Chapter 11: Doors and Jelly
Late that afternoon, the sirens opted to explore the castle a little. Blueblood had left them to the carriage to take them back to the castle as he headed off to attend to the day's paperwork. They were sure they had collectively eaten more on that boat-blimp today than in the entire past week combined, which left the trio feeling a little bloated. Still, Adagio didn't want to risk what she'd heard so many times and now finally understood about gaining weight from overeating. Not that she was the least bit self-conscious about the width of her flanks.
As such, she insisted they move around a little, if only to walk off what they could while (finally) doing what they'd resisted the quiet urge to do thus far; go around opening random doors. The first few were closets, bathrooms, guest rooms or servant quarters, and yet more hallways, but before long, they discovered a room full of swords and fencing equipment.
They took a long look at the room's contents before Adagio spoke, an eyebrow raised. "Would either of you like to be cut to ribbons in the next fifteen minutes?" Two heads shook. "Good, let's skip this one."
And so they did, moving right along to the next door, which was the same thing, but with spears. And fencing equipment.
Sonata tilted her head, the image of a closet door nearly breaking off its hinges from internal pressure floating over it. "You think they just had too much of this stuff to put in a box or something?"
"None of it looks rusty," observed Aria, "but I don't remember anything about the army making a difference for any of what we saw in the papers. Think it's all for show?"
Adagio pondered this for a moment. "I'll ask Blueblood about the Equestrian military soon. Until then, next room."
Aria felt it was again time to take up her usual role. "So, any reason we aren't splitting up, checking different doors?"
"Ignoring that it'll be night soon and no sane pony wanders a largely unfamiliar area alone after dark?" Adagio glanced toward a nearby window as the sun's rays faded to the orange of encroaching dusk, then more pointedly to their immediate surroundings to find nopony else around at the time. "I'd rather not have to explain if somepony asks why we saw fit to divide while casually looking around together."
Nodding in an 'oh, yea.' kind of way, Aria followed along without any further complaint.
Sonata got the next door, finding it to be the room Blueblood had mentioned with nothing but two chairs, the one for staring contests.
Walking over, Adagio tilted her head. "That... that really exists. I was sure he was pulling our legs with a few of those examples, but if not, don't walk straight into any door without looking around first. Good advice in general, but it likely goes double for the Slide Room." The image of a really big slide floated over Sonata's head, juxtaposed with a question mark. "Either it's a room full of slides for some reason, or the first steps into the chamber are accompanied by a long, slippery fall, right behind the doorway. We should be careful."
Gulping, her followers nodded in unison.
The next door they opened was apparently a bowling alley. With none of them knowing how bowling was done with hooves, two of them not wanting to see Sonata try it with her loose (keyword; loose) understanding of telekinesis, they moved right along to the next one.
Then came something weird. Behind the next door was a small, square room, that they could not explain. In the room's center they saw a large drain. A single pink cloud did it also contain. Out of that cloud poured chocolate, like rain. For a moment they felt that they'd all gone insane.
"'Scuze me, ladies!"
Turning as one, the trio were fortunate enough to be too flabbergasted to adequately display shock, so when they saw Discord himself slither through the air over their heads through the doorway in serpentine fashion, none of them emitted more than a long, quiet, strained breath. They watched in silence as he, whistling in reverse, landed on what amounted to his feet, casually strolled over to the cloud with a newspaper tucked under one arm, stuck his head into the pink mass, and began shouting incoherently, even if most of it weren't muffled by the cloud. While he did this, flailing his arms (only one of which turned into a flail for the duration) and flapping his bat-wing, the feathery one just twitching every now and then, the trio silently stepped back, closed the door, and spoke very, very quietly.
Aria started. "That was Discord."
"Well-observed, Aria," noted their calmly-sarcastic leader, "nothing escapes you. For Sonata's sake, however, I'll say now that we should watch our thoughts."
Sonata immediately fixed her gaze on the projection of a thought bubble at the tip of her horn, which in turn became a thought bubble in a thought bubble, and then another thought bubble in another thought bubble. It continued in that pattern until Aria slapped a hoof to the back of her head, the spell fizzling out in indirect proportion to Sonata's irritated glare and Aria's smug smile, respectively.
Rolling her eyes just as much out of exasperation as the usual reasons, Adagio leaned a little closer to the rain-drain absurdity room, hearing Discord apparently still busy with his task. Hoping that meant he couldn't hear them, she whispered to the others. "I mean he can likely read our minds, so be careful what you're thinking when he's near!"
Aria raised a doubting eyebrow. "You don't think that's a little paranoid, even for you?"
"No," their arguably just-paranoid-enough leader hissed back, "becau-"
"Yea," concurred Sonata, still massaging the back of her head, "I didn't see any brain-reading spells in the hardest part of the book. What makes you think he can even do that?"
"Because he's one of the oldest ones of the dark age, you idiots!" She turned away from them, gazing out a nearby window into the night sky with a mix of anger, fear, and defiance on her face. "If power to tear reality asunder is but a flick of the wrist away, how hard do you think it'd be for him to scry our thoughts?" In Discord's case, she'd make an exception to her taboo on that idea.
There was a pause, neither Aria nor Sonata answering her. She was certain the latter would say something stupid, at least. When she turned to look at them, only Aria was present. The purple pegasus glanced about, looking confused. "Hey, where'd she-?"
They heard Sonata's voice from the chocolate rain room, the door now open. "Hi, Discord! Do you know what my friends and I are here for?"
Adagio and Aria felt their hearts stop, jaws nearly hitting the ground as their once-magical throats emitted only silent screams.
"Hm," thought the spirit aloud, "if I had to guess, I'd say..." There was a snapping sound and what might have been a bubble popping. "You're a tribal awareness program!"
The two still out in the hall felt the ice-water in their veins quickly thaw. Confusion was apparently very warm.
Discord went on. "An earth pony, a unicorn, and a pegasus, brought to the palace for one of those political things you ponies get so serious about? Or maybe you're just the cast for this year's Hearths Warming play? Are you the pony playing Princess Platinum this year, my dear?"
She giggled. "Beats me!"
They heard him chuckle. "Well, get back to me when you know, would you? I might actually attend this year, and it would be so pleasant to have something other than a well-portrayed Chancellor Puddinghead to look forward to."
"Sure thing, buh-bye now!" Their blue accomplice confidently trotted back out to the hallway with a calm smile on her face. "Secret's safe, isn't that great?"
Adagio was on her in an instant, forehooves on Sonata's shoulders, letting out a long, agitated breath through her nostrils as her face contorted with rage. "Never." she growled through gritted teeth, "Do, that, again!"
Sonata smiled sheepishly. "What, what'd I say?"
Feeling relief as it seemed that Discord didn't know (or at the very least, didn't care) what they were really up to sank in, the pulsating veins in Adagio's forehead started to lose intensity as she let out a ragged breath, sinking to the floor. "I need to lie down."
She immediately found herself lying on her stomach on a cozy, queen-sized bed in the middle of the hallway. While it was soft and welcoming of her pony frame, its arrival only fired up the worst of her imagination. "Wh-wha-?!" She quickly rolled onto her back and looked around, taking in whatever her eyes would still allow before madness took her. The rest of the hall was normal, with Aria and Sonata were standing about a meter away looking about as bewildered as she was while the latter poked the bedspread with a testing hoof. "What just happened?!"
"Well, I am sorry for eavesdropping," came a reply from above, "but I heard you were a little tuckered out."
The group looked up to see a crib mobile floating over Adagio's hallway bed. Hanging from it were plastic ostriches, window frames, ice cream cones, a Teflon frying pan, and a pointy clown hat. The rim of the hat flapped open and shut, a long, lone fang protruding from it along with Discord's voice. "I could also bring you a glass of warm, chocolate milk, just restocked the cloud!"
Looking up at the slowly-rotating mess of things, Adagio didn't say anything in reply, using every ounce of her willpower just to not curl up in fear. If she was lucky, it wouldn't look anything like she was cowering.
That Aria didn't get even a sliver of satisfaction from seeing their big, scary boss getting intimidated for once (apart from meeting Celestia and at the Battle of the Bands) left her feeling a little surprised and a little ripped-off.
Some little part of Adagio chose to believe that Sonata was deliberately getting the focus off her. "Restocked? What?"
A tiny Discord formed out of the hat, dressed like a clown as he hung by the top of his head from the hat, playing soothing, harp-like melodies on an upside-down banjo. "That room with the cotton candy cloud? One of the many, many, many ways I like to help out around here is to keep the castle supplied with Chocolate milk." The drain led to a number of places, mostly dining areas, via crafty use of wormholes, but he didn't see a need to explain that right now. Nor how what wasn't imbibed at the end of a day went on a train to Horspain to fall neatly on a plain. It was a compromise.
Sonata smiled up at him. "Well, that's nice of you!" She stepped forward to stand up on her hind hooves while resting the front ones on the bed. "Did you poof up this thing, too?"
Nodding a little as he spun on the slowly-rotating mobile, the tiny DisClown again strummed the banjo that made harp noises. "Yes," he answered while looking down at Adagio, who had sat up to look at him, "how is it? I know cumulus-weave is all the hot sauce these days, but I'll never get tired of good old jelly-mesh mattresses!"
Finding the surface beneath her hooves and hindquarters to be indeed plush and almost squishy, she didn't dare try to peek under the quilt for fear caution of falling into a vat of slimy goo. Her face and voice were closer to neutral than she'd have thought she'd be capable of in these circumstances. "I-it's, very, soft...?"
Can he sense fear even if it's not outwardly visible? Thinkthinkthinkthinkthink!!
To Adagio's immediate pride, Aria was fairly calm about the situation, looking more like she was waiting for the punchline of a joke. "I don't think they'll let her just sleep in the middle of the hall like this."
Shrugging, Discord snapped the hairs of his tail and regained his usual form in a flash, floating next to the bed with arms crossed and his nose raised slightly. "She only said she needed to lie down, I didn't hear anything about where this emergency rest was due to happen."
Not noticing his amused little grin at all, Adagio felt beads of sweat under the hair hanging over her forehead, smiling sheepishly. "I-I'll be certain to word my fatigue more carefully next time, thank you."
"Good," he replied cheerfully, donning a little, dark-green army hat and saluting with a very serious expression, "because wording is half the battle!" The one against confusion and spontaneous hallway beds. Obviously.
Paying no attention to her comrades' perplexed stares, Sonata tilted her head a little. "Hey, do you live here too? Why haven't we seen you around the castle at all?"
"Ohh, I've been around. I don't live here, exactly, but I've definitely been around! Over and under too! But not within, because eesh!" He shuddered a little, then scratched his beard in a pondering fashion. "The palace is usually bland as blank billboards, but I'm pretty sure I heard whipper-whappers and dingle-dongles the other day." Seeing only confused stares, he shrugged, snapping his talons. "Oh, but where are my manners?" Rhetorical question. He summoned a tasteful top hat and lifted it to bow at them. "I'm Discord, Spirit of Chaos and former ruler of the world at least twice, whom might the three of you be?"
Adagio tried to hop off the bed to take up a more formal stance, but almost tripped (onto a soft bed, but still) as her hooves shifted in the jelly-bed under her, hoping she didn't look nearly as foolish as she felt while trying to regain her balance.
Sonata didn't seem to notice this, smiling at Discord. "I'm Sonata Dusk," she motioned to her respective companions. "Aria Blaze, and Adagio Dazzle, and it's nice to meet you!" She finished the intro just in time to see Adagio make her way off the bed, landing a little haphazardly before assuming the most poised, most dignified stance she could manage, Aria just smirking a little.
Discord smiled too. There was something he liked about these three, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Nor a claw, a feather, a mandible, or any other extremity he could dream up at the moment. This would require thinking. "Groovio. You know," he said while eyeing Sonata, "I never did get an answer for your question, what brings you lovely ladies to our humble biggest-castle-in-Equestria?"
"We are guests of Prince Blueblood," answered Adagio in a businesslike manner, forgetting to include a cordial smile, "we were invited to stay here for a time."
At the sound of that name, Discord looked like he'd tasted some very sour milk. Not even chocolate. "Eugh," he said with a shudder, "Blueblood? The palace paperwork pony? There are others that sign and stamp things all day, sure, but none that don't do something more interesting in their downtime!" Well, not that he'd be able to investigate further, since that little talk with Celestia. Speaking of. "I used to think his aunt was dull, but that guy's too boring to even hold conversation with!" He couldn't help a little smile as Aria started to giggle. She hid it behind a hoof while pretending to cough the moment Adagio, whom he just noticed looked second in fluffiness only to one of Fluttershy's fatter critters, gave her a flat stare.
"Yes," answered Miss Fluffy Fluffs in calm, concise fashion, "we are staying in the Pisces room in the Northern Wing, should you have need of us."
Discord would have chuckled and issued a non-sequitur, but the sheer seriousness rolling off the Great Cuddly-Wuddly reminded him too much of Boreblood himself. Maybe they were distant royal cousins or something? Not even goofy nicknames were helping much. "Well," he said with his best, most convincing, most Celestia-fooling smile, "I do so hope you enjoy your stay, got to run now, ta-ta!"
He vanished in a flash. Aria just covered her ears when Sonata's mouth started moving, uncovering them when Adagio finished a disinterested eye-roll. "I think we've seen enough of the castle tonight," she all but ordered, "let's head back."
As they moved toward the Pisces room, Aria glanced over her shoulder. "So, we leavin' the bed there, or...?"
"I don't see why not," answered Adagio with an apathetic shrug, "we've already got three of our own." The one that felt like jelly was soft, yes, but it gave and bent and folded under her weight a little too easily. She wasn't even sure how they'd have transported the thing.
Should I be grateful that he conjured it for me, or worried?
If he read their minds and knew what they were really up to, then one:
She would have to smack Sonata upside the head. Smack her like she'd never been smacked before! Right upside the head! This was assuming she still had limbs with which to smack anypony by the time she was sure of this. If not, it would be a task of utmost importance delegated to Aria. A lot.
And two:
It could mean that he was just playing with them, that he was acting friendly to lull them into a false sense of security. What was that thing he'd summoned above the bed while she was on it? One of those rotating crib toys for babies? He was calling her a baby, mocking her in everything but word! And sadly, compared to himself? He was right. Even at a hundred times their age, a hundred times their full power, it was doubtful they'd stand for long against the progenitor of chaos magic. If he really did know, they were finished. She hadn't fallen for his trap, though! In telling him exactly where they were staying, he'd have no incentive to go looking and thus no vested interest by the time he found it himself! Ohh, yes, Adagio wasn't inexperienced herself in this department!
Though maybe he really didn't know what they were up to. He was supposed to be reformed, but who was to say it wasn't part of a greater scheme to...
While their leader's internal rambling went on, Sonata nodded to Aria and slowed her pace just enough to fall behind Adagio and whisper to Aria, who had taken the hint and done the same. "Do you think she's okay?"
"Yea," she replied with an eye-roll, "why wouldn't she be?"
Her face mixed with worry and fear of a coming blow, Sonata glanced behind Aria as they walked. "Well, did you see how we just went right past the room?"
Whipping her head around to check, she looked back and forth between the door to the Pisces room and Adagio, who was just staring straight ahead as she marched.
Ohhh, boy.
Sonata frowned. "That, and you saw her face when he first showed up, right?"
"Yea..." It was weird, actually, Aria herself didn't trust Discord as far as she could throw him, but she'd been way more afraid of Celestia when they first saw her.
Maybe she just has issues with Discord in particular? He's supposed to be all about mind games, and that's kinda her thing. If I were as crazy-paranoid as Adagio, bet I'd have been sweating too. Isn't she forgetting something, though?
"Your little question didn't really help, y'know."
Shrinking back with contrition, Sonata glanced back and forth between her and Adagio. "H-hey," she called out, loud enough to be heard, "Dagi?"
The reply came in a mumbled, absent-minded kind of way. "What is it, Sonata?"
"Sorry about the thing with Discord."
"Hmph." There were just a few seconds of worrying silence. Sonata kind of wished it stayed that way. "You could have gotten us all killed," she uttered quietly, "or worse. I've told you countless times to be careful, and sooner or later, you will find out why."
Not saying a word, Aria silently studied the look on the unicorn's face. As she'd feared, every word must have cut deep, because Sonata was close to tears. But, for once? Aria knew how to fix it. She brushed Sonata's side with the tip of a wing to get her attention, then nodded to Adagio, walking faster to be just a little bit ahead of her, Sonata following her cue by walking in the same place on Adagio's opposite side.
Still completely spaced out, Adagio kept walking down the hall leading further from their destination. When they came to a hallway intersection Aria knew would loop back to the Pisces room if they made the right turns, she stepped a little further in front of Adagio to head down the hall that would lead back to the room fastest, Sonata mimicking her perfectly.
Noticing her supposed followers both taking the same route at the same time, Adagio snapped to attention. She turned to follow and then usurp their pace in an instant, hoping they didn't catch her old bane getting the best of her again. A few minutes later, they entered the Pisces room.
"Y'know," Aria began conversationally, "I don't know if that guy-" something told her not to say his name right now, "-can't read minds, but if he can, I doubt he always remembers to." That got Adagio's full attention. "I mean, you remember what it said in that paper? That he got duped by the magic-drainer guy? If he was in his head the whole time, that'd have been pretty tough to pull off, right?"
Her eyes widening as she took in that precious detail, Adagio started to smile. Not her usual grin, either, but a wide, hopeful, we-aren't-totally-screwed smile. "You... y-you're right! If he'd been capable of such a thing, he'd be a fool to let it fall into disuse often enough to be forgotten at all!"
Can't believe I missed such a thing! Unless...
The corners of her mouth flickered, her smile starting to recede.
Aria and Sonata knew exactly where her mind was going, and the latter took her cue, smiling. "So, tomorrow is the big shin-dig, right? We go with the prince to meet ponies, eat party food, get the plan going, all that jazz?"
Adagio was the sort of schemer that could see plans within plans, even failed ones, bits and pieces of this or that line of actions coming up again later as part of deeper, more insidious machinations. She must have been seconds from thinking Discord getting turned to stone twice, broken out, supposedly reformed, back-stabbing the ponies, then getting drained, reforming again, and possibly planning to back-stab them again, or not, was all part of some greater plot. That kind of thinking was like a snake eating its own tail, so Adagio's face showing the exact moment that paranoid thought bubble deflated and blew away when lanced with her own, active, actually-existent schemes gave Aria a warm, contented feeling.
"Right," answered Adagio with a familiar smirk, "I'll stick to Blueblood so we can cement the image of being a couple in everypony's heads, you two stay with us long enough to make it clear that it's not just my favor they should be courting to get to his. When it should be reasonably clear that the three of us are with him, spread out and-" she chuckled, actually feeling just a hint of giddiness for this stage of the plan, "-do as you will! Eat your fill at the buffet tables, sip wine we'd never be able to afford on our own, dance to your heart's content, and talk to whoever approaches you." She knew both knew to never be the ones approaching others so as to maintain as much mysterious allure as possible, so she didn't say it.
Aria smirked a little too, raising an eyebrow. "The objective is to have fun?"
There was a short cackle, indicating Adagio was just as pleased with the idea. "Within constraints, yes. Nothing unusual; don't blow our cover, keep your eyes open, report what you find to me. Other than that? What better way to act natural than to go to the event in earnest?"
A projection of colorful sparks and confetti appeared over a beaming unicorn's head. "There's gonna be so much CHEESE!"
Still giggling in her half-malicious way, Adagio nodded. "Yes, Sonata, just don't forget what we're there for." To her immediate satisfaction, Sonata responded with a nod and a crisp salute, (silly, yes, but with Sonata, she'd take it) not losing her smile. "Oh, and don't tell Blueblood what you'll be doing," her already-sinister smirk tinted toward lewd again, "I want to see how much of it he can piece together himself. Any questions?" There were none, both cohorts looked pleased with the plan in motion and there was nothing left to do for the day. "Good, see you both in the morning."
Then she crawled up on her non-jelly bed, lying down and getting some rest in earnest.
Silently watching her, Aria got the lights, headed to her own bed, and flopped down on it at about the same time as Sonata did hers. Then she waited and listened, hearing Adagio's breathing pattern change in just minutes. Getting up, Aria crept over to Sonata's bed, hoping her confident grin was audible in the dark room. "How was that?"
Sonata sounded happy with their joint maneuver. "Thank you, Ria!"
Facing away from her to ignore the sudden warmth in her face, Aria looked instead to the one they'd learned those kind of psychological gymnastics from. It was another weird feeling, taking what she'd seen Adagio use to intimidate and control people and employing it on Adagio herself, mainly to calm her down and tell her when she was wrong without actually challenging her at all.
If she ever figures out we manipulate her, even a little, would she get mad? Or, would she be proud?
Another, more horrifying thought occurred.
No, wait, the way she responds to what she thinks Blueblood is up to... What if she LIKES it?!
"It's nice having her happy, huh?"
Snapping out of her weird thoughts, Aria was again grateful for the dark. "Y-yea, I guess."
Sonata muffled a giggle into her quilt. "It's like, she carries us from plan to plan, always tries to make sure we're going somewhere, but sometimes, she needs us! Just makes ya feel all fuzzy, right?"
Okay, Aria thought with an unseen grin, heading back to her bed, that's enough for one day. "Go back to sleep, Nata."
I don't know if the part with Adagio's rampant paranoia getting checked made sense the way I wrote it. My thinking was that running Machiavellian schemes takes a lot of brain power to keep together, and all the details of her own plans flooding back into her head when someone brings them up might push out wishy-washy ones about could-be's and what-if's. Or something like that. 
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>"There's gonna be so much CHEESE!"
I like the way Sonata thinks.
Wise move.
She's right.
Aye.
Discord?
DISCORD!
Indeed.
Heh.
Because he's DISCORD, plus, he obviously knew a lot about the Mane 6, or at least which Element they were and stuff, so, he's obviously got some form of elepathy.
She's right. It's good to know that while Adagio is arrogant, she's not suicidal to think she can take on Discord, especially like this.
How are you still alive?
Something like that.
Your enjoy writing Sonata, don't you?
I can actually imagine this in his voice, and it's fun.
Less what you said, and what you could've said.
Discord just happened.
How delightfully absued!
I wonder how much of this is fear of Discord, and how much is confusion as to what absurdities he's pulling off?
Probably because you're a bit scared of Discord as well.
A train to Horspain to fall neatly on a plain. Words cannot describe how hard I laughed at this. Maybe this will suffice though.
Obviously.
I'm sure.
I find it hilarious to see big bad Adagio so scared.
Of course.
Heh.
Now to see if Discord buy sit
FluffyDagio, hm, I sense a meme.
Fluffy Fluffs! BAHAHAHAHAHA!
A Celestia fooling smile, what are you up to, Discord?
Considering Discord? Both.
HEH!
Be that as it may, Discord is better than you at manipulation.
She's got a point.
Very astute, Aria.
Unless?
Interesting.
In other words, yes.
Being manipulated? Doubt it.
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I enjoy writing the Dazzlings as a whole, to be honest.
Mostly fear, she's pretty much used to absurdity from dealing with her followers.
Only once in all the time I've been writing have I been able to look at one of the gags and say "That, that right there will definitely make people laugh, maybe even do a spit-take!" This wasn't it, but it's always nice to see one of those moments for someone.
Actually? He's kinda not, at least not anymore. He did a pretty good job of it in Return of Harmony, but since then, I think he's lost his mojo, if only as the plot demands. He tried and failed to manipulate Fluttershy, who emotionally manipulated him (maybe without meaning to) where Twilight was going to magically brainwash him with a reforming spell. (Because it's always okay if the heroes do it, I guess.)
He did win a few points by tricking Twilight into going back into Everfree in the Plunderseed Incident, but how hard has it been to convince her to stick to her companions in this series? The way he got rid of Rainbow, Pinkie, Rarity, and Applejack in Three's A Crowd depended on infecting two with a magical disease, a sudden burst of ADD, and Rainbow plain ditching her friends, followed by a very blatant 'do what I want or admit that we aren't really friends' act to bug Twilight. It turns out fine, but his reaction to Cadence's comments toward the end says he didn't get what he was hoping for.
Then of course comes Tirek, whose scheme he falls for like a sucker. And more recently, he couldn't sway Fluttershy his way at all, but she always was resistant to him, even at the top of his game. He couldn't control the Smooze, couldn't make anyone laugh, couldn't get rid of Tree Hugger in a way smarter than 'throw her into a wormhole', and is again convinced (which some might see as a form of manipulation) by Fluttershy to stop what he's doing and fix everything.
Adagio, however, doesn't know all that.
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I want to think that the Tirek thing was a sort of gambit to try and get the last key, but didn't expect to get mana drained.
6077467 That's a great point about Discord's manipulative abilities. I think in Three's A Crowd, he had become aware of the whole box-key-friendship lesson thing, and was trying to force a friendship lesson with Twilight so he could give her a key, but because Discord doesn't really understand friendship. His plan seemed to be "get Twilight to go through these elaborate hoops to 'heal' me, proving we are great friends, so I give her a friendship item." Of course his manipulations failed, and they probably would have failed even without the Tatzlwurm infecting him, since I'm pretty sure the manifestation of the key requires the former bearer to teach a lesson to the key giver, and Discord at no time seemed willing to admit he could learn anything from Twilight.
Anywho, fun chapter, I admire the new title of Dark Mistress Fluffy Fluffs. I wonder what Blueblood thinks of that magnificent mane?
I really like the end of the chapter here, it kind of balances Adagio out. In this story she has been super-manipulative and cynical and suspicious, which when you are a siren plotting nefarious schemes gives you a big advantage. However, that comes with a disadvantage, a tendency towards paranoia and getting distracted chasing shadows. It's good to see Dagi's girls keeping her grounded and sane, I get the feeling that on her own, for all her intelligence, Adagio would end up with a basement full of newspapers taped to the wall, attached to each other by yarn.
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Now they just have to convince her that Blueblood really isn't messing with them in any way! Maybe at the same time somepony convinces him that Sonata isn't just trying to psyche him out, either.
Also, head-canon acquired for the other world's version of Adagio; a manic conspiracy theorist (her hair is exactly the same) who does pretty much just what you said there, sometimes visiting the other Twilight to compare/contrast notes and crazy theories about magical activity.
6082123 I like that, with that caveat that she eventually gets a teaching degree and a pet gecko, and uses her acquired knowledge of magic to enchant a school bus.
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6082175 You know she feeds on negativity from Arnold.
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You people are amazing people. Never stop.
6085897 One does their best.
6110624
It's never stated that being hungry all the time made anyone evil, just a fact of life for some creatures. (I wonder how Timberwolves work, chunks of wood trying to kill and presumably eat meat?)
That said, it probably wasn't helping.
6110624
Starving people will do terrible things for food, so yeah, that sounds right. When there isn't enough to eat society breaks down.
6110664
The same as other carnivorous plants except mobile or possibly it's some kind of magic thing where they don't actually feed on the meat, they feed by killing.
That was great
I got all caught with this story of yours after catching up with Sucker for a Cute Face 
Now I have no more of these type of stories to read until you update 
I love how your portray the Sirens in this especially Adagio 
I just have this feeling that the plan is going to backfire and the Dazzilings will become one of good guys which would be interesting seeing them going through that change 
I also would love it if they stay in Equestria as ponies because they look very cute as such 
Also I want Sonata to become a master spell caster that is close to par as Twilight was before she became a princess 
I think that would be so awesome 
Still the one thing that is missing it seems is the romance I guess that still hasn't come into play yet huh 
I WANT MOAR SOON! 
If that is alright with you. 
6264753
Glad you've enjoyed so far, but unfortunately, I can't say when this story will update again. Or any of the others I've had waiting essentially untouched for months, can only do so much writing over a summer.
You handled Discord well in this chapter; not an easy thing to be sure. Hell, I'm still not too sure what he knows and doesn't know, but like sonata suggested, you can probably err on the side of him not caring enough to look too deeply into things. If you do update, I'll still drop by to read.