> Siren Days
>  by Spyder27
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Adagio's Day Off
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter I: Adagio’s Day Off


Perhaps it’s just my nerves… Everything in my body tells me that this might go badly. I can’t quite help it since the last time I saw her, she ran away from me with tears in her eyes. The thought of talking to her again makes me feel nervous and scared, despite the fact she’s quite a bit younger than me. I guess what makes it worse is that she’s one of my first friends. And I’m the one who caused us to stop talking in the first place… 
A few weeks ago, I was so busy trying to get everyone together for Sunset’s birthday that I didn’t really have the time to talk to her again. Even after Sunset’s birthday, I’ve barely had any time to myself due to a sudden increase in student size. I guess it’s to be expected since it’s right around the time school opens again, meaning a lot of kids will probably enroll in the classes offered at the music studio. But that’s one of the things that’s worried me a bit… Apple Bloom hasn’t attended any sessions for weeks. She’s probably still hurt… I didn’t mean to ignore her, I just… forgot… 
Grabbing my scarf from the rack next to our door, I can’t help but sigh heavily. It’s the middle of August and I can’t help but worry about the upcoming day. Today is the only free day I’ve had in a while, so I promised myself that I would actually talk to Apple Bloom again. No matter what. I would ask Sunset for a ride, but she already left for morning classes hours ago… That means I’ll have to walk again. I’m used to walking, but it’s still a long distance from our apartment to the Apple Family farm. Hopefully, she will be there by the time I get there… 
Closing the door behind me, I can’t help but find this whole situation ironic. It wasn’t even a couple months ago when Applejack was the one who was resistant to the idea of talking to me and Apple Bloom was trying to get her to open up to the idea. Now, the situation has practically reversed… I’m friends with Applejack and now Apple Bloom is the one who doesn’t want to talk to me. Given, I wouldn’t want to talk to me either… I really hurt her feelings by breaking my promise to her. I just hope I can try to fix things with her… Apple Bloom is a good person and I would hate to lose her as a friend because of my own stupid mistake. 
“I suppose you’re never happy, are you?” a whisper asks me from the back of my mind, causing me to grimace. Not her again… Trying my best to ignore her threatening voice, I quicken my pace down the sidewalk, avoiding any people who might be walking by. “You fixed the situation with Sunset and her friends, yet here you are. Whining about how you screwed up with the little brat,” her whisper stabs at my mind, making my frown grow bigger. “Can’t you just be happy you fixed one situation for once? God damn, Adagio…” Whereas her voice is usually threatening and taunting to try and get to me, but this time, her tone sounds genuinely annoyed. 
“You never get it, so why should I explain?” I whisper in response, trying to not seem weird for ‘talking to myself,’ even though it’s much more complicated than that. 
“You don’t need to explain. I just find it tedious and a lot more work than what you need to do. What does she even offer you? I understand that you ‘love’ Sunset and such, but what can a brat like her give you?” I can feel my teeth grit at her statement, clenching my fist in my pocket. Despite the fact that I’ve been putting my hair up and dressing in more flashy clothing, she always seems to bring my self-esteem to ground level, no matter what I do. 
Bringing my hand to my scarf, I take a deep breath, looking forward at the environment in front of me. “She’s my friend. And you’ll deal with it whether you like it or not.” Her evil laugh once again rings throughout my mind, making me shudder slightly.
“Go ahead and act like I don’t have an affect on you, Adagio. We’ll see who wins in the end.”

=====================================================

Jumping over the all-too familiar ditch, my mouth forms into a slight smile, remembering every time I’ve encountered this part of the scenery. It could definitely hurt if someone fell into it, making it a hazard to jump over, but Apple Bloom has dragged me over it countless times at this point. I think she told me she sprained her ankle once from falling in, but she disregarded the injury simply because she’s hurt herself so many times around this farm that it barely makes the top ten. I’ve never understood why the Apple Family seems proud of their injuries… It’s like they try to boast how much they’ve lived through when they could have easily died. There was one time Apple Bloom proudly showed me an inch-long scar on her shoulder, telling me she got it from falling off the roof close to the wagon. Not her bright red, child-size wagon either. The one they attached to the truck for hay rides back at the reunion. I mean, hell… She probably could have gotten hurt a lot more, so she’s lucky only getting a small scar, but her family talk about it as a fun story. 
Regardless, the ditch is something I’ve come to memorize at this point. It tells me that I’m close to the clubhouse where the Cutie Mark Crusaders conduct their operations. These operations usually consist of trying new things together to try and find their calling in the world. It’s not a half bad idea either with how society basically forces people to decide what they want to do from a young age. Sunset told me how her financial aid applications for college basically required her to have an established major from day one, making it seem like kids these days are given little chance to experiment with life. Or to make mistakes. Thankfully, Rich agreed to pay for Sunset’s college fees for the rest of her school days, so she won’t have to worry about that. I should tell her about that… In terms of Apple Bloom and her friends, I’m not sure what they will do for college.
Apple Bloom has expressed her interest in going to college, but she also told me it probably won’t happen since she might need to take over the farm someday. In no way do I think college is a necessity for her life to be a good one, but if she does want to pursue higher education, I kind of think it’s a shame that the farm may prevent her from doing that. It doesn’t seem like that will be the case though since Applejack wants to hold onto the farm as long as she can. I actually asked her for permission to go see Apple Bloom before I made it here… I suppose because I try to respect her and not sneak around her property without consent. That and I suppose I wanted to know if Applejack was mad at me for what happened between Apple Bloom and I… Thankfully, she seemed to understand the situation and granted me access to go to their clubhouse. Now the only problem I have left is actually talking to Apple Bloom and trying to straighten things out…
Walking through the trees, the light from a clearing hits my eyes, stunning me momentarily. It’s the same clearing I’ve seen a dozen times now, the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ clubhouse sitting in the middle with a garden off to the side. Apple Bloom’s favorite red wagon sits right outside the clubhouse, tied to the tree with a thick rope. I suppose the young cowgirl is afraid of someone stealing her alternative for a backpack, but for someone to come all the way out here just to steal a wagon is a longshot. I would be impressed if that was a thief’s only goal… Within a moment, I notice a white girl looking out the window, her eyes connecting with mine briefly. Shock comes over her face, causing her to close the blinds to put a barrier between us. This is starting off well… 
Getting closer to the clubhouse, I look up at the door, contemplating walking up the stairs… Would it be rude of me to knock on their door…? I know that I’m probably the last person Apple Bloom wants to see, but how else am I supposed to make things better between us? I’ve already waited a couple weeks to even come here, so that looks pretty bad to begin with. Then again, I haven’t really had the time to spare… Literally. Fancy Pants increased my shifts due to the increasing size of students that we have, so I couldn’t really come here until today. Why does this have to be so complicated…?
Without any warning, something hits my shoulder with the force of a plastic ball, making me raise my eyebrow slightly. A small foam dart sticks to my leather jacket, my eyes looking back up at the clubhouse only to find an orange girl with a helmet pointing a toy gun at me. “Don’t take another step, Adagio! That was a warning shot,” Scootaloo calls out to me, despite the distance between us being less than the length of a car. Seriously, why would she say that in such a loud tone when I’m right here?
“Point taken,” I say in a considerably quieter tone, pulling the dart off my jacket with a slight roll of my eyes. “Listen, Scootaloo. I’m not here to play. Can I talk to Apple Bloom?” Bringing my hands to my hips, I can’t help but frown in response to Scootaloo shaking her head, her gun still clearly aimed at my head. 
The other window on the other side of the door opens, Sweetie Belle revealing herself again. This time, the young girl holds a tennis ball in one hand and a bucket with more balls in the other. Despite how hard Scootaloo tries to be intimidating, I feel more scared of the girl with tennis balls considering those can really sting, depending where they hit you. “Apple Bloom’s busy at the moment,” Sweetie Belle responds to me, a big frown on her face. Before I can even think of something to say, the front door opens, showing the iconic magenta bow come into the sunlight. Apple Bloom’s eyes look down at me with a solemn expression on her face before holding her hands out to the other two.
“Girls, please. I can speak for myself,” Apple Bloom interjects, signaling for them to step down. Even though she stops the two of them from threatening me, her eyes still speak a thousand words, adequately showing how uncomfortable Apple Bloom is to see me. “Hey, Adagio…” 
Taking my hand out of my pocket, I give her a small wave, trying to smile as genuinely as possible. “Hi, Apple Bloom. How are you doing?” For a moment, no response is given, Apple Bloom’s eyes still looking into my own. My attempt to try and lighten the mood is almost completely ignored as the sound of the wind is the only thing filling the air. Rustling leaves make the atmosphere feel… surreal. I know I hurt her back then… A pinkie promise is something she takes seriously and she was relying on me to be there. Instead, I decided to dance with Sunset for hours when I could have cut it off after one dance. 
“What are ya doing here, Adagio?” Apple Bloom asks me blankly, her stance not moving an inch from the spot at the top of the stairs. Her question is filled with doubt, making me feel even worse about the whole situation. 
“I just… wanted to talk. That’s all.” Reaching inside my purse, I slowly pull out a box, wrapping paper covering the surface in a red and yellow checker pattern. Apple Bloom’s eyes widen slightly upon seeing the box, seemingly recognizing the wrapping paper. “I had a little bit of the paper left after you gave me a roll last December. I was just going to give you the box, but…” Placing the present on the stairs and taking a couple steps back, I look up at Apple Bloom with a smile. “I remembered what you said was the correct way to give a gift~” All three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders stare at the box, but Apple Bloom is the one who seems the most affected by it, a nervous expression coming to her face. Slowly, the cowgirl walks down the stairs, picking up the box with one hand. The gift is about the size of a book, making it considerably easy to pick up. On the top of the gift, there’s a small sticky note with a message I wrote. I would have put one of those stickers that says who it’s from and who the gift is for, but I didn’t have one of those readily available.
“‘Hope this can help fix the damage,’” Apple Bloom recites my message from the note before gently tearing the paper. Within a moment, the box is opened, causing Apple Bloom’s expression to turn to one of surprise. Her hand gingerly reaches inside the box, pulling out the gold fabric and inspecting the gift. On one side of the fabric, the shape of a shield with magenta, pink, and purple is present. In the center, the shape of an apple is shaded with purple and pink, her name sewn with magenta threads on the edge of the shield. At the top of the fabric, there’s a button on one side and a hole on the other. Their old capes were red and had a blue shield with a yellow pony in it, but they kept ripping. So, I got the idea to replace them with more durable materials. I’m not much of a seamstress, but thankfully, I had the help of Rarity and Applejack to make these capes. All I really did was suggest the colors and Rarity made the designs. The gold cape in Apple Bloom’s hand shines slightly in the light of the sun, her eyes as wide as dinner plates as she looks at the design. “Ya made this?” she asks me in a surprised tone, seemingly in disbelief at the quality. 
“Well, kind of… I had some help,” I say with a nervous smile, her eyes still looking at the cape. That was a lie. I needed a LOT of help. Her gaze finally moves back to the box, pulling out two more capes. Their designs, as similar as they are, reflect each one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. These capes should be harder to rip, taking a lot more damage than before. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry, Apple Bloom. I hope these gifts can make up for my mistake.” Her eyes finally look back at me, a conflicted tone in her stare. Both of us can feel the wind press against our skin, my heart wishing it was easier to ask for forgiveness. “I would do anything to make things right between us, Apple Bloom. Honest.” I refrain from saying the word ‘promise’ since I ended up breaking my last promise to her. 
Turning her back to me, the young cowgirl walks up the stairs and gives the other two capes to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, both of them seemingly in awe at the designs. Within a few moments, Apple Bloom dawns the cape and looks at the cape flow in the wind. “These are really nice~” Scootaloo comments, feeling the gold material before she wears her gift too. 
“Did my sister help you with these?” Sweetie Belle asks curiously, seemingly recognizing some of the work on her own cape. Before I can answer her question, Apple Bloom looks at the two girls, her bow bouncing from each movement. Even though I can only see the back of her head, I can see the other two girls seemingly understanding whatever Apple Bloom was trying to tell them.
“You’d do anything, huh?” Scootaloo remarks with a smirk, leaning against the window ledge. The young cowgirl turns around to look at me once more, a big smile on her face. 
“What about a competition? Think ya can handle that?” Apple Bloom’s question does little more than confuse me, making me raise my eyebrow slightly.
“A competition…? What kind?” I ask cautiously, weary of whatever plan these three have.
“The School Days competition~”
> Apple Bloom's Plan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter II: Apple Bloom’s Plan


Adagio is a really peculiar person. Half the time, I really can’t tell what she’s thinking. I suppose that’s not a bad thing, but it makes her hard to read as a person. I suppose that’s why my big sis had a hard time trusting her at first. Still, I don’t doubt that she’s actually sorry for kinda ditching me. I’m just surprised that it took her so long to talk to me again. I might as well take advantage of the opportunity, right? I mean, she said she would do anything to fix this, so it will be a little fun to torture Adagio like this~ Well, torture is kinda the wrong word to use here. I know this competition is going to be a chore for her, so it’ll be a little fun to see her get annoyed~ Is that wrong of me? I know my big sis would say yes, but she would be giggling at the sight too, so she’s kinda a hypocrite. 
“Explain to me again what this competition is all about?” Adagio asks me with a dull expression. Honestly, I can’t help but find it funny to see just how much Adagio seems to dread this. Our walk down the sidewalk is accompanied by the sound of lots of cars and people walking the streets, making us navigate through others. 
“It’s supposed to help with school spirit and raise funds for charity~ Everyone forms teams of two and they’re supposed to go around the school, completing different activities~ The first team to finish wins a big trophy!” Walking backwards, I look up at Adagio’s eyes, seeing her raise her eyebrow at me.
“Uh huh… And there was nothing else you wanted to do other than this competition…? Like anything else?” the grumpy siren asks me, trying to find some way out of our agreement.
“Adagio, you said you’d do anything.” Crossing my arms, I pout slightly, still walking backward to keep my eye contact with her. “Don’t tell me you’re going to break this promise too.”
“I won’t. I just… I’m not excited to go to that school.” Her hand comes up to her face, briefly sighing at the thought. Honestly, I could have asked my big brother to come with me today since Applejack is busy, but I thought that maybe it would be fun to do this with Adagio. Maybe I was wrong…? I don’t wanna put her through strife she doesn’t have to go through.
“Can I ask why you don’t wanna go there…?” My question seems to make her nervous pretty easily… Her eyes avoid mine for what feels like minutes. Maybe that wasn’t the best thing to ask… Dang it, Apple Bloom. You can do better than this.
“You do remember what happened the last time I was inside that school, don’t you?” Adagio asks me with a skeptical look, doing some hand motion to try and communicate her point. But if I’m being honest, it only confuses me more. “I ended up controlling the minds of your whole school. I’m not exactly jumping with excitement to go back there and come face-to-face with a lot of people I screwed over.” Well, yeah… Adagio does have a point. But it’s been a while since then, so maybe people forgot? Nah. They still remember Sunset transforming into some kinda demon, so I’m pretty sure they’ll still remember Adagio.
“Well, a lot of the people who were there when you tried to take over are graduated by now! Only people my age and such still remember who you are.” Even though I try to make Adagio feel better about the whole ordeal, it seems she’s not that convinced. 
“Even if that’s the case, kids your age would probably tell the younger students as soon as they see me.” Her hand does some sorta spinning motion downward, frowning the whole time. What does that even mean? I guess she’s tryna portray people telling others about her mistakes…? It’s really sad that Adagio can’t seem to get a break… Even I was wary about talking to her again when she came to the homeless shelter, but at least I gave her a chance. I guess I just saw someone who was actually trying… “Regardless, this is probably the biggest mistake we could make. Imagine how it will look on you if you bring me as your teammate to this thing.” 
“Now hold on.” Stopping in my tracks, I look Adagio straight in the eye, taking a deep breath. My big sis taught me that if you want to be taken seriously, you hafta look someone in the eye and make sure they know you mean what you’re saying. “I don’t care what other people say. You’ve clearly shown how you’re trying to be a better person and I’m proud of calling you my friend.” Holding my hand out to the tall siren, I smile at her and give her a wink. “You’re not gonna change my mind on that~”
Adagio waits for a moment, looking at my gesture with a raised eyebrow before taking my hand in hers. A small chuckle comes from her, shaking her head for some reason. Did I say something funny…? “God, you’re so pushy. With that confidence, I’m surprised you aren’t running Applejack up the walls.”
“Oh, I am. She’s just used to most of the stuff I do at this point~” Giving Adagio a big smile, I grab her arm slowly, making a fearful expression come over her. We’re going to be late if we don’t get a move on.
“Please don’t…”
“We hafta go anyway! Come on!”

=======================================================

By the time we get to the school grounds, we stop running and I can’t help but feel a little intimidated by all the people walking inside. Everyone decided to participate, huh…? Stop it, Apple Bloom! Have some confidence in yaself! You can do this! You and Adagio will do great as long as we get a headstart on some of the tasks. Well, I guess it really depends on what kind of tasks there are this year. The School Days competition is known to change around their events and all. It’s sorta like the Friendship Games, just on a lower level since it’s only the one school. And everyone's competing against each other instead of another school’s students… Still, I’m sure we can do this. We’re both smart and agile and- “Wait. Are ya panting?”
Looking at Adagio, I can’t help but raise my eyebrow at her state, leaning over and taking deep breaths while holding her ribs. I swear we didn’t go that fast. Or that far, right? It was only a few minutes. Did something hit her gut? Or did something else happen? “Just… give me a moment,” Adagio barely tells me, taking deep breaths through her mouth as she does so. 
“Har har. Very funny,” I reply, rolling my eyes at Adagio’s attempt at humor. Pulling her upward, I pull her towards the door, only for her to pull back slightly upon seeing what’s ahead of us. “Seriously, you need to work on running some more. You’re acting like ya almost died.”
“Maybe that’s because I did,” she grumbles, ducking her head down to try and avoid the stares of the people we pass. 
“Before we sign up, I need to tell ya something. There’s a little… cheat in this competition.” Dragging the siren along, we reach the line before a lot of other people do. Hopefully, we can get signed in soon in that case.
“A cheat?” she asks me in a quiet yet curious tone, pulling her arm from my grasp. Adagio still tries to keep herself relatively small, avoiding direct eye contact with a lot of the students.
“Ya really don’t hafta worry. Most of the people here don’t know who you are.” I try to reassure her, but knowing Adagio, it only does a little good. Patting her shoulder I smile at her, nodding a little. “Yeah, there’s a cheat. Basically, every School Days competition, there is some lucky team who gets a solution sheet to half of the activities from Vice Principal Luna. She denies it of course, but it’s still a thing, nonetheless. If any team is caught with a cheat sheet, they’re disqualified, so the team that has it has to be pretty secretive.”
“Uh huh… Well, that just sounds blatantly unfair,” Adagio responds in a groan, bringing her hand to her eyes. “How are you supposed to combat something like that? Find the team and steal it?”
“Yup!” That was a good guess on her part~ I’m glad it’s not that difficult to explain things like this to her. Adagio, however, still looks confused… “Why are ya looking at me like that?”
“You’re legit supposed to steal this sheet from the other team?” For some reason, Adagio looks pretty surprised by my answer, making me wonder if I said it in a weird way. 
“Well, how else are ya supposed to get it? It’s pretty much a battle between teams to take the sheet from one another. But if anyone gets caught with it, they’re disqualified, so it’s sorta a secret battle. So, all we hafta do is find the team with this sheet and find a way to steal it! Simple as that~” Before Adagio can respond to me, the line moves forward, making us walk to the sign-in table. “I’m Apple Bloom and this is my teammate, Adagio Dazzle~” The woman at the table seems to be a volunteer, so Adagio’s name thankfully doesn’t seem to ring any bells for her.
“Adagio Dazzle? Is it spelled how it sounds or…?” the woman asks both of us, making Adagio roll her eyes slightly. Don’t be rude, Adagio… We’re at my school after all.
“Exactly how it sounds.” Adagio crosses her arms slowly as we wait for her to write our names down on name tags, signing us in on a piece of paper afterward. 
“Okay, you two~ Have fun!” she tells us before giving us the name tags, pointing towards the gymnasium. I’ve never understood why it’s called a gymnasium when it’s not like typical gyms. If anything, we use it as an auditorium more often, but yeah. Maybe my big sis can explain it when I get home. 
“Ya ready?” I ask Adagio with a big smile, seeing her nervously shrug. I know that it’s probably going to be nerve-wrackin for her to deal with other people staring at her, but I will be here the whole time. As long as she has one friend to be here, it’ll all work out in the end, right?
“As ready as I’ll ever be…” 
> So, What Now?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter III: So, What Now?


The gymnasium of Canterlot High is a lot bigger than I remember it being… The last time I was here, I hypnotized the whole school with Aria and Sonata. The only ones who weren’t affected were Sunset and her friends. I’m still not sure how they didn’t fall to our spell, but a part of me is grateful they were able to foil our plans. If we had succeeded, I wouldn’t have this life of mine… I’d still be a siren full of lust for power. Just thinking about the possibility of me hurting Sunset is… Well, I don’t like thinking about it… Bringing my hand to my scarf, I take a deep breath, trying to ignore the people inside this room. I’ve already noticed a couple of people staring at me since we got here, but I’ve tried to be strong for Apple Bloom’s sake. I promised I would do anything to help fix the mistake I made and I can’t afford to break another promise with her… 
Walking across the shiny floor, I recognize a few of the people around us, but most of them fade into obscurity. Some light music plays in the gymnasium to try and give a relaxing atmosphere to the contestants before the competition begins, but honestly? I’m anything but relaxed at this moment… Even with the coat and scarf Sunset gave me, I can’t help but feel nervous. If I just act confident enough, maybe no one will bother me… 
“Are ya nervous?” Apple Bloom asks me, prompting me to look down at the young girl, a concerned expression dawning on her face. 
“A little bit. Why do you ask?” Apple Bloom looks around the room shortly before giving me a slight nudge, her gold cape flowing behind her as we walk.
“Cause truth be told, I kinda am too.” I can’t help but raise my eyebrow at the cowgirl, a confused feeling coming over me quickly. She’s nervous? I thought she’s done this competition before. Shouldn’t she be used to this? Besides, it’s not like she has people who hate her here.
Actually, I probably shouldn’t assume that… Apple Bloom has told me about her issues with bullies in the past. Surely she doesn’t have the whole school against her though, right? I know at least half the school remembers me as some siren who tried to take control of everyone… If Apple Bloom has a similar problem, I can’t imagine how hard it would be on her. “But you know how this process goes, right?” I ask her with a skeptical look, making Apple Bloom shrug slightly. 
“I suppose so. All we really hafta do now is wait until they tell us to begin. I guess we will just stand around and socialize until then.” Socializing… Usually, it’s not too difficult for me to strike up a random conversation, even if it’s a fake attempt to gain someone’s favor, but here? I’d rather just disappear… Wearing my flashy attire doesn’t help with the fact that I don’t want to be seen, but I will have to find some way to deal with it. “From that weird face you have, I’m guessin’ you don’t wanna socialize, huh?” 
“Weird face…? What do you mean?” I ask her in a confused tone, briefly bringing my hand to my cheek to try and find out if something is out of the ordinary.
“Whenever you’re conflicted, you always squint one of your eyes and keep your eyebrow raised. Sometimes, you even stick up your lip a little when you’re thinking of a solution,” Apple Bloom tells me so nonchalantly that it sounds normal, despite the fact that she’s talking about my facial movements. 
“I do not,” I quietly respond, crossing my arms as I look down at the young girl. Does she really know that much about my body language…? How perceptive is she? Furthermore, am I really that predictable? No, I’m not… Right? I was a master of charisma and manipulation back in the day. Have I lost that gift…? 
“You’re doing the defensive stance ya always do,” Apple Bloom tells me while she walks away, prompting me to follow her towards the edge of the room. I guess I have lost it…? I mean, I never want to be that power-hungry siren again, but… I was pretty talented… And I let myself lose those talents… I replaced them with my tendency to be anti-social and the abilities I learned from the rough parts of town. After all the work I’ve done, I still haven’t proven that I can be more confident in myself… 
Those gifts aren’t lost forever, right…? I can try to relearn them… “Whatever. What do you want to do while we wait?” I ask the young cowgirl, looking around the room carefully. 
“We don’t really have much to do until the competition starts, honestly. The one thing I do want to do is find Scoots and Sweetie Belle and wish them luck.” Apple Bloom’s eyes scan the people in front of us with a small frown, trying to find her friends.
“Who are Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle teaming up with? Isn’t this competition supposed to be one student and one adult?” I ask the cowgirl curiously, leaning against the wall Apple Bloom led us to. 
“They’re probably with Rarity and Rainbow Dash again. Though, I suppose it depends on if they were busy or such.” Apple Bloom looks at me and puts her two index fingers close together, locking her eyes with me. “All of them are pretty close with each other, so I would be surprised if Rarity and Dash weren’t here.”
Sometimes, I can’t help but question why Rainbow Dash is close to Scootaloo. They aren’t sisters and friendships between two generations are not really that common. I mean, Apple Bloom and I are friends, but we’re sort of a rare case. When it comes to Rarity and Sweetie Belle, I don’t even know why the fashionista comes to half of these things when she complains a lot. She and her sister have such wildly different interests, but they still have a pretty strong bond. I guess that happens sometimes… I can’t exactly say Apple Bloom and I share a lot of interests. Even Sunset and I have different things we like. Though, with her, we have a lot more things we like to do together than separately. “Why didn’t you ask Applejack to do this with you? You two have a pretty strong relationship, so wouldn’t you want to do this with her?” Apple Bloom shrugs slightly to my question, her eyes still glued on the crowd around us. The smell of everyone and the room is almost overwhelming… The mixing of perfumes and hygiene products. The scent of rubber from sneakers. The vague smell of dirt and dust in the air… It all sorta makes me feel dizzy.
“I’ve done this with my big sis before and she has some investors she wanted to talk to. You know, with selling our products and all.” Apple Bloom makes a gesture to symbolize her holding something small, presumably an apple. 
“Ah. Well, what about your big brother?” I ask her, trying to distract myself from all the smells. And the stares… Even though I’ve already noticed quite a few people staring at me, I haven’t had anyone directly talk to me. That could be a good or bad thing, depending on context. Mostly, it depends on what they’re saying about me. As long as I can leave this school alive, then it will be fine. Just… don’t let them get to you, Adagio. You’re alright. You can handle this, right? You’re Adagio Dazzle and you’re a changed person. Siren… Whatever. If they can’t handle that, then it’s their loss. Yeah… 
“He don’t really like school functions. And he’s helping our granny get around. She isn’t as mobile as she used to be…” A solemn expression comes to Apple Bloom’s face as she looks to the floor, her shoulders drooping slightly from whatever thought is on her mind. Within a moment, however, the young cowgirl forces herself to perk up, locking her eyes with me once again. “But we will be able to win this! I think so at least~ Do you think we can…?”
“Apple Bloom,” I say in a teasing tone, bringing my hand to my hip with a smirk. “Do you really doubt us? You have a master siren on your side~ You think that we’ll fail with our combined talent?” I may not be as confident as I once was, but at least I can admit I have a little value now. That’s something I couldn’t do back in December… I just need to keep working at it.
“Well, no! I was just um… well, maybe I was doubting us. But that’s because you haven’t seemed that confident and there are a lot of people participating… And I’m not sure about my own abilities.” 
“The only reason I haven’t seemed confident is because I’ve been… worried about my past. In no way do I think I lack what it takes. You’re talking to Adagio Dazzle, remember?” I ask her with a raised eyebrow, giving her yet another smirk. “Besides, you’re also pretty talented. Don’t doubt yourself. You’re the same Apple Bloom who taught me how to confess my feelings to Sunset and reminded me that I’m still worth a damn. Give yourself some credit.”
Apple Bloom blushes slightly to my statement, seemingly not used to hearing things like that. Before she can respond to me, she giggles slightly, shaking her head. “I mean, you only needed a reminder. I think ya still knew how amazing you can be if you try. Though, it’s nice to see you being this confident~” Apple Bloom tells me with a thumbs up, smiling at my display of confidence and charisma. “Just don’t let others get to ya and I’m sure we’ll do fine in this competition~”
“Note taken,” I respond with a slight nod, pushing her shoulder slightly. “Speaking of the competition, I was thinking. How exactly will we know who has the cheat sheet?” From what Apple Bloom’s told me, only one team is given a legitimate cheat sheet by the vice principal. I highly doubt our team will get it, considering my previous record, but I’m sure Apple Bloom and I can handle the first couple of activities, but if we want to win, that sheet may be our best shot.
“Ah, that. Well, every competition, Vice Principal Luna ‘unofficially’ gives a team her cheat sheet. This team is sorta called the Moon Knights by our school since they’re supposed to be so secretive and all,” Apple Bloom reiterates the lore of the competition to me, using small hand gestures to help her message. “Since they’re supposed to be secret, it’s kinda difficult to find out which team has the sheet. Some teams never give away the fact that they’re the Moon Knights since they take things slow and make it look like they’re just a normal team. The best thing we can do is be observant of everyone else and try to pinpoint who’s the most suspicious.” 
“So, in short…” Looking towards the crowd with a slight smile, I can’t help but feel a little overwhelmed and intrigued at the same time. “We will need to stick together, but we also need to cover all our bases. Interesting.” This will be a… fun game. 
“Basically. Do ya have any plans?” The cowgirl looks a little intimidated by the monumental task, but she swallows and puts on a brave face. 
“I think we shouldn’t focus on the same teams. If we’re both looking into the actions of Team A, then Team B will escape our grasp. For all we know, they would be the ‘Moon Knights,’” I tell her with air quotes, my eyes rolling slightly at the ridiculous name. “If we-” Before I can say another word, my eyes focus on the one person walking in our direction. Instantly, the white woman registers in my mind, her colorful hair being unforgettable at this point. I’ve seen it only twice in my life. In this world and in Equestria… Within a moment, Apple Bloom follows my gaze, surprise washing over her face.
“Oh! Hey, Principal Celestia!” Apple Bloom exclaims in a surprised tone, seemingly happy to see her principal walking towards us. 
“Hello there, Apple Bloom~ How are we doing today?” she asks her after closing the distance between us, her eyes switching between Apple Bloom and me.
“Feelin’ confident that we can do this!” Apple Bloom happily tells her, grabbing onto my arm with a smile. It seems that their relationship isn’t as… weird as the one I have with the principal… 
“I see~ I wasn’t expecting to see you here, Ms. Dazzle,” Celestia refers to me, holding her hand out to me with a kind smile. The fact that Celestia still treats me as if nothing happened between us is still confusing for me. I suppose that just goes to show how professional and mature she is, despite the fact most people would be justified in feeling angry for my past actions. 
Taking her hand in my own, I return the smile with a slight nod. “What can I say? Apple Bloom has a way of convincing me to do what she wants.” Celestia chuckles at my explanation, looking towards the girl beside me. 
“Yes, she does have a tendency to do that, doesn’t she? I’ve heard Cheerilee talk about the same situation.” A sheepish grin comes to Apple Bloom, her hand gently scratching the back of her head.
“W-well, I can’t help it if the rules can be bent in some ways, right?” A nervous chuckle comes from her, the statement making Celestia smile.
“That’s a good observation and quality to have~ Make sure to keep it.” Without wasting another second, her eyes look towards me and her smile becomes softer. “I have to go, but I do hope to see you two succeed. It’s nice to see you back, Ms. Dazzle.” Celestia gives both of us a small bow of her head, walking away from the both of us. 
“Bye, Principal Celestia!” Apple Bloom responds with a wave, both of us seeing her return the wave before making her way towards the stage. “Oh, horse apples! It’s already time?! I need to go tell Scoots and Sweetie Belle good luck!” Apple Bloom exclaims before running away from me, my eyes barely able to catch the dust trail behind her. So, it’s about to start, huh? I’m not sure what prompted Celestia to greet us. I guess it has to do with me being here… I’m sure we can do this. Watch out, everyone. Apple Bloom and Adagio Dazzle are coming your way…

======================================================

“You think it’s Silver Spoon’s team?” Apple Bloom asks me with her eyes trained on the gold pieces in her hand, trying to piece them together. Every activity on the school’s grounds will give a team a gold piece if they complete it. Apparently, all of these pieces are supposed to form the school’s symbol. Whoever has the symbol complete first wins the competition. The first few activities we’ve done were simply child’s play. One activity was a music quiz that asked teams to identify what note was played, but a lot of people seemed to struggle on that one. We passed that pretty easily with my experience singing and teaching music to others. 
“I don’t think so. I taught the girl during the summer and I don’t think she can hold a secret that well.” Considering the fact that she LOVED to gossip, I would assume the girl would probably say something accidentally to out her team. Since nothing has pointed to her, I predict that they don’t have the cheat sheet. “Do you have any suspicions?” I ask Apple Bloom as we walk down the relatively empty hallway. Usually, schools are pretty packed with students, but since the activities are spread all over the school, it makes it a lot less difficult to travel from one to the next.
“No clue, but I do know that I’ll go crazy if even one of these pieces goes missing,” Apple Bloom tells me as her eyes still intently look at the tiny parts, trying to find a way to put them together.
“Do you know how many activities we have left?” Taking the pieces from Apple Bloom’s hand, I quietly put them in a side pocket of my bag, making sure to zip it up afterward. 
“I think we have… ten left…? So, roughly half?” Apple Bloom tells me with an exhausted face, both of us seemingly drained from the amount of work this has required so far. “I’ll tell ya. Whoever has the cheat sheet is being smart by not going too fast. If they were found out, everyone would know about it.” 
“How would every team know about it…?” I ask her with a skeptical look, the hallway giving slight echoes to our footsteps. 
“Teams tell each other. Chaos ensues. Even if we’re not told, we would pretty much find out who it is once the chaos starts. As long as an official moderator doesn’t catch the cheat sheet, everything goes.” Apple Bloom throws her arms into the air, seemingly frustrated that the ‘chaos’ hasn’t started yet.
“Isn’t the whole point of the cheat sheet to try and steal it to get through the harder activities?” I ask her with confusion, questioning the whole reward in telling other teams.
“Some teams want to play fairly, so they want the team with the sheet to be caught. The more chaos, the bigger chance they will be caught.” 
“Sounds like goody two-shoes…” Both of us sigh at my statement, knowing that our main goal is to steal that MacGuffin. “So, we need to find a way to determine who has it and steal it without anyone else finding out.”
“It’s not that simple…” Apple Bloom droops even lower as we walk, an annoyed expression coming to her face. “It’s likely that the team we steal the sheet from will tell everyone else to get revenge. So, yeah. We kinda need to hurry if we get it.” Huh. We’ll have to get through the last section of the competition quickly in that case… There was some term Sunset used for this type of situation. What was it…? It was related to games… What would Sunset say here? “That means that we will have to find out who has it, steal the sheet and then run through the rest of the activities.” Run… Run is close. What was that damned term? “On the bright side, we did win the race at my family reunion~ I guess that just goes to show how fast we can be, huh?” Fast. Quick… That’s related too, right…? Speed…?
“Speedrun,” I quietly state, a smile finally coming to my face and relief washing over me for finally remembering the term. I’m not that into video games, but I know that if Sunset was here, she’d probably use that term to refer to this pseudo race. Looking towards Apple Bloom, I notice the clear confusion on her face. “What?”
“What in the hootenanny do you mean?” Apple Bloom asks me, the confusion about my statement only growing in her eyes. 
“Sorry. I was trying to remember something Sunset said. She would call the last part of this competition something like a speedrun,” I tell Apple Bloom with a shrug, my hand reaching up to my scarf once again. Even though I sometimes can’t understand Sunset, her antics never bore me. Each day is a new adventure with her and I can’t help but love her and that smile~
“Huh. Can I ask ya another question?” Ask me another question…? Usually, Apple Bloom doesn’t hesitate to ask questions, regardless of the context. She just runs ahead with the conversation and tells me what she thinks. I guess that’s due to her family being pretty honest, despite the situation. Sometimes, that means they’re too blunt… 
“Uh, sure, I guess?”
“Why do ya touch your scarf all the time? Ever since you got it, you always touch it at least once during our time together. Well, if ya have it on, that is.” Her eyes watch my hand with a curious look, making me feel a little self-conscious about the action as a whole. I guess I do… I kind of forget that I even touch it considering just how often I do it. Whenever I’m nervous, anxious or unsure, I always reach for it just to feel the soft material. It reminds me of Sunset’s warm smile… Her soft touch… I guess it comforts me…?
“Mostly because it helps me feel… calm. And it reminds me of the people close to me. That’s all.” Averting my gaze from Apple Bloom, I look down the corridor, trying to think of the upcoming activities. 
“I see,” Apple Bloom tells me with a slight nod, a long silence following after. Only the sound of our footsteps echoes down the hall. Most of the lights in this hallway are turned off due to there being no activities here, but Apple Bloom told me this was a shortcut. As a result, natural light pours in from the windows, making the corridor seem vaguely… peaceful. “Is that also the reason you talk to yourself?” 
Looking towards Apple Bloom, I raise my eyebrow slightly, wondering just what in the hell she’s talking about. “What do you mean?” 
“I heard ya talking to yourself. After one of our activities, you kept saying things like ‘That’s not the point’ and ‘You don’t understand.’ Is that how ya calm yourself down as well?” Apple Bloom asks me without looking at me, a slightly concerned expression dawning on her. She heard me say that…? I thought I was alone… I specifically tried to avoid everyone, but… I guess she overheard our conversation… Between me and her. She wasn’t supposed to hear that. The only people who know about her are Sunset and Twilight. I wanted to keep it that way.
“I… can’t really talk to you about that,” I whisper, looking towards the window with a frown. My reflection doesn’t appear beside Apple Bloom’s… Only a shadow can be seen, red eyes emanating from the darkness. “Not yet.” Looking back at Apple Bloom, a concerned stare meets my eyes, Apple Bloom’s face conflicted beyond measure.
“But-”
“Trust me. I will tell you, just not now. I’d prefer for this competition to be fun, alright?” The young cowgirl’s conflicted tone doesn’t disappear, her eyes looking towards the floor as she takes a deep breath. 
“Alright. I trust ya,” she responds with a small nod, trying to give me a smile. 
“Thank you. Now do you mind if I stop for a moment? I need to use the restroom,” I tell her with a nervous smile, pointing towards the restroom. Both of us stop in the middle of the hallway and Apple Bloom smirks at me, shrugging her shoulders.
“Just be quick, okay?” she teases me with a hand gesture to tell me to go. Giving her a thumbs up, I can’t help but roll my eyes at Apple Bloom’s tease, walking towards the restroom quickly. A part of me wishes Apple Bloom didn’t hear me talking to her, but at least she’s willing to drop the topic for the time being. For now, our focus should be on doing our best in this competition, even if we don’t win. Not on my hallucinations… After all, the whole reason I’m here is to make up for the promise I broke at the Apple Family reunion. 
Opening the door to the restroom, the sound of a couple voices catches my attention. No one is around this part of the school… It’s practically abandoned here. Why would there be people in here? Looking back, Apple Bloom is already pretty far down the hallway, clearly deciding to go ahead. Who would be here of all places? Closing the door quietly, a short white hallway of tile presumably leads to the toilets, voices echoing off the walls. “This doesn’t make any sense!” a raspy voice exclaims, making my eyes widen slightly. This voice… is pretty familiar. Walking quietly to the edge of the wall, I hear an exhausted sigh come from around the corner. Isn’t that… Rainbow Dash? “Some of the answers were straightforward, but these are just nonsensical hints!” she exclaims again, clearly frustrated with something.
“Well, they never said all the answers would be on here,” a young voice responds to Rainbow Dash, making me immediately recognize who the second person is. What are Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo even talking about? 
“Wasn’t that the whole point? I mean, rumors only said that it gave you answers, not hints.” The sound of paper ruffling can be heard, both of them going quiet for a moment. 
“Well, Luna did say it wouldn’t be too easy, so I assume this is to make it just a teensy bit more fair?” Luna…? Wait… Paper. Answers. Hints. And Luna most of all…? No. It can’t be. Right…? Are they the Moon Knights…?
> Getting Yer Hands Dirty
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter IV: Getting Yer Hands Dirty


I’ll admit. Celestia and Luna put a lot of work into this competition. There are banners and colorful confetti most places we go. It’s a lot of hard work and I can’t help but respect that when I see it. That’s something my big sis taught me… The value of hard work. It’s honest and it reflects just how much someone truly cares about ya. Well, depending on the work… Still. It’s nice to see so much effort went into this competition. It almost makes me feel bad for taking advantage of the competition instead of admiring how much they strived to make this great. 
Looking at the booth of our next activity, I can’t help but feel a little antsy. My big sis says that feeling comes from your heart not being able to calm down, either for good or bad reasons. I guess it makes sense… I’m just a little nervous that it will take Adagio and I more time to complete this one than others. I ain’t that great at memory games after all. This booth is just one big game where cards are face-down. Each card has a match, so you hafta remember where the matching card is. It’s funny. I can remember things pretty well about my friends, but when it comes to bucking symbols on cards, I am stumped… Though, I think the combined efforts of Adagio and I will help us get through it. I just wish we could have that cheat sheet… It would really help in this instance. 
Hearing footsteps come up from behind me, I look to my side, seeing Adagio look towards the same booth. Her face is oddly still though… Almost as if something is eating at her thoughts. It’s never great when someone looks like that. Usually, my big sis has something troubling to think about and sometimes, it’s due to something I’ve done. So, it isn’t exactly appeasing to see that look on Adagio’s face right now. Especially when I can’t really guess what is on her mind. “Is something wrong?” I ask her quietly. Honestly, I’m a bit worried about this memory game, but I never expected for Adagio to feel the same way. Is she feelin’ alright? I swear if she came here with a fever, Imma kill her… 
“I just learned something… peculiar,” Adagio states with a slight wave of her hand, looking down at me with a serious tone in her eyes. 
“Are ya gonna tell me or do I hafta guess?” Adagio used to tell me things without drawing it out into some sorta game for her, but that changed ever since she got more confident in herself. In some ways, it makes her more fun and interesting and I can’t help but feel happy for her. In other ways? She seems to enjoy acting like a… well, a female dog. 
“As fun as it would be to make you guess, I think it’s too important to waste that sort of time,” she tells me seriously, putting her hand on her hip. “That bathroom I just went in had a couple other people in there… A certain rainbow-haired athlete and her orange fangirl.” Adagio looks around the two of us before daring to say another word, leaning down slightly to get closer to me. “They were talking to each other about answers and hints to find said answers. I heard paper ruffling and they also mentioned Luna by name.” Wait… Luna? Vice Principal Luna? Scoots and Dash said her name? Looking her in the eyes, I can feel the color drain from my face.
“You think that… they’re the ones with the cheat sheet?” Without waiting a second, Adagio simply nods to my question, standing back up.
“It makes sense to me. I didn’t actually see them with the sheet, but the fact that they’re so far along in the competition makes me think they have to be.” Slowly, she brings her hand to her chin, looking like she’s thinking about something. “The only problem standing before us is the fact that we have no way to prove they are the ‘Moon Knights.’ So, we’ll need to find some way to steal the cheat sheet from them if they do have it.” Huh. What would be a good opportunity to steal it…? This next activity isn’t necessarily going to give us that opportunity… What have they even done so far? If I know Scoots as well as I think I do, she would probably wanna save all the athletic activities for last since they’re the most fun to her. Then again, Dash might not want to do that… 
“Did ya happen to hear what they were planning to do next?” I ask her quietly, tryna think of where they could be headed next. 
“Not exactly. Rainbow Dash did say something about how she wasn’t looking forward to their next activity. It had something to do with having ‘too many turns you could take.’” Turns, huh? What da heck does that mean? Are they talking about a quiz or something? Both Adagio and I look sufficiently confused, Adagio leaning against the nearby wall. “Apple Bloom. What kind of physical activity has turns?” she asks me quietly, looking at her own hand as if she has an idea. 
“Hmm? Whatcha getting at?”
“Dash is competitive. She likes showing off and proving that she’s awesome. Normally, she would be really eager to do the physical activities as soon as possible.” Adagio snaps her fingers suddenly, making me look towards her with a raised eyebrow.
“That’s what I thought too… So, I’m not sure if they have any more physically straining activities left.”
“But…” Adagio, getting off the wall, locks her eyes with me slowly. “Wouldn’t it be the biggest power move to strut your stuff at the end of the competition? People typically remember the starting and ending portions of things, whether it be a list or a long day. Rainbow Dash would take the opportunity to show off in front of as many people as possible. So, what physical activity has turns involved?” Adagio actually makes a good point. I didn’t even think of something like that. I just assumed they were already done with those activities, but I suppose she has talked to Dash more than I have.
“Hmm. I’m not sure. There’s the obstacle course, but there’s not a ‘lot’ of turns there. Then there’s…” Wait a sec… Could that be it…? “Then there’s the maze…” In the gymnasium, a large maze was made once everyone left, being one of the bigger activities of the event. From what I’ve heard. You have to solve puzzles inside there and if you get the right answers, you get another gold piece. That probably would be something they would save for last. 
“Did you just say maze…?” Adagio asks me hesitantly, her eyes looking at me cautiously.
“Yeah. There’s a maze in the gymnasium. Is that a problem?” Adagio’s hand reaches up to her scarf yet again, a small sigh coming from her.
“Let’s just say I’ve had my fair share of mazes…” 

===================================================

Welp. The maze is certainly big. They made the walls pretty tall to avoid cheating from looking inside and trying to find out the answers before going in. Even if Adagio and I tried to hoist me up to look inside, the moderators would prevent us from doing so. Honestly, I can’t help but feel like we’re going to be a couple pigs in this maze. By that, I mean I think we will be confused to high heaven. Hopefully, Dash and Scoots will be here soon. This is the only activity I can think of that they could be referring to. I could be wrong, but I hope I’m not… 
“Hey, short stuff,” Adagio’s voice calls out to me, making me turn around to look at her. Standing in front of a vending machine, Adagio looks at the options before locking her eyes with mine. “Want something? It could help us wait.” Slowly walking over, I look up at Adagio, feeling a little confused at the offer. 
“I thought ya were trying to save up money for a new place.” If I remember correctly, Adagio’s job doesn’t really pay her that much. She said she had to save for like two months before she got a leather jacket for Sunset. She had to have a lot of help to buy the motorcycle for Sunset’s birthday and she told me on our way over here that they have been wanting to get a new place. That would surely take a LOT of saving.
“I am, but let’s just say I know a little trick with these kinds of machines.” Without explaining any further, Adagio looks all around us before pushing all the buttons of the machine, leanin’ her body against it. A quiet beep repeats every couple of seconds. Adagio’s mouth counts to five without actually saying anything before giving a kick to the bottom of the machine. Letting go of the buttons, she puts in the code for a grape soda, the machine quickly giving her the item she wanted. 
“What in the hell…?” I slowly curse, finding it hard to close my mouth. How did she…? Wha? What sort of magic is that? I normally ain’t the type of girl to curse, but seriously! What the hell?
“Back when I had pretty much no money, I learned that little trick to kind of do a system restart. It basically makes the machine think you’re doing a practice run.” Clicking the code for grape soda again, the machine doesn’t give her another soda. Instead, it asks her for some form of payment. “And then it promptly returns to its normal programming, meaning no one will know you did this. The catch? It only works with vending machines that serve drinks made by the Crystal Empire Corporation.” Pointing to a logo at the bottom right of the machine, Adagio gives me a smirk, taking a sip from her drink. “I have yet to figure out a ‘system restart’ for their machines that serve snacks, so I can’t get us anything to eat. Just don’t let anyone catch you doing it because you can be fined for ‘stealing.’” Adagio is… full of surprises. Every time I think I have her figured out, she has another trick up her sleeve or something else she hasn’t told me yet. That’s not the reason I’m her friend, but it sure is interesting to see the tricks she’s learned. 
The real reason I’m her friend is because… Well, I saw good in her. She’s a good person, no matter how hard she may deny it. Why else would she apologize to me? She may have been evil before, but that’s not the person I became friends with. “Could ya get me a water?” I ask her with a smile, both of us giggling at this odd situation. It’s not everyday you meet someone who knows how to scam a vending machine. 
“One water for the cowgirl. Coming up~” Once again, Adagio presses all the buttons by leaning her body against the machine, counting to five before she kicks it. “Want to do the honors?” Adagio asks me, stretching her arm towards the machine’s buttons as if she’s presenting some prize. Carefully clicking a couple buttons, the machine spurs to life, getting the water and putting it in the slot. 
“Thank you,” I say out loud, grabbing the water and taking a big drink as quickly as I can. Gosh, that feels better…
“Did you… just thank the machine?” Adagio asks me, a confused look painted on her face.
“What? I’ve watched Terminator, alright? I just wanna say thanks just in case there is a robot uprising. Just saying.” 
“You know Terminator is a sci-fi fictional story, right?” Adagio’s stare only gets weirder as time passes by, making me feel like I’m the weird one.
“I know that! But someone has to be thankful if it does become our reality. You never know.” Walking past me, Adagio gets closer to the entrance of the maze, laughin’ at me. 
“Let me guess. You have a bed for your phone too, right?”
“Har har. Very funny, Adagio. Just remember who can drag whom around.” I know she hates it when I do that. Sometimes I do it just to annoy her, but I usually do it because I’m excited and she won’t move fast enough. I guess that’s to be expected from someone who ain’t from a farm.
“Point taken,” Adagio states with a calm sip of her drink, both of us looking at the maze. Before either of us can say anything else, I can hear laughter behind us. Looking at the door to the gymnasium, I see a rainbow-haired woman run inside, proudly looking at the maze as Scoots follows behind. 
“Oh, hey, Dagi!” Rainbow Dash says to Adagio, waving to me as well. “I didn’t know you two were here. Have you already done the maze?”
“Actually, we were just about to start,” Adagio tells her with a slight shake of her head despite the smile on her face. At least she can act naturally around them. I’m just worried I’ll ruin something by looking at them too much or doing something stupid to let them know I know about their secret. I was raised to be honest, but it sure is hard to be a little bit dishonest in situations like these. Well, I’m not lying to them. I’m just… not telling them I know the truth. And I’m tryna steal the cheat sheet, so yeah… 
“No way! We just got here, so maybe we could make it a sort of race!” Scoots tells us with a bright smile, even though she’s cheating through this whole thing… That’s right, Scoots. Act innocent and smile. You should be ashamed, not telling Sweetie Belle and I about it. We could have all gotten the top three places in this competition. 
“I like the way you think, kid!” Rainbow Dash tells her with a high five. “What do you two say? Loser buys ice cream?” Depends on the definition of loser… I mean, what happens if we lose AND we have the cheat sheet? Then we have the upper hand for the rest of the competition, so are we really losing? Then again, I’m probably thinking too far into it. Applejack says I do that a lot.
“Sounds like a plan to me!” I proudly state, giving a thumbs up. Adagio simply stares at me with a confused look before shaking her head, shrugging to the proposal. 
“Great! We’ll see you inside then~” Rainbow Dash tells us as they both run towards the maze entrance, Adagio taking a big drink of her grape soda.
“If they have the cheat sheet,” I whisper to Adagio, seeing her nod slowly.
“Then we will have to get it.” Brushing a strand of hair out of her face, Adagio’s expression suddenly becomes a lot more serious, staring at the entrance. Is she looking forward to fighting with them? “I’ll take Dash. You follow Scootaloo.”
“Agreed.”
> Run, Alligator. Run~
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter V: Run, Alligator. Run~


The maze’s walls are way too tall for my liking… I understand that they didn’t want people to cheat, but they’re almost intimidating at this height. The bigger issue is the fact that I have to follow Rainbow Dash through this maze as well. One of them has the cheat sheet and I’m hoping it’s Dash. I’m not all too confident in Apple Bloom’s ability to steal the sheet from one of her best friends. Then again, Apple Bloom has defied my expectations before, so I really shouldn’t underestimate her. 
Following Dash through this wood maze is easier said than done. It’s like she can’t decide where to go. If this was a normal maze, then it would be a lot faster, but there are like three puzzles inside here that we need to complete before we get out. This is where the cheat sheet would come in handy, assuming they actually have it. If I’m wrong, then we’re pretty much giving the win to whoever does have the sheet. Though, I doubt I’m wrong about this. I heard them blatantly talking about answers and clues. They even said Luna’s name. It has to be them…
“So, are you trying to piggyback off of me for answers?” Rainbow Dash says in a loud tone to make sure I can hear her. She’s only about five steps in front of me, but I suppose she wants to make herself heard. “I know I’m pretty smart, but do you really think I would know the answers to the puzzles in this maze?” That’s the problem, Dash. I don’t think you know the answers. I’m sure you know them.
“Come off of it, Dash. There are only a few correct paths to go down in this maze, so I’m just going the best way I can.” Flipping my hair back, I can’t help but search Rainbow’s body again for any piece of paper that might be visible. No such luck… “It just so happens you’re going the same way.” 
“Sure,” Rainbow says with a chuckle, walking backwards to connect her eyes with mine. “A siren who was smart enough to cause chaos between me and my friends going down the same path I am as a coincidence? If anything, I’d say you’re nervous about these puzzles, Dagi.” Rainbow Dash sticks her tongue out at me, quickly smirking before stopping. 
“I’m not nervous about these puzzles. If anything, I think I would finish them before you. I’m just relying on you to find the puzzles.” That is only a half truth… I’m relying on her to find the puzzles and have the answers in her pocket. 
“Wanting me to find the puzzles for you? How honorable of you, Dagi,” Rainbow teases me with a laugh, holding her stomach for a moment.
“You can’t always live ‘honorably’ when you have been alive for thousands of years, so cut me some slack, will you?” Winking at Dash, I can’t help but smirk, teasing her in exchange. If she does have the cheat sheet, then I will have to backstab her soon, but it’s fun to joke around with her.
“God, I forgot you’re that old. Are you sure it’s legal for you to buck Sunset?” Realizing her error, Rainbow Dash slaps her face with an angry grimace. “I mean, fuck. AJ tries to never swear to an ungodly standard. How many times have you two fucked anyway?” I can’t help but raise my eyebrow at Rainbow Dash’s question, my mind wondering whether I should honor that question with an answer. 
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I ask her with a chuckle, shaking my head at the absurdity of the conversation.
“Are you saying that you two haven’t…” Putting her index finger through a hole her other hand makes, she awkwardly smiles at the gesture, trying to ask the same question. “You know, danced under the sheets.” It’s almost comical how she isn’t afraid to say the vulgar statement, but when it comes to saying the word “sex,” she would rather jump in a ditch. 
“Dash. If you’re assuming that Sunset has resisted me of all people up to this point, you’re crazy.” Locking my eyes with Rainbow Dash, I give her the best smirk I can, almost taunting her with my confident outlook on myself. “Second, we’re in a school, Dash. I don’t think this is the best place to talk about this, but if you must know, Sunset and I have had our fair share of ‘nightly adventures.’” Walking around a corner, my eyes widen slightly at the wall we’re approaching. Rainbow Dash, seeing my confused expression, turns around to look at the wall. In front of us is a large statement written using black paint. In a way, I can’t help but feel slightly intimidated by the large letters, both of us stopping in front of the wall. “‘The world’s loneliest hours summon me. I calm those in need. I’m the last thing you hear as the world closes around me. What am I?’” I read off the statement, looking down at a horizontal line where an answer would be put. There’s nothing for us to use to write an answer, so I suppose we would need to keep it in our head when we get to the end of the maze.
Looking at Rainbow Dash, a thoughtful look takes a hold of her face, her hand holding onto her chin slightly. Of course it had to be a riddle. If I’m lucky, Rainbow Dash doesn’t have the answer for this… I think she said something about some of the activities had clues instead of a full answer. “Sounds a bit ominous,” Rainbow Dash says slowly, her eyes tracing the words over and over again. She brings her hand to her forehead quickly, mouthing the word “think” to herself. Did she… forget the hint?
Let’s dissect this… What would be the world’s loneliest hours? That would be the night, wouldn’t it? I can’t imagine it would be anything other than late at night. The second part of the riddle tells me that this figure calms those in need. Whatever this is… Is it the moon? Wait, that doesn’t make sense. It said that I can hear it. You can’t quite hear the moon. What does it even mean when the world closes around it? Get back on track, Adagio. One step at a time. Who would be in need at night? I mean, you could say just about anyone since everyone has probably had some trouble during the night, but that is a bit too broad… “I assume you don’t know the answer?” I ask Rainbow Dash, looking over to her. Her face looks just a bit more troubled than before, her hand scratching her head slowly. 
“Um… No…” Locking her eyes with mine, she nervously chuckles, shrugging her shoulders. “Do you have any idea? I have a… hunch. If you have some idea about this, I’ll tell you mine.” I call bullshit. You don’t have a hunch, you have a hint. One you can’t make sense of. Knowing Dash, she would probably be itching to grab the cheat sheet to take another look at it right now, so maybe Scootaloo has it instead? Though, if Rainbow Dash gives me her hint, it might actually help me get done with this riddle. 
“I think this riddle is telling us that whatever it is appears at night. The world’s loneliest hours after all.” Rainbow Dash’s eyes widen at my statement, quickly looking back at the riddle with this newfound information on her mind. 
“Uh… Y-yeah, I knew that. But um… I was thinking the riddle is also somehow about… rest. ‘Those in need’ sounds like people who need to rest.” Rest, huh…? I bet that was the hint she was given for this puzzle. Rest. People who need to rest. Night time. The riddle says we can hear it. What would we primarily hear when we’re about to sleep? The wind? Unless it’s referring to infants, then it-
Wait a moment… When we’re going to sleep, the last sense we focus on is our hearing. Those in need… If they were infants, then the last thing they would hear would most often be the hum of their mother. The world closes in on the sound in a sense. Night time. Sounds. Sleep. “It’s a lullaby…” Turning around quickly, I walk down the hallway, hearing Rainbow Dash quickly follow me. 
“Wait. What? How are you sure it’s a lullaby…?” she asks me, walking up to my side. 
“It would take me a while to explain…” I remember lullabies well… I don’t think anyone sang them to me when I was a young siren, but I remember Sonata was really stressed when we were first banished here. Sometimes, the only way she could relax and sleep was if Aria and I sang her a lullaby. I have quite a bit of experience with them… This is the only answer that makes sense to me. I doubt Rainbow Dash has the cheat sheet on her. If she did, she would have stayed back to look at it again to check if my answer fit with the hint. 
Before I can say anything else to the rainbow-haired woman, both of us notice a blur come rushing around a corner in front of us, approaching me quickly. My arm is grabbed quickly, the blur pulling me into another pathway, away from Rainbow Dash as quickly as possible. “Am I glad to see ya!” a young voice tells me as I look down at her face, seeing the all too familiar cowgirl dragging me along. 
“What’s the reason for dragging me this time?” I try to ask as we run into different hallways, quickly making distance from where I had last seen Rainbow Dash. 
“I got it!” she quickly tells me, showing me a piece of paper. “Scoots had it on her! Now she’s tryna find me as fast as she can, so um… That means Dash is gonna be on our tails too.” She actually got it…? Damn it… When you leave the maze, you have to give the answers to the puzzles to the moderator to get a gold piece. If they’re on our tails, we can’t waste that much time at the end of the maze without them catching up to us. 
“Did you-”
“Yeah, I finished the other two puzzles with Scoots. Do ya have the answer to the third one?” she asks me with pleading eyes, hoping that I finished the last obstacle of the maze. 
“The answer is a lullaby. That’s what I think it is at least. Dash ended up telling me she thought it had something to do with rest, so I think that was the hint for it.” Apple Bloom looks confused for a moment, but she quickly shakes her head, leading us down a couple more pathways. 
“One of us will need to go to the end and all. The other should keep a hold of this cheat sheet. Which job do you want to do?” My mind races as we run down the corridors, trying to think of our options. We can’t just keep running in circles… Eventually, we’ll run into a dead end and they will catch up with us. If one of us gets the gold piece, then the second one can get out of the maze without having to stop. I didn’t think it would be this difficult to steal a damn cheat sheet. Maybe trying to get it inside this maze wasn’t a good idea.
“I’ll hold onto this,” I tell Apple Bloom as I grab the sheet from her hand. I know she’s technically faster than me, but I have a lot of experience with mazes. Perhaps I can distract them enough for Apple Bloom to get the gold piece, allowing both of us to go on to our next activity. Without having to say a thing, Apple Bloom holds out her hand quickly, prompting me to give her the gold pieces from my bag.
“Just make sure ya don’t lose it!” Apple Bloom tells me with a thumbs up, finally letting go of my arm to run down a hallway, both of us going our separate ways. Despite how big this maze is, the sound of footsteps bounces off all the walls of the gymnasium. The familiar sounds of sneakers squeaking makes me aware of just how many people are inside this maze. Two of those people are hunting me down… I’m not that afraid of Scootaloo, but Rainbow Dash can catch me pretty quickly… I just have to hope there’s some corner I can duck around if she sees me. 
Looking ahead of me, a wall comes up quickly, indicating the end of this pathway. At the bottom of the wall, the final couple of planks are removed, giving just enough space to slip through the crack. “Dagi!” a familiar raspy voice yells somewhere behind me. No one else should know why she’s mad at me for now, but if all the other teams are alerted to the fact that I have the sheet and I’m stuck in the maze, I may be screwed. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to do this much physical activity… Quickly getting down to the floor, I make my way through the gap, looking at the new surroundings around me. Why am I always getting into weird situations like this? Can’t I just once have a normal day with Apple Bloom? But no. I have to crawl around and run around like it’s a race. If I had a dollar for every time something has gotten out of hand with her, I’d be a millionaire at this point. 
Quickly standing up, I jump over a small ledge put in the middle of the corridor as an obstacle. Going around a corner, I see multiple people looking at one of the puzzles of the maze, making my way through the teams. “Excuse me…” We only have a few more activities to go before we will have all the gold pieces required to finish this competition… All I need to do is get out of this maze as quickly as possible without getting caught. That’s all… Thankfully, I don’t think Rainbow Dash or Scootaloo will tell anyone else that Apple Bloom and I have the cheat sheet since they want it back. The tricky part is getting past them… Running down a hallway, I look up at the ceiling of the gymnasium, trying to use the light fixtures to give me a rough idea of where I’m going. 
The sound of loud footsteps echo nearby, making me slow down. Within a moment, a bright blue woman appears in front of me, her eyes widening in surprise to see me. “Dagi…” Rainbow Dash slowly approaches me with an angry and amused look, causing me to take a couple steps back. I’m not necessarily afraid of her, but I don’t think I can outrun her without some clever maneuvers. “I have to admit. It was smart to split up and follow both Scootaloo and I. I legitimately didn’t catch onto that until it was too late.” Upon seeing the sheet in my hand, Rainbow Dash takes another step towards me, holding her hand out to me. “Come on, Dagi. Just give it back to me. We were given it fair and square after all.” 
“If you call the fact that the vice principal is helping you cheat fair, then sure. You’ve been super fair this whole competition.” Tightening my grip on the paper, Rainbow Dash’s eyes shoot back down to my hand, a smirk coming over my face. “Apple Bloom and I only have a few activities left to do. Just let me go and I’ll let you come second, alright?”
“Ha! Hard pass,” Rainbow Dash responds, her eyes locking with mine again. Clenching her fist, Dash grinds her foot into the ground, trying to intimidate me. If there’s anything I have learned from being a siren, there’s more to power than just raw speed or strength, Dash… “Alright. You asked for it,” Rainbow Dash lets out before running full speed towards me. Without having a moment to think about my next move, my hand throws the paper above us, slipping around her as her focus is centered on the paper. Just as her hands reach up to grab the falling sheet, I kick her legs hard enough to trip her without leaving a bruise. “Ow!” Rainbow lets out after her head slightly hits the maze wall, looking up at me with a frown. “Dirty move!” 
Grabbing the sheet, I simply smirk down at her, shrugging my shoulders. “Sorry, Dash. This siren has a competition to win. I have an ego to maintain after all. You understand, right?” Quickly jumping back from Rainbow Dash’s attempt to grab my foot, I run down the pathway she came from, hearing her scramble to get up. I have to take advantage of this opportunity to put some ground between us. Jumping over some boxes in the middle of the path, I pull my phone out as fast as I can, aiming the camera at the sheet. Just in case I fail to keep this, I should take pictures of the answers and hints so that we can still have a chance at winning. Snapping a couple pictures of each side of the sheet, I push the phone back into my bag, looking behind me. Within a moment, Rainbow Dash comes running around the corner, vaulting over the same boxes with a determined look on her face.
“Come back here, Dagi!” she yells for me, causing me to run as fast as I can. I may not be an athlete, but I’m still Adagio Dazzle. I can do this. I have to. Besides, Sunset sort of trained me for this by forcing me to participate in that alligator maze. You can do this… You can do this. Taking a deep breath, I take a sharp left, pushing past a couple of people still patiently making their way through the maze. Focus. This is something I’ve been trying to recapture… That confident feeling of being me. I am Adagio Dazzle. I can finish what I started.
Feeling a smirk come across my face, I pull over a ladder to provide another obstacle for my pursuer. Unfortunately, this path leads to a dead end, but it seems I still have some luck on my side. At the bottom of the wall is another crack that someone can fit through, making me run as fast as I can, falling to the ground to slide through. This is reminding me way too much of that damned alligator maze, but if I was able to beat that, surely I can do this. Even if I am going against Dash.
Picking myself up quickly, I reach into my bag, finding the small notebook I carry with me. Without wasting a moment, I quickly pull out multiple pieces of paper, shredding them up. In no way are these pages as big as the cheat sheet, but if they’re ripped up, they can look like one full page was torn to pieces. I primarily use this notebook to write down anything of importance, but these pages will serve me better as a distraction for now… Looking up at the ceiling, I can instantly tell where the beginning of the maze is. One faulty light keeps flickering and I remember it distinctly being above that vending machine Apple Bloom and I got drinks out of. Running down a hallway and making a left turn, I see the large entrance to the maze, immediately recognizing an orange girl waiting for me. Thankfully, Apple Bloom is nowhere to be seen. “Adagio! Stop!” Scootaloo calls out to me, getting herself in a stance as if she was ready to stop me. I doubt that she could, but she would probably slow me down enough for Rainbow Dash to get here. 
“You want the sheet, Scootaloo? Here!” I respond with my own yell, throwing the pieces of ripped paper in the air. As soon as the information registers with her, a shocked expression comes over Scootaloo’s face, making her rush to try and grab the pieces. Just like I had predicted, she lets me pass by, prioritizing what she thinks is the torn cheat sheet. It won’t take her long to realize what I did, but at least it let me get past. Honestly, I’m not even sure I can finish the rest of the activities with Apple Bloom if they keep chasing me like this. If that’s the case, maybe my whole job at this point is to distract them. 
Running out of the gymnasium and into the school’s hallway, I pull my phone out, quickly tapping Apple Bloom’s contact. My finger sends her the pictures as fast as I can, nearly dropping my phone in the process. “Finish the final tasks without me. I have to distract Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash. Good luck,” I type into the text box, sending her the message without a second thought. For now, I need to put the most distance between all of us… As long as they think I’m the only one who has a copy of the cheat sheet, they shouldn’t go after Apple Bloom. How will I get away from them…? 
My boots squeak against the tile floor as I run around a corner as quickly as I can, losing some of my balance for a moment. Within seconds, I can hear the loud slam of the gymnasium doors behind me, footsteps running down the hall. Damn it… I was hoping they would be distracted for a little longer… “Adagio!” I hear both of them yell my name, breaths going in and out of my lungs quickly. I’m not sure what I can do… I just know I can’t risk trying to hide right now. They’re far too close for me to try and lose them. So, for now, I just need to try and get away from them… 
Running through the doors to the back of the school, the large outdoor area makes me stop for a moment, seeing dozens of people as well as a bonfire and a playground a good distance away. Out here is where most of the activities Apple Bloom and I did earlier in the competition, so I can’t help but feel a little surprised to see so many people here. I guess everyone just did the activities in a different order than we did… Shaking my head, I quickly run out into the crowd, making my way past multiple activity booths and the bonfire. Looking back for only a second, my eyes recognize the sight of Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo coming up to the door, looking out at the environment before spotting me. Rainbow Dash points to me quickly, both of them continuing their pursuit of me. Apple Bloom, you better get this done… 
Sprinting past multiple people, I can’t help but draw the eyes of a lot of the people nearby. I didn't want all this attention, but I can’t change it now. Looking ahead of me, I notice a table coming up where somebody is selling pens for the event. Pens of all shapes and sizes are laid out across the table, making my mind run wild with ideas. Reaching out, I quickly grab a big handful of the pens, running past quickly. I try to give the man behind the table an apologetic look, seeing his confused expression as his eyes switch between me and the table. 
Dashing towards the playground equipment, I feel my muscles start to get sore. This is where I either get that distance I need between us or I have to give up the cheat sheet… It all depends on how this goes. Quickly, I grab onto the ladder, getting on top of the playground set and running across a rope bridge. This wasn’t made for people my size, but at least it will work for now. Getting to the slides at the opposite end of the playground, I turn around and see Rainbow Dash climbing up the ladder, Scootaloo opting to run around the playground to try and cut me off if I choose to go down the slide. Smart… The only thing they can’t account for are the monkey bars right next to the slides. I just hope I have enough arm strength to pull this off… Throwing out a lot of the pens on the ground in front of me, I see Dash stop halfway across the rope bridge, raising her eyebrow at my action. 
“Are you trying to trip me with freaking pens? You know I can see them, right?” Rainbow Dash asks me before laughing, the grimace on her face temporarily disappearing. Clearly, she seems amused by this, but the real reason I did this was to slow her down. I didn’t expect her to actually trip, but this will force her to be more careful as she approaches me. With a slight smirk, I raise my hands to my shoulder’s height, chuckling at the situation. 
“Let’s just say it’s a last ditch effort. You’ve clearly caught me, right?” Winking at Rainbow Dash, I run towards the bars, grabbing onto them and swinging towards the ground. Scootaloo quickly runs around the slides to try and catch up to me, not expecting I would take this path. The best part about this? Rainbow is forced to either go through the pens or go back around, so this will buy me a couple minutes. This is buying both of us a couple minutes. Sprinting back towards the school, Scootaloo is surprisingly able to keep up with me as Rainbow Dash is significantly delayed. 
“Come back here, Adagio!” Scootaloo yells at me, both of us making it closer to the school. A small part of me feels guilty for pulling the ripped paper stunt on her, but it’s only a small part. The rest of me knows I enjoy this game… Sunset, what have you done to me? Just a few months ago, I couldn’t hardly smile, but now, I can’t help but feel confident in myself and enjoy a silly game of cat and mouse. One where I’m the person making the rules. Maybe that part of me never left and she just reminded me of who I am… 
Slamming through the school doors, I shut them right behind me, providing Scootaloo with an extra obstacle. I have to admit it. She’s pretty damn fast. Running down a hallway to my right, I make sure to go towards the more abandoned part of the school in case any moderators try to stop us. If I’m found with a cheat sheet on me, both Apple Bloom and I will be disqualified. Within moments, the sound of the door opening echoes down the hall, temporarily bringing light to the dark corridor. “Rainbow Dash! Go after Adagio! I’ll find Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo’s voice echoes, making the smile on my face disappear. They finally realized what I’ve been doing. Distracting them… 
“Then go, kid!” Rainbow Dash tells her, the sound of footsteps running towards me filling my ears. Pulling my phone out quickly, I type in a message, still sprinting as fast as I can to avoid Dash. 
“Scootaloo is coming your way. Hurry.” Shit. I’m going to need to think of something soon. I can’t outrun Rainbow Dash forever without some sort of trick or maneuver to get her to slow down. I only have a couple pens left, but I doubt they would cause her to trip or stop in her tracks. If anything, me taking the time to drop the pens on the ground will only slow me down. Think, Adagio. Think… Turning to the left, I look at the classrooms on both sides of the corridor. Maybe I can try to distract Dash by running around desks? Each classroom seems to have two doors, so I can run in one door, distract Dash for a bit, and run out the second door. It’s my best shot at this point… Quickly running up to the door closest to me, I make my way inside. Looking in front of me, my eyes widen instantly, seeing the layout of the room. This isn’t a classroom… Instead, there are a couple of couches and a counter with standard lounge supplies. Unfortunately, this room doesn’t have a second door…
Turning around to exit the lounge, I’m quickly stopped by Rainbow Dash, holding both sides of the doorway with her hand. Both of us can’t help but pant slightly at the strenuous workout we just did, my foot taking a step back from Dash. “You… are so damn tricky,” Rainbow Dash states with an exhausted sigh, finally connecting our eyes. “Now. I’m going to need you to give me that sheet.” 
“Is it my fault you two didn’t think of taking pictures of it just in case something like this happened?” I ask her in a teasing tone, backing up into the room even more. Regardless of my movement away from her, Rainbow holds her ground at the doorway. She’s clearly aware of the advantage she has over me. I’m pretty much trapped here… 
“I probably should have thought of that, but I didn’t really think my friend would steal it from me,” Dash responds with a shake of her head, chuckling slightly.
“Don’t act like I’m the bad guy. We just took an opportunity.” Both of us laugh slowly, Rainbow Dash leaning against the doorway. 
“Yeah, you’re right, but I need that sheet back now, Dagi. You’ve had your fun. Even if you don’t give it to me, Apple Bloom won’t be able to finish this without you.” Both of our eyes stay locked with each other, a deep silence filling the space between us. 
“You have so little faith in Apple Bloom. We’ll come in first place and then you can come in second, just like I told you in the maze.” Rainbow Dash laughs at my statement, holding her stomach. 
“I told you that’s not an option, Dagi. Come on. Just hand the sheet over and we can put this behind us.” Looking at the clock on the wall, I take a deep breath, pulling the piece of paper out of my bag. The best thing I can do is wait and try to withhold it from Dash as long as possible. I just hope that Apple Bloom can finish the rest with Scootaloo trying to interfere. 
“You know, Dash. You two did a pretty good job. I had no idea you two were the ‘Moon Knights’ for the longest time,” I state with air quotes, walking over to one of the couches and leaning against the arm with a smirk.
“How did you find out anyway?” Rainbow Dash asks me, her curiosity getting the better of her. 
“Would you believe me if I said I overheard you in the bathroom?” My question makes Rainbow Dash’s eyes open wide, a confused expression painting her face.
“Wait. Really?! We specifically went to an isolated part of the school so that people wouldn’t hear us! Why were you there?” Dash stands upright once more, her confused expression remaining on her face as she waits for an answer.
“Apple Bloom was taking me through a shortcut to get to our next activity and I was going to use the restroom. Well, that was until I heard you and Scootaloo talking to each other.” Before either of us can say anything more, a loud static plays from the speakers at the corners of the room, hurting my ears slightly. 
“Teams of the School Days competition! We art eternally grateful to tell thou that we have a first place winner! Do thou best to complete the rest of thine activities and we’ll see you at the school’s auditorium!” Vice Principal Luna speaks into the microphone, trying her best to imitate some form of old English. Within a second, the color drains from Rainbow Dash’s face, her eyes averting mine momentarily.
“Huh. Maybe I did underestimate Apple Bloom.” Walking towards the rainbow-haired athlete, I hand her the cheat sheet before patting her shoulder, giving her the best smile I can.
“That was a good chase, Dash. It was some of the best fun I’ve had in a while. Thank you.” Without saying a word, Rainbow Dash gets out of the doorway, letting me get out of the room. Both of us lock eyes momentarily, Dash giving me a congratulatory thumbs up before I walk away from her.
“Well played, Dagi. Well played.”
> Hogwash
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter VI: Hogwash


Running down the hallway as fast as I can, I barely hold onto the sheet. I really need to find Adagio… Scoots is right behind me at this point, so we’re in a pickle here. Why didn’t we decide to steal this outside of the maze? Horse apples… We need to give the answers to the puzzles at the end of the maze, which means one of us needs to distract them… Dang it. Dang it. Ugh! Why does this have to be so hard? Sprinting around a corner, I see bright orange hair in front of me. Running up to Adagio, I quickly grab her arm and drag her off into a new pathway, trying to get away from Dash ASAP. 
A smile comes to my face as I look back at Adagio, happy that we can take this time to make a plan. “Am I glad to see ya!” I tell her with a big smile, pulling her as fast as I can down multiple pathways. Surprisingly, there’s quite a lot of boxes or different obstacles inside this darn maze. 
“What’s the reason for dragging me this time?” Adagio quickly asks me, holding onto her scarf as we run. Showing her the piece of paper, I try to smile widely, knowing that this gives us an edge.
“I got it!” Dodging under a low-hanging board, I pull Adagio into a sharp left, trying to take deep breaths. “Scoots had it on her! Now she’s tryna find me as fast as she can, so um… That means Dash is gonna be on our tails too.” As soon as I say that, Adagio’s face loses its color slightly, looking like she’s concerned. 
“Did you-”
“Yeah, I finished the other two puzzles with Scoots. Do ya have the answer to the third one?” Please have the answer, Adagio… We don’t have that much time left, so we need to hurry… I really should have stolen the sheet from Scoots outside of the maze, but I jumped into action way too soon. My big sis told me to try and avoid doing that… 
“The answer is a lullaby. That’s what I think it is at least. Dash ended up telling me she thought it had something to do with rest, so I think that was the hint for it.” Yes! She actually completed the third puzzle with Dash. That’ll save us some time~ All we have to do now is get to the end without losing the cheat sheet. Unfortunately, that means one of us will probably need to distract Dash and Scoots. 
“One of us will need to go to the end and all. The other should keep a hold of this cheat sheet. Which job do you want to do?” I ask her quickly, not wanting to hit a dead end before we make a plan. I’d be fine with either job, honestly. I could probably do a better job at distracting them and Adagio can go finish our remaining tasks, but I’m giving her the choice since I dragged her here to begin with.
“I’ll hold onto this,” Adagio tells me shortly before grabbing the sheet from my hand. If she’s going to distract them, then I will probably need the gold pieces… I’ll be the one completing our activities, so I will need them to finish the competition. Holding my hand out, Adagio quickly pulls the pieces out of her bag, placing them in my hand.
“Just make sure ya don’t lose it!” I carefully tell her, giving a thumbs up as a sign of good luck. From here on out, Adagio and I need to go our separate ways. Hopefully, she can keep them distracted for the time being and either get the cheat sheet back to me or send me a copy of some kind. Sprinting down a corner to my left, I try to go in the general direction of the exit, pushing the gold pieces into my pocket. For now, I just need to remember the answers to the puzzles to get the gold piece at the end of this maze… I’m not sure where Scoots or Dash are, but I just hope I don’t run into them. If I remember correctly, we have two more activities to finish after the maze… I think I can do it. 
Turning a corner, I can see the end of the maze. Thankfully, Scoots or Dash isn’t anywhere in sight, so I should have a couple minutes to get the gold piece. Running up to the moderator at the end of the maze, I can’t help but look behind me just to make sure no one is following me. “Hi there! Is this where I give my answers?” The guy stops looking at his phone for a second to make eye contact with me, clearly bored. 
“Uh, yeah. Sure. What did you get for answers?” he asks me slowly, returning his eyes to his phone. Even though he’s supposed to be a moderator here, I can’t help but feel like he isn’t interested in doing his job… 
“Well, I got the sun, stars, and a lullaby,” I tell him quietly, still checking over my shoulder for any sign of Scoots or Dash. Without even thinking about my answers, he simply reaches inside his pocket and gives me another gold piece, nodding slowly.
“Good job and have a good time,” he tells me in a tired voice. Normally, I’d be a little weirded out by this guy’s lack of work ethic, but I think both of us have had a long day. Besides, I have a couple people I need to get far away from as quickly as possible. 
“Thanks!” I say loudly before sprinting towards the door, putting the piece in my pocket. I hope Adagio is doing alright… I really need her to keep going. Opening the doors, I turn to the right, slowing down and taking my phone out. What activities do we have left? I think one is another memory game, but I’m not quite sure what the last one is. Looking at my phone, I see the list of activities, quickly marking off multiple of them in my head. Huh. It seems one of the things we haven’t done is simply visit the bonfire. That seems like it would be the easiest one, so I should go do that. 
Turning around, I run down the hallway and put my phone back in my pocket, quickly making my way towards the back of the school. Thankfully, the only sound I hear is the sound of my own footsteps, so that means I’m safe for now. As long as Dash and Scoots don’t realize that I’m going to do my best to complete the rest of the activities, they should keep their attention on Adagio. Opening the back door, I see all the people outside with the major attraction being the bonfire. Bingo. All I have to do is find the moderator for the bonfire and I’ll be golden. Well, not literally. If I was literally gold, I’d be a lot heavier than I am right now. Would I be stronger? Maybe I would be stronger than Big Mac. 
Focus, Apple Bloom! Shaking my head, I run over to the bonfire, looking around the crowd for one of the moderators. Spotting someone in one of the Canterlot High coats, I make my way over to them, my eyes widening when I see their face… Why would Rarity be handing out gold pieces? Her face looks nervous and confused as she hands gold pieces to a bunch of people. I mean, it’s not necessarily unusual for Rarity to be stressed out, but I feel sorry for her here. 
“Here you go. Um… You need one too? Alright, just hold on a second,” Rarity says with a nervous tone, searching her pockets. I thought she was working with Sweetie Belle.
“Hey, Rarity,” I say carefully, walking up to her after most of the people have left her alone.
“Oh! Apple Bloom! How are you doing, darling?” Her eyes look towards the gold cape I have on, smiling at me. “Nice apparel~! Where did you get it?” Honestly, I think she helped make the capes to begin with, so I don’t particularly believe her tone of surprise. 
“From Adagio. Do ya mind if I ask why you are here? I thought Sweetie Belle asked you to help her.” 
“Oh, yes, she did. But when we got here, the moderator we asked to get the gold piece from fell ill and… well, I decided to help out. Besides, it would be a sin to not show off this fabulous coat all the moderators have~” Rarity gives me a slight spin, showing off the school coat with a smile. “I told Sweetie Belle to finish our tasks without me or until someone relieves me from this position. Though, I am contemplating taking this coat and adding some more accessories to it. Oh, do you need a piece too, darling?” Rarity asks me, suddenly remembering what she is doing here in the first place.
“Yeah, I kinda need it to finish the competition and all. Good luck with the rest of this shift.” Without wasting a moment, I take the gold piece from Rarity’s hand and quickly move past her, seeing her give me a wave. 
“Good luck then!” she calls out to me before turning to some other people to give them gold pieces. At least that task wasn’t that difficult. The next thing I need to do is a scavenger hunt from what the list says… Apparently, a bunch of gold eggs are hidden all over the place and they have one of the pieces I need. The only problem is that I don’t know where any of them are… 
A vibrant buzz comes from my phone, making me come to a halt to check the notification. It’s a text from Adagio…? How did she have enough time to text me…? Opening her contact, two pictures instantly come onto screen, showing the two sides of the cheat sheet. “Finish the final tasks without me. I have to distract Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash. Good luck,” Adagio’s text tells me, seemingly sent in a hurry. Good job, Adagio… You’re helping a lot here. 
Tapping the first picture, I look through all of the answers and hints for tasks we’ve already done. I only have two more. A memory game and a scavenger hunt. The cheat sheet has each activity alphabetized, so it isn’t that hard to find the scavenger hunt answers. Huh. Dash and Scootaloo actually marked out the ones that were already found…? I guess they had a lot of spots they couldn’t find it. One of the last spots that haven’t been marked out is… Wait. What? All the answers give out actual locations in the school except this one… All it says is Vice Principal Luna…? Does she have an egg? If so, who would even guess that except for… the Moon Knights. Heck, you have to report to Celestia and Luna to finish the competition. 
Putting my phone back in my pocket, I run in the direction of the memory game. I should actually see if Luna has an egg after I finish the memory game. If she does, then I would win the competition right then and there. Why would Dash and Scoots not get the one from Luna? 

==================================================

“Scoots! We can talk about this!” I exclaim while jumping over a bush, hearing Scootaloo right behind me. “Why are ya even chasing me? I don’t have your sheet!”
“But if you didn’t have a copy, then Adagio would be trying to get to you! She was just distracting us for the longest time!” Dang it… Scootaloo caught on to that fact. I do have a copy of the cheat sheet, but the only thing I have left to do is to actually get the gold egg from Vice Principal Luna. I can’t just lead Scoots there. She could sabotage my attempt to win this competition. Who knows how close she and Dash are to winning?! 
“But you two can catch Adagio, right? She’s not faster than Dash!” I call back, running around the corner of the school building, trying my best to keep away from Scootaloo. Despite the fact that she didn’t grow up on a farm, she’s pretty fast. 
“You’d think! Adagio has a lot of tricks up her sleeve, though,” Scootaloo responds to me, briefly grabbing onto my arm before I shake her off. Running inside the school, I quickly lock the door behind me, seeing the door struggling to open. “HEY! Apple Bloom! Open this door right now!” Scootaloo calls out to me, still trying to open it to the best of her ability. Now’s my chance to lose her… I feel a little dirty for doing this, but it has to be done. 
Turning around, I sprint down the hallway, making my way towards the auditorium. The gymnasium doubles as an auditorium, so the maze should still be up until all teams have had a chance to complete it. In the meantime, I just have to go to the stage and find Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna. I just need to get there before Scootaloo goes to another door and finds me. Turning sharply to my right, I sprint down the final hallway that leads to the auditorium, making a small smile appear on my face. I told Adagio we could do it! Come on, Apple Bloom. Just a few more steps and you’ll be there! 
Quickly opening the door to the gymnasium, I run towards the stage, seeing both Celestia and Luna looking at the maze and chatting with each other. “Hi, Principal Celestia!” I say with a wave before passing her, quickly making eye contact with her sister. “Vice Principal Luna? Do you mind if I ask you something?” Luna raises her eyebrow slowly, looking towards Celestia before nodding.
“Yes, Apple Bloom? What is your question?” she asks me as politely as usual. Sometimes, I feel a little intimidated by Luna’s overly polite nature… I guess it’s because she is an adult and has some form of authority over me. 
“Do you happen to have a gold egg?” A surprised look comes over the vice principal, leaning back in her seat for a moment. Celestia herself seems curious, giggling at our interaction.
“I see. I assume you got it from the Moon Knights then?” Luna asks me with a smile, pulling a gold egg out of her pocket and handing it to me. Quickly opening the egg, I can’t help but smile at the final gold piece, dumping my pocket’s contents onto the table. 
“Ya could say that,” I say with a prideful smile, quickly putting the pieces together. Finally, the school’s symbol is formed from the stupid plastic pieces I’ve been collecting all afternoon. I waste no time before pushing the symbol towards Luna and Celestia, taking deep breaths. “There ya go! My team has completed all the activities!”
Celestia carefully takes the symbol in her hands, chuckling at the situation before giving me a nod. “So you have~ Congratulations, Apple Bloom. You win this year’s School Days competition~” Looking towards Luna, Celestia points towards the microphone with a knowing stare. “You can announce it now, Luna.”
“Yes, sister~” Luna responds with a happy smile, clearing her throat before bringing the microphone closer to her mouth. This happens every year… She loves to mimic old English when announcing something to the school, so I can’t help but giggle, knowing what’s coming. “Teams of the School Days competition! We art eternally grateful to tell thou that we have a first place winner! Do thou best to complete the rest of thine activities and we’ll see you at the school’s auditorium!” Obviously, it’s not perfect, but Luna seems to enjoy it a lot. After her announcement, Celestia hands me a gold medal with a blue ribbon. Right before a loud bang of the gymnasium door catches my attention.
Looking towards the door, Scootaloo stands in the doorway with a shocked expression, her shoulders dropping upon seeing the medal. “God damn it!”


Epilogue


Taking a big sip of my slushie, I look at the empty stage with a smile. Honestly, I kinda enjoy coming here from time to time since it’s so quiet. Only the sound of the wind can bother you. Since it’s a big outdoor stage, there’s a lot of seating to pick from as well! No one is usually here~ Adagio, on the other hand, seems hesitant to even sit here. I guess it’s because this is where Sunset and her friends defeated the Dazzlings… In hindsight, it probably wasn’t the best idea to bring her here.
“Sorry. I kinda forgot that you still have bad memories of this place.” I try to give her my best smile, looking at her solemn expression. Her eyes are locked on the stage as she takes a bite of her cherry cheesecake, a treat she decided to get herself after the competition. 
“No, it’s fine. Really. I probably needed to face this place again someday, right? Better now than later.” A small smile comes to her face as she swallows another bite of her cake, looking at me with a wink. “It’s just easier to handle when I have something like this, huh?” Nodding at Adagio’s words, both of us look at the empty stage for a moment, the wind being the only thing we can hear. I’m glad that Adagio is confronting her fears~ She’s a good friend and it’s inspiring to see her confidence come back to her. 
“I just wish Diamond Tiara could have been here,” I whisper before drinking more of my slushie, making Adagio look at me with a raised eyebrow.
“Diamond Tiara? I thought you hated her.”
“Well, she did bully me…” Taking a deep breath, I lock my eyes with Adagio’s, giving her a smile. “But I kinda took your advice and decided to try and be nicer to her. We are kinda friends now. She’s just really sick, so we don’t get to hang out a lot.” Patting my shoulder, Adagio pulls me closer to her with a chuckle.
“That’s good~ I’m proud that you gave it a shot,” she tells me with a happy tone to her voice, clearly impressed with the fact that I made a friend in a previous bully. Adagio takes the last bite of her cherry cheesecake after letting me go, still looking at me with a smile.
“Thanks~ I’ll show her the medal we got later, but for now…” Standing up from my seat, I walk down the staircase towards the stage. Adagio follows me after a moment, both of us walking up the steps to the stage. “I want to do one more thing before we go home~” Quickly walking up to the front of the stage, I smile at the empty crowd, waving at imaginary fans. “Can you turn on the lights?” I ask her, pointing towards a console at the side of the platform. 
“Um. Sure?” Within a moment, bright neon lights shine down on me and the stage, making me giggle slightly. As soon as Adagio walks up to my side, I give her a white fedora, putting one on my head. 
“Ready?” I ask her excitedly, feeling adrenaline go throughout my body. 
“Where did you get this? And what are we doing exactly?” she asks me with a confused look, taking off her spiked headband to put the hat on. 
“Just follow my lead, alright?” Striking a pose with my hand on my hat, Adagio does a similar pose. “Ow!” I exclaim with a smile right as the music starts to play, pointing my finger towards the audience. I’ve always wanted to do this~ This competition had to handle Adagio and me, but now? Now the world will have to handle a couple of smooth criminals~ 

The End~
...
For now~

Authors notes: 
Hello, everyone! My name is Spyder27 and I just wanted to thank everyone for reading this fic! I know the whole idea of Apple Bloom and Adagio being friends is a weird idea, but I’m glad how this short story turned out! This is the first short story that is in continuity with A Dazzling World and A Shimmering Heartbreak and I have a few more planned before I get to the full sequel, A Dazzling Trio. Once again, thank you so much for reading this work! It’s definitely a new process for me to write something from Apple Bloom’s perspective, but yeah! It was a lot of fun for me~ The next story I’m going to write that will be in continuity with this overarching narrative will be called The Curious Caper of the Missing Baker! After that, I have a story lined up called Follow Suit! Just as a small teaser for everyone, I’ll go ahead and give you the bio for Follow Suit! As always, have a great day and I’ll see you next time!

It’s been a couple months since Sunset Shimmer’s birthday and Adagio has a debt to repay. Filthy Rich asks for Dazzle to fulfill her end of the bargain and she’s all too eager to get it done with. The idea of being in debt to Filthy Rich isn’t appealing to the siren in the slightest, but the particular task she needs to do to repay the crime boss isn’t exciting either. Right when her anxiety is highest, Adagio Dazzle has to put on a brave face and a dashing suit. No more debts. No more deals. Just one thing left to do.