Dazzlings v.s. Dazzlings

by PinkFluffyUnicorn99

The Pair

Aria was running.

As far away from the hotel as she could. As far away from Sonata and Adagio as she could.

She knew she'd have to go back eventually. The longer they stuck together, the better chances of surviving they would have. If they survived at all. But she needed some time away from them first. Especially that airhead Sonata, who never knew when to shut up!

She stopped in front of shadowy, empty grocery store, panting. She recognized this place, but the neon lettering was gone. The people were gone, too.

Aria slowly walked towards it and pushed open the glass door. Odd, but it looked recently used. There was no dust settled on the objects lining the shelves, no cobwebs in the corner. It looked as if it had only been closed for the night and would reopen in the morning.

Dark theories pushed and shoved for a turn in Aria's mind as she took a shopping cart and began wheeling it through the store. She shook them away and decided to focus on what they would need. Bread. We need bread.

Aria made a turn for the bread aisle and snatched the nearest package she could find. She wasn't picky the way Adagio was. As long as there wasn't any mold on the bread (but just to be safe, she also checked for the expiration date, which wasn't for a week), it was fine. She tossed it carelessly in the cart and went for the frozen foods section. Microwavable pizza was okay. She added several of those. And there were a few boxes of smiley fries. Sonata loved those things. She used to pretend they adored her and sometimes sing for them.

Aria would never admit it, especially not to Sonata herself, but some of the things Sonata had done made her feel better inside, like maybe life in that world wasn't so awful. Sure, she was ditzy and stupid and argued with Aria all the time.....but when she stopped doing the things that she used to do, like sing, Aria found herself secretly missing it.

Aria caught herself thinking these thoughts and felt a rush of anger. Why did she find herself thinking these things? She threw the smiley fries in the cart and left the frozen foods section. She piled whatever she could find in the green basket and went to the fruit section, which was close to the door. Yup, there were those faint voices she kept hearing. This world was making her crazy! If they ever made it back, Aria was going to make that Onyx girl sorry she had even been born--

Suddenly Aria could hear louder voices whispering over the soft singing. Before she even had time to blink, two girls had pushed open the door and saw her, smack in the middle of their vision. Their eyes became so wide, they resembled saucers.

"Is that her?" one whispered finally, her voice fearful. She had on a bubblegum pair of headphones and light pink skin, and her lime green hair with yellow streaks looked as if it hadn't been brushed for weeks.

The other girl said something in too low of a voice for Aria to hear. She had butter yellow skin like Adagio, but her cheekbones were dotted with magenta freckles that matched her hair, which had blue streaks in it. Face brightening, she curtsied to Aria and intoned, "O powerful one, please forgive us. We are small and insignificant, and not worth your punishment."

Powerful one? Punishment? "What are you even talking about? Who are you?"

The one who had spoken first answered for her. "I'm Lemon Zest, Your Highness, and this is Sour Sweet. The other Dazzlings sent us on, um, an errand."

“If I may have permission to speak, is there a reason why you don’t have your pendant?” inquired Sour Sweet.

Aria looked at her bare neck in confusion. “My pendant?”

“Yes, Your Greatness. Your pendant,” Lemon Zest chimed in.

Then Aria had her “Oh” moment. The red sky, the faint singing, being addressed as “Your Highness”, how the pair seemed to know who she was, these had all seemed like disorganized, scattered pieces. Once it was all connected, though, it all made so much sense. This was the dimension where the Dazzlings won the Battle of the Bands, and apparently they were the rulers of this world. And these girls, somehow, had not been hypnotized: the lack of a slight green tint in their irises indicated this much. But, mistaking her for this world’s Aria, they were pretending to be. Aria felt a glow of pride at her lightning-fast realization. The feeling, however, gave way to a chill as she uncovered another truth. The Rainbooms and the music of friendship had failed here. If they had lost, with their powerful Equestrian magic, then what chance did three harmless ex-sirens stand here?

Aria locked eyes with Sour Sweet. If she was right about them not being hypnotized, then these girls were their only chance. Aria hoped that she wasn't messing it up by lying to them, but she was sure that they would never believe the real story. "Sour Sweet, Lemon Zest, I'm not the siren Aria Blaze," she said.

"You aren't?" asked Lemon Zest, sharing a baffled look with her companion.

"Yes. I'm her, um, counterpart," she responded, thinking fast. "But they labeled Adagio, Sonata, and I as imposters and we've been trying to hide from them for, well, a pretty long time." She paused. "You guys know what a counterpart is, right?"

"Yes, thanks to the sirens. They've done a really good job brainwashing everyone along with telling us all about the wonders of Equestria." Sour Sweet's voice, although bright and cheery, was dripping with sarcasm. Aria now knew why she was called that seemingly strange name.

Lemon Zest took off her backpack, which was pink with hearts, and began rummaging through it. She quickly found what she was looking for, a green magnifying glass, and held it up to Aria's face.

"What are you doing?" asked Aria.

"Just checking," was the casual reply. After a few seconds, she lowered the object and turned to Sour Sweet. "She's safe. We can take her to the society meeting."

Sour Sweet checked the time on her watch, which didn't look like it costed more than a few dollars, and her eyes widened. "The performance is over. We need to get out of here."

"Okay," agreed Lemon Zest. She grabbed a few of Aria's groceries and briefly explained to her. "The performance is basically when the Dazzlings need to hypnotize people again. It happens every week. Once it's over, everyone comes back and we'd get captured if we stayed too long."

"But I have to stay. I need to go back for Adagio and Sonata," said Aria. It was so unlike her to say that. And she didn't love them or anything. But they were the only ones she could really trust, at least a little bit.

"Unless you love being captured and tortured, you're going to have to leave them behind," commanded Sour Sweet, scowl on her face. "Here, it's every man for himself."

"I can't. Adagio's injured and Sonata won't know what to do." Aria snatched a few groceries--she guessed she might not be seeing these girls until next week--and was about to run when Lemon Zest called, "Wait! I'm coming."

"Really, Lemon? Really?" Sour Sweet sighed and pinched her forehead, then grumbled, "Fine. If we all get captured, though--"

Aria had already taken off, with Lemon right behind. Sour Sweet had realized they were leaving without her was a little farther away, but it was obvious that they were very fast runners. The world was a blur around them, with Aria's vision focused straight on the hotel. It was a little square at first, and with every step Aria's worry got bigger along with the shape in the distance.

Sour Sweet overtook her and Aria let her. She was trying to guide them somewhere. They made a wide curve around the hotel and slowed to tiptoeing through the trees and bushes. The three reached the parking lot and peeked through a thorny bush. One thorn scratched Aria on the arm and blood began to well up in the shallow wound, but she was too shocked at what was unfolding in front of her to notice.

A large crowd stood in front of the hotel, and cheered as two people were dragged out from the lobby. Both were struggling, though the looks on their faces showed their defeat. One had cyan hair tied up in a ponytail and the other's yellow hair had been pushed back with a bandanna.

No, thought Aria. No.

"Excellent work, my fans," purred a voice, and Adagio came to stand in front of them all. No, not her Adagio....this world's Adagio, bandage-less with a glitzy purple dress that made Aria want to throw up.

"I'm sorry, Aria," whispered Lemon Zest beside her. "We tried our best."

Aria's eyes narrowed. "Don't be. I'm still going to get them out."

"Great! Let's all go get captured!" Sour Sweet agreed sarcastically.

Aria ignored her and kept watching the crowd, careful to avoid looking at her now-captive group. When the crowd finally quieted and scattered, Aria followed the other Adagio and the people dragging Adagio and Sonata along in the bushes. By the looks of it, it seemed that both Lemon Zest and Sour Sweet were close behind.

Author's Note:

Thank you to all the people who viewed this story. It’s all going to get better from here (I hope!)