The Easter Free-For-All
The cafeteria of Canterlot High School was filled with its accustomed din. Left and right, teens sitting with their friends were happily chatting away and the occasional cheerful laugh broke out as someone told a particularly funny joke. Everyone, it seemed, was having the time of their life.
Everyone, save three. The three girls sitting in the very back of the large room were by themselves, their dark demeanors likely responsible for the wide berth the other students were giving them. It didn't help that these girls had tried to take over the school, either.
The Dazzlings, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata, watched the crowd of students continue in their conversations. Not a word passed between them; all they had to say had usually already been gotten over with by early morning.
It was months after the former Sirens had attempted their takeover, the winter had passed, and now it was beginning to head into the spring months. Easter was only a week or so away, and the good mood that the promise of an extended weekend held for the student body was starting to irritate Adagio. It didn't help that Sonata was getting into the Easter mood, too.
The blue Siren was currently humming to herself, marginally on-key, something that the other two Sirens couldn't boast. Yet. She was busy finishing a couple of tacos (she had been incredibly excited when the cafeteria started putting them out every day, rather than just Tuesday).After downing the last bite of her meal, she quickly unwrapped a chocolate Easter egg that she had gotten with her lunch.
Biting into it, she groaned happily, completely oblivious to the two angry looks she was receiving from Adagio and Aria.
"Do you have to do that?" Adagio growled as Sonata took another bite and let out a small moan of pleasure.
"What? It'f good!" Sonata replied, her voice muffled by the food in her mouth.
"It doesn't take much for you to think that it's good, Sonata." Aria broke in. She crossed her arms and mouthed "the worst".
"And what do you know about good food? You just sit in your room all day and play video games and eat that gamer crud. Yech!" Sonata gave herself a shake. Some of the food she saw Aria eat whilst she gamed caused her to question how her fellow Siren retained her figure.
"It helps me stay on the top of my game! Like you would know what that is." Aria retorted. Avoiding Sonata's gaze, she pushed her chair back slightly and propped both her legs on the table.
“Really? I’m on top of my game all the time!” Sonata snapped back.
“If you were, we wouldn’t have lost our pendants, and the whole world would be under our control. You weren’t at your best if you kept spouting all our plans!”
"Oh yeah? If that’s so, how come I had the lead harmony when we were performing in the band battle?" Sonata countered, placing her fists on her hips and leaning in close to Aria.
Aria's face reddened. As she was about to snap back at Sonata, Adagio broke into the fight.
"Enough!" she cried. When the argument looked like it was about to turn into a brawl, she moved between Sonata and Aria and held them back. "We've been over this before, there’s no need to keep reminding ourselves of what happened, only to move forward and plan our next step."
"Ugh, we don't need another pep talk, Adagio." Aria muttered.
"Just, can you keep it quiet? I'd like to scheme, all right?" Adagio said, sitting back down and pinching the bridge of her nose.
Suddenly the doors to the cafeteria were pushed open. Everyone turned their attention to the entrance, surprised to see Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna walking in.
Clearing her throat, Celestia started, "Greetings students. In case some of you didn't know: this weekend CHS is holding a charity Easter egg hunt on the premises, and we still need plenty of volunteers."
She gestured towards the occupants of a nearby table. Adagio followed the line of her hand, and scowled when she saw who Celestia had indicated.
"Sunset Shimmer and her friends have already volunteered for the inside work, but we still need many more." Celestia stated, eyeing a few students.
Stepping up to beside her sister, Luna said, "This can be used as part of your mandatory volunteers hours,” -- a few bored-looking students began to sit up and take better notice -- “and you'll know that you've helped towards a good cause."
When she finished, there was nary a raised hand to be found. Celestia asked incredulously, "Is there no-one to volunteer? We still need an entire team for the outside work!"
Slowly, a few hands rose. Celestia gave a nod, "You'll start the grounds team. Anyone else?"
Scratching her chin, Adagio whispered to her two compatriots, "Raise your hands."
"What?!" Aria hissed back. She shot Adagio a confused and rather annoyed look.
"Just raise them!" Adagio growled, swiveling around and giving them the fiercest glare she could muster.
Seeing that their leader was up to something, Sonata and Aria quickly followed suit when Adagio raised her hand to volunteer, but also shared a confused look and a shrug once her back was turned.
When Celestia spied the Dazzlings' raised hands, her face fell flat. However, she had to acknowledge them, so she sighed, "Adagio; Aria; Sonata? You want to volunteer?"
Rather unusually, Adagio gave an eager nod. "We'd just love to help dear Shimmer and her friends!" she replied sweetly.
As she saw Celestia process her statement, Adagio turned to look at Sunset and her friends. The table was conversing amongst themselves, but she noticed Sunset’s surprised expression and Dash’s unamused face.
Sighing, Celstisa turned to her sister,"Very well. Luna, write the Dazzlings down to be on the interior workforce."
Reluctantly nodding in agreement, Luna scribbled down on a piece of notepaper. Before Celestia could ask for any more volunteers, another hand shot up. Again, Celestia gave a rather surprised and annoyed stare at its owner. "Trixie? This is a surprise."
When Adagio saw that another teen had volunteered, she followed Celestia's gaze. She recognized the blue-toned, silver-haired girl who had volunteered. Her ego had made her quite easy to manipulate during the Battle of the Bands; pity she just hadn’t done a better job of keeping the Rainbooms out of their hair.
"Trixie wants to help in the interior crew, too. It can help her practice a couple of magic tricks." Trixie replied, sending a smug look towards the Dazzlings' table. "She will also bring her two assistants."
Adagio saw Sunset bring her palm up to her face when Trixie finished. Suddenly she remembered that Trixie's two new lackeys had once been Sunset's. She snickered, remembering that Sunset’s reluctance to use them hinged on their complete incompetence, something that Trixie must not have realized yet.
"Oh well, one more to humiliate." she thought to herself.
"That fills the interior workforce," Luna stated, writing down Trixie's name as well as those of her lackeys. Soon, a few more students volunteered for the exterior crew, and she slammed her notebook shut.
"All right," Celestia said, turning her attention to the students. "For those who volunteered, meet here at the school for seven a.m. this Saturday. Everyone else, have a great weekend!" She and Luna turned on their heels and exited the cafeteria, closing the doors behind them.
"What the hell, Adagio?!" Aria snapped as the deans left. "Now we have to get up early on a weekend to go hide some eggs, and we have to work with those Rainbores?"
Flashing Aria an annoyed stare, Adagio replied, "We don't need to work with them, we just need to humiliate them." When she got a pair of confused looks, she went on, "It might not be much, but if we can leave more eggs than they can, it'll be one thing we did better than them."
"But won't they have the same number of eggs that we will?" Sonata asked. She scratched her head and raised an eyebrow at Adagio's explanation.
"Not if we get rid of their eggs! Then it’ll look like they’ve been slacking off!" Adagio continued, rubbing her hands together gleefully. Her expression fell as Aria broke in to her musings.
"This is pretty pathetic, you know." the purple Siren stated, flicking one of her pigtails.
"Oh, and I suppose you could have come up with a better idea?" Adagio shot back. When Aria remained silent, she smirked, "Good. That's what I thought."
"Does that mean we get to eat all the candy in their eggs?" Sonata asked excitedly, flashing a large grin.
"Ugh. If you want to, go ahead, Sonata." Adagio sighed. She facepalmed rather audibly at Sonata's question.
"For realzies?! This is going to be so awesome!"
"Sonata," Adagio growled, furrowing her brow and shooting daggers at the blue Siren, "do I have to send you to the Grammar Corner again?"
"No!" Sonata quickly responded, giving a fearful shudder. "Anything but the Grammar Corner!"
“Then stop using that phrase around me!” Adagio snapped, grabbing Sonata by her shirt and shaking her like a ragdoll.
"Okay." Sonata squeaked, somehow retracting her head partway inside her shirt.
***
"Assistants!" Trixie bellowed, storming into an empty rehearsing room on the right wing of the high school.
In center of the room, two young boys were chuckling, watching something on the hardwood floor. Neither paid any attention to Trixie's calls.
Muttering under her breath, she stomped up behind the pair, and cleared her throat meaningfully, causing the two to jump in surprise. She gave them a tired look, begging the question of what the heck they were doing.
"Oh, hello, oh great and talented one!" the short, stocky boy replied, wiping a few beads of sweat from his brow. The lanky pre-teen beside him echoed the same greeting.
"Pray tell, what were you two doing?" Trixie asked, highly unamused.
"Oh," the second one replied. He smiled sheepishly. "We were watching this weird bug go back and forth between some crumbs on the ground."
"Yeah," the first kid piped up. "He was trying to drag them around and out a small crack in the floor!"
"You mean... an ant?" Trixie huffed, slumping her shoulders at her two lackeys' idiocy.
"Naw, none of our aunts go to this school!" the stocky one answered. Shooting her a condescending look, he said, "You really need to check the student logs, oh great Trixie."
Shaking her head, Trixie stated, "Snips, Snails, you are unparalleled in your intelligence only by each other." Slowly standing straight again, she told them, "You are coming with Trixie to help her plant Easter eggs this Saturday in the school."
"What? Why?" Snips whined. Trixie winced as his normally grating voice became even more annoying as it rose in pitch.
"Because," she began, twisting one of her pinky fingers in her ear to check to make sure it was okay. "Those Dazzlings have signed on too, and this is the perfect chance for Trixie to get her revenge for being manipulated!"
"But we were going to watch Adam Sandler movies all day that day." Snails muttered. He scuffed one of his shoes on the floor and gave Trixie a plaintive look.
"So that's how his movies keep making money..." she muttered under her breath. Clearing her throat, she said, "But they made sure you couldn't win either! Don't you want to help Trixie by getting her revenge, and thereby yours?"
"Do we have to?" both boys whined in unison.
"Yes!" Trixie declared.
The sheer volume of the scream caused both boys to wince, then, sharing a glance, sigh. Slowly, they nodded both their heads and replied, "All right, oh great and powerful Trixie."
Nodding her head in satisfaction, Trixie said, "Good. Trixie will see you Saturday at seven." She left before her two minions could complain any further.
***
Saturday morning came quickly. The early morning sun peeked over the building of CHS, casting long shadows on the courtyard. Some of the students had already arrived, and a few more were getting dropped off by their parents.
While spring was officially ongoing, it was still very cold. Snow still covered most of the ground, although the strengthening rays of the sun would melt more and more every day.
A few small groups of students were huddled close together, the cliques staying to themselves. All that was needed now was for Principal Celestia to arrive, unlock the doors, hand them the eggs, and let them have at it.
"Ugh! This is way too early to be up on a weekend." Aria groaned. The Dazzlings had been up since at least five-thirty. When you had as much hair as they did, it took quite a while to prep for the day.
"Well, if somebody wasn't playing her war games until one in the morning, maybe we would've had a better sleep!" Adagio pointed out, a few puffs of breath flying from her mouth.
"You know that's what I normally do on the weekend, Adagio!" Aria snapped back. Rubbing her hands on her arms, she muttered under her breath a few choice expletives about the cold weather.
"Well, at least we had a healthy breakfast." Sonata said, breaking into the conversation. She had a small smile on her face, her naiveté causing her to be oblivious to her fellow Sirens' disgust at the weather and the time.
"You think so, Sonata. I think that crap you served us was like cardboard." Aria retorted. As Sonata's face grew red, she went on, "I swear, you’ll turn into one of those things if you keep it up."
"Well, I'm rather proud of my perfection of the 'breakfast taco'." Sonata huffed. She turned away from Aria and crossed her arms, pouting.
"Could we just go five minutes without either of you arguing over food?" Adagio cried, facepalming for what felt like the ten or twenty-thousandth time. Every time she looked in the mirror, she was impressed that her forehead didn’t have a palm-sized indent. "It isn't that hard, you know." she growled.
"Oh, sure. You're the one to say stop talking, when you're the warmest dressed here. You know that Sonata's hot air is an excellent heat source." Aria stated, smirking as Sonata gave her a furious glare.
When Aria referred to her clothing, Adagio merely shrugged. Sure her deep orange parka was new and very comfortable, but that didn't stop Aria or Sonata getting new clothes for themselves. It's not like they couldn't support themselves since they all had some sort of job.
She switched her attention from her clothes to the sound of crunching boots on the packed snow of the courtyard's pathways. Coming towards the trio was none other than Sunset Shimmer. Her face was unreadable, but they could definitely tell that she moved with purpose toward them.
"Hey," Sunset greeted as she got closer. She gave them a small wave and a friendly smile. "So, I guess you're helping us with the inside?"
Secretly, she hoped that maybe the Dazzlings signing up was a sign that they were ready to be reformed. But there wasn't even a small chance that they would if she didn't try and bridge the gap.
"Hmm, I suppose we are." Adagio replied, planting more of her weight on her left leg and raising a hand to her chin. Slowly a seductive glimmer grew in her eyes. "Say, did anyone ever tell that you're cute in that scarf?"
"Wh-what?" Sunset stammered, her cheeks growing visibly red. She looked down at her dark red scarf and then back at Adagio with a rather confused look.
Aria and Sonata both shot Adagio off-put stares, but didn't say anything. By Adagio's actions, they guessed that she had something devious in mind.
"Oh, I'm just saying." Adagio restated. She flashed a smoky smile at Sunset, who continued to blush. Letting out a soft chuckle, Adagio continued, "That blush helps too."
Loosening her scarf slightly, Sunset gave a small, high-pitched laugh. "Um, thanks, I guess?" She shifted her feet and glanced between the three Sirens. "Uh, you do know all the good places where you could hide the eggs, right?"
"Oh, I can think of a few," Adagio murmured, rubbing the fingers of her one hand together. She gave Sunset another seductive look and smirked slightly. She casually rubbed her hand on her parka and then looked at her fingernails.
"I-I think I'll be heading back to my friends. Um, I'll see you around?" Sunset said awkwardly, almost tripping over a small outcropping of hard snow on the courtyard sidewalk as she looked back at the Dazzlings.
After Sunset had moved a fair distance off, Adagio let loose with a gleeful laugh, slapping a hand on her knee. She watched as Sunset continued down the courtyard, glancing back every so often.
"Well, that must be for something." Aria noted as Adagio continued to snicker.
"Oh, this is too good to be true." Adagio said, wiping a tear from her eye. She turned to look at her two companions. "I had no idea that Shimmer would be such easy prey for some good old flirting." she said. She let out another small laugh.
Before any of the Sirens could say anything more, a white Mazda pulled into the parking lot and Principal Celestia stepped out, holding a few large plastic bags. A moment a dark blue Camaro parked behind Celestia's vehicle and Vice-Principal Luna got out, also holding an assortment of bags.
Laying down her bags, Celestia fiddled with the locks on the front door of the school. After a few seconds of trying to get the key into the half-frozen lock, she succeeded in opening the doors.
Almost immediately, the groups of students started filing into the building. As they followed behind most of the teens, the Dazzlings watched. Adagio spied Sunset and her friends near the front, and that girl Trixie in the middle with her two minions.
"Hold on everyone!" Celestia called, causing the students to give pause and turn around to look at her.
"Since the weather is supposed to be cold all day, I want the exterior crew getting to work right away. No need to be out in the cold for longer than needed."
The group of teens that comprised the grounds crew gave a collective groan. Slowly they split from the Rainbooms, Dazzlings, and Trixie and her minions and took individual bags that Celestia handed them as they passed her.
"Just give me a minute to turn on the lights, girls." Celestia said, turning her attention to the remaining teens. She walked past them and down one of the dark hallways.
Unbeknownst to the group, Luna had come up behind them. They all jumped in surprise as the vice-principal cleared her throat. After they caught their breath, they turned around.
"These bags of eggs are for you," Luna stated, gesturing to the large pile of plastic bags next to her.
As they each took a bag, Sonata peeked inside hers. "Ooh! These look tasty. What's in them?" she asked, pulling out one of many small plastic eggs filled with some assortment of candy.
"Don't eat them; otherwise you'll be paying for them yourselves." Luna sent a stern glare at Sonata, but also at Pinkie Pie, who had also been intent on investigating the contents of her bag.
"Aww..." Pinkie moaned as she realized that Luna was addressing her, too.
"I bet I could plant my eggs before everyone else!" Rainbow Dash declared, throwing her winter coat on a nearby bench.
"Oh yeah?" Aria growled. She stepped up into Dash's face, giving her a fierce snarl. "Put your money where your mouth is, twerp!" Crossing her arms, she sent a Dash a confrontational expression.
"I don't see you being the three-time winner of the track championship!" Dash snapped back. Her face started growing red from Aria's challenge.
"This is not a race!" Luna broke in, pushing the two girls apart. As Aria and Dash continued to send death glares at each other, she went on, "I knew putting you girls together was a bad idea, but my sister overruled me; that doesn't mean I'll be any less strict with you if you fight."
"Well, Trixie is going to get a head start on all of you." Trixie stated, grabbing her bag and motioning for Snips and Snails to follow her.
Reluctantly, the two boys complied, dragging their own bags.
Before the trio turned down the hall, Luna said, "Wait. What section will you be covering?"
Turning around and thinking for a moment, Trixie replied, "Trixie and her assistants shall cover the rehearsal rooms and science lab."
Adagio mentally noted where Trixie was heading. She’d get hers when the time came, but they'd need to deal with the Rainbooms first.
As Trixie and her lackeys left, the lights came on, and the Dazzlings were forced to momentarily shield their eyes from the brightness.
When the girls had adjusted, Luna pulled out a floorplan of the school from a burlap bag. She circled an area on the left side of the building, writing beside it "Trixie". Turning her attention to the Rainbooms and Dazzlings, she asked, "All right. Sunset, what area are you and your friends going to cover?"
"Um, I think there's enough of us for us to cover the rest of the ground floor." Sunset replied, taking a look at the floorplan.
Luna nodded. She took out her pen again and wrote along the top of the sheet of paper "Sunset and friends". When she finished, she said, "Then that means you and your... friends have the basement, Adagio."
Rolling the floorplan back up, she stuffed it into her bag and slung it over her shoulder. A moment later Celestia came back down the hall. She was still wearing her winter clothes and motioned for Luna to follow her.
Seeing that Celestia and Luna were leaving, Sunset cried, "You're not staying?"
"No. Just have someone call us when you're done." Celestia replied, quickly jotting down a number on a scrap of paper. She handed it to Sunset. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we still need some sleep to catch up on."
As the deans left, Aria slumped her shoulders and grumbled, "How come they get to have more sleep?"
Adagio sent a warning look at her compatriot. "It works in our favor, actually. Who says we need to work the basement if they aren't watching?" she murmured to make sure that Sunset and her friends wouldn't hear them.
With that out of the way, the group of girls took off their winter gear and stowed them on benches or around lockers in small piles. After they had shed their layers, the Dazzlings grabbed their bags and started towards the nearest staircase to the basement.
"Good luck with finding some good hiding spots," Adagio heard Sunset call as they walked away.
Turning around and walking backwards, she called back, "Oh, I'll make sure to find some." She shot a playful wink at Sunset and sauntered after her fellow Sirens.
Noticing the Dazzlings' leader's odd behavior, Rarity turned to look at Sunset, who was once again faintly blushing. "Do you know what she was referring to?" she asked. She raised a questioning eyebrow.
"N-not really." Sunset replied. Sighing, she went on, "She was acting like that outside, too. I don't get it."
"Seems like someone has their eye on you." Rarity teased, poking Sunset lightly in the ribs.
"W-what?" Sunset exclaimed. Growing a light shade of red, she growled, gritting her teeth together. "Are you kidding me? I don't even like girls! Not to mention whenever I've seen Adagio before today it felt like she was willing my head to explode!"
"Look, we can help Sunset figure out her feelings later. Right now, I just want to get this done so we don't have to deal with those three anymore." Rainbow Dash stated. Grabbing her bag, she called, "Come on! I don't want to brag how I beat you all. Well, maybe I do."
“Ugh!” Sunset huffed at her friends’ remarks.
As the Rainbooms headed towards the gym, Adagio peeked around the corner. She smirked as the girls continued down the hall. Inwardly laughing, she motioned for Aria and Sonata to follow her.
When she moved out, she didn't hear her compatriots' footsteps. Turning around, she saw that neither were with her. They must have kept going when she stopped to flirt with Sunset.
Shaking her head, she followed after the Rainbooms. Those two -- no matter how dumb they could act some days -- could take care of themselves.
***
"Hey Ari!" Aria heard Sonata ask and felt a finger tapping on her shoulder.
The two had gone down the hall and into the basement. The underground halls of the CHS had not had their lights turned on, so at the moment, they could only see a short distance ahead thanks to the dim light that came through windows that were placed above the foundation.
"What?" Aria snapped, grabbing Sonata's hand forcefully when the blue Siren continued tapping her shoulder. She turned around and frowned at Sonata. She could barely see Sonata's magenta eyes in the darkness.
"Where's Dagi?"
Suddenly, Aria realized that their leader was not with them in the basement. Slapping a palm to her face, she groaned, "Ugh, she must've broken off. Now that I think about it, I think I heard her talking with those Rainbores again."
Bringing her face back up to look at Sonata, she continued, "If you want, go look for her. At least I'll do what we're supposed to and keep to the plan." She muttered under her breath, "Well, at least what Adagio actually explained, that is."
"Y-you mean go back through the basement, alone?" Sonata squeaked.
Now that Aria's eyes had adjusted to the dim lighting, she saw Sonata bring a hand up to her mouth and nervously nibble on a couple of her fingernails. Shaking her head, she replied, "Yes!"
"B-but, it's dark!" Sonata protested. She turned her head to look behind her fearfully. "What if there are monsters roaming?" she whispered in a high-pitched voice.
"Go on, you big baby." Aria huffed, giving Sonata a strong shove. "There isn't anything down here aside from you and I, and I'll be even gladder when it's just me."
Taking a nervous gulp, Sonata slowly nodded. Aria could see a couple of beads of sweat start to form on her forehead as the blue Siren turned around. Cautiously moving forward, Sonata went down the hall.
A moment later Aria heard a loud clatter followed by a terrified scream. Letting out a tired groan, she called down the hall, "It was just a broom, Sonata. We passed one when we were down here."
"I-I knew that." she heard Sonata call back, then cried: "Oh, I left my bag!"
"Just leave it! I'll deal with the eggs." Aria snapped, noticing said extra bag. She picked it up with her free hand and continued down the hall.
She tried all the doors along the hall, but most were locked, and the ones that weren’t were mostly machine rooms, and therefore a bit too dangerous to be leaving Easter eggs in.
As she continued, she wondered if them getting the basement duty was just to keep them out of the Rainbooms' hair as well as that other girl. It’d make sense: the vice-principal had made it clear that she didn't like them.
Walking down the hall and trying every door she could see, Aria planted a few eggs here and there, just in case the hunt was going to go down here after all. As she reached another door, she looked through the small window it had.
She could barely see inside because of the dust that had accumulated on the window, but she could tell that the room wasn’t filled with machinery. Trying the door, she was surprised to find that it opened.
As the door swung open she purred "Oh, hello!" and stepped inside.
***
Sonata slowly made her way down the basement hall and toward the staircase leading back upstairs. Gulping, she kept herself alert for any possible shadowy aggressors. Thankfully, she reached the staircase soon enough and went up.
Reaching the main floor, she started walking down the hall back towards the main entrance. When she reached the front hall, she continued in the opposite direction from the basement.
As she continued down the hall, she watched for any activity, her pink knee-high boots echoing loudly in the empty halls. She shuddered. Even though the lights were on, the school was rather creepy without the hundreds of students filling its halls.
Out of the corner of her eye, Sonata spotted a plastic egg resting on the floor partly hidden by a couple of lockers. Checking over both her shoulders, she bent down and picked it up, prying it open.
Adagio did say that they were trying to do anything to get back at the Rainbooms, so might as well have some sweets while she was at it.
She popped a couple of candies in her mouth and continued on her way. She hummed to herself as the sugar of the sweets started to course through her bloodstream.
As she turned a corner, she spied another egg hidden partway under a bench. Once again she grabbed it and emptied its contents, this time pocketing the candies for later.
From down the hall, she heard a couple of voices. Ducking into a nearby classroom, she peeked from behind the door as she saw Trixie and her minions move past.
"Will it work, oh ingenious Trixie?" the shorter of her two lackeys asked.
"Those Dazzlings will get a surprise, if nothing else." Trixie replied as they turned the corner.
"But shouldn't we have been hiding eggs instead of--" she heard another voice ask. Sonata guessed it was the other kid.
"Are you telling Trixie that you weren't while she was devising and planting her excellent traps?" Sonata heard Trixie cry.
A few seconds of silence followed. When her lackeys remained quiet, Trixie demanded, "What were you doing?!"
"Well..." the second voice started. After another couple seconds of silence and a quick cough, the boy went on, "We kinda got lost."
There was a soft smacking sound. Shortly, Sonata heard Trixie groan, "How did you manage to get lost in a school that you go to. Every. Single. Weekday?"
"It is really different when there aren't any students around." the first lackey admitted softly.
"Whatever," Trixie sighed. "You go back and hide your eggs; Trixie is going to keep an eye out for the Dazzlings."
Sonata ducked behind the door as she heard two pairs of footsteps start running down the hall. Quickly the footsteps proceeded past her. Peeking out, she saw that the hallway was empty.
Now she really needed to find Dagi and warn her about some possible tricks or traps laid for them by that Trixie girl.
Before she had gone too far, she found another egg. Might as well multitask, right? Wouldn't Aria be impressed that she actually could achieve two goals at once!
Grabbing the candy from the egg and throwing it on the floor, she continued her search for her leader.
***
Adagio was following the Rainbooms as they went about their assigned area. She decided to follow Sunset, Rainbow Dash and Rarity when the group split to cover more of the school.
While she kept her distance, she made sure to take any eggs she found and either put them in her own bag for disposal later, or smashed the candy in them. She halted when she heard the trio's footsteps stop.
From the conversation up ahead, it sounded like they were going to split up again. She cursed her luck that Aria and Sonata were not with her; then at least they could each follow one of the girls.
When the group split, she followed Rarity. The purple-haired girl followed a route near where Trixie was hiding eggs. Deciding that she would follow Rarity for a bit then search for some of Trixie's eggs to snatch, she snuck down the hallway.
After breaking a few eggs from Rarity, she broke off into another hallway and into Trixie's area. Almost immediately, she spotted an egg and proceeded to break it.
She continued down the empty hallways, searching for any eggs. Trying the doors along the hallway, she found them to be unlocked. She pushed open the door to one of the rooms and saw that it was one of the rehearsal rooms.
Not thinking of looking at her feet, she almost tripped on a small wire stretched across the length of the doorframe. Before she could react, a swinging contraption flew right in her face, hitting her with a water balloon and knocking her to the floor.
She heard a digital click and opened her eyes to see a smartphone attached to the device aimed in her direction. Growling, she got to her feet. Her face and the front of her hair, as well as some of her light purple shirt, were soaked. Now she knew why Trixie had volunteered.
Ripping the phone off the arm, she looked at the photo of her flat on the floor. She groaned as she saw that it automatically uploaded it to the internet. She would have some damage control to do later.
However, two could play at that game. She slipped the phone into her pants pocket, ready for if she had an idea to get back at Trixie.
Carefully she checked the rest of the room. She found an egg or two, but her mind was still seething at Trixie's prank. Exiting, she almost cried out in shock when she barely avoided running into Aria.
The purple Siren was holding a paintball gun, which she brought up to aim at Adagio before she realized that she encountered her leader. As Aria lowered the paintball gun, Adagio saw that she was wearing some kind of body armor, with a bandoleer draped over her shoulder and a pistol at her belt.
"What are you doing?" Adagio hissed. Eyeing Aria again, she asked, "Where did you find those?"
Aria flashed an evil grin that challenged Adagio's best. Putting the paintball rifle in a holster on the back of her bandoleer, she said, "There's a whole room full of these. Since you're so intent on getting back at those Rainbores, why not have a bit of extra firepower?"
"For once, I like your thinking, Aria." Adagio replied, smirking as a new idea came to her. Why not use the guns against the Rainbooms? Sure, they'd get in trouble with the principals, but a release of the anger she'd been harboring would be worth it, especially to see their shocked faces when they got splattered with paint.
"Yes. I think that'll work. Show me where you found them." she demanded. Before Aria started back, she stopped her by grabbing hold of one Aria's pigtails. "Where's Sonata?" she asked, raising a questioning eyebrow.
"She went looking for you." Aria replied with a groan. When Adagio let go, she went on whilst fixing her hair, "That ditz can take care of herself."
"Fine. Let's make it quick though. It's best we all work together with this." Adagio stated, starting back towards the basement.
Dashing in front of Adagio, Aria led the way. Soon they reached the darkened basement and made their way to the storage room. When they reached it, she stepped aside to let Adagio take in the large amount of paintball weaponry inside.
"Why do they need all these paintball guns?" Adagio murmured as she stepped inside. Grabbing some armor, she asked, "Does this make me look fat?"
"Why should you care, Adagio? It's a freakin' body armor! It's not meant to be a fashion statement!" Aria uttered, smacking her hand to her face.
"No reason, I guess." Adagio muttered. She put it on and slung a bandoleer over her shoulder before grabbing a paintball rifle as well as a couple of pistols. When she had outfitted herself, she picked up another rifle, throwing it to Aria.
As Aria caught the gun, she said, "Hold on to this for Sonata."
"Great. More baggage." Aria sighed. She understood Adagio's reasoning, though. No need to go back a third time when they found Sonata.
Taking another bandoleer and pistol, Adagio motioned for Aria to follow her. Outfitted in paintball weaponry, the two Sirens headed back down the basement hallway, intent on finding their compatriot and then ambushing their rivals.
***
As she patrolled for the Dazzlings, Trixie wandered down to the basement. The hallways were dimly lit by the morning sun. Sadly the windows were facing in the opposite direction, otherwise the basement would be much easier to navigate.
Slowly making her way down the hall, she heard two voices, which she quickly recognised as belonging to two of the Dazzlings. Glancing around for a hiding spot, she started trying every door in the hall for an escape.
Luckily the last along the line was unlocked and she ducked in not a moment too soon. She cracked the door of the machine room open to watch the girls pass.
She was startled to see them holding paintball guns and wearing armor and clips of extra ammo. Closing the door, she planted herself against the wall as the Dazzlings passed the room.
When a moment had passed, and the Dazzlings' voices had receded, she crept from the machine room. She knew she needed to avoid those two; she didn't want to get hurt, let alone paint on her clothes. It would take hours to get it out.
Where had they gotten that stuff? Scratching her head, she went in the direction that they came from. Perhaps they had found the paintball guns somewhere.
Walking a short distance, she spotted an open door. She poked her head in to see what was inside. Her heart skipped beat when she saw that room was a veritable arsenal of paintball guns.
Quickly she outfitted herself and grabbed enough gear for her two minions. It was heavy, but hopefully she could avoid the Dazzlings until she could meet up with Snips and Snails.
Making her way out of the basement as fast as she could while still keeping quiet, she started searching for her lackeys.
After a few minutes of hunting, she found Snips and Snails in the main hallway. Snips had somehow gotten his front half stuck in a locker, and Snails was trying to pull him out.
By now somewhat used to her cronies' skill at doing stupid things, she put down the extra equipment she was carrying and sighed, "How did you manage that?"
"It just kinda happened." Snips replied sheepishly, his voice reverberating slightly from the locker.
"We was just trying to hide an egg in here, and then Snips got stuck." Snails explained. He gave a hard tug on Snips' legs and managed to move the boy a few inches out of the locker. Pulling one more time, Snails flew onto his behind when Snips' shoulders cleared the locker, causing the short boy to fall facedown flat on the floor.
Shaking her head, Trixie threw a bandoleer to both of them; body armor was too big for them. After they gave her questioning looks, she motioned for them to put them on, to which they slowly complied. She gave them both a paintball rifle and pistol and gestured for them to follow.
Now it was time for them to prowl.
***
"Hey Sunset!" Sunset Shimmer heard Rainbow Dash cry as she turned the corner of a hall leading to the gymnasium. Dash was waiting where they agreed for when they had planted all their Easter eggs.
"Looks like I beat ya!" Dash exclaimed, letting out a small laugh.
"This wasn't a contest, Dash." Sunset pointed out. She shook her head at how Dash seemed to turn everything into some sort of competition. "Come on," she said, walking past Dash and motioning for her friend to follow her. "Let's see if we can't find anyone else and help them out."
They started walking down the hall, their footsteps echoing around the empty corridor. For some reason, Sunset felt uneasy, like there was something else nearby. She glanced over at Rainbow Dash, who seemed as cocky and cool as always and started to put her mind at ease.
As they continued walking, they reached an intersecting corridor. Suddenly Sunset heard a “Pop!” and felt something wizz by her hair, splatting on a wall behind her.
Another “Pop!” and she cried out as the next projectile hit her square on the arm. Rubbing her arm, she brought up her hand and saw that it was coated in yellow paint. With a sudden realization, she cried, “Ambush!” and started retreating to find some cover.
Out in the open, Sunset and Dash were easy prey for the now noticed assailants. As they scrambled back to try and find cover, they were pelted with paintballs, soaking them in the yellow goo.
As suddenly as the firing started, the projectiles stopped. Surprised beyond words and aching in many places, Sunset slowly wiped some of the paint away from her eyes. She spotted Adagio and Aria making a hasty retreat and turning the corner of the hallway.
Although it had started to slow down, her heart rate started climbing again as her anger grew. She felt her face growing hot as she wiped some more paint off her. Thankfully she had decided to leave her leather jacket with her winter gear, because if those two had gotten it ruined, she'd go on a one-woman rampage that instant.
"What just happened?" Dash asked in an unsure tone. She was wiping as much paint off of her as possible, the yellow liquid pooling at her feet. She shot Sunset a hopeful look that she was just dreaming.
"Oh, it happened." Sunset growled back. She felt through her hair and looked at her hand, which was covered in more paint.
"Do you think...? No, they couldn't have found it." Dash started, shaking some paint off her hands, wincing as her body told her she’d have many nice bruises to show people at the next soccer game.
"They must have found the storage room that the school put all those paintball guns in after the school event last fall." Sunset affirmed, nodding her head.
"I knew that they'd cause trouble!" Dash declared. She started running down the hall that Aria and Adagio had gone down, motioning for Sunset to follow her.
"Wait!" Sunset called, grabbing Dash by the arm. When Dash had stopped struggling against her pull, she went on, "We need to find the others. It looks like this just turned into a battle."
"So, you want to fight them with paintballs too?" Dash asked. Giving Sunset a small grin, she said, "I like that idea!"
"Come on! Let's find everyone else!" Sunset called, starting down a different hallway. She hoped that maybe her other friends were finishing up and grouping together.
Rainbow Dash quickly followed her, she and Sunset's shoes creating yellow footprints on the floor.
***
Adagio and Aria were bolting down the halls, trying to put as much distance between them and the ambush site. Hopefully neither Sunset nor Dash had seen them, but best not to stick around either way.
"Hoo! That was fun!" Adagio cried, turning her head to smirk at Aria.
As they turned the corner of the hall, Aria smashed into someone, knocking both to the floor. Clearing her head, Aria saw that that someone was Sonata, who was now sprawled flat on her back.
When Sonata got up, she quickly cried, "Dagi! I found you! You need to watch out for traps from... Trixie..." She slowly stopped her speech when she saw that Adagio was carrying a paintball gun and decked out in armor.
Adagio gave Sonata a tired expression. "Would've been nice to have had the warning twenty minutes ago," she thought. Jabbing a spare bandoleer at Sonata, she snapped, "Put this on!"
"What're we doing?" Sonata asked, giving both of them a confused stare. Hesitantly, she took the offered bandoleer and put it on.
"Change of plans." Adagio replied. She handed Sonata another paintball pistol. "Now it's time to have a bit of fun with the Rainbooms. Screw Celestia and Luna."
Giving a slow nod, Sonata hummed an affirmative. She took the extra paintball gun that Aria handed her and quickly held up her hand to stop. When Aria and Adagio shot her angry glares, she said, "Have to pop a stim."
"A what?" Aria and Adagio inquired in unison.
Unwrapping a piece of candy that she had in her pocket, Sonata answered, "Well, if we're acting like soldiers, then I need to be alert as possible. Candy's my stim."
"I am not going to question your logic," Aria groaned, rolling her eyes.
"All right, let's go!" Sonata cried, rushing past the two Sirens and down the hall.
Quickly running after their compatriot, Adagio and Aria gave each other annoyed looks. Sonata was going to be a pain, yet again.
Reaching the blue Siren, who was slowly peeking around a corner, the two fell in behind her. They watched their flanks, their paintball guns ready to be aimed at a second's notice.
After observing the new hallway to her satisfaction, Sonata motioned for Aria and Adagio to follow. The trio walked back-to-back, keeping an eye out for any movement.
Aria soon took lead. She motioned for them to stop outside a nearby door what was slightly ajar.
Taking up positions on either side of the door, Adagio and Sonata waited. Aria pushed the door open, and the three filed in. The room was empty, aside from an egg or two that they could spot. Now moved on from breaking eggs, the trio went back out the door.
As they continued down the hall, they soon heard voices. Aria motioned for them to stop and take up positions along the walls, away from the nearby corner.
"Ksshhhk! No sign of any tangos. How 'bout you, Snails? Over! Ksshhhk!" they heard a voice say.
"Kssshhhk! Nega-- uh, Nagatuu-- Nope! Kssshhhk!" another voice said.
"Kssshhhk! Hey! You're supposed to say 'over' when you're done! Over. Kssshhhk!" the first voice whined.
"Ugh! Will you two shut up! You're right next to each other." The Dazzlings recognized this voice as Trixie. From the exasperation in her voice, she must have been dealing with this for a while now.
"Aww, but it's fun!" the first voice complained.
Suddenly, there was a loud crash followed by a quick hiss. The second voice gave out a loud cry.
Adagio shot a glance down around the corner of the hall. One of Trixie's lackeys had dropped their paintball guns and it had gone off, shooting the boy in the leg and leaving a large splatter on his pants.
When Aria saw Adagio peer around the corner, she gestured if they should attack.
Adagio gave a curt nod, whirling around the corner and opening fire on the trio. Quickly following, Sonata and Aria started unleashing a barrage of paintballs on Trixie and her lackeys.
Unaccustomed to aiming down the sights of the weapons, Adagio and Sonata missed most of their shots from the distance they were from Trixie. Globs of paint started splattering on the floor and walls of the school.
“IT’S A TRAP!" Trixie cried, firing a few paintballs at the Dazzlings. Outgunned, she ordered Snips and Snails to retreat as the Sirens started to press their advantage of surprise.
As they fell back, her lackeys dropped their guns, and dashed past Trixie and turned a corner that headed back to the main entrance. "We did not sign up for this!" Snips exclaimed as they left.
In surprise, Trixie turned tail and ran. With Snips and Snails gone, she definitely couldn't take on the Dazzlings. She ran as fast as she could towards the gym, maybe she could find a spot to hide and wait there.
As Trixie retreated, Adagio laughed, "Nice try! No-one gets away with trying to humiliate me!" She gestured for Aria and Sonata to back her up.
As they made their way after Trixie, Sonata spied some movement in one of the halls. Popping another candy, she took a deep breath as the sugar-filled sweet caused her world to slow down.
Eerily and in slow-motion, she saw one of the Rainbooms poke out behind a set of lockers and take aim at Adagio. The paintball exited the muzzle of the gun with a muffled and distorted pop and started its trajectory toward the Dazzlings' leader.
"Adagio! LOOK OOOOOUUUUUTTTT!" she screamed. To her ears, her voice sounded deep and drawn out thanks to the sugar-induced slo-mo world. She dove in front of Adagio as the paintball sped on. The pellet impacted her square in the chest, knocking the wind out of her as she continued downwards to the floor.
Spinning around at Sonata's actions, Aria saw her crash to the floor and also saw Rainbow Dash duck behind a set of lockers. She sent a couple of shots to keep Dash pinned a snapped to Adagio, "Get Sonata up, the Rainbores have paintball guns too!"
After hesitating a few seconds at Aria's order, Adagio helped Sonata up, the blue Siren holding a hand to her chest and wincing, as Aria laid some covering fire. So far they only knew where Rainbow Dash was, but it was safe to assume that if she was outfitted with paintball weaponry, the rest of the Rainbooms were too, and that they would most likely try and flank them.
"Fall back to the gym!" Aria ordered, shooting a couple more paintballs.
As they retreated to the gym, they laid as much fire as possible to inhibit any counterattacks. When they reached the spacious area of the gym, Aria quickly closed the doors and had Adagio and Sonata help move a couple of nearby benches to barricade the entrance.
"That should slow them down: they'll have to run all the way to the other side of the school to get here." Aria muttered, smacking her hands together a couple of times to get some dust off them.
"Well, that changed quickly," Adagio sighed. She slowly reloaded her paintball rifle. So far she had remained unscathed. Turning to Sonata, she said, "Thanks for saving my skin back there."
Shaking her head as the sugar from her candy wore off, Sonata smiled. "Yeah, sure." She looked down at the yellow splat of paint on her magenta blouse. "I hope this washes out." she murmured.
“How did you not get hurt from taking that hit?” Adagio asked, surprised at how quickly Sonata recovered.
“I dunno. Just kinda tickled a bit.” Sonata replied, shrugging her shoulders.
“Why do I even try to understand?” Adagio murmured, facepalming.
"Keep an eye out for that blue kid; she was running this way." Aria warned, cocking her paintball gun. Slowly, she did a three-sixty in place to observe the gym. She couldn't see Trixie, but that didn't mean she wasn't hiding somewhere; some of the bleachers were pretty high.
"I'm surprised that you took us as a squad so well and seriously," Adagio admitted to Aria. She knocked a couple of benches over and set them up for some cover and watched the doors on the other side of the gym.
"So now my gaming habits aren't stupid?" Aria scoffed, sending Adagio a condescending look.
"I still can't believe you eat that gaming crud, Ari." Sonata broke in. Shuddering, she gave a small "Yech!" and stuck out her tongue. "How can you do stuff like what you did today and not feel exhausted from eating that stuff?" she went on.
"Oh, and your eating habits aren't any more disgusting?" Aria snapped back, her face turning a shade of red.
"Hey! At least I eat stuff with veggies! You just eat a bunch of fatty stuff!" Sonata replied. She sprang up from the floor and started stomping towards Aria.
"Don't we have some fighting to be doing?" Adagio sighed, facepalming and keeping her focus on the doors.
Although they would have kept arguing, Aria and Sonata noted that Adagio was right. They hunkered down behind the makeshift defense and aimed their paintball guns at the doors.
Moments passed. Eventually, they heard the sound of voices on the other end of the door. Aiming down the guns, they fired as soon as the doors of the gym burst open, drenching the unlucky Rainboom with paint.
Their target ran off in the opposite direction, a soft cry echoing back as she ran.
"Well, there goes one," Adagio heard Aria mutter as they continued to rain paintball pellets at the remaining girls.
The Rainbooms dove through the doorway, finding cover wherever they could. Soon they had set up a defensive line and were popping in and out of cover to take potshots at the Dazzlings.
Adagio kept her eyes peeled for Sunset. She felt it her mission to aim for the fiery-haired girl whenever possible to get back at her for their humiliation. While she was hiding behind the propped up bench, she spotted a blue figure peeking out from the top of the bleachers behind the Sirens.
When Trixie realized she'd been seen, she aimed for Adagio, leaning over as much as possible to get a good shot.
Reacting as fast as she could, Adagio fired a burst from her gun haphazardly towards Trixie. A few paintballs managed to hit Trixie and knock her off balance. With a thud, the girl fell from the bleachers to the floor, sprawled on her back.
Before she could clear her head, Trixie was showered in a spray of paintballs from Adagio. Painfully getting up, she slipped in the pool of paint that had started dripping off her.
She heard a laugh as she slipped again and saw that Adagio was filming her with a smartphone. Her heart sunk when she realized that it was the smartphone that she had rigged with the water balloon.
Managing to get up, she hobbled for the open doors across the gym. She shook her fist at the Dazzlings, crying, "You haven't seen the last of Trixie! She will not stand for this!" She was hit on the way out with a couple more paintballs. "Ugh! How will Trixie ever clean herself of all this paint?" she complained as she retreated down the halls.
"Good shot, Dagi!" Sonata exclaimed when she saw Trixie retreat.
"Thank-- Wait, where's Aria?" Adagio called as she turned her head to look at Sonata. The purple Siren was not behind their cover.
Glancing left and right quickly, Sonata shrugged her shoulders. She fired a couple of shots over the benches then dropped back down. "Did she bail on us?" she asked, her voice filled with concern.
As Adagio peeked over the benches and sent another few pellets at the Rainbooms, she saw Aria slipping through behind the bleachers. She had both her pistols drawn and was inching nearer to the rear of the Rainbooms.
"I think I know what she's doing." Adagio replied, informing Sonata of what she saw. Springing up to fire another couple of shots, she ordered, "Open fire! Keep their focus off Aria!"
The two Sirens sprayed their weapons as fast as they could, only pausing to reload. The Rainbooms had them outnumbered, but they still stayed low as Adagio and Sonata kept up the assault.
The girls were all covered in paint now. Most heavily hit were Sunset and Rainbow Dash, but all had many splatters on their person.
Rarity was handling the brawl about as well as her friends expected. After she was first hit she stayed behind cover and lamented about her dirtied armor. However, she eventually got over it and started shooting back at the Dazzlings.
Sunset was intently watching for the next time Adagio poked her head up to fire. Soon, the orange-haired Siren did just that, and she fired a single shot directly toward Adagio. The pellet hit the Siren's hair, exploding on impact. Fortunately for Adagio, her thick, luscious curls absorbed most of the impact. Unfortunately, that meant that her beautifully-kept hair was now splattered with bright yellow paint.
"My hair!" Sunset heard Adagio scream when the shot hit. She smirked as she got some satisfaction back for the soaking she and Dash received. "You'll pay for that, Shimmer!" she heard Adagio threaten.
Suddenly, there was the sound of two paintball guns firing from behind. Turning around, she saw Aria dash from behind some bleachers to their rear, dual pistols shooting paintballs.
"Eat paint, bitches!" Aria cried as she ran through their lines, emptying her pistols’ magazines on the Rainbooms. When her pistols were empty, she started to bring out her rifle before she was hit on all sides by the girls' concentrated fire.
"Aria! No!" Sonata screamed as she saw her compatriot getting shot down. Jumping over the bench, she sprinted her way to the Rainbooms' fortification, firing her paintball gun at the girls.
Now absolutely covered in paint and throbbing all over, Aria retreated as fast as she could. To Adagio's surprise, the purple Siren was laughing. It seemed that she was maybe having a bit too much fun with this fight. Then again, she had to admit that the adrenaline surge she was experiencing felt good.
As Aria fell back, Sonata was hit with a barrage of paintball pellets. The blue Siren did her best to cover Aria as she was also getting splattered with more and more paint.
Giving in, Adagio hopped over the bench and joined her two compatriots in the middle of the gym. As she was hit with paintballs, she felt a small joy as another adrenaline surge rushed through her, even if it was painful at points from the impacting projectiles.
Falling back to their fortification, the Dazzlings, now covered in paint, recouped and reloaded before letting loose with another volley of paintballs.
The fight went on for a few more minutes. Both sides were starting to run low on ammo when two figures burst into the gym.
Reacting before thinking, both sides turned to open fire on the new arrivals, drenching them in paint and knocking them to the floor. Slowly, as each member recognized the figures, they lowered their guns and ceased their assault.
Painfully, the two figures rose to their feet. The taller of the two figures raised their left hand and slowly wiped the globs of splattered paint from their eyes. Revealed were two very unimpressed pink eyes.
In the silence of the gym, one could have heard a pin fall. Finally, the figure spoke, "Sunset; Adagio. My office. Now." Principal Celestia whirled on her feet and partly limped, partly stormed out of the gym, leaving behind a trail of paint.
Gulping, Sunset started towards the Principal's office. She cringed as Vice-Principal Luna glared at her and Adagio as they walked past her.
"Well, at least we're in trouble together," Adagio stated foxily. She chuckled as her implications made it into Sunset's head and caused her to glower sullenly at Adagio.
The two continued their way to Celestia's office. As they went, Adagio continued making suggestive and flirty comments to Sunset. Finally, she could take it no more.
"Really? Is this necessary? You've given me so many looks that, if they could kill, would have ended me, and now you're trying to get all romantic with me? What gives?!" she cried. Shooting a glare, she crossed her arms and waited when Adagio stopped walking.
"Oh please! You're that dense? I'm trying to irritate you; and you're making it all the more enjoyable." Adagio looked Sunset up and down, and slowly, a smirk started along her features. "Although... you are pretty cute when you're angry." She snickered as Sunset turned around and gave a large huff.
Soon they reached Celestia's office. The principal was standing outside the door, now somewhat cleaner. There were still patches of paint on her clothes, and her hair was a mess. Quite a few red welts were starting to form on her face, as well. She frowned when the girls arrived.
"Don't even try to explain yourselves." she growled. She tapped her foot impatiently.
"Principal Celestia, I'm sorry. It wasn't--" Sunset began before Celestia snapped at her.
"I'm disappointed in you Sunset. I would’ve expected you to have the common sense to let me know what was happening, so I could have stopped this sooner, rather than 'fighting fire with fire', as it were."
Glaring at both girls individually, Celestia declared, "You'll all have to pay for the cleaning of the school, plus any damages." She fixed them with another hard look, "You'll also be spending any spare time during school hours, and two hours afterwards, in detention for the next two weeks. If you cause any more trouble, you'll be suspended for the semester. Do I make myself clear?!"
"Yes ma'am." Sunset and Adagio replied, meekly nodding their heads.
Celestia grunted, and shooed them off.
As they met up with their respective groups, the girls headed towards the main entrance. The Rainbooms and Dazzlings made their way in relative silence, a few sharps draws of breath being uttered when one of them caressed a paintball “wound”.
"Well, this was a bust." Aria groaned, running a hand through one of her pigtails to get some paint out.
"Admittedly, that was a smart move you pulled back there." Dash stated, looking over at Aria and flashing her a small grin. "I haven't had this much fun in years!"
Humming to herself, Adagio broke in, "You're right. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed myself this much." Suddenly an idea came to her. "What does everyone say to doing something like that again? Just... not at the school."
"Just so long as we get to gang up on you!" Dash declared. She shot Adagio a cocky smile.
"So long as we can have Sunset on our team, it's a deal." Adagio replied. Sweetly, she called, "I can feel you looking at me, Shimmy dear!" She chuckled as she heard a small groan from behind.
FIN