//------------------------------// // Cracks Form in the Facade (A Rewrite of Cracks in the Facade) // Story: Equestria Girls: A Fairly Odd Friendship // by redandready45 //------------------------------// Timmy and his friends walked to their next class, when they came across a truly pathetic sight. Crocker was wearing a grey janitor's uniform, nervously scrubbing the floor. He wore a bandage on his nose, a cast around his leg, and sling around his arm, one of his eyes was black and swollen, and he seemed to be missing a few teeth. His glasses were tied together with tape. "What happened to you?" Timmy asked Crocker, more out of idle curiosity than compassion. His two friends walked away, promising to catch up later. "And where have you been these past few days?" Crocker looked up from his work. "Timmy!" the teacher said with a nervous smile. "How are you doing?" Timmy's eyes narrowed. "What are you planning Crockpot?!" Timmy asked angrily. Crocker never once asked him how he was, called him by his first name, or stared at him with anything resembling fear. "Another scheme for world domination?" Crocker got visibly afraid of the brown-haired boy. "Nothing at all," the man said almost fearfully, "Certainly nothing that would invite retaliation from your paid hooligans." Timmy looked confused. "What paid hooligans?" "You really don't know," Crocker remarked in confusion. "Know what?" "I see," Crocker with a frown. "Very well. I had the perfect plan to capture your FAIRY GODPARENTS! I set up the whole safety demonstration, and ensured that those two imbeciles would make you so enraged, you would make a wish in retaliation against those two Learn-A-Torium fools, allowing me to capture your FAIRY GODPARENTS with my laser." "You did," Timmy said with annoyance. "I almost won," Crocker said with some pride. The bespectacled nutcase frowned bitterly. "But then, that little delinquent Sunset Shimmer got in my way." "What?" Timmy asked in confusion. "She sent me plummeting to my doom," Crocker said theatrically, "I was suspended temporarily for misusing an assembly for my own ends, demoted to janitor during that time, and then the white-haired hooligan beat me senseless in retaliation." The brown-haired boy couldn't believe it. "Gilda beat you up?" "Yes," Crocker muttered miserably. "And I've spent the last several days recuperating-," "Less talking, more scrubbing," Waxelplax commanded as she walked by. Crocker once again returned to his miserable scrubbing of the floor. Timmy walked by him, feeling conflicted. "Sunset saved me from Crocker...and then had Gilda beat him up?" Timmy asked his fairies, disguised as books he was holding in his hands. "Why?" Cosmo asked. DUH! SUNSET NEVER LIKED YOU! THE REASON WHY SHE ATTACKED CROCKER WAS BECAUSE SHE WANTED THE POWER FOR HERSELF! "Oh please, Sunset just wanted to clear the competition," Timmy said angrily to his fairies. "That's it." "That makes a lot of sense," Wanda remarked with wry disdain. Cosmo frowned in contemplative thought. "Or maybe," Cosmo began uneasily, "Sunset wanted magic, but maybe she decided she liked you more." Timmy gave it some thought. Sunset was definitely evil. But she did- OH PLEASE! THE ONLY THING COSMO KNOWS HOW TO BE IS AN IDIOT! IF YOU LOOK UP IDIOT IN THE DICTIONARY, YOU'LL FIND A PICTURE OF COSMO! SUNSET IS EVIL! THE DAZZLINGS SAID SO! "Don't be stupid Cosmo. You saw how mean Sunset was. There is no way someone like that...would like someone like me," Timmy finished somewhat miserably. "Don't be down sport," Wanda said. "You still have people who like you." Wanda's words brought Timmy some comfort. He grabbed the medallion the Muses gave him and smiled. With this, he knew who his true friends were. Cosmo, however, continued to wear a troubled expression on his face. "This isn't so bad," Sunset Shimmer said to herself with a happy smile, looking around at the beautiful wildlife around her. "I don't worry about tests, taxes, or girl scouts anymore. And Timmy did leave me plenty of apples." She inhaled the crisp clean air. "Maybe living in nature is a blessing in disguise. Maybe I'll go on great adventures." She crawled up to a fellow neighbor. "So how's it hanging," Sunset said to a fellow worm. The worm, lacking any kind of sentience, crawled away from her, more interested in eating a tasty leaf. "She ya' around, neighbor." Sunset said with a chuckle. Gradually, her chuckling descended into whimpering. "Oh who am I kidding," Sunset sobbed, "I miss video games and legs so much!" It was bad enough that Sunset was a worm. But she was also worried about other things. Her friends, her school.... Timmy. Despite everything, she couldn't hate him for what he did. On some level, she didn't blame him. Before the Battle of the Bands, almost everyone avoided her for what she had done. Not everyone was as nice as Princess Twilight after all. Timmy's past would be horrifying to those who learned of it. And Timmy had enough of a conscience to leave her well fed. What scared her is that learning of her dark past finally activated the Stone's corruptive properties. Timmy found it justifiable to do this to her. And to some extant, it was. But as the Stone wouldn't stop there. Timmy would soon start doing even more horrible things, justifying them for any reason, until finally Timmy was consumed by the Stone, and would wreak havoc with nothing that could stop him. And there was nothing she could do to even warn anyone. Even if she could somehow become human again, they wouldn't believe her. Sunset felt tears flow down her eye. She was finally getting her life together, and then that stupid rock had to ruin everything. As she wept, some weird light began shining in the distance behind a tree. Sunset didn't know what is was. It could be nothing. It could be salvation. But with nothing better to do, Sunset walked there. Or crawled, to be more specific. Very, very slowly with her worm tail. Sunset ruminated over how much she took her legs for granted. Cosmo and Wanda sat in the living room of their fancy fishbowl castle. Wanda was sitting on the couch, reading a catalog on chocolate products, while Cosmo was beside her nervously reading a magazine upside down. "So what would look better," Wanda asked her green haired husband, "a chocolate mouse or a chocolate goose". To her confusion, Cosmo wasn't responding with his usual irreverence. He instead stared at the magazine with a troubled expression. "Cosmo?" Wanda repeated. Cosmo still didn't respond. Wanda flew up to the white-shirted fairy with a concerned expression. "Cosmo, are you OK?" Cosmo put his magazine. "I've been thinking." "That'd be a first," Wanda snarked. "Aren't we...I don't know," Cosmo said uneasily, "being a little too mean to Sunset." Wanda frowned furiously at her husband. "Cosmo," Wanda said with some anger, "that witch tried to brainwash Timmy and all of those teenagers." "But Wanda," Cosmo said with some pleading, "she sounded really sorry." "Oh yeah," Wanda said with merciless sarcasm, "she's sorry all right. She's sorry her scheme has been foiled." An annoyed expression came over her face. "You saw how much of a liar she was. She did what Vicky does: put on an act to get out of trouble." Cosmo wasn't convinced. "But think about it Wanda," Cosmo replied. "She did so many nice things for Timmy and saved us from Crocker." "Because she wanted that magic for herself," Wanda expressed with disdain. She turned away from Cosmo, her attention focused on the catalog. Cosmo's soft expression became a little more assertive, and he yanked the catalog away from his wife. "Well, how about this: When we beat the evil meanies trying to hurt Timmy, they usually do this." Cosmo poofed his head to look like Crocker. " 'Curse you Turner' ," Cosmo said in his normal voice, " 'I'll have my revenge'." "So?" Cosmo poofed his head to look like Sunset. "They don't usually say 'sorry Timmy, please don't leave me'." A hint of doubt came over the pink-haired fairy's face. While Sunset was indeed guilty of the things she did, Cosmo did raise a good point: none of the bad people in Timmy's life usually begged for forgiveness. "And unlike Mr. Crocker," Cosmo continued, "Sunset's a teenager. We did a lot of stupid things didn't we. Maybe we shouldn't be so harsh to her." "Alright fine," Wanda said after a few moments of thought. "We'll let Sunset live like a worm for a week. And then we'll ask Timmy about letting her go." "Yay," Cosmo said, his lively mood returning. Wanda looked at her husband with no small amount of pride. While her husband was not the sharpest tool in the shed, he was undeniably a kind soul. Even to the people who disliked him, like Juandissimo and her father, he could be friendly. While she didn't agree with his view on Sunset, the fact the he could be kind toward someone so despicable was something she could admire. "Now let's have a magic fight," Cosmo said while raising his wand. "OK," Wanda agreed with an expression that was both playful and challenging. She happily joined her husband in a magic fight, more certain than ever she made the right choice to be married to him. "And I said, 'oatmeal, are you crazy'!" Pinkie recounted to her friends. Everyone at the table started laughing at Pinkie's joke. Everyone except Fluttershy who's expression was pensive. "What's wrong Fluttershy," Rainbow said. "Nothing." Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Flutters, we've been friends since five. I know when you're upset." "Aren't we....being too mean to Sunset?" Everyone at the table looked aghast. "You feel bad for the Demon!" Rainbow said with disdain. "She's a hideous beast," Rarity exclaimed. "A big meanie!" Pinkie whined. "Rotten to the core." Applejack muttered. "I know," Fluttershy said. "But she was really, really upset." "Fake tears," Applejack dismissed. "The demon does nothing but lie. People like that are best got ridden off." Eventually, the conversation shifted to something more lively. But Fluttershy couldn't help but feel everyone was making a terrible mistake. Princess Twilight came into her lab, levitating hundreds of scrolls and tomes. Spike came in, painfully carrying more scrolls. "Twilight," Spike angrily muttered. "Isn't this too much-," "Nothing is ever too much!" the studious alicorn bellowed. "I MUST HAVE EVERY BOOK! EVERY TOME!" Foam came out of the alicorn's mouth. "Because if I don't read them," she said while hyperventilating ,"...who will?!" "Can we just get to work already," Spike muttered, finally dropping all the books. Princess Twilight opened her two way tome she use to communicate with Sunset. A troubled expression came over her face. "Twilight," a concerned Spike said while approaching the pony princess. "What's going-," "Spike," Twilight yelled in a panic. "Sunset hasn't responded to any of my messages in the past 12 hours." She galloped toward the portal. "I'm going in! Do the chores while I'm gone!" She lept in. Spike watched this with drama. But with Twilight gone, a conniving expression came over his face. He opened a cupboard in the lab, snuck to the cookie jar, and prepared to take a sumptuous bite. "AND DON'T TOUCH THE COOKIES!" Twilight ordered, suddenly reappearing in the lab with a stern expression. Spike put the cookies back with a defeated pout on his face. "Uh, you let me win again," Timmy said with a forced smile. Timmy wanted to get Trixie to enjoy the stuff she couldn't in private. They decided to play his Crash Nebula video games. But for some reason Trixie kept throwing the game. "Why do you keep losing on purpose?" Timmy asked the apparently love-stricken girl. "Because you're so awesome," Trixie said in a dreamy tone. The way Trixie said it made Timmy uncomfortable. While Timmy was charmed by how lovey-dovey Trixie was at first, it got creepy and annoying. It felt Trixie didn't actually want to spend time with him, but just saw him as an idol. The way she kept throwing the game was part of that. It felt like he was dating a robot and not a person. "Trixie, I know I'm awesome," Timmy said in a patient voice. "But I...don't want you to think you have to do things for me." "OK." Trixie said. "So...what else do you want to do now?" Timmy asked Trixie. "Whatever you want." Trixie said in the same admiring tone that increasingly rung in Timmy's ear. "Trixie, I think we need to talk-," "OK, playdates over," Adagio ordered abruptly. "Trixie don't you have that...thing to go to." As soon as Adagio made eye contact with the raven haired girl, Trixie abruptly got up from the floor and ran out of the house. "Don't worry," Aria said, suddenly appearing from behind her sister. "The limo will take her home." Aria looked at Timmy with a smug grin. "So was your date, playa?" She asked excitedly. "OK," Timmy muttered without any joy. Adagio felt a concerned frown form on her face. "Timmy what's gotten into you," Adagio said. "You're dating Trixie Tang." "Trixie kept...doing whatever I wanted," Timmy said with some discomfort in his voice. "Of course she is," Aria said encouragingly. "You're awesome! A supreme gentleman like you gets whatever you want." Timmy didn't enjoy the compliment. Trixie said it so many times, it lost all meaning. "When I dated Trixie, I imagined both of us doing things together." He pursed his lips. "Not just her acting like some...servant to me." Adagio was confused by Timmy's discomfort. "I don't see the problem." She bent down to look Timmy in the eyes. "The reason why she is treating you like you're special is because...you are." She pulled him into a hug. "Don't ever forget that." Timmy felt discomforted by the whole- WHY ARE YOU UPSET! YOU DESERVE TRIXIE FOR BEING SUCH A NICE GUY! "You're right," Timmy abruptly said. "Trixie likes me because I am such a nice guy!" He then glanced at the clock. "My parents won't be home for a few more hours. So what do you guys want to do?" Timmy asked the Dazzlings. "Play video games-" "Well actually Timmy." Aria began. "We need a...few more wishes," Adagio said. "Pretty please, with hot sauce on top?" Sonata. The two fairies appeared before them. "Sure," Wanda said happily. "We don't mind granting you a few wishes," Cosmo. The Dazzlings smirked mischievously. 600 Wishes Later "Timmy can I have another taco?" Sonata asked them. The three sisters were sitting in his living room, compulsively asking for wishes, while Cosmo and Wanda hovered overhead. "I wish Sonata had another taco," Timmy asked them. The two fairies granted the wish, albeit with a frown. "I want blue boots instead of these red," Adagio said. "Red is so last season." With a poof, the red boots appeared on Adagio. "I wish had another taco." "I want a running track," Aria asked. "I want new barbells." "More tacos." "A new dress." "Still more tacos." "Can we please take a break," Cosmo said with tried hiss. The living room was now full of various goods the Dazzlings wished for. Both he and Wanda were utterly winded. "But-," Adagio began, only for a knock on the door. "I'll get it," Timmy said, walking over to the door. He opened it and saw Chester and AJ at the door. "Hey guys," Timmy said happily. "Hey dude," Chester said. "Ready to go to the skate park?" "Who's at the door," Adagio said, walking over to the door. "Oh its your friends." "So you're Timmy's new babysitter," Chester remarked. "Pleasure to make your..." "Nice to meet you," Adagio said abruptly, "Timmy can't play with you. Real busy. Got to go." "What?" Chester began, only for the door be slammed on them. "Hey!" Timmy said angrily to Adagio, "What did you do that for?" "Timmy," Adagio said, "I just...want to spend more time with you." "But I promised Chester and AJ," Timmy began, only for Adagio to get to eye level with him. "You've....known them all your life," Adagio said, her eyes darting back and forth. "We've only known each other for a few days. Can't we spend more time to get to know our newest buddy?" "But-," "Aren't we friends?" Adagio pleaded. "Didn't we help you date Trixie and beat that evil demon?" "But I guess we're not really your buddies," Aria said with a shrug. "To think the boy we helped could be so selfish." THE DAZZLINGS ARE YOUR FRIENDS! WHY ARE YOU IGNORING THEM "You're right," Timmy said abruptly. "I'm sorry for being so selfish." Cosmo and Wanda watched this display with concern. "Perfect," Adagio said, "I just need a few more wishes." Cosmo and Wanda let out tired groans. After several more minutes of compulsive wishing, Cosmo and Wanda dragged Timmy into his room for a private discussion. "Those girls seem to love wishing don't they?" Wanda asked Timmy uneasily. "As do I." "They seem to love stuff, don't day?" Cosmo said. "As do I." "Can't you read between the lines." Wanda asked. "What line?"" Timmy said with a blank stare. Wanda facepalmed before continuing. "Timmy don't you see what these girls are doing?" Wanda said with frustration. "Asking for wishes?" Timmy said. "Timmy, they're taking advantage of us," Cosmo said with a tired tone. "Look at my face". His face was covered in wrinkles. "Unlike Wanda I'm too old for crows' feet." Wanda glared at her husband before continuing. "And Adagio told you not to hang with your friends," Wanda warned, "They're treating you like a servant!" "No they're not," Timmy protested. A bell rung. "Timmy I need a glass of water," Adagio said. Timmy immediately put on a maid's dress and hat. "Wanda?" Timmy asked. With a frustrated sigh, Wanda granted the wish. A glass of water on a platter appeared on Timmy's arm. Timmy ran downstairs and handed Adagio the glass of water. Adagio drank the glass of water and spat in on Timmy. "The water was cold," Adagio said with disgust, "are you trying to kill me?" Timmy looked annoyed at what Adagio did. But suddenly, his annoyance was replaced with sad acceptance. "Sorry," a dripping wet Timmy said sadly. Wanda watched this with narrowed eyes. Aria stood in the Turner home garage, wearing purple shorts and a blue tank top, practicing her boxing and martial arts with a blue punching bag. Out of all her sisters, she liked to stay in shape and fight. "Hey," a small voice said. Aria turned around and saw Timmy looking at her with a happy smile. "Hey," Aria said in a disinterested tone. "I started taking fighting lessons," Timmy said. Aria ignored him. "I think learning to fight is really cool." Aria kept ignoring him. "I want to-," the bag struck Timmy in the face. "What are you doing?" Aria asked the pink-hatted boy who was rubbing his sore nose. "I want to learn how to fight," Timmy said. "I would love it if you taught me." "OK," Aria said with a forced smile. "Let's start with some laps." She pointed to the door to the lawn. "Start running out the door." "Yay," Timmy said, running out the garage and onto the lawn. "I'm feeling the burn," Timmy said. "Aria, isn't this-," Timmy turned around and saw the door was closed. Aria didn't want to train him. Timmy let out an upset sigh. Aria said she'd were- ARIA NEEDS HER REST! YOU'RE THE ONE BOTHERING HER! Timmy decided Aria needed to relax and decided to find the other siren. "Hey Sonata," Timmy said, walking into the kitchen, where Sonata was still indulging in tacos. "Want to play Crash Nebula?" Timmy said, "It is really-," Timmy paused as taco meat poured onto him from Sonata's overeating. "Nevermind," Timmy said with a tired sigh, seeing Sonata was more interesting in eating them him. Adagio lazily sat on a lawn chair in front of the house getting a suntan. She wore nothing but a purple bikini, sunglasses, and red sandals. A purple robe laid at her feet. It was a clear day, and she was keen to get as much sun as possible. Her tan was interrupted by a shadow looming over her. Adagio looked up with annoyance and saw a smiling bucktooth boy. "Hey Adagio," Timmy said happily, holding up a math textbook, "want to help me-," "Can't do math," Adagio said with a wave of her hand, "need to tan. Nice conversation. Let's have it some other time. Goodbye." "But-," Timmy began, only for Adagio to turn away from Timmy in disgust. Timmy let out a tired sigh. "Adagio," Timmy said sadly, "do you like me?" Adagio rose up from her chair to look at Timmy. "Of course I like you Timmy," Adagio said in a condescendingly nice tone, pinching Timmy's cheek. "Why would you say that." "Well," Timmy said reluctantly, "Wanda said you were...taking advantage of me." Adagio suppressed a frustrated frown, forcing a fake smile on her face. "Timmy," Adagio said, "Wanda...doesn't understand certain things." "Really?" "Wanda doesn't understand what it's like to live without magic," Adagio said to Timmy. WANDA IS BEING UNFAIR TO ADAGIO! ADAGIO IS TRYING TO HELP YOU! "I guess," Timmy accepted. "And how hard our-," there was poof that interrupted her train of conversation. Adagio turned around and saw Wanda, having morphed herself into human sized adult, looking at her with crossed arms and a stern expression. "Wanda," Adagio said nervously, "what's-," "We need to talk," the pink haired fairy ordered, "in private." Adagio tried to argue, but the tone in the fairy's voice said this was mandatory. "Sure," Adagio said, rising from the lawn chair and putting on her robe. She followed Wanda to behind the house, leaving behind a confused Timmy. "So what's going on?" Adagio idly asked the fairy. Cosmo poofed next to her, also looking like a human adult. Her sisters were poofed there as well, to their confusion. "How dare you!" Wanda asked with a hiss. Cosmo said nothing, but looked at the three sister's with a disappointed expression. "What did I do?" Adagio said innocently. "You three come into our lives," Wanda said angrily, "and all you've done is work us to death, not give us a single thank you, and treated Timmy like a butler. And when he wants to spend time with you, you three brush him off." "Look-," Aria began, "we like-." "And when he rightfully complains to you about how you've been treating him, you try and manipulate him against me," Wanda said, the fire in her eyes growing. "We saved his life," Adagio argued in a sad tone ,"and we're helping him become popular. We deserve some-," Wanda angrily yanked Adagio by her robe and pulled the orange-haired siren to her angry face. Adagio, remembering how the fairy poofed up a bazooka, felt something she never felt before. A chill down her spine. The pink-haired fairy released her, but the gesture was not done out of mercy. "And you think that gives you a right to exploit my godson and us," Wanda said with outrage. "I think you three should leave. It isn't personal," the pink-haired fairy said sternly. "But...I don't think you're the friends he needs." Before Adagio could think of an excuse, Sonata started crying. "We're sorry," Sonata wailed, water pouring from her eyes. Aria and Adagio immediately understood what their baby sister was doing and starting weeping crocodile tears too. "We didn't realize we were taking advantage of him," Aria wailed. "I guess we lived without magic for so long," Adagio wept with crocodile tears, "we got...carried away. You're right, we weren't being nice to Timmy. We're sorry." "C'mon Wanda," Cosmo said encouragingly, "maybe they should get another chance." Wanda thought furiously for a few moments before her expression softened. "OK fine," Wanda said reluctantly, "you get one more chance. But let me clear," Wanda said sternly, "our magic is for helping children in need, not for being your credit card. So no more wishes," Wanda said, "not until you start giving my godchild the love he deserves." Aria and Sonata frowned furiously at that. "But-," Aria began, only for Adagio to put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll behave," Adagio said with a forced smile, "after all, we love little kids, don't we?" Adagio said with gritted teeth to her two sisters. "We love the little munchkins," Aria said with her own forced smile. "Timmy-Wimmy is awesome," Sonata said with her own silly smile. "Good," Wanda said with a nasty frown, poofing up some feather dusters, "because you're gonna dust the house to make up for taking advantage of him and exploiting us." She handed the cleaning implements to the three sirens. The three sisters let out horrified sighs, but not wanting to provoke the pink fairy's wrath, accepted the work anyways. The three sisters returned to their mansion utterly exhausted. "I can't believe we had to do all that dusting," Aria said, collapsing on the couch. "My arms feel like they're about to fall off." "I did more dusting than you," Sonata said. "Well I got more work done because I'm better at it," Aria grunted. "No you're not," Sonata said. "No, you're the worst at dusting," Aria said. "You are." "You are." "You are." Adagio ignored her sisters' stupid argument, sitting on the couch with a huff and crossed arms. She wasn't upset about all the feather dusting, although her arms still ached from hours of dusting. No, her fury went deeper than that. For a long time, Adagio thought she was the most powerful creature in this desolate human world. Her song was able to charm entire crowds. She managed to manipulate wealthy and powerful men into giving her their loot. Despite her anger at being banished, she could take some satisfaction in being the more powerful magic user among a bunch of hairless apes. Then she lost her power, and was left with nothing. She hoped she could manipulate that small boy and those two fairies into giving her what she wanted. But then that pink haired wench threatened her and made her work like a common serf. To her furious shame, Adagio felt powerless in that moment. That stupid fairy had made her feel like an ant. She wasn't supposed to feel weak. She was the Crown Princess of Sirenia. She was destined to rule. Destined for power. Destined for greatness. Not to live at the whim of two magical midgets and to be the nanny of a stupid little boy. Even worse, their magic would go away once the boy grew up, leaving them with nothing again. Clenching her fists, the eldest siren decided that this was unacceptable. "Change of plans, girls," Adagio said with a growl, rising from the couch, "we're gonna break those fairies, and that little twerp, and their negative energy will be ours." "But you said not to get them mad," Aria replied. "I know what I said," Adagio said with a hiss. "But we're sirens. We don't live on the scraps of others. We get power for ourselves." "But how?" Sonata said. "That pink fairy was really scary." "Nothing is indestructible," Adagio said with a vicious smile, "those Rainbooms droned on about friendship, and we were able to drive them to hatred for a time." Adagio tented her fingers. "Those fairies have to have a chink in their armor that we know about." "What?" Aria asked. "Their precious little boy," Adagio said with a cruel growl. "His mind is weak and impressionable. We'll...push him into thinking our way. Then the fairies will follow. And the negative energy of those two will be ours." Aria and Sonata faces faded from uncertainty to malicious joy. Another nasty grin formed on Adagio's face. She ran to the cupboard, pulled out a glass, and smashed it with her boot. "You're next, Turner."