Part 1: Unknown Territory
Life had been tough on the Dazzlings ever since the disaster at Canterlot High School caused them to lose their powers. Because they had spent their whole lives using magic to manipulate and cheat their way to the top, they’d never been forced to work hard or learn to provide for themselves. So after the loss, their lives had quickly began to spiral downhill. The spell they had placed over their landlord had worn off and he was now demanding payment for the two years they’d lived there or he’d kick them out. And although Adagio was able to work out an agreement with him – one that allowed the three to continue living there free of charge – that was only one problem solved.
None of them knew how to cook or clean, or had worked a day of their lives. Winter was coming, and there was only so long they could survive on stolen food and scraps found in the garbage. They needed money, and fast.
Within weeks they turned to crime, and the first thing they tried was carjacking. None of them knew how to hot-wire a car, so instead they let Adagio’s famed cunning lead the way. Sonata played the role of a child and ran out into the road after her ball, and as a car swerved to avoid her she dropped to the ground and pretended she was hit. As the person got out the car, Adagio and Aria jumped in, Sonata ran off and they all met up in a safe location later. Credit to them, the plan had been successful for their first ever robbery, but it had ultimately proved useless. Stealing the car was easy... what they hadn’t planned was what they were going to do with it once they had it.
After that they tried a few other things: begging, pick-pocketing, shoplifting, but they only ever made enough to get them by. They needed something bigger. Adagio found connections, and after months of putting away scraps of money, they finally raised enough to buy a gun. They were going to use that gun to rob convenience stores… or that had been the plan, anyway. But three skinny, malnourished girls turning up to buy a single handgun off an illegal arms dealer was more than enough to draw a lot of attention their way. People saw they were desperate for cash, and soon they had groups offering them jobs, some more glamorous than others. Among two offers they received were Film and Flam, pair of dodgy con artists, and a mafia family by the name Diamond Dogs.
But Adagio held her ground. As desperate as they were becoming, the sirens were strong. They had been through worse times in their three thousand years, and she was positive eventually something would come along.
But day after day, they grew hungrier and hungrier. Their landlord began getting violent, even going as far one night to actually hitting Adagio. That had been the final straw.
They fell in with a nameless group, making up numbers on various jobs here and there. Bank robberies, break ins, they were trained to do it all. They didn’t know much about the people they were working for, just that they answered to a tall foreign man called Ahuizotl, and that he answered to a man with the codename ‘president,’ who they had yet to meet.
Working for Ahuizotl had been better than they had expected. At the start they had utterly refused to do jobs without each other, which he was very understanding about. They liked to imagine it was because he was actually a nice guy, but they knew it was far more likely that with their lack of skills the three of them working together was the equivalent of one person who actually had a clue what they were doing.
They began slowly making money back, enough to make the landlord back off and enough to give them the bare minimum of food they needed to live. But it hadn’t been long before they grew frustrated with simply surviving. They had been treated like queens in the past, they deserved more than this simple existence. They wanted to thrive.
So they began splitting up when they did jobs, they worked on ideas to help things run smoother, and physically they became quicker, sleeker and better than the rest. Within the space of two months the trio had become Ahuizotl’s best workers, which had earned them respect.
But it wasn’t enough.
In their new positions they had only had a tenth of the admiration they used to have, and they’d worked their skin to the bones to get it. They just weren’t cut out for a life of hard work. No matter how much they got it was never enough.
Then came hope.
It was during one of Ahuizotl’s heists, the three of them had been tasked with breaking into a high-security museum and recovering an Egyptian artifact that was going to be sold on the black market. Sonata always had an annoyingly short attention span, but this time it had done them a favor. Under padlock and chain they discovered an ancient spell book called the Grimoire. This artifact was different from anything else they’d found in the museum, and for one simple reason: it had magic.
The Dazzlings might have lost their ability to produce and absorb magic, but they could still feel it. The book almost had a light hum surrounding it, an air of static around it that only magic users could detect. A simple flick through the book had found them exactly the spell they’d needed. It was too bad their detour had cost them their secrecy, and the alarm had been triggered before they could obtain Ahuizotl’s artefact.
“Leave it, let’s get out of here!” Adagio had commanded.
They didn’t need his artefact now. They didn’t need to work for him ever again. All they needed was a few simple ingredients, and they were set…
…
The only light in the room came from a single candle flickering on the floor. It was a tiny candle, the flame no bigger than the match head that brought it to life. Its weak light barely illuminated the surrounding area and provided no warmth to the trio sat around it. The people in question sat cross-legged in a circle, eyes shut and in deep meditation.
A window open in the room allowed chilly winter air to enter. The breeze snaked its way around the girls’ necks and left goose bumps to rise in its wake. Slow hot puffs came from the girls as they breathed in synchronization, those breaths travelling down and causing the tiny flame to wrestle for its life.
The three girls sat in silence, simply breathing in sync for hours. They needed everything to be perfect, and it nearly was.
Next to the leader of the group was a small wooden bowl. In that bowl were a few artefacts, things that would seem ordinary to normal people. Some twigs, leaves, and a silver knife that even in the low light glistened and shone. But this wasn’t ordinary foliage, these were twigs and leaves that had been painstaking retrieved from a place many believed not to exist. Or at least, not exist as they knew it.
The Everfree forest was a place dripping with magic; magic that, despite what others would claim, definitely existed, and was very much alive. Small flecks of that magic remained in these bits of foliage, even after leaving the forest. Anybody sensitive enough could feel the light static hum that surrounded them.
As the girls continued to breath in sync, the leader took the wooden bowl into her hands.
Gathering the foliage had been an effort in itself, and had involved a lot of suspicious leads and even more dead ends. But that had not been the real trouble. The biggest problem had been obtaining the silver knife. Genuine pure silver had not been produced and sold to the masses since the early 1900s, and no modern day substitute would do. Silver had a very special property in the land of myth. A bullet fashioned out of it being the only weapon to kill a werewolf was the best known, but it had a full plethora of other uses. One of those uses, though a little known one, was it was only a silver knife that was capable of injuring a siren.
“Kunda… astratta montose… eargrets gutt nos… veratoos Kanda… amantos… Kanda,” the leader muttered.
After first reading those words in the Grimoire, they had been rehearsing in her head ever since, waiting for this time.
She placed the wooden bowl down in front of her and picked up the silver blade. Without so much as flinching she placed the blade in her palm, closed her fist around it and yanked it out. A steady stream of blood began dripping into the bowl, getting thinner as she clenched her fist. When the last few drops dripped into the bowl, she placed the knife back down and passed it to the next girl in the circle.
The second girl followed suit, slitting open the palm of her hand and allowing the blood to drip freely into the bowl. All the while the synchronized breathing of the group remained unbroken.
“Kunda astratta montose… eargrets gutt nos… veratoos Kanda… amantos Kanda,” she repeated.
Passing the knife and bowl to the third girl, the second girl clenched her fist to stop the bleeding. The third girl picked up the knife.
“Kunda astratta mongoose eargrets-”
“Montose,” the first girl corrected.
“Montose…” she corrected herself, “eargrets.... gutt nos veratoos Kanda… amantos Kanda.”
With a slight flinch the third girl repeated the action, and a small pool of blood had now formed in the wooden bowl, almost completely submerging the twigs and branches.
The third girl passed the bowl and knife back to the leader.
Holding the bowl above the flame, she spoke louder this time.
“Kunda… astratta… montose... Kanda!” she chanted.
At her words the flame stopped flickering. It froze completely still, like a wax work. Even the rough winter air didn’t make it budge.
A chill shot down the other girls’ spines and they exchanged nervous glances, watching the bowl expectantly. The leader grew a large grin and with a harder tone, chanted;
“Azarath Metrion Zinthos!”
The two girls flinched.
But nothing happened.
Only when they were sure nothing was going to happen, they opened their eyes.
And then something happened.
The first thing she felt was a dull, rhythmic beating in her head, like a clamp was attached to her skull and with every pump it got tighter and tighter. She wished it would end, not realizing this beating was the sound of her own heart.
“Adagio! Adagio!”
Her eyes shot open.
It took a second for her vision to focus and the blur of colors to take shape.
The room was in ruins. All the furniture had been thrown to the edges of the room, most of it shattering on impact and a few larger pieces denting holes in the walls. In the center of the room was a large roaring fire, which lit the place in a vicious orange glow. At the sight of the flames she tensed up and tried to crawl backwards, only to be met with her limbs screaming in pain at the movement.
“Wha ..?”
Two arms dropped into view and she was pulled into a tight hug.
“Oh thank Neighptune!” the owner of the arms exclaimed.
Adagio cranked her head to the side as much she could.
“A-Aria?” her voice wheezed from a pain in her chest. “What… happened…?”
Aria pulled herself away, and only now did Adagio spot the tears in her sister’s eyes. Before she had chance to question them, Aria choked out a response.
“Sonata.”
“What..?” she frowned, not understanding.
Aria sucked in a deep breath and repeated.
“She’s gone, Adagio.”
Her meaning clicked in her head and despite the fire raging feet away from them, Adagio suddenly felt a lot colder.
“That’s… that’s…” Adagio spluttered, trying to form the words,”…not …what?”
Aria’s only response was to wrap her arms back around her older sister. Adagio instantly tightened her hold. She could feel a wet patch forming on her chest as Aria’s gentle sobbing rocked her body.
Sonata wasn’t… gone. Sonata couldn’t be gone. Sonata was immortal. They were all immortal.
“Kunda astratta mongoose eargrets-”
Adagio swallowed.
The words echoed in her head. Sonata had got the spell wrong.
As the realization dawned on her she let out a gasp. Tears began to well in her eyes.
“Where?” she asked.
Aria shook her head, “a onwn ow.”
Pulling herself from the hug, Adagio asked, “what?”
Wiping away her tears with the sleeve of her hoodie, Aria repeated herself.
“I don’t know… I woke up and… she was just… gone.”
Adagio took a deep breath and pushed herself to her knees. Her body screamed in protest but she couldn’t have cared less at that moment. Wrapping her arms around Aria’s, she pulled her and her sister into a kneeling stance, at the cost of great physical pain.
“She can’t be… gone,” Adagio told her.
But looking around the room, Aria seemed to be right. Even with the destruction and the flames still dancing, they didn’t live in a large apartment and the doors they closed before the ritual remained exactly that, closed. There was no way Sonata could have been in the room without being in plain sight.
“Aria…” Adagio brought her hand up to rest on her sister’s back.
“S-she said it w-wrong… the spell… t-the i-idiot…”
Adagio shook her head.
“It’s… she’s not…”
She didn’t know whether to believe the evidence in front of her eyes or try to find some alternate explanation. Sonata wasn’t… gone. She couldn’t be. They’d been together three thousand years. It wasn’t that easy. She couldn’t have just… gone… like that.
But her eyes were not deceiving her. Sonata wasn’t here.
“S-she can’t be…” she muttered, the tears now beginning to trickle down her face.
KRAC-CROOO-OOOM!
A white bolt of lightning shot through the room. Adagio and Aria half-stumbled, half got-thrown backwards. They threw their arms out to steady themselves from the brightness that blinded them. As black and white spots dotted in and out of their vision, they turned to where the lighting hit.
“HELP ME!”
Sonata had appeared before them in hysterical tears. She was as pale as a corpse and her body shook rigidly. Her clothes had been charred away, leaving her in just her underwear, which looked like they were only clinging on by a thread. The air around her was alive with electricity, causing her hair to stand on end.
“SONATA!” Aria leaped forward.
Sonata instinctively pulled away from Aria, and was almost instantly swallowed up again by the bolt of lightning. This time the lightning shot backwards and collided with the door to the kitchen, which shattered into a thousand pieces. A loud clank and a shriek of pain told them Sonata was now in that room.
The two girls rushed in after her, and found the room a mess with Sonata steadying herself against the counter.
“She’s alive…” Adagio sighed a breath of relief
Small bolts of electricity fizzed and swirled around her, forming a vortex. Occasionally one would hit a metal pan hanging on the wall and cause a bright spark. As the electricity around her spasmed, the light bulb in the room rapidly blinked on and off, but they could still make out Sonata’s body convulsing and contorting hard. Even without her screams of protest, it was obvious she was in a lot of pain.
“I’m scared!” she cried.
Adagio shook her head in amazement, mouth agape.
“I... I don’t…”
“Come to me Sonata,” Aria beckoned her towards her like a dog.
Sonata shook her head, crying harder. She tightened her grip on the counter.
“I-I can’t move.”
“You can! Just walk to me, slowly.”
Sonata let out another loud cry and slowly lifted her bare foot in Aria’s direction. As it made contact with the floor, the too-bright lightning suddenly returned and over took her. The lightning shot towards Aria, crashing into her and sending her flying into the wall opposite. Sparks shot out from every direction in the room, and a loud bang plunged them into darkness as the main light blew out.
“ARIA!” Adagio cried.
Aria hit the floor and rolled onto her side, wheezing for breath.
CUH-LUNK
Aria looked up. The impact caused the knife rack above her to come loose. It broke and emptied out dozens of knives down onto her. She closed her eyes and screamed.
The pain never came.
“Oh my God,” Adagio’s voice remarked.
Aria opened her eyes, only to see the knives floating mid-air above her, enwrapped in a dark purple glow. It was now she realized she had instinctively stuck her arms out to stop them and…
A chill went down her spine.
She was doing that.
Four arms suddenly descended upon Aria and dragged her out from under the blades. As the connection broken the knives clattered to the floor loudly. She was pulled to her feet and into a tight hug.
“I’m sorry! I’m so, so sorry!” Sonata cried.
Aria held up her hands as though they were some form of evidence.
“I… I… I… wha..?” Aria spluttered.
Adagio released her, watching her in amazement.
“I-I-I did that? I st– ” Aria froze mid-rant, her attention drawn back to the other room. The two sirens followed her line of sight.
The fire in the living room had begun growing out of control, now the orange blaze illuminated the entire kitchen and the smoke had begun billowing in above them.
Acting like it was second nature to her, Aria held out her hand towards the flames and began to pull a slow fist. As the first grew tighter the flames began to shrink, until eventually nothing but a small puff of white smoke stood in its place.
She turned back to her sisters.
They worked together anchoring Sonata into place, with Sonata’s arms wrapped around Adagio’s neck and Adagio supporting her with an arm around the waist. They both watched Aria with wide eyes.
“I… I… I can…” she tried to find the words.
Sonata squealed giddily, any tears or sorrows she’d been feeling instantly evaporating.
“We’ve got superpowers!” she cheered.
Aria turned to Adagio, as if waiting for a clarification. Adagio swallowed and nodded.
“The spell… it must have… I don’t know,” she said genuinely.
The spell had been designed to bestow them with the ability to use black magic. That’s why it had required a blood sacrifice.
But superpowers?
Make no mistake…. she could still absolutely make this work… but…
Superpowers!?
“This is gonna be so cool,” Aria grinned.
The sky above Canterlot was wet and grey. It seemed to drain the color of the city beneath it and emphasized the sterile blandness of the concrete walls and pathways. It wasn’t raining, but the air was so harsh and thick with water vapor that it might as well have been.
Outside the infamous Canterlot City Bank, the two security guards didn’t mind the weather too much. They were wrapped up tightly in their scarves, gloves and hats, and the coffees they’d picked up from Sugarcube Corner helped to warm their innards. They only had an hour left of their shift before the next guys took over and the banter they shared helped them pass the time.
“So what’d you reckon about all that stuff in Whitetail?” one asked to the other.
“You mean the break-ins?” she replied, already knowing what her co-worker was talking about. “Think they need to tighten security down there. Four houses in one night? That’s some Wet Bandits stuff right there.”
“Wet Bandits?”
“You know, from that movie? The Christmas one?”
“With Schwarzenegger?”
The female guard shook her head.
“Never mind. How long have we got left?”
The man glanced at his watch.
“Forty minutes, not bad.”
The woman rolled her eyes.
“How’re the kids doing, anyway?”
As they went about their conversation, they failed to notice the air around them slow down. The nearby lamppost began to flicker ever so slightly. If it had been a sunnier day they might have stood a chance, but with the visibility at an all-time low they were none the wiser to the storm that was about to descend upon them.
KRAC-CROOO-OOOM!
With an ear-shattering bang and a flash a light, the two colleagues fell back against the wall. They released their coffees to try to steady themselves, with the boiling hot liquid splashing into their shoes.
“What the shit?!” The girl shrieked.
The man’s hands shot down to his waist to grab his weapon, ready to challenge whatever had just happened. It had been a long day, he was wet and cold and not above trying to shoot a lightning bolt.
But the man found himself grasping at thin air. A look down confirmed his thoughts. He didn’t have his gun on him! He must have left it in the changing room; he could lose his job for that! What if something happened and he was caught unarmed!? He glanced over to his partner and found her staring back at him with an equal expression of shock and confusion. His eye line traced down her arm and saw her hand also grasping at nothing. She also had come out unarmed.
“Wha…?” he spluttered out.
Click, Click
Click, Click
A white wash of dread seeped over the two as the familiar sound met their ears. They looked forward, and took a step back in shock at what they saw.
Walking towards them through the smog was a woman. They couldn’t make out her finer details as she wore a large hood covering her face, but her body shape was definitely female. She and the air around her was illuminated in a purple glow, originating from two objects levitating beside her.
Their guns.
The male guard blinked, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. Within seconds the woman was at the base of the staircase leading up to the bank, and had both the floating weapons aimed at them.
“H-Hold it right there!” The female guard shouted, holding her hand out in a defensive posture.
Getting swept up in the rush of reality, the male guard spluttered out, “Put your weapons down and your hands up!”
The woman begin to walk up the stairs towards them, completely unfazed by their demands. Normally at this point he’d draw his weapon and take aim, and it felt wrong being unable to do so. He shuffled around awkwardly, unsure of what to do with himself apart from shout again.
“If you take one step further we will be forced–”
BANG!
The guns fired simultaneously and shattered the glass doors behind them. The guards dived to the floor as a shower of broken glass enveloped them. The screams of the general public inside were quickly drowned out by the alarm siren beginning to wail.
The woman and her floating weapons passed the two fallen guards with ease and through the broken entrance. The glass crunched loudly beneath her dark purple high-heeled boots.
The serene calmness of Canterlot was interrupted by a distant ruckus. Far away sirens, growing ever close. Cars mounted the pavement to avoid them, heads turned in their direction and camera phones flashed. There was a high-pitched screeching sound as a black transit van rounded a corner and took off down Canterlot’s main road. Seconds later two police vehicles followed hot on its tail.
The back doors to the van swung open, revealing Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk wielding shotguns.
“SAY ELLO TO MA LITTLE FRIEND!” Sonata shouted over the sirens.
The two girls began shooting at the following squad cars. The cars swerved to avoid the oncoming fire, and only narrowly avoided having their windshields hit. The passengers in both cars wound down their windows and began to return fire.
Aria and Sonata dove to the sides of the van to avoid the oncoming barrage. The bullets shot passed them and embedded themselves in the stolen sacks of money at the former Dazzlings’ feet. One lucky bullet made its way to the front of the van and cracked the windshield, startling the get-away driver.
“Watch it!” Adagio snapped at them while fighting with the wheel.
Sonata and Aria cocked their weapons and quickly dove back into sight, resuming their firing at the cars. The police ceased firing and retreated back inside their vehicles. Aria hit a bulls-eye and fired a shot directly at one car’s driver-side of the windshield, which cracked but didn’t break.
“Dammit,” she cursed.
The glass was bulletproof. The officers seized their chance and began firing at them again.
“Punch it, Chewie!” Sonata yelled to the front.
“They’re gaining on us, Adagio!” Aria shouted.
“I’m going as fast as I can!”
“Well, go faster!” Aria shouted in-between shots.
“She’s giving it all she’s got, khaptin!” Sonata replied in a husky voice.
A shot whizzed past Aria’s eyes, forcing her to take back her position in hiding.
“We can’t lose em!”
“Then get rid of them!” Adagio shouted back.
Aria shook her head.
“I’m not strong enough!”
“Do or do not, there is no try!” Sonata contributed.
Another shot made its way to the front, and this time only narrowly avoiding hitting Adagio’s mass of hair.
“Now, Aria!” she demanded.
Aria gritted her teeth and obeyed.
“Give me your hand,” she told Sonata. Sonata leaned her hand forward and Aria grasped it tightly.
Aria stepped into the center of the van and held out her hand, which began to glow purple. The bullets that would normally have torn through her began to slow mid-air, eventually coming to a solid halt just short of her hand. The bullets were illuminated in a purple glow, and that glow began steadily to extend backwards.
“Eat this!” Sonata cheered.
Aria scrunched up her face and gritted her teeth against a slowly rising pain, and the grip around Sonata’s hand began to tighten.
The purple glow shot out and completely enveloped the closest car. Its wheels locked up, but the car continued forward. Its back end lifted into the air and the car performed a perfect somersault... It smashed back down to the ground, shattering its windscreen and throwing the passenger out. It was then immediately crashed into by the other squad car, which skidded to a sudden and abrupt halt. Within seconds the scene of their accident was nothing but a spec on the horizon to the Dazzlings.
Aria let out a moan of exhaustion and fell forwards. If not for Sonata’s hand, they’d have to be picking parts of her up off the road. Sonata pulled Aria back and the two of them collapsed onto the piles of money behind them.
Sonata brushed Aria’s hair out of her face.
“That’ll do pig, that’ll do.”
“What’s going on back there!?” Adagio asked.
Aria regained consciousness and brought a hand up to her head.
“We lost em?” she croaked.
Sonata beamed brightly and clapped her hands together.
“Oh, what a day! What a lovely day!”
The Dazzlings’ apartment had not only been completely rebuilt since the ritual that gave them their powers destroyed it, but it had been improved. All the furniture had been replaced with the most expensive the store was offering, a flat-screen TV hung on one wall, all available surfaces in the kitchen had been replaced with marble and their fridge was, for the first time since they lost their magic, fully stocked.
The door to said apartment swung open.
There was a flash of light and any lightweight objects in the room that hadn’t been nailed down were suddenly thrown from their resting places. Sonata appeared in the center of the room and dropped one of the bullet damaged sacks of money down onto the sofa. Another flash of light and she was gone, returning a mere second later with a second bag. Satisfied with her work, she gave herself a smile and skipped into the kitchen.
Aria entered the room next, absently texting on her phone while her two bags floated in the air behind her. She released her magical grasp on them and they fell beside Sonata’s. She plonked herself down on the sofa and continued her texting.
There was a few seconds of nothing before Adagio waddled her way in last, heavily grunting, and straining to hold up the two large bags of money in her arms. She trundled her way into the room and dropped the bags onto the floor with a groan, then fell onto the sofa.
“It’s fine, I didn’t need any help or anything,” she snapped.
Aria looked up from her phone.
“Hmm?”
Adagio scowled and rolled her eyes.
“Never mind.”
Sonata returned from the kitchen with a sandwich she super-speeded together. She kicked the living room door closed and joined her sisters on the sofa.
“That was soo much fun, we should do banks more often!”
Adagio smiled at Sonata’s optimism.
Since the ritual two months ago they’d been living the dream. They’d began by robbing houses, then convenience stores, and then museums. Museums were Adagio’s idea and by far her favorite, because she was able to flex her negotiation skills selling the items on the black market. Within these two short months they’d built a criminal empire bigger than anything they’d done working for Ahuizotl.
Now they were right up there with the big boys of the crime world. They of course had an advantage over everybody else – rival criminal or victim – which had allowed them to rise to power so quickly. The ritual they had performed two months ago had blessed the girls with special abilities.
The word 'blessed' being a matter of opinion, though. Keeping Sonata focused on one thing had difficult enough at the best of times, but now they would struggle to keep her even in the same room, now she had the power to zap herself to the kitchen the second she felt the slightest pang of hunger. It had taken her sisters two months and every last drop of their patience to help her gain control of her powers. Luckily the number of broken bones, dents in the walls and awkward conversations with cops as to why she was suddenly in the middle of Canterlot wearing only her bathrobe, began pile up to the point that her powers had become and annoyance even to her. Thank Neighptune as well, because if Aria's superpower was despairing, she'd be ruling the world by now.
Aria had been given the power of matter manipulation... whatever that was. She suspected Adagio had simply made the term up rather than be forced to admit that she didn't know. As long as she got to blow stuff up, Aria didn't much care what she called it. Levitation, telekiensis, weather manipulation... it seemed jack-of-all-trades, whatever-you-need-I've-got-it seemed to be Aria's place in their trio. And at the risk of ringing false victory, she showed to be becoming quite talented in mind control as well.
She chuckled to her self, thinking of the possibilities.
Sonata can't annoy you if Sonata forgets how to talk.
The stunt they pulled today was a well-rehearsed one, they’d done the same technique at every place they’d hit and, as of yet, no one had figured out their routine. It was likely due to the fact the victims’ claims were difficult to believe. Adagio often wondered why the police had never been contacted about the events revolving around Sunset Shimmer and her friends at CHS, but now she knew. The police simply scoffed at the idea of magic or superpowers, which they used no end to their advantage.
The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist, after all.
They’d begun by hitting places they knew didn’t have security footage, but the trio had quickly grown arrogant with their skills. Who cared if the police knew about them? They had superpowers, they could take on the entire Canterlot Royal Police Force if they wanted to.
Or, most of them could.
The sirens were over two-thousand years old, and since their birth Adagio had always been the group mother. She cared for her sisters, and in return her word was law.
So it had driven her up the absolute wall that she wasn’t gifted with powers like they were.
Sonata had been given super-speed, Aria had been given matter-manipulation, Adagio had been given… nothing. She didn’t know why, she was just as much a part of the ritual as either of them. At first she was convinced it was a mistake, and her powers just hadn’t revealed themselves yet, but two months had passed since, and now she was certain. For whatever reason, Adagio hadn’t been given any powers.
That put her at a tactical disadvantage to her sisters. Luckily they’d become so ingrained to the way things worked they hadn’t abandoned her like dead weight. That, and she was still their legal guardian, so they kind of couldn’t. Adagio had been the leader before their new powers and she remained the leader after for one very good reason: she was best at tactical. So Adagio would be the mastermind behind it all, with Aria and Sonata doing her bidding.
Together the three of them had become unstoppable.
“Yo, what’s for dinner?” Aria asked, peaking up from behind her phone screen.
“Dunno,” Adagio said, still trying to reclaim her breath. “Wanna order in?”
Aria wrinkled her nose.
"I want a meal.”
“Well I don’t have the energy to make food tonight. You do some cooking for a change.”
“I don’t wanna cook, you know I’m crap at it,” Aria turned to their youngest. “Sonata, wanna go super-speed us up something?”
“No!” Adagio butted in before a response could be given. “She’s not allowed to cook.”
Aria sighed, “Well, what then?”
“I already said, you make something.”
“Why can’t you?”
“Because I’m tired.”
Aria scoffed.
“We did way more work than you today.”
Adagio sent an angry gaze her way. She wanted to argue but couldn’t find the energy.
“I don’t have superpowers, Aria. I was nearly shot today, I could have died.”
Aria shrugged.
“And that’s made you incapable of cooking because…?”
Adagio rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“Go to hell, Aria.”
“I think we should order in too,” Sonata jumped in quickly. “I’m in the mood for Indian.”
“That’s two against one.”
“Ugh, fine," Aria sulked. "Whatever."
“I say we should hire a butler,” Sonata prompted herself up, “he can make us food every night. It’s not like we don’t have the money to, now.”
Adagio shook her head.
“Why not?” Aria asked. “Sounds like a good idea to me? And that’s two against one.”
Adagio growled at Aria’s smugness.
“If we get a butler we have to give him his own room. Either of you two willing to give up yours?”
The two girls shook their heads.
“There you go then. For now we have to keep a low profile. When we get the bigger house, maybe. Until then it’s fast-food. And all of this,” she gestured to the bags of money, “is mine. I reckon we just need to hit one more place and we’ll have enough for that villa in Manehatten.”
“And then we can get a Geoffery?”
“And then we can get a Geoffery.”
“Yay!” Sonata smiled.
“We can get pretty much anything we want, then,” Aria grinned.
At the mention of this, the edges of Adagio’s mouth flicked up into a smile.
“Yeah, we can.”
“Ice tea imported from England?” Sonata asked.
Adagio grinned and nodded.
“Lifeguards imported from Spain.”
“Towels imported from Turkey?”
“And Turkey imported from Maine!”
Adagio and Sonata shared laughter, while Aria simply rolled her eyes.
“Losers.”
“Oh cheer up, Aria!” Adagio laughed. “We’re all in this together!”
“Get lost.”
Adagio laughed again and shook her head, shaking off Aria’s comment. She threw her arms up in the air and pushed herself off the sofa.
“I’m gonna lock up and go for a nap. Wake me when food's here?”
Sonata nodded, snatched up the landline and began to dial the number of Canterlot’s local takeaway, The Tasty Treat.
“Who’s paying?” Aria asked.
Adagio took one look back at her sister and then looked over to the literal pile of money on their couch.
“Fair enough,” Aria laughed.
“Ello, thiz iz the Tasty Treat, 'ow may I take your order?” The woman on Sonata’s phone asked.
“I’ll have a two number nines, a number nine large, a number six with extra dip, a number seven, two–”
“Sonata, where are the keys?”
“One sec,” Sonata told the woman. “What?”
“The keys.”
“What about them?”
“You let us in, where are they?”
She shrugged.
“Door was unlocked when I got in.”
Aria and Adagio both slowly turned to Sonata.
As the realization of what she just said dawned on her, she gulped.
“I… That was something important to mention… wasn’t it?”
Aria rolled her eyes.
“You are the worst.”
Meanwhile at the Tasty Treat, Saffron Masala frowned, hearing a ruckus on the line.
"'Ello? 'Ellooo?"
The taste of alcohol and pennies was the first thing that hit her. Her stomach churned and she forced out a raspy cough that burned at her throat. She tried opening her eyes, only to discover they were already open and she was in complete darkness.
“Wakey wakey eggs and bakey…” A familiar voice spoke to her.
Adagio turned her head to the sound of the voice, hoping to be able to catch a glimpse. It was now she felt something touching her face. She had some type of fabric sack over her head. She tried struggling free, but couldn’t pull her hands free of the restraints behind her back.
Suddenly she felt a pair of strong arms swoop her up. She tried to wiggle free, but her struggles were nothing against the strength of her kidnapper. The man lifted her onto her knees and released her.
“What do we have here?” he snickered.
“Well, given that I can’t see, I don’t know,” a feminine voice said in a sarcastic tone.
Adagio’s head snapped to the side.
“Aria?” She asked into the darkness.
“Adagio?” The voice returned.
“Aria!”
“Adagio!”
“Donkhey!”
Sonata was also here, apparently.
A large hand grasped at the sack over her head and pulled it away. Adagio was able to catch a sight of the bag, and was amused, but not surprised, that it was a large garbage bag. What else could fit her hair in, after all? She glanced to her side, seeing Aria and Sonata kneeling and restrained beside her, but with considerably smaller bags over their heads. The hand appeared again and retrieved the bags. Adagio looked up at their kidnapper.
She growled.
“Ahuizotl.”
An unusually tall foreign man stood before her, dressed in a dark blue suit and wearing copious amounts of jewelry. In one hand he had a cane that used a gorilla’s hand as its top. He looked down at them with his beady eyes and smiled a toothy grin.
“Ooooh, so you do remember me? How nice.”
Aria groaned, “What do you want, you blue freak?”
Ahuizotl laughed gently and theatrically fixed his blazer.
“Why, what you owe me, of course. You recall…. before the three of you became deserters, I sent you on a mission to retrieve something for me.”
It was now that Adagio was able to take in her surroundings more. The three of them had been drugged at their apartment and been brought… somewhere. They were in a large indoor space, some kind of warehouse? The only light in the room came from a harsh bulb a couple meters above them, which didn’t illuminate more than a few feet.
“We don’t have your stupid statue!” Sonata yelled at the man.
Ahuizotl lifted his cane up and began examining its fingers.
“Now, that I believe. Clearly you discovered its value and decided to sell it on yourself. You then retired with the money and dropped off the map. It’s fortunate that after much digging I was able to find you so we could have this little… reunion.”
Adagio rolled her eyes at this, which Ahuizotl noticed.
“Oh, am I mistaken, my dear?”
“We didn’t steal your artifact, Ahuizotl,” Adagio stated. “Go check, it’s still in the museum.”
This seemed to annoy him.
“Then I wonder why the AWOL? I was very hurt by that, you know. I picked you girls up out of the gutter, treated you as my own, and this is how you repay me? By a complete betrayal? Did you even consider my feelings as you stole my property for your own selfish needs? Such a shame, really. I thought the four of us had become close friends.”
Ahuizotl tutted and shook his head like a father scorning a child.
“It's terrible when you can't trust the people closest to you.”
For a brief second, Aria and Sonata glanced at each other from the corners of their eyes.
“Go to hell, Ahuizotl,” Adagio growled. “We didn’t steal from you.”
Ahuizotl continued to pace back and forth between the three of them, monologue to himself.
“Lies, deception!” he shook his head. He knelt down in front of Adagio and leaned in uncomfortably close.
“Listen, Dagi,” he smiled. “I like you girls. You were a cool breath of fresh air, compared to the usual buffoonery I have to deal with. Trouble is, you knew how good you were, and wanted you independence… but I can understand that. So I have a proposition for you, if you’re interested?”
“Don’t call me Dagi.”
Ahuizotl winced and smiled through his teeth.
“Of course. Are you willing to listen?”
Adagio took another glance around. As far as she could tell it was just the four of them in the room, but she doubted he’d have been able to drug and drag the three of them here unassisted. He probably had armed guards standing feet away from them, hidden in darkness. They weren’t in any position to try anything.
“Don’t think we’ve really got a choice.”
Ahuizotl grinned and stood back up, crossing his arms.
“I’m willing to make this more of a group effort than I did before. You girls are good at what you do, you’re worth the effort of keeping. All I need is a little… reassurance... that we can trust each other. Once I have that, I’d be happy to stand next to you as your equal… as opposed to your boss.”
“Don’t do it, Dagi!” Sonata shouted.
Ahuizotl pouted and pointed his cane at Sonata.
“So she’s allowed to call you Dagi, and I’m not?”
Adagio ignored Sonata’s plea and Ahuizotl’s comment and gritted her teeth.
“What do you want us to do?”
Ahuizotl smiled like a fisherman with something on the end of his hook.
“My property. Retrieve the Sapphire Statue from whoever you sold it to, return it to me, and I shall consider us even. Then we can take things from there. I believe that’s reasonable of me.”
“It would be reasonable,” Aria butted in, “only, to repeat a point brought up by Sonata... we didn’t steal your damn statue!”
Ahuizotl opened his mouth wider than should be possible for a human and let out a bellowing laugh.
“Silly girl!” he waved her off. “We took you from your apartment! You honestly expect me to believe you were able to live like queens on street gutter salary?”
We.
Adagio glanced around again. So he definitely wasn’t alone. She couldn’t risk them trying to force their way out, on the off chance they were outnumbered. She would have to talk her way out of this.
“Okay, okay!” Adagio took a deep breath. “We’ll get you your artifact. But they’re telling the truth, we didn’t take it from the Museum. If you want us to steal it, we’ll have to reorganize another heist there.”
Ahuizotl smiled at her words. Then his shoulders stiffened up suddenly and he frowned.
“Then… how did you afford all that furniture? And the bags of money?”
“Because we’ve got–” Sonata began.
“–REALLY GOOD AT OUR JOBS!” Adagio butted in.
She sent a death glare in Sonata’s direction, who shut up.
“Idiot,” Aria mumbled.
Ahuizotl simply laughed their awkward exchange off and chuckled to himself.
“Clearly you are very good at your jobs. That much is obvious. I’m glad we could come to an easy solution. I missed you girls."
Adagio glanced down to Aria and Sonata and nodded to them.
“Yeah, yeah… Easy solution… so you can let us go now, right?” she asked.
Ahuizotl silently laughed and nodded.
“Of course. Gentlemen!” he clapped his hands.
Two armed guards entered from the darkness, confirming Adagio’s suspicions. She glared at Ahuizotl while Sonata shied away from the men behind Aria. The men lifted the girls onto their feet and began to cut them loose.
“Mmmm, by the way,” Ahuizotl said, polishing his cane on his blazer, “we will be taking the quite-obviously-stolen money we found in your apartment off your hands, as compensation for the time spent tracking you down.”
Aria’s head snapped up and glared daggers at Ahuizotl.
“That wasn't part of the deal, blue boy.”
Ahuizotl grinned a shit-eating grin.
“I am altering the deal. Pray I don’t alter it any further.”
Aria’s temper flared and she pulled herself away from the mercenary. He reached out to grab her but she was nimble even in her restrained state. She turned back to Adagio.
“Come on Adagio, let’s just waste these guys!”
“Aria,” Adagio pushed through her teeth. “Behave.”
Aria scoffed and regarded Ahuizotl with a disgusted glance.
“No way! I passed out getting us that! I’m not gonna just roll over and let him take it.”
“Aria.” Adagio seethed.
“No!”
“Let’s let her speak her turn, shall we?” Ahuizotl grinned. Even now she was standing he towered over her. “What’s wrong, little girl? Do you find my generous offer of forgiveness too much to ask?”
“We worked hard for that! We’re not gonna just let you steal it!”
“I mean, technically we stole it first…” Sonata muttered under her breath, which got her a chuckle off one of the mercenaries.
Ahuizotl let out another bellowing laugh.
“My dear, you seem to be overestimating yourself,” he mocked, bearing down on her. “You’re still tied up.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Aria, I’m warning you,” Adagio hissed.
“I’ve seen quite enough,” a new voice entered the scene.
And suddenly the whole room paused.
Adagio looked around, squinting into the darkness for the owner of the voice. Ahuizotl’s face dropped and he backed away from Aria, locking his hands together in front of him like a security guard. The mercenaries all stiffened up, suddenly standing straighter and keeping a tighter grasp on their weapon.
Ku-lunk
Ku-lunk
There was a piercing glare as the floodlights in the warehouse were turned on and temporarily blinded the group. Aria and Sonata shied away from the harsh light, while Adagio forced her eyes into a squint trying to get her bearings.
They were very outnumbered.
At least twenty armed mercenaries surrounded them in a circle, all wearing bandanas and similar tribal masks. They looked more like Indiana Jones villains then any kind of street criminal you’d find in upper-class Canterlot. They each bore a submachine gun, thankfully none of which appeared to be pointed at them.
But Adagio’s eyes were soon drawn to one corner of the room in particular. Wooden crates had been placed in a rectangle on the floor, and then a smaller amount on top of those in a similar shape, and then an even smaller amount on top of them. They were arranged into a rudimentary dais, a structure Adagio and her sisters had seen more than enough times living through the medieval age. A structure that was usually reserved for royalty.
And tradition that had been carried on, as on the top of this dais was a giant red and black throne.
“President Sombra,” Ahuizotl bowed.
The scariest-looking human(?) the Dazzlings had ever seen in their long lives sat on the throne. He had long black hair, skin that looked grey and dead, sharp fangs jutting out from the corners of his mouth. He wore metal shin and elbow pads, and a large burgundy velvet robe draped across his body. He watched the three girls before him with hungry eyes. Upon his head was a silver crown, that had a large red spike on the top, almost resembling a horn.
“Holy crap…” Aria mumbled.
“Isn’t that the unicorn we–”
“Both of you PLEASE just… Shut. Up.” Adagio demanded.
“Your honor,” Ahuizotl bowed and began to address the gothic man. “We have been able to work out a deal with the young ladies. It appears the methods we discussed are now unnecessary.”
The man looked down at Adagio from his throne and let out a deep, throaty growl. It took a lot to make Adagio feel uncomfortable, but somehow he’d managed it.
“Yessss...” He hissed. “But… the purple one has a mouth. She could use ssssome… disapline.”
His tone of voice was more than enough to send chills down all the sirens’ backs, never mind the implications of what he meant by disapline. Even Ahuizotl shuffled around uncomfortably, fiddling with his hands.
“Your Presidency… Aria is a little rough around the edges… but she’s a hard worker,” he smiled nervously. “She’s not in need of any disapline.”
Aria scoffed at this and held her hands up in defense.
“Yeah, yeah,” she laughed nervously. “I’m cool big guy, don’t gotta worry about me.”
Ahuizotl hissed at her.
“Aria!”
“You dare talk to your President in such a tone?” Sombra asked. He sat forward in his chair, causing the group of four to instinctively lean back. “A street-trash emo like you should be on your knees, and blesssssed to be in my presence.”
“Actually, I’m Goth.”
“ARIA!” Adagio and Ahuizotl snapped identically.
“What?”
“I’m Goth, not Emo,” Aria put her hand on her hip. “Just sayin.’”
Sombra stood up.
“You dare…?”
Click
Click
Click
Click
Click
Click
Suddenly all the weapons in the room were cocked and aimed at them.
“Aria, will you shut up for Neighptune’s sake?!” Sonata snapped.
“On your knees this instant!” Ahuizotl howled. “Or you will be put to death for disrespecting the throne.”
Aria raised her eyebrow and cocked a hip.
“You know he’s not actually a president, right?”
Adagio shook her head in shame.
“I knew mother should have eaten her.”
“And you need to make your mind up if you’re a king or a president, cause it’s pretty inconsistent,” she continued.
Sombra let out a primal roar, causing Adagio and Sonata to recoil in fear. Aria simply crossed her arms, sizing up to him.
“You’ve sassed your last sass,” he warned.
Aria smirked.
“Oh, I don’t think so.”
She had barely finished her one-liner when the guns around her exploded into action.
The entire area around her was illuminated purple all of a sudden, and the barrage of bullets flying at her slowed to a halt, embedding themselves into it like it was a solid wall.
There was a tearing sound and her restraints fell to the floor. She wasted no time and extended out her now glowing hands at the mercenaries. The purple wall flew across the room, taking the bullets with it and burying them into a handful of the soldiers. The men dropped to the floor and within seconds Sombra’s men had suddenly halved in numbers.
Ahuizotl stumbled back, mouth aghast.
“What the…?”
There was another tearing sound and suddenly Sonata’s restraints dropped to floor as well.
“Sonata, go!” Aria commanded.
With a quick nod, Sonata was suddenly enveloped in lightning and began shooting around the building.
As the remaining men began shooting at her, Aria held out her illuminated hand and began pulling a fist. Seconds before the fist closed, a machine gun was suddenly torn from one of the mercs and flew into her hand. Aria let out a cheer and began firing at the men.
The warehouse was suddenly alive with friendly fire. Sonata ran around disarming and knocking out the men, who in turn tried and failed at shooting her down. The storm of bullets did much worse damage to Sombra’s men than she could as they accidentally shot one another or wasted their ammo by firing into walls. By the time they spotted Sonata heading in one direction and pulled the trigger, she’d already moved out of their range, got behind them and pulled the weapon from their hands.
The men were so occupied trying to pin down Sonata that they didn’t notice Aria quickly move into range and mow them down. Their screams of pain did nothing but thrill her, and this teenage girl quickly made short work of the group of highly-trained criminals.
Adagio dropped to the floor, still in restraints, and tried crawling worm-style to the dais for shelter. She kept her eyes tightly closed as she felt every bullet fizzing through the air above her. She made a mental note to revoke Aria’s TV privileges for at least a week after this.
Ahuizotl let out a cry of rage and pulled a small hand-held pistol from his pocket. He fired two shots at Aria, who was only able to stop the bullets a mere two inches from her face. She flung the bullets back, but missed as he dove out of the way. As he skidded across the floor he fired another two shots.
As Sonata ran she neared Aria, and noticed the two bullets floating through the air towards her. She approached them casually, and marveled at the neatness of them gracefully spinning in slow-mo. She looked back at Aria, and spotted that her eyes were not focusing on the bullets, but were instead looking at where Ahuizotl had just been standing. Sonata frowned at her sister’s incompetence, and gently pushed the floating bullets off center.
Aria winced as a bolt of Sonata’s lightning shot past her, and felt her heart jump into her mouth as two bullets whizzed past either side of her head.
Her neck snapped around and she glared daggers at Ahuizotl. She let out a grunt of anger and used her magic to launch him backwards, sending him crashing into the wooden crates of the dais.
More of Sombra’s men hit the floor. Sonata approached one from behind and kicked his legs out from beneath him. As his body folded up she leaped into the air and tore his machine gun from him. Then, mid-air, she spun around and fired three rounds behind her, which nestled themselves into the crotch, stomach and head of another mercenary. Both men dropped in sync to the floor.
Throwing the gun into her other hand, she then used it as a baseball bat for three mercenaries' heads, hitting them all in a row like the three stooges. The men collapsed like a set of dominions onto each other.
Sonata didn’t like killing people; she honestly didn’t. Adagio and Aria eased her into it by telling her that if she didn’t kill them, they were going to kill her.
That was one reason… another was that she was really good at it.
BANG
BANG
Two bullets getting fired straight into the air suddenly caught every one’s attention.
The five mercenaries that remained stopped firing and turned to the source. Aria dropped her psychic shield and Sonata’s lightning vanished as she came to a sudden halt.
“I hate you guys so much.”
Adagio watched her sisters with a bored expression. Ahuizotl had his arm wrapped tightly around her neck and his pistol aimed at her temple. He cackled.
“Move a muscle, either of you, and it’s bye-bye Dagi.”
Aria let out a growl of frustration, but after a second she obeyed. She released her stolen weapon, which clattered loudly to the floor, and raised her hands above her head. Sonata followed suit, but with more pouting.
“Well done, Ahuizotl,” Sombra spoke, reappearing from his hiding spot behind his throne.
“Thank you, your honor. What should we do with them?” he asked, pressing the barrel deeper into Adagio’s head.
Sombra lifted up a crystal scepter and began to make his way down the dais towards them. As he neared his smile grew wider, sending shudders down Aria’s spine.
“These… are the girls we’ve been hearing about,” he smiled. “The ones sssstealing our territory… the so called, expertsss... But these aren’t experts, they’re just sssome little girls who got their hands on… magic.”
Ahuizotl frowned.
“Magic… your honor?”
Sombra nodded and smiled.
“Don’t tell me you thought we were after ancient artifacts for… profit?”
Ahuizotl gave an awkward smile and nodded, “Of course not… Your Presidency… Magic, of course.”
Sombra turned from Ahuizotl and approached Aria. Even with Adagio’s literal life hanging in the balance, she had to fight the urge to step away from the creepy man.
“We can’t have some trashy little girls running around with magic, now... can we?” he asked her.
Aria frowned and bit her lip.
“Is that a rhetorical question?”
“Oh my god,” Adagio hung her head.
Sombra’s face dropped. Faster than she could see, his clawed hand shot out and sealed itself around Aria’s neck. She let out a loud gasp as the air was forced from her throat and her feet were lifted from the ground. As she began to choke she started frantically clawing at his arm.
As an instinctual reaction, Sonata cried out and leap forward. She was instantly swallowed up by a light blue lightning and crashed into the side of Sombra, who released Aria and fell to the floor.
And with that, the place was instantly plunged back into a war zone.
Sombra’s body was flung out of Sonata's path and she carried on straight into Adagio and Ahuizotl. As her skin made contact with Adagio’s, a loud bang rang through her ears. But Sonata was quick, she snatched up a handful of Adagio’s hair and tore her head to the side, narrowly avoiding the bullet which just breached the entrance to the pistol chamber. Sonata scooped up the bullet in her hand and spinning in mid-air, threw it behind her.
She, Adagio and Ahuizotl all fell to the floor in a pile.
Aria’s hands lit up and both hers and Sonata’s weapons flew into her hands. Using her powers to steady herself, she began rapidly firing on the men with the machine guns in each hand. She let out a cheer of joy and her voice bounced from the vibration of the guns.
These remaining men were clearly the last ones alive for good reason, and they dove to the floor. Aria suddenly had another barrage of bullets coming towards her. Instead of simply reversing them, this time she extended her shield out, absorbing the bullets, and spun in a 360 degree turn. The bullets followed her in her spin, and drew a long circle around her before getting fired back at the mercenaries, narrowing skimming the tops of their heads.
Her fancy theatrics had distracted her, however, and she didn’t see Sombra crawl to a gun behind her and take aim. Before he had the chance to fire, Sonata appeared in a lightning bolt and kicked the gun from his hands, at which he roared.
Aria turned to see Sonata stood back to back with her. Still brandishing her duel machine guns, she grinned.
“Ready, sis?”
“Ready.”
Aria began firing again and Sonata was consumed by another lightning bolt. The warehouse lit up brightly as Sonata ran around the mercenaries, her lighting striking out stray bolts and almost causing a whirlwind from sheer speed alone. Aria kneecapped the nearest mercenary to her and paused his returning fire mid-air, reflecting it back at one of his comrades, who dropped to the floor.
Only three of the original twenty mercenaries remained now. The floor of the warehouse had a makeshift carpet of blood, broken bodies and emptied machine gun shells.
A mercenary dived out of the path of Sonata’s lightning, only to come out straight in Aria’s firing line.
She grinned, pointed both guns at him and fired.
Click, click
She pulled the triggers again and again, before she caught on that she was fresh out of bullets. It wasn’t like she didn’t have enough ammo surrounding her, though. She dropped the weapons and summoned two more.
As the firearms flew towards her, the man finally caught up with himself enough to take aim and shoot. Aria easily deflected the round of bullets, and as one gun landed in her hand she was quick to mow the man down. She was too busy taking pride in her victory however, to pay attention to where she had sent those redirected bullets.
Adagio had only just pulled herself to her feet, and had her back turned. Even Sonata’s super speed wasn’t enough to save her, which made it ironic that what happened next seemed to run in slow motion.
The first bullet hit the base of her back, and the rest of them traveled one by one in a line up her spine, the last one disappearing into her hair at head level.
Her scream was abruptly cut short.
The mercenaries ceased their fire and the room stood still.
The only sound audible for miles was the harsh thud as Adagio’s body hit the floor.
“ADAGIO!” Aria screamed.
Sonata came to a sudden and abrupt halt beside her. She’d spotted the bullets travelling in her direction and had ran to grab them, but hadn’t reached her in time. She gasped.
“No… no, no, no, no, NO!” she collapsed to the floor.
Aria dropped her firearm, which clattered to the floor loudly, and ran over to her. She dropped to her knees beside Sonata and pulled Adagio into a cradle.
“Adagio! Adagio!” She tried shaking her awake. There was no response.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”
Sonata took Adagio’s head in her hands then began to crying into her hair. Aria simply looked down at the still body of her sister in disbelief. The bullets had entered her from behind, so she looked perfectly healthy. Like she was sleeping, or simply stunned. But that was sadly a reality Aria wasn’t living in.
Adagio’s last words rung in her head.
“I hate you guys so much.”
Aria choked back a gasp of tears as the realization dawned on her. She’d just watched her older sister, her guardian, her surrogate mother, get gunned down in front of her… and it was her fault. A thousand and one anxieties began to cloud her head. If she had been more careful when she had deflected those bullets… if she’d not got carried away…
“Forgive me for interrupting thissss… touching, family moment,” a voice said from behind.
Sonata and Aria felt the barrels of guns jabbing them in the backs of their heads.
“Step away from the body, and put your hands up… otherwise you join her,” Ahuizotl demanded.
A fire suddenly lit inside. Aria wanted to fight. She wanted to kill. She wanted to turn around and put every son-of-a-bitch in this room on a spike. But she’d just lost one sister and right now, Sonata was still at risk. She fought against the boiling rage rising inside of her and forced a clear head. She nodded, and began to slowly rise.
Sonata continued crying as though she hadn’t heard the command. Aria bit her lip in frustration and wrapped her arms around her sister’s chest to pull her up.
“No, NO!” Sonata refused to let go of Adagio’s body.
“Get. Up.” She commanded.
Hearing the sound of her sister’s voice soothed her, and Sonata obeyed. She stood, but didn’t allow Aria her arm back, and instead pulled her into a reverse hug as she cried into her arm. Together the two of them moved away from Adagio’s body and out into the centre of the room.
There were only two mercenaries remaining, but with Sombra and Ahuizotl also taking aim at them, they were now completely boxed in.
“Maybe we could find some use for you girls…” Sombra chuckled, before continuing in a darker tone. “We are low on men now, after all.”
Ahuizotl nodded.
“They’re good soldiers, your highness. They just have a few kinks to be worked out.”
“Clearly,” he nodded.
He then smiled, baring his fangs.
“I shouldn’t worry… I know just how to break them down.”
Aria winced at his words, and Sonata’s tightening on her arm was not oblivious to her. She wrapped her arm around Sonata’s waist and pulled her in closer, trying to offer reassurance.
“You girls are going to be magnificent when I’m done with you,” Sombra smiled.
Aria swallowed and took a deep breath, ready to comply.
But as she opened her mouth, a new noise interrupted her.
“Owwww…..”
All eyes in the room shot over to where the sound originated from. Even from this distance, Aria could make out the noise had come from Adagio. And it was only now she noticed she was still breathing. She let out a half-gasp, half-cheer.
Ahuizotl and Sombra locked gazes, before Sombra tutted and rolled his eyes, gesturing to Adagio. Ahuizotl nodded, and proceeded to cock his gun and in a few short steps was stood above Adagio.
BANG
BANG
“NOOOOO!” Aria let out a blood-curdling scream.
The two sisters broke down and fell to the ground, howling out like wounded animals. Aria keeled over forwards, wrapping herself around Sonata like a turtle shell. Ahuizotl returned to Sombra’s side, and winced at the sight of the girls.
After a moment of nothing but the sounds of the crying sisters screams, the voice returned.
“That really huuuuurt…” it whined.
Aria and Sonata’s heads shot back up.
“Oh for goodness sake!” Ahuizotl shouted.
From his position, he took aim and fired at Adagio’s fallen body.
BANG
BANG
BANG
Sonata and Aria screamed identically, making Sombra turn away from them in annoyance. Ahuizotl blew the smoke from his gun and lowered it.
“As we were saying…” He gestured back to the weeping girls.
Sombra nodded, resuming himself in the moment.
“Yes… After I’m d–”
“Please stop shooting me.”
Aria and Sonata’s cries stopped again, and this time they too stared at Adagio’s body in equal confusion.
With a grunt, Adagio pulled herself into a sitting position and turned to them. She rubbed her head, and pulled a stray bullet from her hair. She held it close to her eyes, examining it. It had been flattened, which meant it had definitely made contact with her. The cogs moving in her brain were almost audible to the entire room.
Oh.
…
Oh.
Oh.
Adagio’s face light up like a child’s on Christmas morning.
“YEEEEEESSS!” she cheered.
She leaped to her feet and threw her arms in the air.
“I’M INDESTRUCTABLE!” she shouted to the heavens. “I TOOOOLLLLD YOU I HAD SUPERPOWERS!”
She pointed at Aria and Sonata and laughed loudly at them.
She began dancing in circles, throwing her arms in every direction and leaping from one foot to another.
“I’VE GOT POWERS, I’VE GOT POWERS. I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT, KNEW IT, KNEW IT, KNEW IT, KNEW IT! HAHAHAHAHAHA!”
Adagio skipped around the room like a ballerina.
Despite the tears still freshly falling from her face, Aria’s mouth curled up into a smirk.
A purple glow suddenly illuminated all the guns in the room. The two mercenaries, Ahuizotl and Sombra had only a second to react before the weapons were suddenly smashed into their faces. They stumbled back in pain. Aria’s face grew into toothy grin, and she threw herself off Sonata and into a roll across the floor.
Sonata leaped up and disappeared into a bolt of lightning, and systematically shot over to every enemy in the room. Before they even had time to hit the floor she had arrived back at Aria’s side with all four of their guns tucked under her arm.
Aria ran forward and wrestled the still-dancing Adagio down into a hug. It took Adagio a second to calm, and she was initially confused, before she caught onto the meaning behind the hug. She wrapped her arms around Aria’s waist and pulled her close.
“I’m so sorry,” Aria whispered.
“Shut up,” Adagio laughed, then continued more seriously. “No, really. Next time I tell you to shut up, please just do it.”
Aria chuckled and nodded. She released Adagio, who was then met with a hug from Sonata.
She turned out to see the men all on the floor, each of them holding their heads in recovery from their stunning. They were looking around, dazed and confused. Sombra was nursing a broken nose, but when his eyes settled on her he let out a menacing growl.
The purple magic entrapped Sonata’s stolen weapons and levitated them up in front of Aria. She chuckled. With the four weapons now pointed at him, Sombra suddenly seemed a lot less scary.
Sonata and Adagio joined her at either side.
“What shu’ we do wit' ‘em, boss?” Aria asked in her best Italian accent.
Adagio watched as each of the men’s faces grew their own unique looks of fear. At the sight of this a pleasure grew inside her, one she hadn’t felt in a very long time.
She performed her trademark villainous chuckle.
“No survivors.”
Part 3: President Adagio Dazzle
It was a still night in Canterlot. Winter had been and gone, and things were just beginning to warm up around the city. The snow melted and turned to slush, which in turn became water and drained away in sewer pipes, leaving behind wet concrete surfaces. Now night had settled, light from the street lamps reflected in the puddles, bathing the streets in an eerie orange glow.
One area of the city was less lit than the others. The lower south of Canterlot was an industrial area; the usually-cheerful buildings were replaced with dark warehouses, litter-ridden streets and a polluted docking station. It was area only passed through if left with no other choice; where locks on family vehicles suddenly clicked on. The only inhabitants it had were the poor or those looking to live off the radar.
An unusually shiny car rounded a corner, driving too slowly to simply be passing through. The dark car swam through the streets like a shark stalking its prey, lurking around every corner and slowing at every building. It eventually settled on a warehouse, and after scouting the area two times to be sure, finally grinded to a halt outside.
The door opened and a hooded man climbed out. He, like the car, surveyed the area carefully. He stepped a few feet away from the car, before turning back around and giving a nod of approval.
With the coast all clear, four similarly dressed men got out of the car. As the last of them climbed out, they held the door open for a fifth man.
He wore a tailored, pristine white suit and had long blonde hair pinned back into a ponytail. This man was unlike the other men in every conceivable way. As he stepped out the vehicle he took a breath in, frowned, and turned his nose up at a pile of nearby litter.
“Is this the place?” he asked in disgust.
One of the hooded gangsters nodded.
“Right, well…” he eyed the area nervously. “Let’s get on with it, then.”
The men formed a V formation around the richer man, and the six of them began towards the building. Visually it looked the same as the rest of the warehouses in this area, but these men knew that was just a deceiving appearance. And it was for that reason they all walked with their hands in their pockets; hidden holes allowing them to conceal firearms in their trouser legs. They had their fingers wrapped tightly around the triggers, ready to let loose the second things looked like they were turning sour.
Enough had been heard and seen for them to know not to underestimate the President.
The group came to a stop as the leading man reached a large garage door. As he lifted his hand to knock there was a loud VHUZZ sound and the door began to lift on its own.
“Cause that’s not unnerving…” the rich man mumbled.
Swallowing his rising anxieties, he nodded them in and the group stepped forward into the darkness of the building. After a few seconds of nothing, the VHUZZ returned and the door began to close behind them.
Kuh-lunk
Kuh-lunk
Two overhead lights came to life, creating a pathway through the darkness of the large room. The men did what they were clearly being instructed to do and began walking down the path, continuing in the V formation.
“Sir,” one of the men whispered, “I don’t like the look of this.”
“You could have said something before they closed the door, I’ll be honest..” The rich man snapped. “It’ll be fine… there’s more of you than there are of them. You can take them.”
His use of the word ‘you’ instead of ‘we’ wasn’t lost on the gangster. He rolled his eyes.
“Yes boss,” he grumbled.
The group came to a stop as they reached the end of the light path. The man placed his hands in his pockets, straightened up and bit gently on his lip.
“Hello?” he asked into the distance.
There was a sudden harsh flash of light. The men let out an identical gasp as it singed their eyes, and stumbled backwards as they fought to regain their vision. It appeared and disappeared instantaneously, and was far too quick to have belonged to one of the overhead rigs.
Kuh-lunk
The overhead light brought itself to life as the group struggled to regain their bearings.
Ahead of them a large number of wooden crates had been organised into a monument of sorts, stacked on top of each other to form a pyramid. But that was only the second-biggest eye catcher; surrounding them on all sides was a bounty of treasures: expensive cars, posh furniture, ancient artifacts and literal piles of gold and money. The mens’ jaws hit the floor.
The rich man was too busy staring in shock to notice his men begin to panic.
“Sir, we’re unarmed!” One of the men shouted.
He frowned and turned his head, and was shocked to see his men looking cluelessly towards him with their overturned pockets in their hands.
“The deal was that you would come unarmed anyway.”
And with that, every muscle in the room tensed up. The rich man’s breath caught in his throat, and he forced himself to turn around.
The pyramid of crates had suddenly had two girls stood on either side of it, watching them. They resembled Egyptian obelisks guarding an entrance, and likewise a makeshift set of stairs went up the centre of the crates, leading all the way up to throne at the top.
“Madame President!” The rich man spluttered down, before hastily bowing.
A young, familiar woman sat on the throne. Her usual outfit and been stripped away and replaced with a black suit and red tie, signifying her status as the new president of the Canterlot underworld. She looked down at the men with predatory eyes.
“Finance Director Blueblood,” Adagio cooed. “How nice it is to finally meet you.”
Blueblood encouraged the rest of his men to bow before the woman.
“Yes, and likewise!” He stood back up, pulling at his collar nervously. “We’re honored that you accepted our request for an audience with you.”
Adagio smirked.
“I know.”
Then her face dropped, and she her head cocked to the side, much like a cat.
“But if that’s the case, then please tell me something…”
Blueblood noticed the drop in tone of her voice, but his nervous smiled didn’t break.
Adagio pursed her lips.
“What are these?”
Out of fine air, the weapons his men had snuck in clattered to the floor beside the group. Blueblood flinched, partly from the shock of the sudden noise, and partly out of terror. As his men exchanged panicked whispers, he found himself tripping over his own words.
They had heard the stories of people who had tried to make a move against the President.
“Y-y-your highness, you h-have to understand those were merely… a cautionary,” he settled on.
Adagio cocked an eyebrow but remained silent, allowing him to squirm.
“Your reputation precedes you!” he exclaimed. “We’ve heard stories, r-rumors of the new President who took over after Sombra. W-we didn’t know what to expect… after what happened to the Diamond Dog family, we didn’t want to take any chances! Think of it as a compliment, we would never dream of trying anything!”
Blueblood’s grin never faltered, but the bead of sweat dripping down his temple did not go unnoticed.
Adagio nodded slowly, listening. She began inspecting her nails.
“You know what it’s called… when a man conspires against his ruler?” she asked.
Blueblood waited for a moment, unsure if she was being rhetorical. When no follow-up came, he answered.
“T-treason… your honor?”
Adagio nodded.
“It’s treason. Do you know what the punishment is for treason?” her voice grew harsher.
Bluebloods felt his mouth dry up and he began doing his best goldfish impression.
“E-e-e-errr, w-well it’s d-different depending o-on where the crime was c-committed, b-but usually…”
“Death, Director Blueblood. The penalty for treason is death.”
Blueblood sensed his men stiffen up behind him. He continued his smile and raised his hands, starting to slowly back away.
“Your majesty…” he said calmly, “I assure you there was no plan of a plot against you... We were merely frightened for our own safety... We are cowardly men and you’re… a very, intimidating figure-head. Your reputation persuades you, as I said. Please forgive us,” he gave a small cough. “Please?”
Adagio’s response didn’t come immediately, allowing a heavy silence to fall over the room. She cocked her head, looking down on them like a cat watching a insect. Blueblood could practically see the cogs working behind her eyes. She pulled herself forward in her chair and gestured to her royal guards.
“What do you girls say?” she asked. “Let’s put it to the court… guilty, not guilty?”
“Guilty.”
Blueblood stared daggers at the guard who spoke.
The other girl didn’t speak immediately. Instead she turned around and pulled something out from behind her back.
“Well… one of the guys had this on him.”
The guard flashed a bottle of champagne to Adagio and the group.
“Kind of inconvenient, trying to carry a bottle around in your pocket while trying to shoot people. So… I’ll take not guilty for £1000, Alex.”
Blueblood nodded his head frantically, thanking the girl.
“That bottle was for you, Madam President. It was to celebrate the happy partnership between our two alliances!”
Adagio looked down at the bottle and pursed her lips, pondering.
“What type is it?” she asked.
“I beg your pardon?”
“The champagne. What type is it?”
Sonata took a glance at the bottle and read it out loud.
“Lewis Roader… Crystal-Rose?”
“Dumbass,” the other guard mumbled.
“Lous Roedered Cristal Rose,” Blueblood corrected.
Adagio bit her lip..
“That is good champagne…”
Her silence returned, and at this Blueblood was convinced their President was simply playing with them for the thrill of theatricality.
“Ahhh, what the hell!” Adagio grinned. “Your President is a merciful one! We’ll let it slide.”
The whole group deflated as they shared a sigh of relief.
Blueblood clapped his hands together.
“Oh thank you Madam President! I promise yo-“
The pile of firearms on the floor suddenly began to glow purple. One by one, the weapons floated into the air and took aim.
Click, click
Click, click
Click, click
Click, click
Click, click
“But this doesn’t happen again,” Adagio deadpanned.
Blueblood forced out the breath he had been holding and swallowed, his fake smile returning.
“O-of course, your greatness. Never again... I swear!”
Adagio gave a light chuckle, and the weapons suddenly fell to the floor again, startling the men.
“Now that that’s out of the way… let’s get on with our meeting.”
Adagio laid back in her chair and folded one leg over the other one, way too casually for Blueblood’s liking, who was still trying to calm his beating heart. She laid her head to rest on her hand and waved for him to begin.
“I have to say,” she began, “It was quite the surprise for me and my girls to hear from you. Finance Director of Canterlot is a pretty big name, I don’t see why you’d feel the need to get involved with myfamily.”
Blueblood forced himself to take a long calming breath and nodded to her words.
“W-well you see, Madame President, you’d be surprised I’m just one of a number of people on the city council who has a work history with the previous President. I’d be interested in continuing those connections, if you would be so kind?”
“Who else?” Adagio asked.
Blueblood blinked.
“Eh, pardon?”
“Whoelse on the city council,” Adagio repeated, “Did Sombra have connections to?”
“I… erm…” Blueblood coughed awkwardly into his hand, “don’t think I’m really at liberty to say, your honour.”
Adagio’s expression dropped. Blueblood’s heart followed suit.
She peeled back her lips, exposing her teeth, which were grinding together. She gave a hauntingly cold laugh.
“I hope you didn’t just say no to the President?”
Blueblood’s stomach jumped into his mouth.
Or that could have been the feeling of his men staring daggers at him.
Either way, he repressed a squeal.
“Of course not!” He half-shouted. “T-there’s e-ermm… Filthy Rich! He forwards the money he c-claims is for rural housing development i-into an offshore account, annndddd…. W-Wind Rider! He uses the Canterlot City Football Club as a front for an illegal smuggling o-operation, there’s also Abacus Cinch-“
Adagio lifted her hand, silencing him.
Blueblood bit his tongue and fell silent.
“I can see you’re going to be of use to us.”
A shiver shot down Blueblood’s spine.
There was something about this woman’s tone, and the way she looked down on his men… like they were flies caught her spiders web… it didn’t just unnerve him, it terrified him. He could practically see the evil oozing from the grin she pulled.
It was a grin that would be visiting him for many nights to come.
“I’m g-glad, your honour.”
Adagio smiled, and gestured to the guard who had spoken in Blueblood’s favor.
“Sonata, dear, crack open that bottle and pour myself and the Councilman some. Oh, and fetch him a chair won’t you?”
Sonata gave a small roll of her eyes and obeyed, and made her way out of the room, via a back entrance Blueblood had not noticed prior.
“You can send your men outside now, I’ve proven we’re not a threat and I would really rather they aren’t here to eavesdrop,” Adagio told him.
It wasn’t his trust for her, but rather his fear of upsetting her that made him obey. Blueblood gestured for his guardsmen to leave. As they turned to do so, the room was suddenly thrown into a ruckus.
“EVERYBODY PUT YOUR HANDS UP!”
Suddenly dozens of police officers dove out the darkness. Blueblood instinctively threw himself to the ground, while his men panicked and some attempted making a break for it. Shots began firing, and within seconds there was pandemonium in the warehouse.
“You son of a bitch!” Adagio roared, leaping out of her seat. “You set us up!”
“I didn’t! I didn’t!” he shrieked. “This isn’t me!”
The officers swarmed the building, tackling Blueblood’s men to the ground, firing shots and shouting commands. Blueblood felt himself get roughly grabbed him by his ponytail and his head forced against the ground, and then his chest constricting as the officer forced their weight onto him. He let out a groan of pain, but didn’t attempt to fight his way free.
It was okay. He had good lawyers, this wasn’t the first time he’d been caught in the act and got away scot-free. Right now, it wasn’t the police he was worried about.
He had heard rumours, but hadn’t believed them. He knew these girls were strong, but he didn’t believe the true extent of the stories he’d heard. A fishermen’s tale, he’d brushed them off as. What obviously happened was someone was too chicken to admit they got beat down by three teenage girls, and so exaggerated what happened. But as he was about to learn, he couldn’t have been more wrong.
Just like that, everything froze.
The world had been over taken by a purple light. Or it looked like it had, from Blueblood’s point of view. In reality, a thick inch of purple glow had wrapped itself around everyone in the room, minus the President and her guard. Blueblood recognized the glow as the same one that had a nearly caused his men’s own weapons to fire on them moments ago.
He found himself unable to move, but this was no longer because of the police officer restraining him. His arms, his legs, and even his face. He felt like his entire brain had been unplugged from his body. The only muscle he could move were his eyes, and they were telling him that every person in the room was experiencing the same restrictions as him.
His attention was to the only one moving in the room, one of the President’s guards. She was stood with her arms outstretched and her hands glowing.
She was source of the power that froze them.
There was suddenly another harsh explosion of light, the same one that disarmed them, but this time Blueblood saw it all. The other guard had leapt forward in the room, like she was diving into a run, and was swallowed up into a bolt of lightning. Within seconds the lightning zigzagged across the room and then came to a stop exactly where the girl was first positioned. The electric dissipated and she was stood there, unharmed, but now with every officers’ weapon tucked under her arm. She smiled, proud of her work, and dropped the guns loudly to the floor.
“It appears we have some unexpected visitors, girls.”
Adagio sounded pleased. A wave of chills washed over Blueblood. With the tone she was using, he was very glad she wasn’t addressing him right now.
The President stood up and began making her way down the steps. She walked slowly, her hips swaying hypnotically from side to side. She crossed down the steps and onto the floor with the rest of them.
“Somebody talk to me, who’s in charge?” she asked.
Blueblood scanned the area. All of the police officers remained silent, or continued trying to fight their way free from the magical grasp.
Adagio huffed.
“Aria…” she addressed her magic-wielding guard. “Let’s make these gents a little more… cooperative.”
The guard nodded and slowly began pulling one of her outstretched hands into a fist. The room was suddenly filled with the grunts and groans of the police officers. The tighter she pulled her hand in, the louder the cries grew, and the wider Adagio smiled.
She finally pulled her hand into a tight knot, and suddenly the room fell silent. Blueblood could spy one of the officer’s faces from his position. He hand gone from total agony to his face completely dropping, expressionless and monotone.
“Now I’ll ask again, who’s in charge?”
Almost robotic-like in movement, all of the officers lifted an arm and pointed in the same direction, singling out one of the officers. The officer was stood in the centre of the panic, and had his gun outstretched towards the back of one of Bluebloods goons.
Adagio sauntered across the room towards the officer. She came to a stop in front of his gun, and joking stared down the barrel. Blueblood could see the officer squirming like an arachnophobe next to a tarantula. Even if he wanted to, the officer couldn’t pull the trigger.
“What’s your name, handsome?” Adagio asked.
When he didn’t reply, Adagio gestured to Aria. Aria nudged her fist to the side.
“Captain Shining Armor of the Canterlot Royal Police Force,” the answer sounded like it was dragged from his throat.
Adagio nodded, and made to move around him. The captain was still frozen in place, giving her absolute power over him. She draped her arm over his shoulder, and began to caress his cheek with her hand.
“A Captain, aye?” her voice was deeper. “You know, women love a guy in uniform.”
The captain’s eye twitched. It was clear he was fighting against the power over him with all of his might.
Adagio moved in closer, and spoke almost at a whisper.
“You know I have the power to kill you and all of your cronies right now, right?”
She gestured to her guard.
“All it would take is a slip of her finger… and your neck would perform a seven twenty degree spin.”
The captain’s face began to glowing red, more out of rage now than embarrassment.
“Soooo… to avoid any of that nasty bloodshed, how about you cooperate?” Adagio then gave a cheeky smile, “for me?”
After a moment’s hesitation, the captain made a reluctant grunt, signalling his agreement.
Adagio smiled again and gave a flick of her head, flipping her hair to the side.
“Good… we’re gonna have so much fun together.”
A shiver went down Blueblood’s spine. Oh, how he was glad he wasn’t the captain right now.
“Captain Armor,” she began, “would you mind telling me how you happened upon my sisters and I this evening? As you can see, we were kind of in the middle of something. Gate crashing is very rude, you know, you’d better have a good explanation.”
Another slight twitch of Aria’s hand returned the captain to his expressionless state, and he began to answer.
“Two months ago the Mayor launched a new law that requires routine investigations of the city’s councilmen, and since then Director Blueblood has been linked to numerous crimes involving the unidentified criminal known as ‘the President’. For the weeks that followed he has been under close watch by the CRPF, and tonight we traced him to this location, believing him to be meeting up with the President in person.”
Bugger.
At least the President now knew he wasn’t a spy.
But still.
Bugger.
“Well, you found him!” Adagio laughed. “So what’s the plan?”
The captain’s monotone expression continued.
“Subdue the President and bring him in for questioning regarding the unsolved felonies that have been linked to his organisation.”
“Felonies?”
“The president has been linked to case of fraud, larceny, arson, the manufacture and sale of illegal drugs, kidnap and murder.”
Adagio pursed her lips and nodded.
“Sombra sure got up to a lot, didn’t he?” She laughed. “I almost feel bad for him now. All that effort he must have put in… Let me ask you a question, Captain. How long back do these crimes begin?”
“The first reports of the President arose in the nineteen eighty-seven.”
“And what year is it now?”
“Two thousand and seventeen.”
Adagio nodded.
“So… explain something to me… I’m the President, you caught me, well done, you were right about that. But look at me!”
She cocked her hip to the side and gestured to her figure. The captain glanced down.
“Gorgeous as I am, I’m barely legal. I’m in my late teens… probably. How could I possibly be guilty of crimes committed years before I was born?”
The captain didn’t show any expression, but his silence was enough of an answer.
Adagio gestured to the rest of room.
“There will be no arrests made today. There have been no crimes committed here. The President is no longer under your investigation.”
Aria twisted her hand, causing the captain to spasm violently.
In a robotic tone he repeated her words back to her.
“There will be no arrests made today. There have been no crimes committed here. The President is no longer under our investigation.”
Adagio glanced down at Blueblood for a second, before rolling her eyes.
“Neither is Blueblood.”
“Neither is Blueblood.”
“Excellent!” Adagio clapped her hands together. “I’m so glad you feel that way, I thought we were in trouble for a second then! Aria!”
At her President’s signal, the guard released her magical grip.
Half of the cops fell to the floor while the other half keeled over wheezing. Blueblood suddenly felt a release of pressure, as the officer holding him down rolled off him. Blueblood’s men seemed less affected by the magic, as they began to free themselves and stand up. Despite the police coming to their senses around her, Adagio remained in front of the captain, hands on her hips.
“Don’t worry, the sickness wears off pretty quickly.”
The captain looked up at her, anger riddled across his face. As he made to take a step towards her, he suddenly froze.
Adagio stepped forward, grinning.
“What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?”
The captain took a step back. He shook his head, trying to free himself from whatever it was that just overtook him.
He stepped forward again. And again, he froze.
Adagio turned to the crowd watching them.
“Today is career day boys, and you all just lucked out! Every one of you works for us now! You answer to us, you protect us, you do whatever we ask and we’re all going to be one big, happy family. Any questions?"
The captain thought before answering. A purple glow flashed around his pupils.
“None, your majesty.”
Adagio pulled a shit-eating grin and placed her hand on the captain’s shoulder.
“Good.”
She turned to her guards.
“Sonata, dear, about that champagne?”
The door to the Dazzlings’ apartment creaked open. It was the dead of night, but that didn’t stop Aria and Sonata knocking over a lamp as they drunkenly stumbled in.
The original plan had been for them to move to a better neighbourhood once they had the money, but that plan had quickly been cancelled as they became the wealthiest people in the city. Adagio was set on keeping a low profile to avoid suspicion, so they’d had to continue making do with their small apartment. Adagio herself was still at their new HQ, enjoying a drunken Blueblood and Shining Armor competing for her affection.
“I love you, Aria.”
“I know you do, Sonata.”
“No like, I really love you.”
“Okay.”
“I think we should have a baby.”
Aria chuckled.
“I nearly strangle you daily, neither of us is bringing a child into this household.”
Sonata pouted.
“What about a dog?”
Aria pursed her lips.
“Maybe a dog.”
“And a cat?”
“That’s pushing it.”
Aria pushed Sonata down onto the sofa, and then used her powers to flick the main light on, before making her way to the kitchen. Sonata snatched the remote control and turned the television on.
“You need to eat bread. Bread and water, they’re the best thing for preventing hangover,” Aria said from the kitchen.
“What about spaghetti?”
Aria laughed. “As far as I know that doesn’t do anything.”
“Can you do some anyway?”
“Sonata, it’s quarter past four, I’m not making you spaghetti.”
“Even with your magic thingy?”
“No.”
“Please?”
“Your life is remaining pasta-free for the rest of the evening!”
“But Ariaaaaaa!” Sonata moaned.
Aria returned from the kitchen holding two plates of buttered bread, and had two water bottles floating behind her.
“Eat this, all of it,” she handed her sister the food and took a seat next to her,
“Is this gonna make me not drunk?” she asked.
Aria shook her head.
“It’ll make you wake up without hangover… which trust me, you don’t want.”
Sonata smiled and took a bite of the bread. She smiled.
“I like being drunk.”
Aria chuckled into her own slice.
“I can tell.”
“Why did you and Adagio not let me do it?”
Aria finished her chewing and swallowed.
“Sonata, with respect, you have every form of ADHD on the planet. The last thing either of us want is to chaperone you drunk,” she laughed.
Instead of taking offense, Sonata simply nodded. “So why now?”
Aria shrugged, before smiling.
“Because we’ve won.”
Sonata cocked her head, puzzled. “Won what?”
Aria took a big gulp of her water.
“Everything, Sonata. Everything we ever worked to achieve. Nobody can touch us, we’re the bosses now. Everyone works for us, and everyone adores us. There’s a god of irony laughing his ass off that losing our powers actually made us win in the end.” She chuckled, “Neighptune, would I love to see the looks on those Rainbooms’ faces now.”
It took Sonata a moment before she nodded. It looked like she was having difficult processing this.
“So what do we do now then?”
The corner of Aria’s mouth was curled into a smirk. She pulled her arms back to relax behind her head.
“Whatever we like. We run the world now. Time to have our happily ever after.”
Sonata gave a lop-sided smile. She pulled her legs up beneath herself and rested her head on Aria’s chest. Aria dropped her arm around her sister’s shoulder.
“I love you, Aria.”
Aria gave a slight chortle. Her little sister’s first time drinking was exactly what she suspected it would be like.
“I love you too, Sonata.”
A moment passed, and the two sisters simply lay there together, zoning in and out of consciousness. A loud noise from the TV eventually brought the two back to reality.
“C’mon, it’s bed time.”
Aria pulled herself free from Sonata and stood up. She turned and extended a hand to her sister.
“Do we haaaaave to?” she moaned.
“Yessss, we have to.”
“Five more minutes?”
Aria rolled her eyes.
“I’ll go do my teeth and get changed, be ready when I get back.”
Sonata nodded, and was then left in silence as her sister left the room.
“… has four confirmed dead, a toll that is expected to rise in the next few hours.”
Sonata opened her eyes, not realizing she’d closed them. Her attention turned to the TV. She turned up the volume and sat up.
“It’s unknown how the fire started but it’s suspected to most likely have been the result of a gas leak or a smoker in one of the properties. Fire crews are working around the clock to put the fire out, and nearby apartment blocks have been evacuated in the event of a possible spread.”
“Ready, dude?” Aria reappeared in the doorway.
Sonata nodded, but didn’t look away from the screen.
“Aria, look.”
Aria took a step forward and craned her neck to see the screen.
“Aw shit, isn’t that in Canterlot?”
Sonata nodded.
“Shame,” Aria remarked, giving a rare show of sympathy.
She patted her sister on the shoulder.
“Come on, I’m tired. I’d go by myself, but frankly I don’t trust you to get ready for bed alone.”
“But look!” Sonata pointed at the screen again. “Four people have died!”
Aria nodded.
“I know, it’s a shame, but there’s nothing we can do. Now, are you coming?”
Sonata watched the TV a moment longer. She sighed.
“…yeah. I’m coming.”
As she turned the TV off and made her way out of the room, Aria’s words hung in her head.
“There’s nothing we can do.”
Maybe it was the alcohol, but something about that didn’t ring true in her head.
