It Ain't Gold that Dazzles

by Gyro Steambass

Intermission 1: The Other Two

Author's Note:

I wanted to edit this and have more chapters ready for a backlog, but school got in the way. So I'm publishing this one earlier, even though I'm not fully statisfied with it. But hey! I made a sketch, to show that I can in fact draw!

If you don't like clicking links, here's the colored sketch I did of Aria as a bartender, to give a better idea of what she looks like, since I suck at describing clothes:

While the mood that Thursday remained tense, the rest of the week went by relatively quietly. Apparently Chrysalis came by once every month, usually on a Thursday. Adagio really wasn’t looking forward to that.

While she tried focusing on her work, she still often thought about her fellow sirens. No, she considered them close enough to call them her sisters.

Meanwhile, said sirens were working at their new job. At a bar, called Joe’s.

---

What had originally started as a surprisingly successful donut and coffee shop -not THAT kind of coffee shop- eventually got upgraded to a cafe. Although it was also a bar. It’s complicated. It still sold coffee and donuts, but the range of drinks and food had increased considerably, the wider selection attracting even more customers.

“Come on girl,” And Aria was about to hit one of their customers for harassing her. Again. Because as nice as Joe was, some of his patrons were... less than pleasant.

“For the sixteenth time, Hoops,” she growled through her teeth while preparing a drink for a different patron, wearing a bartender’s outfit. It was her job, along with two other bartenders, to prepare drinks. “I’m NOT going out with you.” Ever since Sonata and Aria had started looking healthy again, Hoops had come by every day to bother her, his buddies Dumb-Bell and Score backing him up. And she was about to hit him for the fourth time. “I tried to take over your school, remember?” She tried starting with the same argument she tried last time.

“And I remember saying that it’s water under the bridge.” The yellow-skinned jerk said, trying to look suave, failing miserably. It didn’t help that his eyes were covered by his brown hair.

“And I remember telling you to piss of and leave me alone.” She slammed her hand down on the bar and got uncomfortably close to his face, causing Hoops to back up a bit. “So why don’t you take your drink, take your buddies, and do just that? Because I’m THIS close to knocking that grin of your face.” She then felt a large hand on her shoulder. She snapped her head back, ready to give the one who touched a piece of her mind, when she noticed that it was Bulk, the bouncer.

He was huge, but it wasn’t all natural. He actually used to be called Snowflake, but no one calls him that anymore, for obvious reasons. He apparently used to be skinny as one could be and was bullied because of it. Then one day he had had enough of it. He turned to steroids. He doesn’t use them as much as he used to, but he was still obsessed with working out. He pushed her back gently and walked around the bar, cracking his knuckles, causing Hoops and his buddies to gulp audibly.

“Get out,” Bulk growled.

“Y-yes sir!” They squeaked as they ran for the door.

Aria sighed with relief and continued preparing drinks. “Thanks Bulk. I really can’t afford having my paycheck get cut again.” Joe told her that the only time she was allowed to attack someone at work, was when she was attacked first. Her temper just made this a lot harder than it should be.

“Don’t mention it.” Bulk walked back to his usual spot, where he could oversee the entire bar.

“Awww, cheer up Ari!” Sonata said as she popped out of the kitchen. It was her job, along with Joe himself and a few other cooks, to prepare food for the patrons and give it to the bartenders so they could give it to the waiters and waitresses. Sonata handed her two plates with food, the numbers of the orders written on tiny notes.

“Orders 42 and 34!” Aria called out, placing the drinks that had been ordered next to the plates, ready for the waiters and waitresses to come get them. “I’ll cheer up when I feel like it. And stop calling me Ari. It’s-”

“Annoying and it makes you mad and blah blah blah.” Sonata said, blowing a raspberry afterwards. Aria flicked her sister’s nose. “Ow.” The blue siren mumbled as she rubbed her nose and walked back to the kitchen.

“What’s wrong with Ari?” A girl with a high-pitched voice asked. “I think it sounds cute!” Aria growled.

“Yeah!” Sonata exclaimed, agreeing with the mystery girl.

Aria turned towards the girl. “I don’t do...” She trailed of as she recognized who the girl was, frowning. “Oh. It’s you.” It was the pink girl. And she had her trademark disturbingly wide grin. “What was your name again?”

“Hiya! I’m Pinkie Pie!” She took Aria’s hand and shook it hard. “I was wondering what had happened to you guys! Didn’t expect to find you here though!” Aria was already annoyed by her.

“Hi Pinkie!” Sonata yelled, waving from the kitchen.

“Hi Nata!” Aria blinked slowly at the nickname. “Wow! You’re here too?”

“Yup!” The blue siren walked out the kitchen handing some plates with food to a different bartender. “It’s pretty fun working here!”

“Great!” Pinkie looked around, as if she was trying to find someone. She then turned back to Aria, ready to ask a question.

“Oh no.” Aria knew exactly where this was going. She made cutting motions underneath her chin, signaling to stop, but Pinkie didn’t seem to notice.

“Where’s Dagi?” Pinkie asked, still grinning. Aria and Sonata winced at the question. So did Bulk, a few other employees and one or two patrons. “I’m pretty sure there where three of you. Oh! Oh! Is she also working in the kitchen? Or is she a waitress? I doubt that though, I’d have noticed her hair! Speaking of hair, did you shorten your twintails? It looks great!” Pinkie finished her rambling, only now noticing that it had gotten quieter. She looked around her, her grin disappearing. “What?” She looked confused. “Did I say something wrong?”

Aria sighed. “Gilda, take over for me for a moment, okay?” She walked away from the bar, Sonata following her. They walked to a door that said ‘Employees only.’ Aria, looked back and saw that Pinkie was still sitting at the bar, giving them a confused look. Aria face-palmed and motioned for Pinkie to follow her.

“Oh! Right!” Pinkie hopped of her chair and ran after them, just in time for Joe to notice them leave.

“She asked about their sister, didn’t she?” Joe asked, wearing his trademark clothes and a sympathetic look on his face. Bulk sighed.

“Yup.”

---

When Aria closed the door behind them, Pinkie had already gone ahead and was sitting on the couch. This was the break room, pretty self-explanatory what it was for. It held a couch, a cooler with food and drinks -all of them non-alcoholic-, a table and some chairs.

“Sooooo... What’s going on?” Pinkie asked, more than a little confused.

“Where do I start...” Aria took a deep breath. “Okay, you know how when you defeated us at the Battle of the Bands our necklaces broke?”

“Yeah?”

“When those broke we lost our powers. Heck, we can’t even sign louder than a whisper. This also meant that we lost our income, our home-”

“Wait! You guys were homeless?” Pinkie looked shocked.

“Yeah. We were homeless for more than a month. Then Joe found us and offered us a job.”

“That’s great!” She was smiling again. “So why the long faces?”

“Because he only had jobs for me and Sonata,” Aria said, grimacing.

“And when we came by to bring Adagio some food...” Sonata trailed of, looking at the floor.

“She was gone.” Aria finished for Sonata, rubbing the back of her head. “She left Canterlot behind.”

“Oh.”

“We don’t know where she went, we only know that she isn’t in Canterlot anymore.” Aria sighed. “We just hope sheACK!” Pinkie had tackled both Aria and Sonata., hugging them as they almost fell over. She was crying. And they were being choked.

“I’msorryforruiningeverythingandmakingyouguyshomelessandifIknewthiswouldhavehappenedIwouldn’thavestoppedyouguysfromtakingovertheschoolandandand...” Pinkie mumbled out, barely comprehensible.

“Whoa! Pinkie! You’re... choking... us...” Pinkie gasped, noticing that the were now two blue sirens and let them go.

“Oh no! Sorry sorry sorry!”

“It... it’s fine.”Aria replied once she had caught her breath.

“No it’s not!” Pinkie still had tears in her eyes. “It’s me and my friends fault that Adagio is gone and that you guys were homeless! I mean, we only wanted to protect our friends and school, not ruin your lives!”

“I know. It’s just how it ended up happening.”

“But...”

“Don’t worry. Adagio will be fine.” Aria said, giving Pinkie a sad smile, trying to calm her down.

“Yeah!” Sonata chimed in. “She’s strong and stuff! There’s no way she won’t be fine!”

“Until she comes back,” Aria said, a grim smile on her face. “Because when she get’s back?” She raised a fist in front of her face. “I’m gonna punch her. HARD.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

An awkward silence formed in the break room, until Aria remembered something,

“Wait, did you want to order anything?”

Comments

[Mallory S Nocturne]

Wow, this was interesting... hope to read more from this...

[Putainnn]

Yayayay! After a week!

[Putainnn]

when is this getting an update??

[Gyro Steambass]

7757177 When I have more time. School asks a lot of time.