Canterlot City Park. A popular hangout location for most of the city's population, including students of the local high school. Sunset Shimmer was no exception, walking across the warm grass, feeling it brush her feet in her sandals. She'd forgone her leather jacket for the day, leaving her in just her purple tank top, complete with an image of her old Cutie Mark, and jeans.
Sunset wouldn't admit it to the others, not wanting to give the appearance that she was having problems, but places like this always served a special purpose for her. The tall trees, wide expanses of grass, and the gently flowing stream reminded her a bit of Equestria, her native home. Sure, she could go back anytime she wanted, but this universe was more of a "home" for her, at least for now. She wasn't being torn apart by homesickness, thankfully, but she knew if her friends found out she was uncomfortable at all, they'd think action was needed, especially Fluttershy and Pinkie. But in truth, Sunset was happy. She just liked the occasional nostalgia trip.
A familiar voice caught her attention, and Sunset turned on her heel...and froze where she stood.
They hadn't been seen at school in months, since the Battle of the Bands. Sunset wasn't surprised by this, given exactly what had happened to them in the aftermath of said Battle. Still, she and her friends had searched for the elusive trio, hoping to make sure they were alright (and that they weren't plotting some horrible revenge or something), but no trace of them ever been found. They'd used their hypnotizing music to get into the school without providing a real address or anything.
Yet, there they were. The Dazzlings.
The leader, Adagio Dazzle, was relaxing quietly on a bench, her attention occupied by some book. Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk, on the other hand, were standing fairly close by, tossing a frisbee between them. Or, rather, that's what they had been doing. Currently, Aria was yelling at Sonata, who had caught the frisbee with her teeth.
"For the last time, Sonata, use your friggin' hands!" the purple girl snapped. "You're not a dog!"
Sonata pulled the frisbee out of her mouth. "Of course I'm not! I just wanted to see if I could do it! It doesn't affect you!"
"It does when I have to feel your spit on my hands when I catch it!" Aria retorted.
"Dagi! Aria's being a jerk again!" Sonata whined.
"I've told you before," Adagio replied, not even looking up from her book, "when you're bickering like a pair of five-year olds, I have nothing to do with it."
"Whatever," Aria groaned.
Sunset kept staring, perplexed at how normal they were acting.
"Um...excuse me?" she eventually ventured.
The effect was instantaneous. Adagio turned in her seat, her eyes firmly planting themselves on Sunset. Oddly enough, her expression was more of dull surprise than anything. Aria and Sonata immediately forgot their quarrel, instead switching their expressions to furious glares.
"You..." Aria growled, clenching her fists. She made to advance towards Sunset, but Adagio held up a hand.
"Now now, Aria, we talked about this," she instructed. The purple siren reluctantly acquiesced, but both she and Sonata kept their angry stare on Sunset.
Sunset froze where she stood. She'd been expecting rage, considering her hand in their defeat, but this was more subdued.
Adagio patted the spot next to her. "Come on, Sunset," she beckoned. "Let's talk, no need for hostilities."
Sunset obeyed apprehensively, setting down on the bench. She hesitantly smiled at Aria and Sonata, who shrugged, as though deciding that continuing to direct their rage at her wasn't worth the effort. Sonata casually threw the frisbee back to Aria.
"So, uh..." Sunset mumbled, turning back to Adagio. "Nobody's seen you since the...er—"
"The Battle of the Bands," Adagio finished, flipping through her book. "You don't have to dance around it, we're not that thin-skinned."
Sunset blinked, staring at the siren next to her, confused. "Okay, what's going on? Seriously, I'm one of the people who stopped you from taking over the world, and you're not even angry?!"
"Sunset, if I wanted to kill you, I wouldn't do it in broad daylight," Adagio replied. "Secondly, would directing all my rage at you serve any purpose?"
That pulled Sunset up short. "Well...no, I guess not," she admitted.
"She's full of it," Aria called from across the grass. "She has a picture of you taped to the back of her bedroom door. She spent the first week throwing darts at it."
Adagio glared at her fellow siren for a minute, before settling back into her seat.
"Believe me, we were furious at first," she continued, turning the page. "Sonata has a drawer full of unfinished 'revenge plots,' Aria was weight training to better thrash you and your friends, and I myself had plenty of rather delightful dreams where I took revenge. However, we realized the futility after the first month or so. After all, taking you out wouldn't fix our pendants. It wouldn't restore our magic." She closed the book, looking Sunset in the eye. "We're over a thousand-years old, Sunset. You pick up on the facts of life after a while."
"That makes sense," Sunset replied, thoughtfully. "But what happened to you? After the Battle, we looked for you, trying to make sure you were safe...okay, we were also hoping you weren't plotting a horrible revenge, but we didn't want you to suffer."
Adagio smiled. "Why, thank you for your concern, Miss Shimmer!" she laughed, batting her eyes at the girl.
Sunset leaned away from her. "Are...are you messing with me?" she asked.
"It's what I do, Sunny," Adagio laughed back. "In all seriousness, what do you care? You beat us, we can't use magic anymore. You're not under any obligation to check up on us."
"Hey, I'm not a monster," Sunset protested, quietly adding. "Anymore. Even if you were...well, jerks, wanting you guys to suffer would make me an enormous hypocrite."
"Glad to see you thought that through, at least," Adagio replied.
"So, you are okay, right?" Sunset continued. "I mean, you don't seem like you're homeless, or anything."
"Oh, not at all," Adagio replied. "We've been saving up money for centuries. We can live a modest lifestyle for quite some time, even as we search for employment." She returned to her book. "Now, do we have any other business to conduct, or are you leaving?"
"Well, er..." Sunset stuttered, unsure of how to proceed. Not for the first time, she wished she had Twilight's gift of foresight, and had a prepared speech or something for when the Dazzlings were finally located. Just leaving them would mean gambling with the chance of them making their home in another town, where Sunset and the others would never find them again. She finally took a deep breath.
"Would you and your sisters...like to...I don't know, hang out with us at some point?" she mumbled, just loud enough to be audible.
Adagio blinked, mildly surprised, but that didn't compare to the others.
"Are you freaking serious?!" exclaimed Aria. "First of all, screw you. Second, why? Are you so bored that you need us around to gloat over so you have something to do?"
"I never meant that!" Sunset insisted. "Look, I know you have no reason to like us, or trust us. But I don't hate you, and I swear, my friends and I genuinely want to help you. To be your friends." She looked down. "Like they did for me."
"What, you want another charity case?" asked Sonata, angry. "So you can feel better about yourselves? No thanks."
"It's not about what I feel," Sunset replied. "And you aren't going to school with us anymore, so it's not like we'd be parading you around going 'Look what we did' or some crap like that. Please." She looked between the three Dazzlings once more. "I swear, I'm telling the truth."
Adagio looked thoughtful for a moment. From what Sunset could tell, she seemed to be their leader, and she seemed like she was actually taking it into consideration. This improved Sunset's mood, and she felt a bit more empathy for the Dazzlings than she had before. Adagio clearly had a lot of responsibility on her shoulders, something Sunset could understand.
"I suppose it would be nice to learn how Equestria has changed since the last time we were there," Adagio admitted. "We'll...consider it, Sunset."
"That's all I'm asking," said Sunset, honestly. She pulled a pen and a scrap of paper out of her pocket, scribbling down her phone number and passing it to Adagio. "Just call me up if you decide." With that, she got up and walked away, leaving the three sirens to debate among themselves.
"Please, please tell me you told her that just to make her go away," Aria pleaded.
"Maybe not," said Adagio, returning to her book. "Maybe there's something to this 'friendship' thing."
