Stardust & Dazzle

I awoke to an unfamiliar set of circumstances, well at least some of them were unfamiliar. 8:00? Too early...After walking out of the room, steam faintly made it's way out of the bathroom indicating a recent shower and the smell of cooking wafted through the house. She must be downstairs which is curious considering how tight she was holding onto me last night. Most uncomfortable night's sleep ever. After getting showered and dressed, I began to treat the morning as normally as possible, yawning as I descended the stairs. Then it hit me. She's in my kitchen...alone. Without warning, I bolted down the stairs and into the living room thinking the worst as I neared the kitchen. "Please don't burn down.......huh?"

"Hmm? Oh, good morning."

"Good morning...I suppose. You're cooking?"

"Uh yes. Why is that so surprising?"

"I just thought...nevermind."

"You thought I was burning down the kitchen didn't you?"

"No....."

"I told I have no memory of what happened between us."

"I know I just..."

"No buts Delz. Now you have to pay the price."

"Oh what now?"

"You have to treat me to a day out with no limits."

"No limits on what exactly?"

"On spending of course."

"How did I know you'd say that?"

"Yay! I'll go get my clothes."

"What do you mean?" It had come to my attention that while our conversation had been going on, I failed to notice the obvious things wrong with this scene. I needed to buy more bacon, I really needed to clean up the kitchen, and the most interesting part, she apparently failed to put on clothes this morning and instead decided to go along with walking around in her underwear. I quickly covered my eyes and took a step back. "Um....yea...clothes are good...to have on."

"I do have clothes on."

"What clothes exactly?"

"Aria's Pajamas."

"I'm going to regret this. Look down Adagio."

"Regret wha..." Her words went silent as she noticed her situation. I peeked, regretfully, through my hand to see her face red and flustered, her fist balled, and her body shaking as she was having a nervous breakdown. I sighed knowing what was coming as she began to speak. "N....n....nein!" she said as she tackled me to the ground.

"Wait Adagio, I know what it looks like but I swear I didn't know." I tried to reason with her but realized she wasn't listening. Instead she was doing something completely unexpected. She was crying, flooding tears into my shirt. "Adagio?...If you want your clothes, I can go get them." She lifted her head, wiped her tears, and looked at them, strangely with a look of curiosity. It's as if she was wondering why she was crying in the first place. After that she ran off upstairs leaving me to wonder what the hell just happened. "What in the world just happened? Why was she crying?" I stood up, trying to frustratingly get the tears of my shirt. "She was so happy a second ago, where did that come from? Should probably go see what's up I say as I talk to myself. Why the hell am I narrating all of a sudden?" I made my way up the stairs taking note of the stream of tears she was leaving behind. I could hear her soft sobs coming from my room, the door firmly shut. "Adagio?"

"Y-yea?"

"Are you ok?"

"I...don't know."

"What do you mean I don't know?"

"I c-can't stop. They won't s-stop coming.

"Well can you atleast let me in?"

"I suppose so."

A few seconds later, the door unlocked allowing me entry. When I entered, she was sitting on the bed continuously wiping her tears away. "What's wrong Adagio? Was it something I did?"

"I r-really d-don't know. I just started crying and can't get it to stop. Scheisse just stop already!" I had an idea, a really weird one, but an idea nonetheless. As she was cursing her tears to stop, I scooted a bit closer. Before she had time to blink, I took her softly in my arms and brought her head to rest upon my chest, course that poofy hair was in face because of it. "I...h-hey they stopped."

"Had a feeling." I'll have to look into it a little more. It's quite odd to see someone suddenly burst into tears. Although, it's also quite odd that the moment I comfort her, she stops. What's she playing at?

"Delz...."

"Uh sorry, i'll let you go now.

"N-nein....I'd like t-to stay h-here.....even if o-only for a l-little while."

"I guess that's ok." The hell am I getting myself into?

I opened my eyes to find myself laid back on the bed, Adagio still resting her head on chest and cuddled up next to me in such a cute fashion. I rubbed my eyes and looked over to the clock. 11:30? Damn, we slept for majority of the morning. I attempted to get up only to have her grip me even more intently. Oh man, at least her and Aria have this in common. I guess it's time to play this game which is, in the simplest terms, making my body like freaking snake and trying to slip out from under her grip. As I began to do so, her groans made me stop in my tracks. I didn't know how close I was to waking her up but my best option would be not to. I tried once more only to have her tighten her grip again. At this point she was a freaking Anaconda. Looks like I'm not going anywhere for a while, that or i'll have to wake her up.

"I...s..."

"Hmm?" She's mumbling something. "Adagio?...um...you up?"

"W...mor..." What's she saying? I tried to rouse her from her sleep with a little shake but felt no response. I sighed and went to lay back down until suddenly I felt water on my shirt again. I held my hand up, assuming that maybe it was raining again and my roof finally was leaking until I looked down and to my surprise, Adagio was drenching my shirt with tears. "I said...I'm...."

"Adagio?"

Suddenly she jumped from a 5 to a 10, and immediately went off. "I said I'm sorry! What more do you want from me?! I didn't mean it, it was stupid! I was stupid...I was so stupid..."

"Hey Adagio wake up, wake up."

"Just leave me alone!" she screamed out as her eyes popped open. She looked around confused and scared, tears still streaming from her eyes. "Wha...what just...why am I?"

That's when she looked directly at me, her confusion and fear turning to complete and utter embarrassment. "H-hey there sleepyhead. So how you doing? Did you get a good night's sleep? I mean the tears would say no but maybe they're tears of joy you know?"

In her shy state, she spouted sounds and gibberish unlike the human brain could comprehend. At this point she was having a nervous breakdown. "I..I...ju...I....don't...."

"There there, don't go crazy on me just yet."

"W-what time is it?"

"About 11:30."

"Oh, I'm so sorry."

"About what?"

"I've kept you here for majority of the morning. I apologize if you had any plans today."

"Nah, you're cool believe it or not. I actually don't work until 3:00 PM. We can get up now...just saying."

"Oh sorry." she said as she removed herself from me. We both sat up, stretched and began to make our way back downstairs. "You never mentioned your work. What do you do?"

"I'm an assistant manager at fashionable clothing store called Ray's K."

"And what do they do?"

"Pretty much your average fancy clothing store. From jewelry to dresses, we sell it all."

"So I suppose that means you have fashion sense now?"

Now? "Well I wouldn't say that. I'm pretty lousy when it comes to helping customers pick out clothes yet, somehow, I sell like crazy.

"You seem like you would know a thing or two about girl's fashion actually. You did say you live around a bunch of girls correct? Not to mention one of them is a fashionista from what you told me."

"Yep, that would give the impression wouldn't it? Well I still got about 3 and half hours to kill before I have to go in. I assume you still want to go shopping?"

"Absolutely."

"Well then we're set. Uh.....might wanna fix ourselves first." I said pointing out her rough looking poofball of a hairstyle.

"Bed hair...right."

After promptly fixing ourselves, I grabbed my keys and motioned her outside. The morning dew was still fresh on the grass, a cool breeze gently caressed the world among the blue skies as to appreciate the aftermath of the rain. "What a storm that was yesterday. At least it feels nice out here."

"It's kind of chilly out here."

"Do you need a jacket?"

"No no, like a good kind of chilly. Something you really have to sit and feel flowing around your body."

"You know how to make it sound like heaven." I proceeded to open her door and motioned her inside. "Go ahead, hop in."

"Oh you gentlemen you."

After shutting her door, I hopped in the driver's seat and started the car. "So where to first?"

"Well, first a couple of things. Like for one, a hair salon, and two, a clothing store."

"Every girl's first stop."

"We have to at least try and look our best you know."

I pulled my car out of the driveway and took off down the road. I knew of a few places she would probably like. We pulled into the hair salon's parking lot first taking note of the amount of magenta this place seemed to sport. I sighed know full well i'd be the only guy in there. "A girl's playground for hair."

"We can leave if you want?"

"Oh no, I'll go in if you want to. Just not gonna happy about it."

As we entered, the entire place lit up like a match. I was greeted by dozens of women saying hello. I waved back and laughed. We made our way deeper into this huge salon and continued to observe. "I assume you've been here before?"

"Aria likes getting her hair done here alot. Usually I'm always tagging along for some reason."

"Delz?" A voice asked from behind me.

"Hmm? Oh hey Coco."

It's nice to see you ag...Watch out Delz, it's that evil dazzling leader!"

"Hey hey, calm down Coco. It's not like that anymore."

"W-what do you mean?"

"I mean she's like the other two now. Trying to redeem herself." Then I brought her in close and whispered. "Actually she lost her memory."

"R-really? Well then, I am terribly sorry Ms. Adagio."

"It's ok." Adagio responded. "I don't know what the old me did but it must have been pretty bad."

"I'd....rather not be reminded. So what can we do for you today?"

"I'll just sit here." I decided to chime in.

I sat in the seat directly behind me allowing them to continue their conversation. They talked and talked, laughed then talked some more. Finally, Coco led her to a nearby chair where she began to work. I fell asleep not too long after that until a tap on my leg got my attention. "Delz? Wake up dear."

"Huh? Coco?"

"I finished Adagio's hair and thought that maybe you'd want to see."

"Oh sure." I took a moment to search for her actually excited to how she decided to change herself. I then spotted her by the entrance just sitting on a bench. "Wow....where'd she get the outfit?"

"Silly Delz, Hair styling is only a part of my career. I'm a fashion expert at heart dear so of course the back of this store doubles as a clothing store."

If I had to explain Adagio right now, it would be wow. I made my way over to her to which she smiled. "Well, what do you think?"

"I think I need to lay down."

"Oh stop it."

"It looks really nice. Your hair is less....poofy."

"Well I kinda got tired of having a constant pillow of hair behind me so I had her cut it and straighten it out."

"And the outfit?"

"This one doesn't have spikes on it...except maybe the hairband."

"That would be my reasoning too." I made my way up to the register where Coco was patiently waiting. "Thanks for that Coco. How much do I owe you?"

"About 2,000 dollars."

"Wait what?" I say instantly going into shock.

"Hehe I'm kidding Delz."

"Please don't scare me like that."

"It's only about 120 dollars. 200 for the outfit."

I sighed. "That's still alot."

"Have you seen how big this salon is. It's not gonna run on ten dollars worth of hair styling."

"Good point."

I payed her and waved goodbye. As we made our way back to the car, I noticed that an hour had actually passed in my sleep. "So only two more hours to kill before I have to get ready to head in. Since we solved your clothes issue, for now, you hungry?"

"Extremely. Our little nap earlier kind of ruined the food I cooked...well...burnt."

"I'm gonna miss that bacon."

"I said I was sorry."

"And I understand that. I don't think my bacon will forgive you though."

"I don't blame the bacon. Best place for breakfast than?"

"I know the perfect place." Breakfast means certain foods, those foods can be sweet if you want them to. And I know the perfect place for sweets. I pulled into the driveway of the place in question, the smile on my face painting a look of curiosity on her face. "Well let's go."

"Um...what is this place?"

"Welcome.....to Sugarcube Corner."

"Sugarcube....Corner?"

"If sweets are your inspiration then Sugarcube Corner is your destination."

"I feel like you've been saving that one."

"A little bit." Actually been saving that one for the next time I brought Aria here. Pinkie would probably get a kick out of it too. We both exited the car and made our way over where I opened the door for her. The scent of sweet loving desire filled our nostrils as we slowly stepped inside, pastries as far as the eye could see. "Anything you want is yours milady."

"The formal title really isn't necessary please. Um....everything here looks so good, I don't know what to choose."

"Each one is a different rainbow of sweet pleasure in your mouth so take your time."

As Adagio began looking around at some of the displays of different items, I made my way to see an old friend. "Long time no see Marble."

She looked over to see who was calling her name while carrying a plate of cupcakes for family of 4 behind me. As soon as she saw me however, things took a turn for the worse. "Who said tha...D-Delz?!" she said surprised as she began to lose her balance.

Before the cupcakes could drop to the floor, I rushed to grab them and her before they hit the floor. I caught her in one arm and the 4 cupcakes on the plate with the other hand. "You ok?" She nervously nodded. I stood her up and handed her the plate. "We'll talk after you deliver those."

"R-right..."

Quickly, she went over the table of 4 and apologized for almost dropping them then returned to me, her head lowered and her stance more than shy. "So how ya been?"

"G-good....I didn't mean....for you to be cause of me falling."

"It's ok. I didn't mean to startle you."

"You didn't...It's just that I....um."

"C'mon Marble, we've been friends for a long time now. I think you can stop being shy now."

"I suppose...I can try." She straightened her posture and attempted to speak but only ended up stuttering like a crazy person. "I-I'm s-sorry."

"You're a funny girl you know that. Just be more careful next with the plate next time."

"I'm not r-really good at this yet."

"3 years working here and you're good at it yet. Maybe," I said as I brushed her hair aside. "If you let people see both your beautiful eyes, you wouldn't fall so much."

An immediate blush came to her face as she covered it with hands. "U-um...thank y-you."

Yea it's no secret that she has a crush on me. May not seem like it now but it's pretty obvious to those who have seen these signs before. Pinkie brought her and Limestone over to meet Aria and Sonata one day and somehow, I ended up getting stuck keeping them company until everyone got back from getting party supplies. Limestone hated me at that moment in time but Marble was a different story. From what I heard, she was really shy, but for some reason had no issue getting close to me. There was some potential there but now that I'm married to Aria, the option is gone. You know that saying that says once you're taken, everyone wants a piece of you. That applies to me alot more than you think. I'm sure Sonata and Sugarcoat still want me, Sunny definitely won't give up, and Limestone as of now, is a....different story. And now life has decided to add Adagio to that mix. Lucky me. "So where's Limestone?"

"S-she's in the back baking."

"Oh, well I guess I'll talk to her later."

"Hey Delz, I've decided." Adagio's voice called from a few feet away.

"Oh that reminds me....Marble what are you doing?" you said as Marble was glued to your side with fear in her eyes.

"T-t-that's the S-siren...the one who's still evil."

"Hey hey, calm down Marble. She's not evil anymore."

"W-what do you mean?"

"I mean she's a little....different. As in she kinda lost her memory." I said in a whisper.

"A-are you sure that's still s-safe. I mean w-what if she turns on y-you...and you know..."

"I really doubt that will happen."

Adagio made her way over to me with a few skips. Apparently the sweet fumes were getting to her head and make her Pinkified, so much so that I swear she was pink for a second, that could just be me though. "I had no idea they could make Cupcakes with caramel. It's certainly a unusual topping."

"The Pie family can make just about anything sweet at this point."

"Excuse me but who's that shy thing behind you?"

"Oh her? Come on Marble, introduce yourself."

She was hesitant at first, trying hard to stay behind but eventually sighed and revealed herself. "H-hello.......M-my name i-is Marble Pie."

"Well hello there. I'm Adagio Dazzle, it's nice to meet you." she said extending a hand. Marble jumped back at this initially but then extended her own to meet Adagio's. "Any particular reason you're shaking dear?"

"W-well it's j-just....you know that y-you're a siren and.....I-I...um..."

"I honestly still don't know what a siren is. Apparently I was one and tried to do something with it."

"So you d-don't r-remember the school?"

"School?"

"Canterlot high? T-the place y-you and y-your sisters tried to take o-over?"

"Wasn't that the school you were telling me about Delz?" I nodded. "Oh my. Then with my new attitude, I must formally apologize for whatever trouble I caused in my past."

"R-really?"

"Is that ok?"

"I don't believe her." another voice suddenly trailed in. I looked over to see Limestone standing there, a look of anger as usual on her face. "She's obviously feeding us one big lie."

Adagio sighed and cleared her throat. "Look, I don't know what kind of trouble I caused in the past, but even if I did, it sounds like it's been quite a while since it happened. Time can be a wondrous thing allowing one to forgive and forget, but it can also be harsh, seeping deeper the events of the past. So no matter what happened in the past, I'd like to find a way for everyone to forgive me." Tears began welling up in her eyes as she continued. "I want to make up for those I hurt, those I humiliated, as my sisters have. I regret my actions, the monsters we became, the people we tried to control for our own gain. No one deserved what we did to them, especially the Rainbooms. And the way I treated my sisters, I was lost and scared without that purpose but now I know. I am truly sorry for what I did. If I could ask anything of you, it would be forgiveness...please..."

Everyone was shocked, even the family of 4 sitting behind us were left frozen in their tracks. Something's off. She spoke as though she knew the circumstances. Such emotion and understanding...perhaps..."Well," Limestone began. "If you can give a speech like that and mean it then I can accept it."

"Me too." Marble chimed in.

"Thank you." she said as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"So you guys looking to order something?" Limestone asked.

"We are. Actually this is my first time here."

"First time huh? Marble, you know what we have to do?"

"Of course." she answered.

They suddenly made their way into the back where I can only assume they started baking. Adagio looked back at me and motioned to the back with curiosity. "I have no idea either."

10 minutes passed and Marble finally motioned us back. We both looked at each other with confusion and proceeded to the back. Upon entering, we noticed four pink cupcakes on a counter. Limestone quickly put an arm around Adagio and guided her over with me in tow. "It's time."

Adagio chuckled nervously. "Time for what might I ask?"

"A quick little welcome to the family. We made Sunset and your two sisters do it and so, it's like tradition now." Limestone motioned everyone to pick up a cupcake and we did so. "This is Pinkie's patented special cupcake. The moment you take a bite of this, you're one of us." Oh no..."We would have done shots but we're working right now so this'll have to do. You guys ready?" Everyone nodded except me. "3."

"Wait Limestone, I don't know if I can..."

"2."

"Limestone please, there are other ways to initiate someone."

"And go..." See the thing about Pinkie's special cupcakes is...We all took a bite and immediately grabbed any form of water to wash it down. "Oh god.....I hate doing that so much......"

"Then why...did you make it a ritual Lime?"

"It seemed like a fun thing at the time."

The thing about Pinkie's cupcakes is that she packs so much sugar into them that you're hardly able to eat them without coughing it back up. "You ok Adagio?"

"I think I need a salad...like 15 of them."

"Trust me I'm buying. We'll see you guys later Lime, Marble."

They both waved although disoriented as we walked out of the back and out the front door. "I never thought a day would come where I actually hate sugar."

"Thank Pinkie for that. Well that only killed about 20 so we still got time."

"Yay, where to next?"

"Well there's this nice park with a lake near here."

"Sounds interesting."

"Well it's not just that, I need to talk to you." She looked at me as if she already knew what I was referring to then just hopped in the car.