Phoenix

The sound of light breathing filled the air of the room, the head of the pale blue girl in the chair tilted down, her chin resting on the top of her chest, rising and lowering slowly in time with he breathing. Her ponytail waved across the back of the chair, the light and dark blues mixing and separating as they slid across the polished wood.

The figure in the bed remained sitting up, slowly looking around the room and blinking her aquamarine eyes. A massive screen with a variety of cables hanging from it covered the wall in front of her, a small wooden unit holding onto the boxes that the cables led to. Looking to her side she saw a large wooden table, papers and binders spread all it’s surface.

“Hmmmm…” the girl in the bed’s attention shot to the girl in the chair, a soft sound escaping her lips in her sleep. After making sure the other girl was still asleep, the figure in the bed continued studying the room, taking in all the various shelves, as well as the ajar doors to a closet of some sort as well as a hallway.

She slowly shifted around, moving her legs around under the sheets towards the edge of the bed. She pulled the sheets off of her lower body silently flinging it to the side, thus allowing her legs to swing down to the floor, her feet coming to rest steadily on the floor. Keeping her eyes on the other girl, the amber girl slowly shifted forward, patiently applying more and more weight to the balls of her feet until she was ready to stand up.

Disengaging from the bed, she slowly stepped forward, one delicate stride after another, always making sure to keep her eyes on the girl in the chair, unassuming in her sleep of what was about to happen. A grin started to spread across the amber face as the girl closed in ever closer.

Five more steps…

Four more steps…

Three more steps…

Two… more steps…

One… More… Step…

The girl remained sleeping, sighing softly in blissful ignorance. The grin slowly grew into a smirk, the smirk into a smile. She slowly reached forward, her hands starting to curl as they reached the pale blue neck of the sleeping girl.

Closer…

Clooooseeer…

Once she was within range, the amber girl took a deep, quiet breath, readying herself for what she was about to do…

***

A scream of terror erupted through the house in concert with the sound of something slamming to the floor, causing Aria to drop the flashlight from her mouth as she shot to her feet, gripping the wrenches in her hands tighter as she shot out of the garage and into the house, pausing only for a moment when she saw Adagio run out of the kitchen, knife in hand. The two shared a quick nod before they rushed to the stairs, rushing up and towards the bedrooms.

“N-noooo! Stop!” Sonata cried out, pure terror in her voice, causing the two to rush even faster up the stairs, almost bumping into one another in their mad panic to get to the room.

“S-stop! Tha-that’s-!”

“Sonata!” the two girls yelled as they burst into the room, the door slamming viciously against the wall, causing the television on the wall to rattle harshly.

“S-stop! That- hehehe- that tickles!” Sonata croaked out between giggles, flailing to and fro underneath the amber skinned girl keeling on top of her. Aria and Adagio paused, their grips loosening as they watched the fiery-haired girl mercilessly tickling Sonata. They looked at each other, the pair of them shrugging and smiling as they walked towards the pair.

“Okay, okay, break it up you two.” Aria chuckled, stopping and resting her hands on the firm amber shoulders of the kneeling girl.

“Awww, c’mon, Ari! She was asking for it, just sleeping there peacefully on that uncomfortable chair.” the girl said, slowly standing up and backing away from the still giggling Sonata.

“What should she have been doing then? Sleeping in your bed with you?” the crude grin on Aria’s face deepened as she looked at the girl, moving forward and assisting Sonata to her feet.

“Eh, maybe.” the girl shrugged, a smile on her own face, causing Aria to step back and sputter. “What’s the matter, Aria?”

“S-sorry,” Aria caught herself, wiping her face with the back of her hand. “Just didn’t expect that sort of answer from you.”

“As adorable as this scene was, I must break it up.” Adagio rested her hands on her wide hips, shaking her head and causing her mass of curls to whip around behind her. “How are you feeling, dear?”

“Me?” the girl pointed a finger into her chest, her head tilting in confusion until Adagio nodded her head. “Fine, I guess? Why do you ask, Addy?”

“Well, you had a bit of a nasty spill this morning, and-”

“This morning?” the girl took a half step back as she interrupted Adagio, before rushing over to the closed window blinds and moving them aside, the darkness of the winter night flowing into the room. “Wait, what time is it?”

“Five after six.” Aria looked at the screen of her phone, turning it towards the girl. “You slept the day away, Rumple.”

“Did I really take a fall?” the girl’s face crunched in concentration, the three other girls in the room faltering slightly.

“Don’t tell me you have even more amnesia!” Sonata rushed to stand in front of the girl, her hands resting on the girl’s arms. “Quick! What’s your name!”

“F-Fireside?” the girl chuckled as she gave Sonata a queer look. “C’mon, Sona, you can stop shaking me.”

“What about your friends from before? What do they call you?” Aria said, pulling Sonata away.

“Sunset, now is there any other questions?” Fireside gave a confident laugh as she looked at the girls in front of her.

“Who are we?” Adagio asked, watching carefully in case the dark aura returned for even a fraction of a moment.

“Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk.” Fireside said, pointing at each of the girls in turn. “You three are my sisters.”

The three girls let out simultaneous sighs of relief.

“Also known as the Dazzlings.”

The three girls froze simultaneously.

“At least, I think that’s what you girls liked to call yourself?” Fireside said, scratching her chin. “I think I heard the students at CPA call the three of you at least.”

“Did you now?” Adagio said slowly, her eyes darting to the other two girls momentarily. “Who did you hear that from?”

“Oh! I remember now!” Fireside’s hands clapped together, realization coming to her features. “Octavia’s group called you three that the other day! I think it was Lyra?”

“Yeah, that was our band name…” Sonata said softly, grinning sheepishly. “It’s not exactly the greatest memory to be honest.”

“Oh! S-sorry! I didn’t mean to bring that up.” Fireside scratched the back of her head, apologetic smile on her face. “So, um… what’s the plan for the rest of the night? Wait, did I miss school?”

“We all did.” Adagio replied, smile coming to her face. “Dean Cadance was more than understanding.”

“But why didn’t you three go to school?” Fireside asked, looking around at the three of them.

“Well Sonata wouldn’t leave your side, Aria is always up for skipping a school day, and I decided to make sure you were fine as well.” Adagio said, waving around the knife in her hand.

“Oh, well thanks you three.” Fireside nodded her head in appreciation. “Now what’s the plan for the night?”

“Food!” Sonata shot up, excitement at full Sonata levels. “Adagio was cutting up the veggies for tacos!”

“Oh? That’s nice of her to help you Sonata.” Fireside gave a sly smirk at her orange haired sister. “What’s with the change of heart?”

“Oh, well…”

“The three of us decided that we’d focus a lot more on family, ya’know?” Aria interjected, smiling as she grabbed Fireside by the shoulders. “‘Specially since it’s just the four of us after all.”

“When did you get so sappy, Aria?” Fireside punched her sister in the shoulder jokingly, earning a small bark of laughter in return.

“Same time as Sonata let someone else in the kitchen.” Aria said, rubbing her knuckles against the top of her sister’s blue head.

“Aria! Stop that!” Sonata flailed around weakly in her sister’s grasp, slapping weakly at the purple hand delivering the noogie to her scalp. “Adagio! Stop her!”

“Don’t look at me.” Adagio smirked as she held the knife in front of her, pointing it at the two wrenches stashed in between Aria’s hip and well worn jeans. “She’s more well armed than I am.”

“Firesiiiiide!” Sonata whined, tears starting to build in her magenta eyes as she stared helplessly at the amber girl, her face giving an adorable pout.

“Alright, back off ya wrench wench!” Fireside said, playfully pushing Aria away and freeing Sonata, pulling the girl into an embrace. “She’s the primary caretaker here in case you have forgotten.”

“Ya!” Sonata added in, sticking her tounge out at her abrasive sister, only to have Fireside start to lightly dig her fingers into Sonata’s delicate sides. “U-uhm, heh, what are you- hehehe- what are you doing, Fireside!? Stop that!?”

The room burst out into laughter as Fireside started to once again torture Sonata with tickles, Aria and Adagio nodding as they shared a brief look. Everything was looking to be fine.

***

“There you four are!” Indigo shouted as the four sisters entered Dean Cadance’s homeroom, each of them responding to the blue haired girl in one form or another.

“Heya, Zap! How was it being the top student in gym for once?” Aria snarked, teasing smirk crossing her face as she approached her desk in front of the competitive teen.

“Aw, shut it, ya bitch.” Indigo shot back, slapping her hand into Aria’s. “Good to see everything is fine. Sparky over there was rather panicked yesterday when she found out that Red there had a tumble.”

“Sorry to have worried you, Twilight.” Fireside apologized as she sat down at her desk. “But I’m fine, see?”

“S-sorry! Sonata made it seem like you were really hurt!” the teen waved her hands in front of herself.

“She does have a habit to overreact, right?” Fireside chuckled as she looked over at her energetic sister, the girl busy chatting with Adagio.

“Well, as long as you are fine…” Twilight straightened her glasses, watching as Dean Cadance entered the room.

“Ah, Fireside!” Cadance smiled warmly as she waved at the girl. “Good to see you back today. The four of you need to see me when I am done with this morning’s announcements. I have yesterday’s class work for you girls from your teachers.”

“Alrighty.” Fireside gave a warm nod back, waiting intently for the morning’s announcements.

***

“Man, miss one day and you sure get saddled with work…” Fireside groaned as she hefted her bag onto her back. Thankfully Mr. Wave wasn’t too strict on her, letting her hand it in tomorrow with today’s work. Mr. Beaker was probably gonna be another matter, given her few interactions with the man so far, she should probably try and finish the small booklet he gave her on her lunch break.

“Heeey! Give it back!” Fireside froze as she heard Sonata’s voice, the girl obviously in trouble. “It doesn’t belong to you!”

“Well if you and your sisters don’t realize where you belong here, you’re never going to see this stupid necklace again!” came a sinister growl from another student. Fireside’s face fell upon hearing the threat. This school really had a bullying problem.

“What do you mean?” came another sad wail from Sonata, Fireside slowly making her way towards the girl’s bathroom.

“Ever since the three of you showed up, the rest of us Shadowbolts have been getting a bad rap from our teachers because of how well you three are doing!” came a second, gruffer sounding voice.

“Yeah! And that was before that other slut of your family’s showed up!” the third voice sounded more familiar to Fireside, like one of the girls from homeroom. Suri, was it?

“Hey! Don’t you bring Fireside into this!” Sonata’s voice grew more determined, only to be followed up by the sound of skin meeting skin.

“Shut it.” the second voice said, Fireside’s blood starting to boil as she entered the bathroom.

“Hey.” she called out, rolling her sleeves up her arms. “You mess with my sisters, you mess with me.”

There were four girls other than Sonata in the washroom, with Suri standing front and center in front of Fireside’s sister, along with another girl from the home room, the one who always sat beside Suri, her delicate arms resting across her chest. Fireside recognized the girl as the one always making remarks about her body when she thought the amber teen wasn’t listening. The other two girls, however…

“Oh, great. Coming along to play hero, huh?” Suri said, scowling at Fireside. “I don’t care who you think you are, but it’s two against one.”

Fireside’s eyes passed over the two brutes that Suri was obviously talking about. They both were large and heavy set, more from their muscles and general girth than anything else. They were glowering at her, one of them rubbing her fist into the palm of her other hand while she stared at Fireside.

“What? Just these two?” Fireside chuckled as she looked at the four girls, her eyes pausing as she shifted over to Sonata, the girl shaking her head in fear as she watched a cocky smile spread across her sisters amber features. “I remember sparring with bigger bitches in the past. These two are nothing.”

“Well? Go get her you two!” barked Suri from the back, the two girl’s stalking towards Fireside.

“Well, I guess being civil is out of the equation then.” Fireside laughed as she unbuttoned her blazer and undid her tie, dropping them onto the ground. “Alright, who’s first?”

The girl to Fireside’s right rushed forward first, Fireside stepping forward and to the side, her arm coming up and grabbing the outstretched arm of the barreling brute, her leg sticking out to trip the charging behemoth, the girl being flung into the wall by her own momentum. Fireside stepped back against the wall as the girl connected, the tile shaking from the impact.

“Huh, that was easy.” Fireside commented, her eyes looking to make sure the girl wasn’t to badly hurt, only to hear a patter of footsteps to her right, dodging back just in time to avoid the swing. “Woah, careful there! Don’t want to hurt yourself, do you?”

The girl only growled back, taking some kind of martial arts like stance in response. Fireside looked around, shrugging as she came back to the girl. Fireside brought her arms up, locking her right elbow against her side as open hands came to rest in front of her. She motioned to the girl before bringing her chin down to rest against neck, eyes locked on the girl. She slowly took a step forward, then a second, watching how the other girl reacted, only to dodge back when a strike was launched against her head.

“What are you doing!? Get her, you oaf!” Suri bellowed before turning to the other girl. “Hey, you grab that blue bitch and-”

The second large girl let out a yell as she flew between Suri and the other girl, connecting heavily with the wall as she interrupted the two of them.

“Well, that was refreshing.” Fireside said as she walked forward, slowly rolling her sleeves down. “Well, why don’t you give Sonata there back whatever it was that you stole from her, and I’ll forget about this little scene. At least as long as you don’t do it again.”

Suri just stared in shock at the pair of large girls that laid on the ground groaning in discomfort, before slowly panning over to Fireside, fury blazing in her eyes.

“You are going to be in so much trouble once I tell Principal Cinch!” she spat, scowling at Fireside. “Just you wai- Eeek!”

Fireside strode forward and slammed her hand forward against the wall behind Suri, leaning in closely with a dark look. She glared at the now panicking Suri, the girl looking to find her other friend who chose this moment to rush out of the washroom, Suri screaming after her “traitorous friend”.

“Now I suggest you give me whatever it was that you took from Sonata and get out of here, capiche?” Fireside said softly and with a deadly calm tone. Suri’s hand shot to her pocket, scrambling to dig out whatever it was that was inside, before retrieving it and thrusting it at Fireside.

“Take it! Just don’t hurt me!” she yelled, tears starting to build in her eyes as she cowered in fear. Fireside looked down, grabbing the chain that held a rather large heart shaped locket, before tossing it to Sonata.

“Good.” Fireside’s face switched to a warm smile, the girl standing back up and gently patting Suri on the arms. “Thank you for being civil. Now why don’t you help your friends up? Don’t want to be late for class!”

Suri looked down to the girl to her right, then back up at Fireside, only to notice her and Sonata leaving the bathroom, neither of them looking back at her. A scowl slowly started to form on her face as she watched them depart the room, Fireside pausing for a moment to retrieve her ribbon and blazer.

“You’re going to regret this, Fireside!” she called out as the pair left.

“Are you alright, Sonata?” Fireside asked, completely ignoring the cavalcade of threats echoing from the bathroom. “They didn’t hurt you any more than that slap, did they?”

Sonata stood there as Fireside delicately traced around the darkened imprint on her cheek, the girl being extra careful not to come in contact with the more sensitive skin. She pulled away, only to have Sonata launch herself into a large embrace of the taller girl.

“Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” Sonata blurted out rapidly, squeezing and attempting to swing her sister around. “Thank you so much, Fireside! Thankyouthankyoutha-”

“Okay, okay, you’re welcome, Sona.” Fireside chuckled as she rocked her body back and forth in time with Sonata’s swings, her own arms coming to rest around the blue girl. “But seriously, you aren’t hurt, are you?”

“Nope!” Sonata finally let go, nodding with a smile as she looked at her saviour. “Suri doesn’t really have any upper body strength, so I didn’t feel too much.”

“Well that’s good at least.” Fireside playfully patted the beaming girl on the head. “Now is anyone else bullying you that I should know of?”

“Bullying?” Sonata gave a weird look. Before realizing what her sister meant. “Oh! No, don’t worry! Those girls are just like that. Well, most of the students here are really aggressive about their schooling, but that seems to be a result of Principal Cinch’s focus on everyone being the best they can, even to the detriment of others.”

Fireside just sat there in amazement as Sonata explained the entire situation in a single breath before delivering one of her patented smiles.

“Silly Fireside!” Sonata said playfully, chiding Fireside as if she were a child a fraction of her age. “Don’t you worry! If something happens, me, Aria, or even Adagio would be there for you in an instant!”

“Well I appreciate it, but I’m more worried about you right now, Sonata.” Fireside said before she started on towards Home Ec. “You’ll let me know if they continue to pick on you, alright?”

“Yup! But don’t forget we got your back as well, Fire!” Sonata smiled back as she leaned forward.

“Alright.” Fireside slapped her sister gently on the back, before pausing mid stride. “Well what do you think we should tell Mrs. Melon? We are a little late after all.”

“Oh! I’ll handle that, don’t you worry!” Sonata danced ahead, smiling back at the stationary Fireside as she playfully beat her puffed out chest. “Leave it up to big sis’ Sonata!”

***

“Rumour says that you and Sonata attacked Suri and whats-her-name in the girls washroom on the third floor.” Adagio smiled as she watched Fireside enter the Advanced Social Studies room, the amber girl laughing as she took her seat beside her sister. “Why would she be saying that?”

“I just so happened to be walking by the girls washroom, when I heard Sonata call out for something that Suri and her associates stole from her.” Fireside explained as she pulled out her binder, laying it on the table in front of her. “Sadly they decided to not be fully civilized, so I had to protect myself and Sonata from their attacks.”

“Well I suggest you be careful around Ms. Polomare.” said the arriving Sunny Flare, the girl nodding to Adagio as she took her own seat at the round table. “She has a nasty habit of trying to frame people that upset her.”

“I wouldn’t worry to much about it.” Adagio responded, smiling as she looked at Fireside. “Our dear Principal Cinch would never prosecute the star student of the Academy unless she did something really bad.”

“Are you implying what I think you’re implying, Addy?” Fireside stared at her sister, a look of bemusement spreading across her face.

“Well, you are sitting at the top of the rankings of the monthly Crystal Heart Award.” Sunny Flare said, getting out her own binder and books. “Considering that Twilight Sparkle had been sitting there ever since she joined, that is saying something.”

“Crystal Heart Award?”

“Oh, just something that Cinch set up to help…” Adagio paused, trying to find the right word to use to inform her sister. “Let us go with motivate. She uses it to help motivate the students into trying their best, as whoever had the top result from the previous month gets some pretty nice rewards.”

“Miss Sparkle always turned them down, her only request to be allowed to keep that little room of hers on the main floor in the back of the school.” Sunny Flare rolled her eyes as she talked about Twilight. “I will never understand that girl.”

“Well I’m sure you would like her if you got to know her better.” Fireside smiled at Sunny, before turning her head towards the entering teacher. “Well, I guess it’s instruction time. Shall we?”

***

Fireside let out the breath she was holding in a gasping wheeze as she crossed over the white line painted onto the well polished hardwood floor for the last time, slowly coming to stop as she cantered towards the wall and out of the way of the students still running. Sweat drenched her face as she panted heavily, attempting to stop the burning of her lungs. Mr. Sombra has said that she could have done something other than the 10km run, given that she had just recently gotten out of her cast and crutches, but something about the look Aria and Indigo gave her made her decide to turn that offer down.

“Fourty three minutes…” she panted to nobody in particular, kneeling over and resting her hands on her aching legs. “And twenty… twenty seven seconds…”

She had made sure to look up at the scoreboard on the wall as she crossed the line, doing her best to memorize her time even though Mr. Sombra would have written it down from his office. She was wondering what she may be able to do when she was back into shape as she collapsed onto one of the many wooden benches lining the wall.

“Holy… Crap… Red…!” Indigo panted a couple of minutes later when she made her way over to join the still sitting girl on the cool seat. “Are you… some kind… of monster…?”

Fireside chuckled as she slowly leaned her head up, and was about to answer before Aria cut in, her pigtails stuck against the back material of her sweat stained shirt.

“She’s more of a daemon, if I say so myself.” the girl gave a nod and a wink to her sister as she bent over in front of her. “But seriously, when did you start working out, Glow? It must have been behind our backs!”

“Really? I actually feel out of shape to be honest. Dunno why.” Fireside shrugged as she laid her head back against the wall, only to lean back up when she didn’t hear a response. “...What’s with those looks?

“Bull… Shit…!” Indigo cussed as she stood up straight, grunting in protest as she stretched.

“I hear that…” Aria groaned, shaking her head as she looked at Fireside. “Whatever, at least we can get out of class now.”

“Yeah, that’s the best thing about Mr. Sombra.” Indigo said as Fireside got up and the three made their way to the change room. “He frequently lets you out early if you can complete his insane standards.”

The trio laughed as they shared small talk, each of them launching playful quips at one another as they entered the room, the conversation eventually changing to elation at the fact that they could have a somewhat longer hot shower thanks to being done early.

“Damn!” Indigo wolf whistled as she looked back at the changing Fireside, the girl now topless as she finished removing her custom sports bra. “Those are some scars, Red!”

“If you think that’s something, just you wait!” Aria grinned as she pulled her shirt over her head, sports bra resting underneath in a soaked state. “Hey, Glow, turn around quick!”

“Hmm? What is it, Aria?” Fireside asked, obviously not hearing Indigo just prior. She had turned around rather quickly, causing her now unsupported breasts to swing with her, bouncing around as they came to rest on her rib cage.

“Jeezus!” Indigo just stood and stared at the view in front of her. “I knew you were stacked, but…”

“Really, Aria?” Fireside sighed as her forehead came to rest in her palm. “You’re lucky it’s just us, or else I’d come over there and beat your ass!”

“Tell ya what.” the girl responded, laughing as she reached into her locker and pulled out her jeans, rooting around in one of the pockets and pulling out a small, dark shape. “Here’s something to make up for it.”

Fireside just stood and stared as she watched Aria open her wallet and riffle around in it, pulling out a reddish bill and snapping it taught as she approached. Aria paused and held the bill in front of her sister, before grinning and bending down, a single digit pulling the elastic bands of not only Fireside’s shorts, but also her underwear away from her abdomen as the other hand deposited the bill, patting it over the fabric as she let go of the bands.

“...Seriously?” Fireside just glared in playful anger as Aria stood back up, her purple arms crossing over on top of her chest. “You think I’m just someone you can ogle and then pay me for it?”

“Yup.”