Dazzling Defeat

“No no no no no NOOOOOO!!!” “This is impossible, this can’t be happening, this is not! happening!” I won. I had those obnoxious little Rainbooms on their knees and then… In a burst of rage and frustration I kicked the big dumb base of the big dumb statue of Chancellor Pudding Cup, in the park not far away from the amphitheater, dimly through the angry fog and the Rainboom’s third encore. Really, third encore? Who does that?

I heard a familiar voice, “Take it easy, Adagio.”

I was only half responding to Aria when I said, “She called me harmless. I don’t think I’ve ever been so insulted. Not even when Starswirl the Bearded called me a heartless soul stealing devil pony.” A different but no less familiar voice responded to that.

“Will he kind of said that to all of us.” Words fail me in the face of Sonata’s inane comment and through the haze of anger, I felt a growing dread. This was worse than my loss to Starswirl the Bearded. I’d been stranded on an alien prison world all but devoid of magic, but I still had the magic I brought with me, but now?

“Adagio, the show’s getting out we should go,” Sonata said timidly as she put her hand lightly on my arm.

I think it was the fear in her voice that set me off. “And this is all your fault, Sonata!” I all but screamed.

I was rewarded for my outburst with a characteristic welling of tears from Sonata’s red-violet eyes and an immediate stammer of “M-me?”

“Yes, you, Sonata Dusk, if you’d tried harder to finish off the Rainbooms we would be surrounded by cheering fans that adore us and we would be happy! But now because of you! The rest of our lives will suck forever!” I hissed.

“Leave her alone, Adagio. It isn’t her fault another one of your half-baked plans got screwed up!”

“And you,” I yelled at Aria who had moved between me and Sonata.

“If you had just shut up and followed orders I would be running this whole stupid town right now!” My voice rose to a scream. ”You two are the worst minions I could possibly have!”

What happened next cut right through my anger. In hits some were old underneath even the growing sense of dread and despair. Aria started to cry. Not a flood, by any means, just enough to make her copious mascara start to run. Sonata crying was no rarity. She cried at sad movies, she cried when the dog ran away, she cried when the dog came back, she cried for three days when she learned what hamburgers were made out of. Aria and I swore never to reveal the horrifying secret behind glue. And she cried when they ran out of special sauce at Taco Hut, even though I told her, like five times, it’s watered down 1000 Island dressing. Aria, though, was not the kind of girl that cried. Of course, no sooner had the tears started than she let loose as loud as I was, “Well, we are not your damn minions anymore!” She then grabbed Sonata by the hand and pulled her toward the car. As they walked away, I shouted, “Fine go!” While I was reaching for something witty or at least nasty as a follow-up I caught a glimpse of the first wave to exit the amphitheater and right out front was Principal Celestia.

There was always a strange sense of familiarity in the little town and that was the main reason we stayed. Most of the time it was comforting, but not this time. I had seen that look in the principal’s eyes before, a long long time ago. To see the gaze of an angry immortal coming out of a lowly school administrator, of all things, felt… wrong. I quickly turned and walked away, I knew she couldn’t do anything to me, not even give me detention. She couldn’t prove I was using magic, no one could, but she could look at me and I wasn’t ready to face the uncanny horror of an old enemy reflected in such a mundane thing.

The sky was darkening as I passed Filthy Rich’s custom logo and apparel stand. I was trying desperately to stay mad at Twilight, at her stupid friends, at Aria, at Sonata, at anyone or anything because I knew at the back of my mind what was coming would be worse. About 20 feet ahead of me I saw a guy selling hot dogs. Most of the time the humans of this world seems so very similar to the gentle ponies of Equestria, but every once in a while, something would remind me of just how alien these hairless, two lighted, carnivorous monkeys really were. With their sharp little canine teeth, mischievous fingers and endless supply of tricks to make you eat things only the most savage dwellers in the dark forest would ever devour.

“Evening Miss,” he said. “Care to try one of Doughnut Joe’s Er… Hot Dog Joe’s famous franks?”

“No thank you I just ate” I replied. That was a wicked lie that my traitor stomach immediately called me on. As I walked away I wished for one of Sonata’s bean and cheese tacos or one of the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches Aria seemed to mass produce or cheese pizza, one of the few things we all liked about the human world. I nearly smiled at the pleasant memories of pizza with Aria and Sonata before suddenly remembering that I was mad at the useless twits. After a minute I came upon Iron Will’s Gymnasium. The place was closed, but he had a TV behind one of the windows on 24/7 playing tapes of his motivational seminars. The big galoot pointed right at the camera and said, “All your dreams can come true right now!” Funny someone else told me that, years ago, in a little cave by the sea not far from our village. He was an odd thing not a horse or snake or dragon or griffin, but a strange mix of all. That day he gave us 3 magic gems and said that all our dreams would come true. This isn’t the first time I’ve thought he was a liar.

I had just passed the other Filthy Rich’s custom logo and apparel stand which meant I was nearly downtown and stopped at a crosswalk. Across the street I saw a group of guys. One was big with that part fat, part muscle combination that comes from heavy weight lifting followed by a massive load of junk food. Another had long blond hair combed forward into his eyes that both clashed with his purple skin and made me wonder how he could walk around without tripping. The third one who carried himself as if he was in charge had dull reddish skin and an orange Mohawk. Reflexively I reached for my pendant and it wasn’t there, hours ago these lumpy buffoons would’ve been putty in my hands. I suddenly became uncomfortably aware of the costume Aria had made for me, it looked good on stage but for walking around at night it was ostentatious to say the least. I hit the crosswalk button and crossed the street wishing that Aria and Sonata were with me. It was an infuriating feeling. They could be so annoying. Aria, a complete sourpuss, was always finding new things to complain about in that dry witty way of hers. It would be intolerable if she didn’t keep saying what I was thinking. Sonata could be even worse,always excitable and driving me to distraction by forcing me to go to things like carnivals or the movies. Whole days wasted laughing and having fun. How can I possibly miss ponies, no people like that? My musings were interrupted as I turned a corner and walked right into the last person or should I say pony I wanted to see.

“Sunset Shimmer!” I said her name aloud in the same tone Megatron would use to address Optimus Prime. At this the fiery haired girl smiled awkwardly and said

“um… hi you seem to know me, but I’m not sure I remember you.”

“Blasted doppelganger” I thought. “Oh” I started up “I’ve seen you around. I’m Adagio by the way."

”That’s quite an outfit you’ve got there,” she responded, “were you in a play or something?”

“A musical number actually,” I replied, “one of my backup singers made it for me.”

“Sounds like you’ve got a good friend there,” the other Sunset Shimmer replied. “You might wanna get inside it looks like rain.” I glanced up, the sky was now heavily overcast and looked ready to let loose, and with no Pegasus to make a hole for me I hurried toward the apartment.

I was eight blocks away when the downpour started. Aria’s costume might be stylish and eye catching, but it wasn’t warm and I hate being cold. I hate it even more than that annoying noise Sonata makes when she drinks soda through a straw. Being cold always brings back memories, memories of a very bad winter when the food ran short and we heard that ominous howling every night.

Suddenly the rain stopped, stopped falling on me that is. I glanced up to see an umbrella held open over me. “Evening Miss,” said the man holding the umbrella. He was an odd looking fellow, his blazer had leather patches on the elbows but they weren't the same color leather. The color of his socks was similarly mismatched and he had on the most ridiculous scarf. It was multi colored going from blue to yellow to orange to purple to white and finely pink. His unruly black hair and gray goatee looked like he had attempted to style them in a wind tunnel and the umbrella was naturally rainbow colored with a yellowed ducky head at the end of the grip. “You look like you’ve had a bad day,” he continued.

“Yeah,” I replied, “but for a minute it looked like it was going to be the best day ever.”

“Oh those are the worst,” he responded.

“I almost had it all; fame, popularity, friends.”

Then he interrupted me and asked, “You mean you didn’t have friends already?”

I paused then asked, “What do you mean?”

He smiled and said, “You know, friends, people you do things with. The ones you laugh with and occasionally cry with. The ones you care about and who care about you. I was just off visiting a friend of mine. He’s a stuffy old ship’s captain, and I see it as my job to liven up his…” As he continued I thought about Aria and Sonata. Why did they follow me? I had been assuming it was because I was smarter, stronger, and better than they were, but could there be another reason? “Where exactly were you going my dear?” I blinked as he said this realizing that we were only three doors down from my apartment.

“My place is right here.” I said. “oh and thanks for the umbrella and the talk.” I was already halfway to my door when I caught his reply “anytime Adagio.” I did a double take at the sound of my name but when I looked back he was gone.

Once inside I walked up three flights of stairs. As I moved I wiped wet tendrils of hair out of my eyes. I could hear the TV was on inside and I took a deep breath as I opened the door. Sonata now dressed in an oversized t-shirt and sweat pants was on the couch with a tub of ice cream. The poor thing was never any good at hiding her feelings. While her worried eyes stayed locked on the TV, she slid a half seat away from me as I entered. Aria was sitting at the kitchen table scratching our big shaggy dog, Beethoven, behind the ears, as she stared out the window at the rain. Her hair was down and she was wearing a bathrobe over her PJs, her face set and unreadable. “Aria” I said, “I’m sorry, I got your dress wet.”

She looked at me absently and shrugged, “It’s not like you’re going to need it again.” Then it hit me, they hadn’t failed me. I’d failed them. They followed me all these years because they trusted me and because they were my friends, and I’d cost us everything. Our powers, our livelihood, probably our home, everything! They were both resigned, defeated and lost.

I crossed the living room and went into the back hall toward my bedroom thinking about what I’d said in the park. First, I passed the pastel blue wonderland that was Sonata’s room, maybe even bluer than it already was because it’s only light source was her TV. She’d no doubt forgotten to turn it off when I’d make her stop playing video games to get ready for the show. A large poster of the Power Girls and Humdrum, the dog sidekick, hung on the wall. I gave the poster a dirty look. They even looked like the Rainbooms. Across the hall was the one bathroom we all shared, a stopwatch hanging from the door handle. Heaven help the poor fool who went over her 20 minute time limit.

At the end of the hall to my left was a purple pit, awaiting the return of its dark mistress. The hallway light illuminated Aria’s desk covered with its customary stacks of paperback novels. Ninjas of Love, Part Five was right at the top. The walls of her room were covered in glow, in the dark stars, a motif that extended to the lampshades and bedspread.

Finally, I entered my room decorated in varying shades of yellow and purple, I like to think I achieve a look of elegant simplicity. I changed out of the wet dress and boots, hanging the former on my closet door to dry while I flipped the boots upside down and hung them off the back of my chair. Now in a much more comfortable tank top and shorts I walked over to my mirror, one of the few areas that I allowed clutter. Post-it notes, pictures and scraps of paper with either notes or potential song lyrics written on them littered the frame. With a sigh I realized all but one of the pictures was of me, and I was in that one too, just not in the front, It was a picture of all three of us from one of those mall photo booths. To think the day before I’d said Trixie was full of herself. The single largest sheet of paper was a list of things I plan to do when I got home. The list included expunge Starswirl the Bearded’s name from everything and burn everything he’s ever written, rename Canterlot Dazzletown and have matching tiaras made for Sonata and Aria and a crown for myself. I took the list down and brought it over to my desk, I flipped it over and started rooting around in one of my top drawers for a pen. By accident I found a folded up sheet of paper. As I opened the sheet of paper I saw it was a crayon drawing of a pastel violet earth pony, a blue Pegasus, and a yellow unicorn by the ocean. I finally found the pen and wrote the words “Fix it” on the back of my dubious to do list. I carefully folded the drawing up and put it back in my drawer. I hung my new to do list on my mirror before heading back to the living room.

Neither of them had moved when I returned. I sat down next to Sonata. She was watching Daring Do and the Box of Doom. It looked like the face melting scene had just finished. Sonata always covered her eyes for that part. As I sat, she wordlessly offered me the ice cream tub, it was Triple Chocolate Chunk-pocalypse with Razzle Dazzle Berry Swirl. Sonata’s favorite. I took the tub and wiped the spoon with a tissue. As I took a bite, Sonata looked at me and said in a small voice, “I don’t think Mr. Filthy will let us live here for free anymore.”

I wrapped my arm around her shoulder, “Tell ya what, Sonata, why don’t you let me worry about that.” “We’re good tenants… in theory at least and he’s the biggest employer in town. I’m sure he can find something for us to do.”

Aria jumped in at that, “Yeah we can get jobs at the Filthy Rich’s custom logo and apparel stand they’re building across the street.”

“Another one?” I said. “How many of those does one town need?”

“But what will we do without our necklaces?” Sonata said in that same small voice.

“We can finally get some new accessories,” Aria replied. I had to laugh at that, both from remembering that Aria could make me laugh, and knowing that we were going to be OK.

“I continued, if it really doesn’t work out, Princess Twilight can get back and forth between worlds, so that means we can too.”

Sonata’s eyes brightened, “You remember when we used to sing for bits at the town well!?”

“Of course I do,” I said and I’m sure Manehattan has put in two, maybe three more wells by now.” Just then Aria cut in with, “But we can’t even sing, without our amulets.”

“We could sing before, we just haven’t had to sing for real in a long, long time.” I went silent for a moment and then started to hum a very old song that our mothers would sing us when we were just fillies. As I tried to recall the words I thought to myself, I may have lost two evil minions but I rediscovered two good friends, and just then I found the words. As I sang them Aria and Sonata joined in. “My little pony, My little pony”

The End