Adagio slowly pushed open the door to the Razzle Dazzle some five hours later, walking gingerly across the club floor to her apartment. She shuddered as she made her way up the stairs and into her home, laying herself down on the sofa as she stared up at the ceiling.

“Ugh,” she winced, her voice echoing in her own head from the silence around her. She wanted to throw up. Wanted to scrub herself clean. Wanted to pass out and never wake up again.

‘Now that I think about it, was it really worth it?’ said the hateful little angel on her shoulder.

‘I swear I’m going to wring you alive if you start now...’ Adagio growled as she picked up the phone.

‘What are you doing?’

“I want a cheeseburger, I’m ordering a cheeseburger,” Adagio growled, “Don’t give me that shit about my figure, one cheeseburger isn’t going to kill me.”

“Mommy?” came Sonata’s voice from her bedroom.

Adagio jerked her head up. She was a wreck, both physically and mentally. She couldn’t let Sonata see her like this, “Stay in bed, sweetie!”

“...Mommy? Are you okay?” Sonata called out worriedly.

“Yes! Mommy’s fine. Just… stay in bed,” Adagio called back.

There were hushed whispers coming from the bedroom now, before the door opened and Aria came out.

“Ada...sorry, Mom?” Aria spoke up, coming toward her, “Everything all right?”

“Yes, you should be in bed too,” Adagio said firmly between making her order on the phone.

“Are you kidding? Sonata’s worried sick about you right now and I’m not even sure what to think,” Aria sighed.

“Well I’m fine,” Adagio said briskly as she hung up the phone, “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to take a shower, and then puke my guts out,” she said, swiftly stepping around Aria and locking herself in the bathroom.

“...Damn it,” Aria swore. She sighed heavily, going back to the bedroom and closing the door, “Afraid she’s not budging.”

“Didn’t think so,” Sonata murmured, fiddling with her hair a little bit, “I just hope Mommy’s going to be okay.”

“We don’t even know where she went, let alone what she did to put herself in that state,” Aria sighed as she heard the shower start to run.

“I know she doesn’t have to go through us to do things, but…” Sonata sighed, lying back on the bed, “It’s like when she tells us to at least let her know where we’ll be and when we’ll be back.”

Aria nodded, “She must have had a good reason… she sounds like she just went through hell…”

“I know… She must have,” Sonata agreed, “Mommy has her moments, but I never saw her like this before.”

Aria rolled over and wrapped her arms around Sonata’s waists, “Yeah… whatever happened must have fucked her up…”

In the bathroom, Adagio stood in the shower frantically scrubbing herself clean. She was disgusted with herself. As much as she may have had good intentions, all she could see in her mind was Filthy Rich lying over her. Cringing, she covered her loufa in another layer of body wash and scrubbed herself down a third time.

“Ugh, I just want to scream,” she shuddered.

‘Well, way to go. You are now officially a sell-out slut.’

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Adagio gagged.

‘You seriously love your girls THAT much. Admirable, but still. Come on. Let’s be real. Would they even think to do that? Selling their bodies for money?’

“Sona said she once considered running away and doing just that,” Adagio said as she scrubbed between her legs.

‘Yeah, but that was for her to survive on her own. You could’ve lived just fine if you got your girls and employees ten dollar boxes of chocolates each. Not real original or much thought, but it’s not life-threatening.’

“You know what?” Adagio said as she scrubbed harder, “I feel like shit right now. I’m on the verge of throwing up and I want to shoot myself. But once they all open their christmas presents, it’ll all have been worth it.”

‘Okay then, whatever you say.’

Adagio rinsed herself off and stepped out of the shower. Picking up her dress with the handle of her loufa, she gingerly dropped it in the trash before she wrapped a towel around her torso and her hair, stepping out of the bathroom and back into the warmth of her living room, collapsing onto the sofa.

After a little while, uncertain of how much time had passed, a small sound was heard. When she opened her eyes, Aria and Sonata were standing in front of the couch. Both of them looked at her, clearly trying to keep themselves composed, but there was clear worry in their eyes. Sonata then got down onto all fours, crawled to the couch, and opened her arms up in an offering to hug her. Adagio beckoned her in, smiling softly as Sonata eagerly dove in and wrapped her arms tightly around her neck.

Kissing the top of her head, Adagio smiled and nuzzled her hair, “Oh sweetheart… Mommy’s sorry she yelled…”

“It’s okay,” Sonata murmured, nuzzling her and holding tightly to her, “I still love you, Mommy.”

Adagio’s smile widened as she cuddled Sonata tighter, “Mommy missed you tonight…”

“We missed you too, Mommy,” Sonata murmured softly, kissing her cheek.

“Yeah…” Aria agreed, sitting next to them on the couch, “So… need anything else?”

Adagio looked up as she snuggled Sonata close to her chest, “No… Mommy just wants to take her girls to bed. She’s tired.”

“Okay then, Ma,” Aria stretched a bit, “Looks like we’ll go off to bed.”

Adagio yawned as she stood up, hoisting Sonata onto her lap as she carried her back into their bedroom. Laying Sonata down onto the bed, Adagio dropped her towels and climbed into bed, beckoning the other two to cuddle up with her. Within moments, the two girls obliged as they snuggled up on either side of her.

“Feel better, Ma?” Aria asked.

Adagio nodded, “Mmhmm… Mommy loves you girls.”

“We love you too, Ma,” Aria yawned a bit and nuzzled her.

“Always!” Sonata cooed, kissing her cheek.

Adagio cooed as she snuggled down between them, holding each under one arm.

“So… word around the club is you porked Filthy Rich last night,” Sunset smirked as Adagio came around the bar.

“Word around the club is wrong,” Adagio said briskly, “And if word continues to go around the club, whoever’s spreading the word will be fired.”

Sunset glanced at her, then nodded, “Well, I didn’t say the source was right. Just that… yeah. I don’t even know who started it.”

“Good,” Adagio said, coming up behind Sunset and patting her between the legs, “Anyway, how’s the bar doing this afternoon?”

“It’s doing fine,” Sunset shuddered slightly, proceeding to mix another drink, “I sold a whole lot of the new mix you came up with. Everyone loves it!”

“That’s good,” Adagio smiled, glancing at one of the customers seated on the other side of the bar, who was about to drink from her glass. Adagio’s eyes shot open as she looked at the customer’s drink. The glass was tinted green.

“Whoa, sweetie!” she exclaimed, reaching forward and grabbing her arm, “Don’t drink from that, someone’s spiked it.”

The woman was surprised, then looked at her drink, seeing the colour, and sighed with relief, “Whew. Thank you! I was so distracted, it’s a good thing you told me.”

Adagio took her glass from her and poured it out, “Sunset will fix you a new one. I’ll go over the security camera and figure out who it was.”

“Thank you again,” the customer smiled gratefully.

“Coming right up!” Sunset immediately went to work on preparing the same drink with expert finesse and flair.

“That’s my girl,” Adagio smiled, giving Sunset’s rear a slap as she turned to the security room, “Night Shade, go over the footage for the last hour and get me an identifiable still of whoever spiked this young lady’s drink.”

The guard in the security room nodded as he started to run back through the footage. Adagio returned to the bar, where the customer had a fresh drink and Sunset was stowing the contaminated glass in the sanitizer, “That was a close one.”

“I’ll say it was,” Sunset agreed, wiping the sweat across her forehead, “Jeez, that’s the… third time this month.”

“Somebody’s getting a little bold,” Adagio said, pursing her lips, “Somebody thinks they can toy with my patrons. Somebody’s about to get a swift wake-up call.”

“I sure hope so. I’m sick of practically throwing money away just because someone thinks roofies are a surefire way of getting laid,” Sunset rolled her eyes.

“Mistress Adagio?” Night Shade said as he approached from behind, “I have that still.”

Adagio took the photo from him to see a black and white still of a patron who already had a bad habit for causing trouble, “Thank you. Call the police and tell them I have a patron who is in possession of illegal drugs.”

“Yes ma’am!”

Sunset glanced at the photo and made a face, “I should’ve known! How did I miss that?”

“We all make mistakes, Sunny,” Adagio sighed, “No harm was done this time.”

“At least,” Sunset nodded, and stretched, “I better get back to work, new customer at the end of the bar,” she gave a grin, then walked over to the other end to take the customer’s order.

Adagio nodded, eyeing Sunset’s backside as she served the new customer and waited for the police to arrive. When they did, the drugging patron had put up quite a resistance. He turned out to be quite the wiry one, as he constantly slipped out of the police officer’s grip as well as the bouncers until Adagio had to step in and subdue him. Once he was gone, Adagio took notice that all of her dancers breathed sighs of relief. Smiling to herself, she returned to the bar and brought her arms around Sunset’s waist.

“That was really awesome,” Sunset grinned, reaching back and patting her arm.

“Thank you,” she smiled, kissing Sunset’s cheek as she nuzzled her, “Did you hear that my club is going to receive an award?”

“An award, huh? Cool! What’s the award?” Sunset asked with a grin.

“Apparently, I am Equestria’s highest rated employer,” Adagio grinned, kissing along Sunset’s neck.

“Awww, that’s fantastic!” Sunset giggled, nuzzling her hair, “Not to mention so true!”

Adagio wheeled Sunset around and grinned as she leaned in and kissed her, her hands rubbing Sunset’s back as she lifted her onto the bar. All too used to this, as well as delighted, Sunset kissed her back and brought her arms about her torso eagerly. A few whoops and giggles sounded from the patrons sitting at the bar, also delighted by this.

Adagio giggled as she pulled back, “Remember when you were nervous about that?”

“How could I forget?” Sunset giggled also, kissing her cheek, “Hard to believe I ever was, though!”

Adagio purred and nibbled down her neck, “And you wouldn’t want to work anywhere else now, would you?”

“Never,” Sunset smiled brightly, stroking her curls, “I’m working here until I retire. This is the best job I’ve ever had.”

“Wonderful,” Adagio purred as she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. Pulling it out, she saw that it was her contact for her little christmas gift for her girls, “Excuse me…”

“Who’s Mommy’s precious girl?” Adagio cooed as she cuddled Sonata in her lap.

“Me!” Sonata giggled, nuzzling her cheek and grinning. “I am! Little Sona-baby is Mommy’s precious girl!”

“Yes you are!” Adagio grinned, nuzzling Sonata’s nose, “Little Sona-baby is Mommy’s little girl! And who loves Mommy’s little girl?”

“You, Mommy!” Sonata laughed, playing with her hair.

Adagio grinned and kissed Sonata’s cheek, “Yes, Mommy loves her little Sona-baby!”

“You two are disgusting,” Aria gagged.

Adagio stuck her tongue out at Aria in disapproval.

“Maybe we are!” Sonata stuck her tongue out back, “But you love it! You know you do!”

“Uh-huh,” Aria rolled her eyes, “Keep telling yourself that, Sona-baby,” she paused upon saying this, “Oh dammit! Now I'm doing it too!”

Adagio chuckled, “Aw, don’t fight with your sister, Sona-baby,” she teased, kissing Sonata’s cheek.

“Yes, Mommy,” Sonata kissed her cheek back and giggled.

“Eh, to be fair, sometimes people think Sonata and I are sisters if we go places,” Aria snorted, “I’ve had to start PDA just to make it clear.”

“Yep!” Sonata laughed, clapping, “No complaints here!”

Adagio chuckled, “Oh I would pay to see that,” she teased, gently patting Sonata’s rear.

Aria snorted, giving a shrug, “Knock yourself out. You can follow us with a camera. You’ll just have to make sure you don’t tell us when you’re doing it. Gotta make it candid.”

Adagio chuckled as she kissed down Sonata’s neck, “Oh I will,” she purred.

“Mmmm…” Sonata giggled, angling her head this way and that, “Sounds sooooo fun!”

Adagio lifted up and softly kissed Sonata’s cheek, “...I love you, sweetheart. Mommy loves you so much…”

“I love you too, Mommy,” Sonata cuddled more against her happily, “How many bunches?”

“Enough to fill twelve acres of farmland,” Adagio smiled, stroking Sonata’s ponytail.

“Yay!” Sonata squeed, kissing her face.

“I’ve got one my grandmother used to use,” Aria said, looking over at Sonata.

“Ooh! What is it?”

“A million and one for under your pillow,” Aria sat back in her chair, reading her magazine.

“Aww yeah! I remember now!” Sonata giggled, “Good, now you can give me that one!”

Aria facepalmed, “Riiiight, sure.”

“Oh you two,” Adagio giggled, kissing Sonata’s cheek as the two of them cuddled on the sofa, “Whatever is Mommy going to do with you?”

“Same things you do every night, Ma. Lots of lovemaking and being a sexy motherly lady,” Aria replied.

“Oooh, Mommy likes the way you think, Ari-baby,” Adagio smirked as she nuzzled Sonata’s hair.

“Just stating a fact…” Aria blushed and pouted.

“Mm-hmm!” Sonata giggled, nuzzling Adagio’s cheek, “Sounds good to me!”

“Me too,” Adagio purred, “Just not right now. Mommy’s enjoying her snuggles.”

“Me too,” Sonata agreed and played with her curls, “Sona-baby’s enjoying her snuggles, she doesn’t want to move!”

“Aria is wondering why everyone around her is speaking in third-person,” Aria said dryly.

“Because it’s cute,” Adagio stuck her tongue out at Aria.

“Sona-baby once again refers to her previous statement of the fact that you know you love it!” Sonata grinned.

Aria stuck her tongue out back at them, “Bite me, you candy crushers.”

“Oh she loves it alright,” Adagio chuckled, looking down at the way Aria was seated.

“Candy crushers?” Sonata laughed, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Don’t know,” Aria shrugged, “Gimme a few hours to think about it.”

“You’ll think clearer if you turn your plug off,” Adagio giggled, kissing Sonata’s cheek as she snuggled her closer.

Aria looked up, then rolled her eyes. She reached under herself, cringed, and then pulled something from under her skirt. Taking the plug, she placed it next to her on a readied towel on the table, and went back to her magazine.

Adagio giggled, “I meant turn it off, I didn’t say take it out,” she grinned as Sonata nuzzled her neck.

“I’ve had my fill, you just didn’t hear me,” Aria crossed her legs.

“...What,” Sonata blinked, “Okay, I know you can be quiet, but there’s no way you came in the last five minutes!”

“My my, someone certainly is quiet,” Adagio purred, “So, does it fit nicely?”

“Oh yeah,” Aria nodded, reading her magazine still, “I just have to move every now and then, and I can’t keep it in too long.”

Adagio smiled as she kissed Sonata’s head, “That’s good. When Sonata got her vibrator, she went a little overboard with it. Probably determined to get my money’s worth, the poor widdle thing.”

Sonata pouted a little, “It hurt and chaffed if I left it in there too much… I left it in there for a few hours.”

“Well, the vagina is a mucus membrane, there are limits,” Aria pointed out.

“Yeah… good thing we went to the ER,” Sonata pouted a little more.

Adagio snickered as she nuzzled Sonata’s cheek, “Aw, poor baby,” she cooed as she ran her finger down the small of Sonata’s back, “That was an embarrassing trip to the doctor, wasn’t it?”

Aria whistled, “Are you kidding me? She didn’t tell the nurse what was going on she was so embarrassed!”

“It’s not easy to tell the doctors that you’re in there ‘cause of sex…” Sonata pouted.

“Yeah, but they’ve heard everything,” Aria pointed out, “They’re not going to judge you. They need to know in order to help you.”

“It was still embarrassing!” Sonata shook her head, “The vibrator was stuck after a while.”

Adagio giggled, kissing Sonata’s cheek, “Oh yeah? Remember what the nurse told me? “Ms Dazzle, if you could just satisfy your girlfriend, this sort of thing wouldn’t happen.’”

“Noooo! It wasn’t true!” Sonata whimpered, “I just wanted constant stimulation…”

“You being perpetually horny? Now there’s an idea I can get behind,” Adagio purred as she patted Sonata’s rear.

Aria snorted, “Perpetually horny Sonata? Yeah, put her in a mountain of tacos while you’re at it. Why not just get a clitoral piercing?”

Sonata squeaked and her hands dove down to her crotch to cover herself, “No no no no no no no no! I don’t want a piercing anywhere that’s not my ears! ...And maybe my belly button.”

“Hey, I’m the reason she loves tacos in the first place,” Adagio smirked, “And don’t worry, Sona-baby. Nobody’s going to pierce anywhere on your body.”

Sighing with relief, Sonata nuzzled her, “That’s good, I don’t want any more.”

“How’d you get her coo-coo for taco puffs?” Aria asked, looking up from her magazine.

“That’s how we met,” Adagio shrugged, “I offered to buy her lunch since she was under the weather and took her to a Taco Bell. Sweetheart’s been hooked on them ever since.”

“I never had tacos before and they were soooo good!” Sonata squealed, giggling.

“I see…” Aria noted this with a nod, then went back to reading.

Adagio gently patted Sonata’s rear as she snuggled her closer, “Yup. I just love to spoil my babies.”

“If I find a new glitzy car in the driveway with a giant bow on it, I’m taking the bow off and smacking you with it,” Aria quipped, hiding her smile.

“Aw, does that mean I should return the Corvette?” Adagio asked with a pout.

Sonata laughed, as did Aria.

“Oh Mommy, you’re funny!” Sonata giggled.

Adagio giggled and rubbed Sonata’s rear in small circles, “But I do have a little surprise next week,” she grinned.

“Uh-oh,” Aria blinked.

“What Uh-oh?” Adagio pouted.

“I think she gets nervous when you spoil us. She’s not used to it,” Sonata smiled.

“Aw, Mommy’s gonna break through that little wall,” Adagio purred, giving Aria a little smile.

Aria raised an eyebrow, “Gonna break through that little wall?”

“Give it a little while, and you’ll love it when Mommy showers her girls with presents,” Adagio giggled.

“O-kay then, Ma,” Aria shrugged.

“Yay!” Sonata cheered, “Being spoiled is fun. Oooh, and we have something special for you, too, Mommy!”

“We do?” Aria looked up, and caught Sonata’s gestures, “Oh! Oh, yeah! Yeah, we do!”

Adagio looked surprised, “For me? Oh sweethearts, you didn’t have to do that,” she smiled, kissing Sonata’s head.

“Hey, we love you and we want to give you something, too!” Sonata smiled.

“Yeah, definitely,” Aria agreed, “I know we don’t have to, but hey. We definitely want to.”

“Oh my, you two are absolutely lovely,” Adagio smiled brightly, squeezing Sonata’s shoulders tighter, “What did you do?”

“Nothing…” Sonata grinned toothily.

“Oh, am I not going to find out until Christmas?” Adagio asked with a purr.

“Nope, not until Christmas,” Aria shook her head.

“Ah, okay then,” Adagio smiled as she gently nibbled Sonata’s ear, “What do you two want for supper?”

Sonata opened her mouth, but Aria shook her head.

“If you say tacos, this magazine is going for your face,” Aria quipped.

Sonata pouted, “I was going to say I want Mommy’s homemade pizza.”

“Well then Pizza it is,” Adagio purred as she glanced out the window to the bar below, “Hmm… how would you girls feel about Sunset joining us for dinner?”

“Sure,” Aria nodded, “No objections here.”

“That’d be nice!” Sonata agreed.

“Alright. Sona, you go invite her, I’m gonna start cooking,” Adagio smiled as she and Sonata both sat up.

Sonata nodded and headed downstairs to the club, going over to Sunset, “Hey! Sunny Bunny!”

“Hey Sonata,” Sunset smiled, looking up from her work, “How’s it going?”

“Goodie! So listen, we wanted to invite you up for dinner!” Sonata grinned, “Mommy’s making her special homemade pizza!”

Sunset looked surprised for a minute, and then smiled, “Sure! I’d love to. What time?”

“About… forty-five minutes or so? Mommy just started cooking!” Sonata said with a nod, “It’ll be ready by then!”

Sunset nodded, giving Sonata a kiss to her cheek, “Sure, I’ll be up then. I’ll let Vinyl take a bar shift.”

“Okies!” Sonata kissed her cheek back, then went upstairs. She came back into the apartment, seating herself on Aria’s lap, “She said she’d come up!”

“Oof! Great…” Aria winced, bringing her arms around Sonata’s waist.

“Sowwy,” Sonata pouted, bringing her arms around her, “I went down too fast, didn’t I?”

“Just a bit,” Aria smiled weakly, “You have a bony butt.”

“Oh…” Sonata pouted more, snuggling her, “I’ll make it more squishy for you…”

“How on earth do you plan to do that?” Aria asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“...Eat more treats?” Sonata blinked, “Make my bum all squishy from it?”

“So instead of being bony, you’ll just be heavier?” Aria asked, “Talk about sidestepping a pothole only to trip off the curb.”

Sonata pouted a little, “I could be a bit bottom-heavy…”

Aria chuckled and nuzzled Sonata’s cheek, “I know, I’m just teasing. But seriously, don’t do something like that just because of me.”

“I won’t,” Sonata nuzzled her cheek back, laying her head on her shoulder, “I just don’t want to hurt you.”

“Aw I’ll be fine,” Aria smiled, kissing Sonata’s cheek, “Don’t you worry about me.”

“Okay,” Sonata giggled, smiling more, “Love you, Ari!”

“I love you too, Sona.” Next Chapter: Case of the Gimmies Estimated time remaining: 6 Hours, 9 Minutes