-

“Mmm~”

Aria was peacefully asleep, all warm and cozy for some reason. Even though it was still in the middle of winter, he felt warmth all around him as if he was basking in pure sunlight. His snout twitched a bit too, but in a good way; there was also a pleasant aroma filling his nostrils. It smelled a lot like that special shampoo that Adagio used and wouldn’t let anyone else use it. Everything around him felt all fluffy and curly, like he was resting on a floating cloud. This was pure bliss!

Wait… his mind retracted. Warmth everywhere? A pleasant aroma that only came from Adagio’s special shampoo? Fluffy and curly like a cloud?

Aria immediately opened his eyes to be greeted by orange. A lot of orange.

He found himself engulfed in a forest of orange hair, locks and strands brushing against nearly every single inch of his body. Aria froze in horror at the situation he was in. He knows how much Adagio works to keep her hair in perfect condition-he would know, he had to sit through over 20 minutes babysitting Sonata when she was a pony. She is going to snap if she finds him in here, but how did he end up here in the first place?

“Ugh,” he moaned. “No time to figure out. I’ve got to get out of here,” he whispered to himself and tried to slowly move, but it was to avail. Adagio’s locks and curls were easily enwrapped around his hooves and parts of his body. Slow tugs didn’t do anything, so with extra care he tried pulling a little harder; it was no use.

He tried struggling a bit, hoping it would at least allow him to break free and get some more moving space, but again it proved to be no use. There was no doubt about it now; he’s stuck.

“I'm so dead,” he whispered to himself, but he had no other choice. “Adagio?” he called out to his leader, but there was no response. How odd. Was she asleep?

“Adagio?” he spoke louder this time and unfortunately got some of her hair caught in his mouth.

He heard her groaned and felt her moving slightly, but otherwise did not respond. He gave it one more shot and yelled “Adagio!”

“What?!” she replied in a tired, disgruntled tone. Aria felt her shifting a bit until he assumed that she was leaning up a bit. She yawned and smacked her lips. “What is it, Aria?”

“Okay, don’t panic but I need your help. I’m stuck,” he felt her turning over a bit, evident of seeing the forest of hair squishing together and feeling a pressure being pushed onto him. “Stop!”

“Where are you?”

“I’m… in your hair,” Aria squint his eyes and prepared himself for the inevitable outburst.

“What?!” He felt the pressure suddenly lifted off him, quickly followed him feeling being lifted up too. He could only guess that Adagio had just sat upright on the couch. “How in Tartarus did you get in there?”

“I don’t know! I just woke up in here!”

“Aria, get out of my hair! You know how much care I put into it,” Adagio commanded, clearly upset by this.

“I told you that I’m stuck!” Aria retorts and struggled in his hairy binds to demonstrate his point; Adagio felt that one.

“Oh schnap, you’re really in that deep?” Adagio panicked. She threw her hands back behind her head, digging into her hair and searching around for the tiny pony. She brushed aside her locks and curls with care as she felt for Aria. Finally her fingers made contact with what she assumed to be a pair of pointed ears. “I think I found you!”

“Great, now get me out of here,” Aria called back as he felt Adagio’s hands reaching down deeper, feeling his head down to his neck and then his torso. Once she had a good grip on him, Adagio slowly pulled him up only to still be stuck in place. The young woman grunted and tried to untangle the locks and strands around Aria, but found that it much more difficult when she couldn’t even see what was behind her and feeling around would only get her so far in this hairy situation.

“Adagio?”

“Pipe down, Aria,” Adagio grunted as she tried to removed a tangled lock from her companion’s hoof. “This isn’t easy, you know,”

“I know but-gah!” Aria suddenly gagged.

“But what?” Adagio snipped, feeling Aria becoming slightly looser than before, and had managed to pull him up. She could feel a part of him slowly rising out of the orange bush that she called a hairdo; the feeling around with her fingers made it out that it was his head, but also felt locks of hair wrapped around his neck.

“Hair… choking me,” Aria wheezed out loud. Adagio shrugged, but nonetheless stopped.

She sighed and rubbed her forehead. “There’s no other option left; Sonata, I need you right now!”

“Coming~!” She saw the air-headed Dazzling skipping merrily down the stairs. The sight was enough to make Adagio and Aria cringe. Some time has passed since breakfast, so their stomachs have all shrunken back to normal size now. Her face went all bright and starry-eyed the moment she reached the bottom of the stairs. “Aww! Look at you, Dagi! You have Aria sticking out of your hair!”

“Yeah,” Aria replied sarcastically. “I wonder how I possibly got in here.”

“Yeah, Sonata,” Adagio agreed with a tone of suspicion. “How did Aria get into my hair?”

Sonata gave them both another cringe-inducing smile. “Well, earlier when I came in and saw Aria sleeping on you, Dagi, I couldn’t help but take another picture. But then you started shifting about, so I picked him up and remembered back on how soft and poofy your hair was back when I was a little pony. So when you rolled over on your side, I set him down to rest in your hair, took another picture because it was just so cute, and then decided to leave you two alone in peace.”

“That doesn’t explain how I got tangled up inside of it,” Aria snapped and struggled in vain to break free before Adagio reached up and kept him still.

“Hmm,” Sonata pondered. “I don’t know. Maybe you sunk into it and got stuck?”

“Terrific,” Aria scowled until he felt Sonata’s arm reach around Adagio’s shoulder and pulling them both towards her as she pulled out her phone again.

“I can’t let this one pass up,” Sonata held her phone up enough to where all three were in the camera’s frame. “Okay now, smile~!”

She pressed the button and the phone went ‘click!’

She looked at the results and her face went starry-eyed. “Aww, isn’t this just precious~?” she showed her friends the photo; the picture showed Sonata smiling as wide as she possibly could, while in contrast, both Adagio and Aria had looks of pure grimace.

“Cute…” Adagio said sarcastically. “Now will you do us a favor and help get Aria out of my hair?”

“Okay!” Sonata chirped and followed Adagio to the couch. The poofy-haired Dazzling sat down, her little pony companion in tow, while their ditzy acquaintance got behind her and tried untangling the little one.

“Can you take care of the locks around my neck first,” Aria suggested. “It’s very uncomfortable right now.” He felt Sonata’s fingers carefully pulling and untangling the orange locks around his neck, before feeling relieved to have the pressure be lifted off of him. Sonata wanted to ask if she could use a pair of scissors, but she knew her friends who object to it, with Adagio not wanting her to cut off too much that would ruin her hairdo, and from Aria of not wanting her to accidentally hurt him.

“So much hair, Dagi,” Sonata spoke as she kept working. “Have you ever considered getting a haircut?”

“No,” Adagio answered nonchalantly. “Even if I did, Sonata, it will all just grow back the next day. Remember when you accidentally got part of your ponytail chopped off on that trip to the garbage dump?”

“Oh yeah,” Sonata smiled sheepishly before playfully bopping the side of her head and sticking her tongue back out. “It hurt back then too.”

Suddenly Aria felt himself slowly sinking back into Adagio’s hair, feeling like some kind of unknown force was pulling him in. His eye widened at the possibilities. “Adagio, does your hair like have a mind of its own or something?”

Adagio was surprised by the panicked tone Aria was making. “Uh, no? Why?” she reached up to touch his head when she felt him slowly being pulled away from her touch.

“It’s trying to eat me!” Aria cried and started struggling again, much to Adagio’s expense.

She grabbed hold of her hair in attempt to pry the area around the pony wide open. “Sonata, get him out of there right now!”

“I’m trying!” Sonata panicked as well. She was going as fast as she possibly could, trying to remove the strands and curled locks off of Aria’s body, albeit with a bit more force-enough to make Adagio wince more than once. “There, I think I got him!”

“Finally!” Adagio cried in relief. However, that was short-lived when Sonata lifted Aria up out of her hair; she felt a sudden tug that made her wince again. “Ouch! Is something still stuck?”

Aria looked back down to find a very tight knot formed out of a thick lock of Adagio’s hair and from his own tail. “It’s my tail! It’s caught in a knot!”

“Hey, that rhymed!” said Sonata, making him face… hoof-palm himself. “Okay, okay, I’ve just got to pull you out, that’s all.”

“Pull out?” Adagio asked in a worried tone. “Wait, Sonata, I don’t think that’s-AAH!” she gasped out loud from feeling a sudden hard tug on her hair, flaring up the nerves in her scalp. “Ow! What was that for, Sonata?!”

“Hold on, let me try again,” Sonata exclaimed.

“No, Sonata, you should-AAAH!” Adagio cried again from another hard tug, forcing her to her feet, which pulled Aria and Sonata closer in her direction. “Ow! Stop that!”

“No, I can do this!” Sonata gave another painful pull, yanking her friends closer to her. She back up over the couch, but Adagio resisted.

Aria was not fairing any better. “Sonata, this is not helping!”

“I said I got this!”

Soon all three went tumbling all over the couch and landing hard on the floor. Immediately Sonata was back on her feet and pulling on Aria, which in turn tugged on the knot, which in turn end up causing Adagio pain as the Dazzling leader felt herself being dragged across the floor. All three were grunting, cursing, yelling, screaming, and rambling at each other as they were pulling and dragging each other across the living room. Adagio managed to get back on her feet, but still felt being pulled, only for Sonata to quickly turn in a different direction, leaving the Dazzling leader to bump into the table.

“That’s it!” Adagio yelled painfully and reached back behind her, grabbing hold of the knot and then pulling it back in her direction.

“AAAAAAH!” Aria cried from Adagio’s pulled on his tail, sending the nerves on his backside into a frenzy. “Stop it, you two! I’m gonna-AAAAH!” he was cut off when Sonata pulled back, her hands holding him by just his front hooves now.

“No, I can do this!” Sonata pulled again, which made Adagio come tumbling towards her and together crashed into the shelves behind them.

“Let go this instant, Sonata Dusk!” Adagio yelled as she pulled Aria’s tail and they all tumbled onto the coffee table.

“No, you let go!” Sonata yelled back and pulled Aria forward, by extension, Adagio forward.

“Both of you let go! You’re hurting me!” Aria yelled between the two.

“Let go! Sonata!”

“Dagi!”

“Ow! Ah, stop it!”

“Idiot!”

“Meanie!”

“Toothpaste!”

“Cheese Puff!”

“You’re both gonna rip me in half!”

“LET GO!” all three yelled at the top of their lungs, drowning out a sudden tearing sound that made everything come loose; the knot was torn off and Sonata fell backwards, sending Aria flying across the living room towards the stairs and crashing into the wall.

Sonata sat up, rubbing her bottom, until she turned towards Aria moving slowly, groaning from the impact. She spotted a lock of orange hair wrapped up around his tail. She looked back to Adagio and said, “There, he’s out.”

Adagio, however, was on her knees, tears forming at her tightly shut eyes and her mouth hanging open from all of the pain she felt from their sudden tug-o-war. Her hands felt around the top-back of her hair, digging in to feel the very sore spot on the back where a small spot of hair was missing.

She turned to face Sonata with the most pained and angry look she could muster before letting out a disgruntled “OW!”

“You okay?”

“What is the matter with you?!” Adagio snapped at the ditzy woman.

Sonata held her hands up in response. “I thought you wouldn’t let me use a pair of scissors to cut your hair, so I decided to pull him out,”

“I would’ve made an exception if I knew you were going to do that!”

“Hello, what about me?!” shouted Aria from the stairs. “I’m the one who was stuck in the middle between you two and was thrown across the room and slammed into the frickin wall!”

“Enough!” Adagio snapped before standing up, hand still rubbing the back of her head. “Sonata, go somewhere else and do not cause anymore problems,”

Sonata didn’t say anything, but she did look a little upset, getting up and brushing her skirt off before making her way upstairs. She found Aria already on the second floor, recovered from his impact with the wall earlier. She noticed him freezing up in place, his little body shivering a little.

“What’s wrong, Aria?” she spoke. The little fuchsia pony looked away in attempt to avoid making eye contact with her. “Hey now, don’t look away,” she tried to make him look at her when she noticed his cheeks to flushing red. “What’s wrong?”

“Sonata, I…” Aria hesitated to speak, his face still red. “This… this isn’t, well, easy for me to say, but… I need your help,”

“My help? What do you need my help for?” Sonata asked, surprised by the fact that Aria of all people-er, ponies, would be asking her for help. She noticed Aria lowering his head to where he was looking straight down at the floor, and then muttered something under his breath. “Huh?”

Aria muttered again, a little louder than before, but Sonata still couldn’t hear it well enough. “Aria, you’ll have to speak louder. I, like, can’t hear you at all.”

“I said that I have to use the bathroom!” he burst out, his face becoming redder as a result.

Sonata blinked, silent for a moment, before her face formed a ‘what?’ kind of expression. “Why don’t you just go then?”

Aria sighed and put a hoof to his snout. “Really, you’re not the sharpest tool in the shed, Sonata. Think about it? You really think that I, in this body, can possibly go alone, by myself, without assistance, in a bathroom made for humans?”

Sonata thought it through before breaking out into a sheepish smile. “Oh… right,”

“So I need… help with going to the bathroom,” Aria said embarrassingly.

Sonata gritted her teeth at the thought of what that might entail. “Does this mean I’m gonna have to… watch you?”

“N-No!” Aria quickly answered, his face practically steaming now. “I j-just need you to help me prepare myself before I go. Afterwards, just close the door and wait until I’m done.”

“Oh, okay. I can do that!” she sighed in relief and picked her friend up to carry him to the hallway bathroom. After flipping the light switch on and lifting the toilet seat, she waited for Aria’s instructions.

“Okay…” Aria observed the situation, thinking of how to make this work. “Just place me on the edge of the toilet seat, and pull my tail up and around so that I can hold it in my lap,”

“Okie dokie,” Sonata chirped and set her little pony friend on the front edge of the toilet seat, but kept her hands close enough to Aria so that she could catch him if he slips while trying to find his balance. “You got it?”

“I think I do,” Aria replied, managing to find a place to feel the most stable and secure at. “Okay, now hand me some toilet paper.” Sonata tore off a fairly long enough piece and tucked it under Aria’s other hoof. “Okay, I think I got it. Now just close the door and wait outside,”

Sonata nodded and stood up and stepped out of the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Aria sighed, turning to look down at the inside of the toilet’s bowl. He knew that he had to be very careful, for one small mistake and he can easily slide back and fall in. “You can do this, Aria. Just don’t think about it, and do what you need to do.”

He slowed his breathing down, trying to make himself as calm as he possibly could. “Okay, here we go.”

He shut his eyes and did his business.

-

Downstairs, Adagio was busy cleaning up the living room after the ‘hairy’ tussle that just occurred earlier. She was glad that nothing fragile or expensive broke, though it did took her some time to get everything back in order with just one hand. She was using the other to keep a small bag of ice to the back of her head in attempt to cool down the sore, stinging spot where her lock was torn straight off her scalp.

“Sonata, I swear…” she growled to herself. She suspected that her toothpaste-haired companion was taking this whole Aria-is-now-an-adorable-pony business too far, him getting tangled up in her hair being the most evident. She had a feeling that if something is not done soon, she might go too far and someone might get hurt.

“But on the other hand,” Adagio looked up at the living room clock on the wall. “Yeah, I really should be going by now.” she said to herself. No doubt she has important business to attend to today, and she certainly didn’t have the time to baby sit the two idiots.

She took a step back to observe the living room, making sure that everything was back to where it was before. “Yep, good as new. Which means…” she pulled out her phone and searched through her list of numbers and selected a more peculiar one. Pressing the quick-call button and putting it up to her ear, it didn’t take long for her call to be answered.

“Gentry, you there? It’s me, Adagio. Are we still on today?” Adagio asked, and the heard the response from the person on the other end. “Good, good, shall we meet up at Chrissy Changeling’s Pizza Hive? Uh-huh? Yeah, I’m grabbing my coat right now. Okay, I’ll meet you there in about half an hour. Alright then, I’ll see you there, love-bug.”

She pressed the button and put her phone back in pocket. Opening the nearby closet, she took out and put on her fabulous purple winter coat, a pair of matching purple gloves, and a purple snow-cap. She nabbed herself a pen and a piece of paper and began writing down a note for Sonata and Aria to find. With quick breath, she grabbed her purse and set the note down at an easy spot for them to find. “I’m heading out, you two. Don’t burn the house down while I’m gone!”

“Okay!” Sonata called from upstairs.

“I mean it, Sonata,” Adagio warned the ditzy one as she opened the door to step out. She knew she had to get this important stuff done today, but a part of her felt that something was amiss.

'I just hope that I’m worrying over nothing.'

Author's Notes:

Holy cow did this chapter turned out a lot different than I thought it would!
This chapter was originally going to contain multiple scenes, but that hair scene at the beginning went on far too long than it should that it's practically its own chapter now!
Oh well, what's done is done. I guess I can just put the rest into the next chapter.
But what's this here at the end? Is there something ominous on the horizon for the next chapter?
What could it possibly be?