Author's Note

I am so... SO sorry for being late with this fic. But thanks to a little help from SonicBlitz18, this story is now nearly complete, so be sure to follow SonicBlitz18 for a job well done. And as always, thanks for your patience and support, be sure to stay tuned and brony on.

Bitter Feud

Your alarm clock rang, waking you up from your sleep. You turned it off and sat yourself up, stretching your arms as you let out a tired yawn. You pulled the blankets off of you and got out of bed, walking over to your closet to pick out a fresh pair of clean clothes. You entered the bathroom connected to your bedroom and looked at yourself in the mirror, your hair was a little messed up. Nothing that a simple shower can't handle, you stripped yourself of yourself of your pajamas and had a quick shower.

Afterwards, you got yourself all dressed up and headed down the hall, but then you noticed that the guest bedroom was wide open. Inside, you could see that Sonata was still sound asleep on the bed with a big smile on her cute face with her head hanging off the edge of the bed.

In the other bathroom, you could hear the sound of the faucet running and one of the girls, Aria, was inside, brushing her teeth and looking angry while doing so. You let her be and headed into the kitchen to cook up some breakfast for you and the girls so you could get them ready for today.

Getting out the ingredients, you didn't notice one of the girls walking up behind you. It wasn't until you hear the sound of fingers tapping on the table that made you turn around. You soon find Adagio Dazzle standing right in front of you with her casual look. "I'm guessing you're cooking breakfast for us too, aren't you?" she asked, in which you nodded in response. "Look, not that I'm not grateful for all of your help or anything, but what's on today's agenda, since the girls and I might end up getting bored just staying here. Are you going to keep us hidden from the whole entire world?"

"No, I'm gonna take you and the girls on a little trip across the city to get you a new wardrobe. After that, I'm gonna see to it that I land you girls some decent jobs," you replied.

"How are you gonna help us get jobs? If you hadn't noticed, Canterlot City pretty much knows of our existence and they're not gonna take too kindly to hiring us. But if you're still gonna go through with this, be my guest, but don't say I didn't warn you, got it?" Adagio asked.

"Trust me, Adagio. I know how to persuade someone to hire you, Aria and Sonata," you assured. "Now, go tell the others to get ready and come down here. I'm gonna get breakfast started."

Adagio blinked in surprise and sighed, but not in annoyance. "You know, I'll never understand you or anyone else here, you're all just so... unpredictable. I just can't understand you," she said before walking over to get the other girls, still having that unsure look on her face. It was gonna take some time for these girls to get used to this new life and so on, and so forth. But in the meantime, you decide not to ponder about how long it'll take and get back to fixing up a nice, tasty breakfast.

Within 10 minutes, you put together a nice spread on the table with a wide selection of things to eat. You made ham and cheese omelettes, some french toast, 4 hot bowls of oatmeal for each of the girls and yourself and a had a bowl filled with fresh fruit in the center of the table. And as for drinks, you had a carton of orange juice, a carton of milk and a full pitcher of filtered water.

Sonata was happily eating her food while Adagio was eating hers at a steady pace. Aria, however, she only took a few bites out of her french toast and oatmeal, then didn't eat anything else. As you were eating, you grew a little concerned for Aria. "What's wrong, not hungry?" you asked. Sonata also chimed in on the conversation, clearly worried for Aria, since she knows Aria has a very big appetite.

"Did you get a tummy-ache?" Sonata asked. Aria just looked at Sonata with an annoyed look, then turned towards you with a small glare.

"What I do is none of your business, jackass," Aria said coldly. You sigh and put down your utensils. "Now what, are you going to lecture me? Throw me out? Go right ahead, I don't give a shit!"

"Aria Blaze! You shut up! Your bitchy attitude is starting to get on my nerves!" Adagio yelled.

"Easy, Adagio. I can handle it," you assured her. "Look, Aria, if there's anything troubling you, or eating you up, you don't have to keep it to yourself. This is your new home now and I want to try and help you as much as the other girls here. So tell me, what's on your mind?"

"I'm not telling you, okay? Look, if it'll make you shut up, I'll eat my damn food! Happy?" she asked, annoyed before she then grabbed her utensils and started eating more.

Looking at Aria in her angry, yet depressed state, you had to find out some way to cheer her up. She didn't deserve to be feeling this way. Perhaps after you get done purchasing their wardrobes and landing them jobs, you'll try to help whatever kind of problem they're truly facing. But first things first, you can't take them out on an empty stomach, so you got back to eating your food. Shortly after you started, Sonata and Aria finished their food with Sonata sighing in satisfaction, patting her belly and Aria burping loudly.

"Careful, Aria. Keep eating like that and you'll get muffin top," Adagio teased.

"Hey, you better watch it, Adagio! I'll eat however the hell I want!" Aria snapped. "Plus, you're one to talk with that giant ass of yours!"

"You know what nearly every man says: I like big butts and I cannot lie," Dagi retorted as calm as can be.

"Ooh, sometimes you really piss me off!" Aria said, gritting her teeth before storming out of the kitchen and back into her room, slamming the door.

"Uh... don't you think that was a bit harsh?" you asked.

"Well, how else is she supposed to learn if I'm not hard on her? Sometimes, you just gotta know which buttons to press and she'll play in the palm of your hands every time," Adagio explained.

"Still, she looked pretty hurt when you said that," you replied.

"I'll go and talk to her," Sonata said, getting up from her chair. You nodded, allowing Sonata to do her business as she left the kitchen and headed off to the room. This was truly one hell of a mess these girls were in. And from the looks of it, they need all the help they can get. So, you finished your breakfast and took the dishes with you and began to wash them.

Some time later, you went ahead and bought the girls some new clothes. You had to go to several different stores because there were some clothes that were either not sold at some stores, or they were less pricey.

You practically had to take 4 whole trips. Each one was to a different clothes store: Ross, JCPenny's, Kohl's and Macy's and each trip was more exhausting than the last. But thankfully, it wasn't all bad. Sonata easily found her wardrobe, which was anything sort of clothing that fit her and made her look cute. Aria's was a bit tricky, since she wanted clothes that gave off a "bad girl" or "tough girl" vibe, or even a "rebel girl" vibe. Luckily, when you found it, it wasn't all that expensive. However the same could be said for Adagio.

Her selection of clothes was different. She wanted a selection of clothes that made her look fabulous, but nothing that was made out of fur. On the bright side, at least she has a heart. So naturally, all the clothes you paid for her were very pricey and it nearly cleaned your wallet out.

After doing a lot of clothes shopping, you took the girls back to your place and let them hang up their new wardrobes while you went into your room and got out your laptop. You booted it up and then got to work, seeking out jobs that might be suitable to each of the girls. Knowing Sonata's obsession with tacos, you figured a job at a restaurant that serves tacos would be perfect for her.

For Aria, considering that girl's bad attitude, the best thing you could offer her was any position that was hiring down at the Canterlot Mall, but the only position available was a security cop. In any case, she seemed pretty tough, so you applied her for that position, then focused on Adagio's choice. But it might be tough trying to get her hired since you didn't know what her specialties were, other than ticking Aria off.

But for some reason, your thoughts drifted back to how perfect her hair looked. So you applied her for a job at a really nice hair salon and even applied her for a position as a masseuce. You never know if she might be very skilled with those hands.

It took almost an hour, but you finally finished their applications. "Okay, I think that about does it, now I can relax and watch some good old fashioned movies," you said. You turned on the TV and then switched it to Amazon Firestick, trying to select a movie. You scrolled through your list to see which kind of movie you were feeling like watching for today. There were a lot of good selections, but you couldn't make up your mind.

"Hey, whatcha doing?" Sonata asked out of the blue. You jumped in surprise.

"Jeez, ya scared the hell outta me," you replied. She giggled while you had your hand over your heart. "I was just trying to find a good movie to watch, but there's so many good ones, I can't choose. Do you have a particular movie you want to watch, Sonata? You can pick if you want."

"Ooh, you bet I do!" Sonata said as she snatched the controller away from you. She scrolled through the selection of movies you purchased over the past year. Soon, she selected Spider-Man Into the Spider-verse.

"Wait, you actually like that movie?" you asked. She nods. "I never thought you were a Marvel comic fan, let alone a fan of everyone's favorite wall-crawling webhead. Well, if that's what you like, then okay." Not saying another word, you and Sonata began watching the movie. 5 minutes into the movie, though, you heard both Aria and Adagio coming into the living room to relax themselves. Adagio took her seat next to you, but Aria sat down as far away from you as possible, knowing she was still mad.

"Ooh, watching a little action-packed comedy? I could use some of that, too," Adagio said. "And I know a certain sour puss who needs a good laugh or two to break the ice."

"Adagio, shut your trap already," Aria replied, looking away. "Every chance you get, you always want to give me a hard time, making me even more miserable." Her fingers gripped the arms rest of the couch almost like she was gonna tear it off. You could only hope she didn't have that kind of strength. You'd hate to have to charge her extra to pay for a new couch. But just like that, her anger quickly faded and her fingers began to relax.

You wanted to ask her something, but you could tell she was still upset deep down, so you let her be and continued to watch the movie.

Minutes later into the movie, Sonata is holding one of the couch pillows in her arms, tears in her eyes as the movie came to the scene of the death of everyone's symbol of peace. Adagio had her chin resting in the palm of her hand, looking down, but it didn't look like the superhero's death was the cause of it. "Hey, Adagio, why do you look so sad, something on your mind making you feel down in the dumps?" you asked.

"Just some personal issues, nothing important," Adagio replied. You could tell she wasn't lying, but even so, you couldn't just let whatever was bothering her eat her up.

"You know, if there's anything bothering you girls, you can always tell me anything," you said. Aria grabbed you by the hem of your shirt and then pulls you in, making you look straight into her furious gaze.

“If she doesn't wanna talk about it, then BACK YOUR ASS OFF!,” Aria snapped, her growl showing that she was serious about not talking about it.

“Oh come on Aria,” sonata said with a smile. “He’s just showing that he actually cares about us,”

"Then why don't you tell him? You obviously can't keep that big mouth shut! I'm not gonna give him the satisfaction of humiliating us even further!" Aria retorted, pushing you away before she turns away and goes to sit back down away from you on the couch.

Sonata's cheeks puffed up from Aria's attitude and stood up from the couch. "FINE!!! Go ahead be a cold, heartless bitch for all I care! At least I can see that he's trying to help!" Sonata snapped, making Aria turn towards Sonata with a very terrifying death glare. Sonata stepped away from her in fear, but you stepped in between them before things could get ugly.

"Okay, ease up! There's no need to get all violent in this household. Look, why don't you and I step into my room and we'll discuss the trouble here. Sound good?" you ask Sonata. The ponytailed girl nods, fighting back the tears as best as she possibly could. You pat her on the back and escort her down the hall on your way to your room to discuss her troubles.

"Aria… you and I have to talk… NOW," Adagio said in a low, calm, angry manner. You quickened the pace and ran inside your room with Sonata, closing the door. Once you got inside your room, you sat Sonata down on your bed with you, then took a deep breath you began this little therapy session.

"Alright, Sonata… tell me everything that's bothering you and the others," you said, patting her on the shoulder gently as you tried to make her feel comfortable. Sonata wiped away a few tears.

"Okay, it's like this… the girls and I were part of a singing group called the Dazzlings. We used to be this very popular band at Canterlot High. But then we got into a music battle with this band called the Rainbooms when they found out what we were trying to do," Sonata says.

"Rainbooms? The Dazzling? Wait, I know Rainbooms, but not personally. But why don't you tell me what you were up to back then before we stray off-topic?" you asked.

"Sure. As silly as it sounds… we were trying to hypnotize the students with our singing to make them adore us along with the rest of the world. But we had to start small with Canterlot High by turning it into a Battle of the Bands instead of some charity musical showcase.”

“Why would you want to do that?” You asked in confusion. “It doesn't really make any sense when you put it that way, plus it doesn’t sound really fun.”

"You know how the Rainbooms can do a lot of magic stuff?" Sonata asked.

"Sort of. I once saw them get all magical during the Friendship Games, but I don't remember anything from this event you call the "Battle of the Bands,"

"How come? It happened shortly after the Fall Formal,"

"OH! I guess I must've missed it because I came down with a serious case of the flu around that time, so I had to stay in bed for days. I guess I missed the Battle of the Bands. I was in pretty bad shape,"

“So you didn't know what happened that day?” Sonata asked.

"No, but go ahead and tell me. I always keep an open mind," you assured. So then, Sonata explained how she, Adagio and Aria used their singing voices to turn everyone against each other in order to feed off of their negative emotions, but had to deal with the Rainbooms at the same time. But when the grand championship battle came, that's when they fed off the Rainbooms negative magical energies, becoming strong even more stronger than they ever felt before.

“YOU’RE SUCH A FUCKING BITCH!!!” You heard Aria scream and it was loud enough to give Sonata the chills and enough for you to jump out of your skin.

"I'M THE BITCH?! YOU'RE ONE TO TALK WITH YOUR ANNOYINGLY BAD FUCKING GIRL ATTITUDE, YOU HALF-ASSED LITTLE ATTENTION WHORE!!! YOU NEVER SEEM TO CONTROL YOUR GODDAMN TEMPER AND IT'S DRIVING ME FUCKING INSANE!!!" Adagio screamed back.

"THIS IS WHY YOU’RE THE WORST FUCKING LEADER IN OUR PATHETIC LITTLE GROUP AND WHY I SHOULD’VE GONE AND TAKEN COMMAND!!” Aria shot back

“GO AHEAD AND TRY AND TAKE THE REIGNS IF YOU CAN, MISS TOAN DEAF, I DARE YOU TO TRY, GIVEN THE SORRY STATE YOU'RE IN!!” Adagio followed up.

“Sounds like they’re gonna be at it for awhile,” You say.

“I’m already used to it,” Sonata followed up, feeling more sad about it. “It usually ends with Adagio saying something to get Aria off our backs. It’s been like this for years now.”

"Jeez, talk about bitter rivalry. So what happened next?" you asked.

"The Rainbooms somehow pushed aside their differences and banded together to stop us and they won… and even broke our amulets," Sonata said. She reached into her shirt and pulled out a plastic bag that had these red gem pieces cracked and broken into shards. "And because they shattered our magic gems with the "magic of friendship, the girls and I lost our singing voices. These gems held immense power. The more negative energy they absorbed, the better our singing got, but now we've lost it all."

"Ah, I see," you said.

"After we lost, we had to scrounge for scraps just to survive and even had to live in a shelter home so we could find a place to sleep at night. And recently, we got kicked out of one of the shelters because Aria got in a fight with the cooks just because they made "lousy food…" So now you know the story: we tried to make the world bow down before us and we all failed miserably. So… does this mean you're gonna kick us out as punishment for what we've done?" Sonata asked.

"What? No!" you said. "Sonata, you can ask me as many time as you want, but the answer will always remain the same: This is your new home now. Yours, Adagio's AND Aria's. You might've made some dicey choices before, but that doesn't mean there's no hope for you. Just stick with me and I'll even help you and the rest of the Dazzlings get your singing voices back."

Sonata's surprised expression quickly made itself known as she turned to you with disbelief. "Are you sure? Even after the horrible things we did back at Canterlot High?

"You girls might have made mistakes, but it's up to you to change all that. And I'm always willing to lend a helping hand for those in need. If I have to break my back to help turn your lives back around, then so help me, I will do just that and maybe even more, no questions asked."

Sonata couldn't hold it back any longer, nor could she deny your good intentions as she lunged herself at you, hugging you tightly and crying on your shoulders. You hugged her back, turning left and right slowly. She must've been holding it in for so long, but now she's free from this torment. You didn’t realize it at first, but you noticed there wasn’t any screaming and you realized that Adagio must’ve calmed Aria down.

“I’m gonna go check on the two,” You reply with a smile. “I’ll let you stay here for a bit.”

Sonata simply nods and sits on his bed and you step out of your bedroom to see what was up with Adagio and Aria who are still sitting in the living room. You walked into the kitchen and saw something surprising. Both girls were sitting away from each other on the couch, but you noticed Aria and she was shaking like a leaf and Adagio was looking down, literally as well as emotionally.

“Aria, you okay?” you asked.

"Shut the hell up," she said, surprisingly calm. You walked around the couch and caught a good at Aria, seeing that this bad girl tomboy… was weeping.

"Aria, why are you crying?" you asked, kneeling down to look at her face-to-face. Suddenly, Aria looks at you and slaps you right on your cheek, which causes you to fall backwards.

"You just had to pry into our business! You couldn't just leave it alone! You kept insisting that we need help, so I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY!" Aria snapped, tears flowing down her cheeks like crazy fast.

"That's not the only reason why she's mad…" Adagio said, choked up. "Aside from all the yelling, we said some things to each other that really got us. I… I told her that her attitude was the reason her… father left her for dead back at our home."

You gasped. "Adagio, how could you?!" you asked, shocked.

"I was upset, okay? And… she also said that… all I'm good for is being a cow," Adagio said, even more choked up, shocking you even more as well.

"Aria!" you said, turning to the bad girl even more shocked.

"Go ahead! Say it! You wanna say "That's the last straw, you need to leave!" Well don't bother, because I'll just go ahead and see myself out of here!" Aria said getting up, but you stopped her with a hug that she tried to break free from as hard as she possibly could. "HEY! LET GO OF ME!!!"

“Not until you calm down,”

“I SAID LET GO, DAMMIT!!!” She yells trying to pry you off of him, but you refused to let go of her by any means, even after she was hitting you to make you let go. Her blow slowly started to slow down after that and you could hear her weeping a bit and finally she just started bawling as she cried into your chest.

You looked over at Adagio and gestured her to come over and let it all out. She didn't object and rushed over to you, crying into your shoulder. Sonata came rushing out of your room and joined in on the group hug, hugging you and the others. Now, all three girls were weeping together. You waited for them to stop crying and it slowly turned to whimpers.

“Aria, Sonata, I’m sorry,” Adagio replied as she looked at them. “I’m sorry for putting you through a living hell, I was a lousy fucking leader, I admit it! It's my fault we're in this situation in the first place!”

“I’m sorry too. I'm sorry for always being such a grade-A bitch to all of you and giving you all such a hard time over the years we've been here! I get so frustrated so easily!" Aria confessed.

"And I'm sorry for making you so miserable with my taco addiction! I promise I'll cut back and even treat you out to eat to make up for it! I'm so sorry!" Sonata weeped loudly.

You let the girls have their moment for a little while longer. Seeing as how they've been holding in all of this tension, they deserved to get this off their shoulders. You're sure your dad would be proud of you for giving these girls a new life and being able to start over. And soon, once the girls were finally calm, you let them in on what you have in store for them. "Girls," their eyes all turn towards you. "How would you girls feel about having your singing voices back? I happen to know a thing or two about singing and… with enough practice, you girls'll be singing better than ever. How's that?"

For a moment, there was silence. You weren't in a hurry to hear their answer, so you let them think it over, watching them whisper to each other out of ears reach, until...

"When can we start?" Adagio asks with a hopeful smile.