For obvious reasons, you didn't want to take an active role during Pinkie Pie's slumber party; you want to just keep a low profile for the entire time, so Applejack doesn't change her mind about not clobbering you with a baseball bat.
You sort of just stuck to the fringes for the entire time, mostly passing the time by drinking ginger ale and staring at the ceiling, since you never really felt like you were invited to the party anyways. Fluttershy was kind enough to let you play a couple of board games with her and just chat, but it didn't last too long until Pinkie Pie grabbed her for some Dance Dance Revolution tournament they were holding or something.
With nothing else to do, you simply make your way down the basement, and look for a comfortable looking beanbag for you to call it a night. You strip down until you're in nothing but your underwear and undershirt, then grab a nearby wool blanket. It takes a bit of tossing and turning about until you find a nice comfortable position, but when you do, you start staring at the ceiling, counting sheep before your eyes start getting heavy.
******
You wake up, finding that you're no longer within the safe confines of your beanbag anymore. In fact...are you even in Pinkie Pie's house anymore? You look around, taking in your surroundings, and instantly recognize this place as Ms. Cherilee's English classroom. Hang on; was this the place where you were about to ask out Adagio before all that flashbang crap happened to you? There's no mistaking it; it is.
Immediately, your body freezes up, when you start hearing the clicking of heeled boots. You turn, seeing Adagio Dazzle, in all her glory waiting for you. Except, this time, that jeweled necklace of hers isn't glowing like a miniature nuclear reactor this time.
"Adagio?!" You blurt out. "What are you doing here?!"
"Answering your letter." She replies, holding a piece of paper. "I thought you wanted to see me...specifically in the English classroom."
You squint your eyes, recognizing that paper as the letter you remember sending to Sonata, asking her to forward it to Adagio. Your eyes trail around the classroom, looking for any signs of Rainbow Dash, or grenade-shaped objects...Once certain there's nothing there, you walk up to Adagio, and look at her straight in the eye.
"Sorry, Adagio." You say. "I think you've got the wrong person. I never remember sending that letter to you."
"Oh really?" Adagio asks. All of the sudden, you find that she's inches away from your face as she tilts her head to the side, giving you a perfect view of her cleavage. "Are you sure there's nothing you wanted to say?"
"I'm sure." You smile, resisting the urge to look down. "I've got nothing to say to you. We should both be going our separate ways now."
You walk past Adagio, and make your way to the exit of the classroom door until a sudden gust of wind blows the door shut in your face. You try to open the door, only to find it locked. You then try pounding on the door, to try and get somebody else to open it, until you hear a guttural laugh coming from Adagio.
"Liar." She says as her necklace sparkles to life. Immediately, two amorphous blobs of mist fly into the room; one purple, and the other blue. The two mists quickly begin to take shape, materializing into Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk respectively. Their necklaces, just like Adagio's have that blinding, sinister glow to them as well.
"Alright, you can stop your fancy lightshow and let me go now, Adagio." You shield your eyes from their necklaces with a hand.
"Not until I've gotten what I came here for." Adagio replies, holding your letter.
"I already told you, piss off!" You shout. "I-"
You're cut off by a sharp slap to the face, as you turn back and see Adagio with her arms crossed, looking annoyed at you.
"You're lying not only to me, but to yourself." She says. "I know what you want."
"Oh yeah?" You challenge her as you clench your cheek. "What is it then?"
Adagio looks at Aria and Sonata who nod their heads. Immediately, the two sirens tackle you, with Aria pinning your left arm to the door and Sonata taking your right. You try to struggle, but then Aria takes her free hand, and punches you straight in that soft spot in the center of your ribs. It knocks the wind out of you, as you feel all the muscles in your body beginning to shut down. Every breath begins to feel like a labor as you seemingly struggle to survive.
The Dazzlings then pick up your limp body, and throw you on top of a desk. Adagio leers over you, that infamous evil smile rising above her face.
"I know what you want." Adagio answers, as she trails her finger across her body. "...Me."
"No..." You gasp, struggling to even reply to her. Whatever Aria did, it makes the simplest things from talking to breathing a million times harder. "No......you don't even like me! Don't think I'm falling for your bullshit again!"
"Oh, don't be so cynical." Adagio pouts, gently rubbing the spot where she slapped you. "We can forget about what happened at the game...we can start anew..."
"Over my dead body." You shoot back. You try to get up and get away from these sirens, but Aria smacks you in the same spot one more time. Pain emanates across your entire body like a shockwave, as you feel yourself finally lose control of your whole body. You can't move at all, yet you can still feel the very palpable pain of Aria's strike.
"You're lying, and we both know it." Adagio's evil smile widens. "I can see it in your eyes, I can feel it in your mind... a part of you still wants to be mine."
Without warning, Adagio grabs your head, and locks you into a deep kiss. The kiss begins soft at first, but then you begin to feel an unnatural sucking sensation as Adagio's lips hold onto you. You want to get away, but that last strike from Aria made it so you can't even fight back right now. You're stuck here in this predicament, as Adagio's kiss begins getting more and more aggressive.
Your eyes start losing color as everything around you turns more and more monotonous. Meanwhile, every nerve in your body feels like it's on fire and your heart is beating so hard, you feel it's about to burst out of your chest. Just as you feel like you're about to lose it all, Adagio breaks the kiss. Color returns to your vision, and life breaths itself back into you as you see her necklace glowing so bright, it's like white-hot magma. Delicate, purple wings begin erupting from Adagio's back as she licks her lips, and looks down at you with a seductive smile.
"Ahhhh that's more like it." Adagio sighs, caressing your chest as she leans over you. She slowly begins descending upon you again. "Come Anon, relax......relax and just give it to me..."
"Relax Anon...let go and give me everything."
******
"He's sweating so much!"
"Is he alright?!"
"Gosh darn it Anon, quit scarin' us!"
"Hey, can you hear me Anon?! Speak to me!" A female voice says desperately.
You feel something grabbing you. Panic beginning to overwhelm you, you start flailing wildly in response.
"I said no, Adagio!!!" You shout, flailing your arms. "Now get off me!"
"Damn it Anon, you're dreaming! You're dreaming!" The shaking gets more and more intense.
"Adagio I said NO!" Your roar as you raise your arms, preparing to shove her off you. You hear the sounds of gasping as your eyes shoot open, seeing Sunset Shimmer looking down at you.
"S...Sunset?" You look at her confused. You're still in an extremely disoriented state as all your five senses begin to slowly return. You find yourself back on Pinkie Pie's beanbag, soaked to the bone in a miniature ocean of your own sweat. You look around, seeing Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Sunset Shimmer all in a circle around you.
"Fuck..." You sigh in relief. "Damn, what a nightmare."
"Anonymous!" You look up, and see Rarity glaring at you. "Stop for a moment, and look what you're doing to Sunset Shimmer! That's absolutely no way to treat a lady!"
You look up, and see Sunset Shimmer looking down at her chest, as her face begins turning increasingly more red as each second passes by. You follow her eyes until you find your arms at her chest level, ready to push her. You feel around a little, and notice your hands are directly on two really soft objects...
"Anon..." Sunset says slowly.
"I know." You reply as your hands shoot to your sides automatically. "This never happened."
"Anon, you pervert!" Applejack steps in. "What in Sam Hill do you think you're doing to Sunset?"
"Hey, hey, hey it was an accident!" You turn to Applejack in fear. "I swear! I-"
"Calm down, everyone!" Twilight steps in, defusing the situation. "We're overreacting; it was just an honest mistake. Anon was clearly having a nightmare, and Sunset just wanted to help. No need for this crazy nonsense."
You watch as Sunset slowly crawls away from you, murmuring something to herself as Pinkie Pie walks up and offers her hand up to you.
"C'mon, Anon." She smiles. "It's not even 8:30 yet; why are you hitting the sack already? We've still got at least five solid hours of pure partying to go!"
You take Pinkie Pie's hands, and pull yourself up from the beanbag. Looking around, you can see the party moved to basement. Applejack and Twilight are having a go at each other in billiards while Rarity and Fluttershy are taking selfies together. You decide to go back to your old strategy of avoiding the main crowd, and roam off into the corners of the basement. Looking around, you spot an old television with an Xbox 360 under it. Behind the television, you spot one of those old plastic Guitar Hero guitars.
"No way." You gasp as your heart flutters at the sight of it. "No fucking way!"
You walk up to the Xbox and open it up, seeing a perfectly intact copy of Guitar Hero 3.
"Oh my God..." You whisper, a smile forming across your face.
This thing was your childhood. You and Flash Sentry would spend hours upon hours upon hours just playing the shit out of this game. You walk over to the television, checking all the plugs before looking back at the console, silently wondering to yourself if this thing still works...
"Please don't get the Red Ring of Death, please don't get the Red Ring of Death, please don't get the Red Ring of Death..." You pray as you press the button. Immediately, the reassuring green glow appears and the television flickers to life.
"YES!" You shout at the top of your lungs, accidentally attracting the attention of everybody else. Twilight, Sunset, Appejack, and everyone else stares at you awkwardly for at solid ten seconds before going back to whatever they were doing. You shake your head, and turn your face back towards the television.
The menu, the characters, the sounds, the songs, after five years, NOTHING has changed; it's still the best thing ever after indoor plumbing and electricity. You strap on the plastic guitar, feeling like you're reconnecting with a long lost friend as your fingers instinctively run themselves along the buttons, and remember all the controls as if you played this game yesterday.
You can't wait any longer; you pick a random song and without giving a second thought, crank it all the way to the hardest difficulty.
The song begins with some drums followed by clapping. Soon, the notes begin appearing on the screen as you begin mashing the guitar like you've been doing it all your life. Well, from 7th grade to freshman year, this was your life.
As soon as the lyrics break out, you look at the game confused; what the heck was this song you chose? You never remembered it being in the game. You shrug; it's alright, you guess...
A storm of green, red, yellow, blue, and orange appears on the horizon, but you stand unfazed, daring them to come at you. As the notes come speeding towards you, you begin pounding away on the plastic guitar, not letting a single note escape. You smile as the in-game crowd goes wild as you land your 50 note streak, and you continue rocking on.
"Whoa, look!" Pinkie Pie exclaims. "Look, Twilight! I never knew that old thing still worked!"
You ignore Pinkie Pie; right now, every single neuron in your brain is concentrating on getting 100% on this song. Sure, the song itself is kind of cheesy and over the top, but you could care less; it's been five years since you played this game, and you're finally back at it!
'Star Power's coming up.' You grit your teeth. 'Don't muck it up here, Anon.'
Another flurry of notes appear, and you tilt your guitar, initiating Star Power. The crowd starts screaming, and you respond by concentrating even more as each the notes for some reason seem to be getting faster. So far, you still haven't missed a note, but it's definitely taking a toll on your mental reserves.
'200 note streak...'
The song starts taking a more tame direction, and you decide to sacrifice some concentration to sit back for a moment, and take in the beat; that was always Flash Sentry's strategy when he played. You synchronize your heartbeat with the pounding of the bass drums, then start tapping your foot along with the tom-toms and snares. Just as you feel yourself relaxing a little too much however, a random orange chord appears out of nowhere.
"Fuck!" You shout, nearly missing that one. You crack your neck, and start shredding away again as the next wave of notes come crashing down on you. The notes are assaulting you harder than ever now, but you still stand your ground.
'300 notes!'
You take a deep breath in between each chord, trying to get as much oxygen into your brain as possible before another tornado of notes appear before you again. You enter a zen-like state of mind, and the desperate, feeling of stress drains away; you're left with an empty mind, filled with nothing but pure focus, and begin effortlessly nailing each note as they relentlessly try to cross your guitar unscathed.
A final wave of notes pour in at the very last second, but you were ready for it; you pin them all down without blinking an eye, and drop to your knees as you slam down a multiple chord.
'Nope, not fooling me again!' You think as you quickly mash one final note that seemingly materializes out of nowhere. The crowd starts cheering loudly as the two words 'You Rock!' fly into the screen. The lyrics to this song were a little cheesy, but you still love this game.
The cheering for some reason is still going on despite being back in the song menu. You look behind you, and see Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, Fluttershy, all cheering you. Even Applejack and Rarity are joining in too.
"Anon!" Pinkie Pie runs in, and gives you a bone-crushing hug. "That's AWESOMEEEEEEEEEE!!!"
'I've only seen Rainbow Dash get a hundred percent on that song before." Applejack says, impressed.
"That's nice, but can you let me breathe first?!" You wheeze. Pinkie Pie immediately lets go, and you fall face first into the floor, coughing like Walter White.
"You know..." Rarity says, looking at Twilight Sparkle. "I change my mind; I actually think Anonymous could fill in Rainbow Dash's spot on the Rainbooms."
"I don't know Rarity..." Applejack shrugs. "There's a big difference between real life n' vidya games; just because he's good at this, doesn't mean he can play a real guitar."
"Oh, don't be so dreary, Applejack." Rarity says before clasping her hands together. "It's the same movements; how hard could it be to actually translate into the real thing?"
"Well that's just great then!" Twilight Sparkle beams. "That means Anon can take Rainbow's place, while I don't have to sing at all, so I can concentrate all my efforts on the counter-spell for the sirens!"
Twilight looks at the rest of the girls nervously, before they all shake their heads disapprovingly.
"Nope, you're not going anywhere!" Pinkie Pie smiles as she embraces Twilight. "You're still gonna be our lead singer!"
"What?!" Twilight shouts in disbelief. "B-b-but the spell..."
"You said the spell needs to be sung anyways." Applejack points at her.
Out of nowhere, Pinkie Pie pulls out seven open bottles of Coca Cola before handing each of you one, and raises her bottle in the air.
"To Twilight Sparkle and Anon!!!" She announces. "The two newest members of the Rainbooms!"
You and Twilight Sparkle look at each other nervously before clinking your bottles together and downing the soda. You remembered how after 8th grade, Flash Sentry started actually playing the guitar instead of just Guitar Hero. Now, he's actually pretty good at it. Guess it's time to follow in his footsteps...
******
67...68...69...
70 sheep counted, and still not an ounce of drowsiness; you think that's an all time record for you.
"Why can't I fall asleep?!" You groan, elbowing the beanbag in frustration. Deep down though, you know the answer yourself; a part of you is still scared to death at the thought of falling asleep, and having another nightmare of Adagio having her way with you. The worst part about that dream is that what she said was true; despite you knowing that Adagio's a psycho, part of you still wouldn't mind being with her. Even if it means she'd use her siren magic to suck the life out of you.
You sigh. Of all the girls to pick, you chose a god damn siren succubus she-demon bent on world domination to be your first love.
Well, you'll might as well get something to eat if you're pulling off an all-nighter. Something sugary. You get up from your beanbag, and pull out your phone, using it as a flashlight to navigate through the dark basement and up the stairs to Pinkie Pie's refrigerator.
When you finally open the door and step out of the basement however, you're surprised when you see none other than Twilight Sparkle sitting on a countertop surrounded by books.
"Oh, hi there Anon." She smiles. "Didn't see you there."
"Can't sleep either?" You ask, walking up to her. "Funny, I thought I was the only one."
"Well...more of like trying to spend some extra time working on the counter spell." Twilight answers back. "I'm guessing the reason you're up is another one of those nightmares?"
"That plus that nap I took earlier makes it pretty hard to get sleepy." You reply, leaning over to look at Twilight's notebook. "Christ, those magic equations and everything look more complicated than rocket science."
"Well, it looks like it's a mess mostly because I had to change all my equations after finding out the sirens' negative energy inputs increased exponentially..."
"And you've got me to thank for that." You sulk. "To be honest, I'm surprised your friends didn't slit my throat while I was sleeping after what I've done to Rainbow..."
"Hey, don't say that." Twilight pats you on the back reassuringly. "It's not your fault you didn't know that those three girls were sirens."
"But it is my fault for hurting Rainbow Dash..." You sigh. "I swear...I'm never gonna forgive myself..."
As you slump over on the desk, you start feeling sorry for yourself all over again. Your brain starts playing back all the mistakes you've made the past couple weeks: first with the moment you shook Adagio's hand, then to that painful split Rainbow Dash did. Her screams of pain still echo through your ears. You clench your fists, and let out a pained groan.
"Anon, you okay?" Twilight drops her pen, looking at you concerned.
"I'm...I'm alright." You say. "Was just thinking about Rainbow...and the game."
"It's best not to think too much about it." Twilight advises. "What happened, happened."
"Yeah, I know." You agree. "But still, I-"
"And besides." Twilight cuts you off. "How is Rainbow Dash ever going to forgive you if you can't even forgive yourself?"
"They can-" You're about to say a witty comeback, but you stop to think about what Twilight said for a moment, and realize it actually makes a lot of sense. "Never mind. I'll stop distracting you now."
You spend the next few minutes stooped over the countertop, listening to Twilight Sparkle write in her notebook. Secretly, you're really curious as to how she can hold that pen with her mouth like that and still write legibly, but you decide against asking it. From now on, whenever you don't understand anything going on in this world, you'll just assume it's magic.
Like Calculus.
"Ughhh, I think I'm spent for the night." Twilight yawns, closing her notebook. "Say, can you do me a favor and pass me that book over there?"
You nod, reaching over the other side of the countertop and grab the book. From the look of the cover, it looks like some kind of novel.
"In Cold Blood?" You read the cover aloud. "By Truman Capote."
"Oh, it's just a novel I'm reading to pass the time." Twilight says. "It's pretty interesting..."
"What's it about?" You ask. "The title sounds kinda...gloomy."
"It's about two men who murder a family of four in a robbery."
"Wow." You scoff. "That's... really gloomy."
"It's actually a really good book." Twilight says. "It was Sunset who actually showed it to me; I remember one of the quotes really stood out to me."
"What was it?" You ask, now curious about the book.
"It was when one of the killer's sisters wrote him a letter after he murdered the family telling him..." Twilight clears her throat. "'There is no shame to have a dirty face---the real shame comes when you keep it dirty' "
"A...dirty face?" Your head perks up.
"It's a metaphor." Twilight explains. "A metaphor for there's nothing evil about making a bad decision. But it is evil if you continue doing it, knowing what you're doing is wrong."
The words resonate with you. You feel every muscle in your body loosen up, and a gentle feeling of floating overwhelms you as you repeat the words in your head.
'There is no shame to have a dirty face---the real shame comes when you keep it dirty...'
"You know what?" Twilight's head perks up. "You take the book. You keep it. I've already read it like three times anyways."
Twilight hands you the book, and you take it with a smile on your face.
"Thanks Twilight." You shake her hand. "That made me feel a lot better; I appreciate it." You get up from your seat, and begin heading back to your beanbag in the basement. Now you know why Sunset reveres Twilight so much; so much wisdom in such a young teenager. It's geniuses like her that grow up to be future presidents and whatnot.
"No problem." She says. "By the way, next time if you ever feel down in the dumps again, I'd recommend talking to Sunset Shimmer about it, instead of me."
"Sunset?" You ask. "Why?"
"It's... just a suggestion." She replies, before waving. "She's made a lot of mistakes in the past just like you; and just like you, she also hasn't fully forgiven herself for it all yet. I feel like both of you two need a friend right now that knows what you're going through."
"Well, thanks for the suggestion." You smile. "Good night, Twilight."
"You too."
You turn your phone back on, and try to find the door back to the basement. You open a door, finding an unused room full of rocks of all sizes and shapes. In front of you, is a fuzzy cat bed with a small pebble inside of it. On top, are the words engraved in gold "Boulder".
'Yeahhhh, wrong door, Anon.'
You open the next door to the left, finding a flight of stairs that look familiar. Yup, this is the basement. After a couple of seconds of wandering around, you find your beanbag again, and place Twilight's book on a nearby coffee table, before jumping back onto the beanbag.
You stare at the ceiling, and you start feeling sleepy as you try to think about what Twilight just said.
"There's no shame in having a dirty face..." You murmur to yourself.
"The real shame comes when you keep it dirty." Another voice suddenly finishes the quote. You jump up from your beanbag in surprise, and grab your phone, turning on the flashlight. You start turning around, looking for the source of the voice, but can't find it. Is it a ghost? Well, magic is apparently real, so anything can exist.
"Who's there?" You call out, flashing your phone through every corner of the room. After a minute of looking around, you give up. You shut your phone off and fall back onto your beanbag.
"Probably just the wind or something..." You mutter to yourself, the last thing you remember seeing is a pair of aqua eyes surrounded by strands of red and yellow before falling to sleep.