A few days passed, and it was the first day of Sonata and Aria's new jobs. I was still asleep, but Sonata woke me up with a creepy smile on her face as if she had a request. And knowing me, it was most likely a request. I jumped at the sight of the smile but calmed down seconds after. Rubbing my face, I sighed and decided to go on with it.
"What do you need?" I asked, still tired.
"Could you narrate my first day at work? I want it to have the best first day ever!" Sonata said, full of enthusiasm. I got up from my sleeping bag and stretched my body.
"I mean, As a writer, I'm supposed to do 'Show, don't tell', so maybe I'll put in a hint of what your day was like. The same goes for Aria too." I explained. Sonata went giddy for a second, but Aria noticed something.
"But you can't be there to cover the full shifts?" Aria asked. Just then, Sonata looked at me the same funny was Aria was.
"No, I can't. Sorry," I replied. To be honest, I was kind of bluffing, because, in a way, authors could be in two places at once to tell a story, but I just decided not to do that. I mean, I kind of said I could describe Sonata and Aria's shifts once they're done, but still, I had my own little errand to run. The Treasure Hunt. And for some stupid reason, I wanted to keep it a secret from them. I guess it was to surprise them, but I completely forgot why I was gonna do that. So I just had to roll with it.
"Alright. We'll be back soon." Aria said as she and Sonata walked out the door, leaving me and Adagio. I had to think of something so Adagio wouldn't get suspicious.
"I'll be back soon, Adagio," I said, hoping Adagio won't ask what this errand is. Hopefully, she isn't too lucky and--
"You're gonna need your little map before you go," Adagio said. Dang it! I should have seen that coming.
"OK, you caught me fair and square. I'm going out on a treasure hunt," I said, as Adagio hands the map over to me. Adagio snickered.
"And I'm coming with you," Adagio said as she brought a couple of shovels with me. I dunno how she knew, but all I knew is that she's now in on the surprise.
"Alright Samwise, come on," I jokingly remarked as we headed out for our little hunt. I opened the map and read that, where ever this treasure is, it's at the local beach. Just a few miles from here. It didn't quite say that before, but it did as I wrote this down in my notebook.
"Wait, how did it do that?" Adagio asked, noticing something...different. And boy, do I hate giving out exposition.
"It wasn't established where this map's treasure was before I clarified it. And before I clarified, it could have been anything." I explained as Adagio stroked her chin in interest. I was surprised to see she was following along and processing that information quite well. I guess she's been hanging out with me for too long.
As I admit, as the two of us headed over to the beach, I kind of lost focus of the treasure hunt. I was thinking about where I was gonna take this story. I already had several ideas and even a few suggestions, but I wasn't sure which ones to go with or not. Even as I wrote, I had no idea where to take it. Anything could happen at this moment, even. And just to snap me out of my trance, something did happen. As Adagio and I walked, we ran right into an old "friend"; Sunset Shimmer.
"Oh, hey there Adagio," Sunset said as if keeping an eye on her.
"Hey" Adagio casually replied, in the same manner.
"I see you brought whatshisname with you," Sunset remarked, pointing at me. I just sheepishly scratched the back of my head in response, not caring she basically forgot my name. My name in this world, at least.
"Why is this with you? Why is he doing your bidding? How did you even find this poor soul?" Sunset interrogated sympathetically as if trying to guilt trip her. I guessed if she couldn't get any answers from me, she might as well get them from Adagio.
"Oh, We didn't find him. AntiBronyBenSwolo here found us." Adagio explained. The two girls glared at each other as if they're waiting for the other to strike.
"Can we just get a move on?" I said as I nudged Adagio away from the conversation. Sunset then glared at the both of us and headed in the opposite direction. It was at this moment I realized I made Sunset the antagonist of this story. A heroic antagonist as well, rather than a standard villain. Quite a rare sight, if I do say so myself. Anyways, As we walked out, I could tell Adagio was ticked off. I could ask her what's the matter, but I already know what was bothering her.
"It's the Battle of the Bands, isn't it?" I asked, just trying to be a good friend. Adagio sighed as we walked.
"Yeah. I'm just so...heartbroken that we lost, you know?" Adagio explained. I put my arm around her shoulder.
"I know. I'm not exactly the guy who won everything either, you know? I mean, most of the time, I would get absolutely salty," I explained as we headed down.
"Well, did you get over them?" Adagio asked.
"Yeah, I got over it. I couldn't even remember which games and whatnot I lost or won, to be perfectly honest." I said, as I stroke my chin. Adagio giggled for a second. I can't really tell what I was doing, but I know I was doing it right.
"Well, at least you're helping us get over the Battle of the Bands," Adagio said, locking my arm with hers. I blushed a bright pink this time.
"Shouldn't you save that for our little bet?" I asked, reminding Adagio.
"Just this once before our little bet?" Adagio pleaded with, and I couldn't find any other word to describe it, dazzling eyes.
"I'm not sure, because we're already here," I said, sighing. Adagio slightly loosened her grip on my arm as we neared the beach. Adagio smiled and grabbed a shovel. I grabbed the other shovel and opened the map.
"I haven't been to Canterlot Beach for so long. We should come here next time." Adagio said while I looked at the map.
"I dunno though. It's just I don't like sand. It's coarse, and rough, and irritating, and it gets everywhere," I joked as Adagio looked confused.
"Anyways, Where to now?" Adagio asked, ready to dig. I examined the map more as if I couldn't read it. And don't get me wrong. I could read it just fine. I just couldn't think of what to make it say. And then I thought of at least something to start out with.
"OK, start out at the shore," I said, as a mark on the map appeared at the shore of the beach. The two of us headed there like we were the pins on the map, making our mark.
"Walk five feet, then take a left?" Adagio said. Suddenly, the map showed the path to be exactly that. Well, to me, at least. Adagio just saw the complete map, but couldn't quite make it out. The two of us headed in that direction. Fifteen minutes later, we were just walking around the beach, Adagio following me closeby, while I just randomly walked on the beach, as the map seemed to be following my steps. Suddenly, we came across where the X on the spot is on the map, relieving Adagio and myself. Honestly, I was just so tired of walking around.
We started digging and digging for another good five minutes before we hit something wooden in the ground. We uncovered the dirt and sand and revealed a slightly large trapdoor.
"I wasn't quite expecting this," Adagio said, as I dusted it off.
"OK, I guess I'm going with this idea then," I muttered to myself as I opened the large door. Inside revealed a large stone staircase, each case decorated with a defused torch. The two of us descended downward.
"You think there are any haunted pirate skeletons down there or something?" Adagio asked, following me closeby.
"I don't think so. Though I wish that were the case" I said. I mean, I could do that. I, again, just decided not to.
"Why not?" Adagio asked.
"I didn't make this an adventure," I remarked as we descended down to the bottom of the staircase, which revealed a giant cave hidden by a waterfall. The sun shone on the water causing a beautiful blue light revealing an old, yet large, battleship from the 17th century. Adagio gasped in surprise.
"How did we not find this before?" Adagio asked furiously.
"It simply did not exist until I established what we found. I could have made it so we found a treasure chest instead." I explained. And now I think I'm starting to confuse Adagio. Anyways, I walked over to the ship and climbed aboard. Adagio, still stunned by this discovery, followed shortly after. What was a shock of discovery, soon became excitement, as Adagio found the ship littered with gold, jewels, treasures, etc.
"You do realize we just hit the jackpot here! I mean, with all this, I'm pretty sure we could just move out of our dumpy apartment and get ourselves a nice mansion." Adagio suggested. As much as I'd like to picture that, I'd honestly think writing us moving into such a building would be kind of a stretch.
"I'll think about it," I said, picking up a golden chalice covered in emeralds. Adagio dug her fingers into the gold coins, each time letting the coins slip out of her hands, playing around like a child in a sandbox.
"We should get back to the others," Adagio suggested, grabbing a small bag, and filling it with gold and jewels. The two of us headed back to the apartment, where we saw Sonata and Aria outside the apartment door. Aria was banging on the door, while Sonata was whimpering like she was wounded. Adagio's concerns were raised.
"What happened?" Adagio asked, getting Aria to stop banging on the door.
"We've been evicted!" Sonata cried, holding onto Adagio's leg like a child.
"What? How?" Adagio asked.
"Apparently we've been gone for too long. We were told that since no one was home for more than five hours or something, the apartment is no longer ours." Aria explained as the landlord came up to us.
"I'll have your key as well, Ms. Dazzle," The landlord said, holding his hand out. Not wanting to start a fight, Adagio handed the key over, and the landlord headed back downstairs.
"This is bullcrud!" Adagio yelled, even startling Aria.
"I know. I think I need to come up with a better excuse," I said as I continued writing.
"AntiBronyBenSwolo, this is not the time!" Adagio said as Sonata started whimpering again.
"What are we gonna do now?" Sonata said as Adagio and Aria tried thinking of an idea. Suddenly, I got an idea for what to write next, and Adagio got an idea for where to move. They were the same idea. The four of us headed over to Canterlot Beach, where we showed Aria and Sonata the pirate ship. The two were in just as much shock as Adagio was before.
"I was gonna write us selling the gold online and getting the money that way, but using the ship as our home is a close second idea," I said, as the four of us settled on deck. Sonata rocked herself back and forth merrily. Aria leaned up against the port railing, and Adagio leaned next to the door of the captain's cabin.
"I suppose this is thanks for saving our butts again?" Aria asked.
"Hey, I helped this time," Adagio joked.
"So, what now?" Sonata asked.
"You still working at your jobs?" Adagio asked Aria and Sonata. The two nodded with smug smiles. At least they weren't fired on the first day.
"OK, we still have a source of income, other than all this treasure," Adagio said in relief.
"And don't forget I'm still basically omnipotent," I commented, still writing. The girls smiled and huddled up in formation.
"Ladies. The Dazzlings are back in the game!" Adagio dramatically claimed, followed by Aria and Sonata cheering themselves on.