Author's Notes:

Okay, so the next piece is up! Hope this was worth the wait!

The next day at school, the tryouts for the Friendship Games continued. They stretched out the tryouts for a few days so those who didn't show up that wanted to had the chance to try. Almost all of Adagio's friends had auditioned and only a few of them were left to try and audition. Specifically, Lyra.

"Alright, up next is Lyra Heartstrings!" Principal Luna hollered.

Everyone waited to see if she would come on stage.

"Wait, where's Lyra?" Amethyst asked.

"I think she's about to audition in a few seconds, actually." Trixie said, looking around, searching for her.

The girls all turned their heads to the stage. No sign of her was there. In fact, they couldn't figure out where she was.

"Where is she?" Adagio asked.

A few of the students in the small crowds were looking around as well, trying to find out where she was. She couldn't have just wandered off, could she?

Suddenly, out of nowhere, music began to play. Rather sneaky kind of music.

"I hear her theme music, she's around here somewhere!" Bon Bon said, acting upon instinct.

In a puff of smoke, everyone's attention turned towards the stage. Appearing on the stage was Lyra, but it was hard to tell. Her entire body was hugged and hidden away in a yellow colored ninja outfit, with a small リラ logo, strapped near her heart. Her eyes squinted underneath her mask, and she raised a leg up.

Springing like a gazelle, she jumped off the stage and leapt onto the empty chair in the audience on her feet. A few of the guests were in awe of her move, and were bracing themselves for the next move. She jumped off from the chair and latched onto the wall, clinging to it.

"Okay, so she's a ninja then." Adagio stated. "Funny how we never saw that little detail before."

"Pretty much."

Lyra jumped off the wall again, jumping up high to the ceiling and latching onto a support beam above, holding on with two hands. Then with another jump she dashed down onto another wall, still holding on with a tight grip. She looked over at her friends who were all standing together. With her eyes focused on Bon Bon, she gave a single nod.

Bon Bon grabbed a random board from off the ground, revealing a target. Everyone turned their heads around, and watched as Lyra began to focus on the beam. Raising a hand up, she made a single swish with a wave of a hand, and spawning out of nowhere were a set of three shurikens.

"Wup, here she goes, duck and cover!"

Everyone backed out of the way. Just in time, too. Lyra's hand went zipping back and forth, throwing all three stars towards the beam. With perfect accuracy, all three of them hit the bullseye directly. Once they were hit, Lyra performed another back-flip from the wall, landing on the chair, perfectly with just her two feet. Then another jump and she was now holding herself up in the air on the judge's table with just her own hand. Everything else was raised up in the air, and it was her hand keeping her balanced.

Slowly moving her weight again, she jumped from off the judge's table and bounced back onto the stage, with her legs stretched and standing in a fighting position. She moved her arms into a fighting stance, and she looked into the crowd. Pulling her body back to stand up straight, she gave a single bow, finishing her performance.

Everyone stood up in an enormous round of applause, all the while Lyra just simply waved at them and walked off the stage.

After school had ended for the day, Adagio waited outside her locker, looking for Trixie. She received a text from her to meet her specifically at that spot. But why? Was it bad? Was it good? Whatever the case was, she moved just in time.

And remembering the incident from a few days ago, she wore that skin-tight siren's outfit once again. Why not have a bit more fun with Trixie? Now she never did it to be mean mind you, but she did find it a bit cute and funny to see her so flustered wearing that.

Skipping down the corner, thankfully, was Trixie Lulamoon. Still looking adorable in those glasses, that vest, and that cute little t-shirt.

"Hey, Adagio!" Trixie called out.

"Trixie, great to see you." Adagio smiled, leaning against her locker. "I got your text, what's up?"

"Well, I wasn't sure but... I needed someone to talk to."

"You know you can to me at any time, right?" Adagio asked.

"Yeah, but... I honestly needed to talk to you to be perfectly honest."

"What's up?" Adagio asked, brushing the hair out of her eyes.

"Well, I... I want to show you something. But, you have to promise not to tell anyone."

Adagio raised a brow. "Its nothing illegal, is it?"

"No, no! Well, technically..."

Adagio still kept her brow raised.

"Before you asked, I didn't make a deal with anyone, I didn't get in bad hands, I'm not pregnant, I don't owe any money, drugs, or anything."

Reluctantly, her brow went back down. "Well then what do you need to show me?"

"Follow me."

Adagio walked closely by, following Trixie out of the school. She followed her over to Trixie's car, and she got into the driver seat. Trixie turned on the engine, and she pulled out of the student parking lot and onto the main street. The time had come to show her what she was hiding...

The drive was only for roughly 20 minutes, but as far as Adagio could tell, it was on the outskirts of the Canterlot city area. More into the Everfree forest area, or at least nearly touching it.

Once Trixie found the spot she needed, she parked the car and turned off the engine. The car was sitting on some dirt, hidden carefully into the trees. As the two walked towards the main entrance of where they were taken, they could see up ahead they could see a sign that was boarded up, and an iron gate that had been locked tightly.

"Trixie, what are we doing here?" Adagio asked. "Are we even allowed here?"

"No, but I really need to show you this. Follow me!"

Trixie urged Adagio to follow her again, and started to walk down the left side of the big iron gate, looking at the amount of spiked fences that arched high above. They were so tall and so sharp Adagio was afraid if she even tried to climb up, she'd get punctured by them. And with how long the stone and iron walls were, she was wondering how far they even stretched out here.

Thankfully their wondering came to a halt as they stopped in front of a giant gaping hole in the side of the wall. A big chunk of the fence looked as if it had fallen, and it was like someone drilled through the giant bricks in the wall.

"You're gonna have to crawl through. But don't worry, I've done this lots of times."

Trixie got on her hands and knees, and she pushed herself through the already blown up hole, making it on the other side. Adagio wasn't sure if she should even follow. How legal was this? She could be breaking so many laws and regulations right now, and what if there was 24 hour security watch nearby?

Checking in the area around her for any sounds, she couldn't see a sign of anyone nearby. With no one near, she carefully crawled under, following Trixie close behind. She could see her feet picking up on the other side, so at least she was still here.

Finally out of the hole, she was offered a hand up, and she got up on her feet. But as she stood, she felt a small chill in the air, making her hold her arms and start rubbing them.

"I think I should have brought my coat," Adagio shivered.

"Hey, its okay." Trixie said, raising her hand up.

She started to pull her arms out of her jacket, carefully taking it off and offering it to Adagio.

"No, Trixie, that's your jacket, you keep it."

"Please, I insist! You need it more than me. I'm honestly used to these temperatures."

Adagio wanted to say no, but she couldn't find it in herself.

"You... you really would do that?"

Trixie nodded.

Adagio gave an appreciated smile and took the jacket that was offered, covering her bare shoulders and arms in the fur within it.

"T-Thanks," Adagio said.

"No problem. Now come on, follow me!"

Trixie started to dash ahead, and Adagio picked up her feet and chased right after her. What could be so important out here that she had to show her? And for heavens sakes, how was this girl going that fast? She never knew Trixie had a lot of speed in her, as she didn't seem to be much of an athletic type. But man, this girl was booking it!

Eventually she started to slow down, long enough for her to catch up. Adagio held her hands on her knees, panting heavily as she tried to catch her breath. Raising a hand up, she breathed hard.

"Give me a sec!"

Adagio had run before, but it had been a long time since she ran hard. She had gotten so used to travel simply by flying or driving, she could barely remembering running hard.

As soon as she could breathe again, she walked up to where Trixie stood. Looking at her, she saw Trixie's attention was turned towards the building towards her. Turning her head, she could see exactly what her eyes were locked on.

Still standing and right before their eyes, was an old theater. The from windows had been boarded up, there was several amounts of chipped paint and tiles falling off the building. Vines of ivy grew around it, practically draping itself all over. Broken bulbs were around the signs above, particularly the ones to say what kind of show it was going to be. But high above, with the letters going straight down, the sign read 'The Royal Palladium'.

"What is this place?" Adagio asked.

"The Royal Palladium. It's a famous old theater that was made back in the late 30s, and its been around for a really long time."

Trixie held Adagio's hand and she pulled her with her towards the building. Adagio still kept her eyes on the lookout, thankfully no one was near to see the two of them go towards the place.

But the closer they got, the worse it looked. She was actually starting to get a little worried just from getting near the place. What if someone was gonna attack them, or pull them out for trespassing? Well, at least hopefully it'd just be security pulling them out. If not, she'd be ready.

The two stood in front of the ticket booth that was in the middle of two sets of double doors. The glass that was inside the doors were nothing but shattered pieces. The color in fact, the once color of red was now faded away, looking more of a darker pink. Some of the posters that hung looked torn and with several pieces of the pictures gone.

"Why are we here?"

"I'll show you, come on."

Trixie pulled Adagio inside, and as they walked in they could see the inside was just as bad as the outside. The walls had several strips of wallpaper either fading or starting to fall apart and tear. Pots that held some plants were now holding lifeless shreds of the once living green. The lights in the ceiling above no longer held power, and even then, they were looking filthy and degrading.

The two of them pushed through another set of double doors, entering in the big theater. As they walked in, Adagio looked in awe. The theater was massive! It was more massive than the theater they had back when they performed in the final Battle Of The Bands, or even the movie theater in town. And it didn't look as decrepit as it did on the outside or in the hallway.

There were plenty of seats that didn't look dusty or dirty, some in fact still looked like they were in good condition. There were some doors that were still withholding good paint, and even the curtains that were held on the sides of the stage just in front of them looked alright. But the biggest glaring thing that Adagio, or anyone could point out, was that in the middle of that stage there was a giant gaping hole in the middle of the stage, and the assortment of deceased flowers, melted candles, boxes, and small pictures around.

"Trixie, this is..."

She turned her head, and she saw Trixie sit down in one of the more cleaner chairs. She patted the seat next to her, offering it to the former Siren. Smiling, Adagio moved over and sat in the other chair next to her.

"Trixie, this place looks amazing."

"I know right?" Trixie said, trying to sit up right in her seat.

"But, I have to ask, why are we here?"

"Well... I wanted to show you a place I always loved." Trixie said. "What you see before you, wasn't like what it was back in its day. The Royal Palladium was a great theater back then, and I've had some fond memories of this place."

"When this place even shut its doors?" Adagio asked.

Trixie sighed. "Near the end of 2005. But, anyways, back to what I was saying..."

"My apologies. Please, continue."

"Well, when I was a little girl... I didn't really have any friends growing up, or anyone to really interact with. But, I did have my grandfather and my family. My grandfather was an actor, and he loved performing in theater. He always took me to this place to see all of the cool magic shows and singers and plays... oh they were so great."

Adagio smiled. "I didn't know you were into theater."

"Well, I am but... I guess I didn't really have anyone to talk to on that."

"Well, you can talk to me about it." Adagio said, patting her hand. "Before any of you were even born and came into our lives, I actually took part in some plays to make money and its part of the reason why my sisters and I love singing. We didn't just do it to save our own lives but... the crowds that cheered our names, the rounds of applause we get after our performances, it was like... it was like our talents had meaning. We didn't just have these skills, we had a reason for it and... I was happy with what we were able to use them for."

Trixie looked back at Adagio's face. That adorable smile always made her feel warm inside, and it was something she liked seeing every day that she hung out with these girls.

"I wish I knew what that felt like. I mean, I knew I performed for you girls and a bit at the Battle but... I guess it just didn't feel the same."

Adagio frowned and she looked back at her geeky friend.

"Well, why not? You're a good singer, and you have good talents. You shouldn't be afraid to hide these back."

"Well, its... it goes a bit deeper than that. And before you ask, yes, Sunset and the Rainbooms bullied me about it but... they weren't the ones who pushed me away from it. There's... there's a bigger reason than that."

Adagio tried to scoot a little closer to her, trying to provide any comfort she could.

"What happened?"

Trixie gulped and she felt her voice shaking. "It was 2005... it was the year my grandfather had finally decided to call retirement. But he made a promise to me and the family that he wanted to give us one final performance before he called it quits. One big performance to end it all."

Adagio nodded.

"So, that night, he invited the entire family over to watch him perform one last time. We were all excited, and they even got me a seat right up in front so I could see him closely. But... when I said it was his last performance... little did I know it'd be his last performance, forever."

Adagio's face grimaced. She didn't like the sound of where this was going.

"No one was at fault for this. But... the equipment on the stage was growing weaker with time, and it was so old that no one ever thought of replacing them. The staff who kept this place alive said they wanted to keep the old equipment there for 'authenticity'. But... I think that was the biggest mistake that had ever been made."

Trixie swallowed, and she felt her breathing get a little heavy. Her hands were shaking up a bit, just trying to speak.

"The equipment started to fall apart on the stage, including a giant set piece above. And the floor, the floor was so old but... My grandfather stepped in a wrong spot, and at just the right time... the sets above him came falling down."

Adagio gasped. Trixie only nodded, and she tried to keep her voice stable.

"We tried to find him deep below the theater. Rescue teams came by including medical crew to try and vacate us from the premises after what we had witnessed. But... it was too late. He was nowhere to be seen, and the only thing they found of him was his glasses."

Trixie's lips quivered. "After a few days, the staff decided it was time to let this place die. They allowed us to come here for one last day, one last day to roam these halls and we set up a few pieces and some of Grandpa's favorite things near the same hole he fell through. There we could... we could only pray he'd finally found peace and enjoyed his final role. And ever since that day, I... I never wished to set foot on stage, ever again."

Trixie's eyes winced shut, and Adagio could see tears pushing past. She slid her finger across her cheek, wiping them away. Adagio could only smile at her friend, offering her the most comfort she could.

"Trixie, you are very brave for telling me this story. Even more so being able to perform for me and my sisters, and to try save our world."

Trixie sighed. "I guess so but... Ever since that day, I've been avoiding getting on stage no matter what. What if I died just like he did? I just... I don't want to relive that day."

"Shh..." Adagio pulled Trixie close, allowing her to rest her head on her shoulder. "Its okay..."

Trixie breathed heavily, and she held onto her friend. Adagio could only rub her back and hold her. Once she started to calm down a bit, she pulled away and looked her friend in the eye. Her fingerless gloved hands graced her cheeks, making Trixie blushed.

"I know for a fact that it'll never happen again. Because you have all of us, and we're going to make sure something like this never happens."

Trixie's eyes looked away, but she gave a genuinely appreciative smile. "T-Thank you."

Trixie hugged her again, holding her tighter. Adagio just hugged her even more, patting her back.

"Hey, uh, Adagio?"

"Yes?"

Trixie pulled out of the hug and she rubbed her shoulder, looking away.

"I'm... I'm not sure this is the right time or place to even say this but... I have a confession."

"Okay."

Trixie gulped. "But... but I don't know if I should say. I don't want to make things awkward between us and... I don't want to lose you as a friend."

Adagio's hands held Trixie's shoulders.

"You're never going to lose me as a friend. Just tell me."

Trixie took a deep breath, and she exhaled.

"Alright, I... I'm not sure how to handle this. Um, Adagio, when I first met you I... I wasn't sure what to think. I didn't know if you were just like everyone else, or something more. But ever since I got to know you and hang out with you some more I... I started to feel warm, inside. I felt like, I could talk to you about anything and you'd never judge me, or call me stupid, or run away from me."

Adagio smiled with a nod.

"And, I... I wasn't sure what I was feeling but when I met you, it was like... it was like there was finally someone who understood me. Someone who was just seen as this nothing but has a lot of skills underneath that no one's ever seen. It's like, I... I..."

"Yes?" Adagio asked.

"Adagio, I... I think, I... I may have... A... a..."

Trixie breathed in and out again, trying to push herself past the insecurities.

"IthinkIhaveabigcrushonyouandIfindyousuperadorableandIwanttoloveyoubutI'mscaredyouwon'tlovemeback!" Trixie said really fast.

Adagio blankly stared at Trixie, but she didn't run away or flee as she expected.

"I... Oh gosh, I made things worse," Trixie moaned, looking away.

"Trixie?"

Trixie still didn't look back. She felt Adagio's hand touch her cheek, pulling her to look back at her. She slowly looked up, and she saw only that adorable smile and those sparkling magenta eyes.

She waited for something, anything to happen. Was she going to push her away?

Not even a second to react, and Trixie was yanked right up to Adagio's face. Adagio's lips touched her own, and she held her in a big kiss. Trixie didn't know how to react, but at that moment she didn't find herself caring. Her eyes sleepily closed, and she embraced her kiss back, holding her close. Adagio's lips tasted like candy, so sweet to the touch.

After what felt like only a few seconds, Trixie and Adagio pulled away, with both of their faces turning red.

"A-A-Adagio?"

"Trixie, I'm... I'm going to admit something. I didn't know what to think either but when I met you, I... I started to like you back. And I'm not talking about like, I mean as in... like like you back."

Trixie blushed even harder. "B-But why didn't you tell me?"

"Because, I didn't know how to say it. I had been in relationships before, but every one of them never worked out well. Most people only liked me just for my body, and that was it. And I didn't know what you thought of me... right up until I danced for you."

Trixie blushed again, making Adagio giggle.

"I'll admit, I loved seeing that reaction on your face just from me showing myself off..."

"I... Okay, if I can be honest... I thought you looked kind of hot in that siren's outfit."

"I can tell," Adagio winked, flashing an alluring grin.

Trying to speak clearly again without getting flustered, Trixie spoke up.

"But... I really love you. I don't love you for your looks, I love you for... you."

It was now Adagio's turn to start tearing up. Only it wasn't out of sadness, but out of joy.

"You... you really do?"

Trixie nodded.

"I-I don't know what to say..."

"Then don't say anything... let me kiss you."

Trixie now pulled her in for a kiss, giving her a bigger one than before. Adagio's hands wrapped around Trixie, holding her close and enjoying her warm embrace. She didn't want to let her go.

As soon as they pulled away, the two looked deep into each other's eyes.

"Adagio? I... I want to be your girlfriend. I want to love you, I want to help you, I want to be by your side, I..."

Adagio's fingers went over her lips, and she gave the most heart-felt smile ever.

"You don't have to say anymore..."

Adagio kissed her cheek, and she held her in a bigger hug than all the other ones Trixie had given her. Smiling, and sighing as she held her. Trixie smiled back and she nuzzled her cheek as she held her in embrace.

"I love you, Adagio." Trixie whispered.

"I love you too, my beautiful performer."

Adagio held her even close her and the two released from each other, holding each other's hands.

"What do you say we go home?"

Trixie smiled. "I'd like that."

The two got out of their seats, and slowly started to get out of the theater. They never let go of each other's hands, but they held them close together.

"Trixie? Is it true, you really think I'm hot in this siren's outfit?"

Trixie blushed hard. "Y-Yeah..."

Adagio giggled and she gave a racy grin. "I might have to wear this more often if I can get these kind of reactions out of you."

"Heh, y-you don't have to..."

"I know I don't. But I want to. Because I love you, and I like seeing you happy."

Adagio kissed her cheek, just before the two wandered out of the theater. No one was around to see them walk in, and no one could see them walk out. But they were okay with it. They were happy to be together to have this alone time. Sure, they'd need to tell everyone the news, but for now, they were just going to enjoy each other's company. Two loners, who were no longer alone.