Phoenix

“You mean I gotta take an entrance exam? With amnesia!?” Fireside looked around the group in slight shock, her sisters wearing a wide variety of expressions from her outburst.

“Relax, Glow, you’ll ace it or I’ll eat one of your pansy, no meat suppers.” Aria gave an incredibly cocky grin to go with the swagger in her step towards the girl. “Promise!”

“I’m sure you’ll be fine!” Sonata cheered, rubbing her girl lovingly across the shoulders, taking great care with the left side. “You are, like, a total genius!”

“Plus you have us helping.” Adagio radiated confidence as she sat astride the large oaken table, having chosen a rather revealing outfit choice to go with the horn rimmed glasses hanging around her face. “This should be a shoe in, dear.”

“Why are you still dressed like that, Adagio!?” Fireside could only feel her blush of embarrassment at her sister’s attire spread farther. “And in front of others!?”

“Well who else do you think she got the glasses from?” Aria gave a surprisingly bright chortle as she slapped the reddening girl on her right arm.

“Ummm… C-could I have my glasses back n-now?” came the the timid question of the true owner of the glasses, Twilight Sparkle.

“You brought your extra one’s, didn’t you?” Adagio slowly slid across the desk, dismounting it in a single, fluidic motion.

“Well, yes, but-”

“That shall do.” Adagio gave little concern to the blabbering purple girl, her hips swaying as she walked over to the small desk that had been piled with various school books. “Now, what to start with? Sonata? Do you remember what our tests were like?”

“Oh! Yup! We should be fine with some Math 55, something from the Chem 300 series-” Sonata bounded over, grabbing a seemingly not so random assortment of books, listing them off one at a time. At least until Twilight Sparkle cut in.

“Those are like the most advanced classes out there!” came her shocked cry, rushing over to pour over the tomes of knowledge in Sonata’s grasp. “These are used by only the most highly rated institutes and academies in the world! There’s no way she should have to know this!”

“It helped us out.” Aria groaned loudly. “I seriously think that that school didn’t want us there with some of those questions.”

“I do have to agree there.” Adagio said, picking through the books that Sonata had managed to hold onto from Twilight’s mad frenzy to learn. “Some of those questions are supposed to take days to answer.”

“The looks on the faces of all those teachers was totally worth it though!” Sonata had a mischievous look on her face, one more akin to Adagio. “I don’t know about you two, but one of my ladies fainted when I handed in the test.”

“Seriously? Only one?” Laughs of bemusement erupted from Aria, the teen threatening to double over. “I had to wait over five minutes for someone to come wake up the trio that were watching me.”

“What are you three?” Fireside looked at the group in shock as they regaled their stories of enrollment at CPA.

“Why, were you sisters, Fireside.” Adagio’s smirk only widened.

***

“You shall have one hour, to finish as many questions as you can. Begin.”

Fireside shifted around nervously. Four teachers, most likely faculty of the school stood around her, watching her intently. Didn’t Aria only mention three?

Well maybe they have a greater interest in you because of those sisters of yours?

Seriously? Can you just let me try to answer these questions? Fireside flipped the the first half of the booklet that sat before her, mind boggling at the complexity of the questions before her. Jeez, they weren’t kidding about it being ruthless…

… Seriously? We were answering questions like these years ago, Sunset. the voice in her head took on a mocking tone. Does little baby Sunset want some help from the big bad voice in her head?

Would you please go get bent!? How could I possibly focus with you yapping constantly!?

The voice in her head died off, Fireside taking a deep breathe in preparation to try and attempt to answer some of the questions.

Part A is twenty four…

...What?

Just- Look! I’m trying to help here, so just write the damn answers I give you!

And why, on this blue Gaia, should I EVER! Believe a single thing you say?

Because otherwise you won’t be able to go to school with your sisters, and you damn well know it, so write twenty four as the Celestia-damned answer for Part A!

...Fine. Fireside relented, carefully scribbling the numbers two and four close together. Now what?

Part B. Two thousand five hundred and twenty.

***

“How bad has it gotten?” Aria asked softly, sitting on one of the benches outside of the room that wrapped itself around the private testing room.

“It’s been… odd, as if it’s trying to hide itself.” came Adagio’s equally soft response. “Ever since that supposed fainting spell, that… I hesitate to even call it darkness…”

“Well you two are the ones that can see magic, remember?”

“You could too if you weren’t so damn lazy about it.”

“What should we do…?” the other two bickering girls slowly turned to regard the quiet question coming from the equally quiet Sonata.

“What do you mean, Sonny? We already took in one of the girls who screwed up our chances of getting back to Equestria!” Aria’s harsh whispered cut through the air, the girl frowning deeply.

“And hasn't she made you happy?” tears started to build in Sonata’s eyes as she looked at her fellow Siren, raw emotion starting to swell in her core. “All the time she’s spent helping you in the garage, even though it is such a pain for her given her condition?”

“Shut it.” a low growl filled the air.

“And what about you, Dagi? Hasn’t she always been there when you wanted to test lines for one of the plays that you work on from time to time? Or how about when she helped you-”

“I said shut it!” the walls shook with the unbridled fury erupting from Adagio, the leader of the Sirens shooting to her feet, her hair flying around her as her eyes grew wild. “Would. You. Just. Shut. Up. For. One. Second! I am sick and tired of constantly having to listen to your Equestria be damned sniveling about that girl! You- you…”

Adagio’s rage and fury instantly chilled as she looked down at the girl beside her. Sonata was openly weeping as she slowly curled into herself on the floor, a look of complete abandonment spread across her face. The sounds of hiccuping sobs could barely be heard thanks to the girl’s hands covering and muffling her voice.

“You…” Adagio let out a tortured sigh, her head falling into her hands for a brief moment before moving to look at Aria. She noticed Aria giving her a weird look, a pale yellow digit moving shakily up to her face to wipe away a tear that was starting to build in her eyes. She let out another sigh as she slowly walked over to the silently wailing girl on the floor, slowly kneeling down to rest beside her.

“I’m sorry, Sonata… I… For fuck’s sake.” she had to look away from her sister, tears starting to stream down her face. “Sonata… I agreed with you that day for a reason… We are changing… And you know that better than either myself or Aria.”

“... The fuck you goin’ on about?” Adagio peered up at Aria, a look of confusion building. “Changing?”

“Oh come on, Aria, don’t play dumb, you dolt! You know exactly what I’m talking about! Weren’t you first one to jump to Sunset’s defense? The first to grill those four girls on their intents with her?” Adagio rested a hand on the shaking form of Sonata, rubbing her softly. “You wouldn’t have done unless I asked you to in the past! Now you regularly volunteer to help her!”

“Yeah! Cause we don’t want her to find out, you idiot!” for all the indignant aggression Aria was showing, her voice and body shook in uncertainty. “You were the one who-”

“Aria.” the twin tailed Siren instantly stopped talking, the calm tone of Adagio not carrying malice, or threat, but instead a simple plea. “Please, you know we are changing, and I get that you are afraid. Don’t you think I am too? Why do you think I’ve been talking with Princess Twilight so much?”

“D-Dagi…!” a soft whimper seemed to emanate from Sonata, the girl still shaking and wracked with violent sobbing.

“Shhh… I’m here, Sonata, I’m here. I hope you know that I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you. I guess that… I guess that I’m not used to these emotions. The desire to help someone not for personal use, but to just help them…”

Aria sat quietly, looking around the empty hallway, amazed that no one had come to see the commotion that they were causing. She slowly reached into her jacket and pulled out her vaporizer, flipping the heavy wand around in her firm hand.

“You know… I switched my e-liquid because of her…” she brought the device up to her hand, taking a deep breath of the familiar vapor before expelling it. “She said that I shouldn’t be using nicotine, that it would harm my body and give me cancer… The look of worry and concern on her face that day…”

She slowly stashed the device away, making her way over to her two sisters, sitting down on the floor and kicking a leg out. She watched closely as Adagio whispered softly to Sonata, helping the girl up into a sitting position, embracing her in a way that felt more affection than what she had done in a very long time.

“Hey… Sonata?” the girl looked over at Aria, her puffy red eyes still trying to leak tears down her messy face.

“U-uh huh…?”

“I’m, uh… I’m sorry… For uh… For all the shit I’ve given ya the last… well, you know what I mean.” Aria barely had the chance to look away with her embarrassed blush before she felt Sonata’s form collide with her own. “Hey, careful! I got a reputation to keep!”

Adagio smiled as she watched Sonata start to giggle and move Aria around in her embrace, the proud Siren trying to stop her affectionate sister. Adagio let out an uncharacteristic giggle as moved over, embracing Aria and Sonata both.

“Ack! Hey! Adagio!”

***

“So, kinda backtracking here, but are we gonna tell her the truth? About us, I mean?” Aria stood beside her sisters as the three of them watch a portly woman with green hair and red skin walk around Fireside, the girl bouncing around in uncontrollable giddiness over her test results.

“See, You aced it, just like I said! You got in and I don’t have to eat one of your lame vegetarian meals!” Aria had said as she clapped the shocked girl. Sonata had gone around hooting and hollering in excitement, helping to distract from the mess of tears and other bodily fluids still left on her face.

“She’s happy now. And from what we know, she most likely wasn’t before given this whole Anon-A-Miss ordeal.” Adagio had her arms wrapped around the still bouncing form of Sonata as best she could. “I think she deserves to be happy.”

“And that aura of hers?” Adagio let out a long sigh at Aria’s question. There wasn’t much they could do.

“We will keep watch of it, and report it to the Princess.”

“Why hasn’t she come to take her back?” the three of them suddenly burst into fits of giggles as the woman measured Fireside’s bust, the girl blushing deeply enough to be noticed at their range.

“I would like to think that she trusts us, but I think it is because we don’t know what the portal will do to her with her injuries. So for now we monitor.”

“I am so glad that is over with…” Fireside said as she approached her sister, her face still a flaming cherry tomato red. “N-not to be rude to Mrs. Melon, of course!”

“So what are you up to now?” Aria asked, playfully mischievous grin starting to spread across her face.

“Six foot and, like, a sixty fourth of an-” Fireside started to respond, only for Aria to suddenly reach out and give the girl’s generous bustline a few jiggles, earning a shocked cry from her sister.

“I was talking about these babies!”

“A-Aria! Stop that!” Fireside tried to get away and stop her sister’s lewd assault on her body.

“Aria!” Sonata rushed forward, breaking her sister’s contact with Fireside before standing between the two of them, protecting the injured girl. “Would you stop molesting our sister?”

“Sure, whatever.” chuckled Aria as she stepped away. “Congrats again on making it into Crystal Prep, Glow. I think you should do just fine.”

“If we are done here, we do have an appointment at with the hospital to get to.” Adagio had pulled out her phone to check the time, noting how close to their meeting time it was getting. “We wouldn’t want to miss that.”

“Hopefully I can get out of these things soon…” Fireside shook her left arm lightly, the third cast in as many weeks hanging around the limb in a protective guard.

***

“So… what does that mean?” Fireside looked up at the doctor, hope starting to glimmer in her eyes.

“It means that you should be good to get out of those casts next week, give or take the availability of hospital staff.” Dr. Stoic heart brushed a pale lilac hand through his short stylized white hair. “I do say, I will never be amazed by the healing powers of the young. The severity of your injuries should have left you a cripple to be completely honest.”

“I guess you could say I made a… magical recovery?”

“I guess you could say she made a miraculous recovery then?” Adagio said, causing Fireside to look up, letting out a small groan as she saw herself standing beside her sisters, grinning knowingly at the girl sitting on the medical furniture.

“I wonder why it is that you recovered so quickly, hmm, Sunset?” her doppelganger slowly walked over, stopping to loom above herself. “It’s not like you’ve been surrounded three ancient and incredibly magical beings, right?”

Fireside did her best to try and focus on the conversation her sisters were having a discussion with the doctor, even as her own self continued to overshadow her, her own voice blotting out all other noise.

“And you know what? We are Magic, seeing as you have… forgotten, and magic allows us certain abilities, such as healing.”

“Fireside?” the girl shook awake at her name being called, her eyes dilating as she looked around at the worried faces of her sisters, her double vanishing.

“O-oh! Sorry! I was just thinking about how excited I am to be free of these casts!” Fireside faked the best smile she could, oblivious to the shifting, studying eyes of her sisters.

“So she should be fine to come to school on Monday?” Aria spoke up, crossing her arms as she addressed the doctor.

“I see no issue why not, though she should of course pass on any physical activities.” Aria let out a loud snort at the doctor’s comment, earning a scowl from Adagio and Sonata, and a blush from Fireside.