End of the day. A quiet one, all told. Sonata had no meltdowns besides the juice box, and Aria kept her all-around bitchiness to a low burn. The Rainbooms were self-righteous and annoying, sure, but what else was new? And as for Applejack…
Adagio paused, eyeing the inside of her locker door a moment. A picture of Applejack was taped there – nothing special or sexy, just her smiling to the camera while perched on a white fence. Adagio already had two dozen selfies with the girl and counting, but for some reason Applejack wanted her to have this one. Something about real photographs feeling more precious than digital ones, or whatever.
Adagio didn’t understand. But that didn’t stop her from seeing the benefits. It was nice to have Applejack there, grinning welcomingly from the Polaroid film. At the start of every God-awful early morning, and the end of every day.
Applejack, and all fifteen of her freckles. Adagio counted.
Sighing happily and mentally chiding herself for such sap, Adagio took one last glance and closed her locker.
The move revealed Twilight Sparkle, glowering silently from the other side
Adagio managed to turn her startled yelp into a laugh halfway through. Her expression stone, Twilight adjusted her glasses and held up a small notebook. “Hi. We’ve never officially met, though I understand you had some dealings with my ‘pony self.’ This puts me at a disadvantage, so in light of recent events I took the liberty of conducting preliminary research on you.”
“Stalking me?” Adagio put on a fearless grin.
“That wouldn’t fall under ‘preliminary,’” Twilight corrected. She flipped open the book with a practiced thumb and began glancing between her notes and the siren. “Specifically, I polled my friends and quizzed their opinion of your dating Applejack. Would you like to know the results?”
“No, but you’re going to tell me anyway.”
“Correct,” Twilight said. “First off, I came to learn of many circumstantial events that took place after the event ten months ago, wherein you and your cohorts almost destroyed the school.”
Adagio’s grin took a crueler twist. “So that would put it at… six months since you almost destroyed the school? Sound about right?”
Twilight pushed up her glasses, allowing a second of cold silence to form her concession. “Correct again. I am told that during that time my friends made multiple attempts to befriend you, and all were rebuffed. Rainbow brought you to a soccer game and you spent the whole time booing her and cheering the other team.”
“She dragged me to that,” Adagio said. “You can’t blame me for having a little fun. Soccer is boring.”
Twilight shrugged, another silent concession. “Perhaps, but later situations are less ambiguous. You splashed water on Rarity’s makeup.”
“Easily fixable.”
“At the prom,” Twilight added.
Adagio rested against the locker, her agile mind rising to the duel. “She didn’t have a dance. Now she can blame me. Really, I did her a favor.”
“Then you kicked a kitten in front of Fluttershy.”
“Good times!” Adagio cheered. “Did she tell you what happened afterwards?”
Still stone-faced, Twilight nodded. “She told you to apologize to the kitten.”
“And?”
“You apologized.”
“And?” Adagio leaned forward, one tooth poking fang-like over her smile.
“Then you kicked it again,” Twilight said with a low sigh. “Then there’s tripping Sunset in the lunchroom, telling Pinkie it’s Miss Harshwhinny’s birthday and that she loves fireworks… the list goes on. I didn’t ask Applejack, but all the others heard you backbiting her in the past for being a loser, a redneck, a dumb hick, etcetera.”
Now it was Adagio’s turn to glower. Her gaze moved away, and a quiet chuckle escaped. “Yeah, but that’s before I realized...”
She caught herself. The smirk returned, and fortunately Twilight didn’t notice. The purple nerd flipped a notebook page and went on. “What’s more, omitting myself and Applejack, a full one-hundred percent of my friends expressed suspicion of your intentions in dating her. Given your history and this popular mandate, it seems appropriate for me to take action to address the concerns.”
A louder, meaner chuckle came out as Adagio leaned over her foe. Applejack was another matter, but Adagio felt more than up to handling the shrimpy geek if she was foolish enough to pick a fight. “‘Appropriate action,’ huh? Bring it.”
“Gladly.”
With the word, Twilight held up a small, handled machine that looked like a box with a closed door. A button press flipped open the door, blinding Adagio with a burst of light from within, followed by darkness.
In Twilight’s laboratory, perched on a half-complete engine of unholy mad science, Sunset Shimmer slurped with obnoxious volume at her depleted soda bottle. She wasn’t trying to be rude or anything – good graces had simply fled as the absurd situation made itself known.
“Come on, it’s not so bad.” Twilight at least had the decency to look embarrassed. “Look! I reconstituted her molecules and there she is. No harm done.”
Their third – “Subject Adagio” as Twilight called her – had a different opinion. “I BARFED FOR THREE MINUTES STRAIGHT!”
“I did not intend that,” Twilight said sternly, her expression growing hard as she turned to the underwear-clad prisoner. Adagio was bound spread-eagle, with a bizarre looking helmet positioned just above her head. “So I cannot be blamed. Science does not always work perfectly when old boundaries are being pushed.”
“Uh-huh.” Sunset pulled away the bottle, licked blue lips – she loved the blue soda – and gestured generally towards Adagio and the ominous, beeping contraptions around her. “So… what’s all this?”
Twilight folded her arms. “A mind-scanner. With this, I can find out what she really thinks about Applejack.”
Sunset set down her pop, resigned to the fact that this was One of Those Days. “Twilight, I have moral concerns with this.”
“WELL I HAVE PRACTICAL CONCERNS!” Adagio roared from her chains. “And why am I in my underwear?”
“I’m not sure I understand the question,” Twilight said.
Sunset raised two fingers. “Aright, couple things: one, we can’t just kidnap someone who might or might not be scheming against our friend. And two… if this was your plan, why didn’t you get me? I can read her mind with a touch, you know.”
Twilight stared blankly.
“Crystal magic?” Sunset offered with a weak grin. “Those things we got at Everfree?”
Twilight blinked.
Then shuffled, and looked down. “I forgot.”
Adagio rolled her eyes. “Shoot me now.”
“That can be arranged,” Twilight snapped.
“Moving on!” Sunset declared. She walked to the captive, offering a strained smile. “How about it, Adagio? Let me read your thoughts on Applejack.”
“You need my permission?” Adagio grumbled.
Sunset shook her head. “No, but I want it. If the answer’s no, that’s okay. I’ll even stop Twilight from science-ing your memories and probably giving you a love of hazelnuts or something as a side effect. Just know that we’ll keep being suspicious of you, and given everything that’s happened, it’s pretty justified. I really hope you’ll let us check and make things easier on everyone.”
“Where do you have to touch me?”
“Anywhere’s fine,” Sunset said. “We’ll go with hand.”
Adagio sniffed from her prone position. “Boring. But fine, whatever. Get it over with.”
Sunset nodded. She reached over, eyes closed, and held Adagio’s hand.
A few seconds of silence passed, and she gave a groaning sigh.
“What?” Twilight asked.
Sunset shook her head. “She’s thinking about me getting eaten by a shark.”
Adagio began laughing out loud.
“Now she’s thinking about me having sex with a bear.” Sunset withdrew her hand. “Look, if you’re not going to take this seriously...”
“Sorry, sorry!” Adagio managed through her laughs. “Try again. I’ll show you what you want to see.”
With a few inaudible grumbles, Sunset reconnected their fingers. A few more seconds, and her scowl deepened, though a red blush tinged her cheeks.
Adagio chuckled. “I’m nice, aren’t I? A television viewing of Sunset finally getting a saucy evening with Principal C–”
“Applejack!” Twilight said loudly.
The bid worked. Startled by the word, Adagio’s mind followed it down the path of least resistance. Moments flashed across her mind’s eye, witnessed by Sunset.
A fight with Aria about the rent, suddenly a problem without the ability to hypnotize. Applejack overheard, and offered to put them up in her house. The sirens tipped her hat over her eyes and walked away, sneering.
A rainy day, destroying Adagio’s precious curls. An offered brush with blonde hairs mixed in, along with a towel that smelled like horse. Adagio dropped the towel disdainfully, but not before wiping herself down.
A forgotten lunch. The other sirens refused to share, of course, and they spent the first half of the day arguing. Then as lunchtime came, Adagio found a paper bag taped to her locker with a ham sandwich and two massive apples inside.
Another fight with Aria and Sonata. A chance encounter in the hall. An awkward chat.
A blonde waterfall of hair. Huge, beautiful emerald eyes. A slim, toned body. A friendly smile, so easy to tease.
Adorable freckles. Fifteen on her face. Twenty-two on her–
Sunset spoke, lifting her hand. “You can’t possibly know how many freckles Applejack has on her breasts.”
“How many does she think?” Twilight asked.
“Twenty-two.”
“She’s right.”
At the other two’s shocked looks, Twilight gave a shrug. “I’m hyper-aware, and we’ve seen each other naked. Don’t make this weird.”
“Anyway, I think we’re done.” Sunset unscrewed the latches around Adagio’s arms, giving what she hoped was a peaceful smile. “It… checks out. I doubt this will go well, but at least she’s not actively malicious.”
“Wow. Big vote of confidence, there.” Adagio muttered, rubbing her wrists as they came unbound.
“It wasn’t meant to be,” Sunset said. “Applejack is nice, honest, friendly, generous, and moral. Literally everything you’re not. But I’ll talk to the others and make sure we don’t come between you.”
She chuckled a little, clicking open the last lock around Adagio’s legs. “And who knows? This might be the opening we need to find some middle ground.”
Adagio sat up from the machine, and gave her a strange look at that last line. Slowly, she reached over and took Sunset’s hand. White briefly flashed from Sunset’s eyes as their minds merged, before Sunset scrunched her eyes closed and jerked away. “Oh. Ew. Uncalled for. Message received, just get out.”
“I’ll lead you past the guard robots,” Twilight offered. “And, uh… sorry about the puking. I’ll work on it.”
Adagio gave what passed for a companionable smile from her, moving to catch up as the other two began to leave. “Eh, I need to lose weight anyway. Just do me a favor and use Sonata the next time you want to test that thing. Offer her candy and she’ll even volunteer.”