The girls

Dear Diary,

So here we are in our new home, well apartment. But this is our new home and I can’t be happier. I tried to talk to Adagio and Aria to make Tuesday nights taco night, but well, they did what they always did; That’s right, they called me stupid and said no.

Ah well, I can’t really complain too much, considering what we have all been through, and most importantly we are together.

It makes me so happy. We really argued a lot at first, when we couldn’t use our singing to get what we wanted or needed and had to find ways to earn money... Well, let’s just say, Tartarus hit the fan. Wait, is that how the saying goes? I’ll have to ask them about it.

I...

Sonata stopped writing in her journal as she heard a specific tune of a cell phone ringing. She looked up from where she was sitting on the floor, under the heavy quilt placed under the table and spotted the screen lighting up.

“Hello?” She asked the phone, as if it would automatically answer her.

“Sonata, answer the damn phone.” Aria yelled from the kitchen.

Sonata smiled and lifted the phone up to her ear, only for the sound to continue, now louder in her ear, “Hellooooo?”

“Oh, I swear Sonata, you really are THE WORST.” Aria said stomping into the living room and grabbing the cell away from the girl with blue hair with a few streaks of dark blue. Aria herself had her hair, that was dark purple, with blue streaks through it, up in pigtails. Her clothing still matching the usual punk teen look, despite her finally aging past sixteen a few years before after one of their last performances.

“WHAT?” Aria screamed into the cell, “Oh, hey, it’s you... Yea... No shit? Damn that’s a bitch. NO I WON’T STOP SWEARING! Honestly I don’t know why you’re trying all that goody goody stuff... Fine, yea, it shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll let the other two know. Sonata should be really excited, and well, you know Adagio, she may attempt to bitch about it... What?” Aria paused her one conversation with whoever was on the other side of the cell, “Pfft, HAHAHAHA! Oh yea, they are still bunched up her ass. Yea, see you in a bit.”

Aria let out a sigh as she moved the cell away from the side of her head, and pressed the end call button. A lingering grin on her face to signify one of the few times she was in a good mood.

“Who was it?” Sonata asked in her usual innocent way.

“Huh? Oh, that was Max. Apparently he needs some help with some things so he needs to crash with us. Oh, he might need to know the new address.” Aria then began to text the address on the cell, and clicked the send button.

Sonata’s eyes seemed to grow impossibly large, and she began squealing in excitement. At that moment, a girl with large orange and gold striped hair entered the room from the kitchen, her face scrunched up, and her hands over her ears.

“Sonata, come on. That’s enough.” She called out.

She turned to Aria, removing her hands from the sides of her head as Sonata seemed to calm down, “She only screams like that for Maxwell. I take it that was him?”

Aria merely nodded with a grin, “His business just got railroaded, and his stuff is getting taken away. So, he needs a place to stay.”

“Seriously? Man, that guy has some of the worst luck I’ve ever seen. Didn’t he tell us he was descended from like Irish people or something? I thought they had good luck, with four leaf clovers and leprechauns?”

“Oh, silly Adagio, Tricks are for kids.” Sonata said while giggling. The two turned to Sonata, a look shared between them of, ‘Are you serious?’

“Actually, Four leaf clovers are merely a point of superstition among most types of humans these days, though most people still hold onto said superstition. Leprechauns are only mythological creatures, of old tales from their country. They are more like just creatures in old folktales like fairies and stuff. At least according to this world, our world, yea...”

Aria and Sonata were staring, out right staring at Sonata, their mouths hanging open.

“Okay, who are you, and where is our idiot?” Aria asked, being the first to recover.

“Wait no, ask a real question, this might be one of those rare occasions where her brain actually works.” Adagio advised.

“Oh, you mean like when I sometimes play bash the head with her? And always win.”

Adagio groaned and shook her head.

“Sonata, what’s Mount Rushmore?”

Sonata blinked, once, twice, then smiled and opened her mouth, “A giant rock?”

“Well, she’s not wrong, exactly.” Aria pointed out.

“No, she is wrong, It’s a freaking Mountain, with four giant heads cut into it. I, at least learned that much.” Adagio argued.

“Yea, but a mountain is made out of stone, and rocks are made out of stone, so, ergo, it’s a giant rock.”

“I can’t believe we are actually arguing this.” Adagio almost screamed. She stopped then and began sniffing the air, “That smells- The pasta!” She gasped as she turned and hurried back into the kitchen to keep the food from burning.

Aria turned back to Sonata who went back to writing.

‘I can’t believe I’m even considering this, but ever since the battle of the bands back at Canterlot High, Sonata has really changed. I mean we all did, but it seemed so small that it took us a while to notice. Though when we seemed to stop changing, she kept on.’ Aria shook her head and turned from the table in the middle of the floor and walked back to the kitchen.

“So, when is he supposed to get here?” Adagio asked when Aria walked in. Aria looked up and saw Adagio at the stove with the pot that had the pasta in it, their dinner for that night, stirring the sauce, meat and noodles together.

It was nothing like actual Italian food, since Max did not know anything about genuine foods like that, he only taught them what he was taught by his mother. Which was cheap foods. He had explained he and his mother grew up together, very poor. He had many times worked to learn how to cook meals from actual cookbooks, however that proved difficult for the guy. He could never fully remember recipes, so many times he just started throwing things together when it came to spices and such unless he specifically had the cookbook at hand.

“Should be in an hour or less. He already had most of the stuff he needed packed and had been calling others he knew. We were his ‘saviours’ as he put it.”

“He called us last? Wonder why?”

Aria shrugged, one of her long time favorite responses she had picked up from humans.

The three former Dazzlings sat down at their table and began to eat their pasta set on plates before them.

Just as they were finishing up, there was a resounding knock at the door.

“Well, he’s here.” Aria commented as she went to stand to get the door. Just as she got to her feet, she suddenly found the floor coming up to greet her, with a point of pressure on her back. She caught herself and looked up to see Sonata pulling the door open, “Did she just literally run me over to get the door?”

“Well, at least she didn’t leave a foot print on your ass.” Adagio muttered as she stood and gathered the now empty plates with remnants of red sauce.

“Max!” Sonata was saying from the front door, jumping up and down, as Adagio walked past. It was dark outside, and there in the doorway stood a man of average height blocking the rest of the neighborhood from view.

As Adagio turned the corner she heard Max speak out in greeting to Sonata, and then heard a loud ‘oomph’. She rolled her eyes, figuring Sonata had literally jumped on top of the guy.

She set the plates in the sink and made her way back to the front door to check and make sure they were still okay.

“Get in here, and shut the door.” She reprimanded the two.

As Adagio came around the corner again she looked and saw Max struggle into the apartment, a large and bulky looking black duffle bag in one hand, and Sonata hanging off his neck. He used his other hand to close the door as he made it past.

“Want some help?” She asked.

“Maybe a crowbar?” Max asked with a smile as he bent at the knees and gently set his bag down.

“Sonata, get off of him.” The girl turned and pouted at Adagio, using her best sad puppy dog look she could muster.

Before she could say more, Max sighed and lifted her up bridal style and walked through the rest of the hallway and into the living room, with her in his arms. The way he moved it was like she weighed nothing to him.

Adagio noted this, as she remembered him once mentioning how out of shape he was. His legs had always been well toned, but he admitted laziness was his greatest adversary in gaining weight.

‘Must have hit the gym after he launched his business.’ She thought, watching his wide shoulders, before her eyes moved down to look at his rear.

She shook herself after she saw him bend over to set Sonata down onto the couch, who was having a giggling fit. A blush on her face, she about faced and walked back into the kitchen.

‘Long nights with a guy in a bad mood, and has nothing going for him, needs alchohol.’ She thought as she bent down to a cupboard and fished around for a few seconds, ‘Hello my darling,’ she thought with a smile. She raised up, setting the bottle of hard cider on the counter and fished out three glasses. She knew better than to try and let Sonata drink, the girl was just a space head to begin with, they had always feared what it would be like with anything hard inside of her.

She went back into the living room with the bottle in one hand, and the three glasses in the other.

Before her she saw Max standing, looking around the place, a look of admiration and surprise there. At this time, it seemed her mind had other things it wanted to look at, like his as- pants. Jeans, somewhat faded, and fairly old, with a belt. ‘Huh, never used one of those before, must have lost weight, for sure then.’ As she came around she saw him now, with his pants, and belt, he also had an open dress shirt, and a white T underneath it.

“Hey, glad to know we are last on the list of people to call.” She said, giving him her best unamused look.

He sighed before saying anything, “Actually, I didn’t want you to think I was trying to get you to help me like I was holding the situation around your necks.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Uh, well if you can’t think of any reason, then never mind. Nope, its all good.”

“He must be talking about when we all first met. You know, a couple of weeks after battle of the bands?” Aria pointed out, seeming to catch what he had been going on about.

Adagio turned her attention back to Max, seeing him fall in on himself just a little bit, as his eyes immediately shot down to find interest in the carpet.

Adagio said nothing, but set two of the glasses down onto the table before shoving the third into his hands, and then holding up the bottle.

He looked tired, and his face was left unshaven. She could see his eyes glance up and pause on the bottle and focus on it as if it were a life raft in an ocean.

She smirked and unscrewed the lid and poured him some of the thick amber liquid.

Once she filled it half full, she stopped and turned filling the other two glasses for Aria and herself.

“So, what happened?”

“Lawsuit. I knew there would be plenty of parents, and potential religious people who would have issues with the first and only game I released once I had finished it.”

“Thought you said you were taking measures to make sure people could not hold anything against you or your game?” Adagio asked as she passed one glass to Aria, and settled on the floor next to her, looking up at Max, “Have a seat, take a load off.”

He seemed lost in thought for a moment before looking around himself and eased down onto the floor.

“Yea, but apparently putting in so much text at the intro, and user end agreement and more about not trying to influence others, or offend people, and only a rating of nineteen and older was the best choice for the game. Well, once this got out, people found it best to pirate such a game and give it to minors. Then some people who are so offended by demons and the devil being in the game started slandering me and claiming I was a devil worshiper, blah blah blah. Got a court summons, plead my case, the lawyer was shit, and even though I had plenty of proof they still decided it was best to kick my game to the curb before things got further out of hand. The judge then basically took away all chances I may ever have of producing another game. And the media is making it to where I may never be able to find a decent job ever again in my field of Media Design.”

The three girls were silent as they listened, they could tell Max was falling and falling hard. He had stopped talking to them and so many other people to work on his game. He had put so much heart and soul into it, and for all of this to happen.

“So, what happened at the end of the hearing?” Aria asked.

Max, for his part seemed to light up, “Oh, I pissed them all off. They could not get any money out of me because I was a bit of an idiot.” Adagio raised a hand to signal him to continue, “Well, when I had received the notice of the lawsuit, I began taking into account of my assets and such. I basically gave away what money I had. I cut ties with anyone I had gotten help from in the areas I did not have any or enough experience in myself to take on the challenge by basically paying them their last paycheck and a bonus as a severance package. Pointless since I was not a real massive business that could really afford something like that, but,” He shrugged.

“Then I took what I had left after that, got what cash I knew I would need, and gave the rest to charity. I then figured the best way to keep from spending all of the money I held for myself to get by and try to get something like a one bedroom apartment, then the court might try and say something about it. Which they did, but I gave them something and made a deal. Since I made a lot of money and will be turning in my taxes next year, no matter what job I have afterwards, they will end up getting that money to complete the lawsuit. Oh, and also since the money I gave to charities were marked and I kept records as proof, it allows me to get more money for my returns, which in turn gives those who won the lawsuit more money.”

“So, wait,” Adagio stopped him, thinking, “Then how could you screw them over? It sounds like they are still getting everything.”

“Not really, see, if I figured everything out well enough, they would have made lots more taking my house, land, and vehicles, also, the money, and possessions and all. By working out a deal with the bank, they regretfully took the house back and kicked me out, I allowed the vehicles to be repossessed, and all. So that gave me a huge amount of debt I need to pay off since the banks have to work out to get another owner for this stuff as fast as possible so they don’t lose money. Which they already have to mark down the sales price, also I still have to pay them what is left on my loans. Thank goodness not too much. All in all, I took a huge gamble to screw myself over, so that when I went into court and they saw everything, I would not look that great. By making myself look so bad, the only real answer was to throw my sorry but in jail-”

“Sho, how didju get outta doin time, Mr. Bad boy?” Aria interrupted, slurring her words.

Adagio glance over, and saw a blush on the girls face, an empty glass, and the drink in the bottle half gone. She deflty grabbed the bottle and moved it away from Aria. She smiled when the girl tried to grab at it to pour another drink, only to snatch at air.

“Well, I worked out a deal with them, I pointed out the fact of my taxes, and the charity donations and said if they wanted any money from it, then take it from my taxes. As long as I got a decent mediocre job, then I would be fine for my first year after the lawsuit.”

“Honestly Max, I think you’re full of it. From the things you explained to us, more through use of the internet and stuff, someone would never be able to get out of a situation like yours by some out of the way nonsense like that.”

Max looked at Adagio, seeming to glower at her, before grinning and laughing, “Yea, So much crap to make up on the spot. But seriously though, I did get sued for the game itself being, “Against moral standings in our society today’.” Max said as he threw up some fingers to use air quotes.

“So, you did lose everything.” Adagio refrained from making her comment a question.

Max drew in a breath of air through his teeth, making a hissing noise, “Yea, pretty much. So I need to find a way to get myself into a better situation. Man, I tell you what, being bale to stand on my own two feet and take care of things on my own has been amazing. No more having to rely on others, no concerns if I have to choose between eating or depression, three years, and I’m back to square one. I can’t give up, I have plenty more ideas for games and all, I just have to work slower. Like find a real business that is willing to hire me for my job skills.” Max turned when he heard snores, and spotted Sonata drooling on the couch, and aria passed out next to him.

Adagio finally lifted her glass and looked into it. Neither of the two had bothered to take a drink during his tiring joke. She lifted her glass to him, “To new beginnings?”

Max looked at the glass, pausing for a second or two before shrugging, “What the hell, why not? To new beginnings.” He agreed as they gently tapped their glasses together, the resounding sound barely even echoing in the room before they threw their heads back and swallowed their drink.

Max made a sour looking face, “Why not have something like, bean, or the captain? I know people have their preferred drinks, and my tastes are not that well traveled, but still...”

“We still haven’t hit twenty one, yet. Remember? We got a lucky break with just this.” Adagio explained as she lifted the empty glasses and bottle returning them to the kitchen.

“Riiight. Crap. Well, what now?” He turned, hearing a door opening. He could see Adagio behind him at a small closet in the living room where she grabbed a blanket and a pillow. She turned and threw them in his face, watching his failed attempts to make her laugh by pretending the bedding was attacking him.

He lowered the blanket and set the pillow on the floor, wearing a small sad smile, “You want me to help you get these two to bed?” He offered.

Adagio shrugged, as if saying, ‘up to you’.