Another Member of the Band

by Magic Step

Endless Concerts

Several classrooms of the GUA had been cleared out for the debate tournament against visiting Baltimare students. Anypony who wasn’t up for an event loitered in the cafeteria, reading, chatting, and grazing on the light salad bar. A couple of students were even playing foursquare in one corner.

Adorabelle frisked gaily through the crowd, earning some stares and glares from GUA students who recognized her. She made her way to the back corner, where Violet Edge was sleeping sitting up, a pile of disorganized moot court cases notes in front of him. His partner, Silver Quill, was reading a book on cross examination techniques and didn’t even look up when Adorabelle approached.

“Violet Edge!” she squeaked when she got close enough.

Violet Edge’s eyes snapped open in a panic. “I didn’t miss it, did I!?”

Adorabelle turned to Silver Quill.

“Fifteen minutes,” he said, still not looking up.

“Wh… oh, y-you’re Adorabelle,” Violet Edge said, blinking sleepily. “So that means you’re done helping Doctor Whooves?”

Adorabelle nodded. “I’ll totally be cheering you on for the final round of the day!”

“Spectators aren’t allowed yet,” Violet Edge said. “That’s tomorrow.”

“Oh, well… I’ll, like, be ready to hug you when you’re done.”

“Please don’t.”

“W-well, like, that wasn’t what I wanted to talk about anyway!” Adorabelle telekinetically pulled two golden tickets from her saddlebag into the air. “So, I was looking at the concert tour schedule for the Dreamstars-”

“I am not going to one of your stupid concerts,” Violet Edge said, glaring at her. “I’m in the middle of a debate tournament-”

“It finishes before then-”

“-and I’ll need every spare moment to prepare for future rounds and to be well-rested, Adorabelle. I don’t have time to watch some stupid musicians-”

Adorabelle’s lawyer heritage took over, and she slammed her hooves down on the table, making several ponies look her direction. Except Silver Quill, who still didn’t look up. “Like, you should let me finish! It’s not a concert like, y’know, normal stuff. It’s for a children’s hospital and-”

“Objection!” Violet Edge shouted back, banging his own forehoof on the table. “You could just donate money to the charity without buying tickets for a stallion who doesn’t want them!”

Some ponies laughed at the outburst.

“LET. ME. FINISH!” Adorabelle shouted. “It’s an event for children, and it’s a collaboration show between the Dreamstars and the Pirate Rangers!”

“I told you, they’re called the pirate sentai-” Violet Edge’s eyes widened. “They’re… coming… here?”

And suddenly, Silver Quill found the conversation interesting.

“Yup. It’s a live stage show and they’re going to be fighting the evil ninja ponies from the future. I think.” Adorabelle levitated the ticket over to Violet Edge. “The Dreamstars are just doing the musical numbers. I knew you’d just die to see it!”

Violet Edge was trembling with excitement as he clutched the ticket in his forehooves.

Silver Quill gave Adorabelle a look like a hurt puppy.

“Aw, there’s one for you too,” Adorabelle said, pushing the ticket toward him.

Silver Quill telekinetically grabbed the ticket, practically wagging his tail. “It’ll be the best night ever!” he squeaked, attracting the attention of a few GUA students who were no doubt wondering if such a joy-filled sentence could actually come from Silver Quill.

“Y-you have your own ticket, don’t you?” The tone of voice sounded less like Violet Edge didn’t want her to miss out on such an awesome experience, and more like Violet Edge had suddenly realized that he’d agreed to go on a date.

“Of course!” Adorabelle reached into her saddlebag to find it, and saw broken picture pieces. “Oh…”

Well. Time to see how much goodwill the tickets had bought her.

“Um… um… V-v-Violet?” she whimpered.

“You lost it?” Violet Edge asked.

“No… it’s… it’s something else…” She swallowed. “Um, like, y’know, I was t-trying to learn more about the Missing Children Incident, and kinda got, like, sidetracked… uh… so, like, it took place in Freddy’s, and apparently, um, Steel Flight used to work there, and… and… and I wanted to learn more, and I wanted a picture of Steel Flight to present to people…”

Violet Edge stood up in his chair and stared down at Adorabelle. “What. Did. You. Do?”

Adorabelle felt her eyes fill with tears as she levitated the pieces of the broken frame over to Violet Edge. Her vision was too blurred to see his reaction.

There was tense silence. She felt the picture being pulled out of the air and let Violet Edge take the pieces.

“How… how could you?” Violet Edge whispered darkly.

“I-I’m sorry…”

“What were you thinking!?” Violet Edge pounded on the table again. “You just stole something that belonged to me so you could show it to ponies!? What if it had been ripped or lost? It’s all I have left from him, you irresponsible, incorrigible, m-moronic child!”

Adorabelle rested her head in her forehooves and bawled. “I-I-I’m so, so, so…”

“And what? You think that makes it okay? That you said you’re sorry and so I have to forgive you? That you can make these things go away by just saying a few words? Go away!”

Still sobbing, Adorabelle stumbled to her hooves and did what he ordered.

***

Adorabelle wandered around the GUA building for two hours before she started vaguely looking for Violet Edge. She finally found him by a statue of some general; he and Silver Quill were talking with Perfect Karma.

Adorabelle decided she should listen to their conversation to check if it would be a good place to interrupt, so she closed her eyes and cast her listening spell, focusing on the trio.

“I assume you didn’t let such shoddy logic stand?” Perfect Karma was asking.

“We dragged it into the daylight in cross examination, and disemboweled it during our next-” Silver Quill tried to say.

“Let Violet Edge answer for himself. I want details, not idiotic analogies from inferior disciplines.”

Adorabelle opened her eyes to watch Silver Quill’s reaction, half expecting him to draw his sword then and there. But instead he just lowered his ears and sulked.

This was totally a good time to interrupt. She walked over slowly, her ears lowered. “…Violet?”

“Not now,” Perfect Karma said. “Or ever.”

Adorabelle ignored him and looked pleadingly at Violet Edge. Violet turned away and wouldn’t meet her eyes.

Silver Quill telekinetically pushed Adorabelle to one side. “At least let them finish…”

Adorabelle felt tears pricking her eyes again, so she let herself be steered away. “You gonna go back?”

Silver Quill’s face curled into a snarl. “Clearly my testimony is invalid.” He paused, and his face softened slightly. “Also, clearly I’ve been overly focused on this tournament…”

Adorabelle giggled and pressed her nose to his ear. Then she went back to frowning. “Do you think Violet will ever forgive me?”

Silver Quill looked over his shoulder. “This is kind of a reoccurring problem with you…”

Adorabelle felt like she was going to cry again. “I can fix the picture…”

“He’d appreciate it more if he was reassured you would stop stealing his stuff.”

“I was, like, just b-borrowing it…” Adorabelle rubbed her eyes.

Silver Quill coughed. “Um… you still going see the Dreamstars…?”

Adorabelle looked at Violet Edge. “Only if he wants to go with me.”

“Let’s… wait until Perfect Karma’s done talking with Violet to ask him…”

“Perfect Karma isn’t like your parents; he just silently disapproves.” Adorabelle looked over and saw that Perfect Karma was smiling and nodding in approval at Violet Edge. That was rare. “Now seems like a good time…”

“Isn’t that what you thought last time…?” Silver Quill asked, but he followed Adorabelle.

“Your progress is more than adequate; continue on this path, and perhaps you too can carry the Perfect heritage,” Perfect Karma was telling Violet Edge.

Violet Edge’s eyes widened; this was high praise from his guardian. He bowed his head politely. “Thank you, sir.”

Adorabelle decided the best course of action was to hug Violet. “Sounds like it went well.”

Violet Edge tensed in her embrace and said nothing.

“Please don’t still be mad at me…” Adorabelle said. “I’m so so sorry, and I really want to go to the Pirate Rangers show together because I know how special it is to you…”

Perfect Karma rolled his single eye. “I hope engaging in such juvenile entertainment won’t affect your progress in the tournament tomorrow,” he said.

“Then you’ll come?” Adorabelle hugged Violet Edge tighter.

Violet Edge sighed. “Don’t steal my stuff ever again. Understand?”

“Okay.” Adorabelle let go. “Let’s go change into cute concert-going clothes!”

“But…”

“You can’t go to a concert in a suit, silly.” Adorabelle herded Violet Edge on the path back to their mansions. “Meet you there, Silver?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world!” Violet’s debate partner said.

***

It took a half hour shopping trip to find an outfit Adorabelle deemed suitable for Violet Edge to go to a stage show in, but they still made it in plenty of time for the show to start.

The Sunshine Coliseum dated all the way back to the diarchy. It had been destroyed in Nightmare Moon’s rebellion and again during the invasion of the Seventy Red Vampires, but always rebuilt better than before.

This incarnation kept the classic columns on the outside, some made with stone from the original building, with a modern setup on the inside.

Considering the unique performance planned for the night, it was odd to see a crowd filled with starry eyed fangirls, cosplaying Floaters, and families with small children.

A pony dressed in silver plastic armor with a face-concealing visor wove over to Adorabelle and Violet as they entered the merchandise vending hall. “Isn’t it great?” said Silver Quill, his voice muffled by the costume. “They even have models of all the robots for sale.”

“This is, like, an Equestrian summit or something,” Adorabelle said, bouncing up and down. “I mean, these pony groups normally hate each other.”

“That’s a little strong…” Violet Edge said.

“Anyway,” Silver Quill said, “Ready to shop?”

“I’d better use the little filly’s room before the show,” Adorabelle said. “You two go ahead.”

“Signal us if you can’t find us,” Silver Quill said.

“Like, the seats are next to each other, so if I don’t come in time for the show, like, don’t worry about it. Go ahead. I’ll find you.”
Adorabelle waved her male companions off and waded through the crowd towards the bathrooms.

Naturally, the line was long enough to stretch outside the door. So Adorabelle decided she didn’t need it that badly anyway and wandered off.

A purple door with a gold star on it attracted her attention. Something special was sure to be behind it, so she pushed her way in.

Bare-bones metal structures, spare spotlights, and sections of signs greeted her. A shiver ran down Adorabelle’s spine. This was backstage! Maybe she could meet the stars!

She tiptoed in, listening to her tiny hoofsteps echo. Listening sounded like a good idea, since she was technically infiltrating. She closed her eyes and cast her listening spell.

A moment later, she heard a very familiar voice singing to himself.

“Time for the main attraction, the story must be told…”

Adorabelle bounced up and down excitedly. Silver Strings! The real, live, Silver Strings!

“Da da da… something, um, old…”

Adorabelle dashed into a maze of boxes, hunting the elusive popstar. For a while, he switched to just strumming on his guitar.

“Some colts get satisfaction break. King. The. Mold… sounds good.”

Adorabelle found herself going in circles around a single, giant box. She paused, confused. Where the heck was he?

“La la la.. taking action…”

Adorabelle pressed her ear to the giant crate. Yup. For whatever reason, Silver String’s voice was coming from inside the box.

“…some colts are just gold…”

Adorabelle telekinetically lifted the box into the air, revealing a yellow earth pony with a copper mane that melted filly’s hearts, holding a red guitar.

“Augh!” he whirled around at Adorabelle, eyes wide.

“Eek!” Adorabelle screamed in response, dropping the crate again. The resulting crash hurt her ears.

After a moment, Silver String asked, “Um, you still there?”

Adorabelle nodded vigorously for multiple seconds before catching herself and saying “Mmm-hmm.”

“Um… mind letting me out?”

“Oh! Sorry!” Adorabelle telekinetically lifted the crate back up.

Silver Strings was cradling his guitar gently when he came back into view. He scrambled out from under the box. “Th-thanks. How embarrassing…”

Adorabelle set the box back down. “Oh, like, no worries; I’ve made stupider mistakes.”

Silver Strings stared at her. “Wait. Who are you?”

Adorabelle struggled to come up with something that didn’t sound stalkerish. “Um, so, like, I’m a huge fan of the Dreamstars in general and you in particular and the backstage door was unlocked so, um, like… it made more sense to wander in at the time…”

Silver Strings sighed. “Well, I can’t complain since you saved me, but maybe you should leave before security catches you. Mirror Dreams is super fussy.”

“Yeah, like, everyone knows he’s an obnoxious diva, so, like, that’s why everyone likes you better and stuff.”

Silver Strings turned aside, hiding his face with one hoof. “Oh, I don’t think so.”

“Oh, we do, we do!” Adorabelle cooed. “You are adorbs and you play guitar so awesomely and you’re so passionate and your voice is like an angel’s. Except you don’t sing anymore, not since the first album. Why not? Is Mirror Dreams afraid because you’d be a better lead singer than him?”

“No, no that’s not it,” Silver Strings said, looking slightly panicked.

“Are you sad because your brother left the band after that?”

“No! I mean, yes, but…” Silver Strings whirled around, suddenly looking angry. “Look, I have a show to prepare for. Get out of the backstage area and find a seat!”

“Oh… you’re right… like, I’m so sorry…” Adorabelle backed away. “I’ll be cheering for you?”

“Just get out.”

Adorabelle sadly wove her way back out of the box maze.

“Adorabelle!” called a familiar voice.

Adorabelle made her way toward it and found her cousin. “Oh, hey, other Silver! How and why are you in here?”

Silver Quill shrugged, the cape on his cosplay costume flowing dramatically. “Seemed likely you found a way to worm in where you didn’t belong. So I had Violet Edge distract the security lady while I went to look for you.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet of you to care about me,” Adorabelle said.

“What are cousins for? But let’s hurry; I don’t want to miss one single second of this show.”

The two unicorns pushed their way out of the backstage area and were approached by a disheveled Violet Edge; he had strange red markings all over his face.

“Oh no, you look… that’s… lipstick…” Adorabelle levitated a cloth out of a pocket and started rubbing it off. “How the hay did you get so much lipstick on you?”

“Let’s just say that if I ever see that cougar again it’ll be too soon,” Violet Edge said. “And I am never, ever distracting people for you again Quill…”

***

“Let’s go, let’s gokaiiiiger!” Adorabelle sang to herself as the trio headed home after the concert. Adorabelle was frisking happily between the two debate partners, unable to contain her joy. “That was the very best thing ever! Did you see how dreamy the Dreamstars are? And your pirate ranger things were so epic and beat all the bad guys!”

“High caliber special effects,” Violet Edge said, “I’ll give them that.”

“You don’t know how to loosen up at all, do you?” Silver Quill said. “We can tell your heart was soaring inside that cold exterior.”

Violet Edge looked like he was in pain. “Let’s talk about the debate rounds tomorrow, please?”

Adorabelle stopped. “Oh, like, I just remembered an errand I had to run. I’ll see you two tomorrow in mock court finals?”

“Failure is not an option,” Silver Quill said.

As the sun started setting, Adorabelle wove her way through the streets of Canterlot, down the winding bridge to the chocolate district and Freddy’s. For safekeeping she’d left the costume in a hollow tree she’d found on her way home the night before. Yes, her house was theoretically more secure from thieves and the like, but if her dad saw the costume he might know she was investigating the Missing Children Incident, and he’d want to stop her. No, it had to be this way.

The soft golden fur enveloped her like a second skin, but the headpiece she just carried next to her in her telekinetic grip; she didn’t like how it made her magic feel and it was getting dark and she’d need a light.

The sun vanished by the time she heard that familiar jingle.

Let’s try to make it right,
Don’t wanna start a fight,
And we’re so sorry if we give you all a little fright.
We’re not so scary if you see us in the daylight!
You’ll be so happy just as long as you survive the night!

Like before, Adorabelle pushed her way in the unlocked back door and ran in through the dark halls. “Bonnie? Chica? Hello?”

A moment later something purple wove into her field of vision so fast Adorabelle gasped.

“What are you doing!?” Bonnie shouted. “Put your costume on!”

“Oh, but, like, I have most of it.”

“That’s not good enough! Hurry! Put on your head before someone sees you!”

“Okay, okay, okay!” Adorabelle stuffed her head inside the annoying plastic construct. “But, like, what are you worried about? Who’s going to see us?”

“The kids might,” Bonnie said. “When they come back, anyway. And that would be bad because they think we’re animals and if they saw what we really were under our skin, they might freak out.”

“Oh… like, that makes sense I guess.”

“Okay, so do you want to help clean the restaurant? Sorry, no cupcakes tonight, just cleaning, but we can still make it fun!” Bonnie said.

“Oh, but, like, I wanted to ask before I forgot like I did last time.”

“Ask what?” Bonnie cocked his head with a loud creak of gears.

“It’s… like… not a very happy thing to talk about, but, like, do you know about the Missing Children Incident?”

“Well… I mean… sometimes kids wander away from their parents.”

“No, I meant a specific one. Something where, like, kids were led away and, like, never found again.”

Bonnie didn’t move. Didn’t blink. He was as motionless as a statue. He stayed that way for so long that Adorabelle actually started doubting whether he’d ever moved in the first place.

Then Bonnie lunged at Adorabelle and grabbed her shoulders.

“Eeek!”

“This is perfect,” Bonnie said, apparently not registering her terror. “We need you to talk to Freddy so you can join our band, and you need to talk to him so he can tell you about it. It’s more the thing he knows and cares about. But first, we really need you to help us clean one hallway. Please?”

“Please let go of me. You’re hurting meee,” Adorabelle whined. Bonnie’s grip felt like clamps.

“Oh, oh dear, I’m so sorry.” Bonnie let go immediately. “But I also need an answer. Will you help us?”

“Of course! It’s, like, only fair, since you’re my friends and all.”

“Great!” Bonnie vanished in a flash of purple sparkles.

Adorabelle wondered if the excitable rabbit expected her to teleport after him. That wasn’t happening; Adorabelle had attended a teleportation workshop at GUA and didn’t move the whole time. Never mind the difficulty in following someone else’s teleport.
Well, at least she knew one spell she could use. Closing her eyes, she cast her eavesdropping spell, letting her awareness spread throughout the restaurant.

She heard several things. A loud, regular thumping that was probably Chica bouncing up and down and mechanical voices squawking ‘Hello, hello!’ were the only ones she knew the origin of, though. The other ones were… heavy, scared breathing… someone playing piano… a music box… a sulky growl… and… and what was that? It was high pitched and whiny and sounded like… numbers. Someone saying distorted numbers. Or was that words?

“Was I too fast?”

Adorabelle snapped her eyes open, ending the spell. Bonnie’s face was less than an inch from her own, his white wide eyes staring into hers.

“Eek! Don’t do that!” Adorabelle said.

“Do what?” asked Bonnie, his teeth snapping so close to Adorabelle’s mask’s muzzle she could feel the air moving.

“Y’know, like, get so close! Personal space and stuff!” Adorabelle then realized she was capable of backing away, so she did.

“Oh… sorry.” Bonnie straightened up. “Chica told me I should have walked you over instead of teleporting.”

“Yeah, like, that would be helpful.”

“Getting used to a new friend is so hard,” Bonnie said.

Adorabelle followed Bonnie through the darkened hallways to a place closer to the show stage. Chica was rubbing the wallpaper ineffectively with her yellow hands. She turned to Adorabelle when the pair approached. “Yay! You came back! I wasn’t sure you would!” Chica said.

“Why wouldn’t I? We’re friends aren’t we?” Adorabelle said.

Chica bounced into the air. “New friend! New friend!!”

Adorabelle smiled at the display. “Okay, so, like, what are we cleaning?”

“The wallpaper is stained. We need to replace it,” Bonnie said. He too started scraping vaguely at the wallpaper with his fingers.

“Oh, like, if you let me take off my headgear I can-”

“No, you can’t do that!” Bonnie says.

“Okay, okay… but, like, surely there’s something sharp around here we can use,” Adorabelle said. “Scraping with blunt fingers, is, like, kinda silly and inefficient. I’mma gonna check the backstage area for tools; BRB.” She dashed through the huge doors of the theater; the plush purple carpet muffled her hoofsteps, and the wooden stage amplified them. The backdrop was still the moon; she’d have to remember to ask Bonnie or Chica what kind of show that was later.

The masks were now pointing random directions instead of staring directly into her soul, so that was some comfort. The spare Freddy she’d broken last night was now in pieces on the table. The fur on the costume had lots of holes in it like an army of moths had attacked it, revealing the bare plastic underneath.

After poking around, Adorabelle found several sharp implements, mostly screwdrivers but one legitimate paint scraper. She brought the wealth of tools back to Bonnie and Chica.

“Hey, like, look what I-”

Bonnie and Chica both fell to the ground and curled up in tiny balls.

Adorabelle blinked at them. “Um… like… are you okay?”

Chica just whimpered and rocked back and forth. Bonnie said nothing.

“Oh… like, you aren’t afraid of screwdrivers, are you? I’m, like, not going to take you apart, I promise…”

“His tools…” Chica whimpered.

“But, like, they’re not going to hurt you by themselves,” Adorabelle said. “Please uncurl and tell me what’s wrong.”

“Nothing good’s ever done with those,” Bonnie says. “No one who wields them is ever nice to us.”

“Not even Steel Flight?” Adorabelle asked.

The animatronics didn’t say anything for a while. “He was nice…” Chica said.

“They shouldn’t have taken him…” Bonnie says.

“Huh!? What!? Who!? What are you talking about?” Adorabelle asks, excited.

“Oh… they just took him away one day and he took over,” Bonnie said, a shudder running all through his mechanical body.

“But who’s they? Where’d the take him? And who is italicized he?” Adorabelle asked.

“Just some ponies, out of the restaurant, and don’t want to talk about it,” Chica said. “Can we go back to fixing the wallpaper?”

“You can’t say ‘just some ponies.’ What did they look like? Male or female?”

“Adults,” Chica said. “They didn’t work here.”

“What color?”

“Dunno.”

Adorabelle stared at Chica in frustration.

“Don’t look at me like that. We’re here to entertain children; we don’t pay attention to adults.” Chica unfolded into sitting on the floor instead of rocking around in a trauma ball.

“Okay… then… like, where did they take him?”

“I said, out of the restaurant.”

Adorabelle sighed. “Well did they mention where they were going?”

“Maybe. Ask the parrot.”

“Oooh, I forgot!” Adorabelle turned to look for a parrot. “How do I ask it that?”

“Say a phrase that was uniquely said at that time and he’ll repeat some of the conversation.”

“Okay… but… like, what phrase should I say to it then?”

“Dunno.”

Adorabelle wheeled around angrily. “How can you be so unconcerned about your friend and caretaker getting kidnapped!?”

Chica looked hurt. “It’s not like we don’t care. We were very sad that he was leaving.”

“Then why didn’t you do anything or even pay attention!?”

“We were disabled at the time,” Bonnie said, the first sentence from him in a while. “Steel Flight had been about to start maintenance so we were all lying on the floor, unable to move, some of us partially disassembled, and in a dream-like state so we wouldn’t feel pain. The fact that we even noticed anything about this and realized it was wrong says something about how scary it was.”

“Oh.” Adorabelle paused. “I… I’m so sorry for being mad at you…”

“It’s okay.” Chica waved a hand dismissively. “If you can find Steel Flight again, we’ll all be very happy.”

“Do you, like, think it’s related to the Missing Children Incident?” Adorabelle asks.

“It happened way before the MCI,” Bonnis said, uncurling and standing up. “So maybe or maybe not.”

“Freddy’ll explain I hope,” Adorabelle said. “Meanwhile, let’s get scraping.”

She took a screwdriver in one hoof and started rubbing it on the wall. Bonnie and Chica did likewise.

About five minutes in, Adorabelle hit a groove. Confused, she rubbed at the place more, tracing the scratches hidden by the wallpaper. It was a letter W.

With more resolve she scraped even harder and uncovered the word “know.” Then an I before that. I know.

Unfortunately there was nothing after that. Just the two words alone.

“Hey, like, there’s something here,” she told Bonnie and Chica.

“Mmm-hmm,” said Bonnie, unconcerned. “The wall gets scratched up by accident a lot. Don’t worry; they’ll be invisible with paper over them.”

Curious, Adorabelle worked a little longer. She found other long, deep gouges, like someone was driving knives into the walls… no, that wasn’t quite right. It wasn’t nail holes either; they were kind of curved.

And then she found the words again. I know.

By the time she’d finished scraping the entire hallway, she’d found those same two words 23 times. She also noticed that the gouges occurred in a specific pattern, four in an arc and one lower and to the side.

“…Bonnie? Chica?” Adorabelle asked.

“Yes?” Bonnie said.

“Is there… like… y’know… something with claws in the restaurant?”

Instead of answering, Bonnie stared at his own hand. “I don’t see any…”

“What about Freddy or another animatronic or, like, something else? I dunno.”

“Oh…” Bonnie said. He stared at Adorabelle with his lidless eyes for a second, then went back to wallpaper scraping.

“Answer the question,” Adorabelle said.

“If we had claws, wouldn’t we be using them to take the wallpaper off instead?”

“But what about other creatures?” Adorabelle repeated. “Do they have sharp claws?”

“Foxy has a hook on one hand and claws on the other,” Chica said.

“Oh, did he make these then?” Adorabelle gestured to the wall. “Why ‘I know’ though? Oh, wait, let me guess…”

Along with Chica, she said, “Dunno.”

“Okay, like, maybe Freddy’ll be more…” Adorabelle had to stop herself from saying “more helpful” but she was starting to get annoyed at her unobservant new friends. She told herself it wasn’t their fault; they were kind of childlike in their way. They weren’t like ponies. “So is it time for that now?”

“Maybe. He really doesn’t like socializing; he got moody after… well, after MCI actually,” Chica said.

“I’m dying to know about this… where is he now?” Adorabelle asked.

“Should be on the show stage,” Bonnie said. “If not he should be back there before too long.”

“K, thanks,” Adorabelle said, heading back to the show stage.

The show stage was a lot darker than last time she’d checked; the light over the stage had suddenly gone out. This resulted in her sliding badly on a carpet sample, but she managed not to fall.

“Hello? Freddy?” she asked. There seemed to be a dark figure on the stage that wasn’t there before.

“Scram,” said a growly voice.

Adorabelle started. “Freddy? Is that you?”

Nothing. Adorabelle leapt lightly onto the stage. “Hey, like, look, I’m a bear like you!”

The dark shadow looked a bit more defined up close; it had the bulgy body, head shape, and top hat of the spare bear she’d seen backstage. It just growled darkly in reply to her.

“Aw, like, don’t be like that…” Well Freddy was certainly a sight different from the other animatronics.”I need to talk to you about being in the band.”

There was a heavy sigh. “Fine. Let me hear what you can do.”

“Yay! Do you have a keyboard?” Adorabelle asked.

“Duh. To the left.”

“Hey, like, I can’t see in the dark, okay?” Adorabelle said, turning to examine the shapes on the side of the stage. There was indeed a shape that looked like a keyboard stand, so she made her way over to it. “Okay, so, where’s the on button?”

The bear shadow moved over. “Here. I’ll do it.” He poked the keyboard hard, and a red light came on.

“This would, like, be much easier if the spotlights were on. Can you turn them on?”

“After hours, only the security guard operates them,” Freddy said.

“Oh… like… oh well…” No light, no magic. This wouldn’t be an easy concert. Adorabelle sighed and put her hooves on the keys, plinking around a little to get a feel for where the notes were and how wide the keys were.

“Any time you’re ready,” Freddy said.

“I’m ready for Freddy,” Adorabelle said, liking the rhyme.

“That was horrible. Just play.” Freddy said.

Frustrated, Adorabelle began pounding the keys in her favorite angry song. She slipped up on only a few notes.

“Well?” she asked Freddy when she was done.

Freddy just hopped off the stage and wandered out the door without a word.

Adorabelle stared after him, unmoving. Such rudeness seemed so unaccountable that it seemed like there must be an explanation.

The light flickered on and off while she was waiting; the security guard was stingy with electricity apparently.

After several minutes, Freddy returned, leading Bonnie. As they passed through the doorway, the light in the hallway revealed Freddy’s face more clearly. It was pretty much what Adorabelle had expected; light brown fur, black top hat, eyes sunken into the mask with black rims. The color of the eyes made her start though; they were an odd bluish purple that she was pretty sure eyes could not be. They almost looked like they had a gradient.

“Now we’ll see how well you play with a band,” Freddy said as the two animatronics climbed onto the stage.

“You’re going to be great,” Bonnie said, walking over to pick up a red guitar. “You know ‘All Through the Night’?”

“The Megan Melody? OMP, I love all of those. I have a songbook of them.” Adorabelle hopped up and down happily.

“Great; it’s a fun number. Really speaks to us,” Bonnie said. Then he tapped his foot. “One, two, three, go!”

Adorabelle followed along, matching her chords with Bonnie’s in sounds like a musical thunderstorm.

“All through the night, although it’s frightening, even though there’s lightning, we’ll keep pressing forward,” Adorabelle sang.

“We’ll keep pressing forward,” Freddy echoed in a deep bass voice.

At the end of the song, Freddy said, “You didn’t mention singing.”

“Oh, like, sorry… slipped my mind…”

“We already have two singers,” Freddy said.

“Oh, lighten up, Freddy,” Bonnie said. “You can’t keep an angelic voice like that out of our band. She’s a dead ringer for Megan’s voice!”

“I don’t even know where to begin…” Freddy said.

“Take it piece by piece,” Adorabelle said instinctively. Then she paused. This felt familiar.

“Okay. One, three singers and two instruments is ridiculous. Two, nobody ever said we were obligated to accept everyone who can sing well. Three, scholars debate which lines ‘should’ be sung by Megan anyway. Four, and most important, you have no idea what Megan’s voice sounds like because all voice recording technology was lost when Discord’s chaos magic rewrote the laws of nature and brought G1 to an end!”

Adorabelle stayed quiet. This was a conversation she’d had before, not only a few days ago, but many times over. The words were different but the template was the same. But that had to just be a coincidence…

“Look, like, I don’t care if I sing; I just love music and all that stuff…” Adorabelle said.

“You need to let her sing, Freddy,” Bonnie said. “She’s beautiful. The kids will love her.”

Freddy was silent.

“Please?” Bonnie said.

“I… I think I get it…” Adorabelle used her nose to steer Bonnie to the backstage where she was relatively certain Freddy wouldn’t hear her.

The masks were all facing her again. Adorabelle shivered and turned her back on them, trying not to think about the horrible empty eyes boring through her and into her soul.

“See, like, I think Freddy is being silent now because he knows we’re right and doesn’t, like, want to admit it, y’know? So just give him some space and let him, like, pretend it’s all his idea when he’s, like, finally ready to admit it, okay?”

Bonnie stared at her, his jaw dropped. “You’re a genius, Adorabelle!”

“Aw, shucks,” Adorabelle said, blushing slightly. “Let’s go back and, like, talk to him about other stuff, okay?”

Before this night was over, she needed to learn something, anything, about the Missing Children Incident. The stuff about Steel Flight was cool but sounded like a dead end, since there was nothing there to investigate.

When Bonnie got back out on the show stage, he suddenly froze. “I need to take care of something,” he said in an odd monotone, teleporting out of sight.

Adorabelle turned to Freddy. “So, like, thanks for giving me a chance.”

Freddy didn’t say anything.

Adorabelle sighed. “Um. Sooooo… I don’t, like, know a good transition to this, but… I, like, really need to know something about the Missing Children Incident. Bonnie and Chica said to ask you.”

Freddy seemed to be keeping up his regular pattern, but Adorabelle waited patiently.

After a solid two minutes, Freddy said, “Five children weren’t being watched very carefully. Someone led them away. A witness said he found one of them in the air vent, dead, with the message ‘purple stallion’ written on the wall near him in blood. The investigators found the message, but not the corpse, and that ventilation duct was too small for a non-child to crawl into. The other four were never found.”

It was now Adorabelle’s turn to stay silent for a minute. Those poor kids. Their poor families. Tears rose to her eyes.

“Do you… know who they were or what they looked like?” she asked.

Freddy just lowered his head into his hands. Soon he started shaking, and uttering odd groans.

Adorabelle sat down next to him and put one foreleg around his shoulder. She had no idea what to do or say.

After a while, Freddy’s mechanical facsimile sobs subsided.

“Did they ever find the purple stallion?” she asked.

Freddy’s voice is even more monotonous than before. “They thought they did, but they were wrong. A mare proved that. She said she knew who the real purple stallion was and tried to get him to admit it in court, but it didn’t happen. Then… things… happened, and then nothing happened. No arrest was made. They stopped investigating the case.”

“You don’t know why?” Adorabelle asked.

“No. No one tells the animatronics anything.”

Adorabelle turned her hoof-drape into a hug. “Maybe we can fix it.”

Freddy snorted. “What makes you think that?”

“It’s not too late. We can still learn who it was and prove it. Those kids can still have justice.”

“Sounds effective,” Freddy said sarcastically. "Because the justice system was soooo helpful the first time..."

“Hey! Like, I’m trying to help.”

“I don’t want it. You know nothing.”

“That’s not my fault! I was, like, seven or something when the MCI happened. And, like, it’s not like Bonnie or Chica can help either.”

Freddy stood up, knocking Adorabelle’s hoof aside, and folded his arms. “They are pivotal. Without all of us working together, we’d fail even more than we do, and you’ll be no help at all, I can tell.”

Adorabelle blinked; he’d lost her completely. “Okay, like, let me prove that I can help. If you can tell me the name of the witness, I promise to contact him within the week.”

Freddy said nothing.

“You, like, don’t even know the name do you…?” Adorabelle said, more disappointed than smug.

“…He was one of Steel Flight’s sons. The shy one.”

Adorabelle blinked. “Oh, another Flight? Probably not Iron Flight though… hmm. Too bad he hates me or I would ask him…” she sobered up. “Um… what about the child he found?”

Freddy shifted his weight. “Witness gave some details. Unicorn colt. Light grey coat, dark grey mane, blank flank. Nothing distinct about him except…”

Adorabelle leaned closer. “Except…?”

“…the eyes. That’s how the witness knew he was dead; the eyes were open. And they were the most vibrant violet he’d ever seen.”

Adorabelle stared at him. “Wait. What… what was the child named?”

“Violet Edge.”

Comments

[RainbowTheTankEngine]

does anyone feel from the character list that this is a ace attorney game?

[Magic Step]

8472755
Now why would you think that? I only made something like half my character sheet from characters stolen adapted from Ace Attorney games after all...