When Life Gives You Snow...

by TheGJ90

The Million Dollar Question

It wasn't long before The Dazzlings, the CMCs, and Sci-Twi were all enjoying their breakfast, this time in the living room at a table that was brought in and placed in front of the couch, with space left for seats at all sides. The Dazzlings sat together on the side in front of the couch with Adagio sitting between Aria and Sonata. The CMCs sat on the side opposite them, with Apple Bloom sitting between Sweetie Belle and Scootalo. Sci-Twi sat to the club's right while watching the scene before her unfold. The Siren sisters' moods had improved compared to the day before, but Aria still kept some of her grumpiness as she remarked;

"This salad is... okay, I guess."

Adagio's critique of the CMCs combined handiwork was more dignified;

"I do know perfectly decent food when I taste it.", she said with a sideways smirk as she took a large bite out of her pancakes to emphasize her point. Sonata, on the other hand, was too entranced by the taste of her food to give any detailed opinions on the matter. One could, however, recognize this much in between her munching, her eyes closed in utter contentment;

"... So tasty.... so yummy!"

Both of her sisters rolled their eyes in perfect synchronization at this sight before going back to their food. Sci-Twi kept her eyes locked on the two trios before her while summarizing the situation in her analytical mind;

"So far, subjects Adagio, Aria, and Sonata have yet to cause a major negative disturbance within this household. No doubt, a side-effect of them nearing death's door and being sick in general. Subjects Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle have also handled the situation with care and goodwill in spite of their negative feelings concerning The Dazzlings' past actions. But now..."

She gulped while feeling a hint of dread before finishing her thought;

"All three Dazzlings are well again. Which means that they have more than enough strength to act up in some way. With the CMCs having not seen their families in days, it is a wonder that they do not come off as on edge at this point. I can only hope that the situation does not escalate from here."

As if on cue, Apple Bloom looked over at Sci-Twi after finishing her helping of pancakes and asked her;

"Have we heard from our folks yet?"

Pulling herself away from her thoughts, she answered with a relieved smile;

"I'm glad you asked, because not too long ago, I was able to get bars on our smartphones. We can contact our families and friends again!"

This wonderful news made the CMCs bounce on their chairs while cheering, yelling, and high-fiving each other in jubilation. Apple Bloom, in particular, belted out an Apple Family style triumphant yell;

"YEEEEE-HAWWWWW!"

The Sirens had to cover their ears to protect themselves from the noise, but deep down, they were relieved that they could go home soon. Sci-Twi, while smiling from ear to ear, told Adagio:

"I will need you to open up your phone for me, so that I can track your RV while the signal is still strong."

She then pulled the phone with the golden protection case out from her pants pocket and handed it over to Adagio, who took it into her left hand, turned it on and punched in the pass-code with her right hand, and handed it back over to Sci-Twi.

Once she had the phone back in her possession, she got up off of her seat and told the group of girls;

"I'll be tracking down that vehicle and calling my friends to check in on them. I'll just be a moment."

With that, she walked out of the room and into her bedroom, leaving The Dazzlings and the CMCs alone together.

"It's now or never...", Adagio thought to herself as she took a swig of her milk. After placing her glass back down onto the table, she gave each club member a calm glance. They were glaring at the Sirens, but not as intensely as they previously did. With a breath, the eldest of the sisters finally got to ask their saviors a single specific question with an expression as calm as her voice;

"Why do you care?"

---

Hearing that question be asked by Adagio got the undivided attention of everybody in the room. Both of her sisters were curious enough to push their food aside and listen in. Aria looked quite perturbed, as if she was readying herself to protest against whatever was going to be said. Sonata, however, showed no such indignation. Instead, it was pure curiosity that showed on her face. All eyes were on the CMCs, who's earlier happiness was dropped within an instant. They showed no anger, no frustration, or even a hint of surprise over the question they had received.

"They were waiting for this to come up...", noted Adagio internally as she explained further;

"You three definitely remember what we did in CHS. Turning you and your fellow students against each other..."

An echo of a predatory smile grew on her face;

"Heck, for a brief moment, you, along with so many others, were turned into our mindless slaves...."

That smile was dropped in favor of an old frown;

"You have every right to hate us for all of that. You could have left us in the snow for the sake of revenge, I know a lot of you Wondercolts would have done the same thing..."

For a split second, she had caught sight of the CMC's hands twitching slightly. Not thinking much of it, she finished;

"So, I ask you again: why do you care?"

With a skill akin to that of a veteran actor, Adagio kept her calm demeanor on point as she spoke, thus keeping any feelings she may have had over the past well hidden from the CMCs. Apple Bloom turned to face each of her friends. Once again, they had a silent discussion which ended with them giving each other affirmative nods before she turned back to calmly glare at each Siren, who all glared back at her. With a deep breath and a less-than-stellar memory playing in her head like a scene from a film, she gave her the honest truth;

"Ah know Ah speak for all three of us when Ah say... that terrible things can happen if we stop carin'."

There was no joy in the eyes of the Canterlot Movie Club. No happiness in Apple Bloom's voice. No excitement on their faces. Just a solemness they shared. Her words were punctuated with a calm yet emphatic statement;

"End of story."

Adagio looked as closely as she could to find any sign of deception on their faces, but she found nothing. Aria's grumpiness weakened a bit, but she kept her internal feelings on the matter hidden. Sonata, however, appeared to be genuinely worried for the girls who sat before them. There was nothing else for it in Adagio's mind;

"Those girls ARE hiding something... and it haunts them."

The two trios continued to eat in silence.

Author's Note:

I like to imagine Apple Bloom thinking of this song when she's giving Adagio her answer.

Davy Jones - Music Box Arrangement by R3 Music Box.

Comments

[PearlyDoesStuff]

"Those girls ARE hiding something... and it haunts them."

Why do I have a feeling this is hinting at a certain winter special?

[Darkevony]

Thankfully I finally found the time to read your story Gj, and it's lovely. I adore stories that promote "goodness of the heart" so this has been exactly down my alley. And your writing, grammar, and syntax are all really clean and wonderful to read too.

Entirely criminal that it's flown underneath people's radar. Likely just due to optics and metrics, like maximizing exposure by parcing your chapters out slowly and things like having a striking cover art. If I'm not wrong, the story released with a few chapters already written right?

Regardless of how you choose to promote your story, I'm thankful I've gotten to read it. It won't affect things almost at all since I myself don't have a lot of followers, but I'll be sure to showcase it on my user page in case someone does manage to stumble upon it. And I already forsee myself elevating it to my library of golden standards once it's done or has more chapters under its belt. Again, great stuff! Looking to find out more since I'm practically blind for EqG on specials and comic related things so Adiago and her sisters are basically new to me, but that just adds to the fun so far.

[TheGJ90]

11466664
Thank you so much for the review!

I am glad you are enjoying the story, particularly how The Dazzlings are handled, given the premise of the story being what it is. I have A LOT to say about it as well (come on, I'm writing it!), but I'll wait until it is finished before I give all of my thoughts.

I will say this much though, before the end:

I am SUPER glad (or totes glad, as Sonata would put it) that the relationship between the CMCs and The Dazzlings is coming off as organic so far. The last thing I want is to make it come off as unnaturally forced. That has been hard to pull off, since we are dealing with two trios that could not be more different from each other!

[TheGJ90]

11466664
Yeah, I started off with three chapters already written. I initially wanted to post the whole thing in time for Christmas, but I didn't want to rush through the story just to make that deadline.

Also, the fact that the brony who brought Chrys into the fandom has enjoyed my work makes me mighty happy!

[new55]

That was a good story goodluck with the rest of it.

[Darkevony]

11466909
Aw shucks, that's quite the compliment! I write my stories with the express purpose of imparting something to others. Whether that be a message or maybe just the feeling of joy, if someone can gleam something from my work, I'm happy. If nothing else, I'm very grateful that you hold me and my opinion in high regard, especially since what I said can be seen as surface-level blanket statements. But I really do mean it! I quite like When Life Gives You Snow. I should also mention I enjoyed the short Heart-Warmers of Canterlot High, and I have yet to find the time to sit down and read Spring Surprises, but now I definitely need to elevate that in my free-time tasks thanks to this one.

Since I don't know the Sirens very well, I can't comment too much about story-specific things without feeling like I might make a fool of myself. Though so far, I'm enjoying the interesting dynamic between them. They remind me a bit of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door's Siren sisters, if they were in some universe were the other two had a bit more affection for their younger sibling. Which I'm all for, 100%.

But what I can comment on is your writing style, since I have nothing but good things to say. Reading through your story, you actually surprised me a number of times with your verbiage, choice of words, and phrases. Nothing is repetitive. No high-vocabulary words seem out of place and can be easily deciphered with contextual clues for younger audiences. And your narrative and dialogue flows smoothly and naturally. It seems like the work of a long-time author! I should know, I used to write professionally for a living once upon a time.

I often talk about what constitutes a good rated E story, since I'm a firm believer that there's an incredible art in the making of. I would call this story so far a prime example of that. To make decency, love, and the goodness of the heart the epitome of a story's message without hamfisting it or making it seem overly childish, yet remaining accessible and enjoyable to every age takes real skill.

This is getting a little long and for the sake of not flooding your comment section, the last thing I wanted to mention is that I wholly think your writing is above mine. I've been pampered by professional editors and proof readers for my real work far too long over this last decade, so my skills have definitely waned. It's probably a bias since one can get tired of their own writing style, but I definitely think so. Anywho, looking forward to reading more of your stuff, GJ!

[ScisetShimmerEvan]

"I do know perfectly decent food when I taste it.", she said with a sideways smirk as she took a large bite out of her pancakes to emphasize her point. Sonata, on the other hand, was too entranced by the taste of her food to give any detailed opinions on the matter. One could, however, recognize this much in between her munching, her eyes closed in utter contentment;

it," she*

"It's now or never..." , Adagio thought to herself as she took a swig of her milk. After placing her glass back down onto the table, she gave each club member a calm glance. They were glaring at the Sirens, but not as intensely as they previously did. With a breath, the eldest of the sisters finally got to ask their saviors a single specific question with an expression as calm as her voice;

never..." Adagio*

"They were waiting for this to come up..." , noted Adagio internally as she explained further;

up..." noted*

"End of story."

There's clearly more they're not telling them, that's for sure.

[TheGJ90]

11893087
Given who the CMCs are talking with, it makes sense for them to keep some things close to the chest.