Phoenix

“D-did it work?” Sonata asked, the girl slowly getting up into a crouched position as she tried to pierce the blinding light filling the room.

“Sister!?” Luna called out in a worried tone, the Alicorn flailing around uselessly in her human form. “Sister! Where art thou!?”

“Adagio, are you alright?” Aria knelt over top of the fallen girl, her eyes slowly flickering open. “Oh thank…”

Adagio let out a groan as Aria pulled her into a tight embrace, the girl starting to shiver as she held back sobs of relief. She wiped the errant bangs of her curly hair away from her eyes, peering around carefully.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight rushed to her kneeling mentor, worried that she was injured. “Oh thank Cele- er, you? Whatever, you’re alright!”

Celestia hummed softly, giving her head a small nod as she ran a hand over the short, messy hair of the girl in her lap, a sad smile on her face. She picked a strand away, ever so delicately tucking it behind the amber skinned girl’s ear, before returning to rub her head in slow, meaningful strokes.

“Did you do it?” Sonata knelt down beside the taller woman, carefully studying the prone form of the fiery haired girl. “Please tell me it worked… I want sister back…”

“I am sorry, my child…” came Celestia’s eventual response, a frown materializing as she shook her head slowly back and forth. “I did not have enough power to free her permanently from the corruption’s vile hold.”

Looks of shock and sorrow were shared around the basement room. They had failed. Sonata started to cry at the thought of losing her sister, grabbing the pale amber hand near her face, squeezing it tightly. Adagio felt Aria start to shake more violently, the odd sob escaping the normally strong girl’s lips, causing Adagio to gently pat the girl’s firm back.

“No…” Twilight looked down at her friend, all the weight of failing to protect her threatening to crush her. First Anon-A-Miss, now this…

“Sister, why did you take the Elements by yourself?” Luna had come to kneel beside her sister, looking and studying the Sun. “We would have had enough strength together!”

“Because I had to try and atone for my failures…” Celestia whispered, a single tear rolling down her cheek, causing those that saw to break into sobs at the sight of such a majestic being brought to such sorrow. “But I managed to seal it away, for now…”

“W-what do you mean?” Celestia looked over at Sonata, the ancient Equestrian a mess of streaming tears, refusing to release the limb she held onto. “I thought…”

“She would need to come back to Equestria with us, so me and Luna could be strong enough to cleanse her. But the Elements will need time to rest.” she looked over at the six gemstones, each of them glowing brightly as they shook noticeably back and forth. “And I am afraid that if she were to come back to Equestria now, this would all be for naught. The natural magic would empower the corruption, potentially allowing it to take her over completely…”

“Then what are we supposed to do, Princess!” bellowed Aria as the Siren having gotten to her feet and started storming towards the Equestrian Princesses, her arms flailing around her wildly as her face contorted in rage. “You two were useless back then, and you are still useless now!”

“Watch your mouth, monster!” came Twilight Sparkle’s rebuttal. “It’s because of you three not allowing her to come back to Equestria that she-”

“That is enough, Twilight.” Celestia stopped Twilight, the girl freezing in the middle of getting up. “Let her grieve for her sister.”

“Sister!?” Twilight looked at her sister in shock, disbelief blazing in her eyes. “She is not related to those three! How could they be sisters!?”

“Just because we aren’t related, doesn’t mean we can’t be sisters.” Adagio’s explanation caused Twilight to look up, finally noticing the tears streaming down Aria’s face as Adagio rested a hand on the girl’s shoulder, tears building in her own eyes.

“Weren’t you the one who told me that you would have been fine with killing her? That you were only using her for some revenge plan you wanted to enact upon CHS?” Twilight watched as Adagio’s face fell at her comment, her body shaking momentarily.

“Hey! Watch it egghead!” barked Aria defensively, taking a step towards the Princess.

“Or else what, Siren!?”

“Enough!” all other noise in the room ceased at Sonata’s cry, the girl resting her forehead against the back of the amber hand in her own. “This wouldn’t be what she wanted… to see her fr-friends and famil-family coming to conflict!”

The room quieted down, everyone awkwardly shuffling about and trying not to make eye contact with one another.

“So why isn’t she waking up?” inquired Aria, eventually breaking the silence.

“It probably took a lot out of her, being hit by all six Elements.” Twilight muttered, looking over the resting girl. “So what, we just leave now, Celestia?”

The woman remained silent, her hands still slowly smoothing the short mess of hair on the girl snoring quietly on her lap. She wove a delicate finger around, pulling her hand up and watching as the strands of hair slid off. A smile slowly spread across her face as she felt her sister walk up behind her, resting a hand on her shoulder.

“We have to chose, Celestia… We cannot tally here any longer.”

“I know, Lulu.” Celestia smiled sadly as she looked up at her sister, before looking around at the other people in the room. “It is best that she stay here, for the foreseeable future. I only ask that you keep in contact, Miss Adagio.”

Adagio nodded, watching as Sonata shifted around, her arms wrapping around and hefting up the amber skinned girl, Celestia slowly standing up in time, making sure that the arm closer to her was wrapped across the stomach of her former student.

“Please keep taking care of her.”

***

“So what’s the plan now?” Aria groaned as she flopped down onto her chesterfield, gazing across at Adagio who was busy watching the stairs.

“I don’t know.” she responded softly, her gaze unmoving. “We will keep watch, see how she is and decide from there.”

“Heh,” Aria’s head fell back against the arm rest, a bark of rather humored laughter escaping from her lips. “I think that’s a first.”

“Hm?” Adagio slowly looked over at Aria, the girl still lounging lazily on her sofa. “What do you mean?”

“When have you ever not had a plan?” Aria looked over at her sister, cocky smile spreading across her face.

“When have you ever had one?” Adagio shot back, an annoyed scowl forming.

“Hey, simmer down, Dag.” purple hands shot up, palms facing out as Aria slowly sat up. “I meant no harm. I know you’re worried, alright?”

Adagio was about to snap back, only to have the sound of footsteps start echoing from the stairs, announcing Sonata’s approach. She slowly made her way down, rounding towards the living room once she reached the ground floor. She gave a tired sigh as she swept away an errant bang of her hair, pausing when she realized the other two Sirens looking at her.

“She seems to be sleeping just fine.” she said, making her way over and flopping onto her bean bag chair.

“And that aura?” Sonata looked over at Aria, the girl slowly leaning forward as she studied the pale blue girl.

“I can’t detect it. It seems to be gone, at least for now.” Adagio let out a sigh that she didn’t know she was holding at Sonata’s comment, her head sliding down. “So what’s the plan for her?”

“Mommy said that we should just keep an eye on her until she wakes up, then go from there.” Aria grinned as she looked over at the mass of orange curls to her side, Adagio giving a small laugh as she shook her head.

“Well what if she remembers what happened? Or all her memories come back?” Sonata flipped over and sat up, looking at her sisters as dread started to build inside of her.

“We tell the truth.” the other two girls looked at Adagio, different looks on their faces. “What else can we do? She deserves to know the truth.”

“And what if she’s angry with us? Or she doesn’t trust us!?” Sonata started to scramble to her feet, only to pause when Adagio wrapped her in a tight embrace.

“We should have a little trust in her. I think she will understand.” Adagio said softly, looking up and motioning at Aria.

“And what if she doesn’t? What then?” Sonata started to shake in Adagio’s hold, her hands slowly wrapping around her sister.

“We listen to her. Like what a family is supposed to do.” Aria said, wrapping herself around the other two as best she could.

Sonata choked back a sob, nodding her head slowly.