Finale (Part 4)
By some miracle, the Dazzlings and everyone else from the CHS ski trip managed to make it back to Canterlot City a little before midnight. Regardless of the time though, a number of students felt too exhausted from both the incident at the Overlook and the long journey back to the high school to drive themselves home. But thankfully, those who weren’t too exhausted, the Dazzlings among them, offered to give rides to their weary friends. No one took the three siren sisters up on their offer however, which, in all honesty, they were secretly glad for as it gave them the opportunity to make a private and rather urgent phone call, which Sonata was in the middle of right now.
“Whoa whoa whoa, slow down, Mom.” Dolly Dusk could be heard saying through Sonata’s phone. “What’s all this about the ‘Overlook Hotel’?”
“Just stay away from it, Dolly.” Sonata practically pleaded with her daughter from the back-passenger seat of the Dazzlings’ car. “In fact, if you get anything in the mail about it just throw it away. Or if someone calls you and says they’re from there just hang up on them. Okay, sweetie?”
There was a brief moment of silence as all three Dazzlings awaited Dolly’s response. Adagio, who was in the front-passenger seat, and Aria, who was driving, had been trying their best not to eavesdrop on their sister’s conversation, but found that they couldn’t help themselves out of a sense of concern for their niece, wanting to make sure that she heeded her mother’s warnings about the Overlook. That, and it was difficult not to overhear everything on account of the small confines of the car.
“What’s going on, Mom?” Dolly eventually replied, with clear hints of worry in her voice. “Where is all of this coming from?”
“It’s a long story, honey.” Sonata answered, having anticipated her daughter’s confusion and curiosity. “Aunt Adagio, Aunt Aria, and I will explain everything when you come visit next week, but for now just please promise me you won’t go anywhere near the Overlook.”
Another brief moment of silence.
“Okay, I promise.” Dolly asseverated. “But at least tell me this much, Mom; Are you guys okay?”
“Yeah, we’re okay, honey.” Sonata told her, feeling touched by the concern. “We’ve just…been through a lot recently is all.”
Just then, Aria turned left and started pulling up the driveway towards the Dazzlings’ house.
“I have to go now. I’ll talk to you later, sweetie.” Sonata then said, trying to wrap things up.
“Yeah, talk to you later, Mom.” Dolly replied. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Dolly.” She earnestly said back before she ended the call.
As Sonata put her phone back into her pocket, she felt an enormous amount of relief that her daughter had promised to stay away from that godforsaken hotel. Even though she and her sisters had defeated whoever – or whatever – had been impersonating their mother and threatening Dolly, she still had a feeling that the Overlook was a dangerous place that should be avoided at all costs. A feeling that she knew both Adagio and Aria shared with her as well.
It wasn’t much longer before Aria finished pulling up the driveway and parked the car in front of the house.
“Finally home.” The pig-tailed girl tiresomely remarked as she got out of the car. “I wasn’t sure how much longer I could’ve kept driving.”
“If you were feeling tired you should have said something.” Adagio said as she and Sonata also got out of the car. “I could’ve driven us home.”
“Nah, I wanted to drive.” Aria replied as she made her way around the front of the car. “Driving relaxes me, and I really needed to relax a little after everything we just went through.”
Adagio was initially bewildered by Aria’s statement, as she found it difficult to believe how anyone could find driving to be a relaxing activity, but her confusion soon dissipated as she began to sympathize with her sister, understanding her desire to do something that might help her unwind after an ordeal like the one they’d all just been through.
“Well, whatever helps you feel better.” She nonchalantly remarked.
Sonata opened her mouth to say something, but instead ended up giving a small, involuntary yawn first.
“I’m pretty beat too.” She said after she finished yawning and started heading towards the front door. “I don’t know about you girls, but all I want to do now is curl up in bed and sleep for the next three days.”
“Guess it’s a good thing we have the next three days off then, huh?” Aria jokingly commented.
It was true. For the next three days none of the Dazzlings had to go to CHS to serve as motivational speaker, thanks to Celestia and Luna. As soon as the bus they’d all left the Overlook in had pulled into the school parking lot, the principal and vice-principal made an announcement that, due to the recent and unsettling events, there’d be no school for the next three days. Which only made sense as that was how long the whole ski trip was supposed to have lasted in the first place. Anyways, this meant that the Dazzlings could, in fact, do nothing but sleep for the next three days…if that was what they truly desired to do that is.
“You two go to bed if you want.” Adagio stated as Sonata unlocked the door and all three of them stepped inside. “I think I’m going to stay up for a little bit and have a nightcap.”
Both Aria and Sonata stopped and looked back at their sister as if she’d just said that Chewbacca was coming over for dinner. In other words, like she was crazy.
“What?” Adagio asked, confused by the looks she was currently receiving.
Aria and Sonata’s expressions stemmed from their inability to understood how their older sister wasn’t tired to the point of needing to hit the hay forthwith like them, but neither of them bothered to inquire about it. They were too tired to do so.
“Nothing, just…goodnight.” Aria said as she turned back around and lackadaisically made her way towards the hallway which led to the bedrooms. “I’ll see you both in the morning…maybe.”
“Yeah, goodnight, girls.” Sonata said as she too headed for the hallway.
“Goodnight, you two.” Adagio told both of her sisters as they walked away.
Once Aria and Sonata were in their rooms, Adagio went into the kitchen, opened one of the cabinet doors, and pulled out a bottle of Jim Beam along with a whiskey tumbler glass. After a quick stop at the refrigerator for some ice she took a seat at the kitchen table and poured herself a bourbon on the rocks, using a bit more Jim Beam than she had intended. With a now nearly-full glass in hand, the Dazzling wasted no time bringing it up to her mouth and taking a long sip of the fiery drink, stopping only when the burning sensation in her throat became a little too strong for her to handle.
“Aah.” She uttered in mild delight as she savored the sour Kentucky drink and put her glass down on the table.
Much in the same way that Aria had driving home to help her relax, Adagio had her bourbon whiskey to help her unwind. Despite her outward appearance she was just as tired as her sisters were, there was no doubt about it, but she knew that if she tried going to bed right now she wouldn’t get a good night’s sleep. Her mind was too plagued with thought at the moment for her to be able to fall asleep, and she was hoping that her nightcap might help her with that little problem.
Who had Madrigal actually been? How had she known about Dolly? Why had she and her sisters been her targets? Was she truly gone for good? These questions and many more like them kept repeating over and over again within Adagio’s mind, and had been doing so since they got back to Canterlot City. She wanted answers to them, obviously, but what she wanted even more at the moment was to simply power down and get some rest.
The Dazzling leader quickly finished the rest of her drink and, feeling just tipsy enough, got up from her seat and headed for bed, leaving her glass and bottle out on the table. She made her way to her bedroom and practically threw herself onto her bed, not even bothering to remove any of her clothing or tuck herself in first. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep thanks to the Jim Beam, but the night itself would prove to be a rough one for her because of it.
Meanwhile, in the room next door, Aria was having difficulty falling asleep, much to her chagrin. It wasn’t because her mind was ablaze with questions regarding the fake Madrigal like Adagio though, but because she felt…different. She couldn’t explain it, but somehow she felt like she had changed since leaving the Overlook, like some great weight had been removed from her and she could grow as a person in ways she couldn’t before. Unfortunately though, all of this was keeping her up when she so desperately wanted to get some sleep. Eventually she did manage to fall asleep, and when she did she had a very restful night’s sleep.
As for Sonata, she had somehow managed to fall asleep almost as soon as she got in bed and slept like a baby the whole night.
The next three days were fairly uneventful for the Dazzlings. The only things of note that occurred were Adagio waking up with a mild hangover on the first day, Aria having to wrangle an emu that had accidently gotten out of the barn on the second day, and Sonata finding a strange stone tablet with some Aramaic-looking inscriptions on it in the backyard on the third day. Other than that, nothing much happened aside from the usual humdrum of everyday life.
Yes, overall it had been an enjoyable three days of rest and relaxation for the Dazzlings, but as is the nature of time those three days had to come to an end. On the evening of their final day off, the three siren sisters gathered around the kitchen table and played a game of Uno to determine which of them would be the one to report to CHS the next day to serve as motivational speaker. About ten minutes into the game, Aria was winning with only two cards left in her hand, Sonata was close behind with only four cards left, and Adagio was losing with seven cards left.
“Hehe.” Aria chuckled in amusement as she played a red 3 card, leaving her with only one card remaining. “Looks like I’m going to get an extended vacation.”
“Don’t be so sure, Aria.” Adagio confidently said as she shot her sister a devious look.
Although Aria couldn’t see what cards Adagio was holding, she could see that her right hand was already prepared to play her next card as soon as Sonata finished her turn. No doubt something that would cause her to either draw more cards or skip her next turn, she figured.
Sonata took a few seconds to decide which card she was going to play but ultimately laid down a green 3 card, making it Adagio’s turn. However, before the eldest Dazzling could throw down whatever card she’d eagerly been holding onto with her right hand, her cell phone started ringing.
“It’s Luna.” She remarked with some surprise as she looked down and saw the vice-principal’s name on the caller-ID.
Placing all of her cards face down on the table, Adagio picked up her phone and answered the call, curious to find out what the purpose for it was.
“Hello?” She said “…We’re doing fine, thanks for asking. How about you and Celestia?...That’s good…Oh?…No, that shouldn’t be a problem…Okay, we’ll see you first thing tomorrow…Bye.”
Aria and Sonata exchanged quick looks of bewilderment with one another as Adagio ended the call and put her phone down. Why had she said, ‘we’ll see you first thing tomorrow’?
“So what’s up?” Aria asked her older sister.
“She and Celestia want to see all of us before school starts tomorrow.” Adagio explained.
“Did she say why?” Sonata then asked.
“No, she didn’t.” Adagio replied, now sounding a tad somber. “All she said was that the two of them needed to discuss some official school business with us, and from the austere tone of her voice I’m guessing it has to do with that e-mail I saw on Celestia’s computer before we left for the ski trip.”
Both of the other Dazzlings dropped their Uno cards in shock when they heard this. After everything that had happened with the fake Madrigal, they had completely forgotten about what Adagio had told them shortly after arriving at the Overlook. They had forgotten that they were going to be losing their job soon.
“A-Are you sure?” Aria asked, clearly sounding worried.
Adagio simply gave a very solemn head nod in response.
“I…I have to go call Dashie.” Sonata dolefully said as she got up from her seat, looking as though she were about to cry. “I need to hear her voice.”
Before either Adagio or Aria could say anything to Sonata in response, she was already dashing out of the room and towards her bedroom.
“I think I’ll go check on the emus.” Aria emotionlessly said shortly after as she too got up from the table.
“At this late hour?” Adagio inquired. “I’m sure they’re all just sleeping.”
“Yeah, probably.” Aria simply replied, still sounding listless, as she walked out of the room and soon out of the house, leaving Adagio by her lonesome in the kitchen.
It wasn’t difficult for Adagio to realize what it was her sisters were doing. They were retreating to their places of solace; Sonata to her girlfriend and Aria to her emus. She didn’t blame either of them for this though, how could she? They were all about to lose their job, their livelihood, their source of income. It was only natural for them to want to escape into that which gave them a sense of comfort and peace. But even still, she wished that they hadn’t walked off the way they had.
Much like back at the Overlook, Adagio felt that she and her sisters all needed to discuss how they were going to handle being let go and what their plans would be going forward. But as she recalled how well trying to do that went the first time, back at the hotel, she started to think that perhaps it was best if they just played things by ear...for now at least.
At the same time however, as both the Dazzlings’ leader and the oldest sister, Adagio also felt a responsibility to ensure that the three of them didn’t end up living in a van down by the river again as a result of their job loss. So, figuring that sooner was better than later, she picked up her phone, opened the web browser on it, and started looking at job listings on a couple of employment websites. Jobs like house cleaner or delivery driver, ones that she was sure she could easily get and would at least allow her to continue paying the bills while she and her sisters figured things out. The thought of such blue-collar work wasn’t exactly appealing to someone who’d become so accustomed to a having a desk job like her, obviously, but she knew she needed to make the sacrifice so that she and her sisters didn’t end up homeless again. Such was the burden of being a leader and a big sister.
After about an hour of submitting applications for various positions, Adagio reluctantly decided it was time to call it a night. She didn’t want to turn in just yet as she wasn’t feeling all that tired, but at the same time she also didn’t really feel like doing anything else for the rest of the evening. So she put her phone in her pocket, got up from the table, and made her way towards her bedroom. As she walked, she said a silent prayer to whatever gods may be that she get a good night’s sleep tonight. She was fairly certain she was going to need it in order to face the trials and tribulations tomorrow was sure to bring her.
The drive to Canterlot High School the following morning was just like any other the Dazzlings had made since starting their job there, but today it felt different to them. It felt as though the journey was taking longer, despite the fact that they were traveling the same roads and encountering the same amount of traffic as usual, and it was no secret to them as to why. It was because they knew what it was they were heading towards and that there was no way to avoid it, no matter how much they wished they could.
So far the trip had been spent in relative silence, but as they got closer to the school Adagio felt a need to get some assurances from Aria and Sonata grow increasingly stronger. She didn’t want to say anything though for risk of appearing to imply that she didn’t trust them, but by the time the school came into sight the need caused her to speak up.
“L-Listen, girls, about today.” She gingerly said. “I…I just want to make sure that we’re all going to be professional and not go off on Celestia or-”
“You don’t have to worry about us, Dagi.” Sonata placidly interrupted. “We’ll be on our best behavior. Right, Aria?”
“Right.” Aria concurred as she pulled into the parking lot, surprisingly sounding unoffended. “We know this isn’t Celestia or Luna’s fault, and we aren’t going to make a scene or anything when they break the news to us. We promise.”
Adagio felt relieved to hear that her sisters were planning on taking today in stride, as well as extremely grateful that they hadn’t taken offense to her wanting to make sure they were going to be doing just that.
It didn’t take long for Aria to find an open parking space, and once she’d pulled into it and turned the car off the Dazzlings all got out and made their way over to the school’s side entrance. As they entered the building and began walking towards Celestia’s office, every step forward rang out loud and clear through the surprisingly empty hallway, making them silently wonder where everyone was. They got the answer to their query when they entered the main foyer and saw practically the entire student body gathered there, just standing around and talking to one another like they were all waiting for something.
“Uh, did Luna say anything about another trip or something last night?” Aria asked Adagio, realizing that the scene before them was very similar to that of when they were about to depart for the ski trip.
“No, she didn’t.” Adagio replied as she scanned the crowd for any potential clues as to what was going on.
About three seconds into her scanning, Adagio inadvertently made eye contact with Apple Bloom, who, upon making eye contact with her, dawned an expression of mild startlement before turning around to face the crowd.
“THEY’RE HERE!” She shouted out, gaining the crowd’s attention.
As soon as the crowd of students realized where the Dazzlings were, they all rushed over to and surrounded them while talking loudly over one another, much to the confusion and slight apprehension of the three siren sisters.
“We won’t let them do this to you!” A random student said.
“We’ll stand with you!” Another random student said.
“You three are important to this school!” A third random student said.
The mob scene quickly became overwhelming for the Dazzlings, and soon enough Adagio had had enough of this chaos.
“Everyone, calm down!” She yelled out in an attempt to try and quell the ataxia. “What is going on here?!”
“We’re protesting you three losing your job, that’s what’s going on here!” Spitfire vehemently spoke up from the front of the crowd.
All three Dazzlings couldn’t help but give expressions of shock and awe when they heard Spitfire’s explanation. Not only because they were surprised at the protest, but also because of the fact that everyone knew about their impending employment termination.
“But-” Adagio tried to say before Scootaloo cut her off.
“It’s not right what they’re doing to you!” The young girl passionately proclaimed. “Not after you’ve helped so many people!”
“Scootaloo’s right.” Twilight Sparkle chimed in. “Ever since you three started working here as motivational speakers you’ve done so much for so many of us. You’re a vital part of this school.”
“They can’t just let you go like this!” Raven Inkwell professed.
“Indeed! The Great and Powerful Trixie won’t stand for it!” Trixie vociferously declared.
“Nor vill any of us!” Photo Finish added.
“Yeah!” Bulk Biceps concurred.
To say that the Dazzlings were touched by the amount of support they were receiving from their friends right now would be an understatement. They were moved by it. Never in their lives had they ever been shown so much genuine love and admiration by so many people, and it nearly brought each of them to tears.
However, despite all of this overpowering emotion, Adagio still needed to know how the news of their job loss had gotten out.
“B-But how did you all learn about this?” She inquired.
“I told them.” Rainbow Dash admitted. “After Sonata told me everything over the phone last night I spread the word about it as best I could. I figured I wouldn’t be the only one who wanted to do something about this injustice, and I guess I was right.”
Adagio and Aria immediately lost the warm and fuzzy feelings they’d been experiencing and both turned towards Sonata to deliver a couple of piecing glares at her for having told her girlfriend something she really shouldn’t have.
“Um…my bad?” Was all Sonata could say, with an awkward smile on her face, in response to her sister’s intense stares.
It wasn’t long before Adagio and Aria ceased giving Sonata the evil eye and returned their attention to the crowd around them, realizing that now wasn’t the time to reprimand their sister for her actions.
“Look, everyone, we appreciate your concern for us and our job, we really do.” Aria addressed the students. “But there really isn’t anything that can be done here. The decision came from higher up than Celestia and Luna. The two of them have to let us go, and we don’t want to cause them any problems when they do it.”
“Well we do!” Limestone Pie fiercely retorted. “Just because you three are willing to go down without a fight doesn’t mean we’re going to let you!”
“Limestone’s right, we’re not just going to let you capitulate without any resistance.” Sugarcoat concurred.
None of the Dazzlings had noticed Sugarcoat amongst the crowd until she’d spoken up just now, and each of them instantly became curious as to why the Shadowbolt was at CHS.
“Sugarcoat? What are you doing here?” Sonata inquired out loud.
“Trixie said I had to join the protest or she was going to fire me as her manager.” The glasses-clad girl explained. “Though the threat was unnecessary. I would have shown up without it.”
And just like that, the Dazzlings were right back to feeling all the love and admiration that was surrounding them. Though they were still apprehensive about the idea of essentially having an army of students that was planning on raising hell on their behalf, at the same time they were greatly appreciative that they had so many wonderful friends willing to stand by them in during such trying times.
“What is going on in here?” Vice-Principal Luna’s voice could be heard saying from the other end of the foyer, causing the Dazzlings and everyone else to turn their attention towards her.
Celestia was also standing at the other end of the foyer along with Luna, seeming just as curious about the mass gathering of people as her sister was. There was silence in the large room for a few seconds until Sunset Shimmer took a few steps forward to address the two women.
“Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna.” She steadfastly started to say. “We know that you’ve been told you have to lay off the Dazzlings, but we’re all here to ask you to not do that.”
Much like the Dazzlings, both Celestia and Luna couldn’t help but give expressions of shock after learning that everyone knew about such a confidential matter.
“Adagio, Aria, and Sonata have made this school a better place.” Sunset continued. “They’ve gone above-and-beyond the call of duty on numerous occasions to help many of us with whatever we needed help with.”
“An’ don’t ferget what they did back at the Overlook a few days ago.” Applejack chimed in. “They saved us from whatever was hauntin’ the place.”
Almost every student gave an affirming utterance such as ‘yeah’ and ‘that’s right’ in response to Applejack’s statement.
“Please, don’t do this to them.” Sunset finished, practically pleading at this point.
Once again, there was a few seconds of silence as Celestia and Luna contemplated their response to the students’ request.
“W-Well, thank you, everyone, for your concerns about the Dazzlings.” Celestia eventually spoke up, clearly stumbling for words. “But I’m afraid that this is a matter that my sister and I need to discuss with them in private.”
It was evident by the looks on a number of the students’ faces that very few of them were happy with Celestia’s response, seeing it as a more of a dodge as opposed to a genuine response to their request. The Dazzlings, however, gave no such looks and simply made their way through the crowd towards the principal and vice-principal.
“Ah, there you three are.” Luna spoke up once they broke free from the large group. “If you’ll please follow us we can get down to the business at hand.”
Each of the Dazzlings gave a simple, silent nod in response before they entered the new hallway behind the two women. Before the foyer was too out of sight though, each of them looked over their shoulder for a brief moment to see many of the students watching them leave. Most had expressions of dismay on their faces, but a few, like the Rainbooms, wore small, sympathetic smiles, as if trying to tell them that they weren’t alone, no matter what.
The walk to Celestia’s office took no time at all, and soon enough the Dazzlings found themselves exactly where they’d known they were going to be since last night: sitting in front of the principal’s desk while she and the vice-principal prepared to deliver their unfortunate news to them.
“For the record, we didn’t ask the students to do any of that.” Aria spoke up before things got underway. “We wanted this to be as professional and unproblematic as possible.”
“Thank you for that, Aria.” Celestia replied. “But frankly I’m not so much concerned about that as I am about how the three of you, as well as all of the students, found out about the mandate from the district superintendent to lay you off.”
Adagio should have seen this coming after what had just gone down in the foyer, but she hadn’t. Even still though, she knew that the best thing to do was to simply be honest.
“I saw the e-mail on your computer when I came looking for you right before we left for the ski trip.” She answered. “And the students knew about it because…we accidently mentioned it to one of them and the word spread.”
Although she didn’t display it externally, internally Sonata gave thanks to Adagio for not singling her out as the one who had blabbed about everything to one of the students. And because of this she failed to notice Luna giving a mild facepalm.
“You really need to stop leaving your e-mail open when you step away from your desk, Tia.” The vice-principal softly chided her sister as she put her hand down, causing Celestia to dawn a small blush across her face in embarrassment.
“Y-Yes, well, it’s of no real importance how word about this got out.” The principal remarked, clearly trying to pivot the conversation away from her blunder. “What is important is what we, unfortunately, have to do.”
“We understand.” Adagio solemnly said as she took her sisters’ hands in her own, much like she’d done back at the Overlook before they’d confronted the fake Madrigal, and prepared for the news she knew was coming. “Do what you have to do.”
Celestia gave a short, deep breath as she steeled herself to do something she had never had to do in all her time as principal.
“Adagio, Aria, Sonata.” She reluctantly started to say. “As principal of Canterlot High School, it is my duty to inform you that the Canterlot City School Board and district superintendent have deemed your position of motivational speaker here at the school to be unnecessary. And as such your employment here will end after the last day of this month.”
Even though they’d been expecting to hear Celestia say those words, actually hearing them made each of the Dazzlings feel like a knife had just gone through her heart. While they did have until the end of the month before everything was truly over, right now it still felt like the end. Soon they would no longer stroll through the hallways of CHS or occupy the desk within room 126. No longer would they meet with students, many of whom they’d come to see as friends, and help them with their problems.
The more the Dazzlings thought about what they were going to be losing, the more each of them felt like crying, but not one of them did. All three of them wanted to be strong, not only for herself but for her sisters as well. Still though, despite holding back tears there was no denying the pained looks on each of their faces as they stared dejectedly downwards at the floor.
“Now that that unpleasantness is done with, we can move on to the second matter of business.” Celestia unexpectedly said.
Adagio, Aria, and Sonata immediately shot their heads up, nearly simultaneously, in surprise when they heard Celestia say this.
Second matter of business? What second matter of business?
“Since you three will be in need of a new job at the beginning of next month, my sister and I would like to offer you the position of librarian here at the school.” The principal explained. “If you wish to accept it, of course.”
The Dazzlings were left speechless. Completely and utterly speechless. Had they heard Celestia correctly? Had she just essentially offered them a job to replace the one they were going to be losing? Albeit a librarian job, but still a job nonetheless?
“Y-You’re serious?” Aria inquired in almost total disbelief once she ceased being speechless.
“We are.” Luna assured her as she picked up a small manila folder off of Celestia’s desk, walked around said desk, and presented it to her. “Cheerliee has to step down from filling the role part-time on account of her increased teaching duties, so we need someone, or someones, to fill the role full-time.”
Aria handed the folder off to Adagio so that Sonata would be able to see what was inside it as well, and as soon as the Dazzling leader opened it they all saw that it was filled with various forms that needed to be filled out and signed in order to be hired as the new school librarian.
“The situation would be the same for you as it is now.” Celestia explained. “Only one of you would serve as librarian on a given day, but all three of you would hold the job and be paid the same as you are now.”
The more Adagio flipped through the various employment forms, the more it became clear to the Dazzlings that Luna and Celestia were indeed being very serious right now.
“And of course, there would be nothing stopping you from continuing to help students the way you are now.” Luna added. “Should you wish to.”
As Adagio closed the folder and placed it on her lap, each of the Dazzlings felt an enormous amount of emotion welling up inside of her, much like they had back in the foyer with the students. Only this time instead of that emotion nearly bringing them to the point of tears, it did bring them to the point of tears. Adagio and Aria both shed a few tears of joy at the kind and generous job offer that Luna and Celestia had presented them with. Sonata, though, started crying so much that one could have made the joke that she was going to cry a river.
“Are you all right, Sonata?” Celestia concernedly asked her.
Sonata gave a small nod as she wiped some of the tears from her face before speaking.
“I-It’s just, we…we tried to t-take over your school.” She said through her tears as she stared at the floor. “And afterwards you…y-you gave us a job that g-got us out of that van down by the r-river. You gave us a m-means to build a new l-life for ourselves, even though we d-didn’t deserve one. And now, after you were f-forced to let us go, you’re giving us another j-job.”
As Adagio and Aria listened to their sister’s soulful words, they too started to cry rivers.
“Y-you’ve just been so k-kind to us, you and all the s-students. You’ve been k-kinder to us than anyone ever h-has.” Sonata continued, raising her head back up to look at Celestia and Luna. “Thank you.”
“Thank you.” Adagio then said.
“Thank you.” Aria finished off the thanks.
By this point, Celestia and Luna were crying a few tears of sympathy along with the Dazzlings, feeling touched by the appreciation and thanks of the three sisters.
“You’re very welcome.” Celestia said just before she got up from her desk. “My sister and I will give you girls a minute to yourselves.”
Luna just gave a nod in agreement as she and Celestia made their way over to the door to leave. But when they opened the door they were prevented from leaving by all seven of the Rainbooms, who came tumbling into the room as soon as the door had been removed from out in front of them.
“Um, hey?” Rainbow Dash spoke up as the principal and vice-principal looked down on the group of girls with admonition for eavesdropping.
As for the Dazzlings though, they found the whole thing to be rather funny. After wiping the remaining tears from their faces and giving a few small chuckles, they got out of their seats and helped their friends get up off the floor.
“We, um, heard everything.” Sunset Shimmer awkwardly confessed after Adagio helped her up. “And we’re glad you three will still be sticking around CHS.”
Although none of the other Rainbooms verbally concurred with Sunset’s remark, the smiles on their faces was a clear indication that they did agree with it.
“So are we.” Adagio said just before she and her sisters were drawn into a heartwarming group hug with the Rainbooms.
Not surprisingly, word spread quickly around CHS about the Dazzlings’ new job. By the time the three sisters had finished filling out and signing all the forms that were in the manila folder, practically every student knew about it, as evidenced by the numerous remarks they received as they walked through the halls on their way to their car.
“Do you think it’ll be tough being librarians, girls?” Sonata asked her sisters as they passed through the foyer.
“Maybe, given the size of the library at this school.” Adagio answered. “But I’m sure Cheerilee will teach us everything she knows about the job and in no time we’ll be naturals at it.”
As the Dazzlings entered the hallway that would lead them out to the faculty parking lot, Aria saw Trixie standing by her locker and, in a moment of sudden realization, knew there was something she needed to do real quick before they left.
“I’ll meet you guys at the car.” She said before she broke off from her sisters and headed over towards Trixie, much to Adagio and Sonata’s confusion.
“Oh, hey, Aria!” Trixie greeted her friend once she noticed her. “I heard about the new job you and your sisters got, and while I’m a bit upset that you three got knocked down to librarians I’m just glad you still have a job here.”
“Thanks, Trixie.” The Dazzling replied, ignoring the magician girl’s insinuation that becoming a librarian was somehow a step career move downwards from being a motivational speaker. “Do you…have a minute to talk.”
“Um, sure.” Trixie circumspectly said. “About what?”
“Just…about us, and our friendship.” Aria answered. “There are some things I need to say.”
“O-Okay.” Trixie replied, sounding worried.
“It’s just…” Aria started to say, struggling to find the right words for what she need to communicate. “After everything that happened at the Overlook I’ve felt…different. I don’t know if it’s because of everything my sisters and I went through or what, but I almost feel like a new person, and I’ve come to realize a couple of things.”
Trixie opened her mouth to inquire what sort of things Aria was referring to, but closed it back up before saying a single word, deciding to simply let her friend say what she needed to without interruption.
“The first thing I realized was that Limestone was right that day at the mall.” The Dazzling went on. “I’m not my mother, and I can accept love into my life without fear of it becoming a poison to either myself or someone else.”
A small smile crossed Trixie’s face when she heard Aria say this. She’d hoped that her friend would be able to accept love into her life someday, and she was happy to hear that that day had come.
“And the second thing I realized is that I don’t want to lose you as a friend.” Aria continued. “I know things have been awkward between us lately because of the whole ‘you confessing to me and me not giving you an answer which led to you accepting another girl’s feelings’ thing, but I don’t want any of that stuff to get in the way of our friendship. It’s too valuable to me.”
The smile on Trixie’s face grew a little wider.
“So, if you’re free this weekend, do you maybe want to hangout or something?” Aria then asked. “Sonata said there’s this new taco joint in the mall that might be worth checking out.”
“Yeah, I’d like that.” Trixie promptly responded, causing Aria to grow a smile as well.
“Great, sounds like a plan.” The Dazzling said just before remembering that she was keeping her sisters waiting. “I gotta get going, but I’ll talk to you later about the weekend, okay?”
“Okay.” Trixie replied, though she wasn’t sure Aria heard her as the girl had already started dashing down the hallway before she was able to say it.
As she ran down the hall, Aria silently gave thanks to whatever forces may be that today had turned out to be such a good one…for more reasons than one.
“Hey, Sonata.” Aria started to say as the Dazzlings headed home. “Since you accepted the librarian job, does that mean you aren’t going to follow Rainbow Dash to Vanhoover?”
“Oh, no, I’m still undecided about that.” Sonata replied from the back seat. “But even if I choose to go with her, there’s still so much time between now and then that it’s probably best if I keep working for now.”
“Probably.” Adagio agreed. “And speaking of Rainbow Dash, there’s still the matter of you telling her about us losing our motivational speaker job.”
A small sense of dread crept into Sonata’s soul when she heard Adagio bring this up.
“I’m sorry about that. I’m really, really sorry.” She profusely apologized. “I didn’t mean to spill the beans to her, I just…forgot that it was supposed to be a secret is all.”
“That still doesn’t excuse the fact that you did it.” Adagio retorted. “But since there was no harm done I suppose it doesn’t really matter.”
“Yeah, everything worked out fine in the end.” Aria commented.
Sonata gave a small sigh of relief that her sisters had apparently decided to forgive her mistake so easily. She’d expected that they were going to make her clean the house or the barn for a month or something as punishment for her blunder, but thankfully they seemed to be in good enough moods after everything that had happened at school that they felt no such punitive measures were needed.
“But you know, this does remind me of something else though, Sonata.” Aria continued, now in a devilish tone. “You still owe us for the whole ‘having sex with Rainbow on our desk’ thing from right before we left for the ski trip.”
“Oh right, I forgot about that.” Adagio remarked, almost as devilishly as Aria. “We still need to figure out how you’re going to make things up to us for that one, Sonata.”
All Sonata could do was silently sink into her seat as she too remembered the promise she’d made to her sisters about how she’d do anything to earn their forgiveness for engaging in sexual intercourse with Rainbow Dash on the desk in their office multiple times…and keeping it a secret for so long. She looked out the window at the river they were crossing over and tried not to think about what Adagio and Aria had planned for her, when all of a sudden she saw something along the riverbank a ways down that immediately snapped her out of her funk.
“Our van!” She shouted, causing both Adagio and Aria to give a small jerk.
“Hey, I’m trying to drive here!” Aria scolded her little sister for shouting.
“Sorry.” Sonata apologized. “But look, that’s our old van down there!”
“Is it?” Adagio asked as she looked out the window, seeing the van but not quite feeling certain that it was the same one the three of them had been living in not too long ago.
Her curiosity peaked, Aria pulled the car off to the side of the road just after crossing the bridge so that she could see for herself if it really was the van.
“I think you’re right, Sonata.” She said after a few seconds of looking. “That’s our old van down there.”
“Come on!” Sonata exclaimed as she inexplicably got out of the car and started heading for the bank. “Let’s go check it out!”
“Sonata, wait!” Adagio called out as she too got out of the car and started following her younger sister.
“Okay, we’re doing this now.” Aria remarked to herself as she turned the car off and got out as well.
In no time at all, the Dazzlings were all down at the riverbank and standing in front of the van that they had once regrettably called home.
“I can’t believe someone bought this thing after we sold it.” Aria said. “I thought for sure it would end up as scrap.”
“I don’t think someone bought it, Aria.” Adagio replied. “I mean, why would someone buy it just to leave it down by the ri-”
Adagio stopped herself mid-word as she realized the very likely reason why their old van was once again parked down by the river.
“You don’t think-” Sonata started to say before they all heard the sound of a small dog barking coming from inside the van.
“I know, Princess Thunderguts.” A female voice then said just before the door started to open. “It’s time for your walk.”
As soon as the door to the van was fully opened, the Dazzlings found themselves face-to-face with two girls and a dog who, by all appearances, were in fact living in the van. And not just any two girls either.
“Uh, can we help you?” Kiwi Lollipop asked them as she and Supernova Zap got out of the van, along with the small dog.
“Y-You’re K-Lo and Su-Z!” Sonata cheerfully exclaimed. “You’re PostCrush!”
“Yep, that’s us!” Su-Z brightly replied while holding her dog before realizing that the Dazzlings looked vaguely familiar to her. “Say, have we met before?”
The Dazzlings hadn’t officially met the girls from PostCrush before, but they had run into one another once or twice at the Starswirl Music Festival, which they figured is where Su-Z was recognizing them from.
“Sort of.” Adagio answered. “I’m Adagio Dazzle and these are my sisters, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk. We’re the Dazzlings.”
Sonata gave a very enthusiastic wave to the two popstars after Adagio introduced her. Aria did likewise, but her wave wasn’t quite as…energetic as Sonata’s.
“Oh yeah, you three were part of the Starswirl festival.” Kiwi recalled. “Well you already seem to know who we are, but I’m Kiwi Lollipop and she’s Supernova Zap. You can just call me Kiwi, but Supernova prefers to be called by her stage name.”
“Nice to meet you.” Adagio said as Su-Z’s dog jumped out of her arms and walked over towards Sonata.
“Aww, hello there.” Sonata said in a very cutesy manner as she knelt down to pet the little darling. “Aren’t you just adorable.”
“So not to be rude, but what are you three doing hanging around our van?” Kiwi inquired.
“Actually, this van used to be ours.” Aria explained. “And when we saw it parked by the river we wanted to check it out. Well, Sonata wanted to check it out.”
Sonata was too busy playing with Princess Thunderguts to realize that Aria had singled her out.
“Not for us to be rude either, but…well…” Adagio started to hesitantly say. “Are you two…living in this van?”
Both Kiwi and Su-Z dawned surprised expressions at Adagio’s question before quickly looking down at the ground with almost shameful expressions on their faces.
“Uh-huh.” Su-Z reluctantly confessed. “We’ve…had a pretty big string of bad luck recently.”
“Yeah.” Kiwi concurred. “First our record label dumped us after we asked for a better contract and then we were audited by the IRS and lost practically everything we had, including our house. What little we had left we sold to buy this van so we’d have a place to sleep at night.”
Kiwi and Su-Z’s story was heartbreaking for the Dazzlings to hear, especially since it was fairly similar to their own not too long ago. Losing everything and giving up what little you had left just to have a place to sleep at night, it was an all too familiar tale to them. As Sonata picked herself back up, with Princess Thunderguts in her arms, the Dazzlings all looked at one another and, without having to say a word to one another, came up with the same idea.
“You two like emus?” Aria asked the two popstars.
“Huh?” Su-Z replied as she and Kiwi both looked up at the Dazzling in confusion.
“I said, ‘you two like emus?’” Aria reiterated.
The two PostCrush girls turned to each other for second in confusion, and after Su-Z gave Kiwi an ‘I don’t get it either’ shrug, they turned back to face the Dazzlings.
“Um, sure?” Kiwi stated. “Why do you ask?”
“Because we live on an emu farm, and we could use your help taking care of the emus.” Sonata lustrously explained.
Once again, Kiwi and Su-Z dawned expressions of surprise.
“Are you…offering us a job?” Su-Z asked.
“That we are.” Adagio confirmed. “We can’t offer you much money to start though because we don’t make much off of our emus right now, but with your help we might be able to change that. You help us care for them so we can sell their eggs, oil, and feathers and we promise we’ll share whatever profits we get from all that with you. In the meantime though, we can offer you a spare bedroom we have in our house plus a small monthly stipend. What do you say?”
“Deal.” Kiwi and Su-Z said simultaneously without any hesitation.
“We are so sick of living in this van.” Su-Z continued. “It’s small, it’s hot, and it smells like taco meat.”
“Hehe, you don’t say.” Sonata softly, and awkwardly, chuckled.
“Okay then, grab your stuff and follow us.” Aria instructed.
Kiwi and Su-Z wasted no time gathering what few meager possessions they had in the van and followed the Dazzlings back towards their car, eager to see this emu farm and the house with a spare bedroom that had an actual bed in it. It didn’t take long for everything and everyone to get loaded up in the car, and soon enough the Dazzlings and PostCrush were off towards a new life together as housemates.
“Can I ask you three something?” Kiwi spoke up about half-way home.
“Shoot.” Adagio answered.
“Why are you doing all of this for us?” Kiwi inquired. “I mean, no offense, but I can’t figure out why you’d open your home up to two people you barely know.”
Aria and Sonata could be heard giving small giggles in response to Kiwi’s question, much to hers and Su-Z’s confusion.
“It’s a long story, Kiwi.” Adagio replied. “But the short answer to that question is: It’s because of the magic of friendship.”
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Great ending to a great story! While I'm sad it's over, but I'm glad I read it!
Excellent job! 👏 👏 👏
I’m a little sad this is over, but I’m glad I read it. Definitely earned its place on my first ‘Best Stories List’
An awesome ending to an awesome story
Thank you. It has been a great story to read.
This shows that while violence begets violence, good deeds can beget greater deeds.
Only by giving the Dazzlings help could they become people that would give other people help.
I love that crazy twist right at the end. Those two should room with Sonata, as her punishment.
Did that Aramaic tablet summon Pazuzu?
This made me think of Chris Farley and now I have the sad.
A little sad it’s over but glad to have spent the time to read this incredible story. You truly have a way with words Peni and those words certainly wove amazing chapters.
Friendship truly is magic and the Dazzlings certainly learned it in more ways then one.
11603243
thx
Maybe they'll never know?
https://m.Why am I not surprised.
Damn it Trix.
Well, looks like they won't have to worry about leaving.
How sad.
They really just left it there.
Feel glad to have finally finished this story. While I could've a few weeks ago a certain project of mine got in the way. Nevertheless aside from some typos in some of the chapters this was a great story and i think it might now be my favorite Dazzlings story I've seen on fimfiction. Great job.