//------------------------------//
// Five Nights at Pinkie's: Night 2 
// Story: A Dazzling Reformation 
// by Thunder Roller 
//------------------------------//

"So, what do you girls wanna do tonight?"

The Dazzlings, Pinkie, and Sunset were once again in Pinkie's bedroom, and the sun had long gone down. Pinkie was on her knees on the bed, bouncing up and down, waiting for an opinion. Sunset tapped her chin, while the Dazzlings were just looking at each other.

"Well, we could play a game?" Sunset suggested. "I mean, you've got tons of Video Games, and I'm pretty sure if we look under your bed, we could find some board games." 

"That, is probably true." Pinkie said, ducking her head under the bed. "Lets see, I've got Monopoly, Candy Land, Checkers, Life, Chess, Cards Against Humanity-"

"NO!" Sunset quickly shouted, covering her mouth right afterwards. "I mean, I don't think we should do that one."

"Why not?" Adagio asked, suddenly wanting to play Cards Against Humanity.

"Its, uh... very offensive." Sunset said, rubbing the back of her head nervously.

"It can't be that bad." Sonata said.

"No, trust me, it is." 

"Okay then," Pinkie said, reaching under the bed. "How about a friendly game of Checkers?" 

"Sounds boring." Aria said with a huff. 

"Not really." Pinkie said, pulling out the said game. "Its a strategy game. The goal is to jump all the other player's chips with your own. If you reach the other side of the board, then you get a king."

"Again, sounds boring." 

A smile curled its way onto Pinkie's lips. 

"Are you scared that I'll beat you?" Pinkie suggested.

"What?" Aria asked. "No, of course not! You can't beat me at anything!" 

"In that case, I challenge you to a game of Checkers!"

"You think you can beat me you pink ball of sugar?! You're on!"

Smiling, Pinkie moved her night-stand next to the bed, cleared it, and slammed the box on top.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After explaining the rules of the game to Aria, Pinkie set up the board, her as Red, and Aria as Black. Everyone watched intensely as both players carefully moved the chips with the intent of winning. After a few small mistakes, Aria learned Pinkie's strategy. 

But, no matter what Aria did, Pinkie was always able to quickly catch up. About fifteen minutes of playing, Aria and Pinkie both had only one chip left, each being a king. Aria had Pinkie cornered with only one place to go, on the side of the board, unable to go anywhere else from there. 

Aria kept one space in between them, just to make sure Pinkie didn't jump her. They kept going back and forth, so she knew she had to change something. She took another space back, and Pinkie advanced toward her. 

Not thinking, Aria advanced toward Pinkie, closing in the space. Pinkie jumped Aria, and quickly took her chip.

"AH HA!" Pinkie shouted, slamming Aria's chip in the pile of the other black chips. "I WIN!"

"Why did I do that?!" Aria asked herself, putting both of her hands on her head. "I had you!" 

"This is why you weren't the leader." Adagio mocked with a chuckle. "You make last minute rash decisions."

"Says the one who dumped the customer's food on him on the first day of the job." Aria snapped back.

"Like you did any better." Adagio said, not fazed by Aria's insult. "You cussed out a customer on your first day."

"It wasn't my fault! He couldn't make up his mind on what he wanted!" 

"Now, now." Sunset Shimmer said, stepping in. "Lets not fight. We're here to have fun."

"Yeah, she's right." Pinkie said, not as enthusiastic. "So, anyone else wanna play against me?" 

"I will!" Sonata said, trading spots with Aria at the Checker board. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the night went on, the girls took turns against Pinkie. Somehow, she always won, and she wasn't afraid to show it. Sure, a couple of them were difficult, but she stayed victorious. 

She defeated Sonata, with seven chips left. Even though Pinkie did brag, She didn't get mad. Sonata showed good sportsmanship, and congratulated Pinkie.

Pinkie defeated Sunset, with two chips left. Despite the close call, Pinkie did celebrate. Sunset gritted her teeth, but remained calm, and held up one thumb.

Adagio on the other hand, Pinkie defeated with ten chips remaining, meaning Adagio only took two chips. Pinkie was about to celebrate, but stopped when she seen Adagio's face turning red.

"Are you okay, Dagi?" Pinkie asked, picking up on the nickname. 

"What were you saying," Aria mocked, smiling. "About why I wasn't the leader?"

"Shut it, Aria." Adagio snapped. "She got lucky!" 

"With you only taking out two chips? I don't think so." 

"Its all right, Adagio." Sonata said. "Its only a game." 

"Only a game?" Adagio asked, standing up from her chair. "Sure, its a game, but its a strategy game! I Should be good at something like this!" 

"It doesn't matter." Sunset said. "I'm sure Pinkie plays this game a lot, so it would make sense that she's good at it."

"Its true." Pinkie confirmed with a nod. "I play this game with Maud all the time!"

Adagio stopped for a moment, then smiled.

"You know what?" Adagio said, turning to Sunset. "You're right. It doesn't matter. I'm still a great leader, even if I did lose in a little game." 

Sunset's eye twitched at the last part, but then decided to not acknowledge it any further. "I'm glade you think that way."

"Yeah, whatever. Its getting late, we should get some sleep."

"I second that." Sonata said, obviously tired. "I'll get the sleeping bags."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, The Dazzlings, Sunset Shimmer, and Pinkie Pie was outside of the Canterlot Animal Shelter. It was a small building, painted yellow with a blue and white cloth stoop above the door. Instantly, Adagio knew she wasn't going to like it.

The only reason she agreed to go along, was because Pinkie mentioned that Fluttershy volunteered there, and Sonata wanted to see the animals. She knew wherever Pinkie would go, Sunset would go, and anywhere Sonata would go, Aria would go. She didn't want to be alone at Pinkie's house, so she decided to come along.

Pinkie Pie bounced through the front door, and a bell rang, announcing their arrival. Everyone else followed Pinkie inside, and soon a girl with long, pink hair and wearing a butterfly hair Barrett came from the back room.

"Hello, Pinkie." Fluttershy welcomed. "I didn't expect you to come here today."

"Well, Sonni wanted to see the animals, so I decided, Hey, why not?!" Pinkie Pie rambled.

"Sonni?" Fluttershy's eyes drifted over to the Dazzlings, and they grew wide with horror. She was about to scream, but quickly covered her mouth so she didn't scare the animals. "W-w-what are they doing here? Not that I'm not happy to see them, its just... its just..."

"Don't worry about it, Shymaster." Pinkie Pie said, wrapping an arm around her. "Their totally cool now!" 

"Oh... well, if you say so, Pinkie." Fluttershy said, less than enthused. 

"And I do." Pinkie confirmed.

"So, anything we can do around here?" Sonata asked, looking around at the animals. 

"I, um, was about to feed Mr. Feathers, the Parrot." Fluttershy said, moving over to a cabinet to pull out a bag of feed. "I guess, you can do it. If you want to, that is."

Sonata happily nodded, and took the bag of feed from Fluttershy. She shyly pointed to Mr. Feathers' cage, which was positioned at the corner of the Shelter. Sonata walked over to the cage, and observed the Parrot.

Mr. Feathers had a white beak, mostly bright red feathers, yellow, green, and blue wings, and his talons were black. He was a beautiful bird, and he seemed to be quiet happy in his cage. He kept eyeing something behind Sonata, but she didn't pay much attention to it.

Sonata opened the bag of feed, and noticed a cup that was inside. She filled the cup as full as she could, and turned her attention to the cage. She eagerly opened the door, and Mr. Feathers flew out of it in a blink of an eye.

It took Sonata a moment to process what had just happened, as she stared into the now empty cage. She was snapped back into reality when she heard Adagio screaming behind her. It wasn't the scolding scream she was used to, but rather a scream of fright. 

Sonata turned around to see Adagio running in circles, with Mr. Feathers happily nested in her hair. Pinkie and Aria were holding their sides in laughter, Sunset was trying to hold back her own laughter, and Fluttershy was trying to find something to do to help. Sonata simply shrugged, and continued to pour the feed into Mr. Feathers' bowl. 

"We- We have to do something!" Fluttershy said, holding her hair in stress.

"When in danger, fear or doubt," Sonata began. "Run in a circle, scream and shout."

"I've gotta remember that one!" Pinkie laughed.

Ignoring Sonata's joke, Fluttershy kept her attention on Adagio. "Now, um, Adagio. J-Just stay still, and I can get Mr. Feathers out."

"Stay still?!" Adagio screamed. "I've got a bird in my hair!"

"Yes, I know. But if you keep running, I cant get him out." 

Finally, Adagio stopped running, but her breathing didn't calm down. Fluttershy reached up into Adagio's hair, and gently removed Mr. Feathers. Once he was out, Fluttershy slowly put him back inside of his cage, and closed the door before locking it. 

Mr. Feathers didn't seemed fazed by what had happened at all. He just started plucking at his food as if he hadn't even done anything. Adagio stomped over to Mr. Feather's cage, and pointed her index finger through the bars.

"I hate birds!" Adagio announced.

Mr. Feathers looked at Adagio's finger, and brushed his beak across it. Adagio quickly retracted her finger and glared daggers at him. Fluttershy smiled at Mr. Feathers' affection.

"Aw, he likes you." Fluttershy said, clasping her hands together. 

"Well, I hate him!" Adagio declared.

Aria walked over to the cage, wearing an unreadable smiled.

"He's just a friendly little guy, isn't he?" Aria said, putting her hand in the cage. Instead of allowing her to pet him, Mr. Feathers painfully pecked all of Aria's fingers in one smooth swoop. "AH! THE LITTLE PECKER WOOD BIT ME!"

Mr. Feathers Squawked. "Grumpy Bitch, Grumpy Bitch." 

"Now I like him." Adagio said, smiling warmly at Mr. Feathers. 

"Oh my!" Fluttershy said, covering her mouth. "Mr. Feathers! Where did you learn that language!" 

Mr. Feathers just simply looked away, and began to whistle. 

"How much for the bird?" Adagio asked after a moment of silence, turning to Fluttershy. 

"Oh, well, um." Fluttershy stuttered, still shocked by Mr. Feathers' language. "He's three hundred dollars."

Adagio nodded. "Alright then, make sure no one buys him. I'm going to try to save up some money, and I'll be coming back for him."

"I don't think holding on to him will be a problem." Fluttershy said. "He's been here since he was just an egg. But, um. If you like, I can pay for him."

Adagio raised an eyebrow. "Really? I mean, you'd do that? I appreciate it, but I think I'll feel better if I actually paid for him." 

Fluttershy shook her head. "No, if you really are trying to be good, then this will be my gift to you." Fluttershy tried to sound assertive, but failed. 

Adagio exhaled. "Alright, fine. Thank you."

Fluttershy smiled, pulled her wallet out of her skirt pocket, and reached for the money inside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Dazzlings, Sunset, and Pinkie came out of the Animal Shelter, all of them with smiles on their faces, except for Aria. She kept glaring at the bird inside its cage, being carried by Adagio. She was petting its beak with her finger, giving it complements on its colorful feathers. 

"Ugh!" Aria scoffed. "First it was Sonata with the outfit, and now its you with the damn bird!" 

"Don't talk about Mr. Feathers like that!" Adagio snapped. "He is just an innocent little creature!" 

"Innocent my ass!" Aria snapped back. "It pecked my fingers!"

Mr. Feathers started to whistle innocently.

"You're just jealous because he likes me."

"If you recall, you hated it before he pecked me!" 

"And called you a grumpy bitch." 

"Grumpy Bitch!" Mr. Feathers squawked.

"Good boy!" Adagio rewarded, petting his beak once again. 

"Other than the cussing, I like him too!" Pinkie Pie declared. "Maybe you should teach him some nicer words."

"Hm..." Adagio hummed, tapping her chin. "I wonder how he would react to Sonata." 

"He did fly out when I went to feed him." Sonata pointed out. "I think I feel insulted." 

"Just try and pet him." Adagio said, holding the cage up to Sonata. 

Sonata eyed the bird for a moment before she stuck her finger into the cage. Mr. Feathers eyed the finger for a moment, but eventually brushed his beak against it. 

"Aw!" Sonata said. "He likes me!"

Mr. Feathers then stopped, and violently shook his head.

"WOOO!" Mr. Feathers squawked. "Taco Breath! Taco Breath!" 

Sonata stared at the bird, and everyone began to laugh out loud, including Aria. 

"Okay, maybe the bird isn't so bad." Aria said with a laugh. 

"He is officially a part of the Dazzlings." Adagio said declared.

"He can be the Mascot!" Pinkie cheered. "Now, lets get to Night 3!"