Phoenix

“You know, it’s always amazed at just how similar our two worlds are…” Sunset said as she watched Mother Charity flip the calendar on her office wall from March to April. “Even back in Equestria, ponies forgot to switch their calendars.”

“Oh really?” Mother Charity chuckled as she looked back at her charge from another world, a glint in the corner of her eye. “What else is similar, then?”

“Little things, mostly. Like the months are all the same, people here all have their own pony counterparts back there, and… well we have the same seasons, but…” Sunset chuckled slightly as she thought back to her youth in Equestria. “Well, they seem to just… happen? Like almost over night things can change! And the majority of the year is summer, mainly ‘cause the goddess who controls the sun hates the cold.”

“She sounds like my kind of person- pony- whatever…” Sunset giggled lightly as she watch the woman give up. “Sounds like a perfect world if you ask me.”

“Heh, we still have the same problems.” Sunset kicked her feet up onto the other chair as Mother Charity walked back around her desk. “Crimes like theft and murder still exist, ponies still fight and squabble, hell, we’ve had wars even! Just because things were peaceful, it doesn’t mean we were perfect.”

“Good to know it’s not just humans that hate themselves.” Mother Charity chuckled darkly before resting her arms on the desk, looking carefully at Sunset. “Now, how are you feeling?”

“Better… Ish…” Sunset shrugged, a small frown coming to her face. “The magic is building up still, but I’ve got at least two weeks until things get desperate.”

“And you’ve recovered from your… discharge?”

“Fully. Doesn’t mean I’m any more ready to reach out to them though…” Sunset looked away when she saw Mother Charity start to frown.

“Sunset…” the woman started, Sunset stepping in and cutting her off.

“Look, that run in with the Sirens more or less destroyed me, alright? I have so many people that I know would be over the moon to know I was still alive! But they would all expect different things from me!” Sunset got up from her chair and started pacing around vehemently. “When I heard them start to talk I got scared, half due to the Sunset’s of Equestria and Gaia telling me that monsters were right behind me, while the other half was Fireside Glow telling me that my sisters were right there and were trying to find me! Then… Then Sona…”

Mother Charity quietly watched as Sunset started to quietly sob, tears starting to flow down her cheeks as she leaned up against the wall with one hand while the other raked through her disheveled mane.

“Then… Then Sona… Sonata Dusk spoke… she spoke and… Celestia damnit!” Mother Charity jumped as Sunset swore loudly in Equestrian, slamming her arm against the wall. “Why did they have to save me!? To treat me as their own, showing me love and affection!?”

“All I want…” Sunset turned towards the woman, her eyes narrow and shaking erratically as she continued to speak in uneven tones. “All I fucking want to do is go and… and wrap my goddamn arms around them! To-To-To-To tell them! That I’m sorry! A-A-And that I love them like the sisters of mine that they are!”

“And why aren’t you?” Mother Charity asked softly, her smile sad as she watched the girl.

“Because for the vast majority of my life they were monsters! Beings who threatened my homeland! Then they threatened to destroy my life over in this world, driving my school back into the hateful bickering that had been my entire existence here! For every single moment of my life up until the night of Thursday, December eighteenth- the night I tried to fucking kill myself- they were monsters! And then for almost three months, THREE! MONTHS! They were my god damn sisters!”

Sunset slid down, leaning over on top of the desk as she continued to cry, the wooden piece of furniture shaking in time with the teen as Mother Charity stood up, slowly walking her way over to kneel beside the girl, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

“Family isn’t always determined by something as simple as blood, Sunset.” the woman said, gently rubbing the girl’s firm back. “Family can be those that aren’t related to you in the slightest, but you still love each other unconditionally. You forgive one another, no matter what you, no matter how silly or big. Family are those who are there to pick you up and carry you at your lowest, so you can soar to your highest.”

***

That was the conversation that started Sunset Shimmer’s fifth week back at the Charity House. The rest of the week had progressed in a better way, the girl continuing on with her role of “Big Sister” of the house, helping in any way she could, though she had come to the decision that she would never leave the premise on her own again. One potential run in with individuals from her past was enough to burn her, leaving her dreading the next time she would have to leave the House to disperse her magic.

The end of the fifth week also saw her first female client of her current stay at the Charity House, a young, upper class woman who was curious, and not wanting to have her uptight family find out about her experiences. It had been an enjoyable affair, the girl eager and willing, though throughout the entire night Sunset was found wanting to use her magic, recalling that spell she had learned from Equestria for situations such as this. She resisted the siren call to use her magic, knowing that her client would most likely lose her mind, and not in the good way.

The sixth week was extremely quiet compared to the previous weeks, Sunset actually left to her own devices more often than not, often leading to her being sullen or distraught as she tried to deal with the daemons of her past. She was also holding back on discharging her magic, lying to Mother Charity that she should be fine for another week, even as Sunset could feel her head starting to threaten to split apart…

***

“Why did Celestia have to go and kick me in the head?” Sunset groaned as she sat hunched over one of the tables in the main lounge, an almost strange silence floating through the air. Everyone in the house seemed to be out right now, either at school or busy elsewhere cleaning, so her seventh week back at the Charity House had been rather quiet.

The chime for the front door sounded, almost making Sunset get up from her grumbling pile. The door opened, but Sunset couldn’t detect any sound, the pounding headache of her magic drowning out everything. The door eventually shut, the sounds of feet making their way hurriedly up the stairs only adding to the noise in her head.

Sunset wasn’t sure how much time had passed, everything mingling together into pain, as she sat there. She probably would have remained there until her head actually explode if she wasn’t gently shook by Mother Charity.

“Sunset? Why don’t you go to your room?” she asked, gently resting her hands on Sunset’s back, and for some reason she felt her skin start to tingle. “You look like you should be in your bed.”

“Fine…” Sunset grunted as she stood up, the tingling vanishing as she brushed the woman’s hands off her back. She dismissed it as her magic distracting her as she started making her way to her room, not even looking at the matriarch of the house as she waved a hand errantly. “You’ll know where to find me…”

Sunset slowly trudged her way through the house, not even caring that everyone seemed to be missing. Her legs were like lead, her feet made of solid iron as she stumbled her way up the stairs. She eventually reached the top of the stairs, turning down the hallway and heading towards her room. But as she approached she slowed her pace.

Something was… off. Her room felt empty, as it should seeing as it was her private space, but it seemed unnaturally empty, as if it didn’t even exist. The hairs across her body started to stand on edge, that weird tingling returning as she stopped in front of the door. She stood there, her hand hovering over the door knob as her mind raced, trying to rationalize through the mugginess her magic was creating.

“Oh come on! Would you just fucking get in here already!?” came an extremely annoyed voice, Sunset’s door flinging away from her to reveal a shorter, violet skinned girl with her hair back in her usual pigtails. She looked at Sunset with an angry grimace, her outfit exactly the same as Sunset remembered, though, with something sitting on her chest that shouldn’t have been there.

“Seriously! Just- Come on!” Aria Blaze’s arm shot out grabbing the amber arm of Sunset and pulling her into the room behind her, the Siren’s pendant bouncing around freely as she slammed the door behind the pair. “These stupid spell stones don’t forever!”

Sunset stumbled slightly as Aria let go of her, her heart having gone into overdrive as she was unceremoniously dragged into her room. She stood up in a panic freezing when she saw two other figures in her room. Adagio Dazzle stood just in front of the shuttered window, seeming surprisingly small as she crossed her arms before her chest. Sonata Dusk sat on the bed, the girl starting to shudder when she saw Sunset enter the room, tears starting to build in the corners of her eyes.

The four Equestrians stood in silence as they looked at one another, Aria resting against the door as Sunset started to back up, the girl bumping into her desk, a panic look coming to her features as she realized she was penned in. She looked back at the three figures staring at her, a different emotion flowing from each of them.

Sunset took a deep breath, straightening herself as she readied herself. She couldn’t help but give a rather pathetic sounding gulp as she started to address the trio. “I, uh… I don’t suppose I could convince the three of you that I don’t know you…?”

Silence was the girl’s response, causing her to let out a defeated sounding sigh, slumping down.

“I figured as much…”

“You are going to come with us,” Adagio took a step forward, leaning her head back as she wiped at her eye. “and the… four of us are going to have a talk.”

“W-Where are-”

“Do you seriously- After the stunt you just pulled you’re lucky we aren’t dragging you back to the house by your goddamn nipples!” Aria shouted loudly as she cut Sunset off, slamming her arm against the wall, causing a powerful quake to run through it.

Sunset shuddered at the girl’s fury, shrinking down as she trembled. The pounding in her head grew as her emotions started to go on their own frenzied tear through her. She started to back further away, into a corner as she shook her head, her eyes focused on the floor, widening startlingly when she bumped into the wall, causing the girl to panic as she slid down onto the floor.

Watermelon.

Sunset froze, the whole world seemed to freeze as the scent of watermelon replaced everything. Sunset opened her eyes, her body no longer trembling as she looked down at the blue striped hair of the figure attempting to crush her in it’s embrace.

“Please…” was all Sonata Dusk said, her entire being trembling as she held onto Sunset in desperation, her voice just as empty as back in the cafe those weeks ago, yet it held a small, faint glimmer of hope.

Sunset felt everything crumble around her as her arms flew around Sonata, pulling her close as the amber skinned Equestrian bawled openly into the crook of the Sirens neck.

***

It had been an awkward ride in Adagio’s car, Sunset sitting in the back seat with Sonata as Adagio and Aria sat up front. Sonata seemed to be trying to hold back a herd of stampeding elephants as she tried her best not to launch herself around Sunset. Aria was pouting as she stared out of the windows, grumbling constantly as she crossed her arms over her chest. Adagio’s entire being was focused on the road, but Sunset noticed the pale yellow girl looking up regularly at the rear view mirror at her.

Sunset paused as she stood in front of the Siren’s Den, the house she had spent almost three months in, surrounded by monsters trying their best to be sisters. She felt herself being pushed from behind by Aria, Sonata wrapping herself around Sunset’s amber arm as she glared back at Aria. Adagio waited at the door, holding it open as she waited for the other three.

They made their way to the kitchen, Sunset looking around in shocked amazement at the state of half disrepair the house was in.

“Our apologies for the state of the house,” Aria spat venomously, not even looking towards Sunset as they rounded into the kitchen. “we’ve been too busy grieving ever since out sister died!”

“Shut up, Aria!” Sonata yelled back as she felt Sunset recoil harshly at the words of the other Siren. “Why do you keep attacking her!”

“She went and faked her death, Sonny!” Aria spun around, her eyes wild as she stared down Sonata. “She made it seem like she was gone, and here she was hiding from us! You tried to kill yourself because of her!”

“Like you were any better!” Sonata stormed over to the shorter girl, hefting Aria by the collar of her shirt. “You spent every night out getting drunk, or high, or getting in fights!”

“WOULD YOU TWO SHUT UP!” Adagio bellowed, the entire house shuddering at her fury as she threw the two Sirens away from one another. “She is alive, and for god's sake I will not let you two make her regret that!”

Adagio glowered at the two as she walked over to Sunset, the girl sobbing quietly as she wrapped her arms around herself further. “Please,” the Siren leader begged as she grabbed Sunset by the hands. “Please don’t let their outbursts muddle your feelings… We all missed you… So please… I beg of you… talk to us…”

Sunset nodded, sniffling weakly as she watched Adagio’s face melt in joy.

“Aria! Come here and help me get her up and to the table- Sonata, get everyone drinks.”

***

“Ummm… Do you still like lemonade?” Sonata asked softly, her tray having been emptied to one last, instantly familiar mug. Aria and Adagio both took small sips of their tea as they watched Sunset reach up and grab the last mug, smiling awkwardly as she thanked Sonata.

“So… Where should I start…?” Sunset asked, breaking the silence that blanketed the room.

The Sirens looked at one another, each looking like they were about to say something before freezing up. Eventually Adagio spoke up.

“Why didn’t you let us know you were alive?” she asked, sounding genuinely hurt.

“Because… ‘Cause I was lost…” Sunset frowned as she looked down at the cup in her grasp. “I didn’t know who I was… Was I Sunset Shimmer, or Fireside Glow…? How could I face anyone when I didn’t even know who I really was?”

“We could have helped you…” Sonata said softly, reaching out and resting a hand on the amber girl’s bandaged arm.

“For over twenty years, you three were myths to me.” Sunset looked up, gulping as she looked at the three Equestrians. “You were monsters who threatened to destroy my homeland. Then the Battle of the Bands happened, and you three almost destroyed my school.”

Three sets of lips grew thin as the Sirens looked away from Sunset in different ways.

“And then for three months you were my family. Spoiling me, taking care of me… loving me like one of your own… How could I face you three? Half of me is telling me to run away in terror and panic because I’m so close to you…”

Sunset watched as the three visibly recoiled, Sonata starting to cry softly as she shook harshly.

“But… like I told Mother Charity, the other half of me… She just wants to throw her arms around her sisters, to beg your forgiveness and say that I love you and I missed you…”

The Sirens shivered as they listened to Sunset’s admission, the three still focused on not looking at her. Slowly, as if dragging her head through a mile of tar, Sonata turned to look Sunset, followed after by the other two Sirens.

“To, um, shift the subject slightly… How did you three get your pendants back?” Sunset asked, motioning to the pendants resting in the chest of each of the Sirens, softly pulsing a menacing shade of red.

“We called in a favour.” Adagio said, smirking in a slightly predatory way. “Princess Celestia owed us, as she said.”

“And is that how you found me?”

“Ha! No, that’s cause of that big explosion of magic you did a few weeks back.” Aria gave a dark bark of laughter as she studied the girl. “You’ve been radiating it ever since.”

“How did you use all that magic?” Adagio asked, looking at Sunset curiously. “Gaia is quite barren of natural magic, so how did you manage to procure so much? And is it related to why you are positively radiating magic at the moment?”

“Well… maybe…” Sunset responded, pausing before letting out a small sigh. “Here, let me get these off.”

The Sirens watched as Sunset took off her hoodie, resting it on the back of her chair as she rolled up the right sleeve of her shirt before starting to unravel the haphazard bandaging running down the limb, revealing the deep crimson of the limb. Once she reached the wrist she pulled, forcing the last bit of bandage off her arm as she slowly pulled the leather glove off her hand. Sonata gasped as Sunset revealed her clawed hand, before reaching up and taking off her eye patch.

“This may be part of the reason why…” she said as she blinked her right eye rapidly, it’s blackness seeming to swirl in the light. “As you can see, my past still haunts me…”

“But… how…?” was the seemingly simultaneous inquiry from all three girls.

“Well… You all remember what I looked like on that day… in March…” Sunset started slowly, clenching and unclenching her clawed hand. “Or when you called Princess Celestia to this house… That… Daemon, that corruption was my curse to bear for trying to bend an Element of Harmony to my will… It almost consumed me fully, but… the memories of my time spent with you three, with Octavia and the others, you all saved me.”

“You used the corruption to survive…” Adagio said slowly, steepling her fingers. “And as a result you now have those mutations to your form.”

“Yup… “

“You know that makes no sense, right?”

“Heh, you’re telling me.” Sunset chuckled at Adagio’s comment, scratching the back of her head. She was surprised how easy it was suddenly to talk with them, before frowning as a previous comment came to mind, looking between Aria and Sonata. “Now… What were you two talking about? Did my disappearance really hurt you all that badly…?”

Sonata and Aria shifted around, obviously uneasy after Sunset’s question, though Aria was the first to talk. “Yeah, things got bad. We didn’t cope with your loss in the best of ways.”

“You should understand, dear.” Adagio drew Sunset’s attention back to her. “In our… six thousand or so years of experience, we have never had any sort of relationship like this before.”

“So why was I any different then?” Sunset asked, rubbing her hands across her thighs. “Why was I unique enough to cause this? Why did you three save me?”

“You can thank Sonata for us saving your life.” Aria chuckled darkly, her face a mix of emotions. “Me ‘n Dagi were all up for leaving you to rot in the snow, but Sonny here… She convinced us somehow- not only to call the ambulance but to take you in.”

“Well I appreciate it,” Sunset smiled briefly before frowning in shame. “Even if I did end up… well, you know… But that still doesn’t explain why.”

“I think Adagio should try and explain that…” Sonata said softly, motioning Sunset to shift her eyes over to the other Siren.

“The closest explanation that I can think of, is thanks to these two actually. It was after we found Sonata in the alley where- Wait, whos body was that? In the alleyway?” Adagio seemed to physically whiplash as she looked from Sonata to Sunset.

“Oh, her, right… Well, it seems every Equestrian has their own counterpart in this world, myself included. Sadly it seems mine shared a similar fate in regards to being shot, and sadly she did not have magic with which to save herself.” Sunset tried her best to keep her voice even and steady as she responded to to Adagio’s question, the Sirens each nodding sadly in response. “Now, as you were saying?”

“...For as long as we can possibly remember, the three of us have fed on negative emotion, used it to grow to great power. Even here, while magic is near non existent, we could feed and use our magics. But it seems that your stories of our past in Equestria were wrong.” Adagio brought her hands onto the table, clasping them as she took a breath. “Our closest assumption is that the negative emotions that we have fed on were not actually nourishment for us, but rather more akin to the drugs of this world…”

“So what you're saying is…?” Sunset shook her head slightly, shrugging her shoulders as she looked at the Siren with a confused look on her face.

“Ever since our pendants were destroyed we have been changing. Or rather, sobering may be the correct term. We have not had to feed on negative emotions, and while we were unhappy at first, we slowly changed. That is to say we have fully sobered up, as these Humans would say.”

The room was quiet, the Sirens sitting and watching Sunset as the girl slowly blinked her eyes, before giving a small laugh and rubbing her face in her palms. “So what you are saying is that the three of you are just massive drug addicts? Seriously!? That’s just as weak as why I have magic!”

“Tell us about it.” Adagio chuckled in turn, the other two Sirens adding their own songlike giggles. “Maybe it’s more, maybe it’s less? We don’t care, really. To be honest… Maybe… Maybe it was for the best? Losing our pendants I mean. These things, well… They aren’t the same.”

“Have you told anyone else that you were searching for me? Or that you found me?” Sunset asked, a sheepish grin coming to her face.

“The Princess’ in Equestria know, but that is all.” Adagio said, nodding slightly. “And Principal Cadance is probably wondering where the hell we are right now to be honest.”

“Did you forget to text her?” Aria asked, whipping out her phone as she started to tap away at it. “Here, I’ll do it.”

“No, you won’t!” Adagio said, reaching over and stealing the phone from her sister. “The last thing we need is for you to blabber something out of line. Can’t you see that she’s still iffy about this whole being found thing?”

“I would prefer if you kept it quiet…” Sunset frowned apologetically, bowing her head slightly. “At least… At least for a little while…”

“Umm… I gotta questions for you…” Sonata said, shifting around in her seat as she looked up at Sunset. “Um… Two, actually- Um! What… What do we call you?”

“Call me…? What do you… mean… Oh…” Sunset slowly shifted from confusion, to understanding, to sorrow. “That, uh… goes back to why I didn’t call you…”

“Then… Are you coming back to us…?” Sunset watched as Sonata’s face stretched into an impossibly hopeful smile, the other two Sirens giving uneasy looks of a similar nature.

“I… I…” the Sirens froze as they heard the trepidation pouring from Sunset’s voice, the uncertainty in her every word as she looked down at her hands, sighing with exhaustion. “The way I see it, I can go back to that House, and live a life alone, or come back here again and live with the three of you…”

“And I don’t know about the three of you, but my life has never been better than when I had three sisters to share it with.”

***

“So yeah… I guess I just wanted to let you know what is happening.” Sunset gave a forced smile as she felt herself being pulled from side to side by a still bubbly Sonata, the girl had not released Sunset from her grip ever since she said she was going back to the Siren’s Den

“Well, I do appreciate the heads up.” Mother Charity chuckled as she watched Sunset reach out and pet the top of Sonata’s head. “And it seems like I was right about them wanting you back.”

“Yeah, but you weren’t right about one thing.” Sunset sneered as she pulled Sonata up, the girl deciding to let go only for a moment to allow so. “It took a lot of apologizing to get them to finally say they forgive me.”

“Yes well consider you forgave us for all of our past actions-”

“Which you still don’t regret doing, keep in mind.” Sunset chuckled as she cut off Adagio, the lead Siren smiling as she rolled her eyes.

“No, we do not regret causing your species to continuously kill itself. But you forgave us for that, so the least we could do is forgive you for needing a vacation after all that has happened.”

“Well, if your a friend- no, family, of Sunset Shimmer, than you are welcome in my House.” Mother Charity smiled as she looked at the four sisters, pausing as a sad look overtook her features. “I assume this is goodbye then, Sunset?”

“Think of it as me moving out.” Sunset smiled warmly as she regarded the woman that had done so much for her. “I’m still coming around to help out the kids with their studies, though I don’t know about taking any clients…”

“You can say that again.” Aria said, leaning forward as she rested a hand on her sister’s should protectively. “If anyone ever wants to get that close to you again they’re gonna have to talk to me first.”

“As adorable as it is seeing you trying to play mommy, Aria, it’s just not your role in our family.” Adagio said, flicking her crude sister on the nose before turning and hefting the suitcase on floor up onto Mother Charity’s desk, a small envelope taped to the front. “Now, I know you run a clandestine organization here, so funding must be gained from rather… unique avenues. So as a token of good faith, for taking care of our dear sister for all these years, and as apologies for taking your best hostess, I figured the least we could do is leave proper tribute. The money should cover any and all renovations to the house, and the letter there lists all the contact info for companies well versed in doing work for this kind of place, though just remember to tell them you are a friend of Miss Dazzle.”

“Come oooooon!” Sonata whined adorably from Sunset’s side. “We still haven’t shown her the narwhal room!”

“That is a lot of money.” Mother Charity said simply as she flipped open the massive briefcase. “Though I’m guessing this is rather insignificant for ones as old as you.”

Adagio merely gave a look that only she could give, before turning around and wrapping an arm around Sunset and starting to drag her towards the door, Sonata helping as Aria gave a small bark of rather colourful language in her frenzy to catch up and get her own part of Sunset.