//------------------------------// // The Dazzlings: Revisited // Story: A Dazzling Mismatch // by Shadowmane PX-41 //------------------------------// Applejack hauled a crate full of her family's cider into the barn and set it down alongside twenty-five identical crates. She brushed away the sweat that had been trickling down her forehead once she was done, cracked open one of the bottles, and began to slowly drink the cold liquid. She got halfway through the bottle before her phone vibrated in her pocket. She put her drink down and reached into her pocket, opening her phone up and tapping on the buttons to open her digital message box. There was a single message from Pinkie Pie that had been unread, so with one more tap, Applejack was shown the message. "Applejack! It's an emergency!" the message started. "I was walking down the street with the groceries for the Cakes, when all of a sudden, I saw some people arguing at the church. I went over to see what was happening, and I saw something truly horrifying!" "Calm down, Pinkie. You're overexaggering." Applejack pounded away at the buttons on her phone to type her response to Pinkie. "Now just slowly tell me what's wrong, and I'll come over in a jiffy." Applejack pushed the button to send the message, and a few seconds later, there was another response. "You might need to bring the rest of the girls." the response read. "The Dazzlings are back! And they've got those freaky-deaky gems with them too!" "What?!" Applejack nearly dropped the phone as she recoiled from the response. She then tapped in another response to Pinkie's messages. "Alright. I'll warn the others. Just don't get too close to them, alright?" Applejack ran out of the barn, frantically typing messages to the other Rainbooms on her phone. She was moving so fast that it was a miracle she didn't trip over something as she sent the warning to Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Sunset, and Twilight. Once the last message was sent, she put her phone away and sprinted over to the church where Pinkie Pie was. The Dazzlings simply stood back and watched from outside the church. Inside, all of the people were now arguing and claiming that they were the best follower of god. As each human slung their words back and forth, an ominous green vapour emanated from them. The gases flew away from the humans and were drawn to the pendants, vanishing into and making them glow momentarily. "Ahh. It feels so good to be back, doesn't it?" Aria smiled as she felt her power growing. "Amen to that, Aria." Sonata nodded as the group went off to find their next meal. "You know, Adagio, while I am still technically the leader now, I have to say that that was a great call." Aria looked back at Adagio, who was still her body and sighed. "But it'd be much better if I was back in my proper body..." "Well, once we get back to Equestria, we can rectify that little problem first." Adagio gave Aria a few pats on the back. "But for now, we need to keep stealing energy. We only just came back from the point of nothing, so we need to get a few more meals in before we can stand any chance of getting home." "What about the Rainbooms?" Sonata raised an eyebrow. "The last time we got enough power to get home, those meanies came in and ruined the fun for us." "Don't worry about the Rainbooms, Sonata. They're not going to be much of a problem for us." Aria shrugged. "We got defeated because we were sloppy and didn't plan for everything. This time, we're going to make sure that those dweebs don't get the chance to fight back." "But the Rainbooms have access to the Magic of Friendship, Aria." Adagio crossed her arms as she thought back to her defeat. "If they get so much as a second to take us out, they will." "Which is why we've gotta move fast, before we get caught and defeated again." Aria looked back at Adagio before she noticed the Rainbooms gathering on the other side of the road. "And speaking of moving fast, we've gotta run. They're right there!" Sonata looked back herself and saw the Rainbooms. "Oh crud! You're right!" Her eyes went wide and she stumbled backwards as the sight hit her. "Let's get out of here!" Sunset Shimmer was the first one to notice the Dazzlings running away. "Hey! Get back here!" She pointed over to the sirens and began to chase them down the streets. The Rainbooms and Dazzlings were locked into a chase that took them down multiple streets and past the few bunches of people which they swerved past. It was a fairly even chase, but the sirens were eventually able to gain some ground between them and the Rainbooms. Sunset Shimmer's breath got heavier as she continued to pursue the Dazzlings. After everything that had happened at Canterlot High, she was not going to let them get off the hook so easily for what they did to the other students. She was going to catch them and give them what they deserved. Despite the distance that was being put between them, she was able to pick up speed and get close to the sirens. The chase then took the two groups through the park, where they were in view of a vast majority of people of all ages. The Dazzlings were fast, but the Rainbooms were gradually closing the gap and were about to catch them, when all of a sudden, Sonata Dusk tripped over a can and landed face-first onto the grass. Despite being ahead, both Aria and Adagio noticed that their companion had fallen and went back to help her up, which was when the Rainbooms crashed into them at full speed, sending all ten of the teenagers into a heap on the ground, with their arms and legs sprawled out on top of one another. Everyone groaned, their heads still spinning as they slowly recovered from the impact. Sunset and Adagio were the first to stand up, with the others slowly but surely getting up themselves and dusting away the grass and dirt that they had collected upon their fall. "Alright, Adagio," Sunset broke the silence as she gazed at Adagio's body. "What are you girls planning this time?" "I'm not Adagio, silly." Sonata pointed to Aria's body. "She is!" "Technically, she's me, but since you want to call her Adagio, that's fine by you." Aria Blaze pointed over to Adagio. "Oh just shut up, you two. This is confusing enough as it is." Adagio shoved her hands in both Aria and Sonata's mouths. "She was talking to Adagio. Not you." Rarity crossed her arms and glared at the sirens. "Fucking hell, I AM ADAGIO!" Adagio roared and pushed both Aria and Sonata back onto their butts. "No, you're not. You're that one mean Dazzling who's super-bored and out of it." Pinkie Pie's voice was devoid of humour as she eyed up Adagio. "I have a name you know, you walking cartoon character! It's Aria Blaze! Learn it!" She cried out as she stood back on her feet once again. "And I'm Sonata!" She waved to the Rainbooms, who didn't sway their emotions one bit. She noticed and rubbed the ground with the tip of her shoes. "Guess you're not really up for friendly conversation, especially since we did try to turn all of your classmates against one another." "And turned us against each other in the process." Rarity harumphed and blushed as she made a face akin to a pouting five-year old girl. "Honestly, that was just not called for." "Well, if you think that we're coming back to that pathetic little school you cherish so much, think again." Adagio stood proud as she addressed the Rainbooms. "We're doing just fine taking energy from buildings that aren't so cramped like Canterlot High, and are instead focusing our efforts on other places that don't believe in the Magic of Friendship." "For what purpose?" Sunset's brows lowered. "Because if you dare to threaten our world or Equestria again, so help me, I'll—" "Turn into a guardian angel again and stop us. Believe me, we know you perfectly by now, Miss Shimmer." Adagio waved her hand to silence Sunset. "Some of these people just can't help but blab things." "Yeah. A bunch of teenage girls wearing plaid skirts were talking about some sporting event called the Friendship Games and how you turned into a magical creature to stop another magical monster from trying to conquer both worlds." Sonata blurted out at a rapid pace. "We decided that you and your friends are too dangerous to try and steal energy from now, so we're gonna be focusing on just mortals now." "They aren't really as juicy as the Magic of Friendship, but after what happened at your school, I don't mind going vegan on negative energy." Aria flexed the fingers on her hands. "Anything that restores my power is fine by me." "Well, we're not gonna let you do that!" Applejack stepped forward to confront the sirens. "After the downright ugly things you did to the Canterlot High students, we're not just gonna let you get off that easily again. We're gonna make sure that those gems are shattered once and for all!" "Save your breath, Applejack. You'll need it for when you're belting out those repulsive western songs at karaoke." Aria crossed her arms and raised a brow at her. "Honestly. There's also pop, rock, heavy metal, jazz, and yet you choose the most boring, unoriginal, and downright stupid musical genres ever conceived to play and be good at." "Hey! There's nothing wrong with western!" Applejack spat at Aria. "Well, I guess there wouldn't be for some apple-farming cowgirl, but for the rest of the world, it just comes off as irritating." Adagio tousled Applejack's hair before she shoved the hat straight into her face, causing her to steam up and turn red at the cheek. "I would've suggested that you run right back to your corral, or wherever it is you hicks like to live these days if it weren't for that flimsy bass you played back at the contest." "Calm down, Applejack. She's just trying to get into your head." Sci-Twi patted Applejack on the shoulders in an attempt to stop her from physically attacking the Dazzlings. "Well, it's definitely working." Rainbow Dash examined the curved lines on Applejack's forehead, her tightening fists, and her gritted teeth. "I don't think I've seen Applejack this angry since the Battle of the Bands..." "Well, Adagio Dazzle has been known to mess with people before," Sunset told the group. "I wouldn't be surprised if she's still trying to get us angry now. You can't teach an old dog new tricks, after all." "Oh, don't think that because we're not going to be targeting you anymore doesn't mean we're done with you, Rainbooms," said Adagio. "We still have an old score to settle, don't we?" "Yeah! It's because of you stinky-heads that we lost all of our powers and had to start over from scratch!" Sonata chided, gently holding onto her new pendant as tightly as she could. "And I was just having fun with your magic." "Fun? You call hypnotising innocent people and making them fight fun?" Fluttershy stood up to the Dazzlings, her voice getting louder and louder. "I've seen some real bullies in my time, but you've gotta be the worst girls I've ever seen!" She got right into the faces of all three of the sirens. "You should learn to take other's feelings into consideration before you sing your songs of war and think that any of it is fun! I'm quite shocked and appalled you're still doing that even today, AFTER we beat you at the Battle of the Bands! Have you no—" "Geez! Does she ever shut up?" Aria shoved one of Sonata's pacifiers that she had taken from her pocket into Fluttershy's mouth. "Hey! Don't you dare do that to Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash broke up the four girls and stood in front of Fluttershy, who had spat the pacifier out. "You might be free to run around with your magic again, but we're gonna make sure that you won't have that power for long." "Spare me your overblown egos, Rainbooms." Adagio turned her back to the girls. "The only thing we have to worry about now is getting back into our original bodies. That's all. We're not scared of you or your prissy pony girly magic to begin with. We were just disappointed that you got the upper hand in the end." She started to walk away. "Trust me. That's a mistake we won't make again..." "Stop!" Sunset ran in front of Adagio to prevent her from getting away again. "I said you wouldn't be getting away with what you'd done and I intend to make good on our promise!" "And I already told you that we're not scared of you or your stupid powers." Adagio pushed on Sunset's chest a few times. "You want to throw down with us again? Fine. But we're not going to be resorting to music if you do." "Ooh... I think I smell a catfight coming on!" Pinkie Pie called out and pulled a boxing bell and her drumsticks out of her hair, proceeding to bang on it a few times. "I'll be the announcer!" "Well, this should be interesting..." Aria grinned and walked off to the side with Sonata. They both sat down on the grass together and folded their legs. "Hey, Sonata, you got any popcorn?" "I'm warning you, Adagio. You so much as touch another human in this world, I'll rip you limb from limb!" Sunset and Adagio circled each other, their eyes fixated on their opponent as they prepared for a fight. "Big deal. Sirens grow their limbs back immediately." Adagio tossed her hair, then noticed that Aria's hairclips were still in it. "Uggh! Aria! You can have these!" She took them off and threw them at Aria, landing beside each of her legs. Adagio then proceeded to let her hair drop down her shoulders and completely coat the back of her clothes. "Why does she only get to fight one? That doesn't seem fair," Rainbow Dash whispered to Sci-Twi. "I never stayed around for one myself, but from what I've seen at Crystal Prep, a catfight is usually between two girls over a stupid little detail like make-up or something," Sci-Twi replied. "But, judging from what Sunset and Adagio said to each other, I imagine that they've had some history before." "We'll tell you about it later, but for now, let's just see how this plays out." Applejack sat down with the rest of the Rainbooms and Sci-Twi. "I haven't seen a catfight in a while, so this should be something interesting..." Adagio and Sunset made their hands into claws and drove them into each other's arms in an attempt to scratch them. Both of them hit and left white scratch marks on each other's arms that quickly faded as they both tried to punch each other, which proved unsuccessful as they both caught each other's attacks. Adagio then kicked Sunset in her nether regions, causing her to collapse and clutch at where she had been hit. This gave Adagio the time to pull on Sunset's hair, causing her to yelp in pain. "Gotta say, Sonata's right. It does look like bacon..." Adagio said as she continued to pull on Sunset's hair. "Wonder if it tastes like that too. Well, only one way to find out, right?!" And with that, she sunk her teeth into Sunset Shimmer's hairstyle and proceeded to try and eat it. She reviled and spat the hair out, letting go and using her hands to try and brush the strands of hair off of her tongue. Sunset Shimmer found a golden opportunity and pinned Adagio to the ground, sitting on her knees. She dove into Adagio's pockets and found a pencil and a purse with her name written on it. She took the pen, which caused Adagio to grab onto Sunset's arm. The two of them struggled, but eventually, Sunset managed to rub out Adagio's name and write "Asiago." "NOOOOO! MY NAME'S NOT ASIAGOOOOOOOO!" Adagio cried out to the sky as she rammed into Sunset, causing the two fo them to trade punches and kicks once again. "This is the best catfight I think I've ever seen." Aria smiled as she watched Adagio and Sunset continue to tear each other apart. "I don't like you!" Sunset gnashed her teeth as she and Adagio pushed against each other. "I despise you!" Adagio retorted. "I never liked you!" Sunset screamed. "I a thousand times never liked you!" Adagio herself lost all of her maturity as she pushed back against Sunset. "Chessehead!" Sunset yelled. "Baconhair!" Adagio responded. "How long do you think they're gonna go on?" Pinkie Pie asked Sci-Twi. "I dunno, Pinkie, but if you ask me, this is the weirdest catfight I think I've ever seen..." Sci-Twi watched as Adagio and Sunset violently pushed each other, their foreheads sweating and their feet driving into the ground and leaving deep footprints.