Creeping Normality

by Eyeswirl the Weirded

Chapter 12: Hindsight

The situation was serious.

No, Felt Feather would dare say it was dire.

It was unclear how much time was left, or the severity of the consequences should nothing be done, but she knew she had to act. Regrettably, the only avenue presented to her was one with which she was utterly unfamiliar, but if there was the faintest chance that this would be the route through which to make repairs, she knew she had to take it.

That in mind, she picked up the microphone, pressed the button to initiate her selected song, and sang.

Adagio and Chrysalis, the only two other people in the karaoke den of the former's home, quietly enjoyed Felt's rendition of a soft, soothing melody. It wasn't especially passionate or soulful, but it definitely had more emotional impact than they'd have anticipated from Felt, and her agreeing to sing for them in the first place was nice all the same. When the song ended, the two of them clapped, Adagio giggling a little as Felt topped off her performance with a textbook stage bow.

"Alright," she said while getting to her feet with a bright, determined grin, "I'm up next!"

Felt took Adagio's seat next to Chrysalis while Adagio got ready, receiving a whispered question almost immediately.

"So is this what a normal day is like here? Singing a few songs in your down-time?"

Felt answered without turning her head. "More commonly, it is only the lady of the house who sings. I normally spectate." Despite minimal visual contact, Felt could still effectively see the lascivious grin.

"Nothing... else? Just the two of you in this big, secluded house together?"

"You have had this confirmed multiple times: Madam Dazzle possesses no inclination to physically survey fellow women."

Chrysalis's lewd smile gave way to a pout. "I know, I know, but everyone is bi-curious at least once, aren't they?!" She gave Adagio another look, faintly begrudging the way that long, fluffy hair obscured the view as her song started up. The tone of the tune wasn't necessarily dark, but it carried a clear ring of sadness, pain, and even rage. "...Really though, what's with her lately?"

Eager to accept any potential back-up she could secure, even from a decadent louse such as Chrysalis, Felt answered without hesitation. "Personal crisis. You recall the two friends she has alluded to?"

"Mmhm?"

"We visited them at Madam Dazzle's former residence in Canterlot. It did not go well. She has yet to fully recover, demonstrating a strained capacity for human interaction and a reliance on her Poofy persona when that limit is reached. Even when not engaging the act, she is prone to somber facial expressions and the occasional heavy sigh."

"Is that why she seems a little extra spacey lately?" Leaning her head back on the couch, Chrysalis let out a long, beleaguered sigh. "Craaaaap, personal drama!"

Felt's eyes narrowed. Of course this self-obsessed layabout would lose interest the moment-

"I don't know how to fix that."

Eyes wide open again, Felt turned her head in shock, seeing a worried, uncomfortable frown on Chrysalis's face.

"I know how to have a good time, not undo the damage after a really bad one. Getting all heart-to-heart and being a tear-sponge is not my thing."

Determining that she was mistaken about the old (older than her employer, at least) actress, Felt made an attempt despite the implication of futility. "How do you cope with your own tragedies?"

"I bury them, as far and as deep as I can," a hint of a smirk returned, "usually under glistening, naked bodies."

"Would you have her do the same?"

Chrysalis held silent as she mulled it over, then frowned again, gently shaking her head. "No. Don't let her be like me. I don't think that's what she really wants." She looked at the maid when there was no reply, getting back subtle curvature of the mouth and eyebrows that suggested she felt sorry for her. "Don't get me wrong, what I've got works for me and I wouldn't change anything now, but it might not be too late for her, you know?"

Felt nodded, but to her surprise, The Louse Chrysalis had another question.

"Since you're asking for help, I get the vibe that you're not great with the touchy-feely stuff yourself, even when you want to be. Am I right?"

"Yes."

"She's mentioned before how she used to sing with those two. Is that why...?"

"Yes."

The two listened in silence for a moment, and judging by the way Adagio continued with her passionate chorus of wishing pain and grief on a false-faced loved one, they silently concluded that Felt's song had less than the desired effect.

Noting that maybe it really was a dark song, Chrysalis gave Felt a worried glance. "...We might be up a creek here." Seeing Felt's shoulders sag, she tried a smile. "Too bad Snack Boy isn't here, hmm? Maybe a bag of sweets every so often would do the trick."

Felt's eyes widened as the realization dawned on her, many lines connecting at once to complete a picture she should have seen much sooner. "Cheese Sandwich. What became of him at the conclusion of the tour?"

"No clue, I only met him a few times, but I know he was with their group since the start. Maybe the fat man would know?"

Gouda Will. Felt had heard nothing about him since he settled into his corporate office not far from a large dairy farm. Adagio would surely have his contact information somewhere.

When the song ended, Felt stood up. "Splendid rendition, Madam." She and Chrysalis both took it as a good sign that Adagio responded with a happy blush and a girlish giggle.

"Thanks!"

"I must now make the necessary arrangements for your upcoming appearance on the situation comedy program, please excuse me." With a little curtsy, she left, having supplied the perfect excuse for if she was seen in Adagio's paperwork room.

Truly, that Adagio had dedicated a period of hours to naming each and every room of the house had been a worrying sign all its own.

When it was just the two of them, Adagio glanced back and forth between Chrysalis and the door before extending the hand holding the microphone. "Would you like to go next, or...?"

Smiling, Chrysalis patted the sofa seat next to her. "Let's just take five. Who knows, maybe she'll come back and we can get her to do a Tango!"

Chuckling, Adagio sat next to her. "I wouldn't hold my breath on that."

Chrysalis's eyes sparkled with mischief. "Here's the plan:..."

By the time Felt came back, the two had forgotten their scheme entirely, but a fun time was had regardless.

%%%

The camera slowly rose along the rocky exterior of a mountain in a distant land, panning up to reveal Poofy climbing the rocky surface. A particularly slow shot was used to show her dressed in a beige outfit consisting of a short-sleeved, midriff-baring blouse and white shirt, short shorts, black, fingerless gloves, and knee-high boots as she went.

The next shot briefly featured her higher up the mountain with the camera angled from below, then another from the side as her curls blew in the wind, one of her sitting on a ledge as she peered over a map with a curious look on her face, a top-down shot of her climbing with a determined grin, a side-view of her standing with the sun in the background as she drank from a canteen, and finally her approaching the massive, wooden doors to an ancient temple.

Inside, she reverently approached a massive, stone pyramid of stairs, the large, flat area at the top containing a wooden stool next to a single cow.

"Moo."

Smiling, Poofy sat down, humming the chorus of Cheezy-Love as she milked the cow. A moment later, she had a jug of unrealistically clean, sparkly milk as she smiled at the camera.

"And now we wait!"

Eezy-
Cheezy!

%%%

With the conclusion of the latest Eezy-Cheezy ad, a slightly perplexed Rarity withdrew her phone from the middle of the table in Sugarcube Corner. "Well," she said with a disdainfully raised eyebrow, "assuming this wasn't her idea, I see they've worked out that their mascot happens to be a voluptuous young woman and have set right to work in seeing what they can get away with."

Pinkie shrugged. "The camera sure spent a lotta time around her tushie. Maybe they are selling cheesecake?"

Most of the table blushed, but Sunset dismissively waved a hand. "Anyway, did you guys notice how those other ads have stopped airing? The ones she made to make fun of us?"

"Most of the older ones cycled out too, eventually," noted Fluttershy, "but I don't know if those two went away any faster than normal."

"They might've," mumbled Rainbow as she looked away from the others, "if she was scared. The last time I saw one of those was a couple days after she was in town."

Applejack frowned. "Are ya still hung up over what she said? We ain't bullies, and we never were."

"Maybe not never."

The rest of the table turned to look at Twilight, who, head lowered, elaborated quickly.

"When I first asked you all about the sirens, you shared the detail of stopping in to Adagio's work place to check on her, which included several comments and laughter at her expense. Even if you didn't mean anything by it, do-"

"I know, I know," groaned Rainbow, "that's the kinda thing I'm talking about! And until we talked to her, I was ready to do way worse!" She looked directly at Sunset. "You know why I never just broke your nose back when you were a total bitch?"

Sunset answered casually. "Blackmail?" She and the others giggled as Rainbow turned red and sputtered.

"N-no! It's because I used to hang out with someone and, long story short, we kinda ended up acting like jerks in middle school. Sure, at first it was just fighting back against even bigger jerks and going after those who had it coming, but eventually? We were really just pushing people around because we could. I swore off that crap, swore I'd never go that far again."

Elbows on the table, she held her head in her hands, a miserable expression on her face. "Then the other Twilight came along, got us together to stop Sunset, and I got to feel like a hero again, and we just kept winning against people that had to be stopped ever since. When Adagio was making fun of all of us, I took it as an attack on me and my friends, and to me, that made her the bad guy again, made her okay to hit back until we won again. I remembered the part about only going after people who deserved it, but forgot that even that has to stop somewhere. And that she only did it because she was scared of us?" She sighed. "Feels gross. Feels really, really gross."

An awkward, introspective silence settled over the table. At least until Rarity looked at her phone, smiling brightly at Rainbow.

"I think I know what'll cheer you up: Have you ever been on the set of a movie before?"

%%%

Returning to one's residence was supposed to bring with it feelings of security and relief, the homestead being where things were most familiar and comfortable. For Felt Feather, returning from a day out with her employer, this was not the case.

"Would you like a drink, Madam?"

"Sure thing! No need to worry about the large fries though," she giggled in a perfectly-rehearsed imitation of laughter, "just as long as it's here in 30 minutes or less!"

Just as in today's recording sessions and the trip to the pet store (for better or worse, Madam Dazzle had decided against adopting those two hamsters in the end), 'Poofy' did all of the talking, controlled most of the facial expressions, and retained a rigid control over body language even several minutes after they had shut and locked the front door. For such a deliberately light-hearted and harmless act, the insistence upon that facade was unsettling, even after weeks of exposure to it. She understood the reason, but there was nothing she could do on her own.

Ding-dong!

Which was why she called for help.

She accompanied her manic master to the door, opening it to reveal Cheese Sandwhich dressed in a Hawaiian shirt, hula skirt, sunglasses, and a head accessory giving the appearance that he'd sustained an arrow wound through the head.

"Hey, 'Dagi-O! How's the high life treating you?"

"Uh..."

Felt took it as a good sign that she didn't immediately default to the Poofy persona.

"I'm, doing alright... what brings you here?"

"I'm glad you asked! I'm still working out the song for it, but in short, coming along on that tour was the best thing that ever happened to me! I never knew how much I'd like traveling the world and partying with new people all over the place, so I took some of the money I made doing it and got a party-bus of my very own!" He thumbed over his shoulder, indicating a van that looked like it'd been painted by splashing random colors on the surface sitting on the driveway.

"It's not really a bus-bus, at least not yet, but I'll get there! Or not, but I'm sure it'll be a blast anyway! I know I already said thanks for inviting me, but now I wanna say it again in a I-know-what-I-wanna-do-with-the-rest-of-my-life kinda way!"

Adagio actually felt an odd little pang of nostalgia when he grabbed and rapidly shook her hand, lifting his shades and offering her an earnest smile.

"Thank you, Adagio. You changed my life."

It was a good thing she knew he wasn't interested in women, or that might have made her heart flutter. "Yes, well," she answered with a hesitant smile, "you kind of changed mine first."

"Maybe," he said while taking a step back, "but I still gotcha some thank-you sugar!"

This time, she wasn't even surprised when he reached behind his back and pulled out an entire cake with a great, big smiley-face made of frosting on top. "Felt, could you...?"

"At once, Madam."

As Felt took hold of the cake, Cheese wore a somewhat regretful smile. "Drug-testing time?"

Adagio blinked in surprise, then connected the meaning, letting out a sheepish giggle. "N-no, just, taking it inside... Would you like to come in?"

Her fears that that question was reserved exclusively for girls with spicy plans for the boys it was said to were quashed when Cheese smiled like he usually did. "Sure!"

Moments later, they were seated in the living room, Cheese letting out a whistle that echoed against the far walls and distant ceiling, reminding Adagio how much quiet, empty space there was. "Maaan, this place is huge!"

"...Yes, it is. How did you get all the way here from Canterlot? The gas money alone had to be considerable."

"Oh, easy! I've been doing my Party Person thing in every town I stopped at! I don't have much of a name for myself in that yet, but it usually only takes one song before people are willing to pay top dollar for the necessary supplies I need to set 'em up, and I'm making a bundle!" A somewhat restrained smile on his face, he winked. "Not that I'm expecting that alone to make me happy."

It was only for a split-second, but Cheese witnessed the flash of pain in her eyes, the ghost of a grimace there and gone in an instant before it was replaced by a bright, peppy grin.

"Of course not, for that you'd need at least one tray of nachos, cheeseburgers, pizza, or, -hehe!- anything from our Cheezy menu!"

Cheese's smile didn't go away, but he didn't laugh, either. Remembering that failure to just come right out with things had only made a mess before (and not even the fun kind!), he decided to do the coming right out with it. "Did something happen? I hate to pry, but you kinda give the vibe that you're more unhappy than last time."

For a moment, he saw 'Poofy' winding up another sales pitch, but reflected in Adagio's eyes was awareness of the same thing he learned that day. It took a minute, but the pinata cracked, spilling out a sigh and a wretched, heart-stabby frown.

"I don't want to talk about it, okay?"

"Do you wanna lock it up and let it fester instead?"

She was almost startled by how quickly that reply came, masking it with a huff and crossed arms. "It's not festering, I'm moving on at my own pace." Only because he had stopped smiling did she not take his reply as an insult.

"Must be a slow one if it's chained to your ankle, and that sounds like a long, painful trip."

She clenched her jaw. "What do you want from me?"

"The same thing I always want," he said with a small, hopeful smile, "I want everyone to be happy, and I think the best way for you isn't to just drag your heavy feelings around until you get used to the weight, but get a helping hand from some friends or-"

"I tried that," she shrieked, jumping to her feet, "and they both stabbed me in the back!!"

Internally, she was confused and terrified to lose control so easily, but once the shell had been pierced, there was nothing she could do to stop the contents from spilling out.

"I trusted them once," she seethed as the tears spilled down her face, "always made sure they had everything I did, that we reaped the rewards of our efforts together, but I guess it wasn't e-goddamn-nough! The less I had to offer, the more they wanted, and blamed me when it didn't just fall from the sky! No, no, they'd get their share of the jackpot with every gamble, but whenever they had a say in the matter, I alone paid if fortune left us! That's all I ever was to them; a big piggy bank they could take and take and take from without ever giving anything back!"

Stopping for several breaths, she fell back into her seat. Maybe he had been right. Maybe that had been festering for a while. That it would reach that kind of level just weeks after she had let everything out back in Canterlot spoke of how bad it must have been after all.

Cheese, for his part, had no idea who "they" referred to or what exactly happened between them and Adagio, but he'd do his best to help anyway! "I don't see anyone else around here, so I'll bet they aren't with you now."

Still trying to wipe away tears with the back of one hand, Adagio shook her head.

"Do you miss them?"

Responding in a low growl, she managed a weak glare. "What does that matter?"

He smiled a little. "Easy: I don't know what happened between you guys, but if they could still mean that much to you after hurting you this much, there must have been something special there, don't you think?"

"What," she spat, "like Stockholm Syndrome?"

He winced. "Well... You tell me?" Now was not the time to say that Adagio had a GREAT surprised face, but he already couldn't wait to throw her a surprise party, "What I mean is, you must have felt like you wanted to be around them at some point, right? When did that start? When did it stop?"

Shortly before she invited them onstage with her and shortly after they got to this world, respectively. No, it wasn't that she convinced herself that they were more than just partners with a common goal, it was that things were pleasant between them once, and went sour. And now, she was firmly convinced that they didn't care about her at all, because as much as she'd dared entertain the fantasy that Aria's occasional attempts to reach her by phone weren't just to get more money out of her, she and Sonata were nothing but parasites.

But if that were true, why didn't they join her on the tour when she first offered?

She needed time to think. Alone.

"Thank you for coming, Mr. Sandwich," she said as gently as possible, "but I would like some time to myself now."

An understanding smile on his face, he stood up. "Sure thing, Dagi-O, great seeing you again."

She nodded, even if she didn't feel the sentiment enough herself to enunciate it, but when he reached the door, he called to her over his shoulder.

"Whatever happens with your old pals, I hope you find somebody you can have a good time with, because no party is fun when you're alone. Who knows," he added with a wink, "maybe you already know a few people."

And then he was gone, his statement emphasized by how it briefly reverberated through the room. She'd have set Felt to housework or something, but it looked like she had anticipated that order, because she was nowhere to be seen. With that taken care of, Adagio headed to her room, flopping down on the bed and settling comfortably atop the soft, silken sheets as she resumed her thoughts.

Aria and Sonata were worthless, unrepentant parasites. They decided that saving her life meant she owed them everything forever, and that made it okay to exploit her at every opportunity. That was what she determined the last time they spoke.

If that were the case, why didn't they just accept her offer to come along for the tour? They wouldn't have even had to work like she did if they didn't want to, and even that much would depend on finding something they could do while they were with her. She could only guess what they had in mind with posing as her parents not long after she left Canterlot, but if they didn't tell her, or just call and ask her for whatever it was they wanted, their plan clearly wasn't in her best interest, meaning they were almost definitely plotting against her at the time. And, if that was why, it most likely meant that all of their following shenanigans, whatever they were, followed similar lines.

They spent months trying to accomplish something behind her back, and as she wasn't greeted with anything resembling a pleasant surprise when she got home, she had to conclude that it wasn't for her sake. Given what she'd heard from the Rainbooms and the snippets she picked up when they turned on each other, it sounded like they lost all of the money she left them to those stupid schemes, one of which, if she heard right, was gambling all of it away.

I warned them. Serves them right. Idiots.

Were they homeless now? No, no, she bought that house, long before they lost the gems, rent wouldn't be an issue. So they were still living in her home, her property, which they trashed in search of her money stashes. Could she charge them rent? Maybe, but they'd probably abandoned the house by now for exactly that reason. But then, where would they go? Aria's text messages made it sound like they were still together, but not answering a single one of them meant she couldn't quite ask about their living conditions.

Getting off-track here...

If the two of them were just parasites, driven only by the thought of what they could drain from someone else, why would they stay home to put in the effort necessary for whatever they were scheming? Why skip out on a meal like what she offered them, no strings attached? Did they not trust her? Assume the offer must have been a trap to get back at them for the months that had come before that first commercial? She hadn't told them the real reason she'd regained her musical prowess and even Sonata might have been able to tell, so it was feasible that they might even expect that kind of falsehood from her.

Did they start hatching their own scheme because they assumed I had one in store for them? That I'd bring them along for a few miles, make them my clowns, put them through some miserable, but tastefully ironic ordeal before throwing them out on the road?

For a few minutes, she honestly tried to think of it in more optimistic, more Rainboom-esque terms, but couldn't begin to convince herself that they stayed home to hatch schemes behind her back, which included selling the remains of her gem, because they cared about her on any level. The only thing she could think of to even approach justifying such a betrayal was that she hadn't shared the full details of how she regained her voice. Perhaps, to them, that was reason enough?

Not that they needed the excuse to make themselves comfortable while I worked a job I hated.

No, the more she thought about it, the clearer it became; she was better off without Aria and Sonata, because whatever they once had together, both of them cared more about their own comfort than they ever did about her. If she really was feeling lonely, she'd known all along that Chrysalis, Felt, occasionally Cheese Sandwich, and a few other faces with whom she'd established a good rapport would all make for better company, and even if they didn't, she could form whatever personal relationships she wanted with her new peers in Hollywood.

The best thing for her to do was forget about those ingrates, to let them rot wherever they were now, and move on with her life without ever sparing them another thought.

Author's Note:

Songs chosen to reflect the general feel of what they were singing, not necessarily those exact songs.
Note for anime fans: If Adagio's song poked your curiosity into giving Yami Shibai (series of 5-minute horror stories) a look, I recommend seasons 1, 4, and 5, because there's not really an over-arching story connecting any one episode to another and seasons 2 and 3 were surprisingly boring. :/

Did you know that all this time, Felt did not like Chrysalis? Because I can tell you who else didn't know that and still doesn't: Chrysalis!

That probably seems like it came out of nowhere, but given that Chrysalis first hired Felt to try to seduce Adagio and Felt hates the line of thought that Maid = Well-Dressed Prostitute, I think Felt has reason to dislike her even if Chrysalis didn't remind her so much of her less savory past employers.

Part of me wanted to see an ending in which Adagio genuinely let go of Aria and Sonata, just shut them out and never let them back in, as one would be more than justified in saying they deserve, in this and many other stories. However, if you've read my work before, you probably know that I wouldn't be happy with that kind of resolution in the long run, so it keeps going from here.

That said, I know that for some people, there comes a point where it's just too late, even in a rainbow-powered universe like this one, so if you feel that Aria and Sonata deserve to fend for themselves while Adagio moves on with her life, this is the end of the story. The abrupt, somewhat depressing, plot-threads-still-unresolved end of the story.

For those interested in a slightly happier ending, however, the road there begins in the next chapter.

Comments

[JMP]

While I don't think Aria and Sonata deserve Adagio's forgiveness, I will read on anyway to see them earn it. I like your stories too much to just stop here.

[Eyeswirl the Weirded]

9264216
Aww, thanks!