As the applause following Flashdrive's performance concluded, Rainbow turned toward the Dazzlings, particularly Sonata. "I think I heard something earlier about you getting bored by yourself? What do you guys usually do to kill time?"

Rarity almost made the mistake of commenting that they must have had plenty of that since the Battle, but she was sure she wasn't the only one thinking it. Instead, she listened quietly.

Adagio shrugged noncommittally. "Nothing of much interest, really. What about y-"

Pinkie beamed. "Oh, now you totally HAVE to tell us!" A few of the others nodded in agreement. Sunset Shimmer seemed to be hiding her eyes.

Resisting the urge to swear at the predicament she'd just gotten them into, Adagio wore a fairly convincing smile. For her, at least. "We've found all manner of means to pass the time over the years, but none really interested me in particular."

After this, perhaps they'll be just as obligated to share something themselves...

Aria took her cue, pantomiming use of a console controller. "You guys play games at all?"

Pinkie snapped her fingers, drawing a few bills from her skirt pocket and passing them to Fluttershy. Everyone else just stared in perplexed silence as Fluttershy rapidly shook her head. "I-I told you Pinkie, I wasn't serious!"

"A bet's a bet, Flutter-Butter, even if it's just three bucks!" Rarity cleared her throat, which sounded a bit like 'whatcha talkin' 'bout, Pinkie?' She answered accordingly. "I bet Fluttershy that Aria would be into shutting the door and booming beats all day and she said she'd probably be a little more like AJ and Dashie, killing time by pretend-killing tons of dudes sometimes!"

There was a brief, awkward silence as Fluttershy gingerly accepted her meager winnings.

"Anyway," chirped Sonata, nodding to her companions, "I'm not very good, but you should see these two play!"

Aria gave a little smile. Not a smirk, not an I-know-I'm-better-than-you grin, but a smile, if only for a minute. "It started the first time we walked into an arcade..."

To better utilize what their new domain had to offer, the sirens made a habit of going out to explore the area. Not being able to do so by flying above it was a pain in the feet, so they periodically ducked into random buildings to rest. One of their rest-stops was a peculiar place full of TVs set in large boxes, bizarre interior decorating with carpets that might well have been designed by Discord himself, and the smell of pizza thick in the air as what were mostly young men stood before the box-bound TVs.

The trio sat on a bench in silence as they took in the sights and sounds of the place, Aria's curiosity being the first to beat out her fatigue. "I'm gonna go take a look around."

Adagio nodded in silent approval of her underling's willingness to scout... things. Sonata just slumped, resting her head against Adagio's shoulder.

Walking around a little, Aria saw all manner of strange scenes unfolding on the TV screens, none looking anything like what the one in their hotel room had showed them. Blocky men broke blocks with their heads, incomplete circles collected dots in a maze, frogs died trying to cross roads and rivers, and more utterly outlandish scenarios. Truly, Starswirl had sent them to a place of madness. Was it because they were creatures of chaos? Did he think they'd just feel more at home here? Remembrance of what he'd taken from them boiled her blood, she wanted to hit something, she wanted to-

"Hey, uhh," came the voice of a young man in a backward baseball cap, "dunno if you're just sore 'bout somethin', but whack-a-mole's open."

She turned to look at him, lost. "What?"

He shrugged. "You look kinda steamed, girlie, so," offering her what she recognized as a quarter, he indicated a large box with five holes and a mallet on top, "maybe vent there?"

Tentatively accepting the money given without her or the others so much as humming a single tune, she approached the box as instructed. It only took her about thirty seconds to connect that the coin was to be inserted into the red slot marked '25¢' to start the process. She waited, some kind of mechanical music coming from the box as a row of zeroes lit up in red along the back edge of the thing. Before she could ponder their meaning, she was startled by the grinning face of a disfigured ground-rodent! Acting on instinct, she grabbed the mallet and brought it down on the creature's face!

There came a strange noise she couldn't begin to identify as the thing sank back into its hole, a number appearing where the zeroes had been. Trying to guess what it must have meant, Aria was again startled by a mole coming from a different hole! She smashed the hammer (which she noticed now was coated in some kind of foam) on the new hole-mole's head, sending it back to its dark chamber, but then another appeared! She kept swinging, more and more hole-moles jumping up and getting smacked back down. Some came and went before she could smite them, emitting what sounded like tinny laughter. While it was nice that they could be expected to deal with themselves, Aria didn't like being laughed at, and moved her swinging arm as fast as she could to punish as many of the freakish, reappearing faces as possible.

After a minute or two of frantic swinging, it stopped, a number several digits long blinking where the zeroes had been. Once more, she couldn't begin to guess the meaning, but out of a slot adjacent to the coin slot came a string of colorful paper. A new form of currency? How many did they have here? She had just torn it loose for inspection when she heard the sound of applause behind her. Whipping around, she saw the backwards-hat guy and a few others clapping for her, remarking on showing those moles who was boss and getting a pretty good score, whatever that meant.

For a number of reasons, Aria grinned.

"We spent the next few years trying to figure out what that place was about," Aria said with a vague arm motion, "going down to the arcade every so many weeks to figure out what everyone else was doing there without asking the question, had to blend in and all. Eventually we riddled out that it was all just for fun, maybe to win stuff with the tickets if you kept a bunch."

"Even then," offered Sonata, "most of that stuff was like, useless. Kinda funny, but useless."

Aria bit her tongue.

Twirling an orange lock around a finger, Adagio seemed almost abashed. "We didn't spend each and every day going out to feed on negative energy, people might have really started killing each other if we did. So, by the time we'd explored as far as we could reasonably get on foot, we'd realized that singing to those in charge of the hotel every week was slowly draining us of more power than we were getting back, leading us to invest in our own living space."

"And by then," guessed Sunset, "you decided you didn't want to start over in a new town every so often?"

"Part of it was that," Adagio answered with a nod, "part of it was not wishing to stray too far from the park we first landed in. For the first decade or so, we were convinced that if we were ever going to get home, the means to do so would be around here somewhere."

The Rainbooms collectively shared a panicked look, immediately realizing that the Dazzlings could still see them. They slowly turned as one, worry clear in all six sets of eyes..

The three collectively gave the six a tired look, Adagio the first to speak. "Oh, dear," she said in a dry monotone while crossing her arms, "I suppose you all must know a way we could have gotten back to Equestria. When we still had our magic. When it might have mattered. And doesn't anymore."

There was a long silence.

Rainbow scratched the back of her head. "You're not even gonna ask?"

Sonata let out a half-hearted giggle. "Nah."

"We were banished," Aria offered with a shrug, "even if we're able to go back at all, there's no guarantee we'd be allowed to roam free. Plus, it's been like thirty years, anything we'd have had over there is gone now. Not wanting to start over, remember?"

With the Rainbooms collectively stunned at this little revelation and the Dazzlings having nothing further to offer on the matter, neither group said anything.

Sunset was aware of perhaps a little more of the Dazzlings' situation than they were. She had learned from Twilight that over in Equestria, the time since their departure and her own had been a lot longer than thirty years, but she didn't have the heart to share that information. Not now, hopefully not ever.

They don't plan to go back anyway, right?

Then again, with the way they talked back when they first arrived and given that they'd lived here long enough to hear of the archaic vernacular used in much older works, maybe they already knew. Sunset couldn't decide if that was more or less tragic.

All nine girls were quiet, a heavy sense of dread rolling outwards onto other party guests, more and more of whom stopped what they were doing to witness the tense scene in the middle of the room. It wasn't quite silent, but definitely much quieter, the air a little thicker than it had been a minute ago.

Not noticing this just yet, Fluttershy smiled at the three Equestrian fugitives. "W-well, whatever it's worth, you're all more than welcome in this world now," she glanced around at her nearby friends, "right?"

As usual, Pinkie was the first to smile. "Yea! As long as all that-" she made the appropriate pantomimes, "-woosh-bang-zappy laser stuff is done, we're super-psyched to have you guys!"

Rainbow chuckled. "Heck, even that wouldn't be-" Applejack lightly pushed her head down before she could risk opening old wounds by implying anyone enjoyed fighting with anyone else, "-wouldn't be near as nice as just havin' yall around."

"Hear, hear," concurred Rarity with a smile, immediately joined by a voice across the room.

"Trixie also doesn't mind their presence!" Her arms were crossed and her chin was haughtily raised, but she was unmistakably smiling.

Flash Sentry was giving them a thumbs-up and a grin, Ringo nodding a little as the teal-haired boy smiled in kind, though he did so while standing partly behind Flash.

Others announced similar sentiments.

"You guys tell a neat story!"
"Can ya tell the pool one again?"
Smack!
"Feel free to swing by CHS some time!"

Voices not directly aimed at the trio were a little quieter.

"The siren gals are pretty chill now, I guess."
"They're so cute!"
"And apparently not evil anymore!"
"Yea! That's kinda important."
"Guess they pulled a Shimmer after all."

Hearing this, the Dazzlings looked around the room in quiet surprise. Sharing quick, unsure glances, they hesitantly smiled, not sure if this meant the plan was working, or if not being hated as they'd first assumed they'd be was just an added bonus.

Even with the variety of happy expressions going around as people got back to chatting ordinarily, no one in the room was smiling wider than Sunset Shimmer. Just as she'd hoped, the Dazzlings making themselves scarce for a good, long while after their attack, where she didn't, made a lot of difference for the other kids in terms of cool-down time.

Probably helps that those three didn't torment anyone for ye-

Now was no time to think about that, the Dazzlings were in! Next, she just had to see them form real bonds with someone and they'd be set!

Any of them getting a little closer to Sunset herself would be nice, actually, it didn't really feel like she could say they were friends yet. Maybe it wouldn't happen tonight, but there'd be time to do more than hope it did later.

"So," Pinkie picked up, "do you guys still play? A lotta stuff's changed since the arcade days."

"Yea," answered Aria with a chuckle, "no kidding. You didn't see a lotta hundred-hour-long eastern RPGs back then."

Sonata clasped her hands together and smiled. "I like those!"

Aria stage-whispered to the girls sitting across from them. "They're the only ones she's good at."

Sonata weakly shoved her. "The stories are worth sticking around for! Besides, We can't all be like you and Dagi, or there'd be nobody to be everybody else!"

Ignoring the nonsensical sentiment, Rainbow smiled, looking particularly at Adagio. "Wouldn't have pegged you for a pro."

Snapping out of thoughts of how easily the Rainbooms were getting her cohorts friends to talk and how that could be reversed, Adagio blinked twice, trying not to blush as it was clear she'd been caught off-guard. "Sorry, what?"

Aria's arms were crossed, but she wore what might have been a prideful smirk while nodding to Adagio. "You're looking at the girl who beat Superior Primate Spheres 2 in one sitting."

Pinkie was the only one who seemed to recognize that title, recalling its' increasingly obnoxious difficulty. "One sitting?!"

"Oh, that." Adagio shrugged. "Half the time all I had to do was accelerate straight ahead, and sometimes the environmental hazards batted me straight to the goal-post."

Sonata tilted her head. "Yea, but you missed a LOT of bananas."

"Woe is me," deadpanned Adagio, "banana-less."

"Poor hungry monkeys." Frowning, she tried to remember that they were only virtual monkeys, and were only virtually starving to death in the face of their leader's cold indifference to virtual banana shortages.

Applejack chuckled, nudging Rainbow. "Lookit that, someone who can win without showboatin' about it."

"Pfft," retorted Rainbow with her usual eloquence, "yea, right now, bet it's a way different story right after she wins at something."

At this, the Dazzlings slowly turned to look at each other, Sunset sure they were reaching some kind of quiet, split-second consensus.

Huh. How long will it be before I know someone well enough to do that?

Adagio shook her head a little, turning back to answer Rainbow in a calm monotone.

Just say it. You have nothing to lose.

"Would you believe that 'winning' doesn't interest us in the slightest? That it never did? It's the not the show, not the title, not even a mark in history we ever pursued, it was the applause that came with it. What we did to your school had nothing to do with any kind of victory, per se, it was for the sake of being recognized, of being adored. I suppose our first song may have painted a different picture, but we'd have said, sang, anything to reach that end."

Aria and Sonata only offered affirmative nods.

Rarity frowned a little. "You surely realize that there's a difference between lauded with praise and forcing it out of people?"

Raising an eyebrow, some measure of feeling (annoyance) returned to Adagio's voice. "Is there? People offer such sentiments when they feel something warrants it, the same is true of most any response. I should hope it needs no explaining that reaction does not occur without an initial action? If someone thanks you for offering them an umbrella in the rain, did you force them to do so?"

Sunset Shimmer didn't force us to talk the other day, I just don't know how she coaxed that reaction.

"Our manipulations were just that; manipulation, never absolute control."

Speaking up just loudly enough to be heard, Fluttershy looked surprised. "Is that really what you were doing? I-I thought it was your spell that got everyone to fight."

"Technically true," Adagio said with a soft sigh, "I don't know how you think our magic used to work, but we never influenced anyone's behavior to do what they'd have never done otherwise. Every argument, every harsh word, every thrown punch, every clapping pair of hands... all of it was there before they heard us sing. Our voices, in performance just as much as in inhibition-nullifying magic, just brought it all to the surface."

"Wait a tic," interjected Applejack, "Ah thought y'all brain-washed them hotel people to let'cha stay?"

Now there was a little smile. "In part. After everyone involved with that building had seen Sonata's routine," said siren smiled proudly, "they had at least a small desire to let her, and consequently all three of us, live there free of charge. Preying on that and composing a stanza to bring it out, it wasn't long before all we had to do was hum the tune from week to week." That they weren't bringing in enough negative energy to even break even with humming was a shame that didn't need voicing at the time.

Aria shrugged. "For anyone we'd sung to recently, just holding a note was usually enough to warm up the spell again, as long as the feeling we were banking on was still there." The little song they threw together to snare the sisters in charge of CHS played on how much they wanted to do something good for the student body and some very sneakily-worded lyrics.

Crossing her arms, Adagio's smile faded. "Think about it, if all we had to do was sing to outright control people, would it have made sense to do more than let out a few notes of-" she sing-songed for effect, "'hey eve-ry-one, ar-gue~!' and immediately reap the rewards?"

She waited, practically able to hear the dismissals and denials already, the assertions that no, none of them would ever be so vitriolic, so susceptible to being so unpleasant on their own, proof that the Anon-a-Miss incident was already forgotten. None came. The Rainbooms frowned, trading glances and apologetic looks, (Sunset Shimmer just looked worried) but not a word of against any of her assertions was spoken.

"Well," Applejack said ruefully, "Ah reckon that makes sense."

The Dazzlings collectively blinked twice, Sonata the only one to reply verbally. "For realzies?"

Pinkie pouted a little. "Your songs didn't affect us, but we argued anyway, right?" She scratched her head, a candy cane falling out of her hair as she did so. "Why didn't it work on us, anyway?"

Aria shrugged. "If we knew that, don't you think we'd have tried to find a way around it?"

Something in Adagio wasn't satisfied, making her push a button a little harder than before. "They did start fighting, as I recall," she pondered aloud, taking up a thoughtful pose with a hand on her chin, "but that they could snap out of it, as no one else did, means we were never in complete-no, actually, I don't know if even that much was us." Her tone neutral, she tilted her head while looking over the Rainbooms as a whole. "Does that summarize it well enough? We got more power out of you girls than the entire rest of the school combined, not through force, but just what you had to offer at your worst."

To the Dazzlings' collective shock, the first reply was not indignant outrage, not contrition or signs of self-hatred, but a chuckle from Applejack. "Yea, we were pretty rotten."

Rainbow playfully nudged her, smirking. "Thanks."

Pinkie giggled. "We were kinda a gaggle of grumps, huh?"

Judging by her amused grin, not even Rarity was upset. "Ohh, dreadfully so."

"I-in fact," offered Fluttershy, whose giggles said she was over it too, "I think the only ones who didn't get angry were Twilight and Sunset."

The newest Rainboom smiled proudly. "And it's all in the past now. Doesn't do any good to dwell, right?"

Affirmative nods and little exclamations of agreement only baffled Adagio further, unable to grasp how the group could be so calm about having their failure rubbed in their faces... Maybe because they got what they wanted in the end? Was there a formula to it? She felt lost, not seeing any sign that Aria or Sonata understood any better.

Once the group's giggles died down, Rainbow looked at the Dazzlings and smiled. "So, what else do you guys do for fun?"

Sonata was the first to recover, smiling. "I like Japanese cartoons!"

Searching her memory, Sunset scratched her head. "The stuff with the spiky hair and giant robots?"

Fluttershy shivered lightly. "Oh, those can get so... v-violent..." Rarity gently pat her on the shoulder, certain the scars would heal some day.

Giggling, Sonata nodded. "Yep, it gets pretty wacky sometimes, but not all of it is really weird!"

This time, Aria didn't stop herself, smirking only a little bit. "You would know."

Sonata put her hands on her hips, making a less-than-emphatic scowl. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Aria leaned over to whisper in her ear. "I've seen the room, Sonata."

The blue girl paled, forcing a wide, sheepish smile as the rest of those seated nearby gave her curious looks. "Ah, w-well, I could go for some punch, anybody else? No? 'Kay, great, bye!" And off she went to the punch bowl. She didn't know where that was, specifically, but how hard could it be to find?

This left eight girls in awkward silence until Pinkie stood up too. "Aaaaalrighty! I think we've all been sitting around long enough, this is a party! So let's paaaaaaar-" She vanished in a burst of light and confetti. Trixie glanced in the group's direction from across the room and nodded approvingly, though it was hard to gauge if anyone really noticed.

This left seven girls in awkward silence until Applejack scratched her chin. "Ah think Ah get it. Confetti. Par, confet-TI. Par-ty."

Rainbow rolled her eyes, smiling. "Don't explain the joke. C'mon, let's go see if Thunderlane managed to get out of babysitting duty after all." She and Applejack stood up, looking at Aria and Adagio. "Great talking to you guys, seeya around!"

Rarity giggled. "Suppose we really should be spreading out a bit." She looked straight at Adagio and smiled just a little wider than seemed necessary. "Would you mind accompanying me for a little while? There's something I'd like to show you."

Still faintly dazed by the reaction she got moments ago, Adagio stared numbly back at her for a few seconds. "...What?"

"I'm asking you to come with me for a spe-I mean-short time." She clasped her hands, face hopeful. "I think you'll like it!"

Glancing to Aria and Sonata and only finding one of them, Adagio's brain finally caught up with the situation. Most importantly, she remembered the plan and nodded, getting to her feet. "Um, yes, certainly. Where?"

Quickly standing up, Rarity seized Adagio by a wrist and gently pulled her along, grinning brightly. "Right this way, please!"

There was only a split second of eye-contact between Aria and Adagio, but by the little hint of panic in her eyes, Aria got the impression their leader was ad-libbing again. Not that she blamed her, something was off about these girls, which was why she didn't want to be left alone against two of them. She stood up. "Well, guess I'll wander a bit too, talk to people, make sure Sonata's not setting the place on fire, that kinda thing."

Despite her rapidly snowballing worries about the odds of disaster with the Dazzlings splitting up and covering more ground, Sunset smiled. "Enjoy the party!"

I'll just have to move around and keep an eye on them, make sure nothing happens.

Standing up the moment Aria was out of sight, she turned to look at Fluttershy. "Will you be okay here by your-"

She was gone. Glancing around with a hint of a sheepish smile, Sunset silently hoped nobody saw her talking to herself, stood up, and walked off to see if she could find where Rarity went with Adagio. Or if Sonata found the punch bowl. Or, whatever Aria might be getting up to.

This, might be a long night.

Author's Notes:

Gamer Aria might be a little overdone, but it just fits too well. Mass head-canons exist for a reason, I guess!

On that note, I hate it when I have to establish a detail in a story only for the full significance not to pay off until much later. HATE.

But that's still what happened here, a bit.