A Dazzling Sunset

by Fuzzyfurvert

Rating: teen
Tags: Romance, Equestria Girls, Adagio Dazzle, Sunset Shimmer, Violence, Drama
Length: 67721

Post Rainbow Rocks, Sunset Shimmer has started to volunteer her time at the local horse park. Things are going well until a familiar face surprisingly re-enters her life.

Sunset Shimmer has been accepted by the girls at Canterlot High as a friend and she's learning a lot about friendship. However, she still finds herself missing her old home more often than not. She decides to volunteer her time at the local horse park to try and give herself something to do and reconnect, at least vaguely, with her equine roots.

Before the Battle of the Bands Adagio Dazzle had everything she thought she needed. Ambition, power, loyal-ish minions and her voice. Now, she has nothing. No friends, no magic and no future unless she can figure out how to pick herself up after the defeat of the Dazzlings.

Perhaps fellow failed villain could help her through these tough times?

Chapters to be released once per month. Unless life gets in the way.

Published 2015-11-16 03:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2018-01-22 17:02:48 UTC

Chapter 1: Before the Battle

A Dazzling Sunset

by Fuzzyfurvert

Highschool parties are strange beasts. No two people, especially high schoolers, can agree on when, where or how they happen. They are nigh mythical things, like Bigfoot, or the Loch Ness monster, or unicorns. Except, unicorns are real. They just come from another world. A world full of magic and wonder and rainbows and sunshine and dark goddesses and chaos personified and shapeshifting bugs that eat emotions.

So, it stood to reason that those mythical highschool parties had to exist, if you know where to look and who to ask. Or if you could could sense the pent-up, powerful emotions of teenagers in groups.

Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk walked down the sidewalk of a quiet subdivision on the outskirts of town. The houses here were large, multi-storied brick affairs with huge yards hidden from the street by privacy fences and hedgerows with shiny SUVs parked out front.

“Gah, I can taste the economic superiority complex in the air here.”

“We totes need to get a car. All this walking can’t be good for my feet.”

Adagio glanced at her companions with narrowed eyes. “If you hadn’t drained the last guy dry, Aria, we could have had a ride to show up in.”

Aria Blaze tossed her long pigtails behind her shoulders and clicked her tongue. “It wasn’t my fault he couldn’t take it.” She smirked as her tone turned mocking. “I was being gentle, I swear.”

“We should learn to drive! It doesn’t look hard.” Sonata giggled as she bounced along on her toes. “I bet I could learn to drive in a day! Maybe less.”

“Can it, Sonata.” Aria shot the blue girl a hard look. “Why should we have to drive ourselves? These humans can do it for us like the slaves they are.”

“Both of you can it!” Adagio stopped and spun around to glare at Aria and Sonata. “Whether we drive or not is unimportant. We need to get to the house before the rest of the party goers get there. If we’re going to make a proper infiltration, we need our in.”

Adagio hummed to herself, running her hand through her own curly locks and sighed. “Aria, sniff it out again. I’m starting to get impatient.”

“I can tell.” Aria mumbled under breath and then then turned in a slow circle, singing quietly until the gem at her throat twinkled in the early afternoon light.

Sonata took a step closer to Adagio and whispered loudly enough for each of them to hear. “Can I get a car, Adagio? A blue one that matches my hair? That would be awesome! Then we wouldn’t have to walk everywhere.”

Adagio opened her mouth to retort when Aria froze in place and stopped humming. She held out one hand and pointed down a side street.

“That way.”

Adagio smirked and started walking. “Come on girls, we’ve got work to do.”

***

Adagio glowered as she surveyed the party from the corner of the house’s kitchen. The parents of whoever lived here were gone for the weekend, and in the early evening on a friday, the guests arrived with an annoying slowness. A dozen or more Canterlot High students, each of them obviously members of the upper echelons of teenage popularity, were already in attendance and the music was starting to grate on her nerves.

“What’s wrong with you?” Sonata eyed Adagio as she sipped from a red solo cup. “We got a lot of yummy ones to pick from.”

“Keep your voice down.” Adagio sighed and forced herself to relax. “I was expecting that girl who showed us around the school to be here. I keep hearing from these kids that she used to run the place, but now they can’t stand her. I want to know why.”

“Why care?” Aria walked up and tossed aside her own mostly empty plastic cup. “She’s not the popular one anymore, so what good is she to us?”

Adagio crossed her arms over her chest and cast a sidelong glance at a nearby group of jocks and cheerleaders. The humans were beginning to take notice them as more than random highschool girls and were paying their conversation a bit more than passing interest. “I’m being cautious. We would be well served to learn from whatever her mistake was.”

Aria rolled her eyes and blew a raspberry. “Yeah right, as if we would fail. You’re just interested to know if she’s a natural redhead.”

Sonata giggled again. “Yeah! Wanna know if the carpet matches the drapes, huh?”

“Oh screw you too, Aria. That is not why I’m curious!” Adagio snarled and stood. She swiped a cup of her own off the table and turned for the door. “Remember why we’re here. I’ll be outside.”

Sonata held out a hand. “Adagio! Wait, I didn’t mean it like-”

“No, don’t apologize, Sonata.” Aria glared at Adagio’s back and put her hand on Sonata’s shoulder. “We don’t need her. Let’s go talk to some boys.” Aria smirked as Adagio hunched at the little jab and turned back toward the human high schoolers.

***

Adagio sipped the too-sweet cheap wine cooler from her cup and leaned against the side of the house. The music inside thumped loudly against the wall and into her back. The neighborhood around her was too rich to care about the noise. She frowned when she heard Aria’s braying laughter come through the thick insulation. The girl was insufferable. If she didn’t need the two idiots to harness what little power they could from human emotions…

Adagio growled and crumpled her plastic cup in her fist before throwing it into the bushes. “Living on the fringes of society like some sort of ghoul is not the life I had planned! I am a Siren! Why must I live with these magicless monkeys and syphon power from them? This is all Aria’s and Sonata’s faults! If it weren’t for their incompetence, I’d…”

She paused, mid-rant, as a car passed the house and she caught a flash of distinctive red and yellow hair as it drove by. Adagio pushed herself off the wall and dived through the privacy hedge that lined the yard, tracking the car as she did so. Sunset Shimmer—former queen of Canterlot High—was driving and Adagio watched her turn off the street at the next intersection.

Adagio was curious. She wanted to know what caused Sunset’s downfall. Knowledge was power, no matter what world she was in. Sunset intrigued her on a personal level too. Something was off about her. Something Adagio couldn’t put her finger on.

Acting fast, Adagio turned and sprinted back into the yard she’d come from and ran around the house into the back. There was another loose hedgerow along the rear property line and a low sparsely wooded hill beyond that. If she hurried, Adagio thought she could reach the top and follow Sunset’s car wherever she might be headed.

She ducked between two tall bushes and jumped over a small stream before she hit the hill, her breathing already becoming labored. The hill’s crest wasn’t far and she reached it quickly, weak human legs and ridiculous shoes be damned. Adagio leaned against a tree as she tried to catch her breath and find Sunset’s car. She spotted it not far away, in the parking area for a horse park complex situated in a large pasture opposite of the neighborhood.

“Horses...huh? I knew...there was something about...that girl.” Adagio gulped in a quick lungful of air and started walking again, heading toward the park.

When she reached the gravel parking lot, Adagio paused and looked the car that Sunset had driven there. It was blue and seemed in fair condition. She didn’t know much about cars, but she could tell it wasn’t new nor was it particularly fast looking.

Some sort of utility vehicle? Adagio shrugged but made note of the details. Perhaps Sonata would like it. She did ask for a blue one, after all.

The park itself was made up a few simple buildings made of brick and steel siding in that green color the humans favored for their government’s holdings. Dozens of people were walking around the main area up front but a quick look failed to locate Sunset. Adagio kept going further in and passed by one low open building where humans tended to this world’s poor excuse for equines.

Adagio bit her lip and growled under her breath. “Where is she? I ran all the way here and now I can’t even find her?” She tapped the gem hanging around her neck and then shook her head. Magic would be too risky in the open without Aria and Sonata for backup.

She was just about to turn back and check the main building again when she spotted Sunset emerging from a door marked ‘STAFF ONLY’ wearing a green colored apron instead of the jacket she’d had on earlier. Adagio raised an eyebrow and fell into step behind Sunset as she started down a concrete path. The path lead well out into the pasture that the park was a part of and to a distant wooden barn.

Sunset paused at the barn’s entrance to flip on the interior lights and walked in a moment later. There didn’t seem to be anyone else around and Adagio felt exposed on the path with no cover. When she reached the building, she eased up against the side of the door and peeked inside. The girl was inside with a single horse that she had moved into a stall and started to groom with a brush. She could hear Sunset mumbling as she did it.

Adagio leaned back against the barn wall. No other humans were coming toward the building, and Sunset seemed to be alone. This would be a perfect time to get to know her. She could play nice and get the girl to open up while she cared for the animal. Then she would be even better poised to take over Canterlot High and harvest all the emotions those brats could spit out.

Adagio chuckled darkly to herself. This was going to be foal’s play. She was about to turn and make her grand entrance when she heard a sobbing noise coming from inside the barn.

“Wait...is she crying?” Adagio narrowed her brow as she studied Sunset from behind. The girl’s shoulders were hunched and shook slightly when she seemed to sob quietly into the horse’s coat.

Adagio crept closer, easing around the outside if the stall barn until she could slip inside. She stopped when she was a few paces away from Sunset Shimmer and crossed her arms in front of herself. She smirked but remained silent so Sunset would only discover her presence when she turned around.

Sunset Shimmer sobbed again and sniffed while she clung to the horse’s withers. The horse took it stoically and continued to munch and chew away at the hay pile in front of him. Sunset wiped her nose and grabbed the brush again to smooth the animal’s coat from where she had mussed it with her tears.

“S’rry, Clyde. I just...I just can’t take the loneliness sometimes, you know?” Sunset sighed. “The others, the girls at Canterlot High, have been really nice to me, considering my past behavior. And I really do enjoy hanging out with them, but now that they’ve started to tap into Equestrian magic when they play music...it just reminds me of home.”

Adagio gaped as she eavesdropped. Sunset Shimmer knew about Equestrian magic?

“I miss seeing other ponies. I mean, I like you and the other horses here, Clyde, but it’s not really the same, is it?” Sunset paused her brushing and examined her work. The stallion looked clean, his brown coat shining under the overhead lights. “You’re a great listener and I like that. Reminds me of Princess Celestia’s guards, really. Though, to be honest, Clyde, you’d never had made the cut with a coat this color. I bet the armor would still look good on you.”

Adagio fought with herself to remain silent as Sunset kept talking. Ponies. Princess Celestia and her guards. This girl knew about the magic and Equestria itself. Could Sunset Shimmer...be like her? Adagio looked down at her body and clothes. She could remember changing, needing to get used to being mostly without her magic, getting used to hands and feet and walking on two legs. She could remember learning to survive here and how hard it had all been.

For a fleeting moment she was happy Aria and Sonata had been there as well. Without their support, would she had made it? Did Sunset have pony friends that went through the change with her? None of the other kids or staff at Canterlot High had drawn her the way Sunset did. Those other girls, the ones in the band, they had seemed interesting, but not like Sunset Shimmer. If she could still sense magic, Adagio suspected, Sunset would be ablaze with it.

“I’m glad I found you guys, Clyde. You might be an animal, but you chase away the homesickness, at least a little. I’ve talked with it with the girls at school, but they don’t really get it, you know?” She hooked the brush on a nail in the stall wall and turned around to grab the saddle and blanket behind her when she noticed Adagio.

“Oh! Um… how long have you been standing there? I can explain! I, um, I write fictional stories!” Sunset fidgeted nervously and drummed her fingers against her leg. “Yeah, and Clyde here likes to listen to me talk about them! Heh heh heh…”

Adagio blinked in confusion. She opened her mouth to spit out something scathing, but she couldn’t find the words for it. She didn’t like humans on principle, but Sunset wasn’t a human. She could afford to be a little understanding, couldn’t she? More allies in the human world would be useful and Sunset seemed so lonely.

“No no, it’s ok. I understand, really.” Adagio smiled kindly. “I talk to my pets too.”

“Um,” Sunset wiped her hands off on the apron she wore and glanced around. “are your friends here?”

“No, just you and me.”

“Why are you here? Do you ride horses?” Sunset glanced pointedly at the saddle and tack equipment she had set out. “I’m still learning, myself.”

Adagio smirked and chuckled. “I don’t ride stallions, no. I came in here because I saw you come in from the road. After you showed us around today at the school, I felt that I wanted to get to know you better. I would not have pegged you for a horse girl. Color me intrigued.”

Sunset blinked and looked unsure how to respond to that. Adagio put her hands on her narrow hips and looked around the stalls, her eyes never lingering on anything for long.

“Soooo...how can I help you?”

Adagio stepped closer and lower her voice slightly. “Tell me more about your ‘stories.’” She held up her hands and made air quotes. “I hear Celestia has started letting stallions into the guard with gray colored coats. But that info might be a bit dated. Your thoughts?”

Sunset took a half step away from Adagio, her eyes widening. “What? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Of course you don’t. Don’t patronize me, Shimmer! I know that you know about magic and Equestria and ponies. So talk, tell me about it, or maybe I’ll go get my friends and we can have a little get together.” Adagio reached up and flicked Sunset on the chin. “Oh wait, they call that a ‘kidnapping’ here in the human world, don’t they?”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Oh yes I would, Sunset. I’ve dared to do a lot since I was banished to this world: lies, manipulation, extortion. Kidnapping is just the next logical progression for me. I’m not somepony to be trifled with.” Adagio chuckled. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with here, kid.”

“Ever gone full she-demon? Ever tried to create an army of zombies to do your bidding?”

Adagio blinked in confusion again, unsure what Sunset was referencing. “Er, no. What’s that got to-”

“I did.” Sunset cut off Adagio’s response, her eyes hard. “I stole the Element of Magic and transformed into a she-demon, destroyed half the school and successfully enslaved a couple of hundred humans to my will before an Equestrian princess had to come knock me down a peg.”

Sunset stepped forward. “Oh, and Adagio? A word of advice, the chin flicking thing is so villain 101.” She grinned fiercely and then grabbed a fistful of the other girl’s hair and yanked her down onto her knees in one swift motion. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”

Adagio grunted when the impact knocked the breath from her. She reached up and back to paw at Sunset’s hand for a moment before she was forced to throw them out to keep her head from contacting the dirty hay that coated the barn floor.

“I’ve been the bad guy for a long time, Adagio, and now I’m trying to change things for the better.” Sunset squatted next to the downed girl, her arm strained to the point of quivering. “But just because I’ve dropped the villain routine, doesn’t mean I’ve gone soft. I might not be the queen bee anymore, but Canterlot High is my territory. You start stuff in my house and I will end it, permanently. Do you understand?”

Sunset yanked Adagio’s head back and threw the girl off balance as she forced Adagio to look her in the eye. “Do you understand me?”

Adagio grit her teeth and struggled for a moment. “Y-yes! Alright, I understand!” She tugged away from Sunset but the grip on her hair was like iron. “Let me go!”

“Granted.”

The grip on Adagio’s hair vanished and she fell to the side and hit the concrete floor with her shoulder. She scrambled to her feet and whirled to face Sunset, her stance wide and low. Sunset Shimmer faced her with her hands hanging at her side and stance as relaxed as possible.

“Who the hell are you?” Adagio raised herself up and brushed hay off her arm, her eyes locked on Sunset.

“I’m Sunset Shimmer, student of Celestia the Eternal Sun of Equestria until I forsook the path of Harmony. Now I’m just a girl that likes to hang out with her friends and volunteers every friday at the horse park and reminisces about old times.” Sunset’s eyes flashed under the phosphorescent lights. “And I am extremely protective of what little I’ve managed to recover of Harmony. Threaten that, Adagio Dazzle and I will see to it you don’t get a chance to do it ever again. That goes for your two lackeys as well. Now get out.”

Adagio growled through clenched teeth and backed away, her eyes still locked on Sunset like she was a wolf that could pounce at any moment. “I won’t forget this.”

“Good. I so dislike repeating myself.” Sunset sniffed and turned away from Adagio, and picked up the blanket to drape across the horse’s back, ignoring the other girl as she slipped out of the barn.

Adagio backed down the path that lead to the barn, never taking her eyes off it. Sunset Shimmer was a pony. The thought felt foreign in her mind. She had been here for so long now with only Aria and Sonata for company. There was a pony, a unicorn too, if she guessed right.

“Another Equestrian like us...not some pushover goody four-shoes pony either! The others won’t believe me when I tell…” Adagio shook her head. Sonata and Aria wouldn’t believe her. Aria would just use it as an excuse to challenge her leadership and make jabs at her preference for mares.

She needed to keep this to herself. She needed to learn more. Sunset had been interesting before, but now she could well be the key to everything! She might even become an ally, eventually.

Adagio stopped once she was a good distance away from the barn and allowed herself to smile. “Volunteers each friday, hmmm? Well then, I’ll be seeing you, Sunset Shimmer.”

***

Sunset busied herself with setting up the saddle and straps for her riding equipment on Clyde in silence, letting the labor set a rhythm for her breathing and heart rate. She wanted to check behind her to see if Adagio was still watching, but doing so would show weakness. In the human world, as much as the pony world, showing weakness to a predator was a bad idea.

Once the gear was in place, Sunset took the reins and led Clyde out of his stall and into the corral. She lead him in a slow circle alongside the fence to settle the saddle harness comfortably and to let him get his legs warmed up. This had become a routine for them as she’d first started to learn how to ride. The act was calming and by the time they’d done a full circuit, her heart was beating at a somewhat normal rate.

Sunset took a shuddering breath and allowed herself to look around. No one else was nearby and Adagio had vanished. She sighed and then leaned against her horse and mussed Clyde’s coat with fresh tears and sobs. He nickered at her distress and swatted Sunset with his tail playfully until she leaned back and wiped her eyes with her palm.

“Thanks, Clyde. Sorry I keep getting you wet. I’m trying to keep it together, I swear, and now I have to deal with Adagio too. Just how many of these humans are actually ponies, do you think? First me, then Twilight, now Adagio Dazzle.” Sunset sniffled and lead him toward the gate that would let them out into the larger pasture. “Let’s ride. I need to forget about everything for a while.”

Chapter 2

A Dazzling Sunset

Chapter 2

“Thanks again for the ride, Sunset.”

“Yeah, thanks!”

“Rainbow, yer feet go on the floor.”

“Says the girl raised in a barn.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Sunset grinned when she heard the quiet ‘eep!’ of thanks from Fluttershy underneath the sounds of rough housing coming from the back row of her car. Rarity huffed in the passenger seat next to her and buckled her belt.

“Yes, thank you, Sunset. It’s very gracious of you to give us all a ride home after band practice.” Rarity groaned as her seat bucked from a blow from behind. “Really, girls? Calm down! Our instruments are in the back!”

Sunset cranked her car and backed out as the other girls grumbled and buckled themselves in. “It’s nothing really. I got this dinky little hatchback, I might as well put it to use.”

Pinkie Pie giggled and leaned up from the middle set in the back to pat Sunset on the shoulder. “I think it’s awesome, Sunset! You’re not even human and you got a license before any of us ‘cuz Rainbow Dash couldn’t parallel park!”

“I still say the test was rigged.” Dash crossed her arms in front of herself and looked out the window. “I’ll pass it eventually.”

“Well, Sunset is older than the rest o’ us.” Applejack sat back as best she could in the cramped back seat and draped one arm along the backrest behind Pinkie Pie. “It’s little surprise she got her license, when you think about it.”

Sunset shrugged as she pulled the car out of the busy Canterlot High parking lot. “I still find how humans age to be...a little weird. No offense. But back in Equestria, by now, I’d probably be a High Magus or something, married with a second or third foal on the way. All things considered, I appreciate the chance at avoiding those kinds of responsibilities a little longer.”

Rarity giggled and fanned herself with her hand in mock swoon. “Married and children - er, foals! Sunset Shimmer, are you to imply that there is some special pony you left behind in your world? That’s so adorable! Just imagining two ponies cuddling and starting a family sounds just like a child’s story!”

Everyone in the car went silent while Sunset stared straight ahead at the road. She sighed and shook her head slowly. “Yeah, that does sound like a child’s story, doesn’t it? But...no, no special somepony for me. I was too interested in increasing my magical power that I wasn’t very social. Sunset the nerd without friends...that’s me.”

“No time for friends or romance? That’s so sad.” Fluttershy spoke up from the extra seat in the very back with the other girls’ instruments laid across her legs. “Everyone deserves a little friendship in their lives...if you don’t mind me saying so.”

“No romance for me.” Sunset shrugged as nonchalantly as she could and sunk a little in her seat. Certainly not the kind of romance I was interested in.

The ride settled into general conversation about school and the girls’ activities and work after that. Rainbow was dropped off first at home, then Pinkie climbed out a few minutes later for her shift at Sugarcube Corner Bakery. Applejack helped Fluttershy out of the back a few blocks away at the animal shelter for the yellow girl’s own shift work and then left from there to meet her family at the open air market a few streets over.

Rarity lived the furthest out, but it was on the way to the horse park, so Sunset didn’t mind the roundabout route she was having to take to get her friends to their homes and jobs. She had almost forgotten the questions about her non-existent love life when they were pulling into the large neighborhood where the fashionista's family lived when Rarity turned a little in her seat and raised an eyebrow.

“So...’no romance’ you said. What about Flash?”

Sunset groaned. “I told you, I was just using him as a means to get more popular.”

Rarity nodded. “Yes, but there wasn’t any romance? Flash was clearly head over heels for you.” She shrugged. “I just find it strange. From what you and Princess Twilight have told us about your world, there seems to be no lack of other ponies befriending each other and those friendships turning into something more. I mean, you must have noticed how she kept blushing and clamming up whenever Vice Principal Luna’s princess counterpart was mentioned? Something is definitely going on there!”

“Yeah, I noticed that too!” Sunset chuckled. “Princess Luna was gone the whole time I studied under Celestia. But seeing her human counterpart here, I can imagine she’s quite beautiful. All dark and sultry...I can understand why Twilight would blush.”

Rarity blinked, sitting up a bit straighter. “‘Dark and sultry?’ Um...Sunset, I don’t mean to pry—and you don’t have to give me answer, darling—but are you…” Rarity’s voice faded and she wiggled her fingers vaguely in the air.

“What?”

“What I mean to ask...is, um...do you prefer girls? To boys, I mean.” Rarity flushed. “I wouldn’t think any different of you! If you do...do you?”

Sunset blushed, swallowing hard as they came to a stop in front of Rarity’s house. Rarity continued to flush and fluster as she hurriedly unbuckled and reached into the back for her keytar. She opened the door when Sunset reached out and grabbed her arm.

“Rarity, don’t worry about asking me, ok? It’s not...something I like advertising, ok? This world treats that kind of thing differently than mine and it’s kind of a sore spot for me. Please don’t tell the other girls.”

Rarity stared at her for a moment and then leaned over and pulled Sunset into a tight hug. “Oh darling, I’ll keep it secret. Don’t worry. And you’ll find that special lady someday. Society is coming around to that slowly but surely.”

Rarity let Sunset go and smiled at her as she got out of the blue hatchback. “When you’re ready, just let your friends know, Sunset. We’ll be there for you. See you monday!”

“Yeah. Thanks, Rarity.”

Sunset Shimmer sighed, watching her friend walk up the drive toward the house. She glanced at the clock on the dashboard and smiled. Time to go to the horse park.

***

Adagio Dazzle looked at the hair dryer in her hand with disbelief. “Are you kidding me? I was almost done, fer cryin’ out loud!”

She growled and yanked the cord out of the power socket and tossed the dryer into the waste bin before she looked back into the foggy bathroom mirror. Her hair was mostly dry, finally, and floated behind her back in a bushy mess of golden curls. Only one small section still clung damply to the back of her neck. She grumbled under her breath, reaching out, and took a towel from the rack.

Once that was done, she needed to pull back and clamp the unruly locks down with her custom spiked scrunchy. It was something she’d had to do every day since her banishment by that old fart, Starswirl. As a frill in her natural form, her hair had been easier to control, but as a human it just seemed to get everywhere she didn’t want it. She glanced down at the hair band, biting her lip as she regarded it.

C’mon Adagio, you can do it. It’s second nature, like breathing. She licked her lips and took a shallow breath before she started to hum, her voice soft. C’mon...I know I’m low on power, but this is basic. Move, you damn hairband!

Her hum grew louder and started to fluctuate, her voice calling forth the magic of her siren blood. Adagio concentrated on the hairband, imagining it already placed and holding back her hair. I said move!

The warble in her single harmony grew ragged as she started to run out of breath and it finally died when she coughed. The hairband still rested on the bathroom counter, unmoved by the siren’s focus. Adagio coughed into her hand a few times until she caught her breath again.

“Stupid Rainbooms. Stupid me for trying again. Now that the gems are gone… what am I going to do?”

Her reflection didn’t give Adagio any answers, so she grabbed the scrunchy and slipped it on, pulling her hair back. She sighed tiredly and grabbed the towel again and wrapped it around herself before she stepped out into the dark hallway of the small trailer that had been their home and lair for a few weeks now. Her room was just a couple of steps away, across the hall.

She made it halfway when she heard an angry Aria Blaze growl when she rounded the corner from the main room. The purple girl sneered at her.

“‘Bout time! I’ve had to piss for an hour, Adagio!”

“You know it takes me a while to dry my hair now, Aria.” Adagio shook her head and turned the knob on her bedroom door. “So sorry you’re inconvenienced by my hygiene needs.”

Aria rolled her eyes. “Pfft, whatever. Why are you washing your hair in the middle of the day on a friday, anyway?”

“Didn’t you have to pee?” Adagio sneered and yanked the door to her room open. “The bathroom is all yours.”

“I bet Adagio has a hot date!” Sonata poked her head around the corner and snickered. “I can smell her perfume from the kitchen!” Sonata giggled. “Anyone we know?”

“Don’t be stupid, Sonata.” Aria kicked the bathroom door open and smirked. “We don’t know any rugmunchers, except for Gio, here.”

“Oh yeah.”

She glared at them and the door knob started to groan in protest in her grip. Sonata’s smile fell and she slowly leaned back the way she’d come from. Aria stepped into the bathroom and closed the door but the presswood didn’t do much to muffle her laughter. Adagio slammed her own flimsy door shut and leaned back against it.

“Bitches…” Adagio muttered softly under her breath. She scrunched her eyes closed and sniffed as she hugged herself.

She stood there like that for a few minutes. She heard the toilet flush and Aria tromping back off to the front of the trailer where the smell of whatever it was Sonata was cooking was coming from. I wonder how long trying to live like normal humans is going to last this time? Or how long I can stand those two...well, Aria really. Sonata is just dense. Adagio sighed and dropped the towel onto the cot that was jokingly referred to as her bed.

She got dressed slowly in silence. The sounds of the other sirens’ conversation slipping in through the cheap walls was her only companion as she tied her shoes and stuffed her hair inside her hoodie. She checked her light make-up again before she opened the door to face another verbal beating. All she had to do was make it outside.

The main room slash kitchen slash dining area of the trailer had a few chairs and a table that had seen better days and weren’t doing well under Aria’s propped up feet. The purple girl sneered at Adagio, eyes narrowing as she looked the lead siren up and down.

“Where are you going?”

“Yeah,” Sonata turned from the stove top where she had a pot of something steaming, “dinner’s almost ready.”

“I’m not hungry.” Adagio kept her face neutral as she headed for the door. Strictly speaking, she wasn’t lying, but breakfast had been several hours ago.

“You’re going to have to stop walking into the easy ones, Gio. I totes could have made a joke about what you’d like to eat, what with you being such a huge dyke.” Aria shook her head. “But a set up like that is beneath me. I don’t know why we ever let you be the leader. Should been the Blazelings all along.”

“Or, Aria and Dusketts! I’d love a group name like that.” Sonata grinned and stirred the contents of the pot before she sipped out of the spoon she was using. “Hmmm...needs more pepper.”

“I’m the leader because you two are too stupid to plan your way out of a wet paper sack!” Adagio paused halfway through the main room and narrowed her brows. “Who picked us up after we came to this human world? Who kept us alive when the humans got too dangerous to keep in groups? Who, time after time, has saved your fat ass from your own mistakes, Aria?”

“They weren’t mistakes! I would have us living like queens, Adagio! Now look at us!” Aria stood up and gestured at the trailer around them. “It was your fault we were banished from Equestria in the first place!”

“How’s that?” Adagio put her hands on her hips and faced Aria full on.

“Oh yeah, it was your fault. You never could keep in your pants, Adagio, not even back then! Starswirl the tightwad banished us ‘cuz you looked twice at his jailbait companion! I saw you making eyes at that filly while we fighting that ol’ glue factory reject off.”

“What?” Adagio stared at Aria in shock. “I did not! I would think it was more the chaos we caused in that pony village that made him banish us. Or maybe it was your stupid idea to go around telling the ponies we were going to overthrow the princesses! That might have had something to do with it! My...preferences...had nothing to do with it, Aria.”

“Whatever, you know what you did. You brought this on us and the sooner you get what you deserve, the sooner I’ll be able to enslave these filthy monkeys!” Aria stepped forward and clenched her fist. “Once the brats at that stupid school know you’re a damn lesbo on top of trying to manipulate them for power, they’ll tear you apart!”

Adagio glared at Aria, her own fists clenching and shaking. It was the last time she was going to be blamed for their banishment. She screeched and willed the table Aria had been sitting at to fly up and hit the girl in the back with a sweep of her hand. There was a tense second where neither of them moved.

Aria’s eyes widened, but when the table failed to sail towards her, she smirked. Adagio took a step back and a moment later she hit the ground.

Aria Blaze stood over her, the hand she’d just used to punch Adagio down frozen in place. Aria narrowed her eyes. “Next time you want to fight, come with some magic, Adagio, or I’m going to do more than hit you.”

“Dinner is done!”

“Shut up, Sonata.” Aria turned away and walked back toward the kitchen area. “We’re only going to need two plates tonight.”

“Uh, what about Adagio?” Sonata turned and looked out into the main room and frowned at the open door. “Oh, she already left. Poo...I wanted her to try my new recipe.”

***

The little blue car was there, just as had been a week ago. Adagio ran her hand along edge of the hood as she passed by.

Why am I back here? Do I have some sort of twisted need to hurt myself like this?

Sunset had essentially promised violence, last she had come to the horse park. Adagio couldn’t get the memory of it out of her head. Listening to Sunset as she poured her lonely heart out to a horse. Those short moments when she thought Sunset could be like her. An outcast, a former pony with her own grievances against Equestria and someone that might share in the misery that had been her life in the human world.

Don’t the humans have a saying about that? ‘Misery loves company?’ Adagio sighed and walked slowly into the park. There were less people around this time but she already knew where she was going. Her body felt like it was on autopilot as the lonely little separated barn came into view at the far end of the path. It was still fairly early into the afternoon, but the barn’s interior lights were on.

What if she’s out riding? What do I even hope to gain by being here?

She wasn’t sure of that. Sunset Shimmer was firmly her enemy. She and her friends in the Rainbooms had summoned powerful Equestrian magic and defeated her and the other sirens at the Battle of the Bands. The gems they used to store their magic and the emotions that fueled it had been destroyed. She wasn’t sure her magic would ever return. Her voice had, but the magic was still out of reach.

Adagio slowed as she approached the barn and tried to be as quiet as she could be. She stuffed her hands in her hoodie pockets and crept up to the barn door and leaned against the side so she could hear anything that was going on inside. The pasture grasses that made up most of the park swished in the light breeze and for a long moment, it was the only thing she heard besides her own breathing. She was just about to steal a peek inside when she heard a horse nicker, the shuffle of cloth and the squeak of shoes on concrete.

At least she doesn’t seem to be crying this time. That was awkward. Adagio leaned forward slightly and peeked around the edge of the barn door. A dozen or so paces away, Sunset Shimmer, wearing the green apron she had last time, was setting several combs and brushes on a low bench next to a stall that held what looked like the same horse. After she organized the combs, Sunset selected one and held up her hand.

“Easy now, Clyde. Time to get you brushed down and then we can see if I can get you to go faster around the corral without throwing me.”

Adagio rested her shoulder against the wall and stood there as Sunset talked. She still wasn’t sure what she was doing, but just listening for now felt right. Sunset smiled as the horse puffed his breath at her before dipping his head into a feed bag that hung in the stall. She wondered what Clyde might look like as a pony. Probably the typically stocky and broad chested stallion that seemed to live everywhere in Equestria. Sunset was probably one of those sleek unicorns with the long legs and those cute little spiral horns.

“I wonder how things have changed in Equestria, Clyde? Princess Twilight told me about a lot of the recent changes there but there must be so much more.” Sunset smiled and ran the comb through the horse’s thick mane. “Nightmare Moon is actually real, can you believe it? My mom used to tell those scary bedtime stories about her when I was a little foal.”

Who the heck is Princess Twilight? Is there more than one Equestrian princess now? Now that Adagio thought about it, if a princess had been directly involved at the Battle, it would explain the overwhelming wave of magic that had hit her and shattered her gem. Damn alicorns are breeding now.

“She even mentioned something about Discord being freed and changelings invading Canterlot. Maybe I’m lucky I ran away when I did. Otherwise, I’d bet you bits that Celestia would have me fighting that stuff.” Sunset ran the comb through the mane and pulled the tangle out while the horse more or less ignored her and focused on the oats in the bag. “I don’t envy Twilight’s ascension...not really. I mean, maybe a little. But I think I might be starting to feel more at home here.”

“Speak for yourself.” Adagio whispered. She closed her eyes and shivered as she thought of years upon years of her banishment and the endless parade of indignities she’d put up with. Yet she wondered, if Sunset Shimmer could adjust and find some sort of peace, why couldn’t she?

“I drove the girls home today after band practice. Rainbow even admitted I had some pretty good moves with the guitar. How’s that for development?” Sunset chuckled and picked up a spray bottle which she then used to mist the mane before she started to work with a different comb. “We even sort of talked about romance stuff.”

Clyde snorted and looked up as Sunset yanked on him to work a particularly difficult tangle out. “Sorry! I’ll be gentle. But how quintessentially girly can you get? A bunch of girls talking about romance?”

Ugghh. I swear, if she starts talking about boys I will set this barn on fire. Adagio rolled her eyes. I take it back. This is more awkward than when she was crying.

Sunset giggled and put down the comb and admired her work. “Looking good. I could practically show you off in Canterlot. Now let's get the tail.”

Adagio leaned forward more and watched Sunset work as the girl lapsed back into silence while she groomed the animal. Its tail was long and the color of straw with streaks of a paler blonde that faded to brown near the base. Watching the work was mesmerising in its own way and the quiet minutes passed unnoticed until a gentle breeze started up and caused Adagio to shiver. Slowly, she stepped into the barn and leaned back against the wall as Sunset finished up.

“There.” Sunset wiped her hands on the front of her apron and then grabbed a bottle of water that has sat unused on the low bench with her grooming supplies. “So, about that conversation...well, after I dropped off everyone else, Rarity was the last stop. You remember her, right Clyde? Pale color, big curly hair and the sparkly eyes? Well, she asked again and brought up Flash. I didn’t really want to talk about it, but then we started talking about how Princess Twilight seems to have a crush on Princess Luna and well, one thing led to another.”

Princess Luna? Adagio gaped at Sunset Shimmer’s back. How many of these princesses are there?

“I opened my big dumb mouth and said something I shouldn’t have.” Sunset sighed and took a drink from her bottle before setting it down and leaning in to rest her forehead against his side. “Now Rarity knows I like fillies...er, girls. I just made these friends and now I have to worry about that too.”

Adagio blinked, her mouth hanging open as she stood straight and her hands fell out of her pockets.. Wait…what?! She...she’s like… She couldn’t finish the thought, it was so alien to her mind. The horse, however, took that precise moment to notice her and snorted and stamped with one hoof. Sunset turned with what seemed glacial slowness and for a moment, Adagio wondered what she would say to the girl.

The moment passed and faster than she could react Sunset completed her turn and in a swift motion kicked up and caught a pitch fork in her hand. The rusty looking prongs of the fork speared forward to stop mere inches from her face. Adagio flinched backward and banged into the barn wall as she raised her hands.

“He-he-hey! No!” Adagio tried her best to smile non-threateningly as she could.

“What are you doing here?” Sunset growled. “Don’t think that just because I’m not with my friends that you Dazzlings can take me without a fight!”

“No! No, we’re not here to do anything like that!” Adagio coughed and her teeth started to chatter. “I-I-I’m alone! I swear!”

Sunset continued to hold the pitch fork up to Adagio’s face and looked around as if she suspected the other sirens to jump out from the empty stalls around them. “Oookaaay...why are you here, Adagio?”

“Uh...I don’t...know?”

“What?” Sunset locked her eyes on the siren again and took a half step forward. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m not lying! Please, I mean no harm, Sunset. I really don’t know why I’m here!” Adagio swallowed and licked her lips nervously. “I was...was walking around and I came here...because...I don’t know why. Things have been weird for me recently, ok?”

The rusty tool lowered slightly and Sunset cocked her head to the side. “Alright. Let’s say I believe you, Adagio. What’s to stop me from kicking your ass sideways right now for what you and your friends did at Canterlot High?”

“They aren’t my friends.” Adagio took a deep breath and let it out slowly while her heart continued to hammer in her chest. “Well, maybe Sonata in a vague way, but if I don’t see Aria again ever, I wouldn’t feel too bad about that.”

The fork lowered to hover just off the ground, ready to move if it was needed. Sunset took her own steadying breath and then took a step back, but kept her eyes on Adagio. She looked the siren up and down in silence for a solid minute before she lifted the fork up and rested it against her shoulder.

“Is that a bruise around your eye?”

Adagio frowned and put a hand against the spot where she’d been hit. The sting had lasted her from the trailer to the parking lot so a bruise didn’t really surprise her. She pushed herself very slowly off the wall and tugged her hood closer to hide the bruise as best she could. “It doesn’t matter. Nothing someone like you would understand.”

“I’m not your average goody-goody pony, remember?” Sunset crossed her arms over her stomach. “How long were you standing there behind me?”

Adagio looked down at the straw covered floor and stuck her hands back in her pockets. “Long enough.” Her eyes snapped back up when she heard the creaking of the wooden handle of the pitchfork. She could see Sunset’s knuckles turning white with the strength of her grip.

The redhead’s eye twitched and then she took a deep breath. “Adagio, I don’t want to broadcast that little fact to the town. I’d appreciate it if you kept that little bit to yourself. Consider it a truce. You keep that secret, I don’t introduce you to the business end of this farming implement.” Sunset nodded toward the pitch fork for emphasis.

“I...I can agree to that.” Adagio smirked. “Kinda nostalgic, being threatened by one of those. All that’s missing is the torches and the angry mob.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been in the world a long time, haven’t you?”

“You could say that.”

“Sooo...now what?”

Adagio shrugged and looked back up at Sunset. “I don’t know. It’s not like I had a plan here. If you want me to leave, I understand, Sunset.”

“Do you...want to leave?”

“No?” Adagio shrugged again. “Like I said, things are weird for me these days.”

Sunset pointed at the opposite wall. “I know a thing or two about...things being weird. If you want to stay, go stand where I can see you. I still have to get Clyde ready for the saddle before I can take him out.”

Adagio nodded and took a wide circle around Sunset toward the other side of the barn. When she got there, she took a seat on a large plastic barrel and looked back up to see Sunset set the fork aside and grab another brush. Why am I staying? I should leave. That would be the smart thing. So what if she’s like me? Am I that desperate?

She coughed again. “So...you like taking care of this guy?”

Sunset nodded but her eyes were focused on the job at hand.

“Can I watch you ride?” Adagio slapped her mouth closed as soon as the words left her. She hadn’t meant to ask that. She wanted to make small talk now that she was reasonable sure she wasn’t going to get lynched. “I mean...well, I don’t know what I mean. Ignore me.”

Sunset nodded again and continued to brush the horse in quiet concentration. After a few minutes she set aside the brush and turned back to the supply cabinet on the wall across from the stalls. Adagio watched her move and when she opened the cabinet, Sunset bent to reach something. She revised her earlier assessment, Sunset was probably a long legged unicorn with a cute horn and a firm and full flank too. Sunset pulled out a blanket, a simple saddle, and riding tact that looked like the same equipment she had out the last time.

“Is it hard to put that stuff on a horse?” Adagio flushed and looked away. “Gah, Adagio, just shut up. You’re embarrassing yourself...”

“No, it’s a good question, really.” Sunset laid out the riding equipment on the bench. “It’s hard on younger horses that aren’t used to it, but Clyde is a pro, even if I’m not. Thankfully, he usually goes easy on me. I’ll go slow, so you can watch.”

Adagio sunk deeper into her hood, her cheeks burning. “...whatever.”

Chapter 3

A Dazzling Sunset

Chapter 3

“So...then what happened?” Rainbow Dash leaned back in the passenger seat of Sunset’s car and interlaced her fingers behind her head while Sunset navigated out of her neighborhood.

In the backseat, Applejack tipped her hat up and whistled quietly. “You mean, the leader of them Dazzlings shows up and just hangs out with ya at the horse park, like it ain’t nothing?”

Sunset shrugged. “Pretty much. I mean, nothing really happened. It was weird, like I said.”

“So, darling, this Adagio girl just...watched you care of the horses and then left?”

Sunset glanced in her rearview mirror at Rarity. “Well, she stuck around to watch me ride too. She was quiet most of the time, asked me a few questions here and there. But every time I checked on her, she was just watching, her hands stuffed in her pockets. Sometimes, she even seemed genuinely interested.

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “My, that is odd. Though...I suppose that after their defeat, the Dazzlings are going through much the same thing that you did, Sunset. They are from Equestria too, after all.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t trust it.” Rainbow snorted. “No offense, Sunset, but people, or pony mermaids-”

“Sirens.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Dash shook her head. “They don’t change overnight or after a single event. Either she’s lying, or something else is up. They might be trying to get some sort of dirt on us for blackmail, or maybe they're trying to learn about us so they can beat us at another battle of the bands.”

“I dunno, Dash,” Sunset pursed her lips and turned out of the neighborhood toward Fluttershy’s home, “something was definitely off about her. Adagio didn’t seem to want to see the other Dazzlings and she had a fresh bruise on the side of her face.”

Rainbow grunted, unimpressed. She sat up in her seat a little and pulled her cell phone from her pocket and hit the quick dial for their pink haired animal-loving friend. The phone made a few muted beeps before a quiet voice picked up the other end.

“Hey ya, Fluttershy, I told you I would call when we were on the way to get you for the slumber party slash band practice at Pinkie’s.” Rainbow nodded and then frowned. “Chaperone? Why would we need a chaperone? There won’t be any boys there. It’s a sleepover, Fluttershy, not a lesbian orgy!”

Sunset Shimmer’s eye twitched and her knuckles started to turn white from her grip on the steering wheel. Rainbow Dash continued to talk to Fluttershy as she drove, oblivious to anything other than the conversation and her smart phone. The wheel under her fingers creaked when suddenly Rarity appeared between the seats and put her hand on Sunset’s arm.

“Sunset! Did I not mention to you that I found the most fabulous ring just the other day with center piece that was just the same shade of red as your hair?”

“Huh?” Sunset blinked and looked at Rarity, her grip relaxing slightly, which caused the car’s path to weave a little.

“Hey, Rarity! Fashion can wait, sugar! Sunset’s tryin’a drive here.” AJ grabbed Rarity by the shoulder and pulled her gently back. “No need to go cause her to lose control, ok?”

“Um...yes. Sorry.” Rarity sat back but kept her eyes on Sunset.

Sunset sighed and smiled weakly into the mirror at Rarity. “Uh, thanks Rarity. You can...uh...show me later.”

The rest of the ride was uneventful as they picked up Fluttershy from the end of her long driveway. The girls took turns filling her in of Sunset’s encounter with Adagio at the horse park while Sunset drove them to Pinkie Pie’s. Once they arrived, Sunset parked her car in the grass besides the huge converted farm house and everyone spilled out with backpacks and instrument cases in hand.

The girls thundered up the stairs to Pinkie’s room as soon as they were inside, but Sunset paused and waved at Pinkie’s parents and sister, Maud, who were having dinner at their dining room table. “Thanks again for letting us stay the night and practice too.”

Maud looked up and swallowed. “At least it will drown out Boulder’s snoring.”

“Uhh…” Sunset raised an eyebrow. Maud’s parents nodded in agreement and kept eating. “Ooookay…”

“Sunset!”

Sunset jerked her head up as her name was called and she saw Pinkie Pie leaning ridiculously over the banister at the top of the stairs, her bouncy curls swaying wildly. “Quick, get up here! This is important!” She disappeared suddenly when Pinkie yanked herself back from the edge.

Sunset blinked at the empty space for a moment and shook her head. “Now I’m not sure if Pinkie is the odd one, or the normal one in her family.” She hefted her backpack over one shoulder and climbed the stairs to the second level and Pinkie’s bedroom over the garage.

When she reached the room, she was surprised again when the door opened just as she reached it. Pinkie grinned at her from the other side and she could see that the others had wasted no time getting comfortable and dropping their bags and instruments on the bed.

“Um, Pinkie? Is that Gummy, on your head?” Sunset pointed at the green, reptilian tail that hung out of the girl’s hair.

“Is it?” Pinkie looked up and gasped. “Oh gosh! Good eyes, Sunset! I’ve been looking for him since I got home from Sugarcube Corner. Gummy is awesome at Hide & Seek!”

The girl giggled and pulled her pet alligator down from her head and hugged him close. “Anyway, get in here! The girls were just telling me about Rainbow’s awesome idea for a party game!”

“It wasn’t an idea for a party game, Pinks.” Dash rolled her eyes and plopped down on a beanbag. “I was making a joke.”

“It was kind of funny, I think.” Fluttershy pointed out. “I smiled when Rainbow said it over the phone.”

“What joke?” Sunset closed the door behind her and set her own gear down on the bed. “Am I missing something again?”

“The only thing you are missing is Pinkie’s sometimes questionable taste in what counts as a ‘good idea.’” Rarity made air-quotes with her fingers.

“It is a good idea!” Pinkie smiled and jumped into the center of the room and held out Gummy like a baton as she turned and regarded each of them. “It’s like Truth or Dare, only there isn’t a Dare part! Just a Truth part. I’m thinking of calling it ‘Slumber Party Confessions,’ unless that name is already taken—in which case I’m calling it ‘Pinkie Pie’s Version of Slumber Party Confessions!’”

“Confessions?” Sunset folded her arms. “What sort of confessions?”

“That’s where Rainbow Dash’s idea comes in!” Pinkie snapped her Gummy baton up and pointed at the ceiling. When she did all the lights in the room, except the one directly above her, went dark. “She told Fluttershy that this isn’t a lesbian orgy, so that got ol’ Pinkie thinking: How do her friends—that’s you gals—feel about lesbians? And—possibly more importantly—have any lesbians ever hit on you? Inquiring minds want to know!”

The chorus of groans around the room drowned out Sunset’s quiet gasp and she took an unsteady step backwards. She turned and let her back thud into the wall before sliding down into a seated position. Maybe if I curl up into a tight enough ball, Pinkie won’t notice me. She could feel a blush heating her cheeks already. No, that won’t work. Maybe I can just will myself dead? Certainly Pinkie wouldn’t question a corpse about its sexual preferences, right?

“Well, I for one, think this is a dreadfully inappropriate game.” Rarity held up her hands in exasperation. “What if you offend someone, Pinkie?”

“Um…” Pinkie scratched her head with Gummy’s back. “Isn’t that the point of ‘Truth or Dare Except There isn’t a Dare Part?’ Teasing your friends about stuff that’s not really important but we never talk about for some reason?”

“Yeah, Rarity, it isn’t like secret Social Justice ninjas are going to attack us suddenly for voicing our opinions.” Rainbow Dash blew a raspberry at Rarity. “It’s harmless fun.”

Rarity frowned and flipped her hair back regally. “I beg to differ!”

“What are ya, chicken?” Applejack smirked at Rarity from her own beanbag seat. “I gotta say I’m with Dash and Pinkie on this. It’s harmless fun and we’re all friends here. What’s a little squirming under the spotlight gonna do that a hug and some good natured ribbin’ won’t fix?”

Rarity returned Applejack’s smirk with a haughty stare for a moment before huffing and dropping onto the couch next to Fluttershy and crossing her arms. “I’m not a chicken, I merely wanted to avoid embarrassing...er...anyone. Some people are sensitive about these sorts of topics.”

“Oh Rarity, you don’t have to do that for me.” Fluttershy leaned over and put her hand on Rarity’s shoulder. “I appreciate the thought, but after performing in front of the whole school, I think I’ve become a little more brave about this stuff. Thank you, though.”

The pale skinned girl blinked in wide eyed surprise, but quickly regained her composure. “Um...yes, of course, Fluttershy. You’re quite welcome. I was merely trying to protect my friend’s feelings. Besides, I highly doubt any of us have strong negative feelings towards people that like their own genders or any stories worth telling concerning it.”

The room was silent for a moment and then all the lights came back on. Pinkie Pie deflated slightly and Gummy went limp in her hands, so she tucked the pet alligator back into her curly hair. “Aw man, I thought I had a good game with that. Sorry girls.”

Sunset sighed and shot Rarity a grateful glance before she shrugged off her jacket and tossed it up to join the pile of backpacks and musical instruments. She leaned back and enjoyed the sensation of the tension leaving her back and shoulders. One more day without everyone knowing. Still, that was a close one. I should really think about how I want to eventually tell my friends I like other mares.

Sunset grinned at that and let her head fall back against the wall. She stared at the ceiling without really looking at it. Maybe I should talk to someone about this before I get into a situation where it comes out accidentally. Maybe I could write Princess…

“Twilight Sparkle!”

Sunset blinked as she was jolted from her thoughts. She looked over at the others, at Pinkie Pie specifically, as the girl again commanded the attention of everyone in the bedroom.

“What about her, sugarcube?” Applejack raised an eyebrow.

“I bet she likes girls!” Pinkie grinned. “Or mares or whatever.”

“She did blush a lot at our last slumber party whenever we mentioned Vice Principal Luna.” Fluttershy offered. “I wonder if she has a crush on her?”

“But Princess Twilight is a pony, remember? Wouldn’t that be weird?” Rainbow Dash shrugged and turned to look at Sunset. “Hey, would that be weird?”

Sunset grimaced and scratched her head. “Uh, maybe? Would it be weird for a human to like a non-human?” She shook her head. “I don’t know, Dash. I thought all of you looked freaky when I first came here. Pretty hard to feel an attraction to something alien to you so quickly. It’s more likely Twilight has a crush on, or a relationship with, Princess Luna.”

“I think it’s weird our school principles are princesses in another world.” Rainbow Dash pantomimed having her mind blown. “And that they think it’s ok to send their world’s bad guys here to our world.”

Sunset chuckled uneasily and rubbed the goose bumps that had risen on her arms. “Yeah, Princess Celestia is kinda...well, let’s say she has a history of overreacting to things. And from what I’ve read about Starswirl, he was a fan of taking care of problems in...er…permanent terms.”

“Speaking of those ‘problems,’ what are you going to do about that Adagio girl?” Applejack fixed Sunset with a hard look. “Do you think she’s dangerous? I could always take Friday off and come out to the park with ya.”

“Yeah! Me too!” Rainbow Dash slammed her fist into her palm and sneered. “They got away pretty clean at the battle. There’s a more than a few things they still deserve some lumps for.”

Sunset grinned at her friends’ offers. “No...I don’t think Adagio is dangerous or anything. I think she’s confused and is trying to figure out what she wants to do now that she’s lost all her powers.”

“Are...are you sure she’s lost her powers?” Fluttershy shrank deeper in the corner of the couch and pulled one of the throw pillows into her lap. “What if it’s a trick?”

“Well,” Sunset tapped her lips with a finger, “I don’t know much about Equestrian Sirens, but I think they need those gems to do their magic.”

“Like a wand!” Pinkie Pie bounced on her heels and flopped down on the floor next to her bookshelves. “I have a book about wizards that use wands to cast spells while yelling a bunch of silly words at each other.”

“I guess it’s like that?” Sunset raised an eyebrow. She smiled a moment later and grabbed her backpack off the bed. “Speaking of books though…” She pulled the old leather bound tome that connected to an exact replica that was once owned by Princess Celestia. “I was thinking about asking Princess Twilight for more information on Sirens. Anyone else want to say hi while I’m at it?”

Sunset looked up in surprise when the room erupted into a chorus of squeals and a wave of giggling human girls descend on her. “Um...I take that as a ‘yes?’”

***

“So...then…*uf*...what happened?” Sonata huffed as she tilted the milk crate of Adagio’s hair care products out the window.

Just outside the small trailer and below the window, Adagio Dazzling caught the edge of the crate in her hands. “Ugh...nothing happened, Sonata. I just watched her ride on the stupid horse and then I left.”

“Why?”

“What was I supposed to do, hang around in an empty barn?” Adagio grunted under the full weight of her hygiene regimen. She set the crate on the ground, and looked back up at the blue siren. “Sunset left at about...sunset, actually. The park was a little creepy in the dark.”

Sonata giggled at Adagio’s tone. “Oh. That makes sense, I guess. But why are we cleaning out your room? I don’t think rent is due for another week or so, Gio. Are we going to move again?”

“We’re not moving, Sonata, I just don’t want another black eye from Aria. So I’m getting some space.” Adagio sighed, and slumped against the trailer’s pitted vinyl siding. She looked up when she heard Sonata’s breath catch. “I’ll be back.”

“Why don’t you fight her, Gio? You two always fight and you always win.” Sonata frowned and grabbed another plastic garbage bag filled with the few things her cousin called her own. “Why is it any different this time?”

The yellow skinned girl scowled, but shrugged almost helplessly. “Aria thinks she can lead. So I’m going to let her, but I’m not sticking around to be her punching bag while she goes down in flames, Sonny. Plus, she’s got a mean right hook.” She gently touched the now dull purple bruise that maked half of her jaw and cheek. “Aria will get hers once I get our magic back. Sunset is the key to that, I just know it. While I’m gone, don’t listen to her, Sonata.”

Adagio sighed and took the last of the bags from her fellow siren. “Stay safe, ok? Even if she is a total bitch about it, don’t let Aria talk you into anything dangerous.”

Sonata nodded sadly, and looked over her shoulder toward the front of the trailer where Aria was in the living area. She balled up her fists and took a deep breath before turning back toward her cousin. “Adagio, do what you have to, but you stay safe too. We’re all we’ve got in this world.”

“I’ll try.” Adagio stood up and took a step backward. “I’ll contact you soon.”

***

The week passed slowly. Each day, Sunset found herself looking at the clock and counting the minutes until the final bell rung on Friday and she could go to the park. The volunteer work with the horses was enjoyable in its own right, but the anticipation of another visit from Adagio had her on edge.

Sunset set her car in park, sitting there in silence in the parking lot, and chewed her lip. She hadn’t taken the other girls home after school, instead opting to go straight to the horse park from school. That gave her an extra forty or so minutes until her volunteer period technically started, another forty minutes before Adagio showed up.

Might show up. Sunset reminded herself. Why have I been so focused on seeing her here again? I know we share some things in common, but she’s still an evil monster, right?

She slumped in her seat, gazing out the window and over at the pasture. The letters she had exchanged with Princess Twilight at the slumber party, and then throughout the week, had been eye opening. Equestrian Sirens and the legends humans had about their own type of Sirens were similar on the surface. They both lived in the oceans and could breathe both air and underwater. Both types of Sirens used magic with their voices but that was where the two types started to deviate from each other.

Human Sirens used their voices to tempt and manipulate sailors into jumping off their ships or otherwise causing shipwrecks. Equestrian Sirens could perform magic pretty much like a unicorn could, except they used their voices rather than a horn. They appeared like ponies, if more aquiline, from the waist up while their lower bodies were long, legless and tapered into a tail that they used to swim with. Siren were covered in extremely fine scales from snout to tail. In the water, with their fins hidden, they could pass for normal ponies, though the stronger ones were rumored to be able to take pony form and walk on land.

That explained the forms she had seen at the battle of the bands when the Dazzlings had been at peak power. The odd thing about it was, all the books Princess Twilight had on Sirens never mentioned any gems, or Sirens even being more than a nuisance at best. They just weren’t that powerful. It wasn’t until Twilight had unearthed some of Starswirl the Bearded’s personal notes—possibly notes he made on the Dazzlings themselves—that any mention of the gems was found.

Sirens seemed to have the unique ability to combine their magical abilities with others, and unlike a group of unicorns working on the same spell at once, the Sirens effectively doubled their power in every way without needing to work in concert. Starswirl called binded groups of Sirens, ‘covens’ and he noted that three seemed to be the limit of their combined power ability. When a coven was formed, the excess magic crystallized and the Sirens would use the crystals as focusing lenses or extra magical batteries.

And now they don’t have those. I really hope we weren’t mistaken about them losing their power. Sunset chewed her lip thoughtfully. If those notes Princess Twilight found were on the Dazzlings, I’ll have to ask Adagio what Starswirl was like.

Sunset sighed, unbuckling herself from her seat. There wasn’t much point in hanging out in the parking lot. She locked her car after she got out and headed for the main building across the gravel lot. It usually wasn’t a problem with the other staff if she signed in early, but Sunset decided she would spend the time checking in on the other horses. Clyde was a cool horse, but seeing the others together still made her feel like she could be back in Canterlot for a moment.

The park was almost empty and when Sunset poked her head into the main stable barn, she only saw a few volunteers milling about as they got hay and feed ready. The horses were being quiet and a few of them seemed to be sleeping. Sunset loitered at the door for a minute before turning away with a frown.

Well, that didn’t pan out. She looked over at the administration building but she still didn’t quite feel like signing in. Sunset turned, walking the paved path that lead to the satellite barn where Clyde was housed. Maybe if I go the barn now, I can scope where Adagio is coming from?

She shook her head and stuffed her hands in her pants. This is dumb. I should not be this focused on this girl. It was probably a one off thing, right? Why would she keep coming back? Her showing up twice could simply be a coincidence. Right?

Sunset blew a loose strand of hair out of her eyes as she neared the barn. The lights were off and no one else was about. She looked around hopefully for a moment, but no one, human or otherwise, suddenly showed up. She waved at the motion detection lights until they turned on and washed the interior shadows away. She stepped inside and smiled as the horse there nickered softly at her presence.

“Hey Clyde.” Sunset waved at the animal, stepping up to the stall. She held out her hand, palm up to let Clyde get a good scent off her. “Say, you haven’t seen anyone else out here, have you?” The horse didn’t say anything, instead he playfully nipped at her jacket sleeve. “Whoa there! I’ll feed you as soon as I’m officially on the clock, ok?”

Sunset chuckled, patting the stallion between the ears, and scratched him there for a moment. She then moved to the rear door of the barn, the one that lead to the small corral where she practiced riding, and opened it to let in as much a cross breeze as she could. She stood there for a moment and soaked up the sunlight and the smells of the hay and grass, dirt and horses. She was just about to turn back when she spotted a flash of yellow amid the green of the trees that lined the edges of the pasture.

“Wait, was that…” Sunset squinted. The blob of yellow moved after a moment and vanished deeper into the treeline. Was that Adagio? It looked like her hair. Sunset raised an eyebrow and then looked back into the stable. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to check on something.”

The stallion nickered at her from his stall, swatting his tail in mild annoyance. Sunset didn’t stick around to see if he had anything else to add to the conversation and took off for the edge of the park where she had seen the bit of yellow.

***

Adagio held up the compact higher, trying to get a better angle to see her hair from. It felt extra wild after a couple of days without a proper shower and if she was going to go into the horse park, she wanted to have it combed and ready. At least she was otherwise clean.

“Damnit, this was easier with a full length mirror.” She grunted with the effort of standing on her tiptoes and securing the compact in the crook of a tree branch. “And with a bathroom. And with magic.”

Adagio clapped her hands together to clear off the make-up powder from her fingers and grabbed her battle-worn hair brush from the fallen log that was serving as her table and chair. She ran the brush through her curly mass of golden bangs. The brush caught on a tangle in the first pass and she winced when she heard the hair break. She wasn’t proud of much with her human body, but Adagio treasured her hair almost as much as her voice. It stood out. It made her unique and drew attention.

She sighed and dropped down to sit on the fallen log. She started again with the brush on her locks and looked around at her small campsite. Her few possessions were still packed in the trash bags and flimsy plastic crates. She had put up a tarp she’d stolen, from the backyard of one of the houses over the hill, to protect her from rain. So far the weather had been kind, thankfully.

Adagio winced again when her brush caught on another tangle. She worked at it for a moment and the unruly hair started to obey, if slowly. A few more passes smoothed things out in her bangs and she reached back to feel at the bulk of her hair. She had just pulled the brush through to the end when she heard the loud snap of a twig. Adagio spun and raised her fists in defense, but the strike she was expecting didn’t come. Instead, a familiar redhead appeared from behind a tree at the edge of the camp.

Sunset Shimmer stood a few feet away, her hand resting on a tree, a surprised look on her face. “A-Adagio? Why are you hiding out here in the woods?”

“I’m not hiding! What are you doing here?” Adagio frowned and glanced around. “Did you and your friends come here to laugh at me?”

‘Uh, no.” Sunset shook her head. “It’s just me, I promise.” She looked at the camp around Adagio for a moment. “How long have you been out here?”

“What business of yours is it?” She pointed her brush at Sunset like a club. “How did you find me anyway?”

Sunset smirked and laughed quietly. “I saw your hair through the trees from the barn.”

“The barn?” Adagio blinked and looked up through the canopy at the sky. “You’re early.” She groaned and let her arms fall to her sides. “I thought you didn’t start for almost an hour?”

“Normally. I decided to come in early.” Sunset folded her arms and frowned at Adagio. “Are you stalking me? I thought you were going through a weird period, but if you’re looking for trouble, I can bring you a world of hurt, Adagio. Rainbow Dash and Applejack are a text away from showing up to hand you your butt on a platter.”

Adagio raised her arms and held her one empty hand open. “No! No...not stalking you. I was...I was being honest when I told you that. I’m not looking for trouble, Sunset.”

“Then why are you out here?”

She shrugged. “I...uh...I left. Needed a place to crash and I saw this spot when I chased after you two weeks…” Adagio faded out as she saw Sunset pull a cell phone from her jacket pocket and heard it chirp. “No! Nononono! Seriously, I’m not stalking you! I mean, maybe the first time, but not now, I swear!”

Sunset fixed her with a firm look, but her thumb didn’t move over the phone’s screen. Adagio took a step back and her voice fell to a whisper. “Please...believe me.”

“Ok, but any funny stuff and I send the word out.” Sunset slipped her phone back into the pocket it came from. She stood there quietly and then looked pointedly at the brush in Adagio’s hand. “Need any help with that?”

“What? No. No!” Adagio raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “I can comb my own hair. Obviously.”

Sunset looked the other Equestrian up and down with a critical eye. “Yeah, I guess. Your hair just looks extra wild, and I don’t mind helping.”

“Why?” Adagio took another half-step back away from Sunset. “Why help me?”

Sunset looked down at the ground, scuffing the toe of her boot into the carpet of pine needles. “Because...I know what it’s like. I know the...weird...place you’re in, Adagio. I’ve been there.” She looked back up, taking a step forward into the camp proper. “I might still be there, if it weren’t for the help that was offered to me. I know your pride tells you not to accept it, that you don’t need any help. I...understand if you can’t accept my offer. But even if you can’t, I still hope you come watch me ride and take care of the rescue horse again. In a weird way, I enjoyed your company.”

Adagio narrowed her eyes, her hand with the brush dropping to her side. She regarded Sunset for a moment, then sighed. “I never said I was going to do that again. I’m not trying to be your friend.”

Sunset gestured at the camp around them. “From where I stand, Adagio, it looks like you could use a friend. If you want to stay out here and wrestle with that bird’s nest you call hair, fine by me. I have a horse to feed and groom.”

Sunset was turning to leave when Adagio held up her hand again. “Wait! Wait...please. If it’s ok...I could use some help with it. Without my magic, it’s hard to deal with this much hair.” She swallowed nervously and flipped the brush around in her grip, holding it out handle first to Sunset.

The former pony paused, and looked back over her shoulder at the offering. “Ok. Sit. I’ll do what I can.”

A minute later, Sunset found herself standing behind Adagio Dazzle. The siren hunched forward, sitting on the fallen log, elbows on her knees. Sunset tuned the thick, designer brush over in her hands, testing its weight and balance.

“Huh.” Sunset ran her thumb over the brush bristles. “This is better than the one I have at home.”

“I use only the best.” Adagio snorted dismissively. “Are we going to do this, or are you just going to stand there admiring the thing?”

“Sorry.” Sunset took a handful of curly orange hair, running the brush through it. Wow...I knew she had big hair, but this is crazy. It must weigh a ton when wet! She pulled it down to the end of the strands, returning to the top and starting again. She began to work faster as the hair started to obey. She was making her third pass, pushing deeper into the locks when she hit the first tangle and tore through it.

“Ow!” Adagio turned, snarling at Sunset. “Hey, that hurt! Be careful!”

“Sorry!” Sunset glared back at the other girl. “Maybe if you hadn’t been sleeping in the woods, your hair wouldn’t be in such a mess.” She pointed at the crate of hair care products. “If it takes all this to care for your hair, why the heck did you leave wherever you were staying at?”

“That’s none of your damn business, you stupid pony!” Adagio grabbed her hair, pulling it around in front to inspect it. “If my hair is damaged, so help me.”

“You’ll do what?” Sunset crossed her arms. “You aren’t really in a position to threaten me.”

The yellow girl growled in a way that seemed impossible for a small human female to do. Sunset leaned back at the sound. Be careful! She might be in human form, but you are still in the presence of a sea monster, Sunset. Pissing her off would not be the smart thing to do to.

“Hey,” Sunset put up her hands, “I’ll go slower. I’m sorry I hurt you.”

The siren narrowed her eyes, and turned forward again. She grumbled under her breath, supporting her head in her palms. “Just take it easy.” She huffed, leaning slightly as the brushing pulled her to the left. “Sorry I barked at you like that, I guess. It’s been a hard week for me. Harder than most, anyway.”

“I know how that goes.”

Adagio snorted, rolling her eyes. Yeah right. Like you’d know anything about running from the human authorities when rent comes due and you don’t have any money because you can’t control these monkeys anymore.

“Really, Adagio, I do.” Sunset worked slowly, doing shorter passes with the brush. She hit another large tangle and this time she started to work at it with a softer touch. “I’ve been in this world for about five years at this point. I know that’s a blink of the eye compared to you, but in that time I’ve gone from the freaked out, suddenly magic-less alien to independent with friends. Our situations may be different, but there is a lot we have in common.”

Adagio remained quiet, staring forward into the trees.

“I was being honest, earlier, when I said I enjoyed your company last friday. It weirded me out a lot. I’ve been thinking about it all week, trying to figure out what you wanted. I think—and I could be wrong—that you are looking for stability. That you’re searching for something to hold onto after the rug got yanked out from under you at the battle of the bands.” Sunset moved lower, getting down where the curls were long and loose. She has really pretty hair, now that I see it up close. It must look absolutely stunning as a pony mane.

The siren shifted on the log. When she spoke, her voice was low and soft. “So what if I am? What is there to hold on to? Is that why I felt better when I watched you riding?” She looked back over her shoulder, though the loose halo of her own hair, her red eyes searching. “I thought that maybe I could find a way to restore our magic. Now, I think I’m no closer to that than I’ve ever been.”

“The adjustment is hard, huh?” Sunset smiled ruefully. “I used to be the most powerful student ever to walk the halls of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. I could summon fire so hot, it could burn a dragon’s backside. I could transform frogs into bananas. I used to be able to move whole houses with a thought. Then I came here.”

“Learning to walk all over again was a pain.” Adagio reached back, tugging her hair behind her ear. “I’d just gotten used to walking like a pony, then that blasted mage, Starswirl sends us here and I have to learn how to do it on half as many legs. My voice helped, in those early days. I had to hum constantly just to keep from falling down.”

“I nearly broke my nose the first five minutes I was here.” Sunset chuckled. “At least the language was mostly the same. The writing was totally different.”

“Maybe for you that was a blessing, but for me and the others, we were still fresh to Equestrian. It took me years to learn how to read the chickenscratch these humans call writing.”

“How...how long have you been here?” Sunset lifted the very ends of Adagio’s locks, running the brush through them idly. “Starswirl the Bearded died more than two hundred years ago.”

“I don’t know if time works the same way across the worlds, but it doesn’t feel like it’s been that long. At the same time…” Adagio sighed. “It feels like an eternity. I’ve had to keep us together, Aria, Sonata, and I. I’ve always been the leader, the most powerful. Now look at me.”

Adagio touched the bruise on her cheek and winched. “I can barely take a hit.”

“Who did that?”

“Aria.” Adagio slumped forward. “She’s had it in for me for a long time. She blames our defeat and banishment on me. Refuses to see that I’ve kept us out of trouble, kept us fed, free, and with a roof over our heads.”

“Why stay together if she hates you so much?” Sunset took a step back to admire her handy work. With her efforts, Adagios mane of golden curls bounced and floated around the siren like a fluffy cloud.

“We are all we had. Sonata is family, so I kind of had to keep an eye on her. Aria was a friend...but things went sour between us when I…uh...when—ah, forget it.” Adagio sighed again and shrugged. “It’s not important now.”

“I’m done.”

“Huh?” The yellow girl looked back and blinked at Sunset, who stood there holding the brush in her hands. She reached back, her fingers slipping through her hair with little resistance. “Well...um...thanks for that.”

She stood, turning to face Sunset Shimmer. “Hand me that.”

“What?” Sunset blinked at Adagio, suddenly aware that the other girl stood a few inches taller than her. With her hair free and untangled, she looked more like a lion than a sea creature, powerful and prone to strike without warning. She isn’t even wearing any of the spiked clothing this time and she somehow looks more imposing.

Adagio tightened her lips, pointing at the crate next to Sunset’s feet. “My hair band. Hand it to me.”

Sunset looked down and fetched the hairband. It looked more like some sort of belt than something to hold back hair, but with hair like Adagio’s, it seemed oddly appropriate. She tossed it to the other girl, and then dropped the brush into the crate. She folded her arms, watching Adagio pull back her personal cloud into something manageable.

“There. That’s better.” Adagio smirked and reached up to grab her compact from the branches overhead. She checked herself in its tiny mirror, clicking it closed after a moment and tucked it away in the pocket of her jeans. “Isn’t it about time you got back to your horse?”

Sunset looked up at the sky through the canopy. The sky was visibly starting to take on a yellowish tone as the afternoon approached evening. She took out her phone, glancing at the time. “Yeah. I think I’ve let Clyde go long enough without dinner. But I don’t think I’ll do any riding today.”

Adagio gaped at the redhead. “What? Why not?”

Sunset smirked. “I think I’ll feed him and give him a quick rub down, then leave early.” The siren across from her frowned, confusion plain on her face as Sunset continued. “I think we’re due some dinner too. Come on, I’m buying.”

Chapter 4

A Dazzling Sunset

Chapter 4

Adagio stuffed her hands in her hoodie pockets, walking a few paces behind Sunset as the girl lead the way to her car. Feeding the horse after coming in from her campsite hadn’t taken nearly as much time as she thought it would. It took longer to brush it down. She’d stood there waiting while Sunset worked with the combs and brushes on the horse’s mane, smiling and humming happily to herself while she did it.

Watching Sunset tend to the animal’s coat, from where she was leaning on the barn wall, made Adagio feel odd. She kept flashing back to the camp and how it had felt to have someone help her with her own hair like that. Though she was loathe to admit it, it’d felt good. Seeing it from another perspective made her stomach twist and temperature rise. Then, just as suddenly, Sunset was done and cleaning up, leading her along while the girl put away her apron and clocked out.

She is in entirely too good of a mood. Was asking me to dinner a trick? Am I letting myself be lead into a trap? Now, as they neared Sunset’s little utility vehicle, Adagio shook her head to take her eyes off the redhead’s swaying wavy hair. If it is a trap, at least the bait is nice to look at. I bet her tail used to match her hair. Adagio’s distant memories of Equestria were interrupted when the car chirped, flashing its lights at her.

Sunset pulled the keys from her jacket pocket, as the doors automatically unlocked. She opened her door and gestured at the passenger seat. “Hop in. I might have been human for the last few years, but watching Clyde eat hay always makes me hungry.”

Adagio grunted noncommittally, slipping into her seat and buckling in. She tensed when the engine rumbled to life, gripping the armrest tightly. Where is she taking me? Don’t humans normally discuss things like this? I swear, if any of those Rainbooms are at...wherever...we’re going, I will… Adagio frowned, searching for an appropriate response to such a hypothetical situation that wouldn’t end with her covered in even more bruises.

Sunset stopped the car at the end of the lot, looking at Adagio. “Something wrong? You look nervous.” She patted the steering wheel, and smirked. “Haven’t crashed it yet.”

The siren frowned deeper. “I’m not nervous.” She snorted defensively, reaching down to turn on the radio. Adagio hit the first preset button. Instantly, the hatchback was filled with screeching electric guitar and thumping drums. “Seriously? I figured you for a bit of a rock n’ roller, but this is crap.”

Sunset shrugged, turning the car out onto the room toward town. “What? It’s not like I can control what’s on the radio.” She turned the radio volume down slightly. “And what does that even mean? So what if I like the beat and the bass of the harder stuff?”

Adagio rolled her eyes and pressed the next button on the radio. The music jumped to some sort of strobing, dubstep-light, pop music. “Uuuggghh...this is worse than I thought! Have you no taste?”

Sunset grimaced as Adagio pressed all the preset buttons one after that other, and glanced into her rearview mirror. She changed lanes when they reached the wider streets that lead toward the downtown area and swatted Adagio’s hand away from the radio. “What are you doing? Just leave it on one station, we aren’t going far.”

“You haven’t even told me where we are going.” Adagio’s frown flipped to a cruel smirk. “I’ll bet your taste in food is as bad as your taste in music.” She hit another button and the music was replaced by a boring weather report that prophesied heavy rains during the coming weekend.

“My taste in music is just fine. Stop being picky. I get it that you can sing, but if you’d recall, so can I. I’m free to like whatever the heck I want to.”

“You could at least like good music.”

Sunset sighed tiredly, turning off the radio and put on the blinker, as she slowed the car down to take a turn. “Well, what would you listen to, if you could listen to anything right now?”

Adagio sat there, chewing on her lip in thought for a moment. “I don’t know. Something I could dance too, probably.”

Sunset laughed. “All that fuss, and you don’t even know what you want to listen to?”

“Yeah...well...do you?” Adagio sneered at Sunset. “What would you listen to? Some cheesy pop rock crap like those Rainbooms songs?”

“Hey! Those are not crap songs!”

Adagio leaned in toward Sunset, her sneer growing wider. “Cheesy. Pop rock. Crap. All of them. Especially that last one you did at the battle, the one with all the rainbow pyrotechnics.” She clicked her teeth loudly, making Sunset flinch. “If you hadn’t summoned that giant horse out of nowhere, I’d be the one in charge now, everyone would adore me and I’d finally have gotten to go—!”

Sunset flicked her eyes back and forth between the road and Adagio, her cheeks flushing and her brow narrowed. She huffed and jerked the wheel to the left, cutting into an empty parking space in front of a row of brick businesses. She hit the brakes hard and grinned savagely when Adagio flailed in surprise. “That’s for insulting my friends’ band and their music. You lost. There’s no need to be bitchy about it now, Adagio.”

Adagio growled, glaring at Sunset, her eyes wide and pupils small. She clenched her fists and let her breath hiss out between her teeth before opening her mouth to say something. But Sunset ignored her and unbuckled herself. A moment later, the redhead was out of the car and dropping change into the meter.

Sunset waved at Adagio. “C’mon. Food’s near by.” Without looking back to see if she was being followed, Sunset set off down the sidewalk at a leisurely pace. She breathed deep and drank in the scents and sounds of the downtown avenue. Cars passed by at a low speed and a few people strolled along on the wide sidewalks, glancing up from their cell phones now and then into the large window displays of the stores here.

She was just reaching the end of a window display of restored cellos for Used Strings Still Sing, when she heard a car door slam shut and quickly approaching footsteps. She waited until Adagio pulled up next to her before reaching into her pocket to click the button on her keys and remote secure her car. “‘Bout time you caught up.”

“Screw you, Shimmer.” Adagio glowered at the other girl, but kept her voice soft. “You dragged me out here to the middle of town, so do you mind telling me where the hell we’re going?”

“It’s a surprise.” Sunset shrugged, shooting the siren a playfully smug look. “The other girls aren’t big fans of it, but it’s a place I came to like pretty early on. I learned a lot about being human here.”

“What does that mean?” Adagio pushed her bangs out of her face. “I don’t want to eat at some new-age hippie vegan joint.”

“They’re called ‘hipsters’ now.”

“I meant what I said.” Adagio grunted and looked around, taking interest in their surroundings for a moment. “I was here for the hippie scene, Sunset, so I know what I’m talking about. Magic mushrooms, horrible slang, bad taste in hair and clothes —which sadly are coming back—not the thick-rimmed glasses and mustaches poser crowd. They liked experimenting with everything, including their food. That kind of crap can stay back in the seventies.”

Sunset slowed and looked at Adagio. The girl sounded serious. Wow, she has been here a long time. What is that even like? And why does she look like a teenager? She leaned away from the other girl slightly. “How long do sirens live for?”

Adagio’s shoulders bobbed in a loose shrug. “Depends on how much power we have. Why is that important? How long do ponies live?” She pointed a finger at Sunset, grinning wickedly. “Just how old are you, hmmm? Are you actually a foal parading around in teenagers’ clothing?”

“I’m technically a full grown adult, you know? Humans just seem to age funky. Or time works differently here. I’ve never figured that one out.” One corner of Sunset’s mouth turned down. “If we were in Equestria, I’d be a unicorn mage...probably working for Princess Celestia, not some student that has to worry about grades and curfews.”

“If we were in Equestria,” Adagio rolled her eyes, “I’d be the size of a city bus and crush you under my tail. Then I’d drag you to the bottom of the ocean.”

“Not before I fireballed your scaly ass, you wouldn’t.” Sunset snickered and stopped walking, raising her hand to gesture at a nearby door. “Anyway, we’re here.”

Adagio paused, looking up at the front of the building they were standing next to. Just like the rest of the block, it was old brick with woodwork framing a wide door that led to a dim interior. A chalk covered blackboard sign proclaimed the name of the place to be ‘Dom’s Grill n’ Garden.’ She could smell spices and the unmistakable scent of hot food that wafted from inside. The sounds of muffled conversation came from the dining area and Adagio thought she could see what looked like a bar at the back.

“You brought me to a bar?”

Sunset smirked and waved for Adagio to follow her. “Not really. It’s more like a sport’s bar...except that there isn’t any sports on. Dom runs the grill and likes to play random movies on the TVs. I learned to read here because he keeps them on subtitles so they don’t fight with the music.” She walked into the doorway and out of the later afternoon sunlight.

Adagio licked her lips, her feet rooted to the sidewalk, when Sunset Shimmer paused in the dim interior light and looked back at her. The former pony’s eyes seemed to glow as she smiled back at her. “C’mon Adagio, the food is worth it, I promise.”

The food smelled divine, but for some reason, Adagio couldn’t shake the feeling of a net closing in on her. So why do I want to follow her in? I should run, leave...I don’t need her charity. I don’t need her kindness or friendship or anything else! She took a hesitant step forward. I’m...just doing this for my magic. Remember that, Adagio! This is all to get your magic back and put Aria back in her place. This has nothing to do with anything else.

The aromas of cooked food only got better when Adagio stepped over the threshold, making her belly growl in anticipation. The low ambient sounds of conversation and quiet classic rock music threatened to soothe her nerves and bleed away her foul mood. Sunset kept going in further, her dark jacket blending in with the dark wood paneling until it seemed she was only bobbing red hair and flashing boots. And a highly distracting, swaying, set of hips clad in too tight jeans, said a voice in Adagio’s mind. The food isn’t the bait to this trap, so why lie to yourself?

The siren sneered unhappily, gripping the wooden doorway to push herself into the tavern. She instinctively reached for the hood on her jacket, but hesitated when she realized that she was the only siren—and powerless to boot—in the place. She didn’t have to hide. Not that she particularly wanted the humans to see her. Besides, the hood would just get sweaty and she didn’t exactly have easy access to a shower. Ahead of her, Sunset was standing next to a booth table near the bar, looking back at her. “Aren’t you going to sit?”

“I have to run to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.” Sunset hooked her thumb back towards the bar. “The tall guy behind the bar is Dom, he’ll take your drink order while I’m gone. He already knows what I want.”

“What?” Adagio raised her eyebrows at that. How could he already know what the redhead wanted? Sunset didn’t answer her question though and walked off, leaving her standing there awkwardly. “Why does she keep doing that?”

“Ready to order?”

Adagio jumped at the rumbling voice behind her and whirled around. Somehow, the man Sunset had indicated as ‘Dom’ had moved from behind the bar to within a few feet of her without making a sound, despite standing more than head and shoulders taller than her. Dom was older than she expected, lines marking his face as someone in their later years, or someone that smiled frequently.

“Sorry! Didn’t mean to startle you, miss.” Dom smiled disarmingly, a lot of white teeth sparkling brightly in the dim room. He pulled out a small notepad and a stubby pencil, his smile fading a bit when he focused on the girl’s hunched posture and the bruise on her face. “Um...are you alright, miss?”

Adagio let out a breath she wasn’t aware that she’d been holding, her shoulders sagging. “Um...yeah. I’m fine.” She licked her dry lips and slipped into the booth. She could feel her cheeks heating again and she wondered if her earlier decision to not put up her hood had been the wrong choice.

“Well, if you’re ready, I can take your drink order.” Dom stepped closer to the booth, resting one hip against the table edge. “And if you’ll forgive my saying so, whoever did that to you isn’t worth your time, miss. He ain’t a good person.”

Adagio flinched at the mention of her black eye. “Wasn’t a ‘he’ that did it.” The man raised an eyebrow and glanced pointedly toward the hallway where Sunset had disappeared to. She raised her hands, waving them dismissively. “No! No, it wasn’t her!”

Dom’s smile flashed. “Well that’s good to hear! Sunset is a good, strong lady. Good customer too. She’s much better for you than whoever gave you the shiner.”

“No. No...we aren’t like that.” Adagio shook her head rapidly, searching for the words to explain that she and Sunset were bitter enemies, two creatures of the same cloth but hopelessly at each other’s throats. She wanted to tell him that Sunset was nothing but a means to an end, a way to regain her mystical, otherworldly powers as a creature of the sea. They were not like that, not what he was implying. She was just taking advantage of misplaced charity...right?

“Oh? Not to worry. We don’t judge here either way. I’ve been serving food and drinks up to whoever’s hungry, or thirsty, or just needs a quiet place to pull themselves together. Sunset’s been coming here for years now and she’s been a real wonder to watch bloom into the lady she’s become.” Dom grinned. “But enough of that. I know what she wants. What do you want?”

What do I want? Adagio let that sink in for a second. Why was she here? How did this get her magic back? She frowned and sunk in the cushiony booth seat. Sunset Shimmer is my enemy...right? Why does this have to feel weird? Things were so much simpler when it was all about taking over the school and sucking Equestrian magic out of those girls. Now? I’m at some bar with the stupid former pony that is the leader of the Rainbooms—wait, is she the leader? Or is that girl, Rainbow Dash, the leader?

Dom cleared his throat.

Adagio blinked, searching the table for the laminated menu. “Uh...do you have...root beer?”

“Yes! Excellent choice.” Dom jotted something down on his notepad. “I’ll be back with that in a minute or two. Take a look at the menu and I’ll get whatever you want going.”

She lifted the menu, glancing over it. A quick look told her the kitchen boasted meals from both ends of the spectrum, favoring text over flashy pictures, and served everything in truly ‘american’ portion sizes. She wasn’t finished scanning the appetizer section when Sunset returned and took her seat opposite the siren.

“You order yet?” Sunset took her own menu, looking over it with vague interest. “I already know what I want.” The blonde girl mumbled something about a drink and sank in her seat, hiding her face behind the menu. Adagio is acting stranger than normal—for what little I know of her ‘normal.’ Did Dom say something to her?

Sunset crossed her arms, resting her elbows on the table. “I suggest you look at the garden section of the menu. This place grows most of their veggies out back and in a rooftop garden. It’s all super fresh and tasty as hell.” She smiled. “First thing I ever had here in the human world was one of Dom’s crunch salad wraps.”

Adagio sat up suddenly, her eyes narrowed, and dropped the menu on the table. “I’m not hungry for salad. How…herbivore centric of you to recommend the vegetable selection.”

“Oh? Then what are you hungry for?” Dom chuckled as both girls jumped in their seats. “I’m sorry ladies! I’ll make sure to make more noise next time, but you too are so focused on each other, it’s a shame to break up something so heartwarming.”

“Uh...but...we’re not…” Sunset stammered until Dom held up a hand.

“Let me stop you right there, miss. Your friend here already had that conversation with me, and you know my policy. Now, tell Dom what he can cook you two.”

“Uh…” Sunset started.

“Burger.” Adagio glared at Sunset, the edge of her mouth working into a smirk. “Double, with bacon and cheese. Hold the fries or whatever it comes with. I just want the meat.”

“You want the bun with that slab? And medium well good?” Dom smirked as he jotted down his notes.

“Sure.” Adagio leered and leaned forward, placing her chin in her hands with her elbows on the table to match Sunset’s pose. “Your turn, cupcake.”

Sunset blinked at Adagio, looking back and forth between her and the restaurant owner, before it clicked and she leaned forward to leer at the blonde. “I’ll take a steak, Dom. Medium rare, side of fries with that.”

“Okaayy...coming right up.” Dom tucked his notepad away and placed two tall glasses on the table. “One root beer and a soda. I’ll be back in a few minutes, ladies.”

“Sure you can handle a steak, pony girl?” Adagio sat back, a smug look of superiority on her face, opening her mouth a bit wider to flash her teeth. “We sirens are carnivorous. I’ve eaten things much bigger than you in my day.”

Sunset chuckled darkly. “News flash, Gio, I’m human right now. Have been for years. I got over the meat-eating thing a while ago. I like it nowadays, actually.” She picked up a straw from the table caddy with her fingertips and peeled the wrapper off it slowly. “Besides, you should consider yourself lucky.”

“Why’s that?” The siren smirked and took a sip from her drink.

“I could have ordered the fish plate.” Sunset deadpanned, dropping the straw into her soda.

Adagio froze, blinking as her mind processed that. She put down her glass carefully after a moment. “You know, sirens aren’t actually fish. What was that anyway? Were you trying to intimidate me with that, or come on to me?”

Sunset blinked at that unintended double entendre, sipping at her own drink thoughtfully. Sirens aren’t fish. Huh. Need to let Twi know about that when I write her back. She leaned back in her seat, letting herself relax some. She was at home here. It was Adagio that was off balance and on the defensive. She examined the other girl silently, while Adagio busied herself by squinting at the old movie posters that decorated the walls. Sunset could tell from the set of the girl’s shoulders that she wasn’t comfortable, nor happy at the moment, but her actual mood seemed hard to pin down. Hopefully, a hot meal would do just as much wonders for Adagio’s mood as it usually did for her own.

Is that a hint of blush on her cheeks? Sunset couldn’t be a hundred percent sure in the poor lighting. If she didn’t know better, she’d call the look on the siren’s face ‘mildly flustered.’ This is going to bother me. What did Dom say to her while I was in the bathroom? Was it something about me? About us? The old chef meant well, she was sure, but something was eating at Adagio and she couldn’t help but imagine it had to do with herself.

I wonder...she knows about me, but what does she think about that? She seemed to get angry as me when Dom sorta implied we were a couple. Sunset tapped a finger against her chin. Should I ask her about it? No...I’d just be setting myself up for another fight. I am curious about this whole new side of her I’m seeing though. I thought she was just some bully with a bit of power, like I was.

Sunset sat back, slumping in the plush booth seat, and picked up her soda to sip thoughtfully. Her company kept quiet, but whenever Adagio looked her way, the siren would quickly look away again. Sunset chewed on her straw, settling into an easy silence as the two waited for their food.

***

Dom did not disappoint. The food reached their table several minutes later, sizzling hot and ready to eat. Adagio wasted no time, tearing into her burger with the gusto of the truly hungry, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth when she wasn’t chewing. Sunset watched her eat, taking her time with her steakfries, which she dipped in ketchup carefully. The siren took big bites at first, her jaw stretching to take in as much of the tall burger served to her.

“Might want to slow down, Adagio. This isn’t a fast food place. The food is worth savoring.” Sunset smirked and expertly twirled her cutlery in her fingers before slicing her steak. “Wouldn’t want you to choke.”

The siren didn’t say anything, glaring at Sunset the way she’d done several times since their very first meeting at the school so many weeks ago. Adagio slowed her chewing though, and swallowed thoughtfully a moment later. “‘S’good…”

“Toldja.” Sunset’s smirk softened and she sat a bit straighter in her seat. “How long has it been since you’ve had a real meal?”

Adagio went to wipe her mouth with the back of her hand, when she paused and snagged a napkin instead. “It’s been a couple of days. I stole some ribs from a backyard barbeque a few days ago in the neighborhood behind the park.” She looked down at the food on her plate and Sunset could see conflicting emotions flash behind her eyes. “Normally, Sonata does the cooking if we don’t have a thrall do it for us.”

“A ‘thrall?’ Is that what I think it is?” Sunset lowered her voice slightly. “I just called them ‘minions,’ personally.”

This time, it was the blonde girl who smirked. “Yeah. When we still had our gems, we could control a few dozen humans at a time. Easy way to take care of things, just have the monkeys do it all. Pay the bills, transportation, houses, that sort of stuff.”

Sunset nodded, biting a chunk of meat off her fork. “So...if you three could control people with your voices, why aren’t you living like queens here? Just find someone with loads of money and a big place to live.”

Adagio took another, smaller bite out of her burger, and pointed a finger at Sunset. “That’s what we did! Find saps with more money than they needed and used it to our advantage.”

“Pretty sweet gig, honestly. I did something similar when I got here and finally got my feet under me. Worked for a while, I suppose.” Sunset tapped her chin, thinking. “So, what happened?”

“Aria.” Adagio breathed the name out like a curse. “She could never keep it together. Always wanted more, more, more. More thralls. More power. More influence.” She shook her head and sneered. “Aria never understood that there was a limit. That we could only go so far. We had no escape here. No family for back up. But she kept pushing those limits. You remember what happened at the school? How the other students turned on each other?”

Sunset nodded, her eyes focused on Adagio as she ate more steak and fries.

“That’s a side effect of our magical ‘feeding.’ It causes strife and unrest.” Adagio sighed, her fists clenching. “Aria...the number of times I had to save that little brat from her own hubris is ridiculous. In Equestria, using our magic on others just means chaos, lots of shouting and anger. Here? Humans are beasts. They talk a good game on the peace and harmony front, but you’ve seen the nightly news.” Adagio rolled her eyes and let that implication sink in.

“Wow...I can see how that would throw a wrench in things.” Sunset took a sip from her drink. “But you guys have been here so long? Didn’t you find a way to manage it?”

“Nope.” Adagio shrugged and pulled a strip of bacon from her burger to munch separately. “Aria always found a way to screw it up. We could only control so many of them at a time. As population density grew, it got harder and harder to hide what we were doing and harder to stop the chaos from making the humans turn against us.”

“What did you do?”

The siren finished off the bacon strip with a snap of her teeth. “I did what I had to. I put us on a diet. No more than a few thralls at a time. Kept us on the move so we couldn’t be found. That sort of stuff.”

“Huh.” Sunset raised an eyebrow. “So, if you made the other sirens go on a diet, what was the whole school-slash-battle of the bands about?”

Adagio sighed tiredly, her eye downcast. “When I felt...the Equestrian magic, I sort of lost it. All my careful planning kind of went out the window. I thought—for a moment, anyway—that I could find it, take it for my own and get us back home. Or maybe just make us powerful enough that our plans would stop falling apart.”

“I know that feel.” Sunset stirred her soda idly with her straw. “I did the same when the portal opened up and I could get back to Equestria. I could just barely sense Princess Twilight’s Element of Magic on the other side. I threw together a quick plan, filched the crown and tried to take over the humans.”

Adagio took another bite of burger and smirked around the mouthful. “That rainbow light show I saw must have been when those Rainbooms handed you your ass.”

The redhead flushed and looked down at her half-eaten dinner. “Yeah...that was me.”

The conversation lulled between them, each girl keeping her thoughts to herself. The music from the overhead speakers changed from the classic rock to something with more bass and synth heavy, making them both look up with mirroring frowns. Adagio noticed the look on Sunset and blinked. “Huh, so you do have some taste in music. Playing with the Rainbooms must have been irksome.”

Sunset looked back at Adagio and shrugged. “Not really. I might not be a fan of that music, but it doesn’t mean I can’t rock out with my friends. Just because I like my rock a little harder than theirs doesn’t keep us from liking each other.”

The siren grunted and took a sip from her glass.

“Friendship isn’t so hard, Adagio. It takes work, but it isn’t as hard as it seems sometimes.” The former pony leaned forward, her voice lowering again. “Look, we have more in common than either of us is exactly comfortable with. There is no reason we couldn’t be friends, or at least frienemies.”

Adagio remained silent and continued to eat slowly away at her food. She popped the last bite into her mouth and swallowed a moment later before she looked back at Sunset. “Is desert included with this meal?”

“Yeah...I guess.” Sunset finished off her fries, refocusing on her steak. “What do you want?”

Adagio looked over at the bar for a long moment. “Does this place have chocolate? I’ll take a piece of cake, if it they have it.” She sighed, wistfully. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had cake. Well, good cake. Sonata tries, but her cooking skills haven’t gotten any better since the introduction of ‘instant’ batter mixes.”

Sunset hummed to herself and put away the last of her meal. She pushed away her plate and shot Adagio a glance. “Hey...were you thinking of sleeping back at your camp tonight?”

“Where else would I sleep?” Adagio frowned, pushing her own plate away. Doing so seemed to summon a member of the waitstaff, who quickly cleared their plates and took their orders for a couple of pieces of cake. Once the waiter had moved off, Adagio banged her hand on the table hard enough to rattle the salt shakers. “I was kind of driven out of my place, or did you forget that part?”

“Oh, I remember. But I was wondering if you’d like to stay at my place tonight.” Sunset raised her hands defensively. “I mean, I heard it was supposed to rain tonight and I do have a free couch. That’s gotta be better than that camp site of yours.”

“Aren’t you supposed to take me to a movie first?”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “I’m not suggesting anything weird, Adagio. I’m legitimately offering you a warm, dry place to sleep. You don’t have to take me up on the offer.”

Adagio waited, her eyes roaming over Sunset as she weighed her options. One one hand, I’m still accepting a hand out from a rival. On the other...no leaves and pine straw to comb out of my hair. Charity, or aching muscles and a head cold. I’d be stupid to pass up the opportunity to get close and learn more about their magic. She bit her lip, turning the options over and over in her mind until the cake was brought to the table. No matter how she looked at it, besides her pride, there wasn’t much of a down side. So why do I still feel like I’d be walking into the lion’s den?

She slowly took a bite of the fresh, gooey dessert, enjoying the way it melted on her tongue. There was one thing still, that could make up her mind. “Is a hot shower included in your offer?”

“Complete with industrial strength hair dryer.”

Adagio Dazzle grinned sharkishly. “Then I’m all yours.”

Chapter 5

A Dazzling Sunset

Chapter 5

The rumble of the engine in Sunset’s car dropped an octave when it slowed and entered a more pastoral area just outside of town. The homes here—while not really farms—were older, spaced farther apart to allow for wide, partially wooded lots and small fields of produce and grains. The streets changed to simple two lane backroads, made from coarser asphalt, that wound through the gentle rolling hills.

Dom’s Bar & Grill, back in the downtown district, was a half-hour behind them. The drive quiet as town turned to country and the contested radio remained off limits to both parties. Adagio scowled—more out of habit than anything else—her arms folded across her chest, keeping her thoughts to herself. She became increasingly concerned about accepting Sunset’s offer with every mile they traveled. The road tuned between two rises, dropping into a wide valley that was dotted with more fields and pastureland than buildings. She sat forward when Sunset started to brake and looked around. “Why are we all the way out here? You live out in the middle of nowhere?”

Sunset smirked, turning into an opening in a wooden fence that ran alongside the road. A dirt track lead away from the road, toward a distant house set back were the fields met the treeline. “We’re less than a mile from city limits, Adagio. We just passed a shopping center not five minutes ago! This is not ‘the middle of nowhere.’” She shook her head. “And yes, I do live out here. I’ve lived here for most of the time I’ve been in this world.”

The siren gave Sunset a sidelong glance. “How? Nothing in this world is free. How do you have a house like this, out here? How do you have a car for that matter, or how could you pay for dinner? That volunteer position at the horsepark can’t pay that well!”

“It pays well enough, thank you.” The car bounced gently through the ruts in the dirt driveway, the house growing even larger as they neared it. Behind it, several smaller buildings stood, nestled among the pine trees. “But, yeah, it doesn’t pay that good. Thankfully, I have a nice little nest egg of funds that keep me going. When I came here, I brought a few things with me. Books, scrolls...that kind of stuff. But I also brought some gems I swiped from the royal coffers in Canterlot. Gems are a lot rarer here, so every now and then I go trade one in for cash.”

Sunset turned the car when they reached a fork in the driveway, curving away from the house. “It’s still not enough for all of this. I needed a place to stay, some place safe where I could lay low, in case somepony ever came looking for me. So I rented a place out here on the outskirts of town.” She nodded her chin forward towards one of the smaller out buildings. “The people who own the house and the land had this converted garage available, and it was the perfect fit for me. They never bother me, so long as I pay rent. I have privacy and plenty of access to the outdoors. Admittedly, it’s not the best for having friends over, but I can deal with that.”

Adagio grumbled under her breath, her eyes jumping around the yard and the fields around them. “Hmph. So you’re a thief on top of everything else? You are an unusual pony, you know that?” She tensed when the building in front of them lit exterior lights and the big door on the garage started to open up. “It’s too bad that idiot Starswirl didn’t give us the opportunity to snag a few of those before we got banished here.”

“It’s made some things easier, but believe me, it won’t last me forever.” Sunset pulled her car into the garage, the shocks bouncing one final time before settling on smooth and even concrete. “So was Starswirl as tall as they say he was? I always thought the legends about him exaggerated a bit.”

Adagio snorted and unbuckled herself. The garage area looked big enough to fit two cars easily enough, but most of the space not filled with Sunset’s little blue utility vehicle, was stacked with battered old cardboard boxes and a rusty clothes washer and dryer set. “I hope there is more to this place than just this. My camp back in the woods would be more comfortable than this.”

“Follow me.” Sunset climbed out of the car, thumbing the fob on her keyring to lock it after Adagio sullenly joined her. She lead the way to a simple door in the back of the garage between a stack of boxes filled with Christmas decorations and the rusting washing machine. Sunset flipped a switch on the wall, the garage door rattling as it started to close, and then opened the door into her home.

She lead the siren into a small apartment, the door depositing them into her main living room. There was a tiny kitchen nook off to the left, while the main room itself was split by a folding partition. The living room was lined with shelves that were covered in books, DVD and CD cases, decorative jars and even more books. A small TV sat in the corner next to an even older stereo system and a disorganized pile of even more CDs. The couch was small, but plush and clean looking, set against the ‘wall’ created by the partition.

Adagio snorted again, her eyes roving over the contents of the room until they landed on a spot near the small table that must be where Sunset ate most of her meals. She smirked, pointing at the little white and rainbow colored unicorn figurine on the shelf. “Homesick much?”

“What I may or may not have needed to keep from going crazy in this world is no business of yours.” Sunset sniffed, pointing her nose upward.

“Oh please.” Adagio rolled her eyes, sneering. Remember why you are here, Adagio. Figure out what powers the Equestrian magic and take it if you can. I still need to put Aria back in her place. Her sneer faded slowly, thoughts of her fellow sirens turning over in her mind. I hope Sonata is doing ok without me.

“Didn’t you say something about a shower being available?” She put her fists on her hips, eyeing Sunset. “I distinctly remember you saying something about that.”

“Back here.” Sunset gestured for Adagio to follow her, walking to the back of the room where the folding partition divided the living space.

The siren’s mouth curled into a frown, but followed along. Behind the folding wall, there was a modest twin size bed covered with a thin rumpled sheet and several comfortable looking pillows. A set of end tables flanked the bed and a lone dresser topped with a lamp and a pile of loose clothing completed the sleeping area. Sunset grabbed the knob on a recessed door, opening it to reveal the promised bathroom with shower.

Adagio’s sour expression vanished when the light came on, her face going slack at the sight of the biggest—and whitest—bathroom she’d seen in a very long time. It was easily half the size of the entire flat, with a tile floor, a huge counter with a double sink and ceiling high mirror. In the corner there was a full standing shower that looked like it could accommodate three adults. If it weren’t for the small basket of hygiene products between the sinks and the slightly overflowing clothes hamper opposite of the shower, she could had assumed it to be the bathroom in some high-end hotel or resort.

“Wh-what?” She blinked, her eyes wide as she took in the hair care items, even the industrial hair dryer Sunset had teased her with back at the restaurant. “Why the hell is your bathroom so huge?”

“The owners have an adult child. Apparently, they let him live here and fix the place up in his spare time.” Sunset shrugged. “I hear he works in interior design these days. Excuse the mess.”

Adagio stepped into the bathroom, lifting her hand to feel the textured wallpaper. “I’ve cleaned up in worse places.” She rubbed her fingers together. That’s it. I’m trapped. Kiss freedom goodbye, Adagio, you’ve been taken by the porcelain and marble. And by the shower...oh goddess, does it have three showerheads?

She sighed. Her cultivated sense of dread at accepting Sunset’s kindness evaporating under the bright lights of the bathroom vanity. Maybe she should be feeling shallow, but a part of her mind could not stop squeeing in happiness at the thought of a proper shower for the first time in weeks. Perhaps even months. The last splurge she’d allowed Aria and Sonata had netted them a few thralls with nice houses, but this put those mini-mansion bathrooms to shame. “Uh...I guess it’ll do.”

“Hey,” Sunset stood in the doorway, facing the siren. “If you get wet, you don’t turn into that giant hippocampus form you showed off at the Battle, do you? I’d rather not have to explain that to the owners or get my bathroom walls repaired.”

“What do I look like, some sort of cartoon character?” Adagio’s sneer snapped back into place for a moment. She looked down at herself and gestured with her hands. “Even if I still had my gem, I’m stuck in this pathetic biped form. I haven’t had my luxurious scales in so long I can barely remember what it felt like to have the cool ocean waters flow over them.”

Adagio plucked at her hoodie, her brows narrowing as she glared at the dark lavender colored cloth. “Sometimes I hate this world just for that. Denying me my fins, my hooves, my scales, and tail. Forcing me to live by its rules. Sealing away my power…” Her eyes moved to focus on the redhead, staring through her eyebrows. “At least I still had my gem. A shadow of my former abilities. Then I had even that taken away from me.”

“I know that feeling, remember?” Sunset shifted her weight, her arms dropping to her sides, hands opening slightly. “I was the strongest unicorn in Equestria. I had more skill with magic than anyone other than Princess Celestia. I could level buildings with a thought, Adagio. So don’t go all woe-is-me about losing your magic. You got to keep some of it. I didn’t.”

Sunset widened her stance. “You did this to yourself, Adagio. Accepting that fault is the first step toward forgiving yourself. It’s a bitter pill, I know. I had to swallow my own, lots of times. When you accept that your powerlessness is your own fault is when you’ll realize you aren’t as powerless as you think.”

“I’m not...I didn’t mean...it’s not like…” The blond girl clenched her fists, gritting her teeth hard.

“When you are ready, I’ll wash your clothes.”

“What?” Adagio blinked, deflating at the sudden change of topic.

“When’s the last time that hoodie of yours was washed? It doesn’t smell fresh and it’s pretty wrinkled.” Sunset’s tone softened. “No reason for you to take a shower only to put dirty clothes back on. Throw them into the hamper with mine and I’ll start a load.”

The former pony smiled, grabbing the doorknob and closing it a moment later. Adagio stared at the back of the closed door, sorting—or failing at sorting—her thoughts. Great. There went all my good mood! She turned around and caught sight of the three showerheads. Ok, most of my good mood. Still, what’s with that girl? Why is she so hard to read? Why does she care how I feel or what I’m going through?

“Typical pony ‘compassion.’” Not that Sunset was the typical pony. Level a building with a thought huh? Maybe we do have some things in common. She’s a thief—or so she says. She turned her back on her whole world and came here to enslave humanity...and now she’s like this? Adagio looked into the mirror, humming to herself while she tried to piece Sunset Shimmer together in her head. No way she looked at it though, looked like the sort of carefree equines she remembered.

Adagio shook her head. Feeling off balance and out of control was uncomfortable and she wanted the sensation gone and done with. Her reflection in the giant mirror frowned back at her. She looked tired. The bruise around her eye looked even more yellow but it didn’t hide the bags she had there. A shower will help, right? She didn’t know. There were so many things she didn’t know anymore. A small voice in the back of her mind told her hot water and soap would help. Heat and time alone with her thoughts. Time where she could feel alive and let go of everything. Where she didn’t have to face the possibility that Sunset had a point.

It’s not my fault. She stepped over to the counter, bracing her handing on the edge while she examined her face in the mirror. I’m not that broken. Starswirl did this to me. The spot on around her throat where the source of her meager magic had sat for uncounted years itched. I didn’t do this to myself...did I? If Aria and Sonata hadn’t been so weak at the Battle of the Bands, we would have won. If I had just taken care of those Rainbooms more permanently...the faculty were already under my spell.

“If’s and maybes.” Adagio snarled, bunching her fists tight enough to make her knuckles pop. “I could have won! It’s not my fault we lost! It…” tears welled up in her eyes, “...can’t be all my fault, right?”

***

Sunset stood there, her hand holding the handle of the closed bathroom door. What am I doing? I have Adagio freaking Dazzle in my house! This seemed like a good idea back in town...but now? This being a good friend thing is tough. She dropped her hand, tuning slowly to survey her living space. “I need to talk to Twilight about this.”

She reached for the top drawer of her dresser, where she kept the magical journal most the time, safely hidden under her socks and underwear. She was just about to pull it out when the state of her bed registered in her mind. “But first...I think I should make the bed...pick up some. I wasn’t planning on having a houseguest…”

She’d just straightened the sheets when the sounds of the shower starting up reached her ears. Sunset sighed, her shoulders sagging in relief. Somehow, hearing Adagio actually use the promised shower set her mind at ease. Maybe I am doing the right thing.

With the bed suitably made, she opened the journal’s hiding place and pulled it and a pen out. Flipping to a blank page, Sunset eyed the previous messages she’d shared with Princess Twilight concerning the sirens. She clicked the pen’s button, placing the ball-point against the enchanted paper.

Hey Twilight, I decided to follow your advice and open up to Adagio. I was right, she’s going though a lot of the same stuff I did after you came here the first time. She seems confused...her whole world has changed - again, I suppose - and she is really in need of a friend. I hope I’m going about it right. You and the girls here have been a big help, but this is really going to be a test of what I’ve learned about friendship.

Wish me luck.

-Sunset

P.S.: Can confirm Sirens are NOT fish! You can check that one off the list now.

She put the book and pen back, closing the drawer softly. That task done, she now just needed to get some laundry going. Looking at her own loose pile of clothing strewn about, it was high time to get that done anyway, guest or not. She grabbed a plastic hamper she used for that express purpose, and scooped handfuls of her used shirts and pants into it from the bed area. That left the bathroom.

Sunset puffed her hair out of her eyes and took a deep breath. Just keep your head down, grab the goods and go. No need to turn this into something awkward. She grabbed the doorknob, hesitating at the threshold as her imagination tried to supply her with several different outcomes to the next thirty or so seconds of her life. Ok… more awkward than it already is.

Inside, the bathroom was like a sauna. Hot mist filled the air and condensation covered the walls and mirror. Sunset wrinkled her nose at the smell of warm soap and floral shampoos. Thankfully the shower was completely misted over, and all she could make out was the aqualine and vaguely yellowish silhouette of Adagio. Sunset grabbed the clothing from the basket and added it to the hamper she’d brought with her. The siren was oddly silent the entire time she was in the bathroom, but Sunset was glad for it. Talking to a naked former enemy over the rush of the shower was the last thing she wanted at that moment.

Her heart finally decided to leave her throat seconds later when she once again closed the bathroom door. The rest of her apartment felt blessedly cool after the steam and Sunset wasted no time in moving to the garage to start the wash. The old machine technically belonged to the humans she rented her apartment from, but they allowed her to use it whenever she wanted to, since they had a new one inside their house. It made a heck of a racket, but her clothes always came out clean and fresh.

“Does everything this girl wears have spikes?” Sunset raised an eyebrow at the boots and belt that sat on top of Adagio’s dirty clothing. She set those aside, then turned the hamper over, dumping everything else into the waiting washer.

Sunset sighed when she closed the lid and turned the washer on. She stood there, breathing in the scent of the clothing detergent and listening to the washer start to click and rattle through its process. “Is it weird...doing something normal like the laundry, when you have a former enemy at your house? What is even normal for that? How do I do this?” Sunset hung her head, dropping her chin to her chest and grabbing the corners of the washing machine when she leaned forward. “This is how you always get yourself into trouble, Sunset...leaping before you look. I never did learn that lesson, did I, Princess?”

Mentally, she kicked herself. Princess Celestia taught her never to give up. Princess Twilight taught her that friendship was the way. Now she was following that advice the same way she’d tackled experiments with elemental magic in a previous life. Plowing forward, to hell with the consequences had always been her style from the lab to the field, science or world domination. “And now this too, apparently.”

Sunset bit her lip and looked up. “By luck or by pluck, that’s me.”

The old me. She pushed off the washer, turning back to walk into her apartment. I’m older, wiser. I can do this, I know it. Adagio is going through the same crap I did. I needed friends, so does she. So it’s time I stepped up to bat for Team Friendship for real. Sunset smirked at that thought. A younger version of herself would probably be on the floor rolling in uncontrollable laughter if told that she’d seriously think something like that. The Sunset of today though, she was a better pony. A better person.

And she knew just the trick for making herself feel more at ease. She just needed to get it ready by the time Adagio finished her shower.

***

Adjusting the porcelain knob with the engraved cursive ‘H’ on it raised the temperature of the water by another degree. Adagio leaned into the triple simultaneous streams of perfect droplets from the trio of showerheads, letting it rinse her clean and fog the bathroom to the point obscuring the walls. The steam soothed her, blanketing her and keeping her safe and alone with her thoughts. It let her pretend that the world wasn’t still out there, waiting to beat on her some more.

Adagio hung her head, the remains of the shampoo running down her slick ringlets to pool slightly around her toes before draining away. She felt clean. She felt refreshed in a way that she hadn’t in what seemed like a very long time. It was something she’d missed. Alright...maybe there are some things in the world that are worth a damn. I’d take this back to Equestria if I could. Stupid ponies would make me queen if I gave them showers like this.

She chuckled. The wet air swallowed any echos the marble tiles would have thrown back, but under the rush of the shower, she could just hear the not too distant rumble of some other human device. That’s probably that rusting old hunk of scrap out in the garage.

Adagio cringed, her eyes going wide, and she reached out to twist the shower knobs. But the water’s temperature barely changed. “Apparently, her plumbing is just as upgraded as the rest of the this place. It can handle a shower and the laundry too? Lucky little...”

Sunset was doing laundry. Her laundry. She’d stood there under the spray, when the other girl had come in and collected all the clothes, trying not to breathe or draw attention. Adagio shook her head, splattering the shower door and walls with more foam and soap. From inside, Sunset looked like nothing so much as a bouncing blob of red on top of a swaying bit of blue. She watched the former unicorn come and go without comment.

I hope the glass was as cloudy from her angle. Adagio sighed, her fragile good mood once again dashed just as quickly as it came. She ran her fingers through her hair, flipping it mostly over one shoulder, and started ringing out the last of the remaining floral scented shampoo. Why am I feeling so unbalanced? I’m up one minute, and I’m down the next.

She held up a hand in front of of her face, flexing the fingers one by one. Adagio felt like her safety blanket, her gentle cloud of separation, was gone and the injustices of the world were rushing back in to fill the void. Normally, anger was her way of dealing with her problems. It was her weapon, her most basic tool. The fire in her kept her boiling and kept everything else at bay. Now all she was feeling was empty and tired.

The suds around her feet drained away, the water staying clear. Fully rinsed, Adagion turned the knobs and shut off the flow of water. Watching it swirl down the drain made her think of the other sirens for some reason that she couldn’t put her finger on. “I wonder what Sonata is doing?”

Now that the shower was off, she could really hear the droning machine noise of the washer. Her cousin had always been the one that took care of laundry for the three of them. And the cooking. Cleaning too. Sonata had even taken care of the houseplants and pets some of their thralls had had over the years. The blue siren was hopelessly dense sometimes, but without her, simple tasks like those would likely have never been completed. Sonata was frequently Aria’s punching bag at the best of times, taking it with little to no complaint until she snapped. Then Adagio would have to step in, break them apart and put down the little upstarts with a few well placed spells or sonic blasts.

Now the girl was alone with Aria without her magic—or her cousin—to protect herself.

Adagio stepped out of the shower, running her fingertips along the glass and tile. The huge wall mirror was completely fogged over, so she snagged a large towel and wiped it off enough to see herself clearly. She looked so much smaller with her hair down, she looked weak, even to herself. The yellow bruise around her left eye only added to it. I have to find the source of the magic. Get my gem back. I am not weak, damnit!

The old familiar fire sparked and Adagio sneered at her reflection. “I’ll show that bitch, Aria, who is boss. Remind her of my power with a good, swift, beating. I’ll even make her do the laundry next time.” She chuckled again, grinning when she looked down and hefted Sunset’s industrial strength hair dryer. “And maybe the cooking and cleaning too. That’ll show her, make me feel better, and give Sonata a break. Win-win, heh!”

The hair dryer turned on with roar like a mini-jet engine. For a second time in less than an hour, Adagio found herself revising her opinion of Sunset Shimmer. Maybe the pony had taste after all. She grabbed the cleanest looking brush on the countertop and angled the dryer and its blast of hot air at her dripping wet locks.

By the time she was finished, the end of the hairdryer had an angry red glow and Adagio could hear it sizzling. Her hair floated proudly around her like a golden cloud and left wonderfully soft against her skin. Adagio smiled at her reflection in the mirror, feeling much like her old self again. She looked good—great even—and she posed, hips cocked to one side and her back arched just so.

“Adagio,” she purred quietly, “you look like you’re worth all the pain and turmoil this world has thrown your way.” Not even the dark ring of the bruise Aria had given her detracted from her mood. If anything, she thought it made her look tough. She twisted so she could see the curve of her back side framed by her hair in the mirror. “Perhaps it’s not all bad...these human bodies do have their perks, I suppose. If I ever do get back home, I think I might miss the hair. Maybe.”

She chuckled to herself, turning around to survey the rest of the oddly opulent bathroom. It’s sometimes surprising what the proper application of hot water and soap can do for my mood. Outside, she could hear the clothes washer switch to a new cycle, its low engine noise fading. That would mean her clothing would still be soaking wet before Sunset’s equally rusted old unit could get them dry.

“So what the heck am I supposed to wear until then?”

Chapter 6

A Dazzling Sunset

Chapter 6

Sunset rubbed her palms along her jeans, wiping them clean of the moisture from moving fresh laundry from one machine to the next. She shrugged off her jacket, tossing over the back of her chair as she walked into her kitchen. The tiny nook smelled heavenly thanks to the tea she’d set when Adagio started the shower. She didn’t have any of the fancy tea pots or cups that Princess Celestia had always favored. She didn’t even have any of the stuff the humans of this world made for tea. But she had a good stainless steel pot with a spout dent shaped into its lip and she had a couple of hearty sized coffee mugs that were just right for hot drinks.

The tea itself wasn’t anything special either. It was just the usual pre-bagged stuff she picked up at the local grocery store every couple of months. It still tasted pretty good and smelled a lot like Celestia’s study on those cold days of her youth as a student to the Princess. Those were good days, now that she looked back on them through the filter of hindsight. That narrow band of time during her foalhood when she’d been happy and hadn’t yet become fed up with the Princess’ glacial approach to teaching.

The tea in the pot was still gently steaming, so she poured cold tap water into the mugs to cool it when they mixed. Sunset hummed softly to herself as she carefully tipped the pot to add the tea. Then she grabbed her sugar canister and spooned into two uneven scoops into each cup before giving them a stir. The ritual was nothing like the overwrought presentation her teacher used to—and if Princess Twilight was to be believed, still—favored. But it worked for her. It managed to center her, settle her mind so she could focus all of it toward whatever problem she needed to solve.

Sunset sighed contently, grabbing the mugs, and turned around to find her problem staring her in the face.

Adagio Dazzle raised an eyebrow at the two mugs, one fist on her hip while the other tugged at the edge of the large white towel that she had wrapped around her torso. It was just big enough to tuck in over her chest, but it refused to stay completely closed across her legs and hung just above the midway point of her thighs. “I don’t have anything to wear.”

She frowned at Sunset. The girl seemed suddenly frozen, standing there with two cups. “You gonna put those down and get a camera? I can hold this pose a little longer if you want.”

“Uh...sorry...I-I didn’t mean to stare!” Sunset grinned nervously. “You just caught me by surprise, that’s all. I, uh, hope you like tea?”

“So long as it’s sweet, I guess. Sonata usually just buys sodas.”

“Huh.” Sunset blinked, pulling her eyes away from the vision of golden perfection standing in her too tiny living room, and set the tea on her small table. She pulled out her one chair and offered it to Adagio. Don’t stare. Don’t stare. Try to ignore it...her...good goddess, I knew she had wide hips, but this is ridiculous! Sunset took a calming inhale of breath. And those…healthy...thighs. It’s too much. Why does Adagio Dazzle, of all people, have to be this attractive?

“Sure you don’t want to get a camera? I know you have a phone that could do it.” Adagio smirked, watching Sunset carefully keep her eyes on anything except her. Normally she loved this sort of attention, the stares the humans gave her whether they were enthralled or not was a pleasant little ego booster. This though, was funny. The pony couldn’t have been easier to read. It made her feel far more in command than she’d been since the battle of the bands.

“It’s almost like you planned this, hmmm, Shimmer? Get me out here alone with promises of a shower and food when I’m at a low point.” Adagio’s smirk widened and she cocked her hip out, letting the towel slide another inch open along her thigh. “Then once you get me out of my clothes, you come up with a flimsy excuse to keep me out of anything else. It’s not like I didn’t see this coming. I can tell there is still a little darkness left inside that friendly exterior...and you sorta outed yourself back at the park. You like what you see.”

It wasn’t a question. The answer, of course, was ‘yes, Sunset did like what she saw.’ Sunset, however, wasn’t about to give the siren the satisfaction of an admission. Sunset threw her hands up in exasberation. “Really? I planned all of this? And for what, getting some flesh to ogle? I have internet access for crying out loud!” She rolled her eyes, folding her arms across her stomach. “I was the school’s Queen Bee. It’s not like I’m hurting for attention, Adagio.”

Except for the fact it keeps coming from the wrong gender. Sunset stood straighter and squared her shoulders. With her arms crossed and jacket off, it drew attention to her chest. “Have you seen me? I’m not some plain Jane by human standards. I’ve got better goods than you do.”

‘Pffft.” Adagio waved her hand vaguely, but couldn’t stop herself from looking away just as Sunset had done earlier. Bluster or no, a part of her was acutely aware of the fact that the redhead was very much not a plain Jane. A battle over bust size was just too cliche, and one she knew she wasn’t going to win. To cover herself and change the topic before things became too uncomfortable, she sank into the offered seat and grabbed the handle of one of the mugs. “So...um, where are you going to sit?”

Sunset’s shoulders slumped a little, her expression softening at the sudden change in the conversation. “I...uh, was just going to use my desk chair, actually. I thought some warm tea might help.”

Adagio didn’t respond immediately. She watched the dark liquid in her cup turn slowly, tiny flecks of tea leaves that escaped their bags tumbling along before sinking to the bottom. Sunset moved at some point, and returned a moment later with a chair on wheels. She watched Sunset take up her own mug and blow across the surface of it. “Help what?”

“Huh?”

“You said the tea would help. Help with what?”

“Uh…” Sunset took a sip of the warm liquid, swallowing loudly. “It’s to calm my nerves, honestly. I’m still new at this making friends business.”

“You want to be my friend?” Adagio lifted her mug and took a tiny test sip. The heat felt good against her tongue. Needs more sugar, but whatever. Why do I sound so dead all of a sudden? I’m sitting here—basically naked—with the only other equestrian female I know that likes girls. Shouldn’t I be doing something? Teasing her? Propositioning her? She smirked at that thought. As if she’d ever live that down.

“Yeah. I want to be your friend, Adagio. In case you haven’t noticed it, you’re an emotional wreck.” Sunset shrugged, her cheap desk chair creaking. “Since this afternoon, you’ve been all over the board from grumpy and confused, to angry, to seductive, to completely disconnected. I know that pattern intimately and, no offense, but I know you need a friend right now.”

Adagio snorted, swirling the tea in her mug and making the leaves dance in the dark amber-colored liquid. She took another sip and then set it back down, her eyes staying focused there. “I suppose that’s right. I...I normally have a lot more control over myself, but now I just seem to be reacting to the world around me more than actually, you know, doing anything. I didn’t even mean to try and insult you there. It just sort of came out.”

“It’s a hard habit to break, hmm?” Sunset blew on her drink for a moment before sipping lightly. “You spend so much time and effort on being in charge. Being in command all the time. Doing the whole ‘manipulative bitch’ schtick. Then you get knocked down a peg and the whole facade crumbles, but you still have the habits. You still-”

“Expect everyone to do what you say.” Adagio finished for Sunset, her hand reaching up to rub the yellowing rim of her bruise. “But then they don’t.”

“You know, I never even asked...but does that still hurt? I think I have some first aid creams and pain relievers.”

“No. It doesn’t hurt.” Adagio sighed, looking up at Sunset and regarding the red head seriously. “In a weird way, I’ve come to feel sort of proud of it, you know? I mean, I’m going to kill Aria when I get the chance, but at the same time I can’t blame her for doing it. Heck, I would have punched me! Look what I’ve brought us too…”

“Is it really so bad, though?” Sunset pulled up her knees, propping her feet on the edge of the chair, and rested her chin on the denim. “I’ve survived this long without magic. Or well...magic that makes any sort of sense as I understand it. I know it’s a life changer, but you’re still alive, healthy and young, right? You can make a new life.”

“I guess.” Adagio shrugged noncommittally. If I can get my hands on your magic source, I won’t need to, now will I?

Silence reigned between them, the only noise coming from the machine in the garage drying their laundry. When Sunset spoke again, she tiled her head, raising an eyebrow quizzically. “Do you mean that seriously? About killing Aria? Seems a bit extreme, even if she did punch you in the eye.”

“Pffft, she deserves it. Aria has been a loose canon for as long as I’ve known her. Hungry for power and complete rubbish with it whenever she gets a taste.”

“I remember you said she caused trouble for the three of you, back at Dom’s.”

“I’m just worried about leaving her alone for too long.” Adagio waved her hand around vaguely. “Aria is a magnet for bad stuff. She could get Sonata into some serious crap and then I’ll have to clean up like I always do. But now I won’t have my magic to get them literally out of jail or away from some monkeys on another witch hunt.”

“You worry about Sonata?” Sunset raised her head, the other eyebrow cocking in interest. “That seems...uncharacteristic of you.” She cleared her throat. “No offense.”

“Heh...maybe it is. Sonata is a big siren, she can handle herself.” Adagio looked back at her cup, but made no move to pick it up, her voice growing softer. “But she’s my cousin. I’m obligated to worry.”

Sunset kept to herself, thinking about what she and Princess Twilight had gone over about pony knowledge on Equestrian Sirens. Their culture was almost a complete mystery, since it all happened at the bottom of the seabed. Few of the creatures had ever even come to the surface, and a full third of those that had, was currently sitting—barely wrapped in a large towel—in her appartment. Knowing that they even cared for family members at all was something of a surprise. It seemed silly, but a part of her expected the sirens to be cold like the fish or snakes they superficially resembled.

This side of Adagio Dazzle was yet another in a long line of things she never thought she’d see.

And maybe it means there might be something to befriending her after all. She cares for someone other than herself. Sunset smiled faintly at the thought. Perhaps she might just walk away from this with a success.

“What are you smiling about?”

Sunset’s eyes snapped up. Adagio was staring at her intently. She grinned nervously, hugging her knees to her chest a little tighter. “Oh, nothing. It’s just weird to hear you talk about the other sirens like that. You three didn’t seem like the horribly best of friends at the school.”

“We aren’t.” Adagio deadpanned. “Look...can we talk about something else? This is giving me a headache.”

“Well, what do you want to talk about?” Sunset took another strong sip of her tea, slurping intentionally loud. Princess Celestia used to scold her for it, back in her student days, but it was always an effective way of stating her exasperation with how their conversations went.

Magic? Adagio rolled her eyes and lifted her own tea to her lips. How you keep your hair looking silky smooth? How my legs are starting to get cold in this towel? I don’t know! I just don’t want to think about the other two right now. Her imagination had other ideas though, conjuring up images of Aria and Sonata in various levels of trouble. Most of it was nonsense. In all likelihood, they probably wouldn’t get shot at while she was dealing with Sunset’s hospitality. Probably. She hoped, at least.

She swallowed slowly. The tea, like the soap and water in the shower, warmed her. It did make things better, oddly enough. In a way, that slow heat helped her see things in perspective. There was no real need for her to rush. She was comfortable, clean, and her company of choice was not punching her in the face. She could afford to relax for a change. Briefly, Adagio wondered if that was just an aspect of the situation, or something in the tea itself. She looked back at Sunset Shimmer out of the corner of her eyes. Sunset wasn’t watching her, but was pretty focused on her knees, or maybe the floor.

“What about you?” Adagio ventured gently, hunting for the right words. “You keep saying we’re alike. That you know what I’m going through. But I don’t actually know jack squat about you, Sunset.”

“What’s there to know that I haven’t already told you? You know I’m from Equestria, that I’m a unicorn, that I studied under Princess Celestia until I couldn’t take her teaching methods anymore and I ran away to the human world with dumb dreams about conquering the place.” Sunset mimicked a nonchalant shrug, but her voice sounded huffy and thick to her own ears.

“The army of brainwashed teenagers thing.”

“Yeah.” Sunset sighed tiredly and buried her face in between her knees. “Whenever anyone says it out loud like that...it just sounds stupid.”

“It does.” Adagio smirked mirthlessly, her mind turning over her own former plans. “But honestly? It’s not like my idea was any better. Worse really, if you think about all I...we...lost in doing it. I feel so stupid.”

“We all make mistakes.”

“Ours were pretty colossal ones, though.”

Sunset lifted her head enough to nod vaguely. “I guess that’s a point worth being proud over. I mean, how many other people can claim they tried to mind control a bunch of teenage human high schoolers with limited success in a bid to control the world?”

“And walked away from the rainbow colored aftermath? I heard yours was the reason CHS has that new pavement out front?” Adagio’s smirk finally started to reach her eyes. She giggled a moment later. Sunset joined her, the red head’s laughter bubbling up and out like seafoam. Maybe Sunset had a point about them having more than a few things in common. Maybe she could be worth talking to, worth being friendly too. Adagio sighed, but for once in a long time, it wasn’t a tired, wounded, sigh. The last of the tension in her shoulders that survived the shower melted out of her and she sank a little more in her seat.

“Hey...you got a bath robe or something? My legs are getting cold in this towel.” Adagio tilted her head, feeling her loose cloud of hair brush across her back. “Oh, and thanks. For the shower. And dinner too, I guess.”

Sunset smiled and stood up, stretching before setting down her mostly empty mug of tea. “Sorry I didn’t offer the robe earlier. I almost never use it myself.” She grinned and walked over into her sleeping area and opened the top drawer of her dresser. “One of the side effects of never having guests over is walking around naked. Don’t sweat it about the shower or anything. I could tell you needed it, Adagio. If nothing else, my own...conversion, for lack of a better term...has shown me just how far a little kindness and compassion can go.”

She walked back, a moment later, with a golden red colored, long fluffy robe in hand. Sunset handed it to Adagio and turned away to let the blond girl change. “I’ve learned a lot about this sorta stuff, but I still have a long ways to go. It’s still a day to day thing, sometimes. I envy the girls at school...they do this stuff so effortlessly. But if they can do it, so can I.” She crossed her arms over her front, leaning to the side slightly as she listened to Adagio move behind her. “Take it from me, the trust issues are going to be the biggest hurdle. Those just sort of take time. Hopefully, you don’t still think I’m trying to take advantage of you?”

“Not really...I guess. Is it weird I’m mildly disappointed you don’t have an evil plan?”

“No. That’s normal too. Expectations are funky like that.” Sunset smiled, hugging herself as memories of her own early days after getting hit with the magic of friendship had opened her eyes and heart. Her mind still found it hard to grasp concepts like selflessness or simple courtesy. “It’ll pass in time. Or, at least, it gets easier.”

Wait… Sunset blinked. Does that mean she’s disappointed that I’m not taking advantage of her? She scrunched her eyes closed tightly for a second as her imagination tried to supply her images of what Adagio looked like as she was changing into the robe. She opened them again when she heard the chair move and the siren take a seat once again. Sunset gave herself a quick count to ten to make sure she looked calm before turning back around.

When she did, her breath caught in her throat and she stared openly for a couple of seconds at Adagio. While the towel wrap had certainly brought attention to her hips and curves, the robe managed to cover that while accentuating the graceful lines of her shoulders and neck as they were absorbed into that fluffy mass of curly hair. The girl was resting her chin in one hand, elbow on the table and eyes focused in the distance, paying Sunset no attention as she fumbled once again to appear neutral.

“Um...oh good, it fits.”

“Yeah.” Adagio plucked at the robe where it hung loosely at her chest, thankful for the extra soft material. “How long until my clothes are dry?”

“I’ll go check!” Sunset turned on her heel, walking stiffly out into the garage and closed the door behind her. As soon as it clicked shut behind her, she took a deep breath of the cool air in the dark room. The smell of the laundry detergent turned the dust-on-grease odor of the garage a pleasant sort of lavender. Sunset held her breath for a moment, leaning back against the door, before letting it out smoothly.

“Come on girl...keep it together.” She whispered to herself, letting the noise of the dryer keep it hidden from her guest. “Just because she’s...gorgeous...is no reason to lose your cool. You hang out with good looking girls all the time and this never happens.”

She pushed off the door, reaching over to flip on the light and banish the night back outside the windows. Sunset shook herself and glanced over at the dryer, its ancient knob still pointed at a faded forty five. “Fantastic...basically another hour of having to not look at her. What’s wrong with me, anyway? It’s fricking Adagio Dazzle...I shouldn’t be reacting like this. But what did she mean?” Sunset ran the conversation though her mind again.

...mildly disappointed you don’t have an evil plan… It made her head hurt just to think about the twisted connotations that one sentence brought up. In a way, it almost made her wish she did have an evil plan to assert dominance over her former enemy. Sunset touched her stomach, feeling the odd butterflies there and the hungry tingle underneath that. No. Do not go there, Sunset. That only leads to ruin and you’ve already been there. You are stronger than this. Your libido does not dictate your actions.

“But what do I do about it?” She sighed again, scowling at the dryer’s lack of urgency. “Maybe...maybe I should just take a shower too. Relax, let it all wash away. After I set up a place for her to sleep...that would be the friendly thing to do, right?”

She huffed again, blowing her hair out of her face before settling her expression, and went back inside. Adagio was right where she’d left her, a second empty mug pushed up gently against her own. “Uh, looks like another thirty to forty minutes. Not too much longer.” Sunset wiped her palms on her jeans, grinning nervously. “I was thinking I’d go ahead and take a shower myself, since it’s already dark and getting later. Let me...uh...grab a pillow and a blanket for you.”

Adagio didn’t say anything, her maroon colored eyes just watching as Sunset pulled some spare bedding from her single closet. “Sorry if it smells a bit musty. We normally have sleepovers at Pinkie’s or Applejack’s place. Lots more room there.”

“I see…” Adagio murmured, only half listening to Sunset, seemingly lost in her thoughts.

“Ok...well, I’m going to take my shower, so...if you want to go ahead and crash, feel free.” Sunset eyed Adagio, but the girl continued to be distant and detached. Adagio didn’t seem ready to do or say anything else, and she couldn’t think of any reason to keep the awkward one-sided conversation going, so she headed for her sleep area and the bathroom beyond.

Adagio continued to sit there, not focusing on anything, until she heard the hiss of the shower start. She rose slowly from her place at the table, pushing the chair back into place before she wandered over to the shelves that lined the room. What am I doing? What am I even looking for? She shook her head. Would she even know something contained equestrian magic if she saw it? If it wasn’t floating and glowing with a rainbow of colors, what was to differentiate it from any other random item she might find?

How do I even know there is some thing here that is magical, anyway? Sunset was...is...a unicorn. They don’t normally use enchanted items. It’s not like I’m going to find some version of my gem just lying around.

Adagio ran her fingertips gently over the spines of the books on the shelves, her eyes scanning them without really reading any of the titles. They looked like textbooks mostly, with the occasional oddity mixed in. A book of children’s rhymes. A book about historical ghost stories. A worn paperback with pictures of women riding horses on the cover. The cases for the CDs and DVDs were just as normal and uninteresting. Except for the ones that looked suspiciously like bootlegs of cartoons from the previous couple of decades. The stuffed animals and little kitschy trinkets were cute, but told her nothing she didn’t already know about the homesick former pony.

“This is pointless.” She let her hand drop and turned in place, looking around the small apartment. “Maybe I just suck at making plans? There isn’t even anything here worth using as blackmail.”

There wasn’t anything in the kitchen nook, the big closet where the extra bedding had been stored, nor anything in the back where Sunset slept either. She was just thinking about checking in the boxes of holiday decorations they had walked pass in the garage when she heard the shower stop. By the time the bathroom door opened, Adagio was sitting on the small couch, leaning against the provided blanket, her tiredness plain on her face.

She looked up when Sunset leaned around the partition, her eyes going wide. The redhead’s hair was still mostly wet and hung in a dark red sheet against her side, the yellow highlights all but invisible in the backlight from the bathroom. Sunset wore a large, loose t-shirt that failed at hiding her obvious curves and hugged close to her hips, but what really threw Adagio was the capris. They were blue and covered in a pattern of little yellow ducklings that looked like they swimming together in a line.

“Oh hey, you’re already on the...is something wrong?”

Adagio realized that at some point, her jaw had dropped open, and snapped it shut. “Uh...no. N-nothing wrong...I’m just...I...uh…” She gestured vaguely with her hands, her eyes flicking around, unsure where to focus. Finally, she managed to hold on Sunset’s face. “I just wasn’t expecting little ducky PJs.”

“What were you expecting?”

“I-I don’t...know?” The siren shrugged. She honestly wasn’t sure. She just knew that duck patterned pants was not it. “Something...I don’t know, less girly?”

Sunset raised an eyebrow skeptically, planting her fist on her hip. “What does that mean?”

“Nothing, really! I guess...I was just sort of expecting something more adult-ish. Really, they look cute on you.” Adagio swallowed and looked away, her voice going soft. “I’ll shut up up now.”

“Adagio…” Sunset shook her head. I think that was a compliment. Sheesh...was I this awkward when I first changed? Goddess, I hope not! Note to self: ask Rarity how bad I was at this stuff. It’ll help me help her...I think.

Sunset swallowed, reaching up to scoop her hair up into a loose tail. “Well, I’m going to dry my hair and head to bed. Do you...uh, need anything?” She smiled slightly, watching the blond slump bashfully. She really is pretty.

Adagio shook her head slowly, keeping her eyes on the floor. “No.” Sunset turned away and before she could stop herself, Adagio whispered. “Thank you.”

Sunset paused for a moment, her smile growing lopsidedly. Maybe this will work out after all. A second later, she returned to the bathroom and the waiting tornado strength caresses of her blow dryer.

The siren continued to sit there for a few minutes more before letting her slump carry her completely down onto the couch cushions. It wasn’t the most comfortable place she’d ever slept, but true to Sunset’s earlier promise, it was much better than her camp in the woods outside the horse park. The furniture barely registered her weight at all, sighing softly under her as she settled and pulled the blanket up over herself.

Great, she frowned into the darkened living area, the blanket covering her all the way up to her nose, now she thinks I’m a dork as well as mentally unstable. Why did I have to mention her damn PJs? What was she supposed to wear, some sort of silken boy shorts or leather to match her jacket? It’s just normal stuff...so get your mind out of the gutter, Adagio.

Sunset’s shape, that dangerously curvy silhouette played coy in Adagio’s imagination, bending and twisting in ways that made her toes curl. This is going to be a fun night. Stupid libido...I don’t even have the privacy to do anything about it. She grumbled to herself and pulled the blanket fully over her head, blocking out the last of the light and sound from the bathroom. I’m the siren here. It’s supposed to be me that does the tempting, not the other way around!

She bit her lip, swallowing down a frustrated whimper, and closed her eyes, wishing for sleep to come swiftly. As fate would have it, her prayers were answered before Sunset turned off the lights and finally climbed into bed herself a short time later.

***

It felt like no time had passed at all since her head had hit the pillow. But the tiny apartment was fully dark now, the only lights coming from a few of the appliance LEDs in Sunset’s kitchen nook. It was quiet. No road noise. No crickets. Just the breathing coming from the other side of the room partition.

Adagio blinked, confusion and sleep fog making her slow as she struggled to remember why she wasn’t in her camp, the night whispering around her, telling her what a joke her life had become. She raised her head, looking around the faintly outlined living area for whatever had woken her. Nothing was immediately obvious, so she let herself drop back onto the pillow. Then she heard it.

A quiet buzzing noise. It pulsed with hushed urgency for a few seconds and then stopped.

Is that a phone? She squinted across the space at one of the LEDs that had a clock face. It is well after midnight, who would be calling Sunset now?

The buzzing returned, repeating its pattern, but the former pony’s breathing remained steady and unbothered in her bed.

Something about the noise, however, told Adagio it wasn’t a phone set on vibrate. The sound stopped, and just as before, started up again a minute later. Fantastic. I’m going to kill whatever is making that racket. She sat up, the robe she still wore falling loose and open, and stood up.

The buzzing led her, inching along carefully through the darkness, into Sunset’s bed area of the one room home. She could just make out the black-on-black mass of the girl, Sunset’s head buried amid her own pile of pillows and sheets. It was no wonder Sunset hadn’t been woken by it, but the more she heard the sound, the closer it brought her to Sunset’s most personal part of the apartment, the more nervous Adagio felt.

The sound came again, from the top drawer of the dresser there. Adagio sent Sunset another glance, reaching out to pull it slowly open. The last thing she wanted right now was for the girl to wake up and find her snooping through her underwear. The buzzing got louder, but Sunset’s only reaction was to shift slightly, breathing deeper as she got comfortable. A faint purplish glow from between the bundles of cloth in the drawer illuminated the inside of the dresser, pulsing in time with the buzzing.

She kept glancing from the light to Sunset’s sleeping form, her hand hovering just above the drawer. The sound stopped and the light went out. It came on again. Adagio swallowed and reached in cautiously, unsure of what she was about to find buried under Sunset’s striped socks and underwire bras. When she pulled it out again, she held an old looking book in her hand, the pulsing sound once again going silent, the fading glow showing her a sun motif in familiar shades of red and yellow.

“T-the…equestrian magic...”

Her mouth went dry and the book suddenly felt massive in her hands. The thing she had searched for, the actual honest to goodness, physical thing that had some sort of connection to Equestria. To home. To the power that could make her the undisputed leader of the sirens again. It could make her more than that, it could make her the ruler of this entire prison she’d been thrown into. She might even get her fins and scales back.

Adagio worked her jaw, wetting her mouth, and jumped alittle when the book once again started its magical buzzing and light show. She startled, bumping into the foot of Sunset’s bed. The sleeping girl shifted again, groaning quietly. Adagio backed up, shoving the book inside the fold of her bathrobe. She gave Sunset a parting glance and quickly tiptoed back to the couch, a devious smile flashing across her face.

Adagio pulled her blanket around herself and the book, muffling it as soon as it repeat its display. In the bright glow, there was no mistaking it for some sort of human technology. It was a thick hard bound book with an embossed, symbolized sun on the cover and it was literally vibrating with magic.

“Now what?” Adagio chewed on her lower lip, regarding the obviously magical device. Given a moment to think about it, she had no idea how to harness the magic it held or how to do anything with it. She didn’t even know what it did. Recalling the battle, the Rainbooms had never used the book. They had just sung their songs and channeled the magic through their bodies.

Maybe...it’s like a human spellbook? That didn’t seem right to her either. Why would ponies make such a thing? Lacking any other idea at the moment, Adagio reached out and opened the book.

The moment she did, the aura around it came to life and flipped pages until it landed on one that seemed like the last to contain any sort of writing. True to what she could remember of Equestria, the contents of the book was completely hoof-written, not a single bit of type to be seen, though it oddly seemed to hold writing by more than one pony. The writing style jumped back and forth, as if two authors were trading off after each sentence or paragraph.

There were even notes in the margins, but those all had similar penmanship, and a couple of tiny doodles that looked surprisingly familiar. Adagio touched one long coiling figure with a wide flaring dorsal fin lightly with her fingertips. “Is this supposed to be me?”

The book glowed with magic once more and before her eyes, new words appeared on the next blank line. She squinted at them and the lines started to rearrange themselves until she could read it, the rest of the writing following suit a second later.

Good luck, Sunset! I’m sure you’ll be able to pass this test with flying colors. Just take things slowly, let the friendship develop naturally. Believe me when I say trying to force it along will blow up in your face! Ask me how I know!

I’m sorry for the late reply. Princess Luna asked me to personally help her sort her library. I just got back home and my jaw is killing me. Let me know how things go, I’m interested in your findings for my own studies into cross-species friendships with non-mammals and the sirens represent a unique set of data points!

Your friend and confidant.

-Twilight

P.S.: Checked Fish off the list. If it comes up, ask Adagio if sirens lay eggs or have live births. I’m interested in knowing, Starswirl’s notes don’t really cover it. But don’t worry about asking if it’s awkward! Being comfortable around each other is an important early step in the friendship process!

She sneered at that. Damn ponies. What do they care how we do that?

Adagio let her eyes crawl over the rest of the notes, and back and forth messages between Sunset and that other girl, the pony princess Twilight. The notes covered what the princess could dredge up about Adagio and the other sirens. They mentioned Starswirl several times and the twisted story of their banishing from Equestria ages past. Adagio turned the pages slowly, scanning the words closely. Sunset had planned all this, in a way. She’d felt bad about the friendship she’d received after her own conversion not being extended to the sirens.

The notes and conversation got older the farther she flipped back through the pages. Mention of her and the others disappeared and the tone of the writing changed drastically to bickering and demands. Something about hidden knowledge and great magic to be found in openness and honesty. The script was still recognizably Sunset’s, but the other writer wasn’t Princess Twilight, but somepony with a much more flowy style.

It didn’t have anything to do with her, and Adagio felt her interest waning quickly. She turned the pages back to the most recent entry, rereading Sunset’s words. The pony actually wanted to help her. Sunset felt that they could connect over their shared trials and defeats. Adagio looked over her shoulder at the partition separating her from where the unicorn turned human was resting.

I could take it. She turned back, focusing on the door that lead outside. I could leave with it now and she’d never know. Get my clothes back and just...leave. Her dim reflection in the TV screen, highlighting in the journal’s faint glow seemed to sneer back at her. You are Adagio Dazzle. You are a force to be reckoned with. If she still wants to be friends, she can do it after Aria has been put back in her place.

Aria. The purple siren’s face flashed in Adagio’s memory, her fingers curling into a fist without her thinking about it. The upstart needed to be taught a lesson.

If I just wait...she’ll do it to herself. Aria can’t lead now anymore than she could years ago. I don’t have to do anything. She swallowed, feeling the magical book’s weight in her lap. It felt surprisingly light, like a feather that really should be a stone. Taking it for herself would be easy. Simple. She knew that Sunset wouldn’t trust her again if she took it. No matter if she somehow managed to use the magic to beat Aria.

Why Sunset’s trust would even matter to her was a strange thought. She turned it over in her mind, examining it, but it seemed so alien to her. If she put the book back and went back to bed, she’d still have...whatever it was she had with Sunset still intact come the morning light.

“But…” Adagio looked down at the book. At the possible key to her return to power. “But what about Sonata? Do I just abandon her while Aria goes about self-destructing herself? Or...do I do something about it? It...it doesn’t matter who you hurt, if you are just proving you’re the best. Right?”

Adagio closed the book slowly, running her hand over the split color sun on the cover. Confusion warred within her. She could still put it back where she’d found it. Let Aria run head first into her own dead end and pick up the pieces later. She could sleep on Sunset’s couch, maybe eat breakfast and then start being normal.

But that wasn’t what her gut told her to do. She wanted to hit Aria so bad, she could taste it. Friendship could wait...not that she needed friendship. Friendship was for weaklings. That was what she’d always told herself.

Now, she just wasn’t so sure.

Adagio sighed, humming to herself. It was a nervous habit, a bit like a human sucking their thumb. It calmed her, and when she’d still had her gem, the sonics would stroke her hair the way the ocean used to do the same to her fins and frills. The book, under her hand thrummed along in time, seeming to throw her voice back in her face. Tempting her with the possibility of getting her strength and power back.

Behind her, the gentle rise and fall of Sunset’s breathing whispered strange thoughts of a different sort of strength. A different way to look at the world and those around her. In the long years of her life, Adagio never looked to others for help. In all her time banished to the human world, her disdain for such behavior had only grown. Treating others as equals only led to eventual ruin. But now...the world was different. She was weak. She needed allies.

Slowly, Adagio closed the journal, its magical glow fading now that its message had been delivered. It reverted to a simple object, the texture of its back cover pressing into her knees. She again felt weirdly disconnected, her body moving by itself. How was she supposed to know the right thing to do? How was she supposed to choose between her vengeance and the feelings of others? Was she even capable of doing the right thing?

The next thing she knew, Adagio found herself once more in front of Sunset’s dresser. The girl was still sleeping peacefully. She reached out, her hand hovering over Sunset’s underwear drawer knob. Time seemed to crawl by as her emotions waged war on each other until one path remained before her. She slid the drawer open cautiously and put the book back where she’d found it. Adagio spread the drawer’s contents over the top of it and closed the drawer, whispering to herself. “Sonata forgive me.”

Her eyes stung, tears welling up as the weight of her choice settled onto her shoulders. She hoped this was right and that Aria wouldn’t end up dragging her cousin down with her. The air seemed thick, and she felt her throat tightening. She needed fresh air. The room was suffocating.

“Adagio?”

The siren jerked back, eyes widening in surprise when the dark blot of her hostess shifted and sat up. A second later, Sunset’s bedside lamp lit up the corner of the room, forcing both of them to squint and blink. Sunset looked tired, hair a little wild and PJs rumpled. Her t-shirt rode high, exposing her narrow waist and trim core, while her duck patterned jammies hung low on one hip.

“This isn’t what it looks like, I swear!” Adagio slammed the dresser drawer closed, stepping further away both the book and Sunset. “It...I mean...dammit, you weren’t supposed to wake up!” She snarled, her fist clenching, but her anger was at herself. “I wasn’t going to steal—”

“I know.” Sunset interrupted. She cleared her throat, smiling gently. “I uh...heard you talking to yourself. I’ve actually been awake since you first came back here.”

“And you didn’t say anything?” Adagio bumped into the bathroom door with a dull thud, her anger draining from her expression. “Why...why would you do that?”

Sunset shrugged, throwing back her sheets so she could turn and sit on the edge of her mattress. “I don’t know. I froze up. I didn’t know if you were going try something, or if you just wanted to rifle through my panties.”

Adagio hissed through clenched teeth. “I d-did not want...uhg...I…you’re not even wearing any!” She pointed accusingly at Sunset’s exposed hip where her capris hung low.

The redhead flushed and yanked the hem of her shirt down. “It’s a warm night, sue me!” Sunset took a calming breath and ran her hands down her sides to smooth the wrinkles flat. “Look, Adagio, I know the temp—”

“Don’t.” Adagio covered her face with her hands, running her fingers up into her curls a moment later with a deep sigh. Her voice took on a tired edge. “I don’t want to talk right now. I...I need some air.”

The girl in the ducky pajamas lowered her head, her hands dropping listbonelessly into her lap. Sunset sighed quietly, biting back a snarky quip that was threatening to burst out of her. “I just want to help.”

“Sometimes you can’t.”

Adagio turned, hugging her arms tight around herself.

“Where are you going?”

The siren didn’t stop, reaching the door at the front of the tiny living space in a few steps. “To get some air.”

“Adagio!” Sunset’s eyes widened. “You don’t have to run away.”

“I’m not running away.” Adagio looked back over her shoulder, her hand already turning the knob. “I’m in a bathrobe, out in the middle of nowhere and it’s dark. I’m just getting some damn air.”

And just like that, Sunset found herself alone. She sat there, silently watching the door in the warm glow of her bed side lamp. She was used to being the only one living at her house, but no it seemed lonelier than usual, as if the other girl had taken something with her, leaving a husk behind. Slowly she pulled her legs up, drawing her sheet back over her legs.

Do I go after her? Sunset slumped where she sat, feeling oddly numb and put off by her guest’s behavior. Do I give her space? What is the right thing to do? How do I be a good friend? Maybe space was the right way. She could allow Adagio that time to work through some issues. She’d needed it herself back then, hadn’t she?

But then again, I needed my friends there too. They were there to share the burden. Let me cry and apologize and just listened to me.

She desperately wanted to get up and grab a pen, write to Twilight for advice. But that felt wrong. Weak. She didn’t need guidance every time something didn’t go according to plan. She just needed to find a different angle to approach the problem from. She looked back up at the door, but it remained closed.

Her home remained devoid of Adagio.

She’ll be back. I just have to wait. Certainly by the time Adagio returned, she would have figured out a way to fix this. A way to help Adagio get past this. “Maybe I should offer to kick Aria’s ass for her?” Sunset shook her head, frowning at the straws she was pulling on the whole ‘how to be a friend’ thing.

The minutes ticked by slowly. The clock on her wall buzzed to ring in the time at two in the morning. The sound had only just stopped when Sunset heard to low and distant rumble of thunder. One of the frequent summer storms was rolling in.

Chapter 7

A Dazzling Sunset

Chapter 7

Sunset breathed slowly, the way she’d been taught to when harnessing large amounts of arcane power for a particularly difficult spell. In, until her ribs felt tight, then out until she felt the need to cough. She was sitting on her bed, her head resting on her knees, arms around her shins. The breathing was meditative, meant to focus her mind on the task at hoof. These days, especially when she was alone, Sunset found it actually drew her attention to the differences of her current body from her former pony form.

It was the little things really, that seemed to stick out to her. In broad terms, her human body and her pony body were very similar. Things were only in different locations, or different sizes. Functionality remained practically the same. But the little details was where her mind landed when she had nothing else to think of, or she was trying to avoid thinking about something specific. Like the toes.

Human feet where amazingly complex things. They were weird looking, even now after four years with them. Sunset wiggled her toes, gripping her bedsheet with them and twisted it up between her big toe and the first of the smaller ones. She could admit they were cute at times, but most of the time they just looked like mutant hands. Using them, walking, running, wearing shoes...that had come with surprising little practice. However, when she thought about them, Sunset couldn’t shake that nagging feeling of ‘otherness.’

I wonder what it was like for Adagio? Sunset glanced reflexively up at the door. Siren’s only have two limbs. Learning to walk must have been quite the challenge. But they learned, didn’t they? The scene of the Dazzling on stage at the battle flashed through her mind. At the time, before stepping up and shielding her friends, she’s been watching the three sirens. The way they moved, it seemed silly to her that they were supposedly originally giant sea monsters. Fish weren’t meant to have such a powerful sway to their hips.

Of course, the Dazzlings had summoned proxies of their natural forms, and then it wasn’t silly anymore. Those massive, iridescent scales, the shimmering frills, the sleek fins...all of it. They were amazing to behold, even when they were looming overhead, fangs bared. For a moment, to two groups faced off and then the Sirens plunged in, Adagio the biggest and fastest of them. Even when Aria and Sonata had been turned aside by the Rainbooms, Adagio remained undefeated and alone blew all their combined magic back at them.

Sunset shivered, remembering the fear. Feeling that new sense of duty and loyalty to her friends swell in her chest even as the might of Adagio threatened to steal her breath away. Sunset remembered looking up at that golden projection, the fury and glory of it a perfect mirror to the girl on stage that was floating higher than the others and glowing like a spotlight.

She remember thinking Adagio looked like a goddess, newly arisen.

Sunset bite her lip, releasing the bedsheet from her death grip. The rest of the battle and the aftermath was a blur of magic and colors, warm friendship on her cheek accepting her full into the fold. It felt like home. Then, just like that though, it was over and the Dazzlings were gone. Princess Twilight went home. She joined the band and got closer to her friends. But that little taste of home left her craving more. That craving lead her to volunteering at the horsepark.

In a roundabout way, that lead Adagio back into my life. Sunset glanced up again. The door was still shut. Some friend I’ve turned out to be, huh? I know what you’re going through, Adagio. Just come back and let me help. Stop being stubborn...stop being strong. Quit fighting it and be a weakling...like me.

Thunder crashed again outside, pulled Sunset’s eyes away from the doorway. The storm couldn’t’ve been more than a few miles off. She struggled to remember what the weather report had said in the car, but all she could think of was the siren’s face while they’d bickered over the radio. It wasn’t supposed to be a bad storm, she thought. Just rain and some lightning. It probably wouldn’t even have woken her. But now Adagio was out there, somewhere, ‘getting air.’

She sighed, standing up, and tightened the drawstring on her pjs. She grumbled unintelligibly under her breath, slipping her feet into her under used running shoes. Her boots would take too long to lace and buckle, plus she’d need socks. Hopefully, Adagio hadn’t gone far. She could hear the wind starting to pick up slightly when she gripped the knob on her front door.

“No point in letting her stay out there. We’ve both already had showers tonight.”

***

Adagio tossed the pieces gravel in her hand, catching them again a moment later while she stood next to the wooden post fence that lined the property near Sunset’s converted garage home. She eyed the dark shapes in the field on the other side. She couldn’t tell in the darkness if they were cattle or horses, but she hoped they were the later. It’d be funnier if she managed to hit one with a thrown rock if they were horses.

Damn equines. Can’t escape them no matter how hard I try. She took one of the small stones in her other hand and cocked back her arm, squinting to judge the distance as best she could. Stupid horses. Stupid pony.

Adagio let the stone fly, losing sight of it almost immediately. None of the shapes moved or made a sound and she tsk’ed at the apparent miss. So she turned a little, adjusting her stance for the wind, and transferred another bit of driveway gravel to her throwing arm. I hope it’s the same stupid shade of hay she is...and that’s it’s got long silky red and yellow hair…

Her arm cocked back and she sent another rock skyward with enough force to whistle against the wind. One of the shapes moved a second later, but as far as she could tell it only did so to lean against the breeze, or maybe because it heard the rock hit the ground. Maybe I’m getting closer?

Another stone passed her hands when the wind increased, making her hair whip about and her borrowed bathrobe billow out around her. It felt nice. Smelled of rain, grass, and summer. It smelled like the wind had at this time of year for century piling atop century. Adagio knew she was hundreds of miles from the nearest coast, but in the sea of her memories, she could smell the salt and foam this wind would stir up. That scent took her back, all the way to Equestria and her youth.

Control had always been her personal siren song. It called to her, all the way down in the depths, down where the sunlight barely reached and the water turned to permanent midnight. At first it was her own echoes, bouncing off the shelf that sung to her, told her that she was special. That the future was bright for Adagio Dazzle. She left that darkness, the safety of the deep, gathered a coven and stormed the coral and kelp forests near the surface. After she’d had her fun there, the next logical step had of course been the shore.

That’s where she’d first seen the little four legged bottom feeders. Ponies. Those mares with their stupid manes of hair and those long flowy tails that looked so soft. Their too cute little hooves and big bright eyes, like colored pools a siren could lose herself in. Especially the blue ones.

Adagio snarled, snapping her entire body forward to hurl the chunk of gravel in her hand. “Stupid pony!” This time her aim was true as the dark blot of some farm animal jolted and cantered off in shock. She grinned fiercely, her eyes glinting as the skys lit with a flash of distant lightning curling between massive storm clouds. Thunder echoed off the pastureland a few seconds later.

“I’ll show them all.” Adagio bent low to grab more of the pebble sized stones from the drive, but when she came back up her grin was gone. She looked at the dirty rocks in her hand, wondering just what she was doing.

“I’m angry...right?” That felt right, but something was off. It didn’t feel like the anger that drove her to strike out at those coastal villages. It didn’t feel like the anger that drove her to push Aria and Sonata until their powers grew enough to crystalize into their gems. It didn’t feel like any of the times she had been handed some minor setback or defeat to the greater combined power of the ponies. Each of those instances, her anger had a clear target, a reason. Now she was just lashing out at literal shadows in the dark and—most likely—innocent animals.

Adagio tilted her hand, watching the gravel pour back to the ground. “Is this...right? Am I angry at myself? I should be...should be angry at Sunset. At those Rainboom girls.” The siren sighed. She knew she was angry at Aria, but at the moment, she kind of wanted to beat her own ass for being such a mess. For not being the Adagio she’d always been.

She gripped the fence, squeezing the rough wood until her knuckles popped. This is all Sunset’s fault...somehow. She could just imagine the smug look on Sunset’s face that seeing her like this would cause. Or she tried to, at least. Her imagination wasn’t being very cooperative and kept giving Sunset that uncertain, concerned look the girl had worn for much of the evening after her shower. Those big blue eyes looking up at her from under that mess of red hair. Those soft looking lips…

Adagio shook her head, her grip making the wood creak in protest. Thunder rolled again, bigger and louder, the sound washing over her in time with another increase in the wind. The horses, or maybe cows, moved in the distance. The big animals heading toward cover as the storm closed in, away from her range with the rocks. Leaving her behind to face it alone. She could go back inside, escape the rain and the lightning. But a part of herself still thought she deserved it. She didn’t deserve a warm place to sleep, a soft pillow, or the company of a girl who forgave her everything and had the kind of eyes she wouldn’t mind getting lost in.

The siren sagged, her arms taking most of her weight. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, letting a lungful of that summer rain scent chase away the feeling stirring low in her body. Letting it take her back to that perpetual midnight below the waves where she couldn’t see the sunset. Where she could only hear her own song and not that sweet voice. Where she still had control over herself and the loneliness in her heart matched the abyss around her.

I’ve carried that with me this whole time...loneliness. Sonata, her ditz cousin and oldest companion had eased it for a time. Even Aria had played a part, early on, in easing that gnawing, hungry emptiness. Without either of them there to keep it at bay, the old ache was back and starker than ever. I’m just acting like this because of that...I’m just unbalanced. I don’t really need them. I don’t need anyone.

That thought rung hollow, even to herself. Adagio rocked against the fence, resting her weight on it entirely. The wind continued to whip around her, the trees and grasses whispering and rushing in ways that just strengthened those ancient memories of life beneath the waves. The contrast to her present was almost physically painful. The image of Sunset, the girl smiling at her in those short moments when they shared their failed plans of world domination, came back to her and softened the blow. It gave her comfort and that only served to make Adagio angrier at herself.

“I am not soft...not weak…” Adagio swallowed, her head hanging, “...I am strong. No one makes me feel like this.” Tears stung her closed eyes. “I don’t need help! Not from some pony!”

Adagio choked back a sob under another peal of thunder. She could feel the storm’s voice in her chest, feel the moisture in the air, and a small voice snickered in the back of her mind, telling her that she deserved all she got for her arrogance. For her anger. For her unwillingness to accept what Sunset was offering her. Friendship. Companionship. Someone to talk to that knew something of what it was like that wasn’t a fellow siren. The first mare that might be able to look past the scales and the teeth and see the girl underneath.

Now it was all reversed. The girl was on the outside. Just like Sunset. They were both human here. Sunset had seen her true form in all her glory and she wanted to be friends. And I just want to be a bitch. What infuriated her, however, was why she even cared. She could have stolen the book and taken off. She could have just taken it like she’d taken everything she’d ever desired before. But that girl...that look of patience on her perfect, stupid, lovely face...it stopped her. Made her think about the consequences. She didn’t want to disappoint the red head.

She didn’t want to lose a friend newly made.

Adagio shivered as a particularly strong gust grabbed her hair and the bathrobe that was only barely still on her, and threw both of them around violently. That feeling, that friendship, felt alien to her. But it also felt right. It felt like something special. Something that was important, even if she couldn’t figure out the why of it.

“Adagio?”

The siren’s eyes snapped open wide, pupils shrinking at the soft voice almost lost in the roar of the wind through the trees. She straightened up, wiping her her eyes inconspicuously as she did so. Adagio sniffed, but refused to look behind herself. Refused to see whatever expression that was on Sunset’s face.

“Adagio, it’s about to rain. Please come back inside, there’s no reason to get wet and catch a cold out here.”

“What if I want to stay out, huh?” Adagio raised her voice over the wind, pulling the bathrobe tighter around herself. “Who says I even catch colds? I’m a terrible sea monster, remember?”

“You’re only human right now” Sunset sounded closer, but Adagio still refused to look back. “Like me.”

“Why should I come in? How’s that any better than what I was doing when I was camping? I’m still homeless and out of magic!” Adagio snarled, her melancholy feeling vanishing before a flash of that old familiar anger. “How is this any better, Sunset?!”

“So I won’t be worried about you!”

Adagio flinched, reaching up to hold back her billowing curls as she looked back over her shoulder. Sunset was a just a yard or two way, her own long hair whipping in the breeze, still in those ridiculously cute duck print pjs. She looked upset, more than a little angry, though if it was at her behavior or the effort of coming out in the middle of the night, Adagio couldn’t tell.

Sunset stomped her way over to the fence, her shoulders tight and posture defensive. She stopped next to Adagio and wrapped her arms around herself, staring into the oncoming weather in silence. Adagio watched her in wide eyed disbelief until she turned her head to look the siren in the eyes. Sunset bared her teeth and growled loud enough to make the other girl lean away from her.

“I came out to run you down and I find you’ve only gone as far as the fence before you started bawling?” Sunset snorted. “I was ready to go chasing you all the way back to town. I’m disappointed, Adagio.”

“What?” Adagio leaned further away from Sunset. The pony’s sudden change in mood confused her even more than her own emotional turmoil. She blinked rapidly as she felt tears starting to well up again. “You were worried about me?”

Sunset frowned, looking down and away from those searching eyes. “Yeah.”

When she’d stepped out of the garage a moment ago, she’d been fully prepared to run after Adagio, to bring the girl back no matter how much she’d had to fight. She’d readied herself to argue, to plead, whatever it took to bring Adagio back. She wasn’t going to let this sort of thing stand in the way of making a friend. Proving herself and helping a fellow former equestrian villain in the process.

All that mental preparation blew up in her face a second later when she caught sight of Adagio all of a couple dozen yards away, bending over and shaking in the breeze. Sunset froze there, on the threshold of the garage, the wind picking up as she she watched Adagio cry. She lingered there, unsure what she should do. Should she approach and offer a shoulder, or should she let the girl get it out? Sympathy, or catharsis? Eventually, she’d started walking forward, the urge to help, to give Adagio some form of comfort became overwhelming.

“I heard you say you didn’t need help from me.” Sunset let her arms drop for a moment before leaning forward and gripping the fence in her hands. “But damnit, Adagio, you do! I went through all this same crap! I was a trainwreck and if I hadn’t had help, I might still be at the bottom of a crater crying.”

“I don’t need—”

“I’m not going to offer you empty platitudes.” Sunset jabbed her finger at Adagio, cutting her off. “I’m here to offer you real help. If you can’t let go of your old ways enough to accept friendship with a side charity, then I can step up and offer friendship with a side of good old fashioned revenge.”

Sunset grabbed Adagio’s loose robe at the chest and pulled the stunned girl close until they just inches apart. “Let’s go kick Aria’s ass. Together.”

Adagio blinked, lightning flashing in the sky above them and making Sunset’s blue eyes glow and she was lost. Sunset looked fierce, that pony softness gone and replaced with a will of steel that any siren would be proud of. Sunset really wasn’t a goodie-four-hooves like all the other ponies she’d ever met. This was a girl that she could believe had actually been a she-demon at one point, and she was practically within kissing distance.

Adagio was a little concerned at just how attractive Sunset suddenly was and how confining and hot her bathrobe was.

Sunset let go of Adagio’s robe, but the siren made no move to pull back, her eyes still wide with shock. She looks a little flush, but I bet coming out here like this must have thrown her off balance. Need to keep it going or she’ll recover and we’ll be out here arguing until the sun comes up.

She reached out and took Adagio’s hand in her own, turning back toward the garage. “C’mon, the rain’s going to start any minute now, Adagio. We need to plan this if Aria’s going to be put back in her place properly.”

Adagio resisted the tug for all of a second before letting herself be guided back inside as the rain did indeed start. A few fat droplets hit them as they crossed the dark yard and the last of the stars above were swallowed by storm heads. She ignored the cool rain where it touched her skin, her mind focused on the feeling of Sunset’s hand holding hers. It was warm, soft, but the grip was strong. It made her heart beat faster and a little voice in the back of her mind scream. You don’t deserve this. This is not you. You don’t want her help. You are Adagio Dazzle and the world bows to you. Don’t be weak. Lead, don’t follow.

It repeated again and again with every step they took until Sunset hauled them both into the garage and finally let go. She stumbled a few steps more as Sunset flipped a switch to lower the door and trigger the lights to come on. The brightness made her eyes sting and Adagio slumped against Sunset’s car, scrunching her eyes closed and gritting her teeth.

Sunset looked back out into the night while the door clanked and buzzed shut. The rain came in earnest a moment before it fully shut, beating against the door and the roof with the strength of a summer downpour. The door made a loud, hollow bang when it finished closing, and Sunset sighed tiredly. She started to turn when she was hit from behind by a heavy weight and thrown into the garage door, pinning her in place.

Adagio growled into Sunset’s ear, grabbing the hand that had held hers moments ago and wrenching it back behind Sunset’s back. She pushed the shorter girl harder against the door until it groaned and Sunset gasped painfully. “No one gets to touch me like that! I’m tired of letting anyone get the drop on me...first Aria, now you! No more!”

She pulled Sunset’s arm back more and leaned her entire weight onto the former pony. “Aria is my problem, not yours!”

“You’re...ugh...gonna need help!” Sunset grunted out the words, pushing back against Adagio. “Just let me...grrr...help you. She hurt you, Adagio. Took...ugh...everything away from you that you’ve had since the beginning. I know you have to prove your...dominance. I get it, ok! I had to do it too! Now get off me!”

Sunset elbowed back with her free arm and pushed with her legs off the door at the same time, knocking Adagio’s grip loose and sending the both of them down to the hard concrete floor. She took the fall on her shoulder, the air coughing forcibly out of her lungs, while Adagio landed squarely on her backside. Sunset scrambled to get onto her hands and knees, but the siren met her halfway in an awkward tackle that sent them both rolling a short distance into a stack of cardboard packing boxes.

Adagio snarled, struggling to reclaim the upper hand and superior grip as they reversed directions and rolled end over end until her back collided with the tire of Sunset’s car. She didn’t bother trying to talk, she was past calm discourse at this point, her anger boiling over and aimed directly at the redhead. Despite herself, Adagio felt her mind and heart clear. Her emotional rollercoaster of the last few weeks since the defeat at Canterlot High’s battle of the bands finally pulling into station as she grabbed that silly duck print and heard the satisfying rip of cloth. Sunset gasped at that and Adagio took the momentary lapse to send them careening back in the other direction.

Sunset retaliated by grabbing a handful of the siren’s curls and pulling savagely enough to make Adagio skreech. As much as she’d like to claim that she was anyone’s match physically, Sunset couldn’t deny the force and strength Adagio was bringing to bear on her. She gave as good as she got though, throwing a few elbows and kicks where she could while they both tried to beat the other into the ground. Another high pitched rip of cloth punctuated the tossle and Sunset felt her shirt suddenly go loose.

“Hey! This is my best pajama shirt!”

“Grrr, screw...you...Sunset!”

Sunset let go of Adagio’s hair, grabbing her robe with both hands and pulled the girl on top of her. Then she planted her sneakers into Adagio’s hips, flipping the blond up and over with a kick that did her equine heritage proud. The awkward throw bounced Adagio off Sunset’s utility vehicle before she hit the concrete again with a thud. Sunset lay there, her arms extended and panting at the exertion. “And...ugh...stay down. Please.”

Adagio groaned in response, rolling slowly until she could see Sunset. She was sore, winded, and she knew she’d have a few new bruises come the dawn. “Ok...so...draw?”

“Draw.” The former pony coughed, flinching at her own scrapes and the grit of the garage floor against her skin. She blinked slowly and looked down at herself. She was on her side, her entire torso and hip against the floor, her capris half way down her legs and her savaged pj shirt opened and shoved up to her armpits. Mother…! I can’t believe she tore my shirt! Angry enough to fight is one thing, but did she have to destroy my clothes too?

It clicked a second later how exposed she was and Sunset blushed, looking back at Adagio. She curled into a fetal position, covering herself and wishing for the millionth time that she still had a tail to clamp down over her nude backside. Adagio wasn’t doing much better, her robe having come completely undone in the fight and just barely staying on her arms. The siren was just as exposed, creamy skin and curves on display as Adagio struggled to get into a more comfortable position.

Adagio rolled onto her side with a pained grunt, going slack after exerting herself. She sighed wistfully once Sunset was curled up and frowned, but otherwise made no move to cover herself. “Aw.” She frowned thoughtfully. “I bet you do get plenty of attention from those human brats with a body like that. Especially from the boys, huh?”

Adagio moved slowly, propping her head up on one hand and vaguely tugging her golden red robe over her legs. “Poor girl.”

The effort did nothing to block Sunset’s view, her flush intensifying until she felt like she was on fire. Try as she might, she couldn’t take her eyes off Adagio. “So, you attack me...and now this? Can’t you take a break from teasing me?” She frowned, hugging her legs tighter as she tried to work her pants back up. “Just because you know I like girls, you don’t have to keep dangling a carrot in front of me to see if I’ll bite so you can mock me some more. It’s hard enough dealing with everyone else that doesn’t know!”

Sunset lifted herself minutely to slide her capris over her butt and then pushed up into a seated position. The remains of her shirt shifted as she did, hanging open from a massive tear that left only a thin strip of cloth holding it together at the bottom hemline. She groaned and shot Adagio a withering glare. “I really liked this shirt, you ass. It was comfortable!”

The siren watched Sunset, making no move to preserve her own modesty, her face a careful neutral. She’s a lot stronger than I gave her credit for. Stronger than me...maybe Aria too. Sunset might actually be able to help take the bitch down a peg or three. Adagio bit her lip, her mind wandering from thoughts of revenge back to the sight before her as Sunset tore the last shred of cloth holding her shirt vaguely together. The pony started tieing the two halves together into a makeshift top.

Adagio watched the little ducks twist, then fill out in a near failed attempt to contain Sunset’s full figured top. Should I apologize? I mean, it looks better this way, really. She looks good… Adagio pushed herself up into a seated position, the pit of her stomach twisting like Sunset’s shirt with her rising libido. She looked away from the other girl and down at her own body. A narrow waist with wide hips atop long legs had gotten her no shortage of attention over the years from the humans of this world. Mostly from the males, of course, rather than who she’d rather get it from.

Just like Sunset, I’d bet. Never the kind of attention we want, always dodging uncomfortable questions and the occasional thrown stone. Memories of year after year of biting back her urges, struggling to keep from going crazy with need while the world around her forced its idea of love down her throat.

Adagio touched her hand to her core, flexing her fingers to press into the flesh there. “I’m sorry.”

“What?” Sunset looked up from adjusting the knot she was re-tieing for the third time out of the ruins of her shirt. The cloth refused to cooperate and even cinched tight, it felt like she’d spill out of it if she moved or breathed too deeply.

“I’m sorry I tore your shirt. That was...wrong of me.”

“Wait...is Adagio Dazzle apologizing? Or am I hearing things?”

“Knock it off.” Adagio snapped, frowning at Sunset. “I’m sorry I ruined something you owned that you liked, ok? I’m a big girl, I can admit that. Not that you need to really complain. You look pretty hot in a tied top like that.”

Sunset opened her mouth to auto-retort when Adagio’s compliment registered and she froze mid expletive deletive. I look hot? What. She looked back down at herself, reappraising the situation. Sunset had to admit, with her shirt tied up, she did have pretty awesome levels of cleavage at the moment.

She glanced back at the other girl, her frustration taking on a distinctly different tone in light of the compliment and Adagio’s apparent comfort in her own skin. She focused on Adagio’s eyes, trying to read her for more teasing and hidden insults. “Do you mean that? All of it...sorry and me looking...good?”

Adagio nodded tiredly and pulled her now dirty bathrobe up onto her shoulders. “Did you mean what you said about helping me deal with Aria?”

“Yeah. I was serious about that, Adagio. I want to help you find closure with Aria. That means kicking her butt eventually, right?” Sunset grinned nervously, shrugging carefully. “I already have some ideas, actually. Plus, if we work together...we’re a lot less likely to screw up as bad as our mutual high school domination plans.”

Adagio blinked at Sunset for a moment before smirking and snorting at that. She climbed to her feet and walked the few steps over to Sunset, holding out her hand to the girl. Sunset’s flush returned full force, obviously fighting her desire to watch the Siren move and her growing embarrassment at the same time. Adagio put her fist on her hip and snapped her fingers when the girl didn’t budge from her spot. “C’mon. Sitting on the dirty floor in your garage is fun and all, but I’d rather scheme somewhere more comfortable.”

Sunset eyed the hand for a moment, licking her lips tentatively. She smiled softly and took the offered hand in her own and climbed up to join the siren standing. She squeezed the hand in hers. “So, truce then?”

Adagio raised an eyebrow and then reached up to tug loose the knot holding Sunset’s shirt closed. She chuckled at the squeak the former pony made while scrambling to hide her breasts again. “Yeah, truce.”

Her chuckle turned into full laughter as Adagio spun on her heel toward the door to the apartment proper. She slipped off the bathrobe as she walked—hips swaying exaggeratedly—and tossed it without so much as a glance into the clothing hamper next to the beat up washing machine as she passed it by. “Gods, I needed that little tussle. I feel so much better now...bumps and scrapes and all.”

She paused in the open doorway and looked back over her shoulder and through the fringe of her mass of curly hair. A small smile played across Adagio’s face. “You coming?”

The pony stood there mutely, staring after Adagio, the last few minutes playing through her mind. The siren still confused her, bouncing from one emotion to another at seeming random, reacting to each new situation differently. And now she’d back in teasing mode? But...at least she’s cooperating. That’s good, right? Adagio is warming up to me. Sunset swallowed, the lines and curves of the siren’s body vivid in her mind. It made her palms feel clammy and itch, she wanted to touch that smooth skin so much.

She looked down at herself, Sunset’s voice low. “Yeah...really warmed up.” Adagio had complimented her. Apologized. Complimented her again on how the top looked and then ruined the effect by untying it. It was almost like…

Wait.

Sunset clenched her fists, her stomach and lower down doing the same. I’m imagining this. She’s just doing what she’s always done...being alluring and mysterious...it’s all an act. It has to be. She shook her head hard and took a deep, cleansing breath, and forced herself to listen to her own instincts and gut. Is she actually flirting with me?

She narrowed her brow and looked up at door. She wasn’t sure, but Sunset was sure she needed to find out. She took a few steps and stopped just short of the door back to her apartment and answers. Now that she was really thinking about it, she decided she really didn’t have to keep the shirt did she? Sunset sighed and rolled her shoulders, working it off her arms. She gave the little yellow duckies a final sad frown and tossed the scrap into her waste basket before following Adagio inside.

Chapter 8

A Dazzling Sunset

Chapter 8

Sunset closed the door behind her. Adagio was already over by her dresser, opening the drawers one by one, picking through her clothing. The invasion of privacy rankled, but only vaguely. She’d just had her hands all over the siren and was topless herself, so being upset at Adagio for looking through her clothes seemed hypocritical at best.

Plus, at this angle, Adagio couldn’t see the hard stare she was directing at Adagio’s ass and thighs. Goddess...I can see everything! Huh… Sunset tilted her head, focusing on a spot toward the inside of Adagio’s right thigh. I knew I landed that kick...she’s gonna have a bruise for sure.

Sunset let her eyes linger there for a moment more, then started to trace the lines Adagio’s muscles up to where the legs met. The blonde moved her hips, wiggling her backside while she foraged though one of the bottom drawers, making Sunset wonder if Adagio could feel the attention she was getting. Considering how inconsistent magic is in this world...she might be able to feel it. Or it’s that weird sensation humans get when they’re being watched?

She leaned back against the door, watching Adagio straighten up with one of her jogging sweatshirts and hold it up to examine it. Sunset bit her lip, thinking about how not creepy she felt getting an eyeful of the other girl. I’m supposed to be hyperventilating...blushing so hard I pass out...right? That’s how it happens in the movies. The two teenagers catch each other naked and they stammer apologies at each other and try to cover up until one of them falls down the stairs, or out a window. Because they’re good people. Only the skeevy guy keeps watching well past the point of politeness.

Her arms wrapped around her middle, her eyes flashing just pass Adagio to the top drawer of her dresser. To where the journal was laughably hidden. To her connection to Princess Twilight and the secrets of Friendship. Then again, we aren’t the ‘good people’ in this story, are we? Or actually teenagers for that matter. What would you think of me, Twilight, if you saw me now? What would you do in this situation? What would someone that is friends with a controlling, manipulative...gorgeous...inhuman siren do in my place?

Adagio was apparently satisfied with the oversized sweatshirt and its CHS logo, and started to slip it on. Sunset tilted her head the other way, letting her lip go from between her teeth. Princess Twilight couldn’t help her here. She was the one that was friends—sort of—with a giant sea monster in beautiful girl’s clothing. She was going to have to figure this one out by herself.

“Hey, second drawer from the top.”

“What?” Adagio tugged the coarse fabric of the shirt’s collar down around her neck, reaching back to pull the mass of her curls out as well. Once she did, the shirt settled onto her frame, the hem hanging just to the top of her thighs. It wasn’t the best quality material, but it was clean and would do. For now.

“Second drawer from the top. It’s where my sport bras are located. You might be fine going commando, but after five years of wearing clothes, I feel like I need to cover up.” Sunset smirked at the cool bravado in her voice. Maybe this friends with Adagio thing would be easier than she thought.

Adagio opened the drawer and scanned the nylon and cotton contents. A light pink colored one that would compliment the pony’s skin tone sat near the top, so she grabbed that one. She looked back over her shoulder at the redhead and smirked wickedly. “What, no silly quip about how neither of us used to wear clothes back home? You keep surprising me, Sunset. But you really should just be honest with me. We’re friends now.” She added an exaggerated eye roll for emphasis. “You need the support!”

She chuckled and tossed the sports bra at Sunset as the other girl started to sputter a retort. “You know, sometimes I feel for girls like you and Sonata. The human body can be so strange under the best circumstances, and you two had the unfortunate luck to get saddled with the top heavy versions.”

The former unicorn snatched the flying piece of cloth out of the air with a sharp move, raising one eyebrow. “Oh? And those wide hips of yours are better somehow?” She made a show of eyeing Adagio up and down, shaking out the sports bra in her hands. “I happen to think I wear this human form well, thank you very much.”

Adagio’s smirk widened and she rotated her hips like she had an invisible hula hoop, running one hand suggestively from her chest to just above her groin where it played peekaboo with the sweatshirt’s hem. “These have their uses, don’t they? I’m sure you’ve noticed that these monkeys really like the narrow waist and wide lower body this decade? What I’ve got up top might not be much, but online it’s described as…delicous.”

The siren stepped forward, her hips swaying in such perfect time that would make a professional bellydancer stand up and take notice. Adagio’s voice dropped with each step until she was right in front of Sunset, speaking in a husky whisper. “I’m the ideal, Shimmer, don’t even try to say otherwise. I’ve got ‘it’ and that’s all that matters these days. Plus, I will always have ‘it.’ Meanwhile, you need worry about silly things like gravity and back pain. But...I suppose, you do wear them well. I bet they’re sensitive too, aren’t they?”

“What?” Sunset blinked, trying to press herself harder against the door at her back, bringing up her hand in front of herself.

“Look at them.” Adagio glanced down, hands on her hips and leaned forward. “They’re already reacting to the cold air in here. Oh. Wait...it’s not cold in here, is it?”

Sunset swallowed, silently cursing her own body for the umpteenth time. She pushed away from the door, sliding around Adagio and pulling on the nylon bra all in the same move. Sheesh, she is flirting with me. Does nothing get through to her? Is teasing the way she interacts with the world in general, or is it just me that gets this treatment?

Sunset looked back over her shoulder, unsurprised that the siren was following her with those purple eyes, that smug look still plastered on her face. Leave it to her to take my peace offer as a sign of weakness and tease me just because I like fillies. Well, Adagio, two can play at this game. Let’s see how the straight girl likes it when I flirt back.

She narrowed her brow and sneered before arching her back and throwing her arms back to ‘stretch,’ and pushed her chest forward languidly before turning back on Adagio. “Since we’re being chummy and honest, Dazzle, there’s no need for you to project like that. That whole...look...you’ve got going on is popular right now, but what’s been popular, no matter the century, hmm?”

Sunset took a wide stance and dipped forward to show off her plunging cleavage in the comfortable top. “I’d bet money that Sonata’s have done just as much charming over the years as your voice. More than one way to make a lonely sailor jump ship or steer into the rocks.”

“For the record, we only did that once.” Adagio raised one hand, pointing at Sunset accusingly. “The rest was just poor piloting on the humans’ part. We’ve been here a while, but the stories about human mermaids and sirens predate our arrival by a long shot.”

Sunset chuckled darkly, a fist on her hip. “I’m not hearing a denial in there, Dagi. Or are you willing to admit your cousin is more attractive than you? From everything I’ve heard of Equestrian and human sirens, attraction is like...your thing. Your modus operandi.”

“My voice has lured men and mares equally astray! Unlike those funbags of yours, it won’t sag its way into my lap in another twenty years and will still be doing its job.” Adagio spat that last word out, sneering.

Sunset cut the distance between them, stepping right up to Adagio, her cleavage effectively right under the siren’s nose. “Except it did fail you, huh? Bet you wish you had a pair of these to fall back on, hmm?” She inhaled deeply, smiling as her bra gently brushed up against Adagio’s sweatshirt. “Or maybe you wish you had these to fall into? You know I like girls...it could just be our little secret, okay?”

Sunset chuckled again, watching Adagio’s face go slack as the girl looked down at what was touching her. Gotcha. You’re not so high and mighty when you’re off balance like this. Her grin widened at the hint of flush that she could see across the bridge of the other girl’s nose. Cute though...it’s almost too bad you’re not—

She froze when the world suddenly went orange, the scent of her own floral shampoo flooding her nose. Sunset squinted through Adagio’s curls, blinking the hair out of her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak when she felt Adagio simultaneously grab her sides and blow a wet raspberry against her chest. Instead of well reasoned speech, Sunset squawked awkwardly and made high pitched screeching noises as the blonde ground her face against Sunset’s breasts.

The redhead jerked back, Adagio following with her for a step before letting go with a laugh. Adagio grinned savagely and wiped the back of one sleeve over her face, her stance a mocking copy of the former pony’s from a minute ago. “Well, don’t shove them in my face unless you want me to bite, Sunny!”

She laughed again, clasping her hands behind her back coyly. “I like this game. A little slap here, a little kiss there. What’s next, you kick and I try to take off your pants with my teeth?” Adagio’s eyes flashed and she snapped her jaw closed with a loud ‘clack’ of enamel. “Show me what you got, filly!”

“Eww...you slobbered on me!” Sunset looked up and down, trying to focus her glare on both her own chest and her house guest. “You weren’t supposed to...to mo-motorboat me!”

“Sorry, toots, next time I’ll use more tongue.”

“Excuse me?” Sunset stopped looking down, her gaze locked on Adagio’s smug face. “I only did that to get back at you for teasing me.”

Adagio raised an eyebrow. “Teasing you? When? I thought we called a truce in the garage.”

Sunset stared at Adagio. The girl seemed genuinely confused. “The support comment! The-the ass shaking you did from there to here and when you noticed me watching you!” She straightened up and squared her shoulders. If the siren wanted another match, she’d deliver. “I get that is how you do things, but using your knowledge about my sexuality for that is just low.”

She balled her fists, narrowing her brows. “So I threw it back at you. Let’s see you squirm when the gay girl comes on to you.”

Adagio scowled, shifting her weight to one foot and scratching the back of her ankle with the other. The support comment had been a jab, but the rest? She wasn’t teasing...at least she didn’t think she was. Not consciously at least. I liked having her watch me. Was that for her benefit? Gods, it’s been too long since I’ve even been in a vaguely friendly situation like this. Am I sending signals I’m totally missing?

Sunset was still glaring at her, itching for a fight and ready to go. I’ve had enough for one night though. I really don’t want to push her away either. She said she’d help, and damn me but I believe her. Adagio scowled harder. I guess that means I need to apologize, damnit

“Look, Sunset,” Adagio sighed, “I didn’t really mean anything by...all of that. I’m out of practice in the ‘having friends’ department, okay? But I guess I can try and hold it back for now. You said you had some ideas...about dealing with Aria?”

Sunset dropped her fists limply at her sides, the fire in her going out like a candle in the wind. “Uh, yeah, I did. I mean, I do. You...uh...want to talk about it?”

“Sure.” Adagio nodded, turning to grab the chair she’d used when they’d shared tea earlier in the evening. She pulled it out from the little table and looked at their cups where they sat in a drying rack next to Sunset’s sink. “I...um…”

“Want more tea?”

Adagio nodded mutely and took her seat while Sunset passed her and went into the little nook that masqueraded as a kitchen. She watched the girl start a new pot of tea, dropping bags of it into a stainless steel sauce pan. From behind, she could see claw marks that her nails had left down Sunset’s back. The marks were a lighter shade of that creamy pale hay color the rest of Sunset’s skin was. They led her eyes down from one tan line to another that peeked out just above those capris.

Hmm...she’s got more going on for her than just what’s up front. That made her smirk. Maybe I need to tell her? If I don’t, I get the feeling we’re going to bounce from one ‘comical’ misunderstanding to the next.

“Sunset.” The pony acknowledged her from the kitchen stove, but didn’t turn around from putting the pan of water on to heat. Adagio sighed, leaning back as far as the chair would allow her before tipping over on the linoleum. “There is something I need to talk to you about. Before we do anything about Aria.”

“What is it?” Sunset braced herself on the edge of her countertop, the edge biting into her palms. She wanted to turn around, but part of her was certain if she did, she’d inadvertently experience a real life version of that famous movie scene of the police interrogating a woman suspected of murder by ice pick. Only things missing would be the lie detector and cigarette. Instead she kept her eyes on the water in the pot and bit her lip to distract her imagination.

“About that thing you said. About making me squirm ‘cuz the gay girl is coming on to me.”

“Yeah.” Sunset scoffed, throwing her hands up. “That really worked didn’t it? I’m sorry, okay? It was hypocritical of me to do that just because I thought you did it to me first! We’re both horrible people. Yay.”

“No, it’s not that.” Adagio snorted, a smile playing at the edges of her lips. “I mean, yeah, we are horrible people, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make.”

Adagio let the smile that was forming spread, tilting her head back to stare up at the ceiling. “What I’m getting at is...we’re in the same boat, you and me. This world has some pretty funky views on stuff like that. Always pushing one kind of love and relationship over another.”

Sunset shifted at the counter, grabbing the edge again and she spared the siren a quick glance over her shoulder.

“People like us get pushed to the edges of society. Back in Equestria...no one would even bat an eye at it. But here?” Adagio shook her head sadly and shrugged.

“‘People like us?’” Sunset turned a little. “You mean you…?”

Adagio smirked, pantomiming her mind being blown.

“For how long?” Sunset turned fully, her mouth hanging open a little in naked incredulity.

“Since the first time I broke the waves back home. Since the first mare I laid eyes on and fell in love!” This time Adagio threw up her hands. “Since forever ago, you dunce! A lot like you, it’s not something I like advertising. Aria and Sonata aren’t like that, and they’ve taken every opportunity to remind me I’m freak! Aria has...at least.”

Lightning split the sky outside, drawing both girls’ attention to the tiny window over Sunset’s sink. Thunder crashed a moment later, loud enough to feel it in the floorboards. Sunset frowned. In the last few minutes of revelations and wrestling, she’d completely forgotten about the rainstorm outside. She shook her head, crossing her arms in front of herself, and leaned back against her kitchen counter.

“So...you’re a lesbian.”

Adagio nodded, her eyes still on the window where the rain was making quiet ‘plinking’ sounds.

Sunset’s frown twisted as she tried to process that piece of information. She...she likes girls. Like me. Does that mean that the flirting was serious? Or...was she still teasing me? And if it was serious, how do I feel about that?

Next to her, the pot of tea was starting to hiss, the first stream of steam lifting up toward the ceiling. Sunset shared it a glance. I don’t know...am I supposed to feel anything? Should I be flattered? Angry? Both?

“You look like you’re thinking pretty hard about something.” Adagio rested her head on her wrist, elbow bracing against the table. “Penny for your thoughts?”

“I...I’m trying to figure out how to feel.” Sunset’s voice was flat, her gaze distant. “I mean, just so I’m clear, you were flirting with me earlier right? The fight, the walking around naked...all that stuff about me looking good?”

Adagio pursed her lips. “I think I was.”

“You think?”

“Yeah,” the siren shot Sunset an annoyed look, “I think. So what if I was?”

“Well…” Sunset faded out. She wasn’t sure what to say to that anymore than she was sure what to think about Adagio’s actions. She opened her mouth for more, but she couldn’t quite articulate her feelings. Finally she gave up and turned back to the stove and the heavily steaming pot of tea.

Sunset turned it off and started going through the motions of fixing two cups of tea mechanically. The thinking parts of her mind felt like a skipping record, coming back to the thought that Adagio liked girls over and over without being able to get past it. All too soon, she had the two mugs filled and lightly sweetened for them both. She carried them to the table, Adagio watching her, and set them there.

She grabbed the little office chair and spun it around to flop into it hard. “You know, I always thought that when I got the chance to be alone and mostly naked with another girl, it’d be different than this.”

“Welcome to being an adult. Life never works out like our fantasies. I never thought something like this would happen either.”

“I am an adult!” Sunset snapped, scowling at Adagio. “I’m well versed in reality’s shortcomings, thank you.” She growled and blew on her tea to cool it. The action calmed her, just like it had earlier and she breathed in the sharp, spiced scent.

“But really, this is not what I had in mind.”

Adagio sat forward in her seat, grabbing her own tea. “Have you had girlfriend since you came to this world?”

The redhead sighed, drawing up and trying to hide behind her cup. “Not in so many words...a few crushes here and there. It’s taken me a while to get over the physical differences.”

Adagio smirked, leaning forward a bit more, until the slowly rising steam from her tea split, framing her face. “Sure you didn’t start going to that horse park to look for romance?” She flashed teeth when Sunset recoiled, but her follow up comment died on her lips when she noticed the hurt look on Sunset’s face.

Adagio reached out with one hand toward Sunset, her fingers flexing and unsure. She wasn’t sure what to do, her mind at sudden war with itself. Part of her wanted to hit Sunset with another insult insinuating an attraction to this world’s horses, while another part of her remembered what similar barbs from Aria in their first years in the human world had felt like. Habit dictated that she attack the weakness she sensed in Sunset. That she assert her dominance, her superiority. But her heart knew how much that would hurt. Knew what it was like to be on the receiving end of those kinds of barbs and slings.

She let her hand drop, her fist hitting the table top hard. “Damn it...sorry. I didn’t mean...well, actually I did mean that, but I’m sorry. That was...uncool of me.”

“You think?” Sunset glared at Adagio. “I don’t blame you though. This friendship stuff is hard, huh?”

“It messes you up in the head.” The blonde sighed, mimicking Sunset with her cup of tea and taking a sip. “Does it get easier?”

“Yeah. Practice and all that.” Sunset grimaced, reaching out to put her hand on Adagio’s fist. “I promise it does. And that I’m here for you.”

“If I need to talk?” Adagio couldn’t keep the sneer out of her voice, but she didn’t pull her hand away from Sunset’s.

“Or if you need to throw a punch.”

Adagio looked up at that, into Sunset’s blue eyes. She let her hand relax under the other girl’s warm touch. This time, she couldn’t keep the hope and wonder out of her voice. “You promise?”

Sunset nodded, a smile touching her lips again. “Speaking of violence: Aria. I have an idea, something that should put you back in control, and keep Aria down for a while hopefully.”

The siren grinned sharkishly around the rim of her mug. “I’m liking you more and more by the minute. What’s the plan?” She snorted, imaging the bruises her usurping lackey would soon be collecting. “I want this to hurt.”

Sunset put down her cup and ran her fingers through her hair, shaking it all loose before scooting her office chair closer to the table. She pointed back toward her dresser over Adagio’s shoulder. “I’ve been studying magic in this world for a while now, and I’ve made little headway in all honesty. It doesn’t work like magic in Equestria...at least not entirely like magic back home. But there are similarities! Objects from Equestria that are enchanted, or otherwise infused with mana still function here, though at a much reduced capacity.”

She pointed at the hollow of Adagio’s neck, where it flowed gracefully into her chest. “And I think that’s why you originally retained some of your powers when you were sent here by Starswirl.”

“My gem.” Adagio reached up to where the stone had sat for the better part of human age, just at the top of her breast bone.

“Yeah. From Princess Twilight’s research on it—and please correct me if we’re wrong—from what Starswirl himself observed, siren gems are naturally crystallized magic, rather than enchanted items like ponies make. But the principle is the same: it is a self contained unit of magic that is in constant flux and always renewing itself.”

“Technically,” Adagio interjected, “our gems aren’t that self sustaining. They required near constant resupply of energy or they become very fragile. That’s why we were always feeding off the humans.”

“Huh. Neat.” Sunset raised an eyebrow. “I’ll need to make some notes about that. Maybe your gems are unbalanced matrices? Too much upkeep to feed the system and keep up with output. Princess Twilight is going to have a field day with this!”

Adagio shook her head, rolling her eyes for good measure. “Hell if I know. I just sing.”

“Well, we can go over the details in detail later!” Sunset’s smile grew brighter and she bounced a little in her seat, her voice speeding up a little. “They still appear to work mostly the same way as my journal, just not as efficiently, and most likely, they generate a magic positive field around them, which in turn allowed you to keep feeding stolen energies into them since you had it sitting right on your throat!”

“Ok…” Adagio leaned away slightly. “What does this have to do with anything? I don’t have my gem anymore thanks to you.”

“What I’m getting at here, is the strong magical field that surrounds the school!” Sunset stood suddenly, throwing her arms wide. “If I’m right, then that gives me a new basis to look at how this world’s physical laws interact with Equestrian magic. That magic forced into this universe's system will eventually erode and dissipate without constant recharging—which enchanted objects do by design! That’s why your gems worked, why my journal still works, and why we were both able to pull off bigger and more powerful magic at the school! The portal is a magical object and it bridges the multiverse divide, allowing even more magic to leak into the local reality and heightening magical effects!”

Sunset whooped and sprinted over to her dresser, pulling out the drawer with the journal and fishing it out. Underwear and socks galore spilled unnoticed to the floor until Sunset had the book free. She whirled around and held her prize up. “I’ve noticed that there is lag when I send notes to Princess Twilight from here. But when I’m at the school, unless Twilight is doing something that keeps her from writing back, there is virtually no lag at all. The greater amount of magic there makes the journal work better.”

Adagio stared at the former pony, eyes narrowed as she tried to follow all that she was being told. “So...that’s where the giant magical laser alicorn came from?”

“Yeah.”

“Wait.” Adagio held up a hand, her tea forgotten. “What’s this ‘portal’ you’re talking about?”

“There is an active portal to Equestria at the high school.” Sunset blinked. “I forgot you didn’t know. Sorry about that.”

“What!?” The siren shot to her feet, eyes wide and her pupils shrank to pin points. “There’s been a portal there this whole time!?”

“Uh...yeah. Or, at least there has been one since I activated the mirror on Equestria’s side of the multiverse divide a few years ago.” Sunset shrugged sheepishly. “So...now there is a lot of magic at the school and it seems to be getting stronger due to the constant leakage.”

Adagio groaned and rubbed her temples. “Start making sense please. How does this help with Aria? Hitting her with the laser light show again seems kinda dumb and counter productive.”

“No no no!” Sunset thumped her journal with her palm. “Not that. I think we can get you your gem back.”

Adagio froze, her breath catching in her throat. Her gem. Her power. Her voice. Can I really get it back? She opened her mouth, but it was a long pause before she could make sounds again. “H-how? I-I-I can have my gem back?”

“I think so.” Sunset opened the journal and flipped through the pages quickly, her eyes scanning back and forth rapidly as she looked through the past week’s note exchange. “You form your gem through a natural process, right? I think Starswirl said something about it. That sirens can create them by mixing their own sonic powers with the natural mana around them in Equestria, and it’s that pervasive magic field in Equestria that keeps them from shattering. That you fed there to increase the power output, not to just maintain them.”

Her fingers stopped on one page and she grinned. “Here it is. Yeah...Starswirl did say something along those lines. He must have thought that sealing you away here would ensure that your gems would shatter since there wasn’t a natural magical field. Of course, he seems to have miscalculated.”

“You mean...I could just recreate my gem at the school?” Adagio held her head in both hands, her heart pounding in her ears. If she could get her powers back, Aria would stand no chance against her. She’d be the undisputed leader again. She’d be able to take over the world by herself.

Adagio shook her head again. She wasn’t going to get ahead of herself again. No more failures. “Just like that?”

Sunset looked up at the shell shocked Adagio. “Um...no.”

Adagio blinked, some of her old growl and glare coming back to her. “Why would you even mention it then?”

“Because, I’m not suggesting we try to reform your gem at the school. I’m suggesting we go to the school and use the portal to go back to Equestria and reform it there.”

***

“What?”

“You heard me.”

Sunset rolled her eyes, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel. “What do you want, Adagio, dubstep? I thought classic rock would be a good compromise!”

Adagio Dazzle sneered and pressed another button on the radio, changing the sound of fast paced drums to a laugh track playing over some morning DJ’s corny joke. “Just because it’s old pop, doesn’t mean it’s classic, just that it’s old.”

Sunset groaned and hit the next button, cutting off some ‘whacky’ sound effect from the morning show in favor of screeching guitar and a wailing lead singer. That seemed to pacify the siren, Adagio sitting back in the passenger seat, but she pushed the gas just a bit harder to speed their trip back into Canterlot City. Thankfully, traffic was light in the early saturday morning hours and the city center soon came into view.

“How sure are you this is going to work?” Adagio slumped against the door, looking out at the passing homes and shopping centers that dominated the edge of the city. “What if nothing happens?”

“We’ll know pretty quick, right?” Sunset spared Adagio a glance, the turn signal ticking steadily as she pulled on to the main thoroughfare. “You said last night that making the gems is simple.”

“Admittedly, I had help last time.” Adagio shrugged, her usual scowl firmly in place on her face. “But yeah, should be easy and pretty quick. So long as I’m not interrupted.”

“Which should be taken care of.” Sunset patted her journal where it sat nestled awkwardly into the cup holders between their seats. “Princess Twilight and her assistant, Spike—”

“The dragon?”

“—the baby dragon, are going to be chasing more of Starswirl’s notes. Unless there have been some major changes in Equestria, she’ll have to go to Canterlot to access the Starswirl Archive at the castle.”

“Isn’t Canterlot where you said you opened the portal from in the first place?” Adagio raised an eyebrow, turning that scowl on the unicorn in the leather jacket next to her. “We’ll want to avoid that place.”

“Yeah...originally, I triggered the mirror that holds the portal in Canterlot. But at some point after that, Princess Celestia had it relocated to the Crystal Empire.”

Adagio snorted. “The Crystal Empire? What to some old ice cave then? That place got nuked centuries ago!”

“It’s back. Apparently.”

“What do you mean, ‘back?’”

Sunset shrugged. “It came back from wherever magical nuking sends you to. Princess Cadance runs the place now. It’s where I stole Twilight’s crown from last year.”

“Princess Cadance?” The siren rubbed her face with her hands, pinching the skin between her eyes for a moment as Sunset pulled onto another side street. Around them, the buildings spaced out, becoming a more upscale neighborhood. “How many of these damn princesses are there? Before the battle of the bands, all I ever knew about was Celestia. Rumor had it she had a sister though. Is that Cadance?”

“Nope.” Sunset smiled ruefully. “Cadance is Celestia’s niece. I met her a few times before I left. Nice enough, I guess...if you like tall pink mares. Princess Luna is Celestia’s sister, just like at the high school.”

“That’s creepy.”

“Oh you have no idea!” Sunset laughed. “Vice Principal Luna scared the hay out of me when I first came here. I thought she was mythical. I never would have guessed the Mare in the Moon was real, but Twilight says Nightmare Moon returned and was defeated...so now Luna is back and policing dreams or some sort of nonsense like that.”

“Correction,” Adagio shuddered, “very creepy.”

“The VP is pretty chill though. So who knows, maybe her pony counterpart is great at parties?” Sunset slowed her car as they entered the school zone. “Either way, that makes four of them, counting Twilight. Which, before you ask, she isn’t related to any of them. She finished Starswirl’s incomplete masterpiece spell and mastered friendship magic. So...she’s an alicorn now.”

“Equestrian politics must be screwed up right now because of that.”

“Believe me, I’m glad I’m not a part of that anymore.” Sunset turned into Canterlot High’s student parking lot and took a spot right at the front. There were only a handful of other vehicles parked nearby and all of them had the ‘faculty’ sticker on their tags. “Man, this school turns into a ghost town on the weekends. Back in Canterlot, there would be dozens of students doing research and spellcraft all over the campus.”

“Hurray for small miracles then that this portal doesn’t lead back there anymore.” Adagio sat up, looking out through the front windshield at the school’s main building. “Crystal Empire, right?”

“No.” Sunset unclipped her seat belt and grabbed the journal. “Princess Twilight had it moved to her castle after I used this to contact her. She set it up so that it’s in Ponyville now, and inside her castle. I figure since she’s the Bearer of the Element of Magic, the local magical field there should be even more dense than normal.”

The redhead climbed out of her car, beckoning Adagio to follow her, and locked it behind them both. The early morning sun reflected off the school’s windows, making it look like they were walking directly into the dawn. The statue that housed the portal was only just visible against the glare. She took a deep breath and slipped her book into the satchel she’d brought with her, one of her original saddlebags from back in Equestria. Her heart was going a mile a minute, but she forced her face to remain coolly neutral while Adagio was looking. The prospect of using the portal again thrilled her, but she wasn’t about to let the other girl see her more flustered than she had already.

She started toward the statue, hanging the satchel over her shoulder so that it pressed against her side. The journal was going to be her early warning system. The message she’d sent Twilight earlier stressed taking its twin along to the Starswirl Archive so she could be updated immediately on Twilight’s findings. Knowing what she did of the mare, Twilight would let her know everything, including when she was heading back to her castle. If things went well, they’d already be back on the human side, with nopony the wiser about the quick visit.

She looked sideways at Adagio. The siren looked stunning in the bright morning light, her hair put up and her clothes clean and fresh. But she wasn’t paying much attention back to Sunset other than following along. Showing the portal to Adagio was a calculated risk. Once Adagio had her powers back, she could only hope that the siren’s thirst for vengeance would be strong enough to keep her from just running off. Once they were back, that power would really put Adagio into a superior position.

Hopefully, friendship...mutual trust between us...will be enough to hold her back. She wants to change...I can feel it. But am I enough to keep her from going right back to the world domination plans? Sunset squeezed her satchel and hoped she was right.

The statue of the school’s equine mascot rose before them, its bulk providing a little shade against the sunlight. Sunset breathed in deeply, the tips of her ears tingling in the presence of this world’s most powerful magical artifact.

“This is the portal?” Adagio looked up at those rearing marble hooves. “Tacky.”

“Don’t look at me, I didn’t pick it.” Sunset gestured at the side that faced the school. “It’s that panel.”

“So...how do you work this thing? And don’t say ‘click your heels three times’ or there will be blood.”

“Heels?” Sunset smirked, putting on a pair of sunglasses pulled from her jacket pocket. “Where we’re going, we don’t need heels.”

Chapter 9

A Dazzling Sunset

Chapter 9

In retrospect, it was the little overlooked details—the ones deemed too unimportant or benign—that hampered most plans. Details as simple as forgetting the key to a locked door. Or taking the key out of an otherwise sealed portal.

Sunset stepped forward, hand on her satchel, and ran face first into the solid stone panel that made up the base for the Wondercolt statue. Her sunglasses were sent flying as she recoiled and fell back on her ass, hands coming up to hold her stinging, crushed nose. For such a minor part of human anatomy, it certainly hurt like hell when damaged.

“Ahhgg!” Sunset half growled, half yelled in frustration, feeling her sinus cavity start to trickle with blood. Her face felt horrible, her backside wasn’t any better, and to literally add insult to injury Adagio was already laughing at her. Her eyes scrunched closed in pain, and she pinched her nose shut. She wasn’t getting blood on her jacket again.

Sunset gurgled, rolling over awkwardly onto her knees and one arm. It was oddly nostalgic, the very first time she’d come through the portal she’d ended up like this, face down and bleeding. Hurt. Embarrassed. Anger, like fire in her core driving a red-hot spike into her mind so hard she couldn’t see and all she wanted to do was strike out at whatever was close.

She’d done this to herself. Her list of mistakes the only clear thought in her mind. Throwing away her life for the sake of her pride. Throwing away her dignity with a small oversight.

Her satchel fell from her shoulder as Sunset tried to balance herself, the journal spilling out of it. The metal caps on the corners caught the strong early morning sunlight, bouncing it right into her watery eyes. That made her recoil a little, but it did give her self-loathing anger a target. She grabbed the book by the cover, snarling as she did so, and flung it as hard as she could. Sunset didn’t care where it ended up, just that the offending thing was out of her sight for a split second.

The sound of parchment pages whipping in the wind mixed with the siren’s guffaws for a moment before there was a dull thud of the book meeting concrete again. Sunset testingly un-pinched her nose and felt the blood start to flow again. She clamped back down, climbing to her booted feet and stomping over to the magical journal, muttering the incantation to her favorite fireball spell over and over. When it failed to combust in a blast of heat and orange-yellow fire, Sunset pulled back and kicked it like she was going for the game winning goal shot.

The book didn’t go far, landing where the grass and pavement met, its cover scratched and scuffed up. “Stubid. Stubid! Stubid!” Sunset yelled wordlessly at it, the anger in her willing everything within a ten foot radius of the journal to burn. A hand on her shoulder jolted the visions of fire and ash from her mind, and Sunset turned her head to look at a mildly concerned Adagio Dazzle in confusion.

“Hey, Shimmer, calm down! Setting your magic book on fire isn’t going to open any portals.” Adagio paused, reflecting on that thought for a second. “At least I don’t think it would.”

Sunset growled again, glancing back at the book. “No, id woulbn’d. Gob, I’m so stubid.”

“I’m not go to argue that. Funny as it was to see you smash your face into a statue,” Adagio smirked, her hand bunching into a fist to hit Sunset in the shoulder, “I need you conscious and not loopy from either concussions or blood loss. If this portal thing isn’t working though, we’re not going to be getting my gem back anytime soon, are we?”

“You aren’t mab at dat?”

Adagio sniffed, her face turning serious, and shrugged her shoulders gracefully. “I can kick and scream about it later. Laughing at you headbutting concrete really helps. But watching you rage out reminds me that we still have a goal to accomplish here, portal or not.”

“Aria.” Sunset swallowed and immediately regretted it when a copper-flavored glob of phlegm plummeted down her throat. Adagio made a hissing noise and stepped forward, walking over to where the journal sat halfway into the grass. She watched the siren squat, elbows on knees, regarding her book.

Wait...how did she know I wanted to set it on fire?

Sunset blinked, the question bouncing around her head a few times until Adagio stood again with the journal. The blonde opened the journal and started flipping through the pages for a moment before snapping it closed.

Adagio shot Sunset a toothy grin. “First thing we need to do is get you cleaned up. The nosebleed isn’t a good look on you.”

She shaded her eyes against the morning glare with a hand and looked at the main school building. “They have some weekend classes, right? Doors should be unlocked and the bathrooms pretty much empty.”

Sunset nodded vaguely, the last of her anger fading quickly as she listened to Adagio. This was yet another side of the siren she hadn’t seen before. Adagio was calm, under control, and reasonable. It was weird, but a good sort of weird. Plus, Adagio wasn’t wrong, the school should be unlocked and she really didn’t want blood on her clothes.

“Okay,” Sunset swallowed again with a cringe, “let’s go. I’m gebbin’ tire of holbing my node.”

Sunset led the way to the stairs and front door, Adagio lagging behind her. She opened the door with a firm pull, relief washing over her that at least one doorway at the school still opened like she expected it to. The interior AC-cooled air washed over her a second later, the trophy-filled atrium empty and unnaturally quiet. Normally, whenever she passed through this section of the building, it was with at least one of her friends surrounded by a hundred other teenagers on their own way to or from some class. It was a noisy, busy place.

Devoid of humanity, it was instead filled with light and dust motes floating through the air. I always thought schools were supposed to be creepy when no one is here, but it feels more like being at Pinkie’s while everyone else is asleep. Sunset frowned, the few times she’d been here in the empty atrium during classes flashing through her mind. Last time I was here and it was empty like this was the day I met Adagio and the other sirens…

“Today id jusd full od deja vu.” She grimaced at the sound of her voice, letting go of her nose again to see if the blood had congealed. Her nose still ached, but she didn’t feel anything immediately start flowing. There was a girls room just across the from the entrance, near the hall that led toward the library and lab classes, where she could wash up.

Sunset looked back, holding the door open for her companion, but Adagio was still at the bottom of the stairs. “Adagio?”

The siren blinked, hearing her name, and hurried up the steps after Sunset. “You got blood on your face.”

“No duh.” Sunset shook her head, sighing. She headed toward the bathroom like a girl on a mission, not bothering to check to see if she was still being followed. She passed the wall where her old fall formal crowning pictures had hung until recently. The images—frames and all—were long gone by this point, but so far, Principal Celestia hadn’t replaced them with anything. It left an uneasy feeling in her stomach, like there was a hole in the wall, waiting to be mended.

Maybe someday I’ll do something good that will be worthy of that spot again? Sunset frowned, shoving the girl’s room door open as dark thoughts swirled around her mind. The sharp scent of citrus hit her working nostril a moment later, wafting up from the shiny floor. She gagged on the air, letting the door close behind her while she headed for the sink.

Adagio came to a halt, half way across the big circular room with its big bay windows and glass cases of trophies and pictures of students on the walls. She turned slowly on her heels, thinking to herself. With Sunset in the bathroom cleaning up, it felt like she was the only living thing in the building, but oddly she didn’t feel alone.

Dust motes danced in the sunlight in front of Adagio and she held out her hand to catch them. The glowing spots swirled around her hand, disappearing whenever she tried to track one with her eyes. Sunset’s voice played in her mind from the night before. ”So...now there is a lot of magic at the school and it seems to be getting stronger due to the constant leakage.”

“Some sort of ambient magic, huh?” Adagio frowned, wishing she knew more about how magic worked. It had always been a normal part of herself, that it seemed odd to think of it as something separate and not just another arm or leg. But if the magic was stronger at the school, that might explain what she’d seen outside. She clinched her fist, looking back up at the closed bathroom door. “Damnit, Sunset, why did you have to make this complicated?”

Adagio turned on her heels, stalking toward the trophy cases and the blank spot on the wall. She knew what used to hang there, pictures of the crowned queen of the Fall Formal. Pictures of Sunset. Again, the girl’s voice echoed in her mind. ”Not before I fireballed your scaly ass.”

Sunset had meant that then, even if she said it in passing. Adagio knew the look the girl had given her yesterday was one of determination. The kind that says ‘I will do what I say I will or die trying.’ The same look Sunset had pointed at the book outside a minute ago. The will to destroy and a mind that knew magic well enough to set the world on fire. It was a hell of a combination and one that she was still surprised to find in a pony of all creatures.

”I stole the Element of Magic and transformed into a she-demon, destroyed half the school and successfully enslaved a couple of hundred humans to my will.” That was what Sunset had told her that first day, back in the barn at the horse park. The school rumor mill was lousy with stories about Sunset’s ‘transformation,’ but it was something all the students talked about as if it happened to someone else and was merely re-told to them. None of them could give a consistent tale, let alone say how the event started or ended. It was one of the more frustrating holes in the little research she’d forced Sonata to do when they first found Canterlot High.

”I’m not your average goody-goody pony.” Adagio came to a stop near the wall, scanning her reflection in the glass doors of the cases. Sunset was far from what she’d ever known when it came to pony mares. They were all sweet and bubbly, always looking for friends and ways to help.

And then there was Sunset.

The pony that stole. The pony that tried to conquer an alien world. The pony that lied and cheated and had the most perfectly kissable lips in the world. Adagio’s frown softened and she shoved her hands into her pockets. She could think about that part later. Right now, she needed to know just how the magic in the human world worked. It didn’t—or hadn’t—responded to her voice, but there had to be something else.

“Sunset triggered it a minute ago and didn’t even notice it.” She sighed. “Nose bleeds don’t look good on her, but those black eyes…that I could get used to.” Adagio tapped the toe of her boot against the school floor. “Full on she-demon, hmm?”

No sooner than she finished saying that when the bathroom door opened with a painfully loud creak in the quiet atrium, and Sunset walked out with a paper towel pressed against her face. Adagio bit her lip, watching the other girl move while Sunset continued to dry her face.

“Better?”

“Yeah, thanks.” Sunset crumpled up the towel, wiping under her eyes before tossing it into an open trash can. “Listen, while I was washing my face, I had an idea; why not try using your voice to activate the magic here at the school?”

The siren rolled her eyes. “You think I haven’t tried that already?”

“But did you try it here?” Sunset grinned, hooking a thumb over her shoulder. “Plus, CHS has a pretty well stocked AV room, if you want musical accompaniment.”

“It hasn’t worked yet.” Adagio growled, facing her reflection in the glass case. “But I suppose it’s worth a try, I mean, what have I got to lose at this point, right?”

“Right.” Sunset beamed at Adagio and spun around. “Sorry about flaking out back there, I was operating under the assumption that the portal would be there. I’ve gotten so used to it since Princess Twilight figured out how to open it off schedule. I was so focused on getting us there, I completely missed the part about taking the ‘doorstop’ factor of the journals out and it slamming closed as a result.”

Adagio huffed, keeping her mouth shut as Sunset rambled and led them on to whatever she thought might help things along. She watched the former pony out of the corner of her eyes, looking out for any hint of magic. Surely, she has to know more about the magic here and how to turn it on?

Adagio ducked her head when they turned a corner and she saw several other teenagers at the far end of the hallway. “Do we have to go past them? I’d like to avoid uncomfortable questions.”

“Or an angry mob.”

“That too.” Adagio pulled up her hood, stuffing her mass of curls into the back of it. Thankfully, the weekend students were busy waiting around for a class to open and didn’t take any notice of them.

Soon they rounded another corner into an empty hallway lined with lockers and empty classrooms. Near the far end of the hallway, right before reaching the big doors that would lead out to trailer classes and the back parking lot, Sunset stepped over to an unmarked door. She tested the handle, making it rattle, but the door refused to open.

“Damn, it’s locked.”

“So now what?” Adagio frowned at Sunset and the door for a moment. She huffed, pinching the skin between her eyes and stared down at her feet and the school’s worn tiles. “This whole thing is turning into a bust, Sunset. Given both our past experiences with plans that aren’t working out, I say we cut and run and try this again later. We can...I dunno...go back to your place, or send a message to the Princess pony to put the book back? I don’t want to face Aria without a clear advant—”

Adagio looked up, eyes wide with surprise when she heard the distinct click of the door opening. She blinked at Sunset’s smug grin while the redhead slipped a plastic card back into a black netted wallet. “Wait...did you just…?”

Sunset nodded, pocketing her wallet and zippering the pocket closed again. “CHS is actually pretty dated. Almost all of the internal doors have a simple latch lock. No deadbolts, alarms, or anything that’ll stop a girl filled with determination and some practice.”

Adagio slowly picked her jaw up off the floor, eyeing Sunset Shimmer critically. It was becoming increasing clear that this was not a pony she could afford to underestimate again. And she has to do it all with that look on her face...that cute, smug, little smirk. Be careful Adagio, you could fall for somepony like this.

A part of her had to wonder if that would be such a bad thing.

Inside the room was almost as big as the normal classrooms, and included the usual spartan furnishings such as a big desk in one corner for a teacher and a blackboard covering most of the front wall. Unlike a regular classroom however, there were no student desks, but long tables instead, all of them covered with a barely organized collection of spare monitors, loose speakers of multiple sizes, cables by the mile, mics, and something that looked like an old record player. Sunset walked in first, putting her fist on her hips while she surveyed the mess.

“Okay, let’s see what we can use here.” She paced in between the tables, lightly running her fingers over the dusty electronics. “Some of it hasn’t left this room since I first came here, and the Principal is just as bad as her Princess counterpart when it comes to not throwing away junk properly.”

Adagio smirked, pushing the door closed. “Are you calling your Princess a hoarder? I’ve heard worse, but that feels kind of damning, to be be honest.”

“If we find cursed 8-track tapes in here, I wouldn’t exactly be surprised.” Sunset stopped at one of the desks and lifted a microphone the size of her head, its metallic grill starting to rust along the edges. “One of them keeps obviously dangerous magic objects for centuries in places where any foal could come across them. The other keeps tech so outdated that somepony from a pre-industrial society is embarrassed for her.”

Adagio raised an eyebrow, wandering slowly into the room, her path taking her past the unlevel shelving that lined the room’s three non-blackboarded walls. Human electronics weren’t a subject she stayed in touch with much. So long as it worked, she didn’t much care how it worked or what it looked like. Most of the time during their exile, Adagio had the human thralls deal with it for her. She did have to admit that their technological advancements were interesting, and useful most of the time, but she also found herself to be a slow adopter of whatever new gadget everyone seemed to go gah gah over.

Still she knew enough to identify some of the plastic junk. Most of it was, again, useless to her in this situation. What she needed was some sort of radio with loud speakers, or maybe some sort of playback device. Adagio’s eyes skipped from one useless piece of obsolete trash to another, until they landed on a large, black, rectangular object she hadn’t seen the like of in years.

“Like a boombox…” Her voice was quiet, a smile on her lips as she remembered a time from decades past when such radios would blast loud music from nearly every corner and at one informal event after another. Times when the sirens had fed well and the opportunity to take new thralls was plentiful.

“What?” Sunset paused where she was, a cardboard box in her hands.

Adagio grabbed the huge block-shaped boombox and hefted it from the bottom shelf where she’d found it to the top of the nearest table. She pushed a box full of snapped headphone sets aside and spun the radio around to inspect the knobs and buttons that operated it. Everything seemed intact, the buttons under the dual tape decks clicking with a satisfying sound and resistance. But when she flipped the power switch, the box remained dark and lifeless.

“Broken? Or are the batteries just dead?” Adagio flipped the switch a few times, but that changed nothing. She spun the boombox around again and tilted it onto its front, working open the small hatch that led to the battery compartment. “Where the heck would we even find batteries for this old relic anyway? No one carries nine volts anymore.”

“Wanna bet?” Sunset grinned, tipping the box she held. Inside it was a loose pile of batteries of all sizes, including some very niche sizes. She reached in and pulled out a thick cylinder that looked like it could be used like a weapon just as easily as it could power certain things. “How many does it need?”

“Uh,” Adagio popped the cover off the boombox, peeking inside, “four of ‘em” She looked up just in time to awkwardly catch the batteries as they came sailing through the air at her. “Hey! Those things could have hurt me!”

“But they didn’t, did they?” Sunset dropped the battery box back onto the table. She grinned and squatted down to check inside the other unmarked cardboard boxes that sat on the floor. “You get it powered up, I’ll see if I can find those tape things it plays.”

“Cassettes, Shimmer.” Adagio growled to herself and started to put the batteries into the boombox. She worked at it for a moment until the batteries were properly aligned and placed the cover back. She spun the radio back around to face her and when she flipped the power switch this time, the set rewarded her with static coming from the built-in speakers. When Adagio looked back up, Sunset was just standing again with another open box.

“These?” The redhead turned, the box in her hand rattling with row after row of plastic cases and magnetic tape. She tilted the box, like the batteries before, to show the siren the contents.

“Those look like a bunch of marching band tracks. What is wrong with this place? Do none of you know what makes good music?”

“Well, that thing is a radio, Dagi, why don’t you pick something, hmm?” Sunset frowned. The siren’s insistence of her apparent poor taste in music was annoying, but if they were going to make this work, she had a feeling that Adagio would have to be in the zone to get the magic to respond to her. I bet she’s just being a snob about this. Pick something and let’s see what you got already.

She folded her arms and leaned back against the table, the blonde girl already starting to twist the largest of the knob. The static popped and hissed, ghosts of words appearing and vanishing again before they could be identified. Sunset’s frown softened at the edges while the dial spun up the frequencies from the public broadcasting upper eighties to the commercial stations in the mid-nineties. The words were joined by flashes of music. Snippets of pop and rock. Country and rap. Band after band of FM signals until Adagio reached the end of the tuner. Then the girl started back in the other direction.

“Oh just pick something!” Sunset huffed in mostly mock exasperation. “Stop being so damn picky.”

“I’ll be picky if I want to be...I’m trying to decide if I want to try singing or dancing.”

“Wait.” Sunset dropped her arms to hold the edge of the table and leaned forward. “Sirens can do magic by dancing?”

“No, but we’re trying out unpredictable magic in the air, right? I like dancing, so maybe it’ll respond or whatever.” Adagio smirked, making small twists to the boombox tuner until a station playing salsa music came in crystal clear. “I might try both.”

Adagio tapped her foot to the beat, patting her hip with one hand in-time with the steel guitar melody. She closed her eyes, letting the music wash over her and wrap itself around her like a sweet embrace, until she could feel it on her skin. Dancing wasn’t so much a conscious action as it was relinquishing control over your body and letting rhythm, momentum and gravity work their own sort of magic.

She ran her fingers up through her bangs, pushing away her reservations at the same time. This will work. Just do what comes natural.

Adagio felt the beat of the song build, rising higher, and her body followed. Her hips led the way, swinging out and widening her stance. Her arms, already raised, kept languidly rising, counter-balancing her swaying lower body. The drums dictated the orbit of her pelvis, driving her to motion with every muscle moving in sync.

It had been a while since she’d last danced to music other than her own. Years ago, when the fashion trends had been much more angular and everyone had huge hair, Adagio had stepped out on stage, Sonata and Aria at her side, and wowed the crowd. She could hear the roar of approval, smell the hot, wet air and tropical flowers. She could see her companions out of the corner of her eyes, moving in perfect step with her. Oh how the crowd had cheered, chanting the names they’d carried that decade. The entire amphitheater rocked with them, locked on the moves of three hungry sirens.

They’d eaten well that night and gained new thralls to replace the old as they moved up the coast in a slow crawl that kept the humans from getting too suspicious. They were powerful back then. Adored. And she was the center of attention, the focus of all that adoration. It made her feel alive.

Adagio’s eyes snapped open when she felt something familiar and electric zap across her. She froze in place, the feeling passing almost instantaneously. The hollow of her throat felt raw, exposed in the absence of her jewel like it hadn’t since the night of the Battle. That fleeting feeling of power. Magic. Gone again, just like when the gem had shattered.

But it was there, even if only for that split second. It was there. She felt it.

Sunset was watching her, arms folded. Sunset hadn’t noticed it. Maybe it was too quick, too subtle. But she had triggered it. But how damn it? What was it about that time that activated it when all the other times had been dismal failures? I’ve willed it, sang it, and now I’ve even tried dancing like a moron in a glorified closet!

The beat continued to thump quickly, the horns and strings bouncing along towards the song’s climax, but Adagio slowed to a halt, turning the last minute over in her mind. I’m at the school this time. Sunset’s mumbojumbo about it being rich with magic seems to be right. But is that it? I get the feeling if I was just singing at myself in the bathroom mirror, nothing would happen, so what’s the key here?

Sunset raised her eyebrows when Adagio stopped dancing, but she kept her mouth shut. Adagio was thinking pretty hard about something and she didn’t want to throw off the siren if Adagio figured out how to tap into the magic field around them. Plus, she had to admit, she liked watching the blonde move to the music.

“Grrr…” Adagio clenched her fists. “What was it? What was it about that memory specifically?”

Was it being with Sonata and Aria? No, that would be stupid. We weren’t at each others’ throats at the time, but it’s not like we were on good terms either. Besides them not being here...what else is different? Of course it wasn’t the same place, or the same time of day, and she wasn’t on stage. The boombox wasn’t equal to a concert-level sound system. Sunset was a tiny audience compared to the thousands in the amphitheater. The other girl wasn’t even interacting with her besides watching. She wasn’t in control here as she’d been there, directing the crowd with the turn of her flank.

“Wait…” Adagio looked up again, the song reaching its conclusion and being replaced on the air by a voice speaking rapidly about a carwash or something.

“What? Did you figure out something?” Sunset pushed herself off the table, smiling expectantly.

“Maybe, but I think I need to try something a little different.” Adagio smirked and walked around the table the boombox was sitting on so that she was on the same side of the room as Sunset. The space between the rows of storage cabinets and tables was tighter here, but she wasn’t going to need much room. She just needed Sunset to be able to see all of her. That and the right musical accompaniment. Thankfully, the commercial about the carwash was a short break and the boombox’s speakers started to thrum with the sad whine of a single violin.

“I have commanded the attention of millions.” The violin’s long drawn out whine drew out Adagio’s leg, toe out to trace a line between them. “Do you understand that, Sunset?”

Sunset’s smile faded a little, her eyes on Adagio’s boot. Drums crashed suddenly, silencing the violin, the music crashing down like a wave. Just as suddenly, the siren crossed the line she’d traced a moment earlier, Adagio’s eyes inches from her own and just as intense as the rumble coming from the old radio. Memories from their fight the night before flashed in her mind, but even though she was surprised, Sunset didn’t feel threatened.

“Sway with me.” Adagio took the girl’s hands in her own, chest to chest with the former pony. She pulled Sunset away from the table, keeping them tightly together. The beat thundered. “I was a force of nature.”

Trumpets burst from the rolling beat, rising high and fast. “I was desired.”

Strings spread below the brass and the first violin returned with a joy that filled the air as Adagio’s hand ran up Sunset’s arm and then down her back. “Everyone wanted to be me when I was on stage.”

The siren turned Sunset on her heel, one leg out for the pony’s weight to rest against when she bent the redhead back. Sunset responded by arching her back, kicking her own leg upward and onto Adagio’s shoulder. They reversed, Adagio leading, Sunset spinning on her toes in the other direction in a perfect pirouette as piano joined the tangled tango of instruments.

Red and gold swirled around each other to the quickening tempo. The morning sunlight seemed to makes Adagio’s blonde curls glow, just along the edges of Sunset’s vision. The dance was something she’d never expected. When they’d left her place an hour ago, she’d assumed they would be in Equestria by now, combing through Princess Twilight’s library for something about siren magic. Maybe she’d have to keep the ponies in Ponyville from seeing the huge carnivorous sea monster in their midsts and would have comically gotten buried in Adagio’s scaled coils.

That’s what Sunset had honestly expected. Not dancing. Certainly not dancing with Adagio Dazzle. But she could understand what the siren meant. She could see how this creature had held the attention of countless humans through the ages. Sunset couldn’t fault them, either. Adagio was captivating. The sounds the siren made. The moves Adagio was showing off, it was the thing human or pony celebrities would dream of.

And she wanted more of it. More of whatever Adagio would give her.

Adagio smiled fiercely. The sunlight, the music, Sunset, all of it flowing around her was a familiar feeling. The gleam in Sunset’s eyes was one she’d grown to love so much, but seeing it in those bottomless blues was all the more powerful to her. She might have commanded the attention of millions, but the only one she cared about right now was the pony glued to her in the dance.

All she wanted was to prove to Sunset that she still had it in her.

They moved like a single unit, where Adagio led, Sunset followed. Bodies twisting to the music. Hearts beating with the rhythm. Eyes locked on each other. The song seemed to stretch on forever and world was reduced to nothing but the two of them. But the tempo kept climbing to its climax, and their movements followed.

Adagio felt warm and light, free in a way she hadn’t felt in a long time. Sunset was molded to her comfortably, flowing along naturally with only the slightest bit of guidance. Adagio gazed into those blue eyes, her voice bubbling up from inside her and riding the boombox’s music.

“This is what I am,

This is who I want to be.

Where we are now,

Just sway with me.”

“On the stage, in the sea,

Just stay with me.

I’ll show you how

To dance and swim and everything between.”

The drums stopped, the piano, strings, and trumpets falling off so their final notes faded until just the single violin remained. Sunset’s heart, however, was still jackhammering so hard in her chest, she was sure Adagio could feel it. Their dance came to a stop, and she was suddenly very aware of how she was being held by the siren and just how close they were. She could feel Adagio breathing hard, see the girl’s intensity plain on that gorgeous face. Sunset tied to swallow the lump in her throat, tilting her head and licked her suddenly dry lips.

Motes of dust, set aglow by the sun and a-flight by their dance, floated in front of Sunset’s eyes. They added a almost fairy-like quality to the moment, the golden glow from the motes blending seamlessly with the glow coming off Adagio. She knew she should say something about that, but speaking wasn’t what she felt she should really be doing with her mouth. A moment later, Adagio agreed with her, leaning in to take Sunset’s lips and breath away.

It was a quick thing, the kiss. Lips pressed against lips, forming a seal and a bond. Electricity passed between them and then it was over. They pulled apart slowly, lips sticking together as long as possible until the elasticity fully separated them. But for all the moment’s quickness, just like the dance before it, it lingered in both of their thoughts overshadowing all else.

“Sunset?”

“Hmm?”

“You have a weird look on your face.” Adagio smirked, her voice low. In the background she vaguely processed the fact that the music had once again given way to some commercials. “What are you thinking about?”

“That you look good with those gossamer wings.”

Adagio blinked wide eyes at Sunset, turing the girl’s words over in her head. That was when she noticed she couldn’t feel the floor under her. Adagio looked back over her shoulder. Peeking out from under her even more massive curls were a set of semi-transparent wings. They were almost like a combination of butterfly wings and her natural fins and flukes. There was a large primary wing, as well as a smaller secondary wing, each with a scalloped edge like her siren fins. She’d only even seen the wings once before, but they felt completely natural to her. Like a body part she’d always had, but was only just realizing it.

“I never noticed they were striped like that.” Sunset murmured, mostly to herself, her eyes tracing the darker pinkish bands that repeated through the wings. The coloration reminded her more of tropical fish than insects. “I couldn’t see them that well from up on the hill at the battle. They’re beautiful, Adagio. They suit you.”

Adagio nodded vaguely at that, her sudden transformation just as hard to digest as the way she was holding Sunset. For a moment, she couldn’t tell which she was more okay with, but as soon as she thought about it, the magic seemed unimportant. It was natural. Inevitable that she would get her power back. But kissing a girl she’d tried to destroy on more than one occasion? That seemed like the more weighty situation of the two.

She glanced back at Sunset. The pony was still looking at her wings and new ears. Relaxing comfortably in my arms. What’s up with that? What’s up with me? Did I...did we...really just do that?

They’d danced. She’d sang. Then there was that little kiss. No more than a peck on the lips. But it was more than that. At least to her. Adagio was willing to bet it was more to Sunset too, but how was she supposed to approach that conversation? I liked it. I liked it a lot. Do I tell her that?

She didn’t want to get her hopes up over another girl. Another mare. Sunset was simply a means to an end. Adagio shut her eyes tight, grimacing, and touched down on the AV room’s floor once more. She needed to nip this in the bud before things got out of hand and she was alone again.

“Adagio?”

The siren opened her eyes and stood them up straight. She set her jaw, her hands on Sunset’s waist. She drank in those blue eyes and tried to not listen to her heart. “Sunset, listen...I like—”

She was cut off by a loud snort from behind, accompanied by a bright flash.

“‘Ju get it?”

“Uhuh...yep!”

There was another flash. Snickering laughter in broken pitched voices erupted from the doorway to the hallway. As one, Sunset and Adagio turned slowly to see the door open partially with two hands holding smartphones extended through. Even as they watched, the phone’s cameras flashed again.

“I got ‘em kissin’ an’ everything!”

Sunset swallowed roughly and pushed Adagio off of her, her blood running cold. “Snips? Snails? What the hay are you two doing here?”

Chapter 10

A Dazzling Sunset

Chapter 10

Snails grinned ear-to-ear, his shaggy hairdo bouncing when he looked up from his phone. The phone’s camera flashed again. “Oh hey, Sunset. D’you have weekend classes?”

“More like detention!” Snips snorted, his thick fingers tapping deftly on his smartphone’s screen. “Remember she was still cleaning up that mess from months ago, you dummy? Vice Principal Luna prob’ly has her coming in for detention every day!”

“Oh...yeah.” Snails nodded, but his eyes locked onto something in the middle distance, not really focusing on any other person. “Wait...then why don’t we see her there when we’re there?”

“How am I supposed to know that?”

“Uh...Snips?”

“What? Can’t you see I’m…” The boy faded out, when he looked up from his tapping. Standing less than half a classroom away two girls were giving them funny looks. Which wasn’t hard since one of them had pony ears and was glowing. The other one had a familiar enough looking violent scowl on her face, but it looked weird thanks to the black colored eyes and fangs in her mouth.

“Uh...Snails?”

“Eeyuh?” The taller high schooler's grin dimmed somewhat when he saw the frightened look on Snips’ face.

“Run.”

While Snails was known around CHS—charitably—for being slow on the pick-up, he was less well known for his athletic acumen. He didn’t need to be told twice when he needed to be somewhere else in a hurry. Snails pulled ahead of Snips instantly, running back down the hallway toward the school’s main body. Behind him, he could hear Snips’ baggy pants swishing rapidly to keep up.

Snails spared a look over his shoulder, but all he caught was the door of the AV room flying open to release a flaming redhead. He liked Sunset, really, but experience told him that she wasn’t the easiest to reason with when angry. Seeing her hair whipping around her like fire spurred him to put on another burst of speed. He pumped his long legs furiously, running as fast as he could for the intersection. If he could just reach that, he’d be in the clear. Someone would see him and then Sunset wouldn’t be able to do...whatever she was trying to do.

Snails wasn’t entirely sure yet why they were running from their former companion and the glowy girl with the really big hair. But he knew he could wait until they were safe to find out. He was just passing the doors to the next to last classrooms on the hall when he heard something slam into the lockers at his heels. Snips cried out in pain, but this seemed like a bad time to help a bro out, so he grit his teeth and forgot about his buddy. All he needed to do was cover the last twenty feet to safety.

“Stop right there! The power of ME compels you!”

Almost there, Snail’s brian locked up, that last thought of his own replaced by the voice and the sudden want to stop running. His feet, ever faster than his mind, got the message first and Snails flew a good half of the remaining length of the hall in an uncontrolled sprawl until he kissed the heavy duty floor tiles. First with his face, then all the rest of his body in very rapid succession. He didn’t skid very far, but he lost grip on his phone and the pocket sized device made it right up to the edge of the intersection.

“Haha HA! Did you see that, Shimmer? Totally stopped him in his tracks!”

There was a lot of grunting going on behind him. Now that his heart wasn’t hammering in his ears, Snails could hear Sunset’s voice cursing quietly with each grunt he guessed his friend was making. He started to push himself up, and took another look back. Snips was down on the ground, in the corner of the wall and floor, Sunset’s knee and one hand on his back, holding the pudgy boy down, Snips’ cell phone in Sunset’s other hand.

“Yeah yeah...umph...very impressive. Just grab him and the cell phone.” Sunset shoved her knee harder into Snips’ back, glaring at the boy. “If you want this back, Snips, you are not going to force me to carry your unconscious butt back into the AV storeage room. If you even think about making a break for it, I will break this thing into a thousand pieces.”

“You wouldn’t!” Snips turned his head as best as he could to look up at the girl riding his back. “Yo-you’re ‘sposed to be good now, Sunset!”

“I am good! You two are the ones that just took pictures of us without permission.” Sunset sneered and leaned in closer to whisper. “The law doesn’t look very kindly on that sort of stuff these days, does it?”

Snips groaned, pressing himself tighter into the floor the edge away from Sunset. The former queen bee of the school had always been intimidating, but being on the direct receiving end of Sunset’s ire was something he hadn’t experienced since the whole she-demon incident. “Have your knees always been this pointy?”

Sunset blinked, her sneer vanishing as she looked down at her knee digging into Snips’ back. “Uh...maybe? Are they really that pointy?”

“Yes!”

Sunset shook her head and stood up, hauling the shorter boy up by his black t-shirt. “The pointiness of my knees isn’t up for discussion, Snips. Now get in the storeroom!” She growled for good measure and looked back down the hall. “You grab the phone?”

Adagio smiled playfully, kicking her legs like a child while she floated a few inches off the ground. “I got it, don’t worry. If this is what I get when I use the magic here, I could almost do without my gem.” She laughed delicately, throwing Snails forward with an effortless underhanded toss. The boy landed in a graceless pile at Sunset’s feet, groaning. “I could get used to this!”

“Don’t get too comfortable. Ponying up doesn’t last that long. Help me with these two and then we’ll get back to the plan.”

“‘Ponying up?’ Is that what you seriously call this?” Adagio grimaced. “Show some imagination, please, Shimmer. Can’t we call it something...less on the nose?”

Sunset helped Snails unsteadily to his feet, rolling her eyes at the siren. “I’m a scientist at heart, Adagio. ‘On the nose’ is how the labcoat class rolls.” She shoved the two boys forward, gripping their shirts as she marched them back into the Audio Visual equipment room. Once everyone was inside, Sunset kicked the door shut and let go of her former lackeys. “Okay you two, what the hell do you think you’re doing taking pictures of us without even asking for permission?”

Snails blinked, scratching his head.

Snips sneered, readjusting his shirt and looking back and forth between Sunset and the floating girl. “We don’t need permission, Sunset, this is public property and I haven’t seen any ‘no photography’ signs anywhere around here. Besides,” Snips gestured at his phone in Sunset’s hand, “you didn’t seem to care back when you had us take pictures of that girl you blackmailed.”

“Oh snap!” Adagio settled herself onto one of the less cluttered desks, tossing Snail’s phone end over end before catching it again. “Blackmail too, Sunset? I’m liking you more and more!”

“You’re not helping.”

Adagio blew a raspberry at Sunset’s back, catching the phone again. She swiped her thumb across the screen, calling up the devices cluttered mess of apps. She tapped on the one with the camera icon, her eyes widening at the number of folders and images that appeared in the gallery.

“Look...Snips, Snails, I’m not the Sunset I once was. You know that already. You two were here when the sirens nearly took over, so you know she’s not someone to mess with either. We’ve got...stuff to deal with, so I’ll let you off easy if you promise not to talk about what you saw and delete the pictures, okay?” Sunset put her hands on her hips, one side of her mouth turning up in a smile. The boys weren’t all that bad, and they had been helpful back when she was still friendless and evil. If they’d agree to her simple request, Sunset was more than ready to let them go. Dealing with siren grudge matches was enough for her without a rumor starting at school about her and other girls.

“Sunset?”

Snips looked like he was thinking over her offer. Snails...Sunset honestly wasn’t sure what the human was thinking about—if he was thinking anything at all. Sunset turned slightly, looking back over her shoulder at Adagio. The siren had a blank look on her face, eyes on the confiscated phone. “What?”

“Look.” Adagio turned the phone around and held it out. On the screen was a picture that must have been taken during the Battle of the Bands a few weeks ago. It was taken from a very low angle, pointing up into a red technicolor sky where the clouds were just parting to reveal an enormous alicorn. But right in the middle of the frame was Sunset and her friends as they channeled magic into the atmosphere where, thanks to the angle, Sunset’s legs and bright white panties were the obvious focus.

“What.” Sunset blinked, her voice flat. She turned back to the boys slowly, eyes narrowing. “What?”

Snips and Snails both recoiled, backing up against the blackboard. They scrabbled on the dusty floor, sneakers squeaking until Sunset's hands slammed into the wall on either side of them, effectively trapping them in place. Snails grinned nervously, his voice breaking awkwardly.

“Uh...it was a good shot? Li-like artistically?”

Snips nodded quickly. “Yeah! That sky horse thing you summoned was really good looking!”

Sunset glared angrily at them, her pupils shrunken to pinpoints. “And my underwear just happened to get in the way?”

Adagio tapped on the phone a few more times. “Looks like there's a lot of pictures here. They're even organized into folders based on things like ‘up skirt’ and ‘cleavage’ then broken down by the girl's name.”

She smirked again, the phone making exaggerated clicking sounds as she navigated. Her eyes went wide again. “Oooh! They even have folders for the staff too! Here's a shot up the principal’s skirt...whoa, those are surprisingly lacy to wear to school…”

“Principal Celestia wears skirts?” Sunset blinked again, her rage momentarily distracted.

“Like...once a year...” Snips mumbled under his breath.

“That wasn't as hard of a shot to get as you might think.” Snails grinned smugly, puffing out his chest proudly. “Just got to be in the right place at the right time.”

“And you two just seem to find that...sweet spot...a lot?” Sunset frowned, her voice dangerously soft. Even Snails seem to finally take a hint as he deflated against the wall. Behind her, Sunset heard more clicking, nails tapping on the phone’s glass screen while the siren made a low noise that was somewhere between a curse and a grunt of anger.

“You two are lucky I’m in a good mood.” Sunset growled, her own nails grating against the blackboard when her hands decided that they’d rather be fists.

“Y-you coulda fooled us!” Snips gulped, his pudgy Adam’s apple bobbing as his voice broke into a high pitched squeal. Snails nodded along and started to shiver in place, his eyes locked on Sunset.

“What the…?” Adagio bit her lip, squinting at the phone. Sure enough, there were three folders dedicated to herself, Aria and Sonata. But the odd thing was the little string of numbers for the date since the last update. If she was reading it right, Sonata’s folder had been updated just a few days ago. Aria’s and her own had older dates, but they only went back to the night of the Battle of the Bands.

She tapped on the folder with her name and then the small clock icon that arranged the images by timestamp. The newest images, unsurprisingly, was from the night of the Battle, grainy shots from somewhere in the crowd of students. She was glowing a lot more brightly on that stage than she was right now, and she looked fabulous. It wasn’t really that bad of a photo. Graininess aside, whoever had taken it had a steady hand and an eye for this sort of thing.

Adagio flicked her fingers across the screen, scrolling back through time and memories, seeing herself from the outside. She slammed her thumb down a second later and tapped on a thumbnail that looked different. At first, she didn’t understand what she was seeing, other than her hair, and what looked like grass and a wooden deck she was laying on while pouring a drink awkwardly on herself. I don’t remember ever doing that...wait.

Adagio turned the phone in her hand. Where is the shot coming from?

Suddenly it clicked and she realized that the picture had been taken from above her. She was looking down at the top of her head while she leaned against a wall with a red plastic cup in her hand. She could even see a little down her own top. Then all the pieces fell into place. The drink had been a cheap non-alcoholic wine cooler. The wall was a large split level home in the Canterlot suburbs. She could remember being able to taste the pretentiousness on the air as thickly as the hormones leaking out of all those teenagers.

She groaned low in her throat. “This was from that high school party we crashed a couple of weeks ago…” Adagio looked up at the boys Sunset was busy intimidating. They didn’t seem familiar, but then again she hadn’t been paying much attention to the students there. The male ones least of all.

She turned her attention back to the phone and pawed back to folder directory to check the dates again. She had a cold pit in her middle that kept growing as she confirmed that Sonata’s had a newer entry than either hers or Aria’s. She tapped it and the clock on the next screen to arrange the pictures by time again. The tiny thumbnails on the screen were far too small to make out any fine details, but even without enlarging the newest picture from earlier this week, Adagio could easily make out her cousin’s long blue hair and signature high ponytail.

With the picture full screened, Adagio could see that it was taken surprisingly close and outside in the rain. Or at least Sonata was out in the rain, soaked to the bone and carrying a couple of overloaded plastic grocery bags, while the cameraman was shooting from the dry interior of a passing car. Sonata wasn’t looking the camera’s way, her attention focused on something else as she turned into the trailer park where they’d hidden themselves away from the world. Enlarging the high res photo more revealed why the humans had even bothered with recording the moment. Sonata had apparently gone to the store and neglected to wear a bra, which the rain soaking and bag carrying made rather obvious.

Adagio coughed dryly and moved the image to center on the other siren’s face and enlarged it until it started to pixilate. She could only see half of it, but Sonata, in the rain and trudging home with food, still wore her trademarked smile. But to her, Sonata looked tired. Haunted. It wasn’t Sonata’s normal never-say-die smile.

This was the day I stole that tarp to put up in my camp, wasn’t it? That was what...three—four—days ago? Adagio stared at that smile. While I was out cursing and choking on my own hubris, she was out making do. Keeping on keeping on. I thought I had it bad...I really hope Sonata’s been alright with just Aria…

Adagio backed out of that folder to the larger directory, her eyes scanning the names of high school girls. She didn’t really care whatever compromising situation the two had caught Aria in, so she let her thumb hover around the names alphabetically near Sonata’s. Her eyes flicked back over to the folder with Sunset’s name. It hadn’t been updated in since the battle, but the number of files in the folder was pretty big. Sunset was still berating Snips and Snails, so she pressed her thumb to the tiny icon and opened the gallery again.

There was something that itched at her mind about the redhead and she needed to see if these idiots had what she wanted. Adagio scrolled through the images, working her way back in time so fast that everything was a blur on the phone screen. Black, orange, and red ran together like a digital fire in the night until there was a tiny shift in the color placement. Adagio slammed her finger down to stop the scroll and stared.

On the screen, a dozen Sunsets glared in equal amounts of anger and seduction back at her. Her hair was even more fiery, and her black jacket was gone, revealing tracts of bare arms and shoulders. Adagio wondered if Sunset had ditched it or if it gotten eaten in the transformation that produced Sunset’s red skin and massive demonic wings.

’Went full she-demon’ is a damn understatement! Picture after picture showed her a school full of slack jawed students gazing up at dark perfection. This...this pony was a succubus...a outright demon… Adagio swallowed roughly, feeling her cheeks heat when one upskirt image showed her that the jacket wasn’t the only thing Sunset had lost in the transformation. ...and she still made it out the other side.

Adagio swiped to another image that showed a bright light coming from Sunset and that purple girl Sunset said was another pony. The one that ‘reformed’ Sunset. Those brief flashes of fire and black eyes back in the school atrium threw some doubt on that for Adagio. There was still a tiny bit of Succubus Sunset in there. Maybe Sunset hadn’t lost it, so much as gained a little control?

There was a sharp noise, knuckles on blackboard, that brought her back into the conversation at the front of the room. Snips and Snails were both shivering, their eyes wide and glued on Sunset. The redhead somehow loomed over the two, despite actually being shorter than Snails by a few inches. Adagio smirked, imagining two ragged wings sprouting from Sunset’s back.

Her imagination was kind enough to remove Sunset’s clothes while it was at it.

“This is not a joke! From here on out, I don’t want either of you to take pictures of anyone without permission!” Sunset growled, straightening up and stuffing her hands into her pockets. The boys weren’t going to get any more terrified at this point—plus her hand hurt from punching the wall—so she settled into her practiced ‘cool and in charge’ pose.

A small part of her felt a twinge of regret about using her old tricks to manipulate the duo, but this time she was pretty sure it was for the greater good.

“Now get out of here, and do not breathe a word about what you saw here.”

“Um...wh-what about-t our phones?”

“My dad’ll kill me if I lose another one!” Snails yelped, his face going just a touch paler. “C’mon Sunset! Be cool, please, we won’t do it again!”

“Yeah!” Snips bobbed his head up and down. “P-promise!”

Sunset frowned halfheartedly, one corner of her mouth turned down in a semi-pout. She stared in silence, counting mentally to five before rolling her eyes and sighing. She’d let them sweat enough. “Fine. I will give you back your phones at the end of the day. I have something to take care of first. I’m serious about this, guys. Don’t make me go get the girls and you two get to have a chat with the laser sky horse.”

“That...that..uh...seems fair!” Snips bobbed his head again hard enough to make his cheeks wobble. Snails made sniveling in agreeance noises next to him.

Sunset really frowned and took a step back from the humans, swinging out her unharmed hand to gesture at the door. The boys didn’t stick around for any final farewells and the metal door rattled in its frame a moment later on the heels of the last sneaker out into the hall.

She spun on her own heels, turning to face Adagio. “One crisis averted, let's get back to the plan. All we need to do now is get Aria to come here to the school and you do your thing, then we can sort out...whatever this is…” Sunset flicked her fingers back and forth, indicating them both.

Adagio snorted. “Right, like that’s going to turn out well.” She smirked, but her smile faltered a second later and she looking down at the phone again. “So what’s the plan? How are we going to get Aria over here?”

Sunset stared at Adagio for a moment, blinking when her eyes started to feel dry and the siren didn’t commit further. “What do you mean? Can’t you just...like call her or something? Don’t you have some special siren thing you can do? Yell really loud?”

“What do you think I am? Up until five minutes ago I was completely magicless, and sirens aren’t whales, you nimrod!” Adagio palmed her face, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “We don’t keep phones for obvious reasons, when we’re in hiding. I can’t just call her, and I highly doubt she’d come back here if we went to go get her! This whole thing is starting to get shakier by the minute!”

“What about sending someone else to go get Aria?”

Adagio threw her hands up into the air. “I was just starting to respect you a little, you know that? Now you sound about as bad as Sonata! What part of ‘in hiding’ do you not understand, Sunset? No one knows where we’re…” She froze, memories of their ratty little ‘emergency’ trailer in its equally ratty trailer park dancing behind her eyes. She looked back down at the phone next to her on the table, it’s lock screen showing her the time and date on top of a static image of cartoon character.

“They know.”

Sunset blinked, hooking her thumb over her shoulder. “Wait...they? Snips and Snails, ‘they?’”

The siren nodded, dropping her arms and scooping up the smartphone in one motion. “They know!” She swiped away the lock screen, bringing up the directory of folders. Her fingers danced on the phone, navigating back to the most recent image of her cousin. Adagio flipped it around and held it up.

“Ew...the trailer park on the south side of town?” Sunset blanched, wrinkling her nose at the imagined stench of the place. She’d never had a reason to go there, but in all her years in the human world, no one ever said anything remotely positive about it.

“It was an emergency!” Adagio huffed angrily. “Forget it though, those two thralls of yours know where it is!”

“They can go get Aria for us!” Sunset grinned. “This is going to work out, Adagio!”

“Not if they get away from us!”

“Oh.”

Adagio resisted the urge to facepalm again and flared her wings. “C’mon, we’ve gotta catch them before they make it to whatever class or detention they're supposed to be at.” She launched herself at the door, but before she could even grab it, gravity suddenly reached up and dragged her back to the ground in a stumble. Adagio gasped and looked down at herself as the magical glow that had surrounded her faded away in just a couple of breaths. “Oh for the love of Tartarus! Why now?”

“The transformations never last that long.” Sunset patted Adagio on the shoulder as she passed the girl, yanking the classroom door open. “Snips! Snails! Get back here!”

“Oh yeah, yell at the the terrified humans. That always makes them do what you want them to.”

Sunset flashed a look at Adagio and started back down the hallway toward the main body of the school building. Unless things had changed in the last few weeks, detention was generally held in the library. She’d spent too many weekends getting familiar with the way the school handled discipline cases after the whole world takeover plan fell through. Thankfully, that also meant she’d learned all the places a student could hide if they didn’t want to actually show up for said detention. No matter where Snips and Snails went, she’d find them.

At the intersection, Sunset pulled to a stop, looking both ways as she mapped out the most likely path the boys would be on in her head. If they cut through the cafeteria, they would cut off a minute of travel time and put themselves in the position to either continue on to the library, or take a left into one of the abandoned halls. The janitor frequently left the interior doors unlocked, and more than once she’d time it to slip into one of them unseen to wait out a detention sentence.

She waved her hand for Adagio, turning on her heel toward the cafeteria. “I think I know where they’re headed. We can catch them this way.”

She broke into a run, sprinting down the hall away from the classes, back towards the atrium. Sunset’s boots skidded on the smooth linoleum at the next intersection, barely catching enough traction to make the turn. Ahead of her, she could see the double doors to the cafeteria just starting to swing close, the boys only just at the first row of long tables.

“Hey, come back here!”

“That’s,” Adagio panted behind Sunset as she struggled to keep up with the pony turned human, “still…uff...not gonna work…”

Sunset ignored her and put on another burst of speed to catch the door before it shut. Snips and Snails, however, heard her shout—and rather infuriatingly—took Adagio’s side by taking off in their own ungainly run.

On a good day, Snails’ long legs could give a track and field star a run for her money, but he was uncoordinated and loyalty to his shorter friend kept him tethered. She mayn’t’ve been Rainbow Dash, but Sunset still thought of herself as equine and running quickly was an expectation she gladly held herself to. She tore across the open and empty room after the boys as they rounded one end of the tables, her strides taking her up onto the attached bench seats before she simply vaulted the cafeteria table. Her short cut halved the distance between them and made the boys stumble in surprise.

“I said stop!” Sunset barked, gnashing her teeth when she got within arm’s reach of Snips’ flailing limbs. She grabbed his elbow and spun the boy around, the two of them skidding and tumbling to a halt, respectively.

Snips cursed unintelligibly when the air was knocked from him in the second tackle he’d taken this morning. He rolled as he could with the fall and glared up at Sunset with all the anger he could muster until he was able to breathe again. “Why...do…huff...do you keep...going after me?! Tackle Snails...for a change!”

“Yeah!” Snails barked, his own run canceled out a few steps away. “Wait...what?”

“Look you two, I need you…” Sunset gulped down air, her body only just now noticing the exertion she’d just pushed it through, “...to do something for me…”

“Like hell, Sunset!” Snips groaned, pushing himself up onto her elbows. “Why should we? We’re already going to be late for detention, and you basically stole our phones!”

“You basically took candid photos of girls without permission!” Sunset hissed, balling her fists. “Be glad I’m turning them in to the principals, or to the police or something!” The boys deflated at her mention of the authorities and Sunset hunched over to offer a hand to the downed Snips. When he didn’t take it, she straightened again. “Look, I’ll level with you. Do me this one favor, and as soon as it’s done, you can get your phones back. Then we walk our separate ways, no harm no fowl.”

“Uh...what do you want us to do?” Snails scratched his head, looking over Sunset’s shoulder at the whizzing approach of Adagio Dazzle. “We aren’t supposed to blackmail anyone again, remember? Principal Celestia said so. Plus, you gots our phones.”

“No blackmail this time.” Sunset took a deep breath. “I just need you to go get someone and bring them back here.”

“Do most kids ride bikes to school these days?”

“Heck if I know.” Sunset frowned, squeezing the cell phone in her hand while she watched the two teenage boys pedal off across the school parking lot. Once they were around the corner, she flipped it over and popped open the battery cover. She took out the plastic covered pack and tossed it in a nearby garbage can.

“Why did you do that?” Adagio crossed her arms in front of herself. “I thought you were going to give it back once this was over?”

“Pfft. As if.” Sunset turned the phone back over and touched the unresponsive screen experimentally. Without power, it was a useless brick. “Assuming this doesn’t end with the school partially collapsed, he’ll get it back eventually. But I’m not going to let go of it easily.”

Adagio’s mouth formed a mocking, surprised ‘o’ shape. “But Sunset Shimmer, those two were your loyal thralls! How could you abuse that trust?” She grinned at Sunset’s sneer, her eyes tracking the shiny smart phone as it sailed through the air and into the school’s athletic field. “Why not just destroy it? I could crush it for you. Do it right in front of him, what you say?”

“No…” Sunset sighed tiredly. “That would just be setting myself up for even more legal issues, and it wouldn’t guarantee the pictures would be gone. Snips and Snails aren’t that bright, but even they are tech savvy enough to have a backup somewhere. This way will scare them more than anything else.”

She grinned then, laughing dryly. “It’s my own fault for encouraging them back when Princess Twilight first came here. Serves me right that they have plenty of images of me mixed in there with everyone else.” Sunset looked at Adagio, crossing her own arms to match the blond’s pose. “Plus, I told you, they are minions, not ‘thralls.’”

“If you say so.”

“So...how’s this going to go down? Do sirens have a way they fight each other? Like, some sort of ceremony or something like a formal duel?” Sunset tapped a finger thoughtfully against her lips. “Should we do this inside, so it’s less likely to be seen? Or out here to minimize damage and potential detention time?”

Adagio blew air between her lips in a forced sigh. “No, there isn’t anything formal about most fights. Normally, you just kick and scream the other bitch into submission, or rip up her membranes so it hurts to breathe.”

“Do sirens have gills?” Sunset tilted her head, looking at Adagio. “Like, if you were in the ocean, would you go for the gills to drown a rival?”

“Don’t be barbaric, Shimmer.” Adagio smirked. “I’d feed them tail flukes first to the sharks.”

“Uh oh, look out, we got a badass fish over here!”

Adagio’s grin morphed into a sneer. “I told you, we aren’t fish! And I’m not going to tell you if we lay eggs either!”

Sunset smiled at the girl’s reference to the last note Princess Twilight had sent her in the journal. She shook her head, laughter bubbling up and out her throat until she was shaking all over. Adagio’s own deep chuckles joined hers a moment later. Sunset blinked a few times and reached for her satchel, slipping out the magical book. She drummed her fingers along the book’s spine. “So…”

Adagio folded her arms in front of herself, pretending she didn’t know what Sunset was thinking. “So what?”

“Er...now that we’re alone again...do you want to talk about what happened back there?” Sunset looked at the journal in her hands, her heart and voice speeding up. “About the kiss, not the transformation. Thought I’d like to talk about that too. Like, why do you get wings? Is there some sort of connection with flying sirens I’m not getting? Human mythology has harpies—but I’ve never heard of them in Equestria—and those are sort of related to the human version of sirens.”

Adagio shrugged gracefully, her eyes focused on nothing. The magical wings the transformation generated were as much a mystery to her as anything else related to magic. Maybe I should start learning about this sort of stuff? I bet I look like an idiot in front of her. She examined Sunset out the corner of her eye, not willing to look directly at the redhead. And now she’s a triple threat too...brains, power, and she goes commando when she’s a literal demon.

She looked back toward the school building, feeling her cheeks starting to flush and stomach tighten. “C’mon, it’s starting to get warm out here. Let’s get some shade, at least.” Adagio started off, heading for the side of the school were the morning shadows still lingered and the landscaped bushes would give them more of a hint of privacy. She didn’t really want to talk about the kiss they’ed shared back in the school. She wanted to repeat it. She wanted to transform again and feel the magic coursing through her veins.

Adagio smiled to herself. Power is mine again! Aria isn’t going to know what hit her! She chuckled quietly under her breath. “And I get the girl this time too.”

“What was that?” Sunset lengthened her stride, pulling up besides Adagio. “I didn’t hear you.”

“It was nothing.”

Sunset’s eyebrow raised skeptically. She opened her mouth again, but then snapped it shut, swallowing her comment. She wanted Adagio to open up, but it felt like if she pushed, it would feel like she was desperate. You haven’t kissed another filly in years, Sunset. Cool your jets. I just need to play it loose...let things unfold naturally. I mean, it’s not like it didn’t affect her.

Sunset frowned as she followed Adagio into the shade provided by a couple of tall bushes and the corner of the building itself. The temperature dropped a couple of degrees, cutting away the oppressive edge of the summer’s heat. The ground here was still moist from the previous night’s rain and the grass was thinly spaced. Sunset watched her feet to avoid any mud, but her eyes kept drifting forward to watch Adagio’s spiked heels flash with each step.

Of course it affected her. She’s been trapped here even longer than I have. Adagio’s got to be feeling alone...right? A little voice in her head whispered doubt and pulled out a memory from their conversation over tea. The siren giving her a look with a tiny smile and grabbing the tea she’d served. Adagio asked me ‘Have you had girlfriend since you came to this world?’ in that tone of hers. Kinda implies she’s had plenty of girlfriends, doesn’t it? Humans, ponies, other sirens…

Sunset’s eyes climbed upwards, following the heels to the top of the boots, up the patterned tights to where Adagio’s hips and hair played peek-a-boo with the swell of the siren’s butt. Yeah...a lot of girlfriends, I bet. Kissing me was probably nothing to her but another notch in her...whatever it is sirens put notches in.

Her imagination pictured Adagio lounging in some huge four poster bed with lots of hanging silks and downy pillows, or underwater on some tropical coral reef complete with sunken galleon and a seashell top for the blonde. Which Sunset was having serious trouble rationalizing with the knowledge of where Adagio had been sleeping for the last few weeks. Her couch, or a sleeping bag in the woods, certainly didn’t feel like the sorts of places one would find someone as exotic as Adagio Dazzle.

She sighed, blowing a strand of her hair out of her face, and stuffed her hands into the pockets of her jacket. Adagio came to a stop just ahead of her between two larger, but widely placed trimmed bushes. There was just enough space for the two of them to stand or lean against the brick of Canterlot High’s western wall. Sunset stopped at the edge, letting Adagio fill the space by herself and mumbled softly under her breath. “Just play it cool...talk about magic, Equestria, fighting, anything but that stupid kiss…”

“This looks comfortable enough.” Adagio turned on her heel and leaned back in a single motion, coming to rest against the building wall. Sunset looked somewhat flushed, cheeks red and lips tight and thin. “Is something wrong? You said you wanted to talk.”

Sunset sputtered, flapping her jacket open and closed awkwardly. “Uh...yeah...about…”

Adagio smirked as the girl just faded out, apparently struggling to get the words out now when she’d been going on a mile a minute just a moment ago. Adagio watched Sunset’s blue eyes bounce around the small area, refusing to focus directly on her. The stammering chicken act was sort of cute, when she thought about it, but she much preferred the Sunset with fire in her eyes and a snarl on her lips.

She reached out, grabbing a handful of leather and pulled Sunset up against her with a leering smile. “About what?” Adagio chuckled, her other hand settling lightly on Sunset’s denim covered hip. She shifted her stance slightly, with her back to the wall so that the other girl was basically riding her leg, mirroring their earlier dance. Adagio breathed in deeply, drinking in the scent of Sunset’s hair as it mingled with the earthy scent of the damp ground.

Sunset gasped, her eyes going wide when Adagio yanked her forward, pressing their chests together. She threw her hands up, palms slamming into the brick facade on either side of the siren. “Hey! Adagio...this isn’t what I meant! Someone could see us out here!”

This is what you want. Sunset’s arm locked up, trapping her practically on top of Adagio. She desperately wanted to push away and look around, check if anyone was able to see them. She didn’t trust the semi-privacy the plantlife provided to keep them from being spotted by some random passerby. But something in her heart made her pause. You want this, even if it’s not serious for her. You’re desperate.

“So what if they see us?” Adagio’s leer turned into a confident smirk. “I’ll just transform again and then what are they going to do when I tell them to walk off and forget it?” She chuckled, the hand on Sunset’s hip sliding around to the small of the girl’s back where the denim met the light cotton shirt under the jacket. She spread her fingers, slipping under the shirt where she could feel that silky smooth skin and the top edge of whatever Sunset had on under the jeans.

Sunset growled in her ear, that fire sparking to life behind those whirlpool eyes. Idly, Adagio wondered just how much of that fire she’d have to stoke in the girl to get her to start showing that succubus form again. Just a little push in the right direction and she could find out if Sunset smelled the same when she was big and red. Plus, if I get my own powers back in the process, it’s a double win. We could rule this school, then this city, then the whole world!

Adagio tightened her grip when Sunset started to pull back. “C’mon Sunset, let’s fire up the magic again...kiss me. After I have my revenge on Aria, you and me...maybe Sonata too, we could turn our luck around and rule this whole place! We could be adored! You wouldn’t have to hide who you are any more.”

Sunset frowned, her cheeks warming again. Adagio’s grip and her own rebellious arms wouldn’t let her pull back any further and the siren had a gleam in her eyes that gave Sunset unpleasant flashes of herself from not too long ago. “Adagio, listen to yourself! This isn’t the way to do things. How would you even ponyup on command? You’ve only done it once!”

“Like this.” Adagio flashed a wide grin at Sunset and darted her head forward, catching the former pony’s lips with her own. Sunset’s lips were just as soft as she remembered, with a slightly sweet flavor to them.

Sunset froze in Adagio’s arms, another gasp catching in her throat until the siren pulled back. This time, when they separated, the blonde wasn’t glowing, floating, or sprouting wings. She was still infuriatingly gorgeous, but desperation or not, Sunset refused to let her libido rule her. Instead of lust, she reached down inside and took hold of her anger. It rushed up from the pit of her stomach like a wildfire and it felt good.

Adagio smacked her lips and looked down at herself. “Wait...why didn’t it work this time? Shouldn’t I be...like flowing with magic? I don’t feel anything. It worked last time.” Adagio pursed her lips into a pout and looked back up. “Hey, Sunset, what—”

Sunset’s forehead connected with Adagio’s at speed, making a sound not unlike two coconuts banging together, and knocking them loose of each other. Sunset stumbled backward, groaning and clutching her her face. She glared at Adagio through her hair and fingers, scowling. “You kissed me...for magic?”

Adagio grunted in pain, holding her own head as she sunk into her curls up against the wall. She rubbed rapidly at the site were their skulls impacted each other with one hand before returning Sunset’s glare two-fold. “Uhg...well duh! You didn’t complain about it last time...am I bleeding?”

“You’re not bleeding, you big baby.” Sunset rubbed her own forehead for a moment. The pain from the headbutt stung like hell, and her vision was a little wobbly, but her hand came away clean. “And I didn’t complain last time because I thought...I thought…grrrr...”

She clenched her teeth hard, growling more at herself than Adagio. She’d let her hopes rise. She’d thought, fleetingly, that things might have been looking up on the romance front. That Adagio could possibly become more than a friend. She’d been a fool.

Sunset balled her hands into fist, her brow lowering as the wildfire of her anger whipped around and tore at itself and her insides. If there was one thing Sunset hated most, it was feeling like an idiot and right now that was the only thing bouncing around in her head.

Of course, Adagio friggin’ Dazzle would use me for power! Why am I so blind? She doesn’t care! She’s just in it for the magic, she’s never wanted to be my friend, she’s never wanted to understand or grow or anything I had to go through! Playing with my heart was just the cherry on top...she’s a damn siren for crying out loud!

Sunset stepped back forward, her fist rising and tears starting to blur Adagio into a purple and gold smear. “You used me!”

Adagio blinked a few times to uncross her eyes and looked up at Sunset. The girl looked furious. Sunset’s hair was lifting up past her shoulders, despite the lack of any appreciable breeze. The whites of Sunset’s eyes were already starting to run black, like ink in water. Crap...I really stepped in it this time didn’t I?

“Okay, so that was a bad call on my part...but can you blame me?” Adagio grinned nervously, one hand over her chest. “It’s magic...it’s power, Sunset. It’s not like I don’t have a life long habit of chasing after it and using people!”

She swallowed, sinking deeper into her own hair, until she could feel the texture of the brick wall on the back of her head. “It’s not like I planned the first kiss! I...meant that one, really, I did!”

Sunset continued forward, grabbing Adagio’s short jacket and shoving the girl the last few inches back against the wall. She snarled again, making the other girl cringe, and brought their faces close together. Sunset lowered her voice to hiss in Adagio’s ear. “I was beginning to believe you might be able to change, Adagio, that you might actually want to learn how to be a friend. I thought—stupidly—that you might even like me. But now I see that I’m just a tool for your personal little vendetta. Someone you could get some kicks from messing with until you had Aria back under your thumb.” Tears blurred her vision again, her anger sputtering under a sudden upwelling of sorrow. “That’s...th-that’s all I am to you, isn’t it?”

Adagio shivered in Sunset’s grip, the girl’s eyes now completely black, making the blue iris seem even brighter. She tried to look away from them, but every time she did, she was drawn back to them. Adagio’s nervous grin quivered, one corner rising higher than the other before she opened her mouth to speak.

Just as she was doing so, one of the ever present background noises grew louder and came to the forefront with the high pitched squeal of brakes and metallic groaning of a large vehicle coming to a stop in the adjacent parking lot. The sound of two doors opening, followed by dual slams drifted through the foliage.

“Granny, I know you come here every day, but that’s cuz’ it’s yer job!” A throaty voice echoed over the ticks and pops of whatever truck or car engine was starting to cool down from the drive. “Being a student is totally different. I don’t mind helpin’, but I’d rather not be at school on a Saturday!”

Chapter 11

A Dazzling Sunset

Chapter 11

Loud footsteps, the crunch of asphalt grit under heeled boots, and the squeaking and rattling of metal and glass announced the unloading of some sort of cargo in the school parking lot. Slowly, Sunset turned her head back toward the opening in the bushes. No more than a dozen feet away from where she stood the grass ran into a concrete sidewalk that edged the lot and led to the building’s loading dock.

“I need someone strong, with long legs.”

Sunset froze, her fist still balled up in Adagio’s pink half-jacket, standing just a few intimate inches away from the siren. Her hair drifted back down to rest normally as fear snapped at the heels of her anger, sucking away that agitated energy.

“Plenty of stamina too.”

A light breeze came off the school parking lot, mixing the warm sunlit air with the cooler shadows that clung to the side of the building where they stood. Goose bumps were already starting to rise on her skin at the small of her back in the gap between her pants and her own jacket. Under the skin, her muscles felt like iron springs wound tight around a sudden, queasy pit in her stomach.

“You can stop butterin’ me up, Granny. I already agreed to this, didn’t I?”

In seconds, a couple of humans were going to walk right past the break in the greenery and see her and Adagio.

See them in the little semi-private spot, standing close, hands on each other.

Sunset opened her mouth and made a choking noise as her brain locked up, trying to fabricate an explanation. She could make out that she was fighting Adagio. After what the sirens had done to the school, no one would question that. But what would that do to her hard-won “good guy” status? One misspoken word could spread through the school like wildfire. Everything she’d worked so hard for could crumble before the weekend was over.

Of course, she could say nothing at all. Let Applejack and Lunch Lady Smith make up their minds about the situation...and just as likely ruin her life in another way. All the effort she’d put into keeping her romantic preferences out of that spotlight would be wiped away, probably taking her good cred right along with it.

Either way, Sunset knew she was doomed. This wasn’t something she could just casually explain to the Apples. Applejack would probably understand, but her granny would likely be required to report them to Principal Celestia since they were technically trespassing on school property. The police could become involved. There was no way she could think of explaining herself that would keep this from blowing up on her in some way. She would not only be a failure at helping Adagio, she’d also fail herself and lose any chance of coming out of this better off than before.

But she had to try. Giving up wasn’t in her blood. Hope in the face of adversity was a good quality. At least, Sunset hoped it was. She turned back to tell Adagio to play it cool, but all that came out was a strangled yelp as strong hands gripped her and pulled her into the bushes. A pale, golden hand found its way over her mouth a split second later, muffling her.

Out in the sunlight, the sound of clinking glass and heavy boots stopped for a moment. “Didja hear that?”

“Bet it’s one of them raccoons again. Critters always trying to get scraps out of the dumpsters ‘round back.”

“Should I shoo ‘em off, Granny?”

“Nah, ain’t worth it, lil’ sugarcube. The school’s got an agreement with a pest service in town. After we get this here fresh apple juice on ice, we’ll give ‘em a call.”

The younger woman answered with a noncommittal grunt. The humans stood there for a moment more, watching the bush for further signs of habitation before continuing onward toward the rear staff entrance.

Sunset stared hard at Adagio, the side of her face pressed into the damp ground. It smelled earthy, under the foliage where the leaves collected atop sparse grass and moldy looking foundation stones. She was so surprised by the sudden move that she didn’t resist when Adagio’s grip shifted, putting both of their arms in between them and looked away from her eyes.

‘What?’ Sunset mouthed. She knew she was going to have all kinds of debris to get out of her hair later, and her anger flared again.

‘Sorry.’ Adagio mouthed silently back at her followed by something too fast and complex for Sunset’s lip reading skills.

Sunset scowled, letting her confusion and frustration show plainly on her face before shaking her head and mouthing her question again, somewhat less silently than before.

“Shhh!” Adagio hissed, her eyebrows shooting up. She flicked her eyes over Sunset’s shoulder toward the parking lot. Sunset continued to glare back at her, thankfully silent again. As the seconds crawled by and the footsteps faded, Adagio watched Sunset’s expression soften and eyes slowly return to the normal white.

Once she heard the school door open and close again, Adagio relaxed, letting out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. As soon as she did, Sunset grabbed her by the arms roughly.

“Did you have to throw us into the mud?”

Adagio shivered in Sunset’s grip. She tried to look away from the girl, but no matter where else she looked, she was drawn back to Sunset’s intense eyes. Adagio grinned nervously, one corner rising higher than the other. “...no? Look, did you want them to see us together? From where I stood, you seemed pretty spooked. So I did what I had to.”

Sunset’s lips narrowed into a line, not quite frowning. She searched the siren’s face for some tell that would turn Adagio’s actions self-serving. Try as she might, Sunset couldn’t see it. Adagio looked serious—even a little bashful—about hauling them both into the bushes and out of sight just to protect her reputation.

“Sunset…you’re not...just a tool to me.” Adagio squirmed in place, all her swagger from earlier gone as she tried to put how she was feeling into words. “Look, Sunset, I screwed up, okay? I wasn’t thinking and habit got the better of me, I swear.”

Sunset’s eyes still held her own, but she felt suddenly tired from all the posturing she’d done since the sun came up several hours ago. “I messed up, but I really did mean that first kiss. I wanted to...I dunno...try it out? Just to see if you’d kiss me back? I don’t know what I’m doing when I’m not in control of a situation, and the way I maintain control usually means using and manipulating people. I...that’s...I shouldn’t have done that to you, of all people.”

Adagio hung her head, chin buried in her chest, when she felt Sunset gently touch their foreheads together.

“Yeah…well…I shouldn’t have blown up on you like that either. Sometimes…sometimes my anger gets the better of me.” Sunset sighed. “Sorry about that. I-I liked the kiss, Adagio, and then I felt like an idiot for letting you get to me and…”

“Raging she-demon, right?”

“Yeah.” Sunset chuckled, a genuine smile breaking out on her face.

“As nice as this little heart to heart is turning out, do you think we could do it without lying on the ground? I’m pretty sure they’re gone now.” Adagio smirked. “Plus this is going to get all kinds of crap in our hair.”

Sunset’s chuckle grew into full-on laughter, but she let go of the other girl and climbed awkwardly out from under the brush. She offered Adagio a hand, and once they were both standing, she reached up to pluck a broken trig out of Adagio’s curly mane. “C’mon, I think I know a place we can keep an eye out for Aria and avoid any more interruptions.”

“That would have been a good suggestion to make, like, ten minutes ago, you know that?” Adagio grinned despite the condition of her clothing. After spending the better part of a week outdoors, she felt oddly numb toward the dirt and grass clinging to her. She shrugged the jacket off, leaving her shoulders and the top of her chest bare. “Where are we headed now?”

Sunset brushed her hands over the sleeves of her own leather jacket, flicking away the larger pieces of grime that clung to her. “Up there.” She pointed vaguely above them toward the roof, then followed Adagio’s lead and slipped out of her own covering. The breeze coming off the parking lot picked up a little, catching her hair and shirt so that both waved lazily.

Another easily picked lock later, and Sunset led Adagio out of a cramped, half-sized access hatch from Canterlot High’s library skydome to the exterior of the main building’s roof. Sunset tossed her coat onto a raised ventilation duct where it could dry in the sunlight and stretched languidly, working out the last of the tension in her shoulders from their earlier encounter.

“Back when I used to sleep at the school all the time, when I was fresh out of Equestria, I’d come up here to watch the sunrise.”

“To remind yourself of home?” Adagio joined Sunset, folding her arms across her stomach and looking out into Canterlot City beyond the school grounds.

“No.” Sunset huffed quietly, walking toward the edge of the roof where it overlooked the main entrance and the statue that normally held the portal between this world and their original. One corner of her mouth tugged down at the sight. While it was cleverly hidden, thanks to the landscaping, from above, the edges of the crater where she’d ended up after the Fall Formal was clearly visible. It certainly didn’t take a trained eye to spot the difference in the older and newer concrete laid side-by-side in the cleanup.

“I came up here to help convince myself that if this world could get by without someone like the Princess, then surely even Celestia was fallible. That she was wrong about me.” Sunset shoved her hands in her jean pockets, slumping tiredly where she stood. She turned a little to look back at Adagio. “This was the place where I built myself up with the plan to steal Princess Twilight’s crown. Where I started that whole chain of events in motion. I was here again—a little off the edge really—when Twilight used the magic of Harmony to crater me into the pavement below.”

Adagio cocked a hip to the side, watching Sunset move. Up here in the clear morning light, against the backdrop of a cloudless sky and the city’s skyline, Sunset’s hair looked more like fire than ever. The former pony seemed to radiate a warm glow; tanned sun-kissed skin almost had its own aura that complimented Sunset’s fire-burst hair. When Sunset twisted to look back at her, the move pulled Sunset’s shirt taut in the front and back, outlining an athletic build.

Altogether, it made Sunset a stunning package of strength and beauty. It was enough to make her body relocate moisture from her mouth to elsewhere. Adagio smacked her lips before biting the bottom one. Set up a chain of events that would lead me here too. Can’t say I’m exactly unhappy about that either. She growled low in her throat, reflecting back on the sirens’ defeat and where that had taken the three of them.

Adagio shifted her weight to her other hip, her fingers running idly over her own biceps. “How does it feel? Coming back, I mean?”

“Honestly?” Sunset looked back out over the lip of the rooftop, frowning sadly. “Not good.”

Adagio scowled. It wasn’t her intent to make Sunset sad. After the whirlwind morning they’d already been through, one upset scene with Sunset was her limit. So she changed direction and walked up next to the redhead. “You know, we’re two boxed lunches away from a cliche up here.”

“What?” Sunset looked at Adagio, one brow raised. “What are you talking about?”

“You know, from those cartoons with the big eyes?” Adagio smirked, forcing her brows higher and cheeks lower with her fingers. “We’re on top of a school building waiting for a magical showdown with a crazy girl that has zero fashion sense. Isn’t that like ninety percent of those? Should have made lunches before we left your place this morning and the scene would be complete.”

Sunset stared at Adagio blankly until the reference struck her hard enough to put a grin back on her face. “I wouldn’t make you a bento box lunch even if there was a giant robot in it for me to pilot! Besides, the ratio really couldn’t be more than eighty five percent of those shows with a high school rooftop scene.”

Adagio tilted her head to side and smiled slyly. “But if you didn’t make me one of those, how would I ever notice you?”

Sunset snickered, her grin getting wider until she was smiling ear to ear and laughing loudly. She didn’t know which was funnier, Adagio imagining herself to be the sempai, or that the siren made the reference in the first place. She did know, however, that the laughter really did help work out the little knot of tension and anxiety that had formed in the pit of her stomach when she’d first heard Applejack’s drawl. She laughed until she ran out of breath and had to suck in another lungful of air, only to start again, this time with accompaniment from Adagio.

Adagio chuckled, pleased with herself for changing Sunset’s mood. Is it still manipulative to make someone feel good for a good reason? She pondered that idea, feeling out her own emotional response to seeing Sunset happy. She was happy—genuinely so—that Sunset wasn’t sad or angry. She knew that they really should be focusing on the upcoming fight. Developing some sort of strategy to deal with Aria. But this...this was nice.

She liked this. Whatever this was.

Sunset laughed until her sides hurt. She wheezed when she ran out of breath a second time, coughing uncontrollably when she tried to refill on oxygen. It took a few tries, but she finally got her lungs to cooperate before her lips started to turn blue. The whole time, Adagio was watching her, a small smile on that perfect face and a sparkle in those perfect eyes. When she could, Sunset straightened up, shaking her head and stepping away from the edge of the roof.

“Wow...huh...so, now that that’s out of the way...can we stop dancing around the subject at hand?”

Adagio smirked, following Sunset with her eyes. She felt warm, but it had nothing to do with the rising sun or temperature. “But I like dancing. You saw that first-hand down in that musty excuse for a storage room.”

“You know what I mean.” Sunset coughed again, but she smiled when she looked back over her shoulder at the blonde girl. “This. Us. There’s an obvious attraction here between us.”

“Is there?” Adagio clasp her hands behind her back innocently.

“You can drop the act, Adagio. We might as well be honest with ourselves.”

“Act?” Adagio tilted her head askew, blinking wide eyes as she skipped after Sunset.

“I’m trying to have a serious conversation with you, Adagio.” Sunset sighed and took a seat on the same vent duct that their jackets were draped over. “You enjoy teasing me, don’t you?”

The siren stopped a few paces away from Sunset, the vacant look on her face disappearing, replaced with her customary predator’s smile. “You have no idea.” She chuckled darkly before lighten her expression somewhat. “But you do have a point, Sunset. And we do have time.”

“So you agree with me that the attraction is mutual?” Sunset leaned forward, grabbing the edge of the vent.

“Eh...sure.” Adagio rolled her eyes. “I can agree with that.”

Sunset nodded idly, folding her hands in her lap and looking down at her boots. She crossed her legs at the ankles, sitting quietly. Now that they had finally arrived at the topic that had dominated her thoughts since she’d gotten in bed after formulating her flawed plans to use the portal, Sunset found she didn’t know where to begin. She interlaced her fingers, twiddling her thumbs while she searched for a place to start.

Adagio yawned and took a spot against the domed skylight over the school’s library. She leaned back and folded her arms, waiting for Sunset to say something. The girl was hunched over, obviously lost in her own thoughts. Adagio let Sunset think. She could admit to her attraction to Sunset, and feeling it returned was as pleasant a feeling as ever. This time, she told herself, after I deal with Aria, I’m not going to let those two keep me from going after whoever I want to. I’ll enjoy rubbing it in their faces for a change.

Sunset bit her lip, eyes still downcast. When she opened her mouth to speak, her voice came out calmer and quieter than she felt inside. “Do you remember, last night when you asked me if I’d had any girlfriends in this world?”

“Right before I insinuated that your volunteer work was a cover for getting romantic with the animals there.” Adagio hung her head, her fist clenching and relaxing reflexively. “Yeah...sorry. Again. That was cruel of me.”

“What about you?”

The siren’s head snapped up. “What?”

Sunset looked over at the confused girl and shrugged. “Have you had any girlfriends here? You’ve been here a lot longer than I have.”

Adagio’s mouth hung open. This wasn’t the line of questioning she’d expected. Faces, names, voices all flashed through her mind as memories surfaced. The sound of their laughter. The color of their hair. How they tasted and moved. Human women that she had known intimately, stretched back through the years, further than she could count. Women that had shown her some of the better parts of a world she thought of as a prison. Out of all of them, only a few stood out as meeting the modern definition of a ‘girlfriend.’ They were the ones she didn’t like to think about if she could help it.

“Y-yeah.” Adagio sucked in a deep breath through grit teeth. “A couple. Why?”

Sunset shrugged again, a gentle smile playing on her lips. “I’m curious, that’s all. You don’t have to answer the question, though. If it makes you uncomfortable.” She sighed and idly reached over to feel the leather sleeve of her jacket. The material was already mostly dry so she brushed off the little flecks of dirt and leaves. When she looked back up, Adagio was standing closer, a distant look on the siren’s face as if she was lost in thought.

Maybe I shouldn’t have asked that. Sunset watched Adagio think, drinking in the way the sunlight bounced off Adagio’s hair and the way it made those bare shoulders look like living bronze. With looks like hers and that personality, and having been in this world as long as Twilight and I could estimate...that must be quite the list of lovers.

Adagio ticked off her fingers slowly, counting the clearest faces in her memory. She cocked her hips to the side and tapped her chin for a moment. “It’s hard to tell, truthfully. I’ve never really had anything you might call a long term relationship here. What with Aria interfering...and my own blunders…”

She looked into Sunset’s blue eyes, so much like most of the faces in her past. Fiery, passionate, strong, a never-say-die stubbornness. If she had a type for bipeds, Sunset more than met it. Romantic loneliness was an old, familiar ache. It faded into the background easily enough when she had to keep hers and the other sirens’ safety foremost in her mind. It was only in those times when they were doing well, feeding off the adoration of hundreds of humans that it ever became something that really bothered her.

Adagio licked her lips. Maybe now that we don’t have our gems, things would turn out differently? When she and the other sirens fed, it kept them happy and controlled the minds of the humans around them, but it also brought out conflict, anger and aggression – despite their advanced society, these were things humans possessed in abundance. It was one of the first lessons she’d learned in this world: keep the number of thralls small and keep moving or start a war. Chaos was fun now and again, but it flew in the face of a happy, sedate, stable lifestyle. Fighting made for a poor romantic conductor in most cases.

“Now that I think about it, I’ve only had a handful of...partners...I would call a girlfriend.” Adagio smirked at Sunset’s shocked expression. “Think about it. We sirens cause strife. Any girl I wanted to get close to would be affected by that, even if Aria didn’t do something first. The ones...I cared for...I didn’t want to subject to that. So I had to wait for periods where we were doing good enough to not have to feed all the time, but whenever we hit those points we were also one match strike away from the whole thing going up in a blaze.”

“So…” Sunset gestured with her hands, “like, how many we talking about here?”

“Probably less than six or seven.”

Sunset blinked, running the numbers in her mind and comparing it to the loose timeline she and Princess Twilight had discussed weeks ago. If Adagio was telling the truth—and she didn’t see any benefit the girl got from not doing so—then the literal magical seductress in front of her averaged a serious relationship every century and a half. Give or take a couple of decades. On one hand, she was surprised by the low numbers, but then again, Adagio made a good case for why that would be.

I wonder...now that she doesn’t have her gem, would that mean she could actually maintain a happy, stable, relationship? That thought lead to another, and before she knew what she was doing, Sunset opened her mouth. “When you had your gem, why didn’t you just control one of your minions to be your girlfriend? You three seemed to have pretty strong sway over Principal Celestia and Luna before the Battle happened.”

Adagio scowled back at Sunset, her earlier buoyant mood well and truly sunk now. Between the unexpected trip down into the depths of her memories, and Sunset’s knack for tactless questions, her anger had been dredged back to the surface. “Our powers can only suggest—strongly—for others to do what we want. I told you to think about it. If I had the power to make people act against their own revulsions and limits, don’t you think I would have? I can’t make a girl like me...like flipping some sort of switch from straight to lesbian! I’ve had to wait for all the factors to come together, Sunset. Balance with our needs, our thralls not trying to kill each other, and for a girl that likes other girls to come along! You know this place’s history. People like that are a tiny portion of the population and it’s usually been in their best interest to never reveal their preferences.”

She growled, pinching the skin between her eyes. “I don’t know who’s worse at spitting out words before they think things through, you or Sonata.”

“Hey…” Sunset leaned back from the force of the siren’s ire, eyebrows raised. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize...when you say it like that, it seems obvious.” She grinned lopsidedly. “My mind control magic made my minions essentially robots. But yours...doesn’t supplant their free will? That’s a lot less morally reprehensible than mine, to be honest.”

“Point to me, then.” Adagio rolled her eyes. “I thought you wanted to talk about what’s going on between us...not my ancient history. Why bring that up all of a sudden?” She followed Sunset’s lead and took a seat on a raised air conditioning unit facing the redhead, its metal exterior already starting to grow hot in the morning sun. The heat felt good through her leggings and she crossed her ankles while bracing her palms on the edge of the AC unit.

“I was just curious.” Sunset fought the urge to shrug again, opting instead to lower her feet slowly back to the rooftop’s surface. “I didn’t mean to make you upset, I promise. But...well, I kind of have a lifelong history of acting without considering the consequences. That’s more or less how I ended up here.”

She shot Adagio a genuine smile, relaxing a little when she got a small smirk in return. Sunset’s smile lingered on her while she thought. We seem to be getting over these little bursts of anger together. Not the smoothest we could be...but tripping over each other is still moving forward, right? That’s what friends do.

“I guess...what I’m really curious about, Adagio…” Sunset took a lung-filling breath and let it out quickly. “Is this attraction I feel something real and mutual? Or am I just thinking with my ovaries here?” Sunset deadpanned. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had any kind of romantic attention and I want to know if I’m just horny or is there something going on between us?”

“You think with your ovaries and rush into things without really giving thought to the consequences?” Adagio barked with laughter, rocking forward with a sharkish grin. “How big are your damn ovaries, girl?”

“Ovaries the size of moons.” Sunset leered right back at Adagio, her voice dropping as low as she could make it. She waggled her eyebrows at the siren across from her. “Moons.”

Adagio chuckled, her cheeks heating up and turning flushed. “You really are a girl after my own heart. Are you sure you weren’t a siren back in Equestria?”

“Unicorn born and bred. Four hooves and a very sharp horn, I assure you.”

Adagio’s grin turned softer and she appraised the girl sitting across from her. Again she was struck with the mental image of what Sunset probably looked like as a pony. A long silky tail to match that fiery mane, honey-brown coat to match her human skin, and the same whirlpool blue eyes she could get lost in. “I’d bet you’d look good as a siren.”

Sunset snorted and nodded at the satchel by her foot with the journal inside. In all the excitement of the last hour or so, she was glad she remembered to swing back by the Audio Video room to snag it on their way to the roof. “Well, if I can get the portal open again, maybe we can try our hooves at some transmutation spells when all this has blown over.”

“I’d like that. A vacation by the sea.” Adagio sighed wistfully, hugging herself and running her fingers over her arms. “I miss my scales, Sunset. Having them again would make a lot of things right for me.”

“We’ll contact Princess Twilight later and make sure we don’t have to worry about the Equestrian authorities. Assuming we don’t end up in eternal detention or jail here first.”

“Do you think she can forgive me?” Adagio looked down, squeezing until the flesh under her fingertips paled. “I don’t think immortals recognize any statute of limitations.”

“I don’t know if Twilight is...wait, you mean Celestia?” Sunset raised an eyebrow, tilting her head to the side when Adagio nodded. “Twilight forgave me. Twice. And she’s Celestia’s student, so...probably?” Sunset smiled, crossing and uncrossing her ankles. She wondered if it would have been better to just assure the girl, but a little voice in her soul said that a friend would be honest. The little voice also sounded suspiciously like Applejack.

“I’ve never met her, aside from the human version in this world.” Adagio rubbed her arms like she was chilled. “The principal seemed okay...what little I saw of her before we put her under our spell, anyway. I don’t know if that extends back to the pony version though. We were...kind of not cool to the ponies that lived on the coasts, before Starswirl showed up.”

“I don’t know, Adagio. But Princess Twilight said that Celestia...Princess Celestia...asked how I was doing. She didn’t say so in as many words, but I think that means the Princess has forgiven me at least some. To be honest, I worry about that sometimes. It keeps me up some nights. I did really wrong by the Princess. A younger me might not see a way to forgive somepony for what I did, but me now?” Sunset reached forward and put her hand on Adagio’s knee. “I think I can see a way now.”

Slowly, Adagio let go of her death grip on her arms, one hand slipping down to join Sunset’s. It rested there for a moment, but when Sunset lifted her hand Adagio intertwined their fingers together. They sat there like that, in the sunshine, the only sounds around them coming from the machinery that kept the school cool in the summer heat. She squeezed Sunset’s hand in her own, the smile on her face reaching her eyes when she looked back up. Then her brows knit. The smile faltered and confusion set into Adagio’s smooth features. Her curls bobbed when she sat back and looked quickly down at their hands and back up to Sunset’s face.

“Are...are we still flirting? Or is this a friendship thing...moment...thing?” Adagio lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug. “I’m honestly confused right now.”

Sunset squeezed Adagio’s hand in return, one corner of her mouth rising. “Uh...maybe it’s a little of both? Sorry, I’m still new at this.” Sunset snickered, leaning forward a bit more, her hair swinging out over their hands. “Don’t ever tell Princess Twilight this, but back when she first befriended me, I kept getting confused and thought she was coming on to me half the time.”

“Friendship really does mess with your brain, huh?” Adagio chuckled softly and leaned forward, matching Sunset and putting their faces inches apart. Her voice grew quiet again. “So how am I supposed to know when you’re just being nice and when you’re trying to get into my leggings?”

Adagio smirked, watching Sunset’s cheeks flush while the girl tried to stammer out a denial. She ran her fingers up Sunset’s denim covered thigh, still holding the girl’s hand with her other hand. She hooked her fingers into a pocket and tugged Sunset forward until their knees were touching, putting her lips next to Sunset’s ear. Adagio puckered her lips slightly and planted a light-as-air butterfly kiss on the soft lobe. “I hope, Sunset, that you aren’t confused about me. ‘Cuz I do want in your pants. That’s what the kids these days call friendship with benefits, right?”

Sunset gasped, shivering through the kiss. Adagio’s voice was like silk against her skin, sultry and deep, all the power she knew it had lying just under the surface. She...she wants… Sunset felt her chest tighten almost painfully, her mind calling up the sights and feelings of the siren’s body from their wrestling match in her garage the night before. It wasn’t hard to imagine it without the fighting. She knew where the blonde was pliable, and where Adagio’s flesh was amazingly firm.

And now she knew Adagio Dazzle wanted to give her much more than just a feel.

“I-I-I’ve never had,” Sunset turned a tiny amount to catch Adagio’s eyes out of the corner of her own, “a um, friendship like that. I...uh...wow. Really? You want...me?”

“If I didn’t, would I do this?” The siren chuckled, the hand on Sunset’s hip slipping up higher along Sunset’s abs. Her fingers trailed a lazy circle around Sunset’s navel through the girl’s light top. They climbed Sunset’s ribcage and upward, running nails over the hard edge of Sunset’s underwire before her palm filled with the swell of Sunset’s chest.

Sunset gasped, jolting upright. She snatched Adagio’s wandering hand by the wrist, fighting the siren’s considerable strength to keep it just off her breast. Sunset grit her teeth, pushing down the butterflies and hot tension in her gut. It took her a couple gulps of air to find her voice. “As much...as much as I want this, Adagio, I have to know if there is more here than just a chance to get laid. Not that I’m turning down the offer, but...is there any more to it?”

Adagio flexed, pushing back against Sunset’s grip, and grinned. “Maybe? I thought you wanted a little roll in the hay?”

“I do!” Sunset growled in frustration, Adagio’s hand slipping closer to its target, as they struggled with each other. “I really really do! But I want more than sex, Adagio.”

Adagio sighed, relaxing and letting Sunset push her hand away. She looked down for a long moment, composing her thoughts. Now that she was admitting it, she really did want to let Sunset into her leggings. I’d really like that, actually. But...can I go through all that again? I haven’t even wanted to look for a partner in years. This girl...this pony though… Adagio looked back up into those whirlpool eyes and felt the tug to lose herself in them again.

“Sunset, I can’t promise you anything more. Love has always been a minefield for me. Things are different now, I guess. And I do like you.” Adagio smirked. “I really do want to do a whole list of unspeakable things to your body. Multiple times, even. Love...is hard. But maybe this time it’s worth a shot?”

She sighed again, squeezing Sunset’s hand in her own. “I’m willing to try, if you’re willing to let me fail a few times.”

Adagio fell silent, watching Sunset’s face. The girl was examining her. Measuring her. Weighing options. She could see it in Sunset’s jaw, the set of her brows and those pursed lips. After what felt like a long time, the redhead nodded.

“I’m willing to help you every time you do fail, Adagio.”

Chapter 12

A Dazzling Sunset

Chapter 12

“No, you’re doing it wrong. Look, follow my lead. Make sure your feet are planted firmly, then shift your weight like you’re going to take a step. Yeah, bend your knee a little. Then bring your hip up while bending the other knee.”

“Like this?”

“That’s better than before. Now when you reverse, you’ll feel the wave motion going up your spine to your shoulders. Move those counter to your hips while keeping your head still. The point is to look like a snake, the head and feet don’t move, but everything else is in motion.”

“I bet this comes a lot more naturally to a sea creature than either an equine or ape.”

“Quit complaining. You’re getting there, Sunset.” Adagio grinned, facing Sunset, her own body a harmony of motion and waves. Her hips swung wide, guided by the small movements in her legs, the kinetic ripple tapering as it traveled up her core to her shoulders and chest. “Though...you have slimmer hips than I do, so maybe you want to try having more motion up top and letting it shrink going down to your feet.”

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” Sunset sighed, smirking tiredly. She wasn’t actually that annoyed to be the focus of Adagio’s attention, but then again, she’d always assumed she was a fairly decent dancer. Adagio took issue with that. Sunset adjusted her stance, moving her hips in time with the siren and trying to feel that elusive rhythm the other girl seemed capable of just latching onto.

“I wonder what kind of cutie mark you’d have, if you were a pony. Like a pair of dancing shoes, maybe?” Sunset’s smirk widened. “Or a chrome pole and spot lights?”

Adagio chuckled, a genuine smile on her lips as she swayed to the beat in her mind. “How would a pony stripper even work? That would have to be the most unrewarding talent ever.” She turned, adding a little bit of rotation to her dance. She looked back over her shoulder, peeking through her hair to see if Sunset continued to copy her or just watch.

“We wear clothes sometimes.” There was a long moment of silence, then, “How do you make your butt do that? Shake each cheek independently?”

Adagio chuckled again, holding out her arms to either side and arching her back as she sent rapid oscillating moves through her tush and skintight leggings. “It’s called ‘twerking,’ and it is an art.”

“Yeah…” Sunset whistled, coming to a stop and just absorbing the sight with unmasked attraction. “It is.”

Sunset stared in silence for a minute, watching Adagio’s body move and not even trying to stop her imagination from running wild. Sweet Celestia, look at her go...is it wrong that this feels like the best Hearth’s Warming or birthday ever? Does it matter, really? Why shouldn’t I feel like this about someone else I’m attracted to? Sunset smirked, crossing her arms over her chest as she pictured a couple of the ‘unspeakable things’ she’d like the siren to do to her as soon as possible. Most of them involving copious amounts of nudity and more than a little of select bodily fluids.

The twisting, tightening she felt low in her core was pleasant. It felt good to be in lust with someone that obviously returned the feeling; instead of the one-sided pining she’d forced herself into the last four years. It felt good to have a friend that was just as messed up as she felt. Sunset loved her human friends at school and wouldn’t trade them for the world. But having another Equestrian native she could share with, mock the eccentricities of the human world with scratched an itch she didn’t even realize she’d had. The fact that this friendship was already starting to morph into a relationship was like icing on a cake. It made the whole even more special. Sunset growled under her breath, watching Adagio move and work the assets of the human form the siren was blessed with. Her insides tightened even further and she wasn’t sure which she wanted to bury her hands and face in first: Adagio’s bouncing mass of blonde-orange curls or that jiggling backside.

“You look good like that. Like…really good. But I can’t dance without some real music going, Adagio.”

Adagio matched Sunset’s smirk with a playful sneer. She spun around on her heels and came to a stop with a flourish of arms and hair she knew Sunset couldn’t match. “You bet I look good!” She chuckled, her sneer turning into a true smile. “But you don’t need music, Sunny, just start moving and find the beat of the world around you. Or use your heart beat. It’s really all about timing and rhythm.”

“Easy for you to say. You’ve been dancing for centuries.” Sunset threw up her arms. “I’m the amateur here.”

“You can say that again.”

Sunset narrowed her brows and stalked the couple of steps forward it took to put her toe to toe with Adagio. The siren kept grinning, puffing out her slighter chest to meet Sunset’s approach. Sunset opened her mouth to tell Adagio just what she thought of this little dancing lesson when she paused. Over the distant sounds of Canterlot City on a saturday and the ever-present hum of the HVAC units on the roof, was a quiet thread of guitar. The strumming was joined by the ratatatat of drums a second later, a full song bursting into being just at the edge of her hearing. Adagio must have heard it too, as they both started to look around.

“Is someone playing music?”

“What is that? Some sort of pop country crossover?”

Sunset looked back at Adagio, one eyebrow raised. “Where is that coming from?”

“Hell if I know.” Adagio turned around and stepped over to the edge of the roof, looking down into the parking lot below. “Wait...I think it’s coming from that window down there.” She pointed at it for Sunset’s benefit. “What’s in there, the kitchen? Maybe your friend with the hat is playing it? Sounds like something you could line dance to.”

Sunset snorted. “Yeah...that does sound like AJ’s style. Heavy on the rock side with a hint of the blues.” Sunset smirked again and elbowed Adagio in the ribs. “But hey, now there’s music, I can show you that I do know some moves.”

Adagio eyed Sunset seriously, her intonation intentionally flat. “I am prepared to pass judgment on your badonkadonk skills.”

Sunset skipped back a step, clapping her hands and bouncing on the balls of her feet. She smirked at Adagio, letting the faint rock and roll tune catch her ear and lead the rest of her. She hopped into the air and came down solidly, boots planted wide as she cocked her hip and rolled her shoulders. “This might be highschool cheerleader-tier dance moves, but I rock ‘em!”

Adagio rolled her eyes and folded her arms loosely behind her back. Her brows shot up when Sunset threw out her arms and bent at the waist, shaking side to side more or less on the beat of the distant music. With Sunset’s trademark jacket off and the move spilling all that two tone hair forward, she could see where Sunset’s shirt rode up, exposing honey colored skin and a hint of pink cotton under those blue jeans. Honestly, Adagio mused, the girl has rhythm, she’s just never danced for any reason but fun. I still remember those days—vaguely. I bet I could whip her into a force to be reckoned with on the dancefloor, given a little hands on tutoring.

The siren chuckled to herself when Sunset’s shaking became increasingly erratic and frantic looking. “You know, if the point of these ‘highschool cheerleader-tier moves’ is to show off your assets, it kind of fails if I’m not behind you. Your hair hanging down in front ruins the view from this angle too, but at least it’ll cover you up when you pop out of your top.”

“You’re...just...jealous!” Sunset panted, slowing down to toss her hair back again so that Adagio’s view was free from any distractions. “You couldn’t pop out of your top without the help of explosives!”

Later, Sunset would reflect on that moment and wonder if the multiverse was run by Discord, or if her sense of ironic timing was just on point. Either way, no sooner had the word left her lips then the entire building shuddered and all the windows down the Arts and Band wing of the school shattered. The echo of the sonic boom hit them a second later, forcing her to clap her hands over her ears. In front of her, Adagio was standing still, eyes fixed over Sunset’s shoulder, pupils shrunk to pinpoints.

She turned, time seeming to dilate so that she moved with glacial slowness. Her hair still filled most of her view when a shape, all sleek lines and dark, streaked up past the far edge of the roof. Sunset jerked her head up, trying to track the movement and squinting against the midday sunlight. She gasped, eyes going wide, when the figure came to a halt a dozen or so yards above them in the sky.

Aria Blaze floated there, scalloped semi-transparent wings fanned out like the fins of some deep sea hunter. Her skin glowed with a faint purple light, like Adagio’s earlier golden aura, her gigantic twintails glistening as they waved about more like a squid’s tentacles than hair. Aria’s eyes were the worst, glowing an angry red that completely washed out her natural mulberry.

“Damn...I was looking forward to demolishing the whole building to find you dykes.” Aria smiled, shark-like fangs bristling in her mouth. “But here you are first thing. Today really is my lucky day!” Aria sneered, dropping from the air to land on the roof in front of Sunset with bone jarring force. She reached out and grabbed Sunset’s shoulder, her nails digging into the soft flesh there. “Bye bye, Sunny.” Then she casually flicked her wrist and tossed the redhead away from Adagio and out over the machinery that littered the building’s roof. She didn’t even bother watching.

Aria kept her eyes on Adagio, her smile growing obscenely wide. “‘Dagi...I’m going to give you one chance here. You see the power I have now. That black eye I gave you last week will feel like a gentle breeze,” she flexed a fist, the knuckles popping audibly, “compared to what I could do now. One punch, one simple back hand...and you go flying. So here’s the deal, ‘Dagi, you submit to me and I won’t swat you away like the lamprey you are. I’m the big fish now, you have to do what I say, when I say it, or wham!” Aria punched her fist into her open palm for emphasis.

Adagio flinched at the sound. She took a step back, her teeth clenched tight enough for her jaw to complain. Her eye ached, the phantom sensation of that punch flooding her memory all over again. Her arms came up, almost without thinking about it, into a defensive posture and she opened her mouth. Aria crossed the distance between them in a flash, sending up a cloud of dust and debris in the process, batting her arms aside with enough force to numb them to the shoulder. Adagio didn’t even have enough time to gasp before she felt a hand made out of iron clamp around her chin and force her to look into Aria’s red eyes.

“Choose your words. Very. Carefully.” Aria chuckled. “Your life might depend on my mood more than you think.”

Adagio swallowed roughly and pulled her eyes off Aria to look off as best she could. “Is...Sunset...okay?” That wasn’t apparently what her former coven member expected to hear, based on the dumbstruck expression on Aria’s face. “I will...find a way...to make you pay for it...if…she isn’t…” She saw flash of red and yellow then looked back at Aria, trying to smile as best she could with her cheeks being squished with strength normally reserved for industrial machinery. “Yeah...that’s right, I’m concerned...for not myself this time. It’s weird for me too...Aria. You should try it sometime. Friendship...is a hell of a drug.”

“I’ll pass.” Aria frowned. “Who needs friends when I can rule the entire world? I’ll have the humans sift through the rubble of this school until I have every last scrap of magic here.” She tilted her head and clicked her tongue. “Tsk. It’s almost too bad your…’friend’...will not be there to lick my boots like the rest of this world soon will. Almost.”

“It’s probably for...the best.” Adagio shrugged, shaking her arms to get some feeling back. She opted, instead of grabbing at Aria’s arm, to plant her foot into the other siren’s hip and push as hard as she could. It did her no good. “Sunset’s not the boot...licking type.”

No matter how hard she pushed, Aria’s grip on her wouldn’t budge. Aria didn’t even seem to be exerting any effort to lock her down either. It might as well have been a statue she was kicking viciously at than a flesh and blood girl. I knew the magic gave us strength, but this is ridiculous! Her cheeks were starting to sting under Aria’s fingers, her arms were still numb and if she didn’t do something soon, things were going to from bad to worse real fast.

“It doesn’t matter what her type was, Adagio. She’s gone.” Aria sneered. “What matters is you submitting to me for a change. Give in and maybe I won’t toss you down to live with the thralls. You have a chance to keep at least a little bit of your status, Adagio. That’s already more than you ever gave me.” She pushed forward, arm out and supporting the former lead siren by just the jaw. She grinned wider as Adagio scrambled uselessly, those spiked boots kicking and sliding on the loose debris of the rooftop. They got closer to the edge of the roof and Aria laughed loudly. “I always knew you were an idiot, Adagio! You had this power and you did nothing. You wasted it on that carpet-muncher instead of the real issue. Typical.”

Aria stopped at the edge and lifted Adagio up over the lip until those purple leggings dangled out into the open air. “You could have come and put me down, but you were soft. Pledge yourself to me and maybe I’ll let you serve me as a footrest!”

Adagio groaned painfully, grabbing at Aria’s arm as she was dragged and then wrapping her arms around it when her feet swung out free from the rooftop. Struggling to speak, she spat her response back at Aria. “I’m...gonna go...with ‘no.’You always were...the direct...overconfident type, weren’t you?”

“Yeah,” Aria’s grin turned sinister, “and look where that got me, hmm?”

Adagio, her face deformed by the squish of the hand holding her aloft, answered with her own smirk. She kicked her legs back, swinging herself away from the roof to kick forward again and use the momentum to make the powered up Aria look surprised and take a step back when Adagio’s legs came up to wrap around Aria’s neck. At the same time, from behind the tall air conditioning units, Sunset reappeared with a running tackle aimed at Aria’s lower half. Sunset plowed into the back of Aria’s knees and their combined efforts twisted Aria back and around while also letting go of Adagio’s face.

Sunset and Adagio hit the roof like graceless sacks of potatoes, the wind knocked out of them. Meanwhile, Aria rolled with the hit and spun in air lazily, a beat of gossamer fin-like wings lifting her above them. She glared down at the two girls below for a moment and then looked out in the direction she’d tossed Sunset a minute earlier. “Oh...there’s more roof over there…” Aria smiled back down at the two girls like a shark looking at a wounded seal, “that’s why you’re still alive!”

Adagio coughed raggedly and pushed against the roof of the school to lift her shoulders off the shingles. The fall caused lights to flash in her vision and she shook her head to clear it while next to her, Sunset was already getting back on her feet. For a brief moment, their eyes met, Adagio’s purple meeting Sunset’s blue eyes turned black. The girl had a faint red glow all over her, a snarl on her face and canines way larger than a human or pony had any right to. Sunset’s hair too, was starting to rise around her head in defiance of any breeze or gravity, like the fire it vaguely resembled. Adagio’s eyes widened as the girl seemed ready to transform into something more, but then movement caught her attention. Aria came back down like a meteor, right on top of them.

“This time I’ll make sure you go off the edge!”

Sunset, mid-crouch, yelped in surprise as she was lifted into the air by two iron-grip hands this time. The yelp turned into a scream when the world went sideways and she was flung from somewhere several dozen yards above the roof away toward another wing of the building. She caught a brief glimpse of the dark roof flashing away to reveal the green of the lawn far, far below. She was moving fast, but in that moment, Sunset didn’t really feel any fear. She was past fear and right into rage. She’d been tossed aside—literally—by Aria twice in this fight. Aria considered her nothing more than a nuisance at best and that really irked her. Being over powered really ground her gears. But what took the anger cake was that it made her unable to help Adagio. Her friend. And now she was going to die and that would just be the fury frosting on top! In her last fleeting moments, Sunset’s yelp became a roar as she clenched her fist and curled into a very mad ball.

Then Sunset hit the wall.

Adagio gasped, one hand reaching out as Sunset vanished past the edge of the building in a blur. “Sunset!” She flinched when she heard a muffled impact and the shattering of glass. A second later, the roof vibrated with Aria’s landing, and Adagio turned wide, wet eyes up at her former coven sister.

Aria flicked her wings out dramatically and struck a pose, her nose turned up. “You know, I’m glad it was music that did the trick. The two nincompoops you sent to fetch me weren’t sure if it was that, or if it was kissing another girl that triggered the magic. That would have left me with tonguing Sonata—and while dragging you to the bottom will be sweet—I’m glad I don’t have to savor it with the taste of vomit in my mouth.” She tilted her head, one corner of her mouth turning down. “Not sure why it worked this time, but really, who cares? So long as I get to rub my power in your face for a change, then all the better!”

Adagio rolled awkwardly onto her knees and struggled to stand up. Her leggings were ripped in several places and she could feel scrapes and cuts on her legs to match. Her jaw and throat ached, but she didn’t spare her injuries much thought. As soon as she could move, Adagio took a stumbling step in the direction Sunset had flown. “Sunset!” Behind her, Aria’s villain laugh skipped a beat and stuttered unevenly as it started. She wasn’t reacting the way Aria assumed and a small part of her took pride in that tiny show of defiance. Mostly, however, she just wanted to know if there was even a miniscule chance that Sunset was still alive. This wasn’t Equestria. Magic was only a sometimes miracle here.

But she had to hope.

Aria’s grin slipped more and more into a scowl with every shaky step Adagio took away from her. This wasn’t how she’d briefly envisioned this encounter going. Adagio running from her, sure, but more in fear than concerned for some dumb bitch. She’d expected weak counter threats. Taunts. Insults, for crying out loud! Never in all her years would she have thought Adagio Dazzle would be more concerned for someone other than herself. The siren had practically invented the concept of being a diva. ‘Prima Donna’ was essentially Adagio’s middle name. She knew with every fiber in her that Adagio was made of three parts ego and one part fluffy curls, so this sudden departure from type left her feeling unbalanced.

“I really don't like being ignored.” Aria growled, voice low and fist clenched. Her twintails whipped around heedless of any breeze. “Especially by you, Adagio. I've come too far to let my victory be spoiled by your infatuation with yet another redhead. Turn and face me, or so help me, I will put you in the same hole as Sunset!”

Adagio stopped at the edge of the roof, looking out over the school parking lot. Two stories below, doors had been thrown open and the sparse student and faculty members present we were quickly scrambling to evacuate the building. Concerned and confused mumbling drifted up towards her while muffled alarm sirens began to wail in the background.Across from the library, on the first floor, there was a wide hole in the wall that the humans were all avoiding. Adagio’s jaw dropped, her hand coming up to cover her mouth.

“Turn around!”

It took a few seconds, but Adagio turned to face Aria. When she did, Adagio could see storm clouds of rage gathering in the other siren’s eyes. Adagio clenched her fists, snarling back at Aria before breaking into a toothy grin of her own.

Aria sagged where she was, going limp and letting her arms, wings and twintails droop. She fixed Adagio with a tired, exasperated glare. “Look...look, just pick one, okay? Either sad and distraught, or above it all. At this point, I don’t even care which. Do you care that Sunset is a smear on the ground or not? Trying to keep up with you, emotionally, is exhausting.”

Aria took a deep breath and let it out through her nose, fanning herself with her hands. “You know, I was feeling a little awkward about you showing concern for Sunset. I was thinking, ‘this isn’t the bitch I know.’ I mean, where were the insults and slurs? The promises of retribution and violence? It’s been what, a baker’s dozen of decades since you last broke down and started looking for a human to get freaky with? That went well, didn’t it? I was enjoying the streak of not getting chased out of town with torches and pitchforks just because you had to mack on some mayor’s or preacher’s daughter.” Aria reached back and ran her fingers through one of her long pigtails, flicking her head to the side menacingly.

“I care about Sunset, Aria.” Adagio squared off her stance, her grin still intact and rising up haughtily. “Bringing up the past isn’t going to get under my skin this time. The world has changed, I’ve moved on. Sounds like you need to, too.”

Aria frowned, showing teeth as she snarled quietly. She jabbed a finger at Adagio. “I have moved on!” Aria surged forward in a blur, crossing the distance to Adagio in the blink of an eye and slamming to a halt just inches from the other girl. Aria sneered, her voice whisper soft. “I moved to the top. What makes you think you get the right to wear that smug smile anymore, Dagi?”

That's when the guitar music started, an electric screech echoing loud enough to drown out the wails of the emergency alarms coming from below. Adagio took a step back from Aria, one foot on the raised edge of the roof, her other foot sweeping out into the open air. Adagio spread her arms out in a slow ballerinas pirouette. “It's time to tango!”

Aria gaped at Adagio for a second and then leaned to the side and looked around Adagio’s hair and down into the courtyard formed by the Canterlot High school building. At ground level, across from the library, was a massive hole in the wall. The students and faculty that had evacuated the building were looking at it in rapt fascination. Aria’s jaw fell open as she realized she’d somehow managed to hit the band practice room.

Out of the rubble walked Sunset Shimmer, a teal colored guitar in her clawed hands. Sunset’s hair whipped up and around her head like flames while her eyes were a cold black with blue pin points. Fire sparked from her fingertips as she strummed at the strings with a claw. Sunset paused and adjusted a tuning peg, then let out more sparks sliding her fingers down the neck. Sharp fangs glistened as she shot a wide grin up at the sirens. “Tango nothing, it’s time to rock!”

More loud guitar sounds echoed out of the band room from the massive speakers and amps. Trapped between the two, the humans looked back and forth from a demonic Sunset to two of three creatures of legend that had all tried to enslave them before. Unsure murmurs passed through the small crowd.

“I swear to god, if I hear the opening bars to Freebird, you are a dead woman!” Aria shouted from the roof. Heads swiveled back toward Sunset as the noises resolved themselves into a song. Heavy bass thumped out of the subwoofers while the amps turned the notes into a metal scream. One of the shell-shocked teachers pulled out a lighter and held it—lit—overhead.

“Just because it’s old doesn’t make it a classic!” Sunset roared over the music, her hair-turned-bonfire flickering wildly. She hit the whammy bar, teachers and students alike starting to nod along. “But adding a little metal makes everything better!”

“‘Bout time she played something good.” Adagio chuckled, her hips already swaying to the rapid beat Sunset was laying down. Throwing up one hand, pointer and pinky finger extended, Adagio nodded her head hard enough to send rippling waves through her curly locks. She opened her mouth and together with Sunset, they launched into the lyrics from a more magical time in the human world.

“I stopped an old man along the way/
Hoping to find some long forgotten words or ancient melodies/
He turned to me as if to say, "Hurry boy, it's waiting there for you!"

Author's Note

Sorry this is...crap, 7 months late?! I swear the next chapter won't take so long!