Scribble Dee and Wiz Kid ducked through wires leading to the Dusty Wires basement. They were busy laughing about how Pinkie Pie was blown away by the sound in the fixed amp.
"My brother will be happy someone needed his amp," Wiz Kid commented. "Oh hey, are those new ears?"
Dee took off the mascot ears. "Yeah! I broke my old ones, so Rarity fixed up a new pair. Didn't you see her working away?"
"No. Pinkie Pie was busy messing with the amp. It took so long to repair some of those damages, considering Rainbow didn't want me tearing the amp apart." Wiz Kid looked at the ears. "Oh! They have sparkles! Didn't know you liked sparkles."
"Normally I don't. They tend to shake off onto my papers and my keyboard. But when I can, I like sparkles. Rarity is pretty good at making them stick to the ears, so I said, 'Why not?'" Dee took back her headband and looked at it, smiling. She could almost see her reflection in the shiny sparkles.
"Good thing we didn't take the amp apart if there were sparkles. Sparkles could get into the chips and everything. Oh!" Wiz Kid stumbled on a large box. "What is this?"
Dee knelt down and looked at the box. "Stage lights, with rainbow colors. That's pretty cool."
"Do you suppose Atomic Adam is busy repairing them?"
"Adam? Nah, Bright Idea would be working on these lights, if anything. After all… Bright Idea."
"That's a Bright Idea!" Wiz Kid laughed. "Good one."
Scribble Dee picked up one of the lights. "Wow, these are cool. I'm going to have to look at them, see how the wires are." She began to turn the light over in her hands.
"Don't touch those lights," someone said, entering the basement.
"Atomic Adam!" Scribble Dee turned around. "Where were you?"
"I was at the library, helping to repair the microfilms. Hey, you said you would help, but I ended up having to fix all twenty of the machines."
"Oh sorry, we were busy."
"Then I guess I get to keep the sixty dollars they paid me," Atomic Adam replied, pulling out his wallet. His hair was covered with dust and he looked tired. "Do you think Rainbow Dash would like those stage lights?" he pointed at the box.
"You got them for her?" Wiz Kid picked up a light, but Adam slapped it out of his hand. "These must have cost a lot of dollars."
"They did, but it's an apology for how I tore apart her amp. I didn't mean to offend her, and I just wanted to make sure she understands." Adam picked up the light he had knocked away from Wiz Kid. "I'm fixing them up so they can show several colors at alternating times."
"Impressive. Do you like Rainbow Dash?" Scribble Dee leaned in. "She is the captain of every sports team."
Putting his hand against Dee's face, Adam pushed her away. "She's nice, she's pretty, and she is pretty awesome."
"She is pretty cool. We fixed up Wiz Kid's amp with her and she kept insisting that we make it loud and amazing. It was a lot of fun working with her." Dee smiled, but then she clamped her hands over her mouth.
"What?" Adam's movement was rapid as he walked right up to Dee. "What? You skipped helping me with repairing the microfilms to help Rainbow Dash repair an amp? So, I guess, that girl is more important that helping your friend futz around with the most annoying machines ever built."
"It isn't like that, Adam." Dee's brow was lined with sweat, her shoulders hunched up.
"Just because you like Rainbow Dash doesn't mean you have to be a jerk about it." Wiz Kid turned away, arms crossed.
"You're right. I'm sorry." Adam frowned. "It's just so upsetting that she got angry over me repairing her amp. I take things apart to repair them."
"You should have told her that you would be doing that before you walked off with the amp," Scribble Dee suggested. "I would have told her that."
Adam suddenly reached towards Dee's head, and she ducked out of the way, but not before he was able to pull the pony-ear headband away from her. It got caught on her curly hair, so Adam just kept pulling. A few strands of Dee's orange hair were torn out. She squeaked with surprise, but Atomic Adam didn't notice.
"Maybe I'll just take your lame yellow ears and wear them. Maybe then I'll know how to do something right. Maybe Rainbow Dash will accept me with these shiny yellow ears. Oh, hello, Rainbow! I rip apart electronics so I can pretend to make them all better! Oh hey, I'm wearing Rarity's silly ears! I guess now I'm an awesome wondercolt!" Adam's voice rose to a hysterical pitch. "Get out of here. I need to finish with these lights. Take these yellow ears. Go on, go on and fix some more amps." He threw the headband at Scribble Dee.
"Adam…." Scribble Dee caught the headband. "Adam?"
"Come on," Wiz Kid said, turning to leave the basement. "Adam just needs to cool down."
"I guess."
Both of them left, leaving Atomic Adam behind in the basement. He sat down and began to look over the stage lights. However, he felt so alone that he simply stood up and left the basement.