Have you ever felt the cold embrace of death, the, the pure... Nothingness that envelops you, as you watch the world begin to dim and blur? As the darkness creeps up on you and the breath leaves your lungs? No? Well I have...

It starts out slow, like a roller-coaster, it takes a few seconds before you realize what's happening, but when you do, when you reach the top of the hill, that's when the ride starts. First come the questions, why me? Why now? Did I do something to deserve this? Did I make a difference in the world? Will anyone care?

Then come the memories, every good deed you've done, every sin you've committed, every laugh, every tear, every smile, every scream. It's true what they say, your life flashes before your eyes. And then? Well there is no then, only a cold embrace and then darkness. It's... Comforting if that makes sense, it's at that point that when you can barely see, hear, smell or feel... It's peaceful, and it makes you feel safe.

Yes, I've experienced death, and you know what? I'm glad I did.
Because I've never felt more alive.

Standing on stage with those who were once your enemies, yet now the only people you believe you can trust, is a strange feeling. One Sunset Shimmer knew all to well. Who would have thought that the Dazzlings of all people would have taken her in? Sure, it was rough at first, but can you name any kind of relationship that's not? Adagio had been snarky at first, Sonata silliness had been irritating and Aria had threatened her and the other sirens more times than she could ever hope to count, but after a while Sunset had realized that those were just their ways of showing her that they cared about her.

They had taken her in and treated her better than anyone else ever had. They had treated her like a friend, a sister even. They had treated her like family. And to tell the truth, the orphan honestly thought that of them as her family. She just connected with them better than she did the Rainbooms.

Speaking of the Rainbooms, the Crusaders had admitted to being Anon-a-miss about 3 weeks after the five of them had abandoned her. The Rainbooms then had to search high and low for her, she could still see their faces when they found her and apologized, only to get slapped across the face, well actually Sunset had broken Rainbow's nose and told her to take her apology and shove it where Princess Celestia's sun didn't shine.

Sorry, they were sorry? They expected that saying sorry would just instantly make everything ok again? 'Sorry?' Sunset thought as the song ended and the four of them walked off stage. 'Sorry doesn't turn back time.'

Sonata, noticing that Sunset had just stopped walking and was just standing in the middle of the hall with a distant look on her face, turned and walked up to her flame haired friend. 'No, she's not our friend,' the ,formerly, Faust had it been weird for the quartet of girls to wake up and find themselves with a snow white complexion, blue Siren thought to herself, 'she's our friend, she's our sister.' Waving a hand in front of the fiery girls eyes. "Sunny? Are you ok?"

Sunset didn't even notice the girl in front of her, even when she started snapping her fingers. 'Sorry doesn't dry tears, sorry doesn't heal wounds.'

Sonata's eyes briefly shot down and saw blood dripping from the fiery girl's hands. "Um, Sunny? You're cutting your self with your fingernails again...." When she didn't get a response the girl sighed and ran towards their dressing room.

'Even if sorry did heal wounds, it wouldn't matter in my case. Wounds might heal, but scars don't!' Sunset squeezed her eyes shut and began to cry. 'It's been what, a year since we saw that video, since the explosion, since we came to Remnant? I wish I could just forget about them, I hate them, so why can't I just for-' A sudden smack and a pain in her cheek snapped her out of it. "OW!" Sunset quickly fixed a glare at the Siren in front of her. "WHAT THE HELL was that for?" Seeing a first aid kit in the blue haired girl's hands made her anger die a quick, merciful death. "I did it again didn't I?" The ponytailed Siren just nodded and motioned for her to sit down.

An hour later the four were on a train headed towards the city of Vale, or more specifically, Beacon Academy, the combat school, on the cliff overlooking the city. The four of them couldn't remember exactly what happened after they saw that video, 'The Tale of the Four Maidens.' They heard a loud sound and felt a great force, with fire surrounding them before everything went black.

When they awoke they had remembered how to do things that they had never done before, Adagio had suggested that perhaps they were having memories of a past life. They remembered things like how to make weapons and how to fight, so after making a small fortune, who knew that a few songs could make you so rich, they decided that they might as well try it. And after a year had enrolled at the top combat school in the kingdom they had woken up in.

At the moment Sunset's bandaged hands were holding her scroll, damn these things were really superior to phones, flicking through the profiles of their soon to be classmates. "Sooo.... Any of you want to know about the people we'll be in school with?" Seeing three heads bob, she looked down at her scroll.

"Ok, so I see a few people who catch my attention. There's Blake Belladonna, a cat Faunus, I mean who doe's she think that bow is kidding?" A projection of the cat girl appeared above her scroll for the others to see. "Her weapon is named Gambol Shroud, it's a katana that has a compact, striker fired pistol built into its hilt."

The girl went over a few other potential classmates, Jaune Arc, Weiss Schnee, Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie, Yang Xiao Long and Pyrrha Nikos. "The last one who caught my interest is Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long's half sister, who is so skilled she managed to get into beacon 2 years early, not to mention her weapon, Crescent Rose a scythe with a sniper rifle built into it. And you know what else? She's a fan of ours."

Adagio smirked. "Well it's good to know that at least one of our classmates a has a good taste in music. Maybe we should give her an autograph." Opening her hand bag she pulled out a wireless microphone. "You think we'll be able to work on our weapons before the initiation? I mean I know Sunset added a flamethrower to Sinner's Ballad* but...." Turning the head of the microphone, caused a barbed whip to extend from the bottom. "I want to add a little... Oomph to Chant des Tempêtes.**" Pressing a button on the bottom caused the whip to retract back into the microphone. "What about you girls?"

"Meh, Strappare and Lacrima*** are good enough for me at the moment, want to add a ranged weapon to my arsenal in case I lose them somehow, but I doubt that I'd be able to build a pair of boots with detachable pistols in less than a day." Aria tapped her new bracelets and they extended to become a pair of black, clawed gauntlets. "What about you Sonata?"

The ditzy Siren finished her meal, a taco, the others still haven't figured out why she likes them so much, and looked at her sisters. "Napakymppi**** is good to go... I do need to make some more fire dust arrows though..." she pulled out what looked like a large lipstick container before twisting the cap, making it extend into a staff before she bent it and used the nearly invisible wire at the top to switch it to it's bow form. "Maybe I should find a better material for the bowstring..." The blue haired girl looked out the window and gasped in excitement. "We're almost there girls!!!" The other three gazed out the window and saw Beacon in all its glory.

Adagio cleared her throat to get the other three's attention. "Alright girls, here's the plan. We get off the train, lose the mob of fans that, might be, waiting for us, go to our hotel and get some rest. I call first shower in the morning." All three of them groaned in response.

As the train stopped, Sunset grabbed her luggage before noticing her journal, the one she and Twilight communicated with. Scowling, she grabbed it and, after the four had made sure their luggage would be taken to their hotel, walked out of the train station. Borrowing a pen from the ticket booth on the way, she opened it and wrote her final message.

'Dear Princess Twilight, I'm writing to say goodbye. You'll probably never see me again so I just want to say something. Don't worry about me I might not have friends anymore, but I've got something better now. I have sisters, I have a family. Don't cry for me. I'm happy now. And for once, I really do feel like everything is going to be alright. Signed your friend, Sunset Shimmer.'

Satisfied she pocketed the pen and closed the book before walking towards some men gathering around a trashcan fire. She gave them each 200 lien, 1000 in total, and told them to get some food and new clothes. After they had left Sunset looked behind her, seeing the Sirens at the mouth of the ally waving her towards them. Taking one last look at the journal, she tossed it in the fire before turning around and walking away. Ready to leave her past behind for good.

Author's Note

* An electric guitar with blades in the base that extend to create a battle axe with a built in flamethrower (hey look I made Sunny's ax a literal axe!)
**Chant des Tempêtes means Song of Storms in French
***Strappare and Lacrima mean Rip and Tear respectively in Italian
****Napakymppi means Bullseye in Finnish