Cafe Dazzling

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 10
Chapter 19
Chapter 22

Chapter 1

It was a normal Monday at Canterlot High. The Dazzling’s were in a serious pickle. With their dreams of world domination crushed, they found themselves in a tight spot. They had blown all their resources on getting into CHS and the Battle of the Bands competition. They splurged on custom dresses and school outfits to replace their normal jeans and hoodies to make a good first impression. They now had no money, no life goals, and their rent was due in 2 weeks. Adagio was starting to panic, which is not something a leader was supposed to do. She sighed as she sat down on her stool behind the little kitchenette, which was identical to the 6 others in the classroom.

Anon watched the orange poofy haired girl sit down. This was his favorite class, partly because it was the only one he shared with her, and almost equally because it was home-ec, the class where you get to bake cakes and eat cookies. Anon loved cooking. You could say it was his special talent. Were there some kind of shady government program that magically branded your destiny somewhere on your body, his would have been a cooking related item.

Adagio got a bad rap after the whole band fiasco thing, which he found a little unfair. He had missed the whole event due to having to attend his great Uncle A. Nonimous’s funeral and will reading. He had been named after his rich old Uncle, and had always been his favorite. Frankly the stories had to be exaggerations. Probably a gas leak. Seriously, a giant sky horse? It was probably just bacon hair making trouble again.

“Ok class! Your regular teacher is out sick today, so I’ve been called in to cover for her! As I am not a bitter controlling spinster with no culinary skills to speak of, you are free to cook whatever you want!” said Cheerilee with a bright smile, the teacher’s aide extraordinaire.

She sat down in Miss Harshwinny’s chair, propped her feet up on the desk, and took out her cell phone to text her boyfriend. She absentmindedly twirled her hand in the air with a spinney flourish, indicating the clock had started.

Adagio looked down at the counter: pasta, apples, spices, butter, cream cheese, sugar. Picturing it in her mind’s eye, she got to work. She sliced up the apples into tiny chunks and reduced them in the skillet with the sugar.

Anon found himself staring at his ingredients. What the heck was he supposed to do with pasta sauce, frosted flakes, ground beef, a spice rack of the usual suspects, and a block of cheddar? He glanced over at the other tables. Yup, it looked like Cheerilee just dumped five or six things on each countertop with no regard to what they were. Well, he’d show her! A true chef could make anythii… He was suddenly mesmerized by the smell of caramelizing sugar and apples.

Dagi boiled the pasta and proceeded to lay the lasagna sheets flat in the bottom of a deep casserole dish. She took a bowl filled with cream cheese blended with sugar and made a thin layer. She put down another layer of the flat pasta and put the now syrupy apple cinnamon chunks all over it. She repeated a last cream cheese layer, covered it, and then slathered the whole thing in butter. A light sprinkling of cinnamon on top, then she stuck it in the oven for an hour at 375.

Anon was panicking. Adagio was totally showing him up. The sweet smell of apples and cream cheese filled the classroom. She looked at home as she finished cleaning up her station, like she was used to preparing meals. He glanced into the oven at his horrific creation. The tube shaped monstrosity glared back at him. Anon fought the urge to chase it to Antarctica to correct the wrong he had inflicted on the world. It would be ok. Probably.

“Ding, times up! Let’s see what everyone’s made!” Cheerilee leapt up from her seat and began to make her rounds.

Cheerilee tried to stay positive, but Anon saw her eye twitch as she went from station to station. It was like a visit to a /b cooking thread on 4chan. Bananas on stuffing with ketchup, a giant ball of bacon, a burning torch made of dry spaghetti, and a bell pepper and beef sandwich. There was no beef in it. It was straight up slices of raw bell pepper on sliced bread. She arrived at Anon’s counter.

“So, whaddya got Anon?”

Anon smiled as he unveiled his creation: the meat cinnamon roll! It wasn’t really cinnamon, but he drew a blank on what the heck else to call it. Tube steak? Meat log? Cheddar trouser beefy pounder? All awful. He had seasoned the beef and flattened it out. On top he layered the cheese and pasta sauce. He rolled this up to form a long tube, then rolled the tube on a bed of crushed frosted flakes, coating it. He baked it for an hour, then sliced it up into little bite sized patties. A swirly layer of cheese and sauce spiraled from the center.

Cheerilee took a small, suspicious bite. Then she took another. It was a small delicious meaty saucy cheesy snack that was probably at least 500 calories a piece. She popped the rest of it in her mouth and gave him a thumbs up. Finally she arrived at Adagio’s station.

Adagio stood proudly beside her creation: apple cream cheese lasagna. She cut out a slice and haughtily handed the plate to Cheerilee. It smelled amazing. Cinnamon and sweet cheese everywhere. Cheerilee nearly dropped the plate as she suddenly went stiff then shook a little. A silky gasp escaped her mouth as her face blushed bright pink.

“Aaaaahhh, mmmm.” She purred as her pale green eyes went out of focus. “Ok, nice job class! I need to go see Big Maaa, I mean the teacher’s lounge for something! Try each other’s dishes and hang out until the bell rings!”

The young teacher’s aide ran out of the room with the plate in one hand, texting someone frantically on her phone with the other. Anon guessed it was an important meeting.

“Wow, this is great Adagio!” Anon commented as he ate a slice. It almost made him uncomfortable how good it was. Like he was embarrassed to be eating it in front of other people. How the heck do you make something taste lewd? “You could be a professional!”

“It’s not that big of a deal, I cook for Sonata and Aria all the time. I’m the only one that I can trust not to burn the apartment down.”

She sighed. Great, she remembered the apartment thing again.

Anon saw a sad look cross the orange poofy haired girl’s face. It concerned him, but he didn’t want to pry… Before he could make a decision the bell rang. Crap, now he had to go and try to do something with the restaurant he inherited from his Uncle.

“Well, if you or any of your friends are looking for a job, come by my restaurant down around the corner!” With that Anon grabbed his bag and ran out of the classroom.

Adagio blinked. A lot of stuff just happened at once and it took her a second to process it. Her eyes went wide and she took off to grab Sonata and Aria.

Sonata was at the base of the steps outside spinning in circles. Seriously, just sort of spinning around humming a song. It sounded awful. It might have been “Shine like Rainbows” but who can tell? Aria came up behind her and smacked her on the back of the head.

“Stop that, you sound awful.”

Adagio leapt off the top of the steps, her dress poofing up majestically around her. She landed knees bent right between Sonata and Aria. Rising regally in a smooth motion, she grabbed them both by the shoulders and shook them.

“What is wrong with you two?! Stop fighting!”

Dagi quickly regained her composure.

“I think I’ve got a solution to our problems!”

“The clogged shower drain?” asked Sonata.

Anon busied himself by moving boxes. The place had been shut down for quite a while during his uncle’s long terminal hospital stay. He had no employees, no food, no menus, and no name. Luckily enough he had been left enough to keep the place afloat during its transition.

“Hey Anon!” shouted a bright, bubbly voice seemingly incapable of deceipt.

“Hey Sonata! Aria! Adagio! You guys here to help out?” He dropped the box of plates, shattering about half of them.

“Well, looks like you are gonna need all the help you can get,” shaking her head at the box of ceramic shards.

Chapter 2

It was your typical old American style diner. Stainless steel edging on the rounded bar, comfy red booths, black and white checkered floor tiles, and gleaming white walls. Large glass windows let in the afternoon sunlight. The small kitchen was visible from dining area, separated only by a short wall. On the second floor were a couple of small rooms.

Adagio took it all in as she saw the possibilities. She smiled.

“OK Dazzlings, huddle up!”

The girls circled up, leaving a small gap. Adagio stared at him.

“Well Anon?“ asked Aria impatiently.

After a moment’s hesitation, he stepped into the gap. Their arms circled around each other’s shoulders as they leaned in. Apparently Anon was a Dazzling now.

“Ok! Anon, what’s the situation and what have we got to work with?”

Anon explained how the restaurant had been closed while his Uncle was sick and how he had inherited it. How he’d basically inherited just enough money to get it running again. There were local contacts for consumables but he had no employees. Adagio pulled her arm from his shoulder and chewed on the side of her index finger.

“Hmmm… Well, we’re gonna need food, uniforms, a menu, and we’re gonna have to spread word around town that we’re gonna be open again soon. Sonata can go around town and tell students that we’re open again. Aria can take care of uniforms. Anon can contact the supplier and get the pantry stocked. I can work on the menu and get the kitchen in order. Once that’s all good to go we can finish getting the dining area finished up.”

Anon was taken aback. Adagio had identified the problems, the solutions, and divvied up the jobs. The girl was a natural leader.

“Ok on 3, team Dazzle! 1, 2, 3! TEAM DAZZLE!”

With a shout everyone dispersed. Sonata ran out the door arms flailing towards the school. Aria slapped her palm against her forehead, then walked out, presumably to the uniform store. That left Adagio and Anon.

“You are really good at that.”

“Well, that comes with a thousand years of practice,” she trailed off under her breath.

“Huh?”

“Nothing.”

Anon looked at her. He really looked at her. Confident eyes, an almost permanent smirk on her face, the cute poofy dress. She was like confidence personified. He breathed in.

“Adagio, want to be my manager?”

“I thought you’d never ask, Anon.” Her smile grew predatory. “We’re gonna need some things from you though. First, our rent runs out in 2 weeks.”

“Hmm, I don’t really have any money to front you until the restaurant is actually running, but there's an upstairs area with a couple rooms. I’m moving into one of them, but you guys can take the other 3 rooms for free. They’re small, but it shouldn’t be too uncomfortable.”

She blinked, composure caught slightly off guard. She was gonna try to talk him into a pay advance, but this could work out better.

“That would actually work out great. Our place isn’t really that nice, and we don’t have too much stuff to move. Okay. Second, we want to be partners. You can it out of our pay, but we want to be a part of it if this place takes off.”

“Well, I suppose I could do that. Having more money to invest in getting the diner running would help a lot. You do know nearly a third of restaurants fail in the first year, right?”

“That just gives us more incentive to work hard, right?” She smiled again, this time a little softer. “Well, looks like we’ve got a deal then, partner.”

Anon shook Adagio’s outstretched hand.

“Well, time to get this place up and running!” she said with a smile.

With that, she took a small laptop out of her bag and sat down at a booth. She opened up a program and started typing out a rough menu, text only. She seemed to have a very strong grasp on what went on a menu from the 50’s, almost as if she’d been there.

“We’re looking at a typical American style diner menu, right?”

“Yeah, burgers, fries, and shakes as a base. I was thinking it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have a sort of rotating side menu that changes theme on certain days. You know, like Taco Tuesdays, Spaghetti Sunday, or Sirloin Saturday. Something alliterative so people remember it.”

She stared at him hard. She searched his eyes, but it didn’t look like he was cracking a joke. After a couple more seconds she decided it wasn’t directed at Sonata and relaxed.

“Hmm, that could work. We don’t want our menu to be so spread out that our restaurant doesn’t have a culinary identity, but we also don’t want people to get bored and stop coming.”

He watched over her shoulder as she took the typed out menu items and pasted them over into an online menu creator. She seemed to favor stars, stripes, and sparkles for the theme. He liked it, it had a sort of patriotic feel to it. He saw her squint as she went into creative mode and decided to leave her to it.

“Well, if you can email me the text I can get to ordering ingredients!”

He looked down as his phone played a midi version of the hook from Cheap Trick's The Flame. She was already a step ahead of him, as a copy of it showed up in his CHS email account. He smiled at his new manager as he got to work.

Aria found herself staring at the perfect waitress outfits. Green with purple, magenta with pink, and royal blue with pink. They were each identical other than the complimentary color patterns. It was a one piece dress that ended a couple inches above the knee. It transitioned up from there into a form fitting shape as it rose to a notched collar with a wide V opening. A single strip of black buttons ran down the middle of each dress’s front. A sort of faux vest pattern in the complimentary color ran down the left and right side going over the shoulders all the way down. The outfit was finished with short sleeves that stopped after just covering the upper arm. She had to have them, she was sure Sonata and Adagio would love them.

Sonata found herself in front of the school. Students were still milling around going to after school stuff or just getting off extra study.

“Heey guys! We’ve got a restaurant now! It’s right down the street! We’re gonna have burgers and tacos and cute outfits! You should all totally go!”

“Well, what’s it called?” asked a random colorful student.

Sonata suddenly found herself stumped. Her eyes went wide and blank as her brain turned off external functions. She hadn’t been told what the name was gonna be.

“Hmmmmmm… I know, how about Café Dazzling! Everybody come to Café Dazzling!”

She took off running towards the field to go tell all the sports club members to come visit their new restaurant.

Chapter 3

It had been a long week as they worked after school, but they all pitched in and cleaned off the uniform layer of dust that had settled over the place. The counter tops sparkled, the booths and tables were pristine, and the windows were spotless save for the “GRAND OPENING THIS FRIDAY!!!” written in large bright friendly window marker letters.

The Dazzling’s had finished moving all their stuff from their old apartment to the living area above the café. Since it was early they even got back a bit more than their deposit, which was one less thing to drag on Dagi’s mind as they busied themselves with final preparations.

During school they had all passed out flyers to the students and teachers letting everyone know about Café Dazzling’s big opening day. Reception was a little mixed. The teachers and student’s Anon talked too seemed excited, but Adagio and Aria got a cold reception from their classmates. Sonata had an easier time of it, as it was nearly impossible to stay negative in the face of the blue girl’s bubbling cheerful energy. As he handed out flyers in the hall during a class break, Anon suddenly found himself surrounded by Sunset Shimmer and the Rainbooms.

“What are you guys planning?” Sunset drilled at Anon.

Anon was taken aback. Like almost behind a shed aback.

“… What?”

“Yeah, whats the big idea? You guys planning on stealing magical energy from the customers or something?” asked Dash in a really aggressive way. Her face was nearly pressed up against his. He gently pushed her back to arms length and stepped back. She glared.

“… Sunset. Dash. What the fuck are you girls talking about? I’m reopening my Uncle’s restaurant.”

“With the Dazzlings,” added Sunset.

“And? They’re nice girls and Adagio is a great chef.”

“They tried to take over the school!” shouted bacon hair.

“Allegedly! I didn’t see any of that. And, well, so did you! And these other girl’s you are with stopped you! Who are you to hold a grudge?” he spat back at her.

Sunset looked suitably chagrined for a moment, her righteous momentum stopped dead. Anon found himself breathing hard. He only knew Sunset, Pinkie Pie, and Dash by name, due to Pinkie probably training to be an NSA agent by knowing everyone and Rainbow being on every single sports team. There was also yellow quiet, country blonde, and purple fancy.

Just a few months back they had stopped Sunset from turning everyone into zombies or something. He didn’t really know much about it, due to being sick at the time. It sounded stupid. His Uncle would have loved being there with zombies, he actually had a bunker somewhere outside of town prepared for just that contingency. Well, technically Anon had a bunker now. He made himself sad as he remembered his awesome Uncle. Now somehow Sunset was the leader of the group that took her down? Awfully suspicious. Sunset Shimmer finally regained her composure.

“Anon, we don’t know if you are in on it, but we are gonna be watching the Dazzlings! They can’t be trusted.”

“Great! We’re open today after school, you can come by for supper Sailor Moon! Gotta make sure the negaverse doesn’t collect all the heart energy!” he said at a just slightly above normal volume, barely fighting off the urge to shout it at them as he stormed away. With a final spurt of vitriol he shouted “At least they didn’t blow up the school!” The Rainbooms stood there wide eyed jaws slack as he stormed off.

Anon headed toward the cafeteria to meet with the Dazzlings. He had taken to eating with them while they talked about the restaurant. He found himself more aware now as the eyes of the students stared at them. He hadn’t noticed it before. He had always just thought of them as normal girls. Outsiders maybe, but variety was one of the best spices. Not everyone can fit into the stereotypical jello mold. It was messed up how Sunset tried to turn the entire school against them.

“Are you ok Anon?” asked Sonata. “You look sad.”

“It’s nothing. Stupid Sunset and the Rainbooms talked to me and got me all riled up.”

“Oh? And what did they say?” queried Adagio.

“That you guys couldn’t be trusted and that everyone should do what the Rainbooms say because they’re sooo awesome. Stupid bacon hair.” He scrunched his face up as he said it.

“Geeze, leave it to Sunset to hold a grudge. Little miss everyone forget I turned into a demon and tore the front of the school off,” threw out Aria.

“I hadn’t realized how bad the rest of the school treats you guys,” muttered Anon.

“Hmm, it’s alright. They do actually have cause to be mad at us. Though it does seem disproportionate compared to what Sunset did,” added Adagio. “We tricked people who wanted a fight into fighting and took advantage of it. It’s not like any of it was against their will, politicians have been doing it for centuries.” She said it as if she had been there to witness those centuries.

“We would have moved again if we’d actually had the money for it,” added Aria. “The whole Battle of the Bands thing wiped out all our savings. Dresses, outfits, and pyrotechnics can get pretty expensive on short notice.”

“I don’t want to go, I like it here,” said Sonata softly.

“It’s fine, we’ll show those stupid Rainbooms that the Dazzling’s won’t be their whipping boys! Err, girls!” shouted Anon in the crowded cafeteria. The students’ eyes bored into them harder. “We’re gonna open this restaurant and people are gonna love the awesome food and you guys won’t have to take their bullying anymore!”

The entire cafeteria fell silent. All eyes were on them. He felt time slow as his heartbeat boomed in his chest, like this was one of those moments where something needed to happen. Renegade or Paragon. As he felt the moment slip away Sonata stood up and clicked L2 for him.

“You guys! Please come to our restaurant! We’ve been working really hard fixing it up and Adagio and Anon are gonna cook really yummy food for everyone! Ooh, plus we got really pretty dresses to wear!”

“Okey dokie! I’ll be there!” shouted Pinkie Pie from the cafeteria entrance.

The tension in the cafeteria melted away as people laughed and said they’d check it out too. Anon breathed a sigh of relief. He had come that close to yelling at what would probably be his main customer base. He looked over as Sonata smiled at him. Her eyes shimmered a bit more than usual, but she blinked and it vanished.

Chapter 4

It was opening night. The grill was ready, the oven was preheated, and the final countdown had begun. They had folded silverware into napkins, they hooked up the soda fountain C02 and syrup tanks, and they prepared the stack of shiny laminated menu’s Adagio had made.

The Dazzling’s were decked out in their brand new waitress uniforms. Each girl was wearing her favorite colors, and they all looked wonderful. Aria in her green dress with purple highlights, Adagio in her royal blue and pink, and Sonata in her purple and magenta. Anon was wearing a typical white collared chef’s blouse with black slacks and a red bow tie. A crisp white paper hat completed his ensemble. As a group they circled up and held hands. Adagio gave the pep talk.

“Ok! We’ve all been working really hard to get this place up and running. We just have this final push to make all our efforts a success! I’ll take the maître d position. Sonata and Aria, you two will be waitresses as planned. If we get bogged down I’ll be moving around to help. Anon will be working kitchen duties as head chef. If we have problems back there I’ll move to help and Aria will take over head hostess duties when someone new arrives in addition to her other duties. If we can get enough of a crowd, hopefully we’ll be able to hire some dedicated bus boys in the future, but for now you’ll need to bus your own tables. Just use the cart and take them to the back. We'll run them through the sterilizer whenever we get a lull. Try to switch it out so one of you is always out here refilling drinks. Ok, on three Team Dazzle!”

Anon, Aria, and Sonata put their hands in the middle on top of Dagi’s. They smiled nervously at each other. This was where they’d find out if all their hard work would come to fruition!

“THREE! TEAM DAZZLE!”

Sonata flipped the OPEN sign as the clock ticked over to 5:30pm. Since they were high school students, and couldn’t work all the time, they had abbreviated hours. Weekdays had a 5:30 to 7:00 dinner window while weekends were a similar 2 hour block for breakfast and lunch so they’d have time to do stuff in the afternoon. The restaurant itself was thankfully fully owned, they only needed to make enough to cover the operating costs of opening the doors daily in addition to building capital. In time they could afford to hire separate crews and run normal hours, but for now they needed to make do with what they had.

Their very first customer through the door was Cheerilee and Big Mac. They seemed really close now. Anon guessed something must have happened, though he didn’t know what.

“Hey Adagio! Girls! Anon! I really want to thank you for that desert the other day, Big Mac and I really enjoyed it!” she smiled widely.

Cheerilee practically glowed as Big Mac blushed a bright apple red. Aria snickered while Dagi wore a knowing smile. Sonata had a bright blank smile.

“You girls look absolutely lovely in those dresses. Oh well, we'd like a booth for two!” She hugged Big Mac’s arm tightly.

It looked like that blush might be permanent. He should probably see a dermatologist or something. She saw Aria was about to lose it, so she handed the couple off to Sonata. She led them to a nice quiet booth in the far corner. Satisfied, Adagio turned back to abruptly come face to face with Rainbow Dash. The girl was entirely too close, she seemed to have no sense of space. Or maybe it was shame. Hmm, yup, a sense of shame was probably what the girl lacked. Dagi leaned to her left around Dash to see the other five members of the gang. Putting on her best fake smile, she stared hearts and puppies at Sunset Shimmer.

“So, a booth for six?”

She waved for Aria to take her spot at the door as she personally walked the Rainbooms to a large wraparound booth. With almost saccharine charm she handed each one a menu and took their drink orders.

“We’re on to you Adagio,” said Sunset. “I’ve been researching it, you guys are planning on collecting negative energy from the diners in order to make new gems, aren’t you?”

Adagio kept up her smile without missing a beat. Would that work? Sunset made it sound like it was really easy. She’d have to look into that with Aria, though there wasn’t any hurry.

“That sounds like a truly terrible idea, Sunset. Upset customers tend to be lousy tippers and non-repeats. I’d love to see your notes on the subject…” She waved her hand dismissively. “Though speaking of negative energy, I bet if you all keep up this little inquisition of yours long enough there’d be enough energy to send Vice Principle Luna to the moon.”

Sunset Shimmer simmered silently. Her lower lip trembled as she tried to figure out just how to get back on this wrecked conversation train. Finally she gave up and sighed.

“Iced sweet tea please.”

Dagi smiled. The rest of the girls gave up and ordered their drinks as well. An iced tea unsweetened, an orange juice, a fruit punch, a Dr. Pepper, and a water. They went to AJ, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity respectively. Their orders complete, she left them to look over the menu while she got their drinks. Aria met her on the way to the fountain by the bar.

“Should we spit in their drinks?”

“No, it is tempting but they are still customers. You can take over as hostess for now. I want to make sure the Rainbooms don’t have a leg to stand on to complain.”

Adagio balanced the six clear plastic glasses on her tray and renewed her smile. She carefully set each glass down in front of the girls on a coaster, grinning widely at each and every one of them. That task complete, she took out her notepad to take their orders.

“So what will you girls be having? I’d recommend the Swiss mushroom cheeseburger cooked medium rare, we use certified Angus beef patties with grilled mushrooms and onions on a buttered bun!”

She stared directly into Sunset Shimmer’s eyes as she said it. Her fake smile might have turned genuine as she saw the pony girl squirm. Her grin got even wider at Sunset’s surprise when Dash and AJ both ordered one.

“That sounds right nice! I love me a good greasy burger now and again,” said Applejack.

“Oh yeah, nothing beats a good old cheeseburger!” agreed Rainbow Dash.

Adagio wished she could have bottled the mild look of horror on Sunset Shimmer’s face so she could drink it in later. What made it even better was that AJ and RD seemed to have no idea just how big a cultural faux pas they just pulled. Now to throw out the life preserver before they all drowned in her sweet pony tears.

“I’d also like to recommend the veggie sandwich! It has avocado, cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, swiss, and mayo on toasted wheat bread.”

“I’ll take that one,” Sunny blurted out, nearly panicked.

“I’d like to try that one too,” said Fluttershy.

“I would like the veggie burger, darling!”

“I want a big stack of strawberry pancakes!”

“Ok, we’ll get those right out to you!”

With that Adagio hummed a random tune as she left to hand the order over to Anon, in a much better mood than she had been in five minutes prior.

Chapter 5

So far everything seemed to be going good. In between flipping burgers and assembling sammiches, Anon watched as the customers poured in. From what he could see and hear, Adagio was on her best behavior as she served the Rainbooms. He had no idea how she could do it, those girls had made him nearly lose it within a minute of talking to him. Sonata looked like she was doing her best too, as she always kept the customer's drinks filled and checked if they needed anything else while doing her rounds. Aria had swapped hostess spots with Dagi and had bussed a few tables during a lull. If they could make this a regular thing, Café Dazzling was sure to be a hit!

Sonata was having a blast! She got to walk around and talk with people. With a big bright smile she returned to Cheerilee and Big Mac’s table, where they had just finished one large milkshake with whip cream, nuts, and caramel with 2 straws. Big Mac continued to be bright red, but he smiled as they stared into each other’s eyes.

“Hi again Miss Cheerilee! Can I get you two anything else?”

“No, I think we should be good. It’s been a wonderful evening!”

“Yup.” He held hands with Cheerilee across the table.

Sonata handed them the bill. Anon had decided to splurge on an iPad based point of sale system. They could track everything down to the ingredients used for every single item sold, plus the system was so simple that even Sonata could use it. It listed customers by name and table so she just had to tap “Cheerilee” to send her tab out to the printer over the wireless network. With a quick swipe, the sale was completed and instantly inputted to their accounting software.

“It’s so nice seeing you girls happy! Hopefully this works out, it really suits you Sonata!”

As they got up, Big Mac smiled and handed Sonata a $10 tip! It had only been a $30 bill.

“If you guys need any help, Applebloom and her friends have been looking for part time work. Good luck, you can really tell you girls worked hard on this place!” added Big Mac. He smiled his big easy going smile as he wrapped his arm around Cheerilee’s waist and left.

Back in flavor country, Adagio carried two trays towards the Rainbooms. In a rare fit of courtesy, she had arranged them with the vegetarian dishes on one tray and the burgers on the other. Unfortunately for Sunny, AJ and Dash had sat on opposite side of her, so there was nothing to do about the delicious smells drifting over to her. Being natural piscivores in Equestria, the Siren’s hadn’t had any trouble adapting to the average human’s diet. It still surprised her that Sunset hadn’t adapted to it over the last 3 years she had lived in the human world. It’s not like the cows could talk here, plus they were sooo good.

“Is there anything else you ladies need?” asked Adagio.

“Nope!” said Pinkie as she dug into her pancakes.

Sunset stared at Adagio, her eyebrows furrowed. Her eyes scanned for any malicious intent, but she found none.

“Sunset. We’re normal girls with normal needs now. We just want to finish school and earn a living. Is it so hard to just give us the benefit of the doubt?”

Sunset's eyes softened as she took a bite of her sandwich. It was delicious, the rich avocado playing off the crisp vegetables and Swiss cheese.

“We’ll see Adagio. Consider yourselves on tentative probation.”

The rest of the Rainbooms relaxed and enjoyed their meal. Adagio smiled at her, a genuine one, as she pressed the two trays flat against her chest and returned to the kitchen.

“I think I may have finally broken the Rainbooms,” announced Dagi to Anon. “Though I think we should make one extra little effort to make sure.”

Adagio told Anon her plan. He quickly agreed. He frankly wasn’t sure he could take another ambush and remain civil. It was cheap insurance against future pain. The night continued uneventfully. As the night wrapped up and closing time rolled around, the Rainboom’s finally finished. Apparently they were determined to do a full stakeout. Dagi brought out her secret weapon on a tray.

“Here, compliments of the chef!”

She sat 6 plates of a mysterious layered confectionery treat on the table. She smiled as Pinkie Pie took a tentative bite, then trembled.

“Ooooh my god! Soooo good!” Her eyes rolled back in her head as she twitched. “You guys have got to try this!”

Dagi smiled as the Rainbooms were reduced to a quivering mess after taking a bite. Setting the tab on the table, she left to go check on the other tables, her mission accomplished.

At her post near the door, Aria found herself bored. That is, until she turned to see the Rainbooms apparently in the middle of some kind of culinary orgy. She tried to look away, but she couldn’t. Her jaw involuntarily dropped open as the girls seemed to have no control of the sounds coming out of their mouths as they chewed. Lip smacks and moans filled that corner of the diner, Rainbow Dash loudest of all.

“Oh my god, I want you to come inside me!” Dash moaned as she spooned more of the sweet cream cheese and apple desert into her mouth.

“I never realized apples could become something so beautiful!” cried AJ as she took another bite, tears running down her face.

Thankfully, the restaurant had cleared out. Aria flipped the sign to CLOSED before she went to bus another table. Anon walked out of the kitchen, and stretched as he pulled the hat off his head.

“I think that was a pretty successful first night!” he smiled at the rest of the Dazzlings.

His eyes fell on the Rainbooms as they writhed and moaned in the booth. He grew a little uncomfortable, though he couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from the scene. Fluttershy blushed furiously as she noticed his gaze fall upon her.

“O-oh. Hi Anon. Um, lovely, uh, weather?” as she quickly scooped the last bit of the desert lasagna into her mouth.

Both groups sort of stared at each other. Sonata finally broke the silence.

“Can we please not fight anymore? You like our restaurant, right? We've worked really hard on it. We aren’t being bad anymore. Please don’t pick on Anon just because he’s friends with us.”

Sunny sighed up as she tried to get her blush under control.

"Fine. We are still gonna keep an eye on you though.”

It was a little tough to make out as she continued to stuff more layered apple and cheese into her mouth. The two groups separated on more or less congenial terms as Rarity picked up the tab. Adagio’s eyes grew wide as she saw the tip on the receipt.

“That girl left a 100% tip! … along with her phone number for whoever made the lasagna.”

It was Adagio’s turn to blush at that.

Chapter 6

It had been a pretty good first day as far as Anon was concerned! The kitchen and dining area was now spotless. The girls were all in the upstairs apartment getting ready for the grand opening party and he had just finished the cake. He stuck a couple my little mermaid candles on top.

Upstairs, the Dazzlings sat around the living room table. They had changed into more comfortable attire, sweat pants and t shirts. An orange sofa and a love seat surrounded the rectangle wooden table on two adjacent corners, and on its surface lay the glued together pieces of Adagio’s shattered amulet. She had been the only one with the presence of mind to collect the shards before escaping. Sonata and Aria had no idea what had become of theirs, though Dagi’s was nothing more than costume jewelry now.

“Sunset seemed to think we were using the restaurant as some kind of front for gathering negative energy. It’s a stupid idea for the obvious reason that angry customers don’t come back, but I find it interesting that she seems to think it’s possible to make new amulets with that energy.”

“We need energy to sing, we can’t sing without the amulets, and we apparently can’t make new amulets without energy. I don’t see how it’s even possible, it’s just a big stupid circle!” growled Aria.

“My mom gave me my amulet,” offered Sonata quietly.

“Yes, and her mother gave her hers, just like with us.” Adagio added sadly. “I’ve never heard of a new one being made. They were some of the oldest magical items in Equestria, passed from mother to daughter for as long as Sirens have existed. They were what made us who we were, and we lost them.”

Adagio hugged her cracked gem to her chest. Just then Anon walked in carrying a small chocolate marble cake. The white buttercream frosting was simple but thick, and the three mermaid candles on top were lit. He noticed the maudlin atmosphere that permeated the room.

“Girls? Are you alright?”

“We’re fine. Just got a little depressed after Sunset reminded us of how they had broken our pendants during the Battle of the Bands competition. Our mothers gave them to us when we were younger.”

Anon looked at the small cracked gem. It had been crudely glued back together, facets not quite lined up correctly, yet she held it like it was the most important thing in the world to her. He felt a small flare of anger, but quickly let it die down to a dull ache.

“Dagi, Sonata, Aria. We had a really good opening night. All your hard work paid off, and it looks like everyone will tell their friends about how much they enjoyed it. It’s ok for you to be happy right now, you girls deserve it.”

He sat the cake down on the table.

"Make a wish and blow out the candles!”

"You do know it’s not our birthdays today, right?" asked Sonata.

"I do now. It’s alright, you don't need to always follow the rules when it comes to wishing. Especially when it’s for something important to you." he added, smiling.

Adagio thought about what she would wish for. Power? Revenge? Neither of those really appealed to her anymore. Dagi glanced over at her friends. She just wanted Sonata, and Aria to be happy. As one, all three girls leaned forward and blew the candles out. They didn't say it out loud, but all three girls had wished for the exact same thing.

"Ok! Let’s eat!"

Slices of cake and glasses of cold milk were quickly handed out as everyone cheered up. Laughter and a general sense of contentedness fell over the group as the cake vanished and everyone got ready for bed. It would be a fairly early day tomorrow for breakfast and brunch, but they'd have the whole afternoon off. There was only the one bathroom, but the girls had already gone so he didn’t have to wait. The water was only lukewarm, as apparently a certain poofy haired girl had used all the hot water. Toweling off, he slipped into his pajamas before brushing his teeth. End of day ablutions complete, Anon walked back to his bedroom.

The girl’s rooms were on the far end of the apartment, with Adagio’s ever so slightly larger room on its own side butting up against the stairs. Sonata and Aria’s room shared a wall on the opposite side of the hallway from Adagio’s. Anon’s was on the opposite end of the living room, the open space splitting the apartment in two. The bathroom was right beside his room, only a couple steps down the hallway, both touching the outside wall.

Looking across the room, he saw Adagio saying goodnight to Sonata. Their eyes met, and he smiled as he waved, then ducked into his room. The open window let the cool autumn night air blow across his room. As he lay on his bed, he thought about the past week. They had accomplished so much in so little time. He had gone from a dusty empty shell to a fully functioning operation. Also he had a working restaurant! He giggled. Without Adagio’s leadership, Sonata’s infectious enthusiasm, and Aria’s bullheaded refusal to give up on anything he would probably still just be moving boxes around the store, thinking about his Uncle. As his eyes shut, he thought he could feel a presence but his tired mind dismissed it.

Adagio stood outside Anon’s room, hand raised to knock. She wanted to thank him. She wanted to let him know how much she and the girl’s appreciated him taking a chance on them. In the end, her hand came back down to her side. She turned around and quietly walked back to her room, her footsteps muffled by her thick socks. She took a moment to look in on Aria and Sonata, both passed out in their rooms. She smiled as she laid down in her bed. The last thing she saw before falling asleep was her pendant, twinkling on her nightstand.

Chapter 7

The breakfast rush wasn’t bad at all. Just a nice steady stream of people. Adagio noticed the ratio of students to adults skewed very heavily to the adult age group. It seemed like the only students here this morning were from the prep school from across town. Thankfully Dazzlegate hadn’t spread all the way across town to Crystal Academy. Or if it had, it might have actually given them points with the Shadowbolts. They always seemed to travel in packs, which made it strange that this girl was by herself. Thick glasses covered her face, and blond bangs stuck out from below her hoodie.

“Where’d you like to sit?”

“Somewhere quiet. Just need some coffee while I go over some numbers.”

Adagio nodded, waving Aria over.

“Get her one of the corner booths, away from other customers so she can study.”

The girl nodded appreciably as Aria led her away. Looking over to the opposite side, she saw Sonata chatting with a happy looking old couple. Finding herself in the middle of another lull, she walked over to check up on Anon.

“So, how are you holding up, head chef Anon?” she smiled teasingly.

“Not bad at all! A couple more weeks of regular traffic like this and we should be able to expand and hire more people!”

With practiced ease he flipped a pair of eggs over, where they landed sunny side down without popping the yokes. He reached over with his spatula and moved the shredded hash browns around to keep them cooking uniformly. Dagi found herself conflicted with his answer. More help would be nice, but she enjoyed the sort of club feel their restaurant had with just them.

“Not many Canterlot High students have shown up so far. More than likely it’s because of us.”

“Don’t beat yourselves up over their problem. Sunset was a freaking terror for 3 years but she somehow gets forgiven after blowing up the school. The hypocrisy just makes me angry. You girls are handling it much better than I am. Hopefully it blows over soon.”

He looked over as Aria poured the purple girl another coffee. She had removed her hood, which revealed a nondescript head of long blonde hair with bangs that parted in the middle. The glare from her thick glasses hid her eyes as she poured over charts and photos and typed notes into her tablet. She said something he couldn’t make out, then looked up as Aria laughed. It looked like Aria and the girl were getting along pretty well. That really surprised Anon since Aria was usually a stand off grumpy head with people she didn’t know well.

“So, you are a scientist? That studies magic? How can you even reconcile that in your head?” Aria laughed, in a genuinely curious way.

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. For example, while the underlying science that supports it may be unknown to you, you know how to use a cell phone, right?”

“Hmm, I suppose.”

“So it stands to reason, even if an artifact is ‘magic' there is an underlying system that relies on quantifiable natural phenomena. We may not have the math or physics yet to adequately describe the actual process of why it works, but the reality would be that it does!”

Aria could not fault the girl’s logic.

“Hmm, you’ve got some interesting ideas there, Doc.”

“Do.. Doc?” the purple girl sputtered.

“Yup. That is now your nickname! Deal with it.”

Aria heard snickering. She turned her head to see Adagio and Sonata near the drink fountain, arms on each other’s shoulders, bent over, and struggling to stifle their laughter. Anon stared from the kitchen, a goofy smile plastered on his face. She turned back, ignoring them.

“Doc… I like it!”

Aria and the girl shared a smile. Sonata, Adagio, and Anon continued their giggling.

“Oh my god, that is the most adorable thing ever!” giggled Adagio.

“It’s like watching two little kids playing in a sandbox!” said Sonata.

“I keep expecting Aria to push her over or put bugs in her hair and run!” snickered Anon.

“I need to go do my rounds and check on my other tables, but would you like to hang out or something after I get off?”

“That would be nice, umm… Oh, I haven’t asked your name!”

“The name’s Aria. Aria Blaze.”

“Well, I guess I’m Doc now!”

The girl dove back into her numbers and charts as she tapped away at her tablet. Aria smiled and went to check on her neglected customers.

“Table for six!” announced Rainbow Dash as she walked through the front door.

Adagio rolled her eyes, then walked back to the front to meet the Rainbooms.

“Nice to see you girls back so soon.”

“The pancakes last night were amazing so I talked everyone else into coming for brunch!” announced Pinkie.

Adagio nodded as she called Sonata over. As they walked towards the same booth as last night, Rarity made a puzzled face at Doc. It quickly went away as she didn’t want to be rude. Pancakes of various denominations, nationalities, and flavorings were acquired as a fun time was had by all.

“Dash, does that girl over there look familiar to you?”

“Nah, just looks like a blonde egghead to me.”

“I guess maybe she looks a bit like Ditzy? Especially with those thick glasses distorting her eyes.” added Fluttershy.

“Oh good, that must be who I was thinking of,” sighed Rarity with relief. “It was bugging me ever so much.”

With that, the purple nondescript scientist known as Doc by Aria faded from their collective consciousness like a background pony. The rest of brunch went by uneventfully. Sonata was her usual bubbly self and the Rainbooms had no cause to suspect any wrongdoing on the part of the Dazzlings.

“That was super delicious yummy Anon!” shouted Pinkie, with no regard for the other customers.

Anon waved from the kitchen at the compliment, smiling.

“Yeah, that was some good stuff Anon,” said Dash.

“I reckon we’ll be frequenting your establishment a lot in the future!” intoned Rarity, giving a perfect Applejack impression.

Applejack glared at Rarity, then looked over at Sonata.

“You did a good job Sug, we’ll see you guys at school Monday!”

The Rainbooms and the Dazzlings parted on amicable terms, Adagio even waved as they went out the door. Aria went over to check on her new friend.

“Let me go change first and we can head out!”

“Ok, I can take you to see my lab!” said Doc, cheerily.

Chapter 8

Aria was shocked. Doc actually had a lab. An honest to goodness, Tesla coils shooting lightning, supercomputers humming, tables covered in jars, shelves of books, fluorescent lights buzzing, glass cases sealed with forbidden artifacts, bat cave worthy lab.

“The lab is a clean area, we have to strip down to get through the airlock and decontamination station. Just underwear will be fine.”

With that, Doc stepped into the airlock, removing her pants and pulling her hoodie over her head. As it popped over her head, her blonde hair popped off as well, revealing her long royal blue hair with a pink and purple stripe pinned up to fit underneath the wig. She looked surprised at the wig on the ground.

“Huh? Oh, forgot I was wearing that.”

Aria stared in shock as she found herself looking at Twilight Sparkle.

“It doesn’t bother you, does it? Someone posted a weird video of a girl who looked like me on youtube a few months back so I had to start wearing a wig to avoid attention.”

Aria’s jaw continued to stay dropped as she came to terms with who she was talking to. Absentmindedly she found herself stripping down as well. Twilight Sparkle, Doc, pushed the decon button. Air rushed down from the ceiling along with a fine mist of something vaguely lavender scented. That done, they walked into the lab, where Doc handed her a lab coat off the rack by the exit.

“I usually don’t wear stuff underneath. Just more stuff to have to disinfect later. Do you mind?”

Aria shook her head as she took in more of the lab. Odd objects behind glass containers, wooden crates filled with hay and presumably other things, and other clearly arcane objects filled the shelves. On the wall was a poster that said “Vote Cthulhu 2012: Why vote for the lesser evil?” She chose her words very carefully as she watched the purple girl put her hair up in a well-practiced bun.

“I, uh, know the girl who looks like you.”

“Oh, I know. Canterlot High did an admirable job of suppressing just what happened at the concert. I had to dig into phone archives and GPS positions just to figure out what students were there. You, Miss Blaze, were on the stage at the time of the thaumaturgical surge.”

No question at all in the statement. Aria found her blood run cold. Where was she? Who knew she was here?

“There’s no need to look so panicked Aria!” added Doc, as she saw Aria’s pupils dilate. “I’m just trying to figure out what’s been happening around town.” She turned over to her Keurig. “Want a coffee?”

Panic temporarily averted, Aria told Doc about her magical pony counterpart, and about the world she came from over a chai latte. Doc took it fairly well.

“That would explain the weird thaum readings I’ve been getting, especially from the Principal and her sister. There’s only a little under a dozen people in the whole town other than me who can even move the meter.” She said, as she looked down at her small portable multimeter looking device. “On that note, you don’t even register on it. Near as I can tell you and your two friends are just normal girls. Those six on the other hand…”

Just normal girls. That stung more than Aria thought it would. Doc punched more numbers into her thingie.

“They were definitely at the epicenter of the incident.”

She snapped her fingers twice in quick succession. A spot light focused on a nearby glass case containing the remnants of two shattered red gemstones.

“I’m not sure how, but these seem to be a part of it.”

Aria’s heart skipped a beat as she stared at her shattered pendant. Hers was the one on the left, she could feel it. In the immediate aftermath of the concert coming off nearly becoming gods, it felt dead to her, cold, but here she could feel the faintest stir as it called out to her like a wounded bird. Is that what Adagio felt in her gem as she held it? The dying pain of a shattered part of her soul? How could she stand it?

“Those… are ours,” she said quietly.

"Pardon?”

“Those are our pendants. By getting people to fight and argue we were able to gather the energy.”

Aria found herself surprisingly forthcoming with Doc. It was like she felt at ease in her company. She took another sip of coffee.

“Those six plus your doppelganger managed to turn the magic against us and destroy our gems.”

Aria was sad, almost to tears at the memory of the loss of her pendant. She took another sip of coffee. It was quite good. Had a bit more kick to it than the stuff she was used to. Doc leaned in close to her face and rubbed her thumb across Aria’s cheek below her eye. There was a tear there she hadn’t realized fell.

“Shush, it’s ok. I’ll make everything better.”

And with that Doc leaned in and kissed Aria. Muffled sounds escaped her lips, but they were definitely not protests.

Back in the diner, Adagio and Sonata were out in front cleaning up booths. It was so rare for Aria to make a friend that they let her take off. It had been less than an hour since she left. Sonata continued to giggle about it.

“I’ve never seen her talk with anyone other than us more than two sentences in a row!”

“I know.” She chewed on the side of her index finger.

“Maybe she’ll stop being so grumpy now that she has a friend!” offered Sonata.

Anon walked out of the kitchen, cleanup complete. Yawning, he added his two cents.

“That was quite possibly the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.”

As if on cue, Aria walked back into the diner. Her twin ponytails were now pulled back into a hasty single. She looked slightly frazzled, a little confused. As Anon approached her, he thought he smelled vodka.

“You ok Aria? How was your play date?”

“Umm, it was good?” she said not completely convinced. She blushed. “We’re gonna hang out again tomorrow. I think I need to take a shower.”

Adagio, Sonata, and Anon were confused.

Chapter 9

Twilight was confused. She’d done everything by the book. The eye contact, the physical contact, then lean in for the kiss. Aria hadn’t seemed completely mad, but she definitely slammed the brakes after the kiss. After Twilight admitted it had been her first kiss, Aria calmed down and forgave her.

“Note to self: you don’t kiss people you just met in a diner half an hour earlier.”

She sighed and spun around in her swivel chair as she ran another scan on the shattered red gemstone. Aria’s gemstone, she said to herself. Another sip of “coffee.” At least she hadn’t ruined everything. Aria agreed to hang out again Sunday as long as she promised to not pull any more crap. She really thought she had read the mood right. You befriend the antihero character first, then her rival the princess and the younger sister character join your harem. She sighed again. She raised her arms in frustration.

“Tenchi, I trusted you! How could you steer me wrong!”

Another sip. Her short little argument with Aria hurt. She spit out the coffee as it hit her.

“EUREKA!!”

She grabbed her wig and pulled up the sleeves on her hoodie, which she had thrown on after Aria left. Clean room, hah. Carefully she packed the gemstone shards into a secure clear sample case and attached it around her neck. She just had to find a place where people fought and argued. After a minute of reflecting, it hit her: City Hall!

Aria laid on her bed, arms behind her very confused head. She really didn’t swing that way, at least she never thought she did. Kisses are nice, so it’s only natural to initially reciprocate on instinct. What kind of dork just kisses someone they just met? Well, that kind she guessed, as her brow furrowed with grumpiness.

“Aria! You okay?”

Blue haired forever branded taco girl walked in.

“Yeah Sonata. Lotta stuff happened, still trying to work it all out. First I suppose, that girl is Twilight Sparkle.”

“Whaaat?!”

“Well, this world’s version. Also, she has our gem fragments.”

“WHAAAAT?”

“And then she kissed me,” Aria added quietly.

Sonata got the biggest, stupidest grin on her face.

“Aria and Twilight, sitting in a tre…”

Her song was interrupted by a pillow to the face. As she seized the pillow in her hands and braced herself to retaliate, Adagio walked in.

“What are you two arguing abou…!”

Sonata wacked her across the face as she spun to launch it back at Aria. With that, the great pillow war began. Anon, concerned over the shouts and crashes walked in. Alas, he was the first casualty as a pillow caught him in the jaw. He fell back out the door and rolled back into the hallway.

“Hah, you’re out!” called Sonata.

Anon was confused. Also sad that he was now missing out on a pillow fight with the Dazzlings. He reluctantly turned and left the room, defeated. Sitting on the couch of defeat, he turned on the TV to the local news. It was with horror that he learned there had been a riot in town. Apparently a group disagreed with a proposed zoning ordinance and things turned ugly. The mayor had been carried off by the unruly mob like a crowd surf gone terribly wrong.

“Geeze. People take politics way too seriously.”

He caught a brief glimpse of the Rainbooms as he turned the channel to the Food Network. Sweet, “Secrets of a Restaurant Chef” was on! He quickly threw a bag of popcorn in the microwave then noticed the shouts had died down. A battered but unbroken Adagio strode out victorious. Her two vanquished foes followed quietly behind.

“Pecking order has been reconfirmed!” shouted Dagi.

She plopped down on the couch, then reached into the popcorn bowl as Anon sat. She and Sonata were in sweatpants again, Aria still in her jeans.

“Now what pray tell were you all fighting about?” she asked.

“Well, Aria found out that girl was actually Twilight and she has our gems and then Aria made out with her.”

Aria’s jaw drop as she turned from Sonata, to Adagio, to Anon. Adagio put up her hands to stifle the immediate shouts and questions.

“So this world’s Twilight?”

Aria nodded.

“She has you and Sonata’s broken pendants?”

She nodded again.

“And then you thought the proper course of action was to start making out with her.” Dagi did not phrase it as a question.

“Nooo! She kissed me! It was only for a second…”

Anon had nothing to say. He had actually momentarily stopped breathing. His eyes stared blankly as he was using every bit of brain power trying to burn the image of Aria and Twilight making out into his mind.

“…So, you got close enough to feel it, right?”

“Yes. We couldn’t feel them at the concert after they broke, but they are quietly crying in pain. How can you stand it Adagio?”

Dagi sighed as she stared Aria in the eyes.

“Because it’s a part of me. I can’t just leave it alone in pain like that. To abandon it.”

Aria lowered her eyes, unable to match Adagio’s intensity. Being near the shattered pendant had been like having an open wound. It had thankfully gone away once she was more than 10 feet away from it. Now she found herself ashamed. She also found herself more impressed by Dagi.

“What does she want?”

“She studies magic. She’s a scientist who studies magic. Magic stuff has been happening so she’s studying it. With science.”

Aria seemed a bit unsure as she said it out loud. It still sounded weird. Adagio looked unsure.

“So you’re sure she’s not gonna dissect you?” asked Sonata.

Aria glared at Sonata. It was hard to tell whether she was kidding or not. She decided to ignore the question. Sonata continued her blank stare. Anon finally spoke up.

“Do you like her?”

“Well, as a friend, yes.”

“Then it probably won’t be a problem. Have fun hanging out with your new friend.”

Anon and Adagio each took another handful of popcorn and threw it in their mouths.

Chapter 11

Aria arrived outside city hall. Her jaw dropped and she found herself at a loss for words. Adagio was actually wearing a deerstalker, a brown long coat, and using a magnifying glass to examine the area around the steps. Anon and Sonata both puffed on their bubble pipes, their bowlers firmly mounted atop their heads. Sonata even had what appeared to be a Sig P226 strapped to her hip. She preferred Martin Freeman’s Watson. Her eyes lit up as she saw Aria. She waved frantically, bubble solution splashing everywhere. Quickly she got back into character and cleared her throat.

“Hmmm, interesting,” murmured Sonata as she studied the steps.

“Yes, indeed,” agreed Anon.

“It is clear that the culprit is a time traveler or some kind of ghost!” shouted Sonata authoritatively.

“Indubitably, Miss Dusk,” puffed Anon.

Adagio ignored them as she moved to study the foot patterns from the crowd in the grass. She knew there was probably nothing specific she could get out of them. That’s when she spotted it.

“Girls! Look at this!”

Noticing Aria, she motioned for her to come over as well. She pointed down to the barely noticeable pattern in the grass. It was a crude type of magic circle design. Adagio touched the salt, then brought it to her lips as she tasted it.

“This… isn’t Equestrian magic.”

“It’s a thaumaturgical magic circle,” offered Sonata. “It’s similar to a mandala, and can be used to summon, focus, and gather energy into the center.”

Everyone stood dumbfounded.

“What? Since we can’t sing or use our gems anymore, I’ve been reading these books about a guy who uses magic and cell phones to summon things and do spells! If we could do that we could maybe get our magic back…”

Anon’s heart broke for the girl as she continued to describe the exploits of the IT tech. Could he truly bring himself to reveal that there was no eldritch Santa sleeping forever below the ocean in the city of R’lyeh waiting to give her magic powers? As he wavered back and forth, Aria made his heart wrenching indecision moot.

“That’s just a story! Its fake like movies and the Easter Bunny!”

Tears swelled up in Sonata’s eyes. Anon’s eyes teared up in sympathy. Just before the dam broke, Dagi spoke.

“Maybe they aren’t just stories… Something definitely happened here. Perhaps there is a form of magic here as well that we don’t know about.”

“And that candy has to get there somehow!” added Anon.

Sonata calmed down after that. The Dazzlings spoke with people around the front desk, but they had no more info. People just suddenly got really pissed off and carried the mayor off during a town hall meeting.

“It was crazy! One minute we were talking about rezoning so you couldn’t keep farm animals within city limits, next thing you know the crowd has grabbed the mayor and yelled about how maybe she’d like to clean out a pig pen! It was a good thing those girls showed up and calmed the crowd down. They all dispersed after that.”

Adagio nodded, then thanked the desk clerk. Sonata and Anon waved bye. Something bugged Aria but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

Back in their headquarters above the restaurant, the Dazzlings dug into a big pot of spaghetti. Thick red sauce full of meatballs was spooned generously atop the pasta, a slice of garlic bread placed on the side. After taking a giant bite and swallowing, Adagio began to speak.

“So, it seems someone is running around and feeding off people’s emotions, but they are doing it using a slightly different method from us.”

“Yeah. It doesn’t look like they are actually controlling people. They are just amplifying emotions and gathering the energy,” replied Aria.

“Doesn’t your friend study magic?”

All eyes turned to Sonata.

“If she’s been studying human magic, she might know something about what’s happening!” Sonata continued.

“Hmm, yeah, I think she would. We were too busy fighting off a giant angry mob of shoppers to talk much about magic today though.”

Now Anon, Dagi, and Sonata’s eyes fell on her.

“Aria, your friend studies magic, has your gem, and a riot followed you guys to the mall. Doesn’t that set off alarm bells?”

“What?! There’s no way Doc was using my gem, I would have felt it. There wasn’t any magic circle or anything either at the mall.”

"We need to go have a talk with her. I didn't want to ask for your and Sonata's gems back so you wouldn't have to feel the pain, but we are going to need some answers.”

“She’s said she’s gonna be gone all this week. She did say she’d have a surprise for me ready by next Sunday.”

“Well. Crap.” Adagio couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“Oh yeah, that was a nice airsoft gun you had on today Sonata,” complimented Anon, as he slurped another mouthful of spaghetti.

“What’s an airsoft?” asked Sonata innocently.

From her secret clock tower lair far above the city, Midnight Sparkle surveilled her new domain. Her melodious laughter filled the tower as she brushed her long black and purple pony tail aside. Her dark purple wings spread out without her thinking, fluffing as the feathers realigned then relaxed to her side. Her purple gown with its green translucent train swayed lightly in the cool night breeze. She reveled in her power, closing her fist and smiling as sparks crackled around her.

“Once I sweep aside those six pesky magical girls, I will be free to gather all of this world’s energy! I won’t make the same mistakes as those other foals. They won’t even see me coming…”

With another cackle, she leapt from the tower. Her wings spread out majestically as they caught the wind, but she knew they weren’t what was holding her aloft. It was the magic. The wonderful, delicious magical energy the humans gave off. One week. That was how long she would need to gather the energy required. Luckily, there was an event coming soon that would allow her to gather every single magical font together in one place. Everything would be decided there, at the Friendship Games.

Chapter 12

Monday, school day, no more pool day. Anon dreaded coming to school this morning. After the Rainbooms gave the Dazzlings the third degree, he expected any good will they accrued over their opening weekend to be gone. The Dazzlings walked the couple blocks to school in silence. They entered the atrium in silence. The split up to go to their lockers, grabbed their books and met up in homeroom in silence. Finally, Aria broke the silence.

“Ok, what the heck is going on?! Everyone is ignoring us and all cheerful and crap!”

Ditzy turned around from in front of Anon.

“The Friendship Games start next week silly! We get to mess around and ignore class work this entire week while we all try to qualify for the games!”

She smiled at the Dazzlings. It was bright and free, as if she didn’t remember the Battle of the Bands.

“Crap! I completely forgot about that!” shouted Anon.

He turned sideways so he could see Aria behind him, Sonata and Adagio in the desks to his left. Adagio had commandeered the desks after the restaurant arrangement was finalized. She was very persuasive to their previous occupants.

“It’s like an interschool competition to foster mingling and comradery. We compete against Crystal Prep in a bunch of events. There is sort of a rivalry thing between us, it’s supposed to help diffuse it.”

The Dazzling’s faces were completely blank. Anon felt slightly uncomfortable. Ditzy just continued smiling.

“Umm, you haven’t heard anything about the riots, have you Ditzy?” asked Dagi.

“The what? No, everyone is all excited for the contests! Some of their students are gonna be here all this week to help with setup!”

Aria's eyes lit up.

“Is Twilight gonna be here?!” she asked, eyes wide.

“Huh? I dunno. You’d have to ask Sunset and the Rainbooms if she’s visiting.”

“No, I mean Crystal Prep’s Twi… crap. Never mind.” Aria sighed. “Man. We’re gonna have to talk to the Rainbooms, aren’t we?”

Adagio nodded. Anon stuck his palms to his temples and shook his head. It was way too early in the morning for this. After homeroom ended, they followed the crowd out to the field. Everyone was there, assembled around a makeshift stage with the Principal and Luna, along with a lady and guy he had never seen before.

“Hello students! I’d like to welcome you to the first day of preparations for the Friendship Games! Everyone please get along with your counterparts from Crystal Prep as we run the qualifying matches and set up equipment for the games next week!” shouted Principal Celestia.

“Yes, everyone remember that you are an ambassador! I’d like to introduce you to Principal Chrysalis and Vice Principal Discord from Crystal Prep!” Luna handed her mic off to Chrysalis, only to have it intercepted by Discord.

“Such a fine introduction Woona! It’s nice to see how the other half lives every once in a while, eh Chrysi?” He winked at his Principal as Luna blushed fiercely.

“Vice Principal, please. I haven’t been called that since I was a child!”

“Oh Woona, you know you’ll always be a child to me!” He grinned as she blushed an even deeper shade of red.

Chrysalis finally managed to grab the microphone away from Discord as he contorted to keep it away from her.

“Ahem. Thank you. Please give my precious students the welcome you’d want for yourselves and make them feel at home. I like to think of every one of them as my children, just as I’m sure Celestia does of you!”

Principal Chrysalis handed the microphone back to Celestia and regally stepped into the background of the stage. Wow. Holy shit was she hot. She was like some freaky fractal where the curves had curves so you could curve while she curved. Her gorgeous long dark blue hair framed crazy, deep green eyes that seemed to suck you in. Her voice was like warm syrup being poured into your ear. Anon knew that didn’t sound appealing at first blush, but don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. Adagio slapped him on the back of the head.

“And what are you staring at, mister?”

“Uhh, umm, nothing?” he asked, slightly confused in his ear syrup-ed state.

"That's right nothing!" she huffed.

Anon shook his head. He was having trouble remembering where he was at the moment. Sonata and Aria both glared at him as well. Sonata’s cheeks were even puffed up. Anon believed she did this to make herself seem larger, as a sort of defense mechanism. Anon felt his pancreas shudder and stop under her gaze, as the affect was diabetes inducing. He was about to say something in his defense just as the Shadowbolts team took the stage. Right in the middle, in her dark red Crystal Prep uniform and glasses was Twilight.

“Holy crap, it’s her!” shouted Brad.

Everyone ignored him as they saw their savior from two separate extra-dimensional incursions wearing the uniform of the enemy. Even Celestia looked shocked. Discord quickly grabbed the microphone.

“I see you are all shocked at our girl Twilight here. Apparently you all had some sort of lookalike running around all willy nilly here a couple times in the past. I can assure you Miss Sparkle’s whereabouts at the time have been verified and she is most definitely not the clearly deranged psychopath from that YouTube video.”

Rather than hand it back to Luna, he dropped the mic and walked back to stand beside Chrysalis. The crowd was silent until Rainbow Dash ran to the front and shouted at them.

“Twilight is not deranged! She’s just not used to using her hands for stuff! Let’s see how you manage when you’ve had hooves all your life!”

Discord, Twilight, and Chrysalis looked extremely uncomfortable as the clearly unsettled blue girl continued to yell at them.

“Please Miss Dash, I'd like you to refrain from badgering our guests!” shouted Luna.

Sunset and Applejack dragged her kicking and screaming back into the herd. Twilight looked awkwardly at the ground, her eyes occasionally glancing up at the crowd. Aria waved her arms frantically trying to get her attention. Doc’s eyes lit up as she saw her friend in the crowd. She waved quickly, then tried unsuccessfully to go back into stealth mode.

Chapter 13

The Rainbooms and the Dazzlings sat in the music room across from one another. Dash glared daggers at Aria.

“You. Fucking. Bitch. You knew!”

Aria couldn’t help the shit eating grin that spread on her face.

“Yeah. Me and Twilight hang out all the time. She’s pretty cool, unlike your spaz horse princess.”

Rainbow Dash nearly lost it but Sunset grabbed her shoulder. She turned back to the Dazzlings.

“Why didn’t you guys give us a heads up?” exclaimed Sunset Shimmer.

“I hadn’t realized we were on such friendly terms, Sunny,” said Dagi in a mocking tone. “It almost seemed as if we weren’t even friends at all yesterday!”

Her false smile fell and she glared back at the pony girl.

“We’ll figure out what’s going on with the riots without your help. Come on girls.”

Adagio, Aria, and Sonata stormed out of the music room. Sunset found herself seriously weirded out. What the heck was going on? Why weren’t they all buddy buddy with the Dazzlings? They got zapped by the elements just like she did… Right in the middle of that thought, Twilight walked into the room. She couldn’t help feeling a bit relieved. Twilight was a born leader. She’d know what to do!

“hii’mtwilight,” murmured the purple girl under her breath.

Wut.

“Sorry, what was that?”

“mynameistwilight,” she whispered, even quieter.

Sunset stared at Twilight. Purple smart withered under her scrutiny. What. The. Fuck?

The Dazzling’s were back at their restaurant. With the complete lack of any adult supervision or accountability, they all concluded what any rational person would in their position: the Friendship Games were stupid and their time would be better spent getting the café ready for dinner. It was a good thing they did too. The upcoming games had inexplicably drawn a lot of people to their area of Canterlot. This was by far their busiest night. Teachers, students, and parents from Crystal Prep and CHS both found the nearby café wildly convenient.

“Holy crap Anon!” shouted Sonata. “We’re gonna make like a bazillion bucks!”

She moved from table to table, her infectious smile spreading to everyone around her as she refilled drinks and took orders. Even Aria and Adagio with in great moods. Adagio had shifted over to help Anon in the kitchen, as Aria filled double duty as both hostess and waitress. Dagi smiled as her Lieutenant picked up the slack. She removed a plate from the warmer, adding a side of sautéed green beans with a sprinkle of kosher salt.

“Ribeye ready!” shouted Anon, as Adagio swooped in to scoop it onto the plate. She moved over to the partition shouting “order up!” as she moved the ticket to the front of the queue.

Aria grabbed a set of plates and headed over to the table where Celestia, Discord, Luna, and Chrysalis were seated.

“Here you go! One cheesecake with a side of bacon, a ribeye medium rare, a meatloaf with extra ketchup, and a chicken ceasar salad!”

“Thank you my dear! It's absolutely wonderful seeing young people today with such a strong work ethic! Celestia must be very proud to have such an industrious group of students!” crooned Discord, as he spread garlic butter all over his steak.

“Indeed I am, Discord. These girls have made a quite impressive turn around in their short time here at Canterlot High!”

Celestia winked at her. Aria laughed mechanically and uncomfortably.

“We were honestly quite worried they might leave after a certain incident a few weeks ago. We are quite glad they decided to stay.”

Luna seemed to smile a genuine smile as she looked the Siren in the eyes. Aria was confused on who the ‘we’ was, as Celestia was completely engrossed in crushing and sprinkling the bacon all over her cheesecake. Chrysalis took a sip of her water after swallowing a bite of her salad.

“You are going to need a lot of luck to have any hope of beating our team this year,” she smiled, showing her perfect white canines. “Our girl Twilight is a natural. She’s smart like you wouldn’t believe. Outgoing, tenacious, a gifted athlete, and she’s a born leader.”

She paused to take another bite of the chicken and savored the perfectly seasoned grilled flavor.

“The food here is quite good. Please compliment the chef for me,” she added, before continuing.

Aria nodded as she held the tray to her chest. She had other tables to check, but she really wanted to hear more about Doc.

“Well, it’s not like having extraordinary students is out of the norm for Crystal Prep. We do have quite the record of snagging exceptional students. Cadence, Shining Armor, Starswirl, and myself of course. Hmm, where did you go Discord? Honestly, it seems like you’ve been Vice Principal forever!”

“Oh, I’m actually a Canterlot High graduate! Go Wondercolts, and all that!”

He swabbed the last bit of steak, trying to get every bit of delicious flavor.

Twilight tripped again as she tried to jump the hay bail. Sunset had a migraine. What the heck? How the heck was Twilight more quiet and uncoordinated than Fluttershy? They had gone to AJ’s farm to hang out and talk.

“Whew. Sorry about that. Not really used to all this stuff. Thanks for telling me all about the other me. I thought I was going crazy after that video came out.”

“No problem Twilight. I’m glad we finally got to meet you. You, umm, are not quite what we expected,” said Sunset.

“It is quite surprising, darling,” crooned Rarity. “You two are so different!”

“Well, not so different on the coordination part!” laughed Rainbow Dash.

Sunset glared at her.

“You guys have helped me out a lot. It answers a lot of questions I had about just what happened here.” Twilight smiled. “In fact, it has given me a few theories to work on as far as my research into “friendship.”

Sunset’s eyebrow rose. She could almost swear she heard Twilight add air quotes to friendship. Maybe it was just a speech impediment? It seemed this world’s Twilight was a lot different from hers. She looked around. Her friends seemed to have embraced Twilight, as everyone took the soft spoken girl under their wing, so to speak. There couldn’t be more to it, right? It was Twilight they were talking about here.

“Well, I better get home. It’s starting to get dark and I don’t want to be late for dinner!”

After saying their goodbyes purple smart headed out to the bus stop at the end of the farm road. Not for the bus, there was actually a black car waiting for her there. Sunset turned to the rest of the mane 6.

“So. Thoughts?”

“I like her. She’s nice,” said Fluttershy.

“She’s an egghead,” added Rainbow Dash.

“She had no sense of style. A bun?” replied Rarity.

“She really needs to let loose,” shouted Pinky.

“Seems like she is a really hard worker on her studies,” replied Apple Jack.

“Yeah. I think she needs us,” Sunset Shimmer finally added with a sigh.

Chapter 14

Midnight Sparkle looked over the town. Her power had grown since the night before. A shadow moved behind her.

“Soon we will have enough power to overthrow the humans, my Queen.” The pale yellow winged figure added quickly and apologetically, “Umm, uhh, if you want to.”

The dark queen smiled. Her new addition had been quite easy to corrupt. The stream of “friendship” from their social link fed into her. She drifted up beside her and brushed her pink hair aside. She spoke breezily into her ear.

“You six shall rule the six kingdoms of man in my name. You will all be free to govern as you see fit, kneeling to none except I.”

Her quiet yellow minion shivered with delight.

“And I can have animal shelters and wildlife parks for all the fuzzy animals!”

The Queen blinked. She had expected her dark minion to turn out a bit more dark. She decided to just let it slide.

“Go my minion! Fly out into the night and gather more energy for our conquest of the moon kingdom!”

“Sure thing Twilight!” and she jumped off the tower.

“You’re supposed to call me Midnight Sparkle! Or Queen!” she shouted, as she shook her fist at the shrinking yellow nightmare.

"I really need to step up my recruiting efforts,” the dark Queen sighed. “Once I’ve gathered the six elements under my control and found the missing princess, this entire world will be mine!”

Her beautiful melodious laughter echoed into the night.

Tuesday morning. Six days until the Friendship Games. Sunset Shimmer walked alone towards the school. She found herself uneasy. There was definitely magic swirling around the town, but her human body had no way to really make sense of it. It was like she was a Turkey. She theoretically had all the same parts as an Eagle, but stuff just didn’t work the same. She could feel the wind blowing, but there was no way her wings could get her off the ground. She could feel the hair on the back of her neck rising, and goosebumps up and down her arms. There was electricity in the air. What she wouldn’t give for a horn right about now. Or a magic wand. She stared at her hand. Hmm? Really, really focused on it. The currents flowed around her. A simple spell, one even a baby unicorn could do. She snapped her fingers-

“HEY SUNNY!! WHATCHADOING?!”

Sunset nearly had a stroke as Pinkie Pie leaped onto her shoulders and hugged her around the neck. She hadn’t noticed the teal green sparks that leaped from her fingertips. Applejack, Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy walked up as she tried to get her heart back into her chest.

“Nothing.” She breathed out, as her heartbeat finally slowed. “The magic is starting to get out of hand. We need to find the source and take it out.”

Adagio, Aria, Anon, and Sonata crowded around Dagi’s laptop in homeroom.

“There’s been another incident. A group of people let a bunch of animals loose from the zoo,” stated Adagio.

“They weren’t angry though, it says they were chanting and singing kumbaya. 'Zoo officials say it was lucky the bear scared them off before they could release all of them',” added Sonata.

“In other news, there is a freaking bear loose somewhere in town,” groaned Aria. “I’m not going anywhere near the zoo.”

The bell rang and all the students headed out to the field. Anon shook his head and fell into line. Today was the first day of qualifiers. Aria growled. She had been tapped for the mile relay. Absolutely ridiculous. Not that it would be difficult, she could probably do a six minute mile pace all day. It was just the Principal of the thing. Not the principle, but the actual Principal. Celestia said she had to do it. They all did. God horse help whoever was running Sonata’s event.

“Later guys! I have to get ready for the motorcycle race!”

And with that, Sonata sprinted off. Adagio and Anon’s eyes met, jaws hung open, their pupils dilated in absolute terror. They both took off screaming after Sonata. Aria sighed. They could handle it.

“Hey Aria!”

Aria looked up to see Twilight.

“Oh, hey Doc!”

“Aria, listen. I’m pumping the Rainbooms for more information on my pony counterpart. I think I’m really close to figuring something out. If I act weird, please don’t take offense or call me on it in front of them!”

Their dark purple eyes met. Aria could see the concern behind her suspiciously thin lensed glasses.

“It’s cool Doc, but don’t expect me to actively play along. We aren’t on very friendly terms with the Rainbooms at the moment.”

“That’s great! The understanding, not the possible aggressive tension thing.”

She smiled.

“That thing I was telling you about? I should have it ready sooner than I thought!”

“Well, that’s awesome. Where you heading?”

“Archery. I need to do well enough to qualify, but without drawing suspicion.”

“Well, good luck I guess? I have to head to the track, catch ya laters!" She looked behind Doc. "See you bacon hair!”

As Aria took off at a jog, the Rainbooms rolled up.

“Hmm, talking to Aria, huh? Those Sirens are bad news!” shouted Rainbow Dash.

“Dash, that’s not cool,” retorted Sunset. “They’re trying to change, stop holding the Battle of the Bands against them.”

“We should be friends with them if Twilight and Sunset think they’re okay,” added Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy, you’d try to be friends with a bear if you could!” laughed Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy laughed uneasily at this.

“Yeah… a bear. That would be crazy, ha ha haa ha.”

The laugh was very unconvincing. The rest of the Rainbooms stared at her, a little concerned.

“Soo, guys, I really need to get over to the archery qualifiers!” said Twilight, snapping back everyone’s attention.

“Oh, I do too,” replied Fluttershy.

“I need to get over to the dirt bike race. You guys can go cheer on Twilight!”

With that, Sunset Shimmer left the Rainbooms to Twilight.

Chapter 15

There was fire. And screaming. Sonata found herself in the middle of it, unharmed. Motorcycle wreckage littered the track, students moaned while teachers tried to keep everyone calm. As far as she was concerned, they were the ones at fault. In hindsight, it was an error on their part to trust her with a gasoline powered two wheeled contraption without any prior training. Hey, a butterfly! Sonata ran off chasing it.

A few feet away, Sunset Shimmer probably had a concussion. Adagio checked her pupils. Yup, Sunny was out of it. Her pupils were dilated. Vice Principal Luna called the hospital while Anon put the enflamed motorcycle wreckage out with an extinguisher. His eyes glazed in horror as her surveyed the scene. They had arrived too late. Adagio’s short legs slowed him down as they chased after the surprisingly quick Sonata. Somehow she had gotten dressed out into a full leather suit, helmet, and on the starting grid before they could catch up. The flaming wreckage was everywhere. This was a terrible idea. Who would trust high-schoolers to a dirt bike race? With jumps?!

Twilight scored another near bullseye. As close as was physically possible without clipping the line. Keeping her cover was getting infuriating. It would be child’s play for her to ace it, just like anything else. Would they accept her though? She didn’t know enough about them. Twilight was an Alpha. She wasn’t used to working with groups, she was used to being THE group, with a circle of accomplices to help her achieve her goals. The rest of the rabble didn’t matter, Twilight was the one who ensured stuff got done, and everyone knew it. Everyone but the Rainbooms. It was like Rainbow had called dibbs on the position. She even had the gall to name the group after herself. She had to know more about her other self. She looked over and saw her friend sprinting ahead of the group in her heat. Aria depended on her to find out.

“Oh, so close Twilight!” shouted Dash.

“Yeah, close…” murmured Doc.

Twilight and Fluttershy both qualified for the Friendship Games. There was so much she had to know. She couldn’t risk screwing anything up. Too much rode on it.

“Hey, you guys want to check out my lab after school?”

Due to chasing down Sonata the cafe had to open half an hour later. They were trying to run a restaurant here! The only consolation was everybody loved Sonata. It was insane, how people could catch on fire, yet no one would care about the girl the caused it. It was impossible to stay mad at the girl.

“Heeey! Welcome to Café Dazzling!” shouted Sonata. She was standing point at Dagi’s usual spot as hostess.

The evening was uneventful, if enjoyable for all the customers. Something was wrong. Aria couldn’t tell what, but nothing felt right.

“Aria, you ok?” asked Anon.

“Yeah, just getting a weird feeling. Like I’m missing something.”

Midnight Sparkle surveyed her territory with her 4 new lieutenants.

“Go forth and spread the message of discord! Collect the energy of the nonbelievers!”

She smiled as her new flock took off into the night. Without Sunset in the way she was able to subvert the entire Rainboom group. Or should she say, the Sparkles? No, that’s awful. She'd have to come up with a better name. The Nightmane Six? That wouldn’t work after she corrupted Sunset Shimmer, and then it would be wrong again when she found the princess. Oh well. Now there was no one to stop her now.

Sunset Shimmer awoke in the hospital. It was early morning, the sun just peeking through the curtains. A large orange poof lay on the couch beside her bed.

“Adagio?” asked Sunny. “What are you doing here?”

Dagi yawned. Her hair flopped over her face down to her nose, leaving just a small hand covering a small wide open mouth. Sunny couldn’t help but notice her sharp canines.

“Its not like I was worried or anything. I just wanted to make sure you were OK after Sonata plowed into you.”

Sunny's memory of the crash came back to her.

“Whose bright idea was it to let her on a bike?” asked the pony girl.

“Apparently it was Crystal Prep's vice principal who added her to the roster.”

Adagio grabbed a hair scrunchy from her pocket. Sticking it in her mouth, she reached up and pulled her unruly poof back into a lazy ponytail. The scrunch was twisted into place, then she quickly flipped her bangs with her fingers, and they settled obediently into two wavy bands of orange framing her face. It looked perfect.

“How the heck did you do that?” asked Sunny. She fiddled with her unruly mane.

“Well, you know. Just a trick I picked up over the years. All you need is practice. I’m gonna head home for a quick change then go to school. I’ll let everyone know you’re doing ok.”

“Thanks, Adagio.”

With that, the Siren left bacon hair to her recovery. She hadn’t expected Adagio to be so nice. Why were the rest of her friends so confrontational to the Dazzlings? Sunny let herself fall back onto her pillow. When the heck were they planning on letting her leave the hospital? She had stuff to do!

Chapter 16

Without Sunny as a buffer, the Rainbooms were unbearable. It was the worst. Name-calling, jokes, pranks, the Rainbooms were as relentless as they were merciless. Doc, having qualified for all her events, was nowhere to be found.

“Hey Sonadumb! You dropped something!” teased Rainbow Dash as she knocked the books from the other blue girl’s hands.

“Leave her alone, you jerks!” shouted Aria, placing herself between them.

“Why should we, darling?”

Rarity circled the girls, looking so far down her nose she was looking up. The fact that Aria was a few inches taller than her didn’t help.

“Honestly, why are you girls still here at CHS?”

Aria found herself wondering the same question, when her thoughts drifted to Doc, Anon, and all their friends they met at their restaurant.

“Honestly, daaaarling? I’m wondering why Sunset hangs out with you.”

She spat that last sentence out, and let it hang. She helped Sonata pick up her books and they left to go meet Adagio and Anon outside for the walk home. The final bell was a relief, with Aria, Sonata, Adagio and Anon rushing home to the restaurant.

The evening shift went well enough, but there was an overwhelming sense of melancholy over the proceedings. It was like the fun had been sucked from their little world. As they finished clean up and started rolling silverware for the next day, Aria asked the question everyone else was thinking.

“What the heck is going on with the Rainbooms? There were jerks before, but this is like a whole new level!”

“Its strange. I always got the feeling Sunny was holding the leash on them, but it seems odd that they’d go this far while she’s stuck in the hospital,” added Adagio.

The Dazzlings, which included Anon, all nodded. They all grew quiet and introspective as the pile of rolled up silverware in the center of the large corner booth table continued to grow. Adagio came to a decision.

“I’m gonna go have a talk with Sunny. See what she has to say about her girls going this far.”

“I need to go check on Doc. It’s weird she didn’t show up,” added Aria.

“I’ll help Anon finish staging the deserts for tomorrow then,” smiled Sonata, getting up from the table and stretching her arms over her head in a loop.

Dagi stood and put her hand in the center. The rest of the Dazzlings followed her lead without a word, hands piling up.

“On three! Three!”

“Team Dazzlings!”

Aria and Adagio left out the front door, going their separate ways. The sun was just dipping past the horizon, the last orange rays fading to dusk. Sonata waved frantically after them, Anon’s wave slightly less animated.

Aria reached Doc’s lab quickly, her long stride having ate up the distance easily. The large older mansion off to the side was sparsely lit. She ignored it, walking up to the large metal door that marked the entrance to Twilight's large white prefabricated metal and concrete laboratory. She pushed the speaker buzzer to the right.

“Doc? You there?”

The speaker box crackled to life. Aria heard a familiar but strained voice over the intercom.

“Huh? Aria? IaiiiiooOOWW!!!”

A high pitched squeal and the sound of collapsing cardboard boxes boomed out of the speaker. Aria waited a moment before speaking.

“You okay in there?”

“Yeah, kind of in the middle of something. Sorry but I can’t let you in right now. Its not really safe.”

“The Rainbooms have really gotten out of hand without Sunset there. Did they say anything to you?”

“What?! Damn that Rainbow… I told her you were off limits.”

There was a pause as Twilight thought.

“Well, its good you showed up. That thing I was telling you about is done.”

There was a loud clunk, then a thud, then a tinkle behind the smooth metal panel beside the door. Aria pulled open the tilting door and saw a small wrapped bundle. The hair on the back of her head suddenly stood on end, as electricity ran up and down her skin. She winced, suddenly expecting to feel as if a part of her soul was torn open. There was nothing, no pain. Just a slight hum, a forgotten but familiar lull stirring with the promise of something.

“I managed to get all the pieces fused back together. It was a pain trying to figure out how they all went together, especially since I didn’t want you to have to get close to it again after seeing your reaction to it last time. It’s ok now, right?”

Aria had stopped breathing. The bundle had come undone, revealing two perfectly formed Siren gemstones.

“Aria?”

“It’s perfect… I don’t know how I could ever thank you Doc…”

“You don’t have to Aria, we’re friends! I promised you I’d make it all better,” replied the scientist brightly.

Suddenly Aria’s thoughts drifted to Adagio. The shattered gem she carried around, in spite of the pain it caused her.

“My sister, Adagio… her gem was broken too. Is it possible… could you…”

The intercom went silent for a few moments.

“I’m sorry Ari… the specific events and materials required to repair them are incredibly rare. Those are high level magical artifacts. It was quite fortuitous that I happened to come across them. It could be years before I can get everything I’d need…”

“Oh…”

“I can keep an eye out, but please don’t get your hopes up too high…”

"No, it’s ok. I… thank you so much Doc.”

“I’m glad you like them… Now I really need to get back to work.”

“Thanks again. Stop by the café again so we can thank you properly!”

“I will!” After another pause she quickly added, “Please be careful on your way home!”

Aria clutched the small bundle to her chest, deep in thought. She reflected on everything that happened since the Battle of the Bands. Opening the café with Anon and her Siren sisters. Making friends with Doc, coming to a sort of grudging understanding with Sunny. Eating Dagi’s random deserts, snacking with everyone watching TV after an evening of working the restaurant. She didn’t want any of it to end. She didn’t want things to go back to how they were before. Aria reached out to her gem. It felt different than before. Calmer, almost happy. Maybe things were different now? She opened the door to Café Dazzling.

Adagio’s short legs had a much shorter stride than Aria’s. Compounded by the fact that she walked with quiet dignity rather than ran, she still had quite a ways to go until the hospital. Suddenly, she heard a large flapping of wings. Much too large to be a bird. Her blood ran hot, then cold, knowing the source of the sound by heart.

“Hello Rainbow,” she replied loudly to the night.

Chapter 17

Adagio walked into Sunset Shimmer's hospital room. It was nearing 9 o clock, well past normal visiting hours. Sunny put down her book with a frown. It suddenly occurred to her that there was no way the hospital would normally let an unrelated person stay the night.

“Hey, Adagio…”

The poofy orange girl held up her hand. She noticed Dagi’s clothes looked a little worse for wear. Her hair seemed a little poofier than normal, if that was possible. It was almost like she had been in some sort of scuffle. She took a moment to compose herself, straightening out her hair and smoothing her dress against her legs before taking a seat beside the bed. She took a deep breath and stared Sunset in the eyes.

“Sunny, we’ve got a big problem.”

Midnight Sparkle sat in her Tower on a throne forged from a hundred old computer server blades. It had seemed a thematically good idea at the time, but it turns out metal and plastic boxes were not very ergonomic. Maybe she could have Rarity give it another once over after she got back.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of wings. They sounded off. Suddenly there was a loud crash. She rushed over to the balcony to see her strongest lieutenant lying in a tangled heap.

“Dash?!”

Her dark navy blue sequin dress was torn, the silver shoulder epaulettes hanging by a thread. Her silver brocade vest was similarly in tatters, with the entire Rainbow colored hem ripped. Her red pointy pupil hiding eye mask lay askew on her face.

“What the heck happened? Did you get hit by an airplane again?”

“No… it was… Adagio…”

“Adagio?! I told all of you the Dazzlings were off limits!”

The purple Queen paused for a moment, puzzlement spreading across her face.

“Wait, what? How did you get beaten by Adagio?”

The question was left unanswered, as Rainbow lost consciousness. Her magical dress shattered like glass, then evaporated. Her regular school outfit of spandex shorts, skirt, and jacket was all that remained.

“Dangit Rainbow… you tipped our hand too soon!”

Midnight Sparkle quickly got out her cell phone. None of the Rainbooms could go to school now until the games.

“Hello, Pinkie? We’ve got a problem. Rainbow blew our cover. I need you to arrange a reason for everyone to miss school until Monday.”

“Sure thing Twilight! Hmm, maybe we could have a big ‘Everybody has the Flu and needs to be quarantined together’ party!”

“Hmm, that should do fine. Get in touch with everyone else. None of you can be seen until we are ready for the games!”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No, Sunset. It was definitely Dash. She was corrupted, like how you and I were. It’s likely the rest of the Rainbooms are as well.”

Bacon hair stopped to think about what she was hearing about her friends.

“Well, if you are so sure the rest of the Rainbooms are corrupted, how do you know I’m not as well?”

The Siren smiled her predatory smile at the pony girl.

“Sunny, we both know you aren’t really a Rainboom. You can hang out with them all you want, but that doesn’t make you one of them.”

Sunset was about to object, but then closed her mouth. She reflected on the months leading up to the Battle of the Bands. It had been so hard waking up every morning, forcing herself to put a smile on her face. Seeing the mistrust in everyone else’s eyes. The Rainbooms had been more like parole officer than friends. Things had gotten better after the Battle, but it still felt like she was merely a placeholder until Twilight’s next visit. She frowned. Seeing her point made, Adagio’s smile softened. She placed her hand on top of Sunset’s.

“There’s also the fact that you are the only one not acting nasty to us.”

Another question popped into bacon hair’s head.

“Wait, if Dash was transformed, how did you get away?”

Adagio smile continued as her hand reached for her collar.

“I didn’t get away, she did.”

A red glow surrounded her.

“You girls aren’t the only ones who can pony up.”

The finger air quotes around “pony up” were nearly audible as Dagi grew a set of beautiful lavender lace wings and fuzzy kitty like ears. Sunny’s eyes widened in shock, then fear.

“Oh calm down. I thought by now you’d consider me a friend.”

Adagio’s face turned into a mock pout.

“You’ve noticed it, right? Magic’s gotten out of control.”

“How? How did you get your Siren powers back?”

“Technically I don’t. It’s different. Your magic technicolor laser rainbow sky horse did something to my gem. In addition to shattering it, I mean. ”

Sunset pondered this.

“You girls got hit by the Elements of Harmony, plus me I guess. Whatever I represent. I’m honestly not clear on what it actually does. Other than really really hurt,” she added. “Sorry about that, by the way.”

“Had that come from anyone else’s mouth, I’d be very upset.”

She breathed out and released the transformation.

“Apology accepted. Now what are we gonna do about the magical beings spreading chaos in our town? Oh, and I guess we should do something about your friends.”

Anon clapped his hands as Sonata and Aria finished their song. He thought “Never Ever” by the All Saints was a good choice. Tears flowed down Sonata’s cheeks. Aria just smiled.

“That was wonderful you two.”

“You don’t feel funny, do you Anon?”

“Huh? No, it was beautiful. You should sing more often.”

Chapter 18

Sunset Shimmer and the Dazzlings stared across the desk at Principal Celestia. The awkwardness was palpable as Celestia’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

“…Sunset. Really? You really expect me to believe that?”

A terrible feeling of deja vu fell over the pony girl. This was gonna be her life, wasn’t it?

“The girls are all out sick with some kind of stomach flu. Something about tacos… Luna went to go check up on them, she came back covered in sick.”

Sonata held her tongue as flames metaphorically leapt from her eyes. She watched Celestia shudder. It wasn’t the tacos fault that they weren’t prepared properly.

“Principal, please! I know this sounds weird, but something is definitely going on!” shouted Sunny.

“Miss Shimmer. Maybe we’ve been pushing you too hard with the whole magic investigation thing. I know you’ve made a lot of progress over the past few months, like the Dazzlings here.” She turned her head to the odd man out. “And Anon. I guess? But you can’t attribute every little thing to magic horse monsters.”

Yup, Sunset reflected. This was gonna be her life here. She shook her head to clear it. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, disguising her sigh.

“Maybe you’re right principal. I’ll try to take it easier from now on.”

She brushed off the incredulous stares of the Sirens as she got up from her seat. Her eyes met Adagio’s as she tilted her head, trying to convey “I guess we’re on our own.”

The Sirens and Sunny stepped outside as the metaphorically open door slammed behind them.

“So…” murmured Sunset.

“So…” grumbled Aria.

“Sooo?” singsonged Sonata.

“So we tried it your way, Sunset. Now, we do it our way. Follow my lead…” Adagio’s face broke into a wide, sinister grin.

Saturday morning. Cafe Dazzling. Business is booming. Thankfully, word of Sonata’s fiery destruction hasn’t affected the patronage of families commuting from the Crystal Prep side of the city. If you look to your left, there’s Adagio at the maître d position, directing customers to their tables. To your right, a surprisingly upbeat looking Aria leading what looks to be a purple and white haired woman and her dark blue husband to a corner booth. To the center, Sonata bussing a recently vacated table. Farther to the left, a buxom bacon haired girl struggling in a too tight fitting waitress outfit awkwardly takes the order of a light purple girl and a red young man.

“Uhhh, so pancakes and…” the pony girl breaks into a sweat, “umm, a plate bacon?”

“Eeeeyup,” intones Cheerilee with a giggle, as she snuggled up against Big Mac.

Sunset suppressed a shiver as she walked away to give Anon the order ticket. The breakfast shift couldn't end soon enough.

“What was that all about?!” shouted Sunny as they sat around the big corner booth.

“What was what? You were here anyways, did you really not want to help out?” crooned Adagio.

“Thanks a lot for the help Sunset. The Saturday breakfast rush is always hard with just the four of us,” smiled Anon.

“It’s… its fine. Just…”

“Sunny, you’ve lived here for a few years now, right? Humans eat meat. You reaaaally need to get over that,” added Sonata as she finished her plate of leftover bacon.

Aria rolled her eyes as she scarfed down her leftover sausage. Being Sirens, natural piscivores, the transition to a meat eating human diet was an easy fit. She licked her fingers clean as she stared Sunset Shimmer in the eyes.

“Sunset.” Adagio’s smile faded. “Whatever is happening, we’ve got to assume it’s been building up to the Friendship Games.”

Sunny nodded. It fit the pattern. Every single magical event, even hers, had centered around a high school function ever since she came to this strange meat centered world.

“Yeah, it seems like everything’s going to come to a head then,” admitted Sunset.

“Well, we’re gonna have to have something ready for them, aren’t we?” smiled Aria, as a flash of negative light surrounded her.

Sunny tried to keep her composure as the Siren transformed into her “pony-upped” form. She failed, of course, as her pupils dilated and her shoulders hunched. She relaxed as she saw Adagio shake her head and snicker at her reaction.

“But… but how are we going to stop them?” cried Sunset.

“We’ve shown we can take on the Rainbooms before, Sunny.”

“Yeah, and you lost!” shouted Sunset, before thinking.

She immediately looked down at the granite table top in shame after realizing what she said about her allies.

“Sunset… you do realize we three would have beaten the Rainbooms if you hadn’t stepped in, right?”

Adagio’s predatory grin penetrated the pony girl as she realized what she was implying.

“We three could have beaten all six of them easily if you hadn’t tipped the scales,” intoned Aria.

“Heh, I think Adagio probably could have taken them on her own,” added Sonata.

Sunset stared dumbfounded for a moment. Adagio had taken out Rainbow Dash on her own. There was a pretty good chance the Dazzlings could take on the Rainbooms on their own, even without her to tip the balance.

“You guys are right!” shouted Sunny suddenly. “As long as we set things up right we should be able to stop them at the Friendship Game on Monday!”

For the first time in a while, Sunset felt light. All the guilt and worry faded into the background as she watched Sonata and Aria dig into their various animal flesh based treats. Then suddenly the queasiness came back as she imagined the talking cows and pigs back in Equestria. Aria’s grumpiness was justified once again as she headed upstairs to clean off her uniform.

Midnight Sparkle sat on the bed and ate her pizza as Applejack and Dash raced on their console. Rarity was on the computer working on the design for her throne as Fluttershy seemed to argue with her pet rabbit. She sighed. All she could think about was Aria.

Author's Note

Yeah, big update gap. Been busy moving cross country. Thankfully I'm moved into my awesome new place with awesome internet access and a nice work gap. I will finish this story, its actually pretty close to the end now, in story time if not real time. Hope people are enjoying the ride.

Chapter 20

“Guys, you really think we’re gonna be okay tomorrow?” asked Sonata.

Worry was plastered all over her features. Purple grump turned to her.

“Hmm, our odds seem pretty good. We should be able to take them in a straight up fight. But then again, it looked like we had it in the bag back then too…” Aria trailed off.

“It’s not going to be the same as last time. I’m not leaving anything to chance. Girls, we’re gonna pull every single dirty trick in the book…”

The Dazzlings walked to school together, and the pony girl followed.

Sunny had slept poorly. Worry had kept her tossing and turning all night. Her ketchup and mustard mane was unruly, yet strangely still stylish. Hollywood bed head basically.

“How can you all be so calm?!” blurted out Sunset.

“Me and the girls had a little brainstorming session after you left and came up with a plan. If it works, this should make our little showdown go much smoother.”

Adagio’s grin terrified the pony girl.

The plan was insane, Sunny reflected. There was no way it could have come from the mind of a stable individual. And yet here she was going along with it, walking with Applejack out behind the gym.

“So what’d ya need to talk with me about?” asked AJ.

“Well, you girls have all been acting really strange lately. You’ve all been hanging out with Twilight and I feel kind of left out.”

“Well shoot sugar plum, if'n I had known you were feeling left out from our world domination group, we would have come for you sooner!”

Sunset blinked. Applejack continued smiling. Sunny blinked again as the silence continued. AJ's smile started to scrunch and look strained as beads of sweat formed on her forehead.

“AJ, wut?”

“Uuuhhhh, chocolate milk?”

Before Applejack could dig herself further into the hole, Aria pounced from around the corner, grabbing her from behind. A glow surrounded Apple horse girl as she began to transform. Before she could complete the transformation, with a practiced motion Sonata quickly stuffed a rag soaked in chloroform into her face. The glow faded as she lost consciousness.

Sunset shook her head. This entire scenario was all kinds of wrong.

“Where’d you guys even get chloroform?”

“I dunno, Sonata’s the one who had it,” answered Aria.

The pony girl stared into Sonata’s vacant smiling face. A trickle of terror sweat ran down her brow as she contemplated the implications. She shook her head. It would be OK, she told herself. They were the good guys, so this was all okay.

She looked over to see Aria and Sonata loading the unconscious girl into the back of a nondescript white delivery van. More panic filled her at what was happening. She continued to tell herself everything would be OK.

Chapter 21

A lone cupcake sat on a small folding table in the middle of the gym. A card beside it read “Happy Monday Pinkie Pie!”.

“There is no way this is gonna work” Sunny thought out loud.

She was hiding behind the bleachers with Anon and Adagio, peaking out over the top. In his hand, a length of rope leading to a complex series of pullies, counterweights, and a comically large net.

“Shush bacon hair, this is totally going to work,” whispered Adagio.

Suddenly, a wild Ponka appeared! She circled the cupcake, eyeing it suspiciously.

“Oh wow, a free cupcake!” shouted Pinka Pone in a mock surprise voice. “I sure hope this isn’t part of an elaborate trap!”

She inhaled the cupcake whole, like a Yoshi. It was a really unsettling thing to watch. Sunny swore her jaw had come unhinged like a snake. At the signal, Anon yanked the rope, releasing the Rube Goldberg esque device. The lightweight net floated down softly onto the waiting girl.

“Oh my! I am captured!” laughed Pinkie.

Dagi, Anon, and Sunny stepped out from behind the bleachers.

“So what’s your dastardly plan Anon?” Plonka wiggled her hips and batted her eyelashes at him. “Gonna tie me up and have your way with me?”

“Whu?! Noooononono!” shouted Anon.

“Oh. Poo. You don’t have to sound so offended by the idea…” murmured Pinkie.

With a pout, she transformed, blasting the net away. Anon was still frozen in shock after learning that bondage was Pinkie’s fetish.

“Oh well, guess I should just bring you guys to Twilight.”

She picked up the light almost cheese cloth like piece of netting and studied it.

“Not sure how you expected this net to hold me, plus I could see the whole contraption from the entrance.”

“I know, right?” added Sunset.

She turned to Adagio.

“How could you expect the net to hold her?!”

“Huh? Oh, the net wasn’t supposed to. All that stuff was to distract her. The real trap was the Ambien I put in her cupcake.”

Plinko's jaw dropped as her pony ears and brightly colored yet slightly gothy magic dress shattered and evaporated. She slowly shagged to the floor and curled up into a ball to nap.

Sunny’s jaw was also wide open. She continued to stare as Anon and Dagi rolled the unconscious girl into a workout mat and loaded her onto a waiting cart.

This was getting out of hand. Why were the Dazzlings so good at abducting people? Where were they getting all these drugs? Why did Dagi sit back and watch Anon and her design the elaborate net trap knowing it was a ruse? Anon seemed quite proud of the setup.

No matter how she looked at it, it was getting harder and harder to convince herself they were the good guys. At the rate they were going she wouldn’t be surprised if they started sending ransom notes to the girl’s families.

Chapter 23

The entire school was gathered for the opening ceremonies of the Friendship Games. Despite all their searching, the Rainbooms could not find hide nor hair of Pinkie or AJ.

The stands were packed as Crystal Prep Academy’s competitors climbed onto the right side of the stage. In spite of being a totally different person from pony Twilight, and this having been demonstrated over and over again the past week, some of the slower Wondercolt's cheered for her anyways.

"We like Twilight!"

"I really like her mane!"

There were other people on her team but honestly they were just paper thin stereotypes. So fast jerk, deaf lemon, quiet snark, sarcastic meatball, and insert personality here took the stage as well.

Twilight whispered a command and they all made the absolute douchiest choreography poses possible. Imagine if you will the cheesiest power ranger ripoff you can think of. Multiply it by two then replace the rangers with teenage girls doing the neener neener, blowing rasberries, and jazz hands. Quiet snark just flipped everyone off while she continued to sip her iced s’mores frappucino.

Funny enough it was the last thing that pissed people off the most. Choreography just reeked of trying to hard. The complete lack of fucks given by Sugarcoat just really really got under the Wondercolt’s skin. The yells and threats started immediately.

“Woweewowow! Guys settle down! This is all just a game you know…” announced Vice Principal Discord.

The grumblings in the crowd continued as the Wondercolt’s took the stage. It was extremely awkward since the team was composed entirely of the Dazzlings and the remaining members of the Rainboom. Dash stared daggers at Dagi. Dagi drank it all in like a refreshing rasberry flavored icee, her grin wider than the Cheshire cat’s. Dash’s face contorted into a caricature of absolute seething hatred.

Sonata and Sunny were less sure of themselves. Aria stared at Twilight. Her face betrayed none of the confusing emotions rolling around inside her.

For a moment Twilight’s face showed a flash of uncertainty before hardening back into the adorkable equivalent of determination.

Anon waved at them from the crowd.

“Do your best!”

With a nod to Rainbow Dash, Twilight signaled her second in command. As Rarity and Fluttershy prepared to launch into their own choreographed taunt of the Shadowbolts, Rainbow shouted something from the top of her lungs.

“FUCK CRYSTAL PREP ACADEMY!”

The entire crowd fell silent as jaws fell open. Twilight’s face was a mask of absolute horror. Celestia, Luna, Chrysalis, and Discord were aghast as the fucks continued to echo across the school grounds. Birds fell to the ground rather than flap for fear of drawing the crowd’s palpable anger. Principal Chrysalis was the first to recover.

“Now listen here young lady!”

No one was sure who threw the first punch. Some say it was Sucker Puncher, that dude no one liked for obvious reasons. Other believed it was Apple Bloom and her gang of adorable thugs. The only thing people know for sure was their war cry:

“COR BLIMEY! WE GUNNA HAVE A RUMBLE HERE WUTWUT! FIGHT ME YOU BLEEDING CHAVS!”

Honestly could have been anybody. The first casualty was Brad, who got an empty bottle of Jameson whiskey smashed against his dome. Brad would later go on to become an Equestria Senator until his career was ruined, when rumors surfaced of him having an illicit relationship with a horse. Just to clarify, the rumored horse was not Sunset or Twilight. T_T

Chapter 24

Absolute bedlam reined on the field. The girls watched in relative safety from the stage. Even the Principals and Vice Principals were arguing, Luna pulling on Chrysalis’s beautiful blue hair. Celestia and Discord were wrestling on the ground. As the melee grew, Sunset looked around in alarm. The entire field seemed to be glowing.

“Guys! This whole field is some kind of energy collector! This must have been their plan all along, to sew discord between the schools then harvest the energy!”

Best pony shuddered.

“It feels all wrong though! This… this isn’t Equestrian magic! What has she been doing?!”

“It’s a giant mandala again. She’s using it to siphon the power down through the dungeon dimensions.”

The Dazzlings all stared at Sonata.

“It’s all in my book. She’s using the energy to curry favor with the many angled ones. With their abilities, you can do magic, but at a terrible cost.”

Sonata looked sad then.

“It’s just a story right? The people in the story who do magic the way she is always get sick and…”

Aria looked alarmed. She looked over where Twilight and the Rainbooms were spreading out.

“Twilight! You can’t do this! If you keep this up, you might die!”

“It’s okay Aria! I understand it now! Once I finish this everything will be cool again!”

Twilight’s head tilted back as a dark nothingness engulfed her. Black tendrils appeared from nowhere and everywhere, wrapping her in her Midnight form. Black liquid ichor shot from her back like dark fountains, then dried into feathered wings. A dark jagged horn appeared on her forehead.

Sunset gazed upon Midnight Sparkle in horror.

“Twilight… sweet Celestia what have you done…”

“Aria, hurry! Release your form! Call upon your familiars! This world could be ours…”

Everyone was suddenly distracted by a bound and gagged Pinkie Pie hopping towards the stage.

“Oh my, did they do this to you Pinkie?”

AJ walked up normally behind Ponka.

“Naw, she did that t'herself. We wuz locked in the back of a sorta storage shed. Luckily I woke up and was able break the door down.”

Rarity pulled the gag out of Pinkie’s mouth.

“Really darling, you should keep this little, ahem, hobby of yours behind closed doors. So to speak. How do you expect to find a nice young beau if you ruin your reputation?”

“Well, I expect him to tie me up first then hrphmshphrmn!”

Rarity shoved the gag back in and shook her head. She noticed Anon climbing onto the stage to stand beside the Dazzlings.

“Please do excuse her darling. It’s those dreadful books. Contracts and safe words… all dreadful business that has no place in the proper relationships of boys and girls of quality upbringing.”

She winked at him as she transformed. Black tendrils snaked up her body, covering her in a black one piece dress. It had bare shoulders, a slit down the side of one leg, and a thin silk belt attached by a jeweled clip.

Chapter 25

“Hah! OK girls, everyone in position at each corner of the Pentagram,” ordered Midnight Sparkle.

“Like I’d let you!” shouted Aria.

A bright white light surrounded her. The energy crashed down on her like an ocean wave, her magical dress washing down into place as the tide receded. Pony ears peeked out from her hair, two long flowing ribbons holding her twin pigtails in place. Her green vest spread and connected across her chest, smoothing out even as the cutoff sleeves retained their scruffiness. Her pants shimmered as the energy washed past, replaced by a lavender knee length skirt in front with a long trailing tail behind. An enormous white bow on the small of her back completed the transformation.

She started to walk towards the grinning Midnight when a hand grabbed her shoulder. Adagio’s cat eating the canary smile had never left her face.

“It’s OK Aria, let her try it.”

The Rainbooms each walked to their respective star corners around the mob as Midnight took her slot in the middle of the throng. The crowd seemed to part unconsciously for her, the energy visible as a hazy shimmer. The Rainbooms each ponied up revealing their forms. Purple smart nodded in satisfaction.

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!"

There was a deathly silence. Everyone within the magic circle collapsed to the ground like a marionette with its strings cut, save for Sparkle. The temperature suddenly dropped twenty degrees within the circle. The Rainbooms answered her back with a call of their own.

"Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!"

Midnight Sparkle smiled triumphantly as she uttered the last line.

"Cthulhu R'lyeh fhtagn!"

Sonata looked on in horror. The energy surged and crackled around Scilight Sparkle’s magical alter ego, searching for a ground. She mumbled out her panic.

“Twilight… the Chalice of saltwater… you forgot to place the Chalice…”

“Huh? No I didn’t, it’s right… here?”

Her jaw dropped as she noticed Pinkie and Applejack were not in their spots. She also noticed the large shiny Friendship Games trophy sitting in Pinkie’s hands, tied to a long length of rope leading to AJ's hands.

“Sorry sugar cube, but we can’t let ya do this. Had a little talk with Sunset after she dispelled yer little kissy spell, and I don’t appreciate gettin' bamboozled into helpin' you do whatever all this malarkey is.”

Aria blushed at the mention of kissing, though no one noticed.

Twilight was in full on panic, all her flowery Midnight persona gravitas gone.

“Oh my god, AJ! What have you done?! That was the ground for all this power! It goes into the chalice, we drink it, then we use that power to open the portal to Equestria!”

The Rainbooms looked dumbfounded. The Dazzlings looked surprised. Having begrudgingly removed her ballgag, Pinkie gave voice to their concerns.

“Was that what we were doing this whole time? Cause we’ve got a portal to Equestria sitting right in front of the school.”

Not a cricket could be heard over the silence that fell. Even the lightning and wind died down as the Dazzlings and Twilight stared at the Rainbooms.

Adagio’s eyes shot daggers at Sunset Shimmer. “What. The. Fuck Sunny!”

Before Twilight or anyone else could voice their displeasure over the critical withheld information, black tenebrous tentacles shot out from circle. The Rainbooms and midnight were quickly ensared, suspended in the air as they tried to fight them off. They were no match as they were quickly dragged down into the portal.

“Agh! Aria, I’m sorry!” cried Twilight as she vanished beneath the sea of Dirac, where the dark lord that lent her power dreamed.

Everyone stood dumbfounded for a moment, a mixture of terror, anger, and confusion running through them. None of the teachers or students on the ground stirred, having been left behind in favor of far more magically potent prey. Small twitches and groans were sporadic at best.

In the center of the star a black pool remained, an inky blackness filled with sparse faint swirling stars, as if they were looking at a picture of a galaxy right before it died. Without hesitation Aria flew into it.

“Twilight!”

“Aria! Wait for me!” cried Sonata as she jumped in after.

“Sonata! Aria! You nincompoops!” murmured Adagio as she stepped elegantly into the pool.

“Dagi!” Anon dove in.

Sunset looked around at all the unconscious students. She thought about having to explain what the heck just happened to Principal Celestial. Her decision wasn’t hard. Eldritch horrors from a dying dimension or dealing with the probably alcoholic underachieving doppelganger of your former mentor?

In a sarcastic tone, “Oh no you guys. Wait for me.”

She turned her head to the side and said in a slightly muffled higher pitched voice, “No Sunny, don’t go! It’s too dangerous!”

“No, no, don’t try to stop me…”

Sunset glanced at the unconscious pile of students one last time, then sighed. With a leap, best pony bravely hopped into the portal after the Dazzlings.

Chapter 26

It was dark. A bright shattered moon glowed overhead, as it illuminated the rough cobbles that made up the path. Just across the way an ancient dying ocean lapped against a sickly rocky shore. Geometric shapes combined into strange basalt rock structures. Sparse tufts of grass, silver in the moonlight, clung to the coarse sand that lined the ocean side of the path. The air was heavy with the smell of brine, a gross caricature of the first time smelling the ocean. Sunny took all this in shock. The Dazzlings looked strangely at ease. Sonaynay ran up and hugged Dagi.

“Oh wow Adagio! This place is great! It smells just like home!”

“It does… how odd,” added Dagi as she absentmindedly patted Sonata’s head.

Aria looked off in the distance at the crumbling structure. Pony ears twitched in irritation, arms were crossed, and translucent wings hummed with power as she hovered. She turned back to the gang.

“Guys, pony up. We need get to Twilight as soon as possible.”

“What about me and Anon? Unicorns can’t fly!”

Adagio took her hand off Sonata’s head and placed it on Sunny’s shoulders.

“You really weren’t paying attention back when we fought, were you? Just pony up, it’ll be all right. I’ll carry Anon.”

Sunset closed her eyes and focused. She focused on the Rainbooms, her friends. She thought about everything she had gone through in the past year and a half. Becoming popular, becoming a bully, becoming a demon, and finally becoming a joke. As her feelings and frustrations overflowed, she caught a glimpse of Adagio's smirking face before the glittering magic filled her vision and made everything bright orange and pink outlines. As the transformation magic faded, she opened her eyes.

“See? Told ya.”

She still wore her trademark leather jacket, made from real former cows. Atop her head was a pair of fluffy peach colored pony ears, as was usual. Nothing new there. What was new was the pair of flaming translucent gossamer wings and tail shooting out her back.

“Huh, I guess that’s a thing now.”

Nothing else really came to Sunny’s mind as she hovered there, examining her newfound appendages.

“Guys! Twilight, now!” grumped Aria in frustration as she flew off toward the ruins.

Sonata quickly ponied up as Adagio lifted Anon easily by his arms. Anon absentmindedly thought she kind of reminded him of Tails as the orange poof carried him through the level. The grumpy Siren crossed the seaside rubble, and the pony girl followed.

The girls entered what turned out to be some kind of ancient amphitheater. Stands of some kind of white stone, the corners and edges long since worn to roundness, surrounded a large stage of some sort. The whole thing was probably the size of a basketball court.

Suddenly, the eerie silence changed. Instead of it simply being the absence of sound, there was the sensation of all sound being actively muffled. The feeling was short lived as everything began to shake. Dust from millennia past was shook from the ground into the air as a stage rose from the ground. Aria gasped as the Rainbooms were revealed. The girls looked a little worse for wear. Magic dresses were torn, hair was messy and covered in unknowable substances. Eyes were distant and framed by dark circles. Pinkie actually didn’t look to bad. She almost had a pleasantly satisfied glow to her. All wore strange glowing collars and seemed unable to move from their places.

“Hey guys! Heeeey Anon,” the party planner winked. “Wha took you guys so long?”

“Long? It’s only been like 15 minutes Pinkie,” replied the baconest flavored pony girl.

“It’s been like a weeeek at least. Not that I’m complaining.” Pinkie giggled as the rest of the Rainbooms groaned.

“Twilight! Are you OK?” yelled Aria.

A voice, felt more than heard, filled the arena.

WHO DARES INTRUDE UPON MY DOMAIN?

A shadowy being appeared behind the stage. While technically indescribable due to observation causing mild insanity in humans, Anon thought it kind of looked like what a premature baby crossed with an octopus crossed with a barn would look like.

Sonata immediately shot it in the face 15 times with her Sig Sauer P226.

“Holy crap, that things real?!” Sunny gasped, as the smoke trailed from the end of the barrel.

The bluest of Sirens quickly dropped the mag, then inserted another in a smooth practiced motion.

“Weeell duuuuh! What good’s a fake gun?”

FUCK, THAT HURT! WHY WOULD YOU THAT?

“Waaaaait a minute. Is that you Cthulhu?” asked the girl with the poof ball hair.

WHAT? … ADAGIO, IS THAT YOU?

“Hah! It is you!” squealed Aria as she hugged the thing which should not be.

“Oh, sorry Uncle! Didn’t recognize you without the pony ears,” added Sonata.

By this point, the Rainbooms, Anon, and Sunny were extremely confused.

ITS SO GOOD TO SEE YOU GIRLS! ITS BEEN NEARLY A THOUSAND YEARS SINCE YOU LAST VISITED ME. HOWS YOUR DAD?

“Oh you know, trading power to Equestrian monsters in exchange for their souls in terrible Faustian bargains,” replied Dagi dismissively. “Haven’t seen him either in a while.”

“Oh, so you guys know him! Uh, Mr Cthulhu sir? Can we have our friends back?” pleaded Sunset Shimmer, as she fought the urge to empty her digestive system.

“Oh right, Uncle C! Can I get Twilight back? And I guess the others too?” added Aria.

WE HAD A DEAL. POWER IN EXCHANGE FOR SERVICE. IN ORDER TO FREE HER FROM THE CONTRACT, YOU MUST BEAT ME IN A CONTEST.

Maybe it was just the insanity at perceiving that which could not be talking, but Anon found the right words spilling from his mouth.

“Iron chef,” replied Anon.

W-WHAT?

“The Dazzling challenge you to an Iron Chef cooking competition.”

Chapter 27

I… WUT? ADAGIO, WHO IS THIS?

“That’s Anon. He’s a regular human so can you cut him a little slack Uncle C?” asked Aria.

HE IS YOURS?

“Well, I guess we are partners. And, uh, staying at his place?” answered Dagi.

COHABITATING? HOW LEWD. WHAT WOULD YOUR FATHER SAY?

“Probably what took us so long…” Sonata muttered under her breath. She pantomimed a person talking with her hand and made a squeaky Bane voice. “When are you three gonna give me some grandkids?”

Sunny, the only person close to enough to hear her, was positively scandalized by the comment. Or she would be, if she wasn’t a post graduate program pony girl old enough to have seen her share of heat cycles. Still, what surprised her was that it was Sonata that said it. Sunset glanced over at Anon. There was a little drool, and maybe a new eye twitch or two, but he was holding up surprisingly well all things considered.

WHAT WAS THAT?

“He’s our friend. Alot of stuff happened and we kindaaa got exiled from Equestria,” replied Aria.

NEVERTHELESS THE CHALLENGE HAS BEEN ISSUED. NO TAKEBACKS. ADAGIO, YOUR DAZZLINGS SHALL COMPETE AGAINST MY CHAMPIONS…

A burst of light blinded them as the collars on the Rainbooms shattered.

UNLESS YOU CAN DEFEAT MY CHAMPIONS, YOU SHALL NOW BE THE ONES TO REPAY THEIR DEBT.

“Wait, the Rainbooms? We’re trying to free them. Couldn’t they just throw the contest?” asked bacon mane.

NO, THEY ARE UNDER A GEAS. FAILURE TO COMPETE TO THE BEST OF THEIR ABILITIES WILL RESULT IN THEIR BRAINS MELTING.

“It doesn’t matter! The Rainbooms are all shit waifus!” shouted Anon.

A look of concern crossed the Dazzling’s faces.

Two kitchenettes rose from the stone floor. Gleaming stainless steel surfaces, gas ranges, and Teflon coated pots and pans appeared on hooks.

“WTF is this teflon shit?! We’re pros dammit, cast iron or gtfo!”

IS… IS HE GOING TO BE OK?

“Yeah, he’s honestly doing much better I thought he would.”

Aria looked over at Twilight. She could see a dull green glow waving behind her eyes. The Rainbooms mechanically formed up on the right side of the stage behind their kitchen islands, save for Pinkie, who skipped. To absolutely no one’s surprise she had another collar on.

THE STAGE HAS BEEN SET. COME, WATCHERS!

Strange shadowy shapes filled the audience. Black chitin covered monstrosities, cucumber shaped beings of questionable geometry with star shaped mouth/proboscis, a couple dirty filthy satyr things but with the human bottom and horse top, and other creatures too disgustingly strange to perceive. Anon suddenly snapped out of his insanity for a moment.

“Is… is that a candy blue colored unicorn wearing a robe and wizard hat?”

The dark wizard pony, the last in a long line of direct descendants from Starswirl the Bearded, nommed on a floating stick of cotton candy. Of the things he had seen, it was this that pushed Anon over the edge. He stared into the abyss, and the abyss stared back with her deep purple judging horse eyes.

“What are yooou staring at, monkey?”

Of course it fucking talks.

“Nope. Nopenopenopenope.”

Aria sighed, then slapped Anon right across his face. He blinked, clarity returning. How could she know his fetish?

“You good now Nonny?” asked Sonata, as she reared back to give him a slap on the other cheek.

Anon caught her hand before she could swing. He could only get so erect.

“I’m good, I’m goood.”

He worked his jaw with his hand, not entirely sure whether Aria had held back or not. Composure recovered, he nodded to the rest of the Dazzlings and they turned as one. Adagio nodded back and stepped forward.

“Uncle C, we are ready to battle the Rainbooms!”

There were murmurs throughout the crowd. The dreamer from R’lyeh blushed.

PLEASE, JUST CTHULHU IN FRONT OF THE OTHERS DAGI.

He had tried to whisper, but failed horribly, as all the words had been imprinted directly into the psyche of all the observers rather than spoken.

COUGH COUGH THROAT CLEARING NOISE. VERY WELL. LET THE CHALLENGE BEGIN!

Chapter 28

A hush fell over the crowd. Even the snooty blue unicorn that Anon prayed everyone else could see fell silent.

AS THIS IS A SPECIAL OCCASION, I HAVE CHOSEN A SPECIAL JUDGE…

A new shadow formed on stage between the two factions. To Anon it appeared to be a nondescript middle aged man. Fairly fit looking, small ears, thinning dusky blondish hair, wearing a well tailored black suit with a red tie. As he stared the image seemed to waver for a second. If he didn’t know any better he would think that there was a 30 story tall fish man standing before him beside Uncle Cthulhu. But that would be silly. Aria, Adagio, and Sonata looked shocked. Taco Siren was the first to recover.

“Daddy!”

The blue girl ran up and hugged her father around his clearly normal human sized neck. Purple grump's perpetual façade of grumpiness fell as she also wrapped her arms around her father.

“Hey there sweeties! How goes it?”

He looked over at his eldest daughter.

“Hey Dagi, what’s up?”

“Nothing much, Dago.”

Her voice dripped with sarcasm as she stretched out the “O” at the end.

“Became the most popular music artists in Equestria, enslaved town after town with our voices, single handedly invented almost every genre of music, got banished by a neck beard who was salty that he couldn’t beat us, hung out with conquerors and kings for a few centuries on Earth, got beaten by a bunch of magical high school girls, ran a restaurant.”

She let her sarcasm fall as she smiled a genuine smile at him.

“You know, the usual.”

“Hah, well looking at you girls, I can see why you never came home to Y'ha-nthlei. Was thinking maybe you were all just late bloomers!”

He laughed. The stage tremored. Anon seemed to be the only one to notice.

“We were actually really close Daddy, we had fins and everything, but then we got transformed and sent through the mirror,” added Sonata. “Thinking about it, old Starswirl did us a favor. A lot of cool things happen on dry land!”

“Well, I can see how you girls might enjoy these forms over ponies. I’ve had a few adventures on Earth myself.”

He laughed again. It was then Anon realized he was the one shaking, not the stage.

“Hey! That’s not fair, how can he be the judge!” shouted Ponko.

He bent down to regard the pink one.

“I assure you, little lady, that either outcome would serve my purposes.”

He glanced back at his girls.

“It would be nice to have my little girls around again.”

He turned back over to Cthulhu, his brother from another other. He motioned to Plinka.

“How can that one still talk?”

I HAVE NO IDEA.

“Well, enough visiting I suppose. Guests! Welcome! We have here a rare challenge to the Dreamer himself, Lord Cthulhu! It will be my little princesses, the Dazzlings, versus the Rainbooms!”

Cheers, grunts, slurps, hoof stomps, and strange screeching noises washed over the stage from the very diverse crowd.

“As it would be quite a feat for these teams to create a meal suitable for Cthulhu, what with his usual fare of sanity and hope being in short supply here…”

The audience broke into laughter at this. Or at least the non-Euclidean equivalent of laughter.

“I, Dagon, shall be the celebrity judge.”

More cheers and shouts from the crowd. It seemed Dagi's father was some kind of big shot here, Anon reflected, as he tried to still the tremors rolling through his body.

Chapter 29

“Considering where we are now, I have chosen as our theme ingredient, or should I say ingredients, something that I find absolutely appropriate…”

Dagon snapped his fingers and something appeared on the pair of identical countertops. It was absolutely horrific. Teeth and fangs and tentacles stuck out every which way. The Dazzlings, Pinkie, and Sunny were absolutely flummoxed over what the awful thing was. Anon squinted before he recognized the pieces for what they were.

“OOOooh, it’s a Chilean Sea Bass with an Octopus sitting on its head.”

He paused to consider the absolutely terrible looking and unappetizing fish. It had a large triangular face and large sharp teeth. It looked like those robot fish from Sonic the Hedgehog, all 3 feet of it. It looked like if Yoda had fucked a vampire fish and had horrible fish babies with it. Aren’t these awful things endangered or something?

“Hah, pretty good descriptions of them. Unfortunately no, young man. Damn things are all over the place here, so I wouldn’t worry about running out of them.”

Oh fuck, he can read minds. Dagon laughed again.

“So, the theme ingredients you must use are Octopus and Patagonian Toothfish, otherwise known as Chilean Sea Bass. You will have one hour to prepare four dishes, each using one of the theme ingredients, save for the desert. Providing commentary will of course be Cthulhu and his lovely assistant, Miss Lulamoon.”

The blue unicorn vanished in a light blue shower of sparks and shattered reality m-branes, appearing beside the Elder God. They were now sitting behind an announcing table with microphones. The small magic horse was positively dwarfed by his presence. What was strange was how the table seemed to be perfectly sized to fit them both. Geometry and the physical topography of matter itself surrendered to the need for the table to look right.

THANK YOU FOR THAT DAGO.

“Yes, we thank you Father Dagon. The Great and Powerful Trixie is so glaaaad to be here for this! Now, as is the custom, both teams will have 5 minutes to meet and plan out their strategies. This whole thing could be decided by the team with the better plan!”

YES INDEED MISS LULAMOON.

“Oh please Mr. Cthulhu, Trixie is fine.”

MY FATHER WAS MR. CTHULHU, PLEASE JUST CALL ME CTHULHU.

It appeared to wink at the small horse. Cheers and blurps erupted from the audience as the Dazzlings and Rainbooms huddled up. Shimmy was the first to speak up.

“Guys! This is bad! Have you seen the things Pinkie makes in home ec?!”

“Pinkie is a baker, not a chef. Same with AJ. Its fine Sunny, Anon's got this. Right?” replied Dagi.

Everyone looked expectedly at Anon. His Insight was currently sitting at 48. Tentacled beasts in the audience found themselves uncomfortable under his gaze, as the beings so used to staring back from the abyss found themselves in turn stared at with even more scrutiny. He looked back at the kitchenettes, watched them seem to shift from gleaming stainless steel to ancient cut stone altars. He turned back to Adagio, afraid of what else he might see.

“Anon…?”

His lips parted and his jaw slightly dropped as he watched the shifting stage lights shimmer off her like reflections on the water. She was beautiful. Her, Sonata, and Aria. Sunny was ok. He wouldn’t fail them, not now.

“Don't worry Dagi, I got this.”

A fire burned in his eyes as he laid out his plan to the girls. On the other side, a hungover looking Twilight rallied her troops with the help of Pinkie.

Chapter 30 Author's Note

I'm impatient, so posted.

Chapter 30

*SHOTS FIRED*

“And they’re off!” shouted blue horse.

Behind the groups, a series of shelves, deli counters, and freezers had risen from the ground. White chef outfits had magically taken the place of all their clothing. The quaint wooden pantry shelves that looked as if they had been ripped from a country farmers market brimmed with fresh ingredients. Lettuce, onions, olives, avocados, and asparagus filled the shelves.

The Dazzlings and Rainbooms quickly split into groups, with Anon running to the seafood section to snatch a hideous 60lb seabass onto one shoulder and a bucket of octopi in the other. Ahead of him Dash squealed as the large octopus she grabbed wrapped itself around her face.

“Now there is an excellent example of just how fresh these ingredients are fillies and gentle colts!”

She flailed wildly, pulling it off her face then smashing her fist against the stone floor. The octopus immediately exploded in a spray of gore and ink. The floor shook, then cracked, then began to cave in as the freaked out girl shrieked and pounded the stage uncontrollably. The crowd roared with laughter and presumably approval. Apple Jack tackled her to the ground, wrapping her arms and legs up and began whispering soothing sweet horsey nothings into her ear to calm her down.

“There there Rainbow, there ain’t nothing to worry about, ya hear? Remember darlin’, its dead now, and that is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die.”

Rainbow calmed down as the freak out faded. Pinkie gave a hearty “IA IAA!” as she scooped up some bags of flour and stacked them on her head. The rest of their team paid them no mind as they scrambled through the various sections for their ingredients.

WELL SAID. GLAD THOSE ORIENTATION CLASSES I HAD YOU GIRLS TAKE HAVE PAID OFF. WE’LL MAKE PRIESTESSES OF YOU YET.

Sonata and Aria returned from the fresh fruits and veggie section with a basket full of avocados, asparagus, garlic, walnuts, tomatoes, onions, and lemons. Adagio and Sunny grabbed a cart and filled it with flour, sugar, cinnamon, and a jar of Nutella hazelnut spread. The team plopped their legitimately gotten gains onto the large gleaming steel prep countertop. Anon tossed the fish and cephs onto a section filled with ice.

“OK! We don’t have a lot of time so we will all work on our respective dishes! I’ve got the appetizer and main dish, Sonata and Aria will make the side dish, and Dagi and Sunny have the desert! Adagio knows her dish, so I can talk you and Sonata through the Octopus salad while I prep the Octopus Brushceta and Sea Bass! Dazzlings on 3!”

“DAZZLINGS!!!”

“Oh my, sounds like we are in for a treat Cthulhu! Lets check in with the Rainbooms!”

Twilight had taken up the role as Kitchen Boss. Realizing her disadvantage in restaurant experience, she set her team up as an assembly line with AJ and Pinkie as the main dish assemblers, with Dash and Fluttershy working as gophers and ingredient preppers. A much calmer Rainbow was busy cutting leeks and mushrooms while Butterflutter carefully measured out cups of flour and sugar. Rarity was to be the final stage for plating and assisting Pinkie with the cake. While Scilight assumed her rightful role as overseer, Applest girl and Ponka Poe began work on their dishes.

“Ok girls, we got 55 minutes to make this happen! Remember, Cthulhu loves me and I love you, so vicariously through me he loves you!”

The glow in their eyes grew brighter as they all shouted in unison “IA IAAA!”

“Looks like black market Twilight rules with an iron fist! The Great and Powerful Moi approves!”

Wasting no time, Anon strained as he lifted an enormous antique 15” cast iron skillet from the top shelf of the steel wire tool rack behind the stove. The shelf seemed to breath a sigh of relief as he carefully lowered it from above his head and placed it on the grill. He fired the gas range up to medium high to preheat as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. He quickly drug the sea bass on to the cutting board, smashing it on the head with a rolling pin when it started to wiggle. Rolling it onto its side, he expertly began slicing thick filets off the side.

“Sonata, Aria, start boiling a large stock pot of salt water for the octopus. Once its boiling you dunk each octopus in for 5 seconds then let them cool on the side to tenderize them. After all of them have been dunked put them back in the pot to boil for 45 minutes.”

Taking the fish filets, he covered them with salt and pepper and let them sit on the side to rest. With the octopus water just starting to boil, Anon took the spinach, parsley, garlic, walnuts, lemon juice, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and pulsed them together in a food processor. Once it was smooth he added in the avocado and mixed it until it was a nice thick textured paste. Aria quickly started dunking the octopi into the boiling water.

“You can use tongs you know.”

Sunny goggled as she noticed Aria was just holding the octopus in both hands and plunging them into the boiling frothing water. What disturbed the pony girl more was that Aria didn’t seem to react at all as she just stood there fists full of octopi elbows deep into the large stainless pot of boiling water nonchalantly counting to 5.

“Naw, this ways easier. I kept dropping them using tongs.”

“You’re actually supposed to use one of those long forks to poke it then hold it under, but that’s fine too. Sonata, can you grab a big loaf of sourdough?”

“Sure thing Nonny!”

Not trusting Sonaynay with a knife, Anon sliced the amazingly fresh and tangy smelling bread in half. Reminding himself to get a batch of starter from whoever made the bread after the contest, he drizzled it with olive oil, sprinkled it with salt, and placed them both on the searing hot cast iron pan pan for a minute to toast. He glanced over his shoulder at Adagio and Sunset sticking a couple trays of something into the large commercial stainless steel freezer.

“How are those Nutella Takoyaki coming along Dagi?”

“We’re doing well. Just putting the balls we’re using as the filling in the freezer until we are done cooking the dough.”

“Looks like the Dazzlings are chugging along nicely Chtulhu!”

INDEED MISS LULAMOON. I CAN NOT WAIT TO ABSORB ITS ESSENSE INTO MY OWN. LET US CHECK ON MY RAINBOOMS.

As his gaze shifted over to the mane characters Rarity fell to the ground in a seizure and began chanting and shouting in tongues. Her back arched and her hands curled into claws as she seemed to fight against the unreality of the whole situation. Luckily she hadn’t been holding anything at the time. Twilight shook her head. Reaching into a pocket she took out a small gun shaped electronic device. After playing with the knobs, she pointed it at Rarity and pulled the trigger. An arc of lightning erupted from the tip, momentarily stunning the already stunned fashionista. She curled up like a dead spider as electricity coursed through her body before flopping back against the cold grey ancient stone floor. Satisfied with her work, she looked up to see Aria and Sunset staring at her in shock.

“Don’t look at me like that! Its an electro-shock device I built to treat the seizures. She’ll be fine in a minute or so. I had to do something once I realized the long term effects of being observed by a being from a dimension we have no ability to even rationalize the shape of!”

She giggled uncomfortably and her eyes glowed with manic fervor as she delivered the explanation.

Chapter 31

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 10

Aria met Doc outside the lab. She felt simultaneously relieved then ashamed that she wouldn’t be near her pendant. Aria noticed she looked a little different from before. Not quite as disheveled as she had been. She almost had a glow going.

“So, you are gonna show me around the mall today, right?” asked Doc.

“Yeah, we can pick out some new outfits, maybe eat lunch at that steak house?”

“That sounds great, I’m famished. “

With that, the two girls set out for the mall for a day of shopping and medium rare steaks.

Back in Cafe Dazzling, Adagio’s eyebrow twitched. She could feel the migraine building just behind her right eye. It was Sunday, her only real day off, and the Rainbooms were there.

“I’m telling you, we were here all day yesterday after we closed. We sat around watching Food Network and eating popcorn.”

“Don’t forget the awesome epic pillow fight Adagio!” added Sonata.

“Sunset, we never left the restaurant,” stated Anon. “We actually saw the riot on the news, along with you guys. It wasn’t them.”

“They looked all weird just like the students before after you guys used your magic on them!” shouted Rainbow Dash.

“Not. Us.” said Adagio. “Our gems shattered, and we can’t sing anymore.”

“Fine! Be that way. But we’ll be keeping our eyes on you,” glared Rarity.

“Guys, cut it out!” Sunset glared at the rest of the Rainbooms. She shook her head. “Look, just keep an eye out and let us know if you see anything. You are the only other ones who would recognize Equestrian magic.”

The Rainbooms left. Fluttershy just stared at the floor as they exited, Pinkie gave a halfhearted wave.

"Freaking what the heck!" shouted Anon. "Something magical happens and those jerks blame you girls first thing.”

He fell back into a big comfy booth, looking at Sonata and Adagio. They were both quiet, their eyes cast towards the deck as their thoughts drifted elsewhere. After a moment, Adagio spoke up.

“Well, if we’re gonna shut those Rainbooms up, we’re gonna have to solve the mystery ourselves.”

Cut to the mall. There is a sale going on. There is also a small riot as angry shoppers kick and punch one another to get at the rows of clothing.

“Holy freaking crap Doc!” shouted Aria as she ducked under a swung purse, then transitioned smoothly to a shin scrape down the side of a middle aged woman’s leg. “What the hell is up with these people?!”

"Did you not get the Trot (tweet pun lol)? Someone sent out the info for the sale to nearly everybody in town,” answered Twilight giggling, as she twisted someone’s thrown fist into a behind the back wrist lock. She kicked them in the butt, sending them flying. “Didn’t think this many people would show.”

“I don’t think we’re gonna be able to get anything with this crowd. Let’s just go to the restaurant.”

Doc looked disappointed, then thumb struck a guy in the ribs. He crumpled to the ground. She looked less disappointed after that.

“Yeah, think that’s about all we’re gonna get from here.”

As they walked off towards Horseman’s Steakhouse, Aria didn’t notice the confused crowd behind her start to break up. They found the restaurant fairly uncrowded as they sat themselves down. After a few minutes of waiting, they placed their orders: a medium rare 12 oz New York strip for Aria and a rare 16oz Ribeye for Doc. Aria looked a little surprised.

“I’ve been really craving a nice juicy steak lately,” offered Twilight.

They dug into their lunch, conversation consisting of typical girl stuff. You know, kicking techniques, different types of joint manipulations, and how to get out of a rear naked choke. Just totally normal girl stuff. As they finished up their steaks, they heard a crash. A server had dropped a tray of food onto a pair of customers. The pink and grey haired girls were soaked in what appeared to be French onion soup. The shouting grew intense as the waiter claimed he was tripped by the girls. Aria rolled her eyes at the chaos.

“Man, not even Sonata would be that uncoordinated. Let’s beat it.”

“Hmm?” Doc asked absentmindedly. “Oh, uh yeah. Let me just get a cheesecake to go.”

A few more minutes of waiting and customer yelling and the girls were on their way back to Twilight’s lab.

“I had a fun time Doc. It’s been a while since I’ve been in the middle of a riot without being the cause.”

“Yeah, it was definitely a trip. I’m gonna be busy all week, but if you want to come by next Sunday I should have a surprise ready for you!”

The two girls stared into each other’s eyes. Suddenly, Doc brought her hand quickly up towards Aria’s face. Aria instinctively intercepted it with her hand, then in quick succession, they high fived, low fived, cross fived, then double high fived.

“You’ve got some nice moves there Doc.”

“My brother’s in the military, so he taught me some stuff,” she smiled. “It was nice getting to use some of it!”

“Yeah. Well, take care! I’m gonna head back and check on Adagio and Sonata.”

Aria returned to find the restaurant locked up. Not just closed, but sealed with nobody home. As she used her key to unlock the front door, she found a big note stuck to the front hostess station. It had a crudely drawn sketch of Adagio with a deerstalker cap on, with Anon and Sonata wearing bowlers and everyone puffing on pipes. Aria found herself getting a mild headache from Sonata’s diabetes inducing crayon sketch. Beside it she found a neatly written note, its author’s confidence coming through in the crisp lettering.

“Aria,

The Rainbooms stopped by. Dash and Rarity were bitches. They blamed us for the recent riot in the middle of town. Screw those cunts. We are off to solve the mystery ourselves. If we are not back by the time you return and you wish to join us, head over to city hall.

Sincerely,
Adagio Dazzle”

Written below it in crayon by a more shaky hand:

“This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds.”

Chapter 19

Sunset Shimmer found herself on the ground. How had everything gone so wrong? There was no light, only darkness. There were no cheers, only cries of terror. She sat up, surveying the scene of carnage all around her. Beside her lay Sonata, in her human form. Aria was gone, as was Anon. Only Adagio was left standing, her dress torn as she continued to parry the wild magic energies blasting from the Rainbooms. Her eyes glowed bright green as she stared at them in defiance. With a primal scream she finally fell as all six blasted her at once. Midnight laughed maniacally as her foe fell. How foolish they had been, reflected Sunny. Did she really come here expecting to beat Twilight Sparkle in a fight? How many times was this now, six? Was this her fate? Her eyes lids grew heavy as she lost consciousness.

“Sunny? You ok?” asked Anon.

Sunny blinked. She was at the diner. What had just happened? It had all seemed so real. The memory faded as she looked at the half rolled silverware in her hands.

“I, uh, huh?”

“I was saying, it’s four on six with you on our team.”

“It’s actually five counting me,” added Anon.

Adagio turned sharply to Anon.

“You don’t count. I don’t want you anywhere near those laser shooting jerks once this starts. You got that?”

He nodded meekly. Sunny had the strangest feeling of déjà vu, but the feeling continued to fade as she rolled another group of forks knives and spoons. It was Sunday night, the night before the Friendship Games.

“Well, I guess I should get going. My parents don’t like it when I stay out too late.”

“Sure Sunny. See you at the games tomorrow,” added Adagio as she leaned and stretched. “Thanks for all the help. Even with our abbreviated hours it seems like there’s always more to do.”

“Maybe we should take her on full time?” asked Sonata hopefully.

She waved goodbye to her allies as she made her way home. Her “mother” and “father” were really the only things keeping her here. Her Equestrian parents had died in an accident. In a strange twist, Sunset's counterpart had been the one to die instead. Ready made birth documentation had been a godsend in this land of cards and ID numbers. It would never stand up to a full blown security screening, but it did give her the chance to live relatively normally. Entering the house, she saw her mother cooking at the stove. She hugged her from behind as the last bits of memory from the battle faded away.

Chapter 22

“Where the heck is AJ and Pinkie Pie?!” shouted Twilight.

The lunch room grew quiet as everyone looked over at the Rainboom table. She was too irritated to even attempt the shy act. The opening ceremony would start soon, and she was down to three lieutenants. To complete the ritual she needed all six elements.

“What-ho guvna! Wut I have here is a letters for ya wutwut!”

The girls all stared at the small little boy. He honestly didn’t look older than an elementary school student, which made his super deep British accent all the stranger.

“Pip! What are you doing here bothering the older students!” panted Vice Principal Luna.

It seemed chasing down the tike had really worn her out. Her face was flushed and her breath came in ragged gasps.

“I wuz gibben a letter to deliver I wuz! And I always keeps me word, on me mum!”

He handed the letter to a very confused Twilight, popped off a salute, then marched back out of the cafeteria. An equally confused Luna stood for a moment, looking back at the retreating Pip then back to Twilight. She finally turned and took off after him.

“You just wait till your mom gets here!” Luna trailed off as she left.

She looked down. Her eyebrow twitched and her mouth turned downward into a huge frown. The letters were clipped from different magazines and all pasted into the paper to form an untraceable note.

“Dear Twilight.

We have your Elements of Laughter and Honesty. If you want to see them again, please deposit $5,000 in nonconsecutive bills into what are you writing down Sonata? Dangit, we need to lure them outside the school, wait are you writing this too? It’s fine Sunset, they just need to know to meet us after school near the field stage. Huh? Oh, Twilight, Aria says stop being magic crazy, it’s totally not cool. Just cut it out and be normal again and you can hang out. Well, is that all Adagio? Did you just write down what you said Sonata? I’m honestly not even mad, I’m impressed you can glue the letters down that fast. Oh, also suck it Rainbow. Oh my Celestia there is no way this is gonna work. It’ll be fine Sunny, just follow my lead.

Signed,
The Dazzlings.

P.S. Wait I’m not a Dazzling though!”

Twilight stared at the letter as the confusing words sunk in. She ground her teeth and handed the letter to Rainbow Dash. Twilight ignored her outraged reaction. Aria didn’t think she was cool anymore!? She had done all this for her! Once the ceremony was complete the portal would be opened! But to do that she needed all six, five at each point of the star and the princess in the middle.