Another successful show had ended for Adagio, Aria, and Sonata of the Dazzlings. The crowd cheered and screamed with delight, but unfortunately, the three former sirens didn't care much for the adulation of 'inferior' humans. With scowls on their faces, the Dazzlings departed backstage to their tour bus.
Later that night, Adagio laughed wickedly as a bright green light enveloped her face. She then turned to Aria and Sonata. "This is it, girls! I've finally done it!" she exclaimed triumphantly.
As it turned out, the thing she had finally done was make the perfect cup of ginger tea. With pride, she took a sip and enjoyed the taste. If there was anything that made Adagio feel somewhat happy after performing in front of humans, it was a nice cup of tea.
Meanwhile, Aria was relaxing on a couch, looking at her phone. "Yay... Adagio has put leafs in water. Now all is right with the world," she said sarcastically before going back to her phone.
"Ugh! You've been in that phone for hours. Are you playing checkers again?" Adagio said
"And kicking everybody's butt as usual," said Aria.
Adagio walked over and looked at Aria's phone to see she had been playing against someone in an online game of checkers and had finished making the winning move, reveling in her victory, much to Adagio's annoyance.
Since getting her phone, Aria had been surfing apps and games and had gotten addicted to it. Every so often or after almost every concert, she was either playing games or searching for a new one.
"Ha! Try all you want, but no one can best me!" Aria proclaimed.
Just then a knock came at the Dazzlings door and Sonata went to answer. A guy in a uniform decorated with tacos was holding a large bag.
"Delivery for Sonata Dusk?" the guy asked.
"Yes! That's me! Finally!" Sonata exclaimed.
The guy handed her the bag and Sonata paid him before closing the door.
Sonata opened the bag and pulled out a taco, immediately taking a bite out of it.
"Careful, Sonata, eat too many of those tacos and you'll lose your figure," Adagio teased.
Aria snickered along with Adagio while Sonata responded by giving the two a raspberry before continuing to chow down.
Another knock came on the Dazzlings door, this time from their manager; Sven.
"Well done, girls! As usual, great show!" Sven exclaimed with applause.
"Of course it was," Adagio scoffed. "It was mostly thanks to my vocals."
"Psst, or mine," Aria retorted.
"Wait, I thought it was because we used vo-" Sonata said before Aria shoved a taco in her mouth.
"Uh vocal exercises! Of course, Sonata! Practice does make perfect, you know," Adagio said, smiling back to Sven.
Aria glared at Sonata who nodded in agreement before swallowing her taco.
Sven shrugged. "Well, either way, you were on fire like always. And you'll need to be again because guess what?" he said.
"Hmm, let's see.. another gig?!" Adagio answered, feigning happiness, then turning sour.
"Dare I ask what it is this time?" Aria asked in annoyance.
"Canterlot Park. Apparently, it's a hundredth anniversary or something and I was fortunate to get you a gig there!" Sven exclaimed.
Sonata placed an arm around Adagio. "Canterlot? Wow. We haven't been back there in a long time," she said.
Adagio pushed Sonata away in aggravation. "Ugh, not long enough," she said.
It had been almost a year since the Dazzlings went on the road after losing their magic thanks to the efforts of Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, and their friends; and returning to the sight of their greatest failure wasn't exactly something they were looking forward to.
"OK, listen girls; when we get there, we'll need to get you some new outfits, kay?" said Sven.
"What's wrong with our outfits?" asked Sonata.
"Nothing, nothing, but this is a big event and you need to LOOK big! Sven doesn't believe in the word, 'cliche' and you wanna keep your fans, you need to be un-cliche! Because if you aren't, you'll lose your fans, and if you lose your fans, they'll stop coming to your concerts, and if they coming to your concerts, your careers will be over, and then my career will be over, and then I'll be on the streets holding up cardboard signs! I CAN'T DO CARDBOARD!" cried Sven.
Adagio quickly walked over to Sven to calm him down. "Sven, breathe in...breathe out..." she instructed.
This was one of many freak outs that the Dazzlings were used to from their manager. He was always working tooth and nail to perfect their shows, practically to the point of exhaustion and the Dazzlings often thought he'd literally die of stress.
Once calmed, Sven cleared his throat and adjusted his tie. "We'll be on our way tomorrow," he said.
"You got it!" exclaimed Sonata.
"Yeah, yeah, got it," Aria said, un-enthusiastically.
"Great! See you girls on the road tomorrow!" Sven exclaimed before exiting the room.
Sonata cheerfully waved goodbye while Adagio just scoffed, aggressively sitting down and taking her tea.
"What's the matter, Adagio?" asked Sonata curiously.
"You heard him! We're going back to Canterlot. Ugh!" groaned Adagio.
"I'm with Adagio on this one," Aria said in agreement.
"I've spent the better part of a year putting as much distant between myself and Canterlot as possible," Adagio said.
As she stared into her reflection in her tea, Adagio contemplated. It had been so long since she and her sisters had their magic. And even though she tried to adjust to life as a 'normal person,' and even managed to find some 'tolerable' elements to it, there was that part of her that yearned for the chance; any chance; to get that magic back.
"It's cause of Sunset and her friends that we're in this mess in the first place," said Aria before looking back to her phone.
A new player had joined the game and had challenged her.
"Hmm, Dashbolt64, huh? Hope whoever that is likes the taste of losing," said Aria.
"Losing doesn't have a taste," Sonata pointed out.
Adagio and Aria rolled their eyes and groaned.
"Forms of expression are a foreign concept with her," Adagio whispered to Aria.
"That and anything that isn't a taco," Aria whispered back, to she and Adagio shared a laugh.
"Anyway, it's not...all bad...I mean, we have this cool bus, these cool outfits, and cool tacos," Sonata said, as she got up and waved a taco in Adagio's face.
Slightly annoyed, but cracking a small smile, Adagio pushed away Sonata's taco. "What would be 'cool' is if we could get our hands on some equestrian magic again," she said, clenching her fists.
"But there hasn't been any equestrian magic since the battle of the bands," said Sonata.
It was true. To the Dazzlings' knowledge, there had no sign of actual equestrian magic or hope of getting back to Equestria.
However, as Adagio pondered, a thought came to her. "Sunset Shimmer mentioned something about a time loop. That sounds like something that could only happen with equestrian magic," she said with a growing sinister smile.
"But what if that was the only equestrian magic?" Aria wondered.
"The thing about Equestrian magic is that it works in mysterious ways. If magic caused Sunset to 'loop through time' as she said, then I'll bet anything we'll find it in Canterlot," Adagio retorted.
Even though the thought of returning to Canterlot sickened them, Adagio and Aria shared a devious smile at the idea of regaining the magic that they had lost.
Sonata meanwhile had a slight look of indifference. She wasn't the biggest fan of the human world either, but it had somewhat grown on her. Nonetheless, she would support her sisters, no matter what.
