> A Dazzle of Reformation > by Silver Cables > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1   It has been two years since Twilight and friends defeated the Dazzlings. Adagio Dazzle, Sonata Dusk, and Aria Blaze were now empty shells of who they used to be. They became normal people without the use of magic or their singing voices. Having nothing else at their disposal, they were left doing the hardest thing they’ve ever had to endure… high school. Our story begins with them at a cafe. “Ugh! I wish we had our amulets. This is a total bummer.” Aria said. She had a sad expression on her face. “It was our fault. That one girl with headphones on wasn’t under our control.” Adagio said, slamming her fist against a table. Someone from behind the serving counter looked at her with his eyes squinted. Adagio smiled awkwardly and waved. The worker went back to doing his duties. “Now I’m stuck having to luck out on getting away with things. When we had power, we could bend the rules as much as we liked.” Sonata was asleep, unaware of anything that the other two were saying. Aria elbowed Sonata, causing her to scream and fall under the table, hitting her head on the edge on the way down. She then situated herself and rubbed her head. She was now wide awake. “Stop falling asleep, Sonata.” Aria said. “That was mean. Now that we don’t have those amulets, we NEED sleep.” Sonata said while holding one hand over her head. “I’m stuck with two idiots.” Adagio said with her head down on the table. “It’s not like we ASKED to be stuck here with you, either, Adagio.” Aria said. “You’d both be lost without me.” Adagio said. They stared at each other angrily for a while. Sonata got up and went to the bathroom while this went on. The two kept at it until Aria turned around and crossed her arms. Adagio smirked, knowing she had won. When Sonata got back, a man in a suit carrying a briefcase walked into the cafe and sat down two tables away. He saw the girls exchanging words back and forth. He then realized something. “Hey, you three!” the man said. “Aren’t you supposed to be in school?” The girls all looked at him, then went back to plotting. Suddenly, the man walked over to their table and placed a hand onto the table. “Now, I can see you three have a problem.” he said kindly. “Whatever it is, I would like to help.” “We don’t need help from you. Where we come from, we’re deities.” Adagio said angrily. The man chuckled, “Are you now? Adagio realized that she looked like a fool. She then had a sad expression on her face. The other two looked down in dismay. The man sensed these three were into something deep, and needed a helping hand to pull them out. He walked over to his table and opened his briefcase. He pulled out a small card and handed it over to Adagio. “If you need anything, and I mean ANYTHING, give me a call.” he said. “My name is Big Bucks.” Adagio thanked him and left, with Aria and Sonata trailing behind. When they found a small place in between two buildings, Adagio threw the card into a dumpster. Aria and Sonata had a shocked expression on their faces. “Why would you go and do that for?” Aria said, puzzled. “We don’t need anyone’s help. We’re fine on our own.” she answered. She slowly sat down against one of the walls, and had her head down in her knees. “We’ve gone this long without help, so why would anyone suddenly want to help us now?” Aria and Sonata exchanged sad looks, and sat down on either side of Adagio. They all looked up into the sky, and it suddenly started raining. “Come on, girls. Back into the cafe!” Adagio shouted. Once they got back, however, the cafe was closed. They looked around and found nothing but a phone booth to shield them from the rain. Once they got inside, they quickly slammed the door. “I’m sorry, girls. I promise we will find somewhere to go.” Adagio said. The other two were surprised to see Adagio saying something nice to them for once. The other two hugged her from both sides. She quickly shoved them off. “Hey, don’t go so sentimental on me. I still don’t like you two.” she said. Even though she said that, she still felt obligated to keep them from getting hurt. Adagio felt that losing her amulet caused her to become too emotional. The three sat there for almost thirty minutes before Big Bucks walked by and happened to notice them. He knocked on the phone booth door. Adagio reluctantly opened it. “What do you want?” Adagio said, uneasily. “Do you have anywhere to go?” he said with his arm outstretched. “No.” Sonata answered. “Sonata!” Adagio and Aria yelled. “Hey, it’s fine. Come with me.” he told them while pulling out a second umbrella. “Two of you can share one and the other one can have this one.” Aria and Sonata grabbed one and stood outside with it. Adagio almost didn’t follow, but she took it and walked out. The rain poured down onto the umbrella. She was glad not to be wet. She looked at Big Bucks who was now starting to get drenched. She offered it to him, but he shook his head in refusal. They walked on towards what turned out to be a mansion. The three girls were amazed at it’s size. It was as big as Canterlot High School. Big Bucks unlocked the front door and let the three in. “It appears you don’t have any extra clothes on you at the moment, so I’ll get my maid to help you out with that.” he said. “Ms. Dust Magnet!” The maid came down as fast as she could. She was surprised to see three young girls all wet from the rain. “Oh, my poor dears! Come with me right this instance! We need to bathe you and give you some cleaner clothes.” she said “And you, sir, need to put on some dry clothes.” As soon as they were clean, the were fitted with some casual attire. Their other clothes were being washed. While laundry was being done, they were sent to the living room. Aria sat down on a recliner while Sonata jumped face-down onto the couch. Adagio stood in the doorway, contemplating what would happen next. > Chapter 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 2   Big Bucks walked past Adagio from behind towards what appeared to be the kitchen. She followed him into there. When she looked in, she saw that he was looking through some papers. She thought that while Aria and Sonata were distracted, she would confront him. She walked up to him and slammed her hand on a counter. “What is it that you want from us?” Adagio snapped. He looked up and back down to finish going through some papers. “I just want to help some people in need. It’s just that simple.” he said. Adagio didn’t believe him. There is no way after two years, one random person would come out of nowhere and offer them a place to stay without asking for something in return. It wasn’t simple. “Do you want us to clean? Cook? Do some unspeakable things...” she said nervously. “No! Nothing like that! I just saw that the three of you were in need of a place to stay, so I helped out.” he answered. Suddenly, Ms. Dust Magnet waltzed in and had an envelope in hand. “So sorry it’s late, sir. It’s your daughter’s wi--!” she blurted. She realized Adagio was in the room, and quickly hid the envelope in her back pocket. “I’ll just bring it back later.” As she exited the room, Big Bucks went back to sorting papers. Adagio decided that this conversation was going nowhere, as it was hard to see if he had any ulterior-motives. She would just have to follow him around to see if he was planning something. But first, she would have to talk it over with the other two, so she went back into the living room. Sonata was flipping through channels on the television while Aria was twiddling her thumbs on the recliner. “Girls, I want to speak with you two privately.” Adagio said “Now!” Aria sighed and Sonata got up with a sad expression on her face. “C’mon, Adagio. The commercials were about to come on.” Sonata complained. Aria grabbed her by the shirt collar and dragged her over to Adagio. Adagio made them get in a huddle so she could tell them her plan. “We need to catch him with his hand in a cookie jar.” whispered Adagio. Sonata drooled. “I like cookies.” Adagio slapped her in the back of the head and whispered, “Stop fooling around. This is serious.” “But I actually like it here, Adagio. Why can’t we just accept his charity?” Aria said in a laid-back voice. “Because we need to see what his intentions are.” Aria sighed, acting as if she gave up so Adagio would get this conversation over with. When they were done conversing, Aria and Sonata went back to what they were doing while Adagio decided to snoop around the mansion. She went towards the lobby in front of the house and headed upstairs. There were two directions: left and right. She chose left. There were four doors on each side in the hallway, and they were spaced apart quite a bit. “Whoa! Those rooms must be huge.” Adagio said without realizing she said that out loud. She heard footsteps coming up. She had to choose a room quickly before being spotted. She ran towards the third door on the right side of the hallway. She opened it and shut it as quickly and quietly as possible. The room was dark, so she found a light switch and turned it on. She looked around the room. It appeared to be a nursery of some kind. There were dolls, books, along with other toys spread about the room. There was a baby bed on the opposite side of the room to her. She looked inside and saw a bloody severed head in the cradle. She nearly screamed, but she placed her hands over her mouth before she could let it out. She took a closer look at it to see that it was just a doll head covered in dry, red paint. She let out a sigh of relief. She took a look above the baby bed to see a painting of a little girl. She looked to be about two years old. “I thought Big Bucks was alone here.” Adagio whispered to herself. “Aside from the maid, of course.” She couldn’t find anything else that caught her attention, so she went to the door, turned off the light and tried to sneak out, but the maid caught her on her way out. “What were you doing in there?” Ms. Dust Magnet said with her arms crossed. Adagio was trying to find a way around it, but there was no excuse she would come up with that was believable. Or was there…? “I got lost. I needed to find the bathroom, because I have to go.” she said trying to fake a smile. The maid looked at her closely. Then she smiled. “Okay. Lost, huh? The bathroom is the room across the one you were just in.” “Thanks. I really have to go now.” Adagio went into the bathroom and sat on the floor. That sure was close. The maid seemed like she knew more than what she was letting on. Adagio had to be more careful if she wanted to get any information on this guy. Maybe snooping around during the nighttime was the better decision. She flushed the toilet and turned on the sink to make it appear as if she was really using the restroom, and she walked out after turning the sink faucet off. Adagio headed back downstairs to the living room and tried to enjoy the day as much as possible until nightfall. Once nightfall hit, she left the bedroom Big Bucks let the Dazzlings borrow. Tonight, she was going to get some real evidence as to who this guy really was. Nothing was going to get in her way. > Chapter 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 3 Adagio wandered into the blacked halls of the mansion. She couldn’t even see her hands in front of her. Feeling her way through the dark, she had an ill feeling that something might jump out and grab her. She stood in place every few seconds, trying to listen to her surroundings. Walking through this hall was much scarier than she anticipated. Why was fear something that she felt right now? Maybe the amulets that were stripped from them by those blasted Rainbooms kept emotions in check. Adagio finally made her way to the stairs and slowly crept down until she was on solid ground. Suddenly, she had forgotten the direction to the kitchen. She had to get into the kitchen to find out anything she could before the morning came. Adagio spent countless minutes looking for the kitchen. She ended up in the living room, a bathroom, a swimming pool, then the garage. It wasn’t until after she stumbled upon these rooms that she finally ended up in the kitchen. It was time to do some digging. She found a pile of letters and bills that Big Bucks had been going through earlier. She took a long look through them. After searching through every crook and nanny, she ended up with nothing that  could prove him to be sick and twisted, or anything that could be blackmail material. Adagio searched through one more time, but she still ran into a dead end. She decided that the task itself was tedious. Going back to bed was the only option she had now. Scouting out other rooms would be a problem, as any of the other rooms could potentially belong to Big Bucks. Although, all of them belonged to him. She decided to head back to the room with Aria and Sonata. They were sound asleep when she got there, and she lay down on a bed. The bed was soft. Adagio began to close her eyes. That night, she slept peacefully. ***** Morning came, and Adagio woke up when the sun shined in her tired eyes. She let out a yawn and stretched. Once her eyes adjusted to the light, she got up and looked around the room. Aria and Sonata were not there. Adagio started to worry. Worry? There was no way she would ever worry. Right? She ran downstairs and searched the living room. They were nowhere to be seen. Adagio started to panic. “Aria! Sonata!” she yelled. “Come here right this instant!” They didn’t answer, which raised more questions. Was he doing something to them? Were they killed, and she would be next? When did they leave the room? Adagio started breathing heavily. She ran towards the front door. When she got there, the maid, Dust Magnet, stopped Adagio from running out the door. “Let me out, old lady! I’m trying to escape!” she yelled. “But, deary, you haven’t eaten breakfast yet. The other two are almost finished.” the old maid said. Breakfast? Adagio nearly forgot that it was morning. It was exactly what people do every morning. She still wasn’t used to food schedules. Anger was something that could be consumed whenever the Dazzlings felt like it. Adagio felt stupid. Maybe she overreacted just a little. She could have just as easily looked in the kitchen as she had screamed bloody murder. Nobody had shown her or the other two any shred of kindness before. “Right! I’ll just get going to the kitchen then.” Adagio said with a nervous smile. She headed towards the kitchen. “Teenagers! Hormonal imbalances can be quite difficult to deal with. I’ll have to talk with Big Bucks later.” When Adagio entered the kitchen, Aria placed a bowl and plate in the sink. Sonata was almost done with her food, and she looked up to wave at Adagio. “We just had some cereal and toast. Yours is right there.” Aria said while pointing at the table. Cereal and toast? Adagio thought.  Big Bucks lives in a mansion, not some crummy peasant house, and he gives us cereal and toast for breakfast? Adagio forgot about it and looked at the food in front of her. She picked up a spoon and started chowing down. When they lived on the streets, she never got to eat as much as the other two. ***** Adagio was headed back into the general area near alleyway where they lived. It had been around a year since their crushing defeat. She was carrying some bread back from a store. She had collected every coin she could find on the streets to afford a loaf of bread. Crossing a street and walking passed the coffee shop was the only way to get to the alleyway that she called home. She was waiting for the light to go red so that she could cross. Suddenly, a stranger bumped into her and the bread loaf went flying out of her hand. Once she looked up, a car drove by and flattened half of the loaf. Once the light went read, she crossed, and picked it up. She threw away the flattened bread and carried the rest home. She walked into the alleyway where Aria and Sonata were waiting. She handed them the bread and sat down against a building wall. “Aren’t you going to eat Adagio?” Sonata asked. “No. I already ate my portion of it.” Adagio said as her stomach growled. The other two looked at her with concerned expressions. Adagio had to improvise. “Uh… that was a burp. The bread was just so good.” The other two shrugged and finished their share of bread, while Adagio went hungry that day. She was happy to see the other two stuff their faces. Was she getting soft? No way. A siren didn’t need emotions. ***** Adagio finished her breakfast and placed her dishes in the sink. As she left the kitchen, Big Bucks passed her by. She still felt an ill aura emanating from him. Who is Big Bucks behind this positive facade? Adagio went up into her room. Aria and Sonata were watching television. She was going to use some time to think.