"Grr!" Aria growled as she plopped down on the couch in the Dazzling's living room. "I fucking hate detention!"

"Look at it this way." Adagio said as she sat down next to her. "Our punishment could have been worse if those two principals didn't factor losing our powers as part of our it. At least its all done now. All three delightful months of it!"

"I guess." Aria replied. "Well, at least a few of the kids are actually tolerable. Those Rainbooms are actually treating us like normal people. Wish the other 98% of the school would do the same."

"Yeah. It is nice to have a few people not mock us or ridicule us for not being able to sing anymore." Adagio replied as she looked over on the end table. On the edge of it sat what was left of her necklace, minus the shards of the broken crimson jewel.

"So what do we do now?" Aria asked. "I swear if I hear one more person call me tone deaf, I'm gonna strangle them until their face turns as blue as Sonata's!"

"Hmm... I'm not sure. It would be nice to have a magic reset button to just go back to before I even saw that surge of Equestrian magic. But since those don't exist, I suppose we could always just leave this school, go to a new one and start over with a clean slate."

"Sounds good to me." Aria said as she put her feet up. She then looked around the room, wondering why it was so quiet. "Speaking of nice, its finally quiet in here. Where's Sonata?"

"Oh I sent her to the grocery store a little while ago to get some ingredients for supper."

"Did you give her a list?"

"Of course I did."

"Well, hopefully she doesn't get stuff just to make tacos like she did last time. Now then..." Aria said as she turned on the tv. "Lets see whats on."

Sonata pushed her cart down the aisles of the grocery store. She glanced at the list as she grabbed every item that was written on it. "Why does Dagi want all of this stuff?" She thought to herself as she walked along. Most of the items were normal things like bread, milk, pop, and some pizza sauce, but a few items struck Sonata as odd. "A jar of pickles, some bananas, three cans of whipped cream. What the heck does she need these for? It doesn't make sense." Upon gathering everything that was on the list, she made her way towards the front of the store. She looked down for a moment to see if she had everything until she felt her cart bump into something. The sound of papers falling onto the floor soon followed. "Oops. My bad." Sonata said after looking up to see a man wearing a purple long-sleeve shirt, black pants, and black tie standing in front of the cart. A white cloth with an equal sign emblazoned on it was stitched on the left arm of the shirt.

"Oh no." The man replied. "It was my fault entirely."

"No no." Sonata said. "I wasn't watching where I was going, so its my bad." The man bent down to pick up a pile of fliers that he dropped. Sonata moved the cart back and bent down to help him. After picking some up to give to the stranger, she started reading one. "What exactly are these for?" She asked in confusion.

"These are for a small private academy located just outside of town." The man replied after picking all of the papers up from the floor. "My name is Double Diamond." He said as he extended his hand out.

"Oh uh... hello. My name is Sonata." She replied as she quickly shook his hand. As she looked closely at the flier still in her hand, she noticed everyone in one of the pictures was wearing the same uniform as Double Diamond. "Wow. Those people in the picture look so happy." She said after seeing everyone smiling.

"Yes. We are always happy at O.U.R. Academy." Double Diamond responded while holding the exact same smile as the people in the picture had.

"O.U.R.? Whats that mean?" Sonata asked.

"It stands for One Utopian Régime." Diamond replied. "A place where social titles such as nerds, jocks, and preps don't exist. At O.U.R. Academy, we are all equal. And it is also the perfect place as far as making friends goes." The word "friends" stuck out in the way Double Diamond said it, but after looking at his smile again, Sonata didn't seem too concerned about it.

"And do you charge money for people to get in?"

"Thats the best part, its free." He replied. "All monetary things as far as upkeep and payments are handled by our wealthy founder."

"He pays for everything so you guys don't have to?"

"Yes."

"Wow!" Sonata cried out. Her cheeks turned red at the sudden realization of how loud her voice was as she saw others glancing in her direction. "Umm..." She said in a softer voice. "May I take one of these home to show my friends?"

"Of course." Double Diamond replied. "I'm happy to hear that you're interested. If you choose to visit, we have an open house day tomorrow for those who want to see the school for themselves."

"Thank you Double Diamond." Sonata said as she turned around and walked back to her grocery cart to pay for the various items that Adagio put on her list, tucking the flier into her purse.

Sonata arrived back at the Dazzling house ten minutes after leaving the store. She grunted as she carried each of the plastic bags in her hands. As she reached the door, she kicked it lightly with her foot a few times before Adagio opened it. "Its about time you came back here Sonata." She said as she helped bring the bags inside. "Before you say anything, two questions. First, did you get everything on the list? And second, what took you so long? You should have been back here fifteen minutes ago."

"Sorry Dagi. I got caught up talking to this nice guy from some small private school thats outside of town. I even got a flier for it from him." Sonata said as she pulled the folded paper out of her purse. She handed it over to Adagio for her to look at.

"Hmm..." Adagio said as she looked it over. "Welcome to O.U.R. Academy, where everyone is equal and friends are plentiful." She read out loud while Aria looked over her shoulder. "No tuition, fees, or housing costs?" She asks as a look of confusion appears on her face. "How is that possible?"

"The guy said the place has a rich founder who pays for everything himself."

"Sounds a little too good to be true if you ask me." Aria said as she glanced at the paper. "How do we know this "school" is legit? I've never heard of it before."

"He said they were having an open house thingy tomorrow. Look, they even posted an address on the flier." Sonata said as she pointed to a spot on the paper.

"Lemmie run that through the map app on my phone." Adagio said as she typed in the address. After a moment, the map centered on what looked like a college campus in the middle of farmland just outside of town. "Well, would you look at that? It is real." She said as she showed the others. "You said that they're having an open house tomorrow? I'd love to see this place myself, but I got work tomorrow." She said while shuddering.

"You got that job you interviewed for?" Sonata asked. "Where was that at again?"

"A new fast food place called The Hay Burger." Adagio said while planting her palm against her forehead. "What kind of idiot names a place that serves hamburgers and fries after something like that?" She sighs after moving her hand away. "Oh well, its a job. Plus, I look good in that uniform."

"So what are we going to do about this?" Aria asked as she pointed to the flier.

"Well..." Adagio said. "How about you go with Sonata tomorrow to check it out?" She then leaned close to Aria's ear. "I'll believe what you think over what Sonata thinks." She whispered, careful not to let Sonata hear as she put the bags on the counter.

"Fine. Not like I have anything else to do." Aria said before plopping back down onto the couch.

"Now that we have that out of the way, Sonata, did you get everything on the list?"

"Yes Dagi. I got everything you put on there."

"Good."

"Quick question though."

"Yes?"

"Why did you need a jar of pickles, some bananas, and three cans of whipped cream?" Adagio's cheeks turned red after hearing that.

"Why don't you go get ready for tomorrow." She said in a calm voice.

"But I-"

"Now!" Adagio said in a more authoritative voice that made Sonata jump.

"Okay okay geesh." Sonata replied before going down the hall towards her room.