Words
The low-hanging sun was casting long shadows across the courtyard of Canterlot High School when the Dazzlings arrived, luggage in tow. The Rainbooms (and Twilight Sparkle) were waiting around the school statue, the base of which held the portal to Equestria.
Looking over at Fluttershy, Adagio motioned for her sisters to hang back.
“Just give me a moment, girls."
Aria and Sonata said nothing, but stepped aside to give Adagio space. In truth, the three of them had barely spoken since leaving Fluttershy's house; Even Aria and Sonata's bickering had subdued to little more than a token gesture. As Adagio strode over towards Fluttershy, her two sisters watched in silence, then turned to face each other. In the awkward silence that followed, each tried to look at the other's face without making eye contact. This continued until an unexpected voice broke the silence.
“Hi there! We haven't talked much, but I'm Pinkie Pie, and you're Sonata, right?”
Aria blinked. Sonata nodded. “Oh! Uh, yeah…”
“Great! Can I talk to you for juuust a little while?”
Sonata glanced back at Aria, then shrugged, and nodded. “OK, sure.”
Aria folded her arms, and began gazing up at the rooftop of CHS while her sisters conversed with their, apparently now “former”, enemies.
Once they were some distance from Aria, Pinkie turned to Sonata and smiled, but it was the Dazzling who spoke first.
“OK, so, what do you wanna talk about?”
“Weeell — Aria hurts you, right?”
“Oh! Yeah,” Sonata rolled her eyes, moaning “she's absolutely the worst, y'know?” Then her expression flicked to a cheerful grin — “You wanna join in?”
“Oh,” said Pinkie, raising her hands defensively, “no-no, that's fine. I just — well, did you ever ask her to stop?”
“Why would I do that?”
“Well… y'know, uh, if you did ask her, do you think she would?” Off Sonata's confused frown, Pinkie continued, “I mean, you love each other, right? So, she should want you to be happy, even if you do enjoy fighting, and getting hurt.”
Sonata considered this, then turned and called across the courtyard, slightly louder than strictly necessary, “Oi!, Aria!”
Seeing her sister's “come here” gestures, Aria meandered over to where Sonata and Pinkie Pie were standing. Once she was at a conversational distance, Sonata spoke.
“Hey Aria, if I asked you to stop hurting me, would you?”
Aria responded by rounding angrily on the nervous-looking Pinkie Pie. “What the hell did you say to her?”
“I just —”
“It's none of your business, OK? She's fine with it, I'm fine with it, we don't need some prude like you telling us what to do.”
Pinkie's demeanour shifted, her nervous smile replaced with an angry glare.
“I just wanna make sure you're not gonna really hurt her.”
“What?!”
“You two like to play-fight; That's fine. Sisters do that all the time, even if your version's more grown-up-sexy. But do you have a way to make sure you don't go too far?”
“Well, I wouldn't…”
“So you never make mistakes? Everyone does! And if you don't start taking Sonata's saftey seriously, one day you're gonna put her in hospital, or worse!”
Aria blanched slightly at these words, Pinkie's unexpectedly full-on fury throwing her completely off-guard.
“I…”
“Or maybe it won't get that far, and you'll just end up hurting her so bad she never wants to play with you again! Is that what you want? You need a safeword.”
Aria swallowed, and turned a pleading look to her sister. “Sonata?”
Sonata was frowning pensively. When she spoke, her words were hesitant. “I… I think she's right. I know it's a pain, but I think we need a safeword.”
“Fine,” grumbled Aria. “I don't wanna listen to you whine about it, so whatever.”
“Great!” smiled Pinkie, her expression suddenly cheerful again. “Hey, if you girls are ever back in town, gimme a call and I'll throw you the biggest super-fun party ever!”
“A-ri-a!” Sonata smirked.
“What?”
Sonata's grin was full of malicious glee. “You looove me!”
“Do not.”
“Do too!”
“I will hurt you.”
“A-ria loves Sona-ta! A-ria loves Sona-ta!”
Pinkie giggled as the two sisters began to run circles around her, Aria growling and cursing while Sonata cackled gleefully.
A few minutes earlier…
As Adagio crossed the courtyard to reach Fluttershy, the timid girl's friends stepped back to give them some space. Face-to-face again, Fluttershy waited patiently while Adagio struggled to get the right words out.
“Fluttershy, I… I'll pay you back some day, OK?”
“Oh?”
“I get it, OK. I needed help, and you helped me, and I didn't trick you or anything, so… I… I owe you, OK? I know I won't be around much, but if there's ever something I can do to repay you, just let me know. I'm a villain but I do have my honour.”
“Oh.” Fluttershy looked slightly disappointed for a moment, but then she smiled. “That's OK. I just helped you because I wanted to, you don't have to do anything.”
“But…”
Fluttershy shook her head. “No. I don't want you to 'owe me' anything, alright?”
“Well, OK, I guess.”
“But, uh, maybe we could write to each other? And if you felt like coming back to visit some time, we could hang out?”
Adagio smiled. “Yeah, I'd like th—”
Adagio's smile froze, then sank into an expression of appalled realisation. Slowly, she brought her hand up to her face.
“Ohhh, crap,” she muttered. “Fluttershy, this means we're friends now, doesn't it?”
Fluttershy suppressed a giggle. “Oh, um, yes. I think so. I mean, if that's OK with you.”
“Yeah…” sighed Adagio, “… so much for the whole 'villain' thing, huh?”
“Well, maybe you don't need to be evil?”
“I guess not. Heh, this has been a weird couple of days. I will write, and I'll visit, I promise.”
“OK. Oh, and, maybe you could say 'hi' to pony-me.”
“A pony version of you, huh? That would be… interesting.”
Sounds of Aria and Sonata bickering drifted across the courtyard.
“Well,” shrugged Adagio, “I guess I'd better get going…” she hesitated, then blurted out: “Could I give you a kiss on the cheek, just to say goodbye?”
Fluttershy began to blush, but nodded soundlessly. Adagio stepped in close, raised her thumb and index finger to Fluttershy's chin, then leaned forward and planted a small kiss on Fluttershy's left cheek. Then she stepped away, taking one last look at the shy girl before heading back over to her sisters. As she turned away, Adagio couldn't help but grin at the adorable shade of pink Fluttershy had turned, and the tiny squeak that escaped the girl's lips.
She would definitely have to visit again.
Her sisters once again brought to heel (more-or-less), Adagio now stood in front of the portal. Raising one hand to its surface, she watched the way it rippled where she touched it. Previously, there had been a hard, burning sensation even from making contact with the threshold, but now it only felt slightly cool and liquid to the touch. It seemed the curse really had been lifted; She could hardly bring herself to believe it, even now.
Standing on the threshold, savouring the moment, Adagio reflected on centuries of toil, their efforts to recover their power, to command this little world, and ultimately, to return home. One out of three wasn't too bad, after all. She tried to imagine what it would really feel like to be back in Equestria, back in their old bodies. She tried to imagine the looks on her sisters' faces, the feeling of triumph. It was all… surprisingly difficult to imagine, now. She wondered when the images in her mind had become so cloudy.
He introspection was interrupted by Aria's impatience.
“Come on, Adagio. Are you just gonna stand there all night? This is it, we can finally go back to Equestria! Isn't that what you wanted, all this time?”
Adagio hesitated, and looked back at her sisters, at the way they were watching her. Aria's words echoed in her head.
Aria frowned; They'd come all this way, but she could tell from Adagio's expression, something was wrong.
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Aw, this was cute!
...And also not a trainwreck. Still bracing for next time, but if not, looking forward to seeing how this ends!
7294663 agreed!
Flustered!Adagio is best Adagio!
EHEEHEEHEEE!!<3<3
*sisters
You say that like villains can't have friends.
7950916 Fixed, thanks.
I think Adagio would say that villains don't have friends; Only useful pawns.
Failing that, she maybe thinks being "besties" with a girl like Fluttershy is not going to do much for her villain-cred?