Phoenix

“Well, I can’t say I was expecting to meet you here of all people.”

Princess Twilight had made her way through the mirror portal and into the frigid winter of Gaia, at the behest of whom she thought was Adagio, to talk about Sunset Shimmer.

“Well it will have to be quick, sorry, ‘cause Adagio’s probably gonna notice that I contacted you in the journal.” Sonata responded, slowly pulling down the fur lined hood of the winter coat she wore. “I’m going to be in huge trouble, but I needed to talk to someone.”

“Why me of all people?” the Princess folded her arms as she took in the Siren, the girl having a hard time meeting her gaze. “Shouldn’t you be with the other Sirens?”

“That’s why I reached out to you.” Twilight took a step back as the magenta eyes of her summoner finally locked onto her, primal emotions more ancient than the princess could fathom stared back at her. “Come on, we don’t have long before Adagio calls my cell, and I don’t have the choice to ignore her.”

Twilight fell in line behind Sonata as the girl slowly made her way away from CHS and the mirror portal.

***

“Are you going to tell me what this is about, now?” Twilight asked as she lowered her tea cup down onto it’s platter. It hadn’t been a long drive, at least as far as she could tell. She had been deeply intrigued by this whole “car” thing, and had a hard time not asking questions to herself.

“Well, obviously it's about… her.” Sonata slowly looked up from the coffee cup she cradled carefully in her hands. “She’s doing as fine as she can be, all things considered, but…”

“But what? I’m sure you read some of the exchanges between Adagio and myself, so you must know that I want to take Sunset back to Equestria.” Twilight said softly, looking around to make sure they weren’t being eavesdropped upon.

“That wouldn’t work. She has no memories of Equestria, so she would probably panic and hurt herself even more. Plus you have no guarantee on how the between Gaia and Equestria transition would affect her physical form.” Sonata let out a sigh as she took a deep quaff of her drink, setting it down with another sigh before looking at her guest, the girl seemingly frozen. “...What?”

“Sorry!” the lavender girl shook her head violently. “I just-”

“Didn’t think I was that smart?” Sonata gave a sad but knowing smile as she Twilight attempted to backtrack. “Don’t worry about it, I’m used to it. People never really get to see this part of me, mainly ‘cause I’d rather focus on the happier parts of life.”

“The Battle of the Bands was a happy part?” a thin eyebrow peaked as Twilight looked at Sonata quizzically.

“Heh… Do you know what that was about for us?” the girl sitting across from Sonata tilted her head. “You probably thought we were trying to take over the world or something, which was kind of right, but our primary intentions were to go home, if even for a little while.”

“Home…? But you three tried to bring Equestria to ruins by inciting wars!” Twilight’s harsh whisper whistled through tightly drawn lips.

“We had to eat somehow…” Twilight slowly leaned back. She had been expecting pride, anger, not sorrow. Not remorse. “My sisters would probably respond how you hoped, proud of what they did or something like that, but they haven’t recovered yet, so that's to be expected.”

“Recovered?” came the eventual response from the Equestrian royal. “What do you mean?”

“My sisters would say my memories are wrong, but we’re so old that we barely remember Equestria, let alone what we did there. But…” the blue coloured girl looked up at Twilight, tears threatening to erupt from her eyes. “I remember… We didn’t always fees on negative emotions… Adagio and Aria didn’t always have to see someone suffer in order to be happy…”

“But what about all the stories? What about all the conflict you three caused?” Sonata slowly wiped away the tears in her eyes before returning to looking at Twilight.

“True… We did terrible things in our pasts, and I don’t think we can ever be forgiven… maybe that's why I saved Sunset…”

“How is Sunset doing?” Twilight asked, surprised at herself as she started reaching a hand to comfort a monster from Equestrian myth. “Honestly, because I’m not sure how much I can trust Adagio.”

“Her right arm and leg are still in casts, probably gonna be that way until the middle of January. She still doesn’t remember anything from before that night, even after running into some students from CHS who swore they were her friends.”

“What!?” Twilight nearly slammed her hands on the table. “Some of those… people still think they’re her friends?”

“I believe them. After talking with them away from Fireside, they were definitely telling the truth.”

“Why do you all still call her that? Especially after I’m guessing she hears her real name during that run in?” Twilight did her best to study the girl, hoping to see if she was being truly honest.

“Because that’s the name I gave her…” Sonata muttered softly, reaching out with her other hand and squeezing Twilight’s gently. “It’s the only name she knows, though she said that she will try to get used to Sunset Shimmer if those friends of hers continued to call her that.”

“I’m still unsure on a few things, so why don’t you tell me why it is that you three took Sunset in?” Twilight said softly, hoping to calm the girl down. “Surely you had no reason to help your enemy?”

“She’s not our enemy…”

“Pardon? What do you mean?” the princess leaned in closer to Sonata, hoping to better hear the girl’s whispers.

“She saved us. She saved Adagio, she saved Aria, she saved me… She saved us from the dark magic our pendants contained…”

“Is this related to you saying that you’ve recovered?” Sonata gave a miniscule nod. “Okay, this may be a little too far, but can you tell me anything about Adagio’s plan to use her for revenge?” Sonata’s eyes widened in shock before slowly closing, the girl giving a small sniffle.

“All that I know is that Adagio wants to use her to win the Friendship Games. It’s a competition between Crystal Prep and CHS.”

“Is that really all?” Twilight asked, watching as Sonata started to look up, only to freeze as her face split in shock. “Sonata? What’s wrong?”

“That would be me.” came a menacingly calm voice, the sound of the chair behind Twilight pushing out as it’s owner stood up. “Nice to see you again, Princess.”

“Adagio.” the lavender girl straightened as high as she could in her seat, her visage growing sterly with determination as she kept her eyes locked on Sonata, the girl starting to shake. “What are you doing here?”

“Would you believe me if I said I came here for a cup of tea?” the leader of the Sirens asked as a pair of hands made themselves known on Twilight’s shoulders.

“Never.”

“Smart pony.” Adagio responded, gently massaging Twilight’s shoulders.

“H-how… How did you get here?” Sonata managed to whisper out, dread dripping from every word.”

“Well…” Adagio’s voice paused as the seat beside Twilight was pulled out from under the table, the orange haired Equestrian depositing herself upon it delicately. “Aria was… generous enough to lend me her motorbike after we found out you took the car.”

Twilight stayed watching Sonata, the girl recoiling and doing her best to hide herself from the calm smile on Adagio’s face.

“And you.” Adagio turned her smile to Twilight, the raw malevolence radiating from the Siren blinding the girl. “I do believe I told you everything you needed to know about our dearest sister, Fireside.”

“And what about what else Sonata had to say?” Twilight could feel the pang of guilt radiate through her body as she saw Sonata hide her face in her hands.

“...She wasn’t entirely wrong.” came the short girl’s eventually response, her preceding sigh still lingering in the air. The two other girls at the table slowly looked at Adagio, an indescribable weight suddenly appearing to weigh her down. “The three of us have been… changing ever since that day. Some more than others…”

“...Why…?” Adagio turned towards Sonata, the girl’s eyes streaming tears down her cheeks. “Why do you agree with me now…?”

The yellow skinned girl let out another sigh as her hand slid up her face, combing through her mass of curls. “Because, Fireside proved it to me. Now, if everything is settled, I think it is time I take my errant sister and head home. Well, after we drop you off at CHS, princess.”

***

“Fireside! Your guests are here!” Aria bellowed as the four girls entered the house. Adagio was still out getting Sonata, so it was left to her to be housekeeper. She let out an audible groan of annoyance as she turned towards the four CHS students. “Okay, rules to follow while you’re here. One, do not sit on any of the furniture in the living room if you value your damn lives, got it?”

Aria looked around at the four girls, Lyra was the only one following where Aria was pointing, the other three were busy looking at one another in confusion.

“Got it!?” she shouted this time, earning the attention of all for of them, each giving a hurried nod. “Good, rule number two. Her name is Fireside now, not Sunset Shimmer, so call her the right thing if you really need her attention. Third, make no mention of whatever the hell this… Anon-A-Miss thing is.”

“How do you know…” Octavia’s voice trailed off, her face matching the shocked visages of her fellows.

“Internet, duh.” Aria pulled out and flashed her phone. “Our quick little investigations have had us believe that this is the cause for her injuries, so we’d like to stay shush shush about it. And the last rule, its the most important one so I hope you all are paying attention…” she looked around to make sure they were all watching her before her face split into a crude grin.

“Absolutely no sex in the champagne room.”