//------------------------------// // Adagio and Violet Blurr // Story: No Longer Living In A Van Down By The River // by Peni Parker //------------------------------// “Thanks for picking me up, brother.” Paul Rudd said through the TV. “Oh, you know, you think I’m gonna miss my cellie getting out?” Michael Peña replied. “Honestly, Aria, why did you have to choose a Paul Rudd movie?” Adagio Dazzle incredulously asked her sister. “You know I can’t stand him and his brand of loser comedy.” Currently, Adagio and her sisters were all sitting on the couch together watching a movie. It was one of the rare nights where none of them had anything so going on, so they decided they would do something together as sisters. A number of ideas were thrown around; dancing, karaoke, mailbox smashing, but eventually they decided to simply stay in and watch a movie. The only question then, was what movie to watch. In order to decide who got to choose the movie, the three Dazzlings did what they always did to decide such things; they played rock, paper, scissors. Now, normally Aria was terrible at rock, paper, scissors, but this night lady luck was with her and she miraculously beat both her sisters for the right to watch whatever she wanted. And what she wanted to watch was a certain movie starring one Mr. Paul Rudd. “I chose it because I need to watch this superhero movie before I watch the civil war superhero movie.” Aria pugnaciously informed Adagio. “Now shh.” Adagio, in response, just silently rolled her eyes as she begrudgingly went back to watching the movie. “Hey, how’s your girl, man?” Paul Rudd asked Michael Peña as the movie rolled on. “Uh, she left me.” Michael Peña answered. “Oh.” Paul Rudd sympathetically uttered. “Yeah, my mom died too. And my dad got deported.” Michael Peña went on. “But I got the van!” “It’s nice.” Paul Rudd remarked. “Yeah, right?” Michael Peña elatedly agreed. The scene elicited a small, annoyed moan from Adagio, a light chuckle from Aria, and a surprising question from Sonata. “Do either of you ever think about when we were living in that van down by the river?” The youngest Dazzling curiously asked. “Absolutely not.” Adagio impassively, though suspiciously quickly, replied as she continued to watch the movie. Aria and Sonata, however, briefly turned their attention Adagio with looks of bewilderment, each wondering why their sister had responded to the question so promptly. Adagio didn’t notice this, or at least pretended she didn’t. “Um, yeah, I don’t really think about it either.” Aria said as she returned her attention to the TV. “Why do you ask?” “I guess because I’ve been thinking about it recently.” Sonata earnestly answered as she too returned her attention to the TV. “Why?” Aria curiously inquired. “It wasn’t exactly the best of times for us.” “True, but looking back on it, it wasn’t all bad.” Sonata admitted. “I mean, I kind of liked sleeping together on account of the van being so small.” Aria knew that if she’d been drinking anything at that moment, she definitely would’ve done a spit-take. But since she hadn’t, she just turned towards her younger sister with a look of pure incredulity on her face. Adagio didn’t give any reaction. She just continued to watch the movie in silence, trying to ignore the inane prattling of her sisters. “What the actual fuck, Sonata?!” Aria vehemently asked. “Why would you like sleeping with your sisters?!” “W-Well, I just mean that it was nice to be so close again.” Sonata timidly explained. “Like when we were younger.” It was then that Aria understood; Sonata was mistaking being physically close for being emotional close as well. See, back when they were younger the three Dazzlings were about as emotionally close as sisters could be, which meant they weren’t afraid to get physically close as well with things like hugs and the occasional cuddle when one of them had a bad dream. But of course as time went by they stopped being so emotionally close and thus stopped being physically close. Aria figured that Sonata must have believed that because they were forced to be physically close because of the small van that they were becoming emotionally close again, which wasn’t the case at the time. While it was true that the three sisters had started to become emotionally closer again ever since they became motivational speakers at Canterlot High School, they still weren’t as close as they used to be. So, not surprisingly, Aria thought it was weird that Sonata liked that they’d slept together back in the van down by the river. “You are such a freak.” She offhandedly remarked as returned her attention to the movie. Feeling offended by Aria’s comment, Sonata stuck her tongue out at her sister in retaliation. “I will say one good thing about when we were living in that van.” Aria then began to admit. “The sound of the river flowing nearby was kind of nice.” This elicited a small reaction from Adagio; a single twitch in her left eye. “Oh, definitely!” Sonata cheerfully agreed with Aria, having seemingly forgotten that she’d been insulted by her not ten seconds earlier. “It was like a gentle, soothing white noise in the background that helped you fall asleep. There are some nights I actually miss it and-” “WILL YOU TWO IDIOTS SHUT UP ALREADY?!” Adagio suddenly snapped at her sisters. “I’M TRYING TO WATCH THE MOVIE!” Both Aria and Sonata were completely taken aback by Adagio’s unexpected outburst. They each dawned expressions of shock and fear as they instinctively distanced themselves from Adagio as much as possible without getting up from the couch. The look on their sister’s face was nothing short of terrifying. The fire and fury within her eyes suggested that she wasn’t simply annoyed, oh no, she was straight up pissed. As the two Dazzlings stared at their infuriated sister, they each couldn’t help but wonder exactly why she was so angry. From what she’d just said, it was suggested that she was upset because their talking was interfering with her ability to watch the movie, but hadn’t she indicated earlier that she didn’t care about the movie because it starred Paul Rudd? It didn’t make sense. Regardless of whatever sense the situation may or may not have made, Aria and Sonata figured it best to just do as Adagio said. “O-Okay, we’ll be quite.” Aria very softly said. “Y-Yeah, we promise, Dagi.” Sonata just as softly concurred. Adagio, in response, just briefly narrowed her eyes into a soul-piercing glare before returning her attention to the movie. “Good.” She more calmly, but still venomously, said. With their sister seemingly satisfied, Aria and Sonata also returned their attention to the TV. There wasn’t so much as a peep from any of the Dazzlings throughout the rest of the movie, not even the sound of small chuckles at the parts that were supposed to make you laugh. It was an awkward and uncomfortable silence for all of them. “I’m going to bed.” Adagio impassively declared as she got up from the couch just as the credits started rolling. “Um, there’re still some post-credit scenes.” Aria hesitantly informed her sister. “Don’t care.” Adagio dismissively replied as she walked away, heading for her bedroom. Once Aria and Sonata heard the sound of Adagio enter her room and her door close, they each breathed a sigh of relief. “What was that all about?” Sonata gingerly asked sister. “No idea.” Aria perplexingly replied, figuring it wasn’t actually because Adagio had cared about the movie since she’d left before the post-credit scenes. The two Dazzlings then began to speculate what it could have been that’d set their sister off. Meanwhile, Adagio threw herself onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling as she tried not to think about her outburst. She couldn’t hear her sisters’ talking out in the living room, so all she heard around her was silence. At first this was okay, but soon enough the silence gave way to the sound of rushing water from within her mind. “Ugh!” She exclaimed as she lifted her head, grabbed the pillow from underneath it, and placed it over her face in a desperate attempt to block out the noise in her head. “Why did those two have to start talking about living in that stupid van down by that stupid river?” Of course, the pillow didn’t help any, and it wasn’t long before Adagio removed it from her face and placed it back under her head. Hoping that a good night’s sleep would help her, she then rolled over onto her side, shut her eyes, and tried to calm her mind enough to fall asleep. It was around 5:45am when Adagio realized that her efforts to fall asleep were all in vain. No matter how she positioned herself, no matter how tightly she closed her eyes, no matter how much white noise she created with her tabletop fan, she wasn’t going to get any sleep that night. “Ugggggh!” She frustratingly muttered. As if a complete lack of sleep wasn’t bad enough, Adagio soon came to an even more devastating realization. “It’s my day to go to school.” She dryly stated. “Figures.” After giving a dejected sigh and rolling over to see exactly what time it was, Adagio gave up hope of getting even a single wink of sleep and decided she’d get an early start on the day. She got out of bed, turned off her tabletop fan, and made way out of the room towards the kitchen. Once in the kitchen, she wasted no time in turning on the coffee maker to get a fresh pot brewing. Normally, the pot of coffee would be shared amongst all three Dazzlings, but she knew that she was going to need the entire pot to herself if she was going to make it through the day. As the coffee started brewing, Adagio made her way towards the bathroom to get in a quick shower before it finished. She wasn’t pressed for time or anything, obviously, but she wanted to be out the door before either of her sisters woke up and started asking questions about last night. She really didn’t want to deal with any of that, at least not yet. Sure enough, Adagio’s shower was a quick one and was finished just as the coffee was ready. Upon entering the kitchen once again, she poured herself a cup of joe and downed it like her life depended on it. “Ah.” She happily sighed as she already felt the caffeine fooling her adenosine receptors. "I swear, sometimes I think the strongest magic of all is the magic of coffee." Feeling more awake and alert now, Adagio quickly ate a light breakfast consisting of cereal and juice and left the house before Sonata or Aria woke up, just as she’d planned. Adagio made record time getting to CHS, but that wasn’t surprising given how little traffic there was at 6:30 in the morning. As she pulled into the faculty parking lot, she found no shortage of available spaces, which was a nice change from the usual fight-for-a-spot she had to deal with on most of her days. “I guess being really early has a few advantages.” She said to herself as she pulled into the closet possible spot to the school’s side entrance. As Adagio got out of the car and made her way towards the side entrance, she noticed a piece of paper taped to the door. ‘Broken. Please use front entrance.’ It read. “Gee, thanks for the heads-up on this, Sonata.” Adagio sarcastically remarked, wishing she’d know about this earlier so that she’d have chosen a parking spot closer to the front entrance. Having no other choice, the Dazzling turned to her right and began walking around the building towards the front entrance. As she turned the corner to the front of the school, she gave a small sigh and looked up at the surprisingly beautiful morning sky. The sun was just starting to rise and it made the sky a pleasant shade of blue, one that she found calming for some reason. “Maybe I should get up at sunrise more often.” She said to herself just before something caught the corner of her eye. It was difficult for Adagio to tell exactly what it was that had grabbed her attention, but whatever it was, it was dangling off of the roof of the school. She moved closer to the building and squinted hard to see if she could get a better focus of what it was. “Are those…legs?” She vacillatingly asked herself. Sure enough, the more Adagio stared at them, the clearer it became to her that they were, indeed, legs. A pair of legs dangling from the roof of the school, attached the body of an unknown person. “What the hell?” She bewilderingly said aloud, wondering who could possibly be up on the school’s roof at such an early hour. Part of Adagio just wanted to just ignore what she was seeing and go about her morning as usual, but a larger part of her was filled with too much curiosity and concern to do that. Someone sitting up on the roof at the crack of dawn was too unusual. Something was wrong, she could feel it in her gut. Wasting no time, the Dazzling rushed over to the front doors and tried to open them, only to find they were locked. “Oh come on!” She irritatingly remarked as she reached into her pocket for her faculty key. Once she unlocked the door, Adagio swiftly opened it and made her way down the hallway towards the staircase that lead up to the roof. I’m probably just overreacting to all this, right? She silently asked herself as she ascended the staircase. Despite having run up many flights of stairs, Adagio didn’t feel fatigued at all by the time she reached the top, flew open the door to the roof, and stepped outside. At first, she was blinded by the sudden abundance of light shining down from the morning sun. She wasn’t blinded much, but enough that she brought her hand up to cover her face. As such, she could only make out the silhouette of a person sitting on the edge of the roof. “Hello?” She called out as her vision began to fully returned to her. In response to Adagio’s call, the person silently turned around just as the Dazzling was able to make out who it was that was sitting in front of her. It was Violet Blurr. “Oh, hey, Adagio.” The member of the Snapshots flatly greeted her. “What’s up?” “Um, hey, Violet.” Adagio greeted back with a slight hint of confusion in her voice. “What are doing up here?” “Waiting.” Violet stoically replied as she turned back around to face the horizon. Both the vagueness of Violet’s answer and the lack of emotion in her voice were a bit disconcerting to Adagio. “Waiting for what, exactly?” She inquisitively inquired. There was a brief moment of silence before Violet answered. “Nothing, just waiting.” She eventually said without turning back around. “O…kay.” Adagio confusingly responded. Even though Adagio didn’t know Violet very well, she could tell that something was wrong with the girl. All the other times she’d seen her she always seemed so much more…lively, even if her facial expression suggested otherwise. But now, she seemed like she was half-dead, like a part of her wasn’t really there anymore. It was enough to make the Dazzling feel extremely apprehensive about her well-being. “Um, think maybe I can wait with you, Violet?” She tentatively asked. “I guess, if you want to.” Violet simply replied before tapping the spot next to her in an inviting manner. “T-Thanks.” Adagio replied as she made her way over to the edge of the roof and took a seat next to Violet. For about a minute, there was an uncomfortable silence between the two girls. Adagio didn’t know what to say because she wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, and Violet, well, she just looked straight forward with a thousand yard stare expression on her face. “So, um, where did you get your headband?” The Dazzling randomly spoke up, noticing that it was somewhat similar hers. In truth, Adagio didn’t care about Violet’s headband. She just wanted to get a conversation going between them, one that she could eventually steer towards finding out what the situation at hand was all about. “Hot Topic.” Violet unemotionally answered. “Oh, really? You’ll have to take me there sometime.” Adagio replied, trying to sound as friendly as possible. “I’m thinking of replacing mine with something a bit newer.” Violet didn’t give a response. Instead, she just leaned forward ever-so-slightly and looked down. “How far up do you think we are.” She then asked. Violet’s question filled Adagio with a sudden sense of dread. “Um, I’m…I’m not sure.” She diffidently answered. “Maybe…45 feet, give or take.” “Hm.” Violet simply uttered as she leaned back to an upright position. The longer Adagio sat next to Violet, the stronger her fears became. Being up on the roof, looking off into the distance with a thousand yard stare, asking how high up they were; all of these were setting off alarm bells in Adagio’s mind. Something was seriously wrong with Violet, and she needed to find out what it was quickly, yet carefully, before things escalated to the boiling point. “Violet.” She tenderly began to say. “You know, if something’s wrong, you can tell me, right? I promise I’ll keep it just between us.” “I appreciate your concern, Adagio. Truly, I do.” Violet replied, still lacking any discernable emotion in her voice. “But you see, there’s nothing you can do for me. The damage is already done.” Adagio was glad that Violet seemed to be opening up to her, but her general demeanor was still cause for concern. “I-I’m not sure I understand.” She said. “What damage is that?” Silently, Violet reached into her pocket and pulled out her cellphone. After searching through it for a few seconds, she held it out in front of Adagio, signaling for her to take it. The Dazzling did take it, and when she saw what was on the screen she gave a very visible look of stunned surprise. On the screen was a picture of a very naked Violet, sticking a seductive pose. “I took that picture and sent it to my boyfriend because he asked me for a nude photo.” Violet began to explain. “I didn’t think it was a big deal at the time, so I did it without question. And for a while it wasn’t a big deal, but after I broke up with him he sent it to all his buddies as payback.” Revenge porn. Adagio thought to herself as she put Violet’s phone down. “And of course all his buddies started sharing it with other people too.” Violet continued. “Which eventually lead to it being put up on a bunch of porno sites where any number of creeps can jerk off to it.” “Violet, I…” Adagio tried to interject. “And let’s not ignore the fact that my friends could come across it.” Violet went on, only now with a twinge of anger and regret in her voice. “Or my family, or a potential employer. That photo may have ruined my entire life.” At this point, tears were starting to form in the corners of Violet’s eyes. “And you know what the worst part of it all is?” She asked. “I made the choice to take that photo and share it in the first place. I wasn’t pressured or forced into taking it, I just decided to go along with my boyfriend’s request and as a result I completely fucked up my life.” The tears in Violet’s eyes started to run down her cheeks, but oddly enough, she was smiling as they did. It was a very unsettling sight for Adagio. “Violet, I know you’ve made a mistake, a big mistake, but it’s not the end of the world.” She gingerly tried to assure the girl. “No, it isn’t, at least not yet.” Violet said in an eerily calm manner as she stood up and moved a few steps away from Adagio. “But it will be soon, because once my ex-boyfriend starts walking up the approach I’m going to jump to my death right in front of him.” And just like that, Adagio’s worst fears were realized. It wasn’t just the fact that Violet had admitted she was planning on killing herself that frightened her, it was the way she’d said it too; so calmly, so casually, like it wasn’t a big deal. Violet truly was in a bad place right now, a place some people never returned from. “Now hold on, Violet.” She frantically said as she too stood up but didn’t dare move closer to the girl, fearful that any sudden movement towards her might cause her to jump. “Let’s not do anything rash here.” “This isn’t something rash, Adagio, I’ve been planning it for some time now.” Violet admitted, still sounding eerily calm. “See, no matter how you look at it, my life is over because of that photo. The only sensible thing to do now is end it, and if I can show my ex-boyfriend just how much damage he’s done by doing it in front of him then all the better.” Adagio was completely aware of just how grave Violet’s predicament was. The girl was totally convinced that she needed to end her life because of her mistake, and she knew that she needed to tread carefully if she was to have any hope of convincing her otherwise. “Okay, how about we just talk about this for a minute, huh?” She pleadingly suggested, trying to sound as calm and collected as possible given the situation. “We’ve been talking about it, Adagio.” Violet nonchalantly replied. “There’s nothing more to talk about.” “Sure there is.” Adagio promptly replied. “There’s, um…your family and friends. Won’t they miss you when you’re gone?” “I guess they’ll probably miss me, yes.” Violet admitted. “But is it really worth me continuing to live with all this shame and humiliation just so a few people won’t miss me?” “Yes, of course it is.” Adagio swiftly answered. “Because those people love you, and they'll still continue to love you regardless of the mistakes you’ve made, just like with me and my sisters.” Violet, in response, unexpectedly dawned a confused expression and slightly tilted her head to the side. “What do you mean just like with you and your sisters?” She curiously inquired. It was then that Adagio realized just what she’d said. In her desire to talk Violet out of ending her own life, she’d inadvertently made mention of the time she’d tried to end hers. “W-Well, I...I mean…” She stutteringly said. The story of Adagio’s near-suicide attempt was one that no one knew about, not even her sisters. Even Adagio herself wasn’t 100% clear on all the details of it, as her memory of the incident was often fuzzy and unclear when she thought about it, like trying to remember a dream. Needless to say, it wasn’t a story she ever wanted to share with anyone, but given how even the vaguest mention of it got a reaction out of Violet it could very be what helped convince the girl that ending her life wasn’t the answer to her woes. Adagio took a quick, deep breath as she prepared to tell her story. “You were there at the finals of Battle of the Bands, so you know what happened to me and my sisters.” She began to say, sounding much more composed now. “The Rainbooms defeated us and we lost our magic. The thing is though, our magic wasn’t the only thing we lost that day. As soon as our pendants broke the spell we’d been using to hypnotize our landlord into letting us live in our apartment rent-free was broken too, so we lost our home as well. We didn’t have much money saved up, certainly not enough to afford a new apartment for more than a few months, and with no jobs we needed a place to live that would be more…permanent if it needed to be. We threw a lot of ideas around about what to do, but in the end we bought a used van and started living in it down by the river, where we wouldn’t get hassled by the police.” As Violet listened to Adagio’s tale, she couldn’t help but start to feel sympathy for the Dazzling. Sure, she and her sisters needed to be stopped at the Battle of the Bands, but for them to become homeless as a result of the whole ordeal was simply heartbreaking to her. “We spent pretty much every dollar we had on the van, so there wasn’t much left over for food.” Adagio continued, sounding more and more emotional with each sentence. “We had to ration every little bit of food we bought, so much so that some days we’d only eat one small meal. It…it was the lowest point of our lives; it was rock bottom.” “I…I’m sorry to hear that.” Violet sympathetically remarked, displaying real emotion for the first time today. “But you know what the worst part of it all was?” Adagio fervidly asked as she clenched her right and formed a fist. “Knowing that it was all my fault, that it was because of me and my stupid plans that we’d lost everything. If I hadn’t been so greedy and convinced Aria and Sonata to try and steal the Rainboom’s Equestrian magic we’d have never ended up living in that van and starving like rats.” As Adagio went on, Violet could feel fresh tears beginning to form in her eyes. Only this time, her tears were out of rapport. “Eventually my guilt started causing me to have nightmares.” The Dazzling sorrowfully confessed. “Nightmares so bad that I couldn’t sleep most nights, and because of the lack of sleep my feelings of self-loathing only grew. Eventually, the weight of my failure and guilt became too much to bear.” There was a brief silence as Adagio tried to better compose herself. “W-What did you do then?” Violet apprehensively asked. After a few more seconds of silence, Adagio answered. “One night after my sisters had fallen asleep, I snuck out and went down to the riverbank.” She solemnly said. “I went down to the riverbank with the intention of walking straight into the river and letting it whisk me away, hoping that in some way it would whisk away my sins as well.” “B-but you didn’t do that, did you?” Violet interjected. “Because if you had you wouldn’t be here right now.” “That’s right, I didn’t.” Adagio replied. “And do you know why?” “No.” Violet agilely answered. “It’s because just before I stepped foot into the river I realized something, something that I hadn’t before.” Adagio earnestly explained. “I realized that I hadn’t lost everything, I realized that I still had my sisters. Even though I messed things up so badly for them, they still stayed by my side. They still loved me.” Violet wanted to say something at this point, but found herself speechless. “When I realized that I knew that I couldn’t just throw my life away.” Adagio continued. “I didn’t know exactly what it was I should do to fix my mistakes, but I knew what it was I shouldn’t do. I knew that I shouldn’t let my mistakes define me like that, and cause even more pain and suffering for my sisters.” It was at this point that Violet could feel her heart beating faster and faster in her chest. Slowly, but surely, she started to feel like she was alive again. “Please, Violet, I beg you.” Adagio pleaded as she looked the girl straight in the eyes. “Don’t do this, don’t let your mistake with that picture be the defining factor of your life. Because if you jump off this roof, it will be, and you'll just be causing pain for the people who love you.” As if by some miracle, Adagio’s tempestuous plea somehow got through to Violet’s heart. She suddenly no longer felt the same she had when she’d first come up to the roof. Instead of unnaturally calm and at peace with ending her own life, she now felt genuinely passionate about a great many things, life being among them. “I…” She hesitantly started to say as she inched herself closer to Adagio. “I think…I think I want to get down now.” Overcome with relief, Adagio began to move closer to Violet until the two of them were within arm’s reach of each other. It was then that they each embraced and clung to each other lie their lives depended on it. Once she was within Adagio’s arms, Violet suddenly started crying out all of her pent-up emotions into the girl’s shoulder. “It’s okay.” The Dazzling gently assured her as she lightly tapped the back of her head in an emotionally supportive manner. “It’s all going to be okay.” A few hours later, Adagio found herself sitting outside Principal Celestia’s office waiting for Violet to come out. After the incident on the roof had concluded and Violet had crying out her feelings, the Dazzling had escorted her off the roof and down to the Principal’s office. It was there that she and Violet explained what had happened to Celestia, and the principal had decided to put in a call to the school’s district psychologist to come and have a talk with Violet to make sure she was truly alright. Adagio was allowed to stay with Violet until the psychologist arrived, but once she had arrived she, along with Celestia, had been asked to leave the room so that the two of them could talk in private, which was how she ended up where she was now. “I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am to you right now, Adagio.” Principal Celestia said from the seat next to her. “If it weren’t for you Violet might not still be with us right now. Your actions today were nothing short of heroic.” Adagio couldn’t help but dawn a brief, confused expression upon hearing Celestia’s words. She wasn’t used to being so highly praised. “I’m just glad I arrived at school when I did this morning.” She humbly replied before looking down at her feet, now with an expression of worry on her face. “What’s going to happen to Violet now?” “I’m not sure.” Celestia admitted. “That’s decision lies with Dr. Loomis, but in most cases like this the patient is taken to a mental hospital for observation for a few days, just to be safe.” “B-but just for a few days, right?” Adagio apprehensively asked, fearful that Violet might be locked up in the loony bin forever. “Again, I’m not sure.” The principal dishearteningly answered. Celestia’s response did little to sooth Adagio’s worries. She really didn’t want to see Violent end up as a mental patient for the rest of her life. Just then, the door to Celestia’s office opened and both Violet and Dr. Loomis stepped out into the room, causing Adagio and Celestia to get up from their seats. “Violet has consented to coming with me to Smith’s Grove Mental Hospital for a few days for observation.” Dr. Loomis explained to them. “Just so we can make sure she’s no longer a danger to herself.” The news of this made Adagio look over at Violet with an expression of mild shock. “Y-You’re really okay with this, Violet?” She asked. “I am.” Violet replied with a small nod, picking up on the Dazzling’s concern. “I’ll be okay, Adagio, thanks to you.” Adagio was still a bit uneasy about Violet being confined to a mental hospital, but she wasn’t going to raise any issues if it was what the girl really wanted. “Okay then.” She conceded. “Just promise me you’ll be back soon. You still have to take me to Hot Topic to get a new headband.” Violet couldn’t help but give a small chuckle after hearing Adagio’s words. “I promise.” She said just before embracing the Dazzling in a friendly hug, which Adagio quickly returned. “It’s time to go, Violet.” Dr. Loomis spoke up, causing the two girls to break their hug. As Violet and Dr. Loomis left, Violet turned back around for a brief moment and waved goodbye to Adagio. Adagio waved back until Violet was out of sight. “Adagio.” Principal Celestia then spoke up, gaining the Dazzling’s attention. “Given the rather traumatic events of this morning, if you want to go home for the rest of the day I’d understand.” “Thank you, Principal Celestia, but I’ll be fine.” Adagio replied. “I think focusing on my work here will be good for me.” “Very well then. If you need anything I’ll be right here.” Celestia said just before turning around and walking back into her office, closing the door behind her. With everything said and done, Adagio left the principal’s office and made her way through the halls towards her office. As she did so, she thought back to everything she’d said to Violet back on the roof, particularly about how she’d realized she hadn’t lost her sisters after the Battle of the Bands. “They probably just stuck around because they knew they’d be hopelessly screwed without me.” She sarcastically remarked aloud, remembering the few good times they had together back then, even though it was their rock bottom. As Adagio walked down memory lane while walking down the hallway, she soon remembered how she’d snapped at Aria and Sonata the night before. Realizing what a jerk she’d been, she gave a defeated sigh as she realized what she needed to do when she got home that night. “I’m going to have to apologize to them.” She dejectedly admitted. “And I’m probably going to have to buy them pizza or something before they accept my apology too.” Even though Adagio knew Aria and Sonata were going to exploit her desire to make amends for their own personal gain, she gave a small smile as she thought about how lucky she was to have two sisters like them.