Eyes of Sunset, Siren Song

Adagio leaned back against the statue, stopped singing under her breath, and smiled, watching as the trio of girls outside of the school squabbled noisily, getting right in each other's faces and gesturing violently. A green mist was swirling away from the girls, directly into the three gems on Adagio's neck. She sighed deeply, absorbing the energy. Adagio was in an incredibly good mood as it was (on the way to school, she had heard yells behind her, and turned to see two boys squawking and waving their arms around, bawling for water), but being well fed made everything a little bit nicer. It had barely taken anything to put these girls at each other's throats; the females in this world were incredibly insecure, and all it took was a nudge towards the cliff to send them to rock bottom. Better yet, they had a nasty (but helpful) habit of latching onto whoever was with them and dragging them down, too.

Slinging her backpack over her shoulder and finishing off the last of the girls' energy, Adagio headed towards the school building, leaving the girls to screech in each other's faces.

As she walked in through the front doors of the school, who should she ram into but Sunset Shimmer. Both girls flew backwards; Sunset into the three people behind her, who faithfully stopped her fall, Adagio into the doors, which (unfortunately) were in the process of being opened by another student. With almost comical precision, the handle of the door hooked under Adagio's choker, which snapped under the strain, flying off into the air.

Adagio, settling to her knees and rubbing her sore head, realized the absence immediately: her throat felt clogged and sore, only slightly, but enough to be noticeable. Hand flying to grasp her throat, Adagio gasped, her eyes darting around the room, searching in vain for a glimmer of red, somewhere, anywhere.

Her eyes landed on one of the girls whom Sunset Shimmer had fallen on. She had pale lavender skin, flat, indigo hair striped with pink and purple, soft violet eyes...and was currently holding Adagio's pendant in her outstretched hand.

The girl regarded the pendant curiously, eyes lifting from her hand to meet Adagio's. With an nervous expression, she tossed it gently back to Adagio, who gaped as it fell to the floor in front of her. "Here you go." The girl's voice was soft, shy, and almost tentative. "Sorry it broke."

Adagio gaped at the girl, automatically opening her mouth to reply, only to be cut off as another voice, sharp and harsh, scalded the air. "Twilight! What do you think you're doing?"

The girl-Twilight-flinched, turning to stare at Sunset Shimmer, who was back on her feet with murder in her eyes. "She just slammed into me! Why are you helping her?"

Twilight cowered, whimpering, underneath Sunset's furious teal gaze. "She just...I was..I j-just wanted to-" she stuttered.

Sunset put her hands on her hips. "You wanted? You wanted? Did you forget who's opinion matters most here?" She fumed, glaring down at Twilight, voice full of contempt.

Twilight shook her head so hard it became a blur. "No...I didn't mean...I'm sorry." The last words were spoken in barely a whisper. She looked up at Sunset, tears beginning to pool in her eyes.

Adagio stared. She wasn't sure if she'd ever seen anything more heartbreakingly pathetic in her life (and she had once caused a mother to throw her only child into the streets after they had forgotten to clean their room). This girl was positively prostrating herself in front of Sunset Shimmer, who was looking down at her with disgust. It was like someone looking at a begging, starving puppy with their hands around a burger, refusing to share. She almost...no, she definitely felt sorry for her.

Sunset flipped her hair and shot Adagio her patented glare. Most would have shriveled instantly under her gaze, but Adagio had faced worse in her centuries of living. She gave her a superior glare under her eyelids in return. This didn't escape Sunset's notice, although she pretended not to care-even though she couldn't hide the slight flush of embarrassment in her cheeks. She stomped away in a huff. Without a word, Twilight and the two other boys in Sunset's posse followed, the short, orange-haired boy sticking his tongue out and blowing a raspberry in Adagio's direction.

Adagio barely noticed, staring at Twilight's retreating figure. The girl walked slumped over, with a slight limp in both legs, dragging each foot behind her as she followed Sunset. Adagio, though she tried to deny it, felt a swell of pity for the girl. She couldn't understand why upsetting Sunset was bothering her so much, especially when Sunset was abusing her like this. The two boys that usually followed Sunset suffered the same treatment, but Adagio had realized long ago that neither of them was the brightest star in the sky. She doubted anything Sunset did to them bothered them much. However, that girl had seemed fairly intelligent. So why in Equestria was she following Sunset around like a lost puppy?

Adagio made up her mind. She was going to find this girl after school and figure out her story.

The final bell echoed throughout the halls of CHS as Twilight gathered the last of her books and headed for the front door. She was still completely ashamed of herself for upsetting Sunset earlier. That girl had plowed right into her, and instead of helping Sunset to punish her, like she should have, she had helped her instead! What was wrong with her? Sunset had every right to be angry with her. After they had left that girl sitting there, she had chewed Twilight out for what felt like hours. And why shouldn't she? Twilight had never felt lower in her life.

As she exited the front doors and walked out onto the schools front lawn, Twilight, depressed as she was, never saw the puffy blur of lemon and orange that whipped out of sight behind the main front statue. And as she walked by the statue to start the long journey home, she never realized that she was being followed.....