//------------------------------// // Chapter Ten // Story: An Equestrian Girls Comedy of Errors // by Godzilla313 //------------------------------// Chapter 10 At the gaming store Dash, Sunset, and Cabaletta arrived, not realizing that Aria was tracking them, keeping a distance and trying not to be noticed.Seeing them enter, she gave them a few moments, and then entered behind them.The trio, however, spotted the display for the new Daring-Do game by the large size of the sign, but not able to see the whole display behind the isles.By the time they got there, their eyes went all aglow as Dash gushed, “Dude!I didn’t know they made it a VR game!” With that, both Sunset and Dash rushed forward to get in line to give it a try.Cabaletta hung back glancing at a few different things.However, while she was distracted, Aria slipped by and pushed her way past a few patrons, (all who grumbled at her rudeness,) just in time for an excited Dash to come up and slap on her a pair of virtual reality goggles.She was so psyched to try the new game that she hadn’t noticed how differently she was dressed than from a moment before and put on her own goggles.A surprised Aria sputtered, “Hey, what was that all about?” “Sorry,” Dash answered hurriedly, “But I’m just so stoked to play this!” Aria was confused now, but just went with it for the moment.She had to find a way to get the thing off her so that she could find her double and observe her.Meanwhile, Sunset was at another terminal, her view of Dash blocked by other patrons, talking to Cabaletta and helping her on with her visor.“According to the display, all three of us are going to be able to do this,” said Sunset, with Dash overhearing that and piping out, “And I’m Daring-Do!” Sunset sighed and said, “Of course you are,” not wanting to make an issue of it, knowing she just had to play her heroine.Cabaletta just giggled as she picked a generic character adventurer the game invented for multiplayer.They also put on special gloves so that they could include hand movements as well.Aria, however, was floundering her hands around as if she was blind, saying, “What in the world is all this?” “You’ve never played VR games before,” asked Dash rhetorically, “Look, it’s easy,” and she began to describe how to play.Sunset then said, “Okay, I see you Dashie-do!” “Ha-ha, funny,” said Dash, sarcastically, “Okay you are…” “…the one in the orange pith helmet,” said Sunset, “Cabaletta is in the blue knickers.” Cabaletta waved, and her character waved likewise in the game.However, they noticed, “Hey who is that fourth person.” “It’s me,” answered Aria, “Quesadilla…Cabaret-ah…um…” not remembering the name they had given her double. “Wait a minute!” responded Sunset suspiciously, “Why do I hear two of you?” The three took off the visors to see a perfect double of Cabaletta there, and both Dash and Sunset snapped, “Aria Blaze!” Caught, she cursed and threw off the visor as she tried to run out of there, but Dash, using her super speed got in front of her, and sternly stated, “And where do you think you’re going?” looking at her very cross.However, thinking quickly, Aria pointed and said, “Is that A.K. Yearling at the book store?” “WHERE!?!” exclaimed Dash, looking over her shoulder just as Aria pulled Dash’s jacket over her head and took off before she could be stopped.By the time Dash got the jacket off her head, Aria had lost herself in the crowd.Sunset and Cabaletta caught up with her as Cabaletta asked, “Who was that?” “Trouble,” answered a concerned Sunset, “She’s big trouble.” “But, she looked just like me…sort of,” added a now confused Cabaletta. “We’ll explain at the Sip n’ Sing,” answered Sunset, “We have to tell the others there might be a problem.” “Hey, it could have just been dumb luck we ran into her,” countered Dash. “Not necessarily,” re-countered Sunset, “The way she ran off…she’s up to something.” At the bookstore, Twilight and Andante were looking at all kinds of things, but finally made the stop in the music section to look for blank music sheets.Their actions, however, were not unobserved.Adagio was a lot subtler about her approach with observing her counterpart.She always stayed a couple of aisles away, but always in earshot.She even took notes and learned her mannerisms, just so she could get her down pat.Gathering things together in her mind, she was intrigued on just how much like herself her counterpart was.They were both divas, no question.However, what she couldn’t stand is that Adagio was far too nice.She could manipulate; this one thing was certain.Yet, it always seemed to be in a way that got things done when others were being stubborn.For example, the clerk on duty was fairly well ignoring Adagio’s/Andante’s efforts to get assistance in finding the music section.She could not get her to look up from her phone to acknowledge her, but just gave some incoherent instructions and pointed her finger in places she was not even describing.Undaunted, she just saw the girl’s boss from the corner of her eye, then said, “You know, you are so skilled.You seem to be able to multitask so well, being able to help me and not even look up from that phone of yours.In fact, I even think I need to go talk to your manager over there.I’d love to leave a compliment of you with her on exactly how well you can help me in the way you do.” That got her to look up, and she said, half annoyed, half afraid, “What do you mean?” “Oh, I mean I just want to tell her so that, if this skill about personal phone use on your job and being able to help so effectively is as good as it seems, why not have all her employees do that?” The clerk went a bit pale, and she said, “Uh…you don’t need to tell her that.” “But why not, darling,” she said, almost in a way that Rarity would applaud, “I only want to see good for you.” “Look, you really, really don’t need to…” she started to stammer, but Andante said, “Well, I tell you what: just show me where the music section is, and I’ll just forget the whole thing.” Still annoyed, but not willing to have her boss find out she was doing personal things while on duty, she personally led her to the section.Adagio thought, “What a waste of such skill.She could have the whole world wrapped around her finger.” After they had looked for what they needed and wanted, they went into a coffee shop section to get a snack and coffee.Adagio waited until they were seated before going in herself.She then grabbed a corner table and continued to observe.Soon, a waitress came over and took Andante’s and Twilight’s orders.“So, what’s your specials today?” asked Twilight. “We have a Pico de Gallo and chicken Quesadilla,” she said, to which Twilight quickly said, “Nothankyou!” The waitress shook her head as if someone had bounced a balled-up piece of paper off her face.“Are you alright?” she asked, “You look like someone threatened your life.” “I’ll, um. Just take the Chef’s Salad and a 12oz. Chai tea,” she said, shaking it off. “I’ll take the ham grilled cheese and a caramel macchiato,” said Andante, and as the waitress left, Andante asked, “What was that all about?” “I…just…um…don’t like them,” she said, but looking a bit frightened. Another waitress went up to Adagio and asked, “What would you like?” “I’d like the special and a 16oz. black coffee,” she answered, not even looking at the server and handing back the menu. The waitress was annoyed but shrugged and walked away.After a time, the first waitress came out, but spotted Adagio and wondered why she had moved.Nonetheless, she went out and set down the salad and the sandwich, asking, “Is your friend taking a powder?” “What are you talking about?” asked Adagio, “I came here alone.” “Alone?” she said, “I don’t under…” “And furthermore,” she interrupted, “I said I wanted the special and a black coffee.Take this back.” She sighed and took the items away.Meanwhile, the second waitress looked over and spotted Andante with Twilight, wondering why her charge had moved, and went over, saying, “Oh, I see you have a friend,” and handed her a menu as she set down the Quesadilla, which brought a decent screech from Twilight as she scrambled backwards in her chair, almost falling over.The server said, “What’s wrong?” “Wait, you weren’t the one that took the order,” said Andante, “She…has a phobia over Quesadillas…I guess, so could you take this away and get what we ordered?” “We ordered?” asked the server, “But I haven’t taken your friend’s order yet.” “The other server took it…over there,” pointing across the room as she came over to Adagio’s table. “Wait, do you have a twin sister?” asked the server. That took Twilight’s attention off the Quesadilla and spotted Adagio.Adagio, however, was oblivious to this, now taking her dish and letting the server know she’d better shape up or she’d get a serious complaint issued about her.Twilight said, “Just put the Chef’s Salad and her ham and grilled cheese with the Chai tea and the caramel macchiato as a to-go order.” Andante gave a look at her that seemed to ask why, to which Twilight said, “There could be trouble.Let’s just take this stuff and meet the others at the Sip & Sing.” Then, realizing that it was a food service place, Twilight then said, “Just hide your stuff so the staff at the other place doesn’t get mad.” With that, they were off to the Sip & Sing. Later, they began to discuss what was happening, and Dash then said, “Well, maybe it was a coincidence.I mean, it’s not like they left town after the battle of the bands.” “This is more than chance,” said Sunset, “I mean, they all show up at the same time and each one nearby their counterparts.I just wish I could figure out what it’s all about.” Starlight pondered and said, “Could they be observing?” “For what reason?” asked AJ. “That, I don’t know,” she answered, “They could be looking to try to mess with you three,” pointing to their doubles. “And just how?” asked Andante. “Steal things in your place,” answered Starlight, “Or do things to smear your names, something sinister.” “But why?” asked Fluttershy, “What could they hope to gain?They can’t use their magic anymore.” “You can’t say that for certain,” interjected Sunset, “The way Equestrian magic has been seeping into this world unpredictably, there’s no telling.” “So, what do you suggest?” asked Cabaletta. “Stay close to each other is the only thing I can suggest,” answered Sunset, “It’s the old ‘safety in numbers’ thing.” “Oh, and I’d make sure you don’t change your fashion sense,” added Rarity, which got an eye roll from Dash, who quipped, “What does that have to do with anything?” Rarity snuffed, with a hurt look on her face, “There is some perfectly good logic to that!The Dazzlings dress so differently than you that it should be easy to tell the difference.” “Unless they copy that,” added Twilight, “They are clever.” “Ah, but they do not have the same posture and approach to things,” answered Rarity, “I mean, even if they learned to copy you, they still have to perfect that, and that should make all the difference.” “How much did they observe y’all?” asked AJ. They thought about it, and then they had to agree that only Adagio could have learned much after they compared notes.Twilight then said, “Then that means they’re going to have to try again to learn from you.Sticking together might help to see if they are indeed trying to learn anything.” “And we’ll be around as well,” answered Dash, “The more friends you got watching your six, the better it will be.They’ll be less likely to try something.” They all “clinked” their coffee and agreed to be there for one another. The weekend came and Midsummer’s Dream all went into Jack’s “studio”, though primitive as it was, and did some practice.After a couple of songs, Starlight noticed an interesting looking acoustic guitar and asked, “What’s that.” Jack noticed and said, “Oh, that was a gift from my great uncle.It’s a Rickenbacker 12-string guitar.” The other girls all began to chirp and began to get a good look at it, Cabaletta said, “I love it’s sound.” Starlight asked if she could pick it up, to which Jack agreed, and she examined it, asking “What’s different about this?” “It almost sounds like two acoustic guitars being played in perfect unison,” answered Jack, “It has a richer sound, and if played right, can make a stone weep!Each set of the first four are tuned one octave apart, and the last two pairs are in unison, the higher octave being on top.” She grinned and held it out to him, a lot of little girl in her actions and voice, saying, “Play something.” Jack giggled, but then blinked, shocked at how cute she looked at that moment, and stared for about half a second before taking the guitar, thinking, and then said, “This one is from the era we’re emulating.” He then started to play a song called, “Give a little bit,” and the others quickly began to pick up on the tune, starting to play with him, but Starlight just watched, seeing she wanted to see how the 12-string was being played, and thinking she could learn the song for herself in the show, or shows if there were to be more.Yet, as he sung, she cocked her head and began to look at Jack.She saw some things in him she had not before.She was feeling something but wasn’t sure just what it was.She shook her head and focused on the song. They played most of the night and then took time to look up on a video sharing site for different songs they might learn in the future, and then use that list to make two sets for the festival. They also talked about putting together some interesting vignettes between numbers in the way that Sha Na Na had done with their 50’s and 60’s revue. As it got later, attrition began to set in, and one by one they crept into their sleeping bags and called it a night, except for Jack and Starlight Glimmer.They spent a lot of time just talking and getting to know one another.Starlight was cautious not to bring up what she referred to as her “dark time” and just referenced a time of depression in her teen years.That threw him off, and he said, “Back in your teen years?” “In my world, I’m considered fully grown,” she answered, “I find it odd that I’m back in my teen years here.Anyway, Twilight helped me come to grips with things and taught me friendship.” He nodded and said, “That friend of yours; have you reconciled?” “Well, yeah, we have,” she said, “We’ve spent time just trying to renew our friendship.” Jack nodded again and had the urge to ask her if they were more than just friends, but then balked, wondering if he would be hinting something that he wasn’t even sure he knew what to think.It was clear that they were getting closer than they had expected, and there came that awkward silence as their hearts began to beat faster and things began to stir.Almost instinctively the two of them began to slowly approach, their mouths began to open, but before their eyes closed the stopped, got one good look at one another, and then their mouths clamped tight into goofy grins, followed by some sniggers, and they both rolled back on their haunches, busting a gut.They began to gather themselves and suddenly both said, “What are we doing,” at the same time, and they then both broke out into laughter again, waking the others.Andante moaned, “What is with you two!It’s late.Get some sleep!” They both calmed down and Jack said, “Um…you should get to sleep.I’m just going to go to my room.” She understood and said, “Just make sure you’re up before us so we can get some breakfast and get back to work.” He nodded, but stiff felt odd, and she just gave him a warm buddy hug and said, “We’ll talk about it later, okay?” This was followed by a peck on the cheek, again, nothing more than just being friendly, and somehow, it set him at ease and helped him be able to leave.Once he did, she just sighed, thinking, “Starlight, what are you doing?” The next morning, they had breakfast, got themselves together, but before they went back into the studio, Starlight and Jack hung back.Jack then said, “Look, about last night, I…” But she smiled at him knowingly with a grin and put her forefinger on his lips, saying, “Don’t think about it.It’s okay.We were tired, it was late, and we were letting ourselves get confused about feelings.Besides, you said it yourself: relationships with band members can mess things up.But, hey, being friends like this is okay with me.” They both smiled, hugged, and said, “Come on, we’ve got a concert to ready for!”