Phoenix

“Aria! Stop being so crude!” cried out Fireside as the girl hobbled her way to the top of the stairs. “I do apologize girls, I swear Aria has no sense of decency.”

Aria responded as only she could, spinning around on her heel and flipping a single digit up on both hands, scowling the whole while.

“Well don’t just stand there you four! My rooms up here and is freshly renovated, so the t.v. Finally has something hooked up to it!” the amber skinned girl barely finished her sentence before the white and mint green skinned girls (Vinyl Scratch and Lyra Heartstrings?) were racing to get their shoes off and up the stairs. The other two, Octavia Melody and Bon Bon she thought, took their time, chuckling to one another since Aria had since started off towards the garage.

“Holy crap is that a lot of stairs!” complained the breathless Lyra, the girl bending over alongside Vinyl as the pair attempted to try and catch their breaths. “Surely you have an elevator or something to help you get downstairs?”

“Nope. Just my legs, arms and crutches!” Fireside gave a warm smile as the pair shot up, disbelief pouring from their faces.

“Please tell me you’re kidding!” asked Lyra as she stood there, studying the crutches wielding girl intently. “Isn’t that like crazy dangerous!?”

“I, uh… I guess?” was all Fireside could respond with, giving a minor shrug. “I just don’t want to inconvenience anyone, least of all my sisters considering everything they’ve done for me.”

“While I do not share Lyra’s… diction, I do share her concern.” Octavia and Bon Bon had made it to the top of the stairs finally, with Octavia joining in on the conversation as she crested the last few steps, her refined tones a world different than Lyra’s. “You mustn't allow pride to cause you to bring pain or further injury to yourself, love.”

“I appreciate it, Octavia, but I’m healing up well all things considered.” Fireside leant forward on her crutches, adjusting herself carefully.

“What all is injured?” came Bon Bon’s quiet voice, the girl shooting up as she realized how personal that question may be. “Er! Nevermind, sorry! That’s probably too much to talk about!”

“Don’t worry, I’m used to it.” was the simple response from the chuckling girl, who turned around and started making her way down the long hallway. “Why don’t you four follow me to my room? We can get comfortable in there.”

“I thought this place looked big from the outside…” muttered Lyra, the girl looking around rapidly in amazement. “How big is this place!?”

“Main floor, basement, upper floor, upper upper floor, and attic.” came the recited response from the resident of the mansion. “The four of us sleep on this floor and leave the floors above for storage.”

“Two floors for storage?” Bon Bon hurried forward to make sure her friend heard her quiet voice. “Why is there so much storage space?”

“Dunno.” Fireside shrugged, uninterested. “I haven’t been up there yet so I don’t know why. Ah, here we are.”

The group paused in front of a great wooden door, it’s face entirely visible save for a gilded nameplate declaring the room to belong to Fireside Glow. The room’s owner smiled as she ran a hand over the plate, the other four girls looking at one another queerly behind her back, only to stop when their guide opened the door.

“Well, come along. There should be enough sitting room for everyone.” Fireside made her way slowly into the room, the four following in one at a time, or at least tried to.

“Oof!” Octavia stumbled back after bouncing off of Vinyl. “Vinyl? Why did you stop right in the doorway? It’s incredibly rude!”

“Holy shit…!”

“Lyra!”

“Oh come off your high horse, Bon Bon, look at this room!” the mint skinned girl grabbed her cream coloured compatriot and dragged her into the room. “See!”

“Holy crap…” Bon Bon froze once she started taking in the room, all five girls now inside. A large bed, queen or king sized, sat off near the window on the far wall, a pair of nightstands sitting adjacent. Bookshelves lined the rear wall, only breaking their hold for the window. A double sized door sat near the bed, blocking off a closet, beside which rested a large dresser, an ornate mirror with a trio of pictures in the corner sat upon it. The wall to their lefts was where Fireside’s desk sat, covered by her laptop and scattered bits of paper.

“That’s not a t.v.,” started Lyra, the girl falling to her knees as she took in the giant display mounted to the wall before her. “That’s a space station…”

“I do say, is that thing really necessary?” Octavia took in the bemused look that spread itself across her host’s face, the dopey grin painfully familiar.

“Nope!” Fireside burst into laughs as Vinyl and Lyra prostrated themselves on the floor and started bowing in front of the massive blank screen. “But Aria wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

“I, er… I see.”

“So my sisters really did do something bad then?” Fireside grew quiet as she addressed Octavia, the two teens left somewhat alone for the moment thanks to Bon Bon stomping over to the other two girls in a huff.

“They caused the students to all fight amongst each other, which was even worse considering we all were still recovering from a rather nasty event a few months prior.” Octavia kept her voice soft but firm as she looked at Fireside. “That’s all.”

“Oh? What happened?” Fireside looked at the dark haired girl, curiosity with a hint of worry mixed in while a small throb started to build in the back of her head. “This is probably after I had left I take it?”

A pall of silence covered the room as she finished talking, Octavia suddenly looking away towards the other three girls who were sharing distressed looks of their own.

“Er, probably shouldn’t have asked that I take it?” Fireside muttered apologetically, rubbing the back of her head absentmindedly. “Sorry, girls.”

“No! No, it’s fine, Sunset- er, Fireside.” the amber girl turned to look at the suddenly standing Vinyl, the girl speaking for the first time, even as her hands moved to muffle her face. “Shit, Aria is gonna fucking kill me!”

“Vinyl! Your language is not appropriate for this situation.” Octavia chided, shaking her head at the girl.

“Don’t worry about what my sister said,” interjected Fireside, smiling disarmingly. “If you girls always called me Sunset, then I’ll do my best to respond to it. Besides, Aria’s actually a big softie under that gruff exterior.”

“Am not!” came a bellow from below them, Aria evidently having heard somehow.

“Anyways,” Fireside rolled her eyes as she looked back up at her friends. “Who was this girl, the first one I mean? Would I have recognized her?”

“Er…” Bon Bon stood there, trying to look at Octavia for guidance. “No, you, um… You wouldn’t recognize her at all, Fireside.”

“She was pretty bad, but that was before she tried to make friends.” Lyra said, before her head pitched forward thanks to a cuffing from Vinyl. “The hell, dude! You wanna go right now?”

Octavia cleared her throat, causing Lyra to instantly cool down, letting go of the handful of Vinyl’s shirt she was grasping.

“So she was a total bitch because she had no friends?” Fireside slowly started to hobble towards her bed before depositing herself ever so slowly onto the plush mattress, not caring that she was wrinkling her sheets, even as the throbbing in her head continued to build. “I feel bad for her, not having any friends.”

“Yeah, she… she was something alright. Turned into a daemon from hell at one poi- What the fuck, Bon! What’d I say!?”

Bon Bon merely growled as she shook her head, her arms crossing tight across her body as she stared at the mint coloured girl.

“But you said she tried to make friends, right? Did she succeed?” The four girls were reduced to looking at the floor, absentmindedly kicking at the floor, causing Fireside to look around in worry.

“I guess not?” she shifted around on her bed, frown starting to build. “That’s a shame, everyone deserves the chance to have friends.”

“Well, it is... Not that she failed, per se, but…” Octavia seemed to shrink in, her stance becoming narrow and enclosed. “She made friends, but some people didn’t want to give her a second chance. It’s safe to say that she was attacked by the other students.”

“Really? That’s rather oxymoronic. Is she okay?” Fireside watched as the girls continued to shift around uneasily.

“We… we think so.” Bon Bon said quietly, eyes staying away from Fireside’s gaze. “We haven’t heard from her in a while.”

“Glow?” the door to the room rattled on it’s frame as Aria’s voice carried harshly through the wood. “Sonata and Adagio are back, just figured you should know.”

“Thanks, Ari!” came the fiery haired girl’s response. “Say hi to them for me! Oh! Could you get Sonata to stop by? I had a quick question for her.”

“Alright.”

“So, why don’t we drop the heavy subject. Do you girl’s like video games?” Fireside smiled warmly as she looked around the room, each of the girl’s letting out a sigh of what appeared to be relief.

“Hell yeah! What do you have in here?” Vinyl bounced rapidly around the room, starting to search through the various drawers and cabinets.

“It’s the one right under the t.v., Vinyl.” the room’s owner managed to squeak out between chuckles, before she started to rub the back of her head with a sheepish grin. “Sonata bought me like, all the consoles for the holidays. Though the games are a little less legit. I never took Twilight Sparkle as a pirate.”

“Twilight Sparkle?” Octavia asked, turning back towards Fireside after having glared Vinyl into normality. “How do you know her?”

“She’s a friend of my sisters! We all spent the holidays at her house, why do you ask?”

“Oh! Er, no reason. I thought the name sounded familiar, was all. Vinyl! Stop trying to tear the door’s off of that cabinet!” Octavia rushed over to the pale girl, pulling her aside to allow Bon Bon to open the large shelving unit.

“Holy…” Lyra started, fading off when she noticed Bon Bon flashing her a look. “That is a lot of consoles… And where are the games you said?”

“The cabinet to the left,” Fireside pointed to the rather ornate looking wooden unit. “She set up the custom cartridges with entire library of games for each of those systems.”

“Do you have any of the Hero of Rock games!?” Vinyl spun away from Octavia, looking at Fireside with what she swore would have been puppy dog eyes had the shades not been hiding them.

“I think so? I haven’t even touched all those cartridges yet. Ah, Sonata! There you are! Just a second girls, you try and track down that game and I’ll be right back.” Fireside slowly got up, somehow managing to separate herself from the downy embrace of her bed and back onto her crutches and foot.

“Hey, what’s wrong Sonata?”

Fireside slowly made her way out of the room, closing the door behind her and pausing when she finally notice her sister. The girl simply looked defeated, her hair seemed limp and dead, the normally bright and mirthful magenta eyes dull and glazed over.

“Sonata? Hey, Sonata, come on, what’s wrong?”

“Oh! S-sorry, Su- Fireside.” the girl suddenly jumped to life, putting on her best facsimile of a smile. “Just tired is all. What did you need?”

“What happened? Why are you so… not you?”

“N-nothing! Don’t worry, really!” Sonata flailed her hands before her, her face morphing to worry.

“What she means is that they were talking about us.”

“Huh, what are you… talking… about…?” Fireside turned to look at the newcomer beside her sister, the familiar voice echoing in her head. “What… the… hell?”

An amber skinned girl with flashing aquamarine eyes and a great mane of curled red and yellow hair stood beside Sonata, wearing a familiar half length black leather jacket, which underneath rested a magenta shirt emblazoned with a two toned sun.

“Took you long enough to notice me.” Fireside said to herself, her apparent doppelganger standing with raw confidence before her. “I really should thank your supposed sisters for giving me the magic I needed to grow strong again.”

“Who the hell are you!?” Fireside stumbled back, almost tripping and falling against the wall.

“Fireside?” Sonata looked at the flailing girl, worry erupting across her face.

“Seriously? One bump on the head and you forget all about me? Or rather, us?” the second Fireside slowly sashayed over to her twin, her hips giving wide sways. “I’m you, Sunset. The real you. The one you tried to hide away.”

Fireside’s nerves erupted into a chilling blaze as her mirror image rested a delicate finger under her chin, slowly tilting her head up so their gazes would meet.

“What the hell are you talking about!? Real me? Magic!?” Fireside found herself unable to pull herself away, her entire body locked up.

“Fireside!? Fireside! What's wrong!?” she barely recognized Sonata shaking her gently, the door to her right opening and disgorging the four girls it contained.

“Sunset! What’s wrong!?”

“What’s happening out here!?”

“What have you done to her?”

“Tch. You just had to be over dramatic, didn’t you.” the other Fireside looked around, frowning as she took in the squabble erupting around them, before looking back with a dark grin, the whites of her eyes swirling to a depthless black which seemed to expand outwards, swallowing Fireside into their inky embrace. “Don’t you worry, though. I’ll still be here. Every time you look into a mirror, I’ll be there…”

“Fireside!” her world shook, copies upon copies of the girl’s above her wavering and duplicating. “Oh thank god! I think she’s awake!”

“Wh… what happened?” Fireside tried rubbing her eyes, blinking rapidly as she tried to focus her blurry eyes.

“Oh thank god you’re awake!” Sonata wrapped the girl up in a massive embrace, squeezing tightly. “You froze up! An-andandand then you fell to the floor!”

“What happened out here?” the cultures tones of Octavia perfectly conveyed the feelings of worry that echoed across the five girls surrounding here.

“I… I’m not sure, sorry. I’m fine now, don’t worry.” Fireside gave a weak smile as she tried to get up, awkwardly fumbling to get her crutches.

“You can’t be fine! You just passes out!” Bon Bon said worriedly, thankfully being held back by Lyra.

“I appreciate the concern girls, but I’m fine.” Fireside let out a loud grunt as she forced herself up, her hand shoot up to her head to try and rub away the pain lancing through it. “S-see! Back up on my own two feet! Well, more or less.”

“Sonata? What was all that commotion?” Adagio appeared out of nowhere, rushing towards the group with Aria trailing behind.

“Sunset had some kind of freak out and passed out, that’s what!” snapped the irritable Lyra, finally letting go of Bon Bon.

“You Celestia-forsaken retards!” roared Aria, rushing forward and somehow hoisting the inch taller girl up by the neck of her shirt. “I told you bitches not to fucking call her that!”

“Aria!” came the worried scream from Fireside, the girl rushing forward vest she could to try and separate the two, as Octavia did the same to the other two girls in her group. “Let her down! Are you crazy!?”

“Yeah, why don’t you listen to Fireside there, Siren!” Lyra shot back with a instigating grin. “Wouldn’t want your sister to see you hurt one of her friends!”

“Aria.” all the noise and commotion in the hallway stopped at Adagio’s utterance. “Let her down, now.”

“You’re damn lucky these two are here to save your ass, Lyra.” Aria spat out as she slowly let down the smugly smiling mint girl. “You two deal with this, I’m going to the garage.”

Lyra stumbled backwards as Aria stormed loudly down the hall and away from the group, her adrenaline and righteous anger rapidly bleeding away.

“I am so sorry, Lyra!” Fireside pleaded profusely to the now shaken girl. “Aria’s just really protective, sometimes too much so. I’ll make sure she apologizes properly to you once she calms down.”

“Don’t worry, Fire. Real friends and family always look out for one another.” Lyra slowly pulled at the stretched neck of her shirt, frowning. “Man, this was like, my best shirt!”

“So… What now?” came the timid, near whisper from Bon Bon.

“O-oh, right! Sonata!” Fireside turned around to her sister, the girl obviously shaken by the occurrence. “Do you think you could grab those… Hero of Rock was it? Yeah? Thanks Vinyl! Yes those instrument things for Hero of Rock? The girls here want to play.”

“Sure thing! Would you girls, um… like something to drink?” Sonata gave an awkward smile, still somewhat shaken.

“Water for me, if that is alright?” Octavia nodded briefly, before offering her assistance. “And I could certainly give you a hand if you’d like?”

“I’ll be fine!” came the sing song response, Sonata seeming to recover back to her normally bubbly stance. “Who else? We got juices, pops, coffee or tea? Name your poison!”

“I think water would be best for all of us.” Bon Bon said, earning looks of disappointment from both Vinyl and Lyra.

“Aye aye, Ma’am!” Sonata gave a very exaggerated salute before turning to look at Fireside. “And what about you?”

“Water as well, please. Why don't you bring that ice pitcher thing? Might be easier.”

“Sure thing! Heya, Dagi? Think you could give me a hand?”

Sonata had barely spun around to look at her other sister before the sound of clapping filled the air, everyone starting to have giggling fits as Adagio held a straight face, her hands connect at steady intervals.

“Anything else, Sonata?” she asked, a wicked grin slowly spreading across her face.

***

“Why do you guys have, like, infinity of every instrument?” Vinyl slowly finished setting up all the wiring for the various plastic look alikes of instruments. A trio of guitars, a microphone, and a drum set laid around the now cleared up floor of Fireside’s room.

“I dunno, Sonata just… well she likes to buy stuff, but it’s never without reason, so…” Fireside slowly trailed off as Vinyl stood up, puffing out her chest in pride as she rested her hands on her hips. “So who wants what?”

“Well, the mic is super finicky so our local bastion of culture is a no go for it.” Lyra stuck her tongue out playfully at the scoffing Octavia, before turning around and grabbing Bon Bon by the girl’s thin shoulders. “Plus B’Bon here can’t hold a rhythm to save her life out of the kitchen so it’s best to throw her on mic.”

“Hey!”

“And Vinyl loooves to hit things, if you know what I mean, so obviously drums for her.”

Vinyl’s muted response was a rather crude gesture.

“So that leaves guitars for the three of us! Octavia will take bass, cause she can’t handle too many strings, unlike myself, leaving me and you for lead and rhythm guitar.” it was Lyra’s turn to puff her chest out in pride, even as Fireside erupted into giggles as her other friends continued to glare and fume at their rather blunt comrade.

“I say, Lyra!” Octavia took a large step forward, looming over her friend. “Just because your great-great-great grandmother’s harp has more strings than my cello, doesn’t give you justification to talk in that manner.”

“Oh? You play the Cello, Octavia?” Fireside’s look was a mixture of wonder and amazement. “Those things look super heavy!”

“Didn’t you kno- oh, right, the whole amnesia thing.” Vinyl scratched her head, smiling sheepishly at the taller, dark skinned girl. “Yeah, wonder tits here plays a mean cello.”

“Vinyl Scratch! I should wash your mouth with bleach for that comment!” the wild eyes of Octavia matched perfectly with the flustered movement and embarrassed blush crossing her face.

“Yeah, yeah, Octopussy. Anyways, Lyra plays the lyre, or equivalent, so her parents got lucky with her name. And Bon Bon here-”

“I’m a candy maker!” the blue and pink hair girl blurted out rapidly, obviously trying to stop Vinyl from making a comment.

“Fiiiine…” Vinyl let out a loud groan as she seated herself at the tiny drum set. “How about we get to playing?”

“Umm… how does one… play, exactly?” Fireside held the plastic guitar in her hands having just received it from Octavia with a nod. Thankfully her fingers could press the buttons enough to depress them, as awkward as it was.

“Would you prefer the mic?” inquired Bon Bon, watching as Fireside fiddled with getting the guitar held comfortably. “It might be easier.”

“I think I can manage, thanks though.” Fireside smiled warmly, nodding her head.

“Okay, guitar Hero of Rock rules! Press down the correct button and pull that white strum pad up or down when the note on the screen passes across the line in time to play it.” Lyra looked over and demonstrated what she meant while Octavia started the console.

“I gotcha. Alright, Hero of Rock, right? Err… which one?” Fireside looked at the large selection of Hero of Rock games, roughly twenty titles stared back at her.

“Oh! Three! It has Paint it all Black by the Rolling Rocks!” Vinyl shouted out, pointing at the screen.

“Oh please, Vinyl,” Octavia interjected. “Five is the proper choice. Why it has Hotel Coltifornia!”

“Boooooring! Just go with Steelica, get some metal uo in here.” Lyra could be heard pressing on the small d-pad in vain hopes of moving the cursor down.

“Bon Bon? Do you have a favourite one?” Fireside asked as she looked the girl, getting a shrug of indifference. “Alright then… Umm… I’m thinking of a number between one and ten…”

“Five.”

“Three!”

“Seven!”

“Seriously?” Fireside stared at the three girls, dumbfounded at their responses. “You each just picked the number of the one you wanted to play!?”

The three girls looked at one another, before shrugging and looking back at Fireside.

“So? Who was closest?” asked Lyra, obviously trying to ploy Fireside into agreeing with her choice.

“...Octavia was right on the nose.”

“Boooo! I demand a recount!”

“Vinyl Scratch! Will you ever grow up?” Octavia glared at the girl who was busy throwing a mock temper tantrum.

“Says the one that Sunset agreed with!” Vinyl shot back, crossing her arms and sticking out her tongue.

“Fireside.” Octavia responded.

“Sunset.” Vinyl said firmly.

“Fireside.”

“Sunset!”

“Are you two related?” Fireside squeaked out between chuckles. “Cause you girls seem like sisters.”

“We are not!” Octavia spun around, blush spreading across her dark features. “I, am a proper lady, Sunset.”

“See! Sunset! You agree with me after all!” Vinyl cheered from her seat behind the drumset, perhaps a little too vigourfully as she was soon on her back on the floor, her chair having slid out from under her.

“Semantics!” argued the charcoal haired girl, her hands shooting to her hips. “Now get up, you oaf! You are embarrassing us!”

“We actually are sisters, Fireside, though don’t tell anyone, savvy?” Vinyl slowly got up from the floor and reseated herself. “Mind you, you were one of the few to know that before the whole amnesia thing.”

“Mom’s the word.” said Sunset, a feeling of pride building inside her as she realized the four of them trusted her enough with that secret. “Now why don’t we get to playing?”

“Why don’t we start off easy?” asked Bon Bon. “Let Fireside get used to the game before we do anything crazy?”

“Works for me, but I gotta ask, did I ever play the guitar before?” Fireside shifted the guitar around in her hands as best as she could. “Cause this feels really familiar.”

“Eeyyy! She remembers something!” cheers came from the girls around the room at Fireside’s question, with Vinyl pointing it out first. “Yup! Probably the best I’ve seen. You actually helped me with some of my mixing for work.”

“You never did say what you did, or instrument you played.” Fireside looked over at the pale girl, smile widening at the thought that her memories may be coming back.

“Oh, I’m just a DJ for fun.” Vinyl shrugged.

“For fun? DJ Pon3 is the biggest indie artist out there at the moment!” Lyra reached over and punched Vinyl in the arm. “Take some credit for your work for once.”

“Oh? You’re a celebrity, Vinyl? That’s really cool!”

“And another thing I’d like you to keep on the down low again. I haven’t released my name to public yet.” Vinyl fiddled with her glasses, obviously hoping to hide the flaming red that was spreading across her cheeks.

“Alright. Well, I guess we should play, huh?” Fireside looked around the room, four girls nodding back to her. It was a nice feeling to have friends.

...again…