//------------------------------// // Shanty Stroll // Story: Deafened // by Crayonpaste //------------------------------// "You still got some eyeliner on your left eye, 'Annie'." Aria grins. You immediately freeze, and rush towards the nearest water fountain where you begin splashing your face with water before returning to the Dazzlings' side. "Can you stop calling me that?" You glare at Aria. "It's really starting to get on my nerves now." "And that's why I'm doing it." Aria's grin widens. Shaking your head, you give your cheeks one last scrub to make sure there isn't any leftover makeup on you, and decide to leave the three girls, only to be blocked by Adagio. "Anonymous, I know you probably don't want to hear this right now, but we're still going to need you to stick around." She says. "On a Friday?" You complain. "Rainbow Dash's game is on Tuesday." Adagio reminds you. "This part's important as well; we can't afford any mistakes from here on out." Sighing, you take out your phone, and begin texting your mom: I'm heading out with friends, Mom. I'll be back home late. -Anonymous "What exactly are we doing, then?" You ask Adagio. "Just follow us to our car." Adagio motions you. "I'll explain everything later." Aria's right; she really does like leaving people out in the dark. You put your phone away, and begin tagging along the trio. Normally when you see the three girls together, Adagio takes the center of the group while Sonata and Aria are at her left and right side respectively. You take the side with Sonata, because fuck Aria. Upon reaching the main foyer of the school, you pass by Flash Sentry talking with a group of guys. You don't personally know any of them, but it's just another group of friends that Flash hangs out with. "I'm not fucking with you guys, I'm serious!" You hear Flash Sentry exclaim. "Anon's sister---I"m telling you...she's hot!" Upon hearing this, you immediately leave Sonata's side and zip onto the opposite side of the Dazzlings with Aria, who (of course after hearing that) is struggling to remain silent. She's holding a hand to her mouth, looking as if she was about to puke. "Can it, Aria." You growl at her. "Make me." She shoots back. You clench your fist; had Aria not been a girl, you would've choke slammed her through all the three stories of Canterlot High by now. Your anger is quick to fade and is soon replaced by that dreadful feeling of shame. You're thankful that your whole "girl" disguise worked, otherwise you would have been expelled, but at the same time you can feel your manhood now being next to nonexistent after being called "hot" by your own best friend. You eventually make it to the Canterlot parking lot, and upon seeing the car the Dazzlings stop by, your jaw drops. "Is that a Mercedes C300?!" You exclaim. "No way. No fucking way!" "Isn't she a beauty?" Aria asks, tapping the hood of the beautiful silver Mercedes. "And I mean the car, not 'Anna Fourchen'." "Alright Aria, that's enough." Adagio says sternly. "It's not funny anymore." "Alright, alright..." You're amazed at how Aria's eyes immediately widen with fear, as her voice turned as feeble as a little mouse. You don't know how Adagio makes Aria shut up like that, but you need to start learning from her. You mouth a 'Thanks' to Adagio, who gives you a wink, and unlocks the car door. Aria takes shotgun while you and Sonata go in the back. If you thought the outside of the Mercedes was impressive, it was nothing compared to how it was inside. You thought you were hot shit for driving a Toyota Camry, but this beautiful piece of functioning art makes your car look like a Hot Wheels toy. The real question though, is how the did these girls afford such a nice car? Are their parents CEO's or something? "How did you girls get such a nice ride?" You ask, admiring every single aspect of the car. "This looks like a car you'd see from Crystal Prep students, not Canterlot High..." "Aria sells-" Adagio stuffs her hand in front of Sonata's mouth and smiles. "We just saved up some money, that's all." Adagio says innocently. You shrug; it's not like you're complaining that you're riding in a god damn MERCEDES BENZ. Adagio starts the engine, and goes immediately full throttle out of her parking spot, nearly running over another student in the process. Your head lurches to the side as Adagio turns violently, narrowly missing a lamppost while nearly hitting another student. A little part of you dies inside from seeing such a nice car being treated so roughly. You look to your left, and see Sonata pulling out a helmet, and offers you an empty brown lunchbag which you silently accept. Just in case. If Adagio's driving like this, you can't even imagine the horrors that await you when she's actually on the main road. "...Adagio?" "Not now." She hushes you. "We're getting close to Main Street; I need to concentrate here." You gulp and feel your heartbeat accelerate almost as fast as the car itself when you see Adagio run a red light, going 50 miles an hour. She narrowly misses a pedestrian and her dog, then swerves out of the way of an old woman in a wheelchair, causing cars in the other lane to brake. Horns honk all around around you, blaring angrily at Adagio like an angry mob, and you even see one man getting out of his car, but it doesn't faze Adagio in the slightest. You look nervously around the corner of each street, and your fears come to reality as you see a bright blue and red siren flashing. A police car is hurtling forwards, straight towards you and the Dazzlings. "Adagio, cops at nine o'clock!' Aria calls and Adagio responds by pulling over so hard that she nearly flips the poor Mercedes. 'This is the end.' You think to yourself. Your mom is gonna kill you. "Should I take this one?" Aria asks, unzipping her vest and revealing a blood red ruby necklace that looks exactly like Adagio's. "I'll handle it." Adagio says. "Just stay in the car you three. And Anonymous; might want to take off that hearing aid of yours." "Huh? Why would I-" "Just do it." Aria says bluntly. You look over to Sonata who looks just as serious as Aria. Shrugging, you comply and take off the hearing aid. Adagio opens the door and steps out of the car, walking towards the police officer slowly. Obviously, you can't hear anything since you're partly deaf, so the most you can do is just watch. Adagio seems to be conversing with the police officer who looks pretty angry at her. Probably because she nearly killed multiple people and a dog, and not to mention driving such a beautiful Mercedes the way she does should be a felony all on its own. Adagio puts on a fake frown on her face. Is she going to cry her way out of this one? It doesn't really seem to be working, as the police officer doesn't seem to be showing any signs of letting up. The two continue talking, almost arguing until you see Adagio reach into her shirt, and pull out her blood red ruby necklace. It's gleaming unnaturally bright, as she holds it delicately in between her hands and begins opening her mouth. From the looks of it, it's like she's singing or something. Soon, a green cloud of smoke comes out of nowhere, and the cop's face goes from angry to...what the hell is he smiling at Adagio now? The police officer shakes Adagio's hand, and tips his hat before returning to his vehicle and Adagio starts walking back, a satisfied looking grin on her face. "Uhhh, what just happened?" You ask Sonata and Aria as you put your hearing aid back on. "I was sure that officer was going to at least give Adagio a ticket or something. "I talked the officer out of getting a ticket, and he let me off with a warning." Adagio smiles, before starting the engine again. "Alright, now we can talk." Your head is thrown back into the seat again as Adagio slams the gas pedal, the Mercedes (quite literally) tearing a path through the streets with an ever growing orchestra of angry drivers honking at her. "So where are we going, and are we going to get there alive?" You ask nervously as Adagio nearly hits her fifth pedestrian. "Just making our way home." Adagio says casually. She then turns over to Aria who's looking at a map. "We make a right here and turn onto the highway, right Aria?" "Yup." Aria nods, turning on the radio. You look at Sonata who's tightening the straps on her helmet, and double checking her seatbelts. Meanwhile, you wonder if you're going to come out of this car alive... ****** You're sick to your stomach; everything around you is a blurred mess. Looking over, Sonata doesn't look like she's in that good of a state either while Adagio and Aria get out of the car perfectly fine, as if nothing happened at all. You thought you had it bad last summer at Six Flags when Flash Sentry said he's give you twenty bucks if you'd sit in the front seats of the Bizarro fifteen minutes after downing two chili hot dogs and large fries. Needless to say, that roller coaster felt like a cruise ship after riding in the backseat with Adagio on the highway. Especially that one time when she swerved to the fast lane without using her turn signal; you genuinely thought you were about to die. "Come on, get your butt out already." Aria calls out as she grabs your wrist. She all but yanks you out of the car, and you roll on the pavement, feeling like you're about to throw up everywhere. You're not one to criticize other people, but holy cow...Adagio's driving is really something. "I still can't believe she cut off that truck." You groan. "She didn't even use her turn signal, and that Russian guy held his horn for a full minute." "Eh, he didn't seem too scary." Aria shrugs. "We didn't understand whatever he was yapping about anyways." You push yourself up from the ground, and follow Adagio, who leads you into a tall, red brick building. Upon squinting your eyes, you realize this place is an apartment complex. 'Must be a crowded living space for three girls.' You think to yourself as you walk into the main entrance. Adagio reaches into her purse, and hands a card to a tall, hulking security guard with a nightstick and gun strapped around his waist in plain sight. Adagio hands him three cards, which the man looks at briefly before turning his gaze down at you and holding his hand out, expecting you to give him a card of some sort as well. "A guest." Adagio quickly steps in front of the security guard who nods at her before unlocking the door and holding it open for you four. The apartment's lobby actually doesn't look too bad; it's very well lit with generally decent looking people walking around, and is well furnished with sofas, chairs, and even a pool table. However, the fact that around every single corner there's either a security camera in plain view, or armed guards walking around in Kevlar vests makes you feel uncomfortable. It's like this apartment is waiting for some zombie apocalypse or something. "What's up with the security here?" You ask. "It's like a military base in here." "The place recently had a major break-in." Adagio answers you. "It's right on the edge between the nicer parts of Canterlot, and the really bad neighborhoods overrun by gangs." "They ever gave you trouble?" You ask concerned. "They wish." Aria laughs harshly. "Most of those 'thugs' are turn into the biggest pushovers once they take just one hit." 'She's one to know, isn't she?' You think to yourself. 'Man, Aria's such a wannabe.' You follow the Dazzlings through another set of stairs then through a tiled hallway until Adagio stops at a door that you assume is their apartment room. After unlocking it, she opens the door, and motions you inside. Upon walking into the apartment, you see a rather messy living room with a well worn red couch and a reasonably sized television resting on a stand. You also find that the entire apartment smells strongly of taco sauce along with a faint scent of what you could swear is weed. Not that you do weed so much that you can instantly recognize the smell. "Finally! I'm starving!" You see a light blue blur to your left as Sonata instantly appears right next to the open the fridge. Leaning over for a moment, you find that at least two compartments on the fridge were dedicated to tacos alone. "What's with Sonata and tacos?" You ask Aria who simply shakes her head before sinking into the couch and turning on the television. Adagio meanwhile, goes into a hallway away from the living room and kitchen into another room which you assume is probably her own bedroom and closes it, locking the door. With nothing else to do, you decide to join Aria by the television and take a look at what she's watching. You find a spot on the opposite side of Aria, and find that she's watching some sort of slasher horror film. You honestly never saw the appeal to such movies; they were just...too violent. It's just watching a group of people get killed one by one, each time more gruesome than the next, until the protagonist finds some way to kill the monster or killer and their lover dies in the process of defeating the monster or something similar to that. It's so linear and cheesy. You flinch as you see the monster sink its claws into a woman's chest, then rip out her ribcage. You have to admit, the effects were pretty sweet, but you start feeling nauseous before getting up and walking away when you see the monster grabbing a man upside down by his leg, and starts spitting acid on his face. Aria meanwhile, is laughing her head off, having the time of her life watching the man scream in agony. "Aria, can you please turn that down?!" You hear Adagio yell through her room. "I'm trying to work here." "Come on, this is the best part!" Aria shouts over. "Just give me like ten minutes and I'll-" "No, I need you to turn that down NOW!" Adagio screams louder. You watch as Aria cringes, before finally bending to Adagio's demand. However, her mood quickly lightens after watching the monster pick up another victim, and (very messily) devour him. You wonder; why does Aria actually listen to Adagio and her only? What makes it so that she's so scared of her? You take a peek into the kitchen, and see Sonata still stuffing her face with tacos. She's not even chewing them; she's straight up swallowing them whole like a snake, and then immediately moving onto another taco. "Oh, hi Anon!" Sonata chirps. "Want a taco?" "Nahhh, Mexican food gives me gas." You hold up a hand. "Oh well, more for me!" You sigh, walking out of the kitchen. Why are you even here again? Your questions are answered when you see Adagio emerge from her room, looking at you very intently. "Need something?" You ask her, trying to retain your composure as you just noticed that Adagio has taken off her normal clothes and is wearing nothing but a pair of shorts and a cream colored tank top with a very generous cut. "Yes." She says, before motioning you forward. "Come inside." Your heart leaps out of your chest; is Adagio really inviting you to her room?! No way! You walk perhaps a little too enthusiastically forward towards the open door. Upon entering Adagio's room, you notice first and foremost, that it's a lot cleaner than the rest of the apartment. It's like an entirely different place; everything is organized, there doesn't seem to be any trace of dust, and everywhere you go, at least one mirror is pointed at you. You turn, and see a strange, metal contraption on Adagio's desk with a bunch of spare screws, wires, and other junk laying around. "I've been working on this for the past two days, but it's almost ready..." Adagio grins, rubbing her hands together. You look at it confused; it looks like a weird rod of metal completely wrapped in copper wire with a small little computer chip screwed to it. The entire thing is no bigger than the palm of your hand. "What is it?" You ask, picking up the metal contraption. "Some kind of electronic?" "Careful with that thing." Adagio says strictly. "It's an electromagnet I made; it took me quite some effort to get the neodymium I needed to make it." "Wait." You stop dead in your tracks. "Neodymium? You mean the super magnetic stuff you find in electric generators and stuff?" "That's right, Anon." She winks. "I knew you were always a star when it came to Physics." "How did you even get this?!" You exclaim. "Almost illegally." Adagio replies, before walking up to you, and giving your forearm a light squeeze. Your entire body tenses up from the sensation, including a certain appendage below your belt. "I can trust you to keep your mouth shut, can I?" You nod furiously. Adagio simply giggles, and takes a seat on her bed, legs crossed. "My plan is to smuggle this neodymium magnet in Rainbow Dash's soccer cleat during the game." Adagio says, as she reaches into her backpack, revealing another homemade electronic device which you can only assume is the remote that activates the electromagnet. "Imagine how idiotic she'll look when she has the ball, then suddenly 'slips', am I right?" "And it's all too bad it'll be against Canterlot's BIGGEST rival: Crystal Prep too!" You smirk. "Fast learner." She laughs. "Really makes me wonder what else you've got under your sleeves..." "Or down under." You joke. ...... 'Wait...what did I just say?' Your brain stops dead in its tracks. 'Did I...' "What's the matter, Anon?" She asks innocently, leaning in toward you. "Your cheeks look so...red." "Oh." You put a hand to your cheek, laughing nervously. "Oh. heh, you're right..." "You know..." Adagio cuts you off, sitting next to you on the side of her bed. "I was always curious..." "Curious about what?" You ask, trying to keep it cool. She's invading your personal space like it's a world war, not that you mind....but still; this was not what you expected from your off-colored joke at all. Her hand grasps your shoulder, and you feel your entire body heating up again. "That day at the English classroom..." Adagio locks you in place with that seductive, half-lidded smile again. You look down and notice her ruby necklace beginning to give off a warm, pink glow. "You said you wanted to say something..." "Yeah..." You mumble. "Well...it's just you and me now." She leans in even closer to the point where you can smell her perfume. "Go on...what was it?" Oh god...is this actually happening? "Adagio..." You say slowly. "I-" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQIXUnRyy2k "Sonata, you IDIOT!" You hear Aria scream from the other side of the room. "WHY?! Why would you ever do that?! Why did you think that was a smart idea?!" Adagio instantly leaps off the bed, and rushes out of her room. Somewhere in the distance, you hear the faint sound of a car alarm going off. You groan in frustration over being cockblocked a second time. "First Rainbow Dash, now Sonata..." You curse under your breath. You leave Adagio's room, and into the living room, seeing a shattered window along with one extremely pissed off Dazzling. "What happened?" You ask. "Fucking Sonata saw a mouse on the window and decided to throw a baseball at it, that's what happened!" Aria shouts. "And not just any ball; it was a ball I got signed by the Cloudsdale Shortstop, Soarin!" "But look!" Sonata says holding the mouse by its tail. "It's dead though!" "You could have used anything but that ball!" Aria screams. "That baseball's worth at least SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS!" As much as you hate Aria and want to laugh at her misfortune, deep down you do feel kind of bad for her. You'd be pissed too if something as valuable as that football was lost over something this stupid. "First things first, that rat's bleeding all over the floor, throw it out already!" Adagio says to Sonata before turning to Aria. "Don't worry, we'll find it first thing tomorrow morning." "Are you kidding?!" Aria's eyes widen with fury. "Something that valuable is gonna be gone by then." You all watch as Aria puts on her boots and grabs the keys. "I'm getting it now." She says before slamming the door. You look at Adagio who's just facepalming right now. Meanwhile, Sonata's off in the bathroom washing her hands after touching the rat. "When she's this mad, even I can't control her." Adagio shakes her head before walking back into her room. "Let's get going, Anon. Sonata, you stay home and just clean up all the blood, okay?" "Aye, aye!" You take a deep breath, and sigh as Adagio runs into her door to get changed. It doesn't take long until Adagio comes out of her room with a baggy sweatshirt and jeans on and you start walking with her towards the door. The two of you jog down the stairs and quickly get out of the apartments, the guards once again eyeing you rather suspiciously, but you're in too much of a hurry to care. Just as the two of you get outside, you hear the sound of tires screeching and you look to see the Dazzlings' car speeding out of the parking lot. Adagio groans, clenching the nose of bridge in frustration. She then brings out her phone and begins rapidly texting someone. You watch as Adagio's red necklace begins glowing as she's texting. After putting her phone away, Adagio takes a seat towards a nearby bench, and you join her. "Calling a ride?" You ask. "Yeah." She answers. "I swear, if Aria does anything to that car on the way...our insurance is high enough as it is." 'Gee, I wonder why.' You think to yourself. After a few minutes of doing nothing, you see a police car passing by which then stops and pulls over in front of the two of you. You're confused for a moment, but when you see the officer inside, you gulp in fear. Oh crap, that's the same cop that stopped Adagio. You thought he just let Adagio off with a warning. Or maybe he changed his mind and is back? Can cops even do that? You look at Adagio worriedly, but she seems to be completely calm right now. You notice as the police officer approaches you and Adagio, there's a faint, emerald glimmer in his eyes. "Track down Aria." Adagio says in a domineering tone towards the police officer. He responds by opening the back door of the police car, and looks at you, as if he's expecting you to come inside. You're in a stupor, completely confused as to what the heck is going on right now. "You coming?" The police officer asks. "It's not polite to keep a lady waiting, you know." You shake your head, and see Adagio already buckled in up front going through some maps of Canterlot. She doesn't find this completely weird that a cop out of the blue just offers you two a ride? Shrugging, you get up from the bench, and step inside the police car. Just like in the movies, there's imposing, metal bars that block you from accessing the two front seats, along with the side and back windows that give you a bit of a claustrophobic feel. The officer starts the car, and takes off. Thankfully, his driving is much smoother than Adagio's as he actually stops at stop signs and traffic lights. Meanwhile, Adagio is rapidly dialing away on her phone, probably trying to contact Aria. From the look on Adagio's face however, it doesn't look like she's getting much luck though. "How many times did I tell her to clean up her damn voicebox?" Adagio curses. The police officer makes a right turn, and you look out of the car through the barred windows, briefly catching a glimpse of Canterlot High before it disappears through a mass of buildings and houses. Buildings and houses that seem to look in much poorer quality than you're accustomed to. Every single one of the houses has roofs with missing tiles, porches with rotting wood, and just run-down houses in general. The streets have random litter and fragments of broken bottles scattered everywhere as well and is very poorly lit. These are definitely the "bad neighborhoods" of Canterlot that your mom always warned you about. "Uhhhhm, Officer?" You speak up. "I think we made a wrong turn here..." "No, no, Aria should down on this street." Adagio answers, stepping out of the police car. "You sure?" You look around, nervously. The entire street is devoid of any human activity, but you spot movements in the shadows every now and then. "This place looks kinda...run down if you ask me." You look at Adagio, who stares at her necklace awkwardly for a moment. Suddenly, panic fills her eyes for a brief moment as she opens your door, all but yanking you out of your seat. She then hurries over to the police officer, says something, and he drives off, disappearing into the darkness. You look back at Adagio awkwardly for a moment as she sighs in relief. Oddly though, you notice her necklace's typical shining, blood red glow has now reduced itself to a dull maroon. "What was that all about?" You ask Adagio. "And what's your deal, leaving us both in the middle of some ghetto neighborhood?" "First off, don't say that word here." Adagio hushes, her eyes darting back and forth, looking for movement. "Second, it's a long story, and I don't think making extra noise somewhere like here is a smart idea; especially when my songs are weak right now." "Your songs?" You raise an eyebrow. "Never mind." Adagio shakes her head. "Forget what I just said. Anyways, just keep your eyes peeled for the car; we find that, and we'll find Aria. And make sure we're not being followed, okay?" 'Jeez, so paranoid.' You think to yourself. You take a look at the nearest house to you, and the lights are completely pitch black. Just like every other house down the street. The entire street looks abandoned, and it's giving you the creeps. Actually, you take it back. You're starting to get pretty paranoid too. This place doesn't look friendly at all. You just follow Adagio through the dark, unlit sidewalk, praying to God that she knows what she's doing.