It was a beautiful day in Canterlot as Fluttershy made her way to school on her bicycle. The sun was shining, yet it wasn’t hot, and the birds were out and singing… It was one of those days that made spring worth the season’s frequent showers. There were few cars on this back road, which was fortunate. She always froze up when a car passed by.
Another cyclist zoomed by in a rainbow blur, waving over her shoulder. Rainbow Dash always liked to go fast, unlike Fluttershy. Even looking at their bikes, it was apparent that they had different riding styles. While Rainbow dash had a mean-looking, black racing bike that left her riding with her tushy up in the air, Fluttershy had relaxing cruising bike painted in cheerful yellow with retro-looking green stripes. And her tushy was most definitely not in the air; that was kind of important. She waved back at her speeding friend, her bike wobbling a bit as she did so. She quickly grabbed hold of the handlebars, giggling at herself.
Before long, she came to her favorite bend in the road. It was a slight hill, just enough to reach the speed to break a bone if she crashed, but also just enough to be fun to ride down, and to get her a pretty good distance from the momentum. And that distance just happened to reach her favorite coffee shop. As she felt her bike’s front tire dip onto the hill, a broad grin crossed her face and she stuck her feet straight forward, parallel to the front wheel. A delighted ‘whee’ escaped her as she started picking up speed, the wind whipping her hair out behind her.
The hill didn’t take long to finish; less than a minute, actually. After that short period of time, Fluttershy found herself dismounting her ride and pulling her helmet off. Instinctively shaking her head to loosen up her hair, she felt her red glasses slip down her nose. She didn’t like them, but she was too afraid to use contacts. She’d only recently found out she actually needed the silly things, and had been terrified that she’d be bullied for it.
Oh, how wrong she’d been. Instead of being bullied, boys and girls alike started asking her out on dates. She was apparently much cuter with them.
As she pulled a little green paperboy hat out of her bag, a very large flash of orange caught her eye inside the coffee shop. No, she thought quietly, it can’t be! Pushing her glasses up on her nose, she got a clear look at what had caught her attention. It was her.
Standing behind the counter in a black apron and a ruffled white blouse was the former siren, Adagio Dazzle! She hadn’t noticed Fluttershy yet… but that changed when she stepped into the shop, causing the bell over the door to jingle loudly.
“Good morning!” Adagio called, facing away from her. As she turned around, holding a couple of frothy coffee drinks in both hands, an audible gasp escaped her and the cups fell to the floor. “Shit!” she said, scowling at her presumably ruined shoes.
“Hey! Watch what you’re doing Dazzle!” a voice called from behind a large machine. “Trixie just hired you; she doesn’t want to fire you!”
“Sorry, boss…” Adagio said back, before turning to the customer she was attending. “I’m so sorry. If you’ll please be patient, I’ll have another one done in a jiffy.”
“Trixie will get the drink! You clean up this mess,” the former magician said, glancing over her shoulder at Fluttershy. “Oh, so that’s it…”
“Hurry it up!” the man at the counter said harshly, scowling at the girls opposite him. “I’ve got a class to teach an hour!”
Before long, the mess was cleaned up, the man served, and Fluttershy was standing at the counter.
“Um… I’ll have the mocha latte, extra foam, extra cream and extra sugar…” she said meekly to the barista. Thankfully, there was nobody behind her to rush her along. A hum from Adagio was her reply as she turned to start working. “Adagio… What happened to you? We looked everywhere…”
“Why? So you could finish us off?” she snapped, still facing away from Fluttershy.
“We wanted to help you…” Fluttershy practically whispered, causing Adagio to crush the cup in her hand.
“Sorry, boss…” Adagio muttered through clenched teeth. She received no reply as Trixie came up behind her and took the cup. The manager whispered something to Adagio, causing her to scowl even deeper. “Fine,” she said sharply, before pulling off her apron and coming out from behind the counter. She waved for Fluttershy to follow her, to which she promptly complied, jogging to catch up as the other girl sat down at a table.
The two sat in silence for a while as Adagio stared at the table in front of her. “Look,” Adagio said suddenly, prompting Fluttershy to perk up. “I’ve got nothing against you seven… at least, not anymore. You did what you had to do and I get that. I understand that you come here pretty often for coffee, and that’s fine. But I want your friends to leave me alone. I want you to stay away from me outside of this, and I want you to leave my sisters alone.”
“Okay…” Fluttershy said, taking a sip of her latte. It was perfect; just the way Trixie always made it. “Just, tell me one thing. I want to know if you’re all okay; if there’s anything I can do to help you…”
“No,” Adagio said coldly, glaring at her former enemy. “We’re fine. We don’t need your charity.”
“You’re lying,” Fluttershy said calmly, taking another sip of her latte. “I can see it in your face. There’s bags under your eyes, which are, um, kind of really bloodshot. You’re working yourself to the bone, Adagio.”
Adagio just stared at the girl for a moment, eyes wide and her mouth hanging slightly open. After a few seconds, her brow furrowed and she stood up. “I’m gonna go use the can. Be gone when I get back.”
Once the former villain was in the restroom, Fluttershy went up to the counter. “Um… Trixie?”
“Adagio gets off at six o’clock,” Trixie said with a smirk. “Trixie knew you’d bump into her here. She worked things around in her schedule so you could meet up with her after school.”
“Thank you,” Fluttershy said quietly, smiling at her friend.
“It’s the least Trixie can do after you gave her a second chance,” she said, reaching over the counter to hug Fluttershy. Taking her chance, Trixie whispered, “But you should be careful, being out at night. Trixie’s been hearing lots of nasty rumors lately.”
“Thanks, I will,” Fluttershy said, before turning to leave.
~WOLF~
Six o’clock rolled around, and Fluttershy found herself sitting at a café two blocks away from the coffee shop (She’d asked Applejack to take her bike home in her truck). She’d been there for only half an hour, but in that time, she discovered something.
Stakeouts are boring. While Fluttershy was a very patient woman, she had grown to be easily bored, having dealt with so much excitement in high school. Fluttershy’s phone suddenly rang, startling her out of her stupor. A quick look at the screen told her that it was Trixie.
After sliding her thumb across the screen, she held the little device up to her ear. “Hello?”
“Adagio just went through the back door. Trixie sees you down the road. You should see our friend very soon.” The line went dead after that.
Soon, Adagio came out of a back alley and looked from side to side before sprinting in opposite direction of Fluttershy. With a grimace, Fluttershy stood and ran after her. It didn’t take Adagio long to reach a crosswalk, at which point Adagio looked briefly behind her.
Fluttershy ducked into an alleyway and ran back to crouch behind a dumpster. She heard footsteps come into the alley and saw Adagio’s shadow stretch over the pavement. Her heart was pounding as the shadow grew taller and taller, meaning she was coming closer.
Another shadow joined the first one, but was smaller, indicating that it was further away. “Hey, you look pretty familiar…” That voice… It couldn’t be Flash Sentry… could it? Flash was supposed to be stationed overseas. “Oh yeah, I recognize you… Yeah! You’re one of those Dazzlers!”
“Close, but no cigar. We were called the ‘Dazzlings’,” Adagio corrected, her shadow’s arms crossing as it turned to face Flash’s. “You can’t even be bothered to remember our names? That’s actually kind of depressing…”
“You ruined my band!” Flash shouted, reaching into his pocket. After a moment, he held something out at his side. When a loud click sounded throughout the alley, Adagios shadow took a step back away from his. Whatever Flash had, which was pretty likely a knife, was too thin to cast much of a shadow. “Because of you, my band broke up!”
“How exactly is that my fault?”
"Because of what you did to us and your battle with Twilight, my friends couldn’t play anymore! Every time one of us would pick a guitar or bang a drum, we saw your faces! We couldn’t do it! We were scouted and we had to turn down the deal! I had to join the army to pay for college! I hate the military!” he shouted as he approached Adagio.
“S-stay back! I’m armed!” Adagio shouted, reaching towards her back. “I have a taser and I am not afraid to use it!”
“Like I care! You ruined my life! After this, I’m going after the other two… if you’re still here, then I have to imagine they are too.”
Adagio’s shadow paused for little more than a half a second, before she reached fully behind her back and pulled out a large, gun-like object and pointed it at Flash. There was a thump, and Flash fell to his knees, twitching and convulsing. Adagio’s shadow approached his and knelt down next to it. “You listen to me, Soldier Boy. If I ever find out you’ve been anywhere near my sisters… I’ll get the shotgun I keep at my bedside, and I’ll find you… I think you get the gist. Now, I’m calling the police.” Adagio stood up and pulled a… flip-phone… out of her pocket. “Hello, I’ve just been mugged. I’ve subdued the attacker with a taser. I’m on Thirteenth Avenue, near the intersection with Bridle Street. I’ll stand on the sidewalk so they can see me. I’ve got massive orange hair; it’s kind of hard to miss.”
She’s so protective of them, Fluttershy thought to herself. A small smile crossed her lips as the wail of sirens faded into earshot. She’s just like a momma…
Author's Note
This does get pretty dark and kind of sad, but not outright dark. It's implied darkness. But, it's heavily implied enough that I felt I had to add a dark tag. I didn't want to add a tragedy tag because... well, we know Adagio's tragedy. This isn't a tragedy story. It's hard slice of life. A lot of people go through things that are similar to what Dagi does in this fic, and I find that thought depressing. Well, I enjoy a good HSOL story, and I hope you enjoy this one.
Also I realize I may have made Flash too cookie-cutter, but let's be honest... Flash is the definition of cookie-cutter. No body likes cookie-cutters... You know, unless they're in fun shapes like stars and moons and hearts... but no Flash is a boring old circle cookie-cutter.
