“True, true original. True, true original ~” Su-Z sang to the emu she was grooming, though at a slower and more soothing tempo than usual. “True, true original. We’re perfect, perfectly true ~”
*RRMMOO*
The PostCrush girl’s emu let out a low, happy sounding note as she continued to brush and sing to him, eliciting a cheerful smile from the former popstar.
Only a few months had passed since Su-Z and Kiwi had come to live and work on the Dazzlings’ emu farm, but for the former popstar it felt more like she’d been there for a few years. Unlike Kiwi, the younger of the two PostCrush girls had had little to no trouble acclimating to farm life. Perhaps it was because of all the years she’d spent taking care of Princess Thunder Guts, but Su-Z not only found it fairly undemanding to tend to the emus but also somewhat enjoyable. Almost immediately after her first day of work she’d discovered a certain satisfaction in ensuring the large birds were taken care of and cherished. A satisfaction that, while not as intoxicating as the satisfaction that came from playing a sold-out show, was still very much rewarding.
However, despite the contentment she felt from her new station in life, Su-Z did have to admit that farm life had its downsides compared to popstar life. She no longer got to travel the world for one thing - which she’d absolutely loved - nor did she have as many nice possessions as she’d once had. Plus, money was much tighter now, more so than it had ever been for her. But these and other downsides were seen as trivial to her, and when she considered the upsides that had come about from living and working on the Dazzlings’ farm, such as the strong bonds she’d formed with the former sirens and the friendship she’d forged with Sonata’s daughter, Dolly, she was grateful for where life had taken her.
Though the PostCrush girl did wish that her journey to the farm hadn’t involved such a painful and ruinous fall from stardom.
“Damn, I’ve never seen Cole act so relaxed during a grooming before,” Aria Blaze said from the pen to Su-Z’s left.
“Me either,” Su-Z replied. “Usually he’s all fussy and grouchy whenever Kiwi or I try to groom him. No idea why he’s so much calmer today.”
“Beats me,” Aria admitted just as she finished grooming her emu. “Though if I had to guess, I’d say it’s probably because of your singing. Glen always seemed to like it when I hummed a song or two while I groomed him.”
The PostCrush girl nearly dropped her brush when she heard Aria bring up Glen. Back when she and Kiwi had first started working on the farm, Sonata had warned them about bringing up the middle Dazzling’s favorite emu who’d passed away, and Aria herself rarely ever spoke of him. So to hear the pigtailed girl make mention of him so casually was nothing short of surprising.
“I always wondered if all emu liked music or if it was just him. I never hummed or sang to any of the others,” The Dazzling continued, now sounding somewhat somber. “It always felt like that was something special between us, you know?”
“Uh-huh,” Su-Z replied sympathetically.
A brief moment of silence fell across the barn as Aria exited the pen she was in and took a seat on a nearby small bench.
“I know it sounds stupid, but I really miss that big, dumb bird,” The Dazzling lamented.
As the PostCrush girl finished grooming Cole and put her brush down, she wondered why it was that her friend was suddenly so chatty about Glen. It was unlike Aria to go off on a random tangent like this, and the fact that that tangent had led to her discussing something that she’d been told was a sensitive subject for the Dazzling. But regardless of whatever the reason for Aria precipitously opening up about her deceased emu, Su-Z knew what it was she had to do next.
“Hey, there’s nothing stupid about that,” The PostCrush girl compassionately told her friend as she took a seat next to her. “Glen was someone special to you and he’s gone, it’s only natural for you to miss him.”
Su-Z then placed a supportive hand atop the Dazzling’s.
“If I ever lost Princess Thunder Guts like you’d lost Glen I know I’d miss her every single day,” She continued. “So don’t feel bad about missing your emu. There’s nothing wrong with missing someone you felt close to, whoever they were.”
Another brief moment of silence followed as Aria turned her head away from Su-Z, though the PostCrush girl could’ve sworn she heard her friend give a small sniffle as she did so.
“Yeah, well, it’s not like I miss Glen that much or anything,” The Dazzling eventually said in her typical tsundere fashion, though still with a hint of somberness evident within her voice. “I mean I miss him every once and a while, but not, like, every single day.”
Having known Aria long enough to understand her oranyan tendencies, Su-Z simply gave a playful eyeroll while her friend wasn’t looking and patted her hand a few times.
“Whatever you say, Aria,” The PostCrush girl facetiously said.
As Su-Z humored her friend’s faux surliness externally, internally she found herself fending off feelings of jealousy towards the Dazzling. Much to both the PostCrush girl’s surprise and dismay, she found herself feeling jealous of Aria for being able to open up about a subject that was so touchy for her, something that she herself often struggled with.
Like most people, Su-Z had a few subjects that she was pretty sensitive about. Subjects such as her sister Eclipse and PostCrush losing a Best New Band award to a one-hit wonder group called Of Girls and Rabbits a few years back to name a few. But unlike most people – or perhaps still like most people - the former popstar tended to avoid these subjects as much as possible. It was only natural, she felt, to steer clear of such delicate matters whenever feasible, as well as bury any negative emotions that arose whenever it was impossible to avoid them.
Alongside the PostCrush girl’s jealousy though was another feeling, one that she didn’t find quite as ugly; admiration. Seeing Aria find the courage and strength to start to overcome her pain from losing Glen filled her with a warm respect for the girl, even if it made her feel somewhat inadequate by comparison. And so, Su-Z chose to focus on this admiration rather than her jealousy, and as a result she buried the negative emotion down deep inside herself.
“Come on,” Aria said as she abruptly stood up. “We better get back to the house before Adagio gets pissed at us for being late.”
“Yeah, okay,” Su-Z concurred right before standing up as well.
As the two girls made their way through the barn towards the exit, the PostCrush girl glanced at all the emus they passed along the way and studied each of them for a couple of seconds. She and Aria had spent the majority of the morning and early afternoon grooming the emus - at Adagio’s strong insistence - in preparation for the arrival of the associate from Banyan Capital who was visiting them later in the day, and despite feeling as though they’d both done their best, she wasn’t all too sure their efforts had been enough. There was no denying that the large birds looked better than they had a few hours ago, but on the whole they still appeared rather bushy and unkempt.
“You think we got all the emus looking presentable enough?” She asked Aria as they continued to walk, wondering if the girl’s older sister would feel satisfied with their work.
“Eh, probably not,” The Dazzling answered bluntly. “But I don’t think it really matters. I’m pretty sure the venture capital person is going to care more about our business plan than how our emus look – despite Adagio’s belief to the contrary.”
“She really puts a lot of emphasis on appearances, huh?” Su-Z half-asked, half-stated.
“You don’t know the half of it,” Aria replied spiritlessly.
“Honestly though, I’m not even sure why Adagio’s getting so bent out of shape over this meeting,” The PostCrush girl then said as she and Aria exited the barn and headed for the house. “I mean, with that high-paying courier job you got we should be okay moneywise even without Banyan Capital’s help, shouldn’t we?”
“Yeeeah, no,” The Dazzling said awkwardly. “The job may be high-paying but it’s only on an as-needed basis, so I don’t know how much money I’ll be bringing in from month-to-month. Plus I’m not even sure how long the job is going to last for anyhow.”
Su-Z felt strongly inclined to inquire more about what Aria’s mysteriously lucrative courier job was, but since she knew such inquiries would be futile she remained silent. Adagio, Sonata, and herself had all previously pressed the girl for information regarding her new job when she’d returned from her job hunt with a good-sized wad of cash, but she’d refused to say anything about it other than that she was acting as a courier. Even Kiwi, who’d accompanied Aria on her search for employment, had refused to shed any light on Aria’s job – and rather disgruntledly at that – leading the PostCrush girl to come to the unsettling conclusion that Aria was working as a drug mule.
Not too surprisingly, Sonata had come to the same conclusion that Su-Z had, as evidenced by the youngest Dazzling having straight up asked her sister if she was running drugs. Naturally, Aria had vehemently denied that she was, and with Kiwi having backed her up on that denial all parties involved were satisfied with Aria keeping her job a secret so long as she was bringing in money from it. Though, at least in Su-Z’s case, some silent curiosities remained.
The PostCrush girl figured that someday she’d learn more about Aria’s mysterious new job, but much like with Glen, she knew that that day would come when the Dazzling was good and ready to talk about it.
“Ah geez,” Aria randomly and dejectedly said as the two girls approached the house.
“What’s wrong?” Su-Z confusedly inquired.
“That package over there,” The Dazzling replied as she pointed towards the porch.
The former popstar looked over to where her friend was pointing and saw a fairly large cardboard box lying on their porch near the front door, presumably left there by some delivery driver while they’d been in the barn.
“What about it?” She asked.
“How much you wanna bet it’s full of skin care products that Sonata bought after watching late-night infomercials again,” Aria rhetorically asked her housemate.
The PostCrush girl said nothing in response. She wanted to refute the Dazzling’s belief that Sonata had gone on a spending spree after watching one-too-many infomercials in the middle of the night whilst unable to fall asleep, but she knew all too well that the girl might have done just that.
A few seconds later the two girls reached the porch, and when they did they each stopped to inspect the box to see whose name was on the shipping label.
“Huh?” Su-Z said aloud when she saw that the package was addressed to her.
“Something you weren’t expecting?” Aria said in response to her friend’s confused remark.
“Yeah. No idea what this could be,” The PostCrush girl replied as she scanned the package for clues as to either its contents or where it had come from. “I know I didn’t order anything online or off of any infomercials, so I don’t know what -”
Su-Z abruptly cut herself when her eyes fell on the return address located in the upper right-hand corner of the shipping label. There was no name listed on it, but the street name alone told her everything that she needed to know.
“Ah geez,” She said dejectedly. “It’s junk from my mom.”
“How do you know it’s junk?” Aria inquired.
“Because she always sends me junk whenever she goes on one of her cleaning benders,” The PostCrush girl replied as she removed the tape from the top of the package and opened the box, revealing an assortment of various items within. “See? Nothing but a bunch of random stuff from when I was younger that she either thinks I want or that she can’t stomach to just throw out.”
“Ah,” The Dazzling simply replied as Su-Z hoisted the box off the ground and placed it on a nearby patio chair.
“Look at all of this,” The former popstar said as she started to rummage through the contents of the package. “Old boardgames, sketchbooks from grade school, Tamagotchis, -”
“What’s a Tamagotchi?” Aria interrupted.
“A digital pet that I never took care of but always wanted more of for some reason,” Su-Z answered as she continued to rummage. “Geez, can you believe this? My mom even threw in some crumbled-up newspaper clippings from when Kiwi and I were – oh my gosh! Cloudpuff!”
Within the blink of an eye, the PostCrush girl pulled a small white plush dog with wings from the box and held it close to her cheek.
“I thought I’d lost you years ago!” She said to the stuffed animal as she lovingly nuzzled it. “Ooooh, you’re just as fluffy and cuddly as I remember!”
Su-Z continued to affectionately cuddle her childhood toy for a few seconds until she heard the very distinct sound of Aria snickering playfully.
“I-I mean, um…” The former popstar embarrassingly began to say as she quickly removed the plush novelty from her face and threw it back into the box. “…I’m not excited at all about seeing the stuffed animal that I used to sleep with when I was younger. Nope, not excited at all.”
“Uh-huh, sure. Whatever you say, Su-Z,” The Dazzling facetiously told her friend.
Still feeling no small amount of embarrassment from her over-the-top reaction to seeing her long-lost childhood toy again, Su-Z swiftly folded the box back up and picked it up.
“C-Come on, let’s get inside,” She said, a small blush now crossing her face, as she desperately tried to open the front door with her hands full, though to no avail.
“Here,” Aria said as she opened the door for her friend.
“Thanks,” The PostCrush girl hastily lauded the Dazzling as she headed inside.
Upon entering the house, Su-Z couldn’t help but take notice of how much cleaner the living room and kitchen each looked than usual. Normally both rooms were aesthetically pleasing enough with only a few things here-or-there that seemed unpalatable, but since the meeting with the Banyan associate was likely to take place primarily in either one Adagio had strongly insisted – or rather strongly demanded – that, much like the barn and the emus, they look as spick and span as possible. And thanks to the efforts of Adagio, Kiwi, and Sonata, they did look incredibly spick and span.
“Hmm,” The former popstar muttered to herself as she contemplated where to set the box in her hands down without upsetting any of her housemates’ hard work.
After scanning the living room and kitchen for a few seconds, the PostCrush girl came to the conclusion that the best place to set down her package, at least temporarily, was the kitchen table. There was nothing else on the flat piece of furniture at the moment and it was highly unlikely that placing the box on top of it would dirty it up any. Plus it seemed like the most logical spot to set down a large box, even without worrying about disrupting the cleanliness of the house.
And so, with the weight of the box in her arms starting to get to her, Su-Z hurriedly made her way to the kitchen and carefully placed her package atop the table.
“Are you serious?!” Adagio’s voice suddenly roared from the nearby hallway, instantly causing the PostCrush girl to swiftly remove the box she’d just set down from the tabletop.
“The box was on the table when I got here!” She fibbed as she turned around, expecting to see Adagio staring daggers at her.
Much to Su-Z’s surprise though, when she looked over at the hallway there was no one standing there. Needless to say, the former popstar felt a sense of relief that Adagio’s hollering hadn’t been directed at her, but at the same time she couldn’t help but be curious as to what it was that had caused the eldest Dazzling to raise her voice.
“Oh, great,” Aria sarcastically remarked from over by the front door. “What’s Adagio getting her panties in a bunch over now?”
Almost as soon as Aria finished speaking, one of the bedroom doors from down the hall flung open and Adagio stormed out into the hallway.
“Where are the car keys?!” The poofy-haired girl shouted at no one in particular.
“Dagi, please, just calm down,” Sonata pleaded with her older sister as she followed behind her, who in turn was followed behind by Kiwi. “This isn’t that big a deal.”
“Not that big a deal? Not that big a deal?!” Adagio said bemusedly as she stopped dead in her tracks and turned to face her sibling. “How can you of all people say that this isn’t that big a deal?!”
Even from where Su-Z was standing, she could see the trepidation that was starting to come over Sonata as a result of Adagio yelling right in her face. Instinctively, the PostCrush girl started to make her way over to the two girls to try and disseminate the situation, but before she was able to take more than a couple steps forward Aria beat her to it.
“Okay, okay. What’s going on?” The middle Dazzling asked her siblings, in a manner that gave one the distinct impression that this was something she had to do all too often.
Adagio looked over at Aria for a split-second before returning her gaze right back to Sonata.
“You wanna tell Aria, or do you want to wait another few weeks to let her in on your little secret?” The Dazzling leader crassly asked her youngest sibling.
“Um, w-well, you see, Aria,” Sonata started to say, sounding noticeably flustered. “Dolly met a boy in her oceanography class at school, and the two of them, um…have started dating.”
“Ah, so that’s what this is about,” Su-Z uttered softly to herself just as Kiwi walked up beside her.
“You already knew about this?” The older of the two PostCrush girls asked.
“Yeah, Dolly told me about her boyfriend over the phone a few weeks ago,” Su-Z answered. “She told Sonata not long afterwards, and when she did all three of us agreed that it would probably be best to keep it a secret until we figured out how to break the news to Adagio.”
“Can’t imagine why you felt the need to do that,” Kiwi commented sarcastically.
“Seriously? Are you not seeing how Adagio’s acting right now?” The younger PostCrush girl replied, clearly not picking up on her friend’s mordancy.
“Sarcasm, Su-Z,” Kiwi candidly informed the girl.
“Ohhh,” Su-Z replied, as if gaining some great new perspicacity. “Well anyways, I’m guessing since Adagio found out about Dolly’s boyfriend that means Sonata accidently spilled the beans, huh?”
“Yep,” Kiwi confirmed “And as soon as she did Adagio started freaking out, and, well, here we are.”
“Here we are,” Su-Z reiterated as she and Kiwi watched the family drama amongst the three Dazzling sisters continue to unfold before them.
“Oh, I trust Dolly. It’s this new boyfriend of hers that I don’t trust,” Adagio told her siblings as she practically shoved them out of her way and headed for the front door. “I want to know who he is and what his intentions with Dolly are, and the best way for me to do that is to drive to Dolly’s school and have a little chat with him.”
Within what seemed like the blink of an eye, the eldest Dazzling reached the door, grabbed the car keys from off a nearby table, and flung the door open with so much force that one would think she were trying to tear the thing off its hinges.
“Uh, Adagio? Our meeting with Banyan?” Aria reminded her older sister just before she stepped outside.
An awkward silence fell over the house for a few seconds as Adagio simply stood in the doorway whilst everyone else watched her, waiting to see what it was the girl would do next. Eventually, the Dazzling leader took a step back and gently closed the door before turning back around.
“I’m going as soon as our meeting is done,” She said reluctantly and sharply as she made her way back over to the others.
Aria and Sonata each let out a small, discreet sigh of relief as their older sister rejoined them, though not so small and discreet that it avoided Su-Z’s notice. In truth, the younger PostCrush girl felt relieved that Adagio wasn’t rushing off to reenact the Spanish Inquisition with Dolly’s boyfriend for the time being, she just didn’t show it. She had no doubt that the Dazzling meant it when she said that she’d leave immediately after their meeting with Banyan concluded, but she also had faith that by that time the girl would be a bit calmer – especially if the Banyan meeting ended up going well.
Not long after Adagio reconvened with her sisters, her gaze shifted over towards Su-Z and Kiwi. And when it did, she quickly dawned an expression of curiosity and confusion.
“What’s with the box, Su-Z?” The Dazzling leader asked her.
“Oh, this?” Su-Z replied as she hoisted the box up slightly. “It’s just a bunch of junk my mom sent me.”
“And Cloudpuff,” Aria added jocosely, much to Su-Z’s chagrin.
“Well just throw it in your room before the Banyan associate gets here,” Adagio instructed the former popstar.
“On it,” The former popstar said as she started to make her way towards her bedroom, happy to finally have a place where she could set her package down without worry.
Just as Su-Z was about to enter the hallway leading to her room, the sound of three swift, loud knocks from over by the front door echoed throughout the house, immediately garnering the attention of all five girls within it.
“Is that the Banyan person?” Sonata wondered aloud.
“I don’t know,” Adagio answered, a hint of trepidation noticeable within her voice. “Just…everyone get into position!”
At Adagio’s direction, Aria, Sonata, Kiwi and Su-Z all went to assigned positions that the elder Dazzling had given them the day before for when the Banyan associate arrived. Aria joined her older sister to answer the door while Sonata went and grabbed a plate of assorted cheeses from the kitchen counter to offer their guest. Kiwi and Su-Z both went to sit down at the kitchen table - Su-Z doing so whilst still carrying the package from her mother.
“Su-Z!” Adagio hollered at the girl when she noticed the large parcel was still in her hands.
“On it!” Su-Z reiterated before abruptly changing course and double-timing it to her bedroom.
Within a matter of seconds the former popstar disappeared into the hallway, effectively removing herself from view of the front door just as Adagio and Aria reached it. After confirming that Su-Z and her subfuscous box of junk were no longer within sight, Adagio quickly reached for the doorknob and, with a surprising amount of grace, swiftly opened the door.
“Hello! And welcome to Dazzling Farms!” The eldest Dazzling cheerfully blurted out to the person on the other side of the threshold, before even getting a good look at them.
“When did we start calling this place ‘Dazzling Farms’?” Sonata discreetly whispered to Kiwi after hearing her sister’s boisterous greeting.
“I’m guessing just now,” Kiwi just as discreetly whispered back.
“Oh, um, hello,” A professional-looking young woman with light sapphire bluish gray hair answered Adagio. “I’m supposed to meet with an Adagio Dazzle here on behalf of Banyan Capital. My name is -”
“Yes, of course! We’ve been expecting you!” Adagio interrupted the woman, right before gently putting an arm around her back. “Please, please, come in!”
“T-Thank you,” The Banyan associate apprehensively replied as she was lightly pulled into the house by the Dazzling leader.
“I’m Adagio Dazzle, the chief financial officer,” The poofy-haired girl introduced herself. “And this is my sister Aria, our production manager.”
“Hey,” Aria simply said as she extended an amiable hand out to their guest.
“Nice to meet you,” The Banyan woman replied as she shook the Dazzling’s hand.
“And over here is my other sister Sonata,” Adagio then said as she guided the woman over towards her youngest sibling. “She’s, um…someone who helps out from time-to-time.”
“Hello!” Sonata greeted the Banyan associate as she shoved the platter in her hand right in the woman’s face. “Care for some cheese?!”
“Um, n-no, thank you,” The woman somewhat squeamishly declined. “I’m lactose intolerant.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry about that,” Adagio apologized.
Immediately after Adagio’s mea culpa, the eldest Dazzling vigilantly shot Sonata a very stern and very austere face in an attempt to silently communicate to her younger sibling to remove the cheese platter from their guest’s face. Thankfully, Sonata instantly picked-up on her older sister’s non-verbal message and quickly did as requested.
“And over here we have one of our farmhands,” Adagio then said once the woman’s face was free of dairy-product. “Her name is -”
“Kiwi Lollipop?” The Banyan associate interjected in bewildered astonishment.
“Um, yes, that’s me,” The former popstar replied almost as bewilderedly as she got up from her seat to greet the woman.
As Kiwi extended her hand for a handshake, she tried to figure out how it was that this stranger apparently knew who she was. After about a millisecond though - and to no small amount of personal embarrassment - the girl remembered that at one point she’d been one of the biggest names in pop music, and that in all likelihood the Banyan associate knew of her from her time as a member of PostCrush.
However, the more the PostCrush girl looked at the woman standing in front of her the more she got the sense that she’d seen her somewhere before. She was fairly certain that they hadn’t met prior to today, but she was also fairly certain that she had seen her somewhere before, like on a TV show or in a picture in a magazine. But no matter how hard she tried to place who this person was she couldn’t do so, causing her curiosity to grow exponentially until it reached a point where it simply had to be sated.
“Sorry, but do I know you from somewhere?” She asked the woman as she shook her hand.
“Possibly,” The Banyan associate answered as she broke her handshake with Kiwi. “We’ve never met before, but it’s possible that my sister told you about me while you were on-tour together.”
“Your sister?” Kiwi wondered aloud.
As soon as the PostCrush girl finished speaking, the realization as to whom the woman was referring to struck her like a bolt of lightning, and just as an actual bolt of lightning would have done it caused her heart to skip a few beats. Additionally, the memory of where it was she’d seen this woman before came rushing back to the forefront of her mind like a mighty tidal wave; in a picture on Su-Z’s phone.
“Hold on,” Kiwi said with mild dread as she began to fully grapple with the reality of who it was she was speaking with. “You…you’re -”
“Eclipse?!” Su-Z suddenly shouted from the entrance to the hallway, immediately gaining her the attention of everyone else in the house.
“Eclipse?!” All three Dazzling sisters uttered simultaneously as they looked back over at their guest, whom they now knew was, of all people, Su-Z’s estranged sister.
“Supernova?” Eclipse uttered in quiet awe. “What are you doing here?”
“What am I doing here?! I live here!” Su-Z answered rather harshly, as though she were offended at the fact that she had to point such a thing out. “What are you doing here?!”
“I’m doing my job,” Eclipse replied with mild pique. “I’m an associate with Banyan Capital and was told to evaluate this farm for a potential partnership with the firm.”
A discomforting reticence inundated the house as the two estranged sisters stared one another down – Su-Z with enmity and scorn within her eyes and Eclipse with vexation and pertinacity within hers. Adagio, Aria, Sonata, and Kiwi all found themselves at a loss for either words or action, each of them finding herself only able to shift her gaze around the room. The four girls frantically looked at one another in the desperate hope that one of them would do or say something to break the uncomfortable tension now permeating the room, but the expression on each of their faces made it clear that none of them had any desire to further involve themselves in Su-Z and Eclipse’s family drama.
That is, until Sonata abruptly dawned a very quizzical look on her face.
“Wait a minute,” The youngest Dazzling spoke up as she looked over at Su-Z. “I thought you said you and your sister were twins. So how come you two don’t look anything alike?”
“We’re fraternal twins,” Su-Z clarified rather sourly, without ever taking her eyes off Eclipse.
“O-Okay, well then,” Adagio apprehensively chimed in, wanting more than anything in that moment to avoid another bout of bitter silence – and get back on-track with their meeting. “This has certainly turned into quite the, um…family reunion, hasn’t it? But how about we all have a seat now and -”
“Ha! Please,” Su-Z interrupted. “If this were a family reunion Eclipse wouldn’t have bothered to show up.”
“Real mature, Supernova,” Eclipse sarcastically retorted. “But Adagio is right, we should all have a seat and get this meeting underway.”
The three Dazzlings and Kiwi all gave a collective sigh of relief upon hearing Eclipse say that they should get their meeting started. As soon as Su-Z had hurled her slight at her sister they each had feared that the situation between the two of them would turn explosive, but thankfully Eclipse appeared to have been unperturbed by her twin’s crude words.
With things seemingly getting back on track, the four girls and their guest all started to make their way over towards the kitchen table. Su-Z, however, remained right where she was, like a steadfast pillar of steel.
“Oh, yeah, I’m the immature one,” The younger PostCrush replied, causing everyone else in the room to stop and turn around to face her – and simultaneously shattering Adagio, Aria, Sonata, and Kiwi’s sense of relief. “This coming from the girl who straight-up abandoned her family after she went off to college.”
“This isn’t the time or place for this, Supernova,” Eclipse sternly and testily replied.
“Tell me, when was the last time you saw or spoke with anyone in our family other than me?” The PostCrush girl continued right before slowly beginning to advance on her sister. “When was the last time you talked to Aunt Pitaya and Uncle Durian? Or visited Uncle Crimson and Cousin Indigo? Or had contact of any kind with Mom?!”
“Enough already!” Eclipse snapped as she started to meet Su-Z half-way. “If you want to talk about family matters then we can do so after I’m done with work!”
Each step that Su-Z and Eclipse took towards one another was light in sound but boomed like thunder within the ears of Kiwi and the Dazzlings. To the four other girls in the room, every step that drew the younger PostCrush girl and her sister closer also moved the doomsday clock ever closer to midnight. It was as clear and obvious as day to them that the animosity between Su-Z and Eclipse was even greater than they’d been led to believe by the younger PostCrush girl’s stories, and that if they didn’t do something to diffuse their fiery conversation soon then that animosity could potentially go nuclear.
Though unfortunately, none of them had any idea how to go about intervening in Su-Z and Eclipse’s confrontation.
The Dazzling sisters and Kiwi were no strangers to having to act as a mediator to help settle conflicts, but not a one of them had ever found themselves dealing with such a long-standing and intense altercation before, and as such none of them knew how to resolve it. Additionally, even if one of them did know how to intercede none of them was sure that she would’ve been able to muster up the courage to actually do so. All any of them felt they could do was watch the scene between Su-Z and her sister play out and hope with all their might that somehow the two wouldn’t end up coming to blows with one another.
“Uh-huh, sure,” Su-Z replied caustically. “I have no doubt that if I try calling you after you’re done with work you’ll definitely pick up.”
“Are you calling me a liar?!” Eclipse retorted just as she and Su-Z reached one another.
“Oh, no. I’d never call you a liar, Eclipse,” The PostCrush girl answered. “An apostate and a bitch maybe, but never a liar.”
“You…you…petulant child!” Eclipse derided her sister. “Who the hell do you think you are to judge me, huh?! Who are you to try and make me feel ashamed for breaking off contact with all those awful people I had to deal with growing up?!”
“Awful people?!” Su-Z fired right back, sounding downright offended. “Those people are you’re family!”
“Those people are terrible!” Eclipse hollered right in Su-Z’s face. “Every single one of them, terrible; Aunt Pitaya and Uncle Durian are a couple of über control freaks who always tried to convert us to their wacko religion whenever they saw us, Uncle Crimson and Cousin Indigo are so overly competitive they’re practically the posterchildren for the phrase, ‘Keeping Up with the Joneses', and Mom, oh, you want to talk about abandoning family, her and Dad were such workaholics for so many years that they might as well have abandoned us!”
A brief pause in Su-Z and Eclipse’s argument occurred as Eclipse tried to catch her breath from all of her yelling, during which time the Dazzlings and Kiwi all concluded with absolute certainty that their meeting wasn’t going to be getting back on track anytime soon – if ever. There was no daunt in any of their minds at this point that a more brutal, possibly physical altercation between the two sisters was just over the horizon, and that by the end of it they’d be lucky to have even a shred of hope of doing business with Banyan Capital left.
“And you,” Eclipse said with no small amount of contemptuous scorn once she’d regained her breath. “Do you have any idea what it was like having to grow-up alongside you?”
“Enlighten me,” Su-Z just as disdainfully replied.
“It…was…exhausting,” Eclipse informed her sister, strongly emphasizing each word. “You were, and by all accounts still are, an immature, self-centered, shameless attention hog.”
“You sure you’re not projecting your own shortcomings onto me, Eclipse?!” The PostCrush girl fired back. “’Cause the way I remember it, you were the one who was always the immature, self-centered, shameless attention hog!”
“Me?!” Eclipse shouted in disbelief. “I’m not the one who had to have Mom and Dad praise her every time she did some stupid drawing!”
“Well, I’m not the one who always had to have Mom and Dad praise her when she got a good grade on a test!” Su-Z rebuttaled.
“Yeah, w-well…” Eclipse stammered as she struggled to figure out what to say next. “…I’m not the one who had to have Mom and Dad console her for weeks on end after she found out that she’s infertile!”
Immediately after Eclipse uttered the word ‘infertile’ she gave a shocked gasp and placed both of her hands over her mouth. Similarly, Kiwi and the Dazzlings all dawned aghast expressions, perhaps the strongest any of them had ever given. Su-Z, though, remained almost entirely unchanged in her appearance, save for one noticeable difference; she now had tears streaming down her cheeks.
“S-Supernova, I…I didn’t mean to say that,” Eclipse sorrowfully said as she removed her hands from in front of her mouth. “I-I’m so, so sor-”
Before Eclipse could finish her sentence, Su-Z abruptly turned around and silently started to walk away.
“Supernova,” Eclipse woefully called out to her sister as she entered the hallway.
Su-Z gave no acknowledgement of her twin’s cry. The younger PostCrush girl simply continued to walk mutely through the hallway until she reached her bedroom, at which point she swiftly entered the room and promptly closed the door behind her.
As Su-Z disappeared into her room, Eclipse, Kiwi, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata, all caught a brief glimpse of the girl’s face. Not surprisingly, the stern, exasperated expression that she’d had before turning away from their view had been replaced by the somber and frail expression of someone who was just barely keeping it together. It was a sight that caused each of their hearts to sink a little bit due to the sheer amount of anguish Su-Z was clearly now feeling. But for Eclipse, the one who was responsible for that anguish, it felt as though her heart was sinking into oblivion.
“I’m sorry,” Eclipse grievously apologized to no one in particular.
None of the other girls said anything in response to Eclipse’s apology, mostly because all of them found themselves unable to even say anything after what had just transpired before them. Each of them had expected Su-Z and Eclipse’s argument to come to an explosive conclusion, one that would most likely have included physical confrontation, but instead it had come to a sudden and unexpected end brought about by a single word. For the Dazzlings, it was a combination of the shocking discovery they’d just learned about Su-Z and their collective distaste for Eclipse’s actions that were the cause of their speechlessness. For Kiwi though, it was just the sense of distaste for Eclipse’s actions that left her aphonic.
Once their initial shock began to dissipate, Kiwi and the Dazzlings all turned their attention towards Eclipse, who as far as they could tell had turned into a living statue. The young professional was completely motionless as though she’d been frozen in time, her gaze still fixated on the spot where she’d last seen her sister. Each of the four girls wanted to say something to Eclipse to make sure she was all right - despite their current feelings of detestation for her – but just like before none of them knew what to say.
“I…I should go,” Eclipse spoke up as she snapped out of her catatonia, right before turning around and heading for the front door as quickly as her legs would allow her.
“W-Wait,” Adagio barely managed to get out just as Eclipse opened the door.
“I’ll make sure someone else from Banyan contacts you about setting up another meeting,” The Banyan woman said as she stood in the doorway, now sounding a bit choked up. “Just…please tell Supernova that I’m sorry.”
As soon as Eclipse finished dolefully making her request, she stepped outside and closed the door behind her, leaving Adagio, Aria, Sonata, and Kiwi alone to process what they’d just witnessed.
“What…What just happened?” Aria softly asked the group.
“I’m not sure,” Adagio replied falteringly. “Things escalated so much and so quickly that I don’t know if I caught everything or not.”
“H-Hey, Kiwi,” Sonata tentatively addressed the former popstar. “That thing Eclipse said about Su-Z being infertile, do you…know if it’s true?”
Kiwi didn’t answer right away. Initially, the PostCrush girl simply turned her head to the side and looked dejectedly down at the floor.
“Yeah, I know,” The former popstar eventually replied. “And it is true; Su-Z, she…she can’t ever have children.”
Much like Eclipse had done after revealing her sister’s condition, Sonata brought her hands up to cover her mouth after she heard Kiwi’s confirmation. As for Aria and Adagio, the two of them followed the PostCrush girl’s lead and silently lowered their heads in a very despondent manner.
“I don’t know a lot of the details about Su-Z’s condition, but I do know that it has something to do with her having a hormonal imbalance,” Kiwi expounded. “I also know that when Su-Z found out that she was infertile it was devastating for her. When she told me about it she said that when she was growing up she always saw herself becoming a mother someday, and that when she learned she couldn’t physically have children it sent her into a pretty deep depression for a while.”
“I can imagine,” Adagio remarked solemnly.
“Su-Z said she eventually came to terms with her infertility, but as you saw it’s still a touchy subject for her,” The elder PostCrush girl continued. “Until today, the only people who knew about it were her immediate family and me. I figured that one day Su-Z would feel comfortable enough sharing her secret with the three of you, but I never expected that something like this would happen before then.”
Silence fell over the room once more as the Dazzlings continued to process the heartbreaking information they’d just learned regarding Su-Z. The three of them all had differing opinions and feelings about having children and motherhood in general, but they each shared the same feeling of sadness for Su-Z being physically unable to ever bear a child. Especially since, according to Kiwi, someday having a child was something that the girl really wanted when she was younger.
“I…I’m going to go check on Su-Z,” Sonata eventually broke the silence.
The youngest Dazzling turned around and started to make her way over towards the hallway, but only managed to make it about halfway before Kiwi caught up with her and grabbed her arm.
“No,” The former popstar told her housemate.
“W-What?” Sonata replied confusedly. “But we can’t just -”
“Trust me, Sonata, it’s best to leave Su-Z alone right now,” Kiwi cut the Dazzling off as she let go of her arm. “This is as touchy of a subject as there is for her, and I guarantee you that the last thing she wants right now is to talk about it even more. You can go and check on her in a bit, I promise, but for now all of us just need to give her some space.”
Despite Kiwi’s advice, Sonata still felt it would be best to go check on Su-Z. However, the girl’s mentality quickly changed when the sound of shouting accompanied by the sound of something crashing to the floor from within Su-Z’s room abruptly echoed throughout the house.
“So, what do we do now then?” Aria inquired.
“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m going outside to get some air,” Kiwi replied right before heading for the front door.
“I think I’ll go get some air too,” Adagio acceded as she followed behind Kiwi.
Aria and Sonata looked at each other for a second before ultimately deciding to follow behind their older sister. Within moments, all four girls walked through the front door and out onto the porch, leaving Su-Z the house’s only remaining occupant.
Despite the number of people in the house having decreased significantly with Kiwi, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata’s departure, the noise level within it soon increased greatly. Multiple crashing noises emanating from Su-Z’s room started to ring throughout the domicile like church bells as the younger PostCrush girl took out her feelings of aggravation on just about anything she could get her hands on. Pillows, plushies, decorative houseplants; these things and more all began to suffer the wrath of a woman scorned in perhaps the most devastating way possible, and the more Su-Z took out her aggression on them the more she became subconsciously grateful that her beloved Princess Thunder Guts wasn’t in the room with her at the moment.
“Stupid Banyan meeting! Stupid Eclipse!” The enraged former popstar shouted as she savagely knocked over the box of junk her mom had sent her, scattering its various contents across the bedroom floor. “Stupid infer…infertil…”
No matter how hard Su-Z tried, she found herself unable to fully utter the word that had brought her so much pain ever since it came into her life. Though in trying to muster up the ability to speak it aloud she found that her anger began to subside at a rapid rate. However, for as quickly as the girl’s anger dissipated it was just as quickly replaced by a sorrow so strong that it caused her to fall to her knees and brace herself against the floor with her hands.
“Why? Just…why?” The former popstar sobbed as tears flowed like rivers down her face.
Wanting nothing more in that moment than for her agony to end, Su-Z closed her eyes tight in a desperate attempt to shut herself off from both the world outside and the world within her now troubled mind. Her tears continued to fall to the floor below her as she tried to calm down and center herself, but despite her best efforts the task proved impossible. Her levels of distress were simply too high, and soon enough she came to the conclusion that she had no other choice but to cry out all of her abrogating emotions, much to her chagrin.
For the next few minutes, Su-Z remained on the floor as she continued to bawl her eyes out. During this time her sorrow gradually began to lighten, and eventually the girl felt that she’d calmed down enough to get up. She opened her eyes and prepared to hoist herself back to an upright position, but when she did she noticed one of the sketchbooks from her mother’s package of junk right underneath her that caused her to pause.
“T-This is…” The PostCrush girl said as she sat up and took the open book in her hands.
As Su-Z stared at the page of the book in her hands – that was now covered in tears – she studied what it was that had been scribbled onto it: a drawing of a couple of dogs playing in an open field. It was clearly an image that the girl had drawn years ago when she was still in grade school, and even though decades had passed since its creation she remembered it quite well. Not because it was a particularly good drawing, but because of what had happened while she was drawing it.
The memory associated with the picture in Su-Z’s hands came flooding back to the forefront of the girl’s mind so vividly that it felt like it was only made yesterday, and as the scene played out before her mind she felt new tears begin to form within the corners of her eyes.
“I…I need to make things right,” The former popstar said firmly as she closed the sketchbook, not wanting to stain it’s pages any more with further teardrops.
With her newfound determination to right her wrongs, Su-Z got up fully from the floor and wiped the tears from her face before leaving her bedroom and heading for the front door with her sketchbook still in-hand.
“Just…what the hell is wrong with me?” Eclipse asked herself as she rode the elevator up back to her office. “How could I lose my temper so easily like that?”
After leaving the Dazzling’s farm the young businesswoman had decided to take her lunchbreak before returning to the offices of Banyan Capital, both to get ahold of herself and so that her coworkers wouldn’t wonder why it was she’d returned from her meeting so soon.
All throughout her break, Eclipse had been asking herself questions like the ones she was now asking in the elevator. Despite having been right in the middle of the verbal argument that had just taken place at her meeting, it was just so difficult for the young professional to believe that she’d acted the way she had. It was debatable as to who it was that had truly started the fight, but even if it hadn’t been her it was no excuse for how she’d handled things.
“How could I risk my job by acting so crass?” The girl continued to ask herself. “And worst of all, how could I say all those terrible things to Supernova?”
There was no denying that the fear of potentially losing her job over her unprofessional behavior at Dazzling Farms was one of the biggest concerns on Eclipse’s mind at the moment, but the concern over how her sister was doing was just as big a concern to her as well. She knew full well - perhaps more than anyone else in the world – just how sensitive the topic of her twin’s infertility was, and yet she’d still made the conscious decision to bring it up in such a disparaging way. It was enough to make her feel so appalled and disgusted with herself that she knew she had to go back to the emu farm and apologize to her sister.
“I need to make things right,” She said firmly just as the elevator reached her floor.
As Eclipse got off the elevator and headed for her office, she told herself that as soon as the workday was over she was going to head straight back the Dazzling Farms and apologize profusely to her sister for the argument that they’d just had. She didn’t know if her apology would be accepted, given the already rocky relationship between the two of them, but even if it wouldn’t be she knew that offering it was still something she had to do.
Within almost no time at all, Eclipse reached her office and opened the door to step inside the small workspace. However, the girl only made it about half-way through the threshold before noticing that someone had been waiting within her office for her, causing her to stop dead in her tracks.
“S-Supernova?” She said as she finished stepping into her office and quickly closed the door behind her. “Wh-What are you doing here?”
Su-Z didn’t say anything in response. All she did was take a few steps closer towards her sister and then extend the sketchbook in her hands out to her.
“What’s this?” Eclipse inquired as she stared at the object being presented to her.
“Open it. Page 14,” Su-Z simply answered.
With each passing second, Eclipse became more and more confused as to what was going on. Part of her wanted to just jump right in and profusely apologize to her sister while she had the chance, but given how much her twin seemed to be on-edge she feared that doing so would only frighten her off. For now, she figured it best to just go with the flow and work in her apology at a time when it would feel more natural.
“All right,” She said as she took the book from her sister and opened it.
As Eclipse flipped through the books trying to find page 14, she took note of many of the drawings within it. Some were of people, others were of scenic locations like rivers and mountains, and others still were of animals, but no matter the subject of the drawings they all had one thing in common: they were all pretty amateurish. Eventually she reached the desired page, and when she did she studied the drawing on it for a few seconds; a couple of dogs playing in an open field - or at least that’s what she thought it was given how much it had been distorted by water droplets.
“I don’t understand,” She confessed as she looked from the book. “What is this, Supernova?”
“It’s a picture I drew when we were in third grade,” Su-Z solemnly began to explain. “When I was drawing it Ruby Brooch and Emerald Lovebright came up to my desk and started making fun of me for how bad it was. I mean, I knew full well that it wasn’t very good, but it still hurt that they were laughing at me for it, you know? I started to get all teary-eyed and you came over and pulled Ruby by one of her pigtails and told her, ‘Don’t make fun of my sister! You make fun of her again and I’ll rip your pigtails right off your head!’ You remember that?”
Eclipse did, in fact, remember this moment from her and her sister’s childhood, but for some reason found herself unable to confirm this aloud.
“I thought you were so cool when you said that,” Su-Z continued, now sounding a bit choked up. “Ruby and Emerald never bothered me again after that day, all because of you. You were always there for me whenever I needed you growing up. But then you changed. Time went by and suddenly you…you weren’t there for me anymore.”
“I know, I know,” Eclipse interjected, trying not to sound too testy even though she was beginning to feel a bit irritated.
“But I realize now that the reason you weren’t there was because…I changed too,” Su-Z continued, much to Eclipse’s surprise. “You were right, Eclipse, about how after Mom and Dad started working so much I began to hog all of their attention for myself. I made you feel invisible and unimportant and…and as a result I ended up pushing you away.”
Eclipse felt touched by her sister’s confession, but she knew that her twin didn’t hold all the blame for what had caused them to drift apart.
“Yeah, well, it’s not like I didn’t push you away right back,” She admitted as she started to feel choked up as well. “Rather than telling you how I felt I just tried to compete with you for Mom and Dad’s attention, and because of that a gulf started to form between us that just kept growing and growing until it eventually expanded into oblivion. And once I’d pushed you away I started pushing other people away too until…until I ended up pushing everyone away.”
By this point, both girls were so overcome by emotion that it was difficult for either of them to speak.
“I’m sorry, Eclipse,” Su-Z managed to squeak out as fresh tears started to steam down her cheeks. “I’m sorry for always trying to hog Mom and Dad’s attention growing up. I’m sorry for all those awful things I said to you today. And I’m sorry for…just everything.”
“I…I’m sorry too, Supernova,” Eclipse tearfully said as she moved in to give her sister a hug, which Su-Z was quick to reciprocate. “I’m sorry I abandoned you and our family, and for all those terrible things I said to you earlier. And I’m so, so sorry that I brought up your…condition.”
“It’s okay. It’s okay,” Su-Z assured her twin as she held her close for the first time in years.
For the next few minutes, the two siblings continued to hug and cry onto one another’s shoulders within the confines of Eclipse’s office. Despite the large number of tears being shed on each of their persons, neither girl wanted to let go of her sister. For so long they’d been disconnected from one another, separated by a great chasm that had been created by unspoken frustrations and resentments, but finally, after a bizarre twist of fate, they’re paths had crossed and they’d managed to close the large fissure between them.
Eventually, the hug between the formerly estranged sisters did come to an end - with both girls letting go of each other at the same time – and when it did Su-Z took her sketchbook back and started to side-step around Eclipse.
“Okay, well, I guess I’ll get out of your hair now and let you get back to work,” The PostCrush girl said as she did so.
“Actually,” Eclipse replied as she gently took hold of Su-Z’s arms for a second to keep her from side-stepping any further. “How about I take the rest of the day off and we just, I dunno…hang out or something to catch up?”
“I…I’d like that,” Su-Z replied as she felt herself getting choked up once more – though this time due to joy.
The two sisters shared another quick hug before leaving Eclipse’s office together, and after a quick stop by Eclipse’s boss’s office they both stepped onto the elevator together to head down to the building’s lobby.
“So, what should we do?” Su-Z asked her sister as they rode the lift.
“No idea,” Eclipse answered. “Though if it’s all right with you, I’d like to head back to the farm at some point today. I think I should apologize to everyone else there too.”
“Yeah, okay,” The PostCrush girl replied, right before suddenly getting struck with a lightning bolt of revelation. “Oh, oh! We should totally call Mom and tell her that we’ve made up! She’ll be so happy! She might even invite us over for dinner one night and bake some of those delicious lemon bars she always used to make around the holidays when we were younger!”
“Gee, I sure hope so,” Eclipse said sarcastically.
“Really?” Su-Z asked her sister confusedly. “I thought you didn’t like Mom's lemon bars because she always put too much powdered sugar on them for your liking.”
“Sarcasm, Supernova,” Eclipse playfully, though still somewhat bluntly, informed her sister as they arrived at the lobby.
“Ohhh,” Su-Z replied, right before she and Eclipse shared a light giggle and walked out into the lobby of the Banyan building.
“I missed you, sis,” Eclipse wholeheartedly confessed.
“I missed you too, sis,” Su-Z wholeheartedly reciprocated as she wrapped her arm around her sister’s shoulder and the two of them stepped out onto the streets of Canterlot City for their day of hanging out together.