“I already told you, Sonata, the answer is no,” Adagio Dazzle adamantly told her sister as she cleared her plate from the breakfast table.
“Aw come on, Dagi,” Sonata Dusk said back from her seat at the table, practically whimpering. “All I need is $100 more to get Dashie that Racing Style Urklenomic Gaming Chair she’s been looking at online for her birthday.”
“Ergonomic,” Kiwi Lollipop chimed in from the seat next to Sonata’s after she’d swallowed the cereal that she’d been chewing.
“Huh?” The youngest Dazzling uttered in confusion.
“It’s Racing Style Ergonomic Gaming Chair,” Kiwi clarified. “You said Urklenomic, which I’m fairly certain isn’t a word.”
“It isn’t?” Sonata asked. “Are you sure?”
“Positive,” Kiwi replied.
“Huh,” Sonata then said as a thoughtful expression crossed her face. “What about Reaganomics? Is that a word?”
“Reaganomics?” Su-Z asked curiously from the other side of Sonata. “Where did you hear that?”
“On TV,” Sonata answered. “Someone on one of those channels that’s always talking about the stock market and other business stuff said it.”
A puzzled look soon appeared on both Kiwi and Adagio’s faces as each of them silently asked themselves the same question; Why had Sonata been watching that kind of television program? Adagio quickly lost her perplexed expression though as she rolled her eyes in a derisive fashion. This kind of nonsense first thing in the morning was something she neither needed nor wanted, especially on what was easily her least favorite day of the month; finance day.
Finance day was, as the name suggested, the day where Adagio would sit down and go over the households various financial concerns. Financial concerns such as matching credit card receipts against credit card statements to ensure accuracy, evaluating cash flow over the past month to make sure they weren’t spending more money than they were bringing in, and setting a budget for the upcoming month, to name a few. Basically, all of those oh-so-fun things that came with being a financially responsible adult.
Initially, when the Dazzlings had been living with Sunset Shimmer, finance day wasn’t that big of a deal. Their expenses were fairly minimal back then so there wasn’t much for Adagio to manage, but now that they had the emu farm and were supporting Kiwi and Su-Z it wasn’t so easy anymore. So naturally it was always a fairly stressful day for the Dazzling leader, one that was currently being made even more stressful by Sonata’s shenanigans. Though thankfully Kiwi seemed to be taking the brunt of said shenanigans at the moment instead of her.
“Um, I’m not really sure,” The older of the two PostCrush girls answered Sonata’s query. “I mean I know it’s a term that’s used to describe economic policies during the ‘80s, but I don’t know if it’s a word that’s actually in the dictionary.”
“I see,” Sonata replied prudently before turning her attention back over to Adagio, her facial expression instantly shifting back to one of mewling as she did so. “So can I have the money, Dagi? Pretty please?”
“Ugh,” Adagio moaned out in frustration, wishing in that moment that it had been her who’d left for CHS a few minutes ago instead of Aria so that she didn’t have to put up with all of this incessant pestering. “For the last time, Sonata, no!”
Sonata winced slightly in her seat upon hearing Adagio raise her voice to her. She then averted her gaze from her older sister and lowered her head in a defeated manner, silently signaling that she now understood Adagio’s answer loud and clear.
Seeing Sonata suddenly become so dour, Adagio felt a small but powerful twinge of sadness in the bottom of her heart. She didn’t enjoy having to resort to making Sonata feel intimidated like she just had in order to get her point across. At least, not anymore. But unfortunately there were simply times when being so stern was the only way she could get her younger sister to understand the reality of a particular situation. Times like this one, for example, when the situation involved their collective finances.
After giving a nearly inaudible sigh of regret, Adagio opened her mouth to try and explain to Sonata why it was she couldn’t accommodate her request for $100. However, before she could get one word out she was interrupted by Su-Z, who leaned over closer towards Sonata from her seat.
“Hey, you don’t need to get Rainbow Dash that gaming chair for her birthday,” The PostCrush girl compassionately said. “I’m sure she’ll love anything you get for her.”
“Yeah, your gift doesn’t need to be something really big like that,” Kiwi concurred just as compassionately. “A gift card to her favorite restaurant would probably work just fine.”
Sonata’s dejected expression didn’t change.
“I suppose so,” She replied.
No longer able to continue witnessing Sonata’s morose disposition, Adagio once again opened her mouth to speak. Only this time she opened it with the intent of saying something that would hopefully raise her younger sibling’s mood.
“Tell you what, Sonata,” She started to say. “If our expenses weren’t too bad for this past month and I find we have a $100 surplus, you can have it to buy that chair for Rainbow Dash.”
Within the span of about a microsecond, Sonata lifted her head back up and stared up at Adagio with a face that could only be described as beaming with joy.
“R-Really?!” The girl asked enthusiastically.
Adagio simply gave a small smile and silently nodded in response, causing Sonata to hastily get up from her seat and embrace her in a great big bear hug.
“Oh thank you, Dagi!” Sonata gratefully exclaimed as she practically squeezed the life out of her older sister. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
“You’re…welcome,” Adagio simply replied as she suddenly found it difficult to breathe.
Both Kiwi and Su-Z couldn’t help but give a few small, amused chuckles at the sight of Sonata’s overly exuberant display of sisterly love and Adagio subtly attempting to free herself from her sister’s hold. Neither Dazzling seemed to notice this. Or if they did, neither of them gave any visible reaction to it.
Eventually Sonata released Adagio from her vice-like hug, much to the poofy-haired girl’s relief, and once she did she turned around to face both Kiwi and Su-Z, a look of intense conviction now on her face.
“Alright, girls, let’s get out there!” She said as though she were a commander addressing her troops. “Those emu aren’t going to take care of themselves!”
And with that, Sonata walked out of the room, and then out the front door, with a swagger that gave the impression that she was a girl on a mission, much to the perplexion of the three girls still remaining within the kitchen.
“Well, at least she’s not sad anymore,” Su-Z remarked in her befuddlement.
“Yeah,” Kiwi concurred, a slight hint of skepticism evident within her voice.
Adagio said nothing.
As Su-Z returned her attention from the front door back to the kitchen, her eyes briefly caught notice of the clock hanging on the wall in the living room, and upon noticing what time it was proceeded to get up from the table.
“I guess it is time to get to work though,” She said as she headed for the front door, though not with the same swagger that Sonata had just a moment ago. “If I don’t get Leo up and out of the barn soon he’ll just sleep all day long.”
Kiwi waited until Su-Z was outside before getting up from the table herself, though she didn’t head for the front door like her friend just had. Instead, she simply turned to face Adagio, dawning a very ruminative expression that made the Dazzling feel a tad uneasy.
“Be honest with me,” The former popstar started to say. “Do you really believe you’ll find a $100 surplus that you can give to Sonata?”
Adagio didn’t answer right away, and not because she’d been caught off-guard by Kiwi’s question or anything like that. She didn’t answer right away because, in all honesty, she wasn’t sure what she believed. Part of her mind was telling her that there wasn’t a snowballs chance in hell she’d find a $100 surplus within their finances, but another part of her mind was telling her that she couldn’t know for certain whether the money was there or not until she actually sat down and ran the numbers. It was one of those conflicts between accepting near-absolute certainty or choosing hope that was difficult for anyone, even the leader of the Dazzlings, to be truly decisive on.
“Honestly, I don’t know,” She solemnly began to answer as she lowered her head and folded her arms beneath her bosom. “It’s not entirely outside the realm of possibility that I will find a $100 surplus, it’s happened before. But admittedly it’s been a while since we had a surplus at all, so…I just don’t know.”
An awkward moment of silence between the two girls followed.
“I see,” Kiwi simply said in response before turning around and heading for the front door.
Feeling that she sensed the faintest hint of judgement within Kiwi’s voice, Adagio immediately brought her head back up to defend her answer. But when she saw that Kiwi had stopped in the doorway and was once again staring at her, now with a look of intense excogitation on her face, she remained silent.
“A bit of advice, Adagio; Don’t give people false hope,” She said. “Sometimes false hope is worse than no hope.”
This time, Adagio had been caught off-guard by Kiwi’s words. And not just by her words either, but also by the sheer amount of sentiment behind those words, like she was speaking directly from her heart. It was enough to leave the Dazzling speechless as Kiwi turned around, headed outside, and closed the door behind her.
For a few seconds Adagio simply stood motionless within the kitchen as she tried to contemplate what could have possibly happened to Kiwi to cause her to hold such an unusual disposition, and so strongly at that. In all the time she’d known the PostCrush girl she’d never heard her sound so obdurate before. Granted she hadn’t known her all that long, but still. Eventually the Dazzling leader placed her query regarding Kiwi in the back of her mind for later. Right now she had much more pressing matters that required her undivided attention.
After briefly shaking her head in a symbolic gesture for removing the unwanted thought from her conscious mind, Adagio exited the kitchen and headed up the hallway leading towards her bedroom so that she could finally get started on getting the household finances in order.
“We have got to start buying a cheaper oatmeal,” Adagio remarked to herself as she finished entering what seemed like the millionth receipt into her spreadsheet.
It had been about two hours now since Adagio had sat down at the desk in her room and started working on the household finances, and not surprisingly she was already beginning to feel exhausted. Despite the relative ease of things like checking credit card statements and entering various receipt amounts into an Excel spreadsheet, the incredibly repetitive nature of it all was enough to quickly zap the Dazzling leader’s energy and make her feel a bit worn out. How some people managed to do this sort of stuff for a living was a complete and utter mystery to her.
“Let’s see what the damage is here,” She said as she grabbed the next receipt for entering.
As Adagio skimmed the receipt in her hand, she found that it was from a pet store and consisted mostly of dogfood. Premium dogfood, to be more precise.
“Marvelous,” She said sarcastically as she typed the amount on the receipt into her computer.
Almost as soon as Adagio had completed entering the amount and put the receipt with the others she’d already gone through, she heard a small, short yipping sound come from behind her. Instinctively she turned around to see what the source of the noise had been and, to no surprise, found the source to be none other than Su-Z’s dog, Princess Thunder Guts.
When it came to Princess Thunder Guts, Adagio had mixed feelings regarding the petite pooch. She couldn’t deny that having a pet dog had its advantages, like making the house feel a little livelier and giving Sonata someone to play with who could keep up with her whenever she consumed too much sugar. But she also couldn’t deny that it also had its disadvantages. Princess Thunder Guts was a very high-maintenance pet, one that had a strict diet consisting of expensive dogfood and required almost daily bathing and grooming using only the finest of pet care products. So it goes without saying that she, as the household financier, harbored a few grievances about having the wee pup around.
“How did you get in here?” She asked the small dog, who was sitting on the floor about halfway between her chair and the door.
Adagio then looked up to find that the door to her room was, much to her surprise, slightly ajar. She could’ve sworn that she’d closed it after entering the room, but apparently she hadn’t closed it all the way, allowing Princess Thunder Guts to nudge it open and walk right on in.
Naturally Princess Thunder Guts didn’t answer Adagio’s question. All she did was continue to sit on the floor with her tongue sticking out of her open mouth and stare up at the Dazzling with a gleam in her eyes as she panted lightly.
“Whatever,” Adagio said as she turned back around, choosing to ignore the miniature mutt.
Just as Adagio reached for the next receipt that needed entering, she once again heard a small, short yipping sound coming from behind her. This time though, she didn’t turn around. A few seconds later when she started skimming the next receipt for the amount she heard yet another yip, but again she didn’t turn around. A few seconds after that she heard many yips repeating one right after the other, and it was then that she finally caved and turned around.
“What, dammit?!” She heatedly addressed Princess Thunder Guts as she spun her chair around.
As if seeing Adagio turn to face her were some sort of cue, Princess Thunder Guts proceeded to run up to her and jump right up onto her lap in what seemed like the blink of an eye.
“Hey!” Adagio said as her mind caught up with the fact that she now had a small dog sitting on her lap.
Princess Thunder Guts didn’t remain seated for long though. Before Adagio had a chance to try and remove the tiny interloper from her person, Princess Thunder Guts got up onto her hind legs, placed her fore legs on the Dazzling’s chest, and gave the girl an affectionate lick on the cheek.
Adagio didn’t take this very affectionately though.
“Why you little-” She said, now sounding downright pissed off, as she picked up Princess Thunder Guts, got up from her seat, and held the bitch out in front of her.
In spite of Adagio’s very infuriating feelings towards her at the moment, Princess Thunder Guts remained stouthearted. She continued to stare at the Dazzling with the same gleam in her eyes, even as she was being held up in the air against her will by the girl.
The longer Adagio stared back at Princess Thunder Guts, the more the gleam in the dog’s eyes began to have a noticeable effect on her. Specifically, she could feel her agitation slowly beginning to abate. She couldn’t explain how, but within that gleam she saw something that made her understand what it was that Princess Thunder Guts wanted; companionship. The Lilliputian creature she was holding in her hands wasn’t trying to annoy her or distract her from her work, she was just feeling lonely and wanted some company. And since Su-Z, Kiwi and Sonata were out in the barn and Aria was at CHS, that meant that she was the lucky soul who was chosen to provide that company.
It wasn’t long before Adagio’s irritation abated completely and she gave a defeated sigh. She then sat back down, placed Princess Thunder Guts back onto her lap, and looked down at the small dog with a stern, but not too stern, expression on her face.
“All right, you can stay,” She told the pup. “But you have to stay quiet, you have to stay on my lap, and you have to keep your tongue to yourself. Got it?”
Like before, Princess Thunder Guts didn’t answer the Dazzling’s question. All she did was continue to sit on the girl’s lap with her tongue sticking out of her open mouth as she lightly panted. Adagio took this as an acknowledgement that the petite pooch understood her, since she had just told her to stay quiet and all. And so with that she swiveled the chair back around so that she could get back to work, being mindful that she left a fair amount of room between herself and the desk as she did so. She didn’t want to inadvertently squish her new lap ornament.
As Adagio went back to work entering receipts, Princess Thunder Guts remained relatively well-behaved. She stayed on the Dazzling’s lap, she stayed quiet, and she didn’t try to lick the girl’s face as instructed. There were, however, a few times where she tried to lay a paw on the laptop while Adagio was typing, but only a few. It wasn’t difficult for her to eventually discern that touching the laptop was a no-no after the Dazzling gently swatted her paw away each time she reached for it.
All-in-all it only took Adagio about another hour to finish entering all the receipts. She hadn’t finished everything she needed to do to figure out the budget for next month, but she was at least at a point now where she could tell whether or not there was a $100 surplus that she could give to Sonata. And just as she’d feared, there wasn’t a $100 surplus. In fact, there was no surplus whatsoever. The numbers clearly showed that they had gone over-budget for the last month, and quite significantly at that.
“Dammit!” The Dazzling hollered as she slammed her laptop shut in frustration, causing Princess Thunder Guts to wince.
Upon realizing that she’d spooked the small dog on her lap, Adagio took her right hand and began to pet the poor thing in a very gentle and soothing manner.
“Sorry,” She apologized. “It’s just…why do I even bother setting a budget each month if no one’s going to adhere to it?”
Adagio then wrapped her arms around Princess Thunder Guts and got up from her seat.
“I mean, last month we spent over $100 on socks alone. Who needs that many socks?” The Dazzling leader continued to vent as she walked over to the window. “And all of that anime Aria keeps buying off of Amazon. Why the hell can’t she just get a Crunchyroll account to watch all of that stuff instead of buying all of those discs?”
In truth, Adagio knew that frivolous spending was only part of the reason their finances were in the red. The other part, arguably the bigger part, was that they were hardly making any money off of their emu. It had been the hopes of her and her sisters that bringing Kiwi and Su-Z on to assist them with the farm would help yield larger profits from the large birds’ oil, feathers, and eggs, but alas this hadn’t been the case thus far. Not because Kiwi or Su-Z were bad farmhands, far from it, but rather because of the emu themselves. They simply weren’t producing many eggs and their oil and feathers were proving extremely difficult to collect without harming them. And as if that weren’t bad enough, they were also having difficulty just trying to get what they had to retail on account of the fact that they had such small quantities to sell.
In short, unless more money started coming in from the emu, things weren’t likely to change financially for the five girls living on the farm. At least not for the better.
Once Adagio reached the window she stared out at the wide-open, flat landscape of the farm, as did Princess Thunder Guts. She could see the barn and part of the enclosure behind it where the emu roamed around most of the day from her vantagepoint, but she couldn’t see any emu, which was strange given the time of day. Usually by now all of the emu were let out to stretch their legs, yet she didn’t see a single one out there.
“Hope they didn’t run into any trouble out there,” She softly said aloud, referring to Sonata, Kiwi, and Su-Z.
Just then, Princess Thunder Guts gave a couple of quick yips that immediately drew Adagio’s attention. The Dazzling looked down at the small dog she was holding in her arms to see that something outside had clearly caught her notice, something significant enough to cause her to start making a small fuss. Curious as to what this something was, Adagio promptly brought her head back up to try and see it for herself. What it was she saw she found to be strangely both comedic and sad at the same time; An emu running around outside of the enclosed area with Sonata, Su-Z, and Kiwi chasing after it in a manner that looked like something straight out of The Benny Hill Show.
“Ah geez,” She said as lowered her head in embarrassment, finding that the classic comedy routine wasn’t as fun to watch when it involved her sister and housemates.
Princess Thunder Guts on the other hand seemed to be enjoying the show just fine. She couldn’t stop barking at it.
“Okay, I think we’ve had enough of that,” Adagio said as she pulled herself and Princess Thunder Guts away from the window, feeling that the petite pooch was getting a little too worked up.
As Adagio started making the short walk from the window back to her desk, a rather interesting thought popped into her head.
“You know, it’s too bad they don’t have Fluttershy’s geode,” She casually said aloud. “If they did then they probably wouldn’t have to-”
Adagio stopped herself midsentence, as well as stopped herself physically, as the interesting thought that had popped into her head abruptly became a metaphorical lightbulb that just clicked on in her head.
“Fluttershy’s geode,” She said softly to herself, right before she dawned an uncharacteristically wide smile and held Princess Thunder Guts out in front of her. “Fluttershy’s geode! That’s the answer!”
Naturally, Princess Thunder Guts winced a bit at Adagio’s sudden shouting, unaware that the girl was shouting for joy as opposed to shouting because she was angry.
“S-Sorry,” Adagio apologized as she once again held Princess Thunder Guts close to her chest, hoping that doing so would show the small dog that she wasn’t upset with her.
The Dazzling’s strategy seemed to work, as soon enough petite pooch was back to her usual, happy-go-lucky self.
“But don’t you see? With Fluttershy’s geode we can talk to the emu and get them to produce more eggs and oil and feathers!” She excitedly explained to the petite pooch. “If we can do that then we shouldn’t have a problem getting our products to market and we’ll finally start making some real money off of this farm!”
Feeling an overwhelming sense of excitement over her idea, along with a bit of self-satisfaction for having come up with the idea, Adagio took a seat on her bed and laid Princess Thunder Guts down next to her. She then began to contemplate how she would go about asking Fluttershy for help. The first way that came to mind was for her to just wait until it was her turn to be CHS’s librarian again and ask her then, but she didn’t like that option. She didn’t want to wait that long. The second way was for her to wait until after school and call Fluttershy, but she didn’t like that option either. Given the enormity of her request she figured it would be to ask it in-person. Plus she didn’t even want to wait that long. That only left one third and final option; She’d have to go to CHS and try to catch Fluttershy when she was at lunch. If it wasn’t already too late in the day that is.
Wasting no time, Adagio hastily reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone to see what time it was.
“Only 11:30,” She said aloud.
Perfect. That meant that as long as she could find a ride to CHS within the next ten minutes she would arrive at the school just in time to catch Fluttershy as she headed to lunch. The only problem was finding a ride in time. Since Aria had taken their only working vehicle to CHS earlier in the day she would have to rely on one of those ride-sharing services to get her to her destination, and those services weren’t always very quick in terms of picking people up. But what other choice did she have if she wanted to get to CHS by lunchtime?
“Where did I put that damn app?” Adagio asked herself as she started scrolling through her phone for the ride-sharing app she’d downloaded a while back.
After a few seconds of searching, the Dazzling found the app she’d been looking for and quickly opened it to request a ride. Once her request had been completed, she got a notification that a ride would be by to pick her up in approximately six minutes.
“Six minutes, huh?” She commented, sounding a tad skeptical, as she looked down at the notification before putting her phone back into her pocket. “Let’s hope so.”
With only about six minutes to get ready to leave, Adagio promptly got up from her seat on the bed, gathered what she needed to from her desk, and headed out into the hallway. She perhaps got halfway down the hall before she heard the tiny patter of paws on the hardwood floor coming from behind her. She stopped and turned around to see, who else, but Princess Thunder Guts emerging from her bedroom and heading right over to her.
“Oh for the love of-” She muttered to herself just before Princess Thunder Guts suddenly jumped up as she ran towards her.
Adagio instinctively reached her arms out to catch Princess Thunder Guts, and once the petite pooch was within her grasp she gave out another small, happy-sounding yip.
“No, you can’t come to school with me,” The Dazzling informed the small dog, interpreting her yip to mean that she wanted to tag along, before putting her down on the floor. “You have to stay here. So stay.”
Convinced that Princess Thunder Guts would follow her command, Adagio turned back around and once again headed for the front door. She didn’t get more than three steps forward before she heard paws pattering on the hardwood floor again.
“Oh for-” She said as she stopped, turned around, and looked down to see Princess Thunder Guts standing at about the same distance from her as when she’d put her down a second ago.
Figuring that another command to stay would do her no good, the Dazzling leader gave a small sigh as she summoned her wits about her to find a way to get out of the house without being followed. It took her a few seconds, but she was able to come up with an idea she thought just might work. But first she needed to gauge something really quick.
Without turning back around so she could keep an eye on Princess Thunder Guts, Adagio took one step backwards. And sure enough, not more than a second and a half later Princess Thunder Guts took a few steps forward until she was only a few feet away from her again.
“Quick little thing, aren’t you?” She softly said.
Now that Adagio knew just how quick she’d have to be to execute her plan successfully, she took a few more steps backwards until she was practically right up against the door. Princess Thunder Guts followed behind her, or rather in front of her, closely. After the petite pooch had stopped again, Adagio used her right hand to reach behind her and grab ahold of the doorknob. This was it. In one fluid motion, the Dazzling swiftly turned the doorknob, opened the door only a fraction of the way, slipped through the opening, and promptly closed the door behind her once she was outside, all within the span of about a second and a half.
“Ha!” She blurted out in triumph when she noticed that Princess Thunder Guts hadn’t made it outside.
Adagio’s victory was short lived though, as a few seconds later Princess Thunder Guts walked through the doggie door that Su-Z had installed in the front door a week ago.
“Oy vey,” The Dazzling leader uttered in complete and utter befuddlement as she stared down at the small dog, who was once more standing only a few feet away from her.
The synapses in Adagio’s brain struggled to fire correctly as she tried to come to grips with the fact that she’d just gone through all of that to try and keep Princess Thunder Guts in the house…only for her to easily walk through the doggie door. She just couldn’t believe she’d done all of that for nothing. But more than that, she just couldn’t help but feel like an idiot for forgetting that the doggie door was there in the first place.
Suddenly feeling like her legs were turned to jelly, the Dazzling gently fell to her knees and extended both of her arms out in front of her.
“You win,” She defeatedly admitted as she waved her fingers towards herself, beckoning for Princess Thunder Guts to come over to her.
Princess Thunder Guts seemed more than happy to oblige by Adagio’s beckon, because in the blink of an eye she rushed over to the girl and jumped right up against her chest.
After she found the strength to get back on her feet, Adagio picked herself back up and, with dog in-hand, walked over to one of the patio chairs to wait for her ride. Thankfully the wait wasn’t a long one, as a couple of minutes later a car matching the one from her notification pulled into the driveway, right at the six minute mark. When Adagio went to get into the car though there was a slight problem; the driver, a stout middle-aged woman, said that she couldn’t bring Princess Thunder Guts with her. But luckily the Dazzling had anticipated such a potential problem while she’d been waiting and had come up with a solution she felt would rectify it.
“If you let me bring the dog I’ll give you a five-star review and a 20% tip,” She told the driver.
And that was all it took for the problem to go away. The driver told Adagio that she had a deal, and as soon as everyone was buckled up they were off to Canterlot High School.
If Adagio hadn’t agreed to give the driver a five-star review and 20% tip at the beginning of the ride, she sure as hell wouldn’t have bestowed either upon her. Aside from arriving at CHS just in time for lunch liked she’d expected, the ride had been simply awful. The middle-aged woman had made a number of sharp turns where she went slightly over the curb, ran at least two stop signs, and at one point even yelled obscenities at an elderly woman in front of her whom she’d felt had been going too slow. It had truly been a nightmare of a ride, one that the Dazzling was grateful to have walked away from in one piece as she sauntered up the approach to Canterlot High School with Princess Thunder Guts in her arms.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m never using one of those ride-sharing services again,” She said to the small dog, which caused Princess Thunder Guts to give a small yip that she interpreted as an agreement.
As the Dazzling and her K-9 companion continued up the approach towards the school’s main entrance, Adagio couldn’t help but make note of how quiet and virtually deserted the whole front area of the school was. It was vastly different compared to the bustling of students, faculty, and staff getting ready for another day that she was used to seeing in the mornings when it was her turn to serve as librarian. The quiet and emptiness were almost eerie by contrast, and in a small way it made her feel glad that she’d ended up bringing Princess Thunder Guts along with her.
It didn’t take Adagio long to reach the main entrance, and just as she reached for the door to open it a startling realization hit her like a wrecking ball.
“Pets aren’t allowed at school,” She very matter-of-factly stated.
Adagio felt like giving herself a facepalm for having forgotten something else so incredibly obvious, but refrained from doing so since she was holding on to Princess Thunder Guts. First the doggie door earlier and now the school policy regarding pets, what was next? Forgetting her own sisters’ names?
“Really hope I never become that forgetful,” The Dazzling leader said, the very thought of ending up so absentminded making her cringe internally.
Putting aside her fears of potentially suffering from dementia someday, Adagio refocused all of her mental energy into how she was going to deal with the immediate problem she was facing; What to do about Princess Thunder Guts without breaking the school’s no-pets policy. At first she thought maybe she could just leave the small dog outside while she spoke with Fluttershy, but she quickly concluded that such an idea was terrible. The risk of Princess Thunder Guts running off was far too great. Maybe she could call Fluttershy on her cell phone and ask her to come outside so they could talk instead? No, that probably wouldn’t work. The school had another policy about students not having their cell phones on them during school hours, so in all likelihood Fluttershy didn’t have her phone on her right now. And even if by chance the Rainboom did happen to have her phone on her Adagio didn’t want to possibly get her in trouble for it.
It seemed like every idea that the Dazzling came up with was crazier and less likely to be successful than the last. But eventually she thought of an idea that was so crazy that it might just work.
“Okay, listen up,” She addressed Princess Thunder Guts as she held the petite pooch out in front of her. “I need you to do me a favor while we’re inside so I don’t get in trouble for breaking the school’s no-pets policy. I need you to play dead so that if anyone asks why I’m carrying you I can just say that you’re a plushie or something. You got that? I need you to play dead.”
All Princess Thunder Guts did in response was continue to stare at her as she panted lightly.
It was then that Adagio hung her head in total dejection. What was she thinking? Believing that Princess Thunder Guts could simply play dead on-command or that such a ploy would actually fool anyone even if she could? What a joke. Forget suffering from dementia someday, she was already suffering from delusion for even entertaining such an outlandish idea.
“Celestia help me, I think Sonata’s asininity is rubbing off on me,” She said aloud as she pulled Princess Thunder Guts back in and up against her chest.
Now convinced that her whole plan had been crazy from the very beginning, Adagio turned around and started to head down the front steps. She realized that it probably would have been better if she’d just been patient and waited until after school to call Fluttershy instead of hailing a ride-share-from-hell to talk to her sooner and in-person, all while bringing her housemate’s dog along and then asking said dog to play dead while at school on top of it. At this point it was probably best to just call it quits and head on home.
It wasn’t until the Dazzling reached the bottom of the steps that she realized she had a little problem.
“We’re stuck here unless we do the ride-sharing thing again,” She said.
Not wanting to risk getting into another ill-tempered person’s car, Adagio quickly decided not to pull out her phone and request another ride from her ride-sharing app. Instead, she simply took a seat on the front steps of the school as she tried to figure out what she was going to do now.
“I don’t suppose you have any ideas, do you?” She asked Princess Thunder Guts rhetorically.
Princess Thunder Guts gave no response…at all.
“Hey, you okay?” The Dazzling then asked, concerned by the small dog’s lack of any verbal or physical acknowledgement to her question.
Again, Princess Thunder Guts gave no response.
As a sense of dread started to creep over her, Adagio hastily pulled Princess Thunder Guts away from her chest and held the Lilliputian creature out in front of her to see if she was all right. Much to her dismay though, the small dog remained completely unresponsive, her eyes no longer containing the gleam she’d seen earlier. Instead, Princess Thunder Guts’ eyes were now cold and sterile, not unlike those of a doll.
“Oh no,” She uttered in sheer terror as she started to assume the worst. “Oh no, oh no, oh-”
Adagio abruptly stopped her freak-out as a sudden realization hit her about what was potentially going on right now. One that she prayed she was correct about.
“Are you…playing dead?” She tentatively asked. “Because if you are, please stop.”
Upon hearing Adagio’s words Princess Thunder Guts’ eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and she abruptly erupted with life, giving a small, happy-sounding yip that filled the Dazzling leader with more relief than she’d ever felt before in her life.
“Oh thank goodness,” She exclaimed. “After having to break the news to Aria about losing Glen there’s no way in hell I could’ve broken the news to Su-Z if something had happened to you.”
Once Adagio’s sense of relief started to dissipate, she began to truly appreciate just how well Princess Thunder Guts had played dead. Needless to say, it was a very convincing performance. So convincing in fact that if she hadn’t known that Princess Thunder Guts was a living, breathing dog she might have actually mistaken her for a stuffed plushie.
It wasn’t long before newfound feelings of optimism regarding her earlier plan started to sway Adagio’s thoughts towards going forward with said plan. After all, if Princess Thunder Guts really could play dead on-command and be so convincing then maybe, just maybe, it would work. Plus she really didn’t want to just continue sitting on the steps like she currently was, and since she’d decided not to hail another ride she didn’t really have much of an alternative but to go inside anyways.
“Eh, fuck it,” She said as she got up from her seat.
As Adagio pulled Princess Thunder Guts back up against her chest and headed towards the front door she told the small dog to play dead again. The petite pooch did as commanded and went virtually lifeless once more, and as soon as she did the Dazzling opened the doors and headed inside. Having no idea how long Princess Thunder Guts could keep up her charade, Adagio determined it was best that she not dillydally, so she headed straight for the cafeteria as quickly as possible without running. The last thing she needed was to draw unwanted attention by running through the hallway.
Naturally there were a number of students out in the halls as Adagio walked through them, many of them at their lockers dropping off books and grabbed their lunches. Thankfully most of the students paid Adagio no mind, and those that did simply gave her cursory glances and didn’t try to stop her to chat. But as the Dazzling turned a corner to get to the hallway where the cafeteria entrance was located, she was immediately accosted by quite possibly the last person she’d wanted to run into.
“Oh, hello, Adagio,” Vice-Principal Luna greeted her cordially.
“H-Hello, Luna,” The Dazzling tentatively greeted back, feeling a cold sweat start to come over her as she did so.
“I’m surprised to see you here today, given that it’s Aria’s day to serve as librarian,” The vice-principal then said, right before noticing Princess Thunder Guts within Adagio’s arms and dawning a more astringent expression. “Is that a live animal you’re holding?”
The harsher tone that Luna had used to ask her question only made Adagio’s cold sweat even worse. Thankfully though Princess Thunder Guts seemed unphased by everything that was happening, as evidenced by the fact that she was still playing dead. Meaning that the Dazzling wasn’t dead in the water just yet.
“Oh goodness no,” She replied in an overly amused manner as she desperately tried to come up with a phony reason for why she was holding what appeared to be a small dog. “This is just a plushie that I brought for…for…Aria!”
Vice-principal Luna’s astringent expression quickly changed into one of surprise upon hearing the Dazzling’s words. Adagio almost dawned a similar expression when she realized what it was she’d just said.
“Yes, this is for Aria,” She continued, practically saying whatever happened to pop into her head at this point. “You see, this is, um…my birthday present to her, because today is her birthday. I wanted to give it to her now because, um, I just couldn’t wait until tonight.”
Luna said nothing in response to the Dazzling leader’s claim. She just furrowed her brow in a way that made it obvious she had her doubts about what she’d just been told being the truth.
“I know, I know, it doesn’t seem like the kind of gift Aria would like. But believe me when I say that she’s really into this kind of cute stuff,” Adagio went on, doubling down on her claim. “She’s one of those people who acts all tough and apathetic on the outside but is actually just a big softy on the inside, you know?”
After Adagio finished speaking she put on a wide smile in an attempt to make her near-ramblings seem fully genuine. Despite how clearly forced it was it appeared to have the desired effect on Luna, as she lowered her brow and started to walk down the hall.
“Well, I won’t keep you then,” The vice-principal said, the tiniest hint of skepticism noticeable in her voice, as she passed by the Dazzling. “Please tell Aria I said happy birthday.”
“I-I will,” Adagio replied.
And with that, Luna turned the corner Adagio had emerged from only moments ago and was out of sight, which was Adagio’s cue to breathe a deep sigh of relief. She doubted that Luna had completely believed everything she’d said, but since the vice-principal hadn’t outright questioned any of it and left that was good enough for her.
“Good girl,” She softly praised Princess Thunder Guts for her unflinching performance, giving her a few light pats on the head as she did so.
Princess Thunder Guts continued to be a good girl and gave no response.
Adagio then started walking again and headed straight towards the entrance to the cafeteria as quickly as possible. Still being mindful not to run in the hallway though. Thankfully the hallway was virtually deserted now so she had no trouble reaching her destination without any further interruptions. When she did reach it, she crossed the threshold and stopped after only taking about a couple of steps inside. She wanted to get eyes on Fluttershy before she fully entered the large, crowded room. A quick scan of the cafeteria revealed to her that the Rainbooms were seated at a table to her right and about half-way towards the back of the room, but not all of the Rainbooms were present. Sunset Shimmer was missing, as was Fluttershy.
“Perfect,” The Dazzling sarcastically remarked, taking the animal-loving Rainboom’s absence from the table as that the universe hated her.
“Adagio?” A familiar voice suddenly called out from behind the Dazzling leader, causing her to wince and promptly turn around to see none other than Sunset Shimmer approaching her from the entrance.
“Oh, hi, Sunset,” She greeted her friend.
“What are you doing here? Isn’t Aria librarian today?” The fiery-haired Rainboom asked her, right before noticing Princess Thunder Guts within her arms. “And why are you holding Su-Z’s dog?”
It was then that Princess Thunder Guts ceased playing dead and gave a small, affectionate yip towards Sunset. Whether this was because the petite pooch was happy to see Sunset or because she simply couldn’t continue her charade any longer was unclear to Adagio, but either way it instantly put the Dazzling on edge. She hastily looked around to make sure that the yip hadn’t drawn any unwanted attention to them, and fortunately it seemed that it hadn’t. The only one who appeared to have heard it was Sunset, who simply gave the small dog a friendly smile.
“It’s a long story,” Adagio told Sunset once her attention was back on the Rainboom. “I’ll explain later if you want, but right now I need your help.”
“Oh, okay,” Sunset replied. “What is it you need?”
“I need to know where Fluttershy is,” The Dazzling elucidated. “I need to ask her if she can use her geode to communicate with our emu.”
“You need Fluttershy?” Sunset said somewhat sullenly. “I’m sorry, Adagio, but she’s not here today. She texted all of us a little before school this morning to say that she’s sick and probably won’t be better until next week.”
An involuntary twitch came over Adagio’s right eye as soon as she heard Sunset say that Fluttershy wasn’t at school today. Everything she’d gone through or put up with to get to CHS just to speak with the demure Rainboom had all been for nothing. She’d dealt with an overly-clingy Princess Thunder Guts, gotten into a car driven by an insane stranger, and lied to her boss about bringing a pet to school. All…for…nothing.
Resisting the urge to yell profanely at the top of her lungs, Adagio instead just hung her head in anguish. While it was true that her plan to ask for Fluttershy’s help with the emu was still an efficacious one and could wait until the girl was feeling better, she just couldn’t believe that this was the way things had turned out for her. There was no denying it; The universe hated her all right.
“Um, Adagio? Are you okay?” Sunset concernedly asked her friend, easily picking up on her now dismal mood.
Adagio was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn’t hear Sunset’s question to her. The only thing she could focus on at the moment was finding a way to salvage her self-appointed mission to CHS. Just because Fluttershy wasn’t around like she thought she’d be didn’t mean that she couldn’t find some benefit from schlepping all the way to the school. Maybe one of the other Rainbooms could use their magic to help with the emu instead. Like Rainbow Dash for example. She could use her superspeed to…to…pluck the emu’s feathers so quickly that they wouldn’t feel anything? No, that was a stupid idea. Maybe Twilight could use her telekinesis to…move eggs out of the emu faster? No, that was an even worse idea, on a multitude of levels. Maybe Sunset could…Sunset…
“Sunset!” The Dazzling exclaimed aloud, a bit louder than she’d intended, causing Sunset to flinch ever-so-slightly. “Maybe you can help me instead!”
“I-I can?” The Rainboom replied, sounding almost frightened.
“Yes, you can!” Adagio confirmed as she looked down at Sunset’s neck. “You can use your geode to see what the emu are feeling and-”
Adagio stopped herself mid-sentence when she noticed something rather odd; Sunset wasn’t wearing her geode right now.
“Where’s your geode?” She asked fastidiously.
“Oh, I, um, accidentally left it at home,” Sunset answered rather skittishly as she waved her right hand in a dismissive fashion. “See I was running late this morning and in my rush to get out the door I just…forgot about my geode is all. Dopey me.”
It didn’t take a detective to deduce that Sunset was acting much more volative than usual, and while Adagio was no detective she was certainly as smart and observant as one. Something was definitely wrong with Sunset’s explanation for why it was she wasn’t wearing her geode, no doubt about it. Before she had a chance to try and figure out what that something was though, Sunset started to walk away.
“I gotta go, Adagio. See you later,” The Rainboom said hastily as she headed over towards the table where the other Rainbooms were sitting.
Adagio said nothing in response on account of the fact that Sunset was already long gone before she had a chance to say anything. She would’ve given the girl a small wave goodbye at the very least if she could have, but since she was holding Princess Thunder Guts she couldn’t. All she could do was continue to stand near the entrance to the cafeteria and wonder what had just happened with her friend.
“Something’s definitely going on with her,” She said to herself as she looked on at the Rainboom’s table.
Princess Thunder Guts, in response, looked up at the Dazzling and gave another small yip.
“You think so too, huh?” Adagio then said, interpreting the petite pooch’s yip as a concurring remark.
With no Fluttershy to talk to like she’d planned, and not wanting to pressure Sunset into talking about whatever was going on with her right now, Adagio decided that she’d go to the library and spend the rest of the school day with Aria. She wasn’t too keen on the idea of essentially working for free for the rest of the afternoon, but at least helping Aria would kill time faster than just sitting somewhere doing nothing.
So after instructing Princess Thunder Guts to once again play dead, the Dazzling leader headed for the library.
The walk from the cafeteria to the library was thankfully a short one. And even more thankfully, the library was practically empty when Adagio walked into it. The Dazzling saw only her sister standing behind the check-out counter located near the entrance and a couple of students seated at a table clear on the other end of the room. Not 100 percent ideal, but certainly ideal enough that she could at least talk to Aria without anyone overhearing their conversation. Maybe the universe didn’t hate her as much as she thought.
“Hey, Aria,” Adagio said softly as she walked up to the check-out counter, gaining her sister’s attention.
“Adagio? What are you doing here?” Aria asked as she saw Adagio approach the counter, with Princess Thunder Guts in her arms. “And why’d you bring the mutt with you?”
“She’s been sticking to me like glue all day,” Adagio answered as she put the small dog down on the counter. “I have no idea why, and at this point I don’t even care.”
“O-kay,” Aria replied as she looked down at the motionless Princess Thunder Guts. “Uh, is she all right?”
“She’s fine, she’s just playing dead,” Adagio said right before giving the small dog a light tap on the back. “You can stop now, but you have to stay quiet, okay?”
And with that, Princess Thunder Guts silently sprang to life and looked up at Aria with a happy-looking expression on her face.
“How did…how did you…” The pig-tailed Dazzling tried to ask her sister, clearly confused by how Adagio was able to so masterfully command Su-Z’s dog.
“Again, I have no idea and at this point I don’t care,” Adagio dismissively said as she picked up Princess Thunder Guts and walked around to the other side of the counter.
Once Adagio was behind the counter with Aria she leaned down and placed Princess Thunder Guts on one of the small, cubby-like shelves underneath the counter to keep her out of sight. Princess Thunder Guts put up no resistance to this and obediently stayed on the shelf once Adagio let go of her. She even laid down like she was anticipating being there for a while and getting comfy. All of this continued to amaze and confuse Aria.
“So, you didn’t answer my question about what you’re doing here,” The pig-tailed Dazzling addressed her sister.
“I came here to ask Fluttershy to use her geode to talk to the emu and get them to produce more eggs, oil, and feathers,” Adagio explained as she leaned back up.
“…Huh?” Aria then said, sounding even more confused than she had just a moment ago.
“I know, I know, it wouldn’t solve the immediate problem of finding a $100 surplus for Sonata so that she could get that gaming chair for Rainbow Dash,” Adagio went on. “But I figured that her help with the emu might finally get us out of the financial red in the long-run.”
Aria just stared at her older sister like she’d just spoken Swahili or something.
“Did all that number crunching finally fry your brain, Adagio?” She eventually spoke up. “Because if not than I could really use some context for all of that.”
Acceding to her sister’s request, Adagio filled Aria in on her day from the time that Aria had left for school to just now. Sonata asking for the money, coming up with the idea to ask Fluttershy for help with the emu, the crazy car ride, lying to Luna, nothing was left out. That is, except for the part where she’d told Luna that Aria was into cute things. She knew better than to share that little detail with her sister.
By the end of it all Aria looked even more confused than she’d appeared to be before Adagio had started her story.
“Wow, that is…some morning you had there, sis,” The younger of the two Dazzlings remarked as she tried to process everything she’d just heard.
“You’re telling me,” Adagio bemoaned. “And what really sticks in my craw is that I put myself through all of that insanity for nothing. I mean, what was I thinking? Why didn’t I just wait until after school and try to call Fluttershy? It wouldn’t have mattered if I’d waited.”
Adagio then took a seat in a nearby chair and rested her head on the counter as a sense of melancholy came over her.
“I think you might’ve been right about my brain being fried, Aria,” She went on. “That’s the only explanation I can think of for why I did all that I did this morning.”
The feelings of melancholy stirring inside Adagio only grew strong the more she focused on everything she’d put herself through over the course of the morning. Was she really losing it? Was she really so unable to analyze her plan and see that it would yield fruitless results, regardless of whether or not it was successful? The very idea was downright devastating to her. She’d always prided herself on being smart and clever and ratiocinative, and now it appeared as though she was declining in those attributes? It was enough to make her feel like crying.
Before the Dazzling leader shed any tears though, she felt a small, wet tongue lick part of her right arm. She looked down at where she’d felt the lick and saw Princess Thunder Guts looking up at her from the shelf underneath the counter with the same gleam in her eyes that she’d had back at the house. It was hard for Adagio to explain, but somehow looking down at the petite pooch with the gleam in her eyes started to make her feel better.
Despite all of the madness that had befallen her today due to her own foolish plan, Adagio did have to admit she did have some fun with Princess Thunder Guts. She’d enjoyed having the small dog sit on her lap and provide some company while she’d entered receipts. She’d enjoyed the game they’d played when she’d tried to leave the house alone, only to be foiled by a simple doggie door. She’d enjoyed how they’d managed to fool Vice-Principal Luna into believing that she was just a stuffed plushie, even though that event was rather nerve-racking at the time. So maybe, just maybe, everything she’d been through hadn’t been for nothing after all. Maybe she just ended up with something she hadn’t counted on. Something totally different, but still well worth the cost.
“Okay, enough with the pity-party, sis,” Aria started to say just as Adagio reached underneath the counter. “I was just joking about your brain being fried, and besides-”
Aria stopped herself mid-sentence when she saw Adagio pull Princess Thunder Guts out from beneath the counter and hold her up against her chest in a hug.
“Thank you,” Adagio said softly with a warm smile on her face.
The sudden display of affection that Adagio was currently showing Princess Thunder Guts freaked Aria out a bit. She’d never seen her older sister be that loving towards anyone other than Dolly before, and even though most would find such a scene to be sweet or beautiful, Aria found it to be…unsettling.
“Uh, Adagio? You okay?” The pig-tailed Dazzling asked concernedly.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Adagio replied rather serenely as she put Princess Thunder Guts back on the shelf beneath the counter.
Once again, the small dog put up no resistance to this and obediently stayed on the shelf once Adagio let go of her.
“Now you keep being a good girl and stay there until the day is over with, okay?” Adagio told Princess Thunder Guts.
Princess Thunder Guts gave a small, adorable yawn in response before laying down on the shelf and closing her eyes, which then caused Adagio to give a small, amused chuckle. Aria, meanwhile, continued to be utterly vexed by her sister’s current behavior.
“All right, so what do you need help with, Aria?” Adagio said as she turned to face her younger sister, sounding more like her usual self now.
“Um, well, you can help re-shelf these books,” Aria replied, pointing to a stack of nearby books on the counter as she did so.
“Sounds good,” Adagio simply replied before picking up the stack of books and walking away.
Once Adagio disappeared behind one of the bookcases, Aria turned her attention down towards Princess Thunder Guts. By all appearances the small dog seemed to be asleep, but the Dazzling wasn’t sure she actually was. Regardless though, Aria didn’t dare disturb her, despite feeling a strong desire to pick her up and hold her close to see if she too would suddenly get all affectionate just like Adagio just had.
All things considered, the rest of the day went by without much of a hitch for either Adagio or Aria. Together the two Dazzlings managed to get a fair amount of work done around the library, and all with no problems from Princess Thunder Guts. The only time the pup ever bothered them was when she needed to be taken outside to go to do her business, but since she was so masterful at playing dead while in the hallways it was virtually no trouble for Adagio to handle it. Eventually the day came to an end as it always did, and when it did the two sisters along with their K-9 companion hopped into the car and headed on home. Thankfully for Adagio and Princess Thunder Guts the ride home proved much better than the ride they’d had going to CHS, but that was no surprise. Aria was a good driver…most of the time.
“So I gotta ask, Adagio,” Aria said as they approached their driveway. “What was Su-Z’s reaction when you told her you were taking her dog with you to school?”
As soon as Adagio heard Aria ask her question, she could’ve sworn she’d heard glass breaking within her mind. She’d been in such a rush to get to CHS earlier that she’d neglected to tell Su-Z, Sonata, or Kiwi that she was leaving and taking Princess Thunder Guts with her. And only now had she realized this massive oversight.
“Um, I…might have forgotten to mention that to her,” She embarrassingly admitted just as Aria pulled into the driveway.
“Huh,” Aria replied before removing her right hand from the steering wheel and pointing her index finger straight ahead. “Well it looks like you’ll get your chance to mention it now.”
Adagio looked to where Aria was pointing and saw Sonata, Kiwi, and Su-Z standing out by the front of the house watching the car pull up the driveway with concerned looks on their faces. It wasn’t difficult for her to guess why it was they all looked so concerned.
Once Aria stopped the car and turned it off, she got out of the vehicle first and was immediately accosted by Su-Z.
“We can’t find Princess Thunder Guts anywhere!” The PostCrush girl frantically shouted right in Aria’s face. “We need you to help us look for her!”
“That…won’t be necessary,” Adagio timidly spoke up as she got out of the car and held Princess Thunder Guts out in front of her.
“Princess Thunder Guts!” Su-Z happily exclaimed as she rushed over to the other side of the car, snatched her beloved dog right out of Adagio’s hands, and held her close to her chest. “I was so, so worried about you, little girl!”
Happy to see her owner again, Princess Thunder Guts gave a couple of cheerful yips and licked Su-Z’s cheek as she was practically smothered against the girl’s chest.
“What were you doing with Princess Thunder Guts?” Kiwi asked Adagio.
“Yeah, about that. It’s…a bit of a long story,” Adagio awkwardly replied as she began to rub the back of her head with her right hand. “But regardless I know I shouldn’t have taken her to CHS with me without telling any of you first. So…sorry.”
“You took her to CHS?” Sonata chimed in. “Why did you go there?”
“Again, bit of a long story,” Adagio answered as she lowered her hand from her head. “I’ll explain everything over dinner.”
“You guys are going to love hearing it, trust me,” Aria remarked in a quasi-amused manner, earning her a dirty look from Adagio just before she and everyone else started heading inside.
Adagio did like she’d said and shared the story of her day with everyone over dinner a few minutes later. Much like earlier when she’d told it to Aria though, she made sure to leave out the part where she’d told Luna that her pig-tailed sister liked cute things.
The general consensus was that of disbelief and mild awe when it came to Sonata and Kiwi reactions. Heck, Sonata had been so enraptured by her sister’s story that she never even raised an issue about there not being a $100 surplus for her. Though when it came to Su-Z, Adagio’s tale appeared to have made her feel positively elated, much to the Dazzlings’ surprise. She’d expected the girl to be angry that she’d absconded with her dog for a few hours, not delighted.
“Aww, did you have a fun day with Adagio, Princess?” Su-Z mellifluously asked her dog, who was sitting on the floor next to her chair.
Princess Thunder Guts responded by running underneath the table and pawing at Adagio’s leg until the Dazzling reached down, picked her up, and placed her on her lap.
“EeeeEee!” The PostCrush girl then squeed in sheer delight.
Neither Kiwi, Sonata, nor Aria understood why it was Su-Z was so happy that Adagio and her dog had apparently bonded, but honestly none of them really cared that much about it. Aria and Sonata were each considerably more perplexed by the simple fact that Adagio and Princess Thunder Guts had bonded. Kiwi, on the other hand, wasn’t all that concerned about Adagio and Princess Thunder Guts new relationship at all. She was much more troubled by something that Adagio had mentioned in her story.
“Okay, I’m going to my room,” Adagio said as she took hold of Princess Thunder Guts and got up from her seat. “I still have to figure out what next month’s budget is going to look like.”
No one said anything as Adagio left the kitchen and headed for her room. When the Dazzling leader did get to her room she didn’t immediately go back to working on the household finances though. Instead, she placed Princess Thunder Guts down on the floor and then proceeded to lay down on her bed for a much needed breather. Her day had been so crazy that she felt she needed a little bit of downtime to recharge before getting back to the mind-numbing task of crunching numbers.
“What a day,” She commented just before Princess Thunder Guts jumped up on the bed and walked right up onto her chest.
The initial feeling of having Princess Thunder Guts step on her was a bit discomforting for Adagio, but once the petite pooch ceased moving and laid down she felt fine and decided to let her stay.
“You’re just an agglutinant little thing, aren’t you?” She playfully asked the small dog as she started to pet her.
Eventually Adagio stopped petting Princess Thunder Guts and she just laid on the bed in quiet contemplation. She thought about everything that she’d been through over the course of the day and how, despite not getting to talk to Fluttershy like she’d wanted to, it wasn’t that bad of a day in the end. There was, however, one thing that still troubled her; Sunset Shimmer.
Adagio knew Sunset, first as an enemy, then as a friend after she’d taken her and her sisters in. And in a strange way, that made the fiery-haired Rainboom her best friend. She knew Sunset’s strengths and weaknesses, her likes and dislikes, even how crispy she preferred her toast in the morning. The only other people she knew that well were her own sisters. So when Adagio heard Sunset say that she’d forgotten her geode because she’d been running late for school this morning, she knew she wasn’t telling the truth. Sunset was never forgetful when it came to her geode, no matter how much of a rush she might be in. Putting it on every morning was always the first thing she did, which meant that the girl wasn’t wearing it on purpose.
But why?
After a few minutes of contemplating this question to no avail, Adagio heard a small knock on her door.
“Adagio, you busy?” Kiwi’s voice came from out in the hall.
“No, come on in,” Adagio replied as she sat up, making sure to take hold of Princess Thunder Guts before doing so.
Kiwi promptly entered the room and closed the door behind her.
“What’s on your mind?” The Dazzling then asked as she motioned for Kiwi to take a seat next to her on the bed.
“Sunset Shimmer,” The former popstar answered as she took a seat, much to Adagio’s surprise. “I can’t stop thinking about what you said about your conversation with her and how she wasn’t wearing her geode and I…I just have this strange feeling that something’s wrong with her.”
Adagio wasn’t sure what to make of Kiwi’s concern for Sunset. After all, Kiwi hadn’t been there at lunch time when Sunset became edgy over the subject of her missing geode like she had, so how could the PostCrush girl get the same impression of it simply by hearing about it secondhand? But even still, she couldn’t deny the sincere conviction in Kiwi’s voice when she said she believed Sunset wasn’t okay.
“I know, I feel the same way,” The Dazzling admitted. “Given how much those geodes mean to each of the Rainbooms, I find it difficult to believe Sunset would be so forgetful with hers.”
“So what do you think we should do?” Kiwi asked as she scooched a bit closer towards Adagio. “I mean, if we’re right and something really is wrong with Sunset we can’t just do nothing.”
“I don’t know,” Adagio replied as she looked Kiwi straight in the eyes with a look of extreme austerity. “But I guarantee you, we will do something.”