Indecision plagued Rainbow. If there was one thing Sonata had told her about her sisters, it was not to trust them. That Aria sounded the same as when Sonata had first asked for help made it impossible to just outright attack. "Okay, Aria, you say that you've turned over a new leaf?"
"N-Not really. I'm just scared of Adagio. I wanted to warn Sonata!" Aria shied back a little when Rainbow moved. "Please! If nothing else, just tell Sonata that Adagio is in town, and she's trying to fix her gem."
Rainbow Dash watched Aria Blaze turn around and start walking away. "Aria! Wait!"
Aria stopped and listened without turning around.
"Look, if she's dangerous…" Rainbow felt the weight of the element Princess Twilight had named her by, and felt it cement her path. "Come inside and talk."
"I'm not turning goody-two-shoes." Aria knew she couldn't pull off turning around completely, but she could do indifferent to a T. "I just don't know who else to turn to."
"So are you two going to do battle or what? I don't know whether to film it, ignore it, or squeal like an idiot and run around in a panic." Spicy could feel the tension draining from the situation already and decided to finish it off with his own brand of silliness.
"Are we, Aria?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Aria smiled a little, and struggled to keep from laughing. "I saw how you apparently beat up some crazy magic demon at your school. You think I'd want to ever fight you again after that? Trust me, a fight is the last thing I want." Yeah, Aria said in her own head, I don't want to fight, I want you broken to heel at my feet!
Calm as the situation was, Spicy didn't want to put himself between Rainbow and Aria. He walked up to Rainbow's side. "I'm sure Butter Cup will be thrilled about having another girl around his bar."
Feeling on edge still, Rainbow walked at Spicy's side toward the front door of the club and knocked for him. "Not that I trust you completely, Aria, you did try to take over the world last time I saw you. Don't make us have to fight, and we won't."
Standing so close to the "brute" of the Rainbooms' group, Aria was more than a little annoyed by Rainbow's attitude. Why can't she just know her place like a human should? she thought. "You're as bad as Sonata. Look, I'm not going to cause trouble because I can't. I don't have any magic—although you look like you have plenty…"
"You know you're not making it hard for me to want to kick you out, right? If I didn't know how much of a queen bitch Adagio was, I wouldn't even be thinking of helping you." Rainbow saw Pinkie's jeep pull into the parking lot at the same time that Rarity's smart car did. Both had backup with them.
Spicy didn't see the others pulling up, but he did see the door to the bar open to reveal one of the bouncers in Butter's employ standing such that he blocked the whole hallway. The man was big in a way that all security were, and he gave a grunt of recognition and turned sideways to let them in.
Jumping out of Rarity's car, Sonata felt all the magic her gem had been gathering pulse and thrum through her. Physically she was as ready for battle as she'd been in her life, but mentally she was scared that she would have to fight her sister. The biggest thing holding her together was that she had made sure she was on the right team this time.
"I think the cavalry just arrived. Don't do anything stupid, Aria." Rainbow waved to her friends and gestured them closer.
"We were just getting ready to come over, darling. What's going on with, uh, your new friend?" Looking Aria up and down, Rarity noticed immediately the lack of a gemstone at her throat.
"I'm not her friend—" Aria barely caught herself before she said something that would ruin her chances of regaining power, but that didn't stop her continuing the thought in her head, …I don't make friends with food! "I'm just scared."
Sonata stared almost dumbly at her sister. A million things passed through her head, but she couldn't say any of them. Siren magic thrummed at her throat, and she could see her sister's eyes glued to the gem there. "You want your magic back."
"Well duh! Of course I want my magic back, Sonata, but I'll never get it back if Adagio goes crazy and kills me." Lying here wouldn't work—Sonata knew Aria too well.
Sunset reached the group with Pinkie at her side. She'd overheard the conversation as she neared, but couldn't stop her burning wings from flaring brighter. "So why are you here, then?"
With a sigh, Aria tossed her hands in the air. "Because I thought you wouldn't want to see Adagio get her magic back either? You know, enemy of my enemy thing?" She turned for the footpath. "Forget it. I'll just slink away and let you deal with her when she's got her mojo from me."
"Wait!" Rainbow Dash glared at her friends for a moment. "You're legit about this, right?"
Aria stopped and struggled to hide her smile. "Do you actually think I'd come and hang around with you for the fun of it?"
Spicy, having carried his armload of stuff inside, picked that moment to walk back out and hear the end of the discussion. "You know where my shop is?" When Aria shook her head, Spicy reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card. "If you have a problem with this Adagio, come on over. There's always someone there who can help you."
Seething, but struggling to not show it in any way, Aria walked back and took the card. She'd almost lost out completely, but couldn't help but feel glee that it was a mere human that would be their downfall. "Thank you. Hopefully I won't need to, but…" She figured it was better to leave the horrors Adagio might do unsaid.
"Aria?" Sonata asked.
Worried that her sister might see through her ruse, Aria opted for the most sullen, "What?" she could manage.
"You don't have to be all goody-goody, but try not being nasty just once?"
"Whatever," Aria said and walked away.
"Well that was strange." Pinkie Pie watched Aria Blaze walk around the corner before turning to her friends. "So what was the emergency?"
"I think we'll explain it inside, Pinkie. Come on in. This place is awesome." Turning to the door, Rainbow saw the bouncer and smiled at him. "We'll have some more friends coming a bit later."
"How'll I tell who to let in? Do they have a flier?"
"Now that would have been a good idea if we'd thought of it. Okay, just get me or Spicy if someone shows up, okay?" Rainbow waited for the guy to shrug, then nod, before she started walking inside.
Rarity pulled her phone out and quickly typed out what had happened, then sent it to Fluttershy, Twilight, and Applejack. "I let the others know what happened." She walked after her friends, but not before catching Sonata around the waist and pulling her into a hug.
Sonata let out a sigh and leaned against Rarity a little. "Sometimes I really wish I didn't have the family I do."
"It's not exactly your fault, Sonata. You can't choose family, but you can choose your friends," Sunset said. "And I like to think you're doing a good job of that so far."
Snorting a laugh, Sonata felt her worries slough away from her. "You know the best bit about not being with Aria and Adagio? Not having to analyze everything they say for barbs. It's hard to tell if Aria is actually afraid of Adagio, or if she just wants us to feel she is."
"You think she's faking?" Spicy asked.
"Maybe. I don't know. Just be careful with her. Also, let's worry about that later." As she spoke, Sonata stepped from the hallway into the main area of the bar. "Oooh! A bar! What drinks do you have?"
Butter, who was the only one standing behind said bar, rolled his eyes. "Do I even need to see an ID? How old are you? Nineteen?"
"You only get three guesses, and that's one!" Sonata felt a little more free to flaunt her age when she had friends who would back her up on it. "I'll give you a hint, higher."
Rainbow Dash had a ton of fun being herself—her new self. She had no delusions that she was far more sexually active than before the thing lodged itself in her brain, but despite being unable to do without it, she actually enjoyed what her life had become.
Derpy and Flash had arrived not long after the altercation with Aria, then Twilight had been let in by the bouncer, and Rainbow wasn't surprised when he came running in gesturing to her.
"What's wrong?" Rainbow asked.
"Th-There's a d-dragon at the door." Looking pale, the bouncer was hoping against hopes that said dragon was invited—he didn't welcome the chance of telling that much muscle to go away.
"Oh. Big and red guy? Yeah, that'll be Thunderbolt. Send him in." Almost giggling at the visible relief on the bouncer's face, Rainbow was surprised when Thunderbolt came in with Fluttershy and a woman she'd never met before.
"Excuse me, someone new I need to introduce." Spicy hated bailing on talking to Flash, but he felt he owed it to Thunderbolt to make the dragon welcome. Walking over, he was surprised at Thunderbolt having two women with him. "Hey, bud. Glad you made it."
Thunderbolt's attention snapped to Spicy. "Hi. I came. Brought Tree."
"Like, this place is just buzzing with great vibes. Did you organize this?" Tree had been dreading the party, thinking she would be supporting Thunderbolt all night, but rather than the normal disharmony of day-to-day life, she was being revitalized.
"Spicy Hot, at your service." Bowing, Spicy was aware the woman was wearing little more than a hand-woven robe—and in places the weave wasn't very tight. "Our hostess will bring you each a bag of goodies, and I hope you enjoy the night." He turned his attention to Fluttershy (having met her at the Pie residence). "Fluttershy, pleased to meet you again. You didn't bring your life partner?"
Fluttershy's eyes widened and her wings trembled. "Sh-Sh-Sh—"
"Hey! Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash slid in to save her oldest friend by neatly inserting herself beside Spicy Hot. "You don't have to answer a question you don't feel comfortable answering. Here, have a bag of goodies."
Glad for the distraction, Fluttershy looked down into the bag, then closed hers again in shock. "W-W-What—?"
"Hey, don't you have a few of these, Rainbow?" Thunderbolt lifted out the vibrator from his bag, holding it between his fingers.
"Well—" Rainbow turned to look at Spicy and got a nod from him. "It's sharing night, so yeah. I have two just like that I take anywhere I might have to spend lunch at, and a few more advanced ones I keep at home. That one, buzzes a lot, but as you can see it's not too long."
"I'm more into natural relief, you know? Never used one of these before." Without realizing what she was doing, Tree turned the base of the toy and it started buzzing. "Far out." She turned to look at Rainbow and raised an eyebrow. "You're, like, way in touch with your chakra. You all are."
Realizing that she was talking to Thunderbolt's other girl, Rainbow blushed a little. "Hey, when your body talks to you, you gotta listen, right?"
"Righteous!" Twisting the toy to turn it off, Tree dropped it back into her bag. "You must be Rainbow Dash. I'm Tree Hugger."
Rainbow wasn't sure what was coming, but she didn't expect a hug. She'd been involved in enough that she knew how to hug back, but Tree had a lot more going on than she realized. "Wow you have big boobs." The words fell out of her mouth before Rainbow realized what she was saying. "Err, I mean—"
"Totally not going to turn down a compliment, man, but I get now what Thunderbolt likes about you." Tree leaned up until her mouth was beside Rainbow's ear. "Honesty is important, and that kind of honesty takes work. You want to have sex sometime?"
A lot of things became blatantly obvious to Rainbow right then, and the biggest was how well-matched Thunderbolt and Tree were. "F-Flattered, but I stick to guys."
"It's cool—I dig it. We all have our own wavelengths we're receptive on, man." Tree Hugger backed off from the close hug and looked down and up Rainbow Dash. "I guess you know something about this?"
Rainbow was about to ask what when a curved horn sprouted from Tree's head and a line of scales poured from her hairline down to the tip of her nose—a nose that pushed forward into a little snout. "Well, that might have to do with all the magic spreading around town, yeah."