//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8: Hearsay 
// Story: We Three: With You In Spirit 
// by Eyeswirl the Weirded 
//------------------------------//



Vote count as of 1/29/2017 (Yes, about seven months to finish this one!):
Photo's table -1
Rainboom table -0
Trixie's table -12




Let's see, try making even more friends, or stick with the few I barely have already? Pretty obvious choice, now that I think about it, and screw spending the time I've got getting all sappy or whatever with the Rainbooms. I'll talk to 'em later, but right now, Trixie, Octavia, and Vinyl are waiting.

I forget to say 'Hey' until after I've sat down, but none of 'em point it out as Trixie starts doing her thing.

"Welcome, Aria Blaze," she says with a big, showman's smile, like she's getting paid to announce me to the other two, "we were just discussing spider webs!"

"No we were not," Octavia says just a little forcefully, "we were discussing the idea of a cape with holes cut to resemble a spider web."

Trixie dismissively waves a hand at her. "Same difference. With a cape like that, I could bewitch an audience with a bit of that Halloween mystique and show off my amazing physique from the back at the same time!"

I raise an eyebrow. "If your cape is full of holes, wouldn't it just be more likely to snag on something?"

There's a pause as the others process this, which is when Adagio, floating behind Octavia, touches a thoughtful hand to her chin. "She wouldn't be able to use it to obscure things when she needed to, either."

Sonata makes a face like she just tasted a pickle. "And she'd get flies stuck to her!"

"And," I add, "you probably couldn't use the cape as much in your act if everybody can see through it."

Trixie blinks twice, then huffs. "Phooey. Well, not like I have any friends among the local fashionistas to make the thing, anyway."

I can't help but notice the way Octavia smiles with relief as Trixie abandons her spider-web-cape plan. I would rather know my enemies' weaknesses, but for now, I mark Octavia as a possible arachnophobe. I can't read anything in Vinyl's face through those shades and that spacey little smile, but she doesn't seem like the type who scares easily.

"So," Trixie says with all the tact of a runaway bulldozer, "how'd things go with that blogger?"

Put on the spot, my mind blanks out for a second, so she tries to clarify.

"I mean, we told you they lived next door to you yesterday, and the latest post was about how they were shutting down the blog, sooo...?"

Despite popular belief, Trixie isn't stupid. Come to think of it, she was the first to notice my Heartstone, and since she's extra-conscious about magic, I better be careful around her. "I dropped by, we talked a little, and she dropped the blog."

While the others, even Vinyl, looked back at me in confusion and maybe even disbelief, Adagio casually speaks up. 

"Word it right and you might win some admiration for how calmly you handled it."

"It's like, we made a little noise when it was the three of us living there, but now...?" I don't milk the sympathetic looks they're giving me, just use the moment to establish my case. "So, when I told her it was just me now and she wasn't gonna have much to talk about, she said she'd close the thing down."

There's a long quiet as they keep looking at me in surprise. Sonata throws out a suggestion.

"Tell a joke! Something funny on the end to lighten the mood!"

I try, I really do, but put on the spot in the middle of an awkward moment, nothing comes to me, so I just shrug. "All I had to do was ask."

"...Well," Octavia says as evenly as possible, "at least that could be settled amicably."

Vinyl nods once, smiling like everything in the world is okay now.

Then I remember something, pulling out my phone. "So, I never got any of your numbers, could-"

Trixie has swiped my phone before I realize it, grinning brightly as she punches in the digits to make a new contact. "Done, and, done," she sing-songs, handing it back to show me that she listed herself as 'GaP Trixie.'

Looking at her, I tilt my head a little. "Your first name is 'Gap'?"

"Wha-? No, it stands for-"

An amused smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, Octavia raises an eyebrow. "Is that what she typed in this time?"

"It stands for Great and Powerful!"

Octavia is still smiling. "Back when she gave me her number, it was 'Trixilicious.'"

I can't help grinning a little as Trixie blushes and rolls her eyes. "Because Trixie is delicious."

Vinyl taps my shoulder to get my attention, getting me to crack up when I see one contact listed as 'T-Pain.' 

I can't think of anything cool or memorable to do the same thing with my own number, but a few minutes later, they're all in my list and I'm in all of theirs. I get my first word from Vinyl in the form of a text.



[Hi!]



I spend a few seconds lingering indecisively about texting her back before just turning to her and smiling a little. "Yea. Hi."

She beams, quite pleased.

"So," Trixie picks up with a smile, "now that we can contact you somewhere other than the lunch room without a teacher getting bent out of shape about it, how'd you like to hang out somewhere this weekend?"

"Uh..." Adagio and Sonata float where I can see them, their smiles nothing but supportive of this venture. I like having them back, but I guess I shouldn't spend every day staying at home with my undead sisters. "Sure."

"Great! Trixie will text you tomorrow or Sunday."


---


Nothing really interesting happens for the rest of the day, either, at least until I'm heading to the music room to meet the Rainbooms for the first time since before the accident. In the middle of the hall of people trying to go meet the weekend, I see a couple, a guy and girl I don't recognize, doing that stupid, stupid human intimacy thing again. 

Hand-holding.

As if to mock me somehow, the bustle of the hallway has me walking behind them, stuck slowly shuffling along with these two idiots in my field of vision practically until the moment I reach the music room. With my hand on the knob, I notice Adagio giving me one of her scrutinizing stares, but we don't really have time to talk if I don't want to stand here looking like a weirdo, and there's seven other weirdos I need to talk to first. 

Opening the door, I'm a little relieved to see they're all here, even if it doesn't look like any of them are practicing with their instruments as they stop what they're doing and look at me. Remembering similar looks on Moondancer's face, I shut the door behind me and start with a casual "Hey."

"Hey," Sunset greets back with a tentative face, "did you need something?"

I don't quite hear what the words are, but it sounds like Adagio quietly hisses something vile from behind me, which throws off my train of thought a little. "Um..." They're still looking at me like they're expecting to hear I just lost a leg, which is what jogs my memory. I pull out my phone for visual aid. "Been getting your texts, and thought like, uh... I'm doing fine, okay? You can quit leaving me messages every morning."

Sticking her hands in her pockets, Rainbow shrugs, but her frown stays. "Cool. I mean, you don't look all heartbroken and-" She winces as Rarity practically screeches at her.

"Rainbow!!"

Looking like a scolded child, Rainbow defends herself. "What? I'm saying it's good that not just staying home and crying her eyes out all day!"

"Honestly, would it kill you to be more sensitive?"

Fluttershy looks like she just tasted something that tried to taste her back. "'Kill'?"

"Achtxplt!" Rarity looks back at me as though she killed Sonata and Adagio, but Rainbow's smart remark swings my attention back to her.

"Wow, Rarity," she deadpans with crossed arms, "sooooo sensitive." Applejack thwaps her on the back of the head. "Ow!"

"Will ya both quit yappin'?!" For a second, I'm worried Farmer Freckles is going to take her hat off all mournfully and make this a MOMENT, but she's just straightening it out before she looks at me. "We're real sorry 'bout'cher loss. Ah ain't promisin' the world, but if ya need anything, give us a holler?"

I'm both amazed and gratified by how straightforward she is with this as I nod a little. "Yea, sure. Not likely, but, y'know..."

There's a quiet moment as I'm standing there, which is when I notice that Pinkie Pie, for once, isn't saying a single word. She barely looks at me, but maybe it's because she knows I wouldn't want a freakin' cupcake to celebrate my newfound independence. Sunset opens her mouth to say something, but Rainbow is a little quicker.

"So," she says with a hesitant smile, "we hear you're getting along with Trixie, Octavia, and Vinyl. How's that been going?"

I have no idea what kind of answer she's expecting, so I just kind of shrug. They stare at me. "We talk...?"

Despite the lingering sadness in her eyes, Fluttershy manages a cute little smile. "That's... good."

Sonata mutters from behind me. "This Awkward is so thick it hurts."

I can't help agreeing, but unfortunately, can't think of a way to break it, either. The silence eats at my nerves as they stare at me, and even if there's no hostility in those eyes, I feel like I'm being judged, which makes me all antsy! I'm wavering back and forth between just making a move for the door or telling them all off (for what, I don't know) when Nerd Twilight speaks up.

"I-if, uh, if you've got some free time," she simpers, visibly worrying that I'm going to say no already, "we're still getting together to play Sewers and Spinxes again this week! Does Saturday night work for you?"

It should, unless the thing with Trixie and the others runs long, but before I can say that, Rainbow shoots me a cocky grin. 

"It'd be great if I had some decent competition again."

Fluttershy's tone is almost scolding, but her smile is nothing but tickled. "We're all on the same side, Rainbow."

"Doesn't mean I can't rack up the most kills or bag the most stuff!"

I kind of like the sound of showing her who's the best dungeon-crawler again, which might be bad, because I still don't want to be close to these girls and it's really hard repressing my smile right now. I quickly turn to the door. "I'll think about it. Later."

I'm not sure if I'm just hearing her wrong, but I can just barely hear a lump in Sunset's throat as she calls out.

"Stay safe, and we'll be here if you need us, for anything."

I don't turn to look back at her, just make a vague hand-motion and head out. I'm only a few steps away from the music room when I hear Sonata.

"Dagi, you coming?"

"Go ahead," she says in a cold, level tone, "I'll catch up in a minute."

I glance over my shoulder to see her translucent heels disappear through the wall to the music room, which I take to mean she's spying on the Rainbooms. Not wanting to look like I'm doing the same if someone sees me standing out here, I keep walking, turn a corner far from the door, and wait. 

Sonata does her best to entertain me by doing loop-de-loops in the air (which she's gotten pretty good at), but I don't wanna look like a weirdo by smiling alone in a hall for no reason. The school day is over and hardly anyone is around now, but still. Trying to wave her off just gets her to smile mischievously and do wackier stuff, like a backstroke through non-existent water and making silly faces. I'm repeatedly hissing "Quit it!" through clenched teeth as quietly as possible, half-expecting her to start pulling some Beetlejuice stuff when Adagio finds us.

"...I can't leave you two alone for five minutes, can I?"

Sonata giggles, thankfully dropping her antics. "What'd they say?"

"Not what I was expecting," she says somewhat disdainfully as she glances back toward the music room, "but perhaps it was just a matter of timing. It sounded like they were concerned for you, but have opted to leave you to your own devices. For now."

This is when something weird hits me: I could have sworn Adagio was almost getting along with the Rainbooms, Sunset included, just last week. Like, she'd resented Sunset for months over taking our magic, but since we came back to Canterlot, I was pretty sure that had been fading away, bit by bit, and now it's like she hates all of them, especially Sunset, more than ever. I'm trying to decide whether or not I wanna just come out and ask what happened between them when I hear girls' voices from down the hall.

"Is it true?"

"Totally true! Half the damn class will tell you!"

"Scary..."

"Do you think they'd come if we got the Ouija board out?"

That last part is what really grabs my attention, and I'm creeping closer before I've even thought about it.

Which takes some careful movement in these heels!

I work out a ratio of likely-to-be-spottedness vs. how well I can hear the conversation to pick a spot by the corner without stepping out to see who it is, but I can hear them clear as a bell from here.

"She talked to Sonata," says one voice, "In the middle of class."

"B-but," stutters a second, "she's-"

"One of the dead ones," interrupts a third, "yea, that's what makes this freakin' scary!"

The fourth sounds especially freaked out. "Y-you don't think th-they're...?"

The first offers a guess. "Still alive? That Aria's got them telling her stuff through a radio in her hair or something as part of their new scheme?"

"That... Is it wrong that I'm kind of hoping that's the case?"

"No," answers the second, "because the only other explanation I can think of is that-"

I can hear the playful smile in the third girl's voice. "That they're talking to her FROM BEYOOOND THE GRAAAAAVE, Huahahaha!"

Voices #2 and #4 whimper, but the first scoffs. "Really? Ghost stories?"

"But," insists #4, "that's what happens, isn't it? Someone dies horribly, their spirit comes back for revenge, and-"

"And all their old enemies, better watch out~!"

Voice #3 is scolded by #1.

"Stuff it, Raz!" She's much gentler with the other two. "Come on, you saw the Dazzlings since they came back, right? They were way too... peaceful to do the vengeful ghost thing."

"But they still wanted to fix their necklaces," says #2, audibly trembling, "and unfinished business like that can make a spirit go crazy!"

I can almost hear the eye-roll. "Yea. In movies."

#4 gets some iron in her tone. "And just how many times has this school been involved in magical mayhem?!"

"...Err..."

"Beware, mortals," declares 'Raz,' clearly just having a freakin' ball with this, "we may be witness to the start... of a haunting!"

Over the sounds of #2 and #4 making undignified noises and #1 scolding Raz again, Sonata peeks around the corner much further than I can on account of her invisibility. "I don't recognize any of these girls, but I'm pretty sure they're nobodies."

"Even so," sighs Adagio, "you should probably break this up now. While Sonata and I might not be a threat to anyone, you don't need these kinds of rumors pinned to you."

"Or," Sonata says with a tone not unlike Girl #3's, "you could go over there, hype it up, act all I-see-dead-people and spook 'em all good! That wouldn't just be funny, it'd be legendary!"

"Are you trying to get us Rainblasted?!"

"No, no, think about it! Aria's got her gem now, but she's still all alone, and if somebody wanted to mess her up, they might pull it off! I know you never turn to look at 'em, Aria, but I've got a bad feeling about those guys who keep whispering behind you in class, and everyone that gives you weird looks in the halls. But if everybody were scared of you, if they all thought we'd pop out of nowhere and rip their souls out or something if they laid a finger on you, nobody'd ever mess with you again! The best part? You wouldn't even have to do anything bad, nothing the Rainbooms could get mad about, because it'd be the rest of the school spreading rumors!"

"Fear-based security," Adagio dully muses with a raised eyebrow and a hand on her hip. "Wouldn't that be undermined by the fact that three girls are already confirmed to spend time with Aria at no consequence? One of them an old enemy of ours?"

"We're vengeful ghosts," Sonata says while raising her arms in a comical I'm-gonna-get'cha pose and smiling evilly, "we'll only curse those who aren't nice to her," she winks at me, "right?"

Hearing those girls around the corner talking about contacting my sisters with their stupid Ouija board to gauge their malevolence, I think about it for a minute. 

I could just walk out, say I was thinking back to a memory of us studying or something like Adagio said to do if anyone asked, and that my sisters are totally gone. Calmly-delivered arguments have worked out pretty good for me so far, but even if they refuse anyway and it makes a mess, I can still shut this down later by brainwashing these four into dropping it for good. If I'm careful, since I know Adagio is gonna harp on me if I bring that up.

Or, I could play up their fears, let people think they'll get hexed if they get on my bad side, and be feared again. That does sound kinda sweet, and as it wouldn't even be my fault in the Rainbooms' eyes (unless they're gonna blame the girl who lost her sisters in a tragic accident?), they might not even bug me about it. Trixie'd probably eat up the attention she'd net for being near me, too.

Of course, while I do like being given space, having everyone be terrified of you has gotta have drawbacks, like difficulty making new friends, and Octavia's already kind of skittish. I doubt anyone in this school would have the guts to pick a fight with me ever again, but...?

Maybe I'm being stupid about this either way, maybe the best thing to do is just ignore it. Highschools are already hives of gossip, and it's not like I'm a stranger to dumb rumors. I could go home right now, not give a damn what anyone's saying about me, let these idiots jump at shadows 'til they pass out, and let this thing run its course. 

How should I deal with this?