Rainbowshine opened the door with a forced smile upon her face. "Mrs Dazzle," she said, greeting her visitor, "nice to see you again. Are you going to come in for a cup of coffee?"
"Sorry," the harried looking woman on the doorstep replied, "I can't. I'm in a bit of a rush. Thanks for agreeing to look after Adagio at such short notice." It was true — she couldn't stop for coffee. She'd been called in to work at only an hour's notice, but even if she'd had all the time in the world, she'd have used any excuse to avoid spending time with Rainbowshine.
Little Adagio stepped out from behind her mother's legs. "Adorable," everyone called her, with her large puppy dog eyes and gorgeous curls, but Rainbowshine knew the truth: that girl was evil; the devil incarnate. Every time she came to visit, she somehow persuaded Rainbowshine's daughter Rainbow Dash to break house rules. Rainbow was always such a good little girl, except when Adagio came to visit.
Rainbowshine reluctantly stepped aside to allow the little brat through. Adagio flashed her a huge smile as she walked into the house. "Take your shoes off!" Rainbowshine ordered. Adagio obediently sat on the hallway floor, unfastening her laces. Well, of course she would behave herself while her own mother was watching.
"Bye then," Mrs Dazzle said. "And thanks again for looking after Dagi."
"Awful woman," Rainbowshine muttered under her breath, closing the door on her. She turned around to see Adagio standing behind her, an angry look on her face.
Rainbowshine put on her false smile again and bent down to address Adagio. "Rainbow's upstairs. Why don't you go up and play with her? I'll just be downstairs in the kitchen. I'm doing some baking."
Adagio smiled, somewhat reluctantly, and then ran up the stairs to see her friend. It was always such fun playing with Rainbow.
* * *
Adagio heard a thumping noise coming from one of the doors and found Rainbow Dash doing some jumping. "Dagi!" the girl squealed when she saw her friend.
"Dashie!" Adagio called with glee.
Rainbow beckoned her. "Come jump with me! It's fun!"
"Sure!" Adagio climbed onto the bed, taking Rainbow's hand.
Adagio's hair bounced around like a sack full of bunnies as the two girls jumped on the king sized bed.
"Urgh!" Rainbow huffed, coming to a standstill. "This is getting in the way!" She hopped off the bed, and tugged at the quilt. Adagio was still standing on the bed clothes and a tearing sound came from beneath her feet as Rainbow's pulling caused a rip to form in the quilt.
"Sorry," Adagio said.
"It's okay," Rainbow responded. "We can fix it. Let me get some glue!" Full of energy, she bounded out of the room.
Adagio sat calmly on the side of the bed. Rainbow always knew what to do.
Rainbow returned moments later carrying a squeezy tube. "Glue!" she announced.
"Ummm… have you learnt to read yet at school?" Adagio asked, watching Rainbow.
Rainbow scoffed. "Dagi, have you learnt that reading's for eggheads yet?"
"Dashie, it's just that—"
Rainbow squeezed the tube over the quilt and used a nearby book as a spatula to spread it around. "Mmm… glue smells good, doesn't it?"
"Dashie… that tube says 'toothpaste'!"
Rainbow sighed. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I did try," Adagio defended.
"Meh. Doesn't matter." Rainbow shrugged.
Adagio leaped up. "You can't just leave it like that. Let me try to scrape some of this off!" She took the book out of Rainbow's hand and started scraping. "Can you maybe get some water."
Rainbow trotted out of the room in the direction of the bathroom.
Soon Adagio heard footsteps at the door. She looked up.
* * *
Rainbowshine heard strange banging noises coming from upstairs. She turned off the radio. The noises stopped. Odd, she thought to herself and put the radio back on.
After a few minutes, the cookies had finished baking. She put them on the rack to cool.
Leaving the kitchen, she went into the living room for, she felt, a well deserved rest. It was hard work looking after two eight year old girls. Speaking of which, it had gone oddly silent upstairs.
Rainbowshine sighed and walked to the foot of the stairs. She heard a door open and shut. She would have to go up and investigate. Wearily she climbed the stairs.
Her bedroom was a crack open. She hadn't left it like that. Cautiously she pushed open the door.
"Adagio Dazzle! What the hell are you doing?!" she screeched. She had caught the delinquent girl in the process of smearing her bed with toothpaste using — Rainbowshine's jaw dropped open — the rather erotic novel she usually kept safely hidden under her pillow. She didn't know how she'd explain that one to the local library.
The little girl stopped what she was doing and stood up shakily. "I… I'm s–sorry m–m–maam," she stammered.
"If you were sorry, then you wouldn't have done it, you stupid girl!" Rainbowshine scalded. "Get. Out. Of. My. Sight!"
Adagio dropped the book and ran out of the room.
Rainbowshine sighed and looked at the book. She picked it up and dropped it in the bin. She took a closer look. The quilt was torn? She was furious. She took ten deep breaths to calm down before getting to work stripping the quilt cover. After giving it a wash, she'd be able to sew up the tear.
* * *
Adagio Dazzle sat on the bottom step, her cheeks glistening with tears. She looked up when she heard footsteps approaching. "Rainbow!" She sniffed. "I think your mum's angry with me."
"Pffft! She's never happy," Rainbow responded, holding out a plastic action figure. "Wanna play?"
"Is that Wind Rider?" Adagio asked, taking the toy from Rainbow's hand.
"Yeah! Wind Rider, captain of the Wonderbolts! One day I'm gonna be just like him!"
"No way!" Adagio insisted, shaking her head before wiping her nose in her sleeve. "There's no way they'd let a girl be captain."
"Oh no?" Rainbow asked. "What about…" She took another action figure out from behind her back. "Spitfire!"
"Spitfire's not captain," Adagio said, grinning.
"Not yet maybe! Come on, let's go outside and play!"
* * *
The two girls came back inside half an hour later, panting and exhausted. Rainbow Dash flopped down in the sofa. "Let's watch some TV, Dagi," she suggested.
"Sure, Dashie!"
Rainbow looked around. "Help me find the marote control!" She started flinging cushions off the matching sofa and armchair suite, looking for the elusive 'marote' control.
"Is this it?" Adagio asked, holding up the device.
"Yes! Give it here!" Rainbow demanded.
Adagio passed it over. "What should we watch, Dashie?"
"I know! Sapphire Shores DVD!"
Despite having thoroughly exhausted themselves outside, the music gave them a new burst of energy, and the two girls were soon jumping around on the sofas, singing along and dancing.
* * *
Rainbowshine checked the dials on the washing machine, and pressed the button to start the wash. She put her hands on her hips and looked out of the window. What on Earth has happened to my flower beds?! She ran out of the back door to inspect the damage.
* * *
"Cookies!" Rainbow Dash squealed excitedly, carefully carrying the rack of freshly baked treats over to where her tired friend had flopped onto the sofa.
Adagio looked at the chocolatey-looking snacks. "I don't think I should."
"Come on, Dagi! Mum baked them for us!"
Adagio thought about it for a moment.
* * *
Rainbowshine assessed the state of her flower beds. It was pretty bad, but there was nothing she could do about it now. She sighed and headed back towards the house, for the first time noticing the small muddy footprints leading inside.
She followed the trail of mud to the living room. Her jaw dropped.
The cushions from the couch and armchair were scattered over the floor. The couch, the armchair, the cushions, the carpet… everything was covered in a mess of muddy footprints, smears of chocolate, and cookie crumbs. The wire rack the cookies had been cooling on was on the floor, completely devoid of any cookies.
Rainbowshine took two steps towards Adagio. "Why, you evil little—"
Just then, the doorbell rang.
Rainbowshine sighed. The interruption was probably a good thing. Otherwise I might have throttled that girl. She walked over to the door and answered it, a scowl on her face.
"Mrs Dazzle? You're back already!"
Adagio's mother nodded. "Yes, it didn't take as long as I'd expected."
"I'm sorry to have to say this," Rainbowshine said, trying to hold back a small smirk, "but your daughter has been an absolute nightmare today!"
Adagio and Rainbow had emerged from the sitting room and were creeping along the hallway towards Rainbowshine.
Rainbowshine put her hands on her hips and continued. "She's ruined my bed, and my library book, and wasted all the toothpaste. She somehow convinced Rainbow to join her in destroying my flower beds, before treading muddy footprints through the house and and all over our armchair and sofa. What's more, they've eaten all the cookies I've spent this morning baking."
Mrs Dazzle looked at her daughter, who was now standing beside Rainbowshine. Adagio stared up at her with innocent eyes. "I'm sorry, that really doesn't sound like something my Adagio would do. Especially the cookies."
Rainbowshine turned to Adagio. "Admit it!" she hissed.
Adagio looked from Rainbowshine to Rainbow Dash and gulped. She might have been getting it bad right now, but Dashie had to live with this mean woman. A tear ran down her cheek. "Yes, it's true," she squeaked.
Mrs Dazzle closed her eyes and shook her head.
Rainbowshine looked at the Dazzles indignantly. "Those cookies were supposed to be for the school bake sale. Now I have to go all the way to the shops to pick up more chocolate chips! I think it's best if Adagio does not come for a play again."
"Wait," Mrs Dazzle said. "They were chocolate cookies?"
"Well, chocolate chip, yes. What's that got to do with anything?"
Mrs Dazzle looked at her in disbelief. "Adagio knows she's not allowed to eat chocolate."
Rainbowshine rolled her eyes. "Well, I suppose that's another thing we can add to the list of rules she's broken today."
"No, what I mean is that she's seriously allergic to cocoa. I've told you this before. Adagio knows to stay away from anything with chocolate in it. If she'd eaten any of your precious cookies, she'd be on the floor suffering from anaphylactic shock!"
Rainbowshine's eyes slowly moved from Adagio to her own daughter. "Rainbow! Did you eat all the cookies?!"
Rainbow Dash nodded meekly.
"And the other things?!"
"Yes," she whispered.
Rainbowshine's face filled with rage both at her daughter's actions and her own embarrassment. "Rainbow, I'm—!"
But Mrs Dazzle interrupted. "Thank you for looking after Adagio, Rainbowshine. It was really very helpful of you." She took Adagio by the hand. "But as you said, I think it's best if Adagio doesn't come for a play here again. Of course, Rainbow Dash is always welcome to come 'round ours. She's such a delightful child — so full of energy and mischief — but you know, that's just what they're like at this age."
With that, Mrs Dazzle turned around, and led Adagio away from the house.