heart pounding, and face burning, Adagio glanced around, relieved not to see much of anyone else in their area of the building at this time of night, but the few that were present still turned to look at her for a moment. When Fluttershy finally resurfaced, she was blushing just as brightly, a bashful smile glued to her sweet little face.

"Um... I-I've heard, doing something scary or surprising can get rid of hiccups, s-so, uh... d-did that work?" She tried to focus on hearing the answer, but the sight of Adagio Dazzle flushed and fidgeting was increasingly hard to ignore.

"I, y-you, that..." Her mind a scrambled mess of shock, some kind of pride in Her Sweetie's boldness, and a pervasive heat throughout her body, Adagio was distantly aware that the hiccups had stopped, but struggled to compose herself enough to say so.

Forcing herself to look away, Fluttershy cleared her throat. "W-we should, um, a-ask for the check. I think."

This time, Fluttershy remembered her wallet.

On the way home, Fluttershy was having a very, very hard time not looking at Adagio, who kept a fairly even gait despite still being as red as when they left The Face-Stuffporium.

"You should be proud, Sweetie," giggled Adagio, "doing that in public, and all on your own!" Smirking playfully, she nudged Fluttershy's shoulder. "Bad girl."

"Haha, y-yes, um..." While she hadn't gotten any less rosy herself, she was worried she'd trip over something while quietly basking in the glow of her flustered girlfriend. "But, uh, a-are you okay?"

Still smiling, Adagio loosed a quiet sigh. "I'll be fine, Sweetie, just need to, er..." She shrugged. "Well, either take care of myself at home or take a long, cold shower. Or," she said with a cheeky smirk, "maybe I'll just have some interesting dreams?" She cackled as Fluttershy seized up where she stood and blushed even brighter, but even if they were practically on the doorstep to Fluttershy's house, she didn't quite feel right in leaving Fluttershy stuck in her fantasies by herself at night. Not that she minded hanging around to witness the adorable sight of Her Sweetie blushing and quietly babbling to herself! Then she heard something that caught her attention.

"...we c-could, I mean, if you wanted to..."

Adagio smiled sympathetically. "Sweetie, you don't have to-" She jumped a little when Fluttershy, her hair hiding her eyes as she looked down, quickly seized her wrist in both hands.

"...S-said we'd agree, t-to, um... not be afraid of each other, not to be afraid of hurting each other." She gave a small, gentle tug towards her house, like a kitten pulling at a dangling string. "I'm glad you respect my l-limits and try to take care of me, but, uhm, I-I know you have limits too, and I want to take care of you too." She hesitantly looked up, blushing all the way to the ears. "S-so, let me... t-take care of you."

Feeling a fire light in her belly as Fluttershy's increasingly longing eyes traced over her, Adagio found herself wearing a slightly nervous grin. "I-if you're sure you-"

She was pulled across the lawn, through the door, and into Fluttershy's bedroom so quickly that she wasn't even sure how many times her feet touched the floor, hearing something like "EversinceIsawyoushakingyourhipsinthecafeteria,yesI'msure!!" before being thrown on a bed with a heap of stuffed animals.

A little later that night, lying next to a sweat-soaked, messy-haired, and utterly spent Fluttershy, Adagio slowy opened one eye, smiling as she looked over her unconscious lover. "Poor little thing," she whispered while gently booping her nose, "all tuckered out."

Fluttershy had worked very hard, though, and, bless her little heart, wouldn't let her many inexperienced, awkward, hilarious attempts at being sexy deter her, even when Adagio couldn't stop herself from laughing out loud. In her defense, Fluttershy had been tickling her at the time. Reaching around in her own hair without disturbing Fluttershy, she had to search for a minute or two to find her phone, turning the ringtone all the way down before doing anything else.

[Nata, tell Ria I'll be home later in the morning. Possibly the afternoon.]

A moment later, her screen lit up with a notification from Sonata.

[BOOYAH!]

Adagio giggled.

When she awoke the next morning, aching all over, Fluttershy made herself a promise:

I need to start joining the sirens in their work-outs. At this rate, I'll never be strong enough!

Author's Note

"Strong enough for what," you may ask? Find out in the epilogue. :trollestia:

More Tell, not Show for the first part, because those scenes wouldn't have been particularly fun and I'd rather move on to the cute/silly/occasionally-heart-warmy bits whenever possible.

You might have guessed it from passing moments of a few CHS students, but there actually were those that were willing to come to talk to the sirens like they were normal human beings, it's just that they were held back from doing so by more cautious friends. As we see in the first ten minutes of Friendship Games, even the Magic of Friendship isn't immune to peer pressure.

Someone once said that the couple's biggest problem was, I think, being too afraid of hurting each other, and I think I agree, enough so to address it with a scene of them trying to work that out.
Disregard likes/dislikes, comments are my candy. :raritystarry:

I kind of like the idea of a teasing Adagio pairing up with an awkward Flash, but I have way too many stories as it is. At best, I might make a Stories I'll (Probably) Never Write post about it. :applejackunsure:

For anyone that ever gets the hiccups and isn't allergic to peanuts, I heartily recommend chewing a big glob of peanut butter. I'm not entirely sure how it works, just that it disrupts your breathing, and peanut butter is pretty tasty anyway. :pinkiehappy:

The original plan for the deflowering was to have it take place in park under the stars, which I later changed to a quiet, grassy grove behind Fluttershy's house or something, but as with the sirens-play-instruments solution, I didn't want to use something I'd never so much as hinted at for such an important event in the story, and wasn't quite sure about the validity of doing that outside, at night, with no preparation whatsoever. :applejackunsure:

The epilogue is up next, at which point I'll mark the story 'Complete,' but there'll still be the bonus chapters added at random, starting with the history lesson between Adagio and Twilight.

Epilogue: Arguably Insubstantial Coverage

Today was the day!

Today, a little longer than eight years after the day they met for the first time on the bench, Fluttershy was going to be married to Adagio Dazzle! She'd tried to have it set on the same day, but there had been surprises and shenanigans and delays on things. Even so, Adagio had assured her that she could work with two anniversaries; one for teasing, the other for romance, so Fluttershy made peace with not having just one special day to think about. It might have been nice, though...

Still, she hadn't stopped smiling since she woke up this morning, because today was the day! Out in the wide, open space of Canterlot Central Park, tents and tables and chairs and decorations had been arranged in just fifteen minutes! Pinkie had come a long way with her party cannon. There'd be cake and dancing and friends and all those lovely things, but first they had to do the walk-down-the-aisle-and-say-I-Do part.

Straightening up the bow-tie to her tuxedo, Fluttershy stood in front of a full-length mirror in the tent she'd been directed to for privacy. Not that she hadn't been seen in various states of undress a few times by now, but she wasn't about to get changed where people would most likely see her again. Adagio was (hopefully) getting dressed in the other tent at the moment, the two of them not to see each other until things officially got started. It was one of those wedding rules, Fluttershy had never really thought about why.

Rarity, wearing a simple, but elegant purple dress, all but flew in through the flappy doors of the tent at that moment, but before Fluttershy could ask, Rarity had a question of her own.

"Why, oh why would you turn down the chance to wear a beautiful wedding dress on the day of your wedding?!" She stepped close enough to start fussing over Fluttershy, absent-mindedly adjusting little folds and arguably invisible imperfections as though fine-tuning a piece of delicate machinery. "Not that I should complain, I suppose, I did get to make one for Adagio, after all." She regarded Fluttershy with a raised eyebrow and a little smile. "She was surprisingly well-behaved throughout, by the by; didn't so much as wiggle those hips of hers at me even when I had her undress."

Fluttershy giggled. "She's really come a long way since high school, huh?"

"She's not the only one," Rarity muttered to herself as her eyes traced over the stretched lapels on Fluttershy's chest. They'd re-tailored that suit twice for a more comfortable fit and Fluttershy could probably still send one of the buttons flying with a quick movement. One could only imagine the back and shoulder pains. "Really though, my past sessions with her have always been so..." she tinted pink, "taxing that I was worried I'd be needing spa trips for a week straight."

"What," Fluttershy asked with a playful smile, "you're not used to it from Sonata?"

Flushing brighter, Rarity's eyes narrowed. "Miss Dusk is a coy, cheeky little thing at the best of times, but you of all people should know that your bride-to-be, is vicious."

Giggling again, she grinned apologetically. "I'm sorry she makes so much trouble for you."

Satisfied with the state of the suit, Rarity let out a little breath, stepped back, and smiled warmly. "Ohh, all three of the sirens are lovely to work with for the most part, even Aria is more cooperative than Applejack or Sunset."

Fluttershy frowned a little. "Sunset probably has trouble finding outfits that go with the eye-patch."

"Too true," sighed Rarity before perking up, "but the day she's the one walking down the aisle, we'll know she can do so in a charming suit, thanks to you." A perfectly-groomed purple eyebrow was again raised. "Really though, why did you want to wear a suit today?"

"Because it was the only way I could convince Adagio to wear a dress. We agreed that at least one of us should, and if I did, she wouldn't."

"...And?"

Fluttershy smiled brightly. "Don't worry, you'll see pretty soon!"

"Hm... Well, I should probably be off to get fitted, I'm still under oath for the previous wedding."

As Rarity left, Fluttershy tried not to giggle. She would have said that a ball and chain was kind of excessive, but the way Rarity went after the bouquet at the last wedding they went to had really left no room for compromise.

Anyway, waiting a minute or two, she dared peek out of the tent, finding no one nearby or looking in her direction and the adjacent tent similarly unguarded. Feeling a familiar, giddy thrill, she darted over to the other tent, slipping in before anyone so much as turned their heads. There she saw Adagio, standing before a mirror in the carefully-tailored wedding dress she'd eventually been convinced to wear today.

Not having been noticed yet, she kept quiet as she cherished the way Adagio looked herself over and over and over in the long, white dress, from the veil that hung about a foot past her unbound hair, to the thin, lacy patterns covering her arms and back, to the immaculate gown that flowed closely over her curves all the way to the floor, covering the sharp, white heels beneath.

She was still wearing her red, gleaming pendant as well, thanks to Princess Twilight. It had taken her years as a passion project (during which Sunset occasionally updated them on Twilight's excited ramblings about getting to work with authentic, Coltlantian magic and her triumphs/frustrations therein), but all three sirens had been returned their repaired, fully-functional gems, both as a gift, and to make sure nopony in Equestria (which, she'd told them, could do with fewer ancient, powerful artifacts floating around, if she was being perfectly honest) could misuse them. The museum would do just fine with inert replicas, thank you very much!

By this time, it hadn't even occurred to anyone that the sirens might go back to what they were, something that was pointed out only weeks after the three of them gratefully accepted the gems, put them on, and sang a soft, soothing melody to purge them of all the bitterness and hatred they'd allowed to corrupt the stones in the first place.

Just as with that day, Fluttershy's favorite detail wasn't really related to the clothes or jewelry, but the rare expression on Adagio's face. The tearful, heartfelt grin of the day she got her gem back was a very strong contender for Best Face in Fluttershy's mind, but today's look was especially precious. It wasn't often that she got to see that kind of wobbly, self-conscious smile and demure blush as Adagio did a few little twirls and curtsies in the mirror, a delicate anxiety in her eyes as the awareness that everyone she knew would soon see her like this danced obtrusively in her thoughts.

Eventually, Adagio caught sight of her observer in the reflection, making a startled noise and whirling around to look directly at her, wide-eyed and blushing, before breathing out with relief. "Sweetie..." An eyebrow arched in mild annoyance. "I'm pretty sure it's bad luck to see each other before things actually get started."

"That's okay," she replied with a grin, "I'm already the luckiest girl in the world."

Adagio's cheeks grew brighter, but as much as she'd have normally eaten up that kind of talk, she turned back toward the mirror with a huff. "Remind me again why I'm the one wearing the dress?"

Stepping closer, Fluttershy smiled a little wider. "Do you remember that Halloween costume party from a few years back?"

"The one where you went as a forest nymph?" She spared a smirk over her shoulder. "Vividly. You were wearing more paint than cloth, and I'm not the only one who noticed."

"Y-yes," she replied through a bashful giggle as her face warmed, "but, a little before that, when you were still picking out your costume?"

Adagio tensed. "Err...Yyyeeesss...?"

"When you were trying on different outfits from the costume room?"

"You snuck up on me then too," she quietly sulked.

"Hehe! Sorry about that, but I couldn't really help it with how absorbed you were in the way you looked in the wedding dress, just like today."

Covering her face in both hands, Adagio groaned. She felt a little better when Fluttershy stepped forward to wrap her in a hug, most of her frustration and embarrassment escaping through a quiet sigh. "I know what these dresses are for, what they mean in this civilization, and picturing myself in these shoes, I... I like it, but, it just doesn't feel right. It's like when we first came to this world, or when we came back to CHS, like I'm out of place in my own skin, like I shouldn't be where I am, at least not like this." In the context of the current situation, she read the tender caress of her neck by Fluttershy's cheek as affectionate and soothing, not amorous.

"You didn't like the bow at first either, right? Or the cute little outfit with the skirt?" She squeezed Adagio's midsection a little harder. "I won't ask you to get used to it or anything, because it's when you're not confident that you show a side of yourself that I'd have never believed existed if I didn't get to witness it myself, and it's a side I love very much."

Gently holding her bride-to-be, her chin resting on a cushion of orange fluff draped over Adagio's shoulder, Fluttershy closed her eyes. "We've both heard plenty of times that we're an odd couple, that we don't make sense together, that people can't imagine why we'd fall for one another. I've never felt the need to explain myself to anyone about that, but... You've told me countless times that I'm cute and adorable, it's something I get pretty often, but you hide your soft, delicate center whenever possible, especially in public. That used to make me sad, but, well, you've helped me show my um... bolder side over the years, even if it didn't have to be all the time."

Adagio didn't respond verbally, but she did wear a proud smirk.

"I know the wedding dress makes you uncomfortable, but I think the way you react to wearing it, and other cute clothes, lets the beauty you hide shine through. So today, I wanted everyone to see it so they might understand what I see in you, if only just this once."

Very lightly brushing her fingertips over Fluttershy's hand, Adagio wasn't sure whether or not it was right to try to keep the lump out of her throat, but she wanted to be perfectly intelligible. "Golden Rule, hm? ...I suppose I could stand to show off all my strong points sometimes, but don't ask me to make a habit of it."

Affection and mirth shining in her eyes, Fluttershy released the hug to step around in front of her. "I love you."

Adagio lightly gripped her by the shoulders. "I love you too."

They confined themselves to a short kiss before Fluttershy had to sneakily return to her own tent and the ceremony began in earnest.

When it was time and the music started, Adagio would have traded a sack of wild badgers for what the heart-vice was doing right then, but she knew there was no avoiding this now.

Not true; I could still lift any side of the tent, slip away, and leave Fluttershy alone on the day of our-

No, there was really no avoiding this now. She peeked through the flaps of the tent door to see everyone, everyone she knew, either seated in the many rows of chairs or standing near the altar with Fluttershy.

This is probably how she felt that night in France.

...Fun times!

Focus!

Taking a deep breath, she clutched the regulation flower packet in both hands and forced herself to step out where everyone could see her, immediately determining that the veil hanging in front of her crimson face wasn't nearly thick enough to properly hide it. She felt naked, standing where everyone could see her in this light, delicate declaration of love in dress-form, which might have been part of why she felt so vulnerable. She was almost literally wearing her feelings out in the open, but they were feelings that all present surely knew already. It showed in their eyes, and the tearful smiles and tender, whispered sentiments as she walked down the aisle kept her smiling too, so even as embarrassed as she was, it was far from a miserable experience.

When she finally got the end of the walkway, Fluttershy smiled at her. "How are you feeling?"

Adagio gave her a bashful little grin back. "Remember that time you got stuck in the Love Dungeon? When you strapped yourself into the-"

Growing rosy herself, Fluttershy quietly giggled. "Th-that bad?"

"Well..." Her smile unbroken despite her vibrant blush, she glanced out over the crowd. "I bring it up because you said, at the time... mixed feelings?"

Fluttershy blinked, then joined Adagio in wearing a slightly nervous grin. "Heh, heh, Oh, my..."

"...you may kiss the bride!"

With no hesitation, Fluttershy did just that, grabbing hold of Adagio to flip the veil by dipping her backward and planting a firm kiss on accepting lips, to the immediate roar of applause from the wedding guests.

As was usually the case, Fluttershy felt her self-consciousness bleed back in only after the very public deed, and she wasn't sure if that, a few of her bawling friends (Rainbow in particular), or the awareness that her mother was jumping up and down and screaming with a pair of pom-poms was the primary reason she was feeling so warm. Next to her, Adagio giggled.

"C'mon, we've got a cake to cut. But first..."

With a smirk and a flourish, Adagio tossed the bouquet into the air, Aria and Sonata immediately taking their cues as they switched on their mics and began rapid commentary.

"And there it goes, Ria, into the air, over the chairs, and into the gaggle of lonely ladies!"

"That it does, Nata, that it does! Much struggling and scrambling already at the center of the wedding mosh-pit, but here comes two-time champion and rabid bridesmaid Rarity, doing a pretty good job keeping up despite the ball and chain!"

"Ordinarily against regulation, folks, but the last couple weddings proved that girl needs a handicap!"

"Yea, you'd think she was waiting for someone to ask her or something."

"Haha, y-yea... Anyway, the bouquet is still bouncing like a volleyball as desperate hands fumble for a good grip!"

"With her last couple wins, you'd also think someone might take a hint and-"

"SHH!!"

The cake, to Adagio's pleasant surprise, turned out to be an unusual mix of chocolate, vanilla, and minty flavors. Nothing too extraordinary, because they knew they weren't going to be eating the whole thing themselves, but to Fluttershy, watching her wife's expressions was more enjoyable than a dozen cakes!

Much less fattening, too.

The party was in full swing when the two of them started receiving individual well-wishing and congratulations from people, one of the first and most assertive in doing so being one glamorously-dressed Diamond Tiara.

"About time you finally gave her a ring," she told Fluttershy with mock irritation, "she wasn't gonna wait forever."

Fluttershy giggled, humoring her with a little bow and an apologetic tone, and not just because she knew it would get an amused eye-roll out of Adagio. "So sorry to have kept you waiting, madam."

"Don't mind her," said Silver Spoon as she playfully swatted Diamond on the arm, "I think she's just happy you two finally made it official."

There had been an uncertain period between the two of them in which Adagio hovered around the question, whether or not Fluttershy would really want to be legally tied to her, if that somehow cheapened what they had together to make it a rule, along with a distant, niggling voice from the back of her mind saying it might be seen as trying to trap Fluttershy somehow.

Her worries were finally dismissed when it came out that Fluttershy wasn't worried about 'if,' but how she would ask, terrified that any scenario she came up with wouldn't be as grand and glamorous as one would need to propose to a fluffy goddess. After some effort from their concerned/frustrated friends, Adagio had a ring on her finger and they were making plans for today.

"Not to worry," chuckled Adagio, "I've seen her book." She regarded Diamond with an amused grin. "How's it selling, by the way?"

"Pretty good," Diamond proudly announced as she puffed out her chest, hands on her hips and chin raised, "with some tips from our old gym coach, Shut Up And Go Get It is the best-selling, know-what-you-want-and-go-for-it self-help book in the state!"

Her father's money probably helped with advertising, Fluttershy noted, but everyone was polite enough not to say as much. Moments later, Diamond demonstrated the chief principle of her book by going to get some cake, Silver in tow.

"Make way for the three-time rabid bridesmaid champion!"

The couple turned their heads to see Aria, garbed in a tight, shiny, dark-green dress and her red pendant hanging from her neck, walking towards them with an unamused, slightly disheveled Rarity.

"Very funny, Miss Blaze," she scoffed as she straightened her lightly mussed hair, "but I'll have you know that I let Paisley have it this time." Politely lowering her voice, she spoke the rest to the ground. "Heaven knows the poor girl could use it if she's to continue this thing with Ringo."

Hands on her hips and a smirk on her face, Aria raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you get your hands on it first anyway?"

"Details!"

Adagio and Fluttershy giggled, the former looking at Rarity. "Speaking of, you haven't updated us on your career lately."

"Oh, it's dreadful," she all but swooned, an arm draped over her head as she spoke in heartfelt tones, "Not only am I regularly assailed with attacks on my professionalism for being romantically involved with my favorite model, but my competitors continue to swear up and down that it's strictly her- and I quote! -'cute face and hot body' that do all the selling, or worse, that Miss Dusk simply must be sleeping with any relevant party to see my wares in high-end shops!" She fell backward onto the couch that patiently waited for her. "Truly, some days it's more than I can bear!"

Still smiling, Fluttershy leaned over to whisper to her wife and borderline sister-in-law. "Verdict?"

Aria shrugged. "Eh, six out of ten."

"Have to agree," nodded Adagio.

Really, she remembered a time when Rarity's melodrama had flair, real passion, with and without emphatic gestures, waterworks, and shouting, but she guessed it was hard to stay as fired up with essentially the same material these last few years.

"That reminds me," Rarity said brightly as she stood up again, all signs of heartache dismissed, "can I count on you three to join in next month's showing? I know I'll be hearing about how I'm just lucky to know so many beautiful young ladies, but I've been getting that since the sand castle competition."

Rarity had gifted most of her friends with their own unique swimsuits almost a year before they actually wore them on a beach trip, and while everyone was just there to have fun, Rainbow Dash had caught wind of a contest going on just down the shoreline. One thing led to another and it turned out that a big name in the fashion industry was searching for inspiration in swim wear at the time. It was catching sight of the sirens as they reinforced the central tower that led her to ask where they got their outfits and a short, bikini-based fashion show on the drawbridge leading into Fort Shellhaven later that day. Rarity eventually reaped considerable profits from that evening, but...

Flushing red, Fluttershy held her hands to her cheeks. "Oh, that was so... embarrassing!"

"Yes," smirked Adagio as she lightly elbowed Fluttershy's ribs, "which I thought was why you agreed to it."

Eyes widening, Fluttershy let out low, sheepish giggles as she moved her fingers to cover her whole face.

Chuckling, Adagio looked back at Rarity. "I think we'll be back from the honeymoon by then."

"Well," Rarity said with an amused grin, "do have fun, but I'm still expecting all the details when you two return." She turned to Aria as Fluttershy giggled. "And you, Miss Blaze?"

Her lips and arm-crossing pose said "Maybe," but her little grin and that twinkle in her eye said "Count me in!"

The others were just about to tease her about this when they heard a male, regal voice.

"Next month, you said?"

Rarity chuckled as she turned to the source. "Yes, Prince Blueblood, some time next month. Truth be told, they're still working out schedules, but I'll let you know as soon as they affirm a date."

The pale man with a paler suit and long, golden hair beamed a bright, sparkly smile. "Much obliged!" He stopped to bow to the others. "Miss Fluttershy, Miss Blaze, Lady Dazzle."

Miming the use of an eloquently-decorated fan (which is the same motion as a plain fan), Adagio nodded very regally. "Sir Blood."

Walking next to him while dressed in her nicest hat, jeans, polished leather vest, boots, and simple (but very clean!) shirt, Applejack shook her head despite the little grin tugging at the corners of her mouth. "You two are still playin' that game? Been years now."

"It's probably because they met at that stupid masquerade Rare and Squeaky put on," Aria thought aloud, "the one you guys helped them set up."

Rolling her eyes, Applejack ignored that last part as she looked back at Blueblood. "Ya gotta know Ah'm not goin' with ya to this one."

"Yes, yes," he nodded, still smiling, "one-time thing, I understand."

Fluttershy giggled again, just feeling all warm inside at the way Applejack looked at her boyfriend. They had met a few years after high school, and one flowery courtship later, Applejack had conceded that maybe she didn't completely hate his attention and while they had their differences, he proved to have a strong work ethic, family values, and most importantly, patience for Applejack's stubbornness.

That he was built like her brother probably didn't hurt either, but Fluttershy tried not to think too hard about that word-choice.

"Anyway," Aria piped up, "you guys seen Nata?"

Applejack thumbed over her shoulder. "She an' Pinkie are over by the cake, singin' about chocolate or somethin'."

"Oh dear," said Rarity as she visibly scanned the tables, worry clear in her face, "is she trying to start that 'age of brownies' thing with chocolate-based carols again? I should find her," she said as she started off in that direction, "if nothing else she's bound to get the stuff all over her dress. And face. And, everywhere, really. Ta-ta!"

And off she went, leaving the four of them. Aria was just about to snark about how of course Rarity would worry about dresses before anything else when she caught sight of Big Macintosh wandering the wedding. She immediately tensed, pointing at him as she hissed at Applejack. "Hey! You didn't say you'd be bringing him with you!"

Glancing backward, Applejack shrugged. "Ah didn't bring him, he was invited, same as everyone else."

Blueblood thoughtfully brushed his chin. "Are you still uneasy about that time you and Mr. Apple were waiting out a thunderstorm in the barn and-"

Aria turned red as she all but shrieked. "NOTHING HAPPENED!!" A few heads turning her way, she flushed brighter and did her best to shrink down. "I, uh, I should help Rare with Nata, make sure she doesn't Chocolate all over everything, bye!"

Adagio chuckled as Aria left. "Silly girl."

Eyebrow raised, Applejack rested her hands on her hips. "Ah still think you had a hand in that little episode."

"Me?" She might have looked much more convincingly hurt if not for her smirk. "I have many talents, dear Applejack, but I can't control the weather. And really," she said as she coyly eyed her purple friend's antsy posture and inability to look away from Big Mac for more than a few seconds as she half-heartedly helped Rarity pull Pinkie's head out of a jar, "a little rain wouldn't have killed them if they'd just run to the house, but they made their choice, didn't they...?"

"They could be really cute together," Fluttershy said with a smile, "if they'd just talk to one another a little more."

Applejack straightened her hat. "Maybe, but, Ah still don't think Ah like it."

"With due respect, Madam," Blueblood noted with a calm grin, "but for the longest time, you didn't like me either."

She blinked, quickly turning to face him. "Uh... Yea, but-"

"In fact, I recall you once using the words, 'Never! Won't happen! Nope! Not in a million years!'"

Not unlike Aria, Applejack blushed and crossed her arms. "And yer point is?"

Adagio and Fluttershy didn't hear what he whispered as he stepped closer to wrap her in a hug, opting to quietly give the couple some space. Fluttershy still felt the warm tingles when she saw Applejack's little smile over Blueblood's shoulder, which was why she felt a split second of panic when she heard Adagio cry out in alarm. Whipping her head around, she was relieved to see that it was just Ditzy Doo having latched onto Adagio from behind again, cuddling into her hair as she administered a full-body hug.

"Uh, y-yes," Adagio said with a slightly abashed smile, "good to see you too, Ditzy."

"Happy wedding day," she loudly, cheerfully announced while nuzzling Adagio's neck (which drew adorably girlish little giggles from the recipient) for what Fluttershy reminded herself were completely chaste reasons, "and many more!"

That probably wasn't quite how that worked, but the couple giggled anyway. Fluttershy's own laughter was interrupted as she was picked up from behind and squeezed in an especially tight bear-hug.

"Agh, M-Mom, can't-"

There were no words from Mrs. Shy, only loud, inelegant, tears-of-joy wails as she shook her daughter like a rag-doll for all to see. This ordinarily might have embarrassed Fluttershy more than it already did, but she could take solace in the knowledge that she'd already done much more humiliating things in the Love Dungeon. Quite happily, at that!

Of course, thinking of the Love Dungeon while in her mother's arms was the opposite of helpful.

I thought we were friends.

Hey, you're the one that brought it up! ...Speaking of, what do you think Adagio is bringing in that little black bag for the honeym-

NOT NOW!!

About ten minutes later, she was freed from her mother's torment, but she didn't cherish the feeling of being loved any less. The fussing and well-wishing over her and Adagio eventually stopped, by which time Ditzy had gone to snuggle-hug other people at Adagio's suggestion. Truth be told, Fluttershy wasn't sure if it was to get Ditzy off her, or if she genuinely wanted more cuddles to go around, because when Adagio had fully mastered the art of hugging, the world was a warmer, softer, cuddlier place. Whether it wanted to be or not.

"Salutations!"

Turning, Fluttershy and Adagio saw the familiar face of this world's Twilight Sparkle, garbed in a simple, practical dress under her spiffiest labcoat, next to her girlfriend of about six months, Sunset Shimmer, whose long, black trenchcoat over a dark suit and eyepatch might have looked out of place to anyone that didn't know the kinds of adventures the girl had been on over the last eight years.

"Hey guys," Sunset said with a casual wave and a smile, "congrats on finally tying the knot."

Wearing a sparkly, purple dress that did nothing to hide her shoulders, back, or most of one leg, Trixie appeared from a puff of smoke, rapidly looking around in alarm. "You're doing that here?!"

"Tying as in marriage, Silver," Adagio clarified with an amused smirk, "but if you're volunteering your services again, I'm sure Sweetie and I can find a-mph?" She was silenced by her furiously-blushing wife gently pressing a hand to her mouth, covering about as calmly as might be expected.

"Higuyshowareyoutoday?!"

Noting that Trixie and Sunset had both gone very red and very quiet, neither looking in one another's general direction, Twilight opted to fill the silence herself. "Conditions optimal, thank you for asking, at least until unhealthy amounts of cake are ingested some time within the next hour or so! Then we may be in for intestinal discomfort, but the risk is deemed worth it for the sake of festivity!"

"Uh... Yea," Sunset vaguely added as she angled her eye to at least be able to see Fluttershy and Adagio, "that."

"Trixie is also fine," she said with a haughty little smile.

This got Twilight's attention. "...Are you wearing a leather coll-"

Trixie immediately covered her neck as she turned to glare at Twilight, blushing brightly again. "Mind your own business!!"

Taking in the information that Fluttershy and Sunset looked embarrassed too and Adagio was just wearing a malicious grin, Twilight connected the dots herself and frowned. "Is someone cheating on someone else here, or...?"

Sunset immediately facepalmed. "Oh god, Twilight, don't-"

"Well, since you asked, it-mmph!"

Adagio was again directly shushed, this time by a hand from both Fluttershy and Trixie. They briefly locked eyes to agree that some things must never be spoken aloud. At least not at weddings.

Briefly scanning everyone again, Twilight smiled. She knew just how to move past this awkward phase! "I have found Sunset's labial folds to be most susceptible to-MMPH!" She got a hand slapped over her mouth too. Not so delicately, she might add!

"TWILIGHT!!"

Stepping back, Twilight giggled and blushed. "Well, yes, me too, but I was going to say-"

Holding up her hands in a grasping motion, Sunset all but growled at her. "Twilight, I swear, I will give you such a wedgie!"

Twilight giggled at her. "Ohh, you say that every time."

Sunset's eye narrowed. "Try me, Poindexter."

Twlight's smile vanished as her lips drew into a thin, worried line at the sound of her pet name. "We're... w-we're in public, Sunset."

Her eye shooting open, she glanced at the others as she flushed brighter than her hair. "Ah. Y-yea. So we are." She rigidly turned to face them again, a big, forced smile on her face. "Hey guys. Congrats on finally tying the knot."

"Oh, please," Adagio offered with a smirk, "don't stop on our account, you two are adorable together."

"Very cute," Fluttershy agreed with a nod.

"You should hear them baby-talk at each other," muttered Trixie, still not looking at Sunset, "it'd make you sick."

Ignoring the flustered sputtering of both, Adagio regarded Trixie with a mildly worried frown. "Someone really is going to call the police some day."

"Trixie cannot help it if she is in the same place at the same time as some other people!"

Sunset cleared her throat. "Uh, um, anyway, I-I think we came to share a gift?"

"Oh, right!" Twilight quickly fished through her coat. "We worked on it together, it's based on our time visiting Equestria! Specifically, the time we saw the Crystal Empire together and they activated the Crystal Heart!" She held up a little, round, metal-plated gizmo with a few blinking lights. "I was thinking that it would be amazing if one could harness and channel the alterations of light that come with the 'crystal effect,' and with some magic power and the right calibrations, we-"

"Don't spoil it for them," Sunset interrupted, smiling as she gave Twilight a friendly shove, "just show them. We even tested it thoroughly this time to make sure nothing goes-"

"I got it, I got-Oof!"

In an instant, Rainbow ran backwards into Twilight and Sunset in the effort to catch something, sending the three of them to the ground in a heap. Turning to look at them as best she could, she had the decency to look abashed. "Haha... sorry."

Sunset sighed. "Apologize to them," she said while pointing at Fluttershy and Adagio, "it's their wedding."

"Right, right," she said while hastily getting to her feet, "sorry for-"

"Oh, no!"

Those two words from Twilight Sparkle were usually good cause for alarm, everyone turning to see her standing over the device as it rapidly blinked and beeped, more light showing from a bent plate. It grew brighter and brighter in indirect proportion to the size of Twilight's pupils as she slowly looked up.

"Um-"

A pulse of magic erupted from the device, reaching most of the wedding area before dissipating. When it did, just about everyone was stark naked.

Pinkie Pie immediately yelled out. "WOO, NAKED WEDDING!"

It was shortly followed by Rarity's cry of dismay. "NOT AGAIN!!"

Fluttershy felt herself burn as she tried to cover up, much like the many frantic, embarrassed, exposed people ducking behind tables and chairs, Adagio making no such effort as she cackled with delight at these developments, but oddly enough, Fluttershy could still feel her clothes on her body.

"Oh, good," mused a furiously-blushing Twilight as she did her best to hide herself, "our clothing isn't gone, just invisible. It was supposed to make everyone look all crystalline and sparkly, but, uh... hurray for science?"

Trixie, making no attempt to conceal herself, crossed her arms. "Yea, you'll win a Nobel prize for sure. How long's this supposed to last?"

"An hour or so?"

"Cool." Glancing around, Trixie shrugged. "I'm going for some cake, you guys coming?"

Looking at her and Sunset (whose eyepatch remained), neither of whom were even blushing much, Twilight blinked twice. "...I'm a little surprised you guys are so okay with this."

Trixie struck a proud pose. "The Great, and Powerful Trrrrrixie has nothing to be ashamed of!"

Sunset shrugged. "I've known the Dazzlings for years now, so I guess I just got used to it. Besides, remember that time Adagio and Fluttershy got everyone a free trip to a nude beach?"

Twilight scratched her head. "Oh, yea... At least there were no tan-lines." She turned to look at the couple in question. "Thanks for that, I guess, it'd been a really stressful couple of-... Where'd they go?"

Near the exit of the park, an invisibly-clothed Fluttershy carried her invisibly-clothed bride along the path, one arm under Adagio's knees and the other supporting her back as Adagio wrapped her arms around Fluttershy's neck in a traditional bridal carry. Adagio had made the cutest little sound and the most precious look of surprise when Fluttershy swept her off her feet, that alone making all those hours in their home gym worth it! Still, she regarded Adagio with a mildly rueful smile.

"Are you sure we should leave now? I was hoping to get a picture taken of me carrying you with the dress on."

"I know you're no stranger to nature walks by now," she grinned wickedly at the pigment change in her wife's face, "but if Twilight is right and this only lasts around an hour, I figured it was better if we did this part while we had the chance. Besides, we..." Thinking about it, she blushed herself. "If you really want, you can get a picture of me doing whatever you like in this dress when we can see it again. I owe you a custom picture anyway."

She liked the thought of that, but... "'This part'?"

Adagio smiled a little. "Just up ahead."

When they got to the exit, Fluttershy gasped. Waiting for them on the street was a huge, straight-out-of-a-fairytale pumpkin carriage drawn by four white horses. She looked at Adagio and got a cheeky wink back.

"Called in a couple favors for my favorite princess. I hadn't really planned on things going exactly like this, but remember how the regular carriage people wouldn't let us ride naked? When Twilight's gift went off, I figured this was as close a chance as we were going to get."

Fluttershy smiled warmly. "I love you."

"Hehe! Love you too, Sweetie."

The driver was a little confused (though by no means bothered) that his expected passengers were apparently missing their clothes, but having lived in Canterlot over this last decade, he asked no questions when they explained and it was off to the honeymoon.

It would probably take a little longer to get where they were going by carriage, but Fluttershy had always dreamed of a fantasy ending like this (fantasized, even!), and even while technically naked, couldn't be happier with the result. The effect might wear off by the time they reached their destination, but that was okay, because it'd still be a carriage ride with the woman she loved, a ride she would cherish as they rode away into the sunset.

"Just like that time you, Trixie, and I all-"

"Adagio!!"

"Hahahahaha!"

Author's Note

Some of you knew I would work Blueblood in here somehow. :trollestia:

You know I was originally intending to close this story with a bittersweet/downer (mileage may vary) ending? The plan was that the Dazzlings never get their voices back because they could never let go of their hatred of the Rainbooms as a whole on account of what was taken from them when no one else lost anything at all, even if they liked individual members. That, and Fluttershy thinking she'd be overstepping her bounds (and maybe she kind of did) by trying to fix it all with Twilight without asking them.

So, the Dazzlings remaining limited in their vocal range for life, it proves too great a loss to ever come to terms with, and even while Fluttershy stays with Adagio, her relationship with them and that of her friends are always kept apart, maybe some kind of aesop coming up about accepting some things as they are and all that. This was before I got the idea for the other two secret relationships, which might have messed this ending up a bit anyway.

However, thinking about it, just leaving a painful problem be doesn't sound right for a Fluttershy in love, and I think she more than earned her happy fantasy-world girl, so here we are. Hope it was still fun to read even when things were less about candy, more about tangled webs of feelings!

Last call for any questions you'd like Twilight to ask in the History chapter, and after that, I'll be starting on those spin-offs sooner or later. The first one is actually about Principal Celestia.
Probably.
Then again, it might make more sense to write out the bits between Rarity/Sonata and Aria/Rainbow first,
then I could allude to their side-stories more often without it being confusing
plus there's less chance of accidentally retconning something
but then yet again, Celestia's bit takes place almost entirely after the events of SFaCF anyway, so-
I'll get back to you.

Bonus Chapter 1: Ancient History, New Souvenirs

This, was a momentous day!

A historical undertaking the likes of which Princess Twilight Sparkle never thought she'd be able to see with her own eyes, let alone partake in!

Any minute now, the mirror leading to Sunset's world would activate, and through it would appear one of the last three members of a long-lost civilization, her brain brimming with information thought permanently lost! Twilight had everything she needed for documentation; paper, quills, a camera, soft clay for hoof imprints, and even a phonograph to record the sound of her voice!

To an ordinary pony, that might have seemed excessive, but an ordinary pony would be WRONG, because Coltlantis fell so long ago that the ravages of time, made much worse underwater, had wiped away nearly every trace of it, and some believe it never existed at all! So much knowledge, so much history lost by ponies shrugging their shoulders and saying 'Well, I can't see it, so it must not have happened'!

But no more! With the data collected today, Twilight would have not just proof, but a permanent reminder that the legends were true, that just like Nightmare Moon, the sirens and Coltlantis before them were no old mares' tales, and then they'd see, they'd all see that-

"TWIIIILIIIIIGHT!!"

Shaken out of her thoughts, Twilight turned her head to see Sunset Shimmer, thoroughly unamused as the massive (at least three times the height of the average pony, just from her upper body to the top of her head), yellow hippocampus behind her looked on with a curiously-raised eyebrow.

"Am I going to be safe with this one? She was looking kind of... manic."

"You'll be okay," Sunset assured without looking away from Twilight, "I've heard she just gets this way about her studies."

"I do not get any 'way' about my studies," Twilight replied with furrowed brows before glancing back and forth between them, "and when did you two get here?"

"Around the time you were taking stock of those implements over there," Adagio answered coolly, "smiling ear to ear with wide, unblinking eyes."

"I-"

"And softly giggling to yourself."

"..."

She looked to Sunset for confirmation, receiving a nod.

"Had to shout just to get your attention."

Twilight blushed. "...Sorry."

Glancing over her shoulder, Sunset smiled. "The portal isn't going to close and you don't need a unicorn or anyone else to open it, so you can come back whenever you're done here, okay?"

Adagio nodded, Sunset headed back through the portal, and Twilight was alone with her subject of study.

The princess looked up at her with a smile. "So, before we begi-"

"Before we begin," Adagio cut her off in a cold whisper, her eyes narrowed, "I haven't forgotten that above all, you're the one who, despite valuing magic oh-so-highly yourself, destroyed ours, cost us our way of life," she leaned in closer, "our voices," and closer, "our reason to live," and closer, "and left us for dead without a second thought." Her large, pointy teeth were inches from Twilight, who nearly shook with the terror that bubbled under her skin at the creature's menacing voice and hint of death in her eyes. She jumped with a start as Adagio quickly struck her massive hooves at the floor by Twilight's sides, as if to pin her without touching her.

"So when I say this," she continued gently, all malice drained from her tone, "you'll know it isn't out of some hollow sense of forced gratitude." She quickly, but carefully scooped Twilight up in her arms (forelegs? Only legs?), her voice quiet and almost tearful as she hugged the pony princess against her chest. "Thank you, not for your efforts on the broken gems, but for having been Fluttershy's friend, and helping her to become My Sweetie."

Twilight, overcome, hugged the scaly, somewhat slippery exterior (no sign of a mark from where her gem should have been, she noted) as best she could, resting her head against the surprisingly warm, soft (or at least, soft while covered in a hard, thin surface) body.

...She could have done without the emotional whiplash, though.

A moment later, the two calmed down and regained enough distance that Twilight wouldn't hurt her neck by making eye-contact. "Okay, so... ready to begin?" Adagio nodded, so she raised her quill and paper, but didn't start marking anything down yet. "First question:" She frowned. "...Was it really necessary to start with scaring me like that?"

Adagio, not smiling in the slightest, maintained unblinking eye-contact. "Yes." The return of fear and sadness to Twilight's face made her feel a little guilty, so she shrugged and looked away. "If I didn't get that out of my system now, I might never get another chance. Besides, Aria made me promise to at least spook you a little."

Thinking about it, Twilight nodded.

Long-harbored feelings of resentment even after regaining their singing voices, suggesting that the loss of their gems and all that went with them caused a considerable amount of grief for the sirens. Hopefully this chance to vent will be enough at least for Adagio, if not the others by proxy.

"And with that out of the way," Adagio continued with a relaxed, faintly apologetic smile, "I'm all yours."

Twilight felt a blush creep up her neck at the insinuating tone, but did her best as a scholar to ignore it. "R-right, uh... Let's start with this: How did you first acquire the gems?"

"Those stones were always ready in a vault somewhere, but no one had been allowed to use them until I, the first to do so in millennia, earned the right to do so through Coltlantian law."

"I see," said Twilight while hastily jotting down notes, "and, 'earned the right'?"

Adagio chuckled. "Well, the right as defined by previous generations. There were once simple trials to wield that particular power; proof that the prospective user be able to direct a massive crowd, ability to compose songs with very little preparation, a good swimming speed to be able to keep up with events of those involved by the spell, et cetera. I suspect that the standards were raised by influential elites who didn't want to even think about having their positions threatened or such a power used against them, because the extra steps I had to go through were more tests of bureaucracy and patience than skill or anything relevant to using the damn things."

"Tests like...?"

Adagio answered in a tired deadpan. "Did you know I was a licensed spire operator, qualified to run four kinds of undersea farms at once, intimately familiar with runic calligraphy, had five scriptures written about my mastery of Coltlantian history, economics, and architecture, never had anything resembling a criminal record, and legally owned two houses, a little-known cavern system (never got around to making it a formal mine, but didn't need to), and a-... well, I suppose the best translation for the object is 'street light'?"

Twilight's mouth hung open.

"Coltlantis's greatest flaw was its elitism, Twilight Sparkle, their sheer hubris, to the point that those with the clout to do so would see any law, any restriction, any rule passed so long as it meant that no others could easily ascend in social rank and their own standing could never be threatened. Would you believe," she asked with a hint of a smirk, "that I began my 'qualifications' just to mock them?"

"...What?"

"It started with the street light," she nodded, a nostalgic smile again exposing rows of fangs, "a series of shenanigans led to the light on the corner of a particular building being installed in my name, a coworker spoke in jest about my qualifying for a particular rank as a result, and I started going through the motions of being registered for these things as a joke, just to make fun of the senselessness of the rules as they were."

Noting the funny look she was getting, Adagio shrugged. "I was much more... playful, back then, and the joke was that even a rambunctious girl like me could find a place among the creme de la creme of society if the right hoops were jumped and the right-... well, let's say, 'papers' signed."

Twilight continued to stare at her as though her head were upside down.

"It was much funnier to most of my fellow Coltlantians, I assure you. When I found out that I really could get somewhere with this, attain an honor that no one in all the upper echelons of Coltlantian society had, from high-profile celebrities to government officials, I put in some more effort, suffered through the slow, tedious parts, maneuvered around the efforts made to stop me, and when the important trials finally came around, I was more than ready."

Twilight's eye twitched and her quill had stopped moving. "You went through all that trouble... got certified for all those different things... and obtained legendary, magical artifacts... for a joke?!"

Adagio grinned triumphantly. "Mmmhm!"

Trying to picture ponies gaining control of the Elements of Harmony for such a reason, she shook her head. "Do you always make life-changing decisions out of whimsy and spite?"

She shrugged. "Well, the attention I got for breaking convention was nice too, but I started talking to what would be the love of my life out of little more than idle curiosity. Things happen, Twilight Sparkle."

Groaning, Twilight jotted down another note.

The sirens had humble beginnings.

"...When you say 'massive crowd,' does that refer to an army?"

"If the gems are applied for military purposes, yes. I think the most popular use was to go out to an enemy army, get their attention, and lead them straight into the jaws of the nearest leviathan."

"'Nearest'?! There's more than one?!"

Adagio raised an eyebrow. "Been another culling in the last thousand years? Well, I suppose I should specify that for us, 'leviathan' referred to any gargantuan, hostile sea creature."

"I-I see... You keep using 'I' when referring to earning the gems, did Aria and Sonata not play a part?"

"In getting the gems? Not really, no. I got them, but couldn't very well use all three by myself and going solo wouldn't have been as effective, so I had to pick partners before I could take up the job in full. Believe it or not, protecting our home was something all three of us genuinely were happy to do. Well, that, and slacking off and misusing what I'd been trusted with would have only proven the higher-ups 'right,' of course."

"Of course," giggled Twilight as she marked down the original reason for the gems' use, "and, this job was, in short, to steer possible threats and unwelcome visitors away from Coltlantis?"

"Correct."

"And, according to Sunset's summary of what Fluttershy told her, rather than just going home once your spell wore off (because there was a time when you actually wanted it to), a majority of those vessels ended up meeting disastrous fates, for which Coltlantis as a whole was blamed regardless?"

"And rather than directly face the issues involved with keeping so many other civilizations at arm's length, they picked out three convenient scapegoats, yes."

Tilting her head, Twilight frowned. "Do you think that might have been because you'd deliberately made a nuisance of yourself for higher-ranking kelpies before this point?"

"Possibly. Do you think it would have mattered to those same kelpies if they were willing to sell out those they deemed beneath them, completely refusing access to the city for 'lesser beings' of other races in the first place?"

"You're saying that they'd have thrown you under the carriage anyway?"

Adagio idly examined a hoof, her expression disinterested. "Why do you think I was so keen on mocking them to begin with? Their foreign policy, 'Stay out unless we specifically invite you,' was based on how anyone but the highest of 'the elite' was treated in the city itself; undesirables, average citizens, and even those that just weren't high enough on the totem pole were strictly barred from buildings and functions to which they weren't provably invited or had specific business, to where they hadn't 'earned' their place." She looked at Twilight with cold, unfeeling eyes. "Can you imagine the indignity those poor upper crust must have suffered when not just a middle-tier noble was given access when she 'lucked into some old relics,' but brought two 'worthless nobodies' with along with her? As opposed to any of their friends or family? Who cares if they protect the city without conflict, right?"

Puzzling for a moment, Twilight connected the dots. "Aria and Sonata were from the lower tiers of Coltlantian society." A nod. "If you don't mind my asking, why did you have them follow you as opposed to two from your own... er, is 'caste' the right word?"

"Close enough. I picked those two because I met them during my shenanigans to 'qualify' for the gems, we had sung together a few times over those many months, and I found that their voices complimented mine better than anyone else I'd ever met." Twilight stared at her as though waiting for more. She shrugged. "That's it."

"That's it?"

"They squabbled with one another often, but they were my surest bet for effective use of the gems' power, and despite my grievances with it, I really did love my home enough to want to do a good job of protecting it. Incidentally, that was the first thing I ever got them to agree on."

Something in Twilight's heart broke, a mutinous little part of her daring to ponder what she'd do if Equestria ever turned its back on her. "If it's any consolation-"

Adagio raised a hoof as if to push something backward. "Thank you, but there's no need."

One thing Twilight hadn't needed Sunset to tell her about the sirens was not to press them emotionally, so she nodded, let the matter drop, and proceeded with the interview. "What was my next...? Ah, given your earlier comments on kelpies 'earning their place' in Coltlantian society, did mocking that system further have anything to do with choosing Aria and Sonata?"

"Believe it or not, no, that hadn't occurred to me until someone pointed it out the day after." She smiled. "So much the better, though!"

Rolling her eyes, Twilight smiled before consulting her notes again. "Our history books indicate that while there had been disagreements and friction with land-dwelling species for many years beforehoof, it came to a boil when a half dozen different civilizations got together to force their way into Coltlantis, most likely to steal their technology for themselves. Does that sound accurate to you?"

Thinking for a moment, Adagio nodded. "The weather-altering spires were the main attraction, probably because they could be seen sticking out of the water for miles around. There were other things, but that was the one our diplomats- and bear in mind that I use that word very loosely, -bragged about the loudest. I suppose it should be no surprise, then, that when the almighty Coltlantian military was overwhelmed, it was the weather spires' destructive potential they turned to." She smiled thinly. "Careful what you wish for, hm?"

Twilight frowned. "With the loss of most of their armed forces, those nations weren't prepared to deal with regular threats of the time, and most of them fell into chaos." Even without Discord. But then again-

"I should think so," said an unsmiling Adagio, "the three of us spent a least a couple months flying around in search of the ones responsible for that conflict in the first place." Her tone grew colder. "I don't regret what we did to those people, because there were a lot of innocent kelpies in Coltlantis, too, those who didn't flee the city before it was surrounded, both above the waves and below, but I do regret that we developed a taste for it." She looked Twilight in the eye, sadness and fatigue clear in her own. "I don't think any of us really cared what would happen to us by the time we got our revenge, but the bitterness, the lingering resentment we felt for the loss of our home and being betrayed by that same home, crept into our hearts while we did.

The gems were powered by negative energy in the first place, something Coltlantis had in abundance, but it happened that in the process of making them fight each other the way they fought kelpies, we could harvest the resulting flow and keep it up even longer. Even when we ran out of targets, when we were satisfied with the countries involved with the fall of Coltlantis, we settled on doing the same to all land-dwelling species. 'If war and conflict are all land-walkers want,' we reasoned, 'we'll give it to them.'" She sighed as Twilight possibly jotted that down for a quote. "Apart from the occasional coffee break of making our thralls worship us, we were essentially just monsters by that point; rampaging around with no intention of stopping or forming any concrete plans for where we'd go next."

The sirens' attacks began as a form of revenge, but became senseless and indiscriminate as the three fell to evil and possibly despair; their home and everything they knew and loved gone forever.

Looking up from her notepad, Twilight frowned. "Do you, um, a-and I guess I don't blame you if you do, but, do you still feel that way about land-dwelling species?"

Adagio shook her head. "At this point, I don't feel anything at all toward them, even the ones directly responsible for the end of Coltlantis. Even Aria doesn't seem to hate people in general, now that they don't treat us like they used to."

Glancing over her notes again, Twilight smiled. "I think that concludes my primary inquiries, but I do have some miscellaneous questions, if you'd indulge me." Adagio nodded. "Great! You mentioned an abundance of negative energy controlled by Coltlantis to power the gems, but where did that power supply come from?"

"The citizens, mostly." Twilight tilted her head curiously. Ignoring the urge to do something that might make her squirm, Adagio chuckled. "I take it that pony civilization doesn't have a working energy network, let alone punishment chambers to power them. It can't be too far off in your future; even the human world has something of the sort without magic."

"Punishment chambers?"

"In brief: We didn't have prisons, we had small rooms in which the guilty were subjected to some kind of extreme discomfort if their crime warranted it and no other punishment was working out, the resulting negative energy was directly harnessed by the chamber, and channeled into the network for use all over the city. We had other sources of power, but some made their living just being willingly harvested a few days a week."

"I-I see... Given that there were higher and lower tiers of nobles, was Coltlantis governed by some kind of royalty?"

"Council of twelve or so 'elites,' when they could be bothered to come out and actually do their jobs."

"Was it their decision to blame you three?"

"Possibly, but they were far from the only ones I heard echoing that sentiment, nor the first, before it was firmly decided on."

"Do you know how the gems' destruction could have affected your vocal cords?"

"In the same way damage to your horn might affect your brain, especially if you were channeling a powerful spell at the time." She would have laughed as Twilight winced, but unlike Twilight, she had actually lived that experience. Maybe she and Sunset did understand exactly what that did to them? "I heard it was explained to you as having binoculars explode while you're looking through them? Accurate comparison, I can tell you."

Twilight again shuddered at that horrific mental image. Thanks for the nightmares, Discord! "...And, I've heard that there was another musical showcase over there since, and after that...?" She smiled brightly when Adagio nodded.

"Yes, thanks to My Sweetie and her friends, your friends, we ended up regaining the connection to our magic." She could practically hear the 'Tell me how!!' that she read in Twilight's wide, pleading eyes, making her chuckle. Something one doesn't really notice about ponies when hovering high above their heads? Ponies were cute. "The idea was that finding a way we could perform not unlike we used to, it might shake things loose again, as per Discord's suggestion."

Twilight nodded.

"We did it by singing very differently than before, but when we tested our normal singing voices backstage, we found that nothing had changed. Fluttershy, who was there at the time, almost immediately fell into despair, and in our collective wish to comfort her, we sang a lullaby." Twilight looked at her as though waiting for the rest. Sadistic thoughts creeping through her mind, she shrugged. "That was it."

Adagio resisted any visible reaction as Twilight nearly fell over, spastically flapping her wings a few times as she righted herself, sputtering.

"Th-that's it?! What do you mean that's it?! Singing lullabies somehow undid substantial damage to your vocal cords and internal leyline networks?!"

"Yep."

"There had to be more to it than that."

Increasingly tempted though she was to permanently withhold this information, just to be able to picture the pony princess's permanent, petulant pout, that same face made her want to pick Twilight up and squeeze her until she heard bones snapping. It was in that moment that she found herself truly able to let go of her grievances toward this pony, smiling warmly.

"There was. Specifically, you know already that we once sang to protect our home." Twilight nodded, the suspense on her little face almost distractingly adorable in its eager thirst for knowledge. "And that if we could wake it up again, we'd be healed." Again, Twilight nodded. "The way we thought we'd do that was with a metal song, but when that didn't work, Fluttershy cried, thinking it was hopeless. In our effort to make her feel better, we inadvertently sang to protect something we cared about, which was what woke up our magic again."

Connecting the dots, Twilight started to smile, wider and wider until it became a warm, heart-felt grin of pure joy that tickled Adagio's own insides a little.

"Would... would you say it was the Magic of Fri-"

"Yes. There were no rainbows or anything, but I think the spirit of the thing is about the same."

Quickly writing that down, Twilight paused, looking up at her curiously. "Not even a little rainbow?"

"Not that we saw."

"Huh." Finishing whatever she was marking down, Twilight looked up again. "I think that's just about everything, give or take a few details I'd like mainly for posterity, but thank you again for your time."

As she'd hoped to do, Twilight took Adagio's picture (though she had to stand in the doorway to be able to capture her entire, scaly body in the shot), got a hoof-print, a short composition involving clam-harvesting as an example of Coltlantian folk music (Twilight sharply declined Adagio's offer to hear the racier version, let alone have it submitted to a national museum), and the Coltlantian caste system in the form of a flowchart.

"Okay," Twilight said as she reached the bottom of her checklist, "the last thing I would like is a recording of your voice." She indicated the phonograph. "Is there anything you'd like to say to the people of the modern world?"

Several things came to mind, but she knew Twilight probably just wouldn't release it to the public if she moaned ecstatically into the microphone or said something like "Princess Twilight likes deep, thorough investigations" in suggestive tones, so she opted for something Fluttershy might be proud of. Clearing her throat, she leaned in, smiled, and said "Friendship is Magic."

Twilight blinked, then beamed, hopping up and down with glee as she talked a mile a minute about not having expected that nearly so soon and something to do with several lessons learned and maybe a near-death experience before something or other. Adagio giggled.

"Sunset said you might appreciate that, but I didn't think you'd enjoy it that much." She clapped her hooves together. "Every bit as adorable as promised!"

This added a blush to the manic scholar, but did nothing to help her reign herself in. Not that Adagio minded, watching for another moment as Twilight rolled around on the floor, surrounded by her new collection of Coltlantian memorabilia. Her end of Fluttershy's deal was fulfilled, so ignoring the urge to mess with something on the way out, she headed for the portal to return to Her Sweetie.

Author's Note

I hate to bang on the Rich People Can Be Huge Jerks drum too much, but these days more than ever, I feel like it rings pretty true: Rich People Can Be Huge Jerks. This goes double for the cold, undersea civilization the sirens came from, established earlier in this story to be an unpleasant place to live by human standards.

That's not to say that ordinary people can't be huge jerks, just that it seems like the wealthy more reliably get away with it. This is why, when I see wealthy people being very nice, even if they're not donating millions to charities and disaster relief funds, it's like a big, chocolate ball of Hope For Humanity melting in my brain. :pinkiesmile:

Writing these two interacting has made me want try that idea I had about Sci-Twi finding and befriending the sirens before the events of The Friendship Games, them remaining her secret friends even once Twilight starts going to CHS (or not going to CHS, if this were an AU), but I've got way too many stories that I seldom update as it is. The best I can probably do is incorporate any related plot bunnies into Cross Reference. :applejackunsure:

Chapter 1: "Sweetie"

Some things were too easy.

As a magical being with the power to re-write people's wills with a song, Adagio Dazzle had experienced many small conflicts that she and her cohorts overcame with minimal difficulty. Ironically? Adapting from the loss of that very power was one of them, proving easier than the three would have ever dared dream. Not to say it was entirely a cake-walk, whatever that expression meant, but living without the ability to brain-wash people really wasn't so bad. They'd already adapted to being weakened when they came to this world, so having the last of their power snuffed out wasn't a big change.

Not that the three of them were bitter or anything.

At all.

Well, that was actually true for the most part, but they did miss their ability to sing.

But what can we do? If they beat us at our most powerful, the idea of revenge isn't even worth entertaining.

She was sure they'd only face further pain and humiliation if they tried anything, so the Dazzlings made no effort to get back at those that cost them their voices. Truth be told, she wasn't even sure the three of them could muster the energy. What would be the point? They'd lost everything.

Well, everything but the large piles of money they'd accumulated over the years in this world and the subsequent two-story house they now lived in. That certainly helped cushion the blow. They had enough to live comfortably for the foreseeable future, but Sonata had joked a few times that maybe they shouldn't have entranced all those people at that high-society party to 'donate to their cause.' If they hadn't, they might have had to get jobs. If they had jobs, they might have had something to divert the newest threat to their daily lives:

Boredom.

No magic, no revenge for having no magic, no idea what to do with themselves. Luckily, Sunset Shimmer had made something like a suggestion the last time they talked. She had wanted to make triple-sure that vengeance really wasn't in the Dazzlings' plans, becoming much less jittery when that was cleared up. Shimmer's proposal was that they, like her, attend the school they tried to enslave, go to classes, make friends, et cetera.

So, still attending school for lack of anything better to do, she, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk hadn't really caused trouble since the Battle of the Bands. People still didn't trust them, due to the whole mind-control thing and some honest misunderstandings, but no one had been willing to openly antagonize them, either. Flash Sentry has been hard to place, greeting the three of us and making small-talk, but never going further than that.

This and more Adagio pondered as she wandered the school grounds one morning. It was early, well before classes were due to start and nobody else was even around yet. Sighing, she lamented her own inability to just flop down and sleep on command, a skill Sonata had evidently mastered. Along with snoring. Aria couldn't do that, but she had the blessing of sleeping like a rock.
Adagio had woken up around 5:00AM, rolled around on her bed for forty minutes trying to get comfortable again, groaned with irritation, and opted to start her day sooner than normal. She found herself at the school building a good forty-five minutes before the first classes began, and that was by walking in a leisurely stroll the whole way. Now here she was, aimlessly circling the building while waiting for someone to show up and unlock one of the doors.

Not that she couldn't get in if she wanted to, but Vice-Principal Luna had gotten on her case for 'breaking and entering' the first time she'd been caught in the school building half an hour before it was due to open. Apparently it had nothing to do with sitting in Celestia's office chair with her feet up. As she thought about the paradox of wanting to keep students out of school, she noticed a light-pink plume on a bench by the soccer field.

Had that person been sitting there before? Approaching from behind the bench, she opted to investigate...

Pinkie was right, you really do have to enjoy the little things in life. Sitting alone wasn't exactly Fluttershy's favorite activity, but in quiet, peaceful mornings (which was most of them, before anyone else showed up), it was nice to just enjoy the calm environment of the area around the building. Of course, she kind of had to be here at this time every week-day, her mom could only drop her off just before work about an hour before school started and the only other way she knew to get here on time was to take the bus.

Buses were scary. They were basically big, cramped metal rooms that roared down the street, full of people, people she didn't know, people who might talk to her, might look at her, might-

Fluttershy stopped herself, reaching into her backpack for the second part of her morning routine. Today it was a lollipop! Every morning, since maybe middle school, she brought something sweet to help start the day on a bright note, since her friends usually weren't there as early as she was.

That, and even on peaceful mornings, it's a little scary to be all alone.

So, she popped the sugary end of the stick into her mouth, savoring its... cherry! Today was a cherry-flavored lollipop.

I know it's childish, but it makes me feel a little better. Besides, who doesn't like a little candy?

She would feel bad for hiding it from Pinkie if she weren't sure beyond the shadow of a doubt that there were, at any given time, at least two handfuls of snacks in Pinkie's hair. Somehow. It was best not to think about the mechanics of the thing, that she knew.

"I didn't know you smoked."

Fluttershy nearly jumped out of her skin, emitting a high-pitched squeak. Not just for the sudden appearance of the voice, but for it being a voice she definitely recognized. Quickly turning to the source of the sound, she saw Adagio Dazzle, leading lady of the sirens, leaning over the back of the bench... with a surprisingly casual look on her face, give or take a raised eyebrow.

"I-I-I don't," Fluttershy muttered back, "w-why would you s-say that?"

She pointed a yellow finger at the paper stick hanging out of Fluttershy's mouth. "Does this mean you carry a lighter, too? Or do you leave that to your pink friend? Because if she's a pyromaniac, I'm honestly not surpri-"

"N-no!!" Popping the sucker out of her mouth, Fluttershy held it where Adagio could see. "It's just candy, see?"

"Oh!" Adagio facepalmed, laughing a little. The sunny shift in her mood drew a tiny smile from Fluttershy as she put the lollipop back in her mouth. "Well, suppose I should have seen that coming. You don't have that scent about you anyway."

Fluttershy blinked twice. "Scent?"

Still leaning over the back of the bench, Adagio nodded. "That smoker scent. Tried the stuff once, took a week to get the smell out of my hair." So much for stress relief.

"I-it's, um, bad for your throat, too."

"As bad as having my gem destroyed?"

Fluttershy winced, bracing herself for something painful.

Adagio rolled her eyes. "Please, I know better than to take it out on you or your band mates." Her tone was surprisingly calm, even dispassionate. "Besides, nothing I could do to any or all of you would ever fix them, so it's not really worth the effort."

"S-sorry."

She seemed to ignore Fluttershy's whispered sentiment, staring off into the empty soccer field. "You know, prior to the Battle of the Bands, I never settled for less than dark energy for sustenance, no matter my cohorts' insistence that some of what they called food in this world was alright." Aria's was more like begrudging praise, particularly for anything she could eat with hot-sauce, but Sonata could be downright obnoxious at times. "As such, I haven't tried much of what they have to offer here. How is it?"

"I-it's, uhm, s-sweet, I guess...?"

Adagio turned to look at her, making Fluttershy's heart-rate jump up again. "Sweet?"

Fluttershy ducked her head a little. "Maybe?"

"Hmm..." The two locked eyes for a long moment, Adagio keeping her bored, disinterested expression while Fluttershy's grew increasingly nervous. Quick as a whip, she snatched the candy out of Fluttershy's mouth and popped it into her own.

The first thing that registered in Fluttershy's awareness (The second was that somewhere, Rarity was probably making a disapproving face and talking about hygiene, but that wasn't important right now) was shock, her mouth hanging open as Adagio adapted a contemplative look.

"Hm. Yes, I suppose it is sweet. Tastes a little like a kind of fruit, as well. Familiar. I can't quite place the exact-"

She knew it was rude not to listen to people when they were talking, she really did, but in addition to the awareness that her treat had just been snatched right out of her mouth, Fluttershy's mind wrapped around a particular thought. It was in much the same way Adagio's tongue wrapped around the sugary substance at the end of the stick.

Saliva. Mine is on that, and now hers is, my saliva is in her mouth, that's, that's like, like a-

Finishing her analysis of the thing called 'lollipop', Adagio noticed the weakest Rainboom still gawking at her, mouth ajar, and cheeks tinting red. She smirked. "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot it's not polite to take things that aren't yours." Taking hold of the stick between her thumb and forefinger, she took the lollipop out of her mouth, "You can have it back." and pressed the candy-coated end on Fluttershy's tongue, to an immediate and enjoyable effect.

Fluttershy squeaked, her eyes went wide, her mouth shut tight, her face burst into brighter red than the cherry-flavored sucker itself, and she collapsed, falling sideways on the bench while maintaining her normal sitting pose.

Chuckling at the sight, Adagio's evil grin grew a little wider. "Well, I should be going, the building should be open soon and I'd hate to have Luna annoyed with me for 'skipping' again. Be seeing you, Sweetie."

"S-sweet, s-s-sa-saliva, m-mouth, m-my-"

Walking away from the blushing wreck of a person, Adagio cackled to herself.

That one made some cute expressions. I'll have to do that again some time!

Fluttershy eventually managed to form coherent thoughts again, though her heart hadn't stopped racing. Considering the slowly-melting candy on her tongue right then, her mind returned to an earlier thought.

Saliva. Again. This time it's hers in my mouth. Almost like... like...

A kiss!

...And with a very pretty girl, at that. Savoring the lollipop, Fluttershy was certain of one thing; she'd definitely start today with a smile.

Author's Note

"Show, don't tell." I would, but writing another story has taught me that when I try to include all the details with as little "this is how things are" as possible, things drag on about 20k+ words longer than I meant them to. And that's not even all of what I'm now calling Act 1 of that story! Granted, that one was intended to be long anyway, but still.

I'm less than great at weaving in exposition. As such, I opted to just tell this time, and then get on with the story. :derpytongue2:

Also, I've been told that the first few chapters of this story are a little creepy if the saliva business is focused on, so I'd like to note that this is not a fetish story. The intent is not to disturb or to arouse, but to entertain, so I hope you enjoy. Rated Teen for Adagio Dazzle.

Chapter 11: Chalky, Hygienic Neck-Sugar

New day, new thoughts to sort through. She tried not to add the possibility that this would be a regular thing to the list, but it was a good thing first period didn't really demand that much attention. Today: Bringing candy bars was not a good idea, Adagio was apparently the cutest kind of ticklish, and, Fluttershy had to seek refuge behind her book before thinking about the last one...

She's seen my underwear!!

When did that happen?! She couldn't think of an instance in which she'd undressed in front of Adagio, she even made sure to stand around the corner in an area with no windows where nobody would see her when changing in the locker room, when could she have been seen that way?! Did it mean Adagio really did know where she lived and had peeked through her window one night? She wouldn't put it past her, but...

No. I don't know if she'd never act like a peeping tom, but, wouldn't she at least tap on the windows or something to let me know she saw me?

That was how Adagio operated, right? Find weak spot, poke it mercilessly? Well, maybe she wasn't that either, she'd backed off once or twice before. Still, she couldn't believe Adagio would peek at her and only offhandedly mention it when her own underwear was exposed in a way she didn't plan. So when was-

Monday. She fell off the bench, her feet comically in the air and her legs apart. Adagio had been standing over her... And didn't say anything? Fluttershy was lost, underwear showing was the definitive reason to mock someone in school, and with Adagio's sense of humor, ignoring... that thing that happened... was like a starving wolf turning up its nose at a bacon sandwich. (That poor piggy.) Was she holding back again? She'd already teased Fluttershy viciously by that point, so it wasn't unthinkable, buy why did she keep stopping herself?

No.

I have to.

No, you don't!

I have to know why.

NO, YOU DON'T!!

Yes, I do!

Please, think about what you're doing, you have friends and family that love you!

You're being ridiculous.

She won't hold back if you ask why, she'll take it as a challenge!

Or maybe she'll just answer the question?

You don't know that!

I don't know that she'll tease me for it, either.

Even if she did, Fluttershy wasn't sure she could just forget about this one. Was Adagio showing mercy sometimes because she cared? Could there even be another reason? She couldn't wait much longer. Friday morning, she wanted some kind of answer, no matter how humiliating Adagio made it for her.

...

Well, that was settled. By comparison, the rest felt pretty easy. Adagio was ticklish. Cute, but not a lot to do with that information right now. Bringing anything vaguely shaped... like... one of those... was just asking for trouble, she'd have to remember not to do it again. The faces Adagio made when she was being tickled, and even that pouty expression before that, were adorable! She wanted to see more. That high-pitched giggling was unexpected, but she smiled just thinking about it.

And... That was all! With her stray thoughts all returned to their kennels before first period had even ended, Fluttershy swelled with confidence and triumph! Then her brain spoke up.

So, about that kiss yesterday?

Her head smacked on the desk, startling half the room. For once, she didn't even notice the stares.

Walking through the gym in an absent-minded daze, Fluttershy caught herself doing the swingy walk without even thinking about it! She couldn't decide right away whether that was really good or really bad, whether it meant she was at risk of unconsciously doing it any time she walked through the gym now, but couldn't help being a little proud of herself just the same.

The next day, Fluttershy waited alone for a little longer than usual. It brought her back to all the mornings she used to spend that way before Adagio came along, just her and the quiet almost every weekday. It was so much slower than she remembered, so much lonelier. Maybe because now she was actively waiting on something, instead of just waiting? That was the better part of impatience, she thought, the frustration of being stuck waiting until something else made it's way to you, be it a bus, (not that Fluttershy would know) or an inconsiderate friend who said they'd be here twenty minutes ago, or even for a class to end. Waiting was fine, expecting could be a little trickier. Maybe that was what Adagio was getting at the other day, how other people typically-

"-said GOOD MORNING, SWEETIE!"

"EEEEK!!" Fluttershy seized up like a fainting goat, falling over on the bench before realizing what had happened. Again. She sat up quickly, straightening her hair as best she could as she met Adagio's equally annoyed and inquisitive gaze.

"What is it like, getting so lost in thought that you can actually check out of reality, up to a point?"

Lowering her head a little, Fluttershy twiddled her fingers and blushed. "A little embarrassing, when someone catches you doing it?"

Adagio blinked once in surprise and laughed, bringing a smile to Fluttershy's face. "Alright, then. You know, I don't think I'd be startling you as often if I wore a bell around my neck." And then came the smirk and the suggestive eyebrow waggle. "With a collar, I mean..."

Taking a few seconds to piece together what she meant, Fluttershy squeaked and turned much redder.

"No? Very well, you can wear the collar."

"W-what?!"

"For keeping you on a leash, of course." Casually inspecting her nails, Adagio grinned wider. "Don't worry, I'd keep you fed, cleaned, take you on walks, you still do that sometimes, right?"

Fluttershy's jaw dropped as she recalled that morning by the statue a few weeks ago, the one Adagio had very deliberately taken out of context after sneaking up on her again. "I-I-I wasn't, I don't-!"

Coyly averting her eyes, Adagio chuckled fiendishly. "Whatever you say, Sweetie."

She might be a little mad about what happened yesterday, thought Fluttershy, most of her face still giving the science lab's hot plates a run for their money, or, even about the Battle. Or anything else she might feel like taking out on me. The old Sunset Shimmer hadn't always needed a reason to torment anyone in particular (though in her defense, she usually did), maybe Adagio was just feeling a little vindictive this morning? Then again, she and her friends had lost something precious to them partly because of Fluttershy, maybe more-so than even Twilight, depending on how you looked at it. That in mind, she couldn't even stay frustrated with Adagio, who had at least stopped laughing at her.

"Really though, I'm not sure how to approach you when you get like that, and I've tried all the polite avenues. I think." She counted off on her fingers. "Gently call your name, do it again a little louder, tap you on the shoulder, scream in your ear. Are there more?"

"W-well," muttered Fluttershy, using the change of topic to speed her recovery, "the last one isn't exactly polite, but please, don't worry about it." She managed an earnest smile. "It's my own fault for not paying attention, so doing what you've been doing is fine."

"Your funeral," replied Adagio with a noncommittal shrug.

Worrying a little about the chances she would seriously get an Adagio-induced heart attack, Fluttershy tried to set those thoughts aside in favor of the usual routine. "S-so, anyway," she said while retrieving today's little bag from her backpack, "have you ever seen a candy necklace?"

Blink. "A what now?"

The confused face swiftly becoming one of her favorites, Fluttershy giggled, holding the sugary tablets on a ring of string where Adagio could see. "It's just ordinary candy, but you can wear it around your neck, if you like."

Adagio tilted her head. "That sounds a little unsanitary."

"Y-you've eaten something straight out of my mouth..."

"Yes, but that wasn't resting against your skin for a while. Food as clothing is an interesting kink and all, but unless you've showered very recently, I think things like edible underwear -fascinating what you people do with your global information network, by the way- would probably-"

Again, Fluttershy turned scarlet. "I-it's not a k-k-kink!!"

There was a short pause, the two looking at one another in silence before Adagio shrugged. "So, do you floss with the string afterwards?"

A little blindsided by the question, Fluttershy took a second to think about it. "Um... sometimes. They make the string out of actual dental floss in some brands, but since the candy mostly melts and doesn't get stuck in your teeth, it never really caught on."

"Huh." She gently prodded the necklace with a finger. "How exactly does one eat from these without chewing on the thread, as well?"

"Uh, well," holding the necklace out in front of her, Fluttershy lifted it in front of her mouth, "you basically just hold two ends by the string and-" she bit down in the middle, crushing the pieces beneath her teeth to a sweet-tasting powder that dissolved on her tongue. Though she was now technically being rude by talking with her mouth full. "lahk tis."

Leaning forward, Adagio gripped two ends of the necklace and mimicked Fluttershy's action. "Just, hold in two places and bite down?"

There was another flush of warmth to her cheeks as she nodded, trying not to think too much about how close their faces were now. That became impossible when Adagio bit into the other side of the necklace, meaning they were now both chewing on the same object! Separated by several inches, but still! Then, to her horror, Adagio reached out with one hand to hold it under Fluttershy's chin, keeping her from opening her mouth to break away.

It probably took practice to form a devious smirk while chewing on something, but that was what Adagio did as she slowly worked her way around to Fluttershy's end of the necklace, locking eyes as she cleaned the string piece by piece.

Effectively motionless, Fluttershy's heart beat faster and faster. She isn't.

Crunch, crunch...

She wouldn't.

Crunch, crunch...

She can't!

Crunch, crunch...

Their faces were almost touching now, Fluttershy fidgeting in Adagio's grip as she drew closer and closer, their lips barely an inch apart...

And then Adagio let go and pulled back, snickering as Fluttershy fell over again. "There, I left half the necklace for you. It isn't sharing if I take everything myself, right?" A coy wink was completely unnecessary to fluster her any further, but she did it anyway, looking at Fluttershy's shocked, wide-eyed expression with evil delight. "Oh? Did you want me to go further? You only have to ask..."

Still lying on the bench, but at least fairly certain Adagio couldn't see up her skirt from that angle, Fluttershy whimpered. "Y-you're mean."

The vicious vixen only smiled wider. "Aren't I, though?" Her grin and tone were prideful as she again rested the fingertips of one hand on her chest. "I just cause all kinds of trouble around here, you know? Would it be such a shock if someone got irritated with me now and then? They might even try to take revenge, if they were really pressed." She held a finger to her chin while making a contemplative face. "I wonder what they'd do? Throwing rocks or burning alive are a little extreme, I couldn't care less if they tried to strip me naked and force me to run through town that way, if they shaved my head, it would grow back to this-" she gave her whole head a quick shake to bob her massive, bouncy hair for emphasis, "within a week or two, -don't ask, I have no idea- and nobody in town can outdo me in verbal jousting." She blinked. "Well, not that a lot have actually tried."

The few that had, though... Good times! The one that dared mention her group's crippled singing ability, in front of Aria and Sonata, no less, received no mercy, but she was sure moving to a different state afterward was just their way of saying 'I fully understand my mistake.'

"Come to think of it, my understanding is that most of the people around here are cowards, doing nothing to combat threats themselves without a lot of back-up or a sufficient proxy." Looking out over the soccer field again, Adagio shrugged, but her tone carried a note of bitterness. "The students of CHS did nothing during the reign of Sunset Shimmer until someone else did it for them, and she was just one human girl. I wouldn't be surprised if such people were to get creative in venting their frustrations against me. Maybe by, say, training an animal to do it for them or-"

"I WOULD NEVER DO THAT!!"

Not for the first time, Adagio was the one startled as she took a step back from Fluttershy, who had sat up very quickly, standing on the bench on her knees to face Adagio. Her face wasn't angry, but her eyes seemed to glow with a kind of energy the siren couldn't place, hurt and sadness the most prominent feelings she could discern.

"I know it happens all the time, but that doesn't make it right! Dogs have big claws and sharp teeth, but that doesn't mean they're just attack drones to throw into danger! I hate seeing them used that way, no matter the cause! Maybe it's easier or less expensive than some other security measures, but those poor creatures deserve better! The same goes for any other animal! If you can't get human beings to volunteer for the benefit of science, maybe doing that research on lab rats is too cruel to be doing at all! Killer whales are NOT happy in those tanks, that's why their dorsal fins flop over and sometimes they kill trainers! It's bad enough people kill so many animals every day for food, and don't get me wrong, I won't pretend it's only okay when non-sapient life ends other lives to save its own, but all of these things are just-"

Mercifully, she stopped, her eyes slowly widening as she made a heartbreaking realization. "You think... The squirrel yesterday. Y-you think it was me, don't you?"

Adagio frowned. "S-Sweetie, I-"

"Animals like me, it's t-true, but, to sic them on anyone, for any reason, I-I could never-"

"Wait, I just-"

"-but, to you, it must have looked exactly like-"

"I didn't say-"

Tears started to gather in her eyes. "I just wasn't thinking, it never even occurred to me that a squirrel might come along and-"

The two were almost talking over each other.

"Please, listen to-"
"I knew squirrels foraged for food on school grounds sometimes-"
"Sweetie-"
"-never even thought about something like that happening and-"
"Sweetie!"
"-so sorry, I never meant to-"

Adagio stepped closer and bent over the bench to wrap Fluttershy in a hug, silencing her immediately. "I'm sorry." She didn't wait for a reply or an insistence that it shouldn't be her apologizing, even if it was what she'd initially hoped to drag out of her usual victim for yesterday's humiliation. "I believe you when you say you'd never tell an animal to do something like that, and I'm sorry I ever even suspected otherwise. The squirrel situation was a complete accident, I see that now. Part of me knew it was preposterous to even think you were capable of such a thing, but, I, I-I don't even have an excuse!" Her tone was very gentle as she hugged Fluttershy a little tighter. "I'm sorry, I won't do it again."

Fluttershy, for her part, melted. The tenderness of the embrace and the sentiment, the sincerity in Adagio's voice, the smell of her hair- Stay focused! -and that, even with Fluttershy not being the one that permanently lost something near and dear to her because of the other, Adagio still felt like she had something to apologize for!

She chose to ignore the little Rainbow Dash in the back of her head that said she was being a total doormat again.

Her heart thudded in a pleasant rhythm as her whole body started to feel warm. And fuzzy! "It's okay."

"It really isn't."

"It is if I forgive you." She tried to hug Adagio back, but her arms were trapped at her sides.

"But-"

"Will you let me?"

Adagio's mouth hung open for several seconds. "...Do you?"

The reply came without hesitation. "Yes."

There was a faint shaking in Adagio's arms, but she quickly steadied herself. "I... Alright. I'll respect your decision."

Fluttershy giggled, enjoying the warmth between them for as long as it lasted.

Then Adagio spoke. "By the way, am I doing this right? Hugging is actually a little new for us and the others don't give me a lot of helpful feedback."

"Uhm... W-well... You don't really have to hold me in a way that I can't move."

Pulling back a little, adorable confusion was again clear in Adagio's face. "I thought that was the point of these things, for people to show they trust one another enough to practice light bondage?"

Fluttershy lit up like a neon sign, her jaw dropping. Once more, she couldn't tell if Adagio was messing with her head or not, but going by the sound of her voice and an inquisitively-raised eyebrow, this time really hadn't been intentional.

"So... that's a 'no,' or...?"

"That... th-that's a 'no,' Adagio." Maybe that's why Aria doesn't like her hugs?

"Oh. Well." Adagio sheepishly pulled away, the clearly-abashed grin on her face making Fluttershy forgive her all over again. "I'll, just... go, figure out how all that works, then? See you around, Sweetie." And then she sauntered off, possibly toward the library to research proper hugging technique.

Letting out a blissful sigh, Fluttershy could hardly wait to see how that turned out. Maybe she could even help her practice? That was something you might do, when you had a crush on someone.

Oh, by the way, brain? I have a crush on Adagio Dazzle, I don't mind thinking it now. Please remember that for the diary later today.

Sure, I'll hang it next to You-Were-Supposed-To-Ask-Her-About-Seeing-Your-Underwear-You-Dummy on the wall.

Remembering that unspoken detail, Fluttershy facepalmed. Chances were good she wouldn't be able to talk to Adagio again until Monday, so this promised to be a long, dreadful weekend of... Or, maybe it didn't matter? They'd both seen a little of each other, after all. It felt like she'd gotten something like an answer for why Adagio held back, too; she cared. She wouldn't have hugged her and earnestly apologized if she didn't. Things were fine. Reinforced by the thought, Fluttershy smiled, taking in a deep breath through her nose.

Mango. Who'd have thought?

Author's Note

The Dazzlings have been to the internet.

I was so, so tempted to have one scene go differently:

Please, think about what you're doing, you have friends and family that love you!

You're being ridiculous.

You're right, no one loves you.

Yes, I-wha-HEY!!

Look on the bright side, at least the animals at the shelter don't all hate you, right?

Oh, shut up, brain!

But Flutters isn't nearly crazy enough for it to fit. Darnit.

No candy analysis two chapters in a row. My apologies to anyone who really likes those bits. :pinkiesad2: Not to worry, though, I've got a plan for the final chapter! :rainbowdetermined2:

Chapter 28: Focus-Destroying Smorgasbord Shell

"Neat ribbon, Adagio."

That was all it took for her entire first-period class to stop what they were doing and turn their heads, even if most immediately turned away again. Once more, Adagio distantly sympathized with Fluttershy, but kept any reaction from her face as she replied. "Thank you, Flash."

The instructor started things up a minute later, but there was no doubt that the bow had been thoroughly noticed now. She got more than a few stray glances through the rest of class, but pretended not to notice. Walking down the hall yielded similar results to the day Fluttershy's sketch went up; some students would turn, look at her with a collective blend of disbelief, confusion, and those little smiles before turning to get the attention of nearby friends and whisper their immediate thoughts. The ones Adagio made out were mostly somewhere on the spectrum of "Oh, man, she's up to something!" and "Omigosh, she looks like a doll!"

Adagio surprised herself in finding that she hoped they meant the soft, non-threatening kind, as opposed to the ones whose eyes were rumored to follow people around the room. Her dark eyeliner probably wasn't doing her a lot of favors in that department.

A little later, Adagio again paced the halls while reflecting on the looks she'd been getting. It might have made her a little self-conscious, but the overall response so far seemed to be positive, though the face Trixie made had suggested utter bewilderment. Still, people were smiling at her a little more, and she didn't quite get the impression that all of them were giggling behind their hands at her. A few, she was sure, but not all. It was a little embarrassing, but she found herself not hating this kind of attention.

Huh. Does this make me an exhibitionist too...?

Speaking of which, she approached the gym doors. Peeking through the little door-window, she saw exactly what she'd hoped to; her Sweetie strutting her stuff, her back to the door Adagio stood behind. She was apparently doing a return trip at the moment, leaving several seconds in which to enjoy the show. Grinning deviously, Adagio glanced around to confirm that the hallway was otherwise empty, flattened up against the wall when Fluttershy turned around again, and waited until she stepped out, looking quite pleased with herself.

Adagio called out to her. "Excellent form today!" To her immediate delight, Fluttershy froze where she stood and slooowly turned her head to reveal that precious little face, flushed crimson as it formed a guilty little smile.

"Uhm... t-thank you, I-"

"Although," she said with a coy grin, "I don't think I've ever seen you do it in heels, which-" she took a few steps to the side, facing away from Fluttershy and lightly brushing her hair aside to demonstrate, "-add a little more sway to your swing, if you see what I mean."

By the look on her face, eyes downward, Fluttershy very much saw what she meant, leaving Adagio to appreciate her admiring expression for a few seconds. However, as she knew the spell wouldn't last long, she opted to bring it to an end herself, primarily by bringing a hand to her own end with a sharp, percussive smack. Fluttershy shuddered as though she'd been the one slapped.

Grinning with impish glee, Adagio chuckled. "Just a bit of advice. Don't hurt yourself, Sweetie!"

More and more, she wished she could see things directly behind her somehow as she walked away, continuing to demonstrate the effect high heels had on leg and hip movement and leaving Fluttershy to continue in her studies.

After nearly a full period spent with her face buried in her textbook, Fluttershy's heart began to beat normally again. She was thankful for this, because there wasn't much to hide behind at lunch. Adagio's demonstration had been... educational, but more prominent in her thoughts were the whispers she'd been hearing from other kids about the ribbon tied in her hair. "Gossip Queen" Rarity in particular had a lot to say about it.

"-offsets the light theme of spikes she had going with her boots, belt, and the other hairband, but definitely her color!"

Fluttershy was quietly proud to have chosen well.

Chuckling, Applejack shook her head. "This is gonna sound a mite strange, but she reminds me a little'a Applebloom this way."

Pinkie beamed. "Ooh, does that make the other two Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo?"

Rainbow snorted. "I can picture it; they'd be all-" She, Applejack, and even Rarity performed the revised shout (though not actually shouting) in unison. "'DAZZLING FRIENDSHIP-FINDERS, YAAAAY!!'"

The whole table giggled, and Sunset in particular was all smiles. "I saw it myself third period, it's not a bad look for her! Makes me wish I'd actually gone and changed my look, who knew a bow could make such a difference?"

"I knew," said Rarity with a meaningful bat of her eyelashes, "and it's still not to late for you, Darling. Stop by my workshop later today?"

Smiling somewhat hesitantly, Sunset nodded. "Uh, sure, okay. Just, nothing frilly, please."

Rarity scoffed good-naturedly. "Spoilsport."

There were more giggles, but Rainbow was the first to stop laughing. "Really though, is anyone else just a teeny bit worried about Queen Fluffylicious? She's been acting a little weirder every week lately."

Sunset frowned. "Oh, come on, who around here doesn't act weird now and then?"

"I mean like, weird even for one of those three, y'know? Scary-weird."

Applejack visibly chewed her thoughts. "Ah don' wanna go startin' nothin, but Ah reckon she's got a point. They're all actin' fine now, sure, but weren't that their whole song an' dance before? False sense'a security an' all that?"

"Huh," Pinkie thought aloud, "ya think they're doing the didn't-know-that-you-fell, oh-woah-oh thing with cute hair-wear instead of butt-shaking?"

Skeptical, Rarity crossed her arms. "You don't think Adagio might just be trying a new look?"

Rainbow shrugged. "I'm just trying to play it safe here, 'cuz no matter how I look at it, we got lucky last time. If they've got something else up their sleeve, who's to say we don't get Vinyl or somebody to help us out again?"

Frowning, Rarity nodded. "I suppose that's true..."

Scratching her head, Rainbow looked down at the table. "I mean, I really don't wanna go burning bridges or anything, but we know those three can be dangerous when they put their minds to it." Looking up again, she turned her head. "What do you think, Fluttershy?"

The table was silent as the group collectively took in her sad, almost pained expression. "Has anyone gotten hurt?" she asked quietly, "have they really been bothering anyone?"

"Not yet," answered Applejack, "but-"

"But what? 'But we should watch them like a hawk until something happens? Make them feel guilty even when they've been on their best behavior?' No one should be treated that way." Fluttershy wasn't sure if it was the statement or that she had interrupted someone that stunned the others, but she calmly kept going. "I won't say you should never be careful, and I haven't forgotten what they were like before, but if we never let go of what they used to be, how can they hope to?"

There was a short silence.

Sunset frowned too. "She's right. I mean, you guys gave me a chance when nobody else would, why are the sirens any different?"

Rainbow answered with a perfectly straight face, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "They never even said they were sorry."

For a moment the table was silent. Sunset glanced over her shoulder at the Dazzlings before looking back at her friends, raising a hand to her throat, and whispering. "You probably wouldn't either, y'know?"

By the way their eyes widened, the others very much understood, Rainbow in particular wincing. "Ooh, dang, yea... forgot about that." She glanced over at the Dazzlings' tuneless table. "No way to fix that, I guess?"

Fluttershy paid close attention to Sunset's answer.

"Twilight's been pretty busy with other stuff, but when I asked, she said even she has no idea how to bring back their voices without also bringing back their magic." And nothing more needed to be said.

Rainbow shook her head. "Oh, well." She managed to crack a little smile. "Maybe I'm just weirded out by her of all people wearing a pretty little bow in her hair. Reminds me of one of those creepy dolls in that one cabinet at Applejack's place."

The farmer scowled. "They're heirlooms."

Pinkie giggled. "Creepy heirlooms!"

Raising her nose in mock indignance, Applejack hmphed. (Rarity squee'd a little) "That's how ya know they're authentic."

The tension broken, the table giggled once more, Fluttershy glancing over at the Dazzlings table. What she saw made her jaw drop.

Adagio, well across the room, but still quite visible, was eating a taco. It was Taco Tuesday. The manner in which she was eating it, however, was what drew attention from more than just Fluttershy. She slowly, tenderly licked the edges of the shell to savor the flavor, delicately nibbled and gnawed pieces off, and gently pulled them in with her tongue before going in for more.

At last, she understood Sonata's fascination! Or so she'd thought, because looking up at her companions, she found Sonata blushing brighter than Fluttershy usually did and Aria looking at her wide-eyed.

"Uh... D-Dagi? What are you doing?"

She gave them a completely natural smile. "Just thought I'd try savoring it." Following a moment's silence and two bewildered stares, she shrugged. "No good? Very well." She then tore into the taco with reckless abandon, crunching and shredding it to pieces in her teeth. Doing so helped hide a wicked grin as she glanced at the Rainbooms' table to see five of them standing up and gathering around a fainted Fluttershy.

Not sure how to interrupt the freaky feeding frenzy, Aria looked at Sonata, whose nose had started bleeding while she stared at their shameless leader. "Nata? You okay there?"

Sonata wore a happy, dazed expression that could only be called 'love-struck schoolgirl' as she dumbly nodded. "Okay."

"No, no, I'm asking if you're-"

"Uh-huh."

Aria said nothing.

"Yup."

"..."

"Uh-huh."

Aria returned her blank stare to Adagio, who was tasting her yellow fingertips after having finished her war crimes on that taco.

Adagio looked back at the two of them, her expression cheerfully innocent. "Something wrong?"

Sonata finally snapped out of her stupor, blinking rapidly. "Eh, huh, wha? What year is it?"

Glancing back and forth at the two of them, Aria facepalmed. "You guys are so embarrassing."

Chuckling as she saw Fluttershy being carried off the nurses' office out of the corner of her eye, Adagio gestured to the bow on her head. "On that note, what do you think?"

Aria tilted her head a little. "A... bow? Is that what people have been yakkin' about all day?"

Sonata beamed. "It's shiny!"

"You would notice that, Nata."

"Bite me, Ria."

Giggling at antics that once only served to aggravate her, Adagio took a moment to appreciate just how much she'd come to enjoy her companions' occasional banter. When she was done, they were smiling at her too.

"So," Aria guessed, "this is that plan you were talking about? Play up the 'cutesy' thing for all it's worth?"

She nodded. "Something like that, but within certain constraints. For one, I maintain that putting on an act won't do us any favors in the long run, but an accessory or two won't hurt anything."

Aria disagreed. "Other than our dignity?"

"Not as much as you'd think, and it's a worthy sacrifice, I assure you." She grinned cheekily. "In fact, you might pull it off even better than I do. You've already got that hairstyle, that little vest, not to mention that pouty widdle face you make~!"

Tinting red, Aria crossed her arms and grit her teeth, grumbling in her usual, pouty-faced fashion.

Sonata, ever the team-player, beamed. "Agitated growling, not bad either!"

Aria turned away. "You both suck!"

Despite her blush as the others giggled at her expense, Aria felt a little lucky, a tiny smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. She knew how most of the school reacted to her 'grumpiness,' but the way Sonata and Adagio could see a little more than that always meant something to her.

...I'm not wearing any damn ribbons, though!

Author's Note

I know Rainbow gets cast as The Jerkface entirely too often, but I know that's only because she fits the role so well, at least more-so than any of the others. Even if Sunset's reformation had been slower and let her stay kind of a snarky jerk, I don't think I could have had her objecting here anyway, given the context. That said, I hope she didn't come off as a bitch here so much as exercising healthy caution.

Speaking of healthy caution, there are times I earnestly wonder if I'm stretching the 'Teen' tag a little too far...

Would have liked that little sentiment with Aria to be a little less ham-handed, but flat-out stating it was the best way I could think of to show that she kind of appreciated the 'teasing' she gets from the others without risk of it just being drawn out into something too subtle to not be confusing. Maybe I could have built a whole scene around Aria for that purpose, but that would have been a bit of a long detour for a minor detail.

28 chapters later and I'm still not great with weaving exposition into the narrative all the time.

Chapter 49: Discolored, Rage-Alleviating Cow Juice

-Lyra Heartstrings: Aww, so cute!-16min 54s ago
-Thunderbass: Quiet ones. It's ALWAYS the quiet ones. -16min 34s ago
-Diamond Tiara: PFFT like Fluttershy is even cool enough to be her bitch -12min 23s ago
_____>-Scootaloo: You'd know a LOT about being a bitch, huh? -9min 36s ago
__________>-Diamond Tiara: More than you! -3min 55s ago
-Mystery Mint: I bet spooning is hard with all dat hair. -16min 2s ago
_____>-Roseluck: Nah, we all know Fluttershy'd be the little spoon. -5min 33s ago
-Sweet Leaf: Poor Fluttershy, doesn't even know she's taking advantage of her. -15min 12s ago
-Violet Blurr: The question is, does Fluttershy wear teddy panties too? If so, she could totally nab Trixie while she's at it! -15min 2s ago
_____>-Aqua Blossom: HAWT -12min 56s ago
_____>-Photo Finish: De Magicks... -6min 42s ago
-Octavia Melody: You all realize those girls are EVIL, right? -15min 6s ago
_____>-Cherry Crash: Still hot! -10min 22s ago
-Pixel Pizzaz: Hell yea! Tappin' Dazzling booty! -14min 49s ago
_____>-Vanhallen: Do the other 2 join in? -14min 16s ago
__________>-Brawny Beats: Mother of fantasies... -11min 6s ago
-Ditzy Doo: All my warm fuzzies. All of them at once! -14min 8s ago
-Paisley: Fluttershy better be careful, that girl's gonna eat her alive. -13min 28s ago
_____>-Ringo: WOO! -11min 2s ago
__________>-Paisley: NOT LIKE THAT YOU FREAK -7min 18s ago
-Cloudkicker: Figures. I mean, who else but the girl at the animal shelter is gonna bag a tiger? -13min 2s ago
_____>-Bulk Biceps: LOL! -10min 8s ago
_____>-Wiz Kid: Noice! -4min 41s ago
-Sugarcoat: I don't know these people, but a friend linked me here. Whatever they have is not going to last. -12min 41s ago
-Bon-Bon: Umm... Okay, I hate to be THIS person, but looking at the angles these were taken from, aren't these totally stalker pics? You can even see leaves in the last one. Like it was taken from inside a bush. -10min 12s ago
_____>-Indigo Zap: Holy geez, they are... That's kinda scary. Hey, maybe if CHS gets lucky, there'll be a creepy freako stalker event in the next Friendship Games. -8min 33s ago
_____>-Roseluck: Oh, go eat a-

She scrolled past the resulting flame-war.

-Micro Chips: So, like... any advice for talking to the other two? You know what I mean. -9min 55s ago
_____>-Thunderbass: It's Fluttershy, so no, she probably doesn't. -7min 1s ago
_____>-Ringo: You don't 'talk' to those girls, how do you think FLUTTERSHY won #DatAzzle in the first place? You sit still somewhere, stay real real quiet, let them come to you, sniff you a few times, and THEY'LL decide if they wanna drag you back to their cave or not for a night of furious Dazzling love-makin' -6min 31s ago
__________>-Octavia Melody: Or boil you in a pot and eat you. -4min 51s ago
_______________>-Ringo: Still a win! -1min 12s ago
____________________>-Norman: You're sick, bro. -49s ago
_________________________>-Ringo: Gotta take what you can get, man. -17s ago
-Luna: This. Explains. So. Much. - 5min 12s ago
-Sandalwood: Damn, man, no wonder Adagio looked so peppy this morning. They musta got it ON. - 4min 22s ago
-Rasberry Fluff: OMG, I KNEW she was planning something! - 2min 38s ago
_____>-Teddy: Sirens are doin stuff, errybody hold onto yo butts! - 1min 6s ago

And more were appearing by the minute.

Rainbow looked up from her phone with a sigh. "So... what're we gonna do about this?"

No one else at the lunch table had answers either, instead looking at Fluttershy, who sat wide-eyed and unresponsive. Possibly due to the many furtive glances and unmasked stares she'd been getting since she walked into the cafeteria. No one wanted to say out loud that they were surprised she hadn't fled the school or had a breakdown, wasn't even crying or trying to hide in her hair again, but they could still see it all over each others' faces.

Rarity cleared her throat. "I suppose we should start by assessing the situation. I haven't had time to meet with my usual group to hear the latest headline gossip, but from the looks of things, all anyone knows about is Adagio and Fluttershy. Whether or not it will remain so, I'm afraid we can only wait and see."

Sitting in a considerably more irritable pose than her friends were used to seeing her with, her arms crossed, hat tilted to cover most of her scowling face, and even harshly chewing a stalk of plant life (no one asked), Applejack snorted. "Don't suppose yer lil' circle'd tell us the name'a the gutless snake that put them pictures up in the first place?"

"One dares hope, Applejack," she muttered while reading to a text from one such contact, "one dares hope."

Sunset had been frowning since they'd all sat down, but that didn't stop it from deepening just a little. "Please tell me you guys aren't going on a witch-hunt. Whether you find the culprit or not, that's not going to fix anything."

"Maybe," Pinkie said uncertainly, "but it might sorta fix them going and blabbing about anything else to the whole school, if they were gonna do that."

"Too true," Rarity said under her breath as she put her phone away, "but no leads so far."

"Okay, maybe," Sunset sighed, "but if we do find out who it was, we should really ask why they did it before doing anything we might regret, right?" As the others had been very clear when drilling that lesson into her following the Fall Formal, Sunset smiled a little when she got four slightly begrudging 'right's back. "...So, Adagio seemed alright when I talked to her."

Rainbow tilted her head. "Does she know about...?"

"She does," confirmed Rarity, "at least if M-... someone passed on the message like they should have." And if not, so help me, Miss Dusk, I will get the clothespins.

"Going by her reaction fourth period," added Sunset, "she definitely should. But, I didn't treat her any differently from usual! I smiled and said hi like always, and got a vaguely friendly, if unsmiling greeting back, which is more than she usually gives me!" She grinned with pride. "I think that was the right call, because when class was over and everyone was heading out, she gave me a quick, but gentle pat on the back of the hand, which I'm pretty sure was a 'thank you.'"

"She's taking it well, then?" The rest of the table turned to see Fluttershy wearing a hopeful smile, which quickly turned contrite as she took in their perplexed stares. "That, um, th-that was kind of my biggest worry, because we haven't talked since this morning and-oh, though, come to think of it, I guess we could now..."

She dared sneak a peek at their table, but couldn't glean any meaningful details before the many eyes looking her way at the time made her sharply turn her head back. Closing her eyes and taking a breath, she thought of fluffy cuddles and beautiful smiles to keep from diving under the table. Her friends still looked concerned, so she gave them a smile of her own. "I'm okay, really. I mean, yes, I'm worried about what this means, and," her smile weakened, "just a little hurt that someone would take those pictures and spread them around without so much as talking to me, but at the same time, I'm..." and got stronger again, "kind of happy! b-because it means they... that the whole s-school knows that... th-that she's mine!"

Warm little smiles from Sunset and Applejack and shamelessly gushy 'Awww's from Pinkie and Rarity made it very, very difficult for Rainbow to keep from getting all sappy herself. Someone had to keep a cool head here, and nobody was cooler than Rainbow Dash!

Even when she had something in her eye.

And her other eye.

Shut up!

Over at the sirens' table, Aria let out a long breath. "I'm... okay. I'm better now."

Sonata grinned with pride. "Toldja the chocolate milk would help!"

Even if she couldn't shake the kiddie feeling it gave her, Aria silently conceded that Sonata's suggested means of calming down had proven strangely effective. Not that she didn't still want to wring someone's neck, but it was hard to stay pissed off when drinking something cool and sweet. "So, can we talk about this now?"

Normally, Adagio might have teased Aria about how that depended on her being able to intelligibly speak at all through her sputtering rage, but propping her head up with one arm on the table, she really wasn't in a joking mood. "Sure."

"'sure,'" Sonata asked with a frown, "someone sneaks around to take pictures of you (which means you've got a stalker, no doubt about it now) and Dr. Seuss together, posts it where the whole school can see, you're all 'oh, sure, let's chit-chat about it like it's the weather!'?"

Adagio offered a weak shrug. "What else can we do?"

Aria Theater wasn't quite as amusing for her now that she'd been spoiled by so many showings at Fluttershy's facial performance hall. Even so, she didn't dislike the opening act of Aria's angry face silently trying to form words with empty mouth movement, nor the brief musical number of equally irritable and exasperated noises that followed. She could see the half-baked plans and proposals being rehearsed backstage, but the director must have been keeping the hook ready. Purple curtains were drawn as the fanfare of Aria's defeated groan sounded the end of her quick brainstorming session, leaning over to rest both elbows on the table while propping her head up with both hands in a way that left her pigtails drooping over the sides of her face.

While not particularly looking forward to what she feared would be this hour's show, Adagio looked in Fluttershy's direction anyway, but couldn't see her face from this angle. The others weren't exactly laughing and smiling, but it didn't look like there was any sort of emotional outpour going on over there either. Her voice quiet, she looked back at Aria. "How was she in English today?"

Sitting up straight again, Aria sighed and crossed her arms. "Well... She surprised me by showing up at all, same with still being here, so... I mean, her eyes were sorta glazed over when I looked at her, but she wasn't really shaking or keeping her head down all that much. Didn't even hear her squeak. Can't be doin' that bad, I guess. You gonna say anything to her in Art?"

"I don't know yet. There doesn't seem to be much point in pretending we're strangers anymore, but we can't exactly waltz over to their table, either."

It had been a while since Sonata needed something explained when the others seemed to get it, but at the risk of losing smarty-pants points, she asked. "Um, why not? I mean, cat's kinda outta the bag now, right?"

"Not exactly. Fluttershy and I might be outed, but have either of you heard anything pertaining to... other parties?" If someone was following her around, she wanted to be careful at least until she was sure they had nothing left to hide.

Sonata's mouth opened, but no words came as she processed the thought of everyone knowing about her and Rarity, especially if the naked funtimes part went public. Aria and Adagio watched in perplexed silence as her sad, fearful expression slowly transitioned to a far-off look and a wobbly little smile on her increasingly crimson face. Adagio giggled scandalously as Aria muttered through a facepalm.

"You guys are so embarrassing."

Chuckling, Adagio raised an eyebrow. "How do you know exactly what she's thinking?"

Aria blinked, turning red herself. "I, I-I don't, but, you know it's something dirty!" The increasingly predatory look in Adagio's eyes told her now was a good time for a subject change. "And anyway, I know we didn't wanna, but if everyone knows about you two and whoever took those pictures is still at it, maybe we might as well go over to the Rainbooms now."

"We could," Adagio said with a sigh, her playful malice extinguished, "but everything we told our three visitors that day still stands, and, again, we might still have a chance if we hold out and let this blow over."

"I guess. Is the 'cuteness' plan still on?"

"Yes, because at the very least, it might still open a door for us eventually. I think we were making a little progress before, but there's no telling just how much today's... incident set us back. For now, all we can do is wait and see what comes next."

Aria scoffed "As usual."

Sonata spent the short silence that followed looking back and forth at Adagio, who stayed expressionless as she processed the slightly standoffish comment, and Aria, who had her arms crossed and that look on her face that said she was expecting Adagio to argue with her. It had been a while since things had gotten heated between them, but eyes falling to the table, Adagio just sighed again.

"Yea."

The challenge falling right out of Aria's demeanor, she turned to Sonata to share a worried look.

When she was in middle school and a few times since, Fluttershy had had the terrifying illusion that she was essentially walking through a tunnel of eyes, every single one taking in and judging her every slightest movement, even invisibly taking notes so they could share their findings with everyone they met and the whole world could huddle around and point at this hopeless loser as an example of what not to be. That wasn't quite what she was experiencing as she walked down the hall today, but now that the shock had mostly worn off, her every step was taken with shaky self-consciousness as she tried and failed to ignore the many, many stares. It wasn't as though they were all of the piercing, judging sort, but even the faces that smiled at her telegraphed a message of 'I know what you've been doing!'

For anyone that knew how Adagio liked to behave, and most of the school did, it probably wasn't hard to guess.

Her first instinct was to do what she'd done any time she had doubts since Adagio became her girlfriend; think of their time together and the confident walk, but knowing that everyone was watching her, it only deepened the sense that everyone somehow knew all about every embarrassing thing that had happened to her since that first day on the bench, which made her even more self-conscious.

Slowly shuffling along with her head down, she nearly stumbled and fell with how badly her legs were shaking, but caught herself on a locker and quickly tried to return to a normal, upright stance. If only she could remember what one of those looked like right now instead of hobbling along like some horrific, inhuman creature in a suit of stolen skin. The ensuing whispers only magnified the intensity of the burning sensation in her face, her breaths coming short and quick, and all sounds in the hallway getting lost in what she dearly hoped was an imaginary wave of laughter directed exclusively at her. Struggling to remember anything that would have made her feel a hundred feet taller just the day before, she felt her eyes starting to water, simultaneously confused and furious that what had been a growing source of strength and confidence could be taken from her so easily, just because these people knew about-

...They know we're together. That Adagio is my girlfriend, and I'm hers!

Already feeling lighter again, she felt herself smile. Her legs were still shaking, but she focused on what she vaguely remembered saying at lunch today; that no matter what, everyone knew that she and Adagio were together! That no one would take her kind, beautiful, warm, adorable, occasionally terrifying fantasy-world girl from her! The thought was a little like lifting her skirt in public (not that she had done that, just, metaphorically); something that was once private now clear for everyone to see, but, well... it was a private thing that made her very happy (Oh, my...), and the reinforcement that there was no longer any doubt about who Adagio was really interested in at CHS was like a sweet, mango-scented balm on stinging wounds!

People kept staring at her, but a bold voice from the back of her head (which she liked to imagine as an Amazonian barbarian wearing war paint and a loincloth) said 'Ha, stare all you want, because The Golden Goddess smiles on me!!'

...Unfortunately, this didn't so much erase her fears and anxieties so much as blend them with the power she felt in that declaration, as though she were tuning out shouts and jeers by shouting even louder herself, but knew the other shouts were still there. Even so, she held onto the thought, remembering the story she read with the warding stone used to travel through a cursed swamp, its light keeping the souls of the damned at bay as long as she kept a firm grip on it.

This led to thoughts about Adagio in the elven shamaness costume again, which had her walking funny for slightly different reasons.

Applejack wasn't a great artist, that was for darn sure, but that wasn't why she wasn't too excited about Art class today. She walked in behind Fluttershy, not caring if she did look especially unfriendly to those that quickly turned their heads away on account of her glare. If they wanted to get their kicks talking about someone, they could at least have the nerve to be up front about it, not go around whispering gossip. It was like nobody even remembered how Sunset used to control this school.

Annoyed as she was with the lion's share of the rest of CHS, she wasn't sure what kind of face to make when Adagio walked in. It wasn't a glare, she knew that much, because no matter how sneaky she could be, Applejack was sure Adagio couldn't have taken those pictures of herself, and even if she could've suckered someone into doing it for her, the downbeat look on her face said she didn't want this either. So, Fluttershy being more nervous than a cat in a room full of rocking chairs all day probably wasn't her fault, but Applejack would still discourage anyone else that wanted to gawk at Fluttershy like she was a circus routine just because she'd tried to keep things quiet!

...And, yea, she could understand how doing anything like that with any of the Dazzlings would draw some attention, but still!

She sat next to Fluttershy as Magnet came in, all dancing and smiles like usual to start the lesson. Today, they were messing with clay again, which at least meant Applejack didn't have to think too hard about what she was doing with her hands and could keep an eye on anyone keeping an eye on her stare-shy friend. It was while shaping what looked like some kind of mutant banana peel with the clay that she thought about how Adagio might have been taking all this, but she was a big girl and no stranger to getting stared at all day.

...Of course, that didn't mean she didn't have feelings too, but it was pretty hard to tell what those feelings were when all Applejack could see was orange fuzz from where she was sitting. Still, Applejack got a pretty good idea when around twenty minutes before the end of class, Adagio stood up, walked on over to Fluttershy, leaned in close, and kissed her full on the mouth.

Applejack felt herself turn red just watching, with the rest of the class having the same reaction. She let this one slide, partly because she'd feel like a plain hypocrite for sending discouraging looks when she was staring herself, and partly because there was no way she could make an intimidating face right then. Eventually, Adagio pulled back and winked at Fluttershy, which won a little giggle as she went back to her seat. Leaning over, Applejack could see that even if she was rosier than anyone in the room, Fluttershy was smiling wider than all of them put together. She wasn't sure what to make of that, but it didn't look like a bad thing.

Looking up at Magnet, she saw him reading what looked like a coloring book at his desk, which was right about when he apparently noticed the silence in the room.

He blinked twice. "...What? What's got everyone so flushed? Did someone sculpt something "indecent" again?"

Applejack couldn't help noticing that he glanced at Adagio when he said that, but her clay... thing... looked more like a cage made of snakes.

"Well," Magnet mused while checking to see that the door was closed, "even though we understand that art takes on all shapes, sizes, and subject matters, high schools aren't so progressive as to not treat the human body like filth to be covered up at all times, so if there is anatomy in your artwork, I'll ask that you have a reasonably convincing "alternate interpretation" ready if Luna walks in."

Several students snickered, but the rest of Art passed pretty normally as most people moved on to experimenting on what they could get away with. Focusing on her mutant fruit sculpture, Applejack just grinned.

At least them two are takin' it well.

"So that's how you held together yesterday," Adagio said with a tinge of amusement as the two of them sat on the bench together. "I wouldn't have thought the issue of having me to yourself was still bothering you, Sweetie."

"It wasn't, just... I think, this time, it was more in a shout-it-from-the-rooftops kind of way than an insecurity." Which meant she didn't have to worry if Adagio teased anyone else anymore... "So, th-"

"Aww," Adagio softly cooed as she pat Fluttershy's head, "all grown up."

The gentle praise was like a warm breeze through Fluttershy's brain, lifting flower petals up into the air and spreading a lovely aroma through the fields of her mind! But, what was she about to say? She managed to get out of that mental meadow as Adagio spoke.

"Nata tells me that her dom didn't find the culprit behind yesterday's leak yet, but nothing else has surfaced so far. Apparently, the anonymous account that posted the pictures was only created minutes before the deed was done, and hasn't been online since, so it could be that the guilty party plans to make a new account every time they do something like this, or they'll only use it when they have something to... share. The comments haven't been too abusive for you, I hope?"

"Oh, um... I, took a look this morning, and..." She felt herself turning florescent pink. "I don't think anyone was being abusive, per se."

Despite the presence of a flustered Fluttershy, Adagio took on a humorless expression. "'Per se'?"

Fluttershy's heart did a little backflip as it imagined Adagio hurting someone on her behalf, though she dearly hoped it was more in a startled cat sort of way. "I-I mean, s-some of the comments are... suggestive, but, nothing really mean." Adagio looked placated at this, so Fluttershy hopefully wouldn't need to worry about having blood on her hands if she continued to occasionally entertain that vigilante fantasy. "Do the three of you still not have accounts of your own, or...?"

Crossing her arms, Adagio raised an earnestly perplexed eyebrow. "Why would we? Who would we be in regular contact with besides each other (with whom we can speak at any time already) and a few individuals that, by rights, we couldn't list as friends, leave comments to, or message in any way that would be meaningfully different from a text or phone call, save for the considerable reduction in privacy?"

"Um... Good point, I guess. But, if you did have accounts, there's always the chance that someone would add you, right?" A chill ran up her spine as Adagio stared back at her like she'd just proposed a way to open the shining doors to paradise with a bobby pin.

"Th-thah... that can happen? Do people just...?"

Guilt crept up as Fluttershy feared she was feeding Adagio some kind of false hope. "Well, I mean, it's not like it'd be guaranteed, but random friend requests could happen. I wouldn't count on something like that happening, but, if someone does want to talk to any or all of you, online might even be an easier way for some of them to do it. You never know."

"Then, if we just made accounts and remembered to check them every so often, it'd be like casting a net on the off-chance a fish or two happens by?"

"Sort of?"

Adagio grinned brightly as she fished out her phone. "If it increases our chances by even a hair, I'll take it! I have to call the others to-..." Smile fading, she slowly turned to look at Fluttershy, who gave her an adorably curious little head-tilt, then pocketed her phone again. She was excited about this, but there was no need for it to cut into the private time she got with Her Sweetie. "Well, it can wait a little longer, I think."

She held out an arm in beckoning fashion, pulling Fluttershy in when she took that hand and setting her on her lap for seated cuddles. Fluttershy wasn't quite sure about interpreting this as an invitation to lay her head on Adagio's chest again, but she was sorely tempted. The memory that they'd been caught like this on camera once already was enough to keep her content with just sitting cozily in Adagio's arms, where the two of them cherished the warmth and peace of the moment for a little while before Adagio spoke up again.

"So, you haven't been having any problems with all the attention?"

"I, I think I'm doing okay." So far. "How have things been for you three?"

Adagio shrugged. "Aria told me that she nearly socked someone for a bawdy comment in Gym, but if we're talking odd looks and suspicious whispers, that's kind of been a regular thing for all three of us." She sighed, turning her head away in an effort to hide her disappointment. "Though I was sure it had been getting better recently. Seems we have to wait for one more issue to blow over."

Knowing that Adagio had already been worrying about reactions to the time she collapsed from exhaustion in class, Fluttershy frowned. Speaking of which... "I see. Did you, sleep well last night?" She might not have noticed the way Adagio tensed, had she not been sitting on her lap. "Adagio...?"

Not willing to lie to Her Sweetie, especially with all this other noise going on, Adagio turned to face her with a moderately fearful, guilty expression. "I, I-I haven't exactly internalized the method yet, and a lot went on yesterday, so I was kind of... dwelling a bit... sorry." It was an immense relief when rather than a worried frown or one of those heartbreaking, it-hurts-me-to-know-you're-hurting stares, Fluttershy gave her an understanding smile.

"I'm not upset, Adagio, I just want to know that the Happy Thoughts method works for you."

"It did Sunday night, but, it's not really a habit yet, so... Maybe, before I go to sleep at night," wearing a sheepish little smile, she clasped her hands together in a pleading motion, "remind me?"

Already knowing which cherished memory she'd be writing about in the diary later today, Fluttershy smiled warmly. "I'd be happy to."

"Great!" Adagio leaned in for a kiss, not caring whether or not the stalker was watching them. By the feeling of that hand on her shoulder and the trembling one on her lower back, neither did Fluttershy, but she didn't want to risk discouraging that kind of exploration by commenting on it. And speaking of witnesses... "So," she said with a little smirk when the kiss stopped, "you know I haven't made full use of that agreement from a while back..."

Fluttershy blinked. "Huh? Agreem-" Then it hit her, swiftly followed by the awareness that Adagio's reason for holding back when they were in public essentially went out the window yesterday. "...Oh, dear." Surprisingly, Adagio didn't cackle or give her one of those looks or even flash a wolfish smile, but frowned.

"Is it, er, too soon, or-"

"No!" Seeing where Adagio's mind was going, Fluttershy rapidly shook her head. "It's fine, I'm fine, and it's been too long since we agreed you could tease me whenever you wanted without you actually getting to do it, s-so, i-if anything, uhm..." Her heart was already pounding with terror at the very thought of it, but she owed this to Adagio for several weeks now. "I-if there's anyth-thing you wanted to do, n-no matter who was watching, p-please..." She gulped. "please don't hold back!"

Now Adagio chuckled and held Fluttershy with one of her predatory, shiver-inducing stares, the arms holding her on her lap being used to ever so slowly pull her in closer. It quickly transitioned to an especially soft hug, Adagio's voice coming just as gently.

"You're a good girl, Sweetie."

Feeling all warm and safe in the embrace, Fluttershy savored the scent of mangoes. "You've been very, very patient with me, and I really appreciate that, but... this hasn't been fair to you, s-so if anything, I th-think I'm...!" Adagio pulled back enough to show her a raised eyebrow in addition to an amused little grin, but she kept at it! "...I'm g-glad everyone knows now!"

It came out with just a little too much squeaking to be as bold as Fluttershy probably wanted it to sound, but Adagio was tickled just the same. Tickled in a way that drew a wicked smirk. "Are you now? I know you like being picked on, but...?" She grinned wider as Fluttershy made a wonderfully flustered little noise.

"I, uh, I-I just meant-"

"I mean, no one would blame you, but I had no idea how much you were looking forward to me doing whatever I wished with you in the halls," her voice grew steadily huskier as she leaned in just a little closer, "or in the classrooms," and closer, "or on the desks," her lips were half an inch from Fluttershy's ear, give or take small changes in distance from the way her glowing victim shook, "where the whole school could see." Suppressing her giggles as Fluttershy shuddered, she pulled back, grinning casually. "You're sure?"

Even with her heart hammering in her still-tingling ears as her mind swam with visions of what might happen, Fluttershy managed a little smile herself. "Y-yes!"

Giving her an adoring smile, Adagio lightly pinched one of Fluttershy's cheeks. "My cute widdle masochist." She tittered at the sheepish little smile on that crimson face. "The safeword is still Squirrel, but before we do anything, I imagine you'd like this back?"

Fluttershy blinked once as she she looked over the object in Adagio's hand. "Huh...? Why do you have that bra?"

Wait...

Glancing down, she gasped, immediately moving her arms to cover the way her shirt now fit over her chest. "A-Ad-Ad-dagio, wh-when did-"

The siren snickered. "Ohh, I had plenty of time while we've been talking! Now, the question is," smirking, she held a hand under Fluttershy's chin to keep her from looking down, "do you think I got anything else?" There were no words for the joy in her heart as Fluttershy squeaked, covering her shirt-clad chest with one arm and holding her skirt firmly down with the other, fidgeting on her lap as she pondered the state of her own undergarments.

"D...d-did you?"

She held her smirk. "Let's say I did. If I were to take off your adorable, duck-pattern panties-" it was difficult not erupting into laughter at the way Fluttershy's eyes widened from the implications of the statement, "-without you noticing and tell you I didn't, you'd be risking a very embarrassing incident if you took my word for it and something happened to reveal that you were going commando. That in mind," she said with a wicked grin, "how long do you think you could go before you checked?"

"I wouldn't."

The grin was utterly erased. "...Wh-what?"

Still blushing, Fluttershy smiled. "I-I said, I wouldn't check at all. If you told me I was, er, s-safe, I would trust you."

Adagio visibly paused in her train of thought, lower lip twitching once as she barked out a laugh of surprise. "Y-you, are so..."

Internally, she didn't know whether to curse Fluttershy's affinity for disarming her with words and gestures that triggered the fuzzy heart-vice, or to savor the increasingly warm, squishy feelings the vice gave her in all its tingly squeezyness. With Fluttershy giving her one of those precious, innocent-little-flower grins, her decision felt weighted toward the latter, drawing a soft smile.

"You still have them on," she said while handing Fluttershy her bra with a wink, "for now. I think I'll wait one more day or so to see if things calm down a little more around here before I start making plans during the day, but stay on your toes, Sweetie."

Giggling as she accepted her stolen garment back, Fluttershy nodded. "I, should probably, um-"

Adagio smirked. "Wait until school has started, pick a hallway, and change between classes before anyone sees you? Wouldn't have thought you had it in you!"

Growing even warmer, Fluttershy laughed and shook her head. "I-I'm not that brave."

"I don't know about that. After all," she said while brushing a fingertip under Fluttershy's chin, her voice growing huskier by the syllable, "you're brave enough to keep facing me, aren't you?" The sentiment lost something when the 'brave' person in question was shaking like a leaf again, but they both knew it was true as she leaned in for a kiss.

The fallout from the pictures posted Monday morning had not, as hoped, dissipated within a day. Lying in bed that night, Adagio pondered contingency plan #4 if Aria lost her patience and punched someone. Then her phone rang.

"Hello?"

"H-hi. I just wanted to remind you, l-like you said, um-"

Adagio smiled brightly, greedily soaking up the products of the fuzzy heart-vice as it palpitated in her chest. "Think happy thoughts. I will, Sweetie, thank you." She smiled a little wider at the sound of Fluttershy's tinny giggles.

"Okay then. I... I love you!"

The smile was now making her face hurt. "Love you too, Sweetie. Goodnight."

"Goodnight!"

Author's Note

You are now picturing Aria sipping from a little carton of chocolate milk. With a bendy straw.

Sonata's thoughts as she spaced out will most likely get more detail in the relevant spin-off some time after this story is finished.

Was the part with Fluttershy and her mental gymnastics with the 'warding stone' at all hard to follow? I wasn't entirely sure how to show that while she wasn't a complete wreck while being stared at, it wasn't a swingy walk through the gym, either. :derpyderp2:
(And yes, she still does those, albeit while triple-checking that she's alone each time)