Navigating the Darknessby CoverArtChaptersThe Storm (Edited)The Night (Edited)The Fear (Edited)A Night Visit (Edited)A Warm Reception (Edited)Rough Start (Edited)The Storm (Edited)The Dazzlings walked into their home. They were defeated, outsung by a group of nobodies. Yeah, they knew about the magic that brought them to the school in the first place, but who'd have thought they’d be able to do that again. The three sisters certainly didn’t. Even then, the three thought they took care of it by pitting them against each other. Adagio walked in first, her face blank. She was lost in thought, trying to figure out what to do next. She contemplated revenge on the entire run back to the house, but she knew that without their voices, they wouldn’t be able to live in their apartment anymore; they never paid a single month's rent. For a few years now, they used their spells to get out of paying, and all of that was gone now. Ideas were swimming in her mind on what they could do, on what they would have to do. They would have to get jobs. But they didn’t have any paperwork, and they had no means of getting paperwork. As far as the world was concerned, they didn’t exist, meaning they’d probably get picked up by the police. To be honest, that might not be a bad idea. At least they’d have food, water, and shelter, but they’d be separated most likely, and as annoyed as she was by her two sisters, they were family. She didn’t want to lose her only family. She glanced at her sisters as she sat down on the sofa. Sonata was just as shocked as Adagio was, though Sonata didn’t hide it well. Then again, she never had to; she was always the silly idiot. Though she was slow, Adagio didn’t like to call her sister an idiot when it wasn’t necessary. Sonata just simply couldn’t comprehend them losing. It only really happened once before back in Equestria. All Sonata really could do now is ask what exactly just happened, which she foolishly did. “We lost, numbnuts, what do you think just happened?” Aria asked angrily. Then there was Aria. She wasn’t taking losing well, at all. To say she was a sore loser was an understatement. To say she wanted to rip someone’s head off would be more accurate to how she felt at that moment. Unlike Adagio, Aria couldn’t control her anger that well, and though this was actually helpful in some settings, at the moment, she was just going to get on Adagio’s nerves. “Aria, I understand you’re upset. We all are, but can we not dwell on it and figure out what we’re going to do next?” she asked in as calm but as commanding a tone she could. “And what the heck are we supposed to do? We have no money, and pretty soon, we’re not going to have a house. What are we supposed to do?” Aria answered with another question in her normal angry tone. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out, Aria, but I can’t think if you keep complaining. Please keep it down.” Aria just grumbled and went over to the little kitchenette to sit down. “Well, we need to get jobs probably, or somehow con someone out of their house,” Aria said, folding her arms and propping her legs up onto the table. Adagio sighed in annoyance, “Of course, but the question is how to get the jobs. We have no identification and no way of getting identification. If you haven’t noticed, we don’t technically exist.” “Well then, why don’t we steal some IDs and change them?” “And risk getting thrown in jail? No way!” “Well, what other options do you have in that big head of yours?” Sonata stepped in and spoke up, “Aria, Adagio is thinking, okay? She’ll come up with something, but we’ve had a rough day.” “Oh, please, we know what we need to do. She’s just too scared to do it,” Aria replied. “Aria, you know that’s not true. She’s trying to look out for us. I mean, even if she did basically say not to worry about the Rainbooms, and that’s why we were defeated, she still tried her best to make us succeed,” Sonata stated, not thinking of what might come of what she said. Aria immediately glared at Adagio. “She’s right, you did tell us that that girl was going to handle it for us. She dropped them under the stage, but they obviously didn’t stay there, and they broke our amulets.” Adagio turned around and glared back. “So I miscalculated a bit. It’s not like I could predict that they would be able to get out.” Sonata looked between the two and looked down slightly. “Oh, sorry. I messed up, didn’t I?” “No, dipshit, you were actually smart for once and showed us why we failed: incompetent leaders.” “Incompetent! I’ve done so much for us. How can you possibly say I’m incompetent?” Adagio exclaimed, standing from the couch. “The proof is right in front of us! If you had actually dealt with those girls, we would probably be back in Equestria!” Aria also stood up, and they glared at each other from across the room. “What did you want me to do? Have them killed? We’re trying to get back to Equestria, not into a jail. Killing someone isn’t what I had in mind.” “Girls, please, there’s no need to fight. We all made mistakes, okay?” Sonata tried to settle the situation, though it was becoming clear that that wasn’t going to be easy. “I’m not saying kill them, just get rid of them somehow, or at least that mutt of theirs. They should have been our first targets, not our last.” Aria completely ignored Sonata, and it seemed Adagio did too. “We didn’t know they were going to be that big of a threat until that pathetic display at the auditions, and at that point, we thought we were too powerful for them to really be a threat,” Adagio explained, or at least tried to. “You thought we were strong enough not to care about them, we just went along with what you said,” Aria retorted. Adagio groaned, “So, you’re telling me you’d rather take care of the group, make all the decisions, all of the hard choices, the choices that could very well mean life or death for us? Just because I made a mistake? A big one, sure, but a mistake, nonetheless.” “I’m saying you never deserved to be our leader in the first place.” “I don’t need this right now. If you want it so badly, then fine, but I’m not going to sink with you,” Adagio growled. She grabbed her jacket, making her way towards the door. “And good riddance to you,” Aria said. She then looked to Sonata. “And who are you going to side with?” Sonata looked between Aria in the kitchenette, looking just as angry as she always does, and Adagio at the door, looking angry but also a bit hurt. It wasn’t really a hard choice. Adagio was always nicer and more caring then Aria, and especially now, it looked like Adagio might need help, considering this would be the first time in their history together this has happened. Sonata looked back at Aria. “I’m sorry, Aria, I have to pick Adagio…” With that, she grabbed her jacket and walked over to Adagio at the door. Together, they walked out into the night. “Fine! See if I care! I’ll do a lot better without you two slowing me down!” Aria screamed at them, even though she knew they weren’t really listening. She growled and kicked one of the chairs. This is not how any of them expected this night to go. Author's Note And off we trot on our next exciting adventure! Lets see what happens shall we? The Night (Edited)Adagio and Sonata walked through the streets. As far as Sonata knew, they had nowhere to go. It was dark and late. The only reason Sonata actually felt safe was because she had Adagio with her. She never let the group down before, and Sonata knew she wasn’t going to let them down again, but at the same time, she was fully aware of what just happened between the three girls. They had split up. In their over-a-thousand years of life, they have always been together through thick and thin. But now, they were broken up, and that concerned her to no end. But right now, that wasn’t what she was worried about. She was more worried about Adagio, who was, at this moment, trying to stop herself from crying, though she was failing at it. She wasn’t crying outright, but Sonata heard sniffling, and Adagio constantly put her hand to her face, presumably wiping away a few tears. Sonata wasn’t the smartest person, but she knew when her sister needed her, and this was one of those times, though she didn’t know what to say. So she said the only thing she could think to say. “It’s not your fault, Dagi.” Adagio stopped. Without turning, she spoke with a sad yet angry tone, “How is it not my fault?” “Aria lets her emotions get the better of her. You know that. She’ll get over it. I bet she’s regretting it already.” Adagio spun around. There were more than just a few tears in her eyes. “But she’s right. I screwed up, and because of that, we lost the only things that could’ve helped us get home!” “That doesn’t matter, Dagi. As long as we’re together, we’ll survive. We might have to work harder, but who cares?” “That’s not the point, Sonata.” Adagio looked like she wanted to say more, but she didn’t. She just turned around and started walking away. Sonata, however, wasn’t going to let her leave it at that. She rushed forward, caught up with Adagio, and turned her around. “Then what is the point, Adagio? Why beat yourself up over this?” “The point is that I failed you girls. Even if this wasn’t my fault, I let you girls down by leading us to that disaster of a concert. I don’t deserve to be with you girls. You’d be a lot better off if I just left.” The next thing she felt was Sonata’s hand on her face as she slapped her. While light, as Sonata was never the strongest, it still stung and was quite a shock to Adagio. “Don’t say that Adagio. We need you, both of us. What’s more is that we love you. Even if Aria is mad at you, I know for a fact she loves you, and we always will, through thick and thin, even if you screw up.” “You really mean that?” “Of course, Dagi.” Sonata went and hugged Adagio, which, to Sonata’s relief, was accepted and returned. As they parted, Sonata was pleased to see Adagio smiling. Adagio motioned with her head to continue walking, which they both started doing. Though, as they began walking, Sonata couldn’t help but wonder where they were going, so she decided to ask. “Well, you remember The Changelings?” Adagio asked as they walked. “Yea? We worked with them a while ago, what about them?” Sonata answered. “We’re going to talk to them. Hopefully, they’ll help, I know they usually have a few members around here.” Sonata paused a moment. “Wait. Didn’t we get their leader locked up?” “Damn, that’s right…. This could be a lot more dangerous than I first thought. Okay, when we find them, you’ll hide, just in case. Let me do all the talking, okay?” “Are you sure, Dagi?” “No, but it’s the only plan I can come up with.” “Well, alright. Let's go.” Adagio strode into dimly-lit alleyway with an air of haughtiness. Of course, she was nervous, but being the siren she was, even if she didn’t have her powers, she had to maintain a certain image. They all had an image. Adagio always had a ‘more important than you’ attitude in public, Aria was constantly cynical, and Sonata was the nice, ditzy one. Together, they were almost guaranteed to get some sort of reaction that they could use to their advantage from whomever they encountered. Of course, she wasn’t with her two sisters. She wasn’t even with one of them, which just made her more on edge. Ahead of her were two men. They each wore black leather jackets, making them almost look like one of those greasers one would see in an old movie. These men, however, were no greasers. They were members of The Changelings, one of the more infamous gangs in Canterlot. The Dazzlings ran with them a while ago. The gang provided them with protection and a lovely source of hate for them to feed on, and only in exchange for some simple information on where to get money, drugs, and other things of that nature. After refusing to provide any more protection, the Dazzlings gave them some false information, leading to their leader Chrysalis to be arrested. Hopefully they didn’t make the connection and thought it was just a fluke. “Hello, boys. Lovely night, isn’t it.” She asked as she stopped in front of them. They turned and looked at her. They looked angry, confused, and surprised all at once. They obviously never expected her to show her face to them ever again. “You have a lot of nerve coming here, Adagio Dazzle,” One of the men said. Just as she feared, they knew she was behind their leader being arrested. But she couldn’t back down now. She had to try. “I assure you I have no idea wha--“ They cut her off. “Shut up with that. We know what you girls did.” “And what is it that you say we did?” She hoped they didn’t hear the fear in her voice. “You got the Boss arrested. Spent a couple months in jail. Don’t know what happened, but she got out, and she wants you girls dead.” Adagio took a step back, her eyes widening. “D-dead?” She had to run, had to get out of there. She turned to run, only to slam into the second Changeling. She had no idea how he got behind her, but she didn’t have time to ask. He grabbed her and tossed her to the side. She slammed into a dumpster. She grunted and tried to push herself up but was met with a swift kick to the gut. She fell flat on her stomach again, before trying to shift so she could sit up. Surprisingly, they let her do this, and she soon found out why. She looked up in time to see the thugs pull out handguns from their jackets. Her eyes widened and she tried to get out of the line of fire, but they were too fast. Two loud booms, in succession, escaped from the alley. Sonata didn’t think this plan was the best idea. Adagio herself said it was going to be dangerous. But Adagio was the smartest one of them. If anyone could pull this off, it was her. Though, that didn’t mean she was any less nervous. She knew anything could happen and feared that it would. She decided that thinking about it would only make her do something stupid, so she thought of something else, namely how to get them all back together. She supposed the only real way of getting them back together would be to put them in a room together and talk out their problems. Though, maybe if she went back and talked to Aria herself, she’d be able to talk some sense into her. No that won’t work. She’d only yell at me, She thought to herself. Not to mention that she couldn’t leave Adagio. Though she seemed fine after their talk earlier, she still was in a fragile state. Two loud booms, in succession, escaped from the alley. Sonata jumped from the loud sounds. She knew where it came from: the same alley Adagio walked down minutes before. She didn’t even think as she got up from the bench she was sitting at and ran full speed the block and a half the alley was from her. She nearly tripped as she slid to turn into the alley. To her horror, she saw a body leaning against a dumpster about halfway down the alley. She rushed into the alley, her mind racing, begging whoever ruled this universe to let her sister be alive. “Dagi, please be alive, please.” She fell to her knees once she got to the body. Adagio’s body was getting bloodier by the second, the cause being two holes, one in her gut the other in her upper chest. As she looked over the wounds, she was relieved to see her chest still moving. “Sonata? Get out of here, now.” She was alive! Barely, but still alive. “Come on Dagi we have to get you help.” Adagio coughed up blood. “Get out of here, Sonata. Go back to Aria, now.” “I’m not leaving you, Adagio. You're coming with me.” Adagio raised an arm to hug Sonata, who accepted it, hugging back, “Go back to Aria, Sonata. Everything is gonna be okay. I love you.” “I-I love you to, Dagi.” Sonata felt Adagio’s skin go cold, her life drained away from her. She stood up, not knowing what to do. Her brain was still trying to process everything. The only thing that stood out was Adagio’s final wish to go back to Aria. So that’s what she did. She ran out of the alley, not wanting to leave her sister but not being able to bring her with her. She nearly collided with a woman who was about to check out what happened. She ran past her, not even hearing the woman call for her to stop. Ever since Adagio and Sonata left, Aria knew she messed up. Oh, she was still mad at them, of course, though as the night wore on, that anger ebbed away, leading to another sort of anger. She was mad at herself for yelling at them, forcing them to leave. More importantly, she was mad that she blamed Adagio for everything. Maybe it was her fault, maybe it was her own fault. Who cares, as long as they were still sisters? It didn’t help that the past half-hour she had a terrible feeling in her gut, like something bad happened. She guessed it was just guilt. She kept thinking about how to make things right but realized that unless they came home the next day, she wouldn’t be able to say anything. So she’d have to look for them. She hated being alone, especially at night. Something about the night always ached her. Everything bad happened at night, and usually to those who were alone. She got up from the kitchen table and went over to the couch. Might as well sleep if there was nothing else to do but wallow in her own self-hatred. As soon as her body hit the couch, she heard the door slam open. Startled, she jumped up and looked to see who it was. “Sonata?” She looked disheveled and almost broken, the color drained from her skin. Aria went around the couch to go over to her. Aria began to look at the rest of Sonata’s body, specifically her clothes, which were covered in blood. “Is that blood, Sonata. Where is Adagio?” She received no answer. Sonata looked like she hadn’t even registered that a question was asked. Aria put her hands on Sonata’s shoulders. This seemed to get a response. Sonata looked up to Aria’s face. Their eyes met. “Sonata, where is Adagio?” Instead of answering, Sonata just fell to the floor, sobbing. Aria did the only she could think of to do: She went down and hugged the sobbing Sonata. She didn’t know what happened, but she did know one thing: Adagio wasn’t coming home. The Fear (Edited)Sunset and her friends walked into Canterlot High after seeing Twilight off. It was somewhat sad to see her go again, but it wasn’t like she could just stay there; she was needed elsewhere. The group had decided to do the sendoff before school started so they wouldn’t miss any classes, though as they walked in and heard the bell ring, they knew they didn’t have the luxury of putting books in their lockers. After a couple quick “see ya at lunch”s they separated and went to their different classes. Sunset walked down the empty hallways. She still felt a lot safer without anyone in them to judge her. She may have help saved the school a couple of days ago, but that didn’t automatically mean everyone liked her. She had gotten nasty looks and whatnot while walking in the hallway and outside of school too. It still stung, even if she was feeling better about herself. So walking in the halls alone was her preferred option. What she didn’t prefer though was her first class: Math. The morning classes had come and gone, and Sunset was more than happy to head into the cafeteria for lunch. As expected, Math and English were boring, though they were easy for her. Well, at least the former was easy. Coming from Equestria meant that Sunset essentially had to relearn the way she wrote, and while she had done so, it still wasn’t close to what most students her age could do. She could at least speak the language, and that was all she really needed in her opinion. Then she had Criminal Justice and Biology. Both were very helpful for her understanding the world she found herself in, though that was when she first came to this world. Now, though, she just was interested in studying them. Her Biology teacher was especially nice today and let them leave ten minutes early, so Sunset was one of the first people to get into the cafeteria. She walked in to find a handful of students strewn about. That was unsurprising; some people had a free period before lunch, most commonly referred to by both students and staff alike as ‘Double Lunch.’ Sunset couldn’t help but wince as she felt eyes on her. She couldn’t help but glance around the room to see where it was coming from. As her eyes scanned the room, she saw it was Lyra and Bon Bon looking at her… and talking. She sighed. She thought those two would be one of the first people to be nice to her, but apparently they were still talking about her. Oh well. She sat down at the table her friends usually sat at and rested her head on her hand, waiting for the bell to ring and for Fluttershy to come with the money for lunch. As she sat there, she noticed Lyra and Bon Bon get up and begin walking towards her. She wasn’t sure why, but she had a feeling it wasn’t for anything nice. “Hey, Sunset, can we talk to you a second?” Lyra asked as they stepped forward. Her voice was concerned, not what Sunset had expected. “Uh, yeah, sure. What’s up?” she replied. “Well, you know the sirens, right?” Bon Bon asked. “Well, I mean, yeah. Can’t exactly forget them, right?” “Um… Well, Bon Bon’s mom found a couple of them.” “Oh, that’s great. I never got to talk to them really after the Battle of the Bands. If I deserve a second chance, then they do, too, right?” “Well… maybe not.” Bon Bon said, looking at Lyra sadly. “You see, well… One of them is, well… dead,” Lyra finished for Bon Bon. Sunset’s eyes widened, and her face lost a shade or two of color. “W-what? You can’t be serious.” “That’s not all. My mom also saw another one of them running away. She was covered in blood. My mom tried to stop her but she ran like nobody’s business,” Bon Bon explained. “You guys can’t be serious. This is a joke, right? If it is, it isn’t funny.” Sunset crossed her arms. “It’s not a joke, Sunset. We think the one that ran away killed the other. My mom called the cops when she saw the body.” Sunset lowered her arms and look down at the table. “Wow, you’re serious. This is pretty heavy… Thanks for telling me, girls. I’ll let the others know. Hopefully, we can find out where the other two went, try to figure out what happened.” “Are you sure you should get involved, Sunset? If the one killed the other, she could still be dangerous,” Lyra pointed out. “Yeah, but it could also mean one of them is being held against her will. She’s probably really scared, and we have to help her. We might not like them, but no one should have that happen to them.” “Alright,” Lyra said. “Stay safe,” Bon Bon added. The two started walking back to their table. “See ya,” Sunset said. As the two left, the bell rang. It wasn’t too long before the cafeteria started to fill with students. Sunset glanced around and shrunk down a bit. She was scared, but she was also thinking about what was just brought to her attention. There’s too many people here for me to tell the girls without someone else hearing about it, she thought to herself. Though, that is assuming no one else knows about it already. Better to play it safe than sorry, though. Sunset waved to her friends as she saw them enter the room. They all seemed happy and talkative. There was no reason to ruin their day by telling them just yet. There wasn’t much any of them could do right then anyway. They were in school, and it was only lunch time. She’d tell them on their way to Sugarcube Corner after school. Sunset exited the school with Fluttershy and headed towards the statue to wait for the others. The rest of her day was pretty boring, all things considered. History went by with a bit of annoyance, as Rainbow used her head as paper football target practice, but that was about all she could complain about. Fluttershy sat down next to the statue, while Sunset leaned against it, standing up. “So, we’re going to the therapist tomorrow after school, right, ‘Shy?” Sunset asked. “A little bit after, actually; Mom set the appointment for five. She gets out of work at four and has to drive here to pick us up.” Sunset tilted her head. “Oh? Why does she need to pick us up? Isn’t the therapist in town?” “Well, she’s lives on the mountain on the other side of town, so it’d be easier for her to drive,” Fluttershy answered plainly. Had Fluttershy not been looking at a few papers at that moment, she would have seen Sunset’s eyes widen. Sunset was internally shaking at the mere thought of having to go somewhere that high up. She never had gone up to the houses on the mountain, but she heard stories of how steep some of the cliffs were. She was suddenly rethinking most of her life choices, including agreeing to going to a therapist. “O-oh, uh… alright,” she finally answered shakily. “Sunset, are you o--Oh, hey, girls.” Fluttershy’s question was interrupted as she greeted the four girls walking out of the school. Rarity and Rainbow Dash both responded how they would normally respond, while Pinkie and Applejack seemed too busy in their own conversation that they didn’t even hear Fluttershy. “What are they arguing about this time?” Sunset asked Rarity. The four girls entering the scene helped her mind get off of the previous conversation. The purple haired girl rolled her eyes as she answered, “Believe it or not, Applejack owes Pinkie money now.” Sunset raised an eyebrow and glanced at the two arguing girls, listening in. “Come on, Pinkie, you know Ah don’t have a lot of money. Whatcha’ say to a case of cider instead?” The blond farm girl practically begged. Pinkie took a moment to think before she answered. “What type of cider?” “What type of… Pinkie! You know I can’t give you any of our hard stuff! That’s illegal.” “No, no, I’m talking about the new flavors you’re testing.” Pinkie winked. Applejack’s eyes widened, and she put a hand to Pinkie’s mouth. “How do ya know about that? It’s a secret!” she demanded, though it quickly turned into a groan as Pinkie started talking through her hand. She lowered her hand as Pinkie continued to speak. “…and then he threw a coconut, which fell from a spruce tree…” Applejack covered her mouth again and rubbed one of her temples with her free hand. “What flavor?” she asked, giving in, making sure to uncover Pinkie’s mouth before she answered through her hand again. “Cranberry Apple!” Pinkie answered happily. Applejack audibly sighed. “Oh, Ah thought ya wanted one of the harder-ta-make ones.” “Nope! Cranberry Apple!” “Well, okay, Ah’ll have it for ya as soon as Ah can.” “Okie dokie lokie!” “Well, if we’re done here, why don’t we head to Sugarcube corner?” Rarity asked. Everyone answered in the affirmative, and they started off. About halfway through their journey, Sunset decided it would probably be a good idea to tell the others about what she heard. “Hey, girls? I think I should tell you something.” She was at the front of the pack of girls, so she turned around to see them. They all looked up at her, waiting to hear what she had to say. “Lyra and Bon Bon talked to me in the cafeteria before lunch. They told me Bon Bon’s mom found two of the Dazzlings.” “Really?” The other girls replied nearly in unison, though they all had their own tones in how they said it. Fluttershy had a rather hopeful tone, while Rarity’s seemed to be more of curiosity. Rainbow and Applejack’s tone seemed to have a hint of anger. Sunset knew they didn’t hate the Dazzlings, but she understood the two girls being angry at the sirens. She was a bit, too, even now. “Yeah, but there’s a problem, though,” Sunset continued. “Hm?” they all said in unison again. “Okay, we gotta stop doing that; it’s creepy,” Rainbow said, looking at the others. “One of them is dead.” Sunset winced as she said it. “What?!” They said unison yet again this time in shock. “That’s not all,” Sunset said as they continued walking. “They also said that they think it was one of the other two who did it. Bon Bon’s mom saw one run away covered in blood.” “Really?” Fluttershy squeaked. The others seemed too shocked to really reply themselves. “I don’t know if it’s true or not, but we should probably look for them. If anything, at least one of them must be terrified. For all we know, what they said is true, and one of them is holding the other against her will.” “I don’t know, Sunset. This is pretty big, I mean, we’re awesome and all but dealing with murder… That’s not exactly our job,” Rainbow said. “But Sunset is right, Rainbow. If we don’t help them, they might get inta some serious trouble.” Applejack exclaimed. “I have to agree with Applejack, darling. They may have been our enemies, but they deserve a second chance. Their fashion sense is also fairly nice, too. I’ll want to talk to them about that. It’ll be a good icebreaker,” Rarity added. “Thanks, girls, I know we don’t have the best past but we have to try to HELP!” Sunset said, yelping as the left side of her foot dropped, causing her to tumble to the left. She was saved from falling fully by a railing… of a bridge… over a river. Sunset was now facing directly down a fifty-foot drop. Her pupils shrank to pinpricks as she gave a small squeak, pushing herself backwards and falling to the ground, her back against the concrete barrier that separates pedestrians from cars. She was visibly shaking, and her breath was becoming erratic. She didn’t even notice when Fluttershy and the others knelt by her, trying to find out what was wrong. All she saw was her attempted suicide play over and over in her head. Eventually, after a few seconds, it was too much for her, and her brain shut down. She fainted. Sunset slowly opened her eyes. She was prepared for the blinding light of the sun, so she was very surprised, though not disappointed, to discover that what greeted her was darkness. She groaned and sat up, realizing that she was lying down. The last thing she remembered was sitting on the sidewalk after... She shuddered, not even attempting to think of that. She glanced around the dark room. Through the darkness, she could make out that this was Fluttershy’s room. It was also her own room, since she moved in with her, but she never could call it her room. “Fluttershy?” she called out softly. She heard a small gasp, and a shadowy figure vaguely shaped like Fluttershy stood up from the floor. “Sunset, you’re awake!” she said. The figure moved over to the light switch and flipped it, bathing the room in light. This, of course, caused Sunset to shield her eyes for a moment as they adjusted. Once they did, she was able to tell the figure was indeed Fluttershy. Fluttershy rushed over to Sunset and hugged her, which Sunset gladly accepted. It usually made her feel better, and this was no exception. “We were so worried about you, Sunset.” “I’m sorry, Fluttershy. What time is it?” “It’s about ten o’clock.” “I’ve been out that long?” “Yeah. What happened, Sunset? You kind of, well… freaked out and wouldn’t respond.” “I--Well, I got flashbacks, back to… you know.” She shuddered. “Oh! I’m so sorry, Sunset. I understand… kind of… it’s heights, isn’t it?” “Yeah…” “Come on, why don’t we go downstairs and get some hot chocolate?” Sunset smiled and giggled slightly. “Yeah, I think I’d like that.” The two made their way out of the room and downstairs. They had to be quiet, as Fluttershy’s mom was sleeping. Though, as they got to the bottom of the stairs, their efforts proved to be futile, as the doorbell rang. Fluttershy looked to Sunset, who just shrugged. “Who would be coming here at this hour?” Fluttershy asked. “Maybe one of the girls? They were worried about me, too, I assume.” “Well, yes, but they would have texted me if they were coming over.” “Well, only one way to find out, really.” Sunset went over to the door. She was slightly nervous about who was on the other side but decided it was better to get it over with. She opened the door and gasped slightly as she saw Aria and Sonata standing on the porch. A Night Visit (Edited)Sunset and Fluttershy just stared at the two girls standing on the porch. Aria looked nervous, glancing at the street as if she were expecting something to come out of nowhere. Though, if the rumor the two girls heard was true, then it could be the police looking for them. Sonata, on the other hand, seemed darker. She had her arms crossed, and her face held a scowl that was very unnatural for who they remembered as a naturally happy and ditzy girl. It seemed to them like the sisters almost-- “Are you going to talk to us, or are you just going to stand there and stare?” Sonata asked, sounding a bit annoyed. Fluttershy let out a small squeak before answering, “Oh, I’m sorry. Uh, how can we help you?” “Well, you see, we, well…” Aria glanced down the street again. “Can we come in?” Sonata griped again, though she seemed to be slightly more annoyed. “Come on, it’s freezing out here,” she added. She was telling the truth; it was about forty degrees outside. “Oh, I’m sorry. Yes, come in, please,” Fluttershy said as she and Sunset moved back to allow the two Dazzlings to walk into the house. Sunset knew for a fact something was up; they were acting odd. Fluttershy led them into the kitchen, while Sunset brought up the rear, closing the door after them. “Can I get you girls anything?” Fluttershy asked the two. Aria sat down at the table, while Sonata just leaned on one of the counters. “No, thanks,” Aria said, putting her head in her hands and sighing audibly. Fluttershy nodded and looked to Sonata for her answer. “Water.” Fluttershy nodded, went over to one of the cabinets and grabbed a glass. She went over to the water dispenser in her fridge and filled the glass with water. All the while, everyone else in the room was quiet. Sunset figured they were lost in their own thoughts as she herself was. As Fluttershy gave the glass to Sonata, Sunset decided to speak up. “Fluttershy, can we talk in the living room a minute?” “Uh, yeah, sure. Do you girls need anything else?” Fluttershy asked, turning to Aria. “No, we’re okay for right now. We’ll talk when you come back in.” “Alright.” With that, Fluttershy and Sunset walked into the next room. When Sunset was sure that the two Sirens weren’t going to hear, she turned and whispered to Fluttershy, “Okay, what’s going on with them?” “I don’t know. They’re different, I know that. But it’s like they’ve switched roles or something,” Fluttershy replied in almost her normal speaking voice, which, admittedly, was almost anyone else’s normal whispering voice. “Yeah, wasn’t Aria supposed to be the mean one?” “I think so, and I remember Sonata being nicer. What happened?” “Well, I mean, I guess there’s only one way to find out.” “Girls?” came a new voice from the stairs. They turned and saw Fluttershy’s mother Daisy coming down the stairs. “Oh, Mom, sorry to wake you,” Fluttershy said. “That’s okay, dear. Is everything alright? I heard the doorbell and you talking to someone in the kitchen.” “Oh, a couple of friends dropped by. They need advice on something,” Sunset answered. “At ten at night?” “It was important that they came to us now.” “Well, alright, I’ll trust you girls on this. I’ll be in my office if you need me.” With that, Daisy went into an adjacent room that served as her office. “Should we go back in now?” Fluttershy asked Sunset. Sunset sighed, though she smiled before answering, “It’s only fair that we do, right?” “Yeah, your right.” Fluttershy smiled back. They turned to the door and walked through to the kitchen. The two Sirens were about the way they left them; Aria was still sitting, and Sonata was still leaning on the counter, nursing the glass of water. “Took you two long enough!” Sonata exclaimed, both Fluttershy and Sunset wincing as she did so. “Sonata, please! We’re here to get their help, and they’re not going to want to help if you’re mean to them,” Aria piped up, turning to face Sonata. She then turned back to the two, saying, “Sorry about her. It’s been a hard few days.” “We heard some stuff. What exactly happened?” Sunset asked as she sat down in front of Aria. “I’m not a hundred percent sure, either. The night you guys defeated us, Adagio and I got into a fight. We said some things, and she decided to leave. Sonata went with her. What happened while they were out, I have no clue; Sonata hasn’t told me what happened. They were out for a bit, then Sonata runs back into our apartment crying her eyes out and covered in blood. She never said what happened, but I knew--I don’t know how, I just did--Adagio was–“ “Don’t say it!” Sonata hissed, cutting Aria off. “Sonata, they need to know what happened.” “Don’t!” Aria sighed, rubbing her temples before deciding to continue, “I knew that Adagio was dead.” The next thing the three girls heard was the sound of glass breaking. They gave a collective gasp and turned to see Sonata leaning on the counter, with her hand clenched into fists. Broken glass and water were on the floor below her, as well as some drops of blood that were dripping from her clenched hand. “Sonata!” Aria exclaimed as she got up and rushed over to her sister. Sonata had her eyes closed, tears were coming out of them, though she still looked angry, probably even angrier than before. Before Sunset or Fluttershy could say anything, Daisy came into the room. “Is everything alright? I heard glass break.” “Sonata’s glass broke in her hand. She’s bleeding,” Aria said, tearing up a bit. “Oh, my! That might be serious!” Daisy said, rushing over to the girl. “Here, let me see it, dear.” Sonata hesitated at the request. She opened her eyes and gazed at Aria, who nodded slightly. This was enough for Sonata to release her hand. A few shards of glass fell from it, though plenty of small shards were still embedded in her bleeding hand. “A-alright. J-just make it snappy, okay?” Sonata seemed to try to regain her air of bitterness, though, either because of the pain or her emotions, it was coming out half-heartedly. “Okay, dear, come with me into my office.” Daisy took Sonata by the wrist and brought her into the other room. “Is she going to be okay?” Aria asked, whiping loose tears from her eyes. Fluttershy smiled a bit and put a hand on Aria’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. She’s in the best hands she can be in; my mom’s a nurse.” “Everything is just getting worse and worse.” “It’s okay, Aria. We’re here to help. Speaking of which, why did you come to us in the first place?” Sunset asked, stepping forward. “We… The cops are looking for us to question us, specifically Sonata, about what happened.” “Why is that so bad, though? Don’t you girls have nothing to hide?” Fluttershy asked. Sunset shook her head sadly. “I understand. They can’t. They’re like me; they technically don’t exist to the government. If the police get them, they’ll be locked up for not being citizens,” Sunset explained while putting a hand on Aria’s shoulder. “Yeah, but even if we had all the proper papers and IDs, Sonata still refuses to talk about that night. They’d probably figure it was her and lock her up. I… I can’t lose her, too.” Aria wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “Hey, it’s alright. We’ll help you. I’m sure my mom will let you two stay here in the guest room.” Fluttershy smiled. “You will? After everything we did to you and your friends?” Aria looked up, confused, though still happy. “Of course. I got a second chance, so why shouldn’t you girls? Though, I wish we could have given that chance to all of you.” Sunset stood next to Fluttershy. Aria sighed. “I do too… Thank you both, this really means a lot to us. Hey, wait. If we’re getting the guest bedroom, where is Sunset sleeping?” “Oh, Sunset’s been sleeping in my room with me since she started living here,” Fluttershy explained. Aria blinked and looked as if she was putting two and two together before answering, “Honestly, I didn’t think you two were that type. I mean, I thought Sunset had a boyfriend before.” Fluttershy and Sunset’s eyes widened, and their cheeks turned red. Fluttershy even hid behind her hair, muttering something which Sunset heard as “Oh, my.” Sunset raised her hands and waved them, “No, no! Nothing like that! We’re not even dating! Right, Fluttershy?” “Y-yeah. I mean… we could… if you wanted, that is.” Fluttershy’s voice got quieter as the sentence went on, though how that was even possible was beyond Sunset’s ability to process at that point. “Can we not talk about this now, Fluttershy?” Sunset’s face turned an even deeper shade of red as she tried to make herself as small as possible. “Sorry,” Fluttershy squeaked. From her seat, Aria smirked a bit, trying hard not to giggle at all. “Alright, you two convinced me. You two aren’t at all in a relationship. My mistake. I’m going to go check on Sonata.” Aria then got up and walked out of the room towards the office. Fluttershy started to make her way there, too. “I should go, too, to ask mom about all this.” With that, Fluttershy walked out, leaving Sunset alone in the kitchen. Sunset shook her head slightly, coming out of her thoughts. She could think about that later. Besides, she probably heard wrong. Really, why would Fluttershy want to date her, anyway? She was a wreck of a girl. Depression, attempted suicide, self harm, PTSD, who would want someone with all that? No, Fluttershy wouldn’t want her as a girlfriend. She deserved better. Deciding she didn’t want to be useless at the moment, she set out to clean the remaining broken glass from the floor. It also gave her some time to think about all that’s happened that night, as well as what happened during the day. Unfortunately, it also gave her time to mull over what Fluttershy said and contemplate how unworthy she was of being Fluttershy’s girlfriend. She hated when she had time to think. A Warm Reception (Edited)The two Dazzlings followed behind Sunset and Fluttershy as they walked to school. They all walked in silence after the small argument they had a half-hour before. Sunset and Fluttershy didn’t think that the Dazzlings should go to school due to the rumors and the Battle of the Bands; the students probably wouldn’t have the best reactions to them. Aria agreed that they should probably stay hidden at least for a while and tried to explain that to Sonata. Sonata, however, calmly explained to them that she didn’t care what the students thought and that if any of them tried to accuse her of killing Adagio she’d rip out their throats. Well, okay, it was calm until that last part, when she looked like she was about to snap like the night before. Thankfully, no glass was broken and no more bandages had to be put on the girl. After that, they all agreed it’d be in their best interest to let Sonata and Aria go to school, albeit while keeping a close eye on the former. A couple of them had their minds on other things, however, namely Sunset and Aria. Sunset barely got any sleep last night with all the thoughts going through her head. She tried to think about things logically, but just as that failed in the past, it quickly failed here. No matter how she approached it, she didn’t think she was worthy of being Fluttershy’s girlfriend. Yet Fluttershy was willing and even seemed like she wanted to be, but why? Did Fluttershy still see her as broken? Was she still broken? Probably. But is that why Fluttershy is caring for her and even wants to date? No, that can’t be; that’d be like Fluttershy dating one of her animal friends when they broke their leg, right? Ugh! Why can’t this be simple? She thought as her mind kept trying to understand. Aria, on the other hand, was trying to figure out just what happened the other night. She couldn’t stop thinking about it. Whatever it was, it left her without a sister and Sonata a mess. She figured it had to be one of their former enemies; they made quite a few of over the years. None of them, however, were around anymore, she thought. Then, of course, there was the bigger issue: Sonata. Aria loved her and all, but Sonata was acting like… well, like she herself used to act. She honestly wished Sonata would just talk to her; she wanted to know what happened, if for no other reason than to help Sonata. Maybe I’ll try again later. She has to tell me at some point, she thought to herself as they neared the school. Fluttershy glanced behind her to address the Dazzlings. “Now, girls, if anything happens, go to our friends. They’ll help you with whatever it is.” “Don’t they hate us?” Aria asked. Sunset winced at the way she said it like she was both expecting it and fearing it at the same time. "No, none of us hate you for what you girls did. They might not like you girls too much, but they don't hate you. I know as much as anyone that they'll give you a second chance. Though, it might take a bit," Sunset assured them. "If you say so," Sonata said, shrugging. She really didn't want to go to school, but in her head, it was the safest place to be, considering who was after them. Chrysalis' thugs were all in college or older if she remembered correctly. She doubted they could get into the school unnoticed. "Aria, you and I should have a talk with Principal Celestia. She should know the situation at least a bit," Sunset said, looking to the girl as they entered the school. "Um, I don't want to leave Sonata alone, if that's okay." "I'll wait outside with her. Don't worry," Fluttershy said, smiling. Aria looked to Sonata for some sort of response. She received a noncommittal shrug. Aria sighed and agreed to the terms. The hallways were, as always, filled with students. While it wasn't an all-out dead stop as the four girls entered the hallway, many glanced in their direction, and a few gave some glares, both at the Dazzlings and a very slight few at Sunset as well. Sunset froze. While most of the glares she saw weren't directed at her, she just saw the eyes. Her heart rate quickened, and her breathing started to become erratic. She closed her eyes tightly as she felt the walls close in on her. “Sunset, calm down, please. I’m here for you,” she heard Fluttershy say. She opened her eyes to see that the ‘walls’ that were closing in on her was Fluttershy pulling her into a hug. She slowly wrapped her arms around the pink-haired girl and sighed, her anxiety slowly drifting away. “Is she okay?” Aria asked from behind them, sounding a bit concerned. Fluttershy looked over Sunset’s shoulder to the two and whispered her response, to hopefully avoid any listening ears. “Sunset has panic attacks from time to time. It’s usually when a lot of people are looking at her.” “I think they were glaring at us,” Sonata said. Aria sighed and looked at her sister. “She’s between us and them. It would still feel the same.” “I’m still here you know,” Sunset remarked. “Heh, sorry.” “It’s okay. I’m sorry about that,” Sunset said, sighing as she hesitantly let go of Fluttershy. Fluttershy gave her a little smile before looking to the two Dazzlings. “We should probably get to the principal’s office; school is gonna be starting soon.” With that, the group walked to the main office near the cafeteria. They received a couple more glares as they walked, but with Fluttershy there to support her, Sunset was able to keep her anxiety together for the most part. They knocked on the door and stepped back. Soon, the door opened for them. “Yes?” Principal Celestia asked. She looked at the group of girls at her door and gave a little sigh, knowing it wasn’t going to be anything good, though she never lost her warm smile. “Principal Celestia?” Sunset started, “Can we come in and talk to you about something. It’s kinda important.” “Of course, Sunset. Please, come in.” Celestia motioned for them to come in as she went back into her office. Sunset and Aria walked into the office, while Sonata and Fluttershy sat down on the bench outside. Aria closed the door after entering the office. She turned to sit down in the chair next to Sunset and across from Celestia. The older woman stacked some loose papers on her desk before looking to the girls. “So what did you need to talk to me about, dears?” “Well, Principal Celestia, we kind of have some bad news,” Sunset started. She looked to Aria to explain further. Aria took a deep breath and explained. “A few days ago, right after the Battle of the Bands, Adagio and I got into a fight. She and Sonata left our apartment to go look for another place to live. Sonata came back an hour later c-covered in blood. A-Adagio is gone…” Aria choked out the last part of the explanation, it becoming ever so harder to relive the events of that night. Celestia’s eyes widened and she put a hand to her mouth. “I’m so sorry to hear, sweetie, but why didn’t you call the police?” “Because we’re from Sunset’s world remember? We don’t have any legal documents, and they’re already after us because someone saw Sonata with blood on her and thought she did it.” “Oh, that’s right. Well… I’m sorry for your loss, but I’m not exactly sure what you want me to do.” “We want you to let them keep going to school here and help us if anyone tries to confront Sonata about it. She’s been having a hard time mourning, and to be accused of murder…” Sunset trailed off, not needing to say more. “I understand." Celestia looked to Aria. “How are you coping with this, dear?” “I-I’m not, not yet… I don’t even know what happened; Sonata hasn’t told me anything about it yet.” “I see. Well, if you need to talk to anyone, our doors are always open. But I think with the friends you’ve chosen, you might not need to come to us.” Celestia gave a little smile. “Oh, Principal Celestia, one more thing,” Sunset chimed in. “Yes, Sunset?” “I’m not sure what their school schedules are like, but is there any way they can be adjusted to have at least one of my friends in their classes? That might be a lot to ask for, but we want to help them as much as we can, and we can’t exactly do that if we’re not in their classes.” “Don’t worry, Sunset, I never had a chance to finalize their schedules when they first arrived due to the preparations for the Battle of the Bands. They can accompany you to all of your classes if you wish, or they can go with any of your other friends, or whatever situation works for now. You can let me know so I can finalize it.” “Thank you, Principal Celestia. You don’t know how much this means to us,” Aria said to the older woman as she and Sunset stood up. Celestia got up and went around to open the door. Before they left the office, however, Celestia pulled Aria into a hug. “I don’t know what it’s like, but I feel for you. I couldn’t imagine losing my sister.” “Thank you. Hopefully, you never need to know how it feels.” Aria gave her a small smile. Usually, she didn’t like hugs, but with everything that’s happened, she welcomed it. The two girls left the office and made their ways towards the first class as Fluttershy and Sonata joined them. They all had a feeling that today wasn’t going to be a great day, but at least it started out okay. Rough Start (Edited)Fluttershy and Sonata rejoined Aria and Sunset as they left Principal Celestia’s office. The former two were silent, and Sunset wondered if they even said anything to each other while she and Aria were inside. Though, knowing Fluttershy, she probably tried, at least. “So, what did Celestia say?” Fluttershy asked as she walked beside Sunset, closer than normal, though Sunset wondered if that was her imagination or if Fluttershy was doing that because of Sunset’s reaction to the glares earlier. Maybe a bit of both. She dropped her voice to reply, not wanting anyone besides them to hear. “She said she would be here for Sonata and Aria and that they can go to any of our classes with us. That just leaves us with the question of whose class they're going to go to.” “Do you girls have any preferences?” Fluttershy glanced back towards the two sisters. Sonata just gave them a shrug. “The thing is, we haven’t really been to a school in a good few years,” Aria explained. “So, I guess whatever you two decide.” “I think you two should go with Sunset. Unless you’re interested in sewing or animal sciences,” Fluttershy stated. “Hmm, I don’t think that would be either of our thing,” Aria answered. Fluttershy nodded, looking back to Sunset, “I guess they’ll go with you until lunch?” “I guess. My classes are all general education classes anyway, so it might benefit you girls to go to them.” “Are you calling us stupid?” Sonata snapped. “No, no. I’m just saying that I’m not sure how much education you got about this world, and my classes could help you better understand the world.” Aria put a hand on Sonata’s shoulder. “You know she didn’t mean it like that.” Sonata just replied with a ‘Hmph’ and continued walking. They continued on in silence before they had to split up. Fluttershy gave Sunset a smile and a hug. “Remember that Rainbow is there for you if you need her, and be careful; some people might not like seeing Aria and Sonata back, especially if you're with them,” she said quietly. Sunset gladly accepted and returned the hug. “I know. I just hope people aren’t too hard on them. They’ve been through enough.” “Yeah, hopefully they don’t have to go through any more. Anyway, I should get to class. Have a good day, and see you at lunch.” “You too, Fluttershy. See ya.” With that, Fluttershy left the three girls, and the two groups went off to go their respective classes. Sunset and her two companions were about to walk into their classroom before a voice stopped them. “Hey, you two.” The three girls turned around. Unsurprisingly, it was Lightning Dust. Sunset figured she would be one of the people most vocal about Aria and Sunset’s presence. Sunset instinctively stepped between Lightning and the two sisters. “What do you want, Lightning.” “Step aside, Sunshit. This doesn’t concern you.” “If you have a problem with them, then you have a problem with me.” By this point, a small group started to gather. Not good, Sunset thought. There were only a few people, but she already felt the eyes of a thousand people on her. Her breathing started to quicken a bit. “Fine by me, because I do have a problem with you. You think you can do whatever you want. You think we all forgot what you were, what you still are. But we didn’t, and you defending these two bitches proves it.” Sunset felt her knees weaken, but she stayed standing, though she did shy back. Lightning saw this and smirked as she took a step forward, looking to get into Sunset’s face. “Lightning, what the hell did I tell you about bullying my friends?” Sunset gave a small sigh of relief; Rainbow had come around the corner just in time to prevent Lightning from berating them more. Lightning gave a small growl before turning to look at Rainbow. “That only covered Sunshit. You can’t defend the other two, especially with what the blue one did.” “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, Lightning. Now get out of here before you do something you’ll regret.” Rainbow motioned for her to leave with a glare. Lightning glared back as she walked away. The crowd slowly dissipated as well, everyone going to their own classes. Sunset closed her eyes and took a deep breath, finally relaxing a bit. She flinched as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned her head to see Aria giving a small smile. “Thanks for sticking up for us, Sunset.” Sunset gave a small smile back. “Of course, Aria. I’m just glad Rainbow came when she did. I wasn’t going to last long.” “Hey, don’t sweat it, Sunset. Lightning knows better than to really do anything to you, and you know I’d never even let her do anything even if she was that stupid,” Rainbow added. “She’s a bitch,” Sonata stated plainly. The other three girls looked at her, each of them giving a small smirk or chuckle. “What? She is,” Sonata reaffirmed. This caused the three others laugh a bit, the tension and anxiety fading away by Sonata’s bluntness. Even Sonata seemed to get into it and smirked slightly, the first ounce of happiness either of the two sisters have had in a bit, all thanks to their new friends. The bell rang, signaling the beginning of class. They did have to explain to the teacher why there were suddenly two new students in his class. Though, after a quick explanation, they were allowed to join the class. The rest of the class was uneventful, some (Rainbow) might even say boring. Both sisters had a bit of a hard time with their work, especially the math, not having needed to do anything like it in a long time, but with Sunset’s and Rainbow’s help, they managed. English ended up being fairly quiet as well, though at this point, both Aria and Sonata would get the occasional glare or paper ball thrown at them, thought the paper balls soon changed to be aimed at just Aria, as Sonata made it quite clear that she wasn’t going to be having any of it. There were also a few notes passed to the girls and Sunset. Most of the notes made it to them easily enough and simply read ‘Bitch’ or ‘Monster’, though a couple read ‘Murderer’. Aria made sure to avoid letting Sonata know about any of them. However, it was not going to last. As Aria opened yet another piece of folded paper near the end of class, she was called out. “Miss Blaze, if you feel the need to pass notes with other students, then I’m sure you won’t mind sharing it with the rest of the class, hmm?” Mr. Doodle crossed his arms at her. “Are you serious?” Aria looked at the man, knowing what the note said. “I’m very serious, young lady. If it’s important enough to interrupt class, then you can read it in front of everyone.” “But--” “Now, Miss Blaze.” Mr. Doodle tapped his foot with an annoyed glare. Aria sighed and stood up. Already a few chuckles escaped from the classroom before she read, “You and Sonata are whores who should join their sister in hell… Heart, Sunset Shimmer…” Aria just barely managed to keep herself from tearing up as she went back to her seat. She knew the students would be harsh on them, but this was just a whole new level of cruelty. Judging by the snap of a pencil to her right, she knew Sonata probably wasn’t taking this well at all. Soon the whispers of the rest of the class started up. “That’s enough,” Mr. Doodle silenced the cacophony the best he could before continuing, “Miss Shimmer, report to the Vice Principal’s office immediately.” “But I didn’t write it!” Sunset tried to explain. “Just go Sunset. We’ll be okay,” Aria whispered to her. Sunset could have sworn she saw some built-up tears in her eyes, but Aria quickly blinked them away. “You know I didn’t do it, right?” “Of course, and I’m sure they'll know, too, but you shouldn’t get in any more trouble.” “Now, Miss Shimmer.” Sunset quietly nodded and headed out. At the very least, the sisters had copies of her schedule, so they knew where to go. But that didn’t help with all the bullies. Sunset figured it was one of Lightning’s goons, but she couldn’t understand why they were being so cruel. Yeah, they were cruel to her, but she deserved it. Stop thinking like that. You’re getting past that, she reminded herself. At any rate, this thinking wasn’t going to get her anywhere. She decided to just worry about whether Celestia told Luna about everything that's happened and hope Luna didn’t rip her a new one.
The Storm (Edited)The Dazzlings walked into their home. They were defeated, outsung by a group of nobodies. Yeah, they knew about the magic that brought them to the school in the first place, but who'd have thought they’d be able to do that again. The three sisters certainly didn’t. Even then, the three thought they took care of it by pitting them against each other. Adagio walked in first, her face blank. She was lost in thought, trying to figure out what to do next. She contemplated revenge on the entire run back to the house, but she knew that without their voices, they wouldn’t be able to live in their apartment anymore; they never paid a single month's rent. For a few years now, they used their spells to get out of paying, and all of that was gone now. Ideas were swimming in her mind on what they could do, on what they would have to do. They would have to get jobs. But they didn’t have any paperwork, and they had no means of getting paperwork. As far as the world was concerned, they didn’t exist, meaning they’d probably get picked up by the police. To be honest, that might not be a bad idea. At least they’d have food, water, and shelter, but they’d be separated most likely, and as annoyed as she was by her two sisters, they were family. She didn’t want to lose her only family. She glanced at her sisters as she sat down on the sofa. Sonata was just as shocked as Adagio was, though Sonata didn’t hide it well. Then again, she never had to; she was always the silly idiot. Though she was slow, Adagio didn’t like to call her sister an idiot when it wasn’t necessary. Sonata just simply couldn’t comprehend them losing. It only really happened once before back in Equestria. All Sonata really could do now is ask what exactly just happened, which she foolishly did. “We lost, numbnuts, what do you think just happened?” Aria asked angrily. Then there was Aria. She wasn’t taking losing well, at all. To say she was a sore loser was an understatement. To say she wanted to rip someone’s head off would be more accurate to how she felt at that moment. Unlike Adagio, Aria couldn’t control her anger that well, and though this was actually helpful in some settings, at the moment, she was just going to get on Adagio’s nerves. “Aria, I understand you’re upset. We all are, but can we not dwell on it and figure out what we’re going to do next?” she asked in as calm but as commanding a tone she could. “And what the heck are we supposed to do? We have no money, and pretty soon, we’re not going to have a house. What are we supposed to do?” Aria answered with another question in her normal angry tone. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out, Aria, but I can’t think if you keep complaining. Please keep it down.” Aria just grumbled and went over to the little kitchenette to sit down. “Well, we need to get jobs probably, or somehow con someone out of their house,” Aria said, folding her arms and propping her legs up onto the table. Adagio sighed in annoyance, “Of course, but the question is how to get the jobs. We have no identification and no way of getting identification. If you haven’t noticed, we don’t technically exist.” “Well then, why don’t we steal some IDs and change them?” “And risk getting thrown in jail? No way!” “Well, what other options do you have in that big head of yours?” Sonata stepped in and spoke up, “Aria, Adagio is thinking, okay? She’ll come up with something, but we’ve had a rough day.” “Oh, please, we know what we need to do. She’s just too scared to do it,” Aria replied. “Aria, you know that’s not true. She’s trying to look out for us. I mean, even if she did basically say not to worry about the Rainbooms, and that’s why we were defeated, she still tried her best to make us succeed,” Sonata stated, not thinking of what might come of what she said. Aria immediately glared at Adagio. “She’s right, you did tell us that that girl was going to handle it for us. She dropped them under the stage, but they obviously didn’t stay there, and they broke our amulets.” Adagio turned around and glared back. “So I miscalculated a bit. It’s not like I could predict that they would be able to get out.” Sonata looked between the two and looked down slightly. “Oh, sorry. I messed up, didn’t I?” “No, dipshit, you were actually smart for once and showed us why we failed: incompetent leaders.” “Incompetent! I’ve done so much for us. How can you possibly say I’m incompetent?” Adagio exclaimed, standing from the couch. “The proof is right in front of us! If you had actually dealt with those girls, we would probably be back in Equestria!” Aria also stood up, and they glared at each other from across the room. “What did you want me to do? Have them killed? We’re trying to get back to Equestria, not into a jail. Killing someone isn’t what I had in mind.” “Girls, please, there’s no need to fight. We all made mistakes, okay?” Sonata tried to settle the situation, though it was becoming clear that that wasn’t going to be easy. “I’m not saying kill them, just get rid of them somehow, or at least that mutt of theirs. They should have been our first targets, not our last.” Aria completely ignored Sonata, and it seemed Adagio did too. “We didn’t know they were going to be that big of a threat until that pathetic display at the auditions, and at that point, we thought we were too powerful for them to really be a threat,” Adagio explained, or at least tried to. “You thought we were strong enough not to care about them, we just went along with what you said,” Aria retorted. Adagio groaned, “So, you’re telling me you’d rather take care of the group, make all the decisions, all of the hard choices, the choices that could very well mean life or death for us? Just because I made a mistake? A big one, sure, but a mistake, nonetheless.” “I’m saying you never deserved to be our leader in the first place.” “I don’t need this right now. If you want it so badly, then fine, but I’m not going to sink with you,” Adagio growled. She grabbed her jacket, making her way towards the door. “And good riddance to you,” Aria said. She then looked to Sonata. “And who are you going to side with?” Sonata looked between Aria in the kitchenette, looking just as angry as she always does, and Adagio at the door, looking angry but also a bit hurt. It wasn’t really a hard choice. Adagio was always nicer and more caring then Aria, and especially now, it looked like Adagio might need help, considering this would be the first time in their history together this has happened. Sonata looked back at Aria. “I’m sorry, Aria, I have to pick Adagio…” With that, she grabbed her jacket and walked over to Adagio at the door. Together, they walked out into the night. “Fine! See if I care! I’ll do a lot better without you two slowing me down!” Aria screamed at them, even though she knew they weren’t really listening. She growled and kicked one of the chairs. This is not how any of them expected this night to go. Author's Note And off we trot on our next exciting adventure! Lets see what happens shall we?
The Night (Edited)Adagio and Sonata walked through the streets. As far as Sonata knew, they had nowhere to go. It was dark and late. The only reason Sonata actually felt safe was because she had Adagio with her. She never let the group down before, and Sonata knew she wasn’t going to let them down again, but at the same time, she was fully aware of what just happened between the three girls. They had split up. In their over-a-thousand years of life, they have always been together through thick and thin. But now, they were broken up, and that concerned her to no end. But right now, that wasn’t what she was worried about. She was more worried about Adagio, who was, at this moment, trying to stop herself from crying, though she was failing at it. She wasn’t crying outright, but Sonata heard sniffling, and Adagio constantly put her hand to her face, presumably wiping away a few tears. Sonata wasn’t the smartest person, but she knew when her sister needed her, and this was one of those times, though she didn’t know what to say. So she said the only thing she could think to say. “It’s not your fault, Dagi.” Adagio stopped. Without turning, she spoke with a sad yet angry tone, “How is it not my fault?” “Aria lets her emotions get the better of her. You know that. She’ll get over it. I bet she’s regretting it already.” Adagio spun around. There were more than just a few tears in her eyes. “But she’s right. I screwed up, and because of that, we lost the only things that could’ve helped us get home!” “That doesn’t matter, Dagi. As long as we’re together, we’ll survive. We might have to work harder, but who cares?” “That’s not the point, Sonata.” Adagio looked like she wanted to say more, but she didn’t. She just turned around and started walking away. Sonata, however, wasn’t going to let her leave it at that. She rushed forward, caught up with Adagio, and turned her around. “Then what is the point, Adagio? Why beat yourself up over this?” “The point is that I failed you girls. Even if this wasn’t my fault, I let you girls down by leading us to that disaster of a concert. I don’t deserve to be with you girls. You’d be a lot better off if I just left.” The next thing she felt was Sonata’s hand on her face as she slapped her. While light, as Sonata was never the strongest, it still stung and was quite a shock to Adagio. “Don’t say that Adagio. We need you, both of us. What’s more is that we love you. Even if Aria is mad at you, I know for a fact she loves you, and we always will, through thick and thin, even if you screw up.” “You really mean that?” “Of course, Dagi.” Sonata went and hugged Adagio, which, to Sonata’s relief, was accepted and returned. As they parted, Sonata was pleased to see Adagio smiling. Adagio motioned with her head to continue walking, which they both started doing. Though, as they began walking, Sonata couldn’t help but wonder where they were going, so she decided to ask. “Well, you remember The Changelings?” Adagio asked as they walked. “Yea? We worked with them a while ago, what about them?” Sonata answered. “We’re going to talk to them. Hopefully, they’ll help, I know they usually have a few members around here.” Sonata paused a moment. “Wait. Didn’t we get their leader locked up?” “Damn, that’s right…. This could be a lot more dangerous than I first thought. Okay, when we find them, you’ll hide, just in case. Let me do all the talking, okay?” “Are you sure, Dagi?” “No, but it’s the only plan I can come up with.” “Well, alright. Let's go.” Adagio strode into dimly-lit alleyway with an air of haughtiness. Of course, she was nervous, but being the siren she was, even if she didn’t have her powers, she had to maintain a certain image. They all had an image. Adagio always had a ‘more important than you’ attitude in public, Aria was constantly cynical, and Sonata was the nice, ditzy one. Together, they were almost guaranteed to get some sort of reaction that they could use to their advantage from whomever they encountered. Of course, she wasn’t with her two sisters. She wasn’t even with one of them, which just made her more on edge. Ahead of her were two men. They each wore black leather jackets, making them almost look like one of those greasers one would see in an old movie. These men, however, were no greasers. They were members of The Changelings, one of the more infamous gangs in Canterlot. The Dazzlings ran with them a while ago. The gang provided them with protection and a lovely source of hate for them to feed on, and only in exchange for some simple information on where to get money, drugs, and other things of that nature. After refusing to provide any more protection, the Dazzlings gave them some false information, leading to their leader Chrysalis to be arrested. Hopefully they didn’t make the connection and thought it was just a fluke. “Hello, boys. Lovely night, isn’t it.” She asked as she stopped in front of them. They turned and looked at her. They looked angry, confused, and surprised all at once. They obviously never expected her to show her face to them ever again. “You have a lot of nerve coming here, Adagio Dazzle,” One of the men said. Just as she feared, they knew she was behind their leader being arrested. But she couldn’t back down now. She had to try. “I assure you I have no idea wha--“ They cut her off. “Shut up with that. We know what you girls did.” “And what is it that you say we did?” She hoped they didn’t hear the fear in her voice. “You got the Boss arrested. Spent a couple months in jail. Don’t know what happened, but she got out, and she wants you girls dead.” Adagio took a step back, her eyes widening. “D-dead?” She had to run, had to get out of there. She turned to run, only to slam into the second Changeling. She had no idea how he got behind her, but she didn’t have time to ask. He grabbed her and tossed her to the side. She slammed into a dumpster. She grunted and tried to push herself up but was met with a swift kick to the gut. She fell flat on her stomach again, before trying to shift so she could sit up. Surprisingly, they let her do this, and she soon found out why. She looked up in time to see the thugs pull out handguns from their jackets. Her eyes widened and she tried to get out of the line of fire, but they were too fast. Two loud booms, in succession, escaped from the alley. Sonata didn’t think this plan was the best idea. Adagio herself said it was going to be dangerous. But Adagio was the smartest one of them. If anyone could pull this off, it was her. Though, that didn’t mean she was any less nervous. She knew anything could happen and feared that it would. She decided that thinking about it would only make her do something stupid, so she thought of something else, namely how to get them all back together. She supposed the only real way of getting them back together would be to put them in a room together and talk out their problems. Though, maybe if she went back and talked to Aria herself, she’d be able to talk some sense into her. No that won’t work. She’d only yell at me, She thought to herself. Not to mention that she couldn’t leave Adagio. Though she seemed fine after their talk earlier, she still was in a fragile state. Two loud booms, in succession, escaped from the alley. Sonata jumped from the loud sounds. She knew where it came from: the same alley Adagio walked down minutes before. She didn’t even think as she got up from the bench she was sitting at and ran full speed the block and a half the alley was from her. She nearly tripped as she slid to turn into the alley. To her horror, she saw a body leaning against a dumpster about halfway down the alley. She rushed into the alley, her mind racing, begging whoever ruled this universe to let her sister be alive. “Dagi, please be alive, please.” She fell to her knees once she got to the body. Adagio’s body was getting bloodier by the second, the cause being two holes, one in her gut the other in her upper chest. As she looked over the wounds, she was relieved to see her chest still moving. “Sonata? Get out of here, now.” She was alive! Barely, but still alive. “Come on Dagi we have to get you help.” Adagio coughed up blood. “Get out of here, Sonata. Go back to Aria, now.” “I’m not leaving you, Adagio. You're coming with me.” Adagio raised an arm to hug Sonata, who accepted it, hugging back, “Go back to Aria, Sonata. Everything is gonna be okay. I love you.” “I-I love you to, Dagi.” Sonata felt Adagio’s skin go cold, her life drained away from her. She stood up, not knowing what to do. Her brain was still trying to process everything. The only thing that stood out was Adagio’s final wish to go back to Aria. So that’s what she did. She ran out of the alley, not wanting to leave her sister but not being able to bring her with her. She nearly collided with a woman who was about to check out what happened. She ran past her, not even hearing the woman call for her to stop. Ever since Adagio and Sonata left, Aria knew she messed up. Oh, she was still mad at them, of course, though as the night wore on, that anger ebbed away, leading to another sort of anger. She was mad at herself for yelling at them, forcing them to leave. More importantly, she was mad that she blamed Adagio for everything. Maybe it was her fault, maybe it was her own fault. Who cares, as long as they were still sisters? It didn’t help that the past half-hour she had a terrible feeling in her gut, like something bad happened. She guessed it was just guilt. She kept thinking about how to make things right but realized that unless they came home the next day, she wouldn’t be able to say anything. So she’d have to look for them. She hated being alone, especially at night. Something about the night always ached her. Everything bad happened at night, and usually to those who were alone. She got up from the kitchen table and went over to the couch. Might as well sleep if there was nothing else to do but wallow in her own self-hatred. As soon as her body hit the couch, she heard the door slam open. Startled, she jumped up and looked to see who it was. “Sonata?” She looked disheveled and almost broken, the color drained from her skin. Aria went around the couch to go over to her. Aria began to look at the rest of Sonata’s body, specifically her clothes, which were covered in blood. “Is that blood, Sonata. Where is Adagio?” She received no answer. Sonata looked like she hadn’t even registered that a question was asked. Aria put her hands on Sonata’s shoulders. This seemed to get a response. Sonata looked up to Aria’s face. Their eyes met. “Sonata, where is Adagio?” Instead of answering, Sonata just fell to the floor, sobbing. Aria did the only she could think of to do: She went down and hugged the sobbing Sonata. She didn’t know what happened, but she did know one thing: Adagio wasn’t coming home.
The Fear (Edited)Sunset and her friends walked into Canterlot High after seeing Twilight off. It was somewhat sad to see her go again, but it wasn’t like she could just stay there; she was needed elsewhere. The group had decided to do the sendoff before school started so they wouldn’t miss any classes, though as they walked in and heard the bell ring, they knew they didn’t have the luxury of putting books in their lockers. After a couple quick “see ya at lunch”s they separated and went to their different classes. Sunset walked down the empty hallways. She still felt a lot safer without anyone in them to judge her. She may have help saved the school a couple of days ago, but that didn’t automatically mean everyone liked her. She had gotten nasty looks and whatnot while walking in the hallway and outside of school too. It still stung, even if she was feeling better about herself. So walking in the halls alone was her preferred option. What she didn’t prefer though was her first class: Math. The morning classes had come and gone, and Sunset was more than happy to head into the cafeteria for lunch. As expected, Math and English were boring, though they were easy for her. Well, at least the former was easy. Coming from Equestria meant that Sunset essentially had to relearn the way she wrote, and while she had done so, it still wasn’t close to what most students her age could do. She could at least speak the language, and that was all she really needed in her opinion. Then she had Criminal Justice and Biology. Both were very helpful for her understanding the world she found herself in, though that was when she first came to this world. Now, though, she just was interested in studying them. Her Biology teacher was especially nice today and let them leave ten minutes early, so Sunset was one of the first people to get into the cafeteria. She walked in to find a handful of students strewn about. That was unsurprising; some people had a free period before lunch, most commonly referred to by both students and staff alike as ‘Double Lunch.’ Sunset couldn’t help but wince as she felt eyes on her. She couldn’t help but glance around the room to see where it was coming from. As her eyes scanned the room, she saw it was Lyra and Bon Bon looking at her… and talking. She sighed. She thought those two would be one of the first people to be nice to her, but apparently they were still talking about her. Oh well. She sat down at the table her friends usually sat at and rested her head on her hand, waiting for the bell to ring and for Fluttershy to come with the money for lunch. As she sat there, she noticed Lyra and Bon Bon get up and begin walking towards her. She wasn’t sure why, but she had a feeling it wasn’t for anything nice. “Hey, Sunset, can we talk to you a second?” Lyra asked as they stepped forward. Her voice was concerned, not what Sunset had expected. “Uh, yeah, sure. What’s up?” she replied. “Well, you know the sirens, right?” Bon Bon asked. “Well, I mean, yeah. Can’t exactly forget them, right?” “Um… Well, Bon Bon’s mom found a couple of them.” “Oh, that’s great. I never got to talk to them really after the Battle of the Bands. If I deserve a second chance, then they do, too, right?” “Well… maybe not.” Bon Bon said, looking at Lyra sadly. “You see, well… One of them is, well… dead,” Lyra finished for Bon Bon. Sunset’s eyes widened, and her face lost a shade or two of color. “W-what? You can’t be serious.” “That’s not all. My mom also saw another one of them running away. She was covered in blood. My mom tried to stop her but she ran like nobody’s business,” Bon Bon explained. “You guys can’t be serious. This is a joke, right? If it is, it isn’t funny.” Sunset crossed her arms. “It’s not a joke, Sunset. We think the one that ran away killed the other. My mom called the cops when she saw the body.” Sunset lowered her arms and look down at the table. “Wow, you’re serious. This is pretty heavy… Thanks for telling me, girls. I’ll let the others know. Hopefully, we can find out where the other two went, try to figure out what happened.” “Are you sure you should get involved, Sunset? If the one killed the other, she could still be dangerous,” Lyra pointed out. “Yeah, but it could also mean one of them is being held against her will. She’s probably really scared, and we have to help her. We might not like them, but no one should have that happen to them.” “Alright,” Lyra said. “Stay safe,” Bon Bon added. The two started walking back to their table. “See ya,” Sunset said. As the two left, the bell rang. It wasn’t too long before the cafeteria started to fill with students. Sunset glanced around and shrunk down a bit. She was scared, but she was also thinking about what was just brought to her attention. There’s too many people here for me to tell the girls without someone else hearing about it, she thought to herself. Though, that is assuming no one else knows about it already. Better to play it safe than sorry, though. Sunset waved to her friends as she saw them enter the room. They all seemed happy and talkative. There was no reason to ruin their day by telling them just yet. There wasn’t much any of them could do right then anyway. They were in school, and it was only lunch time. She’d tell them on their way to Sugarcube Corner after school. Sunset exited the school with Fluttershy and headed towards the statue to wait for the others. The rest of her day was pretty boring, all things considered. History went by with a bit of annoyance, as Rainbow used her head as paper football target practice, but that was about all she could complain about. Fluttershy sat down next to the statue, while Sunset leaned against it, standing up. “So, we’re going to the therapist tomorrow after school, right, ‘Shy?” Sunset asked. “A little bit after, actually; Mom set the appointment for five. She gets out of work at four and has to drive here to pick us up.” Sunset tilted her head. “Oh? Why does she need to pick us up? Isn’t the therapist in town?” “Well, she’s lives on the mountain on the other side of town, so it’d be easier for her to drive,” Fluttershy answered plainly. Had Fluttershy not been looking at a few papers at that moment, she would have seen Sunset’s eyes widen. Sunset was internally shaking at the mere thought of having to go somewhere that high up. She never had gone up to the houses on the mountain, but she heard stories of how steep some of the cliffs were. She was suddenly rethinking most of her life choices, including agreeing to going to a therapist. “O-oh, uh… alright,” she finally answered shakily. “Sunset, are you o--Oh, hey, girls.” Fluttershy’s question was interrupted as she greeted the four girls walking out of the school. Rarity and Rainbow Dash both responded how they would normally respond, while Pinkie and Applejack seemed too busy in their own conversation that they didn’t even hear Fluttershy. “What are they arguing about this time?” Sunset asked Rarity. The four girls entering the scene helped her mind get off of the previous conversation. The purple haired girl rolled her eyes as she answered, “Believe it or not, Applejack owes Pinkie money now.” Sunset raised an eyebrow and glanced at the two arguing girls, listening in. “Come on, Pinkie, you know Ah don’t have a lot of money. Whatcha’ say to a case of cider instead?” The blond farm girl practically begged. Pinkie took a moment to think before she answered. “What type of cider?” “What type of… Pinkie! You know I can’t give you any of our hard stuff! That’s illegal.” “No, no, I’m talking about the new flavors you’re testing.” Pinkie winked. Applejack’s eyes widened, and she put a hand to Pinkie’s mouth. “How do ya know about that? It’s a secret!” she demanded, though it quickly turned into a groan as Pinkie started talking through her hand. She lowered her hand as Pinkie continued to speak. “…and then he threw a coconut, which fell from a spruce tree…” Applejack covered her mouth again and rubbed one of her temples with her free hand. “What flavor?” she asked, giving in, making sure to uncover Pinkie’s mouth before she answered through her hand again. “Cranberry Apple!” Pinkie answered happily. Applejack audibly sighed. “Oh, Ah thought ya wanted one of the harder-ta-make ones.” “Nope! Cranberry Apple!” “Well, okay, Ah’ll have it for ya as soon as Ah can.” “Okie dokie lokie!” “Well, if we’re done here, why don’t we head to Sugarcube corner?” Rarity asked. Everyone answered in the affirmative, and they started off. About halfway through their journey, Sunset decided it would probably be a good idea to tell the others about what she heard. “Hey, girls? I think I should tell you something.” She was at the front of the pack of girls, so she turned around to see them. They all looked up at her, waiting to hear what she had to say. “Lyra and Bon Bon talked to me in the cafeteria before lunch. They told me Bon Bon’s mom found two of the Dazzlings.” “Really?” The other girls replied nearly in unison, though they all had their own tones in how they said it. Fluttershy had a rather hopeful tone, while Rarity’s seemed to be more of curiosity. Rainbow and Applejack’s tone seemed to have a hint of anger. Sunset knew they didn’t hate the Dazzlings, but she understood the two girls being angry at the sirens. She was a bit, too, even now. “Yeah, but there’s a problem, though,” Sunset continued. “Hm?” they all said in unison again. “Okay, we gotta stop doing that; it’s creepy,” Rainbow said, looking at the others. “One of them is dead.” Sunset winced as she said it. “What?!” They said unison yet again this time in shock. “That’s not all,” Sunset said as they continued walking. “They also said that they think it was one of the other two who did it. Bon Bon’s mom saw one run away covered in blood.” “Really?” Fluttershy squeaked. The others seemed too shocked to really reply themselves. “I don’t know if it’s true or not, but we should probably look for them. If anything, at least one of them must be terrified. For all we know, what they said is true, and one of them is holding the other against her will.” “I don’t know, Sunset. This is pretty big, I mean, we’re awesome and all but dealing with murder… That’s not exactly our job,” Rainbow said. “But Sunset is right, Rainbow. If we don’t help them, they might get inta some serious trouble.” Applejack exclaimed. “I have to agree with Applejack, darling. They may have been our enemies, but they deserve a second chance. Their fashion sense is also fairly nice, too. I’ll want to talk to them about that. It’ll be a good icebreaker,” Rarity added. “Thanks, girls, I know we don’t have the best past but we have to try to HELP!” Sunset said, yelping as the left side of her foot dropped, causing her to tumble to the left. She was saved from falling fully by a railing… of a bridge… over a river. Sunset was now facing directly down a fifty-foot drop. Her pupils shrank to pinpricks as she gave a small squeak, pushing herself backwards and falling to the ground, her back against the concrete barrier that separates pedestrians from cars. She was visibly shaking, and her breath was becoming erratic. She didn’t even notice when Fluttershy and the others knelt by her, trying to find out what was wrong. All she saw was her attempted suicide play over and over in her head. Eventually, after a few seconds, it was too much for her, and her brain shut down. She fainted. Sunset slowly opened her eyes. She was prepared for the blinding light of the sun, so she was very surprised, though not disappointed, to discover that what greeted her was darkness. She groaned and sat up, realizing that she was lying down. The last thing she remembered was sitting on the sidewalk after... She shuddered, not even attempting to think of that. She glanced around the dark room. Through the darkness, she could make out that this was Fluttershy’s room. It was also her own room, since she moved in with her, but she never could call it her room. “Fluttershy?” she called out softly. She heard a small gasp, and a shadowy figure vaguely shaped like Fluttershy stood up from the floor. “Sunset, you’re awake!” she said. The figure moved over to the light switch and flipped it, bathing the room in light. This, of course, caused Sunset to shield her eyes for a moment as they adjusted. Once they did, she was able to tell the figure was indeed Fluttershy. Fluttershy rushed over to Sunset and hugged her, which Sunset gladly accepted. It usually made her feel better, and this was no exception. “We were so worried about you, Sunset.” “I’m sorry, Fluttershy. What time is it?” “It’s about ten o’clock.” “I’ve been out that long?” “Yeah. What happened, Sunset? You kind of, well… freaked out and wouldn’t respond.” “I--Well, I got flashbacks, back to… you know.” She shuddered. “Oh! I’m so sorry, Sunset. I understand… kind of… it’s heights, isn’t it?” “Yeah…” “Come on, why don’t we go downstairs and get some hot chocolate?” Sunset smiled and giggled slightly. “Yeah, I think I’d like that.” The two made their way out of the room and downstairs. They had to be quiet, as Fluttershy’s mom was sleeping. Though, as they got to the bottom of the stairs, their efforts proved to be futile, as the doorbell rang. Fluttershy looked to Sunset, who just shrugged. “Who would be coming here at this hour?” Fluttershy asked. “Maybe one of the girls? They were worried about me, too, I assume.” “Well, yes, but they would have texted me if they were coming over.” “Well, only one way to find out, really.” Sunset went over to the door. She was slightly nervous about who was on the other side but decided it was better to get it over with. She opened the door and gasped slightly as she saw Aria and Sonata standing on the porch.
A Night Visit (Edited)Sunset and Fluttershy just stared at the two girls standing on the porch. Aria looked nervous, glancing at the street as if she were expecting something to come out of nowhere. Though, if the rumor the two girls heard was true, then it could be the police looking for them. Sonata, on the other hand, seemed darker. She had her arms crossed, and her face held a scowl that was very unnatural for who they remembered as a naturally happy and ditzy girl. It seemed to them like the sisters almost-- “Are you going to talk to us, or are you just going to stand there and stare?” Sonata asked, sounding a bit annoyed. Fluttershy let out a small squeak before answering, “Oh, I’m sorry. Uh, how can we help you?” “Well, you see, we, well…” Aria glanced down the street again. “Can we come in?” Sonata griped again, though she seemed to be slightly more annoyed. “Come on, it’s freezing out here,” she added. She was telling the truth; it was about forty degrees outside. “Oh, I’m sorry. Yes, come in, please,” Fluttershy said as she and Sunset moved back to allow the two Dazzlings to walk into the house. Sunset knew for a fact something was up; they were acting odd. Fluttershy led them into the kitchen, while Sunset brought up the rear, closing the door after them. “Can I get you girls anything?” Fluttershy asked the two. Aria sat down at the table, while Sonata just leaned on one of the counters. “No, thanks,” Aria said, putting her head in her hands and sighing audibly. Fluttershy nodded and looked to Sonata for her answer. “Water.” Fluttershy nodded, went over to one of the cabinets and grabbed a glass. She went over to the water dispenser in her fridge and filled the glass with water. All the while, everyone else in the room was quiet. Sunset figured they were lost in their own thoughts as she herself was. As Fluttershy gave the glass to Sonata, Sunset decided to speak up. “Fluttershy, can we talk in the living room a minute?” “Uh, yeah, sure. Do you girls need anything else?” Fluttershy asked, turning to Aria. “No, we’re okay for right now. We’ll talk when you come back in.” “Alright.” With that, Fluttershy and Sunset walked into the next room. When Sunset was sure that the two Sirens weren’t going to hear, she turned and whispered to Fluttershy, “Okay, what’s going on with them?” “I don’t know. They’re different, I know that. But it’s like they’ve switched roles or something,” Fluttershy replied in almost her normal speaking voice, which, admittedly, was almost anyone else’s normal whispering voice. “Yeah, wasn’t Aria supposed to be the mean one?” “I think so, and I remember Sonata being nicer. What happened?” “Well, I mean, I guess there’s only one way to find out.” “Girls?” came a new voice from the stairs. They turned and saw Fluttershy’s mother Daisy coming down the stairs. “Oh, Mom, sorry to wake you,” Fluttershy said. “That’s okay, dear. Is everything alright? I heard the doorbell and you talking to someone in the kitchen.” “Oh, a couple of friends dropped by. They need advice on something,” Sunset answered. “At ten at night?” “It was important that they came to us now.” “Well, alright, I’ll trust you girls on this. I’ll be in my office if you need me.” With that, Daisy went into an adjacent room that served as her office. “Should we go back in now?” Fluttershy asked Sunset. Sunset sighed, though she smiled before answering, “It’s only fair that we do, right?” “Yeah, your right.” Fluttershy smiled back. They turned to the door and walked through to the kitchen. The two Sirens were about the way they left them; Aria was still sitting, and Sonata was still leaning on the counter, nursing the glass of water. “Took you two long enough!” Sonata exclaimed, both Fluttershy and Sunset wincing as she did so. “Sonata, please! We’re here to get their help, and they’re not going to want to help if you’re mean to them,” Aria piped up, turning to face Sonata. She then turned back to the two, saying, “Sorry about her. It’s been a hard few days.” “We heard some stuff. What exactly happened?” Sunset asked as she sat down in front of Aria. “I’m not a hundred percent sure, either. The night you guys defeated us, Adagio and I got into a fight. We said some things, and she decided to leave. Sonata went with her. What happened while they were out, I have no clue; Sonata hasn’t told me what happened. They were out for a bit, then Sonata runs back into our apartment crying her eyes out and covered in blood. She never said what happened, but I knew--I don’t know how, I just did--Adagio was–“ “Don’t say it!” Sonata hissed, cutting Aria off. “Sonata, they need to know what happened.” “Don’t!” Aria sighed, rubbing her temples before deciding to continue, “I knew that Adagio was dead.” The next thing the three girls heard was the sound of glass breaking. They gave a collective gasp and turned to see Sonata leaning on the counter, with her hand clenched into fists. Broken glass and water were on the floor below her, as well as some drops of blood that were dripping from her clenched hand. “Sonata!” Aria exclaimed as she got up and rushed over to her sister. Sonata had her eyes closed, tears were coming out of them, though she still looked angry, probably even angrier than before. Before Sunset or Fluttershy could say anything, Daisy came into the room. “Is everything alright? I heard glass break.” “Sonata’s glass broke in her hand. She’s bleeding,” Aria said, tearing up a bit. “Oh, my! That might be serious!” Daisy said, rushing over to the girl. “Here, let me see it, dear.” Sonata hesitated at the request. She opened her eyes and gazed at Aria, who nodded slightly. This was enough for Sonata to release her hand. A few shards of glass fell from it, though plenty of small shards were still embedded in her bleeding hand. “A-alright. J-just make it snappy, okay?” Sonata seemed to try to regain her air of bitterness, though, either because of the pain or her emotions, it was coming out half-heartedly. “Okay, dear, come with me into my office.” Daisy took Sonata by the wrist and brought her into the other room. “Is she going to be okay?” Aria asked, whiping loose tears from her eyes. Fluttershy smiled a bit and put a hand on Aria’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. She’s in the best hands she can be in; my mom’s a nurse.” “Everything is just getting worse and worse.” “It’s okay, Aria. We’re here to help. Speaking of which, why did you come to us in the first place?” Sunset asked, stepping forward. “We… The cops are looking for us to question us, specifically Sonata, about what happened.” “Why is that so bad, though? Don’t you girls have nothing to hide?” Fluttershy asked. Sunset shook her head sadly. “I understand. They can’t. They’re like me; they technically don’t exist to the government. If the police get them, they’ll be locked up for not being citizens,” Sunset explained while putting a hand on Aria’s shoulder. “Yeah, but even if we had all the proper papers and IDs, Sonata still refuses to talk about that night. They’d probably figure it was her and lock her up. I… I can’t lose her, too.” Aria wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “Hey, it’s alright. We’ll help you. I’m sure my mom will let you two stay here in the guest room.” Fluttershy smiled. “You will? After everything we did to you and your friends?” Aria looked up, confused, though still happy. “Of course. I got a second chance, so why shouldn’t you girls? Though, I wish we could have given that chance to all of you.” Sunset stood next to Fluttershy. Aria sighed. “I do too… Thank you both, this really means a lot to us. Hey, wait. If we’re getting the guest bedroom, where is Sunset sleeping?” “Oh, Sunset’s been sleeping in my room with me since she started living here,” Fluttershy explained. Aria blinked and looked as if she was putting two and two together before answering, “Honestly, I didn’t think you two were that type. I mean, I thought Sunset had a boyfriend before.” Fluttershy and Sunset’s eyes widened, and their cheeks turned red. Fluttershy even hid behind her hair, muttering something which Sunset heard as “Oh, my.” Sunset raised her hands and waved them, “No, no! Nothing like that! We’re not even dating! Right, Fluttershy?” “Y-yeah. I mean… we could… if you wanted, that is.” Fluttershy’s voice got quieter as the sentence went on, though how that was even possible was beyond Sunset’s ability to process at that point. “Can we not talk about this now, Fluttershy?” Sunset’s face turned an even deeper shade of red as she tried to make herself as small as possible. “Sorry,” Fluttershy squeaked. From her seat, Aria smirked a bit, trying hard not to giggle at all. “Alright, you two convinced me. You two aren’t at all in a relationship. My mistake. I’m going to go check on Sonata.” Aria then got up and walked out of the room towards the office. Fluttershy started to make her way there, too. “I should go, too, to ask mom about all this.” With that, Fluttershy walked out, leaving Sunset alone in the kitchen. Sunset shook her head slightly, coming out of her thoughts. She could think about that later. Besides, she probably heard wrong. Really, why would Fluttershy want to date her, anyway? She was a wreck of a girl. Depression, attempted suicide, self harm, PTSD, who would want someone with all that? No, Fluttershy wouldn’t want her as a girlfriend. She deserved better. Deciding she didn’t want to be useless at the moment, she set out to clean the remaining broken glass from the floor. It also gave her some time to think about all that’s happened that night, as well as what happened during the day. Unfortunately, it also gave her time to mull over what Fluttershy said and contemplate how unworthy she was of being Fluttershy’s girlfriend. She hated when she had time to think.
A Warm Reception (Edited)The two Dazzlings followed behind Sunset and Fluttershy as they walked to school. They all walked in silence after the small argument they had a half-hour before. Sunset and Fluttershy didn’t think that the Dazzlings should go to school due to the rumors and the Battle of the Bands; the students probably wouldn’t have the best reactions to them. Aria agreed that they should probably stay hidden at least for a while and tried to explain that to Sonata. Sonata, however, calmly explained to them that she didn’t care what the students thought and that if any of them tried to accuse her of killing Adagio she’d rip out their throats. Well, okay, it was calm until that last part, when she looked like she was about to snap like the night before. Thankfully, no glass was broken and no more bandages had to be put on the girl. After that, they all agreed it’d be in their best interest to let Sonata and Aria go to school, albeit while keeping a close eye on the former. A couple of them had their minds on other things, however, namely Sunset and Aria. Sunset barely got any sleep last night with all the thoughts going through her head. She tried to think about things logically, but just as that failed in the past, it quickly failed here. No matter how she approached it, she didn’t think she was worthy of being Fluttershy’s girlfriend. Yet Fluttershy was willing and even seemed like she wanted to be, but why? Did Fluttershy still see her as broken? Was she still broken? Probably. But is that why Fluttershy is caring for her and even wants to date? No, that can’t be; that’d be like Fluttershy dating one of her animal friends when they broke their leg, right? Ugh! Why can’t this be simple? She thought as her mind kept trying to understand. Aria, on the other hand, was trying to figure out just what happened the other night. She couldn’t stop thinking about it. Whatever it was, it left her without a sister and Sonata a mess. She figured it had to be one of their former enemies; they made quite a few of over the years. None of them, however, were around anymore, she thought. Then, of course, there was the bigger issue: Sonata. Aria loved her and all, but Sonata was acting like… well, like she herself used to act. She honestly wished Sonata would just talk to her; she wanted to know what happened, if for no other reason than to help Sonata. Maybe I’ll try again later. She has to tell me at some point, she thought to herself as they neared the school. Fluttershy glanced behind her to address the Dazzlings. “Now, girls, if anything happens, go to our friends. They’ll help you with whatever it is.” “Don’t they hate us?” Aria asked. Sunset winced at the way she said it like she was both expecting it and fearing it at the same time. "No, none of us hate you for what you girls did. They might not like you girls too much, but they don't hate you. I know as much as anyone that they'll give you a second chance. Though, it might take a bit," Sunset assured them. "If you say so," Sonata said, shrugging. She really didn't want to go to school, but in her head, it was the safest place to be, considering who was after them. Chrysalis' thugs were all in college or older if she remembered correctly. She doubted they could get into the school unnoticed. "Aria, you and I should have a talk with Principal Celestia. She should know the situation at least a bit," Sunset said, looking to the girl as they entered the school. "Um, I don't want to leave Sonata alone, if that's okay." "I'll wait outside with her. Don't worry," Fluttershy said, smiling. Aria looked to Sonata for some sort of response. She received a noncommittal shrug. Aria sighed and agreed to the terms. The hallways were, as always, filled with students. While it wasn't an all-out dead stop as the four girls entered the hallway, many glanced in their direction, and a few gave some glares, both at the Dazzlings and a very slight few at Sunset as well. Sunset froze. While most of the glares she saw weren't directed at her, she just saw the eyes. Her heart rate quickened, and her breathing started to become erratic. She closed her eyes tightly as she felt the walls close in on her. “Sunset, calm down, please. I’m here for you,” she heard Fluttershy say. She opened her eyes to see that the ‘walls’ that were closing in on her was Fluttershy pulling her into a hug. She slowly wrapped her arms around the pink-haired girl and sighed, her anxiety slowly drifting away. “Is she okay?” Aria asked from behind them, sounding a bit concerned. Fluttershy looked over Sunset’s shoulder to the two and whispered her response, to hopefully avoid any listening ears. “Sunset has panic attacks from time to time. It’s usually when a lot of people are looking at her.” “I think they were glaring at us,” Sonata said. Aria sighed and looked at her sister. “She’s between us and them. It would still feel the same.” “I’m still here you know,” Sunset remarked. “Heh, sorry.” “It’s okay. I’m sorry about that,” Sunset said, sighing as she hesitantly let go of Fluttershy. Fluttershy gave her a little smile before looking to the two Dazzlings. “We should probably get to the principal’s office; school is gonna be starting soon.” With that, the group walked to the main office near the cafeteria. They received a couple more glares as they walked, but with Fluttershy there to support her, Sunset was able to keep her anxiety together for the most part. They knocked on the door and stepped back. Soon, the door opened for them. “Yes?” Principal Celestia asked. She looked at the group of girls at her door and gave a little sigh, knowing it wasn’t going to be anything good, though she never lost her warm smile. “Principal Celestia?” Sunset started, “Can we come in and talk to you about something. It’s kinda important.” “Of course, Sunset. Please, come in.” Celestia motioned for them to come in as she went back into her office. Sunset and Aria walked into the office, while Sonata and Fluttershy sat down on the bench outside. Aria closed the door after entering the office. She turned to sit down in the chair next to Sunset and across from Celestia. The older woman stacked some loose papers on her desk before looking to the girls. “So what did you need to talk to me about, dears?” “Well, Principal Celestia, we kind of have some bad news,” Sunset started. She looked to Aria to explain further. Aria took a deep breath and explained. “A few days ago, right after the Battle of the Bands, Adagio and I got into a fight. She and Sonata left our apartment to go look for another place to live. Sonata came back an hour later c-covered in blood. A-Adagio is gone…” Aria choked out the last part of the explanation, it becoming ever so harder to relive the events of that night. Celestia’s eyes widened and she put a hand to her mouth. “I’m so sorry to hear, sweetie, but why didn’t you call the police?” “Because we’re from Sunset’s world remember? We don’t have any legal documents, and they’re already after us because someone saw Sonata with blood on her and thought she did it.” “Oh, that’s right. Well… I’m sorry for your loss, but I’m not exactly sure what you want me to do.” “We want you to let them keep going to school here and help us if anyone tries to confront Sonata about it. She’s been having a hard time mourning, and to be accused of murder…” Sunset trailed off, not needing to say more. “I understand." Celestia looked to Aria. “How are you coping with this, dear?” “I-I’m not, not yet… I don’t even know what happened; Sonata hasn’t told me anything about it yet.” “I see. Well, if you need to talk to anyone, our doors are always open. But I think with the friends you’ve chosen, you might not need to come to us.” Celestia gave a little smile. “Oh, Principal Celestia, one more thing,” Sunset chimed in. “Yes, Sunset?” “I’m not sure what their school schedules are like, but is there any way they can be adjusted to have at least one of my friends in their classes? That might be a lot to ask for, but we want to help them as much as we can, and we can’t exactly do that if we’re not in their classes.” “Don’t worry, Sunset, I never had a chance to finalize their schedules when they first arrived due to the preparations for the Battle of the Bands. They can accompany you to all of your classes if you wish, or they can go with any of your other friends, or whatever situation works for now. You can let me know so I can finalize it.” “Thank you, Principal Celestia. You don’t know how much this means to us,” Aria said to the older woman as she and Sunset stood up. Celestia got up and went around to open the door. Before they left the office, however, Celestia pulled Aria into a hug. “I don’t know what it’s like, but I feel for you. I couldn’t imagine losing my sister.” “Thank you. Hopefully, you never need to know how it feels.” Aria gave her a small smile. Usually, she didn’t like hugs, but with everything that’s happened, she welcomed it. The two girls left the office and made their ways towards the first class as Fluttershy and Sonata joined them. They all had a feeling that today wasn’t going to be a great day, but at least it started out okay.
Rough Start (Edited)Fluttershy and Sonata rejoined Aria and Sunset as they left Principal Celestia’s office. The former two were silent, and Sunset wondered if they even said anything to each other while she and Aria were inside. Though, knowing Fluttershy, she probably tried, at least. “So, what did Celestia say?” Fluttershy asked as she walked beside Sunset, closer than normal, though Sunset wondered if that was her imagination or if Fluttershy was doing that because of Sunset’s reaction to the glares earlier. Maybe a bit of both. She dropped her voice to reply, not wanting anyone besides them to hear. “She said she would be here for Sonata and Aria and that they can go to any of our classes with us. That just leaves us with the question of whose class they're going to go to.” “Do you girls have any preferences?” Fluttershy glanced back towards the two sisters. Sonata just gave them a shrug. “The thing is, we haven’t really been to a school in a good few years,” Aria explained. “So, I guess whatever you two decide.” “I think you two should go with Sunset. Unless you’re interested in sewing or animal sciences,” Fluttershy stated. “Hmm, I don’t think that would be either of our thing,” Aria answered. Fluttershy nodded, looking back to Sunset, “I guess they’ll go with you until lunch?” “I guess. My classes are all general education classes anyway, so it might benefit you girls to go to them.” “Are you calling us stupid?” Sonata snapped. “No, no. I’m just saying that I’m not sure how much education you got about this world, and my classes could help you better understand the world.” Aria put a hand on Sonata’s shoulder. “You know she didn’t mean it like that.” Sonata just replied with a ‘Hmph’ and continued walking. They continued on in silence before they had to split up. Fluttershy gave Sunset a smile and a hug. “Remember that Rainbow is there for you if you need her, and be careful; some people might not like seeing Aria and Sonata back, especially if you're with them,” she said quietly. Sunset gladly accepted and returned the hug. “I know. I just hope people aren’t too hard on them. They’ve been through enough.” “Yeah, hopefully they don’t have to go through any more. Anyway, I should get to class. Have a good day, and see you at lunch.” “You too, Fluttershy. See ya.” With that, Fluttershy left the three girls, and the two groups went off to go their respective classes. Sunset and her two companions were about to walk into their classroom before a voice stopped them. “Hey, you two.” The three girls turned around. Unsurprisingly, it was Lightning Dust. Sunset figured she would be one of the people most vocal about Aria and Sunset’s presence. Sunset instinctively stepped between Lightning and the two sisters. “What do you want, Lightning.” “Step aside, Sunshit. This doesn’t concern you.” “If you have a problem with them, then you have a problem with me.” By this point, a small group started to gather. Not good, Sunset thought. There were only a few people, but she already felt the eyes of a thousand people on her. Her breathing started to quicken a bit. “Fine by me, because I do have a problem with you. You think you can do whatever you want. You think we all forgot what you were, what you still are. But we didn’t, and you defending these two bitches proves it.” Sunset felt her knees weaken, but she stayed standing, though she did shy back. Lightning saw this and smirked as she took a step forward, looking to get into Sunset’s face. “Lightning, what the hell did I tell you about bullying my friends?” Sunset gave a small sigh of relief; Rainbow had come around the corner just in time to prevent Lightning from berating them more. Lightning gave a small growl before turning to look at Rainbow. “That only covered Sunshit. You can’t defend the other two, especially with what the blue one did.” “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, Lightning. Now get out of here before you do something you’ll regret.” Rainbow motioned for her to leave with a glare. Lightning glared back as she walked away. The crowd slowly dissipated as well, everyone going to their own classes. Sunset closed her eyes and took a deep breath, finally relaxing a bit. She flinched as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned her head to see Aria giving a small smile. “Thanks for sticking up for us, Sunset.” Sunset gave a small smile back. “Of course, Aria. I’m just glad Rainbow came when she did. I wasn’t going to last long.” “Hey, don’t sweat it, Sunset. Lightning knows better than to really do anything to you, and you know I’d never even let her do anything even if she was that stupid,” Rainbow added. “She’s a bitch,” Sonata stated plainly. The other three girls looked at her, each of them giving a small smirk or chuckle. “What? She is,” Sonata reaffirmed. This caused the three others laugh a bit, the tension and anxiety fading away by Sonata’s bluntness. Even Sonata seemed to get into it and smirked slightly, the first ounce of happiness either of the two sisters have had in a bit, all thanks to their new friends. The bell rang, signaling the beginning of class. They did have to explain to the teacher why there were suddenly two new students in his class. Though, after a quick explanation, they were allowed to join the class. The rest of the class was uneventful, some (Rainbow) might even say boring. Both sisters had a bit of a hard time with their work, especially the math, not having needed to do anything like it in a long time, but with Sunset’s and Rainbow’s help, they managed. English ended up being fairly quiet as well, though at this point, both Aria and Sonata would get the occasional glare or paper ball thrown at them, thought the paper balls soon changed to be aimed at just Aria, as Sonata made it quite clear that she wasn’t going to be having any of it. There were also a few notes passed to the girls and Sunset. Most of the notes made it to them easily enough and simply read ‘Bitch’ or ‘Monster’, though a couple read ‘Murderer’. Aria made sure to avoid letting Sonata know about any of them. However, it was not going to last. As Aria opened yet another piece of folded paper near the end of class, she was called out. “Miss Blaze, if you feel the need to pass notes with other students, then I’m sure you won’t mind sharing it with the rest of the class, hmm?” Mr. Doodle crossed his arms at her. “Are you serious?” Aria looked at the man, knowing what the note said. “I’m very serious, young lady. If it’s important enough to interrupt class, then you can read it in front of everyone.” “But--” “Now, Miss Blaze.” Mr. Doodle tapped his foot with an annoyed glare. Aria sighed and stood up. Already a few chuckles escaped from the classroom before she read, “You and Sonata are whores who should join their sister in hell… Heart, Sunset Shimmer…” Aria just barely managed to keep herself from tearing up as she went back to her seat. She knew the students would be harsh on them, but this was just a whole new level of cruelty. Judging by the snap of a pencil to her right, she knew Sonata probably wasn’t taking this well at all. Soon the whispers of the rest of the class started up. “That’s enough,” Mr. Doodle silenced the cacophony the best he could before continuing, “Miss Shimmer, report to the Vice Principal’s office immediately.” “But I didn’t write it!” Sunset tried to explain. “Just go Sunset. We’ll be okay,” Aria whispered to her. Sunset could have sworn she saw some built-up tears in her eyes, but Aria quickly blinked them away. “You know I didn’t do it, right?” “Of course, and I’m sure they'll know, too, but you shouldn’t get in any more trouble.” “Now, Miss Shimmer.” Sunset quietly nodded and headed out. At the very least, the sisters had copies of her schedule, so they knew where to go. But that didn’t help with all the bullies. Sunset figured it was one of Lightning’s goons, but she couldn’t understand why they were being so cruel. Yeah, they were cruel to her, but she deserved it. Stop thinking like that. You’re getting past that, she reminded herself. At any rate, this thinking wasn’t going to get her anywhere. She decided to just worry about whether Celestia told Luna about everything that's happened and hope Luna didn’t rip her a new one.
